DVD: The Kingdom

When a baseball game is being played full of men, woman and children in Saudi Arabia gets attacked by terrorists in broad daylight, the FBI wants to come in and investigate. When they get there they are basically told that they can only walk around the crime scene and not touch anything. Realizing that no one here will help them. They talk to the prince himself to have them investigate to catch these killer. All awhile the attackers are planning there next targets, the FBI agents. Everything leads to a 30 minutes of nothing but intense non-stop action for any action fan.

From right off the bat The Kingdom grabbed my attention. Right away I was on the edge of my seat and throughout I never sat back. The whole story had me going. I thought Jamie Foxx had a solid performance as Ronald Fleury, after his friend dies he tries everything to get him and his other co-workers over to Saudi Arabia to investigate. The One who also stood out for me was Jason Bateman he had the most funniest moments throughout the movie as well as Jeremy Piven, in his very brief moments on the screen. Mind you Jennifer Garner, Chris Cooper and the rest of the cast do great jobs also.

Peter Berg does a great job for me, I thought the hand-held camera was the way to go mostly during the last 30 minutes when its nothing but action. The camera makes us feel that we are right there in the middle of all the stuff that going on where its when the characters are searching around for clue or if its during a gun battle or car chase through the streets of Saudi Arabia.

I was never bored waiting for something big to happen. During The Kingdom I was constantly on the edge of my seat with the story. This is a very good movie and that is why I recommend The Kingdom.

DVD

The Kingdom DVD is presented in 2.35:1 Anamorphic Widescreen with English 5.1 Dolby Digital Surround Sound along with both Spanish and French 5.1 Dolby. With English, Spanish and French subtitles. The Feature include:

• Deleted Scenes.
• Character by Character: The Apartment Shootout.
• Constructing the Freeway Sequence.
• Creating the Kingdom.
• History Of The Kingdom: An Interactive Timeline.
• Commentary With Director Peter Berg.

The Kingdom DVD is pretty well packed with special features. Everything fits together nicely and it goes along with a very good entertaining movie. Some of the features are about the action sequences from the making of the car/freeway sequence are good and funny to watch. Overall everything is a great addition. I would recommend The Kingdom DVD as a Buy.

DVD: Robin-B-Hood

One of my favorite distributors Dragon Dynasty has brought #21 Robin-B-Hood (use to be titled Rob-B-Hood) to DVD.

Jackie Chan and Louis Koo play two thief's who take whatever they can get money for. In till one heist has them looking after a baby. The baby bring responsibility to the two character changing they way they do business forever.

As a big fan of mostly all Jackie Chan films I was really excited for Rob-B-Hood to come out, and knowing Yuen Baio is it is, only a small part, also a big plus. In Jackie Chan's most recent films (with the exception of Rush Hour 3) he's been making more and movies with much better story rather than just having half of the movie consisting with fight/action scenes, it as more of a heart to it. Robin-b-Hood is a very good movie its one of Chan best as of late, I liked the Myth but this one to me has a much stronger story.

While this has a good story it sure doesn't take a lot of good old Jackie Chan action, it has a wonderfully done chase sequence that had me on the edge of my seat. Also a great martial arts fight scene in the apartment with a lot of enemies around trying to kill Jackie Chan and one there to arrest him. Very good stuff. As with almost every movie that Jackie Chan is in you can expect some laugh out loud funny moments. Robin-B-Hood is no different, there is this one scene that every time I watch it it always has me laughing. When Jackie Chan's character is movie the baby through there apartment with their baby holding on to the mop he's dragging around, they pass Louis Koo's character who is vacuuming and in a mix up the baby is being sucked onto the vacuum. And while Louis Koo lifts up the vacuum the look on his face is hilarious. Robin-B-Hood (or just Rob-B-Hood) is a wonderful movie to just sit back and enjoy, I recommend this movie.

DVD

The DVD of Robin-B-Hood is a Two-Disc Ultimate Edition and is presented in Widescreen, enhanced for 16x9 televisions. The movie comes with Cantonese Dolby 5.1 Cantonese DTS and English Dolby 5.1 with English and Spanish Subtitles. The Features to this two disc includes:

• Feature Commentary by Director Benny Chan.
• Crashing the Hood: A Featurette With Star and Action Director Jackie Chan.
• The Hand That Mocks The Cradle: An Interview with Director Benny Chan.
• Baby-Boomer: An Interview With Co-Star Conroy Chan.
• Playtime for Adults: On The Set Of Robin-B-Hood.
• Robin-B-Hood: An Original Making Of.
• Trailer Gallery.

Ever since I have know about Rob-B-Hood and have the duo of both Jackie Chan and Yuen Baio I couldn't wait to get this one on DVD. When this movie first came out on DVD I was going to straight away by it over seas, but something inside told me to hold out and wait. And here it is Rob-B-Hood has come to America, and i must say it a pretty solid collection of feature on this two disc collection. The Interview with Jackie Chan is 39 minutes and 04 seconds long, for me it was fun to watch hear Jackie's thoughts on how they got Rob-B-Hood made. The rest of the feature are also great for this DVD. I would Strongly consider this DVD as a Buy.

MOVIE: Juno

Juno (Ellen Page) is at the local store check a pregnancy test and then out pops the plus sign. Juno;s having a child. And she is still in high school. When she decides that she can't have an abortion, her friend Leah (Olivia Thirlby) suggests looking through the penny savers, that they have couples seeking spawn. When she finally picks the one perfect couple, the couple is played by Jennifer Garner who is Vanessa Loring and Jason Bateman who plays Mark Loring, she decided to give the baby to them. First she has to tell her parents, Mac MacGuff who is played by J.K. Simmons and Bren MacGuff who is played by Allison Janney. The parents are totally shock to find out that their daughter is pregnant they start to try to help her through this process. Juno's father and herself go to meet the family that Juno is going to give the baby too they seem like a perfect happy family.

Over the couple of the trimesters we start to see (of course) Juno getting bigger, but also that that is happy family might not seem so perfect and more. Paulie Bleeker (Michael Cera) tries help out with Juno towards the end. Everything comes down to the delivery of the baby.

For about the first quarter of the movie I was really hating this movie. With the use of trying to be too clever with the dialogue (trying to be too funny, i thought).

Soon after they got all that stuff out of the way and bring in some of the supporting characters is when the movie goes over and gets better. Juno works when it not trying to be clever.

Around there is a lot of buzz about Ellen Page getting nominated but, for me I thought she was just OK while the supporting cast like J.K Simmons, Jason Bateman and Jennifer Garner etc. did a great job on screen. Once when we got into the movie it got really better. I was getting more and more interested with the plot and that is why I like this movie. Its funny has good characters, and a great story.

