Yes, Zodiac came out last year, but I just got around to watching it on DVD. (Here’s the IMDB link.)
For those of you who don’t know, Zodiac came out in 2007 to great acclaim, based on the exploits of a cryptic killer in the 1960s and 70s. The Zodiac claimed the lives of several people in and around San Francisco, leaving clues about his crimes in the newspapers.
I was amazed at how quickly this movie grabbed me. And even at 158 minutes long (ack! more than 2.5 hours), it held my attention all the way to the end.
Gyllenhaal did an amazing job in the role as Graysmith. He started out an innocent cartoonist working for the paper. But you could see his slow decline over the course of the movie as his obsession with the Zodiac killer grew worse and worse, to the point where his wife and children left him.
And Downey Jr. as per usual brings a smile to even the darkest character. Newspaper reporter Paul Avery wasn’t the most likeable fellow, but Downey Jr. managed to make him human. Even in his drunk depravity, you had to appreciate his flipping his boss the finger at one point and the guts it took to go one on one tracking this alleged killer.
But beyond those two, it was Anthony Edwards and Mark Ruffalo who gave great performances as the two cops at the heart of the investigation. It took its toll on them as well, eventually forcing one into retirement and the other to being investigated by Internal Affairs.
David Fincher continues to do a great job of building suspense and pulling you into the action. I look forward to seeing The Curious Case of Benjamin Button later this year, and it’s been announced that he’s involved with an adaptation of Arthur C Clark’s Rendevous with Rama (classic sci-fi), so I’ll be curious to see what he does with that.
This was a surprise. I really didn’t expect to get sucked into it so quickly, but was waiting on the edge of my seat to see what happened next. It gets a solid 4 out of 4 for me.
If you’re looking for a good suspense/crime/thriller movie — this is a good one.
Every once in a while, I have to take in a horror movie to see whether I find it a) comical, b) grotesque, or c) all of the above. Day of the Dead is definitely in category c) for me. However, even though it was comical in places (I have a sick sense of humor), I thought this was a decent zombie movie remake. It was smart, had decent special effects, and generally held together to the end.
Rating:
The 2008 version of Day of the Dead is a remake of the original Day of the Dead from George Romero. Director Steve Miner and writer Jeffrey Reddick helmed this one, starring Mena Suvari, Nick Cannon, Christa Campbell, and Ving Rhames.
This version of the movie was set in the small mountain town of Leadville, Colorado, but not filmed there. (Similar to Alien vs. Predator: Requiem that was set in but not filmed in Buena Vista, Colorado late in 2006.) An outbreak of zombie-making virus hits this pleasant mountain town, spreading like wildfire. Funny enough, you CAN have a quasi-scientific reasoning and behavior for a virus that turns you into a zombie!
What did I learn about surviving an attack of virus-infected zombies by watching Day of the Dead?
Don’t let your boyfriend bleed on you during a city-wide quarantine.
Don’t let a friend’s mother cough on you during a city-wide quarantine.
Don’t lose your keys when wrestling with a zombie. You never know when you’ll need to become a world-class sprinter to get to your car in the parking lot.
If you are responsible enough to carry a gun, be sure to also carry a few extra clips and keep it loaded at all times.
Don’t lock yourself into a “safe” place with infected people who really want to eat you when they change into zombies.
Be sure when building a hospital sure to be attacked by zombies that you use industrial-strength ventilation ducts.
If your name is Ving Rhames or Mena Suvari and you want to keep your career going, be sure to find a new agent who will give you better scripts.
If you’re a zombie and need a snack, the following items will work in a pinch - your own eyeball, the intestines of a high school girl, and your wife’s face.
It’s very freaky when you see a zombie crawling on the ceiling.
And lastly, when it starts raining zombies from second and third story windows, it’s time to RUN!!!
I’d really like to know when high school students became marksmen, but other than that this wasn’t a bad zombie flick. It doesn’t pretend to be anything it isn’t. A virus infects people. People become zombies. Those people not zombies either become food or fight back to escape the area. Pretty much the same plot in nearly every zombie movie I’ve seen, with minor variations.
My favorite part of this movie? Zombies with guns! They weren’t great marksmen, but they more than make up for it in enthusiasm. Also, who ever would expect to hear the words “Zombie” and “Crush” in the same sentence?
My least favorite part? Mena Suvari. Yes, she’s cute, but this was not her kind of role. Ving Rhames, though under-used in this film, actually did ok and probably enjoyed becoming a zombie during one scene!
