Angels & Demons (2009)

The movie which comes from the same author as The DaVinci Code and the newest installment to me is a movie worth seeing. The movie does have some big names in it as well as some European actors I had no idea about. This the second time around for Tom Hanks (DaVinci Code, Saving Private Ryan) as Robert Langdon, a Harvard symbologist who is asked to come to the Vatican to solve a crime happening there involving The Illuminati. The Pope has passed away and now it is time for the Cardinals to elect a new Pope. Only problem, four cardinals have been kidnapped and an energy containing atom matter is stolen and will detonate at midnight that day. So langdon goes there hoping that symbols will help him find the Cardinals and save the Vatican. The movie stars Ewan McGregor (Star Wars 1, 2, 3, The Island) as Father Camerlengo, an unknon to me Israeli actress Ayelet Zurer (Vantage Point, Munich) as Vittoria, a woman who is in search of the energy and she did a brilliant job in this movie. It also stars Stellan Skarsgard (Mamma Mia, Exorcist: The Beginning) as Commander Richter and a brilliant Armin Mueller-Stahl (Eastern Promises, The International) in this suspensful thrill ride. So go out and see because you wont be sorry. Four Stars Out Of Five

The Punisher: War Zone (2008)

I always thought Thomas Jane did a better job at playing the Punisher than Dolph Lungren, but now that I have seen this total bloodbath of a movie, I stand corrected. Ray Stevenson (King Arthur, Rome TV Series) does an excellent job playing the Punisher and like the AC/DC song goes, "If you want blood, You got it." This movie has it all and that is very important to persuading someone to watch a film. It has action, scumbag villains, and cops that let Castle get away with what he does for a living. So, in this film Castle is going after mob families and successfully kills them until he meets Billy/Jigsaw, who manages to live after being tossed into a machine with glass in it. Castle starts to bite off more than he can chew when Jigsaw played by Dominic West (300, Hannibal Rising) wants revenge on the Punisher. So rent it and find out who gets the best of who. Four Stars Out Of Five

Righteous Kill (2008)

When I first heard that DeNiro and Pacino were working together again for only the second time in their respective careers, I was excited and for good reason because these are the two best actors of the 20Th century. This movie also stars Donnie Wahlberg (Saw Series, Southie), John Leguizamo (Son of Sam, The Happening), and Carla Gugino (The Watchmen, Night at The Museum) as cops trying to solve a series of murders they think is being done by one of their own. We find DeNiro making a confession in the beginning of the movie about all the murders and it leaves you wondering if the cops are going to catch him. The movie also stars Curtis "50 Cent" Jackson as a drug dealer named Spider and believe me he gets his. So rent it and find out if Deniro is really committing these crimes by taking out scumbags. Four Out Of Five Stars

The Day The Earth Stood Still (2008)

I usually believe that it is hit or miss with Keanu Reeves on some of his movies. I will say though, that I did enjoy this movie a lot. I will not say that it is better than the original, but let say for lack of better terms "Updated". So, Keanu plays Klaatu, an alien that took human form and is here to talk to the world leaders and tell them that he is here to save the planet and not them. It also stars Jennifer Connelly as a scientist who is trying to convince Klaatu that humans can change. Kathy Bates stars in this movie as the secretary of defense and she does a convincing job as a bossy witch of a woman. John Cleese has a brief appearance in this movie and I personally would've done with it. So go rent it and find out what happens to earth. Three and the Half Stars out of Five

Dying Breed (2008)

This is an Australian horror movie that takes place in Tasmania, which is an island off the coast of Australia. The movie stars a bunch of unknown to America, Australian actors expect for one and that is Leigh Whannell (Death Sentence, Saw), you might remember him as the guy who was stuck in that bathroom type dungeon in Saw. So we move on to this movie which is about a girl who wants to find a rare type of tiger in Tasmania that is thought to be extinct. The only problem is her and her friends run into a whole lot of trouble when they start exploring as they run into a cannibalistic society. This movie isn't bad compared to some of the ones that I have seen from the Afterdark Horrorfest 3 series. I still have a lot to go though, but I am getting there. Three stars Out of Five

Powder Blue (2009)

This is an okay movie about four people from Los Angeles, whose lives get turned around around Christmas eve. The movie stars Patrick Swayze as a strip club owner, Jessica Biel as the stripper whose son is in the hospital dying, Ray Liotta as her dying father who just got out of jail and she doesn't know they're related yet, Eddie Redmayne as a mortician who is interested in her, Forest Whitaker as an ex priest who tries to get a transvestite hooker to help him commit suicide, and Lisa Kudrow who plays a waitress interested in Forest. If you haven't got the picture yet of how crazy this movie is, then I don't know what to tell you. All I can say is that Jessica does a great job as a stripper and must have some experience because I was convinced. This movie is basically what the poster says and that's how far would you go to find love. Two and the Half Stars out of Five.

