Predator (1987) - #Movie #Review

A fantastic classic!

Ok, so before Arnold Schwarzenegger (The Terminator) became the, 'Governator' he was this huge actions/sci-fi star that had a ton of great movies that he released between the early 1980s, and roughly the mid 2000, (He has been in some good movies lately, but nothing like the movies that came out before his tenure as the, 'Governator'!)

With that said, there are a couple of movie series that he sort of technically helped to begin that are still running to this day, one of them being, 'The Terminator' (A series that he recently returned to,) 'Conan: The Barbarian' (A series that is about to be brought back to life,) and, 'Predator' (A series that may not have seen him back in since the beginning, but still a great series!)

And we will get in to, 'Terminator', but the one that I wanted to discuss today that I think actually is a pretty awesome movie is, Predator (1987)!

A great poster!

Written by:: Jim Thomas (Mission To Mars), John Thomas (Batman: Dead End) and Directed by: John McTiernan (Die Hard). Starring: Arnold Schwarzenegger, Carl Weathers (Rocky), Elpidia Carrillo (Solaris), Bill Duke (Battledogs), Jesse Ventura (The Running Man), Sonny Landham (Mental Scarls) & Richard Chaves (War Of The Worlds).

"You're one... 'ugly' motherfucker!" - Dutch (A quote by Arnold Schwarzenegger from, Predator (1987)!)

Now one of the great things about this movie is it's timeless story, you see this movies tells the story of Dutch (Schwarzenegger) and a group of soldiers who are sent in to the central American jungle on a rescue mission, when they end up encountering more the they bargain for!

Dutch and his team...

You see, they had been sent out on what they believed was going to be a rescue mission, but in this case what they literally, 'don't know' is definitely going to kill them, when these highly trained hunter/killers, become the prey for an unseen warrior!

In the end, this is one trip in to the jungle that these fearless warriors are never going to forget!

Now as far as this movie goes, I have to say that it is timeless... I mean seriously, if you want a fantastic man vs. alien film, you really can't get much better then this... I mean even the few plot holes that are in this movie don't detract from how awesome it is!

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Friday Night Double Feature: The Crawling Eye (1958) And Sharknado (2013)

The Friday Night Double Feature this week: The Crawling Eye (1958), and Sharknado (2013)! 

That's right guys... Friday night fast approaches... Time to get together with the woman you love, pop some popcorn, pour the bubbly, and turn on some insanely awesome & cheesy as hell, 'B' Sci-fi movies... Well your girl maybe a little peeved (unless she is in to these types of movies... Hey, you never know... Am right?) No, but seriously, unless you are truly home alone this Friday night, or are in a position for a fun good ole fashion shlockfest, then I got a couple of goodies here that will please the masses, old or young! First off... A golden oldie, The Crawling Eye (1958).

This guest at the Swiss resort probably won't be coming back... But then again, the resort officials have a lot more that they are going to have to worry about...

 Starring: Forrest Tucker (The Bionic Woman), Laurence Payne (Vampire Circus), (They Came From Beyond Space) & Janet Munro (The Day The Earth Caught Fire). This awesome tale, tells the story of a Swiss resort in the Alps, and how for the vacationers at the resort, they are about to have some Alien company... And they enjoy tearing people down... And I don't mean emotionally!

And the next one is a more recent one, this one being: Sharknado (2013)!

Aliens invade the Earth... Accept these aliens come from the ocean, and not from outer space!

Starring: Ian Ziering (Beverly Hills 90210), Tara Reid (American Pie), John Heard (Assault On Wall Street), Cassie Scerbo (Agoraphobia). This movie tells the tale of a different invasion, when the Sharks from the Ocean begin to invade the rest of the world... Humanity will be powerless to stop them... But a bar owner, his friends, and family are bound and determined to try!

The truth is, is these movies are both cheesy as hell, awesome as hell, and if you are looking for a night of just good ole fashion thoughtless fun... You can't go wrong with these movies!
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Age Of Tomorrow (2014) - Movie Review

Official Score = 2 Devils

You know, 'B' Movies got there names as the short form of calling these movies, 'bad' movies, and as a matter of fact, at one time or another, if there was a movie that had been directed by: Alan Smithee (Catchfire), you would know that, that movie was going to be pretty, 'awful' just because he only directed the worst movies... (Well Alan Smithee is not actually a real person, but the moniker given to filmmakers who want to distance themselves from their crap movies...)

As time has gone on though, 'B' movies, and all of their subset genre films have grown to have a pretty decent sized following, to the point where you can't really say anymore that, 'B' movies are necessarily, 'Bad' movies anymore!

