Friday August 21st 2009

More action movies you say? Well...
Movie Spot is introducing the famous Dragon Dynasty catalogue in order to cater to the needs of our martial arts, kick ass fans of the Asian cinema.
Dragon Dynasty brings home the world’s greatest martial arts and Asian action films, featuring the groundbreaking work of international superstars and legendary filmmakers, including Jet Li, Jackie Chan, Michelle Yeoh, John Woo, Yuen Woo-Ping, and many more. Here are the best of classic and contemporary smash hits from the world’s most exciting genre like never before, with cutting-edge digital video and audio remastering and exclusive, never-before-seen bonus features. This is action at its best, all dubbed, full of unbelievable stunts and often very violent, just like you asked for. The first three titles we are offering for your consideration are:
Born To Fight, PTU Police Tactical Unit and Dragon Heat, read on for the scoop.

New releases this week:

Hannah Montana The Movie

Cast: Miley Cyrus, Billy Ray Cyrus, Emily Osment, Jason Earles, Mitchel Musso, Moises Arias, Lucas Till, Vanessa Williams, Margo Martindale, Peter Gunn
Every girl’s favorite teen star in her first real movie. Hannah is the pop star alter ego of Miley Stewart, who lives a double life thanks to one blonde wig. Here, Miley gets too big for her boots and is taken to the country by her dad. Hannah has to make a choice between the good life and; well, the good life. Should she carry on trashing the clothes shops, fighting over shoes in L.A.? Or should she rediscover her old life back in Tennessee? Grandma’s birthday is the reason to pay a visit down-home instead of downtown, so off she goes, courtesy of a private jet and some clever help from her Dad. Actually this is a good movie, lots of songs and happiness; you know what I mean!

Last House On The left

Cast: Tony Goldwyn, Monica Potter, Garret Dillahunt, Sara Paxton, Martha MacIsaac, Riki Lindhome, Spencer Treat Clark, Aaron Paul, Joshua Cox

Teenagers Mari (Paxton) and Paige (MacIsaac) are horribly assaulted by a gang led by the brutal Krug (Dillahunt). Later, Krug’s gang seeks refuge in the home of Mari’s parents. Realising what their guests have done, the couple execute gruesome revenge.
This is a remake of a 1972 film directed by a young Wes Craven which was considered quite shocking back then, even being refused a rating in the UK, but it was really a poorly executed good idea, a remake of Bergman's "The Virgin Spring" raging against the inhumanity of the Vietnam War. The violence in the film is brutal. Every punch or kick is felt. The irony of John Collingwood's (Tony Goldwyn) profession as a surgeon is explored more. The over-the-top cheesiness of Mary's parents' revenge upon her killers is replaced by some horrific, well-executed gore. Only the film's final coda should evoke some tension-relieving titters, the chainsaw replaced by a foreshadowed broken appliance. Emma's 'seduction' of Krug's brother is a lot more subtle and Monica Potter ("Saw") draws out the dance beautifully. Strangely enough the usual teenage girl’s nude scenes are missing and only the adult psycho chick (Riki Lindhome, the sadistic nurse from Changeling) does nudity.
I can’t think of any more classic slasher movies left to remake, maybe now they can jump to the 90’s and redo “Scream” I’m sure there’s someone who hasn’t seen it!



Labor Pains

Cast: Lindsay Lohan, Cheryl Hines, Chris Parnell, Luke Kirby, Kevin Covais, Aaron Yoo, Janeane Garofalo, Bonnie Somerville, Creed Bratton, Christa Campbell

Do you want to know what's really sad about Labor Pains? It's not half bad. And it's a shame that Lindsay Just-Had-A-Fight-With-Sam-Ronson Lohan has become so inextricably associated with the wrong kind of drama that we no longer appreciate the fact that the girl can act. When she wants to, Ms. Lohan can turn on the charm and morph into a relatable, funny Every Girl. She does just that in Labor Pains.
When we first meet Thea Clayhill (Lohan), she is a young woman struggling to support herself and her younger sister in the wake of her parents’ death. It’s difficult enough just paying the rent, but at age twenty-five, Thea is also saddled with the responsibility of getting her little sister through college. Making matters worse, after Thea’s boss (Chris Parnell) dog falls ill under Thea’s care, he seriously considers dismissing her. In an attempt to save her job, Thea blurts out that she’s pregnant. It seems you can’t fire pregnant girls, or at least that’s what Thea learned from watching Law and Order.
Once her job is again secure, Thea has to figure out what to do about this massive fib. Her best friend and co-worker (Cheryl Hines) quickly comes to her aid, and they plot to fake Thea’s pregnancy just long enough to avert unemployment. Then something can go wrong, right? A miscarriage, a false alarm...something will get her out of this bizarre situation.
Labor Pains is a likable movie mainly because of Lohan. Her comedic timing is dead-on ; and considering all the negative publicity she gets Lindsay Lohan can’t be counted out just yet.



Mutant Chronicles

Cast: John Malkovich, Thomas Jane, Devon Aoki, Ron Perlman

Hundreds of years into the future, the world is controlled by a handful of corporations. As they wage war on each other, a great seal is destroyed, opening up a vast hole in the Earth containing an alien machine capable of turning the living into vicious, body piercing mutants. Quickly taking over the planet, the mutants force the population to flee off-world, pushing Brother Samuel (Ron Perlman) to turn to an ancient book for answers on how to stop the infernal machine. Assembling a squad of soldiers armed to the teeth, including Major Mitch Hunter (Thomas Jane), Samuel leads the team into the bowels of the planet to stop the machine once and for all. Their only obstacle is the legion of mutants ready to tear them apart. A LONG-IN-THE-MAKING sci-fi picture based on a Scandinavian role-playing game, Mutant Chronicles is strong on world-building yet weak on plot. It opens impressively on a grim future battlefield which looks like a rerun of the worst elements of World War I (with manga-influenced blasting cannons) as heroes go up against ‘mutants’ ( zombies with bony scimitars where their right arms should be) wielding crusader swords and uniforms that borrow from a variety of historical periods. The film has a solid cast — Ron Perlman is a warrior monk who has the inside dope on this whole mutant business (don’t ask — it makes no sense whatsoever at the start, and only gets more confusing as it goes on), John Malkovich plays a fey corporate head and Anna Walton (the elf chick from Hellboy II) as a martial arts nun. The film’s happiest inventions are the Jules Verne-ish flying machines, which look like a combination of steam engine, space shuttle and Flash Gordon rocketship.



Duplicity

Cast: Julia Roberts, Clive Owen, Tom Wilkinson, Paul Giamatti, Rick Worthy

When it comes to spy thrillers, Director Tony Gilroy knows the game. turning in a screenplay that's more diabolical and pulpy than his convoluted directorial debut, Michael Clayton, but no less fun. He maximizes his assets, and considering his stars, they are considerable. For Julia Roberts and Clive Owen, this is a much different sort of movie than their previous on-screen collaboration, Closer. Their duels are via dialogue, not guns, and their weapons are words. Roberts and Owen provide characters who clearly love one another but do not trust each other. That's the way it is in the spy business. James Bond and Jason Bourne notwithstanding, espionage movies have fallen into disfavor since the collapse of the Soviet Union, which is something of a shame since, when well-written, they can provide a superlative source of suspense; there are still ways to develop spy thrillers since companies guard trade secrets as jealously as nations protect their national security. Duplicity is an unpretentious pleasure, combining as it does the deft plotting of Gilroy, the unforced acting of charismatic stars Roberts and Owen (not to mention nice turns by supporting performers Tom Wilkinson and Paul Giamatti as the rival CEOs Not the greatest spy thriller ever made but a great waste of a couple of hours.



