my dvd collection

i watch many movies. some of them i see in the theater, but love them so much i end up buying them and adding them to my (sizable) dvd collection.

aside from giving some thoughts about movies ive seen, and ranking them with a five star system, i have also added a new category that also lists if i have it in my dvd collection. with some hard work, i would like to eventually have a review up for every movie i have. until then, enjoy the reviews and the selection from my dvd collection! (some of the girly movies were diana's, but i am bound by law to claim them since they will be sitting on my shelf...)

also, just so you know, i have many tv seasons on dvd too, but since they dont fall into the category of 'movies', they will not be included.

transporter 3

oh, jason statham, can you do no wrong? i finally got around to seeing this one in the theater. it was a ton of fun! in the story (if you can call it that) we once again meet up with frank, a professional transporter who will deliver goods for a price, no questions asked. this time he is visiting his friend, the french detective, and enjoying a vacation. he is forced, against his will, to deliver another package, and of course violence ensues. the whole 'transporter' series does not in any way rely on story, choosing instead to be an excuse to show statham kicking butt. and butt certainly gets kicked in this one! the best part of the trilogy is that the action ramps up in each one, going from slightly absurd, to downright silly. the fights are basically just there to show statham with his shirt off, and the car chases are an elaborate car commercial for audi.

the third transporter doesn't stray too far away from the path of the first two, sharing the same basic story as the last two, just in different locations. the one drawback of this film is that it is poorly edited. there were a bunch of really cool beats in the action, but due to bad editing, they don't have the fun factor that the first one did.

as far as the franchise goes, this one is better than the bland second one, but not as good as the fun first one.

madagascar 2

i had some free time, it was at the dollar theater- can you blame me? (and i totally understand if you do). i have never seen the first one, but i figured it wouldn't matter too much for this one. i didn't imagine i would find myself saying 'whats going on? i am totally lost!' i had read a couple reviews that said it was actually a decent sequel and was better than it needed to be. that was good enough for me, so i decided to check it out. i've got to say, i was not impressed. the story line was lame, and lifted straight from 'the lion king'. the four main characters are about as simple as they come, and the plot was unbelievably predictable. they all start out happy, each of them runs into some sort of miscommunication with the others and their friendships are in jeopardy- oh no! will they be able to overcome their problems and come together to put the bad guy in his place?!? um, yes. and the biggest problem is this: they arent even funny! all the humor and fun comes from the secondary characters like the penguins and the lemurs. the king lemur, voiced by sacha baron cohen, was by far the best part of the film, he easily stole the show with only about four minutes of time on screen. now, if they make a movie about just him, i'd probably really enjoy that!

seven pounds

i've been told ever since this film came out that i should try my best to avoid any spoilers about the story because it would ruin its potential impact. so i did, and boy am i happy i did! i will be sure to do you the same benefit, so i will not speak at all about the story, the less you know the better.
the film stars will smith, which almost always means it will be good. this is one of his emotional dramas and directed by the same guy who did his last one, 'the pursuit of happyness'. i enjoyed that film, but this one is even better. in this one smith gives a calm, understated performance as a man with a mission and a mysterious past. i am hesitant to say much more about the film at all. all i will say is that if you like a drama that will leave you thinking, it is worth seeing.

the devil wears prada

we had some free time at diana's, and she doesn't have cable and only two channels come in on her antenna, and her movie selection is slim (i.e. almost all chick flicks). most of them i wasn't interested in, or i had seen already. so we popped in this one. i must say, it was better than i expected (granted, my expectations were really really low...). the premise revolves around a girl getting a job at a fashion magazine, her boss is a tyrannical monster, and she has to figure out if its worth it and how to maintain a life outside of work; its basically the exact same story that the television show 'ugly betty' is based on. meryl streep does a great job as the terrible boss, making outrageous demands all the time and then getting very angry when mountains don't move when she tells them to.
the story is fairly predictable and resorts to every chick flick cliche in the book, but it was interesting to peek into the fashion world a little bit. diana loves fashion and enjoys reading fashion magazines. i, on the other hand, don't understand why fashion is important at all (i always loved the quote by oscar wilde 'fashion is an ugliness so atrocious that it must be altered ever six months'). so this movie helped me to see her perspective a little bit more.

