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areaseven

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  1. areaseven
    Rotten Tomatoes Rating: 100% Metacritic Score: 81 out of 100
  2. areaseven
    More from the marathon... Fast & Furious Relativity Media/One Race Films/Universal Pictures, 2009 Directed by Justin Lin (Better Luck Tomorrow, Annapolis) Based upon characters created by Gary Scott Thompson (Hollow Man, 88 Minutes) Running Time: 107 minutes Rated PG-13 for violence, suggestive sexual situations, and profanity. "Still a buster." Cast Vin Diesel (Chris in Boiler Room, Caparzo in Saving Private Ryan) as Dominic Toretto Paul Walker (1973-2013) as Brian O'Conner Jordana Brewster as Mia Toretto Michelle Rodriguez (Luz in Machete, Rain in Resident Evil) as Letty Ortiz John Ortiz as Campos Laz Alonso as Fenix Rise Gal Gadot (Wonder Woman in Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice) as Gisele Yashar Don Omar (some Reggaeton singer) as Rico Tego Calderón (some Reggaeton rapper) as Tego T.I. (some rapper) as Troy Sung Kang (Han in Better Luck Tomorrow) as Han Seoul-oh (get it?) Jack Conley as Penning Shea Whigham as Agent Ben Stasiak Brian: "Ya know, I've been thinking, when you blew up your car, that means you blew up mine too." Dom: "Yeah." Brian: "Yeah, so now you owe me a 10-second car." Dom: "Is that right?" Synopsis After a successful run at hijacking fuel tanks on the highways of the Dominican Republic, Dominic Toretto leaves his girlfriend Letty and his gang to keep the authorities away from them while he's on the run. One day, in Panama, Dom receives a phone call from his sister Mia, who tells him that Letty was just murdered. He returns to L.A. to find out who murdered Letty. Meanwhile, Brian O'Conner - now an FBI agent, is assigned to track down a notorious drug lord named Antonio Braga. Dom and Brian once again cross paths when an illegal street racer's name is linked between Braga's operation and Letty's murder. Brian: "This is where my jurisdiction ends." Dom: "And this is where mine begins." Lowdown I know what you're thinking. There are a lot of questions you have in mind after watching the first three Fast and Furious movies. Brian's an FBI agent? Wasn't he in Miami the last time we saw him? And what's Han doing when he was killed in The Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift? Well, it seems that Fast & Furious is not just the fourth installment of the multi-billion dollar film franchise, it's a reunion film that completely disregards the 2003 disaster 2 Fast 2 Furious. Plus, the events of this film take place years before Tokyo Drift and clearly explains Han's association with Toretto. Now that we've got that straightened out, how's the movie, you ask? With the original cast of the first film reuniting for this installment, you'd expect this to be better than the last two films. Unfortunately, it's not as good as Tokyo Drift. (Of course, it's better than 2 Fast 2 Furious, but that film's already been pretty much declared non-canon.) The problem here is that there really isn't much of character interaction outside of Toretto and Brian. Letty - who was an integral character in the first film - is killed off all of a sudden after the first five or so minutes of the movie. And while Jordana Brewster is still eye candy on the big screen (is it me, or does she look like a young Demi Moore?), her acting is still flat as it was eight years ago. Israeli supermodel Gal Gadot is also hot, but she doesn't do much, either. Vin Diesel, as always, requires subtitles on his dialogue. And the late Paul Walker still carries the same surfer dude persona. Well, it's a car movie, which doesn't require much acting; so how were the car scenes? As with the previous installments, F&F is loaded with tons of high-performance cars. However, in contrast to the first three films, imports practically take a backseat to American Muscle. Walker wrecks yet another Skyline GT-R R34, while Diesel thrashes a Chevrolet Chevelle before reuniting with the Dodge Charger he totaled on the first film. The Ford Gran Torino - which gained attention in Clint Eastwood's Gran Torino, appears as the villain car. And for this film, Subaru supplied several modified units of their Impreza WRX STi as the new hero car piloted by Walker. The racing and chase scenes, however, are disappointing. Sure, there are lots of nice cars to look at, but the film goes overboard with the CG effects and tons of impossible stunt driving that makes Die Another Day look like Bullitt. Because of all the shaky camera work (even worse than all of the Bourne movies), it's nearly impossible to keep up with the action. Overall, while a much better effort than the second film, Fast & Furious does little to capture the excitement of the first. You could skip this, but it provides the backstory for the epicness that would be Fast Five. Rating: C Links The Fast and the Furious Official Franchise Site Rotten Tomatoes Rating: 27% Metacritic Score: 45 out of 100 References The Internet Movie Database