The reason that I mention this is that I recently saw a 'B' movie that may not be at the caliber that a lot of the great B movies are at, but is still pretty good, that movie being, Age Of Tomorrow (2014).

This may not be the best B-Movie out there, but it does have it's moments...

Written by: Jacob Cooney (The Majestic) & Bill Hanstock (Small Town Life), Directed by: James Kondelik (Airplane Vs. Volcano). Starring: Kelly Hu (X-Men 2), Anthony Marks (Blood Night: The Legend Of Mary Hatchet), Robert Picardo (Star Trek: Voyager), Lane Townsend (Adaline), Mitchell Carpenter (Dexter) & Nick Stellate (Killer 2: The Beast).

This movie tells the story of how when it looks like an asteroid that is big enough to destroy the planet is on a trajectory to hit the Earth, the United States Marines send up a team to drill in to the rock and to try and destroy the asteroid before the asteroid wipes out everything on Earth...

While they are up there though, they find something interesting, this asteroid is not actually set up to destroy the planet, but to be used as a launching platform for a dying alien race to invade the planet, but to also kidnap  humans and take them to their planet!

A Fire Fighter and an Alien... You guess who would win...

The mistake these Aliens made though, is they kidnapped the Marines, and it will be up to this team to figure out how to destroy them, and to get the information to a team of surviving military officers, (and an LAFD officer,) so that they can begin to destroy them, before the Aliens have the chance to destroy the Earth!

Now the truth is, is unless you are a B movie fan, you probably won't like this movie all that much... But as a B movie fan, I think that you will might like this movie, as it has the signatures that make B movies great! The only other thing that I will say is that this movie does start off kind of slow as well!

In the end though, if you have a chance, you should check this one out, this movie may not be the best, but it is definitely one that B movie fans should check out at least once!

The Beast With A Million Eyes (1955) - Movie Review

Official Score = 1 Devil

Have you ever seen a movie that is just not quite there? What I mean by this is that movie has all of the elements to be something good, but for whatever reason this movie just was not what it should have been?

The reason that I asked is because I have seen more then a few of them during my time reviewing horror and science fiction, but the one I have most recently seen is, The Beast With A Million Eyes (1955)!

Had a lot of potential, just couldn't cut it...

Written by: Tom Filer (The Space Children) & Directed by: David Kramarsky (The Crybaby Killer), & Roger Corman (Death Race 2000). Starring: Paul Birch (Cannon Ball), Lorna Thayer (Five Easy Pieces), Dona Cole (The Long Gray Line), Dick Seargent (Bewitched), Leonard Tarver (The Lonesome Trail) & Bruce Whitmore.

Ultimately this movie is not horrible, it just wasn't great, and what I mean by this is that the movie had a great premise... A story that was about an Alien visitor... A emissary from a dying world that has to take over a body and make it the host in an effort to survive, now the thing is, is that they survive on, 'Hate'... Which apparently the Human race has in abundance...

Well it looks like the Alien has decided to use the, 'Kelley' family, and the surrounding animal population to experiment on, and as the animals start getting more and more violent, well ultimately it will be up to the, 'Kelley' family and their servant, 'Him' to stop this Alien from invading Earth and taking over!

The Kelley clan confronting the ultimate evil on Earth, and it's servant... A man it kidnapped!

Ultimately the story is great, the special effects are that awesome, 'B' movie special effects that Roger Corman has always done so well with... The problem is, is that the acting is far over the top (and not in that style that still keeps it fun.)

Anyway, this movie is not the best, and I will be honest and say that this one may be a stretch for B Movie fans as well.. But if you are, give it a try, because again, (this movie is not the best to have come out by Mr. Corman, but it certainly is not the worst movie to have ever come out!)

Slither (2006) - Movie Review

[caption id="attachment_325" align="alignright" width="263"] Official Score = 3 Devils[/caption]

Growing up in the 90s as a fan of horror and science fiction movies, some of my favorites were and still are such films as, Scream (1996), I Know What You Did Last Summer (1997) and even, The Faculty (1998)... I thought that these and a lot of the other horror and science fiction (rather it is mainstream or indie) were pretty well made and a lot of fun to watch!

The truth is though is that when the new millennium hit, it seemed to me like filmmakers kind of lost the momentum that they had managed to gain in the late 90s with some truly awful horror and science fiction movies that came out in the first part of the new millennium (I would say that since then though that the quality of the movies in these genres have gotten better and better though.)

The reason that I mention all of this is that I just recently saw an indie B Sci-Fi/Horror movie that was not only a lot of fun, and was well made, but also was a reminder of some the great classic Horror and Science Fiction movies of the 1990s, and that movie is, Slither (2006)!

[caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="190"] A truly fantastic film![/caption]

Why was this movie so great? Well first off I wanted to say that this movie has an amazing cast of actors and actresses, including: Nathan Fillion (Serenity), Elizabeth Banks (The Hunger Games), Michael Rooker (Henry: Portrait Of A Serial Killer), Rob Zombie (Halloween), Lloyd Kaufman (Terror Firmer) & Jenna Fischer (The Office).

I also thought that the story was pretty awesome and brilliantly created, in that the movie takes place in a small town, and tells of how after an Alien symbiote queen lands on Earth, a man by the name of Grant Grant (Michael Rooker), while sexually frustrated and about to cheat on his wife, Starla (Elizabeth Banks), ends up in the woods with a younger woman, but after coming across this weird Alien, ends up being infected by the queen and becomes the host!

Now at first everything seems to be normal, but as the new Alien/Grant infects the young woman, and the woman becomes fatter and fatter, weird things begin to happen, (such as dogs, horses, cows and the like disappearing, which brings Chief Bill Pardy (Fillion) to investigate...

[caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="499"] Chief Pardy & his team as they investigate some one who just seemed to be really, 'hungry'...[/caption]

But when the woman gives birth to hundreds of these tiny little worms/symbiotes that begin to take over the town, Chief Pardy will have to gather up the last surviving towns people to stop the Grant/Alien from destroying the town and eventually the world!

The other thing that I liked about this movie is the fact that the style in which this movie was made was like an awesome homage to classic 90s Horror/Sci-Fi movies, and that they also gave a kind of fun homage to John Carpenter's, 'The Thing' when they named the mayor, 'Jack Macready' (Played by: Gregg Henry), and that it looks like his store is called, 'R.J. Macready's', (In John Carpenter's, 'The Thing' the lead character's name is, R.J. Macready!)

As a matter of fact, the only thing that I wasn't completely satisfied with, is the fact that this is supposed to be a a Horror/Sci-Fi/Comedy... But although this movie has its moments with comedy... It is more just simply awesome then funny!

In the end, I really found this one to be an awfully fun time, and if you check it out you might find the same as well!

http://youtu.be/QfPkYyfCvOU

American Battleship (2012) - Movie Review

[caption id="attachment_325" align="alignright" width="263"] Official Score = 3 Devils[/caption]

Recently there was a movie that came out on the big screen that was loosely based on the board game called, Battleship (2012)… The truth is, is I have never actually seen this movie, but I can see how people can confuse this movie with, American Battleship (2012), and can even call this the B Movie attempt capitalizing on the success of that movie!

Now the reason that I feel confident about saying that is between knowing the story line (to some extent), and having seen the trailer for the movie, I can see that both movies appear to have very similar story line concepts, it looks like American Naval Vessels both end up going up against some sort of Alien threat, (although, since I haven’t seen Battleship, I can’t say rather it is a space born Alien menace that is attacking the Earth, or if it is something from Earth (like in, The Abyss (1989)).

But other than that, I can see that there are certain differences in the two movies, first of them being is that, for as good as American Battleship was (and this maybe one of the best Science Fiction movies that I have seen in a while that utilizes the modern Military). It definitely does have that Sci-fi Channel movie feel to it, (which is not a bad thing).

Unlike Battleship, which has A list first string actors and actresses, American Battleship has some great second string talent to it.

[caption id="attachment_2829" align="aligncenter" width="225"] A truly awesome b movie![/caption]

In the end, American Battleship, a movie that was Written & Directed By: Thunder Levin (Soulmates) and which stars, Mario Van Peebles (New Jack City), Carl Weathers (Predator), Johanna Watts (The Falls), Nikki McCauley (Busting Out), Elijah Chester (The Box), Sean Patrick Smith (Tainted Love).

This movie tells the story of the U.S.S. Iowa, a ship that had been designed and built for the U.S. Navy during World War 2.

Now during that time that ship had seen a lot combat, but after just about 80 years of service, this ship is being moth balled and is on its final mission to arrive from the South Pacific back to the United States west coast, so that it can be mothballed and become a museum ship… This all until the Captain of the ship decides to go off and check on the U.S.S. Enterprise and her carrier group, so that they can find out what happened to those ships…

[caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="650"] The bridge crew of the Iowa as they head in to the history books![/caption]

Well when they get to the area, the crew is attacked by an as yet unseen force that is secretly trying to push the world in to a nuclear war, and as the world gets closer, it looks like the U.S.S. Iowa is going to have to go to war with this unseen entity and stop them before the scales are tipped!

