Kung Fury (2015)

This 2015 action, comedy short from writer, director and actor David Sandberg has become fastly become a internet hit as well a hit on the El Rey Network.

Kung Fury is set in 1985 and it looks every bit of that era, where we are introduced Kung Fury(Sandberg) who is a martial artist cop who is hell bent on finding the man responsible for killing his partner Dragon(Steven Chew), shortly after he is struck by lighting and bitten by a cobra and becomes “the chosen one”Kung Fury discovers that the man responsible is the most dangerous criminal in history Adolph Hitler(Jorma Taccone) aka Kung Fuhrer Hitler.

At the police station Kung Fury tries to talk his Chief(Per-Henrik Arvidius) who tries to force Kung Fury to team up with half man, half triceratops Triceracop(Erik Hornqvist) instead Kung Fury decides to quit the force.

As Kung Fury is about to leave the station, the Chief gets a call from Hitler who has come to current day and shoots the Chief and many other cops through the phone, Kung Fury enlist the help of the smartest hacker alive Hackerman(Leopold Nilsson) help him go back in time and take out Hitler once and for all.

Kung Fury is one of these rare gems that’s come along in recent memory that spoofs and pays homages to a previous era, similar to what Black dynamite did for Blaxploitation films, Kung Fury does for 80s action film here.

With an insanely over the top plot and action scenes, the latter of which takes up the majority of 30 minute run time, which makes it feels like you are watching a late 80s.early 90s action video game.

The characters are very over the top but all work for this type of film, Sandberg does a very good job of creating something at first glance could just be a huge letdown in many others hands and even with a modest budget he creates a world that is very interesting, I was even surprised at how good alot of the special effects looks.

Granted most who watch this film will not get why many are giving it praise but if you are a fan of over the top acting, action, and a time travelling Kung Fu Cop then Kung Fury is the film for you…also David Hasselhoff makes a nice little cameo which pays tribute to the fact that he was once a huge star in America and is still a big name in Germany.

If you have 30 minutes to kill I say sit back  and check out the awesomeness known as Kung Fury.

MY RATING 9/10

CAST

David Sandberg-Kung Fury

Jorma Taccone-Adolf Hitler

Steven Chew-Dragon

Leopold Nilsson-Hackerman

Andres Cahling-Thor

Per-HenrikArvidius-Chief

Erik Hornqvist-Triceracop

Eleni Young-Barbarianna

Helene Ahlson=Katana

David Hasselhoff-Hoff 9000

Dead Before Dawn (2012)

PLOT

A bunch of college kids accidentally unleash an evil curse that causes people to kill themselves and turn into zombie demons aka Zemons

What do you do when a group of college kids accidentally unleash an truly evil curse that makes people kill themselves and turn them into demon zombies or zemons for short.

Dead Before Dawn takes a very interesting approach to the zombie genre as it brings something fairly new and fresh with the whole demon zombie curse, at first seemed silly but as the film went on it made more sense and actually worked.

I thought it was funny how when the group brought the curse forward they made a mockery of these types of curses in films because the zemon killed you by giving you hickeys and one way to stop them was to french kiss them.

The cast are relatively unknowns with the exceptions of Christoper Lloyd, Mullen used him again in her action thriller 88, here Lloyd is very much playing a version of Doc Brown from Back to The Future and even makes a few references to that film which is fine but he doesn’t get alot of screen time, but looks good as a zemon.

Martha MacIsaac who is best known for her role in Superbad here is very good and likeable, It’s kind of hard not to like her she just has that girl next door likability It factor.

Devon Bostick as the lead I had a few issues with through out the film, seemed to take awhile to get behind his character even though he’s the one as a viewer should be supporting from the word go, but overall he does a good job especially near the end of the film.

The supporting actors all play their roles perfectly and get what the film is all about, most notables being Brandon Jay McLaren who brings the funny one more then a few points and steals the show a few times, April Mullen and Tim Doiron are very good as well, doesn’t hurt that Mullen also directs and Doiron wrote the screenplay.

The team of Mullen and Doiron work very good together and after seeing 88 and now Dead Before Dawn to very different films but both with both films they show that they are good at what they are doing and have fun with it, hopefully bigger things are to come with future projects.

