I’m enjoying On the Lot so far. It’s a little too Idolesque for my taste, but I can deal.
That said, I can’t understand how Carolina and Phil could be voted out, while Jess (with her terrible light bulb short) and Kenny (with his equally terrible Wack Alley Cab nightmare) are allowed to stay.
Get it together America!
A film that explores the dark and miserable southern town Basin City and tells the story of three different people, all caught up in the violent corruption of the city.
Directed by
Robert Rodriguez
Genres
Action, Crime, Drama, Thriller
Cast
Jessica Alba, Devon Aoki, Alexis Bledel, Powers Boothe, Cara D. Briggs, Jude Ciccolella, Jeffrey J. Dashnaw, Rosario Dawson, Jesse De Luna, Benicio Del Toro, Jason Douglas, Michael Clarke Duncan
*****/*****
Guns, dames and castrations abound in director Robert Rodriguez’s (Planet Terror, Once Upon a Time in Mexico) stylish and totally faithful adaptation of Frank Miller’s comic-book series. Specifically, the film adapts four of Miller’s short stories: it begins with “The Customer is Always Right”, a short little ditty (featuring a surprisingly well cast Josh Hartnett) that sets the tone for the awesome, hyper-charged neo-noir that is to come. Sin City then moves on to tell the first part of “That Yellow Bastard”, featuring Bruce Willis as Hartigan, a hard-boiled cop trying to save the irresistable Nancy Callihan (Jessica Alba) from a well connected pedophile played by Nick Stahl (Terminator 3). From the film moves to “The Hard Good-bye”, where a nearly unrecognizable Mickey Rourke plays Marv, a dimwitted but goot hearted street fighter seeking to avenge the death of Goldie (Jamie King) - the only woman who was ever nice to him. “The Big Fat Kill” features the perfectly cast Clive Owen and the girls of Old Town (Rosario Dawson, Alexis Bledel, Devon Aoki and more) facing off with corrupt cop Jackie Boy (Benicio Del Toro). Finally the film moves back to finish “That Yellow Bastard” for a rousing, if somewhat dark finale.
Of the four stories told in Sin City, Marv’s is probably the strongest, but the entire film is pure entertainment in the fine tradition of hyper-masculine film-noir. It looks and sounds great, and the DVD is full of great special features and deleted scenes. Watch for an extended sequence guest directed by the one and only Quentin Tarantino
The living dead have taken over the world, and the last humans live in a walled city to protect themselves as they come to grips with the situation.
Directed by
George A. Romero
Genres
Action, Horror, Thriller
Cast
Simon Baker, John Leguizamo, Dennis Hopper, Asia Argento, Robert Joy, Eugene Clark, Joanne Boland, Tony Nappo, Jennifer Baxter, Boyd Banks, Jasmin Geljo, Maxwell McCabe-Lokos, Tony Munch, Shawn Roberts, Pedro Miguel Arce
Land of the Dead marks the return of the legendary horror director George A. Romero to the genre he created in 1969 with the original Night of the Living Dead. Romero had a lot to live up to with this film. Night’s first sequel, Dawn of the Dead is one of the greatest horror films ever made, and its follow-up Day of the Dead, is an underrated film that has yet to be matched for stomach turning gore. What makes Romero’s zombie films special however is the director’s clever use of social satire, the most famous example of which is the critique on consumerism in Dawn of the Dead. Land of the Dead continues this tradition, and is a worthy addition to an already great series.
The film begins “some time” after Night of the Living Dead, where the undead now rule most of the planet, and a large group of survivors has barricaded themselves in the city of Pittsburgh and have begun to rebuild society. It is in the social stratification of this new society that Romero infuses his satire. The rich live in decadence in a high-rise complex known as “Fiddler’s Green”, on the backs of the poor living in the streets below, trying to provide themselves with the best existence they can.
Supplies can only be procured by venturing out to neighboring towns, overrun by zombies, in a huge armored vehicle called “Dead Reckoning”. Riley, played by Simon Baker, is the inventor of this tank, and having led the raiding parties for some time, hopes to leave the city and escape the corruption. On his last raid before his retirement, Riley and his mentally challenged marksman sidekick Charlie, discover that the zombies of one town seem to be evolving, and are now able to communicate with each other. One zombie in particular, a former gas-station attendant named Big Daddy takes exception to the slaughter of his undead comrades by the raiding party, and begins to lead a shambling army of the undead towards the Green to exact revenge.
Meanwhile, Cholo, Riley’s loose cannon colleague, steals Dead Reckoning when he is denied residence to the Green by Kaufman, the corrupt and slightly crazy leader of the complex. It becomes apparent, that, as with previous Romero films, the living humans are as big a threat to each other as their undead counterparts.
The biggest strength of this movie over its predecessors is in its performances, which while serviceable in previous films, were never very strong. Baker plays the everyman hero very well, and Hopper gives a great quirky performance as Kaufman, as only Dennis Hopper can. Asia Argento (daughter of great Italian horror director Dario Argento) also gives a good performance as Slack, a prostitute turned zombie killer, and thankfully avoids becoming a clone of “Vasquez” from Aliens.
