HATCHET II

Plot:

In this sequel of the 2006 horror movie Hatchet, Marybeth (Harris) narrowly escapes with her life from the Louisiana swamp legend murderer Victor Crowley (Hodder). But before her escape, she is told to seek the help of Rev. Voodoo (Todd) so that she can find out her family’s involvement surrounding the origination of the legend of Victor Crowley. Upon meeting Rev. Voodoo she wants two things 1) to learn the secret regarding her family and 2) That he assist her and return to the swamp to retrieve the remains of her father and brother. When he agrees he assembles a team of hunters led by no non-sense tracker and sharp shooter named Trent (Mihailoff) to hunt down the murdering monster and rid the area of the curse.

Reel Talk:

As most of you may know I am a hard critic of horror movies. Well with Hatchet II, although it offers nothing new to the horror realm, it does fill a void left by the Friday the 13 or Halloween series genre of horror. Director and writer Adam Green can easily franchise a few more films off the Victor Crowley character putting the Hatchet series right along with the others. As I mentioned don’t expect anything new, but it is entertaining and will satisfy the appetite of gore heads in need of blood and guts. This movie is only being shown at AMC Theatres and is unrated. But parental discretion is strongly advised.

Be sure to check out my interview with R.A. Mihailoff who plays Trent.

Starring: Danielle Harris, Tony Todd, Kane Hodder, R.A. Mihailoff, Parry Shen and Tom Holland
Directed by: Adam Green

I give it 3 corn dogs

By: Corndog – The Reel Hustler

THE SOCIAL NETWORK

Plot:

When geeky computer wiz Mark Zuckerberg (Eisenberg) gets dumped by his girlfriend for being a arrogant butt hole, he returns to his dorm room and gets drunk, blogs and creates a campus networking site from hacking into the college database. Where this caused great concern among the administration, it was the launce pad for what we now know as Face Book. As the social networking site begins to rapidly grow Mark is plagued with lawsuits from various ones who felt that he stole ideas and resources from them, including his friend and co-founder Eduardo Saverin (Garfield).

Reel Talk:

My prediction is that just like the actual social site, this movie is going to be big. This movie will keep you interested from beginning to end. It sort of addicts you like the site itself. The acting is brilliant among the talented young cast as they depict the supposedly origination of the hugely successful Face Book. If the actual Mark Zuckerberg is anything like Jesse Eisenberg’s character, than all I can say is ‘WOW’. That guy was out cold. This is an excellent movie that is well worth the admission.

Starring: Jesse Eisenberg, Rooney Mara, Andrew Garfield and Justin Timberlake
Directed by: David Fincher
Rated: PG-13

I give it 4 corn dogs

By: Corndog – The Reel Hustler

IDRIS ELBA INTERVIEW

Takers is the highly anticipated film about a group of hi-tech and organized thieves that only go after the big stakes allowing them to do a job a year keeping them ahead of the law. But soon everything is at risk when they get an offer they can’t refuse from a former member. Well, while in town promoting the movie The Reel Hustler got the opportunity to sit down and do some reel talking with Idris Elba who plays the mastermind behind the group of thieves in Takers.



The Reel Hustler: It seemed like good chemistry between the guys of the film. What was it like on the set while filming Takers?



Idris Elba: It was a lot of fun. Chris Brown and I snapped on each other the whole time. He always had something to say about me. My London accent cause he’s been to London all the time so he’s always doing that. And then I would have to say something about Chris, like his middle name is Maurice or like he’s still a little boy in big man’s clothe. We would get at each other a little bit.



The Reel Hustler: Being a DJ, how much input did you have on the soundtrack?



Idris Elba: None! None what so ever. It is in my contract that I can have meaningful discussion about soundtracks. But in this case, TIP and Chris are Executive Producers in it, so I left the music business to them cause that’s what they do and the music soundtrack is good.



The Reel Hustler: How difficult is it for you to adjust accents to conform to whatever the role requires?



Idris Elba: I don’t rely on an accent to act. That’s number one rule. If I’m using my accent to act then I’m not acting. So what happens is that wherever the character is that I have immersed myself in, the dialog, the cadence, all that stuff comes with the performance. If I’m playing an American character, I’m not thinking about the flaws because there will be flaws because again it’s not my natural tongue. What I do is spend time just building the character, So the more I know about my man, the better the accent is gonna be.



