FILM REVIEW:“Wanted” based on the six issue comic book miniseries by Mark Millar and directed by Timur Bekmambetov, the man that brought us the Russian blockbuster “Night Watch“, features so much over the top action that it bares comparison to 2007’s “Shoot’Em Up”. However, “Wanted” has the character development and story elements that elevate it beyond just your regular action movie. Yeah it’s a summer movie, and it’s fun and cool, but “Wanted” also has an appealing story and explores some intriguing ideas.

In “Wanted”, Wesley Gibson (James McAvoy) is nobody special, he has a regular job and an awful boss. His girlfriend is cheating on him with his best friend and he does nothing about it. His daily life is filled with boredom and routine. Wesley further proves to himself that he is a nobody when he does a Google search for his name that results in zero matches. Wesley is a nobody until he meets Fox (Angelina Jolie) at a convenience store where he is picking up pills for his panic attacks. Fox is there to protect Wesley from an assassination attempt by Cross (Thomas Kretschmann). Fox saves Wesley and takes him back to The Fraternity, a secret society of assassins. Sloan (Morgan Freeman) explains to Wesley that his father was one of the world’s greatest assassins until Cross killed him. Sloan also informs him that his panic attacks are nothing more than a heighten sense of state and it is an ability that very few people have, but that his father had too. Wesley refuses to believe, and returns to his regular life, but after having heard what he is capable of it is not long before he begins to believe.

What really makes “Wanted” stand out is the conflict and drama in it’s story. The writers did a lot more than just set up the story and let the action take over which is unusual for these type of movies, but a welcomed surprise. There are a series of twist and turns the keep the story interesting. The action is of the type that defies the laws of physics and relies heavily on special effects. It relies so much on special effects that I don’t think enough attention was paid to better choreographing the fight scenes. Just image if they had choreographed similarly to what Kurt Wimmer did with “Equilibrium“. If I have one gripe with the movie it the choreographing of the fight scenes.

The performance by Angelina Jolie was decent, James McAvoy was good and Morgan Freeman was awesome. Morgan Freeman is real good at playing these bad-ass characters. His interpretation of Sloan is pitch perfect.

I also loved the concept of the Fraternity who treats assassination as a religion. One of the coolest concepts of the movie is the process by which the Fraternity decides who to kill. They don’t kill for killing sake, for each target is chosen by faith, and they do it for the betterment of society. Another interesting aspect of the movie was Wesley’s life as a cubicle dweller. The scenes with Wesley’s boss and his interaction at work resemble those of “Fight Club” and while they are not as good, they do come close to capturing the spirit of that movie.

“Wanted” is a summer movie, and it does deliver in the action department and while I thought the choreographing of the fight sequences could have been better, the story and ultra cool special effects will give you a tingly feeling inside. I know a lot of people will compare the special effects of this movie with those of “The Matrix“, specifically the bullet time scenes, but at the least they improved on them with the curving bullet effect.

Film Review By Milton Brayson

DVD: The 2 Disc Special Edition includes about 90 minutes of special features and it will be available for limited time only with a digital copy. Most of the special features in this edition, take viewers beyond the making of the film especially in the making of the special effects. It also contains a nice piece called “Cast and Characters”, in which the cast talk about the characters of the film. For comics lovers the DVD includes a 13 minutes graphic novel like featurette with narration and sound effects. And of course it includes the digital copy. Overall this 2 Disc Special Edition includes mainly what fans want it to see, plenty of special effects features. A Complete list of features are listed below.

Release Date: December 2, 2008

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FILM REVIEW:What a great idea! Sounds like a really cool story. The previews are amazing. The cast looks like a lot of fun. The special effects are out of this world. Hancock has got nothing to envy Superman. All these thoughts ran through my mind before actually seeing the film. It started pretty good. It was captivating and funny with decent action and special effects. The story was moving along nicely too, until it hit some sharp turns and speed bumps which took it to the realm of “huh?”. Some of the twists were pretty cool, but some of them were not. What a shame because it was going so well. It seems like they tried to spice up the plot but they ended up over complicating it when it would have been better off being just plain, simple, and straightforward. Superhero movie storylines do not need to be overly elaborate, the action and special effects, though, do. In this case, practically every aspect of the movie was pretty good except for the way the plot was laid out towards the end of the movie.

