Oscar Sunday: It Happened One Night

It Happened One Night
Charming and a little bit romantic classic movie.  This won the Oscars in 1934. The story was pretty good for its time.  I liked certain moments like when our main guy threatens one of the guys from the bus with gangster stuff.  Other moments towards the end got me a bit irritated.  Moments like our main guy should of left a note before leaving her alone in the cabin.  He thought he was going to come back early enough to surprise her but you just never know.  Lesson learned for all you romantics out there.  Always leave a note for your loved one if you're going to leave them alone for more than a few hours.  Of course now there's texting and emails.  This movie had some comedic elements to it and of course, some drama.  It was an okay movie for a date night. 

World War Z (2013)

World War Z IMDb
Went into this with an open mind and I came out greatly satisfied.  I read the book a couple of years ago.  When I first saw the trailer I knew this has nothing with the book.  So, I'm not going to compare it to the great wonderful book.  I am looking at this as a big summer blockbuster movie.  With that in mind, it was a great time.  Yeah, I would of wanted a lot of gore and violence from this zombie movie but I knew there wasn't going to be any because it's rated PG-13.  For what it was, it was awesome.  This has nothing to do with the book.  Maybe a few ideas were taken from it.  They should of called this another title.  But, again, this was a good late night summer action movie.  Love some of the shots.  Favorite moment: a cop goes to grab free food instead of upstanding the law during the apocalypse.  Brad Pitt does awesome as the lead in this zombie action flick.  The family stuff didn't interest me but that's good they didn't exploit that too much.  Just the right measure.  Can't wait to have this in my Zombie section.

Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan

Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan IMDb

This movie was a lot different than the first one.  First of all, we have a big moving plot.  There's a revenge story and ultimately a movie about friendship and possibilities.  I liked it.  Still don't call myself a fan but I'm glad I'm taking this opportunity to give these movies a chance.  The villain, Khan, is ruthless and determined.  Love the cheesiness in the battles between The Enterprise and Khan's ship.  Definitely a journey here.  Didn't know that Captain Kirk has a son.  The Spock scene here is little emotional.  I didn't watch the shows but so far with this movie and the first one, I haven't seen how close the friendship is between Kirk and Spock until the end of this movie.  I knew they were supposed to be connected with one another but didn't feel that relationship until that last scene together.  We have a young and good looking Kirstie Alley.  Decided to watch this movie tonight as a last minute.  Will try to watch the third movie sometime next week.  My Guillermo Del Toro's Pacific Rim countdown is getting in the way.  Darn it.

New Release Tuesday: No

No IMDb
When I first saw the trailer to this Chilean drama in the theatre I thought that I was going to like it.  It was also nominated for Best Foreign Film at this year's Oscars.  Needless to say, I didn't feel it as much.  It was going good in the first half but I started caring less in the second half.  I thought it was pretty cool concept capturing the politics in this country.  I have no knowledge of who this dictator was and what he did until I saw this.  This had some comedic elements to it.  If they would of stick to that all the way, I would of liked it a lot more.  I like the main actor, Gael Garcia Bernal, he always does good in his performances.  Just didn't like the flow of this movie. 

Monsters University (2013)

Monsters University IMDb

This was freaking sweet.  Loved it and enjoyed it all the way through.  Finally, a movie that I'm not totally disappointed with this year (with the exception of The Last Stand, that one also kicked ass in the theatre).  This one has its heart and soul.  There were a few chuckles from myself.  And when I thought it was going to be predictable, it surprised me throughout.  Haven't really liked a Pixar movie since Toy Story 3.  I like that there were some familiar characters and I like this silly Oozma Kappa fraternity including the hardcore/metal listening mother.  I have to admit, I was a bit worried they were going to ruin this prequel.  Curse of the prequels I call it (Star Wars and Dumb and Dumber).   Good times watching this.  Can't wait to own it.   Saw it with my son and it was a hell of a good time with popcorn and coke.

Star Trek: The Motion Picture

Star Trek: The Motion Picture IMDb
Decided to start a Star Trek marathon just for kicks.  I've never seen any of the movies or show except for the latest J.J. Abrams.  My co-worker and friend, Casey, hooked me up with all the movies on DVD.  So here we go with the first movie.  It was better than I expected. It was long and some scenes took forever to play out but I get it, they were trying to pull a 2001: Space Odyssey.  It kinda works.  The Klingons came out in the beginning but then they never appeared again.  It's all about this mysterious alien-like force that is heading towards Earth.  The mission is to stop it.  Pretty simple story.  Got confused a bit during the middle but I got it.  It's also semi-romantic.  There were no battle scenes or action but I didn't know what to expect so I was okay with this sci-fi drama.  Next week or so, I'll be checking out Star Trek II: "Wrath of Kahn."

