Oscar Picks

I'm in no way a movie expert, but I do watch a lot of movies. Even though lately I've been engrossed with the WWE Network. I've watched a bunch of it. I mean who would pass up watching ECW Heatwave '98 or anything with Mean Gene Okerlund? Am I right or am I right? But I digress, I've watched a few of the nominees and have read my fair share of reviews for all the best pictures. So here are my picks for the 2014 Academy Awards.

The Big Ones:
Best Picture: American Hustle
Best Director: David O'Russell - American Hustle
Best Actor: Matthew McConaughey
Best Actress: Amy Adams
Best Supporting Actor: Barkhad Abdi
Best Supporting Actress: Lupita Nyong'o
Best Documentary: 20 Feet from Stardom

The Rest:
Animated Feature Film: Frozen
Cinematography: Gravity
Costume Design: Great Gatsby
Documentary Short: Facing Fear
Film Editing: Gravity
Foreign Language Film: The Missing Picture
Makeup: Dallas Buyers Club
Original Score: Her
Original Song: "Let it Go" from Frozen
Production Design: Gravity
Animated Short Film: Possessions
Live Action Short Film: Do I Have to Care of Everything?
Sound Editing: Captain Phillips
Sound Mixing: Captain Phillips
Visual Effects: Gravity
Adaptation Screenplay: Philomena
Original Screenplay: Blue Jasmine

Captain Phillips

On my journey to attempt to watch every best picture nominee, Captain Phillips was the proverbial next in line. I was able to check it out at my local library (insert cheap library plug). So far I've watched American Hustle, Gravity, Dallas Buyers Club (review coming soon) now Captain Phillips. I still have a lot to watch so if anyone wants to hit up the theaters, let me know.

Captain Phillips is based on a true story of an american freighter ship that was captured by a small band of Somali pirates in 2009. Tom Hanks plays a yankee ship captain from Vermont that is commissioned to sail a ship around the cape of Africa carrying food, water and other supplies to Africa. Phillip's boat is overtaken by four Somali pirates. This was the first American cargo ship to be hijacked in over 200 years. The leader of the "pirates" was played by Somali actor Barkhad Abdi.

The beginning of the movie pictures Hanks and his wife on the way to the airport. He shortly arrives at port and meets his crew. The pacing of this movie is very quick and intense in the beginning and there is a foreboding feeling of doom throughout the entire movie. Seeing the vastness of the freighter ship, it's truly amazing that four people in a small boat can take over this ship. It was true testament to human will and determination. Captain Phillips does everything in his power to stop the pirates from overtaking his ship, but he can't control every aspect of his ship. Once the pirates took control of the freighter, the chess match begins. Captain Phillips is a very smart, decisive character. Muse, Abdi's character, is a very desperate, but wary individual. He knows that Phillips is trying to outsmart him, but he holds the upper hand because of his shear intimidation.

I really enjoyed the intensity of this movie, and the cat and mouse game played between both parties. This is probably my favorite Tom Hanks role since Charlie Wilson's War. Adbi is up for an Oscar for best supporting actor. I can see him winning because it was a great performance for a first time actor.

Rated: PG-13
Run Time: 134 Minutes

I give Captain Phillips 4.25 out of 5 Burning Lariats.

American Hustle

I saw American Hustle a few weeks ago in the theater. I had my $5 movie ticket, free bucket of popcorn and XL cup of blue raspberry Icee. I knew I was in for a great night of entertainment. I just want to mention that I'm glad Marcus theaters has wised up and given people a chance to watch movies for $5. I know it's only on Tuesdays, but it's a smart move that benefits both sides. The free popcorn promotion was a nice touch as well. Kudos Marcus.

Now to the movie. I'm a huge Christian Bale fan, so this movie and Out of the Furnace has been on my radar for a while now. Christian Bale playing an overweight con man was only sweetened by his fellow cast mates. Amy Adams provides a spectacular performance as Bale's partner in crime. I've never been the biggest Bradley Cooper fan, but he's proven me wrong with his performance in Silver Linings Playbook and now this movie. Jennifer Lawrence played a very repugnant character, which is a nice change of pace. She usually plays the hero or someone that you can at least like. I love Jennifer Lawrence, but her role in American Hustle makes me hate her guts. This just shows how convincing she can be, and how great of an actress she really is. Finally Jeremy Renner caps off this well rounded cast as a well loved politician from New Jersey. He comes across as a man of the people and it serves him well in this role.

