Slight change of format this week as the film I am watching does not have a trailer. Their are a few clips from the film online, but they are both spoilerific and, well, gross. So I will not be offering up a trailer this week and instead will be giving you a jpeg of the original film poster! Considering the message of the film is that video will rot your brain and turn you into a callous killer you might want to think twice before you complain about the lack of a trailer.

My advice to anyone who isn’t a middle aged woman this week? Stay out of the multiplex. And if you happen to be a middle aged woman, please, try and limit the Cosmos to under a half dozen per screening of Sex and the City. Think of the rest of us who have to deal with you in the really real world.

That all being said their is finally a slate of good movies coming out this weekend. The Rape of Europa looks like a fascinating documentary on how the Nazi’s stole priceless works of art during World War II, and depending on how Hitler viewed the creator of the works, either hid them or destroyed them.

But my big recommendation goes to Tarsem’s The Fall. It is a relatively simple tale of a man and a young girl who are trying to find ways to waste time in a hospital while recuperating from injuries they have suffered. The visuals are spectacular, and the story has surprising depth. I don’t want to say too much, and hopefully I will have my review up over at Cinema Fusion sometime this weekend.

DVD selections are a bit more sparse. Semi-Pro is the big release, and its nice to see proof that release windows are shrinking even further with the Flawless DVD clocking in at around 2 months after its theatrical release. If only they would push good films through that quickly. But my DVD recommendation this week is a little known Japanese action film that looks both utterly ridiculous and completely stupid, Machine Girl. It’s kind of like Planet Terror but with a Japanese school girl and ninjas rather then zombies and Rose McGowan. It just screams guilty pleasure.

As always trailers are after the break!

(more…)

In honor of the new Indiana Jones movie I have decided to review a movie that is a blatant rip-off of the Indiana Jones franchise. Only I based this assumption solely on the cover design and nothing more. As it turns out, next weeks films has nothing to do with Indiana Jones, outside of having Kate Capshaw cast as the female lead. No word yet on whether she whines non stop about broken nails or 30 million bugs crawling all over her, but one can hope.

So I guess people are kind of excited for this new Steven Spielburg movie coming out this weekend. Who would have guessed that? But for some of us lucky few their is an alternative being shown this weekend, and no, I’m not talking about Uwe Boll’s ridiculous new film Postal. The alternative? OSS 117: Cairo, Nest of Spies, a James Bond style spy spoof that lampoons both that illustrious franchise and the movie making style of the 1950’s.

DVD releases are spares as usual this week. It’s saying something that Renny Harlin’s new direct to video film Cleaner is probably in the upper half of the releases, at least in terms of quality. Their are a few other semi-interesting Independent films getting released as well this week, with the critically acclaimed documentary Darfur Now and The Walker the most obvious. But the one that catches my eye is the documentary What Would Jesus Buy? A documentary on the controversial Reverend Billy, and his quest to convince Americans to stop shopping. What better way to honor his teachings then to buy the DVD?

As always trailers are after the break!

(more…)

So how does one follow up a film with Orson Welles playing a fat, vein knight? Why watching Peter O’Toole starring a film as a paranoid schizophrenic aristocrat named Jack Gurney who happens to think he is both God and Jesus Christ of course! But that isn’t all, after being forced to under go a radical form of electroshock therapy he starts to believe he is an altogether different, and far more sinister Jack.

Week 3 of the summer blockbuster season is upon us and all we have to watch this weekend is Prince Caspian, which I found totally odd. I know studios are a bit nervous to put up anything against it, seeing as how The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe was a massive hit. But doesn’t anyone counter program anymore? Sure, Prince Caspian is going to draw in billions of children and Christians in droves, but what about the dozens of us who have absolutely no interest in it? It doesn’t have to be a horror movie, or an action movie. Just anything but Prince Caspian. You know what have been great? If New Line had had any sense and held of The Golden Compass and put it up against Prince Caspain. The howls of rage from the Christian Right would have been worth the price of admission. Oh sweet, sweet schadenfreude.

Unfortunately the DVD releases are nothing if not worse. Pretty much crap (National Treasure 2) and more crap (Diary of the Dead) for the masses to wade through. Yuck. Thankfully their is at least one beacon of hope to be found, and it’s a big one. The Muppet Show Season 3.

As always trailers are after the break!

(more…)