Sweden is changing. We used to pray to God, and to Jesus for salvation and to have a strong faith. But it all changed in the late 80´s, when Dolph Lungren arrived.
Churches all over Sweden realised that this is our real lord, because Dolph is the answer to paradise. So ever since Rocky 4 came out, you can see swedish people praying to Dolph to make them stronger. And it worked. Dolph has helped so many people, that the number just keeps on growing. So what is it that makes Dolph such an icon and a savior ? He help people in need, and only he knows how to kick ass. You can just look at all of his films, and you realise that we have never had a bigger icon than Dolph in swedish history. There is no official The Holy Dolph Book out yet, but there will be, translated in many languages, with everything you need to know. I have probably seen all of his films, come to think of it i might have only one more film to watch, and i have seen every single film he have been in. Does this make me an Dolph addict ? Maybe, but look at the positive way, he is a good role model for everyone, in all ages. Since the 80´s up until now, there are so many great action films with Mr Lundgren, that you can simply never get enough. He is the perfect actor, the greatest swedish action star of all time. You might ask yourself, will Dolph be our new king ? Hopefully, because we need someone to clean up the streets of corrupted politicians, and take out all the Dansband Demons. If you loved Universal Soldier, i suggest you see the real sequels ( not the 1999 sequel with Van Damme ) since the quality of these films is much better. Especially Universal Soldier - Day Of Reckoning. This is the perfect film to surprise your wife, girlfriend, with a glass of wine, crackers and cheese, and a cozy blanket. I think most of you have seen him do a wonderful performance in The Expendables films, and as i understand he might return for a 4th film. Skin Trade is one of the latest films with Dolph, that have taken some time to release. But i have been pumped to see him with a cast of Tony Jaa, Ron Perlman, Michael Jai White and Peter Weller. With a great cast, and with good reviews so far from all corners of the World, is Skin Trade the greatest action film in a long time, or did the trailer promise too much joy and left us dissapointed ?
In Newmark, New Jersey, Detective Nick Cassidy captures a criminal named Dex ( Bryce Hodgson ). Dex have information where Serbian mobster Viktor Dragovic ( Ron Perlman ) is located. Nick finds out that Viktor is actually in Newmark, at this moment. Meanwhile, in Asia, undercover detective Tony Vitayakul ( Tony Jaa ) is on a mission, to pretend buying a Viatnamese girl, but the mission fails, and he is forced to kill most of the human traffickers. Captain Costello ( Peter Weller ) give his men information, that Viktor will be located in the harbor, as he is doing a large scale human trafficking operation. Nick and his team head towards the harbor, to arrest Viktor and his men. As the ship arrives to the docks, Viktor finds out that the trafficked women died of suffocation. Viktor holds the ships captain accountable for this, and kills him. Nick and his team locate Viktor, as Nick shoot down Viktor´s son Goran ( Mike Dopud ). Viktor is arrested and taken to custody. Nick can finally relax while Viktor will end up in prison. But everything changes, when Nick´s home is attacked by Viktor´s men. His wife Rosa ( Tasya Teles ) and his daughter Sofia ( Chloe Babcook ) is murdered. Nick is shot, but manage to survive. At the hospital, he finds out from Captain Costello and FBI Agent Reed ( Michael Jai White ) that Viktor is bailed, and he have escaped the country with his family. Nick escape the hospital, and he finds out Viktor is located in Cambodia. He manage to locate Viktor, but since he have been warned about he could be arrested again, Viktor escape once again. Nick is still tracking Viktor down, this time in Thailand. To make sure he will get Viktor, he needs help from detective Tony.
Skin Trade is without a doubt the best action film we have seen with Dolph Lundgren in a lead role for many years. We have great martial art fights, lots of guns, explosions, lots of violence. All the ingredients that should be on every Valentine´s Day worldwide. The plot may not be very special, but what makes Skin Trade such a damn fun ride, is the intensive action. To see Dolph and Tony Jaa take down human trafficking sellers, feels good. We all know how bad the situation is in Thailand, and in other countries where young women are used for money. I was in Thailand in december last year, and i still remember the girls i could see on the streets of Bangkok, that were forced to take customers. Of course this is happening worldwide, so no matter where this is going on it is wrong. Skin Trade may be an action film in first place, but it also tries to bring up the problem of human slavery, that gives this film an even bigger impact. The acting may not be the biggest strength from all of the actors, but from an action perspective, i find this too be one of the best action films this year so far. There is no CGI effects, the fights are real and the action scenes are also made with pure professionals. Since i am a big fan of martial art action films, i agree with a lot of actors that people need to support these films. Buy them, rent them, do all you can to support films like Skin Trade. I have always supported these films, and i always will. We just need more people to realise that we need these films to be made in the future, to preserve B action films, just the way we want them to be. Let´s face it, without Dolph Lundgren, this world would be a terrible place, he is the closest to heaven as we will ever get. Director Ekachai Uekrongtham have directed several films in the past, and i have not seen one of them. After watching Skin Trade, i feel that i need to see his earlier films, because he is a great director. His way of making an action film like Skin Trade, remind me of the early 90´s action films like Hard Target. Lots of kicking ass, a hell of a lot of violence, just like we want. Skin Trade shows that there is still hope for action films even today. The audience might run to see 50 Shades Of Different Ways To Have An Orgasm, but true survivors like myself prefer quality. Skin Trade is what you need in your life right now.
Support Skin Trade on VOD, or see this film in the cinema if you can, quality films need a larger audience. B movies are needed in the next generation, that is the best way to give them a great education. But what about chemistry and science ? A fist works much better, trust me.
Rating: DDDD
tisdag 28 april 2015
It Follows
In the early 80´s i used to visit my grandmother Maj a lot, and there was a reason why i loved coming home to her. She loved horror films, and sci fi films. Even if i may have been only 8 - 9 years old, i was watching horror films that was supposed to be forbidden for my age. I remember we watched one of the A Nightmare On Elm Street films, i think it might have been the second one on VHS. I was scared as hell, well who was not when they saw Freddy Krueger for the first time ? I also remember we watched V - The Series. Loved the lizards aliens dressed as humans. I suppose you can say that my grandmother helped me get into the horror films, because my parents did not really watch anything in the horror genre. When the 90´s kicked in, i was finally old enough to rent whatever i wanted to see. The problem was that a lot of releases was very cut on VHS in Sweden. Some asshole decided that we can´t see lots of blood, gore, body parts, because it would be bad for you. Luckily a friend of mine, Anders, used to order uncut VHS films from England, where you could find titles that never got released in Sweden. I think i still have some of them left, nostalgic memories. In present day, i feel that horror films have not been very good lately. A lot of releases are either remakes, prequels, sequels, or they borrow the exact same idea as many classic films. But last year we finally got a hit, with The Babadook. An australian horror thriller film that was very different from all the other horror releases. We found an intelligent plot, superb acting, and a very well made film. The Babadook was a really big surprise, and i have to say that i finally saw that there is still hope for good horror films. It must have been in November, 2014, when i heard rumors of a new horror film called It Follows. People were really positive about the film, especially after the film was shown at Cannes Film Festival. When you hear positive feedback, you always hope that it is true, so you are guaranteed a good time. Unfortunately, not every release does please me. Could this be the best horror film since The Babadook, or is this just another college horror film like all the 2600 ones that are already released ?
A woman is found brutally murdered on a beach. She managed to do a last call to her father, but it seems that there is no witness to what happened. College student Jay ( Maika Monroe ) go with her boyfriend Hugh ( Jake Weary ) to watch a film at the cinema. As they fool around, playing a game, Hugh notice that he sees a woman near the entrance, but Jay can´t see her. Hugh is terrified and ask Jay to leave the cinema with him. On their next date, Hugh and Jay have sex together, and when they finish Jay go outside of the car, to get chloroform. He uses it on Jay to get her unconscious. Jay wakes up, without clothes, tied in a chair. Hugh tries to explain that when they had sex, he passed ona curse to her, This curse means that she will always be followed by something, that take different human formations. Whatever she does, do not let this thing touch her. To get rid of this thing, she needs to have sex with someone else, so she will be left alone. Jay can see something is following her, everyday in ordinary day life. What is this thing ? Why is she being followed ? Jay´s friends realise that something is not right, but since they can´t see what is following her, she have to try and find a way out of this situation.
There are very few horror films that stand out of the ordinary releases these days, most of the time you know exactly what will happen, or what might happen. It Follows is certainly not an ordinary horror film, the combination of early John Carpenter´s early 70´s style, combined with a limited budget, give this film a surprisingly good image. Knowing that something is following the chosen person, may sound very dull on paper. To be honest, it works much better than i expected. Name one really good american horror film this year ?
Waiting........
You see ? There are not many great horror films out so far this year, in fact so far i have only seen very few that i could only mention in here, that are only descent. It Follows does not follow the jump scare tradition that many other teenage horror films does. This is more old school style, with a much more intelligent plot, and with intelligent teenagers for once, how often do we see that in horror film ? The music in the background is really weird, and fits perfect into the atmosphere of the film. While you see the thing that follows, with the odd soundtrack, you can almost feel the fear, not knowing why you are being followed. You really never find out how it all started, and that is a really good detail. Director David Robert Mitchell have only directed a short film in the past, and one feature film called The Myth Of The American Sleepover. I have not seen any of his previous work, but in this case it does not really matter. It Follows is the most original horror film in a very long time. The style is definetely taken from the 70´s or the 80´s, but made with a big heart for classic horror films. Even if the plot is very simple, and does not feel very original, director David Robert Mitchell manage to put the pieces together, in a very intelligent way. He does not need lots of blood, body parts, or the typical psycholoigical killer. Instead, we see different people, following the chosen one, almost like this thing have chosen different bodies. This might sound like something from Invasion Of The Body Snatchers, but there is nothing here that tries to copy the same concept. It Follows is original enough to be loved by old school horror fans. I have to say that this is probably the best horror film i have seen lately since The Badabook. The cinematography looks really good, the soundtrack is absolutely brilliant, and the acting is really good from all the teenagers. I am surprised to say this, It Follows does give us a really good time, and also remind us of classic horror ingredients, still made original enough to enjoy. There is only one thing that scares the shit out of me, and that is to see Rolf Lassggård play rock music in Colin Nutley´s film Angel. Ever since i saw that scene, i have nightmares over and over. That might actually changed now after i watched It Follows. Trust me, this is how a creepy film should look like.
Rating: DDDD
A woman is found brutally murdered on a beach. She managed to do a last call to her father, but it seems that there is no witness to what happened. College student Jay ( Maika Monroe ) go with her boyfriend Hugh ( Jake Weary ) to watch a film at the cinema. As they fool around, playing a game, Hugh notice that he sees a woman near the entrance, but Jay can´t see her. Hugh is terrified and ask Jay to leave the cinema with him. On their next date, Hugh and Jay have sex together, and when they finish Jay go outside of the car, to get chloroform. He uses it on Jay to get her unconscious. Jay wakes up, without clothes, tied in a chair. Hugh tries to explain that when they had sex, he passed ona curse to her, This curse means that she will always be followed by something, that take different human formations. Whatever she does, do not let this thing touch her. To get rid of this thing, she needs to have sex with someone else, so she will be left alone. Jay can see something is following her, everyday in ordinary day life. What is this thing ? Why is she being followed ? Jay´s friends realise that something is not right, but since they can´t see what is following her, she have to try and find a way out of this situation.