The Butterfly Effect 3: Revelations (2009)

This was the first of the Afterdark Horrorfest 3 movies I have seen and frankly I enjoyed it for it's bizarreness and what would've been a predictable ending, but I didn't catch it. It stars Afterdark veteran Rachel Miner (Penny Dreadful, Tooth & Nail) as the sister of Chris Carmack (The OC) who plays Sam, a man with the ability to travel back and help solve crimes. The only thing is that so he doesn't screw up anything, he can only watch and not get involved as we find out that he saved his sister Jenna from a fire and it cost him his parents. Everything is going fine until Sam is approached by a woman, whose sister used to date Sam and asks him to solve her sisters death. Sam is torn because he knows the rules, but what will Sam do? Like I said in the beginning of this, I would've predicted the ending and I never saw it coming. so enjoy this one. One of the treats to me is the beautiful Miss Horrorfest 2008 Mistress Malice (a.k.a Melissa Jones) who stars as the hot bartender Vicky. Three and the Half Stars Out Of Five, only because the first one is still my favorite.

Taking Chance (2009)

Taking Chance is a compelling story of the journey of a volunteer Escort for fallen soldiers. It follows Lt Col. Mike Strobl who volunteers to escort PFC Chance Phelps to Wyoming for his funeral. It shows you the process our fallen soldiers go through before they are finally escorted to their destinations. This movie showed you the respect people have for our fallen and the respect we should show to the men and women who sacrifice their lives everyday for us to do what ever it is we do on a daily basis. The movie was written by Mr. Strobl and I'm very happy that HBO picked it up and had this movie made. I also want to give Kevin Bacon a lot of props for an excellent job he did on this movie. It really is a compelling story and it touched me because I too have a brother who serves in the military and I want to thank all of them for giving me my freedom. Five Stars out of Five

Netflix & Blockbuster Vs. Local Video Stores

This is a honest question that I ask all of you and hope that I can get an honest answer. What do you do when it comes to renting movies? Do you go to a big franchise chain like Blockbuster Video or do you go to the little man in the equation? better yet do you rent through Netflix? See, I asked myself this very question the other day when I was looking to rent a movie and found myself troubled at Blockbuster Video. I looked on the wall where the new releases are and found that they still had movies on the wall that were almost a year old, not to mention they had movies that came out in 2006 on the wall. I find this very discouraging and the other thing I don't like is that at every Blockbuster they have the most unintelligent idiots working behind the counter. They have old decrepit woman who have no idea what is going on working behind the counter. I have no problem with people needing jobs, but at least know what you are talking about! So then, we turn our attention to Netflix, there are by far now probably a multi-million dollar company who was made for lazy people of the click and buy era. Everything done for at the click of a button. what ever happened to going to the video store and looking at the cover and asking the person at the counter if they had seen the flick. I'll tell you what happened and it is that every person is in a rush to go absolutely nowhere. They don't have time to sit there and go the movie store and do these things, but better yet they will sit there and read the synopsis, look to all the reviews people leave and then click away. That is probably the same amount of time it would take if you had traveled to the video store minus the driving. But I love local businesses because of the atmosphere and the people that work in it love to watch movies and most of the time I take a suggestion from them and end up liking the movie. Not to mention, the video chain I go to has some nice looking girls that work in it and that is always a plus. So I say screw these corporate monsters once and for all and get off your fat ass because the only reason I'd use the Internet movie rental places for is to rent porn. Enough said!