All in all I was very entertained with Dead Before Dawn which reminded me of a few classic horror comedies like The Return of the Living Dead, Evil Dead and Shaun of The Dead to name a few, if you are someone who likes over the top horror comedies then this is a most watch for you.

MY RATING 6/10

Cast

Devon Bostick-Casper Galloway

Martha MacIsaac-Charlotte Baker

Christoper Lloyd-Horus Galloway

Brandon Jay McLaren- Dazzle Darlington

Brittany Allen- Lucy Winthrop

Kyle Schmid-Patrick Bishop

Tim Doiron- Seth Munday

April Mullen-Becky Fords

Kevin McDonald- Professor Duffy

Ellen Dubin- Beverly Galloway  

A Stoner's Noir: Inherent Vice

"What's Up Doc"

PLOT

In 1970, drug fueled Los Angeles detective Larry "Doc" Sportello investigates the disappearance of a former girlfriend


MY THOUGHTS

Inherent Vice is the newest feature film from Paul Thomas Anderson (The Master, There Will Be Blood) that is based on Thomas Pynchon’s 2009 novel of the same name.

The film takes place in a fictional beach town in 1970 California, this very complex, layer, noir follows Larry “Doc” Sportello (Joaquin Phoenix) who is a private detective, who on one night gets a visit from his ex lover Shasta Fay Hepworth (Katherine Waterston) she explains to him about where she has been and mostly who she has been with, a wealthy real estate developer Mickey Wolfmann (Eric Roberts). she goes into detail about Mickey’s wife and her boyfriend are plotting to get him committed to an insane asylum and asked for her help, but she wants no part of it and wants Doc to stop it from happening.

Now I went into Inherent Vice blindly with no knowledge of the book or Thomas Pynchon and his works, I kind of wish I didn’t do that because even though the film is very well directed, has a star studded cast, a cool soundtrack there seems to be something or a few things lost about this movie.

Inherent Vice at first glance seems to be a redo of The Big Lebowski and I can see where most people could think that to be the case but where that film is fun and has somewhat of a straight forward narration, Inherent Vice seems to gets itself lose in translation of weather it wants to be a quirky comedy or a dramatic film noir which is where my issues with the film come into play.

There are some good performances here most notable being Joaquin Phoenix as Doc who has to be the most clueless private detective of all time except for one scene near the end which shows what he could be like if he wasn’t high 95% of the time.

Owen Wilson is a surprisingly good as Coy Harlingen a sax player who finds himself caught up in everything that’s going on, the scenes between him and Phoenix are some of the best to me atleast, there is a running theme through out about his character that I thought was interesting and the Last Supper shot really drives it him too.

Katherine Waterston as Shasta Fey the femme fatale seemed to be in an another film altogether with her performance which is not a bad thing, I myself not really knowing who she is and having to look her up on IMDB realized I’d seen her in a few other movies but this was the first movie she finally stood out in for me.

Josh Brolin as tough cop “Bigfoot” Bjornsen has a way of playing the a straight lace character and be really funny all at the same time, the back and forth between him and Phoenix characters are funny and strange all at the same time.

The rest of the star studded cast does good jobs in their roles even if alot of them aren’t fully introduced but I was surprised to see Martin Short show up in a strange but oddly funny sequence of the film and it showed him in a whole new light.

I would’ve liked to have seen more from Eric Roberts, Michael K. Williams, Reese Witherspoon, Benerico Del Toro, Maya Rudolph and Michelle Sinclair(she is better known by her other name look her up) all of their characters and performances seemed to garner more screen time then they actually got makes me wonder how much was left out of the movie because their roles are basically glorified cameos.

The movie like I said before is very complex which hurts it for anyone who didn’t read the book first and the run time drags things down as well, there are more then a lot of scenes that go on far to long which may or may not take you out the film a few of them did take me out the film I must admit.

Paul Thomas Anderson who has made lengthy movies in the past, actually think all of his movies are over two hours long. here he seems to make his first misstep with letting scenes go on far two long and letting stuff happen on camera that never really goes anywhere.

This is the first time in a long time that I watched a movie that I was thrilled about seeing but kind of wish I hadn’t seen atleast not on the big screen, I’m not really sure if I dislike the movie or if it just hasn’t clicked with me yet after a first viewing just like There Will Be Blood and The Master did with me, so maybe on a second viewing knowing what exactly I’ll be getting maybe my view point will change but until then I’m on the fence about it.

