Director Stephen Vasquez brings you this blood, sweat and tears documentary, The Electro Wars which analyzes the current Electro scene as seen through the eyes of various key players.

Over the course of the film, Vasquez illustrates the extent of how Electro influence has recently infiltrated a variety of other musical genres from the underground to the mainstream. From Lil Jon, Pitbull, DJ Premier all the way to Major Lazer, Electro has left its stamp across the musical spectrum and each is eager and excited at the possibilities it poses for furthering their own genres of sound.

A perfect example of cross contamination of sounds is Pitbull’s “Hotel Room Service” (video above). Pitbull samples Nightcrawlers classic “Push The Feeling On” (video below), a move that would eventually bring Pitbull and Nightcrawlers to work on new material together.

The Electro Wars is currently screening a rough cut at this year’s Winter Music Conference on March 26 and the film features interviews with A-Trak, Steve Aoki, Major Lazer, Chromeo, Franki Chan, Pitbull, Lil Jon, Spank Rock, The Crookers, Ninjasonik, Matt and Kim, Laidback Luke, DJ Premier, Anthony Volodkin of the Hype Machine and many more…such as myself. Keep watch in the near future for a New York premiere of The Electro Wars.

Now in select theaters and also available On Demand for $7.99, Fish Tank is a powerful British drama that doesn’t shy away from controversial material. It’s being compared to Precious, but Fish Tank hit me harder and didn’t feel as emotionally manipulative. It had a Mike Leigh vibe minus the eccentricity. Written and directed by Andrea Arnold, the movie takes a look at 15 year old Mia (Katie Jarvis), a lonely, neglected girl walled in by a public housing estate. She has no friends and interacts with her mother and younger sister essentially through screams and slamming doors. Her mother Joanne (Kierston Wareing) is an alcoholic party girl. One day Joanne brings home Connor (Michael Fassbinder), a young charmer who Mia is instantly attracted to. It’s obvious that the feeling is mutual.

So much of the film rests on the performance of 19 year old Jarvis, and, honestly, she’s the Truth. She was discovered by Arnold at a train station, arguing with her boyfriend. She lived in a public housing estate in Essex and had a baby when she was 16. She may not have gone into this film with any acting chops, but she had plenty of experience with the material.

Arnold doesn’t really hide where the movie is headed. In fact, it’s easy to figure out early on where the film is headed. But it’s not really about what happens between Mia and Connor, it’s about Mia’s and her doomed existence. With a mother like that, she’s fucked from the starting gate. We’re given front row to this uphill struggle through Mia’s eyes. The camera sticks by her side throughout the film has a real voyeuristic feel. By the end, I wanted out of the stinkin’ projects as much as Mia.

Oh, Nas is in the title of the review because “Life’s a Bitch” plays over the end credits. It seems obvious at first, but it works. You’ll see why. Trust me.

Iraq war films are very unpopular with audiences. Hurt Locker is now wiping its ass with Oscars, sure, but it didn’t do well financially. People don’t want to see films about Iraq because they’re a reminder that everything is fucked. Stack a hefty recession on top of that and folks simply aren’t paying to be bummed out. Remember what a disaster Lions for Lambs was? But director Paul Greengrass (last two Bourne films) doesn’t seem to be out to educate or bum out audiences with Green Zone. It’s about how hyped up WMDs were and how there actually weren’t any. But everyone knows that. The plot of Green Zone may be too little too late, but that doesn’t stop it from being seriously entertaining.

Greengrass teams up with Matt Damon once again to deliver a perfectly paced, action thriller filled with politics and shaky cam out the ass. His frequent overuse of shaky handhelds has always been my only issue with Greengrass. I love the Bourne films, but the handheld work gets terribly nauseating. So against this background, Greengrass simply drops in Matt Damon as warrant officer Roy Miller and BAM…you’ve got a Jason Bourne film set in Iraq. It’s brilliant. Miller becomes this frustrated personification of the American. He goes “rogue” on his search for the truth. Anytime a movie involves someone “going rogue” I’m on board. It could be about a “rogue ice cream man” and I’d watch. Actually, that sounds awesome.

The cast also includes Greg Kinnear, Brenden Gleeson (who’s always amazing), and Amy Ryan as a journalist with a ponytail. Every female war correspondent in movies rocks a ponytail. Fact. The movie is based on the nonfiction book Imperial Life in the Emerald City, written by former Washington Post Baghdad bureau chief Rajiv Chandrasekaran. Greengrass lightly brushes aside the politics and scandal of the book which people have already digested and brings in Bourne. Which is exactly what I want from a Greengrass film.

Disney has released the new trailer for Tron Legacy and simply put, it looks freakin’ amazing. Director Joseph Kosinsky has nothing on his resume except a few video game commercials but I couldn’t care less after this trailer. Look at how big that Recognizer vehicle is!!! We get a nice taste of the Daft Punk score as well.

After watching this trailer around 7:30 this morning, my day can only go downhill. That’s it. I’m going back to bed. Until December.

