Heat (1995):

Starring:

Al Pacino - Lt. Vincent Hanna

Robert De Niro - Neil McCauley

Val Kilmer - Chris Shiherlis

Jon Voight - Nate

Tom Sizemore - Michael Cheritto

Diane Venore - Justine Hanna

Amy Brenneman - Eady

Ashley Judd - Charlene Shiherlis

Mykelti Williamson - Sergeant Drucker

Wes Studi - Detective Casals

Ted Levine - Bosko

Dennis Haysbert - Donald Breedan

William Fichtner - Roger Van Zant

Natalia Portman - Lauren Gustafson

Director:

Michael Mann (Public Enemies; Last Of The Mohicans; Collateral)

Rotten Tomatoes: 86%

Flixster: 92%

Synopsis:

A successful career criminal considers getting out of the business after one last score, while an obsessive cop desperately tries to put him behind bars in this intelligent thriller written and directed by Michael Mann. Neil McCauley (Robert De Niro) is a thief who specializes in big, risky jobs, such as banks and armored cars. He's very good at what he does; he's bright, methodical, and has honed his skills as a thief at the expense of his personal life, vowing never to get involved in a relationship from which he couldn't walk away in 30 seconds. Vincent Hanna (Al Pacino) is an L.A.P.D. detective determined to catch McCauley, but while McCauley's personal code has forced him to do without a wife and children, Hanna's dedication has made a wreck of the home he's tried to have; he's been divorced twice, he's all but a stranger to his third wife, and he has no idea how to reach out to his troubled step-daughter. While McCauley has enough money to retire and is planning to move to New Zealand, he loves the thrill of robbery as much as the profit, and is blocking out plans for one more job; meanwhile, he's met a woman, Eady (Amy Brenneman), whom he's not so sure he can walk away from.

Review:

A film that I had made several jokes about for a while but had never actually seen. Well now I have finally seen it. First off you have an incredible cast of leading me & a great supporting cast all the way throughout the film, even featuring some excellent cameos. The plot is well written, it's a great cat & mouse, cops & robbers film. Do I even need to say how great Pacino & De Niro are in it? I mean neither one of them did anything bad before the mid 2000's.... then they did some shit. The supporting cast is led by Jon Voight & Val Kilmer & Tom Sizemore all are good & fill out the main story lines well. You have on the cop side Mykelti Williamson & Buffalo Bill himself Ted Levine & probably one of the most famous Native American actors Wes Studi filling out Pacino's tactical force team. When the film is on, it's fucking ON, but I felt like it was watered down a little too much with all of the outside non cop drama stuff. The relationships between Pacino & his wife & between De Niro & his..... bang maid? definitely slow down the film, which is probably the deciding factor in the run time of it being 2h52mins. Good interactions between De Niro & Pacino are awesome, but at times can be incredibly slow moving. However, no matter how slow moving the first hour plus is, once you get to the incredible Los Angeles street shoot out scene, it's all been well worth it. Some AWESOME action & shoot em up just complete bad assery. But once all that is over with, it does slow down a slight bit, however now Pacino & De Niro are both pissed off, something that is always foresight into some angry, powerful acting from two of the greatest actors of all time. The movie keeps building & building to a climax that is good, but not great. Somewhat ties everything together, but still leaves a few things that were built to earlier in the film open or solved to easily. I had the idea in my head that this is what the ending of the movie would come down to & go in one of two directions. De Niro gets shot down by Pacino, or barely gets away while Pacino watches him get away. Overall had great acting, great action but was slow moving between action sequences. Cameos by Tom Noonan, Kevin Gage, Hank Azaria, Danny Trejo, THE Henry Rollins, Tone Loc & Pre-Fame Jeremy Piven.

87%

Main Acting: 15/15

Supporting Cast: 14/15

Plot: 8/10

Compared To The Genre: 9/10

Cinematography: 15/20

Intrigue: 16/20

Extra: 10/10

Deep Impact (1998):

Starring:

Robert Duvall - Spurgeon Tanner

Tea Leoni - Jenny Lerner

Elijah Wood - Leo Biederman

Vanessa Redgrave - Robin Lerner

Morgan Freeman - President Beck

Maximillian Schell - Jason Lerner

James Cromwell - Alan Rittenhouse

Ron Eldard - Oren Monash

Jon Favreau - Gus Partenza

Laura Innes - Beth Stanley

Mark McCormack - Andrea Baker

Richard Schiff - Don Beiderman

Leelee Sobieski - Sarah Hotchner

Blair Underwood - Mark Simon

Dougray Scott - Eric Vennekor

Kurtwood Smith - Otis Hefter

Director:

