This Weeks Blu-ray Releases

While last weeks Blu-ray Releases were rather lackluster this week there is a lot to choose from. Whether you like HBO's latest hit show or some good old fashioned Arnold action films there is plenty of Blu-rays for everyone. So without further ado lets dig into this weeks Blu-ray releases.

New Films-
 
Game of Thrones: The Complete Second Season

This is probably my favorite show on television right now (The Walking Dead is second). I liked the first season based more on my interest in the genre and the storyline but in Season 2 it really grabbed me. It features probably my favorite television episode ever in The Battle of Blackwater which is directed by Neil Marshall and the entire episode focuses entirely on the battle. Game of Thrones is just a fantastic all around show that features fantastic performances, amazing production quality and is a lot of fun. The Blu-ray is supposed to look gorgeous so this is an instant purchase! (Its currently only $29.99 on Amazon which is marked down about 50 dollars so pick it up now!)

 
Argo

One of my favorite films of last year and the film that I think is most likely to win Best Picture at the Oscars (Django is most deserving). An enjoyable historical drama that is yet another fine Ben Affleck directorial effort. I could recommend watching this film to just about anybody. This is another must have Blu-ray!

 





Sinister

This is a film that I have heard a lot about and has gotten pretty good reviews overall. If you are a Spill.com fan you should have heard of it as the former member of the Spill Crew “Carlyle” is one of the writers of the film. I am not a big horror guy but based on that and the reviews I have read I may give this a watch. Possibly a good blind buy and fans of the film should want to pick this up.

 




Anna Karenina

 A famous Tolstoy novel that came out this year with relatively low fanfare. I sort of wanted to see it but could not find it at any theaters near me so I forgot about it. It is supposed to be a very interesting film visually and has good reviews on its video and audio quality. Probably worth a rental to see if it floats your boat but fans of the film can pick it up with confidence.







Battlestar Galactica: Blood and Chrome

 When I was mentioning that Game of Thrones is my favorite show on Television right now, Battlestar Galactica is my favorite Television show of all time. Sadly they have struggled to establish any spin off series as Caprica failed and Blood and Chrome did not make it past the Pilot which became a web series. I watched the first few parts of the series and thought it was OK but nowhere near the level of BSG. I would only recommend this to die hard fans of the series like myself. 


 


  
Other Notable Releases-

Fun Size
Sushi Girl
Atlas Shrugged: Part II
The Package

Older Films and Re-Releases

Top Gun 3D

They just ran the 3D re-release in theaters this past week and now they are releasing it on Blu-ray. I did not get a chance to see the 3D but I’m not a big fan of 3D and there is a just fine non 3D version out. This is one of my guilty pleasure type favorite films but I don't need it bad enough to convert to 3D. I think I'll hold onto my money.







The Running Man (Olive Films)

 A classic Arnold Sci-fi film that is definitely worth a watch. The previous Blu-ray version of the film is out of print and apparently had better audio quality and more supplements. That being said the newer version is supposed to have slightly better video quality. I would wait for the price to come down ($19.99) but at least there are copies of the film again.

 




The Terminator (Remastered)

Another Arnold Sci-fi classic that is probably one of the best Sci-fi films of all time. If you have not watched the film go to the store and buy this immediately! If you have the older version throw it in the trash now because this is a LOT better in terms of audio and visual quality. This is an instant purchase!

 





Best in Show

One of my favorite comedies and probably the best Mockumentary out there. I usually don’t buy comedies but this is one that is worth purchasing!
 









Other Notable Releases-

Criterion: On The Waterfront
The Insider
The Monster Squad
Les Miserables (1958)
Julius Caesar
The Thief of Bagdad
Highlander 2
Don Giovanni
Innocent Bystanders
Live Nude Girls
Special Forces
Irreconcilable Differences
That Cold Day
The Nest
Prison
Easter Parade
Night of Demons 2
Undefeated
Hats Off to Dr. Seuss


Summary-

All in all this is a pretty great week for buying Blu-rays. Next week is a lot slower but there are still a couple of discs worth picking up. So stay tuned and enjoy the many great releases this week!