Fighting

Cast: Channing Tatum, Terrence Howard, Brian J. White, Luis Guzmán, Zulay Henao, Roger Guenveur Smith, Angelic Zambrana, Anthony DeSando, Aaron Behr, Cung Le

Tatum plays Shawn MacArthur, a recent transplant from Alabama to New York who gets by selling questionable items at a make-shift stand on a NY street. Terrence Howard is a much more street-wise and savvy hustler named Harvey who sets his pack of no-gooders on Shawn, snatching up the small amount of money he earned and sending potential customers scurrying away. Shawn doesn't take this invasion of his sales space lying down, and delivers a beating on Harvey's young cohorts that sets Harvey's mind to spinning. It's easy to see Shawn's got fighting skills and this makes Harvey think twice about the kid they just robbed.
Channing Tatum and Terrence Howard are a formidable onscreen team, and Zulay Henao isn't just a pretty face in the male-dominated production; but it's Howard that holds this film together with his performance. Howard's Harvey is a hustler who knows his limits and a guy who lives by an interesting code of ethics. Howard is quietly contemplative in moments and in that restraint Howard shows just how talented he is.
While the dialogue is well written and the acting was terrific, the actual storyline left a little to be desired. When does Shawn work out? He looks cut, but the only time we see him do anything to get in shape is a brief segment on a deserted train in which he does a few minutes of exercise. Of course he could be a natural, but that’s not real is it? Also, the first fight scene is more like a dance than hand-to-hand combat and it looks staged. A reference to Fight Club maybe? On the other hand, the final fight is down and dirty and ruthlessly violent and almost painful to watch.



Obsessed

Cast: Idris Elba, Ali Larter, Beyoncé Knowles, Bruce McGill, Jerry O'Connell, Christine Lahti

Yet another version of “Fatal Attraction” in this one Idris Elba plays Derek Charles, a recently promoted business executive who has just purchased a posh new home with his doting wife, Sharon (Beyoncé Knowles), and their baby boy. Derek is the perfect hero; his life is soft-focus perfect. But no life is too perfect, to avoid the eventual disturbance of the psychotic stalker who works in the office as , you guessed it , a temp. Lisa (Ali Larter) strikes up an immediate rapport with Derek, and quickly begins her plot to become his one and only love... whether he likes it or not. Our femme fatale digs her claws into every aspect of Derek's personal and professional life ; she propositions him at parties and in the parking garage, stalks him to a lush business retreat where she pretends to be his wife, and slips him a drug in his cocktail. Derek doesn't say a word about his trouble to anyone, thereby creating massive distrust when his wife finds out that could "end their perfect marriage." Lisa crosses the line when Beyoncé gets mad, and the film crescendos in what could be this years best girl fight, complete with treacherous staircases, everyday household weaponry, and floors that give out under just the right amount of pressure. The film is mindless, yet emotion-driven, and just crazy fun. Don’t try to think too much about what’s going on; this is the kind of movie best enjoyed whilst having a beer and a ton of popcorn.



Adventureland

This is a sharp, insightful, charming motion picture. Written and directed by Greg Mottola (Superbad); this isn’t Judd Apatow territory, although the dialogue doesn't shrink from sex and other matters that obsess 22-year old men and women, it's not wall-to-wall crudeness and profanity. If The Wonder Years had followed Kevin and his friends into their early 20s, the end product might have occupied similar terrain as Adventureland.
It's 1987 and James Brennan (Jesse Eisenberg), a newly minted college graduate, is looking forward to a summer in Europe before heading east from Pittsburgh to New York City for an Ivy League graduate education. Unfortunately, James' dad (Jack Gilpin) suffers a setback at work and the money is no longer there for either the trip or Columbia. So James must get a job, and the only place where his lack of practical experience isn't a hindrance is a minimum-wage shift at Adventureland Amusement Park, running a game booth. It's a crappy job, but the compensation is that James meets some interesting people: Mike Connell (Ryan Reynolds), the rock star maintenance man who plays the field despite his wedding ring; Joel (Martin Starr), whose intellect and awkwardness around women match James'; Lisa P (Margarita Levieva), the star of every male's wet dreams; and Em (Kristen Stewart), whose mixture of compassion, substance, and girl-next-door good looks dooms James to a summer of longing. Despite his geeky appearance and fondness for deep thinking, he's surprisingly popular - although that could have something to do with his stash of joints.



Introducing Action Packed; Kick A**, Stunt Driven Dragon Dynasty!
The first 3 movies in a continuing series of the best martial arts action movies around!

Born To Fight

Directed by Panna Ritikrai
Starring Dan Chupong

I bet you've never seen a movie that could be described as Gymkata meets The Dirty Dozen mixed with Die Hard, only over-stuffed with that patented Thai trademark of hardcore "stunt fighting" -- with a whole lot of John Woo-style gunplay to keep things juicy.
Born to Fight is an absolutely insane experience, and it's definitely something you'll want to see if you're a big fan of action movies. The story concerns a bunch of gifted young athletes (and one cop) who must prevent a platoon of village-attacking evildoers from launching a full-scale nuclear attack on Bangkok. Throw in some really harsh violence (these are some seriously vicious villains, believe me), a strangely appealing sense of humour, a whole lot of Thai culture and patriotism, a few exceedingly well-choreographed brawls, and just a little bit of melodrama to keep the blood boiling -- and you've got Born to Fight. (The last 30-some minutes consist of one long action scene. Honest.)
Come see our heroes disarm and destroy opponents through the use of balance beams, rugby tackles, kicked fruit, parallel bars, and soccer balls. Yes folks this action movie delivers the goods. The fights, the falls, and the athletic prowess on display are the real deal all the way, and once that village has been invaded and that super-team of teenage athletes (and one cop) have had enough ... boy do things get wild.
Lead actor Dan Chupong makes a strong case for himself as another young Thai action star. The guy defies gravity, and he really knows his way around a knee to the chest and an elbow to the forehead; as one fan stated
“The Matrix wouldn't have needed that many CGI or wire gags had they known about Panna and his amazing stunt team. Born to Fight is the ultimate action junkie's dream come true”



PTU Police Tactical Unit

Acclaimed director Johnnie To (Election) scores again with this action-packed thriller, nominated for 10 Hong Kong Film Awards. Following a run-in with a gang of thugs led by Ponytail, Sergeant “Fatty” Lo (Lam Suet) loses his gun and turns to the brutally efficient Sergeant Mike Ho (Simon Yam) of the PTU to help him retrieve it. It’s late and Lo agrees to search for the gun until dawn, after which he will follow procedure and report the missing weapon.What follows is “sheer over-the-top delirium” (Frank Scheck, Hollywood Reporter), as their mission intersects with a gangland assassination that threatens to ignite an all-out war. Gripping and unpredictable, PTU is a masterpiece of stylized cool and explosive action.



Dragon Heat AKA Dragon Squad

Dragon Heat is the product of writer-director Daniel Lee who was inspired by a hit Japanese TV series from the ’70s to create a story about a squad of supercops taking on an equally skilled gang of criminal mercenaries in the mean streets of Hong Kong.
One of the year's most exciting action-thrillers, Dragon Heat features the star-studded cast of action icons Sammo Hung (Kill Zone), Michael Biehn, Maggie Q (Live Free or Die Hard; she was the “skinny oriental chick” remember?) and Shawn Yue (Infernal Affairs). When a notorious Triad crime lord disappears shortly before trial, a team of elite Interpol agents must wage an all-out war through the streets of Hong Kong against a mysterious and heavily-armed foe to recapture him. Dragon Heat sizzles with non-stop action, apocalyptic gunfights, and a no-holds barred climactic martial arts showdown.

Fast cars and scantily dressed women; sounds like a teenage boys dream week at the Movie Spot, but actually the car movie isn’t half bad!
A derelict who is a classicaly trained cellist and a remake of a classic kids adventure story plus the second part of the Che saga round up this weeks releases.

New releases this week:

Fast & Furious

Cast: Vin Diesel, Paul Walker, Michelle Rodriguez, Jordana Brewster, John Ortiz, Laz Alonso

When a mutual friend is suddenly murdered by a Los Angeles drug cartel, FBI agent Brian O’Conner (Paul Walker) and outlaw boy racer Dominic Toretto (Vin Diesel) separately infiltrate the shady organization in search of revenge, justice and screeching handbrake turns.
First off, is it just me or does anyone else finds it strange that all they did to the title was leaving off the ‘the” from the first of the franchise?
If ’80s remakes like Die Hard 4.0 and Rambo are the movie-star equivalent of Viagra-powered pre-retirement benders, this follow-up to a recent action franchise (with the added “the”) puts stars Paul Walker (who was in The Fast And The Furious and 2 Fast 2 Furious) and Vin Diesel (who sat out the first sequel but cameoed in The Fast And The Furious: Tokyo Drift) in the position of 30 year-old guys who bust up their lives and have to move back in with their mums.

Since showing promise in 2001, when the original was a surprise hit, Diesel has gone from contender to pariah via xXx and The Pacifier, while even the most dedicated fact fan might need to check to name any Paul Walker credit beyond his eighth billing in Flags Of Our Fathers .

