September 22nd 2009

The Emmys celebrated the best of TV this week, well their version of the best anyway, still I agree with Mad Men winning, a super expose of the advertising world in the 60’s. Created by one of the guys who invented the Sopranos, so you know it had to be good! If you still haven’t seen Mad Men, take yourself down to the Movie Spot nearest you and hopefully you’ll find a copy of the 1st season to rent. If you can’t find it, email your friendly movie spotter and I’ll add it to your local kiosk.
This week not much to write about, a good black comedy with Seth Rogen and a remake of Christmas Carol only with ex girlfriends and for you girls a hunky Matthew McConaughey. If you have the stomach for it and you’re a horror movie fan, check out the Clive Barker flick, now that’s over the top!!

Ghosts Of Girlfriends Past

Cast: Matthew McConaughey, Jennifer Garner, Lacey Chabert, Michael Douglas, Emma Stone, Anne Archer, Robert Forster

Connor Mead is an absolute cad who doesn’t just two-time ladies; he four-times them. But when he goes to a weekend retreat for a family wedding, he runs into Jenny – the one that got away, and now the one who wants to cut off his unmentionables. A sleazy dead Uncle tells him that three ghosts will visit him, in an attempt to change the error of his ways. Cue the Ghost of Girlfriends Past, who shows him what life was like in a simpler, happier time when he and Jenny were in love. Matthew McConaughey does Dickens — kind of — in this Christmas Carol rehash. He’s photographer Connor, who’s eyeing up the bridesmaids and slugging Scotch at his brother’s wedding. The party’s interrupted by Connor’s playboy uncle Wayne (Michael Douglas), back from the dead to warn his protégé about his lonely lifestyle, with help from flashbacks to Connor’s misspent youth. Can Connor repent and win over his childhood sweetheart (Jennifer Garner)? This movie has some nice moments, good looking cast but maybe Matthew McConaughey wasn’t right for the role. I would love to see Ricky Gervaise doing this!



Observe and Report

Cast: Seth Rogen, Anna Faris, Michael Peña, Ray Liotta, Collette Wolfe, Jesse Plemons, Aziz Ansari, Dan Bakkedahl, Z. Ray Wakeman, David House

Shopping mall guard Ronnie Barnhardt (Rogen) is a jobsworth extraordinaire, and dangerously so. Not only does he have mental issues, he’s also a gun nut who wants to cop off with Anna Faris’ make-up-counter girl. Now, if only he can catch that pesky flasher stalking the car-lot...
Seth Rogen is a one-man comedy army. Since 2007’s Knocked Up, barely a month has slipped by without either his goofy voice or features being seen (or heard) in some corner of the multiplex. Superbad, Pineapple Express, Zack And Miri Make A Porno, Kung Fu Panda, Monsters Vs Aliens... And now Observe And Report, this year’s second mall-security-guard comedy. But Paul Blart this ain’t; Observe And Report is no heartwarming tale of a lovable blue-collar slob, and neither does it see Rogen once again reprise his chubby, witty slacker persona he is an angry, confused man who you never feel entirely comfortable laughing at; but you do.



Book Of Blood

Cast: Jonas Armstrong, Sophie Ward, Paul Blair, Doug Bradley, Simon Bamford, James Watson, James McAnerney, Romana Abercromby

The opening scene of the Clive Barker film packs a punch as a young woman is assaulted by unseen forces, climaxing with a rather gruesome effect in which her face is torn away. We are then introduced to Simon McNeal (Jonas Armstrong), a young college student and medium whose body has been ravaged and become a literal book of blood.
The story is thus set in motion as Simon recalls the events that led him to his current predicament. As the flashback begins, the focus shifts to paranormal investigator and college professor Mary Florescu (Sophie Ward), who’s haunted by an incident that occurred during her childhood. Mary’s path crosses with that of Simon, who suffers from his own childhood demons. She enlists his aide and, with the help of paranormal technician Reg Fuller (Paul Blair), they investigate the house where the young woman was murdered—and soon find them being menaced by the spirit world.
Book of Blood adapts and combines two of these Clive Barker stories, "The Book of Blood" and "On Jerusalem Street", with one serving as a framing sequence for the other "Book of Blood" features some genuinely unnerving moments, and can certainly be recommended to fans of pure horror and Barker's particular flavor of it. This DVD is presented on both disc formats in 1.78:1 widescreen with Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround sound on the former and DTS-HD 5.1 Surround on the latter. The audio is exceptional, and sets the mood perfectly; especially when the spirits banged away at the doors and floor.




