Directed by: Justin Lin
Written by: Chris Morgan, & Gary Scot Thompson (characters)
Starring: Vin Diesel, Paul Walker, Dwayne Johnson, & Jordana Brewster

A TCC RATING OF
****½ (4.5/5)

Sometimes when you go to see a movie you walk into the theater expecting an emotionally touching plot, snappy intelligent dialogue, and one or two tour de force performances. And sometimes you go to have fun. Fast five definitely qualifies as the latter. Some of you might say "but movies are supposed to be good, not fun" and I would reply "stop being so pretentious and learn to enjoy life." Fast Five doesn't try to be high art, it tries to be a car-focused balls-to-the-wall thrill-ride heist action film, and it succeeds entirely. Review with spoilers after the jump.

Fast Five follows the actions of three federal fugitives (Diesel, Walker, Brewster) as they attempt to establish a life in Rio de Janeiro, only to immediately get roped into a visually impressive car heist and become entangled with the most powerful criminal mastermind in Brazil, all while being tracked by "the guy the FBI hires when they want people found (Johnson)." To get their way out of trouble they bring back most of the characters from the past four films, cashing in on the viewer's nostalgia, to plan "one last job."

If someone walked into Fast Five not completely sure of what to expect, beyond the plot, the movie lets you know immediately what tone it's going for. The opening scene is a very well executed albeit unrealistic prison bus stunt, and from there the viewer is only given a couple moments to catch their collective breath. "Well executed" and "unrealistic" are probably two of the best words to describe the entire film. Every action set piece is, dare I say, masterfully choreographed and shot, and there is no lack of implausibility in the plot or the stunts.

Before this review turns into a press release, it should be noted that the acting is as stiff and snooze-inducing as the stunts are dynamic and thrilling. Vin Diesel and Paul Walker deliver classic Vin Diesel and Paul Walker performances, showing none of the acting promise we all got a glimpse at in The Pacifier and Timeline respectively. None of the supporting cast contribute anything special, and the only bright spot out of all the talent was Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson. Say what you will, but I believe he has tremendous screen presence and is a very charismatic action star, along the lines of Arnold. Regardless, his badassery is nice to see after starring roles in Tooth Fairy, Race to Witch Mountain, and The Game Plan.

One of the things that makes Fast Five so much fun is that director Justin Lin knows how ridiculous the movie is, and revels in it. Expensive cars get stolen off of a moving train, Vin Diesel and Paul Walker drive a car off of a cliff, a ridiculously attractive woman (Gal Gadot, with whom I am now unabashedly in love with) gets the villain's prints off of her bikini bottom, and a giant bank vault gets dragged through the streets of downtown Rio, causing massive amounts of damage and threatening the lives of hundreds of innocents. It is this B-Movie mentality, executed with an A-Movie budget and director that makes Fast Five such a fun ride.

The bottom line is that if you are a fan of action movies, car movies, heist movies, or just "guy movies" in general, Fast Five will satisfy your film needs, and serves as the perfect way to open a summer full of action blockbusters.

If you want to get a taste for the type of action I'm talking about, check out the trailer below:

The question in the image above is an important one, and the premise to perhaps one of the best film ranking sites out there on the web: Flickchart. I recently had a chance to talk to Co-Founder Nathan Chase about the site, where the idea came from, what all went into creating it and what's in store for the future.

Interview after the jump.

Q. For those late to the game, what's Flickchart?

A. Flickchart is a website that allows film lovers to create a personal "best of all-time" list by choosing between pairs of films, instead of assigning arbitrary values (like a number of stars) to individual films. By virtue of getting random pairings of films, it can cause you to think differently about what merits each film has. The system works to achieve this lateral decision making in a way that trying to decide if a movie is a "8.3" or an "8.5" via other rating systems simply can't.

You can also choose to rank within, or filter your list (your "Flickchart") by a number of parameters - by date, genre, actor, director, franchise, studio, or any combination. Also, as you rank, you can read, reply, and add to discussions about every single pair you come across, or pass along your judgments to Facebook and Twitter. There's also handy links to purchase movies you're reminded of on Amazon, add them to your Netflix queue, download from iTunes, or buy the wide variety of posters you come across.

