Cinematic Dramatic 3x08 - Listen Now!

The latest episode of Cinematic Dramatic, from Geek Planet Online, is now available to download.

Click the Cinematic Dramatic logo to listen to the new episode

Thor, Hanna and Attack The Block get reviewed by myself and Byron Pitt. Plus in What We've Watched, we talk about classic Sydney Lumet with 12 Angry Men, oddball Scharwzenegger in Last Action Hero. Plus some of the latest cinema releases like Priest 3D, 13 Assassins and Summer Wars.

Iain's Movie Pet Hates - The Renaming of English speaking Films for English audiences.

I was at work yesterday where another delivery of film related posters came in to be opened, sorted, and put up if they were important.  One tube I opened up had a poster for Fast Five, as everyone knows by know the fifth Fast and Furious film. But low and behold what those clever buggers at Universal Pictures have done….

Fast Five has been renamed Fast and Furious 5: Rio Heist

HOW FUCKING DUMB ARE WE SUPPOSE TO BE?

They’ve released teaser trailers saying Fast Five and then suddenly one day in the marketing office suddenly hit a block in the road.

Marketing Executive 1: “Hang on folks! Brainwave! The British….they don’t know what Fast Five means? How are they supposed to know it’s the fifth Fast and Furious film set in Rio where Vin and co are doing a massive heist?”

Marketing Executive 2: “Call it Fast and Furious 5: Rio Heist?”

Marketing Executive 1: “You smart bastard! That’s perfect!”

This is what pisses me off half the time when it comes to releasing films in other English speaking countries. The changes sometimes just don’t make any bloody sense what so ever.

Live Free or Die Hard was changed to Die Hard 4.0 – why? Are we not clever enough to notice through the trailers and marketing that it was about computer hackers?

The Rundown was changed to Welcome To The Jungle – why? Are we not supposed to know what a rundown is? You know, running down the important information? Do we need a title to know that we’re going to a jungle in this film?

I mean even Harry Potter and The Philosopher’s Stone changing to The Sorcerer’s stone sounds silly. I bet American audiences would have the smarts to understand the world Philosopher. 

Okay, if said film is foreign in a non-English language speaking form, then yes renaming the film can help sometimes. 

But why? Oh gods, why, are we considered such muppets that Fast Five is renamed to the most simplest of titles.

Hollywood clearly thinks we’re stupid.

Cinematic Dramatic Catch up!

Hi all,

It's been a while I know, mostly because real life work, convention work, and podcast work seems to over rule each other at some point over the last two weeks.

I'll have a review coming soon, just now for the time being, you can catch up on the Cinematic Dramatics that you might have missed. 

As usual, click the logos to go to the episode page. Enjoy!

Cinematic Dramatic 3x01 - Best Worst Movie and Troll 2

Cinematic Dramatic 3x02 - Drive Angry 3D / Byron Pitt Vs The Oscars

Cinematic Dramatic 2x25 - Listen Now!

The latest episode of Cinematic Dramatic, from Geek Planet Online, is now available to download.

Click the Cinematic Dramatic logo to listen to the new episode

Animal Kingdom, True Grit and Paul all get The Dramatic review treatment as well. Byron's also checked out Biutiful...which he won't be getting the three hours of his life watching it back. I also check out, out of morbid childhood cruiousity, Yogi Bear.

Well, Byron did tell me not to watch Biutiful!

Cinematic Dramatic 2x23 - LISTEN NOW!

The latest episode of Cinematic Dramatic, from Geek Planet Online, is now available to download.

Click the Cinematic Dramatic logo to listen to the new episode

Tangled 3D, The Mechanic and Hereafter come under intense viewing. Me and Byron Pitt also discuss the Oscar nominations, Red State and share a whole heap of What We've Watched viewing.

Plus there's also a chance to win a pair of tickets to the Prince Charles Theare's double bill of Best Worst Movie and Troll 2. 

Go on, have a listen. You could win something!

The coin flipping Dilemma of…um…The Dilemma

The Dilemma (2011)

Director: Ron Howard

Stars: Vince Vaughn, Kevin James, Jennifer Connelly, Winona Ryder

I was in a bit of a muddle on Friday night. I had finished worked, The King’s Speech and Black Swan technically decimated our cinema for another night and I had finished my shift. Sure, it was 11pm, but I thought I’d unwind by going watch a film at the late show multiplex a mere 20 minutes away.

