Tuesday, May 26, 2009

X-MEN WOLVERINE NOW AVAILABLE

Here is the summary for the movie X-Men Wolverine From imdb

In 1845 in North-Western Territory, British North America, young James Howlett (Troye Sivan) sees his father John Howlett (Peter O'Brien) killed by his friend Victor Creed's father, Thomas Logan (Aaron Jeffery). In an act of vengeance, James kills the elder Logan using bone claws which have grown out of his hands. With his dying breath, Logan tells James that he is also his son. James and Victor (Michael-James Olsen) run away, pursued by a torch-wielding mob. They promise to look out for each other.

In the years that follow, adult brothers James (Hugh Jackman) and Victor (Liev Schreiber) are seen fighting together in the American Civil War, World War I, World War II, and eventually the Vietnam War. Their regenerative powers keep them from being killed in the battlefield. James is forced to act as a check on Victor's increasing rage and ferocity. In Vietnam, Victor kills a superior officer after being stopped from raping a girl, and James and Victor are sentenced to death by firing squad, though their unique regenerative abilities keep them alive.

Major William Stryker (Danny Huston) approaches the two mutants and offers them membership in Team X, his elite group of mutants. The team consists of mutants Fred Dukes (Kevin Durand), who's super-strong and invulnerable; John Wraith (Will i Am), who can teleport; Chris Bradley (Dominic Monaghan), a.k.a. Bolt, who can control electricity; expert marksman Agent Zero (Daniel Henney); and mercenary Wade Wilson (Ryan Reynolds), an amazing swordsman who never stops talking. The brothers join the group and are sent to the team's first mission: Invade the headquarters of a diamond trafficking operation in Lagos, Nigeria, to retrieve a meteorite. Afterwards, Stryker and the team brutally interrogate people from a nearby village to learn where the meteorite was found. James is disgusted by the murders committed by his teammates and abandons the group.

Six years afterward, James -- now going by his last name, Logan -- is a lumberjack living with his girlfriend Kayla Silverfox (Lynn Collins). Meanwhile, Victor hunts down and murders Bradley, who works at a circus; Victor mentions that Wade is already dead. Stryker locates Logan and claims that someone is killing members of the now-disbanded team. Stryker asks Logan for help, but is refused. Shortly after, Silverfox is murdered by Victor. Wolverine hunts down his half-brother, but is easily defeated. Stryker once again asks Logan for help, and Logan agrees. Stryker has Logan's skeletal system reinforced with adamantium, a virtually indestructible metal retrieved from the meteorite found by Team X. Before the procedure, Logan asks for his new dog tags to say "Wolverine," a reference to a story that Kayla told him. After the procedure, Stryker orders Wolverine's memory to be erased, but Wolverine overhears this and flees. Stryker orders Agent Zero to hunt him down and take his head off.

An elderly couple, Travis (Max Cullen) and Heather Hudson (Julia Blake), see Wolverine -- who escaped in the buff -- enter their barn. They're wary but welcoming, giving him food and clothing, including a leather jacket of their son's -- and their son's motorcycle. The next morning, both are shot dead by Zero. Wolverine takes out several HMMWVs, a helicopter and Zero himself, then goes to Las Vegas. Wolverine locates former associates John Wraith and Fred Dukes (who is now massively obese from a guilt-driven eating disorder), seeking to learn the location of Stryker's new laboratory. Wolverine learns the disbanded team had been capturing young mutants for Stryker. One of them, Remy LeBeau (Taylor Kitsch), also known as Gambit, escaped the island laboratory and knows its location. Dukes tells Logan that his brother Victor is actually working for Stryker, capturing and killing mutants for him. Meanwhile, Stryker captures a teenaged Scott Summers (Tim Pocock) with Victor's aid.

Wolverine and Wraith locate Gambit in a New Orleans bar. Wolverine talks to Gambit while Wraith keeps watch outside, but Gambit suspects Wolverine was sent to recapture him and, using his ability to charge objects with kinetic energy, throws several playing cards at Wolverine that send him flying through a wall. Outside, Wolverine sees Victor has killed Wraith and taken a sample of his blood. Wolverine fights Victor, only to be interrupted by Gambit. Victor escapes, and after a brief struggle, Gambit agrees to take Wolverine to the mutant prison/laboratory on Three Mile Island. Once there, Wolverine confronts Stryker and learns Silverfox is still alive; Victor faked her death with hydrochlorothiazide. She was keeping track of the mutant to free her sister, Emma Frost (Tahyna Tozzi), who is also in the prison. Wolverine is devastated by this betrayal.

With no more quarrel with Stryker, Wolverine departs. Victor, angered that Stryker let Wolverine go, demands the adamantium procedure. Stryker, however, tells him that he won't survive the procedure and in an act of rage, Victor tries to kill Silverfox. Wolverine hears Silverfox's screams and attacks Victor. Finally having the chance to kill Victor, Wolverine chooses not to give in to his animal instincts and instead knocks him out. Silverfox shows Wolverine to the holding cells, and he frees the mutants there; among them are Emma Frost and Scott Summers.

Panicking, Stryker prematurely activates his newest creation, Weapon XI (Scott Adkins and Ryan Reynolds), a bald, pale-skinned and deformed Wade Wilson, lacking a mouth and with patterns on his skin marking his adamantium bone structure. As the rescue party approaches an exit, it is blocked by Weapon XI, who is under Stryker's control. Wolverine tells them to find a new exit as two blades extend from Weapon XI's arms. The blades are similar to Wolverine's claws, but more like katana swords, Wilson's weapon of choice. Wolverine realizes that this monstrosity is actually Wade Wilson. "Looks like Stryker finally found a way to shut you up," he quips.

Weapon XI, also called Deadpool, is a mutant Frankenstein's monster, with the abilities of several of the killed and captured mutants: Scott's optic blasts, Wraith's teleportation, and Wolverine's healing ability. During the escape, Silverfox is mortally wounded. The other mutants escape through the facility's tunnels, guided by Scott who is unable to tell them how he knows the way out. Emerging from the tunnel, the party encounters a helicopter. Emerging from the helicopter is a familiar figure: Professor Charles Xavier (Patrick Stewart), who has guided them to safety and offers them a home at his school.

Meanwhile, the fight between Wolverine and Weapon XI moves to the top of one of the nuclear power plant's cooling towers. Weapon XI overpowers and prepares to decapitate Wolverine, but Victor returns to aid his brother. Wolverine and Victor, now working together, are able to decapitate Weapon XI, sending its head, still firing optic blasts, down into the cooling tower. Wolverine coldly informs Victor that despite his help, their relationship is over. Victor reminds him that as brothers, they can never be finished, and jumps off the the cooling tower. The damage from the optic blasts causes the cooling tower to collapse, but Wolverine is saved by Gambit.

Wolverine asks Gambit to ensure the prisoners are safe, while he returns to find Silverfox, who stayed behind because she was wounded. As he carries her to safety, Stryker shoots him in the back with an adamantium bullet. Wolverine tries to kill him but is shot in the head, knocking him unconscious.

Silverfox uses her powers of persuasion to order Stryker to walk away until his feet bleed, then dies from her injuries. Gambit returns to assure Wolverine that the mutants are safe, but due to amnesia caused by the brain damage the adamantium bullets inflicted, Wolverine does not remember anything (this was Stryker's intention, knowing that even the adamantium bullets could not kill Logan). Gambit tries to get Wolverine to come with him, but he declines. Gambit wishes Wolverine good luck before departing, and Wolverine flees the scene as the ambulances and police arrive.

The film has several additional scenes during and after the credits. The first of these scenes plays a few seconds into the credits, and depicts William Stryker walking down a road. Due to Silverfox's order, the toes of his shoes are torn and bloody from walking for so long. A military vehicle drives up behind him and he is apprehended by military police for questioning about the death of General Munson. (Stryker murdered the general earlier in the film in order to protect his vendetta against mutants.)

Depending on which theater the movie was shown in, one of two possible endings then appears following the credits. In the first ending, Weapon XI's hand reaches out from the rubble of the nuclear complex to touch his severed head. The second alternate ending shows Logan drinking at a bar in Japan. The bartender asks if he is drinking to forget; Logan replies that he's drinking to remember.

