Shinobu Yaguchi’s films always make me smile because they’re consistently fun to watch even if they don’t achieve everything they need to over the course of their running times. 1999’s romantic (and slightly black) comedy Adrenaline Drive does make the most of its hilarious plot and energetic cast although it takes a slight misstep later on with a very short burst of violence some viewers may find slightly sours the experience. On the other hand, given the character in question dishing out that brief bit of ouch time, it’s a sort of cathartic moment for him after all he’s been through… Continue reading →
Heh. So much for that trailer “leak”, huh? Thanks to movie poster site Imp Awards, we also JUST so happen to have not one, but two teaser posters (what, so SOON?), one of which gets broken up into EIGHT separate posters. Yeah, so much for suspense, huh? Eh, whatever. As I noted previously, this is how Marvel probably wants it from now on and it’s certainly NOT going to make people less likely to see Avengers 2: Age of Ultron or any other films Marvel whips out in the next few years.
Hmmmm… I wonder when this one comes out? Oh, right (heh)…
Well, for one, it’s HOT as you know what down there. Second, why bother when I can play in the hell that’s already up here. I choose not to because I like to sleep well at night. Wait, only The Bad Sleep Well… hmmmm. Anyway, this wild Japanese flick from director Sion Sono manages to reference Tarantino’s referencing of Asian cinema while also nodding and winking at assorted violent films from Man Bites Dog and even the wacky horror film Hausu. In other words, it’s a must see if you’re into this sort of thing.
I happen to really like crazy films such as this, so I’ll have to take this one for a spin. Of course, for something SO outrageous, I’ll hold out for the Blu-Ray/DVD version just because I despise rowdy film crowds these days because they make every film an audience participation event even if it doesn’t need to be one. Blech. Anyway, I’m betting a dollar that U.S. distributor Drafthouse Films has a winner with this one. Hell, it has nowhere to go but UP at this point, given that catchy title it’s got…
With a hashtag like #GETPROBED (Ouch!), that creepy as heck yet familiar in tone trailer below and some interesting casting (hey, I’ll watch Michael Ironside read cereal boxes for an hour and a half or so), The Vicious Brothers’ latest film looks like a modern version mix of 1980’s It Came Without Warning and a few other “B” movies I remember from back in the day. Of course, you can’t have an alien abduction flick without a nod to The X-Files, so it was amusing to see this film’s version of the Cigarette Smoking Man and a few other things. I’ll be checking this out for a review shortly, so stay tuned…
EXTRATERRESTRIAL will be released in U.S. theatres on Friday, November 21.
You know we’re screwed as a species when the wealthy ones start talking about packing up and moving to Mars with increasing fervor while failing to mention that, oh yeah – the poor people aren’t getting up there at all with their crime and diseases and lack of money and such. While it’s a wonderful idea to pick up and leave an old house and hoof it over to a new one if you can afford it, the truth of the matter is it’s not quite that simple. EVERYTHING on any planet that’s not Earth-like will need to be paid for and shipped from air to water to food to people to get things up and running so all of those things required for living can be manufactured on that new old planet. Relying on shipments from Earth once one is on Mars is pretty much the worst idea ever (well, next to thinking a trip to Mars isn’t going to cost a lot more money, time and lives than anyone can imagine should a single thing go wrong in transit), but I don’t expect to change the minds of those committed to this expensive errand.
Instead, I’d highly recommend those people determined to go (and those of us headed for the history books) to watch Rudolph Maté’s When Worlds Collide, the classic 1951 sci-fi drama produced by George Pal and based on the book by Philip Wylie and Edwin Balmer that’s somewhat dated on many fronts, but still packs quite a wallop in terms of its visual effects that probably sent plenty of paranoid theater-goers home to cower under the covers for a while despite the somewhat hopeful ending (well, for SOME lucky space travelers)… Continue reading →
November 7 is zooming up faster than I have time to think about it and with each new trailer, Interstellar is slooooowly nudging me closer to the door to maybe go and see it sooner than later. On the other hand, I’m supposed to be immune to marketing tactics (IMMUNE, I say!), so perhaps it’s my lack of proper rest this week that’s forcing my hard chocolate shell to finally crack?
(Thanks IGN!)
Eh, whatever. Nolan’s got what looks like a hit here, but I expect the usual suspects to hate on him and this film because they didn’t like something he’s done previously. Meh, I have less and less time for those jaded folk who have low opinions of creative people and not a single idea in their own heads because they tend to drag down even the simplest conversation with “Well, my friend says…” and “I didn’t see it, but I heard it’s…” as their constant mantra. BO-ring! Me, I’ll climb a damn mountain just to stop hearing that noise. Anyway, slap this flick on your radar and make some time to see it even if you hold out for the reviews like many do these days.