We support the site with an extensive blog; covering film topics from all angles, hosting a Flickchart podcast, and offering weekly news on Blu-ray, DVD, and Netflix releases.

Q. How did it all begin?

A. Flickchart sprung from a discussion Jeremy Thompson (co-founder & programmer of Flickchart, pictured above) and I had about the IMDb Top 250 list in late 2006, and how the results always seemed off and unrepresentative of what people actually favored. Specifically, "The Empire Strikes Back" fell well below "Pulp Fiction" on the list, and neither of us thought that would be true if people were asked to choose between the two. Immediately, the idea of a website where you do exactly that was born. I had a rough visual prototype within the week, and Jeremy had an early text-only version of the algorithm and programming to support it.

Q. What are some of the difficulties involved with running this kind of site?

A. While there have been many difficulties, time has always been the biggest threat against us. We only have spare nights and weekends to devote to development and new features for the site, so it limits how quickly we can act on all of the things we'd like to do with Flickchart. Gathering all of the data about each movie has been tricky, but we've developed a good system of user submissions and volunteers who help to verify and approve any films people are looking to rank. We now have just under 25,000 films total in our database.

We've also dealt with issues of scaling and performance, as we've been limited to affordable server infrastructures as we grow. Sometimes when we'd rather be working on new features, we're unfortunately stuck with eliminating bugs and improving performance.

Q. What's in store for Flickchart?

A. We've been looking closer at improving our mobile experience, and have plans to offer a full, native app for iPhone in the coming months, and possibly Android thereafter. We also have a lot of improvements in store for the social side of Flickchart; allowing for more ways to look at the data cross-referenced with your friends, tying Facebook and Twitter more closely to your Flickchart account, and finding even more personalized recommendations based on you, and your friends' choices. There are over 60 features detailed in our internal roadmap, and if time and resources are on our side, we hope to bring them to fruition sooner than later.

Q. What's currently at the #1 spot on your Flickchart?

A. My #1 of all-time is The Empire Strikes Back.

Q. Where can we find Flickchart?

A. You can find us on Twitter, on Facebook and at our Blog!

A TCC RATING OF
***~~ (3/5)

Directed By: Christopher Smith
Written By: Dario Poloni
Starring: Eddie Redmayne, Sean Bean and Carice van Houten

I feel like I could copy and paste my review of Centurion here and it would pretty much express how I felt when I left an advanced screening of Black Death. This is yet another sword and sandal epic that doesn't pull any punches when it comes to grisly and harsh realities of "back in the day" and it does so in a way that makes you think.

The story is such: A young monk is tasked to go off with a band of holy mercenaries who are off to investigate a plague-free village in the monk's homeland. Along the way they learn some startling truths and are forever changed by them. The standout here are the performances, with Sean Bean giving a weighted performance comparable to his Boromir in Fellowship of the Ring. It's tough not to enjoy every moment he's on screen. Contrasting his role quite nicely is Eddie Redmayne, who plays the troubled monk Osmund. Really, everyone delivers a strong performance and for it the film is much stronger than you might guess from the trailers.

Thematically, this film is strong. It was interesting to see how the main characters placed themselves in this battle between "good" and "evil." There's a particularly strong moment where Ulric mercy-kills a young woman accused of witchcraft, which speaks quite well to how complicated that time period was. It was also a strong move on the filmmakers part to not take a side on the issue or attempt to force some sort of moral choice on the audience, which I appreciated by the time I was well into the third act.

I do have some gripes about the film. Namely, I'm not entirely sure I like having that epilogue tacked on at the end. Compared to the rest of the film it feels clumsy and like something that could just as easily have been given to one of the other characters as a somber voice over. In fact, just before the epilogue starts there's a rather nice voiceover by one of the remaining soldiers which serves as a nice objective look at what happened, and wondering what the events of the film meant. If it had just been that moment and then the credits, I would have been perfectly fine with this film and would have probably given it an extra star in the rating up top.

Just like with Centurion, some of the side characters don't get a whole lot of attention, which really detracts from their eventual demise in the film. With these films, I'm always interested in these guys and how they develop with the story. And while there weren't any "Mickey" level performances from these side characters, I still felt myself wishing the film would stop for a few moments and give them something more. But given how tightly paced the film was, I feel like this is more of a personal gripe than a legitimate one.

