Movie reviews DONE

I've finished up my reviewing of movies!  I do enjoy watching movies (wish i could see a few more in theatres, but WOW are they overpriced) and will continue to watch a TON of them.  If you want some recommendations on new DVD releases and such, always you can hit me up on twitter @klintkrebs.

Watched Sorcerer's Apprentice

I heard many mixed reveiws for the Sorcerer's Apprentice, most of them pretty bad, but I wanted to check it out for myself.  I have always been a fan of Nicholas Cage, a stance not shared by many reviewers.  I liked his performance in most of his movies like Con Air, City of Angels, and this movie delivers another good performance. 
This movie follows Cage's character, Balthazar, as he searches for Merlin's decendant to save the world.  When the apprentice turns out to be a geeky physics nerd some comedy gets injected into the story.
All in all, the special effects are outstanding, the storyline is predictable, but enjoyable and the performances delivered are good enough for me to recommend this for a fun evening.

Brotherhood of Wolves

For something new I decided to try out a French film. Avoiding all the crazy mushy romances I went with the brotherhood of wolves, or Le pacte des loupes. It was a really good movie, but it would suffer a bit in American cinema I think. First off, it is about 2.5 hours long. This isn't necessarily a bad thing, but the pacing is a little slow than what I am used to and there are some extraneous interactions that would be left on the cutting room floor. That being said the character development is odd in that you feel connected to the characters but not completely and not until the end.
The story takes place in the time of trickle hats and powdered wigs as they are everywhere! In a provence of France there are some mysterious killings by a horrible beast and the king's taxidermist and his loyal companion are sent to get to the bottom of matters.
I did enjoy the movie, had to push myself through some slow parts but felt rewarded by the ending.
~Klint

watch Ironman 2

I missed the opportunity to see Iron Man 2 in the theatres (I don't get to go to theatres much, not that I want to play $15 to see a movie) so I was really excited that it is finally out on DVD so I could see it.  I remember hearing people saying it was ok, mostly just more of the same of Iron Man 1 but I thought that is defiantly not a bad thing.  I really enjoyed it and this time I can sit and watch it with Gabs as she likes superhero movies.  There isn't a lot of over the top violence, but there is plenty of action.  I didn't let her see the first Iron Man movie for the torture and surgery sequences but this doesn't have any uber intense scenes like that.  There are lots of little hidden gems for people paying attention that hint towards the coming Avengers movie, but not a whole lot of fan lore in the Iron Man story like the first one. 

This is a well made movie, nothing really innovative or groundbreaking, but if you enjoyed the first one pick this up and you won't be sorry!!

The Expendables

I saw the trailer for The Expendables months ago and thought how great it is that they got all these iconic action stars together for a movie.  Well I was right an wrong.  The action sequences in this movie are pretty good, but the story is next to non-existant.  Someone told me this is the guy equivilant of a romance novel, whole lot of fluff, not a lot of substance.  Unfortunatly I can't even say the action sequences are all that amazing.  They seem to me sort of dated or just on par with the stars' other movies.  Nothing really over the top or memorable that is going to have me popping this in just to see a sequence over again (ie G.I. Joe Paris car chase...AMAZING!!!).  Over all, not a bad movie per say, just not as good of a movie as it could have been or I wished it was I guess.

Watch Love Guru

I was surfing through the netflix queue in kind of a bad mood due to being between games and kind of bored and saw the love guru listed and thought some mindless humor would do me some good. Boy was I right! I had a great time watching this with the wifey. She usually doesn't sit through "stupid humor" but she sat and laughed through this whole movie (I think it might have something to do with the amount of hockey featured on the movie) but I had a good time and really enjoyed the play on Indian words bey had in there like a little Indian town of Harrenmyasse.
This a good laugh to pick up, especially if you are a fan of hockey or the Buffalo/Toronto area.
~Klint

Watch Kingdom of Heaven

We went to the Great Lakes Medieval Faire this summer and it really peaked my interest into authentic medieval attire, combat, arms and armor.  I've seen many movies and most of them depict knights and warriors as being able to things that would be so physically hard to do while wearing a full set of armor most would not even attempt it.  In my internet searches I came across many redirections to costumes and replicas of Kingdom of Heaven.  It seems this movie took great pains to be historically accurate as possible.

