HARRY POTTER AND THE DEATHLY HALLOW NOW AVAILABLE

HERE IS THE SUMMARY FOR THE MOVIE HARRY POTTER 7

As Harry races against time and evil to destroy the Horcruxes, he uncovers the existence of three most powerful objects in the wizarding world: the Deathly Hallows.

HERE IS A REVIEW FOR THE MOVIE FROM DVDTALK.

Okay, muggles, you can stop holding your breath now. Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part I is really good. It may even be the best movie in the series so far. I haven't enjoyed myself at Hogwarts this much since Prisoner of Azkaban.
The first of the two-part conclusion, Deathly Hallows: Part I is an adaptation of the last book in the J.K. Rowling series. The story opens sometime after the end of The Half-Blood Prince. Dumbledore is gone, and Lord Voldemort (Ralph Fiennes) has taken over the Ministry of Magic. The Order of the Phoenix, the secret group that defeated He That I Shouldn't Have Named when he last made a play for domination, are taking Harry Potter (played, as always, by Daniel Radcliffe) into hiding. He is, of course, the chosen one, and it's believed that only he can stop Voldemort. The mission is to find the remaining Horcruxes, magical objects that contain pieces of a Voldemort's soul. As long as these trinkets exit, he will never die.
Things go dark rather quick in The Deathly Hallows, and Harry and his crew, Hermione Granger (Emma Watson) and Ron Weasley (Rupert Grint), are exiled to the wilderness to try to figure out what to do. I haven't read the books, but I'm told this is the one where the teens spend a lot of time camping. For the cinematic version, writer Steve Kloves (who wrote the screenplays for all the films) and director David Yates (the man behind the camera on the final four) have compacted most of that stuff, and the movie never lingers long on these foresty pit stops.

In fact, The Deathly Hallows: Part I has a lot of forward momentum, and there are quite a few exciting action sequences that keep the story moving. There is a fast-paced skybound broom and cycle chase, a few wand-to-wand duels, and even some nerve-wracking scenes of true suspense. My favorite bits in the movies have always been when we get to go into new environments and poke around. For instance, an extended sequence at the Ministry of Magic is inventive, thrilling, and even funny. Yates is joined this time around by cinematographer Eduardo Serra (Unbreakable), who is equally adept at capturing the moodiness of the story and keeping it lively. There is a lot of running, flying, and teleporting in The Deathly Hallows: Part I, and the twisting camera moves turn the magic into a dizzying head rush. There is one great camera push in particular, when Snatchers are pursuing the kids in the woods. They come running at the screen as the camera moves in, using the opposing momentum to increase the adrenaline surge.
It's too bad that the Harry Potter franchise took this long to mature into such a solid adventure series. The Deathly Hallows: Part I is what all of the movies should have been like, and it makes it even more frustrating that The Half-Blood Prince was such a goopy morass of teen angst. Even the young actors have grown into their own over the six films. Radcliffe, Grint, and Watson make for an excellent onscreen team. It's impressive overall, when you think about it, that all of these kids have developed so well. It's been nine years since the first movie, and the producers took a real gamble that adolescence would be kind to their leads. The majority of the ensemble, young and old, makes its way back to see this cycle through. If nothing else, Harry Potter can go down as the most ambitious and most consistent of the big cinematic miniseries.
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows was over 600 pages, which is more story than one movie could contain. The decision to split the tome in half and make two movies was largely a commercial move--five hours is a long time for an audience to stay seated and also it limits the amount of showings per day. The filmmakers end up using this to their advantage, choosing an appropriate breaking point to give their movie the maximum dramatic punch. Part I builds to an emotional crescendo, including one extremely affecting event near the end of the picture (I was surprised to find myself getting a little misty-eyed). The conclusion is satisfying, despite not being a full resolution. The ultimate irony may be that most moviegoers will probably be up for rolling right into Part II. Potterheads would endure the length to get their fix. Unfortunately, we're all going to have to wait until July.
HERE IS THE DIRECT DOWNLOAD FOR THE MOVIE NZB

CALL OF DUTY BLACK OPS XBOX 360 NZB NOW AVAILABLE

HERE IS THE REVIEW FROM IGN FOR THE GAME

Call of Duty is the Goliath of the video game world. The series has sold millions of copies and catapulted itself from a solid, World War II shooter to the sprawling multiplayer playground and Hollywood-style campaign that we know today. Call of Duty: Black Ops takes much of what made Modern Warfare 2 great and slightly expands and modifies it. That's not to say that there aren't mistakes to be found within Black Ops, but I think Call of Duty fans are going to be happy with Treyarch's latest effort.

The only thing I'll say about the storyline is that it's the best of the series.

You begin the game as Alex Mason, a soldier being interrogated for information that he can't remember. You play through Mason's memories in search for information. Sam Worthington, Ed Harris, and Gary Oldman deliver expert performances and really nail their respective characters. There are twists, some of which work better than others, and the plot seems to get bogged down and slightly disjointed towards the middle. But unlike Modern Warfare 2, Black Ops does a wonderful job of cleaning everything up for the finale. 

Black Ops is not just a linear game, but sometimes feels like it's on autopilot. Just one example is when you "guide" the takeoff of an SR-71 Blackbird. I tried to not pull back on the flight stick when the game told me to, just to see if there was any other alternative to taking off, but the Blackbird lifted off on its own.

The artificial intelligence of both your friendly soldiers and the enemies you face is pretty poor. Both friendly and enemy soldiers behave like fools for most of the campaign. I once watched a friendly shoot the back of an armored car that he was using for cover for a solid 20 seconds.

There are also a few design flaws and annoyances, not least of all was a game-ending bug in the first level that made me restart the entire mission. No one else in the office ran into that one, but everyone who'd played Black Ops has run into a major design issue at the Battle of Khe Sanh. The mission never tells you what to actually do and even misdirects you.

The new crossbow rocks.

Despite these issues, I really enjoyed the story that the campaign presents and I think it's the best of the series. The characters are well-crafted and the plot rarely disappoints.

Of course, most gamers are more interested in the multiplayer. Call of Duty: Black Ops largely succeeds, presenting a similar (but not identical) set of modes as Modern Warfare 2. Black Ops is a more focused effort, and there will inevitably be those who miss a few of the omitted modes. But you will get some of the playlists later added to Modern Warfare 2, including the Killstreak-free Barebones list.

Black Ops makes its most significant departure from Modern Warfare 2 by adding CoD Points. Earning experience points and leveling up now handles macro stuff like unlocking more custom class slots, Create-A-Class, new modes to play, and the availability of certain weapons and bonuses for "purchase." Everything else (weapons, perks, killstreak bonuses, emblems, different colors for your targeting reticule) is bought with CoD Points

The system itself is overwhelming at first, especially if you're totally new to Call of Duty, but once you get your head around the CoD Points mechanic it's actually pretty cool. When you level up you're handed 1,000 CoD Points that you can spend on whatever you please. It basically allows you to sculpt your style of play however you'd like. The only catch is that once you buy a weapon, perk, or killstreak, there's no going back. In other words, you'd better be damn sure you want that sniper rifle before taking the plunge. This de-emphasizes what made Modern Warfare and Modern Warfare 2's multiplayer so much fun; the leveling itself.

The new Wager Match modes are designed to highlight the importance of CoD Points and they're fun in their own right, but nothing ever reaches the level of enjoyment I had with the traditional leveling mechanic. We've talked at length about the specifics of each Wager Match mode. Just know that One in the Chamber and Gun Game are highlights. The first is a lesson in patience and accuracy and the second gives you a guided tour of 20 of Black Ops' armaments with each kill earning you a new gun.

Standard modes including Team Deathmatch, Domination and Headquarters are still there and are great for leveling up and if you do hit Level 50, Prestige Mode is there with some extra challenges to make it worthwhile. I would have preferred if the new features added to the pre-existing level of fun, rather than pushing what everyone loves to the back burner, but Wager Match is definitely the focus.

The CoD Points system does lead to a higher level of customization in Black Ops. Not only can you customize your title and emblem, but you can write your clan tag on your weapon, change the color and look of your targeting reticule, and lots more. Of course, each and every thing that you add to your character will cost you valuable CoD Points, so you need to have a big stockpile of disposable income before the customization really becomes a viable option.

To help you build up your stash, Treyarch included a contract system where you invest a small amount of points, then attempt to complete a certain objective with the reward being a sizeable chunk of dough. While it's cool enough, I wish the contract system was a bit broader as it currently doesn't allow you to do things like bet on other players' performance or the overall performance of your team. Also, the fact that you can be thrown into a match mid-game can hurt your ability to successfully complete contracts. Here's hoping they tune contracts a bit with the first patch.