Hancock (Will Smith) means well whenever he does a hero deed but he brings new meaning to the phrase “damage control”. Dealing with his internal struggles and his poor external image to the very people he tries to help, leaves him in a state of loneliness and carelessness. But don’t judge this book by its cover because there is good in him, we can feel it. He just needs for people to be a little grateful and accepting and he needs some really good P.R. training. This is where the ever-optimistic P.R. specialist Ray Embrey (Jason Bateman) comes in to save the day. Will Smith does and yet another fine performance with this role. He made it his own. I’ve seen better Bateman work, but this one was okay. Charlize Theron as Mary Embrey was right on as well and it doesn’t hurt that her eyes mesmerize. Overall, it is the Hancock character that steals your attention and your heart. He is different, but he is still very human. Luckily, the performances and these characters are backed up by a script that is sharp, witty and easy to follow. The combination of cinematography and special effects also help keep the movie afloat even though they start to deteriorate towards the end. The costumes were interesting too. All this put together (the acting, the dialogue, the action and special effects) helps cover up the weaknesses in the storyline.

I was really looking forward to seeing this movie. I thought it would be the surprise mega-blockbuster of the season. Not! But it is not a bad movie. It was plenty fun to watch but just not as good as I was expecting. Director Peter Berg can hold his head high with this work even though it has its flaws. It is an adequate follow up to his last work, one of my personal favorites, The Kingdom. Yeah, okay, so I might be a little biased, you caught me. Regardless, add this one to your summer movie queue.

Movie Review By Cine Marcos

DVD: The 1 Disc Unrated Edition of Hancock includes a total of five interesting behind the scenes featurettes, These special features take viewers beyond the making of the film, covering everything from the idea for the film , to making of action scenes, to the creation of special effects. It is not normal to see the 1 disc edition of a DVD include these many special features. Definitely a must have for Hancock and Will Smith fans.

Release Date: November 25, 2008

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FILM REVIEW: I was really routing for this movie hoping it would at least meet my expectations. I’m a big fan of Paul Giamatti, Rachel Weisz, and especially Vince Vaughn so this was going to be great, right? I’m also a big fan of Christmas so even better. Put it all together and you end up with a movie that falls short. This movie has a lot of everything but not enough of anything. It was funny but not enough. It was dramatic but not enough. It’s a movie for kids but not really. It’s a movie for adults but not really. Its mix of kid themes and adult themes kept stepping on each other and thus degrading itself. Don’t get me wrong, it’s not a bad movie, it just could have been better. The concept was interesting but the development was weak. With all the holiday movies that have been made, it was nice to see a “fresh” idea for a story but it tried to do too much. The first movie that comes to mind in comparison is probably Elf and even though it also has some adult type themes and drama, it was kept at bay to focus more on its humor throughout. Does this movie at least get you into the Christmas spirit? About as much as putting up the lights.

Fred Claus was doing just fine until his younger brother Nick came along. Fred really wanted to be the best brother ever, but as Nick got more and more attention and favoritism, they grew to become polar opposites and thus began the sibling rivalry. Nick (Paul Giamatti) became a saint and one of the most famed givers, Santa Claus. Fred (Vince Vaughn) became a repo collector and all around miserable soul. When faced with financial difficulties, Fred reluctantly and as the most ultimate of last resorts turns to his younger, more successful brother Nick for help. Good natured Nick agrees to help with the condition that Fred goes up to the North Pole to earn it by helping out around the factory being that it is only a few days to Christmas and therefore the busiest time of the year. Fred has no choice but to go. He quickly infuses his irresponsible ways to this well oiled machine, and so begins the havoc.

The very existence of Santa Claus in this film indicates an orientation towards kids. But when the film introduces Clyde (Kevin Spacey), an efficiency expert who wants nothing more than to shut down the whole Santa Claus operation, the orientation towards kids is quickly altered. There is also the sibling rivalry issue that carried over into adulthood and the overall family interaction and relationship issues that could go over the heads of most kids. But getting back to Kevin Spacey, this movie has quite the cast. Along with the names already mentioned, throw in some Kathy Bates, John Michael Higgins, Miranda Richardson, Elizabeth Banks, and even a touch of Ludacris and wow, not bad for this project. All of them did their roles satisfactorily. Honorary mention goes to Kevin who is excellent at being cold and calculated, Paul who makes Santa a more approachable human being, and Vince who in my opinion is the reigning king of comedic line delivery.

One impressive aspect of the movie was the visual representation of Santa’s workshop and surrounding village at the North Pole. I think they nailed it. One thing that didn’t impress me was the elves special effects. In various scenes throughout the movie where regular height performers are made to look like elves was not very convincing. Director David Dobkin (Shanghai Knights, Wedding Crashers) had an extremely tough act to follow after making his instant classic and masterpiece in Wedding Crashers. We can be lenient on him because we know his potential. This one was just not as strong so please try again David.

Movie Review By Cine Marcos

DVD: Fred Claus DVD includes both widescreen and full screen formats on one disc. It also includes over 25 minutes of additional scenes. The DVD include and option to download a digital copy of the film, so you better have a fast speed internet access in order to do so. This is one of those DVD that are recommended just for renting.

Release Date: November 25, 2008

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