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.