DVD Voice

Tonight’s movie – Wild Target – looked silly. And honestly it was. But it was fun.

Basically you have the stoic British hit man, played by Bill Nighy, who is “Victor Maynard”. Except no one is really sure because he is the top ranked hit man, and seriously old school. His clients don’t see him, no one really knows what he looks like or where he lives or what his name is even.

We see him skillfully execute his hit. At the same time, Emily Blunt’s character, “Rose”, a professional thief and con artist (though not that great) – a free spirit and cavalier towards life – is conning Rupert Everett out of 900,000£! It’s a stunning little piece of film with her flittering into the National Gallery and finding her friend who is copying a Rembrandt painting. She successfully pulls off the con and as soon as she’s out of sight they discover the fake painting she’s swapped. Of course they want her killed.

Naturally they hire the best hit man in the business! He finds her, follows her, mistakenly kills the wrong person and then resumes the chase. Eventually tracking her down to kill her he ends up killing the replacement killer and the pair bumble into Tony, played by Rupert Grint – ala Ron Weasley from the Harry Potter series. The three take off on the run as the next best professional killer, “Dixon”, is on their tail.

Like I say, it isn’t a masterpiece. It is funny in its spots. Ironic at times, and has some both passable and cute action sequences. (The Mini and the Mercedes chase, for one). But you know from the start when the professional killer finds out that the jeweler he’s just killed, and announced his name and profession to, has a parrot who, well, parrots, all this information back what’s he to do? Kill the bird, of course, only he hasn’t the heart. When you see this from the beginning you know the movie will be a little different. The over exaggerated look of shock and stupidity on the “bad” guys faces could have been left out! That for movies for 8-year-olds! Hey… wait a minute…

If you like fun and slightly screwball comedies, you probably will enjoy Wild Target!

Things learned from this movie:

1. Minis make great getaway cars. You can drive in cool places.
2. Not keeping your gun clean can get you killed.
3. Having a mother who understands and encourages your profession is a great thing!
4. “Roger” the parrot isn’t destined for a long life.
5. A white cat look psychedelic when dyed pink.
6. Lots of artists copy masterpieces.
7. It takes years to learn to hit a target in the bulls-eye.
8. Keeping a scrapbook of all your hits may not be the best idea. But keeping photos of your target with a big bold “X” drawn over them is really incriminating!
9. “Half now and half later” means you get all the money now, but just one half of the bills. You have to tape them back together.

Rated PG-13. 98 minutes (1 hour 38 minutes). Swearing. Gun violence. Some blood splatter from the killings. For humor one of the “bad” guys is shot and expected to carry on and then his ear is blown off and he’s carrying it around. Sex is implied some, but sadly you don’t get to see much more than Emily Blunt in her underwear. Oh, and for the teenage girls who are fans of Rupert Grint, he is in the bath twice. “Having a bath, are we?” to which he replies, “Looks like it”.

The Lookout is a movie that slipped by me. I’d never heard of it. Tonight the friendly guy at the Blockbuster store suggested this one since there was a dearth of new titles (in stock) that I wanted to see!

Basically you have Chris Pratt, Joseph Gordon-Levitt’s character, a cocky hockey player seemingly on top of the world who does a stupid stunt and crashes his car, killing two best friends and seriously injuring his girlfriend (If I have this right). He’s suffered severe brain damage and has memory issues and gets frustrated when he can no longer understand things. Everything is written down in his notebook or on stickers – like “lock the door” or “turn off alarm clock”.

He’s a night janitor at a bank and spends time after getting off work in the local bar drinking non-alcoholic beer. He lives with Jeff Daniels, a guy named Lewis, who is blind – blinded from his at home meth lab – and works in a call center. It’s sort of a symbiotic relationship with each helping the other out.

Chris is approached by a “friend” who once supposedly dated his sister. They hang out a the local bar a few times and Chris spends a late Thanksgiving with the guy. He gets lucky with one of the guy’s friends “Luvlee Lemons” and so the bonds of friendship gets even stronger. The friend then approaches him about helping them rob his bank. Chris would be the lookout. He’d have the most important job… The enticement is completed by telling him how this would help him get his old life back because having money means he has power.

