The New York Knickerbockers

The New York Knickerbockers haven't been to the NBA Finals since the strike shortened 1998-99 season. Between the 2000-01 to the 2009-10 seasons, there were very irrelevant. That period is "highlighted" by a pair of 59 loss seasons (2005-06 under Larry Brown and 2007-08 under Isiah Thomas), a sexual harassment suit (thanks Isiah)!, the acquisition of Eddy Curry (Isiah again!) and general ineptitude. The lone "bright spot" if you will was backing into the playoffs during the 2003-04 season with a 39-43 record only to be swept in the 1st round by the Nets.

It's easy to delve into the heinousity of the Knicks during Isiah Thomas' tenure as a coach and executive but I'm going to hold back. Much like I'm going to hold back on my feelings towards Carmelo Anthony. The Knicks traded for Melo at the trade deadline of the 2010-11 season in a huge 3 team deal. During that year with the Nuggets, Melo made it known that he needed a trade to big market and would talk to anyone that listened about it. He even went so far as to pat himself on the back for his consistent play for the Nuggets during the distraction, which he caused! Talk about a self-absorbed jerk. During his time in Denver, the Nuggets posted four 50+ win seasons and made the playoffs every year from 2003-04 (Melo's rookie year) to 2009-10 (his final full season). The Nuggets did get as far as the Western Conference Finals in 2009 but all other seasons they exited in the 1st round. This was the guy the Knicks were going to hitch their wagon to.The Nuggets, by the way, made the playoffs after trading Melo and the next two seasons after that. Granted they were bounced in the 1st round, proving that little had changed after the trade.

To be fair, Melo has led the Knicks to the playoffs since his arrival. In 2011 the Knicks were swept by the Celtics in the 1st round. In 2012 the managed to stretch the Heat to a game 5 in the 1st round before going home for the summer. Last year was a different story, they dispatched an aging and depleted Celtic after letting them hang around for 6 games and then got beat the Pacers in 6 games in a hard fought series. After that success, the Knicks extended the contract of head coach Mike Woodson and had high expectations going into this year.

This year has been off to a bad start. The Knicks are 3-9 and look bad. Their only defender, Tyson Chandler is out with an injury, high priced power forward Amare Stoudemire is damaged goods and bow there's even talk that Coach Woodson is on the hot seat. Then out of nowhere Melo decides, "I want to be a free agent" when he can opt out of his contract after this season. This was the guy who whined about being in Denver and how he had to go to New York then 3 seasons later wants out? Even Charles Barkley took issue with Melo's statement. Now he did backtrack on those comments saying that he wants test free agency and stay in New York. If Melo wants to leave then he stands to lose tens of millions of dollars which I doubt he's going to do unless the Knicks pull a sign and trade.

Barkley and other NBA talking heads have said that Carmelo has to make free agents want to come to New York. Like the way guys go to play in Miami or with the Clippers. The problem is NO ONE wants to play with Melo. Melo needs the ball to be successful. In 161 games since being traded to New York, Melo has averaged 20.6 shot/game versus 3 assists/game. During  the strike season of 2011-12, while was nursing an injury, the Knicks were winning and in the hysteric grip of "Lin-Sanity" and Melo could not be more livid. He disliked the attention that Jeremy Lin got while the Knicks were winning without him in the line-up. The Knicks were fun to watch, they were up-tempo and exciting. Whereas with Melo, they are a plodding, dull offense. Check out this article for more information.

No top tiered free agent wants to come to New York and play with the Knicks. It's no secret owner James Dolan is a whack-job and Carmelo will run any person out of town who shares the spot light. Although, the Knicks seem to think that they can lure Kevin Love from Minnesota when he becomes a free agent in 2015, provided they re-sign Anthony. Now Love is said to be unhappy with the Timberwolves management but he plays with a young and exciting team. The polar opposite of the Knicks right now.

Presently both the Knicks and the Nets stink. Both clubs appear to be mismanaged (who thought Jason Kidd would be a good coach without no coaching experience what so ever?) and are quite frankly a league embarrassment. David Stern does not want to step down as commissioner with a laughingstock of a cornerstone market. The Nets could conceivably turn it around this year. The Knicks, not so much. Tyson Chandler is out and he's the only guy who plays defense. The offense is bad, the only thing keeping Anthony from jacking up 45 shots a game is JR Smith putting it up the moment he gets his hands on the ball. The Knicks can always tank in hopes of getting a high draft pick but that seldom works. Just go ask the Celtics when the put all their eggs in the Tim Duncan basket in the 1997 NBA Draft and wound of with Ron Mercer. Besides the Knicks hardly have a great draft history since they took Patrick Ewing with the number one pick in 1985 (there are those that feel that the 1985 draft was rigged). To be fair the Knicks did draft some solid players but Mark Jackson, Rod Strickland and David Lee had greater success after the Knicks kicked them to the curb.

Despite the fact that the Knicks are lousy, the Eastern Conference is just terrible enough where they could sneak into the playoffs, assuring themselves of a mid-level 1st round pick. So that may not help either (again the whole draft history of the team again). The Knickerbockers are going to be in for a long season and you can probably wager with a fair degree of certainty that Anthony will probably praise himself for doing all "he can" to try to win.

The Wolverine

Wolverine is one Marvel Comics most popular characters, he first appeared way back in 1974 in The Incredible Hulk 180-181 when he was dispatched by the Canadian Government to put an end to the Hulk and Wendigo's rampaging donnybrook.  By 1975 Wolverine joined the X-Men and the rest is history. As a comic book geek between 1981-1992, I first saw Wolverine in an issue Rom, Spaceknight (I was young and had no idea who the X-Men were. Did I go so far as to have a subscription to Rom? Guilty as charged. The X-Men had a guest appearance to increase sales and I thought the X-Men were wicked cool.), would eventually start following the X-Men religiously and like everyone else come to think Wolverine was the coolest character in comics.

In the comics Wolverine has gone through several retcons over the years and his origin has been expanded on as well. They've even done some ridiculous stuff to him as well over time. Suffice to say he's a bit different than I remember.But we're no here to dwell on the comics, it's about the latest Wolverine film. Now let's be honest 2009's X-Men Origins: Wolverine was lousy. I didn't know who some of the characters were and there were others who's appearance was much different than what I had grown up with (the Blob for instance). So they decided to go back to the drawing board after the success of X-Men First Class (which Wolverine had an uncredited cameo).