There are very few horror films that stand out of the ordinary releases these days, most of the time you know exactly what will happen, or what might happen. It Follows is certainly not an ordinary horror film, the combination of early John Carpenter´s early 70´s style, combined with a limited budget, give this film a surprisingly good image. Knowing that something is following the chosen person, may sound very dull on paper. To be honest, it works much better than i expected. Name one really good american horror film this year ?
Waiting........
You see ? There are not many great horror films out so far this year, in fact so far i have only seen very few that i could only mention in here, that are only descent. It Follows does not follow the jump scare tradition that many other teenage horror films does. This is more old school style, with a much more intelligent plot, and with intelligent teenagers for once, how often do we see that in horror film ? The music in the background is really weird, and fits perfect into the atmosphere of the film. While you see the thing that follows, with the odd soundtrack, you can almost feel the fear, not knowing why you are being followed. You really never find out how it all started, and that is a really good detail. Director David Robert Mitchell have only directed a short film in the past, and one feature film called The Myth Of The American Sleepover. I have not seen any of his previous work, but in this case it does not really matter. It Follows is the most original horror film in a very long time. The style is definetely taken from the 70´s or the 80´s, but made with a big heart for classic horror films. Even if the plot is very simple, and does not feel very original, director David Robert Mitchell manage to put the pieces together, in a very intelligent way. He does not need lots of blood, body parts, or the typical psycholoigical killer. Instead, we see different people, following the chosen one, almost like this thing have chosen different bodies. This might sound like something from Invasion Of The Body Snatchers, but there is nothing here that tries to copy the same concept. It Follows is original enough to be loved by old school horror fans. I have to say that this is probably the best horror film i have seen lately since The Badabook. The cinematography looks really good, the soundtrack is absolutely brilliant, and the acting is really good from all the teenagers. I am surprised to say this, It Follows does give us a really good time, and also remind us of classic horror ingredients, still made original enough to enjoy. There is only one thing that scares the shit out of me, and that is to see Rolf Lassggård play rock music in Colin Nutley´s film Angel. Ever since i saw that scene, i have nightmares over and over. That might actually changed now after i watched It Follows. Trust me, this is how a creepy film should look like.
Rating: DDDD
söndag 19 april 2015
Alienator
For those of you who grew up watching a lot of B movies on VHS in the 80´s and 90´s, we all know we could not get enough of low budget action films. Especially if they combined science fiction and horror influences, with spaceships, made out of paper boxes. I just loved to see fights, where one guy is supposed to be hit by a fist, and you can tell the fist does not even touch the other guy, he gets hit by air instead. Remember all the ninja films ? Those were the good days, where nothing made sense, except that the Ninja was always a deadly weapon. Troma films also delivered a lot of treats, remember the brilliant title Surf Nazis Must Die ? B Movies is the reason we are all alive today, not because of healthy diets or excercise programs. How do i know this ? Just ask Ronny Svensson, Swedens greatest film critic of all time. I am sure he agree with me on this subject. The truth is, if B movies was not around, Stefan Sauk would never have been in Let´s Dance in the first place, i have a feeling he was inspired by films such as American Ninja 3 - Blood Hunt. To pay tribute to B films, i decided to start writing reviews ( sometimes ) on B films we all forgot about, but wanted to see or remember. It depends if people want to read more of these reviews, if they do i will do this again at some point. So i decided to start with a film, released in 1990, called Alienator. I have never seen this film before, only heard about it in the past. From director Fred Olen Ray, who made the cult film Bad Girls From Mars, comes a sci fi action film, that looks just as tough as Lulu Carter´s fish lips. Is Alienator a worthy B film to check out, or is this just a waste of your precious time ?
In space, prisoner Kol ( Ross Hagen ), is about to be executed by Commander ( Jean -Michael Vincent ) and his ship crew. Kol manage to break out, and escape to earth in a spaceship. As he crash lands in a forest area, a group of teenagers led by Rick ( Richard Wiley ) are driving an RV, as Rick suddenly see a man go straight out infront of him. The RV hit the man, they stop to pick him up and decide to take him with them. Meanwhile, out in the forest, Harley ( Hoke Howell ) and Burt ( Fox Harris ), are out to hunt for food, as they manage to capture a rabbit. Just as they are about to take off, Ward Armstrong ( John PhillipLaw ), forest ranger , see what they are up to. He warns them to stop hunting. Rick and his friends head towards Ward´s office to show him the man they accidently hit with the RV. Kol wakes up and tell everyone the story, why he escaped the prison in space. Commander have send Alienator ( Teagon Clive ), to kill Kol on Earth. The battle is just about to begin.
Remember how much you loved the tv show Kär Och Galen on TV4, with Lotta Engberg, letting people getting married in a tv studio ? That same feeling will soon come back as you watch Alienator. This is B movie nostalgia, just as bad as you hoped it would be. In the cast we have legendary actor Jean - Michael Vincent, Joseph Pilato, and Teagen Clive ( we all remember her from the masterpiece Vice Academy Part 2, as BimboCop, right ? ) With a cast like this, full of legends, you know that there is so much quality, you will have a feast guaranteed. Did i say quality ? I guess i did, well, Alienator does have all the ingredients that we are used to see from the early 90´s. You got laser guns, dialogue written in 2 minutes, we even have women dressed in strange outfits with clevage, does that not prove we have quality here ? The plot is just as thick as a ham and cheese sandwich. You know exactly what will happen, well, some things do happen that makes no sense at all, and for that you just got to love sci fi B films. The greatest detail about this film is atually Alienator, played by Teagen Clive. It is hard to describe what the Alienator is, but imagine a mix of Brigitte Nielsen as Red Sonja on LSD and Peter Siepen in fashion style, and you pretty much have ever mans erotic dream. The strongest human character is Col. Coburn ( Leo Gordon ), a bad ass war veteran. Director Fred Olsen Ray, may be most famous for his 80´s classic film Hollywood Chainsaw Hookers, and he have continued to direct B films, still releasing them even today. Even if you can tell that he may not have had the greatest cast of all time, and a budget on the size of a McDonald´s meal, this is still fun film to watch. With so many cheesy special effects, action scenes that look pretty silly, and acting on the same level as Blondinbellas blog pictures, we do get some entertainment value here. You have to be in the right mood to watch this film. The soundtrack is awsome, with some of the cheesiest synthesizer lines ever. Alienator may not be a really good B film, this is a pretty awful film in many ways, but what makes it fun to watch is all the bad details. You will laugh a lot, when this is supposed to be a serious action sci fi film. You can buy the 4 film dvd package with Alienator on Amazon, and you get 4 B movies in a dvd collection. I bought myself a copy, and so should you, nice to bring back the memories of B films back on dvd, the video violence days. This proves that there was a reason why we became so intelligent. Want to laugh ? Watch Alienator, perfect for a family dinner with your loved ones.
Rating: DDD
In space, prisoner Kol ( Ross Hagen ), is about to be executed by Commander ( Jean -Michael Vincent ) and his ship crew. Kol manage to break out, and escape to earth in a spaceship. As he crash lands in a forest area, a group of teenagers led by Rick ( Richard Wiley ) are driving an RV, as Rick suddenly see a man go straight out infront of him. The RV hit the man, they stop to pick him up and decide to take him with them. Meanwhile, out in the forest, Harley ( Hoke Howell ) and Burt ( Fox Harris ), are out to hunt for food, as they manage to capture a rabbit. Just as they are about to take off, Ward Armstrong ( John PhillipLaw ), forest ranger , see what they are up to. He warns them to stop hunting. Rick and his friends head towards Ward´s office to show him the man they accidently hit with the RV. Kol wakes up and tell everyone the story, why he escaped the prison in space. Commander have send Alienator ( Teagon Clive ), to kill Kol on Earth. The battle is just about to begin.
Remember how much you loved the tv show Kär Och Galen on TV4, with Lotta Engberg, letting people getting married in a tv studio ? That same feeling will soon come back as you watch Alienator. This is B movie nostalgia, just as bad as you hoped it would be. In the cast we have legendary actor Jean - Michael Vincent, Joseph Pilato, and Teagen Clive ( we all remember her from the masterpiece Vice Academy Part 2, as BimboCop, right ? ) With a cast like this, full of legends, you know that there is so much quality, you will have a feast guaranteed. Did i say quality ? I guess i did, well, Alienator does have all the ingredients that we are used to see from the early 90´s. You got laser guns, dialogue written in 2 minutes, we even have women dressed in strange outfits with clevage, does that not prove we have quality here ? The plot is just as thick as a ham and cheese sandwich. You know exactly what will happen, well, some things do happen that makes no sense at all, and for that you just got to love sci fi B films. The greatest detail about this film is atually Alienator, played by Teagen Clive. It is hard to describe what the Alienator is, but imagine a mix of Brigitte Nielsen as Red Sonja on LSD and Peter Siepen in fashion style, and you pretty much have ever mans erotic dream. The strongest human character is Col. Coburn ( Leo Gordon ), a bad ass war veteran. Director Fred Olsen Ray, may be most famous for his 80´s classic film Hollywood Chainsaw Hookers, and he have continued to direct B films, still releasing them even today. Even if you can tell that he may not have had the greatest cast of all time, and a budget on the size of a McDonald´s meal, this is still fun film to watch. With so many cheesy special effects, action scenes that look pretty silly, and acting on the same level as Blondinbellas blog pictures, we do get some entertainment value here. You have to be in the right mood to watch this film. The soundtrack is awsome, with some of the cheesiest synthesizer lines ever. Alienator may not be a really good B film, this is a pretty awful film in many ways, but what makes it fun to watch is all the bad details. You will laugh a lot, when this is supposed to be a serious action sci fi film. You can buy the 4 film dvd package with Alienator on Amazon, and you get 4 B movies in a dvd collection. I bought myself a copy, and so should you, nice to bring back the memories of B films back on dvd, the video violence days. This proves that there was a reason why we became so intelligent. Want to laugh ? Watch Alienator, perfect for a family dinner with your loved ones.
Rating: DDD
lördag 18 april 2015
Today it is time for.......... Daniels Super Sexy B Movie Tribute Review
Yes indeed!
It is time for the moment Jehovas Witnesses and Per Moberg have waited for, a selected B movie review from the early 90´s, because we all love great special effects and fantastic acting. I have chosen to write a review on the 1990 film Alienator, a sci fi action film that should please the fans of På Spåret. If this review is enjoyed by you readers, i might do some more Super Sexy B Movie Tribute Reviews in the future, while Pat Robertson can confirm we can get aids from towels. We will see the feedback later on, until then, i will upload this review today.
Have a great sunday, always live as a virgin, women are dangerous, unless they love Magnum P.I.
Cheers from Daniel
It is time for the moment Jehovas Witnesses and Per Moberg have waited for, a selected B movie review from the early 90´s, because we all love great special effects and fantastic acting. I have chosen to write a review on the 1990 film Alienator, a sci fi action film that should please the fans of På Spåret. If this review is enjoyed by you readers, i might do some more Super Sexy B Movie Tribute Reviews in the future, while Pat Robertson can confirm we can get aids from towels. We will see the feedback later on, until then, i will upload this review today.