But the problem in my head was what I was going to watch. I was intending to see The Ward (which I have done and will review later) but wasn’t in the mood for a horror. I wanted something light and my choices came down to either Morning Glory (where grumpy Harrison Ford makes me chuckle) or The Dilemma (A Ron Howard directed comedy…hmmm…intriguing and I had not seen a trailer either).

I couldn’t make a clear cut decision so I did what any filmgoer would do in this situation.

Flip a coin.

Heads, I watch Morning Glory. Tails, The Dilemma.

It landed tails.

So here are my thoughts of The Dilemma. On the surface looks like a typical, usually not that very funny, Vince Vaughn comedy. This time, he’s a unlucky plebe who spots the wife of his best friend, played by Kevin James, getting it off with Channing “the male block of wood” Tatum. Suffice to say, the dilemma (see what they did there?) of the situation for Vince is does he tell Kevin James what he saw? And what will happen if he does? Will it scupper their motorcar building dreams? Will it prevent Queen Latifah from getting a female hard-on?

Yes, that last line is what the Oscar nominated Queen Latifah continually spouts out in this film. We’ll get to that soon.

What’s odd about The Dilemma is at times it’s typically Vince Vaughn fair. There’s loud screaming, pratfalls, idiotic spouts of behaviour, and the world’s worse anniversary speech to give to a girlfriends parents celebrating 40 years together. If you like that sort of stuff, you’ll be happy. And how it’s done here, I didn’t mind it. I did laugh a good laugh ratio as Byron Pitt would put it. It makes up for some of the past crap Vaughn has done….Couple Retreat maybe? Four Christmases? Yeah, The Dilemma is head and shoulders above those.

Then at times, The Dilemma veers into drama territory – you’d expect it from Ron Howard I guess. You get these dark moments of problematic pasts like a gambling addiction, failed marriages, and it’s at that time, you feel the film is strangely unbalanced at times. Trying to market your film as a flat out comedy and then thrown in the occasional moment of reflective thinking and crying to God in a more sombre tone is quite a curveball. Some audiences might like it. I think it tries to make itself different from the norm and I respect its attempt to do so.

But when your counter balancing it with comedy that is completely out of place and characters that belong in an Apatow clan film, The Dilemma is still worryingly uneven. And that’s a shame. The central performances are likeable. Vaughn and James make a good double act. Winona Ryder is building on her recent performances of evil or batty woman here. Jennifer Connelly is normal here. Nothing special. Channing Tatum plays up to that block of wood character nicely.

I wouldn’t whole heartily recommend it. Perhaps to all those curious, give it a rental.  If you’re looking for a flat out comedy, find a flat out comedy. The Dilemma provides 50% of it. The other 50% is something from another film.

Oscar noms tomorrow, time to start guessing!

Now, regardless of how silly many feel the Oscars are, I like them.  I like the prestige and I like the fact that films coming out around this time tend to be some choice morsels of cinematic consumption.

Or Season Of The Witch…but that’s not important right now.

So,  here are my predicted picks for an Oscar nomination tomorrow. Films I haven’t seen are marked with a * and I am going on the current momentum built up from other awards and reviews.

Anyway, check out my predictions, come back Tuesday and watch me look baffled if they pull another Globes bout of film madness. If The Tourist creeps into Best Picture…something’s wrong indeed.

Best Film (No particular Order)

The King’s Speech / The Social Network / Inception / Black Swan / The Kids Are All Right / The Fighter* / Toy Story 3 / 127 Hours / True Grit* / Blue Valentine*

Wildcard surprises : The Town / Winter’s Bone

Best Actor

Colin Firth (King’s Speech) / James Franco (127 Hours) / Jessie Eisenberg (Social Network) / Javier Bardem (Biutiful*) / Ryan Gosling (Blue Valentine*)

Wildcard surprises: Jeff Bridges (True Grit*) or Marky Mark Walhberg (The Fighter*)

Best Actress

Natalie Portman (Black Swan) / Annett Benning (Kids are All Right) / Julianne Moore (Kids Are All Right) / Jennifer Lawerence (Winter’s Bone) / Nicole Kidman (Rabbit Hole*)

Wildcard surprises: Lesley Manville (Another Year*) or Michelle Williams (Blue Valentine*)

Best Director

David Fincher (Social Network) / Christopher Nolan (Inception) / Darren Aronofsky (Black Swan) / Tom Hooper (King’s Speech) / David O’Russell (The Fighter*)

Wildcard surprises: The Coen Brothers (True Grit*) / Lisa Cholodenko (The Kids Are All Right)

Best Supporting Actor

Christian Bale (The Fighter*) / Gefforey Rush (King’s Speech) / Mark Ruffalo (The Kids Are All Right) / Andrew Garfield (Social Network) / John Hawkes (Winter’s Bone)

Wildcard surprises: Jeremy Renner (The Town)

Best Supporting Actress

Helena Bonham Carter (King’s Speech) / Amy Adams (The Fighter*) / Melissa Leo (The Fighter*) / Hailee Steinfield (True Grit*) / Jackie Weaver (Animal Kingdom*)

Wildcard surprises: Mila Kunis or Barbara Hershey for Black Swan

Cinematic Dramatic 2x22 - The Green Hornet - LISTEN NOW!

