Worst of Comic Con 2010

I have already done a small post on some of the standout moments of this years Comic Con so I have figured why not do some of the big let downs or just horrible moments of this years biggest geek event.

Lack of Costumes: Comic Con is famous for its cosplay, Its a place that anyone can dress up and basically feel at home. But this year I noticed that the costumes seemed to be far and few. Given with the amount of people that attend comic con you still see a solid amount of Jokers and Deadpools and whatever else but at the same time I was not alone in thinking this year had a lack of costumes. I hope that it was just brought on by the semi cold and dark weather that surrounded San Diego this year.

 One of my personal favorites Toph

Swag Hags: As much as I love Swag it has become more and more about the straight up Marketing then it has been about the cool swag. Instead of putting thought and imagination into what they are handing out, We are just being splattered with papers or stickers which for the most part no body wants. What happens to all this junk they are feeding the thousands of people who are entering the Con? It all finds its way onto the streets on San Diego. What a waste. Plus I really dont care about being handed a paper about a restaurant that has a "special comic con menu" because I already know the prices have been raised and the menu has been shortened. This is just a waste of space, time and paper.

Hall H Scheduling: I know this was a big one among most anyone that attended Hall H let alone Comic Con period. The Panel scheduling was just bizarre this year. Thursday was packed pretty well with Tron but then we found our way to Friday which for some reason had Not a single Huge event. Instead Saturday was packed full. You had to be in line even earlier then normal in terms of Hall H waiting. Marvel also ended the night on saturday so you know the line was solid all day long. I just dont know why they wouldnt have scheduled something like Harry Potter on Friday instead of cramming it in with all the other Saturday events. One little Pro to this was my group was able to just walk right into Hall H on friday for the Super and suckerpunch panels, Which i have never seen before. That was pure shock.

 Waiting line for Hall H.

Lack of Surprises: Not everyone would agree with me on this one, specially after we had the stand out Marvel panel. But i must say it was a very sad time after i realized we never heard news on "Spider Man" "Star Trek 2" "Super 8" or "X-Men: First Class" Which i know i really shouldn't have expected any of these things but I really wanted one of these to surprise me and make my day. But that just didnt happen this year. Nor did much of any other huge announcements. We did reached the news about the Haunted Mansion and Pirates 4 and so on but that stuff didnt hit as hard as it should have.

Harry Potter Panel: By no means do i think the footage they gave us was poor. I honestly can not wait to finish this movie series off. The preview they gave us was very cool and the first time I have seen much of anything for the Deathly Hallows, But the sad thing about all of this was. None of the main cast attended the panel. Which I felt bad for all the folks who waited in line to attend only to see some footage(That most die hard fans had probably already seen) and to see Tom Felton who plays Draco Malfoy, The kid did a nice job but seriously He was the only person to care enough to show up? Not even a producer of the film let alone the Director David Yates? Horrible play on WB's part or whoever is to blame.

Resident Evil Afterlife: I dont really know how to put into words how horrible this panel was. Simply put I've never watched a worst car wreck in my life. I feel a bit bad for Milla Jovovich, Who i seriously enjoy as an actress for the most part. But this film series is only getting worst as it goes on. Milla came out with Ali and Paul to show off a clip from the movie, in which she had stated how awesome this clip is. We then watched a horrible CGI filled Slow mo green screen? Something. We watched as Milla and Ali killed off I would guess one of the main villains of the movie and probably one of the main fight scenes against (Resident evil 5 the video games) "The Executioner" which was shot in 3D with water falling down and so on. Nothing was well done in this clip and once it had stopped Milla told the audience that this wasn't the clip she thought would be playing and she was thinking of another awesome scene. Horrible.

Milla Knows somethings wrong!

Hall H Stabbing: So right after the worst panel in comic con history we had the worst incident in Comic Con history as about five rows in front of me some guy Knocked another man out and they went to the floor in a brawl. It took 5 minutes just to get the ushers to the fight scene. Then another 10 or so for the security to show... Then finally the cops. This whole event killed about an hour in Hall H. It ended up being worst then i had thought even after i walked over to the fight (I didn't get involved as it seemed others had already did so) A man was stabbed in the face with a pen. Yes a flipping Pen. As the guy was taken out on a stretcher right past me about a half hour after the start of the incident, I could see his face clearly. It looked as if he was crying blood. Crazy event to nearly end Hall H for the year(thankfully we received some great stuff after this including the marvel panel)

The Incident.

I think that this is enough Cons for  Comic Con 2010. I know I skipped other things but for me these are all the big downers of the year. I hope some of this stuff will be fixed next year and i hope stuff like this never happens again( Harry potter with nearly no cast or crew, Really?) Hope for a better and less Stabby event at Comic Con 2011.

With this post I do feel as If i should point out that Comic Con 2010 was still amazing and full of fun and great times. But everything always has a dark side.

Sean @ the Movies: Salt and a few oldies

So this week's new release movie was Salt, a movie directed by Phillip Noyce and stars Angelina Jolie. This movie was originally suppose to star Tom Cruise, but he backed out and they re-wrote it for a female lead. And I think that she was a good choice for this movie, she has proven herself to be an action star, and this just solidifies that theory. If you have seen the trailer, you know that she is accused of being a Russian spy by a man, and she spends the rest of the movie dealing with that accusation. There are twists and turns throughout this movie, so I won't go into real detail, I don't want to spoil anything for any of you out there. I will point out one thing, if you are a fan of LOST, there is going to be one part, that is not going to surprise you at all. Anyways, back to the movie, which had some great hand to hand fight scenes, and a few good chase scenes. Like many people have already said, this really reminded me of the Bourne movies (it doesn't have the shaky hand held look, but the chase scenes and fights are very similar to the Bourne movies), not quite as good, but a decent attempt at the spy genre of films. I have to say that this is worth seeing in the theater, but if your not that into seeing it, I would say it will be worth your time to rent when it comes out on DVD or Blu Ray. I really feel like I should be writing more about this film, but I feel if I do I will tread on spoilers, so just go out and see it, and enjoy the ride.

Ok, now it's time to talk about a few older movies that I have seen. And the first one, is Year One, directed by Harold Ramis, and stars Jack Black and Michael Cera, as two prehistoric men, who go on a journey, which is supposed to be funny. But I really thought the laughs were very slim. I like to put this movie in a catagory I like to call, when bad things happen to good people (I feel bad for Michael Cera and Olivia Wilde). This was bad and I really wish I could say I hadn't watch this movie, i had some hopes it would be good considering Harold Ramis wrote and directed it.

Next up is a movie called Gigantic, directed by Matt Aselton and stars Zooey Deschanel and Paul Dano. I am fans of both of the people, so I can say I was looking forward to seeing this movie. Paul plays a man who sells mattresses and Zooey plays the daughter of a crazy rich man, with a very bad back problem, played by John Goodman. He buys a mattress from him, but sends his daughter in to finish the deal. From that point on, they develop a relationship that has it's up and downs, and the big kink in the relationship is the fact that he has been trying almost his whole life to adopt a Chinese baby. And to make things even more weird, there is a side story that involves a crazy homeless man played by Zach Galifianakis. I have to say that I really liked this film, but it's sort of one of the those weird indy romance movies, so it may not be everyone's cup of tea. I think it would be worth your time to check it out, but I understand if you don't end up liking it.

And keeping up with the indy movie vibe, the next movie is Sunshine Cleaning, directed by Christine Jeffs and stars Amy Adams as a single mom, who has a cleaning business, but due to her affair with a cop, finds out she can make some better money cleaning up at scenes of a crime. The supporting cast includes her sister played by Emily Blunt and Alan Arkin, who really puts in a great performance as her dad. It's a great story about family and what we do to make ourselves feel special. This is yet another one I am going to suggest you check out, this is one that I think all can enjoy and appreciate.