This film  takes place some time after the events of X-Men: The Last Stand. Logan has gone to a self imposed exile in the Yukon, living in a cave, venturing into town when he needs batteries for his radio or when he runs out of canned beans (there are no empty rolls of toilet paper which I found a little weird, must be a port-a-john out there). It's pretty clear he can't get over the death of  Jean Grey and he wants little to do with the human/mutant race (adding to his loner/brooder mystique that chicks dig). While in town to get batteries and dispense some old school frontier justice, Logan runs into Yukio, who's been looking for Logan in order to help absolve a life-debt for her boss Shingen Yashida (Logan and he have some history dating back t the Pacific Theater in WWII). Reluctantly Logan travels to Japan because he's not the type to make a big deal of things like this.

While meeting with the dying Yashida, Logan gets offered a chance at mortality (Logan's one of those types who looks at immortality as a curse) and he's a bit intrigued so he decides to stick around. Another reason is Yashida's uber-hot granddaughter Mariko (in the comics they're father-daughter) as you can see for yourself...

(whether it be comics or in films the silent brooding dudes with the hair hair & the pecs score the babes)

So Yashida dies and there's an attempted kidnapping of Mariko at the funeral that Logan helps foil by carving up a few yakuza. After a fight on top of a bullet train, he spirits Mariko to safety in a small village where she's got a place.

They get it on in case you were wondering

 

During the battle Logan finds that his wounds are taking longer to heal and it's really putting a drag on all the  fighting he does. Eventually the yakuza find their location and snatch up Mariko. Logan decides to go back to Yashida's lab to see if he can find out what happened. He links up with Yukio and finds out there's a nanobot near his heart that he's got to dig out the hard way. Logan & Yukio figure out where Mariko is being kept and they head over there, presumably because the film is at the 90 minute mark and the plot needs to speed up.

It's at Yashida's mountaintop factory (keeping in step with the theory that all villains have some sort of mountaintop lair) where it's revealed that Yashida , with the help of his "doctor" who's really Viper (now I vaguely remember this character from my days as a comic reader and she was more like the Baroness from GI Joe but what they heck, they gotta spruce her up right?), faked his death and is kept alive by the armor of the Silver Samurai. The armor is also made of adamantium and it comes with a super heated kitana (remember that in film, a kitana blade can slice through anything) blade that Yashida uses to cut Logan's claws off. Yashida is now drilling into the housing of Logan's claws and that somehow transfers Logan's healing factor into Yashida (not sure about the science on this considering that Logan's healing factor along with his boney claws are his mutation and you can't just drill out a guy's mutation) but Mariko is there to help save Logan and Yashida is eventually killed. After things start to return to normal, Logan decides that immortality isn't such a bad thing and decides to go back to the States, despite the fact that Mariko urges him to stick around (that's the thing with the quiet, brooding types wit the hair & the pecs, they're commitaphobes). There's a nice little "easter egg" during the credits that was nice.

The Wolverine has a running time of 126 minutes and it's about 10-12 minutes too long. Overall it was much better that Origins which made it pretty good but with room for improvement. The film's plot borrowed heavily from the 1982 limited series Wolverine

which I bought! Given.

 The imagery is all over the place which didn't bother me as I'd much rather have the writers stay as close to the source material as possible. The problems with the film I've mentioned earlier. Other problems are with the X-Men films themselves. The Origins film seems to change a few things from the X-Men Trilogy. For example, Logan helps rescue a young Scott Summers from Stryker and his gang but Scott never brings it up when they meet in the 1st movie (obviously they couldn't of but if I picked up on this then smarter people than me will have some issues). During that rescue, a teenage Emma Frost has a cameo but that conflicts with the fully grown Emma Frost from X-Men First Class that took place in 1963.

Teenage Emma

The mature Emma but several years earlier

So which timeline are we following? There are clearly some hiccups with the continuity and that bothers me a lot. Another example is that Professor Xavier explains in the first film that Magneto helped him create Cerebro but in First Class Hank Pym is its inventor. It boggles my mind how they pay attention to continuity in some spots but not in others. Of course it's entirely possible that I'm taking this a little too seriously. All in all this was an ok superhero film that was not as good as Iron Man but better than Captain America. Do Not  spend the extra money for the 3D , it's not worth it (I saw it in 3D because that was the time and I didn't think it was all that great). I could go on for awhile but this is getting to long. Thank you for your time.

DJ B-Clear's Summer Movie Preview - August

So the Summer is almost over and the 2 big Summer film weekends, 4th of July and Memorial Day are long gone. There's still Labor Day but that's the unofficial end of the season. The bigger blockbusters have come and gone (or fizzled). Here's where we should start to see the quality of films start to pick-up...allegedly.

August 2nd

• The Spectacular Now: High School rich kid pretty boy Miles Teller, leads a great life and and ends up meeting Shailene Woodley, after waking up from a drunken stupor on her front lawn. Woodley is a Diane Court-type whose not in Teller's clique at the local high school (stop me when you've heard this one before) because of their respective family's bank accounts. Teller then proceeds to woo Woodley in a Lloyd Dobler-esque manner but he's rich pals aren't thrilled with him dating in the non-trust fund crowd (kind of the basis of most of John Hughes' films). Despite all odds, true love prevails (allegedly) Teller and Woodley go to the prom. There's also a possibility that Woodley gives up her virginity to Teller as well.
• Europa Report: A group of astronauts go to explore Europa, 4th largest moon of Jupiter all in the name of science. Things start to go wrong and it doesn't look good. The trailer is well done as it sucked me in without giving to much away (though I'm hoping it's not something as unoriginal as a monster or something like that). This is already out on iTunes so it might be cheaper than viewing it at your local cineplex that has 12 screen devoted to whatever lifeless blockbuster is out there.
• Cockneys vs Zombies: Brick Top leads a group of Eastenders through zombie filled London in a Shaun of the Dead type zombie film. There's some laughs sprinkled out through here (there's a chase scene between a man w/his walker & a slow moving zombie) and the zombies don't seem overly terrifying.
• Drift: In a Point Break style mixture of surfing and crime drama, 3 studly surfers go into business making surfboards only to find out that one of is smuggling drugs inside the surfboards (they guy with a criminal past no less) in 1972 Australia. Lots of great surfing footage with dudes who look like Bodhi and his crew, because that's what all surfers look like right?

