True Grit (1969) - Review

True Grit (1969)

Kirk Vs. Picard. Mike Vs. Joel. Twilight Zone Vs. Outer Limits. In the media field, you can have a face off with just about every aspect of really anything. In the western genre, it seems to be Clint Eastwood Vs. John Wayne. Personally, I think that each offers something different and unique. Where Eastwood offers more the dark and antihero type character, John Wayne embodies more that all American who helped to tame the West. The tall and larger than life man who stood for law and order was hardly ever viewed as an antihero. Even in “Stagecoach” (which is my personal favorite John Wayne movie) where he played Ringo Kid, he was more the misunderstood outlaw. Every other movie he was in, he was the hero. However, in “True Grit”, Wayne becomes an antihero who is a slob and drunkard and who is almost a bumbling fool. It's a different role for “The Duke” which adds to his showcase of a career that was more than just a one trick pony.

Tomboy and girl older than she should be, Mattie Ross (Kim Darby) is seeking justice, and maybe a little vengeance, on the man that murdered her father, the coward Tom Chaney (Jeff Corey). After claiming her father's body, Mattie searches for a US Marshall who has “grit”...”true grit”. She finds her man in Marshall Rooster Cogburn (John Wayne). He's a rough, unsavory, whiskey drinking, slippery morals, old, and fat stature of a man. However, if anyone is going to track Tom Chaney into the Indian territories, especially when he throws in with the rough and wild Ned Pepper (Robert Duvall) gang, it's Rooster. Mattie is going to have a heck of a time with everything. She has to settle her father's affairs, talk Rooster into taking her with him, try and keep the Marshall sober enough. Plus she has to contend with a Texas Ranger by the name of La Boeuf (Glen Campbell) who wants to take Tom Chaney back to Texas to hang for the murder of a senator. Mattie only has her families money, her wit, and her brandishing the name of a prominent lawyer, J. Noble Daggett to help her in her quest. With good dialog, some good humor, and gunfights and horses; “True Grit” is a credit to the Western genre.

Grade – A

This is such a good movie. This is more of a character driven Western than an action one. Mind you there is some good action in it, so this balance of action and characters makes for a good Western. One of the most surprising aspects of the script is how much humor is in it. John Wayne tends to carry most of the great lines but young Kim Darby gets her licks in. Darby as Mattie is wiser and older than she should be and I love those types of characters (see “Juno”). Mattie is a strong willed woman who doesn't let her age or her fear get in the way; or lets anyone else try to muscle her over. She is still lady like in that she knows she's a woman, or at least a teenage girl who has to grab at womanhood quickly. Mattie's age is never revealed to us and her appearance does make it difficult to tell; this does add to a rather creepy scene with La Boeuf though. She's always out to prove to others, especially Rooster, that she can ride and muscle through with the men.

John Wayne plays a very interesting characters in Rooster Cogburn. Rooster comes from a checkered past and carries some scars to prove it, along with a patched eye. He's a drunkard and not always the most honest man. I think this is where the movie probably faults the most. Barring one scene, Rooster seems to be able to function just fine, especially with weapons, with the most sober characters. I don't think the movie did enough to portray Rooster as such a lush. Yes, he drinks a lot and there is that one scene, but he doesn't seem to let what should be clouded judgment and skills take hold. I don't know if this is due to the script, director, studio, or actor; but Rooster seems to be doing alright for himself. The biggest thing Wayne brings to the table here is just how funny he can be. The script is smart and the jokes are funny. Cogburn gets a lot of zingers in and is also subject to a few. Wayne doesn't seem to mind being made fun of his age or weight (not that he was obese by any means) and considering this movie was made about ten years before his death he's really quite in his element. It's no wonder he won an Oscar for his role here.

The biggest annoyance comes from Glen Campbell as La Boeuf. He can be annoying at times, but he seems to be there just to be made fun of. With exceptions to a few scenes, if you took him out of the movie altogether, you'd never notice it. I think the fault comes in the choice of actor. Campbell doesn't seem to be able to take on the qualities that the character is described of having. For example, Mattie tries to convince Rooster that La Boeuf will cheat him and for proof he's got a smirk on his face. Campbell is void of any smirk whatsoever. Originally, Elvis Presley was considered for the role but turned it down, and I don't think he really could have done better. Throughout the movie, he's always coming off as the guy waiting to take advantage of the situation if Rooster or Mattie let their guards down – at least that's the impression I get from every character but Campbell's. He's not without his good moments and the character is a fun target for Rooster and Mattie to poke at.

Tom Chaney doesn't really have much screen time here but towards the end of the movie, he does something which is very out of character to him and seems to come out of nowhere just for the ending to have a small twist. Duvall as Ned Pepper does a decent job too but there isn't a lot of time spent with him also. It's an odd character because in one scene he is leaving one of his young followers who helped saved him behind and in the next he's keeping a promise to Rooster and protecting Mattie. Be on the lookout for a young Dennis Hopper too!

This is such a fun movie. The scenery of Colorado make for a great picturesque backdrop to a well written Western. Rooster and Mattie have great chemistry and whit in their characters. It's fun to see a strong female lead on top of a young lead. Rooster's grizzledness and by-any-means-necessary attitude lend to some great action with a fun character. On top of that, the ending is very good. I was surprised at what exactly happens at the end. It has some joy, some sadness, and overall resolution. It makes for a very believable ending in a genre where many people seem to repel bullets. When watching, see which character really does have “true grit” and you'll find yourself watching a very enjoyable Western.

Nosferatu (1922) - Movie Review

Nosferatu (1922)

Ever since the advent of movies, filmmakers have loved making horror movies. One of the first most influential horror movies was “The Cabinet Of Dr. Caligari (1920). If you believe that filmmakers back then just shot anything because it was a new technology to make money, then you haven’t seen some of these old classics. Where this movie launched a generation of horror movies to follow, “Nosferatu” took a more realistic and therefore scarier look at what the horror genre could do for the budding movie industry.

Trivia note: “Nosferatu” was so scary, that in Sweden it was banned for “excessive horror” …until 1972.