The gore effects in this film, while unfortunately not created by long time Romero collaborator Tom Savini (fans should look out for his cameo as he reprises his undead role of Blades from Dawn of the Dead), are incredible, and Romero continues to find new and imaginative ways to turn our stomachs. I feel that right now Day of the Dead is still the best of the series for gore, but I will reevaluate this once I have a chance to view the unrated Land of the Dead DVD.
My only real complaint with Land of the Dead is that it feels very short, and, indeed, the running time is only 93 minutes. It would have been interesting to spend more time in the Green, to understand that society better. Perhaps Romero is saving this for the sequel.
Those of you who are fans of Romero and the zombie genre have probably seen this film already. I would encourage the rest of you, if you like smart and clever horror films, to catch Land of the Dead if it is still playing in your area. Otherwise head out to your local video store and pick up the rest of the Dead series, and bring yourselves up to speed while we anxiously await the DVD release.
New Transformers Photos! (ComingSoon.net)
Tim Roth is the Abomination? (ComingSoon.net)
No Depp in Pirates 4? (The Movie Blog)
‘Spider-Man 3′ Busts Box-Office Records With Amazing Opening Weekend (VH1)
Deuce Bigalow Director to Helm Shrek 4 (AWN)
In honour of the upcoming release of 28 Weeks Later, here is a review I did a while ago for Danny Boyle’s original film 28 Days Later:
In a Nutshell: Four weeks after a mysterious, incurable virus spreads throughout the UK, a handful of survivors try to find sanctuary.
Directed by
Danny Boyle
Genres
Sci-Fi, Horror, Thriller
Cast
Alex Palmer, Bindu De Stoppani, Jukka Hiltunen, David Schneider, Cillian Murphy, Toby Sedgwick, Naomie Harris, Noah Huntley, Christopher Dunne, Emma Hitching, Alexander Delamere, Kim McGarrity, Brendan Gleeson, Megan Burns, Justin Hackney
The latest effort from Danny Boyle, the director that brought you �Trainspotting�, is 28 Days Later, a stylish zombie horror that manages to stay true to the roots of the genre, while at the same time propelling it forward. The result is one of the best zombie films of the past decade, and indeed, a film that transcends the genre, and is a legitimately good movie in its own right.
The story opens with a gaggle of radical animal rights activists breaking into a research facility where they are conducting some nasty experiments on some poor chimpanzees. Being the defenders of all things small and furry that these people are, they immediately set to work freeing the animals, but are interrupted by a presumably insomniac scientist. This researcher, obviously upset, warns the activists that releasing the chimps so would be an extremely bad idea.
“The animals are infected!”
“Infected with what?”
“Rage.”
Personally, if I was this scientist, knowing what’s at stake, I might have tried to come up with a more convincing argument; at least something that sounds a little more, well, communicable. “Rage” just doesn’t seem that life-threatening to me. Obviously, our nature loving friends feel the same way, as they proceed to release a chimp, which promptly attacks them. Chaos ensues.
It is at this point that we are introduced to the protagonist, Jim, 28 days later, as he awakens from a coma in an empty hospital, and eventually discovers that all of London has been seemingly abandoned. This initial sequence of Jim wandering the empty streets of that great city is incredibly creepy and effective.
Presently, Jim encounters a pair of other survivors, as well as the spastic zombie creatures that have become known as the “Infected”. The infection is apparently transmitted through the blood, and once exposed, a healthy human only has 10-12 seconds before they themselves become an extremely angry, bloodthirsty zombie. This 10-12 second rule is a refreshing device, as it creates great tension in any scene where someone may have been exposed to infected blood. Purists will argue that because they are still alive, the infected are not technically zombies, at least not in the George Romero sense. However, the film is close enough in terms of tone and theme, that I’m comfortable classifying it as “Zombie Horror.”
On the whole, the first two thirds of the film are incredible, with great performances by all, a compelling story and great character development. It even features a shopping sequence, in a fun nod to Romero’s seminal Dawn of the Dead. Jim is a complex character, and his continuing and unconscious search for a father figure after the loss of his own father is very compelling.
Unfortunately the film falters slightly in the third act, which differs in tone, and features questionable characterization. It is clear from the DVD, which features not only multiple endings, but also an entirely different third act, that the filmmakers may have been unsure as to how to handle the end of the story. Ultimately the ending they chose, while not as great as what preceded it, is effective enough, and does not diminish significantly from the film as a whole.
Slashfilm has the trailer for Robot Chicken’s upcoming Star Wars episode, made with the blessing of Uncle George and Mark Hamill himself. Hopefully we finally get to see Jar Jar’s eye stalks lopped off by someone’s lightsaber.
“Their tongues can’t repel flavor of that magnitude!”
Also from Comingsoon.net is this report from Joe Carnahan (director of Smoking Aces) that Robert Rodriguez has shown him Sin City 2 footage that may one day become an official teaser. Joe’s exact words are “HOLY SH*T” - which sounds good to me.� That was pretty much my reaction to the teaser and trailer from Sin City 1. So come on Robert, lets see this stuff already!� All this suspense and waiting is driving me crazy.