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Thick as Thieves - The Code

2009-02-07T13:57:00.003-08:00

The Code is an upcoming crime/heist film directed by Mimi Leder and starring Morgan Freeman, Antonio Banderas and Radha Mitchell. It is currently in post-production and set to be released in April 2009.

The Code movie poster

A master thief recruits a notorious thief to help him steal two famous Faberge eggs from an impenetrable vault in an effort to pull off one final job and repay his debt to the Russian mob.

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Land of the Lost

2009-02-07T13:57:00.001-08:00

Land of the Lost is an upcoming American feature film based on the 1974 TV series Land of the Lost. The film is directed by Brad Silberling and stars Will Ferrell.

Land of the Lost movie poster

Production of the film began in March 2008. It was originally scheduled to be released on July 17, 2009 but the release date was pushed forward to June 5, 2009. The film follows “a disgraced paleontologist, his assistant, and a macho tour guide who find themselves in a strange, alternate world inhabited by dinosaurs, monkey people and reptilian Sleestaks.

Development of a feature film based on the show has been in talks at various studios since 1995. In 2002, Sony Pictures was working on a movie version, following the 2000 reversion to the Kroffts of adaptation rights previously bought by Disney as early as 1995. In April 2005, Universal Pictures acquired the adaptation rights and attached director Adam McKay and actor Will Ferrell, who had previously collaborated on Anchorman (2004), to the project. In May 2007, director Robert Rodriguez met with Universal to potentially direct the film adaptation of Land of the Lost. Rodriguez had also entered talks with Universal Pictures and Warner Bros. to film a live action film adaptation of The Jetsons. The director was uncertain which project he would pursue next, though the latest script draft for The Jetsons by Adam Goldberg was further along in development. In September 2007, director Brad Silberling was announced to be attached to direct the film adaptation, with Ferrell starring. The project was slated to begin production in March 2008 after reducing its budget from $125 million to $100 million, and wrapped up shooting at Universal Studios Hollywood. The first trailer was shown during Super Bowl XLIII.

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Fast & Furious

2009-02-07T13:56:00.003-08:00

Fast & Furious is the latest film in the The Fast and the Furious film series, the fourth produced but sequel to the first and second, and prequel to the third film.

Fast & Furious 2009 movie poster

As an interquel, the film is currently in post-production and is scheduled for release in the United States and Canada on April 3, 2009. The plot connects with the original film of the series from which Vin Diesel, Paul Walker, Michelle Rodriguez, and Jordana Brewster are reprising their roles. Tyrese Gibson and Sung Kang will reprise their roles from the second and third films, respectively.

Plot:

New Model. Original Parts.

Heading back to the streets where it all began, they rejoin Letty (Michelle Rodriguez) and Mia (Jordana Brewster) to blast muscle, tuner and exotic cars across Los Angeles and floor through the Mexican desert in the new high octane action-thriller.

When a crime brings them back to L.A., fugitive ex-con Dom Toretto reignites his feud with agent Brian O’Connor. As Brian is released from prison, he teams up with Dom to work with the feds to bring down a heroin importer by infiltrating his operation. But as they are forced to confront a shared enemy, Dom and Brian must give in to an uncertain new trust if they hope to outmaneuver him. And from convoy heists to precision tunnel crawls across international lines, two men will find the best way to get revenge: push the limits of what’s possible behind the wheel.

These cars can be expected in the movie as they appear in the two trailers.

Subaru Impreza WRX STI ‘08 Hatchback
Nissan Silvia S14 & S15
Cadillac Escalade Supercharged

Toyota Supra Twin Turbo
Nissan Skyline GT-R R32
BMW 5-series
Honda NSX

Ford RS200 Group B homologation model
Toyota Sprinter Trueno (AE86)
Buick Grand National
Honda Civic Si
Chevrolet Silverado Trophy Truck
Chevrolet Vega
Ford Probe GT
Dodge Charger R/T
Chevrolet Chevelle V6
Chevrolet Camaro F-Bomb
Hummer H1
Hummer H3 Supercharged
Ford Mustang GT

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Knowing

2009-02-07T13:56:00.001-08:00

Knowing is an upcoming 2009 action/thriller directed by Alex Proyas and starring Nicolas Cage. The project was originally attached to a number of directors under Columbia Pictures, but it was placed in turnaround and eventually picked up by Escape Artists.

Knowing movie poster

Production was financially backed by Summit Entertainment, which will also distribute the film. Knowing was filmed in Melbourne, Australia, using various locations to represent the film’s setting, Boston. The film is scheduled to be released on March 20, 2009.

In 1959, students of a newly opened elementary school are asked to draw pictures of what they envision the future to be. These pictures would be stored in a time capsule. One mysterious girl submits a sheet of paper filled with numbers.

Years later, Professor John Koestler (Cage) enrolls his son at that same elementary school. His son picks up the numbered sheet of paper and, without his teacher knowing, takes it home. Koestler decodes the numbers to find that it is a series of dates and casualty numbers. Every date listed that had passed was recorded to have a disaster occur, and Koestler predicts that the future dates are dates where more disasters will occur. He is soon proved correct when an airplane crashes into some powerlines and eighty-one people were reported to be killed–coincidently the same numbers on the sheet of paper. This leads Koestler to believe the world is ending, and that he and his son are somehow involved in the apocalypse.

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Monsters vs. Aliens

2009-02-07T13:55:00.001-08:00

Monsters vs. Aliens is an upcoming 2009 computer-animated 3-D feature film from DreamWorks Animation. The release date was moved up to prevent competition with James Cameron’s upcoming Avatar.

Monsters vs. Aliens movie poster

This will be the first computer animated movie which will be produced in real 3-D instead of converting the film into 3-D after it is finished, which will add $15 million extra to the film’s budget. The trailer was seen with the movie Madagascar: Escape 2 Africa. The film is scheduled for a March 27, 2009 release. The film is rated PG for “Sci-fi Action, Some Crude Humor, and Mild Language.”

Monsters vs. Aliens is starring the voices of Reese Witherspoon, Paul Rudd, Hugh Laurie, Seth Rogen, Will Arnett, Rainn Wilson, Stephen Colbert with Kiefer Sutherland and Jimmy Kimmel.

When California resident Susan Murphy (Reese Witherspoon) mysteriously grows to 49 ft 11 in, she is labelled a monster and captured by the military. She is remanded to an institution that houses other monsters: Dr. Cockroach, Ph.D., an insect-headed mad scientist (Hugh Laurie), the Missing Link, a thousands-of-years-old fish-man (Will Arnett), B.O.B., a gelatin-like, jolly, indestructible monster (Seth Rogen) and Insectosaurus, a fuzzy bug that stands at 350 feet tall, making even Susan look tiny by comparison. When a UFO lands and an alien overlord named Gallaxhar (Rainn Wilson) demands that Earth be given to them, General W.R. Monger (Kiefer Sutherland) suggests to the President (Stephen Colbert) that the monsters can provide the firepower to defeat the aliens.

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Funny People

2009-02-07T13:43:00.006-08:00

Funny People is an upcoming 2009 American comedy-drama film, written, co-produced, and directed by Judd Apatow, starring Adam Sandler and Seth Rogen as stand up comedians.

Funny People movie poster

According to Apatow, the movie is due out July 31st, 2009. Similar to Apatow’s previous films, the film would use both comedic and dramatic elements, though it will contain more of the latter. Funny People is in post-production as of January 2009. The film is a co-production between Happy Madison Productions and Apatow Productions. Universal Pictures and Columbia Pictures will co-finance the film, while Universal will distribute worldwide.

Plot:

George Simmons (Adam Sandler) is a very successful yet self-involved stand-up comedian who learns that he has an un-treatable blood disorder and is given less than a year to live. Ira Wright (Seth Rogen) is a struggling up-and-coming stand-up comedian who works at a deli and has yet to figure out his onstage persona. One thing these different men have in common is that neither of them has any close friends. One night, George takes notice of Ira when they perform at the same club and he hires him to be his semi-personal assistant and opening act at his performances. George and Ira form a close bond as George teaches Ira how to win the crowd and Ira helps the dying George find closure in his legacy.

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Fanboys

2009-02-07T13:43:00.005-08:00

Fanboys is a film directed by Kyle Newman and starring Sam Huntington, Chris Marquette, Dan Fogler, Jay Baruchel, and Kristen Bell. It will be released on February 6, 2009

Fanboys movie poster

Set in 1998, the story tells of a group of friends who, eager for the premiere of Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace - and because one of them is suffering from cancer and wishes to see the film before his death - decide to break into Skywalker Ranch and steal an early print of the film. A road trip begins as the friends encounter William Shatner, obsessed Trekkies, and bikers who make them undress for water.

After George Lucas was given an advanced screening of the rough cut of the film, he enjoyed it and gave it his “stamp of approval” and even offered the original Star Wars sound effects for use in the movie. Filmmaker and Star Wars fan Kevin Smith also viewed an early version of the film and asked for (and was given) a cameo in the film.

The film was originally to be released on August 17, 2007. The movie was pushed back once more to January 2008 because director Kyle Newman was given more funding to shoot additional scenes that the original budget did not include. Getting the cast back together would only be possible in September 2007, thus the movie’s release date had to be moved to 2008.

The movie was again pushed back because the reshoots could not take place before November/December 2007. These reshoots were directed by Steven Brill and not by Kyle Newman. On January 14, web blogger The CineManiac broke the story that the movie was being re-edited to remove the cancer plot from the movie and replace much of it with raunchy, vulgar humor.Ain’t It Cool News picked up the story and confirmed that the two different versions of the movie (with and without the cancer plot) were screened to different test audiences in Burbank, CA, in January 2008 to see which one would rate higher.As for a new release date, Director Kyle Newman stated in a Movie Geeks United! interview that the movie would hopefully come out in April 2008. Upon hearing about the changes being made to the movie, dedicated Star Wars fans united and started an internet campaign where fans rebel against the plot changes and demand that the original version that includes the cancer storyline be released in theaters.

