I think its a safe bet that Lionsgate wont need to do much to pimp and promote The Hunger Games movie to you all but that wont stop em from trying to entice fans with goodies!

THE HUNGER GAMES: Movie tickets are now available for purchase online here

Additionally, all fans who purchase tickets online will receive a unique code to redeem in the iTunes store for a free download of a select track from the upcoming album “THE HUNGER GAMES”: Songs From District 12 And Beyond.”  The track is “Tomorrow Will Be Kinder” by The Secret Sisters, a hauntingly beautiful duet by the real-life sisters that was written especially for the film’s companion album.   More information about the companion album and its full track list is available here

Lionsgate has also confirmed that 400 lucky fans will be admitted to the World Premiere of THE HUNGER GAMES on Monday, March 12th at Los Angeles’ Nokia Theater at LA Live.  Guidelines for fans who wish to camp on site at “THE HOB” in hopes of securing tickets and participating in the red carpet excitement have been posted here

In Tim Burton’s Frankenweenie, young Victor conducts a science experiment to bring his beloved dog Sparky back to life, only to face unintended, sometimes monstrous, consequences.

Over the last year Lionsgate’s share price has almost doubled as stake holders bet on the fact that Hunger Games will be the next big smash hit according to MSN Money. Their is talk that The Hunger Games will bring in as much as 1billion dollars.

That said even if the movie only brings in a few hundred million which is pretty much a sure thing it will still make a huge amount of profit for Lionsgate since they made the film for reportedly $80million. Lionsgate is about to have a major pay day and will be able to milk The Hunger Games for many more sequels but the big question is will the movie impress or piss off its loyal fanbase?

Hugh Jackman stars as a former boxer, Charlie, now swimming in massive debt in a future where humans control massive robots to box each other. A string of bad luck finds him struggling to pay people he owes money to and looking for parts to make a new fighting robot at the same time he is saddled with a kid, Max (Dakota Goyo), that he doesn’t want. On a late night hunt for parts Max comes across the remains of an early model robot used mostly for sparring and brings it back to clean it up. Max convinces Charlie to enter it into some fight and gives it the name ATOM. After ATOM shows itself capable of taking a beating and winning some fights Charlie sees the bot as his ticket to finally making some money.

REAL STEEL is not here to push across realism in fighting or even family relationships as movies like THE FIGHTER or WARRIOR did recently, but it does give off enough good vibes and intentions to be a pretty nice father/son story when it’s all said and done. Based on the Richard Matheson story it definitely is not the Rock Em Sock Em Robots movie most thought it’d be when it was announced and trailers emerged. The fighting scenes were a lot of fun though and if this movie inspires the Rock Em Sock Em Robots movie then I hope they takes some notes from the fighting scenes in REAL STEEL.

The special effects used for the robots are actually pretty great- not quite photorealistic, but just seamless enough to not pull me out of the movie when on screen interacting with human characters. The fights themselves are easily more videogame quality but also still very fun to watch to a point that I can still buy it in context to the film and not feel like I’ve just entered generic videogame cutscene.

I was convinced by the trailers that I was going to hate each and every story aspect in regards to Hugh Jackman’s character. Everything up until I finally started watching the film said it was going to be painfully generic and hokey but as it started unfolding I actually started to enjoy the dynamic between Charlie and Max. Jackman plays a character that is extremely selfish and has a one track mind and the things he says to his own flesh and blood are somewhat shocking. His transformation to a more likable father figure was believable and lends to how satisfying the conclusion is for me.

There are a few things that either didn’t work for me or just kind of seemed goofy. For one the relationship between Jackman’s character and Evangeline Lilly’s character wasn’t entirely fleshed out thus somewhat meaningless and tacked on. When it is later revealed that ATOM has a shadow function and mimics everything the person in front of him is doing and there are some interesting things done with them, but dancing had equal parts goofy laughs and genuine charm.

I also feel like there are some missed opportunities with certain characters as well as an interesting aspect of ATOM that kind of gets pushed under the rug. I would have liked to see more done with Anthony Mackie’s character mostly because he added quite a bit of fun in his stretches of the movie and he was quite good in the part. There is also a lot of robot fighting in the film but I still could have used more. The robot fighting is easily one of my favorite aspects in the movie and there are a few really fun scenes with the fights which just made me wish certain weaker elements had been scrapped for more extended fight sequences.

