Category: Movie Reviews

The Departed carries a stellar cast including Martin Sheen, Alec Baldwin, and Mark Wahlberg. The Departed is a remake of a Chinese movie named, Internal Affair. But this version has a Scorsese touch, a dialog driven-type of movie.

Billy Costigan, played by Leonardo DiCaprio, is a undercover cop that infiltrates into Frank Costello’s (Nicholson) mob. On the opposite side of the law, Collin Sullivan , played by Matt Damon, is one of Costello’s men who became a State Cop to keep tabs on law enforement activities who are out to catch Costello.

Bloodshed ensues as they try to find the identity of the mole. The drama is tense and the body count rises as they desperately try to find more clues of the other’s identity.

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Out of all the things to do in Las Vegas, who goes to a theater to watch a movie? Me. It was a Wednesday afternoon and besides gambling, eating at buffets, going to gentlemen’s clubs, seeing acclaimed shows, or site-seeing there was really nothing else to do.

Step Up was the only movie I didn’t want to see, less. But to my surprise the movie was better than I expected. Tyler Gage, played by Channing Tatum, is a troublesome teenager who gets caught vandalizing a private school property and has to serve community service by doing janitorial duties. Tyler meets Nora, a ballet dancer at the private school, and offers his help to fill in as Nora’s dancing partner is injured and unable to perform. Tyler’s hip-hop street dancing style conflicts with Nora’s ballet routine, and the only way for them to work is to combine their dancing styles.

Known by his friends to lack ambition and not care for anything. It’s up to Tyler to prove to him self and others that he’s more than just a troubled kid. He must commit to what he has started, and his passion to dance is his ticket to start a new life.

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I must say the title of the movie doesn’t fit the story. It’s probably from poor translation. The plot takes Li’s character on a path from a cocky hometown hero to humbled martial arts legend that unites the people of China. The movie contains awesome choreographed fight scenes taken place in ancient China.

Rarely do Jet Li’s movies have interesting storylines, but this one is loosely based on a true story, and it’s too bad the writers were unable to captivate some sort of authenticity and experience. Instead, it seems the martial arts sequenced were the prime focus of the movie. The high production values and face-paced fight scenes will keep you entertained, but don’t expect to be engaged into the plot.

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Chev Chelios, played by Jason Statham, awakens in his home in a drunken state and only to find out that he has been poisoned by a fatal drug, the Beijing cocktail. The catch, to slow down the affect of the drug Chev must keep is adrenaline flowing through his veins.

Chev, his life basically on a timer, goes on a rampage keeping his adrenaline up with crazy stunts and injection of epineferine only to buy enough time to get those who has poisoned him.

Crank is somewhere along the lines of the Transporter meets Speed. The action is non-stop and will keep you on the edge of your seat.

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After Collateral, Jamie Fox returns for this Michael Mann film. Co-starring with Colin Farrell, Fox plays Rico Tubbs and Farrell plays Sonny Crockett in a modern-day version of the 1980’s TV action-drama Miami Vice. Mann’s film has an artistic feel that makes his movies feel gritty and raw. This movie has a fly-on-the wall approach and you watch the drama and events unfold from scene to scene.

Miami Vice has more drama than action. The movie starts off slow and maintains at that level up until the last moments of the movie. Man does a great job of giving the classic TV show a nice modern day makeover, but it seems Mann has concentrated too much on his artistic approach to the movie rather than developing the characters in the movie or deepening plot.

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From all the media and internet hype this movie received an almost unprecedented amount of exposure. Even after post-production some scenes and lines were added due to fan-requests. This places the movie and the producers in a position for over-the-top expectation where it leaves no margin for disappointment. But how can you be disappointed when you got “mother fuckin’ snakes on a mother fuckin’ plane?!” The iconic out-spoken bad-ass mo’ fo’ played by Samuel L. Jackson leads the screen playing an FBI agent protecting an important murder-witness.

The movie starts off a little slow, but once the snakes slithers its way on the screen the action becomes fast-paced. This tongue-in-cheek horror/action movie gives us a good glimpse of this “what-if” scenario. Even with all the hype surrounding this movie Snakes on a Plane holds up quite well. If you see this movie in the theatres remember to stay for the music video at the end. The song is quite catchy.

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A group of girls go caving in a new unnamed and uncharted cave. They soon find themselves trapped and lost within the rocky subterranean. The girls realize they are not alone in the caves and the creatures they encounter are nothing, but blood thirsty wall-climbing ‘Gollums”. They must find a way out and battle these creatures, but it doesn’t help as their friendship and trust crumbles.

There hasn’t been a good monster/horror flick in quite a while. This non-Hollywood British produced movie will make many horror-movie fans salivate.

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NASCAR racing sensation Ricky Bobby, played by Will Ferrell, is at the top of his game and ranking of the racing series, until a Frenchman, who is a champion Formula 1 racer, decides to step into NASCAR to knock Ricky Bobby of his podium.

After a crash racing against the Frenchy, Ricky Bobby loses his drive to race (pun intended). Bobby is fired from his team, loses his wife, and best friend. Now Bobby must find the motivation to get back and ‘go fast’. Who better to help then his estrange father who’s method is a bit unconventional.

This comedic racing flick will keep you laughing from start to finish. This is Will Ferrell at his best. If you enjoyed ‘Anchor Man’ you will love this movie.

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Newlyweds Carl and Molly, played by Matt Dillon and Kate Hudson, brings in Dupree (Wilson) into their home after he loses his place, his job, and his car. Dupree overstays his welcome and causing some problems for the new couple.

You can expect the typical comedy of Owen Wilson; his nonchalant rants of random stuff and the unforeseen accidents from his antic.

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Jack Sparrow is back and this time he’s after a mysterious treasure chest which he needs to find the key for it first. Will Turner, played by Bloom, is after Sparrow and needs his compass to save his fiancé, Knightley. Sparrow will only give up his compass if Bloom helps him find the key. The fumbling plots make the movie feel tiresome and being over 2 hours long doesn’t help it either.

This sequel, unlike its predecessor, doesn’t have the same quality of story telling. Even Jack Sparrow’s presence doesn’t feel the same. The charm and feel of the first movie isn’t there. Still, the movie can still be enjoyable and the ending will leave you hanging for the next sequel which should be released next May. Lets hope Gore Verbinski is able to polish up the third movie to bring back what we expect from Pirates of the Caribbean.

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