Bannan's Talk

X-Men Origins - Wolverine

fourth installment in the X-Men series, starring High Jackman, Liev Schreiber, Taylor Kitsch and Lynn Collins. directed by Gavin Hood.

the film follows James "Wolverine" Logan and his journey pre-Charles Xavier and The X-Men, including his relationship with his brother, Victor "Sabretooth" Creed.

I honestly don't get why this wasn't better received. it has a good story, great action, naked Hugh Jackman and even LOSTie Dominic Monaghan! I loved this one and I will definitely be buying it.

great film. ♥

I Love You, Man

comedy starring Paul Rudd, Jason Segel and Rashida Jones. directed by John Hamburg.

when real estate salesman Peter Klaven (Rudd) and his beautiful girlfriend Zooey Rice (Jones) get engaged, Zooey soon realizes that Peter doesn't have any close male friends. after over-hearing Zooey and her girlfriends talking about his lack of friends, Peter decides to go out and find a best friend. then at one of Peter's Open Houses one day, in walks Sydney Fife (Segel) and the two men hit it off and soon become BFFFs.

hilarious! Jason and Paul are great together, I love Jason so much! Lou Ferringo's cameo was very funny and J. K. Simmons and Andy Samberg's scenes had me laughing, too.

my favorite parts: the Rush jam session and concert scene! instantly reminded me of the infamous Freaks and Geeks eppy. XD
I'd totally go to a concert with those two any day!

living on a lighted stage
approaches the unreal
for those who think and feel
in touch with some reality
beyond the gilded cage

cast in this unlikely role
ill-equipped to act
with insufficient tact
one must put up barriers
to keep oneself intact

living in the limelight
the universal dream
for those who wish to seem
those who wish to be
must put aside the alienation
get on with the fascination
the real relation
the underlying theme

\m/(>_<)\m/

great flick! ♥

Zombieland

OMG This movie couldn't be any cooler. It's got the best stuff ever, zombies and brilliant comedy. It was exactly all I had hoped for. I guess some may try and call it an American version of Shaun of the Dead and the similarities doesn't escape me. You got average people trying to survive a zombie apocalypse. That isn't to say they really have much else in common after that. There is comedy, a boy going after a girl and some zombies. Very few films in the history of the zombie genre have done a good job at being good, and even fewer still are able to infuse comedy into it. The only one I can think of that did a good job with comedy and horror was Return of the Living Dead. That movie is a classic and mixes perfect elements of horror and comedy. This doesn't have so much the horror element, or perhaps I've become jaded having witnessed so many things in my life. I like to think it wasn't meant to be a horror film but a comedy set in a horror atmosphere. Definite must see for anyone that enjoys a good film, a funny film or a zombie film. This movie does not disappoint and the surprise in the middle... I won't spoil it but it was beyond awesome. It made my day.

State of Play

political thriller starring Russell Crowe, Rachel McAdams, Ben Affleck, Robin Wright Penn, Jason Bateman and Helen Mirren. film adaptation of 2003's critically acclaimed six-part British television mini-series of the same name. directed by Kevin Macdonald.

when Congressman Stephen Collins' (Affleck) lover mysteriously dies, his friend and journalist Cal McAffrey (Crowe) sets out to discover the truth of what really happened.

very well done thriller that has you from the get-go. it grabs your attention and doesn't let go. mystery, action and even a little romance. smart and complex. my kinda film! ♥

The Soloist

drama starring Robert Downey Jr. and Jamie Foxx. written by Susannah Grant. directed by Joe Wright.

based on the true story of Los Angeles Times' columnist Steve Lopez (Downey) and the relationship that he formed with homeless musical prodigy Nathaniel Anthony Ayers Jr. (Foxx).

such a moving story. wonderfully written and brilliantly acted by these two fine actors. Foxx is once again amazing as the extremely talented Ayers. one's heart truly goes out to him as you see his battle with schizophrenia unfold. beautifully done Mr. Foxx!

simply wonderful. ♥

My Bloody Valentine 3-D

slasher flick starring Jensen Ackles, Jaime King and Kerr Smith. directed by Patrick Lussier.

six weeks after a cave-in at the local mine traps six miners, rescue teams arrive and find the bodies of five of the men along with the only survivor, Harry Warden, who survived by killing the other men with his pickaxe and who is now in a coma.
the following year on Valentine's Day, Warden wakes from his coma and goes on a killing spree at the local hospital and then heads to the old mineshaft, where a group of teenagers are partying. amongst the teens, is Tom Hanniger (Ackles) whose father owns the mine and who was blamed for the cave-in disaster because he forgot to vent the methane line. when the surviving teens flee, Hanniger is left behind to fend for himself.
flash-forward to ten years later. Hanniger, who managed to escape Warden's axe, has returned to town for his father's funeral. suddenly, bodies start piling up and Hanniger is once again blamed.

a remake of the 1981 cult classic of the same name, this is an okay horror flick. I just really wish I had seen this one as it was intended, in 3D. but alas, I live in a small town that refuses to purchase a 3D projector. tons of gore and even the obligatory naked chick, I am sure many will enjoy this one. ♥

The Boondock Saints

action flick starring Sean Patrick Flanery, Norman Reedus, Willem Dafoe and Billy Connolly. written and directed by Troy Duffy.

after accidentally killing two Russian mobsters, brothers Connor (Flanery) and Murphy (Reedus) McManus set out on a vigilante-style killing spree to rid the world of all that is evil, in the name of God.

such a great film! the cast, the action, the dialogue. so good.

