Author: Zac

I am a mid 20's film lover that spends his money on film and DVD/Blu-Ray's. I enjoy writing creatively when I can and reviewing films has become a new passion for me in the last year or so. I am also a big Cardinals fan and can be found playing Softball multiple nights a week when in season. I hope you like my opinion, and that's great if you don't, we need less sheep in this world.

Downey Jr. Talks some ‘Sherlock Holmes’, Among Other Things

Robert Downey Jr. has solidified himself as the new superstar of Hollywood and his next appearance on screen will be as Sherlock Holmes for Guy Ritchie to come out next year.   The direction the film is going to take has been a bit mysterious, other than it was going to be a serious take that gets back to Holmes’ roots.   Well Downey’s quote in a recent interview is very intriguing as to where they are going with this:

“It’s definitely going to be Guy Ritchie’s take and it’s going to be done in classical 1891 surroundings but not going to be particularly stylised.” With a contemporary tone, he adds. “I think what’s contemporary about it is that you go back to the real truth of Sherlock Holmes – is that he’s a lot more broad and less stoic than I remember seeing him depicted. He’s a bare knuckle boxer, a martial artist and a complete weirdo which is why I said I’d love to do this.”

Bare knuckle boxing, martial arts, and a smart talking weirdo, sign me up!   You can read the rest of the interview here at Dark Horizons.

Avatar Interview with James ‘The Man’ Cameron

Yeah, he hasn’t made a non-doco since Titanic.   Yes he has crafted arguably 2-3 of the top action films of all time.   And, yes Avatar will probably change the way we look at film making.   So head over to the Hollywood Reporter to read up on what Cameron has to say about his new project, which is so new and up to date, they upgraded the camera they shot with something like 6 times.   WETA is doing the effects work and this will be a full 3-D picture coming out next Christmas.   Along with The Watchmen this is front runner for biggest Geek movie of 09.   Check out the interview here.

More Viggo is Good for Everyone! First Shot from ‘The Road’

An adaptation of Cormac McCarthy’s (No Country for Old Men) Pulitzer Prize winning novel of the same name. The Road deals with a families attempt to survive in a unkown catastrophe riddled U.S. Viggo Mortensen stars with Charlize Theron and this has to be one of my most anticipated movies for the remainder of the year. Look for it around Thanksgiving, this could end up being a big Oscar contender. Also, how great is it that we get two Viggo movies this fall, two! Life is good, read the original article at USAToday.

Viggo and Harris Reunite for ‘Appaloosa’

The modern western is becoming a yearly staple again and I hope this is successful so we can see some more. The western genre can be so much fun and exciting and ripe for some fresh ideas; here is to that those keep coming. Viggo Mortensen, Ed Harris, Jeremy Irons, and Renà ©e Zellweger star, that is a hell of a cast and Ed Harris directs as well; something tells me he knows what makes a good movie.   Appaloosa comes out October 3rd, and looks pretty great, watch the trailer at MSN here.

Role Models teach us about Boobies and Live Action RPG’s

David Wain’s latest has a trailer and stars Paul Rudd and Seann William Scott. Elizabeth Banks and Christopher Mintz-Plasse (McLovin) co-star. The two leads own a energy drink company and after an unfortunate accident are forced to do community service or 30 years in jail. They decide to take the service and become part of the a Big Brother program and life lessons are learned. Check out the trailer at MTV.

Halo Being Resurrected with the Fall Of Reach?

The Halo franchise makes some serious dollars for Microsoft, so it’s only obvious that a movie would try to be made. Peter Jackson tried to get a version produced by him off the ground, but to no avail, so I don’t know what the chances of this happening really are if Peter Jackson can’t do it.

Either way, scribe, Stuart Beattie, is trying to get the movie back on it’s feet again with a new script by him, which is actually an adaptation of the prequel novel, Halo: Fall of Reach. He has a pitch with some concept art going around Hollywood and Latino Review has an exclusive look at that said art. So head here to check it out; and all of you wanna be Spartans can continue to dream a little dream that Master Chief might end up on the big screen.

‘The Dogs of Babel’ to Bark (try to talk) on Film!

John Crowley (Intermission) will direct the story about a linguistics professor who comes home to find his wife dead in their back yard. In desperation for answers, he begins to try and teach his dog to speak, as he was the only witness to her death.

This sounds original, and quite brilliant if you ask me, and has certainly peaked my interest as a film to keep an eye on for the future. I am a sucker for dogs though, but this odd premise would intrigue me if it involved a cockroach or something. Look for it sometime next year.

Zac Blogged This

I know I am not Johnathan Levine, but I am going to steal his wonderful intro to introducing himself to the site. Scott was kind enough to bring me on the site and you will begin seeing me making posts and writing reviews around here, between watching movies and playing Rock Band, hopefully for a long while.

