Author Archives: Jake

Drive soundtrack to be released in all sorts of awesomeness!

Don’t stare at me! That pretty much sums up the review that Paul and I did for the movie Drive staring Ryan Gosling, however it was one of our special unreleased shows. Most movie critics can’t stop talking about how much they freaking loved the movie Drive and how it was genius and blah blah blah whatever, but Paul and I didn’t see what the big deal was. First off it was marketed as a Fast and Furious, action style driving movie, when in reality there was actually bout 1.6 driving scenes. Second, nothing really happened… at all. Everyone just kind of stared at each other… like… all the time. It was really annoying. In all honesty during our review I did say that I wanted to give it another watch when it comes out to rent/buy because I feel like I wanted to like it, but just didn’t upon my first viewing.

BUT, one thing I specifically remember really liking was the soundtrack. It was an absolutely awesome, retro 80’s electronic-rock throwback sound which played along with the movie perfectly (although I didn’t care for the movie much). But the soundtrack I specifically remember being really bad ass. And now, good news. I just read on Collider that the soundtrack and Cliff Martinez‘ score will be released as a double vinyl album in June of 2012. And while that’s not awesome enough that it’s on vinyl, it will be released by Mondo with artist Tyler Stout designing the album cover and packaging. Yeah, who’s staring at who now!?

This is awesome on many levels. First, vinyl is far superior to the audio quality on your fancy-pants iPhone which uses MP3/4. Second, all you hipster kids with your skinny jeans love vinyl because it’s really cool and abstract and nobody else uses it or knows about it. Third, Mondo is awesome and makes really really ridiculously cool shit. Fourth, Tyler Stout makes some really really ridiculously cool art. And fifth, there is also going to be a limited edition screen-printed poster!!! Boom so there you have it, the bad ass soundtrack for Drive coming out as a double vinyl in June… now if only I didn’t trade in my record player for that set of bell bottoms…

Hey look, Jake was right. I’m just staring all the time.


DROP IT! Joel Kinnaman is ROBOCOP!

So my good friends, nay, my BEST friends over at Deadline (I can make up friendships if I want to don’t judge me. I’m friends with Snookie too, and that guy from the Old Spice commercials, I like to diversify my friendships) bring us the news that Alex J. Murphy will be played by actor Joel Kinnaman, best known currently for his role in the AMC series The Killing. And while he did have a pretty awesome performance in Safe House, I am not quite sure what to think about this. I am hesitantly excited as I like to say. I think there is a fine line with the character of Alex Murphy and Robocop and it could easily go from serious to cheesy real quick.

Paul and I recently discussed the news that Gran Torino scribe Nick Schenk was brought on board to write the script, and I think that is a great move for the film. Gran Torino had straightforward, visceral, non-apologetic, tell it like it is dialogue which caused some controversy and offended a lot of people (not me, I loved it!). With sharp writing, and director José Padilha bringing in some of that Elite Squad action I definitely think the building blocks are there to stay true to the feel and tone of the Robocop series, I just hope a somewhat younger actor can keep up and not drag down the film.

But what we are all forgetting is the fact that Joel Kinnaman played the giant douche-bag role of Skyler in the CGI nightmare and all around horrible movie The Darkest Hour!!! You can check out our review of that piece of crap here. But maybe if he can make me hate a character that much, he can turn it around and make me love a character too. We will definitely be keeping an eye on this movie and on you Joel… don’t screw up my movie!

OMG seriously!? The dude behind us is going to be Robocop!?


Act of Valor – a movie and a necessity

It’s funny how a few words can spark so much emotion isn’t it? How they can really get you going? But lets not put the cart before the horse just yet… I’ll get back to that… oh trust me I’ll get back to that. I just got back from my local theater where I entertained myself with a little film you might have heard of called Act of Valor, about “an elite team of Navy SEALs who embark on a covert mission to recover a kidnapped CIA agent.” This movie was definitely entertaining, but I have more to say about its social implications than its entertainment value.

