Fingers crossed...

Adapting a comic book into a film is a tricky thing. Sometimes you get BATMAN BEGINS, and sometimes you get DAREDEVIL. 30 DAYS OF NIGHT is one that I'm looking forward to, cautiously looking forward to. Check out the trailer.

All action films should have a little Crüe

The more ridiculous SHOOT EM' UP looks, the more I like it. A little Crüe goes a long way for many things.

MR. BROOKS review

This utterly ridiculous thriller asks an awful lot from its audience. First, we're expected to believe in 'wood-like' Kevin Costner as the perfect family man/pillar of the community who happens to be addicted to serial murder, and then that his murderous invisible friend would be William Hurt!

*INCONCEIVABLE! Fezzini declares.*

So, Mr. Brooks has been a good boy for quite some time, but we know this must change in the first act. Unfortunately he gets caught in the act by a pervy neighbor with a camera (Dane Cook) who later blackmails him in order to become his protégé. Unfortunate for me, I imagined Dane Cook getting off watching Kevin Costner. *Shudder*

On the case is police detective Demi Moore, who happens to be a multi-millionaire currently going through an ugly divorce. Oh, and also, she is being pursued by another serial killer who has just escaped custody.
And on top of this is another sub-plot concerning Mr. Brook's daughter, who comes home after dropping out of college for mysterious reasons.
This all makes for a mashed-up sloppy mess, plot holes and common sense be damned.

There are many opportunities for outright laughter throughout, most obvious of which is when Mr. Brooks ends up in an a silly disguise, which I think he stole from Ben Stiller on the set of Starsky and Hutch!

Except for William Hurt's performance as Marshall, who at least appears to be enjoying himself as the villianous imaginary friend, the characters are as thin as a razor blade. The intertwining subplots are too ridiculous to care about, but not bat-shit crazy enough to really groove on. It's an unfortunate curiosity at best, 'enjoy' it on cable with your buddies and a few drinks.

Christopher Lee gotta eat?

Howling 2: Your Sister Is A Werewolf

Or maybe he wanted to put a pool in? Whatever the reason, Lee must rue the day he accepted this gig. My hope for a 'so bad it's good' scenario was not fulfilled. On top of everything, the damn 'punk' song that plays throughout is stuck in my head! Oh, and did I mention the werewolf threesome?

We are all subject to the fates.

Click the pic of Eva Green as Serafina Pekula to watch the first trailer for THE GOLDEN COMPASS.

I need a Region 0 dvd player: Reason #2

SURVIVE STYLE 5+

I don't know what this film is about, and I don't care... I want to see it! Unfortunately I'm going to miss this screening because I'll be WAY up north in a cottage for the long weekend.

The Canada Japan Society of Toronto is hosting a screening of Gen Sekiguchi’s 2004 cult favorite “Survive Style 5+”. The all star cast of Tadanobu Asano, Vinnie Jones, Sonny Chiba, Ittoku Kishibe (and a cameo by Rinko Kikuchi) interweave five manic plot lines.

May 18th, 2007 @ 7:00 pm
National Film Board Theatre
150 John Street (NW corner of John & Richmond)
Admission: $8.00 ($5.00 for CJST members)

Also, there doesn't appear to be a Region 1 dvd available :(

DirtyRobot en français

"Whatever I photograph I always lose."

I just watched the film PEEPING TOM, the British psychological thriller by director Michael Powell. Utterly despised by critics and audiences upon initial release in 1960, it was quickly yanked from theatres and practically buried until Martin Scorsese resurrected it by sponsoring revivals and restorations of the film in the late 1970s. It also practically ended Powell's film career. I think it's a brilliant meditation on voyeurism, especially in the way it implicates it's own audience in watching the gruesome acts of the protagonist.
Often compared to Alfred Hitchcock's PSYCHO, which was released 3 months later, it's said that after hearing the negative press reaction to PEEPING TOM, Hitchcock decided to release PSYCHO without a press screening.

The Grinding Continues...

Sure, it was a dismal failure at the box office, taking in to date only $24,283,797 on a budget of 67 million, but the GRINDHOUSE aesthetic has certainly resurfaced in pop culture. Check out these movie posters recreated in the grindhouse style at Something Awful.