Obviously, both leads need a jolt of career, and roles for tough, interesting women being as scarce now as in 2001 ; the wholly wonderful and utterly sidelined Michelle Rodriguez and Jordana Brewster are back in the harness too, along with a micro-bit for Sung Kang, who starred in Tokyo Drift, to tie together the series’ sprawling over-story.

The mix is as before; superstar illegal drivers strutting with babes hanging off their arms just in case you thought there was anything, well, gay about their twin obsessions with weirdly unattractive muscle cars and each other. The clunking plot finds old friends/foes Brian and Dom competing to get close to a mystery mobster, who apparently needs fast drivers but, as it happens, doesn’t really.

Well this is a DVD, so you can fast forward to the chases, so not having to endure sob-you-were-my-best-friend scenes. Next time get ready for Fast & Furious Vs. The Transporter!


Miss March

Cast: Zach Cregger, Trevor Moore, Raquel Alessi, Molly Stanton, Holly Hindman, Craig Robinson, Alexis Raben, Tanjareen Martin, Eve Mauro, Holly Weber


The film introduces us to Eugene Bell (Zach Cregger) and Tucker Cleigh (Trevor Moore) as kids, then catches up to them on prom night. Eugene, a staunch advocate of abstinence, is about to lose his virginity to his girlfriend of 30 months, Cindi (Raquel Alessi). He's nervous, drinks too much, falls down a flight of stairs and ends up in a coma for the next four years. When he awakens, he discovers that his father has abandoned him and his girlfriend is a Playboy centerfold. Only Tucker has stuck around. So, to claim Eugene's lost love and escape a scrape with some firemen that Tucker finds himself in, they head west toward the Playboy Mansion.
I’m in two minds about this movie, a laugh or a waste of time?
Now here’s the bad review; Zach Cregger and Trevor Moore (of the TV show The Whitest Kids U Know) are wearing three hats here - directors, writers, and stars - possibly because no one else wanted to be associated with this production. The biggest name in the cast is Hugh Hefner, and this is a sad comedown for him. I know his magazine hasn't been relevant in about a quarter century, but is he so hard-up for publicity that he feels it necessary to lend his support to something like this? I could understand “House Bunny” that was actually enjoyable. For a movie that's purported to be a sex comedy, there's not much in the way of sex or nudity. And, even though the lead actress is supposedly a centerfold, she keeps her clothes on at all times. There's not even a digitally created image of her naked!
The humor is divided into three categories: profanity-related, having to do with bodily fluids and a tedious, often-repeated line about a hip-hop artist whose name is Horsedick.MPEG. It's as if the screenwriters are eight years old and, having just discovered the word "fuck," they want to use it as much as possible and think its mere utterance is hilarious. For variety, they toss in stuff like an explosion of diarrhea in all of its graphic glory and a Playmate savoring the sweet nectar of dog pee. And those are the tasteful bits. OK you figured out I didn’t much care for this movie!
Now for the good review; (ok maybe a bit better)
Taking its R-rating to the extreme, "Miss March" is a subversively humorous romp, one funny sequence involving oral sex, strobe lights and an epileptic seizure, to a scene where the scantily clad Crystal (Tanjareen Martin) accidentally bounces off a tour bus bed and right out the window of the moving vehicle, to the bawdy antics of Trevor's celebrity rapper pal Horsedick.MPEG (Craig Robinson), to a run-in with ludicrously horny lesbian chicks Vonka (Eve Mauro) and Katja (Alexis Raben) Yes the girls are beautiful, after all we are talking Playboy, and one thing this film never takes itself seriously. Maybe I just wasn’t in the mood; still this is the unrated version so it’s even raunchier, but I still prefer Zack and Miri make a Porno, now that’s funny!


Dragonball Evolution

Cast: Justin Chatwin, James Marsters, Emmy Rossum, Jamie Chung, Chow Yun-Fat, Joon Park, Randall Duk Kim, Eriko Tamura, Ernie Hudson, Texas Battle
Here’s the storyline: Goku, an awkward teenager living with his grandfather in an unnamed American town, wishes for a lot of things. He wishes he were normal. He wishes he were allowed to fight the school bullies. He wishes the beautiful Chi Chi (Jamie Chung) would notice him. Despite the old man's insistence that he needs to have faith in himself, he wishes he were someone else.
The demon Piccolo wishes for only one thing - to unleash the destroyer and wreak his revenge upon the Earth. To make his wish come true, he needs the aid of a mighty dragon which can only be summoned when the blood moon eclipses the sun, by the person who controls all seven of the legendary dragonballs. With me so far? You would be if you were 12 years old and have been watching this Japanese Manga (animation to you) TV show most of your young life!
Director James Wong perfectly captures the cheesy, fast-paced style of the source material and the script is smart enough to cover a few crowd-pleasing teen movie bases before the action really gets going, most notably a superb sequence where Goku trounces a gang of bullies without actually touching any of them.

In addition, Chatwin makes an extremely likeable lead and there's strong support from Chung (feistier than the usual love interest), and a scene-stealing Chow Yun-Fat.
The genesis of Dragonball goes all the way back to a simple, Japanese, manga-series of 1984, which has since evolved into a mega-franchise including: several animated series, trading card games, and video games. Actually, this movie is the second, live-action movie, but it's 1989 predecessor, Dragonball The magic begins, was a Taiwanese production that saw no theatrical release outside of China. This DVD will undoubtedly appeal to the generation who is familiar with the series; nevertheless it’s an enjoyable, fast paced action adventure that doesn’t take itself too seriously!



Race To Witch Mountain

Cast: Dwayne Johnson, Anna Sophia Robb, Alexander Ludwig, Carla Gugino, Ciaran Hinds, Tom Everett Scott, Christopher Marquette, Billy Brown, Garry Marshall, Kim Richards

For someone who started his movie career under a pseudonym, it’s perhaps unsurprising that The Rock’s career to date has seen him endure something of an identity crisis, flitting from genre to genre like an indecisive customer in Blockbuster.
Of course, The Rock is dead now ; long live Dwayne Johnson. As ever, Johnson excels when he’s required to punch and kick people and, unusually for a Disney, there’s plenty of that, particularly when the alien assassin, the Siphon, shows up. But he also displays a fine comic touch, notably in scenes where he’s creeped out, or holds a conversation with an overfriendly, semi-telepathic dog. As you might expect with a remake, (originally made in 1975) even a loose one like this, there’s nothing particularly original here. But it’s an unexpectedly entertaining mixture of good, clean Disney fun with some rather more modern action scenes, lent charm by Johnson’s natural swagger. One of the better family films in a while.



The Soloist

Cast: Jamie Foxx, Robert Downey Jr., Catherine Keener, Tom Hollander, Lisa Gay Hamilton

This is not a story with a fairy tale ending; similar in part to the wonderful movie “Shine” this true story is a showcase to two extraordinary talents.
Acting titans Robert Downey Jr. and Jamie Foxx make for an impressive twosome, taking on the real-life roles of Los Angeles Times columnist Steve Lopez and schizophrenic, Juilliard-trained cellist Nathaniel Ayers.
The Soloist recounts the interaction between Steve Lopez (Robert Downey Jr.) and a homeless man by the name of Nathaniel Ayers (Jamie Foxx). When Steve is first drawn to Nathaniel, it's because of music being played by the latter on a violin with only two strings. After Steve learns that Nathaniel was once enrolled in Julliard, a column is born. The two spend time together and Steve becomes obsessed with providing a better life for Nathaniel , obtaining a new instrument for him, getting him off the street and into a shelter, providing him with a music teacher (Tom Hollander), and arranging a recital. The problem is that Nathaniel is afflicted with schizophrenia and his moments of lucidity come and go. At times, he can hold conversations with Steve. On other occasions, he becomes withdrawn and sometimes violent.
The Soloist's screenplay is based on Lopez's book, subtitled A Lost Dream, an Unlikely Friendship, and the Redemptive Power of Music.
It's testament to Downey's portrayal of the columnist that this doesn't come off as a pampered writer trying to "get" a story. Perhaps it's because the actor's infamous substance-abuse history makes him appear not so far removed from mental illness himself, whether playing a comic-book superhero in Iron Man or a Method actor gone haywire in Tropic Thunder.
Sometimes a little drawn out and often more a documentary on the homeless in Los Angeles, this nevertheless is a movie you will want to watch for a second time.



