Blade

Do you remember when vampires were actually supposed to be scary? They weren’t these preppy little teens who cry all the time? Well if you have forgotten what vampirism is all about, you need to check out Blade. As an avid movie watcher, I have seen Blade countless times, and it really doesn’t seem to get old. By Blade, I mean the first one. Not that horrible second or even the let down third. The first Blade is original, action packed, and entertaining. Be forewarned: there is a reason why it is rated R. A lot of violence, bloodshed, and cursing is found in this movie. This isn’t exactly something you’d pop in to distract the kids you are supposedly babysitting. This is for grown-ups. Even some of you adults may want to pass this up for Ferngully or something because it gets pretty intense.

Blade is all about a vampire-human hybrid who hunts the demon creatures. He tends to show no mercy to the children of the night, yet he is compassionate to humans. He runs across a recently bitten woman who he decides to try and save instead of killing her upfront. At the same time, he and Whistler (Blade’s mentor) are trying to track down Deacon Frost, a notorious vampire who does not go along with the traditions held by his colleagues. Frost believes that vampires should rule the world instead of making treaties with the human politicians and policemen. There is a big plot and scheme, but what you got to remember is that this is Wesley Snipes here. He is going to kick some serious Nosferatu. That is what should be focused on. It gets intense, as mentioned before. Blade is a great movie, but should be taken seriously when it comes to the violence. The graphics are good for the most part (some are laughable based on what we have today). Overall this is a great movie, has decent acting, and it can be watched over and over again. I give Blade 4 out of 5

Sex/Nudity

Ok, get ready for skimpy clothes, intense making out, and sexual references every which way. In the beginning a woman is…grabbing certain places on one guy. Within five minutes another woman was committing certain practices on a man while another one was kissing him. Like I said, it is not for younger viewers. Both scenes go by rather quickly, but that doesn’t mean it doesn’t happen. There isn’t any nudity on the other hand.

Violence & Gore

Where is a vampire movie without violence? It turns into a teen soap opera. Blade is full of people getting beaten up, stabbed, shot, burned, electrified, and even having their throats ripped off. It’s mainly the bad vampires though, so that’s a plus. Get ready for blood drinking, neck biting, and stake stabbing. Also has some of the best fighting out there. Reminds me of Mortal Kombat…but good.

Profanity

I can’t remember the last time I’ve seen a Wesley Snipes movie where he hasn’t dropped F-bombs left and right. Nothing has changed with this movie. Don’t say I didn’t warn you when you hear every curse word imaginable and used rather frequently in this film. Not for the squeamish

Frightening/Intense scenes

Vampires. Need I say more? If you are a flincher, may not want to watch it. As mentioned before, a lot of stabbing, burnin’, and killin’. At one point a vampire gets his teeth pulled out with pliers. Just letting you know

The Losers

Ok, I’ll admit: I do not like Chris Evans. This is due to the whole Fantastic 4 thing. I just don’t care for him. I became very irritated hearing he was going to be in the new Captain America movie. When this movie first came out, I expected more irritation to come. Eventually I got over it and watched this movie…and I am happy I took the risk.

The Losers is perhaps the most cliché, manly, action movie out there. One has to ask himself…is there anything wrong with that? Not to this reviewer. The actors are amazing, even if the plot isn’t. The main story is that a U.S special force team is betrayed after a mission in Bolivia. They are betrayed by a man simply known as “Max”. The five guys (Clay, Jensen, Pooch, Roque, and Cougar) trick the U.S. government into thinking they are dead, while living in Bolivia trying to make enough money to get back to America. Enter: Aisha. Aisha comes to Clay (the man in charge) and presents him with a mission: kill Max. Max is the classic villain like a James Bond villain or Lex Luthor; he works on buying advanced weaponry that could take out entire cities and then selling them to the highest bidder. Aisha offers to get them into America in exchange for taking out the man who betrayed them. Not everything is as it seems, and the crew is in for explosions, shoot outs, and betrayals from all sides. This movie has a weak story with even a weaker ending; however, the comical side of the movie is well worth it. Every main actor (even Chris Evans) brings something to the table, and the action scenes usually deliver. Caution should be taken with Aisha, for she is both useless and extremely annoying. Hey, I warned you.

Overall I am not ashamed of having this movie in my collection. Whenever I need senseless man time I will definitely watch this movie. This movie did not do well in office, but really needs to be appreciated. I am irritated to know that they will probably not do a sequel. Go buy this movie if you can get a deal on it. Definitely worth it. It was really hard for me to decide whether this was a 3 or 4. It’s that good. Unfortunately, because of lack of a good ending with the annoyance of Aisha, I would have to give this movie 3 out of 5.

Content Advisory

Sex/Nudity

In the beginning of the movie Jensen messes with toys as if they are doing something…unholy. Doesn’t last too long.