The movie Act of Valor was filmed using active-duty Navy SEALs as its main actors. The story centers around a group of Navy SEALs who must protect the interests of America from a terrorist attack. The script is noting new or unique, it was written by Kurt Johnstad who wrote 300, but the action is what makes this movie. The film actually began as a training/recruit video which evolved into something much more once they realized what they actually had on their hands. First-time feature film directors and former stuntmen Mike (Mouse) McCoy and Scott Waugh were able to capture amazing action sequences and tactics because the majority of the action scenes in this movie were filmed as part of actual training exercises. What does that mean? It means that this movie contained REAL machine gun battles, REAL submarines, REAL high speed boats with mini-guns, REAL aircraft carriers, and REAL helicopters, all while using LIVE FUCKING AMMUNITION… oh and it was done on a budget of about $12 million dollars… eat your heart out Hollywood big budget films, maybe you should start taking some lessons from doing things with military like precision and efficiency.

The action in this movie was decent at its worst, and cheer-inspiring at its best (what do you expect when you capture training exercises with live ammunition), and it really puts the viewer in the “first person shooter” position. This is almost the Call Of Duty movie some people have been waiting for. Since the main actors are not actors at all, the acting is stale (with the exception of the character “Senior.” His acting throughout the entire film is beyond awesome for a non-actor. He is likable, convincing, and entertaining… not to mention that he is the real shit. His interrogation scene… so very awesome its unspeakable), as so is the story. But this movie accomplishes what it was set out to do; to portray real life acts of valor and show what our military is made of. And you know what… what is wrong with that?

A couple days ago I came across a Twitter comment, a Tweet if you will, and I really wish I remembered who it was from, but recently I started to notice a lot of other comments along the same lines. I can’t recall it verbatim but it read something like this, “CAUTION! Act of Valor is nothing more than a recruiting tool for the U.S. Navy!!! Dont Be Fooled!!!” And I thought at first.. well, duh. The movie has “Ooh-rah!” written all over it. And then as I was sitting in the movie, it all came full circle. So what if it is? What the hell is so wrong with that?

Why can’t the U.S. Navy whose men and women serve to protect us, have a film which shows how fucking bad ass they are? What is so wrong with that? Why should we be ashamed of this, why should it be shunned, why is this something we should keep hidden like a dirty little secret!? I say show it! I could see a hundred more films like this before I see some other bullshit Hollywood movie trying to mask its left leaning message inside of some romantic comedy. I’m not talking politics here, I’m talking facts. With how far left Hollywood leans, the way they feign tolerance and acceptance, with the well known fact that actors who publicly lean right are shunned if not blacklisted completely, its amazing this movie even got made – it is absolutely amazing.

What is the difference between Act of Valor, and a movie whose motives and messages are hidden!? I say the latter of the two is the more evil! Why should we be ashamed of what we are!? Of what we have! This movie makes our military look bad ass, and you know what… IT FUCKING IS! I’m sorry if I am letting the cat out of the bag for anyone who didn’t know it, but like it or not America is the most powerful nation on this planet and our Military is all sorts of awesome! Is everyone so naive as to think that other countries don’t have something similar to this out there!? Maybe it isn’t as polished and as mainstream as Act of Valor but you better believe they have something like this which serves as their recruiting tool. And why is that a bad thing? Everyone deserves the right to brag every now and then. Every country and every man begs for the opportunity to pound their chest, to beat their own drum, to show what they are truely made of. We all need something to believe in. I’m not going to sit here and apologize for this film. It did was it was supposed to do. It showed the strength, intelligence, bravery, and the power of our fighting forces and I will not be ashamed of this. Was this a great movie? By no means. Was it entertaining as hell? You better believe it. Everyone deserves the right to show their sense of pride. And every country and every man, every now and then, wants to see the size of their dog in the fight.

Pssst... Hey, over here... it's America.


Cinema Recon SXSW update!

Hey everyone! As you probably heard on the most recent show, we made the HUGE announcement that Cinema Recon will be attending the South by Southwest music and film festival in Austin, TX!!! We are beyond excited to be teaming up with Deadbird Records in Austin to sponsor 3 different showcases that are sure to be beyond bad ass. I mean come on, one of them is called “The Big Knife Party”… Does it get any more awesome than that!