In the end, I thought that this movie had great special effects, a fun story, and a great cast, all rolled in to one, with some cheesy one liners that just simply rock! Definitely one that I enjoyed and you might to!

http://youtu.be/Yr-Y8IeWymo

The Cape Canaveral Monsters (1960) - Movie Review

[caption id="attachment_325" align="alignright" width="263"] Official Score = 3 Devils[/caption]

As a movie buff and more directly a Science Fiction and Horror movie fan, there are times that I wish I could go back to the 50s or the 60s or even the 70s and go to the theater!

I mean how cool would it be to see, Halloween, as it was originally made, when it was released in 1978? Or to see Alfred Hitchcock’s, ‘Psycho’ when it was released in to the Theater in 1960? Or any of the myriad of amazing Science Fiction films that people back then got to see for less than a dollar (in some cases!)

The reason I mention this, is because these types of movies were extremely awesome! Rather they be Horror movies or Science Fiction movies, these movies had awesome campy as hell (but very fun) story lines (in the case of Horror, horror is more fictional than real anyway, in Science Fiction… Well from the 60s on back it was still mostly imagination of a world that was just starting to hint at going in to space!)

They had great actors and actresses, who unfortunately for most people in the modern day would not remember, which is a shame, because most of these old time actors had so much talent coming from them, that in my opinion, they match up to the talent (or in some cases beat out the talent) of some of our modern day celebrities (They kind of had to, considering what they had to work with in what could be considered the pioneering days of special effects and the like…

And speaking of special effects… I know that it might seem like I have knocked them around in this review more than a few times… But the truth is… ‘Yes’, the special effects in these types of movies were of times extremely campy (especially Science Fiction movies,) but they are that good type of camp that make these movies a ton of fun… I mean I’ll be honest here and say that if some of these amazing classics were given the modern Hollywood makeover when it comes to special effects, then these movies would have sucked!

And you know what? The Cape Canaveral Monsters (1960) exemplifies all of these traits!

[caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="400"] A great example of a cult classic, that had very little but ended giving such an amazing performance![/caption]

Written and Directed by: Phil Tucker (Robot Monster). Starring: Jason Johnson (Invasion Of The Saucer Men), Katherine Victor (The Wild World Of Batwoman), Chuck Howard (The Last Hurrah), Scott Peters (Panic In Year Zero!), Linda Connell, Billy Greene (The Shrike), and Lyle Felice (Psycho a Go-Go).

This movie tells the story of an American Space Program in it’s infancy… During this time a special project that is being run by a Doctor Von Hoften, a German Scientist that has assembled a team at Cape Canaveral to help get mankind in to outer space…

On this team is Von Hoften’s daughter, ‘Sally’ (Connell) and a student by the name of, ‘Tom Wright’ (Peters)…

Now during this time, there is a group of Aliens by the name of Nadja (Victor) and Hauron (Johnson) who have been sent to Earth with the express purpose of helping make sure that mankind never reaches the cosmos…

[caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="320"] Hauron (Jason Johnson) as he is stopping another attempt by NASA to launch a rocket in to orbit.[/caption]

One night, while Tom, Sally and a couple of friends are out on a date, they stumble upon the Aliens, and it will be up to these two love birds, and a couple of other people to stop Hauron and Nadja from carrying through with their nefarious plot, so that, in the end they can stop a bigger plot that involves the rest of the world!

In the end, this movie was a ton of fun, and worth my time, and if you’re in to these classics, then you might like it as well!

Armageddon (As Seen On Screen)

The truth is, is that there are many types of Science Fiction movies that are a lot of fun, there are of course the variations on the old Orwellian theme of, ‘a brave new world’ which usually pits somebody that has broken free of the brainwashing that the advanced society has programmed everyone in to.

A great example of this type of movie, and as a matter of fact, it is one of George Lucas’s first films, is THX 1138 (1971). A movie which tells the story of a civilization that is so tightly controlled that even the very emotions of it’s citizens are controlled by drugs! And it took Robert Duvall (The Godfather) to finally break free and escape from that Orwellian nightmare and up to the surface of the planet!

[caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="580"] THX 1138 (Duvall) being carried away by two robotic Cops![/caption]

There is another great Science Fiction movie that I thought that I would mention here, and that is the movie that usually is either based on a video game or on a movie, and has those heroes kicking invading Alien ass! Let’s be honest here folks, with all the comic book movies coming out lately, do we really need an example?

The next one that I thought that I would mention here is the dystopian post-apocalyptic movies! Now these movies are awesome! I mean, they usually tell of a hero, whom after a disaster (one that is usually a catastrophic man-made disaster), unites all, or a group of survivors, in an effort to fend off or destroy marauding bandits that are trying to destroy those that are trying to bring civilization back to the world!

