Identity (2003) - Movie Review

Official Score = 3 Devils

One of the biggest sins I believe in the world of TV and movies is that sometimes A list actors from the 80s or the 90s will take a back seat to up and coming stars…

Ok, it is true that to keep an industry progressing you need to get rid of the old and replace it with the new… The only problem with that in the entertainment industry, is that a lot of times these A listers from the past still have the chops to really kick some ass in a way that some of the future A listers just honestly don’t have!

A great example of this is that there was a saying that I heard a few months ago that said that if Robert DeNiro was a fresh faced newbie to the world of acting that he would not have ended up being the legendary super star that he would go on to be!

Now that is the negative side of it, the plus side is the fact that some of these amazing A listers end up going the route of making some truly amazing B Horror and Science Fiction movies!

And you know what? That is just part of the reason why I found that I really enjoyed Identity (2003)!

A classic!

Starring: John Cusack (1408), Amanda Peet (The Whole Nine Yards), Ray Liotta (Hannibal), John Hawkes (I Know What You Did Last Summer), Alfred Molina (Raiders Of The Lost Ark), Clea Duvall (The Faculty), John C. McGinley (Scrubs), William Scott Lee (Nine Dead), Rebecca De Mornay (The Hand That Rocks The Cradle), Pruitt Taylor Smith (Constantine), Leila Kenzle (The Hot Chick) & Jake  Busey (The Frightners).

Identity, tells the story of how a group of people end up at a small rundown Motel on one dark and rainy night. They have all ended up coming here due to the fact that it was pouring rain outside and both sides of the road had been flooded out…

Now these people are from all walks of life…

Ed (John Cusack), Ginny (Clea Duvall), Rhoades (Ray Liotta) & Larry (John Hawkes) as they investigate what the hell is going on at the Motel in the middle of nowhere!

An ex-cop (turned limo driver) by the name of ‘Ed’ (John Cusack) who is driving a famous actress by the name of Caroline Suaznne (Rebecca De Mornay) back to Los Angeles ends up accidentally running over a mother by the name of, ‘Alice York’ (Leila Kenzle) who was on the road with her husband, ‘George’ (John C. McGinley), and son, ‘Timmy’ (played by: Brett Loehr).

Hurriedly trying to get the family to some place safe so that the family would be looked after Ed ends up at the old rundown motel where they end up meeting, ‘Larry’ (Hawkes) a kind innskeeper that just seems to want to help.

Anyway after he get the York family settled in to their room, Ed takes off in hopes of finding help, but while he is on the road he ends up meeting, ‘Paris’, (Peet) a former call girl who had just ended that career to go home to Florida in an effort to become an orange farmer, but at this point her car had just ended up failing her and she gets a ride from Ed (who drives his car in to the flooded section of the road!)

Ed & Paris as they investigate the happenings at that good ole Motel in the middle of nowhere!

After this happens Ed and Paris meet the recently married, ‘Ginny’ (DuVall), and, ‘Lou’ (Scott) and get a ride from them back to the Motel…

Once they get there though and everyone gets settled in, a Federal Officer by the name of, ‘Rhoades’ (Liotta) who is transporting a criminal by the name of, ‘Robert Maine’ (Busey) to Carson City shows up…

Unfortunately though, once they get there, these guests start being killed off one by one, and as they all begin to suspect each other, the survivor will ultimately find out something more than they bargained for that will ultimately give new perspective on the whole traumatic situation!

Rhoades with his Prisoner...

The truth is, is this movie is pretty awesome and worth it to watch… And since I have to admit that I really can’t say much wrong with it… If you are a collector like me, then I think that you might find that it may actually be worth owning… I thought so!

The Frighteners (1996) - Movie Review

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

I first got in to work of acting legend, Michael J. Fox (Back To The Future) near the tale end of the TV series that really helped get him started on his road to superstardom, this series being, 'Family Ties' (1982 - 1989), and since then I have been hooked!

I mean this guy is one of the few actors that I can genuinely say that I have literally grown up following his career, what with following his work at the end of the 1980s, and all the way through the 90s and even up to his semi-retirement after he ended his time on, 'Spin City'!

Why is he so great? Well... I can give you a great many reasons if you want, but when it comes down to it, one of the great things that I found that he brings to his role... Besides the level of believability (which is there in a strong way...) He also brings an element of comedy that really works well in comedy films, and compliments the more serious movies or TV Shows that I have seen him in, and one of those of course being: The Frightners (1996)!