Steven Brill retaliated in a derogatory manner, calling fans “loosers” in online correspondence which ended up in the public domain. In one exchange, Brill called a fan “dumb” and threatened to “hunt him down” in a profanity-laden emailed response to a letter of complaint. In a recent interviewNewman chastised Brill’s behavior saying:
A rough cut of the full film (that included the cancer storyline) was shown in public for the first time at Star Wars Celebration Europe on July 14, 2007. The screening was followed by a Q&A session with director Kyle Newman and received standing ovations.

On July 9, 2008, director Kyle Newman confirmed in a TheForce.net interview that the cancer plot will be included in the final cut of the movie.

“The motivation was stripped [out] of the movie so it was more like, ‘Hey, we’re drunk. You wanna go break into Skywalker ranch?’” said Newman of the adulterated version. “It ultimately didn’t work and that’s why it, I think, came back to us, the original team to at least restore it as much as we could in the time given.” Newman was given just 36 hour to reassemble his film, and edit back in the key motivational cancer plot line.

The final cut of the film was screened on July 24, 2008, in San Diego at Comic-Con. It was announced there that Fanboys would be released to theaters on September 19, 2008.^[18] On Sep 4, 2008 a new release date was announced: November 26, 2008. This was published on the official Weinstein Company website.The final release date is pushing back to February 6, 2009.

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Night at the Museum: Battle of the Smithsonian

2009-02-07T13:43:00.003-08:00

Night at the Museum: Battle of the Smithsonian is a 2009 American adventure comedy film. The film stars Ben Stiller, Dick Van Dyke, Robin Williams, Amy Adams, Owen Wilson, Rami Malek, Hank Azaria, Bill Hader, Ricky Gervais, Christopher Guest and Steve Coogan. It is set for release on May 22, 2009.

Night at the Museum: Battle of the Smithsonian movie poster

When the Museum of Natural History is closed for upgrades and renovations, the museum pieces are moved into federal storage at the famous Washington Museums. The centrepiece of the film will be bringing to life the Smithsonian Institution, which houses the world’s largest museum complex with more than 136 million items in its collections, ranging from the plane Amelia Earhart (Amy Adams) flew on her non-stop solo flight across the Atlantic and Al Capone’s rap sheet and mug shot to Dorothy’s ruby red slippers, Fonzie’s jacket from “Happy Days” and Archie Bunker’s lounge chair from “All in the Family.”

Writers Robert Ben Garant and Thomas Lennon have confirmed to Dark Horizons that they are writing a sequel to their hit Fox film, which was earlier tentatively titled Another Night at the Museum. The writers, who created Reno 911!, said that “there’ll be existing characters and plenty of new ones.”

20th Century Fox announced that the sequel, now titled Night at the Museum: Battle of the Smithsonian, is scheduled for a Memorial Day weekend release on May 22, 2009. Ben Stiller, Robin Williams, and Dick Van Dyke will return for the sequel, with Shawn Levy back in the director’s chair, and it will be the first major Hollywood feature to be filmed at the Smithsonian in Washington, D.C.. It is largely being filmed in Vancouver. Due to the nature of the complex story, more historical figures are expected to be involved, with Amelia Earhart, who will be portrayed by Academy Award nominee Amy Adams. A new villainous Pharaoh will be played by Hank Azaria who confirmed the return of Owen Wilson, Ricky Gervais, and Steve Coogan.

The film was confirmed as shooting a scene at the Lincoln Memorial on the night of May 21, 2008. It was also shooting a scene at the American Museum of Natural History in New York on the nights of the eighteenth and twentieth of August 2008 where a red airplane could be seen. The trailer was released with Bedtime Stories, Yes Man and Marley & Me in December 2008 and January 2009 with Bride Wars.

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State of Play

2009-02-07T13:43:00.001-08:00

State of Play is an upcoming American political thriller scheduled for release in 2009. It is a film adaptation of the critically acclaimed British television serial State of Play, which first aired on BBC One in 2003. It is directed by Kevin Macdonald and written by Matthew Michael Carnahan, Tony Gilroy, Peter Morgan, and Billy Ray. The film tells of a journalist’s probe into the suspicious death of a Congressman’s mistress.

State of Play movie poster

Russell Crowe plays the journalist and Ben Affleck plays the Congressman. Support comes from Helen Mirren, Jason Bateman, Robin Wright Penn, Rachel McAdams, and Jeff Daniels. The plot of the six hour mini-series has been condensed to fit two hours, and the location changed to Washington, D.C. Macdonald said State of Play would be informed by the films of the 1970s, and explore the topical subjects of journalistic independence and the relationship between politicians and the press.

The film is being produced by Working Title Films for Universal Pictures, which acquired the rights after they were subject to two bidding wars. Brad Pitt was to star in the role ultimately filled by Crowe, but he left the production after disagreements with the studio over the direction of script rewrites. Pitt’s departure led to the postponement of filming, which was originally scheduled to start in November 2007. The delay meant that Edward Norton could not play the role of the Congressman due to a scheduling conflict, and he was replaced by Affleck. Principal photography took place from January 11, 2008 to April 6, 2008 in Los Angeles and Washington D.C. State of Play was to be released in the United States towards the end of 2008, but the production delay saw the date changed to April 17, 2009.

The plot will be similar to that of the original six-hour program, retaining several main characters, but condensing and changing certain aspects to fit the two-hour format. The film is set in Washington, D.C. and tells of Stephen Collins (Affleck), a fast-rising United States Congressman with ambitions to become his party’s presidential candidate. This goal is threatened after his mistress (a former research assistant) is found dead in suspicious circumstances, while right-wing opponents to Collins’ campaign for social reform attempt to use the scandal to kill his political career. During a probe into a series of seemingly unrelated murders, Cal McCaffrey (Crowe), an investigative journalist and Collins’ former campaign manager, finds himself tasked with solving the case, becoming romantically involved with the Congressman’s estranged wife (Wright Penn) in the process.

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Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince

2009-02-07T13:42:00.002-08:00

Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince is an upcoming 2009 fantasy-adventure film, based on the novel by J. K. Rowling. It is the sixth film in the popular Harry Potter films series. David Yates, the director of the fifth film, Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, returned as director for this film. David Heyman and David Barron are producing the film,and Steve Kloves, writer of the first four films (but not the fifth), has returned as screenwriter for this film. Filming began on 24 September, 2007 and the film was originally planned for a UK and U.S. release on 21 November 2008, but on 14 August 2008, it was announced that the release date for the film was to be pushed back to 17 July 2009. Like the previous film, the sixth film will be simultaneously released in regular cinemas and IMAX 3-D.

Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince movie poster

Voldemort is tightening his grip on both the Muggle and wizarding worlds and Hogwarts is no longer the safe haven it once was. Harry suspects that dangers may even lie within the castle, but Dumbledore is more intent upon preparing him for the final battle that he knows is fast approaching. Together they work to find the key to unlock Voldemort’s defenses and, to this end, Dumbledore recruits his old friend and colleague, the well-connected and unsuspecting bon vivant Professor Horace Slughorn, whom he believes holds crucial information. Meanwhile, the students are under attack from a very different adversary as teenage hormones rage across the ramparts. Harry finds himself increasingly drawn to Ginny, and so is Dean Thomas. Lavender Brown has decided that Ron is the one for her, only she hasn’t counted on Romilda Vane’s chocolates. Then there’s Hermione, simpering with jealousy but determined not to show her feelings. As romance blossoms, one student remains aloof. He is determined to make his mark, albeit a dark one. Love is in the air, but tragedy lies ahead and Hogwarts may never be the same again.

Following a week of rehearsals, principal photography began on 24 September 2007 and ended on 17 May 2008. Before filming commenced, there was belief that filming may move from the UK, where all of the previous five films have been shot. This is North Scotland reported filming will take place in New Zealand, due to the “more agreeable economy and climate” and lack of Scottish funding. The Sunday Business Post in Ireland noted that the film’s producers and WB executives had been scouting there, specifically Leinster and Munster because they “believe they have now exhausted possible locations in Britain.” They are “particularly keen on Ireland, as the landscape is similar to Britain and will appear similar to the settings of the previous films.”The crew also scouted around Cape Wrath in Scotland, for use in the cave scene. Filming returned to Glen Coe and Glenfinnan, both which have appeared in the previous films, to preserve the continuity of the landscape.

On the weekend of 6 October 2007, the crew shot scenes involving the Hogwarts Express in the misty and dewy environment of Fort William, Scotland. A series of night scenes were filmed in the village of Lacock and the cloisters at Lacock Abbey for three nights starting 25 October 2007. Filming took place from 5 p.m. to 5 a.m. daily, and residents of the street were asked to black out their windows with dark blinds. On set reports indicated that the main scene filmed was Harry and Dumbledore’s visit to Slughorn’s house. Further filming took place in Surbiton railway station in October 2007, Gloucester Cathedral, where the first and second films were shot, in February 2008, and at the Millennium Bridge in London in March 2008.

Though Radcliffe, Gambon, and Broadbent started shooting in late September 2007, some other cast members started much later: Watson did not begin until December 2007, Grint did not begin until November 2007, Rickman until January 2008, and Bonham Carter until February 2008

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Taken

2009-02-07T13:42:00.001-08:00

Taken is a 2008 thriller/action film starring Liam Neeson, Famke Janssen, and Maggie Grace. It is directed by Pierre Morel and written & produced by Luc Besson.

