The Last Samurai (2003) Review!

     I have to come clean about something here!  I might be a bit biased towards this film more than others.  Well, not all others because I don't know every human on the planet, I am sure that maybe at least one other person is similar to me in this aspect.  I happen to enjoy most of Tom Cruise's movies and on top of that I have a strong love for all things Samurai.  So really what I'm getting at is this just might be a situation where I can actually say "Win/Win".
     I can remember the first time I heard about this movie.  It wasn't from a trailer or me stalking Tom Cruise on IMDB, but It was just a movie poster.  A movie poster that I saw at a theater in southern California.  My initial take from it was....WTF?  A film that is called The Last Samurai, which I could really only guess is something Japanese, and is starring Cruise?  By the way, I am kidding about the guess I just made previously.  I am under the impression that Mr. Cruise is not in the least bit Japanese.  So, How can a man that can't even be mistaken for any type of Asian be the star of The Last Samurai?  Easily....The poster is misleading and is referring to the last band of Samurai and not the man depicted on the films marketing.  I guess the folks in charge of the marketing department thought Cruise was more bankable than the actual Japanese people playing the actual Samurai the movie is named for.
     Boy, was I ever so wrong!  This flick is directed by Edward Zwick, which as you're probably like me and don't know much about him from hearing his name.  I had to look him up to see if he has done anything of note ever, and what I found was he should likely be a household name already.  This man directed the great film, Glory, as well as The Siege, and more recently, Blood Diamond.  Why is it noone knows his name like a Spielberg or Scorsese is beyond me.  
     As far as the actors go I have to say this film has been snubbed by all critics and and the Oscars.  Every single actor puts in good work here, my bad.....I guess I should say at the very least, great work.  Tom Cruise usually play the cookie-cut-out-boy-next-door-always-wins-and-gets-the-girl type.  This time he plays the drunk-as-hell-former-war-hero-that-wins-and-gets-the-girl type!  So, completely different, right?  Okay so maybe he isn't playing something so different from his normal fare but he does play a convincing drunk that is getting the whole cold turkey treatment.  Ken Watanabe, for those that have heard of him, does a spectacular job as the leader of the band of Samurai the film is named after. He rarely disappoints, if ever really.  There are a few people that are in this movie that I don't know their names and are too lazy to look up, but they are the few who are the picture's assholes.  Meaning they play the antagonists and they do it so well that you will be looking forward to something bad to happen to them.  Especially the guy playing Omura!
     Some things that immediately stood out for me on a first viewing was the awesome score done by Hans Zimmer.  I can guarantee that everyone has watched a ton of stuff and heard this mans talent before.  Just to name a few others he composed music for are; Days of Thunder, Backdraft, True Romance, Gladiator, The Dark Knight Trilogy and Inception.  Another thing that stood out on my first viewing was the scenery!  Every shot seemed to have just something that jumped at me through the screen.  Not "jumped at me" like a horror movie, but like the color of the grass in some shots is a very vibrant green.  Sometimes it was a character's armor that was the sole scene stealer.  Either way I think you get the point that this movie is very pretty.  Costume design, as well, is done so well and feels authentic through out the entirety of the movie
     What I can say about this movie from my own personal point of view is that I loved it from beginning to the end.  Not one spot sticks out as least important to me.  This film, to me, is one of the most underrated ones I personally have ever seen.  It was nominated for 4 Oscars, which were, Supporting Actor (Ken Watanabe), Sound Mixing, Costume Design and Art Direction/Set Direction, and lost all of them.  I find that unacceptable.  It deserved all four and in my opinion, a few others as well.  I have tried many a time to come up with a definitive list of my top 10 movies and have failed in doing so every time, but what I can say is The Last Samurai has consistently been on that list every single time.  I love this film and have watched it I don't know how many times.  Some folks I been reading about hate the very ending of the film but I am not one of them, as I feel it is important to the message it was trying to convey, which to me was about honor and staying true to yourself.
    Anyway, please give this film a chance if you haven't seen it and if you have...watch it again and look a bit closer or listen to the score.  This is true cinema! 

Suicide Squad Comic-Con First Look!

     I have to say at the beginning here that I was a skeptic of the utmost intensity when I heard of this film.  I know of the idea from comic books and the series Arrow.  So, I knew of the major players in this particular story.  Then my skepticism got even worse when I heard of the cast.  I will start with Will Smith...I love a whole lot of the films he's been in but he single handedly almost killed his own career by attempting to back his worthless son and play in the same movie with him.  Just look at After Earth for a second, it was terrible from beginning to the end, from the wooden acting to the "Not even good a decade ago" special effects.  I got one more on that film and that is the director.  M. Night Shyamalan blasted on the scene with The Sixth Sense and from there has consistently made crap ever since.  Not a fan!  Now, Mr. Smith is put into a film based off a bunch of comic book characters and he isn't the #1 player.  The next actor I remember being very worrisome about is Jared Leto.  Unlike Smith, he has actually played in a ton of stuff and they are all have been received pretty well, most notably and recently he was in Dallas Buyers Club and he was great in it.  But, in all honesty, the Joker he couldn't possibly be.  He is now going up against two very different but equally legendary performances with Jack Nicholson and the late Heath Ledger.  So suffice to say, Mr. Leto has some very large shoes to fill.  
     Now there is one actor that I was pretty stoked about when I heard the news and that was Margot Robbie.  She is playing Harley Quinn, and every fanboy on the planet should be happy.  First off just looking at her.....Damn!  Second, she is quite talented as she showed in The Wolf of Wall Street a while back.
     We have all the players and for months we have been given set photos by the tons and I was still very skeptical.  Comic-Con arrives and not only do we get a great trailer for Batman v Superman, we get a trailer for Suicide Squad as well.  I am now crossing my fingers in hopes that all my skepticism about the project will be thrown directly out the nearest window.  The trailer is absolutely awesome.  I was even impressed that I liked it as much as I did.  Will Smith looks to be doing a great job, so that was good to see.  Miss Robbie appears to be the living true version of Harley Quinn.  And what to say about Jared Leto's Joker?  Ummm, looks perfectly done in the very short trailer screen time.  I really am truly excited for the film now and will be definitely be going to see it upon its release. 
     So, here is the trailer for Suicide Squad.....

Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice Comic-Con Trailer!

          A few years ago the world was given a new take on the Superman mythos in Man of Steel.  From my knowledge it was met with a mix of reviews, mostly bad from what I read on multiple sites.  I, for one, loved it to death.  I have watched it and rewatched it a ton of times and it doesn't seem to get old to me.  From what I gathered though was that the majority of folks that hated it disliked it for one simple reason....Superman kills General Zod at the finale of the film.  Now, to all those people that are screaming about "spoilers", I got something for that.  Superman always kills Zod!  In the original films with Christopher Reeves he kills Zod after he takes his powers away, so if anything people should freak out over that and not Man of Steel.  Anyway I do digress, I loved the film.  We finally got a Superman film where he actually fights someone or something that is on equal grounds with him.  Unlike the older films where Supes just picks up heavy things.  
     So now we get a sequel in Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice and it apparently takes place overlapping the Man of Steel film and continues on after it.  I am absolutely psyched for this movie more than I was for Man of Steel, and that's saying something right there.  We have Ben Affleck as Bats, Gal Gadot as Wonder Woman and Henry Cavill reprising his Supes role.  I watched this trailer about 8 times after it was released to the public a few days ago and there is a few things to notice.  For one, the new Batman suit and armor suit look absolutely fantastic and I dare say look to be the best ones yet.  Almost taken directly from The Dark Knight Returns graphic novel.  Superman looks to be on trial by the people of the world for what happened in the previous film.  It would happen in real life too as well because that epic battle took out a lot of buildings that were full of people.  One of those buildings is Wayne Financial, so we can see some of Batman's motivation for taking on a super powered alien.  Another new for the series is we get to see a new take on Lex Luthor, played by Jesse Eisenberg, and the only cast member that I was worried about when he was announced.  After the trailer though I am convinced he will do quite well.  We got a look at some Kryptonite...also a first for the series.  We get Bruce Wayne staring at a suit in a glass case that has some spray paint on it that was supposedly done by the Joker.  Now if you pause at the painted suit and look at the top right part of the chest piece, you can see a big "R", which is for Robin.  I am just taking a guess here but I believe this all takes place after the death of Robin in Batman's storyline.  We can only wait and see to be sure.  

So without further ado I give you the Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice Comic-Con trailer........Bask in it's absolute glory!

Starting Anew!

     I used to run another blog on all things film related but I have decided to start fresh with a nice clean slate.  I am hoping this could give people something interesting to read and possibly give some information on upcoming movies as well as already released ones.
     Most of what I write about is gonna be highly based on my personal opinions, and be based on some of my life experiences.  How does this go with a blog on movies, you ask?  Well, I guess I am gonna have to show you in future posts and you can let me know if all is relevant.
     Since this is my first post on this new blog I will give a short background.  When I was a kid growing up in the early 1980's I had 2 best-friends, and both of these friends families owned video stores.  I know most young people have absolutely no clue what I mean by that.  There was a time when the only way to watch a new film, that was not in the theater, you had to go rent it or buy it from a store that had walls and walls of just movies on VHS.   Yeah, there was no such thing as DVD or Blu-ray, and remember that thing called the internet?  Didn't exist then.  I was able to go to their houses and watch any new releases or older movies.  This is where my extreme love for movies came from.  I love all types of films.  I really do mean that, all types.  I am the same as most everybody in that I do have my favorites that I would much rather watch over others but I am leaving that for you to figure out.
     I have literally watched thousands of movies.  Possibly thousands of thousands if you count watching some multiple times.  I am always watching a movie.  If it's the first time I have ever seen it I pay full attention.  I also pay full attention if I have seen it a ton and love the film to begin with.  I even rewatch  films that I can remember not liking in the least bit the first time.  I would only do that because I am curious as to why I didn't like it or I am giving it a second chance.  Normally I remember why it was so bad and sometimes, not often, but I will begin to like it.  So, I normally give all films the benefit of the doubt, well......almost all.  I have a personal list of films I have absolutely no interest in ever watching and I don't think anything could get me to watch them.  But some films deserve a secondary benefit of the doubt.
     This blog isn't gonna be for new releases only, I will talk about other and older films as well.  Because some of the best movies in history came from just there.....history!