Lampoon Just won’t Quit

Created on August 26th, 2008 by Mikey B

National Lampoon, you know, those guys that brought us some of the funniest films ever including ‘Animal House’ and ‘Christmas Vacation’ have really been digging a whole for themselves. I’m not sure if they’ve become too big for their britches, cough Lionsgate cough, but they’ve been distributing some real crap with their name attached. I’m looking at you ‘Cattle Call’. Here comes news, from the Hollywood Reporter of course, that there’s another film coming out for us to skip over entitled, ‘National Lampoon’s The Legend of Awesomest Maximus’. Now, I don’t know if it makes a difference that this is a “National Lampoon’s” title and not a “National Lampoon presents” film, but either way, I’d say their hey-days are gone. Read on for info on the upcoming comedy adventure.

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Harrelson versus Zombies

Created on August 26th, 2008 by Mikey B

Guess what? Guess what? You’ll never guess in a million years what we have coming up in the crap-shoot that is the Hollywood film machine. Give up? Another zombie movie? That’s right. Just as the mainstream flavor of 28 Weeks Later wore off like 5 minute old gum, and we haven’t had any particularly entertaining indie zombie film in a long time(well, ‘Zombie Strippers was pretty good, but that’s because it was so bad it was really funny, and before that I was shocked by how much I loved ‘Dead and Breakfast’), we get another pack of gum. So, toss those wrappers away, because the streets will be littered with the buggers in the upcoming, ‘Zombieland’. Read on for more info about this generically-titled ‘Shaun of the Dead’-sounding entry into one of my favorite genres.

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Elfman scores big for ‘The Wolfman’

Created on August 25th, 2008 by Mikey B

Looks like another key player has been added to the remake/re-imagining of Universal’s own ‘The Wolfman’. The guys over at Ain’t It Cool News posted that they received a call from Universal to announce the big news on their site (I want Universal to call me and tell me secrets). Anyway. The big guy himself, Danny Elfman will be delivering the goods for the upcoming film starring Benicio Del Toro. Read on for some more info.

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Astin, Weston and Foster are ‘Demoted’

Created on August 25th, 2008 by Mikey B

A trio of actors: Sean Astin, Celia Weston and Sara Foster have been added to star alone-side Michael Vartan and David Cross in the upcoming indie comedy flick, ‘Demoted’. Sounds good to me. I love David Cross, the mad makes everything in he’s in better than it should have been, and I’ll be damned if he wasn’t great as the never-nude in ‘Arrested Development’. Sean Astin, while no gigantic star has always been a solid performer, and carries his characters well. Anyway, read on to see what ‘Demoted’ is all about.

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Midnight Meat Train - LA Screening

Created on August 25th, 2008 by Mikey B

UPDATE

I was lucky enough to catch an LA premiere of Midnight Meat Train (thanks very much for the hook-up Morbid) at the Nuart Theater. Let me say that pulling up 15 minutes before the show the line was already around the side of the building and I had to park over 5 blocks from the main road. Shady. Read on for a little info on the night, and my super-short review.

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Son of Rambow (2007) DVD - KamuiX

Created on August 24th, 2008 by KamuiX

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Growing up in the 80’s, I was certainly a product of the video age. I was one of those “weird” kids that would rather spend the summer off from school going back-and-forth to the local mom-and-pop video store renting movies than go out and play in the backyard. Similarly during the school year, I’d rather come home and pop in a movie than play a sport or stay after school helping with an art program. I was also very much into writing up imaginative stories and wondering what they would be like if I had the ability to turn them into a film. So in that respect, I can definitely relate to Son of Rambow. What I can’t relate to however is growing up without being able to watch TV or movies, and only having my imagination to keep me company. I can only imagine then, once exposed to the stuff, how I would react. Son of Rambow nails that sense of discovery down pretty well.

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The Nightmare Before Christmas (1993) DVD

Created on August 24th, 2008 by Horrorholic

Note: this review was written by both Ianissimo and Horrorholic

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What can one really say about Tim Burton’s The Nightmare Before Christmas that isn’t common knowledge? the market is still maddeningly saturated with merchandise fifteen years later and it has been re-released numerous times now. It’s become one of those movies you have to say is cool if you want people to think you’re cool and everyone in America has already seen it and agrees that it’s a cool movie. Most of those people can’t actually tell you who directed the film though (Hint: it’s not the guy who’s name is in the title).

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Transportation Is A Precise Business

Created on August 23rd, 2008 by Horrorholic

With Jason Statham getting the insane amount of work he has been over the past few years, and with his latest film with Guy Ritchie, Revolver, being ignored by the masses because its been deemed incomprehensible (it isn’t), it was only a matter of time before he returned to the film series that introduced him as a headlining action star in America. And no, I’m not talking about Ghosts of Mars.

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Franco And Raimi Don’t Know Jack

Created on August 23rd, 2008 by Horrorholic

Sam Raimi, why can’t you just pick a damn movie to make already? You have five movies that are suppose to be your next project (or at the least, the one after that) and yet, you know what fans really want out of you. We’ve been waiting for it for years and you keep promising to go back and make it. And remake it (even though you technically already have when you made the sequel). Hell, you even told us your brother was coming up to write the script with you the weekend after Comic-Con. So, why can’t I just get some solid Evil Dead IV news? Would it kill you to quite screwing around with other people’s franchise and just screw around with your own?

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The Dark KryptoKnight?

Created on August 22nd, 2008 by ThreeOnAMeathook

Most people can agree that Superman’s latest outing was less than impressive. It was supposed to be an epicly amazing display of the quintessential superhero archetype. Brian Singer’s Superman Returns was…not.

Now, Jeff Robinov at Warner Bros says that he wants to give Superman an overhaul like the one given to Hulk except due to The Dark Knight’s popularity, he wants to paint it black.

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Smart People (2008) DVD

Created on August 22nd, 2008 by Horrorholic

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Most indie comedies seem to fit a certain criteria, incorporating the same sort of mellow singer/songwriter soundtrack and the quirky but identifiable (sometimes) characters that never rear their heads in the Hollywood system. Same goes for the reoccurring slate of actors who are on a rotating roster of sorts; people like Thomas Hayden Church, Sam Rockwell and the beloved by many, liked by few up-and-comer Ellen Page. Smart People doesn’t reinvent the indie wheel or try anything drastic with its formula but it manages to turn a premise about unlikable people into a likable movie.

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Night of the Seagulls (1975) - Mikey B

Created on August 22nd, 2008 by Mikey B

The final film in the Blind Dead series sure left me shaking my head. Night of the Seagulls has an awesome premise, a really nice set up, and you can tell a lot of love went into it. But, it feels like Amando de Ossorio was tired of the series and felt that he wanted to end it before he ran out of ideas. This is especially shown in the rushed ending, which although it makes sense, has the depth of a shallow grave. Tombs and Return were excellent heart-pounding films, and to a lesser extent The Ghost Galleon followed in their footsteps, but Night of the Seagulls plodded along to a whimpering finish, just like many of the girls in the film.

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