The Lincoln Lawyer (2011)

Its been a while since we've been assailed by lawyer themed movies very prevalent back in the 90s. We had Tom Cruise as a brash legal upstart coming face to face with the mafia, in The Firm, we had Julia Roberts and Denzel Washington battling political bigwigs in the Pelican Brief, and we had Keanu Reeves fighting for his soul in The Devil's Advocate. And now, in the second decade of the millennium we have Matthew M, being a brash upstart lawyer battling monsters in the Lincoln Lawyer. Okay, maybe not monsters ... 

The Skinny: Mick Haller (Matthew M) is a confident, highly snazzy lawyer who operates from the back of his Lincoln, providing his lawyerly service to the denizens of Beverly Hills. This time around, his sweet talking, miraculous ability to achieve golden plea bargains is put to the test when his rich client (Ryan Phillips) refuses to admit to the assault and battery of a social escort claiming his innocence. Based on the character of the Michael Connelly legal thrillers.

The Helmer: Brad Furman - The Talk (2007), Buried Alive in the Blues (TV doc) (2005),

Unbroken (Short) (2003), The Stranger (Short) (2003), Fast Forward (Short) (2002).

The Scribe: John Romano - The Prodigy (2011), The Lincoln Lawyer (2011), The Beast (TV) (2009), Nights in Rodanthe (2008), Intolerable Cruelty (2003), American Dreams (TV) (2002), Monk (TV) (2002), Providence (TV) (2001), Third Watch (TV) (1999 - 2000), The Third Miracle (1999), Michael Hayes (TV) (1998), Early Edition (TV) (1996), Dark Angel (TV) (1996), Sweet Justice (TV) 1994), Class of 96 (TV) (2003), Knots Landing (TV) (1991 - 1992), Cop Rock (TV) (1990), LA Law (TV) (1990), Hill Street Blues (TV) (1986 - 87).

Michael Connelly - Novelist - The Lincoln Lawyer (novel) (2011), Blood Work (novel) (2002), Level 9 (TV) (2002).

The Casts: Matthew McConaughey, Marisa Tomei, Ryan Phillippe, William H. Macy, John Leguizamo, Michael Pare.

The Prediction: I'm looking forward to this movie because I know its going to be good and satisfying. Why? Let me count the ways .... Number One: Its not about aliens, demons, vampires, werewolves, cute creatures and their ilks; Number Two: Its based on a best selling legal thriller, which is always a good thing; Number Three: It has a very old (and steady) hand as screenplay writer / scriber writing the movie; Number Four: Marisa "Hot Mama" Tomei; Number Five: Michael Pare - superstar that almost made it, of the 80s, he of the Streets of Fire fame: and Number Six: Matthew M. All in all, this looks pretty decent and will prove to be an entertaining escape into Hollywood-dom. Its a no-brainer.

Official Site

Trailer

Fantasy Fanboy Films: Part 1 - Fight to the Death

This is just an idea I'm kinda formulating here - what if we were to have a series of Fantasry Fanboy Films where fanboys of the world draw up their fantasy films in the multitudes of genres: action, comedy, horror, romance etc. 

All you need to do is decide on a genre - then fill it up with fantasy plot, with fantasy actors, with fantasy scenes, and fantasy outcome. It'll be like Fantasy Football Club, but for movies. 

If you can dig it, lets start here today with Fantasy Fanboy Films: Action - Fight to the Deaths. The following makes up MY fantasy action film: 

Genre: Action

Fantasy title: Death Match 3000

Fantasy actors: Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson and Vin Diesel

Fantasy plot: Two warriors from warring tribes in a post apocalyptic future face off in an ultimate fight to the death using only a bowie knife each, and a city to destroy each other in. 

Fantasy action: The Rock Vs Vin Diesel in a fight to the death!

Fantasy Tagline: Only One Will Survive.

Fantasy Ending: Vin Diesel gets his face obliterated with a series of super fast knife jabs. 

Get the idea? Give it a try - the good ones will end up in the next blog update. Good Luck! (Quoting Marko in "Taken").

