Taken 2

I'm a big Luc Besson fan and loved the first Taken.  It took me completely by surprise as I had expected probably just another action movie but it had a whole lot more.  Well maybe not more but just did what it set out to do VERY WELL.  I think it was just fun to watch the good guy kick so much bad guy ass. 

Liam Neeson plays the ex CIA, special ops or whatever he was perfectly and the movie just blasts along at an incredibly fast and exciting pace.

"I don't know who you are. I don't know what you want. If you are looking for ransom, I can tell you I don't have money. But what I do have are a very particular set of skills; skills I have acquired over a very long career. Skills that make me a nightmare for people like you. If you let my daughter go now, that'll be the end of it. I will not look for you, I will not pursue you. But if you don't, I will look for you, I will find you, and I will kill you."

*shivers*

At that point I was hooked.   But anyway this isn't a review of the first Taken.

Unfortunately I don't see an end to the making of unnecessary sequels.  They usually make money because even though we are skeptical we normally have to check it out in that faint glimmer of hope it's actually decent like your Aliens, Terminator 2's etc.  Time after time we get disappointed but that hope always drives us to try again.

Taken 2 is an unnecessary sequel.   Basically the same story set in a new location (Instanbul) with the same baddies and the same family.  Liam Neeson and Maggie Grace gave fairly solid performances again but the wife Famke whatsherface (mainly known by me for House on Haunted Hill and Golden Eye) looked like she had better places to be.  

Anyway, $10 you can guess what happens in this one?  No point going into it, watch the first one and save yourself the trouble.

That said it's not a terrible movie.  It was entertaining enough for me not to switch off either my brain or the telly.   But it just brought nothing new to the table, except maybe showing us how easy it is to throw grenades randomly off buildings.  Man that looked like fun.

In a couple of years time when I go to watch the first Taken again, I'll be purposely forgetting about this sequel and enjoy it as the standalone movie it should have been.   By then Taken 3 will be out and I'll have something else to complain about.

 5/10

IMDB Info

Air America

This movie is a blast. It holds up really well for an early 90's film, mostly because a young Robert Downey Jr and Mel Gibson work so well together. I love the style of those films, so blatantly innocent and one sided all following the same easy to keep track of story arc, with a few comedic suprises thrown in there and some 'spolsions and gun fights.

I enjoyed it way more than I should have, thought the underlying morality 'read between the lines stuff' was a bit stupid, and totally loved the chemistry between Robert Downey Jr and Mel Gibson .. although Roberts eyes were looking damn glassed over for most of the film .. he was definitely into his drugs by this point in time. All in all worth checking out again.

SCORE: 6/10

IMDB Information for Air America

Star Wars: Phantom Menace - The Phantom Cut

Another fan edit, this time of the Phantom Menace. This was actually much more enjoyable than the original movie was. The cutting was less jumpy than the Matrix one and the movie was just so much more enjoyable. A lot of the silly useless enragagingly bad scenes and dialogue were cut out and the movie was just tighter. How this movie ever got made in its original form is beyond me. This one is definitely worth checking out .. apparently there is another fan edit of Episodes 1-3 cut into one 2.5 hour movie that Im really keen to see that one and will keep hunting for it.

SCORE: 5/10

The Matrix Dezionized

This is a fan edit of the last two Matrix films combined. Basically he took the two films, cut out all the scenes and has tied them together into one less flashy and over the top movie. Its pretty interesting and I definitely liked what he tried to do, but as with anything like this there are some really sharp jumps between cuts that you know what he was trying to do, but without the ability to go back and film those missing pieces does grate on you a bit. I only got about halfway through but the film had a noticeably different feel than the actual last two movies. It was a lot darker and succinct. Some of the ideas even took on a new meaning so I definitely plan on finishing it up one day, interesting to check out.

SCORE: 6/10

Project X

Wow ... compare this to Cant Hardly Wait and how cool I thought all those guys were and how badly I wanted to be at that party in the 90's and they look like little kiddies in the park watching all the big kids get naked, take drugs, drive cars into pools and go totally ape shit next door!

