Iron. Man. 2.

Underground

Short scene from the upcoming The Descent: Part 2. Nice.



Source

Little Pony

After being screened in second-run theaters back in September, without any kind of promotion or notice, horror film Blood Creek, previously known as Town Creek, is finally getting fist trailer and DVD release date - January 19th. The movie stars Dominic Purcell, sort of new incarnation of Michael Paré, and by his presence usually indicates low budget, straight to DVD, lameass B-horrors, excessive in blood and gore, but weak on plausible story and believable characters. Such movies are only good for poster and trailer, but as watching experience goes, even in the dark room at midnight, they fail to satisfy the expectations. Seeing how this movie was treated by the distribution company hints it's just another one of those.
It was directed by Joel Schumacher of the Batman & Robin fame, that after being mainstream director during the 90's kind of faded away for a while.
And what's this movie about? The usual. Something to do with Nazis and occult experiment, mysterious objects that can give immortality but also require strict diet of human blood to prolong the effects. I am scared already.

Full Moon

Short featurette for The Wolfman, explaining more the story behind the film. Anthony Hopkins is frickin' creepy even on his interview.



And bunch of new posters.

The Fear Itself

And another example of Russian cinema, this time hardcore mainstream, is the first teaser for the new horror movie The Phobos. Since horror genre is quite popular everywhere, the producers seem to be convinced that international audience will be very interested in whatever piece of incompetent work they will spew out, therefore the ebarrassingly inarticulate English subtitles. The teaser fails to show anything interesting, bunch of teens walking around and scared from the wind in the pipes is not impressive filmmaking. I hope later trailers will reveal something more substantial.
Group of young people arrive to their own newly built night club. It was previously a massive concrete bomb-shelter, and after a short time since they arrive the doors are shut and the group find themselves sealed underground with no possible exit. First they don't realize the seriousness of the situation, but then the fear starts to crawl under the skin. Now they need to fight the fear, each one his own.

Virtual

And "what the fuck?" moment of the week belongs to this new Russian film entitled Virt, with a tag line "Not a Children's Game". Despite somewhat amateur look, this movie clearly stands out from the usual mainstream boredom of the Russian cinema, if only by its attempt to make some sort of sexploitation horror thriller. The nudity and sexual violence here are not just implied, it is integral part of the content, something that is not done in other Russian productions.
Still, I am not sure if this will be any good. But whether it's a simple erotic thriller or bad horror with cheesy sex violence, the effort draws attention, no doubt.
The film tells a story of a student Tania, that likes to go online and have virtual sex with strangers. Having internet nickname Cabiria, as the name of the main character in Fellini's Nights of Cabiria, she encounters some weirdo thinking he is erotic movie director, that, against her will, decides to give her the lead role in his movie. From now on he is controlling her fate, and no one knows how it's going to end.



And some nice pics:

Shady Oaks

As part of the promotion for DVD sales of Pixar's Up, some folks at the studio created this simple short animation about George and A.J, two Shady Oaks caretakers that came to pick Mr. Fredricksen, and what happened to them in the week after the incident.

Short Animation - Even Pigeons Go to Heaven (2007)

Short animated film that was nominated for Oscar in 2008.



Visit director's website to see more of his works.

Trailers Roundup

Some nice trailers for Asian movies appeared lately, here is a small roundup for the best of them.

First trailer is the latest promo for the upcoming big budget Bodyguards and Assassins, rather dumb English title for the western audience, since the original name can be translated something like The October Siege. The film is about assassination attempt on Chinese political leader (real historical figure) in Hong Kong of 1905 and the group of bodyguards hired to protect him from the assassins. Thus the dumb title.
The film is drawing attention for a while now, and not only due to the massive star-packed cast, but also because of the huge sets, recreating the HK city one hundred years ago, that were made for the filming. This one is expected to be a huge hit in China.



More interesting trailers below.

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Next is Indonesian slasher Waterfall Bride (Air Terjun Pengantin), done by very familiar horror formula. Bunch of happy and free young people arrive to remote place, thinking their life cannot get any better, when some crazy killer starts to hunt them down to satisfy his perverted needs. The main attraction here, obviously, is sexy bikini girls exposing their skin and then being brutally killed. Great way to entertain yourself, indeed.

