absolutebadasses

Do you like Scary Movies?

Posted by absolutebadasses on November 13, 2013

Posted in: Views. Tagged: blog, blood, creepy, dario argento, dolls, film fan, film geek, film lover, freddy krueger, geek, george A romero, gore, horror, horror films, horror night, instagram, james wan, john carpenter, kim jee-woon, lamberto bava, lucio fulci, marcus dunstan, movie night, neil marshall, poltergiest, rob zombie, scary, scary films, scary movies, scott derrickson, scream, supernatural, suspence, terror, texas chainsaw massacre, tobe hooper, wes craven. Leave a comment

Since I started collecting movies back around the age of fifteen (1986) I became fascinated by the Horror Genre, I loved watching the Hammer House of Horror films and started watching Hardcore Horror (well it was back then) from the likes of Fulci, Bava, Argento, Carpenter, Craven, Hooper and Romero these guys for me were the bees knees, the majority of their films have aged will and still terrify to this day – looking around at the modern crop of filmmakers I wonder how many of them truly stand out and make you white with fright or scare you enough to keep the lights on at bedtime? In recent years too many of the Horror Past Masters have turned to mediocre material to ignite their horror spark and have failed miserably – Wes Craven the guy who brought us Freddy Krueger in the early 80’s and who in 1996 re-invented the horror genre with his slasher flick SCREAM is one such example, his recent films Cursed, Red Eye, My Soul to Take and Scream 4 have been average at best and sadly the same can be said about Argento and Carpenter their movies in the late 70s and 80s are some of the best of the genre but in recent years it’s been a downhill slide – so WHO amongst the modern filmmakers are impressing in the scare department?

Over the last ten years my horror taste-buds have being actively looking for new exciting talent, filmmakers that can scare me, turn me on and elevate my heart rate to the point of explosion – during this period I have come up with 6 exciting movie directors, each with their own unique style and approach to the horror genre and each one of them at some point have managed to scare the bejesus out of me – from Left-Right and in no particular order we have JAMES WAN (Saw, Insidious & The Conjuring) I’m sure you will agree this guys creepy ass dolls are enough to scare anyone half to death, his imagination and camera work makes the hairs on the back of your next stand up – up next is ROB ZOMBIE (Devils Rejects, House of a 1000 corpses & The Lords of Salem) Zombie delivers hard hitting violent horror movies, if your squeamish & easily upset then don’t watch – onto one of my favorites, South Korean KIM JEE-WOON (Tale of Two Sisters and I Saw the Devil) these two films terrified me on so many different levels – next up MARCUS DUNSTAN (The Collector & The Collection) a surprise maybe but this guy is still only 38 and the two movies he’s directed have been blood curdling fun – next on the list NEIL MARSHALL (Dog Soldiers & The Descent) another modern filmmaker who’s violent & brutal horror will terrify and at the end of each you will have to retrieve your heart from your mouth – and lastly to SCOTT DERRICKSON (Sinister & The Exorcism of Emily Rose) Derrickson is a talented writer but an even better horror director – his 2012 horror Sinister is one of the best Supernatural movies in recent years….

Whether or not in twenty years time we will be talking about any of these filmmakers in the same light as Fulci, Bava, Argento, Carpenter, Craven, Hooper and Romero is debatable but with the old guard starting to fade a new chapter in the movie world of terror has begun….

The Lego Movie & Maleficent – Movie Posters

Posted by absolutebadasses on November 12, 2013

Posted in: Stills. Tagged: angelina jolie, bluray, cinema, disney, dvd, elle fanning, films, lego movie, love films, love movies, maleficent, morgan freeman, movie poster, movies, photos, pictures, poster, sleeping beauty, the lego movie, upcoming movies. Leave a comment

THE LEGO MOVIE gets a Morgan Freeman character poster whilst Angelina Jolie looks deliciously evil in the first MALEFICENT movie poster – the film is a re-telling of Sleeping Beauty from the perspective of the villainous “Mistress of All Evil” Maleficent

Red 2 (2013) – Movie Review

Posted by absolutebadasses on November 12, 2013

Posted in: Reviews. Tagged: action comedy, Anthony Hopkins, big screen, blog, bluray, bomb, Bruce Willis, Byung Hun Lee, Catherine Zeta Jones, cinema, comedy, comic, comic book, comics, Dean Parisot, dvd, explosives, film blog, films, funny, galaxy quest, Helen Mirren, John Malkovich, like, Mary-Louise Parker, movie blog, movie sequel, movies, red 2, red 2 movie, sexy. Leave a comment