Review Quickie: I wasn’t expecting much from Solomon Kane…the movie based on Robert E. Howard’s fictional pulp character from the 1930s. But I now eat my words. Robert E. Howard is the mastermind behind Conan, tuberculosis, and the early 20th century. He wrote several stories featuring his character Solomon Kane: a 17th century pirate that pillages his way across northern Africa. Then the Devil catches up with him. He wants Solomon’s black soul. Solomon flees, but if he commits one more act of violence, he’s going to be pulled right down to Hell.

Solomon, played really well by James Purefoy (HBO’s Rome), then becomes a Puritan and lives a quiet life of prayer. That is until a family he befriends is attacked and their daughter gets jacked by some enslaving bastards. Solomon decides to break his vow of peace and starts killing everything ever on his path to save the girl.

The movie’s fucking raw, violent, and I wasn’t bored for one frame. The cinematography is also pretty damn gorgeous at some points and the fight’s are well choreographed. Meaning unlike many contemporary action movies, you could tell what the hell was going on. Director Michael J. Bassett is a young dude with only a couple flicks under his belt. It’s obvious that he knows how to do fantasy-action and he’s stated he wishes to make this a trilogy. I wouldn’t mind that at all.

So if you’re looking for a great throwback to sword and sorcery movies, check out Solomon Kane.

I wasn’t really interest in seeing Tim Burton’s Alice in Wonderland at all, but my local theater was only showing that and Percy Jackson and the Olympians: The Lightning Thief. That’s the name of a movie. Burton hasn’t really done anything for me in a decade. Sleepy Hollow was his last effort that I really liked. Big Fish apologists can go cry in the corner. Wonderland wasn’t all bad though. There were some cool ideas and great character designs. But overall it was just “okay.” I didn’t see it in 3D, but that wouldn’t have saved this one from falling flat.

Burton’s Wonderland is a sequel to both books in the Alice canon. It’s 13 years later, Alice is 19, and she believes Wonderland is just a recurring dream she’s been having since youth. On the day some dorky lord proposes to her, Alice is visited by the White Rabbit and follows him down the hole. The Red Queen has taken over Wonderland and it’s on Alice to end her reign. I should write the synopses on the back of DVDs, shouldn’t I?

The Good: Some of the production design is remarkable – especially the Red Queen’s castle. It’s now one of my favorite castles. The creature design was also pretty sick. The Jabberwocky in particular is so sick and I really hope they make a nice toy for it. Helen Bonham Carter (Red Queen) was terrific and so was Mia Wasikowska as Alice. That young girl has some acting chops on her, anyone who’s seen the first season of HBO’s In Treatment already knows that.

A major theme of the movie was beauty standards, which I would usually roll my eyes at. We’ve seen it so many times before that it’s hard to come fresh with it, but Burton pulled it off really well. The Red Queen has a bulbous head and her court conforms to this by wearing over-sized prosthetic features like ears and noses. Clothing also plays a large role. Pre-Wonderland, Alice refuses to wear a corset and stockings; the standard garb for sexualized women of the time. She undergoes several costume changes during the film as she shrinks/grows and comes out of her dress. At one point she’s even naked (the view’s obstructed by a tree though…sorry, pervs).

The Bad: I was pretty bored throughout. Burton doesn’t sacrifice substance for style, but it still felt bland all the way through. I would have liked to see more of Wonderland too.

The Ugly: Johnny Depp’s Mad Hatter looks like an old lesbian. I wanted to blow my brains out during all of his scenes. He looks miserable and was more annoying than “mad.” There’s one particular scene near the end involving a victory dance that is SO dumb…I can’t even find the words. It single-handedly ruins the end. But hey, at least the kids laughed.

Director Jacques Audiard’s latest and greatest crime film, A Prophet (AKA: Un prophète), is a haunting look at one man’s six-year prison sentence as he rises from lapdog to top dog. And this is my type of crime story: no big name actors, shaky-cam action sequences or cliché gangster talk. Just an accurate reflection of this cold, fast-buck world of ours. The French have a rich history of amazing crime films (see: the GOAT, Rififi) and Audiard’s gun has been smoking for over a decade now. His previous crime endeavors also got much-deserved acclaim: Read My Lips and The Beat That My Heart Skipped.

Dig: 19-year old Malik El Djebena (Tahar Rahim) is sentenced to six years for assaulting a cop. He can’t read or write. He has no family. He’s a French-Arab in a prison where Corsicans are running the show. Soon after his arrival, Malik is approached in the yard by Corsican kingpin Cesar Luciani (a terrifying Niels Arestrup). Cesar wants a Muslim prisoner named Reyeb killed. But since the Muslims are kept in a separate wing of the prison, none of Cesar’s hoods can get at him. But fresh meat Malik can. He becomes the Corsican’s errand boy, but he soaks up all the criminal knowledge around him.

For the next two and a half hours the movie engulfs you in the world of social and religious prison politics. Its corruption. Its drugs and its sex. Its effective education system. There’s something going on within the prison though that is sort of a standard in crime films: prison does not act as a place of punishment and reform, but rather as a criminal college with shitty dorms. I can’t personally attest to this, but every criminal memoir I’ve seen paints the same picture. And as with most greats, I found myself rooting for the “bad” guy, Malik. Audiard masterfully pulls strings and I went from sympathizing to despising him to accepting his chosen path.

