Diary of the Dead (2007)

Diary of the Dead is a Zombie Horror flick Directed by the master himself, George A. Romero. 2 years after making Land of the Dead, Romero goes back to the beginnings of the outbreak. He does it in a way that is different from all of his classic and gives it a far more realistic edge by making it a fictional documentary.

The film follows a small group of film students from Pitt who are filming for a school project when the outbreak occurs. This sets them up perfectly to record the events as they unfold and tell the true story that the media will try to cover up. Doing so in a chilling manor that makes the zombie apocalypse feel inevitable.

Along the way the group runs into all sorts of challenges. Overcoming the fact that they need to kill to stay alive is by far the hardest, and it takes it toll on a few characters. After a failed attempt to seek aid in a hospital, the film finds one of its greatest moments, the awesome deaf Amishman, Samuel. His performance is hilarious and does a great job of relieving tension in the script.

The group actually find more survivors who have created a small enclosed town for themselves, and the best part is they have internet access. The directors take advantage of this and distribute their findings to the masses. This is an overwhelming moment of success for the group especially when they recieve 72,00 hits in 8 minutes. The last bit of plot ill detail is the group runs into a group of National Guardsmen who raid all their supplies, i mention this scene because the sequel, Survival of the Dead, follows this group of Guardsman.

Overall a suprisingly good film, it took me a while to get around to it because I didnt realize it was actually directed by Remero, I thought they just tacked his name on it to draw a crowd. But once I realized my mistake I got it in my PS3 and watched it. I was really surpised with how well done it was, it really made me feel involved in the action of the inevitable zombie apocalypse.

Diary of the Dead recieves 7 "I'm Samuel, Hellos"...out of 10.
Any fan of Romero or Zombie flicks should give this movie a try, its worth it.

Percy Jackson & the Olympians: The Lightning Thief (2010)

Why must all movies using the subject of Ancient Greek Mythology be so disappointing?!?!? A subject tnat holds so much promise is just never done right. But this film baffles me even more because it was based off a book, a fantastic book by the way, but the movie just didnt capture what made the book great.

Our Hero Percy Jackson is the unknowning son of the Sea God, Poseidon. Zeus' Master Lightning Bolt has been stolen and he suspects Percy did the deed and gives him 2 weeks to return it. So Percy and his companions embark on a journey across the country to retrieve the bolt and return it to Mt. Olympus, all the while "modernizing" the Anciet Greek Tales. Theres no point in detailing the whole plot, read the book.

Aside from the little changes in the book the main "unforgiveable" change is that they leave it a very important character, Ares - God of War. Leaving him out of the movie changes the whole dynamic because he was the driving force of the book.

The cast was great, they really brought out a lot of well known actors to play the Gods and villans. But even that could not save the movie for me. It just kind of seems to drag and it feels like it skips...because it does. Id put this right up there with this summer's FLOP blockbuster, Clash of the Titans. I still call for a new, big budget, version of The Odyssey...After these two, a really good Ancient Epic is needed.

The Lightning Thief, a suprising disappointment recieves 5 "Steve Coogan as Hades"...out of 10
Steve Coogan was by far the best part of the movie...as limited as his time was.

Pirate Radio (2009)

For any fan of British music from the mid-late 60's this movie is a must see. Even more so for the grown-ups who were raised on the music.

As appealing as the music and the plot is, what really drew me into this film was the ensemble. One of the finest casting jobs I've seen in a long time. Philip Seymour-Hoffman (Capote) to Nick Frost (Blood and Icecream Trilogy) as well as Bill Nighy who had a few cameos in the prior trilogy. With also Rhys Darby (Flight of the Conchords) and Rhys Ifans (The Replacements) and Jack Davenport (PotC - Commadore Norrington). I mean c'mon...this film is like a Fanboy's wetdream it's just full of Awesomeness!

Set during the 60's during the British Governments' attempt to ban Rock from the airwaves, many groups of DJs headed to the sea to broadcast the music they loved. Antics ensue after every attempt by the Gov't is thwarted by the Pirates. Fun is had by all and Romance makes its way to the sea onboard Radio Rock. All the while, neither side forgeting about the music as each side makes their last stand...for the sake of not spoiling cutting it short there.

Although sometimes the movie did get itself sidetracked with the Romance aspect it was still pretty damn good. Not a must rent but I would encourage any fan of the actors or music to see this as you wont be dissappointed.

Pirate Radio recieves 7 "Pete Townshend Smashes"...out of 10

Crazy Heart (2009)

Jeff Bridges stars in this Academy Award winning role as "Bad" Blake a once great Country musician who is down on his luck. Jeff Bridges is one of my favorite actors and I'll love anything he in. This film has a lot goin right for it, great acting, great writing and great music.

Bad Blake is going through a rough patch in his life. Hes taking life hard to the bottle and hasn't wrote a new song in 3 years which results in no record opportunities nor big gigs. Following on small bar show he gives an interview to a local reporter, Jean (Maggie Gyllenhaal), through a few interview sessions the two become very close. She knew the risks before begining a relationship with Bad, but she caved anyway. She often would urge him to quit drinking or at least not drink in front of her son, and just when he seems to be making a real change his drinking causes him to lose her son at a mall, and finally forces himself into AA.