August 9th

• Elysium: Neill Blomkamp directs a sci-fi thriller set in 2154 where the wealthy live on a luxurious space station where there's no disease or want while the rest of us live on a decaying Earth with little to look forward to out of life. Matt Damon, contracts a disease or something and his only hope is to get to Elysium. Of course he's a lower class cog who's stuck on Earth and those who've tried to get to Elysium usually end up with their molecules re-arranged via laser canon. Enter Sharlto Copley, he's got a plan to get Damon into Elysium by grafting an exoskeleton to him but it won't be easy as Damon still has to fight his way onto Elysium. He's also going to bring a terminally ill little girl to save so it's not all about him. Success could change everything the likes of the evil Jodie Foster has worked so hard for, keeping the poor away from the wealthy. I liked District 9 a lot so this will be a must see for me.
• Planes: The newest Disney animated release, NOT Pixar, about a group of planes but it's not like Cars at all. There's a big airshow that the one plane wants to compete in but he's afraid of heights. Luckily Dane Cook lends his voice talents.
• We're The Millers: Ed Helms wants Jason Sudeikis to smuggle some drugs into the US from Mexico for a large sum which of course Sudeikis needs. So Sudeikis devises a whacky but can't miss plan where he hires people to pose as his "family" so they can smuggle to drugs out in an RV. His 1st choice is to hire a "wife/mother" and he offers the job to the stripper he frequents who turns out to be Jennifer Aniston (I guess she had fun as a the sultry evil dentist from Horrible Bosses so this seemed like a good follow-up). Sudeikis & Aniston lead the "Miller" Clan to Mexico and hilarity ensues (the virgin "son" constantly hits on Aniston & his "sister" as well as potentially racist bits with Mexican customs officials) which is what usually happens during a drug smuggling operation.
• I Give It a Year: A British film about Nat & Josh (Rose Byrne & Rafe Spall), a newlywed couple and their journey through marriage. Apparently the loved ones in their lives didn't feel the need to mention that they may not have been "right" for each other, hence the title. It all starts with the wedding cliches and gets worse. What's great is this is a comedy about a marriage that looks like its falling apart but in a funny way.
• Lovelace:The biopic of Linda Lovelace with Amanda Seyfried as the titular star. Directed by the duo of Rob Epstein and Jeffrey Friedman (winners of an Academy Award for Best Documentary) bring together an all-star cast to tell the tale of the 70's porn legend. The trailer plays a bit like Boogie Nights with the highs and lows of the unforgiving porn industry. This looks interesting and might be worth watching.
• Prince Avalanche: Paul Rudd escapes this trials and tribulations of the big city in 1988 and trades it for some spartan country living. He gets a job painting lines on the highway with Emile Hirsch who's a little off to say the least. The trailer didn't give me much but it's a indie buddy movie comedy with late 80's fashion so there are going to be a few laughs.
• Blood: A gritty British cop film about a brutal murder and the lengths the investigating detectives (2 brothers portrayed by Paul Bettany and Stephen Graham) go to find justice. However things turn bad during an "interrogation" and they have to cover up their misdeeds that Mark Strong started investigating. The trailer looks dark and foreboding but the rating on Rotten Tomatoes wasn't that good.

August 16th

• Kick-Ass 2: Hit-Girl & Kick-Ass return as a vigilante crime fighting duo who've inspired a new wave of masked vigilantes. They team up with Colonel Stars and Stripes (Jim Carrey) and continue to do battle with The Red Mist, who's vowed revenge on the duo for the death of his crime lord father in the original film. I liked the original so I might just take this one in and quite frankly Chloe Grace Moretz is a very talented up and coming actor who's worth seeing. The interesting thing about this film was that Jim Carrey denounced the film's violence after the tragic Newtown shootings. Of course that didn't stop him from cashing the check he got from working in this picture.
• Percy Jackson: Sea of Monsters: I never saw the original and I never read the books that the films were based on seeing how the appealed to a younger demographic. Percy and his pals are back battling mystical creatures and villains. If you thought the first one was cool then check out the sequel.
• 2 Guns: Suffice to say there is an all-star cast that makes up this film which is pretty much a remake of of the Lethal Weapon series. This time Riggs & Murtaugh 'Bobby' & 'Stig' (character name Mike Stigman, real original nickname) end up going after a stash of CIA cash that CIA naturally wants back. I can't believe someone of Denzell's stature would stoop to a "buddy cop" movie but here it is. Wahlberg, whom I like, is really good at playing the same guy over and over. The CIA villain (Bill Paxton) reminds me of Mr. Joshua. I will take a pass.
• Paranoia: Hunky stud Liam Hemsworth takes a job with a billionaire tycoon as a spy in the employ of his billionaire tycoon arch-nemesis (played by Gary Oldman & Harrison Ford respectively). So Hemsworth is caught in this elaborate scheme that he's got to figure his way out of. There's a lot of twists and turns but I'm willing to bet Hemsworth turns the tables on both Oldman and Ford in order to get a big payday and score the the uber-hottie.
• jOBS: Biopic about the life of Apple founder Steve Jobs. I'm sure Mr. Jobs led a very interesting life notable of a film but I have my doubts with Ashton Kutcher (the dumb guy from That 70's Show). Seeing how director Joshua Michael Stern is not named David Fincher, I doubt that this film will be as good as The Social Network. Plus there's the whole Ashton Kutcher thing.
• The Butler: Forest Whitaker plays a White House butler from the Kennedy through the Reagan administrations and he sees a lot of sh*t in a very Forrest Gump kind of way. The film is based on the life of Eugene Allen, who worked as a White House butler for 34 years. The film is directed by Lee Daniels, who has a short but formidable list of films to his credit who's work is worth viewing.
• Ain't Them Bodies Saints: Rooney Mara and Casey Affleck go on a crime spree where Affleck takes the blame for shooting a cop in the Texas hills (I've driven through Texas several times and I don't recall any hills) so that he can spare Mara a jail sentence. However, while in prison learns about the birth of his daughter and escapes to be with his true love.

August 21st

• The Mortal Instruments: City of Bones: Thin, pretty white people with magical powers do battle with other thin, pretty white people. Some are good and some are evil and there's a brooding, hunky stud in there as well. Unbeknownst to Lily Collins, she comes from a long line of demon-slayers and her mom (Lena Headey) has disappeared. The aforementioned brooding hunky stud takes her under his wing and shows her the world that she belongs to and her responsibilities. I'm willing to be that she's got great power, uses it to save her mom, falls in love with the brooding hunky stud and manages to defeat the forces of evil, at least until the next installment. Adapted from Cassandra Clare's novels.

