The Karate Kid

Ok! I know when I can hold my hand up and say I was wrong.I've been dreading going to watch this remake, if your an 80's kid like me the Karate kid means one main thing. Mr Miagi.

The entire story gets changed as none of the original characters were necessary. This classes it as a re-imagining instead of remake, which is my excuse for accepting this film for the general kickassery within.

Our hero is 12 year old Dre (Jaden Smith) who has to move to China with his mom. He is not at all happy about this change in lifestyle and lashes out in a general teenage sulky way. The story is set up pretty quickly with the new guy falls in love with girl, girl is part of ethnic majority, certain members of said majority take offence, beat him up and then challenge him to a karate tournament. Couldn't be simpler, oh wait that's right. He doesn't know karate. Enter Mr Han (Jackie Chan).

If your a massive Will Smith fan like myself you'll thoroughly enjoy Jaden's performance. While I'm sure he has a future in film making that will vary to his fathers roles, you can kinda feel the same attitude in some of his lines. Some of the looks he has on his face look very familiar. He is an instantly likeable hero and you root for him straight away. Jackie Chan has grown from strength to strength in hollywood and it's great to have him in a mentoring role. He brings the silent wisdom that Pat Morita did and takes it to a darker level. Be on the look out for a nod to a scene in the original karate kid involving chopsticks and a fly.

The best part for me has got to be the choreography. Just because our story revolves around young teenagers does not mean that the fighting doesn't have a really good dose of ouch. These kids pull off moves that Tekken characters would have trouble with.

All in all, I'll be watching this film a good couple more times and I can definitely smell a sequel.

Clash of the Titans

I'm completely sick and tired of remake after remake of original classics by movie makers obsessed with proving how better they can do it (of course you can, technology is great) instead of thinking of new ideas. This attitude lead me to avoid watching Clash of the Titans until it's dvd release. I was happily surprised when from scene to scene I became more engaged in this mythical and beautifully imagined world.

While it sells itself completely on it's cinematography extremely well, the story line includes all the coolest greek mythology characters like Medusa, Pegasus and the Kraken. All the gods are accounted for and Ralph Fiennes' Hades is my favourite character. Just perfectly insidous and you gotta love a good bad guy.

I think the last greek mythology movie to be this fun was Disney's Hercules. It's one of those movies that pretty much does what it says on the box. Designed to sit back and enjoy on a sunday afternoon with the popcorn flowing a plenty. Don't expect it to get intriguing as the predictability is on max factor 10 to the power of infinity.

I'm not completely sold on Sam Worthington just yet. He's in loads of stuff at the moment, but I'll hang on until he plays a more complex character.

The A Team movie 2010

This particular blogger has been waiting for an A Team movie as long as any other 80's child. While hollywood will continue to churn out reinventions of classic tv series, they either take off like the Transformers or crash and burn like the Dukes of Hazard.

The A Team has accomplished everything I've been looking forward to in the many years leading up to it. The back story to how they originally meet is covered quickly and well as it sets up the team with catchphrases and attitudes that defined Hannibal and the boys. If you are an A Team fan you will have a smile on your face several times during the first 15 mins of the movie as you recognise all the nods to what made the original characters so fun to watch. For any new viewers to the A Team, the modernisation of the times and people ensures that you can be comfortably introduced to the guys without needing to have ever watched the tv series before.

As with any tv to film transition, the characters undertake a bit of growth in their own ways, some more than others, but these remain safely seperate from the action. The pace switches between fast and plan making at regular pace evening it out throughout the film. You never feel bored.

One of the angles taken is that the A Team are definately the best at performing the craziest stunts. There will be moments that you want to clap out loud to with completely unrealistic chances of survival, but that's why we want to watch the A Team.

The roles seem to have been cast perfectly creating a great team chemistry between them. You genuinely feel like they have known each other for years and gotten to know each other well. Liam Neeson brings the best out of his boys as the plan man Hannibal Smith. His straight talking, in charge attitude gives him a commanding presence that he makes no faults with. The Hangover's Bradley Cooper is just plain fun for any guy to watch as he has women falling over him all over the place. Charlto Copley, who shot to fame in District 9, is the star of the show in my opinion. The wisecracks mixed with constant affirmation of his insanity will make him popular with audiences the world over. Rampage Jackson fills Mr T's boots but but also helps mold the man who "Pities the fool!"

Considering no one in the TV series ever got shot, while there is violence, it is very tame for an action movie. They don't focus on pools of blood an gruesome injuries galore. The bad guys take on a rather exageratted form but I personally didn't mind since it came across as quite fresh for the bad guys to be a bit ridiculous.

All in all an awesome retelling of some incredibly beloved heroes. 9/10
If you've seen the A Team, comment and let me know what you thought.