A great example of this, is the movie, The Postman (1997), now this movie which stars, Kevin Costner (Waterworld) tells of how after a loner finds an old mail truck full of undelivered mail before the end of the world occurred, turns out to be the catalyst that brought the world back together again, and tears a tyrannical Army that had been controlling things, apart, and which ultimately restarts civilization in the whole!

Now this next one I thought that I would mention is those movies that have to do with apocalyptic end of the of the world scenarios! Another truly classic style of movie that oft times usually has a great cast and amazing special effects and a great story line to it as well!

These movies oft times will have one or a small band of people that are trying to stop usually ignorant, and frequently arrogant people from unleashing such things as a, ‘plague’, or ‘a virus’, or hell, even a, ‘black hole’. Sometimes these movies have to do with invaders from space almost destroying the world in an effort to inhabit it!

[caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="570"] This apocalyptic scene is a scene from the classic Alien Invasion Apocalyptic movie, 'Independence Day' (1996)![/caption]

A truly classic example of these types of movies is Independence Day (1996). In this movie, the world is attacked by a group of Alien Invaders, and it is up to what is left of the United States to stop this Alien threat before they destroy the rest of the world!

These are just a few of the great examples of sub genres that deal with either preventing the end of the world from occurring, or watching the aftermath of the end of the world after it has occurred!

http://youtu.be/4hLXOVCZr-8

http://youtu.be/bPxBW1Ox13Q

http://youtu.be/3XHKZsH_A7w

Top 5 Films For Halloween 2012

With Halloween coming up real quick, and with the release of Hellinspace.com, A friend of mine and CEO of AwesomeBMovies.com, Matt Dowling helped give me this great idea for doing my top 5 choices for Halloween…

So please enjoy this list, and I hope you are able to find something to enjoy this Halloween from my top 5 list of films for Halloween 2012!

At Number 5: Slumber Party Massacre (1982):

[caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="420"] A truly classic horror movie that is a fun way to kick off a Halloween extravaganza![/caption]

The name may not win some people over, but the truth is, is this is a great scary Corman/slasher that is really worth sinking your teeth in to!

Number 4: Friday The 13th (1980):

[caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="400"] Alice as she is about to meet the woman that will change her life forever![/caption]

Come on, you know I had to put it in there… I mean it is a truly genuine classic horror fest that is definitely worth watching on Halloween!

Number 3: The Changling (1980):

[caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="627"] Home Sweet Home....[/caption]

A truly great paranormal classic that I do think you guys might truly enjoy!

Number 2: The Pit And The Pendulum (1961):

[caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="400"] Damn if that ain't the biggest butchers block ever![/caption]

A great Vincent Price classic that was based on an Edgar Allan Poe novel and has some great scares in it!

And finally, for number 1 we got: Halloween (1978):

[caption id="" align="alignnone" width="800"] This guy is taking out trick 'r treaters left and right![/caption]

The truth is folks, is that this movie is my absolute all-time favorite movie in general… And let’s be honest here… The name says it all!

Anyway folks I hope that this series of movies helps you in your decision making on what to watch on Halloween night… and hey… Happy Halloween to all you fright fans out there!

http://youtu.be/Dqxl33EFIYA

http://youtu.be/2S8YFTcEDME

http://youtu.be/xTzgXVosQOU

http://youtu.be/4INAmCYjWZk

http://youtu.be/WLPbtz19rng

The Avengers (2012) - Movie Review

[caption id="attachment_415" align="alignright" width="300"] Official Score = 4 Devils[/caption]

Remember when you were a kid, the joy of collecting and trading comic books and (well if you were a kid in the 90s) trading comic book cards? I do, I used to love all that stuff!

Now I always loved comics and comic book cards that DC produced, but my favorite always had to be.... You guessed it! MARVEL!

Rather it be reading the gritty adventures of, 'Cable', or reading about the, 'X-Men' battling the latest threat to the world, or for that matter any of the other super hero's or super hero teams that fought the forces of darkness!

So it delighted me to discover a lot of my favorite costumed heroes from the Marvel Universe were being turned in to movies! Including, the X-Men series, the Spider-Man series, the Iron Man series, to name a few...

And of course the most recent Super Hero movie was great as well, The Avengers!

[caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="500"] The Avengers as they are about to assemble![/caption]

Written by: Joss Whedon (Buffy The Vampire Slayer), and Zack Penn (The Incredible Hulk) and Directed by: Joss Whedon. Starring: Robert Downey Jr. (Zodiac), Chris Hemsworth (The Cabin In The Woods), Chris Evans (Fantastic Four), Scarlett Johansson (Eight Legged Freaks), Mark Ruffalo (Shutter Island), Tom Hiddleston (Thor), Jeremy Renner (Dahmer), Samuel L. Jackson (Deep Blue Sea), and Colbie Smulders (Andromeda).

