Has anyone watched the movie trailer for The Haunting of Molly Hartley yet? It comes out on October 31, 2008, but, frankly, does it matter? This movie does not look good at all. The movie trailer is plagued with cliches, and, more importantly, it’s as boring as Hell. The lack of engaging music or even an attempt to do something clever with the presentation (think of the camera flash technique used to advertise The Texas Chainsaw Massacre) absolutely kills its chances at being successful. The entire plot is revealed in the two-minute trailer, which seems to drag on for five.
Seriously, I don’t even think Halloween can save this one.
Quentin Tarantino is an interesting fellow. Known for some of the most unique and ambitious films of the last two decades, Tarantino has directed some of the grittiest and most clever movies of recent memory. Word has been buzzing around the recent news of the arrival of Inglorious Bastards, a WWII film that has been floating around for years with no development news, et cetera. But just over the last month or so, it has been announced that Tarantino has completed the script and has recruited a fine bunch of actors – led by Brad Pitt – to helm the project.
Or has he? Word has it that Tarantino has actually not been working on his long anticipated Inglorious Bastards flick, and instead is in charge of the yet-to-be-named Austin Powers 4.Given the so-so results of the last Austin Powers film, and the decline in Mike Myers’ star power, Tarantino was brought on to give the franchise a much needed reimaginin, a la Casino Royale. Mike Myers is signed on once again to star as the dashing British hero, but there’s no word if Dr. Evil will return.
Of course, that last paragraph is bullshit. The real story is that Mike Myers has been cast in a small role for Inglorious Bastards. But that’s just not as interesting.
Just kidding… Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince will not be delayed that much, but to the horror of Harry Potter fans around the world, it was announced today that the movie would indeed be shifted from its November 2008 release date to Summer 2009 – July 17, 2009 to be exact.
Warner Brothers said it moved the film to take full advantage of its box office capabilities by releasing it in the summer, though frankly I’ve always regarded the November releases to be more successful. I can’t back that up with statistics, but according to today’s release, the last Harry Potter movie – which, in my opinion, was by far the worst of the franchise – was the second highest grosser, and it was released in the summer.
Reading between the lines, though, this release date push probably signifies production delays, perhaps from the various strikes and de facto strikes that have ravaged Hollywood over the last year. I can’t imagine that Warner Brothers would simply sit on a finished Harry Potter movie for eight months, as not only would it be denying them hundreds of millions of dollars, but would also be asking for piracy.
As a Harry Potter fan, however, I am hugely disappointed that the movie has been pushed back to 2009, especially since Warner Brothers had just started to whet our appetites with teaser trailers and the like. Word is that the planned November 2010 release of Part One of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows has not been affected by this delay.
With great reluctance, I offered to review The Scorpion King 2: Rise of a Warrior. A direct-to-DVD release, the action-thriller had very little going for it, but considering the fact that it’s “from the producers of The Mummy” and stars UFC champion Randy Couture, it had to be great, right? Wrong.
The Scorpion King 2: Rise of a Warrior is your pretty typical direct-to-DVD movie, which means it’s pretty damn bad. While the production values are decent enough for a film like this, you can tell from minute one that this movie was made simply to coincide with the theatrical release of The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor, though why it isn’t being released until August 19th is beyond me. Cash was in the mind of Universal Studios – not quality – and it shows throughout the film.
The movie features a young Mathayus (Michael Copon), the character who will grow up to be the Scorpion King as portrayed by Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson in The Mummy Returns and The Scorpion King. Long after his father is murdered by a ruthless king (Couture) who has magical powers, Mathayus grows up to be a great warrior and vows vengeance – though killing the king is going to be harder than first thought.
The acting is the first thing that clues you into the fact that you’re watching a cheap production. Copon is pretty bad, and Couture is especially painful to watch. Combined with the clunky screenplay, the actors are barely able to pull off a line without sounding like they’re reading from a teleprompter. Worse still is that the characters – especially Layla, played by the beautiful Karen David – spit out lines that sound like they were written for an MTV reality show; rather modern-sounding jokes and interchange really kill the mood, if there ever was one to begin with.