Written by: Fran Walsh (Meet The Feebles), Peter Jackson (The Lord Of The Rings: The Fellowship Of The Ring) & Directed by: Peter Jackson. Starring: Michael J. Fox, Trini Alvarado (Little Women), Peter Dobson (Forrest Gump), John Astin (The Addams Family), Jeffery Combs (Re-Animator), Dee Wallace (The Hills have Eyes), Jake Busey (Starship Troopers) & Troy Evans (Ace Ventura: Pet Detective).

This hilarious movie tells the story of, 'Frank Bannister' (Michael J. Fox)... Now Mr. Bannister used to be a fairly well known architect, and was successful enough that he and his wife had at the time of her death been building their dream home...

[caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="656"] Frank Bannister & Associates...[/caption]

Well one day during a fight and the ensuing car accident, his wife ends up dying, but she ends up dying in such a way that even with out any evidence to prove it, most people believe that he did it... This traumatized him so much that he ended up starting to see ghosts (he got so adept at it that he would often use the haunted graveyard as a sort of pool of undead help when running cons to make money!)

Well years later a malevolent force from the town past comes back to finish his work... The only thing is, is that he is dead (But that won't stop him from becoming the most prolific serial killer of all time... )

So with the Police unable to do anything, it will be up to Bannister to not just stop this force on his own, but to protect his latest victim from it, as well as save a skeptical town from this, 'Phantom Menace' before this entity ends up getting his dying wish!

[caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="600"] The living and the dead will team up in an effort to become the most prolific serial killer team, both living and dead![/caption]

In the end I could say a lot about how good this movie is, but the best parts for me are the fact that this movie had a truly awesome cast of mid-90s entertainers, also it had fun special effects, and it didn't get to cheesy, (a problem that would happen in the late 90s with movies of this nature...) But it was cheesy fun, and I liked that!

Is this the best most poignant award winning film in the world... No... But it doesn't need to be, and that is just cool, and if you check it out you might find the same thing as well!

http://youtu.be/0yqhND5i05M

Starship Troopers (1997) - Movie Review

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

Now I did this really all through most of the 90s and the early part of the new millennium! During this time I got the chance to see what in my opinion was some of the greatest Science Fiction and Horror movies of the 1990s and early 2000s!

One of these movies happened to be Starship Troopers (1997):

Written by: Edward Neumeier (RoboCop) and Directed by: Paul Verhoeven (Basic Instinct). Starring: Casper Van Dien (Sleepy Hallow), Dina Meyer (Saw), Denise Richards (Valentine), Jake Busey (Identity), Neil Patrick Harris (How I Met Your Mother), Clancy Brown (Highlander), Seth Gilliam (The Wire), Patrick Muldoon (Stigmata) and Michael Ironside (Terminator: Salvation).

This movie, (which is based on the novel by Robert Heinlein), is an awesome good time, that tells the story of a future where the world is united under the banner of, 'The Federation', a world government which follows a socialist mentality, where there are two classes of people that live in the Federation.

1. The first one is that of a, 'Federation Citizen'. A person who has served the world government in a military capacity.

[caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="650"] A Citizen working in the Mobile Infantry will help protect the Federation from, 'Bugs'![/caption]

2. The second one being everyone else!

Now this movie tells the story of a group of friends, (which includes: Johnny Rico (Van Dien), Dizzy Flores (Meyer), Carl Jenkins (Patirck Harris) and Carmen Ibanez (Richards)). These friends are dreamers that dream of joining the service so that they can become, 'Citizens' of the Federation.

Rico and Dizzy end up in the Mobile Infantry, Carl ends up in the Intelligence Service and Ibanez ends up in flight school (with a guy by the name of Zander (Muldoon), with whom Rico does not like as he is actively pursuing a relationship with Ibanez who for the first half of the movie is dating Rico.)

After they all head off to their various academies though, the bugs (A large alien race that tends to look like bugs and are hostile to humanity), attack and completely destroy Buenos Aires (the home town of almost all of the characters in the movie.)

[caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="500"] Three best friends from, 'Buenos Aires' come back together to celebrate a major victory against the Bugs![/caption]

Now of course the action in this movie is spectacular, and being as this is a Paul Verhoeven movie, of course the special effects in this movie are spectacular.

But I have to say that the best part of this movie is the story... What I mean by this is that essentially this movie tells the story of a group of friends that are about to graduate High School and head off in to the real world with a lot of dreams and hopes for their futures both together and apart!

http://youtu.be/Y07I_KER5fE