Archive for the 'movies' Category

Filed under: Drama, Horror, Thrillers, DVD Reviews, Home Entertainment

Today, on this May the 29th, curious moviegoers can flop themselves onto their couches, chew on some popcorn and see just what it was that made Hannibal Lecter so crazy, because the unrated Hannibal Rising DVD has just come out. Now, this is a film that I avoided in the theater. Critic friends, actors and movie fans alike told me not to bother; however, presented with the opportunity to review the DVD, I figured it was my perfect chance to see it. My expectations were low, but my curiosity was high — I always wonder what happens off-screen, and I was always curious about what made Lecter such a cold and calculated murderer.

Seeing Hannibal Rising is like excitedly strapping yourself in to a roller coaster and slowly creeping up to the summit, your mind full of exciting, twisting, corkscrewing possibilities, only to hit the peak and find out that there is no drop, but just a slightly-slanted plateau. The beginning of the film is both beautifully shot and deeply disturbing. We’re taken into the turmoil of World War II, and see how a rich, healthy and happy family can at once be destroyed by a cruel twist of fate. As you watch what happens to the young Hannibal, you can’t help but cringe, because it’s truly terrible, but in that way that your mind can comprehend. It’s not some big imagined King Kong, but a real and possible menace.

Continue reading DVD Review: Hannibal Rising

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Filed under: Comedy, Horror, RumorMonger, Newsstand

As much as Grindhouse seemed to be unstoppable before its release, for the populace-at-large, the large, gore-filled double-header failed to inspire. But man, it’s got director Eli Roth in a bloody frenzy. On May 6, Patrick Walsh shared news that the Hostel man was looking to do a sort of Grindhouse 2 — with expanded versions of his Thanksgiving trailer and Edgar Wright’s Don’t. Undeterred by the first film’s low numbers, he’s already working on an outline and wants to grab a collection of 30-somethings to play teens. Apparently, all this effort isn’t appeasing the creative juices that came out of his slasher Thanksgiving. He’s told TOMB that he’s also planning another film called Trailer Trash.

What he said: “I’m going to do a whole movie of fake trailers called Trailer Trash. There was a great response to my Grindhouse trailer Thanksgiving, and it’s the most fun I’ve ever had shooting. I’ve spoken to other directors like Robert Rodriguez and Edgar Wright and they’re all going to get involved and do trailers.” Now this I’m not so sure of. The trailers were great fun, but would we want a film that has no longer plot-line to dive into? And, would it attract more people? I guess it’s an easy way to see if the length is what kept people away from Grindhouse. Roth went on to say: “I want to do a film like a Monty Python movie or Borat or Jackass — just totally silly, completely ridiculous and fun and over-the-top.” So, I’m assuming that the idea is more comedy than horror, but I’m not quite sure how a collection of trailers matches Python which matches Jackass. It’ll be interesting to watch him shape the idea, but the big question: Are you ready to see an hour and a half of faux trailers? Maybe this is the new wave of filmmaking — directors throw together faux trailers, and if people love them, projects like Machete slice their way to a green light.

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Filed under: Obits & Memorials

