Theatrical Release Year: 2008
Director: Neil Marshall
Writer: Neil Marshall
Starring: Rhona Mitra, Sean Pertwee, MyAnna Buring, Nora-Jane Noone, Bob Hoskins
Length: 105 minutes
Studio: Universal Studios
MPAA Rating:

It’s a viral war between the evil vs. the eviler… and it’s bloody.

Unfortunately, that doesn’t make it a good movie. But we’ll get to that.

It’s April 3, 2008 and the Reaper virus breaks out in Scotland, causing its victims’ faces to bubble and their bodies to basically rot. The virus is, of course, highly contagious and it takes no time at all for most of Scotland’s people to die from the disease. The UK government orders that Scotland be sealed off with a wall perimeter so that no one can go in and no one can get out. All of Scotland’s people are left to die. Fortunately for young Eden Sinclair (Christine Tomlinson), her mother is able to put her on a helicopter transport out of Scotland before the country is completely abandoned.

Flash forward to 2035 when the Reaper virus resurfaces, this time in England. Eden (Rhona Mitra) is called upon to lead a special ops team into the walls of Scotland to find a scientist named Kane (Malcolm McDowell) who presumably could help find a cure for the virus. What the team finds when they arrive is a large population of people immune to the virus who have forsaken any semblance of a lawful society (and why shouldn’t they since they were forsaken by the rest of society!) who are led by Kane’s son Sol (Craig Conway). Eden’s team is captured by Sol’s thugs but Sol’s sister Cally (MyAnna Buring) helps them escape and leads them to Kane who has crowned himself king of a medieval castle (yup, weird) where his people fear and follow him because they are led to believe there are no survivors outside the walls of Scotland.

This Mad Max meets Robin Hood meets 28 Days Later film sounds really good in print, but its execution on the main screen is a complete and utter letdown. Dark filming and close camera angles make it hard to see what’s going on during the action sequences. There were several gruesome scenes that were semi interesting, including total annihilation of an innocent bunny rabbit, shotgun blast to the head, machete to cut off a dead man’s hand, a man set on fire and roasted alive then carved for eating, several people being thrown into fiery explosions and burned to death, and several heads chopped clear off.

However, it seems that writer/director Neil Marshall put three stories together into one, none of them were particularly interesting, and none integrated in smoothly with each other. I found myself bored during the movie, fighting to concentrate or actually care about any of the characters. I love end of the world movies, particularly at the theater, so when I’m bored you know it’s really quite bad.

The ending is really unsatisfying, and obviously I can’t say too much more than that other than: hokey! Bob Hoskins (Who Framed Roger Rabbit?) could have been great in this movie, but he was completely wasted, used simply as a plot device to tie in Prime Minister Hatcher (Alexander Siddig) to the story line and to bridge the gap between young and adult Eden.

One of the movie’s best attributes is its 6-song soundtrack, including a rendition of Fine Young Cannibals‘ Good Thing during Sol’s Mad Max-esque spectacle. Also, eye candy deserving of a bucket: Adrian Lester as Norton who doesn’t seem to ever agree with Eden’s plans of action and makes that known but follows her anyway with guns blazing. Yummy.

Go see this movie with your mother (which I did — hi, Mom!) so you have something to trash talk over lunch.

Buttery’s Rating:

Recommendation

We recommend some nice Buffalo Bills 3.5oz Honey Pepper Country Cut Beef Jerky so you can pretend like you’re part of the cannibal scene! Yummy people meat!

A Kamikaze is the only appropriate drink for the end of the world.

Popularity: 98% [?]

Theatrical Release Year: 1990
DVD Release Year: 1999
Director: Allan Moyle
Writers: Allan Moyle
Starring: Christian Slater, Samantha Mathis, Anthony Lucero, Scott Paulin, Mimi Kennedy, Cheryl Pollak, Robert Shenkkan, Seth Green, Holly Sampson
Length: 102 minutes
Studio: New Line Home Video
MPAA Rating:

Steal the air. Talk hard. Keep the dream alive.