death race

you ever just want to watch a stupid trashy action movie? sometimes i do. so last week i did! i went and rented 'death race' and i've got to say, this is probably the greatest trashy action 'B' movie i've ever seen! i must start by admitting that i have loved almost everything jason statham has put out, he's the perfect over-the-top action movie star.
ok, here's the laughable premise: statham has been framed for the murder of his wife and finds himself in jail. the jail keeper has been creating these reality show races to the death as a way of making money to keep the jail in business, and statham must become the new driver of one of the cars. lame, right? wrong! its a silly set up, but it leads to some of the coolest racing car chase scenes in decades! the cars are all tricked out with armor and guns and stuff, and the race plays out like a 'need for speed' video game. the characters are joyfully one-dimensional, but the actors have so much charisma that any more character development would be unnecessary. i'm having a hard time explaining why i loved it so much because all its different parts shouldn't add up to anything special, but the whole is so much greater than it's parts. i guess that can be chalked up to good casting, great directing, and phenomenal editing. this one will soon be added to my dvd collection so i can watch it again and again!

tale of despereaux

i went to go see this with my six year old nephew. i wasn't expecting a lot, and i got even less. the story is about a little mouse who doesn't fear cats like he's supposed to, instead he wants to go on an adventure and save a princess. and it just so happens that he lives in a castle where there is a princess in need of saving. handy, huh? as a main story its kind of fun, but it kept taking unnecessary detours by following the stories of a rat, a cook, a king, a stable maid, and some strange sort of cat colosseum. i'm quite certain that my nephew was completely confused by it, heck, i wasn't quite sure what was happening part of the time! the animation is also very drab and almost entirely done in shades of brown. boring. none of the stories ever go anywhere and there. everyone does a bunch of talking and sitting around- not exactly what i'm looking for in an animated movie. notice the key word there: animated! do something!!! each of the story lines start to lift off the ground, and then thud right back down and goes nowhere. i really wanted to like it, for my nephews sake, but they really didn't offer anything to like.

punisher: war zone

what a perfect way to end a day of watching action movies! this movie is ridiculous- the action is outrageously over the top. when a shot is fired the person it hits explodes, its that kind of over the top action and violence. which is actually exactly what i was up for! i quite enjoyed this ludicrous, hyper-violent cheese fest. the last punisher movie left me completely cold, i didnt care for it at all, so i was totally up for a different take on the character. and this is certainly a different take! the story follows the punisher as he tries to wipe out a crime family. one of the members falls into a vat of bottles and gets cut up real good. the doctors try their best to put humpty dumpty back together again, but he still looks terrible. he takes the name 'jigsaw' for himself, and continues his reign of terror on the city. the punisher steps up and tries to regain order. the enjoyed the film, but i didnt really care for the bad guy- he was a total rip off of the 1989 batman film's joker origin story almost beat for beat. it was played way over the top, and turned the film from dark and brooding into a cartoon (i guess the violence was a bit cartoony, but that was a good sort of cartoony). if they ever try a punisher movie again, they need to have regular crime boss type bad guys, and they can certainly keep this guy, ray stevenson, as the punisher- he did a great job.

role models

this movie is hilarious! its about a couple of friends who get in a little bit of trouble with the law and are required to perform 150 hours of community service, they are directed toward a 'big brothers and sisters' sort of organization, which is a terrible idea because these two guys are complete wrecks, the last thing they need is to be influencing the youth! there are some really really great bits in it, such as a funny tirade in a coffee shop, one of the characters trying to make up with his ex-girlfriend, and almost anything involving paul rudd and the kid he is mentoring (played by superbad's mclovin'). the kid is really into live action role playing, and wears a cape and is stuck in medieval times. the movie is really funny, and i came to realize i have a bit of a man-crush on paul rudd...

rocknrolla

this is the latest film by guy richie, the writer/director behind 'lock stock and two smoking barrels', and 'snatch'. both of those films are a ton of fun, with their meandering crime stories, and quirky cockney characters. this film is a return to form for him. he again digs into the life of criminals, usually inept ones at that, and follows them as they try to do a deal with some russians. of course, things go wrong and they try their best to fix it, which usually leads to more things going wrong... though some of the events in the film are ridiculously improbable, they always lead the characters to another funny situation. the conclusion is left hanging, but this is envisioned as the first of three films about these characters, so i guess that is to be expected.

