2012 (2009)

When I first saw the previews for this movie, I rejected it because it reminded me of the Nicolas Cage movie KNOWING, which scared the hell out of me. And If went to see this movie, it would be the same thing. But I started to have a change of heart. I finally saw 2012, and I really liked it. This film had very little terrifying moments including some moments involving some of the characters losing their loved ones. The first time I saw the scene when Los Angeles gets completely destroyed on YouTube, it freaked the hell out of me. But when I saw it again from the finished film, it added some comedic humor to it. John Cusack (Jackson Curtis), Amanda Peet (Kate Curtis), Chiwetel Ejiofor (Dr. Adrian Helmsley), Thandie Newton (Dr. Laura Wilson), Danny Glover (U.S. President Thomas Wilson), Oliver Platt (U.S. Chief of Staff Carl Anheuser), Tom McCarthy (Gordon Silberman), Morgan Lily (Lilly Curtis), Liam James (Noah Curtis), Zlatko Buric (Yuri Karpov), Beatrice Rosen (Tamara), Blu Mankuma (Harry Helmsley), and George Segal (Tony Delgatto) were all terrific in their performances as the survivors who struggle to survive against a global cataclysm that brings an end to the world. And as for Woody Harrelson, his performance as the Yellowstone radio host Charlie Frost was both funny and terrific. The visuals of this movie, from the Los Angeles earthquake sequence to the tidal waves over Mount Everest, were all incredible to watch. Especially the Yellowstone Caldera eruption, I thought that was really incredible. The song “Time for Miracles” by Adam Lambert was very good. Like Irwin Allen’s THE POSEIDON ADVENTURE and THE TOWERING INFERNO, Roland Emmerich, the man who brought us INDEPENDENCE DAY and THE DAY AFTER TOMORROW, directed the ultimate disaster movie for the 21st Century. And Like ARMAGEDDON, I regret not seeing this movie in theaters when I had a chance.

Speed (1994)

All Right, Pop Quiz: a 90’s Hollywood movie that’s like DIE HARD on wheels, directed by a Dutch cinematographer, and starring two future movie stars, one a future Academy Award winner, and set in Los Angeles, California. What do you do? … WHAT...DO…YOU…DO? Watch the 1994 action/thriller SPEED. Written by Graham Yost (Broken Arrow, Hard Rain), the film tells the story about Jack Traven (Keanu Reeves), a young rebellious L.A.P.D. SWAT specialist who must save a group of passengers, including a feisty woman name Annie Porter (Sandra Bullock), from a city transit bus that a revenge-driven bomb extortionist (Dennis Hopper) rigged to explode if it drops below 50 m.p.h. I can still remember the first time I heard about this movie was watching one of the film’s TV Spots and it was also the first movie I ever heard of both Reeves and Bullock. The film also features Joe Morton (Terminator 2: Judgment Day) as L.A.P.D. SWAT Lt. ‘Mac’ McMahon, Alan Ruck (Ferris Bueller’s Day Off) as the annoying bus passenger Doug Stephens, Beth Grant (Donnie Darko) as the terrified fellow passenger Helen, Glenn Plummer (The Day After Tomorrow) as Jaguar owner Maurice, and Jeff Daniels (Dumb & Dumber) as veteran L.A.P.D. SWAT Officer Harry Temple. I think the best scene would have to be the famous jump from a 50 ft. gap on the freeway. Coming off cinematography from such hits: DIE HARD, THE HUNT FOR RED OCTOBER, LETHAL WEAPON 3, and BASIC INSTINCT, This was Jan de Bont’s first feature film as Director and would later go on to direct the hit 1996 movie, and one of my personal favorites: TWISTER. The role of Jack Traven was turned down by a lot of big actors at that time; such as Arnold Schwarzenegger, Bruce Willis, Tom Cruise, Tom Hanks, Jeff Bridges, and Johnny Depp. It was also the same thing with the Annie Porter role; it was offered to Julia Roberts, Jodie Foster, Demi Moore, Halle Berry, Diane Lane, Winona Ryder, and even Ellen DeGeneres. Reeves did 90% of his own stunts, including the jump from a Jaguar onto the bus. Released on June 10, 1994 in 2,138 theaters, the little action film debuted at the number one spot at the box office, grossing $14.5 million on its opening weekend. It went on to gross $121.3 million domestically and $229.2 million internationally for a worldwide total of $350.5 million. Next to DIE HARD and LETHAL WEAPON, SPEED is one of the greatest action movies of all time and is a true classic to all movie lovers.

