Drive.

Drive is a film that you have to pay real close attention to. It contains a large amount of subtle emotion that is hard to understand due to its intentional lack of dialogue. Drive is a slow moving film in both its action and non action sequences. It ends up working out well because it is easy to figure out that both the slow moving action and dialogue reduction was intended by its director. In the age of giant explosions and lots of yelling, Drive is a complete success on its story alone. Even though the nameless driver seems to lack basic social skills, this actually ends up helping because it puts lots of words aside so that only his feelings are showing. The feelings that do show are that he is seemingly quick to fall in love with his neighbor, a single mother whose husband is in jail, and her young son. This quick attachment is made possible because of the lonely live that the driver has carved out for himself as both a movie stunt driver and a wheelman for heists. While Drive is slow to get started, it surely provides a breath of fresh air into the action movie genre.  

The good: The focus of Drive is delivering a strong storyline while setting aside constant action and dialogue; luckily Drive does exceptionaly well. 

The bad: Ryan Gosling's lack of lines can be quite annoying to some. 

Rating: 8.6 out of 10

Movie Hopes #3: The Hills Have Eyes 3?

This post was written on September 15th, and I have yet to see any information about a 3rd instillation of the modern hills have eyes movies. I understand that this is probably not the most popular of movies that people would like to see a sequel to. This is most likely due to how bad the second film was. The dialogue in The Hills Have Eyes 2 was so terrible that I felt that the, "jokes," were written by a high school freshman boy. None the less the premise for the modern hills have eyes movies are undoubtedly scary. Being stranded out in the middle of the desert with scores cannibalistic mutants and no way of communicating with anyone is a near perfect setting for a gory scary movie. As terrible as the second film was it left a cliffhanger from which a third film can built upon. It is not everyday that an entire national guard unit goes missing while on a training exercise in America. If a third film is to be made I hope an elite unit is sent into the mines to both kill as many mutants as possible and to obtain, "samples," for the government. With a stronger plot and less gore porn a third hills have eyes film would be decent, I would certainly go see it, would you? 

Contagion.

Previews for Contagion looked very attractive due to its subject matter and a veteran cast anchored by Laurence Fishburne and Matt Damon. The movie itself was quite solid with exceptional acting and an undoubtably believable script. The film focuses on many different angles of how peoples lives are changed as a deadly pandemic spreads worldwide. While these angles can be somewhat confusing at times, the stories that they tell are intriguing. The film delivered well on showing the emotions and decision making of human beings when they are put into survival mode. All in all this was a strong film that focuses on strong dialogue and character development rather than explosions and gore. 

The good: This film is solid all around and it gives a completely believable account of the types of occurrences that would happen if a pandemic were to break out in our modern world. 

The bad: The movie, although believable, is overly predictable and lacks any sort of twist. It is as straight forward of a film as you will ever see. 

Rating: 7.1 out of 10

Transformers 3: Dark of the Moon.

I had high hopes for Transformers 3. I hoped Michael Bay would reduce the amount of pointless explosions and mindless dialogue. While that was done to a degree, the third and hopefully final installment of Transformers did not live up to my expectations. Yes, it was better than the second film, a feat not too challenging, but it was not better or as good as the first film. A major issue that I have with this film was its length; it seemed to drag on for way too long and I began to become restless. While the visuals were undeniably astonishing, the storyline was just too dry. The film seemed to try and go in a Terminator like direction but failed because even the killing of people in a Transformer's movie just cannot be taken seriously. Transformers 3 went all out with its casting, including the likes of Buzz Aldrin and Bill O’Rielly. Not to mention Rosie Huntington-Whiteley, who makes Megan Fox look ordinary. While those aspects added more spice to the film, especially Huntington-Whiteley, in the end Transformers 3 will be remembered as a mediocre ending to a seemingly mediocre blockbuster trilogy.

The good: The action and visuals of Transformers 3 are second to none.

The bad: You will most likely get to the point where you just want the movie to end, and there will still be a good 30 minutes left of it.

Rating: 4.4 out of 10

Quarantine 2: Terminal.

I saw the first Quarantine film in theaters and enjoyed very much. Its POV style gave it more of an intimate and scarier feel. That being said I was disappointed to find out that its sequel, Quarantine 2, was a straight to DVD movie. I put this disappointment aside as best as I could and watched Quarantine 2 online. It was not as bad as I thought it would be and in fact I think that John Pogue did a decent job of tying the storyline of the first film into this sequel. Still, this film is nowhere near as chilling as the first one and with a few edits here and there I would not be surprised if it ended up being shown on FX at around 10 at night. As for the acting, it was mediocre but not laughable, giving it some situational believability.

The good: This movie has a solid ending, something I consider a major plus.

The bad: This is not the type of scary movie you watch with a significant other, rather one you watch when you are bored and have nothing to do.

Rating: 4.7 out of 10.

Movie Hopes #2: 28 Months Later?

This post was written on June 26, 2011, and there has yet to be any consensus as to if or when a sequel to 28 Weeks Later will be made. If a sequel is made, my first hope is that it will be called 28 Months later. As you know at the end of 28 Weeks Later the Rage Virus spreads to France. It is unclear as to how since Great Britain is an island and it was heavily quarantined. I assume that a sequel will focus on France but I do not want it to have the same story line as 28 Weeks Later, only in France this time. Maybe they could have the virus spread to America, that would be quite interesting. Either way they need to continue with the two kids as main characters. The boy character has a dormant form of the virus so the sequel needs to show how that could eventually lead to the eradication of the virus. Both 28 Days Later and 28 Weeks Later are classic movies. 28 Weeks Later was not as strong as its prequel because it was a larger adaptation but it was still a great film. I loved both films, and I look forward to 28 Months later.

Movie Hopes #1: Transformers 3.

This post was written on June 22nd, and Transformers 3 will be released on the 29th. When I went to see the first Transformers back in 2007 I honestly did not know what to expect. I had not seen any trailers for the film and knew very little about the popular 80’s cartoon that it was based off of. That being said I was then blown away by the special effects and action that the film had, and of course the beauty of Megan Fox; all be it somewhat digitally enhanced. I enjoyed the first film but then came the second one. Transformers 2 was a complete overload of everything that made the first film good. All that comes to mind about the second film for me is a funny Robot Chicken skit in which, “EXPLOSIONS! BY MICHAEL BAY!” is continuously repeated. Hopefully Bay knows that the second film was a let down, not box office wise, but in the context of what a good film should be. I have high hopes for Transformers 3 and Megan Fox’s replacement, who looks pretty damn sexy. Transformers 3 will no doubt be a huge summer blockbuster; I just hope it is like the first one.