Movie & DVD Reviews

Quantum of Solace is the 22nd in the series of one of the most famous movie franchises of all time. THat of course means British secret agent James Bond.

Since the Bond movie, Casino Royal, when Pierce Brosnan was replaced by Daniel Craig, initial concerns with the casting of Daniel Craig soon turned into widespread praise. Most audiences and reviewers alike applauded the new realism and cynicism associated Craig’s Bond.

The next Bond movie, Quantum of Solace, will also be well received. Directed by Marc Forster it also stars Mathieu Amalric, Olga Kurylenko, Gemma Arterton, Judi Dench, Jeffrey Wright and Giancarlo Giannini. Besides being the 22nd in the series, it’s also the sequel to Casino Royal.

Bond will fight against Dominic Greene (Mathieu Amalric) who is a member of the Quantum organization and intends to take control of Bolivia’s water supply. Craig has a companion, of course — another Bond girl in the form of pretty Olga Kurylenko — who wants to kill Dominic Greene as well. Here’s what HQ Celebrity says about Olga.

She had told how she cried when she was asked to cut her long hair to fit into the role for her character in the movie. There had been several bad incidents on the set of this James Bond movie. The stunt men suffered accidents. It seemed that the Quantum Of Solace has been demanding on the crew.

Some were expecting the release date for Quantum of Solace to have been this month, but as filming didn’t start until recently, that was obviously unlikely. Instead it’s been pushed back to November 7th. There is no official trailer available yet, but there are some behind the scenes video from the set of Quantum of Solace.

The number of movies detailing bank robberies organized by women are not exactly many and that’s what director Callie Khouri hopes will make Mad Money so special and appealing to viewers. Produced by Robert O. Green, Avi Lerner and Trevor Short, the movie was released this January. It stars Diane Keaton, Queen Latifah, Katie Holmes, Roger R. Cross with Adam Rothenberg.

The movie is a comedy about three women who decide to do something extraordinary — to rob one of the most secure banks in the world. Bridget Cardigan is shocked to discover that she is on the edge of losing her comfortable house and upper-middle class life since her husband has lost his job.

Armed only with a decades old English degree, Cardigan is forced into the unfamiliar labor market with no job skills and understanding of the work market. However, she later discovers that she has more skills than she ever thought she had before. Cardigan, Nina and Jack team up to smuggle soon-to-be destroyed currency out of the supposedly airtight Reserve.

Cinema Blend.com reports that what makes Mad Money more interesting is that the movie doesn’t end well for the women.

They keep going, walking out with more and more “to be destroyed” money, robbing their employer over and over, with no one the wiser. It’s been awhile since I saw that in a heist movie. Much of the film is spent watching them and their spouses, a bunch of “Ted Dansons” argue over when they should call it enough and cut it out. Keaton’s character doesn’t feel she’s filled enough suitcases, Queen Latifah’s character doesn’t want her kids to become orphans, and Katie Holmes’s character won’t be happy until she can afford to dance her way out of Tom Cruise’s life and down to Cabo.

According to the New York Times, the demographically oddball threesome of Cardigan, Nina and Jack is calculated to appeal equally to the Woody Allen, Oprah Winfrey and Jerry Springer crowds.

Having grabbed some loot without being caught, the women go wild and deliriously toss it into the air. As the movie invites you to share their delight, you may feel a tad unclean. Is wealth, ill-gotten or not, the answer to everything? Yes, yes, yes! proclaims the movie, directed by Callie Khouri from a screenplay adapted by Glenn Gers from the British television film “Hot Money.”

Most reviews of the film were generally very negative, but for those who want something a little different from the usual heist movie, here’s the official trailer.

One of the most anticipated animated fims to hit movie-theaters this year is Madagascar 2: Escape to Africa. The first immediately grabbed everyone’s attention and it looks like directors Eric Darnell and Tom McGrath are going to hit gold again with even better sequel. The film features the voices of Ben Stiller, Chris Rock, Jada Pinkett Smith, David Schwimmer, Sacha Baron Cohen, Cedric the Entertainer, Andy Richter, and Alec Baldwin.

Madagascar 2 can hardly fail given that DreamWorks is responsible for the computer-generated animation, and if you haven’t seen the first what to say? Until November 7th enjoy the teaser trailer.

Minty: The Assassin, both directed and written by Eugene Baldovino, is set to release this summer. The movie stars Jacki R. Chan as Molly Leviathan, Tabitha Taylor as Double Delicious, Anthony Ray Parker as Big Boss and Elina Madison as Minty.

Minty: The Assassin revolves around a youthful, punk rock, feminist, female super heroine who gets her super powers from eating chocolate. One day, Minty’s agent, Big Boss, is taken hostage by Doctor Brain Bender, an evil neuroscientist. Minty then fights her way up various floors of Doctor Brain Bender’s paranormal building to rescue Big Boss. Through her journey, Minty educates her adversaries on the fascinating world of natural science and uses her beauty and pure brutality to demonstrate the biological theory of the survival of the fittest.

