Incorrect Title For The Start Of A Franchise... "The Last Witch Hunter"

The Last Witch Hunter (2015)

Rated PG-13

Starring Vin Diesel, Michael Caine, Elijah Wood, Rose Leslie, Julie Engelbrecht

Directed by Breck Eisner

The Story:

Kaulder (Diesel) led his men on a quest to kill the Witch Queen (Englebrecht) during the Dark Ages. With her dying breath, she granted Kaulder immortality so that he would be forever apart from his wife and children in the afterlife. Centuries later, there is a truce among the witches and humanity and Kaulder is the agent that hunts down rogue witches who would do evil and banishes them to a prison run by the witch council. But when his Dolan, # 36 (Caine) is attacked, Kaulder enlists # 37 (Wood) and a reluctant witch (Leslie) to help him save #36's life and stop the resurrection of the Witch Queen before it's too late.

It's nothing spectacular, but it's kind of fun.

Vin Diesel brings forth the beginning of another possible franchise and I already like this one more than the Riddick movies.

It seems to follow in the similar footsteps of The Brothers Grimm and Van Helsing, but takes the events more seriously than either of those films did.

That's not to say there isn't humor or a little heart to be found in the proceedings.

This time, instead of the usual vampires or supernatural monsters of the night, the focus turns to witches.

The movie will flash back to Kaulder's events centuries earlier, and even a few flash forwards to show what the world might be like if the Witch Queen isn't stopped.

Witches have been on the short end of the supernatural stick for some time, losing favor to the vampires and werewolves over the years, but this movie does a good job of showing what a formidable character witches can be.

It's a step in the right direction, and much better than watching sparkly vampires in love.

Final Grade: C+

Living In The Wild Wild West Weekend..."Dead in Tombstone"

Dead in Tombstone (2013)
Rated R for language, violence and nudity

Starring Danny Trejo, Mickey Rourke, Anthony Michael Hall

Directed by Roel Reine

The Story:

A gang rolls into a Colorado mining town to take all of the gold that is being held during a land dispute about who owns the mine.  However, the gang, under the insistence of Red (Hall) turn on their leader, Guerrero (Trejo) and gun him down.  Finding himself in Hell, Guerrero bargains with the Devil (Rourke): to deliver the 6 souls that sent him there, in exchange for his own.  The devil agrees, and Guerrero has 24 hours to bring his killers to justice.  Things are about to get ugly!

Well, that was unexpectedly fun!

Easily, the best western I've seen this year so far.

Remove the supernatural element, and you've got the makings and attitude of a good solid "B Movie Western". 

The sets, the costumes, the actors, all do a great job to convey an idyllic mining town that falls prey to the gang of thieves when they roll into town.


Played straight, this would have been a fine Western on its own.

When you factor the added twist with the Devil, that simply solidifies the storyline and provides the deus ex machina to get Guerrero into and out of trouble with no problems.


Danny Trejo does a great job of pretty much playing himself, but that's what you hire him for.  You want the baddest man on the planet, look no further.

Final Grade: Solid B

Rewatchability/Purchase Factor: I would have no problem owning or watching this one in the future.

No Rest For the Weary..."R.I.P.D."

When there's something strange...

In your neighborhood...

Who ya gonna call?

The Story:

Nick (Ryan Reynolds) is a cop who gets killed by his partner (Kevin Bacon).  Suddenly he finds himself landing a new gig in the Rest in Peace Department.  He is teamed with Roy (Jeff Bridges), a wild west lawman who's been doing this for years, but hates having partners.  Too bad, so sad, because the boys are going to have to learn to work together, and fast, if they want to prevent the impending apocalypse!

So, why does everyone hate this movie?

I don't know.

The trailers made it look like Ghostbusters meets Men in Black.

Mission accomplished.

The premise is fun: the dead that refuse to leave this world are hunted by the spirit world's best cops. 

It's a supernatural buddy cop film!

The cops of course look different to us humans: Nick is a Chinese man (James Hong) and Roy is a woman (Marisa Miller).  The effect is used to amusing potential throughout the movie.

However, therein lies the problem with a film with so much promise to its premise.  There was a lot of great potential to this story to live up to Ghostbusters or Men in Black...

And it never quite makes it.

It's fun, but not FUN! It's good, but not GREAT!

When you aim to be an amalgam of two science fiction/comedy classics, you've got to pull out all of the stops and not just rely on upgraded special effects to wow the audiences.

That said, the leading men, especially Bridges though, seem to enjoy what they are doing and give a fun performance as lawmen from the other side of the pearly gates.  Reynolds is shoehorned into the straight man role, and maybe that's part of the problem.

His mouth and sarcastic wit are his selling points, and when you have him playing the straight man reacting to the new crazy world that he's thrust into, he doesn't get to react as cleverly as he should, or at least, as audiences expect him too.

While it's not the greatest movie of the year, it is nowhere near the worst movie ever to grace the multiplex as many people seemed to think this year.

It's a movie with unrealized potential that could have been much better, but the bar maybe was set too high going into it.

The trailer told us too much, and made the comparisons inevitable.

Sometimes less is more, that would have been good advice for the trailer.

Sometimes less is less.  That might just sum up the movie.

Final Grade: C+ish

Rewatchability/Purchase Factor: I picked it up from Blockbuster sight unseen, not having done that in ages.  Don't regret the purchase, just wish there had been more for me to like.