Dredd

The latest among the current trend of Hollywood comic book adaptations (and reboots, too), Dredd is a new take on the franchise after Sylvester Stallone gave it a shot back in 1995. Karl Urban dons the mask this time, with Juno star Olivia Thirlby alongside him as a rookie with psychic abilities. The duo heads into a 200-story apartment complex to investigate a triple homicide and become trapped when the drug dealer who runs the joint (Lena Headey) calls on her thugs to kill them on sight. While this film definitely has some awesome moments, it unfortunately commits the cardinal sin of an action film: the pacing is far too slow.

Dredd
Director: Pete Travis
Starring: Karl Urban, Olivia Thirlby, Lena Headey

The NJNM Podcast: Ep. 96 - Point Blank (2010)

In this week's episode, Tyler and Ben discuss Fred Cavaye's 2010 film, Point Blank.

Introduction

Character Name Game Intro - 2:22

Media Consumed

Tyler

Extract - 2:50

Ben

L.A. Noire - 6:37
Moonrise Kingdom - 9:25
Batman Begins - 11:45

Review

Point Blank - 16:35

Wrap-Up

Next Time: The Fifth Element  - 36:50

Listener E-mail/Voicemail/Twitter - 38:03
Character Name Game - 41:07

Where You Can Find Us - 43:05

Savages

I was hoping that Savages would be a pleasant surprise this summer, something free of webs and capes with a decidedly adult slant to it from one of America's legendary filmmakers. (Say what you will about the films of Oliver Stone, but the dude is pretty legendary.) Unfortunately, Savages is just a simple drug drama with very little action and zero complex characters, leaving me disconnected and apathetic about every character's fate. This is not a good movie.

Savages
Director: Oliver Stone
Starring: Blake Lively, Taylor Kitsch, Aaron Johnson, Salma Hayek, Benicio del Toro, John Travolta

Snabba Cash (aka Easy Money)

In the past few years, American audiences have seen only a few Swedish films cross the pond and get a stateside release. The vampire drama Let The Right One In was remade into Matt Reeves' Let Me In, and The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo was given the American treatment by director David Fincher. Safe House director Daniel Espinosa earned critical acclaim with Snabba Cash back in 2010 (retitled Easy Money for the English-speaking crowd), and like these other films from his homeland, a remake is on the way, this time with Zac Efron attached as the lead. But legendary film director/scholar/preservationist/champion Martin Scorsese has taken an interest in Snabba Cash and is presenting it to a wider audience for a brief run this summer, so we have a chance to see what all the hype is about before Hollywood gets rolling on the remake.

Snabba Cash (aka Easy Money)
Director: Daniel Espinosa
Starring: Joel Kinnaman, Matias Varela, Dragomir Mrsic