In anticipation for my best of the decade list...

David Wain's Middle 10 Neither Best Nor Worst Movies of the Decade:

10. The Mexican
9. Insomnia
8. The Terminal
7. Charlie Wilson's War
6. Music & Lyrics
5. 3:10 to Yuma
3. TIE: Runaway Jury & Baba Mama
2. Blue Crush
1. Changing Lanes

As one commentor noted, "the banality of these picks are outstanding!"

I think I found this at /Film. Me thinks.

2009, Year of the Blart

One of the most fun articles I've read in many a moon. Some excerpts:



""Paul Blart"'s a movie for the recession economy, filmed in a world full of crap being protected by people who can't afford to buy any of it."

"...everyone here is fat, out-of-shape, working a minimum-wage job with no prospects for advancement and deeply pissed off about it"

"It's unapologetically suburban (filmed in Massachusetts, set in New Jersey) and absolutely marginalized. Its main locales are functional: Blart's mess of a home, the bank within the mall where checks are deposited, and the horrific T.G.I. Friday's type restaurant the holiday party takes place at. It is, in short, incredibly depressing and zero fun whatsoever."

I remember catching Paul Blart on a plane, sans sound. You could tell it was terrible beyond belief, but even then it still had that uber-bad intrigue to it, like Freddy Got Fingered or Highlander 2: The Quickening, two movies I love. Maybe I'll have to give it another go! Por que no?


IFC, you made my day. Thank you much.

BRING IT

This Spring, it's David vs. Goliath and the small guy (8 ft. vs. 10 ft., maybe?) already got the first punch in, punched 'em right in the mouth, and our so-called "King of the World" just never quite recovered.

A big WHOAAAA vs. a hotpocket of blitzkrieg. Who's side are you on? Feel free to leave your two cents. Or three.

Photo snatched from a decent article by the Guardian on the sci-fi of 2009 and into 2010.

Again!??

Yeah, it's that time of year again.

Happy Holidays.

'But only a fool gets killed for a heart transplant.'

UPDATE: According to AICN, it's definitely not a remake, but let's be honest, it's not exactly easy to shake such an iconic title, either.

This looks like a positively inspired new twist on the original material, if not a completely new twist altogether:



I love Repo Man, but Repo Men could be pretty kick-ass as well. We'll keep you posted.

Source: Quiet Earth

"I'm the guy"

He's the man:



Originally caught this in front of Avatar, and the crowd loved it. It looks a little subpar, but I can't say I didn't laugh. Hopefully star-power will prevail and the laughs will make it past the teaser. See we shall...

"Okay, you cunts"

This is looking like a goddamn R-rated Mystery Men. Or maybe just a 'kick-ass' Mystery Men? You tell me:



It seriously might be the best thing 2010 has to offer. Though the Expendables and Machete aren't far behind. I can't wait!

Source: Quiet Earth

Brittany Murphy, yikes

...was my first reaction. They're just being swept away, it seems. It's nuts.

"DANCES WITH WOLVES IN SPACE"

...a good friend texted me this evening.

So true, so so true.

Review: Avatar

Hot through the pixels—is Zoe Saldana hot, or is James Cameron? BOTH.

I had this spiel I would give, for a few weeks now, on why Avatar might fail to live up to the hype. What this primarily concerned, was director James Cameron's multifaceted ambition—most notably, to break into the frontier of 3D, to achieve an unparalleled pinnacle of C.G.I., and all the while creating a whole new universe just as epic as your Star Wars, Lord of the Rings, and Harry Potter. Well, guess what, he did all that, and while I wouldn't say my expectations were 'blown away,' I will say they were met. High expectations met with high rewards.

Salvaged from the wreckage of Terminator: Salvation, budding star Sam Worthington heads the epic entertainment experience as Jake Sully, a paraplegic marine thrust into action on the Earth-like Pandora—a lush, vibrantly-exotic world populated by freakish creatures and a humanoid, hunter-gatherer species known as the Na'vi. Yet, this is no ordinary tour of duty. Sully is sent to the science department instead of the kick-ass one, headed by everybody's favorite Biology teacher, Grace Augustine (Sigourney Weaver, resurrected-again!), where he is instituted into the Avatar program. Fusing the DNA of humans and the native Na'vi, Sully is given the means to control another physical body—a fully replicated Na'vi—called an Avatar. The program is meant to facilitate a "diplomatic solution," as explained by supreme-corporate-sleazeball Parker Selfridge (Giovanni Ribisi, playing Paul Reiser's Aliens part on steroids), for the purpose of uncovering some macguffin mineral named Uber-tanium or something. The other option, is war, represented by literally-scarred head of security Colonel Miles Quaritch (a showstopping Stephen Lang). And that's just the beginning, folks.

Shot in 3D, this lavish and complex world comes to life off-screen, but not really on it, if that makes sense. The 3D does seem to detract from the core material; half the time I was so awestruck that I found myself losing track of what was actually happening, almost an alienating (no pun-intended) feeling. And for as smart as a filmmaker (and person) James Cameron is, the world of Avatar seemed a bit slim, not to mention having a simply weak/weakly simple story. Everything was an evident distortion of something we already know; there were no "Whoa" Keanu Reeves-Matrix moments even with the C.G.I. and 3D in mind. It was more of a steady stream of awe. More of an experience than a movie.

The Na'vi, conveniently (i.e. embarrassingly) made up of a bunch of non-white actors (Zoe Saldana, Wes Studi, Laz Alonzo, CCH Pounder) are nonetheless played well, and surprisingly played period. This is where Cameron's delusions of grandeur come strictly into focus. The C.G.I. is like no other, and the performances are there and they're real and they're simply a joy to watch. Worthington effectively holds his own in the lead and doesn't mess it up, not letting the grand scale of the picture get away from him. It's nice to see Sigourney again—never has a role been so tailor-made—she fits it perfectly. As I mentioned, Lang practically steals the show as the main villain, but is kept at bay long enough not to overwhelm it. Ribisi is hammed up to the extreme but at least worth a laugh. Michelle Rodriguez's part feels vastly underwritten; a plot device and nothing more. But it's Zoe Saldana who really comes through. She's the heart and soul of this sometimes soulless epic, and I genuinely think she's worth a supporting look come awards time.

