The Walking Dead

Starring: Andrew Lincoln, Jon Bernthal, Sarah Wayne Callies, Laurie Holden, Jeffrey DeMunn, Steven Yeun, Chandler Riggs, Norman Reedus, Iron E. Singleton, & Melissa Suzanne McBride

Rating: 3 1/2 out of 5 stars

I did not want to get into AMC's The Walking Dead, because it is what I like to call, addictive television. I try to avoid shows like this, but I was at a friends house the other week and there were a group of people watching it, so I really didn't have a choice and I got sucked into it's grip. The reason I don't like to watch shows like this is because it's based on a book, which usually means, the show is amazing and very well written until they reach the end of the book and have to come up with new stuff on their own. At that point, the quality of the story quickly diminishes and the show either gets boring or goes way over the top. As I watched the first two seasons of The Walking Dead over the course of a couple weeks, I found that the same was true for it. The first season was an absolute delight and I hated the fact that it was only six episodes. The second season started out pretty good also, but that's when the book must have ended and things changed. This powerful, exciting show became extremely predictable, with every episode featuring about forty minutes of talking and five minutes of action. So, if I was so turned off by it at that point, why am I watching the new episodes right now? Addictive television! Now that I know the characters and their stories I want answers to the same four questions as everyone else. Who is fighting with who, who is fucking who, how will the story end, and the big one, who lives and who dies. Similar to soap operas, shows like the Walking Dead, for the most part, aren't well written, are extremely predictable, and don't really develop much after the initial impact. I didn't see a single episode in the second or third season that I enjoyed as much as I did every episode from season 1. I am nevertheless invested in the show and what happens now, and to be honest it's not that it's a bad show. I really like Sarah Wayne Callies from Prison Break and Norman Reedus's character is the one guy who really evolved into someone who fascinates me. The action scenes, as well as the effects are terrific, and they do have a pretty talented cast. It's my hope that as it continues to gain popularity, that the writers turn to other sources, perhaps the author of the book or even some fan fiction for alternative ideas on how to keep things fresh and interesting, because right now, aside from the question of who lives and who dies, there isn't much there to attract new viewers to the show. If you like dark stories, horror, and end of the world type fiction, I'd give the show a try, but if you're a newbie whose thinking about getting into the Walking Dead, I warn you, the first season is amazing and will suck you in, but after that, as of yet, it hasn't gotten any better.

Soul Men

Starring: Bernie Mac, Samuel L. Jackson, & Sharon Leal 

Rating: 4 out of 5 stars

Soul Men was a film that was racked with problems right from the start. Originally the film kept getting pushed back because of a law suit by the R&B group, Sam & David, which claimed it to be a farce on their life story. The group also accused the producers of copyright infringement for using their style and the title of one of their songs, "Soul Man". The law suit was finally settled and the movie was released in 2008. Then, days before the films release, two of it's stars, Bernie Mac and Issac Hayes, died on back to back days, a tragedy that created a public relations nightmare. For those reasons, this film wasn't widely distributed or advertised, which is a shame because it was one terrific film. The story starts 30 years after a legendary R&B group, Marcus Hooks & The Real Deal, broke up. We see the remaining members, Samuel L. Jackson in trouble with the law, and Bernie Mac, living in a retirement community, when they learn about the sudden death of Hooks. Record executives, quick to capitalize on his death, organize a tribute show at the Apollo in New York, and invite the Real Deal to participate. This means that two men who hate each other and haven't performed in almost 30 years, need to get their act together in a hurry if they want the big pay day and a chance at a come back. The film is an absolute riot, with Mac as the old lonely man and Jackson as the bitter forgotten convict. Their chemistry was nothing short of amazing and the big surprise was that both men can actually sing and dance! Even though they must have said mother fucker about a thousand times, I found the film to be very clever, funny, and original. If it wasn't for all the problems it had, this movie would have done much better than it did and it is without a doubt, worth watching.