  3. areaseven
    Continuing the marathon... The Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift Relativity Media/Universal Pictures, 2006 Directed by Justin Lin (Better Luck Tomorrow) Based upon characters created by Gary Scott Thompson (Hollow Man, 88 minutes) Running Time: 104 minutes Rated PG-13 for violence and strong language. Cast Lucas Black (Frank in Sling Blade, Agent Lasalle in CSI: New Orleans) as Sean Boswell Bow Wow (yet another washed-up rapper) as Twinkie Nathalie Kelley as Neela Brian Tee as Takeshi "D.K." Kamata Sung Kang (Han in Better Luck Tomorrow) as Han Seoul-oh (get it?) Keiko Kitagawa (Rei/Sailor Mars in Pretty Guardian Sailor Moon) as Reiko Leonardo Nam as Morimoto Sonny Chiba as Boss Kamata Brian Goodman as Maj. BoswellLynda Boyd (Miss Ayumi in Project A-ko 2-4, Liza in Project A-ko Versus) as Mrs. Boswell Nikki Griffin as Cindy Keiichi "The Real Drift King" Tsuchiya as a fisherman (cameo) Vin Diesel (Riddick, xXx) as Dominic Toretto (uncredited) "Life's simple, you make choices and you don't look back." Synopsis Sean Boswell is a high school student with a penchant for trouble everywhere he goes, especially when it involves cars. When he gets involved in a deadly crash during a street race, he's given two choices: juvenile hall or Tokyo, Japan, where his father is stationed as a naval officer. Upon arriving in Tokyo, he meets Twinkie, an Army brat who studies at his school and sells imported goods on the side. He also meets Neela, an Australian classmate who is dating a Yakuza brat known as "D.K." Letting his pride get the best of him, Sean challenges D.K. to a race, learning the hard way that his style doesn't work against D.K. Twinkie: "Do you know what 'D.K.' means?" Sean: "Donkey Kong?" As a result of losing to D.K., he has to pay off his debt by working with Korean expatriate and expert drifter Han Seoul-oh in collecting money for the Yakuza. He quickly befriends Han and starts learning how to drift. Things get deadly when Sean gets too close to Neela while D.K. demands an explanation from Han on some missing collection money. As a means to put the situation to an end, Sean issues a loser-leaves-town duel against D.K. D.K.: "Do you know who I am, boy?" Sean: "You're the Justin Timberlake of Japan?" Lowdown Since 2001, The Fast and the Furious series has been one of Universal Pictures' biggest moneymakers, generating over US$2.3 billion worldwide in box office and DVD sales, as well as merchandising. The first film shot Vin Diesel into superstardom, while 2 Fast 2 Furious, well, was just a really bad sequel. Still, Universal knows that as long as high school kids dig cars, there will always be a F&F movie. Which brings us to the third installation of the series: The Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift. In this installment, Universal tried a different approach by introducing a completely new cast led by Lucas Black as the redneck teen Sean Boswell. Sung Kang does an impressive job in the role of Sean's mentor Han; so good that he reprised his role in the next three films, with this film apparently taking place after them. Unfortunately, as with every F&F movie, this one has a rapper among the cast. F&F had Ja Rule, 2F2F had Ludacris, and this one has Bow Wow. He has the dubious honor of driving the most ridiculously ricey vehicle - an Incredible Hulk-themed green Volkswagen Touran minivan with purple fur interior. Speaking of rice, you can't have a F&F movie without riced-up tuners. For this film, you won't see any Civics or Corollas. Instead, you have primarily RWD machines that are actually more than display pieces, such as the Nissan Silvia S15, Nissan Fairlady (350) Z, and Mazda RX-7 (the latter two featured with VeilSide body kits). The Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution IX is also featured; but for this film, it's been reconfigured to RWD instead of its stock AWD setup. But for the final race, Sean drives his father's 1967 Ford Mustang GT, which has been retrofitted with a Nissan