Another part of the movie that really got me was the soundtrack, I thought that the soundtrack for Juno it had great music throughout the movie, it had a sort of the feel like what Wes Anderson puts in his movies, really good stuff. One thing that I was fond of was the opening sequence which is an animation of Juno (Ellen Page) walking to the store, it was really cool. Overall After the first part of the movie I didn't like but after that I really enjoyed this, I Strongly Recommend the movie Juno.

DVD: Once

Glen Hansard plays A Guy in the movie Once. It opens with the Guy out in a busy street playing his guitar and singing songs. A young man comes walking and just pacing around him as he sings. From here, we as a audience don't know what going to happen. After telling the young man to F**k off the young man grabs his guitar case with all of the money in it. Here we see a chase which is quite hilarious. Later during a song (that he wrote) the Guy sings at night he meets a Girl played by Marketa Irglova right off the bat they hit it off and when the Girl bring her Hover to the Guy, because he is a hover Fixer Guy, they go to a music shop and she plays piano for him. From here both of them play and sing another song the Guy wrote and a couple of days later both of them get to know one another and the Guy decides that the two of them and another group of musicians should go and rent out a sound studio and record a group of there songs before the Guy goes back to London. The movie has a very fitting end that makes anyone feel good.

From the very first scene this movie had hooked me in. They movie has a great look and feel to it and it doesn't need to be really over the top like some of the early musicals. Once is something that I'll always recommend. The song of One is so good and can't describe them, I honestly went out after I watched One and bought the Soundtrack, something I haven't done for any movie for a long time. They are just great to listen to. The story wasn't that big it didn't need anything fancy, it just let the great two character just do there thing and really lightened up the screen. Once is a great movie I can stress that anymore, it has anything you could ever want in a movie: comedy, great music, lovable characters, and a great look to it. I Strongly Recommend Once.

DVD

The DVD of Once is presented in 1.85:1 widescreen and is in Dobly Stereo, while it has English, Spanish and French subtitles. The extras on the DVD are:

• Music & Film commentary by Writer/Director John Carbey and Actors/Musicians Glen Hansard & Marketa Irglova.
• Making of a Modern Day Musical Featurette.
• More Guy, More Girl Featurette.
• Broken Hearted Hoover Fizer Sucker Guy Webisode (Animated).

The Commentary on the DVD was good I thought the three of them did an OK job, but if I had to choose the best I would have to pick the times when the three where talking about the track being more interesting. I also liked the Making Of/Behind-the Scenes was a good addition, and the other More Guy, More Girl was too a good extra. Another feature is that you can download the song " Falling Slowly" from a DVD-ROM (don't see these anymore that much) was a good addition too. Everything for me worked great on this DVD and I'll be defiantly watching this movie more and more in the future. Much like the movie I Strongly Recommend this DVD.

MOVIE: I Am Legend

Will Smith is the last man on Earth.

The reason of Robert Neville's (Will Smith) being the last person on earth is because a couple of years before a woman Dr. Alice Krippin (played by the wonderful Emma Thompson) has found the cure for cancer. The cure becomes a virus and has started to turn some infected people into, sort of zombie type of monsters, and it kills or infects 99% of the population. Neville is the last healthily survivor because his blood can't be infect by this virus. The only person, or animal that keeps him from losing his mind his his German Shepherd Sam. During the day, Neville roams the empty streets of New York chasing a pack of deers for food in his red mustang and waiting at the Pier waiting for survivors after he broadcasts a message to anyone that they are not alone. When the sun goes down that's his when things get scary. The people, if we can still call them that, that are still alive but just infect they roam the streets because the sun hurts there skin and only at night can they hunt. During One night Neville is out trying to kill has much of the infect has he can and almost dies, but is saved at the last minute by a Woman (Alice Braga) and her son. Neville finds out that that their are people out there. But something goes wrong and the monster finds out where the three are and set a large attack there trying to kill them.

With I Am Legend we see that Will Smith can for sure lead a one man show. As the last survivor left in New York, Robert Neville (played by Will Smith) is the one trying to find the cure. The story circles around a cure that was suppose to cure cancer as now back fired and now makes the ones who where injected, infected. Over the course of the film we find out the back story of Robert Neville and his family on the day of the evacuation of New York. Then we go through a wild ride of great scenery and sound that makes you on the edge of your seat. It makes us care about the characters which every film should do. While I have more to say good about this movie it does at times seem like it is dragging on and seem boring. Other that that I really enjoyed this film. I would recommend, I Am Legend.

MOVIE: Enchanted

As Enchanted starts we see Giselle (Amy Adams) as her 2-D animation self. We open with Giselle looking for her true love hoping that one day she will find that one. Just as it happens during Giselle singing, Prince Edwards (James Marsden) who is outside of his castle troll-hunting hears her voice and knows that they are meant to be together. One person who doesn't approve of this matching is the Queen of the kingdom, Queen Narissa (who is played by Susan Sarandon) and she will do anything to ensure that her kingdoms stays to be her kingdom. So the plan she plays on Giselle is a treacherous one, she sends Giselle down into what seems like a never ending well. This well that Giselle has fallen into leads to the one place no one who expect, the real world New York. When she arrive she sticks out like a sore thumb and nothing seem to be like the life she had back home. Giselle tries everything she can to get back. While up on a billboard she meets Robert Philip (Patrick Dempsey) and his daughter. They try to help her and giving her a place to stay for the night, not something Robert had wanted to do. From here Giselle gets help cleaning the house from the local animal populace inhabiting New York City, and later singing the song, "That's How You Know" and getting everyone around her to join in a large musical number in Central Park. All awhile Prince Edward has come to New York to find Giselle with the help of a Squirrel. Everything leads up to a confrontation of the two that leads to them going to a ballroom party.

From right off the git go I wanted to see Enchanted. I remember sitting in the theater when I first saw the trailer for this movie and as I was walking out I said that I think this will be a good movie. I was right.

Now I am a huge fan of old classic Disney films like Jungle Book, Dumbo, Snow White and all other 2D animation film, but as new technology came into play with studios like Pixar no one really do not make 2D films anymore. Which with Enchanted we get to see the beginning of the story in 2D before we transfer into the real world. I thought those scenes where nicely done. the animation was sharp and fresh. Then we move into real time and that were it gets good. We see all the cliche Disney film actions like a song and dance scenes and a group of animals helping out with house choirs, here they make fun of those.

All the acting was fun, my favorite character was the squirrel his scene were funny. Everything leads to a somewhat in my opinion of a cheesy Climax with the villain's(Susan Sarandon) monster dragon. Other than that I thought the movie was a fun couple hours to spend. I have some good fun. I would recommend this movie.