Che Part 2 The Guerilla

Cast: Benicio Del Toro, Demián Bichir, Santiago Cabrera, Catalina Sandino Moreno, Julia Ormond, Lou Diamond Phillips, Franka Potente, Edgar Ramirez, Victor Rasuk, Rodrigo Santoro

Given Che Part One ended with the revolutionary leader telling his troops, “The revolution begins now,” you’d think that Che Part Two might show Guevara’s part in that victory. But, Part Two is the melancholic one, where our heroes find themselves trudging through grim locales, under clouds of impending doom.
Del Toro is, if anything, more impressive than in Part One, quiet and magisterial, even in sickness and defeat. The scene where he quietly persuades a Bolivian guard to release him is almost frightening in its quiet power.

The film ends in blur, silence and dust, as if we’re watching the world fade through Guevara’s own eyes. Moments before his death we learn he’s left five children behind in Cuba. It’s a fragment of personal detail, but after what we’ve been through it’s overwhelming. We might still be in the dark as to his politics, but after nearly five hours in his company we’re in no doubt we’ve lost a great man. Maybe that was all director Soderbergh and Del Toro wanted, after all.




A Classic Movie You Must See, or See Again

Casino

Cast: Robert De Niro, Sharon Stone, Joe Pesci, James Woods, Don Rickles, Alan King, Kevin Pollak, L.Q. Jones, Dick Smothers, Frank Vincent

‘You beat him with fists; he comes back with a bat. You beat him with a knife; he comes back with a gun. If you beat him with a gun, you’d better kill him because he’ll keep coming back and back until one of you is dead.’
Sam Ace Rothstein, (De Niro) the consummate bookie who can change the odds merely by placing a bet, has risen through the ranks of the Midwestern mob to be picked by the bosses to front their entree into Vegas. Ace lives and breathes the odds. He eventually doubles the mob's take and changes the rules of how the casinos are run. But he can't control the odds when it comes to Ginger McKenna, (Sharon Stone) the chip-hustling vamp who charms Ace and becomes his wife. His infatuation with Ginger turns to obsession as she rises with him to the upper crust of society then turns to the bottle and pills for consolation in her gilded cage. The third member of this triangle of greed and obsession is Nicky Santoro, (Joe Pesci) Ace's best friend and fellow graduate of the city streets. Together, they run the perfect operation, with Ace in charge and Nicky providing the muscle. But as Nicky expands his interests and each man gains power, their lives become entangled in a story of hot tempers, obstinacy, money, love and deception.
It is said that director Martin Scorsese made the ultimate gangster movie in “GoodFellas”, that is probably true, but this movie has to be the second jewel in Scorsese’s crown. Casino is a tour-de-force of acting and directing, both of which are spectacular in the Martin Scorsese and screenwriter Nicholas Pileggi vision of Las Vegas. Three hours long and not a bad performance, uncompelling scene or misguided directorial style in the mix. Casino is a very dark and violent film, but there are moments of humor to liven up the mood and some fascinating subplots that tie in to the main theme beautifully.
The cast is of course perfect, with De Niro headlining and on top form as Ace. Although less confrontational and aggressive than some of his other on-screen personas, Ace is still a conflicted, complicated person for De Niro to get to grips with and he does so with the skill and strength you only expect but still marvel at from one of the greatest actors ever. Partnering him up with long-term collaborator Joe Pesci was a clever move because you know exactly what to expect when you put these two together. Here he plays the same character that Pesci has been typecast as ever since GoodFellas; an extremely short-tempered violent psychopath but with the added twist that he is more ostensibly an out-and-out bad-guy. Although starting out as Ace’s best friend Nicky, just like he was De Niro’s character’s best friend in GoodFellas, he soon descends into drugs and greed and general excess to the point where he is endangering the lives of everybody he knows.
This is a movie to own, but if you need to see it before making up your mind, run don’t walk to the kiosks and pick it up, simply put, this is one of the best films of all time.

Fast cars and scantily dressed women; sounds like a teenage boys dream week at the Movie Spot, but actually the car movie isn’t half bad! Check out the releases in full at themoviespotter.blogspot.com
New releases this week:
Fast & Furious
Cast: Vin Diesel, Paul Walker, Michelle Rodriguez, Jordana Brewster, John Ortiz, Laz Alonso
The latest in the franchise, probably the best and with a nice touch of leaving out the word ‘the” to differentiate from the title of the first one!
Here’s the storyline: When a mutual friend is suddenly murdered by a Los Angeles drug cartel, FBI agent Brian O’Conner (Paul Walker) and outlaw boy racer Dominic Toretto (Vin Diesel) separately infiltrate the shady organization in search of revenge, justice and screeching handbrake turns.


Miss March
Cast: Zach Cregger, Trevor Moore, Raquel Alessi, Molly Stanton, Holly Hindman, Craig Robinson, Alexis Raben, Tanjareen Martin, Eve Mauro, Holly Weber
I’m in two minds about this romp, a funny movie in bad taste or a waste of time, for a long review check out the blog at themoviespotter .blogspot.com
Here’s the storyline: A young man awakens from a four-year coma to hear that his once virginal high-school sweetheart has since become a centerfold in one of the world's most famous men's magazines. He and his sex-crazed best friend decide to take a cross-country road trip in order to crash a party at the magazine's legendary mansion headquarters and win back the girl. (I’ll let you in to a secret, you never see her unclothed!)

Dragonball Evolution
Cast: Justin Chatwin, James Marsters, Emmy Rossum, Jamie Chung, Yun-Fat Chow, Joon Park, Randall Duk Kim, Eriko Tamura, Ernie Hudson, Texas Battle
World famous Manga TV show comes to the big screen (or small screen depends how big the screen is natch!) Goku and a handful of friends battle for the Earth against the deadly forces of the Saiyans, who are sweeping across the universe, leaving a path of destruction. Goku and his friends' best chance for survival rests with the Namekian DragonBalls, which provide them the power to summon a mighty dragon; understand this yet? Just ask any one under the age of thirteen and they’ll explain it!
A Classic Movie You Must See, or See Again

Casino

Cast: Robert De Niro, Sharon Stone, Joe Pesci, James Woods, Don Rickles, Alan King, Kevin Pollak, L.Q. Jones, Dick Smothers, Frank Vincent

‘You beat him with fists; he comes back with a bat. You beat him with a knife; he comes back with a gun. If you beat him with a gun, you’d better kill him because he’ll keep coming back and back until one of you is dead.’
It is said that director Martin Scorsese made the ultimate gangster movie in “GoodFellas”, that is probably true, but this movie has to be the second jewel in Scorsese’s crown. Casino is a tour-de-force of acting and directing, both of which are spectacular in the Martin Scorsese and screenwriter Nicholas Pileggi vision of Las Vegas. Three hours long and not a bad performance, uncompelling scene or misguided directorial style in the mix. Casino is a very dark and violent film, but there are moments of humor to liven up the mood and some fascinating subplots that tie in to the main theme beautifully. Simply put, a must see, one of the best ever!





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News and Reviews From Canada's Favorite DVD Kiosks

At long last: The TV series we have been waiting for are now released at the following Movie Spots;
Macs Queen Street, Rabba Queens Quay and Isabella in Toronto , Lakeshore in Etobicoke, Sobeys Woodchester and Maple Grove and Urban Fresh on the Danforth. Coming soon to Wellesley and Oshawa . If there is a Movie Spot near you that you would like to see the TV series stocked; please let me know at thespotter@moviespot.ca

This Weeks New Movies Now Playing

The Watchmen

Cast: Malin Akerman, Billy Crudup, Matthew Goode, Carla Gugino, Jackie Earle Haley, Jeffrey Dean Morgan, Patrick Wilson

