Click Here To Play Armored 2009 Free

Vacancy director Nimród Antal helms the crime thriller Armored, starring Matt Dillon as an armored truck guard who gets wrapped up in a heist scheme hatched by his friends. Stomp the Yard’s Columbus Short co-stars in the James V. Simpson-scripted film, produced by Screen Gems Entertainment.

Probably one of the first dramatic movies I really remember having an impact on me.   Years later when I grew wise to the world a bit, I realized it was a Francis Ford Coppola it all made sense and I could see his fingerprints all over it.    It was filled with some of the would-be biggest stars in Hollywood, but did not even have a hint of typical teen movie bullshit.  Check some of these stills:

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VERDICT:
8/10 Canine Overdoses

Not my favorite Farrelly Brothers comedy, but still freakin’ hilarious. Probably my third favorite.

There’s Something About Mary is about a guy named Ted who hires a seedy private investigator to track down the whereabouts of his old High School flame, Mary, years after he blew the one chance he had with her by getting his franks and beans caught in his fly. So the private investigator finds Mary, ends up falling for her, and lies to Ted that she’s quadriplegic, morbidly obese, and wheelchair-bound so that he can have her to himself. But Ted doesn’t care, so he tracks her down himself, falls for he all over again, and before you know it, everyone’s trying to get with Mary.

So this was a pretty big movie for the Farrelly Brothers. This was the one that finally launched them into Hollywood’s stratosphere as the heavyweight kings of crude after the great Dumb and Dumber and Kingpin somehow failed to garner them that coveted title. But as much as I love Dumb and Dumber and Kingpin, it’s no mystery why Mary had everybody talking – I give you…Magda.

But aside from Magda and her banana split, this movie is just damn funny, and it’s funny on a couple different levels, too. It’s not high-brow stuff by any means, but you don’t need to be high-brow to be funny. The one thing this movie nails that a lot of comedies totally screw the pooch on is that it continually pushes the envelope without managing to gross its audience out to the point where it stops being “edgy humor” and nose-dives into “I think I just barfed in my mouth.”  Granted, there are quite a few of these moments to be found, but for all its shock value, there’s a really well-written script backing it up.

There are a lot of awesome scenes here, but the thing I like the most about Mary is its characters. You actually kind of care about Ted and Mary getting together and even though practically every person in this movie is a stalker, there’s something about them that’s kind of endearing.

I’m still back-and-forth about whether Ben Stiller is funny (there’s Zoolander, but there’s also everything else where he plays the exact same character he always does) but he’s good here as Ted; well, most of the credit here probably goes to the Farrelly brothers and all the stuff they put him through. The Ted-vs.-Magda’s-dog-on-speed scene is a classic.

But the real scene-stealer for me here is Matt Dillon as the Ted’s private eye, Healy. God, just look at those teeth! He’s painfully desperate (the Healy-trying-to-revive-Magda’s-dog scene), he’s wildly inappropriate (“Those goofy bastards are about the only thing I’ve got going”), he’s got all of the best lines, and he really seems like he’s enjoying everything about being in this movie. Dillon wasn’t much of a comedian before this role, but nonetheless, a great casting choice on the Farrellys’ behalf. The guy’s a good actor to begin with, but there’s not a chance in hell that in he’ll ever stop being Healy to me after this one.

And not counting Being John Malkovich, Mary might just be the role of Cameron Diaz’s career. Kind of a double-edged sword on that one.

Some great side-characters here from Chris Elliott and Lee Evans, too. Good god, Lee Evans was awesome in this as Tucker. That shit where he dropped the keys…too good.

Maybe it’s me, but I feel like a lot of people walk away from Mary remembering this instead of the writing behind the “hair gel”. Shock value only works for so long and the Farrelly brothers seem to know that. That “Seven-Minute Abs” dialogue between Ted and the hitcher might be my favorite part of the movie and all that has is two guys in a car…and one in a bodybag.

Man, I hope I’m not making this review heavier than it needs to be, because this isn’t really comedy you need to think all that hard to get. Yeah, it’s cringe-worthy, but it’s also filled with great comic writing and has a nice smidge of heart that was missing from the first two Farrelly efforts. It’s great to come across movies that are still funny on repeat viewings even after the shock has worn off. Such a special, special moment.

And you gotta love that cameo by “Brett”.

The escapist, Reservoir Dogs inspired, action piece “Armored” was released world wide today.  So far, only 6 critics featured on Rotten Tomatoes’ website have reviewed the movie.  Out of those 6, 5 of which praised it for being “unpretentious”, fast-moving, and “a reasonably clean machine of escapist entertainment”.  Now, I will be honest.  After viewing the trailer myself, I didn’t have much excitement built up for the film.  I imagined it being a mindless action movie with some well-talented actors thrown in.  But, after reading some of the reviews, I just might consider.   I think it’s a little too early, to say the least, if most critics would enjoy it or not.  But, I’m the kinda guy that believes you have to see things for yourself.  So, we will see how it turns out.  If any of you guys happen to see “Armored”, let us know what you thought of it.  Everyone’s opinions matters!