While I can’t say I completely understand the mindset of people in the 1920s on what they would actually consider “excessive horror”, because honestly there isn’t a scene showing Nosferatu feeding anyone or anything really that would be considered violent. However, that’s the beauty of this horror flick.

The story is pretty simplistic really. Count Orlok (which was the change from Count Dracula because director F.W. Murnau couldn’t obtain the rights from Bram Stoker’s widow) is looking to acquire a new residence in Wisburg. He contacts one of his henchmen to send a realtor to his castle in Transylvania. Enter Thomas Hutter (Gustav von Wangenheim. This young man believes he will make a large commission to provide for his wife (Greta Schroder) better if he travels to the far land and sells the Count the rundown properly across from his place. His wife begs him to stay as her women’s intuition is tingling. However, Hutter is very adamant about wanting to show his wife how much he loves her. He travels over the Carpathian mountains where he stays the night with some Gypsies and they beg him not to go and warn him about the evil that resides in the castle. This is probably one of the first signature mistakes of a horror movie ever filmed! Of course he doesn’t listen to them and is flippant about the whole thing. After meeting with the very creppy Count Orlok (Max Schreck), Hutter presents the claim to the deed. Orlok notices of picture of Hutter’s wife and comments what a beautiful neck she has…would you call that neck-rophilia!!! HA HA…ah…umm…

Hutter cuts himself and Orlok can’t help but to suck his blood. This freaks Hutter out a little bit but he still decides to stay in the castle. As Hutter sleeps, he is visited by Orlok who has shown himself to be a vampire and feeds on Hutter, even though you never see it.


The Count, through the night, loads up coffins filled with dirt on a cart (sleeping in the dirt from where he was buried allows Orlok to travel wherever he may like) and leaves Hutter.

Hutter must escape the castle, the mountains, and his own weak body to try and stop Orlok from feeding on his home city…and his wife!

Grade – B+

This truly is a eerily scary movie. Orlok is only on screen for about eight minutes but his presence is always dramatic and terrifying. Heck, even the shadow scenes are scary.


F.W. Murnau did a wonderful job shooting wonderful scenery, using practical and special effects of the time. What are the most powerfully shot scenes are those of Nosferatu. The door opens on its own and in walks Nosferatu, the coffin’s lid is raised and Nosferatu rises as stiff as a board, even Orlok carrying huge coffins with one hand is eerie.


There are three points that I can show some negative on, however I do not know if it’s the movie’s fault or if it was just the style of acting and movie making back then. First, I have a problem with how extreme Hutter acts. He is rather a hyper character who I didn’t really root for. I didn’t feel like he was the hero or that he could even do anything to save his wife. Next, his wife, Ellen, also acts like a schizophrenic when she tells him not to go, sees him off, waits for him, and causes a ruckus at her sister-in-law’s place where she is staying. Her actions probably should have gotten her committed as she wails and runs to and fro over how much danger Hutter is in. Finally, the film really peters along. It is a slow moving film and could have been shortened about twenty minutes. Again, this might have been the style of filmmaking back then, but editing did exist back then.

Overall, the atmosphere and the vampire make this silent movie a jewel to watch. This movie helped to spawn a generation of horror flicks that still entices our imagination with the phantasmagoric and helps us imagine a land of vampires, ghosts, and monsters.

Abraham - The Bible - Review

Abraham – The Bible

The Bible Collection has been a personal favorite of mine after watching “Joseph – The Bible”. Even the lesser ones have a decent amount of drama and a well written and well paced storyline. Also, for the most part, the story stays with the source material. That’s The Bible for all you heathens out there. Believers and non can enjoy these movies for being well produced, dramatic stories that at least make you appreciate what these real life people may have went through. However, one of the main problems I have with this series is that the writers seem to make the central figures a bit too human. What I mean by that is that by taking a lot away from the “religiousness” of what makes these people inspirations, the writers tend to weaken the characters to a point where it’s almost laughable that central points and peoples hinged on what they did and what hey stood for. “Abraham – The Bible” probably illustrates this point most of all.

Directed by Joseph Sargent (“Miss Evers’ Boys”) and written by Robert McKee (“Mrs. Columbo), the story follows Abraham, played by Richard Harris (“Gladiator”) from his days before being called by God to father “a great nation” that would become known as Israel and goes through leaving his home to establish a new one. Along the way he and his wife; Sarah, played by Barbara Heshey (“The Right Stuff”) must deal with forsaking the old, false gods, the birth of the Arab nation with the birth of Ishmael, the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah, and building up a people that would be counted like the “grains of sand”.

Grade – C-

The visuals of this movie are very banal. Usually this series has a certain “olden day” like feel to it. Abraham taking his people through the desert and meeting Mekhizedek feels like they just took twelve people and made them wander just outside the deserts of California. On top of that, the number of people in the cast lack any impressiveness. Yes, it is suppose to be Abraham’s early days but the feel to the movie is that there’s an old guy who wants to leave his home and takes about a dozen people with him and that’s about it. There are no impressive cities or landscapes that other “The Bible” movies have. It’s a very lackluster visual exercise.

Abraham is also a very boring character which is sad because with talent like Richard Harris, I thought I’d feel more…well, feeling for this important figure head of a great people. Abraham appears just as a crazy old coot when he is smashing the false idols in his original home. His visions when God is talking to him makes him to be more a mad man than someone who the Almighty had conversations with and who was so impressive that the Creator made him this patriarchal man. Both Lot and Sarah feel like very distant secondary characters even though they play a huge role in the real story. The acting of everyone in this movie just feels off from what it should be. In fact, the best acted and most interesting character in the whole movie is actually Mekhizedek; and he’s really not in The Bible all that much! The almost sacrifice of Isaac did not invoke a lot of emotion. Usually with this specific series I usually shed a tear or two. However, this movie made me yawn more than inspire me or fill me with awe. If I knew nothing about the real Abraham I would have had a really poor view of him after viewing this movie. This is probably one of the movies in the series you might want to skip.