 -Chris "Da Franchize" Hart

2013: A Terrible Year for Movies

I was looking back over all the films that have been released in 2013 so far and I noticed a trend……they all suck! Not only have they not done particularly well at the box office but they just have been bad movies. I understand that this usually is the time of year that the garbage movies come out but this seems to be worse than usual. So today I wanted to do a side by side comparison of the first month and a half of this year and last year.

2012 Week 1-

The Devil Inside-
Box Office: 101.3 Mill
Rotten Tomatoes: Rotten (6 percent)

2013 Week 1-

Texas Chainsaw 3D-
Box Office: 34.2 Mill
Rotten Tomatoes: Rotten (19 percent)

2012 Week 2-

Contraband-
Box Office: 96.2 Mill
Rotten Tomatoes: Rotten (51 percent)

Joyful Noise-
Box Office: 30.9 Mill
Rotten Tomatoes: Rotten (34 percent)

2013 Week 2-

Gangster Squad-
Box Office: 87.1 Mill
Rotten Tomatoes:  Rotten (32 percent)

A Haunted House-
Box Office: 39.2 Mill
Rotten Tomatoes: Rotten (6 percent)

2012 Week 3-

Underworld Awakening-
Box Office: 160 Mill
Rotten Tomatoes: Rotten (26 percent)

Red Tails-
Box Office: 49.8 Mill
Rotten Tomatoes: Rotten (39 percent)

Haywire-
Box Office: 33.3 Mill
Rotten Tomatoes: Certified Fresh (80 percent)

2013 Week 3-

Mama-
Box Office: 79.6 Mill
Rotten Tomatoes: Fresh (62 percent)

Broken City-
Box Office: 19.4 Mill
Rotten Tomatoes: Rotten (27 percent)

The Last Stand-
Box Office: 27.6 Mill
Rotten Tomatoes: Rotten (59 percent)

2012 Week 4-

The Grey-
Box Office: 77.2 Mill
Rotten Tomatoes: Certified Fresh (79 percent)

One For The Money-
Box Office: 36.8 Mill
Rotten Tomatoes: Rotten (2 percent)

Man on a Ledge-
Box Office: 46.2 Mill
Rotten Tomatoes: Rotten (32 percent)

2013 Week 4-

Hansel and Gretel: Witch Hunters-
Box Office: 131.1 Mill
Rotten Tomatoes: Rotten (15 percent)

Parker-
Box Office: 16.5 Mill
Rotten Tomatoes: Rotten (38 percent)

Movie 43-
Box Office: 23 Mill
Rotten Tomatoes: Rotten (4 percent)

2012 Week 5-

Chronicle-
Box Office: 126.6 Mill
Rotten Tomatoes: Certified Fresh (85 percent)

The Woman in Black-
Box Office: 127.7 Mill
Rotten Tomatoes: Fresh (65 percent)

Big Miracle-
Box Office: 24.7 Mill
Rotten Tomatoes: Fresh (74 percent)

2013 Week 5-

Warm Bodies-
Box Office: 52.5 Mill and counting
Rotten Tomatoes: Certified Fresh (78 percent)

Bullet to the Head-
Box Office: 8.9 Mill and counting
Rotten Tomatoes: Rotten (49 percent)

2012 Week 6-

Safe House-
Box Office: 208 Mill
Rotten Tomatoes: Rotten (53 percent)

The Vow-
Box Office: 196 Mill
Rotten Tomatoes: Rotten (29 percent)

Journey 2: The Mysterious Island-
Box Office: 325.8 Mill
Rotten Tomatoes: Rotten (41 percent)

2013 Week 6-

Identity Thief-
Box Office: 54 Mill and counting
Rotten Tomatoes: Rotten (24 percent)

Side Effects-
Box Office: 14.5 Mill and counting
Rotten Tomatoes: Certified Fresh (86 percent)

2012 Week 7-

This Means War-
Box Office: 156.4 Mill
Rotten Tomatoes: Rotten (26 percent)

Ghost Rider: Spirit of Vengeance-
Box Office: 132.5 Mill
Rotten Tomatoes: Rotten (17 percent)