@dcpickett

It’s a cold world without brotherly love.

BROTHERS

(Lionsgate) Jake Gyllenhaal, Tobey Maguire, Natalie Portman, Bailee Madison, Taylor Geare, Sam Shepard, Patrick Flanigan, Mare Winningham. Directed by Jim Sheridan

Two brothers as different as night and day; one a decorated Marine in Iraq on his fourth tour of duty, the other a drifter and ex-con who has gotten by mostly on wit and charm. When the Marine’s helicopter goes down and the Marine is presumed killed in action, his brother feels a responsibility to care for the wife and kids of the Marine. When it turns out he’s not quite dead yet and he returns to find his brother having assumed his role, can the shifting dynamics in their relationship mend the years of distrust and tension or will they destroy each other in a battle of wills?

See the trailer here.

For more on the movie this is the website.

Rating: R (for language and some disturbing violent content)

Armored

(Screen Gems) Matt Dillon, Laurence Fishburne, Jean Reno, Milo Ventimiglia. A group of dedicated officers at an armored transport security firm plan the ultimate heist…against their own firm. Everything goes like clockwork until an unforeseen circumstance causes everything to unravel. Now the cohesion between the crew comes apart and trust becomes a hard thing to come by. Who will come out of this heist alive?

See the trailer here.

For more on the movie this is the website.

Rating: PG-13 (for sequences of intense violence, some disturbing images and brief strong language)

Everybody’s Fine

(Miramax) Robert De Niro, Drew Barrymore, Sam Rockwell, Kate Beckinsale. This remake of an Italian comedy features De Niro as a widower whose grown children decline an invitation to gather for Christmas. Unwilling to accept being alone, he decides to visit each of his children at home and is surprised to discover that their lives are far from perfect.

See the trailer here.

For more on the movie this is the website.

Rating: PG-13 (for thematic elements and brief strong language)

Transylmania

(Full Circle) Patrick Cavanaugh, James DeBello, Jennifer Lyons, Tony Denman. A motley group of college students on an overseas study program find themselves at Razan University deep in the heart of Transylvania. Apparently these guys never saw any of the Dracula movies because it turns out this institution for higher learning is in reality a buffet for a nest of vampires.

See the trailer here.

For more on the movie this is the website.

Rating: R (for crude and sexual content, nudity, drug use, language and some sexuality)

Synopsis:
A crew of officers at an armored transport security firm risk their lives when they embark on the ultimate heist….against their own company. (Duh-Duh-Duh!) Armed with a seemingly fool-proof plan, the men plan on making off with a fortune with harm to none. But when an unexpected witness interferes, the plan quickly unravels and all bets are off.

What??? The fool-proof plan goes wrong? Say it ain’t so! Mindless action. No thank you. I’d rather see the mindless action in Ninja Assassin. At least it will be entertaining.

Synopsis: One brother is thought dead at war, the other steps in to help the family but then falls in love with his brother’s widow, only it turns out the dead brother is not dead afterall and now it’s all chaos!

What’s so funny about this film is that Tobey Maguire and Jake Gyllenhaal were cast as brothers and I’ve always thought they looked alike. I literally laughed when I first saw the trailer because of how perfect the casting was. And they both happen to be pretty good actors, so that’s a plus. Natalie Portman is also good when she’s not in bad Star Wars films (as opposed to the good, original ones). Mostly she’s just charming and likeable.

So, I imagine it will be a good but seriously intense film and I’m going to skip it because I don’t really enjoy those kinds of movies. But if you like that kind of thing, go for it.

Synopsis:
“Everybody’s Fine,” a remake of Giuseppe Tornatore’s “Stanno Tutti Bene,” follows a widower (De Niro) who embarks on an impromptu road trip to reconnect with each of his grown children only to discover that their lives are far from picture perfect.

This is one of those films you go to thinking, “Oh, this looks nice. I bet it’s funny and heartwarming.” but then it turns out to be stupid and predictable and not funny (Four Christmas’, anyone?). It has a nice cast, I like de Niro in comedic roles and I’m a fan of Drew Barrymore (Call me, girl. Let’s get a beer sometime.) but this one will be forgettable. I’d go rent the Italian version if I were you.

Actor Matt Dillon and actress Taraji P. Henson both attended the 25th Film Independent Spirit Award nominations press conference held at the Sofitel L.A. today.

