Bonesnap

Mirrors

It has been a while since I’ve added any book or movie reviews. Hopefully I can get a few added this weekend.

For now I’ll post my two-cents on the movie Mirrors. In my honest opinion I liked the movie. In this day and age it’s really hard to find a movie where the plot is something new let alone original.

Don’t get me wrong, Mirrors wasn’t any type of break through in movie ideas; however, it’s watchable.

I think the reason I liked it was that it took a while for the plot line to unravel. It was good at creating mystery and kept you guessing through ¾ of the movie to what the hell was going on.

So, the movie goes like this:

Jack Bauer gets a job at a security guard at an old building that was nearly destroyed in a fire. The only building contents that weren’t destroyed in the fire were these big ass mirrors.

Soon Jack starts hearing and seeing things and come to realize that the mirrors are bad. However, the badness isn’t just the mirrors it’s any thing that provides a reflection.

Jack soon realizes he’s on borrowed time and needs to do something fast other wise his whole family might be in jeopardy. Anyway, not to give it away but once they start talking about Sister Mary you will figure out what’s going on.

If you buy the DVD version be sure to watch the alternate ending. It’s cool.

Ok, I went and saw the  M. Night. S.  movie the other night: The Happening. I was on a forum where people were bashing him because this movie didn’t live up to his other movies (a.k.a. the kick ass ending). 

He’s made some good movies in the past and to be judge by those movies is kind of unfair.
Each movie is different in its own way and a director (and writer) can’t guarantee that his movies will be a hit. Just ask Tarintino about his last movie endeavor. It blew.

Anyway, I’m a big movie buff and seen all of his other movies except Lady in the Water (but I will). I didn’t rush to the movies to see this flick. I was told it was scary by some friends so I decided to see for myself.

For the first few minutes it was pretty intriguing. Then, like the SAW flicks, it got old. Don’t get me wrong, creatively coming up with way to off one’s self I guess is a daunting task. Yet…it get’s old.

So, I wasn’t a big fan of this movie. It could have been a lot better. It was more like a sci-fi original movie fodder. It was painfully slow, way to much ‘emotional’ crap between the actors, and stupid decisions like “Here watch my kid because I care more for my wife than my kid. I know my wife is old enough to take care of herself and my child isn’t yet I’m going to abandon her to your care anyway. Also, since I’m a mathematician I know that I have a %68 chance of finding her the next town if I don’t die a horrible death first.”

Well, it wasn’t quite like that but dang near close enough.

Now, if the rude old lady (Betty Buckley) was causing it… that would have been cool. There were way too many subplots and just plain weird people.

I am going to make a generalization here, women in general find anything scary. The women who I talked to said this movie was totally scary and they had to cover their eyes the whole time. You watch it and be the judge; I thought it was kind of soft myself.

In the past two weeks I’ve seen this movie twice. Not because it’s a good movie (which it was) but because I just had the opportunity to go twice. I really like the movie. It and Ironman, so far have proved to be very good Marvel movies. The story is not related to the Hulk movie that was produced by Ang Lee. This movie story line is a variation of the T.V. version The Incredible Hulk. It even had cameos by Lou Ferrigno and Bill Bixby even though I didn’t see the cameo spot by Bill Bixby. Over all, Bruce Banner is hunted by General Ross so he can exploit the power of the Hulk. Along the way, a new threat is introduced: The Abomination. Which leads to a fantastic fight in N.Y.

I have to give the director credit, he was able to show so much feeling and emotion through the facial expression of Bruce Banner and the Hulk that you didn’t need sit through a dance number like in Spider Man 3 or listen to constant whining. It was well directed movie and worth the money for a ticket.

On a side note: if my memory serves me correctly; Betty Ross (Banner’s love and the General Ross’s daughter) was a strong willed woman in the comics. In the movie they made her sappy cry bag. However, I guess it had its place since it would piss the Hulk off enough to help her out.

