Movie Review: Dredd 3D (R - 95 minutes)

Judge Dredd's first appearance was in the 1977 British comic strip, created by John Wagner and Carlos Ezquerra.  He was an American 'Judge' in the dystopian future of 2099.  The Judges were a law enforcement agency empowered to arrest, sentence, and even execute criminals on the spot as they patrolled the giant future 'Mega-City One' which takes up most of what used to be the American East Coast. 

Dredd took the Dirty Harry cop mentality to a new end, with his custom 'Lawgiver' pistol (which fired 6 types of ammunition, and was coded to his palmprint) and 'Lawmaster' motorcycle.  Dredd famously never removed his helmet and when pictured in flashbacks - his face is obscured. 
In 1995, Danny Cannon directed the first film escapade of Judge Dredd.  It starred Slyvester Stallone and Rob Schneider as well as Diane Lane and Armand Assante.

The film is widely regarded as one of the worst movies ever.  The trailer above actually makes it look pretty good.  Trust me, it is not.  It could not maintain the gritty, urban feel of the comic, threw in a useless comic sidekick, plus, in a move that angered all the Dredd fans - he rarely wears the helmet.  It truly is terrible, but if you are curious - you can Netflix it, but you have been warned.

The new Dredd shot in 3D in Cape Town, South Africa gets everything right that the first one got wrong.  It's directed by Pete Travis, who also did Vantage Point, in which a presidential assasination attempt gets retold from several different 'vantage points' - get it?  I really liked that movie - you should rent it and check it out. 

Vantage Point was gritty and quick; a style that lends itself to the new Dredd.

 

Real-life Dredd fan Karl Urban stars as Judge Dredd, attempting to maintain peace and order in the giant Mega-City One.  Dredd gets assigned to run an assesment on a new young recruit to the Judges force, who just happens to be a mutant.  Not a fun, X-men, brightly-colored, superpowered type of mutant, but a quiet, nervous, psychic mutant.  He picks her up at the Hall of Justice (anyone else have a hard time hearing that without going, "Meanwhile...at the ..."), she decides they should head out to solve a triple murder at one of the giant residential buildings called Peach Trees.  Unbeknownst to the two of them, the majority of the Peach Trees (200 levels) is run by a vicious drug lord Ma-Ma, who is making and distributing a new drug that is spreading through Mega City One, called Slo-Mo.  The drug makes the user feel like time is moving at 1% of its normal pace.  The two judges capture one of Ma-Ma's distributors, and to prevent them from taking him back to the Hall of Justice ("Meanwhile...at the Legion of Doom...") for interrogation, she forces the building into lockdown, trapping the judges inside, and asks the residents to deliver the judges to her.  They then need to get out alive with their captive, while avoiding her henchmen.  Simple, clean, easy to understand and well put together.

The genius of making the Slo-Mo drug have the time slowing effect makes for some fantastic use of the 3D.  The first time it is used is in a car chase, and just briefly.  There is then a shot of Ma-Ma in a bathtub, watching the water drip from her hand while on the drug.  The effects are stunning.  The violence is frequent and brutal, but again, looks very cool in the Slo-Mo setting.  I also found it interesting that in this movie, nothing is wasted, every flashback has information that is used again later in the story.  That's how you get the most from your budget, and is a trick Travis used previously in Vantage Point. 

The cast is relatively small, and very good.

• Unlike Stallone, who had never heard of Judge Dredd until he got the role, Karl Urban has been a fan since his teenage years.  He has been building quite the career in genre-based entertainment since 1996 on Hercules: the Legendary Journeys.  He followed that up with the Lord of the Rings trilogy, which shot in his native New Zeland, Ghost Ship, Chronicles of Riddick, Bourne Supremecy, Doom, Pathfinder, R.E.D, Star Trek and Priest.  He completely embodies Dredd, giving him a determined growl, and hey - true fans - he never removes the helmet!
• Olivia Thirlby is a classically trained actress from New York who has done mostly small independent movies up to this point.  She plays Judge Anderson, the new young psychic recruit to the judges.  She gives Anderson a quiet confidence with a determination to become a judge and help make the world better.  The psychic abilities are not overused, although, conveniently, they work better without the helmet, so she spends most of the movie without hers. 
• Wood Harris is Ma-Ma's Slo-Mo distributor that they capture and have to lug around for the majority of the movie.  He does a good job with what could have a been a minor character, but turns out to be very interesting.  I particularly like the mental battle he has with Thirlby's phsychic Judge Anderson, where he thinks he might be able to shock her, and she proves him wrong.
• Lena Heady plays Ma-Ma and is the most memorable thing in this movie.  From her opening sequence where she is on Slo-Mo and moves the water in her tub, to the flashbacks that show her rise from former hooker to ultra-violent drug lord, to the scenes where she shuts down the building and demands the judges - she is captivating.  I first remember seeing her in 300, then Terminator: the Sarah Conner Chronicles, and most recently on Game of Thrones.  She just reads as mean, tough, and evil.  And thanks to my rabid viewing of FaceOff on SyFy, I was very impressed with the scar on her face!

I really enjoyed this movie, top to bottom.  The effects are great, the story is simple - and hey! it's only an hour and a half long.  I particularly enjoyed Thirlby's performance, more than I expected, as sometimes the female characters are at best two dimensional in these types of movies (tough for me, because I love these types of movies and want to see more strong females in them) and at worst, dumb, useless throw-away characters.  The mutant psychic powers were understated, and well used.  There is one scene where she gets captured, and again I was worried we were going to have to see what had been a strong female character (up to that point) resuced by the male lead.  She actually resuces herself, kills some bad guys, evades capture, then makes it just in time to rescue Dredd!  Awesome.  Go see this - in 3D, it's well worth it!
8 out of 10 - Gained points for Judge Anderson being badass, Lost points for all the slow motion bullets ripping through cheeks - ick.  Gained points for the almost real-time unfolding and the trapped in a building setup.  That's how you save money.