The DVD includes several extras, including:
Cast And Crew Commentary
On the Set
an Alternate Ending
Several trailers (International, Unrated, and Theatrical)
a Photo Gallery
and Interviews
Overall, I have to give this movie a 2.5 out of 4. It was better than I expected, followed the traditional zombie formula, and had some great one liners. I’ve seen more intelligent zombie flicks, but this one was ok in my book.
This Day of the Dead DVD will be released on September 9, 2008 at major retailers across Canada and the United States.
Thanks!
–Fitz
p.s. If you’re interested in purchasing the Day of the Dead, check out these Amazon links:
I had a chance to watch the Justice League: The New Frontier animated movie over Netflix’s “Watch Instantly” feature on their website and thought I’d write about it.
Amazingly enough, it worked really well. I say that as if I was shocked, because I was. I tried it a year ago and was sorely disappointed. But on Vista and using Internet Explorer (ugh), it worked remarkably well.
I’m a dedicated Firefox guy, so it was a little bizarre having to open up IE for this. I hope they can figure out how to make it work cross-browser. But ultimately it was pretty seamless.
It did have a few hiccups now and then as it streamed the movie to my desktop, but the quality was excellent on my 19″ wide-screen computer monitor. The colors were crisp and the sound quality was good.
Now that I’ve had one positive experience with it, I might have to start watching other movies online as time allows. It would certainly free up some of the backlog of movies I have in my Netflix queue.
So give it a shot if you’re a Netflix subscriber with Broadband internet access. You might like what you see.
I ran across this post on CrunchGear this morning and had to repost it. This is too cool not to share.
Vincent Chai, a student at the University of Hertfordshire, created this CGI movie in 8 months from pre- to post-production. It’s an amazing battle between two cool transforming robots.
Great work Vincent! I hope you get picked up by some CGI animation company interested to explore the medium in new ways!
It was my pleasure recently to watch Fist of Legend in its Two-Disc Ultimate Edition from Dragon Dynasty. This 1994 film starring Jet Li and Chin Siu-Ho teams them with a brilliant fight choreographer, Yuen Wo-ping (who also choreographed Tai Chi Master and The Matrix), for a brilliant combination of story and martial arts prowess. As if that weren’t enough, this movie is also a tribute to Bruce Lee’s classic movie The Chinese Connection.
Rating:
Before I get into the plot of this great story, I would be remiss if I didn’t talk a bit about the history that sets the stage. In 1937, the Imperial Japanese Army (IJA) invaded and attacked China. They started with Beiping and Tianjin, then reinforced and attacked Shanghai, eventually taking it after a hard fought battle with the Chinese. Over the next few years, fighting continued and horrible losses were suffered on all sides.
Fist of Fury begins with Chen Zhen (Jet Li), a Chinese student in Japan, discovering that his Master Huo back in Shanghai had been defeated by the Japanese in a challenge. Chen Zhen headed back to Shanghai to investigate his master’s death.
Over the course of the story, we see Li always trying to do what’s best for his Master’s school and for China. This puts him squarely in the sights of the Japanese, who do their best to make his and his friends’ lives very difficult. Eventually, Chen Zhen sacrifices himself to avoid further bloodshed.
As a martial artist, Jet Li is among those at the top of my list. Bruce Lee will always be #1. Jet Li is #2. And Jackie Chan is #3. All three are amazing to watch. And this movie solidifies Jet Li’s position as the greatest living martial artist of our time for me.
Where else can you see Jet Li fight blindfolded during one battle, fight with a belt against an opponent with a katana, and hardly break a sweat until the final battle of the movie? He was at the top of his form for this film (not that he isn’t now, but he’s not doing this type of movie any longer).
And unlike Tai Chi Master, there is no obvious wire work done. Most of the amazing fight choreography is simply that — amazing choreography with a cast of unbelievable martial artists.
This two-DVD set will be available on Tuesday, September 9. The discs include:
An interview with Japanese Action Legend Kurata Yasuaki
A screen fighting seminar from the Kurata Action School
Commentary from director Brett Ratner and critic Elvis Mitchell
A set of five deleted scenes
It’s jam-packed with martial arts movie goodies. And, this is the unrated version at 103 minutes. If you are a martial arts movie fan or a fan of Jet Li’s, this movie is a must have for your collection!
In an age where super heroes are being recycled fast and furious and we have a mix of good and bad cartoons, it’s great to find an animated supers movie that has a theme of hope. I look at the Next Avengers, the latest in the Marvel series of animated movies that has included such fun movies as Ultimate Avengers, Iron Man, and Dr. Strange, and then they put out this kid version of the Avengers as Next Avengers: Heroes of Tomorrow…
It wasn’t the animation style (which was great, kind of the old style Superman/Batman cartoon style from the 1980s/1990s). It wasn’t the voices, though it was interesting to hear the voices for some of these iconic characters change from what we’re used to in the cartoons. It was the story.