A Bullet For Joey - Review

Recently I've unexplainably been on a kick of Film Noir themes in my life. I've been replaying Max Payne for the PC, I've started adding a bunch of Film Noir movies to my Netflix queue (become a fan and see), and I've even started writing my own Film Noir-esk detective story in my spare time. When I get the rough draft finished I will be posting it on here by chapter to see if you geeks and geekets like it. Soon I expect to be having soliloquies in my daily life if I'm not careful. They didn't know. They would never know. How could I live with the secrets waiting to break the blockade and the deluge of truth flow into the light? ... I'm sorry, what was I saying? Well to get me in the mood to write I play some Max Payne and watch a Film Noir movie. So if you are a regular reader of the movie reviews don't be too surprised if you start seeing a bunch of Film Noirs get posted.

A Bullet For Joey

When he wasn't being hulled in front of McCarthy and the House Un-American Activities Committee, Edward G. Robinson somehow decided to star as the hero in this film. You can tell Hollywood has changed a lot since 1955 because Robinson is not the heartthrob that a Ben Affleck of today is. It would be as if William Conrad from "Jake And The Fatman" TV show were to have a very intimate love scene with Angelina Jolie. I know, it's almost as bad as seeing Dennis Franz butt and I apologize for both mental images you might now have. Although Robinson doesn't have a love interest in the film it is still odd to think that he was one of the main characters thrown on the screen. You have to remember too, I was watching this on a smaller screen then the people who went to the theater in 1955 and decided to watch this movie on the big screen. Robinson's big round face and big sucker fish lips must have pushed the audience back into their seats with a feeling that they would get sucked into those lips of his.

Lewis Allen directs this movie and while many label it a Film Noir, it's hard to recognize it as one. I'll get into that more below. Joey Victor (George Raft), a former crime boss, has been exiled from the US and is living in Europe. He is trying to survive but he misses his life of luxury he once knew. He is contacted by a group of people who ferry him over to Canada where they pay him $100,000 dollars plus expenses to do a job that a lot of money back then. He gets his new employer to "get the band back together" and he is reunited with his old gang. He also strong arms his former lover, Joyce Geary (Audrey Totter) to help him; there's always a dame involved. His job is to kidnap atomic physicist, Dr. Carl Macklin (George Dolenz) and smuggle him out of the country. However Royal Canadian Mounted Police Inspector Raoul Leduc (Edward G. Robinson) is following the bodies left by Victor and his men and his employer. All the murders revolve around Dr. Macklin and Leduc and the RCMP try and track down the killers. Joey finds out the men he is working for are communists and he might have to tell Hell to prepare for an ice storm because he might have to work with the police to save his beloved America from the Russians and their nefarious plans.

First of all, this movie struggles to be called a "film noir". The typical thought is either some detective who walks the fine line of right and wrong or some anti-hero you're suppose to root for. I don't know if Joe Victor is even the main character let alone someone you are suppose to care about and root for. From the description of the film's plot, it made me think that Joe and Leduc would team up to stop the Ruskies once he found out who they were. That doesn't happen until the last seven minutes of the movie. Also, the movie doesn't make it clear that the people who hired Victor are Russian, let alone communists. This movie has several glaring plot holes on top of this, as well as some fine '50s cheese.

The movie doesn't tell you what Dr. Macklin actually does or why he is so important to the Russians. Also, if Dr. Macklin is working on atomic technology for the Americans why is he in Canada and why doesn't he have military protection surrounding him?

Mobsters of the '50s must have attempted to be smarter in their capers than those of today. If you want to kidnap someone today all you need is about four men and a van. Heck, with the protection that the Mounties provide Dr. Macklin in the film all you need is a .22 and a car.

"Get in the car, Dr. Macklin." brandish the .22. Dr. Macklin gets in the car. Drive to docks. Get paid.

Here, Joe and his gang devise some elaborate plot to earn the doctor's trust by having hard-looking blond, Joyce, seduce him and one of his other men seduce the doctor's secretary to find out what he is working on and where. His handlers aren't in a rush at all either and the amount of time they spend goofing around with this cockamamie plan takes so much time that the Iron Curtain could have fallen by the time he carried out his kidnapping plan.

Let me talk about how idiotic this plan is by wrapping it up. Dr. Macklin falls in love with Joyce who tells him she's leaving to go back to America. He offers to drive her to the airport. He comes over and because Joyce isn't ready to leave yet, the housekeeper offers him a drink which knocks him out. The person pouring the drink is the same guy who is hiring Victor and his men for 100 G's! Why didn't the guy just invite the doctor over for a glass of sherry and pocket the money?

I will say that Inspector Leduc isn't the typical movie inspector who knows way too much or comes up with the answer just by thinking it through on the first clue.

Typical Hollywood detective: "Yes, this murder of the Mounty was probably done by the work of a monkey organ grinder who is in league with the communists to try and kidnap Dr. Macklin!"

So at least Inspector Leduc is a believable detective and it's nice to see that he is limited to normal talent of regular detectives. However, when he gets captured he suddenly turns into a man trying to sow distention in the ranks of the crew, is able to freely roam around instead of being rubbed out right then and there, and he has a smarmy way about him. His character completely changes in the last part of the movie and it's a tough sell to do so with the character; Robinson's pudgy and roundness doesn't help the transition any better.

The most glaring plot hole in the movie is even after Dr. Macklin is kidnapped. Leduc and one of his men pose as truck drivers who are transporting Dr. Macklin's secret experiment/device/blender? I have no clue what it is because the movie never tells you. To make matters even worse, the hardest transition I've ever seen happens in this movie. The bad guys have Dr. Macklin and I'm thinking, "Ok, now's the time that Inspector Leduc starts pulling the clues together and figures it all out in time to save Dr. Macklin." Not at all, because the very next scene is Leduc and lackey getting into a truck and you have no clue why. Only much, much, MUCH latter that they are posing as truck drivers transporting Dr. Macklin's secret device to lure the mobsters to capture them and take them to Dr. Macklin and the show runners. All that I wrote after "MUCH" is nothing you find out until after everything I wrote happens. My brain almost exploded from the leap the movie made.

