Sylvester Stallone returns with a bang in RAMBO (2008)

I was pleasantly surprised at how well Sylvester Stallone was able to resurrect his Rocky Balboa character last year in ROCKY BALBOA and to my amazement he was able to do the same thing with his other iconic character John Rambo in the self titled RAMBO. In the new film John has lost himself within the mist of Burma and the genocide happening over there but that war is not his own as he only wants to be left alone and whither away in the rest of his existence. Like all the previous films Rambo has lost his faith - his faith in war, his faith in people, and his faith in himself. Then in steps Sarah (Julie Benz) and her group of missionaries who want to bring medical supplies, faith, and hope to a people who are mercilessly killed by an overlord general who kills and slaughters people with malice and steals innocent children to recruit for his army.
After helping Sarah's group cross the border into Burma, John soon learns that the group has been abducted by the general and he must enter into the confines of the jungle on a rescue mission. John isn't alone this time as a group of mercenaries have also been sent into the jungle to aid in the rescue.

The thing that differentiates this film from the previous films is that even though it brings out the same themes of the previous films - a man who has lost faith in the world around him and even in himself, this film brings the entire series home to a conclusive end. Like the Rocky Balboa films, this is series has finally come to a decisive end.This film will interest modern day audiences as it does not belittle or talk down to the audience by defusing the situation with unwanted and needless comedy or film commentary. This film is a relentless war film from beginning to end and has some of the most brutal violence seen in any of the Rambo films or any modern action film out today. This is no LIVE FREE OR DIE HARD, THE TRANSPORTER, or any Michael Bay film, for that matter. Stallone presents an engaging look into war and genocide and it isn't pretty, which is what war truly is. War is death, destruction, needless, and sometimes necessary no matter how much we all wish for peace and this film presents it as so and it is all the better for it.

A Look at the IMAX Concert Film U2 3D

The face of watching a concert film is forever changed with the film U2 3D in which we watch the iconic rock band's concert in Argentina in glorious digital 3D on the IMAX screen in which everything is so much larger than life. It's not enough that the film is presented in the larger than life IMAX format but the filmmakers want you to be IN THE MOVIE and the technological advancements of digital 3D have now made that possible. While watching Bono, The Edge, Adam Clayton, and Larry Mullen, Jr. you feel like you are one of the audience members as the performers step right off the screen and into your lap. It is an amazing experience to behold that takes the innovations of previous digital 3D films BEOWULF, HARRY POTTER 5, and THE NIGHTMARE BEFORE CHRISTMAS 3D, to a whole different level. Those films were beautifully presented but U2 3D is right in your face.

The4 cinematography is amazing as elements in the foreground, background, and mid-ground are separated amid the 3D elements creating a visual tour de force in which for the first time you feel like you can stand in between the audience and the band for an even closer experience with the band then even the original audience was able to get. Praise should also go to the production design as the two thrust stage performance areas put band members in the middle of the audience during certain songs enhancing the “up close and personal” aspect of the production and the 3D feel.

Not since viewing GRINDHOUSE on the big screen has going to the movies been such a jaw dropping experience. The band performs all their most popular songs and expands upon and enhances the concert experience that they brought to their 1988 concert film U2: RATTLE AND HUM. Although this film will have tough competition with the Hannah Montana concert film HANNAH MONTANA & MILEY CYRUS: BEST OF BOTH WORLDS CONCERT - DISNEY DIGITAL 3D (which at this time is the highest grossing concert film of all time), U2 3D like the band's previous concert film will be a bench mark in concert films that will be enjoyed for years to come.