.: ShaolinTiger - Kung-Fu Geekery :.

In Thailand, John Rambo joins a group of mercenaries to venture into war-torn Burma, and rescue a group of Christian aid workers who were kidnapped by the ruthless local infantry unit.

I was always a big fan of Rambo, of course Rambo: First Blood is still the classic and one of the best action/hero movies ever made. Sadly 2 and 3 were a bit weak with more action but a lot less character.

I was interested to hear about Rambo making a come-back, and what a comeback he made.

The movie starts out with Stallone looking like an out of shape washed up hippy catching snakes in Thailand to support himself and driving a boat.

But shortly after that all hell breaks lose and trust me when I say it's brutal, it's really intense, the action scenes are horrifying and remind me of the tension and pace of Black Hawk Down.

Stallone has still got it, big time! He rocks this movie and Rambo is a hero once again.

The movie is gritty and gory, much more so than I would have expected. The storyline is good enough and the filming is excellent.

Stallone really makes the movie come alive, he gives a lot of depth to Rambo, a guy who just wants to be left alone. Plus he really does look tough, remember this is a guy who is almost 62!

Honestly I was surprised how good this movie was, for once my expectations were exceeded. Don't get me wrong it's not deep nor is it the best movie ever made, but it's a hell of an action flick.

If you haven't watched it, do so now or I'll shoot you with an arrow - 7.5/10.

Two terminally ill men escape from a cancer ward and head off on a road trip with a wish list of to-dos before they die.

This is a movie I only heard about after the phrase "Bucket List" swept the Internet recently, a list of things you must do before you kick the bucket - nice eh?

It's a movie about two old codgers played by Morgan Freeman and Jack Nicholson respectively.

A sad and touching story with a spot of humour and lot about acceptance and human character, it's sad in some ways happy in others.

Some of the places they visit are truly spectacular, majestic to say the least and the filming of the locations is poignant and moving.

The dialogue between the two main characters is great, Carter played by Morgan Freeman - the downtrodden working class man who had never achieved his aspiration of becoming a history teacher and Cole played by the Nicholson - the flashy, rich, pushy and flamboyant business man.

Two quite opposite characters that end up getting along very well. Jack Nicholson tends to play very large characters, often larger than life and this one is no different. He manages to not overplay it too much though and Freeman balances it out with a steady performance through-out.

It's not the kind of movie I'd generally watch, it's a bit soppy but it is quite well done. I'd suggest giving it a watch if you want a break from all the fast paced action, cheesy comedy and superhero movies we've been seeing lately.

I'd give it a worth a watch 6.5/10.

After a terrorist attack to an American housing compound in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, where families and the spy Francis Manner are murdered, FBI agent Ronald Fleury blackmails the South Arabian consul to get five days of investigation in the location. He travels with agent Grant Sykes, Janet Mayes and Adam Leavitt to revenge their friend and try to find the responsible for the bombing. The agents find all sorts of difficulties in their investigation, but they are supported by Colonel Faris Al Ghazi that advises the team how to act in a hostile environment

I actually thought this was some kind of action movie from the poster, so I didn't watch it for a while as I didn't feel like anything mindless (I never did check it out in IMDB where it has a solid score of 7.2).

The day I happened to put it on however I did, and was surprised to find it's actually a serious movie - somewhat of a political thriller.

Having been to Saudia Arabia before and having spent some time there...it was a little reminiscent, the events in the movie aren't too far from reality.

This movie follows on from a crop of terrorist/middle-eastern themed movies such as Rendition, Vantage Point and A Mighty Heart.

The movie has more action than the others do and is generally faster paced, so it's torn somewhere between being an action movie and a political commentary/thriller.

Jamie Foxx once again shows he's a great actor (but I knew that ever since I saw Ray) holding the lead of Ronald Fleury.

The rest of the cast do a good job with the local police Sergeant Haytham playing an excellent and compelling role.

The action scenes are good and realistic and there are some interesting and scary characters laced through-out the movie.

Of course the bad guys get served in the end..but that's how the Americans wish it always was.