REAL STEEL emerged as one of those pleasant surprises- a film I expected nothing from and ended up with an emotional resonance I was totally unprepared to experience. Jackman gives a pretty good performance as the jerk you love to hate but with a good guy underneath his rough exterior. The film is not without its flaws mostly in the unrealized depths with its central robot character and characters that I wish had had a bigger role. Overall, REAL STEEL is an effective one two punch of fun sports flick with a bit of emotional father/son moments that could have used a bit more ambition to really take the experience to the next level.

On the outside Chris Cleek is a family man that has a specific image in his head of how a family should look and act. Deep down though Chris is driven by a darker impulse and controls his family through fear. When out hunting one day Chris stumbles upon a woman living amongst nature and with seemingly no typical human manners and does not behave as most people do. Chris takes it upon himself to burden his family with this woman by holding her against her will at their farm and force his family to participate in teaching this woman how to behave like a civilized member of society.

THE WOMAN is not a pleasant experience. For the most part the film moves at a very leisurely pace, throwing in a few dark laughs and quirky scenes just to break up the monotony of the opening going into the halfway point. What it does do that redeems the slower pace is set up and build several different relationships that eventually lead to a tense and violent finale.

The performances are all decent- there’s nothing here that really blew me away aside from Pollyanna McIntosh having to basically go through a series of emotions without really speaking any discernible dialogue while seeming both helpless and intimidating. McIntosh has the task of portraying a sympathetic female role because she is for the most part being tortured and objectified while also being terrifying and unpredictable as this wild “creature” that has no bearings on how to behave as a person and will probably rip your throat out given the chance. It’s a performance that is a welcome balance in the submissive and dominant behavior of the characters and the portrayal of women in the film.

The father Chris played by Sean Bridgers says and does some pretty weird things in certain situations and at first I wrote it off as kind of a gaping flaw of the film but the more I think of it the funnier and interesting it is. The rest of the family including Chris’ wife, played by Angela Bettis, is basically at Chris’ mercy which becomes part of the intriguing nature of the film as you wonder why in the world anyone would stick by someone that is holding another human being against their will.

There is quite a bit of brutality, especially during the ending. The shock of the visuals is enough to make your stomach turn and the film does not leave you with a feeling of hope or joy. THE WOMAN is full of dark intentions, mostly with the male characters but also approaches things with a quirky sense of humor.

Lucky McKee seems to know his way around telling a somewhat unconventional story with in a unique way and THE WOMAN hammers that sentiment home. The film is full of uncomfortable scenes and visuals even sounds that I’m unlikely to forget anytime soon. The performance by the nameless woman by Pollyanna McIntosh is fearless and kind of terrifying especially when she belts out those inhuman growls. Overall, THE WOMAN isn’t an experience I plan to put myself through again anytime soon despite finding it perfectly watchable- then again I also don’t foresee being able to shake the experience as quickly as I’d like.

With Ghost Rider 2 now in theaters and from Stevens review of Ghost Rider 2 it seeming to be a bit of a piece of crap so what better time to look at Nicolas Cages best films. This feature can be titled the twelve Best Nicolas Cage movies or alternatively 12 Movies to watch instead of Ghost Rider 2 that also star Nicolas Cage. So in no particular order here they are;

Raising Arizona

Co-starring Holly Hunter and John Goodman Raising Arizona is not only one of Nicolas Cage’s best films its one of the best comedies of the 80′s and possibly of all time. Long before The Hangover’s antics we had the intelligent and witty Raising Arizona.

When a childless couple of an ex-con and an ex-cop decide to help themselves to one of another family’s quintupelets, their lives get more complicated than they anticipated.

Lord of War

Co-Starring Ethan Hawke and Jared Leto this film which is apparently loosely based on the life of a real arms dealer is one of the best thrillers of 2005. I am not a big fan of Ethan Hawke but admittedly he and Nicolas Cage combined with a great performance by Leto made this film a must see.

An arms dealer confronts the morality of his work as he is being chased by an Interpol agent.

Con Air

Con Air is a great film that happens to co-star some great characters including two of my favorite character actors John Malcovich and John Cusask. It was directed by Simon West who is directing the upcoming Expendables 2 which unfortunately does not star Nicolas Cage.

