Iron Man 2 review

I LOVED the first Iron Man film. I'd put it in my top 5 favourite comic book adaptions of all time. It's up there with the likes of The Dark Knight, Watchmen and Kick-Ass, so there was no doubt I was going to be super excited for Iron Man 2. Hell, the trailers sold me and I even bought an Iron Man 2 poster for my bedroom my wall. I'm a fucking nerd....

Plot

The plot is perfect in the sense of how the story should go after Tony Stark(Robert Downey Jr) confessed he was the man behind the suit to the world. The government is the first to step up, declaring that Stark should hand over the suit as it's a weapon and a treat to the U.S. Also, Ivan Vanko, wants revenge because he believes his father was robbed by Tony's Dad, Howard Stark, who once worked with Ivan's father, Anton, on the arc reactor.

The Good

Robert Downey Jr delivers another fantastic performance as Tony Stark, who is witty, charming and grows a larger ego with all the extra found fame. Downey really carried this film on his back and made things work on so many levels. One of the most positive things about the first Iron Man film was the chemistry between Downey and Gwyneth Paltrow(Pepper Potts). That chemistry returns and made a lot of the scenes worth watching. And I'm not a guy that likes romantic garbage in my comic book films, but these two just work off each other so well, it's appealing.

The new villain introduced is Whiplash/Ivan Vanko, played wonderfully by Mickey Rourke. Whiplash is a cold man who unleashes himself while pulling no punches. He is one bad mother fucker with silly hair. Another new player to the game is Black Window/Natalia Romanova(Scarlett Johansson) who does enough to show how much of a badass she is. You don't find out much about her, just that she's a spy for SHIELD, which I didn't mind too much because I saw enough of her *wink* to keep me pleased.

Another thing this film does right is action. The action is much better this time around due to War Machine and the many droids built by Justin Hammer and Whiplash. I felt the first film lack adversaries, which didn't give a lot of room to see the suit in action and it's functions. Of course with action like Iron Man, you need amazing CGI. ILM delivers top notch effects which don't disappoint.

The Bad

I'm not going to lie, I walked out if Iron Man 2 disappointed. Not Spider-Man 3 disappointed mind you, because if it was, I would've caused quite a stir by falling to the floor, crying like a little bastard. The major problem with Iron Man 2 is the pacing, it's all over the place. You get some action maybe 30 minutes into the film, then no action till the end and the time it gets to that awesome action scene, you just don't care because you weren't buzzed up for it. Nothing gets you pumped, nothing builds you towards the action, nothings screams ''If this scene kicked so much ass, then the last battle must be outstanding''. Don't get me wrong, the last battle delivers, but nothing before that got me excited for it.

The first Iron Man had it's fair share of comedy, and so does the sequel...A little too much in fact. Comedy comes from scenes that shouldn't be funny and because of this, you can take what your seeing seriously. One scene in particular as a drunk Tony in the Iron Man suit at his birthday, which is funny, I liked it, but then the scene should of been serious after something occurs, but the comedy just keeps piling on. Justin Hammer(Sam Rockwell) is another villain who is introduced, just comes off a dumb comedic character. You wonder how this guy is even up there with Tony Stark to being with.

I was looking forward to War Machine so much and he came off as failure in my eyes. First off, there wasn't enough time given to James Rhodes(Don Cheadle). We learn absolutely nothing new about him. All I know is, he is a Colonel at the Air Force. Due to the lack of character, I had a lack of interest for the man behind the new suit of armor.

Overall

Iron Man 2 was worth checking out, it's solid and you should go see it if you enjoyed the first film. I might go see it again sometime down the line....Or Kick-Ass for the 5th time. I mean, there is nothing rememberable about Iron Man 2 and that is where it falls flat on his metal ass.

Score-Barely scrapes by with a 7/10

Post by Rob

Kick-Ass review

Kick-Ass

Directed by Matthew Vaughn

Starring: Aaron Johnson, Christopher Mintz-Plasse, Chloe Moretz, Nicolas Cage and Mark Strong

Plot

Dave Lizewski is just an average kid who glides through life. As a huge comic book fan, Dave one day he asks himself why hasn't anyone dawned a costume to save people. Dave decides to be the one to battle crime on the streets by dressing up in a wet suit and calling himself Kick-Ass. Kick-Ass realizes soon enough that he's not the only superhero in town as he befriends Big Daddy, Hit Girl and Red Mist.

Good

I have so much great things to say about this film. It's funny, witty, insane, violent, but at the same time you care about these characters. This works because we are the Kick-Ass character. At some point we wish we could do a lot more than just stand around doing nothing as people get mugged, shot, stabbed etc. This makes us click with this character right away.

While our protagonist has the name ''Kick-Ass'', he doesn't do the most of the ass kicking. Hit-Girl does. She is a young kid who swears, kills and is a total badass who steals the show. One person who surprised be a lot was Nic Cage. He was fantastic and owned his role. Not only was he funny, the guy has one scene in particular where he just comes off as a total brute.

Strong and Plasse worked off each other very well. Every scene they had came off hilarious. What can I say, the casting was perfect and not one person let me down in their role. Everyone put 110% into it.

Bad

I'm really reaching deep into the barrel to find something I didn't like about this. The only thing that bugged me was the character pacing. While each character gets their moment to shine, some people disappear for awhile and you forget all about them. But like I said, that's reaching deep.

Overall

This is one hell of a fun film that shouldn't be missed by you or anyone else. The reason why we go to the movies is to be entertained and Kick-Ass is full blown entertainment.