Taken movie poster

The film follows an ex-CIA agent faced with recovering his daughter after she is kidnapped by sex-traffickers in Paris, France.

Bryan Mills (Liam Neeson) is a divorced, former paramilitary officer from the CIA’s famed Special Activities Division. His 17-year-old daughter Kim (Maggie Grace) lives with his ex-wife Lenore (Famke Janssen) and her new wealthy husband Stuart (Xander Berkeley). The nature and dispositions of the major characters are established early in the film: Kim is a happy, affectionate girl who loves horses and has aspirations of being a singer, while her mother maintains a frosty, somewhat antagonistic demeanour towards her ex-husband. Bryan’s skill and quick-thinking are demonstrated when he agrees to escort pop diva Sheerah (Holly Valance); the diva is attacked, but Bryan efficiently disables a knife-wielding assailant and gets her safely out of danger. Thankful, Sheerah expresses some interest in Bryan’s daughter and furnishes him with some contacts to get Kim’s career started.

The next day we discover that Kim wants to take a vacation in Europe with her friend Amanda (Katie Cassidy) to follow U2’s European tour. Kim’s mother has no objections, but Kim also needs permission from her father. Fearing that the over-protective Bryan will not consent, Kim pretends (with her mother’s implicit agreement) that they will only stay in Paris to visit museums. Reluctantly, Bryan agrees, and only discovers their real itinerary at the airport.

Arriving in Paris, a seemingly friendly young man named Peter (Nicolas Giraud) proposes to share a taxi with Kim and Amanda to the house where they are staying; the girls agree gladly. However, the man works for an Albanian criminal organization to which he reports the address out of earshot.

In the house, Kim receives a phone call from her father, which she answers in the bathroom. From the bathroom window she sees men entering the main room and abducting Amanda. Bryan is able to gain critical information about the kidnappers in the final moments after Kim is kidnapped by telling her to shout out everything about them that she notices. Briefly, Bryan talks to one of the kidnappers, warning him that unless Kim is released, he will pursue him and kill him; the kidnapper wishes him “good luck” before smashing the daughter’s phone.

Exploiting his contacts in the CIA and the business connections of his ex-wife’s husband, Bryan travels to Paris to find her, informed that the kidnappers are sex-slavers and that he has only 96 hours to recover his daughter before she will disappear forever. The particular kidnapper he talked to is revealed to be an Albanian named Marco.

Under the eye of Jean-Claude, himself a former operative and now deputy director of the French intelligence agency, Bryan pursues the kidnappers. He uses digital photos from the smashed remains of Kim’s phone to locate Peter, who is hit by a truck while trying to escape. By hassling prostitutes, Bryan gets himself threatened by an Albanian mobster, and is able to plant a covert listening device on him. With the help of a translator he discovers that the kidnappers have a brothel in a nearby construction site; before leaving, Bryan obtains an Albanian–English dictionary from the translator.

On arrival, Bryan acts like a customer; once inside he begins to search for Kim. Unfortunately, he finds only her jacket next to another woman. He is then discovered, and escapes under fire with the semi-conscious woman.

Nursing the girl back to health from an involuntary drug addiction, Bryan finds out where the kidnappers took her after she was abducted. Bryan heads to the address and poses as an official negotiating a new “rate” (i.e. a bribe) to overlook the illegal activities going on within. Before leaving he asks the apparent leader to translate from Albanian the words “good luck,” which confirms his identity as Marco; he quickly subdues Marco and kills most of the kidnappers. He searches for Kim, but instead finds Amanda, handcuffed to a bed and dead of a drug overdose. Later, through torturing Marco by electrocuting him through nails shoved into his thighs, Bryan ascertains that Kim was sold to a man named Patrice Saint-Clair. Righteously angered by this information, Bryan turns on the electricity one more time and leaves the worthless rapist to fry.

Bryan visits Jean-Claude’s home and chats amicably with his wife while she prepares dinner. Jean-Claude, however, failing to have Bryan arrested for the mess he has caused at Paris, brings his gun to the dinner table. Jean-Claude angrily points the gun at Bryan when accused of complicity in Kim’s abduction, but to no avail: Bryan unloaded it earlier. To demonstrate that he is serious, Bryan shoots Jean-Claude’s wife, who apparently did not know of Jean-Claude’s involvement in the abduction of Kim, in her arm and, by holding Jean-Claude’s family hostage, extracts Saint-Clair’s location from Jean-Claude.

By impersonating a police officer, Bryan gains entry to the building where new girls are being sold, and secures entry to one of the buyers’ viewing booths. When he sees his daughter being sold, he forces the client to bid for her, but is captured and knocked unconscious moments later. Saint-Clair then questions Bryan, who is hanging from the ceiling, about his identity before leaving his security guards to execute him. Bryan escapes and kills the guards before finding Saint-Clair, whom he kills after learning that his daughter is being taken by Arab clients. Bryan manages to follow the car his daughter is being taken in to see her being taken away on a large motorboat. He jumps on to the ship from a bridge and eliminates all the people inside, finally killing the client and freeing his daughter.

Back in the US, Kim is reunited with her mother. Bryan introduces Kim to the diva he saved at the beginning of the film, having arranged an audition with her vocal coach.

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Kristin Kreuk in Street Fighter

2009-02-07T13:41:00.006-08:00

Kristin Kreuk in Street Fighter

Kristin Laura Kreuk (born December 30, 1982) is a Canadian actress. She is known for her roles on the Canadian television series teen soap Edgemont and on the American television series Smallville in which she starred as Lana Lang.

Street Fighter: The Legend of Chun-Li is an upcoming film and the second live-action film based on the Street Fighter series of video games. It follows the quest of Street Fighter character Chun-Li, who will be portrayed by Smallville star Kristin Kreuk.

The story follows Chun Li’s personal history and her journey for justice. The film co-stars Neal McDonough as M. Bison, Chris Klein as Charlie, Michael Clarke Duncan as Balrog, and Black Eyed Peas singer Taboo as Vega.

Rick Yune was originally cast as Gen but has been replaced by Robin Shou, who portrayed Liu Kang in the Mortal Kombat films. The film is scheduled for release in February 27, 2009.

Read full Street Fighter: The Legend of Chun-Li review

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Street Fighter: The Legend of Chun-Li

2009-02-07T13:41:00.005-08:00

Street Fighter: The Legend of Chun-Li is an upcoming film and the second live-action film based on the Street Fighter series of video games.

Street Fighter: The Legend of Chun-Li movie poster

legend-of-chun-li-movie-poster It follows the quest of Street Fighter character Chun-Li, who will be portrayed by Smallville star Kristin Kreuk.The story follows Chun Li’s personal history and her journey for justice. The film co-stars Neal McDonough as M. Bison, Chris Klein as Charlie, Michael Clarke Duncan as Balrog, and Black Eyed Peas singer Taboo as Vega. Rick Yune was originally cast as Gen but has been replaced by Robin Shou, who portrayed Liu Kang in the Mortal Kombat films. The film is scheduled for release in February 27, 2009.

Cast

* Kristin Kreuk as Chun-Li
* Neal McDonough as M. Bison
* Chris Klein as Charlie Nash
* Michael Clarke Duncan as Balrog
* Taboo as Vega
* Robin Shou as Gen
* Moon Bloodgood as Detective Maya Sunee
* Edmund Chen as Huang, Chun-Li’s father
* Josie Ho as Cantana

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Underworld: Rise of the Lycans

2009-02-07T13:41:00.003-08:00

Underworld: Rise of the Lycans is the third installment in the Underworld series of films. It is a prequel to Underworld and Underworld: Evolution, covering the origins of some characters. Screen Gems released the film on January 23, 2009.

Underworld: Rise of the Lycans movie poster

The film tells the story of the origins of Lucian, who was the first werewolf able to take human form - to be called Lycans [derived from the word lycanthrope. Viktor, the ruthless king of the vampires, took him home after killing his werewolf mother in a raid. Viktor decides to create a race of werewolves who would be more sedate than the original breed, a viciously volatile kind that couldn’t revert back to human form. Viktor envisions a race of slaves for his vampire clan that, conceivably, could keep guard during the daytime hours and toil for the vampires. As Lucian grows up at Viktor’s home, his young daughter, Sonja, develops an attraction to the young Lycan, and Lucian becomes fond of Sonja as well.

It is revealed that Viktor has a tacit relationship with the human population of the area, whereupon he agreed to protect them from the wild werewolves that roam the countryside in exchange for a tithe. As a collection human nobles come to meet with the vampire council for protection from the werewolves in exchange for this aforementioned tithe, Sonja goes out to guard them. Lucian hears the Lycans near Sonja and steals a horse and sword from a nearby Death Dealer. Wild werewolves proceed to attack and kill the noble, causing Lucian to engage in a battle with them. When Lucian takes off his collar and changes into a Lycan in order to protect himself, the wild werewolves back down to his howl and leave before Lucian is shot down by Viktor’s men. Viktor, despite grudgingly acknowledging that Lucian saved his daughter, notes that Lucian still transgressed the laws of the coven by taking off the collar that kept him in check (by preventing him from changing into a Lycan) and feels betrayed by what he thinks of as his favorite pet. Subsequently, he locks Lucian away after having him whipped him thirty times with a three pronged chain-bladed whip.

