This movie is so damn good. Warrior movie image from Chuck Zlotnick/http://www.warriorfilm.com/index2.html#/photos/?imageid=1.

This movie isn’t a movie about mixed martial arts (MMA).

It’s a movie about underdogs, brotherhood, fatherhood, fears, facing your past, overcoming challenges, hate, alcoholism, abuse,  death, family, marriage, pride, love and life.

The two main characters just happen to fight MMA.

Don’t get me wrong, the fight scenes are intense and realistic.  Half the movie they are either in the gym or training or fighting.  But to say this is an MMA movie would be to seriously sell it short.

From to the official Warrior website:

Rising stars Tom Hardy and Joel Edgerton command the screen as two estranged brothers facing the fight of a lifetime in Lionsgate’s WARRIOR, a moving, inspirational action drama from acclaimed director Gavin O’Connor (Miracle).

Haunted by a tragic past, Marine Tommy Conlon (Hardy) returns home for the first time in fourteen years to enlist the help of his father (Nick Nolte) to train for Sparta, the biggest winner-takes-all event in mixed martial arts history. A former wrestling prodigy, Tommy blazes a path toward the championship while his brother, Brendan (Edgerton), an ex-fighter-turned teacher, returns to the ring in a desperate bid to save his family from financial ruin.  But when Brendan’s unlikely, underdog rise sets him on a collision course with the unstoppable Tommy, the two brothers must finally confront each other and the forces that pulled them apart, facing off in the most soaring, soul stirring, and unforgettable climax that must be seen to be believed.

A rousing ode to redemption, reconciliation and the power of the human spirit, WARRIOR is also a moving testament to the enduring bonds of family.   WARRIOR stars Tom Hardy (the upcoming The Dark Knight Rises, Inception, Black Hawk Down), Joel Edgerton (Animal Kingdom, Star Wars: Episode III), Jennifer Morrison (“House”, Star Trek) and Nick Nolte (Tropic Thunder, The Thin Red Line).  The film is directed by Gavin O’Connor; screenplay by Gavin O’Connor & Anthony Tambakis & Cliff Dorman and story by Gavin O’Connor & Cliff Dorfman.

Each and every member of this ensemble cast does an unbeleivable job at keeping the viewer glued to the screen and engaged in each and every story of their lives.

This movie is amazing and is definitely on our top ten list of the best movies of all time.

In case you haven’t seen it yet, go rent it.  You’ll be thinking about the movie days after watching it.

For more information about Warrior, the movie you can check out their official site at http://www.warriorfilm.com/index2.html.

Since we’re talking about kick-ass movies today, we might as well talk about Haywire, an action movie from our favorite Ocean’s 11 director Steven Soderbergh:

This dynamic action-thriller directed by Oscar® winner Steven Soderbergh (Traffic) boasts a talented cast that includes Channing Tatum (GI Joe: Rise of the Cobra), Ewan McGregor (The Ghost Writer), Michael Fassbender (X-Men: First Class), Antonio Banderas (The Legend of Zoro), Bill Paxton (“Big Love”), Michael Douglas (Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps), Michael Angarano (Almost Famous); and introduces mixed martial arts (MMA) superstar Gina Carano as Mallory Kane, in a demanding lead role that has her performing her own high-adrenaline stunts. Mallory Kane is a highly trained operative who works for a government security contractor in the dirtiest, most dangerous corners of the world. After successfully freeing a Chinese journalist held hostage, she is double crossed and left for dead by someone close to her in her own agency. Suddenly the target of skilled assassins who know her every move, Mallory must find the truth in order to stay alive. Using her black-ops military training, she devises an ingenious—and dangerous—trap. But when things go haywire, Mallory realizes she’ll be killed in the blink of an eye unless she finds a way to turn the tables on her ruthless adversary.

Trust us guys, this movie isn’t your typical burned spy movie.   Probably because Gina Carano is a legit MMA fighter who also happens to be hot.

Scary hot.

For more information about Haywire, you can check out the official movie site at http://www.haywiremovie.com/. 

If you’re not excited to see The Dark Knight Rises featuring our ESM Icon, Bruce Wayne, maybe you shouldn’t be reading our website.

This movie is going to be rad.

Although we were originally a little worried about Anne Hathaway playing catwoman, we are more concerned about not making it to one of the first showings of this movie.

For more information about The Dark Knight Rises, you can check out their official site at http://www.thedarkknightrises.com/.