2010 SPIRIT AWARD NOMINATIONS

BEST FEATURE (Award given to the Producer, Executive Producers are not listed)

(500) Days Of Summer             Producers: Mason Novick, Jessica
                                  Tuchinsky, Mark Waters, Steven J. Wolfe
--------------------             ---------------------------------------
Amreeka                          Producers: Paul Barkin, Christina
                                  Piovesan
-------                          ---------------------------------
Precious                         Producers: Lee Daniels, Gary Magness,
                                  Sarah Siegel-Magness
--------                         -------------------------------------
Sin Nombre                       Producer: Amy Kaufman
----------                       ---------------------
The Last Station                 Producers: Bonnie Arnold, Chris Curling,
                                  Jens Meuer
----------------                 ----------------------------------------

BEST DIRECTOR

Ethan Coen, Joel Coen            A Serious Man
---------------------            -------------
Lee Daniels                      Precious
-----------                      --------
Cary Joji Fukunaga               Sin Nombre
------------------               ----------
James Gray                       Two Lovers
----------                       ----------
Michael Hoffman                  The Last Station
---------------                  ----------------

BEST SCREENPLAY

Alessandro Camon, Oren
 Moverman                       The Messenger
----------------------          -------------
Michael Hoffman                 The Last Station
---------------                 ----------------
Lee Toland Krieger              The Vicious Kind
------------------              ----------------
Greg Mottola                    Adventureland
------------                    -------------
Scott Neustadter, Michael H.
 Weber                          (500) Days Of Summer
----------------------------    --------------------

BEST FIRST FEATURE (Award given to the director and producer)

A Single Man                    Director: Tom Ford
                                Producers: Tom Ford, Andrew Miano, Robert
                                Salerno, Chris Weitz
------------                    -----------------------------------------
Crazy Heart                     Director: Scott Cooper
                                Producers: T Bone Burnett, Judy Cairo,
                                 Rob Carliner, Scott Cooper, Robert
                                 Duvall
-----------                     --------------------------------------
Easier With Practice            Director: Kyle Patrick Alvarez
                                Producer: Cookie Carosella
--------------------            --------------------------
Paranormal Activity             Director: Oren Peli
                                Producer: Jason Blum, Oren Peli
-------------------             -------------------------------
The Messenger                   Director: Oren Moverman
                                Producers: Mark Gordon, Lawrence Inglee,
                                 Zach Miller
-------------                   ----------------------------------------

BEST FIRST SCREENPLAY

Sophie Barthes                   Cold Souls
--------------                   ----------
Scott Cooper                     Crazy Heart
------------                     -----------
Cherien Dabis                    Amreeka
-------------                    -------
Geoffrey Fletcher                Precious
-----------------                --------
Tom Ford, David Scearce          A Single Man
-----------------------          ------------

JOHN CASSAVETES AWARD – Given to the best feature made for under $500,000. Award given to the writer, director, and producer. Executive Producers are not listed

Big Fan                          Writer/Director: Robert Siegel
                                 Producers: Elan Bogarin, Jean Kouremetis
-------                          ----------------------------------------
Humpday                          Writer/Director/Producer: Lynn Shelton
-------                          --------------------------------------
The New Year Parade              Writer/Director: Tom Quinn
                                 Producers: Steve Beal, Tom Quinn
-------------------              --------------------------------
Treeless Mountain                Writer/Director: So Yong Kim
                                 Producers: Bradley Rust Gray, Ben Howe,
                                  So Yong Kim, Lars Knudsen, Jay Van Hoy
-----------------                ---------------------------------------
Zero Bridge                      Writer/Director: Tariq Tapa
                                 Producers: Josee Lajoie, Hilal Ahmed
                                  Langoo, Tariq Tapa
-----------                      ------------------------------------

BEST FEMALE LEAD

Maria Bello                      Downloading Nancy
-----------                      -----------------
Nisreen Faour                    Amreeka
-------------                    -------
Helen Mirren                     The Last Station
------------                     ----------------
Gwyneth Paltrow                  Two Lovers
---------------                  ----------
Gabourey Sidibe                  Precious
---------------                  --------

BEST MALE LEAD

Jeff Bridges                     Crazy Heart
------------                     -----------
Colin Firth                      A Single Man
-----------                      ------------
Joseph Gordon-Levitt             (500) Days Of Summer
--------------------             --------------------
Souleymane Sy Savane             Goodbye Solo
--------------------             ------------
Adam Scott                       The Vicious Kind
----------                       ----------------

BEST SUPPORTING FEMALE

Dina Korzun                      Cold Souls
-----------                      ----------
Mo'Nique                         Precious
--------                         --------
Samantha Morton                  The Messenger
---------------                  -------------
Natalie Press                    Fifty Dead Men Walking
-------------                    ----------------------
Mia Wasikowska                   That Evening Sun
--------------                   ----------------

BEST SUPPORTING MALE

Jemaine Clement                  Gentlemen Broncos
---------------                  -----------------
Woody Harrelson                  The Messenger
---------------                  -------------
Christian McKay                  Me and Orson Welles
---------------                  -------------------
Raymond McKinnon                 That Evening Sun
----------------                 ----------------
Christopher Plummer              The Last Station
-------------------              ----------------

BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY

Roger Deakins                    A Serious Man
-------------                    -------------
Adriano Goldman                  Sin Nombre
---------------                  ----------
Anne Misawa                      Treeless Mountain
-----------                      -----------------
Andrij Parekh                    Cold Souls
-------------                    ----------
Peter Zeitlinger                 Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call New Orleans
----------------                 ----------------------------------------

BEST DOCUMENTARY (Award given to the director)

Anvil! The Story of Anvil        Director: Sacha Gervasi
-------------------------        -----------------------
Food, Inc.                       Director: Robert Kenner
----------                       -----------------------
More Than A Game                 Director: Kristopher Belman
----------------                 ---------------------------
October Country                  Directors: Donal Mosher, Michael
                                  Palmieri
---------------                  --------------------------------
Which Way Home                   Director: Rebecca Cammisa
--------------                   -------------------------

BEST FOREIGN FILM (Award given to the director)

A Prophet                        Director: Jacques Audiard
(France)
--------                         -------------------------
An Education                     Director: Lone Scherfig
(UK/France)
-----------                      -----------------------
Everlasting Moments              Director: Jan Troell
(Sweden)
--------                         --------------------
Mother                           Director: Bong Joon-Ho
(South Korea)
-------------                    ----------------------
The Maid                         Director: Sebastian Silva
(Chile)
-------                          -------------------------

ACURA SOMEONE TO WATCH AWARD – The 16th annual Acura Someone to Watch Award recognizes a talented filmmaker of singular vision who has not yet received appropriate recognition. The award includes a $25,000 unrestricted grant funded by Acura.

Kyle Patrick Alvarez             Easier With Practice
--------------------             --------------------
Asiel Norton                     Redland
------------                     -------
Tariq Tapa                       Zero Bridge
----------                       -----------

TRUER THAN FICTION AWARD – The 15th annual Truer Than Fiction Award is presented to an emerging director of non-fiction features who has not yet received significant recognition. The award includes a $25,000 unrestricted grant.

Natalia Almada                   El General
--------------                   ----------
Jessica Oreck                    Beetle Queen Conquers Tokyo
-------------                    ---------------------------
Bill Ross, Turner Ross           45365
----------------------           -----

PIAGET PRODUCERS AWARD – The 13th annual Piaget Producers Award honors emerging producers who, despite highly limited resources demonstrate the creativity, tenacity, and vision required to produce quality, independent films. The award includes a $25,000 unrestricted grant funded by Piaget.

Karin Chien                      The Exploding Girl, Santa Mesa
-----------                      ------------------------------
Larry Fessenden                  I Sell the Dead, The House of the Devil
---------------                  ---------------------------------------
Dia Sokol                        Beeswax, Nights & Weekends
---------                        --------------------------

ROBERT ALTMAN AWARD – (Given to one film’s director, casting director, and its ensemble cast)

A Serious Man                    Directors: Ethan Coen, Joel Coen
-------------                    --------------------------------
                                 Casting Directors: Ellen Chenoweth,
                                  Rachel Tenner
                                 -----------------------------------
                                 Ensemble Cast: Richard Kind, Sari
                                  Lennick, Jessica McManus, Fred Melamed,
                                  Michael Stuhlbarg, Aaron Wolff
                                 ---------------------------------------

Tetro | Francis Ford Coppola, 2009

The word Tetro, in Francis Ford Coppola’s non-native Italian, means dark, bleak, sombre. Words that are reflected, perhaps somewhat unintentionally, in the director’s new titular character: the long-faced Angelo “Tetro” Tetrocini, played by Vincent Gallo. Both as an original script – Coppola’s first since 1974’s celebrated The Conversation – and as a character, Tetro’s reputation precedes itself. For the director, this must only exist as a reminder of tougher times, but times when the film world held its breath whenever he entered the room. Things have gotten easier in recent decades for the portly Detroit native, who has carved out quite a comfortable position for himself  producing  movies under his own American Zoetrope banner, and without the oppressive studio involvement that so plagued some of his more famous titles. The difference being that these days there seem to be fewer people left in the room who are willing to give him the time of day. For Vincent Gallo, on the other hand, Tetro’s towering reputation conjured up by Coppola’s writing seems only to work as a stimulant, inspiring him to the kind of glint-in-the-eye performance we’ve seen before in Buffalo ‘66. Indeed, Tetro is one cagey and confused individual, though less feral than Gallo’s memorable Billy Brown character, despite producing the same trademark New York whine. His whine here helps give the impression of a lost rich kid, or alternatively, as his long-suffering partner Miranda (Maribel Verdú) puts it: “like a genius, but without enough accomplishments…” The highlight of Tetro, however, comes not in its titular character, nor in the aged pen that brought him to the screen, but in a newcomer called Alden Ehrenreich whose infectious performance as Bennie, Tetro’s younger brother and the film’s protagonist, is quite wonderful. He is an actor who was apparently discovered by Steven Spielberg, and  one who I expect to see a lot more of in the future.

