BY MICHAEL GOODPASTER
(FOUR) FASTER
(November 24th – Starring: Dwayne Johnson and Billy Bob Thornton – Director: George Tillman Jr.)
This isn’t a movie I’d want to normally see. It looks dry and without much substance. I’m sure there’ll be some awesome explosions, shoot outs, and bad ass stuff but that’s about it. I can live without these types of action movies, but then I heard more about it. First, Carla Gugino is in it and she rocks. Second, Jennifer Carpenter is in it. She plays “Deb”, the sister of “Dexter” and starred in “Quarantine”. I just dig her, okay? Any who, this movie looks a lot grittier than the other stuff The Rock has been doing lately. He makes kids movies, which is fine, but when you make an action movie have some balls to it. This movie looks to have at least SOME balls. If it’s R, I’ll see it as soon as possible. If it ends up PG 13, I’ll probably wait until it’s on its second run of afternoon broadcasts on FX or TNT. For what it’s worth I actually want to give this a chance. That’s a long way from the other movies Johnson has put out in recent years.
(THREE) RESIDENT EVIL: AFTERLIFE
(September 10th – Starring: Milla Jovovich – Director: Paul W.S. Anderson)
I’ve recently been somewhat forced to sit down and watch the Resident Evil trilogy. While it was a task to get me to do it, I ended up enjoying myself way more than I expected. Seriously, I don’t know why I was such a snob about this franchise. I’ve enjoyed it way more than other recent action movie series and there is much more substance and style to the Resident Evil movies than I could ever imagined. That’s what holds me back from movies like this. I know they’re mindless popcorn movies, but I like a little substance. I blame Terminator 2 for spoiling me. Never the less, I quickly learned that I dig these movies and the next one looks awesome. It’s like one of those well aged Amish cheeses, but none the less… still cheese. Paul W.S. Anderson brings some class to this cheese. And Mila just rocks. If I had any complaints about the sequels was that she wasn’t featured even MORE. This looks to be heavier on the “Alice”. That’s awesome.
(TWO) RED
(October 15th – Starring: Bruce Willis, Hellen Mirren, Morgan Freeman – Director: Robert Schwentke)
How can you not want to see this? The second I saw Hellen Mirren shooting a gun I knew my hardly earned money will be coughed up for this. The movie stars Bruce Willis as a retired black-ops agent who has to get his old team back together again when a high-tech assassin tries to bring him down. Then I find out Morgan Freeman, Mary Louise-Parker, and other cool people are in this. The plot seems a little typical, but Bruce Willis makes these kinds of movies work. This, plus the awesome casting, makes this movie worthy of not only a chance but YOUR anticipation.
(ONE) MACHETE
(September 3rd – Starring: Danny Trejo – Director: Robert Rodriguez)
It’s hard to not be at least a little exited for this movie. When Robert Rodriguez is “on” he makes great stuff. It’s true he’s rarely ever off, but the kid movies weren’t my cup of tea. Not even on a kid movie level. The original joke trailer was a lot of fun and the fact that we get to have Danny Trejo star as “Machete” is rocktastic. It’s like if Desperado were a grind house character. That’s a great analogy actually. The movie is an obvious grindhouse feeling project. The look of the trailer gives it a gritty “I don’t give a f**k” look and as a movie nerd I love that. The character is built up in a folklore kind of way, similar to Desperado but way more over the top and seemingly vulgar and violent. It’s a throwback of sorts. It’s an exploitation flick, but I’m not exactly sure who or what is being exploited other than good old fashioned entertainment.
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