Action Movie For The Day - THE BOURNE IDENTITY (2002)

Matt Damon is awesome in this exciting action thriller. He plays Jason Bourne, a man found at sea, left for dead, with amnesia. He doesn't remember his past of being a spy, but when he starts to piece his life back together and starts to use his deadly skills, watch out. This is a super action thriller that mixes old school stuntwork and chases with a new world attitude. Matt Damon is totally convincing as the super spy. And Frank Potente is engaging as Marie, a woman who reluctantly tags along and helps Jason figure out what's going on. Top notch stuff. Two equally impressive sequels followed, The Bourne Supremacy and The Bourne Ultimatium.
B+



Jason Bourne: I don't want to do this anymore.





Conklin: I don't think that's a decision you can make.
Jason Bourne: Jason Bourne is dead, you hear me? He drowned two weeks ago. You're gonna go tell 'em that Jason Bourne is dead, you understand?
Conklin: Where are you gonna go?
Jason Bourne: I swear to God, if I even feel somebody behind me, there is no measure to how fast and how hard I will bring this fight to your doorstep. I'm on my own side now.

Action Movie For The Day - POINT BREAK (1991): 100% Pure Adrenaline!

A most excellent film. Keanu Reeves is perfect as an ex college football quarterback turned FBI agent on the trail of surfers who rob banks. I know that sounds wild but this movie rocks. As Agent Johnny Utah, Reeves has one of his best roles ever. And he's backed up solidly by veteran agent Angelo Pappas, played by Gary Busey. And Patrick Swayze is ok as Bodhi, the leader of the bank robbing outfit who call themselves The Ex- Presidents. Directed with style by Kathryn Bigelow (The Hurt Locker), Point Break is one cool action film. Some of the best scenes include an intense shoot-out at a house of suspected bad guys; a thrilling car chase which leads to an exciting foot chase by Reeves after Swayze; and a very cool skydiving scene. Lori Petty is on hand as the girl who Utah falls for. Plenty of eye candy with sexy women, breath-taking waves and some great surfing scenes. And a rocking music score.
B+







Johnny Utah: " I caught my first tube today...sir."

Action Movie Of The Day: THE ROAD WARRIOR (1981)

In your face full throttle action flick. And what's great is, it's done with actual cars and people not none of the CG crap that is everywhere in today's movies. Mel Gibson returns as laconic ex-lawman Max who helps a small colony of survivors battle mohawked savages in the Australian outback. All for the last precious commodity in the world- fuel. Super charged action with thrilling car chases and unbelievable stunts that will leave you gasping. Definitely a must see and must have. They do not make them like this anymore, that's for sure.
B+


Max: "Two days ago, I saw a vehicle that would haul that tanker. You want to get out of here? You talk to me."

ACTION MOVIES All Summer Long...

The summer is here and what better time than to watch some action flicks. You know the ones with the bad ass cops chasing the ruthless bad guys; the outrageous and over-the-top explosions and fist-cuffs; the high octane car chases; the sexy girls; the rocking music; all those things required to make a great action film. So for the rest of the summer I plan to watch at least one action movie a day and post my review. Such films like Die Hard, Lethal Weapon, Raiders of the Lost Ark, Gladiator, Escape From New York, Point Break, Bad Boys, Beverly Hills Cop, Speed, The Last Boy Scout, Bullitt, Cobra, Goldeneye, Romancing The Stone and tons more.

I will kick off things with Demolition Man, the sci-fi action flick from 1993 that starred Slyvester Stallone as super cop John Spartan who battles his crazy nemesis Simon Phoenix (played by Wesley Snipes). The two wage war in modern day LA but then are placed in suspended animation until the year 2032 when Phoenix is accidentally freed and the only person who can stop him is Spartan. You see Spartan was tried and wrongfully convicted of killing some innocent bystanders in the crossfire between him and Phoenix. So now Spartan gets payback. Co-starring Sandra Bullock as Officer Lenina Huxley, a cop who longs for the good old days of busting skulls and shoot-outs. Demolition Man is a cool action flick that really does throw everything at you. Stallone and Snipes make a good hero/villain dynamic. And there are tons of fist fights, car chases and shoot-outs galore.
B

Season Four of TRUE BLOOD premieres tonight...HELL YEAH!