Things go wrong. Don’t they always? Basically Chris decides that he doesn’t want to help them rob his bank but is forced to go along with it. When the shooting starts … well, that’s the crux of this one – I’ll not spoil it, you have to see it. It’s not a must see, like Inception, but its good. If you haven’t seen and have some downtime, try it!

The most weird (technically part) of the film was the action scene. When the gunfight erupted, the action sequences looked like they were filmed by an entirely different film crew. Like it was inserted out of a different movie, only the location and actors fit. Very strange feel. But it didn’t really detract.

Try out The Lookout today!

Things learned from this movie:

1. Brain damage is not fun!
2. Fireflies lighting up the valley are amazing to look at!
3. Don’t drive with your headlights off.
4. Calling your dad up at 3am and asking for $10,000.00 isn’t the best of ideas.
5. Don’t let outsiders who don’t know you well destroy your relationship with your family and loved ones.

Rated R. 99 minutes (1 hour 39 minutes). Swearing. The brain damaged sometimes inappropriately proposition for sex. There is a naked girl laying on a bad smiling at you as you pause the video with her great butt on the screen. Gun battles and the required blood.

I’ve lost the little Tyvek envelopes that Netflix ships their DVDs in, but I’ve never lost the actual outer envelope before. I heard someone mention that they lost their envelope and they didn’t know what to do because they didn’t have an envelope to ship the disk back to Netflix!

I’ve gotten a disk from Netflix before and the mailer envelope was torn, but it was always repairable with tape.

The issue this guy was facing is that Netflix says if you lose the envelope you can mail two movies back in the same envelope. So what happens then…? What do you do, call them up and say “I lost my netflix envelope”?

So what is the solution for a netflix lost envelope? First I guess you could look for it! LOL… Sorry. Your looking on the Internet because you can’t find it!

What I did, is that on occasion I’ll have two DVDs I want to send back at the same time. My thought at the time was that I’d just mail two back at once in one envelope. Save Netflix the postage fees and make them a little more profitable and maybe they’ll be around to meet my entertainment needs longer. I didn’t throw away the envelope but kept it, just in case. Then if I needed the second envelope, I have it. If one comes that is torn or damaged, I don’t have to worry about that Netflix envelope ripped or torn, I can just toss it and use the spare.

So the short answer is to head over to Netflix’s website where my curiosity is answered! Yeah! If you don’t have a pre-paid Netflix return envelope then you can mail the DVD in its white sleeve. Simply put it in an envelope with enough postage, and put the address to Netflix on it and mail it back. Sucks that you have to pay the postage here, but if you have to… Now, if the white DVD envelope is gone, too, then you can still get the DVD back to Netflix the same way, only because you have no white movie sleeve you have write your Netflix account email address and put it with the disk so you can be credited.

Mail the DVDs to this addres:
Netflix
P.O. Box 49021
San Jose, California 95161-9959

The Switch! Now this one was funny and poignant in places! I kinda enjoyed watching this one. Not nearly as much as I would have an action movie tonight, but hey — better than the one last night.

Jennifer Aniston – still smoking hot – is turning 40 and her biological clock is screaming baby. She has no man. So, turning to the next best thing, she’s in the market for a donor. She finds a guy, ignoring the close friend who’s been pining over her for years and has a big celebration (everyone’s doing it, Juliette Lewis says – she’s hot, too). But distraught and very drunk friend who Jennifer has ignored for many years – they are friends – Jason Bateman accidentally spills the donors donation and in a pinch what’s he to do? Well, he decides he can step in and donate … thank you Diane Sawyer.

So that’s the movie – guy wants girl, girl doesn’t want guy, he sticks around anyway. She wouldn’t sleep with him when desperate for a kid, so he rationalizes that he can get her anyway – maybe not so much mentally because he is soooo drunk! But the baby she has an moves away with is his. And years later she moves back, and my! doesn’t that kid look like him. They go together… The intended “donor” is now recently single and things start clicking between Jennifer and him, so what’s Jason to do? Hmmm… how do these romantic comedies always end?

