Harry Potter and The Deathly Hallows Part II (2011)

Sitting in the theater I waited surprisingly patient for the conclusion of the end.  The end of an epic, the end of an era, the end of something rather big.  Heck, you might as well call the Harry Potter series this generations Star Wars.  Yeah, it lasted two more movies than the latter did but still, it’s that big a deal.  I got there pretty early, finished up my nachos and reluctantly listened to the mixed crowd of mostly young and quite annoying people count down the time until the final installment began.  Finally, the lights lowered, the speakers awoken and we were met with about almost 10 minutes of previews.  The only one I was really, really, really (did I use enough really’s) looking forward to was The Dark Knight Rises.  Yeah I saw it already but I was actually a little nervous to see it on the big screen.  After it was over, I kind of felt like my evening had reached its climax.  I realized I was more looking forward to this 1:36 teaser trailer than the actual feature film I had paid money for.  It was then that I knew what a woman felt like whose partner didn’t quite last as long as she had hoped.  But, thankfully, that all changed about a half hour into the movie.

Harry (Danielle Radcliffe), Ron (Rupert Grint) and Hermione (Emma Watson) are still looking for the Horcruxes.  For those of you who don’t follow, these are seemingly random items that are the keys to defeating the Dark Lord known as Voldemort (Ralph Fiennes).  He has recently gathered the Elder Wand (a wand that makes its owner unbeatable) and is gaining strength.  The crew as I call them must desperately find the remaining Horcruxes and destroy them in order to have any shot at defeating this wizard.  Throughout the film, and book, they enlist help from any and everywhere they can possibly find it.  All the way up to the point where You-Know-Who comes gently knocking on the walls of Hogwarts castle looking to kill “the boy who lived”.

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Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides

Part four and counting, Walt Disney Pictures continues its one time trilogy into a, for now, quartet of a film franchise. Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides returns to the screen with basically some of its original, cheery-eyed cast intact. Usuals and choice favorites, Orland Bloom & Keira Knightley, chose not to reprise their roles. But everyone’s lovable and normally deceitful captain sailed his way back onto the theater. Johnny Depp as Jack Sparrow, excuse me, Captain Jack Sparrow is with new direction this time. Rob Marshall picks up directing duties from the franchises normal head, Gore Verbinksi.

When we last found Captain Sparrow (Johnny Depp) he had set sail in a tiny dinghy in the direction of the Fountain of Youth. By now, four years later, you would think that maybe he has found it. You would be incorrect because movie time has never quite equaled real-life time. Not only has he not yet found these legendary waters but we find his first mate, Mr. Gibbs (Kevin McNally), on trial with the court believing that he is in fact Sparrow. After exchanging some dazzling pleasantries with the King of England’s superior guards, with them in pursuit of him, Sparrow crosses paths with someone from his past. Enter the still very beautiful Penelope Cruz as Angelica, yet another female that the womanizing Sparrow has “loved and left”.

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Thor (2011)

Marvel movie number whatever it is right now is the second big film of the summer.  I only say that because Fast 5 has proven itself to be the first.  Even though it is still officially Spring, the mega-blockbusters are beginning to roll themselves into theaters.  Hopefully so that many moviegoers will roll green-colored- paper out of their wallets and roll their butts into the seats.  Thor is one of many links on the path towards Marvel’s eventual Avengers destination.  The next link on this road will be Captain America, which just might turn out to better than this step. 

Chris Hemsworth takes on the role of the God of Thunder and the heir to Odin’s, the king of Asgard, (Anthony Hopkins) throne.  From the beginning of the film, the audience can sense the jealousy that is pulsating from Loki (Tom Hiddleston), Thor’s younger brother.  When the day finally arrives for him to realize his destiny as King, the eldest prince proves that he truly isn’t ready. He carries himself with a brash and recklessness of a warrior but not a leader.  After there is a breach in security by the Frost Giants, enemies to Odin and the people of Asgard, Thor instantly wishes to declare war upon them.  Not even the strict forbiddance of this by his father deters the eventual hero from paying the race of giants a visit.

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Sucker Punch (2011)...will leave you with a Black-eye that you'll like

Bringing us visual delights such as 300 & Watchmen, director Zack Snyder transfers another epic green screen production into theaters. This time around our heroes are not muscled warriors nor do they have super powers. Well not unless you consider the ability to fight giant samurai and even bigger dragons while wearing tiny outfits a super power. Sucker Punch tells the visually-powered tale of a young girl desperately trying to escape an institution that her step-father admits her to against her will.

