Yowazzup: A Directory of Happening Things

Legion is apocalypse themed fantasy-thriller film starring Paul Bettany, Dennis Quaid and Tyrese Gibson. After God loses faith in humanity, the archangel Michael (Paul Bettany) is the only one standing between mankind and the apocalypse. Legion opens on January 22, 2010.

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G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra is a live-action film based on G.I. Joe: A Real American Hero toy franchise by Hasbro.

SPOILER WARNING: Plot and/or ending details follow.

Channing Tatum, Dennis Quaid, Saïd Taghmaoui, Rachel Nichols, Marlon Wayans in "G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra"

Duke (Channing Tatum) and Ripcord (Marlon Wayans) are military and are involved in transporting extremely dangerous warheads. Their caravan is ambushed by a group of mercenaries led by the Baroness (Sienna Miller), who possesses highly advanced weapons far more superior than the NATO transport unit. Duke and Ripcord’s fellow soldiers are all killed by the mercenaries. The Baroness spares the life of Duke, as Duke knows her as Amy Lewis. All of a sudden, G.I. Joe appear out of nowhere and attack the mercenary, forcing them to escape leaving behind the warheads.

Sienna Miller in "G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra"

Later on, Duke and Ripcord are recruited by General Hawk (Dennis Quaid) to join the ranks of the Alpha Team, the G.I. Joes and they are brought to The Pit, the home of the Joes where Duke and Ripcord have to go through military training where most parts involve virtual reality. When they pass their tests with flying colors, they are immediately engaged in battles with the mercenaries when the mercenaries invades The Pit to steal the warheads. It is known that the mercenaries known as Cobra is led by James McCullen (Christopher Eccleston), the person responsible in using NATO’s funds to make the warheads and then steal them back.

Duke, Ripcord, Scarlett (Rachel Nichols), Snake-Eyes (Ray Park), Heavy Duty (Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje) and Breaker (Saïd Taghmaoui) are sent to Paris to stop Cobra from activating the warheads. However, they are too late as Baroness and Storm Shadow (Lee Byung-hun) manage to activate the warhead, killing Baron de Cobray in the process.

After all the high speed car chase with Duke and Ripcord in highly advanced suits which make them incredibly fast and nearly invincible, Scarlett in a superbike and Snake-Eyes on top of the jeep that Baroness and Storm Shadow are in, Storm Shadow manages to destroy The Eiffel Tower even though Duke manages to stop the nano bugs which come from the warhead to continue to destroy the entire city.

Throughout the movie, there are numerous flashbacks to further depict the story behind everything includes how Duke’s ex-fiancée, Amy Lewis is recruited into Cobra and how the entire military thinks Rex Lewis (Joseph Gordon-Levitt), Amy’s brother is killed but actually survived and becomes “The Doctor”, Cobra’s highly intelligent scientist.

The movie is like the combination of “Watchmen” and “Terminator Salvation” in which the world is going to end but in G.I. Joe, “When All Else Fails, They Don’t”. That’s the motto of the movie. And as a matter of fact, it doesn’t fail. It is surely highly entertaining, full of actions and has the right elements and is occassionally comical.

My ratings: 8 out of 10.

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Watch the full theatrical trailer of G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra.

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G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra is a movie about an elite military unit comprised of special operatives known as G.I. Joe, operating out of The Pit, takes on an evil organization led by a notorious arms dealer. G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra starring Dennis Quaid, Channing Tatum, Marlon Wayans, Sienna Miller and will be released on August 7, 2009.

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The Horsemen is a movie about a widowed detective who’s still grieving over his wife’s death and realizes the suspects in a serial killing spree linked to the Four Horsemen of the Apocalyse. The Horsemen stars Dennis Quaid and Zhang Ziyi.

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Smart People is a movie about the life of a widowed professor, Professor Lawrence Wetherhold (Dennis Quaid). Also starring Sarah Jessica Parker, Thomas Haden Church and Ellen Page (yes, the star of Juno).

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Vantage Point is a non-stop action packed film that takes the audience back in time with eight different points of view in order to unravel an assassination attempt on a President of the United States. Unlike Hitman (2007), Vantage Point is largely dependent on the judgment of the audience as the story slowly unfolds.

SPOILER WARNING: Plot and/or ending details follow.

Angie Jones (Zoe Saldana) is GNN’s television reporter covering on site during a summit in Spain on the war on terror, in which President of the United States (William Hurt) has managed to gather the leaders of seven continents to address the issue on the global war on terror. Meanwhile, Secret Service Special Agents Thomas Barnes (Dennis Quaid) and Kent Taylor (Matthew Fox) are assigned to protect U.S. President Ashton (William Hurt). Moments after the President’s arrival, a couple of shots are fired and the President is injured. In the mist of chaos and disorder, an American tourist Howard Lewis (Forest Whitaker) comes forward with his HDV camcorder, which he believes he has recorded the image of the shooter.

As Angie Jones and her producer Rex Brooks (Signourney Weaver) is covering the tragic event on television, another bomb explodes and instantly claims many lives including Angie. While the movie unfolds, it will take us to eight different points of view, 23 minutes before the shooting occurs.

The main characters include Javier (Edgar Ramirez), Veronica (Ayelet Zurer) former lover of Enrique, Suarez (Said Taghmaoui) a possible terrorist, Enrique (Eduardo Noriega) an undercover police who protects the mayor and a young Spanish girl named Anna (Alicia Zapien).

Special Agents Thomas Barnes (Dennis Quaid) and Holden (Richard T. Jones) thought Enrique (Eduardo Noriega) is the main suspect

Right at the end as the story is finally revealed through all eight different angles, Howard Lewis, the American tourist is a real hero as he has saved Anna from a near accident while Special Agent Thomas Barnes manages to escape death despite having his car entirely damaged by a huge truck and after an impressive car chase on his partner Kent Taylor, of whom has betrayed the Americans and finally manages to save President of the United States. Suarez is the mastermind behind the assassination attempt, he even knows since the beginning that the Americans uses a double for the summit after the NSA has received threats but he’s killed in the end by the invincible Agent Barnes.

Really ingenious play of different camera angles, different point of views from different people of different background, this movie is surely innovative in terms of cinematography. Despite the mysterious fact that Agent Barnes can’t die (he has managed to dodge a bullet in an earlier assassination attempt on the US President previously), the little girl is saved and her mother is alive, the American tourist is also alive and kicking and is seen talking to his family on the phone in the end, and the US President is somewhat, kidnapped instead of being shot when there’s a point blank opportunity, the movie is otherwise, awesome.

My rating: 8 out of 10.

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Starring Dennis Quaid, Matthew Fox and Sigourney Weaver, Vantage Point is a thriller about the attempted assassination of the president told from five different perspectives.

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