This Is The End (2013)

This Is The End IMDb
I don't want to sound like a snob but I didn't enjoy this movie as much as I wanted to.  It had lots of laughs.  Just, I didn't feel the story as a whole (especially the last 30 minutes).  Love Danny McBride.  Almost every scene he's in was very awesome.  James Franco is cool as usual.  I did like the set up and some of the apocalyptic stuff.  I even liked the stupid scenes where Jonah Hill is possessed.  I know this is meant to be a stupid stoner big budget comedy, but I felt a bit disappointed towards the end.  I was one of the few that didn't like the actual ending with a certain boy band group doing a musical number with the cast.  If it would of been something other than that, I would of appreciated it a lot more.  Did love lot of the improv and crazy moments: Michael Cera on cocaine, James Franco's Seth Rogan obssession (paintings), and the screams by Craig Robinson just to name a few.  Maybe I should see this one day with some "devil's grass."  I might like it a lot more.  For now, I thought it was okay.

Sneaked in some Milky Ways for me and my friends to
enhance the experience.

Cult Classic Friday: The Warriors

The Warriors IMDb
"Warriors, come out to play!  Warriors, come out to play!"  Finally got to see this cult classic.  But, before seeing it, decided to watch the original "Assault on Precinct 13" as a double feature.  Great experience watching these two back to back.  First of all, I like Precinct 13 a lot more than Warriors.  This movie had its potential, especially in the first 20 minutes.  Great 80's feel.  Cheesy dialogue.  Gangs from all sorts gathering together.  The plot thickens and now all the gangs are after The Warriors.  Still thought that was okay but I was wanting more out of the story, especially the ending.  I didn't love it and I didn't hate it. It was simply, okay.  Maybe not worth buying but glad that I finally got to see it.  Maybe I was wanting the characters to be more likeable (more importantly, The Warriors themselves).  What I got is just a gang like any other gang, just getting in trouble and see what they can screw along the way.  Nothing wrong with that, I guess.  Good movie to see that's similar to this as far as street gangs and stuff goes is "The Wanderers."  Definitely a lot better. 

Vampire Thursday: Blade: Trinity

Blade: Trinity IMDb
I went in with very low expectations.  I came out okay.  Better than expected, of course.  It was cheesy but decent action.  I like the non-stop action since the beginning.  It drags on a bit towards the end but all the other Blade movies also do that.  Ryan Reynolds didn't piss me off (that's rare).  The pomeranian vampire dog didn't piss me off either.  The lines are stupid but they work here.  Didn't know this was about Dracula and stuff.  Good techno music to keep us on our feet.  Now that I've seen this trilogy (not planning to see part 4 anytime soon) I can say that this was okay but it wasn't enough for me to be a fan.  6 more vampire movies to see this year.  Hopefully, the movie, Byzantium, comes out in the theater here.  If it does, that will be my next Vampire Thursday.

Man of Steel (2013)

Man of Steel IMDb
Pretty darn good, if you ask me.  It was supposed to be like this: pure action and drama.  I'm not familiar with the comics so I'm not going to compare or think about how the comics were but I didn't like Lois Lane being so much involved in things.  She's a reporter, why the hell is she doing up there in a plane helping out the military?  Which comes to my one and only problem with the story:  Why did General Zod picked her to come up to the ship with Superman?  That was never answered. Not giving away spoilers.  Other than that, I love the flashbacks.  I actually wanted to see more how Superman grew up and became what he is.  Good fighting scenes with the bad guys there.  I like that they were all fast.  They're all aliens, dammit.  Love the score.  I went into this with an open mind.  It was pretty good for an actioney movie.  Now, while I enjoyed this more than Iron Man 3, I still feel that a lot of other comic movies were better (like the new Batman movies, Watchmen, and The Avengers).

New Release Tuesday: Fish N Chips (2013)

Fish N Chips IMDb
Never heard of this movie until today.  Long story short, I was wanting to check out "Come Out And Play" or "American Mary" but they were checked out.  I've already seen "Stoker" and since I had my son with me decided on this new release instead from a Redbox.  It was nothing special or good.  My son liked it, especially the first 20 minutes.  After that, he spaced out and so did I throughout the movie.  I was not really interested in the story to begin with.  I mean, who cares about a special magical bone.  It was cool to see the different characters but no wonder no one has heard about this movie.  It's got John Leguizamo, who voices "Chips."  That's about it.   The good thing that came out of this is that my son got to eat Fish and Chips: store bought fish sticks and sliced potatoes).

