Movie Spot is now carrying Blu Ray, with copies of all the major titles we add to the kiosks. They can be found for now in selected locations and soon available everywhere.

This week sees the release of the biggest movie of the year “Transformers – Revenge of the Fallen” as well as a really good comedy, a return of the horror master and a remake of a classic TV show.

Transformers Revenge of the Fallen

Cast: Megan Fox, Shia LaBeouf, Rainn Wilson, Hugo Weaving, John Turturro, Josh Duhamel, Tyrese Gibson, Frank Welker, Isabel Lucas, Reno Wilson

Two years have passed since Sam Witwicky and the Autobots saved the human race from the invading Decepticons. Now he's preparing for the biggest challenge of his life: leaving home for college. Meanwhile, the Decepticons (the bad guys) learn what Sam doesn't know: he alone holds the key to the outcome of the struggle between evil and the ultimate power of good. With the help of the Autobots, the soldiers of NEST, and an old adversary-turned-ally, former Sector 7 Agent Simmons, Sam and his girlfriend Mikaela (the very lovely Megan Fox) must uncover the secret history of the Transformers presence on earth, and an ancient Decepticon named The Fallen; sworn on returning here for revenge.
This is a movie of wild excess and a string of bad-taste jokes. Dogs hump each other, robots hump human legs and the camera spends so much time ogling Megan Fox’s torso you start to wonder if it’s being operated by a 13 year-old boy. There are now 42 robots, including one that looks like a jaguar, one that can turn into ball bearings to access high-security areas and one in the form of a Dyson vacuum cleaner. Director Michael Bay had a wonderful time and a truckload of money making this 150 minute sequel, and I must say that this is the loudest film I have ever heard! There are so many explosions, crashes and stressed machinery noises to turn an old metal-head deaf! The other problem I had was trying to differentiate between the good guys and bad guys (that’s robots) when they were slugging it out with each other. They all look the same when they’re in bits so who knows? Well actually any one under the age of thirteen for starters, which reminds me of the old Groucho Marx joke when asked if he understood a contract and said “this is so simple a child can understand it, someone get me a child I can’t make any sense of it”



The Proposal

Cast: Sandra Bullock, Ryan Reynolds, Mary Steenburgen, Craig T. Nelson, Betty White, Denis O'Hare, Malin Akerman, Oscar Nuñez, Aasif Mandvi, Niecy Nash

When high-powered book editor Margaret faces deportation to her native Canada, (nice of them to mention us eh?); the quick-thinking exec declares that she's actually engaged to her unsuspecting assistant Andrew, who she's tormented for years. He agrees to participate in the charade, but with a few conditions of his own. The unlikely couple heads to Alaska to meet his quirky family, and the always-in-control city girl finds herself in one comedic fish-out-of-water situation after another. With an impromptu wedding in the works and an immigration official on their tails, Margaret and Andrew reluctantly vow to stick to the plan despite the precarious consequences.
Sandra Bullock has never been more appealing in the kind of “tough boss” role normally associated with male actors. The Proposal turns the usual romantic comedy tables around, painting a hilarious picture of an attractive and bossy business exec caught in a situation spiralling out of control. Ryan Reynolds’ comedic expertise is put to good use in the role of her willingly unwilling assistant who must join her charade or risk losing his job. This is Reynolds’ best outing yet, and he shows he could own the genre if provided the right material. Stealing the movie from both of them, however, is the irrepressible Betty White, who plays Reynolds’ saucy Grammy. Once again, the Golden Girls, Boston Legal, alum proves she has comic timing second to none. Can you believe she’s 87 years old?? Wholly recommended, could be the best comedy yet this year!



Drag Me to Hell

Director: Sam Raimi
Cast: Alison Lohman, Justin Long, Lorna Raver, Dileep Rao, David Paymer, Adriana Barraza

Desperate for a promotion, kind-hearted loans manager Christine (Lohman) refuses an elderly customer, Mrs. Ganush (Raver), only to become the subject of a terrifying gypsy curse that will see her dragged to hell by a vengeful demon called the Lamia...

Director Sam Raimi made his name in the horror genre with the Evil Dead trilogy. Since then, his career’s led him away from scares towards web-covered franchises. (That’s Spiderman natch!) Drag Me to Hell is a return to a genre he once ruled in fact, this is easily the purest Raimi movie since Evil Dead II.
This movie is pure horror fun, lurching from wild laughs to beautifully choreographed scares like a locomotive threatening to leave the tracks. As with a ghost train, the objective is simple. Build tension. Scream. Reveal scary thing. Scream. Relieve tension. Laugh. And start all over again...
Although there is no ‘message’ here, the film can be seen as a cautionary tale about the perils of greed, Christine’s one slip, her one concession to ambition, is enough to damn her to a horrific ordeal in which Lohman is humiliated and abused .
And boy, does Christine suffer. If she’s not being slammed into a ceiling by an invisible demonic force, then she’s hose-spraying a nosebleed around her office or vomiting up flies at the dinner table. There are other characters in the movie; Justin Long, (I’m a Mac) as her earnest boyfriend, and Dileep Lao, as a shaman saviour, but this is undoubtedly Lohman’s show, turning in an impressive performance.
Drag Me To Hell is Raimi’s most satisfying movie in ages; a low-down, cheap, nasty return to the vibe of the films on which he was granted most creative freedom. Drag Me To Hell? Try How Sam Got His Groove Back...



Land of the Lost

Cast: Will Ferrell, Danny R. McBride, Anna Friel, Raymond Ochoa, Pollyanna McIntosh, Logan Manus

Space-time vortexes suck. Dr. Rick Marshall is sucked into one and spat back through time. Now, Marshall has no weapons, few skills and questionable smarts to survive in an alternate universe full of marauding dinosaurs and fantastic creatures from beyond our world; this is a place known as the "Land of the Lost." Sucked alongside him for the adventure is his research assistant Holly and a redneck survivalist named Will. Chased by a T. Rex and stalked by painfully slow reptiles known as Sleestaks, Marshall, Will and Holly must rely on their only ally, a primate called Chaka. Get stuck, and they'll be permanent refugees in the "Land of the Lost."
This is yet another remake of an old Saturday-morning staple from the early ’70s. And, on paper, the show, in which a father and two kids are whisked into a parallel dimension populated by stop-motion dinosaurs, creepy lizard-men and gibberish-spouting primates, has plenty to recommend it. Dinosaurs are always good value, of course, and LOTL boasts a bunch of them, including a super-intelligent T-rex with a grudge named Grumpy. But that was then and now, well; there’s nothing wrong with the cast; Ferrell, as disgraced palaeontologist Dr. Rick Marshall, adds another puffed-up buffoon to his collection; Danny McBride is as reliable as ever in wiseass redneck mode; and Anna Friel adds both sex appeal and Brit grit as a plucky Cambridge grad ostracised for her faith in Marshall’s crackpot theories. Trouble is who does this film cater to? Can’t seem to make up its mind, and that’s the problem. It has great bits, some good gross out laughs, great special effects, but somehow lacks in totality. Could have been much better, still for $1.99. It’s a great rental.



Next time it's Movie Spots' Halloween special! A nice list of some of the best horror movies at the "Spot", including some I bet you never saw!

Till next time! The Spotter.