Monthly Archives: March 2013
The Raid: Redemption (2011)
The Raid: Redemption (2011)
The Raid: Redemption is an absolute explosion. The movie kicks like an energy drink.
I had heard that the movie was really good, but I did not know what it was about before watching it. The only thing that I did know was that Mike Shinoda of LinkinPark and Joseph Trapanese developed the soundtrack for the movie. They collaborated with Chino Moreno the lead singer of Deftones (one of my favorite singers and one of my favorite bands) and he contributes his awesome vocals to the first song in the ending credits called “Razors.Out”. Being the big Chino Moreno fan that I am, I had downloaded the song off of iTunes before I had even heard of The Raid: Redemption. The song meshes the sound of Linkin Park with Deftones. I was bummed that they didn’t make a whole album together because it was pretty sweet.
The movie was filmed in Indonesia and the entire thing is subtitled, or you can choose to watch it dubbed over in English. There is not much to the story, but with this type of action movie that makes no difference at all. If you are the type of person that does not enjoy watching foreign films because of subtitles or for any other reason, I strongly suggest that you give this film a chance. You will quickly forget that you are reading subtitles or that the words you hear don’t match the lips on screen. I cannot think of a movie that has more action throughout than this one. I was very pleasantly surprised when I watched this movie. So much so, that I actually watched it twice in the last couple of months. This film came out of nowhere. It snuck up on me and punched my mind in the face.
The film is about a squad of 20 heavily armed cops who raid a 30 floor apartment building that is home to a drug kingpin and his ruthless gang. The apartment building has security surveillance cameras and the tenants have plenty of firepower of their own. When the bullets start running out, that is when the real action begins.
There are many similarities between this movie and Dredd (2012). To read my review of Dredd (2012) click on this link. The biggest difference between the two films is that The Raid: Redemption is a far superior film.
The fighting sequences and action in the film were nothing less than amazing. There is a little overuse of swearing, but the stress that these people are facing justifies it all. There are martial arts like I have never seen. There is blood, guts, violence, guns, weapons, fighting, fighting, and more fighting. The story is not as solid as it otherwise could be. They took out all of the stops and made this a full-fledged action movie, so really the story does not matter too much. On the other hand, if the writing had been a little bit better the movie could have easily been a 10.
Being that it is a foreign film, the cast and filmmakers will be a bunch of people that you probably have never heard of, but I’m going to list them anyway.
It was written and directed by Gareth Evans. The main stars of the film are Iko Uwais, Joe Taslim, Donny Alamsyah, Yayan Ruhian, Pierre Gruno, Ray Sahetapy, Tegar Satrya, Iang Darmawan, Eka ‘Piranha’ Rahmadia, and Verdi Solaiman.
I rate this movie a 9 on a scale of 1-10.
Buy, rent, or run? Buy.
Click on the link below to check out the teaser trailer to the sequel to The Raid: Redemption, it’s called The Raid 2: Berandal (2014).
If you liked The Raid: Redemption, then you will probably enjoy:
Trailer for Scary Movie 5 (2013)
Scary Movie 5 (2013)
Even though we have probably had way too much Scary Movie, they have made a 5th one and it’s coming soon. The first three movies in this series certainly had their moments of laughter, but 4 was too many in my opinion. Now they have made a 5th?
This movie does look pretty stupid, but I did find it funny that Charlie Sheen was making fun of himself in the preview.
Some of the recognizable cast are as follows:
Lindsay Lohan, Charlie Sheen, Terry Crews, Ashley Tisdale, Kate Walsh, Jerry O’Connell, Molly Shannon, Heather Locklear, Chris Elliot, Simon Rex, Mike Tyson, Kendra Wilkinson, and Katt Williams.
I think that I’ll miss this one in the theatre, but maybe catch it on DVD at some point.
Set to release 4/12/13
Trailer for After Earth (2013)
After Earth (2013)
Will Smith and his son Jaden Smith crash land onto planet earth about a thousand years after humans left the planet. It has had a thousand years to evolve.
M. Night Shyamalan directs. He is known for his shocking endings in his movies. I wonder if he will continue that trend.
This looks like an exciting movie filled with crazy special effects.
