The Dark Knight (2008)

Wow! What? You have not seen it yet? What a treat! If you liked Batman Begins, then this sequel is gonna blow your freakin mind! Christian Bale did an outstanding job as he did in the last one, even though his batman voice is a bit obnoxious and hard to understand. But this film was carried by the presence of Heath Ledger as the Joker. Some may think the movie had a lot of graphic violence, but really they did a great job of leaving it up to your imagination. The severely dark overtones of this film make it quite the theatrical ride. As for the gore, when Two Face makes his appearance, he is pretty gnarly. The last superhero film hat had more than 2 bad guys in it was Spiderman 3, in which that film made me lose hope in any future spiderman films. It killed the franchise. But in this film we see Scare Crow, Joker and Two Face. They balanced the use and time of these villains so well! It was brilliant.
I really don't want to give too much away. The film was two and a half hours, and it was what a movie experience should be like! Go see it, you won't be disappointed!

Matt Worley

The Happening (2008)

Should I say it? Come on. Really? Has M. Night Shyamalan done it again? I'd say he has. Walking in with little to no expectations, well I had a few. The master of twists kept on twisting.
CREEPY, if you are freaked out by suicide and creepy old ladies. Beware! There is some intense visual elements in this film. hence the "R" rating. For his first "R" rated film he certainly went out with a bang! This film had me thinking for days about the "would if" factor of this highly improbable but slightly possible incident.
Markie Mark Wahlberg did a swell job, but he never strays far from the same kind of character. Zooey Deschanel was excellent, her and Mark played off each other very nicely and added some balance to the film. John Leguizamo's part was short lived. No pun intended, but really he did a great job.
So the plot, something is making people give up the will to live, the survival instinct. So by getting rid of this instinct people just start killing themselves. From shooting, to jumping off buildings to hanging or laying down in front of a riding lawn mower. CREEPY STUFF!!! So if you have enjoyed his films in the past you just might enjoy this one, and if you are not creeped out easily.
Shyamalan has his cameo at the beginning, you wont see his face but you hear his voice. See if you can catch it.

Matt Worley

The Incredable Hulk (2008)

Let me preface this by saying I have seen the film twice now. The first time was late one night while my wife was out of town. I headed down to the local theater and payed my money to the man. Going in with expectations high, due to the total failure of the last Hulk film and the total success of Iron Man. Needless to say I was very happy. The opening title sequence sets up the back story very well. They also touch on it through out the movie. If you were a fan AT ALL of the old TV series you will notice all kinds of references to people and things from that series. Lou Ferrigno has a cameo and of course Stan Lee.
From the beginning it was exciting, Edward Norton was a brilliant Bruce Banner, Yet again another wonderful performance. Liv Tyler was ok, all she has going for her is the pouty lip thing thanks to her father.
But back to the film. It was a ride I had to take twice, the villain was pretty wicked, his name is Abomination. Really there was nice character development and the tease at the end was something you need to see. So go check it out!

Matt Worley

Iron Man (2008)

Finally a superhero movie that does not SUCK! Ok well a few of the X-Men movies were ok, I didn't waste my time on the last Superman or Hulk movies (the new HULK is gonna ROCK!). But Batman Begins was pretty rad. and the first few Batman movies were good too, thanks to Tim Burton. But anyway I digress as I always do.
Talk about a beautiful marriage of character, story and FX. This film went full circle, showing how a cocky business man and weapons genius sees how destructive his life has been, in more then one way and designs the ultimate weapon to destroy all that he himself has created. When Stark played by Robert Downey Jr. learns that the weapons he had been designing to protect American soldiers have been sold to their enemy's and are now used to kill American solders, he takes matters into his own hands. We see stark go through all the stages of becoming the Iron Man. It is pretty rad. This film deals with current issues and is very relevant to todays issues. The FX are brilliant, and if this film is at all a view of the near future, it's gonna rock. Also if you stick around after the credits, you get a little taste of Iron Man 2.
Matt Worley

Cloverfield (2008) DVD

So I managed to get the Cloverfield DVD a day early, freakin rad! So I spent the day going through it. I found lots of bonus features all of which were produced by a guy I worked for on the Lone Gunmen DVD and Boomtown DVD. Pretty cool. So there are several documentaries, one on the making of the movie, another on the FX and some great Commentaries.
If you get motion sick and decided not to see it in the theater, go buy this DVD and watch it at home. the shaking isn't too bad when you watch it on TV at home.
Americas Monster Movie is what this film was intended to be, so far, I have yet to see any Cloverfield toys. It was inspired by J.J. Abrams trip to Japan and seeing all the Godzilla stuff in the toy stores. You wont find any more answers to the film on this DVD. It is still left pretty ambiguous. But the tick is to watch the end, very closely.
Matt Worley