Another problem this movie has is that it only hints that the handlers are communists or even Russian. The movie never tells you where the doctor is being taken to after the kidnapping and there is no speech about how communism is the "cool thing" and a counter speech about how it's "suxorz".

Robinson, as I said, is a pretty good detective for the most part. I do find it funny that a few years after he stood in front of HUAC, he is cast in an anti-communist film. Joe Victor started out as someone you could root for but quickly fades from your fandom. On a side note, no one in this movie refers to Joe Victor as "Joey" so if you're going to stick with the title it should be "A Bullet For Joe". Am I wrong that I expect the person who the bullet is for to be referred to that name at least once if you're going to use it in the main title? So Joe kind of drifts in the background halfway through the movie, but he is smart. He doesn't take chances of being caught. He knows not to use the telephone he's staying at to call any place he doesn't want traced back and he knows when to leave his hiding hole and move on. This along with the normal knowledge held by the inspector, make the two main characters good characters but the plot holes and the quick changes in the characters behaviors made me rooting more for Dr. Macklin to come out with guns blazing and save himself.

There is some fun classic cheese in this film that always tickles me. People who are shot, grab from their midsection where there is no bullet hole. People who are shot, always stop when shot and fall in the spot they are standing. The best death scene in here is the organ grinder towards the beginning. He is force to kill a Mounty and his boss grabs him by his shoulders and throws him out of the camera view. You later find out the organ grinder is dead. That kill rivals on the worst one since the UN officer in "The Omega Code".

I will say this. There are some really great lines given in this film.

Dr. Macklin to a monkey - "Do you know what fools we mortal be? Huh? Do you? Well I think you do. Well don't tell anyone. Let it be our little secret."

Nicky - "It's old Saint Nick himself."
Joyce - "Well climb back up the chimney. I don't like your brand of toys."

There are a few others that I enjoyed as well so it did have some potential of being a good script. There is also a really good scene that has a hitman snipe out one of Joe's crew when he screwed up. It bordered on the feeling like the end of "Godfather" and it had a classic Noir feel to it. Cloaked in shadow the gunmen sat, a long angled shot makes the audience feel as if they were the ones who pulled the trigger. Bang!

The really funny thing about this movie is that I've never heard a mobster refer to using sex to make someone trust you or even refer to sex as "making love". The phrase is used a few times in the movie and it made me giggle. Watch a show like "Sopranos" then watch this movie and it will make you giggle a bit too. Although for 1955, "making love" might be akin to using the "s-word" on TV today. It must have been so taboo.

Grade - C-

Don't let this film discourage you from the great genre that is film noir. While this movie isn't full on noir, it isn't necessarily all that bad. The biggest thing that hurts the movie is the plot holes. The movie gives the audience both sides of the story but slaps them in the face if they ask questions about why something is happen or what is happening. Leduc's undercover scene with transporting the doctor's secret "whatever" threw me so far out of the movie that I found myself on the other side of my viewing monitor. The complexity the mobsters went through to kidnap the doctor is absurd and the final outcome of the kidnapping is just random. The final scenes of the movie are decent enough and Joe has a good last line. I wish they would have spent more than the last seven minutes with Joe and Leduc working together. Sadly, the flaws outweigh the positives in this film. It's not a bad movie, but not a movie I would suggest that people watch who are looking for a good film noir movie. There is a monkey in it however. The title delivers on its name but that fact leaves no guess work as to what the ending in. Plot holes abound so watch out and enjoy the few good lines this movie has to offer.

Slither - Review

Slither

We can give credit to "Shawn Of The Dead" for really taking the reigns of what the "comedy horror" genre is suppose to be. Not only does it have to function completely on it's comedic elements if the movie were split in two, but if you take out all those parts it'd have to work as a great horror movie. What "Shawn" did for the zombie flick, "Slither" is intended to satisfy the comedic horror of the B movie genre.

James Gunn, writer of the 2004 hit "Dawn Of The Dead", takes over the role of both writer and director in this flick. This also gave Firefly/Serenity fans another chance of seeing Nathan Fillion on the big screen and in a charming, egocentric character like he was in Firefly. Fillion plays Sheriff Bill Pardy. He is also joined by Elizabeth Banks who plays Starla Grant, Michael Rooker as Grant Grant, and even a short appearance by Jenna Fischer (aka Pam on "The Office") as Shelby.

Our story takes place in a small southern town. A meteor crashes in the town's woods and a creature emerges. Grant Grant (yes that's his character's name) stumbles upon the creature after a trip to the bar. The creature injects Grant with an organism that burrows through his chest and into his brain. Grant begins to crave raw meat of any kind and slowly begins to deform into some sort of creature. Before he fully transforms too noticeably he gets into a fight with his wife, Starla, and almost kills her. However, not before Sheriff Pardy and his deputies come to the rescue and save her. They too witness Grant's metamorphism where he appears almost squid like.

Grant runs away and we also learn that the creature inside of him has tendrils that have attached and injected a woman he captured with thousands of offspring...slithering offspring. She looks a little like the picture below:


She is huge! After a few days of cattle, livestock, and other animals constantly go missing. Pardy rounds up a posy to try and get Grant down before he kills someone. They stumble upon this woman filled with the creature's offspring and also witness her being torn asunder and letting loose thousands of squirming offspring. They enter through a subject's mouth and take over their body in a zombie like manner. The impressive thing about the offspring is that they share the same memories and present experience as the host and each former individual. Basically it's a network of intelligent zombies. Not only do the little ones enter people, but they also enter animals such as deer. There is a hilarious exchange between Pardy and a deer that is just one of the many hilarious bits this movie has to offer.

Now Pardy, Starla, and a young girl who was almost over taken by one of the little creatures are the only ones left to try and stop Grant before he can birth new offspring and take over the entire planet!