Once you get into a match, the level design is well-thought-out, with some stages featuring dynamic elements that change each time you play. Firing Range, for instance, puts target dummies in different spots each time you load the map (same goes for Nuke Town, my favorite). Each stage has parts for just about every style of player. Snipers will be able to find a second tier to rain down fire, campers will have a few cover spots, and everyone else can deal with both open and closed quarters depending on their play style.

The new perks that have been added (I'll let you discover most of them for yourself if you haven't already scoured the Internet for information) are all very cool and, yes, the tactical nuke is nowhere to be found. I will say that the RC Car will likely have its power ratcheted down as it's currently going to be abused by new players, especially since it only takes three kills to earn. Other new perks seemed nicely tuned to avoid unbalanced gameplay (the tactical nuke is gone).

All of this crazy multiplayer action can be captured with Black Ops' brand new theater system that allows you to clip out the good stuff, hide the embarrassing deaths, and then share it all with your pals. I think Theater Mode as a whole is an awesome addition and I hope the COD community takes advantage of it. The only slight detractor is that you have to upload your clips to CallofDuty.com rather than something like YouTube or Facebook where there would obviously be a larger audience.

The Battle of Khe Sanh could be much better.

A word of warning: Multiplayer's stability is suspect so far. A few matches dropped the connection, which is very strange at a review event where the online environment is under the almost total control of the developers. I've also heard from players who are being kicked from lobbies and matches, so don't be surprised if there are a few hiccups on launch day.

Outside of the competitive multiplayer, there's also the return of the incredibly popular Nazi Zombies mode. Treyarch clearly understood that its fans loved the original and did a nice job of expanding the feature while still keeping the same fun spirit intact.

In Black Ops there are three types of Nazi Zombies. The first is pretty standard and presents an old theater to defend. The second takes things in a different direction and puts each of the four potential players (online or off) in the shoes of either JFK, Fidel Castro, Richard Nixon, or Robert McNamara with plenty of funny dialogue for each. The first two modes of Nazi Zombies don't exactly redefine the game, but then again, they didn't really need to. You're still running around an ever-expanding level trying to ward off wave after wave of the evil undead. The third type of Nazi Zombies, however, is totally different from the norm and is an Easter egg that I wouldn't dream of spoiling. It's just that good.

The visuals that fuel the insane amount of action stay at a fairly high level throughout the Black Ops experience. There are moments where textures take too long to load and a few graphical glitches (like dead bodies clipping through a wall) here and there, but it's tough to concentrate on the minor blemishes when multiple objects are exploding around you. The framerate stays strong unless you flip on the 3D abilities, in which case things take a turn. The 3D technology cuts the visual quality by quite a bit and the framerate takes a sizeable hit as well. It also doesn't help that there's no way to tune the 3D to perfectly fit your display size, so the image can break up in spots. It impresses in a few spots, but I'd advise against playing in 3D if you want the best experience possible.

Closing Comments

Call of Duty: Black Ops is a great overall package that has a ton of content to enjoy. The multiplayer modes are largely based on what was established by Modern Warfare, but the twists that Treyarch throws in work well. My biggest issue with the multiplayer is that the new Wager Matches, while fun in their own right, don't compare favorably to the high-quality and addictive leveling system and game modes from Modern Warfare 1 and 2. Single-player is as exhaustingly fast-paced as ever with large set pieces that try to take the attention off of the lackluster AI of both friends and enemies. That withstanding, the story is the best I've ever seen from a Call of Duty game. Couple both of those substantial offerings with more Zombie content than some full-fledged zombie games and Black Ops is certainly worth your time, even if you aren't already a fan of the series.

HERE IS THE DIRECT DOWNLOAD FOR THE GAME BLACK OPS NZB FILE

ASSASSIN'S CREED 3: BROTHERHOOD PS3 NZB NOW AVAILABLE

HERE IS THE REVIEW FOR THE GAME FROM IGN


Assassin's Creed II is definitely one of my favourite games of the last 12 months. It was a meaty gaming meal that took several steps towards fulfilling the promise of the original, with new mechanics, more variety in gameplay, and an alluring new setting: renaissance Italy. It was a big leap, in other words: a worthy sequel in all regards.
Brotherhood, on the other hand, will have a slightly harder time proving its worth. Rather than moving to a new time period, it continues directly on from the events of Assassin's Creed II, only with the action shifting almost entirely to Rome. Like previous titles, there's also a modern-day component. The game is once again framed by the on-going battle between the Templars and Assassins, and players are actually assuming the role of Desmond, who lives in the present day and is able to experience the memories of his ancestor Ezio using a device called the animus. The game cuts between the two time periods but the bulk of the gameplay occurs in renaissance Rome.

 After confronting Rodrigo Borgia and having his mind blown far beneath the Vatican at the end of Assassin's Creed II (and no, that's not a euphemism), the story picks up with Ezio ready for some well-earned R&R. It's not to be. Cesare Borgia – Rodrigo Borgia's son – is ticked off, and mounts a full scale attack on the assassins. The villa in Monteriggioni is destroyed and Ezio loses everything. Yes, after 20+ hours working towards all that bad-ass armour and weaponry, it's lost in a moment and players must begin again. Such is the fickle nature of videogames.

In any case, Ezio travels to Rome determined to take his revenge against Cesare. The city is divided into 12 districts, each of which is overseen by a Borgia tower, representing the Borgia's control of the area. As long as the tower stands, soldiers are out in force, shops remain closed and the people oppressed. Assassinate the tower's Captain and burn it to the ground, however, and the area will open up for business. Ezio is then able to renovate blacksmiths, banks, stables and more, and these all add to his income, in much the same way renovating Monteriggioni did in the last game. The more shops that are open, the more items will be available and perks Ezio will get. For instance, the more tailors you have, the more pouches for carrying knives and other items will be available, whereas the more banks are open the more money Ezio can store before his account is full. Each defeated tower also opens up an assassin apprentice slot, but more on that later.

Rome is impressively varied, from bustling city streets to citadels, ancient ruins and landmarks like the Coliseum.

It's important to note that while the Borgia towers are a key element of the game's structure, they're not actually central to taking down Cesare. You can actually finish Brotherhood without destroying all the towers. Instead, they're about earning income, unlocking items, gaining apprentice assassins and reducing the presence of Borgia guards across the city. By destroying a tower, players can make missions in that region easier for themselves by ensuring there'll be less guards around. How to get to each Captain? Well, that's up to you. Each tower is surrounded by a compound where the guards are on high alert, so it's up to players to work out the best path to the Captain. Easier compounds allow astute players to clinically execute the Captain with little-to-no danger, while more difficult ones will inevitably result in a huge confrontation, or have a more difficult path to the end goal.
As fans of open-world games would expect, a lot of the player's time will be occupied with missions and activities that don't necessarily advance the plot. It's easy to get sidetracked for hours finding treasure chests, taking on assassination contracts, doing missions for the various guilds or trying to level up your relationship with them, exploring the world or climbing landmarks like the Coliseum. Subterranean environments return too, in the guise of Sons of Romulus missions. These make for a nice change of pace, as the focus is very much on movement puzzles over combat.
Leonardo da Vinci is back as an ally too, and once again provides weapons for Ezio. Turns out he's also been pressured into creating war machines for Cesare, so it's up to Ezio to destroy the plans and prototypes. These see you wielding a chain gun mounted to a horse and cart, piloting a boat with a naval cannon, gliding about in Leo's paraglider – modified to fire bombs, and manning a renaissance-era tank. They're not actually that exciting, but at least inject a little variety into the gameplay.
And honestly? That's something Brotherhood needs. The gameplay on offer here is solid, but by and large the bulk of the missions are pretty similar in nature to those we've already experienced in depth in Assassin's Creed II. It really feels like treading the same old ground, without great improvements. The missions where Ezio must tail a target are still frustrating, for instance, thanks to the small sweet spot at which the player must stay away in order to follow - but not alert – his target.

You know Ezio means business - he has a goatee now.

