Texas Chainsaw (2013)



A young woman travels to Texas to collect an inheritance; little does she know that an encounter with a chainsaw-wielding killer is part of the reward.

The Cast:
  • Disposable Teens
  • Rowdy Rednecks
  • Black Sherriff (Thank you, Cleavon!)
  • Leatherface

The Story:

The Texas Chainsaw Massacre is the only horror movie franchise that continually reboots itself.
In this version, the events of that past have indeed happened, but we follow a new group of teens who "inadvertently" stumble upon Leatherface and his chainsaw.

This one starts at the immediate conclusion of the 70s version, covering the events following the girl's escape.
The police and a lynch mob show up demanding the surrender of Leatherface. When his family refuses to give him up, a shootout occurs and the house is burned down. This was known as "08/19" and the only survivor was a baby girl.

20 years later, she gets a letter stating that her grandmother has died and discovers that she was adopted and taken from the old Sawyer home after the incident in Texas. Since her foster parents are dicks, she decides to go and figure out her roots. Her friends decide to go with her because friendship. They soon discover Leatherface and his not so secret agenda to kill everyone involved in the August 19th incident. In addition, the mayor, who set up the events of that day, seeks to kill her as well, since she's a Sawyer and they are all no good trash.

 -----------------------------------------------------

Texas Chainsaw is an interesting twist on the standard reboot/remake formula. It's actually more of a hybrid sequel remake that attempts to finish the original and create a new vision for the franchise. I feel like It's a very interesting twist and preposition, but honestly not one that I care for. On the other hand, though, I guess I'd rather have this switch than the one where we get the why he does what he does humanizing story.

 
Here's a list of stupid decisions that a few of the characters make (or have to make, in favor of advancing the plot):
  1. Not checking the historical records of the town before moving into a house you've mysteriously inherited
  2. Leaving the stranger you've hit with the car, in the house you've just inherited that's also full of valuables
  3. Leaving him with the master keys
  4. Finding and exploring a secret room
  5. Banging on a large metal door in that hidden room
  6. Calling out to Letherface (x2)
  7.  Trying to ram an iron automatic security gate as if it was a chain link fence
  8. Stopping the car after "escaping"
  9. Running into a fair and trying to escape via Ferris Wheel [Dude seriously just walked to the other side and waited for her to come back down]
  10. Exploring the scene of multiple grisly murders solo b/c you have a big gun.
  11. Leaving someone alone in an interrogation room with a box full of secret/confidential evidence of your previous dastardly deeds
  12. Bringing a crowbar to a chainsaw fight
  13. Reading a letter at the end of the film that you were begged to read at the beginning, which could have prevented just about every event in the film.
 
Leatherface for what it's worth, shows up quite early, (which is a treat) and he's about as brutal as he's ever been. Here is my gripe though, essentially, they've created a movie where for all the sick shit that Leatherface and the Sawyer family has done, they are the sympathetic heroes of the entire franchise. Does that make sense to anyone? Is Leatherface is a good guy now? This is some bullshit. Humanizing an unsympathetic monster and his family is a sucker move.

 

Violence? Yes
Explosions? Of Chainsaw violence
Nudity? No

Bite My Colossal Metal Ass



Because this one is colored (heh) this is the one I've chosen for sale. If there is anyone out there that actually reads this and wants the other version, comment below and I'll make that happen.
  
http://www.redbubble.com/people/artsaldersson/works/11871583-do-the-bender



I'm going to start my own website!
With hookers!
and Blackjack!

Sexy Times




One of my earlier designs. I always thought this concept was pretty cool:







I had planned on doing something like this for every team, but I'm a very lazy man. Would be a cool little challenge though.

Man of Tai Chi (2013)



In this Kung-Fu tale set in Beijing, a young man armed with incomparable martial arts skills gets embroiled in the world of underground fight clubs.

The Cast:
  • Tiger Chen
  • Keanu
  • Dedicated cop, jing si
  • Master Wang
  • Secret Surprise Villain Cameo
 
The Situation:

Tiger Chen is a man who just wants to fight. His principles don't allow him to do so, but the beast is awakened when he meets Donaka Park, who leads an undergoes fight club and cultivates Tiger's bloodlust. Whereas Tiger belives he's fighting for money, he discovers that Donaka is only after the destruction and complete corruption of an innocent soul. Hot on Donaka's heels though, is dedicated detective, Jing Si, who is hellbent on shutting down his operation.