Through the invisible night time airwaves of Arizona, Mark Hunter (Christian Slater) allows his alter-ego pirate DJ Happy Harry Hardon to speak out on such items as girls, music, and the pressures of society on teenagers he cannot bring himself to speak out on during the day due to a severe infliction of shyness. Slowly his fan base builds up, and piques the interest of Nora Diniro (Samantha Mathis) who sets out to unmask Happy Harry Hardon’s real identity.

However, not everyone is a fan of the pirate DJ. Through access to school records he slowly uncovers corruption at the high school he himself attends, and by doing so antagonizes the guidance counselor David Deaver (Robert Shenkkan) and Principal Loretta Cresswood (Annie Ross) into action against his fellow students. Further notoriety and criticism befalls him when fellow student Malcolm Kaiser (Anthony Lucero) commits suicide after calling into the radio show.

By speaking forth words that incite the establishment into interdiction, inspire his generation into united action, and may bring him the girl of his dreams, Happy Harry Hardon has everything to gain… but Mark Hunter has everything to lose.

Pump Up The Volume is a classic story that validates teen angst in a way never before shown, and never since having been repeated. While the movie suffers from a low production budget that included obvious gaffs (a teacher pushing the play button on a radio to stop a cassette, and pushing the pause button to play it; audio/visual not on sync towards the end), some hokey acting by under talented adults, and a lack of stunning visuals… the theme of anonymous voices “crying out in the wilderness” with a message is even more relevant today with the evolution of the internet blog as it was then.

Popcorn’s Rating:

To be like Happy Harry Hardon you need to be both happy and hard. The CANDY CIGARETTES should be able to make you happy and make people think your hardcore without exposing yourself to the possibilities of lung cancer.

Popularity: 28% [?]

Theatrical Release Year: 2004
DVD Release Year: 2004
Director: Edgar Wright
Writers: Edgar Wright, Simon Pegg
Starring: Simon Pegg, Nick Frost, Kate Ashfield, Tim Baggaley, Nicola Cunningham, Sonnell Dadral, Lucy Davis (II), Bill Nighy
Length: 100 minutes
Studio: Universal Studios
MPAA Rating:

It’s entirely possible the vinyl records are worth more than the lives they’re saving, but it sure is fun throwing them.

Shaun (Simon Pegg) is in a bit of a rut with no real life ambitions. He has stalled relationships with his girlfriend Liz (Kate Ashfield), his best mate Ed (Nick Frost), and his mother Barbara (Penelope Wilton) as well as a stalled career at a local appliance store. Frustrated by this lack of ambition, Liz breaks up with Shaun when he commits the cardinal sin of forgetting to book a reservation for their third anniversary and offering to take her once again to his favorite pub, The Winchester. While Shaun’s relationship with Liz dissolves before his eyes the rest of the world around him happens to slowly become overrun by zombies.

Shaun’s tunnel vision to the utter destruction around him somehow saves him from the hands of the zombies too many times to count. Once he finally notices that zombies are taking over London and has a bit of fun with Ed taking a few of them down he decides he must set out on a crusade to save both Liz and his mother from the undead. And, where’s the best place to go to protect you and those you love from those indiscriminate flesh eaters? Why, the Winchester, of course!

This is, hands down, one of the funniest zombie movies of all time. A fantastic supporting cast, clever fight sequences, unique camera angles, and perfectly understated zombie-to-regular-life comparisons (aren’t we all just drooling drones? yup!) make Pegg and Wright’s film a cult classic.

