THE FORBIDDEN KINGDOM

Plot:

Jason (Angrarano) is a teen who love his karate movies, but can't fight to save his life. While in the mist of a robbery of an antique Chinese shop, he gains possession of a mythical staff that transports him back to ancient China, where he teams up with Lu Yan (Chan), a drunken martial arts master, Silent Monk (Li) and Golden Sparrow (Liu), who will assist him in returning the rod to its rightful owner The Monkey King (Li) who was banished by the evil Jade Emperor (Wang). To achieve this task he must learn the ways of the great masters and do battle against the likes of the White Witch and the Jade soldiers. Good family movie.

Reel Talk:

Right off, I confess that I am a karate movie junkie. Flashbacks of when I used to catch the three karate movies marathon on Mondays at the Fox Theater or the Saturday night karate classics hosted by Charlie Rum, helped me to enjoy this movie. Chan and Li, who both have dual rolls in this movie, provided a more modernistic and comedic touch to their character oppose to the older classics, but the addition of the White Witch is what did it. I would personally like to see the combination of Chan and Li again on the big screen.

Starring: Jet Li, Jackie Chan, Michael Angarano, Deshun Wang and Yifei Liu
Directed By: Rob Minkoff
Rated: PG-13
I give it 4 corndogs

By: Corndog - The Reel Hustler

88 MINUTES

Plot:

Al Pacino plays Dr. Jack Gramm, a prominent forensic professor who made his rep off putting away high profiled serial killers. When his latest profiled killer Jon Forester (Mcdonough), who was given the death sentence, pleads that he was set up by a false testimony from the good doc, requests and is granted a stay of execution. Meanwhile there are killings taking place that mirror Forester's alleged murders that have many wondering if Gramm did make a mistake. Jack who has been given 88 minutes to live, must use all his skills to hunt down the copy-cat killer and don't know who can be trusted in this thriller.

Reel Talk:

Ok some movies are not made for great performances, but other wise to entertain us and this is one of those movies. A good whodunit type movie that just happens to have some good actors and actresses, who won't get nominated for any awards, but put in a good performance to make a good movie. If you blink you just might miss something.

Starring: Al Pacino, Alicia Witt, Leelee Sobieski, Amy Brenneman, William Forsythe and Neal McDonough
Direct By: Jon Avnet
Rated: R
I give it 3 corndogs

By: Corndog - The Reel Hustler

STREET KINGS

Plot:

With so much evil on the streets Capt. Wander (Whitaker) turns to Det. Ludlow (Reeves), a cop whose trying to deal with the loss of his wife, who approaches his missions with a kill first ask questions later, kamikaze type mentality.When he becomes the target for an Internal Affairs investigation spearheaded by Capt. Biggs (Laurie) acting on information by Ludlow's former partner Washington (Crews), all hell breaks out. Washington is soon murdered by two cold blooded killers, leaving Ludlow with a lot of questions and implicating him in the crime. He now must initiate his own brand of street justice in search of whose behind the plot to bring about his demise.

Reel Talk:

Ok it was kinda hard watching the robotic Keanu Reeves carry this role, but Forest Whitakers' character (he gets my vote to portray Kwame Kilpatrick if they ever make a movie about him), helped me through it. It was also a little strange seeing Hugh Laurie in another role outside of House (I know, I'm guilty of character typecasting here, but I couldn't help myself). Street Kings is a gritty, violent movie that cult urban classic junkies will enjoy.

Starring: Keanu Reeves, Forest Whitaker, Hugh Laurie, Cedric The Entertainer, Terry Crews, Game and Common
Directed By: David Ayers
Rated: R
I give it 3 and a half eaten corndogs

By: Corndog - The Reel Hustler

THE RUINS

Plot:

A group of friends vacationing within a Mexican village, hook up with a German tourist who's searching for his brother and his friends who haven't been seen since visiting an unchartered ruin site. Upon finding the ruin, the group encounters village natives that have no intentions of allowing them to leave the site even if it means murdering them. Now the group is trapped between the villagers and the horrific secret that dwells within the ruins

Reel Talk:

This one is not for the faint of heart. There's plenty of blood and gore to go round for a few horror movies. But like all horror movies you have to put up with the constant stupidity of the victims. All I can say is when you really get into this movie you'll be thinking "Little Shop Of Horrors", that's all I could think about throughout the movie (lol).

Starring: Jonathan Tucker, Jena Malone, Laura Ramsey, Shawn Ashmore and Joe Anderson
Directed By: Carter Smith
Rated: R
I give it 3 corndogs

By: Corndog - The Reel Hustler

21

Plot:

Ben Campbell (Sturgess) an ultra smart young teen,who is backed into a financial bind when he's about to lose his $300,000 MIT scholarship and has no idea of how to gain the money. He is soon approached by Professor Micky Rosa (Spacey) who wants to recruit him to join a small group of other academically smart students who make weekend trips to Vegas to hit a lick at the casinos by counting cards. Although counting cards is not illegal, it is stilled frowned upon by casinos and if caught they must face the wrath of head of security Cole Williams (Fishburne). Ben at first refuses, but is easily swayed when approached by the school beauty Jill (Bosworth). Initially things are good, the gangs making money and everyone is happy, until some of the members get caught up in the hype and jealousy rears its ugly head causing dissension among some of the members and the professor.