Score

9/10

Post by Rob

Survival of the Dead review

Survival of the Dead

Directed by George A. Romero

Starring: Alan van Sprang, Kenneth Welsh, Kathleen Munroe, Richard Fitzpatrick, Athena Karkanis,

I'm not the biggest Zombie fan, but I've enjoyed such Zombie flicks as 28 Days Later, Zombieland, Shaun of the Dead and the Dawn Of The Dead remake, which is kind of a crime since I've not seen the original Dawn Of The Dead. The only films I've seen from George A. Romero has been Land Of The Dead and Diary of the Dead. I can't say I was impressed by these two. I don't know why I even rented Survival of the Dead...I guess I just wanted some good goring entertainment.

Plot

The Zombie apocalypse has begun and people are doing whatever they can to survive. A group of survivors discover a place of refuge called Plum Island. This island is inhabited by two rival families called the O'Flynns and the Muldoon's. O'Flynns want the walking dead to be rid of, while the Muldoon's believe they can train the dead to eat animal meat over human. The survivors who take refuge on this Island get caught in the middle of this family war.

The good

Some of the Zombie deaths were kinda fun and even though a lot of them were cheesy, it felt like I was watching an 80's flick, especially when the practical effects were used. All this was accompanied by some goofy parts mixed with some one liners that blended into the cheesiness nicely.

The Bad

Let's talk about the main attraction to this film, the Zombies. What can I say, they were a complete joke. I understand that Survival of the Dead was a comedy/horror, but so was Shaun of the Dead and Zombieland, but the Zombies looked amazing in those. The make-up here looked like no one bothered to be creative with it. To make things even worse, they sounded terrible. I'm not kidding, remember that scene in Shaun of the Dead where everyone must act like a Zombie to get to the Winchester? Well, that's basically how the Zombies acted in this.

Some of the deaths looked good because of practical effects used and I appreciate horror more when they use these types of effects, but for some reason awful CGI was used in parts were practical effects should've been used.

Hey, maybe the acting was good, right? No. What about the script? No. I really felt like I was watching a film made by amateur film school students that got nice bit of money to spend.

Overall

This is the type of film you might really enjoy if you're drunk with some friends. But I wasn't drunk or with friends so I can't say I had too much fun. I don't know what Romero was doing in the past to have gotten the title ''Grandfather of the Zombie'', but whatever he was doing then, he needs to return to that.

Score

4/10

Post by Rob

Transfomers: Revenge Of The Fallen review

I'm a HUGE fan of the first Transformers film. Sure it had it's weaknesses, but as a long time Transformers fan, I feel they got a lot right with it. There's always that nervous feeling going into a sequel to a film that you loved so much. That's how I felt with Revenge Of The Fallen. I wanted it to have all the strong points from the last film, but to be even bigger. 

Plot

The film takes place two years after the events of the first film. Sam Witwicky(Shia LeBeouf), is now heading to college and wants to leave the past events behind him, so he can live a normal life. When Sam touches a piece of the allpark fragment, that was stuck in his sweater, he downloads all the information from it. Sam now has information on a source of energon on Earth, that the Decepticons need. It's now up to the Autobots to protect Sam and to stop The Fallen, who wants the energon.

Thumbs up

A major weakness with the first film was the lack of the Decepticons, but don't worry, this film makes up for that. To me, this felt like a Decepticon film. You have that bickering between, Megatron and Starscream, you have scenes of scheming and plotting. It's all there.

Because this film is more Decepticon focused, the steaks are raised. There were parts throughout this film that you really didn't know, who was going to live and who were going to die. This gave a lot of scenes more of an emotional impact. One scene in particular almost had me in tears.

The action is a lot more clear this time around. The first film had too many close up shots during the action sequences, this time you can see what's going on. The action is also bigger than the first film. With these improvements, the robot fighting is mind-blowing. Prime is just a total badass throughout this sequel.

None of this action couldn't of been possible without ILM, who have totally outdone themselves even more this time. My mouth watered seeing all the transformations on screen. ILM totally got shafted for their work on Transformers in 2007 at the Oscars. They better win this year.

Wheelie and Jetfire are two new bots who shined most for me, both had a lot of personality. Anyone who hated Wheelie from G1, this version makes up for him. Skids and Mudflap were also pretty great to, bringing some good laughs. Ravage was totally like his G1 counterpart and The Fallen as some scenes which aloud some opening into the Transformers mythology. 

The acting is much improved this time around. Shia was fantastic in the first film, but he even gives a better performance in Revenge. Megan Fox was another person who improved. She still may be one of the weakest acting wise, but still, she was so much better. A new human character who entered the main circle cast was Leo(Ramon Rodriguez), who I didn't like at first, but was actually pretty hilarious along side, John Turturro.

Thumbs down

While it's great that this is a Decepticon film, it looses focus on the Autobots. New bots such as, Sideswipe, Arcee and Jolt, get absolutely no development. Jolt appears in the background at some point and Arcee gets two lines. The biggest disappointment was Sideswipe, who looked so badass. Ratchet becomes another background character, which sucked. I would like an even spread for the third film, because the film really suffered from too many bots. There were parts that really made no sense with the bots. Blackout(who is called Grindor from the toy) comes back without no explanation. At some points there are two of same Contructicons, which left me baffled. 

There was only one bot I was disappointed in, and that was Soundwave. He didn't have his famous voiced which sucked, but he was voiced by Frank Welker which kinda made up for that.

Transformers is a kids franchise at the end of the day. Sure you got to change things up for the film so it appeals to everyone, but my god, some of the language in this film surprised me. At one point, Mudflap calls Leo a pussy. There were other things that really questioned, if this film was really suitable for kids at all. 

About 3/4 through the film, it drags. A good 10-15 minute slice to the film would have worked wonders for it. The last film felt tighter, where as this, feels a little bit scattered. 