Emily Browning plays the lead role of Baby Doll. Following the death of her mother, she is placed in an all girl institution by her step dad. While there she meets four other young girls whom she befriends; Sweet Pea (Abbie Cornish), her sister Rocket (Jena Malone), Blondie (Vanessa Hudgens) and Amber (Jamie Chung). After struggling at first to deal with being locked away, Baby Doll is able to retreat to a type of alternate reality within her imagination which allows her to cope with her troubles. During these trips into this reality, she comes across a Wiseman (Scott Glenn) who instructs her that she needs to find five things in order to escape her prison.

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I Am Number Four (2011)

Hollywood’s infatuation with beings from another world continues to populate theaters with films about aliens and invasions and alien invasions. Before we get a chance to feast our eyes on the much anticipated Battle: Los Angeles, we get to past the time with the film adaptation of the teen fiction novel, I Am Number Four. Not so much as a straight out invasion story right off the bat but a “good-guy alien running for his life” story. A slight change from always having the protagonist of the story be the human race which is usually fighting a losing battle.

Number Four/John Smith (Alex Pettyfer) looks like a normal teenager who has a pretty easy time getting blondes in bikinis to invite him for night-time rendezvous’ in the ocean. His secret is soon out when one of his kind, Number Three, is found and murdered by a group called the Mogadorians. That secret being that he is from another planet. Yes, an alien with special powers that he hasn’t quite come to master full control over just yet. Sound familiar? No? Ok, I’ll keep going. John is one of nine toddlers who were sent to Earth along with their protectors for their safety. Three are now dead, leaving six remaining. His guardian, Henri (Timothy Olyphant), also from the planet of Lorien is his sole adult influence and protector makes the decision it’s time to pack up and leave, again, from their home of Florida after a small mishap with that same blonde in the bikini exposes his true identity. Still not familiar? Ok, continuing on.

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Tron: Legacy (2010)

Almost three whole decades after its predecessor, Disney brings us back to the grid with Tron: Legacy. Funny as it may seem, the special effects used to create the virtual world in the original film was seen as some pretty state-of-the-art stuff back in 1982. It almost seems kind of unfair to compare to it to this sequel. Technology has taken a giant step or two in the last thirty years or so. The grid, as Kevin Flynn (Jeff Bridges) calls it, is now brought to us in crisp 3-D.

Since creating the uber-popular video game, Tron, Flynn has taken over the company known as ENCOM. He has turned it into a very likeable and successful software giant until he mysteriously disappears. His son, Sam (Garret Hedlund), has no plans on filling his father’s shoes despite owning controlling shares in the international empire. After Flynn’s disappearance, the higher-ups in the company begin to take it in a direction that he had never intended. Despite not wanting a part in fixing the company, Sam occasionally drops in to make the developers who work there jobs a little tough.

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The Last Airbender (2010)

           Since one of the most financially successful directors & producers of all that is time snatched the title Avatar away to describe his mega-tall blue people, M. Knight had to simply call his film The Last Airbender.  Adapted from the very popular animated series created by Michael Dante DiMartino & Bryan Konietzko.  The story plays off of aspects of Chinese culture including martial arts.  The central viewpoint of the story is composed of the four main elements of our world: Air, Water, Earth & Fire.  Many of the characters within both the series and film have the ability to “bend” or manipulate these elements as they see fit.

            Our hero of the series and its’ film counterpart is Aang (Noah Ringer) who is the last airbender alive.  At the beginning of the film he is found frozen within a block of ice by a brother and sister duo, Katara (Nicola Peltz) & Sokka (Jackson Rathbone).  The two children accidentally free him and eventually learn of his legendary identity.  This being that he is the Avatar, a special member and last of a clan of air nomads whom have mastered the ability to bend the air around them.  After learning of his destiny to protect the world from evil and maintain peace throughout it, he fled his village and became suspended in ice for a hundred years until he was freed. 

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2012 (2009)

09

Disaster films, disaster films, how we love them so. The main reason why we love them is because the catastrophic destruction is not happening to us. One of the main aspects of film, television and books is the entertainment factor of being engrossed in someone else’s drama. Drama that hopefully we will never have to navigate our way through in real life. Roland Emmerich’s 2012 hits a little closer to real life. The only rationale for this is the notion that the world might really come to an end in a year and a half due to the Mayan calendar prediction. Their timeline seemingly expires in the year 2012 and the world and everything that we know along with it.

Dr. Adrian Helmsley (Chiwetel Ejiofor) is a scientist who, along with his distinguished colleagues, has stumbled upon evidence, presented by the Earth, that the planet will go through some rather drastic changes. Changes that will do a little more than just alter our way of living. The problem is that they have discovered this problem a little too late thus not leaving enough time to find a way to save all of the inhabitants of our world. Jackson Curtis, which oddly enough is 50 Cent’s name in reverse, (John Cusack) is a writer who drives a limo by day while trying to get his name out there as a notable novelist by night. He is separated from his wife, Kate (Amanda Peet), who lives with her new boyfriend and two children whom she conceived while still married to Jackson.

