nicole's Talk

Terminator Salvation

I'm taking a stand. I'm flat out boycotting this movie. Most people are wondering why, and the quick answer is Christian Bale. As many know our dear celebrity went ape-shit on the director of photography for the film (footage can be seen on YouTube. Search Christian Bale Rant). Yes the DP made a mistake but Christian's reaction was by far one of the most disgusting displays of human behaviour I have ever seen. The fact he was ready to punch the guy, and behave holier then thou is a huge slap in the face to actors everywhere. After seeing this the earlier reports of him beating his mother and sister are becoming more realistic. So does this mean I'm boycotting all of his movies? No just this one, until such time as I feel he has redeemed himself. Yes this is a hard decision to make as I am a big Anton Yelchin fan, and since he figures prominently in this movie it is going to be hard to overlook one of his contributions to cinema. Still a message has to be sent and I will not tolerate people in real life treating others like crap for their mistakes, no matter who they are.

Night at the Museum 2: Battle of the Smithsonian

*yawn* This movie is like revisiting the same museum twice in a year. The exhibits are the same, but yet the whole wow factor is completly gone. It just becomes boring with nothing new.

Well as the name suggests this mocvie takes place in the Smithsonian, and lo and behold everything comes to life. Yeah this is a different local with mostly new character's but rather then a "who's who" of history this is more of a "who's who" in Hollywood. Seriously this is the real charm to the movie. I think I counted 3 people from the American version of The Office, quite a few SNL alums and current cast. Seth Rogen, Jay Baruchell, Phil Lewis, and I'm sure the list goes on. Let's not forget Darth Vader and Oscar the Grouch make an appearance, one in which the main villain just trash talks them and they go away. I'm pretty sure Vader would have opened up a can of whoop-ass even though he couldn't summon the Force.

Where the first film was gold the sequel lost its' magic. I personally feel this movie was a waste. I'm still glad I saw this over Terminator:Salvation, since I'm current boycotting that film.

Angels & Demons

At long last the sequel to The DaVinci Code, no wait isn't this supposed to be the prequel. I'm confused the books are very clear that the events in Angels and Demons occue before, and yet the movie says it happens after. What's going to happen in the third in the Robert Langdon series by Dan Brown The Lost Symbol? Will it take place during the events of the first one, and when I say first one I mean Angels and Demons, and not The DaVinci Code. The movie chronology be damned.

So as we know this story is more pro-religion as opposed to it's sister movie/novel. The Vatican is in danger and Catholicism is on the verge of being wipped out by one of its' greatest enemies, the Illuminati. Now history shows the Illuminati did exsist and may even continue to be around, and alhough they are pro-science I don't see them attempting to destroy one of the biggest beliefs anytime soon. Yeah the book/movie is fiction encapsolated by mostly true history. Look at the incredible detail depicting conclave. The movie is a historians dream, and alhough they did not actually film in the Vatican the computer replica is magnificant. Worthy of a Renaissance master.

Yeah like all movies of the genre there are lots of changes from the book. The Charlmango personal history is not fully depicted, and his big "sucks to be you" moment at the end is not as shocking as the book. Also the movie has the fourth preferiti survive to become the new Pope, whereas in the novel he dies, and the grand-elector becomes the head of the Church. Some characters were omitted completly such as the Director of CERN who was the one who dragged Langdon into this adventure, as well as the one who uncovered the true mastermind behind the plot.

Although altered, and changed in continuity Angels and Demons is still worth your time and money. It might not be the best film of the summer but it would make the top 15.

Star Trek

The original Star Trek sucked. There I said it. Growing up I was more exposed to the spin-offs who had a much better cast, stories, and above all effects. To me the original was an outdatted show that would never go away. Yeah I was 9 at the time when The Next Generation hit the small screen, and my opinion on the original still has not changes, until now.

This is probably the best rendition of the Trek franchise to date. This movie completly revamps the entire Trek mythos but also keeps everything else in canon. Yes everything has happened, or will happen (stupid time anomalies), just a few changes in the time stream. One of the biggest complaints from Trekkers is that Kirk is no longer inspire by his father to join Star Fleet (his father watcher with pride as Kirk became captain), not his father dies minutes after his birth -- courtesy of time travelling villain Nero -- and Kirk joins on recommendation of Captain Pike.

The original characters are all back including the orignal Spock, Leonard Nemoy. Frankly it is the characters with foreign accents the really make the movie, Scotty and Chekov. On note I just want to mention how big of an Anton Yelchin fan I am and his portrayal of Chekov just keeps showing this kid is going place. No character is without screen time and they are all thrust together in a rather uncomplex way. To say the cast relies on each other is what makes this movie.

