Warning: this review was written after a Scotch, two rum and Cokes, and four beer. That'll be all. A chronicle of the decade-long hunt for al-Qaeda terrorist leader Osama bin Laden after the September 2001 attacks, and his death at the hands of the Navy S.E.A.L. Team 6 in May 2011. First off, despite the pairing of director Kathryn Bigelow and screenwriter Mark Boal, this sure as shit ain't no Hurt Locker. That's not to say it's crap, because it isn't. But it's too long and lacks the visceral kick of the writer/director's previous collaboration. Does that mean it sucks? Fuck no. No movie with a special appearance by Scott Adkins and Area 51 can suck. Plus the last hour and 15 minutes, which highlights the final stalk and kill of bin Laden, is pure cinematic gold. But the hour and 30 minutes prior to that could use some trimming. That said, this is still a decent bit of real world gritty reality. It features a bad-ass cast, featuring significantly a...

The Basement likes to take credit for The Hurt Locker's success. We reviewed the movie on our very first podcast back in January 2010 and then, about a week later, it was nominated for a slew of Academy Awards and went on to win Best Picture. You're welcome. No need to thank us. Really. Now the writing-directing team of Mark Boal and Kathryn Bigelow are coming at us with Zero Dark Thiry, a film about the hunt for Osama Bin Laden. The Project actually had to be stopped and re-written days before it was set to shoot when U.S. Special Ops found and killed the terrorist leader because, you know, that kinda changed the whole story. The teaser below doesn't say a lot, but it's fucking effective. Given Bigelow's talent for gritty action, and a talented ensemble cast that includes Jessica Chastain, Mark Strong and Kyle Chandler, Zero Dark Thirty could be a strong Oscar contender. If it's even half as good as The Hurt Locker, this will be one of the year's be...

Basement contributor Matt Bellamy has taken it upon himself to watch and review at least one horror movie a day for the month of October . . . because he's awesome that way! With this installment, Bellamy takes us back to a time when vampires were cool and not emo pussies. That's right, we called Twilight's vampires emo pussies. Get over it, soccer moms. This is the film Stephanie Meyer borrowed from/ripped off for the Twilight series, the only big difference here is that this is actually good. Ask anyone has who seen this movie and they will say 'Near Dark' is in the top five for best vampire movies ever, it's extremely well shot by Mrs. ex-James Cameron, Kathryn Bigelow, and features excellent iconic performances by the entire cast. There is one scene in particular set inside a country-western bar where Bill Paxton's vampire character just owns the screen in every way possible, you've never seen boot spurs used in such a...