Bonus Video 1:  Urban on Hercules/Xena...

 

Bonus Video 2: Headey in 300 - in case you had forgotten the visual masterpiece that was 300. 

 Bonus Video 3:  Cast Interviews:

Movie Review: Resident Evil: Retribution (R - 95 minutes)

The first Resident Evil videogame came out from Capcom in 1996.  I remember playing it - or attempting to (it was hard) in college late at night, and promptly getting zombie nightmares.  I haven't played any of the games since! 
The rights to turn the game to a movie were bought by Constantin Film in 1997.  They actualy asked zombie legend George A. Romero to write a script for it, however, Paul W.S. Anderson wrote one that was liked better, and in 2002, Resident Evil, starring his wife-to-be Milla Jovovich was released.

The plot was simple - virus breaks out in underground lab - turns employees into zombies - the artificial intelligence that runs the lab locks it down - elite team fights to get out.  There were some more complicated pieces of who released the virus and why - but the result was a really fun zombie action movie.  Milla and Michelle Rodriguez further established themselves as legitmate action stars.  The movie was a success, and so was promptly followed by Resident Evil Apocalypse, in which the T-virus gets out of the facility and into the city above.

The last scene of the first movie is the first scene of the second movie - establishing a flow that the other movies maintain.  The second one introduces the S.T.A.R.S. elite operatives, who are a part of the games.  This movie was even faster than the first.  After all - they had a whole city to run with in this one, as opposed to just the one underground lab.  Anderson turned directing duties over to Alexander Witt, as he was busy working on AVP.  Of course, we then roll into the third movie, Resident Evil Extinction.

For the third outing, the virus has spread across the country - and things are starting to get really difficult for the living that are left.  Director Russell Mulcahy broke from the mold and shot the majority of this movie in the brightest sunlight possible, which means the zombie makeup better be good - because there are very few shadows to hide it in.  This introduced even more characters from the game and ended with Alice rescuing hordes of her clones, which rolls perfectly into Resident Evil Afterlife.

Anderson was back to direct this fourth installment, and it is the first movie to use the Avatar 3D cameras that James Cameron invented.  Incidentally, Milla accidentally shot a $100,000 cameras while filming this movie.  Alice and clones attack Umbrella's Japan base, then she goes searching for the promised "Arcadia" which is supposed to be uninfected.  This movie ends on a ship/tanker just of the coast of L.A., which is exactly where Resident Evil Retribution starts.

Paul W.S. Anderson (you have to use the W.S., because there is another Paul Thomas Anderson who is a director, he did Magnolia, and other Oscar-y, non-fun type movies) is back to direct this fifth installment, which is again in 3D and picks up right where the last one left off.  The title sequence is really nifty and is played over the battle on the tanker in reverse.  Alice once again gets captured and we see her interrogated by Jill Valentine - who is back after being last seen in the second movie.  Ada Wong breaks into the facility in which Alice is being kept, says she as Wesker (the villian from the 4th movie) are now working together against the Umbrella corporation.  Wong and Wesker explain that Alice is being held in an Umbrella testing facility that features downtowns of various major cities, and one suburban setting for them to test different bio-weapons; all kinds of bio-weapons.  The base is under the Arctic Ice, at what used to be a Russian sub manufacturing plant.  Wesker has sent in a task force of mercenaries, that features Leon S. Kennedy, Barry Burton, and Luthor West.  Leon and Barry are game characters, Luthor survived the last movie.  Alice and Ada fight through the various settings as the task force fights through the other direction.  Alice encounters more clones of the operatives from the first movie in her escape.  Eventually they make it out, leaving space for a big fight scene with Alice, Ada, Valentine, Rain (Rodriguez), Leon, and Luthor.  Survivors escape on a helicopter to Weskers new base of operations, where he recruits Alice to help him win the final fight for the survival of humanity....thus rolling into what I presume will be RE6 - probably out in two years time.

I do love these movies - they are fun and fast.  This one clocks in at just over an hour and a half, which I think is the perfect length for a movie like this.  You really don't need to know much about it, Alice kicks zombie ass.  Anderson again uses the fancy 3D, which makes for some very cool sequences, nothing quite as cool as the quarter-gun in the last movie, though.  There is one opening suburban sequences that made me jump twice as zombies popped out when I wasn't expecting them.  Or, I was expecting it - but they still made me jump!  The cast is fun because many of the people who had been killed off previously are back, now that Umbrella has taking to cloning actors from previous movies:

• Milla Jovovich as Alice - what can you say?  Since the Fifth Element, she's been fun, watchable, and legitimately action oriented.  If you haven't seen Fifth Element in a while, rent that now.  Of course, the first thing I remember her from is Kuffs.  If you haven't seen that - rent it now.  She's still badass in this one, despite she and Anderson having had a baby recently.
• Sienna Guillroy is back as Jill Valentine.  Valentine showed up in RE2, and popped in as a teaser at the end of RE4 - her hair is long and blond now, which did confuse me a little, as she was very short and dark at the end of RE2.  She has a great fight sequence with Milla near the end of the movie, and spends the rest of it bossing clone operatives around.  She has also been in Eragon, which I saw, and InkHeart, which I also saw, both of them were just okay.
• Michelle Rodriguez plays two different versions of Rain in this picture - remember, Umbrella is cloning people all over the place.  Random trivia - Michelle was such a fan of the video game when it first came out that she told her agent if it ever got made into a movie, she wanted in.  Thus the reason she was in the first one, and got upset when she got killed at the end of it! It's very fun to see her play the laid back hippie version of herself (incidentally hippie Michelle Rodriguez is still pretty much a badass), then the full out combat version of herself from the first movie, and then the amped up on T-Virus Las Plagas Parasite super version of herself.  She's crazy good for this type of flick.
• Li BingBing or BingBing Li plays Ada Wong.  It seemed to me like all of her lines were looped in later, it was a little distracting, but may only be my issue!  She was fine, I'm not familiar with the character from the game, so who knows how accurate she was.  I do find it interesting anytime someone breaks into a high security holding facility in an evening gown.
• Boris Kodjoe is back as Luthor West, he doesn't have a ton to do - but really, it is not needed in this.  Here's a big gun, point it at the zombies. 
• Johann Urb, formerly of the CW's The Mountain, plays Leon S. Kennedy - a character that they have attempted to work into several of the previous movies but finally gets some screen time in this one. 
• Shawn Roberts is back as Wesker, who was portrayed by everyone's favorite time traveling cop, Jason O'Mara in the tiny bit the character had in RE3 (O'Mara time traveled as a cop in Life on Mars and again in Terra Nova...apparently any TV show that has time traveling cops is Jason O'Mara territory.)  Roberts picked up the character in RE4, and again here, plays him as cucumber cool behind his creepy sunglasses.  He took away Alice's powers at the beginning of 4, and gives them back at the end of 5.  Presumably she will need them in 6.  He's not in this one very much, and spends the time he has working hard to fill out an under-armor style shirt, and yes, recruit help for the final battle to save humanity.
• Kevin Durand (Legion, Real Steel, Wolverine, Smokin' Aces...I love him) joins the band of mercenaries as Barry Burton - again, not a ton to do - big gun, kill zombies.  Some random trivia for you, he's real life BFFs with Russell Crowe, which is why he always shows up in Russell Crowe movies (3:10 to Yuma, Robin Hood, Mystery Alaska).
• Oded Fehr is back as Carlos Olivera and a couple of cloned Carloses and gets to play with Jovovich in the suburban hallucination sequence.  Incidentally, has no issue making gunplay look natural as was trained in the Israeli army - again, that should win you a trivia contest someday.
• The exquisitely elegant Colin Salmon plays 'One' again - but you know, another clone as he was chopped into tiny pieces by a laser grid in the first movie.  We'll have to see if he reprises his role as M's sidekick in the new Bond, which he had for all the Pierce Brosnan Bond movies.

 

If you're not expecting anything more than zombie fighting in 3D - you'll love this.  If you're expecting anymore than that...you will probably be disappointed.  As with all the previous films, it ends by rolling smoothly into the next one, and made me excited to see what they will do there!  Short, fun, and popcorn-y.
8 out of 10 - gained points for the suburban sequence, creepy and fun.  Lost points for being the first RE movie without zombie dogs, who knew I would miss them?  Gained points for the giant Licker, those things are ridiculous and just keep getting bigger.  Lost points for the survivors of the last movie really only showing up in the first five minutes of this one.  Lame - exactly what are the Redfields doing at this point?
Bonus Video 1 - the teaser trailers for 2 and 3, this series had some of the very best teaser trailers.  In the one for 2 - check the doberman, before it goes zombie...and in 3, just the best way to use Vegas!

Bonus Video 2:  I love most of Anderson's movies...especially AVP - but here's the first reason he will always be one of my favorite directors:

Bonus Video 3:  Cast Interviews!

Movie Review: The Cold Light of Day (PG13 - 93 minutes)

There's nothing wrong with keeping a movie short, especially if the movie is unoriginal and average.  Lockout was something from earlier this year that made use of a short running time.  I think that 90 minutes, give or take, is a great length for an average movie.  It's short enough that if you really don't enjoy it, you're not too upset; and if you loved it, it leaves you wanting more. 
The Cold Light of Day is three minutes past an hour and a half - and thank goodness, you really wouldn't want it to be any longer.  Where Lockout was silly, over-the-top and fun; Cold Light of Day is bland and boring.

Director Mabrouk El Mechri has done a few french films that I have not seen, and one that I have.  JCVD is a small independent movie that came out in 2008.  It's 97 minutes long and it's almost impossible to describe.  It's a semi-autobiographical picture in which action movie legend Jean-Claude Van Damme plays himself having a really bad day.  He has to get money from a bank to his lawyer or risk losing his kids through a difficult divorce proceeding.  The bank gets robbed, and he has to come to grips with who he is, compared to who he is perceived to be.  It is quiet, small, intelligent, and mostly in french - but so worth the rental, in fact, I think it's available streaming on Netflix.  Check it out, it's absolutely not what you expected.

On the other hand, El Mechri's new picture, the Cold Light Of Day is, unfortunately, exactly what you expected, almost the entire way through.  Where JCVD was shot quick and small; the attempt to use a similar style for this 'thriller' comes off as a misfire.

Henry Cavill plays Will, a young businessman who has just arrived in Spain to spend a week vacationing with his mother, father, younger brother and his brother's girlfriend on a sailboat.  Unfortunately for Will, he's upset because his company has just gone bankrupt.  He goes ashore, and while he's away, his family goes missing.  He attempts to contact local police for help, only to bump into his father, who drops the bombshell that he's really a CIA agent, and has always been.  Apparently the family is being held as ransom while the kidnappers demand a briefcase that Martin (the father) had just delivered to his superiors.  Will must then negotiate various chase sequences through Spanish streets, and find what help he can to get his family back.  He enlists the help of a woman whose uncle is friends with his father.  He then encounters some Israeli agents, more CIA, and more cops.  Oh, and you never find out what is in the briefcase.  I am telling you that now so it won't upset you later.
If that sounded a bit ludicrous to you, you're correct.  Secret CIA operatives, rogue agents, mysterious briefcases, Israeli agents, Spanish city streets; all of that could piece together to make an interesting movie.  The opening sequence of the family assembling on the sailboat involves dialogue to set up their relationships, but feels really forced, clunky, and fake.  Will gets in touch with the police once he finds that the family is missing, but suspects they might be working against him, so he runs away, and promptly runs into his father.  Will states earlier in the movie that they family moved through 9 different countries while he was growing up, would he really not speak any spanish?  And why would he leave the American Embassy with a suspicious person, when at this point he's convinced everyone is after him?

