Starring: Sigourney Weaver, Carrie Henn, Michael Biehn
Director: James Cameron
Year of Release: 1986
This is generally considered to be the best Alien film in the four part series. And I must agree it is the most fun to watch. Each film is very different in tone and style. The first Alien movie was much more of a classic haunted house story where this movie clearly borrows from the action movie genre. This is really James Cameron’s vision as he came up with the story idea, wrote the screenplay and directed the film. There is a lot of connection to similar war movies with soldiers under siege. And following this movie, there were many more sci-fi stories involving soldiers in space, both in film and on television. Read the rest of this entry »
Starring: Steven Pasquale, Reiko Aylesworth
Director: Colin Strause, Greg Strause
Year of Release: 2007
Dude, that was messed up. There was some twisted stuff in this movie. Kids getting chest-bursts, a pregnant lady, parents, people getting killed constantly - it was pretty gruesome. And the main problem with all that is it felt really cold-blooded. This movie had no heart, it had no purpose. It was just a series of scenes filled with senseless violence. It felt like the kind of movie that a couple of dorky fanboys would make if given the chance, kind of like if Beavis and Butthead did an Aliens movie. I can just see the film-makers sitting around a stale pizza taking a break from Worlds Of Warcrack and saying “Hey, you know what would be freakin’ cool? If we had a kid get a chest-burst. That would be AWESOME!” Read the rest of this entry »
Starring: Denzel Washington, Russell Crowe
Director: Ridley Scott
Year of Release: 2007
One 50 thousand dollar chinchilla fur coat is all it took to take down the Harlem heroin kingpin. American Gangster is based on the true story of Frank Lucas, the Harlem gangster who cut deals directly with heroin makers in Southeast Asia to make loads of money in the U.S. while maintaining a low profile. What I found most interesting about the character of Frank Lucas is that he was not a flashy “Superfly” bufoonish kind of African-American gangster that you see all too often in movies. He was calm, cool, behind-the-scenes, and respectable. Yet he was a cold-blooded killer, a smart businessman, and a fierce leader. A man to be taken seriously. Read the rest of this entry »
Starring: Evan Rachel Wood, Jim Sturgess
Director: Julie Taymor
Year of Release: 2007
I was really looking forward to this movie. I liked what the director Julie Taymor did with Frida and this looked interesting and vibrant. It got some good reviews but I never made it to the theaters to see it. So I was looking forward to the DVD.
Well… I can’t say it’s bad. But I can’t say it’s good either. Read the rest of this entry »
Starring: Scott Weinger, Linda Larkin, Robin Williams, Gilbert Gottfried
Director: Ron Clements, John Musker
Year of Release: 1992
This movie was part of Disney’s last golden age of animation that was kicked off by The Little Mermaid. And I feel this movie is actually the best one of that bunch. The songs are very catchy and the action is moved along at a brisk pace. Robin Williams does his usual manic comedy as the genie and it was funny the first time, not so much the 100th time but still good. Read the rest of this entry »
Starring: Saoirse Ronan, James McAvoy, Keira Knightley
Director: Joe Wright
Year of Release: 2007
An Oscar-contender and Golden Globe winner, this film stars Keira Knightley and James MacAvoy as doomed lovers caught up in tragic circumstances. I’m usually not too into dramas, especially heavy dramas. But I found this film to be very well told and interesting. Read the rest of this entry »