Lucian escapes, kills several of the Vampires and begins to liberate the other Lycans from what he perceives as their unfair imprisonment. The guards are alerted and start to slaughter the Lycans. When Viktor discovers that Sonja has an illegal relationship with Lucian, he imprisons his daughter. Lucian learns about Sonja’s imprisonment and sets out to rescue her. On their way out they are attacked by the Death Dealers. Viktor is also involved in the chase and when it comes to the fight, it is Sonja who confronts Viktor. When Sonja discloses to him that she is pregnant with Lucian’s child, Viktor overpowers her with a knife to the throat and imprisons both her and Lucian with renewed hatred. Sonja is sentenced to death for her crime against the coven at a trial presided over by her father and the Council. After Sonja’s death, which Lucian is forced to bare witness to, Lucian attempts a further escape. Failing, he is able to verbally summon both the wild werewolves and the freed Lycans, who attack the coven and overwhelm it after a fierce battle.

Finally Lucian faces Viktor in a fight and they battle their way to the dungeons. The fight continues back and forth until Lucian knocks Viktor down a well. Lucian tears at chains hanging from above, making a hole in the roof and allowing sunlight in and cornering an enraged Viktor in the darkness. Viktor’s ‘final’ words attest to his regret at not having killed Lucian the moment he was born, to which Lucian sarcastically agrees before forcing his sword through Viktor’s mouth and head and letting the body fall into the water below. Lucian declares this victory as only the beginning of what will surely be a war between the races, one bred for slavery and the other born into privilege. In one of the closing scenes we see Tanis leading a very alive Viktor, who survived due to his status as an Elder, into a hibernation chamber on a boat.

The film ends with the opening scene of the first Underworld, with the audio from the scene where Kraven tells Selene that it was Viktor who murdered her family, rather than the Lycans. That Viktor spared her because she reminded him of Sonja, the daughter he condemned to death. The last word is played over the shot of her eyes: “Lies.”

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The Uninvited

2009-02-07T13:41:00.001-08:00

The Uninvited is a 2009 American remake of the 2003 South Korean horror film A Tale of Two Sisters. It is unrelated to another 2003 Korean horror film and a 1944 American film of the same name.

The Uninvited movie poster

Anna Rydell (Emily Browning) returns home to her father (David Strathairn) and sister, Alex (Arielle Kebbel), after spending time in the hospital following the tragic death of her mother (Maya Massar). Her recovery suffers a setback when she discovers her father has become engaged to her mother’s former nurse, Rachel (Elizabeth Banks). That night, Anna is visited by the ghost of her mother, who warns her of Rachel’s intentions. Together, Anna and Alex try to convince their father that his current fiancée is not who she appears to be.

Development

In 2002, producers Walter F. Parkes and Laurie MacDonald produced the hit horror thriller, The Ring, a groundbreaking remake of the Japanese film RING (Ringu, 1998) that signaled the start of a new trend in genre films – the thought-provoking thriller. They would subsequently produce the film’s successful sequel The Ring Two in 2005. Since first starting this new cycle of Asian horror film adaptations, Parkes and MacDonald searched for a project they felt was as ingeniously conceived and executed as The Ring, and finally found it when producer Roy Lee brought the original Korean hit movie on which The Uninvited is based to their attention.

As A Tale of Two Sisters was playing in US theaters, directors Tom and Charlie Guard acquired the English language remake rights. The Guard Brothers studied at Cambridge before launching careers as commercial and short film directors for such clients as Nokia, Euro Disney, PlayStation 2, and Xbox. The Korean remake is their first feature film.In June 2006, DreamWorks announced that a deal had been set up for the US version, Tale of Two Sisters (advance press materials drop the “A” from the English title). The new movie is a presentation of DreamWorks and Cold Spring Pictures (Disturbia), and is produced by Walter F. Parkes and Laurie MacDonald (The Ring, The Ring Two) and Roy Lee (nearly every Asian movie remake in recent memory). The screenplay was written by Craig Rosenberg (After the Sunset, Lost), Doug Miro and Carlo Bernard (The Great Raid).

In the early of 2008, the title needed to be changed. The working title was originally A Tale of Two Sisters like its predecessor, but the final title was confirmed to be The Uninvited in an announcement made in March.

The film was released to theaters on January 30, 2009.

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Get in Line for Coraline

2009-02-07T13:40:00.003-08:00

Get in Line for Coraline

Editor’s Note: In this review film critic Joe Strike gives us a sneak preview into the upcoming film Coraline which comes out on February 6th.

The moment we left Disneyland in 2003 my son regretted not buying the hoodie that was on sale in the Nightmare Before Christmas gift shop in the park – so much so that once we were back home I phoned the park and mail-ordered it for him. He wore the damn thing to death, then cut Jack Skellington out and sewed him onto a new hoodie, which he also proceeded to wear to death.

I’ve just seen Coraline – and I want the hoodie. The movie’s the third feature from stop-motion director Henry Selick, who first blew peoples’ minds with his early short Slow Bob in the Lower Dimensions:

Chockfull of dream imagery and dream logic, it follows Robert Potemkin (portrayed by a live actor), in ‘real life’ tormented by evil, stop-motion conjoined twin girls. But when summoned to a ‘lower dimension’ (and transported there by a quintet of telekinetic lizards) he becomes ‘Slow Bob,’ an animated cut-out who saves a community of snapshot people from an invasion of flying scissors.

In his first feature, Nightmare Before Christmas, skeletal Jack Skellington of Halloween Town invades Christmas Town and makes a royal mess of Santa’s holiday before setting things straight. In his second James and the Giant Peach, a young boy crawls into the heart of said fruit, turning into a stop motion replica of himself to travel across the ocean with a band of sentient insects.

In Coraline a plucky young girl (is there any other kind in these sort of stories?) discovers a tiny doorway in the creepy old house she and her parents have moved into. She crawls through the strange, almost organic tunnel behind the door and emerges into a magical mirror world, far more wonderful than the one she left behind – except for those creepy button eyes everyone has…

Travelling to lower dimensions… visiting secret towns… crawling into the heart of a magical fruit, or through what might be a birth canal into an alternate world…

Are you seeing a pattern here? A series of Alices in not-quite Wonderlands?

Sure, Nightmare, Peach and Coraline are based on the works of others (Burton, Dahl and Gaiman), but when the same person is drawn to, and works and reworks similar material – you’re dealing with an artist. He might be spending tens of millions of dollars of other peoples’ money to work through his obsessions, but he’s an artist nonetheless.

Burton co-directed The Corpse Bride with one of Selick’s animators; that film too took a trip to an underworld, the land of the dead – but it just didn’t have the same swing, the same zing as Selick’s work.

Selick’s grabbed the latest technology to return to one of the earliest stop motion variations: ‘replacement animation,’ a technique made famous by animator/director George Pal (who deserves to be ten times better known than he is today). Pal carved a variety of heads for his wooden puppets, a different one for each expression and replaced them frame by frame, giving his early ‘puppetoons’ an uncanny 3D reality that went unmatched until Pixar arrived some 50 years later:

Warning: Be prepared for some embarrassingly racist stereotypes from back in the day.

Selick has the advantage of digital technology that does the sculpting for him and compositing tools that hide whatever seams might otherwise be showing – but all that’s stuff for the DVD commentary track and bonus features. Just see the damn film: the magical stuff is breath-taking, the scary stuff is super-creepy (it’s PG, but leave the youngest young’uns home). Coraline is 2009’s first animated feature, but for my money (if I’d paid to see it, which I will the next time) it already has a lock on one of next year’s animated feature Oscar noms.

Joe is an occasional animation scripter and freelance NYC writer covering animation and sci-fi/fantasy entertainment. His work has appeared in the NY Daily News, Newsday, the New York Press and, as they used to say on Rocky and Bullwinkle, ‘a host of others.’ He is a regular contributor to the animation industry website awn.com, but it’s much easier to visit joestrike.com to see what he’s been up to lately.

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5 Famous Actors & The Roles They Turned Down

2009-02-07T13:40:00.001-08:00

Sean Connery wasn’t supposed to be James Bond. Keanu wasn’t supposed to be “the One.” So, who were the original choices? Here are 5 actors and the legendary roles they turned down.

THE ROLE: James Bond in Dr. No

WHO LET IT GET AWAY: Cary Grant. Despite being Bond producer Albert Broccoli’s best man, Grant said “I don’t” to the offer, and Sean Connery got the role instead. Of course, many studio executives objected to the decision, and even Bond creator Ian Fleming said Connery “wasn’t exactly what I had in mind.”
REGRETTABILITY METER: Low. By the 1960s, Cary Grant already had a spectacular film career. If he’d accepted the role (as Broccoli later revealed), it would’ve been just a one-movie deal.

THE ROLE: Neo in The Matrix

WHO LET IT GET AWAY: Will Smith turned it down to star in the forgettable action flick Wild Wild West, and the part went to Keanu Reeves.
REGRETTABILITY METER: Low. In an interview with Wired, Smith said, “I would have absolutely messed up The Matrix. At that point I wasn’t smart enough as an actor to let the movie be—whereas Keanu was.”

THE ROLE: Vincent Vega in Pulp Fiction

WHO LET IT GET AWAY: Michael Madsen, who was stuck in lengthy rehearsals for Wyatt Earp. John Travolta got the role instead and, almost overnight,
transformed from a Hollywood has-been into one of the most bankable stars in the business.
REGRETTABILITY METER: High. Madsen called Wyatt Earp “a big waste of time.”

THE ROLES: Sundance in Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, Jimmy “Popeye” Doyle in The French Connection, and Captain Benjamin Willard in Apocalypse Now.

WHO LET THEM GET AWAY: Steve McQueen.