Special Features

Zombie Gallery: A photo collection of the undead.
TV Bits: Music videos from the film soundtrack.
Trailer: The US theatrical trailer for the film.
Missing Bits:
Funky Pete - A cleaned up version of Pete’s dialog when he’s woken up at 4:00am
The Man Who Should Be Shaun - Simon Pegg using a silly voice for his character
Plot Holes - Answering your questions about what happened to characters during parts of the film
Outtakes - The goofy bits — yaaaaaay!
Extended Bits - Fifteen (15) extended scenes… Wow!
Raw Meat - A proverbial meat pie of the leftover bits:
Simon Pegg’s Video Diary - A behind-the-scenes montage of the film set.
Casting Tapes - Some seriously hilarious versions of my favorite scenes are shown, plus strange things are done with fruit. That’s always funny!
Edgar and Simon’s Flip Chart - The detailed plan of the movie in word form. Booooring! (Skip it.)
SFX Comparison - Very cool footage of how Mary gets that pipe through her stomach, and consequently a hole through her entire mid-section, using green screen and splicing.
Make-Up Tests - Zombie walkers in full costume set to music, including Simon Pegg in full zombie get-up and side-by-side comparisons of CGI zombie eyes versus color contacts (freaky!).
EPK Featurette - A description of the film is given, including an in-depth look at the relationship between Shaun and Ed.

Can we say awesome special features? AWESOME SPECIAL FEATURES! (I knew we could.)

Buttery’s Rating:

Recommendations

A nice, chewy Guinness really hits the spot when holding down the Winchester fort.

Bacon candy must be consumed while fighting zombies. Mmmm, zombie bacon…

Popularity: 27% [?]

Theatrical Release Year: 2003
DVD Release Year: 2004
Director: Sofia Coppola
Writer: Sofia Coppola
Starring: Scarlett Johansson, Bill Murray, Akiko Takeshita, Kazuyoshi Minamimagoe, Kazuko Shibata,Giovanni Ribisi, Anna Faris
Length: 102 minutes
Studio: Universal Studios
MPAA Rating:

If there isn’t “more than this” then what’s the point?

Bob Harris (Bill Murray) is a washed up American actor in Tokyo, Japan filming an ad campaign for Santori whiskey. His lack of understanding of Japanese coupled with his marriage slump leave him feeling alone, depressed, and lost until he meets fellow American Charlotte (Scarlett Johnansson) who is also in a life and marriage slump. Charlotte is in town tagging along with her photographer husband John (Giovanni Ribisi) who is constantly working, leaving Charlotte to fend for herself. Bob and Charlotte it it off in the lounge of the hotel they’re both staying at and begin spending all their free time together. Their friendship quickly develops into something deeper.

Both Murray and Johansson deliver seemingly effortless understated performances as quasi-love interests while Anna Farris, who cameos as an actress vying for the attention of her “favorite photographer” who happens to be Charlotte’s husband John, is fantastically over the top. Coppola keeps us guessing about the friendship-turned-more between Bob and Charlotte: Will they allow their relationship to become physical? Will they remain faithful to their spouses? Is their deep emotional connection alone an act of infidelity?

A beautiful soundtrack matches beautiful cinematography of both the colorful Tokyo nightlife and the muted and serene Zen gardens of the day life. The sequencing of the movie feels a bit off and problematic at times, as if not enough footage was filmed to make the movie feature length, so the story seems slightly incongruous if you pay close enough attention (or watch it 50 times like I have), but the incongruity does nothing to change the flow of the story.

Special features include in-depth and hilarious Behind the Scenes footage in Tokyo with the cast and crew, the entire Bob Harris segment on “Matthew’s BestHitTV”, the City Girl music video featuring nighttime footage of Tokyo, several deleted scenes (the scene with Bob and Charlotte in their respective beds could have stayed in the movie), a conversation with Bill Murray and Sofia Coppola in which Sofia confesses that the movie wouldn’t have happened without Bill, and the theatrical movie trailer.

Slight spoiler: If you wear earbuds and turn up the sound really loud for the end scene you can hear part of what Bob says to Charlotte.

