Bdub's Film Reviews

[BWilli]

One of my most anticipated movies....TROY

Dont listen to that little voice on the other end of the phone when you call the theater and hear, "Troy...Rated R....Running time of three hours"....it was 2 1/2....so there....

Wolfgang Peterson is an amazing director and he displays it with this movie.....and the cast....phenomenal....

Brad Pitt, Orlando Bloom, Eric Bana, Brendon Gleeson, Brian Cox, Saffron Burrows, Sean Bean and the man...Peter O'Toole

Knowing how a movie ends before going to see it, makes it extremely hard to watch.....I swear...even knowing what happens, I didn't know who to root for....I'd say that there may be spoilers to follow here, but most people know the story....so........

In a nut shell, Paris (Bloom), one of the princes of Troy, falls in love with Helen(Diane Kruger), Queen of Sparta, Menelaus' (Gleeson) wife.  He takes her back to Troy, and all hell breaks loose.

Menelaus goes to his brother, Agamemnon (Cox), who basically rules most of Greece, in order to take his extrememly large army and go after her.

Agamemnon agrees, but only because of his greed to take over Troy and rule all of Greece.

Agamemnon gets together 1000 ships, and 50,000 men, including Achilles (Pitt) and his men, and they sale to Troy for war.

Achilles is less than happy with Agamemnon, but agrees to fight for him.

Back in Troy, Helen is welcomed by King Priam (O'Toole) even though his other son Hector (Bana), also the best warrior in Troy, is extremely pissed about the whole thing...

Then....a whole lot of fighting....

The BAD (not much of it):

I wasn't too crazy about Bloom's performance in this flick....way better at Legolas....maybe it was just the character he plays...a pussy....

I don't remember how the fighting was describes in the original stories, but it was a little weird to see some fighting ensue, and then someone say, "Okay thats enough for today, soo you tomorrow."  Okay, so that wasn't the exact line, but it was kinna weird....I mean, I guess it was okay..............SPOILER ALERT.....................

After Hector killed who he thought was Achilles, and it turned out to be Achilles' cousin, maybe he was just too upset to continue fighting....

Pitt seemed to lose the accent ever once in awhile....

thats it....now on to the good stuff

One of Pitt's best performances....maybe he wont be nominated for an Oscar, but a job well done as Achilles

I haven't seen all of Eric Bana's flicks, but this was his best acting that I've seen....it's hard to believe that he used to be a stand-up comic with his own comedy talk show in Australia.....

PETER FUCKING O'TOOL (sorry I cursed but this guy is a friggen legend).  It was great to see him in this flick.....he is one of the greates actors to ever grace the screens....(see Lawrence of Arabia, my favorite film ever)...extremely great a Priam...

The fight scenes, in particular Achilles vs. Hector....this is the kinna shite I dream about directing some day.....AMAZING.....

Job well done by Wolfgang Peterson and the entire cast....

       

[BWilli]

Back from the three day weekend and I was able to watch a few flicks, mostly on DVD....

"The House of the Spirits"

This film was made back in 1993 with a great cast including Jeremy Irons, Meryl Streep, Glenn Close, Winona Ryder, Antonio Banderas, Vanessa Redgrave and Teri Polo.

The film takes place over many years in Chile before and after WWII.  A poor Esteban (Irons) makes a vow to marry Rosa (Polo), the sister of a young Clara. Esteban works hard in the gold mines until he has enough money to buy a small farm in the country. He sends for Rosa. On the same day Rosa receives his letter, Clara predicts a death in the family. Unexpectedly, Rosa dies. Clara sees the death as being her fault and takes a vow of silence. Esteban is devastated and goes to live on his farm alone. He works hard and eventually becomes rich. While in town at his mother's funeral he sees a grown Clara (Streep) and proposes marriage. At this, Clara begins to speak again. They live at his farm and have a daughter, Blanca (Ryder). Blanca is sent to boarding school, but on her summers at home falls for a worker on her father's farm, Pedro (Banderas), who happens to be a revolutionary. She becomes pregnant by him and her father puts a reward on his head. Blanca and her mother move back into the city to get away from an angry Esteban. Blanca has her daughter, while Esteban becomes a senator. Eventually, Esteban visits Clara and Blanca and they make up. Surprisingly, the revolutionary party wins an election and Pedro can see Blanca and his daughter. Unfortunately, there is a coup by the conservatives and both Blanca and Pedro are hunted down in connection with the revolutionary party.

Great acting on all parts in this film, with a really good story.  I recommend this film for everyone to see.  I believe it's partly based on true events, so if you're a history buff, you should enjoy it.