REGRETTABILITY METER: Tragically high. McQueen turned down the role of Sundance simply because costar Paul Newman refused to give him top billing. Later, McQueen declined the lead in The French Connection because he felt the part was too similar to the tough cop he’d played in 1968’s Bullitt. Gene Hackman took the part and won an Oscar for it. And finally, in 1978, McQueen told Apocalypse Now director Francis Ford Coppola to shove off when he was offered the lead. McQueen’s non-negotiable asking price was $3 million; plus, he didn’t feel like spending four months shooting in the Philippine jungle. Instead, Martin Sheen landed the role, and despite suffering a heart attack during the stressful production, he gave one of cinema’s greatest performances.

THE ROLE: Gandalf in the Lord of the Rings trilogy

WHO LET IT GET AWAY: Sean Connery, who’d never read the J.R.R. Tolkien series and claimed he “didn’t understand the script.” (Can you say karma?)
REGRETTABILITY METER: High. In return for playing the role, New Line Cinema offered the Scottish actor up to 15 percent of worldwide box office receipts, which would have earned Connery more than any actor had ever been paid for a single role—as much as $400 million.

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The 27 Greatest Horror Comedies Ever Made

2009-02-07T13:39:00.003-08:00

Too often a horror movie fails so badly that the only redeeming qualities come from the few moments that make one laugh. That doesn’t make it a good movie though, does it? Intent is the ultimate key, does a filmmaker deliberately set out to make a comedic horror film, or is the humor the mere residue of awkward mishaps and poor execution? If it’s the latter; then a litany of films would extend out into infinity. Forget all that. We’re more interested in movies that are not only meant to simultaneously scare and make a person laugh, but the ones that are most effective in their power to do so. Here’s our list of the 27 all time best horror comedies.

#27: Fright Night
Year: 1985
As the apex of slasher horror struck the mid-80s, a refreshingly funny take on the vampire film called Fright Night came out. Director Tom Holland (Child’s Play) bases his story around a teen who can’t find anyone to believe that a vampire is living next door. He turns to a washed up horror film actor and vampire expert (Roddy McDowall) who now hosts a late night horror show called “Fright Night.” The first half of the film is more like a teen comedy, the latter half slipping into more sinister subjects with some gnarly make up and FX work by the squad that did the same for Ghostbusters. Aside from William Ragsdale as the teen Charley, who looks exactly like Dallas QB Tony Romo, the film features Chris Sarandon, Stephen Geoffreys, and a pre-Marcy Darcy Amanda Bearse. You add all that with a painful ’80s soundtrack and some smoked ham performances, Fright Night’s a good time out!

#26: Buffy the Vampire Slayer
Year: 1992
Okay, so the only scary thing here might be seeing an amputated Pee Wee Herman in long hair with a dirty goatee, but if for no other reason than its longevity, the film has to be mentioned. Joss Whedon’s story of a valley girl chosen to, well slay vampires, put him at the forefront of pop culture kitsch as a mega spin-off series enjoyed a seven year stint on the air. It’s interesting to note that the hit series was developed off of Whedon’s original film script, not the finished film itself. If nothing else, the flicks serves as a who’s who spotting game of up and coming talent where credits such as two time Oscar winner Hilary Swank’s film debut, a young David Arquette, and a pre-Milton Stephen Root can be seen. Look even harder and you can spot tiny cameos by Ben Affleck, Ricki Lake and Thomas Jane.

#25: Arachnophobia
Year: 1990
Tapping into many a person’s worst nightmare, Arachnophobia is extremely effective in combining horrific special FX with a brand of low key humor. The film, about a deadly strain of South American spider who hitches a ride to the U.S. in a coffin, does an admirable job of integrating real spiders with fake ones in undetectable fashion. The catcher’s mitt sized spider (a type of bird eating tarantula with 8″ leg span) nests in newly arrived doctor Ross Jennings’(Jeff Daniels) barn, mating until a nascent host of babies threatens their small California town. There’s some legitimate shiver inducing moments that tap right into the heart of such a ubiquitous phobia. The movie works well because it doesn’t have to try too hard to generate the scares, most of which handled with delicate humor and involving the always hilarious John Goodman as a local don’t-take-no-shit exterminator.

#24: Night of the Creeps
Year: 1986
Perhaps the most satirical and self-reflexive flick on our list, the criminally underappreciated Night of the Creeps has yet to even see a DVD release. Actually perhaps because of it’s esoteric nature, many people failed to realize the 2006 film Slither is shameless yet glorified remake, and not as funny. A breed of alien slugs slime their way into the mouth of human hosts, morphing them into mind altered zombies who know nothing but how to feed and reproduce. This lampoon has some solid FX and an even better sense of humor. The laconic Detective Ray Cameron (Tom Atkins) delivers well written lines with such little enthusiasm that you can’t help but a laugh, and a lot. Many of the principal actors are literally named after genre greats like Romero, Carpenter, Hooper, Landis, Cameron, Cronenberg and Raimi; poking fun at the horror world and doing so with some nifty spine tingling gross out sequences. Find this movie, or petition Tri-Star for a release if they’re still in business!

#23: The Lost Boys
Year: 1987
The ’80s cheese factor was never more palpable than in hit or miss director Joel Shumacher’s The Lost Boys. When a down trodden family moves to Santa Carla, a young clan of motorcycling blood suckers set out to consume the family and add them to their immortal way of life. But the oldest son Michael (Jason Patric), once semi-infected, bands his family together in a determined effort to rid the vampires for good. Along with funny turns by the two Coreys (Haim and Feldman), the film features Dianne Wiest, Edward Herrmann, Jamie Gertz, Kiefer Sutherland (in maybe his best film work), and a scene stealing performance by screen veteran Barnard Hughes as the crusty old hippy grandfather. While light on any substantial gore, the film struck a popular cord in audiences, catering to the MTV generation with its soundtrack and “in style” fashion sense.

#22: Basket Case
Year: 1982
With an ostensible wad of about 80 bucks, Basket Case is super low budget filmmaking at its most entertaining. With a perfectly pitch black comedy about a young country man named Duane who checks into a NY motel with a large basket and nothing else, this film is unquestionably one of the more outlandish on our list. For inside the basket lays the mutilated remains of his Siamese twin brother Belial, grossly bloodied, twisted, and still breathing. As revenge, Duane is hell bent on cutting down the doctors responsible for their separation. Directed by Frank Henelotter (Brain Damage, Frankenhooker, either of which could’ve also made the list), the film is sick and disturbing, completely off the wall in every way imaginable. The key is that a wry sense of humor is held intact throughout, never getting too extreme in its shock value. The film stars Kevin Van Hentenryck, Terri Susan Smith, Beverly Bonner and Robert Vogel. Not to be missed!

#21: Critters
Year: 1986
In what can be viewed as a b-side companion piece to Gremlins, director Stephen Herek (Bill and Ted’s Excellent Adventure, Don’t Tell Mom the Babysitter’s Dead) takes the violent comic gore up a notch with his first feature, Critters. Here, a rural farm land is ravaged by a faction of grubby little space beasts out to eat any and everything they can. A team headed by a first rate drunk includes local bounty hunter types seeing to it that the little bastards don’t overtake their land. You know for 1986, some decent puppet/animatronic work is on display. Silly, wild, full of energy, the film is a true joy to watch! Starring Dee Wallace, great character actor M. Emmett Walsh, B-movie stalwart Billy Zane and the always entertaining Lin Shaye, Critters is a worthy entry into the heart comic horror entertainment.

#20: Toxic Avenger
Year: 1985
The unequivocal banner Troma effort, Lloyd Kaufman gives us the geekiest-turned-badass-super-antihero in The Toxic Avenger. Melvin, an ultra-nerdy pool boy drools too hard over a hot blonde, and as a result is tossed out of a window, where he lands in a steaming vat of radioactive green sludge. He mutates, bulks up, and seeks revenge as a sort of demented alter ego to Bruce Banner’s Incredible Hulk. With not only vengeance on his mind, Toxie is honestly out to eradicate all evil doers, from street hoods to corporate fat cats. Dark comedy with low budget grit, there’s no wonder why this film spawned three sequels over two or so decades. Starring Mitch Cohen in the titular part, and Andree Maranda as the ditzy blinded blonde, and the hysterical Gary Schneider as a vehicular-man-slaughter-and-liking-it psychopath. Oh, and see if you can spot a young Marissa Tomei in a tiny cameo as she exits a shower. A must see all around!

#19: Tremors
Year: 1990
Tremors is a funny ass movie! Clearly an homage to 1950s sci-fi monster B-movies, the flick focuses on a band of tiny town desert natives who must ward off a host of gigantic worm-like creatures dwelling beneath the ground. It’s a throwback flick where the main characters never question the origin or culprit of their assailants. As soon as Val and Earl’s plans to leave town are foiled, and people begin mysteriously dying, they waste no time jumping right into combat with the “graboids.” Kevon Bacon and Fred Ward mix chemistry with camp cult humor and when you combine that with Michael Gross (of Family Ties fame, who would appear in 3 following sequels) as the NRA bound arsenal addict really puts this one over the top. Fast paced, action crammed, bloody, this picture is the poor man’s Jaws, only in the desert!

#18: The ‘burbs
Year: 1989
Horror vet Joe Dante’s twisted view of a paranoia plagued suburban neighborhood is nothing short of splendid. After the Klopecks, an oddly reclusive and despondent foreign family, take residence in the cryptic mansion at the end of their end of the block, a group of concerned friendlies band together to figure what the hell is going on. In the vein of an Invasion of the Body Snatchers, fear of the other is a breeding ground for hysteria, panic and horrific imagination. Before Tom Hanks was winning back to back Oscars, he co-starred in this film with Bruce Dern, Rick Ducommun, Corey Feldman and Cathy Fisher (Dern and Ducommun give indelible performances as a crude slob and an ex-military man out to prove the eerie family is indeed evil incarnate). One of my favorite all time films, it boasts some great dialogue and excellent casting with Henry Gibson, Dick Miller, Courtney Gains and Nicky Katt.