Also – some good photos from the film here at DoBlu.com.

Things learned from this movie:

1. Women love babies.
2. Men who will go an get lice out of potential paramour’s son’s hair are a godsend as friends.
3. Above mentioned guy is getting walked on and needs to grow and pair and use his backbone.
4. Jeff Goldblum is getting really old!
5. Get really, really drunk and you could end up getting a girl pregnant without even sleeping with her.
6. He thought of Diane Sawyer like that??

Rated PG-13. 101 minutes (1 hour 41 minutes). Talk about babies and sex and how donations happen. Some swearing. Some dude in a theater is completely naked and you see the pan down over his butt.

Every Day … life every day can get you down. So why do you want to see a film about other people’s every day? Life isn’t as much made up of the wonderful blow you away moments as it is what we do and enjoy day to day. And this film shows you some of that. Not enough, but just a peek.

Helen Hunt’s father moves in with them, burdening and stressing her out to keep care of him and take him to his doctors. The eldest son (a high schooler) has come out of the closet and declared that he is gay. Their youngest is getting ignored because other things seem more important. The husband and wife don’t really acknowledge each other, they just are there without ever really connecting and offering the support and back-up the other needs.

So… life goes for a few weeks. The trials of picking the kids up from school. The fear that the older one will go off and get hurt in some kinky gay thing or preyed upon. Liev’s job is demanding and a co-worker is tempting him.

How do you step out of what envelopes you in your life enough to see your loved one’s true needs and be supportive? And what’s going to happen to us when we get old if we haven’t been there or been caring for those we love?

Heavy stuff, huh? Well, don’t despair, this film is billed as a comdey! Uh huh, ok — I found it rather sad. Even Eddie Izzard, who you expect to be funny, and he was kinda out there, is kind of depressing. The whole thing, including some scenes in really overcast weather, are depressing…

Things learned from this movie:

1. “You’re not nearly as boring as you pretend to be.”
2. Old people can’t open childproof caps, but elementary school kids can.
3. If you hate where you are then living in a nursing home will not be any different or worse.
4. You can give criticism in ways that hurt or inspire.
5. A human’s cremation remains will fit into a plastic bag.
6. Helen Hunt is thin, but getting old looking.
7. If you are at a co-workers house and she wants to go swimming and brings you her “ex” boyfriends swimsuit – speedo – yeah right, she’s been sizing you up.
8. [This entry intentionally left blank]

Rated R. 93 minutes (1 hour 33 minutes). Rated R … um, there is some swearing but it stuck out so much I can’t exactly remember how much. Liev Schreiber is having a fling with a co-worker and they are naked in a pool but you’d never know. Sucked that teasing. Oh, and now that I’m down this avenue, the job Liev’s character has is writing for a tv show where the boss wants as much weird and crazy sex stuff as possible so that’s discussed rather frequently.

Happy St. Patrick’s Day people! I just have to say! This movie was amazing! Some of the visual shots – breathtakingly beautiful! Wow…! The Wildest Dream is really wild!

“Why do you want to climb Mount Everest?”

“Because it’s there.” Explorer George Mallory

If you haven’t seen this, this is a very cool way to learn about some adventuring history! The time will just fly by. It does move a little slow at times, but knowing that these guys are really there, really climbing, and really wearing the old gear (at times) … wow.

Basically, George Mallory, widely believed to be the best mountaineer of his day was on his third attempt in 1924 to climb Mount Everest. He was last seen 800 feet below the summit. He was never seen again. Presumed lost and dead it wasn’t until 1999 that Conrad Anker found Mallory’s body on the mountain. He chronicled the tale in his book, The Lost Explorer: Finding Mallory on Mt. Everest.

Did Mallory make it to the top? That’s what is explored in this movie, not only do you learn the history of the mountain and about Mallory, the man, you learn about the equipment they had and his reputation as a climber. They focus in on several things. That Mallory appeared to be coming back down the mountain as he fell and died. That the “Second Step” did not have at that time the aluminum ladder that has since been installed and everyone has used. Could Mallory have climbed the Second Step without such aids? What about Oxygen tanks? And one more bit of information about the climb, was Mallory’s promise to put Ruth’s, his wife, picture on the summit of the mountain – and when his body was discovered with intact papers and notes, her picture was not on his body.