Overall

This film does have it's weaknesses like the first, but it's one hell of an enjoyable film. It's everything that a summer blockbuster is. If your a Transformers fan in general, you'll be more than happy with it. In some ways it's better then the first, but in other ways it's not. 

Score

9/10

Post by Rob

Drag Me To Hell review

It’s been more than 20 years since the master of horror, Sam Raimi(Evil Dead Trilogy, Darkman and Spider-Man 1-3) sat in his thrown and directed the genre he directs best. Drag Me To Hell is his return to horror, but has he still got it? I was pumped when I heard about this project and the trailers impressed me, but I only had one major concern…This was going to be t PG-13. I thought that Sam Raimi was jumping on the bandwagon of all these other teen rated horrors, just so this film would make more money. So, did the PG-13 rating make a difference? And does Sam still got it? Find out below.

Plot

The plot revolves around a girl named Christine Brown(Alison Lohman), who works at a bank as a load officer and is trying to get the assistant manager position, but is in rival with a fellow co-worker, Stu(Reggie Lee). To try to impress her boss(David Paymer), Christine decides she needs to make tougher decisions. When she refuses to load money to a gypsy woman named Mrs Ganush(Lorna Raver), the gypsy woman curses her. Now, Christine has 3 days to live before she is dragged to hell.

Thumbs up

The thing I loved about this film the most, were all the winks and nods to the Evil Dead trilogy. There is a scene where some of the characters get possessed and it’s almost the exact same way a person would in The Evil Dead trilogy. This kind of stuff made me shout ‘’bring on Evil Dead 4’’.

Like I said above, I was worried about this being PG-13, but man this doesn’t feel like a PG-13 film. There were so many gross moments throughout this flick. I felt like a kid again, wanting more gross things to happen.

This film was advertised as a full on horror, but this isn’t just a horror, Drag Me To Hell has it’s fair share of comical moments too. The mix of comedy and horror is total Raimi and damn, I love it when these two genres get mixed together.

Don’t let the idea of comedy put you off, this film has it’s fair share of horror moments. There a some good scares that will make you jump. I was sitting at the edge of my seat, my heart pumping, embracing myself when something would try to make me jump, but I could never time it, things pop right at you when you least expect it. This is what horror is all about, making you jump and feeling like an ass afterwards for being such a pussy.

I always have a problem with attractive girls playing roles were their meant to be insecure or lacking confidence, it never works for me. Alison Lohan is very attractive, but she can pull off the insecure type perfectly. That’s why I could follow her journey, I believe she was this person.

Thumbs down

The film slowed down during the middle. After seeing some crazy stuff, I wanted more, but the film just derailed from that type of stuff for a while. There were a few scenes were I expected some outrageous things to happen, but it never did.

There’s a medium(Dileep Rao) in this film that tries to help Christine to remove this curse and one thing he suggests, leads Christine to do something that is totally out of character. It was really out of place because this thing he suggest could have been done a different way. Don’t get me wrong, what she does leads to some funny  scenes, but it was so out of place.

Justin Long didn’t do too much in this. He just played the boyfriend who doesn’t believe in the supernatural events. Seemed like a waste to me.

Overall

This is one hell of a fun film. It’s scary, funny, disgusting and damn entertaining. This is different to all the other horror films out here, and sometimes different is good.

Spunk's rating-7/10

Post by Rob

Night At The Museum: Battle Of The Smithsonian review

I enjoy the first, Night At The Museum, but it was forgettable. The trailers for the sequel looked hilarious, especially adding the likes of, Darth Vader in there, that sold me. 

Plot

It’s been a few years after the events of the first film and Larry Daley(Ben Stiller) has moved on ever since his business took off. He returns to the museum one day to see how things are, but to his surprise, everything is being moved away to the archives which is located at another museum, meaning everyone can’t come to life due to being away from the tablet.

The monkey steals the tablet and brings it with him to the new museum, thus bringing everything to life there. An evil Egyptian named, Kah Mun(Hank Azaria), awakes and wants to use the tablet to bring his army back from the dead. Now it’s up to Larry and friends to stop this from happening.

Thumbs up

The best thing about this film is taking the adventure to another museum, making everything bigger and more interesting. There were a lot of hilarious moments with famous paintings, sculptures and other froms of art.

Amy Adams was the best thing about this film. She stole the show, acting wise. She got a lot of cheesy dialogue to work with, but she made the lines so believable.

Another person who I enjoyed, was Jonah Hill, who only had a cameo. His scene involved no CGI, no art characters, just a scene with him and Stiller talking. It was the best scenes in the whole film and was written so well. Owen Wilson was also another actor who surprised me. I wasn’t expecting anything from him at all, but he has some hilarious scenes too.

Thumbs down

Ben Stiller didn’t shine at all. He seemed bored most of the time and didn’t bounce well off of most characters. The kid who played Larry’s son was pointless. The film could of worked without him. He was distracting and annoying.

I really didn’t like how some characters broke character. The appeal of  jokes in this film came from the characters personality delivering the lines, but sometimes a character from history would break character so much, you forget they are this famous person in history, but a completely new character that has been made up just to get a crappy joke in there. The scene with Jonah Hill was written so well, I wish that flow kept going throughout the film.

Overall

This is a fun and entertaining film. I found it much better then the first one. If you have kids, then this is the film you must all go as a family to see. If you hate kids, then try go at a later time or even in the next few weeks. Kids were rolling on the lobby floor and I almost tripped up a few times. I was disgusted that the parents or ushers, didn't tell the kids to stop running around like they were high on super sugar.

I give Night At The Museum: Battle Of The Smithsonian a 6/10.