With all the technology, the preparation, the money, the hype, the expectations, everything, James Cameron has really done something special, making his case not only for best of the year, but for the best of the decade, as well. With District 9 still making waves, the ultimate sci-fi showdown since Star Wars v. Star Trek should come to a head this Spring, and I've got my popcorn ready. Each end-of-the-decade entry has changed the cinema as we know it, taking the rest of the genres by the hand and crossing them over into a new frontier. Either way, Cameron's has done it; he's changed things in the biggest and best way imaginable. Colonel Quaritch was right. We're not in Kansas anymore. We're in Avatar territory now.


***1/2 out of ****

~ Patrick Fryberger

Reaction Action Roundup: "Been over this all before..."

...with the trailer, and probably the movie as a whole as well, but you have to admit, Dolph Lundgren is still pretty badass:



And this is new trailer, by the way. Supposedly.

In other news, "I told you, you weren't going to get that back." [I'm starting to laugh each time I see/hear this in the theater...when it finally comes out, I may have to be put down]. Poster's pretty rockin' though:



In reboot/remake/sequel/adaptation news, some legit grit is finally added to this pussyfest. Got me a little excited. Just a little (my boy Nimrod got the hookups!).

Shit man I know where the money is (look to see where the money is).

And finally, tonight's the night...probably not as big as The Dark Knight, but it should be something. Something or another. Review to follow.

"Awesome destructive power"

What an article. Other than the original Bad Boys, I still don't think I can come to appreciate his films on really any level, but if I were to be convinced, this might just do the trick. Obviously--again--it's Matt Zoeller Seitz, who sometimes seems to practically write this blog for me.

Source: The House Next Door

Very Dark Knight

Almost too much so:



The font is nice, but it needs an accompaniment. Skyscrapers = uninteresting; something else should be happening in the sky. And the Nolan 'fro has just got to go. Just kidding.

Source: /Film

Too significant not to post

What a speech, or rather a series of them.

With all the buzz, this has that air around it--something monumental--something that could actually inspire some sense of change in this fear-driven industry.

I can't say enough how comforting, how refreshing, and how just plain great it is to hear someone speak like this, even if, after all, she is a critic. Go Manohla.

The original article: Women in the Seats but Not Behind the Camera

Source: Movieline

Kind of badass

Just a little.

Source: Kung Fu Cinema

Review: Armored

Watching Armored with blank indifference...

Somewhere between the legacies of Reservoir Dogs and RoboCop is Armored, though more 'middling' than in the middle. A simplistic heist makes for a simplistic movie, unfortunately, and instead of going for the gold, writer James Simpson goes for silver and ends up with such: what could've been B+ material ends up being strictly B, nothing more, nothing less.

A young, decorated Iraq war veteran (Columbus Short) returns home to support his only remaining family, in an artistic brother named Jimmy (Andre Kinney). His only other tie, Godfather Mike Cochrone (Matt Dillon), gets him a job as an armored-truck driver, amongst a colorful cast of co-workers (Laurence Fishburne, Jean Reno, Skeet Ulrich, Amaury Nolasco, and an underutilized Fred Ward). After a souful, very blue-collar first act, the group eventually embarks on a self-heist of sorts for a lofty $42 million—which is the first of many mistakes that Armored makes—you couldn't imagine these guys having anywhere near that much money. They should've shot for something smaller, just like in the yarn Mike preaches to inspire the others to get on board.

As the lead, Short stumbles through awkward dialogue stretches the best he can. Dillon tries to hold down the fort but maybe tries a little too hard and ends up coming off bland. Fishburne is not given enough to work with as the most unpredictable of the bunch. Amaury Nolasco's character is near-embarrassing in its execution, simply because, again, what worthwhile character was there to begin with? Jean Reno, get an agent, and Skeet Ulrich, well, he was cool to see again but for no real reason. This throwback cast is a welcome gesture, but it's left to die by an incredibly underwritten script with little or no sense of heist ingenuity.

For once, it's the writer that ruins perfectly good direction, instead of the other way around. Director Nimród (what a name) Antal definitely has talent, but can't fuse the uneven sections. His little visual flourishes and expertise with a modern color palette make me excited for his future projects (i.e. Predators). He's one to watch.

In the end, Armored has little going on under its titular shield. It even feels bottled-up, like they backed off a bunch of things that could've been included to make it more interesting. A few, sporadic moments of wonder ("All you gotta do is open the door," the villain's second wind, the ending) can't hold the picture, and ultimately Armored fails to meet its already-low expectations. The soul of the picture doesn't last long, but one thing the opening gets right is this: The bad economy is everywhere; it almost seems natural/expected now. The last thing we need are bad movies to go with it.


** out of ****

~ Patrick Fryberger

Restless

IFC keenly listens in on my apartment

I was practically having this exact same discussion just a few hours ago. IT'S SO FRUSTRATING. I want some guts in my movies, and not just guts for the sake of guts but guts that stand for something. 1989 had guts. 1999 had...a lot, maybe not always guts but it had a lot. 2009? What? In terms of the mainstream, we got, District 9, maybe? At least it was something fresh. And just not fucking Rotten Tomatoes fresh but actually fresh, something new, a chance at change, stir up the pot a little. Fucking crock pot if you ask me, nothin's cookin.'

Shit man what happened to the '90s? I ask myself this question every day!

Time to go to bed!

Source: The House Next Door

A reason to see it

We can't take filmmakers like this for granted, at least anymore:


Cameron décrypte son film Avatar [cine] TPS 061209
by peanutsie


Source: Hollywood Elsewhere

"You really don't stand a chance..."

I'm ready.


Dh Preview One - For more funny movies, click here

Bloody Emma Watson with a wand. OMG DROOL.

Source: Mugglenet

Good poster

I hadn't come across this one before... Very nice:



I'll be seeing it either today or at the very latest Monday. Review to follow.

So true

"Will Girly Running Impede Steven Seagal's Lawman Debut?"



I love the guy, but you can't deny he looks a little strange on his feet.

Nabbed a few days late from Movieline. Don't know how I missed it!

Goddamn you, Jason Reitman

...for maturing so fast in your career. Faster than Paul Thomas Anderson, that's for sure. With each film, that trademark, annoying, indie-hipster vibe backs off a little bit more, and the emotionally-ripe meat flows in. I still think you can't direct worth shit (you and that Chris Nolan guy), but you can tell a story, and write dialogue when it matters most.

And not only that, but you've got, no doubt, the best performance out of George Clooney ever. You got a performance out of George Clooney period. Easily his best since Three Kings and even better. I think he should take home the fucking award. It's a genuine, fully-fledged performance that carries a whole lot of weight, rising above the 'effective Clooney' and into something we've never really seen before...

