Dec
21st
Holy Crap it’s the New Hellboy II Trailer
Posted by adminFor some reason the Flash unit I embedded here to play the trailer was broken, so go check it out at the Hellboy site:
Dec
20th
Sam Rami Returns to Horror – AICN Article
Posted by adminIf I go a day without putting up a post I feel like a deadbeat, and I’m SURE it’s disappointing to you faithful readers 
But with the Christmas craziness I’m busy as hell. So here’s an article from Ain’t It Cool News about Sam Rami Returning to Horror!
Sam Raimi returns to horror! DRAG ME TO HELL his next flick!
Ahoy, squirts! Quint here. Sam Raimi has exec. produced many horror flicks under his GHOST HOUSE banner, but for the first time since he started that company up he’s actually directing one called DRAG ME TO HELL, a supernatural horror flick he co-wrote with his brother, Ivan.What’s interesting is that this isn’t a new project. They wrote it right after ARMY OF DARKNESS. At that point it was called THE CURSE. No real details have come out, but the trades have a blurb about it being about “an unwilling recipient of a supernatural curse.”
Dec
18th
DVD Review: Sling Blade (1996)
Posted by admin
Directed by: Billy Bob Thornton
Starring: Billy Bob Thornton, John Ritter, Dwight Yokum, Natalie Canerday
Here’s a little insider’s tip to all you screenwriters out there: Mentally challenged characters are Hollywood gold! It seems like every movie that comes out featuring a retarded main character garners instant acclaim from both the Hollywood critical elite and consumers. Check it out: Of Mice and Men, Bill, Forrest Gump, Radio, and Pee-Wee Herman. And Billy Bob Thornton’s Karl Childers, of the movie Sling Blade, is no exception.
Karl Childers is a balcony-browed, shuffling, mentally challenged person who is released from a mental hospital where he’d spent most of his childhood and adult life for murdering his mother. He finds himself alone and helpless in his small Southern hometown, which is full of the sort of quirky, backwoods, but amiable types you’d expect to find in a small Southern town. With the help of a doctor from the mental hospital he finds a job in a small engine repair shop. Soon Karl is befriended by a young boy named Frank Wheatly (Black) who decides to bring him home. Miraculously, Frank’s mom (Canerday) and her boozing red-neck boyfriend (Yoakum) allow Karl to move into their garage.
Sling Blade is full of extremely wonderful performances. Billy Bob Thornton underwent an amazing physical transformation in becoming his character of Karl Childers. BBT (as we like to call him) would get up at 2:00 am every morning and spend 7 hours in the make up chair. Eventually someone would come along and ask him why he’d been sitting in the make up chair for 7 hours since his costume required no make up. That’s right, the look of Karl Childers was all done by BBT (that’s what they call him in the biz) by jutting his jaw out for upwards of 14 hours a day. This is true. It would cramp up so bad that it would lock! That’s dedicating your self to the role, and possibly months of physical therapy!
One pleasant surprise in the cast is John Ritter as Vaughan Cunningham, the local out-of-place gay man in this little backwater town. Ritter plunged into this role head first, coming at it from all angles, and nailed it hard. He really enslaved this character and pumped it up into a throbbing engorged mass of fantastic acting.
Similarly, Dwight Yokum executes a brilliant performance as Doyle Hargraves, the drunk, abusive red-neck boyfriend of little Frank’s mother. This character is a very subtle blend of comic relief and gut wrenching insidiousness.
All in all, I would say that Sling Blade is one of those mainstream movies that’s not really so mainstream and that, once seen, becomes an instant personal classic for anyone. I rank it up there with such wonderful films as The Shawshank Redemption, Cider House Rules and Zapped! starring Scot Baio.
Dec
17th
Holy Crap the New Batman Dark Knight Trailer Rocks
Posted by adminYes, the crap is mighty holy when it comes to this new trailer! And dear God the quality of the video at this link is enough to make you drop one in your pants…in HD no less!