The Texas Chainsaw Massacre (2003)

Starring: Jessica Biel, Jonathan Tucker, Eric Balfour, & R. Lee Emery

Rating: 3 1/2 out of 5 stars

I am a big fan of Horror movies, but believe it or not, this is the only version of The Texas Chainsaw Massacre that I ever liked. The reason is simple, for this one, they actually got a real cast that include two of my favorite actors and the gorgeous Jessica Biel. This story isn't any different than the other ones. A bunch of friends on a road trip take a wrong turn and find themselves being hunted by a mad man. The film is full of gore, bad jokes, and beautiful people, it's really nothing out of the ordinary, except for the cast. Great actors can make anything entertaining, even the most bland and repetitive film gets new life when you introduce a cast like this. Three extremely talented and under appreciated actors, give support to the less experienced cast members, and while much of the film was focused on Biel and Leatherface, you could still see the influence of the veteran stars on the rest of this cast. If you don't like Horror, this film won't change your mind. If you're looking for originality, you won't find it here. If you're looking for some good performances from a very talented cast, that is something The remake of Texas Chainsaw Massacre will give you.

Jumper

Starring: Hayden Christensen, Jamie Bell, & Samuel L. Jackson

Rating: 5 out of 5 stars

Jumper is the first film from a trilogy of books by Steven Gould, and while I loved this film, most critics panned it. The story centers around a young Davey (Hayden Christensen), who during a life-threatening event, come to realize he has the power to teleport wherever he wants. Unbeknownst to Davey, he is a member of a group of genetically superior humans known as Jumpers, who are currently at war with a religious organization, that believes their power is evil. What starts out as a simple kid having fun and trying to impress, becomes a fight for survival in this amazing action thriller. You can always tell when a story is adapted from a book, rather than an original screenplay, because the story tends to be more thought out. Not to say screenplays are bad, but when a story isn't made simply to be a movie, it tends to be much more focused on the story, where as screenplays have to worry about the story as well as the aesthetics. Nevertheless, Jumper isn't just another shoot 'em story, it's the perfect mix of action and drama with some outstanding performances. I love Hayden Christensen, who I think is made for roles like this, he has this cool demeanor to him, that's more clever than arrogant. Jamie Bell is also terrific as Griffin, a fellow jumper Davey meets along the way,  and he provides some much needed comic relief. ...and then there's Samuel L. Jackson. What is there to say about Jackson that hasn't already been said? The man is a legend. This film is interesting, unique, fast-paced, and even funny. I loved every minute of Jumper and if Sci-Fi is your thing, you will too!

Hoodlum (1997)

Starring: Laurence Fishburne, Tim Roth, Vanessa Williams, & Andy Garcia

Rating: 3 out of 5 stars

People who have seen American Gangster or are regular viewers of the TV show, Mobsters, will know who Bumpy Johnson was and know the story behind Hoodlum. For those of you who don't, Johnson was a member of an organized crime group, in Harlem, during the 1930's. He was also the man who mentored and inspired Denzel Washington's character of Frank Lucas in American Gangster. Long before that film, the story of Bumpy Johnson was told in Hoodlum. This was one of those little told stories about the mafia that started out very strong. Unfortunately, I felt that the writers went into far too much detail at certain points in the film and by the end it was definitely dragging on. Laurence Fishburne stars as Johnson and did an adequate job, my problem with his has always been he lacks emotion in his acting. In my humble opinion this should automatically disqualify him from certain things and this probably should have been one of those things. Tim Roth is Dutch Schultz and while Schultz had a reputation for being a character, Roth went a little over the top with it, but was still very entertaining. My favorite performance was of course the one by Andy Garcia as Lucky Luciano, but he really wasn't in the film much and that's a shame, because nobody plays a crime boss better than hen does. Hoodlum is a wild ride about an incredible true story, but as a film, it was a mix of terrific scenes and some slower unnecessary elements. As a film it's not the best, but it's worth watching just for the amazing story that is being told.

Update!

The Ultimate Movie Review is now two years old, thanks in big part to you the readers! You've commented and told me what you wanted more of and less of, and helped me to improve my writing and reviewing skills to make this blog a better place for all moviegoers. Many many people have told me that before they go to Netflix, they check The Ultimate Movie Review so they can decide what's worth their time and that makes me feel great! We truly are what our slogan says we are, "Don't know what to watch, we'll tell ya what's good!"

