DOUBLE FEATURE - NEW MOON AND NINJA ASSASSIN!!!

I know no one is ready for this: the Bella & Edward romance story.... and a rogue ninja assassin?!?! Indeed, I come to you with dual, humble offerings of drama and some tasty butt-kicking. A Double Feature you ask - yes! Read on....



New Moon (2009)
Running Time: 130 minutes
Rated PG-13
Genre: Drama/Fantasy/Romance
Director: Chris Weitz

Ahhhh, the cheesy romance between two desire-filled teens - not quite a scene put at the top of any of my flick picks. Yet there's something annoyingly appealing about seeing the exchange between Bella's angst-filled presence and Edward's tough-to-read facade. All is contained within this second installment of the Twilight series, (The first of which is Twilight (2008)) based off of Stephenie Meyer's novels.

When the much-hyped, original Twilight movie arrived in theatres, it was an instant hit - women, young and old(er) fell hard for the misunderstood Edward Cullen (Robert Pattison), a "17 year old" vampire in a family of semi-self controlled vamps recently settled in the small town of Forks, Washington.

The story continues where it left off: Isabella Swan, aka Bella (Kristen Stewart), remains immersed in Edwardland and is currently obsessed with the reality of her aging while her beloved keeps his youth. A family time accident sparks the Cullen Family's departure from the town thus rendering Bella heartless and depressed. Her desire shifts to depending on the rush of living the dangerous life for happiness as it gives her visions of Edward. Bad Girl Bella's desire encourages the bonds of her relationship with Jacob and a loving friendship between the two becomes more complicated. Secrets are discovered and it all comes to a dramatic yet predictable head.

There were many obnoxious recurring themes - Bella's extended depressed stage, excuse me, whole life, is enough to make you sick to your stomach (it's over the top). The uninspired acting by many of the main characters. Edward's muttering - I still do not know half of what he said. The plain ol' cheesiness. The movie wasn't totally ridiculous though; the fight scenes were impressive and once the first film is seen, you grudgingly want to know what develops with Jacob (Taylor Lautner) and Bella's friendship and the human-vampire conundrum. In addition, in previews shown on television, the wolves seen are technically werewolves. While I don't usually get angry about adding a slight new twist on old tales, simply put - these are not werewolves! In and of themselves, they are extremely well-done. Terrifying and powerful creatures they are, powerful wolves to be exact - not werewolves. Then again, what can I expect from a film that depicts "vampires" that have reflections and can mingle in the daylight. Alrighty.

Another aspect to factor in and something I was only aware of after reviewing some message boards, is the disgust with how this story portrays young women. While being a teen and falling in love is tear inducing and brings the end of the world feeling when you're without him, Bella's lack of any tad of a personality strength, sense of independence or will-power and her hopelessness-without-Edward deal is quite putrefying and not something "tweens" need to rely on as images to look to as "cool". Bella needs, thrives even, off of Edward and can you guess what happens while he's gone? She stares out of a window for months, isolates her already loner self from her few friends and wallows in self-pity, only seeing a glimmer of happiness from the visions she sees of Edward. While we wouldn't have the freedom we desired if all films were positive, this is a series that is impacting youth at a pivotal age - can't we have an ounce of self respect from the protagonist for the sake of the chil'ren?

For those that love the series and who crave seeing the novels come to life, the teenage girl in me can understand those that will unquestionably buy into all of this. To sum it up - it is somewhat cute but all-in-all, the extended moans Bella exudes whenever stepping within 5 feet of Edward get sickening. Fast.

I give it a 2 out of 5 stars.



Trailer:

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Ninja Assassin (2009)
Running Time: 99 minutes
Rated R
Genre: Action/Adventure/Thriller
Director: James McTeigue (directed V for Vendetta)

Ninja Assassin, starring Raizo (a South Korean popstar, Rain), a meticulously and ruthlessly trained ninja who had escaped the secret Ozunu Clan, follows his life throughout his childhood and into adulthood. The Ozunu Clan kidnaps orphaned children to train them as perfect killers through blood, sweat and many, many tears. The clan works for hire and they are the best out there; no feelings, no mercy, just pure skill and ruthlessness. Raizo is a superb fighter, with his teacher, Takeshi (Rick Yune) never letting up, knowing that his potential is immense. Raizo later rebels and leaves as a result of the clans murder of his young love. This rebellion is not taken well - the Ozunu clan takes allegiance to them under all circumstances, no exceptions.