Tetro is a story of two estranged brothers who know little of one another but who share a certain common hatred towards their family – more importantly their father – and perhaps, on top of that, some kind of common artistic gift. This main premise helps evoke strong memories of Coppola’s Rumble Fish, which not only centered on a story between two brothers but also helped unearth no small amount of young acting talent in the likes of Matt Dillon, Diane Lane, and Nicolas Cage. As with Rumble Fish, Tetro is shot in sumptuous black and white with a dash of consciously placed colour, in this case to signify those scenes in the film that depict the past – just as we view our own memories in colour, whether they be in the form of photographs or home videos. The other colour comes in the form of a handful of over-exuberant fringe characters, who manage, along with the film’s theatrical encounters, heightened emotional drama, and underlying humour, to give Tetro the sense of a stage play or theatre piece. That is without mentioning the abundance of spot-lights in the film, a motif of sorts: those that Tetro runs every week at the local theatre club,  and those that eventually come to symbolise the car headlights of his pained past. While a neater effort than Coppola’s last film, Tetro suffers once again from the director trying to do too much. Not only does he not know when to stop, but Coppola also manages to take a warm, humble idea – a gentle stroll through downtown Buenos Aires – and turns it into a work of grand scale that lacks all kinds of foundation. An epic family drama that almost immediately spins out of the director’s control, resulting in a deeply flawed third act that does nothing but drag. While it’s easy enough to appreciate Coppola’s ambition here, I don’t imagine Tetro will receive much fanfare when it’s released stateside in the near future, and is more likely simply to be remembered as the film that introduced us to a fresh-faced future star.

Our Rating:

Usually I don’t like Gus Van Sant, but he is starting to grow on me.

Suzanne Stone (Nicole Kidman) has always harbored one dream: being on TV. She’s dead-set on making that dream come true, but there’s one hitch: her husband (Matt Dillon), who just wants her to stay at home. So, Suzanne puts in motion a plan to get him out of the way — for good. Joaquin Phoenix co-stars as the love-struck teenager Suzanne recruits to help execute her sinister plot — and her spouse.

So needless to say, this is probably one of the best Dark comedies ever made. It really does have every element that is so bleak and upsetting, and is then shadowed away with this great element of comedy.

But the film isn’t as much as a dark comedy as it is a satire on how people can get so overcome with this emotion of being famous and gaining stardom, that we almost forget what are real lives are all about. It is so dark and so satirical, that at points it comes out being so mean, and this is a good thing.

The screenplay written by Buck Henry really does contain some of the funniest but also terribly true pop culture references. Its writing is so intentionally funny that at points I couldn’t help but just to laugh at the jokes, that I totally forgot how dark this material really was after all.

Director Gus Van Sant uses a clever method of working backwards: The key characters in the story are interviewed, following a shocking local event, with flashbacks of the incidents as the interviewee’s recall them. At first I thought this technique was distracting, but I soon embraced it. He honestly cannot stop but make one terrific visual after another, with sometimes colors so bright they are actually scary, as scary as Suzanne the main character.

The film had a bit of problems with what it wanted to be though. It looked like it was going to act as dark comedy, media satire or clear-cut thriller. I didn’t know what its intentions were to be which is why I kind of had a hard time understanding what to expect.

Nicole Kidman knocks this performance right out of the park. She is sexy, scary, aggressive, and so devious, but you can’t but to just love this character that she does. This is her best performance of all-time and I was actually shocked by how good she really was. The supporting cast is good as well most notably Joaquin Phoenix, who is so young but still so great as a this young kid still being taken advantage of. The only problem I had with this film was that I wanted to see a bit more of how Matt Dillon acted and how he and his wife did interact with each other, we never really got that other than just a couple of scenes.

Consensus: To Die For is darkly hilarious and satirically-true, and is backed with an amazing performance from Kidman, which ends in being one of Van Sant’s best.

9/10=Full Pricee!!!

John Travolta and Robin Williams team up in the Walt Disney Company’s Old Dogs, a family comedy that pairs the two as close business partners whose lives are thrown into disarray when twin seven-year-olds are put into their care. Travolta’s wife, Kelly Preston, co-stars, along with the couple’s daughter, Ella, who makes her big-screen debut here. Wild Hogs helmer Walter Becker directs a script by Evolution scribes David Diamond and David Weissman, with producing duties going to Andrew Panay, Peter Abrams, and Robert Levy.