Here is a review for the movie X-Men Wolverine from dvdtalk


The bottom line on "X-Men Origins: Wolverine" is this: if you found any morsel of entertainment value out of 2006's "X-Men: The Last Stand," then "Wolverine" will be painless to digest. If you found "Last Stand" to be a drooling cinematic rape of a near-brilliant franchise, "Wolverine" is going to feel like further salt in the wound. While I recognize the multiple fandom violations of "Last Stand," I found it to be a lively thrill ride with an abundance of mutant vs. mutant action to sufficiently numb the brain. "Wolverine" is less triumphant as multiplex junk food, but still retains a satisfying lunacy and even more mutant monkey business to relish.

Born in the 19th century, Logan/Wolverine (Hugh Jackman) has forged a life of aggression with brother Victor/Sabretooth (Liev Schreiber), taking the mutant siblings on a ride of world wars and bloody heroism, only in Victor's case, the courage has gradually twisted to villainy. When fiendish William Stryker (Danny Huston) comes calling to form a special covert team of mutants (including wil.i.am, Dominic Monaghan, and Ryan Reynolds as the sword-happy Deadpool), the brothers sign up, but Logan soon develops a distaste for governmental terrorism. Retiring to Canada with love Kayla Silverfox (Lynn Collins), Logan is pulled back into Stryker's deceptions when it's revealed that Victor has gone rogue, murdering his old mutant conspirators, with his brother next on the list. Agreeing to Stryker's demand for an excruciating adamantium makeover, Logan turns his body and bone-claws into metal, hoping his new defense will put an end to Victor's reign of terror.

The cruel "Last Stand" comparison is an apt one to make, since the "X-Men" franchise slowly dissolved into a primitive cartoon once director Bryan Singer walked away after his virtuoso work on the first two features. Without his nuanced touch, these movies have been stripped of their regality and turned into action fodder for pre-teen boys to emulate in the backyard, and simpleton entertainment for message-board mooks to ironically mock. "Wolverine" squeezes the franchise for the basic routines of mutant combat and operatic slashes of betrayal, leaving behind any opportunity to return the series to the intelligent comic book escapism it started out as. Those days are long gone, and now all the franchise wants to do is make noise.

While crippled by severe filmmaking blunders, "Wolverine" remains a sweet piece of hard candy, nourished by an incredibly fluid summer movie pace and an edict that demands an explosion every 15 minutes. Unlikely director Gavin Hood (the sensitive "Tsotsi") is wise to keep the train moving at all costs, trusting sheer velocity might help to counteract the film's enormously inane screenplay. Credited to writers David Benioff and Skip Woods, "Wolverine" is a disaster whenever the characters pipe up, inviting monosyllabic exchanges and verbose, on-the-nose exposition that's completely unnecessary. A visual feast, the film is best communicating through sweaty body language and bountiful special effects, but Hood insists on a running commentary, and it grows progressively more infuriating as the film unspools. The dialogue is either teeming with clichés or insultingly idiotic, at times feeling like the actors are merely reading a transcription of the film's international release subtitles.

Listen, with Jackman oiled up and growly, Schreiber licking his fangs and jagged fingernails, and a host of other mutants scurrying around for screentime (the list includes Blob, Agent Zero, Emma Frost, Cyclops, Bolt, Kestral, the almighty Gambit, Kegel, Fingersnaps, and Peppers - the last three I just made up), do we really need an endless stream of one-liners and overly descriptive monologues to pad the film? "Wolverine" is a wonderfully bright and beautiful picture to watch. The garrulous dialogue just smothers any potential fun. It adds up to clumsy storytelling that kicks the legs out from under the feature.

"Wolverine" is a cluttered film, but it stays moderately focused, primarily due to the raw, knowing performance from Hugh Jackman. This is arguably his greatest screen role, and Jackman appreciates what audiences are dying to see from Wolvie, which includes the adamantium blades, partial nudity, bushy mutton chop sideburns, and a facial gallery of grimaces and grunts. The actor delivers big on the grit of the character, adding a new dimension of breathless betrayal as Wolverine is hit below the belt from all sides in this new adventure. It's a joy to watch Jackman bring the role to life again, and while this is his fourth time with the "X-Men" franchise, the actor seems more energized than ever to wrestle with stuntmen and fly through the air, slicing everything in his path. His gusto is contagious, constantly lending "Wolverine" thunderous highlights it doesn't always earn on its own.

What exactly are Stryker and Victor up to? Well, it all comes down to a mutant brawl on the lip of a nuclear reactor, which perfectly sums up the bigness Hood is searching for and occasionally achieves. Staying true to the title, "X-Men Origins: Wolverine" gives the audience a solid backstory to the character's mutation, his code name, and his lifelong pledge of solitude. There's plenty of action to gorge on too, along with a few surprises for die-hard fans. It's all so plastic and forgettable, but for the 100 claw-popping minutes immersed deep in Wolverine country, the film remains palatable. Heck, if the actors didn't bother to speak at all, I'm convinced there's a masterpiece to be found in here somewhere.


Here is the direct download for the movie X-Men Wolverine.

Monday, April 20, 2009

CRANK 2 NOW AVAILABLE

Here is the summary for the movie Crank 2 from imdb

Chev Chelios (Jason Statham), has survived the fall from a helicopter that occurred at the end of the first movie. Immediately after his fall, he is abducted off the ground by a group of Chinese medics, who take to farm his organs. However, Chev wakes up mid-surgery and sees them take out his heart and replace it with a mechanical one. He then wakes up and kills the operators, but must chase after his heart which has been stolen. He then runs into his old girlfriend Eve Lydon (Amy Smart) who believed him to be dead. [D-Man2010] The uber-assassin Chev Chelios (Statham), having survived his death fall at the end of the first movie, finds himself still alive, but a Chinese mobster has replaced his heart with a battery-operated ticker. As Chelios tries to hunt down his enemy, he must also occasionally "recharge" his mechanical heart with jolts of electricity to keep himself alive. [D-Man2010]

Here is a review for the movie Crank 2 from dvdtalk


Voltage, but I wasn't quite sure where it was going (silly question, right?). Then, at about the 75 minute mark, something is unveiled that sold me on the entire experience. You can complain all you want about the movie's abrasively hyperkinetic editing and cinematography, its rampant racism, violence, and nudity, its awful dialogue and ludicrous plot, but Crank 2 has absolutely no qualms going as far over the top as it possibly can, and I defy anyone to correctly guess how the movie ends. Either the concluding moments of Crank 2 signal some sort of unhinged psychotic genius, or they're an omen for death of cinema. I'm leaning towards the former.

Clearly, the best explanation for how Chev Chelios (Jason Statham) survives his fall from a helicopter at the end of Crank is no explanation whatsoever, and thus, the minute he hits the pavement, a bunch of Asian gangsters show up, scoop him off the street with a snow shovel and drag him to a seedy laboratory where they yank out his seemingly indestructible heart and replace it with a battery-powered ticker that Chev needs to constantly zap with electricity to stay alive. Angry and looking to reclaim what's rightfully his, Chev goes on another city-wide rampage while trying to avoid not one but (at least) three different villains looking to put Chev out of his misery for a multitude of unsavory reasons.

I'm blown away to say it, but Crank 2 actually makes the original look like a safe, studio-friendly venture. Lionsgate apparently didn't set any restrictions on directors Mark Neveldine and Brian Taylor (or Neveldine/Taylor, as they're credited) for this sequel, and boy, do they go all-out. I've never seen a guy's elbow chopped off in a movie before, but now I have. Still, the same ideas from the original remain: the notion that these films are a cinematic video game is pushed even harder, especially by Mike Patton's 8-bit-inspired score, and ridiculous on-screen subtitles and captions pop up to literally spell things out for the viewer. And once again, the movie really rests on the shoulders of Jason Statham and Amy Smart, who are apparently game for any form of ridiculous, jaw-dropping debauchery the writing/directing duo can cook up (Smart especially, whose character has become more sexually adventurous during the three months Chev's been missing).

This is also not a sequel you should see without another viewing of the original. A whole mess of characters return (played by Dwight Yoakam, Keone Young, Reno Wilson, "It's Always Sunny"'s Glenn Howerton, Linkin Park's Chester Bennington and Efren Ramirez, sort of) and the movie constantly references events from the first movie. Ramirez is particularly inspired, hampered by a ridiculous condition I'm not going to reveal, and he's got a perfect counterpart in a new character played by Bai Ling. She plays a hooker who thinks Chelios is her "Kevin Costner", and while she's certainly a ridiculous stereotype, I can't say I have any sympathy for anyone who walks into Crank 2 and doesn't want to be offended.