Since the movie and car industries essentially grew up together there has always been a fundamental link between them. Directors quickly realised that by combining their elements they could create scenes of absolute style, or climactic and epic chase situations which appealed to men everywhere – as they watched their tough as nails heroes defying the odds by pushing beautiful cars to the limits through crowded city streets.

The classics have been recorded and re-recorded on many occasions so I’ve decided to look at more recent films which have been able to make use of impressive advancements in camera and stunt technology to produce some heart pounding moments which we’ll never forget.

 The Matrix Reloaded (2003)    

That SUV doesn't even know what is about to happen to it.

With the creepy martial arts twins hitting the highway in a sleek black Cadillac Escalade EXT in hot pursuit of the rebel lieutenant Trinity and her cohorts, making top speed in a silver coupe, it seemed that the action was going to be impressive. Little did anyone know that they were about to bare witness to car chase history, as Trinity boarded a transport truck and hijacked a ridiculously stunning black Ducati 996 and proceeded to race into oncoming traffic.

With mercenary programs, machine AI’s and local police forces chasing and firing at her, she proceeded to dodge bullets, cars and leaping agents. The scene left no room for modern contenders as it climaxed with Morpheus slicing through the Cadillac’s tires with a katana and then fighting off an agent atop a truck amidst a slow motion explosion.

The Bourne Identity (2002)      

Cars aren't supposed to go down stairs.

When Matt Damon took on the persona of amnesiac CIA assassin Jason Bourne we all knew that we were in for something special, which might give 007 a run for his money. While Bourne has a greater capacity for ‘wetwork’, we didn’t realise that he could compete with Bond until he was forced to pit a vintage Austin Mini Cooper against the local police authorities of Paris. With only a tiny Mini as an asset he proceeded to take on the entire city by making use of its diminutive stature and performing crazy stunts like descending stairs at high speed. Through the hair raising twists and bends Borne managed to lose or destroy most of his pursuers, culminating in the final officer being derailed due to a collision with a Peugeot 405.

Return of the Jedi (1983)    

Watch out for that tree!

One of the most classic of references here, this scene was a major win for Lucas Arts as Luke and Leia battled or sought to escape imperial troopers. Considering the break neck pace that these speeder bikes cruise at it’s hard to imagine how anyone who doesn’t have ‘Jedi reflexes’ could manage, but the troopers did a fine job as they pursued the fleeing princess through the densely packed forest floor of Endor. With blaster bolts firing and massive trees blurring past continuously, every viewer was on the edge of their seat awaiting the inevitable bone crushing impact of Stormtrooper on pine tree.

Terminator 2: Judgment Day (1991)  

Nice bike kid.

This is, without doubt, one of the most amazing car chase scenes of all time. Take the masculine Harley Davidson motorcycle complete with a robotic Arnold Schwarzenegger and a shotgun VS the imposing liquid T-1000 Terminator and an equally imposing big-rig truck. Put these elements in a tiny canal and what you have is a hair raising, blood pumping chase scene that had every man jumping up and down in anticipation and every woman staring wide eyed in distress.

As the massive truck slams through concrete, our hero sails his bike into the canal and snatches his ward from his bike at full acceleration – all the while firing his rotary-cocked shotgun at the mammoth chasing them. The scene climaxes with the truck exploding and the intimidating T-1000 walking through the flames in his liquid metal form.

"You guys look like... What do they look like, Jimmie?" Winston Wolf image from http://lionsgatepublicity.com/epk/pulpfiction/index_hv.php.

That’s thirty minutes away. I’ll be there in ten.

In the cult-pop-Tarentino-all-time-ESM-favorite movie Pulp Fiction, Harvey Keitel plays one of the most memorable characters in movie history as Winston Wolf (or simply “The Wolf”).

His job?  To fix problems.

According to Wikipedia,

The part was written specifically for Keitel, who had starred in Tarantino’s Reservoir Dogs and was instrumental in getting it produced. In the filmmaker’s words, “Harvey had been my favorite actor since I was 16 years old.” Keitel had played a character similarly employed as a “cleaner” in Point of No Return, released a year earlier.

His part in the movie may have been small in comparison to the other characters, but you know it was a good one when you ask someone about The Wolf in Pulp Fiction and they start spouting out his quotes from the movie.