Red Riding Hood (2011)

I'm surprised there aren't many hollywood productions coming out from fairy tales; instead we have the re-treading of old TV series and movies from 40 years back, sequels & prequels to lackluster summer so-so hits, and other abysmal attempts at entertainment. Fairy tales on the other hand has always been there; a pool of untapped tales of grim adventures and fatal lessons. Take aside Disney's attempts at envisioning the classic tales, you don't have many other effort undertaken by the major studios (except maybe the porn studios, but thats a whole other universe altogether with its own set of values, and erm, fans). So, its a nice surprise indeed to see something like this movie coming up, on a tale that is essentially very, very disturbing, interpretable on so many levels, dealing with so many issues.

The Skinny: Not so Little Red Riding Hood has to go to the granny's house but she has to be careful as there's a werewolf about. But who really is the werewolf? A mature take on a much loved horrific tale of innocence lost, cannibalism, hatchet death and dead grannies. Huzzah!

The Helmer: Catherine Hardwicke - Hamlet (2011), Freeheld (2011), Red Riding Hood (2011), Twilight (2008), The Nativity Story (2006), Lords of Dogtown (2005), Thirteen (2003).

The Casts: Amanda Seyfried, Gary Oldman, Billy Burke, Shiloh Fernandez, Max Irons, Virginia Madsen, Lukas Haas, Julie Christie, Shauna Kain.

Release Date: 21 August 2011 (Malaysia)

Tagline: Believe the Legend, Beware the Wolf

The Prediction: I'm not that familiar with the helmer except for the 2005 film Lords of Dogtown, the true story of the birth of skateboarding as an extreme sport. Impression of that movie was that it was okay, not bad. But then she went on ahead and did Twilight, the very unmanly movie of teen love with skinny paleface vampire, buff male-bimbo werewolf and a girl with fatal armpit smell. Based on that alone I'd give this movie a wide berth, drop it in the sink of hot magma, or have it trampled by an 18 wheeler truck bound for hell. But I like the look and feel of the trailer, and the mystery of the killer wolf running about killing the villagers. It has the distinct atmosphere of Neil Jordan's 1984 coming of age sexual awakening werewolf horror drama The Company of Wolves. That makes a slight difference. So maybe I'd recommend it. Only if it has lots of blood, where paleface vampire sissies and werewolf male bimbos are killed, butchered by real wolves. We can only hope.

Trailer

Official Site

Super (2011)

I like James Gunn. I like Rainn Wilson. I like to see them do a movie project together. I like to see "Super". Nuff said.

The Skinny: Everyday man Frank D'Arbo (Wilson) dons a cape and a cowl to fight crime, and to get back his beautiful wife from the smarmy git of a drug dealer Jacques (Bacon) who has successfully seduced her away from him. To aid him in his crime busting scheme, and to act as the other half of the dynamic duo'ism, you have Libby (Page), his female sidekick. 

The Helmer: James Gunn - Movie 43 (2011), Super ((2010), PG Porn (TV) (2008 - 2009), Humanzee (TV) (2008), Sparky & Mikaela (TV) (2008), Slither (2006), Troman's Edge TV (TV) (2000), Sgt Kubikiman Public Service Announcement (Short TV) (1997), Hamster PSA (Short) (TV) (1997), The Tromaville Cafe (1997), Tromeo & Juliet (1996).

The Casts: Rainn Wilson, Ellen Page, Liv Tyler, Kevin Bacon

The Tagline: Shut Up Crime!

The Prediction: This is a great combination of people coming together; you have cult-like helmer Gunn spewing forth his helming wisdom (if you've seen the 2006 skin crawling quivering alien comedy horror Slither  both written and directed by him, you know you're in for some gobsmacking sicking goodness), then you have veteran part-evil-part-twitchy-part-intense flinty Kevin Bacon as the bad guy facing off innocent, not-very-smart/completely-shameless Rainn Wilson who is assisted by very-smart Ellen Page (Inception (2010), Juno (2007). Mix it up, shake it about, then pour out the content - and whaddya have? Super hero mayhem with that extra edgy-ness.

Official SIte - The Crimson Bolt
Trailer 

Real Steel (2011)

Dreamworks SKG, a hollywood studio and distributor partly owned by spielberg, katsenberg and geffen AND Indian megladon Reliance coughs up an action fare for its post-summer release - Hugh Jackman putting up his dukes for a robot-versus-robot fight flick. Is the concept cool? Damn straight. 

