Friday, August 26, 2011

Cool, Caliente Colombiana

The Verdict:
GO SEE!

REVIEW:
The cool, caliente (hot in Espanol), kick-ass Colombiana probably just made, Zoe Saldana (Avatar, The Losers) who plays the ass kicking assassin Cataleya, the next female action star!
It is so refreshingly, wonderfully cool to see one of the biggest action films of the year, starring a woman! The usually elegant Saldana effortlessly plays a stone-cold hitwoman out for revenge against the criminals who killed her parents in front of her when she was a young girl in Colombia.
Colombiana starts off action packed and never lets up.
The first action scene involving Catayela involves the young Cataleya (who draws Xena drawings and wears Captain America t-shirts, played by the cute Amandla Stenberg) stabs one of the mobsters in the hand with a knife when he tries to get her to give up an important chip her father gives her before he is killed. Young Cataleya dynamically escapes the bad guys after her in a cool first chase scene. When Cataleya finally reaches her dangerous uncle (a great Cliff Curtis, Once Were Warriors, Whale Rider) in the states--- she almost immediately tells him, "I want to be a killer. Can you help?" He immediately answers, "Sure." By day he forces her to go to school to learn things he can't teach her, by night he teaches her things he can, to kill.
Fast-forward 15 years later and Cataleya is the perfect hitwoman. In Saldana's first action scene as Cataleya, she very coolly gets herself arrested and imprisoned to take out a bad guy whose held in the jail she's in. Cataleya, is like the first three letters of her name, plus a gymnast, as she slinks in and out of her cell. Her calling card on her victims is her namesake, a drawing/leaving of a cattleya flower on/with the victim. Of course no one for awhile, from her boyfriend (a sweet, Michael Vartan, Monster-in-Law,  t.v. shows Alias, Hawthorne) or the authorities, consider her a suspect for 20+ "cattelya murders." When suspicions do arise that a woman may be the killer, C.I.A. agent (Lennie James, The Next Three Days, t.v. show The Walking Dead), scoffs, "It's not possible."
Boy, is he wrong!
Cataleya's arsenal of weapons is beyond impressive with machine guns and rocket looking guns galore. The standout fight scene with Cataleya and the main bad guy (the one she stabs in the hand at the beginning of the film) involves--- a towel, two tooth brushes, her belt and a gun! 
Of course Cataleya ends up killing all the bad guys responsible for her parent's deaths (I wish though at least one would have gotten away so a sequel could possibly be in the works!).
The ending is fulfilling--- for Cataleya and the audience.
It's great seeing Saldana being so successfully versatile as well as her rise to fame--- co-starring as a ballet dancer in her very first film--- 2000's Center Stage and now starring as an assassin in Colombiana.
Here's to the cool Zoe Saldana kicking more ass in the future!





*Fun Film Facts*

~Except for two action sequences, Zoe Saldana did all of her own stunts.
~Luc Besson, the writer of Colombiana, also wrote 1990's Nikita--- which is about a woman assassin.  




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Monday, August 22, 2011

New Movies Playing!


Colombiana
What's It About?
A professional hitwoman seeks vengeance on the killers who killed her parents.

Trailer:


PREDICTION:
"It looks great! It's always great seeing a woman star as the action hero in an action film--- Zoe Saldana looks believable and tough enough to kick some major ass!"




*

 Love Crime
What's It About?
An assistant seeks revenge on her boss after she is set for a crime she didn't commit up by her boss.


Trailer:


PREDICTION:
"It looks extremely juicy! The plot is great because of the twist of a woman getting revenge on another woman--- not the cliche woman-gets-revenge-on man plot. Should be good!"


*

Brighton Rock
What's It About?
After a waitress witnesses a murder, one of the killers sets out to find, seduce and kill her.

Trailer:


PREDICTION:
"It looks pretty great! Has the look and story of an oldie noir."





*

Higher Ground
What's It About?
A woman religious since childhood--- begins to question her faith.

Trailer:



PREDICTION:
"It looks thought-provoking--- it's a feat that Vera Farmiga not only stars in this but directed it!"


*

Swinging with the Finkels
 
What's It About?
A married couple decides to become swingers to spice up their routine sex life.


Trailer:


PREDICTION:
"The plot tries to shock but misses--- Mandy Moore is the only reason I see worth watching this."