The action isn’t anything to scream about, and that’s assuming you have the patience to make it to the action. At an hour and 49 minutes, The Scorpion King 2 feels overly long, and while there are plenty of action sequences, they are all relatively small and unimpressive. I could only watch 20 minutes at a time before turning it off to shift my attention to something much more interesting, like preliminary trials in the Olympics.
Basically, there’s no love to be had for The Scorpion King 2: Rise of a Warrior. Despite the fact that it’s directed by the guy who did Highlander, the movie lacks action, excitement and, more importantly, quality.
What is the world coming to? It has been a crazy couple of weeks in the world, with some stunning sports developments, hideous murders, new wars and more. Not all of the news has been bad, but when it has, it hasn’t been crazy.
The Olympics kicked off on Friday in stunning fashion, with a spectacular opening ceremony by the Chinese. We all knew they were not to be outdone, and it may be some time before we see something as grandious as the $300-million production that featured countless fireworks, amazing video screens that seemed to come out of everywhere, artistic performances that would be unimaginable in any other part of the world (how many performers were there in the ceremonies, altogether?), and so on and so forth. I absolutely love the Olympics, and am happy they are here. It’s the only time I watch so many diverse sports and actually get into them all – I’m watching USA vs. Japan women’s volleyball, and the Japanese are looking good (against a supposedly better U.S. team). I’m actually looking forward to basketball (go Redeem Team!) despite my lack of general interest in the sport, as well as gymnastics and a variety of others. There are going to be hours of lost productivity over the next couple of weeks.
I try to watch the Olympics on CBC, the Canadian channel, rather than NBC, where they seem more content to bring up politics and conflict in a passive aggressive kind of way toward any country they choose to ridicule. Not too mention that they show less sports (on the main channel) and more commercials. Of course, it was classic seeing President Bush glance at his watch halfway through the opening ceremonies. seemingly bored out of his mind.
Of course, the Olympics have been scarred by a series of events, not exactly the seamless launch China was so desperately hoping for. In the days preceding, China was attacked by a small rebel force – a rarity for the country. Beyond that, though, they had little control over a seemingly deranged man stabbing the parents of a former U.S. Olympian just miles from the Games, killing one and seriously injuring the other before jumping to his death, or the suddenly profound Russian vs. Georgia war, where thousands have already died. So much for an Olympic truce, and the timing seems more like convenience than coincidental, as the Games have attracted so many heads of state to Beijing.
Beyond war, reporters have been busy the last few weeks, especially in North America. It was announced to day that Bernie Mac has died – while I was never a big fan of the comedian, it was definitely a bit of a shocker. While both Pineapple Express and Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants 2 beat out The Dark Knight on Wednesday, it looks like the Batman movie will once again conquer the weekend box office. More importantly, we’ve seen the mysterious Anthrax case that, in its outset, caused paranoia throughout the United States, to come to a close with the suicide of the FBI’s only suspect. Questions remain, but unless we’re looking at a major government cover up, the late scientist seems like he was a troubled man. Beyond that, Canada and the U.S. has been captivated by the absolutely disturbing stabbing/decapitation/cannibalizing of an innocent, random victim on a bus, by a man who no one – even his wife – would have predicted.
As I’ve said, it’s been a crazy couple of weeks in the world, and there were several other stories not mentioned here.
I watched the Rachel Getting Married movie trailer the other day. Pretty good, but not great. I’m starting to believe more and more that Anne Hathaway has potential to be a pretty good actress, but I still have a bit of trouble taking her seriously (even though she has had serious roles in the past, she is best known for “fluffier” films). Perhaps this indie role will help change my viewpoint.