Newly added Movies You have to watch again (or maybe for the first time!)


Bad Lieutenant

Cast: Harvey Keitel, Zoe Lund
Directed by Abel Ferrara

A man in a dark suit drives his two little boys to school. On the way, the kids complain that their aunt hogged the bathroom. "Next time, you come tell me," says this upstanding father, "and I'll throw her the **** out." He drops the kids off, waits for them to get out of range, and then puts a couple of lines of coke up his nose. He drives on, stopping at the scene of a crime. What business does he have here? He steps out of the car and ... pins a badge to his chest. Jesus, this guy's a cop? That's the joke, but in Abel Ferrara territory, it's also reality.
Harvey Keitel plays an unnamed New York City lieutenant who's a lot worse than the criminals who infest his streets. A womanizer, drug abuser, alcoholic, and gambler, the bad (and unnamed) lieutenant epitomizes corruption and decadence. When his chance at redemption comes as the result of the brutal rape of a nun, is there anything left within him to redeem?
If a movie could survive on the force of a single performance, Bad Lieutenant would be it. Keitel throws himself into his role with undisputed gusto. He is never upstaged; in fact, most of the time when he's on-screen, whoever happens to be sharing the scene is virtually invisible. Keitel holds nothing back. There is a remake coming with Nicholas Cage; forget it; this is the real deal!



Windtalkers

Cast: Nicolas Cage, Adam Beach, Christian Slater, Peter Stormare, Noah Emmerich, Mark Ruffalo, Brian Van Holt, Martin Henderson, Roger Willie, Frances O'Connor
Director: John Woo

Windtalkers chronicles the June 1944 Allied invasion of the Japanese island of Saipan. During this offensive, the Americans were using the so-called "Navajo Code" - a code developed from words in the Navajo language and translated by Navajos. Marine Sergeant Joe Enders (Nicolas Cage), a decorated fighting man, is partnered with Private Ben Yahzee (Adam Beach), one of the Najavo "codetalkers". His orders are simple: "Protect the Code". That means protecting Yahzee, unless he falls into enemy hands - then it means killing him. In a similar position are Sergeant Ox Anderson (Christian Slater) and his partner, Private Charles Whitehorse (Roger Willie). Meanwhile, Enders remains closed off from his fellows, including Yahzee, as he tries to come to grips with events in his past that have created physical and psychological scars.
Action is director John Woo’s middle name. After directing frenetic flicks such as Mission: Impossible II, Face/Off, and Broken Arrow, you know you will get enough bombs, blood and broken body parts to give his WWII drama Windtalkers an accurate feel. In this special directors cut, Woo turns in a 2 1/2 hour version, adding about 15 minutes of material into the original.




Movie News

The studio’s releasing a deluxe version of Snatch, the Guy Ritchie gangster movie with Brad Pitt as a gypsy (his best role?)

Critics may still not be able to decide if Guy Ritchie's films offer too much style and too little substance, whether he's the flavor of the month or a legitimate successor to Quentin Tarantino as a new interpreter of crime-related genres. Ritchie's full-length audio commentary for the smartly packaged, two-disc DVD edition of Snatch makes a good case for his value as a filmmaker, and convincingly explains why he chose to make a film so similar to his breakthrough effort Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels but this time with the box-office appeal of Brad Pitt. While doing that, he bickers with producer Matthew Vaughn, largely ignores a list of talking points handed to him in frustration by the "men in suits" outside the studio and forgoes the industry standard's time-killing blather in favor of cheeky asides and assorted gritty tales from the set. If that weren't enough to already make this a stand-out entry, Snatch's highly stylized art direction is lovingly expanded, starting with snazzy animated menus and including a top-notch 25-minute on-the-set featurette, animated storyboard comparisons, a photo gallery that for once isn't throwaway filler and a handful of deleted scenes that can either be viewed separately or within their context during the film. More accomplished and entertaining than Smoking Barrels, Snatch sports a flawless first reel and deserves a look, if not only to give Ritchie the chance to prove that he didn't make the same film twice

See you next week!

It’s macho man week, with our favorite Oz and Brit actors, Hugh Jackman and Jason Statham, a scary movie “Grace” a Wayans brothers take off of the teen dance movie genre and some really great movies you haven’t seen in a while. Plus more non stop martial arts action with 2 more Dragon Dynasty titles. So sit back and relax for these weeks releases.

