The guys are back with another round of reviews. Has Eddie Murphy ended his box office skid? Is John Carter the next big franchise for Disney? Listen in and get the guys opinion and then leave yours in our comments section or on facebook!

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Disney does it again! How can you take one of the greatest adventures in the last 100 years and screw it up?  Yep, John Carter went Hollywood. Edgar Rice Burroughs wrote A Princess of Mars in 1917 as a love story, adventure story and most of all a story of undying friendship. I wanted the movie to reflect the incredible emotion I felt when I first read the book, unfortunately, it did not.

John Carter is a southern gentleman and a former officer of the Confederacy loaded with worthless Confederate currency and hunting for gold. In John Carter that is apparently supposed to make up for the loss of his wife and child. Carter manages to find evidence of a “Cave of Spiders,” supposedly filled with gold just waiting to be picked out of the walls. Unfortunately the Union Army wants Carter to aid them in fighting the Apaches that terrorizing the populace. He refuses, violently, manages to escape and, in a nice irony, steals the commander’s horse.

When Apaches attack the soldiers chasing Carter, finally, we see the hero. He snatches the commander from the clutches of the brutal Apache and carries him to a nearby cave. Of course, predictably, it’s the Cave of Spiders. Finding technology there Carter inadvertently transports to Mars and the adventure of two lifetimes. John Carter (Taylor Kitsch) meets the love of his life, Dejah Thoris, and Tars Tarkas a 12 foot tall green alien with 4 arms, two giant tusks and a temper to match. Up to this point the movie is pretty enjoyable.

Unfortunately, the rest of John Carter is a hodgepodge of technology, evil aliens called Therns and an ego maniacal would be Emperor of Mars called Sab Than. Someone forgot about the book, forgot about the principle of a simple story done well and instead just spent a lot of money on fluff.

John Carter is “the best swordsman on two worlds.” Tars Tarkas is the greatest strategist on Barsoom and the deadliest warrior. Kantos Kan is one of the greatest commanders and pilots on the planet. So what do we get in John Carter: a bunch of confusing confrontations with balding aliens (Therns), excessive over the top flying machines and a nutty device that apparently dissolves people. I’ve read A Princess of Mars 30 times since I was 8 and even I was thoroughly confused.

I expected Lord of the Rings, Gladiator or Braveheart style battles with John Carter and Tars Tarkas back to back killing Warhoons, Zodangans and Tharks, amid piles of bodies (this only happened once and it was the best part of the movie for me). What I got was some neat technology, creepy aliens and Star Trek transporter-like technology.

One of the most puzzling element of John Carter was the casting. There were some great picks: Lynn Collins as Dejah Thoris, James Purefoy as Kantos Kan and even Dominic West as Sab Than among others, but then there was Taylor Kitsch as John Carter. He was adequate, but without the screen presence of great action heroes. Noone steals a scene from Bruce Willis, Harrison Ford or Sean Connery. Even the evil Matai Shang (Mark Strong) managed to steal scenes from Kitsch. John Carter is one of the first and greatest action heroes. They seem to have forgotten this for John Carter, the movie.

Disney could have saved themselves a hundred million dollars, developed a “period” style action movie with flashing swords, primitive flying machines, developing friendships and a great love story and had a really good movie. Add in all the missing fight scenes from A Princess of Mars and it would have been great!

Rating 3.5 stars out of 5.

We all need a good laugh from time to time! And what better way to get  some laughs than with a great Slapstick Comedy!  Does Doug and Craigs list match yours? Or is there a hidden gem we missed? Leave a comment here or on Facebook! We look forward to hearing from you!

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The Movie Maniac Craig and Tom are back to give you their review of these two vastly different movies!  I think we all should thank them for taking one for the Team!

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Gritty, dark and raw, Act of Valor manages to combine intense action, great special effects and a pretty good, if small, story without ever resorting to acting. The movie uses real life Navy SEALs, instead of actors, to achieve a realism seldom seen in modern day film. Unfortunately for many in the audience, mostly critics, Act of Valor lacks the dramatic effect actors bring to a film. I don’t agree. In Act of Valor, the dramatic effect comes from the battle scenes, not in some contrived interpersonal crisis. The director of Valor eliminates much of the phony sympathy and artificial empathy present in most modern war films in favor of pure action. Make no mistake, Act of Valor is a real take on war and the violence therein.

The plot is simple: a Chechen Islamic terrorist named Abu Shabal (Jason Cottle) plans to bring violence to the United States in the form of suicide bombers. Shabal, with the help of his boyhood friend Christo (Alex Veadov), a Jewish international drug smuggler, get access to bomb vests loaded with ceramic ball bearings undetectable in metal detectors.   They are to cross the border with Mexico bringing terror in their wake. The plan is to set off the vests in crowded tourist sites and stadiums to maximize the effect the devastation. Shabal assumes the brutal attacks will destroy the American economy, traumatize the populace and, presumably, cause a backlash that will mobilize the Muslim world. Yes, not terribly original but still effective. The job of the Navy SEALs: track them down and stop Shabal and his bombers (using extreme force if necessary).

What makes Act of Valor work is its dependence on intense action and extreme violence. I think we all could have done without the uninspired dialogue, the poorly delivered emotional content and contrived empathy, exactly what you’d expect from non-actors. Of course it’s what the audience expected. The whole point of the movie, and it was all over the media, we wanted “navy SEALs, not actors.” The general public likes the film the vast majority of critics do not. Act of Valor is exactly “as advertised.”

The critics though crawled up on their pedestals and rained down scorn: paraphrasing some, “It’s not a movie,” or “it’s a recruiting film.” No! Act of Valor is an attempt to let real Navy Seals tell their own story in their own way. Unfortunately the filmmakers included too much human interest for amateurs to handle. Please, if you attend the film and I think you should, go for the action, go for the riveting gunboat scene or go to see what it looks like for real Navy SEALs to be in a firefight. Don’t go if you want to see an emotional sob fest.

Lastly, Act of Valor is by no means a recruiting film. An Officer and a Gentleman,Top Gun even Patton inspired me, Act of Valor scared the hell out of me. There was no exaggeration of glory, excitement or even beautiful women. Sadly lacking were the great cars, motorcycles and Meg Ryan, Debra Winger or Kelly McGillis.  In fact, the SEALs were shown with little personal control, far away from their families, for months at a time, and in constant danger. Not my idea of a recruiting film.

I strongly recommend Act of Valor for action junkies, war movie fanatics and the strong of stomach, all else BEWARE!!!

Rating 3.5 stars out of 5!

Okay, I love this trailer and cannot wait to see the movie. The Trouble With Bliss is going to be one of my favorite small films ever. there is something just kind of wonderful about its simplicity. If the movie is as good as the trailer I’ll expect you all to be there first weekend! Release Date: Mar. 23. Check out the trailer now and our mini-review when the film comes out!

I tend to love the really weird trailers and this one certainly qualifies. I can’t say I’m dying to see Blue Like Jazz but I love Jazz so who knows! Release Date: April, 13th.

Join Doug,Craig and Tom as they try to rewrite Oscar history! Did they get it right? Is there a movie or actor you thought should have won the Oscar? Well leave a comment or join us on Facebook we really want to hear from you!

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Listen in and find out if any of these movies are worth your time and money. Can Navy Seals pull off an action movie? Was Wanderlust another bust or should we surrender to This Means War?

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I got the idea that there are probably as many opinions about the Academy Awards this year as there are presenters. Hence the first annual Movie Madness Podcast poll of the Oscar show. Vote today!

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