Wednesday, November 11, 2015

Kingsman The Secret Service 2014 7+ out of 10


Kingsman The Secret Service   2014   7+ out of 10

Kingsman The Secret Service has one of the most crazy violent scenes I've ever seen in a movie that takes place in a church.  The violence is in a silly over the top style that reminded me of an Itchy and Scratchy cartoon and therefore didn't seem as violent as it really was.   The film about a super secret spy organization and is based on a comic book called The Secret Service. It definitely had the look and feel of a comic book with its wild action sequences that felt like panels ripped straight out of a comic book.  

Colin Firth the Bad ass:
 Colin Firth gets to play a bad ass for once and comes off like a total James Bond especially in an action scene early in the film.  This fight scene is a big departure from the classic not so manly fight he had with Hugh Grant in Bridget Jones Diary.  Colin Firth is one of my favorite (non Python) British actors and it was refreshing to see him in this kind of role.    

The movie Itself:
I was surprised by the level of over the top violence in the film. The movie reminded me a lot of Shoot Em Up with Clive Owen in it's visual style .   I was expecting a spy movie that felt more like the X-Men First Class movie which its creators were involved in--but instead it felt more like a mix between Snatch and the original 1960's Casino Royale to me.  The story basically follows the recruitment of a young troublemaker to be a replacement for a fallen spy into the secret organization.  I felt the film got bogged down in this training phase a little as the main character competes with other recruits for the only spot in the organization.   I would have rather seen more of actual spy missions and this was probably the main reason I didn't rank the film higher.   The action was fun if you except the over the top cartoonish violence. Samuel L Jackson plays the main villain of the film and  Jack Davenport (Captain Norrington from Pirates) also stars in a brief role as an agent at the start of the film. 

I'd say if you liked Shoot Em Up you will probably like this as well.



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Wednesday, November 4, 2015

Ginger Clown 2013 3 out of 10





Ginger Clown 2013   3 out of 10


The title of this strange horror film caused me to stop while I was flipping by on the TV . The description made me record it for later  It was described as teens in an abandoned Theme Park realize it is over run by monsters---(which being a Scooby Doo fan got my attention).   I was expecting a film that was along the lines of  Thrill Ride or the 1980’s horror flick Funhouse, unfortunately I got something else.  

The movie starts out with some jock  named Biff (Back to the Future anyone)  that is parked at make out point that decides to bully a nerd from his school that is riding by on a bicycle.  
 It set a mood that felt like something out of Toxic Avenger ---but after this initial scene the movie goes downhill into bizarroland.    The nerd is challenged to spend 3 hours in an old abandoned Theme Park….his girlfriend that is upset at the Bully decides to accompany the nerd.    The concept for the movie held a lot of potential ---but the strange story and weird darkness of all the shots made for a messy and strange film.   It was listed as a Horror Comedy ---I guess they forgot the comedy part.  
 The movie featured a bunch of terrible looking Paper Mache looking Monsters.  The budget must have been small for this flick…despite the fact that it featured several knows Hollywood actors like Tim Curry voicing the strange pointless creatures.   The main villain of these strange creatures was a giant Puppet looking Clown called the Ginger Clown. Other creatures included a talking foul mouthed tea pot and a spider creature.     Nothing in this weird film was ever really explained –and it definitely wasn’t scary.   
I’d say that Ginger Clown is definitely a forgettable horror movie. 
I wish Scooby Doo and the gang would have showed up to uncover what was beneath the absurd looking monsters.


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Tuesday, November 3, 2015

RIPD 2013 6 out of 10


R.I.P.D  2013   6 out of 10

R.I.P.D. turned out to be exactly what I thought it would be.
This movie was basically just a Men in Black wannabe.  It was based on a comic book called Rest In Peace Department from 2001 which I've never read so I'm not sure how closely it follows the comic.   The movie is basically just a rip off of MIB and the short live,  awesome low budget TV Show Good vs Evil which aired 2 years before the comic book came out.

So many elements of these two better franchises were reused in this movie that there wasn't anything original about it.   Just replace the Men in Black fighting Aliens with deceased cops fighting "Deados"  (Dead people that haven't moved on posing as humans).   It is basically the same premise with a less interesting dynamic between the old cop Jeff Bridges as the Tommy Lee character  and the just dead cop Ryan Reynolds as the cocky rookie.  The story is the same as well--they must save the world from complete destruction.   That being said I the movie itself was okay --it just wasn't on the level of the film and show it was blatantly copying from.  


 The main gag of the film was that the characters don't appear to those on earth as themselves.   Instead people see Ryan Reynolds character as an old Asian man and Jeff Bridges  1800's wild west sheriff appears as a hot chick.   This joke was funny in the trailer -but falls kinda of flat in the film and was yet another thing borrowed from G vs E.   In fact the Ryan Reynold's entire character seemed to ripped straight out of G Vs E as he wants to reconnect with his ex and make the dirty cop that killed him pay for what he did.    Again the film was a decent rip off of a much better versions of the same story.   I'd personally recommend getting your hands on G vs E instead though.  It made me miss that show.


Here is the trailer

Here is the opening for G vs E for comparision



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