And for the last movie of this review, we are gonna completely switch gears and talk about Cop Out, a movie directed by Kevin Smith and stars Bruce Willis and Tracy Morgan. This is a throw back to the old buddy cop films of the 80's, and the fact that Harold Faltermeyer, who did the music for the  Beverly Hills Cop movies, makes it seem like you are back in the 80's. So most of you may know that I am a huge Kevin Smith fan, and I was wondering how this movie was going to turn out, considering he didn't write it, even though it did feel like he added a personal touch to a few of the scenes. So anyways, the movie is about a pair of cops who are trying to stop a drug ring, while getting a baseball card back too. Sounds a little crazy I know. But overall I thought this was an OK movie, there were some good laughs, and it was nice to see Jason Lee and Adam Brody have a few one liners here and there. If you were a fan of the eighties buddy cop flicks, this is one you are going to enjoy. I would say this is a recommend but I would go in with some low expectations, and I am sure you will like it.

So that is all for this batch of reviews. I am sure the next time I write some reviews I will go into some detail about some of the stuff that was released at Comic Con this year. But until next time, go out and see a movie

The Visitor Review

Connection is everything

Director: Thomas McCarthy
Release Date: 18 April 2008 (USA)
Rated: PG-13
Runtime: 104 min



This Tom McCarthy Drama popped into my must watch list after comic con as the leading man in the movie is Richard Jenkins who will be playing "The Father" in the American remake of Let the right one in(Let me in) and he looked perfect for that role. After watching The Visitor i must say he is a splendid actor.

Dr Walter Vale's is asked to head to New York City to attend a conference about a book he helped co write. He doesn't feel the need to attend this conference but his boss gives him no other choice but to travel to NYC.

When Walter arrives at his old place in New York he finds that some one has turned it into their home. Zainab played by Danai Jekesai is taking a bath and is scared to have Walter walk in on her. Tarek played by Haaz Sleiman is introduced in this scene as well. As the movie goes on we see Walter change as a character, Something I dont often see in movies these days or at least not done as well as it was here. Going from an old lonely man to someone who has found new meaning in his life.

The cast is wonderful and plays well with one another, The musical scenes add a nice touch of depth to the movie. Going from one music type to another as the story unfolds.

Tarek and Walter are bonding well until the cops take Tarek in after jumping the broken turnstile in the subway. The story takes another turn this time into a political crime movie, but dont let that scare you away. Tarek's mother joins us late in the film to yet again build another character and complete another.

Very hard for me to tell you about this movie as its something of character that just unfolds as you watch it, The drama part of it will definitely turn people away but if this is your type of movie it will keep you in. The music that brings the whole film together is amazing. As is the acting of Richard Jenkins as Walter.

Tom's writing is amazing given the depth of the script and the things he was able to play across in his characters is just amazing in of its self, He can make you feel emotion within the people he has in front of you without needing to really tare your heart out like most drama films do. Add that he has some fine camera work that shows of the beauty of New York City as well as nice frame work.

Learn to love and accept could be the motto in this film, Connection in people is something it does well. for this reason alone i highly recommend movie goers to enjoy the character build that this movie brings and to enjoy the bond of the visitor.

It is a crime movie of sorts as i also noticed IMDB listed it as one but dont expect it to be more crime then drama.

I understand i said Character alot in this review but that was because this movie is full of it and most people will over look it because it isnt about the Blood or sex or violence in this movie. Also a bit of a strange film to review post Comic Con but as i stated above I did have a reason because of Mr Jenkins getting the role in "Let Me In" which i think will be a perfect character for him.

Let me know if you connected with the movie or was it something you would ship away.

Best of Comic Con 2010

Well I have returned home after a great week of geeky events, they all took place in San Diego California. As comic con ruled the world for the short amount of time it was open. I want to share my favorite parts of this years comic con with you guys. SO here is my favorite moments of Comic Con 2010.

Comic con is all about Hall H and of course that means I spent most of my time in this giant cluster of geekgasm fun. Some very awesome things happened here.

The Avengers. Honestly I really should just put The Marvel panel as a whole because we kicked things off with Caption America which we actual received a tidbit of footage and shots of Capt in costume. Nice way to kick things off, Then we saw pure awesome video of Thor, Which heading into comic con i was pretty down on this movie. But after seeing the footage i must say Very impressed.
The CGI was still a bit underwhelming in scenes but given the time before release i think this could work out very well. Plus the movie still seems to have that nice mix of serious and funny that made Iron Man such a great film.

But the best moment of the Marvel panel was at the end when star after star came out on strange including Sam Jackson, Robert Downy jr and the director himself Joss Whedon. This moment was just insane, Words nor even video could tell you how things went down. Watching the video is cool and all but being there Live when it all happened was just something you had to be here live. Thank you comic con for that.

Paul. This is a little movie staring these british dudes, Simon Pegg and Nick frost from Shawn of the dead and Hott Fuzz fame. I can not put into words how awesome this movie looks. The CGI was pretty clean for being this early on. Also of course having something to do with Comic COn in the movie is always a plus. Seth Rogen is going to be an Awesome Alien. Seeing these guys on sage together to show us such a funny looking movie was a highly without doubt. If you dont know anything about this movie check it out.

Ryan Reynolds. Movie stars are cool an all but something they step above and beyond the typical "Hey" to fans or whatever makes them cool. Well Ryan Reynolds first of all was asked to speak the Green Lantern Oath from a young fan(I would say around age 6) that was simply way beyond adorable and Ryan went ahead and agve us the Oath. Which sounded Awesome. His voice is dead on for that Oath. Then he went onto sign some comics and stuff for the kid. So awesome. Really made me like Ryan even more as a person. I just hope this movie is as cool.

Live Totally Rad Show, Most everyone that reads TheBreel more than likely knows what TRS is but if you dont head over to www.revision3.com to check it out. But comic con every year is about one thing to me. Family. That is my revision3 or my TRS family and the live shows are always a time of happiness. This live show didnt disappoint as the creators of the devil with in and Lost room both made appearances, As did the TRS moms(awesome ladies that brought swag) Hanging out with everyone who waited in line and sat around me was really cool. Cant wait to do it next year as well.

Cowboys & Aliens shocked me more than probably any movie that was shown at this years comic con, It was pure awesomeness that has just begun filming. Most people expected to see director Jon Favreau come out and show us some photos from the set and what not but instead he brought out the cast of the film including for this first time ever Harrison Ford. To which the whole Hall H stood on their feet and applauded. Amazing moment in Comic Con history. Also add in the fact that we saw 8 minutes of footage, Not horrible footage either. Some people might complain that the alien attack was poor but remember people that this has only been filming for a very very short amount of time. I think it was Dave from www.geeksofdoom.com said the alien lights looked like a ride from universal studios. I would agree but given the chance to have fine cgi worked on it, this movie will be amazing.


Many many awesome things happened at comic con, but that is a very solid given. But I among others at first thought the show was going to be pretty weak, with a horrible Friday event(well lacked the huge movies of previous years) The show ended on a good note on Saturday night, not after horrible events took place.

But if you went to this years comic con what was your favorite thing?

I think i will write up a Worst of comic con as well.

Comic Con Prelude

Smell that? The hot sweaty smell of thousands of geeks about to run wild all over San Diego, It is that time once again for Comic Con International. You may ask what is CCI? it is the biggest Comic Convention in the united states or even the world at this point, but then again its not all about Comics, or even remotely for that matter anymore.

Comic con is known for its Movie and TV news with hollywood celebs talking about how much they love their fans and cant wait for them to go spend a crap ton of money on their new movie that comes out in the next year or so.

