Death Race (Sept. 26, 2008)

“An update of the cult classic Death Race 2000, in the not-so-distant future, a prisoner (Jason Statham) is forced to compete in a no-holds-barred car race.”

If Jason Statham is going to be in it than I already know it is going to be BA. I look forward to Jason using his Transporter style acting in another movie.

Land Of The Lost (July 17, 2009)

“Paleontologist Rick Marshall (Will Ferrell) finds himself teleported to another world that is ruled by dinosaurs and reptilian creatures known as Sleestaks. Based on the beloved Saturday morning children's show by Sid and Marty Krofft.”

Yes, Will Ferrell you get lost in that land and do what you do. You could probably make a movie about Will Ferrell being a mute and playing chess and it would still be funny. This was an amazing TV show back in the day, so I look forward to seeing this movie!

The Mummy: Tomb Of The Dragon Emperor (Aug. 8, 2008)

“In 1946, Rick OConnell (Brendan Fraser) and his wife Evelyn (Maria Bello) have just finished a tour of duty as spies for the British army and are looking for an exciting new adventure to go on. Their new assignment - to transport an historical artifact to Shanghai, China - seems easy enough, but trouble brews when they meet up with their son Alex (Luke Ford), who has just discovered the secluded resting place of the Dragon Emperor. When the ancient ruler (Jet Li) is re-awakened, the O'Connell family must stop him from also bringing back his terra cotta army with which he wants to reconquer all of China.”

JET LI!! That is seriously going to be amazing! Why did this movie take so long? Well I bet its going to be the best yet. Anyways have you guys ever been on The Mummy ride in universal? If you haven't you need to, may have been one of the best indoor roller coasters ever!

Punisher: War Zone (Sept. 12, 2008)

“Continuing his war against the world of organized crime, Frank Castle (Ray Stevenson) attacks and viciously disfigures mob boss Billy Russoti, who changes his name to Jigsaw (Dominic West) and raises an even bigger of ruthless gangsters.”

I feel like the first Punisher didn't get as much credit as it should have. The movie was truly incredible; it's a movie I can watch over and over. I am excited to see how they are going to continue the story. Rent the Punisher if you haven't seen it, it's worth it.

Yes Man (Dec. 19, 2008)

”Carl Allen (Jim Carrey) is living a very unhappy life. In order to acquire a more upbeat outlook, he swears to live an entire year by saying "yes" to everything. While his new philosophy has an initially positive effect on his daily existence, being 100% agreeable eventually starts wearing him down.”

Can anyone say Liar Liar 2? Is the pen blue “yes”, is the pen black “yes”. Well which is it black or blue “yes”?

I'm not a person who enjoys an anti-hero. “Natural Born Killers” and “Domino Harley” were tough films for me because it wouldn't matter how well they were made there wasn't anyone in it I wanted to cheer for. Film-makers frequently try to shoot a movie in a way that represents the subject of the film. It either works or it doesn't and in any movie that feature drugs or crime predominately it doesn't work in the worst way.

This movie also hit another of my pet peeves regarding action sequences. I'm on record as saying that “the Born Identity” was a great film ruined by the directors attempts make the action sequences seem more exciting. Instead of sending the action over the top it just makes us sea sick. The point of a big screen is to draw us into the action. If you fail to engage us you may as well go straight to video. In the “Born Identity” I assumed that Matt Damon couldn't fight and that made the excessive cut sequences needed. But we know Jason Statham can fight so not filming it is robbery.

What about the “R” Rating?

Even though I'm a Christian I'm ok with nudity and cussing in a movie if they are innate to the movie. By that I mean they fit in seamlessly, and are germane to the subject of the film. I would expect a movie about prostitutes to contain nudity and sex scenes; my problem is that I can't count on Hollywood to tell the movie is about prostitutes. Nor can I count on the MMPAA ratings because they aren't descriptive or terribly consistent.

This movie probably needed all the language it had, but it had the worst excuse for the nudity. It served two purposes. Primarily it centered around a crime lords palace and was used to make him seem exploitive. Somehow we were to deduce that this man was much lower than the character Chev who merely killed or money because he surrounded himself with nude girls.

The second reason is the same problem I had with the action really. Someone Madison Ave. discovered that a good commercial changes color and intensity every second, and has semi naked girls. Film makers have begun to make two hour commercials instead of movies.

Larger Story

The reason for making a two hour commercial instead of a film is clear to me. Holly wood has caught on to the larger story. There are church groups that go see movies these days looking for it. The idea that story bypasses our brains and speaks to our hearts is out in the open. The idea that could make a movie attempting to appeal to us with a good plot and end up connecting with our desires, or describing God's story is on the radar of movie makers and they know it could be their salvation.

For almost ten years Hollywood has avoided taking a risk on a film. 90% of what they make is a remake, a sequel, an adaptation of a best selling novel, or an adaptation of a TV show, or an adaptation of a historical event. If Hollywood can figure out how to pander to what they had done quite by accident they may be able to make a big original film again.

In the next twelve months we'll see several new films that scream out larger story. We will also see more like “Crank.” “Crank” had a premise but it didn't have a plot. It counted on commercial type editing gimmicks and the occasional naked boob to fill in for anything real.

Really No Larger Story at All!

Ok Hollywood can't help themselves. There is always larger story aspect somewhere because Hollywood isn't original enough to write something totally without merit. Chev, (Statham) plays a sacrificial lamb of sorts. He is sent to kill someone and then poisoned as an apology to the offended criminal organization. The poison renders him a dead-man-walking, who learns what his true priorities are even as he seeks revenge for his own murder. The twist is that he had already begun to have a change of heart because of the love of his girlfriend. That change of heart allowed him to complete his mission of revenge.

The movie is charming only in Chev's desire to keep his nieve girlfriend innocent of the truth about him. Once the cat is out of the bag however it's ok to do her in the middle of a square in Chinatown . If he had done everything to keep the girlfriend safe and in the course of it all died, but returned a to her to live happily ever after we'd have the kind of cliché Hollywood endings people claim to be sick of. And we'd have a connection to the larger story.