There are three major changes that try to switch things up: the assassins' guild, the tweaks to combat and the ability to ride your horse anywhere. Recruiting assassins who can be called upon with the press of a button is obviously the big one, and it works very much as advertised. With each Borgia tower destroyed a new slot opens up, allowing Ezio to rescue and recruit an ordinary citizen of Rome. Calling on an assassin is as simple as targeting an enemy and hitting L1/Left trigger on PS3/360 respectively. Depending on the location and the level of your assassin, he or she might run or ride up to the target, or drop down from above. It's cool to watch, and once you have six assassins you have three groups that can be called, with a cool-down time of a few minutes for each.
Assassins gain experience through combat, but they can also be sent off to complete contracts around Europe. The greater the difficulty of a mission, the higher the XP and cash reward, and players prepared to gamble can quickly level up their assassins by assigning them difficult contracts with a lower chance of success. These missions only take five to ten minutes each and the interface is easy to use. With each level gained, you can boost either armour or weaponry, and as assassins rise through the ranks, they'll also unlock more advanced options, such as the ability to use
The point of the assassin recruits is that Ezio is now a leader of men. The scale of the fight has changed – it's no longer just one man against his enemies; it's now one man trying to rally the support of a city against a tyrant. The assassins work in that sense, but when it comes to gameplay they actually just serve to make the game less challenging. Assassin's Creed II was far from hard, but at least in that game players had to work for their kills. Here it's a simple matter of directing the Death From Above. With a single button press you'll unleash a kill which, while cool, is also a little hollow.
It's not like utilizing the assassins is a genuinely new mechanic either. Ezio can already hire thieves, mercenaries or courtesans to distract or kill targets, and this is just an evolution of that concept. Whereas players couldn't rely on the guilds in ACII, however, the assassins in this game can easily become a crutch – a get-out-of-jail-free card.
It's not the only aspect that makes Brotherhood less challenging – and ultimately less enjoyable – than it should be. The inclusion of the crossbow, while fun, means that you no longer have to watch your step on rooftops. Once upon a time, the best tactic was to sneak up on guards for a blade kill or hang from the edge of the building and pull them off. No more. Just target them from the next rooftop over with the crossbow and they're dead. No fuss, and no real skill required.
It's also worth mentioning that looting dead guards' bodies now yields far more valuable items than it did in ACII. You can top up on smoke bombs, crossbow bolts, poison, bullets and medicine with relative ease. Compare this to the significant financial investment and effort required to stay topped up in the first game, and the balance of gameplay shifts even further towards being too easy.
Hand to hand combat is undeniably entertaining, however. In addition to dodging and countering, Ezio can now kick an enemy to open him up for a hit, while stringing together successive attacks allows him to dispatch enemies even more efficiently than before. The highlight, however, would have to be the sub-weapon system. Why just run a guy through with a sword when you can slash him then shoot him in the face? These new combo kills are brutal and satisfying, and you won't tire of seeing the many and varied animations on offer.

Wondering why the parachute doesn't get a mention in the text? Short answer - it's not that exciting.

Combat's not without its issues, however. I still found the lock-on finicky, while there are still glitches, such as Ezio's unfortunate habit of occasionally leaping from on high for a kill, only to bump a pole or something similar on the way down and land flat on his face in front of the guards he's meant to be skewering. Surely if there's an obstruction the player shouldn't be given the option to choose "assassinate"?
Ezio's abilities on horseback have also been expanded for Brotherhood. Not only can he take a horse almost anywhere in the city (and summon one with a press of the Y/triangle button), but he can leap from one horse to another for a kill, and he can stand on horseback and use it as a jumping off point for free running. It's a neat inclusion but I didn't really find myself using the horses in that way much – it's a little fiddlier than simply attacking. In fact, I mostly used horses for getting around, so it's a shame that the gallop button has been lost to make room for the ability to stand on horseback. Trying to get from point A to point B now feels more like a leisurely Sunday afternoon trot than a mad dash.
Rome is a dynamic and interesting world, with all sorts of systems that can impact upon Ezio and be used by players. Run around killing fools in public, for instance, and your notoriety goes up. Guards will instantly pay closer attention to you. Want to lower it? You can do that by ripping down wanted posters, bribing heralds or killing witnesses. Mind you, you could always avoid attention altogether by disappearing into crowds. While it's still a little less seamless than I'd like, Ezio can blend in with groups walking through Rome, plus he can hide in plain sight by sitting on a bench or standing with a group. These elements are an integral part of the game's rich playground, and will be a source of delight for new players, but anyone who played Assassin's Creed II will know all about them.
One element that is new, however, is the fact that Ezio now has an additional objective or challenge in order to achieve full synchronisation in a mission. These range from time-based challenges: complete this mission in under 8 minutes, to combat-related challenges: don't take damage, only kill your target, and beyond. They're a good inclusion for the hardcore fans as they'll be the ones replaying missions in order to get 100% sync. For the more casual players, however, it's actually a little disheartening to beat a mission only to be told you only achieved 50% synchronisation.
Perhaps the biggest surprise of the Brotherhood package is the multiplayer, which is refreshing and inventive. In a neat twist, you're actually playing as the bad guys: as Abstergo agents – the modern day Templars. Turns out this is how they're training to hunt the assassins.
The basic idea is that you're given a target to locate and kill, while also being hunted by another player. The radar helps you track your foe, but the games take place in bustling locations full of NPCs, so it's entirely possible for your target to blend in with the crowd. Literally so, in some cases. One of the special abilities transforms all the people around the player into your character model, while another lets you change character models altogether.

Each agent has unique kill animations in multplayer.

Brotherhood has four multiplayer modes. Wanted and Advance Wanted are free-for-alls, with the latter being a more challenging version of Wanted with tweaked rules. By way of example, the radar is far less accurate in this mode. You'll only ever be able to narrow down your opponent's location to the general vicinity, leading to a tense game of observation – looking for the tell that reveals your target. Alliance, on the other hand, sees the players split into pairs, and as you'd imagine, coordinated hunting is key, while Manhunt divides players into two teams. One team hunts, while one team hides. The hiding team earns points for remaining undetected, and the closer they stay to one another, the more points.
Overall, this is excellent stuff, and turns the usual adversarial frag-fest on its head. Forget being the guy who runs the fastest and racks up the most kills – Brotherhood rewards being a true assassin. Players are awarded points on a sliding scale, so an overt kill will net a whole lot less than a stealthy assassination while hidden. In this multiplayer contest it's the gamers who learn to be patient that will ultimately prevail. Plus, the ranking system means that the contests continue to evolve as you play, with tactical depth increasing the more abilities are unlocked.
smoke bombs. As a side note, your assassin recruits can die, but you'll likely only lose a couple in the entirety of the game.


HERE IS THE DIRECT DOWNLOAD FOR THE PS3 NZB FILE.

TWILIGHT ECLIPSE NOW AVAILABLE (NZB FILE)

HERE IS THE SUMMARY FOR THE MOVIE ECLIPSE FROM IMDB

Bella once again finds herself surrounded by danger as Seattle is ravaged by a string of mysterious killings and a malicious vampire continues her quest for revenge. In the midst of it all, she is forced to choose between her love for Edward and her friendship with Jacob -- knowing that her decision has the potential to ignite the struggle between vampire and werewolf. With her graduation quickly approaching, Bella is confronted with the most important decision of her life. Written by Summit Entertainment

Isabella Swan was a normal teenage girl, in a normal world. Until she met Edward Cullen and Jacob Black. Since then she has been up against a Sadistic Vampire, The Volturi and an angry werewolf, Paul. But what lies ahead is something only Edward's 'brother', Jasper Hale, can help the Cullens with. A Newborn Vampire Army created by a Revenge ridden Victoria for what Edward did to her mate, James. 'Mate for Mate' as Victoria sees it. But what she doesn't know is the Cullens have a secret on their side. With Graduation coming fast, Bella gets more and more worried about becoming immortal and the fight. But the real question is: Who will she choose? Written by Jemma From England

Bella and Edward have been reunited, but their forbidden relationship is threatened to be torn apart again with an evil vampire still seeking her revenge. And Bella is forced to choose between her true love for Edward or her friendship with Jacob Black as the struggles between vampires and werewolves continues. But there is still another choice for Bella to make, mortality or immortality? Written by Mel from the United Kingdom.

After the vote about her becoming immortal, Bella realizes graduation isn't too far away and starts to panic. But she has bigger problems arising, her feelings for Jacob, his feelings for her and Victoria. The vampire who is trying to take revenge on her for Edward killing her James. Written by Leslie Cullen

 

HERE IS THE REVIEW FOR THE MOVIE ECLIPSE FROM DVDTALK

After the nausea brought on by 2008's "Twilight," I was stunned to find myself moderately intrigued with the next chapter of the saga, 2009's "New Moon." Director Chris Weitz found something resembling a pulse to the vampire vs. werewolf proceedings, pushing the paralytic material to contentedly mediocre, but encouraging results, ending the event with a cliffhanger -- a question of lifelong commitment that promised the "Twilight" series would soon lead to more challenging demands of drama. Instead of a film with fertile conflict and legitimate swoon, "Eclipse" returns the franchise to square one, booking a bullet train to dullsville as director David Slade replaces Weitz's careful, mournful movement with clunky battle cry theatrics that appear more in line with a shoddy SyFy Channel movie.

After a marriage proposal from Edward (Robert Pattinson) promises a chance for everlasting love and some needed time between the sheets with her chaste vampire boyfriend, Bella (Kristen Stewart) faces some hard domestic choices while contemplating life as bloodsucker. Standing in the way is Jacob (Taylor Lautner), Bella's irritable werewolf pal, who's desperately in love with the drowsy girl, yet can't turn her attention away from Edward for very long. As queen vampire Victoria (Bryce Dallas Howard, thankfully replacing Rachelle Lefevre) prepares a legion of "newborns" for an attack on Forks with help from drone Riley (a vapid Xavier Samuel), Edward and Jacob must put aside their differences to protect Bella, who's caught between the humanity of the werewolves and the mystery of the vampires, with her future happiness on the line.

