Back when he was busy being a figment of Russell Crowe’s imagination in “A Beautiful Mind,” no one likely would have much expected Paul Bettany to be an ass-kicking action hero. Of course, folks would have said the same thing about Liam Neeson too, and look how that turned out. While wrestlers-turned-actors like Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson and other muscle-bound he-men in the vein of Jason Momoa still fit the mold for a certain breed of action flick, there are other movies that don’t require the correlative “Men’s Fitness” magazine cover, per se, and in the slick streamlined “Priest” — a sort of vampiric re-telling of the classic Western “The  [ Read More ]

Walt Disney Pictures rolled the dice with producer Robert Zemeckis’ “Mars Needs Moms”, which was trotted out in 3-D to great fanfare earlier this year, and took a critical and commercial beating, to the tune of a meager $39 million worldwide gross. The film — produced by the same team behind “A Christmas Carol” and “The Polar Express” — isn’t quite as much of a stinker as that dismissal might indicate, but neither is it a wonderful romp or, as Boxoffice Magazine’s Pete Hammond claims on the cover, “the perfect family film in every way.” The storyline — in which nine-year-old Earthling Milo (Seth Green, but also voiced by another,  [ Read More ]

Title: Doomsday (2008) Starring Rhona Mitra, Craig Conway, Bob Hoskins, MyAnna Buring and Malcolm McDowell Produced by Rogue Pictures, Intrepid Pictures and Scion Films Written and Directed by Neil Marshall Score: Technical: 90, Story: 70, Acting: 85, Total: 82 Naturally, when I saw the trailer for Doomsday, I thought to myself, “Wait, did they remake Road Warrior or something?” and sure enough…it tried to with a twist. Doomsday essentially reminds us moviegoers about other post-apocalyptic movies from the past that are great, while delivering us a sub-par movie. A virus breaks out in Scotland, killing almost all its citizens. London police set up a quarantine to keep the virus out  [ Read More ]

Title: “The Lodge” (2008) Starring Elizabeth Kell, Owen Szabo, Kevin McClatchy, and Mandi Kreisher Produced by Brothers Shamus Pictures Written by Deb Havener Directed by Brad Helmink and John Raushelbach Score: Technical: 99, Writing: 95, Acting: 90, Overall: 95% I recently got a chance to get my hands on “The Lodge”, an okay little thriller, on DVD. I hadn’t heard of it before getting it, and wasn’t quite sure what to make of it but the muted sense of doom I got from the cover, which both impressed me by not being a rip-off of some other “classic” movie poster, but also pretty much spelled out the tone and a  [ Read More ]

Title: Feast II: Sloppy Seconds (2008) Starring Jenny Wade, Clu Gulager, Diane Goldner, Tom Gulager, Martin Klebba, Carl Anthony Payne II, Juan Longoria Garcia and Hanna Putnam Produced by Dimension Extreme Written by Martin Dunstan and Patrick Melton Directed by John Gulager Score: Technical: 70, Story: 95, Acting: 95, Overall: 87 I have been waiting for this moment since I first found out about it: the release of Feast II: Sloppy Seconds. Now, when I say that, I say that out of extreme love/hate, mostly because the first film was near perfection and I had no idea how they would manage a second one. For those who don’t know, Feast  [ Read More ]

If there’s one thing I like about being lazy on a Friday night, it’s that “COPS” is on TV. Man, I love that show. And when Comedy Central’s “Reno 911″, a mock-take on the classic TV reality show first aired, I was hooked. It’s funny, irreverent, borderline uncomfortable sometimes, and honestly, not liking a show like this is just un-American. The 3-disc DVD set of the show comes with every episode of the season, with several episodes coming with cast commentary from Reno’s finest. The show, which premiered in 2003, stars Thomas Lennon, Robert Ben Garant, Kerri Kenney-Silver, Cedric Yarbrough, Carlos Alazraqui, Wendi McLendon-Covey, Niecy Nash, and Mary Birdsong as  [ Read More ]