That being said here are a few notes about what's going on....

- In December, for the fourth time this year, we reach over 1000 views in a month, something that only happened twice in 2011!

- Metacritic, the site that gives number grades to film, actors, muisc, games, and more has requested we join. It's a very cool site especially for statistics about who has been successful and who hasn't, what I like most is that it gives me statistical data about my movie watching habits. What I don't like is that site only features films that were in theaters over the past twenty years or so, this means many reviews get overlooked. However Metacritic has determined...

- The average score I give a movie is 6.6 by their system, that's a 3 in stars.

- Of the movies they feature that I've reviewed, 169 were positive, 51 were mixed, and 22 were trashed!

- The highest rated movie on the site that I reviewed is Do The Right Thing
     - They gave it a 91 = 9.1 = 4 1/2 stars
     - I gave it a 70 = 7.0 = 3 1/2 stars
           
- The lowest rated movie on the site that I reviewed is Extreme Ops
     - They gave it a 17 = 1.7 = 1/2 star
     - I gave it a 60 = 6.0 = 3 stars

- In other news, google, who runs blogspot, has asked me to put a small, non-intrusive paid banner ad on the site for Amazon.com. While I'm considering it, Amazon has been nice enough to make me a top reviewer and include all my "non-offensive" reviews on their site. I suppose that means they don't like it when I say fuck...

That's it for now....

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Hiding (2012)

Starring: Ana Villafane, Jeremy Sumpter, & Tyler Blackburn

Rating: 3 out of 5 stars

One of my favorite actors, Jeremy Sumpter, leads a mostly unknown cast in the new direct-to-video drama, Hiding. I liked the concept behind this movie, but I don't like the part of the story they chose to focus on. The writers spent too much time on the present, without telling us enough about the past. While we have an idea of what happened, watching the beginning of this film is like arriving at the theater fifteen minutes late and having to play catch up the whole time. Joe (Ana Villafane) witnessed a murder in her home town of New York City. Being that she is the key witness against a major crime family, she is put into the witness protection program, given a cover story, and put into a new life in the middle of nowhere. The film begins with Joe being dropped at her new home, with a very vague description of what happened, what's expected of her, and how long she'll be there. From there the film kind of turns into a CW teen drama, which wasn't very appealing, however the filmakers used flashbacks and side angles, to stop it from turning into Dawson's Creek. Sumpter plays one of two guys interested in Joe, as always he was dynamic, but here he was also funny and charming, a clear opposite of the other love interest, who just seemed to drone on and on. As for the lead, in her debut role, Ana Villafane was nothing short of terrific. This is not the kind of movie I go for and the focus was not on the part of the script that interests me, but the combination of Villafane and Sumpter, along with flashbacks and side stories did keep the film going. My description probably sounds quite dull, but Hiding keeps on moving and keeps your attention by using some pretty unconventional methods. It's not the best movie I've ever seen, but it was most definitely entertaining.

Scream 4

Starring: Neve Campbell, Courtney Cox, & David Arquette

Rating: 3 1/2 out of 5 stars

Let's face it, when a film franchise makes it to a fourth film or higher, it usually sucks. What else can they really do with it and what's left of the story to tell us that we don't already know? That was my thinking going into Scream 4, but when it comes to Wes Craven, you really never know what you're going to get. After pumping out three movies in four years, Craven took eleven years off before taking another crack at Scream, thinking why not make what's old new again, and it works! Scream 4 continues the legacy of the series by combining a classic slasher film with the technology and youth of today, who are still making a mockery of the whole situation. The screenwriting is absolutely genius, as is evident by the opening scene, which actually rivals the scene in the first film. In Scream 4, we see a grown up Sidney Prescott return home to Woodsboro a changed woman. She's there to promote her new book and catch up with her old friends, Sheriff Dewey and his wife Gail. They're all having a nice reunion, on what turns out to be the anniversary of the first killings, when all of a sudden things turn ugly again. You know the characters and you know the actors playing them. They're a little bit older, they're a little bit wiser, and they're every bit as energetic and interesting as they were in the first three films. The old school Woodsboro family meets the current Woodsboro family and what you get is something that's very similar, but oddly different. Scream 4 is witty, clever, and updated. Wes Craven was right, what was old is new again and it reminded me of just how much I loved the original films.

