Review: Daybreakers

Vampires, the blood sucking figures of horror that until now have been used as figures of pure terror in the media and in literature. Now, we have the Vampires of "Twilight" that have gone from terrifying monsters to twinkling, emotional losers who are just so repulsed by there powers that they cry themselves to sleep every night. Daybreakers is more or less a union of both styles of vampire. You have the main character Edward played by Ethan Hawke (Training Day) who is an emotional vampire, but the directors (The Spiereg brothers) want to make sure that he isn't seen as weak. Edward is not as compassionate towards humans as say Edward

Cullen (Twilight vampire), Ed acknowledges that they are not just cattle, but is more concerned over creating a world where both species can survive together. Ed has sworn off of Human blood, and drinks only pig blood, which just gives him enough strength to survive.

Contrast to Ed is his younger brother Frank, a military man, who can't understand why Ed works in the field of blood supply but wont indulge in the pleasures of human blood. Another character of note is the vampire turned human "Elvis" played by Willam Dafoe, a loud mouthed country boy with an obsession for cars and revolution. Lastly is the evil blood company's CEO played by Sam Neil. As the leader of the evil corporation, Neil plays a character with a hidden mixed agenda. All of the actors do a pretty good job of portraying their characters, but the movie is lightly sprinkled with some poor acting, mostly from Dafoe when his accent falls into almost a whine and he muddles through some of his lines. None of the bad acting truly hinders the film in any way.

{Needless to say, Disney's new ride wasn't a huge hit...}
In conclusion, Daybreakers is not going to be a takeoff series, but it is most likely going to be a cult classic that alot of true vampire fans will enjoy as the alternative to this onslaught of wimp pussy vampire movies reigns supreme. This is on the same level as a 30 Days of Night (all though not as good of a movie). What kills Daybreakers is its lack of tense action moments, because the few moments of action seem a little to light to really effect an older viewer, but for a young teen this is the kind of action they can handle in spades. It also suffers from a hated error, plot holes. Daybreakers is a fun, cool, and stylized flick with a lot of misused potential. It is a watch but not a buy, and most people will at least consider it passable.

Pros:
-Fresh Story
-Welcome back real Vampires
-Some awesome settings
Cons:
-Some Bad acting
-PLOT-HOLES!!!!
-Foolish Action Direction
Verdict:
6 Shots

Review: The Wolfman

So to be straight forward, I had extremely low expectations for The Wolfman. To me this movie was just the typical cash in on an older/more successful title, sprinkled with big name Hollywood actors. The Wolfman stars Benicio Del Toro (Usual Suspects, Sin City), Sir Anthony Hopkins (Silence of the Lambs), and a few other mildly talented actors that really aren't worth mentioning. Overall the casting was one of my biggest complaints for this one, Benicio Del Toro as a wealthy aristocrat was just not a possibility, his accent (though calmed down quite a bit) is still so thick at times I had trouble understanding the scenes. Anthony Hopkins however was a good call by the director Joe Johnston. Hopkins made most of this movie watchable as Del Toro's character's wealthy father.

{Benicio Del Toro as a Mexican David Bowie}

Without any spoilers, we all know that Del Toro is stricken by a werewolf, and is then slowly transformed into the beast that struck him. It's an old story, and we've seen it a hundred times. The Wolfman doesn't add anything to the story, other than another one of my biggest complaints about this one: gore. Okay, we all love gore, the thought of a guy getting mauled by a crazy ass werewolf is exciting and fun, but this one goes to levels that are just unnecessary. Some of the gore in this one belonged in Hostel not in The Wolfman. There is entertaining gore that helps us feel the pain for the characters and then there is this gore, which is so over done that is takes the viewer out of the movie and turns the whole thing into a bunch of "Oh shit!" moments that defeat the purpose of the whole idea of The Wolfman.

Needless to say I was not a fan of this remake of the classic Wolfman. I found the whole thing to be a giant waste of my time and an appalling use of Sir Anthony Hopkins time. Honestly I would rather watch that crappy Jack Nicholson werewolf flick than this. If you want a good scare, this gore porn isn't it, and to Joe Johnston the director of this piece of overused shit, I have only this to say: time to find a new career. The only way I would recommend this is to go get shit faced and laugh throw the whole thing.

Pros:

-fans of gore, come on down

Cons:

-what the hell was the director doing?

-stupid gore

-Benicio Del Toro was a poor choice

-muffled lines and incoherent plot

Verdict:

1/2 a Shot

Review: Shutter Island

As I sat down to watch Shutter Island, I found myself shaking with excitement over the idea of a new Martin Scorsese film. Although Shutter Island is a departure from the average Scorsese film, it has elements of the Oscar winning director's style scattered throughout the entire adventure. The premise of Shutter Island is fairly interesting: A woman goes missing from the women's block at the prison for the criminally insane on Shutter Island. Leo DiCaprio and Mark Ruffalo are dispatched to the island to find her, only to discover a secret behind the mask of the director played by Sir Ben Kingsley.