The Secret World of Arrietty-
Box Office: 145.5 Mill
Rotten Tomatoes: Certified Fresh (94 percent)

2013 Week 7-

Safe Haven-
Box Office: 15.9 Mill and counting
Rotten Tomatoes: Rotten (13 percent)

A Good Day to Die Hard-
Box Office: 26.3 Mill and counting
Rotten Tomatoes: Rotten (17 percent)

Beautiful Creatures-
Box Office: 4.8 Mill and counting
Rotten Tomatoes: Rotten (45 percent)

Escape From Planet Earth-
Box Office: 3.7 Mill and counting
Rotten Tomatoes: Rotten (25 percent)

Summary-

So what do we make from all of that information. Well here are a few key facts, so far there has only been one movie from 2013 that has grossed over 100 mill worldwide compared to 10 in 2012. Critically they are not doing well either. So far there have been 2 Rotten Tomatoes Certified Fresh films and one regular fresh film compared to 4 Certified Fresh and 2 fresh last year. So just looking at the raw numbers it has been a pretty bad start of the year. For me personally there has not been one movie that I have seen this year that I thought was very good (Bullet to the Head was enjoyable but a bad movie). Last year at this point there were 3 movies that where right up with some of my favorite for the whole year (The Grey, Chronicle and Haywire). Hopefully this is not a trend that continues or else it is going to be a long year. Thanks for reading and lookout for your weekly Blu-ray preview sometime tomorrow.

-Chris “Da Franchize” Hart 

This Week in Movie News 2/11-2/15

Before I get into the movie news for this week I wanted to apologize for the lack of content the past few days. Things have been pretty busy and I have been unable to finish writing a couple of posts that I want to put up. I will set those aside for the next time this happens so that there will still be some content on the site every day. This week was pretty slow in terms of big movie news but there are a few minor tidbits that are actually really interesting.

A Good Day To Die Hard Sucks!

Title is foreshadowing

This is not a major surprise but after reading probably about 50 reviews I lost all desire to see this movie. It currently has a 15 percent fresh rating on Rotten Tomatoes which is right up there with Hansel and Gretel: Witch Hunters and Safe Haven. Something that has really disturbed me about the Die Hard Franchise is that it has gotten away from its roots. In the first few films John McClain was an Average Joe who just was in the wrong place at the wrong time. Now he has become an unstoppable action hero who saves the world. Essentially these films have become just generic action movies with the Die Hard name attached to them which is part of the reason why I did not like Live Free or Die Hard and why I was hesitant to see the new one. Kevin is planning on seeing it though so if your looking for a review he should have one up over the weekend hopefully.

 
Harrison Ford to play Han Solo again

Apparently he has been signed to reprise his role as Han Solo in Star Wars VII. I’m not sure what to think about this because Harrison Ford is old as F**K now, that being said its better than bringing in some new actor to play Han Solo. I am really iffy on this movie so it is going to take a lot of convincing for me to get on board (cool posters and trailers usually do the trick).


 

The Awesome Peter Dinklage cast in X-Men Days of Future Past

This film continues to look more and more awesome. They picked an awesome storyline for the movie, are bringing in both the casts from the first 3 X-Men movies and the cast from X-Men First Class, brought Bryan Singer back to direct and now have cast Peter Dinklage (Game of Thrones). I have no idea what role he is playing but he is awesome in just about everything. Now we just have to wait a year for this to come out.






Albert Brooks brought back for Finding Nemo 2

I love Albert Brooks especially for his performance in Drive. That being said it’s disappointing to see that Pixar is continuing their trend of just making sequels to all of their films. They are no longer the studio that doesn’t make bad movies.    




Michael Mann and Chris Hemsworth teaming up for a movie!

I will watch anything that Michael Mann makes especially in the thriller genre. I know Collateral is one of Kevin’s favorite films and I love Heat. Chris Hemsworth (The Avengers) is hit or miss for me, I thought Red Dawn was the worst movie of 2012 but Cabin in the Woods was a fun movie. Making a film with Michael Mann might be a great career move that should give us an idea of his acting potential.