We’re gonna pack up all our shit, hop on a plane and take this damn show on the road! Unfortunately, I do have to bring Paul, but I’m sure it will still be fun… (fingers crossed). This is our opportunity to bring you, our massive Cinema Recon audience (Hi Paul’s Mom), interviews with some really awesome bands on movies and music, and the SXSW scene in general. Below are the posters for the different showcases, and as you can see the line up is pretty intense. And if you check out the bottom of the posters, you will even see our brand-spankin’ new bright and shiny logo!

We can’t even begin to tell you how excited we are to be a part of these showcases. Special thanks again to Deadbird Records, and stay tuned for more updates on SXSW,  the bands that will be there, and what we have in store!!!

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New Avengers bubble gum reveals EVERY SINGLE DETAIL ABOUT THE PLOT!

Well, if there is one thing Hollywood is good at, it is squeezing every single last dime out of something until the well has completely run dry. Then even after that, they take the bricks from the well and sell them too. Then, they sell the rights to look at the spot where the well use to be. After that, they start working on the second well, The Well: Return of the hole in the ground (starring Morgan Freeman most likely, or Bill Paxton… Bill Paxton would be good too I guess).

Within the last week or two the barrage of leaks has started with pictures and details from all the toy companies, costume companies, etc., on all the superhero toy lines that are on their way off the production lines to help market the movie and to help make them another buck. And while I’m not necessarily irked about  that, everyone loves toys, but Jesus there are a lot of toys out… You can see the Avengers Legos here, or the Avengers board game here, or the Dark Knight Rises action figures here, or the Star Wars action figures here,  or the G.I. Joe Retaliation action figures here, or the Avengers action figures here, or the Amazing Spider-mans Lizard Halloween costume here, or the… holy shit you get the point.

But what really pisses me off, is all these articles say “See the action figures here! Caution toy images contain plot sploilers!!!” …. really? … REALLY? How much can an action figure contain plot spoilers!?!? What is this the 1998 movie Small Soldiers? Are the action figures running around telling everyone how the movie ends? What could we possibly be learning about a 2 hour long movie from seeing a couple Lego building blocks! But upon looking at the images even more I guess they are right, I mean, I’m pretty pissed knowing that Captain America is going to have a hole in his head the whole movie….

Vroom vroom.


Paging Doctor Terminator, Rambo needs a new catheter…

Boy oh boy. Its a good time to be in the movie business (yes I know I am not actually in the movie business per se, but let me have my moment god damnit!). Lots of good stuff floating around the Inter-webs ladies and gentlemen. I saw an article on Collider which is still causing my face to do that one thing where the corners of your mouth go up… smiling. That’s right, a big ‘ol smile.

It turns out that Rambo 5 is on hold until Sly Stallone finishes Expendables 2. The article which you can find here quotes screenwriter Sean Hood who says, “Rambo 5 on hold as Sly finishes Expendables 2. He hasn’t decided if R5 will be an Unforgiven or a “passing of the torch.” I would be on board for either of those options! Rambo + Unforgiven = Massive amounts of enemies heads going ‘splode! Or on the other hand… Rambo + “passing of the torch” = Rambo and someone else making massive amounts of enemies heads going ‘splode!

But the thing that really got me smiling was the picture they had along with the article. Apparently after filming Expendables 2, both Arnold and Sly were so beat up from the physical demands of the shoot, they both had to go into surgery to get a little tune up hahahaha. I guess Arnold snapped a picture and shared it with the world. Thanks Arnold… because that’s one thing we all we’re dying to see, the action stars of our time, laying on the gurney!

But, I don’t really think it matters what the movie is about really, John Rambo is a God damn American Icon. If we don’t have him, what do we have? We might as well use the Statue of Liberty as scrap metal! We need another Rambo movie to show this new generation of limp wristed, pale, skinny jean wearing, moca-latte sipping youth how we use to get things done in ‘Merica! Shoot first and ask questions never! I am a big Rambo fan, and I am whole heartedly looking forward to this next movie with whatever direction they decide to take it in… as long as its not Rambo: The Found Footage.

Haay, SLIIEE, loook at usss .... aaarrrrggggggg


In Jeremy Renner, an action star is Bourne… get it?