The Negotiator (1998)

This is one of those of those movies I wish I saw in theaters, but I was nine years old when it came out in the summer of 1998, and that movie is THE NEGOTIATOR. Directed by F. Gary Gray (Friday, The Italian Job, Law Abiding Citizen), The film tells the story about Danny Roman (Samuel L. Jackson), a top notched Chicago Police negotiator, accused of corruption and his partner's murder. In a desperate attempt to prove his innocence, Roman takes Internal Affairs Division Inspector Niebaum (J.T. Walsh); his personal assistant Maggie (Siobhan Fallon Hogan); his own police Commander Grant Frost (Ron Rifkin); and a two-bit con man Rudy Timmons (Paul Giamatti) hostage in a government office building, and asks for another top notched negotiator name Chris Sabian (Kevin Spacey) to gain time so he can find out the truth of what’s happing. The performances of both Jackson and Spacey, who both appeared together in one of my favorite Joel Schumacher films "A TIME TO KILL", as the two police negotiators from opposite sides were sensational. The movie was originally written for Sylvester Stallone playing Sabian and Spacey himself as Roman. After Stallone turned down the role, Spacey took over and his original role was recast to Jackson, who both co-starred in Joel Schumacher’s 1996 film A TIME TO KILL. I thought they were both sensational in this film. F. Gary Gray directed an incredible supporting cast of actors; not just Rifkin (TV’s ALIAS), Walsh (Breakdown), Fallon Hogan (Men in Black), and Giamatti (in one of his earlier supporting roles); but David Morse (The Rock) as Chicago SWAT Police Cmdr. Adam Beck and the late John Spencer (TV’s The West Wing) as Chicago Police Chief Al Travis. On a minor sad note, this was J.T. Walsh’s final film. Three months after he finished working on this film, He died from a heart attack on February 27th, 1998 at the age of 54; this is one of the three movies, along with PLEASANTVILLE and HIDDEN AGENDA that was dedicated to him. Filled with action, suspense, and an incredible ending, THE NEGOTIATOR is one of the best movies I have ever seen.

The Terminator (1984)

Way before his scored big with TITANIC and AVATAR, Canadian born James Cameron was a struggling filmmaker who had a nightmare he had about an invincible metal skeleton robot coming out of a fire and was going to kill him, and it gave him the idea of creating a 70’s horror slasher type action/sci-fi movie called THE TERMINATOR. Set in 1984 Los Angeles, a human looking but unstoppable cyborg assassin (Arnold Schwarzenegger) is sent back thru time from the year 2029 to kill Sarah Connor (Linda Hamilton, whose future son is the leader of the human resistance against the machines, while another being, a human resistance soldier name Kyle Reese (Michael Biehn), is also sent back thru time to protect her. T2 was the 1st one I saw, but I would never see T1 till I was probably nine years old. Although I liked the action, I think of this movie as more of a horror film than an action film because of the look of the movie and the way Arnold Schwarzenegger played the Terminator was creepy but awesome. What’s interesting is that he was originally offered the role of Kyle and Cameron almost picked a fight with Arnold about the role, but he immediately changed his mind and thought he was much better suited for Terminator. I'm a sucker for old fashion movie making because I love how they made this movie by using stop motion control for the climax of the film. And that the great Stan Winston took Cameron's idea and make it come to life. I love Terminator 2, but I do like The Terminator. It is an 80's classic!

Terminator 2: Judgment Day (1991)