Nevertheless, the movie trailer for Rachel Getting Married does not have me clamboring to get to theaters in October. There are some mildly funny bits, but the offputting outcast story has been done better to funnier results. The movie looks like it’s going to be more of a drama than a comedy, which is fine, but it seems like the studio thinks that there are more laughs then there actually are. That could spell trouble.
Here’s the Rachel Getting Married movie trailer for your perusal:
George Lucas, who doesn’t inspire much confidence these days after three so-so Star Wars prequels and an Indiana Jones movie that could have, should have, could have so easily been so much better, is on my good side for the day. While Indiana Jones 5 is still just an idea bouncing around in his head (who blames him, after the movie made $300 million), he had these words to say on the MTV Movie Blog:
“Indiana Jones is Indiana Jones. Harrison Ford IS Indiana Jones. If it was Mutt Williams it would be ‘Mutt Williams and the Search for Elvis’ or something.”
Personally, I think Indiana Jones 5 is a good idea. Yes, Kingdom of the Crystal Skull was not all that great, but it seems like it would be pretty easy – if Lucas actually looked at his original films and made something a little more realistic, a little more down to earth – to do a good Indiana Jones movie. And, considering that the last one wasn’t terrific, I’m actually hoping they do another one to wash the bad taste out of my mouth.
Of course, all of that is said with the condition that Harrison Ford is Indiana Jones. No one wants to see Shia LaBeouf’s character take over; that’d just be stupid. Harrison Ford is Indiana Jones, and if he won’t do another one, don’t do another movie. Twenty years down the line, I’m sure they’ll remake the films or something, but keep the main character Indiana Jones, not his bastard child (named Mutt of all things).
As for Indiana Jones 5, Lucas would only say, “We are looking for something for him to go after. They are very hard to find. It’s like archeology. It takes a huge amount of research to come up with something that will fit.” How about something not involving aliens.
Check out the all-new movie trailer for Madagascar: Escape 2 Africa. God, I hate it when “2″ is used in place of a word, but since it’s a kid’s movie I’ll let them get away with it.
With some truly big movies out this summer, most notably The Dark Knight, IMAX once again is the place to see movies. Or at least so I’ve been told.
I’ve actually never seen a “real” movie at the IMAX, i.e. a Hollywood production; the only IMAX movies I remember are the ones from my childhood, like Beavers and Everest. Those are all fine and good, but after missing movie after movie after movie on the big IMAX screen, I decided it was time to finally to make my move and hit up The Dark Knight on the lauded format.
The nearest IMAX is in downtown Seattle, about 25-30 minutes from where I live. Take parking and walking to the theater into account, it’s probably a 45-minute trip one-way. That being said, it doesn’t make much sense for me to spend my time and money to drive to the IMAX, buy my tickets at the box office, and return home. So, I did what I presume most people do when they decide to buy tickets to the IMAX – they go to the website.
Now, I hate ticket surcharges. It’s not necessarily the cost (though it is in this situation), but the principal of the matter. I understand perhaps a $1 fee here and there, as most ticket-sellers are essentially middle men and deserve to profit from being such. With Fandango, though, the per-ticket fee is not cheap, making it much more worthwhile to drive to the local theater and pick up the tickets myself. Actually, I just checked, and it’s only $1.25, but that’s per ticket, which means things add up quickly. Don’t even get me started on TicketMaster, which should be sued by the government a thousand times over.
Anyway, back to IMAX.
So I decide to go see The Dark Knight with a couple of friends. Two of whom I’m buying tickets for. I go to the site, select three tickets, which, understandably, are slightly more pricy at $10.75 a pop. That’s fine. But wait, what the fuck is this? A $3/ticket charge? Three fucking dollars per ticket? Are you fucking kidding me?
Now let me digress. Let’s say a company such as IMAX decides to build their own e-commerce system. I bet it could be made for $1,000, but for doubt’s sake, let’s say a system costs $100,000 to make, maintain and keep secure. At $3 per ticket, that means it would take 33,333 tickets sold before breaking even. The Seattle theater alone seats 405 people, which means 82 sold out showing. The Dark Knight has four showings a day, which means that it would take them 21 days of showing Batman to break even. We’re on day 18 of the film’s release, and almost all of the showings have been selling out.
