Tuesday, November 27, 2007

The King of Kong (2007)

The King of Kong: A Fistful of Quarters is a documentary that follows Steve Wiebe as he tries to take the world high score for the arcade game Donkey Kong from reigning champion Billy Mitchell.

In Ottumwa, Iowa, Walter Day founded Twin Galaxies, an organization formed to keep track of high scores achieved on arcade games in the United States. Billy Mitchell, having achieved the highest ever recorded scores on Donkey Kong and Centipede in the 1980s, remains a video game legend in 2005. Twin Galaxies has now become a global organization. Mitchell is unabashedly cocky and fond of self promotion, proclaiming himself the "Sauce King" of Florida for his successful line of homemade hot sauces. Next to his family, Mitchell considers his arcade scores his greatest achievements in life.

Monday, November 26, 2007

Superbad (2007)

Superbad is a 2007 comedy written by Seth Rogen and Evan Goldberg. They began writing the script when they were 13 years old to see if they could make a movie. The film is directed by former television director Greg Mottola and is produced by Judd Apatow, previously known for directing The 40-Year-Old Virgin and Knocked Up.

The film was a critical and commercial success, inspiring comparisons to Apatow's previous film, Knocked Up which was released earlier in the summer.

Evan (Michael Cera) and Seth (Jonah Hill) are close friends preparing to leave high school. Seth is invited to a party by Jules (Emma Stone) and agrees to provide the alcohol, using their friend Fogell’s (Chris Mintz-Plasse) fake ID.

Sunday, November 25, 2007

Shooter (2007/I)

Shooter is a 2007 action/conspiracy thriller directed by Antoine Fuqua. The film is based on the novel Point of Impact by Stephen Hunter. Shooter was released on March 23, 2007. The film's DVD was released on June 26, 2007, reaching the top of the sales charts.

Bob Lee Swagger (Mark Wahlberg) is a former United States Marine Corps scout sniper who left the Marines after a betrayal by the CIA which left his best friend and spotter, Donnie Fenn, dead. A group that leads him to believe they are federal agents (they are, in fact, CIA), approaches him to help entrap a potential assassin, who may attempt to shoot the President at one of three possible locations. Swagger is framed, and afterwards every law enforcement agency is after him, and he is forced to use his military training so that justice prevails.

Saturday, November 24, 2007

The Good German (2006)

The Good German is a 2006 feature film adaptation of the novel by Joseph Kanon. It was directed by Steven Soderbergh, and stars George Clooney, Cate Blanchett, and Tobey Maguire. Set in Berlin following the Allied victory over the Nazis, it begins as a murder mystery, but weaves in elements hinting at NASA's origins and the American postwar employment of Nazi rocket scientists in Operation Paperclip.

Berlin, July, 1945. Journalist Jake Geismer arrives to cover the Potsdam conference, issued a captain's uniform for easier passage. He also wants to find Lena, an old flame who's now a prostitute desperate to get out of Berlin. He discovers that the driver he's assigned, a cheerful down-home sadist named Corporal Tully, is Lena's keeper. When the body of a murdered man washes up in Potsdam (within the Russian sector), Jake may be the only person who wants to solve the crime: U.S. personnel are busy finding Nazis to bring to trial, the Russians and the Americans are looking for German rocket scientists, and Lena has her own secrets.

Smokin' Aces (2006)

Smokin' Aces is an action film, written and directed by Joe Carnahan, set in Lake Tahoe, and primarily shot at MontBleu Resort Casino & Spa (renamed the "Nomad Casino" in the film). It marks Carnahan's third feature, following Blood, Guts, Bullets and Octane and Narc. It stars Ryan Reynolds and Jeremy Piven as the leads, with Piven as a Las Vegas magician turned mafia informant and Reynolds as the FBI agent assigned to protect him. It is the feature film debut of both R&B artist Alicia Keys and rapper Common.

In these interlocking tales of high stakes and low lifes, Mob boss Primo Sparazza has taken out a hefty contract on Buddy "Aces" Israel (Piven)--a sleazy magician who has agreed to turn state's evidence against the Vegas mob. The FBI, sensing a chance to use this small-time con to bring down big-target Sparazza, places Aces into protective custody-under the supervision of two agents (Reynolds and Liotta) dispatched to Aces' Lake Tahoe hideout. When word of the price on Aces' head spreads into the community of ex-cons and cons-to-be, it entices bounty hunters, thugs-for-hire, smokin' hot vixens and double-crossing mobsters to join in the hunt. With all eyes on Tahoe, this rogues' gallery collides in a comic race to hit the jackpot and rub out Aces.

Dazed and Confused (1993)

Dazed and Confused is a 1993 comedy-drama film written and directed by Richard Linklater. The movie's large ensemble cast featured a number of future stars including Jason London, Ben Affleck, Anthony Rapp, Cole Hauser, Milla Jovovich, Joey Lauren Adams, and Parker Posey.

The film takes place on May 28, 1976, the last day of school at Lee High School in Austin, Texas. The seniors are preparing for the annual hazing of incoming freshmen by building paddles and buying cooking supplies; meanwhile, Randall "Pink" Floyd, the school's star football player, is asked to sign a school pledge, promising not to take drugs or do anything else that could "jeopardize the goal of a championship season in '76".

Sunday, November 18, 2007

Hot Rod (2007)

Hot Rod is a Paramount Pictures movie written by Pam Brady and directed by Akiva Schaffer; starring Andy Samberg, Sissy Spacek, Jorma Taccone, Will Arnett, Danny R. McBride, Ian McShane, Isla Fisher, and Bill Hader. It was originally written with Will Ferrell in mind (he is credited as executive producer). The film was released in America on August 3, 2007.

For his entire life, Rod Kimble (Andy Samberg) believes his father, now deceased, was a successful and respectable stuntman working for Evel Knievel. He aspires to follow his father's footsteps and become a famous stuntman himself. Meanwhile, his stepfather Frank (Ian McShane) fails to respect Rod as a man, often going out of his way to beat him in sparring sessions and mocking his stuntman dream.

Thursday, November 01, 2007

Ocean's Eleven (1960)

Ocean's Eleven is a 1960 heist film directed by Lewis Milestone and starring five Rat Packers: Frank Sinatra, Dean Martin, Sammy Davis, Jr., Joey Bishop and Peter Lawford. Other stars included Angie Dickinson, Cesar Romero, Richard Conte, Akim Tamiroff, Henry Silva, Ilka Chase, Norman Fell, Harry Wilson, and Buddy Lester, as well as uncredited cameo appearances by Shirley MacLaine, Red Skelton, and George Raft.

In the movie, a gang of 11 World War II veteran 82d Airborne Division paratroopers, led by former Sgt. Danny Ocean (Sinatra), get together 12 years after the war to rob five different Las Vegas casinos (Sands, Desert Inn, Flamingo, Riviera and Sahara) on New Year's Eve.