August 23rd

• The Frozen Ground: Based on the actual accounts of serial killer Robert Hansen. Vanessa Hudgens escapes from the clutches of John Cusack and is by the detective working the case (Nicolas Cage) used to help bring him to justice. Except that Hansen is a really good serial killer and outstanding member of the community whereas Hudgen's isn't the most savory character (it's that old stripper bias). Cage is dogged in his pursuit of Hansen and is desperate to see him locked up. Serial killers always make for a good film, this has all the makings of a decent film but Nick Cage as the hero and Cusack is a sadistic serial killer? I may have to wait for the buzz before I check this out.
• You're Next: All seems well for the Davison family as they get together in their family's secluded mansion in the woods. Secluded and woods = bad outcome. The group is apparently stalked by creepy mask wearing, axe wielding home invaders bent on killing the Davisons because they're in a secluded house in the woods and that's where creepy masking wearing, axe-wielding home invaders hang out. The secluded woods. The trailer looks creepy enough, it got a 91% on RT and a 6.7 on IMDB. The thing is, creepy home invasion films are like the scary films, there's a lot of them. Buyer beware.
• Drinking Buddies: Indie comedy about a woman (Olivia Wilde) who runs a brewery, has great friends (Jake Johnson and Anna Kendrick), drinks a lot of beer and dates Ron Livingston. Did I mention that the woman in question is Olivia Wild? Sounds like an ideal life right? Not so much. The relationship with Livingston doesn't work out when she realizes that she's got the hots for Johnson. It's probably predictable enough as you can see from the trailer they're close friends, very flirty and both very good looking. Why wouldn't they want to hook up? This film got a 69% on Rotten Tomatoes and a 6.1 out of 10 on IMDB. It's got beer as a major theme so what's not to like? It's currently available for rental on iTunes. It might be worth a try. I've been considering the iTunes rental theory myself.
• The Grandmaster: Renown Hong Kong Second Wave director Kar Wai Wong gives us the tale based on the life of Ip Man, legendary Wing Chun grandmaster of the 1930's. The trailer is pretty kick ass, its stars Tony Leung and Ziyi Zhang so what more do you need?
• Scenic Route: Josh Duhamel and Dan Fogler are old pals that have grown apart. Fogler decides he & Duhamel need some quality time so he "stages" a car breakdown in the middle of the desert except that the car really breaks down and they're stranded. Unsurprisingly bad things happen to the duo from there. Perhaps things would have been OK if they stayed on the highway or just had dinner in the city.

August 28th

• Closed Circuit: Eric Bana and Rebecca Hall are lawyers on a legal defense team for an accused terrorist that set off a bomb in a crowded London market. Very high profile. What appears to be an open & shut case has a few more loose ends than expected. Bana & Hall are put in danger as they try to find the truth. They're also ex-lovers. The trailer looed very interesting as this looks to be a taut suspense thriller. Should be worth a look.

August 30th

• Getaway: His wife kidnapped, Ethan Hawke must follow the instructions of a man that force him into a fast car and to pick up Selena Gomez. Hawke is a former race car driver and Gomez is a drifter or something (she was wearing a hoodie, that's my guess). This has been done before.
• Afternoon Delight: Kathryn Hahn and Ted Mosby seem to have an ideal marriage. Nice house, great kid and success. But it's all kind if a facade as the marriage is a bit on the loveless side. Apparently other couples in their circle of well to do white folks get together every now and then and hit a strip club. They get all hot and bothered then go home to make sweet love to each other like all the other bored suburban couples. So when Hahn gets her first ever lap dance from Juno Temple, she takes a bit of shine to her. Not in a sexual way (dammit!) but in a "I want to save you from this life" kind of way. Temple ends up moving in as the new "nanny," low and behold her presence starts to break down the barriers between Hahn and her husband. Lots of hijinks ensue when Temple reverts to her stripper ways when the neighbors come over and more laughs because Jane Lynch is Hahn's therapist. I'm not married nor in a loveless relationship so I can't really related to these people. I may not be the film's target demographic.
• Passion: Brian De Palma returns to the directors chair for this thriller starring Noomi Rapace and Rachel McAdams. McAdams is the boss and she gives her protege Rapace a hard time a la The Devil Wears Prada. After McAdams takes credit for a Rapace idea, she decides she's had enough and revenge gets plotted. Things escalate and murder ensues. This is a remake of the French film Love Crime. This film was made in Europe and released and 2012 but it's just now getting to US audiences. That's usually not a good sign.
• The Lifeguard: Former high school standout Kristen Bell is turning 30 and her life hasn't been what she expected (kind of like the rest of us). She quits her job in NYC and moves back in with her parents in Connecticut. There she decides to become a lifeguard at a local pool and gets romantically involved with a teenager (nothing like returning to your high school glory with some stat rape). This causes her friends and family to become surprisingly judgmental. Poor little privileged girl doesn't like the way her life turns out and she wants a do-over but doesn't want the burdens of responsibility.

Pacific Rim

The setting is is the not too distant future, around 2018 is when the Kaijus (they come from an mystic portal located in the Pacific Ocean) start arriving. Shortly after a unified Earth develops a plan to combat these monsters by using Jaegers, giant mecha  controlled by human pilots who have a neural bridge (which is essentially the 2 pilots being "in tune" with each other so they can pilot the mecha, it's a long story and it's science fiction). So you have some giant robots that have cool sounding names and look like this...

As time goes by, the Kaiju are getting bigger, attacks more frequent and the Jaegers start to wear down on account the Kaiju can dish out some punishment of their own. It's 2025 and we are in the 7th year of the Kaiju War. The Jaeger program's funding is cut and the leaders of Earth have decided to go with giant coastal walls to protect the areas (a zinger towards the Republicans who feel a wall will deter illegal immigrants, see the correlation?). Soon enough a Kaiju attack tears through a coastal wall like tissue paper (couldn't see that coming). So the 4 remaining Jaegers are redeployed to  Hong Kong in a last ditch effort to defeat the Kaiju once and for all by sealing the portal. Oh by the way, sealing the portal involves a thermonuclear device and possible suicide mission. A multi-Kaiju attack takes place, there's a heroic last stand and the portal is sealed! Hoo-ray human race!

Director Guillermo del Toro is talented for sure, the special effects are great and I thought the fight scenes with the Kaiju and Jaegers were pretty awesome but this isn't his best work. There's very little originality in the film and the characters are cliches from other films. It can be said that the film was an homage to tokusatsu films but when does an homage become a rip-off? Take a look at this particular kaiju...

Now take a look at Guiron, a foe of Gamera.

Do there seem to be a lot of similarities? Granted Guiron's head is as sharp as Rambo's k-bar knife and he can shoot throwing stars from his head (which is a pretty awesome power to have and makes him way more cool), check out this clip at the 55 second mark...

Anyone who has watched anime in the past will immediately see strong resemblances between the Jaegers and say Gundam Wing. 