Some skimpy clothes/bikinis worn by Zoe Saldana and other ladies in the film.

Aisha at one points straddles Clay in her bra and underwear. The bra flies off and she does some serious head rotating (you don’t see anything of hers but all the same). Next thing you know they are covered in blankets on the couch.

Jensen gets caught with his pants down (literally). Nothing is seen thankfully.

Being a shoot ‘em up guy action movie, there are jokes throughout the movie that are a tad on the raunchy side.

Violence & Gore

Plenty of shootouts, one including an RPG

One guy gets his eye gouged, even though you don’t see the eyeball flying around.

Explosions occur, whether be helicopters, planes, or islands (yeah that’s right: islands).

Profanity

There is some serious language here. Get used to words that begin with S, D, B, and maybe an F (I have read in other reviews the F bomb is dropped, but I haven’t caught it yet).

Frightening/Intense scenes

Nothing that is actually intense. You can guess what will happen before it actually does. Guy getting shot might be intense. Although this is an action movie, it isn’t too crazy. More comedy than action.

Secret Window

Secret Window, Secret Garden, is a novella written by Stephen King, and the basis for this movie.
So going into this movie, you might expect some horrific gory psyched out movie. But, that's just the thing - it's actually a pretty normal plot line. Mort Rainey (Johnny Depp) is an author who is going through a divorce because his wife cheated on him. So he's living by himself when a competitive author, John Shooter (John Turturro) shows up at his door claiming that Rainey stole his story and had it published. He threatens Rainey's belongings and wife unless he changes the story and tells everyone who really wrote it. The movie then goes on through two hours of Rainey trying to figure out how to prove the story is really his, how to protect himself, and how much longer he can put off filing the divorce papers.
There's good news and bad news about this movie.
Good news-
It gets better. There's a huge plot twist near the end, where it goes from a normal plot to, "Oh, Stephen King wrote this". Johnny Depp does a great job as usual, the only problem with him is that he can't exactly be described as a multi-faceted actor. 90% of his roles are the exact same style, so he doesn't really have to do anything other than change his accent every now and then. This role is no different, just with a northern American accent.
Bad news-
The plot twist at the end leaves you thinking "really, Stephen King? You went that route?". It's almost predictable. I'll leave you to either see the movie or figure it out for yourself, which should only take about 5 minutes. The great acting makes up for the predictability of the story though. 3 out of 5.

Content Advisory

Sex/Nudity

A couple of shots showing Mort's wife in bed with another man. Nothing is seen, but you know what happened there.

Violence/Gore

A whole bunch of violence, aggression. There's a good bit of gore too, a lot for a PG-13 movie. A dog and a man are both shown with screwdrivers through their heads, and one man has had his throat cut open. None of these are close up shots, but easily visible.

Profanity
Lots of s-words dropped in this movie, a couple of quick f-bombs, and a lot of other pointless language.

Frightening Scenes
There are a lot of jump scenes in this movie, such as when he finds the murdered dog, or when the man's throat is cut open. Also, the stalker nature of Shooter might scare some

Law Abiding Citizen

“You can’t fight fate.”

When it comes to cinema, you either have movies that are just plain bad or movies that are epic. Law Abiding Citizen is an epic movie. The movie is about Clyde Shelton whose family is murdered by two men who broke into his house. After one criminal is released, Clyde decides to go after the people who set him free. The rest of the movie is a intense ride of suspense and action.

This is an epic movie every way you look at it. The actors are superb at making you believe in their causes. In my opinion, this is Gerard Butler’s best performance. He really makes you feel the pain of losing a family and the hatred for the people involved in their deaths. His performance is so great that it keeps you riveted to your seat throughout the entire plot.

The movie is entertaining from start to finish. There are no drag points although there might be a few loopholes in the story. The movie doesn’t waste time getting into the story and the ending is incredible. Over all, this movie is highly entertaining and worth being seen. I give it 4 out of 5.

Sex/Nudity

Not much, there is a rap scene in the beginning but it cuts away before anything is shown.

There is a woman who is lying in a bed in her underwear.

Gerard Butler is nude in one scene.

Violence/Gore

The violence in this movie is very brutal and realistic.

There is a torture scene that contains some blood.

A man is stabbed in the neck, lots of blood shown.

A woman is shot in the head, gore and brain matter is shown.

A woman is in blown up in a car.

Some people are shot with blood shown.

Profanity

There is a lot of R-rated language in this movie.

Several F-bombs and other curse words are used frequently.

Frightening/Intense scenes

All the violence in this movie is intense and can be frightening to some. A man videotapes himself torturing and killing a man and then sends the tape to a man’s family. A little girl watches the tape and screams, this scene is very intense and emotional, could frighten some. This movie is not for younger people.

