Author: Jason Zingale

Chow Yun-Fat, China’s equivalent to Tom Cruise or Mel Gibson, has been trying to make it big in America for some time. While he’s never become close to the sensation he is in China, Yun-Fat consistently makes entertaining films, and his new action comedy “Bulletproof Monk” is no exception. Chow plays a nameless Tibetan-Buddhist monk who has served as the protector of a powerful scroll for the past 60 years. Anyone who reads the scroll’s text gains supreme poweror something like that. Following the monk step for step throughout his 60-year reign is a Nazi SS officer named Struker (Karel…

Now that Rob Zombie’s directorial debut “House of 1000 Corpses” has finally been released, I sort of wished it hadn’t. I despise horror flicks, but after all the hype this film built up over the past few years, I just couldn’t resist. Originally set for release by Universal back in 2001, “1000 Corpses” was deemed to have had too much gore and violence and was given an NC-17 rating before undergoing a series of edits and finally hitting theaters this year. The thing is, the edits appear to have been much too effective because this movie just isn’t scary. The…

For a movie that allegedly boasts one of the funniest comedy duos in years, “Anger Management” should have been much better. Unfortunately, the comedic prowess of Adam Sandler and Jack Nicholson must have cancelled each other out during production, because while many expected “Anger Management” to be jam-packed with laughs, it simply isn’t. In fact, the whole thing is actually quite lame. Sandler stars as Dave Buznik, the unassertive employee of a fat pet clothing line who’s just been wrongly accused of battering a flight attendant on his way home from an industry convention. Sentenced to 20 hours of anger…

Set to be released late last year, “Phone Booth,” directed by Joel Schumacher, was held back only weeks before its release due to the DC sniper shootings. After countless months of waiting, “Phone Booth” is finally out, and this fantastic suspense-thriller is everything I hoped it would be. Boasting great performances by both Colin Farrell and “24” star Kiefer Sutherland, Schumacher, who’s notorious for big-time films with big-time disappointments, finally scores. Farrell plays Stu Shepard, a flashy publicist who strolls down the streets of New York in his Italian suits and chatting on his collection of cell phones like he’s…

“Confessions of a Dangerous Mind” shows off not only George Clooney’s brilliant directorial debut, but also proves that Sam Rockwell is, if not already, the next big thing. Rockwell (“Welcome to Collinwood”) stars in the film as TV producer Chuck Barris, who along with his game show creations “The Dating Game” and “The Newlywed Game,” is most known for “The Gong Show.” At the end of his career, Barris wrote an autobiography chronicling the events of his life, adding that during his time in the TV business, he also doubled as a CIA agent by night. While many may find…

I despise those films that entice you with intriguing trailers, but when you actually fork over the seven bucks at the theater you’re miserably disappointed. “The Recruit” shows hints of this throughout; disappointment that is, because if you’ve seen the trailer, you’ve seen the film with all the crap cut out. Seasoned veteran Al Pacino stars as Walter Burke, a CIA talent scout who invites the physically fit MIT-grad James Clayton (Colin Farrell) to “The Farm,” the CIA training fields where green recruits are molded into full-fledged agents. Clayton is hesitant at first but he’s soon drawn in when the…

Rats aren’t going to scare me. They never have. They didn’t when I saw the film “Rats,” and they never will later in my life. This still holds true even after seeing the creepy trailer for the new Rob Zombie horror flick. “Willard” is a remake of the 1971 film that was a hybrid between comedy and horror, but unfortunately for director Glen Morgan, he can’t seem to choose which genre he prefers. Willard (Crispin Glover) is a single, anti-social reject who still lives with his mother, working in a low-end job at his dead father’s business under Frank Martin…

“Spun” is the debut film by Jonas Akerlund, the man behind the controversial Prodigy music video “Smack My Bitch Up.” With its edgy, cut-driven storyline, “Spun” calls out to those that appreciated films such as “Trainspotting” and “Requiem for a Dream.” While the film looks at a group of drug addicts in a three-day tour of their crazy lives, it is mainly centered on Ross (Jason Schwartzman), an obsessive ex-boyfriend who becomes the local crystal meth cook’s personal driver in exchange for free drugs. During this three-day excursion, two TV cops on speed (Peter Stormare and Alexis Arquette), who star…

“Bringing Down the House” is a very slow-paced comedy that eventually picks up in the end, but it’s Queen Latifah who simply upstages co-star Steve Martin, saving the film despite all its bad jokes and blatant racism. Peter Sanderson (Martin) is an uptight, workaholic tax attorney who is separated from his wife and has most recently spent a lot of his time on the Internet chatting to a woman he eventually decides to meet face-to-face. In comes Charlene (Latifah), a street-smart ex-con who claims to be innocent of her crimes and soon becomes an annoying mess in Peter’s life until…

Ben Affleck kills every movie he’s in because he royally sucks. He can’t act, he has no charisma and no, he’s not the sexiest man alive. Okay, now that I got that out of the way, people can stop harassing the makers of “Daredevil” for shooting a bad movie, because it actually has its moments. “Daredevil” is one of the darker Marvel comics, incorporating a grittier detective persona to the title character, and this may be why it’s more of a cult comic than a huge fan-based comic like “Spider-Man” and the “X-Men” books. Only a few years after the…