The movie itself is remarkable. It follows Irving Rosenfeld, played by Christian Bale, who has been fighting and scraping for everything in his life. He cons people out of their money and shadows it with a legitimate dry cleaning business. He eventually moves into more risky business with Sydney Prosser (Amy Adams) and is looking for a bigger score. The two have amazing chemistry both as characters and actors. The two eventually get caught and the feds use them to catch the proverbial "bigger fish." Many parties get involved and things escalate quickly. Everyone seems to be conning everyone and no one realizes what's what until the end.

I would compare it to a modern day Goodfellas on the comparison of on screen talent, plot and tempo. This is a must see movie. I'm glad it was nominated for best picture and I'm equally glad that the four cast members were individually nominated for their respective roles. This years best picture category is very stiff when it comes to competition so we'll see if they prevail.

I give American Hustle 5 out of 5 Burning Lariats.

Room 237

Do you ever get that feeling in your head when you know that something is going to be totally rad? It may start as a rumor, and slowly get put together like a huge 50,000 piece puzzle? You wait and wait for all the red tape to clear and finally you get yours hands on it and you discover that it's just a big old pile of dump wrapped in fancy artwork and sealed with empty promises.

That's the disappointment I've felt while watching Room 237. It was worse than watching Jar Jar Binks for the first time on the big screen. I heard about a documentary that centers around The Shining a couple of years ago. Being one of my favorite movies of all time, I got a little gitty when hearing the news. I followed the production team on Twitter, I favorited their website and even signed up for an email newsletter when the movie was available in my area. Simply said, I have put a lot of work into making sure I saw this movie when it was available. They finally released the movie independently and had shown it throughout the world in small theaters. I missed the Chicago debut, definitely dropped the ball on that one. It toured the festival scene for a while so I waited patiently. It was released in September of 2013 and I finally got a copy through Netflix last week.

I made some tea, put on the pj's and popped this in the computer. I was hoping to dig deep into The Shining and uncover some of the questions I had about the film. Learn some new things that maybe I haven't caught before. Boy was I wrong.

The documentary is four people (they don't tell you their profession, which really discredits anything they say) talking over movie footage (not particularly from the Shining, plenty of footage from other movies that aren't relevant) and making crazy accusations about what The Shining is "about." You don't get to see the people being interviewed which is kind of weird. I'm all about crazy theories, if they have reputable arguments behind them. One dude assumed that the Shining was about the Native Americans being slaughtered by the white man because there are Native American paintings and artwork throughout the hotel. That was the only reason he gave! No ties to the violence in the movie or the spirits that haunt the place, just because the tapestry is Native American in origin.

I appreciate what they tried to do with this documentary. There are so many unanswered questions I had, so many questions about changes from the book. I hope someone else gives this idea another shot because they really failed on this one.

Rated: NR
Run Time: 102 Minutes

I give Room 237 -  2 out of 5 Burning Lariats.

Movie Review: Frankenweenie

Frankenweenie was a nice treat to watch on a random weekday. Thanks to the free Netflix trial (I'm still milking that) I received Tim Burton's latest animated film. From the get go, you know there will be some unhappy scenes. I mean the main character is a re-animated dog, he has to go somehow. Burton plays on the heart strings of all dog lovers and makes Sparky's scene pretty excruciating even though you know it's coming.

The dog's owner, Victor Frankenstein (clever) is completely distraught over the lost of not only his dog, but his only and best friend. He's forced to pair up with fellow classmate Edgar Gore (e. gore, clever again) for a science project. Frankenweenie becomes a rehashing of the classic Frankenstein monster story, but Burton takes it to a new level. Victor and E. Gore re-animate life, and the other class mates catch wind and try to replicate. Each experiment gets exponentially more evil and eventually there are a town of monsters.

The animation is very unique, as are all of Tim Burton's animated works. It's a classic tale with a modern twist and executed really well. I love Burton's homage to old horror movies and his constant monster movie references.

