There is a huge debate these days about what a “good” vampire movie is. There is also a lot of competition out there, even some spoofs. If you look on line there are a variety of lists about what the best vampire films of all time are. There are duplicates on these lists of course and they really don’t vary a whole lot. This happens to be a genre I really enjoy and I have seen my share of vampire movies, most of the ones on those lists as well.
Priest (2011) is just another vampire movie; I guess that is what some would say. Like Van Helsing (2004) Priest is an adaptation of a comic book character. Boy we love those comic book movies these days don’t we? It even starts out with very comic looking drawing to tell us how the story began and bring us up to the present.
Paul Bettany (A beautiful mind, A Knight’s tale, The Tourist, Firewall) plays the Priest, his character doesn’t even have a name, he is just Priest. The movie takes place in a post-apocalyptic world. After centuries of war between the humans and vampires the humans feel they have finally won and there is peace. The Priests were the warriors during war time. Once there is peace they are of no use any more and kind of become the outcasts of society, not to be spoken to. Well, of course, the peace doesn’t last or there wouldn’t be a movie. Paul Bettany, the warrior priest, has a brother who is living a happy life with his wife and daughter. That is until the vampire’s come and his daughter is kidnapped. Hicks, played by Cam Gigandet (Never back down, Easy A, Pandorum) comes to the Priest for help in rescuing Lucy, the Priests niece.
I loved this movie! There are so many reasons I enjoyed. The script was really good. There are twists and turns and a few surprises in the storyline. The CGI (Computer-generated imagery) or special effects, are very cool. There are some awesome fight scenes and even a few unusual characters. I love the different ways movies portray vampires this one was pretty unique. The setting reminded me of the Mad Max (1979) movies, futuristic and old west at the same time. There is even a huge train scene at the end!
In short, Priest may be just another vampire movie but if you like dark, exciting, post-apocalyptic, sci-fi, vampire, comic book movies. Which I happen to love. You just may like Priest.
Tuesday, November 29, 2011
Monday, November 28, 2011
Lifted
We were just sitting around on Sunday afternoon with my family of ten. Just spending the day at my parents with my sister and her two boys. We were flipping through Netflix trying to find something to watch. We came across this movie called Lifted (2010) I knew it was one I was interested in watching but couldn’t remember why. The description it gave read “The chance to shine in a singing competition offers much-needed hope for a Southern middle-schooler who's drowning in worries, from bullies in the halls to turmoil at home -- and the news that his reservist father has been called back to Afghanistan.”
Somehow the Afghanistan thing didn’t stand out to much, the name Trace Adkins (Then they do, Chrome, Arlington, Songs about me) did stand out though. I am a Trace Adkins fan, for those who don’t know he is a country singer. So, we decided to watch Lifted. Just a side note. If you look on IMDB it has Trace Adkins listed very first. You don’t see him until the last half hour and then not even that much. Still, you do get to see him punch a guy, that was pretty cool.
Well …… two hours later everyone is in tears and yelling at me that I am not aloud to pick the movie any more! I swear if I had any idea what it would be like I would have watched alone. My sister says we should have realized what it would be like as soon as we knew Trace Adkins was in it. (Just listen to any of his patriotic songs)
Lifted is one of those “straight to DVD” movies. Uriah Shelton (The Glades, Alabama moon, The Nanny Express) plays Henry Matthews. Henry is a very talented R&B singer who really enjoys free styling. The opening scene is his mom, dad and him in the kitchen at breakfast and Henry and his dad start singing to mom as she is heading out the door, they do a very fun version of Ain’t no Sunshine by Bill Withers but it sounds more like the Lenny Kravitz version.
When Henry’s father is deployed to Afghanistan his mom and him are left to deal with things at home. There are some tough themes in this movie and that may be offensive to some people. Such as Henry’s grandfather who doesn’t like him or approve of his type of music.
By the end you forget about all of that. In my opinion it is worth watching just to see the end. I think it was so beautifully done and has an amazing message. In reading about it on Netflix it says “This movie is: Emotional” That is very true. Have the kleenex ready.
Somehow the Afghanistan thing didn’t stand out to much, the name Trace Adkins (Then they do, Chrome, Arlington, Songs about me) did stand out though. I am a Trace Adkins fan, for those who don’t know he is a country singer. So, we decided to watch Lifted. Just a side note. If you look on IMDB it has Trace Adkins listed very first. You don’t see him until the last half hour and then not even that much. Still, you do get to see him punch a guy, that was pretty cool.
Well …… two hours later everyone is in tears and yelling at me that I am not aloud to pick the movie any more! I swear if I had any idea what it would be like I would have watched alone. My sister says we should have realized what it would be like as soon as we knew Trace Adkins was in it. (Just listen to any of his patriotic songs)
Lifted is one of those “straight to DVD” movies. Uriah Shelton (The Glades, Alabama moon, The Nanny Express) plays Henry Matthews. Henry is a very talented R&B singer who really enjoys free styling. The opening scene is his mom, dad and him in the kitchen at breakfast and Henry and his dad start singing to mom as she is heading out the door, they do a very fun version of Ain’t no Sunshine by Bill Withers but it sounds more like the Lenny Kravitz version.
When Henry’s father is deployed to Afghanistan his mom and him are left to deal with things at home. There are some tough themes in this movie and that may be offensive to some people. Such as Henry’s grandfather who doesn’t like him or approve of his type of music.