Grade - A-

Even though this movie wasn't received well by the box office or some critics, I believe it to be one of the best horror/comedies of all time; it is even on par with "Shawn Of The Dead". The writing is great. Not only can you take out the comedy and watch this as a really fun horror movie, but you have some really funny parts. Nathan Fillion plays a type of character he did in "Firefly" that was really great to see him play after coming right out of "Serenity". The comedy alone is well worth the viewing. It does work as a funny B movie in the way that most B movies are funny, but it has some really hilarious lines and scenes that make you appreciate it as a top notch horror comedy. If you took one part "The Blob", one part "Dawn Of The Dead", and one part "Firefly", you would get a pretty good picture of what this movie is like and the greatness that comes from it. I really need to see Fillion in more of these types of roles and more of these types of movies need to be bad. This is a movie well worth a scream and a laugh!

Show Notes For Film Geeks - Episode 14

Episode 14 can be listened to here - http://www.talkshoe.com/tc/14391

http://www.variety.com/article/VR1117985451.html?categoryid=13&cs=1&nid=2563
Weekend box office

http://www.eonline.com/uberblog/b136128_hollywood_kryptonite.html
DC Vs. Marvel movies; Iron man 2 in 2010 then Thor in 2010 as well and Captain America in 2011 and The Avengers in 2011

http://mediamorgue.blogspot.com/2008/05/mcconaughey-is-captain-america.html
Rumors, and only rumors, say Matt McConaughey might be Captain America

http://www.comingsoon.net/news/movienews.php?id=44826
Donnie Darko 2

Unintention Comedies
- Roadhouse
- Spaceman
- Over The Top
- Omega Code
- Dragon Wars
- Battlefield Earth
- Top Gun - hilarious homoerotic undertones
- Plan 9 From Outer Space
- Point Break
- They Live
- Totem
- Manos - The Hands Of Fate
- Asteroid (1997) - TV movie
- Hackers
- Trolls 2
- Hercules and Hercules 2 with Lou Ferrigno
- War Of The Robots
- Glitter - self mastabatory Carey movie and even talks about not wanting to look sluty
- Night of the lepus - killer giant rabbits! almost as bad as Killer Shrews - dogs dressed as shrews
- Reefer Madness - complete govt propaganda...you do drugs you'll eventually turn crazy and kill your sister
- The Towering Inferno
- Jaws the Revenge

Thr3e - Review

Thr3e

Thrillers can be a great movie genre. If done correctly you can have a great blend of action and drama. You can also have a story that you feel apart of. You're usually trying to figure out all the pieces of the story as the main character(s) are. However, if done incorrectly you can have a movie that's worse than watching Steven Seagal read "Hamlet".

The only real name of note in this movie is Marc Blucas. You might remember him if you were a fan of "Buffy The Vampire Slayer". Blucas played Buffy's second serious, and most annoying, boyfriend, Riley Finn. I was so glad to see him go; he was no Angel.

Kevin Parson (Blucas) is being stalked by a mad bomber who loves leaving riddles for his victims. The killer has very intimate knowledge of Parson's past and present. The police are three steps behind this killer and seem to just react to his antics without making any real progress. Parson must save not only himself and innocent people around him, but he also must save his childhood companion, Samantha (Laura Jordan). With the help of police detective, Jennifer Peters (Justine Waddell), these three must stop the killer before everyone dies.

Grade - D-

This movie moves really quick right off the bat. You are thrown into the main story with little background into any of the main characters. This is really the movie's only redeeming quality. There is no coherent story arch in this film. It seems that random plot elements just happen randomly with nothing more in common with the previous scenes other than the main characters. I just can't describe how random this storyline is. I have never read the book, but if it was written as atrociously as this movie was then I don't understand who gave the backing for the movie. I only learned afterwards that this was based on a Christian themed book; the movie shows no real Christian message that you see in Christian based movies.

You feel nothing for Parson because you're just thrown into his life and the villain attacks right away. The movie does a horrible job at revealing his past throughout the movie. It's as random and sudden as the movie itself is. You don't love him or feel for him in any way. Why should I care if this guy gets killed? I really didn't know.

I hate thriller movies that use riddles that only the characters in the movie can figure out. When a movie gives you riddles, you should be able to figure them out because it helps you get involved with the movie more. You shouldn't have to know the fictional cities bus route in order to figure out the clues. Riddles like that turn people off to the movie because then they don't even try to think of the answers. In a good thriller movie you feel as if you can help the main character figure out the who, what, where, why, when, and how. This movie is nothing like that. It made me feel less than indifferent to the story. It's so convoluted and random, not to mention having way too many explosions in it for a thriller, that you couldn't even try to be drawn in.

The ending was just so atrocious. Its reveal is tired and dull and has been reused again and again. Let me just say that this might be a spoiler if you're going to watch this movie. This movie is what "Revolver" is like without the big budget. This movie also teaches you that if you are mentally ill, all you have to do is have someone convince you that you're sick and you'll calm right down if you acknowledge it. Watching the end of this movie was worse than volunteering to carry out an experiment to see what it feels like to get hit in the nose with a sledgehammer.

Show Notes For 05/04/2008

The show notes are a bit light this week since we decided to just cover Iron Man. You can download the show here - http://www.talkshoe.com/tc/14391

If you haven't seen Iron Man yet then be careful what you listen to in the show and what you read below!

Movie News

http://www.usatoday.com/life/movies/news/2008-05-01-speed-racer_N.htm
Film Geeks ahead of the curve. We announced these two weeks ago and commented the same way the article does.

http://filmgeeksshow.blogspot.com/2008/05/big-news.html
Other than the Josh Stolberg story, Film Geeks announced we were contact by a Lionsgate representative to talk about hooking us up with a new Speed Racer series they are going to be promoting. Listen to the show for details and stay tuned for updates as they happen.

If you are a movie promoter who wants to get in contact with us in regards to getting a review of your movie(s), TV shows, whatever, email us at film.geeks@yahoo.com and we'll watch anything and talk about it regardless of whether or not we like it. However we will honestly give criticism if there needs to be any, but we always give every movie we watch a fair assessment. So for a common man's review or two guys who love movies review or you just want to promote your swag...feel free to contact us!


