Saturday, March 25, 2006

Inside Man

This thriller delivered to us by Spike Lee is fully engaging, fun, well acted, and keeps you guessing until the end with its myriad plot twists and red-herrings. A trifecta of acting prowess collides wonderfully when Clive Owen, Denzel Washington and Jody Foster hit the big screen. Spike Lee has always been a great director but it is refreshing to see him take on a film that goes beyong being afro-centric and relates to a broader audience. Kudos on the film to Spike Lee and a must see for all thriller genre fans.

Click here to check out the official website.

Stay Alive

This movie is a return of the killer video flicks like Arcade and Brainscan. The pity is the cast includes descent actors like Adam Golberg and Frankie Munoz but even they cannot save this should-have-been straight-to-video movie. A better version of this movie was done as an episode of the X-Files called "First Person Shooter". The plot is predictable as the cast start falling by the wayside in fine video gameing fashion. If you are looking for a fun, scary rental to kill some time, pass on this anemic waste of celluloid and acting talent.

Click here to check out the official website.

Saturday, March 18, 2006

V for Vendetta

Despite Alan Moore's seeming hatred for any adaptation of his work to the big screen, V is pretty dead-on to the original source material. This producion was produced by the Wachoski brothers after their success with the the Matrix trilogy. Hugo Weaving is spectacular as the enigmatic V who must delivery his performace without any form of facial exprexssion while in a Guy Fawkes mask. Natlie Portman is his perfect compliment in portarying the innocent and malable Evey who comes to know, understand and even love the mysterious V even though he has taken her prisoner. To push this off as another in a long list of comic book movies turned in to films, is to deny yourself a great movie going experience and a movie that delivers home a much needed warning for our troubled times.

Click here to check out the official website.

Saturday, March 11, 2006

The Hills Have Eyes

This film is Alexandre Aja's reinvisioning of Wes Craven's 1977 classic cult horror film about a family being terrorized by mutants in the wastes of a former nuclear testing facility in the mid-west. Aja's directorial talents shine through in the disoreinting and disturbing images he delivers when the mutants finally attack the lost family at their most vunerable. The breast feeding scene has been burned in to my retinas and will not dislodge from my memory no matter what I try. This film surpasses its predecessor on every level except for its cult status. It is comforting to know Wes Craven was consulted on the remaking of his film and was willing to give Aja the freedom to create an even better film for his legions of fans.

Click here to check out the official website.

Saturday, March 4, 2006

Ultraviolet

Milla Jovovich appears to be the go to tough girl for any sci-fi, action, thriller that comes out these days. Based on Charlize Theron's anemic performance in the live-action Aeon Flux movie that came out this past December, this may be a good thing. The movie is very stylized and loaded with enough CGI to choke a horse. While it is cool to look at and Milla is as hot as ever as a super-human vampire-like assassin, the story is short on plot and it doesn't sucessfully get you from one action sequence to another in any sensible way. Rent it but get a better back up film like Versus to round out your evening on the couch.

Click here to check out the official website.