From the origins of the monicker "Bones" for Dr. McCoy, to Sulu's passion for fencing nothing is amiss in this movie. The story is easy to follow and even being a non-Trek fan you can enjoy this movie without knowing a single character. This version is charting a new course but staying well within the boundary lines of continuity. Yes there are previous Trek references, listen to Scotty explain what he did to Admiral Archer's prized beagle.

X-Men Origins - Wolverine

Enter the summer movie season 2009. To open up the festivities we have the highly anticipated prequel X-Men Origins: Wolverine. I'm going to be honest the only reason I gave this movie the ratting I did was purely out of fandom. If it wasn't for that this movie would have gotten a much lower score.

This movie is less story and more of a trove of X-characters who have not made the cut the first three times around. The plot is weak. It clearly borrowed some elements from classic Wolverine stories like "Origin" and "Weapon X" and did some much uneeded add-on. The biggest travesty is Wolverine was never involved in Alpha Flight. Nope sorry they were scrapped for Gambit, who somehow gets a major power upgrade as his comicbook counterpart can release kinetic energy through objects. Although I did enjoy Gambit I did not enjoy how he's pretty much forced into the story. Also I'm a tad disappointment by the treatment of Deadpool (he's never refered to by that name), as he is known as "the merc with a mouth" for a reason, and yet when he get's his upgrade he is clearly left for silence. Since there is talk of him getting a spin-off, hopefully they can redeem the character, if they can come up with a believable reason as to how he survives his predicament at the end of the film. Other chacters with a dominant role are Wraith, Beak, Agent Zero/Maverick, Blob, Silver Fox and Sabertooth. The movie does indeed touch on the Sabertooth/Wolverine relationship but they take it in a totally different and yet still believable direction.

Now if you want to know who else from the X-franchise shows up well I will tell you. Cyclops is in the movie and has a somewhat expanded role then you would expect, making it somewhat his origin movie as well. To keep in continuity with the other films Cyclops and Wolverine never meet face-to-face. We also had the surprise appearance by Emma Frost, who is destined to become the White Queen and one of the Xavier Institutes headmistresses. Also keep your eye peeled for Toad who has a blink and you miss him cameo. The one appearance I was really surprised about almost brought tears to my eyes as you can tell everything is coming full circle. Although many will know who the individual in question is about 5 minutes before they make their cameo. Although I will not say who but I will give you a hint: it is a certain bald headed Star Fleet captain.

Great? No. Fanboy dream? Yes. Will people still see it no matter what the critics say? Definetly. Let's face it this franchise is gold and as per the afforementioned Deadpool movie, Fox has already announced X-Men Origins: Magneto. Xavier's dream will never die.

X-Men Origins - Wolverine

Enter the summer movie season 2009. To open up the festivities we have the highly anticipated prequel X-Men Origins: Wolverine. I'm going to be honest the only reason I gave this movie the ratting I did was purely out of fandom. If it wasn't for that this movie would have gotten a much lower score.

This movie is less story and more of a trove of X-characters who have not made the cut the first three times around. The plot is weak. It clearly borrowed some elements from classic Wolverine stories like "Origin" and "Weapon X" and did some much uneeded add-on. The biggest travesty is Wolverine was never involved in Alpha Flight. Nope sorry they were scrapped for Gambit, who somehow gets a major power upgrade as his comicbook counterpart can release kinetic energy through objects. Although I did enjoy Gambit I did not enjoy how he's pretty much forced into the story. Also I'm a tad disappointment by the treatment of Deadpool (he's never refered to by that name), as he is known as "the merc with a mouth" for a reason, and yet when he get's his upgrade he is clearly left for silence. Since there is talk of him getting a spin-off, hopefully they can redeem the character, if they can come up with a believable reason as to how he survives his predicament at the end of the film. Other chacters with a dominant role are Wraith, Beak, Agent Zero/Maverick, Blob, Silver Fox and Sabertooth. The movie does indeed touch on the Sabertooth/Wolverine relationship but they take it in a totally different and yet still believable direction.

Now if you want to know who else from the X-franchise shows up well I will tell you. Cyclops is in the movie and has a somewhat expanded role then you would expect, making it somewhat his origin movie as well. To keep in continuity with the other films Cyclops and Wolverine never meet face-to-face. We also had the surprise appearance by Emma Frost, who is destined to become the White Queen and one of the Xavier Institutes headmistresses. Also keep your eye peeled for Toad who has a blink and you miss him cameo. The one appearance I was really surprised about almost brought tears to my eyes as you can tell everything is coming full circle. Although many will know who the individual in question is about 5 minutes before they make their cameo. Although I will not say who but I will give you a hint: it is a certain bald headed Star Fleet captain.

Great? No. Fanboy dream? Yes. Will people still see it no matter what the critics say? Definetly. Let's face it this franchise is gold and as per the afforementioned Deadpool movie, Fox has already announced X-Men Origins: Magneto. Xavier's dream will never die.