Post by Rob

Star Trek review

I'm not a Star Trek fan, I'm more of a Star Wars guy. I grew up watching, Next Generation, but that was along time ago. Recently I watched Wraith Of khan and First Contact, which I found to be entertaining films, but that was never enough to drag me into the franchise. As for the franchise itself, Nemesis performed poorly at the Box Office, followed by the latest TV series, Enterprise, which was cancelled. At this point something new needed to be done and this is where J.J Abrams stepped in. When I heard that the film would focus on a younger Kirk and Spock, I thought this wasn't going to work, this is stepping backwards, not forwards. I learnt that sometimes the past can help reshape the future, the trailer proved this to me. Everything after that was positive and I was hooked.

Plot

The film takes a look at a younger crew from the USS Enterprise, but focuses on the contrasts between, James T. Kirk(Chris Pine) and Spock(Zachary Quinto). Kirk grows up as the wild child, while Spock has been disciplined since birth. Both of them must learn to work together as a Romulan ship from the future lead by Nero(Eric Bana) plans to destroy Earth.

The Good

I have no idea where to start because there is so much to this film that I loved. I'll start by giving major props to the cast, that didn't repeat what the original cast did. Instead they bring new elements to the characters. Pine, I felt had the hardest job because let's face it, William Shatner is Kirk, both character and actor have become cemented into pop culture. Pine, nailed the role, this dude fucking rocked as Kirk. Not once did I think of Shatner while watching his performance, and to me, that was VERY important. Quinto also did a damn good job at taking over the roll of Spock. It was interesting to see that character dealing with his emotions and human half. At no point did I feel like the characters were placed in this film for the sake of it, each character serves a purpose and each actor fills the role perfectly. 

The main problem with prequels are, you know what happens to each character, you know their faith, which leaves no room for a sense of danger and lessens the barrier of possibilities. Here, a new timeline is created and I loved how it was executed with just a few simple lines that left me satisfied. 

Everything in this film looked beautiful, and I mean everything, from the sets to how space itself looked. The one thing I got to mention is, how the ships moved. In all of the incarnations of Star Trek, everything seemed to move in a straight line perfectly, but in this Star Trek, you really feel these ships movements throughout space. 

I really didn't want this film to end. The adventure was so big and something interesting was always going on. Unlike Star Trek before, which felt slow and dragged out a lot, this film just entertains without stopping. 

The Bad

I wouldn't say Nero is any sort of great villain that anyone would really remember. He is there to pushed the plot, but I never found him to be interesting. Bana did a great job, but Nero just felt like another run of the mill villain. 

I really enjoyed Leonard Nimoy, reprising the role as future Spock, but I felt like the character overstayed his welcome for a bit. I was like ''Ok cool, you served your purpose, now stop hanging around''. 

Overall

Forget about the perception you have of Star Trek, this is fresh, new, exciting, fun and I dare say MUCH better then anything Star Wars has done in the past 10 years.

Rating

8/10

Post by Rob

X-Men Origins: Wolverine review

When it was first announced that a Wolverine film was in the works, I rolled my eyes and thought, ''Yippee, another film about Wolverine''. It's rather strange for me to not get excited about a superhero film, I mean, I read the comics, I'm a geek. I guess I just grew tired of Wolverine after seeing him headline all of the X-Men films and having all the attention poured on to him.  When the trailer hit the web, I was stunned at how good it looked and my interest in the film peaked.

Major concerns came when I found out that my favorite comic book character, Deadpool would be treated with such bastardization. On top of this alerting news, a copy of Wolverine was stolen and put online for the world to see. Mixed reactions started spilling all over the net, but I took what people were saying with a grain of salt as the workprint was unfinished.  Things got worse as we found out just a few days ago, that the film would have multiple endings. More bad then good was leaning on this film, but still, I was still kinda excited to see Wolverine as it was kicking off the summer blockbuster season.

Plot

Wolverine Origins takes place prior to the X-Men trilogy. It focuses on James Howlett(Hugh Jackman) and his relationship with his brother, Victor Creed(Liev ''Cotton'' Schreiber) through the bond of fighting in many wars, until the relationship ends due to Howlett turning his back on Creed and the Weapon X team, run by William Stryker(Danny Huston) to lead a normal life. Unfortunately for Wolverine, Creed and Stryker won't allow that.

The Good

Wolverine kicked off strong with the opening credits. It was pretty cool seeing Logan and Victor Creed going through many famous wars together.  The relationship between these two brothers was very interesting because Wolverine tries to suppress the beast within, while Victor embraces it. Their conflicting ideas of who they are results in many fierce fights between the two. Both actors played well off each other and I found I favored Schreiber's cold hearted take on Sabertooth over Jackman's, Wolverine.  

As this is prior to the X-Men films, different actors would be taking over the some roles. Danny Huston took over the part of William Stryker, which was played by Brian Cox in X2. I preferred Cox's take on the Stryker character, but Huston added this creepy politeness to the character which I liked.  Tim Pocock took up the mantle of Scott Summers A.K.A Cyclops from James Marsden.  Cyclops did more in this film then he did in X-Men 2 & 3, which is always a good thing. 

As for other major players from the X-Universe, such as Gambit, they get some decent screen time for a film titled Wolverine. I think most fans will be happy from what they see of Gambit, Blob, Agent Zero etc...

The bad

Man, prepare for a bumpy ride as this film is filled with plot holes that stick out like a swore thumb. The biggest one comes with a reveal at the end that left my head spinning. I just can't get over the stupidity of the reveal followed by the glaring hole in the story. 

