July 26, 2010

Iron Man 2

IMDB: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1228705/
Trailer: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=siQgD9qOhRs

Plot:
Billionaire Tony Stark must contend with deadly issues involving the government, his own friends, as well as new enemies due to his superhero alter ego Iron Man.

Review:
After hearing that a sequel was being made for Iron Man 2 I was looking forward to it. While I missed most of the initial showings of Iron Man 2, I finally made my way to see it. Getting to see it in a cinema with all of 6 people, including Alli and myself made it just a little better.
When it came to the film I was a bit let down however, Mickey Rourke plays Ivan Vanko. The son of a Russian Scientist who was involved with Tony Starks (Robert Downey Jnr) father. It touched on the subject briefly in the movie but I don’t think it went far enough, and needed some more darkness to it. Mainly to balance out with all the gadgets and “clean’ looking machines they had through the movie. While awesome machines are good in these movies, it seemed that the movie was focused on the gadgets and less on the plot. Which seemed fairly lacking.
I still enjoyed the movie as anyone would with all the special effects.

Rating:
3.5/5

May 13, 2010

Robin Hood

Once again, some special screening tickets.

IMDB: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0955308/
Trailer: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KSqL9ygBCck

Plot: The story of an archer in the army of Richard Coeur de Lion who fights against the Norman invaders and becomes the legendary hero known as Robin Hood.

Review:
This movie is somewhat different to the usual Robin Hood movies we get, essentially. Think of this as a prequel to all the ones before. It tells the story of Robin Longstride (later “Sir Robin of Loxley” and “Robin Hood”) who serves in King Richards army while in the Crusade. I don’t want to spoil it, so I won’t. But it shows how he went from Robin Longstride being his real name, to Robin Hood and why he became an outlaw.
Russel Crow was pretty bloody good in this, I’ll have to admit it. No shithouse fake English accent, he had one of some sorts but didn’t make it seem so thick and annoying as most of them can be. Cate Blanchett, well you didn’t see much of her in this. She’s there but not as prominent as you’d think. Theres a decent battle seen, so if you go to watch it with Bakester maybe sit a few seats away incase he gets excited.
I enjoyed it, recommended it. Didn’t drag on for to long even though it was a touch over 2 hours. Worth paying for.

Rating:
4.5/5

February 14, 2010

Daybreakers

IMDB: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0433362/
Trailer: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ayYiMygqlfo

Plot:
In a world 10 years into the future, vampires make up the vast majority of the population with only 5% of the human race remaining. This presents particular challenges as the vampires’ food supply – human blood – is dwindling and rationing is now the norm. There is growing evidence that vampires deprived of an adequate blood supply are themselves evolving into wild, vile creatures that attack anyone and anything in order to survive. Dr. Edward Dalton, a vampire and hematologist who works for a pharmaceutical firm, has been working on finding an artificial blood supply that will meet the vampire society’s needs. He is sympathetic to humans and sees his work as a way of alleviating their suffering but his views on finding a solution change considerably when he meets someone who found a way to transform himself from being a vampire to again take human form.

Review:
I was interested to see this movie, even though everyones making vampire and werewolf movies lately. They seem to be the in thing currently. The second I saw “Film Finance Corporation Australia” at the start I had some mixed feelings about how good the movie will be. Being an Aussie, most films made in Australia are well… Australian. Something bogan or cliche and usually ending up crap. Luckily, the Queensland Government only gave some money to produce the film, not be involved in its plot or production. However, there are an arse load of well known Australian actors in the movie. Claudia Karvan, Sam Neill, Vince Colosimo and Isabel Lucas (of Transformers 2 fame, and also Homo’s and Gays, oops!… I mean, Home and Away).
The movie showed promise, and given with the influx of Vampire and Werewolf movies (see The Wolfman review I just did), it was a little away from the norm of Vampire movies. Not so much about Vampires killing people all the time, but more that what happens when they run out of humans. It was a good concept, but I don’t think it was executed well enough, and missed a little substance in the plot. Still worth watching though, but not as good as I thought.

Rating
3.5/5

The Wolfman

IMDB: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0780653/
Trailer: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VS02xaTIdRI

Plot:
Lawrence Talbot, a haunted nobleman, is lured back to his family estate after his brother vanishes. Reunited with his estranged father, Talbot sets out to find his brother… and discovers a horrifying destiny for himself. Talbot’s childhood ended the night his mother died. After he left the sleepy Victorian hamlet of Blackmoor, he spent decades recovering and trying to forget. But when his brother’s fiancée, Gwen Conliffe, tracks him down to help find her missing love, Talbot returns home to join the search. He learns that something with brute strength and insatiable bloodlust has been killing the villagers, and that a suspicious Scotland Yard inspector named Aberline has come to investigate.

Review:
The trailer for The Wolfman had promise, it looks like it contained an interesting storyline, some action, gore, and flying intestines. It did live up to the latter parts, being mainly the gore and flying intestines, and plenty of them. However it didn’t keep up with a good plot line, the story revolved around Lawrence Talbot who returns home after the news of his brothers death to find it was due to a Werewolf, while trying to track down the killer of his brother, he’s mauled by the Werewolf and takes on the form himself.
The plot didn’t live up to it’s hype, it was fairly uninteresting. Usually I’ll find movies with one main story line and several other smaller ones that follow in and out throughout the film. But in this case there wasn’t many which left myself to just watching the movie.
The movie looked good, as was Benicio Del Toro’s acting. Anthony Hopkins really didn’t live up to his usual roles and from a producing point of view was probably a waste of money being in this film.

I’d wait till Tight Arse Tuesday to see this one, or hire it from the local dvd store on a boring Saturday night.

Rating:
2/5

February 5, 2010

Edge of Darkness

IMDB: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1226273/
Trailer: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qvRdGKxsmD8

Plot
Thomas Craven, is a detective who has spent years working the streets of Boston. When his own daughter is killed near the door of his home, Craven realizes that her death is only one piece of an intriguing puzzle filled with corruption and conspiracy, and it falls to him to discover who is behind the crime.

Review
Sometimes getting free tickets to movies is usually used to promote something that might be crap. I saw the trailer for Edge of Darkness on the Apple trailers last week, a website which I visit regularly on my iPhone. From watching the movie trailer Edge of Darkness looked good and I was putting it on my list of movies to go see.

Edge of Darkness focuses on Detective Thomas Craven played by Mel Gibson, his daughter comes home who is quickly killed on his front door step, after becoming violently ill, to give a good opening to the movie and set the story.
Craven soon starts to follow the trail leading from her daughter being ill to track down the killer. I don’t want to give away too much as I thoroughly enjoyed this movie. But I definitely recommend going to see this at the movies, it’s worth paying for. There is a solid and interesting plot.

Rating
5/5

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