Overall, I enjoyed the film and thought it presented some really interesting ideas. If you get a chance to see it in the near future, you should. It's only opening in two screens this weekend, but I expect it will open to more screens soon or at least make it's way to Netflix Instant. And hey, it will at least give you a decent fix of medieval Bean until Game of Thrones arrives on HBO!

My boyfriend described The Losers to me as "a more serious version of The A Team".    I think that suits this movie quite well.  Seriously kick ass, and awesome also work in a pinch.

This movie has everything you really need in an action film.   Guns, things blowing up, sex with a hot girl and fantastically written one liners.   It also helps that there is some seriously messed up and fun characters. (Jason Patric's character is great) There are some great scenes I could tell you about, but I don't want to ruin them.    It is your standard not so good triumphing over evil but done in a really good way.

Now this is based on a comic that I have not had the pleasure to read. So I am not sure if this really does the comic any justice.  Maybe someone can weigh in on this matter, but I will say it  makes me want to read the comic.   I am very happy I rented this, but kind of wish I saw it in the theater instead.

This week seems like it's another one of those "catch up on older films I haven't seen" weeks. Sure, The Mechanic sounds like a popcorn riot and Biutiful looks to crush the very fiber of your soul. I'm just not all THAT anxious to see any of these this weekend. Your mileage may vary, however. Do any of these look watchable to you? Let us know in the comments! As always, you can click on the poster or the title to go straight to the trailer.

Films after the jump!

	The Mechanic Directed By: Simon West Written By: Richard Wenk & Lewis John Carlino Starring: Jason Statham, Ben Foster and Donald Sutherland Release Date: January 28, 2011 (2,700 screens) Synopsis: Follows an elite hit man as he teaches his trade to an apprentice who has a connection to one of his previous victims. Thoughts: The ingredients are Jason Statham, Ben Foster and shit exploding. Diagnosis: What more do you want?
	The Rite Director: Mikael Håfström Written By: Michael Petroni Starring: Colin O'Donoghue, Anthony Hopkins and Ciarán Hinds Release Date: January 28, 2011 (2,900+ screens) Synopsis: An American priest travels to Italy to study at an exorcism school. Thoughts: Perhaps one of the creepiest poster campaigns in awhile. I mean, have you ever been driving along at night and seen THAT staring back at you? Enough to make you crap your pants. Diagnosis: Meh.
	Biutiful Director: Alejandro González Iñárritu Written By: Alejandro González Iñárritu & Armando Bo Starring: Javier Bardem, Maricel Álvarez and Hanaa Bouchaib Release Date: January 28, 2011 (50 screens) Synopsis: This is a story of a man in free fall. On the road to redemption, darkness lights his way. Connected with the afterlife, Uxbal is a tragic hero and father of two who's sensing the danger of death. He struggles with a tainted reality and a fate that works against him in order to forgive, for love, and forever. Thoughts: Javier Bardem. And other stuff happens too. Diagnosis: Curious to see.
	From Prada to Nada Director: Angel Gracia Written By: Fina Torres & Luis Alfaro Starring: Camilla Belle, Alexa Vega and Kuno Becker Release Date: January 28, 2011 (250 screens) Synopsis: A Latina spin on Jane Austen's "Sense and Sensibility," where two spoiled sisters who have been left penniless after their father's sudden death are forced to move in with their estranged aunt in East Los Angeles. Thoughts: It's about rich people who are forced to be poor. And it has the girl from Spy Kids in it. Diagnosis: Zzzzzzz
	Ip Man 2: Legend of the Grandmaster Director: Wilson Yip Written By: Edmond Wong Starring: Donnie Yen, Lynn Hung and Simon Yam Release Date: January 28, 2011 (20 screens) Synopsis: Centering on Ip Man's migration to Hong Kong in 1949 as he attempts to propagate his discipline of Wing Chun martial arts. Thoughts: I still have to see the first one. Diagnosis: Want to see!
	Kaboom Director: Gregg Araki Written By: Gregg Araki Starring: Haley Bennett, Thomas Dekker and James Duval Release Date: January 28, 2011 (1 screen) Synopsis: A sci-fi story centered on the sexual awakening of a group of college students. Thoughts: Despite the insanely trite line about Mel Gibson, the trailer kind of has me hooked. And they claim it's Sci-Fi, and I like Sci-Fi. Diagnosis: Curious to see!