As a book, or novelette or just plain comic book, this is not your average Marvel comic saga. I own a set of the 12 issue series and well remember all the guys who hang out in comic books bragging about how this is really deep man! Deep? Personally I couldn’t figure it out, but it felt good to own a copy and be one of the “chosen ones” who knew what was cool.Recently quizzed on his expectations for the movie adaptation of his hallowed graphic novel Watchmen, Alan Moore — shaman, philosopher, and visionary comic-book auteur was heard to sigh. “Do we need any more shitty films in this world?” Let them do what they will, just don’t involve me. He concluded his diatribe with the simple conclusion that Watchmen, his masterwork, was “inherently unfilmable”.This is not exactly encouraging for a director attempting their dream project. But Zack Snyder, hot from his stylised-if-juvenile adaptation of Frank Miller’s 300, is a determined man. Snyder was one of the faithful, Watchmen his Bible, and would treat it with a care unprecedented in the annals of Hollywood screw-ups. Every sinew of directorial effort has been bent on proving the author wrong. Talk about a task! The novel is dizzy with storytelling devices: not just comic-strips, but biographical chapters, diaries, newspaper reports, poetry quotations, medical files and a warped, ultra-violent story-within-a-story called Tales Of The Black Freighter (an earlier animated DVD release). It was full of astonishing ideas that could take you years to fully compute. Stick that into two hours of family entertainment then, Zack…The story begins in 1985 when an outcast superhero has been tossed out of his apartment window. Still, The Comedian, former member of the disbanded Watchmen, has some ugly secrets. Rorschach, a paranoid sleuth whose ink-blot mask eerily ebbs and flows with his moods, can smell conspiracy, but his fellow ex-Watchmen are hard to convince. It’s a whodunit, although what exactly has been done is hard to say. It’s an action movie heavy on dialogue, although the movie styles up the punch-ups into slow-mo montages. It’s a bleak, rangy tale of a planet beset with disorder, and a superhero soap that shuttles between multiple stories.
That Snyder has gotten a version to the screen at all is a triumph. This is 160 minutes of a dense, geek-orientated blockbuster for grown-ups. (I warned you! No Spiderman here) But if you like action comic book heroes type movies, you’ll love it; arms are snapped, heads smashed in and Viet-Cong splattered like flies. Oh what a blast, not for the squeamish but then if you rent this you know what you’re in for don’t you? Oh, by the way nearly 3 hours long, did I mention that?




Coraline

Cast: Dakota Fanning, Teri Hatcher, Dawn French, Jennifer Saunders, Keith David, John Hodgman, Robert Bailey Jr., Ian McShane

First off, 3D DVD’s don’t work! True you can see some form of three dimension but the cardboard glasses never fit, they slide down your nose and the colours disappear because of some scientific problem. In a nutshell, watch the 2D version. Now on to this review; the story; Coraline (Fanning) moves to a new home, where she feels neglected by her stressed-out parents. When she finds a door leading to a happier mirror on her own world, with a loving ‘Other Mother’ (Hatcher), everything seems perfect ; but there’s danger lurking..
Adults have been overheard fretting about how scary it is ; and they’re right: it’s terrifying. Children though, have no such qualms. Strange, perhaps, but then, this is a strange film. As creepy as it is charming, as bizarre as it is beautiful, this is a true horror movie, but also a warm, brightly colored children’s fairy tale about the magic behind everyday life.
Directed by Henry Selick and based on a short book by Neil Gaiman as its inspiration. Employing stop-motion animation that renders human beings with the distinctive characteristics evident in both Tim Burton’s The Nightmare Before Christmas and James and the Giant Peach, Selick finds the perfect look to bring Gaiman's vision to life. The resulting tale may owe a little to "Hansel and Gretel" and "Alice in Wonderland," but ultimately stands on its own
Terrifying and beautiful, believable and fantastical, this is one of the best children’s films in years and Selick’s finest — better even than The Nightmare Before Christmas.




12 Rounds

Cast: John Cena, Ashley Scott, Brian J. White, Taylor Cole, Aidan Gillen, Steve Harris, Lara Grice, Billy Slaughter, Gonzalo Menendez, Louis Herthum

Officer Danny Fisher (Cena) gets the break of his career when he nabs terrorist Miles Jackson (Gillen). Unluckily for both, the perp’s girlfriend is killed during the arrest. A year later, he escapes from jail, kidnaps Fisher’s partner, Molly (Scott), and kickstarts a diabolical 12-step game of Simon Says.

When it comes to wrestlers, only The Rock — aka Dwayne Johnson — has successfully translated his considerable charm and charisma into bona fide big-screen stardom, scoring in action fare such as The Mummy Returns and Walking Tall and kid-friendly crowd-pleasers like The Game Plan and Race To Witch Mountain.Now into the ring — or rather, out of it — steps WWE superstar John Cena, and if the hope is for him to follow in The Rock’s oversized footsteps, this is definitely how to go about it. First, give him a script worthy of Denzel, which snaps, crackles and pops, and never slows down long enough to show that Cena is new to this acting malarkey; and hire a veteran action director (Cliffhanger’s Renny Harlin) who’s hungry for a comeback — and then turn the action dial up to 11. Or, indeed, 12.

Derivative it may be, but with its echoes of Speed, Lethal Weapon and Die Hard With A Vengeance, this is a welcome throwback for audiences raised on ’90s action flicks — what they used to call “a pulse-pounding roller-coaster thrill-ride of a movie”. Much better than watching boring tv re-runs!

This Weeks Movie You Didnt Rent & Why You Should

Street Kings

Cast: Keanu Reeves, Forest Whitaker, Hugh Laurie, Chris Evans, Naomie Harris, Jay Mohr, John Corbett, Cedric the Entertainer, Amaury Nolasco, Terry Crews

How did we miss this one? Like great cop movies that you have to watch again to decide who's a bad guy?
This is the one for you! From the brilliantly profane and testy mind of crime novelist James Ellroy and director David Ayer, who wrote the script for Training Day, comes a tale of police corruption amid the drug strewn gang-banging culture of LA’s sleazy underbelly. Well, what were you expecting, High School Musical 3? It’s that bad news from LA again, where everybody’s on the take and by the messy close, there are bodies falling from everywhere and you’ll feel in need of a hot, cleansing shower.
Implicated in the shooting of a fellow cop, dissolute LA detective Tom Ludlow (Reeves) finds himself caught between the protection of his tight-knit department and a growing sense he may not be working for the good guys at all.
As Ludlow, Reeves is the hards ass veteran detective. pummelling witnesses with telephone directories, swigging mini-bar vodkas at the wheel, and tossing out casual racial slurs. This is a totally new Reeves, or a totally old one. He’s never looked so worn out, all his boyish attraction is sunk beneath sallow, potholed skin and piss-hole eyes. The film opens to the nag of an alarm and we witness Neo pour himself out of bed, clutch his wrung-out face, and fetch up gobs of bile into a toilet bowl. Like woah dude. Like it so far? Well add some fine Hollywood actors including Accademy award winner Forest Whitaker, and Dr. House himself Hugh Laurie, at the fringes of the plot as an internal affairs slimeball. Go rent it now!!




Next Time, Fast & the Furious!

News & reviews week of July 12th 2009

From a new twist on an X-Men type of a story to a creepy New England house to an excellent story of revolutionary Cuba, this week has some fine viewing .

New releases now playing:

Push

Cast: Chris Evans, Dakota Fanning, Camilla Belle, Djimon Hounsou, Joel Gretsch, Neil Jackson,

This week’s biggest release, is a sci-fi thriller about the shadowy “Division”
The Division is genetically transforming citizens into an army of psychic warriors and brutally disposing of those unwilling to participate. Nick Gant, a second-generation telekinetic or mover, has been in hiding since the Division murdered his father more than a decade earlier. He has found sanctuary in densely populated Hong Kong, the last safe place on earth for fugitive psychics like him, but only if he can keep his gift a secret. Nick is forced out of hiding when Cassie Holmes, a 13-year-old clairvoyant or watcher, seeks his help. Pushers possess the most dangerous of all psychic powers: the ability to influence others actions by implanting thoughts in their minds. With the help of a team of rogue psychics, the unlikely duo traverses the seedy underbelly of the city, trying to stay one step ahead of the authorities. But they find themselves square in the crosshairs of Division Agent Henry Carver, a pusher who will stop at nothing to keep them from achieving their goal.
A concept that can be described as X-Men with psychics, the film revolves around people with an array of incredible powers. Movers are telekinetic, able to move things with their will alone. Watchers see images of the future and the titular Pushers are able to bend you to their will and place thoughts and impulses into your mind. Director Paul McGuigan’s has ambition; not only has he made a superhero movie on a kitchen-sink budget, but he’s done it in the faraway climes of Hong Kong. And he’s created a mythology to match: this film has an ending that screams for further instalments. Whether its less-than-stellar box office will kill those hopes remains to be seen, but you’ve got to hope that there’ll be an X2 to this X-Men.



