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Running Scared (2006)
Everything about this movie is brilliant...
Everything about this movie is brilliant! I mean it, the story, the acting, the pacing, the themes, even down to the visual style what with the film zooming out from a brick wall that has the title of the movie in graffiti into the very room the forthcoming scene is about to take place in to the stunning ice rink scene at the end! Now it's not the kind of movie you'd expect Paul Walker to act in. Yeah that's a silly notion because it's going along with stereotypes and using his past roles to judge any role he may ever take in the future. It's a down right silly thing to do cause he's an actor and he's gonna act, but you still can't help thinking why is Pauley in this movie? Putting all that aside he does an absolutely fantastic job in what I believe is a hallmark performance in the young actors career. That coupled together with a cast of talented actors in supporting roles and the solid writing and direction from My Wayne Kramer make this a must see. Wayne Kramer? Who's that I hear you say? I don't blame you, he hasn't exactly got the Scorsese haze floating around him but he sure does have the talent. To put your mind at ease, he did a lovely little movie called The Cooler with William H. Macy who I cannot forget seeing in Mystery Men. Ever since that role I've found it hard to take him seriously but he is an actor with depth. Kramer also helmed another great but relatively unknown number called Mindhunters which features a blend of very well known to well known to err, who's that again cast of actors. Check out both of those movies sometime too.
Anyways back to Running Scared. Now the movie starts off with a scene that could either be a flashback or quite literally the start of the movie, either way it hooks you and I guarantee you'll want to keep watching, even if its to make sense of it all. Regardless of why you haven't switched off, or walked out if you happened to catch it in the cinema, what is about to ensue is a rocky ride around town! Paul Walker's character Joey tries to track down his neighbour's kid Oleg, played by an up and coming young actor Cameron Bright, and more importantly the gun Oleg stole from him and used to shoot his abusive Russian Mafia affiliated stepfather Anzor, played by Karel Roden, who's been in quite a few good movies himself. The gun itself is a character in the movie as it was also used to kill one or two dirty cops prior to it finding its way into Oleg's hands. You could say the gun acts as a catalyst for all the events that surround it. While Joey frantically searches for the gun we encounter the scum of the earth, all in one movie, by way of Joey, Oleg and his woman Teresa, nicely played by the sexy Vera Farmiga. Dirty cops? Check! Gangsters? Check! A Prostitute and her pimp? Check! Husband and Wife murderer/paedophile team? Err double check! Now if that isn't enough to satisfy your appetite than I think the twists in the story will! Overall this movie is just wonderful and I urge anyone who considers them self a film buff, fanatic, lover, or whatever to check it out. Running Scared is easily one of the most entertaining movies of 2006. Are you not entertained? Yes I bloody well am!
The Animatrix (2003)
Inspired!
I know there is so much anime out there and by ratio I've only seen a tiny amount of it. I love Miyazaki's films, I've glanced at Bebop and other stuff I can't remember or remember how to pronounce! I am looking forward to being able to see Samurai Champloo, Afro Samurai and Inuyasha.
However, The Animatix left a bigger impression than any other thing I've seen. The various animation styles coupled with the story lines literally take you into another world. I also loved how they can be seen as individual stories with the underlining theme of being a prisoner to a system or simply put, an extension of the existing movies. To me these segments bring on a sense of mental euphoria, something I feel a lot as a result of visual stimulation. I felt more embedded into the matrix environment with The Animatrix, then I did watching the films, although I avidly love the films too. The Animatrix vision has drastically heightened my feelings towards anime and this way of story telling. Any shows I might develop in the future would defiantly feature some element of the popular artistic format.
I think each segment is just as good as the last and thinking of them now I can really point out many, many aspects that stuck with me.
However, I think I have four favourites; The Final Flight Of The Osiris because the animation is so realistic it's overwhelming. Even though there is only a short amount of time to get it going, the story is just so amazing, very impacting and left me wanting more.
World Record because it showed that determination can do anything. It just reminded me that our minds can be so strong when we want them to and can break out of any prison it's in. It also made me think how amazing the mind actually is and what abilities could be at hand if only we are able to unlock it's full potential.
Program because it was so action packed and seemed so feudal Japan. It also challenged a very real situation, which is what to do in the case of someone you love or care about doing something wrong. It also made me feel, as the movies did, like it was asking the world weather or not we should just follow along with the norm because it's the norm, because it's easy and available even though it may be a lie and ultimately harm us in the end or detach, be strong, never give up and actually put some effort into finding the truth.
Beyond because it definitely challenged the concept of people discovering that life is not what it seems. How people would feel if we suddenly found out the things that have a questionable existence undoubtedly exist. How it would feel to then have that kind of knowledge taken away from you only to be left alone knowing the truth but you can't share it because people would dub you crazy.
