The Day (2012)

The Day


"Fight. Or Die"

THE PLOT

The Day is a Canadian made post apocalyptic movie about 5 people who are traveling on the back roads (its never explained where exactly they are or where they are going) on their journey they find themselves at an abandoned farmhouse, at first they believe it to be a safe haven but soon find out that its not what they were hoping it to be when one of them is killed.

The 4 remaining quickly realize the farmhouse is used as a trapping house by a group of cannibals who control the sounding area  and kill any and everyone who enters their territory and trap house, the 4 survivors do their best to fight off the cannibal clan but they are limited on resources as more of the clan converge on the farmhouse then what they can handle.


MY THOUGHTS

When I saw the preview for this movie I was interested in seeing this because I'm a fan of these type of movies and a little surprised to see that it was distributed by the WWE (World Wrestling Entertainment) but I didn't let that stop me from checking it out.

The movie starts off interesting enough we are introduced to the 5 main characters

Rick-Dominic Monaghen


Adam- Shawn Ashmore


Mary- Ashley Bell


Shannon- Shannyn Sossamon


Henson- Cory Hardrict



I didn't like that one of them is killed off very early in the movie, because we don't get to know much about any of them except for one flashback for one character and when some of them are talking but other then that there is never really anything that made me feel any real connection with any of them.

The Cannibals are almost laughable at best because we never get a reason for what happened to cause why the world went to hell in the first place and weather or not the cannibals are the ones who did it or if they just sprung up after everything went bad.

For the most part the acting is very uneven with probably the best performance coming from Ashley Bell who really needs to be in bigger and better movies since she is a very underrated actress who deserves better, she's a badass in this movie and can handle the physical stuff.

The movie is only 87 minutes (1h 27min) but should've been longer which would've helped fresh out characters and backstory, I don't know to much about the filmmakers but I noticed alot of homages to Night Of The Living Dead, The Road Warrior, Stake Land, and a few other movies that are similar in theme.

All in all I was let down more then I expected by The Day(Expectations were already very low) with the uneven acting, Story didn't make much sense, the action was decent but could've been alot better, really getting tired of the extreme close up fight scenes where you only see the characters and not much around them to give them room to move around.

This is my first review that I've done for a movie that I don't highly recommend especially if you seen the preview for The Day and was thinking it was going to be heavy action its not.

My Rating 5/10

My Must See Movies Of 2013

2012 looks to be ending on a strong note with some really good must see movies hitting the big screen but where those movies are ending a good year for movies, 2013 could be even better with a wide range of movies hitting the big screen.

I had to narrow my list down to only 5, even though there are more that I want to see in 2013 but these are the top of that list

 World War Z(2013

A U.N. employee (Brad Pitt) is racing against time and fate, as he travels the world trying to stop the outbreak of a deadly Zombie pandemic.

Even though this movie has been pushed back a few times with countless reshoots. I'm still very much interested in this, for one I like zombies doesn't matter if their the traditional slow walking Romero style or the fast pace 28 days later rage infected type that seems to be in this movie. it looks like its going to be a zombie movie that's put on a big scale and hopefully bring back an interest to not only zombies on the big screen but also horror overall.

Starring 

Brad Pitt- Gerry Lane

World War Z Trailer

.Iron Man 3

Tony Stark uses his ingenuity to fight those who destroyed his private world and soon goes up against his most powerful enemy yet... The Mandarin

Iron Man 3 looks to pick up a little after The Avengers since Tony Stark seems to be still feeling the after effects of New York and saving the world , but as he's going thru his recovery process a new villian has emerged and wants to destroy everything that he can.

I enjoy all the Iron Man/The Avenger movies but the main reason I want to see this one is because Ben Kingsley is playing the villain and for anybody who knows what The Mandarin is all about knows it kinda ironic that the same guy who played Gandi is playing this character.

Starring 

Robert Downey, Jr.- Tony Stark/Iron Man

Gwyneth Paltrow- Pepper Potts

Guy Pearce-Adrich Killian

Don Cheadle James Rhodes/ War Machine

Ben Kingsley- The Mandarin

Iron Man 3 Trailer

 Pacific Rim-July 12,2013

When an alien attack threatens the Earth existence, giant robots piloted by humans are deployed to fight off the menace.

Now this movie could go one of two ways since its kinda taking a old Godzilla type of premise and reworking it into something new, which I hope is a success because I like the concept, hopefully others will too. The cast more so then the movie itself has me interested because there seems to be a good blend of talents here.

Idris Elba- Stacker Pentecost

Charlie Hunnam-Raleigh Becket

Rinko Kikuchi-Mako Mori

Charlie Day-Dr. Newton Geiszler 

Ron Perlman- Hannibal Chau

Pacific Rim Trailer

 Snitch- February 22,2013

A father goes undercover for the DEA in order to free his son who was imprisoned after being set up in a drug deal

Dwayne Johnson is doing a really good job of becoming an action star and Snitch seems like another movie that will help put his name in the same circles as Schwarzengger, Willis, Stallone, Van Damme, pretty much all of the guys from The Expendable movies

Dwayne Johnson

Jon Bernthal 

Susan Sarandon

Michael K. Williams

Benjamin Bratt-

Snitch Trailer

 The Gangster Squad - January 11,2013

An LAPD task force is put together to bring down notorious gangster Mickey Cohen

Gangster Squad is a movie that was supposed to be released in 2012 but was pushed back to a 2013 release date because of the aftermath of the movie theater shooting that took place and because there was a similar scene in this movie, reshoots were done to remove that scene .