The latest episode of Cinematic Dramatic, from Geek Planet Online, is now available to download.

Click the Cinematic Dramatic logo to listen to the new episode

The Green Hornet is reviewed, Byron Pitt fumes that he hasn't been nominated for Sky's movie blog of the year, Battle: LA has a brand new trailer and I watched The King of Fighters.

Enjoy!

The Genre-Giant's Films of 2010

Happy New Year Everyone!

As we begin a brand new year, it's time to take one last look at 2010 and remember some of the best films of the year. I watched over 100 films at the cinema in 2010 and the following are to be inducted into Iain's Class of 2010.

So in no particular order....

Inception

If people frown over the many sequels and remakes that came out in 2010, there was one film during the summer period that proved that you can be original and get people talking. Inception was that film. A combination of heists and dreams, Inception seriously blew the competition away. The amount of chatter everywhere after people watched the film, whether they thought it was good or bad, was unbelievable. More importantly, it cements Christopher Nolan as one of the best directors today. His last few films have always been well received, entertaining and fascinating to watch. Brilliantly acted with a talented ensemble, spearheaded by Leonard DiCaprio, Inception was the movie of 2010’s summer period. Period.

The Social Network

The Social Network earns its place here because one, this is the best screenplay of the 2010 and two is a terrific examination of something that is part of our society and culture today. Coupled together with Catfish, it’s been the year of the social network sites at the cinema. I’ll be honest, I didn’t have high hopes for Facebook: The Movie but when the film hit, I honestly didn’t expect it to be this verbally sharp, engaging, intelligent and quite frankly brilliant. Eisenberg takes the show as the socially inept nerd who would make one of our generations’ greatest piece of electronic social communication with Facebook.

The Secret In Their Eyes

In the mass of world cinema that came to UK screens this year, there was only one that stood head and shoulders above everything else. It even beat a Michael Henke film at the Oscars (Sorry Byron). This detective thriller charting a prosecutors re-examining of a vicious rape & murder is blended so well throughout with a touching human drama. An well known TV serial director before this came out, Juan José Campanella has certainly made a name for himself and I can’t wait to see what he does next.

Scott Pilgrim Vs The World

This had geek written all over it from the get go and as the film was unleashed frame by frame by Edgar Wright’s visual style (obviously guided by Bryan Lee O’Malley’s books), Scott Pilgrim was a visual explosion and wonderfully comedic tale of a true love’s fight…against seven evil exs. It’s strange that coming out of Pilgrim, the audience reaction has been 50-50. For every Pilgrim fan, there was someone who thought it was bollocks. Me, I loved it and it was one of three highlights for the recent summer season. Cult status will follow for this film soon hopefully for all those who just fell in love with the continous video game, manga, anime, rock and punk references. Heck, they even take a piss take at Seagal DTV films with the help of Captain America!

Toy Story 3

If anyone could do a third film in a popular animation franchise right, it was going to be Pixar. And what a way Toy Story’s hopefully final outing goes. Woody, Buzz and the gang being outgrown by the boy they entertained was a pitch-perfect coming of age tale. Great animation from Pixar that always gives its story the right amount of heart and emotion – but let’s not forget the brilliant laughs along the way too. Out of all the films on the list, Toy Story perhaps has the best ending from 2010's movies. A beautiful full circle ending that is hard not to shed a tear too. Honestly, it was a moving experience that ranks closely to the opening moments of Up.

Black Swan (2011)

It’s not out until January but it easily cements a place on the best films I’ve seen in 2010. Me and Byron saw this at LFF and we were practically left speechless and reeling. Darren Arronosky’s twisted tale of a ballerina quest for perfection under the pressure of her piers and family is still hard for me to put into words how stunning this cinematic tale was. It simply has to be seen at a cinema. Natalie Portman produces a career defining performance with good support by Mila Kunis and Vincent Cassell. There are graceful hints of early Polanski meshed into this psychological horror. You will be astonished by this visual and technical masterpiece when it dances onto screens in January. Highly recommend.

