Sam Raimi returns to the genre that put him on the map thirty years ago: the horror genre. Though now best known as the director of the Spider-Man trilogy, he has a special place in horror aficionado’s hearts for the dark-but-funny Evil Dead trilogy. And now, we get Drag Me to Hell, a hilarious throwback to the horror films of yesteryear.

Drag Me to Hell stars Alison Lohman as Christine Brown, a loan manager at a California bank, who, trying to cement a promotion to assistant manager, decides to make the tough call and deny an old gypsy woman another extension on her mortgage payment. In a fit of rage, the woman curses Christine, effectively damning her to Hell. Over the next three days, Christine begins to see and hear things and realizes she needs to do something in a hurry to avoid an unimaginable fate.

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The Hangover repeated its dominance at the box office this weekend, taking in another $33.4 million; the R-rated comedy is now on pace to rake in approximately $175 million, against a budget of $25-$35 million. The people behind Land of the Lost (biggest flop of the year?) and Terminator Salvation are shaking their heads in shame.

Up earned another $30 million, while The Taking of Pelham 1 2 3 debuted in third with an okay $25 million. Eddie Murphy’s Imagine That fell flat with only $5.7 million. (more…)

Alan Rickman, Bryan Greenberg, Shawn Hatosy, Mary Steenburgen, Bill Pulman, Eliza Dushku and Danny DeVito star in the edgy crime thriller Nobel Son, a surprisingly effective and twisting movie.

In Nobel Son, Rickman plays an obnoxiously cocky professor who has just been selected to receive the Nobel Prize. On the eve of the award ceremony, however, his son (Greenberg) is kidnapped and held for ransom by a young man with a grudge (Hatosy). But even after the ransom is paid and the son released, the con continues to play out.

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Moon, Duncan Jones’ directorial feature, is a rare sci-fi film in the vein of 2001: A Space Odyssey, Outland and Silent Running.  With an almost throwback, vintage set design and visuals, Moon chooses to focus almost entirely on the psychological aspects of living in space alone.  Sam Rockwell, perhaps one of only a few current actors who could play the lead role(s), excels as an employee on a three-year mission to man a power plant on the Moon.  At times on the verge of death and other times at the peak of physicality (often both in the same scene), Rockwell appears to be one of the few remaining method actors.  When he looks close to death, you believe it.

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The long-delayed and much anticipated Fanboys came to theaters earlier this year with little fanfare and promotion, confirming what was long suspected: it just isn’t that good. Now on DVD, more people have the chance to view mediocrity at its finest.

Fanboys stars Sam Huntington, Chris Marquette, Dan Fogler and Jay Baruchel as four friends and Star Wars fans who set out on a cross-country trip to break into Skywalker ranch and steal an early copy of Star Wars: Episode I: The Phantom Menace from the cold grip of George Lucas himself. Along the way, though, they encounter dangerous Trekkies, pimps and Native Americans that look a lot like Mexicans.

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Many times, second chances are not an option, but in the case of Ron Howard and Tom Hanks, the two were granted an golden opportunity to make amends for the dismal thriller The Da Vinci Code, which was a box office hit but, understandably, a critical dud. A fan of the book, the movie was dull, slowly paced and cheesy, and left my interest in a sequel, based on the Dan Brown book Angels & Demons, immensely low.

But Hollywood doesn’t look at the demand posed by one Erik Samdahl. If they would, they would have made Ender’s Game by now. But that’s an argument for another day, another time.

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Dustin Hoffman hasn’t done much of note in recent years, but he storms his way back onto the scene in a big way with Last Chance Harvey, a touching, mesmerizing romantic drama that also stars Emma Thompson.

Hoffman stars as the title character, a struggling ad musician who has traveled to London for his daughter’s wedding. Having grown apart from his daughter in recent years, he finds that he has very little to talk about with her, his family and everyone else, and when he does, he typically embarrasses himself. But on the day of the wedding, he learns that his daughter prefers to have her stepdad give her away – and that he’s been fired. As most would do, he hits the bars and forms an unlikely friendship with a standoffish woman named Kate. They spend the rest of the day together and a relationship is formed, but is what they have together real?

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Dakota Fanning headlines the controversial drama Hounddog, a movie best known for featuring a rape scene of the young actress. Directed by Deborah Kampmeier, Hounddog features strong acting and a good screenplay, but it fades in the end as it fails to get to the point.

Hounddog is about a young girl named Lewellen (Fanning), who has become quite independent over the years as her father (David Morse) skips town from time to time, effectively leaving her to fend for herself. One day, though, her dad is struck by lightning, turning him into a mental cripple. Aided by her grandmother, Lewellen takes to caring for him, even though her real aspirations are to meet Elvis. But in her desperation to get tickets, her innocence is stolen, her future apparently shattered.

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Ah,Wolverine. Where does one begin? This movie was just plain awful, and the more I think about it, the more I hate it. It’s sad when such a movie exists that I would rather watch X-Men 3 ten times over before seeing this stinker again, and X-Men 3 was no walk in the park.

X-Men Origins: Wolverine continues its downward slide, falling another 44% to earn $14.8 million this weekend. To put it another way, despite opening $10 million higher and a week earlier, its $151 million domestic box office take is only $4 million higher than that of Star Trek, and it will be surpassed and left in the dust midweek. Had Fox and Marvel actually devoted some time to make this movie good, this might not be happening. (more…)

I am finally venturing into the world of YouTube (the creation side, that is), so check out my first-ever video movie review below… I plan to get some better video editing software than Windows Movie Maker in the near future (am thinking Adobe Premiere, since I already know how to use it) and clearly need to improve some things, but with that in mind, comments welcome – both on my opinions of Star Trek and the video itself. (more…)