To some that might not sound all that fun but honestly comic con is a great time of the year for me, not only do i get to Geek out and see other people just as bad as I am (and horribly smelly compared to myself) but i also get to see people i consider close friends or nearly my family. That alone is worth the trip, Add in the fact that every year means you meet new people and crazy adventures. Why not enjoy comic con at least once in your life?

There is a little bit of everything for people at comic con in my honest opinion, Movies, TV, Comics, Video games, Toys, Clothes...Really everything. Take in the account that you are in San Diego so you also have other places to adventure out to. The Zoo and Beach are two places that come to mind that dont happen to be tied down to a geeky nature.

While I'm in san diego one of the things i always look forward to is the food, I mean I'm a large dude after all so of course i enjoy eating. Its always nice to try something new and in San Diego you have plenty to chose from in the week or so that you attend comic con. Plus remember you can always add a place to your favorites and make it a place to revisit every year. Bar Basic has seemed to be one of the places i enjoy a quick visit to yearly.

I wanted to make a post before i left to head to San Diego (I live Wednesday morning, will land around noon) this isnt a review of a movie or nothing its just a little ramble i have about my Vacation time.

Hopefully i will post some neat news or some pictures off and on during the trip, I have borrowed a friends iPad so i should be able to post once in awhile but seriously comic con is a very busy week. Always doing something. But at the same time waiting in line can always be a bit of a downer so that could give time to tell you how awesome Thor actually looks and im surprised because i thought i was totally going to hate the movie (or something along them lines i hope...I really hope)

Something along the lines that might actually relate to The B Reel is I do hope to put together something special for the site while im in San Diego but time and well help will depend on if anything actually comes together.

What things are you most excited about from Comic Con? Are you attending this year? Do you hope to next year?

Also a friendly remind The B Reel also has a twitter so you dont have to actually comment on the website you can @Thebreel things to us as well.

Until next time. This rambling rant of  prior comic con adventures is over.

The Crazies (2010) Review

 

Fear Thy Neighbor

Director: Breck Eisner
Release Date: 26 February 2010 (USA)
Rated: R
Runtime: 101 min

This is a remake of the 1973 movie of the same name by George A Romero (Night, Dawn and Day of the dead films and others) so in this fact alone it has a lot to live up to in my eyes. But then again the remake of Dawn of the Dead by Zack Synder in 2004 proved to me that you can change a classic and give it your own personal take, So will Breck Eisner be able to do the same in 2010?

The movies plot is near the same, This time around our main character is the town sheriff played by Timothy Olyphant (Hitman, Die hard 4, Deadwood) instead of a firefighter. Anyways we start out with what we mostly saw during the commercials and advertising campaign, Baseball. We see almost the whole town is in attendance for the home towns baseball game where everyone is have a great time until a local farmer walks onto the field holding a shotgun. Things get a bit tense and end up with a dead farmer in front of everyone in attendance.

We find out pretty fast that something is indeed in the water at Ogden Marsh, The sheriff tried to warn the mayor and get things figure out but of course things go horribly wrong. People start going crazy and kill each other.

The one thing i do want to point out this isnt a zombie film from my point of view, i see it more as a 28 days later type, They may or may not act or look as the Undead but they are more or so infected by a deadly virus. This virus that spread in the towns water supple doesn't take any time to bring the town to its knees.

Quickly the Government comes in to get their mess under control, People are taken to camps and others that are infected are taken to the high school, which leads us to one of the better scenes in the movie, A pitch fork is involved.

I dont want to go too much into the movie then i already have but it does have plenty of worth while scenes. Including the funeral home or whatever it was, the crazy doctor was a very creepy guy and one of my favorite earlier scenes in the movie. Also the Bus stop area towards the end of the film. The deaths in the movie may not really be the best or at the top of the gore factor but still some pretty decent showings.

The make up design is really good, specially as the virus spreads and infects the body for a longer period of time, thats when things get truly crazy. We get a scene later in the move at the Sherrifs house with some infected and i must say the make up was truly freaky. The CGI wasn't have bad towards the end of the film, but we did get a satellite view off and on in the movie that did seem to kind of take me out of the movie a bit but it wasn't anything horrible.

I really enjoyed the sidekick deputy played by Joe Anderson, i think he stole the show in the whole movie hands down. if for any reason i would just recommend the movie for the relationship of the sheriff/deputy that takes place in this movie. For a horror ish film i think they did a very excellent job.
We dont see too much new in this Horror thriller but we get a solid amount of action/thriller and freaky bits off and on in the movie to keep most peoples attention but toward the later half of the movie things defiantly pick up. I would have to say after the pitch fork scene things get fun and crazy.

I'm happy that George A Romero was brought on as a Producer for the movie as that made it feel a little bit more alright with me to have a remake, not that most people would even notice a thing like that.
This isnt a great movie but its a decent remake, with a solid pacing that gives us story over more gore then most films, its a movie that wants to more or so tell you a story instead of shoving blood and guts in your face at all times. Which i really like that in a movie.

I would say over all give this movie a try if you enjoy Thrillers with a bit of Zombie ish action, But remember its more along the lines of 28 days later then it is Dawn of the dead.

If you dont check out the crazies I wont hunt you down or put anything in your water supple. But no harm in giving it a chance.

Sean @ the Movies: Inception, Sorcerer's Apprentice and More

So I have had a busy few days watching some movies, so that means it is time to get all caught up while the movies are still fresh in my mind.

So first up is the big movie of this past weekend, Inception, which was written and directed by Christopher Nolan, who I have enjoyed most of his movies. I was a huge fan of Memento and I was not a huge fan of his Batman movies, I thought Dark Knight was ok, Heath Ledger was amazing, but I was really turned off by the Batman voice, which seemed to pop up in every film starring Christian Bale. So enough with my past with his stuff, let's talk about Inception. Let's just say I was hooked after seeing the first teaser trailer, the amazing images and score had me very interested. I saw a few more trailers and really stayed away from reading anything about the movie, I wanted to go in seeing this movie knowing as little as possible. All I kind of knew going in, is that my brain would be going on a strange trip and that I was going to be spending a lot of time trying to figure out what the hell was going on.

So the movie has an amazing cast with everyone giving some great performances. Leonardo DiCaprio, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Ellen Page, Marion Cotillard and many more make up the cast that helps tell the story of a man who can go inside your dreams and steal secrets, but that is just the icing on the cake. They spend a lot of time talking about how the world of dreams work (time and how they start), which was very interesting to me. There is also a story about a man trying to deal with the loss of his wife and a son trying to repair a relationship with his dad. There is more to the story than what I have said, but I really don't want to spoil anything for you in this movie. This is a movie that really need to make sure your paying attention while your watching it, plus it's gonna be a movie your gonna see a few times just to see what you may have missed the first time. Plus once you talk to some people who have seen it also, the discussions that come up, just make you want to dive into the world even more. There are some very intense scenes, but there are also some great little comedic bits to make you laugh every once in awhile. Besides the amazing cast, the cinematography (including the special effects) and score (including the great music from the teaser trailer) were also amazing, really added to the overall enjoyment of the film, especially when seeing it at the IMAX. But I do want to point out that the IMAX version really has no scenes that take advantage of the IMAX screen, it comes down to your just seeing it on a very big screen with a very good sound system.

Now I do want to point out a few negative things, first I have to admit that this movie is a little slow at the beginning, I think the time they use to sort of set up the big job in the movie, seemed to really drag. But it's not long before the really picks up, the so payoff at the end is way worth the wait. And the only real other thing I would like to point out, there were a few times in the movie, where I found it difficult to understand Ken Watanabe's character with his accent and the score fighting for your attention of your ears. I know that is kind of a weak thing to bring up, but maybe it was just me, I don't know.

