It is itself of course a remake.

(Melville was a profound influence on Woo; his Le samourai transformed into The Killer, and Woo has said he'd also like to remake Le cercle rouge. Both of these are astonishing films.)

LEATHERFACE: TEXAS CHAINSAW MASSACRE III
(First Viewing)

A brother and sister set out from california to florida in there fathers car to deliver it for him. Meanwhile, the police have found bodies buried in the ground covered in toxic waste, from the Original Family from TCM 1 and 2. The brother and sister stop at a gas station and are threatened by a crazy man with a shotgun. They take a road they were told of at the gas station but are hunted by leatherface and his family. There only hope is a Survivalist with alot of firepower.

Imagine my surprise to see Viggo Mortensen in this film. Although much like TCM 2, this film is rather dull. The lead actress was better than the last but leatherface and his family were pretty lame and unexciting. As usual, a weak scrpit.

TEXAS CHAINSAW MASSACRE: THE NEXT GENERATION 1/2
(First Viewing)

A group of prom-going teens take a fatal detour into the Texas woods and get into an accidental car crash. Stranded with no place to go, they seek help in Darla, a seemingly innocent insurance agent whose office is located near by. After Darla calls for help, they set out back to the scene of the crash, and are found and terrorized by Leatherface, his crazy brother, Vilmer, and are taken to an old farmhouse where they meet the rest of the cannibalistic clan.

Wow, I'm surprised both Renée Zellweger and Matthew McConaughey signed onto this project, although at the time both were up and coming. Probably the best sequel of the franchise but also the craziest. Leatherface as a transvestite didn't work for me at all. But at least the storyline was an upgrade from the previous two films.

I have put it on my Xmas list and will wait to see if Santy supplies it or not.....

obviously

A BETTER TOMORROW II 1/2
(Fourth Viewing)

In this sequel, Ho (Ti Lung) initially refuses to go undercover to bust the gang he used to work for in exchange for his release from prison. He only accepts after his little brother, the policeman Kit (Leslie Cheung) accepts the assignment. Meanwhile in New York Ken Gor (Chow Yun-Fat), the twin brother of Mark Gor from the 1st movie, shelters the boss of the gang, who has had to flee after it is taken over by a more aggressive leadership.

Pretty much the same receipe for success in the first film was dublicated for the second, only the results yielded more dividends. The same actors and soundtrack although Chow Yun-Fat was more of a bada$$ this time around. For some reason, he can just hold a gun and shoot people up like very few I've ever seen. The final shootout scene in the mansion is classic and probably my favorite by John Woo. I don't know how he does it but John Woo does for gun films what Akira Kurosawa did for samurai films.

THE TEXAS CHAINSAW MASSACRE (2003) 1/2
(Nth Viewing)

Driving through the backwoods of Texas, five youths pick up a traumatized hitchhiker, who shoots herself in their van. Shaken by the suicide, the group seeks help from the locals, but their situation becomes even more surreal when they knock on the door of a remote homestead. It's quickly apparent the residents are a family of inbred psychopaths, and the unlucky youths suddenly find themselves running for their lives. In hot pursuit is a disfigured, chainsaw-wielding cannibal known as Leatherface.

In my opinion, this and THE BEGINNING are probably the two most realistic films in this franchise. Everything before this film, with the exception of maybe the original, seemed too phony. However, the last two sucked me into a reality where I felt I was in danger like the characters. A good cast of young actors including Jessica Biel, Eric Balfour, and Jonathan Tucker. As is the case in THE BEGINNING, R. Lee Ermey easily steals the show with his hilarious, yet everyday kind of comments. I can't believe director Marcus Nispel turned out PATHFINDER after this

TRANSFORMERS
(Second Viewing)

High-school student Sam Witwicky buys his first car, who is actually the Autobot Bumblebee. Bumblebee defends Sam and his girlfriend Mikaela Banes from the Decepticon Barricade, before the other Autobots arrive on Earth. They are searching for the Allspark, and the war on Earth heats up as the Decepticons attack a United States military base in Qatar. Sam and Mikaela are taken by the top-secret agency Sector 7 to help stop the Decepticons, but when they learn the agency also intends to destroy the Autobots, they formulate their own plan to save the world.

Plenty of great action scenes and humor for, in my opinion, the summer's best and biggest blockbuster (that's saying something with SPIDER-MAN 3 and PIRATES OF THE CARIBBEAN: AT WORLD'S END having been released this summer). This film introduced me to Shia LaBeouf who is a promising young actor with a great career ahead of him IMO. Two of my favorite characters in this were Bernie Mac and Anthony Anderson. Whether you rent or buy it, see this film on Tuesday! The Bay is back ladies and gentleman!