 

When I stopped thinking and just sat and watched, the action sequences were fun, the locations were beautiful, and the pacing was good.  In terms of casting, everybody was okay, but not great:

• Henry Cavill as Will, honestly, the reason I wanted to see this movie is to keep watching him in different things before Man of Steel comes out next year.  After this movie - it did nothing to change my opinion that the new Superman will be a disaster.  Cavill is fine, his american accent is passable, I'm just not sure I bought him in this particular role.  He is sufficiently confused, but then continues to react flatly as more and more craziness happens as the movie goes on.  He does determined well, but I have no idea if that will apply to Superman.  Maybe it's unfair to compare everything he's doing to a Superman performance that isn't out yet, but in all honesty, that's what I'm thinking about.
• Bruce Willis plays Martin, Will's secret CIA agent father.  SPOILER ALERT (or maybe not), he gets killed pretty quickly.  This is pretty obvious from the trailers, as he is not around for the majority of the action.  In all honesty, his death was so quick and sudden, I kept expecting him to come back.  Similar to the way I kept expecting Morgan Freeman to come back in R.E.D.  Willis is only briefly in this movie, and probably could do this type of role with his eyes shut by now. 
• Sigorney Weaver is the reason to see this movie - if you see this movie.  SPOILER ALERT (or again, maybe not - it's obvious in the trailers) she's the bad guy.  She does such a good job of being quietly icy about everything that happens in the movie.  She's totally unflappable, and just assumes she's going to come out on top.  She also shoots people left and right (right out in public!) for almost no reason.
• Veronica Echegui plays the neice of Martin's friend Diego.  She joins Will on his adventures, and helps him after he gets shot at the club she works at, providing some very entertaining side characters, who are only briefly used.
• Joseph Mawle - most recently seen in Game of Thrones as Benjen Stark (or you know, not seen), plays Weaver's henchman.  He's a bit frightening.
• Rafi Gavron plays the younger brother, but honestly, that character, his girlfriend, and the mother have nothing to do.

So, yes, the potential was there, but the movie was a bit disappointing.  It moved pretty quickly - again, thank goodness it was short!  I think that I wanted more from it than it gave me, but, again, decent action sequences, a cold, evil performance from Weaver, and enough beautiful shots of sailboating in the Spanish Mediterranean to make you wonder if you could afford that vacation.
5 out of 10 - directly middle of the road...meh.  Gained points for the locations and scenery...pretty!  Lost points for not giving me more of the neice's club friends, because they were cool!  Lost points for Cavil walking weird.  He carries himself strange, and shorter than he is.  I wonder if that was a conscious acting choice, reflecting Will's confusion and uncertainty (I might be reading too much into it there)?  Or is he bowlegged?  hmm....Time to go check the Tudors, or the Immortals.  Speaking of which:
Bonus Video 1:  Cavill in the Tudors - HBO's amazing Henry the VIII tv series.  He played the king's best friend.  He's not doing any walking in this scene, so who knows if he really is bowlegged.  Warning - this scene gets a little steamy towards the end (but only a little)!

Bonus Video 2:  Man of Steel trailer.  There's just so many things wrong with this I don't even know where to begin... to start with, I don't believe that there is a major fishing industry in Kansas, and even though Kevin Costner is doing the voice over, it's not a baseball movie...Argh! this looks terrible!  Nevermind, I'm going to re-watch season 10 of Smallville again...

Bonus Video 3:  Cast interviews!

Movie Review: Hit and Run (R - 100 minutes)

Some time ago - a TV sitcom star named Ashton Kutcher had a show on MTV where he and a group of sketch comedy artists would "Punk" celebrities by putting them in awkward situations.  You remember that, right?  From back in the day? It was called Punk'd and the first two season were actually really funny.

One of the comedians on that show was Dax Shepard. Dax grew up in a small town in Michigan and then went to UCLA and graduated with a degree in anthropology. He is improv comedy specialist, which was obvious on Punk'd.  Dax's hobbies include snowboarding, motorcycles, snowmobiles, basketball, and collecting fast cars.  The success of Punk'd, and Dax's role in it, allowed him to get some parts in other movies: Zathura, Employee of the Month, Idiocracy, Without a Paddle, and my favorite of his movies, When in Rome.

The significant part of Dax being in When in Rome is that he met Kristen Bell and they started dating.  Eventually Dax decided he'd like to make a movie using all his friends and his cars.  He wrote a script, pulled together a budget of $2,000,000 (half of which went to buying the rights to several songs in the movie), and co-directed it with his friend David Palmer. 

The story follows a reformed bank robbery getaway driver, formerly Yul Perkins and currently Charlie Bronson, living in witness protection after attempting to testify against the rest of his crew.  He is currently living in a small town with his new girlfriend, Annie, who knows a little about his previous life but doesn't know exactly what he used to do or why exactly he is in witness protection.  She gets an incredible job offer in L.A., and knowing that his ex-crew lives there and he shouldn't go back, he loves her enough to drive her to L.A. for the interview.
Along the way - they encounter his hapless Federal Marshal protector, her crazy ex-boyfriend and his state trooper brother, elderly swingers, a random redneck, and of course, his old crew.  Hijinks and car chases ensue.  Because the budget was so low - and there was no insurance on set - Dax did most of his own stunt driving.

He asked all of his friends to do the movie, supplied the majority of the cars, did the stunt driving, the writing, and the directing, and thusly, made the movie for almost no money - ensuring that whatever it makes will be almost all profit.  It's a very smart way to make a movie - and if you have the connections, I highly recommend it.  Especially if you can turn out something this good.  The advantage to casting your friends is that the chemistry is already there, and the opportunity for improv is higher. 

