3:10 to Yuma (2007)

Box office heavyweights Christian Bale and Russell Crowe pool their A-list talents for director James Mangold's suspense-filled Western, a remake of the 1957 classic starring Glenn Ford and Van Heflin. Rancher Dan Evans (Bale) agrees to transport the captured outlaw Ben Wade (Crowe) to the nearest town with a rail station, where they'll catch a ride to court in Yuma. But all the while, Wade's henchmen are plotting their next move.

Even if youre not particularly a fan of Westerns, you might like this one. It stars Russell Crowe as Ben Wade, the leader of a gang who steals from stagecoaches. Wade and his gang cross paths with soldier-turned-farmer Dan Evans (Christian Bale) when he steals Evans horse in order to escape the law. Evans is desperate to save his home but is behind on payments. When he is offered money to help transport Evans to jail, he agrees. Along the way the two banter back and forth and you soon realize that the men are actually quite similar. Despite their divergent lives, the two live by a code of honor. While the set up to the movie is a bit slow, it soon picks up and becomes action packed. Gun fights and chases help liven up the movie and are interspersed with quiet moments between the two main characters. Both men try to outsmart and out think each other, and in another life may have been great friends. Also in this film are Luke Wilson, Ben Foster and Alan Tudyk.

Somewhat bland, even for a Western. Bale is pretty good, though - nice to see him in a more vulnerable role and play that as well as the invincible. It was all the supporting cast that got me and all of the small "cameos" so to speak.

****/*****

4/5 Stars

Cop Out (2010)

Jimmy Monroe (Bruce Willis) and off-kilter Paul Hodges (Tracy Morgan) are two suspended cops trying to track down a stolen and very valuable 1950s baseball card. Along the way, they encounter a Mexican beauty and countless other characters and get entangled with the mob. Kevin Smith (Clerks) directs this comedic action flick co-starring Adam Brody, Jason Lee, Michelle Trachtenberg, Kevin Pollak and Seann William Scott.

"Cop Out" is an enjoyable, but easily forgetable buddy/cop movie. I liked the chemistry between Willis and Morgan as the detectives. There's a lot of funnny gags and you get the feeling they both really enjoyed making the movie. The down side is that there is no plot (something about a drug ring and a stolen baseball card) and there just seemed to be too many slow spots. Also, I like Kevin Smith movies, but he is just terrible at directing action sequences. This is one of the few movies I've seen recently where I'd actually like to see a sequel and hope they can improve on the original.

It was an okay movie that poked a lot of fun at other cop movies, even Bruce Willis movies. While I wanted to turn it off several times, the plot was just good enough to keep me going. In my opinion, Cop Out sits somewhere between a slap stick Jim Carrey and Die Hard genre. If you're looking for a funny cop movie with a small slice of stupid, over-the-top antics, give this movie a shot.


***/*****

3/5 Stars

Houston, You Have a Problem

Soto Homer Caps Rousing Comeback 5-4 Win

If this season didn't make us so damn sad, we'd be pretty excited about yesterday's come-from-behind win. Rookie Casey Coleman spotted the Astros four runs in the second inning, but then he and the rest of the bullpen shut 'em down for the rest of the game. Meanwhile, Marlon Byrd got things going with a two-run homer in the third, and Jeff Baker tied it with a double in the fifth. Geovany Soto cranked a solo homer in the eighth to put the Cubs ahead, and that was that. Nice.

Machete (2010)

Hired to assassinate a politician, vigilante and ex-Federale Machete (Danny Trejo) nearly dies when a sniper shoots him during the job. Out for revenge, he's joined by a reluctant old buddy (Cheech Marin) who's become a pacifist priest. Written and co-directed by Robert Rodriguez, this homage to exploitation films based on his fake trailer in Grindhouse co-stars Robert De Niro, Michelle Rodriguez, Lindsay Lohan, Jessica Alba and Steven Seagal.