Then there are the characters, as mentioned above, they're all cliches from other films with studly sounding names like:

• Stacker Pentecost
• Raleigh Beckett
• Yancy Beckett
• Herc Hansen
• Chuck Hansen
• Hannibal Chau
• Mako Mori (hot Asian chick with awesome kung-fu skills alert!)
• Dr. Newton Gieszler

Idris Elba plays Pentecost the leader of the Jaeger program and father figure to all those who work in the program. Pentecost is the no-nonsense leader that knows how to push everyone's buttons in order to get the most out of them. Herc Hansen is hurt in a skirmish with a kaiju and Pentecost takes his spot (he was a former Jaeger pilot). Now the pilots need to be compatible to complete the neural bridge but since Pentecost knows Hansen's son so well, it's not a problem (he's probably compatible with all of the remaining pilots including the Chinese triplets) but that possibly makes a prior plot point meaningless. Of course we find out that he's dying and when he joins the younger Hansen on their mission, you just know that these guys are on a one way trip.

Raleigh Beckett is the hero but he's essentially Maverick from Top Gun in a sense that he's got a cool sounding name (Raleigh Beckett v. Pete Mitchell), he's a hot shot pilot who plays by his own rules, his partner/friend/brother dies, he feels responsible for his death (his brother Yancy v. "Goose") and he gets a chance to redeem himself and saves the day (Kaiju v. Russian MIGs).

Staying with the Top Gun theme, let me introduce Chuck Hansen, son of Herc. Chuck is the Iceman to Beckett's Maverick. He's got a huge ego and is always giving Raleigh a hard time. During the final battle, he, along with Pentecost, willingly sacrifices himself so that Raleigh can get another chance to complete the mission. Before he goes he let's Raleigh know what a swell guy he is and that he's sorry for being a jerk.

Then there's the scientists, Gottlieb and Geiszler. Gottlieb is British and refers to Geiszler as a kaiju fanboy who's science isn't of any use to the cause. Geiszler does develop a way to form a neural bridge with a portion of a damaged kaiju brain. From this bridge he learns a few things about the kaiju that no one ever knew. The problem I have is that Dr. Geiszler is payed by Charlie Kelly from It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia. That's exactly who I want on the science team charged with finding a way to end a war with giant monsters.

To his credit, by bridging with a portion of a kaiju brain he was able to find out that the kaiju are clones and they are being sent to Earth to clear the way so that they can consume Earth's natural resources. Sound familiar? Kind of sounds a lot like Independence Day doesn't it. During a kaiju attack on Hong Kong, the kaiju is defeated but it ends up giving birth! Why would clones need to procreate you ask? So Charlie can neural bridge with a complete brain of a kaiju (which would also answer the question as to why would kaiju give birth to live young and not lay eggs like in Godzilla).

There are some other plot points that are a bit ridiculous and/or used before, for example , during the battle for Hong Kong a kaiju releases an electromagnetic pulse that disables Stryker Eureka and it enables Beckett and Mori to fire up Gipsy Danger on account it's on the old analog system. Very similar to when Maverick had to go into battle with the MIGs despite the fact that Stinger didn't want to send Mav out. There's also a scene where they show Kaiju and Jaeger toys which is ironic because of the massive merchandise potential this film has (as do most films like this). Wait until it comes out on Red Box of even cable.

Man of Steel

It starts of in Krypton just before Kal-El's birth. Krypton is in a civil war (much like the reference Brando makes in Superman where he calls Kryptonian history a "bloody mosaic") and Russell Crowe's Jor-El must act quickly if he is to save the future of Krypton and his son at the same time. Leading one side of the civil war is General Zod, the sworn protector of Krypton, though he too wants to save Krypton but in a way where he can decide which bloodlines will live to see the future under his probably less than benevolent rule. You see, Kryptonians no longer have kids the old fashioned way, they have children in a Matrix type of way and people paths are pre-determined (kind of takes the fun out of things doesn't it?).

So despite it's advanced technology, Krypton isn't the utopia we once thought it was. They've got a boat load of issues. Zod kills Jor-El but not before he can send his infant son Kal-El off in a rocket to Earth with the codex of Krypton (it's something that has the DNA for the test tube babies of the planet). Eventually Zod's revolt is subdued and he, along with his supporters are banished to the Phantom Zone and Krypton explodes soon after (due to over mining and stuff, a little zinger towards big oil and Hydraulic fracturing).

Kal-El/Clark grows up with Kevin Costner and Diane Lane as his adoptive Earth parents and Jonathan Kent spends most Clark's life giving him advice about his powers (he kind of even scolds him for saving a bus full of school kids that crashed into a body of water and Clark pushed the bus out of the water prompting Clark to say, "what was I supposed to do?"). His mother (Diane Lane) even helps him to focus so he can choose when he wants to use his powers. Eventually Costner reveals where Clark came from and that he was just trying to protect him until the time came. Clark was kind of like every other kid, battling with his father about things and never seeming to realize that his father had his best interests at heart...allegedly. Clark realizes this too late when Costner sacrifices himself in order to save the dog during a tornado. Personally I thought this scene was a bit much. Always the good son Clark abides by his father's wishes of staying behind and leading everyone on the highway to safety under the bridge (in Kansas?) despite that Clark could have saved his father. So apparently there is no clip of Glenn Ford's death scene from his appearance in 1978's Superman The Movie (the 15 whole minutes I searched was fruitless) but trust me it was a powerful scene and I feel a better one that Costner's death in Man of Steel.

As you can see, this updated version stays pretty faithful to the 1978 version but with upgrades in film technology and a more elaborate story. With a little bit more detail, Clark goes to find himself and along the way pulls of inconceivable rescues while carefully hiding his identity. A unique discovery of an ancient Kryptonian spacecraft (which will probably serve as the eventual Fortress of Solitude) introduces of to Lois Lane and leads her on a quest to find out who her mysterious rescuer was. When she finds Clark, it happens to coincide with Zod and his crew showing up and demanding that Kal-El be turned over to them lest they opt for the consequences (which usually are never any good). Superman being Superman turns himself in because he can't allow harm to the humans he's sworn to protect. Of course, Zod can't be trusted (was there ever any doubt) and he wants to eradicate life on Earth in order to set-up a New Krypton. You see, Krypton has a different atmosphere than Earth so Zod and his team must fix the atmosphere for Kryptonians can survive (Kal doesn't have that problem since he was raised in our atmosphere. He may have some form of asthma a a kid but that was his body adjusting) and Zod doesn't really want to share with the indigenous lifeforms anyway.

Much like Superman II, Kal has to go through Zod's cronies before the final fight scene. The SPX here are very good. Kal fights Faora, who's much better at hand to hand combat than Kal, seeing how she was bred to be a warrior and has trained all her life.

Eventually, Kal thwarts Zod's plan and the two have their showdown...