• Edward Behr (c.1926-2007) - British writer of Half Moon Street, starring Sigourney Weaver. He also appears as himself in Otto Preminger’s doc Rosebud. (International Herald Tribune)
• Jo Durden-Smith (1941-2007) - Documentary filmmaker who wrote and directed A Horse Called Nijinski, which was narrated by Orson Welles, and produced the rock docs The Stones in the Park, The Doors Are Open and Johnny Cash in San Quentin. He died following a stroke May 10, in the UK. (Guardian)
• Kei Kumai (1930-2007) - Japanese filmmaker who directed The Sea Is Watching (pictured), which was written by Akira Kurosawa. He also directed Tunnel to the Sun, Lady Ogin and Death of a Sea Monster, all starring Toshiro Mifune, and The Sea and Poison, which won the Silver Bear at the 1987 Berlin Film Festival. He died of a brain hemorrhage May 18, in Tokyo. (Variety)
• Bruno Mattei (1931-2007) - Italian cult filmmaker who directed Hell of the Living Dead (aka Zombie Creeping Flesh), Womens Prison Massacre, Violence in a Woman’s Prison, Rats: Night of Terror and Zombie 3. He was also the co-editor of Jesus Franco’s 99 Women, for which he also directed the hardcore sequences, and Count Dracula. He died of cancer May 21, in Rome. (Contact Music)
• Bud Molin (1925-2007) - Editor on all of Carl Reiner’s films between 1970 (Where’s Poppa?) and 1993 (Fatal Instinct). He also edited They Call Me MISTER Tibbs!, Police Academy 3: Back in Training, The Man With One Red Shoe and Up the Academy, for which he was also the second unit director. He died May 21 in Rancho Mirage, California. (Variety)
• Charles Nelson Reilly (1931-2007) - Actor and television personality who played “Don Don Canneloni” in Cannonball Run II and appears in an uncredited role in Elia Kazan’s A Face in the Crowd. He also voiced characters in Don Bluth’s All Dogs Go to Heaven, Rock-A-Doodle and A Troll in Central Park. He died of complications from pneumonia May 25, in Los Angeles. (NY Times)
• G. Srinivasan (c.1958-2007) - Indian producer of Mani Ratnam’s last four films, including the director’s latest, Guru, which stars Aishwarya Rai. He died May 27 when he fell into a 50-foot gorge near Halan, India. (Earthtimes.org)
• Robert Sully (1918-2007) - Actor who appears in Meet Me in St. Louis, A Guy Named Joe and When Worlds Collide. He died May 15 in Santa Barbara, California. (Santa Barbara News-Press)
• Alberto Verso (1941-2007) - Italian costume designer for Ripley’s Game and The Truce and assistant costume designer for The Night Porter, Waterloo and Visconti’s L’Innocente. He died May 16 in Rome. (IMDb)
• Ben Weisman (1921-2007) - Composer of the scores to Andy Warhol’s L’Amour and Ed Wood’s short Crossroads of Laredo. He also wrote tunes for many of Elvis’ movies, including Jailhouse Rock, King Creole, Clambake, Blue Hawaii and Roustabout. He died May 20 in Los Angeles. (Variety)
• Gretchen Wyler (1932-2007) - Actress who played one of the few female characters in The Devil’s Brigade and “Aunt Kissy” in Private Benjamin. She died of complications from breast cancer May 27, in Fresno, California. (FresnoBee.com)

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Filed under: Comedy, Fandom, Home Entertainment, Movie Marketing

You have to give the folks from Knocked Up credit for this one; it’s truly one of the funniest (and smartest) pieces of viral marketing I have ever seen. You might remember back in March when a certain video featuring director David O. Russell going ballistic on Lily Tomlin while trying to direct a scene in I Heart Huckabees surfaced online. In said video (which was actually two different scenes), Russell could be seen screaming at Tomlin while trashing the set. In the other clip, it appears the roles are reversed — this time Tomlin loses her cool and goes off on Russell while the cast is attempting to shoot a car scene. If you haven’t yet had a chance to watch it, go do so now (if you can find it; seems it has since been removed from YouTube) — it will make this video that much funnier.

If you’ve watched any of the trailers for Knocked Up, you’ll know that one of them features Seth Rogan and Katherine Heigl sitting down for dinner at a restaurant. Apparently, this is their second date and she decides to tell him that she’s pregnant with his child. Well, this new video would like you to believe that, originally, Arrested Development’s Michael Cera was tapped to play the Rogan character, but was fired after losing his cool with director Judd Apatow. So, what we see is Cera trying to get through his lines only to be interrupted by Apatow time and time again (”Can you give us a little more energy”). Eventually, both Cera and Apatow lose it; the former tries to rope Heigl into the madness (who just sits there, trying to keep out of it), while the latter screams at Cera, tells him to direct the scene and storms off set cursing and knocking over water glasses. Of course they want you to think this really happened, but it’s obviously a piece of viral marketing for the film — and an extremely smart piece if I may say so myself (because not only does it promote Knocked Up, but Cera stars in the Apatow-produced Superbad later this summer, so it helps circulate his name as well). Check out the video after the jump and let us know what you think. Knocked Up arrives in theaters on June 1.

