Movie Review-Warrior(2011)

"One Brother Fights For Family, One Brother Fights For Honor"

Warrior is the story of two brothers (Brendan and Tommy) who are living to very different lives. Brendan(Joel Edgerton) is a family man, has a wife (Jennifer Morrison) and two kids, he's a Physics teacher, he beginning fighting in local MMA style venues to make extra money because like most people nowadays the economy is hitting his family hard and at any moment they can be kicked out of their house.

Tommy(Tom Hardy) is a soldier that just come from the war and wants to get back into fighting, when he was younger he was on his way to breaking a undefeated recorded that nobody else has ever dream of, he finds their father Paddy(Nick Nolte) who is a recovering alcoholic and abusive father to the two men when they were younger, now he's older and has seen the error of his ways and wants them to be a family again. Tommy doesn't want the father, he only wants the Trainer  side of him.

as both men embark on their journey their paths slowly begin to cross thanks in part to a big Tournament that's going to be held in Atlantic city the winner gets $5 million. 


Tommy enters just because the octagon seems to be the only place he seems to feel normal in, while older brother Brendan enters and wants to win because its a way for his family to survive.

One thing i liked about this movie, it has a very realistic feel to it, Joel Edgerton and Tom Hardy are both great in their roles. Edgerton as the family man who just wants everything to be normal but will do what needs to be done to support his family.

Tom Hardy as Tommy has alot going on in his head all of which isn't fully explained in the movie, but enough of why he is the way he is is explained to know that this guy has had a rough life and in some way he's trying to make up for things by fighting in this Tournament.

The big standout for me is Nick Nolte in a comeback role if you will, as their father, Nolte shows that he still has it with his range of acting skills in particular two standout scenes 1. Where he goes to see Brendan and try to reconcile with him only to be turned away and 2. Where he falls off the wagon after being verbally abused by Tommy.

If Nolte isn't nominated for some big awards there is something very wrong with the academy who does the voting(not saying it isn't already)


The fight scenes are done very will, i'm not very big into watching MMA/UFC but all the fighting was very well choreographed in large part i guess because they used real fighters in the movie, I think they could've found somebody better then Kurt Angle to play the Russian favorite of the Tournament but if you don't know who he is it won't be that much of a distraction then.

Acting was top notch, Story is good not great, Great Soundtrack, Very intense fight scenes. so if you haven't seen or heard of or even avoiding this movie for what ever reason i say go pick up a copy and give it a watch because you will be entertained.


8/10


Starring 


Joel Edgerton-Brendan Conlon
Tom Hardy-Tommy Riordan
Nick Nolte-Paddy Conlon
Jennifer Morrison-Tess Conlon
Frank Grillo-Frank Campana
Bryan Callen-Himself/Announcer
Kurt Angle-Koba

Can't Wait Films Of 2012

This is a little rundown of some films that I "Can't Wait To See In 2012" because if I had it my way I'd be watching them right now.


 Safe House(February 10 2012)


This one starts the year off for me, most of the movies that begin the year have always been known as being some of the worst that come during the year, but not when 2 time Oscar winner Denzel Washington is the star)Look at Book Of Eli) Washington is one of the of the few big name actors that really doesn't do wrong when it comes to the movies he appear in, and this looks to be another hit for Mr. Washington (IMO)



The Plot: A Young CIA agent is tasked with looking after a fugitive in a safe house, but  when the safe house is attacked, he finds himself on the run with his charge.


Starring
Denzel Washington 

Ryan Reynolds







Watch Trailer Here




The Dark Knight Rises (July 20 2012)


The #1 movie that I'm looking forward to seeing is this right here everything about It keeps getting me hyped up about seeing it. especially Tom Hardy as Bane and the fact that this is the end of what's already been a successful series makes it even that more anticipated.



The Plot: The Terrorist Leader (Bane)arrives in Gotham City, and pushes its hero (Batman) to the breaking point and beyond. 


Watch Trailer Here


G.I. Joe 2: Retaliation (June 29 2012)


Let me start off by saying I enjoyed the first movie, no it was great but it wasn't terrible with that being said. G.I. Joe 2: Retaliation looks like its going to blow the first movie out of the water.