OLD DOGS

(Disney) John Travolta, Robin Williams, Kelly Preston, Seth Green, Ella Bleu Travolta, Conner Rayburn, Lori Loughlin, Matt Dillon, Bernie Mac. Directed by Walt Becker

From the director of Wild Hogs comes this new comedy that similarly involves older men in a younger man situation. In this case, two successful businessmen on the verge of closing the biggest deal of their careers are derailed by the revelation that one of them is in fact a father and at one of the most critical junctures in their negotiations, will be babysitting his newfound brood. As will happen around kids, chaos ensues.

See the trailer here.

For more on the movie this is the website.

Rating: PG (for some mild rude humor)

Boondock Saints II: All Saints Day

(Apparition) Norman Reedus, Sean Patrick Flannery, Clifton Collins, Julie Benz. This is the sequel to the cult classic penned by Troy Duffy (the making of which was the subject of the acclaimed documentary Overnight). The brothers MacManus who have been taking it easy in Ireland since the events of the first film find themselves compelled to return to the mean streets of Boston when a priest is brutally gunned down.

See the trailer here.

For more on the movie this is the website.

Rating: R (for bloody violence, language and some nudity)

Fantastic Mr. Fox

(Fox Searchlight) Featuring the voices of George Clooney, Meryl Streep, Jason Schwartzmann, Bill Murray. From the minds of the late novelist Roald Dahl and director Wes Anderson (Rushmore) comes this animated feature that pits a clever, tricky fox against three brutal but not-so-bright farmers.

See the trailer here.

For more on the movie this is the website.

Rating: PG (for action, smoking and slang humor)

Ninja Assassin

(Warner Brothers) Rain, Naomie Harris, Sho Kosugi, Rick Yune. Taken from the streets as a child by the legendary but lethal Ozunu Clan and trained as an assassin, Raizo becomes one of the deadliest killers on the planet. However he butts heads with the clan and is forced to vanish. Now, he finds an Interpol agent who has stumbled upon one of the secrets of the Ozunu Clan and is marked for death. He must protect her – and himself – from the world’s most skilled assassins and try to find a way to bring the clan down for good. This stylized anime/video game hybrid is from V for Vendetta director James McTeigue.

See the trailer here.

For more on the movie this is the website.

Rating: R (for strong bloody stylized violence throughout, and language)

The Road

(Weinstein) Viggo Mortensen, Robert Duvall, Kody Smit-McPhee, Charlize Theron. After a global catastrophe kills nearly all life on earth and ends civilization as we know it, a father and his son make their way across a barren, dangerous landscape trying to avoid predators of the natural and unnatural kind in an effort to make it to the coast and survival. Based on the Pulitzer Prize winning novel by Cormac McCarthy, this post-Apocalyptic thriller boasts an all-star cast.

See the trailer here.

For more on the movie this is the website.

Rating: R (for some violence, disturbing images and language)

You can’t teach an old dog new tricks. The same thing can be said for this new comedy.

In the new comedy from Wild Hogs director Walt Becker,  John Travolta teams with Robin Williams as two advertising agents who find themselves on the fine line between being a grandparent and being middle aged.

Robin’s life changes when his ex-wife (Kelly Preston), whom he married in a shotgun wedding years earlier, drops a bomb on him.

She claims her kids are his and she is going to jail for two months on a protest charge and needs someone to look after them.

This complicated plot turns into a version of My Two Dads or The Game Plan with toilet humor and some very silly antics.

The movie had some gut splitting jokes but all of them were in the trailer. The gorilla scenario, the mixed up meds, Justin Long’s psychotic camp guy and Matt Dillon’s butch scoutmaster are all really funny!

I like slapstick humor as much as the next guy. Heck, my favorite comedy of all time is Airplane! But these jokes felt really, really forced.

When they wrote this film I think they wrote the jokes first and filled in the plot to incorporate the jokes. There are just some of the craziest inconsistencies and ill-conceived plot jumps I have ever seen in a movie.

I took my parents to the advance screening of this movie and they laughed hysterically throughout. Maybe this movie is a generational thing but I just didn’t find it very funny.

1.5 out of 5

So Says the Soothsayer.

Two best friends — one unlucky-in-love divorcee (ROBIN WILLIAMS) and the other a fun-loving bachelor (JOHN TRAVOLTA) — have their lives turned upside down when they’re unexpectedly charged with the care of six-year-old twins while on the verge of the biggest business deal of their lives. The not-so-kid-savvy bachelors stumble in their efforts to take care of the twins (newcomers ELLA BLEU TRAVOLTA and CONNER RAYBURN), leading to one debacle after another, and perhaps to a new-found understanding of what’s really important in life

Starring: John Travolta, Robin Williams, Kelly Preston, Seth Green, Matt Dillon, Rita Wilson, Dax Shepard, Bernie Mac, Luis Guzmán, Ella Bleu Travolta, Conner Rayburn, Lori Loughlin, Justin Long
Director: Walt Becker
Screenwriter: David Diamond, David Weissman
Producer: Andrew Panay, Robert L. Levy, Peter Abrams
Composer: John Debney
Studio: Buena Vista Internationa

MOVIE TRAILER :

Nimrod Antal is the director of Armored, the heist thriller starring Laurence Fishburne and Matt Dillon. Antal is also the bloke that Robert Rodriguez picked to direct the Predators film so here is a chance to see what his style is all about.

