How bout a dose of Crank?

No...not that crank...I am talking about the Jason Statham movies. While I at first was somewhat skeptical on the overall quality of this seemingly ordinary action film after my viewing of both films in a row I can say I am hooked and that these films are definitely worth your time.

The story plays out in a similar way to an old gangster movie. Mob hitman wants out...the only way out is death. However this is where it deviates from the norm. Statham's character is poisoned with a lethal cocktail shot and given an hour to live before his heart stops. He has to find a way to stay alive by boosting his adrenaline while the whole time trying to figure out who did this to him and find a way to cure himself. Without ruining anything I will say he goes on a Grand Theft Auto 3 style rampage throughout the city which makes for quite a film.

The second movie picks up exactly where the first ended but instead of poison, his heart has literally been taken and he has to get it back. I'm not going to go into great length to describe these films as they have both been out for sometime but I would like to give a nod to everyone who worked on these films. Both movies are very stylized in an almost Tarantino or Takashi Miike sort of way. It mixes an elaborate mob story filled with revenge with as I have heard it described less movie more virtual video game feel.

The movies definitely now hold a place in my heart up there with such other style classics as Ichi the Killer and Pulp Fiction. If you have an afternoon check these out you will have a good time.

Crank - 8.7 out of 10
Crank High Voltage - 9.1 out of 10

Rant on the fly

So the other day I got into a discussion about copyright laws and just really wanted to post this on here to show some of the hypocrisy our laws force on us. I am not saying all laws should be null but they should not single out a group of individuals when like crimes happen on a daily basis. I am also not here to get a shit ton of flamer comments trying to correct me by saying my hypothesis is incorrect. I will start by saying in theory this is exactly what is going on and I'm not arguing semantics.

For some time now the government or should I say the MPAA and other such organizations have been after torrenters for supposedly breaking the law. While I can neither say they are or aren't I would like to point out a couple of blunders. The first blunder being the definition of theft they are using. The statement is that it is theft when there is a loss of a sale. I understand this however...flamers get ready...Gamestop does not share any of the money they make off of used games, as stores such as FYE and Blockbuster also do not share money off of pre-owned CDs or DVDs. This means in the strictest following of the law that those stores are in violation of copyright law. They have broken the law by making essentially a private sale. This is the exact same concept beings used towards torrents. I am not saying torrenting is good in every-way and that people do need to support artists but I am saying that this is unfair treatment when it is going on in other areas of life but it is ignored because they still pay sales tax.

While I am not saying this is the perfect way to phrase it I am saying the principal is the same. Game developers don't like used sales because they make no money off of them as the MPAA makes no money off of used DVD sales but you don't see them taking on Gamestop and Blockbuster. I am just saying in the strictest sense this really doesn't seem fair.

PS> sorry about the late blog...I had some projects around the house to do.

Movie review on the fly: Black Dynamite

So I just sat down and watched the blaxploitation parody Black Dynamite. For those who haven't heard of the film it is a parody on classic blaxploitation films in the vein of Shaft and so on. It stars Michael Jai White as Black Dynamite who sets off on a mission of vengeance when he finds out his brother has been murdered. The story is common place for any movies in this genre. Where Black Dynamite sticks out is the over acting, the kung-fu, and just the all around amazing use of writing in this film. The movie is absolutely hilarious on many different levels. It mocks but also shows a lot of love for the genre it is in. The low budget filming errors are left in including a boom mic dropping down next to him while he has to give a serious monologue.

The amount of amazing one liners is staggering and I caught myself rewinding to hear certain lines over and over. The movie came out a year ago but has just now caught a cult following. I heard about it from some friends at work and had to check it out. For anyone who enjoys the old school cinema takes and some awesome kung-fu I would definitely recommend it.

The movie has an incredibly fast pace and seems to fly by and after the first half hour I thought it was almost over. Luckily for me it wasn't and I still had a good amount left. The movie climaxes in the least expected most incredible kung-fu battle. I am not going to spoil any of it because it is one of the most amazing scenes I have ever seen. I was amazing to see Nicole Sullivan from Mad TV and Arsenio Hall in the film. I also want to shout out to Cream Corn because he is one of the best characters in this film. Honestly see this movie. It is a great time. Rated R for a reason.

10 out of 10...can you dig it?