Breaking News!!

Hey guys, so I just found out that Paul Walker, known from Fast and Furious Franchise fame, has passed away. Reports say he was attending a car show for Philippines relief effort in Santa Clarita, which is north of Los Angeles, when he was giving a friend a ride in his Porsche GT.

Apparently, the friend was driving and he lost control of the car and crashed into a post or tree. The car caught flames instantly and Paul Walker and his friend died in the explosion.

I just want to send my condolences to his family and friends. It is hard to believe he was just giving an interview about Fast 7 and Fast 8 and now he's no longer with us.

It's hard to even report this without just picturing his daughter's feelings about all this. No matter how we felt about the films he's been in, he still holds a place in our heart, it is so hard to believe.

I don't know what this means for the F&F franchise, this is a major blow to the franchise. I'm sure they will go on continuing the films in his honor because he would want them to.

I'm going to end this post with this:
Paul Walker, thanks for being apart of our lives, especially our movie lives, My heart goes out to your loved ones and friends, and may your spirit Rest In Peace.

And As Always, I'm the Movie Maniac and I'm Frantic about Film...RIP PAUL WALKER :'(

My 2 Fast 2 Furious Review

Hey guys, Movie Maniac here, and today, I am bringing you the second installment of my franchise review for the Fast and Furious Franchise. Without further ado, here is my review to 2 Fast 2 Furious (2003).

Released on June 6, 2003, 2 Fast 2 Furious involves ex-cop Brian O'Conner (Paul Walker) teams up with his ex-con friend Roman Pearce (Tyrese Gibson) and works with undercover U.S. Customs Service agent Monica Fuentes (Eva Mendes) to bring Miami-based drug lord Carter Verone (Cole Hauser) down.

Let's get right to it with the Positives and Negatives:

Positives:

1. It is an improvement (not a vast improvement) to its predecessor, The Fast and The Furious, in the sense of story, cinematography, and flow.
2. Tyrese Gibson's character, Roman Pearce, is one of the reasons why I enjoyed this movie. Largely because of the connection between Paul Walker's Brian O'Conner character.
3. The villain, Carter Verone, played by Cole Hauser was a decent villain.
4. And of course, the bread and butter of this franchise, the car/action scenes were visually good. Two of my favorite car chase scenes were O'Conner and Pearce were running from the police and they drive into the garage and suddenly the doors open and all them cars get the pouring out of there. It was a great scene. The second is the final action scene where they drove the car off an incline and onto Verone's yacht. Note: The first race was a pretty good scene as well.

Negatives:

1. The cop that was giving Walker and Gibson's characters a hard time was annoying. Not needed and every time he opened his mouth, I muted the movie.
2. Eva Mendes' character was not a good love interest to me. It felt too forced and was not gradually developed.
3. The plot was not strong, of course that was a given.
4. I still do not buy O'Conner as a cop/ex-cop/ undercover ex-cop, whatever he claims to be. I just did not buy it at all.
5. Vin Diesel was not in this film. He was the big draw to the first film, and not having in the second film felt wrong.
6. It is hard to figure out if this film is a direct sequel or a prequel to the first film.

Overall, I give 2 Fast 2 Furious a 3 out of 5: meaning Netflix It or watch it on TV. Again, this kind of movie is a popcorn flick, it is better than the first film, and it is its own story, and not a rehash of a previous film.

And As Always, I'm The Movie Maniac, and I'm Frantic About Film :D

My "Xmen: Days of Future Past" Trailer Review

Hey guys, Movie Maniac here, and I have been slacking off because I forgot to review the trailer to one of my favorite movies coming out in 2014, Xmen: Days of Future Past.

The plot to Xmen: Days of Future Past goes like this: The ultimate X-Men ensemble fights a war for the survival of the species across two time periods in X-MEN: DAYS OF FUTURE PAST. The beloved characters from the original "X-Men" film trilogy join forces with their younger selves from "X-Men: First Class," in an epic battle that must change the past -- to save our future.

Getting right into it, this trailer was awesome! It showed and did everything a trailer should do and that was give me a glimpse of what is to come, give me a feel of the tone of the film and show me what the film will look like. This trailer did that and then some.

Let me breakdown some quick positives and negatives though.

Positives:

1. The music made this trailer even more awesome. It fit the tone so perfectly.
2. Seeing Sir Ian McKellen and Patrick Stewart on screen again as Magneto and Professor X, respectively, was such a beauty of a scene that it almost brought a tear to my eyes.
3. Seeing how the future setting looks, with the burned down buildings and the futuristic alter that Wolverine will use to travel to the past is a marvel to look at.
4. At the end of the trailer where we see James McAvoy's young Professor X come face to face with Patrick Stewart's Professor X, that scene sold it for me.

There are a lot more positives but those are a few that caught my eye the most.

Negatives:

1. We did not see enough of the Sentinals (robots that hunts and kills mutants). More footage of them would have been much appreciated.
2. We only had a glimpse of Peter Dinklage (Game of Thrones Fame) as Trask, the CEO of Trask Industries and creator of the Sentinals. More of him would have been much appreciated as well.

All in all, this was a terrific trailer, it did exactly what it was supposed to do and that is to get the viewers hyped for the film. I can not wait until this film is released.

Xmen: Days of Future Past is set to be released everywhere on May 23, 2014.

And As Always, I'm The Movie Maniac, and I'm Frantic About Film :D