Again, another solid scene but it kind of looks a little too familiar, check it out...

When I saw thee final battle, I knew I'd seen something like that before. Not that it's a bad thing but a little something different could've been in order but not a big deal.

Kal defeats Zod and in doing so, he becomes the last Kryptonian. He decides after the final battle that it's time for him to enter society and he comes his disguise as mild mannered reporter for the Daily Planet. Which works out well because despite that he has no skills as a reporter and no experience, the Daily Planet is looking to hire since the final battle left the city in a mess and probably thousands of people died (plus he's got kind of a thing for Lois). That's the funny thing about superheroes, sure they can save the world but they usually leave a big mess (in the forms of massive destruction) in the process and you never see them help with the clean up.

I liked what they did with this film. The story was really good as were the CGI scenes. Clark's past is told through flashbacks of exploits (there's a scene where he saves the bus and one kid is left in stunned disbelief and when the final battle goes through Smallville, Superman fights it out in the Ihop he manages and Clark gives him a look that says, "yeah that was me who saved the school bus that day and my parents denied it. Sorry if you had several years of therapy trying to deal with it") that shape who he becomes. The acting was very good and the fight choreography was nicely done as well. There was also little science tidbits to explain how Clark controlled his powers and why Zod had to change the atmosphere (killing us Earthlings in the process). My problems were it was a bit long at 143 minutes. They could've cut a few minutes from the destruction of Metropolis because it was a bit much. Also, the part where the Kryptonians set up the atmospheric re-arranger (totally just thought of that) is taken from an episode from season one of the Justice League cartoon, Secret Origins: Part II. But hey, what plot device isn't borrowed from something else in film these da ys. Man of Steel has Christopher Nolan's  fingerprints all over it and it was very nicely done. In the comic book movie genre, I put it up there ahead of Iron Man 2 & 3, on par with Iron Man and  The Amazing Spider-Man but below The Dark Knight trilogy. I'm not sure if I'd categorize this as a "must see" but it was very good and I look forward to a possible sequel (like that's even in doubt).

The Purge

The events of this film take place some time in the near future. Apparently, life in America had turned to crap (probably around the current time of the Obama administration because there are massive political undertones here and Obama is the cause of everything that's bad in the world right?) and the "new founding fathers" decide that in order to fight massive unemployment, crime rates through the roof, high poverty rate and the general heinousity of everyday life, America needs a release. That release comes in the form of 12 hours of crime. That's right, from 7pm to 7am, 1 night a year, the average American gets to load his or her assault rifle with a high capacity clip and take out their frustrations. Emergency services are suspended and no one can be convicted of anything during the "the purge." Because of the purge, crime rates are down and unemployment is at 1% (apparently the former unemployable are working in the home security and gun industry). Due to this, the new "founding fathers" decide not to mess with a good thing.

Ethan Hawke is the patriarch of the Sandin family, he's got a lovely home, a lovely wife, 2 great kids (one of which is a nubile 16 y/o girl who is dating an 18 y/o dude whom Hawke disapproves of...more on that obvious plot line later) and a fantastic job. This great job you ask? Why he's only the top salesman of the firm that sells nearly impenetrable home security systems that come in quite handy during the "purge." One of those state of the art systems is currently keeping Sandin's home safe.

So the purge starts and the Sandins settle in for a quiet night since they support the purge don't actively participate. Then 2 things happen simultaneously; first, Zoey's boyfriend sneaks into the house prior to lock down in order to "talk" to her Dad about their relationship. Second, Charlie (the youngest son) lowers the defenses to let someone into the home who's being chased. Here's where things get interesting, it seems that the victims of the purge tend to be the poor. that's the reason why poverty rates are low. The African-American gentleman that Charlie lets in is wounded and because he's wearing a set of dog tags, seems to be a veteran as well (sadly the U.S. government hasn't had the best track record of dealing with war veterans). Needless to say Mr. Sandin is hardly pleased with Charlie letting in a stranger to their home during the purge. As it turns out this "bloody stranger" is being chased by upper middle class white teenagers who really want to kill him (it's the privileged white kids that wear creepy masks that are the scariest).

See what I mean?

The prep school kids outside give the old "send him out or we come in" ultimatum just as Zoey's boyfriend tries to shoot Sandin because they won't let them be together. Sandin shoots the boyfriend, in self-defense (score for the gun lobby!) but the stranger gets away. On a side note, I was wondering just what the boyfriend was thinking? "Hey sweetie, I just shot your father so we can be together, isn't that great! Let's go have sex!" I'm no relationship expert but I have to believe that she might hold that against him as her Dad wasn't a bad guy. He was just trying to protect his 16 y/o daughter. My god, what a tyrant! Eventually the Sandins can't produce the stranger and the kids are able to smash through the impenetrable security system. Mr. & Mrs. Sandin split up (that almost never happens) and while Mrs. Sandin stumbles around in the dark, Mr. Sandin makes runs into trouble at every corner and makes like Russell Crowe at the Victory Motel...

The Sandins find the stranger, mildly torture him and are about to turn him over in order to rescue themselves but they can't do it. The lead creepy teen manages to kill Sandin but not after he kills off the majority of preppies. Just when the rest of the family is about to be done in, the neighbors come by to save them. But hold on a minute, the "rescue" is actually the neighbors wanting to kill the Sandins because they have it better than the rest of the community. Since the preppies did all the leg work of tearing down the defenses and now the neighbors can finally exact a little revenge for the Sandins "rubbing it" (the "it" is their wealth & affluence although it didn't look like anyone in the neighborhood was hurting financially) in their faces. Just when the Sandins have breathed their last breaths, the stranger saves the day. They group then spends that last few hours of the purge sitting at the dining room table in awkward silence because Mrs. Sandin wants no more killing.

So the gist of the purge is that the well off finally get what they want, that is to legally kill poor people (the burden of society), which translates into non-Caucasians. They have the money to buy the guns to kill people who can't afford guns, they can afford security systems to keep people out and the poor who may survive the night can't afford to pay for health care to mend their wounds from the purge.

I guess that the writers and the director wanted to make a point that this is a possibility where our society could be heading. Class warfare stacked in favor of the well off because the laws favor them (sounds eerily familiar doesn't it?). The rich going "hunting" for homeless vets, welfare recipients and illegal immigrants (though I got the feeling that the legal status of anyone poor didn't matter). It's a shot at the religious right (and they are nut jobs, that's not up for debate) since the  new founding fathers standing are side by side with Jesus wrapped in the flag have saved the nation by allowing people 1 night a year to vent their frustrations with no consequence. Then there's the fact that the gun industry and the 2nd Amendment people must be getting themselves wet over: everyone has guns and is allowed to use them. The gun lobby will tell you that more guns in the hands of law abiding citizens will solve all the problems. In this film they get what they want.