Title: August (2008) Starring Josh Hartnett, Adam Scott, Robin Tunney, Andre Royo, Rip Torn and David Bowie Produced by Original Media, 57th & Irving Productions and Periscope Entertainment Written by Howard A. Rodman Directed by Austin Chick Score: Technical: 90, Story: 75, Acting: 90, Overall Score: 85 When I received this movie in the mail, I sort of groaned a little because of who’s starring in it…but I’ve got to say, I was pleasantly surprised by this one. Not only is he not dreadful like he has been in some things the last few years, but he’s actually really great in this one. August follows two brothers Tom (Josh Hartnett),  [ Read More ]

“Shadows Light” (2008) Ever After Media A Stephen Zimmer Film Starring Tom Phillips, Tucky Williams, Cynthia Allen, Jessica Kline Score: Technical: 20, Story: 10, Acting: 10, Overall Score: 13.3 If there’s one thing I’m really truly sick of in horror movies, beyond anything, beyond even the cheap “Saw” rip-offs and pointless torture-porn style of Eli Roth wannabes, it’s the cliché of the evil lesbian. She’s evil and pansexual so obviously she’s going to end up being not only evil but also inhuman in some form, and to be honest, it’s a stupid idea. Maybe 20 or 30 years ago the concept was titillating enough but nowadays it just screams of  [ Read More ]

I’m always excited when I see new, B-movie horror flicks come in the mail, so when I saw this double feature, I was excited for the schlock that was to come. However, I quickly realized this movie not only crosses the fine line between awesomely bad and total crap, but it did a nine-mile jog from it. Dead Summer Score: Technical: 10, Story: 40, Acting: 20, Overall Score: 23.3 In a small, Podunk Pennsylvanian town, people are kept from the rest of the world due to an unknown disease that turns people into the living dead. “Cleaners” are assigned to take care of those who reanimate and border patrol is  [ Read More ]

Title: Steel Trap (2007) Starring Georgia Mackenzie, Mark Wilson, Pascal Langdale, Julia Ballard, Joanna Bobin, Annabelle Wallis, Adam Rayner and Frank Maier Produced by Abnormal Pictures and K5 Film Written by Luis Camara and Gabrielle Galanter Directed by Luis Camara Score: Technical: 80, Story: 50, Acting: 80, Overall Score: 70 I always get excited when free DVDs come to my house for work. I was even MORE excited to see another Dimension Extreme film at my finger tips, so I knew it was going to be good. However, Dimension Extreme has officially put out its first bad horror movie. A bunch of strangers go to a New Year’s Eve Party.  [ Read More ]

Mother of Tears Starring Asia Argento, Moran Atias, Daria Nicoladi, Valeria Cavalli and Udo Kier Produced by Medusa Film, Myriad Pictures, Opera Film Produzione Written by Jace Anderson, Dario Argento, Walter Fasano, Adam Gierasch and Simona Simonetti Directed by Dario Argento Score: Technical: 100, Story: 90, Acting: 90, Overall Score: 93 I have been waiting for this movie to come out ever since I heard it was written, and boy, it was worth the wait! The third installment in Argento’s Three Mothers series (Suspiria and Inferno are the other two), Mother of Tears was gory, suspenseful and, above all, a great movie! Sarah Mandy (Asia Argento) lives in Rome, studying  [ Read More ]

By Brian Corder Cast: Rhona Mitra, Malcolm McDowell, Craig Conway Original Release Date: 2008 Scores: technical: 90; story: 75; acting: 80; overall: 82 Directed by: Neil Marshall Every since I was a kid I’ve always been a fan of late 70′s and early 80′s action films, I loved films such as Escape from New York, Mad Max, The Warriors and the like, so “Doomsday” to me was a breath of long awaited fresh air. In the not so distant future the deadly virus known as the Reaper Virus has killed most of the residents of Scotland who have been quarantined since the outbreak. Twenty five years later, the virus has  [ Read More ]