Leatherheads (2008)

Last night we went out with some friends and saw Leatherheads at the local Century Theatre. Seeing as there was nothing else showing that had any redeeming quality and not rated "R".
So we took a chance on Clooney's next vehicle. Well, the premise of this film was, the birth of profitable pro-football and the tale of war legends that weren't really legends. Sorry if that spoils if for you but it is still a enjoyable movie to watch. Set as a period piece in the 1920's, needless to say I was not around in the 20's but if I was, I bet it looked a lot like this film.

George Clooney plays a 40-something "pro" football player struggling to keep his team going strong, while trying all he can to entice the public to be interested in paying to come to the games. John Krasinski is the war hero and college football player. Clooney's pro team brings the young hotshot to add interest to the game. Renée Zellweger plays the reporter out to expose anything about the squeaky clean hero.

In summery, this is a great date movie, since it is classified as a romantic comedy. The pacing is a little on the slow side, yet is it is still enjoyable. The use of stylized photos to help tell more story was excellent. Overall it was fun.
Matt Worley

Sweeney Todd (2008 DVD)

Sweeney Todd was released on DVD April 1st, No Joke. Katie and I saw this in the theaters right when it came out, and we really enjoyed it. Granted, it has pretty graphic bloody violence. Which wasn't much worse then Sleepy Hollow. The combination of Burton, Carter and Depp was spectacular, throw in some Sondheim music and WHAM you got a great film.
Being a fan of the film I had to buy the Special Edition, if you haven't been able to tell yet I'm a movie geek. First thing I decided to do was watch all the bonus stuff because that is the telling point of good pre-production. They knew this film would be good, so the production value that went into the special features was excellent! Among some of the bonus features are a press conference, the making of, The history of The Demon Barber and a whole lot more. The latter was brilliant! My recommendation is to go buy this film, whether you get the standard version or the special edition.
The film it self is 116 Min. the bonus material is well, they never tell you how much there is, but there is a lot!
Matt Worley

Run Fatboy Run (2008)

A film set in Britain with mostly British actors but co-written by an American and directed by an American - who would this film be written for? Well, not surprisingly, it would be American audiences! I went into this film excited because Simon Pegg was a co-writer and star in the film, but instead I got a bland sitcom-like film stretched over around 90 minutes.

The film features Pegg playing Dennis, a father of a boy born to his ex-fiance. Dennis runs away from her (Thandie Newton) at the altar and then spends the next five years trying to make amends. When we catch up with him five years after ditching his wedding, he now finds that his ex is dating an American businessman, Whit (Hank Azaria). The film then follows as Dennis tries to prove to his son and ex that he is not quitter and a better man than Whit. Dennis enters into the same marathon as Whit and you will have no problems guessing what comes next.

There is nothing edgy, surprising or exciting in this movie. It did get a few chuckles and perhaps one chortle from me, especially from the "best friend" Gordon (Dylan Moran) who was my favorite character of the film.

I expected something more clever but instead found it to be a predictable, soft romantic comedy. (100 minutes)
Michael Worley

Amazing Stories (1985 TV) DVD

Ok, by raise of hands how many of you remember watching Amazing Stories? This Universal production was a series of non-episodic episodes utilizing the Universal back-lot and all the actors under their wing. In this DVD set for Season 1, you'll find over 10 hours of Amazing Stories. The great thing about these shows is they have great production value, each one is like a mini film. The whole series is produced by Steven Spielberg, according to the credits most of the stories were his idea.
This set of DVD's isn't packed as full of bonus features, just some deleted scenes. The thing I like about deleted scenes is, you get to see why they were deleted! Most of the time they would have slowed the story down, or just unnecessary back story.
24 storys, and all kinds of fun, the casts of this series was awesome, to name a few, Kevin Costner, Kiefer Sutherland, Gregory Hines, Milton Berle, Dom DeLuise, Seth Green, Charlie Sheen, Mark Hamill, Tim Robbins and many, many more. Thats right, Seth Green is in the mix, he was like 10 in the episode he was in, it's pretty funny. This DVD set is a must have, it took me a while to find a copy but I managed to buy it for too much at a store, so check Half.com, Amazon has it for a bit more.
Matt Worley

