Saw Batman: The Dark Knight today and it was awesome. Everything worked. The set ups, the pay offs. The movie delivers. It’s no wonder it’c cleaning up at the box office. It deserves to. Heath Ledger was perfect as the Joker. After his performance it’s hard to maigine anyone else doing it. Big thumbs up! Go check it out!

-steve

You’d think all the geeks had left town to go to the San Diego Comic-Con. When I checked the movie schedule this morning for both Batman: The Dark Knight and The X-Files movie, I found out that many of them were still in town playing hooky from work. Every show was sold out until the evening of both films! I did get to see The X-Files though. All in all pretty good. It didn’t blow me out of my seat but it was a fun ride. Nice to see another case for Mulder and Scully to follow.

-steve

This summer is turning out to be really good for movies. Along with Iron Man and The Incredible Hulk, Hellboy II: The Golden Army delivers action as well as story with some fantastic characters. Much better than the first installment, this film offers up a much more entertaining story with a more interesting villian. Everything in this film is an improvement over the original. Check it out if you get a chance.

-steve

I urge everyone to go see Michael Moore's new documentary Sicko. I challenge anyone to see that movie and say the U.S. medical care system isn't completely fucked! In countries like Canada, England and France doctor's are not hindered by bureaucracy and whether or not a patient can afford care. Everything is simply provided. Obviously it comes from taxes, but the money seems well spent. All I can say about the system here in the U.S. is WTF??

-steve

2007 is turning out to be a really good year so far for movies. First Zodiac, then The 300 and now Grindhouse. Saw this movie last night and it, or rather...they, are awesome! Pretty darn over the top and a lot of fun! Really long though since it's two whole movies. The first film was Robert Rodriguez's zombie film called Planet Terror with Rose McGowan and her machine gun "leg" mowing them down with lot's o'blood. The second film by Quentin Tarantino, Death Proof, had a lot of yaping, but turned out to be really good after. Once it gets going with the car chase, it's awesome! Also, one of the big treats in the film are the fake movie trailers. They're hilarious! Go see this film! It rocks!

-steve

Saw The 300 last night at the IMAX theater up at City Walk. It may not be the most accurate movie based on historical events, but it was pretty cool. It looked amazing. From what I've read, it was shot entirely on a stage with blue/green screens. Quite an undertaking. This was much more involved than the work done on Sin City. It was however very entertaining. Violent, yes, but entertaining. Lots of blood and limbs flying through the air in slow motion. Always a plus!

Check it out if you get a chance.

-steve

The film Zodiac comes out tomorrow. It's based on the book by my friend Aaron's Dad - Robert Graysmith. Robert is a real nice guy. While he was down here watching Aaron's house, he took Jerry and I to see King Kong since none of us had seen it. In the film he is played by Jake Gyllenhaal. They've been working on the film for like the last year and a half. The trailer looks pretty cool. Aaron was heading to a screening tonight at Paramount. Looking forward to his review. I'm sure the film will look cool with David Fincher directing. I'm gonna try and see it with Aaron tomorrow night.

-steve


*Update - Mar. 4
Got to see Zodiac tonight. I really enjoyed it. Thumbs up! Go check it out!

Clerks II - one of the funniest films I've seen in a long time. Click here to see the trailer.

-steve

I had a good time at two summer movies so far this year;
X-Men 3 and Cars. I'm not really sure what other people were expecting, but I enjoyed watching X-Men 3. Lots of great mutant action. As for the other, Cars is not a NASCAR movie as many people have been led to believe. The basic story is reminiscent of Doc Hollywood. I enjoyed it much more than Finding Nemo (PIXAR's biggest hit to date) yet I think The Incredibles is my favorite PIXAR film.

I recommend both movies. Go check them out!

-steve

Tonight I got to see one of the coolest documentaries of all time, Stewart Copeland's Everyone Stares: The Police Inside Out. Two of the three Policeman were there; Stewart Copeland and Andy Summers. Sting was in Italy and could not make the screening. Basically the film is made up of all of the Super 8 footage Stewart had shot during the time he was in The Police. You get to see the small time band become one of the biggest bands of all time, from one of the members' perspective. It's a remarkable film with some incredible music, much of it from live performances. After the film Stewart did some Q&A with the audience which was a treat. He talked about having the footage digitized and editing in Final Cut Pro. I can only hope some of it will make it to a DVD release along with the film. I give this film a big thumbs up!