All in all it's a decent movie, it won't win any awards and it's not particularly memorable in dialogue or scenery - but it's worth a watch.

I'd give it a pretty good 6/10.

Batman and James Gordon join forces with Gotham's new District Attorney, Harvey Dent, to take on a psychotic bank robber known as The Joker, whilst other forces plot against them, and Joker's crimes grow more and more deadly.

Honestly I think Christopher Nolan can do no wrong....he's only made 8 movies and 3 are in the top 250 on IMDB...and I'm guessing this will make it 4 (Memento, The Prestige and Batman Begins).

He's back again to take us on another rollercoaster, Batman Begins was hailed as one of the best superhero movies of all time and it really returned to the roots of Gotham City..dark, brooding, nasty and violent. The character of Bruce Wayne was captured by a fantastic Christian Bale - he's fast becoming one of the best actors around.

And this...The Dark Knight, just rocks in and blows you away. It's sad, truly sad that Heath Ledger is gone and I would be surprised if he doesn't nail an Oscar for his performance...he's truly terrifying, unhinged and totally believable as the joker. It's hands down one of the best performances in any movie I've ever seen. RIP Heath, you surely went out with a bang.

This movie delves deep into the character of Batman and Bruce Wayne, his own flaws and how the Joker desires to make him look at himself and why he does it - does he have a deep down loathing for society? It's a character study and a gripping one at that. The cinematography is perfect along with the sound-track - it really takes you there.

The Batpod comes out, and it's awesome! Christian Bale is great as Bruce Wayne and Batman, although the spotlight isn't on him so much in this movie.

Maggie Gyllenhaal was better than Katie Holmes in Batman Begins....but still not the strongest player in the movie.

The rest of the regulars put in great performances (Michael Caine, Morgan Freeman and Gary Oldman). Not sure about Aaron Eckhart still..The Scarecrow made a very brief entrance too, but wasn't really part of the movie.

The movie was long, and in places it felt it - this would be my one and only complaint. If not for that it's near perfection. This is the most I've written about a movie for a long time and I definitely have to get a BluRay version of this to watch on a huge HD projector at some time in the future.

I give it a dark and dastardly 9/10, definitely close to being best movie of the year.

I still feel elite as I saw this movie on Tuesday...and IMDB still doesn't have a rating because not enough people have watched it!

A hard-living superhero who has fallen out of favor with the public enters into a questionable relationship with the wife of the public relations professional who's trying to repair his image.

This is a movie I was looking forward to for some time as Will Smith is really growing as an actor, apart from that this is a novel movie concept - it's not a Marvel superhero! It's not from a comic book and the main character is somewhat dysfunctional. Thanks to Nuffnang for the screening!

You can say his last two movies weren't exactly amazing too, they were all about Will Smith, something like Will Smith showcases (I Am Legend and The Pursuit of Happyness).

Will Smith played his character very well, the drunkard, bumbling, overpowered Hancock (Without being too Willsmithish). The character was a breath of fresh air, the dialogue was good (apart from the stupid censorship - they let 'Fuck' through but censored 'Asshole' about 100 times?).

Come-on Asshole isn't even that bad a word is it?

ASSHOLE ASSHOLE ASSHOLE ASSHOLE ASSHOLE!

Say it one more time...and I'll...haha. Watch the movie and you'll know. The rest of the characters were decent enough and Charlize Theron was excellent as usual...and SUPER hawt.

There are some interesting twists and turns in the movie and it's filmed beautifully, it has a very realistic feel without too much fancy CGI. It's more about the characters and their relationships than anything else.

It's not a typical superhero showcase as Hancock would say....they are all GAY.

One of the best lines in the movie is..

"Well you should sue McDonalds because they fucked you up!"

Anyway if it wasn't for the horrible censorship I'd probably give it an enjoyable 7/10, but with the mashed up dialogue....I'd have to give it a worth watching 6/10.

In 1957, Indiana Jones is thrust back in action, venturing into the jungles of South America in a race against Soviet agents to find the mystical Crystal Skull.