 

Jason Statham may be the villain in Fast and Furious 7

 The face I made when I heard this news

I would hold off judgment on this until I see Fast and Furious 6 which I am skeptical of after seeing the full length trailer. I guess this is going to become somewhat of a rival franchise to the Expendables as it has evolved from street racing crime movies to huge scale blockbusters featuring an ensemble cast of action stars. I am not much of a Jason Statham fan but it could be interesting seeing him be a villain and getting a chance to fight Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson and Vin Diesel. 



David Ayer to direct WW2 Tank Movie!

Director or Trucker?

If you do not know David Ayer is the guy who directed End of Watch and is directing a new Arnold action film Ten which is set to come out early 2014. He also wrote Training Day and The Fast and the Furious so he is a somewhat accomplished Writer and Director. The film is supposed to be about an American Tank Crew in 1945 during the last weeks of the war in Europe. This is definitely a different direction for a director who has really only done crime movies. It sounds pretty bad ass and actually a somewhat different take on WW2 which seems to be a genre that unfortunately looks to have finally been exhausted. It would be cool to see a bit of resurgence in the genre and this could be the start! 



Shrinking Man Reboot

The Incredible Shrinking Man was a 1957 film based off of a sci-fi novel written by Richard Matheson who has had a lot of his stories put to film. Usually I don’t like the idea of reboots but this is a situation where I think it is a good idea. I think rebooting movies that are no longer culturally significant and are significantly dated are the types of films to reboot, especially if there is a really good story at the heart of it. Also apparently the studio has hired the original author Richard Matheson and his son to write the screenplay. This sounds like something that could become a surprise success. 


Oliver Twist Action Movie?

Action Hero?

The number 9 spot on news has become the spot for terrible movies that are getting made I guess (Paul Walker Hitman Movie last week). This just sounds like a terrible idea, apparently it is going to be set 20 years after the book and try to be like the Guy Ritchie Sherlock Holmes movies. Best case scenario this is about as good as Hansel and Gretel: Witch Hunters. 







New Posters!

Summary-

So overall there was not a lot of big news but still some interesting stuff happened. Again I apologize for the lack of content through the middle of the week and there should be plenty of stuff to read on here over the weekend. Have a good weekend and try to avoid the terrible movies that are in theaters right now.

-Chris "Da  Franchize" Hart

This Week at the Movies

Okay guys, this is my first weekly look-ahead so I'll briefly explain why I am doing this.  This will be my thoughts/reflections on the films coming out this weekend and how I think they will do.  I'll also explain why you should or should not see them.  That's pretty straightforward now that I'm rereading this so I don't even know why I typed that.  Moving on...


A Good Day to Die Hard

I am a big fan of the Die Hard series, but I'm not an idiot.  Every movie series needs to end at some point (COUGH, Fast and Furious. COUGH, Star Wars. COUGH, Indiana Jones. COUGH, Paranormal Activity. COUGH, Madea. You get the point).  I was a fan of Die Hard 5, but I think that was a good spot for it to end.  Not to say I don't like Die Hard.  I just think when people pay to see the 6th installment of a film, it encourages Hollywood to continue with the notion that sequels are what makes cinema great, and it's not.  Quite the opposite, actually.  Enough film philosophy, though.  I'll go see Die Hard because I'm a fan of the series and I have fun with every film (minus Die Hard 2).  While this film debuted with a 7.6 on IMdB, I'm still a little skeptical about this one, for a number of reasons.  Mainly because we're getting this smack dab in the middle of February.  Every now and then, we get that surprise film placed in an odd time of the year (Looper comes to mind), but February action movies usually flop.  I hope I'm wrong on this one, but that's a fact.


Safe Haven

The poster makes me gag.  I have negative interest in watching this.  Bear with me for a moment as we discuss my problem with 99% of romantic films: They give women unrealistic expectations of men.  All romantic movies do is give women false hope that there is a perfect man out there for them.  That's all I'm going to say because quite honestly, I don't feel like wasting my time talking about this garbage film. I don't expect this film to be praised by critics in any sense, and it is purely a cash cow for Hollywood, as they strategically released it on Valentine's Day.  Folks, I have watched almost 500 films to date and I can tell you I have only watched one good romantic film, (500) Days of Summer.  Watch that one and be done with that genre.  Seriously.