Many questioned when Vera Farminga was cast in The Departed, and at the time she did feel a little out of place with all that * power around her, but she's proven herself to be one helluva contender, putting many of her contemporaries to shame. Go Vera.

And man, Anna Kendrick...halfway through I thought she had stole the movie. And if it wasn't for the damn good ending(s), she would've. The other supporters...J.K. Simmons, Zach Galifianakis, Amy Morton (though, I must note, sleazy Bateman and wise Sam Elliott have been done before), and the real American people, goddammit, how'd you do it? I don't even want to know...

So, in sum, Mr. Reitman, I doubt we'd ever get along, see eye-to-eye on movies or even share an effective, casual joke, but man, whoever compared you to Billy Wilder was right, for now. You've captured a zeitgeist and ran with it, having fun (a lil' bit of wit) but staying tough just as expertly as the man himself. You're now officially on that path. Don't mess it up.


~ Patrick Fryberger

Brooklyn's Finest trailer

I've been waiting a long time for this one, and I'm glad to say it looks worthwhile, at least on a Street Kings type level. Have a look:



It may not be Antoine Fuqua's return to form (i.e. Training Day), but hopefully it's a step in the right direction. We'll keep you posted.

Source: /Film

More Clint

I agreed a lot more with this section:



Source: The House Next Door

It's time, homie

Sorry, but it is.

"Hell Rode With Him"

I've never really been one for Clint Eastwood, but I would agree his work is worthy of discussion, and especially when it's coming from MZS!:



Source: The House Next Door

Review: Red Cliff

Tony Leung looking for something more to blow up in Red Cliff.

Note: This is a review of the American release.

Beginning with a mind-numbingly dumb voiceover and frequent subtitle-aids, Red Cliff seems doomed from the start by its embarrassingly-outdated Americanization. Throw in director John Woo's inability to handle drama (evidenced as early as A Better Tomorrow II and Hard Boiled), and you've got yourself one helluva shaky start. I almost walked out, actually, planning on holding for the original, two-part epic. But, fortunately, I remembered the golden rule of any given Woo film: you've got to wait, and then you've got wait some more. As they say, 'good things come'... and in the case of Red Cliff, great things come, very great things.

The story, so mashed and rushed out the door, is nonetheless compelling, especially once you escape the muddy opening. The setup is more or less this: in 208 AD, a war-mongering Prime Minister (and his puppet Emperor) in the North looks to further his power, taking the fight to two clans in the South—one a perennial loser, the other never having fought a battle. Naturally, they come to be allies, and from there, we're off into an adventurous, larger-than-life world of spectacular battle sequences and genuinely memorable characters. Woo veteran Tony Leung proves he's still got that leading-man swagger, carrying the film brilliantly as Viceroy Zhou Yu, while newcomer (at least to my American eyes) Takeshi Kaneshiro has a great role as the wily military strategist, Zhuge Liang. The baddie, Minister Cao Cao (Fengyi Zhang) is kinda lame, but stays classy and doesn't detract from the picture. Also worthy of note is the supporting role of Wei Zhao, in a Miranda Otto-LOTR kind of role that is just strappingly badass.

The John Wooziness (quick fades/dissolves, choppy slow mo, doves) is on full display here, making his valiant return to China a greatest hits of sorts but which nonetheless goes for broke. The action is simply amazing, full of the raw, unhinged energy that made his Hard Boiled-Hard Target peak so invigorating. The contrived battle tactics seem cheesy at first, but after seeing the "turtle formation," you will be hooked, and waiting for what's to come next. This is where Cliff breaks away from Lord of the Rings material and goes above and beyond, really finding its niche in the legacy of the cinematic battlefield. The finale takes on the classical 'Ewoks vs. Empire' mold, but unlike 300, Woo actually makes it believable, cumulating in a solid 45 minutes of EXPLOSIONS AND DEATH with so much aflame that yelling "Fire!" in the theater would not be unwarranted!

Someone should shoot me for saying this, but there's something to be said but cutting out the fluff. Just as the allied forces pack themselves into a turtle, the action packs itself into the condensed material, capitalizing on an iconic director's strengths and ultimately putting on a really good show. I still plan on seeing the full version, hoping for a Ran-like scope, but for now, this pure-concentrated-epic version will have to do. Pure-concentrated-awesome.


*** out of ****

~ Patrick Fryberger

I miss NY

Source: Scanners, Goodie Bag

Review: Ninja Assassin

Take it from Shô Kosugi, no, really, that's Shô Kosugi

Even more bland of a title than Fight Club, Ninja Assassin fails to rise above but surely doesn't make any plans to, either. Hearkening back to the '80s and with the modern, stylistic flashes of the Wachowski's, Assassin is shameless B-action to the core, and core is really the right word seeing anything left hanging is cut out and off—for good and for the better.

Cute-faced, international superstar RAIN takes up the titular reigns as Raizo, an ultra-hardcore murdering machine and a man of a few words. A ninja from the cradle, Raizo searches out his tyrannical teacher and Ninjutsu master, marking the vailiant return of Shô Kosugi in Ozunu. Along the way, he finds a partner in strangely-American Interpol Agent Mika (Naomie Harris) as well as a rival in Takeshi (Rick Yune), all the while cutting and slicing everyone and everything in sight. Much like Punisher: War Zone, this over-reliance on ultraviolence eventually becomes numbing, flattening the action sequences to little more than some laughs for the few, actually-excessive moments of gore. But it's the meat of the material (that is, what's still on the body) which makes the movie work. From the opening sequence on, we are plunged headfirst into dangerously cheesy territory (the whole "special heart" running gag is beyond ridiculous), and, fortunately, we're never given a chance to come back up.

Dropping a non-martial artist into this kind of setup is almost appropriate—this is Americanized crap to the Nth degree, but in a very good way—so it is with this that Rain succeeds with flying colors (mostly consisting of a runny, shimmering red). The aforementioned Kosugi is right on the mark as the film's central villain, even having his own little Apocalypse Now-Colonel Kurtz moment in the end. Naomie Harris is great, mostly because how goddamn hot she is (which is even mentioned! Genius!) Action-baddie vet Rick Yune feels underused, though I doubt if that's actually a valid concern. The characters and their cast are a snug fit, showing just how much these simple premises are missed.

In the finale, a great 'Ninja holocaust' takes place, giving the title and the film an entirely new meaning. And, in a way, Ninja Assassin proves to be the swan song of the genre, a true throwback to the cookie-cutter scripts and plot templates that made the B material so much fun. The Wachowski's prove once again that they have something left in the tank, and that the Ninja genre—so lowly and ever-banished—isn't dead, either. Pirates go home.