Rated: PG
Run Time: 87 Minutes

I give Frankenweenie 4 out of 5 Burning Lariats.

Movie Review: End of Watch

End of Watch gives a new, and much needed, definition of buddy cop movie. It's not a goofy pairing of opposites, forced to be partners against their will. No one is paired with a dog, child or orangutan. End of Watch provides a positive, strong bond between two policemen who are more than friends. They look after each other as if they were family.

End of Watch is shot in a first person, documentary style which is usually preserved for horror films, but its nice to see it used in another genre. Brian Taylor ( played by Jake Gyllenhaal) and Mike Savala (Michael Pena) are street cops working in the L.A.P.D. They are shining examples in their department and are regarded as heroes to some and seen as show offs by others. The patrol the tough southern neighborhoods of L.A. and deal with a lot of drug and gang related crimes. The neighborhood they patrol is engaged in change of population. It was highly populated by African Americans, but a lot of  people of Hispanic heritage are moving in. This causes a lot of tension between the two, causing crime to go up. On a routine pullover, Savala is shot at, but they subdue the shooter and arrest him. They find a jewel encrusted handgun, loads of money hidden in a pot of soup, and a golden AK-47. Savala and Taylor tie these items to a string of incidents and stumble upon some disturbing findings and get entangled in crime that is way above their heads. They take it on together, diving head first, because its the right thing to do. It's good to see that both characters are completely genuine. There is no double cross, there isn't even a hint at it. It's two real, honest human beings that have each other's backs no matter what.

End of Watch has a good amount of humor, heart-warming and intense scenes. It's really easy to get invested in both characters. It's a solid story that constantly builds to the crescendo at the end of the movie.

This was one of my Netflix requests. I usually check out the special features if I liked the movie enough. I was excited to see that there were 20 deleted scenes and two alternate endings. I pressed Play All and was presented with a message stating that Netflix only distributes discs for rental and doesn't include the special features. You will have to buy the DVD to watch them. Weak sauce.

Rated: R
Run Time: 109 Minutes

I give End of Watch 4.5 out of 5 Burning Lariats.

Movie Review: Robot and Frank

I'm a sucker for cute, sad movies. Maybe I'm just a sucker in general. Who knows? Robot and Frank was a nice surprise and of course, was cute and sad. I recently received a free month's trial for Netflix's DVD service and this was the first one my queue. Thank goodness for free stuff. I could have checked it out at my local library, which has plenty of movies to choose from as well. (Cheap plug)

Usually when I pop in a movie late on a weekday, I'm snoring within ten minutes. Fortunately for me, I was able rip through my weariness and was able to finish this movie in one sitting.

Robot and Frank is set in the very near future. Robotics have become a part of everyday life. They work at the library shelving, gardening, and even providing therapeutic care to the elderly. Frank is played by Frank Langella, legendary actor known for his roles as Richard Nixon, William Paley, Dracula, John Wilkes Booth and my personal favorite Skeletor. Yes, Frank Langella played Skeletor in the 1987 release of Masters of the Universe and I own it on DVD. In Robot and Frank he plays an ex-con, known in his community as a cat burglar. Frank, now in his 70's, suffers from dementia and according to his son, needs someone around to ensure his safety. Instead of putting Frank in a home, he purchases a helper robot. The robot helps with chores and with some cognitive enhancing activities.

Frank is reluctant at first to accept the robot's help, but quickly builds a relationship with the robot. He figures a way to manipulate the robot and make him do tasks that he wouldn't normally do. This is due to the robot's function to build trust between the two. Frank plans a heist at the local library in hopes to impress the librarian that he is very fond of. After successfully stealing a rare, copy of Don Quixote, he has the intention of one more big heist. With the help of robot, they plan to steal some diamonds from some yuppies down the street. His children get tangled in the plan and complicate the situation.

I loved the relationship between robot and Frank. He didn't want anything to do with robot at first, but then he saw the potential in front of him. Eventually they became great friends. When his daughter came and shut down the robot. He truly missed him. This movie also shows how robotic technology is advancing so quickly, that I can actually see this happening in the near future. Even though the robot is so human like, they make sure that you know that he is still a robot. He can't feel, but has the ability to lie and manipulate just like humans. It's a little creepy in some parts of the movie, but it adds the perfect amount of sympathy for Frank. His best friend is now a robot and he knows it.

