Dark Knight Trailer #3 Released

Matt

The Dark Knight Rises, coming July 20, is the final and much anticipated conclusion to Christopher Nolan’s brilliant vision of Batman. The latest trailer looks very promising, leaving much to be the imagination while whetting our appetites for what promises to be an incredible closing chapter in the Nolan series. Enjoy.

 

The Dark Knight Rises Trailer Released

Matt

The promise of “The Dark Knight Rises” is unlimited. I felt like that before “The Dark Knight,” which is hands down one of the best comic book films ever made.

I had concerns about the number of characters and villains in “The Dark Knight.” There was Two Face and Joker, and it’s difficult to pull off two villains in the same film because they can often not be developed into anything more than a cookie cutter bad guy. But that was not the case, at all. Christopher Nolan understands storytelling and has handled the Batman franchise with great care and respect for his audience.

I have no qualms saying that “The Dark Knight Rises” will be just as good as its prequels. The Bane charater, played by Tom Hardy, looks nothing short of menacing and terrible. The above photo is enough to give you the creeps. We also get a small glimpse of Catwoman, thought it’s hard to see much. Even though this trailer is a mere wetting of our appetites, “The Dark Knight Rises” already looks amazing. It’s going to be a long year of waiting.

Thanks for our sister blog TV-Tastic for the trailer!

The Expendables

Barney (Sylvester Stallone) leads a ragtag band of hired guns charged with overthrowing a South American despot, a job no official military unit is willing to touch. But once on the ground, the team learns there’s more to the mission than they were told. Their next move determines whether they survive — or are, indeed, expendable. Jason Statham, Mickey Rourke, Dolph Lundgren and Jet Li round out a stellar cast.

Matt
Rating: 3 out of 10

I wrote this movie in the first grade.

It was called “The Best Team.” My epic tale was about a group made up of myself, my brother, cousin, and a couple friends who were part of a secret group of commandos for hire. Each of us had a specialty — I carried a samurai sword, my brother had a big machine gun, my cousin could do all these crazy flips and stuff, and my other friends were experts with uzis and martial arts. We had to go save a princess who was being held in a castle by an evil bad guy named Mr. Time.

In “The Expendables,” you have a group of for-hire commandos, each with their own special skills who are after a girl held up in a castle. This movie couldn’t be more predictable, trite, boring, and less creative. There are some decent special effects and the absurd action sequences you’d expect. I actually had a little hope for this, since it was written and directed by Sylvester Stalone, who also co-starred as the leader of The Expendables. Stalone is a good writer when he cares about a project, like “Rocky” or “Balboa.”

There was some potential. It could have been a nostalgic look back at some of the action stars of the 80s. But this one flopped big time.

Best of the Best 2

In an underground fight club, black-belt Travis Brickley (Chris Penn) is killed after losing to the evil martial arts master Brakus (Ralf Moeller). Travis’ death is witnessed by Walter Grady, the son of his best friend Alex Grady (Eric Roberts). Alex and his partner, Tommy Lee (Phillip Rhee), vow to avenge their friend’s death by defeating Brakus and shutting down the fight club.

Brian
Rating: 2 out of 10

Why am I reviewing a 20-year-old movie that is the sequel to a film with a tiny cult following?  Well, like many of you, I have Netflix instant streaming and in the middle of the night I’ll pick the most intellectually devoid film I can find when I don’t want my brain teased by a smart script.  There may be no better actor to look to for a cheesy fun film than Eric Roberts.

The first “Best of the Best” was famous for having the most grown men cry in a Karate movie.  If you don’t believe me, just rent it.  It’s fucking hilarious!  These guys cry at the drop of a hat and sometimes over nothing.  There’s one scene where Eric Roberts is getting booted from the United States karate team and gives his coach the “it’s all I know” speech.  It’s pure classic cheese and I suppose sitting and watching it reminds me of when my brother and I were young, sitting around our living room with a bowl of popcorn and a cheesy action movie like “Blood Sport.”

“Best of the Best 2” picks up a couple of years after the first film.  Tommy, Alex and Travis have opened their own karate studio and life is just swell.  That is, until Travis decides to get in an underground, no-rules tournament called the Coliseum that is owned by Brakus, the ultimate baddie.  If you enter the tournament and beat Brakus you win the whole operation which Wayne Newton, the host (I couldn’t make this up) claims makes $20 million a year.  Of course, Travis has to go “Rocky IV” and get killed in the ring.  What follows are some of the dumbest scenes in film history and have absolutely no logic at all.  Here are a few of the plot points that make no sense:

1. After Travis is killed, do Alex and Tommy call the police?  No, they go to the club and Kung-Fu their way in to find out nothing.

2. Alex and Tommy are hunted by Brakus’ hit-men (Who also run his stage show.  Yes, they’re assassins and roadies) when they decide to escape to an Indian reservation instead of calling the police.  Again, dumb.

3. At the reservation, Tommy’s drunk brother admits he fought Brakus and lost.  He’s the only man to survive an encounter with him and he wants to train Tommy and Alex.  Why in the fuck would you want to be trained by the guy who got his ass kicked by the very man you seek revenge against?

4. Brakus’ main motivation for fighting Tommy is that he kicked him into a mirror and cut his face.  This caused him to get stitches and a big scar.  So, basically, he wants to get Tommy in the ring for fucking up up his face by giving him another opportunity to mess it up some more.  Wow, brilliant writing.

I suggest this flick for a good laugh and not much else.  As a film, it’s the worst of the worst…..part 2.

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