Have a great sunday, always live as a virgin, women are dangerous, unless they love Magnum P.I.
Cheers from Daniel
Blackhat
Remember the first time you surfed on internet ? I remember, must have been in 1996, at my school Agnebergsgymnasiet in the library. To be able to find information online about all kinds of stuff was so cool. Then i found out you can chat with people worldwide. I found myself using Aftonbladet Chatt, must have been between 1997-98. To communicate with people in all ages was fun, and you could sit there for hours ( i was a nerd then, and i probably am still today ). As the millenium approached, internet became bigger, and faster. You could do more things, use many web sites in educational purposes. You could even order everything online, from clothes, dvd´s, music, musical instruments, shoes, books, no matter what you were looking for. As we moved into the year 2000, things kicked off really fast. For each year, you could do so many things with internet, you did not have to leave your house, to order food, groceries, you could also get laid, paying professional prostitutes. Nowdays it seems that we need internet to survive ordinary day life, where many of us use Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and also make their own blogs. If there is one problem that we all can see with internet, is that bad people can use their skills to make crimes. They can empty our bank accounts, steal our identities, even buy things for themselves and we have no idea who is using our money. Some of these people might get caught, but some are very intelligent and learn how to stay hidden from the law. With technology developing for each year, i would not be surprised if we will see more crimes happening on the internet. In present day it seems that criminals are becoming more dangerous online, and know how to use the web to do whatever they want. Blackhat, is a new film, that take on the subject of criminals using internet to. I have not really read much about this film, except for seeing a trailer in the cinema earlier this year. Chris Hemsworth in the lead role looks like a good idea, since he have delivered in the past ( in most of his films, not sure if Red Dawn can be included ). Is Blackhat actually a suprisingly good action thriller, or is this a cheap rip off just to make money at the box office ?
In Chai Wan, Hong Kong, a nuclear plant explode, when an hacker causes the coolant pumps to overheat. Not long after this tragedy, in Chicago, the Mercantile Trade Exchange gets hacked, and disaster strikes. The Chinese Government and the FBI are convinced that this was caused by a Remote Acces Tool. China´s cyber warfare unit, send military officer, Captain Chen Dawai ( Leehom Wang ) to find who is responsible of these crimes. Captain Chen set up a meeting with FBI Special Agent Carol Barret ( Viola Davis ). Chen reveals that he and his former college roomate, Nicholas Hathaway ( Chris Hemsworth ), they came up with the code in the RAT. Nicholas is spending his time in prison, sentenced for computer crimes. Chen ask if Nicholas can be released, if he helps them find information on who is behind this operation. At first it seems that Nicholas does not want to leave, but he eventually changes his mind. He is told that he needs to follow the teams orders, the team is sent to Hong Kong, to locate the paramilitary named Kassar ( Ritchie Coster ) He is confirmed to be behind the money transfers from Chicago. They manage to locate Kassar, but he and his men kill some of the soldiers. The mission fails, and Kassar is on the run from justice. The nuclear Power plant have stabilized, so Nicholas hacks into NSA to use a data tool called Black Widow. From this tool, he finds out information that the hacker is located in Jakarta, while Chen´s sister Chen Lien ( Tang Wei ) find out iformation that the hacker have been buying photos of a remote site in Perak, Malaysia. Nicholas dig deeper into the truth, as he hacks inside the NSA. Since this was done without permission, the US government demand that he have to go back to prison. FBI Agent Carol and her partner Marshal Jessup ( Holt McCallany ) are ordered to detain Nicholas. They manage to keep him to stay, and help them with the investigation. Kassar is ready to take his next move, unless Nicholas can find a way to stop him.
Remember the 1995 film with Sandra Bullock called The Net ? When this film came out, it really started a discussion on how we can steal people´s identities, using internet. It was one of the most original thrillers of the 90´s and became a box office success. Blackhat may be a cyber internet thriller, mixed with terrorism and plenty of action, but the truth is that there is not much original to be found with this film. While The Net may look old today, and may have no impact on how internet really turned out, it is still a good thriller. Blackhat is not awful, the problem is that the film tries to do so many things at the same time. Everything is really serious, and the actors try to act like this is the biggest criminal event of the century. To make a film look serious, and still mix in over the top action, and acting from The Tori Spelling School Of Beverly Hills, is not the greatest combination. When you read that the director is Michael Mann, you know he is a legend. Who have not seen his film Heat with Robert De Niro and Al Pacino, or his 90´s classic The Last Of The Mohicans ? He have continued directing films, maybe you did see Public Enemies with Johnny Depp ? With his latest film Blackhat, he wants to deliver plenty of patriotic action, but somewhere along the way he gets lost. The plot is too thin to hold up the action sequences. I can enjoy action films with a thin plot, if they are well made and have great acting. This is one of the reasons i find myself dissapointed with the final results of Blackhat. I know Michael Mann can do action films, he have proven himself in the past. Maybe he simply did not manage to capture the same feeling as he is used to do. The lead actor Chris Hemsworth needs no introduction. He is a great actor in the Thor films, The Avengers and Snow White And The Huntsman. Chris is the biggest advantage to this film, even if he have acted much better before. He feels more like a character, than some of the other actors who feel very predictable. Blackhat do have a few moments where you at least can unplug your mind, just to see some action scenes , including fights and guns. Apart from this, i can´t say there is much to recommend about this film. I suggest you rent Michael Mann´s classic film Heat instead, if you want to see a good action classic. I can understand why Blackhat bombed at the box office, people want quality these days, not just an ordinary genre films like this one.
Rating: DD
In Chai Wan, Hong Kong, a nuclear plant explode, when an hacker causes the coolant pumps to overheat. Not long after this tragedy, in Chicago, the Mercantile Trade Exchange gets hacked, and disaster strikes. The Chinese Government and the FBI are convinced that this was caused by a Remote Acces Tool. China´s cyber warfare unit, send military officer, Captain Chen Dawai ( Leehom Wang ) to find who is responsible of these crimes. Captain Chen set up a meeting with FBI Special Agent Carol Barret ( Viola Davis ). Chen reveals that he and his former college roomate, Nicholas Hathaway ( Chris Hemsworth ), they came up with the code in the RAT. Nicholas is spending his time in prison, sentenced for computer crimes. Chen ask if Nicholas can be released, if he helps them find information on who is behind this operation. At first it seems that Nicholas does not want to leave, but he eventually changes his mind. He is told that he needs to follow the teams orders, the team is sent to Hong Kong, to locate the paramilitary named Kassar ( Ritchie Coster ) He is confirmed to be behind the money transfers from Chicago. They manage to locate Kassar, but he and his men kill some of the soldiers. The mission fails, and Kassar is on the run from justice. The nuclear Power plant have stabilized, so Nicholas hacks into NSA to use a data tool called Black Widow. From this tool, he finds out information that the hacker is located in Jakarta, while Chen´s sister Chen Lien ( Tang Wei ) find out iformation that the hacker have been buying photos of a remote site in Perak, Malaysia. Nicholas dig deeper into the truth, as he hacks inside the NSA. Since this was done without permission, the US government demand that he have to go back to prison. FBI Agent Carol and her partner Marshal Jessup ( Holt McCallany ) are ordered to detain Nicholas. They manage to keep him to stay, and help them with the investigation. Kassar is ready to take his next move, unless Nicholas can find a way to stop him.
Remember the 1995 film with Sandra Bullock called The Net ? When this film came out, it really started a discussion on how we can steal people´s identities, using internet. It was one of the most original thrillers of the 90´s and became a box office success. Blackhat may be a cyber internet thriller, mixed with terrorism and plenty of action, but the truth is that there is not much original to be found with this film. While The Net may look old today, and may have no impact on how internet really turned out, it is still a good thriller. Blackhat is not awful, the problem is that the film tries to do so many things at the same time. Everything is really serious, and the actors try to act like this is the biggest criminal event of the century. To make a film look serious, and still mix in over the top action, and acting from The Tori Spelling School Of Beverly Hills, is not the greatest combination. When you read that the director is Michael Mann, you know he is a legend. Who have not seen his film Heat with Robert De Niro and Al Pacino, or his 90´s classic The Last Of The Mohicans ? He have continued directing films, maybe you did see Public Enemies with Johnny Depp ? With his latest film Blackhat, he wants to deliver plenty of patriotic action, but somewhere along the way he gets lost. The plot is too thin to hold up the action sequences. I can enjoy action films with a thin plot, if they are well made and have great acting. This is one of the reasons i find myself dissapointed with the final results of Blackhat. I know Michael Mann can do action films, he have proven himself in the past. Maybe he simply did not manage to capture the same feeling as he is used to do. The lead actor Chris Hemsworth needs no introduction. He is a great actor in the Thor films, The Avengers and Snow White And The Huntsman. Chris is the biggest advantage to this film, even if he have acted much better before. He feels more like a character, than some of the other actors who feel very predictable. Blackhat do have a few moments where you at least can unplug your mind, just to see some action scenes , including fights and guns. Apart from this, i can´t say there is much to recommend about this film. I suggest you rent Michael Mann´s classic film Heat instead, if you want to see a good action classic. I can understand why Blackhat bombed at the box office, people want quality these days, not just an ordinary genre films like this one.
Rating: DD
fredag 17 april 2015
The Boy Next Door
Let´s go back into the VHS tape days, when i first watched a young Jennifer Lopez doing the lead role as Selena. the famous mexican pop star of the 90´s. You might remember she was killed by one of her closest friends. A tragic story, and Jennifer Lopez managed to capture the feeling of Selena, how she seemed to be both as an artist, and in her private life. Just a year later, in 1998, Lopez really shined in her next film Out Of Sight with George Clooney. It was actually surprisingly good, and gave her a chance to get bigger film roles. But that was just the start, her music career kicked off really well also, sellling millions of albums. Everything seemed to be going all the way for miss Lopez, and for a long time it did. She kept on releasing films, and Music albums, but the album sales dropped, while some of her films did not to as well as expected. This is something many actors experience, so it is not unusual. With more albums coming out, and still working as an actor, she kept on working hard to stay in the spotlight. She did surprise me with the very odd thriller The Cell, directed by Tarsem Singh ( the same director who directed Immortals ). This was a very strange look inside the mind of a serial killer, but i did like the concept. There was something unique about the film, and for that i recommend you see it. I personally liked her performance in the film Bordertown, based on the true story of the female homicides in Ciudad Juárez. This was exactly what she needed to do, step away from the romantic comedies, and make something different. With more romantic comedies coming out after this, it seemed like she was going to follow this path. Until i Heard the news in the end of 2014, she is coming out with a new thriller called The Boy Next Door. Not knowing much about the plot, i was curious to see if she finally found another great character since Bordertown. When i saw that director Rob Cohen was on board, i realised that this might actually work, if they have a good story in their hands. Is this the best Jennifer Lopez film in many years, or is this another release from her that will be forgotten, just like her album titles ?
