Deaths this year

With very few Movies of any interest being released this month, it has been a quiet time for me. I have been re-watching some classics and hope to bring forward the forgotten films of the past few years into the lime-light once again.

But in the abrupt halt to my Cinema trips I have had a chance to look back over the year and I noticed that, this year more than most, we have lost a great number of stars of the big screen.


With the recent untimely death of the legend Leslie Nielsen I thought I might take this opportunity to remember some of the Heroes and Heroines that we have lost in 2010.

From the start of the year we have lost;

• Zelda Rubinstein (1933-2010) known for; the Poltergeist Movies
• Corey Haim (1971-2010) known for; The Lost Boys
  
• Peter Graves (1926-2010) known for; Airplane, Mission Impossible (TV)
• John Forsythe (1918-2010) known for; Charlie's Angels, Dynasty (TV)
• Gary Coleman (1968-2010) known for; Diff'rent Strokes (TV)
• Dennis Hopper (1936-2010) known for; Easy Rider, Speed, Waterworld
  
• Harold Gould (1923-2010) known for; The Sting
  
• Gloria Stuart (1910-2010) known for; Titanic
• Tony Curtis (1925-2010) known for; Some Like it Hot, Sparticus
• Tom Bosley (1927-2010) known for; Happy Days (TV)
• Leslie Nielsen (1926-2010) known for; Airplane, The Naked Gun Movies
  

Not all of these actors may have been the most well known over the last 20 years but they have all put in decades of hard work to build the movie industry into what it is today, and for that they will be missed.

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Due Date (2010)

Director: Todd Philips

Cast: Robert Downey Jr, Zach Galifianakis, Jamie Foxx, Danny McBride, Michelle Monaghan, Juliette Lewis

Date: November 2010

Plot: After an incident with Ethan (Galifianakis) and being put on a no-fly list, Peter (Downey Jr) must find a way to get cross country in time to see the birth of his first child. Peter has no choice but to team up with Ethan and this begins their hilarious, eventful, odd-couple style journey from New York to LA.

Due Date - Trailer

Review: This review is simply for the 4 people in the world who have yet to see this film because if you haven't seen it yet, there is something wrong!!

This is a classic odd-couple style film with the uptight expecting father Peter, played by Robert Downey Jr teaming up with the free spirited, aspiring actor Ethan Tremblay, played fantastically by Zach Galifianakis.

After an incident on the plane home, Peter is removed and put on a no-fly list, he is forced to hitch a ride across the country with Ethan to try and make it for the birth of his first born.
Ethan, an aspiring actor, accompanied by his Dog Sonny and his fathers ashes in a coffee can is looking to go to Hollywood to start his career as a TV actor.

The journey to LA is full of excitement, humour, tragedy, car crashes, weed and some of the best comic scenes of the year, especially the Downey Jr Babysitting scene and the Zach, a jeep and a drainage ditch scene... I'm still laughing!

I really enjoyed this movie, to the extent that I would easily go see it again! It will undoubtedly be compared to the classic comedies of this generation, The Hangover and Superbad, but the comparisons are valid, this will be a classic!

I felt the film peaked early and kept the high throughout most of the film, it is only at one or two points where the story gets serious and the comedy slows down but these scenes only last a moment and are broken up by some big laughs.

Overall I would highly recommend this to everyone for a good laugh whether its in the afternoon on a Tuesday or on a Friday night, it is always funny!

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Saw 3D (2010)

Director: Kevin Greutert

Cast: Tobin Bell, Costas Mandylor, Betsy Russell, Sean Patrick Flannery, Chad Donella, Gina Holden, Cary Elwes

Date: October 2010

Plot: In this next Saw chapter we see a group of Jigsaw survivors gather together to seek the support of self-help guru and fellow survivor Bobby Dagen, a man whose own dark secrets unleash a new wave of terror.



Saw 3D - Trailer

Review: I feel enough time has passed and I have calmed down just about enough to write the review for this, the latest installment of the Saw franchise. As you can probably tell, I was not impressed with Saw 3D but where do I begin...

It all started about this time last year, we were promised retribution for the terrible terrible Saw IV and Saw V films and we got it with Saw VI, a film that brought back the true styling of the Saw franchise that had been lost in the previous films. Going into Saw 3D on the high from Saw VI I was expecting good things, creepy, terrifying, suspenseful, gore-tastic things but unfortunately it was not to be!

Saw 3D picks up where the last movie left off, with Hoffman continuing the Jigsaw Legacy while hunting down Jigsaws ex-wife, Jill. The main story line is intertwined this time around with Bobby, the guru behind the self-help group for Jigsaw survivors.
In classic Saw fashion, Bobby leads us through the gorey trap-filled story line, in an attempt to break up the ever deteriorating Jigsaw storyline.

To say that Saw 3D is completely useless is an exaggeration but surprisingly not that far from the actual truth!! Saw 3D seems to have been only made to satisfy our annual need for over-the-top and over-complicated bloodlust. Yes, the traps are more ridiculous, Yes, there is more blood than any other Saw film but that's about as good as it gets.

Lets break it down...
The 3D is average at best and feels forced in most places but probably the best part of the movie.
The story is very very predictable, which is a big problem for me because the Saw films always had a reputation for being complete mind-benders.
The Traps are too over-the-top, particulary the last one.
The level of blood and gore bordered on cheap B-Movie effects.
Note: Blood and Gore for the sake of it = Very Lame.

A positive for the film was the nostalgia of seeing Dr. Gordon again, even if he is not in the film for that long, and for this reason alone I would recommend going to see it.

It has become abundantly clear now that the studio obviously does not care about the story and as long as people are willing to spend the ca$h to see them, they will continue to make them. Which is a shame.

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