[BWilli]

"Out of Time"

The film stars Denzel Washington, Eva Mendez, Dean Cain and Sanaa Lathan.

This is a pretty good action/thriller.

Synopsis:  Matt Whitlock (Washington), a local small town sheriff is in the process of getting a divorce from his wife, Alex (Mendez), while messing around with a married woman (Lathan) on the side. When he finds out that his mistress is dying of cancer, he "borrows" some seized drug money from his station, in the hopes of helping her out. When she and her husband (Cain) turn up dead the next day, the chase is on and our local sheriff is up to his eyeballs in evidence pointing against him.

It felt a little slow to get up to the good stuff, but once it did, it was like a thrill-a-minute.  Whitlock had to keep one step ahead of the other cops in order to find out where the money is and who killed is mistriss.  Every time it looks like he's going to be "caught", he does something to get out of it.  About 15 minutes in, I though I knew what was going to happen, and I turned out to be wrong....I like it that way...I hate when films are toooooooooo predictable.....

[BWilli]

"National Security"

Caught this one on HBO the other night.  It stars Steve Zahn and Martin Lawrence.

Zahn was once a cop until he was sent to prison for 6 months for allededly beating Lawrence.  When he gets out, he becomes a security guard and begins a search on his own for the men who killed his partner shortly before he was send to prison.  When he finds the men robbing a warehouse, he runs into Lawrence, also a security guard.  The two hate each other, but end up working together to catch these guys.

Very funny movie, but a lot of racial jokes.  See this for some good laughs.

[BWilli]

"The 25th Hour"

Edward Norton has been among my favorite actor ever since Primal Fear (which he should have won the Oscar for back in 1996).

He puts in another stellar performance in this Spike Lee joint, as Monty Borgan, who in just 24 short hours, will be going to prison for seven year because of dealing drugs.

In his final day in the world, he meets up with his best friends (Played by Phillip Seymore-Hoffman and Barry Pepper) and girlfriend (played by Rosario Dawson), who may or may not have tipped off the DEA.

I haven't seen all of Spike Lee's movies, but of the one's I have...this is my favorite...

Great great movie...

[BWilli]

"The Day After Tomorrow"


AWESOME AWESOME AWESOME MOVIE!!!

The f/x in this flick were among the best I've seen in many movies.

It's a huge disaster flick, in which a storm unlike anything ever seen for the last 10,000 years hits the northerm hemisphere.  Tornadoes whipe out LA as a new ice age begins to take over NYC and the rest of the nothern areas.

But that's not all, there is actually a story.  Dennis Quaid plays a climatologist, who predicted this storm would eventually happen, but not as fast as it did, who must fight his way from Washington DC to NYC to get to his son, played by Jake Gyllenhaal.

The special effects take this cake in this film, but the acting was pretty good on all parts.

I love these types of movies...

[BWilli]

Man....slow movie week for me....I'm not a Harry Potter fan....

I'm pretty excited about this weeks release of "The Chronicals of Riddick", so I went out and bought the re-release of Pitch Black....

The movie that pretty much made Vin Diesel, is directed by David Twohy.

Basic plot (IMDB) - A transport ship containing 40 passengers heading to other worlds for, among other reasons, settling, New Mecca, and for one passenger, Riddick, another cell. The ship encounters a tiny meteor storm and crash lands on a barren planet with only 1/4 of its complement surviving. Survival is tough with Riddick on the loose and no water in sight. However, come nightfall, they have even more to fear...

Cole Hauser plays the Merc who caught Riddick...he eventually decides that Riddick would be more helpful if he wasn't tied-up....basically because he's got these cool f'ing eyes, in which he can see...in pitch black...

Radha Mitchell plays Carolyn Fry, who sorta becomes the new captain, when the captain of the ship dies during the meteor storm...(although don't call her the captain....apprarently she doesn't like it)...


Excellent acting by Diesel...I think he's one of the coolest actors today....and this is one of the coolest movies in the last few years....

I can't wait for this weekend so I can see the next installment....and if your expecting the new film to be about aliens....you're wrong.....totally different story.....thats for the best.....

Pitch Black gets

[BWilli]

Shrek 2


I gotsta be honest here.....all the critics praised this film as being better than the first...and I don't know why.....

Don't get me wrong....I liked this a lot....it was really really good....but I enjoyed, and laughed more, with the first one.....

Señor Banderas stole the movie as the voice of Puss in Boot.  What a fantastic addition to the movie....

Of course Eddie Murphy as Donkey was just as funny as the first flick...

