Death Race is a thoroughly satisfying little action movie, all the better for being entirely predictable: the good cons win and the bad cons and prison governors lose. There is a not a stray storyline, a hint of complexity, or an emotion that outlasts the time it takes to downshift a Mustang V8 Fastback. Even the wincingly bad dialogue is kept to a minimum. It is exactly what the previews and the title suggest. Good guy, ex-steelworker and one time race driver, Jason Statham, is framed for the murder of his adored wife in order to participate in a top-rated prison death race by evil prison governor, Joan Allen. Statham is befriended by cuddly, loveable cons like Ian McShane and a tough but cute navigator from the women’s prison, Natalie Martinez. Mayhem ensues. Roger Corman is credited as a producer, but despite the claim in the credits, this remake is nothing like the original. It is hard to fault, unless, of course, you expect more from your movies than simple setup, fine driving, and explosions galore. And Joan Allen emerges with, if not her dignity intact, at least a couple of sly scenes.
Patton Oswalt on Jason Statham:
“I don’t know how much say he has in the films he makes. But I get the impression that he reads the scripts. And if the script doesn’t make him want to drive a bulldozer through a cake store, I’ll bet he punches the script through a wall.”
more funny here
GAY-THAM FOR STATHAM
http://blog.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=blog.view&friendID=67077201&blogID=461660900
And this gem
THE “IS THIS HAPPENING?” MOVIE CLUB
http://blog.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=blog.view&friendID=67077201&blogID=456847981
“Did I just see a from-inside-the-snake-view of John Voight being eaten?”
“When did this Paul Walker action movie become a Pasolini kid-rape parable?”
“Wait — did I just see Samuel L. Jackson get eaten by a shark? Oh wait — now ANOTHER shark is coming along and pulling his head off while the first shark swims off with his body?”
Dead Snow is worth a viewing. Silly story, set in the present, of eight Norwegian medical students in a cabin high in the mountains. Nazi zombies, seeking or protecting gold they stole during WWII, attack and pick off the students one by one. It is mostly a blast, with plenty of gore. These zombies have a thing for intestines. Of course, blood on snow is always a winner. So, nothing special but really quite an effective little comedy/horror movie.