A Single Man

I’ve enjoyed Colin Firth playing the abrasive characters in films lately. The Non-“Mr Darcy” ones so to speak. A Single Man is the pinnacle of Firth’s current spate of damaged men. Though with The King’s Speech on the horizon, it could be challenged. A Single Man was a beautiful flourished film about the grief and hurt by bereavement. It may have not be to everyone’s tastes but Tom Ford gives a comfortable film debut behind the camera. Firth should have won the Oscar this year for his role but unfortunately, people rediscovered Jeff Bridges – which in itself wasn’t a bad thing. Regardless, A Single Man was a superb piece of human drama and I heartily recommend it.

The American

I’m a sucker for cinematic tales of assassins. While some may have too dark to watch properly (*cough* Ninja Assassin*), The American was a perfect combination of the genre intermixed with existentialism. It was great to see Clooney drop the charm to place this isolated, closed off, assassin / gun smith for hire all by himself in rural Italy. Some people have complained for a lack of action. Some were confused as to what was going on. This was far from simplistic cinema, photographed beautiful by Anton Corbjin, and (in my opinion) well paced. I loved The American and it was a standout drama thriller.

Four Lions

The comedy of 2010. Period. As In The Loop previously gave the possible frightening child like antics of government. Four Lions, a film in a similar vein, gave the possible idea of some terrorists being…well…thick. Chris Morris’ frequently laugh out loud comedy is a great satire on our perceptions of terrorism in a modern age. The humour raged from the physical and bonkers dialogue complete with a sharp edge which fans of Morris’ brand of humour will lap up.

Sex & Drugs & Rock & Roll

A terrific alternate musical biopic with Andy Serkis playing Ian Dury. Theatrical, engrossing, entertaining and fuelled by some terrific musical sequences sung by Serkis himself. SDRR was a great look into one of the 80s musical icons of Brit Pop / Rock. Which considering the amount of American biopics being churned out on a yearly basis made a great change to things.

So there you have it, my favourites of 2010 in this handy blog post. If you want to hear more discussion on these films, why not listen to the latest episode of Cinematic Dramatic over at GeekPlanetOnline.

Anyway, enough 2010 talk - let's march in 2011!

The worse films of 2010 that Iain had to endure....awww....

We're nearly at the end of 2010 so before I reveal my films of the year, why not shame the ones that gave me eye cancer. For more discussions, check out the latest episodes of Cinematic Dramatic at GeekPlanetOnline.

So, the worse films of 2010? Here goes: 

Legion

You know a film is truly terrible when you’re laughing at the sheer stupidity and ridiculousness of the actions on screen. Legion was such a film when Paul Bettany and Kevin Durand finally collided in the finale of this utterly appalling horror action in which spinning maces and machines guns were overkill. The idea of angels coming to kill humans was interesting, trying to make Paul Bettany a bad ass action hero kinda fun when you thought about it. But Legion’s end result was anything but watchable. And the early reviews for Priest next year have not been good. Oh god.

Bangkok Adrenaline

Words cannot express the sheer insulting emotions I endured watching this action film. The action scenes, however well set, did not save it from utter shite. That is all.

The Last Airbender

Quite frankly, the worse offender of the bunch of shamed films. How low can M Night Shawddy Shawddy get? This low. Airbender is poorly scripted with horrible exposition dialogue, repeating plot points that we don’t need to be told about every time the villain comes back, stilted acting, the race bending issue, the complete destruction of a beloved Nickelodeon cartoon. Take your pick for any of these reasons. But the real kicker of this whole shit pile? A 3D presentation that does fuck all making you wear 3D glasses just to see the film properly. A waste of time for everyone involved and only a miracle can save this director’s promising career.

Jonah Hex

A comic book movie that arrived damaged, broken, violated, and trodden on. All promises of a good movie go out the door with a daft runtime, vanishing characters, poor dialogue and wasted actors. Only Michael Fassbender escapes this mess as the best thing in it. And that's very worrying when you've got a cast featuring Josh Brolin, John Malkovich, Will Arnett, Michael Shannon (he's in it...somewhere) and Megan Fox.....HEY! Waitaminute!

Skyline

Thank god the projector broke near the end of my screening for the film. This alien invasion film was tedious from start to its abrupt end. Impressively visually sometimes with the special effect. However, Skyline was let down by everything else. The TV actors tried but were clearly being directed by brothers who were interested in what they could put in the background rather than get decent performances. Or actually bash out a coherent story. That ending is fucking retarded still.