The Skinny: In the near future sports fighting has changed - humans no longer enter the ring to knock each other out, but instead robots battle it out. Enter Charlie Kenton (Hugh Jackman), ex-boxer and wannabe promoter who tries to revive a discarded robot into a mean fighting machine at the same time create some meaning in his life through the wonderful thing called money ... 

The Helmer: Shawn Levy  - How to Talk to Girls (2012), Family Album (TV) (2011), Date Night (2010), Night at the Museum: Battle at the Smithsonian (2009), Night at the Museum (2006), Pepper Dennis (TV) (2006), The Pink Panther (2006), Joint Custody (TV) (2005), The Deerings (TV) (2004), Cheaper by the Dozen (2003), Just Married (2003), Birds of Prey (TV) (2002), Do Over (TV) (2002), Big Fat Liar (2002), The Famous Jett Jackson (TV) (1998 - 2001), Jett Jackson - The Movie (2001), In a Heartbeat (TV) (2000), So Weird (TV) (1999), Animorphs (TV) (1998 - 1999), Stray Dog (1999), The Secret Life of Alex Mack (TV) (1996 - 1997), Dead Man's Gun (TV) (1997), Address Unknown (1997), Just in Time (1997).

The Casts: Hugh Jackman, Kevin Durand , Evangeline Lilly, Hope Davis.

Release Date: 7th October 2011

The Prediction: Looking at the storyline you see potential hard action - ex-boxer, fight robots, the future ... you mix them up and you get an ex-boxer duking it out with robots in the ring set in the future. Thats what I'd think. But then you check out the trailer, and you read the synopsis and what you get is: ex-boxer, robots, the future - ex-boxer teaching robots how to fight in the future. Does not exactly scream full action does it? It doesnt. And ... theres a little lost son who appears in Charlie's life out of the blues. And there you have the drama element. Added to that you have a helmer who does mainly comedy. So you sit back and think: what the fork? Do I see humans battling robots or do I see robots battling robots, in the ring, like a miniscule version of Transformers? Having said all that however, I am still keen to catch this one. Because the whole set-up does look pretty interesting. What I'm thinking - the could've milked it and pushed it more towards a robot-on-man action flick with a red-hot burning revenge motive. Thats what I'd push for. Damn straight. 

Trailer 

Official Site 

Wiki on Real Steel 

 

Dylan Dog: Dead of Night

Brandon Routh does not fare well in my books only because of the abysmal Superman Returns; and he didn't leave that much of an impression on Scott Pilgrim Versus the World. At the end of the day, he appears to be another himbo. But is he really? This new film seems to suggest not ...

The Skinny: Private Eye Dylan Dog investigates supernatural matters in the swamps of Louisiana for his werewolf, zombie and vampire clients.

The Adjustment Bureau (2011)

Matt Damon's taking time off from kicking ass and karate-chopping necks to star in this romantic bizarre sci-fi thriller with beauty Emily Blunt. What can go wrong? Possibly nothing?

The Skinny: Politician Dave Norris (Matt Damon) accidentally bumps into the love of his life Elise Sellas (Emily Blunt) and falls madly in love, only to be informed by mysterious men that they cannot be together. Why? Because these mysterious men represent the force that guides and manipulate fate and destiny of humans. So what does Jason Bourne oops! I mean politician Dave Norris do? He kicks ass! Tthats what he does! Or, he resist the powers that be to be with the woman he loves and runs all over the place with a light fedora. Understandable because Emily Blunt is kinda hot and she is a keeper.  Based on Philip K.Dick's short story "The Adjustment Team".

The Helmer: George Nolfi- The Adjustment Bureau (2011)

The Casts: Matt Damon, Emily Blunt

Release Date: 3rd March 2011 (Malaysia)

The Prediction: Matt Damon in a romantic movie? Noooo!! But he kicks ass! Yesss!! Okay maybe not, but he does a bit of running about in a light fedora, and fights the mysterious men in suits whilst holding hands with hottie Emily Blunt. The trailer suggests a very decent sci-fi thriller with a weird-like overcast hue of blue and grey; everything looks cold and detached but in a good way. I'm looking forward to this, only because I know Damon delivers and his choice of movies over the years have been spot on. The man rarely misses as he chooses his projects well. So chances are this movie is going to be good. There you go. 

Trailer

Official Site