Futant

When I first saw The Matrix I was blown away. Everything in the first movie was so fresh, so innovative, so entertaining. When I heard that there would be two sequels to follow, it was like there was finally something worth living for(cinematically speaking). I've heard a lot of feedback about the second Matrix movie, most people said it sucked, that it wasn't as good as the first, or that they had an interesting concept but failed to make the proper execution and blah,blah,blah. What are these people thinking? Were they sleeping through Reloaded? Now Revolutions is here, the third and final installment in the Wachowski brothers bread and butter. I don't care about the nay sayers, Revolutions rocked. Finally, the war between the humans and machines in kicked into high gear, people other than Morpheus and Trinity start believing in Neo, and everyone is lending a helping hand. I don't know why anyone who liked the first two won't like this one. Sure, we all know it picks up where Reloaded left off, so there should be no complaints about "poor execution". Everyone is Zion is involved. There's not many hand to hand combat scenes and I'm a big fan of those, yet I didn't mind. I was too worried how the whole thing would play out. I say, if you've seen the first two, even if you didn't like Reloaded, you owe it to yourself to see Revolutions.

I will not write a lengthy, highly detailed recap of the plot for this movie. Instead I will say that the Hulk was decent. Since the success of the first X-Men movie, Marvel and Hollywood have been churning out comic to movie adaptations like no tomorrow. That might be why this movie wasn't as well recieved as say Spider-Man or X2. As a long time fan of comics, I enjoy it when any of my favorite heroes make it to the big screen,I watch and critique these movies as just that, movies. Sure, the basis for these movies are small colored books dating back to the early 60's so I'm willing to let certain character and plotline inequities go. What people don't realize is that when a comic or cartoon or videogame for that matter gets picked up for a theatrical release, the writers must try to make it universally acceptable or understandable to all who see it. Sometimes this ruins the movie, making it either too complex or too shallow. I believe the Hulk was a success in terms of capturing the comic book feel. The acting isn't as bad as everybody says. The CGI of the Hulk is realistic looking enough. There were times in the movie he looked fake, others, like he was really standing next to Jennifer Connelly. I do feel it lacks in action, the biggest fight is Hulk vs. the dogs and there's no real showdown at the end between Hulk and an all powerful villian. There was a showdown, but it wasn't really interesting. My final grade on this movie: For general audiences:C For comic fans: B

Wishmaster 2: Evil Never Dies is the second installment of the Wishmaster series. There is nothing groundbreaking or innovative in this film, it's just entertaining to watch. In the sequel to the mildly successful prequel, the Djinn is freed again from his prison and proceeds to wreak havoc on the human race. He does this by granting his victim a wish, an effective method for achieving his goal because everybody wants something. The film has it's gory glory moments, something I thought was done well. There are a few comedic moments, especially when the Djinn approaches somebody to grant them a wish. The actor who plays the Wishmaster is perfect. This guy needs more work in the horror/sci-fi field, he has a sinister look to him and an unsettling voice. If you're a fan of horror movies, give the Wishmaster series a try.

Tarantino has returned, this time with a kung-fu revenge story that's probably the most innovative movie of the year.

I won't go into plot detail or even an inkling of what the movie is about. I will simply say that Kill Bill isn't your average 2 hour, $8.50 movie that you'll yawn your way through and smile when you see the credits at the end. Instead, you'll be captivated by the many twists and turns and illegal amounts of blood used in this movie. The acting is all top notch, the fight scenes are reminiscent of pretty much every good kung-fu movie you've ever seen, and the music is well...interesting for this type of flick. Many people say this movie was a flop, why? Because it didn't have guns and briefcases in it? I say go and see this movie, not once but twice. There is plenty candy for the eye, and no I don't mean a scantily clad Uma Thurman or Lucy Liu(although, having either one of them scantily clad for even a scene wouldn't have hurt the movie). This is a movie that I believe will give my beloved Matrix:Reloaded a run for it's money at the next award show, in my opinion, it has already won Best Cinematography, Best Directing, Best Supporting Cast...Best Fight Scene will be the big showdown between Kill Bill and The Matrix.

I've read a number of other comments on this film, which mostly seemed to come from Star Trek fans(naturally). I am not a huge Trek fan, however, I've seen a few episodes of "TNG", as it's affectionately known as so I took a chance with Nemesis. Being as I'm not a "Trekkie" or even a fan of said series, my viewing was not clouded by the little inconsistancies that seemed to be major roadblocks for most Trek-fans. But even still, Nemesis falls flat in my eyes too. There's just not enough going on in this movie for me to really care what happens to these characters in the end. Some of the recurring characters from the series are here in Nemesis, yet all seem to serve very miniscule roles save for Picard and Data. The dialogue in this film is atrocious, very thin and unenthusiastic when being delivered by the actors. Character interaction is also very superficial which I thought was horrendously apparent at the end when the survivng crew members toast to Data. Look at Riker's expression in that scene, he has this look on his face like he's in a circle of aristocrats at some stuffy, obnoxious dinner ball. And what exactly was the motivation for the whiny, w**ker bad guy, what was his name? Sh**zue? He has a bad life and blowing up Earth/ killing Picard is going to make it all better? I understood the whole blood transfusion issue, but it was dead one before it even was a factor in the story. Quick sum up: Bad plot, Worse dialogue, Laughable villian, Waste of Time. I agree with the Trek fans(Trekkie just doesn't seem to be PC anymore).