This is particularly evident in any scene that Dax and Kristin have together.  Because they are a real-life couple, the scenes of Charlie and Annie are well played and really believable.  The chemistry is great, and the relationship feels genuine.  If you've already seen Forgetting Sarah Marshall, then you know how funny Kristen Bell can be.  If you haven't seen that - you should probably rent it now, as it is absolutely hilarious!  The rest of the cast is equally as entertaining.

• Michael Rosenbaum (my all time favorite Lex Luthor) plays a character that he is beginning to corner the market on: the douchey ex-boyfriend, Gil.  He is ridiculous and crazy, and is very funny.  And look - hair!
• Tom Arnold plays the Marshal attempting to protect Charlie. He is bumbling and out of control - and really seems to just be playing himself.  In fact, most of the people in this movie are.  It makes me wonder if Dax wrote it with these people in mind, so that they had the least amount of work to do as possible.
• David Koechner shows up, again mostly playing himself - or the redneck trucker version of himself. 
• Kristin Chenoweth is the co-worker that sets Annie up with the interview in L.A. She is hilarious, but again, playing a character we've seen her do multiple times before. 
• Ryan Hansen (who used to be on Veronica Mars, and is married to one of Bell's best friends) plays Allen, one of the members of Charlie's old crew.  There's no explanation for his suit - or his backflip skill - which just adds to the comedy.
• Joy Bryant plays another member of the old crew - the hot chick, because of course, there's a hot chick in every bank robbing crew.
• Jess Rowland steps in as Gil's state patrolman brother Terry.  Very tall and very funny.
• Sexiest Man Alive (according to People Magazine - not necessarily according to me, but close) Bradley Cooper plays Alex, the leader of Charlie's old crew, and apparent dog lover.  The wig is terrible, but he has said it is the same wig from the beginning of Limitless, and they simply dreaded it - to save money.  Cooper can do comedy - and is also good at action, did you see the latest A-team?  you should, in case you didn't, because he shows off both the comedy and action chops in that movie.  He is absolutely the villain of this movie and does a great job.
• Also Beau Bridges is in this - He's good, but it seems weird that he's in it - although he totally fits the tone and does a great job.

All in all - see if, if not because you think it will be entertaining (which it definitely is), then because you want to support the idea that a dude can write a script, pull together a little bit of money and all his friends and make a great movie.  Of course, I really wanted the gag reel to be over the end credits - because anytime a group of friends make a movie - that's all I want to see!
8 out of 10:  gained points for Cooper assaulting the pit bull owner in the store - hilarious.  Lost points for Chenoweth's weird massage scene.  Gained points for the car chases - fun and funny!  Lost points for the old swingers, weird.  Gained points for Rosenbaum.  Yay.

Bonus Video 1:  Bell as Sarah Marshall in two of Sarah Marshall's terrible TV shows...too funny!

Bonus Video 2:  The other movie I love by a dude who wrote a script, and pulled together all his friends to shoot a movie:  Clerks:

Bonus Video 3:  Up a Creek - totally bizarre comedy with Seth Green, Matthew Lillard and Dax Sheppard...just weird, and they do encounter Burt Reynolds.

Bonus Video 4:  Bradley Cooper as he was the first time I saw him - on Alias.

Bonus Video 5: I love Rosenbaum because of Smallville...however, if you have any questions about his comic skills - rent and watch Sorority Boys.  It's insane, but really funny!

 

Bonus Video 6;  cast interviews!

Movie Review: Premiun Rush (PG13 - 91 minutes)

The last great cycling movie I saw was....hmmm...Okay, I don't remember ever seeing any great cycling movies.  To be honest, I didn't even watch that much cycling with the London 2012 games this summer.  I did watch some of the Velodrome races, with the solid wheel and the weird helmets and the no brakes; I also watched some of the mountain biking competitions, which were insane.

When I went into Premium Rush, the latest movie from Director David Koepp, I'm not sure what I was expecting.  JGL being awesome, an early look at new Zod, and the return of X3/Heroes's Dania Ramirez were all pieces, but aside from that, I didn't really have any expectations.

I am going to go out on a limb and say that if you are really into the New York City bicycle-messenger sub-culture, then this is your movie!  If you are not all that into the New York City bicycle-messenger sub-culture, I'm guessing you'll be entertained, but not overwhelmingly so.   Joseph Gordon-Levitt plays Wilee (as in coyote), a bike messenger who "rides like he has a death wish."  His voice-over repeatedly states "I like to ride. Fixed gear. No brakes. Can't stop. Don't want to, either."  I felt like he said that 12 times, but that may be an exaggeration.  Wilee apparently has dropped out of law school because he can't do 'the suit thing', and is loving his life as a messenger.  He picks up an envelope at 5:33 from Jamie Chung, which must be delivered across town by 7:00 pm.  Unbeknownst to him, a dirty cop, played by Michael Shannon, is also after the envelope.  This results in the chase sequence that lasts all movie.  Well, that's not entirely true.  The movie is a bit non-linear, cutting back and forth in time to provide backstory on Wilee, Chung's character, the other bike messengers, the cop, and even the envelope. 

David Koepp directs the movie at a consistent level of pace that is constantly moving.  It is always go, go, GO.  That's fine, and makes for good action, but also never gives you time to relax, and because the entire movie is at that pace, really, the climax is almost anti-climatic.  Koepp has previously done Ghost Town, Secret Window, Trigger Effect, and Stir of Echoes.  Secret Window was a Johnny Depp movie in which he's a writer who goes crazy and is stalked by (or is he?) John Tuturro with a bad southern accent and an even worse hat.  Because, let's be honest, when you go crazy - you are stalked by John Tuturro.  I have also seen Stir of Echoes, and both of these movies are more quiet, more still, and do not bear much resemblance to Premium Rush.  So Koepp appears to be breaking out of his box with this movie.