Raizo meets Mika Coretti (Naomie Harris), a European CIA agent who discovers the danger of knowing the existence of the clan. Their goal is to take down the clan but a formidable and futile task it seems.

What is expected occurs: someone dear to Raizo is killed thus his disapproval of those who once instructed him is sealed. Many fight scenes between fellow ninjas including his "brother". Swift blocks, chopped limbs, quick body shifts, dodging swords - the movements are exciting to see but are not new or original. Raizo's skill with his swinging Kusai-gama (a traditional Japanese weapon) is incredible. There are some scenes which made your pupil's dilate and your palms sweaty out of anxiousness and eagerness, yearning to see how the injured Raizo is going to dodge the 50+ assassins who have him trapped.

There was no real surprise - Raizo fought with precision and grace, as we expected him to. I am glad that Mika and Raizo did NOT have a love connection - it would have taken away from the story, as many, many movies do. They forge a crisis-imparted connection that is sweet; we thank the creators for recognizing that there is not a need to always have an awkwardly placed love exchange between the hero and the victim.

My opinion: Raizo was well-cast, Mika did alright, loved Raizo's solo training scene ;) and the computer generated blood that was criticized wasn't horrible at all (it made sense in a movie of this nature). I do not understand those that felt there needed to be a deep, verbally-charged, life-impacting film. I do feel that the characters could have been developed more fully but we got what we needed to understand a straight-forward plot. It's an action movie guys, come on.

My advise: this is the type of movie you'd watch again on cable, but do not need to buy on Blu-Ray.

I give this film a 3 out of 5 stars.



Trailer:



Danae signing off!

source:www.traileraddict.com

RECAP!!!

So I thought it was time to give you guys a little update on what I have been watching lately. Now I may not be watching the most sophisticated of programming but I’m addicted. The first thing that I’m catching you up on is Gossip Girl. Yeah, I know. But I have been hooked since the first season and now must continue to watch it. Now I’m not going to tell you everything that has been happening for the past two and half seasons but I will go over the last episode that aired this past Monday. Apparently Serena is torn between her desire to have an affair with married new Congressman and old crush Tripp Van der bilt and not being a slut. So she turns to her friend Nate, Tripp’s cousin, who has extensive knowledge in this department, for help. His solution is to keep her away from him by going on a bar crawl. Genius! Jenny decides to help Chuck by giving some foreign ambassador’s son a tour of NYC and finds out that he sells drugs in the park. Chuck comes to her rescue when she gets into an awkward drug deal in a bar. What a wonderful step brother he is. Blair continues her quest to become queen of NYU by trying to get in with the Tisch crowd and their cabaret. She does this by going through Olivia, who is a big movie star attending NYU with her. Olivia just so happens to be in a relationship with Dan and roommates with Vanessa, who has been lifelong friends with Dan. The tension with those three can be cut with a cleaver since in the last episode they all had a threesome because they thought Olivia would be leaving to shoot a movie, which of course it fell through. Olivia suspects that Vanessa has a thing for Dan, which she does, and that Dan might have that same thing for her. Well in the end the cabaret performance with their little group goes off pretty well considering it’s a musical version of Snow White set to Lady Gaga songs. But it’s the end of Olivia on the show because it has been confirmed that Dan does like Vanessa by a kiss and a look that he gave her during the threesome. So in the end Serena’s slutty ways win out and she goes off with Tripp when she finds out his wife did a not so good thing and she makes out with him. Jenny is lured by the “dangerous” ways of the foreign kid who looks like a 35 year old man. Blair shows up the snotty Tisch kids by getting them in to see a private Lady Gaga concert that they couldn’t get themselves. Dan realizes that Olivia is done with him and that he really does like Vanessa, but maybe she’s moved on to someone else. Just think, that’s not even the tip of the iceberg for these tangled stories. This is a clip from the next episode that is unfortunately two weeks away.



