Archives for October, 2009
Directed by Kim Chapiron, Koji Shiraishi, Frank van Geloven, Edwin Visser
Starring Vincent Cassel, Haruhiko Kato, Robert Eleveld, Victoria Koblenko
With Halloween right around the corner, a boxset of horror films from around the world is a treat you can give yourself, right? Palisades Tartan recently released Terror Pack, containing Sheitan, Carved and Slaughter Night on DVD and I gave it a try.
The Movies
Carved
Directed by Koji Shiraishi
Starring Haruhiko Kato, Rie Kuwana, Eriko Sato
Since there are three movies in this boxset, I will review them one at a time. First up, Carved from Japan and directed by Koji Shiraishi.
In Japan, there is a well known story that has been passed down from generation to generation. The Slit Mouthed Woman used to be beautiful wife of a skilled samurai. Due to her rage, she slashed her own face and endlessly wandered the countryside asking travelers “Am I beautiful?” …continue reading
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Directed by: Kim Jin Won
Not every Asian horror film features a creepy pale girl with long black hair. There are those ghost films but there are also some films that really push the boundaries of the genre beyond anything released in the United States. The Butcher is one such film.
The Movie
The Butcher is an extremely challenging film to watch. It doesn’t feature a deep plot but it does feature some hyper realistic and extremely disturbing visuals. If this film doesn’t make you at least wince it may be time to re-evaluate your life. The film begins with a couple of guys sitting in a beat down slaughter house discussing their work, the work of making real snuff films. At this point the film is being shot from the perspective of four video cameras mounted on the heads of four hostages bound and waiting to be killed in some brutal ways for these snuff films. …continue reading
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We celebrate Halloween this week by discussing our favorite horror films along with Dollhouse dropping, Flash Forward, Vampire Diaries, this week’s box office, new comics, and videogames!!
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Written by Jake Black, Adam Schlagman, Dunncan Rouleau, Michael Siglain, Art Baltazar, Franco Aureliani, Derek Fridolfs, Ariel Thomas, Amy Wolfram, Joe Harris, Mandy McMurray, Billy Tucci and Joshua Williamson
Art by Ibraim Roberson, Mark Bagley, Dunncan Rouleau, Kelley Jones, Sergio Carrera, Ductin Nguyen, Matt Triano, Pow Rodrix, Andrei Bressan, Jonboy Meyers, Scott Clark, Billy Tucci and Peter Nguyen
DC is going all out with trick-or-treater’s grab bag of random goodies from a variety of creative teams for one big Halloween blow out. But is it a delicious chocolate bar or a piece of gum with a razor blade inside?
The Story
There are 13 different stories in this plus-sized issue with a wide range of tones and lengths. Many of them tell how many familiar characters celebrate particular Halloweens, while others fall more into horror stories. We start and end with Bizarro, leading us around Bizarro World on Halloween, which is just as backwards and familiar as one could hope and expect. …continue reading
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Starring: Tim Daly, Kevin Conroy, Clancy Brown
Talk about being different as night and day. The relationship between Batman and Superman takes that old saying to a literal degree. Batman is a vigilante when properly portrayed. He’s violent and he works on the fringes as much against authorities as with them. Superman is a traditional hero type taking out bad guys while setting an example for kids. He’s as all American as a DC Comics character gets. These two characters are so different that they just had to be forced to work together. The pairings between the two of them in comics have made for some of the most entertaining reading in comics. Now that relationship finds its way into a feature film.
The Movie
This film is very much of the modern era and it actually features some social commentary about our times. America is in an economic downfall and out of some sort of desperation America actually elects shady businessman Lex Luthor president of the United States. Luthor won the election based on his promises of social and economic change. …continue reading
![Band Of Brothers [Blu-ray]](http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/31Wb5TwvL1L._SL75_.jpg "Band Of Brothers [Blu-ray]")
![Super 8 (Single-Disc Blu-ray Edition) [Blu-ray]](http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/51JFt1LlPoL._SL75_.jpg "Super 8 (Single-Disc Blu-ray Edition) [Blu-ray]")
Directed By: Achem A. Krovek
Starring: Pat Bolin, Karen Moore, Vicki Miles, Mardge London,
Not quite a blast, here’s a puff of bad breath from the past. An “educational” film lost for forty years, meaning someone failed to bury it deep enough in the late sixties.
The Movie
A narrator starts out the movie setting the scene as the credits roll. The animated credits are cute enough but hard to read as if even at the time everyone involved were a little bit ashamed to associate their names with this train wreck. …continue reading
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Directed by: Oren Pali
Starring: Katie Featherston, Micah Sloat
Being a filmmaker myself when an $11,000 horror film gets wide distribution it demands my attention. The fear I had going into the theater is that I’m a huge, and jaded, horror film fan. I’ve seen too many horror films that are supposed to truly be scary that aren’t. If I hear a movie being compared to I Know What You Did Last Summer or the remake of The Ring at least then I know not expect anything good. This film has been constantly compared to The Blair Witch Project which could be a good thing or a bad thing. With that said the grass roots marketing and hype from all of the right places on the interwebs was starting to take hold of me. …continue reading
Directed by Andres Morgenthaler
Featuring voices by Thure Lindhardt, Stein Fischer Christensen
I just have to confess my love for the good people over at Palisades Tartan. An animated Danish film about revenge and prostitution? Count me in. Princess was recently released on DVD by Palisades Tartan and I gave it a try.