Everything is in motion in this movie from the very beginning.  There are some very cool sequences that overlay a map on the city - which happens every time a messenger needs to get from A to B - so perhaps could have been used a little less.  I also enjoyed the style choice of having Wilee approach a situation, and use his bike-messenger super power of slow-mo vision to run three scenarios of where to ride his bike and what would happen to him.  For example, he approaches an intersection - he looks left, envisions himself riding that way, only to crash into a jogger.  He looks center - no, collides with a taxi.  He looks to the right and sees a clear path on the sidewalk, check - rides to the right.  That is cool - the first time you see it, but again, it's overused a little.

The cast is believable and entertaining:

• Joseph Gordon Levitt again does a good job.  It's an interesting choice for him compared to some of his other choices lately.  Between the Dark Knight, this and Looper - he's having quite a year.  Incidentally, he took this movie pretty seriously, doing as much of his own riding as possible, to the point that he crashed into a taxi and had to get 31 stitches, they play that over the credits at the end of the movie.  He plays Wilee convincingly, with just the right touch of snark, and boy does he love to ride!  Or so he says over and over again while attempting to woo a fellow messenger - or maybe re-woo? 

• Dania Ramierez plays the object of woo, a fellow messenger who rides equally fast and furious, but does put a brake on her bike.  This leads to a "brakes are death" discussion that I really didn't understand - but again, I am not a bike messenger.  She may or may not be still into Wilee, and she may or may not be attempting to make him jealous with another messenger.  She's fine in this - but really it just made me want to watch X3 again, to see Halle Berry electrocute her.
• Wole Parks, previously seen in a bunch of New York TV shows (Gossip Girl, Law-n-Order), makes his film debut as Manny - who is the new up and coming hotness in terms of bike messengers.  His bike has fancy gears and brakes, and he's faster and prettier than everyone else - according to him anyway.  I also enjoy that he answers his phone, "Manny's office, this is Manny speaking" while riding his bike.  He's the main foil for Wilee - he's constantly hitting on Wilee's girl, he's constantly bragging that he's faster than Wilee, he's taking some of Wilee's deliveries, he's insulting Wilee's bike (not his bike!?!). 
• Daily Show correspondant Aasif Mandvi must have had some time off this summer to be in this movie as the Bike Messenger service owner/coordinator.  He's the guy who answers the phone and tells the messengers where to go and when.
• As mentioned, Jamie Chung plays Nima, the woman with the envelope who starts off this chain reaction of madness.  Her character is a Chinese immigrant here on a student visa (listen to Jamie fake a chinese accent), who has to secretly get money across town to - well, I suppose I shouldn't tell you, that being the big secret and all.  Nima is also a friend of Wilee's because she is Dania's roommate and also works at the law school where Wilee went.  It's a little confusing.  She has less to do here than she did in Suckerpunch...let me take this opportunity to say if you haven't seen Suckerpunch, you're one of the lucky ones and please don't.  Ever.
• Anthony Chisholm plays an older bike messenger who seems to be in the movie to be made fun of, and to say his catchphrase: "People take heed!"  Well, he only says it twice, so maybe it's not a catchphrase...
• Christopher Place plays a beleaguered bike cop.  It's a small role, but I'm mentioning him because he is hilarious in the pieces that he has. 
• The reason to see this movie is Michael Shannon.  Not just because you're curious about him before he plays Zod in the new Superman next year, but because he is an Oscar nominated actor (it was for Revolutionary Road - no, I didn't see that either).  He's the villian in this and really chews into all the scenery, which is difficult, because it's always moving past very quickly.  His dirty cop is slimy and dispicable and watchable. 

So overall - it's an entertaining movie - pretty fun, decently put together.  Good, but not great.  I think however, if you are a bike messenger in New York City - or simply really into that lifestyle, you'll love this.  That is of course, if you haven't already gotten your fill from the documentary Triple Rush which is also about bike messengers and was filmed at the same time, using many of the same extras - so that messenger flash mob at the end?  All real bike messengers. 
6 out of 10.  Gained points for the slick camera tricks that made me feel like I was riding the bike.  Also lost points for that - as it went on, it got closer to making me nauseous.  Gained points for Wole Parks - he was fun.  Lost points for Nima showing up at the place where Wilee was supposed to deliver the envelope to, right after he delivered it - which was just after 7:00 pm, which of course was the climax of the movie.  So - why couldn't she have just taken it there herself?

Bonus Video 1: Some Random Velodrome action - seriously, the Individual Pursuit is one of the most bizarre sports ever, only to be outdone by the team pursuit.

 

Bonus Video 2: The first part of the first episode of Third Rock From the Sun - in case you forgot where JGL started...

 

Bonus Video 3:  ...and then there's Angels in the Outfield:

Bonus Video 4:  Cast interviews!

Movie Review: The Campaign (85 minutes - R)

I love the old ZAZ (Zucker, Abrams, and Zucker) production team comedies.  They were from here in Milwaukee, and their comedies were absolutely hilarious.  Even if you don't know them, you know their movies:  Airplane, Naked Gun, Hot Shots, and my favorite, Top Secret:

"Yes, I know a little German....and he's sitting right over there!"  Hilarious.  Rent that now.

Most current comedies are tough for me to get on board with - I don't think dirty jokes for the sake of dirty jokes are funny...I'd much prefer clever funny.  And I don't particularly care for slapstick.  So, more precisely, maybe my taste is comedies is very particular.  Or, even more precisely, maybe I can only tolerate Will Farrell in smaller doses, or in movies where he is surrounded by supporting characters who are equally funny and bizarre.  Anchorman would be the best example of this:

It's not that I don't find Will Ferrell funny - it's that I find him funny for about 10 minutes...then I don't anymore.  In The Campaign, a timely comedy from Jay Roach (Dinner for Schmucks, all the Austin Powers movies, all the Meet the Parents movies) Farrell and Zach Galifinakis square off running for Congressman from North Carolina.