All of these elements build up over the movie's 96 minutes, but that one last reveal really kicked things into high gear. The moment in question is almost so jaw-droppingly ridiculous, the movie's actual ending feels a little lacking (David Carradine is completely wasted). It's so rare that a sequel can really go somewhere that an audience, jaded in a way by the original, finds completely unexpected, but Crank 2 manages that feat. In that one moment, I realized that the filmmakers really had no boundaries, and they were willing to break any rule to jolt the audience with a Chev Chelios-sized burst of electricity. Neveldine/Taylor have said that if Crank 2 is a hit, they'll make a concluding chapter in 3D, and although I feel like the ending of Crank 2 might have been cannibalized in advance for a third movie, I can't wait to see it: my brain may turn to mush, but I'm confident that I couldn't guess what happens in Crank 3 in a million years, and like it or not, that's exactly the kind of movie I'd pay $10 more to see.


Here is the direct download for the movie Crank 2.

WWE ROYAL RUMBLE 2009 NOW AVAILABLE

Here is the summary for Royal Rumble 2009 from Amazon

Product Description
: It's the dream of every superstar--to headline WrestleMania. For one man out of 30, the dream becomes reality at the Royal Rumble. Whoever outlasts 29 other competitors earns himself a championship match at WrestleMania 24. The superstars of Raw, Smackdown, and ECW, including past winners John Cena, Undertaker, Triple H, Shawn Michaels, Rey Mysterio, and Batista, and superstars looking to add this impressive goal to their resume, including Jeff Hardy, Matt Hardy, Edge, Kane, Mr. Kennedy, Randy Orton, CM Punk, MVP and more will do everything in their power to overpower and outlast the competition.

Here is a review for Royal Rumble 2009 from Amazon


This was the beginning of the road to WrestleMania 25 & the first stop is the Royal Rumble. Just a side note, I am doing this on memory since I saw this event online the night it aired. ECW Champion Jack Swagger vs Matt Hardy. Swagger has been impressing me lately with his wrestling skills & he puts on a solid opener with Matt Hardy that was actually given plenty of time to tell a story in itself. Womens' Champion Beth Phoenix vs Melina. Normally, these two would have good to great matches together but this one seemed off to me as there were some botch spots & I remember the crowd not being into it at all, except for Santino. Its watchable but nothing special. World Heavyweight Champion John Cena vs J.B.L. Well you can't expect justice when these two get it on but I will give credit where it is due as this was the best "wrestling" match that these two had with Shawn Michaels being the center of attention & playing a part in this match as well. No DQ: WWE Champion Jeff Hardy vs Edge. Chavo Guerrero was in Edge's corner for this match & Vickie Guerrero made it a No DQ match. These two mesh well together in eyes & while I think this match could have been a little bit better, these two don't have a bad match together. Highlights include Hardy leaping off a ladder onto Chavo through a table & Matt Hardy's shocking heel turn to the point that the crowd was chanting "We Want Christian". Royal Rumble Match. This heavily made up for the previous Rumble as I felt there were more highlights in this one but at the same time, we had some of the best performances from superstars that we had not seen in quite some time. Various highlights include the opening minutes with the young talents getting the spotlight for a while, Cryme Tyme's coin flip, how Mysterio re-entered the ring after being tossed out along with his lasting performance with Triple H coming a close second, the "Rhodes Family Reunion", "Re-union" of the Brothers Of Destruction, Rob Van Dam's appearance including one awesome looking double team move he did with Mysterio at one point, Santino's Rumble performance, Dolph Ziggler's "moment", seeing the 400 pound Big Show "skin the cat" at one point along with his interaction with Undertaker, and the dominance of Randy Orton's Legacy. Overall, just a great & fun Rumble to watch even though I heavily predicted the winner. Overall, this event picked up where 2008 left off as the WWE has been on a roll with delivering nice events month in & out. I recommend this one to any WWE fan.

Here is the direct download for WWE Royal Rumble 2009.

007 QUANTUM OF SOLACE NOW AVAILABLE

Here is the summary for the movie 007 Quantum of Solace from imdb

'Quantum of Solace' continues the high octane adventures of James Bond from 'Casino Royale'. Picking up literally days where the previous film left off, after being betrayed by Vesper, the woman he loved, 007 fights the urge to make his latest mission personal. Having captured Mr. White, and in pursuing his determination to uncover the truth, Bond and 'M' interrogate Mr. White who reveals the organisation which blackmailed Vesper to steal Bond's casino winnings is far more complex and dangerous than anyone had imagined. Forensic intelligence links an MI6 traitor to a bank account in Haiti where a case of mistaken identity introduces Bond to the beautiful but feisty Camille, a woman who has her own vendetta. Camille leads Bond straight to Dominic Greene, a ruthless businessman and major force within the mysterious criminal organisation known only as 'Quantum'. On a mission that leads him to Austria, Italy and South America, Bond discovers that Greene, conspiring to take total control of one of the world's most important natural resources, is forging a deal with the exiled General Medrano. Using his associates in the organisation, and manipulating his powerful contacts within the CIA and the British government, Greene promises to overthrow the existing regime in Bolivia, giving General Medrano control of the country in exchange for a seemingly barren piece of land which is, however, a main source of the South American water supply. In a minefield of treachery, murder and deceit, Bond allies with old friends in a battle to uncover the truth. As he gets closer to finding the man responsible for the betrayal of Vesper, 007 must keep one step ahead of the CIA, the terrorists, and even 'M' herself, to unravel Greene's sinister plan and stop Quantum from getting its way.

Here is a review for the movie Quantum of Solace from dvdtalk


The Film:


Photos in this Review by Karen Ballard
Quick admission: I'm not much of a classic James Bond guy. Sure, some of Sean Connery's 007 films have tickled my fancy -- From Russia With Love and Goldfinger especially, along with moments from Thunderball and Dr. No -- but the entire rhythm of gadgets, girls, and gratuitous one-liners has never completely satisfied my palette.

That is, until Martin Campbell rebooted the series with Casino Royale, crafting a James Bond that was free to make mistakes and act out with braying ferocity through his coy, martini-sipping demeanor. It's probably Daniel Craig's departure from the archetype that drew me in, along with an entrancing performance from Eva Green as a different spice of female accompaniment for the spy in Vesper Lynd. This puts me in a unique position, since it'd be reasonable to assume that a film that steps even further from the formula -- Quantum of Solace, directed by Marc Forster of Monster's Ball and Finding Neverland fame -- should satisfy me even more. I was wholeheartedly poised to do so, even psyched at seeing an even more gadget-free, "authentic" James Bond instead of the debonair Double-0.

But, as mentioned in my review of Alfred Hitchcock's To Catch a Thief, every great director has a departure from their pre-established formula that just doesn't quite work the way it should. It's a daunting task to cradle this beloved franchise as an alternative project, but his capacity to rustle up emotionality within high-profile star power appears to be an appropriate, if odd, choice. And he does a respectful job at staying true to this sleek, nerve-searing 007 -- you know, aside for a smorgasbord of spasm-inducing action sequences that encompass roughly a third of this brief but breathless play at breakneck espionage.

Quantum of Solace follows the events directly after Casino Royale, capturing James Bond (Daniel Craig) as he's caught up in an out-of-character revenge mentality. After the death of his first real love, a woman that nearly pulled him into retirement from MI6, he goes on a vengeance-fueled bender against an organization entitled "Quantum" that, coincidentally, nearly claimed the life of the organization's head, "M" (Judi Dench), by way of assassination. With Bond blinded by rage and gunning for the threat, it's hard to make heads or tails of this trained killing machine with a motive -- and whether he'll be able to keep his posture long enough to successfully mix vengeance with his work.

MI6's new threat interconnecting with "Quantum" is "Greene Planet", a faux-environmental group lead by slippery entrepreneur Dominic Greene (Mathieu Almaric) that centers on an effort to ensnare a stretch of potentially oil-rich land in Bolivia. As a villain, Dominic Greene isn't nearly as iconic as some of the rest -- even the recent, fairly successful Le Chiffre. Instead, Forster molds him into a more "realistic" snake-like villain that pulls strings in a high-dollar environmental climate, one who worms his way around all the corners without lifting much of a finger. But his place in the narrative feels slight and unfocused, though his more realistic roots are compelling enough to hold our interest. Mathieu Almaric builds Dominic into a sneering, cunning little weasel, but he doesn't offer up a grand sense of antagonistic energy to fuel Bond's vengeful push to "solace".