X-Men Origins Wolverine

Cast: Hugh Jackman, Liev Schreiber, Danny Huston, Dominic Monaghan, Ryan Reynolds

The first blockbuster of the summer is here! "X-Men Origins: Wolverine," the first chapter in the X-Men saga, unites Wolverine with several other legends of the X-Men universe, in an epic revolution that pits the mutants against powerful forces determined to eliminate them. "X-Men Origins: Wolverine" explores Logan's tragic romance with Kayla Silverfox. Kayla's fate triggers Logan's involvement with the ominous Weapon X program, a top secret, billion-dollar military experiment, in which Wolverine and other mutants are key players. They include Gambit, a young Scott Summers (later to be known as Cyclops); a beautiful young mutant named Emma Frost; and Deadpool, against whom Wolverine faces his ultimate challenge. While the three previous X-Men films were set in the not-too-distant future, the main story of "X-Men Origins: Wolverine"--as the saga's first chapter--is set prior to the events of those pictures, in the not-too-distant past, sometime in the 1970s. But the epic sweep of the new film also encompasses flashbacks that span 150 years.
Did you know there was an unfinished print of this film that leaked onto the internet, getting downloaded 75,000 times within a single day? But you know, it wasn’t finished, the special effects were only penciled in so if you were one of those downloader’s (I won’t tell!) it’s a gas to see the finished film here



Crank 2 – High Voltage

Cast: Jason Statham, Amy Smart, Efren Ramirez, Bai Ling, David Carradine, Reno Wilson, Joseph Julian Soria, Dwight Yoakam

Picking up immediately where the first movie left off, where hitman Chev Chelios (Jason Statham) fell from a helicopter and died – except he didn’t because of his indestructible heart. "Crank High Voltage" finds Chev Chelios surviving the climactic plunge only to be kidnapped by a mysterious Chinese mobster. Three months later, Chev wakes up to discover his nearly indestructible heart has been surgically removed and replaced with a battery-operated ticker that requires regular jolts of electricity in order to work.
“Morally bankrupt” doesn’t come close. This is a film that replaces plot with gratuitous violence, sex / nudity, and theme with a stripper getting her implants punctured in a gunfight. Thank god it’s also endlessly entertaining and one of the funniest films of the year. No doubt the next one will be in 3D! Can’t wait...



Grace

Cast: Jordan Ladd, Gabrielle Rose, Samantha Ferris

“Grace” is a profoundly disturbing, chilling motion picture that immediately vaults it above most horror movies out now.
Eager to start a family, Madeline (Jordan Ladd) is pregnant with her first child, trying to land a suitable birthing method for her baby, much to the chagrin of her controlling mother-in-law, Vivian (Gabrielle Rose), who demands traditional hospital attention only. Finding a place with midwife Dr. Patricia (Samantha Ferris), Madeline’s life is soon shattered when a car accident kills her husband and her unborn child. Determined to carry the fetus to term, Madeline is presented with a miracle when the baby, Grace, is born dead, only to spring to life moments later. Now back home caring for Grace, pushing outsiders away, the new mother finds her baby exhibiting strange behaviors, attracting flies, and refusing the consumption of breast milk, preferring the taste of human blood. Whoo, scary!!



The Informers

Cast: Billy Bob Thornton, Kim Basinger, Winona Ryder, Mickey Rourke, Jon Foster, Amber Heard, Rhys Ifans, Chris Isaak, Lou Taylor Pucci, Mel Raido

Focusing on the Los Angeles of the early 1980s, "The Informers" balances a vast array of characters. The script was written by Nicholas Jarecki and Bret Easton Ellis, who wrote the original series of short stories back in 1994. The film contains 7 of the 13 linked, short-stories found in the original book. The stories make up a broader slice-of-life snapshot of an entire week in the lives of social circle of people who represent everything from the cream of the crop; a Hollywood dream merchant, a dissolute rock star, and an aging newscaster; to the scum of society;a voyeuristic doorman, and an amoral ex-con.(Mickey Rourke)
Loosely constructed, the film covers many characters, though Graham (Jon Foster) interacts with most of them. As a drug dealer, his social circle is wide, and as a bisexual, his romantic possibilities are infinite. His father (Billy Bob Thornton) is a film executive having an affair with a frazzled newscaster (Winona Ryder), and his mother (Kim Basinger) is an emotionally shattered rich lady with nothing to live for.