So I am going to say that you should go out and see this movie (I have a feeling this is going to be very high on my top ten list at the end of the year), it's a great ride and yes your brain is going to be confused as you walk out the theater, but to me, that shows a sign of a great movie. So round up some friends and go see this movie, and then go out for dinner or drinks afterwords and let the discussions keep you entertained. And if your a person that really remembers your dreams when you wake up, or have some crazy dreams, this is just going to be more fuel for the fire.

Official IMDB page:

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1375666/

and Official page:

http://inceptionmovie.warnerbros.com/

So after talking about a great movie, it's time to talk about a few movies that were not so great. The first being, The Sorcerer's Apprentice, directed by Jon Turteltaub and starring Nicholas Cage (sorcerer) and Jay Baruchel (as his apprentice), and is based on one of the shorts from Fantasia. It's a tale of good vs evil, but in the world of magic. I had very little interest in seeing this movie, but I figured that if I am going to be more serious about this review thing, I am going to have see some bad movies. But the good news about going in not really wanting to see it, I feel it leaves my expectations low, so I think I am very likely to change my mood about the movie if it is good. Well there was really nothing in this movie to change my mind, it was just bad overall. I had some trouble with Baruchel, every time he talked, I always pictured him as Hiccup from How to Train a Dragon, which at times was kind of distracting. Some of the special effects were ok, but in a world where most of think of Harry Potter when it comes to magic, this was a step in the wrong direction. They had some one liners throughout the movie, but I really didn't find any of them to be that funny or nothing that you didn't see coming. And for those that are planning on seeing this movie, there is a little bumper after the credits, but what was included, I wasn't really surprised with what I saw. So I would suggest stay away from this movie, if your in the mood for some movies about magic, why not throw in a Harry Potter movie, the next one is coming out soon. I really hope that Nicolas Cage is going to be in a movie, and I am going to be very impressed with his performance, the only highlights I saw briefly looking at his films were Face/Off and Leaving Las Vegas.

So next up, I decided to go see the next movie in the Millenium trilogy, The Girl Who Played With Fire. If you have been keeping up with my reviews, you know I recently watched the first movie and I thought it was decent, so I was hoping that this would be just as good if not better. I still have to say that I have not read any of the books, so I am going into this with just the movie as my source material. So this movie basically starts off about a year after the previous one, and our journalist is back to work at the magazine after serving his sentence in jail, and our hacker lady is off traveling the world. But after a series of murders that all lead to her doing it, they must once again combine their talents and try to clear her name. This really seemed to be almost the same as the first movie, slow paced at the start (this one seemed to take even longer to get going, but there was no real payout at the end), and there was not a whole lot in this movie that tied the two movies together. It also seemed like at this point in the trilogy, that all we are going to see is the two of them working together to solve some big case each movie, and if you really want that, I guess you can watch CSI or any of the Law and Order shows. But I really have a feeling that I should read the books, I am sure I will really enjoy them. So I think I will still see the 3rd movie in the series, just to kind of see how it ends, maybe they do a good job of wrapping it up all into one final movie, I hope. So I am going to say that if you saw the first movie and want to see what's next, go see this movie, just go in with low expectations, and I am sure you will think it was an OK movie. Or you could always just read the books, cause we all know that 9 times out of 10, the books are always way better than the movies.

So after all these newer movies, I figured I would go back and watch a movie I missed in the theaters, Bruno. This is the next movie from Sacha Baron Cohen, the man who brought us Borat a few years earlier. Now if you watched Borat and you were laughing your ass off, I am sure that Bruno is going to do the same. Bruno is a story of a gay man who used to be at the top of the fashion world, with his own TV show, but after an incident at a fashion show, he is blacklisted and decides to head to America to become famous. And like in Borat, Bruno shows us just how ignorant and stupid some of us are. If you are offended by gay jokes and their lifestyle, this may not be the movie for you. I laughed out loud at a few scenes and there was also a few times where I was thinking "oh my god" too. But overall I enjoyed it. And for those that think Sacha Baron Cohen is out of his mind, let me just point out that you may think he is crazy, but just remember who he is married to, Isla Fisher, so I really don't think he is that crazy or weird.

And as far as new trailers, the only one that really stuck out, was the trailer for the movie called "Devil". I know I wrote off M Night after seeing Airbender, but he only wrote this movie, so I think I may give this one a shot. You can check it out here:

http://www.imdb.com/video/imdb/vi1736574489/

So that is it for this batch of reviews, until next time...

Go out and see a movie!

Skins Season 1 Review

 Let's just be friends, okay?

Creators: Jamie Brittain, Bryan Elsley
Release Date: January 13, 2009 (DVD)
Rated: Not Rated
Run Time: 425 minutes

I have never really put much thought into teenage drama shows until i found the British show "Skins" on netflix. It has to be one of the most in depth character driven shows i have ever laid my eyes on.

First thing to note is that yeah it is a British made series, which means it is way more adult then say Degrassi or some other American Teen drama that you may watch on TV. I want to say they have been in talks to bring it to the United States in a whole new remade version, which I have to say if they do it must be on ShowTime or one of the other channels. Letting it be on The CW or ABC would ruin it all together.

The show is about a group of teenage friends growing up in England, Going to school and hanging out just like any other group of friends would do. Which means they like to party, Drink and Smoke...Have sex. Things that teenagers do, With the censorship being much different for british television we are given more swearing and nudity and just more adult themes or teenage themes then most shows let us witness. It adds a whole new depth to the show from my point of view.

I have seen reviews that have said people come for the nudity in the series but have come to realize that the story drags them in and they no longer care about just seeing some British boobs, Which is a good thing because some people might be scared to view a show that may lack the censor ship Americans are use to. I say dont be afraid to live in the teens world.

Every episode revolves around one of the friends in the group, We still see bits and pieces of other characters but the focal point is always about exploring one character at a time, giving us that back story and making us care for or against these teens.

The first episode is about Tony, the main character in my eyes, He is the perfect kid. He is the ladies man and the best friend. But as the story goes on you may grow to dislike him. We have the best friend Side who happens to love Tonys girl friend Michelle but then this girl Cassie shows up and changes everything. We have other characters as well like Anwar who is a Muslim, with strict rules he fights a battle of his own faith and beliefs as his best friend Maxi is gay. So much happens in this series yet everything comes together perfectly. The show grabs you in with each passing minute, giving us an insight into their lives.


The show does however go a bit extreme at times but still keeps a pretty realistic take on other parts. But it is a Television show after all and not just a reality show. I think it was a very good mix of the two without going too far in either direction.

The cast is very young but as the show goes on you would think they have been doing this for a very long time, Every actor fits their role, They make that character for themselves. Its very hard to put into words how much i enjoyed every character and how the cast came together, they really seem like friends.
Some people might say they dont want to see the show because they dont know any of the faces, well The guy who plays Anwar is Dev Patel, From Slumdog Millionaire and The Last Airbender, Tony is played by Nicholas Hoult from About a Boy.

The show has a very crazy ending as well that you May not get a chance to see if you rent the dvd's as they had some issues with copyright laws. So i do recommend checking it out on Netflix watch it now as the scene was left in. It was a crazy ending that some may find very unfitting but to me it went with the crazy events that happened in the whole season.  They also have one final scene that gives you happiness and another scene that brings you worry. Perfect way to end a season.

The whole series has very good music from what i heard on the Netflix version(which as far as i know is what actually aired in the UK) but apparently like i said the DVDs have some copyright issues that might take away from the series as the music fits so well.