If you get a chance to see it, don't miss it!

-steve

Saw Underworld: Evolution. Let me start by saying, I never saw the first Underworld film. I tried to rent it a couple of times, but it always seems to be out. Must be a good film if it's always out, right? Well, maybe. I can only speak about the second film at this point.

The film tells the story of a world in which vampires and werewolves are at war . I'm not 100% sure why they are at war. Each has a leader. One brother who was bit by a bat, the other brother who was bit by a wolf. Interesting premise. There are a few interesting things in the film, but mostly things seem to happen just for the sake of happening. There doesn't seem to be any great plan here. Just lots of mediocre eye candy (special effects).

Now, speaking of eye candy, there is one redeeming quality in this film. That is watching Kate Beckinsale (possibly the hottest looking vampire of all time) run around in her rubber suit for 104 of the 106 minute film. The other two minutes are even better because she isn't wearing the rubber suit. Not the greatest actress in the world and not the greatest script in the world, but I could have easily watched this film on mute the entire way through just watching her. Might be worth having a look when the DVD comes out. I wouldn't really rush out to it in the theater unless you really enjoyed the first one.

-steve

Finally got to see King Kong. Saw Jerry and Aaron's Dad today. None of us had seen King Kong, so we went to see it. Actually Aaron's Dad treated us. It was pretty darn good. A little long, but really well done. The acting/animation of Kong was amazing! At some point, the Academy may have to go ahead and add a "Best Achievement in Animation" category. Simply having "Best Animated Picture" and "Best Visual Effects" just isn't going to cut it with such great performances as this. Naomi Watts is no slouch either. She did a really great job. You really believed she was right there with the giant ape. Kudos to Peter Jackson bringing a classic back to the big screen and remaining true to the original.

Go see this movie in the best theater you can!

-steve

Found this at the bookstore today. Not only is it a copy of the movie Santa Claus Conquers The Martians on DVD (one of the worst movies ever made!), it has the novelization by Lou Harry as well. Oh sure, I could simply download the movie off the net, it is in the public domain after all, but then I wouldn't have this cool book to go along with it! I think my niece and nephew will get a kick out of it. As a kid I really liked the movie. Boy, it sure didn't age well! However, along with the MST3K version, I think this makes one hell of a unique set!

-steve

What more can I say? Thank God for Charlize Theron's DNA! I just don't mean for those amazing looks either! It's all part of the cool story line in the film Æon Flux. It takes place 400 years in the future in a utopian city known as Bregna, the last city on Earth . I didn't really care much for the original animated version of Æon Flux. While it had some great layouts, I thought the designs were really ugly. The fact that it used to run on MTV's Liquid Television didn't help either since they used to break up episodes making it really hard to follow the story.

The new live-action film is surprisingly good. It's got a great look, cool sci-fi story, interesting characters, cool effects and one amazingly hot star. Yes, she looks good in black! I'd recommend seeing this film. You may be pleasantly surprised!

-steve

In honor of Halloween , I suggest you check out the movie Idle Hands. This is a perfect Halloween movie. It's got spooky-gory stuff as well as a sense of humor. It's got stoners, zombies, a possessed hand and let's not forget the stunning Jessica Alba as well! So if you can't make it to that costume party, check this movie out!

-steve

I predicted that the movie Serenity would rock. Well it came out last week. I finally had a chance to go see it tonight. Wow! Great movie! Good story, great characters, and a lot of fun! Can't wait to go check it out again! Go see this movie! You won't be dissapointed!

- steve

This movie is gonna rock September 30th!

- steve

I'm speaking of course about the new Fantastic Four movie that came out yesterday. Aaron and I went to see it. My expectations have been below ground level since I first heard they were making this film. The FF is my all time favorite comic book since I was a kid. I wanted to see a big budget special effects version of FF for a long, long time. Trouble is, more often than not, these Hollywood blockbuster's almost always suck! So it was a mixed blessing when I heard the film went into production.