Although there are no bad performances by any of the actors, there are only two that stand out, and they are minor characters. The first is Jackie Earl Haley (Rorschach from Watchmen) who plays DiCaprio's inside man. The second is Ted Levine who plays the Warden of the island, and honestly delivered some of my favorite dialogue in the whole film. In a film with this many big name actors it really upsets me that I walked away feeling like I had watched a bunch of no name amateurs as lead characters. DiCaprio especially feels out of character, and Mark Ruffalo seems more like a main character than DiCaprio until around the half way mark.

{Why the hell am I in this movie?}

The plot is well written and easy to follow, and it has some twists that will throw people, but some viewers may feel forced to except the incredibly loose ideas behind the twist. Seriously, the last half hour seems like Scorsese threw this thing together at lunch and had it filmed by dinner. The sets take center stage over the plot, it's a shame, but the sets look really damn good. Each area is laid out like a work of art, and some of the images are so graphic my hands started to shake. Warning, there is some seriously fucked up stuff in Shutter Island. If you are at all sensitive to gore or violent imagery, stay far far away from this movie.

Final words, I had fun with Shutter Island, but that's all. I wasn't moved or twisted by this movie, and after one time seeing it, you will never need to watch it again.

Pros:

-amazing set pieces

-interesting plot

-okay twist ending

Cons:

-wasted acting talent

-so... slow...

-not for everyone

Verdict:

5 Shot Glasses

Review: The Fantastic Mr. Fox

The Fantastic Mr. Fox is a film based on the novel by the writer Roald Dahl (Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, James and the Giant Peach). The film is directed by creative director Wes Anderson, and stars many voice talents such as: George Clooney, Meryl Streep, Willem Dafoe, Jason Schwartzman, Bill Murray, Michael Gambone, and Owen Wilson. Being that this is a Wes Anderson film, one should expect the film to be seemingly childish, but still hold many hidden messages for adult viewers, which it does quite well. Such as the replacement of any curse words with the word "cuss", for example: Go cuss yourself.

To start, don't be turned away because this looks like a movie for kids, it's not. In fact I can see kids not enjoying this at all, since most of the humor in the film comes from understanding all the hidden adult content. Fantastic Mr. Fox starts with other than Mr. Fox (Clooney) preparing to begin his daily ritual of stealing birds for dinner. He is joined by his wife Felicity Fox (Streep), and the two head off to the local squab farm. After learning that Mrs. Fox is pregnant, Mr. Fox is forced to change his line of work from bird stealing to writing his "Fox About Town" for the local paper.

{The animals put on their signature bandit masks.}

Twelve fox years later Mr. Fox resides in his hole with his wife and cub, Ash (Schwartzman)

who is smaller than most foxes his age, but none the less as spirited as his father. The interaction

between the father and son is one of the funniest parts of the whole movie, as Ash tries to be like

Mr. Fox who constantly reminds him he is too young or small. Mr. Fox is actually more inclined

towards Ash's cousin Kristofferson Silverfox who is referred to as "a natural" and becomes
Mr. Fox's partner in crime along with his landlord Kylie as the trio decides toresume Mr. Fox's

past work. The three plan to rob Boggis, Bunce, and Bean (Gambone) the three most infamous

farmers in the land, and run intoMr. Fox's old partner Rat (Dafoe).The movie was fun, and funny
, with some great animation and voice acting. Overall I giveThe Fantastic Mr. Fox a good
rating and with some cons but a majority of pros, this is something

that most casual movie goers will
enjoy.

Pros:

-Great Novel Adaptation

-Kid Friendly and fun for Adults

-Great Actors and Setting

-Easy to grasp

Cons:

-A little too long

-Not for everyone

-Some kids may not enjoy

The Verdict:

8 1/2 Shot Glasses

News: Resident Evil Afterlife

Thats right everyone! The Resident Evil movie trilogy just added a fourth movie to it's arsenal. Written by W.S. Anderson, Resident Evil: Afterlife is boasting some promising new steps in revamping the "video game" movie. Anderson boasts that the new RE movie will use the same 3D effect as 2009's Avatar, and will feature some characters from the video game series (Wesker appears in the trailer, finally). Anderson also made a point to state that a lot of the films content will come from the video game Resident Evil 5. In the trailer I caught glimpses of an Axe man, a few of the infected from RE 5, and the Umbrella Corporation head offices. Being that I am a gamer as well as a film buff, I have to say that I am excited to see a larger budget Resident Evil film. Since the first two films were incredibly low budget, and the third movie only slightly better, this fourth large budget picture could make or break the movie series. Hopefully Anderson takes into account one of my biggest problems with 3D... Not everything needs to be in fucking 3D! I don't want a 3D Leon Kennedy drinking coffee for no reason other than to convey to me the fact that Screen Gems (the studio behind the RE movies) bought an expensive 3D engine. None the less I will be following this product as a fan of the games, not as a fan of the movies, and I will be there to pick apart this game to movie love-child when it releases. So as of now RIOT fans, I am as excited as I am concerned for Resident Evil: Afterlife. Check the trailer out for yourself in the links to the left.