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This one is upcoming superhero movie from Philippines, Wapakman, staring boxing champion Manny Pacquiao, that just two weeks ago won his seventh title, the first fighter to do so. The man is considered a national hero in Philippines, he is also involved in politics, music and filmmaking. And all that when he is not dating models or fighting giant crabs.

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Another superhero movie is coming from Korea and seems to be on more serious level than cartoonish Wapakman, but no less funny. Entitled Woochi, this action packed spectacle of special effects and martial arts on wires, is about Jeon Woo-chi, an undisciplined monk from the past, that by some magical way finds himself in present time.
This one looks incredibly entertaining and visually stunning, continuing the ongoing tendency of Korean cinema to surpass filmmaking virtuosity of everyone else.



Official website

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And last one is The Treasure Hunter, adventure fantasy from Taiwan, and starring pop idol Jay Chou, which will also appear as Kato in troubled The Green Hornet remake next year. The trailer is really bad quality, but you can appreciate very cool imagery and action. The movie is about group of people looking for an ancient treasure buried under the desert.



More info at this page.

Here come troubles

I like the first St. Trinian's movie, it is very vulgar and anarchistic comedy full of energy and dark humor, jailbait girls in mini skirts and one funny Russell Brand. Now, two years after this cult film shocked the audience, the sequel, St Trinian's 2: The Legend of Fritton's Gold, is about to hit the screens in UK, and it seems that the girls of the private school continue to have fun in this one as well. Even Gemma Arterton cleared her busy, Hollywood star schedule and jumped for a short visit.



Visit official website for more info.

Oooh, a piece of candy

Two years after the broadcast of the two episode special Blue Harvest, which was parodying the first film in Star Wars saga, Family Guy team continues to destroy and mock the classics with the second part and will be releasing the Something, Something, Something, Dark Side on DVD and Blu-Ray at December 22nd, right before the Christmas.
Here is the not so funny trailer.



You can watch the trailer in other formats on this page. Third part, We Have A Bad Feeling About This, is planned as well.

I will destroy him!

With the inevitable revival of the 90's as retro style, because it's time, comes the revival of bad action movies. Universal Soldier: Regeneration literary revives Jean-Claude Van Damme's character from his 1992 film, directed by no other than Roland Emmerich, and puts him again on the collision path with Dolph Lundgren. One of UFC fighters, Andrei Arlovski, is also in this.

When a team of former Soviet radicals seizes Chernobyl and threatens to unleash a lethal cloud of radioactive gas one hundred times deadlier than Hiroshima and Nagasaki combined, the US military brings in a bio-mechanically enhanced super soldier, Luc Deveraux (JEAN-CLAUDE VAN DAMME), to foil the plot. As Deveraux fights his way into the plant, he faces off with his now revived former nemesis, Andrew Scott (DOLPH LUNDGREN), and a newly ‘updated’ Next Generation Unisol (former UFC Heavyweight Champion ANDREI ARLOVSKI), in a battle of battles, and must save the day.

This looks better than I expected, compared to the terrible second Universal Soldier and ignoring other two without Van Damme. It looks like they are trying to take the action to higher level, despite budget limitations, to make it more realistic and continuous with the help of smart camera movements and filming angles. I am pretty sure the usual cheese and corny dialogs will be there as well, but at least it's a sign they are trying. And it's very clever they use UFC fighters, these guys are used to get punched in the head all the time, so they don't mind to take a real hit or two when needed, you know, for the art.



February 17th on DVD and Blu-Ray.

Beyond the valley of silicon

After a year of teasing and delays, this silicon exploitation fest called Bitch Slap finally gets a date for limited theatrical release. Mark your calendars, on January the 8th this abomination, filled with Russ Meyer and Quentin Tarantino influences, hits the screens to almost unavoidable flop. Good thing there is a Blu-Ray coming out later, because the only people coming to see it in theater are middle age and overweight single males, wearing long trench coats over naked bodies and with pack of tissues in their pockets. I suspect.
Anyway, I don't see in this movie any value beyond temporary satisfaction of breast fetish obsessions. Large breasted and half naked girls fight and use big guns while getting all sweaty and dirty. Oh, I can't wait to see that.