So Indy is finally back with the 4th part and high expectations with the first Indiana Jones movie back in 1981 being one of the best movies ever made (Raiders of the Lost Ark - #16 on IMDB). The Last Crusade was good too, Temple of Doom wasn't so great but was still enjoyable. All in all a great trio of movies..I was excited about Indy 4 coming out since it was rumoured then announced..

Finally I got the chance to watch it!

All in all it was good, it wasn't fantastic...it won't go down in the archives as a classic like Raiders of the Lost Ark but it was pretty decent.

Does Harrison still have it as Indy? Yeah he does! He kicked butt. I have to say the humour of the earlier films wasn't there in this one. It seemed a little too polished and a little less fantastic.

Our man held his end up tho, old he may be he still rocked and he was still pure Indy!

Shia LaBeouf was actually pretty decent and far less annoying than I expected him to be, Ray Winstone was far less of a bad-ass than he usually plays.

The rest of the cast were good, not a lot of depth to the characters though and I think the first time I've seen Cate Blanchett playing a real baddy.

The action sequences were good although the ending was a bit 'WTF is this ID4?'

It's certainly lacking the magic and suspense of the earlier 3 movies..I'd have to say so far this is the worst Indy.

Direction was good of course by Spielberg but mainly I think it's the script that let it down, should they have made this movie? I guess not...but they did, I hope they don't make another. Let Indy live as a legend!

All in all I'd give it a worth watching 6/10.

Scientist Bruce Banner desperately hunts for a cure to the gamma radiation that poisoned his cells and unleashes the unbridled force of rage within him: The Hulk. Living in the shadows--cut off from a life he knew and the woman he loves, Betty Ross--Banner struggles to avoid the obsessive pursuit of his nemesis, General Thunderbolt Ross.

The new Hulk movie came somewhat out of the blue and very quickly after the fabulous Ironman, it's another Marvel production and considerably better than the first Ang Lee effort "Hulk". It wasn't as hyped as Ironman and perhaps they should have bought it out first...

Not to say it's not a good movie, but it's hard to compete after Ironman. It's doing well om IMDB with a 7.9 at the moment - I'd say it'll go down to somewhere about 7-7.2 as it's not quite that good.

Some found the Ang Lee version much to 'talky', this one is a bit slow in the beginning too - it does pick up. Hulk is a sad story after all and thankfully it's much better played out in this version though.

Edward puts in a good performance as the weakling Banner trying to hide away and solve his problem with Gamma poisoning.

Liv Tyler is a bit annoying, she seems to be lacking depth..the Hulk on the other hand is fantastic. Especially the show down with the Abomination!

Hearing those immortal words of "Hulk Smash" was fantastic.

The rest of the cast was solid, William Hurt was great as the general and looked as though he came straight out of the book. Tim Roth was good as the slightly twisted Blonsky and the rest of the cast supported well (with the cameos from Stan Lee and the REAL Hulk Lou Ferrigno).

The Hulk is a bit of a one dimensional character himself, only the aspect of Banner adds something to the story...and the tussle between Ross and the General.

I'll be interested to see where they take it after this.

I give it a Hulk Smashing good 7/10.

Billionaire industrialist Tony Stark builds a high-tech suit of armor and leads a double-life as the superhero, Iron Man.

Well everyone has been buzzing about this movie, I have to admit I'm a little late in watching it - been WAYYY too busy lately. Managed to catch up with a couple of movies this week! I tried not to set my expectations too high for Iron Man as that tends to lead to disappointment. After a sneak peak at IMDB and the stunning 8.2/10 I was rather looking forwards to it (Not to mention it went straight into the top 250 movies!).

It is of course also the first Superhero/Comic movie that Marvel has actually made themselves, the others are made by big studios...and well now I think everyone hopes Marvel will continue making their own movies. Hulk is coming out soon, after that a list of others (Spiderman 4, The Avengers, Thor, Nick Fury etc).

Anyway back to Iron Man, this movie ROCKS! Plain and simple, Robert Downey Jr. absolutely owns the character of both Tony Stark and Iron Man.