DVD: The Simpson Movie

Its has took a very, very long time to get the hit television show, the Simpson to the big screen. But its finally here. The Simpson Movie seems to start off good with a beginning showing a Itchy and Scratch clip, then we go to a Green Day concert and get a good Titanic reference. The story seems to take a view on the Environment issue. Springfield is falling apart and Lisa take responsibility to clean it up, they get the town to a good place again. Only to find out Homer ruined the town by dumping a large tank of pig feces, yes feces, in to the lake. From there the EPA leader ask President Arnold Schwarzenegger, yes he become president I guess, to pick a solution to deal with Springfield. The President pick number three solution the EPA leader ask if he's sure and that he should read them, he replies with a funny line: "I was elected to lead, not to read." The solution was to confine Springfield in a large dome. When the Simpson family escapes from a large mob who was trying to kill Homer for putting them in this situation. they wait awhile trying to live in there new home in Alaska but then go on a quest to save their town.

While I have always liked The Simpson's, and have been waiting for a Simpson's Movie for the longest time. I must say I was sort of disappointed with this movie. At times I was laughing, but for me that was to far in between. For it seem that the writers did re-use some plot ideas/stories and just stick them in the movie. That normally doesn't just work. The acting, much like in the television is always superb. Another thing that I was disappointed in was that the sub-characters, didn't get that much screen time has I would have wished. ***One last pet peeve that I had was I wish that the movie had The Simpson's opening just like the show, but that's just me.*** I would recommend The Simpson Movie.

DVD

The Simpson's Movie is presented in anamorphic 2.40:1 widescreen with English 5.1 Dolby Digital along with English, French and Spanish subtitles. The Features include:

• Commentary.
• Directors Commentary.
• Deleted Scenes and A Slight Alternate Ending.
• Special Stuff.
• A Lot Of Trailers.

The DVD was also just OK, it has a decent amount of features to keep anyone content. While I would have like to see the whole making of the movie in maybe a "Making Of" featurette. Overall I thought with movie being just OK for me I really didn't care that much for the features. I would say that this DVD is just a rent.

DVD: The Last Legion

The Last Legion is the story that tells the of the beginning of King Arthur's famous sword Excalibur. Young Romulus has been sworn in as now the leader of Rome. During the night a man Goth who is a general of Rome named Odoacer decides to take his soldier and invade the city to take young Romulus alive, Romulus' royal guard Aurelius (Colin Firth) is taking out of the fight early and when he wakes he finds that the kid has been taken. Aurelius and a group of his closest men, and a warrior Mira (played by Aishwarya Rai) set out to rescue the kid who now is imprisoned at Capri along with the young boys mentor Ambrosinus (Ben Kingsley) they escape with the help of Aurelius with the sword Excalibur. The group flees to Britain home of Ambrosinus. There they look to find the Ninth legion only to find Hadrian's Wall, the Ninth legion deserted the wall. The group learns that the Ninth legion become peasents and live at a local town. Everything leads to a final battle at Hadrian's Wall where they fight Vortgyn, who says he's the ruler of Britain and has been attacking the Ninth legion trying to take over the land that Rome has taken from him.

I like stories and movies about the Roman times when Rome was still standing, and other movies with sword fighting and epic battle scenes. I liked King Arthur, which touched on a little bit of Roman and had great action and decent acting. I love the TV show "Rome." But this, The Last Legion was at first entertaining but has the story when on and was nearing the end I just wasn't caring anymore. If you truly want to watch a great well done story, please go out and buy the 2 seasons of Rome because The Last Legion has nothing.

The beginning did have the feel of that it was going to come out good, but then it fell way down. During the fight scenes I thought they over-used the editing tool way to much. All the fight scenes I'm talking about are the fights with Aishwarya Rai in them, while watching them they where constantly cutting and I'm a fun of just show long takes of fight you don't need to cut that much. A couple cuts is OK. Overall I thought it average, It wasn't good but it also wasn't the worst movie of all time. Overall I would have to say skip this movie.

DVD

The Last Legion is presented in 2.35:1 anamorphic widescreen with 5.1 English Dolby Digital and has English and Spanish subtitles. The features are as followed:

• Deleted Scenes with Optional Commentary.
• Fight Scene Cheography.
• From the Director's Sketchbook: A Storyboard-to-Film Comparison.
• Making of The Last Legion.
• Theatrical Trailer.

Really the only feature I really liked on this DVD was the Fight Scene Choreography, really because I got to see most all the fight scenes with having it cut every other second. Everything else I really didn't care for much because I didn't really care for the movie. I would say skip the DVD.

DVD: National Treasure (SE)

When a young Benjamin Gate first learns about the history of his family dating way back in 1832. That one of the last signers of the Declaration of Independence told told Gates about a treasure that has been around for a long time. Before that signer died he told the Gates family member the last secrets about that treasure to him. Since then the Gates family has been in search for that treasure only to find more clues. Years later as Benjamin Gates grows up (Nicolas Cage) he too is on the hunt to find that treasure. It has lead them to the Antarctic where Gates, his financial partner Ian (Sean Bean) and Ben's sidekick Riley (Justin Bartha) are there they find a lost ship called the Charlotte where they find another clue telling them that there's a map on the back of the Declaration of Independence. Ian and Ben have two didn't ideas what to do next and the two have a falling out.

While back in the States Ben and Riley try to figure out how to stop Ian from getting the Declaration, there guess is by stealing it themselves. Once they get the Declaration they are joined by Abigail Chase (Diane Kruger) and soon after that Patrick Gate (Jon Voight) who is Ben's father.

Even more clues take them to Philadelphia to Washington in search for this treasure, on this wonderful thrill ride.

I've always been a huge History buff and any movie that containing anything about our nations past or anything about history I'm all for. National Treasure for me was a huge surprise. I was think that this movie is going to do really bad because I really don't like Nicolas Cage, just have never like the way he acts in movies, but I must say I was surprised I thought he was really good and funny at times. The one person I really like was The sidekick Riley (played by Justin Bartha) he I thought was great all his remark are hilarious and great.

The story is fun and good, my favorite part in the movie would have to be the stealing of the Declaration, it was really intense, especially in the car chase. The rest of the acting does a solid job with a good acting by Jon Voight and Harvey Keitel. The whole movie had for me the feel of a Indiana Jones movie great action, good story and in the end it all fun. Overall I really liked this movie and I Recommend National Treasure.

DVD

National Treasure Special Edition comes with two disc loaded with features and is presented in 2.35:1 widescreen, with Dolby Digital 5.1 surround sound and French and Spanish subtitles. The features include:

• Alternate Ending with Optional Director's Commentary.
• Deleted Scenes With Optional Director's Commentary.
• Opening Scene Animatic With Optional Director's Commentary.
• Four Featurette Gem:
  "National Treasure On Location"
  "The Knights Templar"
  "Treasure Hunters Revealed"
  "Riley's Decode This!" - Plus 3 Puzzle Challenges
• Additional Deleted Scenes With Intros by Director John Turteltaub.
• A Treasure Trove of Featurettes:
  "Ciphers, Codes & Codebreakers"
  "On The Set Of American History"
  "To Steal A National Treasure"
  "Exploding Charlotte"

Since I really liked this movie, I was really interested with everything that was on the DVD. The one thing that really caught my eye was the featurette of "Ciphers, Codes & Codebreakers" I was really interested with everything they had to say about the different types of different types of Codes. The one problem I thought it was too short I was really want to learn more after the feature was done. Overall this is a great DVD packed with features. I would recommend this as a Buy.

