Happy Birthday to Nicolas Cage
Happy Birthday to Nicolas Cage!
The famous actor turns 50 years old today.
Although he and his career have basically imploded and taken a nosedive in the last 7 years, Nicolas Cage is still one of my favorite actors of all time.
Unfortunately he has disgraced us all with the absurdity and awfulness of The Wicker Man (2006), Ghost Rider (2007), The Sorcerer’s Apprentice (2010), Season of the Witch (2011), Drive Angry (2011), Ghost Rider: Spirit of Vengeance (2011), and The Frozen Ground (2013).
However, let us not forget the jewels that he has bestowed upon us with:
Lord of War (2005),
The Weather Man (2005),
National Treasure (2004),
Matchstick Men (2003),
The Family Man (2000),
Gone in Sixty Seconds (2000),
Bringing Out the Dead (1999),
Face/Off (1997),
Con Air (1997),
The Rock (1996),
Leaving Las Vegas (1995),
Kiss of Death (1995),
and Raising Arizona (1987).
The man can still act. Every once in a while he gets his act together and creates something that is reminiscent of the Nicolas Cage of old. I still watch his films with a shimmer of hope because one day he could turn it all around and return to greatness. One day he just might make his comeback. He is not getting any younger, but 50 years old is something to celebrate. Happy Birthday Nic and thank you for the excellent movie watching experiences!
Click on the links below to read my Nicolas Cage movie reviews:
Trailer for 3 Days to Kill (2014)
3 Days to Kill (2014)
Kevin Costner has not been the lead in a solid movie since Mr. Brooks (2007). He has been doing one thing each year ever since. But for 2014, Costner has 5 films either waiting to be released or in the works. 3 Days to Kill appears to be the most promising of the 5 films and could likely be his comeback movie.
The film is about a Secret Service agent (Kevin Costner) who is dying. He has been trying to spend more time with his daughter and wife, but he is offered an experimental drug that just might save his life. In exchange for the drug, he has 3 days to complete one last job.
The movie was written by Luc Besson and Adi Hasak and directed by McG. The rest of the noteworthy cast includes Amber Heard, Connie Nielsen, Hailee Steinfeld, Scott Burn, Richard Sammel, and Eriq Ebouaney.
The film appears like it might have some similarities to Taken (2008). Costner’s character is trying to spend time with his family while at the same time on a mission and cracking skulls.
The movie is set to release on 02/21/14.
Rest in Peace James Winspear “Bompa”, My Grandfather
Rest in Peace James Winspear “Bompa”, My Grandfather
My Grandpa Jim passed away last night in Mesa, Arizona. He was 90 years old.
He and my Grandma Louise “Babalou” were married for over 50 years and now they are reunited for eternity.
We love you.
We miss you.
One day, we will see you again.
The Lords of Salem (2012)
The Lords of Salem (2012)
Given that this is a Rob Zombie movie, I sort of knew what I was getting myself into. I like some of his music, but I like even less of his movies. He has a tendency to be too extreme in his films and often in his music as well. It’s almost as if he is trying too hard to prove to the world that he is demonic. His movies are usually filled with obscene violence and or torture for no apparent reason at all. He likes to be crazy because well, maybe he is crazy. However, I did enjoy his remake of Halloween (2007). My wife likes horror movies, so I thought I would give this one a shot. From a film critic’s perspective, I’ll review almost anything.
The Lords of Salem is about Heidi (Sheri Moon Zombie), a local radio DJ who receives a record in the mail that is labeled: “A gift from the Lords.” The record is played on the air and the radio station calls the band The Lords of Salem because they are in Salem, Massachusetts. The music triggers violent and evil flashbacks of witches trying to summon up the Devil in the town hundreds of years before. It seems as if the Lords of Salem are back for revenge, or maybe Heidi is just going crazy.
The movie was written and directed by Rob Zombie and the rest of the noteworthy cast includes Bruce Davison, Jeff Daniel Phillips, Judy Geeson, Meg Foster, Patricia Quinn, Ken Foree, Dee Wallace, and Maria Conchita Alonso.
The Lords of Salem was pretty much what I expected it to be. It’s just another Rob Zombie movie where he tries way too hard to be vile and disgusting. Once again, Rob Zombie has his wife, Sheri Moon Zombie star in the film. She is in like all of his movies.
I gave this movie a chance, but I wanted to turn it off about halfway through. There is a lot of grotesque nudity and mindless violence. At times, the story is all over the place and it takes a while to get to the point. Zombie pushes the envelope simply for the sake of trying to be evil, as if that is enough to be entertaining.
