The Warriors

Starring: a cast of nobodies in flamboyant outfits

I love cult films. There is just something so fun in embracing a film that can be reviled by so many people but that you can bond with a select group of people about. What is a cult film? Read a definition of cult films here.

So for review today is this cult classic (ranked #13 on Entertainment Weekly's top 100 cult films) titled The Warriors. You may recognize the title as a popular Rockstar games video game.

First off, let's be honest about this film. It's cheesy and not in the least bit scary or tough. The premise is extremely simplistic. A prominent gang leader who wants to unite all the New York City gangs is gunned down during an important speech and the gang named "The Warriors" is wrongfully accused. The Warriors are now targeted by every gang in NYC so they must get to their home turf of Coney Island ASAP. The movie follows their journey back to Coney Island through the subway system, parties and the streets.

What makes this movie unique though are the gangs themselves. It's hilarious to see so many flamboyant gangs attempting to murder The Warriors in face paint, silly outfits, and with ridiculous gang names. We have the mime gang, the baseball gang, the orphans, the "lizzies" (lesbian gang, although never outwardly named such), the high-hats, etc. The film has a very comic book feel because of the variety of costumed gangs and on the DVD version comic book panels have been added for segway between scenes. The film wraps up quickly and only has a running time of 93 minutes, which is perfection.

This is a fun, memorable, quotable movie that deserves cult status. I highly recommend it to those of you out there with eclectic tastes.

Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest

Starring: Johnny Depp, Bill Nighy, Kiera Knightley, Orlando Bloom, Jonathan Price & More
Directed by: Gore Verbinski

My rating: Euphoria!

Here we have a very fun film. While long, Pirates provides the viewer with non-stop action and plot twists that I thought were phenomenal. The packed theater, which included very young children, elderly couples, couples my age and large groups of business types, all burst into clapping at the end of the film which just about sums up how well received this film was at 11am in the morning on a weekend. In fact, I had no idea there were so many small children till we left the theater because I didn't hear a peep out of them for the whole film, which attests to how quick-paced and eye-candy-like the events are happening on screen. Things move so fast you have no time to examine any one scene too much though and I can see people needing to see the film more than once to catch everything.

Johnny Depp is funny, brash and somewhat redemptive this time around as Captain Jack Sparrow, the selfish pirate. His one-liners are priceless. Not only are we treated to Mr.Depp, who is one of my favorite actors, Disney has surrounded him with lots of talent including Bill Nighy as the evil Davey Jones. Even with so many characters, everyone manages to shine. The CGI is virtually flawless and there are some real action surprises in store that feature a startling good-looking special effects.

My only recommendation is that you rewatch the first film. Almost every character returns at some point and they reference many points from The Black Pearl that I didn't quite remember.

This is the must-see film of the summer. If you haven't seen it on the big screen (I think most people have...) I highly recommend you go!