Ass Whoopin Wednesdays: The Replacement Killers (1998)

Last week we took a break when it came to having an Ass Whoopin Wednesdays film because we were busy watching another film for our 365 movies in 36 days challenge blog. So this week, we decided to pick a film Chow Yun-Fat (Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon) that we’ve always wanted to watch in The Replacement Killers. John Lee (Yun-Fat) is one of the best assassins that money can buy. After a drug lord’s (Kenneth Tsang) son gets killed, John is tasked with doing a revenge job for him, but John’s conscience gets in the way and he fails to do the job. Knowing that he failed to do it, he will seek the help of a documents forger (Mira Sorvino) to get papers to go back to China. The only problem is that the drug lord has already hired replacement killers to not only finish the job, but to take you out as well. The film also stars Michael Rooker (Guardians Of The Galaxy) as Det. Zedkov, Jürgen Prochnow (Das Boot) as Michael Kogan, Til Schweiger (Inglorious Basterds) as Ryker, Danny Trejo (The Devil’s Rejects) as Collins, Clifton Collins Jr. (Triple 9) as Loco, Carlos Gomez (Desperado) as Hunt, Patrick Kilpatrick (Last Man Standing) as Pryce, and the film was directed by Antoine Fuqua (The Magnificent Seven). Before we get into the review of the film, let’s check out some stats:

We decided to do this one as a tag team scenario just because he actually does team with her on she kind of gets in on the fun. As Far as Chow Yun-Fat’s stats are concerned, he has about 24 ko’s/kills, but no origin story other than the fact that he is an assassin. He really doesn’t have a love interest because he’s too busy trying to get home to save his family. Some friends of his do end up getting killed in the film which adds more fuel to the fire for him to finish the job. The big boss is defeated and of course watch the film to see how it happens.Most of her stats are the same except for the fact that I believe she only has three kills in the film total (it could be four). This film must have been very different for Yun-Fat because there is little to no martial arts in the film at all, it is a straight up fire fight with tons of guns. The 90’s was such a funny time because films were always trying to be hip especially with the imagery  like the clothing or the attitudes. I mean who dresses like the replacement killers in reality? This was a decent film, but there was just way too many times where certain actors were just trying too hard like Sorvino when she was being questioned by the cops. It was like ok, we get it you’re rebellious. The action however in the film is actually pretty cool and worth checking out and it’s the selling point of the film. I am going to give the film 3.3 fists out of five for a final grade.

Ass Whoopin Wednesday: The Man From U.N.C.L.E. (2015)

Going into today’s Ass Whoopin Wednesday film, there were two reasons I chose the film The Man From U.N.C.L.E. with one being that it was directed by Guy Ritchie (Snatch) and the second being that it stars Superman himself Henry Cavill (Man Of Steel). The Man From U.N.C.L.E. takes us all the way back to the 1960’s and the cold war as our setting for the film. Cavill plays American CIA operative Napoleon Solo while Armie Hammer (The Social Network) plays KGB Agent Illya Kuryakin in a film where the two agents are forced to team together against one common enemy other than each other. There is a rumor that some Nazi enthusiasts are close to creating an atomic bomb and along with the help of the beautiful Gaby (Alicia Vikander) they will try to infiltrate and retrieve the bomb before it is completed. The film also stars Hugh Grant (Four Weddings And A Funeral) as Waverly, Elizabeth Debicki (The Great Gatsby) as Victoria, Luca Calvani (When In Rome) as Alexander, Sylvester Groth (Inglorious Basterds) as Uncle Rudi, Jared Harris (Sherlock Holmes: A Game Of Shadows) as Sanders, Christian Berkel (Valkyrie) as Udo, Misha Kuznetsov (25TH Hour) as Oleg, Marianna Di Martino as the desk clerk, and David Menkin (Zero Dark Thirty) as Jones. Before we check out the review of the film, let’s check out some stats:

I love doing the team ups as far as Ass Whoopin Wednesday is concerned because I feel it gives you more and it’s interesting to see the chemistry (especially if it’s there). We are going to start with Napoleon Solo (Cavill) and in the film he only has eight confirmed kills/knockouts as far as I can tell and they are spread out through the film. We find out his origin story when Armie’s character is being briefed about him and he has no love interest because he is a playboy. No one close to him as far as I can tell gets harmed in the film because it’s business as usual, but he does have a sexual conquest in the film (it’s implied). The big boss is defeated and he does it with style and you’ll have to watch for yourself to find out. As far as Armie’s character Illya is concerned he has about 13 kills in the film and we find out about his origin through Napoleon who was trying to one up him. He does have a love interest and she is kidnapped during the film by the antagonists. The movie in my opinion was very fun to watch especially with Henry Cavill who is Joe Cool in this film and he really embraces the role. I really thought that Armie and him made a great team onscreen which helped make the movie fun to watch. There is plenty of action in the film and some cool gadgets as well as some cool chase scenes. I just want to say that Alicia Vikander must be the new Hollywood it girl because she is everywhere lately from Ex Machina, The Danish Girl, and so much more within the past two years and going into the future. I wonder if they’ll be anymore films in this franchises future? Anyways, I am going to give it four fists out of five for a final grade.