In other words, assuming the ridiculously overpriced cost of $100,000, a one-time fee, it would take the IMAX just over three weeks of convenience charges to pay for their entire system. Even if they had to pay that every year – which they don’t – they would be immensely profitable. Of course, IMAX outsources their e-commerce, which means they pay a small fee for each ticket sold, but it’s probably like 25 cents, which means $2.75 extra profit per ticket.
Oh, and there’s also a $2 order charge to top everything off.
And IMAX is saving money because their “convenience” charge is not for us but for them, as they don’t have to pay people to manually sell tickets to us moviegoers.
Bottom line: I paid nearly $15 per ticket, and IMAX is making nearly $5 of pure profit off my transaction. Fucking scam if you ask me.
It’s been a long, long, long, long time since I saw the original Lost Boys, the Kiefer Sutherland/Corey Haim/Corey Feldman-starring vampire cult classic. I recall enjoying it and that it took place in Santa Clara, but considering that I was five when it was originally released, I never quite got on the Lost Boys bandwagon, or the “two Coreys” bandwagon for that matter. Nevertheless, Lost Boys: The Tribe arrived in stores last week with much more excitement than the typical direct-to-DVD release.
Lost Boys: The Tribe was speculated to mark the reunion of the two Coreys, Corey Haim and Corey Feldman, but due to scheduling restrictions/green card problems/falsified egos, Corey Haim never quite made it to set. Instead, we get a vampire sequel not distracted by two actors whose careers ended years ago, and for a direct-to-DVD release, it isn’t bad at all. In fact, with some improved special effects and a few tweaks here and there, the movie could have worked at the theatrical level.
Lost Boys: The Tribe is about two newcomers to south California, Chris and Nicole (Tad Hilgenbrink and Autumn Reeser), who have moved in with their aunt. Quickly lured in by the excitement of the area, Nicole finds herself seduced by a local surfer named Shane (Kiefer’s younger brother, Angus Sutherland) and Chris by a sexy vixen (Moneca Delain). Little do they know – at first – that both are vampires, and Shane the head vampire. With Nicole under his spell – but not completely cursed to a vampiric life until she kills her first victim – Chris finds it up to him and his newfound friend, Edgar the Vampire Hunter (Corey Feldman), to take down Shane and his band of goons. But to do so, he’ll have to risk his own humanity to get close enough.
The movie is littered with the little things that make up a direct-to-DVD release, including TV actors, washed up child stars, poor computer graphics and gimmicks like the casting of younger brothers of well-known actors whose careers were made in the original. That being said, all of those problems are rather minor. The stars of the movie are pretty good; nothing fabulous but much better than those found in typical releases such as this. While the computer effects are pretty weak, they only show up in a few places – and for the most part director P.J. Pesce relies on good old fashioned blood and guts, of which there is plenty. Where the film lacks in visuals, it makes up for in gore – a scene where a vampire’s entrails spill out onto a pool deck comes to mind.
Overall, Lost Boys: The Tribe is pretty entertaining, with some good action and hot women. Reeser looks great, and there is also a decent amount of nudity and sex. Hilgenbrink holds his own and makes a pretty good lead. As far as direct-to-DVD releases go, this is the cream of the crop.
The one problem I had with the movie? Corey Feldman. If there was anyone more out of place in a movie, it is Corey Feldman in Lost Boys: The Tribe. His acting is terrible here, as he attempts to play a withered old vampire slayer will still possessing the face of a 10-year old – and a froggy, gutteral voice. His performance just doesn’t fit with the rest of the movie.
Aside from a few flaws typical of a direct-to-DVD sequel, Lost Boys: The Tribe is a lot of fun. Recommended to those who want a different kind of vampire movie – or to relive The Lost Boys.