Gazillionmovies.com reports that Minty meets several hurdles on her way to rescue her agent, Big Boss, which makes the movie more and more interesting.

A number of remarkable villains try to prevent this amongst them Captain Capability (Hawk Younkins), a nature freak; Sensational Ninja (McKay Stewart), an effeminate assassin; Rat Monster (David A. Lockhart), a depressive mutant; Bruce Zee (Elan Tom), a psychotic martial arts practitioner; Molly Leviathan (Jacki R. Chan), a sensual fantasy vixen; Zen Cowboy (Ricardo Mamood-Vega), a blindfolded gangster, and Double Delicious (Tabitha Taylor), an intellectual lesbian vampire…

Before the movie is released, here is the official trailer.

Babylon A.D. is an upcoming science-fiction movie with lots of action and adventure. Originally the movie was meant to be released on February 29th, but as it wasn’t ready, its current release date is August 29th.

Directed by Mathieu Kassovitz, Babylon A.D. is based on the novel Babylon Babies by Maurice Georges Dantec. It stars Vin Diesel, Vincent Cassel, Michelle Yeoh and others which means that it should stand well above your typical action-based sci-fi movie thanks to Vin Diesel.

Diesel plays Toorop, a veteran mercenary who is tasked with escorting a woman form Russia to China. Although he thinks that it’s just an ordinary mission he soon finds out that his so called friend carries a strange organism which has the potential to be the next Messiah. As a result, powerful leaders attempt to get their hands on the organism.

Here is what Glam reports.

The woman ends up being a host to an organism that a cult wants to harvest. This cult is interested in manufacturing a genetically modified Messiah.

The movie is full of special effects and it’s also worth mentioning that the music is composed by Hans Zimmer and Atli Orvarsson. Enjoy the trailer.

Horror movies aren’t among my favorites, but horrors in “J-Horror” style (Japanese-horror) can undoubtedly be very appealing to watch. Directed by Eric Valette and produced by Broderick Johnson, Andrew A. Kosove, Scott Kroopf, Jennie Lew Tugend with Lauren C. Weissman, One Missed Call — an American remake of the Japanese horror movie of the same name — was released on DVD last month. The movie stars Shannyn Sossamon, Edward Burns, Ana Claudia Talancon, Ray Wise and Azura Skye.

One Missed Call revolves around a group of people who receive terrifying messages on their cellphones from an unknown number. Even though the messages can be deleted, their numbers are still up. Beth Raymond becomes traumatized when she witnesses the gruesome deaths of two close friends just days apart. Even more disturbingly, Raymond is aware that both of them have received chilling cell phone messages - actual recordings of their own horrifying last moments.

Raymond turns to detective Jack Andrews asking for help. Both Andrews and Raymond manage to get close to revealing the truth. However, even at this moment, her cell phone continues to ring with an eerie tune, and the readout keeps saying, “One Missed Call.”

The New York Times reports that as Beth tries to evade her own telegraphed demise — accompanied by a fantastically irrelevant police detective — the movie crawls with furry millipedes and creepy china dolls.

The latest Japanese knockoff to fetishize death by technology, Eric Valette’s reworking of Takashi Miike’s “Chakushin Ari” is a poker-faced puzzle whose biggest shock is the absence of Sarah Michelle Gellar. Subbing for that remake regular is Shannyn Sossamon as Beth, a dour psychology student whose friends suffer grisly deaths after receiving heads-ups on their cellphones.

According to Pegasus News, the movie has nothing remarkable; it is a pure formula spook show, in which attractive young people are menaced by prophecies of their own doom - a doom which proceeds to be inevitably carried out in various grisly ways.

The twist here is that the doomed ones each receive a voicemail from their future, consisting of a cryptic message followed by “AAAH!” or “AARGH!” or “CRAPOLA!”, exclamations intended to convey that their mortal coils are in the process of being reluctantly shrugged off. As in all these sorts of impending inevitable death amorality tales, different marked characters attempt to remove themselves from Death’s hit list in varying ways, providing the guts of the drama, so to speak.

Here is the official trailer.

Action thrillers can really keep viewers on the edge of their seats, and one such movie, Taken, is due to follow up on its French February 27th release by opening in the U.S. on September 19th. Directed by Pierre Morel it stars Liam Neeson, Maggie Grace, Famke Janssen and others.

The movie revolves around a teenager, Kim (Maggie), whose parents, Bryan and Lenore (Neeson & Janssen), are divorced. Kim lives with her mother and her new husband, and during the summer decides with a friend take a vacation in Europe where they hope to follow the European leg of a tour by U2.

Kim knows she can easily get permission from her mother, but that Bryan might not allow her. Wikipedia details what happens after.

In Paris a seemingly friendly young man proposes to share a taxi with them to the house where Kim and her friend are staying, and so they do. However, the man works for a criminal organisation of Albanians to which he reports the address.

