The story unfolds and feeds you the life of these characters “post-facto”, alcoholic father, divorced family, loss, and failures. The protagonists are played by Joel Edgerton and Tom Hardy, the latest who’s fame grew after his role in Inception and his upcoming portrayal of Bane in the next Christopher Nolan adaptation of Batman, The Dark Knight Rises. Tom Hardy is one of these actors that goes all the way in order to get the role, he goes through actual physical transformation and he plays it real though in Warrior.

The movie is mature and is somewhat inspiring. Possible spoiler, but the drive of the film is that the two fighters that end up in the finale are brothers. Both fighting for their honor and the prize money. You feel that they both deserve to win, but you’re shown that family ties a so strong that they can overcome almost anything. There is an entire sub-plot with one of the brothers who was in the military, whereas the other was a physics school teacher. The broken family and the past of their father, played by Nick Nolte, is a great portrayal of how bad things can get before they can get better.

I’ll give Warrior a few thumbs up, it’s a definite “Must Watch” in my book, it goes past the silliness and grounds itself in reality in a satisfying way. Watching the trailer might give you the missing incentive to get out there and watch the movie this weekend.

Rottentomatoes: 87% | Metacritic: 74/100

In order to enjoy their UltraAVX screening you must add 3$ to your regular admission price, once you step inside you immediately notice the area was built recently. The seats are a bit more spaced, they’re leathered and can be reclined a bit. The screen is definitely larger and the digital picture quality is really satisfying. The promos say we’re enjoying 7.1 surround sound and I can tell you that for Super 8, it was worth it.

Also consider the fact that the tickets you buy include reserved seating. The best scenario is if you purchase your tickets online and get to reserve a row for you friends and not having to worry you’ll get the worse seats (even if you run late into the previews).

I feel like all the rooms should be this great in a movie theater. But the premium price starts to take it’s toll if it’s a 3D movie, because they add an other 3$ for these showings. For now I’ll enjoy this kind of screening on a Tuesday evening where prices are reduced.

The movie is a fun ride and I highly recommend it. Fans of prior movies will recognize to nods and famous quotes from the series and there are legitimate “oh snap” moments. In my book this is the last of the summer feeling movies of the season, grab it in theater while you still can.

IMDB: 8/10 | Rottentomatoes: 82% | Metacritic: 68/100

First off, I must say that I knew nothing from the source material, I’ve seen how he looked in the comics and I had basic knowledge of Norse mythology (Odin, Loki, Thor, Asgard and Ragnarök). So with all that, when I saw the first trailers for this movie I was very skeptical. Even with the latest TV spots I was not sold on the movie’s potential. The premise of the movie is presented simply: Thor used to be a big shot in his world until his father Odin exiled him to Earth. He is taken out of his element and stripped from his powers. But that is not really how the movie starts, you get to enjoy a full initial chapter in the other realms where Thor and his warrior friends fight and kick ass.

In many ways, this movie’s sets and costumes can be very annoying. They either looked fabricated for a movie set or where essentially CG elements. But it can be forgiven when you understand that this movie tries to be funny above everything else. There are silly characters, poor one-liners but they serve their purpose gracefully. Chris Hemsworth who plays Thor has invested a great deal to the gym and thankfully has very few lines to say, how often does your main character also serve as comic relief.

Now what is so special about this movie? It clearly binds together other Marvel properties by making references to Iron Man, The Incredible Hulk and cameoed Hawkeye played by Jeremy Renner.

Times again I fall back on my feelings on how to judge a movie. It doesn’t take itself too seriously and I fear the marketing failed to let audiences figure out the scope of this movie. It’s a movie about family, friendship and redemption. I felt I could relate to that and was entertained until the end. Make sure to stick past the credits for the usual stinger tying this movie with others ramping up to the release of The Avengers in 2012 that will feature all the characters they’ve spent millions presenting on the big screen. I almost forgot about Nathalie Portman… well that’s all there is to say really. She had the opportunity to matter as a love interest and I did not buy it, and didn’t care. Haha!

Visually outstanding along with the usual gratuitous eye-candy in the form or girls and cars. This film also brings back most of the original cast while integrating some characters for subsequent movies. The movie is silly and there is nothing wrong with it. It’s action packed and is a great outset for the summer.

This film screams of geek themes, steam-powered zombies, samurai, dragons, orcs and androids. Along it’s punchy soundtrack this movie hits actions beats  from the start. It doesn’t linger on plot details, but you have to be able to fill in the blanks and enjoy the ride. You are taken through the imagination of these girls, that have to overcome a series of obstacles in order to achieve freedom, but instead of being presented with their literal challenge the movie turns it into an epic battle. The trailer below illustrates best what you can expect through most of the film.

Please take note that the conclusion is stunning and even on my best days I could not of predicted. One thing to always keep and mind is that you have all the tools you need. Always. Now get out there and do something!