DVD: Severance

Some workers from a weapons company of Palisade Defence are heading up into the Eupoean mountians to fort up in a local cabin to work on there team building skills. As they make there way up the bus that they are riding on breaks down (of course). They decided to walk up to the cabin. When they reach the cabin it seem that they have been taken to the worst cabin anyone could have made. As they try to make the best of the sistuation they relize that that are now upcoming victums of a war crazed killer going to try to kill the whole gang.

While I was watching Severance right off from the beginning I started to enjoy this movie, I thought it was really funny exspectally most of Danny Dyer who played Steve scenes. The dialouge in Severance is really smart funny and whitty, which is always a good thing. But while they get attacked by the killer for me it started to get a little bored with it, it started to feel like most of all the other killer movie like Hostel, Saw, etc. Yet overall this movie kept my attenion (barely), and I enjoyed some of the deaths and laughed at some of the jokes. My final vertict would be to Skip and maybe just wait for DVD.

DVD

The movie Severance is presented in 1.78:1 widescreen with English 5.1 and 2.0 Dolby Digital. With also Spanish Subtitles. The features include:

• Commentary with Director, Cast and Crew.
• The Making Of Severance.
• Being Danny Dyer Featurette.
• Deleted Scenes and Outtakes.
• No So Special Effects Featurette.
• The Genesis of Severance & Behind the Scenes.
• Danny Fight Scene Training.
• Alternate Ending Storyboard and much more.

The DVD of Severance is a solid piece of work while the movie alone is a little below expectations the DVD has a good amount of extras but sometimes that can't change the movie so with that the movie alone weight down I would have to say that the movie or DVD of Severence is only a Rent for me.

DVD: Balls Of Fury

When Randy Daytona (Dan Fogler) loses his cool and his father to the game of ping pong, he never wants to play another match for the rest of his life. A couple of years later, he is approach by a CIA agent (George Lopez) who wants his help to infiltrate Fengs organization, while the only way in is through is to get into an invitation that only goes to the best ping pong players. While Randy has been out of the game hes been rusty so they go to someone who can help him come back to the game of ping pong he is Master Wong. There Randy meets Maggie Wong (Maggie Q). As Randy gets better he's accepted into the tournament. There he meet the one man who beat him those year before where he lost at the games, Karl Wolfschtagg (who is played by writer Thomas Lennon). We also meet Feng who is played by a funny Christopher Walken.

When I first saw Ball Of Fury in the movie theater, I would have to have had one of my worst experiences of my life. First the movie's projection only was way to big for the screen and it took them about a half an hour to fix it and when they did it still overlapped. The sound was horrible. And to top it all off there were two people who were very obnoxious, during the whole thing. But back to the review, sorry for that rant.

Aside from that i enjoyed for the most part of the movie, the whole cast I thought where good in their own right, and very funny was Feng (Christopher Walken) who has the Ping Pong games at his hide out, he has this small nosies and face he makes which is great. I have always been a fan of the Comedy Central series Reno 911!, and Balls of Fury were made by the same people and they do a great job and I really enjoyed the movie for what it was. While I do like this movie I can't recommend this movie because I know this will only appeal to a select view, As much I want people to see this I would say skip and just wait for DVD.

DVD

Balls Of Fury is presented in 1.85:1 anamorphic widescreen with English 5.1 Dolby Digital. Along with English, Spanish and French subtitles. The features are as followed:

• Deleted Scenes.
• Alternate Ending.
• Balls Out: The Making of Balls Of Fury.
• Under the Balls: The Life of a Ball Wranger.

As watching Balls Of Fury in the comfort of my my good o' room I have to say I enjoyed Ball of Fury a lot more than I didn't last time when I saw it at the theaters. One thing that I really like was the "Making of" feature it made me look at the film from a new perspective, that Balls Of Fury is really a kung fu movie without fight scenes and they are are exchanged with ping pong matches. One issue I had with this DVD was that their was no Commentary, something I really like on DVDs. Rather disappointed with the DVD but not the movie, I really liked this one. I would say this is a Rent.

DVD: Harry Potter and The Order of the Phoenix

Our favorite students of Hogwarts comes back to their Fifth year. The One-Who-Must-Be-Named has returned and Harry Potter as seen it first hand, but no one around Harry believes him because of the Ministry of Magic and the Daily Profit, the wizarding newspaper, has been denouncing Harry and Doubledore's claims of the return of Voldemort. While at school it has been clear that the Ministry has forced their way into the ruling of Hogwarts by placing one of their own, Delores Umbridge (who is played by Imelda Staunton), and are not teaching the student any magic. So Harry has decided to teach the other students himself (they name the group Dombledore's Army). Which everything leads up to a huge battle between Voldemort and his Deatheaters versus Harry and his friends.

The Harry Potter and The Order off the Phoenix is my second favorite of the book series, with the Prisoner of Azkaban being first. With the movie version, I would have to say I enjoyed it more than some of the previous in the series, it being the shortest in the series it did leave some plot elements of the book out. One thing in example was I remembered in the book was that Professor McGonagall and Umbridge had a couple of arguments, while in the movie they touched briefly on that. Another was Firenze, I really liked to have seen him back in this one but they didn't add him. Another scene was at Sirus home, Grimmauld Place, where we encounter boggarts and we see the Locket which will be important later in the series. One last part I was really looking forward to was the scene in St. Mungo's where we see Gilderoy Lockhart who is in Chamber Of Secrets, and we meet Neville's Parents. But above all that I thought the movie touched down on most of the main plot points from the book. Which is always a great thing.

As the acting in most of all the Harry Potter it is superb. The cast of this series is grade A. Some great actors come aboard to help make these movies great. The two newest additions to the cast was Imelda Staunton who plays Umbridge the Ministry's arm at Hogwarts, for me I thought that was straight on casting she played the character Umbridge great. Another addition was Evanna Lynch who plays Luna Lovegood, and that too was great I really liked her during the movie. The returning cast does a great job too, like aways.

One last thing I really liked was the sets of the movie, the Hogwarts grounds have always been amazing to look at and its a thrill to see, but for me the one new sets that looked amazing was the Ministry of Magic. When we first drop down into the Ministry and see all the people crowding in, it is a glorious sight, showing the sheer scope of the Ministry. Even towards the end when the group was in the Department of Mysteries, the whole place looked amazing I really like the use of the black and dark blue colors.

