Live Free or Die Hard (Unrated Edition) (2007) Review

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(More customer reviews)Like many other people nervously anticipating Len Wiseman's debut as DH4 director, I could only hope that he could live up to, at the least, Die Hard 2. But he has done a fantastic job with McClane, that lives up to the previous trilogy. In fact, I'd rank LFoDH just behind the first Die Hard movie. No one can top Alan Rickman! The small touches, e.g. Gennero/McClane, Agent Johnson, helicopter flying, are subtle, but add greatly to the movie.
There were a few things missing from the theatrical release, of course. Most noticeably, the lack of swearing, McClane's trademark yippee-kai-yay being truncated. The violence was all there, but it just wasn't intense enough. Fear not fans! The unrated version fixes all of that! It's fantastic, McClane is back in all of his mf-in' glory!
**Spoilers ahead, so read at your own risk.**
--------------------------------------------
I was hoping for some more dialogue from Timothy Olyphant in the unrated version, but unfortunately, he is still a bit one-dimensional. Run-times of the unrated vs. the theatrical are about the same, surprising considering that the unrated does add extra scenes.
What the unrated version includes:
Many more f-words and MF-ers.
- Extra dialogue between McClane and his captain, Clevino.
- Longer opening intro scene to Matt Long typing to the warlock,
listening to rock music.
- Extra banter when McClane and Matt first meet.
- More intro shots at the FBI command center.
- Shot of the National Transportation Center losing control of their
traffic grid.
- More shots of false anthrax alarm evacuation.
- Thomas Gabriel's hodgepodge of video of Nixon/Bush/Clinton speaking is
longer.
- Blood spurts!!! More gore, though not significantly more.
- More McClane-isms. When John is driving the police car in the tunnel
towards the helicopter, Rand shoots the engine, which lights on fire.
McClane quips, "Well the car's on fire, that can't be good."
- When Matt runs to his side after McClane destroys the helicopter,
McClane adds, "100,000 people are killed every year by cars. What's
another 4?"
- Quick shot of dead guards in power plant.
- When Mai dies in the elevator explosion, McClane screams a profanity
laced tirade at her.
- McClane flying (and landing!) helicopter scene much longer.
- The guy getting crushed in the giant blades scene doesn't have much
more blood.
- Yippee-kay-yay mf-er is said in full!

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John McClane takes on an Internet-based terrorist organization who is systematically shutting down the United States.

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Herbie - Fully Loaded (2005) Review

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(More customer reviews)One of the first movies I saw when I first came to the US was Herbie Goes To Monte Carlo, at a drive-in when we were living in Livermore, CA. Since then, there has been a connection between the family, more through my brother, with that gutsy VW Bug with a mind and heart of its own, that blazed a trail through four movies. In fact, racing excerpts from those movies are shown in the opening sequences of Herbie-Fully Loaded, which has the famed racing Bug resurrected for the current generation.
Fully Loaded finds the famed Bug ready to be turned to scrap metal at Crazy Dave's scrapyard. He is rescued by Maggie Peyton (Lindsay Lohan), whose family has racing in their blood, as her grandfather's a racing legend. Her father is as well, and is trying to groom his son Ray Jr. to succeed him, but a series of crashes at the race track as well as a dearth of sponsors, dwindling by the minute, makes that impossible. Maggie though, had her own racing days in high school, and finds her true calling other than going to New York behind the racing scenes.
She gains an enemy in macho NASCAR champion Trip Murphy, played by Matt Dillon, when the ever-sensitive Herbie takes offense to one of Murphy's insults to him and scrapes the star's car with his rearview mirror. This leads to a race where Herbie beats Murphy, to the delight and surprise of the local racing fans.
Maggie's reaction to Herbie, pop-eyes and screams, as the VW shows her what he's made of, is akin to what every kid might have if a car did its own thing. Gradually, she recognizes that Herbie has a soul, as does her school friend Kevin, who runs a garage, and takes a liking to the car. She does learn of Herbie's sensitivity, when the car, hurt at something she says during another race with Trip, deliberately loses. This is nothing new, as in The Love Bug, when Jim Douglas, agrees to give up Herbie for a Lancia, only to find an enraged and betrayed Herbie ramming the Lancia. Herbie fuels Maggie's desire to race again, but her father (Michael Keaton) isn't keen on his daughter suffering injuries or even getting killed on the track, and forbids it.
Unlike the other movies, Herbie's headlights move, lowering down when depressed, as does his front bumper. And yes, he still does squirt oil at anyone mean. The corporate sponsors and video game tie-ins (Trip's new game) make this up to date for this generation. And when Herbie sees one of the new Bugs, a bright yellow one, Maggie says, "Herbie, I think she's too young for you."
As if remembering what Herbie's main passion was, it was a good move to show this as a racing picture per The Love Bug and Herbie Goes To Monte Carlo, and as such, the racing scenes are the best part of the picture, as is a scene when Herbie takes on a monster truck driven by a nasty thug at a car crash derby, set to Van Halen's "Jump." The names of Ray Peyton and Ray Peyton Jr. have syllabic similarities to another racing family-think Al Unser and Al Unser Jr. And having Maggie at the wheel also brings into mind Shirley Muldowney.
It's also great having two 80's film stars, Michael Keaton and Matt Dillon back in prominent roles. And mark this as one of Lindsay Lohan's better films along with the Parent Trap.
I still say The Love Bug's the best movie in the Herbie series, but Fully Loaded takes Herbie back to his roots without too much radical updating, and is better than Herbie Goes Bananas, so as such, it qualifies. Those who grew up on Herbie will definitely enjoy it.