Forster's work in shaping the transitioning James Bond is certain to go largely underappreciated, especially since it diverts so heavily from his iconic archetype by giving fans very little satisfaction in character indulgence. But, plain and simple, Quantum of Solace is a buffer zone for Bond post-heartbreak, one that intentionally swerves out of the way of the rebooted architecture that Martin Campbell structured for the series. Instead of slyly wedging in grin-worthy quips and giving him a chest of toys to play with, it zeroes in completely on him as an angry, love-thwarted secret agent with a taste for vengeance and a mission that happens to intersect with his whims. This is a serious and bloodthirsty Bond, one that shares little chemistry with Dominic's feisty trophy girl Camille, our primary Bond girl played poised and punchy enough by Olga Kurylenko, while chewing up and spitting out a semi-innocent errand girl for the British government, Strawberry Fields (Gemma Arterton).

It's reasonable to look at the events turning within Quantum of Solace as a gun-wielding rogue's shot at closure in a fallen relationship, a volatile time period where he's desensitizing to the effects of emotion and breaking his ever-present jumpiness from Casino Royale into the cool-as-a-cucumber agent that makes woman swoon and villains shiver. Darkness feels proper following the events at the end of Casino Royale, especially in Forster's hands, but it also tries extremely hard not to be a Jason Bourne knockoff. It's hit-and-miss in that regard; while taking on the signature Bond-like infiltration into the "Greene Planet" organization, we're persistently reminded that he's a loose cannon, or "damaged goods" in Dominic Greene's words, that could fly off the handle at any moment due to his scrambled identity issues involving his love life.

As much as it might rub 007 aficionados the wrong way, it's a graspable changeover in plot that helps substantiate the suaveness of Bond's character as it develops leading into successive entries. When it comes to James' moments of red-eyed reflection and the embittered conversations with "M", Marc Forster shows why he was cherry-picked for this entry in the franchise. He carries the few socio-upmanship scenes in the film with his signature drama-based electricity, giving us some pointed moments with Bond scattered throughout.

But that coldness and emotional turmoil isn't exactly what most come to see in a kinetic James Bond film, even fans of the more "grounded" Casino Royale. While Forster nails the stiff vigor present in all the nail-biting banter, he folds under the pressure whenever he steps into the action arena. As the adrenaline picks up, the jerky editing becomes the film's chief blight. Forster's inexperience in this realm shows: most action sequences -- from chases on asphalt, on the sea, and in the air, to the cluster of hand-to-hand fights -- showcase the fact that Forster has two, three, even four cameras rolling by flipping and slicing to death between them. These quick flashes aren't as seamless as he'd like them to be, instead turning into a scissored-up collage of images from the Bond film that we'd really like to see.

A dilemma arises that largely mirrors Christopher Nolan's issues with fight sequences in Batman Begins, being that the drama-minded Forster isn't aware that he needs to pull back a bit to let his audience soak in the action and, in essence, let them make heads or tails of what's going on, all instead of jamming frame after frame into their vision in hopes that it'll knock the result into their minds. Consequently, the rapid cuts and darting movements feel like the nauseous aftereffects of a spasm-inducing rollercoaster that looks like it'd be a hell of a lot more fun that it ends up being. It's all still gratifying in a very top-loaded, popcorn-munching kind of way, yet they don't showcase the same kind of addictive endurance that the rafter chase and the Venice scramble ensnare in Casino Royale.

It's obvious that Forster and regular cinematographer Roberto Schaefer shot well-designed and engaging sequences at their numerous locales in Italy, Bolivia, and Austria, which almost makes me wish that Quantum of Solace was about twenty minutes longer so that they'd have the chance to let this striking camerawork linger enough for us to really absorb it. Somewhere in these all-to-brief slivers of well-composed action is a strong espionage film filled with raw vengeance, containing the same grasp on interactive tension that Forster nails within his 100-minute dash through the Bond franchise. It's a quick sprint, too, one that could've easily benefited from more deliberate pacing and an emphatic, slower focus.

In this form, however, Quantum of Solace rarely steps above being an average, erratic cloak-and-dagger film. It oozes with lush style and slick performances, especially the ever-solidifying Daniel Craig as our new James Bond, but it can't help but fall short from the high expectations left at the end of Casino Royale. It's largely because of Forster's half-successful attempt to mold his directorial style to something out of his element, which shines a spotlight directly on his strengths and weaknesses. This is one of the rare times, maybe the first, where I wished that a piece of cinema did a few things more like a James Bond flick.


The Blu-ray:




Quantum of Solace comes to us from MGM in a standard Blu-ray keepcase with semi-glossy artwork sporting silver-ish highlights on the front and back artwork. Inside, there's a $5 coupon for other James Bond films on Blu-ray. When placed in the player and fired up, the disc's menus take on a slick, artistic "map" graphic that resembles the one splash of tech in the film -- the interactive table -- in very attractive and fairly navigable graphics.


Video and Audio:

When Casino Royale came out in high-definition, it was at the top of many tech enthusiasts' demo disc roster -- and likely still is, being as it sports a phenomenal image and, more importantly, an outstanding audio track. Quantum of Solace doesn't satisfy in quite the same ways that its predecessor, but it's still a very fine outing from MGM. Presented in a 1080p AVC encode that preserves the 2.35:1 theatrical framing, this disc largely relies on three key elements to make it a success: the relatively-subdued blue/tan palette, strong contrast work, and properly rendered details -- all of which look excellent, though the image carries an overall softer feel than expected. Throughout the lush Roberto Schaefer cinematography, the sleek architectural capturing, and the on-the-fly action choreography, Quantum of Solace looks pretty damn good.

Bright blues and subtle tans pop from the screen, from the dirty atmosphere drenching the interrogation scene at the forefront of the film to the crystal clear blues rolling through the water-based scenes. At the concert in Austria, we're treated to a fluent exercise in contrast work that encapsulates the disc's overall competency int he area, showcasing its classy rendering of inky blacks and suitable shadows. In each, some ravishing detail pops out in facial textures and set design, as well as the sharply-assembled costume work. But there are a few speedbumps, namely the flatness of a few wide-stretching visuals in the image and the lack of solidity that crops up in some flesh tones. Grain gets a little heavier than it should in a few spots, which coats over skin tones to give them a less-than-stable property -- though that occurs infrequently. These trepidations don't keep Quantum of Solace's image from shining, however, all of which comes out unblemished by any glaring hints of edge enhancement or noise reduction.

Where the visuals might have lost a little ground in the James Bond era of demo worthy material, this DTS HD Master Audio track delivers punch-for-punch with Casino Royale's Dolby TrueHD/PCM offerings. Sweeping back into the rear channels frequently, this sound presentation attacks all levels and frequencies with a blistering level of clarity and tonal competence. The whirring from Bond's Aston Martin DBS at the front of the film screech our nerves into high gear out of the starting gate, followed shortly by a robust car collision that showcases the track's punchy nature and capacity at rendering minutiae sound effects with the shattered glass. Gunfire rattles both the lower-frequency channel and the mid-ranges with plenty of firepower, while boisterous flames fill the room with the expected "billowing" robustness. Verbal clarity is also top-shelf, keeping the dialogue scenes with Daniel Craig and Judi Dench well-balanced and audible, all while handling David Arnold's scoring quite well. Furthermore, any scenes that really punch the energy -- from explosions to the piercing vocals from an opera singer -- remain distortion free across the board. It's a phenomenal Master Audio track that delivers quite the right hook in expansiveness. Optional subtitles, which appear within the film's image itself, are available in an array of languages -- English SDH, Spanish, Portuguese, Cantonese, Korean, and Mandarin -- while Spanish, French, and Portuguese Dolby 5.1 tracks are also available.


Special Features:

Bond on Location (24:45, HD AVC):
Covering the numerous locations where Forster shot Quantum of Solace, this mini-doc actually works as a general assembly piece at the start. It begins with discussions about Casino Royale and connecting with Bond as a human, but then it starts to cover the intrigue in traveling with Bond to exotic locations in the films. It discusses Forster's desire for the real style from actual locations while blending interview time with his cast members as they discuss the process. Though the pictures a little over 100 minutes, Quantum of Solace travels to an ungoldly number of locations -- London, Panama, Bolivia, Austria, Spain, and others -- which are covered in elaborate depth here.

Start of Shooting (2:45, HD AVC):
This small featurette cherry picks material from the first piece and mixes it with some different behind-the-scenes material and interview time with the filmmakers and actors. Though it rarely captures material from the first day of shooting, it does sprawl out to strong stunt rehearsal footage and other behind the scenes tidbits.

