Dredd 3D-review

The 2012 movie Dredd 3D is based on the British comic Judge Dredd.  The story was brought once to the screen in 1995.  This time with great characters, great effects, and a mood that is very self-aware. Dredd 3D also utilized its gimmick of 3D and made for an amazing action packed siege movie.

Judge Dredd, played by Karl Urban, is training his new rookie judge, played Olivia Thiriby.  While investigating a murder in a huge tenement building, they find that a criminal named Ma-Ma, played by Lena Headey, is running a drug empire inside and wants them dead.  They become locked inside the building as the criminals go on an all-out attack on the Judges. 

The effects are really cool.  They use a lot of slow motion effects with a new fictional drug that slow the down brain.  With the 3D effects it looks really cool though.  There are many really amazing, violent gunshots and that are shown in gory detail. 

The mood is dark and fun.  There is humor weaved within the story that really makes the story seem self-aware of being a fun action movie.  It keeps a sharp pace and keeps the action moving from the beginning to the end. The script is decent and is very original for an action movie. 

Karl Urban is great as Judge Dredd.  He brings a great face to an otherwise faceless character.  His rookie character, Olivia Thiriby, plays a great psychic, mutant with a backstory that doesn’t take over the storyline.  Lena Headey is a chilling and very believable villain.  As a whole, the cast did a great job bringing life to this explosive movie.

I totally recommend this movie.  Dredd 3D is a wildly fun action movie and is a blast to watch.  If you are looking for something different and something that is full of fast-paced action, you will enjoy this movie.  Hopefully this movie will find its audience soon.  It is the sort of movie we really need to see released more often.

[REC]3: Genesis-review

The [REC] series is an interesting one.  These Spanish movies really took POV films to another level.  [REC]3: Genesis takes things too a bit new level and in a different direction.  The movie takes a bold approach to the look of the demonic infection showing us new characters, and wild new gory effects. 

Koldo, played by Diego Martin, and Clara, played by Leticia Dolera, are celebrating their wedding day.  They have a wonderful ceremony and a great reception but what they don’t know is that they have an infected guest.  When the guest finally goes nuts and starts biting others, chaos ensues.  Can Koldo and Clara reunite and escape the horrors of their strange demonic zombie wedding?

The acting is not bad. Leticia Dolera and Diego Martin bring good characters to the screen. You want them to succeed and get through this horrible ordeal.  The side characters are even memorable and interesting; even as comic relief.  There is a lot of charm around the characters and you hope that they will make it.  The fact that this is a parallel story to the rest of the series only adds to the fun.

The movie switches from POV to normal third person view which is different for the [REC] series.  The practical effects are a welcome change of pace compared to most of the other horror movies that are coming out these days. Adding to the mythos of the story by showing that the demons see themselves as monsters in mirrors and can be thwarted by holy areas and objects were clever changes.

If you are a fan of the series you will enjoy this.  If you are not familiar with the series you can still enjoy this movie.  The characters are at fun and interesting and the knowing the story from the first two movies is not needed to understand what is happening. [REC]3: Genesis is a good movie and a great series that is completely worth seeing.

Skyfall-review

Daniel Craig has brought a welcome sense of realism into the James Bond franchise that was missing in a great number of his films.  I still believe that Casino Royale has one the best chase scenes I’ve ever seen on film.  Skyfall, takes a roundabout approach to bring Bond back to the days of Moneypenny and Q.  It is clever in its nostalgia factor and in its casting choices. Still, it suffers a flaw that no Bond movie should.

James Bond, played again by Daniel Craig is supposedly killed in in the line of duty attempting to get a hard drive that contains all the MI6 NATO personnel.  Bond was only wounded and spends his days drinking with a small scorpion on his hand, which I guess is a drinking game in some countries that can’t afford ping-pong balls.  After returning to active duty he discovers that it was Raoul Silva, played by Javier Bardem, who aims to kill agents in order to get to M as revenge. The biggest questions of course are who is this guy and will he succeed in his mad schemes?

Daniel Craig is still great as Bond. He is still able to straddle the line between hard cold killer and smooth operator, which is fun to watch.  The real fun of this movie comes from Javier Bardem as Raoul Silva which is like watching a mix of Heath Ledger’s Joker mixed with Anton Chigurh from No Country for Old Men.  It is evil genius at its best and it’s at least some what original in its insanity and motivation.

The movie brings a nostalgic factor back into the movie that was missing in the others.  With the return of characters like Moneypenny and Q, the Aston Martin, and a big booming Bond score the movie has a feeling of old-school Bond.  I am not sure what the future will hold for the series but it’s certainly going to be interesting to see where they take it from here. 

The only thing that makes this movie at all hard to watch is the run time.  At 143 minutes there are a lot of scenes that felt like filler and that is no good during a Bond movie.  If they would have cut just a few of the scenes or trimmed others it could have been much easier to sit through.   The movie itself is still very fun and worth seeing.  I look forward to more of the series and hope it will grow toward this dark, realistic Bond.