"Eclipse" should've been a thrill ride of a feature film. After all, Slade is handed perhaps the most volatile and cleanly mapped novel from author Stephenie Meyer's imagination, while building off Weitz's momentum, which propelled "New Moon" to an astronomical box office gross. "Eclipse" is a combat film of sorts, with a massive swing of romantic combustibility to tinker with, while allowing for potentially compelling character depth, as the Cullen clan is probed beyond the stares and lip-licking they were permitted in the previous features. Yet, the new film is a heartless, clumsy motion picture, returning matters to the pedestrian level of director Catherine Hardwicke, who worked deaf, dumb, and blind manufacturing the initial slab of "Twilight."

An erratic visual stylist, Slade ("Hard Candy," "30 Days of Night") tries mightily to color within the "Twilight" lines, but his grasp on the material's "Sweet Valley High" style of romantic aroma is tenuous, and he's unable to shake the actors out of their melodramatic comas. What should've been a heroic film of affection and protection is reduced to a dawdling, exposition-heavy slog, retracing several plot points from the first two films while barely making any headway of its own. Slade has his trusty cinematographic urges and the most action-intensive script of the three films, but the creative effort is indistinguishable -- the director is comfortable in studio employee mode, doing nothing to keep the performances from becoming tic-heavy embarrassments and the action a crunching blur of suspect special effects. Slade can't tame "Eclipse" or find an artful tone, instead crudely filling the film with a broken iPod of tuneless soundtrack cuts to provide atmosphere, while grinding the story down through a tedious routine of swoon and quarrel.

Love it or hate it, but "New Moon" maintained an intriguing sense that something epic loomed on the horizon for these characters. "Eclipse" turns that anticipation into unintentional comedy.

The storytelling's concrete boots are one thing, but "Eclipse" also manages to make Bella one of the most reprehensible characters of the film year, and yes, I've seen "Sex and the City 2." Nursing feelings of affection for both Jacob (he of gym rat abs and intense body heat) and Edward (he of locks and access to diamonds), Bella doesn't play the turmoil sly; instead, the stammering high school graduate plays her monsters off each other, silently delighting in the war of flared-nostrils and graceless acting she's created. Bella often snuggles up Jacob in front of Edward during "Eclipse," making one feel sorry for the sparkly vampire, who wants to take a wife and spend eternity with his beloved girl, while she suffers through half-hearted commitment issues the script merely employs to display Lautner's body and Pattinson's pout. Considering her status as the main character of the franchise and the keeper of its heart, it's interesting to see each film make Bella into an even bigger creep than previously imagined, with "Eclipse" turning the indecisive heroine into a mean-spirited provocateur unworthy of all the attention lavished on her.

Honestly, I have no idea why any of these creatures make such a fuss over this dead-eyed, dithering bore of a woman. We're talking werewolves and vampires. By now, you'd think the franchise would provide a decent reason as to why these fools put so much on the line for a girl who can barely wait to get out of her boyfriend's line of sight before cuddling with his rival. The delicate dance of romantic one-upmanship is given Crayola shadings by Slade, who turns the romantic trio into a Bermuda Triangle of relationship absurdity.

Hitting up "Eclipse" for Howard and her interpretation of the wicked Victoria? I'm sorry to report that the character's been reduced to 10-minute-long cameo, with "Eclipse" spending more time with Riley and the growing vampire army. What a waste of a perfectly ridiculous red fright wig (heck, everyone seems to be ornately bewigged in the film). An appearance from Dakota Fanning and her mincing Volturi gang is also blessedly short. Without Michael Sheen to anchor the majesty of the fanged star chamber, the group is nothing more than a cruddy Cosplay effort, with Fanning about as intimidating as a Wet Seal cashier. Another new character is Bree, a tween newborn Edward's family takes pity on. Jodelle Ferland brings little to the role besides an unconvincing reading of fear, with the character's very introduction a mystery Slade isn't aware he needs to solve.

A few more helpings of "Twilight" remain (the final book, "Breaking Dawn," is being divided up into two pictures), leaving the rather anticlimactic ambiance of "Eclipse" puzzling. The climax is a deafening clash of vampires and werewolves, with severed diamond limbs and vampiric gymnastics soaring around the frame, but a genuine build up to a prolonged grand finale arriving in 2011? Not on Slade's mind. It's for the best, really, as any sense of hope appears to hurt the "Twilight" saga more than it helps. 

HERE IS THE DIRECT DOWNLOAD FOR THE MOVIE ECLIPSE

INCEPTION (2010) NOW AVAILABLE ONLINE (NEWZBIN FILE)

HERE IS A SUMMARY FOR THE MOVIE INCEPTION FROM IMDB

Dom Cobb is a skilled thief, the absolute best in the dangerous art of extraction, stealing valuable secrets from deep within the subconscious during the dream state, when the mind is at its most vulnerable. Cobb's rare ability has made him a coveted player in this treacherous new world of corporate espionage, but it has also made him an international fugitive and cost him everything he has ever loved. Now Cobb is being offered a chance at redemption. One last job could give him his life back but only if he can accomplish the impossible-inception. Instead of the perfect heist, Cobb and his team of specialists have to pull off the reverse: their task is not to steal an idea but to plant one. If they succeed, it could be the perfect crime. But no amount of careful planning or expertise can prepare the team for the dangerous enemy that seems to predict their every move. An enemy that only Cobb could have seen coming. Written by Warner Bros. Pictures

HERE IS A REVIEW FOR THE MOVIE INCEPTION FROM DVDTALK

If you haven't seen Inception yet, then stop reading this review.

I'm serious. Get up now and go see the movie. My review will still be here when you're done, but you only get one chance to see Christopher Nolan's remarkable mind-bender fresh. Inception is one of those movies that is going to be so much better the first time the less you know, and anything I say from here will only serve to lessen your experience.

So, close the laptop, shut down the monitor, and go to the theatre.

I'll wait.

You back? Yeah? Good.

Christopher Nolan's Inception may be the most satisfying movie I've seen all year. I hesitate to call it a perfect film, as that's a pretty precarious limb to walk out on, but this is about as close to perfect as you're going to get. I can't think of anything wrong with this movie: no performance that hit a bum note, no story point that seemed out of place, no pandering to market research. Hell, I don't even think I saw one instance of product placement. Leonardo DiCaprio never eats a Subway sandwich, Ellen Page never has a Coke to go with that adorable smile.

Inception is, essentially, a science-fiction suspense thriller. It stars the aforementioned Mr. DiCaprio as Cobb, an expert at extraction--which in this world means he goes into a target's dreams and uses the mental landscape to trick him into giving up his secrets. Doing so is a team effort, involving architects to build the dream world and technicians to run the machines that link up the shared consciousness. Nolan has described it as a Jungian version of Rififi, and that's not a bad way to sell it. Though I might have gone with The Grifters, as the set-ups Cobb and his people create are more like long cons than heists. Create a scenario that the mark will believe, and then direct him where you want him to go.

Naturally, there are some practical applications in industrial espionage, a competitor can send an extraction team to find out what a business mogul is up to. Just such a mogul fends off Cobb and his boys, only to turn around and hire them to pull off the impossible. Saito (Ken Watanabe, Letters from Iwo Jima) is a Japanese tycoon with concerns in global energy, and he wants Cobb to infiltrate the subconscious of a rival (Cillian Murphy, Red Eye) not to take data out, but to leave it behind. Inception: to inspire an idea where previously there was none. It's the holy grail of mental games. The mind will search for the origin of the thought and discard it if it doesn't believe it's one of its own.

Cobb assembles a team of four for the mission: his regular second, Arthur (Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Brick); Eames (Tom Hardy, Bronson), an expert forger; Yusuf (Dileep Rao, Avatar), a chemical specialist; and a newbie architect named Ariadne (Ellen Page, Whip It). As if fans of Greek mythology couldn't tell by the name, Ariadne is an especially good choice because she is an expert at mazes--both building them and traversing their intricacies. This backfires on Cobb, as Ariadne's the only one to realize he's trapped in his own labyrinth of guilt and thus a potential liability. Past misdeeds and a wife missing in action (played with smarts and the occasional sinister glee by Marion Cotillard) haunt the head man, and this mission may be as much about solving his own hang-ups as it is getting Saito what he wants.

That's the basic plot of Inception. Digging into it further would be a Herculean task, and as noted at the outset, would spoil most of the fun. Nolan has written a multi-layered script. Behind each secret is a more important secret, and for every clever concept he tosses at the viewer, he's got three more waiting around the corner. As a narrative, Inception is a thing of beauty. There are so many interlocking pieces, a less capable director wouldn't be able to handle it. They'd rely on the weirdness of dream imagery and convoluted fake science to carry the story (you know, like Paprika). Not Nolan. The dreams are his tools, and though he twists and bends them, he ultimately puts every device to its proper use for building his yarn. Inception will keep you guessing, but it never leaves you behind. Nolan's storytelling is as accessible as it is confounding. It seems so effortless, and yet, how did I get so tense watching it?