Over all The Animatrix is excellent and I hope there's a second DVD, Bluray, HDDVD or whatever on the horizon.
Batman Begins (2005)
The New Dark Knight
I originally wrote something much longer but I had to cut a lot of it. When I first herd that a new batman movie was coming out I as over the moon. However, that quickly faded away when I discovered that it was not to be a sequel to the sequel to the sequel to the sequel or even a prequel but it was to be a remake. This initially put me off because I thought, 'How the hell can you top the original?' It's a classic; we all know this. Eventually I got that itch, I'm a movie fanatic and I just love watching movies from Finding Nemo to The Godfather, from Star Wars to Old Boy. I watch pretty much anything and everything and like anything and everything. You do sometimes just get those movies that are a cut above the rest. I can safely say that this is one of them. I can also say accurately that this is one of the best movies I've seen this year because we are at the end of it, nearly. I hate it when in March you have people saying the best movie of the year, I didn't know that 3 months was a year...
The Writing - David S. Goyer, I love the dude. I do, I thought the Blade Trilogy was awesome and the Threshold pilot he wrote was definitely a great start to a gripping series. I have not seen many of Nolan's movies but he's a fellow Londoner who's made it big stateside and co-wrote a good screenplay, so I gotta give him his proper respects.
The Cast - It's good that it had such a huge amount of talented actors from the UK. Christian Bale is just an amazing actor and anyone who says otherwise probably thinks that a lamppost could act better. Then you got veterans like Morgan Freeman who is one of the greatest black actors if not actors in general to ever grace the screen, if I do say so myself. I think Caine portrayed Alfred very well. Liam Neeson played the bad guy very well and I also liked the fact that the bad guy was just as normal as Batman himself. I didn't even recognise Gary Oldman who is an actor I love because he just plays the bad guy so well in some of his other movies. It was good seeing him be the good guy though. Tom Wilkinson played Falcone and did a very convincing accent. Katie Holmes was OK at best in her role. I just felt she didn't really sell it that much, she wasn't impacting enough. Now, I know all those actors are great
but I really have to say bravo to Cillian Murphy this guy is someone to watch out for. 28 Days Later was definitely his big break and I'm just amazed he pulled off an American accent so well; I almost forgot he was Irish. He is definitely a versatile talent and a great UK import. I feel that American cinema might see a lot more of him in the future.
The Batmobile - I think it's the best one so far, although the others were pretty awesome. I do honestly wish I had one, If I did, I would laugh at anyone thinking their special because they have a Porche my damn car has a flamethrower as an exhaust pipe!
The Story - I very much enjoyed the story and I think it really showed his origin. I liked the fact that everything was done in a very real way. All the gadgets pertained to present day perhaps 5 or 6 years on and they were not something that looked like it came out of a cereal box. This story is something that could very well happen in our world. The fact that Batman is just an ordinary frail man in a suit was really brought out a lot more in this movie. I was actually waiting for some silly super villain to come along but he/she never did which fitted the feel of the movie. I like the little ode to The Joker too, maybe that's a hint he will appear in the next one.
Complaints - Although I really really enjoy watching all the Marvel and DC movie adaptations my only complaint is that well they are PGs and 12s which means they are childish and watered down. I mean to be honest I find it quite silly that not one person in these moves says the F word or anything because to me that's unrealistic. In real life people swear, a lot. If the things that happen to people in these movies were to happen to me real life I know for sure I'd be cussing my head off. In the real world you don't get criminals watching what they say because they are breaking the law; I think censorship is the least of their worries. I did not enjoy the very fast editing for the fight scenes, I could hardly see what was going on. Did anyone actually hit anyone or did they just wave their arms and legs around near each others faces?
Overall this is a brilliant movie and I think it's safe to say that a new Batman Franchise is on the horizon. With the expectation of the "Untitled Batman Begins Sequel" that should be called "Batman Continues" if you ask me, I think there will be at least 2 more movies. I'm glad to see that Goyer is on board to direct the 2008 movie and that Bale is returning for the second but --
The question is will they all star Bale as The Dark Knight or will Warner randomly switch it up like before?
Line of Fire (2003)
I love this show
This is a great show; I have always been interested in law enforcement. When I was a child, I wanted to be a cop. I used to play at cops and robbers all the time! I still dream about being a cop, or an agent of some kind.
FBI agents are fighting to stop the criminal ways of Mr Malloy and his people in Richmond, Virginia (I think that is where it's set).
I enjoyed every episode, the acting is good, the script is well written and the action is realistic.
Leslie Hope was good as the firm boss who seemed to be on top of everything but was having emotional problems and complications with her child.