Iron Man notes
- Good quick start, a slide show flashback done in the story and that was it
- Get right into the Iron Man action with the building of the suit and the turning of Stark
- Robert Downy Jr. is the best Stark possible
- Terrence Howard was a little weird in the role, not really a hardcore action guy in my eyes
- Paltrow's character is great and strong and a good ending for her
- See the evolution of Stark from loving himself to hating himself to changing himself
- Good ending
- Bad guy was decent enough, didn't have to have monster voice so much
- Good use of comedy without it being cheesy
- Great use of effects without having them over used
- Why must indestructible men/monsters/etc. find their way to a freeway?
- What were the terrorists goals?
- first Marvel Studios picture. Good choice.
- Jon Favreau directed - amazing for the guy who just directed Zathura and Elf

Iron Man news
- Box office figures - http://movies.yahoo.com/mv/news/ap/20080504/120993390000.html
- 104.2 million from Thursday to Sunday afternoon; 96.7 million in 57 countries and 201 million total.
- Second biggest opening

Next week we will be doing our show on "Unintentional comedies" so join us next week at 8 PM EST - http://www.talkshoe.com/tc/14391. Feel free to also leave comments in the blog, rate us at Talkshow using the link above, and write a review of our show!

Gone Baby Gone - Review

Gone Baby Gone

Good crime dramas come along so rarely that it's really hard to give any that are announced serious consideration. A lot of times, crime drama is just another way to package "action" and "big, muscled guy saves the day" without making it look like an Arnold or Stallone flick. So it is rare when you get to see a great crime drama that makes you thank yourself for loving movies.

Ben Affleck seems synonymous with us today with words that we join together, like Beniffer. We think of his movie choices as being either bad or being the love interest. However, we are quick to forget that from the same guy who did "Daredevil", is the same guy who co-wrote the movie great "Good Will Hunting". I know when I saw the trailer for this movie and saw Affleck was not only the writer but the director I didn't even think back to his earlier work. This was his first serious directorial debut and I wasn't the only one who cringed when we heard the news. Then I started hearing reviews for it being a positive movie going experience and soon it was nominated for an Oscar. Not that Oscars are anything that influence my movie likes but I had to at least give this movie a chance before it disappointed me.

Four year old Amanda McCready (Madeline O'Brien) is abducted from her home in Boston and the police make little headway in the case. Her aunt, Beatrice McCready (Amy Madigan) hires two private detectives, Patrick Kenzie (Casey Affleck) and Angie Gennaro (Michelle Monaghan) to use their street connections to try and find Amanda. Patrick and Angie get the cooperation of the Boston Police through Captain Jack Doyle (Morgan Freeman). He lets them in on all the information that the handling detectives, Detective Remy Bressant (Ed Harris) and Detective Nick Poole (John Ashton) , have. The two PIs struggle with drug dealers, pedophiles, gangs, and the rough streets of Dorchester to find some clue as to what happen to Amanda. They struggle with all these outside forces as well as risk their own relationship with each other and possible their lives.

If you haven't noticed by now, the cast is a vast array of talent and those that are "lesser known" display a great array of talent as sharp as the bigger names. Casey Affleck is really a superb actor and he stood out the most to me in this picture. He plays this skinny, white, Boston PI who seems lost in what he should do yet he seems know where to ask questions and how to carry himself on the mean streets. It really was a pleasure to see him act. Rarely does putting your family members in rolls mean success, just ask Guy Richie and Steven Spielberg. Morgan Freeman has a great presence in this film but it is limited. Ed Harris definitely gets to work with a great character and a great role. This seemed like a perfect role for him. I also have to say that Amy Ryan did a great job as well. You really felt for her character in the beginning then get to hate her and then yo yo back in forth until the end of the movie. Michelle Monaghan is good in this too but her character seems to be more in the background than really a main character.

I also have to make one point that I always rack my brain with. Since I'm pretty far from Hollywood and am not immersed in the culture this probably shows you how different a kid from the mid-west and people from the country of Hollywood look at things differently. There are a lot of ugly people in this movie. There are overweight, fugly, and/or messed up looking people throughout. I don't know, first of all, how anyone can make out a casting call that says "Looking for really grotesque looking people, such as people who look like their family has inbred for the last twelve generations". Then I can't understand people seeing that casting call and wanting to apply for the role. It really does amaze me.

Grade - A+

This was such a great movie; a real top notch crime drama. It was gripping, it was compelling, it was moving, and it was shocking. Ben Affleck showed some titanic talent in his directorial style and his script. The story seems out of place with this "good looking boy". The twists the story take keep you interested and drive the story forward whether you are prepared or not. The ending was a bit of a shocker but the final reveal was jaw dropping. I have to say that Angie's ending in the movie was something I didn't really agree with and didn't really understand why her character would want what she wanted. The ending reminded me so much of what I felt at the end of "Empire Strikes Back". So much was accomplished, there was a happy ending of sorts, but it didn't really seem like the good guys completely won and the bad guys completely lost. I think that's why this movie is a great mark in the history books of crime drama and I hope both Afflecks show their talent again like they did here.

Martian Child - Review

Martian Child

John Cusack is one of those actors that I like so much that I'd see anything that he was in. I'm really surprised to not see him as a more bankable star. His talent in acting is top notch and his roles are always endearing. The previews for this movie made it seem like he had picked another role he could excel in.

Menno Meyjes directs this flick and he has limited credits to his name. However his camera work in this movie and the ability to tell a wonderful story is splendidly done. He knows how to not rush this story, how to keep the audience guessing just a little bit, and using the acting talent of Cusack and the little boy to unfold this great story.

This story is about David (Cusack) who is a widower and has not been able to get over the loss of his wife for over two years. He is a science fiction writer and it helps him to draw his attention to a little boy who can be adopted. David does indeed decide to adopt the little boy. However, this little boy is special. This little boy believes he is a Martian. Dennis (Bobby Coleman), wears sunglasses to protect him from a much closer sun than he was use to on Mars, wears batteries on his special belt so he won't float away from the weaker atmosphere of Earth, he can taste color, and can make Marian wishes. Or so he claims. David is drawn to this little boy and he plays into his make believe world a little bit. However, the strain of dealing with a child that acts as "weird" as Dennis does puts stress on David and his life. If Dennis is not a good fit, then the state will take him away from David and he will stay under the care of the state again. David also has a hard time with being a father rather than a friend. However, with no main woman in their lives, it's just David and Dennis to figure out each other as well as try and stay together.