my only complaint, and I am sure I am going to hear back from a few of my peeps about this, but something about Dafoe just didn't work for me. some of his scenes just seemed a bit over the top, which may have been intentional, but I just wasn't feeling it.

however, kickass action sequences and hilarious dialogue, that I still quote all of the time, more than make up for where this film is lacking. oh! and of course, the stars of this film. everyone knows that I am a sucker for an Boston man, but an Irish Bostonian? RAWR. Flanery and Reedus rawk this one!

pure kickass awesomeness. a definite must see. ♥

My Girl

comedy-drama starring Anna Chlumsky, Macaulay Culkin, Dan Aykroyd, Jamie Lee Curtis and Griffin Dunne. written by Laurice Elehwany. directed by Howard Zieff.

the film takes place during the summer of 1972 and it follows Vada Sultenfuss (Chlumsky), an eleven-year-old tomboy-hypochondriac, as she makes the journey from a child to a young woman.

superbly written and wonderfully acted, I absolutely love this film. Chlumsky captured so beautifully life, love and loss. my favorite coming of age story. ♥

National Lampoon's Vacation

comedy starring Chevy Chase, Beverly D'Angelo, Randy Quaid and Anthony Michael Hall. written by John Hughes. directed by Harold Ramis.

wanting to spend more time with his wife and kids, Clark Griswold (Chase) decides to take the family on a cross-country vacation to Walley World... and along the way, everything that can happen, does happen.

the first and, in my opinion, the best of the Vacation films. hilarious script, penned by the late-great 80's master, John Hughes and of course, directed by the always awesome Harold Ramis. great cast that includes Eugene Levy, Eddie Bracken, Randy Quaid, John Candy, Anthony Michael Hall and the amazing Mr. Chevy Chase. I am so lucky to have been raised on Mr. Chase's films. he is truly one of the greats.

classic 80's comedy. ♥

District 9

Just when you thought it was time to give up hope and return to your hermit lifestyle, head lowered in despair, an original and intelligent film appears and knocks you on your arse.

The arse-knocker, in this case, is District 9 - an allegorical sci-fi set in a near-future Johannesburg.

It's hard to say exactly what the film is about as it paints it's story with broad strokes covering racism, segregation, apartheid, xenophobia, greed, humanity (and a number of other minor subjects). Many's the film that has tried to be so wide-reaching but few have succeeded with the character and charm (I use the word loosely) of this one.

Nearly 3 decades ago, an alien ship positioned itself over Jo'burg. Inside it are nearly a million aliens, malnourished and dying. Humanity, in one of it's more rare moments, decides to prevent a catastrophe by housing the aliens and bringing them back to health. However, the two societies clash and eventually the aliens are ghettoised for the protection of the human population. The ghetto is District 9. Inside, aliens live in squalid conditions, prey to vicious gangs and under the vicious boot of MNU - the multi-national corporation who're overseeing the area and have a vested interest in the technologies the aliens have brought.

We join proceedings as MNU prepare to relocate the District 9 inhabitants to a new holding facility, little more than a refugee camp, outwith the city.

The film introduces itself as a documentary, catching the audience up with the timeline before immersing us in the story that's about to come. It's a good idea and one that works well, leaving the audience separate from the action initially and creating a world which is easy to accept - the aliens are brutish and unintelligent, the humans are reasonably sensible and, while displaying some casual racism, are not too despicable.

It is quite a shock when you walk away from the film, feeling that this has been completely flipped on it's head through a very smart and crafty manipulation of characters in the storyline. As it turns out, the humans are the idiots (who'd've thunk?!) and the aliens are to be pitied.

Elements are introduced to the story at just the right time to move it along and the pace is ramped up throughout, barely allowing us to catch our breath from one revelation to the next. The characters are very real, with hints of humour, compassion and sympathy woven into otherwise very mundane existences.

The cinematography is good, going for a very news-documentary feel with nearly as much movement as Cloverfield. The mastery of the film, though, is in the way the special effects are included in the footage. Where Cloverfield was played for shocks and horror, D-9 is based on a real setting which means the aliens (and indeed the casual use of extreme violence) are presented in such an under-glorified way and the hulking mass of the mothership over Jo'burg seems to become a symbol for the oppression occuring beneath.

I mentioned violence there, and indeed this film has plenty. But unlike violent films, here the violence is necessarily unspectacular and brutal. The point is not to create a violent world but to create a world where violence is a way of life and it succeeds in similar ways as Tsotsi in creating a world where such violence is the backdrop. For those who dislike the sight of blood, however, this film may be best avoided.

On the whole, the movie is very entertaining (which in of itself, these days, is quite a feat!) but it will also get people talking about the issues contained and, by making it about two separate species, it gets to be more forthright in it's approach to the issues. Watch, listen, enjoy and debate.

Dead Snow (Død snø)

A group of medical students go into the mountains for a skiing holiday and find more than they bargained for as the mountain is inhabited by dead German soldiers who just happen to be zombies also..
Well anyway as the students settle in for the night some old guy appears at the cabins door and asks for some coffee then sets about telling them a story about a German garrison during the second world war who after getting chased out by the locals went in the mountains and supposedly froze to death or did they haha.
This movie although in Norwegian it is still entertaining, plenty of gore and blood more than should be the normal I think...I would recommend it as to maybe watch once or twice but no more.

The Thin Red Line

An amazing war film with a great cast. Highly recommended!

Empire Falls

I just cannot pinpoint why I liked this miniseries so darned much. The plot is fantastic, the characters engrossing, the humor dry and the cast is perfect.