NINJA

Ninja is a 2009 martial arts film about an orphaned American who was left at a dojo in Japan when he was a child and trained in the ways of the--you guessed it!--ninja. (Ninjas, for those of you needing a history lesson, were mercenaries and/or assassins who operated back in feudal Japan until they were completely outlawed by the Japanese government and forced to operate underground. Or something like that!) Anyway, the plot of Ninja has been seen in countless other martial arts/ninja flicks: the American has a heated rivalry going with another member of the dojo. When said rival is ousted by the sensi for disobeying the rules, he becomes a brutal assassin-for-hire who vows revenge against the dojo who ousted him. He also wants a "secret weapon" that the dojo is hiding so it doesn't all into the wrong hands. When the ousted member comes to the dojo and makes a not-so-thinly veiled threat, the sensi asks the American and his daughter--whom said American has the apparent hots for--to take said "secret weapon" to a "friend" of his for safe-keeping. Along the way, they get violently attacked by the thugs who work for the underground crime organization that the ousted dojo member works for who end up killing the sensi's friend. The American and the sensi's daughter gets arrested by police for the murder. While they're being interrogated by police, the ousted dojo member breaks into the police station--after he attacks the dojo and ends up killing his former sensi--where he kidnaps the girl. After going after the crime organization his rival works for, the American offers the "secret weapon" in exchange for the girl. You can probably figure out the rest here, can't you? Actually, in spite of its familiar plot, Ninja is for the most part a pretty decent martial arts film and not nearly as cheesy as I thought it would be. It helped that the acting was actually better than what one normally sees in a flick like this (and, believe you me, the acting in at least some of these flicks tends to be sub-par at best!). Plus the fight scenes--and, of course, there are plenty of them--are actually well-choreographed. For those who are into martial arts/ninja films, Ninja might be worthy of a look (especially since they don't seem to make as many of these type of flicks as they used to).

TUCKER & DALE VS. EVIL

Tucker & Dale vs, Evil is a 2010 horror/comedy film--from Canada, no less!--about a couple of good ol' boys who get mistaken for serial killers. While on "vacation" at their "vacation" home (which is really a beat-down cabin in the woods!), Tucker & Dale come across some snooty college kids who immediately look down their noses at them. One night while they're doing some night-fishing, Tucker & Dale catch one of the hot college chicks falling into the lake and hitting her head on a rock knocking her unconscious while she and her friends are out doing some late-night skinny-dipping. So they decide to take her back to their cabin and nurse her back to health. Of course, her snooty college friends mistakenly believe that the rednecks kidnapped her to do unspeakably horrible things to her. So they take it upon themselves to "rescue" her from said redneck degenerates. This, of course, doesn't go none too well for said snooty college kids; like, for instance, when one of them makes a run at Tucker while he's throwing some old wood through his wood chipper and, just when Tucker turns around, the snooty college kid falls headfirst into the wood chipper. Hilarious! Anyway, it turns out that the "leader" of the college group harbors a serious grudge against any & all rednecks/hillbillies as his mother was the lone survivor of what was known as the Memorial Day Massacre where a hillbilly serial killer went on a murderous rampage in the very same woods 20 years earlier. And things go from bad to worse as he and his college buddies "accidentally" set fire to their cabin when they again try to "rescue" her and the head college guy kidnaps the girl when he believes she's "gone hillbilly" and Dale goes and rescues her. One of the things that makes Tucker & Dale vs. Evil so funny is that it pokes fun at all the horror flicks over the years where the killers are usually--you guessed it!--psychotic hillbillies. And, yes, there's enough hardcore gore in this flick to satisfy even the more ardent horror flick fan! Best line in the flick (from Dale): "I never thought I'd say this, but I'm glad I'm not hung like a bear!" Second best line (from Tucker): "He's heavy for half a guy!"

Here's a video collection of some of the best clips from Tucker & Dale vs. Evil (from YouTube):

ZOMBIE NIGHT

Zombie Night is a 2013 horror flick released by film production company The Asylum, which is the company that produces all these cheesy horror/sci-fi flicks you tend to see on the Syfy channel such as the, uh-hum, classic Sharknado. Asylum flicks usually features stars who are, shall we say, past their prime, and Zombie Night is no different in that regard as it stars Daryl Hannah (of Splash and both Kill Bill movies) and former child star Anthony Michael Hall (of The Breakfast Club fame) along with the guy who played the best friend in that Ferris Bueller flick. Anyway, to be honest, I wasn't expecting much from this flick because, as I believe I've posted before, I'm not the biggest fan of zombie flicks--with exception, of course--as they all tend to be so damn repetitive. And the "plot" of Zombie Night is also no different in that regard as it shows the inhabitants of a town trying to survive a sudden zombie horde that inexplicably begins one night (with corpses rising from the grave, dead people turning into zombies, the usual). In spite of the fact that we've seen this very same "plot" in countless zombie flicks before, Zombie Night actually turned out to be a pretty entertaining film; again, in spite of the fact that I'm not the biggest "fan" of zombie flicks. It helped that it had more higher-caliber stars that what you normally see in Asylum flicks (like, for instance, "stars" who appeared in cheesy nineties TV shows like Beverly Hills 90210 and Baywatch). Truthfully, I initially primarily watched this flick because it starred the lovely Daryl Hannah whom hasn't starred in too many films since she made a big splash (pardon the pun!) in the second Kill Bill movie (remember that awesome sword fight between her and Uma Thurman, which, to me, was the best part about the movie). There's also a couple of--dare I say it!--rather heartbreaking scenes in this film; like, for instance, when Daryl Hannah's character is forced to shoot her mother--played by the actress who played the mom on the classic TV show The Partridge Family--in the head after she suddenly dies of a heart attack and then--of course!--comes back to life as a dreaded zombie. Of course, Zombie Night won't be considered a classic film, zombie or otherwise, but, for someone who is a diehard (again, pardon the pun!) fan of zombie fans, they could do FAR worse than Zombie Night (and, believe you me, I've seen some pretty damn cheesy zombie flicks!).

Here's the trailer to Zombie Night (from YouTube):