The Movie
August (Thure Lindhardt) is a priest that has been filling his days with missionary work. That is until he receives the call that his sister named Princess has died and has left a daughter Mia (Stein Fischer Christensen) orphaned. …continue reading
Written by Dan Jurgens (Booster Gold) / Matthew Sturges (Blue Beetle)
Art by Dan Jurgens (Booster Gold) / Mike Norton (Blue Beetle)
With this 25th issue, Booster Gold volume two ties with where the first volume ended, and it’s not done yet. This issue wraps up the Day of Death arc while the Blue Beetle supplement finishes the two-part Black and Blue story.
The Story
Booster Gold has just saved time once again, so what’s he going to do now? While he wants to take some R&R and maybe a date, Rip Hunter sends him to finish the task in the Batcave he was doing at the arc’s beginning. Worried you’ll be lost if you’ve missed a few issues? …continue reading
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To solve the hardest crimes, hire the smartest criminal! USA NETWORK’s new series, White Collar, premieres Friday, October 23 at 10pm/9c. WHITE COLLAR, stars Matt Bomer (“Chuck,” “Tru Calling”), Tim DeKay (“Tell Me You Love Me,” “Carnivàle”), Tiffani Thiessen (“What About Brian,” “Fastlane”) and Willie Garson (“Sex and the City,” “John from Cincinnati”). WHITE COLLAR is about the most unlikely of partnerships between a con artist and an FBI agent. The story unfolds after charming criminal mastermind Neal Caffrey (Bomer) is caught by his nemesis, G-Man extraordinaire Peter Burke (DeKay). Rather than returning to jail for this daring getaway, Neal suggests an alternate plan – providing his expertise to assist the Feds in putting away infamous and elusive criminals in return for his freedom. Join us online: Official Site, Facebook Fan Page, and Twitter.
Enter to win a White Collar Gift Bag!
- Six-in-One Game Set
- The Modern Gentleman
- Neal’s Little Black Book
- White Collar T-Shirt
To Enter to Win just send us your name and maililing address! Please include “White Collar” contest in the subject line of your submission.
Submit
Winner will be drawn on November 15th!
Prizes Courtesy of USA Network!
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We make a move to Mondays this week! To celebrate the move we introduce a new segment where we list this week’s new comics along with new DVD’s and our discussions of a new Beverly Hills Cop film, Astro Boy, Where the Wild Things Are, and Paranormal Activity!
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Written By: Eoin Colfer
Part six in the hallowed Hitchhiker’s trilogy. I only heard about this book a couple of months ago, but it’s one I immediately pre-ordered. At the same time I was scared. How could anybody in his or her right mind pick up and attempt to continue this series. The original four books literally changed my life and had a big or bigger impact on the other millions of fans that read and reread them. Who could have the unmitigated gall to put pen to paper and move the story of Arthur Dent, Ford Prefect, Zaphod Beeblebrox and Trillian forward?
The Story
Eoin Colfer, that’s who. I’ve seen his Artemis Fowl books on the shelves and contemplated picking them up several times but I never had, so I came to this book totally ignorant of the authors abilities. Frankly I had a great amount of doubt whether anybody could pull this off, luckily Eoin ignored the naysayers like myself and plunged forward and knocked out a solid volume. …continue reading
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Directed by: J. Lee Thompson
Starring: Melissa Sue Anderson, Glenn Ford
The 80’s was the era of the slasher film. It’s no surprise considering the success of films such as Friday the 13th. There were also films of that era that were lumped into the slasher genre due to the ease of marketing but that don’t quite fill the mold. For example it’s a bit of a stretch to call the first Halloween a slasher. The franchise did evolve into the formula as it progressed but it didn’t really start out that way. Friday the 13th on the other hand was an unapologetic slash fest, and that’s cool. Happy Birthday to Me was one such film that was marketed as a slasher film but it actually fits a different less common genre of film, the giallo.
The Movie
The giallo film is a mystery film that features some gory murders done by a mysterious killer wearing black gloves. The genre was created and perfected by writer/director Dario Argento in the 60’s and 70’s. There are murders and they often are a bit on the brutal side but not usually to the level of an American slasher. These sorts of films are also slower paced and as much about mood as they are about the actual murders. …continue reading
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Topics this week include Marge Simpson in Playboy, a new Jack Ryan, poking in Facebook, killing fish, and the Apparition Abolishers!
This video feels more like a marketing reel than a full blown trailer but it’s enough to show where this film is going, and it’s to a very good place! The Expendables appears to be a real throwback to 80′s overdriven action flicks of writer/director/star Sylvester Stallone’s early career. The film also stars Jet Li and Jason Statham. It looks like a high energy romp to me. I truly can’t wait for this one. Check out the trailer before it gets pulled:
