Well consider me sufficiently spoiled and even more desensitized as the “horror” bar, the “skin content” bar, and the “creature feature” bar have all been raised and reset by Alexandre Aja. In his latest film, Piranha 3D has reassessed what it means to go overboard (no boat pun intended) and over the top…and I loved every minute of it. While I have been pretty firm in my stance that 3D is yet another passing fad, this movie is proof positive that it’s probably not going away anytime soon. Piranha 3D carves out a comfortable niche in film where this revived technology can showcase a perfect middle ground between the gimmick 3D films of old…
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G-S-T Review…The Expendables
Wow, this was the movie I was waiting to see for the past 18 months!! No let me replace that exclamation point with two question marks. I have to say I enjoyed myself but this was not what I was expecting it to be. With a passable story, The Expendables was action porn that effectively delivers the “mangasam” that adrenaline junkies have been waiting for. To me though, this lacks the sophistication Stallone has been working towards with each succeeding film. In short, you’ve seen this movie before; it’s a tapestry of every 80’s action movie but the difference is that this actually stars all those 80s action heroes. While I think calling…
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G-S-T Review…Scott Pilgrim vs. The World
As this is pretty much the trend with all upcoming comic book films that aren’t Marvel or DC properties, I have not read the source material for Scott Pilgrim. Basically I just didn’t know about it. Did I miss the boat? No. These days, when filmmakers shoot these adaptations they (thankfully) take the mentality of moviegoers like myself into account. So with that said, I didn’t know squat about Scott Pilgrim but Edgar Wright (read Genius) made me feel like I’d been a fan of the comic all along. PLOT: Now I know this isn’t justifiable since I haven’t seen Inception yet, but my current opinion is that Scott Pilgrim vs.…
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G-S-T Review…Predators
In what is both a simultaneous reboot and a sequel to the beloved Predator, Robert Rodriguez and Nimród Antal looked to breathe new life into the severely failing franchise. In short this was a return to the basics and what the series needed, however I was simply underwhelmed. It was a fun outing that I had with some fellow Predator fans, but honestly I was more entertained with the fake Arnold voice-over trailer for the film. PLOT: To me, so much of the film just screamed “fan boy film”. They say that imitation is the sincerest form of flattery and in that respect this was highly flattering. The drawback here…
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G-S-T Review…Get Him to the Greek
In this loose “follow-up” to Forgetting Sarah Marshall, Get Him to the Greek focuses on wild and eccentric Brit rocker Aldous Snow. Weird thing is, although the movie hints at being a continuation of the prior movie (including a cute TV commercial of “Sarah Marshall’s” newest prime-time show) Jonah Hill doesn’t play the infatuated Aldous/Infant Sorrow fan he did in FSM. Weird I know. However, that minor inconsistency didn’t keep me from enjoying the hell out of this movie. While FSM really surprised me, this was equally as entertaining. As this is, in part, a Judd Apatow film, the story came replete with tons of heart. Further, as expected, the raunchy humor was set…
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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 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…
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G-S-T Review…Kick-Ass
Not being very familiar with Kick-Ass, I was excited because of how the trailers looked and felt, but more importantly, the fact that this is directed by long time Guy Ritchie collaborator, Matthew Vaughn. So, knowing little to nothing about the “source material” I walked into the theater hoping for a ride as sweet as Red Mist‘s Mustang. In short, the movie didn’t live up to the trailers but was still an enjoyable time. PREMISE: Without any super powers to be found (or injected by radio-active insects) Dave Lizewski, after reading a few too many comic books, decides to become a real life superhero. Taking a fair amounts of knocks in his newfound profession…
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G-S-T Review…AVATAR
Walking into the theater to see a movie that was 14 years in the making, one has to ask, “how big is the hype on this?” and further, “how disappointed will I be if this isn’t anything great?” Well the good news is that this film definitely does well by my standards and gets my vote for one of the best movies of the decade. Cameron continues to push the boundaries of existing technology, create his own if what’s available is insufficient to materialize his dreams and finally resets the bar with every effort. I wasn’t a raving fanboy awaiting the “Final Coming of Cameron” but I was still pretty excited to see this.…
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G-S-T Review…Michael Jackson's "This is It"
Hey all, Rob (the resident JP editor) chiming in with a very rare post. Yes, I should contribute more, I know, but Marc writes so well! 😉 Ahem, today though I’d like to give a “mini-review” about Michael Jackson’s “This is It”. I say mini-review, because to tell the truth, I think to do a full GST review would not be fair to this movie due to a variety of reasons. 1. Most people going to see this movie are going to be biased. I mean, come on, it’s Michael Jackson, if you don’t like him, you won’t see it. 2. It’s a pseudo documentary as well, so to review…