By the end you forget about all of that. In my opinion it is worth watching just to see the end. I think it was so beautifully done and has an amazing message. In reading about it on Netflix it says “This movie is: Emotional” That is very true. Have the kleenex ready.
Tuesday, November 22, 2011
Green Lantern
As much as I enjoy comic books and the movies based on those comic books Green Lantern (2011) is not one that I am very familiar with at all. So watching the movie was really my first introduction to this particular super hero. Knowing that, I can’t say how well it follows the comic book or the legends of the Green Lantern.
The introduction was really interesting. I didn’t know anything about the Guardians or that there were like 3,600 Green Lanterns. Ryan Reynolds (The Proposal, Smokin’ Aces, Buried) plays the Green Lantern. I really like him and enjoyed his performance. The story line is interesting and entertaining. It is fast paced with a lot of action, but still tries to focus on the emotional side of the story as well.
There is a very interesting story about what exactly the Green Lantern is and what the ring is. Hal, Ryan’s character, learns that the color yellow is the power of fear and green is the power of will. The ring is connected to all of the will in the universe that the guardians have collected. The guardians are the keepers of peace, order and justice throughout the universe. One of the guardians tried to harness the power of fear and it turned him evil. What an interesting concept. Hal is told that, “Your will turns thought into reality, the rings limits are only what you can imagine ….. Your constructs are only as strong as your will” There is so much you could analyze and read into with all of that! Fascinating!
Michael Clarke Duncan (The Green Mile, Armageddon, Sin City) provides the voice for Kilowog. He is a very funny character who is going to “train” Hal. Love his voice! It made me chuckle when he said “welcome to ring slinging one oh one or as I like to call it the worst day of your worthless life.” The soundtrack is really good and so is the score. James Newton Howard (The Sixth Sense, The Fugitive, Unbreakable) wrote the score. It is really beautiful.
I find it interesting how many super hero movies deal with father son issues. I don’t have a son or a brother so I am not familiar with that dynamic but it is repeated over and over in comic books. Just kind of an interesting thought. The Green Lantern has two different aspects of this dynamic. It is interesting to see those stories unfold and they way in which they chose to tell them.
The introduction was really interesting. I didn’t know anything about the Guardians or that there were like 3,600 Green Lanterns. Ryan Reynolds (The Proposal, Smokin’ Aces, Buried) plays the Green Lantern. I really like him and enjoyed his performance. The story line is interesting and entertaining. It is fast paced with a lot of action, but still tries to focus on the emotional side of the story as well.
There is a very interesting story about what exactly the Green Lantern is and what the ring is. Hal, Ryan’s character, learns that the color yellow is the power of fear and green is the power of will. The ring is connected to all of the will in the universe that the guardians have collected. The guardians are the keepers of peace, order and justice throughout the universe. One of the guardians tried to harness the power of fear and it turned him evil. What an interesting concept. Hal is told that, “Your will turns thought into reality, the rings limits are only what you can imagine ….. Your constructs are only as strong as your will” There is so much you could analyze and read into with all of that! Fascinating!
Michael Clarke Duncan (The Green Mile, Armageddon, Sin City) provides the voice for Kilowog. He is a very funny character who is going to “train” Hal. Love his voice! It made me chuckle when he said “welcome to ring slinging one oh one or as I like to call it the worst day of your worthless life.” The soundtrack is really good and so is the score. James Newton Howard (The Sixth Sense, The Fugitive, Unbreakable) wrote the score. It is really beautiful.
I find it interesting how many super hero movies deal with father son issues. I don’t have a son or a brother so I am not familiar with that dynamic but it is repeated over and over in comic books. Just kind of an interesting thought. The Green Lantern has two different aspects of this dynamic. It is interesting to see those stories unfold and they way in which they chose to tell them.
Monday, November 21, 2011
Thor
My husband loves Thor (2011) the girls tease him now that he is obsessed. Needless to say I have seen Thor a couple of times, we now own the DVD. It is a pretty good movie. It has some really good one liners, such as "Do you want me to slow him down or would you rather send in more guys for him to beat up?" If you are anxiously awaiting The Avengers (2012) then you have to see Thor. It was fun, once again, to see how Shield is involved. There are some very cool graphics, of course. Asgard is very cool! Unfortunately they put so much time and money into making Asgard, Thor's home, so impressive that the rest of the movie is kind of lacking. Chris Hemsworth (A Perfect Getaway, Star Trek) does a good job but the whole time I just kept thinking “man I can’t wait to see him as the Huntsman in Snow White and the Huntsman (2012)”. I am anxiously awaiting that one as well. I really enjoyed Chris' performance as Thor, he was impressive. Tom Hiddleston (Conspiracy, Midnight in Paris, The Gathering Storm) plays Loki. Once again very cool and did a great job but I kept thinking “can’t wait to see him in Warhorse (2011)”. Loki has an interesting character arch and it is kind of fascinating to watch his story unfold. Tom portrayed it really well.
In conclusion I guess this was a sneak peek at some actors and some other movies that I am very excited to see. I really did like Thor on its own though. He was neat and it had a pretty good story line. Not my favorite of the super hero movies but entertaining. After all, he is the God of Thunder so ...... you know we should probably show some respect.
In conclusion I guess this was a sneak peek at some actors and some other movies that I am very excited to see. I really did like Thor on its own though. He was neat and it had a pretty good story line. Not my favorite of the super hero movies but entertaining. After all, he is the God of Thunder so ...... you know we should probably show some respect.
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