Can’t remember them?  Here are a few memorable quotes from The Wolf on IMDB:

The Wolf: You’re… Jimmie, right? This is your house?
Jimmie: Sure is.
The Wolf: I’m Winston Wolfe. I solve problems.
Jimmie: Good, we got one.
The Wolf: So I heard. May I come in?
Jimmie: Uh, yeah, please do.

The Wolf: You must be Jules, which would make you Vincent. Let’s get down to brass tacks, gentlemen. If I was informed correctly, the clock is ticking, is that right, Jimmie?
Jimmie: Uh, one hundred percent.
The Wolf: Your wife… Bonnie comes home at 9:30 in the AM, is that right?
Jimmie: Uh-huh.
The Wolf: I was led to believe that if she comes home and finds us here, she’d wouldn’t appreciate it none too much?
Jimmie: [laughing] She wouldn’t at that.
The Wolf: That gives us exactly… forty minutes to get the fuck out of Dodge. Which, if you do what I say when I say it, should be plenty. Now, you’ve got a corpse in a car, minus a head, in a garage. Take me to it.

The Wolf: Jimmie, lead the way. Boys, get to work.
Vincent: A please would be nice.
The Wolf: Come again?
Vincent: I said a please would be nice.
The Wolf: Get it straight buster – I’m not here to say please, I’m here to tell you what to do and if self-preservation is an instinct you possess you’d better fucking do it and do it quick. I’m here to help – if my help’s not appreciated then lotsa luck, gentlemen.
Jules: No, Mr. Wolf, it ain’t like that, your help is definitely appreciated.
Vincent: I don’t mean any disrespect, I just don’t like people barking orders at me.
The Wolf: If I’m curt with you it’s because time is a factor. I think fast, I talk fast and I need you guys to act fast if you wanna get out of this. So, pretty please… with sugar on top. Clean the fucking car.

Jimmie: I can’t believe this is the same car.
The Wolf: Well, let’s not start sucking each other’s dicks quite yet.

The Wolf: Now boys, listen up. We’re going to a place called Monster Joe’s Truck and Tow. I’ll drive the tainted car. Jules, you ride with me. Vincent, you follow in my Acura. We run across the path of any John Q. Laws, nobody does a fucking thing unless I do it first. What did I just say?
Jules: Don’t do shit unless.
The Wolf: Unless what?
Jules: Unless you do it first.
The Wolf: Spoken like a true prodigy. How about you, Lash LaRue? You think you can keep your spurs from jinglin’ and janglin’?
Vincent: Look, Mr. Wolf, my gun went off, I don’t know why, and now you’re helping us out of the situation. I’m cool with it, all right?
The Wolf: Fair enough. Now I drive real fucking fast, so keep up. I get my car back any differently than when I gave it, Monster Joe’s gonna be disposing of two bodies.

The Wolf: You see that, young lady? Respect. Respect for one’s elders gives character.
Raquel: I have character.
The Wolf: Just because you are a character doesn’t mean that you have character.

Not enough to satisfy?  Check out a video clip we found on YouTube below.

If there is any question why Winston Wolf is our next ESM Icon, we have the following answer:

• Harvey Keitel as The Wolf + Acura NSX + Tux at 8 am + Saves John Travolta and Samuel L. Jacksons asses in Pulp Fiction = ESM Icon

If you disagree further, you can take it up with The Wolf himself.

For more information about Pulp Fiction and The Wolf, you can check out the official Pulp Fiction IMDB entry.

And while you’re at it, go cop yourself a copy of Pulp Fiction if you don’t already have one.

Nice tux - check. Awesome hair - check. Superhuman power to create tornadoes - check. Riptide image from X-Men: First Class sourced from http://marvel.com.

Comic book geeks out there – name the bad guy in X-Men: First Class with the killer sense of style, long hair and mutant power to create tornado-type winds?

To be honest, we didn’t know either – so it took a bit of digging through the Marvel Universe to figure out which character it was.

The name of the cool baddie in the movie is “Riptide” and he was played by Alex Gonzalez (according to IMDB Alex Gonzalez’ A’s are supposed to have some weird ass hyphen in it, but we couldn’t find it in the keyboard).  We took notice of this particular character because of (what else?) his sick style in the movie.

Long hair, well tailored suits, chill demeanor and one of the better super powers to have (definitely better than that porcupine dude), we felt “Riptide” easily qualified to meet ESM Icon standards.

I mean seriously, can just anyone pull off a purple suit?