So … did he make it? This fascinating and visually stunning movie is a great way to make your mind up!

Also – head over to Blu-Ray.com for an in-depth review of the quality and pictures from the movie. And also be sure to see this movie on Blu-Ray. It will wow you! The Wildest Dream: Conquest of Everest

Things learned from this movie:

1. Wow! Beautiful!
2. Climbing Mount Everest looks tough!
3. The weather looks way, way too cold!
4. It would be so easy to get killed!
5. I’m so glad I was on a comfy sofa while seeing this!
6. It makes me want to climb things!

Rated PG. 94 minutes (1 hour 34 minutes). It’s rated this because of the mountain peril – and that there are photographs of people smoking.

Finally a new release that is a respectable movie. The Fighter, winners of the Academy Award for best supporting Actor (Christian Bale) and best supporting Actress (Melissa Leo). Mark Wahlberg portrays “Irish” Micky Ward in his life in boxing. (Read about Micky Ward here on Wikipedia).

It’s a rather cool movie. Wahlberg looks the part of a fighter! According to notes about the film the project was off/on for quite a while and Wahlberg continued to train for boxing during the entire time. Christian Bale – well, he irritates me, but you got to hand it to him, he comes off as a scumbag crackhead addict who is conceited and self-absorbed at a cost to himself and those around him that is just, well, wow crack will really destroy you. In fact, the “movie” filmed within the movie, High on Crack Street: Lost Lives in Lowell, is about his character Dicky Eklund. How he destroyed his life and a promising career with drugs.

The movie is well paced, keeps your interest, and is a good use of the evening. The thing about sports movies like this is that you kinda always know where they are going. No matter how down and out you think the boxer is, you know that he’s still going to get a shot at the big time and miraculously pull it off. Or is he? The Wrestler sure didn’t…

Also interesting is the IMDb Synopsis of the film:

A look at the early years of boxer “Irish” Micky Ward and his brother who helped train him before going pro in the mid 1980s.

Who writes these things? Yes, the movie did have a little bit about Ward’s early years. But the whole movie was essentially about his return to the ring and climb towards his eventual shot at a title. So who writes these? Do they not even really try to get them right? Seems like it’d be a really cool job to have, you know, getting to sit and watch films and do a write up based on what they are about – what is the most emotional pull or captivating sentence they can write. And yet when I pulled up the IMDb deal after watching this I wondered if I’d seen the right movie. I enjoyed mine! What did they watch?

Things learned from this movie:

1. Boxers get hurt in the ring.
2. Boxers can get hurt and then come right back as if nothing happened.
3. Boxers can get a kidney punch and just go out!
4. Family can build you up and support you.
5. Family can tear you down.
6. Crack Cocaine can destroy your life.
7. Amy Adams is good for you.
8. Life is the decisions you make of it, make good ones!
9. See some of the real people at the end of the film.

Rated R. 115 minutes (1 hour 55 minutes). Language. Violence. Violence. Boxing Violence. Drugs. Some skimpy clothes from the boxing ring girls and a choice Amy Adams in her underwear.

This is what you call a very big swing from last night’s picture! The Horde. It’s a French film about a group of police who are conducting a raid on a condemned high rise and the drug guys who use it as their base. The raid goes bad, the police have no backup (are they going their for a legitimate reason?) and to complicate things the whole building is surrounded and invaded by the undead – zombies!

After the initial encounter with zombies and the guys emptying dozens of rounds into one zombie who refuses to go down, you start to wonder if any of them have ever watched a zombie movie before. They’d know to shoot them in the head! Life imitates art, right?

So now the police and the bad guys have to team up. An uncomfortable alliance for sure. And the goal is to get out of the building alive. Of course you’ll have the various “scares”, which aren’t that scary. But you do get the gore! My my… Every zombie has bloody hands it seems. And blood just is everywhere in the building.