Meyers as Shrek and Diaz as Fiona weren't too shabby as well....

I think most people are right....once you see it the second time around you catch more of the joke....

I did like the many references to some of the other big flicks, like Spider-Man etc.....well done with those....

as well as with Far Far Away....many of the shops and restaurants are modeled after real places like Starbucks and what-not....


Again....i think it was a great movie, just not as good as the first....

it still gets my two thumbs up though  

[BWilli]

The Stepford Wives (2004)

I don't get it.  How could five wondeful actors agree to act in such a bad movie.  It was terrible.

I've always like Christopher Walken (in fact I don't know anybody who doesn't like him), but damn man.....YOU WERE BETTER IN GIGLI.....

Nicole Kidman was okay....as well as Broderick....

I've never been a fan of Bette Midler, and this didn't help that at all....

Glenn Close was terrible.....what a quack......

I never saw the original (which I believe is NOT a comedy), and maybe I will.

I didn't find this movie funny.....they should have stuck more to the schi-fi side of things......


 

[BWilli]

damn....to busy of a weekend for me to actually get to the theater....HOWEVER....my free DVD "EDtv" arrived, so I watched it...for like the 3rd or so time.....


I had forgotten how funny this movie actually is....it stars Mathew McConaughey, Jenna Elfman, Woody Harrelson, Martin Landau, Ellen DeGeneres, Rob Reiner, Dennis Hopper, and Elizabeth Hurley.

Ed (McConoaughey) is chosen to have his life broadcasted live on TV.  After the first week on air Eds fame grows and grows, but conflicts break open: His brother Ray (Harrelson) publishes a very negative book about Ed, who now dates Ray's ex Shari (Elfman); Ed's parent's partnership problematics are broadcasted nationwide and a very attractive and seducing model (Hurley) uses innocent Ed to raise her own fame.

Landau who playes Eds step-father is the best character in the movie and has some of the funniest lines in a movie i've ever heard.  

"I'm gonna go take a piss. Wish me luck."  

"She's in the kitchen. I'd yell for her but... I'd die."

 

[BWilli]

saw three movies over the long weekend....two on DVD, one in theaters....


I'll start with the DVDs

First....League of Extraordinary Gentlemen

This was a decent movie.

Basic plot: (from IMDB)

In this extraordinary adventure, the Fantom is trying to start a World War, and be at the head of it. The Fantom has highly superior weapons to the normal weapons of that day, and he also has extreme cunning, as we see by his tricking the countries into suspecting each other for war-mongering. A supposed loyalist to her Majesty's Empire is sent to fetch Allan Quartermain(Sean Connery) in an effort to track down the group who is trying to start the war. In a private and secret meeting, Quartermain meets who he is to be teaming up with on this mission. He is accompanied by Captain Nemo (Naseeruddin Shah), the vampiress/scientist Mina Harker (Peta Wilson), the Invisible Man Rodney Skinner (Tony Curran), the immortal Dorian Gray (Stuart Townsend), the American spy Tom Sawyer (Shane West), and Dr. Henry Jekyll/Mr. Edward Hyde (Jason Flemyng). Soon into their adventure they discover that the Fantom is behind these attacks, but there is more to this war than battle and cunning.

Overall the action was great.  The computer graphics were kind of obviouse many of the times, mostly when seeing the Nautilus.  The acting however could have been better.  I enjoyed most of the performances.  I haven't been much a fan of Shane West, and his acting here didn't help that at all.

Shane West aside, I'll give this one

[BWilli]

Second DVD I watched, "Cheaper by the Dozen"

From the moment I saw the trailer for this many moons ago, I knew it would make me laugh.  And it did just that.

The film is a remake of a 1950 film of the same name.  This time around, Steve Martin and Bonnie Hunt star as the parents of 12 children.  When Tom Baker (Martrin) is offered his dream job as head coach of the college football team he was once a part of.

His 12 kids are a little less than happy that they have to pick up and leave their country home to move closer to the big city.  Tom is then left to deal with the 12 kids and his new job when his wife Kate (Hunt) is signed to go on a 2 week book tour.  Needless to say, all hell breaks loose as the kids rebel.

Not much makes me laugh harder when I see some guy getting his nuts chewed out by a dog...especially when that guy is Ashton Kutcher....couldn't happen to a better guy :razz:.

Co-staring as the children are Superman himself Tom Welling, the bar dancer Piper Perabo, Lizzie McGuire (or is she passed that already) Hilary Duff, and a whole bunch of other child actors who I've never heard of.

Funny movie with a great cast.  