No that I have seen the film, all I can say is, it could have been a lot worse. Most of the effects were pretty good. There are a few right towards the big finale at the end that could have used a few more weeks of work. I think Michael Chiklis as Ben Grimm (aka The Thing) really pulled it off. Even though the design of the mask really needed much more of a prominent brow, I thought he really brought the character to life. The banter between him and Johnny Storm (aka The Human Torch) worked well and reminded me a great deal of the wisecracks they would exchange in the comic. This is by no mean a great film. It has a lot of problems. Some of the dialog is excruciatingly painful. Other things, like the way they get their names seem like throw aways.

I was one of the people who got a hold of the Corman version of FF back in 1994. Don't believe what people tell you. It was horrible! As far as this new version of FF? Overall this new film is a mixed bag. It's no Spider-man or X-Men. It's much closer to the Daredevil, Hulk and Hellboy movies. Great stuff mixed in with some not so great stuff. It's mediocre at best. As far as recommending it? I'd say if you are a FF fan, go see it. It you are not a fan, skip it.

-steve

Saw Batman Begins last night. Originally I had no plans to see this film. I just didn't find the trailers all that compelling. Well, a friend bought some tickets ahead of time and I was in the area so I went. I did not have low expectations, I had no expectations! So when we went the the Chinese to see it, I really didn't have any opinion on this film. Well, to my surprise, it's actually really good! This is not a continuation of the earlier WB franchise. This is a completely different telling of the story of Batman. A lot closer to what the original comic was. The story is good and the story telling is really good. Everything seems to have a point and lead to other things down the road. If I have one criticism about the film, it is that the action scenes are not clearly defined. Many times it's hard to tell what is going on. This seems to be in line with some of the reviews the film has been getting. I would still recommend the film even with this small criticism. I will say this, the film is definitely poised to start a new Batman franchise. If the next one is as good as this one, I would absolutely go see it. Maybe they'll have a better second unit director to take care of the action sequences next time!

This week I also had the luck to see a second really good film. I missed it when it was in the theaters last year, but if you get a chance, check out Lemony Snicket's A Series of Unfortunate Events. As advertised, it looked like the typical vehicle for Jim Carrey to do his thing. I think maybe that's why I missed it first time around. I caught this on High-Definition Pay-Per-View. All I can say is wow! What an amazing looking film! Especially in Hi-Def! An incredible transfer! The film itself was really enjoyable. Yet again, I was pleasantly surprised! All of the characters were interesting and so was the story. The film could easily be mistaken for Tim Burton's, but Tim did not direct it. His long time Art Director, Rick Heinrichs, did work on it though. I am a huge fan of his work (along with most of Tim's). if you get a chance, do see Lemony Snicket's A Series of Unfortunate Events.

-steve

Saw Lords of Dogtown today. Overall I found it very entertaining. While I think some of the acting and dialogue weren't as good as they could have been, the story is still compelling. I am a big fan of Stacy Peralta's documentary Dogtown and Z-Boys. His script for Lords of Dogtown hits all of the main points covered in the documentary. The movie however lets you into the world of Dogtown in the mid-seventies. You get to experience significant events right along with with the Z-Boys. Events like riding on urethane wheels for the first time and skating an empty swimming pool for the first time (and getting chased away by the cops as well). During the skate sessions in the film you really get a sense that they were creating something original. Some of the weaker moments are during the home life sequences. They felt uneven and sometimes too forced. There are some great cameos in the film. See if you can find the real Z-Boys in the film when you see it. I'd recommend seeing the documentary first to anyone interested in the history of skateboarding. But after that, if your thirst hasn't been quenched, check out Lords of Dogtown.

-steve

Just got back from the latest and last Star Wars movie, Episode III - Revenge of the Sith. Wow! This movie is bad. The last two Star Wars movies were bad so I am not surprised. At least George Lucas is consistent. My recommendation? If you are a hardcore Star Wars geek, and you liked the last two, then go see it. Anyone other than that, skip it. No matter what anyone else tells you, it was not worth the wait. Instead go watch the last 15 minutes of the original Star Wars (any edition) be it on Laserdisc, DVD, VHS, or Super 8. There's more excitement in those 15 minutes than anything the combined 415 minutes of the three prequels have to offer.

-steve