The Avengers tells the story of how, after Loki's (Hiddleston) defeat on Asgard in the movie, Thor (2011), by his brother Thor (Hemsworth). Loki retreats to the vastness of space. During this time he comes across a race that has offered to fight for Loki, when Loki decides to take over the Earth!

So after stealing an item called, 'The Tesseract' (an item that can draw power from space), from a S.H.I.E.L.D. run research facility, and taking over the free will of a Doctor, and an Agent by the name of, 'Clint Barton' (Renner), Loki takes off with his new soldiers in an effort to create a portal from Earth to the planet where his army is currently waiting on!

With the world now threatened by Loki and his minions, S.H.I.E.L.D. Director Nick Fury (Jackson) calls on: Iron Man (Downey Jr.), The Black Widow (Johansson), The Hulk (Ruffalo), Captain America (Evans), (and later Thor and Hawkeye join as well), to combat the threat posed by Loki, and save the Human Race as, 'The Avengers'!

[caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="460"] 'The Avengers' assembled going to war![/caption]

Now as an interesting side note, this movie is the culmination of past super hero movies such as, Thor (2011), the Iron Man series and, The Incredible Hulk series as well!

In my opinion, with this movie being the perfect blending of, 'Science Ficition' and, 'Action' this movie may actually be the best Super Hero movie to come out since the first X-Men movie (A personal fav of mine).

Now before I get in to why I think this movie is so awesome, I should probably tell you a little bit of history and how The Avengers came to life...

The Avengers came in to being through the creative inspiration of comic book legends Stan Lee and Jack Kirby, and had their debut in September of 1963... Since then, 'The Avengers' and the team members that make up, 'The Avengers' has become an international sensation amongst the legions of , 'Avengers' comic book fans, 'Avengers' movie aficionados and even , 'Avengers', video game fans around the world! And being a fan of, 'The Avengers' in all 3 of those categories, it kind of goes without saying that I would be a fan of this movie as well!

But besides that, the truth is, is that carry overs from their original movies, 'i,e. Tom Hiddleston as (Loki), or Robert Downey Jr. as, (Iron Man)' continue to do an amazing job portraying the characters they portrayed in the other movies... So much so that it was great to see Robert Downey Jr. reprise his role as, 'Iron Man', Chis Hemworth reprise his role as, 'Thor' as they both match pretty closely to what I would have thought the characters from the comics would have looked like in real life!

http://youtu.be/1hPpG4s3-O4

Battle Los Angeles (2011) - Movie Review

[caption id="attachment_385" align="alignright" width="300"] Official Score = 2 Devils[/caption]

A few years ago Hollywood had a brief love affair with re-igniting the Alien invasion story concept, what with having released a remake to Orson Welles' (Citizen Kane) 1953 classic, War Of The Worlds, with Tom Cruise (Minority Report), and Skyline (2010) with Eric Balfour (24), to name a few...

Now for the most part it seems like it has been universally a bust... But there was one movie in there that I personally thought was pretty spectacular!

That movie of course being, Battle Los Angeles (2011):

Written by: Christopher Bertolini (Madso's War) and Directed by: Jonathan Liebesman (Ninja Turtles). Starring: Aaron Eckhart (The Dark Knight), Michelle Rodriguez (Machete), Ramon Rodriguez (Harlem Hostel), and Bridget Moynahan (Noise).

[caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="600"] Ssgt Nanz as he is preparing to go war with Aliens![/caption]

Battle Los Angeles is a fun tale of how Staff Seargent Michael Nantz (Eckhart), a veteran military officer who is about to retire from the service... That is until it looks like the Earth is being hit by a weird meteor shower!

What I mean by this is that these meteors start slowing down as they get closer and closer to the Earth!

You see it turns out that these meteors are actually an Alien invasion fleet that has come to take over! So now with Staff Sergeant Nantz's retirement having been rescinded, he and his new team are sent in to the battle zone in an effort to take back the city of Los Angeles, and help begin to stop this invasion from continuing!

[caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="600"] The Army as they go to war with the Alien invaders![/caption]

Now on the plus side, this movie has amazing special effects, to the point where when the humans are battling with the aliens in one of their apocalyptic battles, it almost brought tears to my eyes seeing how well made these scenes were!

This movie also has a great cast, I mean Aaron Eckhart is really proving himself as an man of action... So to speak... Michelle Rodriguez has proven herself to be a kick ass woman who can kick some major ass as a pivitol member of a tactical in the majority of the movies I have seen her in, and this one's no different! And lastly I did want to mention the awesome direction...

