The Blind Side

We all know it's based on a true story. We all know that Sandra won an Oscar for it. We all know it's about a football player. Does it hold up as entertainment? Or is it just another sappy tearjerker? In my very own opinion the answer is yes. It's both!


The story is told very well. It starts with Sandra's character narrating the origin of the newly adopted left tackle strategy. Putting a big heavy guy on the left side to protect the right handed quarterback's blind side. Hence the title.

The movie tells the story of an under privileged kid that's unbelievable huge and has a lot of athletic potential. He's lucky enough to get close to an accepting family. They not only take him in after being homeless, but they adopt him and make him a real member of the family.

It's a very heartwarming movie that I think everyone should take the time to check out. Everyone likes an under dog type story. This movie takes that concept and elevates it to Oscar caliber. This was an AWESOME flick. Put it on and grab the tissue box!

Piranha 3D

I love underwater horror movies. I've been a licensed diver for the past 22 years and always find it funny to watch how people react to something chasing them in the water. Most movies don't worry about nitrogen or any of the other real complications, so I usually find them pretty amusing. Being able to dismiss all of these movies from reality, no matter how good or bad (From "Jaws" to "Megashark Vs. Giant Octopus"), really gives me something to enjoy. It's not a scientific dissertation, it's a dumb movie. As long as you can put that hat on before entering the theater, then Piranha 3D is your movie!


The movie starts with some classic throw back to Jaws, the mother of all water based horror. The throw backs are less than subtle, and I'll just leave it at that. I don't want to spoil the surprise.

If you like tons of fun, ridiculous explanations, hot girls showing a lot of skin, and demonic little creatures then you've got to give this movie a chance. No matter what your brain is telling you. We are taken to a fictional lake that has an even bigger underwater lake beneath it under a thin later of rock. In this very large underwater lake prehistoric carnivorous fish have managed to thrive. All it takes is a tiny little earthquake to let these bad boys loose. Wouldn’t you know it! It happens right at the start of Spring Break! So the lake is packed with unsuspecting, totally wasted, half naked, yummy young adults!!! These things have a serious appetite and get more action than Jenna Jameson saw in her entire career. After all that bloody goodness we still get an ending that will leave you thirsting for part 2!

We all know this movie was shot in a 3D aspect ratio. It was really designed for it. So waiting for DVD, unless you own the newest 3D TV's/DVD players, is ill advised. Without the fish jumping at you, explosions, blood splattering, and 3D naked girls (of which there are plenty) this movie would lose some serious luster. So with all that said, I thought this movie was WORTH SEEING. As a radio personality in NY said "It's a fun movie, providing you can check your brain at the door". I totally agree.

The Expendables

Hey all! It's been a while since my last post, but I was in New York on vacation. Before I went, I had to go see The Expendables. As bad as it sounds if you're of the male variety and grew up watching the classic action movies of the 80's then you know you want to see it as well!

What do you know from watching the trailers? Well we all know that this is a ensemble cast with most of everyone's favorites. Everyone likes to talk about the fact that Stallone and Schwarzenegger are sharing the screen for the first time and they managed to throw Bruce Willis in so they had the Planet Hollywood set, but does just having a ton of huge names make a good movie? Say it with me, "Batman and Robin"! We know that it not only needs more than star power, it can cripple a hugely successful franchise if it's not executed correctly. So like you, I was excited, but a little concerned as well!

Thankfully I left the movie theater almost completely satisfied! Stallone can make good movies, "Rocky" and "Rambo" style. However he can also make "Tango and Cash" type movies. Let's not forget the what were you thinking moment called "Stop or my Mom Will Shoot!". That tells us he has the potential but he also takes some big risks. This one paid off. You can see that he being a action movie veteran took what he learned and applied it, but if you watch some interviews you'll see, he also listened to his fellow teammates for this one. They added their collective two cents and helped him consider what to put in, and what to leave out. It moved like an action movie, but the plot development between explosions was surprisingly well done too. Although we do have some of that ridiculous impossible situations and outcomes of any action movie of this caliber, I think they understood that the audience is better educated now. When we go back and watch Rambo shredding enemy battalions single handedly, without getting a scratch, while being shirtless, and out in the open, we can laugh it off, but enjoy. With this I got the feeling they took that into consideration. Our hero's take cover and Jet Li even get's his a$$ kicked at one point.

This movie wet my appetite last year with trailers and on set pics. Almost a full year later with tension building and hunger pains, I was happy to leave the AMC with a full stomach! This is movie is what it wants so bad to be. AWESOME! If you grew up on the classics ("Total Recall", "Rambo", "Cobra", "Die Hard") like I did, give "The Expendables" a shot. You won't be disappointed.

The Other Guys

I went to the theater on opening night to see a Will Ferrell movie?  Yes I did.  I need to thank my brother from another mother Steve for recommending this one.  He, like me, is not a huge Will Ferrell fan.  Although what saved it for him was Mark Wahlberg.  He's always watched every movie that involved this former Funky Buncher in hopes he'll take off his shirt, start curling some cinder blocks, and repeat "Feel the vibration!".  I am not however, a Marky Mark fan either.  Steve is my best friend and we more or less agree on a good flick, so I had to see based on his high recommendations.

