Life Is Hot In Cracktown

Life Is Hot In Cracktown
This movie's objective is to make you feel
disgusted, shitty, and depressed.
With those points, this movie succeeded.
It made me feel like I was there with all these
characters.
The direction was good.
The performances were great.
It left me with a little scar on my head.
This is the kind of movie, you just want to
experience one time and one time only.
That's all I needed for me not to ever forget about
what went on.
Yeah, there's some scenes where people exaggerate
more than they need to.
But, to me, everything flowed right.


This was made with a very low budget, so I give
props to everyone involved because this flick has
a strong message.

Revolver

Revolver
What a fantastic film this was.

I wanted to check this out because Tarantino used

the theme song from this movie in Inglourious Basterds.

And it's one of my favorite songs from the IB soundtrack.

I have no complaints on this movie.

It's a crime/gangster movie.

The story had no boring parts and it's original.

I liked how it slowly turned into a gangster film,

even though, I was already expecting it early on.

Big brother is watching everyone else in the underworld.

Kudos to Sergio Sollima.

A must buy, in my opinion.

Grade A.

Fighting

Fighting
Predictable and typical movie about, wait let me
guess, about fighting.
I seen it all before. There's little things that are
different but for the most part, everything
was kind of obvious.
The only reason I decided to check this out, was
because it was from the same director who did:
A Guide to Recognizing Your Saints (which I enjoyed).
A lot of bad writing, editing, and bad performances in this one.

Please, with sugar on top, don't check this out.
Now I got to see a bad ass movie to make up for this shit tonight.
I think, I'll see Fight Club to get my mind off this one.

Perro Come Perro

Foreign Film Thursday Presents:

Perro Come Perro

This spanish movie from Colombia is entertaining.

There's a lot of good moments and funny dialogue.

I like all the dialogue from this weird dude that

always calls and asks for "Adela."

There's some good fair amount of violence.

This is an independent movie with a shaky camera

and its ending was not the greatest.

That would probably be the only drawbacks.

I seen several Colombian movies, some shitty and

some good. This one is closer to good.

Adventureland

New Release Tuesdays Presents:

Adventureland
I was disappointed with this one.
I was expecting something like Superbad since it's the
same director. The trailer marketed as a comedy.
But there's hardly any comedy in here.
All it is it's just this dude liking this girl kinda story.
Predictable.
The main dude plays the same part as his other movies.
That one girl, Kristen Stewart, depresses me everytime I see her.
The only good parts was with Bill Hader:

Don't recommend this. Grade: D.

Arc

Arc

An independent detective story.

The shots and the style seems experimental.

The story is interesting but I didn't like how

the main character acted.

There some good tenseful scenes.

I liked the pace in the first half but then the story dragged

a little towards the end.

I do, however, like all those bad ass shots of Los Angeles.

Memorable quote:

"A person's life does not define their character.

Their character defines their life."

Worth to see once, but if you don't happen to see it,

then you're not missing anything special.

Azumi

Azumi

Wow!! Beautifully shot and beautifully edited.

This Japanese sumarai/assassin flick was awesome.

The story was good to follow.

A lot of memorable characters like

that one weird dude dressed in all white and

always holding a rose for his victims.

And the girl who plays Azumi did good.

Good fighting scenes. Almost felt like a video game.

This is a must have for Asian Cinema lovers.

And if you're not, you should still check it out anyway.

Grade: A almost a plus.

The Losers

Tarantino week is over.
Now, I need to catch up on dvds that I haven't seen.

The Losers
In the spirit of Inglourious Basterds, I decided to check out this

war movie.

It's a war movie with bikers.

Takes place during the Vietnam war.

I first heard about this movie last week.

Tarantino screened this after Basterds during

the Cinemapocalypse marathon that I was unable to attend.

Also, when I saw Pulp Fiction last week, I noticed there

was a war movie with bikers playing on the tv.

It was during the scene where Butch wakes up because

the tv is too loud.

I did some research and found out that it was this movie

that was playing in the tv.

This movie is alright. A little bloody.

A little dirty. Good flow.

I like all the camera movements.

I like that they turn motorcycles into

weapons of war.

They made this movie while the war was still going on.

So, it must of been a little controversial.

Worth to rent.

Inglourious Basterds

Inglourious Basterds
A fair dosage of badass cinema.
I loved the film.
Maybe the best part was watching it at the Alamo.
It provided a good experience.
I will post pics from the Alamo at
tonynunezjr.blogspot.com later on.
This movie wasn't the masterpiece that Kill Bill was.
But it's fair to say that it's up there with Reservoir Dogs
(even though this one has a way different style and feeling).
Everyone acted so good.
Before the movie, I was totally disappointed with the
casting of Brad Pitt.
After watching this, I now know why
he was perfect for the role.
There are some good memorable scenes.
Funny too.
There is some good violence but not
a whole lot.