Can someone explain how a movie like Old Dogs gets made?  Matt Dillon must have read the script, right?  There’s a scene where penguins attack in a humourous way.  He must have read that bit, right?  Do you think he said, “This could be my next ‘Crash’”?

How does Robin Williams keep making these movies?  He knows what reviews RV got, right?  Does he realize that every movie like this he makes tarnishes his already debatably good career?

And what of John Travolta?  What does it take to get this guy to sign onto a movie?  He was in Pulp Fiction for god’s sake.  Have a little self-respect.

T.I, Idris Elba and Chris Brown feature amongst other hollywood stars in ‘Takers’, a film about a group of bank robbers attempting one big job!

Out next Spring!

What is in my mind the finest month for the movies is almost here!  Let Marshall guide you through the best and steer you away from the worst, but most of all enjoy!  The studios have been holding back their best movies all year to dump them all here, where they can get serious awards consideration.

December 4

A major Oscars wild-card is “Brothers.”  No one really knows what to make of it.  If the movie hits big, it could completely change the game.  But it could just fly under the radar like most expect it to now.  However, the trailer makes it look as if it the movie could be absolutely mind-blowing.  Directed by Jim Sheridan, who has received six Academy Award nominations, “Brothers” follows Grace Cahill (Natalie Portman) as she and her daughters deal with the loss of her husband, Sam (Tobey Maguire), in war.  Sam’s brother, Tommy (Jake Gyllenhaal) comes to live with Grace to lend a helping hand.  But romantic sparks fly between the two at precisely the wrong time: the discovery that Sam is alive and coming home.  With the two brothers both tugging Grace’s heart for their share, a different type of sparks fly.

You have heard me say plenty about “Up in the Air.”  If you haven’t read my Oscar Moment on the movie or heard my bliss at the release of the trailer, let me give you one more chance to hope on the bandwagon.

But the movies don’t stop there.  ”Armored,” an action-drama that is tooting its own moral horn, starring Matt Dillon and Laurence Fishburne.  ”Everybody’s Fine” appears to be a holiday movie, so that might be worth checking out if you’re in the spirit.  The movie, a remake of a 1990 Italian film by the same name, stars Robert DeNiro as a widower who reconnects with his estrange children.  And “Transylmania” looks to cash in on the vampire craze sweeping the nation by satirizing it, but I doubt it will be financially viable because it is being released by a no-name studio and without any big names.

December 11

The highlight of the weekend for many will be “The Princess and the Frog,” Disney’s return to the traditional animation by hand musical.  The movie looks to capitalize on what we know and love Disney musicals for, adding some catchy tunes to a fairy tale we have known since childhood.  Anika Noni Rose, best known for her role as Lorrell in the film adaptation of “Dreamgirls,” lends her talented voice to the princess Tiana.  As a huge fan of “Dreamgirls” during the winter of 2006, I couldn’t think of someone better equipped to handle the sweet, soft Disney music (which isn’t designed for belters like Beyoncé or Jennifer Hudson).  That being said, the music won’t sound like anything you’ve ever heard from a Disney fairy tale.  It is being scored by Randy Newman, not Alan Menken (“Beauty and the Beast,” etc.), and will have a jazzy feel much like its setting, New Orleans.

This week also boasts the opening of three major Oscar players. Two have been featured in Oscar Moments, “Invictus” and “A Single Man.” The former opens nationwide this Friday, the latter only in limited release. I’ll repost the trailers below because they are worth watching. But read the Oscar Moment if you want to know more about the movies.

According to the people that matter, “The Lovely Bones” has all the pieces to make a great movie. But for summer reading two years ago, I read the source material, Alice Sebold’s acclaimed novel. I found it dreadfully melodramatic and very depressing without any sort of emotional payoff to reward the reader for making it through. But maybe Hollywood will mess up the novel in a good way. If any movie could, it would be this one. With a director like Peter Jackson and a cast including Saiorse Ronan (“Atonement”), Mark Wahlberg, Rachel Weisz, Stanley Tucci, and Susan Sarandon, it could very well happen.  It opens in limited release on this date and slowly expands until its nationwide release on Martin Luther King Day weekend in 2010.

December 16

Due to the flop of “Amelia,” Fox Searchlight has moved “Crazy Heart” to 2009 in order to milk some awards out of this year (although they should have just pushed “(500) Days of Summer” harder!).  The movie stars Jeff Bridges as an aging alcoholic country singer and Maggie Gyllenhaal as the young journalist that falls for him.  Bridges has been nominated for four Oscars but has never won, so maybe the Academy will feel generous to him this year.

