1.1.2010

1. The Marine 2

2. WWE: No Mercy 2007



Seemed like a wrestling theme would be a decent start for the new year. The Marine 2 is WWE Films' latest attempt to turn one of their superstars into a movie star. Initially, the film was going to star Randy Orton but when time to film came around, he was out with an injury. Rather than delay filming, they went with young Ted DiBiase. It was something of a weird choice since he's still fairly new to the company and is currently not one of the more popular grapplers on the scene. At any rate, he turned in a decent enough performance given the type of flick this was. It's definitely a throwback to the action flicks of the 80s with tons of violence, explosions and gunplay. You can turn your brain off at the door for this one as not much thought is going to be required on your part.

WWE: No Mercy 2007 was my next choice. WWE champion John Cena had just suffered a pretty serious injury and was slated to be out for 6-12 months. The title was vacated so this event was something of a reset for that particular part of the company. So, out of this, we got a title match to ultimately determine the new champion. We also had some tag team action, a women's match and the dreaded Punjabi Prison match. Ooooh,scary stuff. All in all, it wasn't a bad event nor was it anything really memorable. It's pretty standard fare for one of the non-Big 4 WWE pay-per-views.

2010: A Year in DVD

I'm not much of a new year's resolution kinda guy but I suppose you could refer to this as one. I've been a dvd owner since October of 2002. As those 7 years have gone on, I've amassed one hell of a collection. Being a movie geek like I am, it was virtually impossible not to. I've got more movies than an average person could watch in a lifetime. Seriously. Even if a geek like myself were to watch a single dvd every single day, it would take decades to watch everything I own. That doesn't mean I'm not going to try. Thus, 2010 is going to be devoted to dvd. I fully intend to watch at least one dvd a day from January 1st through December 31st. This blog is going to switch from a review blog to a blog tracking what I'm watching. I might still drop an occasional review but that won't be what this is about. I might post thoughts about what I've watched and I might not. I guess it all depends on my mood when I'm updating.

12 Rounds

12 Rounds is the latest action vehicle produced by WWE Films. This one stars perennial top dog John Cena. In his first flick, Cena portrayed a former US Marine. In this one, he plays Danny Fisher, a New Orleans police officer. While patrolling the streets one night, Fisher and his partner wind up involved in an FBI pursuit of notorious arms dealer Miles Jackson. As fate has it, Fisher manages to apprehend Jackson but in the process Jackson's girlfriend is killed. Flash forward one year later and Jackson has broken out of prison to exact his revenge on Fisher.

Alright...first of all, 12 Rounds is not a good movie. Is it an entertaining movie? Sure. It's not the type of movie that will spark endless debate amongst friends. It is the type of movie that might spark a drinking game however. Everytime something completley implausible happens, take a shot. I guarantee that within 20 minutes, you'll be suffering from acute alcohol poisoning. Cena's last flick suffered from this as well. I think it kind of ties into his WWE persona. At one point in this movie, a character takes control of a helicopter. Now, how this character knows how to pilot a helicopter is absolutely beyond me. It's certainly not mentioned in the script. It just kind of happens. Odd. If there is one thing this movie does well, it's mindless action. Shit, between Jackson and Fisher, the two combine to practically destroy the city of New Orleans. There are lots of explosions, car chases and gunplay. You've got a falling freight elevator and an out of control trolley car. The director of this is Renny Harlin. Harlin had a good string of action flicks in the 80s and 90s so the man definitely knows his stuff in that regard. He's probably most well known for Die Hard 2. Story-wise, this one takes a Die Hard-esque twist in the last reel that I probably should have seen coming but somehow missed. Must have been dazzled by the pretty fire.

To sum it up, 12 Rounds is a mindless action flick. If you have a tolerance for that kind of thing, you'll probably dig this. If you prefer your flicks to make you think, it might be for the best to skip this one.

Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull

Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull

Before watching this movie tonight, I had been literally foaming at the mouth with anticipation. I'd managed to miss it during its theatrical run and it won't be hitting store shelves for a couple of weeks. When one of my sources offered me the opportunity to finally see it, I jumped at the chance. All day at work all I could think of was getting home, pulling up on the couch and settling in to see this. After an excessively long day, the time had finally arrived.

This flick was one of the most hyped of the summer. It had been 19 years since the last installment in the series. People wondered if Harrison Ford could still pull it off given his advanced age. Seeing as how the first three movies are some of the most beloved movies out there, this one seemed like it was going to have a tough time ahead of it. And when it hit theaters, it did. There were a lot of negative reviews. People said it was too campy and over-the-top. People were disappointed by the use of CGI in some scenes. The general consensus was that it was a disappointment. These days however, people find reason to complain about just about everything.

Personally, I enjoyed this one. It's not the best movie ever. Nor is it even the best Indiana Jones flick. However, it's an enjoyable way to spend two hours. Upon first seeing Ford on the screen, the first thought in my mind was "Damn, he looks old.". For an older guy though, he sure manages to pull off what many thought was impossible. Once he sprang into action, I was taken back 20 years. He's still as solid as ever in the role. The rest of the cast here is solid with Shia LaBeouf cast as Mutt Williams, a young Marlon Brando wannabe who may or may not be Indy's son. Karen Allen returns almost 30 years later and, amazingly enough, looks better now than she did then. Cate Blanchett is solid (and sexy) as the villainess Col. Dr. Irina Spalko. She looks like she's having a good time, engaging in high speed chases and sword fights. The story is thematically similar to the earlier flicks in the series. Indy is on a quest to find something while the bad guys are chasing after the same item and trying to stop him. Typical stuff. Not to say that it's bad. Not by any means. It's interesting enough. Sure, there are some silly parts but let's face it....isn't the thought of a grown man on a quest to find treasure kind of silly in and of itself? The action sequences are generally the highlights in these movies and this is true here. I particularly enjoyed the one in the warehouse to kick things off. Good stuff.

Wrapping up, let me just say that I enjoyed this movie. If I were 12 again like I was when I saw The Last Crusade, I'd probably love it. The simple fact is, the older you get the tougher it is to accept new versions of the things you loved growing up. To me that explains the hatred towards remakes and sequels that are separated by many years. And it explains the negativity towards this one. I say see it for yourself. See it with an open mind. And sit back and enjoy the ride since it's not as bumpy as many folks would have you believe.

Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull gets a 7/10.

The gist...

Welcome to my blog. I've already got a personal blog plus many other places where I vent so this one is going to be a bit different. Here's what I've got in mind...

Earlier this year, I started writing short reviews at a website called DVD Spot. I started to get really into it and actually looked forward to writing a review as soon as I finished whatever I'd been watching. They had a system in place where other users could rate reviews as "helpful" or "not helpful". Unfortunately, I seemed to have invoked anger in one particular user as most of my reviews were quickly met with at least one "not helpful" vote. Site admins looked into the situation and saw that it was one person with a vendetta so they removed his votes and restored everything. As time went on, it started happening again. This time, the admins did nothing because the site was more or less being ignored. So, rather than waste my time on work that some no-talent ass-clown could bash, I chilled out with the reviews. Now, DVD Spot is closing down for good. On October 15th, the site will cease to exist. I had to act quickly to find a home for my reviews. My good friend Lillian went out of her way to copy and paste every single one of my reviews and saved them to her blog. She didn't have to do that, but she did. She went waaaay above and beyond for me. Thanks to her, I was able to do this. What you have here is the new home for my movie reviews. Underneath this introductory post is the complete archive of 144 reviews. From 10,000 B.C. to Zodiac. Not to pat myself on the back, but some are pretty good. Others are fairly short and pointless. The wordier ones are the more recent ones. The shorter they are, the earlier they were written. For the most part, anyway.

At any rate, I intend to use this to post new reviews whenever I do start writing again. The format here looks as though I could do some pretty cool stuff. I intend to. Just stick around and see what I have to offer.