[BWilli]

and finally, I saw the big one in theaters....number one movie over the long weekend...Spider-Man 2.

The best.....BEST.....comic book movie yet.

Awesome acting, awesome action, some pretty funny comedy in there as well.

This time around Pter Parker/Spider-man is overwhelmed with all of the responsabilities he has, school, work, Mary Jane (Dunst), Harry Osborn (Franco) who still blames Spidey for killing his father, and saving NYC from all the thugs.

Things are so bad, that he decides to give it all up, and lead a normal life....until a freak accident leaves Dr. Otto Octavius, a doc who Parker idolizes, with 4 testicles....I mean tenticles, welded to his body.  He becomes the new villian, Dr. Octopus, or Doc Ock as they called him.

Harry enlists him to bring Spider-man to him alive.  In return, Harry will give Doc Ock teh Tridium he needs to create the machine that f'ed him up in the first place.

Better acting this time around by Tobey McGuire and Kirsen Dunst.  I wasn't to thrilled with James Franco's performance, but he's a decent actor, and got through this movie.  And then there is Alfred Molina, Doc Ock.  Brilliant performance .  I haven't seen him in any other big blockbuster films, so this was a slight change for him and he adapted perfectly.  He stole this movie from everyone, and kicked some ass while doing it.

[BWilli]

Another film I had been waiting to see opened up yesterday on my b-day.  So I went to see "King Arthur".  I love big epic movies....Braveheart, Troy, Gladiator and now....King Arthur.  What a great movie.

The film is different than any other movie about King Arthur I've ever seen.  I loved the movie "Excalibur", but "King Arthur" was different, and it was better.

Although the legend of King Arthur has not been historically established as fact, this film will attempt to place King Arthur within his possible historic context, smack between the fall of the Roman Empire (just a few hundred years after Gladiator) and the long road through the Dark Ages (roughly set in the 5th or 6th centuries).

Arthur and the Knights of the Round table are done with their 15 years of service.  All they want to do now, is go home.  But first, the Bishop sends them on one final mission...to bring a Roman family out of harms way of the Saxons.  Here, they rescue Guinevere from a dungeon under the families home.  Arthur decides to save all the surfs owned by the Roman family.  When the Saxons arrive, nobody is there, so they follow Arthur and the large group.

Okay...I don't want to spoil anything else....so I'll just say that a whole lot of kick-ass action ensues afterwards.

As for the acting....MAGNIFICENT.  With the exception of Clive Owen, Keira Knightley, and Stellan Skarsgård, I haven't heard of the other actors, but I'll be sure to try and catch some of their other films.

Clive Owen as Arthur -  Amazing performance.  I hadn't seen him in many movies before, although he is pretty famous in the UK.  He showed a lot of aggression in this part, and it worked.  He showed Arthurs courage and leadership perfectly.  I'd nominate him now for an Oscar if I could.

Ioan Gruffudd as Lancelot - Another great performance.  Another actor I haven't seen anything else from (but he's done a lot of stuff, including Horatio Hornblower).  Wonderful portrayal of Lancelot.

Keira Knightley as Guinevere- She just keeps getting better and better each time I see her on screen.  Ok...so I've only seen three of her films, but I've liked them all.  She's a good actress and showed that again here.  And she also showed that she can kick some ass and look pretty damn good while doing it.

Stellan Skarsgård as Cerdic (leader of the Saxons) - Man alive this guy blew me away.  He plays one cool mean bad guy.  He's played the bad guy in a few other films, but I can see this character, and his poratyal of him on the next AFI 100 Heroes and Villains as a top villain.

All in all, great movie, great acting, great directing by Antoine Fuqua (Training Day).

[BWilli]

bought a few DVDs with some b-day money...one of those is "Bad(der) Santa", the unrated version.

I had wanted to see this in theaters but never got the chance.

The film stars Billy Bob Thornton, Tony Cox, Lauren Grahm, Bernie Mac, and the late John Ritter.

Thornton stars as an "eating, drinking, f*cking" miserable mall Santa, w/ Cox as the Elf.  Each year they are hired but I different mall, and right before they're done with the term, they rip-off the mall.

While on the job in Phoenix, Thornton meets a truoble youngster who is constantly being picked on.  All the kid seems to do is ask questions, in turn, annoying the hell out of Thornton, who no matter how pissed off he gets, can't seem to leave the kid.

Extremely funny movie, with a lot of use of the word fuck, and a terrific performance by Thornton.  I'm not sure how many times "fuck" was actually said in this movie, but it's gotta be some sorta record.

Two