Here is new HD trailer, which is pretty much the same as the red band trailer from a year ago.



You can watch it on this page in other formats. Also official website is also up, with red band trailer and interactive content that includes number of very short fragments from the film.
There is also a short behind the scenes sample, as I understand from a full length "the making of" documentary.



And for dessert, the three leading ladies.

And what's your name?

Here is trailer for Salt, with a little delay, but at least I have the poster.
Good old fashioned spy thriller with visibly aging Angelina (what's up with that make-up?), but once she starts kick ass and destroy property she is getting younger. Who said blonds are having more fun?



[Official website]

Movies - Last Seen

Short reviews for these films below.


Spread (USA, 2009)

Misleading trailer made me think it's just another "pretty boy is fooling around until he meets a girl, the one and the only, and decides to settle down" romantic comedy, always so typical for Hollywood. But I also spotted some dark vibe and decided to give it a shot. And I am glad I did.
This is definitely not a comedy, I would rather say this is more like romantic tragedy, there is absolutely no intentions here to make you laugh. The film is surprisingly smart and really not cheesy at all, it deals with serious and meaningful issues of reality, showing sometimes sad and harsh consequences of life. This is not another shiny and fake Hollywood product, and Kutcher maybe is one in real life, but in this film he does really good job to show the opposite and unpleasant side.
Great story that very interesting to watch, sometimes completely captivating, and with lots of sex scenes. This film can only surprise you.
Recommended for mature people, young kids that only want to see greasy Hollywood fantasies with hot girls and sex will be disappointed.

8+/10


Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs (USA, 2009)

Harmless and cute all family animation with a message. Not much laughs and gags, just another feel good and non-offensive fun movie to bring a smile on your face.
Apparently most of the people love just that, making it the highest grossing film in the world in 2009. Expect Ice Age 4 in a few years, because unlike the dinosaurs, this franchise refuses to die.

7/10





Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince (USA, 2009)

Most definitely the best in the series. Somebody finally understood that when you adapt a book into a movie you don't have to show every single event. You just being very selective, showing only the central points and creating general mood, the viewers will connect the dots by themselves. Therefore the film flow is better than in previous installments, the story seems to be more focused and has certain and clear direction, the film is actually interesting to watch.

7/10




In the Loop (UK, 2009)

Very amusing and fast talking political comedy, based purely on conversations between the characters. Absurdity and spineless opportunism of politics are the main target for the mocking, and it is delivered with favorite English charm and funny rudeness through really great dialogs. I think Ari Gold has British brother named Malcolm Tucker.
The small scale of the film makes it less impressive, and the movie in general feels like a single episode in something bigger. Nice and pleasant waste of time.

7+/10




Angel of Death (USA, 2009)

Riding on popularity she gained after her role in Death Proof and after a hug from Tarantino, Zoe Bell is no longer just a stunt-woman, she is becoming an actress. In this film she is a cold-hearted hired assassin, that after one of her jobs goes wrong, starts seeing ghosts of her victims and understands she can't do this anymore. So she decides to terminate the crime syndicate, that was using her, to make things right and get a closure.
The movie is very low budget, shot on HD camera, but this is actually turns to be one of its strong sides. It looks gritty, real, rough and stylishly minimalistic, the dialogs written well and I don't think I can use the word "Pathetic" towards anything in this movie.
The movie performs above what can be expected from such production, and it is pleasantly surprising. Zoe holds herself quite decently, but sometimes obviously lacking the acting experience when trying to display more complex sides of her character.
It can be easy to bash this movie for the cliche characters and average acting, but I think only real haters will do that. It's a B-movie, it's a silly script and a very low budget. It's all about how you approach such content, and open mind is the only way to enjoy it.