Beautiful Creatures

I don't know much about this film, probably due to the poor marketing of it.  I won't rip it to shreds like I did Safe Haven because, believe it or not, I am a fair dude.  However, this doesn't seem like my cup of tea (I don't even drink tea, that's gay, but you know what I'm saying).  This will probably draw in a big tween crowd, and I expect it will do well at the box office. Critics?  Probably not.  But I can't know for sure, because the marketing for this film is so damn weak.










Escape from Planet Earth

There's not much I have to say about this film either, except it will be a breath of fresh air because of the lack of kid's films that have been released lately.  I may be wrong on this, but I think Rise of the Guardians was the last big kid's movie, and that was a while ago.  We've resorted to bringing back Monsters, Inc., a second time to satisfy the younger moviegoers.  So many R-rated films have been released in the last few weeks, which has led to a drop in attendance for younger kids.  I don't know much about this film but I'm happy to see that there's something for children coming out this week.


This weekend should be a good weekend for the box office.  With Valentine's Day right around the corner and a wide variety of films being released this weekend, I think we can expect a good turnout.  Thanks for reading and stay tuned for next week's post!

-Kevin A. Millward

Blu-ray Buying Guide: Week of 2/11-2/17

This is another new weekly series that will be incorporated here at Two Dudes Doing Movie Reviews. At the beginning of each week we will try to preview the major Blu-ray releases of the week and hopefully make some recommendations. This week there is essentially one big theme in terms of Blu-ray releases and that is James Bond.

Skyfall-

It makes its way on to Blu-ray on Tuesday and boy am I excited. It was one of the few films that actually met my expectations this year after moderate disappointments in Prometheus and The Dark Knight Rises. From what I have read it looks gorgeous on Blu-ray which is not a big surprise considering the impressive work by star cinematographer Roger Deakins. I cant wait to pick this one up and put the disc in the empty slot in my Bond 50 set!

 

Bond Store Exclusives-

When Bond 50 came out they also released all of the films on single discs. That being said, all of the new to blu-ray discs where exclusive to either Best Buy, Target or Walmart. Starting on Tuesday these films will now be available everywhere else. I really don’t think this is that big of a deal because it has still been fairly easy to pick up these films already. Still if you have not had a chance to pick up one of the previously unreleased Bond Blu-ray’s now you can order them on Amazon.

The Perks of Being a Wildflower-


As you can probably guess I really have no desire to pick this one up. This just looks like another run of the mill teenage drama, although it does have a very good IMDB rating as it is on the low end of the Top 250 and has a good rating on Rotten Tomatoes as well. Still I’m not sure this would be a week one Blu-ray purchase for anyone outside of fans of the film. This is a rental at best for me.

 




The Man with the Iron Fists-

I made the poor decision of seeing this in theaters. I really wanted it to be good as I am a fan of RZA and the cast and premise was intriguing. Unfortunately it made absolutely no sense and really was just a string of fight scenes and weird CGI. I came out with a similar feeling as to what I had after seeing Sucker Punch although this was slightly more entertaining. I’m sure this looks gorgeous on Blu-ray but it really is not worth your time or money.   

 

 TV Shows-

Two shows that I have zero interest in come out on Blu-ray this week. Weeds: The Final Season and Nurse Jackie: Season 4. Weeds always seemed like the very watered down version of Breaking Bad as it is about a suburban mom who starts dealing weed. Nurse Jackie I really don’t know a lot about other than its about a Nurse and that its been nominated for some Golden Globes in the past. But overall this is a pretty slow week in terms of TV Shows on Blu-ray.

 


Other Notable Releases-
Criterion Collection: The Kid With a Bike (2011)
In Like Flint (Limited to 3000 copies)- 1967
The Sessions (2012)
Silent Hill: Revelation (2012)
Pony Soldier (Limited to 3000 copies)- 1952
The Massage Parlor Murders (1972)
Die Screaming, Marianne (1971)
House of Whipcord (1974)
The Comeback (1978)
Schizo (1976)
Rise of the Zombies (2012)

Summary-

All in all this is a pretty slow week for Blu-ray releases outside of Skyfall. I recommend you go ahead and order your copy of that now or pick it up in stores on Tuesday but you can hold off on the rest of the releases this week. Looking ahead, next week looks loaded with great releases so hold on to your money till then. 