RB26DETT engine swapped from the S15 he trashed on his first run-in with DK. As far as acting goes, you probably should've learned from the first two films that the word 'acting' is almost non-existent. Still, it's more tolerable than that of 2F2F, except for the fact that Keiko Kitagawa's talent was severely wasted with only a couple of lines and two minutes of screen time. Now if you want to talk about action, there's plenty of that. Despite using some CG spamming, the races are a lot more intense and believable than those on 2F2F. Even the Monte Carlo vs. Viper race at the beginning of the film is worth the price of admission. In short, The Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift is not as good as the first film, but way better than the second. It's also a great popcorn flick, whether or not you're a car nut. And unlike 2F2F, this film is completely canon to the rest of the series, with one of its pivotal scenes being the epilogue of Furious 6. Now let's see how Sean blends in with Toretto's gang in the next three films. Rating: B Sean: "You know, this ain't no 10-second race." Toretto: "I've got nothin' but time." Links The Fast and the Furious Official Franchise Site Rotten Tomatoes Rating: 36% Metacritic Score: 46 out of 100 Reference The Internet Movie Database
  4. areaseven
    "You are tearing me apart, Lisa!" https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kaBKi0RWmHc
  5. areaseven
  6. areaseven
    I might as well review this POS sequel. 2 Fast 2 Furious Universal Pictures, 2003 Directed by John Singleton (Boyz n the Hood, Abduction) Based upon characters created by Gary Scott Thompson (Hollow Man, 88 Minutes) Running Time: 107 minutes Rated PG-13 for violence and profanity. Brian O'Connor: "You ready for this?" Roman: "Come on, man. Guns, murderers and crooked cops? I was made for this, bro." Cast Paul Walker (1973-2013) as Brian O'Conner Tyrese Gibson (Epps in Transformers 1-3, Machine Gun Joe in Death Race) as Roman Pearce Eva Mendes (Barillo in Once Upon a Time in Mexico, Sara in Hitch) as Agent Monica Fuentes Cole Hauser (Benny in Dazed and Confused, Billy in Good Will Hunting) as Carter Verone Chris "Ludacris" Bridges (another washed-up rapper) as Tej Parker Devon Aoki (Miho in Sin City, Kasumi in DOA: Dead or Alive) as Suki Thom Barry as Agent Bilkins James Remar (Ajax in The Warriors, Raiden in Mortal Kombat: Annihilation) as Agent Markham Amaury Nolasco (Figueroa in Transformers) as Orange Julius Michael Ealy (Ricky in Barbershop, Det. Sebastian in Underworld: Awakening) as Slap Jack Jin "MC Jin" Au-Yeung (Chinese-American rapper) as Jimmy Mark Boone Junior (Det. Flass in Batman Begins, Burt in Memento) as Det. Whitworth Mo Gallini as Enrique Roberto Sanchez as Roberto Synopsis Shortly after letting Dominic Toretto escape from the FBI, former LAPD undercover detective Brian O'Conner flees to Miami to continue his career as an underground street racer. But he is quickly nabbed by the FBI, who offers him a clean slate if he goes undercover as a driver to help them take down drug lord Carter Verone. Knowing he can't do this with FBI agents that have no experience with cars, Brian enlists the help of former childhood friend Roman Pearce to do the job, regardless of its risks. Lowdown When The Fast and the Furious became the sleeper hit of 2001, Universal Pictures naturally set forth plans for a sequel to capitalize on its success. Their plans, however, hit a speed bump when Vin Diesel and director Rob Cohen jumped ship to Sony Pictures to do the mediocre action film xXx. Desperate to get their sequel done, Universal hired John Singleton, who was known mainly for crime dramas such as Boyz n the Hood and Poetic Justice. Universal also brought in Tyrese Gibson, star of Singleton's Baby Boy, as Paul Walker's co-star. So with a new director, a new setting, and a new cast alongside Walker, what could go wrong? Everything. That's what. 2 Fast 2 Furious takes everything that was good about The Fast and the Furious and throws it out the window. Instead, you have a film that has a worse script and less interesting characters than its predecessor. The late, great Walker tried his best to keep the film watchable, but even he knew it wouldn't work without Vin Diesel. Gibson does a decent job as Walker's sidekick, but from his return in Fast Five onwards, he's become the comic relief character. Eva Mendes may be hot, but even until now, she can't act. And whoever thinks Devon Aoki is attractive must be on their fourth shot of tequila, as she's a real