Claire Peterson ( Jennifer Lopez ) is a devoted mother to her son Kevin ( Ian Nelson ), and is married to Garret Peterson ( John Corbett ). When Claire finds out Garret had an affair with his secretary, Claire want to seperate from Garreth. Heart broken, and trying to move on, she get all the support she needs from her best friend Vicky Lansling ( Kristin Chenoweth ). Vicky suggest that Claire should divorce Garret, something Claire needs to take some and think about. One day, Claire meet the new neighbours Mr. Sandborn ( Jack Wallace ) and his orphaned nephew Noah Sandborn ( Ryan Guzman ). Kevin begin to spend some time to Kevin, so he become closer to Claire´s family. For some reason, Claire begin to feel attracted to Kevin, even if he is much younger than her. One day, while Garret and Kevin go on a fishing trip, Claire spy on Kevin as he is taking a shower. Claire decide to go on a double date with her best friend Vicky, but it ends terrible. Suddenly she gets a phone call from Kevin, asking if she can come over and help him cook. What started innocent, ends with them both having sex. At first it seems like just an affair, but Claire begin to notice that Kevin may not be who she thinks he is. Just when she thought that the nightmare had begun, things are about to become even worse.
I should have listened to the bad reviews, but i choosed to watch this film anyway, trying to go in with an open mind. Well..........how bad can it be ? Does anyone of you remember a film called Basic Instict 2 ? The sequel to the 90´s classic with Sharon Stone and Michael Douglas ? If you have seen this sequel, you probably wanted to get electric shock treatment so you would forget all about this film. While watching The Boy Next Door, i am feeling exactly the same thing again. Holy shit, this is a bad film. The acting is so bad from almost all the actors, it feels like they did not even care about being in the film. They just wanted the paycheck, and probably to see Jennifer Lopez do a shower scene. The plot is terrible, in the sense that there is nothing to be said here. And we are supposed to feel sorry for Jennifer Lopez ? Hell no, the only one i feel sorry for is the audience who will feel ill after this film ends. And still the american audience made this a box office hit, what is wrong with you people ? Luckily this film did not screen in many countries in Europe, maybe some people realised that it should not get a premiere date, and go straight to dvd instead. I don´t hate Jennifer Lopez, she have done some good films in the past, but it was quite a while ago. Last time i saw her do a good film was in 2006, with the film called Bordertown with Martin Sheen. And before that ? Let me think.......The Cell, probably. The problem with this film is that Lopez should not even be in here, she can do better than a film like this. Director Rob Cohen have been around for quite some time, directing all kind of genre films. One of my personal favourite films of him, is Dragon - The Bruce Lee story. Since then his films have been on a roller coaster. Some good, some bad. And i think this have to be the worst film of his work. The Boy Next Door is a pile of shit, with nothing to give us in return. Oh wait, we do get one thing, lots of bad acting, and that is something we all love, right ? For your own safety, avoid The Boy Next Door. If Pat Robertson, from the 700 Club, would have been the director, we might have had a completely different film in our hands. I suggest we listen to Pat Robertson instead from now on, he seems to have more knowledge than The Boy Next Door delivers.
Rating: D
Claire Peterson ( Jennifer Lopez ) is a devoted mother to her son Kevin ( Ian Nelson ), and is married to Garret Peterson ( John Corbett ). When Claire finds out Garret had an affair with his secretary, Claire want to seperate from Garreth. Heart broken, and trying to move on, she get all the support she needs from her best friend Vicky Lansling ( Kristin Chenoweth ). Vicky suggest that Claire should divorce Garret, something Claire needs to take some and think about. One day, Claire meet the new neighbours Mr. Sandborn ( Jack Wallace ) and his orphaned nephew Noah Sandborn ( Ryan Guzman ). Kevin begin to spend some time to Kevin, so he become closer to Claire´s family. For some reason, Claire begin to feel attracted to Kevin, even if he is much younger than her. One day, while Garret and Kevin go on a fishing trip, Claire spy on Kevin as he is taking a shower. Claire decide to go on a double date with her best friend Vicky, but it ends terrible. Suddenly she gets a phone call from Kevin, asking if she can come over and help him cook. What started innocent, ends with them both having sex. At first it seems like just an affair, but Claire begin to notice that Kevin may not be who she thinks he is. Just when she thought that the nightmare had begun, things are about to become even worse.
I should have listened to the bad reviews, but i choosed to watch this film anyway, trying to go in with an open mind. Well..........how bad can it be ? Does anyone of you remember a film called Basic Instict 2 ? The sequel to the 90´s classic with Sharon Stone and Michael Douglas ? If you have seen this sequel, you probably wanted to get electric shock treatment so you would forget all about this film. While watching The Boy Next Door, i am feeling exactly the same thing again. Holy shit, this is a bad film. The acting is so bad from almost all the actors, it feels like they did not even care about being in the film. They just wanted the paycheck, and probably to see Jennifer Lopez do a shower scene. The plot is terrible, in the sense that there is nothing to be said here. And we are supposed to feel sorry for Jennifer Lopez ? Hell no, the only one i feel sorry for is the audience who will feel ill after this film ends. And still the american audience made this a box office hit, what is wrong with you people ? Luckily this film did not screen in many countries in Europe, maybe some people realised that it should not get a premiere date, and go straight to dvd instead. I don´t hate Jennifer Lopez, she have done some good films in the past, but it was quite a while ago. Last time i saw her do a good film was in 2006, with the film called Bordertown with Martin Sheen. And before that ? Let me think.......The Cell, probably. The problem with this film is that Lopez should not even be in here, she can do better than a film like this. Director Rob Cohen have been around for quite some time, directing all kind of genre films. One of my personal favourite films of him, is Dragon - The Bruce Lee story. Since then his films have been on a roller coaster. Some good, some bad. And i think this have to be the worst film of his work. The Boy Next Door is a pile of shit, with nothing to give us in return. Oh wait, we do get one thing, lots of bad acting, and that is something we all love, right ? For your own safety, avoid The Boy Next Door. If Pat Robertson, from the 700 Club, would have been the director, we might have had a completely different film in our hands. I suggest we listen to Pat Robertson instead from now on, he seems to have more knowledge than The Boy Next Door delivers.
Rating: D
The Cobbler
A long long time ago, in a decade called the 90´s, came a man who never wanted to grow up. He is known as Adam Sandler, and he wanted to teach us 2 things.
1. Playing with yourself is much more fun than reading a book.
2. Alcohol can help you sleep with anyone, even with your uncle Sam.
He did have more things to teach us, but i think this pretty much says it all. I realise some people love this guy, while many hate him. I personally only enjoy a few of his films. My personal favourites are called Reign Over Me, and Happy Gilmore of course. I have not seen all of his releases, but the ones i have seen lately have not been that good. One was even so bad, i wanted to burn it, named Grown Ups 2. The worst sequel of all time, seriously. If someone recommend this film to you, i suggest you grab a baseball bat and beat the shit out of them. After several quite dull releases, and the same romantic comedy concept that he already done a couple of times, i was hoping that he would do something different. I have seen that a new film called Pixels, is coming out later this year. While watching the trailer of Pixels, you realise this is a mix of video games with influences from disaster action films. Oh wait, he is also working as a producer on Dirty Joe 2 ( Yep, there is a sequel coming ) I have no idea if this will be any good, but i will probably see it eventually. Recently i heard about one of Sandler´s latest films called The Cobbler. I did check out the trailer, just to get a glimpse of what this could be. Considering he have made more bad films, than good films, is The Cobbler finally a good release from Adam Sandler, or is this another film that should be flushed down your toilet ?
In New York city , in the year 1903, a group of jewish men gather to discuss a big problem. A man knon as Gregerman is causing trouble, and have been running their businesses out. The jewish men go to the cobbler Pinchas Simkin ( Donnie Keshawarz ), with the shoes from Gregerman. Pinchas go down to the basement of his shop, using a special stitching machine
to fix the shoes. His son Herschel ( Ethan Khusidman ) walks in, and his father want to tell him why this stitching machine is so special. In present day, Max Simkin ( Adam Sandler ) works as the cobbler in the shop. He have stayed in the shop, because this shop have survived in their family generations. His neighbour, a barbershop owner Jimmy ( Steve Buscemi ), want to see Max date someone, to find a good woman. Max is not very interested in this at the moment, just trying to make the shop survive. Max lives at home with his sick mother Sarah Simkin ( Lynn Cohen ), taking care of her and helping her when he can. One day, at the cobbler shop, Max get a customer by the name of Leon Ludlow ( Method Man ) who want to have his shoes fixed, until the shop is closed. When the shoe stitching machine breaks, he only have one option left to get the shoes fixed. Using the old stitching machine in the basement. As he waits, and Leon is not showing up, Max decide to try the shoes just for fun. It seems that the stitching machine is magical, and for each couple of shoes that machine have fixed, you can become that person who own the shoes. Max decide to try on all kinds of shoes, to have fun being other people. There is a woman he is interested in, Taryn ( Kim Cloutier ). She comes into his store to get her boyfriend Emilianos ( Dan Stevens ) shoes fixed. This is a perfect oppertunity for Max to pretend to be Emiliano by using his shoes, after the stitching machine. Once he use this power to find happiness, he also get himself into a lot of trouble.
I know that people want to see poop comedies, so this will never stop as long as audiences want to see people poop in their pants. I might have laughed when i was 15 years old, today i want more original comedies. Adam Sandler have proved himself that he can act, especillaly in Reign Over Me. What surprises me with The Cobbler, is that there is actually a more serious tone here, at least in the beggining of the film. In the first 16 minutes, we actually get to see Adam Sandler do a different character, a jewish shoe maker. If he could have stayed there, and still do some intelligent humour, i would have been fine. Suddenly everything changes when he put on shoes and become the people who owns the shoes. The biggest problem with this is that The Cobbler is not that funny to watch. I laughed more in That´s My Boy, and that was a stupid, but at least more funny film. It is a bit better than some of his films like Blended, because you can tell they tried to make a more serious film. I like the idea of being able to become other people, just by walking in their shoes. But i would have wanted more funny ideas on how to take advantage of being other people. Not over the top Sandler that we are used to see, but in a more intelligent way. Director Thomas McCarthy have directed 3 really good films in the past, The Station Agent, The Visitor and Win Win, so we know he can deliver quality. The Cobbler has to be his worst film so far, if we compare to his previous films. This is such a shame, because if he would have made this film different, with a much more intelligent plot, we could have had the best Sandler film for many years. Nice to see Steve Buscemi as The Barbeshop owner, his role may not be big, but he does at least make an effort to give us a character we can relate to. I would still say that The Cobbler is at least an improvment, compared to films like Grown Ups 2. You can tell that he at least tried to do something different, unfortunately it does not work. I recently read that this is a major box office bomb, to be honest Grown Ups 2 should have been instead of this film. Maybe Sandler will come back one day with a film that proves his acting skills, like in Reign Over Me. I am not giving up on him, until then i suggest you go rent Reign On Me, or even watch it on Netflix or any other streaming site.