There are some returing faces from the first movies, but there are also some new faces along for the ride this time and with the new group is the reason I believe this movie will be one of the best action movies of there year.


Returning Faces






New Faces







The Plot: The G.I. Joe team faces off against Zartan, his accomplices and the world leaders he has under his influence.


Watch Trailer Here


Prometheus(June 8 2012)


Ridley Scott is going back to what helped make him the big name he is today with a quasi prequel to his 1979 film Alien, this is a toss up one other film on my little list that I think will blow people's minds (the other being The Dark Knight Rises)












The Plot: A team of explorers discover a clue to the origins of mankind on earth, leading them on a journey to the darkest corners of the universe. There, they must fight a terrifying battle to save the future of the human race.



Trailer



The Avengers(May4 2012)


Now everyone knew after the end of Iron man this movies was eventually going to get made, but for everyone who watched the very end of Captain America, finally got to see a taste of what was to come with this movie, probably one of the most anticipated movies since I don't know when next summer after Iron Man, Incredible Hulks, Thor, and Captain America we're finally going to these guys all together in one movie.















The Plot: The S.H.I.E.L.D agency brings together a team of superhumans to help save the Earth from annihilation.




Watch Trailer Here








The Expendables 2(August 17 2012)


Sylvester Stallione has done it again by getting some of the best action heroes past, present and future together once again to make a well anticipated sequel to the not so surprisingly hit from last year The Expendables almost everyone is returning in the sequel except Mickey Rourke(what's up with that) Bruce Willis and Arnold Schwarzenegger seems to have a bigger parts this time around but we shall see on that.






New faces like Liam Hemsworth, Jean Claude Van Damme and Chuck Norris help round out an already stacked cast, but these guys know how to hold their on this isn't their first action movie, except for the younger Hemsworth.


The Plot: There really isn't anything known to much about what the plot is going to be, but when you have all these guys in a movie do plot really matter.


Watch Trailer Here

Ten Vampire Films To Watch Instead Of Twilight

The Title says it all, any and everybody who knows me and talks to me about these movies know i'm not a fan and any real Horror/Vampire movie fan doesn't like these movies because of how they water down what Vampires are all about. so after some thought I've come up with Ten or so vampire movies that i feel people should watch(In No Particular Order) instead of wasting their time with watching the Twilight Saga....

Here We Go....



10. Daybreakers (2009)


Daybreakers was actually a surprisingly good Vampire flick that came out after the first Twilight movie, the plot is a somewhat interesting one. In 2019 the world is ran by Vampires and they are running very low on blood supply that will run out in a months time, so a top corporation decides to capture and farm what's left of the remaining human race, while they are looking for a blood substitiute .


One thing i really liked about this movie was that the vampires in this movie were violent and didn't hesitant to attack people, and another thing is that the cast is really good.

Ethan Hawke-Edward Dalton



Williem Dafoe-Elvis



9. 30 Days Of Night (2007)


This vampire movie was one year ahead of the whole twilight craze so most people were still used to vicious and violent vampires at this time, which they are most defiantly are.

                                                                                                   
The story is another interesting one where a small Alaska town is getting ready for its 30 days of night (yes it actually happens in real life) a Stranger comes to town and warns everyone that "they coming" the "they" end up being a group of vampires that have being roaming around the world gypsy style and are the last of the vampires (In this movie they are).



The cast here is another really good ensemble led by.

Josh Hartnett-Sherriff Eben Oleson
 

Melissa George-Stella Oleson


Ben Foster-The Stranger


Mark Boone Junior-Beau Brower


Danny Huston-Marlow




8.Near Dark(1987)


Katheryn Bigelow made a pre Twilight ish type of vampire/western type of movie, Near Dark fans do not kill me for saying that i'll explain my reason for saying that momentarily. the plot is about a family of vampire ish people who are sensitive to sunlight, drink people blood (but don't have fangs), and live for a very long time.