butterface. Production-wise, the film disappoints big-time. The opening race scene is marred by not only the CG spamming, but also the execution that's unrealistic even by F&F standards. The car chases end up being comedic, from Brian's "staring & driving" trick to the cartoonish warehouse scramble to the Yenko S/C Camaro impersonating the General Lee. You can film better car chases with a box of Hot Wheels than this movie.Perhaps the worst part of this film is its incompatibility with the rest of the series. Even though Roman, Tej, and Monica return in Fast Five and Furious 6, nearly all of their backstories from 2 Fast 2 Furious have been long forgotten. Even Brian's misadventures in Miami were not mentioned on his first scene as an FBI agent in Fast & Furious. And that's a good thing, because nobody wants to go through watching 2 Fast 2 Furious ever again. Rating: D- Links The Fast and the Furious Official Franchise Website Rotten Tomatoes Rating: 36% Metacritic Score: 38 out of 100 References The Internet Movie Database
  7. areaseven
    In celebration of the first official trailer for Furious 7, I'll be doing a review of the one that started it all. The Fast and the Furious Universal Pictures, 2001 Directed by Rob Cohen (Dragon: The Bruce Lee Story, xXx) Based on the Vibe magazine article "Racer X" by Ken Li Characters created by Gary Scott Thompson (Hollow Man, 88 Minutes) Running Time: 106 minutes Rated PG-13 for violence, suggestive sexual situations, and profanity. "Ask any racer, any real racer. It don't matter if it's by an inch or a mile. Winning's winning." Cast Paul Walker (1973-2013) as Officer Brian O'Conner a.k.a. Brian Earl Spilner Vin Diesel (The Iron Giant, Groot in Guardians of the Galaxy) as Dominic Toretto Michelle Rodriguez (Diana in Girlfight, Trudy in Avatar) as Letty Ortiz Jordana Brewster as Mia Toretto Rick Yune (Zen Yi in The Man with the Iron Fists, Zao in Die Another Day) as Johnny Tran Chad Lindberg (Chad in CSI: NY) as Jesse Johnny Strong (Randy Shughart in Black Hawk Down) as Leon Matt Schulze (Wall Street in The Transporter, Chupa in Blade II) as Vince Ted Levine (Buffalo Bill in The Silence of the Lambs, Sinestro in Superman: The Animated Series) as Sgt. Tanner Thom Barry as Agent Bilkins Ja Rule (washed-up rapper) as Edwin Synopsis When a band of street racers hijack trucks loaded with DVD players, LAPD Officer Brian O'Conner is assigned by a joint mission with the FBI to go undercover to infiltrate the world of illegal street racing and find the mastermind. The FBI's primary suspect is Dominic Toretto, a man with a short fuse and a huge following in the racing world. Brian befriends Dominic after helping him evade arrest after a race and later falls in love with Dominic's sister Mia, which gives him doubts about who he's looking for to put an end to the hijackings. Lowdown The Fast and the Furious - the media franchise that has become Universal Pictures' golden goose for the past decade. When the trailer first came out in early 2001, critics and moviegoers were very skeptical about it due to having no-name actors at the time and a plot too similar to Point Break and No Man's Land. But on opening weekend in June, it debuted at #1 on the box office and raked in over US$40 million (easily recouping its US$38 million budget) and went on to earn over US$207 million worldwide. Since then, the entire film franchise has earned a global total of US$2.3 billion while placing Vin Diesel on the A-list of celebrities. But after 13 years and five sequels (and another one coming on April 2015), how does this film hold? Surprisingly very well. Sure, the acting leaves much to be desired, but the cheesy one-liners are significantly more memorable than those of its sequels. Paul Walker's acting career was modest at most before his tragic death in 2013, but he has become an automotive icon due to his car collection and heavy involvement in motorsports. Michelle Rodriguez has built up a sizable filmography over the past decade, despite the fact that she dies in over half of them. Jordana Brewster hasn't done anything notable outside the series, but you gotta admit that she's still hot. Then there are the cars - after all, they're the main reason why this film made so much money in the first place. During its day, The Fast and the Furious defined the peak of the import tuning culture (a.k.a. "ricing"). Teenagers would grab their parents' Civics and do mad stuff to them like dropping them to the floor, slapping in oversized rims, spraying wild candy colors on