A Good Day To Die Hard - (Die Hard 5)

Starring: Bruce Willis & Jai Courtney

Rating: 3 out of 5 stars

Die Hard was once a great series that featured a loveable charachter facing down the improbable, with great action, in a compelling story. But, the improbable has become the impossible in it's fifth installment, with over the top special effects, a weak storyline, and some very dry acting. I am an action junkie and Bruce Willis is one of my favorite actors, but the essence of John McClane died a long time ago. Right from the start I could tell that Willis wasn't all that into this and it shows, as McClan goes from being the ultimate tough guy to a man just going through the motions. The story centers around reuniting with his son in a foreign country, which I though was an interesting twist, but the angle as well as any semblance of a story was barely touched upon. Die Hard 5 was just one over the top action scene after another, with very little substance, emotion, or appeal for audiences. The John McClan we knew and loved, the man who saved the Nakatomi building, is long gone, instead he is replaced by an emotionless man who expects this sort of thing to happen to him wherever he goes. Willis was going through the motions for a big pay day, and while there were some good lines and some great action sequences, there isn't much of a story or cast to write about. Die Hard 5 is about making money through special effects, using characters who have long out lived their usefulness. If this is how the series has evolved than I pray that this will be the end of it. If the producers want to milk more money out of the franchise, maybe they can wait ten years or so and have some British hunk remake it, with Willis making a cameo, until then, I must declare the Die Hard series official dead with A Good Day To Die Hard.

Eight Men Out

Starring: John Cusack, David Strathairn, & D.B. Sweeney

Rating: 4 out of 5 stars

Eight Men Out is the real life story of the 1919 Chicago White Sox's team that threw the world series for a big pay day. In the early 20th century, baseball players were barely payed enough money to live on, so when organized crime stepped in and offered a big pay day for throwing the 1919 World Series, half the team said yes. The film Eight Men Out is based on the book by Eliot Asinof, the first to officially tell the story of what happened. Until this book, people knew the outcome, but not the particulars. While the book goes into great detail, the movie does not. The film gives us the basics in a very simplistic form, in order to make it more dramatic, and that's the one part of this film I didn't really care for. The things I really wanted to know more about never seemed to materialize and a lot of what we saw in return was the Hollywood exaggeration effect. Don't get me wrong though, the film was very entertaining as it showed a lot of the action on the field and touched on some aspects of the scandal. The acting was stellar and it was really fun to see Charlie Sheen and John Cusack right as they were first starting out. As for the ending, well that was expected, but I still really enjoyed the sports action, back stories, and even the over the top dramatics surrounding the story. It may not be very in depth or even historically accurate, but seeing it again all these years later, I can now appreciate and understand why it is considered one of the top ten sports films of all time.

2013 - Remakes & Sequels!!

Many moviegoers believe that sequels ruin the original film and that remakes don't do the original films justice, however remakes and sequels are often times the highest money makers of the year. While most aren't recognized by the academy and are panned by the majority of critics, people still flock to the theaters every year to see the characters they know and love.

The Ultimate Movie Review would like to give special thanks to our friends at Movie-Moron.com, Movieinsider.com, and IMDB.com for providing us with this years list!

Upcoming Sequels Expected In Theaters During 2013: 

Anchorman 2: The Legend Continues

Bad Santa 2

Before Midnight (Sequel To Before Sunrise)

The Best Man 2

The Chronicles of Riddick 3: Riddick

Cloudy With A Chance of Meatballs 2

Despicable Me 2

Fast & Furious 6

G.I. Joe 3: Retaliation

A Good Day To Die Hard

Grown Ups 2

The Hangover Part 3

The Haunting In Connecticut 2: Ghosts of Georgia 

The Hobbit 2: The Desolation of Smaug

The Hunger Games 2: Catching Fire

Iron Man 3

It's A Mad Mad Mad Mad MAD World: The Sequel

Jack Ryan

Kick-Ass 2

Le Fear 2: Le Sequel

Machete 2

Monster's Inc. 2: Monster's University

Oz: The Great & Powerful (Prequel)