--------------------------------------------

Man of Tai Chi is a battle between balance and chaos fought within Tiger Chen, a star student and sole successor to a 600yr old style of kung-fu. His sensei, Master Wang, represents the good and his employer, Donaka Park, represents the dark, pulling at Tiger to release his inner demons.
 
Donaka Park is played by Keanu and honestly, he has one of those faces to where your can't see him as a villain, but to his credit, he's pretty ruthless in this film.Tiger Chen is no slouch either and together, they do show Tai Chi in another light. Yes it is known for meditation and exercise, but I learned that in the right hands, Tai Chi can fuck people up. The meh part about this movie? The dialogue. It was so wooden. It may have been done on purpose in order to force us to focus on the fighting, but it was a bit distracting. The fighting scenes however, absolutely deliver. Keanu also directed the movie so there's that.

One of the other things I liked was that Donaka wasn't just another rich asshole who ran a fight club, he was a badass dude who could get shit done with his fists. The other thing I liked was the final fight scene. I don't want to spoil it and tell you who the opponent was, but it was unexpected and i was thrilled. Another was that Donaka Park was not a rich pussy. He could actually back up his business. With his fists.

Sidenote: 
I'm actually both surprised and relieved that the RZA wasn't in this movie is some way, but I'm sure he will find his way into the sequel.


Violence? Yes
Explosions? Of Chi
Nudity? Nope

Rapture-Palooza(2013)



Two teens battle their way through a religious apocalypse on a mission to defeat the Antichrist.



The Cast:
  • Anna Kendrick
  • Craig Robinson
  • The Robs (Coddrey/Huebel)
  • Rachew Maddow
 
The Situation:

Here one min, gone the next, the bulk of humanity is raptured and many are left below. In addition to the locusts, falling rocks and wraiths, the rapture has also seen the rise of the anti-christ, a Seattle born politician named Earl, who calls himself The Beast
The Beast has big plans for reshaping the world, but falls for the adorkably innocent, girl next door, Kendrick. After learning she's a virgin, he sets out to do damage to her various orifices and plant his demon seeds, firmly establishing his empire.


The Resolution:

The Beast is defeated, and peace returns to the land, but someone is pregnant...


-------------------------------------

Rapture-palooza came out around the same time as This is the End, the other rapture based movie, also starring Craig Robinson. I saw the trailers, read about it, did all that jazz, but I wasn't too enthused. I finally say down to watch it the other day and quite honestly, I enjoyed it. 

The Beast is a legitimate beastly character. He wants what he wants and he's not shy or subtle about it and some of the best parts of the movie were his advances towards Anna Kendrick. Every other character played their role well and you can guess my surprise at finding my guy, Tyler Labine as one of the Beasts' guards.

Needless to say, Rapture-Palooza is not as good as This is the End, but they really can't be compared. On top of everything, the title is "Rapture-Palooza." You kinda know what you're getting into.


Violence? Yes
Explosions? yes
Nudity? No

Straight Cash Homey



This image has been floating around the web and on Tshirts for a while now:




I wanted to take it a step further, so I did:




The problem with this design is that it doesn't easily lend itself to Shirts, Posters, or phone cases. But, it still came out dope and it is awesome. I tried to play with it, but I couldn't do any better than these two below:













Whatever You Say There, Mr. Nuff!



Who's the Master?!!!


http://www.redbubble.com/people/artsaldersson/works/11432056-the-shogun-of-harlem

This is self-explanatory. You should be ashamed of yourself if you don't know what's happening here.

The Best Shirt Ever



http://www.redbubble.com/people/artsaldersson/works/11706492-best-shirt-ever


It's official, this is the best shirt ever.

What?

Are you going to argue?

It has laurel leaves. It's official.


The Raid 2: Berendal (2014)




Only a short time after the first raid, Rama goes undercover with the thugs of Jakarta and plans to bring down the syndicate and uncover the corruption within his police force.