Continue reading Hilarious ‘Knocked Up’ Promo: Judd Apatow Pulls a David O. Russell

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Filed under: Action & Adventure, Animation, Comedy, Box Office, Fandom, Family Films, Comic/Superhero/Geek, Remakes and Sequels

Although it’s on course to finish with the highest four-day Memorial Day weekend debut ever, Pirates of the Caribbean: At Worlds End took in only $112.5 million from Friday to Sunday — and that was in a record-squashing 4,362 theaters; 110 more theaters than Spider-Man 3. If you tack on the $14 million it took in during those Thursday night screenings, you’re looking at $126 million; a number that’s certainly respectable, even though it comes nowhere near the three-day opening for Dead Man’s Chest ($135.6 million) last year. So what happened? How did both Spider-Man 3 ($151.1 million) and Shrek the Third ($121.6 million) top Pirates in the three-day totals when it clearly beat those other two in terms of entertaining its fanbase?

The only major reason I could come up with was good weather. Seriously. This weekend produced sunny skies for the majority of the country; here on the east coast, it was near 90 degrees for all three days — the perfect beach weather, and definitely the best Memorial Day weekend in the past few years. Could it be that people were too busy firing up the barbecues and breaking out the sun screen to shell out 10 bucks to go see a movie? I know I was. Granted, Pirates did have heftier competition; keep in mind Shrek the Third still took in $51 million while Spider-Man 3 managed $13 million. If Shrek wasn’t in the picture, there’s a pretty good chance Pirates would have soared past Spidey. Unfortunately, that wasn’t the case. When it was all said and done, Pirates of the Caribbean: At Worlds End had the fifth-biggest opening ever, but is that enough for Disney to continue the franchise? And now that its biggest threat is out the way, are there any other films coming down the pipeline that are strong enough to top Spidey’s massive $151 million opening?

So, I ask you: In your opinion, how come Pirates of the Caribbean: At Worlds End finished behind both Spidey and Shrek in its opening weekend?

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Filed under: Drama, Independent, Casting, Scripts & Screenwriting, Cinematical Indie

There once was a woman named Toni Jo Henry. As the story goes, she was an attractive girl who at the young age of 16, become a leading prostitute at a local brothel. (Yes, another movie with a prostitute, but at least this time the story is real.) She is sent to the neighboring Texas on a sex assignment and meets an outlaw called Cowboy Henry. She falls for the man and marries him, even though he’s only free on bail, awaiting sentencing for manslaughter. Their obviously normal and functional relationship (note sarcasm) is dashed when he gets a 50-year sentence. “Smartly,” she vows to get him out. So she collects a bunch of guns and starts searching for a getaway car. Pretending to hitchhike, she snares a driver (who she strips and some say dragged to a field by his extra appendage with pliers) and kills him. Before getting to her love, she was arrested and sentenced to death.

That made her the first and only women to be executed in Louisiana — by electrocution. Now some of the older members of Shreveport are getting a bit of a blast from the past. The Pardon is currently filming there, detailing Henry’s short and troubled life. The description on IMDb seems to focus more on the aftermath — apparently she killed the guy on Valentine’s Day, planned to rob a bank and also drew lots of media attention because of her good looks. Jaime King is starring as Henry, and Jason Lewis co-starring as the Cowboy she loved. You probably remember King from her stint at the flaxen-haired Goldie in Sin City or maybe by her stints in Pearl Harbor or in the super-awesome Cheaper by the Dozen 2. As for Lewis, he was Samantha’s Absolut Hunk on Sex and the City, and his film roles have included The Jacket and My Bollywood Bride. I wasn’t quite expecting a model-hottie for the convicted Cowboy, but then again, bad guy isn’t synonymous with bad looking, as Henry’s life has shown. Tom Anton is the writer/director, whose lone other credit is 2005’s At Last. It sounds like this will come down to how well its made. If they get enough good period feel in and don’t make it too cheesy, this could be pretty interesting.

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