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The Losers (2010)

Although it’s based off the DC/Vertigo comic book series also titled The Losers, I can’t help but make the comparison of this action packed film to the A-Team which was released about a month and a half after it. The concepts of a group of U.S. Special Forces members who are framed and forced to live life on the run are rather similar. But despite the related aspects, it does still hold its own as a product of entertainment and enjoyment.

Jeffrey Dean Morgan, Chris Evans, Idris Elba, Columbus Short, and Oscar Jaenada make up the team of Losers. Clay, Jensen, Roque, Pooch and Cougar are, as stated before, members of a U.S. military Special Forces team. While on an assignment in the jungles of Bolivia, they are set up to be killed but narrowly avoid this consequence while an innocent group others take their place instead. After being believed that this mishap was completely their fault, they have no choice but to remain in Bolivia.

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Scott Pilgrim vs. The World (2010)

Remember the days of 8-bit graphics? When controllers had two buttons instead of twenty? When the most important thing in life was not passing fifth grade math (which I sucked at) but passing the seventh level of Super Mario Bros. 3? If you do, then this film produced from the graphic novel series of the same name just might catch your attention. Scott Pilgrim vs. The World combines classic video game graphics with fun action that makes it very original.

Very simple plot: a Canadian 22-year old, the aforementioned Scott Pilgrim (Michael Cera), who plays in a band, called the Sex Bob-Ombs and who is currently dating a girl still in high school, Knives Chau (Ellen Wong), unexpectedly meets the girl of his dreams. She was literally in one of his dreams right before they met. Ramona Flowers (Mary Elizabeth Winstead) is a “play life by the ear” female who captures Scott’s heart. What he doesn’t know is that in order to date her, hopefully, he must do battle and defeat her evil, yeah evil, exes. Seven in total, Scott must face and beat all of them if he wants a future with his dream girl.

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Predators (2010)

There are films that are so good that they are created into franchises. Some of these films are well done and the franchise is successful because all of the succeeding films are good as well. There are films that are good that are made into franchises that aren’t successful. Then there are films that are bad that are also made into franchises that turn out to be way more successful than the original movie. Hope that wasn’t too confusing. Everyone still with me? Good. This film is somewhere in-between if there is an in-between. Some films cannot be outdone, remade, revamped or whatever you want to call it. It’s just impossible. Whether it’s because of the story, acting, directing, cinematography, controversy or it may simply hold a special place in your movie heart. The year 1987, governors Schwarzenegger and Ventura, Carl “Action Jackson/Apollo Creed” Weathers and director John McTiernan brought us one of those kinds of films, Predator. A marvel in its own time and a classic that will forever live on in movie lore, I remember watching this with my father as a kid and recall being scared of the alien monster and rooting for “Ahnuld” at the same time. Not to mention the trauma and nightmares I received from seeing the kind of gore that a child should never be subjected to. But, what doesn’t turn us into insane serial killers only makes us into movie critics.

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The A-Team (2010)

Usually when a discussion comes up about things of the past, those who avidly remember distinct details about said topic may sometimes feel old especially around those who have no idea about it. I used to be a part of the group that had no idea about what the older people were talking about. Usually this older group consisted of my parents or aunts and uncles and their friends. Now time has elapsed and I am part of the group that remembers way back when and has to explain it to the younger generation who, like I did, have no idea what I’m talking about. The only difference being that I do not feel old recounting things of the past that remind me of my childhood, I feel delighted. Movies, commercials, toys, cartoons and television shows contain some of my most fondest memories when my age was just in the single digits.

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The Karate Kid (2010)

With all of the remakes that are descending down upon us, I try to see the original versions before I see what present day Hollywood has to offer. Unfortunately I am not always able to. I am actually quite disappointed this time more than others that I was not able to see the initial film to this remake. I know, I know, just like not seeing other movies such as The Godfather franchise and Scarface, not seeing the original three or at least the very first Karate Kid is seen as a mortal sin in the world of classic movies. But I promise I will get to it and much sooner rather than later now that I’ve seen the revamp.

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Kick-Ass (2010)

I’m not really one to read comic books anymore but pretty much every super hero film that has ever graced our favorite movie houses’ screens have been adapted versions from their respected comic. Whether good wholesome family content like Archie or Care Bears to the graphic novels such as Sin City or The Spirit, comics have been the source for some very good and some quite bad film versions of themselves. I, personally, did not know that Marvel published a comic about an ordinary teenager with no said super powers or special skills of any kind who decides to become a self made super hero and call himself Kick-Ass. The graphic comic started in 2008 and was written with the intention of making it into a movie.

