A few days ago I saw Rob Schneider promoting the DVD release of Big Stan on Chelsea Lately and with no real expectations set out to watch the prison comedy. Being a prison comedy I did expect a few laughs but was pleasantly surprised that it did make me chuckle more than I expected. What surprised me even more was that the action scenes were very decent – even interesting. Big Stan may not have made it to the big screen but it is actually enjoyable enough to watch on DVD.

Big Stan is about a con artist who, when he found out that he was going to prison, prepares by learning martial arts. Stan (Rob Schneider) is trained by “The Master” (David Carradine). When he arrives in prison he immediately sets out to make a reputation for himself and eventually becomes the big man in prison. He teaches fellow prisoners to co-exist in peace and thwarts the plans of the corrupt warden (Scott Wilson) to produce a bloody riot.

Though definitely not a deep movie it is worth watching if you are in the mood for something light-hearted. Rob Schneider’s attempt in action is also commendable with the scenes believable enough yet still managing to retain the humorous side each time. So if you’re looking for a few belly laughs this weekend go buy Big Stan settle down for an hour and a half of laughs.

I am not the type of person that likes to watch movies over and over but there are rare exceptions and Finding Forrester is one of them. Just this afternoon I sat down for an hour and a half to enjoy this exceptional film. Exceptional not in its twists and turns because it is predictable nor in cinematography but exceptional in the thoughts and emotions it evokes. No it didn’t get me bawling but it is the kind of film that will stay relevant and strike a chord in people’s hearts because of the truths even as time passes. At least it does that for me, after all it’s been almost a decade since the film came out and about every other year I manage to find time to watch it.

Finding Forrester is about a brilliant young boy named Jamal Wallace (Rob Brown) who lives in the Bronx and is accepted to a very prestigious private school. It centers on his friendship with a Pulitzer prize winner/recluse William Forrester (Sean Connery) and shows how the friendship helped Jamal grow as a writer and William to once again reach for his dreams and come out of his shell.

The movie got multiple nominations and is considered to be one of the best films of 2000. It also won some awards though the Oscars didn’t give it nod. Still director Gus Van Sant really hit the home run with this. If you want a quiet movie night at home this is the movie to watch.

I did a post on Taken last month and gave you a peek to what it’s about but was only able to see Taken the other night and found that, while it was pretty entertaining to watch, what it really impressed upon me is just how sick and selfish people can really be. Taken, not to be confused by the 2002 Taken alien flick which by the way I really liked, is the story of an ex-operative (Liam Neeson) whose teenage daughter is taken by Albanians dealing in the sex trade. The father goes on a killing rampage as he tries to find his daughter within the 96-hour window given to him before the chances of him never seeing her again goes bye bye.

The action sequences are cool with smarts and training factoring in to the character’s success. While the movie did show the horror of sex trade what’s really nice about the movie is that it didn’t get preachy and was realistic in the sense that the Liam Neeson’s character didn’t get too wrapped up with the issue (as horrible as it is!) especially after he got his daughter back. What I liked though was that he got to hurt those bad men pretty bad (I loved the torture he inflicted on Marco) because they deserved it! It does satisfy ones appetite for revenge.

You’ll love this film if you are into action films. And if not at least it will remind you once again why sex trade should be fought. As for girls like me it reminds me to be more careful when traveling!

Star Treks’ trailer has me all excited. Though it has always had a very faithful following the movie series was not something I really liked. The funny thing is that I am so into the books but for some reason never got into the movies. I blame it on my hyper-active imagination which makes the movies pale in comparison. This time though it might be different.

Star Trek has always been cool but you just have to see the trailer to see why it’s gotten even cooler. I do hope the movie doesn’t disappoint. For now though the verdict is that Star Trek is making a huge comeback. Props to JJ Abrams for managing to revitalize the movie…or at least the trailer. Hopefully the trailer editors didn’t do too good a job making the trailer tons better than the actual movie.

The cast also helps with Chris Pine as James T Kirk, Zachary Quinto as the young Spock (That alone makes the movie worth watching! Sorry but I’m obviously a fan.), Leonard Nimoy as the old Spock, Zoe Saldana as Uhura, Eric Bana (another one for the ladies) as Nero, and Winona Ryder as Amanda Grayson.

The movie premieres May 8. Come May I will surely be dragging people with me to see the movie. My guess though is that the dragging part won’t be necessary once my friends see the trailer.

Watch the Star Trek trailer in HD at Apple.com

Watchmen is now officially a “must watch” movie of this year. Moviegoers apparently agree as the box office reflects. Watchmen debuted this weekend and automatically hit the No. 1 spot at the box office with $55.2 million. So far it has the biggest opening this year.

So box office has given its nod but what about the critics? Quite frankly I can’t give a review yet since I have yet to see the movie but believe I’m going to remedy that problem this week. So far here’s what other reviewers had to say.

Long story short, if you’re not a fan of the book and can tolerate unintentional camp, give it a try. It’s not terrible. If you are a fan, try not to get your hopes up too much; just enjoy it for what it is. Zachary Lee of StudentPrintz.com

The film had outsized ambition, an obvious passion for the source material and some truly great moments…but long chunks where it feels somewhat hollow. I found myself wondering how anyone who hadn’t read the book could hang in for the loooong haul of the movie. Geoff Boucher of LATimes

Snyder does an overall good job with this depressing world… A problem that Snyder does have, though, is in elongating scenes. The first half of the movie is plagued by an overabundance of dialogue. It may be necessary in order to set the stage for a complex plotline, but it seems like Snyder simply refused to cut certain parts; perhaps blinded by his devotion to the novel. Antonio Hernandez of the RoundupNews

Still a gorgeous film in most senses, ‘Watchmen’ is best praised for knowing how to express itself. If you don’t agree with the viewpoint one character espouses there’s an eloquence that makes you listen. More weaknesses could be dredged up, but the strength of purpose and fascination of the players in ‘Watchmen’ makes me forgetful of criticism. Rewriting things as stable as facts, it arrives at a rarely expressed vision. Star Community

There you go. Yet again reading other people’s reviews won’t tell you how you’ll really like it because it all depends on your preference…Faithful or not? The eternal question for films anything adapted from books and comic books. At least they all said that the movie was enjoyable and had good scenes now its up to you to see just how much enjoyable it is.