The Overall thought of Harry Potter and The Order Of The Phoenix was that I enjoyed the movie, while yes they sure did cut a lot out of one of the longest book of the series (I still wished the movie was longer), but I thought it was still entertaining and that what its all about. But if I to pick between the movie or the book, I would go with the book any day of the week. Overall I highly recommend Harry Potter and The Order Of The Phoenix.

DVD

Harry Potter and The Order Of The Phoenix comes in two discs and is presented in 2.40:1 widescreen, with 5.1 Dolby Digital sound and English, French, Spanish subtitles. The Special Features include:

• Additional Scenes.
• The Hidden Secrets of Harry Potter - Explore all of the Movies in the Series for Clues of Harry's True Destiny.
• Trailing Tonks: Natalia Tena (aka Nymphadora Tonks) Leads a Very Personal Set Tour.
• Harry Potter: The Magic of Editing - Director David Yates and Editor Mark Day Shows What a Difference a Good Edit Makes.
• DVD-ROM enhanced features.

The one thing I was disappointed with this DVD is that it does not a commentary track, I love all commentary's on most DVD and I have always been wanting some sort of commentary on any of the Harry Potter DVDs but never had them, there's still hope. Other than that I thought the DVD of the Order of the Phoenix is really well packed. The one extra that really caught my attention and enjoyed was the Trailing Tonks where Natalia Tena (who plays Tonks in the movie) take us through a tour of the sets of Harry Potter. Another extra that had me thing was the The Hidden Secrets of Harry Potter the extra talks about the story and what clues that connect Harry to his past. I found this really entertaining and thought provoking. The whole thing was really entertaining. The other parts of the DVD are also well done. Overall this is a great viewing for anyone. Harry Potter and The Order Of The Phoenix 2-Disc DVD is a Buy.

DVD: Exiled

From the director of some great action films and a great gangster film Election and Election II, Johnny To comes Exiled (Fong Juk). For me this movie does not disappoint.

Two men come to a house looking for a man named Wo(played by Nick Cheung), seconds later two more comes looking for him too. The problem is two are there to kill him while the other are there to protect him. Wo then purposes to the four, one last job what would help his wife and child up before his execution. So the group sets off to pull of the biggest heist they have ever done. Other actors in Exiled are Anthony Wong, Francis Ng, Roy Cheung, Josie Ho, Suet Lam and Simon Yam as Boss Fay.

From the opening scenes of Exiled is tense to say the least, All Four show up and sit and wait for Wo to appear. Watching them wait for him you don't know who's here to do what? Who here to kill him and who's here to protect him? So you automatically think the for are going to start fighting guns blazing. Nothing happens. Wo now shows up and the two of the assassins, one from each group, follow him into his house where Wo's wife and child are staying. As the three of them are standing in a empty room, with the wife and child in the other room, each person puts only five bullets in their guns. Then all hell breaks loose.

That was just the beginning and from there the action does not stop, with more all out gun blazing all out war. The soundtrack is very well placed, I just loved the music during scenes where we knew the group was about to get into a gun fight and the music leads the audience into those scenes well. Not one actor stole the show away from anyone, everyone did their job well. While I am a big fan of Anthony Wong, I though he was good through this movie. No one really shined.

Overall, if you want to see a movie with really good action and a story that will grab you and not let go then Exiled (Fong Juk) is the movie to see.

DVD

Magnolia brings Exiled to DVD. While the extras could have been a little bit more on the DVD it still does a good job, but the movie alone can make this a buy cause of the great film. The video is presented in 2:35:1 widescreen and the picture looks good. The audio in present in great 5.1 Cantonese sound and with both 5.1 and 2.0 English dubbed tracks. The features include:

• The Making of Exiled
• Behind the Scenes
• HDnet Films Sneak Peek: "Redacted"

The Making of Exiled is around a twelve minute (12:00) featurette that has some insight into the characters of the movie from interviews from the Director Johnny To and most of the cast members which is interesting to watch.

The Behind the Scenes feature is a six minute (6:19) look at the cast acting out the scenes and just having fun. From what it is, its fun to watch, nothing that can give you that much from the DVD but good non-the-less.

The HDnet Films sneak peek is a almost a five minute (4:55) look at the film Redacted with the film Director Brain D Palma. The Sneak Peek for me I really didn't care for I am not a person who wants to go see the movie Redacted but if someone else is then is is great Sneak Peek to watch.

While the extras on this DVD are good I would have loved to see some international trailer make its way over on this DVD. Still with the movie and the extras all on this DVD make it a good perchance. I Highly Recommend this DVD.

DVD: Vacancy

While taking a short cut to get by a detour, David and Amy Fox (Luke Wilson, Kate Beckinsale) car breaks down in the middle of nowhere and the only gas station is only a mile away. When they get there the station is closed for the night, while a motel is across the road they decide to get help from the manager. The manger tells them that everywhere around this area is closed and that they might as well rest up here for the night. As they get settled in the dirt filled room, David and Amy soon realize that their room was a set for a couple of "slasher" films that are on the TV and they are next. Now the cameras are on them and they have to fight against their captures to stay alive.

While I started to watch Vacancy I was very impressed by the opening sequence I thought that was good and hopefully means a good signs for this film. Unfortunately it wasn't. Apart from that the film was full of cliches from every horror/thriller films that takes place in motels. If you seen another horror film that takes plays in a motel then there's really no reason to go and see Vacancy.

One thing that annoyed me were the way the main characters Wilson and Beckinsale they would do/make stupid choices to "almost" get caught but I guess that's has to be in the film to make it interesting and continue. Both of their performances where not that good and it was getting to the brink of annoying.

Well I can say that the one thing I did like was the lighting especially in the beginning. They use lighting in the car, and up in till the room of the manager when they first speak with him I thought those parts of the film were done well. I also liked the actor Frank Whaley who plays the manger, I thought he did a good job out of the mess of other acting.

Overall Vacancy is nothing too special to watch if you haven't seen a horror film in a while, but other than that I would suggest this movie as a Skip.

DVD Features

Vacancy is presented in Both Fullscreen 1:33:1 and Anamorphic 2:40.1. With Dolby Digital English 5.1 and French Dolby Surround.Also with both English and French subtitles. Extras include:

• Checking In: Behind-the-Scenes of VACANCY.
• Extended Snuff Films.
• Deleted Scenes.

The special features on the DVD of Vacancy is not but short. On the DVD its really not to be worth a buy or a rent. So for the DVD too I will also give Vacancy a Skip.

