COWBOYS & ALIENS: A fun summertime movie....

When it was first announced that Daniel Craig and Harrison Ford would be teaming up for a sci-fi/western bybrid film, I was in geek heaven. I mean James Bond and Indiana Jones in the same movie. Hell Yeah! My expectations were high for this movie, and I was not disappointed. The movie opens in Arizona circa 1873 with Daniel Craig as a man named Jake Lonergan, who wakes up in the middle of the desert with no boots, hat, or horse. And no clue as to who he is. After being stumbled upon by three nefarious men, Jake quickly dispatches the trio and heads to the nearest town, which is called Absolution. Once there he meets a mysterious woman named Ella (played by Olivia Wilde) who may have a clue to his loss of memory. Jake also runs afoul of a drunk young man named Percy (played by Paul Dano) who happens to be the son of Colonel Dolarhyde (played by Harrison Ford). Jake slaps Percy around and both men are arrested by the sheriff (Keith Carradine). The Colonel gets wind of this and rides into town to get his boy and also get his revenge on Jake, who evidently stole money from him a while back.

Once in town, some commotion occurs and lights fill up the skies. The lights turn out to be alien spaceships which attack the town and start snatching up the local townsfolk. Jake happens to have some type of alien weapon on his wrist and learns how to use it. This leads to a spectacular 15 minute sequence of cool and frenetic action. The town bands together to track down the ships that took their fellow townspeople. Lonergan and Dolarhyde put aside their differences to work together.

This movie worked on several levels and the sci fi meets western angle worked pretty good. It got kind of too much sci-fi mumbo jumbo toward the end but things turn back to the western side and everything ends nicely. The cast is top notch. Daniel Craig once again shows he is a strong actor and even a stronger action star as he has several key scenes where he gets to flex his muscle. Harrison Ford is good too as Dolarhyde and gets a few emotional scenes that let us know why he is such a hardened man. And Olivia Wilde is more than just eye candy to look at. She is very pivotal in this movie and does not disappoint in her scenes where she to explain a lot to everyone else.

So all in all Cowboys and Aliens is a cool movie. Perfect for summertime viewing. From the director of Iron Man, Jon Favreau.
B

BLADE RUNNER: A visual masterpiece back in 1982 and still one today almost 30 years later...

Harrison Ford as Rick Deckard looking for some replicants..

Awesome sci-fi film. I loved it from the first time I ever saw it. The story has our hero Rick Deckard, played by Harrison Ford, as a policeman who hunts down replicants in the year 2019. Replicants are human clones used to work in conditions too dangerous for normal people. Well, a crew of replicants escape from their ship and hide out in LA wanting to meet their creator to give them more life. Replicants are built with a specific time span of only 4 years. So Deckard is called back in to track them down. He's the best blade runner there is. This film will blow you away with innovative special effects, a great storyline, and terrific characters. Ford is solid as usual. But Rutger Hauer as head replicant Roy Batty is phenomenal. Also starring Sean Young, Daryl Hannah, Joanna Cassidy, Pat Hingle, Edward James Olmos and Brion James. Check out this movie if you haven't seen it. I just bought the recently released collector's edition DVD and it's a keeper. This is what you call a game changer. It showed that sci-fi could be smart, cool and exciting. And almost 30 years later, it is still quite impressive. Expertly directed by Ridley Scott.

Watch out Deckard..that ain't no doll...

Memorable scenes include Deckard chasing down Zora through the streets of Los Angeles. Deckard being roughed up by Leon in a back alley. Deckard's first meeting with Rachael to give her a test to see if she is or isn't a replicant. Roy Batty finally meeting his maker/designer. Pris giving Deckard all he can handle with her amazing gymnastic moves. And of course the final showdown between Deckard and Batty in a huge mansion like complex. Talking about this movie has got me all excited to watch it again. Time to break out the DVD.
A-

Roy Batty: I've seen things you people wouldn't believe. Attack ships on fire off the shoulder of Orion. I watched C-beams glitter in the dark near the Tannhauser gate. All those moments will be lost in time, like tears in rain. Time to die.

Deckard on the job, hunting down some bad replicants

Los Angeles 2019...amazing visuals

Sean Young as Racheal

Rutger Hauer as Roy Batty

Joanna Cassidy as Zora

Daryl Hannah as Pris looking all so punk...

Edward James Olmos as Gaff, Deckard's partner

Brion James as Leon...Wake up! Time To Die!

Zora on the run...hey at least we know they still have beer in the future..

Hey I told her to stop, but she didn't listen..

Deckard meets Zora with her pet snake...
 

Action Movie For The Day - THE HIDDEN (1987): A cool, sci-fi flick from the 80's

Cool 80's sci-fi/action flick about a mysterious FBI Agent (Kyle MacLachlan) arriving in LA to track down a serial killer with the help of veteran LA detective Tom Beck (Michael Nouri). But it seems the killer is not who he seems and once the fed lets Beck in on the secret..that they are actually hunting an alien who is jumping from body to body, the fun really begins. For an 80's flick, The Hidden holds up remarkably well. MacLachlan and Nouri make an effective odd couple duo and the action scenes are extremely exciting. A bonus is Claudia Christian as a stripper who is one of the bodies the alien uses for a little bit. She is a sight to behold, looking gorgeous but also deadly as she packs an automatic machine gun with grenade launcher. Car chases, shoot outs, cool music score, and a little humor make The Hidden a winner.

B+
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Man, she is packing some serious firepower..

Doctor: Detective Beck. No one deserves to die like that. I don't care what the man's done.