While trying to escape they meet an old man, who refers to running out of explosives in 1964 in Indo China. He’s beating these zombies up with an axe. And he appears to have a thing for Necrophilia as while the other guys argue about what to do, he’s undressing one of the dead zombie females.

The gore on the gore scale is on up there. There are the bullet wounds, the knife wounds, the breaking of bones, the face smashing scenes, the face pulverizing scenes, etc. After all, the police say, they are going there for a blood bath.

Worth noting. The film is in French. And so its subtitled. I flipped it to the English audio and didn’t read. I find it hard to read during action or horror movies. Drama, maybe, but not this. The English voice acting was ok, I guess. Sometimes the guys sounded like they were in different rooms.

And the female cop… Can’t forget her. Badass! Brings down a fridge on a zombie and willing to shoot dead between the eyes a co-worker before he turns zombie on her. Woot!

Things learned from this movie:

1. When you want a bloodbath, sometimes you get what you want.
2. Fist fights with zombies are something else!
3. Zombies are kinda dumb.
4. Zombies really move fast!
5. Zombies will surround an apparently vacant building for no reason. Hordes of them just descend on the building.
6. Escaping the building means there isn’t any zombies anywhere to be seen.
7. How good are promises between cops and crooks?
8. Can cops really take drugs?

Like zombies, gore, and violence? Then The Horde should be up your alley!

Not Rated. 90 minutes (1 hour 30 minutes). Language. Violence. Violence. Gore. Nudity. There’s one topless dead zombie and the female cop’s nipple poke through her shirt very clearly after she takes off her bullet-proof vest.

Hey guys … sometimes entertainment takes a backstage to life. And it is important to know that things happen that should draw our attention away from a tv set.

The current situation in Japan is one of those. It’s always good no matter how well off you are (or aren’t — like myself who still has bills!) it is important to be charitable and help out your fellow humans.

One easy way to do this is to donate or volunteer with the Red Cross.

Donate

Clicking here for the Red Cross website will take you to a page where you can make an online donation. Simple and painless. And you can do this at anytime of the day or night. Whatever amount, just put it in the computer and bam! you’ve helped out!

Donate Blood

They need blood. Always. Find a local center and go donate some blood today.

Donate via Text Message

Hey! It’s a high tech world. Why bother going to a computer and typing in all your info? Why not just text an sms to code # 90999 and you’ll be charged $10 for a donation to help out! Now just how painless is that?! PS – you can even do this one while watching tv!

Like Dandelion Dust … hmm… how did I end up with this one?

Ok, it wasn’t that bad. Barry Pepper, Mira Sorvino did good jobs. It’s about a family. They have a kid. They have a prosperous and happy life. There’s another family. It has a husband (now an ex-con) and a wife and a kid – only the kid is with the first family. The adoption papers have forged signatures from the con, Barry Pepper. Now they want the kid back. Well, law being the law, they will get the kid back.

So what do you do when you see slow motion heartbreak coming at you. Well, I wanted to turn it off and play video games – but I stuck in here for you guys!

Honestly, it makes you think. What happens when the legal decision is the one that seems so wrong. Taking a kid away from a place where he is loved and well cared for and put back with his birth mother and an abusive father? But like we said earlier, the law is the law.

So the adoptive father tries things. Can he get the courts to see it his way? Can he get political influence? Can he buy the real father off? Will he take the kid and run becoming a fugitive?

You might enjoy this one. Maybe not. Probably not. Only see if you want to be saddened. Monday evenings are good for that! So if your still game, check it out – Like Dandelion Dust!

Things learned from this movie:

1. Sailboats are where its at.
2. Fathers can get lots of points out of building tree houses.
3. Mothers can get into a “no girls allowed” tree house by bringing cookies.
4. Cookies!
5. Church mission trips make a good cover for leaving.
6. Buying fake US passports to leave the country … hmmm…
7. Some people can drink straight whiskey faster than I can drink water.
8. Prison works wonders on your abs.

Rated PG-13. 100 minutes (1 hour 40 minutes). Language. Family Tension.