Zombieland (2009) Directed by Ruben Fleischer It’s been a couple of years since critics started calling the zombie trend dead and yet new films featuring our favourite brain gobbling monsters continue to fill theaters and draw crowds. Subgenres like the zom-rom-com have breathed a little life into things, but the question remains whether there are …
As a huge fan of Natural Born Killers and White Men Can’t Jump, I used to look forward to every Woody Harrelson movie. For awhile we were spoiled with excellent performances but in the past decade, I’ve been thoroughly disappointed with almost every role WH has signed up for. Well, believe it or not, you …
Surrogates 2009, USA Directed by Jonathan Mostow Written by Michael Ferris, John D. Brancato, Robert Venditti (graphic novel), Brett Weldele (graphic novel) Starring Bruce Willis, Radha Mitchell, Rosamund Pike, Ving Rhames The idea of creating an imaginary persona as a replacement for reality is nothing new, at least for those of us who try to …
Danny Trejo, known for his muscle bound tattooed body and chiselled bad looks, finally gets some real documentation to answer some of the questions audiences have been asking themselves for years. His countless appearances (something over 100 by now) in films and his reputation for tough guy characters, has earned him the well-deserved respect as …
BRONSON (cue “Digital Versicolor” by Glass Candy) While non-Americans win very few of the top acting awards at the Oscars, we see it happen from time to time (Daniel Day-Lewis, Roberto Benigni, etc). As a result, I’d love to see Tom Hardy, the English actor who brilliantly portrays Michael Gordon Pederson in Bronson, be considered …
With Al and Mariko out of town and Simon and Ricky preparing for TIFF, we decided to take it easy this week. In a special bonus show, Simon will be spinning music from the best soundtracks and scores of 2009. Enjoy! listen now Download the show in a new window Listen on I-Tunes RSS feeds …
Lars Von Trier is never one to shy away from controversy. In 1998, Zentropa was the first mainstream film company to produce hardcore pornography. Guess who it belongs to? Despite that highly interesting fact, that’s the closest you’ll ever see Von Trier’s name associated with the word “mainstream,” because nothing this man creates can ever be …
Mystery Team Directed by Dan Eckman After Derrick Comedy won America’s heart a few years back with their breakout youtube sensation, Bro Rape: A Newsline Investigative Report, the troupe could have easily faded into obscurity. They didn’t, as fans of funny online videos can attest, and instead they convinced somebody to bankroll a film in which they …
Valentino: The Last Emperor Directed by Matt Tyrnauer Valentino: The Last Emperor is like any fashion show – lavish, beautiful and entertaining, but with little depth. The documentary, directed by Vanity Fair’s Special Correspondent Matt Tyrnauer, attempts to work as a profile piece on Valentino Garavani, the now 77-year-old designer and head of the so-called …
Dr. Coolsex is a sketch comedy group based in New York City. Alex Charak, Dustin Drury, Ken Kosces, and Greg Murtha all met at The Upright Citizens Brigade Training Center while studying sketch and improv comedy. Individually some of their credits include “As The World Turns”, “Human Giant”, “Yo Mama!” and projects on Channel 101:NY. …
Post Grad 2009, USA Directed by Vicky Jensen Written by Kelly Fremon Starring Alexis Bledel, Zach Gilford, Michael Keaton, Jane Lynch 89 minutes, English When it comes to a critic’s personal biases and preferences, transparency is crucial. So, I’ll admit that I have a hard time with films about pretty people years younger than me …
Body Count: Volume 14 I was recently asked by Horrorblips to chime in on a debate subject that they occasionally ask of their busiest syndicated bloggers. Last time they asked me which of the summer’s horror movies I thought would perform best at the box office and I took the opportunity to slag on Rob …
Extract Directed by Mike Judge As both a cult hero and a criminally under-beloved comedic auteur, Mike Judge has had an interesting career. Both Beavis and Butt-head and King of the Hill have secured an incredibly loyal fanbase, with the latter managing to air for 13 seasons on Fox despite being endlessly clever and funny. …
Undertones: Volume 5 Removing the veneer of squeaky-clean suburban American life to reveal its seamy underbelly, David Lynch’s 1986 film, Blue Velvet, is a modern masterpiece and perhaps the most crystallized example of Lynch’s filmic vision. Concerned with the misadventure of a clean-cut teen called Jeffrey (Kyle MacLachlan) who upon discovering and subsequently investigating a …
The Dark Hour Directed by Elio Quiroga Any attempt to unearth hidden meaning behind Spain’s Sci-Fi thriller The Dark Hour would simply give it too much credit. While watching this film, it becomes glaringly obvious that writer-director Elio Quiroga heavily borrows visuals and themes from the Alien franchise, but fails miserably to evoke the same …
Black Dynamite Directed by Scott Sanders Although director Scott Sanders’ Black Dynamite is being touted as a brazen spoof of 70’s blaxploitation films, its tone is less ‘spoof ‘ than it is simply tongue-in-cheek. Yes, there are pimps, pushers, ho’s, nunchucks, polyester suits and 8-track tapes, but Sanders does not rely on these conventions to …
Trick ‘r Treat Directed by Michael Dougherty In an era of toothless, multiplex horror, being a fun, teen-friendly horror film almost seems like a dirty word. But that’s exactly what Michael Dougherty’s done with his feature debut, “Trick ‘r Treat”, and it’s really not such a bad thing. In fact, it’s a very good thing …
Generally speaking, I don’t like to be lectured. It brings back painful memories of my childhood, when my father would continually admonish me for being untidy, killing the family pets, and digging up my dead sister for Saturday night ‘dates.’ I especially dislike preaching about race relations, because ever since flipping past The O’Reilly Factor while channel surfing, I’ve become convinced that only communist agitators and terrorists complain about racism. But I’ll make a special exception for director Neill Blomkamp’s District 9, because it mixes its didactic moralizing with giant bugs and the mechanized body armour from Robot Jox.
The Warlords 2007, Hong Kong/China Directed by Peter Chan Written by Xu Lan, Chun Tin-Nam, Aubery Lam, Huang Jian Xin, Jojo Hui, He Jiping, Guo Jun Li, James Yuen Starring Jet Li, Andy Lau, Takeshi Kaneshiro, Xu Jinglei 127 minutes, English 35 mm Generally speaking, when an action star attempts a role that requires delivering …
AMC, creators of Mad Men, have just confirmed a deal to adapt the hit comic book The Walking Dead to the small screen. Director Frank Darabont (The Mist, Shawshank Redemption) has signed on to write and direct the TV series with rumors of some A-list actors on board. The Walking Dead was originally a monthly …
Dear Sick Girl, I’m not sure what made me fall in love you or why we came together, but I do know that I’ll never be the same because of you. People say there’s no such thing as love at first sight but after seeing you, I’d have to say people don’t really know much …
District 9 Directed by Neill Blomkamp Produced by Peter Jackson It can be debated whether the quintessential science fiction film has stood the test of time, but when it comes to aliens, they stand as a genre all on their own. The seventies brought us Alien (1979), the eighties brought us E.T. (1982) and the …
South Africa has been to hell and back during the past century. Famine, corruption, AIDS and the apartheid era have seriously hindered the country’s chances of becoming a serious player within the African continent. A few years ago, local director Neill Blomkamp produced a short film entitled Alive in Joburg, a 6-minute science fiction “documentary” that would eventually be expanded to become District 9. The aforementioned short was so well made that Peter Jackson commissioned Blomkamp to direct the ill-fated Halo movie, but when that project fell through, Jackson felt that his South African counterpart should have another shot at directing a full-length film.