This one almost seems like The Untouchables because of a few likeness to that movie which isn't a bad thing from what i've seen so far in trailers, top grade casting and its a gangster movie showing how those types were back in the day.

Ryan Gosling- Sgt Jerry Wooters

Josh Brolin- Sgt John O'Mara

Emma Stone-Grace Faraday

Sean Penn-Mickey Cohen

Nick Nolte-Chief Parker

Gangster Squad Trailer

Man Of Steel-June 14,,2013

Of all the big movies that I'm looking forward too, Man Of Steel is at the top of the list because even though its about Superman which has been done countless times on the big and small screen this is the first time the story will be told like this, which seems to be more reality based then what we've gotten in the past.

Henry Cavill-Clark Kent/Superman

Amy Adams- Lois Lane

Michael Shannon-General Zod

Kevin Costner- Jonathan Kent

Diane Lane- Martha Kent

Russell Crowe- Jor-El

Man Of Steel Teaser Trailer

Man Of Steel Official Trailer

Lawless(2012)

Lawless

"When The Law Becomes Corrupt, Outlaws Become Heroes"

Lawless is the true story of the Bondurant brothers based on the novel The Wettest County in the world written by Matt Bondurant, Grandson of Jack Bondurant.

The Bondurant brothers(Forrest, Howard, Jack) are small gang of bootleggers that operate deep in the Virginia hills making their moonshine and sell it to local bars and other gangs who are willing to buy it during the prohibition era, they have become some what of local legends with family tales going back years that strikes fear into anyone who know them or if they don't know them they soon find out you don't mess with the Bondurant's if you don't want a cold hearted stone face look or pair of Brace knuckles across the face from Forrest or a good old fashion beat down from Howard.

The movie is told mostly from youngest brother Jack's(Shia Labeouf) point of view, who looks up to oldest brother Forrest(Tom Hardy) who has become a local legend in his own right and his no nonsense don't take no mess from anybody attitude, but when Jack sees Chicago mobster Floyd Banner(Gary Oldman) rides into town and shoots up a car that's been chasing him and then rides away, That's what Jack wants for himself instead of what Forrest has given them.

With it being Prohibition era and the federal government fastly shutting down illegal businesses like theirs, it was only a matter of time before the law was knocking on their door, in this case its in the form of Charlie Rakes(Guy Pearce) who will do any and everything to bring down the Bondurant's who are the final hold outs of bending down to the law.

Lawless is one of those movies that from a story point of view has been told before but only few have done it better with a stellar cast Tom Hardy, Jason Clarke, Guy Pearce, Jessica Chastain, Gary Oldman and yes even Shia Labeouf.

For me there are 3 stand out performances

1. Tom Hardy-Forrest Bondurant


Hardy does a great job playing Elder brother Forrest with his gruff demeanor and shows just how much of a touch guy he can be when it calls for it, but where he really shines is when he shows the character softer side, if you can call it that when dealing with family issues and even love situations.




2. Jessica Chastain- Maggie Beauford


Jessica Chastain turns in another fine performance as Maggie former big city girl who's trying to leave that life behind by going to the country side in Virginia and start over fresh and begins a business relationship with the Bondurant's and takes a liking to Forrest and even saves his life in more ways then one. she keeps turning in performances like this and others that she's done before she might just become a shoe in during award season for nominations like Meryl Streep has done.

3 Guy Pearce- Charlie Rakes


Guy Pearce turns into probably one of the most hated villainous characters all time, as G man Rakes who is brought in to do a job, that job is to make the Bondurant's and anybody who sides with them life a living hell, from his first appearance you can tell something isn't right about this guy with his Alfalfa part going down the middle of his head and his OCD type of condition with not wanting to be touched or have anyone touch him and for him taking a boot to the face is worst then getting his head blown off, 

I only have 2 small problems with the cast

1. Gary Oldman- Floyd Banner


I'm a huge Gary Oldman fan and I seem to enjoy his bad guy roles a little more then his good guy ones for the simple fact that he's really good at playing a bad guy, so when I saw that he was going to be in Lawless as a bad guy I was really waiting to see him shine and his first appearance in the movie where he stands in the street shooting up a car  and riding away hanging onto his getaway car is a great scene but after that he seems to only show up two or three more times and then disappear without any other mention

Now I know the movie is based off the book of the real events of the Bondurant's but at the same time its a movie and it's Gary Freaking Oldman, it would've been nice to have him and Forrest have a scene or two or have him getting into a shoot out with Charlie Rakes, I wanted more Gary Oldman!!!

But I guess he took the small roll of Floyd Banner because he was going off to shoot The Dark Knight Rises soon after, which can also explains Tom Hardy's Bulked up frame in this as well.

2. Shia Labeouf- Jack Bondurant


No surprise that he was going to be one of the problems right? well its not for most of the reason's I have with him in other movies, because his acting here was pretty good, the biggest problem I have with him here is that Jack is the main character and the movie is told from his point of view, Labeouf has come a long way with his acting but still has a way's to go to be looked at as a leading man especially being surrounded with the likes of Hardy, Chastain, Clarke, Oldman, Pearce, who all seem natural with their roles, where Labeouf looks to be trying just a bit to hard to sell his performance to the audience, with that being said he is on the right track by trying to put his Transformers days behind him.

Overall Lawless is a gem of a movie, about a tale of Family, loyalty, Change, and I enjoyed every minute of it. If you enjoy movies like this about History, well rounded characters, and a good story told by good actors then Lawless is the movie for you to Rent, Buy, or Stream, but most importantly check out.

My Rating
8/10