Let's compare TCC to Doctor Who for just a moment here. Whenever the great Doctor dies, he goes through a regeneration and becomes a completely different actor. That's pretty much what's happening here. We're transforming from a podcast/blog to a blog. What this means is that things are going to be changing throughout this week. The design will be completely different and the types of posts you're going to see here will be changing as well. The biggest difference is that we're no longer limited to film in our scope. Now, we'll be writing on a variety of topics such as television, anime, and web video(i.e. Legend of Neil, The Guild, and future web series).

I hope you rejoin us in the coming days for a new and improved Technicolor Commentary! Allonsi!

The year is 1933: Gangsters run amok, robbing banks in downtown Chicago. The great depression has the United States in dire straits. All of this is captured with...handheld digital cameras?

So I saw Michael Mann's 'Public Enemies' last night. Overall I enjoyed the flick quite a bit, but there was something that kept tearing my attention away from the story: They shot a good chunk of this film on handheld digital cameras. This was a big surprise to me, since none of that style really came through in the trailers. But I want to establish that I'm all for advances in film tech and directors experimenting to get the best possible shots for their films. But handheld digital cameras emulate such a modern style and atmosphere; I'm not sure how appropriate they were in a 1933 gangster movie. The way digital cameras pick up light or sound is so inherent to a post-millennial, '28 Days Later'-style of filmmaking. It just comes across as very "unnatural" for a strong period piece. It's odd to see that shaky-cam style with all the little dancing pixels picking up G-Men firing tommy guns out of a Ford Model-T.

Maybe I'm too accustomed to seeing epic period pieces shot like epic old-school Hollywood films. There was a great sense of realism that Mann brought to the events depicted in the film. But overall, it was a very strange thing to witness, to say the least. It was almost as if I was watching footage of rehearsals on set, shot by a PA. Which, considering how it all plays out, wouldn't be the worst thing to watch.

We're back! This week we're on the hunt...for a big purple rhino...named Smoochy. That shouldn't surprise you, since that's the motivation for just about every character in this week's movie, Death to Smoochy. Danny DeVito directed this ramshackle comedy with more brutish tones and violence than 27 prison riots. But that's what they call "black comedy". So it's funny, right?

What could be so horrible about a kind-hearted man wanting to spread messages of love, respect, proper eating habits, and respecting one's step dad...all while donning a huge purple rhino outfit? Teach us, Edward Norton! It's like behind-the-scenes at Sesame Street for adults, no? Well, for better and for worse. I failed to mention the Nazi rally and the murders. Oh, the murders. A little intrigued? Well, you should be you puffy rhinoceros! Listen in, and you'll leave with a wonderful insider's perspective of the world of children's television. We certainly feel more enlightened.

You know what else is enlightening? Our new theme music, courtesy of Chewbaska. They're noticeably less corrupt than the average children's TV show host.

Don't forget the Twitter, don't you dare!

@movieguyjon :: @calamityensues :: @thegreatredhope :: @tccommentary

I read on Animenation that the third Tetsuo movie has wrapped principal photography. Excellent.

I have only seen the first one, but it was dark and disturbing and, well, fucked up. Tetsuo II: Body Hammer, however, I have not have the pleasure of seeing. What we have here is  a metaphor for society's dependence on technology.  Or maybe we have some crazy shit going on for no reason. It's nuts.

I guess that's all I got to say about that. Watch it!

There comes a time in a person's life when he or she needs to come to terms with their past. That time came for dem TCC boyz with the screening of this film, Being John Malkovich. It is with great, newly found clarity that we present episode 10, filled with life affirming humor and warmth.

Although, I find this film more dark and depressing that any form of humor. Well, for the most part.

I'm rambling.

By the way, we got new intro music by Chewbaska. It's good, because it's ska. And everyone likes ska.

Oh, and the Twitter...

@movieguyjon :: @calamityensues :: @thegreatredhope :: @tccommentary