I can't help but compare the style of this film to another great from '08 The Wrestler. It is very similar to that, in regards to the main character at least, just with 2 different outcomes.

The performances of Bridges and Gyllenhaal ar fantastic and great minor appearences from Robert Duvall and Colin Ferral. I havn't yet seen all the nominees for Best Actor but I doubt any of them will be as good to me as Bridges was.

And as with many automatically great films, it makes you care about the characters. I cannot stress enough how important this is in writing screenplays because if you don't care about what happens to the characters...then what was the point in the film?


This was an overall good film that anyone who like Jeff Bridges, Country Music or Musical Biopics should give a watch.

Crazy Heart recieves 7 "Achievers"...out of 10.

A Serious Man (2009)

My Relationship with Coen brothers film have been a wild. Easily a love hate relationship, no inbetween. I loved Big Lebowski, Fargo and O' Brother but absolutely hated No Country, Burn After Reading and Ladykillers. I think this is the first of their that fall Inbetween didn't hate it but didn't love it. And thats the easiest way to describe the film.

Quite frankly NOTHING happens in this film. It is simply just someone's life. It could be anyone so the acting is nothing special since the reactions are generic.


It's just about a Physics teacher who deals with some hardships in life. He bores his students and deals with a failing South Korean who bribes and threatens him. Has to put up with his incompetant brother and his giant neck boil, his wife seeing another man and wanting a divorce. Additionally dealing with 2 annoying and uncaring kids with one nearly becoming a man at his Bar Mitzvah.

And one thing that really pisses me off with Coen brother films is the endings. The majority of their film build up to a big climax and then just ends with out any resolution. I think this was the worst ending of the bunch that I've seen of theirs.


A Serious Man was a Seriously boring film and nothing happens. Save yourself the time and skip this

A Serious Man recieves 4 "Bowling Balls"...out of 10

When You're Strange (2010)

A documentary about my favorite band of all time, this is the film I've been waiting for. This is the anti-Oliver Stone film, which I loved, but this is the real deal. Restored footage of the American-Born equivilent of The Rolling Stones. I give you The Doors, as narrated by Johnny Depp.

When You're Strange chronicles the tumultuous times of America's most influential band, The Doors and their iconic frontman, Jim Morrison. It details through footage shot by the band, their rise from jamming in a small apartment to playing the big venues like MSG.

One thing I really liked about this was that it did give some focus Krieger, Densmore, and Manserak but as any fan knows Morrison was the one the people came to see. The doc portrays Morrison from his time as a UCLA Film School Dropout to becoming the Epitome of the Rock 'n' Roll frontman and his descent into the world of drugs, recovery and back.

For me it is sad because they are my favorite band and I'll never get the chance to see them live. But at least music live on forever and Morrison depp poetry-like lyrics will always be playing on my speakers.

I would recommed this for any fan of REAL talented music but the DVD doesn't come out till late June. I wanted to see this in theaters but they were only playing it in NYC, and with train tickets these days that deterred me. But luckily PBS decided to play it and I got to see real, raw footage of the Greatest band in American History. R.I.P. JM

Brothers (2009)

It's not often that I may say this about a particularily bad film but if it had been a little bit longer it would have been better. It felt very rushed and before I knew it, the film was at its climax. Which they basically show in trailers.

This film has a few major flaws and leaves me wondering if there are any ORIGINAL ideas left in Hollywood. This was basically a feature length film of the romance aspect of 2001's Pearl Harbor. Being that one guy (Tobey Maguire - Sam) goes off to war, is pronounced dead. Then a friend, or brother in this case (Jake Gyllenhaal - Tommy), begins a relationship with the fallen mans wife or girlfriend (Natalie Portman - Grace). But it turns out he is not dead and it ruins everyone's relationships. except in this film Tommy and Sam's wife do not hook up, it's all in Sam head.

The other subject the film borrows from is Homer's Odyssey. Sam's heli goes down in Afghanistan and is captured by terrorists. The only thing that keeps him going it the hope to one day see his wife again. I love anything to do with ancient greece but i'm getting tired of movies borrowing the subject and I'm still wating for a big-budget production of the actual Odyssey. So if I want to if people apparently want to see the Odyssey...why not make the actual movie. There has only been one acceptable substitute in Oh Brother Where Art Thou.

There is no point in giving a real summary because weve seen it all before. The acting on the other hand was very sub par for these "established" actors. Nothing was believable their grief their anger it just felt they were...just acting, not getting into the role. Portman's role gets a pass because if she didn't seem sincere in her grief it's because her character did not feel like Sam was dead. I am no fan of Tobey Maguire and this did not help my opinion of him. I still have hope for Gyllenhaal though. I hoping he can give a good name to video game - movie conversions.

Brothers recieves 5.5 "Frank the Rabbits"...out of 10