On Location (3:14, AVC):
While also taking interview time from the first supplement, this featurette talks about the metaphorical "characters" present in the locations and equipment used. Largely redundant, it dives just a wee bit deeper into the shooting process at a few of the locales.

Olga Kurylenko and the Boat Chase (2:14, HD AVC):
This one is probably the most intriguing of the mini-featurettes, as it follows our Bond girl as she gets accustomed to the stunts and to being in an action film. It mixes interview time with the actress and with Forster and Craig, discussing nervousness about filming her action-packed sequence on the boat. Simple, but decent.

Director Marc Forster (2:45, HD AVC):
Director Marc Forster, as well as the pressure that he's fallen under with this sequel to Casino Royale, falls under focus in this featurette as it covers his tone and vision for Quantum of Solace. It glazes over his storytelling ability, all the while containing backslapping lines from the cast.

The Music (2:36, HD AVC):
Composer David Arnold takes the spotlight here, covering his feelings about how the score should sound. His interview time is accompanied by footage of both his orchestra and of Arnold in the studio piecing together the final product.

Crew Files -- aka Web Blog Videos (45:30, HD AVC):
As a collection of webisodes, entitled "Crew Files", several of the crew members take some time out to discuss their jobs into detail. These pieces are easily the most elaborative and in-depth of them all, covering the difficulties and pleasures inside each of their jobs. Scheduling difficulties, production foibles, and many other elements receive their own 2+ minute segment. They're separated into 20+ categories, spread across a total time of forty-five (45) minutes as they cover direction, production design, hair/make-up, sound mixing, aerial filming, and general photography.

Also included are two Theatrical Teaser Trailers (HD, AVC) and the "Another Way To Die" Music Video (HD, AVC) with Alicia Keyes and Jack White that mirrors the film's opening credits.


Final Thoughts:

Quantum of Solace in unquestionably entertaining, as it would be near impossible for a competent director like Marc Forster to shake off the momentum carried over from Casino Royale. It takes James Bond into a darker, more primal state, one where revenge clouds his character as he tries to unfurl a nefarious plot rife with corruption both inside and out of government control. But it's that darkness -- as well as a shoddy grasp on piecing together the action sequences -- that pull Quantum of Solace down a peg or two from its predecessor. Still, Craig's outstanding once again as Bond, the rest of the cast delivers on all fronts, and the globe-hopping energy inherent within 007 pictures is alive and breathing in Forster's sharp turn behind the wheel.

As with Casino Royale, it's almost expected for a second "Special Edition" of Quantum of Solace to street right around the release of the yet-to-be-concrete "Bond 23". However, MGM's standard release of Quantum of Solace offers a decent package for both Blu-ray enthusiasts and less-fervent fans of the film. This high-definition package looks great and sounds phenomenal, which almost makes up for the "heavy in numbers, light on content" supplements on this disc. If you enjoyed the picture, then I'd highly recommend just picking up this edition and not worrying with whatever subsequent disc might be released -- even though the extras are a little on the pithy side. However, if you're uncertain whether the darker and more bloodthirsty James Bond sounds like your style of flick, then Quantum of Solace comes with a generally firm Recommendation for its strong aesthetic properties and its balls-out adrenal film-making.


Here is the direct download for the movie 007 Quantum of Solace 1 of 2.

Here is the direct download for the movie 007 Quantum of Solace 2 of 2.

INTO THE BLUE 2 NOW AVAILABLE

Here is the summary for the movie Into the Blue 2 from imdb

A pair of professional divers are hired to find Columbus' hidden treasure.

Here is a review for the movie Into the Blue 2 from dvdtalk

I was surprised to find that I enjoyed the first Into the Blue. It made good use of its beautiful beaches and underwater scenery, featured an entertaining cast, and packed in some surprisingly intense action (the final explosion pushes the movie's PG-13 rating). Logic dictates that if I wanted to watch Into the Blue again, I'd rent Into the Blue, but the producers of Into the Blue 2: The Reef are clearly hoping I'll watch this sequel instead, which is almost identical to the original, only dumber, without the Hollywood megastars and visibly cheaper.

Sebastian (Chris Carmack, less brick-brained than he looks on the DVD cover) and Dani (Laura Vandervoort, poor man's Charlize Theron) are personal diving instructors in one of those beachy, sunny places you see in movies, and although they look like models, have a rock-solid relationship, own their own business and have a comfortable home in said beachy, sunny place, they're unsatisfied -- they need something more. "More" means money and a bigger boat, so when a rich entrepreneur (David Anders, looking like a British Neil Patrick Harris) and his martial artist girlfriend Azra (Marsha Thomason) show up asking to hire them for a week, they jump at the chance. Unfortunately, while they claim to be looking for the same, nearly-mythical sunken ship Sebastian's been hunting his whole life, they're really looking for two mysterious boxes dumped by a dim lackey during a Coast Guard search, and if they don't find it soon, everyone will end up sleeping with the fishes. "It's that plain and simple," they explain, "except it's not so plain, nor so simple, is it?"

Right away, I noticed something unique about Into the Blue 2: the complete and utter shamelessness with which it rips off the original. Around 80% of the film is almost completely indistinguishable from the first movie: I'm guessing if anyone can detect a noticeable difference between the main characters in the two films other than their names and actors playing them, MGM will send them a special medal. Surprisingly, this DTV rehash was helmed by Stephen Herek, director of Bill and Ted's Excellent Adventure (a personal favorite), and the Mark Wahlberg movie Rock Star. John Stockwell, director of the first picture, was the screenwriter of Rock Star, so maybe he recommended Herek for the job, but all Herek does is try to ape the first movie's cinematography, and despite the emerald oceans and underwater action, he doesn't have the personal connection that Stockwell (also the director of Blue Crush) seems to have to the ocean. Herek's compositions lack scope and style, his current idea of comedy is awful (an angry girlfriend yells faster and faster until she's literally fast-forwarded) and the rest of his directorial arsenal consists of beach volleyball shaky-cam and useless split-screen photography.

If you can look past the unoriginality, the movie's next problem isn't that the script or acting are particularly or outstandingly awful, but the combination of the two is an exercise in personal aggravation. I always hate it when radio voice over actors pretend to be on-the-street interviewees by attempting to recreate conversational imperfections, and Into the Blue 2 is painfully similar. The screenplay is packed with Generic Movie Dialogue, right down to the annoyingly "perfect" touches of cuteness and sarcasm, and Carmack and Vandervoort plow through it with sitcom efficiency. The result is a horrible, tone-deaf attempt to reverse-engineer energetic life and spontaneity where none has ever existed, and it grated on me from beginning to end.

The film is also populated by useless characters. The film wants to be date-friendly, so we meet Mace and Kimi (Michael Graziadei and Mircea Monroe, respectively). They're the comic relief couple: Mace keeps getting caught flirting, and Kimi throws his stuff out and challenges the flirters to catty volleyball games (hilarious!), and each time they fight or get in a wacky mishap, we get separate girl-talk/guy-talk bonding scenes with one of the main characters. Worse, rival diver Avery (Rand Holdren) seems to serve the same purpose as both of them, acting like a meathead and having girlfriend problems whenever he pops up, not to mention a secondary villain (Geoff Heise) who's got barely six minutes of screen time. The way these characters are all tied into the third act is extremely strained, and most of them could have been condensed or written out. I also learned while searching the net for the DVD back cover that Audrina Partridge, Parvati Shallow and Amanda Kimmel are actually stars of shows like "The Hills" and "Survivor" making useless cameo appearances. I didn't notice watching the movie, and now I'm stuck knowing it forever.

At least during the third act, things start to become unintentionally funny. There's a scene where it turns out that not one but four people are apparently hiding away on Sebastian's tiny boat (it's like a clown car!), the world's quickest hypothermia recovery ever, a thug foiled by his inability to swim (clearly meant to be serious) and it's hard to keep a straight face during some slow-motion, collapse-to-the-knees melodrama. The villainous plot is also ridiculous. There was a time when the "hired gun" bad guy mentality was interesting because it made them unpredictable. These days, it's a sign of screenwriter laziness: the filmmakers don't know why someone would want to nuke Hawaii, but neither does the character! People who like movies that proclaim themselves to be Unrated will also enjoy the pointless nudity and occasional language.