RED 2 – (2013) – Movie Review ★★★¾

Cast – Bruce Willis, John Malkovich, Mary-Louise Parker, Helen Mirren, Byung Hun Lee, Anthony Hopkins & Catherine Zeta Jones – Inspired by the comic book series of the same name by Warren Ellis and Cully Hamner and is the movie sequel to 2010’s Red – Ex C.I.A. agent Frank Moses (Willis) and his band of misfits reunite in an attempt to find a missing nuclear device and stop those who plan to use it – VERDICT the first 15mins of RED 2 is better than the entire last outing of John McClane, Willis is at his action best and it sets the scene for the film’s sequel directed by Galaxy Quest helmer Dean Parisot – the introduction of new characters to the sequel including Zeta Jones, Hun Lee and Anthony Hopkins all add to the movie, especially Hopkins hamming it up playing the villainous and slightly deranged Bailey – one of my favorite scenes in the movie is when the team led by Helen Mirren infiltrate a maximum security insane asylum and Mirren’s character Victoria goes in disguised as a mad, eccentric Queen of England, she truly is brilliant in these action movies – overall RED 2 is an excellent movie sequel, it’s full of over the top action scenes, delicious humor and gives Bruce Willis a reprieve from that awful A Good Day to Die Hard – Dean Parisot’s RED 2 is better than it’s original and one of the better action comedies released this year….

When Rodney (Affleck) disappears and the local law enforcement fail to find him, his older brother, Russell (Bale) looks to find his own kind justice by taking matters into his own hands.

Scott Cooper who directed Jeff Bridges to Oscar glory in 2009’s Crazy Heart had said that he would not direct Out of the Furnace his second feature without Christian Bale as his lead.

Below is a selection of the cast – just another 5 reasons why I’m pretty excited for this movie….

Movie Release Dates: USA (December 6) – UK (January 31) – Australia (N/A)

Take a peek at the Out of the Furnace movie trailer

2 Guns (2013) – Movie Review

Posted by absolutebadasses on November 12, 2013

Posted in: Reviews. Tagged: 2 guns, 2 guns movie, action comedy, Baltasar Kormákur, Bill Paxton, blog, bluray, buddy cop, CIA agent, cinema, comic, comic book, comic book adaption, DEA agent, Denzel Washington, dvd, Edward James Olmos, film blog, film review, hollywood, love films, love movies, Mark Wahlberg, movie blog, Naval, Paula Patton, reel, script, sexy. Leave a comment

2 GUNS – (2013) – Movie Review ★★★

Cast – Denzel Washington, Mark Wahlberg, Paula Patton, Bill Paxton & Edward James Olmos – Based on the comic series of the same name by Steven Grant, the film’s story follows a DEA agent and a Naval Intelligence agent who find themselves having to work together to take down some corruption in the CIA and a Mexican Drug Lord who is after their heads VERDICT Just like Baltasar Kormákur’s 2012 movie Contraband that also stars Mark Wahlberg 2 GUNS starts with real promise, but ends up being a pretty messy action movie – for me the chemistry between the two W’s doesn’t quite work, Paula Patton’s talent is wasted, sadly only used as some onscreen eye candy, so it’s all left to the movie’s villains to save the film from mediocrity – Bill Paxton’s kneecapping, russian roulette playing Earl and Edward James Olmos’s Drug Lord Pepi both appear to have fun with their respective roles – during it’s original development 2 GUNS was to star Vince Vaughan and Owen Wilson and in my opinion that would have made for one hell of a better movie – overall 2 GUNS is an average Saturday night popcorn flick, with a mundane script and too many predictable set pieces – yet again… along with two of Hollywood’s biggest stars comes a big budget comic-book adaption that has sadly failed to deliver….

Leonardo DiCaprio was born on this day in California in 1974 – can you believe DiCaprio is only 39yrs of age? since his film debut in the scifi comedy Critters 3 in 1991 DiCaprio has established himself as one of Hollywood’s acting Elite, amassing 3 Oscar and 9 Golden Globe nominations – DiCaprio has already worked with the likes of Spielberg, Cameron, Mendes, Scott, Nolan, Eastwood, Tarantino and Scorsese (5 times) not bad eh! – The 3 movies pictured above in my view are Essential Leonard DiCaprio – they’re not only great films but they demonstrate Leo’s acting talent and his willing to portray diverse and interesting characters on the screen – recent performances have seen DiCaprio star as Calvin Candie a ruthless plantation owner in Tarantino’s Django Unchained and Jay Gatsby in Baz Luhrmann’s epic remake of The Great Gatsby – later this year reunites DiCaprio for a fifth time with director Martin Scorsese in The Wolf of Wall Street a true story based on the rise and fall of wealthy stockbroker Jordan Belfort, if the trailer is anything to go by then this will be another great Leonardo DiCaprio movie….