 



Farrell's Cam Brady is an incombent congressman from North Carolina's 14th district who has been running unopposed for many years.  He slips up - leaves an R rated message on the answering machine of a very conservative family while he thinks that he is calling his mistress - and so the billionaire brothers who were backing him decide to look elsewhere for a puppet they can control.  They settle on mild-mannered Marty Huggins, who is currently running the tourisim center in town.  Marty is gentle and good natured, and wants to help the town.  The brothers want to control the district to sell it to China = insourcing.  Cam gets upset that he finally has competition, causing the campaign to get dirty.  Hijinks ensue.  Marty starts out wanting to make his father proud, and make the town better, Cam eventually comes to a realization what he truly cares about, and the rich brothers get their comeuppance. The cast is small - and most of them are very entertaining. Will Farrell as Cam Brady is good, but again, feels a little like an SNL sketch you've seen him do already.  And he's funny, no doubt, but I just got a little tired of him. Zach Galifinakis is very funny - again, playing a character we've seen him do in his standup routine.  He does manage to bring a touch of sweetness to Marty. Dylan McDermott plays the dirty campaign manager.  Who knew Dylan McDermott could be funny?  He does play this very straight, and very dark - and the list of his characters nicknames during the scene that plays over the credits is hilarious. Jason Sudekis plays Cam's campaign manager, and is very funny when trying to get Farrell under wraps.  The more out of control Farrell gets, the more toned down Sudekis's performance gets, and that made me just want to watch the gag reel of the two of them together. Dan Ackroyd and John Lithgow play the old rich brothers.  They were fine, and decently funny, but for some reason - looking at them in their mansion setting made me want to watch Trading Places.  If you haven't seen that in a while - rent it now.  Dan Ackroyd and Eddie Murphy team up with Jamie Lee Curtis.  It's genius. Brian Cox plays Marty's dad and has almost nothing to do - but is pretty funny in the scenes that he has, in particular with Karen Maruyama's housekeeper.  She was far and away my favorite part of this movie.  Very not PC, but very funny! This movie is funny - and if you are a Will Farrell fan, or a Zach Galifinakis fan, or a fan of Jay Roach's other movies...you'll love it.  The funny parts are all in the commercials - just with cursing and inappropriate stuff added in the movie itself, because it is rated R.  Interestingly enough, I'm not sure it needed to be rated R.  None of those items made it any funnier, just earned the R.  It could have been equally as funny without them, and may had made more room for more clever jokes, and less dirty jokes...The story is simple, which is not a bad thing, and does wrap up neatly, with some heart and a good payoff.  It's not my favorite - but I think most people will like it. 6 out of 10.  Lost points for Farrell's character having sex in a port-o-john in the beginning of the movie, really?  Gained points for Sudekis and McDermott as the campaign managers - they were both great.  Lost points for the random nipple...I'm not even sure what that was about or why it was necessary.  Gained points for having the dog from the Artist show up - random...geez did I hate the movie The Artist.  I suppose they should lost some points for reminding me of that... Bonus Video 1:  Hot Shots...second favorite ZAZ movie: Bonus Video 2:  Airplane...maybe this is my second favorite ZAZ movie:  Surely you can't be serious... Bonus Video 3: "Between 2 Ferns with Zach Galifinakis". Zach's fake interview show - it's just hilarious...there's a ton of them, go watch them all. Bonus Video 4:  Cast Interviews!

Movie Review: The Expendables 2 (R - 102 minutes)

I have a great deal of love for the larger than life action movies of the 80s and 90s.  The trend was a giant hero, maybe a sidekick or two, a vicious bad guy with some sort of personal connection to the good guy, a bar fight, and a huge climax with lots of 'spolsions.  The stars of these movies were big dudes, with believable fight skills and a dry sense of humor.  My absolute favorite of these is Showdown in Little Tokyo - starring Dolph Lundgren and Brandon Lee. 

Incidentally - the dude who cuts off his own finger in the trailer above is Simon Rhee, who went on to play the eye-patched Dae-Han in Best of the Best (my second favorite) which starred his brother Phillip Rhee as Tommy, Eric Roberts as Alex, Chris Penn, John Dye, Sally Kirkland, and James Earl Jones - who gives an amazing "I only have two rules..." speech.

When the late 90s rolled into the 2000s, the trend in action movies, led by the likes of the Bourne Identity in 2002, shifted to more 'everyman' style heroes with 'smarter', more intelligent stories with better actors. 
In 2010, Slyvester Stallone, who wrote and directed some of the biggest of those old fashioned action movies (Rocky, First Blood, etc.) decided he missed those old action movies, and his old action movie buddies.  Knowing that was where his career started, and knowing there was still an audience out there for that style of movie, he wrote The Expendables, and started calling his friends and former co-stars.  He put together an absolute blast of a throwback action movie that co-starred Dolph Lundgren (who worked with Stallone in Rocky 4), Jet Li (who had built up an impressive action career in China, and briefly worked with Randy Couture in Cradle 2 tha Grave), Jason Statham (who worked with Jet Li in The One and War), Eric Roberts (who worked with Stallone in The Specialist), Gary Daniels, Mickey Rourke (who worked with Stallone in Get Carter), WWE star 'Stone Cold' Steve Austin, former NFL player Terry Crews, and MMA legend Randy Couture (another aside - whenever any star of the movie was asked the inevitable "who would win in a fight out of all of you?" question, each star always answered Couture, except Couture, who would usually shrug - probably because he knew he would win).  It also featured a scene with Stallone, Bruce Willis, and Arnold Schwarzenegger, the three action star friends who had co-founded Planet Hollywood together, but had never appeared on screen together.

