October 20, 2010 New The Expendables
If you like movies with big name action heroes shouting their lines over a symphony of explosions and gunfire, have we got a movie for you! The Expendables is a testosterone fueled action extravaganza. The quintessential guy flick, this movie has it all. Every action hero you know from Sylvester Stallone, Jason Statham, Jet Li, Dolph Lundgren, and Randy Couture to Steve Austin, Terry Crews, Giselle Itie, Mickey Rourke, Bruce Willis and Arnold Schwarzenegger. Now add planes, car chases, gun fights, knife fights, fist fights, tattoos, UFC wrestlers making self deprecating comments about themselves, and lots and lots of stuff blowing up.
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Kids in Mind Rating
Tags: Action, Arnold Schwarzenegger, Blockbuster, Bruce Willis, Dolph Lundgren, explosion, fighting, Giselle Itie, Jason Statham, Jet Li, Mickey Rourke, Randy Couture, Steve Austin, Sylvester Stallone, Terry Crews
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- Posted under Action
October 11, 2010 The Joneses
The Joneses is a sobering look at the materialistic values of American culture. David Duchovney and Demi Moore move into a new neighborhood with their kids and immediately become the talk of the town. They own the coolest toys and share a near perfect life, but soon find it difficult to hold it all together. Though it pulls it punches at the very end, the Joneses will give you plenty to think about, leaving you with the question, “when is it enough?”
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Kids in Mind Rating
Tags: Amber Heard, America, Ben Hollingsworth, David Duchovney, Demi Moore, Drama, Materialism, Materialistic, Money
September 23, 2010 The Other Guys
A movie that champions underdog cops everywhere. Will Ferrel and Mark Wahlberg are two desk jockeys that get in a little over their heads when they decide to take on a real case. Ferrel’s an accountant who tries to keep his life safe and orderly. Wahlberg’s a nuerotic cop with anger issues. The chemistry between the two fizzles and pops like a 7th grade science experiment: you never quite know what’s going to happen next. Samuel L. Jackson, Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson, Michael Keaton, Steve Coogan, Ray Stevenson, and Eva Mendes also star in the film to give it plenty of comedic variety.
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Kids in Mind
Tags: Action, Comedy, Cops, Corporate Theft, Drugs, Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson, Eva Mendes, Michael Keaton, Parody, Ray Stevenson, Samuel L. Jackson, Steve Coogan, The Other Guys
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- Posted under Action, Comedy
September 8, 2010 Salt
Angelina Jolie returns to the genre of action films to reprise her role as the one woman butt-kicking team that she plays oh-so-very-well. This time, without giving too much away, she’s Evelyn Salt, a US CIA agent who is accused of being a Russian spy. She goes on the run, to either prove her innocence or complete her mission (we’re not really sure for a good part of the movie). Expect some over-the-top stunts and a pretty good performance by both Jolie and Leiv Schreiber, who plays her boss, determined to get to the bottom of Salt’s true identity. Both the plot and the stunts will leave you thinking, “I don’t think that’s entirely possible,” however, the movie does make for some good brain candy when you’re in the mood for a high-octane action flick.
Salt Rotten Tomatoes Review
Kids in Mind Review
Tags: Action, Andre Braugher, Angelina Jolie, August Diehl, Blockbuster, Chiwetel Ejiofor, CIA, Daniel Olbrychski, Daniel Pearce, Fugitive, Identity, Liev Schreiber, Movie, Olek Krupa, Political, Review, Russia, Salt, Spy, Suspense, Thriller
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- Posted under Action, Political, Suspense
September 1, 2010 The Crazies
It’s incredibly easy to find a terrible, dull, predictable horror film these days. The Crazies is a breath of fresh (albeit diseased and zombie infected) air. With plenty of tension, shocks, and surprises along the way, it is a horror film worth watching. The movie opens with a quick introduction of the local sheriff (Timothy Olyphant) and his wife (Radha Mitchell) in a small Midwestern town. The movie jumps right into the action. A man walks onto the town’s baseball field during a game carrying a shotgun. Olyphant confronts him and soon begins to notice strange behavior in other residents of the small town.
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Kids in Mind Rating
Tags: Christie Lynn Smith, Conspiracy, Crazy, Danielle Panabaker, Disease, Epidemic, Film, Flick, Gory, Horror, Joe Anderson, Joe Reegan, Midwest, Military, Movie, Pandemic, Radha Mitchell, Remake, Sheriff, Small Town, Timothy Olyphant, Zombie
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- Posted under Horror, Suspense
August 18, 2010 Ondine
A beautifully rendered modern fairytale set in Ireland. Ondine manages a balance between passion and innocence, fantasy and reality, and the way we both hurt and heal each other. It’s only potential drawback is the slow pacing that some may not appreciate, but the breathtaking scenery more than makes up for it. The film follows Syracuse, a local fisherman, who catches a woman in his nets one day. The woman, exotic and alluring, enters his life as a stark contrast from the world he lives in. That’s all I’m going to give you. The rest, you’ll have to find out for yourself. This is a movie worth watching and appropriate for almost any age, though it does deal with some mature themes.
