Colombiana: Commando with Brains and a Heart

Late review, but I’ve been kind a busy. Here is a movie with fast, relentless action and no time to breathe coming to DVD and Blu-Ray this week. Colombiana relates the quest of a determined woman, named Cataleya, looking to avenge her parents’ murder.

Colombiana's Zoe Saldana kicks some serious butt without breaking a sweat.

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Crafting a Likable Hero: The Book of Eli

The Book of Eli is on HBO this week. It is a good, decent, entertaining movie, with a protagonist that I happen to like a lot. How do you create a character that is likable and sympathetic? The Book of Eli showcases a man played by Academy Award winner Denzel Washington who modestly possesses all the quality of a likable hero.

Eli (Denzel Washington) demonstrates his impressive fighting skills with almost any weapon in The Book of Eli.

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A Million Plot Twists: The Dark Knight

“See, madness, as you know, is like gravity.
All it takes is a little push.”
-The Joker

The Dark Knight probably holds a record for the unusual number of twists and reversals in a two and a half hour narration. The proper word is roller coaster (and this time they mean it!) The filmmakers wield the continuous shift, twists and rebounds like true masters, offering the audience a rare masterpiece of storytelling virtuoso, a story that grabs hold of your brain from the first minutes until the final credits roll.

The Dark Knight (Christian Bale) keeps fighting on the cool-looking batpod, after the destruction of the batmobile.

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Surprise Twist: Babe: Pig in the City

This scene takes place around the midpoint in the movie. Up to this moment, Babe, the little pig, has been described as “an inconsequential species with no other purpose than to be eaten by human”; the pig and his human, Mrs Hoggett, have been dragged here and there, pushed away, arrested, searched, judged, released, and overall not taken very seriously. The hero needs an event to turn the tide in his favor.

Later, set up by the chimps, Babe finds himself hunted by 2 ferocious guard dogs: a bull terrier and a doberman. And after a lengthy chase around the canal, the bull terrier finally rams Babe right into the water. He then jumps in after the pig, but his leash, caught in an old lawnmower gets hooked onto one of the bridge post.    Read more »