The movie is a slow, laughable, pointless waste of time and after a while feels like watching and hearing nails on a chalkboard. It was stupid and way over the top to the point of boredom. I kept asking myself, why am I watching this movie? The only answer that I could come up with was to warn you about it.
I rate this movie a 1 on a scale of 1-10.
Buy, rent, or run? Run.
Trailer For Transcendence (2014)
Transcendence (2014)
It did not take long for me to learn that if Johnny Depp is in a movie, then that movie is pretty much bound to be good. Although the story is a bit far-fetched, I will give Transcendence the benefit of the doubt.
The film is about a dying scientist (Johnny Depp) who manages to download his body and mind into a super computer. The transformation causes him to become extremely powerful and dangerous.
The movie was directed by Wally Pfister and the rest of the noteworthy cast includes Kate Mara, Rebecca Hall, Morgan Freeman, Cillian Murphy, Paul Bettany, Cole Hauser, Clifton Collins Jr., Falk Hentschel, and Wallace Langham.
Johnny Depp is my favorite actor. I’ll definitely have to see this one!
The film is set to release on 04/18/14.
Starting The New Year With a Bang
www.brockingmovies.com is starting the year off with a bang. There has been a lot of traffic on the site lately and it keeps getting better. Lets see if we can keep this up. Happy New Year to all! I hope 2014 is good to you. Thank you for reading and for your continued support. My goal is to make the site more active this year. If you haven’t done so already, please do me a favor and like brockingmovies on Facebook to keep up with everything new on the site this year. You can also follow via email updates. Comment and tell your friends : ) I would love to hear what you have to say about the site.
Miller’s Crossing (1990)
Miller’s Crossing (1990)
The Coen brothers (Joel Coen and Ethan Coen) really started to get noticed after writing and directing Fargo (1996). The popularity of the indie writers and directors continued to increase with each movie that they made together. However, when most people look back on the Coen brothers’ career as filmmakers, they usually don’t look further back than Fargo. Miller’s Crossing seems to fall between the cracks.
I was 4 years old when this movie was released, but I watched it for the first time when I was 13 years old. It was the first Coen brothers’ movie that I had seen and it was the beginning of a new friendship.
Miller’s Crossing is a gangster film about Tom Regan (Gabriel Byrne), a heavy gambler and trusted confidant to two rival mob bosses during the 1920s. Regan finds himself caught in the middle of a power struggle and all out gangland war while trying to manipulate both sides against each other.
The movie was written and directed by Joel and Ethan Coen and the rest of the noteworthy cast includes Albert Finney, Jon Polito, John Turturro, Marcia Gay Harden, Steve Buscemi, J.E. Freeman, Mike Starr, Olek Krupa, and Michael Jeter.
The film is an excellent homage to the James Cagney and Humphrey Bogart gangster movies of old. The writing and directing is flawless. The Coen brothers resurrected the 1920s gangster era all the way down to the soda bottles, pocket watches, fedora hats, tommy guns, rotary phones, pinky rings, dirty coppers, smoking jackets, robes, stogies, custom three piece suits, and of course, the model T. The costumes and set designs were perfect.
The movie has an R rating, but I don’t think that rating would live up to today’s standards. There is hardly any swearing, and the sex is insinuated. There is violence, but it is not extremely graphic. One scene shows a girl topless, but she is wearing nipple tassels. As far as I’m concerned, that’s frontal side-boob. I don’t think that alone is enough to garner an R rating. In other words, the movie is basically PG-13.
My oldest brother once pointed out to me how the Coen brothers love having big guys sitting behind desks arguing or yelling at people sitting across from them. He was right. Watch almost any Coen brothers’ movie and you will get just that. I think the reason behind this is that usually the dialogue in their movies is so very well-written. An office setting is a good place to get the point across. People tend to pay more attention to you if you are behind a podium or desk, especially if you are yelling or arguing a point. Just look at Barack Obama, or Hitler. Don’t get me wrong, both men are opposites, but both men could definitely deliver a speech. As bad as Hitler was, people eat up what he said like it was candy. They did the same for Obama. Well thought out dialogue delivered to an audience with explosive vigor while standing behind a podium or desk is enough to get people to listen. It certainly has worked for the Coen brothers and Miller’s Crossing is a classic example of that.