When I watch the 1st one, I think of it as more of a horror movie. But For T2, I think of it more like a kick ass action movie. In 1984, Sarah Connor (Linda Hamilton) was originally targeted for termination but failed. Eleven years later, her son John (Edward Furlong), who is ten years old, is now the new target when Skynet sends a much more advanced Terminator called The T-1000 (Robert Patrick), that’s composed with “a mimetic polyalloy” liquid metal that can take shape or appearance from anything it touches, while the future John sends a reprogrammed T-800 Terminator (Arnold Schwarzenegger), identical to the one that tried to kill Sarah, to protect his younger self and attempt to prevent Judgment Day. I was two years old when it came out in July 1991 and it was first out of all the films I saw when I was probably eight years old. I would sometimes have to imagine Christian Bale, who later goes on to play John Connor in TERMINATOR SALVATION, watching this movie when he saw it on the big screen when he was seventeen years old. Robert Patrick’s T-1000 is one of my favorite movie villains, next to Jeremy Irons’ Scar and Jim Carrey’s Riddler. I remember almost everybody from my high school preferred T2 than T1 and T3, and this were before T4 came out; maybe it’s because of Arnold playing the ‘good’ Terminator. The 1st one is a classic, but TERMINATOR 2: JUDGMENT DAY is, hands down, the best out of all the Terminator movies.

Terminator Salvation (2009)

Unlike the first 2 Terminator films, I was very disappointed of Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines (2003). I thought they were finished making these movies. Christian Bale himself said the same thing. But this is the one we haven’t seen and it involves John Connor (Bale) leading a group of survivors for the war against the machines in the year 2018. As he struggles to find his father Kyle Reese (Anton Yelchin), Connor comes across a mysterious stranger name Marcus Wright (Sam Worthington), who all he remembers was being on Death Row in 2003. They both embark on a dangerous journey that takes them into the heart of Skynet’s operations, where they will uncover the terrible secret behind the possible end to mankind. I thought McG’s version of The Terminator was very awesome and entertaining to watch. I thought Bale’s performance as John Connor was pretty bad-ass, Worthington’s (Avatar, Clash of the Titans) performance as Marcus was good, and Yelchin’s (Star Trek) performance as the teenage Kyle Reese was also good. Director McG (Charlie’s Angels) directed a very incredible cast of actors that includes Bryce Dallas Howard (The Twilight Saga: Eclipse) as Connor’s wife Kate Brewster, Common (Smokin’ Aces) as Connor’s right hand man Barnes, Moon Bloodgood (Eight Below) as the “no-nonsense but battle-hardened” pilot Blair Williams, Michael Ironside (Total Recall) as General Ashdown, and Helena Bonham Carter (Fight Club, Planet of the Apes) as Dr. Serena Kogan. I love how some of the scenes were references from T1 and T2, that includes a T-800 walking upstairs, the Guns N’ Roses song “You Could Be Mine”, and John Connor’s PIN Number computer. I also loved how some scenes makes you feel like you’re also running along with the characters away from the machines. On a sad minor note, Stan Winston, the man who made the Terminators come to life in the trilogy, passed away while filming on June 15th, 2008 and it was dedicated to him. I loved how Danny Elfman was chosen to do the music for the film to turn original composer Brad Fiedel’s themes with a Wagnerian quality to them. With Incredible action sequences and great special effects, I add TERMINATOR SALVATION to the Sci-Fi/Action movie classics next to The Terminator and Terminator 2: Judgment Day.

National Lampoon's Senior Trip (1995)

The first time I heard about this film is when I saw the film's theatrical trailer on my VHS tape of THE MASK: The Animated series when I was seven years old and I’ve been wanting to see it ever since, and I finally did at age 18 and I thought it was Laugh out loud funny. The actors who played the high school misfits and slackers, such as Jeremy Renner (The Hurt Locker, S.W.A.T.) in his feature film debut as the drug addicted underachiever Mark ‘Dags’ D’Agastino, Eric 'Sparky' Edwards (Problem Child 2, Sgt. Bilko) as the overweight slob Miosky, and Tara Strong (who plays the voices of Dill Pickles in RUGRATS and Timmy Turner in THE FAIRLY ODDPARENTS) as the provocative and promiscuous Carla Morgan were great. However, I thought Michael Blake who plays the death obsessed Herbert Jones was kind of creepy, and Kay Tremblay as Moss’s assistant Mrs. Winston was annoying. Matt Frewer (Honey, I Shrunk the Kids, Watchmen), whose performance as the nerdy and unassertive high school principal Moss was hysterical and I liked him in this movie. I’m not a fan of Tommy Chong, who plays the constantly stoned, drug addict bus driver Red, but I thought he was all right. And let’s not forget Kevin McDonald's performance as the idiosyncratic, STAR TREK fanatic Travis was both creepy and very funny. This one of the funniest comedies I’ve ever seen and when you see it, you'll laugh your ass off. I guarantee it!