In the Loop

exellent political comedy, with superb observations on the british and u.s politics concerning going to war, fact finding missions, and parlement members putting there foot in it, and certainy whats been happening with our british politicians lately, and there expences, very relevent to showing the idiots at play, superb performances all round, lots of shouting, great shouting, from peter capaldi as a brit goverment official, such great scenes and put downs, the story concerning brit politicians going to washington and newyork, concerning a up and coming war is both relevent, and interesting to watch, the great lines just dont stop throughout, and james gandolphini doing great work also, this being based on a tv series, in the thick of it i believe, i will be checking out very soon

Frequently Asked Questions About Time Travel

a very enjoyable time travel comedy from the u.k, very brit sitcom in style but also riffing on a tone of films, especially back to the future and bill and teds exellent adventure, with full of charm wit and situations as 3 ordinary guys 2 of which are sci fi geeks talk shop in the pub, and head to the mens room, but theres a paradox, and when they emerge time has altered, and as they realise its the toilets go back, and it happens again, a paradox happens as now they must avoid there other selfs, while a future time person played nicely by anna faris is on there case, popping up now and then, this film is very clever in places, and worked out so well for what looks like a simple story, its not a big set piece kind of film, just great charactor moments and sci fi done with great comedy, like the pegg/frost comedy program spaced, knows what to talk about and knowing winks throughout, great british comedy at work

Bad Taste

d.i.y filmmaking from kingkong and lord of the rings director peter jackson, this being his first film from way back in 1988, its interesting to see, his career going in the opsite direction to where he is today, shot over 3 years, every weekend when possible in his native new zealend, for a show string budget, this is splatter cinema at its best, forget the exploits of eli roth, this is, gore cinemA at its best, a group of ordinery men are a team of alien hunters, and on there local comunity aliens are planning a attack on the world, whilst eating a odd humen or two, so its up to this bunch to sort the mess out, this film is gory, and for what jackson had to work with a exellent achievment, death and mayhem done really inventive, yes it looks really cheap, and the music, sounds really cheap, but certainly adds to the inventiness of this film, and joins the films of el mariachi, clerks, slackers and blair witch project, as really influencial low budget films, jackson made 2 more splatter films after this, the exelent braindead, which manages to out do this film, and arguebly is better, but this is where it started for him, and meet the feebles, a puppet movie, with sex and violence, so a brilliant start to a career, hopefully one day jackson while inbetween his next blockbuster, will knock out a nice little splatter film and remind us who he once was

Shifty

shot for £100.000 as pat of a london film program, a very good piece of british cinema, as daniel mays plays a young man who got out of london and headed to manchester, who comes back to see his best buddy played by riz ahmed, living life as a drug dealer, here we spend the day watching there friendship and events that could ruin there day, daniel mays who was exellent in vera drake, the bank job and a little role in atonement, is exellent as is riz ahmed, the story flows well, and although nothing original, its well handled

Låt den Rätte Komma In (Let the Right One in)

exellent swedish horror, very atmospheric and some great moments and touches, kare hedebrant is exellent as the withdrawn 12 year old who is being bullied in school, and spens his lonely dark cold winter nights out on his own sitting thinking, here he meets eli a girl who only seems to see him at night, after dark, they form a friendship, needing each other, but eli is a vampire, and her guarding failing to secure some fresh blood, she has to seek out her own, or die, so as these 2 get closer, it seems they will be helping each other out with there situations, this is very well made, catch it before the ovious american remake, the two young leads are very good here and show great potential, also the other stories involving the old residents is enjoyable too, not just a drama, some great moments of horror, and not over used, a very watchable film

Hatching Pete

Don't ask me why but this is the second movie I've reviewed starring Jason Dolley which is getting a good review. The first being Minutemen. Either the boy has a good agent, or is getting luck of the draw.

Yeah it is a typical Disney TV movie, but it certainly is one of the better ones recently. There is no real antagonist in the film as it focuses on the theme of man versus himself. The title character Pete (Jason Dolley) never gets noticed -- even his teachers think he's a stranger to school -- but when his best friend Cleatus (Mitchell Musso) cannot perform his duties as school mascot (due to an allergic reactions from the suit) he takes his place. The result finds Pete as "The Chicken" becoming an overnight sensation with Cleatus getting all the credit. Inevitably through happinstance everyone learns that Cleatus is not the man under the feathers, but the same question is on everyone's lips who is The Chicken? Yes the movie does involve the usual attempt to get the girl, and an obstacle does present itself that the heroes have to overcome, but it is done in a fun and original way.

If there is a main theme here it is most definetly friendship. This is a movie the whole family can enjoy. Frankly when children grow into their tweens, this film is a good introduction to the more age appropriate themes.

