For the most part, when it comes to silly direct to DVD films in the U.S. and the film features a martial arts action star who once had silly but entertaining B action film in theatres, I pretty much have given up. But there is one exception, and that exception is Jean Claude Van Damme. I don’t know what it is with Van Damme’s DTV work; it always seems better quality in production than any of Dolph Lundgren and the Steven Seagal pictures. Unlike Lundgren or Seagal, Van Damme’s work seems to always have a rumor of going theatrical, but never does. Van Damme’s latest, The Shepherd: Border Patrol I think, was a hair of making that cut. (more…)
Archive for March, 2008
The Shepherd (2008)
Tuesday, March 18th, 2008Jerry Maguire (1996)
Tuesday, March 18th, 2008
Much as i’ve grown to dislike Tom Cruise over the past few years due to his ridiculous rants on television and his generally odd behaviour, it’s impossible to deny that he’s made some good movies. There’s the powerful A Few Good Men, and the moving Born on the Fourth of July, but Jerry Maguire is undoubtedly my favourite of his films. It may be considered sentimental by some viewers because it argues ‘love before money’, but nevertheless, it is a heart-warming movie that doesn’t disappoint from start to finish. It has an incredible soundtrack, a great plot, excellent performances and a wonderfully underplayed happy ending. (more…)
Trailer – WALL*E
Thursday, March 13th, 2008
The latest from Pixar is the tale of a lonesome, cutesy robot, whose sole task is to clean up an abandoned, rubbish-heaped planet Earth. Besides one or two minor slip-ups, Pixar are still the makers of the best family films money can buy. Toy Story, Monsters INC, Finding Nemo and The Incredibles are a hard act to follow, but they managed it with last year’s Ratatouille.
And Wall*E looks like it’s gonna be another gem. Click below to check out the oddly old-fashioned and genuinely heart-warming trailer. A must-see.
(courtesy Empire)
Review – There Will Be Blood (2007)
Thursday, March 13th, 2008
Shaun O’Connor
In a pre-Oscar interview, George Clooney intimated that “…there is no way Daniel Day Lewis won’t win. For me, it’s like being Hillary Clinton. If it weren’t for Barack Obama, it would have been a very good year.”
Not only was George correct in his Oscar prediction, he succinctly sums up anything that I could say in this review about Day-Lewis’ performance. Yup, it’s that good. So for the minute, let’s take a look at what else, if anything, is so great about this movie.
Earth (2007)
Tuesday, March 11th, 2008
If anyone would have told me a few years ago that nature documentaries would attract large cinema audiences I would have probably laughed in their face. March of the Penguins however proved me wrong, and so did Al Gore a year later with his environmental documentary An Inconvenient Truth. Earth covers some of the middle ground between those two movie, and although amazingly beautiful at times I thought it missed the mark somewhat.
(more…)
Cult Corner #1 – Escape from New York (1981)
Friday, March 7th, 2008Dave Corkery
Click below to listen to the first episode of the Cult Corner, a series which I’ve been doing on Spin FM’s We Love Movies.
You can download episodes of ‘We Love Movies’ here or listen live here every Sunday at 19.45 GMT.
Basically, what you’re in for is a chat about Escape from New York and why Snake Plissken kicks ass.
If you’ve got an idea for a cult film that you’d like Dave to cover, just let us know below (However, Ernest Goes to Camp does not count as a cult classic)
Next time: A Clockwork Orange (1971)
Top 10… Zombie Movies
Wednesday, March 5th, 2008by Richy Davies
From this list it seems frightfully apparent that most of time it is the actions of one stupid bugger that fucks it up for everybody else. So if you learn anything here, it’s that if you find yourself in a situation involving the undead, kill the bastard who you suspect is going to do something extremely stupid.
Released during the Italian exploitation craze of the 1980’s, Holocaust is the thinner budget production on the list and it shows. In the film a group of New York doctors become entangled in a war between cannibals and zombies on a remote East Indies Island. The fact that such an audacious cash-in as Zombie Holocaust was ever released guarantees its place in the list.
Best Line: The misleading tagline “Tonight the dead shall rise again!”
Best Moment: Dr Chandler introducing a zombie’s face to an outboard motor.
Review – Be Kind Rewind (2008)
Tuesday, March 4th, 2008
by Puptentacle
The trailer says it all really. A guy gets accidentally magnetised (as you do) and wipes the whole catalogue of a struggling VHS rental shop in Passaic, New Jersey. In order to keep the business ticking over and to conceal their blunder from the shop’s owner, Mike (Mos Def) and Jerry (Jack Black) need to replace the tapes. Of course, with limited funds and replacement tapes extremely scarce, the pair decide to remake the films using homemade props, inserting themselves as the stars. They soon discover a market for their make-and-do or “sweded” remakes (Ghostbusters, Robocop, Rush Hour 2, etc.) which could help save their humble store.
Trailer – Iron Man (2008)
Sunday, March 2nd, 2008
This time last year, when the heavyweights of Summer 2008 were being announced, few would have considered Iron Man much of a contender against the return of Batman and Indiana Jones. At least I didn’t. I never held much stock in this Marvel creation compared to X-Men and Spiderman and the likes.
But….
Starting with the initially bizarre but incredibly smart move of naming Swinger Jon Favreau as director and following one of the best casting moves ever by naming Robert Downey Jr. as the new Tony Stark, it was starting to look like Marvel’s first solo endeavour was full of the kind of risky, ballsy moves that give lazy studio execs nightmares.
Now, after taking a look at the trailer, it’s clear that their risks are paying off and Iron Man has now shot up my list of Summer hopefuls. Favreau is clearly keeping things light and comedic here, but in a cool way, not like the pantomimic comic-book laughs of the Fantastic Four, Daredevil and countless other Marvel misfires. Robert Downey Jr. comes across as slick and hilarious as ever and if you ask me, that man can do no wrong. Truly one of the greatest and coolest actors around, this role should do for his career what Jack Sparrow did for Mr. Depp.
So, it’s time to officially get excited about Iron Man. The dark horse of Summer 2008. Click below for the latest trailer in standard or HD, courtesy of IGN.