Can you believe it? It's aready season 4 of True Blood? I've been with this series since its debut back in 2008 and have been hooked ever since. The new season will introduce us to a coven of witches. True Blood which started out mainly about vampires has evolved to include everything from werewolves to demons. The main focus has been the triangle between Sookie, Bill and Eric. But more drama is also unfolding besides these three. Let's not forget Lafayette's struggles, the vampire nation itself trying to remain at peace with humans, and the still present werewolves. I for one can't wait for the new season to begins. Which is about 2 hours away. Oh and I'm eagerly awaiting the return of the delicious vampire queen Sophie Anne (played by Evan Rachel Wood). To all Twilight fans and followers, this is how it's done.

Curbing my LUTHER addiction with some Idris Elba movies....

So while I'm waiting for season 2 of that very cool British series, Luther to premiere here stateside, I've been hankering for anything with my man Idris Elba in it. And thanks to my friend Jennifer aka Morleysaurus, who has already seen the first two episodes of the new season which makes me want to see it even more. So I've been biding my time with some movies starring Mr. Elba. After viewing him on the big screen in Thor recently, I own several of his movies on DVD. I have watched RocknRolla with Gerard Butler; 28 Weeks Later, and The Losers. I even watched him in the late 90's British tv series Ultraviolet about vampires with the always cool Jack Davenport. So hopefully all this Idris viewing will tide me over until the new episodes of Luther start airing. I hope. Are there anymore Luther fans out there?

Happy Birthday Lindsay Wagner..cue Bionic Woman theme music...

Happy Birthday to one of my favorite actresses and a childhood crush, Lindsay Wagner. Best known for playing Jaime Sommers, The Bionic Woman during the mid-70's as a TV spin-off of the popular The Six Million Dollar Man series. I had a major crush on Lindsay during my pre-teen years. Between her, JoAnna Cameron (Isis) and Lynda Carter (Wonder Woman) I was in heaven. As Jamie she used to trades quips with the bad guys while kicking their ass. She was so cool. And then there's this thing she used to do with her hair that drove me crazy. Anyway, Happy Birthday Lindsay who turns 62 today.

There she goes, doing the hair thing...

Now this looks like a vampire movie...the new FRIGHT NIGHT (2011)

When I first heard they was re-making one of my most beloved films, Fright Night, I was very apprehensive. I mean the original Fright Night was very cool. It had the right balance of horror and humor.  It gave the vampire genre a serious injection of new blood, if you pardon the pun. It was cool seeing Roddy McDowall as Peter Vincent, the horror movie host asked to help take down a suave and sinister vampire (wonderfully played by Chris Sarandon). So when news came they were re-doing it, I was like here we go again. But guess what, after seeing the new trailer, this version of Fright Night looks bad ass. Colin Farrell is playing the vampire now, and while I have never been a huge fan of Colin, he looks perfect as the deadly vampire. Cast as the young teen who learns his secret is Anton Yelchin (fresh off paying Chekov in Star Trek and Kyle Reese in Terminator Salvation). And playing the updated Peter Vincent who is a magician now is former Doctor Who David Tennant. Throw in the wonderful actress Toni Collette as Yelchin's mom and Superbad's McLovin (Christopher Mintz-Plasse) as Yelchin's buddy Evil Ed and you have a super cast. So forget those Twilight movies, here comes the real deal with Fright Night. The film opens August 19th. I can't wait. If you haven't seen the trailer, check it out below.

Is Jennifer Lawrence poised to become the next big film superstar?

 20- year old Jennifer Lawrence is well on her way to becoming a huge star in film. Having paid her dues in TV series such as Medium, Cold Case, Monk and a full time gig on The Bill Engvall Show (which ran three seasons), young Jennifer had a breakout role in 2010's indie smash Winter's Bone. The film earned her a Best Actress Oscar nomination which made people take notice. The Kentucky native is turning heads with her terrific performance as the young Mystique in the retro X-Men: First Class this summer, which has earned over $100 million in North America in less than a month. 

 And you may have heard that she was recently cast as Katniss, the heroine of the futuristic best-seller The Hunger Games. Katniss is a girl who is forced to fight in a televised death match with other teens. The Hunger Games is the first in a planned trilogy based on author Suzanne Collins' wildly popular dystopian series. I have never read any of the books but I am eagerly awaiting the movie, which hits theaters March 23rd, 2012. And expect the young Jennifer to just explodes into the stratosphere.

In brightess day, in blackest night..no comic book fan shall be disappointed with GREEN LANTERN

Contrary to all the bad reviews, Green Lantern is a very enjoyable movie. I was expecting something along the lines of Batman and Robin or Catwoman. Something just god awful. But this is a pretty good movie. I don't know what movie critics saw, but I saw an entertaining one. Yes, it had some faults but it was no train wreck as we were led to believe.