Rotten Tomatoes Rating
Tags: Alicja Bachleda, Colin Farrell, Fairy Tale, Fantasy, Fisherman, Ireland, Mermaid, Movie, Neil Jordan, Ondine, Selky
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- Posted under Indie, Romance, Sci Fi
August 11, 2010 Clash of the Titans
It had everything going for it. A story centuries old, full of questions about the supernatural and gritty human drama. Now ask Liam Neeson to play Zeus and Ralph Fiennes to play Hades. Excited? I was. Especially after seeing the trailers. But don’t be fooled. The Clash of the Titans is a colossal failure. Here’s why:
+Terrible script. This is probably the most to blame. The entire movie falters on this. Words just fill in the spaces between overdramatized action sequences.
+Pointless characters. Seems like they were just following a scriptwriter’s checklist. Underdog action hero, check. Gruff general, check. Comic relief guys, check. Mysterious ninja guy, check. None of them are believable. It’s more like a puppet show than a movie and it leaves you not caring if any of them live or die.
+Huge letdown from Liam Neeson and Ralph Feines. Come on, you’re playing Zeus! And Hades! Give it a little more effort! In Harry Potter, Fiennes is genuinely disturbing. As Hades, the Lord of the Dead, he does little better than sickly old man. As Zeus, Neeson doesn’t leave us with awe and wonder. He leaves us wondering how this uncool dad figure is really capable of running anything. It felt like both just read through the script the day of shooting. I’m not even going to go into the shiny armor that looks like a Billy Idol costume.
+ Sam Worthington IS NOT A LEAD ACTOR! I feel like I’m taking crazy pills. He wasn’t good in Avatar. He’s not good in this one either.
+ And most importantly, they completely butchered the mythology and rewrote it to suit their purposes. I don’t mean they took a few liberties and moved a couple of things around to fit the screen. I mean the entire meaning of the myth was turned on its head. That’s unforgivable.Ancient Greeks believed that the greatest sin was hubris (unchecked pride that declared man was equal to the gods). This story was told to show what happens when people do not respect the gods. Cassiopeia said she was more beautiful than Neptune’s daughters, so Neptune (not Hades) sent a sea monster to punish the kingdom. Meanwhile, for a completely different reason, Perseus is sent off to bring back the head of Medusa. In the movie, Perseus constantly declares that he’s a man and doesn’t need the help of the gods. In the original story, Perseus is assisted by a number of gods throughout his journey.
So here it is: In Ovid’s tale of Perseus, we are told that people need the gods and need to learn their rightful place beneath them. If you watch the movie, however, you’ll find that the theme of the film is that the gods need people more than people need the gods.
Is it Worth Watching? This is possibly the worst blockbuster movie of all time. Don’t waste your money or your time on it.
Kids in Mind Rating
- Rotten Tomatoes Rating
Tags: 2010, Action, Blockbuster, Clash of the Titans, Greek, Greek Mythology, Hades, Liam Neeson, Mads Mikkelsen, Movie, Myth, Mythology, Perseus, Ralph Fiennes, Sam Worthington, Sci Fi, Zeus
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- Posted under Action, Sci Fi
August 4, 2010 Inception
Now, everyone’s going to tell you that this was the “best movie of the year, bar none”, “a defining moment in film history”, “Christopher Nolan’s Magnum Opus”, yada yada yada. But is it really? If you’d like to read those reviews, there are plenty of them. I’m just going to give you my honest opinion. If you haven’t seen Inception yet, don’t let the hype get you all worked up. Lower your expectations and go watch this movie. It’s definitely worth watching, but if you go into it without the amped up expectations you’re going to get from Twitter, you will be even more pleased with it. Here’s a few of the highlights without any spoilers:
+ It takes on the dreamscape. In a very Matrix-esque way, Nolan explores the subconscious and the difference of reality and our perception of reality.
+ Some brilliant visual effects and even a few good fight scenes.
+An excellent cast. Leonardo DiCaprio, Ken Watanabe, Joseph Gordon Levitt, Ellen Page, Cillian Murphy, Michael Caine, Marion Cotillard, and even Tom Berenger. This movie is stacked. With such a large cast, they don’t all get a lot of face time or character development, but they each play their roles very well.
+ The impossible and a few answers. Inception asks you to suspend a measure of disbelief, but still provides enough explanations how exactly these characters are delving into someone’s dream and stealing their thoughts and even planting one of their own. What’s more, it doesn’t get tripped up on it’s own shoelaces like the Matrix did with all that Architect/Oracle/Merovingian mumbo jumbo in it’s following sequels. It’s a sci-fi flick that doesn’t totally feel like a sci-fi flick.
+ It’s one idea taken to it’s limits. When it all boils down, this movie is one creative idea that has been explored to it’s extremes. I liked that simplicity about it.
Here’s a few other helpful facts about the movie:
Inception is #3 on IMDB’s top 250 movies of all time as voted by users of the site.
Tags: Cillian Murphy, Ellen Page, Inception, Joseph Gordon Levitt, Ken Watanabe, Leonardo DiCaprio, Marion Cotillard, Matrix, Michael Caine, Movie, Review, Tom Berenger
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- Posted under Action, Sci Fi, Suspense
July 29, 2010 Thor ComicCon Trailer
This is one heck of a trailer. Here’s to hoping the movie looks as good as this tasty little morsel does. A little warning, Marvel may yank down the link in a little bit, so watch it while you can.
Tags: Comic Books, Marvel, Movie, Thor
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- Posted under Action
July 27, 2010 Hold Yer Horses, Amigo
Woah there, caballero. I know your itchin for a good movie recommend or a warning about a bad one. This is a brand new blog, so just give it a few days and check back in. First up, Inception.
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- Posted under Uncategorized
Is It Worth Watching? 