-Chris “Da Franchize” Hart

Scenes of the Crime: Chris Reviews Basic Instinct

If you read this blog with some regularity then you probably know that Paul Verhoeven is my favorite director. His run of American films from the late 80’s to late 90’s was one of the best of any director with his four best being Robocop, Total Recall, Basic Instinct and Starship Troopers. His style of ultra violence mixed with extremely intelligent and subversive storytelling is ingenious. Basic Instinct is probably the high water mark of his career and shows off what a truly unique filmmaker he is. After watching this film several times I feel comfortable stating that this is one of if not the best modern film in the Mystery/Thriller genre. This is because of expert storytelling, a cool visual style and great acting. 

The basic premise centers around Detective Nick Curran (Michael Douglas) as he investigates the brutal murder of  former rock star Johnny Boz. As he is investigating he meets the victims girlfriend and famous novelist Catherine Tramell (Sharon Stone) who becomes a suspect in the murder. She uses both her sexuality and amazing skills of manipulation to confuse and misdirect Detective Curran as he attempts to solve the case. From the mysterious blonde women to the premise of the film, Basic Instinct definitely has a very Hitchcock feel and style to it. It is both a gripping psychological thriller and intriguing murder mystery that is hard to take your eyes off of.

Not only is the story fascinating but the visuals are impressive as well. Cinematographer Jan de Bont crafts a distinct visual style that encapsulates the Hitchcock like feel of the film but with a modern twist. Not only is the camerawork impressive but the special effects are as well. There are several brutal murders that occur in the film and special effects wizard Rob Bottin (dude who designed Robocop) really makes them look realistic. The major controversy surrounding the film had to do with the amount of nudity and sex scenes that occur in the film. This is obviously not a film that you are going watch with your children so I really don’t understand the complaints. The entire premise and title of the film make the nudity and violence necessary. I almost feel like Verhoeven was trying to prove that our “Basic Instincts” of violence and sexuality would attract audiences to the film and he was right as it grossed over $300 million worldwide.

You cannot talk about Basic Instinct without talking about the performances and more specifically Sharon Stone. While she may not have the screen time that Michael Douglas has in this, she is definitely the star of the film. She plays a very mysterious and confusing woman who can woo you with her feminine charms but at the same time outsmart you with her intelligence and cunning. She is a fascinating character and even at the end of the film your not sure if she was the murderer or not, despite the case supposedly being solved. It is also fun to see her manipulate Detective Curran so easily, despite him thinking he is in control. Michael Douglas also gives a solid performance in this although his character is somewhat cliché. He plays the psychologically disturbed cop who has too many vices and people think he’s crazy. When he really stands out though is in his interactions with Sharon Stone because you know he has no clue how badly he is being manipulated. Something interesting I noticed when I was doing some research for this write up is that Michael Douglas has starred in all 3 of the highest grossing erotic thrillers (Fatal Attraction, Basic Instinct and Disclosure) according to Box Office Mojo. I guess these are the types of films he really likes to make.

So all in all Basic Instinct is arguably the best Erotic-Thriller ever made and one of the best Mystery/Thriller’s in modern film history. Paul Verhoeven put together a sort of homage to Alfred Hitchcock but with his own unique twist that makes it such a mesmerizing film to watch. So if your looking for a Mystery/Thriller  that features a great story, fantastic performances and a cool visual style Basic Instinct comes highly recommended.


MY RATING-

4.5 out of 5

-Chris “Da Franchize” Hart

Scenes of the Crime: Chris Reviews Cop Land

Cop Land was a movie that took me by surprise. I had heard good things about it but with Sylvester Stallone in the lead there were certain assumptions I made going into watching the film. I expected It to be an over the top Crime/Action film that would be enjoyable but not have a lot of substance to it. Having just finished watching the film for the first time I have to say that all of my assumptions were wrong.