I really dont know how much more i could recommend this show to anyone, It has something for everyone honestly, it might be targeted at a more younger audience but i still think someone of an older age should take a view of the series. The writing is done so well and the acting compliments it perfectly, The camera work is very down to life in your face but with a steady shot, its not a crazy reality looking Real Word kind of show. It is still a production. Anyone who just likes a solid adventure in life should tag along with these teenagers as they grow in life.


Dont be a wanker, Jump into Skins now.

Kontroll Review

Murder. Mystery. Romance. Just another ride on the subway.

Director: Nimród Antal
Release Date: August 30, 2005 (DVD)
Run Time: 105 minutes
Rated: R
Language: Hungarian
-Subtitles: English
*Alternate title: Control

This is the Directorial debut of an American director born Hungarian,Nimrod Antal. Its very interesting to note that his first movie is a Hungarian film. Something most people dont seem to know even exists.

The film is crafted around the dark world that grows from the Budapest underground metro. With that said the whole world we are pushed into is stunning. The camera work is near perfect, always showing off every aspect of the surreal lighting and gloomy tunnels that are beneath the earth. I can not tell you how wonderfully shot this movie is, At first all the close ups and the way the film is was...Nothing special but it surly became more.

Kontrol was not the movie i expected going in at all, I thought it was something else and I was greatly surprised by the movie in all parts. I was indeed expecting a type of crime thriller but what i received was indeed different.

The story of the film is that Bulscu is a Control ticket agent working in the Budapest Metro, His job is to ask everyone if they have a ticket to ride the subway and if not he must cite them. He has a team that we grow to know in such a short time period, The rookie of the group Tibi, is without a doubt my favorite character, As we follow his story to learn his new job. Of course the focal point of the movie is not about Citing people for lack of a ticket but figuring out this world we are now living in.

Action scenes are not rare in the movie, We meet a character named Bootsie, who is pure adventure and action. A very fun character that brings the team together in a race of whose better. Without a doubt the best part of the movie comes from this character for multiple reasons.

I really dont want to dive all that much into the movie but i must say they do give us a bit of everything, With the action i have already mentioned we also get a slight knock of a love story as well, For some reason it just fits perfectly, very limited to what happens but it brings things together.

Horror is something I was not really expect but I guess this is also the area that the Thriller aspect comes into play and I must say it played excellent. The creepy lighting in the tunnels add to the hooded villain perfectly. Some place that someone like this could grow.

Music is a very strange thing in this movie, but at the same time everything seems a bit out of place but manages to crawl together to help us understand what in the world is going on. The costume party rave scene wouldn't be the same without the music or the lack of clarity in the scene, Adds a great amount of tension to the scene. As does the music in the scenes with Bootsie. Perfect use of music and the sounds from the Metro work so well together its perfect.

This movie is from Nimrod Antal, Which i had stated already, the reason I bring it up again is because he has a movie in theaters at the time of this review called "Predators" Which i have also reviewed earlier on the site. Nimrod is at his best in Kontrol and i would highly recommend this movie over Predators any day.  Nimrod shows he can give us a bit of everything in a low budget film not of the Hollywood standards. I'm glad he has been given the chance to do other things in Hollywood and he did a solid job with Predators but i wait for his Great American hit still.






Get in Kontrol and let the subway run free on your mind.

Dead Snow

Ein! Zwei! Die!

Director: Tommy Wirkola
Release Date: 23 February 2010 (DVD premiere)
Runtime: 91 min
Rated: Not Rated
Language: Norwegian
-Subtitles: English

Zombies, Teens, Nazi's and in the Snow, What more could you want in a movie? Dead Snow is the latest Zombie movie to make my Must own list. Its not too hard to honestly do that because i very much just enjoy zombies period. But thankfully this movie is better then alot of the other stuff.

Normally you wouldn't really need a story for a zombie movie or well a horror movie even, This time around...Well okay so its nothing groundbreaking when it comes to the plot of the film. But....

The plot of the movie is a group of friends head out to a snowy cabin in the Norwegian Alps to party it up, drink and have all the sex they can imagine. This of course changes when the teens find out that the they have planed their party on an old battle ground from World War 2. The Nazi's are not very happy about this...Maybe if they had invited them to the party it would have been cool.

The run time on the movie is about and hour and a half in length, just long enough to build a tad bit of character and to give us a backstory into the zombie's mind. Then they bring on the gore. Plenty of time to bring us some exciting movie magic.

Cast isnt very big as we have a group of friends, but one of the friends doesn't make it in time for the party and the other decides its in his best interest to go find her. We also have the Zombie Nazi's of course along with the crazy old man who must tell the story of the snow covered land.

The story does have a few solid laughs from time to time, Almost a perfect blind of laughs and gore for a zombie film.  the Make up effects are pretty solid for a low budget zombie film and some of the scenes shine over others, as do most kills seem to get worst as time goes on. Without spoiling it too much, The amputation scene is amazing and is my favorite part of the whole movie, This scene alone i think is worth the view of the film.

I really enjoyed the last act of the movie, it makes the movie stand on its own by not really falling victim to the same old story, Given the very end might still make you smile and remember a few classic films, but it still added its own flair to the party.

I do want to point out that this movie is not on the level of say "Shaun of the dead" as that has a way different type of humor and of course a more laid back comedy side to it then Dead Snow has. So if you are heading into this movie expecting Simon Pegg to make you cry...You will be deeply saddened.

This is also the first movie I have reviewed that is Not in English, it happens to be in Norwegian,  As i enjoy foreign films alot and do plan to review more in the future. I know this sadly limits the views the movie will get but it still has English Sub's which i hope will allow people to give it a go.

Over all the movie is worth a solid view, I also do plan to buy it, As i find myself to be a die hard zombie fan. But the movie does seem to dance around the idea that it is a parody or typical teen party film. I found plenty of laughs and solid gore in the movie to give any Horror or zombie fan the go ahead view.



Nothing beats The UnFrozen Dead, let them warm up to you.

Stan Helsing

The most feared monsters in cinematic history have met their match

Director: Bo Zenga
Release Date: 27 October 2009 (DVD premiere)
Runtime: 108 min

Helsing of a parody, or was it? Stan Helsing falls into the parody films such as Scary Movie and its off shoots. With its focus on the horror gene with characters based from Friday the 13th, Nightmare on Elm Street and others but the over all parody rest on the shoulders of the movie "Van Helsing"

Plot of the parody is Stan has to deliver some movies on the other side of town, He gets his friends to take him, along the way they get lost and horror icons of some sort start to stalk the heroes. They get to an old movie studio an they must face the monsters. Parody follows.

The movie has more laughs then some of the other films of its kind, Of course everyone has their own pick when it comes to these types, I wouldn't say the movie has a very great rate of laughs per minute, but it doesn't leave you hanging the whole time.

Load of the little jokes come from just bringing up classic horror movies or common sexual jokes. Movie lovers of the genre should get a solid amount of enjoyment out of it.

A small cameo from comedy legend and parody man Leslie Nielson was a nice touch for me, His small part may not have really added too much to the film but he is always at his best in parody films. Thankfully tho he doesn't play the same character from say the Scary Movie franchise.

As far as the acting may go, for parody films I would say everyone plays their little roles fine, nothing really stands out but i must say it was very nice seeing Kenan Thompson in something, But he also seems to have the best lines of the movie which is a good thing. Steve Howey does a fine job as our lead character.

Costumes used in the movie are pretty funny and way beyond dumb, Pinhead has needles, thumbtacks, and darts in his head, Chucky is a creepy dude in some one piece looking outfit and scars on his face. Freddy is basically flava flay with his gangster clock and so on. At times it might bring a laugh. A CGI raven did give me a laugh but the CGI(or whatever it was) did seem horrible, but at the same time who cares much in this type of movie?