John Cusack is once again wonderful in this movie. The way in which he approached this role was that he was distant with his co-star in the beginning so that he wouldn't become attached to him until later, just as his character and his co-star's character do in the movie. This was a great move and you really do see the relationship grow and develop as the movie progresses. Bobby Coleman is a great, young actor. He almost outshines Cusack in this film! The range of emotion the kid has is natural talent and he can do so much with the dry lines he has to work with. The other people in the movie are good but it's amazing to watch both these actors and their characters interact and try to figure each other out. It's almost as if they were from two different planets.

Grade - A+

This movie was actually based on a true story and what a touching story it was. This movie has its funny moments and it has its drama but the main stay of the movie is the relationship David and Dennis form. It's an amazing movie that really does touch your heart. Some people might compare this movie to "K-Pax" and for a few minutes in the movie I really thought they were going to go the route of "Is he or isn't he a Martian". However, that was quickly stopped. The final scene of this movie is just so compelling and awesome. It's full of drama and tears and you find yourself rooting for both the characters and if you're not on the verge of tears by then then you probably don't like the movie. To see Cusack and Coleman whose characters are both unique and lovable interact and try to figure each other out, make for a great story and a touching movie.

Show Notes For 4/26/2008

Get show and blog updates if you use Twitter - https://twitter.com/filmgeeks

Download/listen to this week's show here - http://www.talkshoe.com/tc/14391

Also don't be afraid to rate us, subscribe to our show, and write a review about us. You can also email questions, show topics, movie suggestions, etc. at film.geeks@yahoo.com or leave a comment on the blog here. Tell friends and family to check us out and help support the show. If not, Briney will cry more than Commodus in "Gladiator".

Movie news:

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080425/ap_en_mo/film_hobbit_del_toro - Del Toro to direct the Hobbits

http://www.apple.com/trailers/sony_pictures/quarantine/high.html - A new trend in movie making, the first person shaky cam?

Movie Lists:
* = ones we talked about

Good Animated
- A Bug's Life - A really funny movie about bugs
- Aladdin* - awesome animation and story and hilarious (my vote for hottest princess)
- Beauty And The Beast - some really catchy tunes, great animtion and the feather duster was hot at the end
- The Prince Of Egypt* - some of the best musicals and it was actually close to the real story
- The Lion King - awesome animation and story
- Robin Hood - hilarious woodland creatures
- The Emperor's New Groove* - funniest movie ever! (have to be in the right mood)
- Chicken Little - funny stuff
- Sword In The Stone
- Toy Story - that first real digitaly animated movie that took our breaths away and had a great story with a lot of hidden things.
- Shrek - great animation; first movie to pull off the appealing to adults and kids
- The Incredibles* - a comic book movie that made me feel like I was 8 again
- Nightmare Before Christmas* - some awesomely weird animation...before the goth following
- Monsters Inc - a cute movie
- Akira - the first anime anyone should see
- South Park - Bigger Longer And Uncut - hilarious
- Cars - a really great story with some good animation and a decent part done by Larry The Cable Guy (only once said Get R Done)
- Finding Nemo - how this was so entertaining is beyond me; I couldn't stop laughing though
- Who Framed Roger Rabbit* - great story line, first time animation and real mixed perfectly, and Jessica Rabbit
- A Scanner Darkly* - rotoscoping madness and a great storyline and great acting
- A Waking Life - a great pre-Matrix animated movie and it has Alex Jones in it!
- Open Season - a surprisingly funny movie for one that has Ashton Kutcher in it
- Madagascar* - a movie that didn't look entertaining but was surprisingly so
- The Brave Little Toaster* - an AWESOME movie! So much fun, drama, scary, funny!
- The Simpsons Movie - really funny and it's kinda a throw back to the better seasons
- The Incredible Mr. Limpet - another cartoon/real life mix which is surprisingly entertaining
- According to Briney every Hayao Miyazaki film ever made

Bad Animated
- Antz - the ending line is the only redeaming quality; other than that I don't understand how this is a kids movie
- Fantasia - boring movie, good animation
- Jungle Book - How many songs do we fricken need in a movie?
- Atlantis* - Too many bad guys and a typical ending
- Ratatouille* - horrible story
- Corpse Bride* - how is this different than Nightmare Before Christmas?
- All Dogs Go To Heaven - this is such a messed up and scary movie; it's a revenge tale
- Tarzan - not really a good story at all
- Space Jam - the only good thing about this movie other than our beloved Looney Tunes characters is that it makes fun of Michael Jordan
- Dumbo - great Disney ride, boring Disney movie
- James And The Giant Peach - didn't need to be completely animated just for animated sake
- Lilo & Stich - it's like watching a boring movie of The Sims game
- Pocahontas - 1 good song, some ok animation, pretty boring story
- Dinosaur* - for a movie about dinos this is a boring story that moves way too slow and has a typical story ending
- Ice Age* - I like a few of the hidden jokes and that squirle thing is hilarious but the overall story is a snorefest
- The Chipmunk Adventure - trys to make female chipmunks sexy and it's a battle of sexes for kids
- The Hunchback Of Notre Dame - no way Esmerelda would be that hot and would associate with Quasi Modo
- Happy Feet* - Propaganda through and through; horrible story and horrible animation
- Alice In Wonderland - Classic animation but a messed up story to do
- Treasure Planet*

Don't know which it is
- Ferngully - some good animation but the storyline is pretty boring
- Princess Monoke - great animation, storyline is slow
- Little Mermaid - great animation, ok story, how many songs do we really need?!
- Land Before Time - storyline full of drama, but story is a bit sloooow
- The Jetsons' Movie - good animation, story kinda boring
- Transformers - ok 80s animation, Optimus Prime dies!, story was a bit weird
- Aqua Teen Hunger Force - messed up like the show but it had some decent parts; esp. the beginning

Show Links

http://www.talkshoe.com/tc/14391 - This, of course, is our show Film Geeks which air Sundays at 8 PM EST.

https://twitter.com/filmgeeks - If you're on Twitter, and I'm only doing it for the show!, follow us and be updated on show topics, times, blog updates, etc.

http://www.myspace.com/filmgeeksshow - If you're still on Myspace, this is our page. It's got some fun pictures of the Film Geeks up there too.

http://agentx216.blogspot.com/ - Patrick's Blog

Get your updates on.