#17: Gremlins
Year: 1984
Easily Joe Dante’s most successful film also happens to be another horror comedy, Gremlins. The movie’s about a teen who as a gift receives an odd species of pet called a mogwai, and after neglecting the rules of its care, witnesses the spawning of a vicious litter of pint sized killer monsters that are out inhabit the quaint little town. Most of the humor is split between the cute looking but awkward mogwai, and the save brutality of the gremlins as they dispose all those in their path. Starring Zach Galligan, Hoyt Axton, Phoebe Cates, and a young Corey Feldman, it’s hard to imagine a comic horror list without this flick. Although co-responsible (along with Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom) for the inception of the deplorable PG-13 rating system, it’s not quite enough to keep Gremlins off our list.

#16: From Dusk Till Dawn
Year: 1996
Before Clooney was dropping girlies’ satins, he was busy staking bloodsucking fiends in the heart. Rodriguez and Tarantino’s “drive in” story of two bank robbing brothers on the run spins 180 degrees and lands in the vampire realm; where Seth (Clooney) and Ritchie (Tarantino) Gecko take a family hostage as way to sneak across the Mexican border. What awaits them is a violent, malicious, maddeningly funny take on a tired genre that’s been around since the dawn of cinema. Keitel delivers an unrecognizable performance as a moral man of faith mustering what he can to protect his family. Great round out casting includes legendary FX man Tom Savini as Sex Machine (shooting bullets from his crotch, nice ay ladies!) Fred Williamson (Black Caesar himself) as a tough talking bar biker, and Cheech Marin playing tri-roles. We can’t forget Juliette Lewis, or the smoke work of Salma Hayek as the exotic dancing vamp Satanico Pandemonium. Heat!

#15: Killer Klowns From Outer Space
Year: 1988
If this isn’t a cult movie, I don’t what is! While not particularly violent, Killer Klowns plays to that universal fear that haunt many across the globe, clowns. An unabashed B-movie with a paltry 2 million dollar budget mostly allocated to production costs, the directing Chiodo Brother’s constructed many of the evil clowns themselves. The film follows an alien mother ship landing on Earth, where a gaggle of clown looking extra terrestrials capture and contain as many human beings as possible. They store the humans in giant cotton candy pods, sucking fresh blood fuel from their bodies. Oh, and they reproduce by shooting pop corn guns, where kernels propagate into new aliens. This flick is really something odd, way beyond camp humor and the typical bloody fare that comprises the better part of this list. And the Dickies theme song fuc*ing rules!

#14: The Frighteners
Year: 1996
Before Peter Jackson was making three hour epics about little furry hill dwellers; he was sharply cutting his teeth in the horror genre. The Frighteners, starring one Alex P. Keaton (Michael J. Fox) as a con man claiming he can see and capture ghosts, might have gone unnoticed upon initial release. When Fox’s ruse backfires, strange supernatural dealings offer a little more than he bargained for (clients pay him to exorcise the ghosts he himself is in cahoots with). The flick is reminiscent of a live action cartoon chalked full of high energy and Fox’s slap stick comic timing. With a nifty score by gothic impresario Danny Elfman and superb visual effects, it’s pretty evident why Jackson’s subsequently become an A-list Hollywood director. Co-starring John Astin, Jefferey Combs, Dee Wallace and R. Lee Ermey, The Frighteners is a must see!

#13: From Beyond
Year: 1986
Stuart Gordon goes back to horror/sci-fi writer H.P. Lovecraft for inspiration in his follow up to Re-Animator, a film called From Beyond. Akin to a hellish acid trip, Jeffrey Combs returns to the role of a scientist (this time, Dr. Tillinghast) set to stimulate the brain’s pineal gland (the sixth sense). Foul ups ensue, and soon a dark otherworldly dimension is opened up, unleashing slimy little ghouls and an unmatched weirdness that stays with you long after its conclusion. The pace of the film races, never leaving you mired in dull moments; the splatter gore matched step for step by corny gross out humor that offers a funny look into the repressed desires of the characters. With Barbra Crampton back (Re-Animator), decked in some S&M leather, and first time Gordon collaborators Ken Foree, Ted Sorel, as well as the director’s wife Carolyn Purdy-Gordon, From Beyond exemplifies the best of warped comic horror madness.

#12: Cemetery Man
Year: 1994
Sadly, this is our only true European effort on the list, but Dellamorte Dellamore (Cemetery Man) is kick ass flick no less impressive than American counterparts. In fact, it’s cruel to think to say that American film companies would only fund and distribute this film if Matt Dillon were to play the lead role. He didn’t, Rupert Everett did, and thus the film remained for the most part Italian. It’s no coincidence then that it’s the closest thing resembling an art house film on our list. Cemetery Man is about a man named Francesco Dellamorte (the latter meaning love), who guards a grave yard in a town called Buffalora, where for no apparent reason, droves of undead beings rise from their tombs and threaten the living. Untamed and out of control, the film is pure comedy at its bloodiest. Italian splatter film actor Michele Soavi takes a turn on the other side of the camera, creating a beautiful color pallet and a moody atmosphere that shoots the film atop the all time zombie exports.

#11: Beetle Juice
Year: 1988
Tim Burton’s highly original, offbeat gothic exorcist Betelgeuse (Michael keaton) is not only one of the funniest we’ve seen before, but one of the most enduring. Out of a 92 minute running time, Betelgeuse only appears on screen for roughly 17 of those, truly making a lasting impression. The movie revolves around a happily married couple living the rustic life, who after dying in a car accident, seek the help of a crude and creepy exorcist to rid the stuck up, nouveau riche family that just moved into their house. Plenty of laughs here, notably the scene where Adam (Alec Baldwin) and Barbra (Geena Davis) first meet Betelgeuse inside the town model, where the ghostly ghoul tries his best to ingratiate himself to the couple. Keaton’s brilliant here, often citing this as his favorite of his own films. Sands worms, you hate ‘em, I hate ‘em myself!

#10: Texas Chainsaw Massacre 2
Year: 1986
After just a filthily disturbing second effort, director Tobe Hooper made a bold move by taking one of the most storied horror films ever, and putting a humorous spin on it. The Texas Chainsaw Massacre 2 is an uproarious satire with a pearl of a performance by Dennis Hopper as a semi-psychotic, weapon wielding mad man out to exact revenge on the cannibalistic family. See, it was his niece and nephew that were butchered to death in the first installment, and now he’s fu*king pissed! With a bloated budget this time around, Hooper adds almost surrealistic scenes with not only comic one liners, but ridiculous action sequences that can’t help but make one laugh. Take the opening bridge/car chase scene, or the climactic chainsaw battle for examples. Classic! Co-starring Caroline Williams, Jim Siedow (in his last film role), Bill Johnson, and horror mainstay Bill Moseley (Rob Zombie films etc.), this is not only a worthy sequel, but truly one of the funniest horror films to grace the big screen.

#9: An American Werewolf in London
Year: 1981
John Landis, a man responsible for some of the funniest comedies ever (Animal House, Blues Brothers, Trading Places), lends his lycanthropic tale to the old country, setting two American tourists smack dab in the middle. Griffin Dunne and David Naughton play the fish out of water foreigners, who after being mauled by a savage werewolf; can’t find any of the town folk to believe them. In fact, they won’t even admit such a beast exists. Good laughs with even better gore, this film ranks right atop the often tepid werewolf subgenre. Legendary make up man Rick Baker was awarded the very first Oscar in the category of make up, as this film forced the Academy to recognize what ground breaking work was being achieved. Even more trivial, every song in the soundtrack has the word “moon” in the title. Check it out!

#8: Shaun of the Dead
Year: 2004
A god damn breath of fresh air! Hilarious British imports Simon Pegg and Edgar Wright pump new life into the over saturated zombie subgenre with the side splitter, Shaun of the Dead. In fact, it inspired the much imitated RomComZom micro-genre, also known as the romantic comedy zombie film. Here, a bumbling ne’er-do-well must bust the hell out of a zombie horde overtaking London. With his overweight idiotic pal Ed (Nick Frost), Shaun (Pegg) does all he can to save his beloved, recent ex-girlfriend from the flesh starved walking corpses. A very well crafted movie, whose humor equals the quality of graphic gore that’s on display throughout. Multiple viewings are encouraged, as many many in jokes and references to horror icons like Romero, Landis, Bruce Campbell, etc. can go unnoticed the first time around. One of the best out there!

#7: Return of the Living Dead
Year: 1985
After an effluvial gas permeates a military canister and dissipates into the air, humans begin transmuting into brain hungry zombies. Far and away my own personal favorite zombie film of all time, it’s a shame writer/director Dan O’Bannon, responsible for inking the scripts to all six Alien pictures, Dead and Buried, and Total Recall, only directed one other movie aside from this one; The Resurrection in 1992. Because Return is a comic horror masterpiece! The reason it’s so funny is it never tries too hard to be so, most of the humor is played straight forward and dead pan. Not only has two of the best onscreen zombies ever (tarman and half a woman), but the flick has endless comic moments, from the nudist punk zombie chick named Trash, to the nasty Jheri curl mullet Miguel Nunez sports, or the half animated zombie dogs, you name it. Deliciously paced, and with over twenty years under it’s belt, the film holds up extremely well. Brains, brains, more braaaaains! Damn I love this picture.