Fulltime Killer is a movie about assassins; one's trying to live in seclusion, the other is trying to showboat his way to top to become the #1 Assassin. Andy Lau does a great job as Tok, he has a natual arrogant look to him that really filled out the character. Tok is an up and coming assassin who takes any job he can find, difficult or not, and always delivers, throwing in extra style points to make his work unique.O, or Ono; is the current top assassin. He is played by Japanese actor Takashi Sorimachi, another good choice in casting. His methods are less flashy than Tok's but he is effiecient and very professional about his work. Over the course of the movie, a woman gets involved, as does Interpol, as news of a flashy killer quickly spreads across the surrounding area. The plot obviously ends up pitting the two assassins against each other(like you didn't know)and well, I guess you're going to have to watch it to see who becomes the #1 Fulltime Killer. But before I end this may I at least comment on the dialogue in the movie. I'm no expert in foreign languages but it seemed like there were 4 different languages spoken throughout the course of the movie, Korean, Japanese, Chinese(some form) and English. Like I said, I'm no expert so if they only spoke Japanese and English I wouldn't be surprised. But the dialogue between characters was well crafted, I enjoyed how the characters spoke their native language, or if they didn't, another character would inquire why they didn't. The action scenes were good, not too much physical action, but if you like guns, then this is right up your alley. Finally, I'd like to point out that this movie doesn't center around one assassin, it switches back and forth, and you really will find yourself rooting for one or the other by the end of the film. I rooted for O, did he win? Watch the movie.

Finally, the two most popular(and deadly) horror franchises merge for an all out war for homicidal supremacy; Freddy vs. Jason. I was worried as I took my seat amongst the anxious onlookers that this movie could go horribly wrong. What if they changed Freddy's history to better suit the whole "vs." thing? What if they didn't make Jason as tough just so Freddy would have a better shot? But to my delight, both characters blended seamlessly together into one awesome horror movie that will be my number 1 for many years to come.

The acting by the kids in this movie is pretty much standard horror talent. There's nothing too elaborate in these kids' performances and they do a good job serving their purpose as eventual bait for both Freddy and Jason. I was suprised by Kelly Rowland's appearance in this movie. She gives a fine performance and I really respect her decision to do this film. Most big name R&B singers don't usually choose a slasher flick to break them into the acting field.

The fight sequences between Freddy and Jason were awesome; fast paced and suspensful. Both characters had their advantages and disadvantages and it is pretty relevant when the big two finally clash. All of the staple tradmarks of both characters are here, such as Jason's stealth like ability to just appear behind his victims, and Freddy has his usual comedic imput.

This movie is right on the mark. It promised to deliver, and it does. This is The horror movie of the last decade.

When I rented Cradle 2 The Grave I knew exactly what I was going to get, my only gripe was that I didn't get enough. Jet Li brings amazing action sequences to every movie he does. He might not be as acrobatic as Jackie Chan but anytime Jet is facing the opposition, rest assured the bodies will be flying.

The movie's plot focuses on two factors: stolen black diamonds and DMX's daughter. As stated, there's really nothing new here, it's all a matter of delivery and I must admit, Cradle fails.

I felt there was too much dialogue and not enough action. The action scenes we did have were decent enough save for a few stretches of the imagination(DMX running up the side of a wall). The acting, although not a huge "must have" for most action movies, was average. I felt DMX could have done a little more than just yell at the top of his lungs, occasionally throwing in a "m.f" to get his point across. Jet did his usual calm, collected persona which has pretty much worked for all of his movies.

Final Verdict: If you're a fan of Jet Li movies and can sit through loads and loads of dialogue to get to good fight scenes, then give this one a try. However, if you prefer more fighting then give "Romeo Must Die" or "The One" a chance.

The Last Minute had the potential become something great. The synopsis of the film cited other titles such as "Fight Club" and "Trainspotting" yet I failed to make a connection. Yes, the main character is an overnight success. Yes, he wakes up and it's all gone. And yes, he falls into a life of crime and drugs all the while wanting to return to his cozy life as a star. So where does the Fight Club come in? The only thing I found to even be remotely like Fight Club was the main menu on the DVD. I could see a slight Trainspotting influence with the heroin but just because a movie has heroin doesn't make it a Trainspotting-esque movie. If they had let the movie stand on it's own instead of trying to cite all those past hit movies like "Bruises you like Fight Club", "Injects you like Trainspotting" etc. What is that? It's almost as if the director wanted you to compare his movie to those. And sorry mate, those are the future cinematic classics of our time. Anybody would be a fool to plaster all over their own movie that it's like Snatch and Lock,Stock and Resovoir Dogs etc. Those movies have huge cult followings so even if The Last Minute was a decent movie, the fact that the director was so hell-bent on drawing the Tarantino/Ritchie/Lynch crowd he in reality just drew a crowd of critics. I'm ranting now. As you can see, I didn't like this movie. No, I really didn't go into why, but that's only because it had so much potential. My review would better resemble a "woulda, coulda, shoulda". Bad movie.