Mimi Leder (Pay It Forward; The Peacemaker)

Rotten Tomatoes: 47%

Flixster: 51%

Synopsis:

Mimi Leder (The Peacemaker) directed this science-fiction disaster drama about the possible extinction of human life after a comet is discovered headed toward Earth with the collision only one year away. Ambitious MSNBC reporter Jenny Lerner (Tea Leoni) stumbles onto the story, prompting a White House press conference. United States President Beck (Morgan Freeman) announces the government's solution: a team of astronauts will travel to the comet and destroy it. The team leader aboard the spaceship Messiah is Spurgeon Tanner (Robert Duvall), who was once the last man to walk on the moon. However, the mission fails, splitting off a chunk of the comet, now due to land in the Atlantic with the impact sending a 350-foot tidal wave flooding 650 miles inland, destroying New York and other cities. The larger part of the comet, hitting in Canada, will trigger an E.L.E. (Extinction Level Event), not unlike a "nuclear winter" as dust clouds block out the sun and bring life to an end. President Beck reveals Plan B: a cavernous underground retreat constructed to hold one million Americans, with most to be selected through a national lottery. Since teenage amateur astronomer Leo Biederman (Elijah Wood) discovered the comet, his family gets a pass to enter the cave, but his girlfriend Sarah (Leelee Sobieski) and her parents will be left behind. Meanwhile, still in space, Spurgeon Tanner devises a plan for a kamikaze-styled operation that could possibly save the Earth.

Review:

Isn't it interesting how two different production companies & studios can come up with the same idea for a movie & then release them in the same year... one can be a critical success while the other is considered to be the poor man's version of the other. We'll this is the poor man's Armageddon for sure. Even though it technically came out first, by 2 months, it is still nothing more than a desperate attempt at what is a great movie. It majorly lacks the A list acting abilities, which in turn takes away from the actual acting in the film. Having Robert Duvall billed as the lead is somewhat false because the lead is spread out between 4 or 5 different story lines that are taking place all at once. A teenaged Elijah Wood does nothing for me, nor does Leelee Sobieski. I found both of their acting & reactions to be forced & terrible. Tea Leoni was probably the best part of the film, although she is definitely NOT a looker. But you want a looker, Mary McCormack, she is naturally beautiful & super-hot along the lines of Virginia Madsen & Mary-Louise Parker. Morgan Freeman as the "Black President" pre-Obama is not very good, because he just sounds like he's narrating everything he is saying. Good cameo appearance by Kurtwood Smith. Now the one difference which does slightly save it, is that it doesn't have a full on heroic, save the earth ending something slightly different than Armageddon. But overall it's still just a lack luster version of Armageddon.

49%

Main Acting: 6/15

Supporting Cast: 8/15

Plot: 6/10

Compared To The Genre: 3/10

Cinematography: 11/20

Intrigue: 10/20

Extra: 5/10

Raging Bull (1980):

Starring:

Robert De Niro - Jake La Motta

Cathy Moriarty - Vickie La Motta

Joe Pesci - Joey

Frank Vincent - Salvy

Nicholas Colasanto - Tommy Como

Theresa Saldana - Lenore

Frank Adonis - Patsy

Mario Gallo - Mario

Director:

Martin Scorsese

Rotten Tomatoes: 98%

Flixster: 92%

Synopsis:

The story of Jake LaMotta, a former middleweight boxing champion, whose reputation for tenacity and success in the ring was offset by his troubled domestic life: full of rage, jealousy, and suspicion--particularly towards his wife and manager/brother--which, in the end, left him destitute, alone, and seeking redemption.

Review:

Considered by many to the one of the greatest films of all time. I would tend to agree. The film is not so much about Boxing, as it is a Boxer with a short temper & slight paranoia leads him through a path of self destruction & misery. The lack of actual Boxing in the film doesn't take anything away from this perfectly written autobiographical picture that won  De Niro the best actor Academy Award while be nominated for 8 others. This is easily Joe Pesci's best performance & it should have garnered him an academy award. He shows a great amount of love for his brother & everything to do with his brothers life only to have Jake's rage & mistrust of Joey's mafia friends tear apart their relationship & bring an abrupt end to Jake's boxing career. The film has a great mix of drama, action with the right spice of comedy thrown in. Overall it really lives up to the credit of one of the greatest films of all time. Brief cameos by Jake LaMotta himself & a very young John Turturo. Also it was fun to finally see the scene that the Simpson's had used during the episode where Homer becomes a Boxer, where he's beating down all the tramps, hobos & bums with the musical montage. I had only known that seen as being in Raging Bull but obviously had never seen it before. Funny stuff. And seriously, what is with the fake nose on De Niro? Atleast now a days directors hire actors who look ENOUGH like them, not add silly things to their faces to make them look more like the real person. De Niro in a fat suit & with fat make up on though was hilarious & not to far off from what he looks like now.