Rated: PG-13
Run Time: 89 Minutes

I give Robot and Frank 4.5 out of 5 Burning Lariats.

Movie Review: World War Z

So I finally was able to experience World War Z. I have been a bit reluctant to watch this movie since I'm a big fan of old school low budget zombie flicks. I have read the Max Brooks book of the same name and heard that it had nothing to do with the book. Which is right and wrong at the same time. The book is an oral history of all the events that have taken place throughout "World War Z" and its pretty similar how the story flows. Brad Pitt is finding out information through many different sources and piecing it together. They took the concept from Brooks and put an A-list actor, some gun play and crazy CGI scenes and made it into an action/ horror blockbuster.

To my surprise, I enjoyed the hell out of this movie. Albeit it wasn't a traditional zombie movie, the zombies were fast moving and smart. It felt more like an epidemic type movie more in the style of 28 Days Later. There are many definitions and mythologies connected with the term "zombie" so I can let some of the details fly.

World War Z was gripping from the very first scene. They open it up in Philadelphia, PA on a regular morning at the Lane family household (Brad Pitt's family). On a morning drive, they find themselves in some traffic downtown. All of a sudden chaos breaks loose and people are being attacked by other people. Pitt's character witnesses a man being attacked and bitten, and resurrecting after 12 seconds becoming one of the walking dead. The Lane family escapes to New Jersey. Throughout the madness that ensues, Lane is contacted by some important men and they attempt to extract him and his family to safety. You're not sure why he has such connections until a little bit later in the movie. Eventually they are hauled off to an airship carrier where they discuss the origin of this outbreak.

The army has assembled a team of "experts" and the word zombie is thrown around and no one believes that this is a real possibility. Lane is eventually called into duty to research the origin of this outbreak and find patient zero. This is where the concept of the book comes into play. All these experts have are stories they have heard from other experts in foreign nations and the dailogue of the book is strictly conversations about first hand experiences with the outbreak. South Korea is rumored to be the location of patient zero so Lane and his team sets out. They fly to several other nations in search for answers and hope. The action is well paced and the visuals are pretty stunning. I'm glad they released the un-rated version, because a movie of this type needs a little violence to really accentuate the seriousness of these zombies.

I was very satisfied with World War Z and would recommend it to people who aren't zombie fans. It's not too violent, and has a great story.

Rated: Un-rated
Run time: 123 Minutes

I give World War Z 4 out of 5 Burning Lariats.

Movie Review: This is the End

End of the world movies don't have the best record. 2012 was terrible, Day After Tomorrow was a snooze fest. Waterworld is well Waterworld. I think what these types of movies are missing is comedy. Kevin Costner and Jake Gyllenhaal are the furthest thing from funny. Let's face it when the sky starts to fall, we're all going to be helpless and it is pretty comedic how unprepared we are for catastrophic events, especially the end of the world.

This is the End showcases the Rapture at one of James Franco's parties. Jay Baruchel and Seth Rogen are best friends. Jay flies in from Canada to hang with Seth and they end up at the party besides Jay's reluctance. Every comedian/ actor/ music star is at this party. Mindy Kaling, Rihanna, Paul Rudd, Kevin Hart and the list goes on. My favorite cameo was Michael Cera. He is a coke snorting, disgusting human being and I absolutely love every scene he is in. Jay and Seth head to a gas station to get some snacks and all of a sudden the proverbial stuff starts to hit the fan. Many people are beamed into the sky, and the rest are left to  survive on Earth. Jay and Seth make it back to the party and it seemed like nothing happened. Suddenly a gigantic hole opens up in Franco's front lawn. Being hollywood stars, everyone looks out for themselves and most of them die in a comedic fashion.

After the dust settles, Jay Baruchel, James Franco, Seth Rogen, Jonah Hill and Craig Robinson are the last survivors of the party. They barricade the house, ration all the food and prepare for the worst. One of my favorite scenes was the discussion of who gets to eat the last Milky Way bar.(It gets used later, don't worry!) They decide to save it for emergency use. They all split up to go to bed for the first night. Eventually all of them become scared and sleep together on the floor in very tight quarters next to Jay. Early in the morning they all awake to a russling upstairs and a giant shadow heading towards them all. It is non other than Danny McBride and he has no idea what happened because he passed out in Franco's tub the night before. They all struggle with rationing and make plans to explore the outside world. Demons, possessions, and cannibals makes appearances in the film with hilarious results.

