Rambo + Winter/Spring 08 forecast

Brodie Fanns!

I'm excited to see you. I had a long weekend, but it is time to get back into the movie dealy.

Let's jump right in.

I only have a mini-review for you. Why? Well... quite frankly... Rambo just doesn't warrant a full review.

Rambo

3 Stars

I went into this movie with very low expectations. While most recharges of long forgotten 80's franchises have actually done quite well (Freddy vs. Jason, Rocky, Live Free or Die Hard) and impressed the heck out of me, Rambo was one franchise I felt didn't really need a revamp, and wasn't particularly excited to see.

So when my expectations are that low, I wasn't at all surprised when they were met. I was, however, surprised when the flick exceeded them. As a child of the golden age of action, where gratuitous violence and gore reigned supreme, I was pleased that this is a return to form for the now distinctly divided genre. On one end is the dopey, outlandish plot, star driven flick (anything with Vin Diesel), on the other, high brow, character driven, concept action (The Bourne series).

But Rambo is not so much an homage, as it is a memorial to the quality action flicks of the 80's. The villain is that of unimaginable evil (East-Asian warlord). The hero is as mythic as he is brutally compassionate (it's an oxymoron, I know, but it makes sense). The female lead/quasi-love interest is the traditional damsel in distress. And the supporting cast is made up of a rogue's gallery of caricatures and archetypes.

The action, once it starts, is non-stop, with some goofy blood effects, but lots of them. It really could have gone the political route, as it is set during a civil war, but it leaves the politics out, and just goes for the jugular. Literally. John Rambo rips a guy's jugular out of his throat.

At this point, I'm just waiting for the next logical film from Sylvester Stallone: either Stop! Or My Mom Will Shoot: Part II or Rocky vs. Rambo.

This ends the review portion of our broadcast.

Now, as an entertainment reporter, and admitted cinephile (it doesn't mean what you think it means you perv), who also happens to have high-speed internet access, I stay pretty up to date with films in production. Sure the occasional one slips through the cracks, but usually I'm pretty up to date on this shit. I've been following the casting of Star Trek since it was announced, and there were rumours of Matt Damon or Nathan Fillion in the role of James T. Kirk (Fillion would have been awesome, but too reminiscent of Cpt. Reynolds).

I've followed movies from production all the way to much delayed release.

But I keep update through various websites. I pretty much live on Apple Trailers, Yahoo! Movies and of course, my homepage, the IMDb. I peruse the myspace from time to time to see what they've got going on over there, hit up studio sites for their in production calenders, and I use other sites.

But this is all to keep me updated on films coming out. I generally have a running list of what's coming this year (I even have a short list of the major 2009 releases I want to see), just so I know what I want to see, and to keep track of production and release dates.

To help pass the savings on to you, every few months I'll post the ones I've got dog-earred. Obviously January has past, but here's a short list for February, March and April.

February:

• In Bruges Starring: Colin Farrel, Brenden Gleeson and Ralph Fiennes; Written and Directed by Martin McDonagh. View Trailer Here. February 8th
• Charlie Bartlett Starring: Anton Yelchin, Robert Downey, Jr. and Hope Davis; Written by Gustin Nash; Directed by Jon Poll. View Trailer Here.February 22nd

March

• The Bank Job Starring: Jason Statham and Saffron Burrows; Written by Dick Clement and Ian La Frenais; Directed by Roger Donaldson. View Trailer Here. March 7th
• 21 Starring: Kevin Spacey, Kate Bosworth, Laurence Fishburne and Jim Sturgess; Written by Peter Steinfeld and Allan Loeb; Directed by Robert Luketic. View Trailer Here. March 28th

April

• Forgetting Sarah Marshall Starring: Jason Segel, Kristen Bell, Bill Hader and Jonah Hill; Written by Jason Segel; Directed by Nicholas Stoller. View Trailer Here. April 18th

That's a brief look into what's coming up this spring.

Check ya later!

-Brodie Mann