DVD Review: The Time Traveler's Wife

Rated PG13 for adult themes, some sexuality, brief nudity

Starring Eric Bana, Rachel McAdams, Ron Livingston

Henry has a bit of a strange genetic disorder - he can come and go through time, popping into the past, present or the future. Unsure of what triggers it and unable to stop it from happening, Henry make his first "jump" when is just a young boy riding in a car with his mother - he jumps to 2 weeks prior and is confused at seeing events that already happened and then suddenly he's on the side of the road as his mother is killed in a car accident. Right then, an older version of himself shows up, assuring him that he'll be alright.

Flash forward to the mid-90s, Henry is grown and working a job in a library when a woman named Clare approaches him and says she knows him. Confused, he agrees to meet her for dinner later so that she can explain, as she says she's known him all her life. Turns out, an older version of Henry once "jumped" and showed up in the meadow where a young Clare was playing. Something drew him the young girl and he regularly started popping up in her life from time to time. Now, present day has caught up with both of them and Clare wants to try and make things work with them.

Albeit a strange and hard relationship, with Henry unable to control when he "jumps," they try to make it work and eventually get married. One day, in their new home together, they witness a later version of Henry, cold, naked and bleeding from a gunshot on the floor before he quickly disappears just as he came. Worried and scared that he dies young, Henry and Clare decide to seek out help from a genetics doctor for advice on how to control it. They also struggle trying to conceive a child, as Clare keeps miscarrying and Henry fears the baby has inherited his genetic disorder, causing it to time travel out of her womb.

This was an interesting take on a love story, as it has the sci-fi, time travel twist thrown in to complicate Clare and Henry's relationship. It is neat to see though how they keep to their vows, for better or for worse, as Clare is understanding that Henry can't control his time traveling despite how hard it is for her to deal with him randomly coming and going for periods of a time - at one point it seemed he had been gone for several weeks and possibly months before returning to the right time period.

If you're looking for a bit of a romantic tale with a sci-fi twist to it and are able to keep up with a non-linear storyline, be sure to check this one out - but make sure you keep a box of tissues nearby!

Resident Evil: Afterlife

Rated R for violence, some gore, language

Starring Milla Jovovich, Ali Larter, Wentworth Miller, Shawn Roberts

Taking place shortly after the 3rd film, we see an Alice invasion of the Umbrella Corp headquarters in Tokyo. While Wesker tries to make his getaway, the real Alice is stowed away on his escape helicopter and confronts him, however he injects with an agent that neutralizes the T-virus that has bonded with her DNA, taking away her super human strength, healing and other abilities. They crash land however, and while Alice crawls out of the wreckage, Wesker is believed to be dead.

The next few months Alice flies around in a 2 person plane, searching for Arcadia - the place Claire's convey of survivors from the previous film and Alice had heard about on the emergency broadcast channel, claiming to have shelter free of infection with plenty of food. Claire and her convey were headed that way, towards the location in Alaska, last we had seen of them, however when Alice reaches the coordinates they were given, there's nothing but an abandoned air field along a beach. While trying to piece things together, she is attacked by a crazed Claire who has some strange metallic device hooked to her chest affecting her behavior and memory, as once she comes to, she doesn't know who Alice is, let alone her own name or where her convey has gone.

They set off in Alice's plane, flying along the coast looking for life when they come to L.A. where they see some survivors flagging them down on a rooftop of a prison - the only way in and out is by the roof as the outside area is covered by zombies wanting to get inside. The survivors are let down to learn that Alice isn't from Arcadia, sent to get them, as they say the broadcasts stopped just days prior and they had been sending off flares in hope that someone from Arcadia will see them and send assistance. Confused, Alice points out that Arcadia is in Alaska, that she just came from there and there's nothing - there's no way they could see flares from there. They hand her binoculars and point out a huge cargo tanker just off the nearby coast with Arcadia painted on the side - she realizes it's been moving up and down the western coast picking up survivors which explains why there was nothing in Alaska.