The thing that got me was the fact that people seemed so eager to go out and "hunt people." The preppies who stormed the Sandin residence were thrilled with the prospect of killing the Sandins and the stranger up close and personal where things get bloody and that's not easy to do. It's not easy for trained professionals or battle hardened soldiers. It would seem that since society is numbed to violence (another undertone) it's easier to commit these violent acts.

Film wise it wasn't bad. It was gruesome but when people get blasted with a shot gun at point blank range it's going to get messy. The messages of the film just come out and punch you in the face as a kind of a warning. It was a bit too obvious what the filmmakers were trying to say. If you see it with friends it should spark some sort of debate during the post film discussion process (people have that right, it's not just me?).

DJ B-Clear's Summer Movie Preview - July

Here's what going on in July...

July 3rd

• Despicable Me 2: Follow-up to the 2010 original that has Gru as the foster parent if you will but he's recruited by the Anti Villain League to thwart a new dastardly villain. I saw the original and it was good but since it's geared more towards families I will take a pass. Should be fun for the kids. The minions will probably steal the show.
• The Lone Ranger: By now you've probably all seen the trailer for this potential blockbuster that features Johnny Depp as Tonto. If it looks like  Pirates of the Caribbean of the old west then you're probably right (same director, same producer & Depp). There's a lot of action, explosions and clever one-liners for the era. That said I am going to give this film a whirl.
• A Girl And A Gun: Interesting documentary about the gun industry targeting women for gun ownership. The gun industry wants women to feel threatened so that they'll buy guns. It looks like they take both sides here; women who've been victims, women who are incarcerated for a gun crime, women who go to the gun range and probably a lot of statistics. Interesting subject matter and it should be interesting to watch.

July 5th

• Stuck in Love: Schlocky dramedy about a divorced writer (Greg Kinnear) who is sleeping with (Kristen Bell) but is still has feelings for his ex-wife (Jennifer Connelly), who's sleeping with a younger more studlier dude (it appears that the wife here went younger but based what each one ended up with, I'd be hard pressed to say there was a loser). A difficult life indeed. Along the way Bell tries to modernize him (get an FB page and into on-line dating), Kinnear tries to reconnect with his teenaged daughter (Lily Collins) who's discovering her sexuality. Kinnear is also an accomplished writer. Just by watching the trailer it seems hard to connect with anyone here on account their lives are still pretty enviable. If the worst thing is that Kinnear & Connelly have to deal with a teenage daughter then welcome to parenthood. Next!
• The Way, Way Back: Liam James plays Duncan in a coming of age film that looks a lot like Meatballs (1st film that popped into my head after watching the trailer). Toni Collette plays Duncan's mom who's dating Steve Carell and suffice to say he & Duncan don't get along. The three go to spend the summer at the beach and of course Duncan is miserable because of Carell's doucheness. Enter Sam Rockwell, the unconventional mentor who works at the water park and gives Duncan a job (Rockwell is essentially playing Murray's role of Tripper in Meatballs and James is Rudy). Rockwell then proceeds to advise James about being a teenager and gives him the confidence needed to stand-up to Carrell and score babes. Being in my 40's, Meatballs is the first film that came to my head in terms of what this particular film is copying. Since I've seen this film as different titles before but it does have an all-star cast and it could be interesting to see Carrell as a d-bag.
• The Look of Love: Michael Winterbottom directs this biopic of Paul Raymond, the British version of Hugh Heffner & Larry Flynt rolled into one with a little Andy Warhol & Howard Hughes. Steve Coogan is the title character it the film charts his rise to soft-porn power in the fifties and sixties. Since I like the work of Winterbottom, I will make every effort to see this film. The trailer looks solid and Winterbottom is an excellent director. It's worth a look.
• Hammer Of The Gods: I saw this trailer and I'm not sure what's going on but it's the Dark Ages and its got a lot of shirtless, dirty dudes with anger issues. It's pre-Norman Invasion England and one guy has to look for his brother to rule a village or whatever. The brother has exiled himself into an area that's not easy to get to on account of all the pitfalls (warring tribes and that stuff). Hard to say what happens but there's a lot of dirty, well muscled men wielding swords and causing mayhem and carnage. I'm a sucker for a dark period piece so I may check it out.

July 12th

• Grown Ups 2: Sequel to the 2010 film with Adam Sandler and his pals. I saw this trailer in a bar and even without sound it made me cringe. Sandler has been making the same movie (with the exception of Punch-Drunk Love) for nearly 20 years. I will avoid this like Black Death.
• Pacific Rim: Earth is under attack from giant alien monsters that have been laying dormant under the ocean. Earth's only hope is to construct giant robots to combat the alien menace. Essentially they build a real life version of a Super Robot or Shogun Warriors. Admittedly the trailer looks pretty cool but it seems to have similarities to last summer's mega-bomb, Battleship. Despite the fact that Guillermo del Toro directs, there's no rating as of yet on Rotten Tomatoes so that could very telling.
• The Hunt: Mads Mikkelsen plays a former teacher who has been accused of molesting a little girl in the town where he lives. This Danish film directed by Thomas Vinterberg, paints a picture of what happens when people turn against a friend based on a child's accusation. The trailer looked real intense. Since it's foreign it will most likely be hard to find and there's people who don't like to read their films. If it comes to Chicago, I would like to give it a try.
• Crystal Fairy: Here's a shocker, Michael Cera stars as a geeky guy who agrees to go on a trip to Chile to impress a girl. So it's a fish out of water story or just another Cera film. Gaby Hoffmann (she played Costner's choking daughter who was rescued by 'Moonlight' Graham in Field of Dreams, remember her?) is Crystal Fairy (that's her name) a free spirit who takes Cera and some pals on a road trip to find a certain cactus so they can cut it open, drink from it and experience its alleged magical properties. If I'm going to take a this for a test drive I want to see what the buzz is first. The trailer doesn't look all that fantastic.
• Pawn Shop Chronicles:  I wouldn't call this an all-star cast but this film has got some notable talent starring and making cameos. There appears to be several different story lines gong on here; a planned heist, inept criminals, revenge and an issue with a missing wedding to name a few. The trailer contains violence, explosions, screaming and a lack of IQ. Tee film has no rating as of yet on Rotten Tomatoes. The film is directed by Wayne Kramer, who did a nice job with The Cooler  but his last two releases haven't fared well. You might want to wait until this hits Redbox.
• The Hot Flashes: Brooke Shields, Virginia Madsen, Daryl Hannah, Wanda Sykes, and Camryn Manheim play a group of menopausal women who try to remember their youth by reforming their decades old State Championship High School basketball team to play the current reigning HS women's team in a charity game. main stars are all very talented but this seems like beyond slumming. Shields plays the leader of the group, Madsen is the sexed-up member, Hannah is in used car sales, Sykes is the token diverse member and Manheim just kind of fills out the group (because you need 5 to field a basketball team). Quite frankly, the actual girls team they play against look , more like a junior high team than a senior high team. The trailer is almost not believable in any sense.

