The Expendables 2

The Expendables 2
(2012) [Trailer]
Director: Simon West (IMDB)

Synopsis: Stallone and crew go up against an enemy who has gotten ahold of some plutonium.... lots of people blow up. Not from the plutonium, from Stallone and crew's guns.

I liked the first installment of this franchise and I pretty much enjoyed part two about the same, but maybe a little less. It's apparent draw is that it employs every action star ever under one roof. I felt like they could have trimmed out a few people that really didn't add much to it... mainly Chuck Norris (who had the personality of a brick wall in this), the girl, and also Jet Lee. There are a lot of cheesy one liners, mostly from Schwarzenegger, and while I enjoyed many of them, they were painfully obvious.

This best thing about this is the violence. It's gory as hell and like I said earlier.... people get blown up left and right. There are tons of guns, explosions, tanks, gunships, and lots of people getting knifed. I'd say one of my highlights is Jason Statham's fight scene in the church-- it was pretty incredible.

This film is pretty much exactly what I expected it would be and I feel like I got my money's worth.

30 Days of Night

30 Days of Night
(2007) [Trailer]
Director: David Slade (IMDB)

During my youth, my parents moved around a lot. They were part of a circus... that is, if you consider the Navy a circus. My dad was stationed all over the place and one stop had us in Iceland. I was a little too young to remember it but I heard stories of how it'd be dark all day during the winter. Last summer I actually got to go stay with some friends in Iceland and I felt the opposite end the scale, it was day light until 4 in the morning. I always thought living in a place with extreme days and nights would be cool. That is until I saw this fucking thing.

Synopsis: A group of vampires take a vacation to the town of Barrow, Alaska where it stays dark for a month.

This is my second time viewing this, but my first time on blu-ray disc (I picked it up for a mere $4.99), and I feel about the same as I did before. I think it's a fun horror film, but nowhere near perfect.

The strength in this film lays in it's location and theme. It all about people being trapped and an evil force trying to kill them off one by one, which in my opinion is the best mock up for a horror movie and when done right (The Thing) can lead to great results. 30 Days executes this motif fairly well and setting it in a snowy/remote area reminds me a lot of another film (The Thing.) Josh Hartnett was actually pretty good and the rest of the cast were serviceable. The gore and blood, which are obviously essential, are at an 8 out of 10 for me.

The weakness of 30 Days would be some of the decisions made by Slade, especially adding in unnecessary characters. The first guy wandering through the snow was pointless to the film. Also bringing back the other sheriff and the random little girl at the end was weird. Speaking of little girls, the baby vampire and her lines were ridiculous.

Even with all it's flaws, I still enjoy this movie a lot. I'd recommend it.   

The Untouchables

The Untouchables
(1987) [Trailer]
Director: Brian De Palma (IMDB)

Synopsis: The Untouchables is Hollywood's account of the real life battle between mob boss Al Capone (Bobby De Niro) and federal agent Eliot Ness (Kevin Costner.)

I picked this up on blu-ray for $5 today and was pretty pleased as I've had it on my watch list for awhile now. I generally find De Palma's films to be awesome and while I enjoyed The Untouchables it did have some flaws. I felt Kevin Costner was really bland and seemed like a bad fit for the roll. There were a few lines he belted out which seemed really forced and unnatural. The score was awkward as well. I love Ennio Morricone... he actually penned one of my favorite scores ever made from the classic The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly, but in this, his creation fell flat. At certain points, mainly when people are about to be killed, the score works wonderfully, but then the rest of the time it seems strange and oddly placed.

De Palma's use of interesting visuals and set pieces worked really well in this. The story was also pretty interesting and although I'm sure he veered from historical accuracy at times, it still felt grounded.

Highlights for me were the kid getting blown up, the baseball bat scene, the train station shoot out.... basically all the really awful scenes because I'm a bad person.

The Betrayal - Nerakhoon

The Betrayal - Nerakhoon
(2008) [Trailer]
Director: Ellen Kuras, Thavisouk Phrasavath

Synopsis: During the Vietnam Way a family from Laos escapes to America but find their new home isn't all what it's cracked up to be.

The overal story in The Betrayal isn't too unique, but still... it offers enough curve balls to keep it interesting enough. The two main subjects are Thavi and his mother, the mother is pretty depressing but in an interesting way... if that makes sense. What really makes this documentary is the commitment made to it by the director/cinematographer. It's footage spans over decades and it's incredible to see Thavi hanging out on a street corner in Brooklyn as a teenager one minute, then see him as an adult the next minute. There's also a lot of beautiful footage spread throughout and a pretty pleasing score to accompany it.

This was nominated for an Oscar but lost to Man on Wire (which is a much better doc) but it's still deserving and I would recommend it.

12 Monkeys

12 Monkeys
1995 [Trailer]
Director: Terry Gillam (IMDB)


Synopsis: Bruce Willis travels to the past to try and unlock the mystery behind a plague that almost wiped out the entire human race.

This was one of my favorite movies back in high school... but that doesn't mean much because I was a retard back then. I'm kidding, I was fucking awesome and liked radical movies. Anyways, I had not seen 12 Monkeys since the 90's and I figure it was about time to revisit it, so I picked up the blu on the cheap from the old trusty amazon.com.

This is my favorite Gillam film and it really showcases what the director is all about. Huge visuals with a strange tone that rides the line between acid trips and nightmares. I would recommend you check out the behind the scenes documentary that's in the extras, it'll provide amazing insite to the whole film and give you a better understanding of the kind of perfectionist Gillam is. Bruce Willis and Madeline Stowe are both excellent, but Brad Pitt steals the show for me and would have fit nicely along side the cast of One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest.

This is an incredible film and it really holds up nicely, I highly recommend it if you haven't seen it.

Blow Out

Blow Out
1981 [Trailer]
Director: Brian De Palma (IMDB)

Synopsis: A movie sound guy (John Travolta) stumbles across an accident which he recorded. Turns out it wasn't an accident and he starts to put the pieces together to solve a murder.

John Travolta seems like a cool guy or at least he used too. Now he seems like a weird airplane pilot with a creepy grin. Blow Out shows Travolta at his best... well... second best next to Pulp Fiction. If I were John Travolta and I was on Facebook, I would make this image my cover photo.

Visually this movie is pretty impressive. I loved a lot of the cinematography and De Palma occasionally incorporates the use of this split screen effect that really worked for me (reference that image above for an example.) There's also a lot of interesting mechanical shots interwoven throughout which gave this quasi training video feel to the film at times. The story is something out of an old crime noir but set in late 70's Philadelphia. There were some slow moments here and there but overall I'm glad I picked this up on Criterion Blu!

Bernie

Bernie
(2012) [Trailer]
Director: Richard Linklater (IMDB)

Synopsis: Bernie (Jack Black) is a eccentric funeral director in a small town in Texas who befriends the most hated woman in town... Shirley Maclaine.

10 minutes into this film and one thing was overly apparent, Dick Linklater is paying heavy homage to Errol Morris. This feels like a fictional film blended with a nice dose of Vernon, Florida or Gates of Heaven. Just like those two films, this movie is chop full of quirky characters and small town charm. I thought it was cool that he mixed up professional actors with real people, kind of a blend of fiction and documentary. I generally like Linklater's films and this installment is really no different. It's not laugh out loud funny, but pleasant and easy to sit through. Jack Black really pulls out a very impressive performance, I'd say one of his best that I've seen. This is available on blu-ray and VOD now.