eagle eye

i had been looking forward to seeing this one. when it came out i just didnt find a time to go see it, so i was glad to finally catch it at the dollar theater! the story follows a guy who suddenly finds himself framed for terrorism and is on the run. but the strangest thing keeps happening- he gets these calls on his phone from this woman who tells him to do all kinds of strange things, and everything else seems to be forcing him to do it as well. for example, at one point in the movie he is supposed to get off a train and meet someone at the exit, he stays on the train. the train then comes to a screeching halt and goes backward to the last station until he gets out. weird. its kind of like in 'the matrix' when keanu is inside the computer program and it keeps changing in order for him to do something. a very cool paranoid setup, but then it takes a really crappy turn and just becomes another stupid movie along the same line as 'stealth', and steals liberally from HAL in '2001'. a promising beginning falls flat and just becomes another generic action movie, the kind that schwarzenegger would have done a dozen years ago. and no, that is not a compliment.

slumdog millionaire

wow, this is a great movie! at this point its one of the forerunners for the best picture oscar, which was one of the reasons i felt compelled to go see it. this was the first film in a series of five that i saw in one day, and it was certainly a great way to start the marathon!
the story follows this poor indian kid as he finds himself on 'who wants to be a millionaire'. as he is asked questions and answers them correctly, we go back into his childhood and see how he came to know each of these different random facts. as this is all unfolding we also see the relationship he has with a girl develop and blossom into love.
the story structure is expertly done and keeps you intensely interested to see how everything plays out. the characters are well fleshed out, the love story is gripping, his childhood is heartbreaking, and the ending is very satisfying. certainly worth checking out!

the day the earth stood still

i have not seen the original movie, so i didn't exactly know what to expect. the previews make it look pretty interesting. well, mostly it was the scene where they are giving keanu reeves a lie detector test that got my attention. the basic premise is that an alien ship comes and lands on earth. the aliens have come to protect the earth, even if that means destroying all mankind.
its and interesting hook, but they didn't do a very good job of portraying it. the alien connects with jennifer connelys character and she tries to convey to him why humans are worth saving. she does a lousy job, and there's some hockey junk with her son. there is a very small part of a scientist played by john cleese who does a much better job. the film should have focused on his character instead of hers, it would have made it a much more compelling and thoughtful story. the biggest problem though comes from the special effects. some of them are really great, and some of them are really terrible, but the cardinal sin is that most of it was completely unnecessary!

quantum of solace

in preparation for watching this movie my dad and i rewatched 'casino royale' a week before we went. im glad we did too, because this one takes place right after that one, and it helped a lot in making sense of this one.
now, in full disclosure, i feel i must share my feelings about james bond. i am a big fan of james bond, and always have been. i love everything about it except the movies. they are terrible. sure, sean connery is the greatest bond, but all of the movies with him are really bad. sorry, i have no sentimental attachement to any of the films.
so, when i heard they were rebooting it a few years ago with 'casino royale' i was quite excited! i figured there might actually be a chance that they would make a good movie! and they did. the first one with daniel craig was fantastic. i really enjoyed it. this one is a lot of fun too. it follows james as he tries to seek revenge on the man behind the death of his girl in the last film. this movie genuinely felt like it wasnt so much a sequel as a continuation of the last film. its hard to see it on its own, since it feels like the second half of 'casino royale'. the twists and turns were good, the action was fun, and the story was satisfying. i only have two small complaints: james didnt have any fun! usually we get a bit of the swagger that is bond, but this one was completely missing any sense of james enjoying himself. sure, it probably doesnt fit into the revenge theme of the film, but it was something i missed. my second complaint is for the director: action scenes are fun, but you need to learn how to do an establishing shot! half the time i had no idea what was happening in the action shots. when they arrive at the base at the end, give us some long shots of the action, give us some perspective, let us see the action from a distance every once in a while, it really helps to show us whats going on!

quarantine

for some reason im still unsure of, i went to go see this one in the theater. i kind of knew it would suck, but i went anyway... the film is a first hand account, similar to 'blair witch project' or 'cloverfield', where a local tv reporter and cameraman are following a team of firefighters for the night. they get a call about a old woman having a medical emergency, so off they go. when they arrive they realize something isnt quite right. as they are trying to leave they are locked in and the police are outside quarantining the entire building. the characters dont understand what is going on, and since they dont know, neither do we.

they do a pretty good job of building tension and confusion with the situation. over the course of the time in the building things get stranger and stranger. the characters themselves are actually believable, and do a convincing job of trying to figure out whats up. rarely did the characters do things that were obviously stupid, which is usually the case in scary movies... the ending was a bit strange and doesnt really explain anything, but it sure was creepy!