 92%

Main Acting: 15/15

Supporting Cast: 14/15

Plot: 10/10

Compared To The Genre: 10/10

Cinematography: 18/20

Intrigue: 17/20

Extra: 8/10 

The Scout (1994):

Starring:

Albert Brooks - Al Percolo

Brendan Fraser - Steve Nebraska

Dianne West - Dr. Aaron

Anne Twomey - Jennifer

Lane Smith - Ron Wilson

Michael Rapaport - Tommy Lacy

Barry Shabaka Henley - McDermott

John Capodice - Caruso

J.K. Simmons - Assistant Coach

 Director: Michael Ritchie(Fletch; Golden Child; Bad News Bears)

Rotten Tomatoes: 22%

Flixster: 23%

Synopsis:

After several weeks filming The Scout in the late 1970s, star Peter Falk and director Howard Zieff abandoned the project. Two decades later, writer Andrew Bergman gave his original script to Albert Brooks and Monica Johnson, who polished it as a vehicle for Brooks and director Michael Ritchie. Brooks stars as Al Percolo, a talent scout for the New York Yankees whose latest recruit (Michael Rapaport) has just vomited on the field and fled. Sent to Mexico as punishment by his boss (Lane Smith), Percolo finds phenomenal young pitcher Steve Nebraska (Brendan Fraser). Before he can get back to the Big Apple, however, Percolo gets pink-slipped by the Yankees, so he offers Nebraska as a free agent. After a stellar tryout, Nebraska is signed for millions. Soon after, he starts to exhibit odd behaviors that may be linked to psychological problems. A psychiatrist (Dianne Wiest) hired by the ball club wants Nebraska in daily therapy, so Percolo ends up babysitting a mentally unstable pitcher.

Review:

I absolutely love the concept of this film. The shame about it is that they could have made it into a serious dramatic picture, much like Any Given Sunday or Moneyball. However they took too long into the film getting to the serious, dramatic feature & spent the majority of the film with Fraser playing his goofy, over the top self that he plays in most films. However once it gets past the silly & goofy comedic part & gets to the dramatic aspect (very late into the film) Fraser is actually quite good with his emotional portrayal of a man dealing with his emotional past that he has tried to hide from. Albert Brooks, who is great in everything, is funny at times, but at other times he's a little bit disconnected from the story because he is just as goofy as Fraser. The supporting cast, kind of almost doesn't exist. Mainly because it's packed with cameo appearances from former & at the time current baseball players, owners & sports commentators. They make George Steinbrenner look like a completely stupid person & almost mock the Yankees organization. It has it's moments, but it also has a minimal amount of baseball actually in it. Funny cameo by a younger Michael Rapaport. Overall it was good but not great. Love Albert Brooks, I actually might be one person who doesn't mind Brendan Fraser. I do enjoy it though. The Ending was incredibly stupid & was pretty much from a kids movie & ultimately ruined the climax of the film.

 56%

Main Acting: 9/15

Supporting Cast: 3/15

Plot: 6/10

Compared To The Genre: 7/10

Cinematography: 10/20

Intrigue: 15/20

Extra: 6/10

Friday Night Lights (2004):

Starring:

Billy Bob Thornton - Coach Gary Gaines

Lucas Black - Mike Winchell

Garrett Hedlund - Don Billingsley

Derek Luke - Boobie Miles

Jay Hernandez - Brian Chavez

Lee Jackson - Ivory Christian

Tim McGraw - Charles Billingsley

Grover Coulson - L.V. Miles

Connie Britton - Sharon Gaines

Connie Cooper - Mrs. Winchell

Amber Heard - Maria

Director:

Peter Berg (Collateral; Hancock; The Kingdom)

Rotten Tomatoes: 81%

Flixster: 84%

Synopsis:

A drama that chronicles the entire 1988 season of the Permian High Panthers of Odessa, Texas, with football players, coaches, mothers, fathers, pastors, boosters, fans and families struggling with ongoing personal conflicts while the team fights for a state championship. A town for sale, Odessa, Texas has seen better days--the financial bust evident in its boarded-up shops and broken lives. Yet one hope sustains the community where, once a week during the fall, the town and its dreams come alive beneath the dazzling and disorienting Friday night-lights. When the Permian High Panthers take to the field. In a city where economic uncertainty has eroded the spirit of its inhabitants, nearly everyone seeks comfort in the religion of the Friday night ritual, where the unfulfilled dreams of an entire community are shifted onto the shoulder pads of a team of high-school athletes.