The Hidden Cinematic Gems of 2010....

Since we're approaching the end of 2010, it's time to remember and forget those cinematic nuggets that came to the cinema this year.

My best of list is coming shortly but for now enjoy the select morsels of hidden gem that you may have missed at the cinema. Prehaps you could pick them up on DVD or wait til their actual cinema release next year?

The Genre-Giant's Hidden Gems of 2010

Rare Exports: A Christmas Tale

The Christmas tale of tradition gets a bit dark and a little twisted in this Finnish macabre tale where Santa really wants to eat bad children instead of giving them presents. Entertaining and a refreshing change for Christmas films, complete with a gut busting finale. It’s worth checking out around this festive time.

The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo

From an independent cinema employees eyes, The Millennium Trilogy was the biggest world cinema release of the year. The first film, Dragon Tattoo, is a perfectly paced and tense thriller that doesn’t shy away from the dark sides of human nature. However, its two sequels dampened the original’s glow and its TV roots horribly showed. I’m looking forward to seeing what Fincher and Craig do with the English version but I still recommend this one for any detective story lovers out there.

The Losers

We had many men on mission movies this year. A-Team, Expendables, Red. So many. The best one is the one that didn’t expect much attention from anyone. Based on the comic book, The Losers was breezy entertainment. A great cast that gave everyone a chance to shine from Jeffery Dean Morgan to Idris Elba to Chris Evans – even to Jason Patric. It didn’t have anything to prove and it reaps the benefits with this nice Saturday night actioner.

Carlos (Five Hour Version)

Last year I was quite fond of Vincent Cassel’s epic tale of crime with Mesrine that spanned two films. Carlos was in a similar vein, charting the mysterious political terrorist over his rise and fall in the late 70s and early 80s. Spanning five and a half hours, this dramatized biopic was propelled by a great performance by Edgar Ramirez (who incidentally attended the screening I went to and was kind enough to sign the back of my ticket) as Carlos embodying charisma, boldness and sleaze as the hypocritical terrorist.  There is a three hour version out there for those not too fussed by all the details but it’s a must watch for European crime cinema.

The Brothers Bloom

I saw it for the first time in 2008 at the London Film Festival and loved it. However well recieved though, it shockingly took two years for it to get an UK release but Rian Johnson’s second film is just as entertaining as his breakthrough Brick. Great performances and a great score makes this tale of conmen in Europe always entertaining to watch.

Everything Must Go (2011)

Not many people will stretch past the idea of Will Ferrell doing nothing but man child comedies. He dabbled a bit with straighter comedy in the surreal Stranger Than Fiction and he did again with Everything Must Go. A bittersweet comedy about one man’s collapse through alcoholism was helped by Ferrell’s presence. Injecting some of the depressing turn of events with a sympathetic edge and likeability as its protagonist, Everything Must Go was a refreshing change from Ferrell’s usual bout of shouting like a girl. It’s out in 2011 at cinemas, hopefully, and it’s recommended.

Black Dynamite

In an age where spoofs and satires mostly consisted of Vampires Suck. At least someone, out there, tried to take it back to the good days. Michael Jai White (you know, Spawn) came up with the idea of Black Dynamite, a 70s afro crime fighter that’s superbad and knows kung-fu. It’s loving send up off everything Jai White loves in blackploitation and it’s funny. Very funny. From intended hiccups in filming from changing a stunt man, to boom shots, to the utterly insane plot diversion to Kung-Fu Island. Black Dynamite is something fans of blackploitation and spoof fans will enjoy.

Tron Legacy - Quick! Someone give it an story file update!

Tron: Legacy (2010)
Director: Joseph Kosinski
Stars: Jeff Bridges, Garret Hedlund, Olivia Wilde, Michael Sheen

Disney have been pushing this one heavily over the last year promising something on equal par with Avatar and delivering a film many fans of the original would be very happy to see. I think they might want to reconsider that prediction.

Let's get this out of the way first, Tron: Legacy looks brilliant. It features the best 3D since Avatar and it certainly looks like they spent a lot of time creating this updated computer world with top notch special effects. Complied with an electronic epic score from Daft Punk, which I'd easily write here and now is one of the best soundtracks of 2010. So, at a casual glance, Tron: Legacy could get a comfortable good box office haul over Christmas for its first week at least. It's perfect for all men who like a good sci-fi tale, from the teenagers to the grown ups.

