Reviews

To put it in a nutshell, I think that "300" was probably one of the best movies I've ever seen in my life. That's a pretty big statement considering that I've got films like "Lord of the Rings" and "Star Wars" to compare it to, but I've never been quite this impressed before. The film is a visual feast for the eyes...a masterpiece of modern cinema.

I'll try to put the movie in a nutshell here without too much of a spoiler...but I may slip up a bit, so read with caution.

The movie takes place back in the days of ancient Greece at the time of the rise of the Persian empire. The Persian Emperor cum deity Xerxes has begun his acquisition of Greece, and has demanded that the Greek city of Sparta pay him fealty, in a sense. Xerxes really doesn't demand much, only that the Spartans must bow to him and honor him as the god he is. If they would do this, then Xerxes will have no need to march his billion man army on the city. The Spartans are a proud race of hardcore warriors, and Spartan King Leonidas refuses to bow to anyone, much less a Persian.

Leonidas decides to attempt a preemptive strike against Xerxes armies, but is unable to do so due to it being a holy time in Greece--a period where the armies are not allowed to march by the order of the Gods. This being the case, Leonidas gathers a band of 300 of his best warriors to march against Xerxes, acting not as the Spartan army, but as proud, independent Spartans.

This movie is the tale of all that happened during that march...and a few other choice tidbits that went on back in Sparta while they were gone. And that's pretty much all I'm going to give you on this story...

Everything about this movie shows excellence. Acting, editing, art direction, adaptation, costumes...it's ALL perfect. As a plus, I've never seen so many perfect bodies gathered together in one movie before ever, so lovers of the human male and female forms alike will certainly have their fill of eye candy. The flick even has the required Hollywood gratuitous sex scene...and it doesn't take away from the film, not one bit.

To try to compare this movie to another is next to impossible. If I had to do it, I would have to say that it's "Gladiator" meets "Sin City" from within "The Matrix". It's an incredible visual experience and it's not to be missed.

Once again, I have to disagree with the majority of critics. Aeon Flux was pretty much laughed off as a waste of time and money by the majority of them. I can't say that it's a wonderful movie by any means, but it's not as bad as the majority of folks will say that it is.

It's set some 400 years in the future, after 99 percent of the worlds population is killed off by a mysterious virus, and the survivors gather in one single place. Aeon Flux (Charlize Theron) plays a mysterious assassin working for a covert organization of "Monicans" who's ultimate goal is to kill the chairman of the current government regime and either take power for themselves or give it to the people(we never really find out which of those two it was supposed to be), and Aeon Flux is assigned to do the deed. After Aeon accepts the mission and is well on her way to completing it, she runs into some rather disturbing complications which give her reason to pause.

That's about all I can say, as to say much more would probably give the whole movie away. It's not a terribly complicated plot. It does have some really neat twists and turns though.

I can't say that the acting was spectacular at all. At best we got mediocre performances by the cast. I don't know and can't tell if it's because of the way that the script was written or if it's the way the film was directed that's the root problem, but there's a serious issue with the film that I can't identify.

Charlize Theron looked anorexic-ally amazing in the title role, using an awesome little form-fitting leather/latex outfit to rival anything that of Jennifer Garner's anorexic "Sydnee Bristow" character on TV's "Alias" ever wore. When you have an outfit to wear like that one, who needs a script? The sets were incredible (someone obviously spent some money on this movie somewhere along the way), as were the special FX which I found to be most original. The biggest problem with this movie is found at the end, when we DON'T find out answers to some serious questions that we've had throughout the entire flick. I hate that...having unanswered questions. It makes me feel like the producers ran out of money before the movie was finished.

Aeon Flux is nothing to write home about, but it's not "end all" bad either. It'd be a good flick for the kids on a Sunday night after dinner. Afterward, you can reminisce about the old days, when "Aeon Flux" was wicked cool!

Honestly, I don't mind a bad movie, if it's obviously done with the intent of being good campy fun. I don't know if that was Uwe Boll's intention, but that's what I took it as...and I think I enjoyed it a lot more than most people did. I can see myself as a teenager out with the gang, watching this as a midnight showing in a theater and having a blast making fun of it! "Bloodrayne" is a rather campy version of "Blade", set in medieval times and with a female lead (Rayne) occupying the Wesley Snipes role. She is a half breed human/vampire that only requires blood to heal herself, so she is not compelled to feed like the other vampires in the movie are required to do. She is the product of a rape which occurred between her human mother and, of course, the most powerful vampire on the planet.

As the story progresses, we discover that Rayne truly hates her vampiric brethren, and has a self appointed mission in life. In predictable fashion, she is required to complete a couple of quests before she can obtain the object of her goals, and she meets up with a specialized team of folks along the way that assist her in the completion of these tasks.

"Bloodrayne" stars nobody of any real consequence other than the role of the main villain, played rather lethargically by Ben Kingsley. There are no other truly notable performances in the movie. The character of Rayne, played by Kristanna Loken, was very underdone. I constantly harp on things like this--underacted roles--and I'm starting to hate my reviewing because of it. The role had such potential, and could have been played with so much more passion than she played it with. Rather than playing a determined vengeful character, Kristanna played the role from the perspective of a naive, insignificant nymph. Such a waste of a potentially awesome, sword-wielding, leather-clad, Xena-type warrior role. She could have been AWESOME! Personally, I blame her for the problem, but I suppose that the director could have been at fault--it was his job to make sure that he got the desired effect from her characterization. It's really difficult to tell who's really to blame.

With all of this bashing that I'm doing to the film, you might think that I really hated it. This isn't at all true--I rather enjoyed watching this movie. It was just campy enough to be fun--something that always entertains me. The costumes were almost believable, and I enjoyed watching to see what people were wearing for their roles. The story was barely plausible, but good enough to get by.

While I'm really glad I didn't pay cash to go see it in a theater setting, I wasn't mortified by renting it, and on a really dead night I just might be willing to give it a second look.

I finally made it through "Underworld--Evolution" last night, and I LOVED it!!

I don't want to give too much away, but Selene and Michael pick up pretty much right where they left off in this sequel of the war between the Lycans and the vampires. Selene searches and learns more of the secrets of her family and her bloodline, which only reinforces her convictions that everything she ever thought that she had known was nothing more than a parcel of lies. The founding immortals including the father of the races!) all make an appearance in this one, and the movie starts off by showing us scenes from the past--of how the blood-feud between the two races began in the first place. The movie ends with us realizing that the eternal patience and love for a brother is not necessarily always a good thing. Rather touching and poignant, in a macabre sort of way...

Well acted, excellent set decor, awesome FX, amazing stunts, provocative costuming...not to mention an excellent storyline and premise for a sequel--it all adds up to make this movie a must see.