Gravity 3D (2013) – Movie Review

Posted by absolutebadasses on November 10, 2013

Posted in: Reviews. Tagged: 2D, 3D, 3D Glasses, Alfonso Cuaron, bestoftheday, camera work, cinema, cinematic ride, dvd, film review, films, george clooney, gravity, gravity review, imax, isolation, love films, movie poster, movie review, movies, photos, Sandra Bullock, scary, science fiction, thriller, visual effects. Leave a comment

GRAVITY 3D – (2013) – Movie Review ★★★★

Cast – Sandra Bullock & George Clooney – on his last flight before retiring Matt Kowalsky (Clooney) and Mission Specialist Ryan Stone (Bullock) have to work together to survive an accident in the darkness of Space – VERDICT does Cuaron’s sci-fi thriller live up to all the hype? well in a big screen cinematic blow your mind with visuals kind of way YES it does! – only a handful of films using the 3D format have successfully worked and due to the film’s spectacular setting, Alfonso Cuaron’s GRAVITY is one of the best I have seen and that’s saying something since the majority of the film’s 3D was converted from a 2D lens post production – from the film’s opening scenes, I felt a unique sense of floating as I was looking down 600km to Earth, you would be forgiven for thinking that the film was shot on location, the effects are truly that good and the 3D element only enhances that immersive experience – obviously Sandra Bullock will receive a lot of the plaudits and rightly so, she was terrific, rarely leaving the screen during the movie’s 90mins run time, her range of emotions in those close up shots were pretty realistic and I felt for her character as she tried to survive the perils and complete emptiness of space – overall Alfonso Cuaron’s GRAVITY is all about the visual, forget about it’s predictable script, stick those 3D glasses on and let Cuaron take you on an unforgettable ride, a ride that creates the illusion of isolation, claustrophobia and one of complete and utter helplessness – pay the extra few dollars for that 3D screening and enjoy the show….

The Raid 2: Berandal (2014) – Teaser Trailer

Posted by absolutebadasses on November 9, 2013

Posted in: Trailers. Tagged: cops, coruption, crime, film trailer, gareth evans, Iko Uwais, Indonesia, martial arts, movie sequel, movie trailer, movies the raid, Raiden Integra, sequel, teaser trailer, the raid 2, thriller, trailer, Yayan Ruhian. Leave a comment

THE RAID 2: Berandal (2014) – Teaser Trailer

Gareth Evans’ martial arts sequel THE RAID 2 has no release date but here’s a teaser trailer to get you all excited – not much about the storyline is known apart from the fact that it all kicks off 2hrs after the first film ends – I can’t wait!

The Last Days on Mars (2013) – Movie Review

Posted by absolutebadasses on November 9, 2013

Posted in: Reviews. Tagged: alien, blog, bluray, cinema, dork, dvd, Elias Koteas, film review, follow, geek, instagram, irish, irish filmmaker, Liev Schreiber, like, love scifi, mars, movie blog, movie geek, movie photo, movie review, nerd, Olivia Williams. Romola Garai, photos, pictures, reviews, Ruairi Robinson, science fiction, scifi, vod, zombie. Leave a comment

THE LAST DAYS ON MARS (2013) – Movie Review ★★★½

Cast – Liev Schreiber, Elias Koteas, Olivia Williams & Romola Garai – a research team on Mars have nineteen hours before rendezvousing with their lander to take them home when a crew member’s discovery leads to an infection that turns it’s host into some sort of zombie like killing machine – VERDICT like most films that are based around an isolated scenario, it’s the character development that allows you to connect and get sucked into that particular environment, BUT in Ruairi Robinson’s feature debut there’s no real time allowed for character building, when this alien infection starts picking off the crew members one by one you find yourself not really caring who lives or dies – in my opinion the film could have done with another 30mins run time, fleshing out some of the characters and building the movie’s tension before that inevitable final killing spree – the illusion of Mars is captured perfectly by shooting on location in Jordan and that alongside the delightful camerawork are some real positives – THE LAST DAYS ON MARS is an enjoyable scifi yarn that draws obvious inspiration from the likes of Alien and 2001: A Space Odyssey but due to the movies mediocre script and it’s short running time your left with the nagging feeling of what could have been….