This is the End is extremely crude, so I wouldn't recommend watching it with your mother. It's definitely a guy oriented flick with plenty of violence and swearing. I would say it is my favorite comedy in a long time.

I give This is the End 5 out of 5 Burning Lariats.

Rated R
Run-Time 107 Minutes

Movie poster provided by amazon.com.

Movie Review: Pain and Gain

I feel like this movie got panned and I believe it was wrongfully so. The second I saw the trailer, I thought, man this has some potential even though Michael Bay is directing it. I say this, because its well documented that I hated all three Transformer movies, and am deathly afraid of what he will do with the upcoming Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles movie. I do love Armageddon though. Can't get enough of that Aerosmith tune. Anyways Pain and Gain was perfectly cast. It was great to see Tony Shalhoub in a role that isn't Monk. I almost jumped to my feet when Ed Harris showed up on screen, but it was 11 at night and my bed is really comfy. I had no idea he was in the movie, I guess I could have read the cast on IMDB or the DVD case, but I enjoyed the surprise.

Synopsis: Mark Wahlberg's character, Danny Lugo, is a ex-con who becomes a personal trainer. Lugo is sick of the rich business men who come into his gym and aren't in shape. He believes that since he is at his tip top shape that he deserves the american dream. He just wants a lawn to mow. It seemed that he was a nice guy deep down and just wanted what everyone else had. He attends a conference headed by a motivational speaker and decides to take action and achieve that american dream. His plan is to kidnap Tony Shalhoub's character, Victor Kershaw, and extort him for all he is worth. Kershaw is the owner of a Schlotzky's deli in Florida. By the way, this movie is based off of a true story. I don't know how close it follows the true tale, but some latter scenes in the movie are hard to watch and I hope some are exaggerations.

Lugo recruits Paul Doyle, played by the Rock, who is also an ex-con but also a reformed Christian. He is working at the local church and working out with Lugo at his gym. Doyle can't find a job because of his record so he is persuaded to join the team. The third and final piece of the puzzle is Adrian Doorbal, played by Anthony Mackie. I've seen Mackie in Abraham Lincoln Vampire Hunter, Adjustment Bureau, and Gangster Squad and have enjoyed his work thus far, and this movie is no exception. Doorbal is a member of Lugo's gym and has been shooting steroids to get "swol." He finds out that he now suffers from ED and needs money for the medicine to get him up and going again. The three of them are hilarious together and play the muscle bound dummies to a t.

Of course, they struggle with the kidnapping and go through several plans before achieving their goal. After kidnapping Kershaw, they try for weeks trying to get him to sign over all of his belongings. Doyle, being a born again Christian disagrees with a lot of the methods being used to extort him. The Rock has come a long way as an actor. I remember the days of the Scorpion King where he didn't say a word and just had to swing a sword. I knew he was capable of more considering I've seen his entire wrestling career and know he can talk. But Pain and Gain showed me that he play a whole range of characters in one movie. The nice polite muscle bound Christian, tough convict, dopey sidekick, enraged coke addict and much more. He really spread his wings on this one. Lots of craziness and hilarity ensues. Its a very dark comedy and I think its worth a watch or two. My favorite part is when the Rock is BBQing some severed hands, waves to the neighbors and a graphic comes on the screen stating, "Yes, this is still a true story." Awesome.

I give Pain and Gain 4 out of 5 Burning Lariats

Rated R
Run-time 129 Minutes

Movie poster provided by amazon.com.

Movie Review: The Conjuring

I've heard a lot of buzz for this movie and have been waiting a while for it to come out on DVD. The Director James Wan has a pretty decent resume coming into this one including Saw, Insidious 1 and 2, and Death Sentence. I haven't seen Insidious 2 but I know it will be as good as the first one. The cast was great. Everyone performed perfectly, every cast member added to the movie and nobody's performance took away from this bone chilling tale.