The camera work wasn't bad for what its worth, nothing horrible or wonderful but the main focus is on the one liners in the movie other then anything else.

My final thought on the movie is, I wanted to dislike it just like the rest of the parody films we have seen over the past few years but watch it with a group of friends and it will bring some laughs to a crowd, However watching it solo will no doubt limit the enjoyment of the film, I would highly recommend this over Date, Epic, Superhero, Dance movie. Also knowing a thing or two about horror films will lead to a bit more enjoyment in this parody, I know it did for me.


A fine pick for Horror buffs and parody lovers looking to kill time on a random lazy night.

Shuttle Review

Never ride with a stranger.

Director: Edward Anderson
Release Date: 8 March 2008, 7 April 2009 (DVD premiere) USA
Runtime: 107 min

This movie falls under the Thriller category of which i really do enjoy watching, The movie didn't let me down with hoping it would keep me in the whole time.

The plot of the film is about two young ladies who are coming back from a fun trip, while in the airport they meet up with two young guys that happen to find our girls cute, So what happens? The guys are dumb enough to get on the same Shuttle as our lovely ladies have chosen.

The shuttle has The two girls as well as the two younger males we meet at the start of the movie, as well as the Driver and another man, All looking to get to their destinations. Which of course is put on the side as the Driver decides to go on a Detour.

The movie does a decent amount of build to whats going on, We dont just jump straight into the bad guy is going to kill us deal, instead we slowly walk into it. Which some folks may not enjoy but it built plenty of tension for me.

The cast starts off doing a seemingly decent job but as the movie goes on people start to shine, without a doubt Tony Curran does an amazing job in his role as the driver. We also get a good showing from Cullen Douglas, which both roles alone make the movie a worthwhile viewing. But the rest of the cast even makes a sold movie for people who enjoy thrillers.

I have to say some of the scenes we are given make you wonder why they didnt just go for it, or pull the trigger, cut the cord...Do something, But at the same time they give you a reason to think to yourself "Would I really do it?"

From other reviews i had read i could tell people really enjoyed some of the twists and turns that the movie put in front of us, Something I saw very early on while others happen to unfold as the movie goes, You just cant figure out if its this or that until right near the end. I like that about the movie alot. Guessing. Tension. Thrilling.

Overall the movie has a nice dark and gloomy feel to it, very fitting for a thriller. The Blood and gore, or what we do see is pretty decent, one scene looked to have used CGI, which happens pretty fast but either CGI or not i wasn't a fan of it, but the scene its self was still done fairly well.

A solid movie for anyone who likes to travel or loves thrillers, or maybe just a friend type movie.
The movie may speak louder to some people more than others too of course. I found myself to enjoy almost every bit of it.

Run! Bitch Run! Review

Payback's A Bitch!

Director: Joseph Guzman
DVD Release Date: December 8, 2009
Run Time: 86 minutes

The plot of the movie is a very simple revenge flick, Two catholic school girls are out in the world selling bibles to anyone who will answer the door. But of course one of the houses holds a dark secret, Drugs and hookers.
When the two girls show up at the drug house they are welcomed with a murder. They are then captured for what they had seen and are raped. then one of them is killed, leaving the other to be left to seek revenge on the people who had left her to die in the woods.

The movie is less then 90 minutes long, So you would think we would jump into the action/revenge part of the film fairly quick. That doesn't happen. We are stuck with about 60 minutes of sexual acts(mostly boob shots at random, Shower scenes or stripper joints) and all this stuff about a plot or something.

We spend a solid chunk of time walking around in this movie or just showing off boobs, without a doubt it could have been cut down but then again the movie is already pretty short, So adding boobs and tree's helps lengthen the movie.

Then with you know about 20 minutes left in the movie we start to see some revenge, Which is pretty mild, as is the rest of the film In my opinion. But at the same time you can tell the director of the film wanted to go with a more throw back version then a modern day tell(think of this as "I spit on your grave" vs say the remake of "Last house on the left" thus making this the bit more cheesy film)

That being said even with the film being unrated you can tell it would still receive a pretty hard R, With all the nudity, drug use and blood that is splashed onto the screen, no doubt we would see the MPAA give this a Hard R rating.

The Gore is pretty mild, the best death scene might have to go to the guy taking a poo and then being shot point blank with the shotgun. But the kicker at the end of the film(which i wont spoil it just incase you decide to see the movie) is pretty darn funny and pretty nasty if i do say so myself.

The acting is cheesy and very on par with the 70's exploitation films, But i do have to give credit to our star girl at the end when she starts kicking some butt, her facial reactions and what not are a bit on the cool side.

The cinematography had a nice feel to it, the director defiantly got what he was looking for in the part of the movie. The old school grain filter gave it that awesome grindhouse feel to it. The amateur shots how ever did not help the film, Never did it stand out with anything you would see in a mainstream film. I've seen better camera work in other films of this kind.

The audio seems to be off in parts or louder in some areas and then back to normal here and there, I'm sure this was done on purpose for the whole old school film and all, but for some reason it just bugged me more then it should have.

The main selling point, and possibly the only real saving grace of this film is the soundtrack, Simply put it is awesome. I wouldn't mind owning it. Perfect way to keep the movie going from scene to scene.

But over all this movie is strictly for people who enjoy the classic 70's exploitation films and stuff along the lines of Grindhouse, Last house on the left, I spit on your grave or even the movie Dead Girl.

Predators Review

Fear is Reborn.

Director: Nimród Antal
Release Date: 9 July 2010 (USA)
Runtime: 106 min

That tag line fits pretty well if i do say so myself. The Predator franchise was dragged in the mud for the past few years with the Craptastic take that was Aliens vs Predator. Making our Ugly Mother's look like weak little has beens.

The film has a very solid eighties feel to it without having the over dose of cheesy-ness that some films may look to exploit(The Expendables looks to do that later this year) but unlike most crazy Action packed movies, this one does not star a huge muscle headed freak as the leading man, Instead we have Adrien Brody jumping into a very fitting pair of military boots.

The cast did a very good job with the limited time they did to build any type of character, but being that this is a action film I wasnt expecting too much.
Topher Grace actually shocked me as i had no clue he was in the movie until he magically fell out of the sky. He was a perfect fit to be the odd man out of the group.
But if i have to bring up anyones role in the film it would have to be Laurence Fishburne as I honestly forgot that he was in the film, His role played a solid part in the movie and his acting was the best part of the Human race in this film.
Otherwise, the cast did a fine job meshing together, the script didnt give us much in the way of backgrounds other then what they had been doing before they magically appeared in the jungle.

The jungle has that creepy and freaky undertone that the first film made so famous back in the eighties. The whole scenery felt very right for this planet, The waterfall scene and the area that they shot it in was just really pretty for a movie that is about An alien hunting down humans and collecting prizes from the fallen.

With that said the plot is basically that, Humans are dropped in and then hunted by the Predators, But the humans are of course the best at what they do. Killing. Our team of badasses need to group together and figure out where they are and what is going on.
We are introduced to multiple versions of the Predators(which some people may already know from the other media they appear in) to other little surprises.

The film is on the short side of time running in at just a bit over 105 minutes. But for the most part you are dropped inside the jungle and are expected to stand side by side with Adrian Brody and fight to survive.

I would say it was a bit on the fast pace of things, as i never found my self to be bored. But it was also pretty short so that does help matters.

The special effects seemed to be pretty solid updates from the first film, With the classic "predator vision" to the Cloaking system and the weapons they fight with. The gore didnt really seem to have as Hard of an R feel to it as i would have expected but it didnt let me down either, it felt right.

Robert Rodriguez and Crew did not let me down with this refreshing, retelling of the ugly alien known simple as... The Predator.

