A “Kickass” Piece of Pulp

“With no power, comes no responsibility.” Gems of dialogue like that, serving as the inner-dialogue of our hero Kick-Ass/Dave Lizewski, are what make this adventure, sci-fi, action tale such a well-rounded and enjoyable romp of pulp style writing and action. Opening in theatres this weekend, “Kick-Ass” will be’ kicking’ off the spring movie season, and has the smart dialogue and high octane action that will make it #1 at the box office.

“Kick-Ass” centers on an ordinary teenager Dave Lizewski (aptly portrayed by relative newcomer Aaron Johnson: TV’s Nearly Famous, and 2006’s The Illusionist), who after contemplating ‘why’ no one has ever tried to be a superhero, makes the life-changing decision to become one himself. Enter Kick-Ass, a hero armed with nothing more than “optimism & naivety” and a pair of ju-jitsu style batons of which he has absolutely no training. Davei/Kick-Ass isn’t alone in this swarthy and crime-ridden city. Along for the ride is Damon Macready aka Big Daddy (Nicolas Cage: The Sorcerer’s Apprentice & Fast Times at Ridgemont High), his daughter Mindy Macready aka Hit-Girl (Chloe Moritz: Diary of A Wimpy Kid & TV’s Dirty, Sexy, Money) and Chris D’Amico aka Red Mist (Christopher Mintz-Plasse: Superbad & Year One). When one of Kick-Ass’ outings as a crime-fighter goes viral on YouTube, it draws out the daddy-daughter tandem of Big Daddy & Hit Girl along with the ire of notorious crime figure Frank D’Amico (Mark Strong: Sherlock Holmes & Sunshine) and the flashy Red Mist.

Director Matthew Vaughn (Layer Cake) & writer Mark Millar (Wanted) truly deliver with this one. The film’s ‘R’ rating gives the creators free license to showcase the true side of crime and punishment but Kick-Ass is not just guns, blood, and in your face shocking violence, it’s a ‘real’ feeling film. Kick-Ass’ initial exploits as a do-gooder are atypical from what you’d expect to see in super hero films. Even the dialogue between father/daughter Damon & Mindy is rife with comedy and family connection while simultaneously shocking the viewer at how comfortable a father can be exploring the bounds of violence with a sibling. Their relationship is firmly witnessed when Damon instructs Mindy on the finer super hero art of handling a foe with a gun. Where else but this film could the hero’s love interest Katie (a striking raven-haired beauty portrayed by Lyndsy Fonseca: Hot Tub Time Machine & TV’s The Young & The Restless) remain in high spirits about a doldrum life as she wades through another uneventful shift at the methadone clinic’s needle exchange front office?

What separates “Kick-Ass” from other comic adaptations is really its’ pulp-style writing and feel. Evidenced when Hit Girl infiltrates Frank D’Amico’s fortress, there is tension in the mind of the audience as it plays out. It could be the low toned camera movement, or maybe because the viewer realizes that this is an 11 year old girl waltzing into the middle of an ‘R’ rated ambush. No matter how you see it, the execution of the scene is flawless and some serious ass-kicking ensues all around.

Filled with smart banter, raw and ruckus street fighting and great laughs courtesy of the warped friendship that blossoms between Dave and Katie, Kick-Ass is one enjoyable ride. Grab some popcorn and settle in for a dynamite-laden rocket-ride to the other side.

Rating: ★★★★☆ 

Kick Ass is rated R for strong brutal violence throughout, pervasive language, sexual content, nudity and some drug use – some involving children.

Atomic Popcorn presents: KICK-ASS a Lionsgate’s film that is going to kick your faces off! We have the pleasure of giving out passes to you fine Baltimore geeks to one of, if not the biggest, Spring event of the year in Baltimore. Kick-Ass is a movie based on the hugely popular comic series by Mark Millar by the same name. Make sure you grab these tickets and fast!!

See you there on April 7th! I will be in the front row ready to kick some ass!

