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It’s been 12 years since James Cameron’s last theatrical film, Titanic, swept the Oscars, so no matter what, his follow-up film was bound to have certain expectations to live up to. Rather than meet those expectations, Cameron blew them away with Avatar, the most expensive film ever made that is most definitely a memorable epic and a cinematic achievement. Sure, it’s a familiar plot, a twist on the hero’s journey, and the actual bare bones of it are quite similar to The Last Samurai. But despite a plot we’ve seen before, now set over a thousand years in the future on an alien world, Cameron manages to make everything about Avatar surprisingly real and believable.

In 2154, Earth has set up a military operation on the planet Pandora, hoping to use the planet for its resources and industrialize it. Their problem is the indigenous race called the Na’vi, who they have been unable to negotiate with or build any relationship with whatsoever. Jake Sully (Sam Worthington), a now paraplegic marine, arrives to replace his twin brother on a mission. Dr. Grace Augustine (Sigourney Weaver) and the humans pioneered a way to harvest Na’vi bodies, avatars, compatible with a particular person’s DNA, so that person can get a full sensory link to their avatar and gain insight to the Na’vi. At first, Sully maintains loyalty to the gung-ho Colonel Quaritch (Stephen Lang) who is hellbent on finding weaknesses to the Na’vi and exterminating them, but as Sully spends more and more time learning from the Na’vi, particularly Neytiri (Zoe Saldana), he grows more sympathetic to their way of life.

Yes, this is absolutely a sci-fi epic, a fantasy, but what makes it so much more than that are the finer details. Avatar is 40% (more…)

Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen recently hit DVD shelves, and this particular sequel is loaded with even more action than the original.The story picks up shortly after the first movie, with Sam (Shia LaBeouf) heading off to college while Optimus Prime and the Autobots have joined forces with Major Lennox (Josh Duhamel) and Sergeant Epps’ (Tyrese Gibson) unit to hunt Decepticons. Megan Fox of course returns as Sam’s girlfriend Mikaela (yeah, robots at war aside, she’s another great reason to watch these movies) and John Turturro also returns as Simmons, whose secret government department has now been disbanded. Joining the cast as Sam’s roommate and added comic relief is Ramon Rodriguez.

In any case, the story primarily focuses on the realization that the robots  that came to Earth in the first movie are not the first of their kind to have ever been there. The Fallen is an ancient transformer who attempted to burn out the sun as a power source, but was ultimately stopped by his brothers, and now he’s risen again with intentions of carrying out his plan. Making matters worse, the government accuses the Autobots of putting Earth in the middle of their war with the Decepticons, questioning whether their presence on Earth is in the best interests of the planet.

Despite the many criticisms of the movie, it was definitely a great action flick. It was long, and certainly somewhat exhausting to say the least, but director Michael Bay quite literally outdid himself with some of the action sequences. The use of the Constructicons in particular was great…that’s right, five transformers that (more…)

In light of Halloween festivities and horror movie marathons, I’d like to comment on horror sagas that just seem to go on and on, and just when you think the subject (or killer) is finally dead, they keep going on. Hey, if nothing else, these flicks can be fun to watch as you sit there, yelling at the next victim not to go in that room, the room you know they will inevitably enter and then…well, you know the rest. But honestly, isn’t there a point at which we can no longer hold the so-called villains responsible for their actions?

Think about it. Mike Myers, Jason Voorhees, these guys are completely unreasonable, heartless, demonic killers; we, the audience know that, and generally, the characters in their movies know that. Shit, in particular, Mike Myers has only risen and killed on Halloween, makes it pretty simple to know when you have to keep your guard up. If you find yourself staring up at this guy just before his knife comes a-swingin’ down at you, who do you have to blame but yourself? You’ve probably heard the horror stories, you know shady things tend to happen on Halloween, if it were me, I would start locking my doors and making Halloween a quiet evening at home after hearing of at least two Halloweens gone awry.

As for parents…I mean, Halloween 5: The Revenge of Michael Myers, the poor kids who are sent out to trick or treat by their parents only to find certain doom at the hands of a notorious killer, that’s an excellent example of terrible parenting. At that point, you really have to assess who the real villain of the movie is. These killings have occurred on four Halloweens, and allowing your children to go trick or treating after dark still sounds like a fun and safe idea?

Go down the line in that particular saga a little further to Halloween: Resurrection, the last movie before the Rob Zombie reboot. A group of kids decide to spend the night in Mike Myer’s old house and host a webcast…on Halloween no less! Isn’t that a little bit like a sheep asking for directions to the slaughter? Mike Myers is going to rise up and kill, that’s an inevitability, but if you decide to crash in his old digs on the particular night he is known for rising up (at least 6 times over now), then basically you’re just pissing into the wind and the only one responsible for your death is, well, you.

 3 STARS

When May hits it means we’re officially in summer blockbuster season, and this year “Iron Man” kicked us off with a good start. Yes, it was standard in the sense that it was the typical, mildly predictable superhero origin story, but that’s just a given going in. Overall, “Iron Man” proved to be at minimum a 3 star action movie.