Rating: DD
1. Playing with yourself is much more fun than reading a book.
2. Alcohol can help you sleep with anyone, even with your uncle Sam.
He did have more things to teach us, but i think this pretty much says it all. I realise some people love this guy, while many hate him. I personally only enjoy a few of his films. My personal favourites are called Reign Over Me, and Happy Gilmore of course. I have not seen all of his releases, but the ones i have seen lately have not been that good. One was even so bad, i wanted to burn it, named Grown Ups 2. The worst sequel of all time, seriously. If someone recommend this film to you, i suggest you grab a baseball bat and beat the shit out of them. After several quite dull releases, and the same romantic comedy concept that he already done a couple of times, i was hoping that he would do something different. I have seen that a new film called Pixels, is coming out later this year. While watching the trailer of Pixels, you realise this is a mix of video games with influences from disaster action films. Oh wait, he is also working as a producer on Dirty Joe 2 ( Yep, there is a sequel coming ) I have no idea if this will be any good, but i will probably see it eventually. Recently i heard about one of Sandler´s latest films called The Cobbler. I did check out the trailer, just to get a glimpse of what this could be. Considering he have made more bad films, than good films, is The Cobbler finally a good release from Adam Sandler, or is this another film that should be flushed down your toilet ?
In New York city , in the year 1903, a group of jewish men gather to discuss a big problem. A man knon as Gregerman is causing trouble, and have been running their businesses out. The jewish men go to the cobbler Pinchas Simkin ( Donnie Keshawarz ), with the shoes from Gregerman. Pinchas go down to the basement of his shop, using a special stitching machine
to fix the shoes. His son Herschel ( Ethan Khusidman ) walks in, and his father want to tell him why this stitching machine is so special. In present day, Max Simkin ( Adam Sandler ) works as the cobbler in the shop. He have stayed in the shop, because this shop have survived in their family generations. His neighbour, a barbershop owner Jimmy ( Steve Buscemi ), want to see Max date someone, to find a good woman. Max is not very interested in this at the moment, just trying to make the shop survive. Max lives at home with his sick mother Sarah Simkin ( Lynn Cohen ), taking care of her and helping her when he can. One day, at the cobbler shop, Max get a customer by the name of Leon Ludlow ( Method Man ) who want to have his shoes fixed, until the shop is closed. When the shoe stitching machine breaks, he only have one option left to get the shoes fixed. Using the old stitching machine in the basement. As he waits, and Leon is not showing up, Max decide to try the shoes just for fun. It seems that the stitching machine is magical, and for each couple of shoes that machine have fixed, you can become that person who own the shoes. Max decide to try on all kinds of shoes, to have fun being other people. There is a woman he is interested in, Taryn ( Kim Cloutier ). She comes into his store to get her boyfriend Emilianos ( Dan Stevens ) shoes fixed. This is a perfect oppertunity for Max to pretend to be Emiliano by using his shoes, after the stitching machine. Once he use this power to find happiness, he also get himself into a lot of trouble.
I know that people want to see poop comedies, so this will never stop as long as audiences want to see people poop in their pants. I might have laughed when i was 15 years old, today i want more original comedies. Adam Sandler have proved himself that he can act, especillaly in Reign Over Me. What surprises me with The Cobbler, is that there is actually a more serious tone here, at least in the beggining of the film. In the first 16 minutes, we actually get to see Adam Sandler do a different character, a jewish shoe maker. If he could have stayed there, and still do some intelligent humour, i would have been fine. Suddenly everything changes when he put on shoes and become the people who owns the shoes. The biggest problem with this is that The Cobbler is not that funny to watch. I laughed more in That´s My Boy, and that was a stupid, but at least more funny film. It is a bit better than some of his films like Blended, because you can tell they tried to make a more serious film. I like the idea of being able to become other people, just by walking in their shoes. But i would have wanted more funny ideas on how to take advantage of being other people. Not over the top Sandler that we are used to see, but in a more intelligent way. Director Thomas McCarthy have directed 3 really good films in the past, The Station Agent, The Visitor and Win Win, so we know he can deliver quality. The Cobbler has to be his worst film so far, if we compare to his previous films. This is such a shame, because if he would have made this film different, with a much more intelligent plot, we could have had the best Sandler film for many years. Nice to see Steve Buscemi as The Barbeshop owner, his role may not be big, but he does at least make an effort to give us a character we can relate to. I would still say that The Cobbler is at least an improvment, compared to films like Grown Ups 2. You can tell that he at least tried to do something different, unfortunately it does not work. I recently read that this is a major box office bomb, to be honest Grown Ups 2 should have been instead of this film. Maybe Sandler will come back one day with a film that proves his acting skills, like in Reign Over Me. I am not giving up on him, until then i suggest you go rent Reign On Me, or even watch it on Netflix or any other streaming site.
Rating: DD
fredag 10 april 2015
Kill Me Three Times
Does the name Simon Pegg sound familiar ? If it does, good for you. If it does not sound familiar, there may be 2 reasons why you never heard this name.
1. You only listen to Ulf Lundells 264 albums, and hope he will tour until he is 126 years old.
2. You are a member of Frälsningsarmen, and you have never seen a tv in your entire life.
I have a feeling that most of you have seen Simon Pegg´s really funny comedies Shaun Of The Dead, Hot Fuzz, i even enjoyed Paul. This british actor and comedian have delivered both on cinema, and also on stage. I am quite sure he will continue to deliver more quality comedies in many years ahead. Last year i went to the cinema to see his latest film The World´s End. A really funny parody of Invasion Of The Body Snatchers, except with robots instead. Together with his sidekick Nick Frost, they have tried so many different combinations, you realise they must be very open minded to try combinations of comedy ingredients. I have noticed that Pegg did a comedy recently titled Hector And The Search For Happiness. Have not seen it yet, but i have decided to write a review on this film also this month, so keep your eyes open. You might have seen Simon in both Mission Impossible: Ghost Protocol, and Star Trek Into Darkness. He did manage to deliver a good performance in both films, this also proves he can do characters outside his comfort zome. About 4 months ago, i heard of a new Simon Pegg film called Killed Me Three Times. When the trailer was finally released, i found myself curious to see him do a very different film from his previous work. In the cast i actually found legendary australian actor Bryan Brown, remember the F/X films ? He is still seen in smaller films, especially in Australia, so it is great to see him again. With 2 great actors, and a different genre film from director Kriv Stenders, is this combination just what we needed to improve spring releases, or is the trailer promising too much and leaves us with nothing ?
Charlie Wolfe ( Simon Pegg ) is a professional assassin, who just finished his latest mission. He is contacted to get information on his next job. He is told to kill Alice Taylor ( Alice Braga ), since her husband Jack Taylor ( Callan Mulvey ) wants her dead. At first this seems to be just another mission, but Charlie is about to find out that things are much more complicated than he expected. This journey is not like anything he have ever experienced before.
We have seen Simon Pegg tried different characters before, but this may be his strangest choice ever so far in his career. His character Charlie Wolfe is a combination of Burt Reynolds and Rutger Hauer in Wanted Dead Or Alive. But he does have a very different personality, so in that sence you could say that Charlie is quite odd. Kill Me Three Times is without a doubt the most original film we have seen from Simon Pegg, in a while. There are influences from other films, but that is not a problem. I would probably say that this is a very daring move, to make an australian film , away from the Hollywood studios. It could go either way, become a success, or a flop. But what really matters is actually if the film manage to deliver entertainment. If you don´t like dark humour comedies, this might not be your cup of tea. If you do like this combination, i suggest you give this a try. I found myself enjoying this odd combination, and i could not really predict what was going to happen, and that is always a good sign. Is this one of his better films ? No, not if you compare this with Shaun Of The Dead and Hot Fuzz, then you realise that his british films have delivered on a whole different level. Director Kriv Stenders had an australian box office hit called Red Dog in 2011. I have never seen this family film, so i can´t compare his earlier work as an director. He does manage quite well with Kill Me Three Times, to make it an odd comedy. Most of all i think he did the right thing to cast Simon Pegg, because you can tell he is the best actor in the whole film. This does not mean the other actors don´t deliver, they do, but not on the same level as Simon. His look dressed in complete black, is an easy but effective hitman style. Once Bryan Brown enters, you can feel nostalgia from the early 80´s and the 90´s in the air. The australian landscape looks amazing, and you feel like going there instantly. I am not sure what to compare Kill Me Three Times with, there is a mix of genres here that we all recognize. From an entertainment perspective, i think you will have a good time with this film. I know i did.
Rating: DDD
1. You only listen to Ulf Lundells 264 albums, and hope he will tour until he is 126 years old.
2. You are a member of Frälsningsarmen, and you have never seen a tv in your entire life.
I have a feeling that most of you have seen Simon Pegg´s really funny comedies Shaun Of The Dead, Hot Fuzz, i even enjoyed Paul. This british actor and comedian have delivered both on cinema, and also on stage. I am quite sure he will continue to deliver more quality comedies in many years ahead. Last year i went to the cinema to see his latest film The World´s End. A really funny parody of Invasion Of The Body Snatchers, except with robots instead. Together with his sidekick Nick Frost, they have tried so many different combinations, you realise they must be very open minded to try combinations of comedy ingredients. I have noticed that Pegg did a comedy recently titled Hector And The Search For Happiness. Have not seen it yet, but i have decided to write a review on this film also this month, so keep your eyes open. You might have seen Simon in both Mission Impossible: Ghost Protocol, and Star Trek Into Darkness. He did manage to deliver a good performance in both films, this also proves he can do characters outside his comfort zome. About 4 months ago, i heard of a new Simon Pegg film called Killed Me Three Times. When the trailer was finally released, i found myself curious to see him do a very different film from his previous work. In the cast i actually found legendary australian actor Bryan Brown, remember the F/X films ? He is still seen in smaller films, especially in Australia, so it is great to see him again. With 2 great actors, and a different genre film from director Kriv Stenders, is this combination just what we needed to improve spring releases, or is the trailer promising too much and leaves us with nothing ?
Charlie Wolfe ( Simon Pegg ) is a professional assassin, who just finished his latest mission. He is contacted to get information on his next job. He is told to kill Alice Taylor ( Alice Braga ), since her husband Jack Taylor ( Callan Mulvey ) wants her dead. At first this seems to be just another mission, but Charlie is about to find out that things are much more complicated than he expected. This journey is not like anything he have ever experienced before.
We have seen Simon Pegg tried different characters before, but this may be his strangest choice ever so far in his career. His character Charlie Wolfe is a combination of Burt Reynolds and Rutger Hauer in Wanted Dead Or Alive. But he does have a very different personality, so in that sence you could say that Charlie is quite odd. Kill Me Three Times is without a doubt the most original film we have seen from Simon Pegg, in a while. There are influences from other films, but that is not a problem. I would probably say that this is a very daring move, to make an australian film , away from the Hollywood studios. It could go either way, become a success, or a flop. But what really matters is actually if the film manage to deliver entertainment. If you don´t like dark humour comedies, this might not be your cup of tea. If you do like this combination, i suggest you give this a try. I found myself enjoying this odd combination, and i could not really predict what was going to happen, and that is always a good sign. Is this one of his better films ? No, not if you compare this with Shaun Of The Dead and Hot Fuzz, then you realise that his british films have delivered on a whole different level. Director Kriv Stenders had an australian box office hit called Red Dog in 2011. I have never seen this family film, so i can´t compare his earlier work as an director. He does manage quite well with Kill Me Three Times, to make it an odd comedy. Most of all i think he did the right thing to cast Simon Pegg, because you can tell he is the best actor in the whole film. This does not mean the other actors don´t deliver, they do, but not on the same level as Simon. His look dressed in complete black, is an easy but effective hitman style. Once Bryan Brown enters, you can feel nostalgia from the early 80´s and the 90´s in the air. The australian landscape looks amazing, and you feel like going there instantly. I am not sure what to compare Kill Me Three Times with, there is a mix of genres here that we all recognize. From an entertainment perspective, i think you will have a good time with this film. I know i did.