One of the first things I really liked about the film was the basic premise. If you have not seen the film the basic plot is that in New Jersey a bunch of New York City Cops have set up a community for their families to live in safety. Sylvester Stallone plays the Sheriff of the town who wanted to be in the NYPD but because of an act of heroism he lost his hearing in one of his ears and could not make the force. The conflict of course is that  many of these Cops are tied up with the Mob and have participated in some shady stuff that Internal Affairs is investigating. Sheriff Freddy Heflin (Sylvester Stallone) must decide if he will continue to let these guys run his town or step up and be a real cop.  

The Cast is pretty loaded with Sylvester Stallone, Robert De Niro, Harvey Keitel, Ray Liotta, Peter Berg, Robert Patrick, John Spencer and Janeane Garofalo to name a few. That being said this is still Sylvester Stallone’s movie which is surprising considering the talent in the cast. Not only does he play the lead but he gives arguably the best performance of his career. There is some solid character development as he goes from pushover Sheriff who lets these City Cops run his town to eventually standing up and trying to be the real hero that he knows he can be. He manages to avoid the over the top acting he tends to settle into and gives a very compelling but subdued performance. The rest of the actors all have supporting roles but there really is not a bad performance out of the bunch. I honestly had not seen Peter Berg act outside of one episode of Curb Your Enthusiasm when he fights Larry David and I thought he was pretty good in this. Robert Patrick was fun as a very seedy cop and henchman to Harvey Keitel and Robert De Niro helped lend a sense of legitimacy as he is the go to guy for crime movies. He also has an awesome scene with Stallone (the “YOU BLEW IT” scene).

While the performances are pretty great and the story is very interesting the pacing is a bit jumbled and occasionally drags. I feel like this tends to happen a lot in Mob movies because there are just so many characters that none get enough time to really shine. Sylvester Stallone and Ray Liotta are the only characters that feel dynamic and the rest feel more like stereotypes of cops and mobsters rather than well-developed characters.

This was a great start to director James Mangold's career (his second film) and it would be fun to see him try his hand in the genre again someday. There are some very great moments in this film that make it highly enjoyable and there are a lot of good performances. Unfortunatly they were not written particularly well which is really the major flaw with this film and prevents it from becoming a classic and makes it simply a very good crime movie.

 MY RATING-

4 out of 5           

 

-Chris "Da Franchize" Hart

Weekly Movie News 2/4-2/8

We are entering a new phase in the history of blogging. From this day on Two Dudes Doing Movie Reviews will have new content daily. We are evolving from simply two dudes reviewing the latest films in theaters to full blown analysts of the film industry. I hope the somewhat sarcastic tone is clear in the writing but if not then now you know. So you may be wondering what this new post is about. Basically once a week on Fridays either Kevin or Me will recap the big stories in the film industry that week and briefly discuss it. This will be a part of our larger plan to start several series of weekly posts that will provide enough content to have something new up everyday. So without further ado here is this weeks Movie News!

1. Han Solo and Boba Fett get spin off movies-

This was the big news this week as Disney begins there destruction of the Star Wars franchise. Don’t get me wrong I love the Star Wars films but I honestly don’t want to see any more. This is a bad sign for the rest of the films that are planning on being made as Disney is making their intentions clear that it is all about milking the franchise for all its worth.

2. Christopher McQuarrie set to direct Mission Impossible 5-

I really don’t know what to think about this yet. I enjoyed Jack Reacher (his latest film)  but I thought the direction was OK not great and the writing was pretty bad. He is definitely a step down from Brad Bird who did a great job with Mission Impossible 4. I really don’t have high expectations for MI 5 and this signing does not change that.






 
3. Justice League Movie in trouble?

Apparently the script that Will Beall (writer of Gangster Squad ....sigh) wrote is getting thrown out because its terrible (big surprise). I have a feeling this movie is going to be stuck in development hell for a long time (I think it has been already). It appears D.C. is going to continue losing the war to Marvel for the foreseeable future.   