Dec
16th
Picks of the Month: January 2008
Posted by adminIt’s that time of the month again. Picks of the Month time! Kickass. There’s a ton of great stuff coming out next month, and quite a bit more stuff that looks absolutely horrible, such as Chair Aerobics For Everyone: Chair Boxing. I wasn’t aware that chairs were allowed in boxing. Or maybe this is a DVD about putting chairs into boxes. That might be handy if you sell chairs on eBay or you like sitting in boxes. At any rate, here are the MovieBlast! Picks of the Month for January 2008…
3:10 to Yuma – DVD | Blu Ray – 1/8/2008
3:10 to Yuma is a remake of an older movie based on a book by Elmore Leonard, who is one of the best Western genre writers of our time…and he also wrote Get Shorty which makes me think he might suffer from multiple personality disorder. We think this movie is great, and by “we” I mean me and the cabal of voices in my head.
Rent | Purchase | Download
American Carny: True Tails From the Circus Sideshow – DVD – 1/8/2008
When was the last time you went to a carnival? I’m not talking about something fancy like Marti Gras, I’m talking about a real carnival. One of those carnivals that just spring up overnight in the parking lot of a condemned K-Mart parking lot with rides like The Zipper, The Puker, and The Aneurysm? These rides are usually very safe even though they look as if they’d been constructed by a special ed shop class using scraps from a plane wreck. THAT kind of carnival. I haven’t been to one in years, but this DVD is all about carnies and it looks cool.
Rent | Purchase | Download
Family Guy: Blue Harvest – DVD -1/15/2008
Here we have the fantastic Star Wars homage/spoof done by the Family Guy guys. Why is this called Blue Harvest? Blue Harvest is also the fake movie name used by George Lucas while filming Return of the Jedi to keep info leaks about it to a minimum. The fake movie name Lucas used for The Phantom Menace was Utter Shit Harvest…little did he know.
Rent | Purchase | Download
Life of Brian: The Immaculate Edition – DVD | Blu Ray – 1/29/2008
Despite guaranteeing that the members of Monty Python will be spending the afterlife in hell, this movie is an all time comedy classic. But I guess you always gotta look on the bright side of life.
Rent | Purchase | Download
Shoot ‘Em Up – Blu Ray – 1/1/2008
I haven’t seen this yet, but I’ve heard a lot of good things about it from friends and critics that I admire. The phrases “kickass” and “holy shit” and “freaking awesome” keep coming up when I talk to people about Shoot ‘Em Up, so I betting it’s a rocker.
Rent | Purchase | Download
Con Air – Blu Ray – 1/8/2008
Here’s the first of two Nicolas Cage movies in this months POM. Con-Air is a flick about a bunch of convicts taking control of a prisoner transport plane. A prisoner transport plane? Airlines can’t even keep track of my luggage and I’m supposed to let them ship convicts around?! Badda bing! No respect, I tell ya.
Rent | Purchase | Download
The Rock – Blu Ray – 1/8/2008
Here we have the second Nicolas Cage movie of this installment of Picks of the Month and all I have to say is…I don’t really understand the DNA of Sean Connery. Shouldn’t he be dust by now? He’s roughly 110 years old, and yet the older he gets, the cooler he gets, and the more sure I get that he could totally kick my ass.
Rent | Purchase | Download
Dec
14th
“Groundhog Day” 15th Anniversary Edition DVD
Posted by adminOn January 29 one of the coolest movies Harold Ramis ever directed is coming out on DVD…again. It’s the 15th anniversary edition of Groundhog Day
If you’ve never seen Groundhog Day then you really should punch yourself in the face. It is one of the coolest movies of all time. It’s the story of how weatherman Phil Connors (Murray) finds himself repeating the same day over and over again in a small town during their annual Groundhog Day celebration. He first tries to use this to advantage to woo (or screw) Rita (MacDowell), his production manager, but then learns about true love and…well, that sounds boring. But trust me, it’s a fantastic movie and funny as hell.
I can’t believe this movie is 15 years old. It seems like just yesterday I was sitting in the theater watching it. Or maybe it was just yesterday and I repeated that day for 15 years! My brain feels like fried okra now!
If there was one day of your life that you would like to relive what would it be?
Tell you what…email me a day of your life – a REAL day of your life – that you would like to relive and tell me why. The story I like best will win a copy of the 15th anniversary edition of Groundhog Day! Contest ends January 1st, so get to emailing gang!
EDIT: Wow, I came up with that contest idea as I was writing the article and didn’t expect much to come from it, but you kids have been popping in left and right with your submissions! So, I guess I should go ahead and give the “You Won’t Be Spammed” Speech: Ahem, I think spam sucks goat and I’m sure you do too, so your email will be kept absolutely private and never sold to goat sucking spam people! Thank you.
