First off I have to tell you I am a big fan of Ron Perlman and his portrayal of Hellboy from the first film, and a huge fan of Guillermo del Toro the director.  I loved Pan’s Labyrinth and this movies creatures and set designs remind me of his previous film in many ways.

This movie has it all and starts off fantastic with a flashback to Hellboy’s early childhood years where his father reads him a story about the war between elves, goblins and humans and how the elves had used a golden army of seventy times seventy indestructible mechanical soldiers to beat the humans back.  The elven king regretted the bloodshed and forged a pact of peace and vowed never to use the golden army again.  I have always loved the human aspect of Hellboy, he is a lover of cats, beer and has a complex where he desperately wants everyone to like him and he also likes to show off.

This humanizing aspect is what makes his character so great and the movie itself so great, and Hellboys character in many ways reminds me of Mel Gibsons character in the Lethal Weapon movies.  Brash, cocky and full of his own personality and insecurities that you really get into the character and feel for him.

I have to say I think Luke Goss did a fantastic job as prince Nuada, and portrays the emotion and conviction of a being who has felt wronged for centuries, I wasn’t necessarily for saving the humans in this film.  I thought they did a good job showing how Hellboy kept seeking approval from humans but even after saving a baby and trying to help people derided and feared him which hurts his feelings.

I also liked the new boss of the Paranormal research Johan Krauss at first he seems cocky and uncaring, but you learn a lot behind his story and how he feel’s.  His ectoplasmic form are are a really cool feature and he is of particular benefit in some of the final scenes in the movie.

Selma Blair had a much larger part in the second film and had more scenes and was more vocal, I did enjoy her finally showing her feelings for Hellboy and her reasons for brooding and being moody were explained in the film but my favorite part of her scene was when she was saving Hellboy’s life and pleaded with Death.

Speaking of that scene, the way Death was portrayed in the film was magnificent.  The makeup, artistry and disturbingly eerie appearance and personality was addicting to watch.  I literally hung on every word studied every facial feature and was very impressed.

Action packed almost from beginning to end the movie has a few scenes in between that really show the heart of the movie, most notably when Hellboy convinces Abe to have a few beer’s and talk about love and romance, and the two of them are singing together.  As mentioned the fact that Hellboy is human inside just with a different appearance and abilities is what makes this film so engaging.

In Summary I loved the film even more than the first one and am hoping that there will be a third in the future.

-Dragon Blogger

Before I go into the movie review I want to tell you that as a kid I had a VHS Camcorder and I would go around filming amateur type films with my brother, where we would put on costumes and I was the director, screenwriter and cameraman.  My friends and brother would act in my films and we would create these elaborate stories and such.

The movie Son of Rambow really took me back to my own childhood as far as the kids making an amateur film, even if I couldn’t relate to the characters situations in their personal lives.

This was an extremely good movie and it is about two polar opposite boys who become best friends, and this friendship and bond that forms help balance the two of them out.  One boy (Lee Carter) is from a broken home barely raised by his older brother with no rules or discipline at all, he is a wild child who steals, curses, smokes and is generally hated by his schoolmates and teachers alike.

The other boy (Will Proudfoot) comes from an overly strict religious family where he isn’t allowed to have much contact with outsiders and must adhere to strict religious rules.  Meanwhile Will doesn’t feel the same way and we quickly learn his imagination and creativity take him to other places, as his bible has nearly every page colored and scribbled with elaborate scenes of adventure.

The two boys meat by accident when Will is sent into a hallway since he isn’t old enough to watch a documentary, and Lee is banished to the hallway as a punishment.  They meet and have a scuffle which leads to a fish bowl breaking and Lee offering to take the blame and the “torture” if Will will give him his watch.

From here the two boys get to know each other and start making an amateur film which originally is Lee’s idea and story, but after Will watches the movie “Rambo:  First Blood” he creates his “Son of Rambow” story and Lee buys into the story and they decide to make Will’s story.

Every moment of the film gets better and better as the boys do stupid things that boys do, take careless risks with stunts, fight, lie, steal, yet their friendship grows.  We even see how Will becomes so obsessed with the film and the outside world from his church that he starts abandoning his friend for a new crowd who wants to be a part of the film, and we see the falling out and then reconnection between the boys.

The end of the film is perfect and brings a harmonious balance to both boys and their families to some degree showing that people really shouldn’t be one extreme or the other, but should find a balance between the two.

I really enjoyed this film and it makes me want to pick up my camcorder and make some home movies with my boys this weekend.