Before they finished filming the first one - they started talking sequel.  Essentially the movie was a love letter to all the fans of the big time action movies - and it performed well, and was absolutely a great movie with lots of little tongue-in-cheek humor and great 'spolsions.  No barfight though, I did miss that part.  That brings us up to date, and to the Expendables 2.

This one brings back all of the cast from the first one - except the bad guys who got killed, and Rourke, who had a filming conflict.  Added to the mix this time are Jean-Claude Van Damme (who worked with Lundgren in Universal Soldier, and who turned down Stallone to appear in the first one - Stallone called him to tell him he made a mistake after the first one premiered - Van Damme agreed and jumped at the chance to be in the sequel), Liam Hemsworth (ummm...what?), Scott Adkins (who has worked with Van Damme 4 times), Nan Yu (a big star in China), and Chuck Norris (who destroyed the periodic table, because the only element he recognizes is the element of surprise!  That's my favorite, you can insert your favorite Chuck Norris fact here.)  Willis and Schwarzenegger are both back with bigger parts. 

In terms of plot - yes, there is one, but you can probably guess it.  Stallone again plays Barney Ross, leader of his merry band of mercenaries, the Expendables, who all return, with the addition of a sniper, Hemsworth's character.  The movie opens with them on a mission to rescue a hostage, who Schwarzenegger's Trent character is already trying to rescue.  They complete the mission, only to come back home and encounter Willis's CIA agent who has another mission for them - or else.  They take it - it goes wrong, and Van Damme's bad guy, named Jean Vilian (get it?) takes what they were sent after and does something that makes them all angry.  I won't spoil it for you, but it involves him killing someone.  They set out for revenge...as Stallone puts it, "track 'em, find 'em, kill 'em."  'Spolsions, amazing action sequences, and one liners ensue. 

And oh, the one liners!  There are many of them in this movie, many more than in the first - and as often as I wanted to roll my eyes at them - honestly, I loved every single one!  The best is the scene with Willis and Schwarzenegger, where they end up in the Smart Car.  Outstanding.
Castwise, what can you say?  Everyone is great:

• Slyvester Stallone wrote and produced this one, but left the directing to Simon West, who has done tons of action movies (Con Air, The General's Daughter, Tomb Raider, The Mechanic).  He does a great job here, and Stallone has said that he felt much more relaxed on this one, not having to direct as well as act.  He looks old and tough, and works that aged determinedness into Ross.
• Statham is fantastic fun with Charisma Carpenter returning as his girlfriend.  Statham's character is the knife expert of the group, and he brings more of his tough cockney swagger.
• Dolph Lundgren returns as Gunnar, the mad Swede, and gets a little more to do this time around.  They even mix in some of his own personal backstory - chemical engineering degree from MIT and a Fullbright scholar.  He also gets more charming interaction with Jet Li.
• Jet Li's role is reduced a bit in this one, I am wondering if he was tied up in something else.  His character, YinYang, was super fun in the first one and has a few fun scenes in this one too - battling bad guys with a frying pan.
• Terry Crews again brings humor to his Hale Ceaser, needed while the other guys get serious. 
• Randy Couture, who stole a scene in the first movie while discussing his ear, again plays the zen member of the group, Toll Road.  He seems very natural and fits in great with these guys.
• Nan Yu plays the female adventurer in the crew - she's done many movies in China, and I would assume she has some fighting skill, but unfortunately, she does not get much of a chance to show it off.
• Chuck Norris shows up briefly to shoot some things, and pretty much plays Chuck Norris - incidentally, he's the oldest of the cast members at 72, if you can believe that. 
• Bruce Willis and Arnold also pretty much play themselves, and also get to argue and shoot some guys.  They look like they are having an amazing time.
• Jean-Claude Van Damme is really good as the bad guy.  Although he did play the villian several times early in his career, I don't remember it, unless you count the one twin in Double Impact, who ended up being good anyway.  He should do it more often, because he's great at it.  He chews the scenery a bit - but it works in this!

The best part about the cast is that it makes me ponder who I want in the next one.  Steven Seagal is a must, Wesley Snipes would be good, Danny Trejo is another one, Nicholas Cage is already signed, Michael Jai White, Tiny Lister maybe?  All I know is that I can't wait!

So go see it - it reminds me of all those classic action movies, and it's as good as the first, but with a much higher cheese level!
9 out of 10:  Lost points for having a female character this time, but still not really giving her anything to do, well, a little - but I'm still looking for the third one to have Cynthia Rothrock level badassness from a chick.  Gained points for the one-liners:  cheesy and awesome.  Lost points for any close up of Couture showing that ear...just keep it out of camera.  Gained points for Van Damme, he was always one of my favorites (If you haven't seen JCVD - netflix it now)!
Bonus Video 1:  More of my favorites:  Universal Solider - by Roland Emmerich and Dean Devlin, before they did Stargate and Independence Day.  Dolph and Jean-Claude, also featuring Simon Rhee again!

Bonus Video 2:  The One - Jet Li and Jason Statham - in which Jet Li travels throughout the multiverse killing other Jet Lis to become the One Jet Li, which will make him stronger.  Statham plays a cop partnered with Delroy Lindo trying to stop him.

Bonus Video 3:  The Running Man - Arnold is wrongfully accused of a crime and competes on a game show featuring convicts fighting various trained killers to escape - featuring Yaphet Kotto and Jesse Ventura (who should also be in Expendables 3).  Not my favorite Arnold movie - that would be Predator, which had been the greatest collection of testosterone filled dudes until the first Expendables came out - Carl Weathers should also be in Expendables 3.

Bonus Video 4:  Cast Interviews!