Shelf Life: Alien 3
Posted on January 7th, 2011
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Excerpt: In addition to the ‘Back to the Future’ trilogy, last week saw the release of another hugely-important, geek-friendly franchise: the ‘Alien’ quadrilogy. Redubbed ‘The Alien Anthology’ for its Blu-ray iteration, the set offered not only all four of the ‘Alien’ films in remastered high definition, but included all of the extra content from previous releases as well as several hours of all-new material. But while these films superficially seemed perfect for at least one installment of this column, both ‘Alien’ and ‘Aliens’ are pretty much undisputed classics, even if I’m one of the few people border=”1″ hspace=”4″ vspace=”4″ alt=”" src=”http://www.movieonipod.com/wp-content/uploads/auto-save-image/2011/01/172343WTs.jpg”…
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‘Sucker Punch’ Preview: Three Reasons to Get Psyched About Zack Snyder’s Latest
Posted on January 7th, 2011
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Excerpt: Looking at the surface of Zack Snyder’s filmography, it’s easy to suggest that he’s a director with a lot of flash but not so much substance. All of his films thus far have originated from pre-existing texts, feature muscular visuals, and are primarily appealing as bombastic crowd pleasers. But if you’re willing to look deeper, all of them have more to say than the sum total of their technically-proficient parts: ‘Dawn of the Dead’ creates new suspense out of old tropes; ’300′ combines classical mythmaking with modern moviemaking; ‘Watchmen’ uses the façade of a superhero movie to make a sophisticated…
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‘Apollo 18′ vs. ‘Dark Moon’ – Attack of the Lunar Alien Movies!
Posted on January 7th, 2011
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Excerpt: ‘Apollo 18′ is the name of a screenplay written by newcomer Brian Miller that was just picked up by The Weinstein Company. Timur Bekmambetov, a man who probably holds some kind of world record for most film attachments, is height=”331″ id=”AOLVP_us_35320938001″ classid=”clsid:D27CDB6E-AE6D-11cf-96B8-444553540000″> When ‘Dark Moon’ was announced, it gave me a bit of a chuckle given the approach Osunsanmi took to ‘The Fourth Kind.’ Secret missions to the moon isn’t an inherently bad idea for a script, but in the hands of the director who brazenly bent over backwards to convince people that ‘The Fourth Kind’ was, at its…
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The Week In Geek: ‘Sucker Punch,’ ‘Cowboy Ninja Viking’ Take a Kitchen Sink Approach
Posted on January 7th, 2011
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Excerpt: Movies are becoming turducken. Not content to be just turkey, the turkey is stuffed with a duck. And that duck? Stuffed with roast chicken. Three meats, perfectly tasty in their own right, frankensteined together into a poultry monstrosity that is ever so slowly becoming an honest-to-goodness Holiday tradition. It’s overkill; to paraphrase ‘The Brak Show’ it’s “death by deliciosity.”When I first saw the trailer for Zack Snyder’s upcoming ‘Sucker Punch’ I thought it looked like a Pussycat Dolls’ music video, only with dragons. And samurai. And Nazis. And did I see a zombie in there? There’s a brand new trailer…
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Roland Emmerich’s Low-Budget ‘The Zone’ Is No More
Posted on January 7th, 2011
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Excerpt: Seems that one of the (many) upcoming “found footage” movies has become a casualty of a potentially overcrowded marketplace, and the director on the losing end of the equation is Roland Emmerich, a filmmaker who probably couldn’t open a catering truck for less than five million bucks.According to Heat Vision, the next several years will be filled with sci-fi films of the “found footage,” low-budget, or moon / invasion variety, and with titles like ‘Skyline’, ‘Dark Moon’, ‘Apollo 18′, ‘Super 8′ and others on the way, Columbia Pictures got cold feet and passed on Emmerich’s ‘The Zone’, which was scheduled…
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Scenes We Love: The Incredibles
Posted on January 7th, 2011
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Excerpt: Pixar Animation Studios has made 11 feature-length films in 15 years (not counting the in-production ‘Cars 2′ and ‘Monsters, Inc. 2′, scheduled for next summer and fall 2012, respectively, and a non-sequel, ‘Brave,’ set for a summer 2012 release), each, to varying degrees, created with an admirable combination of aesthetic/critical and commercial appeal, each sufficiently multi-layered to invite, maybe even demand repeat viewings. Despite an emphasis height=”268″ border=”1″ align=”right” width=”180″ vspace=”4″ alt=”" id=”vimage_3553467″ src=”http://www.movieonipod.com/wp-content/uploads/auto-save-image/2011/01/171300ho2.jpg” />In Bird’s take height=”298″>’The Incredibles’ might have multiple, conflicting, maybe even controversial themes (i.e., anti-egalitarianism, individualism, communitarian), but at heart, it’s a simple message, “The superhero…
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‘Skyline’ Review: When Aliens Attack … Eventually
Posted on January 7th, 2011
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Excerpt: By no means can it be assured that ‘Skyline,’ the new film from the Brothers Strause (of ‘Aliens vs. Predator: Requiem’ infamy), will defeat whatever piece of shoddy filmmaking is currently claiming the top spot vspace=”4″ border=”1″ align=”right” id=”vimage_3565105″ alt=”" src=”http://www.movieonipod.com/wp-content/uploads/auto-save-image/2011/01/171053Wf7.jpg” />The optimistic response here is that when it comes to an alien invasion movie, the humans don’t matter as much as the baddies. Any audience member intrigued enough by the trailers is going to be expecting a special effects-laden action extravaganza, and they’ll get the former (the effects are easily ‘Skyline’s most impressive asset) but not so much of…
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‘Battle: Los Angeles’ Trailers Invade the Internet (Awesomely)
Posted on January 7th, 2011
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Excerpt: Word from the midnight screenings of ‘Skyline’ was, er, mixed, to say the very least. The film’s defenders say it’s silly and disposable but tons of goofy fun while its detractors, like Cinematical’s own Peter Hall, have proclaimed it “barely worthy of basic cable” (read Peter’s full review here). Whether you liked ‘Skyline’ or not, we live in a wonderful world where we only have to wait until March to get the next Aliens Blast the Bejeezus Out of the Human Race motion picture, in the form of ‘Battle: Los Angeles,’ which finds a squad of Marines led by Aaron…
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Robot Actress Makes Her Debut in Japan (VIDEO)
Posted on January 7th, 2011
Japan is always finding new and fascinating ways to creep us out. Add to that list this fembot named Geminoid-F, who made her stage debut this week where she starred alongside real-life actors who shockingly say she lacks a “human presence.” While she’s probably the most life-like robot you’ve ever laid eyes height=”375″>
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The Week In Geek: Five Great Things About ‘Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Pt. 1′
Posted on January 7th, 2011
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Excerpt: For film fans, November 19 marks the beginning of the end of the ‘Harry Potter’ franchise with the release of ‘Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 1.’ We’ve traveled with the films, watching actor Daniel Radcliffe grow from a boy into a young man in the title role — ‘Potter’ being one of the few franchises (aside from ‘Star Trek’) where the aging of the characters has a direct impact border=”1″ vspace=”4″ src=”http://www.movieonipod.com/wp-content/uploads/auto-save-image/2011/01/170425iNc.jpg” alt=”" id=”vimage_3576319″ />5. The Atmosphere’Deathly Hallows’ is bleak. There’s a heavy sense of doom hanging over the entire film, and while one could easily label it…
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