History provided all the action and drama movie creators would need for this film.  I am not sure which crusade this was set in (I'm no expert on medieval history) but it ends when King Richard is headed to the holy land, if that gives you history buffs a time frame to work with (so right around the Robin Hood era).  When the movie begins it opens on grave diggers burying Baelin's (sp) wife.  A column of crusaders pass by and ask directions to the blacksmith and it happens to be the baron's bastard son Baelin whom he has come to take with him to the crusade.  After a fight in the forest the baron is injured and we all know that medieval medicine is not quite up to modern standards and Baelin succeeds his father and heads to Jerusalem to serve the Christian king. 

I don't want to give much away as there is much political intrigue that happens especially between the various orders of knights, but I was entertained through this very long (over 3 hours) movie.  I like how they didn't depict either side as "bad" just both wanted something and both felt entitled to it.  Pretty much how the various religions feel about it to this day.

Watch Fellowship of the Ring Extended Edition

I watched Fellowship of the Ring when it first came out in theaters quite some time ago (I'll have to check IMDB and get back to ya on that one) but I watched the extended edition for the first time this past weekend and was pleasantly surprised. 

I read the books just before the movies were done filming and was really impressed at how well they did on putting feel of the books on the screen.  With books as epic as the Lord of the Rings there will be parts left out to streamline the movie so the audience isn't sitting through a 6 hour movie but most books get made into terrible movies.  Harry Potter series and the Lord of the Rings are rare exceptions. 

With that being said, the movie is still amazing but as I was watching it it was fun to see what was left out of the original cut.  There is a whole sequence that is easily 10-20 minutes long that is new.  I'll grant that it wasn't uber important to the story and there is no detriment to it being left out in the original, but it was nice to see it there as someone who has read the books.

I love these stories and really enjoy the movies.  If you haven't seen them or read them please do yourself a favor and do so!

Watch Cop Out

I picked Cop Out due to my long time enjoyment of Bruce Willis.  This was a fun comedy about a two cops who get in over their heads and get tangled up with a drug cartel while Bruce Willis' character is trying to give his daughter the wedding she always wanted.  There really isn't anything groundbreaking in this movie and my favorite scene happens in the first 20 minutes while they are interrogating a drug dealer and quoting movies.  It was fun, predictable, and felt a lot like the old cop comedies from the 80's.  Fun for a rental.

Watch repo men

When I first saw the title Repo Men I thought it would be a bad movie about some hilljack driving a tow truck. Turns out it's about a highly trained corporate organ harvester. In the future if your heart or kidneys or whatever go bad you no longer have to wait for a donor, science has made artificial organs available. But what happens when you can't pay for it? They get repo'ed out of you. How long can you live without your heart that someone just ripped out of you?
This was a pretty entertaining if gory action flick starring Jude Law and Forrest Whitaker. Good rental, dunno if it makes my keeper list.
~Klint

Watch Brooklyn's Finest

I sat down to watch Brooklyn's Finest with the expectation of a good cop/bad cop or a dirty cop getting his justice type of movie in mind.  There is some of that but there is very little of the satisfaction curve most people are used to in movies.  There's not a lot of the conflict and the satisfying resolution type of thing going on, it's mostly a depressing take on how much it sucks to be a cop.  There's not a lot of the "I'm glad I'm a cop and I'm helping people" vibe in this movie at all.  This was just a very long downer type of movie for me.

Here's the link to it on IMDB Brooklyn's finest

I don't have a lot good to say about this, maybe because it hits close to home on a few subjects, but I also think that cops in big cities have a bad enough reputation and they don't need movies like this to bring it down further.

