So now might be time to relinquish my right to continue as a bear wrestling, hairy chested, card carrying male. I unapologetically enjoyed New Moon… all in spite of itself. Qualified: “enjoyed” doesn’t mean squealing, wooing, heart-stopping delight, but rather pleasant surprise at Chris Weitz’ relatively true handle on overwrought teen angst and the brief action beats that break it up. In short, Weitz directs a film that, despite a ploddingly joyless eternal love between vampire Edward and heroine Bella …
Author: Dan
The Blind Side, the true life story of a wandering “orphan” taken in by a wealthy Tennessee family, works on the premise of clever subterfuge. The film is being marketed as a rags-to-riches sports success tale, but ultimately, it’s not that as much as it is a dollop of inspirational suggestion on matters of humanity, economic responsibility and showing a “blind side” to race; all in a football slicked shell. Director John Lee Hancock’s (The Rookie) adaptation of the book …
Rob Marshall’s (Chicago) next big singing, lush-glam, glitz-fest before heading off to helm the new Pirates of the Caribbean movie is Nine. Leading on our list of Must-Miss Holiday movies, Nine is the reality turned fantasy story of Guido Contini, an Italian filmmaker who navigates the estrogen-filled waters of Woman Land. Based on the Broadway musical of the same name, Nine will certainly be a flashy and sexy production at the hands of Rob Marshall, but as an admitted non-fan …
Don’t get me wrong. Taiwan is rad. SO rad. Not only rad enough that the U.S. would go to fisticuffs with China over it, but rad enough the Avatar campaign bus has just dropped off a load of new footage at their Yahoo! site. The appetite-whetting footage is found in yet another featurette that, if you’re not already aware, pretty much lays out the whole story. The best part? You can understand the whole thing because it’s all in English. …
So apparently, there’s this obscure movie opening on Friday. Something about a Moon and a closeted vampire, a weightlifting werewolf and a mopey girl? OK. Fine. You know it, we know it, and unless you’re pop-culture idiot, you know it. Twilight: New Moon is here. Never the kind to shy away from hit-whoring (we’re still up and coming after all– tell a friend!), we’ve got something to say about it. As a dude, the whole Twilight phenomenon has passed me …
As 2012 opens today in an all-out effort to clobber your senses with visions of the world “eating it”, it’s time to reflect on a lineage of disaster that spans back almost 40 years. Some highlight the local disaster, others global– but no matter their scale, nine out of ten movie-goers agree: watching lots of people die for fakes is fun. Nowhere? There is no “nowhere” any more. (Dan) The Day After (1983) Directed by Nicholas “Star Trek II” Meyer, …
Quickly dipping back to the same “found footage” well that spawned your shopping trip for new underwear after watching Paranormal Activity, camcorder-wielding director Oren Peli is running with his next concept: Area 51. The premise? Three teens and their new digital video recording device find scary/alarming/crazy alien unmentionables going on around the famed Air Force base. It’s some crazy s***! From an early, leaked synopsis (Latino Review— you scoundrels!), folks are already titling this one Paranormal Activity II: Area 51. …
Kick-Ass (yes, it’s an upcoming movie) is well known in the geek circuit and has been building collective buzz for the better part of a year. We laid out the history of the project right here, but if following links isn’t your thing, here’s the synopsis: [The success of] Wanted opened the door to the creative talents of comic writer Mark Millar (on whose comic Wanted was obviously based)… Mark Millar, who’d written some Superman treatments for DC, was also …
Angelina Jolie has found her niche: a face-punching, trigger-pulling, boot-in-the-pruney heroin”e” who could use a few calories. As the title character of Evelyn Salt in next year’s Salt— a spy thriller about a CIA agent who may or may not be a Russian spy with an agenda to permanently shorten a US President’s term– Jolie shouldn’t disappoint. The real draw here, however, isn’t Jolie– it’s the return of director Phillip Noyce to the political/espionage/action game. If the name Phillip Noyce …
“Vampires are lame. LAME.” That’s a mantra around here and one, if we’re being honest, one more people should live by. With it, we’d be free of the embarrassingly self-titled Twihards, Victorian vampire lovers (I’m looking at you pale Goth guy/girl with the black buckles and straps) and the Downs Syndrome “please don’t scream again because I don’t like punching myself in the face” screechers from 30 Days of Night. All the unhealthy life-longing and self-loathing could then be channeled …