The next show I have been following is America’s Next Top Model: Cycle Short Girls. It ended last night with the predictable winner of Nicole. Now I waxed poetic earlier in the season about how Tyra is out of control with her whole stereotypes and craziness and how the season just felt hypocritical to me. Well I still feel that way. Yeah Nicole is gorgeous and she takes great pictures. My beef is not with that. Even though I would have preferred Laura to win, I’m okay with Nicole winning. I just can’t get over Tyra and her letting out her inner crazy person. Now, my day job is as a mental health case manager so I work with crazy people on a regular basis so I feel comfortable enough saying that I think Tyra has the DID (Dissociative Identity Disorder, or split personality). She’s all over the place with her accents and characters and general weirdness. I can’t get over it. I’m sorry. But yeah, Nicole won. Woo hoo! Looking forward to the next season Tyra. Still waiting for the all plus sized model cycle. Here is a clip from the season.



Lastly one of the shows I follow is the new show Vampire Diaries. Now I’m not big on this whole vampire craze sweeping the world. I cannot stand any part of the Twilight crap that is out there or any of the other vampire based books. This show however caught my attention. It’s not the best show out there or even has the best acting or story lines but I’m kind of hooked. It follows Elena, whose world has been turned upside down by the death of her parents, and Stefan, who is new to town and has the bruiting good looks that all vampires have. To mix it up Stefan has a brother, Damon, who is also a vampire that is pretty evil and is out to do something which we haven’t figured out yet. Elena’s best friend, Bonnie, just so happens to come from a long line of witches and she is starting to get visions and feelings. On this last episode Bonnie’s visions of an old relative are increasing due to an old necklace that once belonged to her. It shows us a little into what Damon has planned. It is revealed that there was an arrangement between him and Bonnie’s relative in order to save a woman that both he and Stefan loved (who coincidentally looks just like, you guessed it, Elena) from a fire that killed the whole town over a century ago. In the end things settle a little but Stefan has just reinforced for himself that he needs to stay away from Elena so she is safe. He’s going to leave town. Sucks for him and her since she actually likes him even though he is a vampire. Please tell me you caught the use of the word sucks going with the theme of vampires. Okay, moving on. I’m enjoying seeing where this is going. I’m not quite sure what Damon is up to or who this new vampire guy is that seems to be interested in Elena’s aunt, who she now lives with, but I want to know. So I’m going to keep watching. Here is a clip for the next episode. (Just so you know, there is a bit of Elena in her underwear in this clip cause she and Stefan will probably have sex in this episode. Lucky girl!)




Well kids, you can follow what I'm watching or find "crap" of your own to watch. Either way head over to the forum and talk about my shows or your shows, or just shows.

Until next time kids, this has been Hava!

Info for all of the shows listed above can be found the CW's website.

MOVIE PREVIEW!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I have more, I have more!!!!

A couple months ago, I posted trailers of movies I was looking forward to. The only one seen was Zombieland (see my review on 10/26/09) as that’s the only one to have been released yet.

The last previews I posted were for:

• Wolfman (in theatres February 10th, 2010)
• Ninja Assassin (in theatres November 25th, 2009)
• Zombieland (released October 2nd, 2009)
• 2012 (in theatres November 13th, 2009 = today!)

Ninja Assassin and 2012 will be seen soon enough, just keep checking in for my review!!

There are indeed many more films to anticipate, at least these are some I'm anxious to see. Take a peeksie of the following trailers and tell me what you think!

Based on the action game, Prince of Persia (2009) starring Jake Gyllenhaal seems interesting. He looks enough like the character and is not too shabby to look at either ;) I usually can gauge how well I'll think a movie will be prior to release and I'd say that it looks to be a decent/neat video game-based action movie. Nothing more, nothing less! The film will be released May 28, 2010.