#6: Young Frankenstein
Year: 1974
How can we conduct a comedy list with out throwing a tip of the cap to arguably the greatest living comedic mind around, Mel Brooks? We can’t, nor would we dream of it. Ingenious, irreverent, always re-inventive, Mel Brooks’ send up to one of the earliest cases of cinematic reanimation is no less a masterwork than any of his celebrated others. Dr. Frankenstein (Gene Wilder) inherits his grandfather’s castle and decides to retry the medical procedure of reviving of a laid out corpse. The process goes awry, and comedic hijinks ensue in one of the best spoof films of all time. Aside from Wilder, excellent turns by Madeline Kahn, Peter Boyle, Terri Garr and a stolen scene by Gene Hackman make this one of the all time great horror comedies. We’ll never hear “Puttin’ on the Ritz” in the same way ever again!

#5: Army of Darkness
Year: 1992
Alright, depending on one’s own taste, it’s quite a toss up for superiority between Evil Dead II and Army of Darkness. Continuing Ash’s story arc, Army catapults its hero into 1300 A.D. where in an attempt to seize the Necronomicon “Book of the Dead,” must kick medieval “deadite” zombie ass. If you thought Evil Dead II was over the top, Army flares up the zany almost cartoon like humor, especially when Ash is pitted against his own evil mirror image. Co-written by Raimi’s brother Ivan with a cameo by other brother Ted, the film is clearly one long fun in joke where everyone involved seems to be having the time of their lives, or deaths as it may appear. With appearances by Embeth Davidtz, Bridgette Fonda, Marcus Gilbert and Richard Grove, Army of Darkness is a sublime amalgam of blood, carnage and gut wrenching laughter that will keep crowds entertained for many a moon.

#4: Re-Animator
Year: 1985
Now we’re really getting somewhere, huh?!? Director Stuart Gordon’s loose adaptation of H.P. Lovecraft’s wicked tale, originally slated to be a simple Frankenstein parody, is indeed among the most uniquely original horror comedies in that it would set the template for decades to come. Jeffery Combs’ iconic role as nerdy Swiss physicist Herbert West, a man dedicated to the experimentation of bringing the dead back to life, is as funny a character as he is memorable. Re-Animator was unrated upon initial release, offering an ultra gory low brow sense of humor that would shock audiences beyond belief. I mean, when you see a severed head attempting to go down on a living female, your first inclination might be to check your water supply for some kind of hallucinogenic. Don’t bother! That and an ass load of other crazy, eye bugging scenes make this flick virtually untouchable.

#3: Dead Alive (AKA Brain Dead)
Year: 1992
Peter Jackson’s horror masterpiece is one of the most energetic, exorbitant, silly pieces of graphic gore ever committed to celluloid. In short, it’s BAD ASS! The film is about a man named Lionel who, after his mom dies, seeks the aide of his girlfriend Paquita to end a gruesome zombie takeover. With over 300 liters of fake blood for the final scene alone, it’s no wonder why vomit bags were passed out with every Swedish rental of the film (additional countries as well, no doubt). Arguably the bloodiest flick ever, any hardcore genre enthusiast would be remiss if they didn’t at least watch this film once, even if 6 showers are required after word. Seriously, there’s a lawnmower scene that spewed 500 gallons of fake blood per minute. Fu*kin’ gnarled! You mix that with a charming sense of absurdist slap stick, the result is a deserved top spot on our much revered compilation.

#2: Evil Dead II
Year: 1987
Sam Raimi’s follow up to his ground breaking first feature, Evil Dead II raises the comic bar up several notches. Bruce Campbell’s deified cult hero Ash has become an overwhelming favorite among horror fans across many generations. In this story, Ash continues to fight off flesh eating demons in the oddly mysterious and malevolent cabin in some of the most relentless, hyper kinetic action scenes ever witnessed in a horror film. With humor a first priority, Evil Dead II is a hilarious, high intensity blood bath that can be watched over and over again. Shot almost entirely in a junior high school gymnasium doubling for a forest, many cuts were necessary to ensure an R-rating, which explains the lot of black and green blood in certain scenes. Widely considered a remake of The Evil Dead, the opening scenes are mere re-creations of footage that could not be licensed as recapitulation of the first film. So no, it’s not a remake but instead one of the most ingenious horror sequels we’ve seen.

#1: Ghostbusters
Year: 1984
Ivan Rietman’s classic comic romp through the paranormal, Ghostbusters is easily one of the greater landmark films of this ilk. While tipping heavier on the side of comedy, there are certainly enough suspenseful scare tactics to keep the heart pumping. The opening apparition scene with librarian; or the refrigerator scenes with Zuul and Dana Barret come to immediate mind. With comic icons such as Billy Murray, Dan Aykroyd, Harold Ramis and Rick Moranis at the helm, this film is one of the few on our list that also garnered box office success, becoming one of the highest grossing films of 1984. Note that original roles were written for John Belushi (as Venkman), Eddie Murphy (as Winston) and John Candy (as Luis Tully). While it would’ve been interesting to see how those actors would have faired, this no doubt remains atop the heavyweight class of horror comedies. Shoot, I ain’t fraid a no ghosts!

SOURCE

Tags: horror movies, movie covers, movies, old movies

Watchmen

2009-02-07T13:39:00.001-08:00

Watchmen is an upcoming 2009 American superhero film that adapts Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons’ 1986 comic book limited series of the same name. Directed by Zack Snyder, the film adaptation stars Patrick Wilson, Jackie Earle Haley, Malin Akerman, Billy Crudup, Jeffrey Dean Morgan, Matthew Goode, Stephen McHattie and Carla Gugino.

Watchmen movie poster

Set in an alternate 1985, the film follows a group of former vigilantes as tensions heighten between the United States and the Soviet Union. The film began shooting in Vancouver in September 2007 for release on March 6, 2009. As with his previous film 300, Snyder closely modeled his storyboards on the comic, but he chose not to shoot all of Watchmen using chroma key and opted for more sets.

Following the series’ publication, the film adaptation was mired in development hell. Producer Lawrence Gordon began developing the project at 20th Century Fox and Warner Bros. with producer Joel Silver and director Terry Gilliam, the latter eventually deeming the complex novel unfilmable. During the 2000s, Gordon and Lloyd Levin collaborated with Universal Studios and Paramount Pictures to produce a script by David Hayter (who set it in modern times). Darren Aronofsky and Paul Greengrass were attached to Paramount’s project, before it was canceled over budget disputes. The project returned to Warner Bros., where Snyder was hired to direct (Paramount remained as international distributor). Fox sued Warner Bros. for copyright violation arising from Gordon’s failure to pay a buy-out in 1991, which enabled him to develop the film at the other studios. Fox and Warner Bros. settled this before the film’s release and Fox will receive a portion of the gross.

A DVD based on elements of the Watchmen universe will be released; it will include an animated adaptation of the comic Tales of the Black Freighter within the story, starring Gerard Butler, and the documentary Under the Hood, detailing the older generation of superheroes from the film’s back-story. An extended edition of the film, with Tales of the Black Freighter interspersed through the main storyline in a manner reminiscent of the comic, is forthcoming.

The story is set in an alternate 1985 where superheroes exist, Richard Nixon is still president, Vietnam was won by the South, and tensions between the United States and the Soviet Union are at an all-time high. The vigilante Rorschach (Jackie Earle Haley) is investigating the murder of a former hero, the Comedian (Jeffrey Dean Morgan), and uncovers a plot to discredit and murder various heroes. Rorschach discovers a far wider-ranging conspiracy involving his colleagues’ past which could completely change the course of history.

more Watchmen movie posters

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Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen

2009-02-07T13:38:00.002-08:00

Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen is an upcoming science fiction film due for release on June 26, 2009. It is the sequel to 2007’s Transformers, which was the first live action Transformers film.

Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen movie poster

Michael Bay and Steven Spielberg return respectively as director and executive producer, while Shia LaBeouf reprises the role of Sam Witwicky, the human caught in the war between Autobots and Decepticons. The film introduces many more robots and the scope has been expanded to numerous countries, the most important of which is Egypt.

The main hurdle in getting the film produced was overcoming the 2007–2008 Writers Guild of America strike, as well as possible strikes by the Directors Guild of America and the Screen Actors Guild. Bay met his shooting date with the help of previsualization and a scriptment by his writers Roberto Orci, Alex Kurtzman, and series newcomer Ehren Kruger. Shooting from May to November 2008 predominantly took place in the United States, including the majority of scenes set in outside countries, a minimum of which was conducted in those actual nations.

IMDB Synopsis:

The battle for Earth has ended but the battle for the universe has just begun. After returning to Cybertron, Starscream assumes command of the Decepticons, and has decided to return to Earth with force. The Autobots believing that peace was possible finds out that Megatron’s dead body has been stolen from the US Military by Skorpinox and revives him using his own spark. Now Megatron is back seeking revenge and with Starscream and more Decepticon reinforcements on the way, the Autobots with reinforcements of their own, may have more to deal with then meets the eye.

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Friday the 13th 2009

2009-02-07T13:38:00.001-08:00

In January 2007, producers Andrew Form and Brad Fuller outlined their intended goal to bring the remake to life. Fuller and Form were approached by New Line to create a remake, but because Paramount still owned certain copyrights to the first film the remake would not be able to use anything from the original.

Friday the 13th (2009) Movie poster

Paramount, who wanted to be included in the remake, approached the producers and gave them license to use anything from the original films, including the title.

With Paramount on board, Fuller and Form decided they wanted to use pieces from each of the first three films. Fuller stated, “I think there are moments we want to address, like how does the hockey mask happen. It’ll happen differently in our movie than in the third one.Where is Jason from, why do these killings happen, and what is Crystal Lake?”