I hated how Origins ignored certain parts from X-Men 1 & 2 such as the Weapon X experiment. The experiment plays out in a much different way then it did in X2.  In X2, Wolverine is seeing running down a tunnel covered in blood screaming. This does not happen in Origins, instead we get a nude Wolverine, running across a field nude and into a barn in a comical scene. We also get no explanation as to why Victor does not recognize his own brother in the first X-Men film. It's things like this that pissed me off. How hard can it be to add elements in from the first two films?

Let's talk action. The action was lackluster followed by iffy wirework and messy CGI. The Victor and Logan fights were decent along with a few other scenes, but nothing WOWED me compared to the other X-films. This was mainly due to the lack of berserker Wolverine.

Let's get down to some serious business...Deadpool/Wade Wilson. Ryan Reynolds did a good job for what he was offered, which wasn't much. Wade was hardly featured in the film, which is a big deal, when he is meant to be the final boss. When Wade became Weapon XI, I become a shivering wreck.  There was absolutely no build up to Wade becoming Weapon XI, which if it had a good story behind it, then I wouldn't of cared so much about the Deadpool character becoming this monstrosity.

And here comes a mini rant. Remember the multiple endings post I made the other day? Well a scene popped up during the credits and then I left thinking that, that was the secret ending to the film. Turns out that wasn't it. This ''secret'' ending was after the credits, not the one during it. The traditional thing to do, is to have one scene during or after the credits, not both. Thanks Fox, for being morons. 

Overall

Wolverine Origins is worth throwing your hard earned money down if your a fan of the Wolverine character or the previous X-films, other then that, I'd wait for the DVD release. I really didn't think I would say this, but I prefer X-Men 3: The Last Stand to Wolverine Origins. 

Overall-I give X-Men Origins: Wolverine-5/10

Post by Rob

Dragonball Evolution Review

If your a regular reader of this site, then you know I'm a Dragonball fan and that I was looking forward to this film. Ever since I was 15(I'm 22 now), I wanted to see Dragonball come to life. If you read this post, then you'll know why my anticipation suddenly dropped one day. If you don't want to read through my entire post on why my anticipation dropped, then this what I had to say in short:

Last week I put up a post, which contained clips from the film. While I said I liked them, my only complaint was Goku, who didn't shine in them. This worried me because Dragonball is Goku, his personality is meant to suck you right into the story. Goku is a playful, goofy at times character, but is serious when he needs to be. I didn't get any vibe of that when I watched the clips online. I was a little disappointed, but I hoped that would change later in the film. Now if you don't know, Dragonball was released in Asia over the weekend and it has been getting bad reception from the general public.

As opening day came closer, I started thinking that Dragonball may be terrible from the sounds of it, but maybe there might be some entertainment value to it, like Mortal Kombat or Street Fighter(Jean-Caude Van Damme version). Unfortunately, there wasn't any redeeming qualities what so ever. This so called ''Dragonball'' film was worse than I ever expected. I lowered my expectations so low and even at that I was still disappointed. 

PLOT

2,000 years ago, an evil Namek named Piccolo, along with his disciple, Oozaru destroyed planets together(doesn't explain why they are doing this or why Oozaru is obeying Piccolo), but they were stopped before destroying Earth as a bunch of Monks jailed Piccolo in a jar called a Mafuba. 2,000 years later Piccolo escapes from the Mafuba(With no explanation how) and decides to gather the 7 Dragonballs, so he may bring forth, a Dragon named Shenlong, who grants any one wish. Piccolo's wish is to destroy Earth. The only person who can stop him is Goku.

GOOD

James Marsters as Piccolo was the only thing I really enjoyed about Dragonball. Marsters looked great in the green make-up and pointy ears. The character wasn't on screen for long, but when he was, things didn't seem all too bad.  You could tell from interviews, that Marsters was very passionate about Dragonball. It's just a shame that the studio didn't share that passion.

Emmy Rossum was another person who did a good job for what she had to work with in my eyes. But like Piccolo, she only got to shine in one or two scenes. That's the thing, it wasn't that the actors were miscast(besides Joon Park), it was the piss poor script that felt rushed.

I liked the one or two shots you could see of Oozaru when he wasn't hiding in the dark, but even at that, the camera was shaking all over the place. I'm a sucker for transformations-from human to beast. 

BAD

The film begins with an 18 year old Goku who training with his Grandpa Gohan. This is not how it went down in the Manga, right? Dragonball was about Goku as a young boy, not a teenager, and his Grandpa was already dead. But you know what? This didn't bother me one bit. Having a kid playing Goku throughout this whole film would have annoyed me. Gohan dying by hands of Piccolo gave Goku motivation to take this evil Namek down. Somethings don't work in live action and sometimes you got to change things, but still hold the spirit of the source material at the same time. That being said, at least 20 minutes of the film should have revolved around a young Goku getting up to all sorts of adventures with his Grandpa. This way you would get some kid Goku in there and at the same time you'd be building a relationship between Goku and Gohan. But instead, they spend 20 Minutes with Goku hanging out in school, getting bullied and going to lame parties.  I hated Goku in this film, he pissed me off, he was everything that Goku was not. Goku in the Manga/Anime was a playful, humble, but was very confident in himself and took things serious when he needed to be. In this film, Goku is boring, very monotone and plays off as a poor mans Peter Parker. 

The whole film felt like I was watching it on DVD and someone was hitting the skip scenes button on a remote. For example one scene just suddenly jumps to a material arts tournament where Chi Chi is fighting Mai(works for Piccolo. Again, there is not explanation why she is), where the hell did this scene come from? There is no more mention of the tournament again. The whole film is like that, it just throws things at you without any explanation.