I have been writing reviews regularly for almost a year now over at my own blog and have done a bit of writing here and there online before that throughout my college years. So all in all, I hope you guys enjoy my opinions and I will use the rest of this space to give a little back ground on myself.

Favorite Film of 08: Wall-e

Most anticipated film of the next year: The Watchmen

Best Film of 07: The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford

Favorite Film of All-Time: The Shawshank Redemption/The Empire Strikes Back

Worst Movie Ever Seen in Theaters: Land of the Dead

# of DVD/Blu-Ray’s Owned: 750+

I also like long walks on the beach, thanks and I will see you around.

Review: ‘Batman Begins’ on DVD

Zac:

Christopher Nolan reboots and revitalizes a dying franchise that takes the source material seriously and creates one of the better comic book origin films to date.
Christian Bale stars as Bruce Wayne who has purposefully got himself thrown into prison and entered a life of crime to train and learn how to get back at evil and strike fear into their hearts. While in prison he is approached by Henri Ducard (Liam Nesson) speaking on the behalf of Ra’s al Ghul (Ken Watanabe), who leads an organization called the League of Shadows who wishes to, rid the world of the scum of the earth. The league trains Wayne into a skilled master of fighting, stealth, and combat tactics, before having to pass the final test of executing a proven criminal. Refusing to kill the man, Wayne is forced to defend himself, kills Ra’s al Ghul, and destroys the league’s hide out along with many of it’s members; with Wayne saving Henri Ducard before it’s all said and done, yet has to leave him behind.
Upon returning to Gotham, Wayne, along with the help of Alfred (Michael Caine) the family butler begins to re-establish his name in both Wayne Enterprises and the city. He begins to work secretly with Alfred creating Batman while also enlisting the help of Lucius Fox at Wayne Enterprises for the high tech gadgetry needed to become Batman. Batman’s first target is a mobster by the name of Carmine Falcone (Tom Wilkinson). Batman begins to enlist the help of Jim Gordon (Gary Oldman) a good cop that has to sit ideally bye due to the status quo of the crime world in Gotham. Gordon helps Batman on the legitimate side of the law while he enforces things vigilante across the city. Considered the crime boss of Gotham, Falcone avoids jail time for himself and his goons through the help of dirty cops and Dr. Jonathan Crane who has Falcone’s thugs turf’d to Arkham Asylum because they are “criminally insane.” Wayne must get to the bottom of Falcone’s scheme while also trying to juggle his image as a playboy while trying to still express interest in his long love Rachel Dawes (Katie Holmes).
To say a lot is going on in this film, is a bit of an understatement, and I haven’t even got into the twists and turns of the story yet. But the film at heart is an origin story, and a pretty damn good one at that and it spends the fist half of the movie building and creating who Batman is, before he really solidifies into what he is ideally trying to be and begins really getting into the meat of the Falcone mess.
The film itself is paced extremely well for an origin story, having to introduce all these characters and trying to get to know them; it does a pretty damn good job. The action in the film is solid and thrilling, but the fights themselves are too tightly shot and you can’t even tell what is going on. Another problem with the film is that there is no definitive antagonist for Batman. There are a couple of adversaries, but no true villain to define what is truly bad in this film. But in the end, this is a minor qualm, and again we are establishing Batman in this film first and foremost.
The acting is top notch across the board, with Katie Holmes being the only real weakness in the cast. She isn’t terrible, but she isn’t really that good either. Bale gives us the best Bruce Wayne yet and his Batman is just a hair below Michael Keaton’s. Wilkinson eats up the scenery as Falcone and is a joy to watch in the limited screen time he gets. Unfortunately, Gary Oldman’s Gordon doesn’t get as much screen time as I would have liked in this film, but there is always the sequel, and Oldman does a great job with what he has. Morgan Freeman is incredibly likable as Lucius Fox with his sly humor and wisdom and advice. Michael Caine makes Alfred more than a butler and gives Wayne a sort of father figure that he can lean on and look to advice. Cillian Murphy is also a blast as Crane and his alter-ego of the Scarecrow that terrorizes people’s minds. Liam Nesson is also solid as the master to Wayne’s protà ©gà ©, and he should since he has played that role a dozen times now. Ken Watanabe unfortunately has little to no material, and was pretty much a waste as Ra’s. The cast all around just works well and gels together creating one of the best ensemble casts in a film in a while.
I have already touched on the direction a bit, but Nolan does a great job on his first film on a grand scale and you can see how he has grown in his follow up The Prestige. It will be really great to see how he further grows in The Dark Knight. The score is also very good, yet extremely subtle, with it never really being prominently but complementing the film very well. The effects work is also top notch and even though they did much of it practically the CGI blends in perfectly.
In the end, Batman Begins is one of the better comic book films in recent years. While there are few that still sit above it, Nolan has laid the grounds for an excellent follow up with The Dark Knight and it will be great to see what he can do with a defined villain, The Joker, and not having to worry about the back story of the Wayne and Batman.

