Vanishing On 7th Street

Starring: Hayden Christensen, John Leguizamo, & Thandie Newton
Rating: 2 out of 5 stars

Vanishing On 7th Street had a lot of possibilities, but it was done so narrow-mindedly, that the film just becomes a complete waste of time. First, we are rushed into the heart of the story, without any background or character development. Then, within twenty minutes, we're thrown ahead three days, leaving us with many questions that are never answered. Finally, after an hour of typical frantic people stuck in an impossible situation, we get an ending that just doesn't fit. I was attracted to this film by its clever title and by Hayden Christensen, who I believe to be a very underrated actor, but I was highly disappointed. Vanishing On 7th Street is rushed, sloppy, predictable, and full of plot holes. To me this seemed more like a rough draft than a full length feature film, it really just wasn't very good.

I Spit On Your Grave (2010)

Starring: Sarah Butler, Jeff Branson, & Rodney Eastman
Rating: 4 out of 5 stars

When the original I Spit On Your Grave came out in 1978, it was so graphic and violent that it was banned from theaters and television. 32 years later and the remake is ten times as horrific and much more interesting. They'd planned to release this one in theaters but due to its NC-17 rating, they decided to go with the unrated direct-to-video method. This brutal and horrific story is about a writer who goes to a cabin in the woods to write her next book, when she becomes the victim of a horrible crime. She survives, but decided it's not justice she wants, it's revenge. I loved this film, because it's something that could actually happen, and when it's a realistic film, no matter how graphic, I find it to be that much more terrifying. If you have a weak stomach, avoid this one, because when I say it's graphic, it is ridiculously so! There is no way they ever would have been able to trim this down to an R rating for theaters, it's that brutal. Personally, I love films like this, the more graphic and realistic, the better, however many others don't agree and most critics claim the film made them physically ill. My suggestion, check it out and decide for yourself!

Remakes & Sequels For 2012

Some are great and some are downright ridiculous! Generally most remakes and sequels fall somewhere in between these two categories, and whether you love 'em or hate 'em, there's no doubt that they will be among the highest grossing films this year, so here's the list for 2012!

The Remakes:

Akira,  Child's Play, Cleopatra, The Crow, The Dambusters, Daredevil, Das Experiment,  Death Note, Dune, The Evil Dead, Excalibur, Fantastic 4, Frankenstein, Godzilla, Ghost In The Shell, The Great Gatsby, Highlander, Judge Dread, The Lone Ranger, Mortal Combat, Old Boy, Point Break, Robocop, Scarface, Short Circuit, Spider-Man, A Star Is Born, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, Tell No One, The Thin Man, Timecrimes, Tomb Raider, Total Recall, The Twilight Zone, & The Warriors

The Sequels:

Alien (Prequel), Avatar 2, American Reunion (American Pie 6), Beetlejuice 2, Bill & Ted's Third Adventure, Bourne 4, Blade Runner 2, Captain America 2, The Dark Knight Rises, Despicable Me 2, Die Hard 5, Expendables 2, Fast & Furious 6, The Fighter 2, Ghostbuster 3, Green Lantern 2, The Hangover 3, The Hobbit, James Bond 23, Oz Wars, Oz The Great An Powerful (Prequel), Twilight 5, The Ring 3D, Superman: Man of Steel, Star Trek 2, Taken 2, Terminator 5, The Thing (Prequel), Thor 2, Wrath of The Titans, Wolverine 2, X-Men: First Class 2, XXX 3, 300: Battle of Artemisia (Prequel)

10,000 Hits!

WOW! 10,000 hits in less than a year!!! That's impressive and it's all because of you! I just wanted to take a quick second to thank everyone for coming by! I plan on being around a while, so please, tell your friends, follow us on Facebook, Twitter, GetGlue, Flixster, IMDB, & Blogger, repost my reviews on your favorite social networking sites, and of course don't forget to comment! Once again, thank you very much!

Contraband

Starring: Mark Wahlberg & Kate Beckinsale
Rating: 4 out of 5 stars

Mark Wahlberg is certainly no genius, but when it comes to action movies, he's on top of his game. I wish I could say Contraband was an amazing film, but it was your typical, shoot 'em up action thriller, although the plot was better than most. A lot of critics bashed this film because of its predictability, but what do you expect from these types of films? The story, about an ex-smuggler, returning to his old ways to pay off an unexpected debt, was easy to follow and full of cool action sequences. That's really all you can ask for from these films and I rather enjoyed it. If you don't like action movies, don't watch them! If you do like them, Contraband is a pretty good one and few action stars bring to the table the experience that Whalberg has. If you're looking for something that you don't really have to think about, that will hold your attention, and kill a couple of hours, go with Contraband.