Our first interaction with him is a bullet to the chest. Aside from character development and that annoying kid that I loved to hate, the movie shows off how cool aliens can be, unclear of what technology they might be using. Indicating how out of reach they are, and how miserable we truly are in the grand scheme of things. Sadly, the movie fails at having the message come across to the general public. As shown in this poster, what I’ve liked the best about the movie was how bad ass the giant “robot” was. The Day the Earth Stood Still is a clever reference to how the movie ends, but you should go read 13 WTF Moments From ‘The Day The Earth Stood Still’ Remake that demonstrates many confusing and geeksome moments of the movie. [Spoilers] It’s clear that Jaden Smith doesn’t want to be a cute little kid as seen in The Pursuit of Happiness, I would of smacked him multiple times during the movie. I even dared to say that if he were to die during the movie Klattu should NOT revive him. If he wants to save the Earth he should start by getting rid of that one first. I digress, I love kids in general!

My City Screams

I have no idea why people have been bashing at The Spirit. I’ve found it to be very entertaining. It’s true that the visual style it’s been granted would scream Sin City 2. The story was pretty good, that hero of the city that seems to recover from any wounds. Unlike Wolverine from the X-Men he can get a beating and doesn’t heal on the spot. The character actually ends up on the operation table quite often. But what was the brink of death is now only a matter of getting a new outfit that was worn out during the latest fight. Samuel L. Jackson plays the role of the demented villain called The Octopus who seeks immortality. There is an underlying love story between the main character and a female thief that turns out to be his high-school sweetheart.

Themes of this movie turn out to be quite interesting, where Frank Miller visits Greek mythology, genetic manipulation, life after death and what it is to be a total heartthrob to the ladies. It’s a bit on the short side, and it’s not like you’ll be blown away by the actions sequences, but you’ll have a fun time. Because there are parts that are simply hilarious.

However, if you’re not in the “graphic novel” scene, you might wait on Watchmen to get your mind blown away.

The movie stars Leonardo DiCaprio and Russel Crowe, it’s an action-spy-drama. So from the very first scene my mind started wandering off as to why in God’s name are they making a movie about the War on Terror[ists] and how Hollywood keeps dishing out movies related to various threats around the world. When will the Russians come back as top dawgs bad guys? Never mind the personal thoughts, this movie has some serious  story behind it, and if you’re not paying attention you will miss out on a lot of the intrigue. It’s called Body of Lies for many reasons, there are many lies and betrayals that turn out to be quite surprising and keep you on high alert. There is a cute love interest in the movie and even some light comic relief that helps the audience get away from the heavy subject of the movie: What are we doing in the Middle East? Our hero has been living there and knows how to work cases, he puts his trust into people and doesn’t like when bureaucrats screw up a good plan. Overall the movie depicts what I would believe to be a very credible situation and how the government is/might be dealing with it.

It’s not for the faint of heart and the final act is heart wrenching (Braveheart level). Really not a popcorn flick, can’t sit down to relax and follow the ride, it’s bumpy, tricky and very tasteful (see Eagle Eye if you need action packed stuff). I would recommend you seeing this movie to spur up some discussions among friends, the ending is as open as the reality on which it is based. I really appreciate where DiCaprio is going with his career (The Departed, Blood Diamonds) because I can finally put away his performance in Titanic and forget all about it.

Actors sent in the heart of Vietnam have to shoot a big budget film, the director decides to drop them in the jungle to get more realism and hopefully save the movie. However they encounter very real trouble when a young drug lord doesn’t want Americans to interfere. There were even a few fake trailers at the beginning of the movie to set the characters and it was funny from beginning to end. Many lines and subjects presented by this movie may very well offend you and you’ll have a lot of “WTF?!” moments. You’ll be grossed out too. But it’s very clever, the way the story is told is very compelling and you feel the overall experience was a fun ride. Even if The Dark Knight is a must see for this summer, Tropic Thunder would end up on that list too. DON’T WAIT!

Please notice “Black Downey Jr” in the poster, the fact that Robert Downey Jr plays an actor, that plays the role of a black man did not offend me. Also the use of the word “retard” through the entire movie was not meant to be offensive in any way. I’ve heard that some groups were up in arms about that issue. In the movie, they reference an actor playing a “retard” but I wonder if they were upset about the word itself? Because they make fun of farting fat people, drug addicts, closeted gay stars and rich Hollywood producers. Your thoughts?

It is now clear to me that not all Direct-to-DVD movies are made equal. You have the cream of the crop like Stargate Continuum, heck even The Butterfly Effect 2 shines in contrast to the new Scorpion King movie.

After watching that 90 minutes low budget cheese ball I really felt offended to what they had done to this franchise. Seriously… to be offended to what they did to the Scorpion King means they really jumped the shark. Off the bat, this movie has no connection what so ever to it’s predecessor, aside being possibly in the same universe where Acadians are fearless warriors that look forward to be part of an elite unit called the black scorpion.

I would suggest skipping this film altogether, unless you have a lot of free time on your hands. It’s all about that young warrior that trains in the hopes of one day avenge the death of his father. He battles the Minautor, ventures into the Underworld to bring back the Sword of Damocles, only weapon capable of defeating the current “evil” scorpion king (yes bad guy ends up being the king). He has sidekicks of all types, very forgettable dialogue, weak action sequences… I do consider the benefits of this movie, as it provided an income to the cast and crew… that might be the only upside.