Leslie Bibb was convincing as the rookie agent who really came into her own towards the end of the show.
Anson Mount played his character well. An Agent who spent 2 years undercover in jail so he could infiltrate Mr Malloy's gang and is dealing with some problems as a result of it.
Julie Ann Emery played an FBI agent who was also a mother of two and had marriage problems.
Jeffery D. Sams played another fresh outta training agent who was 100% confident in himself and seemed to pick things up straight away.
David Paymer plays his character brilliantly. He comes across nicely as a criminal with principals! LOL.
The show had some surprising concepts and ideas. I was not expecting the raping of Mrs Malloy, the dead baby in a dumpster, the ex-con trying to kill Agent Sampson's (Julie Ann Emery) children. The woman who found out her husband didn't die but ran away, and then turned up again and she shot him and how this affected Bibb's character because she lost her husband during a 9/11 attack. The most surprising thing was that this Agent (Anson Mount) had been undercover in JAIL for 2 years just to get close to Mr Malloy (David Paymer), wow...talk about commitment to your work!!
I can imagine though on the set someone calling 'Leslie' and both Bibb and Hope replying at the same time, that must of gotten confusing.
This is a great show and I am just upset that it only had one season.
Walking Tall (2004)
The Rock is awesome!
The Rock? Wrestler-turned-actor...hmmm. I'm sure this concept has raised many eyebrows since his big role debut till now. There have been others though; the yellow spandex wearing Terry 'Hulk' Hogan is probably the best known.
The Rock did well in The Scorpion King but that movie showcased his size more than his talent for acting.
Welcome To The Jungle (The Rundown in the U.S) was also a great movie, but yet again it was a film that took advantage of The Rocks size and his stage combat history (wrestling).
Walking Tall however, is a lil different. Although his size is still important to the role, The Rock gets to act more in this movie and he does it very well.
His size is very important to the characters he plays in all his movies but I definitely think he pulled off the acting in this one.
Johnny Knoxville was also very good in this movie. I think he played the sidekick character well and due to his Jackass background he brought the comedy to the movie.
Neal McDonough played the bad guy very well too. So well in fact that I now hate him! LOL! At the end of the movie I felt a strong sense of justice and it's nice to know that in a world of bad, people still do good.
The tag line 'One man will stand up for what's right' really says it all! After watching this movie many times I actually e-mailed Buford's daughter to tell what an amazing man I thought her father was. He was a man that did not take well to injustice, and I admire him for that. He had the strength physically and mentally to intervene when he witnessed wrongdoing in all forms. He proved that you don't need to have some kind of special power to be a true hero.
I look forward to seeing him in Be Cool, Johnny Bravo and some of the other movies he will be appearing in this year.
Rescue Me (2004)
A great show
This show is really good; I'm not really into the whole fire-fighting thing, like how most kids want to be a fireman or a policeman when they grow up.
However, I took to this show and I think it's brilliant. The acting is really good and I love how the show centres around a guy who is obviously going through post traumatic stress. He somehow feels it's wrong and is unable to tell anyone the truth about what he is going through. He does not realise that post trauma stress and general stress are normal things that we as humans experience. I guess because he has the whole New York, tough guy image to uphold, he doesn't want to show any signs off weakness as it were by divulging information of his problems.
The show is just airing over here in the UK, so I am keen to see how it finishes.
It is real and it's nice to see a show that depicts what life is like in post 9/11 New York, especially for a fire fighter who was part of the rescue team on that day.
For whatever reasons 9/11 happened or whoever was behind it, the day has changed things, I know that I view life differently even now that it's years ago- it still seems like it was yesterday...
Blade: Trinity (2004)
Brilliant
As far as action films go this is brilliant, the special effects were out of this world, the action sequences were adrenaline packed.
It was great to see Wesley Snipes back in action as Blade and to see that he still has the ability to pull of some well-crafted fight choreography.
I was very pleased by the introduction of the Nightstalkers, and Ryan Reynolds played the Hannibal King charter brilliantly - the funny, eccentric ex-vampire vampire hunter, I liked it.
What did surprise me is Jessica Biel's character and even after Whistler dies, the story keeps him alive in Abigail.
The plot wasn't the best I have seen, but hey, it's an action movie, a typical one at that; one where you get to unplug your brain box and be dazzled by what you see.
After seeing the film, much like I felt after the second, I felt Empowered, lol and attempted to karate chop my best friend.
I can say I really enjoyed this third instalment in the vampire tale, and I hope they make a fourth.
Blade: Trinity is by far one of the best action films of the year and is up there with Kill Bill Volume II, Spider Man II, Troy, Van Helsing, The Chronicles of Riddick, I, Robot and The Bourne Supremacy.
7/10 action movie.