No trailer found for this movie but here's my son eating Fish and Chips!

New Release Tuesday: Oz The Great And Powerful (2013)

Oz the Great and Powerful IMDb
Whimsical movie, man!  I love the first 20 minutes in black and white.  Then we follow Oz to the land of Oz.  This has the same concept like the Wizard of Oz in the sense of some characters in reality are brought back in similar characters in this land of Oz.  The colors are and graphics are awesome.  Sam Raimi delivers us a decent fantasy tale.  Was I blown away? Not really, but it had some cool moments.  Overall, I thought this was okay.   This was aimed more for kids (duh! It's Disney), although some moments are good enough for adults.  So, the little kid in me enjoyed some of the moments like the twists and turns and different characters from Oz interacting.  James Franco was awesome as Oz.  Simple story about getting rid of evil and bringing peace to the land of Oz.  Hey, that sounds like the last movie I saw (Yellow Submarine).  Going on vacation for the rest of this week with the family so I might not watch any movies.  Man of Steel and maybe This is the End would have to wait until next week.

Yellow Submarine

Yellow Submarine IMDb
Saw this Animation with my son today thanks to my co-worker and friend, Casey, who gave me the DVD.  It's has a lot of great songs from The Beatles.  The characters in the movie are supposed be them but other voices were used instead.  The songs are still sung by The Beatles.  This was a crazy trippy animation.  This is one of those that might very interesting to see under the influence of certain substances.  The blue meanies are wickedly awesome blue villains. Lots of cool songs such as "All Together Now" and "When I'm 64."  And for the record, my son got really into it about halfway through.  If I'm teaching my son about all kinds of good music, might as well start with "The Beatles."  Can't go wrong.  This is a simple story about an old guy who gets on a yellow submarine to find help and take back the land that was taken over by the blue meanies (evil bastards that hate music).  These musicians (The Beatles) come to the rescue and make everything better. 

New Release Tuesday: Warm Bodies (2013)

Warm Bodies IMDb
This was sweet and okay for a zombie movie.  First, I was getting annoyed with our main zombie guy narrating the story very good when he can't really talk all that much in the beginning.  After a while, I got used to it.  It's like Romeo and Juliet and Twilight mixed with zombies.  I say Twilight because of the look and feel based from what I've seen in trailers.  To this day, I have not seen any of the Twilight movies.  Shame on me? I'm afraid not.  I liked some of the humor here.  Some of the gorey scenes were pretty cool too.  I like that there's "boneys" here (another type of zombies that are considered bad).  Except, scientifically if the "boneys" are rotten and more decayed than the normal zombies, they shouldn't be faster, but they are here.  Overall, I was wanting more out of the story.  So this was just okay for me.

Samurai Monday: Hanzo The Razor: Sword of Justice

Hanzo The Razor: Sword of Justice IMDb
Pretty gruesome grindhouse kind of a samurai flick we got here.  I never seen such a sadistic samurai before.  I'm talking about slapping his privates, having sex with a big bag of rice, and of course the 360 degree sex scene with a lady.  There's some samurai action on here as well.  There's a scene where these guys get attacked by a boobie trap set by our main samurai.  The music on here is your typical 70's grindhouse music.  Almost like a 70's porn movie. Except, there ain't much nudity on here.  Just a few scenes.  Hanzo the Razor takes no prisoners.  He interrogates really good and he's always one step ahead in fighting corruption.
I enjoyed this movie.  Maybe, I'm not going to be a super fan of the movie but glad that I got to experience it. There's two more movies that follow this one.  Not sure if I',m going to watch the rest of the movies this year, but, we'll see.

Bliss

Bliss IMDb
At first glance, I thought this was going to be one of those typical Middle Eastern movies that treat their women like crap and they deliver messages that we live in a sad, sad world.  This wasn't that.  This movie from Turkey was a bit different.  It's more of a positive feeling.  Actually, this is like the happier version of Stoning of Soraya M.  The first 20 minutes, we have exaggerated characters and cliche plot.  As the story develops and we go outside the main village, we have something more.  Good stuff. If you like your drama, this is for you.  I never heard of this movie until last year when my girlfriend's mom mentioned it and she insisted for me to see it.  My girlfriend and her family saw it in a film festival in Puerto Rico back 6 years ago.  It was a decent treat.