Che Part 1 - Argentina

Cast: Benicio Del Toro, Demián Bichir, Santiago Cabrera, Catalina Sandino Moreno, Julia Ormond, Lou Diamond Phillips,

On Nov. 26, 1956, Fidel Castro sails to Cuba with 80 rebels. One of those rebels is Ernesto "Che" Guevara, a young Argentine idealist and doctor who shares a common goal with Fidel Castro--to overthrow the corrupt dictatorship of Fulgencio Batista. Che proves himself an indispensable fighter, and quickly grasps the art of guerrilla warfare. As he throws himself into the struggle, Che is embraced by his comrades and the Cuban people. "The Argentine" tracks Che's rise in the Cuban Revolution, from doctor to commander to revolutionary hero.
When Cuban farmers emerged to join Che Guevara in his battle against Batista’s military government in 1956, few knew what the man looked like, let alone what drove him. They came; it’s said, out of a deep-set belief that this man would lead them to a better place.

Twenty minutes into Part One of Steven Soderbergh’s four-hour-plus Guevara epic, after we’ve endured a whistle-stop ‘News On The March’ history lesson, and observed a mumbled scene in Mexico City in 1955 where Fidel Castro (Demián Bichir) outlines his plans to Ernesto ‘Che’ Guevara (Benicio Del Toro), it becomes clear that Soderbergh is adopting a similar approach
Although he’s never off the screen, Del Toro’s performance is as beautifully enigmatic as that Alberto Korda photo reproduced on T-shirts around the world. Eschewing the clear biography of The Motorcycle Diaries, Part One simply drops us into the confusion and drudge of conflict. Small pieces of information emerge; he’s near-crippled by asthma; he uses his medical training to treat Cuban peasants; we hear fragments of his philosophy (“The punishment for treason is death”); yet it’s only ever what the soldiers know. In addition, Del Toro’s Che is delivered as a performance within a performance; like the soldiers, we’re watching doctor and family man Ernesto playing at (and slowly becoming) Che Guevara, the cold, efficient leader of men.
The New York sequences (shot in rich Life magazine black-and-white), in which Guevara is interviewed by ABC correspondent Lisa Howard (Julia Ormond) and addresses the United Nations, gives us Che the unreliable narrator , but the overall effect is a bit like nipping out of the cinema exit to attend, well, a meeting of the United Nations.
The film’s final set-piece, the battle for Santa Clara, is like a Gunfight At The O. K. Corral, and the second half of Kubrick’s Full Metal Jacket and one of the great battle sequences of modern cinema.
Part One of Soderbergh’s Che epic dismantles the clichés and myths to craft an essay on the heroism of war, highlighted by a compelling star performance. Part 2 of the story continues with next month’s release.



The Haunting In Connecticut

Cast: Virginia Madsen, Kyle Gallner, Martin Donovan, Elias Koteas, Amanda Crew, D.W. Brown, Sarah Constible, Matt Kippen, John B. Lowe

Based on a chilling true story, Lionsgate's "The Haunting in Connecticut" charts one family's terrifying, real-life encounter with the dark forces of the supernatural. When the Campbell family moves to upstate Connecticut, they soon learn that their charming Victorian home has a disturbing history: not only was the house a transformed funeral parlor where inconceivable acts occurred, but the owner's clairvoyant son Jonah served as a demonic messenger, providing a gateway for spiritual entities to crossover. Now, unspeakable terror awaits, when Jonah, the boy who communicated with the powerful dark forces of the supernatural, returns to unleash a new kind of horror on the innocent and unsuspecting family.
If you like spooky films, this isn't bad at all. Sure, it has all the old clichés; shadowy figures glimpsed in reflections, frightening noises, people too stupid to move out and leave the demons to their rotten old house. But A Haunting in Connecticut is elevated by sharp direction from Peter Cornwell in his feature debut, and the acting is uniformly fine. Madsen is as terrific as ever, while Kyle Gallner excels as son Matt, whose cancer treatment necessitates the family's move to a new home nearer the hospital. He becomes the main focus for the ghosts due to his having one foot in 'the Valley of Death' and turns to another patient, gloomy Reverend Popescu (Elias Koteas), for help. Every week lately we have released a new horror movie to the Spot, “Haunting” is an entertaining time-passer; inessential, but lots of fun.



TV Series coming this week,

uncut (no commercials silly!) on beautiful DVD's!

True Blood Season 1
New cult HBO drama which details the co-existence of vampires and humans in Bon Temps, a fictional small northern Louisiana town. Twilight anybody?

The Closer Season 4
American crime drama showing on TNT and starring Kyra Sedgwick as Deputy Chief Brenda Leigh Johnson, a Georgia police detective who arrives in Los Angeles to lead the Priority Murder Squad (later Priority Homicide Division), a team that deals only with high profile murder cases.

Terminator The Sarah Connor Chronicles Season 1
American science fiction television series that aired on Fox. It is a spin-off from the Terminator series of films. It revolves around the lives of the fictional characters Sarah and John Connor, following the events of Terminator 2: Judgment Day. There’s no Arnold in this, instead a very sexy female terminator who is one of the good guys (or gals)

Rome
The most expensive US television series ever made and without an American actor in it! Some of the finest British actors made this the groundbreaking series and cult favourite of the passed few years. The show's first season originally aired on HBO in the United States between August 28 and November 20, 2005, and has never been surpassed (except perhaps by season 2) ever since. The story of Rome depicts the period of history surrounding the violent transformation of the Roman Republic into the Roman Empire, the decay of political institutions, and the actions of ambitious men and women. The series follows the two main characters Lucius and Titus from Caesars invasion of Gaul to the death of Mark Antony and the rise of the first Emperor Augustus.
The series was a ratings success for HBO and the BBC. The show received much media attention from the start, and Rome was honored with numerous awards and award nominations in its two-season run.
Stars Kevin McKidd who with an American accent later starred in Journeyman and Ray Stevenson who became the Punisher. Filled with the best of the UK stage talent this is perhaps the best TV so far this millennium, not for the kiddies as it displays an awful lot of sex and violence but shows that in early Rome this was the norm. This series is available in 12 episodes on 6 discs.

Californication
Showtime TV series starring David Duchovny as Hank Moody: a troubled novelist whose move to California and his writer's block complicate the relationships with his ex-girlfriend Karen (Natascha McElhone) and daughter Becca (Madeleine Martin). Hank Moody is a charming writer and novelist but plagued with personal demons. He blames his years-long case of writer's block on a variety of reasons, ranging from the hedonism of Los Angeles, to his on-again, off-again relationship with his girlfriend Karen. Hank constantly deals with the fallout of his lack of will to say "no" to drugs, sex and alcohol, while trying to show his family that he can be a good, caring person.

Dexter Season 2
Dexter is an American television drama series that airs on American premium channel Showtime. Set in Miami, the series centers on Dexter Morgan (Michael C. Hall), a serial killer governed by a strict moral code who works for the Miami Metro Police Department as a blood spatter analyst. Incredibly gory; if it wasn’t that Dexter is the “hero” this would be a different kind of series!

Mad Men Season 1
Set in New York City, Mad Men begins in the early 1960s at the fictional Sterling Cooper advertising agency on New York City's Madison Avenue. The show centers on Don Draper (Jon Hamm), a high-level advertising creative director, and the people in his life in and out of the office. It also depicts the changing social morals of 1960s America.
Mad Men has received widespread critical acclaim, particularly for its historical authenticity and visual style, and has won numerous awards, including three Golden Globes, a BAFTA and six Emmys.

Rome Season 2
The gritty, decadent world that HBO built spills more blood in its second and final season, the post-Caesar chapter that pits Mark Antony (James Purefoy) against Octavian (Simon Woods). Sweeping battlefield showdowns offer high drama, but the soap-operatic subplots orchestrated by the cunning, stunning, emerald-eyed Atia (Polly Walker) are where the real action is. EXTRAS Five sharp commentaries and four featurettes are a must-watch. Television at its best!

Breaking Bad Season 1
Shown on cable network AMC, cult hit Breaking Bad revolves around Walter White (Bryan Cranston), a struggling high school chemistry teacher with a teenage son who has cerebral palsy , and a pregnant wife. When the already tense White is diagnosed with terminal lung cancer, he breaks down and turns to a life of crime, and starts producing and selling methamphetamine with his former student in a desire to secure his family's financial future.
Breaking Bad has received widespread critical acclaim, particularly for its writing and Cranston's performance on the show, and won two Emmy Awards for its first season in addition to numerous other awards and nominations.

The Shield Season 7 – The Final Act
The end of the saga, one of the best US police dramas ever made and an ending that will leave you talking about for some time. Absolutely brilliant!