[rating: 4/5]

The disc looks and sound marvelous and the extra features are pretty good to boot.

DVD/Blu-Ray Details:

Extras include 12 featurettes (including: “Genesis of the Bat”, “Batman: The Journey Begins”, “Path to Discovery”, “Saving Gotham City”, “Shaping Mind and Body”, “Gotham City Rises”, “Cape and Cowl”, “Batman: The Tumbler”), the “Tankman Begins” MTV spoof, “Confidential Files” (text and images), and theatrical trailers.
Additionally, this release will feature an “In Movie Experience” (IME) PIP commentary track.
Exclusive to the Blu-ray release will be the complete six-minute prologue from upcoming theatrical release of ‘The Dark Knight’

DVD Review: ‘Hellboy – Directors Cut’

Zac:

Hellboy is an excellent comic adaptation for Guillermo del Toro, with Hellboy being one the funniest and most original superheroes ever created.

Professor Broom (John Hurt) is a paranormal adviser to FDR during WWII and leads the investigation of the Nazi’s pursuits into obtaining paranormal weapons and exploits. Upon coming across an experiment of the Nazi’s attempting to bring the seven gods of chaos to our dimension, lead by Grigori Rasputin an immortal sorcerer, a small red demon was able to come through the dimensional portal before the U.S. Army stopped the Nazi experiment. Broom takes him under his wings and the soldiers named him Hellboy. Flash forward 60 years, Broom leads the Bureau for Paranormal Research and Defense, full of paranormal creatures ala Hellboy (Ron Perlman) that fight the mythic evils that lurk in the night, but has been recently diagnosed with cancer and finds that he is dying soon. Broom recruits the fresh graduate John Myers (Rupert Evans) who he hopes to be his replacement.

Coincidentally, Rasputin’s disciples have resurrected him and they begin on a path to re-attempt to open the dimensions and call upon the chaos gods to destroy earth. Hellboy in the mean time has bigger problems to quell in getting back in favor with his “father” Broom as he repeatedly breaks out to visit Liz Sherman (Selma Blair). Liz is an on again off again member of the team, along with Hellboy and the water dwelling humanoid Abe Sapien, she is a fire-starter and the love of Hellboy’s life. Upon the investigation of a museum incident and the battle with the ancient beast Sammael, Rasputin’s return becomes clear to the team as they begin their quest to stop him and discover his plan.

Hellboy, the film, is full of interesting characters and a lot of back story to be filled in on. Thankfully the film handles this very well and is able to fill us in on these characters life while also keeping us entertained through out. Del Toro can’t take the story for granted and makes sure that the viewer is up to speed to fully enjoy the film. The film itself moves along at a very fine pace that is continually entertaining and never drags or bores. Hellboy is hilarious and his dry humor is a nice piece of fresh air in the comic book film genre. The look of the film is wonderful as well with Del Toro using live action as much as humanly possible with some wonderful creatures created for the film.

The acting is also solid through out starting with Ron Perlman owning the role of Hellboy. No one else could play him and hopefully know one else ever will. He perfectly captures the roles subtle humor, physical presence, and the emotional bits that Hellboy goes through. John Hurt also does an excellent job as Broom, providing a good father figure and leader of the team. Doug Jones plays the physical Abe Sapien with David Hyde Pierce perfectly complementing him as his voice, creating a smart, charming and subtle ying to Hellboy’s yang. Selma Blair is decent as Liz Sherman, with not a lot to work with unfortunately, but she feels a bit wooden at times as she plays the whole, “I’m so sad and depressed mode.” Rupert Evans is the weak link of the film as Myers, just coming across as unbelievable and just doesn’t really work. Jeffery Tambor also provides a number of laughs as the F.B.I. specialist that over sees Broom and his team and is the official cover artist for Hellboy and his exploits.

In the end, Hellboy is a fun action-fantasy-comic book adaptation that is solid all around. It is a great introduction to the character and the world he lives in and it will be great to see what they do in a sequel. While there are no major complaints with the film, it never excels beyond being a pretty good movie. I don’t know what held it back, but I can’t wait to see what they do on a return visit to Hellboy’s world, now that the introduction is out of the way.

[rating: 4/5]

The 3 Disc DVD set is a must own for Hellboy enthusiast. Jam packed with extras and a collectible book this is a great tune up for anyone that is a fan of the film. Solid video, great audio, and overkill special features.

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