Movie review; Babylon A.D.

Babylon A.D. takes place in a not too distant future, where a mercenary gets a special job, which consist in delivering a package in the U.S. What is special about this is that the package is a young and mysterious girl. The story is somewhat average and the ending is kinda missing. I'm just not sure if I don't get it or if there is nothing to get.

On the positive side, there is a lot of action in this movie, along with decent special effects. It stars Vin Diesel in his usual tough guy type of character, along with Mélanie Thierry as the girl he needs to bring in the U.S. and Michelle Yeoh as her protector and mentor. So you can expect fights, chases, guns and many explosions along the way.

It definitely has a style of it's own and lots of potential. Too bad it doesn't quite reach it's full potential... It may not be a revolutionary sci-fi movie, but it's an entertaining action flick. As you probably guessed by now, there is a lot of violence, so leave the kids with the babysitter.

Movie review; The House Bunny

Once upon an evening, I was in the mood for a sexy light comedy. Oddly enough The House Bunny had just been released! It's the story of a House Bunny (a girl that lives in the Playboy Mansion) who gets kicked out and realize she doesn't know much about the "real life". Many scenes are at the real Playboy Mansion, I believe. The real Hugh Hefner is in the movie, with some of his real life "girlfriends", that part I'm pretty sure. What attracted me the most to this movie is the star, cute and funny girl Anna Faris, who was in all the Scary Movie movies, amongst other things.

It's not the funniest movie ever, or even of the summer, but it has many funny scenes. It also has a morale, I guess, but that's not the most important point of this type of movie, I would say.

Despite it's subject, it's more a PG movie then an adult one. You'll see sexy girls, but that's as far as it goes, in case you were looking for something else... So, a cute movie, with it's moments, but not much more. Not the type of movie that needs to be seen on the big screen, although I didn't regret doing so.

Movie review; Death Race

This movie is loosely inspired from the 1975 version of Death Race 2000, starring Sylvester Stallone. Instead of getting points by killing civilians with your car, this one takes place in a prison and is a very popular TV show that pits prisoners against each others. Most will die, but if you can manage to win three races, your prize is a get-out-of-prison card. The races are organized by the prison warden, who seems more interested in keeping the ratings high then seeing her star drivers winning their freedom.

The main reason I went to see this movie is it's star, Jason Statham. I always enjoy seeing him playing the tough guy type of character. Also starring is Tyrese Gibson, Joan Allen, Ian McShane and Natalie Martinez, to name a few. I was expecting action, fast cars, crashes, mayhem and an OK story. I got all of that. The story is not bad and has a few twists and surprises, although some were predictable.

Statham delivers his usual macho "don't mess with me" character, which I like seeing him doing. Let's face it, the title announces what we're in for when going to see this movie. Plenty of violence, car races and an increasing body count. I liked it! Find a baby sitter for the kids, because this is absolutely not meant for them.

Death Race was shot in Montreal, but you really can't tell by looking at it. It's not suppose to either. For action movie lovers.

Movie review; Tropic Thunder

I usually never go see war movies, unless it's Sci-Fi or a comedy. Tropic Thunder definitely falls in the later category. Very funny movie, starring Ben Stiller, Jack Black & Robert Downey Jr. Three different actors, but they work great together. Nick Nolte, Brandon T. Jackson and Jay Baruchel also have a strong presence and Tom Cruise has a fairly short role, but it's much more then a cameo. Talking of cameos, there are many short ones in this movie, so don't blink!

I laughed a lot during this movie. It's about actors that are sent in a jungle to experience more realistic conditions of war, so they can better understand their roles. Of course, they get stuck in a much more real war then they intended. It's a movie within a movie type of scenario at the begining, but 'their' movie is no longer going on, until the end of 'our' movie, but they think they are, at least most of them... Did I lose you? Many very funny situations, some of them a bit controversial in real life, but let's face it: Who would expect a politically correct story from this?

Regarding Tom Cruise, you have never seen him like this, I guarantee you that! Actually, with the heavy makeup, he's hardly recognizable. If I didn't knew he was playing that character, I just might have not noticed he was in the movie until I would have seen his name in the credits.

There is some violence, but mostly in a humourous way, of course, strong language and mature subjects. Not a family movie, you have been warned. But if you are mature (at least legally), like to laugh and haven't seen it yet, I think you will enjoy Tropic Thunder.

Movie review; Star Wars: The Clone Wars

There wasn't supposed to be anymore big screen Star Wars movies, but I guess that didn't include animation films... But don't be mistaken, this is a Star Wars films, including major characters, story continuity and look. Most voices are from different actors then from the movies, except for Samuel L. Jackson, Anthony Daniels and Christopher Lee.

If you saw the first Clone Wars cartoon from a few years ago, you will be in familiar territory. There's a unique style to the characters' look, which is quite interesting, but I found that the animation was a little rough sometimes, not as smooth as it could have been. But that wasn't enough to spoil it for me. I liked this movie, with it's story and style. It's funny, fits perfectly in the Star Wars theme and we get to discover new characters. Possibly because it's a cartoon, the tone is much lighter then the movies in this time period, despite the fact that they're in a war.

If you didn't know, there is two TV series coming based on Star Wars. One will be live action and one will be a cartoon. The Clone Wars is basically the pilot for the cartoon one, but they will probably be able to finance the series with this big screen version. I don't think Marketing ever sleep at Lucasfilm...!

I don't know why people don't seem to like this movie. Maybe they were expecting too much from a cartoon. Maybe I'm not normal. Maybe a little bit of both. I don't care. Your loss. :-P