Realizing her plane is unfortunately a 2-seater and that going back and forth would be near impossible given the small space for landing on their roof, Alice says there has to be another way for them all to get out and to the sea. They introduce her to a man held prisoner in the basement of the prison, who claims he was a solider in fighting the outbreak but when the prison got out of control prisoners thought it would be funny to lock him up. The survivors aren't sure if they can trust what he says though as they found him locked up but he claims there's another way out. Alice convinces them to release him, in he which shares there's a strong armored military vehicle locked away on the premises they can just ride out on, crushing anything in their path. Turns out, he was right, but the vehicle's engine has been pulled out and it will take nearly a week for the mechanic there to install it correctly. He also claims to be Claire's brother Chris, however she is still having memory loss and can't confirm she knows him or not.

On top of their problems, a giant executioner figure wielding a mean looking axe/hammer has just showed up at the prison entrance, trying to break open the gate that's keeping all the zombies out. In a hurry to escape before the executioner giant and zombies break in (a few have even learned how to tunnel in!), they seek to find another way out, which includes a dark, scary tunneling route to the sewers with a risk of running into zombies trying to come in.

Will they make it out of the prison before it's too late? Will they make it to Arcadia? And is Arcadia all it's really cracked up to be?

This is the first Resident Evil movie to be filmed in 3D, however we saw it in 2D and you could tell that certain scenes and elements were only there for 3D purposes, such as the extensive use of "bullet time" in the action scenes (made popular by the Wachowski Brothers in the Matrix) and Alice shooting off quarters in different scenes.

The series went from a decent horror/zombie storyline to an action series with Alice and crew vs Umbrella Corp with zombies thrown in making their task more difficult. I don't mind it, but it is starting to get redundant. It would have been nice to know what the point of the executioner was too, as this giant, masked character with nails stuck in his head and torso and carrying a 1 ton axe/hammer weapon just kinda shows up out of nowhere with no rhyme or reason. Also, for Alice not having her super human abilities anymore, she still seems to be abnormally fast and strong - it's like they sort of forgot they took that away from her at the beginning of the movie. The story only progressed slightly in this film (how many headquarters does Umbrella Corp have?!) and it's clear that a 5th film of this saga is in the works. Be sure to stay during the first part of the credits, as there's a brief appearance by Jill Valentine from the 2nd film.

If you like the Resident Evil films, you know what to expect and probably wouldn't mind seeing this one, however if you haven't seen the others, you really should as there's not much of a recap of the previous films unless you're just there for the girl power action.

DVD Review: Midnight Meat Train

Rated R for graphic violence, gore, brief nudity and some language

Starring Bradley Cooper, Vinnie Jones, Leslie Bibb

The movie opens with a well dressed man sitting on a late night subway car along with a few other passengers. Out of nowhere, he slaughters them with a combo meat cleaver/pounder tool.

Next we are introduced to Leon, a photographer trying to get his work noticed by a well-known art dealer in hopes that his work will make it into her show and gallery and start to sell. She tells him that she doesn't feel his images are strong enough for her shows and gallery yet and so he decides to go out and shoot some stuff late at night. He ventures into the subway with his camera and after taking several shots of a gang harassing and about to mug an attractive woman who's alone, he points out to them the security camera capturing everything and they scram. The woman thanks him and quickly enters the last subway car to come through that night; Leon, amazed by her beauty, continues to snap photos before she's gone. His girlfriend spies his work as he develops it in their apartment and comments that it seems to be his best yet. He also learns that the woman he saved last night was a well-known model, however she appears to be suddenly missing. Believing he may be the last person to have seen her, he quickly goes to the police station, but they blow him off!

The next night Leon goes out again for more shots and spies a mysterious, well-dressed man, in a hurry to catch the subway, however he gets a little too close and the man scares him off. Leon notices that the man is wearing a ring that can be seen in one of the photos where the model from the previous night had gotten on the subway train, holding the door open for her... Leon goes again to the police station to point out the similarities, but they don't give him much thought.