A Current Title You Didn’t Rent (And Why You Should)

Death Race

Cast: Jason Statham, Tyrese Gibson, Natalie Martinez, Ian McShane, Joan Allen, Robin Shou, Jacob Vargas, Robert LaSardo, Max Ryan, Frederick Koehler

Terminal Island: The very near future. The world's hunger for extreme sports and reality competitions has grown into reality TV bloodlust. Now, the most extreme racing competition has emerged and its contestants are murderous prisoners. Tricked-out cars, caged thugs and smoking-hot navigators combine to create a juggernaut series with bigger ratings than the Super Bowl. The rules of the Death Race are simple: Win five events and you're set free. Lose and you're road kill splashed across the Internet. Three-time speedway champion Jensen Ames is an ex-con framed for a gruesome murder. Forced to don the mask of the mythical driver Frankenstein, a Death Race crowd favorite who seems impossible to kill, Ames is given an easy choice by Terminal Island's ruthless Warden Hennessey: Suit up and drive or never see his little girl again. His face hidden by a hideous mask, one convict will enter an insane three-day challenge in order to gain freedom. But to claim the prize, Ames must survive a gauntlet of the most vicious criminals; including nemesis Machine Gun Joe; in the country's toughest prison. Trained by his coach to drive a monster Mustang V8 Fastback outfitted with two mounted mini-guns, flamethrowers and napalm, an innocent man will destroy everything in his path to win the most twisted spectator sport on Earth. Now, if that doesn’t encourage you to rent this one, well there’s always Pink Panther 2!
At first glance, Death Race is another one of those remake-cum-adolescent fantasy (originally made in 2000 with David Carradine and Sylvester Stallone) but unlike, say, Resident Evil and Alien Vs. Predator, director Paul Anderson delivers an unashamedly brutal actioner that pushes all the right guys’ flick buttons, combining hot chicks, hotter cars, enormous guns, and Joan Allen saying the word “cocksucker”. The original Death Race had David Carradine and a young Sylvester Stallone race across America mowing down pedestrians for points. Anderson actually pitches this movie as a prequel of sorts, exploring the origins of Frankenstein (Jason Statham, in the Carradine role) and Machine-Gun Joe (Tyrese, following Stallone) and, indeed, the concept of the death race itself. By transplanting the action from the open road to a maximum-security prison run by Allen’s Warden Hennessey, a ball-busting cross between a Stepford Wife and Maggie Thatcher, Anderson combines prison movie (The Camshaft Redemption, anyone?) with revenge flick. And while it’s one-dimensional, overcrowded with walking clichés (all hail Ian McShane, bringing a bedraggled charm to the role of Kindly Old Lag), and bereft of the original’s satire, the locale change allows Anderson to shift the focus of the event from a meandering affair to a concise three-lap race, during which drivers unleash guns, oil and even napalm upon their rivals.
This is an enjoyable, macho B-movie romp, don’t you just love it? Turn up the sound and get ready for some ridiculous action, and if you’re ready for it, it also comes in both the theatrical and the unrated version!

News and reviews Week Of July 5th 2009

A very happy belated Canada Day everybody!

A nice Sci-Fi thriller this week, Nicholas Cage in “Knowing” and a nice creepy exorcist type movie with a new religious slant (see review!)
We goofed! The TV series we all want to watch uncut (without commercials silly!) could not be rented because of an internal problem. We’ve sorted it out now and very shortly (give us a week) they will be in the Spot. We’re talking Rome, Entourage, Californication, Breaking Bad, The Closer, The Shield, Dexter, True Blood, Terminator-The Sarah Connor Chronicles, and Mad Men, stay tuned for details.

New releases now playing:

Knowing

Cast: Nicolas Cage, Rose Byrne, Chandler Canterbury, Ben Mendelsohn, Adrienne Pickering, Tamara Donnellan, Brett Robson, Jayson Sutcliffe

In 1958, as part of the dedication ceremony for a new elementary school, a group of students is asked to draw pictures to be stored in a time capsule. But one mysterious girl fills her sheet of paper with rows of apparently random numbers instead. Fifty years later, a new generation of students examines the capsule's contents and the girl's cryptic message ends up in the hands of young Caleb Koestler. But it is Caleb's father, professor John Koestler, who makes the startling discovery that the encoded message predicts with pinpoint accuracy the dates, death tolls and coordinates of every major disaster of the past 50 years. John's increasingly desperate efforts to solve this puzzle take him on a heart-pounding race against time until he finds himself facing the ultimate disaster-and the ultimate sacrifice.
This is a fascinating and engrossing science fiction film, a picture that offers far more than surface thrills. Yes, the film starts out as a moodier, low-key variation on the superior first act of Jim Carrey's "The Number 23"; but it eventually progresses into something far different, something that deals with predestination, free will, and the terrible burden of foreknowledge in a fashion that will be familiar to fans of director Alex Proyas's previous genre films ("The Crow," "Dark City," "I Robot"). “Knowing”, while not without its faults, is fascinating and brave entertainment. The three main set-pieces; a horrific plane crash, an equally brutal subway smash-up, and the frightening finale; are all skillfully rendered, these scenes play like newsreel footage filled out with actual visions of real-life death and destruction. For these moments alone, Knowing is worth your time.




The Unborn

Cast: Odette Yustman, Gary Oldman, Cam Gigandet, Meagan Good, Jane Alexander, Idris Elba, Rachel Brosnahan
Casey Beldon (Yustman) hated her mother for leaving her as a child. But when inexplicable things start to happen, Casey begins to understand why she left. Plagued by merciless dreams and a tortured ghost that haunts her waking hours, she must turn to the only spiritual advisor, Sendak,(Oldman) who can make it stop. With Sendak's help, Casey uncovers the source of a family curse dating back to Nazi Germany--a creature with the ability to inhabit anyone or anything that is getting stronger with each possession. With the curse unleashed, her only chance at survival is to shut a doorway from beyond our world that has been pried open by someone who was never born.
"The Unborn," the latest “J-horror’-styled release from a major studio. In this case, however, the “J” in “J-Horror” doesn’t stand for “Japanese,” but for “Jewish.” Written and directed by David S. Goyer ("The Invisible," "Batman Begins," the "Blade" trilogy), "The Unborn" borrows its supernatural elements from Jewish folklore, specifically the “Dybbuk,” a malevolent, body-possessing spirit, and a Jewish-styled exorcism (who knew they existed?). Featuring not one but two creepy, pale-faced kids (one’s actually alive, though) and several fascinating ideas and a handful of disturbing images (all of which, alas, you’ve seen already in the TV ads), and a scantily clad lead actress, Odette Yustman who is certainly easy on the eyes, something Goyer exploits multiple times through gratuitous underwear shots (and one shower scene)
“The Unborn" doesn’t mine new genre territory beyond the aforementioned Jewish folklore, but manages to squeeze half a dozen decent jump scares into its brisk, sub-90-minute running time. Plus bonus, it stars one of my favorites Gary Oldman who stole “Batman Begins”, so is probably why he’s in this one anyway. Oh, one more goodie, the DVD has the unrated cut with more scary stuff!!




A Current Title You Didn’t Rent (And Why You Should)

The Rocker

Cast: Rainn Wilson, Christina Applegate, Teddy Geiger, Josh Gad, Emma Stone, Jeff Garlin, Jane Lynch, Jason Sudeikis, Will Arnett, Howard Hesseman

Rainn Wilson's (The Office) first big-screen leading role sees him slip into tactical spandex as he plays sweaty rocker Fish (no relation to Marillion’s), who’s booted out of ’80s metal band Vesuvius just as they hit the big time. After 20 years of hurt, his nephew gives him a chance to relive his dream, by playing the drums in a high school rock band. Cue flamboyant fills, furious bouts of head-banging and a string of rather flat gags ; like the floundering Fish playing his drums naked, unaware that the world is watching via video phone as he bids for rock ’n’ roll redemption. It's great to see someone other than Jack Black playing a role like this. Well done Rainn Wilson, Great supporting cast as well; especially the hysterical Christina Applegate (love her!) also the music rocks as well. So why didn’t you rent it? What else are you going to do on a Tuesday? (our new releases are in by Friday)




Coming Next Week; Push, Haunting In Connecticut, Che part 1.

