Pirate Radio: Sex, Drugs, and Rock and Roll... and Sex, did I mention Sex?

2009-11-28T13:58:00.000-08:00

Hello all and welcome to my second review. I hope that it's helpful!

Pirate Radio, there couldn't be a more aptly named film. Children of the sixties rejoice as every value ever suppressed by the "man" is thrown at you in full British technicolor. The acting was excellent, a fleshed out cast including but in no way limited to the greats of Philip Seymour Hofman and Bill Nighy brought a blend of British comedy and the balls to the wall attitude of a true rocker to the silver screen.

Everyone was on their A game for this film and nothing felt out of place. The music selection was impeccable and certainly constitutes a must buy soundtrack. The characters felt real, appropriate to their time (from what I can tell,) and I must say that I found my self laughing every time at the mention of the scheming Mr. Twat.

The presentation was great, which I expected considering that the director was also in charge of my all time favorite movie Love Actually. It managed to balance the crazy antics of a ship full of blue-balled, raunchy, and self satisfied radio jockey's with very honest and heartfelt story about friendship and family values, with a bit of sex thrown in. Sex you say? Oh yes, sex. Now not the unashamed semi pornographic sex scenes that fill American films today simply as fan service, but just sex, sixties sex. These characters act like pirates, stealing girlfriends and partners, and generally going behind each others backs all the time, and for some reason no one seemed to care. Hey, whatever works. (For all the more conservative viewers out there ... just deal with it, it was damn funny.)

All in all this was an enthralling film about a the dawning of manhood, and the rights of all free peoples to ROCK.

9 out of 10
2Kar Mac&Cheese

Ninja Assassin - Eat Your Heart Out Davy Jones

2009-11-25T00:33:00.000-08:00

Hello one and all, and welcome to what, I hope, will be the first in a long line of movie reviews.

First, let me say that I am incredibly happy that I get to begin my stint of reviews with a movie such as Ninja Assassin. I am a HUGE fan of martial arts, and to some degree, a relatively low level practitioner. So it can be said, that when I say that I thoroughly enjoyed the fight scenes in this movie, that they are GOOD. Now, keep in mind that when I say good, I mean accurate.... to a point. (There is an inclusion of some special effects that made the fights hyper-realistic, but what are you going to do, its a movie.) Ninjutsu, which is dark, stealthy, can be hard to follow, and some people may have complaint with the sometimes difficult to interpret fight scenes. But, they are ninja, they are NOT cage fighters, and you're not always supposed to know what they are doing, honestly, you should NEVER really know what they're doing. (Thankfully the director didn't go overboard on that aspect.) For that reason darkness played a major role in the movie, and Dark Castle (the production company) did not disappoint. Known for producing other movies such as Gothika, Thir13en Ghosts, and the recently released Orphan they filled the movie with nooks and crannies that I found myself constantly watching, hoping for an extra glimpse of unknown enemies, and loving every minute of it.

Dialogue was kept (thankfully) to a minimum in this film. I think that this can be mainly contributed to the fact that both of the writers were American in origin. (We value our silence) Evidently so does the main character, who probably has six lines throughout the whole movie, which he more than makes up for, with spiffy flips and lots of angry faces. (I'm down with angry faces.)

I found very few instances to complain while watching this movie, which is most likely contributed to the fact that I spent most of the time expelling "Oh hell yeah!"s. (I'm very professional when I go to review my movies!) There were a few plot holes that might detract the more hardcore of thinkers. (You know, the ones who never actually ENJOY anything.) but not enough to be noticeable. In fact, my biggest qualm is that they felt the need to computer generate his Shoge, (the chain whippy scythy thing.) I felt that it was unnecessarily cartoon-like, and contrasted too much with the other weapons in the movie, but that really is a minor concern, especially since I so loved the gratuitous amount of animated blood. There is SO MUCH BLOOD in this movie (definitely not for kids)and its so pretty. There is a definite feel of Frank Miller in the constant dismemberment of once hidden enemies, which is something of which I have yet to tire.

Basically, Ninja Assassin is a well done, and constantly thrilling roller-coaster ride, easily worthy of a Summer Blockbuster release. But I'm glad that it came out so late.

8.5 out of 10
2Kar Mac&Cheese

The Commoner's Eye

Pirate Radio: Sex, Drugs, and Rock and Roll... and Sex, did I mention Sex?

Ninja Assassin - Eat Your Heart Out Davy Jones