Paranormal Activity 5

Percy Jackson 2: Sea of Monsters

Red 2

Scary Movie 5

Sin City 2: A Dame To Die For

The Smurfs 2

Star Trek 2: Into The Darkness

Thor 2: The Dark World

X-Men Origins: Wolverine 2: The Wolverine

300: Rise of an Empire (Prequel)

Upcoming Remakes Expected In Theaters During 2013: 

Carrie

The Delivery Man

The Evil Dead

Frankenstein 

Gambit

The Great Gatsby

The Lone Ranger

Mortal Kombat

Oldboy

The Secret Life of Walter Mitty

Superman

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles

Tomb Raider

Captain America: The First Avenger

Starring: Chris Evans, Hugo Weaving, Hayley Atwell, & Tommy Lee Jones

Rating: 5 out of 5 stars

I'm sure the regular followers of my blog are shocked to see that I gave a superhero/comic book movie a perfect rating. It is a well known fact, that while I'm a Science Fiction fanatic, I hate superheroes and comics. I wanted to see Captain America though, because I'm fascinated by the Avengers. I really can't see how all those big stars are going to work together, so I wanted to see all the films leading up to the Avengers, so I could follow along. Tommy Lee Jones, one of my favorite actors of all time, is one of the stars of this film, and I know he won't sign on to do just anything, so I knew that Captain America would at the very least be watchable. The more and more I got into Captain America, the most surprised I was by it's realism and honesty, it's not just the story of another superhero and how he's going to fit into the Avengers, it's the story of a very likeable character who wants to be something more than he is. I also loved the fact that this film took place in the 1940's as opposed to the modern era, because it gave a uniqueness to the story. I didn't feel like I was watching another Superman or Batman type of movie, I was really seeing something unique. The cast was fantastic, Chris Evans in particular, I don't know where the people who do the casting for these movies keep finding these guys, but each newcomer is better than the last. Captain America is unique and doesn't feel like a superhero out of some comic book. Comics are often based in extreme fantasy and appeal to those who want to escape their reality. Captain America was different though as he choses not to runaway, but to continually better himself, making him a uniquely remarkable character and it's those qualities that helped make a unique and remarkable film.

My 5 Star Favorites!

Brigham City

Starring: Richard Dutcher, Matthew Brown, & Carrie Morgan

Rating: 4 out of 5 stars

For the past decade, I've heard great things about Brigham City, but I've been very hesitant to see it. Aside from having a mostly unknown cast, the film was written, directed, produced, and starred Richard Dutcher, who created a production company called Mormon Cinema, which only makes Mormon related films. I have found that when a film comes from such a strong religious backing, that it usual has a preachy agenda, and tends to focus more on religion than anything else, but to my surprise, Brigham City does not. The film does takes place in a Mormon community, all the characters are Moron, and there is a religious angel to the film, that includes several scenes in the church, which were slow, but thankfully not overwhelming. The story centers around this small religious community in Utah, that is suddenly rocked by a series of murders. Dutcher, plays the sheriff, a highly respect, deeply religious man, grieving for the loss of his family. His town has always been a paradise and has never faced anything like this before, so the sheriff needs to come up with some pretty interesting ways to catch the killer. Dutcher was excellent in his role, after all he wrote it, and who else is better equipped to play such a role? What I really liked was how different the story was, this wasn't just your typical manhunt for a killer on the loose, there were many different facets to this film that made it unique. What gave Brigham City it's fourth star was the amazing twist at the end that no one will see coming. I've seen a lot of films like this and 9 times out of 10, I have the killer pegged before they are revealed, but this film completely blindsided me, which proves to be just another example of how clever it is. Yes, there is some religion and yes much of the cast is unknown, but I found this film to be fascinating. Brigham City had me captivated and on the edge of my seat, but most important of all it made me think and managed to really surprise me.