Doomsday

Rated R for violence, language, cannibalism, gore

Starring Rhona Mitra, Bob Haskins

In 2008, a virus, known as the Reaper virus, spread throughout Scotland, in causing Britian to put up a wall to keep all the infected in, as to not plague the rest of the UK. No one knows how it was started or why it chose to infect those it did - the virus just happened. Fast forward 27 years into the future, to the year 2035 and the virus is back, this time plaguing London. Turns out, the survilance that was set on the other side of the wall, has been picking up signs of surviors over the last 3 years. Could one of the skilled doctors left on the otherside of the wall have discovered the cure to the virus? The Dept of Domestic Security has 48 hrs to find the doctor and get the cure before the plague takes over the city.

This movie was sooo bad it was good!

It’s a little bit Escape from New York meets LOTR crossed with Gladiator and a trip to Medeval Times plus a visit from the Black Knight and cannablistic Scottish skinheads in the setting of an apocolypse movie. Think of cheesy bad 80s action movies with Frankie Goes to Hollywood in the background.

Aside from the cannibal scene, I’d have to say Doomsday and Bank Job are the 2 best movies of 2008, that I have seen, so far.

If you want a fun, action packed film and don’t mind a bit of over exaggerated gore, be sure to catch this one - I could easily see it becoming a cult classic much in the same fashion of as Army of Darkness.

Horton Hears a Who

Rated G

Starring Jim Carrey, Steve Carell

It’s been a long time since I read or watched the original Dr. Seuss story of Horton the elephant and the tiny speck he finds, in which Whoville is located, but I must say, I enjoyed this one much better than I enjoyed the Grinch remake (note - How the Grinch Stole Christmas was one of my favorite Christmas shows growing up and I hated how much they changed the simple story in the big screen adaption).

Jim Carrey as the voice of Horton really makes this film, as he plays the role so well. The anime-type scene in the middle was woot as well.

This definitely a good one to take the family to, as it’s geared towards kids (and kids at heart) of all ages.

Step Up 2: The Streets

Rated PG13 for teen sexuality

Like "Save the Last Dance" we're introduced to Andie who's mom died when she was a kid. Before she died she told Andie to be true to herself. Dancing was something that she used to be into with her mom, so she joined a street crew named the 4-1-0 to dance like the dancers her and mom used to watch back in the day on the streets. After a prank her crew pulls in a city subway, her foster parent (mom's best friend) gets fed up, as the news declares dancing to be dangerous (oh noes!) and threatens to ship her off to Texas to live with her aunt. As her last chance to change, Andie gets into the Maryland School of the Arts, but being a good student hinders her time with crew. Whatever will she do when they turn on her? Can she still compete and win The Streets competition?

Some of the dance scenes were kind of cool to watch - mainly the big dance off competition at the end and the subway prank they do at the very beginning - it reminded me of the Happenings/Fluxes movements that artists did in the 70s where they knew what they were doing, but the audience had no clue that they were part of the performance.

The rest of the movie... totally cliche. A typical high school teenybopper film.

The Bank Job

Rated R for language, violence, nudity, sexuality

Starring Jason Statham, Safron Burrows

Based on London's "Walkie Talkie Robbery" of 1971, this is probably the first really good movie of the 2008, if you can get past the first 20 minutes. And no, it's not just because I think Jason Statham is f'ing hot.

Before the opening credits, I felt like I was watching a porno at the amount of sex and nudity that were being shown, and then after the credits, there's quite a bit of T&A in a scene that takes place in a bar for a bachelor party and another scene that takes place with gov't officials in a whorehouse. But once you get past the 20 min, the rest of the film was great, as you make sense of everything you had seen prior.

Michael X is a black activist with a dirty record of his own. After assaulting some guy of importance and being taken to court for it, they decide to try and press him on drug charges as well. However, as leverage, he claims to have some steamy photos of someone in the royal family on vacation, and he plans to use them to keep out of jail. In order to make sure these photos don't see the light of day, London's MI-5 comes up with a plot to pass info onto a group of former thieves that the vault which the photos are stored in will have its alarm disable for 1 weekend only, in hopes that their mole can get the photos for them.

Although the heist itself is done by the first half to 2/3rds of the movie, the aftermath of the the heist is where things really start to pick up, as the vault they broke into and stole items from stored even more pictures of public officials in compromisable situations, as well as information on crooked cops. Now the unknowning police aren't the only ones after our band of thieves!

Not one for the kiddies, but if you can sit through the first 20 min or so of random T&A (which it all makes sense in the aftermath of the heist), definately don't miss this one, as plot-wise, it really is the best film of the year so far.

And although Jason Statham does go a little bit Transporter at the end, he really does a good job actually getting to act in this film, rather than just beat bad guys senseless while looking-good.