Dance Flick

Cast: Damon Wayans, Jr., Craig Wayans, Shoshana Bush, Essence Atkins, Affion Crockett

"Dance Flick" brings together the talents of two generations of the Wayans family, the explosively funny clan who brought us the "Scary Movie" franchise and "White Chicks," as well as the groundbreaking TV series "In Living Color." In "Dance Flick," a young street dancer, Thomas Uncles, from the wrong side of the tracks and a beautiful young woman, Megan White, are brought together by their passion for dancing and put to the test in the mother of all dance battles. "Dance Flick" sends up the dance movie genre, including such recent hits as "Step Up" and "You Got Served," as well as the classic "Flashdance." At its best, this is an energetic, slaphappy comedy with a cheerful attitude. I mean, come on: it’s a scant 75 minutes long, contains a well-deserved swipe at the goofiness that is the “Twilight” saga, and features a beatboxing vagina. If that doesn’t marginally entertain you, nothing will.



Newly added Movies You have to watch again (or maybe for the first time!)

The Punisher (John Travolta version)

Cast: Thomas Jane, John Travolta, Will Patton, Roy Scheider, Laura Elena Harring
This is the second version of the Marvel comic character, and my favorite of the 3 versions.

The film opens with an arms deal going sour when undercover FBI Agent Frank Castle (Thomas Jane) foils an attempt to buy illegal arms. A very unhappy development is the death of a young man during the shooting. This young man turns out to be the son of Howard Saint (John Travolta), a very bad man, but also a very powerful and influential man. Upon discovering Castle’s part in his son’s death, Saint sends a team of gun-happy assassins to murder the entire Castle family at a family reunion. Frank survives the massacre and with memories of his wife and son lying dead in front of him, he takes up his guns and goes out to bring down Saint and his army. When the law won’t punish the guilty, he will. Castle dons the old skull costume and takes the fight to the bad guys as the Punisher. Not as violent as the latest version, but I love Travolta playing a bad guy, loved him as the good guy/bad guy with Nicholas Cage in the John Woo directed Face Off. Travolta plays a great baddie, and Thomas Jane is every bit The Punisher! A great 2 hours, go rent it!



Rambo First Blood

Cast: Sylvester Stallone, Brian Dennehy, Richard Crenna, David Caruso

The first Rambo movie and the one that started the Stallone franchise.
Before he single-handedly took on the Vietnamese army, John Rambo was a tormented Green Beret who only wanted a little something to eat.

First Blood, which introduced Rambo to an audience hungry for a "real American hero," is a time when Sylvester Stallone could be taken seriously as an actor. Remember, he'd taken home an Academy Award for Rocky a few years earlier (not for his acting, but it was a nice feather in his cap).

This lean, mean fighting machine strolled down the street, unassuming and weary in his army jacket, having just found out that another of his veteran friends who made it through the 'Nam died shortly after coming home. A few minutes into the movie, our unlucky hero gets hassled by a tough-talking small-town sheriff (the inimitable Brian Dennehy), After being arrested for doing nothing he is hosed down and berated by the police including a very young, fresh faced, thin actor David Caruso, way before C.S.I Miami, even before NYPD Blue! However, don't mess with Rambo; he beats the living hell out of an entire room of police officers in a gritty fistfight. Here's the rare action film that makes every punch, elbow, kick and broken bone count. Not only does the adrenaline get pumping, it also feels like brute physical action is happening. When an actor gets hit, the frisson is real. Anyway, Rambo escapes and Richard Crenna as his old colonel comes to rescue not Stallone but the police from him!
This is brilliant stuff, if you haven’t seen it you must, if you have, go rent it again!

Rolling Stones Shine A Light

Martin Scorsese is almost as adept at putting rock 'n' roll on film as he is at blood-drenched tales of murderous mobsters. He served as an assistant director on 1970's Woodstock, the standard-bearer of concert flicks. Eight years later, he chronicled The Band's farewell performance in The Last Waltz. In more recent years, Scorsese has produced first-rate documentaries on Bob Dylan and the blues.
So it is only fitting that arguably America's greatest living filmmaker would turn his attention to arguably the world's greatest surviving rock 'n' roll band, the Rolling Stones. While the resulting picture, Shine a Light, may not be the ultimate cinematic statement on the Stones, what it lacks is compensated for with a taut, powerhouse performance by these formidable geezers.
The first smart decision Scorsese makes is opting for a more intimate concert venue. Far from indulging in an arena-rock spectacle, Shine a Light documents a pair of Stones shows in the fall of 2006 at New York's 2,700-seat Beacon Theatre. A sea of cameras posted around the Beacon ensures that no moment of musical alchemy goes unchecked. Mick Jagger’s craggy face and skeleton-thin frame give away his age (63 at the time), but he remains a dazzling showman, strutting and swaying as if he's made of rubber. His inimitable stage presence is contrasted by Keith Richards, pasty-faced and unkempt as ever and still very much a rock god. A concert picture necessitates knockout sound, and Shine a Light does not disappoint. The 5.1 Surround is terrific; sharp and precise, free of defect and even managing to make interesting use of rear speakers. A 2.0 Stereo track is fine, but pales in comparison. So, if you have a surround set up, crank up the volume and watch one of the best concert movies ever!