A lot of movies lately have been about spirits and demonic possession, and a lot of them have been absolutely great. The Conjuring is probably the best to date. It was terrifying. What made it the most terrifying is that it was based on a true story. I know a lot of movies make this claim, and most of the time I believe it. I buy into it and I feel it makes the movie watching experience that much more enjoyable.

The movie starts off with a back story of Warren family in the early 1970's. They were pioneers of "Ghost Hunting" and went around to Universities with their findings in paranormal activity. The story they told was about a possessed doll named Anabelle. I don't know what it is about possessed toys, but it creeps the hell out of me. It was a perfect way to set the tone in this movie and laid a nice back story.

The Perron family has moved to a country house to accomadate their five daughters and move away from the city. Strange happenings start to occur at the house and leave everyone frightened. The mother, Carolyn Perron, attends one of these sessions taught by the Warrens and asks them for help. Seeing the seriousness of their problem, they agree to help.

The story of the house and the occurrences that shaped this evil house are more horrific than I could imagine. The entire movie is intense, but the last fifteen minutes has my hair raising and goosebumps all over my body. If you are looking for a good scare, this is the movie for you.

I give The Conjuring 5 out of 5 Burning Lariats.

Rated R
Run-time 112 Minutes

Movie poster provided by amazon.com.

Movie Review: Ender's Game

I hope everyone had a pleasant Halloween. Mine was spent at home watching Wrestlemania 9 in my pajamas with a pitbull sleeping on my feet. I wish it didn't rain all day, we only had 4 trick or treaters. Oh well, at least I was able to cap off the evening with a trip to the cinema and an enjoyable night watching Ender's Game.

Ender's Game by Orson Scott Card is regarded as one of the best Sci-Fi books ever written. Some schools require reading it as part of their curriculum because of the underlying message, which I will touch on later. I haven't read any of Card's novels, and as a librarian, I am a bit ashamed of this fact, especially after seeing this movie.

Card has several book's in the Enders Saga, but this was the very first, published in 1985. Card has won many awards for this book, including the Hugo Award for best novel.

I had the privilege to view this movie on an IMAX screen and enjoy the beautiful and sometimes thunderous HD sound system. This is a large scale movie that really takes advantage of the huge screen and wonderful sound. At points I felt my seat shaking during a massive air battle, awesome! If I were to build my own house from scratch, there would be two rooms an IMAX screen and a decent sized kitchen with a griddle so I can make hashbrowns and omelettes easily without dealing with crappy spatulas and a small frying pan.I could sleep on a cot on the ground level of the screen. Is is too much to ask for in life?

Let's get back to the part of the blog when I mentioned that this was a big movie. The plot itself was pretty massive, but not too complex at all. Over fifty years ago the Earth was invaded by an alien race known as the Formics. They are an insect looking race and killed millions on that day. Mazer Rackham, an Earth pilot, finds a weakness in the formic army and they are sent packing back to their home planet. The Earth's army swear that they will never be invaded again and seek revenge on the Formics. The government starts recruiting talented youth and try to find a way to eliminate the threat once and for all.

Andrew Ender Higgin is a gifted child enrolled in Battle School. Colonel Graff (Harrison Ford) sees massive potential in Ender and starts to test him in ways that other students aren't be tested. Naturally Ender passes because of his perfect balance between compassion and violence mixed with tactical genius. He inherits his compassion from his sister Valentine, in which he has a very strong bond with and plays a pivotal part of the story. His violence and anger issues are contributed from his brother Pete, who is just a complete ass. Ender gets promoted quickly through the ranks of Battle School into Command school and eventually becomes commander of his own army because of his tactical skills. Ender finds himself in a crucial point of the Earth/ Formic war.

I feel that there are a few ethical questions that are raised by this movie. The government is willing to exploit their youth to protect the entire world. How can any child be raised normally after dealing with all the stress and mental anguish of the rigorous training of battle school. Ender is constantly put into situations that wears on his mental stability. The tactics they use to test the students of battle school are very unethical and sometimes downright devious.