*** out of ****

~ Patrick Fryberger

Ninja on Ninja Action

This guy always gets me. Hilarious:



Review to follow.

Source: /Film

Dinner

The King of the Fighters, Eagle Path trailers

No comment(s).






Blah.

Source: /Film, AICN

Universal Soldier: Regeneration trailer

Check it:



I love how the trailer pretty much spells it out for you. "THIS GUY and DOLPH LUNDGREN take on VAN DAMME, AGAIN." Looks fun though.

Source: /Film

Review: Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call New Orleans

Load up on guns, bring your friends; the Bad Lieutenant is back.

How you can you be badder than Bad Lieutenant? You can't, really, but by dusting off a rusty Nicolas Cage, dropping him in the by-default trashy post-Katrina New Orleans, and throwing in a whole lot of animals, Werner Herzog's fresh, new take on the ultra-gritty original proves an admirable-enough attempt. Much like its lead performance, Bad Lieutentant: Port of Call New Orleans often tries too hard, but ends up with a sort of inverted (and twisted) sense of humor as a result.

Nicolas Cage takes up the reigns as the titular antihero, this time given a name: Terence McDonagh. With the help of his fat, sleazy partner (Val Kilmer, putting the ease in sleaze!), the two investigate the murders of five Senegalese immigrants ultimately perpetrated by a local gangster (Xzibit). Popping along the way are a handful of interesting characters and a handful more of uninteresting; the main focus here is on Cage doing his 'ol' crazy thang' and interacting with a bunch of sometimes-imaginary animals. With so much on his shoulders, Cage hits some of the marks, misses others, but does proves capable of carrying the craziness. A lot of the time you wish he and Herzog could've gone more hardcore (i.e. Ferrara and Keitel), or simply crazier, but it'll do, Cage, it'll do, Herzog.

What doesn't disappoint is the picture-perfect New Orleans casting. The likes of Kilmer (sleazy + fat = wonderful) and freakshow rejects Fairzua Balk, Brad Dourif, and Michael Shannon bring some much-needed grit to the picture, with Xzibit and Eva Mendes adding some modern flair (there's something so mid-'00s about them—it's uncanny!). But even then, the great cast feels vastly underused, as we spend too much time on unnecessary sideplots and characters in an ultimately overlong picture.

Like with David Lynch's Wild at Heart, as I mentioned—the film feels like it's trying extra hard to be crazy, but when you put forth that much effort, something's got to come out a success. And something does, though not everything, in this remake (it is a remake, not a 'retinkering,' not a 'different take' or whatever else you want to call it, but just another remake) of Abel Ferrara's 1992 original with Harvey Keitel. It's as if Herzog and Cage took a look at the source character and said, "[Let's] shoot him again, his soul is still dancing."


**1/2 out of ****

~ Patrick Fryberger

Ferrara out of Game of Death?

Lame...he's up to his old PMS ways again. Head on over to Kung Fu Cinema for the full story.

Speaking of Ferrara, I'm planning/hoping to see the new Bad Lieutenant tonight...I'm not much on the Herzog bandwagon, and I felt his direct disrespect to Ferrara's original was very much uncalled for, but alas, I am an enthusiast of the cinema, and too much of a sucker to pass up Nicolas Cage doing the ol' crazy thang again. Review to follow.

I'm also hoping to catch The Blind Side tomorrow (huge football fan, and I love me some Sandra!), so I might add my thoughts of that into the op-ed for the month.

Be back soon!

Street Preacher op-ed, 11/19/09

The Street Preacher has been watching many movies, many, many movies...

Since I've been in L.A., I've managed to make the most out of my movie-watching opportunitites, and frankly, it's been a blast. Below, I've listed some the non-reviewed movies I've caught up with (most of them non-action titles) and my thoughts on each of them. Check it out:




Yes, that's Mariah Carey, and yes, she looks better this way.

An Education

Overrated to the Nth degree, it's got niche market written all over it. Old/white/male critics hailed it. I don't. And yes, I will admit that Carey Mulligan displays some acting chops and comes out of the gates kickin,' but she's no Audrey Hepburn and can't save the whole picture. Fact is, I have little interest in 1960s U.K. and the film doesn't succeed in persuading me otherwise. First, it was The Hurt Locker, and now An Education: pretentious overrated bullsheezy thank you very much!

Precious: Based on the Novel Push by Sapphire

Easily a contender for best picture, Precious effectively tiptoes the line between being too sappy and too grim; director Lee Daniels somehow holds it all together—really, it's a sight to see. From the over-stylized dream sequences to moments of genuine audience horror (dropping a baby, for one), the rollercoaster is kept within reason and kept within our interest, as well. Newcomer Gabby Sidibe will no doubt be cast off to thankless supporting roles given her weight and appearance, but she definitely made her mark here—a truly 'career' performance. Everything just worked. Even '90s-holdover musicians Mariah Carey and Lenny Kravtiz were perfect, and I mean perfect. Though I would still hold District 9 in higher regard, Precious nonetheless has a better chance of taking home the gold and man, I hope it does. And I must say, Paula Patton should take home the 'most-fine-ass-woman-of-the-year' award for her work here (not to mention Salli Richardson-Whitfield in Black Dynamite - Damn!). She was too hot for the part! Sorry but it's true! ...and I haven't even mentioned Mo'Nique yet! Too much to talk about!

Love Hurts

Terrible. Walked out. The only reason I saw this is because I'm a big fan of Janeane Garofalo. She was wasted, my time and money were wasted, and so was theirs. Love Hurts, but this one kills! Yes, even the jokes about it are bad!

The Blind Side

It was essentially a beefed-up TV movie with some inspired moments and a rock-solid lead performance by Sandra Bullock. Great beginning and end, as well as the end credits, and it more or less knew its foozball. But there were few things The Blind Side just couldn't overcome—one, the racism: even after straight-up mentioning it ("white guilt") and doing its best to nobly approach the material, the basic white-helps-black story couldn't be shaken. There were good blacks and bad blacks, good whites and bad whites, but in the end it was the good whites who helped the good blacks and told all the bad ones off, resulting in one too many cringeworthy moments. Two, the creampuff script: Why not try a little harder, Ms. Bullock (and co.)? Why not try a little harder and write a script that's actually deserving of its source material? One with some grit, one with some questionable morality, and one with the guts to tell it like it is (or was, considering it's based on a true story). And three, the religious aspect: not only was it a near-TV movie, but a Christian one as well. At least Lawrence Taylor was thanked too. Still recommended.