The Hollywood Reporter brings us the wonderful news that the trailer for The Bourne Legacy has gone online! So get ready to run across the rooftops once more, but this time with Jeremy Renner! Renner will star as Alex Cross, another agent of the Treadstone/Blackbriar/Enter Cool Name Here program which creates super duper assassin-hit-men-solider-guys! I’m excited to see Renner do some more hand to hand combat fighting after what we saw of him in Mission Impossible 4: Ghost Protocol. But to my note above I really hope there aren’t any more rooftop foot chases… we’ve seen enough of that.

This movie does start to line up quite the action packed summer movie line up for 2012 though, which makes this dude pretty excited. Ready (take a deep breath) – we have The Avengers, Battleship, Snow White and the Huntsmen, Prometheus, Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter, G.I. Joe: Retaliation, The Amazing Spider-man, The Dark Knight Rises, Bourne Legacy, Total Recall, and Old Men and Explosions Expendables 2.

You can check out the trailer for The Bourne Legacy below. It is expected to hit theaters August 3rd so text me on your non-traceable cell phone and I’ll see you there.

 


Cinema Recon – A clip from Episode 2/4/12

During our review of Chronicle, we couldn’t help but go off on one of our tangents about how parties and dorm rooms are never portrayed quite right in movies. How can this be so difficult!?


The Amazing Spider-Man is only mediocre at swinging from shit.

All the Internets are buzzing right now with the new and improved trailer for The Amazing Spider-man. In all honesty, and if you’ve been listening to any of the shows, or hanging around outside my living room window (please stop), I am not looking forward to this movie all that much. I mean yes, I am looking forward to it in the standard amount I guess, but I really have no excitement built up for this movie.

I cant quite figure out why I am not excited though. Maybe its because they started moving on this reboot before Spider-man 3 was even released in theaters. Or maybe because I’m not buying the emo, dark depressed, me against the world Andrew Garfield – the kid who plays Peter Parker. Or maybe its because, for the love of God, it still looks cheesy as all hell seeing someone swing from buildings!!!

I don’t understand how this could possibly be difficult! Michael Bay can use CGI to turn a Rubik’s cube into a god damn robot the size of the Sears Tower with more moving parts than the number of plastic surgeries Joan Rivers has had, but for some unknown reason nobody can seem to make the simple physics of an object swinging up, and then swinging back down look real! Its ridiculous!!!

Either way, as Paul and I say after talking about a movie that we really aren’t all that interested in… I’ll see it. And you know what, I will probably think its OK. But I promise you this… I WILL be covering my eyes during all “swinging from buildings and shit” scenes.

Don't be mad Jake. Its not his fault he cant swing like meeee!


I want more satchels dammit! And… and stitching… yeah!

Ok so if you have listened to any of the past shows you have probably heard us talk about the new Avengers movie, and the cast, and our thoughts, etc. You have also probably heard me talk about how I think they have completely ruined Captain Americas credibility by the updates they have made to his costume! Captain America: The First Avenger was a a pretty awesome movie overall. And what made that movie for me, what really grounded it, was the fact that his costume was believable. It was very heavy duty, looked like it was made out of very thick, tough fabric, you could see the stitching on it, it had lots of straps and satchels and shit all over it. It looked like a real, hardcore world war whatever army costume. It was bad ass.

Now fast forward (or if your Captain America just stay frozen in ice) to present day. Cap gets busted out of ice, says word-up to Sam Jackson, enjoys a stein of fine lager with Thor, joins The Avengers, and then gets the lamest costume out of all of them! What a rip off! This guy is Captain God-Damn America people, Show some respect! His new costume is all nice and bright and shiny, no more heavy fabric, and don’t even get me started on the lack of satchels!

I’m just afraid that they are taking a step in the wrong direction and actually reverting back to the costume of the early Cap movies… or not, maybe I am making too much of this. All I know is that when all the Avengers are facing impending doom, backs to the wall, and they need Captain America to gather all the magic power crystals or whatever the fuck ever, and run them over to Iron Man so he can place them in the ACME machine to break the avengers free and save the world all while still using his hands to punch bad guys in the face… he better have enough damn satchels.

Has anyone seen my satchels??? I could have swore I left them up here.