Perkins 14 (2009)

I was a little disappointed that Afterdark Horrorfest didn't return to my area but I was willing to wait for the series to come out on DVD. I was very pleased with The Butterfly Effect 3 and thought to myself, "why don't I rent the others." So I picked up Perkins 14, a story about a officer at the sheriff's office, who loses his son to a kidnapping. It shows us the officer having flashbacks about the night and the games they used to play ten years before. You also see that his family life is falling apart as well since then and obviously he doesn't enjoy his job either. We first see that his daughter played by Shayla Beesley, (who is an up and coming actress with a few roles and a promising future in the horror industry) is going through her own issues. Not to mention she is hot and I love her style in this movie, the typical wannabe, Gothic girl, who feels depressed about her life. She hooks up with Michale Graves of the Misfits who plays a musician, wow that's hard to imagine. The story really evolves around the mystery of this man Richard Perkins, who is played by Richard Brake (Hannibal Rising, H2: Halloween 2, Batman Begins), a guy that is discovered to be the very kidnapper of 14 kids. The real Mystery is, what did he do these kids? I want to know what they are as well? So rent the movie because it's not half bad. Two and the Half Stars Out of Five. Believe me it's not bad, despite what my rating is but i have seen better horror movies than this. At least they tried, that's more than I could say.

My Bloody Valentine 3D (2009)

My Bloody Valentine was definitely a fun movie to go see in the theaters when it was presented in 3D. I'm not so sure about the atmosphere being the same at home as it was for me in the theaters. Never the less, I really enjoyed this movie and the fact that they contest this as the best 3D movie ever made, I cannot say. This was the first 3D movie I have ever had the chance to see in the theaters. This movie stars Jensen Ackles (Supernatural TV Series), Jamie King (Sin City, The Spirit), Kerr Smith (Final Destination, Dawsons Creek) and 80's horror veteran Tom Atkins (Halloween III: Season Of The Witch, The Fog, Night Of The Creeps) in this bloody horror film of a town whose massacre at a coal mine curses the town. One day at the mines in Harmony, Harry Warden decided he was going to massacre all the fellow miners and by fate he ends up in a coma. Well everybody thinks that everything is safe until he wakes up and kills again. This time they think they got rid of harry for good until someone starts murdering when by chance Jensen's character (Tom) returns to town. So go out and rent this movie because it's a fun movie. Three and the Half out of Five stars only because I enjoyed the movie in the theaters

Taken (2009)

Let me start by saying that this may be the movie of the year in the bad ass section. Liam Neeson does a superb job in this film about essentially the horrors of human trafficking. He does a great job playing a overbearing, OCD when it comes to details ex-spy whose daughter gets kidnapped in Paris, France and forced into human trafficking. Famke Jensen also does a superb job playing the typical bitchy ex-wife who remarries to a rich guy. The real action begins when he goes to France to try and rescue his daughter played by Maggie Grace. There, the mayhem begins when Liam beats the crap out of everyone. So rent this movie and enjoy the action. Five Out Of Five Stars I do want you to remember one thing and that is that these things really happen in Europe and it's a serious issue.

The Grudge 3 (2009)

This is a literal straight to video piece of crap and don't bother renting this movie. I expected a lot out of Shawnee Smith especially after her magnificent role in the Saw movies. This is just the writers and directors stretching out this story as far as they can. It literally bored the hell out of me and i was not impressed with the acting either. The only decent acting was done by two people; they are Emi Ikehata who plays the grudge's sister and Jadie Hobson who plays the little sister of the targets in this movie. Those two to me deserve to be in better roles than this one. The story basically takes us back to Chicago where part 2 took place. So here is the rating for this movie; it's One out of Five Stars

so rent it if you dare

Terminator: Salvation (2009)

At first I was a little skeptical about seeing yet another Terminator movie as i was slightly disappointed with the third one. Then I was wondering if Christian Bale could pull off playing John Connor? Despite what the newspapers say, do no listen to a word they say. They're not into movies that you and I would be into to. I always thought Christian Bales portrayal in the Batman Franchise was Staggering. But the real secret of this movie was this actor I had never seen before and thought he did an amazing job and that actor is Australia's Sam Worthington. He does a marvelous job as a death row inmate named Marcus Wright. The other key people in this movie were Anton Yelchin (Alpha Dog, Star Trek 2009) as Kyle Reese and Moon Bloodgood (Street Fighter: The Legend Of Chun Li, Pathfinder) as resistance soldier Blair Williams. So before I give too much away, you really need to see this movie because the special effects are amazing, the action is superb, and my favorite hunters are really cool. Three and the half out of Five only because T2 and the first one are still my favorites.