If this is the standard for an awesome freaking party nowadays all I can say is that Im worried for when Bay is a teenager. Holy crap is this party rediculous and over the top but I actually really liked the film and its style, its a really good use of the found footage format. In a funny way it just represents the total anarchy of teen parties to the max and while I totally understand its just a fake party for a film that will likely never happen, its crazy to see it play out.

SCORE: 7/10

IMDB Information for Project X

Fire In The Sky

Alien abduction movie back from 1993, based on a true story. Not too bad for an early 90’s. The thing I found interesting about this film is in real life the 5 guys involved all took lie detector tests and passed. Movie has some great squeamish scenes on the alien ‘probe table’ but is let down a bit with some pretty average acting (reminiscent of a Steven King film) and some draggy bits.

6/10
 
IMDB Information for Fire In The Sky

A Dangerous Method

If you're not familiar with David Cronenberg's work then you're missing out.  He's been making unique films about all sorts of crazy subjects for decades.  Just to give a few examples:

The Brood
Videodrome
The Fly
Dead Ringers  (how creepy was THAT!)
Existenz
Eastern Promises

The man is a genius and I always look forward to his movies.. they always have something... special.

A Dangerous Method is a very interesting piece. The story focuses on Sigmund Freud and Carl Jung during the beginnings of psycho therapy and analysis. It’s a very well scripted film , great dialogue and beautifully shot.

The 3 main characters are the biggest strength though – Viggo Mortensen, Michael Fassbender and Keira Knightley all play just engrossing characters. Keira especially plays a neurotic sex & pain obsessed character, very different from her usual beauty role.

Guy is a massive Keria fan so he will definitely enjoy some of the more erotic moments.  :)

I recommend this to anyone who doesn't mind sinking their teeth into a bit of think piece.

SCORE: 8/10
 
IMDB Information for A Dangerous Method

The Room

My good mate Macca was playing a practical joke when he recommended this movie.  Macca has a bit of a fetish for terrible movies.  Before this recommendation came Birdemic, which I must say after a few wines was pretty damn hilarious.  Still can't get that intro out of my head, or that board room clapping scene... wont even mention the sprite birds.

But yes Macca, I watched it, mostly in fast forward after the first 10 minutes.  I can't work out what the hell was going on.  Story summary -  There is no story.  The director (Tommy Wiseau) financed this film in order to star in it and have women randomly drop by "his room" to sleep with him.

Amazing voice and sound dubbing though.. which raised the score a little bit.


1/10
 
IMDB Info

Birdemic

I genuinely feel sorry for the Director James Nguyen because based on his comments he seemed 100% committed to making a great film with important environmental messages.

LOL

This movie definitely falls into the "So bad it's good" category and I highly recommend watching with a few movie buddies with a LOT of drinks.  Think Troll 2 but funnier.

The audio will have you in stitches amongst many other things.  From start to finish this movie is absolute gold.  Cutting edge special effects help drive home the important message Nguyen is trying to convey.

Macca introduced me to this one and I'm so glad he did.  We keep it for the 2am "should we watch another one?" moment on a movie night to liven up the atmosphere a bit.

I think there is a bright future in store for the entire Birdemic team, epecially Alan Bagh the lead char.  God damn look at his IMDB pic - it just makes it all the more funnier.  I've not seen an actor who even made walking look awkward.  Touche my friend, touche.

1/10 - Real score
9/10 - So bad its good score

P.S - Make sure to drink a lot,  smoke a lot, or whatever your poison is!

IMDB Information for Birdemic

Evidence

Evidence starts quite slowly with some very average action although we did get a quick boob shot about 30 seconds in which helped get it on the right track ;)

The middle of this movie was quite good... group of guys go camping, very Blair witch feel and some good scary scenes while their camp is getting stalked by an unknown. This movie ends up going into the land of the WTF at the end though ... it’s an interesting turn but not presented well enough so doesn’t satisfy.

The overuse of camera faults (skipping audio, visual, static, off completely, etc) was a killer as well. The found footage is a fine line between make you feel sick or realistically awesome and these guys didn’t quite get it.   Give it a miss I reckon unless you really need a found footage fix.. but this one doesn't compare to the likes of Rec 1&2, Paranormal activity and Blair Witch..  ooo I better mention Grave Encounters too.. both original and sequel were a top watch.

6/10

IMDB Information for Evidence