If you're a Tarantino fan, then you won't be disappointed.
If you're not a fan, then there's a chance
you might not like some of it.
But good to check out for some of the performances.
Can't wait to see it again this Saturday.

Izo

Mini Random Mixed Film Festival
Presents:

Izo
This is the most disturbing and most bizarre
samurai film I have ever seen.
Here I am trying to expand my Takashi Miike
knowledge, and he continues to push the limits
in every movie.
This one has a very complicated plot.
It felt like David Lynch's Inland Empire.
The first 15 minutes were freaking awesome
(Bad Ass Cinema).
But then, it gets too repetitive and starts
going different places.
I think it would of been perfect if it was a lot
shorter than 2 hours and 8 minutes of pure
killing.
I only recommend this to fans of Takashi Miike.

Grade: between a B+ and A-



Warning: For the next following days,
I will be having Tarantino Week (watching all his films).
I will not be watching any new movies.

Alien Trespass

Mini Random Mixed Film Festival
Presents:

Alien Trespass
After a romantic comedy, I went with a new sci fi movie
that takes place in the 50's.
At first it reminded me of Mars Attacks,
except, the aliens are not as annoying.
This was kinda clever.
It felt like it was made in the 50's.
The dialogue was great.
Even though the storyline was stupid and silly,
it kept me interested.
I would of wanted some more violence, but
once again, we are in the 50's.

Have a salt shaker ready if you watch this,
you might need it.
My grade is: B for a sci-fi flick.

Gigantic

Today I have a personal mini random mixed film festival.
I started at 7pm with this romantic comedy.

Gigantic
This was a very weird romantic comedy starring

Linda's favorite actress: Zooey Deschanel.

From the very beginning, the story had all these strange elements.

You have this one homeless guy stalking Paul Dano's character.

You have the dad who eats mushrooms with his sons.

You have Zooey a.k.a Happy liking this Paul Dano dude who

wants to adopt a chinese baby.

The dialogue and the evironment are meant to be weird as well.

It didn't have the best ending either.

But all in all, it was original.

I think it would of been better if Michel Gondry or
Charlie Kauffman directed it.

Grade: B-

Commandos

Side Note:
For this month of August I been watching
this 20 WW2 movie DVD Set in honor
of Tarantino's Inglourious Basterds (which premieres next weekend).
It might take me until early September to finish watching them all.
Starting this Sunday will be "Tarantino Week."
I'll be watching all his movies as a countdown until Thursday.

Classic WW2 Film #11


Commandos
This is one of two movies included that made me buy the WW2 set.
The set cost me 5 bucks.
I was originally going to rent just this one movie for $3.00.
So I figured, what the hell?
This movie was okay.
I was feeling very sleepy throughout the flick.
The slowness didn't help either.
The climax is what kind of woke me up.
All in all, okay for a men on a mission movie.

I Love You, Man

New Release Tuesdays Presents:


I Love You, Man
Maybe it was the beer talking, but,
this was a good comedy.
It made me laugh here and there.
So far, Hangover is the best comedy of the year,
I would say this one is either second or third
best comedy of the year.
Some of the writing towards the ending
could of been better.
But, I think this is worth the rent and
maybe possibly to own.
Now I need to score some free food at
open houses and pick a fight with that
dude who played the Hulk in the tv shows.

B+ mofo!!!

The Chaser

Asian Cinema Night Presents:

The Chaser

A Brilliant Korean detective thriller.

I wouldn't say masterpiece.

There's some things I didn't like about the story.

But, overall, it kicked ass.

It reminded me a little bit of the movie Seven.

There was some good suspense.

Weapon of choice: a hammer and a chisel.

Enough to satisfy any Asian Cinema fan.

Check this sucker out, for sure.

Trailer don't have subtitles but read on what is it about,

check out the imdb page by clicking on the title underlined above.

Fragments

Fragments
This was a little disappointing.
It was okay to check out, but I didn't like the direction.
The story was kinda pointless.
The only good thing about this movie
was the acting by most of the actors.
I would of wanted for that one kid to pull the trigger,
but of course, it didn't happen.
Dakota Fanning does a good job
playing an annoying God follower.

This is the Fragments trailer (also known as Winged Creatures)

Steel Claw / Bombs Over Burma

War World 2 Classic #9

Steel Claw
This was very boring from the beginning.

I tried my best to give this a shot,

but I couldn't handle all of it.

The acting and the story was horrible.

And it deals with the navy again. Great!!

Stay away from this.

The only good scene was the part where they put

the claw on the main character.

Couldn't find a trailer but here's the opening scene:

World War 2 Classic #10

Bombs Over Burma
Dude, this sucked big time.