Buttery’s Rating:

Recommendation

Best served with Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups — two great tastes that taste great together, just like Bill and Scarlett!

Popularity: 21% [?]

Theatrical Release Year: 2003
DVD Release Year: 2004
Director: Richard Curtis
Writer: Richard Curtis
Starring: Alan Rickman, Bill Nighy, Colin Firth, Emma Thompson, Hugh Grant, Laura Linney, Liam Neeson, Martine McCutcheon, Rowan Atkinson
Length: 135 minutes
Studio: Universal Studios



Love Actually follows the stories about falling in love, falling out of love, looking for love, and revealing the love one has for another among an inter-woven group of English citizens.

Love Is Elementary shows Daniel (Liam Neeson) as he loses his beloved wife, Joanna. Daniel is not alone in his loss though, as his stepson Sam (Thomas Sangster) is also dealing with the passing of his mother and a growing fondness for a girl at school who apparently does not realize he exists.

Love Rocks On with aging music legend Billy Mack (Bill Nighy) and his long time manager Joe (Gregor Fisher). When Billy Mack attempts to regain fame and fortune, he does it from the remake of a love song. The journey for artistic redemption is long and hard… but luckily for Billy he does not travel it alone.

Love At Work intertwines Sarah (Laura Linney) with Karl (Rodrigo Santoro) in one of the most common examples of love and its place in our lives. Of course, with all things work related, love is as well… although this love is complicated not by work at all… but rather by love of a different kind when Sarah’s brother Michael (Michael Fitzgerald) unintentionally hurls the proverbial monkey wrench into the inner workings of the heart.

Love As A Second Language proves once again that not only does love know no boundaries, but its language is universal. When Jamie (Colin Firth) finds his girlfriend shagging his brother, he leaves for the coast of France to finish working on his novel. His first meeting with Aurelia (Lucia Moniz), who is the housekeeper, leaves one to wonder what these two could possibly have in common… but decidedly proves that love will always find a way.

Love Lasts A Lifetime showcases the undying nature of love, irregardless of the trials it may be put through. Karen (Emma Thompson) and Harry (Alan Rickman) live the lives of a couple whose flame has dimmed and the chill is in the air. Of course, Harry decides that he needs to be warmer and enters into a flirtatious relationship with Mia (Heike Makatsch). It’s when that flirtatious relationship is taken a bit far do the fires threaten to burn down the house… and the love that fills it.

Love Is Awkward when John (Martin Freeman) and Judy (Joanna Page) meet on the set of a film where they are serving as body doubles for a pair of actors in a number of love scenes. Building from that first, naked, introduction is a tale of innocence in a world that has long ago lost its own.

Love American Style proves the love is redder on the other side of the pond. Colin Frissell (Kris Marshall) is tired of stuck up English women, and instead travels to a classic American bar in Michigan where he meets Stacey (Ivana Milicevic), Jeannie (January Jones), and Carol-Anne (Elisha Cuthbert) who are instantly entranced by his cute English accent and take him in. The fireworks however really start when Harriet (Shannon Elizabeth) comes home…

Love And Politics is both a statement on love between Prime Minister David (Hugh Grant) and his secretary Natalie (Martine McCutcheon) and a statement on one’s love for their country… and some of the insane things we will do for such love. Standing up to bullies in the form of the US President (Billy Bob Thorton) and going to such great lengths as to carol on command are just a few of the things to prove the power the emotion holds over us… and that thick thighs are indeed heavenly.

Forbidden Love, could there be such a thing? Mark’s (Andrew Lincoln) love for Juliet (Keira Knightley) is such a case. What is seemingly all too familiar, Mark cannot openly reveal his feelings for the woman who has just married his best friend. He is left to anguish alone with the pieces of his heart in his hands, or is he?

Although boasting an English A-List cast, the true gem of this movie is the simplicity in the message it tries to convey. Love Actually is… all around. For that reason, I think this is the most romantic movie of them all.