For a film that's about martial arts, there is no good fighting scenes. Some of the fights are done in almost complete darkness. The last fight scene lasted maybe 5 Minutes. The final battle should have been an epic one. It's Goku taking on Piccolo, the alien responsible for his Grandpa's death, but instead you get some energy beams tossed each others way and a little tussle in the air for a few seconds. It was dreadful.

FINAL THOUGHTS 

This is the finest example of piss poor film making. Give this one a skip, even if you are a Dragonball fan, save yourself the headache, don't go.

Overall I give Dragonball Evolution-2/10

Post by Rob

Lesbian Vampire Killers review

You may be asking yourself why I'm writing this review late, this film did come out on Friday and today is Tuesday. The reason is, I tried to avoid this film at all costs because the title seemed too forced to me. I mean with a title like that, you got to deliver right? I feared it wouldn't, that the title was all talk and no action. With a free pass and nothing to do, my friend and I adventured into the screen to watch for what I was really hoping for-Nudity, lesbians and over the top gore. Deep down I was hoping for something that screamed, 70's exploitation. 

The Plot

The film center's around two guys named Fletch and Jimmy. Jimmy is involved with a bitch of a girlfriend and Fletch is a slacker who is going nowhere in life. The two decide to take a trip by throwing a dart at the map of Britain, leaving it up to faith, to decide their journey. They end up going to some village, where they end up hanging out with a bunch of hot girls, who turn into lesbian vampires after being bitten. Jimmy and Fletch, along with the help of a local Vicar, must save the world. 

The Good

There is some eye candy to look at in this film and I also laughed at a joke. I don't remember what the joke was and I'm pretty sure the joke didn't have anything to do with the film at all, but me remembering a joke someone told me a long time ago. 

The Bad

Let me just roll back my sleeves first. Ah there we go. My fears came to life within in the first few minutes, the title was all talk and no action. I think I saw one boob and some PG kissing in this film. For a film that has the word ''lesbian'' in the title, I expected much more nudity and sexual things going on between the vampires. Along with the lack of lesbian interaction, was the lack of violence. Vampires in this film have white gooey blood, which sucked. This made the violence really tame. No limbs were hacked, no blood gushed from peoples necks, heck,  I've seen more violence in a Goosebumps episode. The two things I wanted most from this film, did not deliver on any level.

What made this film even worse, was the ATROCIOUS acting, followed by the real shit dripping dialogue. The women in this film had such weird ass accents. It was like they were trying to do bad American accent, mixed with a bit of Polish on the side. The people who wrote this script, need a slap in the face for writhing such trash. The writers like to remind you throughout whole film, that they are not just vampires they are fighting, but lesbians vampires. It didn't work for me in the posters, what makes you think it would work in the film?

I didn't write this review because I wanted to, I wrote it to warn you not to see it. I found Epic Movie more entertaining than this so called film. That's how much it sucked.

Overall, I give Lesbian Vampire Killers-1/10

Be smart, choose your films wisely. 

Post by Rob

Friday The 13th review

It's been 6 years since we last saw Jason Voorhees on the big screen. When we last saw him, Jason was taking on the dream master himself, Freddy Krueger in Freddy VS Jason back in 2003, which got mixed reactions. I enjoyed it for most part myself. When I heard there would be a remake of Friday The 13th, I was happy and sad at the same time. Sad because I knew we would not see Freddy VS Jason 2(The story to Freddy vs Jason continued in Freddy vs Jason vs Ash, which rocked by the way) and happy because in a way you couldn't do much more with Jason, he has been to hell and back. Sometimes you need a fresh new start to pull the newer generation into the franchise. Sometimes starting all over works for the best(Batman & Hulk) and sometimes for the worst(Planet of the Apes & The Day The Earth Stood Still).

Before I jump into the review, I have to get something off my chest. The studio keep calling this Friday The 13th a ''re-imagining''. What's all that about? It's a fucking remake, not a ''re-imagining''. The studio took an existing franchise and remade it for today's audiences. It's as if the term 'remake' is a dirty slutty word and using it automatically gives a movie a bad rep. Well, call it what you want, it won't make a difference to the film at the end of the day, Mr Studio

PLOT
Friday The 13th begins with the death of Jason's mother, Pamela Voorhees who is trying to kill a camp counselor because she blames the counselor's her son's death. Jason witnesses his mother getting beheaded by the remaining camp counselor and seeks revenge on anyone who dares to enter Camp Crystal again. Many years later a group of friends are camping at Crystal Lake. Of course Jason slaughters them all like lambs but kidnaps one of them named Whitney(Amanda Righetti) because she looks alot like Jason's mother at a younger age. 6 weeks later Whitney's brother, Clay(Jared Padalecki) is searching for his sister, only to run into this another group of friends staying at a cabin near Camp Crystal.

THUMBS UP
I liked the design of Jason in this remake. He is faster, smarter and comes across more threatening then ever. This version of him plays homage to the Jason we saw in the earlier Friday The 13th films, appose to the later films where Jason is portrayed as a supernatural zombie.

Not many victims in horrors movies leave an impression on me, but the scenes with Aaron Yoo was most entertaining and humorous.

None of the deaths were re-memorable, but there is one scene in particular with two characters who are water skiing and one dies due to Jason using a bow and arrow. That scene rocked.

THUMBS DOWN

The biggest let down to this remake was the fact it was a remake and it didn't add anything new to what we've seen before many, many times. Why remake something if your not going to do anything different? Let's take the Halloween remake for example. While most people hate on it due to Rob Zombie divining into Michael's past as a kid, I say, why would you want to see the exact same thing on screen? Zombie put a twist on it so we could see something new. Plus the original is always there to watch, so it's no big deal. But unlike what Zombie did, Friday The 13th offers nothing new. Not only did it not offer anything new, it did something worse, it took away things from the original that now leaves new comers confused as fuck.