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Start your engines! Lindsay Lohan (MEAN GIRLS, FREAKY FRIDAY) does the driving when Herbie -- the fun-lovin', free-wheelin', '63 VW Beetle with a mind of its own -- returns better than ever in Disney's all-new, revved-up comedy adventure! Though a third-generation member of a NASCAR family, Maggie Peyton (Lohan) has always been forbidden from following her racing dreams by her overprotective father (Michael Keaton – FIRST DAUGHTER). But she has no idea her life is about to take a huge u-turn! After discovering the irresistible Herbie in a junkyard, they form a magical team that will save her family and rewrite the racing record books! With Breckin Meyer (ROAD TRIP), Matt Dillon (THERE'S SOMETHING ABOUT MARY), and an all-star cast along for the ride, you better believe ol’ Number 53 has some new tricks under his hood!

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Strange Wilderness (2008) Review

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(More customer reviews)***1/2
"Strange Wilderness" is a good-natured, frequently hilarious takeoff on all those nature documentaries that play on the Discovery Channel and Animal Planet, and whose pedigree stretches all the way back to the granddaddy of them all, "Mutual of Omaha`s Wild Kingdom." Peter and Fred are the producers of a wildlife series entitled "Strange Wilderness" that has been foundering in the ratings ever since Peter's father, a Steve Irwin-type naturist and the original host of the show, passed away, leaving his less-than-stellar son to carry on his legacy. The sheer scientific illiteracy of much of the commentary that Peter provides for his footage probably hasn't helped matters much in this regard. Now faced with the prospect of series cancellation, Peter and his crew of incompetent dweebs head off to the wilds of South America to file an exclusive report on the famed Bigfoot who has recently been spotted there.
Though adolescent in the extreme, "Strange Wilderness" turns out to be a zany, endearingly random and unflaggingly energetic little comedy whose likable cast is obviously dialed into what the moviemakers are trying to do here. Steve Zahn, Allen Covert, Covert, Ernest Borgnine, Jeff Garlin, Kevin Heffernan, Justin Long and Harry Hamlin seem to be having the time of their lives here and their enjoyment rubs off on us as well.
Is it dumb? Of course it is. Is it lowbrow, inane and hopelessly juvenile? You betcha'. But unlike so many other films that fall into those categories, "Strange Wilderness" has a shrewd mind for parody and a liveliness of spirit that actually make the movie funny. Credit scenarist Peter Gaulke and co-author/director Fred Wolf (who first developed this concept as sketches on "Saturday Night Live") for some excellent joke-writing and pacing and for their willingness to pull out all the stops in their effort to get the laugh. In fact, the crew's ill-fated encounter with Bigfoot is alone worth the price of admission.