Watching Into the Blue 2, I had the sinking suspicion that I wasn't viewing a movie at all, but a movie-like paste ground up from the remains of an actual motion picture. This is a DVD designed to appear on Amazon, IMDb and Netflix as a movie You Might Like because you saw the original. Who knows, maybe someone out there will actually enjoy the movie for the nearly nonexistent qualities it has to offer, but you can probably hold off until they've got it in pill form; movies are so much easier to digest that way!

The DVD, Video and Audio
20th Century Fox sent over one of their customary screener discs, so instead of the case, which should have white and blue artwork, I got a white paper sleeve. The upside is I don't have to be excruciatingly aggravated by the fact that they've placed the wrong names over the wrong people, which would be easily fixed by flipping the image, but people who design DVD cover artwork don't think like that.

Since I've got a screener, I also have no grade available for the video, because I don't think Fox wants me to grade the pixelated, watermarked image presented on this disc. The audio might be okay, and I've got lots to say about the terrible, terrible pop music peppering the soundtrack, but all the same, I'll hold off. The retail disc will feature a 1.85:1 anamorphic widescreen transfer, 5.1 English audio and English subtitles. The menu is simple, but it makes the movie look like it's for three-year-olds. Not every menu can make you feel immature...

The Extras
"Get Wet" (11:42) is the first of two featurettes, and I was shocked to find they were actually kind of entertaining. Maybe my brain was just numbed by the feature film, but it's actually kind of fun watching the actors learn how to scuba-dive, talk about the challenges of filming underwater and interacting with the marine life. It's also surprising to see that the cast is fairly charismatic when they're not acting in a bad movie. The other featurette, "Run For Your Life" (6:42) focuses on the movie's foot chase, and is equally likable, although Herek reveals he was trying to pay homage to Run Lola Run. Uh huh.

Lastly, "Back to the Beach" (1:40) is billed as a music video, but it's actually a short montage of B-roll from the beach volleyball scene. There is also a gallery of trailers, including The Betrayed, Dead Like Me: Life After Death (also by Herek) and Hit and Run. No theatrical trailer is included, nor do you get any subtitles or captions.

Conclusion
"Call me crazy, but this doesn't suck!" proclaims Sebastian. I disagree. Until someone invents a Sci-Fi (er, excuse me, SyFy) Channel counterpart that plays bad beach thrillers instead of bad mutant bug movies, you can definitely skip taking a dip in Into the Blue 2's low-budget waters.


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17 AGAIN NOW AVAILABLE

Here is the summary for the movie 17 Again from imdb

Popular high school senior Mike O'Donnell (Zac Efron) seemingly has it all. He is a star athlete headed straight for a college scholarship when he decides to give it up to settle down with his high school girlfriend Scarlet is pregnant. Twenty years later, an adult Mike (played by Matthew Perry) finds his life is not exactly what he expected. He is separated from his wife, Scarlett (Leslie Mann) and living with his wealthy software genius nerd and best friend Ned Freedman (Thomas Lennon), his career at a pharmaceutical company is at a stand still, and his relationships with his teenage children are nonexistent. After getting passed up for yet another promotion at work, he returns to his high school to reminisce over his basketball awards and the life he could have had. While he is reliving his glory days, he is approached by a janitor and shares with him how things were so much better when he was 17. As Mike is driving home from the high school, he sees the mysterious janitor standing on the ledge preparing to jump into the Los Angeles River. Mike rushes out of his car to rescue him, but when he gets there, the janitor has vanished. What Mike doesn't realize is that he is about to fall into the river and turn into his 17 year old self. Young Mike (Zac Efron) returns to Ned's house, where he has the difficult task of convincing Ned that he is in fact Mike. At a loss of what to do, Ned pretends to be Mike's father and they register Mike back in high school to finish the life he never had the chance to live. High school presents a lot of new challenges for Mike, such as dressing cool, keeping up with the latest gadgets and making new friends. But nothing compares to being in high school with his own children. He discovers that his daughter, Maggie (Michelle Trachtenberg), is not nearly as innocent as he thought she was and his son, Alex (Sterling Knight), is the brunt of the star athlete's jokes. But Mike's most difficult realization is that he hasn't been a very good father or husband. Mike befriends Alex and tries to instill him with enough confidence to join the basketball team. He gets close to Maggie's obnoxious boyfriend and does everything in his power to break them up. Most importantly, he visits an unsuspecting Scarlet and rediscovers all the things that initially made him fall in love with her. You don't know what you have until you lose it. Through his experiences, Mike realizes that he had chosen the perfect life he just never appreciated it. Now, he must figure out a way to transform back into his older self and win back his wife and kids.

Here is a review for the movie 17 Again from dvdtalk

Forget all about the age-reversing hocus-pocus that's going on during "17 Again." The real fantasy at play in this picture is the concept that Zac Efron is supposed to be the younger version of Matthew Perry. Sure. If you can hurdle that whopper, "17 Again" is a generously spirited comedy that's more victorious as a debutant ball for Efron's big screen career than a true gut-buster. The picture charms easily and makes a decent pass at a heart. Considering the director and the iffy premise, I think the idea of "17 Again" being anything other than migraine-inducing is worth a few minutes of applause and smiley reflection.

Frustrated with the failure of his life and his marriage to high school sweetheart Scarlett (Leslie Mann), Mike O'Donnell (Matthew Perry, in a brief cameo) makes an audible wish to be young again, desperate for a chance to reboot his life. The wish is magically granted by a spirit guide (a Santa-like Brian Doyle-Murray), turning Mike back into a teenager (Zac Efron). Seeking the help of geeky friend Ned (Thomas Lennon), Mike elects to enroll in the same high school as his children (Sterling Knight and Michelle Trachtenberg) to keep an eye on his family. Looking to instill his son with confidence and keep his daughter away from a lothario, Mike starts to insinuate himself back into his own house, eventually hoping to reconnect with Scarlett; however, his efforts strike the family as particularly strange, leaving Mike unable to comprehend why his wish was granted in the first place if he was destined to fail all over again.

While the temptation is there to label the feature as a body switching comedy along the likes of a backwards "Big," "17 Again" isn't aiming for a whimsical handle to the laughs. Under the direction of Burr Steers (the odious "Igby Goes Down"), "17 Again" is more at home within a sitcom arena, featuring a broad plot of cockeyed redemption to underscore the flashy comedic fireworks display. Steers mutes all his tendencies to smother the actors in stillborn affectations and lets the cast roll with the punches, permitting a harmless screenplay to be executed safely and often winningly. In the seven years it took Steers to follow-up "Igby," he's learned to trust his ensemble, allowing for generous spurts of glee to escape what is honestly an eye-rolling concept.

The plot concentrates on Mike's foggy, befuddled path to salvation, but the film appears more infatuated with Efron and his performance elasticity. As bright-eyed and bushy-tailed as Efron was in the "High School Musical" pictures, his work in "17 Again" reveals a dazzling comedic presence and an overall ability to command a scene. Backed wonderfully by Mann, Lennon, and Melora Hardin (here stealing scenes as Mike's principal and Ned's nerdly object of affection), the film gives Efron a wide berth to just do his thing. And that thing seems to be the capacity to make a dusty screenplay shine with his gusto and silly portrayal of man-boy bewilderment, while throwing a few well-timed reactions around to beef up the laughs.

Efron keeps the film upbeat and eager to please, but it's comforting to see "17 Again" not entirely turn its back on the inherent creepiness of a teen father spying on his teen kids. While dealing with bullies, basketball tryouts, and abundant caloric intake, Mike also has to confront burgeoning affection from his own daughter, a thorny consequence of his renewed attention to their romantic activities. Steers keeps the subplot nicely distanced and humorous, but the very appearance of such a twist demonstrates that "17 Again" has a delightful sense of mischief to share. Eventually the film devolves into third-act sniffles to ease the premise back onto solid ground, but a generous helping of actorly vitality and a dash of troublemaking elevates the picture away from its skim milk origin.