Looking into it himself, Leon learns about the Subway Butcher whom he believes is the man he saw the previous night. He decides to spend the next day following him, from a hotel to a butchering plant to the subway again before backing off for the night. Leon gets ballsy one night and decides to follow him onto the subway train, where he sees him butcher, slaughter and then pick apart his victims. He soon catches Leon though, but instead of killing him, he wakes up the next day at the butchering plant with carvings in his skin. His girlfriend tries to figure out what's wrong, and eventually sees the strange marking carved into his chest and insists on taking him to the hospital, but all he wants to do is sleep. Having seen his photographs, she decides to head to the hotel with her friend and do a little digging, as Leon's camera has gone missing and he claims he has shots that prove that the mysterious man is the Subway Butcher.

Both her and Leon end up on the train later, attempting to save her friend and put a stop to the Butcher, but will they make it off the train alive?


Brought to us by legendary horror writer/director Clive Barker, Midnight Meat Train is based on a short story of the same name that Barker included in his Books of Blood collection he wrote in 1984. It's clear that Barker's a bit of a visual artist as he uses some interesting, artsy techniques in this gorefest, however some of the effects come off a bit comical and over the top.

It's an interesting premise - a man is killing people on the subway every night and no one seems to care, including the police and subway conductor. What exactly is going on and why? Through Leon's curiosity we learn the truth which is quite the twist as it definitely isn't what you would expect!

If you enjoy horror movies with strange twists and don't mind the gore, be sure to check out Midnight Meat Train.

DVD Review: Saw VI

Rated R for graphic violence, gore, torture, language

Starring Costas Mandylor, Tobin Bell, Shawnee Smith, Betsy Russell, Peter Outerbridge

Picking up where the 5th installment left off, Lt. Mark Hoffman works quickly to cover his tracks after the death of Agent Strahm who died because he got to close to the truth and learned that Hoffman was another apprentice of Jigsaw's and was carrying out Jigsaw's work despite his death. Hoffman tries to pin the evidence of the latest game (the one in #5) on Strahm using his fingerprints, while still working on the inside.

Meanwhile, we learn that Jigsaw left his ex-wife Jill a box with items in it, which included instructions for Hoffman for the next game in his master plan. Hoffman quickly does what he can to get it all set up and before he gets caught - turns out, using audio equipment, the Jigsaw audio tape that was found at the scene of the events in #5 can be descrambled and it proves that it isn't Jigsaw, but someone else - Hoffman.

In the new game, we see a mother and her son trapped in one boiler room with a tank of acid in the corner connected to a switch box where one setting says "live" while the other says "die" and clock is counting down the time. The mother declares, "We're here because of your father." In similar boiler room (sans acid tank) is reporter Pamela Jenkins, who was nosing around, trying to find out what was in the box Jigsaw left for his wife. Playing the game is health insurance executive William Easton.

See, when Jigsaw first learned he was dying of cancer, he went and did some research for himself and found a doctor in Europe who was looking to take on new patients for his experimental tests that had a high success rate. Jigsaw approached William about having his insurance cover the high cost of this, but William, who runs the company using a formula that determines who should get the health benefits (usually those in good health instead of those that are sick and could actually benefit from treatment), denies him because it is merely experimental, despite the evidence of a high success rate.

Starting the game, William has 4 devices attached to each of his limbs - one on each wrist, another on each foot. He must survive through 4 series of tests to keep himself intact - failure to complete a test will either blow off a limb or kill him if he doesn't make it through the test. Also, failure to complete the game will result in him never seeing his family again. At the end of each test, he receives a key to remove one of the devices. Making the game even harder is that his employees are the pawns!