DVD: Dummy

Before The Pianist, the film in which Adrien Brody won an Academy Award for his performance. He stared in Dummy as Steven, a nearly 30 year old still living with his parents. When Steven gets fired from his office job he goes through a unemployment counselor named Lorena (played by Vera Farmiga) to help him find work as a ventriloquist something that he as be always fond of. After a couple of mishaps including a restraining order he finds the courage to ask Lorena out with the help of Steven's best friend Fangora who is played by Milla Jovovich. Steven's sister Heidi played by Illeana Douglas who too is living with the parents is a wedding planner who is having trouble finding a band to play Klezmer music for the wedding. Fangora then learns to speak Hebrew just show she can get this music gig for her band.

The story of the Dummy was good I liked the story of an 30 year old still living with the parents and is a very shy person who wants to follow his dreams. Dummy does has a good story with a good bit of humor in it. I was really impressed that Adrien Brody did all of the Ventriloquist all by him self and that takes talent.

Adrien Brody does a great job as Steven, a loser that still lives with his parents and his sister and he decides to take up ventriloquism. Brody does this very well he's very believable. Another one I like was Milla Jovovich everything with her and her mother was really funny. The rest of the cast are good too from the parents who are played by Jessica Walter who is from the Televison show Arrested Development and Rob Leibman to the obessed boyfriend of the sister played by Jared Harris.

Nothing really set me off of ththis film I enjoyed every minute of this film. From the acting to the story and even to the writing everything in this was good. I Highly Recommended Dummy.

DVD Features

Dummy is presented in 1.85:1 Widescreen and is enhanced for widescreen televisions. With audio of English 5.1 Dolby Digital Surround, and 2.0 Dolby Stereo. Also with Sapnish subtitles. Extras Include:

• Picture-in-Picture Ventriloquist Commentary by Jeff Dunham.
• Dummies 101: Learning the Ventriloquist Dream.
• Trailer Gallery.
• Deleted/Altered Scenes.
• "What Type of Dummy Are You?" Game.
• Ventriloquism: A History of Dummies.
• Ventriloquist Lessons.

The DVD of Dummy is a pretty solid DVD with its extras and the films. The Ventriloquist extras are pretty cool and the lessons are interesting. Overall the DVD is a good for any DVD/movie fan and this DVD comes Highly Recommended.

DVD: Aqua Teen Hunger Force Colon Movie Film for Theaters

Aqua Teen Hunger Force Colon Movie Film for Theaters is a story about three unlikely heroes Master Shake, Frylock, and Meatwad. They want to get buff, so they build a home workout machine but unknowing the machine is from the future and can cause mass destruction all over the world. The three are join by some other "friends" a neighbor named Carl Brutananadilewski, two aliens Oglethorpe and Emory and a Cybernetic Ghost, and two Mooninites named Ignignokt and Err They must band together to well... I don't know.

From the show Aqua Teen Hunger Force which plays during the Adult Swim block on Cartoon Network. Aqua Teen is a very random show it has quirky and raunchy humor.

Now I never have seen the original show on the cartoon network, I've only seen the characters as I was channel surfing once or twice in a while. I really didn't care for this kind of show. So when Aqua Teen Hunger Force came out I thought I might as well just watch and if I don't like it, I don't like it . I was starting to watched it and the first five minutes with the old fashion movie ad with the food singing, this part had me laughing because of what happened later. After this it does a title sequence. Then the fun began.

The rest of the film I was surprised in it really grew on me I was laughing nonstop throughout this. A lot of people who I know said that to get these jokes you must be on pot or something, I was never on anything and I though everything was funny. The characters were quirky and funny with bad language much like South Park.

The plot really didn't have no much sense to it but it was damn funny. After viewing Aqua Teen Hunger Force Colon Movie for Theaters made me a big fan of this show and I'll be a big watcher of the show from here on out.

Overall this film will most likely be directed towards the fans of the show, I think it could also pick up new fans, like me. I Highly Recommend this film.

DVD Features

Aqua Teen Hunger Force Colon Movie for Theaters for DVD is presented in Widescreen the Audio is presented in 5.1 Dolby Digital and 2.0 Dolby Digital Sound. The subtitles are in English, French and Spanish. Features Include:

• Theatrical Trailer.
• Sizzle Reel.
• Behind the Scenes The Thing We Shot Wed. Night.
• Art/Music Gallery.
• Jon Schnep 3D.
• Dana Snyder/ Bob Odenkirk Interviews.
• Commentary with Patti Smith, Todd Hanson, Dana Snyder and Fred Armisey.
• 80 Minute Deleted Movie.
• Fake Endings (x10).
• Deleted Scenes.
• Music Videos.
• Pete Promos.
• Legal Page.

The DVD of Aqua Teen Hunger Force Colon Movie For Theaters For DVD is jammed backed with great features in which any DVD/ movie fan should own. My personal favorite part on this DVD had to have been the Behind the scenes section I thought it was really funny. I also liked the way they put some of the deleted scenes into the film so you can watch it all together. From me this DVD is a Recommended Buy.

DVD: Zodiac

In the late 1960s in northern California a man who named himself the Zodiac claimed to the killed of people who he has murdered. After the murders he would send a letter afterhe killed his victims to the newspaper, The San Francisco Chronicle demanding that the editors put his words on the front page. This story follows a couple of men who were working next to the Zodiac case. One being a policeman David Toschi played by Mark Rufflo, a newspapers cartoonist Robert Graysmith (Jake Gyllenhaal) and a journalist Paul Avery (Robert Downey Jr.). As the years of trying to find out the one question "Who is the Zodiac?" move on some forget about it completely while other bring it to obsession. Based on true story of the real Zodiac, when he was terrorizing California.

The Zodiac is a beautiful film. Ever thing from the sets look and even to the lighting. Mostly everything in Zodiac made if feel that we were really back at those times which gave the story all that more realism. The look was great the light played a big part of this film. The scene's were we see only the victims of the Zodiacs and they use shadows to conceal his face was really scary. This is a very dark film and I really enjoyed it. One scene that I thought was done really well was a scene with a man named Bob Vaughn who was played by Charles Fleischer and he talking with Jake Gyllenhaal. Bob takes Jake's character down to the basement to show him something. With all the lighting the darken look of the basement and the noise around them was really tense. I thought was the scariest part in the film.

The acting in the Zodiac was good. Jake Gyllenhaal did a great performance mostly as the film moved through towards the end. Robert Doweny Jr. and Mark Rufflo both were on par with decent acting and a small role but good nonetheless was Brain Cox's who plays the Lawyer Melvin Belli. The acting alone is a high selling point of this film. I did like the idea of four different actor even though we never see their faces, played the Zodiac when they show him killing his victims. I like this idea because as of today the Zodiac as never been found or identified and with that it gives a sense of when the cops where questioning the suspects that suspense of we don't even know him.

The director David Fincher is one of the best directors around his film list includes Fight Club, Panic Room and Se7en. So basically he's right at home with the thriller aspect of film making. Zodiac does not have that much blood as his past films. With all that I do believe this is best work yet.