Will Smith is definitely keeping the money in the family and teaming up with his son for a summer blockbuster. I wonder how much money they will make for this movie combined.
The film also stars Zoe Kravits, another person who would not be famous if it weren’t for her father, Lenny Kravits.
Isabelle Fuhrman, Sophie Okonedo, and Glenn Morshower also star.
Set to release on 6/7/13.
Dead Man Down (2013)
Dead Man Down (2013)
Dead Man Down is a tale about grief, pain, and especially revenge. The film is a bit of a puzzle. I especially enjoy movies that make you think and figure things out for yourself instead of spelling it all out for you. This story pieces itself together little by little as events unfold and eventually everything becomes clear. By doing this, the movie keeps your attention because you are focused on what will happen next.
Colin Farrell plays a man who is blackmailed by his neighbor (Noomi Rapace) after she witnesses him commit murder. She now wants him to kill for her and get revenge on the man who has wronged her.
The film is directed by Niels Arden Oplev who is most known for directing the original foreign version of The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo (2009).
Although the movie was filmed in New York, it has a foreign independent movie feel to it. This is not only because there are a number of foreign actors and actresses in the film, but because the whole movie has an almost exotic feel to it. Instead of focusing on landmarks to tell the viewers where the story is taking place, this movie almost does the opposite. You can tell that it takes place in a big city, but the filmmakers decided to film in less obvious parts of the city. Instead of getting big helicopter views, they give you a view from a rooftop or a balcony. It seems like the story is intentionally confined to a smaller area. Maybe this makes it easier for people all around the world to believe that what is happening in the film could actually be happening in their home town. It is just an interesting aspect of filmmaking that I have never thought of before.
I like Colin Farrell but I am always a little leery of his movies because they are usually hit or miss. Lately he has been choosing his characters a little more wisely (Seven Psychopaths (2012), Total Recall (2012), Horrible Bosses (2011)) and this movie was no exception. His character is a no-nonsense tough guy and he plays the part well.
Terrence Howard brings a lot of energy and charisma to the film. He has a very Denzel Washington-like way of taking over the scenes that he is in and making his presence known. I think that this is his best role since The Brave One (2007).
After watching her delicate performance in the movie, Noomi Rapace has convinced me that I should check out her Dragon Tattoo Trilogy (2010) that she is most known for. Her character in Dead Man Down seemed very genuine.
Armand Assante has basically a cameo appearance. I was a little bummed that he wasn’t in more of the movie.
The movie was a little drawn out at times. Some of the action sequences seemed a little convenient. The story might be a little hard to follow if you’re not paying attention. But, overall it was an entertaining and unique film.
I rate this movie a 7.5 out of 10.
Buy, rent, or run? Rent.
Leonardo DiCaprio’s Impression of Jack Nicholson
Leonardo DiCaprio does an impression of Jack Nicholson during an interview on Japanese television. I thought this was hysterical so I had to post it. I wonder if Leo picked this one up from Jack on the set of The Departed (2006).
Trailer for 6 Souls (2009) Rumored to release 4/5/13
6 Souls (2009) (click on the title for my full review)
It looks like 6 Souls was completed in 2009 and released in the UK in 2010. Now 3 years later it is rumored to be released in the U.S. even though it was originally filmed in the U.S. That is really weird to me that the movie was not released in the U.S. 3 years ago. At the same time, it is a little intriguing and kind of makes me want to see why is was withheld from release for so long.
The movie looks like it could be creepy enough. It got my attention. I would see it. What do you think?
From the preview it looks like the character that Jonathan Rhys Meyers plays has a multiple personality possession disorder of 6 murder victims.
Julianne Moore plays a psychiatrist. This is a role that she played 4 years ago when she was more famous. We just have not been able to see it yet.
Jeffrey DeMunn has a supporting role. He has since gotten a little more popular because of his supporting role in the TV show The Walking Dead (2010).
There has got to be something wrong with this movie otherwise you would think that it would have been released 3 years ago.
Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close (2011)
Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close (2011)
Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close is a tender, heartfelt drama about a boy (Thomas Horn) who tries to keep the memory of his father (Tom Hanks) alive for as long as possible. The boy is completely devastated after his father dies inside of the World Trade Center during the attacks on September 11th, 2001. He finds a key to an unknown lock that belonged to his father and he is prepared to search all of New York City to find out exactly what the key will unlock.
The pace of the film was pretty slow and it allowed for the development of the main characters. It did not have to rely on special effects or action, just actors acting and telling a story.
Tom Hanks and Sandra Bullock both give charming performances in the film, as they usually do. But, their roles were miniscule in comparison to the breakout performance of 14-year-old Thomas Horn. Horn came out of nowhere. He did an excellent job of acting in his first movie ever. The young man was able to carry the majority of the film on his back. Thomas Horn reminded me a little bit of Haley Joel Osment. It will be interesting to see what Horn does next.
Max Von Sydow did a great job with his supporting character.
Jeffrey Wright and John Goodman both had minor supporting roles.
My only complaints about the movie are that it was maybe a little too slow during some parts and it was a little bit predictable. It would have been more beneficial to the film if Hanks and Bullock had a little bit more face time.
It is hard to get excited to watch a movie that has anything to do with the attacks on the WorldTradeCenter on 9/11/2001. That is the reason why I did not rush out and catch this movie in the theatre when it was out in 2011. I’m glad that I did take the time to finally watch it because it did turn out to be a pretty touching story.
I rate this movie a 7.5 on a scale of 1-10.
Buy, rent, or run? Rent.
Trailer for The Hangover Part III (2013)
The Hangover Part III (2013) (click on the title for my full review)
Here is the first look at the teaser trailer for The Hangover Part III. It supposedly all ends with this third piece of the trilogy.
Hollywood loves sequels. They want to see how much money they can squeeze out of basically one story. Honestly I am pretty fed up with sequels, but a movie like this is guaranteed to have moments of uncontrollable laughter. The Hangover (2009) was hilarious. The Hangover Part II (2011) was really funny, but not as good as the original. I have a feeling that The Hangover Part III will probably be about as good as Part II. Maybe we will be pleasantly surprised and it will be better than the original, but for the most part with few exceptions, the original is always the best and the sequels never add up.
Bradley Cooper, Zach Galifianakis, Ed Helms, and Justin Bartha are all back again for another go round. Ken Jeong, Heather Graham, Sasha Barrese, Jeffrey Tambor, Mike Tyson, and many more from the first two parts are back again along with the addition of John Goodman.
Hollywood is sure to rake in a lot of cash once again, and I’m sure there will be some laughs along the way.
The movie is set to release on Memorial Day, 5/27/13.
Trailer for Welcome to the Punch (2013)
Welcome to the Punch (2013)
The idea of James McAvoy and Mark Strong in an action movie is fascinating, especially when Ridley Scott is the executive producer.
Strong plays a wanted criminal and McAvoy is the man trying to take him down.
The film looks like it will be filled with some entertaining action, but may be lacking something. Has this story been told too many times? If Ridley Scott had also directed the film then maybe it would look more intriguing.
It is set to release on 3/27/13.
Trailer for Not Another Celebrity Movie (2013)
Not Another Celebrity Movie (2013)
A whole movie made up of impersonators of real actors. They made a movie about people pretending to be famous actors. It’s worth watching the trailer to see the celebrity look-alikes. The trailer is funny and tacky at the same time. It’s Scary Movie (2000) meets Not Another Teen Movie (2001).
I think it’s funny how they list the cast at the end of the preview as:
NOT Charlie Sheen
NOT George Clooney
NOT Brad Pitt
NOT Donald Trump
NOT Angelina Jolie
NOT Tom Cruise
NOT Robert De Niro
NOT Lady Gaga
NOT Johnny Depp
NOT Justin Bieber
NOT Mark Zuckerberg
NOT Kanye West
NOT Kim Kardashian
NOT Usher
NOT Paris Hilton
NOT Zach Galifianakis
NOT Ashton Kutcher
NOT 007
NOT Oprah
The movie will probably not be any good. What do you think?
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