The CGI is flawless, the way he interacts with the holographic renderings is fantastic. The way the whole movie is put together is believable, it's not too fantastic or unrealistic and it shows the development of Iron Man. Iron Man itself is also a nice concept, a man made hero rather than something spawned from a genetic mutation or a spider bite or a nuclear reaction.

Of course there will be comparisons between this and Transformers - I'd say this has the edge very slightly due to the fact the jokes and character interplay are slightly more adult oriented. Transformers is excellent, bit a little kiddy in parts.

Iron Man is funny, I laughed out loud quite a few times, the lines are great and Stark is of course obnoxious but witty. I have to say I think this is the best movie of the year so far and something is gonna have to do bloody well to beat it.

If you haven't watched it yet...do stay until after the credits. The credits are damn bloody long, but it's worth it!

You have to watch this before it goes off the cinema - if you haven't already of course. This is a movie that has gone onto my "Buy Original DVD" list..

Ironman rocks, nothing else to say - 9/10.

The mysterious and charismatic Russian-born Nikolai Luzhin (Viggo Mortensen) is a driver for one of London's most notorious organized crime families of Eastern European origin. The family itself is part of the Vory V Zakone criminal brotherhood.

This is a pretty gritty film, I hadn't actually heard of it - but Suanie recommended it so it must be good! It's got a strong rating of 7.9/10 on IMDB (One of the highest scores I've seen for a while).

The movie revolves around an average British girl (Naomi Watts) getting entangled with the 'Vor V Zakone' AKA the Russian Mafia - a scary bunch at the best of times. There is really quite a number of then in the UK, especially around London and they control a fair amount of territory.

It's pretty gory, violent, sexual and nasty - there's betrayal and all kinds of things going on.

Viggo Mortensen absolutely rocks it as the bad-ass Nikolai. He took method acting to the max, he really becomes Russian, the way he tilts his head when he speaks, his mannerism, everything is fantastic!

Vincent Cassel is also excellent as the narcissistic, confused, violent and down-trodden big-shot mafioso.

After stabbing someone in the eye during a naked fight in a sauna, I have to say Viggo is a real man now!

This is a great movie, an unexpected gem in the rough...definitely a must watch in my books. If you haven't seen it go and find it now and watch it and watch Viggo ROCK IT.

This is a memorable movie, the noirish setting, the vivid characters, great scripting, character development...it has a the lot!

I give it an eye-poking 8.5/10.

Master director Quentin Tarantino indulges his inner fanboy by paying homage to his favorite B-movies in DEATH PROOF. Stuntman Mike stalks beautiful women with his deadly vintage car, but when he picks a trio of tough girls (Rosario Dawson, Tracie Thoms, and Zoe Bell), he learns they aren’t such easy prey. As with any Tarantino film, there are plenty of nods to pop culture.

This is a movie I've been meaning to watch for quite a while, it's part of a double bill 'Grindhouse' with Quentin Tarantino and Robert Rodriguez - the RR being Planet Terror (I haven't watched that one yet).

They are supposed to be oldskool exploitation movies from the 70's - those that come on late at night with guns, hot chicks and lots of car crashes. They generally have no plots and are padded with dialogue to extend the meager budget.

Death Proof is no different! It's pretty much nailed the genre right down, but then it should with QT being the ultimate movie geek.

It has a lot of references to his previous movies (Red Apple, Big Kahuna Burger, breakfast scene from Reservoir Dogs, lots of references to Kill Bill and more!).

There isn't much of a plot to speak of but there is loads of lightning dialogue from start to finish, very Tarantino dialogue.

This is not a movie destined to be a box office hit, it's a movie QT wanted to make himself, it's not guided by a studio or by commercial success - this is a movie fan movie - a movie for film geeks.

Personally I loved it, the hot chicks, the awesome car chase, the obscure references and the witty lines delivered with sass.

It had some characteristically bad ass female leads too, watch the tables turn in the second half of the movie.

I give it an ass whooping 7.5/10.