July 19th

• Turbo: The latest release from Dreamworks Animation gives us the tale of a snail that magically gets super speed and eventually races in the Indianapolis 500.
• Red 2:  Bruce Willis, John Malkovich, and Helen Mirren are back as retired assassins (Mirren's character is still active, think of her as an older Angelina Jolie from Wanted. In fact there's probably very similar action sequences) including Mary-Louise Parker's character is back as Willis' full-time girlfriend (essentially re-doing Amanda Peet's role from The Whole Ten Yards). Also joining the group are Catherine Zeta-Jones as an old flame of Willis and Anthony Hopkins as the insane scientist whose atomic bomb they all must find before some unsavory character can use it. Lots of action and old folks jokes. I never saw the original and never lost sleep over it so I probably won't lose too much sleep if I miss this.
• R.I.P.D.: Ryan Reynolds and "Rooster Cogburn" (I say Cogburn here because that's essentially who he's playing) star as paranormal cops trying to keep the undead at bay here on earth. The catch is that they're both dead, Reynolds being the newly deceased and his grizzled partner who's been dead a long time, if you think that sounds a lot like Agents Kay and Jay from the MiB franchise, then give yourself a cigar!If you watch the trailer, just picture the undead as aliens or vice versa. The hitch is that while on Earth hunting undead fugitives, they don't appear as themselves. Reynold's avatar is James Hong and Bridges' avatar is Marisa Miller. Since I've seen all 3 MiB films and I didn't think that much of the 3rd, I will sit this one out.
• The Conjuring: Director James Wan brings us the tale of real life paranormal investigators Ed and Lorraine Warren, played by Vera Farmiga and the Nite Owl. The Warrens are called out to the 1970's New England home of Lili Taylor and Ron Livingston to investigate some strange happenings. Well as expected, things get creepy and Formiga starts to get effected by the occurrences. There's some pretty chilling scenes with some of the young children (if you want to sell chilling and creepy, you MUST have children involved), Formiga is a great actor and Wan has got a solid background for these types of films but these types of films come out by the dozen each year. It's just hard to pick the right one.
• Only God Forgives: Ryan Gosling is a underground boxing promoter and smuggler living in Bangkok. His partner and brother is killed and he needs to protect his crime lord mother ( Kristin Scott Thomas) from a rival gang. There's a very good chance I'm going to see this film, it seems dark, gritty, it's got gangsters and it's in Bangkok! But I can't help but feel Gosling is playing the Driver once again (an emotionless, cold blooded sociopath when the situation requires it) which is fair considering Nicolas Winding Refn directed this film and Drive.
• Girl Most Likely: Kristen Wiig stars as  the "most likely to succeed" in high school type girl whose once promising life takes a turn for the worse. Her career as a playwright takes a nose dive after he socialite boyfriend dumps her and for some reason she goes back to live with her less than ideal mother played by Annette Bening (think of a working class Lucille Bluth). Matt Dillon also stars as Bening's live-in boyfriend who is Wiig sees as a bad kiar but her mother can not. Oh by the way Bening rented out Wiig's old room to a 20 something stud, Darren Criss which leads to sexual situations. There's a lot of humor here but I can't help but feel that Sandra Bullock has done a "you can't go home again" film. Wiig is a solid talent and hopefully she can find the right vehicle to propel her career.
• Broken: Heavy drama about a young British girl coming of age/loss of innocence in a London suburb. She witnesses a violent neighbor on neighbor attack and suddenly she sees the world in a different light. 
• Evidence: A bus load of diverse good looking passengers gets stranded in the desert, one of the 2 places where bad things happen, the other being the woods) and they're are bruatlly killed. After an explosion, the police try to piece together what happened through "found footage" because of the video cameras that the passengers had and a few that the killer may have used. This looks a lot like Saw meets Paranormal Activity.

July 26th

• The Wolverine: Despite the lousiness of 2009's X-Men Origins: Wolverine, I will be seeing this film for sure. The preview looks really cool and hopefully they've learned from the mistakes of the last film. The plot deals with Logan's time in Japan (touched on in the comics I used to read when I was growing up in the 80's) so it looks like there's a Silver Samurai sighting in addition to Mariko Yashida (his true love in the comics) and Yukio (another old flame). Lots of action for sure and the story looks to be interesting. James Mangold directs.
• The To Do List: 29 year-old Aubrey Plaza plays a" goody two shoes" high school senior who decides she needs to do all of the fun things you're supposed to experience in high school (like french kissing, administering/giving a hickey and motorboating which she thiks actually involves a boat) before going off to college. The coup de grace of her list is to lose her virginity. Since she's a bit of a social misfit, she decides to go for the hottest dude around, the public pool lifeguard and local stud, Rusty Waters. Hilarity ensues. The standard "fish out of water" teen angst film, nothing new.  For those who may not remember, the last time we saw Plaza, this happened...

• Blue Jasmine: Woody Allen's latest film has Cate Blanchett going through a crisis when her sleazy husband (Alec Baldwin) leaves her in a bit of a financial bind. He leaves her or get indicted and all that she thought she had is now gone. So she heads to San Francisco to see her sister (really move in as she has nowhere to go) who's married with a family. Since Blanchett has tasted the good life, she's a little judgmental of her sister's working class life. The last Allen film I saw was  You Will Meet a Tall Dark Stranger and I thought it was really good in fact borderline great. Allen isn't as prolific as he once was but he can still tell a story that relates to people. If possible, I will see this film.
• Frankenstein's Army: Nazi experimentation taken in a different direction when Soviet troops advancing into Germany in the latter stages of WWII discover Nazi laboratory where gruesome things took place. What they discover is about as mad scientist as one would get. SS doctors creating nightmarish "super-soldiers" by piecing together dead troops (there's obviously no shortage of corpses to pick from). Some very gruesome images, think of the creations as a combination of one of Pinhead's evil minions and a Nazi version of Edward Scissorhands. The trailer is pretty creepy but if you're into this type of thing and you can find it near you, why not take it for a spin. It looks like it will be grizzly and bloody.

July 31st

• The Smurfs 2: Sequel to the 2011 film.