4. Chris Pratt gets lead human role in Guardians of the Galaxy-

It is really weird to look at the evolution of Chris Pratt’s career. He went from idiot Musician/Shoe Shine Guy on Parks and Recreation to playing Scott Hatteberg in Moneyball, being in Zero Dark Thirty and now getting cast as a lead in one of the next big Marvel movies. I really don’t know what to think of Guardians of the Galaxy, I never read the comic and it seems like very obscure Sci-fi (no offense to fans). This seems like something that will either be really cool or really bad (think Fantastic Four).


5. EW new Star Trek photos and potential character leak-

EW did a spread on Star Trek Into Darkness that included some new photos that don’t really reveal anything new. That being said apparently in their description of the Issue it refers to the cover as Kirk and Khan. I don’t know if that was just a person making a mistake or if they have some knowledge we don’t, but it is yet another tidbit of information that drives us fanboys crazy.



6. Die Hard 6?

 In an interview on a BBC talk show Bruce Willis was asked if there would be a Die Hard 6 and apparently he said yes. I really cant have an opinion on this yet until I see A Good Day to Die Hard. That being said this is yet another franchise that I think needs to end. I really was not a fan of Live Free or Die Hard (Kevin is though). I am really having to work hard to excite myself for the newest one so I cant even begin to think about a Die Hard 6 yet.

7. Sean Bean cast in Jupiter Ascending-

This film continues to look more and more interesting to me. It is the latest film being made by the Wachowski’s (Cloud Atlas, the Matrix) and the plot sounds very interesting. The cast already had Mila Kunis and Channing Tatum which did not look terribly exciting but the addition of one of the all time Bad Asses of modern film in Sean Bean makes it a hell of a lot more interesting.


8. Bryan Cranston and Elizabeth Olsen join the cast of Godzilla-

This new Godzilla film is really starting to look pretty cool. They got an interesting young director in Gareth Edwards (Monsters) to take the helm and now the edition of Bryan Cranston who has been great in just about everything (Breaking Bad, Drive, Malcolm in the Middle) makes the film even more exciting. The addition pf Elizabeth Olsen is interesting but I have not seen her in anything recent to have an opinion on her addition to the cast.

9. Paul Walker to star in a new Hitman movie-
Why? There is absolutely no demand for this film. The first film sucked and they obviously have no desire to make the next one any good as the casting of Paul Walker would indicate and again NO ONE WANTS THIS MOVIE!






 10. New poster for 42!





















Hope you enjoyed the first of many new series of articles to be featured here on Two Dudes Doing Movie Reviews. See you tomorrow!

-Chris “Da Franchize” Hart

  

Chris Reviews Bullet to the Head

As I mentioned in my review of The Last Stand, 2013 is really shaping up to be the year of 80's action movies. We had The Last Stand, Bullet to the Head and in two weeks a new Die Hard movie. Was this a bad ass Stallone action movie or another let down? Find out below.....

The Good-

Damn this movie was actually pretty bad ass! I have to give credit to the guy who did the sound mixing for this because every punch and impact in this movie is painful. You really get the sense that people are getting the shit kicked out of them in this. The action was actually pretty good at least from a pure violence standpoint. I also enjoyed the constant insults that Stallone and Kang throw at each other. Jason Momoa gives a sort of fun performance as the evil henchman that makes me hope he does more stuff like this cause that dude is pretty huge and scary looking. This is definitely a mans movie as it is littered with bad ass fights, gore and lots of naked women.

The Bad-

The story is about as cliche as you can get. Essentially it is about a hitman named James Bonomo nicknamed Jimmy Bobo (yes that is his name) who along with his partner kill a former cop. The cops former partner comes to investigate the murder and teams up with Stallone to help take down the guys who hired the hit. So the story is pretty cliche and the acting is pretty bad as well but that was to be expected. Not only is the acting bad though, but none of the characters are very likeable either and the whole film has a very withdrawn and bleak feel to it.

Summary-

This is your standard Sylvester Stallone action film that really isn't doing anything new. Still this is a genre that I always enjoy and the film is made well enough to have some fun. The fights are violent and the comedy is sporadically funny. This is a solid film to watch with your buddies late at night.

MY RATING-

3 out of 5

- Chris "Da Franchize" Hart