"There is no doubt in my mind that (Narnia) is one of the most ugly and poisonous things I've ever read."

My favourite 'young adult' fantasy series is getting the big-budget Hollywood treatment, here is the first official teaser one-sheet.
The HIS DARK MATERIALS series also includes the books 'The Subtle Knife' and 'The Amber Spyglass' which will no doubt get film versions of their own if 'The Golden Compass' does good box office.
The quote above is attributed to author Philip Pullman, whose series has been considered the antithesis of The Chronicles of Narnia.

"You are about to be hurled..."

The trailer for STARCRASH (1979) makes me giddy! I'm impatiently waiting for Rogers to deliver the dvd rental to me. Until then this comprehensive fan site will have to suffice.



And it's not like I have a little crush on Caroline Munro :p

"Undead, Undead, Undead!"

Bauhaus playing in the club, David Bowie as a vampire... nostalgia for the ol' goth days. Might explain the previous post a little.

Maybe it's 'wrong'...

but I dig this pic!

It's too bad that the film, RISE: BLOOD HUNTER, looks like a smarmy direct to DVD title.

"I'm a British nanny, and I'm dangerous"

Three very watchable actors running around Toronto shooting at each other. Huh.

If you...are thinking...of watching...this...trailer...

One of my favourite parts of GRINDHOUSE was the fake trailer for DON'T. Edgar Wright sites the film THE LIVING DEAD AT MANCHESTER MORGUE as inspiration, also known as DON'T OPEN THE WINDOW, also known as LET SLEEPING CORPSES LIE.

Why are The Birds here?

There seems to be a real trend in remakes where they want to 'explain' away anything that was mysterious or ambiguous. The remake of THE BIRDS appears to be no different according to Cathy Schulman, president of Mandalay Pictures.

“We think we have a very contemporary take,” Schulman said. “In the original, the birds just showed up, and it was kind of like, why are the birds here? This time, there’s a reason why they’re here and (people) have had something to do with it. There’s an environmental slant to what could create nature fighting back.”

Maybe the birds will attack Al Gore for tricking me into watching a Powerpoint presentation instead of a film!

X-Men uniforms found on Demon Planet!

As I eagerly await my rental of PLANET OF THE VAMPIRES to arrive in my mailbox, I noticed something while watching the trailer. The costumes looked a little familiar...

FRACTURE review

I caught a sneak of this new thriller today starring Anthony Hopkins and Ryan Gosling and I must say that I was pleasantly surprised.

Basically, Anthony Hopkins plays Ted Crawford, an engineer specializing in fracture mechanics, who discovers that his wife is having an affair, so he shoots her. Ryan Gosling plays a hot shot DA named Willie Beachum who has an almost unbeatable court record and a pending position at a prestigious corporate law firm.

This should be Willie's last case, open and shut within the week considering the apparent overwhelming evidence, including a signed confession. Ted, however, has an elaborate scheme up his sleeve which Hopkins delivers with steely eyed intelligence and a droll sense of humour. Of course we've seen this from Hopkins before in the role of Hannibal Lecter, but it's still fun to watch. Also muddying the waters is the fact that hostage negotiator Rob Nunally, (Billy Burke) who arrives on the scene of the shooting is actually the one having the affair with Ted's wife. In short order Willie's case begins to fall apart as the 'evidence' begins to lose all merit.

There is also a sub-plot involving Willie's affair with his soon to be superior Nikki Gardner, (Rosamund Pike) a cold corporate shark who questions his commitment to his new position when his last case doesn't wrap up in short order as was expected. Gosling continues to shine as the cocky lawyer who wrestles with the ethical issues of winning at any cost and leaving the public sector for his swanky new corporate position. Watching these two actors go head to head is where the film shines, especially since I caught one of the central surprises for our climatic finale as it was happening in the first 20 minutes.

Overall, a fairly standard yet entertaining thriller.

It's Alive Lives

The remakes continue...

In heaven, everything is fine...

I have fond yet appropriately disturbing memories of seeing Eraserhead many times at the Bloor Rep Theatre. It served as a litmus test for finding out which of my friends I could really connect with.
Now David Lynch's newest film INLAND EMPIRE is finally coming to Toronto!!!