The scene where Malik goes into Reyeb’s cell to kill him is incredibly intense. I’m not ashamed to admit I was shaking during the whole scene.

Also, Audiard’s The Beat That My Heart Skipped is available on Netflix watch it now. Check it out.

I have an awful habit of going to see a movie every couple of weeks even if there is absolutely nothing to see. Well, I’ve got to admit that my habit led me to the lowest depths of desperation when we actually paid to see a Kevin Smith movie last night. Fuck.

I hate Kevin Smith so fucking much. I’m surprised shit like this doesn’t happen to him more often with the number of people in the world that probably hate his fucking guts.

Anyway, Cop Out has Tracy Morgan in it and he’s my achilles heel. I will watch anything with Tracy Morgan in it with eager anticipation. I should have known better that Kevin Smith would make him deliver a bunch of garbage punch lines instead of just letting him do what he does best: show up drunk and take his shirt off. Pause.

I initially thought this movie looked awful but I was given an ounce of hope when the red band trailer dropped. Let me save you the grief I went through and recommend you watch the trailer because it’s the only pleasure you’re going to get out of Cop Out. I understand that this movie is supposed to be a parody of 80’s cop flicks and that all the corn is supposed to be taken with a grain of irony but I don’t care. Kevin Smith blows a million dicks. I’m just sorry Tracy had to be there…and Jason Lee I suppose.

I’ll see you in hell Kevin Smith you fat, un-flight-worthy fuck.

(I’m sorry for swearing so much.)

Given just how many of the Bloglin’s writing staff fell head-over-heels for Taken, I was surprised no one ventured out to see From Paris With Love on its opening weekend. Perhaps it’s that impulse you get to simply stay away upon seeing Travolta with top billing in a film… But I felt Pierre Moral’s second feature film for the American market deserved a chance, regardless of the cast, and so a few weeks after its release, I just had to know if he could deliver once again.

Jonathan Rhys Meyers plays James Reece, a diplomatic aide stationed in France, who is slowly trying to work his way into becoming a special operative. Reece receives mysterious phone calls with menial espionage assignments that, while essential, mostly keep him out of harm’s way. But one night, that all changes… Reece is asked to head into action and pick up another operative who is being held in customs, and assist him on his assignment that night. Think of it as a test, you do good and you’re in the “club”, he’s told. That other operative is, of course, John Travolta, as the bald-headed Charlie Wax.

What ensues is your classic action movie odd couple dynamic that you’ve seen a million times before. Travolta is the wild one and Meyers is the guy with the stick up his ass. Like chocolate paired with peanut-butter, they just work together. Meyers follows, err, assists Travolta as he wreaks havoc through the streets, back alleys, and coke dens of Paris, slaughtering one group of baddies after another until he gets to the top of the food chain. Each leg of their assignment is just as much about testing Meyer’s fortitude as an operative as it is about stopping a heinous plot from befalling Americans at home and abroad. It’s kind of like Training Day, except morality doesn’t really come into the picture here. Travolta’s character is like a more believably-scripted G.I. Joe hero than anyone depicted in that movie, and the action sequences here are infintley more enjoyable and plentiful.

Moral follows much of the same formula as in Taken, which made both movies so mesmerizing. Long intense stretches of action and mayhem, followed by 10 or so minutes of “plot”. Hell, he even goes back to the well for  a few of the same tricks that made you go “Oh shit!!” while watching Taken. But it really doesn’t matter if it’s been done before, because not only can Moral make the old fresh again, it just simply works for making an action movie exciting and enjoyable from start to finish. And while From Paris with Love may not be as good of a movie as Taken, it’s just as entertaining. And that’s what I’m really looking for out of an action movie… 90 minutes free from boredom, and From Paris with Love delivers!

Those who stayed away from From Paris With Love because of Travolta, fear not… he’s appropriately hammy in this role. I’m under the firm belief that much like Nicolas Cage, when in the hands of a good director, the stars can align and transform his acting inadequacies into strengths. Just think of Face-Off (truly a clash of the titans!) and you’ll know what I mean. Moral gets just enough schmaltz out of Travolta to lend the action sequences a perfect shade of over-the-top comic book believability that most actual comic book movies fail on delivering. Plus, as cheesy as it was, I gotta give him props for using the opportunity of having Travolta in Paris to play homage to Pulp Fiction.

Pierre Moral knows action, and is simply the best action director since John Woo. In all his movies, he manages to transform Paris from the city of love into the scariest city in the world. If you were a fan of Taken, go see this, you’ll be thoroughly entertained…I guarantee that. Now we just have to wait and see what Moral does with Dune, which I’m infinitely more excited for now than ever.

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P.S. I think the poor tracking and audio syncing of this rip somehow just add to the viewing experience of Akira. It makes me feel like I’m 12 again and I just got some 4th generation dubbed copy from a friend of a friend.