The Road

Bleak for bleak's sake, I honestly felt cold after walking out of the theater—in L.A., after an afternoon showing. This is the accumulation of bleakness that this decade has heaped up, now in its concentrated form. However good the writing, acting, or source material (and of course those post-apoc landscapes), none of it can overcome the fact that the film is simply not entertaining, and is too depressing to be emotionally resonant. A pitiless pit of despair...no thanks.


DTD action releases:



The definition of badass. No, really, look it up.

The Tournament

By no means as 'mean' as Mean Guns, nor as revolutionary as Battle Royale, but still a fun time, The Tournament boasts some inspired moments and ridiculous, nonstop action. Ving Rhames and Robert Carlyle bring the acting cred, Scott Adkins and Sebastien Foucan bring the stunts, and Kelly Hu holds down the fort in the lead role. It's definitely DTD material and won't disappoint the people putting their money towards it. Worth a look for the pictured-above sequence alone.

Blood and Bone

A refreshing surprise, Blood and Bone is the more serious Lionheart we've all been waiting for (i.e. where Fighting failed tremendously). Michael Jai White continues to prove he's the best in the biz when it comes to martial arts cinema, this time bringing gritty, no-frills kinds of fights in a modern urban environment that keeps itself firmly in check (and far away from self-parody). Eamonn Walker delivers a legitimate performance as the film's main villain, and appearances by Julian Sands, Ron Yuan, and especially Gina Carano are a lot of fun. If not for its simplistic title and advertising, I think this could've had a decent theatrical run, at least in bigger cities. With The Dark Knight, Black Dynamite and Bone under his belt, Michael Jai White is making a push to rise above the genre, hopefully pulling it up along with him. More power to him.


That's all for now, and now for all.

~Street Preach out!

Michael Jai White

I was putting together a mini-retrospective on Michael Jai White and Scott Adkins to send to a friend and I came across this...I'm sure I'd scanned over it before, thinking it was just another lame, set-to-Nickelback fan vid, but man, was I wrong. What a dedication to one of cinema's greatest martial arts talents. Please, give it a look. You won't be disappointed:

Review: 2012

But it's only 2009!

With the 'disaster movie' reaching the end of its rope, something had to be done. Y2K, global warming, astrology, monsters-aliens-machines, who really cares anymore? Fortunately for us, genre kingpin Roland Emmerich did, foreseeing this (just like Mayans, word), and won't go quietly. The result is just a few years away: 2012.

I won't even waste time with story because the film sure doesn't and would have no business anyway. The first half is disaster upon disaster upon disaster upon catastrophe, with the respectable C.G.I. painting up the end of the world as one helluva show. Taking himself a little more seriously, but not to any detrimental extent, Emmerich has fine-tuned this beast to perfection. The disaster movie is no longer a complete disaster, at least. The blatant stupidity is smoothed out, the one-liners are mostly tossed, villains are made less villainous/heroism is spread around and amongst a diverse cast at that; all that matters here is the disaster and the death count, and man, is there plenty. I've never seen so many people get killed in a movie. It gets to the point where death is actually uncomfortable to watch again.

Textbook disaster-movie casting. John Cusack spends his 2 1/2 hours trying to escape the movie and save his career, whoa-ing and no-no-no-ing his way through the ride. Like with Deep Impact, black Presidents = disaster and this time it's a serviceable Danny Glover. Names like Amanda Peet, Chiwetel Ejiofor, and Thandie Newton (lookin' mighty fine!) are the perfect failed-but-still-recognizable stardom for this kind of dross. Cameos by Woody Harrelson and George Segal are welcomed. Throw in some holdovers from The Dark Knight as well as disaster-movie specialist Oliver Platt and you've got yourself a fine group to kill off and put through hell.

Also worthy of note is the 'escape from L.A.' —one of the most rollicking, balls to the wall sequences ever put to film (as well as the biggest fuck you to L.A. I've ever seen)...little wonder they released it beforehand. Seeing it on the big screen is...well, beyond words. It's the mass waiting at the end of the term "snowballing," except that it's made of metal and concrete and all things loud and big, grinding your conscious with an inconceivable level of excitement.

If the Rolling Stones claimed to be "A Bigger Bang," as in bigger than the Big Bang, then 2012 is "The Biggest Bang," the biggest bang of them all. It's is an experience more than anything, the kind of thing you'd see at an IMAX when IMAXs screened those random science and nature documentaries. Emmerich has always had traces of talent, and here he knows his strengths and exploits them to the furthest extent, taking the world (and everyone in it) down with him. In the end, the fishies had a field day. Oh Fuck This Shit.


**1/2 out of ****

~ Patrick Fryberger

"The Western of Westerns"

"If they move...kill 'em."

...said by Ernest Borgnine at last night's screening of The Wild Bunch, of which I was in attendance. Showing at The Million Dollar Theater in downtown L.A., practically all of the two-thousand-some seats were filled in support of the classic, game-changing 1969 Western, helmed by the legendary Sam Peckinpah, and starring William Holden and Borgnine.

The sincere speeches given by Borgnine and Peckinpah's daughter, among others, made the event that much more special. The vintage theater—in all ways epic—also added to the momentousness of it all. Throw in the fact that the film never actually received a true premiere, the whole deal was really something else (the widescreen cinemascope was AMAZING as well).

I could go on and on, but I'll get to the film:

I've watched The Wild Bunch a few times now. For me, it used to be all about the end shootout...the tension, the ultraviolence, the almost video game-quality of it all some thirty years in advance—it made the rest of the film seem slow. And then, as I saw more and more movies, I could see the influence it's had all around; every scene seems to foreshadow some theme or moment or just a general feel (i.e. Walter Hill) of a future film. But now, more than anything, when I watch The Wild Bunch I see William Holden, the late, great, and very-much underappreciated William Holden. Holden's success in Hollywood was always pretty spotty...he was never as hard as Lee Marvin, nor as handsome as Frank Sinatra, but somewhere in between, somewhere in the middle. His ultimately tragic pairing with Audrey Hepburn and rampant alcoholism didn't help either, and he died young at the age of 63 under mysterious circumstances. In The Wild Bunch, Holden gets dressed after spending time with a prostitute, and after leaving his friend to die. Having already pawned him off—having already sold what little soul they have left, it seems too late; it's the kind of ingenious scene where the heroes decide to save the day after it's already gone. No dialogue is spoken. Holden just carries the scene on his own.