THE SUPERFIGHT: MARCIANO VS. ALI
(First Viewing)

Murray Woroner's 1960s radio program, which used a computer to predict the outcomes of fantasy boxing games, was responsible for the much talked about but rarely seen superfight between Rocky Marciano and Muhammed Ali. Shown only once before nearly all the prints were destroyed, this computerized simulation posits a fight between the fighters when both are at the peak of their abilities.

One of the best and most impressive documentaries I've ever seen. I'm really surprised both fighters agreed to this fight, especiall Marciano (who lost up to 50 pounds for this film). I'm further surprised by how the fight ended. As close as we'll get to seeing this match ever and everyone involved did a great job at respecting the fighters, being impartial, and making a great documentary.

I12, it's no secret I am not a sport's fan. However, the one sport my father watched (and later my husband occasionally) was boxing. My father's favorite was Rocky Marciano, so that name brings a smile to my face and a flashback of memories.

I don't even know if Marciano and Ali were in the same weight category, not to mention the fact that I always assumed that Ali was way better than Marciano. I am curious though on the outcome of this fantasy game. Obviously I'd go with Marciano, if for no other reasons but sentimental and of course he's Italian.

TIS

THE TEXAS CHAINSAW MASSACRE: THE BEGINNING
(Third Viewing)

Prequal to the 2003 version of 'Texas Chainsaw Massacre' is set in 1969, the height of the Vietnam War. Two young men are spending a last weekend with their girlfriends before being shipped overseas to the war. At the same time in a small Texas town, the only major business (a meat-packing plant and slaughterhouse) goes out of business forcing the town's inhabitants to move on to greener pastures. One of the men who works in the plant is Thomas Hewitt, a deformed, demented psychopath (who will become known as Leatherface). When Hewitt finds out what is happening, he savagely murders the foreman of the plant. Meanwhile, the two young men and their girlfriends are headed down a lonely highway towards the town when they are involved in an car accident that cripples their vehicle. Soon they encounter the local sheriff, who is not really the sheriff, but the homicidal Charlie Hewitt, the uncle of Leatherface who has murdered the sheriff and taken his job and police car knowing that with the town deserted, no one will notice. Uncle Charlie/Sheriff Hoyt kidnaps three of the teens and takes them to his home where he, Leatherface Hewitt, the senile Uncle Monty, and Charlie's sister, Luda Mae, reside. Charlie wants the developing monster 'Leatherface' to "refine" his murderous abilities. The one girl, Chrissie, who escaped unnoticed attempts to rescue them with the help of a biker whose girlfriend was killed by 'Sheriff Hoyt'. What follows is a night of sheer terror at the hands of a family of cannibalistic, inbred psychopaths.

Probably the most brutal movie I've ever seen and one of my all-time favorite horror films. Like the remake, the style was very realistic, which definitely added to the believeablity. Jordana Brewster absolutely sizzled onscreen and I'd take her over Jessica Biel any day of the week. Finally some back story into the leatherface character! Also, R. Lee Ermey was great but didn't shine as much as he did in the remake.

I don't follow boxing as much as others here but certain fighters do intrigue me and I have to be honest, I don't know much about Rocky Marciano. However, this film was split into two parts: the fight and a documentary which gave a backstory to both Marciano and Ali which I benefited greatly from. As for the fight:



Here's a link for further information: IMDB

Irish, have you seen The Hills Have Eyes (the remake) and Hills Have Eyes 2? I liked the first, but was wondering if the sequel was worth watching.

I never saw the original. I saw the remake and thought it sucked so I never saw the sequel. It's a shame too because I enjoyed the director's previous work on HIGH TENSION. It's a french horror film but it's one of my personal favorites. Go with that instead.

THE REAPING
(First Viewing)

The atheistic Katherine Winter is a former Catholic missionary that lost her faith on God after losing her daughter and her husband in Sudan, sacrificed by the locals that blamed them for the long drought. Presently she investigates religious phenomena with the intent of debunking them, finding a scientific cause for the event. She is invited to go to the small town of Haven, in Louisiana, where the river turned into blood after the death of a boy. After her arrival, each of one of the ten biblical plagues happens in the location dazing Katherine, who discloses the evil secret of the dwellers.

Even though she's won two Oscars I still feel Hilary Swank is somewhat underrated. I don't hear about her like I would a Julia Roberts or Nicole Kidman. It was good seeing her back and she did a fine job with this role. The film started out well with these plagues, but by around the midpoint, it started to become a little silly and predictable.

WE OWN THE NIGHT 1/2
(First Viewing)

New York, 1988: A new breed of narcotics has swept the great city, bringing with it a ferocious crime wave more terrifying than any in recent memory. Outmanned and outgunned by the new criminal order, the police find themselves burying one of their own at the rate of two a month. An all-out war rages, threatening to engulf guilty and innocent alike.