Watched hot tub time machine

Maybe I'm starting to get old or perhaps I just don't get the new flavor of humor but as I was watching hot tub time machine I kept waiting and waiting for the big laughs but they just didn't happen. I felt that way about the hangover too, so if you thought that was an amazing movie you might enjoy this one. To me this just felt like a sad movie about someone who looked back on the past and wished they could relive it and change a few things in their favor. It just felt really sad and depressing for most of the movie.
~Klint

Watch The Losers

I picked the Losers solely because I saw a friend of mine watch it on Xbox Live.  I didn't know what it was about other than the short blurb on the movie description so it was really nice not having any expectations going into a movie.  I gotta admit I really enjoyed it.  It's a fun, over the top, action movie.  Wifey said it was like a comic book movie (largely due to the intro I think) but it fits with all the archetypes, insane explosions, action sequences.  I didn't recognize too many actors but there weren't any glaring performance botches.  It's a fun movie about a group of special forces that get betrayed by a higher up so they have to go on the lamb and try to get their lives back by seeking revenge against someone they only know by voice and name.  I had a good time with it you if you like movies like Rambo or Commando then this a a good pick for you.

Watch G.I. Joe rise of the Cobra

I watched GI Joe with the Leary heart of a kid who loved the toys back in the 80's and if taken only in that aspect it failed, but in it's own right it is a very enjoyable movie that has names of the old tv show thrown in for flavor. Lots of explosions and some slapstick from Marlon Wayans make for a nice diversion and an awesome chase scene in Paris.
~Klint

Watched Supersize Me

I watched (most of) Supersize Me with the wifey the other day on Netflix, and like Food Inc., it was very eye opening.  If you haven't heard, the lead in the movie (it feels weird calling him an actor or researcher) undergoes an experiment where he eats McDonald's for every meal for 30 days and documents the physical and medical changes to him as he goes along.  He starts off as a very fit person and by the end he has trouble climbing the stairs to his apartment.  He gains over 10% of his body weight, and the stats at the end of the film about how much fat, sugar and such he has consumed are astounding.  He goes though and researches other aspects of the fast food industry as well.  I think this a good film to watch especially if you find yourself in the drivethrough line more often than you think you should be.

Review of She's Out of My League

I sat down to watch she's out of my league after reading that it's "the funniest movie since the hangover." now I wasn't a huge fan of the hangover, but it was generally considered a really funny movie. So after I started it I realized I watching for a romantic comedy, not just a normal one. So as I readjusted myself, I started to enjoy it and really identify with the main character. It's a classic story of a guy with not a lot going in his life meets a girl who has everything going right for her and falls in love with her.
The token appearance of the ex is thrown in for conflict, which is neither surprising or original, but it's not heavily stressed so that's good.
I enjoyed he movie, it was primarily fluff without a lot of substance but a good diversion.
~Klint

Watch the Crazies

My wife and I watched the Crazies for a fun thrill. It was a pretty good zombie-ish movie. I really enjoy movies with Timothy olyphant and he did a really good job in this one as well. While not a true zombie movie, it is very much in the feel of the genre. It was a good time, not too sacry but just enough.


~Klint

Watch wolfman

I watched the new wolfman with Anthony Hopkins and benicio del toro. It was a pretty goood movie though admittedly I have never seen the classic monster fick. The story developed well, but predictably and the transformations were really well done.  I don't think this is a classic but worth a rental for sure.



~Klint

Watch Book of Eli

I sat down to watch Book of Eli, and made the mistake o listening to some reviews beforehand.  It got some mediocre reviews so I wasn't expecting anything special, just perhaps to spend a couple hours relaxing on the couch. 
 
Wow was I wrong! 
 
I'm a fan of post apocolyptic themed stuff to begin with (Fallout, , etc.) but i was really impressed with how it was handled here.  It wasn't something that people talked about on end, but you could tell it happened a long time ago and people are just dealing with it, looking for ways to get by.  Eli comes into the story as carrying a symbol of hope and single mindedly carrying it west.  There is some great character development and twists here.
 
This made it to one of my top 10 movies....pick it up!

Review of Food, Inc.

So far all my movies I've watched have been for entertainment but since wifey has been on a big documentary kick and this movie came recommended by a podcast I regularly watch I queued it up on netflix.  Food Inc is an eye opening insight into how the food industry as a whole is ruining our health in favor of a profit.  I'm sure everyone has heard about growth hormones and steroids in our meat, but the see the extent of the tampering and to see why we are getting e.coli from vegetables was shocking.  I cannot due this film justice by relating stories of chicken coops or massive slaughterhouses, I truly recommend you see this and weight the true cost of your food.