Visually, the director and his regular cinematographer, Wally Pfister, bring the world of Inception to life in such a way that the cracks between reality and illusion never show. The computer graphics are imperceptible, even when they are as audacious as a city curling in on itself. In other words, you will believe your eyes.

It also helps that the cast of Inception is so incredible. There is no lesser player in this game. Nolan has picked actors who are reliable for their quality, yet also never complacent. It's hard to single out any one. Ellen Page and Joseph Gordon-Levitt both turn in intelligent, confident performances, with Gordon-Levitt having the added distinction of delivering an impressive physical performance, as well. Ken Watanabe's commanding presence works well against Cillian Murphy's façade of the same, Tom Hardy is surprising and fun as the most playful member of the group, and Marion Cotillard is alluring and even scary. They all provide DiCaprio with excellent support, and yet he doesn't let them do any lifting he should be doing himself. One of the more interesting leading men in Hollywood, he grows more capable with each starring role. To stick with the mythological connotations, he is the Atlas on whose shoulders the world of Inception rests, and he is more than up to the load.

For as much as I want to encourage people to walk into Inception cold so that every surprise is still a surprise, it's not a movie that relies on a single trick or twist. It's not a film you'll never want to see again after you've learned its secrets. On the contrary, Inception has so much going on, it's going to be a film worth revisiting over and over just to watch how it all works. Hell, as soon as it was over, I would have been just fine had the projectionist started it again from the beginning. This is one dream I'd be more than happy to have reoccur.

Jamie S. Rich is a novelist and comic book writer. He is best known for his collaborations with Joëlle Jones, including the hardboiled crime comic book You Have Killed Me, the challenging romance 12 Reasons Why I Love Her, and the 2007 prose novel Have You Seen the Horizon Lately?, for which Jones did the cover. All three were published by Oni Press. His most recent project is the comedy series Spell Checkers, again with Jones and artist Nicolas Hitori de. Follow Rich's blog at Confessions123.com.

HERE IS THE DIRECT DOWNLOAD FOR THE MOVIE INCEPTION

NEW FILM KICK ASS NOW AVAILABLE

KICKASS NOW AVAILABLE ONLINE HERE IS THE PREVIEW FOR KICK ASS FROM IMDB

Dave Lizewski is an unnoticed high school student and comic book fan with a few friends and who lives alone with his father. His life is not very difficult and his personal trials not that overwhelming. However, one day he makes the simple decision to become a super-hero even though he has no powers or training. Written by Daniel J. Leary

Dave Livewski is a regular high school student who loves comic books. One day he is inspired by all these comic books to become Kick-Ass, a superhero with no powers. Later, he is joined by Red Mist, Hit Girl and her father Big Daddy and they form a vigilante team, fighting drug dealers and vandals. Written by Max Bastow

HERE IS THE REVIEW OF THE MOVIE KICKASS FROM DVDTALK

"Kick-Ass" exceeded my expectations. One could chalk it up to my intense dislike for the source material, an 8-issue comic series from Mark Millar, that really made me weigh heavily whether I should give this movie the time of day. In the end, the track record of the director, Matthew Vaughn was enough to get me into that theater seat. Fortunately for fans and non-fans alike, "Kick-Ass" manages to find a happy medium between the c-rate source material and a very competent action-comedy. The film begins like most superhero movies, with the origin of our hero, Dave Lizewski (Aaron Johnson), your average "invisible" awkward high schooler. A number of factors influence his decision to don a costume and attempt to fight crime. Dave, under the mantle of Kick-Ass, soon experience all the effects of why there are no superheroes.

From here, the movie departs reality, and like any real superhero, our protagonist is officially called to action due to traumatic events (a point our hero and narrator slyly mocks on his first attempt). Quickly moving from breaking up fights and finding lost pets, Dave uses his alter ego as a way to win the heart of his crush, Katie, who believes Dave to be her gay friend. Enter Hit-Girl (Chloe Moretz) and Big Daddy (Nicolas Cage) and, to borrow a phrase from the great Jim Ross, "business is about to pick up." Unfortunately, "Kick-Ass" is nearly two hours long and amidst the gold of the movie is a lot of silver. "Kick-Ass" on a whole is an above average movie and it is a testament to Vaughn's skill that he makes Millar's source material watchable without a lot of eye rolling. Gone are entirely one-note characters, side plots which go nowhere, and sophomoric humor that tries too hard.

Vaughn's film fleshes out the characters of the movie quite nicely, boldly taking one of the original comic's only memorable plot points and spoiling it up front, instead using it to make the intentions of this strange cast of characters feel just a little bit more plausible. The villain of the film, Frank D'Amico and his family are still thinly written characters, but thanks to a great performance by Mark Strong and the film's willingness to not hide the villain as some shadowy force, he becomes a character to be feared, even if you already know how events will play out. On the flipside though, Kick-Ass himself still feels underwritten. The viewer becomes apart of both his lives, but the character often is nothing more than the butt of joke after joke, deviating only to deliver a pithy one-liner and the occasional "holy crap" moment.

What makes "Kick-Ass" come off as a better movie than it actually is comes in the form of Hit-Girl and Big Daddy. Vaughn's adaptation is quite different from Millar's, but it's all for the better. They get the best lines, best scenes, and best back-story; as a result, whenever they are on screen, "Kick-Ass" feels like one of the best offerings of the superhero genre. When they're absent, things are back to being just ok. Nicolas Cage delivers another "out there" performance, selling the most absurd and shocking scenes with perfection. When he's in character as Big Daddy, he lends a performance that just doesn't work on the printed page, delivering lines echoing Adam West's Batman. Chloe Moretz is nothing short of amazing and horrifying as pre-teen homicidal maniac, with the mouth of a sailor.

When Hit-Girl is on the job, Vaughn delivers some of the most amazing action set pieces I've seen. A pitch-black assault in the film's final act should easily cement its spot in the history books of action sequences. Lit solely by gunfire, first-person night vision shots, and one final trick I won't spoil, it's brutal and will leave your jaw on the floor. Its spectacle is easily topped in the final action scene, but the sense of importance and emotion is never recaptured. Moretz deserves all the kudos in the world for portraying a sadistic killing machine, who, deep down, is still a little girl with a heart in the quiet moments.

There's a lot more to "Kick-Ass" than what I've said, but that's one of the film's biggest faults. It's a movie that should be easy to describe, but gets too bogged down by quantity instead of quality. Unfortunately, that quantity is so tightly weaved together, that the fat couldn't be trimmed without starting from square one. That blame falls back on the shoulders of Millar as this movie is skeletally a strong adaptation of his work, but work that isn't that good to begin with. Matthew Vaughn and company did the best with what they had, put their own mark on the package, and have provided audiences with a (darkly) fun film. The audience I was with was committed to the movie and some of that good cheer made the experience much more memorable, but that good cheer doesn't make "Kick-Ass" a better movie.

HERE IS THE DIRECT DOWNLOAD FOR KICKASS.

TWILIGHT NOW AVAILABLE

HERE IS THE SUMMARY FOR THE MOVIE TWILIGHT FROM IMDB

Bella Swan has always been a little bit different. Never one to run with the crowd, Bella never cared about fitting in with the trendy, plastic girls at her Phoenix, Arizona high school. When her mother remarried and Bella chooses to live with her father in the rainy little town of Forks, Washington, she didn't expect much of anything to change. But things do change when she meets the mysterious and dazzlingly beautiful Edward Cullen. For Edward is nothing like any boy she's ever met. He's nothing like anyone she's ever met, period. He's intelligent and witty, and he seems to see straight into her soul. In no time at all, they are swept up in a passionate and decidedly unorthodox romance - unorthodox because Edward really isn't like the other boys. He can run faster than a mountain lion. He can stop a moving car with his bare hands. Oh, and he hasn't aged since 1918. Like all vampires, he's immortal. That's right - vampire. But he doesn't have fangs - that's just in the movies. And he doesn't drink human blood, though Edward and his family are unique among vampires in that lifestyle choice. To Edward, Bella is that thing he has waited 90 years for - a soul mate. But the closer they get, the more Edward must struggle to resist the primal pull of her scent, which could send him into an uncontrollable frenzy. Somehow or other, they will have to manage their unmanageable love. But when unexpected visitors come to town and realize that there is a human among them Edward must fight to save Bella? A modern, visual, and visceral Romeo and Juliet story of the ultimate forbidden love affair - between vampire and mortal. Written by Summit entertainment

