Author: Jason Zingale

It’s Harry and gang’s second year at Hogwart’s School of Magic and something isn’t right in the air. Much darker and longer than its forerunner (last year’s “The Sorcerer’s Stone”), “The Chamber of Secrets” is a more mature “Harry” film. This story begins just before the new school year, when Harry is introduced to a very believable CGI house elf named Dobby, whose ability to annoy and irritate audiences matches that of the horrid Jar Jar from the new “Star Wars” films. Dobby warns Harry not to go back to Hogwart’s because trouble awaits, and plenty of it. Of course,…

Uwe Boll, the German hack director notorious for ruining popular video game franchises by adapting them for the big screen, has claimed yet another victim. The title in question is the fantasy action game, “BloodRayne,” about a half-human/half-vampire killing machine who’s used as a weapon against the Nazi party during WWII. Unfortunately, not even all of these particulars have made it into the film version. Instead, the story takes place in some horribly clichéd Dark Ages setting that even fans of the ten-sided-dice-rolling fantasy world won’t enjoy. And so continues the Uwe Boll curse, a magic so powerful it can…

It seems like Vin Diesel has a new competitor in the struggle to become Hollywood’s hottest action star: Jason Statham, the sarcastic but likeable antihero of Guy Ritchie’s “Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels” and “Snatch.” Statham has gained an eager fan base since Ritchie’s cheeky crime capers were imported from across the pond, and his energetic performance in the sleeper action hit “The Transporter” is just what he needed to edge him into the spotlight. With jaw-dropping action choreography and a smarter-than-usual plot thanks to scribe Luc Besson (“The Professional”), “The Transporter” is one of the best action films…

While “Undisputed” may not be the most in-depth film about boxing, it still accomplishes a fine goal in serving as a well-made genre flick. By combining two of men’s most popular genres, the prison flick and the fight film, and juicing it up with a hip-hop induced score, “Undisputed” gets done what it sets out to do from the minute it begins: to entertain. Sweetwater Prison is a nearly brand new maximum-security prison that houses 700-plus prisoners, all convicted of major crimes such as murder, rape, kidnapping, etc. Monroe Hutchen (Wesley Snipes) is one of these men, a former boxing…

“CQ” is a dry but fun look into the world of filmmaking, and is also the directorial debut of Roman Coppola. Coppola, prior to his first film, was shooting music videos, mostly for the band Presidents of the United States of America. Sometimes slow and short of story at times, Coppola saves this debut with some amazing technical work, most likely picked up from watching his father directing back in the day. The story places Paul Ballard (Jeremy Davies) in Paris, France, 1969 where he’s editing a sci-fi spy film called “Dragonfly,” while also working on a film about his…

While “Ballistic” may feature one of the weakest plots and some of the most superficial characters in the history of film, the bullet-driven action sequences were enough to save this from total condemnation. Antonio Banderas plays Jeremiah Ecks, an ex-FBI agent who is blackmailed into capturing a mysterious agent, causing ruckus within the world of international espionage. The reason he’s after the dangerous assassin, Sever (Lucy Liu): It seems that the wife he thought he saw die in a car explosion six years ago might actually be alive, and Sever is the only one willing to tell him the answer.…

All of the action-packed fun and excitement of a James Bond film and more is waiting for you within the adrenaline pumping “xXx.” Vin Diesel, who may just be one of the coolest guys around, should also be the new man for the 007 gig. Luckily enough, Diesel knows this and instead has opted for a pumped up version of our favorite super spy. Teaming up again with “The Fast and the Furious” director Rob Cohen, this blockbuster team is back with an incomparable supply of more action than all the Bond films combined. Vin Diesel stars as Xander Cage,…

By the looks of the poster for the summer film “Blue Crush,” it looks like just another surf movie starring cute girls in small bikinis, but it’s much more than that. While the script may seem pretty presumptuous at times, the cinematography easily surpasses the small potato mistakes director John Stockwell might have made. The initial story revolves around Anne Marie (Kate Bosworth), a parentless young adult who doesn’t let anything get between her and her surfboard except, of course, the horrible flashbacks of the one time she nearly drowned three years ago at a major surf competition. Lately she’s…

When “Unbreakable” was released in theaters in 2000, it was considered a massive failure compared to “The Sixth Sense.” The movie just didn’t have the same selling power, and while most critics agreed it was a well-made thriller, the average moviegoer felt cheated by the lack of a dynamic twist ending. For fans of the director, however, he was two-for-two, and while his junior effort, “Signs,” kept that winning streak intact, it was the film’s commercial success that proved the more important victory at the end of the day. Not only did it show the pundits that Shyamalan wasn’t just…

Kudos to the makers of “The Bourne Identity” for finally producing a worthy spy thriller that doesn’t involve spiffy gadgets and an overkill of special effects. This is retro textbook spy material we’re talking about here. It goes back to the basics, making it one of the best spy films in years. With many comparing it to the likes of “The French Connection,” Matt Damon really excels as Jason Bourne, a man with a pretty big problem. After waking up on a fishing boat in the middle of the Mediterranean, Bourne finds he has two bullet holes lodged in his…