Terminator Salvation isn’t set to come out till May but everyone’s already really excited about the movie thanks to director Manuel Balce Ceneta McG’s panel discussion during the movie trailer’s premiere at WonderCon last Saturday.

The movie is still very much in the works with some key elements still unsettled such as the appearance of Arnold Schwarzenegger and Linda Hamilton and what role their icon characters will take in the movie. What is settled though is that the movie will be more about the story than the action sequences. It goes back to the question of humanity and according to McG asks, “Where does humanity lie? If you have an artificial hip, or an artificial heart, you’re still human, right? Well, where does that line end up being drawn? We’re flirting with the point now to where it’s not necessarily science fiction anymore. It is a real issue and part of what this film does is explore that question.” This movie, as Anton Telchin (Kyle Reese) puts it “honors the legacy of those first two movies.”

I say great news for Terminator fans that were sorely disappointed with the last movie (Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines). Terminator Salvation is out to redeem the Terminator name and it seems like it’s going to do just that.

I have to admit that I was a Street Fighter fan way back in college. No, I wouldn’t shame myself in being a fan of the horrid Street Fighter movie! I’m talking about the video game. I used to play Chun-Li while my then boyfriend kicked my butt around practicing the moves of the other characters. So despite the fact that the 1994 Street Fighter film was really bad I couldn’t help but hope that the new movie “Street Fighter: The Legend of Chun-Li” would end up great, after all it is more than a decade after the first Street Fighter movie, right? Well it seems that I am dead wrong since there still isn’t a single good neutral review about the movie.

Here are some of reviews on the movie:

I’d say this is roughly 20 times better than the first “Street Fighter” movie. It’s still a waste of time, but unlike the game, it’s over in 95 minutes. – Chicago Tribune

Even by low-budget video-game adaptation standards, this one is a stinker. – MSNBC

With reviews like that my expectations has hit rock bottom so I guess I can safely see the movie without being disappointed but then again Variety says, “Even with the low expectations “The Legend of Chun Li” engenders, it still somehow manages to be a letdown.” Oh well this means I’ll just wait for it to come out not DVD but on HBO. No sense wasting my money!

The Slumdog kids now evidently the new Hollywood darlings. When they got home, however, it was back to reality. Sure they were given a heroes welcome with huge crowds waiting at the airport and in the streets of Mumbai waiting to greet them, but when it was time to go home it was back to the slums they went.

The good news is that Amarjeet Singh Manhas, the chairman of the Maharashtra Housing and Area Development Authority, said that Rubina Ali and Azharuddin Ismail are going to be given a new apartment in the suburbs of Mumbai. That was a few days ago and still no news. You would think that with all the money they helped make the producers would dole out a bit more to give them nicer digs – FAST. After all when those in power want something to happen even just a place for rent takes less than a week to find. Hopefully though the good news will come soon.

On a sadder note Azharuddin was given a reality check when father Mohammed Ismail slapped and kicked his son in public (See article Scumdad Millionaire for photos and details). It is said that it happened due to Azharuddin not wanting to go out and instead rest when his father ordered him to do otherwise. A shocker some claim but remember that these kids live in the real world. The father has apologised but still it is not an excuse. Yes. It may be a reality check but this kind of thing is one of the realities we hope will change wherever in the world you may live.

Not wanting to end in a sad note the latest good news connected with the movie is that child sponsorship in India has risen! The sponsors money goes to the education and health care of kids in need. Now called the “slumdog effect’ we hope that the ripples will reach farther and farther as more people see the movie.

No I didn’t make a mistake typing this post’s title. What this post is about is the best site to find the best movie posters of all time – TC CANDLER. The great thing about the list in this site is that it really does represent only the best of the movie posters. Truthfully I haven’t even seen some of the old movies there but after seeing the poster I now plan on getting a copy of those movies…now THAT speaks about the effectiveness of the poster, right?

TC Candler also updates the list when he comes across posters of both old and new movies that he thinks are good enough to belong. His criteria for a good movie poster? It should be “intriguing, shocking, inspiring, exciting, beautiful, original, and most of all MEMORABLE.”

Here’s his top 10 movie posters:

1. The Sin of Nora Moran - I have absolutely no idea what this movie is!
2. American Beauty
3. Pulp Fiction
4. The Gold Rush (starring Charlie Chaplin)
5. Die Another Day
6. Lord of War
7. Secretary
8. Jaws
9. Straw Dogs
10. Hard Candy

Milk may not have won the Best Picture in the Oscars but it sure did move people. In fact it moved them so much that is not hailed by members of the gay community as the movie that will live on. I guess this is true since according to Geoff Korrs of Equality California the movie “will be shown in schools and LGBT (lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender) centers around the world.” In that case, it sure has a captive audience already and will continue to rake in revenue, though maybe not the box office hit type of revenue.

According to Milk’s producers though that is quite alright since their goal in making the movie is not so much to make money (though we can be sure they wanted to make enough to at least make a profit!) but to be able to tell the world about Harvey Milk’s story. They seem to have succeeded at that but we’ll have to see just how lasting and huge its impact will be. For the young gay and women who have been inspired by the movie we can be sure at least that there is more awareness about the role Harvey Milk played to help advocate social change.