There is a love story between the two young leads (Adrian Pasdar and Jenny Wright) somewhat similar to Twilight but where this one differs is that Twilight=Love Story Near Dark=Romance, yes there is a difference for those who do know lol.



The cast in this movie is probably one of the best with the quality of talent that are made up of the vampires.

Adrian Pasdar-Caleb Cotton




Jenny"Where are you?" Wright-Mae




Lance Henriksen-Jesse Hooker


Bill Paxton-Severen


Jeanette Goldstein-Diamondback



Joshua John Miller-Homer



7.Shadow Of The Vampire(2000)


This underrated and overlooked vampire movie is the only one that based on a the true story of how Nosferatu was made and about Max Schreck(if you havent seen Nosferatu or heard of Max Schreck, you should he was an interesting guy especially with what he did during the filming of the movie)

Shadow Of The Vampire is more then just a vampire movie, its a Thriller Williem Dafoe is great in this role of Schreck, Dafoe is a kinda creepy guy anyway in most movies but here he really shines(He was nominated for an Academy Award for this role also)

I won't go into much detail about the film since it's a film about another film that i believe makes this list sometime later where i'll explain more about the plot of the movie, but what i will say about this film Max Schreck is the realist vampire on this list.

The cast is another really good group of people led by two of my all time favorites...

John Malkovich-Frederich Wilhelm Murnau


Willem Dafoe-Max Schreck



6.Interview With The Vampire


Interview With The Vampire is probably one of the best Vampire movies ever made it captures everything there is about what a Vampire should and should not be(Twilight fans pay close attention here) the movie focus on Lestat(Tom Cruise) and Louis(Brad Pitt), starting off with how Louis became a vampire, and following the two men thru the course of their life as they encounter different vampires along the way, where this movie is different from other vampire movies is that Louis is telling his story to a reporter in present day.

Just like Twilight it was a huge hit with fans, despite the fact that Anne Rice writer of the novel of the same name wasn't to happy with the casting of Cruise as Lestat, but unlike The Twilight movies, this movie was nominated for  big awards including a Golden Globe Nod for best supporting actress(Kristin Dunst)

Interview With The Vampire probably has the best cast from a star power point of view with a good mix of big names and rising stars which you rarely see in vampire movies at all.


Cast

Brad Pitt-Louis



Tom Cruise-Lestat



Kristen Dunst-Claudia



Antonio Banderas- Armand


Christian Slater-Daniel Molloy



5.Nosferatu(1922)


Here is the movie that Shadow Of The Vampire is based off of, Nosferatu is an unofficial version of Dracula where names and other stuff were changed for the simple fact that the studio couldn't get rights to Bram Stokers Dracula novel, the fact that this movie is a silent film makes it creepy, but Max Schreck's performance as Count Orlok(Count Dracula) is probably one of the best performances all time. granted this guy had some issues where he believed he was a real life vampire and did some terrible things(See #7 on this List) makes this movie worth a watch.


Cast

Max Schreck-Count Orlok













4. The Lost Boys(1987)


This is generally one of the first vampire movies that's brought up when vampire movies are being talked about and rightfully so. Once again there is a family of sorts of vampires that terrorize the town of Santa Cruz in California where a single mother and her two sons have moved to and live with her dad and their grandfather, after some time being there the boys end up fighting the gang along with two brothers....

The Frog Brothers is one of the most memorable things to come from this movie and continues to be as huge now as they were back then thanks in large part since their were two sequels made that don't stand up to this movie any way form or fashion.

The Lost Boys have a few similarities with The Twilight movies the biggest thing being that of the love triangle between Jason Patric(Michael), Jami Gertz(Star) and Keifer Sutherland(David)

                                                               

And some vampires like Michael can go out in the sunlight, but they are very weak and have to wear dark shades at all time, but they don't glitter though lol.


    
The title of the movie is a play on The Lost Boys stories about Peter Pan and Neverland. The Vampires here are very 80s not saying its a good or bad thing, its just that their up to date with the times, but its never said how old exactly any of the young vampires actually are

The Vampires here don't have any problem being vicious and will kill any and everybody that gets in their way oh and they like to sleep in caves.