Short Circuit 2 (1988) DVD

In our adventures at Fry's we also picked up a copy of Short Circuit 2 for the low low price of 5 bucks. Not bad for a classic like this. The DVD comes with a short Featurette about the lead actor in this film, No not Johnny 5 but Fisher Stevens who plays Ben Jahrvi, The funny thing about this character is who plays it, you may recognize him as George Minkowski from lost. Yup a white guy plays an Indian guy, its even funnier now that i know that! The tragic story of Johnny becoming more human and coming to understand how cruel humans can be. As Ben and his new business partner Fred Ritter played by Michael McKean, strive to grow their toy business, they call Johnny in to help with the work. Little do they know beneath their feet a tunnel into a bank vault is being dug, the premise of which is set up early in the film and is revisited through out. Basically though the movie revolves around Ben's love story, and his interest in becoming a citizen of the US.
As a sequel to Short Circuit, this film stands on it's own, with minimal call backs to the first one. It was an enjoyable ride I think anyone would like. It is rated PG, there is some language, and a brutal scene where Johnny gets the living battery fluid beaten out of him.

Matt Worley

The Black Hole (1979) DVD

The Black Hole, a Disney Classic, though they don't seem too proud of it. This was disney's first foray into the Sci-fi realm. Lets start with the DVD Case, they went with a Glossy black case, which looks and feels really slick. Bonus features include an extended trailer and a featurette about the making of they film with one of the VFX artists.
The film funs 98 minutes, just a tad long for a Broadcast showing. Looking at the cast was pretty impressive Anthony Perkins, Ernest Borgnine, Roddy McDowall, and Slim Pickens. In the first 10 minutes you will notice that they didn't pull a George Lucas on this one and try to digitally touch up the whole film, Thank Goodness! What I mean is you will see the wires from the weightless shots all the edges on the matte paintings and no CG. Anthony Perkins is just about as creepy in this as he is in Psycho. The sound track of this film is pretty cool, it was scored by John Barry who has done some other cool sound tracks. For those of you who don't recall the story line, think of it as 20,000 leagues under the sea, in space. A mad man in charge of a space ship wants to be the first to traverse a black hole, and he wont let anyone stop him. A pretty dark film, I don't want to give any spoilers. So go rent it or better yet, buy a copy.
Matt Worley

Alice in Wonderland (1985 TV) DVD

Ok, so my wife and are were on an adventure at Frys Electronics, you know the place where you better know what you are looking for and where it is before you go or you are screwed? I digress, so we were looking at DVD's in the TV section and stumbled across this rare gem, Alice in Wonderland the live action TV version. I remember when it was on TV and I watched it as a child, lets see I was 6, and I remember that show scared the crap out of me. Now I just laugh at the production value. It is told in the slowest possible form, with a running time of 187 min, I'd love to say it is loaded with bonus material, but alas, it has not a one. The cheesy effects are something to be seen. If by any chance you remember seeing this as a kid or young adult or as an old person, chances are it wont be on TV again. But really, it has a killer cast from the mid 80's and it is a classic worth owning. So check it our or rent it on NetFlix.
Matt Worley

Semi-Pro (2008)

So the other day, I was working a gig at the Disneyland Hotel. We got all our gear set up early and had a few hours to kill. So we went to the AMC theater there and look for a film that fit out time frame. The only one was Semi-Pro staring Will Ferrell and Woody Harrelson. Going in with the lowest of expectations, I found this film had it's moments. As for story line, well think The Bad News Bears meets White Men Can't Jump. Yet another Harrelson film. The film has no nudity (bet you would have thought other wise), a minor fully clothed sex scene and more gratuitous language then a sailor drunk on shore leave. Sorry I don't have any evidence to prove how much language a sailor really uses to prove my point.
Will's character Jackie Moon is the owner of a semi-pro team, in a series of franchises that are about to be purchased by the NBA. As the story goes, they want to be one of the teams that is absorbed, but of coarse they are not. So they fight for 4th place, a nodal cause for any under achiever. This is one of those films you should wait to see on broadcast TV fully edited. Really. Save your $10 and go buy some used DVD's at Blockbuster! Not that I am supporting Blockbuster, but really get a NetFlix account.
Matt Worley