Cliff Willis: He killed twelve people, wounded twenty three more, stole six cars, most of them Ferraris. Robbed eight banks, six supermarkets, four jewelery stores and a candy shop. Six of the ones he killed he carved up with a butcher knife. Two of them were kids. He did all that in two weeks. If anyone deserves to go that way, it sure in the hell was him.

BATTLE: LOS ANGELES is awesome!

Once again hostile aliens attack Earth. This time for our water. And while it is a worldwide strike on the major cities, this film focuses on one city in particular: Los Angeles. And one squad of marines go behind battle lines to rescue some civilians, led by a green lietenuant (played by Ramon Rodriguez). He is supported by the tough Staff Sergeant Michael Nantz (played by Aaron Eckhart). The film opens up with the aliens opening salvo which catches everyone by surprise. They are mistaken for a cluster of meteors. Soon all out war is on and the screen is filled with non-stop action as our marines, who are outgunned and outmanned give it all they have. Michelle Rodriguez filters in about 30 minutes in as an Air Force tech officer who has a theory on how to take out the main alien control center. Battle: Los Angeles is one rock 'em, sock'em action film that doesn't take 3 hours to get going and tell it's story.

It's immediately in your face and along the way fills in the aliens agenda as the movie goes along. These handful of marines who each have their own personality lock and load and kick major ass. While they lose quite a few members, and face impossible odds, they never give up. The visual effects are effective and the aliens are encased in metal covering their bodies with their weapons actually attached to their arms. The pacing is good as the film logs in just under 2 hours. A good way to describe this film would be a mix of District 9, Blackhawk Down and the video game Call Of Duty. There is so much ordance being fired, that you find yourself thinking this is war. Humans against aliens. And it doesn't look good for the home team. But we bring that never say die attitude in full effect. BOOM BOOM! I enjoyed it immensely.
B

Avatar is amazing....

It's been 12 years since filmmaker James Cameron last had a film in theaters. A little movie called Titanic that you may have heard of. It made stars out of Leonardo DiCaprio and Kate Winslet. And it set box office records that have endured up until now. Cameron took his time and waited for technology to get better so he could bring us the stunning world of Pandora in Avatar. This is an epic sci-fi tale that everyone has already stated is a familiar story of an outsider who comes into contact with natives and begins to question his actions. You've seen it before in Dances with Wolves and Pocahontas and other countless movies. But trust me, you have never seen it done on this massive of a scale with the most impressive visual effects you have ever seen in film so far.

The story is set in the year 2154 and Earth is running out of resources. So the moon called Pandora is discovered four light years away that is rich in a mineral called unobtainium. The natives that live there are called the Na'vi and are blue-skinned and stand over 11 feet tall. A project called Avatar is developed by scientist Grace Augustine (A strong performance by Sigourney Weaver) that will place human consciousness in genetically bred Na'vi clones so they can interact with the natives and eventually become friends and allies.

One candidate that enlists in the program is ex-marine Jake Sully (terrific performance by Sam Worthington, that is way and beyond better than his earlier foray into sci-fi: Terminator-Salvation) and assumes his recently deceased brother's avatar since they match up extremely well due to matching DNA). Did I mention Jake is a paraplegic. And he is not the candidate Dr. Augustine was looking for. Anyway, he assumes the avatar and through a period of adjustment gets flown out into the wilds of Pandora with Augustine's avatar and well as a linguistic expert. The pilot who flies them there is Trudy (played by Michele Rodriguez from Fast and Furious films, and who is actually likable for the first time ever in film). Anyway Jake gets cut off from everyone when a wild beast attacks and is on his own and must survive a suddenly terrifying place. At night he is surrounded by wild animals and is saved by Princess Neytiri (Zoe Saldana, who gives one of the film's best performances). There is immediate mistrust when the two meet that will eventually become attraction. Neytiri takes Jake back to the others including her tribal chieftan father and her spiritual leader mother. They take Jake in as one of their own to show him their customs and how to become a Na'vi warrior. In the meantime Jake is secretly working with Colonel Quadritch (played with relish by Stephen Lang) who doesn't trust the Na'vi not one bit. He is one hard core battle scarred marine that loves the thrill of smashing his opponents down with terrifying force.

Jake completes his training under Neytiri and tries to reason with the Na'vi before the military launches an all out attack to take the land they are living on. And once Jake realizes he has been on the wrong side, he tries to make amends. He rallies all of the different clans of the Na'vi to lead an attack against the military to defend his new home. . which sets up the last 30 minutes of the film with impressive battle scenes that up the stakes in film technology. I was completely starstruck by the visual wonders that were going on right before my eyes. Cameron has elevated film-making once again to a new level and triumphs anything you have seen in film before. And he even tops his great scene in Titanic when the ship finally goes down. Well in Avatar, there is this huge tree of life where the Na'vi dwell and the military strikes with all the firepower in the world to bring it down. It's majestic and sweeping and emotional, truly magnificent. Avatar is a new bonafide classic that will appeal to all people all over the world. As I stated before what the story make lack in originality, Cameron still knows how to create a spellbinding film. You forget about the effects and become totally caught up with the characters and start viewing them as real...as flesh and blood creatures that talk and love and fight. Just imagine the character Gollum from Lord of the rings and multiply that by 10 and you get the picture. And Gollum at the time was state of the art. Avatar blows that away with amazing effects and intriguing characters of their own. And hopefully this film will make other creators like Spielberg and Lucas to get their creative juices flowing once again. Avatar is truly an epic piece of film making.
B+

Star Trek History

The Book Of Eli trailer

This looks so much like Old Man Logan, a comic Marvel did last year about Wolverine in a future world torn apart. Denzel looks bad ass in this too. And Gary Oldman is the villain. Sweet! Can't wait to see it.