News and reviews from the Movie Spot, the premier Canadian DVD kiosk. For info on where to find one go to our web site at http://www.MovieSpot.Ca

News and reviews Week Of June 27th 2009

News and reviews from the Movie Spot, the premier Canadian DVD kiosk. For info on where to find one go to our web site at MovieSpot.Ca


A slower week for releases this time around so we have added a couple of titles that have been out for a week or so and recommended for your summer viewing!One new release of mention is the new one from Morgan Freeman and Antonio Banderas, “The Code” and the teenage heartthrobs, the Jonas Brothers with their concert DVD. New additions as mentioned are
JCVD, the Jean Claude Van Damme semi autobiography that astounded the critics and New In Town a romantic comedy with everyone’s girlfriend Renee Zellweger. Plus we loaded three movies you must see, “Sea Biscuit”, “In Bruges” and the original Harold & Kumar comedy “Go to White Castle”!

Reviews By The Spotter

The Code

Cast: Morgan Freeman, Antonio Banderas
Strange one really, originally titled “Thick As Thieves” and directed by Mimi Leder (Deep Impact) who was once touted as the new big director in Hollywood. It features Freeman and Banderas who both play thieves, with Freeman the old pro who takes his time and Banderas the instant gratification kind who is lucky he is still in one piece. Most of the 103 minutes becomes chases and gun fights, then it is suddenly a heist film where the two (surprise?) team up to crack a high-tech security operation to score two expensive Faberge Imperial Eggs (like the one in the James Bond film Octopussy) This DVD skipped the movie houses and really is a title best suited to DVD where you can’t really complain about spending $1.99!

The Jonas Brothers Concert Experience

The Jonas Brothers head to the big screen in a high-energy Walt Disney Pictures rockumentary feature film. The film blends excerpts from the Brothers' red-hot "Burning Up" concert tour, including guest performances from Demi Lovato and Taylor Swift, with exclusive behind-the-scenes footage, off-the-wall segments, a never-before-heard song ("Love Is On Its Way"), swarming fans and a lot of JB-style humor--giving fans never-before-seen insights into the lives of Kevin, Joe and Nick. Whether you're a screaming female tweener or the chaperone who drew the short straw, the 38-minute mark of this movie is going to be a special moment for you. Fans of the Jonas Brothers, hold on to your popcorn, because this is when the boys take their shirts off backstage as part of a concert costume change. Those who can't wait for the movie to end take heart; the scene also indicates the exact halfway point of the film's 76-minute run time. It's a concert movie, filmed at a stadium in Anaheim, Calif., although all the "behind-the-scenes" footage shows the brothers in New York City. And it is an experience, though whether you spell that with a lower-case "e" or an ear-splitting "eee!" again depends on your demographic.
The opening sequence finds the boys being roused in their New York hotel room at the unteenly hour of 4:30 a.m.; surely excessive, as they don't appear to need any time to shave, and "bed-head" is their hairstyle of choice. After the obligatory chased-by-screaming-fans scene (you can thank the Beatles for that one), director Bruce Hendricks moves us indoors as the band opens with That's Just the Way We Roll, and the first of many shots of sunglasses/drumsticks/guitar picks being thrown at the camera. From there we have the concert and a lot more screaming teenagers. So, if you can stand the noise and yourself have teenage girls in the house, run don’t walk to rent this one!





JCVD

Cast: Jean-Claude Van Damme, François Damiens, Zinedine Soualem, Karim Belkhadra, Jean-François Wolff, Anne Paulicevich, François Beukelaers, John Flanders, Saskia Flanders, Dean Gregory
Could there really be a film in which video superstar Jean-Claude Van Damme, aka ‘The Muscles from Brussels’ holds up a Belgian bank? Incredibly, there could; but JCVD is no spoof. This is an immensely watchable post-modern thriller, in which the martial artist formerly known as Jean-Claude Camille Francois Van Varenberg, down on his luck after losing a part to Steven Seagal (“He cut off his pony tail,” his agent grimly explains), returns to Brussels to spend time with his estranged family, only to become embroiled in a bank heist which may end more than his career. Holed up with hostages and bank robbers, and surrounded by armed police, slathering reporters and mystified fans, 48-year-old Van Damme realises he’ll need more than his considerable karate skills to get out alive. But then, an hour into the film, the action pauses, as Van Damme breaks to deliver an emotional, single-take soliloqy, an appeal-cum-confession, either to the audience or to God, in which he reflects at length on the highs and lows of his twenty-year career, drug problems, complicated love life and place in the world. It’s a coup de cinema, invoking the spirits of Fellini, Truffaut and Godard which, like the rest of the film, shows two sides of Van Damme few have seen before: the human being, and the skilled actor.



New In Town

Cast: Renée Zellweger, Harry Connick Jr., J.K. Simmons, Frances Conroy, Siobhan Fallon Hogan, Nathan Fillion, Rashida Jones
As stereotypes go, Minnesotans don't have it so bad. It's the accents, donchaknow. And the ice fishing, polka dancing, hockey playing, hockey loving, and beer drinking to get through finger-freezing winters that are funny to the rest of us, especially those of us who have lived among them. (Canadians need not apply, we have it worse!) (Actually it was filmed in Winnipeg!)

Minnesota is always going to be the perfect setting for a frozen "fish out of water" romantic comedy, which is a big reason why New in Town, a genuinely funny film works.

It’s an old story send a Miami city girl (Renee Zellweger) to take over a dairy products plant in New Ulm, Minn., and lay off half its work force. Hurl her against stubborn employees (J.K. Simmons) and chummy, too-helpful ladies who scrapbook and make the worst possible impression with the hunky local "Bud-drinking redneck with a pickup truck" (Harry Connick Jr.). And let the chips fall where they may. A nice little chick flick that’s funny and a way to remember winter (who wants to??) Only fault is why doesn’t Harry Connick sing anymore? Remember he was the original Michael Buble!



Must See Newly Added Back Titles

In Bruges

Ray (Farrell) and Ken (Gleeson), two foul-mouthed Irish hitmen, lie low in the medieval Belgian town of Bruges to evade the police after a botched job back home. While awaiting instructions from their furious boss Harry (Fiennes), Ken braces himself for the worst...
Martin McDonagh's "In Bruges" could best be described as the love child between the films of Guy Ritchie's ultra-cool UK gangster films and Quentin Tarantino's ultra-hip American gangster films. Unlike its tedious parents, "In Bruges" doesn't need to be too hip or too cool to be damn good.
Two hitmen are ordered by their boss to hide out in the quaint Flemish town for a couple weeks while the heat from their latest job subsides. The solemn Ken (Gleeson), the elder hitman, is ready



Seabiscuit

There are a few movies that deserve the title “feel good” movie. At Christmas there’s James Stewart’s “It’s a Wonderful Life” and at baseball season there’s Robert Redford’s “The Natural” and then there’s “Seabiscuit” the story of the little horse that could. Starring and executive produced by Tobey Maguire (he used his Spiderman money!)

During the 1930s a funny-looking little racehorse named 'Seabiscuit' became America's most unexpected idol, smashing records for speed, audience attendance and winnings in an amazing career that was avidly followed by millions of people.
Laura Hillenbrand's non-fiction bestseller on the remarkable true story of 'Seabiscuit' and three men united in his cause; the owner, the trainer and the rider ; is a tremendous read, and a recent documentary made by America's PBS confirmed that this tale comes ready-made with absolutely everything for a popular film: romance, tragedy, humor, triumph against the odds, athletic magnificence and, crucially, despairing people and a traumatized animal getting second chances in their lives.

Using archive stills and narration by historian David McCullough (whose voice, so familiar from major documentary series like Ken Burns' The Civil War, brings authenticity), highlighting the gulf between Haves and Have-nots and the rivalry between America's East Coast elitists and the upstart, self-made Westerners whose hopes 'Seabiscuit' carried along with undernourished jockey Red Pollard.
This is tip-top entertainment, though, with a great cast and racing sequences spectacularly conveying the power, excitement and terror amid 1,500 lb beasts threaded through the stampedes around a track by brave men who weigh less than supermodels. This movie is one that never dates, never bores and even though we know the ending, never loses the thrill that only a horse race can give us. Watch it many times it’s one of the best.

Harold & Kumar Go To White Castle

Harold (Cho), a Korean-American investment banker with a report to file, and Kumar (Penn), an Indian-American student facing a vital interview at medical school, smoke grass to chill out. When hunger strikes, they realize that only White Castle burgers will hit the spot and set off on a surreal all-night adventure to find some…The first and the best of the H & K movies. Starring John Cho and Kal Penn.
This movie is cleverer than it looks, inviting Middle America to accept two non-WASP character actors as leads and illegal drug use as a suitable premise for a sweet, romantic comedy.

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