Category: Reviews
Ghost Rider Spirit of Vengeance: Review
This sequel to the 2007 comic book feature stars Nicholas Cage and directed by Mark Neveldine and Brian Taylor. Johnny Blaze makes a deal with the devil in return for his soul. Now he rides around on his flaming motorcycle as the Ghost Rider, punishing the wicked for their evil ways. Now feeling as though he can’t be trusted around the ones he loves, he travels over the Eastern Europe to get away. Soon after he gets thrown into a situation where he has to stop the devil himself from taking over the body of a young boy.
I take back a previous statement I made in a recent review about Marvel excelling in the Live Action feature department. This one really hurt their cred. Don’t get me wrong, I’m a sucker for a comic book movie but his was a big miss for me and I’ll tell you why. Nicholas Cage. The first go around wasn’t spectacular either but it was way more tolerable than this movie. There’s only so many bad “flaming head” quips and puns one can take. This was my limit. Sure there were some improvements. The visual effects of Ghost Rider himself looked to be alot better and the bike he rides is charred and more realistic than the wildly exaggerated chrome skull version.The improvements pretty much stop there. The directors of the film (same duo that directed Crank) try to use their fast paced style of filmmaking here and it just didn’t transfer well at all. Ghost Rider is so visually appealing and I think would do really well if given the right story, director and (dare I say it?) NO NICHOLAS CAGE. If you’re a comic book movie fan and HAVE to see this movie just because then go ahead but you have been warned. Other than that, I would say Redbox it or skip it all together.
The Grey: Review
Directed by Joe Carnahan and starring Liam Neeson, The Grey is about a group of oil drillers that get stranded in the Alaskan snow after their plane crashes, killing most of the people aboard. The number of survivors is small as it is but continues to get smaller as they battle two enemies. The frigid Alaskan weather and a pack of deadly wolves that pick the group off one by one.
Let me just start off by saying, if I’m ever in a predicament where I need to be rescued from any sort of disaster then I hope its by Liam Neeson. That guy is like Superman or something. This movie grabs you almost immediately and throws you right into the action. Joe Carnahan does a spectacular job at shaping the wolves as a perfect group of villians. He made them ruthless, violent and almost sadistic. I was literally saying “Man, that wolf is such an asshole. I hope they kill it” (Sorry PETA). Neeson has shown that a older guy can still be a successful action star and kick major ass. He almost reminds me of what Charles Bronson was in Death Wish (Carnahan is actually set to remake that flick. Lets hope he picks Neeson for it). Right after the plane crashed in the movie he was the “go to” guy. He was the leader of the pack so to speak. I think the best part was the ending. You know that there was going to be a face to face showdown at some point and the build up to that was intense. Showing both man and animal preparing to do battle was the perfect finale. It leaves you with a small bit for your imagination. This flick is a definite watch! Go do it already!
SIDE NOTE: Wait for a small scene after the credits.
Justice League Doom: Review
The Justice League is a group of superheroes with unspeakable power. What would happen if they started to use that power against humanity? That’s the exact question Batman asked himself. He prepares a contingency plan that can stop every member of the Justice League in case any or all members go rogue. The Legion of Doom (Bane, Star Sapphire, Metallo, Ma’alefa’ak, Mirror Master and Cheetah) led by Vandal Savage get a hold of those plans and one by one slowly start taking down each member of the Justice League. Once Batman realizes what’s happening, its up to him to help each hero and stop the Legion of Doom from destroying half of Earths’ population with a solar flare from the sun created by Savage himself.
DC has a great thing going with their animated feature division. Marvel excels at live action films but DC takes the cake in this department (but lets not forget about the Chris Nolan Batman franchise though). This flick isn’t one of the best I’ve seen from them but its still ten times better than any animated film Marvel has put out. The biggest plus for me is when they are able to get the voice actors from the animated TV series back for these movies. They MAKE the movie. They give life to these characters and do an excellent job at it. I couldn’t think of anyone else that could do Batman and Superman besides Kevin Conroy and Tim Daly. I can’t forget to give credit to Michael Rosenbaum and Nathan Fillion for voicing Flash and Green Lantern respectively. They both give a certain amount of “smartassery” (yes, I just made that up.) to each character and it suits them well. My only complaint about this feature is it seemed like there was not enough time and too many characters to properly tell the story in detail. Some parts felt a bit rushed but understandably so. With that being said, I would still recommend this movie and any other future DC movie to anyone else. Job well done DC!
Justice League: Doom is available February 28, 2012 on Bluray and DVD
The Lie: Review
Directed and Starring Joshua Leonard (Blair Witch Project), The Lie shows us the life of Lonnie (Leonard) and how he feels stuck in a rut. He’s a married man with a six month old little girl and realizes his life isn’t the way he quite pictured it. On whim he decides to call into work and tell his boss he can’t make it into work because his daughter is sick. He then goes out and plays “hooky” for the day and enjoys himself. He enjoys himself so much that he decides to do it again the next day but scrambles for an excuse while on the phone and tells his boss his 6 month old daughter died the previous night. He starts to gain sympathy from everyone around him because of this lie and somewhat enjoys the benefits a tad. What comes next is a journey of regret and self discovery as a husband and father.
It has an interesting premise and that’s what attracted me to this flick. The acting is fair and it has a well rounded cast. The filmmakers did a good job at excluding the lie from any synopsis or description because I don’t think I would’ve sat through it if I would’ve known. It was kind of off-putting to know that even after Lonnie told the lie he kind of just went along with it. I’m not one to be appalled by subject matter in a film or anything of that nature. I think that if it serves a purpose to help the story along then fine but I think this was done just to get the cheap “shock” factor in. It worked to a certain degree but not in the way they probably wanted or expected. Although the underlining message was understandable, the rest of the film felt like a long complaint letter about the characters’ life thus far. I would say, if you’re curious then go right ahead and give it a view but other than that you should wait till it hits IFC at 2am and DVR it.
