Showing posts with label Aaron Eckhart. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Aaron Eckhart. Show all posts

15 March 2011

Battle: Los Angeles

Spanks - 4

Director - Jonathan Liebesman

Writers - Christopher Bertolini

Starring - Aaron Eckhart, Michelle Rodriguez, Ramon Rodriguez and Bridget Moynahan

Release Date - 11 March 2011

MPAA Rating - PG-13

I went into Battle: Los Angeles expecting things blowing up, cheesy dialog, aliens, and gun fights and that is it. That is exactly what I got and there is not anything wrong with that. The film follows Sgt. Nantz, a US Marine whose retirement is approved the morning of a strange worldwide meteor shower. It turns out it isn't a meteor shower, it is an invasion. His retirement is overturned and he is assigned to the 2nd Battalion 5th Marines under 2nd Lieutenant Martinez who is fresh out of the academy. Their orders are to rescue survivors located inside "the hot zone" and return in three hours before the Air Force bombs the area.

The film is an alien invasion version of Black Hawk Down. After about twenty minutes of character introductions, it is an hour and a half battle filled with explosions, destruction, chaos and mayhem. The film is shot in the same style as well.

Battle: Los Angeles is a summer popcorn flick. If you want a movie with substance and award winning writing this is not the film for you. If you want a fun filled movie with with quotes like "I am only qualified to work on animals and aliens" said by a veterinarian then head to the box office straight away.

23 July 2008

The Dark Knight

Spanks - 5

Director - Christopher Nolan

Writers - Jonathan Nolan, Christopher Nolan & David S. Goyer

Starring - Christian Bale, Heath Ledger, Aaron Eckhart, Michael Caine, Gary Oldman, Morgan Freeman, & Maggie Gyllenhaal

Release Date - 18 July 2008

MPAA Rating - PG-13

You might be thinking The Dark Knight to be another comic book movie, in the age of comic book summer movies blockbusters. It is much more than that. Unlike the Batman films of the 20th century, Christopher Nolan made his Batman world very real looking and nothing looks comicy. The film is the film of the summer if not 2008, comic book movie or not. If you go see one movie this summer it should be this one. If you didn't like Batman Begins because it cut between 4 different time periods, you don't have to worry because this one is linear from start to finish.

People say its doing so well is because it is Heath Ledger's final completed film (you will see him next year in Terry Gilliam's The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus) and that is why its doing so well. His performance of The Joker is perfect, much better than Jack Nicholson and before seeing The Dark Knight I did not think that was possible. He is totally psychotic but very funny and likeable (if that is possible). See if for that performance alone if you need a reason to go see a comic book film.

Another thing I love about Christopher Nolan is that everything looks real. That is because it is real. No cheesy computer special effects like you see at some point in all action movies. The truck they flip that you can see in the trailer, they really flipped it. No crappy green screen backgrounds or fake fire or explosions either. He is standing on the top of a skyscraper and they blew up a building.

I wanted to see it in IMAX, but it was sold out until Friday (7/23/08). Hopefully there will be some open shows next week. The reason being is that parts of the film were filmed with an IMAX camera. All the movies that have been on IMAX up until now have been shot on 35mm and blown up to IMAX size.