The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo (2011)

Starring: Daniel Craig & Rooney Mara
Rating: 3 1/2 out of 5 stars

Does the international sensation The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo live up to all the hype? In my estimation, no! There is no denying that the story is amazing. The book may be amazing, and the original Swedish version of the film might be equally amazing, but David Fincher's adaptation of it is not. From the very beginning it seems as thou he's trying to turn this story into something it's not, a sequel to Seven. The story is fantastic, however, there are so many odd names and so many mumbled lines thrown at you so quickly, that you're easily confused. At many points in this film I was confused, and even when the killer was revealed, my reaction was "which one is that?" Besides being confusing, the film has about an hour of footage that has nothing to do with the main story and just adds to the overall confusion of the film. Like I said, the story is really good, the actors were really good also, but the film was just very long and confusing, and to be honest, I really wasn't all that impressed by it.

Go (1999)

Starring: Katie Holmes, Timothy Olyphant, & Sarah Polley
Rating: 4 1/2 out of 5 stars

Go is unlike any film you have ever seen and I loved every second of it! This unique comedy, from Swingers director, Doug Liman, follows a bunch of people who connect in a supermarket and follow them on their craziest weekend ever. The story is told in four parts, and follow these inevitably connected people from four different angles. As each of their stories are told, the story gets clearer and even more hilarious. This movie was a first for many TV stars on the big screen like Katie Holmes, Scott Wolf, and Jay Mohr, but it's the newcomers like Sarah Polley and Desmond Askew that make this film work. Honestly, this film has everything. It's a great story, action-packed, and hilarious, I can't recommend it enough!

Wolf Creek

Starring: Kestie Morassi & Nathan Phillips
Rating: 3 1/2 out of 5 stars

On the surface, Wolf Creek appears to be just another slasher film, that is until you learn the scary truth. The truth is this film and the majority of the horrible gore and torture actually happened. The story is about one of the worst serial killers in Australian history. A man, who would frequent a remote tourist attraction, disable a vehicle, show up to assist the people, and then drug and torture them for days or even weeks. The film shows one fictional groups encounter with this man and shows just how twisted some people can be. If this were a fictional slasher film, I'd call it nothing special. The fact that it's based on real events and knowing that a lot of this stuff actually happened, make the movie especially creepy. As far as I'm concerned, the creepier the better!

Super 8

Starring: Joel Courtney, Kyle Chandler, & Elle Fanning
Rating: 4 out of 5 stars

Castaways, alien invasion, and paranormal phenomenon are nothing new, but when they are re-imagined by J.J. Abrams, they sure seem that way. Like king midis, everything Abrams touches is pure gold and Super 8 is no exception. On the surface, the film seems like something you've seen a million times before, but it's Abrams twist, turns, and imagination that make it very different. What I loved about this film, was that it's a blockbuster film, with two major names behind it, and there wasn't any big stars attached to it. In fact, most of the cast never had a major role in anything, like the lead, Joel Courtney. I don't know how they found this kid. He had zero professional experience and he was really fantastic. This movie is a gem, and while it seems like it's been done, you've never seen it done J.J. Abrams way. Super 8 is an evolved version of many similar films behind it and is one that they will talking about for years.

Nowhere Boy

Starring: Aaron Johnson, Kristen Scott Thomas, & Thomas Sangster
Rating: 3 1/2 out of 5 stars

Nowhere Boy is the critically acclaimed story of John Lennon's adolescence and the formation of the Beatles. The film was a culmination of several biographies of Lennon, along with firsthand accounts from friends and family. Aaron Johnson was utterly fantastic as Lennon, giving a very strong performance. People were genuinely surprised when he was cast, being that he's not British, but it's not an issue. As for the film, in all honesty, until Lennon meets McCartney, the film is kind of slow. After that, it picks up a little bit, but jumps around quite a bit and gets to be rather confusing. I'm convinced that I only enjoyed this film, because it's subject is someone I greatly admired and someone I wanted to know more about. The performances were top notch and I did learn a lot about John Lennon and the Beatles, but overall this film was a little dry.

The Nightmare Room: Camp Nowhere

Starring: Kyle Gibson, Amanda Bynes, & Frankie Muniz
Rating: 3 out of 5 stars

I continue on my path to see how some of my favorite actors got their start with another volume of R.L. Stein's, The Nightmare Room. The show is basically Tales From The Crypt for kids, telling short, creepy stories with a twist for kids. Once again I found the series very enjoyable. I love seeing some of my favorite actors and actresses before they were household names and I found the stories quite fun. It was written for kids, but everyone will enjoy these!

South Park: The Imaginationland Trilogy

Starring: Trey Parker & Matt Stone
Rating: 3 1/2 out of 5 stars

The ground breaking, award winning, animated show, South Park has gone where few before it ever have. Imagination Land is the second film produced in this series, and this one was direct-to-video. The story was very clever, drawing on passed episodes and parodying just about everything you can imagine, but the supporting story really brought down the film. For the entire movie, Cartman is obsessed with a side bet he and Kyle have. The joke wasn't that funny to begin with and they just won't let it go! They carry on and on and on about it, getting to the point where you're really just sick of it. It really took away from an otherwise great sequel to Bigger, Longer, & Uncut.