Sunday, August 26, 2007

The Last Legion

Before Arthur pulled Excalibur out of the stone, there was the Last Legion.

The boy Romulous is about to be crowned Caesar. But soon after, Rome is attacked and the boy is taken captive, as is the mysterious man who aids him, pursuading their captors that the boy is worth more to them alive than dead. His general comes to rescue them along with allied soliders. In their journeys, the boy comes across Exalibur and they all head to Britianna to find the last legion of the Roman Empire to fight against their oppressors.

Somewhere out there is an R-rated version of this film, as you could tell they cut parts of fights out to not display the graphicness of the fight. The story was entertaining - i was expecting to be bored, but I wasn't - the action was decent (but not nearly as cool as 300).

This one stars Ben Kingsley as the Merlin-esque figure and Collin Firth as the General, as well as a hot indian chick.

War

I looooove Jason Statham - he makes being a hitman look classy and hot - and Jet-Li movies are pretty cool too. So I was excited for this end of summer action flick.

Statham is an FBI agent working in the San Fransico area, keeping an eye on the activity of the local Asian gangs. His partner and his family get gunned down, with their cabin burned to the ground, causing Statham to find the guy who did it. 3 years later, the same bullets that were recovered at his partner's death resurface, causing him to continue his search, which brings him right into the middle of a War between 2 asian families - the Shiro's and the Chang's and their gangs, the Triads and Yuzuka. Jet-Li is obviously the bad guy in this movie... or is he?

Although the ending just kind of... ends, the twist is one that'll make ya go 'oooh, i see...' being not one you'd think of right away.

The Jet-Li action scenes were pretty good, despite the sub-par plot... however there just wasnt enough Jason Statham action scenes.

If you're in for an action movie or a Jason Statham/Jet-Li flick, you might be interested in this one.

Tuesday, August 21, 2007

Superbad

Screened "Superbad" last week and then took my boyfriend to it, for a second helping.

I'll admit, I'm an Apatow & Co. fan - Freaks and Geeks is by far my favorite tv show and I loved this summer's "Knocked Up" and 2005's "40 Year Old Virgin." With those in mind, I guess I was expecting more of a plot, more substance. Although Superbad wasnt what I was expecting, it was still pretty funny.

Seth and Evan have been best friends and rarely seperated, but as their senior year comes to an end, they start to face seperation anxiety as in the fall they'll be attending different colleges. In their last ditch effort to attend a graduation party together and get laid they set out on a quest to get booze for the party, after learning a tag along friend, Fogel, is getting a fake ID. What we see is the misadventures of the threesome as they attempt to get the booze and get to the party, which includes multiple run-ins with 2 bumbling cops who just want to have fun.

However, like all Apatow productions, it's got heart.

Think American Pie meets Harold and Kumar with a soundtrack set to the 70s.

Like I said, it was funny, and you can probably relate to some of it if you've been through high school or been an underager trying to get booze and party, it just wasn't the movie I was expecting to see when I sat down.

Friday, August 10, 2007

The Bourne Ultimatum

Jason Bourne (Matt Damon) is back in this 3rd installment based off the 60s spy novels, but this time he's searching for answers as to why he is the person he now is.

Like Ocean's 13, it's better than the 2nd one, almost on par with the 1st.

Joan Allen's character of Pamela Landy turns into a much more likable figure in this one and Julia Stiles also returns.

The action scenes were really good and it kept you guessing as to what happens next!

If you like the Bourne series, be sure to catch this one.

Stardust

Basically, if you grew up watching The Princess Bride, like I did, and/or love fairytale fantasies you will love this movie, as it's got the same wit and cleverness of it's Princess predecessor, but not nearly the amount of corny-ness...

Robert DeNiro steals all the scenes he's in - I won't say why, but it will have you rolling over in laughter.

Overall it was a very well done and is easily The Princess Bride of the new century when it comes to fairytales in this day and age.

Aside from DeNiro, it also stars Charlie Cox, Claire Danes and Michelle Pheiffer.

Based off a graphic novel, DON'T miss this one!

Hairspray

This musical remake of the late-80s original had a much deeper plot than I would of thought. Set in the 1960s when schools, among other things, were segregated by color, it teaches lessons of standing up for whats right and acceptance of others, regardless of how they look or the color of their skin.

Altho the values were deep, the songs were pretty bad... and that's coming from my sis who loves musicals... from what I hear the original was better, even though it was pretty bad.

And John Travolta makes one UGLY woman, however Christopher Walken is entertaining as he always is.

This film also stars American Dreams' Brittany Snow, Michelle Pheiffer, Amanda Bynes, Queen Latifah, James Marsden, Zac Efron and Nikki Blondsky.