Rating: DDD
måndag 6 april 2015
Wild Card
Ladies i would like for you all to listen!
What do you do to make a man really happy ? ( Except for seeing you dressing sexy of course )
There are 2 things men love, in all ages.
1. All seasons of Dallas on dvd, Patrick Duffy is every mans fantasy.
2. To see guys like Scott Adkins, Tony Jaa and Jason Statham kick ass.
If you follow these 2 rules, any man will marry you. As you can see, i know just how men works. Speaking of Jason Statham, since Transporter he have really become a legend in action martial arts films. He knows he can´t do drama films, so he stays in the action genre where he knows he belongs. There are many good titles with Statham, and of course some that did not manage to deliver enough. I have tried to follow his latest releases, hoping to see him try something different in the action genre. He did become a little bit more serious with the film Homefront. There was plenty of action, but you could tell that the script were more dramatic. Even if Homefront became a box office flop, it was ok. Since the first Transporter film came out, it seems to become harder for Statham not to repeat himself too much. Let´s face it, most of his films have followed the same path, he wants to revenge someone´s death, or he is paid to take someone´s life. He actually surprised me with a film that many people have not seen, have you heard of Hummingbird ( Redemption ) ? This film was a box office failure, but it showed us Statham do a different character than usual, and i have to say i did enjoy this film. It seems that people want to see Statham do what he usually does best, fighting and shooting, so when he does something different, the audience seems to avoid it. So here we are with a new film with Jason Statham, that takes place in Las Vegas. Is he Elvis Presley ? No, i would have loved to see that, but this films seems to be a different choice for him, with a completely different story than usual. Since i enjoyed his performance in The Expendables 3 last summer, does he manage to deliver this time also, or should he have stayed in his usual pattern ?
Nick Wild ( Jason Statham ) is a recovering gambling addict, who takes odd jobs, to make sure he can continue to gamble. One day self-made millionaire Cyrus Kinnick ( Michael Angarano ) Contact Nick, to pay him to be his personal private guard, to show him around Vegas, and also protect him while he is gambling. Since Nick always need money, he accepts the job. While having a drink at a diner, Nick gets a phone call from his friend Holly ( Dominik Garcia-Lorido ). She ask him to come to her house. As he arrive he notice that she have been abused. She tells him that she was beaten and raped by 3 men, at The Golden Nugget. After a date she was invited to a party, where these men abused her. She begs Nick to find out who is behind this, telling him that she wants to sue them. Nick does not really want to get involved, since he had his problems with law before, but accept to help her. Nick find out that one of the men, who was behind this abuse, is known as Danny DeMarco ( Milo Ventimiglia ). He is a well known ganster. Nick locate Danny to confront him, about what he did. Danny ignore Nick, and try to act tough. Nick beat all 3 guys down, while Holly enters, threatening to chop off his balls, unless he really show her that he is sorry. Holly finds out Danny have 50.000 dollars in his desk, she takes the money and leaves instead. She splits the money in half with Nick, while Nick warn Holly she should get out of town. Just after Holly leaves, Nick take Cyrus to a casino to gamble half the money he got from Danny. It turns out he is lucky, and win 506.000 dollars. While he is cashing in the money, he suddenly change his mind about keeping everything, and gamble it all away. With no much money in his pocket, he gets drunk and pass out. Cyrus takes him to his hotel room, so he gets some sleep. As he wakes up, and head to the bar, Danny´s men visit to beat him up for what he did to Danny. Nick take them all down. Nick goes to a meeting with Baby ( Stanley Tucci ), mafia boss of Las Vegas, Baby tells Nick he knows what he did to Danny, and warns him that if he is guilty, he could be killed. Nick proves that Danny started this, as Baby change his mind. He let Nick go free, still this means Nick have to find a way out of this mess.
If you are expecting a lot of fighting, lots of guns, you might be dissapointed. Wild Card is definetely not the typical Statham film, you could say this is one of his most serious films so far is his career. Is that a good sign or a bad sign ? Personally, i think it is great that he tries a different character, and not repeat himself too often. We all see him as the action hero, maybe our generations own Chuck Norris. Of course he will never be like Chuck, but there are not many actors out there that can do action films like Statham, except for Scott Adkins of course. One of the things i found interesting about Wild Card, is that there is actually a plot here. In some of the earlier Statham films, it was all about the fighting and guns. This film have a much more serious tone, with a view on Las Vegas and all the problems that can be included. Statham does not use his fist all the time, he uses more dialogue, and does a pretty good job. I can imagine that he want to develope himself, choosing a different kind of story, instead of the usual revenge story. Most actors try and choose different scripts, and i can understand if Statham feels the same way. Wild Card is not original in any way, or give us many surprises. What makes this film work is thanks to director Simon West, who directed the action classic Con Air, and worked with Statham on The Expendables 2. He seems to want to make a different revenge film, where Statham use his brain more than his fists. This is actually a remake of the 1986 film Heat with Burt Reynolds. I have seen the original film many years ago, but since i don´t remember exactly everything about Heat, i can´t compare these films. I would say that Wild Card manage to deliver, in it´s own way. This is not Jason Statham´s best film, there are other titles i would recommend over this one. But i suggest you give it a try, mostly because this is a very different character to see Statham do on screen. Maybe i should head down to Casino Cosmopol in Sundsvall and try my luck ? Oh what the hell, if it goes bad, i can always hit the bar, whiskey always makes everything better.
Rating: DDD
What do you do to make a man really happy ? ( Except for seeing you dressing sexy of course )
There are 2 things men love, in all ages.
1. All seasons of Dallas on dvd, Patrick Duffy is every mans fantasy.
2. To see guys like Scott Adkins, Tony Jaa and Jason Statham kick ass.
If you follow these 2 rules, any man will marry you. As you can see, i know just how men works. Speaking of Jason Statham, since Transporter he have really become a legend in action martial arts films. He knows he can´t do drama films, so he stays in the action genre where he knows he belongs. There are many good titles with Statham, and of course some that did not manage to deliver enough. I have tried to follow his latest releases, hoping to see him try something different in the action genre. He did become a little bit more serious with the film Homefront. There was plenty of action, but you could tell that the script were more dramatic. Even if Homefront became a box office flop, it was ok. Since the first Transporter film came out, it seems to become harder for Statham not to repeat himself too much. Let´s face it, most of his films have followed the same path, he wants to revenge someone´s death, or he is paid to take someone´s life. He actually surprised me with a film that many people have not seen, have you heard of Hummingbird ( Redemption ) ? This film was a box office failure, but it showed us Statham do a different character than usual, and i have to say i did enjoy this film. It seems that people want to see Statham do what he usually does best, fighting and shooting, so when he does something different, the audience seems to avoid it. So here we are with a new film with Jason Statham, that takes place in Las Vegas. Is he Elvis Presley ? No, i would have loved to see that, but this films seems to be a different choice for him, with a completely different story than usual. Since i enjoyed his performance in The Expendables 3 last summer, does he manage to deliver this time also, or should he have stayed in his usual pattern ?
Nick Wild ( Jason Statham ) is a recovering gambling addict, who takes odd jobs, to make sure he can continue to gamble. One day self-made millionaire Cyrus Kinnick ( Michael Angarano ) Contact Nick, to pay him to be his personal private guard, to show him around Vegas, and also protect him while he is gambling. Since Nick always need money, he accepts the job. While having a drink at a diner, Nick gets a phone call from his friend Holly ( Dominik Garcia-Lorido ). She ask him to come to her house. As he arrive he notice that she have been abused. She tells him that she was beaten and raped by 3 men, at The Golden Nugget. After a date she was invited to a party, where these men abused her. She begs Nick to find out who is behind this, telling him that she wants to sue them. Nick does not really want to get involved, since he had his problems with law before, but accept to help her. Nick find out that one of the men, who was behind this abuse, is known as Danny DeMarco ( Milo Ventimiglia ). He is a well known ganster. Nick locate Danny to confront him, about what he did. Danny ignore Nick, and try to act tough. Nick beat all 3 guys down, while Holly enters, threatening to chop off his balls, unless he really show her that he is sorry. Holly finds out Danny have 50.000 dollars in his desk, she takes the money and leaves instead. She splits the money in half with Nick, while Nick warn Holly she should get out of town. Just after Holly leaves, Nick take Cyrus to a casino to gamble half the money he got from Danny. It turns out he is lucky, and win 506.000 dollars. While he is cashing in the money, he suddenly change his mind about keeping everything, and gamble it all away. With no much money in his pocket, he gets drunk and pass out. Cyrus takes him to his hotel room, so he gets some sleep. As he wakes up, and head to the bar, Danny´s men visit to beat him up for what he did to Danny. Nick take them all down. Nick goes to a meeting with Baby ( Stanley Tucci ), mafia boss of Las Vegas, Baby tells Nick he knows what he did to Danny, and warns him that if he is guilty, he could be killed. Nick proves that Danny started this, as Baby change his mind. He let Nick go free, still this means Nick have to find a way out of this mess.
If you are expecting a lot of fighting, lots of guns, you might be dissapointed. Wild Card is definetely not the typical Statham film, you could say this is one of his most serious films so far is his career. Is that a good sign or a bad sign ? Personally, i think it is great that he tries a different character, and not repeat himself too often. We all see him as the action hero, maybe our generations own Chuck Norris. Of course he will never be like Chuck, but there are not many actors out there that can do action films like Statham, except for Scott Adkins of course. One of the things i found interesting about Wild Card, is that there is actually a plot here. In some of the earlier Statham films, it was all about the fighting and guns. This film have a much more serious tone, with a view on Las Vegas and all the problems that can be included. Statham does not use his fist all the time, he uses more dialogue, and does a pretty good job. I can imagine that he want to develope himself, choosing a different kind of story, instead of the usual revenge story. Most actors try and choose different scripts, and i can understand if Statham feels the same way. Wild Card is not original in any way, or give us many surprises. What makes this film work is thanks to director Simon West, who directed the action classic Con Air, and worked with Statham on The Expendables 2. He seems to want to make a different revenge film, where Statham use his brain more than his fists. This is actually a remake of the 1986 film Heat with Burt Reynolds. I have seen the original film many years ago, but since i don´t remember exactly everything about Heat, i can´t compare these films. I would say that Wild Card manage to deliver, in it´s own way. This is not Jason Statham´s best film, there are other titles i would recommend over this one. But i suggest you give it a try, mostly because this is a very different character to see Statham do on screen. Maybe i should head down to Casino Cosmopol in Sundsvall and try my luck ? Oh what the hell, if it goes bad, i can always hit the bar, whiskey always makes everything better.