*


The Family Tree
What's It About?
A dysfunctional family becomes a little more normal when the mother gets amnesia in an accident.

Trailer:


PREDICTION:
"It looks pretty funny! Dysfunctional family movies are always usually fun!"




*


Don't Be Afraid of the Dark
What's It About?
A young girl unleashes monsters trapped in her father's old mansion.

Trailer:


PREDICTION:
"There's nothing even remotely spooky looking about it that I see. The little goblin-esque creatures do look cool however."




*

Circumstance
What's It About?
Two Muslim young women fall in love with each other--- causing dangerous repercussions.

Trailer:


PREDICTION:
"It looks pretty good--- and very sexy--- the subject matter is definitely a taboo one."




*


Our Idiot Brother
What's It About?
A family's idiotic sibling with good intentions.

Trailer:


PREDICTION:
"It looks more silly than funny--- Paul Rudd looks perfect in the lead role as the film's title."








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Best New Movie Poster of the Week

(Official movie poster for upcoming movie  
Colombiana.)


WHY THIS POSTER IS GREAT!:


*Zoe Saldana's character seemingly praying while with a gun in her hands.

*The tagline.


*The half Colombia, half city backdrop intertwined and meshed with Saldana's character.



(International poster for upcoming movie  
Colombiana.)


WHY THIS POSTER IS GREAT!:


*Zoe Saldana's character atop of perhaps a building or ledge, with a gun in her hand--- and an explosion behind her.




(Alternate poster for upcoming movie  
Colombiana.)


WHY THIS POSTER IS GREAT!:


*Zoe Saldana's character Cataleya, encased in the Cattleya flower.

 *The poster's dark red color.

*The tagline.



(Alternate international poster for upcoming movie  
Colombiana.)


WHY THIS POSTER IS GREAT!:


*The blood dripping from the flower.






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The Most Badass Female Action Heros



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Before there was Lisbeth of The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo,




Cataleya of Colombiana

Hanna of Hanna 

and 
Babydoll, Sweet Pea, Rocket, Blondie and Amber of Sucker Punch,

there were a slew of badass women before them.

In my eyes, the most badass girls in any action film I've seen up until now, goes to:




Charly Baltimore
Geena Davis as an assassin for the CIA in 1996's The Long Kiss Goodnight.

TRAILER:





Lieutenant Jordan O'Neil
Demi Moore as an army Lieutenant in 1997's G.I. Jane.

TRAILER:




Black Mamba
Uma Thurman as an assassin in 2003's Kill Bill Volume 1.

TRAILER: 
O-Ren Ishii
Lucy Liu as an assassin in 2003's Kill Bill Volume 1.

TRAILER:




Alice
Milla Jovovich as a genetically altered human with super abilities, in the Resident Evil series.

TRAILER:



Selene
Kate Beckinsale playing a werewolf hunter in the Underworld series.

TRAILER:



Lara Croft
Angelina Jolie as an adventurer in the Lara Croft: Tomb Raider series.

TRAILER:




 Evelyn Salt
Angelina Jolie as a CIA agent in 2010's Salt.

TRAILER:



Fox
Angelina Jolie as an assassin in 2008's Wanted.

TRAILER:




Foxy Brown
Pam Grier as a woman seeking revenge in the Foxy Brown films.

TRAILER:



Bonnie
Faye Dunaway as a bank robber in 1967's Bonnie and Clyde.

TRAILER:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YNrSGutBOlE



Nikita
Anne Parillaud as a trained assassin in 1990's Nikita.

TRAILER:


&

Maggie Hayward
Bridget Fonda as a trained assassin in 1993's Point of No Return (American remake of the French Nikita).

TRAILER:

Thelma & Louise
 Susan Sarandon and Geena Davis as fugitives for murder and robbery in 1991's Thelma & Louise.





Mallory Knox
Juliette Lewis as a serial killer in 1994's Natural Born Killers.

TRAILER:




Niobe
Jada Pinkett Smith as a rebel pilot in 2003's The Matrix Reloaded and The Matrix Revolutions.
 
TRAILERS:






Frankie, Cleo, T.T. & Stoney
Vivica A. Fox, Queen Latifah, Kimberly Elise and Jada Pinkett Smith as working class girls turned bank robbers in 1996's Set It Off.