This movie has an all star cast of young stars at the time.

Cast

Jason Patric- Michael


Corey Haim- Sam


Keifer Sutherland- David

                                                                               

Edgar and Alan Frog aka The Frog Brothers-Corey Feldman and Jamison Newlander



Jamie Gertz- Star






3. Stake Land(2010)


Another surprisingly really good vampire movie that's come in the aftermath of the watered down ness of Vampires thanks in large part to the Twilight Saga.

Stake Land is about a Teenager named Martin who sees his family killed and about to be killed himself until he is saved by the last or one of the last of the vampire hunters who goes only by Mister which is the name the boy gives him.

they go out on the road trying to make their way across the vampire infested land to a safe haven in Canada called New Haven.

along their journey we see as Mister teach Martin how to be a vampire hunter and killer in his own right, but also along the way they run into some decent people a Nun(Kelly McGillis), Soldier(Sean Nelson), and a pregnant drifter(Danielle Harris) and also some not so decent people known as The Brotherhood who use the vampires to kinda of take over small communities that are struggling to survive.

the vampires in this movie aren't like most that you see in other vampire movies, and its never really explained how the vampire apocalypse happened fully, little bits of that backstory is said in some dialogue between characters but we aren't fully given that story which isn't such a bad thing.
                                                                   
The look of and the way the vampires act in this is also different because for the most part they don't talk and are very animal like but then one actually talks but he is one of the Brotherhood memebers that was turned in the film, so its a little confusing but doesn't hurt the movie, because the overall story, feel and action in this movie is really good.


Cast

Connor Paola-Martin


Nick Damici-Mister



Danielle Harris-Belle



Kelly McGillis-Sister



Sean Nelson(He's on the Right)-Willie




2. Fright Night(1985)



Notice this is the original not the remake, because without this movie that one doesn't get made, with that being said lets talk about Fright Night(Original)

Teenager Charley Brewster is a fan of horror especially vampires so when his new neighbor moves in with some strange behavior the first thought that comes to mind is..."Vampire" he along with his girlfriend Amy(Amanda Bearse), bestfriend (Evil Ed)Stephen Geoffreys and horror television star Peter Vincent(Roddy McDowell) set out to prove that Charley's Neighbor Jerry Dandrige(Chris Sarandon)is indeed a vampire.

The movie has a real smooth kinda feel that you rarely see in movies in general but to have it in a horror vampire movie adds to the appeal, most notably the soundtrack makes the movie really good also, some good performances by Roddy McDowell and Chris Sarandon.


                                                                                             
It was weird seeing Amanda "Marcy from Married with Children"Bearse in something other then that show, she was actually pretty good in this as well, and looked kinda cute as well.

Cast

Chris Sarandon-Jerry Dandrige




William Ragsdale-Charley Brewster


Amanda Bearse-Amy


Roddy McDowell-Peter Vincent



Stephen Geoffreys-Evil Ed



And last but not least.

1.Dracula


Since there have been so many adaptations of the Iconic character i'm not even going to choose a film because every one is pretty much a fan of atleast one of them, i know i kinda copped out by doing this but this is my list i can do as i wish(and so can you)

What i'm going to do is list some of the most well known actors who's played the Dracula character over the years....

Bela Lugosi(1931,1948)


Christopher Lee(1958,1966,1968,1969,1970,1972,1973,)


Frank Langella(1979)


Gary Oldman(1992)





Gerard Butler(2000)




I just wanted to make this list just to let vampire fans know that there are better films out there to watch over the Twilight saga and I just felt like sharing Ten or so films that i feel you can watch instead of that.

I have nothing against people who like the watered down stuff(well maybe i do a little bit) but its nothing personal:)

In Closing if you havent seen any of the above mentioned movies and you are a fan of vampire movies i recommend checking them out, i know i left off alot of other vampire movies, but i just wanted to keep it simple with Ten, so if you don't see any that you like(that's not Twilight) please feel free to leave a comment of your on Top 10 List