It does has potential to reach cult status in the future because there are some good things in the film but right now the negatives for me outweight the good things right now, maybe when released on Blu Ray/DVD there is a extended version that gives it more cohesion.

MY RATING 6/10


CAST
Joaquin Phoenix- Larry "Doc" Sportello
Josh Brolin- "Bigfoot" Bjornsen
Katherine Waterston- Shasta Fay Hepworth
Owen Wilson- Coy Harlingen
Reese Witherspoon- D.A. Penny Kimball
Benicio Del Toro- Sauncho Smilax. Esq
Michael K. Williams- Tariq Khalil
Joanna Newsom- Sortilege
Martin Short- Dr. Rudy Blaynoyd
Michelle Sinclair-Clancy Charlock
Maya Rudolph-Petunia Leeway

Top Five(2014)

"Finally famous...now what"




PLOT
A comedian tries to make it as a serious actor when his reality TV star fiancee talks him into broadcasting their wedding on her TV show.


MY REVIEW

Chris Rock takes on the big screen this time not only as Actor, but also as Writer and Director of this sleeper comedy, Rock stars as comedian Andre Allen a former standup comedian turned film star who wants to be taken more seriously(sounds familar) Allen spends the day reflecting on his life, career, new movie, wedding, catching up with family and friends.

I must admit I’m not the biggest Chris Rock fan, do I like some of his stuff yes, do i like everything that he’s done no, but I do love Top Five. Rock pulls off something with this film that not to many comedians are able to do anymore which is tell a funny store as well as put a social twist on it(Richard Pryor is somewhere smiling down on this).

This movie isn’t your typical comedy Rock does a fine job as writer/director by telling a multi layered story about Andre Allen(Rock) who spends the day in New York City reflecting on his life and career by visiting old friends and family, doing press for his new film Uprise, getting ready for his up coming wedding to reality star Fiance Erica (Gabrielle Union) all the while being shadowed by Chelsea(Rosario Dawson) who is a reporter for the New York Times.

Top Five makes the audience feel as if they are along for this day in the life of Andre Allen where we learn about personal details about him and makes you think about what exactly the cost of fame can not only do you some one but how it effect the people around him and how he deals with weather or not if he’s consider himself funny is something I’m sure all comedians (Rock included) feels at some point.

The core of the movie is the dynamic between Rock and Dawson who ground the movie from their banter to them relating and helping each other with a few dilemmas that the two find themselves in at different points in the movie, which is probably my favorite thing about the movie and Rosario shows her range and why she is a very good actress who I believe should be doing more high profile type of films.

Gabrielle Union even though she gets a high bill isn’t in the film that much but what she does with this reality star character really speaks about the whole reality star era of Television and how everything that you think is reality isn’t that at all.

I was impressed with JB Smoove as Allen’s bodyguard and really good friend Silk, Smoove who is normally over the top and very animated in other films and TV shows here is more laid back and shows what it means to truly be someone friend.

The cameos from some of Chris Rock friends are nice, funny and aren’t distracting in any way and a few of them have some standout moments in the film. I won’t spoil them for anyone who hasn’t seen the film yet but seeing one person in a strip club and making it rain with a stripper is one of my favorites.

Top Five is something that should be seen and enjoyed by fans not only of the actors but to film lovers(Like myself) who enjoy films like this that has a good message in it and makes you pay attention more to things also it makes you think about who your Top Five is.

My Top Five

Rappers

1. Rakim
2. Tupac
3. DMX
4. Public Enemy
5. T.I.

MY RATING 7.5/10

CAST

Chris Rock-Andre Allen

Rosario Dawson- Chelsea Brown

JB Smoove-Silk

Gabrielle Union-Erica Long

Cedric The Entertainer- Jazzy Dee

Tracy Morgan- Fred

Kevin Hart-Charles

Romany Malco- Benny Barnes

Don Jon (2013)

Don Jon





"There Is More To Life...Right?




REVIEW

Don Jon is the directional debut of Joseph Gordon-Levitt, who also stars as the title role of Don Jon, a young twenty something's guy who likes to hang out with his friends played by Rob Brown and Jeremy Luke, who like to go out to clubs and pick up random girls and boost about it(something all guys and even some women like to do).