Rating: DDD
söndag 5 april 2015
Zombie Killers: Elephant´s Graveyard
Once upon a time in Sweden, we got ourself a tv show called Svenska Hollywoodfruar. The basic idea with the show is to use rich Swedish women, living in America, trying to look great. Recently i clicked on the tv and saw Gunilla Persson, one of the Hollywood wives, calling porn stars for Satan´s work, that this is evil. Well, i would like to think that the real work behind Satan is actually called Dansband Music. Don´t know what this is ? Good, you don´t need to know. Once you come in contact with Dansband, you might have to go through exorcism. Is it actually this dangerous ? Yes, ask the people of the Vatican in Rome, they can confirm this. They do exorcism on Dansband Demons every year. Those of you who have read my reviews over the years, knows my passion for zombie films. I don´t see all the zombie releases that comes out every year, simply because some of them don´t look very interesting. Sometimes i do get surprised, like earlier this year, when i watched the Australian zombie film Wyrmwood. A very fun and stylish B movie, you should check it out on dvd. When i can, i try and check out some of the latest releases in the zombie genre, just to see what is coming out. One of the most fun details i look for is the cast list. If there are some classic B movie actors on board, it could be a fun film. That is not a guarantee though, sometimes these actors do make some bad choices. One of the dvd´s i am excited to see right now, is the first season of SyFy channel tv series Z Nation, a smaller budget tv series about a zombie outbreak. We all know that SyFy have delivered high quality many times to us, especially with the Sharknado franchise. A couple a days ago, i came across a new zombie film called Zombie Killers: Elephant´s Grave. Just the title makes me realise that, this will be a big sale success in Ica Maxi ,Linköping. So why in Linköping of all places ? They have good taste in B films, this is confirmed by Konsumentverket. With a cast of Billy Zane and Dee Wallace, you realise that we do have some fun here after all. Dee Wallace have been is a hell of a lot of B films over the years, one of my personal favourites with her is the 2009 film The House Of The Devil. We all know Billy Zane, he was The Phantom in the movie adaption from the combic book character, and he did a great performance in Demon Knight, the first feature film based on Tales From The Crypt. He also landed a role in Titanic with a young Leonardo Di Caprio. Since then he have been stuck in the B movie industry, doing some fun releases, while others are forgettable. With these 2 legendary actors, in a zombie film, do we get a surprisingly fun ride, or should we forget about this release instantly ?
The whole world is invaded by zombies. Some people have managed to survive, using weapons and technology to try and find a way out. In a forest camp, a group of soldiers go under their leader Seiler ( Billy Zane ), who try and teach everyone how to survive, no matter how many zombies attack. A religious cult group, led by Lia ( Felissa Rose ), try to convince former member Rory ( Brian Gallagher ) to join them again. He refuse, and think she is crazy. Lia still thinks she knows how they will all survive. without guns, all they need is faith. While more zombies are finding Seiler´s camp, they realise that they might not survive. They will need to use all the skills they have.
Don´t expect many surprises, or some really good special effects. Zombie Killers: Elephant´s Graveyard is almost as predictable as Robinson Robban´s career. You know what you get, with very few fresh details. It would be best to say that Zombie Killers: Elephant´s Graveyard looks exactly like a lot of other zombie films, with no big surprise. This is a rule i have, for all zombie film makers, try and be creative and do something unusual. Look at Wyrmwood as an example, to mix Mad Max style with a zombie invasion proves that some film makers are still trying to do a nice package. With this film i never felt that director Harrison Smith, even tried to be original. Is it fun to see Billy Zane kill zombies ? Sure, but not enough to bring the film some quality. I have seen a lot worse zombie releases than this one, but with a cast like this, there could have been a lot of details that should be better. There are elements of the tv series The Walking Dead, as we follow different characters lives. To make characters interesting, you need some good acting included, we don´t find it here. But there is one original scene here, have you ever seen zombie fishes attack ? An original idea, but since the special effects look awful on the fishes, this could have been done much better. The acting from most part is not very good, i would say that Billy Zane is the only one who makes his character feel any interesting. You don´t find out much about what happened before the zombie invasion, you are simply thrown in to this ordinary plot. Zombie Killers: Elephant´s Graveyard does nothing new, or give us something we will remember. What saves this film from being awful, is the fact that there is story to be told, unfortunately director Harrison Smith does not use this story effective. If you love zombies, you could probably watch this. I would still prefer a lot of other releases, especially Wyrmwood.
Rating: DD
The whole world is invaded by zombies. Some people have managed to survive, using weapons and technology to try and find a way out. In a forest camp, a group of soldiers go under their leader Seiler ( Billy Zane ), who try and teach everyone how to survive, no matter how many zombies attack. A religious cult group, led by Lia ( Felissa Rose ), try to convince former member Rory ( Brian Gallagher ) to join them again. He refuse, and think she is crazy. Lia still thinks she knows how they will all survive. without guns, all they need is faith. While more zombies are finding Seiler´s camp, they realise that they might not survive. They will need to use all the skills they have.
Don´t expect many surprises, or some really good special effects. Zombie Killers: Elephant´s Graveyard is almost as predictable as Robinson Robban´s career. You know what you get, with very few fresh details. It would be best to say that Zombie Killers: Elephant´s Graveyard looks exactly like a lot of other zombie films, with no big surprise. This is a rule i have, for all zombie film makers, try and be creative and do something unusual. Look at Wyrmwood as an example, to mix Mad Max style with a zombie invasion proves that some film makers are still trying to do a nice package. With this film i never felt that director Harrison Smith, even tried to be original. Is it fun to see Billy Zane kill zombies ? Sure, but not enough to bring the film some quality. I have seen a lot worse zombie releases than this one, but with a cast like this, there could have been a lot of details that should be better. There are elements of the tv series The Walking Dead, as we follow different characters lives. To make characters interesting, you need some good acting included, we don´t find it here. But there is one original scene here, have you ever seen zombie fishes attack ? An original idea, but since the special effects look awful on the fishes, this could have been done much better. The acting from most part is not very good, i would say that Billy Zane is the only one who makes his character feel any interesting. You don´t find out much about what happened before the zombie invasion, you are simply thrown in to this ordinary plot. Zombie Killers: Elephant´s Graveyard does nothing new, or give us something we will remember. What saves this film from being awful, is the fact that there is story to be told, unfortunately director Harrison Smith does not use this story effective. If you love zombies, you could probably watch this. I would still prefer a lot of other releases, especially Wyrmwood.
Rating: DD
lördag 4 april 2015
Seventh Son
Every year, there are so many releases of medieval films, or films that mix science fiction with medival styles. You know exactly what you will get, sword fighting, monsters or dragons, sorcery and of course beautiful women ( because in the medieval times, women always looked great, even if make up did not exist ). Film conventions worldwide seems to love this genre, and dress up like certain characters, including from Lord Of The Rings of course. And i admit, i did grew up watching Hercules with Kevin Sorbo, and Xena : Warrior Princess, and similar shows on tv. Hell, i even tried to watch Conan The Barbarian - The Series, and i could not watch more than 2 episodes......because it was horrible. There are actually some fun B movies that mix medieval style with horror, especially the 90´s classic Army Of Darkness. If you have not seen this one, Jesus will punish you for sure, i know. Everyone loves Bruce Campbell, and if someone says they don´t ? Well, they are lying, just because Eric Saade told them not to tell the truth. Even if there are most low budget films released in this genre, we do have some bigger budget films released that try and mix it all together. Does anyone of you remember Eragon ? failed at the box office, but hang on, there are exceptions. Did you know that Season Of The Witch with Nicolas Cage actually made a profit, and was not a box office bomb ? It is true, check online if you don´t belive me. I know that Nicolas Cage recently released another sword fighting film lately called Outpost, have not seen it yet, but critics have told us to avoid it. I can´t understand why, besides, does not Nicolas Cage always make great films ? Anyway, let´s take a look at a new fantasty, sci fi film with Jeff Bridges. It is not R.I.P.D.2, so don´t worry, if that will be made, we will guaranteed see Uwe Boll direct it. Have you ever dreamed of seeing Jeff Bridges and Julianne Moore in a fantasty film ? Well, i think you will be happy now. They are both in the new film Seventh Son, that seems to be a mix of everything, including fights, and sorcery. Sounds like a great combination right ? After a very short run in the theatres, i had to take a look at Seventh Son, to see if this would be any good at all. With a great cast, and the director of Mongol, is this a fantasy film that will be respected among fans, or is this a failure from start to finish ?
The malevolent witch Mother Malkin ( Julianne Moore ), is imprisoned in a chamber by Master Gregory ( Jeff Bridges ). He is the last of a knightly order known as the Spooks, who defend humans from supernatural threats. Years go by, while Mother Malkin is still locked up. Until one night, when the beginning of a centennial event known as the Blood Moon, give her enough power to break free. Master Gregory finds out that Malkin is loose. Gregory manage to find Malkin again, with the help of his apprentice Billy Bradley ( Kit Harington ). Malik have posessed a little girl, but they manage to get her out of the girls body, and try to trap her. They fail, and Malkin take over Billy, letting him burn alive. Gregory realise that he needs to find The seventh son of a seventh son Tom Ward ( Ben Barnes ), to stop Malkin. Gregory travel to the home of Tom, where he offers Tom´s mother money if he can go with him on this journey. Tom recognize Gregory from his dreams, where he have visions of Gregory and a mysterious girl. On their journey, Tom finds the girl that he dreamed of, her name is Alice Deane ( Alicia Vikander ). She is about to be burned, as a mob think she is a witch. Tom manage to help her out of the situation, as she tell him about Gregory´s last apprentice. She suddenly dissapear, and Tom continue the journey with Gregory. Malkin is becoming more powerful, and she must be stopped.
I am quite shocked that Julianne Moore is in this film. Remember that she won an Oscar for best female actor in Still Alice ? I can´t say that she does a great performance here, well, at least she is better than some of the other actors. Jeff Bridges, who also won an Academy Award for best male actor in Crazy Heart, is also here. With 2 actors with so much potential, to end up in a film like Seventh Son, you realise that they must have been paid good to say they would do this . So is it any good ? Honestly ? No. I have seen worse films in this genre, but even if we have good actors, does not change the quality of the film. If i would say i prefer Season Of The With in front ot Seventh Son, you might be shocked. Let´s just say that the combination of Nicolas Cage and Ron Pearlman was more fun. And who does not want to see Nicolas Cage with a " Hockeyfrilla " swinging a sword ? That´s right, a combination like that could never go wrong. If there is one thing that Seventh Son, manage to do right, is to bring out acting, at least better than what we got from Scary Movie 5. The plot is not anything we need to talk about, it is about as trimmed as Tom Selleck´s mustasche. If you are reading this Tom Selleck, remember you are the greatest, just so you know. So is there anything that i do like ? Well, not much, but you do get to laugh hearing Jeff Bridges accent, with the goat beard. I wish he could wear the same costume and use the same accent at Wasa Museum in Stockholm, that would be splendid. Some of the action sequences might be fun to watch, sometimes, but not because it looks good. This is more of a fantasty film, where you can laugh, because of cheesy special effects, and bad dialogue. Director Sergei Bodrov, who directed the very powerful russian semi-historical film Mongol, have tried to make Seventh Son a more traditional fantasty film. But he should have changed this concept, considering he managed to make Mongol look so good. With his latest film, he fails to capture that feeling, and the acting is not very good at all. I begin to wonder if he really was pleased with the final results, if this did not turn out as he expected. Either way, it is too late to change now. Seventh Son is not a disaster, we can have a good laugh about this film at least. There are plenty of fantasty films i would see over this one, but if you love fantasty you might have some fun with this.
