Universal Soldier Day of Reckoning!

John looks to take down Luc Deveraux after a home invasion claims his wife and daughter. The fight pits John against Andrew Scott and an army of genetically enhanced warriors; meanwhile, he must contend with a UniSol in relentless pursuit.

Scott Adkins, who I am a big fan of takes center stage in this installment of Universal Soldier.  You basically see everything through his eyes, and remember things as he does.  He plays a guy who's wife and daughter are killed by Jean Claude Van Damme and his group of Unisols.  Yes, Van Damme is the bad guy in this one.

So Van Damme, and Dolph Lundgren, who looks like Ted Knight on Roids in this film, are making Unisols remember who they are.  Like sleeper cells.  Adkins is one of these guys, or is he?  Guess you have to watch through his eyes and find out.

I have to say the action scenes are amazing.  Adkins can fight like no ones business.  Machetes to the head, axes to the foot, and baseball bats to the body.  Fantastic fight sequences.  The rest, I just don't know.  Its like watching a weird first person art house film with brutality.  I like action films, yet dislike art house stuff.  It cool, yet really dumb.  Action packed, yet rather dull.  I don't know how to describe it.

Bottom line, watch the film for the action not the plot.  Its a different entry in the series to say the least.

Overall 2 out of 5 Stars!

The Dark Knight Rises

Eight years on, The Dark Knight, Gordon and newcomer John Blake are pushed to their breaking points whilst desperately trying to handle Gotham's biggest ever threat: a legendary masked terrorist mastermind known only as Bane

  Ok, I figured it was high time I gave my two cents on this film, and as an avid comic book reader, with Batman being my favorite character I feel I am more than qualified to write this review.  Dark Knight Rises takes place about 8 years after Batman took the fall for Harvey Dent.  Because Dent is now regarded as a hero crime has all but vanished in Gotham.  And as hes a wanted man Batman has vanished as well.  Bruce Wayne has become a Howard Hugh's type recluse, who sunk all his money into a thermo fusion device.

Turns out there is a evil corporate raider out there who wants Wayne's company.  To help take it over he enlists a cat burglar names Selina Kyle, and a terrorist named Bane.Turns out Ban know Bruce is Batman.  Also turns out Bruce has gotten the itch to become Batman again, and comes out of retirement.  He of course fights Bane, and gets not only his ass kicked but his back broke.  Then for his troubles he gets thrown into a prison cell.

While Batman is broken Bane takes over Gotham but blowing up a football stadium, and letting everyone know he has the thermal device which is also a thermal bomb.  He says if anyone trys to leave he will destroy the whole city.  He frees all the prisoners from jail, and locks all the rich people up.

Do I need to tell you Batman comes back to save the day?  No I don't.  He gets help from Selina Kyle, who we all know as Catwoman, although she is never called that in the film.  Also there is a patrol man named Blake who assists as well.  So is this a good film?  Yes and No.

See its a good film, effective, and nicely tied into the other films thus completing a trilogy.  Bane was never much of a villain to me, but he was effective in this.  But I have a hard time rating this as I have to look at it from the comic book fan in me.

See, basically this story is a combination of The Dark Knight Returns, No Mans Land, and the entire Knightfall saga.  So to take these 3 giant storyline, combine them, add to them the mythology that you have created in previous films and shrink it to a 2 hour plus film is amazing and should get you a 5 star rating.

However I have no proof Nolan did this.  So on the other hand I could say this was a bunch of jumbled up shit crammed into the last film of a series to try and close everything out in a manner that makes no sense, yet offers no surprises, thus earning it a 1 star review.

So I will have to give this a somewhere in the middle review.  Its not a bad film, but by o means a great one.  I liked it, but in the same sense had problems with it.

Overall 2.5 out of 5 Stars!

Hotel Transylvania

Dracula, who operates a high-end resort away from the human world, goes into overprotective mode when a boy discovers the resort and falls for the count's teen-aged daughter.

So a long time ago villagers burned down Dracula's Castle, killing his wife and leaving him alone to raise his daughter.  Because of this Dracula hates humans, and decided to build a giant Hotel for all the creatures to come to, to be safe.

 On the eve of his Daughters Birthday a human stumbles upon the castle, and the two take a shine to each other.  Will the human and Dracula's daughter be together?  Will Dracula learn to like humans?  What do you think?

Yes this plot is basic, and a no brainer, but the cartoon is fun.  It features Adam Sandler as Dracula, Kevin James as Frankenstein, Steve Buscemi as The Wolfman, Jon Lovitz as Quasimodo and David Spade as The Invisible Man.  SO there you have it, its an animated Adam Sandler movie.  Fart Jokes, toilet humor, you name it.  And the best part, there is nothing scary about it.  Yes this is geared for kids.  So parents its perfectly safe.  My son is 3 and he has watched about 15 times in the last 3 days. 

Kids will dig the songs, yes Dracula does rap, the silliness, and the jokes.  Adults, like myself who grew up watching Universal Monster films will like it as well.  Honestly I cannot recommend this enough.

Overall 4 out of 5 Stars!

Death Race Inferno

Convicted cop-killer Carl Lucas, aka Frankenstein, is a superstar driver in the brutal prison yard demolition derby known as Death Race. Only one victory away from winning freedom for himself and his pit crew.