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Animal enthusiast Peter Gaulke (Steve Zahn) and his sidekick Fred Wolf (Allen Covert) host an ailing wildlife TV show "Strange Wilderness," which is in a steep ratings decline. Desperate to save the show, Peter hatches a Hail Mary scheme to find the one animal that could truly turn the show around and change the nature-show landscape forever – Bigfoot.

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Jeepers Creepers (2001) Review

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(More customer reviews)Boy, do I feel slow on the uptake...I've seen this film twice now, and I just got the 'other' meaning of the license plate on the Creeper's truck. I guess if it were a snake, it would have bit me...oh well...I may not get there the quickest, but I will get there...eventually. Jeepers Creepers (2001) is a fun, interesting, stylistic film that runs out of gas about halfway through, but still had enough going for it to earn critical and commercial success, spawning a sequel, Jeepers Creepers II (2003) which broke Labor Day box office records for that year. Written and directed by the controversial Victor Salva, who also did the chilling horror film Clownhouse (1988) and Powder (1995), Jeepers Creepers brings to life (or death) a new figure in the Hollywood creature pantheon with the Creeper, a demonic looking figure that awakens every 23 years and feeds for 23 days, according to legend.
The film stars Gina Phillips as Trish and Justin Long as her brother Derry, traveling together by car a lonely and desolate country highway on their way home from college. After a scary incident with an old truck, the two witness a sinister, cloaked figure unceremoniously dumping what appears to body sized parcels wrapped in cloth and rope down a large, corrugated metal pipe next to a boarded up church. Also parked nearby is the same truck that nearly ran them off the road earlier. Once past the old church, the two begin to question what exactly they saw, but are soon joined again by the mysterious truck, more intent than ever now to ram their car, and drive them off the road. After losing the truck, the two go back to the church, despite Trish's protests, to investigate. Derry proceeds to do something stupid, and see something no human was mean to see...oh, he did confirm what they originally thought, that the figure was indeed dumping bodies down this large drain, but that's just the tip of the proverbial iceberg. What other secrets are uncovered? What is the nature of the creature? Do Trish and Derry survive long enough to get help?
I thought the makeup and such on the Creeper looked quite good and suitably malevolent. And the revelations revealed about this character came at a nice, even clip as the plot unfolded. There were a number of minor points where one could argue that the plot is weak or very thin, and I would have a hard time disagreeing, especially during the last half hour of the film. I really enjoyed the scenes that focused on something in the foreground, but provided enough leeway on the screen to see something in the background, even if it was fuzzy and out of focus, before the characters on the screen understood what was happening. Cheap scares are had here, as things pop out `and go boo!' but there is also a nice build up of real tension throughout the film, along with a smattering of comedy, usually of the sarcastic kind, to temper the horror. The weakness of the film comes from the predictability of the second half of the film. The original beginning had brought forth high hopes, but these hopes diminished slightly as the film eventually tread the path repetition as most end up doing, but at least this one did so with style and professionalism most uncommon with those in the same genre. You may recognize Justin Long from TV's Ed were he plays Warren Parker Cheswick. It's pretty much the same affable character played in this film, but a little bit older and a little more cynical. Gina Philips is quite lovely, with her flowing, brownish hair and doe eyed appearance that conflicts with her more cynical than her brother attitude. Both actors did a wonderful job, showing a mixture of inherent and hard earned talent, the kind gained through lots of work and dedication.
The picture here, available in both wide screen and full screen, looks wonderful and crisp. Special features include theatrical trailers, a photo gallery, deleted, extended, and alternate scenes, behind the scenes featurettes (six), and a commentary track with director Victor Salva. Many of these features are located on the flip side of the disc, with the film being on the other side. I guess the one thing I took away from this film more than anything else is if you see a darkened figure dumping what appears to be bodies down a sewer pipe next to an abandoned church, just keep on moving. You can make a report at the next town, for sure, but avoid actually crawling into the pipe to confirm what you already know.
Cookieman108