The Coen brothers were lucky enough early on to be able to get great actors to act in their movies. This is harder to do for independent filmmakers. Miller’s Crossing is one of my favorite Gabriel Byrne films. He gives a slick performance and it must have been contagious because in my opinion, this is Albert Finney’s best movie. Marcia Gay Harden easily transforms into a 1920s dame and does a likable job. This is the first movie that I really liked John Turturro in. Jon Polito gives his best performance channeling the likes of Edward G. Robinson. Steve Buscemi spits his dialogue like a pro. It was as if J.E. Freeman was plucked right out of a 1920s gangster movie. He played his role that well. These actors have all worn many different hats. This one fit them all like it was tailor made just for them.
Like fine wine, Miller’s Crossing gets better with age. If you are a Coen brothers fan already, you will most likely enjoy this movie. It is one of my favorite Coen brothers’ movies. It’s a classy gangster film.
I rate this movie a 9 on a scale of 1-10.
Buy, rent, or run? Buy.
Netflix Watch Instantly Movie Reviews January 2014
Netflix Watch Instantly Movie Reviews January 2014
Netflix Watch Instantly has drastically improved its movie selection over the last few years. They still have more movies that are available to rent on disc than they do to stream, but if you do a little bit of searching then you will be able to find plenty of good movies that are worth streaming.
I have seen literally hundreds of movies that are currently available on Netflix Watch Instantly and literally thousands of movies that are currently available to rent on disc.
I have been writing movie reviews for a year now, but I have been mainly focusing on reviewing newer movies. Because of this fact, I have not reviewed very many movies that are currently available on Netflix Watch Instantly. I plan on fixing this problem soon.
I will continue to update and add to the list below throughout the month of January, and make a new list each month. My lists will hopefully help you find good movies to watch and bad movies to stay away from. I will hopefully be able to help save you time searching for a good movie to stream on Netflix Watch Instantly. My reviews will tell you what are some of the best movies available on Netflix Watch Instantly and what are some of the worst movies available on Netflix Watch Instantly.
The Netflix Watch Instantly movie library changes periodically as their contracts with different movie companies run out or are renewed. Here is a list of movies that I have reviewed that are currently available on Netflix Watch Instantly. Click on each title below for my full review of that movie, my rating, the movie’s trailer, the movie’s poster, and pictures from that movie:
Yes, the list is short now, but as the days and weeks and months go by, I will have plenty of more reviews for you to read and I will help you find the hidden gems within the Netflix Watch Instantly movie library.
www.brockingmovies.com Movies are what I do.
Redbox Movie Reviews January 2014
Redbox Movie Reviews January 2014
I have seen 94 of the movies that are currently available at the Redbox. Of those 94 films, I have written a review for 61 of them. My reviews will let you know what I think are the best movies currently available at the Redbox and what are the worst movies currently available at the Redbox.
I like a wide variety of movies. My list consists of comedy movies, horror movies, action movies, drama movies, western movies, science fiction movies, foreign movies, comic book movies, family movies, war movies, etc. I’ve reviewed almost every genre you can think of, so hopefully it will suit whatever mood you are in.
Note: I will continue to update this list throughout the month of January. Each month I will keep updating a new list that will have more and more movies on it. If you like what you see, I hope that you will come back for more in the future.
Click on each title below for a trailer, pictures, cast list, my rating, and my review of that movie.
A Guide to Recognizing Your Saints (2006)
The Incredible Burt Wonderstone (2013)
Lee Daniels’ The Butler (2013)
Oz the Great and Powerful (2013)
The Place Beyond the Pines (2012)
Star Trek Into Darkness (2013)
If you like what you see then click on this link: www.brockingmovies.com to check out the rest of my site. Movies are what I do.
Redband Trailer for 22 Jump Street (2014)
(Poster not yet available.) (This is a Redband trailer, so viewer discretion is advised.)
22 Jump Street (2014)
Without question, 21 Jump Street (2012) was one of the funniest movies of 2012. The movie was already a reboot of the popular television show from the late 80s and early 90s, 21 Jumpstreet, starring Johnny Depp. 22 Jump Street is the sequel to the reboot, and it looks like it just might be as funny as its predecessor.
This time, instead of Jenko (Channing Tatum) and Schmidt (Jonah Hill) going undercover as students in high school, they have gone on to infiltrate a college campus undercover as college students.
The movie was directed by Phil Lord and Chris Miller, and the rest of the noteworthy cast includes Ice Cube, Amber Stevens, Jimmy Tatro, Wyatt Russell, Jillian Bell, Dax Flame, and Johnny Pemberton.
I’m sure that we can expect the same raunchy, outrageous, hilariousness as 21 Jump Street. It should be a laugh filled adventure.
The film is set to release on 06/13/14.
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