If you liked the first Predator, or Action adventure movies with a chunk of Sci Fi and thrill of the hunt type of films, then i really think you should give this movie a view on the big screen.

Seeing the Green blood again made everything feel alright.

Sean @ the Movies: Despicable Me in 3D and more

So another week is done and a new batch of movies are out, and this week I decided to check out Despicable Me in 3D. Was this going to be another How to Train a Dragon for me, or would it just be a sad attempt by a movie studio to try and beat Pixar.

Well before I get into the review, let's give a little background on the movie. This is from the same people who brought us Ice Age and Horton Hears a Who, two movies i thought were pretty good. So it's got a few positive aspects already. The main characters are voiced by Steve Carell, Jason Segel, Russel Brand and Julie Andrews. Nothing on that list really excited me. So let's move on to the story. Gru (Carell) is a villian who has fallen out of the spotlight and is just trying to prove to people that he still has it. His biggest nemesis is a young villian named Vector (Segel). With the help of his minions and three adopted girls, he ends up learning a lesson while trying to devise a plan to steal the moon.

So while I watching this movie, I did laugh out loud a few times, mostly in scene involving the minions, who kind of remind me of Scrat, from the Ice Age movie, as a great comedic relief during the movie. Gru and Vector kind of reminded me a little of Austin Powers and Dr Evil in the way they acted, just not as extreme. There were some rather downer messages that were brought up during the story involving the three adopted girls. So the story was nothing really new and you pretty much can figure out how it is going to end. But I have to say that it was good, not How to Train a Dragon good, but it's a movie I would suggest checking out. And plus after watching Last Airbender in 3D, it was nice to see a movie that actually used the 3D like it is supposed to be used. Yes there are times where things are coming right at you, but I really think it worked best during the scene with the minions during the end credits.

Speaking of end credits, for those of you out there with smart phones, you are able to download an app for your phone that will translate what they are saying during the end credits, and then when the DVD comes out, Best Buy will have a special edition of the movie that you will be able to use the app to translate what they are saying throughout the whole movie. So if you have a smart phone go to your app store and download the Best Buy Movie Mode app. I did, but because we watched it before the movie officially came out, it wouldn't work, so I may have to use it while I am at work sometime.

So if your thinking about heading out to the movies this weekend, especially if you have kids (and already have seen Toy Story 3), I would suggest giving this a shot.

Official IMDB page:

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1323594/

and the Official Page:

http://despicable.me/

In trailers, the only one I really was excited to see was the new trailer for the Americanized version of Let the Right One In, called Let Me In. I really enjoyed the original version and I am hoping that this version is decent at least.

Here is a link to check out the trailer:

http://www.imdb.com/video/imdb/vi4086433305/

And to end this review I would like to give some short little reviews on some older movies that I recently checked out.

Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince- I finally got around to watching this, completely missed this in theaters. I thought it was another decent movie, made me realize I need to get caught up on the book, especially after seeing the first trailer for the new movie coming out in a few months. This is the one with a huge storyline about love and we see an important character leave us. Worth a watch.

The Unborn- a horror movie that Gary Oldman was in, pretty much the only reason I wanted to see this. A few jump scares and a lot of people and creatures bending in way they are not supposed to. Even with the leading lady spending most of the time walking around in her underwear, I am gonna say, skip this one.

The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo- the first movie in a trilogy based on a series of best selling books. I have not read any of the books, but I had heard some decent things about the movie, so I figured I would give it a go. It's a murder mystery involving a guy who works for a magazine and a punk girl, who is a computer hacker and has a strange past. They work together to help solve a mystery involving a girl's disappearance and her connection to a very wealthy and powerful family. It kind of starts slow, but when it finally picks up, it's a pretty good who done it. If you have read the books, I am sure you are already going to see this movie. But I may try and read the books at some point in time, cause I am sure there is a lot of the story that wasn't in the movie. I would say this is worth a rental, and hey if you don't like subtitles, there is an Americanized version coming out soon.

Well that is all for this batch of reviews, I should be back next week, when Inception comes out.

So until then, go out and see a movie

A Reel logo

So it is pretty late at night or early in the morning depending on your location in the world, But i haven't been able to sleep, Thus the reason i have spent a little bit of time on a rough attempt at a logo for the site. Just a banner logo to place at the top.

What do you think of the new logo?

Also I set up a twitter account @TheBreel As well as today(July 9th 2010) is the day of the .com I figured that is a nice little update for today, Right?

The Last Airbender

I find myself to actually be a fan of director M. Night Shyamalan, I enjoyed most all of his films(besides his latest "The happening" but i also dont find myself a fan of Marky Mark) So when the reviews started to roll in for his Retelling of one of the greatest Adventures of all time, I wanted to tell everyone "No way it cant be that bad, Have you seen the previews?"

But everyone kept telling me No...It is that bad, The reviews just kept coming in saying the 3D is horrible and the cast is all wrong or that M. Night has broken everything we as fans had dreamed for.

I waited til after the weekend to see it, let everyone else judge it and get the hate out of the way. Then this past Wednesday i finally went to a 5:20 showing at my small town theater, surprising the theater was not empty as we had about 15 people in the seats by the time the movie started to roll.

The start of the movie is amazing, by the start i mean the Paramount logo bending from water and Nickelodeon logo on fire with some ear going on. All of this was a nice little touch. Then we had the intro setting up the past, It also opened kind of like the cartoon with the shadow figures of each nation bending.

By this time i was pretty hyped but i noticed that it did seem a bit cheesy to me, but hey its still a comedy right? the show had lots of laughs along the way.

I was wrong...The movie did start off with a middle joke from Sokka but that happened to be only one of say 3 jokes i can remember? Thats not a very good amount of attempts at comedy. I do like the attempt at the Sokka/Appa joke but it was only one time and at the start of the film.

The acting from Katara was horrible, I understand she is young and everything but even the camera work didnt help at all, The cuts and the way they try to show emotion just failed. I was already disappointed in the movie and had no reason to think other wise at this point in time.

When Zuko shows up...His scare was of course lackluster to say the least...Not to mention his hair was short, which to me was honestly a big deal as it played a solid part of his character in the animated series.

We move on to the first real action scene of the movie, Aang or should i say Ung? Yeah before i go on...That really did bug me that they didnt say the name right, Its from a cartoon that always said it one way, why change it? Odd to me.

Aang is taken captive on the firenation ship with Zuko and his uncle, then he breaks out an we get appa in a bit of action...and Katar and sokka are now part of team avatar(which of course they dont bring up) So we now have the team together even tho they have hardly said anything to one another.

We fly to the air temple real quick and all....Annoying to say the least, But the air temple means Momo, one of the coolest sidekick characters of anything, along with Appa they are a great team, Appa has shown some character in his two or so scenes thus far so adding MoMo now should bring the film back to my attention.

No.

Momo or the flying lemmer bat is introduced and flys around. Pretty bad CGI as well if i do say so myself, but we dont even really get to know Momo, which shouldn't surprise me since we still dont know the other characters in this movie.

We then go to the earth kingdom, free some folks and well basically head to the end of the movie and do some battling.

I really dont want to spoil whatever it is that they offer me to spoil but we do have a few fight scenes, including one with the Blue spirit which isnt have bad. The earth bending was also kind of cool but i still must say the CGI did come off worst then i had expected, the previews for some reason defiantly looked better, maybe just being in actual full length motion?

Another big issue i have with the movie is the all powerful Fire nation, you know the guys leading this war against the other nations, They are not nearly as powerful as they should be. They need a fire supple to actually attack, They dont really tell you this until towards the end but any time we see a fire bender he of course has a giant fire ball or a fire pit burning around him

They do finally say something about this towards the end with Uncle making his own fire, I guess this is a spoiler but come on, they all should be able to make fire...Something i just found stupid.