Isabella Swan moves to gloomy Forks to live with her father. As she starts her junior year in high school she becomes fascinated by Edward Cullen who holds a dark secret which is only known by his family. Edward falls in love with Bella as well but knows the further they progress in their relationship the more he is putting Bella and those close to her at risk. Edward warns Bella that she should leave him but she refuses to listen and to understand why he is saying this. Bella learns his secret. He is a vampire, however she is not afraid of his blood-thirsty needs and the fact he could kill her at any moment. Bella is afraid of losing him, the love of her life. The thrill begins when a new vampire finds it a challenge to hunt Bella down for her irresistible blood. The game is on and James will not stop until she is killed. Written by courtney

Bella Swan is a clumsy, kind hearted teenager with a knack for getting into trouble. Edward Cullen is an intelligent, good looking vampire who is trying to hide his secret. Against all odds, the two fall in love but will a pack of blood thirsty trackers and the disapproval of their family and friends separate them? Written by LadyN1

Bella Swan was not expecting anything out of the ordinary to happen when she moved to live with her Dad in Forks, Washington. But this where her life truly begins. There she meets Edward Cullen, a mysterious and captivating student at her new high school. Bella soon discovers that Edward is hiding a secret, after he impossibly saves her life from a van with his super-human strength and speed. She is determined to unravel his secret, but the truth is more terrifying than she realized. Edward is a vampire. Any normal person would just keep away from him, but Edward and Bella have fallen passionately and unconditionally in love with each other. And so begins their forbidden relationship between a human and a vampire. But the young lovers soon discover that their troubles are only just about to begin. Written by Mel from the Untied Kingdom.

HERE IS A REVIEW FOR THE MOVIE TWILIGHT FROM DVDTALK

Perhaps the least likely event movie in the history of cinema, "Twilight," after a full year of fire-stoking from fangirls of all ages and lung capacity, finally hits screens to greet its adoring followers, leaving the uninitiated on the outside looking in. However, that's a great place to be when it comes to this impossibly sloppy, incoherent motion picture; the outside leaves plenty of leg room to run screaming from Catherine Hardwicke and her absolute inability to direct a stirring motion picture.

Moving from Phoenix to remote Forks, Washington, Bella (Kristen Stewart, "The Messengers") has quickly found a focal point for her high school awkwardness: Edward Cullen (Robert Pattinson, "Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire"). A pasty loner with severe social issues, Edward is a mystery to the swooning Bella, leaving the teen girl hopelessly in love with an enigma. When bodies start to pile up in surround counties and Edward saves Bella from certain death, it comes time for the strange boy to reveal the truth: he's a vampire and Bella is his true love. As the duo work around their extraordinary relationship issues, trouble arrives in the form of a rival vampire clan, cursed with James (the woefully insipid Cam Gigandet, "Never Back Down"), a tracker who will not stop until Bella is dead.

I know I'm skating on thin ice to bring any note of condemnation to a franchise that has built a mighty tower of adoration from readers across the globe; author Stephenie Meyer's world of vampires, unrequited sexual thirst, and self-conscious teen emoting has resulted in semi-Potteresque hysteria, extending to the release of this first feature film. However deafening the hype, I found "Twilight" to be a rotten movie, yet the blame for the failure of this tween sleeping pill doesn't completely point toward Meyer's imagination, but Hardwicke's thundering screen cluelessness instead.

After a misfire ("The Nativity Story") and two outright creative fiascos ("Lords of Dogtown" and "Thirteen"), what brought the producers to Hardwicke's doorstep to direct "Twilight" is a mystery for the ages. I'm sure her time spent with young actors was a major consideration, but a film of this scope and sensual edge needed someone capable of communicating thick torrents of bodice-ripper romance and dark, violent tones, blended together to create a magical arena for the characters to work out their Northwestern angst. In place of challenging gloom, Hardwicke gives the material an inflated ABC Family Original treatment, draining the life out of "Twilight" through her sheer inexperience with fantasy and horror. Would you give an all-powerful fantasy franchise capable to producing hundreds of millions of box office dollars to a woman who once bungled the softball story of the Virgin Mary?

Shabbily edited and suffering from Hardwicke's compositional ineptitude, "Twilight" is reduced to a poorly contained unintentional joke. With shirtless vampires running around at Superman speed, Edward rocking goofy Johnny Suede hair, and the picture offering perhaps the worst display of parental indifference I've ever seen, "Twilight" is riddled with secretive passages meant only for lovers of the source material. To the outsider, the whole experience alternates between embarrassing overindulgence and outright boredom, watching a promising concept for teen "Romeo and Juliet" style escapism turn into big screen triviality, with a horde of dreadful actors (Stewart is celebrating her eighth straight year of playing the exact same stuttery, awkward character) and Hardwicke trying to pull together everlasting love with extremely limited artistic means.

"Twilight" doesn't play by standard vampire rules, so ingrained bloodsucker cinema logic is thrown out the window when processing Meyers's pensive creation, as are most concepts of spatial relationships, motivations, and romantic chemistry (sorry folks, but I've seen siblings with more sexual heat than Bella and Edward). "Twilight" just dances where it wants to, assuming most of the audience is filling in the blanks on their own. It makes for an exhaustively moronic final act, where the entire cast suddenly pinballs around the country with minimal explanation, just to arrive at a mirror-filled final vampire showdown location straight out of the directing 101 handbook. Surely the vampires are a more complex bunch than what Hardwicke presents here...at least I hope so. I've never read the "Twilight" books, and if this film is any indication of their treehouse substance and foul whimsy, I have no interest in starting now.

Even with something as labyrinthine as the "Harry Potter" series, there's an effort from the producers, however effective or ineffective, to include everyone in on the adventure. I never felt the same invitation with "Twilight," watching Hardwicke stumble hopelessly around the material, making sure the basics, no matter how clumsy they fit into the overall visual scheme of the movie, are accounted for. Encountering vampires with diamond skin in the daylight, impromptu thunderstorm baseball games, and creepy undead boyfriends who show little regard for matters of nighttime privacy, it's clear "Twilight" is an invitation-only experience, and should elicit the appropriate squeals from the core demographic.

Outside of the indoctrinated, it's a toss-up how this movie will play with the masses, but I have to assume a full two hour blast of traditional Hardwicke blunders and head-slapping "romantic" lines such as "You are exactly my brand of heroin" (huh?) will snap even the most devoted of multiplex wills.

HERE IS THE DIRECT DOWNLOAD FOR THE MOVIE TWILIGHT.

SURROGATES NOW AVAILABLE

HERE IS THE SUMMARY FOR THE MOVIE SURROGATES FROM IMDB.

People are living their lives remotely from the safety of their own homes via robotic surrogates -- sexy, physically perfect mechanical representations of themselves. It's an ideal world where crime, pain, fear and consequences don't exist. When the first murder in years jolts this utopia, FBI agent Greer discovers a vast conspiracy behind the surrogate phenomenon and must abandon his own surrogate, risking his life to unravel the mystery. Written by Touchstone Pictures

HERE IS A REVIEW FOR THE MOVIE SURROGATES FROM DVDTALK

Every couple films, I've noticed something really odd about Touchstone Pictures. I'm not attacking the studio; they've made plenty of good movies and will undoubtedly make more, yet sometimes I feel like they have a computer hidden away on their lot with a fill-in-the-blank interface for "blockbuster" movies. Just type in a mildly clever idea, add some actors (at least one megastar), press "Start" and out pops a pre-packaged motion picture, sealed neatly in clear cellophane, ready to be delivered to audiences with a minimum amount of effort. Surrogates is one of those movies. The idea of a future where people experience life through mind-controlled androids is just good enough to trick innocent filmgoers into thinking it's enough to float a movie, and Bruce Willis has exactly the right kind of broad appeal to draw in any stragglers who aren't quite convinced, but there's no movie here -- just a shell, motivated by the bottom line.

One of the most disheartening things about the film is how disinterested Bruce Willis seems by the endeavor. Playing Greer, the same Tired Movie Policeman from thousands of his other movies, the actor sleepwalks through Surrogates, hitting each emotional note with the lowest amount of required energy possible. I've seen plenty of lame-duck films where Willis' sense of humor and line delivery were enough to elevate the project entire grades at a time, but even at a measly 88 minutes, Surrogates proves too large a bland mass for the actor to overcome. Even Bruce's few moments of clarity are a letdown; they're so infrequent, brief and unrelated, they feel less like a reprieve and more like the film dangling a pipe dream in front of the audience. Curiously, almost all of these moments occur while we're seeing Greer as his CGI-enhanced surrogate rather than the man himself. It's ironic that a movie arguing for real, human emotions over ones experienced via electronic proxy is almost completely ruined by the opposite problem.

