tjl30 Blog

Under discussion:

Rambo  (2008)

This movie is amazing, it embodies all that is great about action movies. This movie is defiantly just as good, if not better than the other Rambo movies. That being said this movie will probable not win an Oscar, and it would have been nice to see a little more of what happened to Rambo when he went back to the states. But even so this movie, for action fans like myself, was amazing. Their was gore, explosions, and just about everything Rambo fans have come to love. (He even rips a guys neck off with his bare hands!) Yes John Rambo again managed to destroy an entire army by himself (well with a little help from a guy with a sniper). Their were also some epic kills. It also should be noted that although Stallone is 62 hes still ripped.

So the basic plot is; Rambo is living alone peacefully with common village people in a rural area. Then some people come to ask Rambo for help (does this plot sound familiar?) Only this time the people who want help are missionaries, and they ask for a ride upstream (a ride, not help killing or saving people). But of course upstream is dangerous, and so Rambo must kill an entire rebel army. Unfortunately for Rambo he doesn't get the girl in the end like an Indiana Jones or a James Bond would have. Rambo is more like a Batman, only more bad ass. So if you liked the other Rambo's then you will freaking love this movie, its fantastic.

Under discussion:

Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade  (1989)

Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade is probable the best Indiana Jones movie out of all of them (out of all of the old ones that is, have not seen the new one). The Last Crusade has lots of action, mean bad guys, and a story that is told in a very well thought out way.

The way the movie starts out with Indiana and a kid and his first adventure that made him who he is as an adult was genius. From the snakes, to the adventure, to the whip, and the famous hat, you learn the background story of Indiana Jones. Also the research and following the clues was something that I think was missing from The Temple of Doom, and makes scenes more thought provoking and exciting. The final tasks Indiana Jones must overcome, required quick thinking to avoid the traps, to get the greatest treasure of all the Holy Grail.

Their is just something about this movie that makes it extremely entertaining, and has that timeless value that many movies will never have. This movie also has great replay value, its one of those movies you can watch every year and still never tire of it. I guess there is something about George Lucas movies and replay value (Star Wars).

Under discussion:

Raiders of the Lost Ark  (1981)

Aside from some cheesy magic, the same love melody from the star wars movies when Harrison Ford is around a female, and the out of date special effects this movie is fantastic. Of course this is not the first time I have seen this movie, but before I go to see the new movie, I thought I would re-watch the older ones.

If you don't know the story, Harrison Ford plays this bad ass archaeologist who goes on all sorts of adventures looking for different biblical/magical items also wanted by bad guys. He is equipped with a whip, a gun, a sweet hat, and years of tomb raiding experience. In this movie he is after the Lost Ark that contain the original 10 commandments that have "special powers".

I think the movie was a perfect length, it was quite an adventure, and it has a great ending. There is nothing particularly wrong with this movie, and it is truly time less.

Under discussion:

Reservation Road  (2007)

Reservation Road is the story of a man who lost his son from a tragic hit and run. The plot of course is a little more cleaver than that, but I would rather not give that much away or go into that much detail. Reservation Road is an extremely sad movie about a mans struggle to cope after the loss of his son, and another man's struggle to cope after a horrible accident. I think what makes this movie worth watching is the extraordinary performances by Joaquin Phoenix, Mark Ruffalo and Jennifer Connelly.

Although I am not a huge fan of Drama movies, this one was defiantly well done and worth watching. However be warned that you will probably need a box of tissues.

Under discussion:

Iron Man  (2008)

I like comic books, one of which was Iron Man. So for that reason I could appreciate the story line in the beginning, because although the beginning was slow it payed homage to the original comics. Also Tony Stark (Robert Downey Jr.) is an extremely entertaining character, with many funny scenes. Another great thing about this movie was the graphics, the way they brought Iron Man to life was epic!

The movie is very similar to that of the comics only Tony Stark was inured in a different war (although some people say its pretty much the same war just with more sand, but thats an entirely different topic). Anyways Tony Stark is indurged from shrapnel from a road side bomb, and he has things magnet thing in his chest that he needs powered up to survive. Stark builds this bad ass suit to escape from terrorists, and latter goes home to build an even more bad ass suit.

But what bothered me about this movie was the ending, its almost as if the whole purpose of this movie was to make bank on another Iron Man movie (which they will, and I will probable enjoy much more). Now their is a lot of people saying this movie is absolutely fantastic, but don't get your hopes up, because although it is entertaining it is still not as good as Transformers, Spiderman or Batman despite coming pretty close.

Under discussion:

27 Dresses  (2008)

This movie has all the predictability of any chick flick, it's cheesy, unrealistic, and has the super super happy ending. At about 7 minutes into this movie I thought to my self that I would hate this movie. The plot of this movie is the same recycled plot found in most chick flicks, it reminded me a lot of how to lose a guy in 10 days.

The main Character Jane Nichols and the guy who liked her both have similar jobs, and the guy has no reason to like her, she shows no interest, and he continually pursues her. The one thing this movie did have going for it however was it didn't have Kate Hudson or Matthew McConaughey who together make me want to sick a fork into my eye.