Bobby Green (Joaquin Phoenix) is caught in the crossfire. Manager of a Russian nightclub in Brighton Beach frequented by gangsters like Vadim Nezhinski (Alex Veadov), Bobby keeps his distance, not wanting to get involved. Despite his hedonistic, amoral lifestyle, he is committed to his girlfriend Amada (Eva Mendes) and has ambitions to open his own club and expand out of Brooklyn.

I really don't know how she does it but I think Eva Mendes somehow got hotter. That's all I can say about her, she looked absolutely beautiful in this film and I loved that it was set in the late 80s NYC and not present day. A lot of that reason was due to the awesome soundtrack that assisted it. As much as I like Mark Wahlberg and Robert Duvall, Joaquin Phoenix stole the show. This man is becoming a favorite of mine after 2000's GLADIATOR and 2005's WALK THE LINE (which I was pulling for him to win his Oscar for). Good or bad, the man can play both sides of the fence extremely well.

She is absolutely breathtaking, and that's not a term I throw around lightly. I think more and more mob movies will be set in the 80's because they're a bit more believable set in that time frame. They are to me, anyway. Today's mob is more reminicent of The Gang That Couldn't Shoot Straight than anything else.

DOOM
(Second Viewing)

Something has gone wrong in a research facility on Mars, and the staff are becoming something unimaginable. All research has ceased and the facility has been placed in quarantine. Dr. Samantha Grimm (Pike) have called in an elite squad of soldiers led by Sarge (The Rock) and includes Samantha's twin brother, John Grimm (Urban). No one is safe inside. As the team advance through the facility, and as they are picked off one-by-one, Dr. Grimm has one question: What exactly has caused this?

For whatever reason while watching this I was reminded of PREDATOR. Although, this film wasn't as entertaining, The Rock is no Arnold Schwarzenegger, and the supporting cast isn't as strong in this film as it was in PREDATOR. The Rock continues to show improvement in this film, and even drops a few F bombs. Also, Karl Urban was somewhat tolerable in this film, and wasn't trying to overact with his looks alone.

GRIDIRON GANG 1/2
(First Viewing)

In the Kilpatrick juvenile detention center, the supervisor and former football player Sean Porter sees the lack of discipline, self-esteem, union and perspective in the teenage interns and proposes to prepare a football team to play in one league. He is supported by his superiors and his successful experience changes the lives of many young kids.

Well I've concluded watching The Rock's films (I'm waiting for THE GAME PLAN to come out on DVD). I'll give this film some respect, it was better than I originally thought it would be. However, I'm getting tired of these inner city/true story/inspirational stories (FREEDOM WRITERS and GRIDIRON GANG quickly come to mind). The Rock continues to be an enjoyable actor although he has fallen below standards. I don't really understand why as his films aren't horrid, but he hasn't had that big role yet to put him over. I remember thinking it was going to be THE RUNDOWN but it just didn't turn out that way. Personally, I'd like to see him work with the WWE on a film a la Kane, John Cena, and Stone Cold Steve Austin.

My kids want to watch Gridiron Gang!
I thought it was only cos the Rock was in it but i may watch it with them now

The Rock is a Van Diesel wannabe or is it the other way round..

Cant say ive ever enjoyed a film with the "Rock" in it.

I only watched them because I'm a huge wrestling fan and I've never seen them before. Plus I was in the mood so that didn't hurt either

THE KILLER
(Third Viewing)

In this bloody tale of loyalty and friendship, Chow Yun-Fat is Jeffrey, an assassin who wishes to leave the business so he can take care of Jenny, the beautiful lounge singer who he inadvertently blinded during a previous assignment. Danny Lee is the determined cop who will stop at nothing to bring him in, only he realizes that Jeffrey is no ordinary assassin, and wishes to help him in his quest. Only problem is that Jeffrey's employers refuse to pay him for his last job, money which is needed to restore Jenny's eyesight.

I believe the most bullet ridden film by John Woo. The final shootout was very good but not the same greatness that was experienced while watching A BETTER TOMORROW II. Chow Yun-Fat was awesome as the sly and always claim killer, Jeffrey.

Isn't that scene at the end, calling each other Mickey Mouse and (I forget), absolutely heartwrenchingly disgusting?

I would say tragic more than disgusting because of the Jenny character

In all fairness, I've only seen a dubbed version. But it was still repulsive.

Why do you consider it repulsive?

I consider Woo's style the lowest, cheapest, most pathetic form of emotional manipulation I've ever witnessed. His slow-motion would give Mel Gibson a run for his money, his use of music is nothing but drab, his films in general are just recycled garbage which other people did a lot better before him.

I agree with everything you said except this:



I personally can't think of a better action director than Woo. As I said, in my opinion, he did for gun films what Kurosawa did for samurai films. My second favorite action director is Michael Bay and surely you don't think Bay is better than Woo?