At the beginning we see Pamela Voorhees trying to kill a camp counselor because she blames the counselors for Jason's death. Why is she blaming them? If Jason is dead, how can he be witnessing his mother's death? Why is there no build up to this point? Maybe people should watch some of the older films to see why this is happening, right? Well isn't the point of a remake is to stand on it's own? Some people will feel like they just walked into a middle of a film when they watch this.

For all of you who don't know, I love Supernatural, so I was pretty excited to know that Jared Padalecki was in this, who is fantastic in Supernatural. That's why it kills me to say this, but Jared was pretty flat, along with all the other actors who gave crappy performances, bar, Aaron Yoo.

Overall- If your a fan of Jason, then this is for you, but if you want to stay away from cliched slashers with non-interesting characters and a throw away plot, then avoid this.

I give Friday The 13th REMAKE-5/10

Post By Rob

My Bloody Valentine NOT in 3D review

My Bloody Valentine is yet another horror remake. Now the main attraction to this film is the 3D aspect of it. But guess what? The theater I went to did not have the film in 3D, while the other theater didn't even play the film(we only have two theaters here). Yet again, our country gets the shit end of the stick when it comes to films(read here for my film release date rant). Oh and don't get me started on the amount of people in the screen talking and using their phones throughout the film(there were about 15 people doing this). People like that are ignorant pricks who deserve to be kicked out.

Plot

Tom Hanniger(Jensen Ackles) is a miner who causes an accident, which kills his fellow workers. One man survives, Harry Warden (Richard John Walters) who is in a coma after the accident. When Warden awakes on Valentines Day, he goes on a killing spree. He is shot a few times and presumed dead. Ten years later, Tom returns to his home town where the killings happened. Things begin to return to how they did that Valentines Day as Harry Warden returns or has he?

Thumbs up

With every horror film you see, you expect some juicy death scenes. My Bloody Valentine delivers in that department. Most of the death scenes come at you fast and out of nowhere which I digged a lot. The gore was like an over the top trill ride and the last film to have a similar style was Hatchet.

I've always been a fan of Jensen Ackles. I enjoyed his time on Smallville and I love Supernatural. Ackles did a solid job in this flick, nothing amazing, but the guy can hold up well on the big screen. I hope the dude doesn't get typecast, appearing in every horror film due his role in Supernatural. Jaimie King also did a fine job, but most of the credit goes to Kerr Smith who made you want to punch his character in the face.

Thumbs down

Besides not experiencing the film 3D, my gripes lays within the plot. The main plot points are barely explained, like why did Harry Warden go on a killing spree after he woke up from the coma? He was in a mine accident, not tortured and molested. What's he angry about that he must kill random people in the hospital? Instead of spending time on questions like these, we get killing after killing, without the story moving forward.

One of the big things that bothered me about this flick was the title. You could have given a totally different title to this film and you wouldn't even know it was a remake. In the original a miner leaves early to attend a Valentine's Day dance which causes a methane gas explosion that traps five workers. Harry Warden survives by eating his dead co-workers and goes mad. He goes on a killing spree and he warns the town not to celebrate again or the same faith will be played out. See how Valentine's day plays into the movie? In the remake, it doesn't. Some scenes force it for the sake of it, but it doesn't add to the film one bit.

Overall

The trill of the kills are there, but the story falls flat on it's ass. If they stuck to the original story, then this could have been a winner.

Overall I give My Bloody Valentine-5/10

Post by Rob

Quantum Of Solace review

Quantum Of Solace takes place pretty much where Casino Royale left off. Bond is dealing with the death of Vesper. While dealing with the pain, Bond has to stop some evil environmentalists who are being lead by a man named Dominic Greene, the leader of Quantum.

THUMBS UP
Craig has proven to me once again that he is the best Bond. Craig brings a cold, but yet charming Bond who still makes many mistakes because he is too sure of his actions. This is a Bond I would be intimidated to be around. Olga Kurylenko was an actress who I was worried about in film, but you know what? She did a damn good job. She wasn't a damsel in distress which I dug.

The action in Quantum is amazing, from sea to air. The action is hard hitting and sometimes you could feel the pain these characters were going through. The action was a little bit too fast at times, but for most part it was eye candy on screen. I have no idea how Bond could walk away after all these fights he encountered. I read Craig got some injuries during filming and you can see why during the action scenes.

THUMBS DOWN

The biggest weakness to Solace is the plot. The film is confusing as hell at times. I don't know about any of you, but I'm still scratching my head at some parts. Be sure you have all concentration while viewing, taking your eyes off the screen for one second will send you into a lost Paradise. I also didn't like the build up with Mr White. This guy is on screen for five minutes, and then he is gone. I dug him as a villain, but the main villain becomes Dominic Greene, who I felt was ok. Mr White would have been a much better lead villain.

Like I said above, some of the action was way to fast at times to the point where I couldn't tell what was going on, but that is a minor thing in only one or two scenes.

OVERALL

Quantum Of Solace is a solid good movie. If you liked Casino Royale, then you'll enjoy Solace. Royale is a much better movie, simple plot, but has good depth. Solace has an overcomplicated plot with not much depth. It's all action, action, action in this one.

Overall I give Quantum Of Solace a 6/10

Post by Rob

Landon Recommends: Clerks X

-Editors note-*I would like to introduce a new writer to Film Spunk, Landon Johnson. Landon is Canadian and shows no mercy as he rules the maple land with an iron fist. Landon enjoys nothing more but a good movie and ice-cream. Here is Landon's first post.*

I've always "liked" Kevin Smith's work. Mallrats was always my favorite. But one day, one of my best friends turned me on to the epic SModcast. From there on in, I have been infatuated with the hairy big guy. So it is no small wonder that my first review for this site is Smith's seminal work Clerks X. This 3 disc set is like a wet dream for any fan of Smith.