The looks he gives...that sincere look of self-disgust ripples with me every single time I see it. Behind all the violence and dementia, Peckinpah really knew his stuff, he really knew what it was to be depressed, and so did Holden. His career and personal life flailing, Holden too was saying "fuck it" by taking on the film (according to IMDb, Lee Marvin, Burt Lancaster, James Stewart, Charlton Heston, Gregory Peck, Sterling Hayden, Richard Boone, and Robert Mitchum all rejected the part, all of them!). It's one of the most powerful moments in cinema history and you can't help but feel swept up in it, feeling for the man, for the bunch, and for the movie as a whole. So, if you missed out on the screening, go and watch The Wild Bunch again—you won't be disappointed—and ravish in the legacy it represents.

Kick Ass indeed

UPDATE ON UPDATE ACTION: Back up, apparently.

UPDATE: The Lion at Lionsgate has asked me to take it down, and out of respect, I have. Very un-kick-ass.

The teaser:

Kick-Ass

Trailer Park | MySpace Video

Source: Quiet Earth

"What if this is as good as it gets?"

Source: JohnAugust.com

Review: The Boondock Saints II: All Saints Day

The brothers are back, and this time with a Mexican.

"There was one little problem with their plan," Billy Connolly says at the beginning of The Boondock Saints II: All Saints Day, "it worked." Ten years after the fact, Troy Duffy's scrappy, DTD cult hit The Boondock Saints has finally received a sequel, one which comes in the tradition of Die Harder: bringing more of the same and in a good way. After all the fuss with Duffy and Overnight, it's nice to get back to the basics—back to the Saints, who've got a little more in their wallets this time around.

The story opens and we find the Saints (the serviceable Sean Patrick Flannery and Norman Reedus) over in Ireland with their father (Connolly), living the peasant life and looking like Jesus. But all's not well back in Boston, where a priest is murdered in an 'all-Saints way,' drawing them back for revenge. From there, they meet up with an overtly-stereotypical Mexican (Clifton Collins Jr.), as well as the detectives and neighborhood friends that made the original so endearing. All Saints Day lacks that charmingly low-budget feel of the original, but then again, Duffy is an old dog and new tricks are most surely not in order—even the quick, lazy fadeouts have returned, slicing up the action as if they didn't have enough money to finish the scene. Also returning is the prevalent racism, sexism, and every other 'ism' you can think of, which, admittedly, does gets a little old, but it's not like the film is pretending to be anything else. As Julie Benz proudly remarks, "I'm so smart I make smart people feel retarded."

And speaking of Benz—well on her way to becoming an action goddess—is a riot, and admirably fills the gaping hole left by William Dafoe's near-iconic FBI Agent Paul Smecker, playing an agent of her own in 'Special' Agent Eunice Bloom. A lot of the laughs come from her scenes, especially when paired with the holdover blue-collar detectives. Like Dafoe to the original, Benz makes the movie, and is not to be missed here.

In the end, All Saints Day is quality entertainment, nothing more, and at times, maybe a little less. A harmless sequel which, with its nifty conclusion and great parting shot, should invite a few more, and what of it? The brothers are back, and they're looking to cook up some "gratuitous violence." What more could you ask for? It's not rocket surgery, but it works.


** out of ****

~ Patrick Fryberger

"An intellectual horror movie"

Welcome to November, baby.



Source: Hollywood Elsewhere

Selling Unreal Estate

More MZS! He's seriously taking over my blog!



Source: The House Next Door

The trailer

Better:

Courtesy of Yahoo

Reaction Action Roundup, 10/28/2009

The Action Reaction's roundup of the action realm for the 28th of October, 2009:


Kung Fu Cinema throws together one of their always impressive lists, this time on American martial arts movies.

MarketSaw is blessed with an exclusive photo of action goddess M-Rod from the upcoming Avatar, seen here:





Movieset has a chat with Black Dynamite star and martial arts extraordinaire Michael Jai White:







Another Shutter Island trailer, promising more of the same:




Rama Screen has an intriguing interview with Pandorum co-star Cung Le.

And finally, Rope of Silicon takes some snapshots of, who else??? The Takers!




Go Hayden!


Sources: /Film, Kung Fu Cinema

Matt Zoeller Seitz, Zombified

Source: The House Next Door

The End of an Era

L.A. Times reports

CNET remembers

io9 pays tribute

xkcd commemorates

Blogcritics reminisces

HOW DID I NOT KNOW ABOUT THIS!?!??

Good gracious!

Star Wars: Uncut Trailer from Casey Pugh on Vimeo.

Source: Living in Cinema

Review: Black Dynamite

Let Black Dynamite take you for a ride in his $5000 car (and $100 suit)...

Reteaming after a long ten years, director Scott Sanders and martial arts extraordinaire Michael Jai White have thrown together probably the best Grindhouse-era ode ever with Black Dynamite. A throwback more than anything, many of the scenes could be watched blow-for-blow with the likes of Coffy, perfectly capturing the ambiance and sensibilities of the blaxpoitation genre. As the man says, "Donuts don't wear alligator shoes," and this one's a donut, thru and thru.

The story follows Black Dynamite (Michael Jai White, looking somewhere between Dolemite and Fred Williamson), as he seeks revenge on the mob for killing his brother, not to mention the dealers, the CIA, the Nixon Administration, and some "kung-fu treachery" thrown in for good measure. And, on top of all that, he's trying to win the heart of political activist Gloria (Pam Grier fill-in Salli Richardson-Whitfield) while shoving off "the rest of the bitches" who just can't get enough. All of this cumulates in a triple-dose of a finale—showdowns abound—with quite possibly the greatest twist in movie history (and one that requires two minutes of roundabout explanation).

As Dynamite, Michael Jai White hits all the right notes, including the outrageous kung-fu yells and frequented "Ooohs!" Tommy Davidson's Cream Corn steals the show as a Sammy Davis gone Blaxpoitation—just hilarious beyond belief. Arsenio Hall, always a treat, is perfect as the pimp Tasty Freeze (the names!), as is the gorgeous Salli Richardson-Whitfield, playing the love-interest Gloria. Co-writer Bryon Minns adds ridiculous spontaneous narration and makes a great sidekick to other co-writer White. And though you may not recognize him at first, you can't help but hear Mykelti Williamson's (Heat) signature voice under all that style.