Synopsis:

“How come nobody’s ever tried to be a superhero?” When Dave Lizewski – ordinary New York teenager and rabid comic-book geek dons a green-and-yellow internet-bought wetsuit to become the no-nonsense vigilante, Kick-Ass, he soon finds an answer to his own question: because it hurts. But, overcoming all the odds, the eager yet inexperienced Dave quickly becomes a phenomenon, capturing the imagination of the public. However, he’s not the only superhero out there – the fearless and highly-trained father-daughter crime-fighting duo, Big Daddy and Hit Girl have been slowly but surely taking down the criminal empire of local Mafioso, Frank D’Amico. And, as Kick-Ass gets drawn into their no-holds-barred world of bullets and bloodletting with Frank’s son, Chris, now reborn as Kick-Ass’s arch-nemesis, Red Mist – the stage is set for a final showdown between the forces of good and evil – in which the DIY hero will have to live up to his name. Or die trying…

Check out the trailer below:

KICK-ASS, directed by Matthew Vaughn, opens nationwide on Friday, April 16, 2010.

CLICK HERE FOR YOUR PASS: and enter

ATOMICGDU6 for the RSVP code!

Make sure you check out our other free screenings in the Baltimore Area.

Short of it: Something Proyas has done has struck a chord and changed the action genre for the better. There are ups and downs, along with some extraordinary questions asked throughout, equaling a very solid film.

I must admit that, going into this movie, I was hoping for something different from Alex Proyas, the famed director of The Crow and Dark City, and something different is what I got! A whirlwind of devastation, spookiness, and downright “huh?” What more could you ask for?

Knowing Movie Review

The story follows John (Nicolas Cage) and his son Caleb, who attend a 50-year-anniversary unveiling of a time capsule at Caleb’s school. With the unveiling, Caleb receives an envelope containing a letter full of seemingly random numbers scribbled front and back.

John, an astrophysicist and recent widower, is doing his best to take care of Caleb after the freak accident that took his wife a year ago. The family storyline is woven throughout the film in intricate detail. Questions of life, and what lies beyond, surface pretty quickly and hit hard throughout.

Following the discovery of this random numbered note, John discovers a pattern, one that may come off a bit on the crazy side. The pattern shows him all of the major disasters and the deaths involved since 1948 in chronological order. Something that is hard to believe but soon to be proven by the next numbers in sequence. Soon we meet the “whisper people” who follow Caleb around whispering in his head – as they did the little girl who originally wrote the numbers down. Spooky, freaky, downright creepy – that’s how I would describe how Proyas put these “people” into the storyline.

Proyas does a solid job of making us really feel for the cast on many different levels. The inevitable questions of life after death, spirituality, and many others pop up all over this film. He really made me think during this movie, not something I admittedly enjoy during most action films. The way he intertwined questions, reasoning and life was done very well.

The look and the feel of the film was pretty darn real throughout up till the end of the film. I will not spoil anything for you although I sit here thinking “I need someone to spill the beans to!”.

Overall, the movie was a thought-provoking action movie. With twists and turns around almost every corner, Proyas really gave us something different than the norm. I would recommend this one as a rental as it’s not so much a “theater” film. My wife, who rarely follows me to films said this about it: “If I were to go to the bathroom midway through the movie and come back in for the end, I would wonder if I had gone into a different theater”. Take it at face value but there is some truth to it. The beginning and end don’t necessary match up.

Rating: ★★★☆☆ 

Knowing Clip

Alex Proyas, the wonderful mind behind one of my favorite movies, The Crow, brings us this clip from his upcoming thriller, Knowing. I have been intrigued from the start on this film and the story has a distinct ring to it.
Knowing stars Nicholas Cage as a father whose son has been given a paper from his schools unearthing of a time capsule. The paper holds a bunch of numbers on it that are the key to the possible destruction of the earth. What comes next is only a guess.

But we now have a clip from Knowing below.

[flv:http://media.kino-govno.com/movies/k/knowing/trailers/knowing_clip1_640.flv 500 290]

Knowing will hit theaters on March 20th 2009. I plan on being front and center for this screening. So stay tuned for more details and of coarse our review of this film.

Alex Proyas’ latest film is Knowing, and I must say it looks pretty damn cool. Nick Cage plays a professor’s whose son finds an alarming piece of paper in a time capsule that is 50 years old. Yeah yeah I know, whoopee, a piece of paper. Well this paper seems to hold the  terrifying predictions about the future and Cage sets out to prevent them from coming true.

Each number precisely predicts global tragedies throughout the world by date and number of fatalities. Crazy concept for a movie. I love it!

Enjoy the trailer below.

Knowing hits theaters on March 20th 2009.

Check out apple’s site for the trailer in HD.