Dec
12th
Yep, The Robots are Going to Kill Us All
Posted by adminHave we learned nothing from the movies? Just as predicted in
I, Robot
Looks kinda cute doesn’t it? 10 seconds after this picture was taken emergency crews were hosing that poor Asian girl’s guts off the walls and Asmio was miles away beating an idiot savant at chess while its built-in jet pack cooled down. Not really, but that is a scenario that is coming ever closer. Actually, I think 10 seconds after this photo was taken Asimo fell down, but this is an old photo. Asimo has had improvements since then.
Asimo was first developed back in 1986. At that point it was really nothing more than a toaster with two eyes drawn on it. Since then, Asimo has developed the ability to walk, run, talk, recognize faces and fall down less. And Asimo can now charge itself. When it “feels” like it is running low on human killing energy it can plug itself into a charger to refresh its batteries!
“The back is slightly modified so he can plug himself into a charger,” said William De Braekeleer of Honda Motor, Europe.
Brilliant design move Honda! Thank you for the unstoppable killing machine!
Honda Worldwide has actually built another Asimo and the two Asimos can work together as a team. The two Asimos put on an impressive demonstration a few days ago wherein they interacted with people by taking drink orders and then worked together to make the orders and deliver them back to their “customers.” This ability to interact will come in handy when they are replicating themselves for worldwide domination.
Dec
11th
DVD Review: Versus (2003)
Posted by admin
Directed by: Ryuhei Kitamura
Starring: Kenji Matsude, Chieko Misaka, Tak Sakaguchi, Hideo Sakaki
Versus is a Japanese movie about an eons long rivalry between good and evil which culminates in the Forrest of Resurrection in a 119 minute long battle involving swords, guns, karate, zombies, vampires, leather pants, and black trench coats.
I’m not generally into watching dubbed/subtitled films, and probably never would have seen this had it not been lent to my by a Japan-o-phile friend of mine, however, I am pleased to say that I did watch this movie and I loved it. And I’m a little ashamed to admit it…
The movie is by no means a brilliant work of art to span the generations. Nope, this flick is simply a really long, well done, fight scene with just enough story behind it to hold it together. Although the movie is well made, and the fights are very well choreographed and shot, I get the impression that this movie was made by a bunch of bored Japanese college kids.
“I’m bored, Haiku, what do you want to do?”
“Oh, I don’t know, Sanyo, let’s make a movie!”
“That is a grand idea, or my name isn’t Pu Pu Platter!”
This movie is action packed, comedic, tons of bloody fun and I definitely recommend it for any movie party, especially if there is beer involved. In fact, you could easily make a drinking game out of Versus. Every time someone gets hacked with a sword and blood spurts out as if shot from a fire hose everyone must take one drink. This game could possibly require several kegs.
Dec
11th
DVD Marketers Battle for Format Supremacy
Posted by adminLOS ANGELES – After the advent of high-definition plasma and LCD displays brought ads for televisions back to TV, a second front in the high-def wars has developed between HD-DVD and Blu-ray discs. The marketing battle is shifting business alliances and influencing the advertising of consumer electronics and the movie releases that drive their sales in both formats.
“It’s now a real format war,” said Steve Martin, president of WPP Group’s SicolaMartin, Austin, Texas, the agency that handled the Blu-ray Disc Association (BDA) trade group—backed by Hitachi, LG Electronics, Matsushita Electric (Panasonic), Pioneer, Philips, Samsung, Sharp, Sony and Thomson—until last summer when the BDA jumped to movie-advertising specialty shop Trailer Park, Hollywood, Calif., signaling the marketing emphasis to come. “My feeling is that the power of the studios is so strong in the Blu-ray camp – it may be the decisive factor,” Martin said. “In any case, I would expect a significant increase in marketing. [HD-DVD promoter] Toshiba won’t go down without a fight. Once you’re all-in, you have to go all the way.”
Dec
11th
Holy Crap it’s the New Official Indy 4 Poster!
Posted by adminYep, here it is gang, the first official poster for Indiana Jones and the Kindom of the Crystal Skull (click for larger):
I’m so excited I’m about to go out and buy a bullwhip. Actually, I’ve already got one. Maybe I’ll wear it to work tomorrow. I can use it to punch the buttons on the vending machine in the break room. “I think I’ll have the Dorito’s in A4″…WHIIIIIP- CRACK!
