Zombie Mania- 28 Days Later

I have noticed the craze of zombies in film and TV lately and I saw a film last night that does a good job at showing a zombie apocalypse. That film is 28 Days Later. The film stars Cillian Murphy, Naomie Harris (from Pirates of the Caribbean, After the Sunset), Christopher Eccleston, and Brendan Gleeson.The plot is in a top secret British lab, peace activists release a monkey infected with a highly powerful and contagious test virus called "Rage", despite the pleadings of the scientist in charge of operations. 28 days later, the infection has spread from one monkey to the majority of the UK, the host of the virus is lost in a murderous state, losing all logic and instinct. Jim (Murphy), a bicycle courier, wakes up from his coma in an empty hospital, to find that the streets have been heavily littered and are empty. His fear began when he saw no one. His terror erupted when he realized he wasn't alone. This film is directed by "Slumdog Millionaire" director Danny Boyle and is an amazing depiction of a viral zombie outbreak similar to "I Am Legend". The zombies are fast and ruthless and the use if no music when a zombie is about to attack is very powerful. You feel the danger and vulnerability that these survivors with how easy it is to catch this virus. I loved a camera shot where we see the reflection of all the corpses in a window as the protagonist Jim is riding in a car   It is rated R for some extreme violence, gore, language, and male and female nudity including male full frontal. Now I liked the movie up to a point.

**Spoilers**

When the survivors find a fully operational military base and feel that they are safe the movie I felt took a total different direction and it wasn't so much about survival but about what mankind can become if they don't have the scruples and ethics. But the problem I had with this is it has only been 28 days since the outbreak. I doubt a military would become rapists and murderers within that short amount of time. 

**End Spoilers**

I have seen a good share of zombie films and TV including "I Am Legend", "Night of the Living Dead", "Zombieland", and "The Walking Dead" and this is a scenario that is very real and scary. I would not want to be in this world and the director really made you fear for the survivors lives. I recommend viewing this film just for the camera work that Boyle achieves and the first half of the film where you feel like if the survivirs will ever be safe

The American

So we got a chance to watch "The American" on Blu-ray that we rented on Netflix. This was an amazingly shot film. Basically it is about an American assassin (George Clooney) who goes by just Jack to his superior and other assassins, across seas who is trying to find resolve in his life. We open in snow covered Sweden where Jack is taking a break between gigs. After an unexpected ambush he decides to contact his control, Pavel who sends him to a remote location but doesn't feel a good vibe so ends up in a small Italian town called Castelvecchio assuming the role of a magazine photographer waiting for his control to take care of the problem in Sweden. While waiting the control has another job for him involving the construction of a special weapon for a Belgian assassin named Mathilde. While doing this he comes into the aquantance of a local priest Father Benedetto and a relationship with a local prostitute, Clara. Things start to heat up when he is being followed and we wonder if it is time for him to get out. The movie is very slow if you are looking for an action shoot em up type movie then this one isn't for you. It is a slow moving thriller that makes you feel like the character is always looking over his shoulder to see if he is going to get a bullet between the eyes or if someone is following his every move. You feel like he doesn't know who he can trust even his closest relationships. George Clooney is the only really recognizable actor in the film. There is alot of ambient background and enviromental sounds and not a whole lot of dialogue in the film. There is a good fair amount of nudity giving it the R rating but the movie overall is is really good thriller. I give it three shotguns out of five.

Sweeney Todd Review

Another musical has made it onto the big screen. Now most of these musicals I haven't even seen on stage so I can't say whether they do justice to the original theatrical production. I've heard of Sweeney Todd and how dark and morbid of a musical it is but I had no idea how dark it was until I watched it. You will definitely get sick of seeing arterial spray coming out of slit throats which is the reason why it has it's R rating. The blood isn't realistic looking which is a good thing. They used orange paint for the blood which is in respect to the theatre version which also used the same effect. With its rivers of blood, this adaptation of the Stephen Sondheim musical isn't for the faint of heart--or stomach. Johnny Depp stars as Benjamin Barker aka Sweeney Todd, a barber falsely imprisoned by Judge Turpin (Alan Rickman). After leaving prison, he comes back to Victorian London to find his wife poisoned and his daughter held captive. As he plots his revenge, Sweeney joins forces with Mrs. Lovett (Helena Bonham Carter), and while he preys on clients asking for a shave, his new partner turns the bodies into baked goods. But the judge still lives, and the razor-wielding madman wants his vengeance. Who would of thought that Johnny Depp could sing and sing well at that. The songs in the film are addicting and is the best horror musical in my opinion since Little Shop of Horrors. The gore does make you wince when you witness the first throat being slit in detail and hearing the thud and crack of bodies as they are dumped down the chute. This is Johnny Depp's best performace as an actor to date. You can truely feel his rage and pain of a shell of a man bent on revenge. It also has a very good moral of revenge best being served cold. If you don't mind the blood and gore it is a very good adaptation of a musical

Some Sequel News

So those of you who don't know,they are making a 4th installment of Indiana Jones. So far it has Harrison Ford and Cate Blanchett. Sean Connery and John Rhys-Davies are also rumored to be in it as Henry Jones and Sallah respectively. No title has been given but Indiana will be acting his age 64(or around there) and one of the locations looks to be a waterfall. A trailer for the film will be released around Thanksgiving. It is being directed by Steven Spielberg
Speaking of Spielberg. It looks like he wants Laura Dern (Ellie Sattler) to reprise her role and return to the island in the 4th Jurrasic Park film. The film looks like it will be released in 2008