With all that said I believe this is one of the best film of 2007 so far and was just over looked. I think that if you could go and see one film this year than this is the film to see. Zodiac is Highly Recommended.

DVD Features

The film is presented in Widescreen Enhanced for 16:9 TVs. The audio includes Dolby Digital English 5.1, French 5.1 Surround with subtitles of English and Spanish. The DVD of the Zodiac does not have any features.

As much as I loved the film Zodiac its hard not to recommend this DVD. The DVD has nothing connected to this, mostly because later in 2008 a Directors Cut is coming to DVD because it has the preview on this DVD. So I would Recommend that you wait to get the directors cut but if you really want to see this film then it is a must Rent.

DVD: Disturbia

Disturbia starring Shia LaBeouf (Holes, Transformers and TV Series "Even Stevens") stars as Kale a trouble young teenager who is sentenced to house arrested after an attack that could have landed him in juvie. As Kale is stuck in the house he gets bored and starts to watch the routines of the local neighborhood in till two things happen. One a young teenage girl (Sarah Roemer) moves in and catches his views a couple of times. As they become friends both her and Kale spot some suspicious things happening next door with his other next door neighbor played by David Morse. It soon becomes a game of the boy who cried wolf. Could something be happening or is it just his imagination?

In the tradition of one of Hitchcock's best Rear Window, Disturbia is a voyeur type of story and the suspense comes from watching others when you can feel they are about to go or already in danger. If you have never seen the movie Rear Window I recommend that before I can ever recommend this for anyone. Nonetheless, Disturbia is a decent film, it does have a lot of the stuff that maded Rear Window great. There are good scenes of suspense that had me on the edge of my seat.

Shia LaBeouf is becoming one of my favorite new actors, he can actually star in a action film and can also act at the same time. He's really making a good name for himself. In Disturbia he continues. I thought he did do a good job, but he does also have other good actors around him David Morse, Carrie-Anne Moss and someone who I never have heard of but I liked her was Sarah Roemer which make it a enjoyable experience.

D.J. Caruso was the director and was also the director of another other thriller Taking Lives and Two for the Money. I didn't like Taking Lives but this got me on his side with Disturbia. I thought the scenes of Kale watching his neighbor David Morse through the binoculars nearing the end was very suspenseful and I like that. One of the other writer who co-writer Carl Ellsworth who also wrote the story for the thriller Red Eye which I liked too.

Disturbia is a good and decent film. The only thing I had a problem with was some scenes seemed to me too fake and they came from a cheesy book, especially a scene between Sarah Roemer's character and Shia LeBouf's character but that's not really a big problem just something I had beef with nothing that should change my opinion of the movie. Overall this is a good movie and it is Recommended.

DVD Features

Disturbia is presented in Widescreen format and is Enhanced for 16x9 Television. The Audio is in Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround EX, French 5.1 Surround EX and Spanish 5.1 Surround EX. Subtitles come in English, French and Spanish. The Features in the DVD are:

• Commentary by Director D.J. Caruso and Cast Members Shia LaBouf and Sarah Roemer.
• Deleted Scenes.
• The Making of Disturbia.
• Serial Pursuit Trivia Pop-Up Quiz.
• Outtakes.
• Music Video - "Don't Make Me Wait"- This World Fair.
• Photo Gallery.
• And More.

The DVD of Disturbia is a pretty well packed DVD. The commentary was OK same with the delete scenes. Everything else on the DVD was watchable and it is a nicely packed DVD. So If you haven't seen Disturbia I would recommend this DVD as a Buy.

DVD: Wild Hogs

Wild Hogs is a story about four "ageing" men who think that they are still young enough to hang out with the younger crowd. When Woody Stevens (John Travolta) gets the idea of going on a cross-country hog ride with his fellow biker friends (Tim Allen, Martin Lawrence, William H. Macy). To try to escape there problem in there Suburban life style and the other three agree. During the trip the "Wild Hogs" get tangled with the deadly Del Fuegos who leader is played by Ray Liotta. From here the Hogs rest up at a small town in New Mexico. In the town Dudley Frank (William H. Macy) meets a local woman who he falls for played by Marisa Tomei. Unfortunely the Hogs meet a road block before they can reach there goal.

Looking at the cast you would think that this could be a huge mega hit, but that not what it amounted to be. I thought the jokes were weak and very repetitive, the one thing that really bugged me was that they kept show wipe out after wipe out after wipe out of William H. Macy character (Dudley Frank) I thought the first time he did it was funny but after the second and even third time I though it was getting really stupid and repetitive.

The acting in Wild Hogs was respectable but I did think Ray Liotta acting was a little over the top. A cameo did appear in the film with someone who I won't mention because if you see it I don't want to spoil it, I thought he didn't fit the character he's playing which I didn't also care for.

Wild Hogs is written by Brad Copeland who as written episode for Ground For Life, My Name is Earl and the great Arrested Development, and is directed by Walt Becker. With one of the writers from Arrested Development how can it not be funny? Some parts were funny but not enough to save the film. Some of the jokes were the same as the one in other cross country movie. I would have liked some more NEW jokes.

The cast was good, the acting was good the story was OK. So why didn't I like it? I thought it was boring the jokes where repetitive that turned me off to the movie. Overall I think this is not a film to watch but if you have been interested in this film I would at least give this a Skip. Maybe you like the jokes in the film.

DVD Features

Wild Hogs is presented in Widescreen 2.35:1--Enhanced for 16x9 Televisions--and has Dolby Digital 5.1 surround sound of English, French and Spanish tracks. The DVD also has French and Spanish subtitles. The Special Features include:

• "Bikes, Brawl And Burning Bars: The Making of Wild Hogs"
• How Go Get Your Wife To Let You Buy A Motorcycle
• Freewheeling Alternate Ending
• High Octane Deleted Scenes
• Outrageous Outtakes
• Audio Commentary With Director Walt Becker and Writer Brad Copeland.

The special features on the DVD of Wild Hogs let me start off by saying the commentary with writer Brad Copeland the the director Walt Becker I didn't care for as much. The one think that I hated was the alternate ending. Everywhere I saw Wild Hogs being advertised talked about this alternate ending and to be frank it sucked. If does give us one last scene with a character who I didn't care for in the first place. Same with the outtakes they were not really funny. Overall with the DVD I would have to say Skip It.

DVD: Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy

In 1970 the news was ruled by one man, that man was Ron Burgundy, In Anchorman Will Ferrell plays Ron Burgundy a big time Anchorman for the Channel 4 News in San Diego. Burgundy and his team who include Champ Kind ( David Koechner), Brian Fantana (Paul Rudd) and Brick Tamland (Steve Carell) are having a great time in till Veronica Corningstone (Christina Applegate) joins there team with big dreams of becoming an anchorwoman.