Upon getting there and starting the movie I noticed a few things.  Firstly, I was laughing.  UNcontrollably!  Secondarily, I noticed that this isn't a Will Ferrel movie.  I mean he is one of the main roles, but it's not like "Anchorman" or any other Will Ferrel movie as of late.  This one brings it back to "Old School" or "Night at the Roxbury" days.  Before the dark times.  Before the Empire.  Where Will Ferrel is present, but not the main focus.

It's your basic buddy cop movie, but a 1000% times funnier.  The timing, the dialog, the storyline, and the action all fit together wonderfully to create a comedy so funny it literally gets you laughing from start to finish.  It's hard not to write spoilers here.  The movie was full of punch lines that delivered, but most would give away some plot points so I'll not quote any here.  Except one, Mark Wahlberg equates riding in a Toyota Prius to "Literally like riding in a vagina."  I'm not sure who's idea it was to put these two together, but they play off each other like they've been at it for years.  Which I'm sure was the idea, but I think I had the same misgivings as everyone else who is unsure whether or not they'll enjoy this movie.  My advice, it's an AWESOME movie.  It restores my faith in comedy!  Throw caution to the wind and buy a ticket.  You won't be disappointed.  "Gatah needs his gat!"

Rage of Honor

Ok, again, when I was growing up in Germany we had one channel that spoke english.  That channel was the AAFES network.  It sucked!  It played news about 90% of the time, one cartoon usually "Voltron", and a lousy black and white drama before they played star spangled banner and went off the air.  Needless to say, VHS was our best friend.  My older brother usually raided the Martial Arts section with our Father.  We discovered Sho Kosugi.  With titles like "Enter the Ninja", "Revenge of the Ninja", and "Ninja III Domination" he introduced two pre-teens to the world of bloody assassins who would find endless new ways to hack someone every couple minutes.

I'm not sure how we missed "Rage of Honor".  I found it in the free section of on demand and it was like I had been given a gift.  "A Sho Kosugi Ninja movie from the 80's that I've never seen!  I'm all in SON!!!"  Having said that I obviously lost something I had when I was younger, or maybe just got a little bit wiser, not sure which.  I think when I was younger I thought the moves were precise, and the gadgets were cool.  Now that we have advanced so far in making Martial Art movies one's like these are really lacking.  They move their swords so slowly that a 6 year old kid could move out of the way, yet the blades still make swooshing sounds like they're cutting the air.  They don't even try to cover up the stunt doubles, and the acting makes me want to punch myself.  The plot is so redonkeyless it looks like they made it up as it went.  They should just call this movie what it was.  Sho Kosugi moving slow and pretending to hurt people.

For all these reasons I've given "Rage of Honor" my KEPT WATCHING, BUT NOT SURE WHY.  This movie has made me question if the old ones I loved so much will look like crap on a crutch if I was to watch them again.  I think for that reason alone, I'll retire my 80's Ninja outfit, and let them live on in my memories.

The Wolfman

When I was growing up my older brother and I watched the original 1940's "The Wolfman" a couple hundred times.  Not sure why because it was the 80's and we had a number of much better werewolf movies to choose from.  I think it was the simplicity that we liked.  So you better believe that when I heard it was being remade I was excited/mortified.  I worry whenever I hear an old favorites is being remade.

So they kept the general story line intact.  It's set in a much earlier time period than the original, but you get the same feel.  I like the choice of actors, and the story keeps moving at a good pace.  In this movie they take care to make sure he only turns on a full moon.  Not at will like so many other flicks.  They did of course have to one up the original with the amount of deaths, and the scene of him turning in the middle of a medical lecture was a cherry on top.  Still I in general thought it was missing something.  I can't really put my finger on it.  I think it has to do with the fact that werewolf movies have been hashed and rehashed so much that it just doesn't wow the audience anymore.

After all the delay to finally get to see this movie it was still kind of just WORTH SEEING in my opinion.  My favorite werewolf movie is still "American Werewolf in London".  Check this one out though, and let me know how you liked it.

Dolan's Cadillac

When I was in my senior year of High School I had a mean English teacher.  She made us do a book report every month.  I don't read!  I don't like it, and it takes me too long.  To get around this I went out and bought Stephen King's "Nightmares and Dreamscapes".  It's a collection of short stories.  So instead of reading a book a month I just read a story out of there.  It worked and I barely passed English 12.  Anyways in that book was a very good story about revenge.  It was called "Dolan's Cadillac".  I always liked it.  So I figured the movie would be worth a watch.  I was almost right.

The most this movie has going for it is a kick ass name like King's.  The second name as well as front man star Christian Slater is almost a deterrent for me, as this guy has put out absolute crap this entire decade.  Anyways, I gave the movie a shot.  I now know what everyone means when they say "The book was so much better." as this didn't hold a candle to the story.  I don't understand why they didn't plot out his script the way it was written in the book.

The movie is about a man who's wife is killed by a mafia boss scumbag type named Dolan.  After her demise the hubby starts to stalk Dolan until he learns his routine down to a T, and then traps him in his Cadillac.  It was a crude conversion from paper to film.  That said you may want to WAIT FOR CABLE!  Could have been so much better.