The movie Clerks itself is a great tale of love, friendship, and hermaphrodites. I don't think 14 years after its release I have to explain the plot, so for times sake I won't. The movie doesn't lull, it just keeps on trucking right throughout. I don't think I can praise this movie highly enough.

The DVD content is pretty fantastic, with commentary from 1995 featuring Kevin Smith, Jason Mewes, Scott Mosier and others. The first disc features the theatrical cut of the film, intros from Smith and Mos, cast auditions, and various TV spots. The second disc features the raw first cut of Clerks (which sadly, I have not yet viewed.) The third disc has the awesome documentary "Snowball Effect: The Story Of Clerks", the first work of Mosier and Smith, entitled Mae Day, And a whole slew of other features. It is a very good DVD, incredibly worth of the purchase. My copy was only 15 dollars, if you don't own clerks (hell, even if you do, I now own two copies of Clerks) .

Post by Landon

Smith watches the Watchmen

My hero, Kevin Smith has seen Watchmen. Here is what Smith had to say on the up and coming superhero flick based on one of the best graphic novels I've ever read:

And just so it's not all about me and my shit... I saw "Watchmen." It's f*cking astounding. The Non-Disclosure Agreement I signed prevents me from saying much, but I can spout the following with complete joygasmic enthusiasm: Snyder and Co. have pulled it off.

Remember that feeling of watching "Sin City" on the big screen and being blown away by what a faithful translation of the source material it was, in terms of both content and visuals? Triple that, and you'll come close to watching "Watchmen." Even Alan Moore might be surprised at how close the movie is to the book. March can't come soon enough.

Faithful translation and it's fucking astounding are two of the best things I want to here. What even makes me excited even more is the fact that Watchmen isn't fully complete in terms of effects and editing. I hope Smith talks a little bit more about Watchmen on SModcast(Kevin Smiths weekly podcast at http://www.quickstopentertainment.com/ )

Thanks to good ol joblow for this outstanding info.

Some lucky bastard got to see Zach And Miri

I'm a massive Kevin Smith fan. I'd give my right...no wait, left nut to meet him in person. Clerks is a big influence on me as a film maker(yes I make films) and to listen to Smith doing he's Q & A's is some of the funniest stuff I've ever listened to. With that being said, it's no surprise I'm excited about Zach and Miri Make A Porno.

A joblow reader by the name of JamesinABQ got to see a test screening of it and here is what he thought about the new raunchy flick:

''I saw a test screening of ZACK AND MIRI MAKE A PORNO a few weeks ago in Albuquerque, NM (where Seth Rogan was filming OBSERVE AND REPORT). Both Rogan and director Kevin Smith were in the audience. The film was a fuckin' blast. And I say fuckin' because, like all great Kevin Smith tomes this baby has profanity, tits and chuckles for everyone in the family. The audience ate it up and had a blast.

The film follows Zack and Miri, two friends/roommates who are on the down and outs and resort to making porn with random "actors" to pay the rent. Initially the premise is a little ludicrous but it really works. Zack and Miri, played by Seth Rogan and Elizabeth Banks, are hilarious and perfect for their roles; Seth being the shlubby, desperate secret lover of Miri and Banks being a little bit of a bitch...in a good way! Yet the film really succeeds with the secondary characters, specifically the other "porn" actors and the porn's financier, Delaney, played by the great and highly-underrated comedian Craig Robinson ("The Office"), who gets a lot of the laughs in this film. The "porn" actors and crew include Kevin Smith regulars Jeff Anderson ("Clerks") and Jason Mewes ("Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back"), in a rather surprising, albeit awesome role, as well as Traci Lords and real porn star Katie Morgan ("Spunk'd: The Movie", "Sex Trek: Where No Man Has Cum B4", and many other classics) in a real acting role, and she's actually quite good.

I don't want to give too much of the plot away, and I won't, but I'll say that the film is a real crowd pleaser. It falls in line with the smart, raunchy yet heartfelt comedies, like "Knocked Up" and "Forgetting Sarah Marshall" and truth is, it’s a breath of fresh air. Kevin Smith makes a balls-to-the-walls Kevin Smith comedy, without the in-jokes and movie trivia that alienated some of the more idiotic element of moviegoers. This film has the same broad appeal as the Judd Apatow films, with a Kevin Smith touch.

As to the MPAA push to cut the film's more sexual elements in order to retain an "R" rating, I don't know what cut I saw, but if it is the original, I see no changes needed. The film didn’t boast more tits, ass, vag, or otherwise than I've seen in, say, "Harold and Kumar Escape from..." or other comedies and to make any more cuts would be a sin. (Fuck you, MPAA) ''

It's always good to hear great things about movies you are looking forward. I shall be first in line on opening day. As a Smith fan, it's my mission to do so.

Post by Rob

Hancock Review

Watch my review here

The Dark Knight Review: From The Movie Blog

My favorite site www.themovieblog.com has The Dark Knight video and written review up. I suggest you get your ass over there and check it out. Here is some of the article says:

HEATH LEDGER DESERVES AN OSCAR NOMINATION FOR HIS PERFORMANCE AS THE JOKER… no… I’m not even kidding in the least. I was totally, 100% blown away like nothing I’ve ever seen in a comic based movie before.

This is fantastic news and has gotten me more pumped for the movie.

Remember check the site out at www.themovieblog.com