The final fight scene is decent, i really liked the slow down fight with Aang and the fire benders or the soldiers anyways. but it still came off on the weak side of things.

Over all the movie is a huge disappointment even when everyone had already told me. I just couldn't believe how bad it was. If we had never seen the show, This movie still failed to be any real entertainment, with poor camera work and horrible acting, this is easily one of the worst films i have seen in ages.

As i walked out of the theater i turned to my friend and said "To make things easier, what DID you like?"

It seemed like the firenation ships win for the coolest part of the movie. The CGI wasnt all that bad but you still leave thinking what if it was more polished? Or if the acting was decent? The camera work didnt feel like someone was just panning around zooming in and out and slowing stuff down?

I will give it a second chance on blu ray, hopefully they add some time to the movie as i think the biggest failure is the lack fo any character development. Which maybe is because the actors are that bad....But we still never cared for anyone while watching this film.

I could rant on and on...Things keep popping into my head as i type.

The very end of the film did make me kind of smile but at the same time do i really want to see Book 2 turned into dirt? I know its about earth bending but Air was turned into a plastic bag wrapped around our heads and let us gasping for anything but what they gave us.

I'll end this rant of a review, But what did you think of the movie? Will you give it a second chance? Will you see book 2 if its made?

My top 20 films.

I have always wanted to sit down and think about movies, I love movies more then most anything really. So if i was asked to name some of my favorite films it would take alot of thinking.
I Dont know if i could ever really list them in order but i do want to try and attempt some type of Top 20 favorite films. So Here is my list i have tried to put together, No matter what something will always beforgotten, or just over looked. But this is what came to mind.

1. A Clockwork Orange (1971) One of the main films I list when someone ask's "What is the best" It has some of the most twisted and greatest acting in any film and the world that we are forced to live in seems like it could be a twisted day away.
   
2. Night of the Living Dead (1968) Normally this is the first film I spit out of my mouth as being my favorite film of all time, It is Zombies. It is my childhood scare. My adventure and just great film making that left a spot in my heart. Easy, Simple, Amazing. With this said, You can kind of see my list is not in a real order.
   
3. Let the Right One In (2008) A vampire tale with some coming of ageness mixed in with a dark undertone and a twisted and cold tale that always catches my interest. Its so good it is already receiving an American remake later this year (Titled Let me in)
   
4. Children of Men (2006) Talk about a scary thought. Talk about a beautiful yet close world, Amazing camera work and pure rad acting. Keeping with my love for dark films, This also gives us hope in all the fear it builds with it. Nothing is wrong in this movie.
   
5. Pan's Labyrinth (2006) I have noticed i seem to really love Dark toned movies. I love the world they are set in and the hope they may give us or take from us. The story of a little girl on the edge of losing all hope. The world we travel to in this fantasy film is scary yet beautiful and Del toro shows he can do great work without Hollywood.
   
6. Scream (1996) One if the first movies i learned everyline to. I loved it that much. The opening scene with the "star" was a nice twist in a time with no twists, Which set up the killer at the end for a nice big oooh my god moment, Plus it was so funny and realistic to me, I know alot of people will never put this on a list of best of. But its on mine.
   
7. Shaun of the Dead (2004) British humor at its best. Everyone can enjoy Zombies when Simon Pegg is bashing their brains in with a cricket bat. Pure Awesome horror action comedy.
   
8. The Graduate (1967) This movie was something i remember seeing parodys of as i grew up but never saw it until college. But this has aged so well. With a wonderful soundtrack and a great Star, Its uneasy story is slowly rubbing your hand as it reaches to take advantage of you. Let it.
   
9. Toy Story (1995) Childhood, Plain and simple. This is also the time i can say, A trilogy could easily take up 3 spots on my list, But i figured I would just place the one that started it all. But also Go see Toy Story 3, As it could easily be the best film of 2010.
   
10. The Lion King (1994) I remember this as the movie that i learned to swim so i could see it. Also one of the few films i saw with my dad, Of course it also has one of the saddest moments in any movie ever. I was one heart broken little guy watching this film. It hasnt aged bad at all, Still love the music to this day.
    
11. The Wrestler (2008) This movie seemed to surprise everyone that watched it. Pro Wrestling has one of the biggest slices to my life. With this movie it made it more enjoyable that i still love watching Pro wrestling when i can, They give their all and it does effect them. The camera work, The soundtrack, the acting(Mickey is pure gold) The end leaves something to think about, Fantastic.
    
12. Spirited Away (2001) Dont like Anime do ya? Well even if that maybe the case i still say you must give Hayo a chance with Spirited Away, The world, the colors, the story and cast of lovable or hate able characters is Animation at its best. Anime at its best.
    
13. Terminator 2: Judgment Day (1991)I'm not 100% sure but i think this was the first R rated film i ever watched. Seeing his skin peel away...The eye of something not of this time. A bodyguard anyone would kill for. Wild adventure of survival. Crazy super-villain that still freaks me to this day. CGI still looks good to me. Nice Nod to the first film as well.
    
14. Dawn of the Dead (1978) Some people say it is the best zombie film, Best Romero film, Best horror film...Best film. And ya know i can easily agree it is among the best of all of that. It could easily be my favorite sequel of all time. Creepy...Different cuts of the film add to the different views you could give the movie as well.
    
15. Remember the Titans(2000) My favorite sports film of all time, I love football and i love the coming of age, Becoming a family, Fighting as one. Story that is told with some of the best acting ever. I just cant hate on this movie. Some may disagree but this story is wonderful.
    
16. The Dark Knight(2008) I really wanted to stay away from being a total geek but Im sorry i just cant pass on one of the greatest villains of all time. Chris gave us a perfect gotham In my mind. Its tragic we wont see Ledger again or the Joker of this caliber but he left us with one of the best "Other halfs" you could think of, it still makes me said that The real star of the film wasnt better but everything else in the movie was perfect.
    
17. Léon (The Professional) (1994) Easily Reno's best film. And Portman makes her career at an early age. Just for both of them its a must watch. The best French film ever.
    
18. Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (2004) Jim's best role. He can still breath being who he was to begin with but we also get to see an amazing new persona that i just fell in love with. The idea behind the movie...Heartbreaking and mind blowing. Also one of the best romantic films ever.
19. Dear Zachary: A Letter to a Son About His Father(2008) Real story. Real film making. Real heartache. Best documentary ever. Beat out Murderball(also a fantastic film) But if you do not cry....Give this film a shot. I will be honest with you i cried like a little girl. Tragic story but told in such an amazing show of film making.
20. Ghostbusters(1984) Who ya gunna call? best team ever on screen? Most likely. The cast gelled so well that the script could have been crap and the film still would be awesome, But of course it is a great script/story and the music and cgi are both some of the best, specially for the time. I still love Staypuft to this day. I remember watching this movie all the time as a kid, I still enjoy a viewing yearly without doubt.

Well That was my top 20 films, As i went on i noticed stuff i didnt put on the list which i have no doubt you have noticed as well, What are your favorite movies?

If i was to keep on going of course i would have to add Jurassic Park, Star Wars, Jaws, King Kong, Lord of the rings, Back to the future, Oldboy, Princess Bride, Godfather, Goodfellas, Wizard of Oz, Rear Window, North by Northwest, A tale of two sisters, 2001: A space odyssey, Aliens, ET, Blade Runner, Rocky, Mad Max, Evil Dead, Idle Hands, Milo and Oddis, Homeward bound.

And so on.... I film as if i could take something off my list and put one of these on it as well. But this is the list i put together for now.

On a sidenote, I have seen every movie on my list at least two times.

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