In one test he has to decide which of 2 employees will be hanged - the middle aged mother with an illness, or the healthy young go-getter who doesn't have a family. According to his company's formula, the woman should die, but which choice will he make? In the next test, he has to help a female employee in a steam room get through a maze below him within a certain time or else the device around her neck will pierce her skull - in order to make it easier for her though, he has to direct some of the steam onto himself, creating a safe passageway for her. There is a twist though, as the key to unlock the device around her neck is just under William's skin on the side of his torso. In the final test, William finds 6 of his top staff members strapped to a spinning carousel  with a rifle pointed towards it. He is told that by slipping his hands into a device attached to the gun, he can choose to save 2 of them by letting it pierce his hands and divert the gun upwards, however it is automatic so when the carousel stops spinning he has only seconds to make his choice. Some of his employees begin to tell sob stories - one girl claims to be pregnant, another with young kids at home... another claims she has sick parents who need her to take of them but then another employee calls out her lie saying he knows for a fact her parents disowned her and that she's always talking about how she hates them. Who's telling the truth and who's lying just to save themself?

This was an interesting installment to the Jigsaw franchise as it had several unexpected but welcomed twists to it.

It also featured some new flashback scenes which explained some of the things from the previous movies (such the letter Amanda receives in 3 that causes her to go off the edge and mess things up a bit). There was also a contest in late 2008, where the wining actress of the VH1 reality competition show Scream Queens would win a breakout role in the film. The winner of the first season, Tanedra Howard, was featured in the opening segment (which was also probably the goriest of the whole movie).

Since Saw 3D (aka Saw VII) is the last of the franchise, it'll be interesting to see how it all ties up!

If you're a fan of the Saw franchise, it wouldn't hurt to see this one (which was one of the better ones), however if you haven't gotten into them or past the first one, there really is no point jumping in at this one.

DVD Review: The Bounty Hunter

Rated PG13 for some violence, some sexuality, brief language

Starring Jennifer Aniston, Gerard Butler, Peter Greene, Jeff Garlin, Christine Baranski, Jason Sudeikis, Dorian Missick, Cathy Moriarty

Nicole is a journalist with a haunch - she has a strange feeling that a case that was ruled as suicide is really a homocide and requests her snitch friend find out some information on a possible lead. She also has some trouble of her own with the law, as she innocently assaulted a police officer landing her with a court date. Right as she's approaching the courthouse, she gets a call from snitch friend, saying that if she wants the information he has she needs to meet him in 30 minutes before he sells it someone else. In a jam, Nicole decides it's more important to get the information and misses her court hearing.

Milo is a former police officer turned bounty hunter with a bit of a gambling debt of his own that he's trying to pay off. Hours after Nicole skips court, a warrant is out for her with a bounty of $5,000 to whoever brings her in. Milo more than jumps at the opportunity as Nicole is his ex-wife!

He quickly tracks her down later that afternoon and attempts to bring her in in a hilarious but forceful way.

However they both have people on their tails - Milo's bookie has sent men out to collect on his debt and Nicole's snitch and lead have gotten her a little too close to uncovering the truth and the men responsible want her gone. They also begin to rekindle the flame of their former romance.

Will they be able to stay ahead of the people who are after them?
And will Milo ultimately still turn in Nicole despite their reconnection?

This one has an interesting premise with the potential to be really funny as it's a bit of a tale of revenge - a bounty hunter having the chance to bring in his ex-wife whom he despises - however with the subplots it starts to drag on. While the subplot about the people coming after Nicole for getting to close to uncovering the truth makes sense and fits, the other just seems unnecessary. Okay, so Milo has a huge gambling debt and that's why he does bounty hunting, I get that, but the whole subplot about his bookie trying to collect just gets too out of hand - the bookie's crones mistake Nicole's creepy lovestruck co-worker who's trying to follow her for Milo and instead torture him. That whole part just seemed a bit pointless. Also, we get it, they start to rekindle their romance and rethink their divorce. The bit when they need to hideout and revisit the bed and breakfast they spent their honeymoon at just started to drag on.

This movie felt at least 20 minutes too long and honestly, I got bored after the first hour.

Good premise, bad attempt.

Skip this one unless you're really really bored.