Popcorn’s Rating:

There is only one snack befitting a movie that opens and closes with real people giving real hugs… Hershey’s Hugs, 13-Ounce Bag (Pack of 4).

Popularity: 27% [?]

Year: 2007
Director: Ridley Scott
Writer: Steven Zaillian
Starring: Denzel Washington, Russell Crowe, Chiwetel Eljofor, Josh Brolin, Carla Guglino
Length: 158 minutes
Studio: Universal Studios
MPAA Rating:

This is not your typical gangster movie.

American Gangster stars Denzel Washington as 1970s New York mobster-driver-turned-drug-lord Frank Lucas who learns all his tricks from his boss Bumpy Johnson (Clarence Williams III, uncredited) before Bumpy dies of a heart attack. Wanting his cut of the drug action dominated by Italian mob families, Lucas devises a scheme to have very pure heroin sent by US military planes from Asia to the United States during the Vietnam War. He markets his product under the name Blue Magic and sells it on the streets for half the price of product that is half as pure. Lucas gives each of his brothers front businesses in Harlem so that they can distribute the drug.

It does not take long for Blue Magic to fall into the hands of Detective Javier Rivera (John Ortiz) who overdoses on the drug. His partner, Detective Richie Roberts (Russell Crowe), decides to avenge his partner’s death by figuring out who is the mastermind behind Blue Magic. The trouble is getting anyone legitimate to believe that a black man no one has really heard of, rather than the typical Italian mob boss, could be the kingpin of such an innovative and wide-spread drug trafficking project. In order to protect his business investments and his family Lucas will do anything, including murder other mob members. It’s amazing how absolutely humble but evil Frank Lucas can be — a true Jekyll and Hyde.

Both Washington and Crowe deliver outstanding performances as antagonists who don’t actually know they are antagonists. Washington is convincing in his role as a man from the streets who wants better for his family. He does not overact as a street thug, and does not overact as a drug lord. He portrays the character in a way that makes the audience empathize with his situation, which would be impossible for most actors to do. Crowe does the same, portraying the street smart detective who tries to play by all the rules and keeps feeling the hardships that result when no one else around him is playing by those same rules. The equally incredible performances make it difficult for an audience member to decide which character to root for, so I ended up rooting for both of them.

The cinematography of this movie is what I would consider spectacular. The raw, grainy footage of the street shots matches the seedy subject matter, while the richly colorful and crystal clear “glamorous life” footage almost make you forget that many lives were ruined in order for Lucas to acquire and maintain that lifestyle. The music stays true to the period, a mix of blues, R&B, and soul tracks, with a little insertion of rap and hip-hop to relate the film to the 21st century audience.

The movie did have its slow moments, but they fit into the story line appropriately. My biggest complaint is the rushing of the ending. To tie up all the loose ends of many story lines the last 15 minutes of the film seem accelerated, hurried, and could be a bit confusing if you’re not used to watching a lot of gangster movies. I have a slight bias of loving movies about the 1970s, perhaps because that’s the decade I was born in, and despite its questionable historical accuracies/inaccuracies I still give this film a high mark for a fantastic cast, intriguing plot development, and perfect balance of brutality and humanity. The strangest part about this movie is that if I didn’t know it was based upon a true story I would have thought it completely unbelievable, which is actually one of the points of the film — no one expects some no name from the South to show up in Harlem and take over the drug scene.

It should be noted that many of the details in the movie were changed for the Hollywood effect. There is a great deal of debate regarding the “facts” of Lucas’s role in the trafficking of heroin from Asia to the United States. For more information about Frank Lucas watch the documentary SUPERFLY The True Untold Story of Frank Lucas The American Gangster and read New Criminology’s article Frank Lucas, “American Gangster,” and the Truth Behind the Asian Connection.

Buttery’s Rating:

Recommendations:

Best enjoyed with Nestlé Giant Pixy Stix — particularly the blue variety.