Those of you not familiar with the premise, “Iron Man” is about Tony Stark, owner and president of a weapons design and manufacturing company. On a trip to the Middle East, he is captured by soldiers who hold him hostage and force him to build a bomb for them. Stark agrees reluctantly, but uses the parts they provide him to instead build an armored suit, allowing him to fight his way out. When he returns home he builds an improved version of the armor and becomes Iron Man.

Crucial to the movie’s success is the cast. Robert Downey Jr. is smart, witty, and funny as the industrialist-turned-superhero, perfect casting. Gwyneth Paltrow plays well as his assistant and love interest, but what I really liked about her role was that she so easily could have become the damsel in distress, but as it turned out she was able to play right into the action which was cool and different. Terrence Howard is another great actor that I was glad to see as part of this movie, and while he didn’t necessarily have a lot to do in this film as Stark’s best friend Jim Rhodes, I definitely think he’ll be one of those characters whose role will grow in sequels (comic fans may know him as War Machine). Lastly, rounding out the cast is Jeff Bridges playing Obadiah Stane, Stark’s underhanded business partner and this film’s villain who builds an armored suit of his own to take on Iron Man.

The effects and action were great, and while obviously there had to be a lot of CGI, for the most part things looked pretty realistic. The fight scenes were fun to watch, and it’s definitely the kind of movie you want to see on the big screen.

Basically, for fans of superhero movies, especially the “Spider-Man” trilogy, “Iron Man” fills that place at the beginning of the summer season. It’s got plenty of action and comedy, making it really something that everyone can enjoy, and I look forward to future installments in this franchise.

P.S.: I highly recommend staying until after the credits, there’s an interesting scene…

Honestly, I hate to make this my first movie review on the site. Worse, I hate the way I am actually going to review this movie because it will probably make it seem as if I don’t watch quality flicks. I do. I watch Oscar-worthy movies regularly, but honestly, there’s no replacement for just straight up meaningless popcorn movies (Sylvester Stallone and Samuel L. Jackson movies support this view). In any case, rather than review it, I guess what I’ll do is react to it. So then, this is my reaction to “House of Wax.”

Overall, this is a pretty well-executed horror movie.  I’ve wanted to see this movie forever, like, I distinctly remember this movie coming out in theaters and lobbying ridiculously hard to convince my friends to come see it with me, even though I think we all would’ve had a great time. Three years later, I finally saw it. On Youtube. Screw everyone who refused to go with me.

Putting aside my personal history with this movie though, here’s my slant on the whole thing–a little slow, then a little fast, but overall a pretty strong slasher movie. Here’s the thing with horror movies nowadays, it’s a status thing for hot young stars. This is fairly obvious. Like, come on, as if Neve Campbell and Jennifer Love Hewitt being casted in “Scream” and “I Know What You Did Last Summer,” respectively, had nothing to do with  their participation in the once so popular “Party of Five.” “House of Wax”: Elisha Cuthbert? Ummm…yes. Throw in popular talent from hit WB series like Chad Michael Murray and Jared Padalecki and you’re bound to bring in a crowd of teens with nothing better to do with a Friday night.  Oh yes, and let’s not forget Robert Ri’chard of Nickelodeon fame (see both “Nickelodeon Sports Theater” hosted by Shaq and “Cousin Skeeter”).

Most important to this whose-who list is Paris Hilton. Basically, it seems like the motivation in her being in this movie is the idea that people would hate her enough to see this movie so they could see her die. If this is the audience I would have had to watch this movie with three years ago, I’m glad I waited. There’s really no reason to hate on Paris Hilton. If there is, I just don’t see it. Certainly not the most intelligent celebrity and has no actual reason for being famous, but yeah, I’m over that. I do not hate Paris Hilton. Nothing she has done has offended me so terribly that I would go to a movie to watch her die, in fact, I find that to be a perverse motivation to shell out $9.

Furthermore, I’d like to add that I was mildly impressed with Paris’s acting in this movie. I expected her to be incredibly lousy, assuming that she was only in this movie because at the time of its release, her name was dropped on a ridiculously regular basis. Honestly though, she held her own. She seemed genuinely sincere, and I’m not ready to start handing out Oscars or even MTV Awards to her for it, but I was prepared for worse.

And one last thing, I was pulling for her. Yes, I knew she was going to die. It was fairly evident that she was screwed when she first signed on for the role that she would not be a heroine. But when she was running, I really wanted her to escape. She got one or two great hits in on the villain and I wanted her to just take off. Leave this desperate and doomed life behind. Maybe move to a small, friendly town where the people don’t ask questions. Just get away. But that dream shattered when that freakish villain somehow threw a pipe through both windows of a car (this guy should be pitching for the Yankees or something, hell of an arm), planting it firmly in her forehead.

I guess the worst of it was that I knew she never stood a chance, but hey, I’m a sucker for the underdog.