While I usually tend towards the non-emotional, this movie looks like a tear-jerker. Yet as a family-centered gal, the intensity of the topic and the idea that someone can communicate after death to those still "alive", is intriguing. Set to be released January 15, 2010, see The Lovely Bones (2009):



The Storm Warriors (or Storm Riders II) (2009)
Lastly, by accident I saw this title and was intrigued. In viewing the trailer, my eyes loved the flow of motion and artistry shown in the fight scenes. The original, Storm Riders, which came out in 1998, was a movie based off of a Chinese comic called Fung Wan. This is the second film yet was made to be a stand-alone. Set to be released in China on December 17, 2009, I'm uncertain when we'll see it here (but usually things are ruined once they get here so trying to see the original Chinese movie with subtitles seems to be the wisest move). Check it out:



Tell me what you think: comment on the forum, post a message or shoot me an email!

Danae signing off!

source: www.traileraddict.com

"37?!" "In a row?"

Interview with Brian O'Halloran from "Clerks"
(That's me up there with Brian!)

You know a conversation is going to be good when it starts with talk of stalking and luring people into smart cars with candy at conventions. Luckily for me that is how my interview with Brian O’Halloran, who played Dante Hicks in the hilarious movie "Clerks," started at GameX. Brian was so approachable it was disgusting. Even though they were charging $20 for an autograph, I got one for my friend for free earlier in the day while he was watching a Rock Band tournament.

After getting through the pleasantries, which for us was laced with some severe sarcasm, we got down to the meat and potatoes of what I really wanted to know. After seeing almost every Kevin Smith movie made, "Clerks" was his first, I had to know if Brian thought that "Clerks" should have been first to come out. Brian brought up the good point that "Clerks" opened doors for Kevin Smith that his other movies wouldn’t be able to. It gave the movie world something to base his work off of. It also gave Kevin something to base his other movies off of. If you have never seen any Kevin Smith movies then let me tell you that pretty much all of them are based in some small town in New Jersey and if they went anywhere else, it always started there. They typically have reoccurring characters, such as Jay and Silent Bob (played by Smith), and others that move freely in and out like neighbors you occasionally chat with while getting the morning paper.

I asked Brian if he felt waiting 12 years between the release of "Clerks" and "Clerks II" was a smart move on the part of Kevin Smith. The movies after "Clerks" for Kevin Smith showed more growth, Brian said. Everyone involved learned what worked with the audience and capitalized on it by producing more movies that had the same brand of sarcastic humor and smart characters. Brian felt that they needed the time to develop, grow, and acquire more people. Brian said that many people had never seen the first movie before seeing "Clerks II" and that sent them back looking for "Clerks." They had tried to bring "Clerks" back in 2000 in cartoon form. Brian said that it ran for only one or two episodes before the network trashed it, but six had been made. You can now catch them playing on Adult Swim. Brian mentioned that maybe if enough people wrote to Adult Swim requesting it to come back they could pull a Family Guy and have it come back. That is contingent on Kevin agreeing though.

If you don’t think that you have seen enough of Brian lately then you will be happy to know that he just filmed a small spot as a waiter in a movie with Reese Witherspoon and Paul Rudd that was shooting in Philly. It is slated to come out next summer. In case you missed him he had a small part in "The Happening," where oddly enough, as Brian pointed out, he played a jeep driver who was heading back to NJ. He was also in the horror movie comedy "Brutal Massacre: A Comedy" which was documentary style about making a horror movie with gory side effects.

If I could have stayed with him for the rest of day and bullshitted with him I certainly would have. I think we would be good friends if given the opportunity. (Brian, if you’re reading this, email me.) Unfortunately people started coming over and asking for his autograph and trying to make small talk. The nerve of them. My experience with him ended with my camera asking if anyone blinked. How fitting since the whole experience was so surreal I felt like I was dreaming.

I give this interview 10 frames! Yeah, I cheated and doubled it up.




I also recommend checking out "Clerks" and "Clerks II." Both get 5 out of 5 frames.



Here is the movie's trailer from back in 1994. Enjoy!


Well head on over to the forum at j1studios and discuss the awesomeness that is "Clerks," the awesomeness that is Brian O'Halloran, or just the general awesomeness that are Kevin Smith movies (except "Jersey Girl." That just wasn't good sweetie.)

Until next time kids, this has been Hava!