Transformers,more than meets the eye

So I saw some pics of the new Transformers movie and these are not the Transformers that we played with when we were kids. The first two photos are posters for the film. The first one is Optimus Prime,the Autobot leader(the good guys) and the second is Megatron, the Decepticon leader(the bad guys). The next three are from the film itself. The first one is Bonecrusher and Optimus Prime doing battle against each other.The second is Barricade menacing Sam Witwicky (Shia LaBeouf), and the third is Bonecrusher going on a destructive rampage

Reviews on Eragon, Blood Diamond, and Rocky Balboa

I know it has been what more than six months since I last posted, but hopefully that will change,starting now. I saw three distinct yet different movies recently. The first one was a fantasy epic based on a young adult novel called Eragon. The title refers to a orphaned young man's name and his destiny to become a dragon rider. A mystic blue stone lands in his path, yet this stone is no ordinary stone it is the last surving egg of a majestic dragon race. Eragon becomes a savior to the repressed people of Alagaesia a kingdom ruled by the wicked King Galbatorix played by John Malkovich and his evil shade Durza played very well by Robert Carlyle. He comes across a man named Brom played by Jeremy Irons who becomes a mentor to Eragon in training to be a rider for his dragon Saphira voiced by Rachel Weisz. Now I am a big Lord of the Rings fan and I didn't feel it meet the caliber of those films, but it was really good. I haven't read the book so I can't compare it but I was genuinely entertained. The film starts out with a voice over by Irons as he descibes what happened to the great dragon riders, and seeing dragons soaring across the sky breathing fire at one another is breathtaking.It gets your attention at the get go.
The next movie I saw was called Blood Diamond. I believe the title has a double meaning. First meaning the pinkish color of the diamond and the amount of blood spilled over conflictdiamonds. The movie is set against the backdrop of civil war in 1990's Sierra Leone in Africa. It is the story of Danny Archer played by Leonardo DiCaprio-an ex Mercenary turned smuggler from Zimbabwe, and Solomon Vandy played by Djimon Hounsou-a Mende fisherman. Both men are African, but come from different paths until their fates become joined to recover a rare pink diamond that can change there lives one for the better the other for the worse. This film was an eyeopener for me. If it is completely accurate, it amazes me how much the media keeps from us Americans with the events that occured in Africa during the 90's. We were so focused on Monicagate that we had no idea what kind of violence was occuring in these countries and over something as simple as diamonds. DiCaprio's accent was really good and very believable. The film is R for extreme amounts of violence,but nothing too gory, and the occasional use of the F bomb. I recommend it just to understand what these countries were going through during this time. During our civil war we didn't have these devistating automatic weapons.
The last film I want to review is a sequel. I thought I was going to see a movie that was beating a dead horse. I was wrong. The film was Rocky Balboa, the sixth and final Rocky film. I wasn't sure that I wanted to see an aged Rocky struggle with an oxygen tank in the ring again. In the previous film he wan't even in the ring.However this one did justice in closing out the series. In a way it comes full circle. Rocky played by Sylvester Stallone is living a lonely life after the passing of his wife Adrian and the estragement from his son Robert Jr played by 'Heroes 'Milo Ventimiglia. But when a computer simulated fight pits his formal prime self against the current unfeated champion mason Dixon played by real boxer Antonio Tarver) Rocky feels the need to return to the ring one last time. His brother in law Paulie played by Burt Young returns as well the only other actor to make the full journey. The film gave me a nostalgic feeling as if going back to the first film. The underdog gets a break because of a publicity stunt and Rocky shows America he still has a heart on fire
`Now as far as news goes. It looks like Ocean's 13 has a poster out. It looks like it is being released on June 8th of this year. I liked the first two films so this should be somewhat good. It looks like Al Pacino is the new character in this one. You can see the rest of the photos at http://www.comingsoon.net/cgi-bin/imageFolio.cgi?direct=Action/Oceans_13

United 93

I finally got a chance to see the film "United 93". It is directed by the same guy who directed "Bourne Supremacy". For those who don't know what it is about.In summary, it is a real life account of events that happened on September 11,2001 including the hijacking of flight United 93 which eventually crashed near Shanksville,Pennsylvania as passengers attempted to foil the terrorists plans.
What I loved about this film was the realism involved. I went along like I was watching the events occur for the first time. We see the passengers,hijackers etc but there was no background given to me to know more about them. It was as if I was there with them getting to know them as the events unfolded. The realism was also attributed to the fact that unknown actors were used to portray the passengers and terrorists. Also the real air traffic controllers and military were also used which accredited to it's realism. The films switches back and forth between onboard the plane, the National Air Traffic Control Tower,airport control towers,regional air traffic stations, and a miltary command center.We see what they see when it happens. The film goes through the events starting with the terrorists preparing the previos evening to the moment United 93 hit the ground. What was really amazing is watching out the window as the ground comes closer and closer till blackness and we have the end of the film in the same manner it started.
A couple of scenes that really stick out to me are when we are in one of the air traffic control towers and we see a blip with the words American 11 moving and then it vanishes. This gave me the chills knowing that the reason it vanished was because it had hit the north tower of the World Trade Center. And the next thing you know you seen the towers in a distance from that tower and see smoke coming from it's side. Another scene that struck me is when everyone is calling their loved ones to say goodbye. That was really powerful. In all I reommend people to see this movie to see how unprepared we were when this happened and to see the heroism involved with those passengers who attempted to thwart an evil plan set into motion only to give their lives. United 93 is R for language and some scenes of intense horror and violence