-Dragon Blogger

Director Rob Minkoff brings us this action packed movie which stars both Jackie Chan and Jet Li together. I have to say I saw this movie enjoyed it immensely. It has all of the elements you like in a movie of this genre. Young Apprentice who knows know Kung-Fu until he is taught by a master, the drunken master who is reluctant to take on a student, the unknown opponent who turns into one of their greatest allies, magical evil immortals, a monkey king who is imprisoned in stone waiting to be released. The story is fun, simple and the action and choreography are entertaining. My only qualm about the film is the film is particular mean and violent in the beginning with the teenager Jason Tripitikas (played by Michael Angarano) who is attacked by hooligans who are particularly violent, especially when brandishing a gun and shooting the old shop owner, and chasing the boy threatening to shoot him. This is a little too hostile for a kung-fu film, and fantasy violence with kung-fu throwing opponents into walls, and arrows even though people die, the menace and vulgarity of the thugs in opening and ending scenes seemed a little out of place in the film. This movie would have been ideal for younger kung-fu fans ages 10+ if it wasn’t for a couple of overly violent scenes.

That being said that was my only negative about the film, Jackie Chan was enjoyable as the self proclaimed Immortal, who helps the boy return the magical staff to the Monkey King. The Silent Monk and the Monkey King both played by Jet Li, who does a great job and is good to see as a good guy as most movies I have seen him recently he is the villain. The English dubbing and voice work is a little bad, I think Jet Li and Jackie Chan were using their own English voices for the film, I am almost sure of it but couldn’t find out for certain.

The movie certainly is not meant to be taken seriously like Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon or House of Flying Daggers, which is what made it enjoyable. Jackie Chan is getting to be too old for martial arts movies and Jet Li is moving up there in age as well. They still shine for a little while longer, but Jackie Chan was much more agile and choreographed in such films as “Armor of the Gods” and “The Drunken Master”.

If you are a Jackie Chan fan, Jet Li Fan, or a fan of Kung-Fu or Karate movies, this is definitely worth a rent.

-Dragon Blogger

I have to say seeing Spider-Man 3 after Iron Man was anti-climactic.   While not on overly bad movie, it is nowhere near the caliber of greatness like the original Spider-Man and the recent Iron Man.  The movie falls under its own weight, dealing with too many villains and too many issues in the span of a short film.  My favorite scenes however are many of the ones with SandMan (Thomas Hayden Church) who was not really a “Bad Guy” but a guy driven to desperate circumstances to save his child, much like the movie “John Q” with Denzel Washington.  You can empathize with the character, the fact that instead of pursuing his anger against Spiderman further and instead parleys with him in the end and asks for forgiveness is one of the better turning points in the film.

I liked the whole Harry / New Goblin aspect, even the amnesia friendship and finally another confrontation which led Spiderman to asking for his former friend for help saving Mary Jane.  I didn’t like that Harry was killed in almost the same “impaled” method as his father by one of his own flying machines.  This had a distinct lack of originality.

What also I thought was a drag on the film was the relationship troubles between Mary Jane and Peter Parker, though I liked the way the film tired to portray the difficulty a superhero would have in a traditional relationship.  Peter seemed so out of touch with Mary Jane, and in previous films he was attuned to every thing about her.  Eddie Brock was another weak character point and served as just a carbon copy almost of Peter Parker minus any human traits.

The film had really good action sequences and impressive special effects, my favorite scene was when Flint Marko first was transmuted into Sandman and he didn’t know how to hold his structure together and we see him crumble over and over as he tries to figure out how to hold his form together.  Also as he tries to grab a physical object and his hand crumbles apart over the object.  It didn’t make sense how Sandman could produce tears at the end of the film, since clearly water was his Kryptonite, and he functions when completely devoid of moisture.

Overall the film left me feeling dissatisfied and had another somewhat sad ending, whereas Iron Man left me feeling like I just witnessed a Rockin’ movie, and I was in a great mood for days afterward.  It wasn’t bad, but it wasn’t what you expect from a superhero movie.  Too much was rehashed from previous films, and if there is a 4th movie, there needs to be a different tone and feel to the film.  Don’t get me wrong, I love Sam Raimi’s work, was a follower of most of his projects for years.  Hercules the Legenday Journey’s was one of my favorite TV Shows for many years.  I just think that Spider-Man 3 tried to do too much without enough time, and had too many sad events repeated too make the film better than mediocre.

-Dragon Blogger