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