Well, first of all, I have to say I kind of liked this movie. I don’t know if people have noticed but there just aren’t a lot of good slasher films out there. Like every other typical red-blooded American male between the ages of 16-45, I like blood and carnage. The more the merrier. However, not since SCREAM has there been any GOOD twists in slasher flicks. Does STAY ALIVE qualify as a slasher flick? In my book it does. People die (teenagers) and the survivors discover it’s an evil force (sort of like Freddy, Jason, Myers, etc..).  They must ban together and figure out a way to stop it. The twist in this movie is the actors are dying off like their virtual characters did in a video game… hence the name STAY ALIVE.

I will warn you though, if you are one of these people who like to pick apart movies and plot lines, then skip this movie. There is parts in this flick that really doesn’t make any sense. For instance, I’m playing a computer game, that when I die in the game, I will die like that in real life. Ok, hmmmm.. Once I figure that little piece of important information out, wouldn’t you think it’d be a wise move to SHUT THE FUCKING GAME OFF????

They also figure out that the killer can be temporary stopped by using a Red Rose. So they carry a few of them around. A FEW!? I’d be wearing a rose suit, necklace, and tie. I’d have them in my hair; I’d be taking a bath in the leaves, heck I’d even eat a few for good measure.

Over all, I liked it. It was just a little different.

Now a side note:

I know that everyone is talking about SAW III. The first SAW was a great concept. But the sequels offer nothing new. Ok, you take a bunch of stupid people and place them in situations you know they will lose at. Heck, you can do that forever. SAW is no different from the FRIDAY 13^th movies. After the first movie you weren’t scared any more. You just watched the flicks to see how creatively that Jason could disembowel someone. SAW is the same way. They need to spice things up some. Maybe Jigsaw meets Jason! Now that would be a flick I’d want to go see.  Oh man, I can see it now.

Scene:

Jason wakes up in a room with very little light. There is a female body bound and gagged   with duct tape on the floor.  

Jason looks around. He has a giant steel trap screwed into his head. He stands up and accidentally pulls a cord that starts a timer and turns on a TV.

JigSaw comes on the tv:+ “Jason, you lived a life wrought with death. You now have 60 seconds left to get the giant trap off your head before it flips and rips your lower jaw off“

Jason looks around dumbfounded.

JigSaw continues: “You have two choices, 1. let the device snap your jaw off or use the key that I hid behind the eye of the girl of the floor. Chose now.”

Jason looks around and then suddenly rips the trap off his head. Bone and meat along with blood goes flying in all directions..

“NO JASON.. THAT’S NOT HOW WE PLAY HERE!”, JigSaw screams out.

Jason then reaches down and grabs the girl up off the floor with both hands. Holding her a good 8 inches off the floor he squashes her head like an over ripe grape. Shooting the key out of her eye socket and across the floor.

“JASON!!”, JigSaw yells…..

Jason heads for the only door in the room. He busts through it like it was door like it was built by Koffman and Broad. In the next room he sees a person trying to open a safe. The floor is covered with a flammable liquid and a candle is lit on the safe. The person sees Jason coming toward him and cowers back against the wall. Jason picks up the safe and throws it toward the man.

The safe strikes the guy and smashes him through the wall like a car hitting a dog doing eighty miles an hour.

“JASON!! STOP!!!“… JigSaw yells in the back ground.

This movie has all the ingredients for success, action, love-story, guns, and most importantly a hot leading woman and built leading man. Now, is it the best action movie I’ve seen… no. However, I have to give credit were its due, for first timers to the big screen, this movie isn’t half bad.

The premise is simple, a marine’s wife gets kidnapped and he goes a mission to save her. I’d save her too! However, if I was this guy, I’d just commit suicide and be done with it. First, he’s kicked out of the military. He’s fired from his first job. He get’s beat up, blown up, run down, and nearly drowned. I’d take that as sign that someone didn’t like me. I guess the marine motto is to never give up even if god hates you.

If you like the old time Arnold and Sly action movies, you’ll like this flick too.

What is funny is that the Marines must not teach a lot of stealth in armed services. Once you see the movie you’ll know what I’m talking about. Over all, it’s worth the watch.