Blade Trinity (2004)

The third in the Blade series sees Wesley Snipes return as Daywalker, this times he teams up with Ryan Reynolds and Jessica Beale, the Trinity. This time they are up against the original source of all the vampires, Dracula, or Drake as he is called in this film, portrayed by Dominic Purcell who I first saw in Prison Break.

This film uses Ryan Reynold’s comedy timing to excellent advantage and even if I say so myself he does look very good, I think I might have a man crush on Mr Reynolds. Anyway the main bad guys are Parker Posey and Callum Keith Rennie as brother and sister vampires supported by Paul Levesque, better known as Triple H as the main henchman, with his dogs, just weird. Overall this film goes for the comedy aspect more than any serious story, not slapstick but a lot of one-liners and jokes, there is still the cool action with the fighting scenes.

I really like this film but think that it falls closer to guilty pleasure rather than a very good film. Ryan Reynolds is excellent and very likeable and Jessica Beale just looks very good, Snipes is a bit quieter and think that he must have been contracted for the third film. This is a 7 out of 10 for me but I know that it is tainted by my enjoyment of the film or maybe just Mr Reynolds.

Safe House (2012)

Film of 2012 #71


Starring Denzel Washington as an Ex CIA agent that is out to for himself and Ryan Reynolds who is trying to get make in the CIA and make a name for himself. This is a spy thriller that has the usual mental twists and anguish and there are points that are quite exciting when you try, with Ryan Reynolds to figure out who are the bad guys and who are the good guys. With Denzel Washington playing the hardened rogue agent you also become confused about what he thinks is important and why he does what he does.

You have a strong supporting cast with Vera Farminger and Brendan Gleeson as higher up agents who are battling with each other on whether Ryan Reynolds has turned or is trustworthy. I have to say that there is a twist that I think is supposed to be a shock but I saw it coming a mile off and was not that surprised at the way the film pans out.

For the performances of all of the actors involved I will give this a weak 3 star recommend, there is nothing that special but if you like spy thrillers and trying to figure out what is happening then you could do worse than spend a couple of hours watching this film.

X-Men Origins: Wolverine (2009)

I have been trying to watch films that I have podcast reviews for and this is why that I looked out the X-Men Origins film, at the time it came out I was not that keen to see it. My problem with X-Men stems all the way back to the first film and the 90's cartoon, it is so wrong but I had a thing for Rogue from the cartoons. I have no knowledge of the comics and my experience is purely based upon the cartoons and the previous films and when they made Rogue a teenager with angst and played by Anna Paquin I was not that impressed and the rest of the films did not inspire interest, however I do enjoy Mr Jackman.

I went into the film with fairly low expectations as this is another of the recent prequals that takes where the character is in the first film of a franchise and makes up a story that ends where they have to, it has some good set pieces and is a fairly adequate action adventure film. Hugh Jackman plays Wolverine so well hat you know what to expect and as you know where it ends you have certain expectations. I have to say that they made it entertaining enough that I would re-watch it if I caught it on the TV. There were some throw backs to the comics that I did not get and to the film and the ending of the film has already been thrown out by X-Men First Class and where it went with the film so the continuity is already shot.
I give this 3 stars, it is a perfectly serviceable action flick with some good interesting effects if some of the story lines are a bit all over the place. Worth seeing if you have enjoyed all of the other X-Men films.

The Change-Up (2011) Trailer

So they have made another version of Freaky Friday and this time they have decided to do a best friend switch, I have never been that big a fan of these films from the version with Jodie Foster and Barbara Harris to the Jamie Lee Curtis and Linsay Lohan version and the Judge Reinhold and Fred Savage film Vice Versa this idea has been done many times before. Now I have to say that the idea that they change it the way they does makes it different but still it is the same basic idea, they will get a better understanding of each others lives and be happier in their own.

Now my preconceptions might be wrong and there maybe some really funny high-jinks while they find this out but to be honest it is not a film that appeals to me. Jason Bateman and Ryan Reynolds are both excellent actors and I like them both but I thin that this is definitely a wait for DVD if I see it at all.

UK Release Date - 16th September 2011

The Green Lantern (2011)

Firstly I am a massive Ryan Reynolds fan I have to say that apart from some of the writing surrounding his previous characters I have enjoyed his performance in everything he has done. I am not a big Comic book fan and have no knowledge of the Green Lantern at all, so going in cold I was interested to see what it was all about. I think that as a stand alone film it is alright, there is nothing that startling or original in it and as with all origin movies there is a lot of set up and a couple of bad guys with little development thrown in.

My biggest problem with the characters which were played by Ryan Reynolds, Blake Lively, Tim Robbins and Peter Sarsgaard which were all played pretty well, the characters all knew each other really well with no explanation about who knew who for what reason. The performances in this were good and I enjoyed what they did, however overall the film lacked something for me. Possibly it was my lack of knowledge of the universe or maybe just the predictability of super hero films that you know where they end up.

This is enjoyable but only worth 3 stars from me, I think that had it been darker and really not just aimed at the kids then this could have been pretty interesting.