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You can keep your doors locked. You can keep your eyes closed. But still, he'll get what he wants and what he wants is you. Brace yourself for "90 minutes of steadily mounting horror [that] delivers more than its share of honest chills" (The Baltimore Sun). From "the scariest opening sequence of any horror picture in recent memory" (Los Angeles Times) to "one of the gutsiest endingsto a film this year" (Dallas Morning News), Jeepers Creepers is the real deal in terror!On a desolate country highway, two homeward-bound teens (Gina Philips, Living Out Loud and Justin Long, TV's "Ed") are nearly run off the road by a maniac in a beat-up truck and later spot him shoving what appears to be a body down a sewer pipe. But when they stop to investigate,they discover that the grisly reality at the bottom of that pipe is far worse than they could have ever suspected and that they are now the targets of an evil far more unspeakableand unstoppable 'than they could have ever imagined!

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Youth in Revolt (2009) Review

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(More customer reviews)Well, it's been a long wait, but Youth in Revolt is finally hitting the big screen in a wide release. And it's worth the wait. I laughed through just about the whole movie. And before I get deep into the review, I have read the book. So let's get into it.
BAD:
1. Quite short. A 90 minute romp through a 500-page novel. What?
2. CUTS! Many characters from the novel such as Apurva and Fuzzy hve been severed from the movie. Maybe Apurva was cut from them film to emphasize Nick's love for Sheeni. But Fuzzy's cut? He's the whole reason they can go to the French boarding school in Act II. What?
3. No Carlotta, really! If you have read the book you know what I mean with this.
That's it for the bad.
GOOD:
1. Hysterical! Does this really need an explanation? It's funny!
2. Animation sequences. These occur at certain points in the film to facilitate scenes. Very creative!
3. Good Acting/Cameos. The film has very good acting. Michael Cera and Portia Doubleday really steal the show. Also, they have an ensemble cast of cameos, such as Fred Willard and Steve Buscemi. Very well acted.
4. Quite faithful to the novel. Miguel Arteta did good with the novel. No new characters were introduced, only cuts.
Overall Score: 9.0 out of 10
A ten, but not really any Carlotta and no Apurva or Fuzzy. And, way too short.

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Youth in Revolt is a coming-of-age comedy that puts a fresh and outrageous stamp on a tale of adolescent obsession and rebellion. Based on the acclaimed novel by C.D. Payne, Youth in Revolt is the story of Nick Twisp - a unique, but affable teen with a taste for the finer things in life like Sinatra and Fellini - who falls hopelessly in love with the beautiful, free-spirited Sheeni Saunders (Portia Doubleday) while on a family vacation. But family, geography and jealous ex-lovers conspire to keep these two apart. With Sheeni's encouragement, Nick abandons his dull, predictable life and develops a rebellious alter ego: Francois. With his ascot, his moustache and his cigarette, Francois will stop at nothing to be with Sheeni and leads Nick Twisp on a path of destruction with unpredictable and uproarious consequences.

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After.Life (2009) Review

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(More customer reviews)The "surprise ending" of this movie was telegraphed pretty early in the film .. so that kind of killed the suspense factor.
Otherwise this could have been a much better film considering the acting talent, great photography and overall mood and tone they were able to create.
But in the end, something just doesn't come together and give this movie the spark it could have had.
One redeeming feature of the film ..... if you are a young man who likes Christine Ricci, you will get LOTS of opportunity to see more of her in this film.
She spends 75% of the movie walking, sitting and laying around nude.
Since she is cute, you can't find any fault with that !
What struck me as the most eerie in this film was how Liam Neeson made this movie so near the time of his own wife's death.
It is the same strange feeling when you see Christopher Reeve's last movie where he played a paralyzed cop and weeks later was of course really paralyzed.
Or seeing John Wayne in the Shootist playing an old gunslinger trying to die in peace from cancer when we know that in real life he was battling cancer when he made that film.

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A YOUNG WOMAN CAUGHT BETWEEN LIFE AND DEATH... AND A FUNERAL DIRECTOR WHO APPEARS TO HAVE THE GIFT OF TRANSITIONING THE DEAD, BUT MIGHT JUST BE INTENT ON BURYING HER ALIVE.