Review:

In all honesty, there was nothing special about this film. It plays into every cliche from every other football movie made before it or after it. It even takes parts of other films & reuses them. You've got the first game injured star, then injured backup so the third string needs to step up & become the big star, with the obvious struggles at first scenario much like Any Given Sunday. You have the kid trying to live up to his fathers legend who in his fathers eyes is a disgrace & can't live up to him, then they fight etc. just like Varsity Blues. The football scenes were just as average as every other film. The plot was simple, plain & unoriginal. William Robert Thornton is good but not great, although his half time speech to the team is quite good but is very similar to the Al Pacino speech in Any Given Sunday, although shorter & less intense. The best role is done by Tim McGraw, as the dad who's son doesn't live up to his legend & he is drinking away his memories & the fact that his life went downhill & nowhere ever since he won the state championship many years earlier. He's actually very convincing & is pretty intense for a man with no formal acting training. The cast of young guys doing the football playing is not bad. A couple of veteran high school football film actors & a few baseball movie actors as well. Nothing really special though. Lucas Black I didn't think was very good, but then again I don't think he's very good in anything. Overall it was a below average high school football film.

32%

Main Acting: 6/15

Supporting Cast: 6/15

Plot: 3/10

Compared To The Genre: 1/10

Cinematography: 8/20

Intrigue: 5/20

Extra: 3/10

House Of 1000 Corpses (2003):

Starring:

Sid Haig - Captain Spaulding

Bill Moseley - Otis

Sheri Moon Zombie - Baby

Karen Black - Mother Firefly

Chris Hardwick - Jerry

Erin Daniels - Denise Willis

Jennifer Jostyn - Mary Knowles

Rainn Wilson - Bill Hudley

Walton Goggins - Steve Naish

Tom Towles - George Wydell

Matthew McGrory - Tiny

Robert Allen Mukes - Rufus

Dennis Fimple - Grampa Hugo

Harrison Young - Don Willis

William H. Bassett - Sheriff Huston

Director:
Rob Zombie (Halloween 1 & 2; Devil's Rejects)

Rotten Tomatoes: 17%

Flixster: 67%

Synopsis:

Set in the 1970's, two young couples take a misguided tour onto the back roads of America in search of a local legend known as Dr. Satan. Lost and stranded, they are set upon by a bizarre family of psychotics. Murder, cannibalism and satanic rituals are just a few of the thousand horrors that await.

Review:

Much like his music career, this is just another one of Rob Zombie's outrageous, all over the place, crazy wet dreams except turned into a movie. I remember going to a midnight showing of this, when I was under aged, sneaking in with my friend who will remain unnamed's 26 year old girlfriend. I could not have been  more excited to see it, but at the same time was really unsure of what I was about to get myself into. The disturbing & crazy world of Rob Zombie. The more that I have seen it over the years, the more I realize that it's not actually a good film at all. For being a horror or gorefest film, it really takes itself way too seriously, the dialogue from some of the characters is trying to be too smart for a garbage horror film featuring cannibalism & a real life giant monster dude. The only reason we watched this was to see Pre-fame Rainn Wilson & still non-fame Chris Hardwick is early roles. It has an appeal to weirdo horror film buffs or Zombie fans, but to the general public it's just shit.

19%

Main Acting: 4/15

Supporting Cast: 2/15

Plot: 0/10

Compared To The Genre: 2/10

Cinematography: 5/20

Intrigue: 2/10

                                                       Extra: 4/10

High School High (1996):

Starring:

Jon Lovitz - Richard Clark

Tia Carrere - Victoria Chapell

Louise Fletcher - Principal Evelyn Doyle

Mekhi Phifer - Griff McReynolds

Malinda Williams - Natalie Thompson

Guillermo Diaz - Paco Rodriguez

John Neville - Thaddeus Clark

Brian Hooks - Anferny Jefferson

Director:

Hart Bochner (Just Add Water)

Rotten Tomatoes: 13%

Flixster: 39%

Synopsis:

In this comic send-up of dramas set in urban schools (such as Lean on Me and Dangerous Minds), Jon Lovitz plays Richard Clark, a teacher who is persuaded to give up his position at Wellington Academy, an upscale private school (where the receptionist cheerfully answers calls with the question "Are you white?"), to take over a class at Marion Barry High School in Inner City, U.S.A. Marion Barry High is a far cry from the ivory-tower atmosphere of Wellington; the statue in the courtyard holds a crack pipe, the Michigan Militia sets up a booth for career day, and there's so much violence on campus that the school has its own graveyard; however, Clark is determined to reach his thick-headed charges, and he hopes to also make an impression on Victoria Chapell (Tia Carrere), a beautiful woman also on the teaching staff. Clark does battle with Evelyn Doyle (Louise Fletcher), the school's militaristic principal, in an effort to raise standards for the school's star straight-C students, and he finds that he's getting through to one of the school's toughest students Griff (Mekhi Phifer).