There are a lot of firsts in this movie. It's the first wide-release to dive deep into Mexican border politics. It's the first time a man standing up has been crushed by a car on film. It has a trick suspension that launches the front end high enough to slap a man down. It's the first movie with Lindsy Lohan naked in it. She is naked for practically all her time on screen. She looks good, but well-worn. It's hard to believe that she is five years younger than Alba. Sad to write that Jessica's performance was weak. She has so little gravitas that she isn't at all credible as an ICE agent. It was a lot of fun to see DeNiro using something other than his Goodfellas voice. The story, as convoluted as it was, makes a lot of sense. There is also art imitating life: days ago La Barbie was arrested in Mexico--a US born Mexican drug lord. That is exactly what Segal's part is. As purposefully cheesey as the movie is at times, it ridicules the amazing hypocrasy (of all sides) of the Texas/Mexico border with great effectiveness. The point is that this things succeeds on all levels. You want mindless action? You want sex? You want political relevance? The only thing it doesn't do is take itself too seriously.

This movie is everything that the Grindhouse movies should have been. Funny, violent, bloody, gory, silly at times, never very serious, and very entertaining Danny Trejo plays Machete with a gusto and fervor that many more "serious" actors should take note of-- he was great. Cheech Marin was his usual hilarious self as the priest who takes up arms with Machete. I highly recommend this movie to any fan of exploitation movies!


****/*****

4/5 Stars

Meet CLiNT

Comic god Mark Millar starts his own Kick-Ass magazine.


Let’s say you’re Mark Millar. You’re one of the hottest comic book writers on the planet. Your creations Wanted and Kick-Ass have already been turned into A-list Hollywood films. The movie rights for your latest comic, Nemesis, got snatched up after only two issues. What highly lucrative venture do you launch next to capitalize on your blazing momentum?



Why, you start a print magazine sold only in Britain, of course!


Thus today British store shelves will be stocked with CLiNT, Millar’s new monthly rag for dudes. Lacking any website beyond a Facebook page and available to US readers solely through subscriptions, CLiNT is nonetheless Millar’s passion project. He's on a quest to create the ultimate magazine for young guys. Issues feature articles about film, music and television, as well as serialized comics. Most excitingly, one of those comics will be the debut of Millar’s Kick-Ass sequel, Kick-Ass 2: Balls to the Wall. Plus Millar promises that big name TV and film creatives will be turning their talents to comic creation in future issues.


Which leaves only one question: Why the name CLiNT? Rumor has it that when the name CLINT was printed in comic books in the sixties, poor press quality made it look like a certain other c-word. And it weren't "can't", Gov'na. Launching only in Britain. Good call. Because if there's anything Americans won't buy, it's comic-book-style violence.

SuicideGirls: The First Tour (2005)

What Playboy magazine was to the 1950's, SuicideGirls is to the new millennium: a revolutionary lifestyle brand that combines the DIY attitude of underground culture with a vibrant, sex-positive community. Now comes Suicide Girls: The First Tour, a DVD featuring the unique mix of punk and burlesque that made the SuicideGirls first national tour such a hit with audiences. Beyond the stage performances, this DVD follows the women along for an intimate behind-the-scenes look at life in the van, along with exclusive photo shoots, and behind-the-scenes antics like trying to set up a topless photo shoot on the streets of San Francisco at midnight. In 2004, the SuicideGirls traveled 9,000 miles around the country to perform 60 sold-out burlesque shows in 45 cities, and this DVD documents it all. Giving a goth attitude to the tradition peek-a-boo, the SuicideGirls are sexy, seductive and charming as well as chaotic and candid, with scenes from the live performances interspersed with intimate looks at the individual models.

The Suicide Girls are tattooed, pierced, beautiful young girls who do burlesque-type performances, have a website-based community, and do photo shoots of what can be considered soft core porn. The dvd has showcase introductions to a small handful of the hundreds of active SGs. There are high quality filmed photo shoots, a good soundtrack, footage of stage performances, with wild rock star antics shot on-the-road and backstage. The SGs are a member-based group who emphasize originality over airbrushing and implants.

The Suicide Girls are a burlesque troup of hot, young women. They have tattoos and piercings and some have unnatural hair colors. The documentary shows performances, interviews with individual SGs, and having fun on the road. There is a lot of nudity, and it bears repeating that they are hot. This kind of thing should be encouraged.


****/*****

4/5 Stars

Suicide Girls Must Die! (2010)

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