And this isn’t part of the DC story arc that we’ve been watching for years. This was based on an Award-winning comic book limited series of six issues drawn by Darwyn Cooke and published by DC between 2003 and 2004. Set after WWII and at the tail end of the Korean conflict, we see a generation of heroes trying to find their way in an uncertain political climate and an unstable world. It all builds to the end when dozens of DC characters from the 1940s-60s team up to beat a major alien threat.
Hal Jordan was at the center of it all. First as a pilot in Korea. Then as a test pilot. And finally becoming the Green Lantern in the last act.
It was gripping. I wanted to know what was coming next. I never read a lot of comics as a kid, but was fascinated by their TV and movie counterparts. This just proves that great stories transcend the medium they are created in and be just as great in other formats.
It does have an all star cast:
David Boreanaz (Bones/Angel/Buffy) was Hal Jordan/Green Lantern
Miguel Ferrer (Bionic Woman/Crossing Jordan) was J’onn J’onzz the Martian Manhunter
Neil Patrick Harris (Doogie Howser M.D./How I Met Your Mother/Dr. Horrible) was Barry Allen/The Flash
Lucy Lawless (Xena/Battlestar Galactica) was Wonder Woman
Kyle MacLachlan (Twin Peaks/Desperate Housewives) was Superman
Kyra Sedgwick was Lois Lane
Brooke Shields was Carol Ferris
Jeremy SIsto was Batman
The list goes on and on…
As far as I’m concerned, it’s one of the finest animated movies I’ve seen in a long time. I give it a sold 4 out of 4. It’s going on my DVD “wish list” very soon.
We need more hope in the world. This gave me a little.
I don’t know if I’m late to the party or not, but I stumbled on this great hilarious site with abridged scripts to some of your recent faves (or least faves).
It’s called the Editing Room, written by Rod Hilton, who writes for Total Film magazine and does the abridged scripts for them. And his dry wit just leaps off the page and slaps you (or maybe just me) upside the head. Gotta love it when you find something like that.
His latest script is for The Dark Knight, but one of the gems I found was from Iron Man. And I’ll just quote one particular passage and let you read the rest (it’s worth it)…
“… Eventually he gets back to AMERICA, which instantly makes everything BETTER.
JEFF BRIDGES
Robert! Welcome back. As your partner and obvious eventual bad guy, I was extremely worried about you. Tell me what you used to escape and if we can sell it.
ROBERT DOWNEY JR
Later. First, I need a delicious, juicy, American hamburger! Failing that, one of Burger King’s tasteless, squashed heaps of grade D meat and soggy bread will do fine.
So if you’re feeling like a chuckle… Check it out. If you like movies or just ripping on them, this sites for you! (I’ll be adding it to my list of links now… )
Today I ventured out and saw Bangkok Dangerous at my local all digital theater. Some of the action sequences in the trailers I saw before today made me curious about this film.
Before I start talking about the Nicholas Cage movie, let me talk a little bit about the remake aspects of this film. In 1999, the Pang Brothers made a movie by this same name in Thailand. (The brothers directed the Nick Cage remake as well.) In the original version, the assassin was deaf. He encounters a pretty young girl and develops a friendship, which changes his perspective on being a hitman.
Rating:
Nick Cage’s character, Hitman Joe, is not deaf. He instead meets a beautiful deaf and mute girl on assignment in Bangkok, which opens his eyes to the long-term implications of his chosen profession. In the trailer, you’ll hear Joe talk about political assassination not being what he signed up for.
So how was the American version of this film? Not so hot. I haven’t seen the original, but now I’m tempted to rent it to see if the love story angle was done any better in that version.
What was wrong with the film? Everything except for 90% of the action scenes, which were excellent.
The love story between Joe and the deaf/mute pharmacy girl never really worked for me. Cage tried. But it all seemed very forced. I did enjoy the scene between Joe and the girl where they put coins into pots to give 50 coins for 50 wishes. It was a good way to show that Joe had lost touch with that part of himself. She had no problem coming up with multiple wishes, but he could only come up with one.
Like I said earlier, I did like 90% of the action scenes. The last assassination didn’t work for me because the flash forward/flash back again felt very forced.
However, the chase scene on boats in the floating market and a scene near the end where everything was bathed in an eerie red glow were very cool. Generally the fight choreography was excellent.
The third strike against this movie for me was the ending. But there’s no wondering what happens to some of the characters after the film is done. That’s for sure.