Twister

When I was in first grade I lived in Florida next to perhaps the most annoying kid on the planet. Every day he would ride up and down the streets as fast as he could on his bike shouting, “Watch out for the Twister! There is an F-5 right behind yooou!” He even wore a red siren thing on his helmet and would blow his horn. I really wanted to punch that kid in the face at times. Why was he obsessed with tornadoes? Why couldn’t he just play with a Stretch Armstrong like the rest of us? It was because in 1996 Helen Hunt and Bill Paxton were in an iconic movie called Twister. This movie was so famous it spawned a Universal Movie ride called, Twister: Ride it Out! Was the movie really worth all the hype? Should you drop what you are doing and go pick up a copy right now? You are about to find out.

If one were to ask me what the story behind Twister was, I would probably smack them upside the head. It’s. About. Twisters. You with me so far? That’s all you need to know about this movie. Nothing else really matters. Okay, so it’s about tornadoes in Oklahoma. A storm chasing team led by Dr. Jo Harding (Helen Hunt) is trying to implement a new device that, if works correctly, would measure the insides of a tornado which would increase warning system times tremendously. Meanwhile, Bill Harding (Bill Paxton), a former leader of the storm chasing team, meets with Jo in order to finalize their divorce. He finds out they actually built the device that he designed, and he decides to go along for the ride with his fiancé. Insanity ensues, tornadoes hit, and cows are thrown around. Overall, it’s a decent flick. Don’t go into this movie saying, “I hope there is a delicate plot with a surprise ending”, cause you will be disappointed. In fact, if you watch this movie for any other intent except to see the amazing tornado scenes, you should probably get yourself admitted.

Although this movie was epic in the 90s, it really isn’t up for today’s standards. Movies should be built on good plots and great acting. Plus, there are problems with the logic of the ending of the movie, but hey: it’s tornado smashin’. I would recommend this movie as a $5 bin buy. It had great special effects for its day, and it still is fun to watch…once every 3 years or so. This critic gives Twister 3 out of 5.

Content Advisory

Sex/Nudity

Nothing is really seen. Helen Hunt has a shower scene, but nothing below the neck is shown. There is also making out, but nothing to graphic.

Violence & Gore

Ok. It’s a twister movie. There are bound to be some instances of violence. You won’t see a pole through someone’s torso, but there are some injuries, explosions, and deaths. Nothing too crazy, but all the same just for the head’s up.

Profanity

Language is kinda crazy. F-Bomb is dropped once (quickly), and other words are used frequently throughout the movie. Also there is talk of a certain reproductive organ of a man and why a woman married it…yeahh, it happens. But it is only one scene. In any case, there is a reason why it is PG-13, and not just because of the intense tornadoes.

Frightening/Intense scenes

Once again, tornado movie. Bound to be some frightening scenes. Surprisingly, every intense scene is somehow connected with a tornado. I know, it shocks me too, but still…These scenes are done well and it may leave the younger ones with dampened pants. May want to pop in Power Rangers for them while you watch this movie

The Lounge Presents: A LINK!

If you read "Link" as the mainline hero from the Legend of Zelda, then this website is for you! Frisky Gecko game reviews is a blog dedicated to bringing you the news on the latest video games. We tend to think of this blog as our sister group, so if you like our reviews check these guys out. We know these guys well and we trust their judgment.

http://friskygecko.blogspot.com/

Feed that Gecko (whatever that means),

Dudley Manlove

Inception

“You’re waiting for a train, a train that will take you far away. You know where you hope this train will take you, but you can’t know for sure, yet it doesn’t matter because you will be together.”

If you have heard of Christopher Nolan it is most likely because of Batman Begins and The Dark Knight. While he was working on these movies, Nolan had deep within his brain the idea that is Inception. It was an idea he spent years creating and finally was realized when Inception was released into theaters.

Inception is about one Dom Cobb who delves deep into people’s minds to steal secrets for major corporations. He is hired to perform Inception, planting an idea rather than stealing one. The next two hours take you on a steep ride through reality and dreams.

The reason Inception is a good movie is because it has original screenplay. I mean how many movies do you see today that have original stuff to them. Most movies of today’s standards are either sequels or remakes. The acting is another pro for this movie. Everyone worked well together and made their characters seem believable. Even in the parts of the film where no action was taking place, the movie was still entertaining. Just listening to them elaborate on concepts of dreaming and reality was fun to watch.

Overall I can’t think of anything negative to say about Inception. Christopher Nolan has created his masterpiece. You must go into this movie with an open mind. If you are not willing to think about what is going on then this is not the movie for you. I give this movie 5 out of 5.

Sex/Nudity

None

Violence/Gore

There is violence and action throughout this movie, especially in the last 40 minutes.

Profanity

There is mild language in the movie. Most of it is said by Leonardo DiCaprio

Frightening/Intense scenes

Some of the scenes toward the end could be frightening for some. Some of the violence is intense.