Rating: DD
The malevolent witch Mother Malkin ( Julianne Moore ), is imprisoned in a chamber by Master Gregory ( Jeff Bridges ). He is the last of a knightly order known as the Spooks, who defend humans from supernatural threats. Years go by, while Mother Malkin is still locked up. Until one night, when the beginning of a centennial event known as the Blood Moon, give her enough power to break free. Master Gregory finds out that Malkin is loose. Gregory manage to find Malkin again, with the help of his apprentice Billy Bradley ( Kit Harington ). Malik have posessed a little girl, but they manage to get her out of the girls body, and try to trap her. They fail, and Malkin take over Billy, letting him burn alive. Gregory realise that he needs to find The seventh son of a seventh son Tom Ward ( Ben Barnes ), to stop Malkin. Gregory travel to the home of Tom, where he offers Tom´s mother money if he can go with him on this journey. Tom recognize Gregory from his dreams, where he have visions of Gregory and a mysterious girl. On their journey, Tom finds the girl that he dreamed of, her name is Alice Deane ( Alicia Vikander ). She is about to be burned, as a mob think she is a witch. Tom manage to help her out of the situation, as she tell him about Gregory´s last apprentice. She suddenly dissapear, and Tom continue the journey with Gregory. Malkin is becoming more powerful, and she must be stopped.
I am quite shocked that Julianne Moore is in this film. Remember that she won an Oscar for best female actor in Still Alice ? I can´t say that she does a great performance here, well, at least she is better than some of the other actors. Jeff Bridges, who also won an Academy Award for best male actor in Crazy Heart, is also here. With 2 actors with so much potential, to end up in a film like Seventh Son, you realise that they must have been paid good to say they would do this . So is it any good ? Honestly ? No. I have seen worse films in this genre, but even if we have good actors, does not change the quality of the film. If i would say i prefer Season Of The With in front ot Seventh Son, you might be shocked. Let´s just say that the combination of Nicolas Cage and Ron Pearlman was more fun. And who does not want to see Nicolas Cage with a " Hockeyfrilla " swinging a sword ? That´s right, a combination like that could never go wrong. If there is one thing that Seventh Son, manage to do right, is to bring out acting, at least better than what we got from Scary Movie 5. The plot is not anything we need to talk about, it is about as trimmed as Tom Selleck´s mustasche. If you are reading this Tom Selleck, remember you are the greatest, just so you know. So is there anything that i do like ? Well, not much, but you do get to laugh hearing Jeff Bridges accent, with the goat beard. I wish he could wear the same costume and use the same accent at Wasa Museum in Stockholm, that would be splendid. Some of the action sequences might be fun to watch, sometimes, but not because it looks good. This is more of a fantasty film, where you can laugh, because of cheesy special effects, and bad dialogue. Director Sergei Bodrov, who directed the very powerful russian semi-historical film Mongol, have tried to make Seventh Son a more traditional fantasty film. But he should have changed this concept, considering he managed to make Mongol look so good. With his latest film, he fails to capture that feeling, and the acting is not very good at all. I begin to wonder if he really was pleased with the final results, if this did not turn out as he expected. Either way, it is too late to change now. Seventh Son is not a disaster, we can have a good laugh about this film at least. There are plenty of fantasty films i would see over this one, but if you love fantasty you might have some fun with this.
Rating: DD
fredag 3 april 2015
Little Accidents
Every year, worldwide, missing teenagers dissapear from their family homes, or outside on the streets. Some return safely, some are never found, while some are found dead. Not knowing what happened to your child, must be every parents worst nightmare. Even worse to find out your child is found dead. I can never imagine how this would feel like, until the day i have my own child. When you read almost every week that a child or teenager is missing, in different countries, you realise that this will never end. All you can do is hope that all of them will return safely to their homes, even if the chances are not very big. There are of course many reasons why some teenagers go missing. It could be that they are sick and tired of their parents, they want to discover the world on their own, unfortunately there are a lot of cases where a crime took place. Thankfully a lot of people are willing to help families, searching for the missing child, and also give information to the police, so every important detail can make a big difference. There are plenty of motion pictures that take on the subject of missing children. Many of you probably have seen the amazing film Prisoners, or perhaps you might have read my review on Devil´s Knot. Even if i did not find Devil´s Knot to be very good, i still find the true story of the murdered young boys very disturbing. It seemed that police have arrested the wrong child killers, and 3 young men spend so many years in prison for something they did not do. There is still a lot of controversy around this case, and i have a feeling there will be for a very long time. Little Accidents is a new film, that is said to bring on the subject of a missing young boy, in a small american town. This is not based on a true story, from what i know, but that does not really matter. After some positive reviews on Film Festivals worldwide, i decided to take a look at Small Accidents, to see if i might be surprised. Is this independent film exactly what we needed right now after some bad releases from major studios, or is this release nothing out of the ordinary to remember ?
A coal mine accident take out 10 lives in an american small town. Only one man survives, Amos Jenkins ( Boyd Holbrook ), as he tries to deal with the pain of what happened, and knowing he lost all his work friends. Each day he wakes up, not knowing what to do, as he tries to accept he have to move on with his life. Owen ( Jacob Lowland ) and his little brother James ( Beau Bright ) head into the woods, to see tough boy Justin ( Grant Bauman ) and his friend playing with fireworks, and drinking beer. Owen stole 2 beers to impress the boys, but they don´t care about him and his brother. At some point, Owen can not shut up and accuse Justin´s father Bill Doyle ( Josh Lucas ) for the mine accident. They begin to fight, and it all ends with Justin hit his head in a rock. Justin is dead, and Owen tries to keep this a secret, telling his brother not to say a word. Justin´s mother Diane Doyle ( Elizabeth Banks ), can´t sleep, and tries to find a meaning to go on with life, not knowing where her son is. Her relationship with Bill is fading away, as she is getting closer to Amos, after they meet at Bible meetings. When the truth is about to come out what happened to Justin, and the truth of the mine accident, this town will never be the same again.
American small towns are having a hard time to survive these days. Little Accidents is a great example of that, when you have a mine, that most of the people work at, and a tragedy happens that shut it all down, until the investigation is done. The story of the missing boy that the film focus on, does not mean that the plot is too simple. We also get to see the pain of the town citizens, who try and handle the grief of losing their loved ones who died in the mines. With 2 such devastating tragedies, it is not hard too understand everyone is affected in many ways. Little Accidents do not break any new grounds, but the stories that are combined together makes a big effort to keep us interested. On one side you know what happened to the boy, knowing that it was an accident. On the other side you understand the pain of the society, who are angry that their rich mine boss. He is living a luxary life, while poor people are killed and don´t get much at all for this tragedy. Society today world wide is very split. We have the rich people, the people who can afford to live but not over their budget, and we have the poor people. I am somewhere between, but for me money is not the most important thing in life. You have to be confident about yourself, your friends and your family. Who owns the luxary house or a sports car does not matter at all. While watching Little Accidents, you realise how important it is to have loved ones around you in hard times. Director Sarah Colangelo, have only directed short films in the past. Actually her short film from 2010, have the same name as this film, Little Accidents. The difference is that the stories are different from each other. Little Accidents is her first full feature film, and with a cast of Elizabeth Banks, Chloe Sevigny, among others, shows that she is off for a good start. I find myself intrigued about this small town, and the people. I would say that The Place Beyond The Pines is a much more powerful dramatic film, if you want to see fantastic performances. Still, i think director Sarah Colangelo manage to put the pieces together is a effective way. The acting may not be really good, in all characters. One of those who do deliver a good performance is Boyd Holbrook, being the survivor Amos from the mine accident. Nice to see Elizabeth Banks do a different character , as the mother of the lost child. This may not be her best performance so far, but i still feel that she manage to deliver. James Defrost Parker should be mentioned also, he feels very natural as the father of Amos. Little Accidents is an independent film, with a lot of emotional pain. How do we handle grief when something happens that was not expected ? I would have wanted an ever deeper view into these emotions, we simply touch the surface here. This is still good enough to recommend Little Accidents, a small film that will leave you thinking, what matters most in our lives.
Rating: DDD
A coal mine accident take out 10 lives in an american small town. Only one man survives, Amos Jenkins ( Boyd Holbrook ), as he tries to deal with the pain of what happened, and knowing he lost all his work friends. Each day he wakes up, not knowing what to do, as he tries to accept he have to move on with his life. Owen ( Jacob Lowland ) and his little brother James ( Beau Bright ) head into the woods, to see tough boy Justin ( Grant Bauman ) and his friend playing with fireworks, and drinking beer. Owen stole 2 beers to impress the boys, but they don´t care about him and his brother. At some point, Owen can not shut up and accuse Justin´s father Bill Doyle ( Josh Lucas ) for the mine accident. They begin to fight, and it all ends with Justin hit his head in a rock. Justin is dead, and Owen tries to keep this a secret, telling his brother not to say a word. Justin´s mother Diane Doyle ( Elizabeth Banks ), can´t sleep, and tries to find a meaning to go on with life, not knowing where her son is. Her relationship with Bill is fading away, as she is getting closer to Amos, after they meet at Bible meetings. When the truth is about to come out what happened to Justin, and the truth of the mine accident, this town will never be the same again.
American small towns are having a hard time to survive these days. Little Accidents is a great example of that, when you have a mine, that most of the people work at, and a tragedy happens that shut it all down, until the investigation is done. The story of the missing boy that the film focus on, does not mean that the plot is too simple. We also get to see the pain of the town citizens, who try and handle the grief of losing their loved ones who died in the mines. With 2 such devastating tragedies, it is not hard too understand everyone is affected in many ways. Little Accidents do not break any new grounds, but the stories that are combined together makes a big effort to keep us interested. On one side you know what happened to the boy, knowing that it was an accident. On the other side you understand the pain of the society, who are angry that their rich mine boss. He is living a luxary life, while poor people are killed and don´t get much at all for this tragedy. Society today world wide is very split. We have the rich people, the people who can afford to live but not over their budget, and we have the poor people. I am somewhere between, but for me money is not the most important thing in life. You have to be confident about yourself, your friends and your family. Who owns the luxary house or a sports car does not matter at all. While watching Little Accidents, you realise how important it is to have loved ones around you in hard times. Director Sarah Colangelo, have only directed short films in the past. Actually her short film from 2010, have the same name as this film, Little Accidents. The difference is that the stories are different from each other. Little Accidents is her first full feature film, and with a cast of Elizabeth Banks, Chloe Sevigny, among others, shows that she is off for a good start. I find myself intrigued about this small town, and the people. I would say that The Place Beyond The Pines is a much more powerful dramatic film, if you want to see fantastic performances. Still, i think director Sarah Colangelo manage to put the pieces together is a effective way. The acting may not be really good, in all characters. One of those who do deliver a good performance is Boyd Holbrook, being the survivor Amos from the mine accident. Nice to see Elizabeth Banks do a different character , as the mother of the lost child. This may not be her best performance so far, but i still feel that she manage to deliver. James Defrost Parker should be mentioned also, he feels very natural as the father of Amos. Little Accidents is an independent film, with a lot of emotional pain. How do we handle grief when something happens that was not expected ? I would have wanted an ever deeper view into these emotions, we simply touch the surface here. This is still good enough to recommend Little Accidents, a small film that will leave you thinking, what matters most in our lives.
Rating: DDD
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