Review:

Racist to every white person who watches this film. The love making scene in Brokeback Mountain is less awkwardly gay than Jon Lovitz is... in his whole life. I use to think that this film was really funny when I was like 12, but I had to force myself to sit through this stupid attempt at comedy. I'm disappointed at someone like Mekhi Phfifer who has tried so hard to take himself away from stereotypical roles like this, except for the fact that he had this to look back at his early career & think why he would do that role. This is also the film that when David Zucker dies, he will be rolling over in his grave about the fact that he produced this. An extremely poor spoof of Dangerous Minds. Tia Carrere is really hot though, but her stupid role makes me angry.

 18%

Main Acting: 2/15

Supporting Cast: 3/15

Plot: 2/10

Compared To The Genre: 2/10

Cinematography: 4/20

Intrigue: 2/10

Extra: 3/10

You Don't Mess With The Zohan (2008):

Starring:

Adam Sandler - Zohan / Scrappy Coco

John Turturo - Phantom

Emmanuelle Chriqui - Dalia

Nick Swardson - Michael

Lainie Kazan - Gail

Ido Mosseri - Oori

Rob Schneider - Salim

Dave Matthews - James

Michael Buffer - Walbridge

Sayed Badreya - Hamdi

Daoud Heidami - Nasi

Director:

Dennis Dugan (Happy Gilmore; Grown Ups; Big Daddy)


Rotten Tomatoes: 37%
Flixster: 50%

Synopsis:

A Mossad agent fakes his own death so he can move to New York and become a hair stylist.

Review:

This is an insult to anyone who has ever seen a movie.

1%

Main Acting: 0/15

Supporting Cast: 0/15

Plot: 0/10

Compared To Genre: 0/10

Cinematography: 0/20

Intrigue: 0/20

                                                                      Extra: 1/10

Haywire (2012):

Starring:

Gina Carano - Mallory Kane

Ewan McGregor - Kenneth

Channing Tatum - Aaron

Michael Douglas - Coblenz

Antonio Banderaz - Rodrigo

Bill Paxton - John Kane

Michael Angarano - Scott

Michael Fassbender - Paul

Director:
Steven Soderbergh (Ocean's 11,12 & 13; Traffic; Erin Brockovich)

Rotten Tomatoes: 80%

Flixster: 40%

Synopsis:

In Haywire, an electrifying tale of espionage and betrayal, a female covert ops specialist (Carano), who works in the deadly world of international operatives, strikes back after discovering she's been double-crossed by someone close to her in the agency.

Review:

For once a film director, who was looking for an action lead did the opposite of what most do which is cast an actress in an action role & then teach her to be an action actress. Instead Soderbergh went the opposite direction with it & cast MMA fighter Gina Carano who obviously could do the action side of the role & they would attempt to teach her the acting side. Well FAILURE. Sure Gina is a  somewhat successful MMA fighter, super HOT! but attempting to teach her to be an intense & overpowering lead actress is an epic failure of Russians teaching dogs to fly spacecraft proportions. Poor monotoned Gina, saying her lines as if she was reading them off a teleprompter ala Saturday Night Live. Her fight scenes are unique & incorporate her back ground in Muai Thai fighting & are much different than other actions films starring a woman lead. Once you get past the unfortunate acting of Gina, you have a who's who of incredible supporting cast. Ewan McGregor, Channing Tatum, Michael Douglas & Antonio Banderas with a giant old man beard are a great supporting cast that does a good job of keeping the plot & acting relevant & interesting. Bill Paxton is great as Carano's farther & is a good acting compliment to her poor acting ability. I also swear that this will be one of the last Fassbender films I review for a time, I swear, unless he's in something important in theaters I need to see. The plot was an average, maybe sometimes below average spy thriller but without the intriguing story or text. It was quite confusing & hard to follow for the first hour, it's very hard to understand whom is on what side & whom is trying to kill whom. It also doesn't help that is flashes back & forth throughout which adds to the confusion.

46%

Main Acting: 4/15

Supporting Cast: 7/15

Plot: 5/10

Compared To Genre: 5/10

Cinematography: 10/20

Intrigue: 5/10

Extra: 10/20