Blazing Saddles

Cast: Cleavon Little, Gene Wilder, Slim Pickens, David Huddleston, Liam Dunn, Alex Karras, John Hillerman, George Furth, Jack Starrett, Mel Brooks

The town of Rock Ridge is slated for destruction in order to build a railroad that will pass through the area it inhabits. Unfortunately, the politicians need to get rid of the people who live in Rock Ridge to get the land. After the sheriff or Rock Ridge is killed, they put a slave in charge of the racist town which causes chaos among the townspeople.
This is still one of cinema's funniest movies, with stellar performances across the board. Although originally created for Richard Pryor to star, Cleavon Little is extremely likeable as is the rest of the cast. Mel Brooks does a masterful job as director in probably his best work. It's amazing to find a film that is so full of jokes and in which there's scarcely a dud in the bunch. Ironically, Madeline Kahn was nominated for Best Supporting Actress in probably the film's only lull, singing a song called "I'm Tired" a la Marlene Dietrich. It's not profound, but it's a hell of a lot of fun.



Natural Born Killers

Director: Oliver Stone Writer: Quentin Tarantino
Cast: Woody Harrelson, Juliette Lewis, Tom Sizemore, Robert Downey Jr., Rodney Dangerfield

The mayhem of NBK begins when Mickey (Woody Harrelson), a working-class bumpkin whose spirit has been poisoned by too much TV, rescues his teenage girlfriend Mallory (Juliette Lewis) from her household. The home, is lorded over by a darkly abusive and unforgettable Rodney Dangerfield. Mickey’s liberation of Mallory begins an amoral Southwestern road trip of killing, hallucinogens, torture, kidnapping, and more killing. At the end of each spree, they leave one survivor to tell the story to a ravenous press. Their exploding fame, popularity even, drives sadomasochistic super-cop Jack Scagnetti (Tom Sizemore) to hunt the two like a ravenous grizzly stalking prey, while tabloid TV producer Wayne Gale (Robert Downey Jr. with a sleazy English accent) tries to get the “get” with the couple as their reputation grows.
Word is, they are re-releasing this movie theatrically, this is the original version in all its blood thirsty brilliance. Oliver Stone went on to direct more classics and we all know what happened to Quentin Tarantino. Only weird thing is that all of us came to love Woody Harrelson as the slow loveable bartender in Cheers. Oh what a difference to see him act this one!



More Action Packed; Kick A**, Stunt Driven Dragon Dynasty!

The next 2 movies in a continuing series of the best martial arts action movies around!

Above the Law

Yuen Biao plays Jason Chan a lawyer, angry at the way the law seems to protect the bad guys; he decides to take the law into his own hands when a key witness and his entire family are murdered. But Cindy Si is soon on his case and it all spirals into a situation only a few will survive.
This film is virtually plot free but of course that isn't important. What it does have is action legend Yuen Biao (Best known as one of the three dragons, with Jackie Chan and Sammo Hung) and Cynthia Rothrock the most popular female action star in HK at the time. She is one mean lady and kicks butt like the best of them.

Dog Bite Dog

All hell breaks loose when a renegade detective (Sam Lee, Invisible Target) squares off with a savage assassin (Edison Chen, Infernal Affairs trilogy) in a raging blood feud. After most of his team is viciously murdered, the obsessed detective goes to unthinkable extremes to track the killer and get his revenge. Through the back alleys of Hong Kong, they fight in an escalating series of one-on-one battles that builds to an unforgettable bare-knuckle showdown. Intense, brutal and packed with jaw-dropping raw action, "Dog Bite Dog grabs you by the back of the neck and body slams you into the mud." (Peter Martin, TwitchFilm.net)