Eddie’s Top 5: Movies Of 2014

It’s kind of sad how a story is hot in the news, but as soon as something else comes up, it’s yesterdays news. I was amazed watching the news yesterday at how true that statement was when they were reviewing the news reported for 2014. Nevertheless, it’s out of our hands and not really worth talking about all that much because that is just the way things are done in the media. So, I decided for today that you were going to get some of my top 5’s of 2014 and I want to start with movies because I went and saw a boatload of films this year in the cinema. This list pertains to no particular genre, just my top 5 movies of 2014.

5. The Lego Movie– I thought this was going to be absolute crap before I checked it out, but Chris Pratt is on top of the world in 2014. This was funny and very enjoyable to watch as you see so many different Lego characters and lands in one film. I’m hoping for a sequel.

4. Birdman– I have this film on this list just for the mere fact that it had some amazing cinematography and Michael Keaton was amazing. He was telling us subconsciously after all that he is the only Batman we ever needed to know except he’s Birdman in this film plus Edward Norton was amazing.

3. Fury– I’m not particularly sure how historically accurate this film really is, but man wasn’t this movie absolutely bad ass. I’m not a huge fan of war movies, but this one was definitely worth watching. Brad Pitt throws a very similar performance to the one he did in Inglorious Basterds, but on the more serious side. All of the guys in this film like Shia LaBeouf, Michael Peña, Jon Bernthal, and Logan Lerman all deserve a round of applause for their great performances.

2. 22 Jump Street– I don’t care what anyone says about this film, but this was my favorite movie of 2014 and by far the best comedy of 2014 in my opinion. If you are going to write a sequel to a comedy classic, then watch this film and take notes because this is how it’s done.

1. Guardians Of The Galaxy– All I have to say about this film is that it is the greatest superhero movie ever made. The best cast, the best special effects, and the best soundtrack.

Honorable Mention- Nightcrawler, Boyhood, A Walk Among The Tombstones, The Grand Budapest Hotel, Captain America: Winter Soldier and X-Men: Days Of Future Past.

Bond 24 is Spectre!!!

Since 2013, there have been a total of 23 bond films made and produced with six different men donning the tuxedo and calling themselves James Bond with Daniel Craig being the latest. Today, we had some exciting film news because they officially released some kind of poster for the 24TH Bond film which is going to be called Spectre. Sam Mendes live today from the 007 stage at Pinewood Studios in England revealed the film title and he also revealed who would be starring as the next Bond villain. Besides Daniel Craig as Bond, the film will star Guardians Of The Galaxy star Dave Bautista as Mister Hinx, Andrew Scott (Sherlock Holmes) as Denby, and the new Bond girls are Monica Bellucci (The Matrix) and Lea Seydoux (Inglorious Basterds). Now, we know that they signed magnificent actor Christoph Waltz, but who is he playing exactly. According to a source of mine, some believed that Waltz was going to playing the role of Ernst Stavro Blofeld, but the rumor is that he is going to be playing Oberhauser.

The official synopsis read as follows, “A cryptic message from Bond’s past sends him on a trail to uncover a sinister organisation. While M battles political forces to keep the secret service alive, Bond peels back the layers of deceit to reveal the terrible truth behind Spectre.” Shooting for the film will apparently begin on Monday, but they are still in rehearsals right now. They expect the film’s shoot to last for seven months with shooting happening in locations like London, Rome, Mexico City, Morocco and Austria. Ben Whishaw returns to the film as Q while Ralph Fiennes takes Judi Dench’s place as M. Naomie Harris is Moneypenny while Rory Kinnear returns to play MI6 chief of staff Bill Tanner. One of the other cool things about the reveal was what car James Bond was going to drive for this film and it’s a brand new Aston Martin DB10. We have the picture for you below and the film is tentatively due for release on November 6, 2015. So stay tuned for more info as it becomes available.

