Today’s Webcomic of the day is GRAVEDIGGER, beautifully drawn noir tinged crime webcomic, starring a character that bears more than a passing resemblance to movie heist hardman Lee Marvin.
Well drawn and engagingly written. Check it out here!
MOVIE TRAILER AND UPCOMING MOVIE ROUND-UP
THE GHASTLY LOVE OF JOHNNY X- I gave this trailer a download. It’s a send up of 50s movies, especially of the drive-in, monster, teen angst variety. Not my beverage of choice. And it just wasn’t interesting at all. Save yourself the viewing time… avoid.
PACIFIC RIM- I keep watching this trailer, and I keep being impressed. “Today we are canceling the APOCALYPSE!!” Delivered as only Idris Elba can deliver it! This summer blockbuster hits screens in July. And I’ll definitely be in the crowd.
NOW YOU SEE ME- “First rule of magic, always be the smartest guy in the room.” A stellar cast, and an inventive and surprisingly original feeling trailer (no small feat for a film to seem original, given how many caper and heist films I’ve seen) makes this film one that I’m interested in seeing on the big screen when it hits on 31 May.
MAN OF STEEL- The latest full trailer is out and looks very good, though I have to be honest it doesn’t excite me the way the SUPERMAN RETURNS trailer of several years ago did. And I know it’s envogue these days to hate on that movie, but the young and foolish forget how well received that trailer and the movie initially was. That plane sequence alone having people cheering in the theaters. And while the pimply set in hindsight dismiss SUPERMAN RETURNS because of some pacing issues and I think some weaknesses with the casting, particularly the Lois character, it was, warts acknowledged, a good movie, with a great trailer. So far MAN OF STEEL merely has a good trailer, let’s hope that translates into a great movie. Being a fan of Zack Snyder (not so much Christopher Nolan) I’ll be in the theaters to find out.
THOR II- I’m watching the 1st trailer for this film and I’m not particularly gripped by the ‘story’ of the trailer, but I’m thinking how awesome it is that we can produce movies on this scale. Super-hero movies are possible due to CGI and advances of technology that can make a man swinging around and hitting things with a big hammer prop look awesome rather than stupid. That said,the absence of Branagh as director worries, as I couldn’t find anything close to an interesting story in the trailer. But it is just an early trailer, perhaps the movie has more depth to it than the trailer hints at. This one is a wait and see.
ELYSIUM- This scifi trailer is for a film by Neill Blomkamp ,the director of DISTRICT 9, and starring Matt Damon. That is strike 1 and strike 2. I disliked DISTRICT 9 for its pretty blatant Nigerian bashing, and am not a fan of Matt Damon. ELYSIUM is based on a great short film by Ricardo De Montreuil’s THE RAVEN, which sports a Black/Hispanic protagonist, almost a christ parable, taking the fight to the powers that be in a drone plane/terminator oppressed future, ELYSIUM seemingly takes everything edgy and original and challenging about THE RAVEN, and literally whitewashes it with a Dutch/South African director and a White savior in the form of Matt Damon. Compare the short film THE RAVEN (my review and a link to the film here) to the ELYSIUM trailer and I think it is clear which one is the far more interesting. ELYSIUM is a definite wait for DVD, if that, and is yet another glaring example of the bigotry and programmatic and exclusionary nature of Hollywood sanctioned films.
THE MAN OF TAI CHI- Keanuu Reeves is one of those actors like Nicolas Cage who takes a huge amount of crap from Western critics for his acting style, or perhaps more precisely utilizing the same style regardless of project. Whether that assessment oh his acting ability is true or false, in Asia Keannu Reeves is HUGE, again like the aforementioned Nicolas Cage. And that Pan-Asian popularity seemingly has to do with their looks (since their acting/voices are dubbed by Asian actors). Asians being a, seemingly, very homogeneous society like supporting their own, and both Reeves and Cage are of the necessary dark hair and build and perhaps presence to be adopted by Asian audiences. So it makes perfect sense that Reeves’ directorial debut should be geared to that part of the world market that has always embraced and made profitable his films. The trailer for THE MAN OF TAI CHI is out and it sports glimpses of impressive fight choreography. Whether there is a story to go with it remains to be seen, but it definitely interest me enough to look for it on DVD
Okay that’s all for this segment. Join us next time for more!
For those of us who grew us with the Star Trek mythos, the trailer doesn’t particularly scream Star Trek. It feels like something decidedly different and I for one think that’s a good thing. With sequences shot in the 70mm IMAX format (not with the IMAX 3D cameras) it should be a great film to see on a REAL IMAX movie theater.
STAR TREK INTO DARKNESS (would it have killed them to put a ‘The” in there?! 
) hits theaters on May 17th.
MOVIE POSTERS OF THE DAY
BIUTIFUL- by the director of BABEL, comes an intriguing and well performed, if pessimistic film. Not something to re-watch.
BLOW-UP – Highly overrated film and more than a bit boring
OPEN CITY – Italian neo-realism, not in the mood.
FRED THE CLOWN Graphic Novel -Excellent humor book, with lovely cartoony art. Worth owning
THE BEST OF THE SPIRIT- reads more than a bit dated, not as visually dynamic as I was led to believe. Plus the poor newsprint paper doesn’t help, as it muddies any details in Eisner’s art
AGONY- Surreal does not translate always into Good, as this experimental but not very engaging movie on the life of Russia’s mad monk, illustrates. Plodding.