How to pull of a purple suit without looking like Prince or the artist formerly known as or... who knows. Image from http://marvel.com.

To make things even better, we found out Riptide kicks some serious ass.  According to Riptide’s Wiki entry:

After Sinister dispatched the Marauders into the sewers under New York City to kill the subterranean mutant collective known as the Morlocks, Riptide was responsible for severely injuring X-Men members Nightcrawler and Colossus. Having seen the results of Riptide’s actions (Riptide’s mutant power to launch barrages of sharp projectiles had enabled him to kill more Morlocks at any given single moment than any other Marauder), Colossus had been pushed close to his emotional breaking point. Colossus was further enraged and grieved when Riptide badly injured Nightcrawler, and finally snapped when Harpoon maimed his former girlfriend, Shadowcat. Colossus lunged at Harpoon to mete out vengeance, but Riptide got in his way, believing that his power would fell the Russian mutant. He boasted to Colossus that hurricane force winds could punch a piece of straw through a solid oak and that his spinning caused his blades to fly even faster than that. Despite being hit by a deluge of blades which penetrated his armored skin, Colossus managed to reach an incredulous Riptide, seize his throat, and snap his neck.  However, Mr. Sinister was able to clone the Marauders thanks to samples of their DNA, and Riptide returned to die once more during the event known as the Inferno.

Okay so he died.  So what?  I bet he did it in style, which was most important.

For more information about Riptide and the rest of the Marvel Universe, you can check out the official Marvel site at http://marvel.com/. 

Coincidentally, X-Men: First Class has just been released on DVD and more information can be found on the official site at http://www.x-menfirstclassmovie.com/.   You should get yourself a copy if you haven’t already.

13 Assissins. Because what the world needs is another kick-ass samurai movie. Image from 13assassins.com.

In a world of CG and wires, nothing is more refreshing than a movie dedicated to depicting the reality of how Samurai fought and lived in their time.

Directed by Takashi Miike, 13 Assassins is sure to become a cult classic and all-time favorite samurai movie of many ESM readers.

Think 300 and Inglourious Basterds rolled up into a vividly graphic samurai foreign film and you will get an idea of what the movie is about:  13 men overcoming an army of 200 to assassinate an evil political enemy whose bloodlust could potentially destroy the future of Japan’s fate.

The actors - and the hairlines - were as true to form as possible. No boy-band wannabe actors here. Image from 13assassins.com.

So good.

What makes it even better is you don’t have to try hunting this movie down in some hard-to-find theater in the city.  You can watch it right now in the comfort of your own home through Time Warner Cable’s video-on-demand. 

Who says you have to put on pants to watch a good samurai movie?

One of my favorite parts of the movie. This guy is badass. Image from 13assassins.com.

So check it out as soon as you can.  My only piece of advice?  Don’t look away because you might miss one of the subtitles.

For more information you can check out the official website at http://www.13assassins.com.  You can also check out the trailer here:

Sylvester Stallone's '55 Ford from the Expendables movie. Image from hollywood-diecast.com.

When you create a movie that has all the greatest action stars from the 80′s and 90′s in it, you have to expect the intellectual value of the movie to be waay lower than the explosion/blood/action quotient.

The unexpected – a beautifully restored and upgraded ’55 Ford created by West Coast Customs specifically for the movie.

Actually, they built 3 of the exact same car, where 2 of the 3 cars were used for demolition and 1 car was for Sly himself.

Here’s a video excerpt from the episode where they built the car from WestCoastCustomsTV on YouTube:

For more information on Sylvester Stallone’s ’55 Ford built by West Coast Customs, you can check out TLC’s official website for Street Customs (West Coast Custom’s cable show).

Clint Eastwood's beard is only comparable to the Most Interesting Man's beard. If both beards wrestled, I wonder who would win?

The answer has two words: Dirty Harry.

The question:  why does Clint Eastwood deserve to be an ESM icon?

Born May 31, 1930, Clint Eastwood has played many roles idolized by men of multiple generations.  From The Man with No Name, to Dirty Harry, to the Unforgiven, each movie has made Clint Eastwood a bigger, badder ESM Icon.

Just check the beard and the cowboy hat.  How many dudes do you know can look as badass in those westerns than Clint Eastwood?  How many dudes can say “Do you feel lucky?” and not seem like a douche?  How many dudes can actually become a mayor of the town they live in without any political experience?

That's not the reason they call me "Dirty Harry", punk.