TRAILER:




Erica Bain
Jodie Foster as a vigilante in 2007's The Brave One.

TRAILER:




Abernathy, Zoe & Kim
Rosario Dawson, Zoe Bell and Tracie Thoms as a make-up artist and two stuntwomen looking for revenge in 2007's Death Proof

TRAILER:




*Lisbeth Salander
Noomi Rapace playing a brilliant but volatile hacker in 2009's The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo.

TRAILER:

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The Year of Badass Girls at the Movies

(Film still from Sucker Punch of Emily Browning, Abbie Cornish, Jena Malone, Vanessa Hudgens and Jamie Chung as strong and sexy warrior types.)


(Film still from Hanna of, Saoirse Ronan as an assassin.)




(Film still from the upcoming Colombiana  of, Zoe Saldana as a hitwoman.)



(Photo of Rooney Mara as The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, Lisbeth, a genius yet troubled  hacker.)



2011 in Cinema seems to be the year of the strong, ass-kicking, badass woman and I couldn't be happier!

 Sucker Punch came first with 5 young women in an asylum escaping into a fantastical world where they become fierce and soldier-like to escape.
Hanna came next--- the teen who is trained to be an assasin by her father.
Most recently--- is Colombiana--- about a hitwoman who wants to take revenge on the people responsible for her parent's death.
Along with the American remake of 2009's Swedish The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo--- about a brilliant computer hacker who is as dangerous as she is smart. 


It's very exciting to see not one, not two, not three- but four action films in one year--- starring women in the lead as action heroes!

Last year the movies had Salt starring Angelina Jolie, as a lethal CIA agent named Evelyn Salt and Resident Evil: Afterlife with Milla Jovovich reprising her role as Alice, a young woman genetically altered by a virus giving her super agility, speed and strength.


It's great to see Hollywood realizing that girls can be as cool and deadly as their male counterparts (who unfairly rule the action genre).


Here's to next year at the movies and the next and the following--- for women to dominate and kick ass wherever the action is!




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Thursday, August 18, 2011

New Movies Playing!

Conan the Barbarian
What's It About?
A revamped story of the famous barbarian named Conan.
 

Trailer:



PREDICTION:
"It looks pretty cool! Jason Momoa  is no Arnold Schwarzenegger but he looks rightly cast as the new Conan! Perhaps this will be his big break out role."





*


Fright Night
What's It About?
Remake of the 80's Fright Night about a teen who discovers his new next door neighbor is a vampire.
 

Trailer:

PREDICTION:
"Colin Farrell looks a little off as the vampire--- it probably won't compare to the original Fright Night, but it still looks fun and creepy."






*


Flypaper
What's It About?
Two sets of bank robbers unknowingly try to rob a bank at the same time--- only to be ambushed by a third set of robbers.
 

Trailer:

PREDICTION:
"Fun plot! It looks hysterical!"





*

Griff the Invisible
What's It About?
An awkward young man during the day who during the night is a superhero.
 

Trailer:

PREDICTION:
"It looks cute and cool."





*

5 Days of War
What's It About?
A journalist gets caught in the cross fire while reporting on the Russo-Georgian war.
 

Trailer:

PREDICTION:
"This war movie looks as important as it looks exciting."





*

Programming the Nation?
What's It About?
Documentary on subliminal messaging in America through media.
 

Trailer:

PREDICTION:
"It looks very eye-opening!"



*

One Day
What's It About?
Two people who meet on their college graduation day--- become best of friends and begin to fall each other.
 

Trailer:

PREDICTION:
"It looks boring and not that romantic--- even though the plot sounds to be a grand romance."





*
Mozart's Sister
What's It About?
Supposedly a based-on-a-true story of the sister of Mozart who was said to be a musical prodigy.
 

Trailer:

PREDICTION:
"The story is interesting--- the beautiful costumes and set however hold my attention the most."





*

Spy Kids: 
All the Time in the World
What's It About?
The 4th part in the Spy Kids series about spy kids and their spy parents.
 

Trailer:

PREDICTION:
"It looks fun--- but probably for Spy Kids' fans only. The 4D aspect of it looks cool and maybe worth checking for non-Spy Kids' fans."







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