HITMAN

I had read a lot of negative reviews and how they were going to tone down the violence for a pg-13 rating and all, but they didn't and it helped this film. It's a violent take on a violent video game adaptation. I was expecting the worst, but I got a somewhat entertaining show. It has it holes and flaws, believe me. It still had some good action and a fast pacing to it. Timothy Olyphant plays agent 47 and he's terrible in it it. He was the worst thing about "Live Free or Die hard" too. It's almost laughable. The other cast isn't much better. The story is pretty normal and cliche' too. But I knew it would be, so it get's the job done as your normal seen that before movie. It's very average and a step above bad. Don't take it too seriously and you might enjoy the killing and action. It's no Rambo!

DAN IN REAL LIFE

This turned out to be a real treat! It coul've gone wrong with either it being too funny or too dramatic. But it walked the fine line and pulled both off quite well. I really enjoyed the pacing of the film too. Never did it seem too slow on the drama part or wasted too much time trying to make you laugh. The laughs came well within the story. It's a nice story of a dad that is coping with his wife's death and trying to raise his 3 daughters at the same time. It all starts to come together when they leave on thier family getaway. There Dan(Steve Carrell) meets a new woman, but she turns out to be visiting her new beau and his family that same weekend. It turns out that her new boyfriend is Dan's Brother and that's where the comedy and drama start. I was very entertained and I really enjoyed seeing what happens to this family. The ending could've been better, but I still liked the message of the ending. I just thought it could've been written or filmed better. Still, I highly recommend this film. Go rent it.

DRAGON WARS

Somebody tell me, how this movie got made? It's too bad for a tv show, let alone a major theatrical release. There is absolutely nothing good or fun or entertaining about this pile of crap! I'm more upset with myself for watching this than the director who made this. Maybe, not that upset. That guy is high on my shit list. I'm sorry, but I can't waste anymore time on this so called film.

KURT COBAIN: ABOUT A SON

I had to watch this documentary after hearing Aberdeen was widely shown in it. It's a wierd style for a documentary though. It's all done with audio interviews with Kurt Cobain set to the video images from Aberdeen,Olympia, and Seattle. The last two cities couldn't quite capture the essence that Aberdeen did on film though. Seattle's skylines and beauty were no match for Aberdeen's as well. But that's not what the film was about? Or was it? For about a half hour there were tons of Aberdeen images with Kurt talking about growing up in the background. From AHS to Mayr Brothers' logging. Even a fellow High School Classmate made the final cut. The Majestic beauty of Aberdeen wasn't enough to make this a must see. If you're a die hard Cobain fan or Aberdeen fan, then you might like it, but it's really just a bunch of video and jabbering with a crazy dude that blew his head off.

NO COUNTRY FOR OLD MEN

It took me a while to see this film, but well worth the wait. This film would've been in my top ten for sure! That's the good news. Well I agree that it was a really good film, it was not the best film of 2007! The Academy got this one dead wrong. It had all the elements that best pictures need to win, so I don't fault them there. Great acting, story, and direction. Just a couple of key choices that kept it from being the best.

The movie starts out with a great synopsis and follows it for most of the film. It's just a normal chase after some drug money on the surface. That's the entertaining part and it grows more in depth with the Tommy Lee Jones character. The Coen Brothers who won for best direction change the direction of the film. This I didn't like so much. It's their style and a lot of people like it, but it took away from the pace and energy that dragged me into the story. They leave a couple of story plots up to the viewer to decide. Which is good and bad. I thought bad in this case, because it just left the viewer hanging. The movie would've been the best picture if they stayed true through the entire film. Still though, it was a well thought and for the most part entertaining picture from almost start to finish. I highly recommend this film and decide for yourself if they could've or should've did it a little different.

THE ASSASINATION OF JESSE JAMES BY THE COWARD ROBERT FORD

I'll just start off by saying that this is a pretty slow and boring film. That's what will keep most people down about this picture. If you are interested in Jesse James and his story, then you'll really like this film. It's narrated nicely and has some cool artistic style to it. Casey Affleck puts together another great performance as the coward Robert Ford. Brad Pitt does his job, but nothing special. It's more of an artistic biography than say a great film. Well done and I appreciate the style and information on Jesse James, but I didn't really get into the story or feel for his gang. I didn't feel for Jesse James or Robert Ford. I just didn't really care what happened. That's where the story failed to be a great movie. It was informative and I now know a little bit about Jesse James assasination, but that's about all I was left with when the long running time of 2 hours and 40 minutes were up.

My advice to you the reader would be to watch this if you want to see a well done stylistic take on the biopic genre. I reviewed "3:10 To Yuma" earlier and that's the more entertaining and story driven western that I'd recommend.

VANTAGE POINT

The trailer for this film had me hooked and made me want to see this film without a doubt. I knew it could be good if done right. A great gimmick. An assasination from different vantage points. Or it could be badly hacked up with plot holes. The answer is that it's both. Story starts off strong and keeps you compelled to whats happening, but by the 5th vantage point and seeing the same story over and over again, you start to lose focus. It's entertaining enough to keep you guessing and wanting to know what really happened, so that's accomplished wel.. Unfortunately the story totally goes off the whole gimmick of being shown through someone's perspective in the final act and turns into the normal thriller type of movie. Which could've been worse, but also if they pulled of the gimmick the entire film, than the film would've been so much better and original. The ending is a total cop out with a huge coincidence that makes you think that the director and writer just got lazy. It entertains enough to get slight recommendation from me. I was hoping for an original thriller and got the same old movie at the end.

GONE BABY GONE

This film is teriffic! I had heard it was good and all that, but I can't say enough good things about this film. It only takes a few minutes to become attached to the story and get involved in the situation. What you think is a straight up child missing story is anything but that. Without giving any of the story away, let's just say it's a thriller, mystery, and drama all in one. With incredible performances by Casey Affleck,Amy Ryan and Ed Harris. The story sticks you right in the middle of tragedy. Ben Affleck has reputation as a bad actor(I don't think he's nearly as bad as people say), but his screenplay and directing are without dispute. Atleast in this film. The film hooks you with story and finishes with guts.

This film makes you think at the end. What would you do? A truly entertaining and thoughtful film. Check this one out right away.

10,000 B.C.

Let's just say that B.C. stands for : Bunch of Crap. I only wanted to see this film for some fun and entertainment. I was ready to give Roland Emmerich a pass on story,acting, and plot holes for some good old fashioned fun. Instead I watched a film that was boring and dull that had almost no entertainment value at all. Even the action scenes lacked any fun or entertainment to them. I knew this was gonna be "go with it" type of film, but that's an understatement. I wanted to see another ID4 or Universal Soldier. They are both films that I just went with it and I was very entertained. I'd even say that "The day after tomorrow" was sufficient enough. "Godzilla" was a pure adrenaline rush compared to this film. That's how much of a pass I was ready to give for some fun.

Since it didn't deliver like I hoped, I'm going to let go on the issues I would've allowed a pass on. The acting is almost laughable. The story and plot holes are ridiculous. I didn't know that 12,000 years ago they could speak perfect english and you could walk through snowy mountains,deserts, and tropical forrests all in a few days? It all would've been fine if the movie delivered like a supposed blockbuster is meant to. I'd only watch this film is you are really bored and would like to watch a bunch of crap on dvd.