Aside from Willis, most of the other actors here are shoved to the side by the film's brief running time. Willis is briefly reunited with his Pulp Fiction co-star Ving Rhames, but Rhames has a thankless role that never develops. Radha Mitchell's character Peters seems less predestined towards two-dimensionality, but there's no room amongst the film's tired murder plot for any backstory on her character's real-life persona. Worst of all, disappointingly, is veteran character actor James Cromwell, barely inhabiting a hackneyed role with even the slightest bit of life. During Cantor's first major scene in the film, he meets with Greer and Peters through a special surrogate, and I'd much rather have watched that actor (who I can't concretely pick out on IMDb) give 110% than see Cromwell giving 0%. The only notable thing about Cromwell's entire participation is how much he resembles James Cameron. Only Rosamund Pike gets enough screen time to create anything for the audience to latch onto, but two of her moments are marred by the movie's goofy science fiction (scoring inappropriate laughter from the audience).

Some elements of the idea are great. Dr. Canter invented the concept of surrogacy with medical intentions, to allow the disabled or injured to experience day-to-day life again, yet the public seems to have adapted it to its current purpose. The film also touches on alternate, feeling-free models of surrogates, how a surrogate can allow people to live a double life (it's the anonymous internet chatroom of the future!), and the tumultuous co-existence of the machines and people who find living through a machine to be an abomination. Screenwriters John Brancato and Michael Ferris have other things in mind, however, and the film focuses on twists and turns that might be more tired and worn-out than Bruce. If there are any grizzled, slightly old-fashioned cops out there without tragic pasts, please report to Hollywood immediately.

For the longest time, I've been defending director Jonathan Mostow's Terminator 3, which I'd thought had plenty of good action, a fun story and a knockout ending (the film certainly sits in the shadow of its predecessor, and it's probably unnecessary, but it's far more entertaining than it gets credit for). Aside from Mostow, Brancato and Ferris also wrote T3, and the fumbles of Surrogates feel like an attempt to recreate the formula. The film's one beam of light is that the action sequences are pretty good, but there are only two of them, and the rest of the direction ranges from mediocre to embarrassing (watching a rack-focus on Greer staring at a symbolic baseball glove actually made me want to groan out loud). As far as a "knockout ending" goes, the film's trailer gives too much away, although the information has been cleverly re-arranged; even the knowledge that the ad features some spoiler-riffic shots won't mean anything until they actually limp on-screen.

Surrogates is a movie that was made from the outside in. At all times it looks like it cost millions of dollars, and never once does that flashy gloss add up to anything creative or interesting. It's a bad sign when the most interesting thing about your movie is that it features actor Devin Ratray, the once and always Buzz McCallister from the Home Alone movies in a cameo as a computer guy. Ratray actually seems enthused to be in the movie, investing a little energy into his two-scene role. I guess he didn't get the memo: this one's just for show.

HERE IS THE DIRECT DOWNLOAD FOR THE MOVIE SURROGATES.

HALLOWEEN 2 NOW AVAILABLE

Here is the summary for the movie H2 (Halloween 2) from imdb

Michael Myers is still at large and no less dangerous than ever. After a failed reunion to reach his baby sister at their old home, Laurie Strode is immediately taken to a hospital to be treated by the wounds that had been afflicted by her brother a few hours ago. However, Michael isn't too far off and will continue his murdering 'Halloween' rampage until he gets his sister all to himself. Written by Anonymous

Here is a review for the movie H2 (Halloween 2) from dvdtalk

First things first: I thought writer/director Rob Zombie's 2007 remake of Halloween was an interesting, brutal alternate-reality version of the Michael Myers story. Many of the complaints I've heard about it are about the changes Zombie made from John Carpenter's 1978 original, which makes no sense at all to me. If you're going to remake a movie, it has to fall somewhere between the two extremes: not-at-all different (The Omen 2006) and so different as to be almost unrecognizable (Dawn of the Dead 2004). The whole point of remaking a movie instead of creating an original work, in my opinion, is to explore an angle that the original movie contained but left untouched. People can claim up and down that the psychology of Michael Myers doesn't need to be explored because it takes away the mystery that, for some, made him terrifying to begin with, but that's a complaint that should be directed at the final product, not Zombie's vision.

That brings us to Halloween II. Let me state in no uncertain terms that unless you understand two facts completely and without reservation, you will probably not enjoy this movie. One: this is a film made by someone with a singular vision. There are no cracks in it into which viewers can slip their own interpretations; this is a movie that really takes an idea and runs with it. Again, whether or not anyone likes it is really a criticism that should be directed at the final product, but either way, the viewer has to be willing to accept what Zombie wants to do or they'll just become increasingly frustrated (something I see has already happened). The second fact should be obvious, but I guess I feel it needs to be stated anyway: this is an extrapolation of everything Zombie did in Halloween 2007. If you didn't like any of that, why would you expect to like any of this? These aren't John Carpenter's versions of Laurie and Loomis, these are a continuation of Zombie's version of them, and he's only taking them farther in new directions.

The first of Zombie's core ideas with the sequel may be the hardest to grasp. Given its psychological nature and the general unwillingness of audiences (including myself) to accept armchair analysis of movie characters, this may be a dealbreaker right off the bat, but it runs through the entire movie. (Spoilers ahead. I'll try to keep them to a minimum, but it's hard to review this movie without them.) Michael (Tyler Mane) have visions of his mother (Sheri Moon Zombie) and a white horse, which Zombie explains using an opening title card as iconography in Michael's waking dream state. Personally, I didn't feel it was that problematic. Not only is this a re-interpretation of the characters to begin with, I've never really thought of Michael as having that distinct a personality. I'm sure the die-hard Halloween fans will get up in arms and email me the numerous details that separate Michael from his illegitimate offspring like Jason Voorhees, but at least one of the elements people are defending seems to be that Michael is a mystery, a blank slate onto which any terrors can be imagined. I suppose those people would be just as quick to argue that sequels, both to the Carpenter original and Zombie's remake, are unnecessary, but the undefined nature of slasher icons like Michael is almost certainly what caused us to get to the twelfth Friday the 13th film. Zombie wants to tell a story, not create an empty, masked killing machine. I hate to keep reiterating this, but whether or not it works is a separate argument; all I'm saying is that Zombie's basic logic seems sound to me.

The second level to this is that Laurie (Scout Taylor-Compton) has her own psychological issues stemming from the events of the earlier Zombie film. In fact, the film even goes so far as to suggest that there's a bit of a mental bond between Michael and Laurie. I'd say it isn't particularly pronounced other than a scene where Laurie becomes sick while Michael is eating, but I'm sure people will make a huge deal out of it. Some of this portion is overdirected, filled with abusive quick-cutting and shots of Laurie screaming, but it leads into Zombie's other idea, which is easier to grasp. Rob has stated in interviews that the heart of the story stems from what it'd be like to learn that you were the sister of Charles Manson, and Halloween II does a good job of presenting this idea to the audience. Sure, the movie doesn't delve particularly deeply into the subject, but even Carpenter's original isn't a deep film, just a creepy one.

Apparently people don't think Zombie's version of Myers is creepy, but I disagree. At the very least, I'd hope even the most fervent 2007 hater would agree that the film had strong visuals, and the sequel is no different. Zombie and cinematographer Brandon Trost have created a number of stunning images, and many of them are equally chilling, especially a nearly silent shot of Michael's silhouette passing by an upstairs window. I also thought that Mane's version of Myers was frightening in his brutality, which has not lessened. Early commenters have already complained about the grunting, but I thought the sight of Myers viciously stabbing someone in a hospital was plenty scary. There's even a moment when Michael is pulling a woman from the cab of a truck that I felt was a bit of a visual homage to the way Michael terrorizes a nurse in the original.

Aside from Zombie's vision, it's nice to see Brad Dourif in a meaty role as Sherriff Brackett, and while there's still a brief, annoying scene at some sort of goth bookstore/coffee bar, both Taylor-Compton and Harris turn in better, more likable performances. I also really enjoyed the Loomis plotline that turns him into a bit of a leech-like, exploitative sell-out, something Malcolm McDowell digs into with relish. But Zombie's vision is all that drives this project, and even though the world seems clearly ready to hate it, I thought it was great. It's a strange, demented vision of Haddonfield that's unlike any of the other Halloween films. To many, this will be a bad thing, and it may even top Resurrection as the most hated entry in the franchise. At least we've traded Busta Rhymes for Weird Al. That's something, right?

Here is the direct download for the movie H2(Halloween 2).

DISTRICT 9 NOW AVAILABLE

Here is the summary for the movie District 9 from imdb.

The film opens with a documentary-style series of interviews that introduce the situation. Twenty years before, an alien ship is seen coming towards Earth and arrives above Johannesburg, South Africa. It hovers above the city for three months without any contact; eventually humans take the initiative and cut into the ship. They discover a large group of aliens who are malnourished and sick. The aliens are later assessed as apparently being all "workers", with their leadership mysteriously missing (it is hypothesized that a plague may have wiped out all of the leadership-caste). Grainy footage shows part of the ship (supposed to be a command module) falling to Earth, but nobody has been able to find it, leaving the ship inoperable.