As a matter of fact, the only real draw back to this movie is that the story is really kind of grossly subpar! What I mean by this is that there is no real character development amongst any of the actors, in the posters they show what looks like the Aliens showing up at very points, in various area of the planet for decades, but never explain that, and also in the end you don't really care much for the people that these military officers are saving beyond the symbolism of the American Military being there to save their citizens from the enemies of the United States... Which is cool in real life, but in a movie is just not enough for me!

In total, this movie is definitely worth viewing at least once!

http://youtu.be/CWPkJD0YHeM

Men In Black 2 (2002) - Movie Review

[caption id="attachment_385" align="alignright" width="353"] Official Score = 2 Devils[/caption]

When I was a kid, one of the things that I really liked to do was to go to the movie theaters on the weekends. As a matter of fact, a lot of the movies that were released from the mid to late 90s that I saw, I saw them at the theaters!

And one of these movies that I happen to watch at the theater during one of these weekend excursions was the movie, Men In Black (1997)! Now I happen to really enjoy this movie and was glad when I discovered, Men in Black 2 (2002):

Written by Robert Gordon (Galaxy Quest), Barry Fanaro (Kingpin) and Directed by Barry Sonnenfeld (RV). Starring: Will Smith (Independence Day), Tommy Lee Jones (The Sunset Limited), Rip Torn (Eulogy), Lara Flynn Boyle (Wayne's World), Rosario Dawson (Sin City), and Tony Shalhoub (Monk).

Men In Black 2, is the continuing story of Agent Jay (Smith), and Agent Kay (Jones), and the, Men In Black Organization! During this time, Agent Kay is working for a small town postal department and is living his old life as Kevin Brown! And Agent Jay is going through new partners as fast as humanly possible!

[caption id="attachment_465" align="aligncenter" width="300"] Agent J. (Will Smith) as he re-introduces Agent K (Tommy Lee Jones) to the wide world of, 'Men In Black!'[/caption]

Now during this time a Kylothian Space Craft is carrying an Alien by the name of, Serleena (Boyle), who lands on earth to search for the, 'Light Of Zartha'. As Agent Jay begins his investigation in to the Kylothian ship and Serleena, Agent Jay comes to realize that the only way that Jay is going to solve this case is that he is going to have to bring Kay back in to the fold (despite the fact that Kay's memories of the men in black have been zapped!)

So as Jay figures out how to give Kay his memories back (so that the two can find the, 'Light Of Zartha'), and with Serleena having crippled MIB headquarters, it will be up to Jay... (and hopefully Kay) to save the world from the menace that is Serleena!

[caption id="attachment_467" align="aligncenter" width="300"] Agents J, and K are back to kick some major ass![/caption]

In my opinion this movie is not as good as the first one, it was definitely missing that love interest between Jay and Laurel (Played by: Linda Fiorentino) from the first Men In Black movie, and the some times comic nature of the communication between the Aliens and Men In Black was little over the top.

That was on the negative side, on the plus side, all the actors did do a fun job with what they had to work with, the special effects and camera work were a lot of fun, and Barry Sonnenfeld continued to bring a fun Men In Black movie to the big screen that will make it so that when you come out of that movie, you will not be disappointed but kind of pleased for having seen it!

http://youtu.be/pCRFJFLfBVc

Ultimate Avengers (2006) - Movie Review

[caption id="attachment_330" align="alignright" width="220"] Official Score = 2 1/2 Devils[/caption]

Marvel has been hitting it big in the new millenium, what with having released movies that for the most part almost all of them were summber block busters! Such movies as the X-Men series, the Spider-Man series,the Iron Man series, and now with the success of the big screen box office smash hit, The Avengers (2012)! And speaking of the Avengers, before the recently released movie came out... As a matter of fact, before most of the sub-series for the characters from this team was released, there was great animated movie series version of, 'The Avengers', (which I also belive may have eventual spawned a cartoon series on TV) called, Ultimate Avengers (2006)! Written by: Greg Johnston (Planet Hulk) and Directed by: Curt Geda (Batman: The Mystery Of The Batwoman), Steven E. Gordon (Terminator: Salvation) & Bob Richardson (Daredevil Vs. Spider Man). Starring: Justin Gross (Ninja Gaiden), Grey DeLisle (Bolt), Michael Massee (Millenium), Oliviia d'Abo (Point Of No Return), Marc Worden (Sky Blue), Nolan North (TMNT), Andre Ware (The Cost Of Heaven), David Boat (The Super Hero Squad Show) and Fred Tatasciore (Team America: World Police).

[caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="290"] Captain America & Black Widow as they are trying to recruit Iron Man for the, 'Avengers'![/caption]

The first thing that I thought that I should mention that I thought that you guys would find pretty interesting is the fact that this Avengers Team is very different then the one that you saw in the live action movie! What I mean by that is that in the live action movie that came out just a few months ago, that, 'Avengers' team consisted of, Iron Man, Captain America, The Incredible Hulk, Thor, and the members of S.h.i.e.l.d. that they work with... In the, 'Ultimate Avengers', the team consists of Captain America (Gross), The Wasp (DeLisle), Bruce Banner (Not the Hulk, and he is voiced by Michael Massee), Black Widow (d'Abo), Iron Man (Worden), Giant Man (North) as well as the S.H.I.E.L.D. Crew that work with them! As for the story, this movie (which I was really quite impressed with the animation for), tells the story of how near the end of World War 2, Captain America and his United States Soldier, are about to win the war when Nazi Germany gets some help by an Alien race that has given the Nazis the technology for the Atom Bomb! Now of course this can't work for Captain America, and takes out the nuclear weapon while it is in mid air, the only problem is that after he takes out the bomb, and with the U.S. Millitary giving him up as being killed in action, Captain America falls in the the Atlantic and freezes in to a glacier (where he is able to stay alive by being kept in suspended animation! 60 years later, the U.S. Government and the people who work at S.H.I.E.L.D. are fighting a super secret war against the Aliens that have stayed on Earth... When they find Captain America and thaw him out, General Nick Fury (Ware), is ordered to iniiate the, 'Avengers' program and bring together the above mentioned heros to fight against the alien invasion and stop this secret war before it comes out in the opening!

[caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="448"] Nick Fury, Black Widow & Captain America as they are prepping to kick some major ass![/caption]

Now like I mentioned above, the animation in this movie really was cool, the reason for that is the fact that I always enjoy watching the comic book characters (literally) come to life in the style that they were drawn in the comic books... (With the exception of Thor, and to a degree Iron Man... But still the animation was great!) Also I have to admit that story was a lot of fun! The last thing that I thought that I would mention is that this movie would in the end produce a sequel, as well as I believe a really awesome cartoon series!

http://youtu.be/R_Tgw6f61Vg

Earth Vs. The Alien Invaders

You don’t see these to often for some reasons, Alien Invasion movies that are set on Modern Day Planet Earth, which is an unfortunate thing, because they are great!

Why are they great you ask, well Hollywood in all fairness has shown both sides of the coin on this one, some of these movies have shown just how the Military can handle such problems as the American Military taking on an entire Alien task force (such is the example in the movie, American Battleship (2012)). Some of them show just how it may take some time, but eventually the world will figure it out, and humanity will triumph over the Alien menace (as is the example from, Independence Day (1996), and of course there are some that show how in the end, we just couldn’t make it (as is the case with, Body Snatcher (1993).

[caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="650"] A scene from the movie, 'American Warships' (2012)![/caption]

Well if you’re like me, then you are going to like pretty much all three that I have mentioned above…

With this in mind though, unfortunately for the most part I would have to say that most of these types of movies that were really good came out in the 90’s and before… Unfortunately, there has been some real stinkers that have come out in the last few years… (Skyline (2010) is a great example of this!)

Now before I go on though, there has been some great Science Fiction Invasion movies that have come out in the new millennium that are truly great (Again I have to use American Battleship as an example because it was truly one of those genuinely fun movies!)

But as for the first category (movies where the Military kicks ass almost immediately), is a great one because in all truth, they usually have a great story about some form of lone base, Unit, or ship of some sort that has been entrusted to stop the Alien invasion, and they also have a great message about pride that we should all be taking in, what our armed forces are doing to protect us!

The second category that I thought that I would mention here (The one having to do with, when the world has been beaten back, and then the main cast develops a way that will help destroy the Alien invasion forces…)

Well the truth is, in my opinion, I think that these types of movies have the best story lines to them, as well as great talent and direction to follow up with as well… These types of movies usually have a great message in them, (we may be down. But when we get up, you’ll wish we hadn’t!)

Now as for the third… What can I say? They are just fun! I mean they usually have a great chilling story that does appeal to the horror fan in me, as well as great talent to back them up as well!

The other thing that I thought that I would mention about all three of these categories is just how, all of these movies almost always have great special effects and oft times (even with the crummy versions of any three of these types of movies,) will often have a great cast!

In the end, if you’re a Science Fiction fan and you haven’t had a chance to check out any of these types of movie yet, then I highly recommend doing so, I mean they are pretty kick ass flicks that you might really enjoy as well!

http://youtu.be/WxABSUBEmJc

http://youtu.be/okW2UfLNaJc

http://youtu.be/d-S9nKByu5w