The Reel Hustler: Who would you like to work with next?



Idris Elba: Some great directors. Antoine Fuqua I’d like to, he did Training day. I’d to work with F. Gary Gray, the Hughes brothers. Those are great, great directors that I would like to work with.



The Reel Hustler: What about actors or actresses?



Idris Elba: Um, anyone good, famous or non-famous. It doesn’t matter for me, it’s about someone bringing that umph out of me. In this film I got to work with 7 or 8 actors and they all had different energy.



The Reel Hustler: So now that Takers is done, what’s next on your plate?



Idris Elba: I have a couple of things that’s going on right now. One that I have been working on is a film called Legacy. I star in the film and I also executive produced it.

It’s one of my best pieces of work to date as an actor and I really want people to support it.



The Reel Hustler: What would be the ideal or dream role for you?



Idris Elba: There is no such thing. If I had to say that, I would have to say Legacy was my dream role, but that means I could give up acting. But there are roles that I want to try and do. I’m interested in bringing some historic characters, some African historic characters to life that have sort of been brushed over in history. We all know how that goes. So I think that is something I would be interested in.



By: Corndog – The Reel Hustler

TAKERS

Plot:

Life couldn’t get any better for a group of high profile thieves, Gordon (Elba), John (Walker), A.J. (Christensen) and brothers Jake (Ealy) and Jesse (Brown), who are so precise and organized that they only do one job a year. Fresh off their yearly heist the group is visited by a former member Ghost (T.I.), who was just recently released from jail and proposes they do another job that offers the biggest stakes they ever encountered. The team of robbers who are normally elusive to the LAPD are now the primary target for a hard nose, unorthodox detective played by Matt Dillion as they prepare to tackle the high risk caper that can jeopardize everything they have accomplished.

Reel Talk:

This movie is that deal! Even though this movie is a combination of Ocean’s Eleven minus a few members, The Italian Job and Heat, it’s the all star cast that provides the freshness to this movie. The action is intense from beginning to end, with a few ridiculously unbelievable scenes but still this was an awesome movie. So get your snacks early, make your restroom pit stop before the credits because you will be glued to your seat for the duration of the film.

Starring: Idris Elba, Paul Walker, T.I. Harris, Hayden Christensen, Michael Ealy, Chris Brown and Matt Dillion
Directed by: John Lussenhop
Rated: PG-13

I give it 5 corn dogs and a soda

By: Corndog – The Reel Hustler

LOTTERY TICKET

Plot:


Kevin Carson (Bow Wow) can’t seem to catch a break. He’s bullied by neighborhood thug Lorenzo (Akinnagbe) and dissed by the local hottie Nikki (Mari). But his luck changes when he goes to the store to play the lottery for his grandmother and randomly plays one for himself. When he realizes that his ticket is the winner for the multi-million dollar jackpot and he cannot cash it in until three days later because of the holiday. Kevin - along with his best friends Bennie (Jackson) and Stacie (Naughton) must do whatever it takes to avoid getting mobbed or jacked for his lottery ticket.

Reel Talk:

This was one funny movie! Although it may be your stereotypical movie about African Americans and their reactions to playing the lottery, it is an entertainingly funny movie with an all star cast. But the laughs are not just limited to the main characters, even the cameos from some famous and lesser know cast members chime in on the hilariousness. Ice Cube, who also serves as the executive producer even gets in on the action as he portrays Mr. Washington, a laid back out of the way ex-boxer. This one is worth buying a ticket to see.

Starring: Bow Wow, Brandon T. Jackson, Naturi Naughton, Ice Cube, Loretta Divine, Keith David, Terry Crews, Charlie Murphy and T-Pain
Directed by: Erik White
Rated: PG-13

I give it 4 corn dogs and a soda on the side.

By: Corndog – The Reel Hustler

VAMPIRE SUCKS

Plot:

Vampire Sucks is the latest comedy parody movie that is a spoof of the Twilight movies series. The story is about a homely Becca that falls for the strange Edward Sullen who happens to be a vampire. She is also the object of local teen Jacob’s eye, who happens to be a member of a tribe of wolves.


Reel Talk:

This takeoff of the vampire trilogy starts out with some promising gags but it soon fizzles out fast, about midway through the movie I will say. Not since the earlier Scary Movies have there been a parody that has been consistently funny. They are good for a few laughs and then they become a bore fest. You can most definitely wait to catch this one on cable.