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The Book of Eli (2010)

Post-apocalyptic stories seem to be pretty popular. They capture the attention of the viewer, listener or reader probably due to the frightening realness that they contain. They present the major probability of something similar happening in our real world. Who would be surprised if some event caused our society to be thrown into a barren wasteland where the little things you once took for granted were now held above all else? Films like Doomsday, Terminator, I am Legend, even the Matrix trilogy and pretty much any zombie movie ever made fit into the mold that have people thinking, “wow, are we really ready for something like this?”. In the words of Whitney Houston during her husband’s short-lived reality show; “Hell to the No”. The state of our economy alone is example enough to believe that this could become a reality. The Hughes Brothers reminds us of this in The Book of Eli. No strangers to the violent movie sub-genre, they stand true to their trademark filmmaking in their latest project.

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Iron Man 2 (2010)

To be quite honest, Marvel comics is losing the war of super hero/comic book movies. Sure, they have put out more films than DC comics has, but the term “quality over quantity” has never been more true in films made today. Especially for those die hard comic book fans who are expecting the best effort possible in bringing their favorite hobby to the big screen. No matter how many attempts Marvel has made, they are yet to come close to the masterpiece that is The Dark Knight brought to us by Christopher Nolan who admits himself he has no idea how he is going to top that movie. Other than probably one X-men movie and two Spiderman entries, Marvel is currently in second place in the movie department. Thank the comic book stars that they decided to not let Hollywood make any more of their films. But one franchise may keep them afloat; Iron Man.

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Death Race (2008)

Remake number 9 million and counting brings us a combination of prison life and literally racing to the death. The original race of death titled Death Race 2000 which debuted in 1975 starred David Carradine and Sly Stallone and did not feature the prison element but did contain running over innocent pedestrians to earn extra points. Director Paul W.S. Anderson’s version retains the gruesome disposition that the original portrayed with blood, gore and of course people dying. But it doesn’t overshadow the primary aspect of this film which remained to be the racing. Throw in some eye candy, which every action film needs, and you got yourself an authentic over the top keeper.

Expert martial artist Jason Statham plays Jensen Ames, an ex-gang member with a decent rap sheet who has turned his life around and settled down to raise a family. A loving wife, brand new baby girl, house, job which he hates, the whole nine and a half yards of every working class man’s life. Joan Allen plays Hennessey, yeah like the cognac, who is the antagonist warden at this correctional facility.

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Collateral Damage (2002)

2002 brings us another “in between Terminators” period, as I like to call it, film from one of the greatest action superstars off all time, Mr. Schwarzenegger. Collateral Damage, a movie that has Arnold past his prime as I see it but still looking in pretty good condition. This movie was originally supposed to be released in early October of 2001, but due to the very tragic events of September 11th it was pushed back because of its terrorist movie plot and explosion sequences. It was actually tested on an audience first before finally being released in early 2002.

In this film, Arnold is joined by Elias Koteas (Zodiac, Shutter Island) who plays an FBI agent who is hell bent on destroying terrorism against the United States at all costs, Cliff Curtis (10,000 BC, Live Free or Die Hard) as Claudio Perrini aka “The Wolf” along with John Leguizamo (Gamer, Ice Age trilogy). Arnold plays Gordy Brewer, a Los Angeles firefighter, who loses his wife and son to the terrorist attack of The Wolf which was meant for a different target. In acts of war, as Brewer is told in the film, deaths of the innocent are known

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Clash of the Titans Ω Then and Now

So far I have lost count on just how many remakes the last couple of years has brought us and the several more on the way will only add to my number keeping dilemma. I can, however, keep track of how many good remakes there have been this year. Thus far I have seen two: The Crazies and the visual epic Clash of the Titans. I made it my duty as a serious movie goer to go back and watch the original before I ventured to the theater to see the made over installment. An undertaking I haven’t done since I was a child when I watched it with my father and really didn’t understand what was going on except that some guy was battling some very wild and “not real” creatures.

The original released back in 1981, a good year if I do say myself because I was also born that year, stars Laurence Olivier as Zeus, Maggie Smith as Thetis (better known as Professor McGonagall from Harry Potter) and Harry Hamlin as our hero Perseus.

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Prince of Persia (2010)

I have not played any of the original Prince of Persia video games with the first one having been released in November of 2003 by Ubisoft but I am a little familiar with them. Combining state of the art graphics, great action, the ability to turn back time and a pretty good story line, the original games released on Playstation 2, Xbox and Gamecube at the time were met with rave reviews. Now Disney has chosen to bring us the big screen adaptation of one of the best selling games in this generation. With Jerry Bruckheimer producing, you have to expect this project to be quite exciting, especially after the success of Pirates of the Caribbean which he also had his producing hand in.

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