So the story was great, how was the delivery? I will tell you how it was, pretty fantastic. The CGI was spot on. Nothing looked cheesy, which can easily happen in a Sci-Fi space oriented movie. The creature work was probably my favorite aspect of the movie. It reminded me of District Nine or something Guillermo Del Toro dreamed up. The special effects and sound were remarkable. I wonder if it was the IMAX experience or that they did a really great job with this movie. I'll just say both to be safe. The acting was competent and consistent. Asa Butterfield played Ender really well and toed the line between brilliance and insanity.

The only gripe I have, is the lack of back story between his sister and himself. They are extremely close and I want to know why. Maybe I'll just have to read the book, which is totally cool with me. I highly recommend seeing Ender's Game and if you can see it in IMAX, do it. Don't be scared of the $15 price tag and $2 convenience fee, it's well worth it.

I give Ender's Game 4 out of 5 Burning Lariats.

Rated PG-13 Runtime 114 Minutes

Movie poster provided by imdb.com.

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Movie Review: Zombie Hunter

I am a huge zombie fan. I've seen all of Romero's and O'Bannon's zombie flicks, I've read all of the issues of the Walking Dead and have collected all of Marvel's zombie comics. I guess I have high expectations when it comes to new zombie movies. I've been reluctant to watch World War Z because I loved Max Brooks' book and I'm afraid what Hollywood would do to it. I will watch World War Z sometime soon and give you the review on that one.

But in the meantime let's focus on Zombie Hunter. This was a straight to Blu-Ray release "starring" Danny Trejo. I put starring in quotes because he is the main draw for this movie. I love the guy but he was only on screen for about 10 minutes total. Trejo's parts were definitely the best part of this movie and I wish there was more Trejo action.

Here's a quick synopsis of the movie. There is a drug going around called "Natas" which is Satan backwards. Pretty clever there. This drug looks like Pepto Bismo and is supposedly the most addictive drug in the world. Somehow is turns people into killer zombies. The movie starts after the drug and zombies have ravaged the world. I really enjoyed the concept and easily over saw the cheesiness of the opening sequence because I was ready for Trejo tear apart zombies left and right. Instead we meet Hunter, who is the zombie hunter. He lost his family and was a former user of the drug. His only goal in life is to hunt and kill zombies. I'm assuming every actor/ actress was told to cheese it up for their roles. At least I hope so because I've seen way better acting on SyFy original movies.

With all the zombie options out there, I would definitely skip Zombie Hunter. The story is decent, the acting is miserable, the CGI is pretty horrendous, and the amount of Danny Trejo on-screen time really disappointed me. The only saving grace was the sequence with the "Funnyman." He is a killer with a chainsaw in a clown mask. Not sure why they included him since it's a zombie movie, but it was enjoyable nonetheless. By the time you reach this scene it's too little, too late.

I give Zombie Hunter 1 out of 5 Burning Lariats.

Rated: Not-rated
Run-time: 93 Minutes

Movie poster provided by amazon.com.

Welcome, my lords, to Isengard!

Hello internet! I know we've known each other for a very long time. It's been a wild fourteen years and I always appreciate the humor and happiness you bring me every time I open a web browser. It's about time I did something to contribute to the wackiness. As I mentioned in the introduction of my Blog, it won't be about anything specific. I have a varying range of hobbies/ interests. I will try to avoid social issues and such for the most part, because I don't want to rant about something that I clearly haven't done enough research about.

I should probably explain the name of my Blog. Burning Lariat 101. The burning lariat is a professional wrestling move performed by legendary Japanese wrestler Kenta Kobashi. Take a look here and admire the shear intensity of this move. My Blog won't be that intense, but it will be awesome just like that move. I am a huge wrestling fan along with many other of the finer things in life. This Blog is not solely based on wrestling, but sometimes I will make stupid wrestling references.

I have a few ideas in the old noggin and hope they translate well into the Blog format.

Here's a little taste of what to look forward too.
"Building the proper heavy metal collection: The 25 albums that are always on my iPod" series
Weekly excerpts from my zombie book. (This one will take a little time to get going, I'm not finished with the book itself.)
Movie reviews, book reviews, beer reviews, wrestling reviews, and whatever catches my fancy that day.

I hope you enjoy the ride!

P.S. if you have any movie, book, music or anything suggestions, hit me up and I will put it up on the Blog!