Will Ferrell is one of the biggest comedians acting today anything Ferrell does tends to make laughter and with Anchorman being no exception. Will Ferrell plays a very charming dim-witty news anchor, which he plays right on. Every scene Will Ferrell is in I tend to laugh. The rest of the 'team' is also funny with a steller supporting cast including the great Fred Willard, but my personal favorite was Brain Fantana who is played by Paul Rudd he was good.

The story was written by both Will Ferrell and Adam Mckay, Adam Mckay who was a writer on SNL when Will Ferrell too was on the show so he know comedy. Anchorman was also directed by Mckay who I thought did a decent job.

The story on the other hand I thought was all over the place, for example there's a scene where the local news groups get in a fight, it really doesn't need to be in there but who cares its funny it made me laugh, and at least every film that is based in the 70s you have to have a refrence to the Starland Vocal Band when Anchorman does pretty good.

Like most of the films Will Ferrell stars great with funny characters and something that can make anyone laugh, that why I Strongly Recommend Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy.

DVD Features

The Anchorman DVD is presented in aspect ratio 1.85:1 Enchance for Widsceen TV's*. The Languages include English and French Dolby Digital 5.1 and English Dolby Digital 2.0 and English captions. The Extras are:

• Over 35 minutes of Hilarious Bloopers & Deleted Scenes.
• Ron Burgundy's Unforgettable Interviews at the MTV Movie Awards.
• Ron Burgundy's ESPN Audition.
• An Interview with the Courtesy of the Museum of Television and Radio.
• An Almost Uncensered Commentary by Will Ferrell and Adam Mckay.
• Making of Anchorman.
• Afternoon Delight Music Video.

The special features on the Anchorman DVD are good. I watched the unrated version of Anchorman and the commentary was funny the first five minutes Will ferrell and Adam Mckay just see how far they can go with this unrated commentary which was pretty funny. the bloopers and the deleted scenes are well, and theres only one of the interviews from the MTV awards. The Audition was a good extras as well as the funny Interview. The Making of featurette was one around nine minutes being very short. To top it all off it has the funny Afternoon Delight music vedio preformed by the Channel 4 News Team. The the dvd features are enjoy to say the least, If you like any other of Will Ferrell's movies or you just like to see a good comedy then Anchorman is the one to see. Recommend Buy.

MOVIE: Smokin' Aces

Smokin' Aces is a loud hard-hitting film that has the best action scenes of the year.

With the Mob putting a 1 million dollar bounty on Buddy "Aces" Israel, a Las Vegas performer. The wildest, crazy and unwilling hit men and women come to collect on that bounty. On that note all is fair game.

Let me start off say many of the actors in Smokin' Aces has some of the best, from Andy Garcia, Ray Liotta, Jeremy Piven and many more this is truly a great cast. With even in her debut to film I thought Alicia Keys did an OK job. The characters that these people play are very original from a group of brothers "The Tremors" from a weird kid that seriously needs some Ritalin. That is what set some of the characters in Smokin' Aces apart from some of the generic characters we would see from other Crime stories that use a group of different types of hit men. Out of all the actors only two stood out for me, one is Jeremy Pivien as Buddy Israel he is really convincing from begin coked up and on the brink of destruction. The other was Jason Bateman who played Rip Reed a lawyer Jason didn't have that much screen time but on the part he was in and the dialogue was hilarious.

With that said the story was a good well rounded one they did a good job at drawing out each character and gave each one a good amount of screen time. Most other stories like this while its gets towards the climax of the story the parts become clear and you can figure out what going to happen and take away the reward, this film doesn't do that it has many twists and turns that will have you on the edge of your seat. The one thing I had an issues with during the viewing was with e editing (or maybe not?) was that I'm not sure if they cut out a lot of the action sequences. For example one of the Tremor brothers had at the beginning had an axe on the back of him and has they cut between other shots the axe is gone, while I don't know if he used it or anything. Personally that is a issue that I spot, but to other I know that won't bother them and I can probably get over it after a couple more viewings.

If someone were to watch just the trailer, and not read the plot outline or the synopsis you could expect to see a lot of action in this picture. That's one thing I was disappointed about, was that it did have great action but very little of it but yet that give you more room to enjoy the story. Overall that movie is fun to watch its not going to win any awards but to sit back and enjoy this one is it. I recommend that you should go and see this film.

Here is the Smokin' Aces Trailer:

DVD: Bandidas

Bandidas, is a film setting around the western days, in Mexico. Bandidas as the two greatest Spanish actresses of this century.

The story of Bandidas, is a story about the American country is trying to make room for the railroad expanding from the United States all the way into Mexico, the antagonist Dwight Yoakam who plays Tyler Jackson and he is buying up all the land for the United States. During this time, Jackson and his men take of life of Salma Hayek character Sara Sandoval father and critically wound Penélope Cruz character Maria Alvarez father both woman team up and begin to take back from Tyler Jackson, along the way the run into Quentin Cooke who is here to find out who killed Sara Sandoval's father.

Let me start off from saying the film the idea of this film is a great idea, bringing these two great actresses to star in a western is a great film idea. Bandidas from the credits seems to a a big blockbuster, with on of my favorite writers in the industry Luc Besson who is known for the works of Leon: The Professional, La Femme Nikita, Fifth Element and the Transporter and its sequel he is both Writing and Producing Bandidas. Along with that we have both Penélope Cruz and Salma Hayek who are great actresses and in my opinion have great chemistry on screen. The one part that I was dissappointed about was Steve Zahn's character Quentin Cooke, I thought that his part in the film was not necessary needed I felt that you could have had more character building parts with Penélope and Salma, but that's just my opinion.

The story and the feel of Bandidas seem to be a lot like the Jackie Chan and Owen Weilson's Shanghai Noon where its based in the same time period and the action seems to be very good, but Bandidas doesn't have the great martial artist Jackie Chan to make great fight scenes that are in Shanghai Noon yet overall the movie does good on the action part.

Overall Bandidas, I had fun watching. If you want to watch a film and relax in the process Bandidas as it. It contain good action, the writing in the film is mediocre, but everything balances each other out and I would recommend this film anytime. Its a thumbs up.

DVD

Specs.

Bandidas comes in both Widescreen and Full-screen formats, so the video differs on which way you watch the film in. The audio comes in English 5.1 and Spanish Dolby Digital Surround Sound, and come with both English and Spanish subtitles and is 92 minutes.

Special Features Include:

• Audio Commentary by Selma Hayek and Penélope Cruz
• A Burning up the set with Selma and Penélope featurette

This DVD although doesn't contain that much I would have loved to see more than this for the film. I think the commentary is decent, and the featurette is a good ten minute feature but it nothing that should change anything. The DVD is nothing that special, but I would think that if you like either of these two actresses or is a big fan of westerns then this is a buy, other that that its a rent at least.