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Going the Distance (2010) Review

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(More customer reviews)It seems like it has been awhile since Justin Long actually looked interested in acting. In several recent movies (notably HE'S JUST NOT THAT IN TO YOU), he has seemed bored and a little sickly. His trademark witty attitude has been strictly by-the-book. But finally, with GOING THE DISTANCE, he seems engaged again. Perhaps it's because he's been given a true leading role, or perhaps it's working with the always perky and energetic Drew Barrymore (who actually seems subdued here).
Long's character is a bit of a womanizer. He drifts from one monogamous relationship to another, blithely clueless at what a lousy boyfriend he is (even though best friends Jason Sudeikis and Charlie Day constantly tell him EXACTLY why he is a lousy boyfriend). But one evening, literally hours after his latest breakup, he meets Barrymore over a game of Centipede, and sparks fly. They embark on a relationship, and Barrymore tells Long right from the start that she's moving back to San Francisco (from New York) in six weeks to finish her schooling. She's been interning at an NYC paper, but there are no jobs. So they agree to just enjoy themselves for the time they have together...but things get more serious, and when the time to depart comes, they cling to each other and promise to try to make their long distance relationship work.
What follows are montages of text, phoning & Skyping misadventures, sticker shock over coast-to-coast airline costs (nicely realistic) and the occasional visit. Long travels to California to visit Barrymore, who is living with her sister (uptight Christina Applegate) and brother-in-law (nicely played by Jim Gaffigan).
What I liked about the film was that you could feel the strain on the relationship. The weariness of remaining committed to a person you never see (and really don't even know all that well). The lonely drinking. The inconveniences of a 3 hour time zone difference. Barrymore and Long feel like young adults (early 30s) instead of teenagers resisting the transition to adulthood. The movie has a grown-up gloss to it. It is also R-rated, instead of the usual PG-13 reserved for a film like this...and this gives it the freedom to let the script tread some decidedly raunchy territory (although to mixed results).
But for everything fresh in the movie, something else feels tired. Sudeikis and Day (as co-worker and roommate to Long, respectively) bring little new to the stale "best friends" characters. It's always two guys who never have girlfriends of their own because they have cruder, baser ideals than our "hero." I guess these characters exist to spout outrageous sexual lines and to generally make the lead male look less awful by comparison. In GOING THE DISTANCE, we get to hear the real, ridiculous reason Sudeikis has grown a bushy mustache and we get to enjoy discovering that Day likes to leave the door wide open when he uses the restroom. Terrific.
Barrymore doesn't seem to have close friends, so she shares with her older, disapproving and protective sister. Applegate is a good actress, so the two ladies are convincing together, but the dialogue doesn't cover any new ground.
And I'm going to devote a paragraph just to chew the filmmakers out for casting Rob Riggle. I've written about this supremely unfunny "actor" before. He gets only one scene in this film, but he's as dreadful as ever. Just remember his turn as a cop in THE HANGOVER...his ability to bring that tight, raunchy, hilarious movie to a screeching halt with his tazering of Zach Galifinaikis is a testament to his dubious skills...if anyone can mismatch his tone to that of the movie around him, it's Rob Riggle.
GOING THE DISTANCE just mostly coasts along. It's not actively horrible, has some nice moments and Barrymore and Long do generate some real chemistry. Sometimes it feels fresh, and at others, terribly predictable. It's not a very "feel good" romance, because the two leads grapple with believable issues. So in the end, GOING THE DISTANCE never quite manages to go the distance...it's always 3 steps forward, 2 steps back. It was an okay time at the movies, but quite forgettable too.

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Erin (Drew Barrymore) and Garrett (Justin Long) strike sparks for a summer fling in New York City but neither expects it to last once Erin heads home to San Francisco and Garrett remains behind for his Big Apple job. But after six increasingly romantic weeks, neither is sure they want it to end. So despite the opposing coasts, naysaying friends and family and a few unexpected temptations, the couple just might have found something like love. And helped by a lot of texting and late-night phone calls, they might actually go the distance.

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