Starring: Jenn Proske, Matt Lanter, Diedrich Bader, Chris Riggi
Directed By: Jason Friedberg, Aaron Seltzer
Rated: PG-13

I give it 2 corn dogs


By: Corndog – The Reel Hustler

LeBron James to Miami Heat? Cleveland Cavaliers free agent a key for Miami Heat - latimes.com

LeBron James to Miami Heat? Cleveland Cavaliers free agent a key for Miami Heat - latimes.com

CYRUS

Plot:

When the sexually depressed John (Reilly) is told by his ex-wife that she plans to remarry he can’t believe it because he was still in love with her. Insisting that he comes to their engagement party so that he can possibly mingle with some new women, the mission turns out to be a mistake until he meets Molly (Tomei), a women who is turned on by his quirky and silly demeanor. The two hit it off cool until John realizes that she has a teen son, named Cyrus (Hill) who is completely reliant upon his mother and eventually tries to do whatever he can to sabotage their relationship because he feels that John is taking his mom away from him.

Reel Talk:

Considering that this movie stars two of the movie business’ funny guys in Reilly and Hill, and from the producers that brought you the hilarious The Step Brothers, I can truly say this movie was not funny. I couldn’t figure out if they wanted it to be funny or was it to have been a dramatic movie? It had some scenes that will make you chuckle but that is about it. There were more stupid glares and stares among the characters than anything else. You can definitely catch this one DVD or better yet wait and catch it on cable.

Starring: John C. Reilly, Jonah Hill, Marisa Tomei and Catherine Keener
Directed by: Jay and Mark Duplass
Rated: R

I give it 1 and a half eaten corn dogs

By: Corndog – The Reel Hustler

THE LAST AIRBENDER

Plot:

When siblings Sokka (Rathbone) and Katara (Peltz) stumble across an ice sphere containing Aang (Ringer) and his hovering furry pet, they soon find out that the young boy is the last Avatar or Airbender and is being hunted by the exiled Prince Zuko (Patel) of the Fire Nation so that he can turn him over to his father, regaining his honor. In order to help Aang to complete his destiny, Sokka and Katara accompany him to the Northern Kingdom of the Waterbenders so that he can be trained to compete against the powerful and ruthless Fire Nation.

Reel Talk:

This movie was made from a popular animated series which I had never seen, so honestly I didn’t know what the heck was going on. Listening to the responses of fellow screeners who had followed the cartoon series, I believe it would have helped me a long, not saying it would have made this a better movie, just more understanding. I felt like this movie should have been called Mind Bender, especially with the 3D effects that weren’t even that effective outside of the opening credits. I guess they just needed an excuse to slap a 3D tag on a movie. Very disappointing movie that will possibly have a sequel which I hope they will fine tune for a better film.

Starring: Noah Ringer, Nicola Peltz, Jackson Rathbone and Dev Patel
Directed By: M. Night Shyamalan
Rated: PG

I give it 2 corn dogs

By: Corndog – The Reel Hustler

THE TWILIGHT SAGE: ECLIPSE

Plot:

In this third installment to the Twilight series, Bella (Stewart) and Edward (Pattinson), still very much an item, with Bella eager to be turned into one of the undead despite Edwards plea for her to remain human. So the two compromise and make a pact, but it is soon put to the test as Jacob (Lautner) steps up the intensity of his feelings for Bella, causing her to face the reality that she is in love with both the guys. Even though the two young men hate each other they must put aside their differences and team up so that they can protect Bella from a group of new breed vampires whose sole mission is to exterminate her at all cost.

Reel Talk:

This is by far the best one of the Twilight trilogy! Whereas the first one introduce the characters, it’s primary focus was on Bella and Edward, the second one was the lead up to this one, but was extremely slow, this one has a better story with the whole monster love triangle and a touch more action which makes for a good movie. This movie is definitely worth seeing and I’m hoping that they can follow up with something even better with the next installation.

Starring: Kristen Stewart, Robert Pattinson, Taylor Lautner, Bryce Dallas Howard and Billy Burke
Directed by: David Slade
Rated: PG-13

I give it 4 corn dogs

By: Corndog – The Reel Hustler