Currently, this one’s only part of a children’s film festival here in NYC, but I’m hoping it at least gets a limited release in regular theaters after that’s all said and done, as it’s quite lovely and yes, it’s Studio Ghibli doing some amazing animation work as usual. Check out the trailer below for some lovely visuals:
This is one of those films that NEEDS to be seen even if you know the classic story by heart. Let’s hope this gets more notice and that wider theatrical release before it pops up on Blu-Ray/DVD and people somehow forget it exists because it’s not being promoted outside of a niche audience. Oh, wait. OOPS. It IS getting a US release on October 17, so I guess I can see this after all and not have to deal with squealing kids, shushing parents and overpriced tickets. No wait, the tickets will still be overpriced, but one out of three is just fine by me…
Sure, it’s got that distressed Neil Blomkamp look going for it, a shaved head on Antonio Banderas (along with what looks like an inflatable trenchcoat, ha and ha) and that trailer above looks interesting yet derivative in a few ways. But I’m guessing that October 10 limited US release of AUTOMATA will be the true fortune teller. My own sensors detect a bit of Blade Runner (good), I Robot (bad) and a bunch of other films (which could get ugly if critics and sci-fi fans get picky). Eh, always trust the director, I say. Granted, I’d not heard of Gabe Ibáñez until today when someone asked if I’d seen the trailer, so I don’t know much about him a few seconds on a good search engine would cure. The again, I didn’t know who Alejandro Jodorowsky, Alfonso Cuarón, or Guillermo Del Toro were until I saw films they’d directed.
Still, as usual, I’ll more than save that ticket money and very likely wait around a bit and perhaps see this on cable in oh, about seven or eight months if it disappears from theaters in a hurry. Sometimes you get a hidden and under-appreciated gem in these types of films and sometimes it’s just an expensive clunker. But once in a while it’s a middle ground film that should have gotten more love but rolled over at the box office because of a film or films that were better and more widely advertised. Then again, after being burned by other sci-fi flicks too big for their britches, I prefer to roll the dice at home these days than be stuck in a theater wishing I could change the channel…
*(feel free to Google or whatever Rise of the Robots if you haven’t a clue as to what I meant. Oh wait, I did that for you – you’re welcome)…
At this point, I think anyone who’s committed to seeing Jupiter Ascending is in on this one like a free breakfast buffet at the Waldorf. Meanwhile, on the internet… it’s the usual online yappers and their complaints about everything from the casting to too much makeup on the characters. Good thing it’s a sci-fi flick and not a documentary, right? Anyway, this one has me curious despite some genre staples rearing their heads and a seemingly simple plot that from the trailers doesn’t seem all that complex. I’m gathering the Wachowskis have a few aces up their sleeves (as usual) and I’d bet a few of those griping may actually come around and be pleasantly surprised (or unpleasantly surprised) once all is said and done. It’s hard to say how the film will do once it’s released, but I don’t pay attention to box office anyway anymore. Popularity never really means a “good” film at all in my book. It’s more a barometer of what certain audiences automatically sheep out to see during those first two or three big weeks. Sometimes the smarter and stranger flicks don’t draw in crowds at all or at least until an audience sifts through (or pays no attention to) the reviews and finds them. As usual, we shall see what the future holds once it actually arrives…
If you’ve never seen The Doberman Gang, drop something and track this silly film down at some point. Sure, it’s a (mostly) family-geared gimmick flick about a bunch of smart dobermans trained by a somewhat smart guy to rob a bank and sure, if you’re a dog person, you’ll like this a lot more than if you’re not. But there’s a certain quirky energy to this one (partially thanks to Alan Silvestri’s bouncy score) that makes it purely enjoyable to a point that you may find yourself cheering these pooches on as they purloin cash-packed pouches and attempt to make good their escape… Continue reading →
Shinobu Yaguchi’s films always make me smile because they’re consistently fun to watch even if they don’t achieve everything they need to over the course of their running times. 1999’s romantic (and slightly black) comedy Adrenaline Drive does make the most of its hilarious plot and energetic cast although it takes a slight misstep later on with a very short burst of violence some viewers may find slightly sours the experience. On the other hand, given the character in question dishing out that brief bit of ouch time, it’s a sort of cathartic moment for him after all he’s been through… Continue reading 
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