Thank goodness it was only an hour long.

I have nothing else to say about it.

The Beyond / Race With The Devil

Friday at the Grindhouse Presents:


The Beyond
Another horror italian classic fron Lucio Fulci.
This was a little bit more gory than
City of the Living Dead.
It turns to a zombie movie about 30 minutes
before it ends.
I love some of the shots.
I like some of the tension it creates,
especially the close ups.

Good effects that will surprise you even with the
standards of today.
The only scene I didn't like was the scene where
the doctor kept on shooting the zombies in parts other than
the head.




Race with the Devil
Good road or gearhead movie
(though, it takes about an hour to get to the
good stuff like the crashes and chases).
But overall, this is was entertaining.
All the actors are good.
The dialogue is great.

Good late night movie. Some of the shots and
car scenes reminded me of Death Proof.
But this came out in 1975.
Good to check out.

Casablanca Express / Minesweeper

World War 2 Classic #7


Casablanca Express
At first this was not going well but then
it started picking up. We have an average film.
There's a lot of jump cuts but
then I got used to them.
The big thing that bothered me was that
one scene is daylight then the next shot
is nighttime, and back and forth.
Some of the acting was poor but
the story was good until the end.
Disappointed with the ending.

Once again, there is no trailer but I found the opening scene
which isn't all that.


World War 2 Classic #8
The next movie on the 20 World War 2 classics
dvd was:

Minesweeper

Another short movie (1 hour and 5 minutes long).
That's a good thing for this type of movie.
This shouldn't be considered a war film, even though,
it takes place in the early start of this war.
This is more about the people and relationships instead
of war tactics.
I'm not a big fan of the navy, so that was a big turn off
for this movie.
I got it over with.

No trailer found for this movie.

Desert Commandos

War World 2 Classic #6



Desert Commandos
This was not an entertaining movie.
It was kinda bad until the last 20 minutes.
I liked the concept they were going for.
This is the first WW2 film that I seen that
portrays the Germans as the good guys.
Overall, I don't recommend it.

I can't find a trailer for this but here are
the first minutes of the film:

Gomorrah

New Release Tuesdays Presents:


Gomorrah
This was a complex Italian gangster flick.
I have to see it more than once to fully understand it.
There's some crazy scenes and some long slow scenes.
There's a few stories taking place in this movie,
and all somehow connects towards the end.
Not what I expected, but it was okay.
This is based on true stuff and how the Italian mafia
operates. I love the sounds in the movie, especially some of
the gunshots.

The Dirty Dozen

The Dirty Dozen
This is a classic WW2 film that was not included
in the cheap 20 dvd set but I rented it because
it is clearly an inspiration to Tarantino's Inglourious Basterds.
The Alamo will be showing this film three times this month
for that same reason.
This film is 2 hours and 30 minutes long but
it doesn't feel like it.
The plot moved the story good
and kept me interested.
Considering that it was made in the late 60's,
this film was done very well.
All these actors had good chemistry as The Dirty Dozen.

This is my favorite WW2 classic so far.

Bart Got A Room

Bart Got A Room
Entertaining independent comedy.
The story could of been a little better,
but I liked the idea they were going for.
Some scenes are funny.
My favorite scene is when the dad yells
against the wall to see if the walls are too thin or not.
It cracked me up when the old lady appears in the background.

Worth the rent for a little entertainment.

Corregidor / Ski Troop Attack

WW2 Classic Film #4

Corregidor
This was more of a love story than a war film.
But it takes place after the Pearl Harbor attacks.
Hell, it was made during that same year.
It was okay. I probably would never want to
see it again. Nothing really memorable.
Like most old movies, the audio doesn't sync
with the picture.
Grade= D


WW2 Classic Film #5

Ski Troop Attack
I liked this one a little better than the previous WW2 classic.
The whole thing was only an hour long.
Maybe, that's what I liked about it.
Short and simple.
Here we have a group of troops in the snow
looking to clear out any Germans in the area.
The ski idea is ridiculous.
It kinda felt like a grindhouse picture.
There was moments where it was jumpy.
Then I realized this was directed by Roger Corman
(one of the early directors who produced a shit load
of grindhouse flicks).

Grade: Between a D+ and a C-

Nicotina

Nicotina
This was a good spanish dark comedy.
If Guy Ritchie was hispanic, this would
be something he would make.
It felt like one of his films.
At first, I thought this was a serious gangster movie.
But within minutes I discovered that
this was not.
If "Snatch" and "Amores Perros" had
a low budget baby, it would be this movie.
There's some good dialogue and
some funny moments.
I wouldn't call it a masterpiece,
but kick ass entertainment.

If you're looking for an award winning material
kinda movie, then look somewhere else.
If you're looking for bad ass cinema,
I think this might be an option.