One night Jon and his friends are out, doing their typical thing when Jon sees what Jon describes as the most beautiful thing he has ever seen at the bar which is the very beautiful Scarlett Johansson who literally just might be or very close to being the most beautiful thing ever created(ok gotta stay focused here) Jon puts the moves on her, same moves he puts on every girl, but this girl is different from all the others, where she doesn't fall for his game and leaves him hanging.

Deciding to look for this girl Jon ask around and finally gets her name, and does something which used to be very hard now very easy by going on Facebook and looks her up and sends her a friend request and message(There is a message in this whole scene that people should pay attention too).

Jon meets Barbara(Johansson) for lunch where she question him about how he found her and ask him to do one thing which is never lie to her, the two hit it off, but this girl is very different from the girls Jon Is used to and Jon is different from a lot of guys that Barbara knows and has something of a secret of his own. his secret is that he is addicted to porn.

Which kind of explains Jon's point of view on relationships and his attitude towards women and even sex itself. his secret is revealed to Barbara in a typical and embarrassing way that many men when they are young are usually caught watching porn by a parent, but Barbara walks in on him which of course like any woman would do is freak out on him.

Jon being the smooth operator that he is, is able to calm the situation down and regains Barbara's trust (If you got her for a girlfriend why would you need porn?) after some time and Jon and Barbara seems to be getting serious especially when they meet each others family, we only see Barbara meeting Jon's family where Jon.sr.(Tony Danza) shows where Jon gets his ways from and can't keep his hands and eyes off of Barbara(Did I mention how sexy Scarlett Johansson is in this movie).

Jon seems to be turning in his player card and settling down with Barbara and begins to turn his life around when he starts taking a college class where he meets an older woman Ester(Julianne Moore) who is a little weird, well a lot weird but there are reasons for that and after an awkward meeting of the two become friends.


MY THOUGHTS

When I first heard about Don Jon and saw the trailers for it, it seemed like it would be just another guy who is player meets the right girl fall in love type of film which on the surface it is, but the deeper side of the movie is the fact that Jon is addicted to porn and the scenes of Jon explaining in narration why he loves porn so much more so then an actual woman lets the viewer into the mind of some one who is very tunneled vision.

Gordon-Levitt does a fine job as director by showing weather by accident or on purpose how much what people perceive on TV and Entertainment to be considered reality when real life doesn't operate the same way, and the fact that the movie shows Jon going to church with his family every sunday and confessing his sins shows that Jon knows what he is doing is wrong but yet continues to do the things he does are behavior traits of an addict.

Scarlett Johansson's turn as Barbara as sexy and beauty as she is and in one scene gets Jon off without sex shows just how hot she really is (How many women can actually do that in real life, I haven't met one...yet) she herself has a few secrets that are only shown on the surface, I would've liked to have seen some of her secrets exposed because just the few glimpses of her other side is scary.

Julianne Moore as Ester brings for some emotional and even heartfelt moments and its not to bad seeing Moore in another movie that some what revolves around porn (anyone who's seen Boogie Nights know why I say that) but I think her character was very much needed and shows the other side of what the Barbara character represents

Tony Danza brings some comedic flavor to the family scenes with Jon, and it was good to see him playing a character that wasn't named Tony(I'm sure it was tough for him to deal with )

all in all Don Jon isn't a perfect movie, but it is a good turn in terms of Joseph Gordon-Levitt's directing debut to deal with a subject as porn addiction which doesn't get talked about enough, but it was some what refreshing to have a movie deal with a different type of addiction then the usual ones.

I enjoyed the movie for what it was and there is a lot, a lot, a lot of porno scenes featured in the movie but they serve a purpose and are done in good taster like Hugh Hefner would say LOL



MY RATING 7/10


CAST
Joseph Gordon-Levitt-Jon
Scarlett Johansson-Barbara
Julianne Moore- Ester
Rob Brown- Bobby
Tony Danza- Jon. Sr
Glenne Headley- Angela
Brie Larson- Monica
Jeremy Luke- Danny
Paul Ben-Victor-Priest

10 Years(2011)

"Who Got Fat? Who Didn't Change? Who Got Rich, Who Got Hot?"


PLOT

A Group of friends get together the night before their high school reunion and realize how much they really haven't changed since high school.



My Thoughts

When I first heard about this movie I didn't really know to much about it, because even though it has a some what all star cast that includes Channing Tatum, Rosario Dawson, Justin Long being probably the most known of the cast, it was a small independent release, that should've had a much bigger release and seen on a bigger scale then what it was.