The Cast:
  • Rama is back kicking ass and generally being a badass superman
  • Mob boss' son. Dude was just too handsome to think straight. This caused a lot of drama
  • Bejo - Upstart mobster. Big plans include mob son
  • Mob boss Thai. Calm and collected
  • Mob boss Japan. Also calm and collected
  • Hammer girl because anyone that can do what she does with a hammer gets my undying affection
 
The Situation:

Directly after the Events of The Raid, Rama is recruited by a team of shadowy police agents whose main goal is to discover and eliminate corrupt cops.  They ask him to go undercover at a prison and befriend the son of a powerful mob boss in order to help them out.

Not too long after, shit gets unbelievably real.

Oh, and there's a Claw Hammer fight. Old Boy's hammer scene was good, but Berandal's hammer scene(s) took that one out to the back and shot it.

-------------------------------------

The Raid 2 is unquestionably one of the hardest movies I've ever had to review. If you go back and read my review for the first, you will see that I offer nothing but gushing praise:
The best part?: They get that shit [the plot] out of the way within 10 minutes. There's nothing but action after that point and this has to have been one of the best pure guy films I have ever seen. I can overlook the so-so ending, because the start to finish action easily overshadows it.
While Berandal is everything Redemption was (and then some), I just feel like there's something off. Thing is I can't quite explain what it is, so I end up sounding like some lunatic who can't decide whether he's team Raid or not. I'm Team Raid all the way, I just  think it was the running time. 2 1/2 hrs of Ass Kicking Violence is wild, but to be fair, the time flies. Maybe it was the one man superman narrative that they gave Rama? In the first film he had a team, in this one he's wrecking shop solo.  I've been saying to anyone who will listen that Berandal will take the series away from its roots, and it did to an extent, but the action really was fast and furious. Idk man. Something is off and something is bothering me about it, but I really have no idea what it is.  Since watching it though, I have realized that comparing it to the first will not get me anywhere and I've learned that technically, Berendal was supposed to be the first film, but they didn't have the funding and Redemption was made as a way to raise funds. Looking at it like that I can't hate it. I'm on the fence of whether to watch it again though and promote it as much as the first. I think that's what's bugging me. 

I have no reservations towards scoring this film high. I do not think it was better than the first, but that is probably just diminishing returns. I do recommend Berendal to any Raid fans, but I am not a fan of the running time. A lot happened in this film though. Chances are there will be a sequel, but where they go and how will be anyone's guess.


Violence? Ultra. There's a bad guy who is a Claw Hammer expert
Explosions? Pffft of Hyper Violence. Claw Hammer dude. Claw Hammer.
Nudity? Actually, Yeah. That happened.

Redtails (2010)




A crew of African American pilots in the Tuskegee training program, having faced segregation while kept mostly on the ground during World War II, are called into duty under the guidance of Col. A.J. Bullard.

Red Tails, if you haven't already deduced, is the story of a squadron of negro fighter pilots aka the Tuskeegee Airmen, --with more flying and less disease testing-- who against all odds, aided in the war effort for the allied soldiers.

The Situation:

The army had decided that negroes were unfit to fly airplanes and have decided to shutter their program, but with the help of a high ranking white officer and their Colonel, The Red Squad gets one final mission to prove themselves. If they succeed, they will give their unit some credibility and if they fail and the government has every reason to shut them down. 

---------------------------------------

Red Tails is drama for the sake of drama so be warned. There's a leader who is an alcoholic with daddy issues, a glory hog who has issues following orders, a rookie pilot captured by the enemy, racial tension, world war --Shit, this could have been a Tyler Perry film, If they played up the black Jesus did a bit more and actually had a wedding. On top of all that, a lot of this shit was telegraphed, but it is what it is. 

What I didn't know though was that it also starred Heisenberg, Terrence Howard, Cuba Gooding Jr and bubbles from the wire. 

Anyway,  I'm torn between giving this a two or a three. On one end, it's a long and relatively pointless exercise in drama and on the other, air battles and fighter jets are dope. The problem with this is that I can't give half scores and since I'm even having this discussion (albeit with myself) I'll have to scale upwards. 

Lame
 

Violence? Yes
Explosions? Yes
Nudity? No

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