THE WAY- excellent 2nd film by Emilio Estevez, stars his father Martin Sheen. Great film.
LIMITLESS- Visually imaginative, stylish, entertaining and addictive film
Rough Draft
UNDER CONSTRUCTION
But before Fulci, by his own estimation became a maker of z-grade garbage to pay the bills, he aspired to more. He aspired to be a filmmaker.
And I am here to say he was one. And I would go further to say he was a great director. An extremely versatile director, leaving his mark on everything from Comedies to Westerns. However, it was in the new Italian form of thriller, the Giallo that his skills would reach their zenith, and his star shine the brightest.
In his heyday creative period, when the muses of inspiration were upon him (approx from 1966 to 1977), he made seven influential, stylish, challenging and even ground breaking films.
Tempi di Massacro/Massacre Time (Would predate and arguably inspire the dove laden, blood ballets of John Woo)
Una Sull’altra/Perversion Story/One On Top Another (even hampered by a poor title, and an awkward, even clumsy soft-core opening, this reworking of Hitchcock’s Vertigo builds to something great. Beautifully filmed it is Fulci’s best looking film, and is a clinic in style. It is a film I consider even better than its inspiration, and that is saying a lot.)
Beatrice Cenci
A Lizard in a Woman’s Skin
Don’t Torture a Duckling
Four of the Apocalypse
Sette Notte in Nero/Psychic
Fulci Frenzy
Browse and/or buy Lucio Fulci DVDs Here!!!
None of the above films were adequately appreciated upon release. However with the advent of DVD you have the chance to reevaluate Fulci’s largely pre-gore work (before he gave completely into his excesses and the lowest common denominator) and see these films for what they were and are, visually stunning landmarks of a time and a place.
— to be continued
or
FIFTEEN movie remakes that are superior to the original.
John Carpenter’s THE THING
Daniel Craig in CASINO ROYALE
Francis Ford Coppola’s DRACULA
Tony Scott’s MAN ON FIRE
David Cronenberg’s THE FLY
Zack Snyder’s THE DAWN OF THE DEAD
Al Pacino in Brian DePalma’s SCARFACE
Sturges’ MAGNIFICENT SEVEN
Scorsese’s THE DEPARTED
Branagh’s HENRY V
Eddie Murphy’s THE NUTTY PROFESSOR
Bogart’s MALTESE FALCON (The third film attempt, finally got it right!)
I AM LEGEND, while I have a lot of respect for the Vincent Price and Charlton Heston versions, Will Smith’s I AM LEGEND moves it into big scale territory with out losing the intimate horror inherent
Cameron’s TITANIC
THE MAN WHO KNEW TOO MUCH Hictchcock Improves on himself in this Stewart and Day remake of his earlier film
Let me add my voice to those quite happy with the 50th Anniversary James Bond film, SKYFALL. Director Sam Mendes admirably helms Daniel Craig’s third time at bat, as the iconic James Bond.
Mendes, who is not known as an Action Director, but rather a maker of intimate and off kilter little films (such as AMERICAN BEAUTY and AWAY WE GO) rises to the occasion here with a film filled with tension and at times literally jaw dropping action set pieces.
From cars to trains to helicopters to subways, Daniel Craig’s Bond gets everything thrown at him, sometimes literally. However the film is more than blowing things up, it’s a tighter script and a more coherent and identifiable motivation for Bond’s nemesis this time out than is usually the case in Bond’s menagerie of outlandish villains.
[POTENTIALLY MILD SPOILERS]
Played compellingly and hauntingly by Javier Bardem, Bond’s nemesis this time out seeks not Sattellite transmission rights, or orbital based weapons, nor voodoo mastery of the world… he seeks vengeance. And not long into the film, you’re not sure he doesn’t deserve it. Which is why I hesitate to call Javier Bardem’s Silva a villain. He is a dark mirror of a Bond who has given too much and too often to his country, and been left out in the cold one time too often and too deeply.
I found myself while not condoning Silva’s actions, understanding of the motivations that drive them. And distinctly aware of Silva as a cautionary tale to Bond; ‘there but for the grace of God’ as the saying goes.
[END OF SPOILERS]
And the complexity of character extends throughout the cast, from Daniel Craig’s always impressive turn as Bond, to Judi Dench celebrating her 17th year playing M (4 films with Pierce Brosnan and 3 films with Daniel Craig)by having one of her best written and most significant roles as the character; to impressive moments by Ralph Fiennes, Naomie Harris, and Ben Whishaw as Q.
While not a perfect film, the film manages to feel long in the tooth at times, but even in those moments it is never less than beautiful to look at. Filled with nods to the half century of Bond’s filmic history, unevenness and all, Mendes manages to merge winter blockbuster with intimate drama, to create a film that is ultimately memorable and re-watchable.
Is it the best Bond film? No. It doesn’t even sport a particularly memorable or imaginative title sequence, but it is a very good Bond film, arguably in the top ten, and is a film, I think people can revisit often and well.
Grade: B+. Strongly Recommended to see in theaters, and a must own on DVD or Bluray.