Yet, somehow, Tron: Legacy will not be able to hold a candle anywhere near the staying power of Avatar and the many audiences that came to see it over and over again. The reason? The great fault that plagued Avatar despite the film's success - story.

The first half of Tron: Legacy is very entertaining. Sam Flynn (Hedlund) gets zapped into the Tron universe after trying to find his missing father (Bridges) and ends up taking part in the deadly games this universe knows and loves. Crazy disc flinging games, light cycle showdowns, this is great.

Then he goes to the digital mountains to find his father...where not much happens and a lot of exposition gets dumped on everyone. If you know your technobabble, this might be a nice moment of computer fun. Everyone else could get bored out of their skulls.

And this is where Tron drops the ball big time despite shifting its story in the second half to stage a great escape from the computer world. Now if I look at Avatar by comparison, yes the story was a little hokey and all the jokes about Pocahontas in Space aside, actually had some fun moments in its bloated runtime. Plus there was an appeal for all audiences, a love story, science fiction, robots, aliens, monsters, battle scenes. All the boxes were ticked despite the flaws and I hate to admit that!

Tron doesn't tick all those boxes. It has a few moments after the promising first half but it never recovers. It's just too serious.

You can't fault the cast, they try the best they can. Jeff Bridges, now pretty much putting The Dude into any role nowadays, is always watchable. Hedlund makes good typical generic male lead, yet I think he might have benefited from a better director that deals with actors. Olivia Wilde makes fine eye candy and Michael Sheen pretty much goes into overboard in his brief fifthteen minutes of fun at a nightclub.

You know you're a badass when your playing a mock electric guitar as a fight breaks out around you. That or possibly easily distracted by noises.

I don't regret my time with Tron: Legacy. I'm happy with the visual aesthetic and Daft Punk's amazing score. The problem is that there's just no joy to be found anywhere else. And considering the lengths they went to make this film for the fans, for the geek community that thrived with films like Avatar, it really doesn't work. There's something way too serious about this nostalgia and not a lot of audiences are going to like it. Especially from a big blockbuster. That's why it won't get a continuing audience after opening weekend. How can you appeal a film like this to every audience?

Saying the words Tron and 3D just doesn't cut it.

When all of 2010's Xmas releases look dull, dire, and unexciting, you'd hope Disney would have downloaded a fun patch to keep this film head and shoulders above the others.

The download failed.

Iain doesn’t care that Stone Cold Steve Austin is The Stranger.

The Stranger (2010)

Director: Robert Liberman

Stars: Steve Austin, Erica Cerra, Adam Beach

About a week ago, I posted a blog review of Hunt To Kill, a cheesy actioner if not mildly entertaining at times. These were good signs for Steve Austin films. So, cue another bored night, Cinematic Dramatic had been recorded and I thought “You know what, I’m in the mood for something silly, let’s go with The Stranger.”

The film tells the story of an amnesiac FBI agent (Austin) who’s on the run, doing the occasional job, trying to remember what happened to him. Other FBI agents are trying to find him so they can crack the case of Russian and Mexican drug lords and a spat of missing money.  FBI Agent Stone Cold Steve Austin is your only hope for answers.

And I can’t give two f**ks.

Now, if The Stranger was nicely paced, had silly moments of entertainment then it would be another experience similar to Hunt To Kill. The problem with The Stranger is that it’s dull. Dull, dull, dull. The story goes at a painfully slow pace. Sure, there are moments where Austin opens up cans of whoop ass and goes to town but between all that is the usual cliché riddled tedium of FBI agents, money, and betrayals.  Betcha someone wrote the script in a day.

It’s not hard to guess what happened and it’s not hard to guess who the bad guy is.

There is absolutely nothing engaging or entertaining about anything The Stranger offers. Hard To Kill was more entertaining simply because of its simplicity and actual bad guys that weren’t bad to watch. Annoying, possibly. It might have had Gary Daniels, yeah. But Hard To Kill was a lot more fun to watch than an amnesiac Stone Cold Steve Austin traipsing about going “I don’t remember.” There’s a moment where Steve Austin is told by people monitoring him that he goes place to place, different names, different jobs. That would have been more interesting to see. Not random people talking about moles in the FBI.

Then there’s a god damn sequel set up that’s f**king retarded and aggravating after things have been revealed.

If you really love the guy, rent it. Anyone else not fussed, avoid and possible go out and rent Hunt To Kill or maybe Damage. They’re much better films. Trust me.

This is more entertaining….click the picture to see the funny short the image comes from on Funny Or Die.