Geek of Oz

Lone Survivor, the latest film from Peter Berg (Welcome to the Jungle, Battleship), plays more like a recruitment video for the U.S Army than a film with any real depth. The film is an adaptation of former Navy SEAL Marcus Luttrell’s account of the 2005 Operation Red Wing, a bungled covert operation in Afghanistan that sees four U.S soldiers are grossly outnumbered by a hostile enemy. Despite the jingoistic flavour, excessive torture porn and overly simplistic script, Lone Survivor has enough thrills to scrap through with a pass mark. The film opens with a montage of actual Navy SEAL hopefuls being put through their paces. We see their fatigue, their determination, their will to be the best … yeah, yeah we get it, these aren’t normal every day soldiers. The sequence tells you all you need to know about the film: it’s an unabashed love letter to the military. The plot is kept pretty straightforward and the characters even more so. We meet each of Navy SEALs and get given a li...

Savages , the latest film by Oliver Stone, tells the story of Californian drug dealers Chon (Taylor Kitsch) and Ben (Aaron Johnson) as they are planning to retire. Complications arise as a Mexican Cartel led by Elena (Salma Hayek) start to move in on Chon and Ben’s territory, which results in multiple kidnappings, shoot-outs and double crossings. Ultimately, Savages suffers from an inconsistent tone but has a few highlights to draw upon. Savages is the film adaptation of a novel by acclaimed crime author, Don Winslow ( The Power of the Dog, The Winter of Frankie Machine and Dawn Patrol ). I am a huge fan of Winslow’s work; he is able to lace the criminal world with grounded characters which make for more compelling stories. Being a story about drug dealers, it’s already a hard enough task getting the audience to sympathise with its protagonists. Failing to establish the title characters of Ben and Chon exacerbated this problem. Sure, we get a montage introducing their operation ...

Back in March we reviewed John Carter , a family friendly big budget blockbuster that we likened to a sci-fi version of Pirates of the Caribbean. Now it's time to make your own mind up! Thanks to our friends at Disney, we have 2 copies of John Carter on Blu Ray to give away. John Carter is the perfect film for the Blu Ray treatment, a big budget blockbuster with tonnes of special effects and action out the BARSOOM! Follow on after the jump to find out how to win!

The most difficult thing to do when going to watch a film based on a board game is to turn off the cynic switch. If you can do this, which is bloody hard in this instance, you get a film which is if nothing else, enjoyable. When the initial trailers came out I was convinced that this was the new Transformers film. The sound, the effects and the EXPLOSIONS had me thinking that Michael Bay had fast tracked the Autobots next outing. After seeing Battleship, I'm still thinking this is the case. Hard to port and set a heading for CHEESY ISLAND!

From the pages of Edgar Rice Burroughs' "Barsoom" novels, we get get Disney's JOHN CARTER and it's about time. Rumour has it that this film has been in development on and off since the early 1930's by various persons and studios. Well, it's finally here and it is big! John Carter (Taylor Kitsch) is a veteran of the Civil War, a confederate soldier. His part in the war has changed him in more ways than one and leaves him drawn to the wild west for the promise of gold. Even though Carter tries his best to avoid trouble, for some strange reason it keeps finding him. Drawn into a battle, he hides out in a nearby cave which is the source of fear to his Native American pursuers. Soon after he finds himself inexplicably transported to a seemingly uninhabited and arid world known as Barsoom, this is where the story really begins.

I hate to tease, but I'm lucky enough to have seen John Carter in its entirety although you'll just have to wait until March to read my thoughts on the film. "From Academy Award®–winning filmmaker Andrew Stanton comes “John Carter”—a sweeping action-adventure set on the mysterious and exotic planet of Barsoom (Mars). “John Carter” is based on a classic novel by Edgar Rice Burroughs, whose highly imaginative adventures served as inspiration for many filmmakers, both past and present. The film tells the story of war-weary, former military captain John Carter (Taylor Kitsch), who is inexplicably transported to Mars where he becomes reluctantly embroiled in a conflict of epic proportions amongst the inhabitants of the planet, including Tars Tarkas (Willem Dafoe) and the captivating Princess Dejah Thoris (Lynn Collins). In a world on the brink of collapse, Carter rediscovers his humanity when he realizes that the survival of Barsoom an...

Check out the new John Carter trailer below. This trailer debuted yesterday during the Superbowl (go Giants!) and at 1 minute long it would have cost The House of Mouse a cool $7 million US dollars. Odin's Raven! That's nearly as much as I earn in an entire week!  In all seriousness, this is shaping up to be a sleeper hit. It is in the perfect situation to surprise audiences with its slick styling and action that is off the chain. I still remember how Pirates of the Caribbean snuck up on us all and blew everyone out of the water (pun entirely intended). Check out the trailer after the jump!