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Thursday, April 16, 2009

OBSERVE AND REPORT NOW AVAILABLE


Here is the summary for the movie Observe and Report from imdb

An anonymous flasher (Randy Gambill) exposes himself to shoppers in the Forest Ridge Mall parking lot. The head of mall security, Ronnie Barnhardt (Seth Rogen), makes it his mission to apprehend the offender. He is assisted by the Yuen twins (Matt and John Yuan), Charles (Jesse Plemons) and Dennis (Michael Peña) in his efforts. At home, Ronnie has a loving but dysfunctional relationship with his alcoholic mother (Celia Weston). Ronnie's dream girl, Brandi (Anna Faris) who works a mall make-up counter, is flashed the next day, becoming distraught over the situation. Ronnie tries to comfort her until a police officer, Detective Harrison (Ray Liotta), arrives and takes over Ronnie's palliative role. Ronnie feels threatened by this and is upset that his boss allowed an outside person to infringe on his search for the offender. The criminal activity at the mall continues, as a masked person is seen robbing a shoe store, causing property damage. Detective Harrison is once again called in to investigate, his efforts hindered by Ronnie's unusual attempts to resolve the matter. In response, Harrison curses out Ronnie during a meeting with Ronnie's superior. In defiance of the detectives angry rant, Ronnie decides to take the steps necessary to become a real police officer. Ronnie obtains preliminary documents needed to become a police officer from a recruiting station, including forms for a physical and a psychological profile check, as well as entertaining the idea of a ride-along with a policeman on patrol. Ronnie decides to ride along with Detective Harrison. Harrison, fed up with Ronnie, tricks him into walking into the most dangerous part of town, and drives off. Ronnie then confronts and subsequently subdues several drug dealers, victoriously returning to the police station with a Dealers son and sarcastically thanking the detective for his help. Emboldened, Ronnie arranges a date with Brandi, seeking advice from Nell (Collette Wolfe), a friendly food court worker, who recommends that he just be himself, which Ronnie declares as bad advice. That night, Brandi arrives home very late, forgetting the date. Undeterred, Ronnie still takes her out. She consumes much alcohol and Ronnie encourages her to ingest unknown pills. Ronnie takes her home and they engage in sexual intercourse, despite Brandi's barely-conscious state. Ronnie's optimism is deflated after learning he will never be able to become a police officer, due to his failure of the psychological examination, where he told the examiner disturbing stories about his fantasies about law enforcement. Depressed, he is coerced by Dennis to spend the day doing a wide variety of drugs and assaulting skateboarding teenagers. At the end of the day, Ronnie finds out that Dennis was the shoe thief, and that he has been stealing from the mall for quite some time. Ronnie is stunned and, after a brief argument, is knocked unconscious by Dennis, who then flees to Mexico. After being chewed out by his boss for not realizing that Dennis was the thief, Ronnie decides to go undercover in order to catch the flasher. While he is undercover, Nell explains to him that her boss Roger (Patton Oswalt) makes fun of her for having her leg in a cast Leading Ronnie To beat Roger up. At night he sees Harrison having intercourse with Brandi in his cruiser, which induces him to confront her in front of onlookers at the mall the next day, breaking the glass of a display case, getting him into trouble with the law. Refusing to leave the mall, police are called in to remove Ronnie and arrest him. Not going quietly, Ronnie fights off many officers, before eventually being overtaken and arrested. After a brief time in jail, and a few days of recovery, Ronnie returns to the mall, although now no longer as a security guard. He is approached by Nell, and she kisses him to console him. Interrupting their romantic moment, the pervert flashes Nell and Ronnie and runs off, exposing himself to many other mall patrons. Ronnie, pursuing the flasher in a slow-motion sequence, retrieves a gun from a closet and shoots the flasher as he approaches Brandi. She thanks him but he yells at her for cheating on him with Harrison. Refusing the flasher an ambulance, Ronnie takes him to the police station, impressing the officers who had previously ridiculed him. A victorious Ronnie is then interviewed with the other security guards and Nell, who back on both legs is now his new girlfriend, as he returns back to his job as the head of mall security

Here is the direct download for the movie Observe and Report.

Thursday, April 09, 2009

THE FAST AND THE FURIOUS (2009) NOW AVAILABLE

Here is the summary for the movie The Fast and the Furious from imdb

Heading back to the streets where it all began, two men rejoin two women to blast muscle, tuner and exotic cars across Los Angeles and floor through the Mexican desert. When a crime brings them back to L.A., fugitive ex-con Dom Toretto reignites his feud with agent Brian O'Connor. But as they are forced to confront a shared enemy, Dom and Brian must give in to an uncertain new trust if they hope to outmaneuver him. And from convoy heists to precision tunnel crawls across international lines, two men will find the best way to get revenge: push the limits of what's possible behind the wheel. Written by Universal Studios

Here is a review for the movie Fast and the Furious from dvdtalk



I stare at a blank screen in front of me and wonder: is there another five paragraphs worth of words in me about the Fast and the Furious franchise? Yeah, there probably is. Whether or not there's another hour-and-a-half to an hour of material left in the series is a different question. There are moments of Fast & Furious that I really enjoyed, especially from returning star Vin Diesel, who I've always liked seeing on the big screen. The other half of the movie, however, involving Paul Walker and Jordana Brewster, thuds on the theater floor like an engine block dropping onto a thug's head.

Following the murder of an old friend, fresh off of knocking over gasoline tankers in the Dominican Republic with his girlfriend Letty (Michelle Rodriguez), Dominic Toretto (Vin Diesel) returns to the United States to enact some vengeance on the people responsible. Upon his arrival he finds himself again in the company of now-FBI Agent Brian O'Connor (Paul Walker), who's hot on the trail of the same drug-runner, and they end up wary teammates as each of them rushes to deliver their own brand of justice on the bad guys and get out without going home in handcuffs.

Director Justin Lin was responsible for the series' last entry, Tokyo Drift, a movie I was initially unimpressed by but came to like in the course of reviewing the new DVDs Universal released to promote Fast & Furious. Unfortunately, that film's appeal was in the setting: windy Mexican desert and downtown LA just aren't as interesting as the bustling metropolis of Tokyo. Lin's direction here seems strangely stunted, and I wonder if Universal placed a cap on the movie's runtime. Each dialogue-driven scene moves along just a little too quickly, as if another ten or fifteen minutes of the film hit the cutting room floor in order to make room for a few more spectacular car chases.

Yet the chases aren't that spectacular either. No, the appeal of the movie hinges entirely on whether or not you've been waiting for Diesel and Walker to return to the franchise that made them famous, and Diesel delivers, giving a few scenes (like the one where he describes his dream girl) an extra bit of low-key charisma that put a smile on my face. He's got the action-star thing down pat, always going for a quiet anger instead of big, over-the-top machismo. Walker, on the other hand, is a disappointment. His performance does make him seem more mature than his normal attitude (he's almost completely free of the Keanu-surfer vibe), but he's inescapably tuned out. I wouldn't say he's phoning it in -- I'm sure he showed up willing to make a good popcorn movie -- but his heart just isn't in it, and the movie sags. Return performances by Jordana Brewster and Michelle Rodriguez also feel like they're missing something extra. The relationship between Brian and Mia fizzles, and Rodriguez doesn't get enough screen time. Rodriguez seems looser and more relaxed here than I've ever seen her, and it's incredibly appealing but sorely underutilized.

You get what you pay for, and Fast & Furious advertises everything it contains: fast cars, thin plot, and the reteaming of the franchise's two biggest draws. It's far from perfect, but I imagine fans of the series will be pleased enough. The film's massive opening weekend box office looks as if they'll probably try to lure some of the crew back for another go-round, and if they do, it'd be nice if it focused on Diesel and Diesel alone. I don't know if the two hours spent watching it would be worth it, but I think I could crank out another five paragraphs about it.



Here is the direct download for the movie The Fast and the Furious (2009).

DADNAPPED NOW AVAILABLE

Here is the summary for the movie Dadnapped from imdb

Melissa has a bad case of sibling rivalry, only her competition is a fictional character in her father's best-selling novel about a teenage super spy. When her father is "dadnapped" by a group of overzealous fans, it's up to Melissa to help him by tapping her inner superhero. Written by Dadnapped

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Wednesday, April 01, 2009

X-MEN ORGINS WOVERINE NOW AVAILABLE

Here is the summary for the movie X-Men Wolverine from imdb

Wolverine lives a mutant life, seeks revenge against Victor Creed (who will later become Sabretooth) for the death of his girlfriend, and ultimately ends up going through the mutant Weapon X program.

Hugh Jackman reprises the role that made him a superstar as the fierce fighting machine who possesses amazing healing powers, retractable claws and a primal fury. Leading up to the events of X-Men, X-Men Origins: Wolverine tells the story of Wolverine's epically violent and romantic past, his complex relationship with Victor Creed, and the ominous Weapon X program. Along the way, Wolverine encounters many mutants, both familiar and new, including surprise appearances by several legends of the X-Men universe whose appearances in the film series have long been anticipated. [D-Man2010]



Here is the direct download for the movie X-Men Wolverine part 1 of 3.

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Here is the direct download for the movie X-Men Wolverine Part 3 of 3.