7+/10


Public Enemies (USA, 2009)

Mostly disappointing. Very hard and scrupulous set design, recreating the reality of 30's, also good action scenes and shoot-outs, but it seems that this is all there is. There is no solid story, the design of the characters and their personalities is very dry and superficial, and the movie just seems to be pointless, when looking beyond the simple visual aesthetics.
The movie feels like Michael Mann didn't really decide what to do with it, either to use "news report" style with chronological display of events without emotional involvement, just facts, or whether take the viewers into the minds of two opposites, the gangster and he lawman, and show us what is going on inside on very personal level. Seems like he is trying to do both, and the final result is stuck somewhere in between, making the film boring, not suspenseful and absolutely anti-climatic. And in such place even the guns and the shootings are just annoying crackle noises with no meaning or purpose.
Great movies you want to see more than once, for whatever reason. I don't feel like seeing this film again.

6/10


The Ax (France/Belgium/Spain , 2005)

Ever heard such expression - "I would kill for this job"? Well, apparently Bruno Davert, the main protagonist of this film, took it a little too serious and actually started to kill people to get his dream job. But since he is everything but a killer, he is extremely clumsy in doing so, avoiding being discovered only by his incredible luck.
Dark comedy done right.

8/10




The Tale of Despereaux (UK/USA, 2008)

Whatever they tried to do - it didn't work. The plot builds so many story lines and introduces so many characters, that the movie was suppose to be twice longer just to develop all of them.
Moreover, it is based on the children novel, and as usual for such adaptations, the film cannot disconnect itself from the origin, heavily dragging the viewers through the story because it is desperately trying to imitate it. What can work as words not always works as visuals, and this movie is example for that.

5/10



Up (USA, 2009)

Skillful storytelling with a message, but I don't see anything special in this film.
Up is not as complex and interesting as previous Pixar's films, there is a strange feeling of forceful direction and false intentions, but it has number of strong moments, making the movie entertaining and acceptable overall. I think longer run time could fix some of the problems, because things feel a bit rushed and undeveloped. Still better than some other animated films I saw this year.

8/10



Chaw (South Korea, 2009)

I don't know what is it about Korean films, but even such washed up sub genre as creature horror suddenly receives fresh breeze of air when done by Korean filmmakers, and it doesn't matter that the story is pretty much direct rip-off of the Jaws.
Mixing dark humor, classic slapstick comedy and horror elements, this movie is one joyful ride.

8/10

I had a flashback from Above the Law

I've already mentioned before that Steven Seagal is doing a reality TV series about the cops, and I am glad to see this is still going as planned. Steven Seagal: Lawman is going live in a few weeks and here is another chance to see the sample of what we can expect from this masterpiece.



Personally, I can't stop laughing every time he says something, his physical appearance only is freaking hilarious. All that spiritual mambo jumbo, trash talk or simple friendly patting on the cheek of the fellow officer is absolutely hysterical when he does it. Some people are unintentionally funny on occasion, but Steven here, does it all the time. Give this man a sheriff's badge.
More info and more video clips about the show - on the A&E Network website.

And if Steven Seagal we are talking about, here is the trailer for his next upcoming feature film A Dangerous Man, previously known as On The Run. Straight to DVD, of course, but it doesn't affect the man, that just keeps manufacturing them like there is no tomorrow. And he keeps casting models in his films, so he is probably doing something right, no?

The kids ain't right

Don't mind the overly gruesome poster, this film is still in post-production and nothing is final yet. Say hi to Tucker & Dale vs Evil, a new horror comedy starring Alan Tudyk (Firefly) and Tyler Labine (Reaper), both starting to develop a serious fan base recently. In the movie they play two hillbillies going on vacation in the woods and mistakenly accused of being killers by the group of college kids camping nearby. Which leads to number of accidental and funny deaths.
This is simply feels like a great idea. As oppose to serious slashers, in which bunch of stupid kids running for their lives and behave like they've never seen a horror movie before, the kids in this film probably have an overdose of watching slashers. Such overdose, that they will suspect every hillbilly with a beard and a scythe as a brutal murderer. In their defense, Tucker and Dale do look very suspicious and have a bit of bad luck, so I can see why the confusion. I guess cultural differences is to blame.
I don't think there is a release date right now, and it's possible that the initial plans were to make it straight to DVD. But the trailer is getting some minor buzz on the web, hopefully it will translate into more attention and eventual theatrical release.