And what style it is! The costume selections (as well as the aforementioned names) make the movie. As co-star Phil Morris said in an interview, "...they had nothing [i.e. a budget], except for crazy suits and us and fros and chops and great dialogue, great music, it's a great style, and it's just done everything they ever could've wanted it to." Well-stated, Mr. Morris.

Do wish there could've been more of Mike Starr—it looks like his scenes were filmed over the course of an hour. The same goes with the underappreciated Richard Edson, who shows up briefer than the briefs he runs his ass out of (though, after all, this is blaxpoitation). And being such, coming with the package are the flaws of the genre: slower sections, lots of smiling/not enough laughing, a lack of directorial flair; as with his previous effort, Sanders gets the most out of White (a must see performance in Thick as Thieves) but really not much else. Though ambitious, he seems to have trouble holding it all together. Considering the material, however, that doesn't really hurt him here.

In the end, Black Dynamite is a welcome blast from the past that comes in the form of Dy-no-mite knockin' three mofos out quicker than you can say "Oooooh!"


*** out of ****

~ Patrick Fryberger

Can't Ignore It

Totally stunt-double.



Also see—Ms. Page lookin' hellafine in a suit.

The A+ Team

Admittedly pretty cool.



Source: Movieline

The 'Other' Anderson

An intriguing/decent-enough piece on Paul W.S. Anderson's (yes, the other Anderson) sci-fi horror classic Event Horizon (and yes, I did say classic). Courtesy of The Quietus.

Which reminds me...

I never remembered to post this even better article from IFC on the man that is the darkside of the Anderson. Trash, yes, but fun, inspired, oftentimes dark trash, almost a modernized Roger Corman (Death Races withstanding). His most recent production, Pandorum, was brutally overlooked in my mind. Tons of fun.

Source: IMDb baby.

Undisputed 3 trailer

Lackluster, maybe saved only by the fighting-prowess of Adkins and director Florentine.



Source: Kung Fu Cinema

A quick update

In Los Angeles. Have a place to live for October/still deciding for November. Saw Black Dynamite. Review in the works. Might see A Serious Man today. We shall see.

UPDATE ON UPDATE ACTION:

Did see A Serious Man. The lowdown: Went in expecting a slice of home (from MN, yes like the Coens), and got half a slice, at least. I could care less about the Jewishness of the film, but the bleakness, Jewish or not, is incredibly, ridiculously Minnesotan. The last scene and shot are picture-perfect (literally and figuratively speaking, oh-ho), but what bothered me about the movie is how it almost celebrated depression, as a depressed individual (myself for too many years) would in times of darkness and despair. I'm not saying the dark humor does this but rather what's embedded in the overlying messages of the picture. Either way, it's worth a look--Richard Kind is especially good, not to say the obscure lead isn't either. A little purist for my taste. Whatever happened to the Coens loosening up a little? This and their previous couple efforts seem like an extreme reaction to the over-comical missteps they made earlier in the decade. May balance be restored to the Coens? Probably not, and especially with the message A Serious Man puts forth.

Reporting from Gothenburg, NE: EXPENDABLE!

UPDATE: Taken down(?). Seemed pretty official to me.

I say not:



Source: AICN

Moving to Los Angeles

...in the morning, no joke, by way of the Toyota Solara. I'll see you on the otherside. In the meantime, hit up the AR links on the sidebar as they are far more deserving than I!


~ Street Preach out!

Batman vs. Blade

Source: /Film

Tom Savini in Machete!

Need I say more?

Yes, yes I do. A trailer/plot synopsis:

"The feature version of the trailer finds Machete (Trejo) a renegade former Mexican Federale, roaming the streets of Texas after a shakedown from drug lord Torrez (Seagal). Reluctantly, Machete takes an offer from spin doctor Benz (Fahey) to assassinate McLaughlin (De Niro) a corrupt Senator. Double crossed and on the run Machete braves the odds with the help of Luz (Rodriguez), a saucy taco slinger, Padre (Marin) his “holy” brother, and April (Lohan) a socialite with a penchant for guns. All while being tracked by Sartana (Alba), a sexy ICE agent with a special interest in the blade slinger."

For more Tom Savini/Machete action, head over to Bloody Disgusting for the exclusive. This has OMG-AWESOMENESS coming out the woodwork!

Source: Bloody Disgusting

Matt Zoeller Seitz On the Waterfront

Always a treat:



Source: The House Next Door

Snipes, Ferrara, Davi, Bell in, a Game of Death

Scrappy, old-school indie director Abel Ferrara is reteaming with Wesley Snipes (King of New York) and bringing in action vets Robert Davi and Zoe Bell for his newest film, Game of Death. Unrelated to the original Bruce Lee debacle, Death follows a bodyguard (Snipes) of a politican who goes head-to-head with the world's top five assassins.

Sound contrived? Perhaps. But awesomely so? Definitely. If Davi and Bell are cast as two of the five baddies then you can count me in. Even if only Bell is and Davi ends up playing the politician, I'm still down just the same. To see Snipes and Bell in a fight would be the kind of pure awesomeness the action realm has direly-needed for some time. The Action Reaction's going to monitor this one very closely.

Source: /Film

Review: Zombieland

Everybody wants some.

It doesn't take much to figure out what Zombieland is about. More of a good thing, it's a genre romp that follows all the rules (and makes this explicit as possible). And, with heroes Columbus, Tallahassee, Wichita, and Little Rock leading the way, it's Shaun of the Dead gone all-American. An amusement park for lovers of the genre.

The story follows Columbus, named for his hometown (the loserific Jesse Eisenberg), as he travels across the zombie-torn country in search of survivors and survival. Soon joining the party is Tallahassee (Woody Harrelson), a brusque cowboy/zombie-killer extraordinaire with nothing left to lose. They repeatedly encounter a pair of sisters (Emma Stone and Abigail Breslin) with a doublecrossing, every-family-for-themselves mindset. And from there, we're off, into a world of diegetic subtitles, mad Twinkie obsessions, and slow-mo used to its maximum extent.

By fusing such far-flung comic sensibilities as Harrelson and Eisenberg, it's a pretty easy lay and everybody goes home happy. In other words, there are a lot of laughs, and a lot of different kinds at that. Emma Stone feels right at the home in the genre, as does her on-screen sister, Abigail Breslin. All together, they make a pretty good team, hopping around in GM-sponsored vehicles (Hummers and Escalades abound) blasting their shotguns and reminiscing about the times of old. Writers Rhett Reese and Paul Wernick know the genre well; they're not trying to send it up as much as just to make another good zombie movie. And just when you think director Ruben Fleischer's turned the gore, something will get SMASHED and the audience will, as Tallahassee puts it, "nut-up or shut up."