Saturday, March 28, 2009

KNOWING NOW AVAILABLE

Here is the summary for the movie The Knowing from imdb

A teacher opens a time capsule that has been dug up at his son's elementary school; in it are some chilling predictions -- some that have already occurred and others that are about to -- that lead him to believe his family plays a role in the events that are about to unfold.


Here is a review for the movie The Knowing from dvdtalk

While "I, Robot" was a massive moneymaker for all participants involved, I don't know of anyone who exited the theater ecstatic with the results. Well, director Alex Proyas is back on the sci-fi chain gang, this time tackling the apocalyptic thriller "Knowing." A broad, leisurely jumble of Alfred Hitchcock-style suspense architecture and a dreary, paint-by-numbers Sci-Fi Channel Original, "Knowing" only seems to extract two reactions: nail-biting and eye-rolling. Proyas misjudges the material to both frightening and facepalm results, leaving "Knowing" a frothy brew of pleasing chaos and absolute absurdity.

Dealing with the heavy psychological burden of spousal loss, MIT professor John (Nicolas Cage) watches over his young son Caleb (Chandler Canterbury) carefully, protecting him from life's social demands. To commemorate the unearthing of an elementary school time capsule buried 50 years earlier, each child is handed a drawing from the tube to study. Caleb is entrusted with a sheet of seemingly random numbers composed by a disturbed girl, triggering John's curiosity. Figuring the numbers to be a cryptogram that has successfully predicted the world's worst disasters for five decades, John sets out to prevent the last three codes on the paper from realization. Trying to save lives while seeking out the author's offspring (Rose Byrne) for answers, John races against the clock to prevent a worldwide disaster from becoming a reality.

While I walked out of "Knowing" semi-disgusted with the film and with Proyas's shallow bag of tricks, I will readily admit that the feature shares a few wonderful moments of unpolluted suspense. Clearly motivated by Hitchcock's distinguished timing, Proyas finds amazing inspiration within the picture's disaster set pieces, in which John's frantic decoding takes him to the sites of plane crashes and subway collisions -- events he's attempting to prevent. Proyas, ever the meticulous visual stylist, knows how to the twirl the tension knobs with skillful camerawork and a blaring Herrmannesque score from composer Marco Beltrami to accompany the havoc. The scenes connect, even with a few special effect blunders (John can apparently walk through fire unscathed), because they plug directly into the film's cracking premise as a chest-tightening disaster film. The ingenious ticking clock here is the code sheet, making "Knowing" a startlingly tight thriller when it boils down to the essentials of John identifying patterns and racing to save the day. Sure, plot holes and drastic leaps of logic swarm the picture, but all that can be forgiven when the film snaps to attention. "Knowing" has a few of those superlative moments.

However, "Knowing" also hungers to be a sci-fi extravaganza, populating the second half of the film with shadowy "whisper people" and reoccurring symbols of otherworldly recognition. To write that "Knowing" lost me with this detour is an understatement; the film positively croaks reaching for a more philosophical conclusion, seemingly embarrassed with the exhilarating coding clockwork that's come before. Proyas has always fumbled plot mechanics in his previous efforts, and "Knowing" is not immune to the director's butterfingers. What easily could've been a tight, swell 80-minute-long joyride of a motion picture is flooded to 120 cumbersome minutes, force-feeding a frenzied climax that doesn't fit the tone of movie at all. To spotlight more of the script's screwy direction would be sprinting into spoiler territory, so I'll leave it dangle here. Suffice it to say, "Knowing" should've left well enough alone. To fatten the experience just to play to Hollywood blockbuster rules dilutes the tension and humiliates the cast.

Proyas attempts to sand down the blunt ends using Beethoven's mournful Symphony No. 7 and an unrealistically redemptive ending, but it can't cover the mistakes of the final product, which reaches further into lunacy with a masturbatory staging of a Roland Emmerich-style mass destruction derby to please the nervous executives. "Knowing" is 40% greatness and 60% hot air, which is especially maddening when, for a moment or two at least, the movie was perfect.


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12 ROUNDS NOW AVAILABLE

Here is the summary for the movie 12 Rounds from imdb

Detective Danny Fisher (John Cena) is about to have the worst day of his life. A nearly untraceable internationally-known terrorist named Miles Jackson (Aidan Gillen) has kidnapped his girlfriend Molly Porter (Ashley Scott) and forced him into "12 Rounds" of dangerous games carefully plotted throughout the streets of New Orleans. Danny struggles to keep focus while the obvious ticking clocks and crude consequences that accompany each one of these "rounds" do their best to derail him from rescuing the love of his life before it's too late. The movie is 108 minutes long. [D-Man2010] A New Orleans police detective's girlfriend is kidnapped. WWE champion John Cena is New Orleans Police Detective Danny Baxter. When Baxter stops a brilliant thief from getting away with a multi-million-dollar heist, the thiefs girlfriend is accidentally killed. After escaping from prison, the criminal mastermind enacts his revenge, taunting the cop with a series of near-impossible puzzles and tasks 12 roundsthat Baxter must somehow complete to save the life of his fiancée. [D-Man2010]

Here is a review for the movie 12 Rounds from dvdtalk

John Cena made his feature film debut with 2006's "The Marine," a dumb-as-rocks actioner lacking sufficient style and kinetic energy to help digest its rancid helpings of explosions and ghastly screenwriting. It certainly played to the primary color level of a professional-wrestler-turned-actor like Cena, but the whole experience was intolerable, failing to join the ranks of the numbing, trigger-happy schlock cinema it was aping. "12 Rounds" returns Cena to the big screen and this time under the guidance of director Renny Harlin, a tattered but venerable action craftsman who knows a thing or two about hokey line readings and fireball evasion.

When a FBI sting to capture notorious Irish terrorist Miles Jackson (Aidan Gillen, "The Wire") goes horribly wrong, New Orleans cop Danny Fisher (John Cena) is caught in the middle, accidently sending Jackson's girlfriend to her death during the melee. A year later, Jackson has busted out of prison and kidnapped Danny's wife (Ashley Scott), setting up a twisted game where the detective must survive 12 violent challenges to retrieve his loved one. Quickly mired in the series of lethal situations, Danny finds little help from vengeful FBI agents (including Steve Harris), leaving his raw police skills and love for his wife as his guide to navigating this twisted contest.

Actually, it turns out Harlin is absolutely no help here. Let's get the obvious out of the way early: "12 Rounds" is implausible, wretchedly scripted junk food that cares more about bursting the limits of absurdity than it does about telling an engaging action story. Of course the film is garbage. With wrestling powerhouse WWE producing, chances are the statement, "Guys, this just doesn't make any sense," never came up during a script meeting. I can't fault "12 Rounds" for being dumb. However, I will criticize "12 Rounds" for being awful.

Even as a cheesy, blow-em-up distraction of the lowest possible order, "12 Rounds" fails to capture the same deliciously machismo orchestrations the Schwarzeneggers and Stallones of the world used to churn out by the bucket load. Most of the fault lies with Harlin; it's a cruelly agitated directorial job fixated on a specific zoom-laden chaos that plunges the audience into the middle of the madness along with Danny. I view it more as a cheap ploy to generate a false sense of excitement to cover the ridiculous screenplay, but Harlin seems assured that continuous camera movement equals surefire stimulation. Hey, if it keeps the focus off of Cena's wooden acting, I'm all for it. Still, it doesn't take long for the visual toxicity to become unbearable.

"12 Rounds" is a stunt-happy picture, and that's the one element I feel comfortable praising. Structured litigiously like "Die Hard with a Vengeance," "12 Rounds" rarely stops to breathe, always on the hunt for a dilapidated New Orleans location to blow up or to find a fresh way for Danny to barely escape assured doom. The titular games permit Harlin a chance to concoct a few compelling action set-pieces, all of them swiftly ruined by the camerawork, the dialogue, and the acting. "12 Rounds" is about bigness and furious action beats, and for a few moments here and there it feels like the Renny Harlin of old has returned. The sensation is fleeting, especially when Cena, Harris, and Gillen feel they must open their mouths and kill the tension with words. That's what "12 Rounds" needed less of: words.

After two movies, I still don't spot a single reason John Cena should be a movie star. He's virtually free of charisma, and to find stunning actors that would make him appear gifted would require more money than what the WWE is willing to part with. "12 Rounds" is the second strike on his celluloid career. If Cena's not careful, one more of these stinkers and it's nothing but DTV potboilers with Hulk Hogan.


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