Death Race Inferno pick up right when Death Race 2 ends.  Frank Lucas is now thought dead, having been in a horrible car fire.  He is badly burned and disfigured, but is given a deal.  He will be surgically repaired, along with the condition he wear a mask and goes by the name Frankenstein.  One condition he cannot tell his crew.  He agrees, and as Frankenstein wins 4 races.  5 race gets you and your crew freedom.  Unfortunately there is a corporate raid and Death race is taken over by the evil Niles York.
 
York wants to take the race to South Africa for a giant desert Baja Death Race, and tells Frankenstein he will be killed if he wins.  From there we have 70 minutes of violent car chase mayhem.  Even a big battle royal to the death between the women navigators.

The film is fantastic.  Everything an action fan needs.  It is the last chapter in the trilogy, as it ends where the Statham film would be set to start.  The fights, and car scenes are all state of the art.  My only question is, why does no one ever shoot at the tires of the other drivers car?  With that question aside I highly recommend.

Overall 4 out of 5 stars.!

Taken 2

In Istanbul, retired CIA operative Bryan Mills and his wife are taken hostage by the father of a kidnapper Mills killed while rescuing his daughter

Ok remember how Liam Neeson killed all those guys in Taken?  Turns out they had families.  Said family are now out for revenge.  Basic plot.  So far so good.
  So Liam is heading to Istanbul to work security for some dude, they don't really say and he invites his ex wife and daughter to join him.  See his ex wife is getting divorced from her current husband and he canceled a romantic vacation they had planed.  So you know nothing says romance like Istanbul. 
Once there The bad guys show up and TAKE Liam and his ex wife, so he has to call his daughter to help him escape, and save the day.
  First issue, when the group of bad guys show up the first time Liam is beating the crap out of them until they bring out his ex wife with a gun to her head.  He pulls out his phone and calls his daughter.  Yes they let him talk on his phone.
  Then his daughter finds him and they have a huge car chase scene.  Problem is, is his daughter keeps flunking her driving test in the states.  Yet somehow she can weave in and out of traffic during shootouts in a foreign country.
  Plot twist aside the film is ok.  I say ok because of the way the fight scenes are filmed.  It looks like it was filmed by an epileptic on a trampoline.  
If you can handle shaky cam fight scenes your fine.  The plot is exactly what you expect, and it has a nice 90 minute run time so its hard to get board.  Not as good as part one, but a good way to kill an afernoon.

Overall 3 out of 5 stars

Crawlspace

A special forces unit sent, to infiltrate Pine Gap Australia's top secret underground military compound, come under attack from unknown forces

Ok, let me say this before I start, the last good Australian film I saw was Dead End Drive In.  That was about 25 years ago.  So needless to say I was interested to give Australian cinema another chance after years of crap.  Crawlspace, suffice to say peaked my interest in Australian Horror once again.
  Set inside an underground facility, a group of soldiers go in to investigate a security breach.  What they find is a facility that is doing experiments on people. 
  They set off into a giant maze of "Crawlspaces" looking for various escapees, and instead encounter at first a giant razorback type monster, random crazy's an evil scientist, because you have to have one of those in every good film, and a bizzar girl named Eve who has telekinesis.  Seem she was heavily experimented on and can now make people see things via her mind.
  The title fits as the film does take place mostly in a crawlspace.  Its done quite well.  It has the same claustrophobic feel that the original Alien film had.  Followed that up with good special effects, both practical, and CGI, and a very good cast and you have yourself a hell of an entertaining suspense filled ride.  I should note I did get a few jump scares. 
  Overall I would highly recommend checking this out.  In the world of remakes, this is a fresh, and new concept.

Overall 3 out of 4 Stars!

Dredd 3D

In a violent, futuristic city where the police have the authority to act as judge, jury and executioner, a cop teams with a trainee to take down a gang that deals the reality-altering drug, SLO-MO

  Not to be confused with the Stallone Judge Dredd (Which I actually liked) this one is much more true to the comic.  Violent, over the top, action packed, and cheese as all hell.

  In the future, law enforcers are Judges.  Judge, as in Jury and Executioner as well.  There cops who can give sentence to the criminals they go after.  Life, parole, warning, death sentence.  Judge Dredd is the most feared Judge in Mega City One. 

  The plot is simple, Dredd and his new partner, a really hot psychic rookie judge are investigating a homicide at a block in a slum area.  The block is actually a giant high rise building that is being controlled by a crime lord named Ma Ma.  She is producing a new drug called Slow-Mo which gets you so high it makes you think time is slowing down.  Dredd and his partner take a suspect in for questioning, but before they can leave Ma Ma, who doesn't want the perp giving up any info on her organization has the building locked down, and orders Judge Dredd and his partner killed.

What follows in about 70 minutes of over the top action as Dredd must make his way up the Block to get to Ma Ma (Bad guys are always on the top of the high rise) amid chain guns, thugs, dirty cops, and random Block Dwellers.  Violence galoer, with over the top gore make this not only a winner for fans of the book, but for action lovers as well.

Highly Recommended!

3 out of 5 Stars.