Ace test pilot Hal Jordan (played by the always reliable Ryan Reynolds) works for his on-again,off-again girlfriend Carol Ferris (a surprisingly effective Blake Lively) at her dad's company. Well his reckless stunt at the film's opening gets him into trouble and shows his relentless desire to push himself ever since his dad died in a aircraft failure years ago. Cut to outer space where a Green Lantern named Abin Sur comes under threat by the returning evil of Parallax, a force that feeds on fear. Badly wounded in battle Sur manages to make it to Earth and calls upon Jordan to take his ring and become a Green Lantern too.

And we're off and running. After Sur dies and the government confiscates his body and his ship,led by Amanda Waller (played by Angela Bassett), they call in scientist Hector Hammond (Peter Sarsgaard) to examine the body. Hammond gets infected by Parallax's residue and gains vast mental powers. He also becomes very unhinged.

In the meantime, Hal is whisked away to Oa, homeworld of The Green Lantern Corps where he gets a crash course in lantern training. To focus his mind and to be able to create constructs from nothing but his will. He meets resistance from Sinestro (superbly played by Mark Strong) who takes offense that the corps have accepted a human into their ranks.

After a bout of some soul searching, Hal returns home in full Green Lantern gear, looking very spiffy I might add and has to save the day at a celebration for Ferris Air. He gets to show off his new power and is very impressive.

Of course Hector sees him and immediately doesn't like it. Especially since both men are in love in Carol. And Parallax is headed for Earth to kill Jordan, who now has the ring of the one Lantern who imprisoned it long ago.

Things come to ahead with a cool battle between Hal and Parallax that starts on Earth and ends up near the sun.

I liked this movie. The special effects were amazing. And the cast was mostly effective with Strong and Lively being the best. Like I said earlier Lively is very convincing as the headstrong and very beautiful Carol and she deserves a lot of credit. Strong's performance of Sinestro evokes memories of Ian McKellan as Magneto from the X-Men films. Look for Sinestro to be front and center for the sequel. Reynolds was good too but he really didn't get to flex his muscle until the very end. But I'm sure he will be that much better by the time the sequel comes. The few things I didn't like was the weak film score, and the shortness of the film. It could have easily done with about a half hour more. Hal's training on Oa went by way too fast. So those are some minor things that can be fixed for the almost guaranteed sequel, which has a doozy of a setup at this film's ending.

So all in all, Green Lantern was very enjoyable. I still liked Thor and X-Men: First Class more but at least DC now has another hero in their movie stable other than Batman and Superman. Here's looking ahead to what should be a superior sequel ala X2.
B-

Retro Goodness - Escape From New York (1981)

Classic 80's flick with Kurt Russell ultra cool as bad ass ex-soldier now criminal, Snake Plissken. Set in 1997, he's finally caught and on his way to the maximum security prison which is now the entire state of New York. But  a group of convicts kidnap the President (played by Donald Pleasance) from Air Force One and threaten to kill them unless they're released from prison. So the prez's only hope is Snake, who reluctantly agrees. Russell is perfect as Snake who doesn't say much but kicks a lot of ass. Once he enters New York, he tries to track down the president and runs into a cab driver (Ernest Borgnine) who takes him to The Brain, a smart dude who knows all the angles. But lo and behold The Brain (played by Harry Dean Stanton) is a former partner of Snake who left him high and dry after a job. So Snake is a litte pissed at him. But The Brain tells him he will never find the President without his help as he is being held by The Duke, the self imposed leader of New York (played by Isacc Hayes). Also involved is super sexy Adrienne Barbeau as the Brain aka Harold's lady friend Maggie and Lee Van Cleef as Bob Hauk, the warden who gives Snake a hard time. Directed by ace horror master John Carpenter, who worked with Kurt on other classic 80 films such as The Thing and Big Trouble in Little China. Also John did the very cool music score.

Man, I know I saw this movie like 40 times when I was a kid. And I thought it was the coolest movie ever. Kurt Russell was just all that as Snake. Didn't take crap from no one and did his own thing. The eye patch made him look cool and he was one guy you didn't want to mess with. A sequel called Escape from LA would follow about 15 years later, a little too late I think. While it was great seeing Snake back in action, it just wasn't the same. It was not as good as New York. So I can enjoy Escape from New York anytime I feel like it since I own it on DVD and I think I might be watching it again very soon. The rules are simple once you go in, you don't come out.

B+

Snake meets his old friend The Brain

Snake having a little chat with Hauk

The Duke

Maggie is a little pissed

Man, I am not in the mood to be fucked with..

The President under duress