When the government puts all its rotten criminal eggs in one airborne basket, it’s asking for trouble. Before you can say, “Pass the barf bag,” the crooks control the plane, led by creepy Cyrus “The Virus” Grissom. Watching his every move is the just-released Cameron Poe, who’d rather reunite with his family.

Unfortunately though after the budget for AKIRA ballooned out of control Warner Brothers closed down the Vancouver production offices. A fan has seen fit to make the point once again that big budgets do not mean great movies. This was shown by Alex Ferrari and his film Red Princess Blues & Broken.

It was once again recently demonstrated by Ben Howdehell with his incredibly short film Project SERA and just in case I have not made enough points yet we have Aaron Sims Short film Archetype that puts just about every modern sci-fi action film to shame.

The point is that Big Budgets do not translate into great films anymore then great titles whether they are Manga or Graphic novels really need big budgets. Do it right with a great upcoming cast and great writers and the budget will take care of itself. Checkout Fabien Dubiou’s fantastic AKIRA Movie Trailer to see my case and point.

More importantly what will happen with Shane as the animosity between him, Laurie and Rick continues to grow. All we can be sure of is that Walking Dead Season 2 is a slow burn that is finally finding its fuel. In the new preview video for ’18 Miles Out’ Lori gives Maggie some relationship advice in this scene from episode 210. Catch the new episode Feb 26 at 9/8c.

The angle here is that SNOW played by Guy Pearce is the only man that can save the day. For better or worse though it looks like a rip off of Escape from New York / Escape from LA ( only in space ) right down to the main character who reminds me in every possible way of Kurt Russel’s character Snake Plissken.

Lockout;

• Presidents Daughter kidnapped
• Only one man can save the day ( Snow )
• SNOW is a complete bad ass who is also wanted
• She is captured in a Prison

So Lockout looks cool but I kinda wonder why they didnt just call it Escape From Earth and cast Kurt or some dude that looks like him to play Snake and save the day. It opens this April and I for one will definitely be going to see Guy Pearce and the gorgeous Maggie Grace go to war in a space prison full of rejects and nut jobs. This is one time where I am happy to see the similarity since the sequel to Escape from LA ‘Escape From Earth’ which Gerard Butler was supposed to play Snake Plissken in appears to be very much dead.

My excitement however was extremely short lived, yes the film is as stunning visually as you would expect, yes there is some great action scenes but any film still needs the story to be strong to move it along and it simply is lacking hugely in this department. An effort is made to try to be darker this time around but it simply does not work, you can usually expect a few light laughs from Cage but even they are lacking here and it is simply an awful movie to sit through. The plot has holes everywhere, you have too much backstory in some places and not enough where it counts, on a basic level it is a Hollywood tale about redemption but it’s so predictable and so Hollywood that it loses the edginess that a comic book movie should have.

As an entity the ghost rider should scare us all a demon who feeds on the souls of the wicked and does not see a difference between the man who once stole something and the man who killed a million people in the rider’s eyes evil is evil. The comic book does a great job in showing this and in Johnny blaze’s struggle to control it within him, again a complexity of a demon living within us all, but Hollywood is 0 for 2 when it comes to getting this across on the big screen. Movies these days tend to come along in three’s but I can only hope that something takes this evil away before they are allowed to poison the screen with a third offering, perhaps a back to the drawing board re-boot is needed.

In terms of the cast Violante Placido plays the female lead Nadya a gypsy trying to protect her son and a lady who has her own pact with the devil, Idris Elba plays a French priest who is seeking to help the boy and the ghost rider although we are never too sure why. An actor I do generally love Ciaran Hinds plays the devil but is not sneaky enough in the role for me to come off as the real trickster the comic book tells of. However there is one bright spark within the film the role of Danny played by the young Fergus Riordan is genuinely good in his role and is perhaps a big star in the making.

I had read it had not been well received in test screenings and it is hard to know if they changed anything as a result, in truth it is poor from start to finish and while it does once more look great there is simply not enough in the film to keep you entertained. Those responsible for this film may themselves have made a pact with the devil to ensure it makes millions across the globe but for me you are better off saving your money to see one of the other comic book films released later in the year. 2/5