The creatures, called "prawns" as a derogatory reference to the sea creature which they resemble, are housed in a government camp. The alien race's true name is never learned they are primarily referred to as "prawns" or, more rarely, "non-humans". Overcrowding and militarization eventually turn the area into a slum known as District 9. A massive black market is set up between the aliens and a group of Nigerians primarily led by Mumbo, a paralyzed warlord. In addition to inter-species prostitution, the Nigerians exchange canned cat food for alien weapons, of which the cat food has a similar effect to catnip on the aliens.

The movie takes place in 2010. Patience over the alien situation has run out and control over them has been contracted to Multi-National United (MNU), a private company that shows little regard for the aliens' welfare. MNU is interested in using the aliens' advanced weaponry, but its integration with alien biology makes it useless for humans.

An MNU field operative named Wikus van der Merwe (Sharlto Copley), is set with a task to move 1.8 million aliens to a new District 10 camp located 240 km from Johannesburg, with help from private security forces working for MNU. While inspecting a suspicious alien residence, Wikus handles an alien device which squirts a dark liquid into his face. He becomes very sick and collects the device as evidence.

A rapid transformation begins to occur, and shortly after exposure to the liquid, Wikus's left arm mutates into a claw exactly like that of a prawn. After collapsing at a surprise party in his house, and a doctor at a local hospital discovers his alien left arm, Wikus is taken into custody and a series of tests and experiments are performed on him; these reveal that his alien DNA allows him to operate alien weapons. The scientists discover that his DNA is currently "in balance" with the alien DNA, which is gradually taking over. They decide to harvest his body for biological material at this critical point, to have the greatest chance of replicating his ability to use alien technology in other humans later. To reduce any side-effects, no anesthetic was used. However, during the attempted vivisection Wikus escapes after overpowering his captors, and flees from MNU.

Wikus seeks refuge in the run-down shack of an alien called Christopher Johnson, the same alien who Wikus attempted to evict earlier, who created the alien device that infected Wikus. The device contains fuel that Christopher scavenged from various alien parts scattered around District 9. It is hinted that Christopher might be a surviving member of the prawn leadership caste, as he shows much more knowledge of how alien technology works, possesses or at least found the command module, and interacts with MNU officials more articulately than other aliens. Although initially hostile towards Wikus, Christopher eventually agrees to help him reverse the transformation if Wikus will retrieve the fuel from MNU labs. Christopher promises to undo the mutation by getting Wikus aboard the mother ship hovering over Johannesburg, and shows Wikus the ship's command module, which has been hidden under his shack.

Wikus steals some alien weaponry from Mumbo and his gang, with Mumbo vowing to capture Wikus and eat his mutated arm (his witch doctor believes this will give him the power to operate the alien weaponry). With Christopher's help they launch an assault on MNU and successfully retrieve the fuel sample. While there, Christopher discovers that MNU has been experimenting on his people. Wikus and Christopher fight their way back to District 9 and Christopher begins preparations to leave. He tells Wikus that he must first return to his home world to seek help for his people before he can cure Wikus. Furious, Wikus knocks Christopher unconscious and powers up the ship himself. The MNU mercenaries target Wikus and destroy one of the command module's engines, causing it to crash land inside District 9.

After Wikus is captured by MNU, a battle between the MNU mercenaries and Mumbo's gang breaks out. After a protracted firefight, the Nigerians capture Wikus. Just before Wikus' arm is chopped off, Christopher's son activates several systems in the mothership, including the autopilot routine of a mechanized battle suit; it slaughters Mumbo and his men after they fire on it. Wikus enters the alien walker battle suit, and after initially attempting to flee, returns and rescues Christopher. Armed with a lightning cannon, tracking missiles, and a high-powered machine gun, Wikus begins to fight the MNU men. After being knocked over by a anti-tank sniper round, he convinces Christopher to return to the shuttle without him, over Christopher's objections. Christopher promises Wikus that he will return in three years to repair his body. Christopher then boards the shuttle and activates a tractor beam which returns the command module to the mother ship.

Wikus is shot in the back and the walker suit ejects him. Wikus, heavily wounded, begins dragging himself away from the leader (and sole survivor) of an MNU squad, but is quickly caught. As Wikus prepares to die, aliens burst out of the surrounding slums and dismember the mercenary.

The film concludes with another series of interviews and news broadcasts, providing human opinions on the events that unfolded. The aliens are successfully moved to District 10, which now has a population of 2.5 million and is growing. One of Wikus' coworkers hacks MNU's database and publicly exposes their illegal genetic experiments. There are many differing theories on Wikus' fate. Some people believe that he either left on the mother ship, is in hiding, was captured by MNU or a government agency. Some interviewees hypothesize that the aliens are planning to return with a full army and declare war on humanity. An interview with Wikus' wife reveals a small metal rose was left on her doorstep (Wikus has earlier demonstrated his affection with handmade gifts). Her friends have told her that it could not have possibly been Wikus, but she appears unsure. In the final scene, an alien with a bandaged left arm is shown in a junk yard fashioning a rose out of scrap metal.


Here is a review for the movie District 9 from dvdtalk.

An electric brew of "Alien Nation" and "The Fly," coated with a viscous layer of social commentary, "District 9" is a volatile action/horror picture with a stupendous visual fingerprint. A barnstorming combat film with flashy weaponry, alien mysteries, and goopy body trauma, the film is destined to become a cult classic -- a largely unapologetic statement of hysteria, flanked by large deposits of geek Spanish fly. However, while there's astounding visual reach, "District 9" is riddled with inconsistencies and a confusing point of view, reducing the heat on this ambitious film, robbing it of a lasting power it should rightfully own.

20 years ago, a massive alien mothership appeared above Johannesburg, South Africa. Inside was a race of dying creatures, soon brought down to Earth by local government and forced to live in a walled off section of the city, dubbed District 9. As the aliens, nicknamed "Prawns" due to their vaguely crustacean appearance, grow in numbers and hostility, the task of relocation to a concentration camp has been handed to the Multi-National United Corporation and its head field operative, Wikus (Sharlto Copley). Entering the vile shantytown, teams of soldiers find the Prawns concocting a secretive plan of attack, with Wikus coming into contact with a mysterious black liquid. Forced to flee when he learns his superiors want to tear him apart for examination, Wikus heads back to District 9, befriending an intelligent Prawn named Christopher.

Based loosely on the events of District Six that occurred in South Africa in the 1970s, "District 9" collects bits of history, sci-fi, and action to build itself a story of man hating alien. An unusual visitation tale, the film seeks to reimagine the ravages of apartheid with an otherworldly angle, positioning the Prawns as the abused culture, separated from the general public, finding their rights refused in the name of governmental protection and handed a war zone for a home. The political and social overtones of "District 9" are straightforward and vividly distributed, integrated cleverly by director/co-screenwriter Neill Blomkamp, who conjures a horrific atmosphere of violence and humiliation as man finds renewed purpose keeping the Prawns at bay.

How this story is captured is where my head starts to spin. Introduced as a documentary, "District 9" is ostensibly telling the story of Wikus and his company man efforts to get the Prawns to their new, vaguely threatening home. Blomkamp arranges faux news footage of the District's violence and community filth, while "interviewing" Wikus's closest associates and superiors. Following the action into the District as Wikus and the soldiers go from door to door to con the residents, the film finds an incredible stride of intrigue and discovery, with Blomkamp parading around some of the finest special effects work of the year to merge the real and the unreal into a singularly disturbing, unsettling event.

The feature soon rudely breaks away from the factual perspective, morphing into direct fiction, as Wikus's accident with the black goo becomes a living nightmare. From there, Blomkamp juggles back and forth between shaky-cam documentary footage and traditional dramatics. It's a hazy perspective that cheats the film out of a compelling identity, making the intention of the footage confusing -- a needless distraction in the middle of overwhelmingly grungy eye candy. Is this a documentary? A dramatization? Blomkamp doesn't answer the questions, leaving various plot-holes behind as he starts to scratch his geek itches.

Adapted from Blomkamp's short film "Alive in Joberg," "District 9" doesn't feel like it was sufficiently inflated to fill a feature-length running time; instead, Blomkamp spackles the cracks in the story with explosions and the grisly wonders of alien machinery, taking an already violent film to the extreme for the final showdown. Bodies are torn apart, Blomkamp's "Aliens" fixation is satisfied, and bullets of every design zip around the frame. Perhaps a majority of the audience won't mind the way "District 9" hops on one foot, as long as the pyrotechnics display is appropriately blinding and the creatures are cool. And they are. Wonderfully so. Blomkamp is a filmmaker to watch, with absurdly precise visual instincts. But "District 9" is his first film and it shows, bloating a fascinating fable to a point of collapse.

Here is the direct download for the movie District 9.