Fear - Review

Fear

There are times when I think I'm too masochistic. I mean, sure I like bad movies, but there are a lot of bad movies that have a lot of charm. It's kinda like a mangy dog you pick up at the pound and you just fall in love with it because it's so helpless and sad. However, there are times when I think I'm one sick puppy.

I should really learn that a movie that stars both Mark Wahlberg and Reese Witherspoon is going to hurt. Even a pre-CSI William Petersen and an always sexy Alyssa Milano can't help this movie.

Nicole Walker (Witherspoon) is your normal 16 year old girl. Sure she's in her rebellious stage but she still doesn't like skipping class or being out past curfew. So when she meets an almost perfect yet mysterious older guy named David McCall (Wahlberg) she stops being daddy's little girl anymore. Yet when she see the real David for the psychopath he really is and his good boyish charm melts away, she realizes that she picked the wrong guy in a seedy hangout bar. Who woulda thunk? Her father (Petersen) tries to protect his daughter the best he can, but soon David and his friends attack the family in their nice, safe home.

So dealing with Marky Mark first I have to be shown right, once again, that his attempt at acting is just the same way he plays every other character he's ever done, but with a bit more yelling. Half of his lines are whispering and on the verge of tears. When he tries to turn the character to the psycho he really is he doesn't do a very good job. All he has to do is frown and look at the camera with upturned eyes. Even when he completely flips and tries to take Nicole away to live happily ever after, you don't really see the person who actually believes that, you just see some guy who's kinda mean.

Reese Witherspoon has been trying to play the all American girl for so long now. She's tried it in this movie, "Cruel Intentions", and "Election". She's never been really able to pull it off. Her slutty character in "Pleasantville" seems like more the character she wants to be. I do have to say, getting felt up on a carnival roller coaster is pretty unusual. The thing I can say about her character is that I believe she's doing a good job at playing a 16 year old who's dating an older boy who turns out to be a psycho. She mopes and cries a lot, she never learns the first time that the guy is bad news, and once she finds how crazy he is she doesn't get the police involved in anyway.

I do have to say that the little kid in this film is awesome. Christopher Gray plays the brother, Toby Walker. The thing I like about this kid is that he's the smartest one in the family. The bad guys decapitate his dog and he takes his revenge out on one of the guys by running him over with a car. Does he check the guy to see if he's still alive only to be taken as a hostage when the bad guy gets up? No! He dials 911! He also saves his mom by himself, not to mention bringing the police to come and save the family.

There are three big problems that doesn't include the storyline or the acting. However, I must give a SPOILER ALERT, since some of them might give away the ending if you still plan on watching it.

1) When David goes out the window and onto the rocks below you can clearly tell that the falling object in a dummy; and no, I'm not saying that Mark Wahlberg did that stunt. This is a 1996 movie, films before have done much better jobs at showing people going over cliffs . It almost seems like the filmmaker did one take and didn't even bother to make it more realistic.

2) When David shoots his buddy for touching "his woman" it's one of the worst gunshots to the head scenes I've ever seen. You have a close up shot of the two men, David pulls the trigger, and the gun flashes. The other guy just says "Uhh" and drops to the floor. There is no bullet hole, there is no blood splatter, there are no pieces of bone and brains anywhere that would happen as a result of a gunshot to the back of the head at point blank range. It's not like there hadn't been a blood splatter scene in movie history before ("Pulp Fiction" was two years prior to this film). This shows sloppy work on the part of the director.

3) This is my favorite. In order to slow down David, Nicole takes the peace pipe he won her at a carnival and stabs his very hard with it in his back. I don't know about you, but I doubt anything won at a fair would make it more than a month without disintegrating, let alone being able to use it to forcefully stab an attacker. I think some carny is going to be getting sued if that were to actually happen.

Grade - D

The father is a moron in this movie, so is the mother, so is the daughter, so is everyone except the little boy. He's the only person that accomplishes anything to help save his family and he gets to take out some revenge on someone who killed his dog. Marky Mark falters severely at trying to convince me he's not just another whinny, whisper talking character he almost always plays (sometimes he both whines and whispers at the same time in this film). Witherspoon plays an okay 16 year old but she doesn't seem to do much in the movie. It's really hard to feel anything from this movie. I never really felt like rooting for either the father or the daughter and Wahlberg didn't scare me at all. If they were to just call the cops and get a restraining order on him, he would have went away quietly.

New Episode Of Patrick's "B Movie"

So I finally had some time and got back into making another episode of B Movie. This is my 4th episode and it's shorter than my other episodes. Feel free to subscribe to my youtube page to be updated when others come out. Any suggestions for B movies is always accepted as well. The following will be the links to the new episode and the ones after will be a link to my page and to my other videos.

War Of The Robots
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rSM6itU2QAI
Episode 4 - Part 1

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G0uNBjlK8AY
Episode 4 - Part 2


http://www.youtube.com/user/agentx216
My Youtube Page

Intro video
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o2ZUAm3lP88
Episode 1

Killer Klowns From Outer Space
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x_VPYB_qBRc
Episode 2 - Part 1

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=08EO7RdBbKU
Episode 2 - Part 2

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v43fs5A9pa0
Episode 2 - Part 3

They Live
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S6lQPw2GfbA
Episode 3 - Part 1

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BzqVs3Rv8o0
Episode 3 - Part 2

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sxosPADdimY
Episode 3 - Part 3