Super Sunday: X-Men: Days Of Future Past (2014)

This is something new that we re going to try and attempt to do for boring Sundays and it’s called Super Sunday. On Super Sunday, we will review a different superhero film no matter if it’s attached to DC Comics or Marvel Comics or maybe it’s one outside of the system like The Watchman. For the first Super Sunday post, I wanted to start off with the latest film in the ever expanding X-Men series entitled X-Men: Days Of Future Past which sees our favorite team of mutants in the greatest battle of their lives. In this film, all mutants backs are against the wall thanks to the Sentinels, robots that were created to eradicate the world of all mutants. The only problem is that the Sentinels are eliminating humans as well as mutants and the X-Men along with Magneto (Ian McKellen) are desperate for a solution. Kitty Pryde (Ellen Page) has the ability to send mutants back in time and so the X-Men send Wolverine (Hugh Jackman) back in time to stop an event in hopes that it will desperately change the future. The film stars James McAvoy (Trance) as Xavier, Michael Fassbender (Inglorious Basterds) as Erik, Jennifer Lawrence (American Hustle) as Raven/Mystique, Nicholas Hoult (Warm Bodies) as Hank/Beast, Peter Dinklage (Game Of Thrones) as Dr. Trask, Daniel Cudmore (Twilight Saga: New Moon) as Colossus, Patrick Stewart (Star Trek: The Next Generation) as Professor Xavier, Josh Helman (Jack Reacher) as Major Bill Stryker, and the film featured the return of Bryan Singer as the director.

There are no other words that I can think of to best describe how I felt about this film other than the fact that I thought it was awesome and epic. This is definitely one of my favorite films in the whole entire series because it has everything you would want from one of these films from the drama, suspense, and a crap ton of action that is non stop. It was definitely weird seeing a lot of the characters die in the film multiple times because you would like to think they are invincible, but quite sadly their not. It was also cool to see them mix the old with the new when old Xavier confronts young Xavier in hopes to get hi to change his mind since he was a lost soul in the 1970’s. The cinematography in the film is amazing and of course the CGI is up to par in the film as well as the acting is as superb as it always is within the series. The writing for the film is what is truly amazing because they were able to create a monster story and everything worked and it was executed superbly. Maybe, we can credit the return of Bryan Singer as the reason for all of that or maybe it’s a combination of all the elements involved in the making of the film. What we now know is that Fox is gearing up to prepare us for X-Men: Apocalypse which is the next film before they give the rights back to Marvel, I can see why Marvel wants all their films back from the major companies, but Fox has done a pretty good job so far with the X-Men. I am going to give the film an A- for a final grade because it was a step back in the right direction for Fox and Marvel.

Fury Is Fan-Freakin-Tastic

I ventured out to the movies like I always do on a Tuesday and I didn’t watch a horror movie, but that is because there was a film that had been gaining a lot of praise. I went and checked out the brand new World War II film starring Brad Pit (Inglorious Basterds), Shia LaBeouf (Lawless), Logan Lerman (3:10 To Yuma), Michael Peña (End Of Watch), and Jon Bernthal (The Walking Dead). Brad Pitt plays a war hardened character named Wardaddy who leads his crew of misfits (the guys listed above)and a rookie in a tank named Fury in World War II. It’s April of 1945 and the allies are looking to make the final push in Germany to defeat the Nazi party. With all the odds stacked against them, they will drive into the heart of Nazi country and they will try with all their might to take them down in hopes of ending the war once and for all. The film also stars Jim Parrack (Battle Los Angeles) as Sergeant Binkowski, Brad William Henke (Pacific Rim) as Sergeant Davis, Anamaria Marinca (Europa Report) as Irma, Alicia von Rittberg (Romy) as Emma, Jason Isaacs (The Patriot) as Captain Waggoner, Kevin Vance (Sabotage) as Sergeant Peterson, Scott Eastwood (Flags Of Our Fathers) as Sergeant Miles, and this brutal in depth look at the ugliness of war film was directed by David Ayer (End Of Watch).

I said ugliness of war in the above paragraph, but the film also gives you a look at brotherhood and what it means to fight next to your fellow soldiers for a cause. This film could be viewed as a coming of age story for Logan Lerman’s character of Norman Ellison who is the rookie on board with a group of guys that have been battle tested. He has only been in the army for 8 weeks and he is absolutely petrified of war, but you see him grow in the film as he turns into a man thanks to Wardaddy. I will tell you that this film is unlike any other World War II film I had ever seen because the battle scenes depicted are extremely intense and it is not for the faint of heart. Much like what they did in Passions Of The Christ, they are showing you here that war isn’t beautiful. It’s ugly and sad, but unfortunately someone has to fight and like the poster says “War Never Ends Quitely.” I’m just wondering how factual the story itself is, but man their are scenes in this film that are just hard to watch. This is definitely a candidate for movie of the year in next years Monster Entertainment Awards and it’s definitely one of my all time favorite war films. I am giving the film an A+ for a final grade because the acting was amazing, the cinematography was amazing, and the score that goes along with the film is beautiful.