December 18

We will skip the big blockbuster to address what is perhaps my most anticipated movie of the season, “Nine.”  I’ve already devoted an Oscar Moment to it, but it deserves some more talk here.  I’ll just throw out some names.  Daniel Day-Lewis.  Marion Cotillard.  Penelope Cruz.  Nicole Kidman.  Judi Dench.  Sophia Loren.  Kate Hudson.  Fergie.  Director Rob Marshall.  At what name did you start thinking, “Get here now, December 18th, I HAVE TO SEE THIS MOVIE!”?

Most sites I read think “Avatar” is going to be a huge box office success.  However, I wonder how they can think that when I have not heard a single teenager talk about the movie at all.  That is a critical demographic to the success of this movie.  It is what made “Titanic” the highest grossing movie ever (unadjusted for inflation).  And without them, this movie will flop.  A bomb is something that director James Cameron and the head honchos at 20th Century Fox simply cannot have happen.  Let me hit you with a statistic that will make your jaw drop.  ”Avatar” cost nearly $500 million dollars to make.  No, I didn’t tack on an extra zero to that figure.  Half-a-billion dollars have been dropped on this movie, so they need to make a whole lot of money to make it a profitable venture.  I’m sure with worldwide totals and video receipts, they will undoubtedly break even.  But if it is going to be a bonanza, there has to be more to “Avatar” than the coolest visual effects ever.  And I’m not getting the feeling from the trailers that it has all that strong of a story.  But at this point, no one knows.

Guilty confession: I’m actually kind of looking forward to “Did You Hear About the Morgans?” The movie stars Hugh Grant and Sarah Jessica Parker as married members of the New York elite who loathe each other. However, they are forced to spend a whole lot of time together when they see a murder and enter the Witness Protection Program in Wyoming. Sometimes these “fish out of water” comedies turn out to be quite funny. Plus, Hugh Grant and Sarah Jessica Parker usually have good taste when it comes to selecting movies.

And to help out a fledgling production company, Apparition, I’ll plug “The Young Victoria” with an embedded trailer.  If Martin Scorsese is pushing it, how bad can it be?

December 23

In order to get “Alvin and the Chipmunks: The Squeakuel” out of a convoluted Christmas Day openers crowd, they moved it to Wednesday, December 23.  Honestly, who wants to debate if this movie will be good or not?  I wouldn’t be surprised if it makes more money than “Avatar” the way kids ate up the first installment.

December 25

Celebrate Christmas at the movies with your family like everyone else in America!  ”Nine” and “Up in the Air” will be opening nationwide today.

Nancy Meyers, the director of “The Holiday” and “The Parent Trap,” makes movies that are just plain enjoyable to watch.  ”It’s Complicated” doesn’t look to break that tradition.  I refuse to watch the trailer because I don’t want to ruin it, but the film’s poster shows Meryl Streep and Alec Baldwin bearing smug expressions in a bed with the tagline “Divorced…with benefits” written on the sheets.  Featuring a cast that also includes Steve Martin and John Krasinski (“The Office”), this could be the perfect crowd-pleasing Christmas Day movie.

Also opening on Christmas Day is a reimagined “Sherlock Holmes,” directed by Guy Ritchie (yes, Maddona’s ex-husband).  I’m all for the fresh approach, especially because it includes Robert Downey, Jr.  I loved the smug touch he added to Tony Stark in “Iron Man,” and I’m sure he will bring the same energy to the timeless detective.  The movie will no doubt benefit from the presence of Jude Law as sidekick Watson and Rachel McAdams as a love interest for Sherlock.  Although the character has lost respectability over the past few years on the silver screen, this is a version that I am more than willing to get behind.

And it is with great sadness that I have to say that Heath Ledger’s last new movie, “The Imaginarium of Dr. Parnassus,” will be released this day.  He passed while in production of the movie, and Johnny Depp, Colin Farrell, and Jude Law stepped into finish the role.  The three stars donated their salary for the film to Ledger’s daughter, Matilda.  The movie seems to be quite a visual spectacle, and the eye-catching visuals could be a great complement to Ledger’s final performance.

December 30

The final release of 2009 is “The White Ribbon,” winner of the prestigious Palme D’Or prize at the Cannes Film Festival this spring.  The film, directed by Michael Haeneke, follows a community in pre-World War I Germany as they deal with “the origins of terrorism,” as the director puts it.  It has been selected as Germany’s submission to the Best Foreign Film category at the Academy Awards this year, so it is definitely a player there.  But with quite literal universal acclaim, it could compete in more serious categories.

So, have you started planning how you are going to fit all these movies into your holiday schedules like me?  If not, at least do me the courtesy of telling me what movie you would see if you could only see one.