Reel Talk:

Although this film was based on true events and not a bad movie I might add, but you can probably get the idea of gambling by watching any one of the gaming shows on cable. This movie didn't offer much for actors Spacey and Fishburne to showcase their talented skills, so don't look for any nominations to be handed out on this one. I just hope some dummy doesn't get the bright idea from watching this movie to go out and try card counting at some casino.

Starring: Jim Sturgess, Kevin Spacey, Kate Bosworth, Lawrence Fishburne, Aaron Yoo and Liza Lapira
Directed by: Robert Luketic
Rated: PG-13

I give it 3 corndogs

By: Corndog - The Reel Hustler

NEVER BACK DOWN

Plot:

Jake Tyler (Faris) is a troubled teen with a lot of anger inside, following the death of his father and only finds relief when he is pummeling someone. Upon arriving at a new high school in Florida, he is baited into a full contact fight with local hot shot Ryan McCarthy (Gigandet) who beats the crap out of him. After the beating he is befriended by fellow classmate Max (Peters) who takes him to a gym run by mixed martial arts pro Jean Roqua (Hounsou), where he learns that to be a great fighter he must control his anger. With brutal training he prepares himself for the ultimate battle against Ryan in a full contact challenge called the Beatdown.

Reel Talk:

Now was it just me who as I watched this movie, kept seeing a young Tom Cruise in Sean Faris. This is your typical sport overcoming underdog movie. If your a fan of UFC than you'll enjoy this movie, the fight scenes were pretty good. Hounsou as the trainer, was another opportunity for him to display his athleticism and charm all together, he was a good fit for this movie.

Starring: Sean Faris, Amber Heard, Djimon Hounsou, Cam Gigandet and Evan Peters
Directed by: Jeff Wadlow
Rated: PG-13

I give it 3 corndogs

By: Corndog - The Reel Hustler

DRILLBIT TAYLOR

Plot:

When three youngsters begin their first days as high school students, they soon become the target of the schools two bullys. Realizing that there is no way they can continue being subjected to the constant abuse, they set out to hire a body guard. Interview sessions with potential candidates seem to be a waste until Drillbit Taylor (Wilson) walks in. Drillbit (who happens to be homeless), persuades the teens to give him the job and reward him with valuable items from their homes so that he can pawn it. To get a better assessment of the situation he also pretends to be a substitute teacher who ends up having a gorgeous teacher fall in love with him.

Reel Talk:

It seems as though somebody has realized that high school teen movies are a niche. Its something about watching nerds rising above their obstacles to becoming the heroes. This is not one of the best, but it is worthwhile. Owen Wilson tries to provide as much comedy as he can provide, but it ends up being just a passable effort. The boys are the true shine to this movie.

Starring:Owen Wilson, Nate Hartley, Troy Gentile, Ian Roberts and Lisa Ann Walter
Directed by: Steven Brill
Rated: PG-13

I give it 3 corndogs

By: Corndog - The Reel Hustler

Shutter Review

In this Japanese remake, photographer Ben (Jackson) and Jane (Taylor), newly weds head to Japan for a job assignment for Ben. While driving Jane incurs an accident in which she believes she has hit a Japanese girl, but there is no trace of a body. Strangely when the couple reviews pictures from their wedding and from Ben's photo shoot, there seems to be blurs that appear to be a ghost (the girl that Jane hit) in each picture. Jane enlists the help of a local group who specialize on the matter of spirit photography and finds there is a connection between Ben and the ghost. Soon anyone that was involved with Ben and his secret begin to mysteriously die.

Reel Talk:

If you've seen the Grudge or The Ring, you'll pretty much say this film is a mirror to them. Not much on originality, and very little in regards to the fear factor. Even though this is not even a good horror movie, it was a little bit better (not much) than the before mentioned films .

Starring: Joshua Jackson, Rachel Taylor, David Denman and Megumi Okina

Directed By: Masayuki Ochiai

Rated: PG-13

I give it 2 corndogs

By: Corndog - The Reel Hustler

Spending on Alternative Media Jumps 22%

Marketers Follow as Consumers' Broadband Use Surges

By Jonathan Lemonnier

Published: March 26, 2008

NEW YORK (AdAge.com) -- Spending on alternative media hit $73.43 billion in 2007, a 22% increase over the previous year, and will continue to grow, according to PQ Media's Alternative Media Forecast: 2008-2012, released today. The research firm tracked 18 digital and nontraditional segments, with a combined 16.1% of total advertising and marketing dollars in 2007, up from 7.9% in 2002, yielding a compound annual growth rate of 21.7%.