Here’s a little excerpt from his Wikipedia entry:

Eastwood was born in San Francisco, California, to Clinton Elias Eastwood Sr. (1906–1970), a steelworker and migrant worker, and Margaret Ruth Rutherford (1909–2006), a factory worker. He was a large baby (11 pounds and 6 ounces; 5.62 kg) and was named “Samson” by the nurses in the hospital. Eastwood has English, Scottish, Dutch, and Irish ancestry and was raised in a “middle class Protestant home”. His family moved often, as his father worked at different jobs along the West Coast, including at a pulp mill. The family settled in Piedmont, California, where Eastwood attended Piedmont Junior High School and Piedmont Senior High School. Later he transferred to Oakland Technical High School, where the drama teachers encouraged him to take part in school plays, but he was not interested. Eastwood held several jobs as he moved to different areas, including a paper carrier, grocer clerk, forest firefighter, and caddy.

After graduating high school in 1949, Eastwood intended to enter Seattle University and major in music, but in 1950, during the Korean War, he was drafted into the U.S. Army. He was stationed at Fort Ord where his certificate as a lifeguard got him appointed as a life-saving and swimming instructor. Eastwood safeguarded film and television actors who had joined the Army through the Special Services program, including John Saxon, David Janssen, and Martin Milner. In 1951, while on leave, Eastwood rode in a Douglas AD bomber that ran out of gas and crashed in the ocean near Point Reyes. After escaping the sinking fuselage, Eastwood and the pilot swam several miles to the shore.

Really?  He survived a plane crash and swam to shore.  Enough said.

He lives vicariously through himself.

Malin Akerman as Silk Spectre II.

It’s funny that I just came to this realization now.

We’ve got people as ESM Icons that do not exist in real life, so why not have the same rule apply for our Dime Piece series of articles?

I like to live by the same slogan.

Our first non-reality feature is Silk Spectre II from the Watchmen movie and graphic novel.

Why does she qualify for ESM Dime Piece status?  Check out our reasoning below:

1. Silk Spectre II is played by Malin Akerman
2. Tight yellow and black latex
3. She is a hot superhero

And last but not least is probably the most important reasoning of all: the sex scene in the movie.

I know, I know you can call me a dork, but for anyone who grew up reading comic books as a kid, their biggest fantasy was imagining their favorite female superhero hottie doing more than good.

Who knows what this might open up?  A reality based Archie comics?

We can only imagine.  Maybe we should call Digital Playground and pitch the storyline.

Would you let yourself get beat up by a chick that looked like this?

To get your own copy of the movie, check out the official Watchmen website.

Giving fanboys the opportunity to live their ultimate fantasy - 15 seconds at a time.

It’s hard to believe that Star Wars has been around for over 30 years and it still inspires millions of people to be… well, crazy.

I admit it, I’m somewhat of a fanboy too, but this latest incarnation of fan obsession just about takes the cake.

And it is also quite the business model.

A few enterprising folks decided to create the “ultimate remake” of the original classic by dividing the entire movie into 15 second scenes and allowing up to 3 people to pick a scene to recreate however they wanted. (I personally would pick anything involving Princess Leia in a bikini, but I think that would be an adult version of Return of the Jedi.)

ESM's scene. If it was available.

The results are pretty amazing.

if you haven’t had a chance to check it out for yourself, go to their official website at starwarsuncut.com.

"Get some sleep Pamela. You look tired." (cue techno music)

Raise your hands if you originally thought Matt Damon playing Jason Bourne was an iffy proposition. Now raise your hands if you wish you were actually Jason Bourne because Matt Damon played that role so well.

Dude, believe me my hand is still raised.

From the insane chase scenes to the more insane fight scenes using everyday objects as killing machines, the Bourne trilogy is one that every ESM man should have in his collection.  He’s got amnesia, is a killing machine and can turn any car into the fastest vehicle on the planet.

Unfortunately he has bad luck with the ladies.

I think the only thing I had an issue with was how old David Webb looked in the third movie versus the first movie.  But who cares – Jason Bourne kicks ass and I would love to have him on my side for any fight.

Unfortunately for us here at ESM, Jason Bourne has poor fashion sense.  That is why he will never make it as an ESM Icon.

Enough talking, let’s check out some video clips so you can waste more time at work:

For more information about Jason Bourne, you can check out his Wikipedia entry.  For more information about the Bourne trilogy, you can visit the official site online.