Recent Movie Roundup

Ok, so this month is HUGE at the box office with literally one blockbuster after another being released (one a week). I did see X-Men Origins: Wolverine and I have to say that I had no complaints. Hugh Jackman reprises his role (because they'd be dumb to have anyone else) as Wolverine, who, by the way, was never one of my favorites until Jackman put a sexy face to the character. In fact, my favorite was Gambit who can finally, finally be seen in this installment. I want more of him! I hear the next origins film will be Deadpool with Ryan Reynolds. I don't know enough about this character to be excited about it yet, but I like Reynolds. Oh, and Liev Schreiber as Sabretooth -- awesome! The effects were great and the action was dead-on. Overall, a fun summer flick. 

Now onto the other theatrical release that I saw this weekend -- Star Trek! While I had no complaints about X-Men and thought that it was a fun movie, Star Trek far surpassed it in every arena! It rocked. I have long heard it said that you are either a Star Trek fan or a Star Wars fan and while I watched Next Gen and all of the movies as a kid, I would have to put myself in the Star Wars category, until now! JJ Abrams was true to what I remember of the show and the characters, and the casting was PERFECT! Zoe Saldana as Uhura, Anton Yelchin as Chekov, Simon Pegg as Scotty (my favorite character), yummy Karl Urban as Bones, John Cho rocked as Sulu, and of course Zachary Quinto as Spock and Chris Pine as Kirk (he kind of looks like young Shatner). Everyone was amazing. And that's Eric Bana playing the baddie with Clifton Collins, Jr as his right hand man (get to know him! I've seen him in two films this year and in ads for a third). Star Trek is an absolute must see for moviegoers. Don't miss it! If you are unfamiliar with the originals, don't worry, you won't be confused and the only thing you'll miss out on is the inside joke with all the key lines. See it!

On the DVD front, last week I rented The Burrowers a new western/horror flick I'd been seeing advertised. Now my other makes fun of me for watching bad horror movies and every time he says something, I have to remind him that there is always a chance that the "bad" movie will turn out to be a good one. The Burrowers was like that. It's colonial times in the Dakotas and starts out with Coffey, played by Karl Geary (a steamy Irish man), visiting his beloved's home and finding the whole family missing. A neighboring family is found dead, having been shot by the father who then committed suicide. John Clay played by Clancy Brown, Coffey, and Will Parcher (played by William Mapother) head off thinking that Coffey's lady and her family have been taken by Indians. They team up briefly with Henry Victor (Doug Huchison of the Pirates films) and his soldiers in tracking down the tribe. Coffey and team soon figure out that Victor has ulterior motives and that recovering the family is just an added bonus to abusing native tribesmen. They still think that it may have been an Indian raiding party that took the family, but they are so wrong! I was pleasantly surprised at how much I enjoyed this film. J.T. Petty wrote and directed and I can't wait to see what he does next. Worth the watch if you're a horror fan. 

One to skip would be Kim Basinger and, sadly, Lukas Haas' latest, While She Was Out. I say skip, but really I was just underwhelmed. It wasn't all bad for an evening with nothing better to do. Basinger kicks some hoodlum ass, but I was a bit confused as to why she hung around long enough. It would have made a pretty good made for tv. 

I watched various adaptations of Henry's Turn of the Screw and am still confused. 

And then this weekend I watched Lakeview Terrace a disturbing film about bad neighbors. Samuel L. Jackson is always a favorite of mine even though, as we say in our household, he's one of the hardest working men in Hollywood (he's in EVERYTHING lately). Karry Washington and Watchmen's Patrick Wilson play the young couple who are unfortunate enough to purchase the home next door to Jackson. Not all bad, but like I said, somewhat disturbing. 

I think, given the number of movies I watch, that I may make this a regular Monday post. We shall see. On my re-rent list last week was the fantastic Black Water, a creature feature from down under. Killer crocs in Australia are almost always good in my book and this one makes my skin crawl!

Up for next week's post: Anne Hathaway's Passengers and Angels & Demons, sadly I have not read the original book yet so I can't really compare content, but it's not going to keep me from seeing the movie. (I still lurve Tom Hanks).