We’re the Millers (2013) – Movie Review

Posted by absolutebadasses on November 7, 2013

Posted in: Reviews. Tagged: blog, bluray, Caravan, cinema, comedy, DEA, drugs, dvd, Ed Helms, Emma Roberts, film review, follow, Jason Sudeikis, Jennifer Aniston, laugh, like, love film, love movies, mexican border, mexico, movie blog, movie review, movie watching, review, RV, stripper, were the millers, Will Poulter. Leave a comment

WE’RE THE MILLERS (2013) – Movie Review ★★★¾

Cast – Jason Sudeikis, Jennifer Aniston, Emma Roberts, Will Poulter & Ed Helms – a low level pot dealer gets robbed of his drug stash and money and in order to pay his debts to a local mobster he undertakes a job in transporting drugs across the Mexican border – to do this he decides to bring in the help of a fake family and that’s when the fun really begins VERDICT before watching anything with Jennifer Aniston I immediately think the worst, since playing Rachel in Friends back in the mid 90s her film career has been a mixture of the average to pretty dismal – but are we about to see a change? – We’re the Millers is not only one of the surprisingly fun films of 2013, but Aniston gives a performance full of gusto, sex appeal and delightful charm, very reminiscent of her days back at Central Perk – my favorite scenes in the movie include the couch kissing scene between Rose, Casey and Kenny, the garage strip scene and of course the Tarantula bite on Kenny’s genitals that reminded me of Ben Stiller’s Something about Mary – Rawson Marshall Thurber, the movie’s young director has lots of promise, he’s not only managed to get the best out of Aniston, but he’s crafted a really enjoyable comic romp that’s full of likeable characters and fun scenarios – overall We’re the Millers is well worth a watch!

Essential Emma Stone

Posted by absolutebadasses on November 6, 2013

Posted in: Views. Tagged: blog, comedy, easy A, emma stone, essential, essential emma stone, essential top 3, film geek, film views, films, gangster squad, gwen stacy, like, love, love film, love movies, love my blog, movie blog, movies, spiderman, the croods, the help, wichita, zombieland. Leave a comment

If your a fan of the gorgeous husky voiced EMMA STONE then you would have watched Easy A, Zombieland and The Help – in my opinion they’re Essential Emma Stone – born in 1988 on the 6th November she made her movie debut in the 2007 comedy Superbad playing Jonah Hill’s girlfriend Jules – but it was 2009’s Zombieland playing Wichita and the delightful comedy Easy A in 2010 that catapulted Emma Stone onto the movie hot property list – in 2011 she starred in another two superb movies playing Hannah in Crazy, Stupid, Love. and Skeeter Phelan an aspiring author in the civil rights movement of the 1960s in Tate Taylor’s The Help – in 2012 she went back to her blonde roots to play Gwen Stacy in the movie remake of The Amazing Spider-Man and followed that in 2013 by re-uniting with Ryan Gosling for Ruben Fleischer’s Gangster Squad and using her husky vocal talents in The Croods the latest Dreamworks flick – It’s nice to start our Essential Top 3 with such a wonderful young actress and with upcoming movies such as Birdman alongside Edward Norton and the Spider-Man sequel with Andrew Garfield both landing next year it’s safe to say that the film career of Emma Stone has only just got started….