Bride Wars

Terrible movie. With Bride Wars Kate Hudson and Anne Hathaway (2 actresses i love, by the way...) have reached a low point in their career with dreadfully overacting and dramatizing every little detail to the point of me losing interest... The movie's not funny at all.

Duplicity

Highly entertaining thrillher (even if a little too slow for my taste). What I liked more about the movie? All those great sceneries, the editing, the dialogue (sharp, edgy, intelligent), soundtrack and Gylroy?s smart script. Apparently with a complex story, I thought it was easy to follow, since it was mostly about corporate espionage, double crosses, money and at the end, mostly about trust.

Good performances from Julia, Clive, Giamatti and Wilkinson. It was fun to see Julia and Clive working together again. Their chemistry was hot, sexy and playful.

Fifty Dead Men Walking

inspired by the true acounts of martain mcgartland, a i.r.a loyalist fighting the cause in northern ireland, who also was working for the british goverment, at the height of the troubles, and the title fifty dead men walking representing the lives of british army and security services, he must have saved along way, a gritty and edgy looking film taking us back to the 80s, and his coming up the ranks, a interesting look at the troubles from foot soldier level, and implications involved, jim sturgess whos inpressed in across the universe, and 21 shines again here in his very good belfast acent, and even though libertys have been taken with story, you can see where, thought is for storytelling rather than truth, its well told, another interesting i.r,a story, whih there have been many good ones

17 Again

Big this is not. It is of similar concept but in reverse. Our protagonist finds his world about to cave in on itself. His wife wants a divorce, his kids despise him, and his wealthy best friend lets him crash on the couch. When he wishes he can go back to a more innocent age his wish is granted. With the help of his friend he integrates back into high school and reconnects with his kids as their ?cousin?. Helping his son with bullies and basketball, preventing his daughter from dating the wrong person, and reconnecting with his wife becomes his mission. Watch for the subplot of the friend hitting on the principal.

The movie stars Zac Efron (insert annoyed sigh here) who plays the title role. Frankly take a way the singing and unnecessary dancing and he does have acting talent. With a little more room to grow, in a few years he'll be nominated for an Academy Award (insert another annoyed sigh here). As many of my readers know I have a rivalry with Mr. Efron. Zac if you are reading this ? and I know you are ? do me a favor and drop out of Johnny Quest. You're too old to play Johnny, plus you're not blonde.

One problem I had with this movie I expected Zac to break out into song and dance for every basketball scene. Yeah he does dance with the cheerleaders at the beginning but it's not the typical choreographed routine expected.

I have two issues with this movie. First, the film is lacking in closure. Although things become hunky dory between our protagonist and his wife we never find out the fate of his kids. What about the son who was climbing the high school food chain; what happens to him? The daughter, no real resolution to her love life. Also do they notice the sudden disappearance of their ?cousin?, the popular kid in school? No nobody does. How could someone who suddenly enters their lives and makes a difference disappear unnoticed? Problems.

Second yes Matthew Perry is billed as a star of this movie, but seriously only 10 minutes of screen time? Sterling Knight who plays the son has more lines and more then an hour on screen but he is nothing but a second stringer. I mean doesn't this kid star in Disney's new "popular" show Sonny With A Chance? He should have gotten better billing.

Like I said this is not your parents "teen/adult in a adult/teen body". It will probably be neglected by most moviegoers as another "High School Musical" movie, because of the star. Yet we will have teeny boppers flocking to this movie even if it was just a still frame. People don't know what they want, and therefore would probably benefit from a magical age swap. I HATE YOU EFRON (What did you really think I would spend a whole review without a Zac Efron dis?)

Sukiyaki Western Django

very enjoyable eastern film, although considering it comes from master filmmaker takashi milke, shot in english, or at least my copy was english, and dubbing very good, it concerns two clans, the whites, and reds, who seize control of a prosperous mining town with gold on there minds, and here they stay, trying to rule the little town, but white slightly winning the war due to there leader being a bit mithical, a figure from the past returns to what he sees, and must get to work, with the help of other mysterious people hidden away, well directed, bloody action sequences throughout, a great mithical story, humour, and carnage, it looks great, and maybe if in its original language would add more, but its still very enjoyable, a good eye for spaggetti westerns here, even tarentino, showing up throughout, doing his thing, adds something. seven samuri, yojimbo, dollers trilogi, if you like these check it out

The Black Balloon

drama set in late 80s australia, as a 16 year old boyin a new town with his family, and his dealings with living with a autistic brother, gets well in the mind of what it could be like to think of your brother as a burden to your life, and also the chalenges for the family to live day to day, a heartbreaking film to watch at times, some good solid drama coming from situations, all acting on fine form, and the summer of down under very inviting