them, and fitting in miles of neon lights that rival Times Square. This film took it up a notch by introducing NOS to the urban dictionary. And if you thought Furious 6's airbase runway scene was impossibly long, that's because this film began the trend of defying any and all types of vehicular physics. Most notable is its first race, which turns 10 seconds into almost three minutes of blurred mayhem on a straight line. Yet despite its juvenile script and a bit of CG and clever editing to clean up some shots, the production crew kept a lot of the car stunts real. The best example is the final drag race between Brian's Toyota Supra Turbo and Toretto's 1969 Dodge Charger, in which the latter collided with a semi-truck and flew nearly 20 feet in the air before getting mangled up in spectacular fashion. If there is a real weakness other than the script, it's the soundtrack. The techno score by BT (Go, Stealth) makes for some good driving music, but is easily drowned by inane hip-hop and severely dated alternative music from Ja Rule, Limp Bizkit, and Saliva. In retrospect, The Fast and the Furious is an immature movie targeted to screaming teenagers, and it did its job in spades at the box office. The franchise also reflected the change of car culture over the past decade from ricers to drifters to American muscle. It may not be an original idea, but it changed the way we look at not only car movies, but also action films. And despite being technically inferior to Fast Five and Furious 6, The Fast and the Furious ranks a high third place among all of the films. Go see it again as part of a Fast & Furious marathon (just skip 2 Fast 2 Furious) to prepare for Furious 7. Rating: B "I live my life a quarter-mile at a time; nothing else matters. For those 10 seconds or less, I'm free." Links The Fast and the Furious Official Franchise Website Rotten Tomatoes Rating: 53% Metacritic Score: 58 out of 100 References The Internet Movie Database
  8. areaseven
    Going crazy is exactly the point of Build Fighters. The series has proven that weaponizing any Gunpla is limited to only your imagination. Also, some of the HG Build Custom kits are necessary. For example: The Amazing Booster has the fuselage that's not included in the Zaku Amazing kit. The Kämpfer Amazing comes with only two Amazing Weapon Binders, and it used four of them in a couple of episodes. The Star Build Strike Gundam has the Plavsky Wings, while the stand-alone Universe Booster kit has the Plavsky Power Gate parts. So it's really up to you if you want to buy the Ez-ARMS kit, as it comes with universal attachments for any Gunpla.
  9. areaseven
    Yup, just one base Ez-8. If the tooling's the same, just buy two HGUC Ez-8 kits and some gray paint. Problem solved. The Ez-ARMS, like the other HG Build Custom kits, are sold separately to either add more weapons to the Ez-SR or customize any Gunpla.
  10. areaseven
    Man, if they did Bioman...
  11. areaseven
  12. areaseven
    Ex Machina is an upcoming sci-fi thriller by writer/director Alex Garland (28 Days Later, Dredd), starring Domhnall Gleeson (Bill Weasley in Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows), Oscar Isaac (Inside Llewyn Davis, Prince John in Robin Hood), and Alicia Vikander (Kitty in Anna Karenina, Gaby in The Man from U.N.C.L.E.). It premieres on January 23, 2015 in the UK and April 10, 2015 in the U.S. Ex Machina @ IMDb
  13. areaseven
    MG Girl Fumina Hoshino Powered GM Cardigan Custom Build
  14. areaseven
    Here's a look at Team SRSC's Gunpla. If you've built the HGUC Gundam Ez-8, then you know your way around it. HGBF 1/144 Gundam Ez-SR New Images
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  17. areaseven
    RWBY will be released in Japan in 2015 via Warner Bros. Home Video. Rooster Teeth's RWBY Heads to Japan
  18. areaseven
    Chapter 11: "No Brakes"
  19. areaseven
    Confirmed: Michael Bay NOT Directing Transformers 5
  20. areaseven
    Are you ready for some Gunpla?
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  22. areaseven
    O... M... G... HG 1/144 GM Thunderbolt Explosion Diorama
  23. areaseven
    Word out on the street is that Birdman may receive some nominations at the next Academy Awards. Rotten Tomatoes Rating: 93% Metacritic Score: 88 out of 100
  24. areaseven
    Spine spine spine, I'm skipping with your spine Spine spine spine, it was yours and now it is mine...
  25. areaseven
    Kickstarter's acting up right now. Check back in a few hours.
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