THOR : THE DARK WORLD (2013) – Movie Review ★★★★

Cast – Chris Hemsworth, Natalie Portman, Anthony Hopkins, Tom Hiddleston, Christopher Eccleston, Jaimie Alexander, Idris Elba, Ray Stevenson & Kat Dennings – many eons ago the Dark Elves led by Malekith attempt to plunge the universe into darkness using a weapon known as the Aether – their plans though are derailed when Malekith’s army are defeated by the warriors of Asgard who take the Aether and hide it somewhere safe so that it can never be used for evil again – Malekith escapes the battle and vows to return and finish what he started – VERDICT with the likes of Pacific Rim, Elysium, Star Trek 2, Ender’s Game, Man of Steel & World War Z the science fiction blockbuster has returned to our big screen this year with almighty bang – having enjoyed Kenneth Branagh’s 2011’s movie THOR I was very interested to see what Alan Taylor a director known for his television work could do with the franchise – the film was watched in 3D but unlike Avatar and The Hobbit the film made poor use of this technology so 2D viewing would suffice – I found the film’s story to be pretty decent and unlike Marvel’s Iron Man 3 the comical moments in THOR : THE DARK WORLD worked quite well, along with Darcy (Kat Dennings) and Erik (Stellan Skarsgård) who both contributed to the light-hearted side of the movie it was Chris Hemsworth’s THOR that produced a couple of subtle comic moments that had the cinema in roars of laughter – I also loved the scenes with Tom Hiddleston’s Loki locked away in the dungeons of Asgard, they were well done with Hiddleston once again demonstrating his comical prowess playing THOR’s evil brother with a swagger and stealing many of the movies best scenes with his delicious trickery – YES the film has it’s flaws and YES Christopher Eccleston’s villain Malekith is poor and not the big bad we’d all hoped for – but that being said Alan Taylor’s THOR : THE DARK WORLD is 112mins of heart thumping, adrenalin fueled action, with some fabulous visuals of Asgard and Svartalfheim, a breathtaking finale and some deliciously fun minor roles from the likes of Zachary Levi’s Fandral, Ray Stevenson’s Volstagg and the beautiful Jaimie Alexander playing the Asgard warrior Sif – it’s escapism at it’s best, a real Marvel treat that’s packed with entertainment…. so what you waiting for….

ps… those who wait for 5mins after the final credits will be in for a few extra scenes….

Marvel Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. – My Thoughts

Posted by absolutebadasses on November 4, 2013

Posted in: Views. Tagged: abc, abc show, agents of shield, arrow, Chloe Bennet, Clark Gregg, comicbook, comics, comix, films, heroes, Jed Whedon, Joss Whedon, marvel, marvel characters, marvel movies, marvel universe, Ming-Na Wen, nick fury, smallville, superhero, superheroes, the avengers, the wolverine, thor, tv, tv show. Leave a comment

here’s my thoughts on the show – this is a post update

I adore all things “Superhero” and love the universe’s created by the like of DC and Marvel, so when it was first announced that Joss Whedon the man behind one of my favorite TV shows “Buffy the Vampire Slayer” and “Dollhouse” was going to be heavily involved in an Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. TV series you can imagine my excitement (it was off the charts crazy) and then came the posters the trailer and finally the day of the pilot arrived – it quickly became the biggest network drama debut in four years and attracted over 12 million total viewers – and it’s second episode attracting over 8 million viewers…

Having been impressed with the latest in comic book movie adaptions such as The Avengers, Thor, The Wolverine & The Amazing Spider-Man my expectations for this show were very high but after recently watching the shows fifth episode I must confess Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. is mediocre at best, the effects are something you would expect to see on shows such as Warehouse 13 and Eureka – no offense to these shows but this is a Marvel Television Production on ABC – in an era of far superior “Superhero” shows such as Arrow, Heroes, Smallville etc – S.H.I.E.L.D. presents us with nothing new, the overall feel of the show is cheap and at times like a bad 80’s show – it lacks an engaging story, that’s been badly written, full of bad dialogue and unlikeable characters – the shows writers obviously feel that every now and then a geeky marvel reference or brief comical cameo’s by characters such as Nick Fury played by Samuel L Jackson will appease the fan-boys – but to me that is simply not good enough…

Obviously the show is still in it’s infancy, and has already been a given a full season order by the network but in my opinion Marvel/ABC need to up the ante, maybe take the show on a slightly darker path, introducing a couple of bad-ass villains to proceedings something that on the big screen Marvel has done so well – they also need to develop more of the weaker characters such as Grant Ward (Brett Dalton) and the rather annoying Leo Fitz (Iain De Caestecker) who both seem miscast and not comfortable in their given roles – they also need to fire the guy who decided it would be a great idea to have that “Disney Park” jingle everytime a fight scene or action piece gets underway, it’s like some music you would listen to at their theme park and it’s horribe and pretty amateurish – I also feel that the shows character Melinda May who is played by Ming-Na Wen should have more screen time she is clearly underused & is one of the the real positives from the show…

On a final note I really hope that the show improves not only it’s ratings but mostly it’s quality as I feel on it’s current path we could see the demise of the Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. sooner rather than later – for us fans of the comicbook arena that would be such a shame and overall a missed opportunity…