Due to a very pleasing viewing of the recent Robin Hood film, I thought I’d re-evaluate the previous Mr. Hood, the one whom I’ve held on a pedestal for so long. Comparatively, they are different sotries and given that the newest Ridley Scott film is a production that throws out most convention, looking back it seems more apparent that Costner’s did so as well (just to a lesser degree). Was it a bad thing? No. It, just like Scott’s film, just fit well in the time it was made and like history has shown us, change, sometimes, an inevitable part of storytelling. As far as Kevin Costner’s film, does it stand up? Nostalgia aside, I…
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G-S-T Review…Robin Hood
In Hollywood circles, there’s been some constant actor director tag teams in the past, Johnny Depp,/Tim Burton, Nic Cage/Jerry Bruckheimer, DeNiro(and DiCaprio)/Scorsese to name a few. But if there’s one team that continues to impress, it’s the one, two punch of Ridley Scott and Russell Crowe. Well those two were at it again, this time to tell the story of Robin Hood. Despite years of saturation from the famous man in green tights, this was a different tale all together that is not the tale you think you’ve seen. But where shall I start? Maybe I’ll take a cue from the movie and start…at the beginning. Now as per a recent trend in Hollywood, prequels…
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G-S-T Quick 5 – Best Action Melee Scenes
Let’s face it, when we walk into an action movie, we don’t want realism. We want our hero to be “10 feet tall and bulletproof“. We want him/her to know tons of bone crunching self-defense, walk through a battle unscathed and maybe, just maybe, if we’ve suspended all our disbelief, our hero will be able to walk on water. Now as action films go, pushing the envelope is a requirement, nay, obligation and most times, despite the lunacy of what happening on-screen, we always think bigger and better is the way to go…except in Transformers 2. Yet for as long as films have had that genre defining high action content,…
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G-S-T Quick 5 – Guilty Pleasures
Guilty Pleasure films usually fall into 1 of 3 categories 1.) Ones we don’t tell anyone we own 2.) Ones we don’t watch with anyone or 3.) Ones we just can’t figure what makes it so morbidly appealing. Now it may be one or two of the 3 said categories, but if all three do in fact apply, then you’ve either got a porno/snuff film or some kind of utterly terrible My Little Pony film…in that case you’ve probably come to this site looking for the wrong Guilty Pleasures:) Inspired by both Olive (of Movie News First) and Kai (of The List), I have gotten the urge to not only list my favorite Guilty…
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Off the Shelf…'The Great Muppet Caper'
Personally speaking, it is rare that a film is able to stand up to the ever-changing tastes of the viewer and, nostalgia aside, that film stands the test of time and age groups. While this is no Gone With the Wind or Casablanca, this is a fun movie that I enjoy as much now as I did when I was a child. Few filmmaking studios have consistently made quality films that appeal to all age groups and for different reasons. Jim Henson Studios, a truly crafted troupe of artisans and entertainers, changed the world with high-profile and crowd pleasing ‘puppet theater’. The long running and ever fascinating “Muppet” films capture the imagination…
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G-S-T Quick 5 – Netflix Recommendations That Surprised Me…Round 1
One of the thing I like about Netflix is their “Watch Instantly” feature. That way I can try a movie out with out waiting for the DVD to show up, so if it sucks, I haven’t wasted 2 days waiting for its arrival. Anyway, after the successful viewing of Cashback (which I’ll write about below) I bought the compatible ROKU player (FYI: not a sales pitch) so I could transmit the signal to my TV. The also just released a workable disc for the Wii and both work fantastic!! So after some great viewings of films I would have otherwise never watched, I was so impressed with them after the…
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Off the Shelf…’Wanted’
Last night I watched Wanted and I forgot how much fun that movie was. Talk about a kick-ass movie that defies physics. This beyond cool movie was a “knock your socks off” actioner and if you blinked even once during the last 15 minutes then you probably missed a lot. Sure it was totally unbelievable but I’d equate it to Equilibrium with its imaginative and borderline genius gun fight sequences. A gun that can shoot around corners…wow, using a dead guy to ‘bullet proof vest’…cool idea (although a little bit of an Arnold rip-off). This movie was brainless fun but at the same time, simply flat-out exciting! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MDvP6OpRVu4
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Greatest Movies That Made Going to the Movies Suck #17 – 'Garden State'
Masterminded by Mike at You Talking To Me?, the multi-blog-a-thon entitled 27 Greatest Movies That Made Going to the Movies Suck asks fellow bloggers to identify the singularly great and iconic films that have created nothing but disappointing, and god-awful impersonators. Ultimately causing the film in question to remain famous for being original and ground breaking but at the same time infamous for creating doppelgängers we wish we could “un-see”. I was asked to contribute my thoughts on one of my favorite movies Garden State, which I believe to be a neo-classic. Unfortunately (for the purpose of this post anyway) Garden State did more to inspire and help the success of…
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Off the Shelf…’RocknRolla’
Our friend Ruth at FlixChatter recently did a post about the opening sequence to Rocknrolla and after reading it, I thought “man I want to watch that again!”. Also, I just love that intro song by Black Strobe…to me, that whole bit just works. I really enjoyed RocknRolla in the theater and it is such a treat on DVD/Blu-Ray. Sure it’s not quite Snatch part II that fans were expecting, but I think it turned out well. All I can say about this film is that “Guy is back!!”…and now that Madonna is gone, I think we’ll be getting more quality Ritchie films in the near future. RocknRolla was one very…
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G-S-T Review…Iron Man 2
I saw Iron Man 2 this Saturday and it has taken me a few days to collect my thoughts. The reason for the delay is that I didn’t want the glee of seeing this year’s eagerly awaited big comic book behemoth to keep me from giving a fair assessment. Well all that well-intentioned crap aside, I really enjoyed this sequel. Being that it was a follow-up to an equally successful film, this got the green light to go big, and so it did. PREMISE: Billionaire Tony Stark (Robert Downey Jr.), his identity no longer concealed from the world, faces pressure from the government, the press, and the public and receives tension and backlash…