But Fleischer saves it all for the end, a truly worthwhile finale that is balls-to-the-wall and full titties and then some. And this comes after a fun cameo which feels a little cut-and-paste yet is oddly-fitting. The best of Zombieland comes in its second half, naturally, and a scene in a Native-American gift shop is especially entertaining.

With all the dystopian/post-apocalyptic/end-of-the-fucking-world crap coming out these days, Zombieland is a refreshing reprieve—being both lighthearted and ultraviolent—with a lil' bit of soul thrown in for good measure. Fleischer took a simple premise, with a standard set of jokes, and really nothing you haven't seen before (or would expect to see) but handles it with enough grace to make it work. Ending at an amusement park, Zombieland is one helluva ride, a "little thing" to be enjoyed just as the rule says.


**1/2 out of ****

~ Patrick Fryberger

Whip them zombies

Saw Whip It this afternoon. The skinny: Two-or-so star effort. Overburdened with hipster nihilism, but a heart came through in the end. A poor man's Juno. The valiant return of Juliette Lewis was handled with just the right amount of grace and awesomeness. Alia Shawkat stole the show, though—she's just spectacular.

I'm probably going to see Zombieland tonight, or at least within the next few days (teh Raidez take precedence, sorry). Review to follow ASAP.

That's all for now, and now for all.

P.S. TITULAR SONG WAS NOT USED IN WHIP IT; HOW/WHY???

Red Cliff trailer

Can't escape the John Wooziness. Looks like an admirable effort, anyway.



Source: AICN

Bring it on

Moving out to Los Angeles in two weeks, to this I say...



Bring it on!

Source: Ethelmae's Blog

Keep Timesplitters alive!

This is kind of dorky and pretty much off-topic but I must include it for the greater good of the video-gaming world.

Timesplitters, the famed FPS-parodying shoot 'em up with a sense of humor, has been halted in its production of a fourth entry due to the acquisition of designer Free Radical Design by Crytek UK. A fan outcry has been making the rounds over the last month, and being a huge fan of the series, I just have to keep the ball rolling. Watch(!):



This series is the Last Action Hero of first-person shooters, and on multiple levels. Not only is it a parody of the genre, but it truly is the last of its kind—the last of the old-school FPS's.

If you too want to be a part of the movement (infinitely more important than any other), make sure to sign the petition and then follow all the action at Timesplitters4.net.

Thank you and good day.

Source: Timesplitters4.net

Good

I'll say it clearly and for the record. I'm very much in agreement of Mr. Polanski being shipped homeward, and I say this as a huge fan of his arguable masterwork, Chinatown.

Let me put it this way. I have no problem enjoying the films of the egomaniacal Quentin Tarantino, or the perverse Woody Allen, or of Polanski himself, but the lives they lead are a different matter. And though the law isn't without its flaws, Roman Polanski broke it, and needs to face the consequences.

The blogosphere has been rampant with the fact that Samantha Geimer, the victim of the rape, openly admitted that she had 'gotten over it,' but that doesn't change the ramifications of the case. Nor does the somewhat botched trial. Even in his old age, Roman Polanski is guilty, and deserves to be punished.

Anyone arguing for the sake of his art is just ridiculous, and others arguing on behalf of the shady proceedings need to revisit the details of the crime, and take a quick morality check.

In addition to her 'moving on,' Geimer has also maintained that it was an "unpleasant" experience.

Review: Pandorum

There's just no other way to put it. "Freaky as shit."

Alien has spawned yet another offspring, and it's of a particularly nasty sort. Producer Paul W.S. Anderson, already having Event Horizon and Resident Evil under his belt, proves to be the life support of the genre, birthing the next step in its evolution with Pandorum. Grungy, dirty, gory, scary, crazy, and claustrophobic, and, above all, dark; it's sci-fi horror pushed to the extreme. Dark on steroids.

The lights are turned out and we're thrown in headfirst with Colonel Bower (Ben Foster), waking up in a more grittily-realistic hyperspace chamber than accustomed to. It's the future, and planet Earth has run out of gas. The ship Elysium (oh so cleverly Christened) is en route to an Earth-like planet called Tanis, but of course, something has gone wrong. Soon following is his superior, Lieutenant Payton (a formulaic Dennis Quaid), and that's it; even after seeing the above image, or the cast list, you will still genuinely feel that they're the only ones on the ship.

From there, it's a downward spiral into the deliciously-labyrinthine ship, deeper and deeper with your dark corridors, faulty communicators, and ultra-quick humanoid monsters, not to mention the usual runaround of plot twists for good measure. But the cast handles the clichéd material well, having a remarkable, workhorse quality to them: Foster more than holds his own in carrying the film. Antje Traue (somehow) pulls off the 'pretty-faced tough girl' role. Eddie Rouse looks like he's been holed up in a ship for years. Dennis Quaid feels like he was just getting another paycheck, but he gets a pass here. And Cam Gigandet strikes just the right nerve in creating a crazy under the titular ailment. It's your classic assemblage of sci-fi on a ship, a little bit of everything, and everybody.

At the heart of the fun is Pandorum's pace. Jumping around the ship, every new location a fresh one and sometimes in flashbacks at that, it's a rollercoaster that doesn't know how to stop, sometimes for the better, sometimes for worse. What this inevitably leads to is your typical third-act meltdown, but after seeing Danny Boyle's Sunshine, it seems to be a hallmark of the genre.

Like David Lynch's Inland Empire, Pandorum is a nightmare thrown onto the screen, even if of a more conventional variety. The world that Anderson, director Christian Alvart, and the writers create is not one that deserves a sequel, per se, but one which deserves exploration: discussion, imagination, fan fiction, whatever; it's brimming with potential, and exhilaratingly interesting. Many will hound the film for its 'pan and scan' of the sci-fi-horror canon, and yes, it's The Descent, it's The Abyss, it's everything you want from sci-fi horror and then some, but that's why it works: Freaky as shit.


**** out of ****

~ Patrick Fryberger

Not photoshopped

The Sith (and Darth Palin) will rise again. Our Jedi Grand Master will be ready.

Source: /Film

Bootlegged Expendables

Got a little wishy-washy about posting it, but I couldn't resist. The Expendables teaser trailer, bootleg style:



Dolph and Jet! Eric Roberts! David Zayas lookin' pimp! Can somebody say "yes!"

Source: Beyond Hollywood