10 years follow and intertwine between a group of friends who come back home for their 10 year high school reunion the characters couldn've easily been stereotypical with the geeks, popular kids, jocks but this movie shows how it mostly is now atleast for how my high school years were where the geeks(Justin Long and Max Minghella) would normally be outcast they are just as popular as Channing Tatum, Rosario Dawson, Lynn Collins characters are, which is a good touch that adds to the movie.

the movie weaves in and out of a couple of the stories mainly focusing on Jake(Tatum) who is really nervous about going back with his girlfriend Jess(real life wife Jenna Dewan-Tatum) who he met after he moved away , and he has good reason for this because his high school girlfriend Mary (Rosario Dawson) shows up with her husband Paul (Ron Livingston) there is some weird tension between the two but its not what you might think and ties up very nicely in the end.

Marty(Justin Long) and AJ(Max Minghella) are the two that have stayed close friends since high school even though they have become businessman and don't see each other very often, but they see the popular girl Anna(Lynn Collins) and they spend the whole movie trying to one up each other trying to get her affection even though AJ is married, their back and forth through out the movie is very good and makes for some good humor most notably when they go to a local grocery store and by a bunch of toilet paper so they can TP a house.

Reeves(Oscar Isaac) is the musician who has hit it big and a bunch of women are coming up to him and wanting to talk to him and get pictures with him even though he seems a bit embarrassed by his fame and also nervous because he has a little secret that revolves around his hit single that everyone really likes and he seems the most of the movie with loner Elisa(Kate Mara) who doesn't really know why she came back when she did her best to avoid the crowds in high school.

Cully(Chris Pratt) and Sam(Ari Graynor) are the only ones who stayed and never moved away because they got married and had a bunch of kids, Cully who had a drinking problem and was a jerk in high school mostly to the nerds probably are the saddest part of the movie because Cully turns back into the jerk from high school but also is the reason for a few of the biggest laughs in the movie.

Garrity(Brian Geraghty) is the one white kid that used to hang with the black kids and used to act black ( if you went to a well diversed school then you knew someone like this, I actually knew a few Garrity's) but after high school he got away from all of that and his girlfriend Olivia (Aubrey Plaza) only finds out about this side of him thanks because of Andre (Anthony Mackie) and Scott (Scott Porter) who he really hung out with and even though its not said in the movie they probably had a rap group too.

10 years doesn't try to be more then what it is, its a tale of friends coming together none of them are fully functioning people because they all have their problems even though some hide it better then other, but you feel for them, you will laugh, you might cry, you might even be a little embarrassed by some of what you might seen and you might even see some of yourself in a few character( I do) and you might even know some of the characters in real life from your own friends.

I must say a few standout performances go too Channing Tatum who drops the pretty boy routine for once( I am a fan of some of his movies) but this movie shows that he really can act especially in the scenes he shares with Rosario Dawson, not so much with his wife Jenna Dewan but she really isn't the greatest actress in the world but at the same time she's not asked to do to much here either.

Oscar Isaac gives probably the best performance of all as Reeves his character is the one that's probably the most stable even though he's a musician and he brings out the little nauseous that I really related too and see a lot of myself in that character, except I'm not a big star or anything.

Lynn Collins makes a character that's normally in any other movie like this a huge Bitch, but Collins brings out the good and soft side and makes Anna very relateable because when you find out something about her you see the character for who she truly is and not what she portrays herself to be.

All in All if you like little heartfelt movies like this with a cool ensemble cast that will make you laugh, even a little emotional at times, even enjoy some karaoke singing to Digital Underground's "Same Song", then I highly recommend seeing this movie, I'm sure you won't be disappointed.


CAST
Channing Tatum- Jake
Jenna Dewan-Tatum- Jess
Justin Long-Marty
Max Minghella-AJ
Oscar Isaac-Reeves
Chris Pratt-Cully
Ari Graynor-Sam
Scott Porter-Scott
Brian Geraghty-Garrity
Aubrey Plaza-Olivia
Rosario Dawson-Mary
Anthony Mackie-Andre
Kate Mara-Elise
Ron Livingston-Paul
Aaron Yoo-Peter
Lynn Collins-Anna


MY Rating- 8/10