The movie saved it self from complete retardation by adding an interesting twist, the guy who Jane is in love with, loves Jane's younger sister, and the situations which came to be where quite enjoyable to watch. The frustration and goofiness of Jane as her little sister a dumb blond ruins her life as she knows it. I would say my favorite part was when Jane was standing right there when her boss proposed to her sister.

One thing that didn't make sense about this movie is how after having a dislike for Kevin Doyle the man who likes her, Jane starts posing for him in all of her brides maid dresses. Another thing that was kind of unrealistic was the cheesiness of the bar scene, where a bunch of strait men were getting excited about an Elton John song, sung by a drunk couple. But in this land of marshmallow clouds and unicorns everything does work out in the end, climaxing with a super cheesy wedding. But despite the cheesiness this movie had some cleaver and dare I say funny parts, such as the brides maid dresses at the end.

Under discussion:

She's All That  (1999)

The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers  (2002)

In the Name of the King: A Dungeon Siege Tale  (2008)

    Ok where do I begin to describe this movie called In the Name of the King: A Dungeon Siege Tale…

    Well I decided that I wanted to see this movie because it has Jason Statham who is a complete bad ass and I have yet to see a movie he was in that wasn’t great, well until now. In the Name of the King seemed to have the budget and special effects from the Hercules TV show with Kevin Sorbo (the acting was almost as bad as well). But what do you expect when you cast people like Burt Reynolds as a heroic king and Matthew Lillard as the Duke Fallow (whenever I see this guy I can only think of Brock Hudson from another great movie She's All That.

    Oh I forgot, the movie starts out the same as the Hercules: The Legendary Journeys (well similar), the Farmer’s (Jason Statham’s) family is killed by these beasts called Crug. The Crug are basically a rip off of the Orcs from Lord of the Rings, and are created by the Maji (Wizard) Gallian. Anyways the farmer whose name is Farmer (lol) lived peacefully as a farmer (who would have thought) until his son was killed and his wife was captured (so technically his whole family wasn’t killed). Anyways he goes to save his wife and that’s the plot, kind of.

    I want to talk a little bit about the great special effects in this movie for a second. The graphics are fantastic especially the way they pulled off this amazing zip line feat across a deep canyon (two people fell probably like 100 feet into a shallow river and were perfectly fine). The amazing graphics can be seen again with the Elve like people and their ability to wield vine snake creatures to grab people, then swing on the vines to get around the forest.

    Now this movie would not be complete without some ridiculous action and weapons. Farmer wields a boomerang which I am pretty sure he mastered the technique when he was in Australia hunting dingoes. This magical boomerang has the ability to take out Crug with a single hit and always comes back, which could only remind me of one of my favorite shows of all time, Xena Warrior Princess and here circle thing that she threw at people.

    The battle scenes in this movie were also epic, especially when the Crug started lighting themselves on fire and shooting themselves into trees (lmao I wish I was kidding). Now to make another Xena reference the elves in this movie were all hot women who never leave the forest, which reminded me a lot of the Amazon women from Xena.

    The story continues as everyone tries to kill galleon which essentially is a combo of king Saromon and the ring itself (if you kill him all the orc, I mean crug die and everyone lives happily ever after). I can continue to make Lord of the Rings references because this movie is basically a lower budge film of the same stuff (they even had a wizard fight which was like Gandalf v. Saruman round two).

    So in conclusion there were a lot of really unrealistic scenes, bad special effects, cheesy dialog, a predictable ending, generic bad buys, and bad acting. When Farmer realized his father was the king, is probable my favorite scene of the movie because it reminded me of when Zorro (in the Mask of Zorro) was he was reunited with his daughter who remembered the smell of the flowers by her crib, it had that kind of silliness to it only they were reciting a saying). My final problem with the movie was the fact that it was over 2 hours, I mean honestly why prolong the this crap you already stole the peoples money why take two hours of there life?

Under discussion:

Lars and the Real Girl  (2007)

    Lars and the Real Girl is a movie about a man named Lars Lindstrom who for most of his life went unloved. He lived for a long time in the garage of his brother’s house, keeping to himself. The conflict begins when Lars develops a delusion that this doll Bianca is a real person. Lars tells his brother and sister-in-law that he met Bianca on the internet and that they are dating. Lars brother Gus and his sister-in-law Karin were very worried and consulted the family doctor who is also a physiologist.

    Lars begins to go to the doctor with his girlfriend every week because she needed treatment, because she was sick, or so he thought. While in the doctors, the family doctor began an informal psychology sessions with Lars. Eventually the whole community begins treating Lars’ girlfriend like a real person and Lars begins to realize that people really do care about him.

    So I had the impression from the description of this movie and the trailer that it was a comedy. The trailer made me laugh, and I really looked forward to seeing this movie. After about 20 minutes you realize that this movie is not a comedy, there isn’t any comedy. The movie is sad, and about a man with a real problem. The whole movie is basically about this guy living with a blow up doll who he thinks is real. Finally at the end of the movie Lars begins to interact a little better with real people, and his blow up doll “dies” ending the movie. In the end he is a little bit better, and potentially might end up with a real girlfriend.

    I would not recommend this movie to anyone because it is boring, there is little drama, there is no comedy, and the ending was mediocre. But it was not just the ending that was mediocre but every aspect of the movie was mediocre, and in the end you find yourself regretting sitting through the whole movie.