The forecast predicts a 20.2% increase over the next year, to a total of $88.24 billion, and a compounded annual growth rate of 17% for 2007-2012, reaching $160.82 billion. By then, alternative media will represent 26.6% of all advertising and marketing dollars.

'Where the money is going'
The upswing is as much a result of the effectiveness of new media in a fragmented market as it is from a lack of confidence in traditional media, said PQ Media President Patrick Quinn. "Traditional ad budgets have been going down, but spending has remained stable. This shows where the money is going," Mr. Quinn said.

"There is a lack of standards in these new areas," Mr. Quinn added. "Digital out-of-home advertising is getting recall rates as high as or higher than traditional mediums, but there are few studies on this. They're going to need more and deeper metrics: The bar is being raised across the board."

Alternative advertising, including online, mobile, entertainment and digital out-of-home advertising, saw spending rise at a compounded annual growth rate 25.8% to $39.22 billion in 2007, accounting for 17.7% of all ad spending that year (compared with 7% of all ad spending in 2002), and grew at a compounded annual growth rate of 26.2% from 2002 to 2007.

Online and mobile advertising spending --including search and lead generation, online classifieds and displays, e-media, online video and rich media, internet yellow pages, consumer-generated ads, and mobile advertising -- reached $29.94 billion in 2007 (up 29.1% compared with 2006), a compounded annual growth rate of 31.4% over the 2002-2007 period. The category received heavy infusions from brand marketers trying to reach key demographics that have migrated online and to wireless thanks to wider broadband adoption.

Entertainment technologies
Entertainment and digital out-of-home advertising -- including local pay TV, digital out-of-home media, video on demand, interactive TV, and digital video recorder, video game, home video and satellite radio advertising -- increased at a compounded annual growth rate of 15% from 2002-2007, and rose 16.2% over the previous year to $9.28 billion in 2007. The growth was driven by rising adoption of entertainment technologies, including ad insertion technologies and ad platforms to reach young audiences.

Alternative marketing -- including branded entertainment and interactive marketing -- hit $34.21 billion in 2007, a 17.9% rise over the previous year, and grew at a compounded annual growth rate of 17.5% from 2002-2007. This brings its share of total marketing expenditures up to 14.5% in 2007, compared with 8.7% of total spending in 2002.

Branded-entertainment marketing -- including event sponsorship and marketing, paid product placement, advergaming and webisodes -- also saw and increase of 14.7% to $22.30 billion last year, and climbed at a slower compounded annual growth rate of 13.4% from 2002-2007.

New-media strategies
The deployment of new-media strategies focusing on better interactivity, entertainment and engagement than traditional media was the driving factor.

Thanks to strong gains in segments that reach affluent and influential consumers, interactive marketing -- including e-direct marketing, word-of-mouth marketing, and e-custom publishing -- saw big increases in 2007 of 24.4%, reaching $11.9 billion, compared with the previous year, and a compounded annual growth rate of 28.6% over the 2002-07 period.

"The top-growing segments all share the same similarities," said Mr. Quinn. "They tend to be influential or youth demographics, the coveted 18- to 34-year-old, mostly male demographic with a strong digital component."

Kilpatrick charged.

Rebecca Cook/Reuters

In 2001, at 31, Kwame M. Kilpatrick, 6-foot-4 and a former college football player, beat an opponent twice his age for mayor of Detroit, a job he once said he had dreamed of since he was a child.

He was dubbed the hip-hop mayor, in part for his age, his flashy suits, and the diamond stud in his ear.

Though he swiftly drew controversy, Detroiters looked past talk of partying with exotic dancers, cronyism and a red Lincoln Navigator leased for his family with taxpayers' money. In 2005, voters re-elected Mr. Kilpatrick, who had been among the youngest mayors to run a major American city and whose draw, in part, was his sway over young voters.

Read More...

In January 2008, a political crisis arose over the publication of racy text messages from the Mayor to a close female advisor, suggesting they had carried on a romantic affair. The messages also contradicted testimony that Mr. Kilpatrick and his advisor gave under oath last year during a civil trial in which several former police officers accused Mr. Kilpatrick of forcing them out of jobs, in part because their investigations might have uncovered his romance. In addition, documents revealed that Mr. Kilpatrick settled the case (and a second, similar lawsuit) for $8.4 million.

Mr. Kilpatrick, who is married and has three sons, has apologized to his wife, Carlita, and to the city, but has vowed, repeatedly, to stay in office. He has defiantly accused the news media of creating his woes, and blamed racism for his troubles.

On March 18, 2008, the City Council voted to ask Mr. Kilpatrick to step down, echoing similar calls from the local media and many prominent citizens. On March 23, 2008 Mr. Kilpatrick was charged by the Wayne County prosecutor with misconduct in office, obstruction of justice, conspiracy to commit obstruction of justice and perjury, felonies that could end his political career and send him to prison for as long as 80 years.

--March 24, 2008