Was this a great flick? No. Only a mediocre one. I give it 2 out of 4. It really makes me hope that Ghost Rider 2 and the next National Treasure have a great story if and when we see them in the next few years.
Recently I saw The Bank Job on DVD. And though I didn’t particularly like it (I give it 2 out of 4 stars), it provides a window into an interesting time in London’s history, when a sexually adventurous Royal caused more than a little trouble for the government and a group of thieves who stumbled into the conspiracy.
Let’s start at the beginning… In 1971, a small gang of thieves broke into the safety deposit vault of a branch of Lloyd’s Bank. The group had rented a shop down the street and tunnelled from the basement of the shop about 40 feet beneath a restaurant to get into the bank from below. A local ham radio operator overheard some of the chatter between the thieves and a lookout and brought the police in to see what they thought. After four days of coverage in the media, the situation suddenly went quiet when the government issued a D-Notice (similar to saying it was a matter of National Security).
Rating:
Only recently were the reasons behind the D-Notice disclosed. Evidently Princess Margaret was an adventurous soul who traveled quite a bit in the Caribbean in the 1960s and 70s. Photos of a sexual nature taken of Princess Margaret on one or more of her trips were stored in a safety deposit box in the Lloyd’s bank that was robbed that night in 1971. The photos supposedly were associated with Michael X, a Black Power leader in London at the time. Michael X was purportedly a man associated with prostitution and the drug trade in London as well. However, the files in London about Michael X won’t be released until 2054, so who knows when that story will fully come to light.
(If you want to know more about the history involved, read this article in the Mirror. It’s very interesting with lots of curious twists and turns.)
So now that you know a bit of the history that the movie is based on, you also know much of the plot of The Bank Job starring Jason Statham. (You can get the complete cast list and much more at IMDB’s site here.
Directed by Roger Donaldson and written by Dick Clement and Ian La Frenais, the movie focuses on Statham’s character, Terry Leather. Terry runs a car lot and used to run with a group of small-time thugs. He’s approached by an old friend of his, Martine Love played by Saffron Burrows, and told of a bank job. She thinks he should get the band back together and take advantage of the situation.
It only gets more convoluted from there. Between pimps, crime bosses, dirty cops, and politicians caught in all sorts of compromising positions, there are enough double crosses in this movie to keep everybody happy.
One of the things I thought was done well was that the look of the sets and costumes appeared quite historically accurate. I can’t say I was around in 1970s London obviously, but all the things in the background (clothing, glasses, furniture, etc.) all lent themselves well to what I felt that time period should look like.
One thing I didn’t really appreciate (though it served its purpose in the film) were the nude scenes and the S&M scenes. Though it was important to the plot, I had to wonder if it was a bit gratuitous in some places.
But my biggest complaint was the pacing of the movie. At 111 minutes, it seemed to drag in a number of places. Honestly, I can’t say that it was the script (there were lots of juicy things to include as plot points), and it might not have been the director. But there had to have been some edits that could have tightened it up a bit.
I am a big fan of Jason Statham. The Transporter series, Crank, and Death Race have all been fast and fun. Statham just chugs through the scenery and looks great doing it. (I’m sure my wife wouldn’t mind if I had his physique.) He’s turning out to be a bit like Jean Claude and Steven Seagal… they play the same roles in all their films, the just have slightly different names and settings. This movie was a bit out of his normal line of roles, which is probably a good thing for his career.
Somehow, even he couldn’t save this movie all the way. However, I think he did a great job in a more ensemble-type film than he’s used to.
All of that said, I thought the end of the movie was quite good. All the double-crosses came to a head. The good guys (most of them, anyway) won. The bad guys lost. The Royals’ precious honor was preserved. And all was good with the world. I just don’t think it should have taken nearly 2 hours to get there.
The Bank Job had its moments, but they weren’t enough to save this movie for me. I’m giving it two stars out of four (2/4).
Thanks for reading!
–Fitz
p.s. If you want your own copy, check out the following DVD & Blu-Ray versions available at Amazon.
fitz in 
Image via Wikipedia 
(Here’s the IMDB link.)
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I’d really like to know when high school students became marksmen, but other than that this wasn’t a bad zombie flick. It doesn’t pretend to be anything it isn’t. A virus infects people. People become zombies. Those people not zombies either become food or fight back to escape the area. Pretty much the same plot in nearly every 
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Only recently were the reasons behind the D-Notice disclosed. Evidently 
So now that you know a bit of the history that the movie is based on, you also know much of the plot of The Bank Job starring 
It only gets more convoluted from there. Between pimps, crime bosses, dirty cops, and politicians caught in all sorts of compromising positions, there are enough double crosses in this movie to keep everybody happy.
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