In the house, while the friend is being abducted, Kim happens to have her father on the phone. He tells her to hide under a bed and to tell him as much as possible about the abductors, which she does while being pulled from under the bed. She is sold at an auction to a sheik as a sex slave.

Bryan who was a secret agent in the past flies to France to save daughter’s life.

Enjoy the trailer.

Get Smart, directed by Peter Segal and produced by Jimmy Miller with Steve Carell, is set to release this summer. The movie stars Steve Carell, Anne Hathaway, Dwayne ‘The Rock’ Johnson, Terence Stamp and Alan Arkin.

Get Smart details the life of analyst Maxwell Smart who works for U.S. spy agency, Control. When the headquarter of the company is attacked, its chief has no choice but to promote his ever-eager analyst Maxwell Smart, who has always dreamed of working in the field alongside superstar Agent 23.

However, Smart is instead partnered with veteran Agent 99 and together they have to uncover KAOS’ master plan and save the day.

Spill.com reports that when KAOS attacks the U.S. spy agency, the identity of every agent working for the company is compromised.

Realizing that the only way to thwart KAOS’s evil plan is to promote eager but inexperienced Control analyst Maxwell Smart (Carell) to the rank of special agent, the Chief (Alan Arkin) reluctantly teams Smart with Agent 99 (Anne Hathaway) - a veteran super-spy whose beauty is only surpassed by her lethality. With no real field experience to speak of and nothing but sheer enthusiasm and a handful of fancy spy-gadgets to help him accomplish his deadly mission, Maxwell Smart his new partner Agent 99 will be forced to faces malevolent KAOS head Siegfried (Terence Stamp) and his loyal army of minions in a decisive fight that will determine the fate of the free world.

According to Empire Movies, with little field experience and even less time, Smart has to thwart the doomsday plans of KAOS head Siegfried.

When the headquarters of U.S. spy agency Control is attacked and the identities of its agents compromised, the Chief (Alan Arkin) has no choice but to promote his ever-eager analyst Maxwell Smart, who has always dreamt of working in the field alongside stalwart superstar Agent 23 (Dwayne Johnson).

Before the movie is released, here’s the official trailer.

If thrillers are your favorite type of movies, then you’ll probably be interested in the DVD release of one of the best films of its type this year — Untraceable. The film is directed by Gregory Hoblit and stars Diane Lane, Colin Hanks, Billy Burke, Joseph Cross, Mary Beth Hurt.

The story revolves around a serial killer who uses the Internet. Each of his victims is shown on his own website (www.killwithme.com) via live streaming video and as people visit it, the closer to dying the victim is. Lane, who works as an FBI agent, is charged with the task of hunting down the untraceable killer, but she soon realizes that her family is in danger as well.

To begin with, it appears that victims are chosen randomly, but the plot spoiler on Wikipedia says otherwise.

At first it seems the victims were randomly chosen, but it turns out that there is more to the story. The first two victims were chosen because they were part of filming or presenting the suicide of a junior college teacher. This teacher has a son, who is a techno-prodigy and a bit unstable, breaks down and was admitted to a psychiatric hospital. When released, he decides to prove a point (that the public is insatiable for the suffering of others), as well as wreak vengeance on those he feels have exploited his father’s tragedy. Dowd was killed because he came close to the truth of who the murderer was and Marsh, who figures this out, is soon targeted as well.

Until the DVD’s release on 13 May, here’s the trailer.

Shelter, directed by Jonah Markowitz and produced by J.D. DiSalvatore, was shown in movie theaters nationwide on 21 March. The movie stars Trevor Wright, Brad Rowe, Katie Walder, Jackson Wurthand, Tina Holmes and is a life drama.

Set in in the working-class San Pedro area of Los Angeles, Shelter details the life of Zach (Trevor Wright), who is in love with Tori (Katie Walder). Zach acts as a surrogate father to his five-year-old nephew, Cody (Jackson Wurth). However, everything changes when Zach finds himself drawn to Shaun (Brad Rowe), a confident writer who is an eager enabler of all of Zach’s passions.

Oasis Journals reports that the simplicity of the movie is what makes it sort of relaxing to watch.

It looks great, the boys are hot (I was a bit unclear why two boys waking up in bed the next morning after having sex the night before would have put underwear on at some point before falling asleep), and we do root for Zach. There is a clear shift in his mood when he is first with Shaun, that we finally see he is looking for happiness, is capable of it, that makes us want him to have it on a more permanent basis.

According to the New York Times, Shelter is less about erotic soul-searching than about defining one’s boundaries.

As the two hit the surf and Shaun’s mattress with equal enthusiasm, the movie’s abundance of tanned bodies, rolling waves and golden sunsets create an aesthetic of inoffensive hedonism that perfectly matches the subject matter. And if at times the symbolism is a bit heavy-handed — and the ending is easily foreseen — strong performances and Joseph White’s burnished cinematography do much to atone. Coming out has rarely looked so pretty.

Before the movie is released, here is its official trailer.