Damian Shannon and Mark Swift, writers of Freddy vs. Jason, were announced in October 2007 to have been hired to pen a script for the film. The film is reported to focus on Jason Voorhees, and that he will keep his trademark hockey mask.

The film is being produced by Michael Bay, Andrew Form, and Brad Fuller through Bay’s production company Platinum Dunes, for New Line Cinema.

Director Jonathan Liebesman was originally in negotiations to direct the remake in February 2006, but was replaced by Marcus Nispel, director of The Texas Chainsaw Massacre remake of 2003, in November 2007.

Confessions of a Shopaholic

2009-02-07T13:37:00.004-08:00

Confessions of a Shopaholic is an upcoming 2009 film adaptation of the novels The Secret Dreamworld of a Shopaholic (Confessions of a Shopaholic in US) and Shopaholic Abroad (Shopaholic takes Manhattan in US)by British chick lit author Sophie Kinsella, using the novel’s American title Confessions of a Shopaholic. It is directed by P. J. Hogan and stars Isla Fisher as the central character, Rebecca Bloomwood. It is set to be released on February 13, 2009

Confessions of a Shopaholic movie poster

Plot

A college grad named Rebecca Bloomwood (Isla Fisher) moves to Manhattan to nurture her shopping addiction and get involved in the New York magazine world. Though she is up to her neck in debt, Rebecca becomes a financial advice columnist and even manages to fall for a wealthy entrepreneur.

Cast

Isla Fisher as Rebecca Bloomwood
Hugh Dancy as Luke Brandon
Krysten Ritter as Suze
John Goodman as Rebecca’s father (Graham)
Joan Cusack as Rebecca’s mother (Jane)
John Lithgow as a publishing magnate
Kristin Scott Thomas as a magazine editor
Leslie Bibb as a fashion magazine staffer
Lynn Redgrave as a doyenne of a publishing empire
Julie Hagerty as a business magazine assistant
Nicole Richie as Valerie Casey

Tags: Confessions of a Shopaholic movie, Confessions of a Shopaholic movie cover, Confessions of a Shopaholic movie overview, Confessions of a Shopaholic movie poster, Confessions of a Shopaholic movie review, now in theatre, Upcoming Movies

Coraline

2009-02-07T13:37:00.003-08:00

Coraline is a horror novella by British author Neil Gaiman, published in 2002 by Bloomsbury and Harper Collins. It was awarded the 2003 Hugo Award for Best Novella, the 2003 Nebula Award for Best Novella, and the 2002 Bram Stoker Award for Best Work for Young Readers. It has been compared to Lewis Carroll’s Alice in Wonderland because of its surrealism and plot based in an alternate-reality.

Coraline movie poster

Having recently moved into a new apartment with her loving but distracted and preoccupied parents, Coraline finds herself bored one rainy day and, upon her father’s suggestion, decides to explore the flat. She finds a locked door in the drawing room, which her mother opens and explains once led to the flat next door but was bricked up when the building (which was once a single house) was separated into apartments. That night, Coraline hears a strange noise and the door, which was previously closed by her mother, is slightly open.

The next day she takes the key to the door and opens it to find, instead of a brick wall, a dark corridor which leads to another apartment, seemingly a copy of her own. This alternate world is inhabited by her Other Mother and Other Father, who are almost exact physical duplicates of her real parents. The only difference: a pair of black buttons sewn in place of their eyes. These Other parents seem at first to be more interesting, and more caring duplicates of her real parents, particularly her Other Mother, who seems intent on keeping Coraline happy. Coraline spends a pleasant day exploring this alternate world, making the acquaintance of a rather self-centered black cat that can actually speak, and visiting her neighbors, all of whom have been changed into more eerie versions of themselves. At the day’s end, Coraline is met on her way to the door by her Other Mother, who offers her a chance to stay in this world forever if only Coraline is willing to do one thing: sew buttons on her eyes. Coraline decides she’d rather go home, much to the disappointment of her Other Mother.

Upon her return to her flat, Coraline waits in vain for her real parents to return, but after a day passes without any sign, she suddenly sees them reflected in a hallway mirror, upon which her mother quickly breathes and writes “Help Us” backwards before vanishing. Coraline knows instantly her parents have been kidnapped by her Other Mother, and resolves to rescue them. With a special stone given to her by her neighbors, travels once more to the Other Mother’s world. After angering her Other Mother by refusing to accept any gifts or love, she is taken to a mirror in the hall and pushed through into a tiny room. While in the room, Coraline meets the souls of three other children from different times whom the Other Mother has tired of. Coraline promises to free them, and is told to look through the stone that she brought, which has a small hole in its middle.

The next day, Coraline is freed from her prison behind the mirror. She makes a deal with her Other Mother: If she can find the children’s souls and her parents, then they can all go home, but if she doesn’t she will have to stay forever. The Other Mother agrees and swears on her right hand. With the help of the cat, Coraline uses the stone to find the children’s souls. She discovers that the souls are trapped inside grey marbles that glow in bright colors when seen through the stone. Coraline and the cat, whom Coraline has promised to rescue as well, confront her Other Mother and Coraline pretends to guess falsely that her real parents are trapped in the corridor between the two flats. When the Other Mother opens the locked door to prove that she’s wrong, Coraline throws the cat in the other mother’s face. Coraline and the black cat escape with the souls, the key to the door, and her parents. Coraline reaches her flat, and finds that her parents have been restored to their usual, boring selves.

The next night, Coraline discovers that her task is not yet done. The Other Mother sends her right hand to retrieve the black key that opens the door, which Coraline carries on a string. The hand was left in Coraline’s world during her escape, as it was severed when Coraline forced the door closed on the Other Mother. The hand tries several times to steal the key from her, but Coraline uses the key to lure the hand to a mile-and-a-half deep well on the property and tricks it into falling in, ridding the world of the danger of the Other Mother forever.

Tags: Coraline, Coraline movei cover, Coraline movie, Coraline movie overview, Coraline movie poster, Coraline movie review, top movies, Upcoming Movies

The International

2009-02-07T13:37:00.001-08:00

The International is an upcoming American action-drama film directed by Tom Tykwer and starring Clive Owen and Naomi Watts. The film follows a pair that investigates corruption within a banking institution. Production began in Berlin in September 2007. The International is slated to be released in North America on February 13, 2009. The film will open the 2009 Berlin International Film Festival on February 5.

The International movie poster

Plot

Interpol agent Louis Salinger (Clive Owen) and Manhattan Assistant District Attorney Eleanor Whitman (Naomi Watts) are determined to bring to justice one of the world’s most powerful banks. Uncovering illegal activities including money laundering, arms trading, and the destabilization of governments, Salinger and Whitman’s investigation takes them from Berlin to Milan to New York City to Istanbul. Finding themselves in a high-stakes chase across the globe, the bank will stop at nothing to stop them.Pre-release trailers indicate that a source for the drama may be found in the quasi-historical corporate entity known as Permindex.

Cast

Clive Owen as Louis Salinger, an obsessive Interpol agent.
Naomi Watts as Eleanor Whitman, a Manhattan assistant district attorney.
Ulrich Thomsen as an investment banker who gets involved in an arms-dealing ring.

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My Bloody Valentine 3D

2009-02-07T13:36:00.002-08:00

My Bloody Valentine 3D is a 2009 remake of the 1981 Canadian slasher film of the same name. The film was directed and edited by Patrick Lussier,and stars Jensen Ackles and Jaime King. The film had a 3-D theatrical release; It was released on January 16, 2009 by Lionsgate.

My Bloody Valentine 3D movie poster

A cave-in on the north side of a mine owned and operated by Hanniger Mining Co. trapped six miners. When rescue teams arrived, they found five dead—killed by a pick axe—and one, Harry Warden (Richard John Walters), in a coma. The local papers accused Warden of killing the other five to prolong his air supply; the boss’ son, Tom Hanniger (Jensen Ackles) is questioned but released. He is blamed for the mine disaster because he forgot to vent the methane lines.

Next year on Valentine’s Day, Warden awakes from his coma and escapes the hospital, killing everyone there in the process. At the abandoned mineshaft that was the site of the disaster, a party is in full swing, attended by many teens, including Axel (Kerr Smith), his girlfriend Irene (Betsy Rue), Tom Hanniger, and his girlfriend, Sarah (Jaime King). Tom doesn’t want to go into the mine, and says he’s going back for the beer out of the car. Sarah goes in alone. Sarah gets lost looking for Axel and Irene until she is confronted by Harry Warden in full miner’s garb, carrying a pick-axe, and flees for safety; Axel grabs her and they hide from the killer. He eventually sees them, and they run out of the mine, where they run into Tom. The killer hits him with the pick axe, injuring him, while the other three run for the car and leave him behind. Tom runs back into the mine in an attempt to get away from the killer; the police arrive and shoot the killer as he makes his getaway back into the mine.

Ten years later, Tom returns to town to sell the mine. Axel is now sheriff and married to Sarah. Irene is murdered at the motel where Tom is staying, then a miner is murdered in the mineshaft where Warden was chased by the cops. Axel asks his father, the retired sheriff, what happened to Warden. He says that he and Tom’s father killed and buried him. Axel, Tom, Sarah and Axel’s father go to the spot where Warden was buried to see that his body is no longer there.

Next, the current mine manager and Axel’s mistress are killed. Tom picks Sarah up to take her to Axel’s love nest to convince her that Axel is the killer. Axel then calls her and tells her that Tom is the killer. She crashes Tom’s car and makes her way to Axel’s shack. Sarah is chased by the killer all the way to the mine. There, Sarah goes into the shaft where the original murders took place, where she is joined by both Tom and Axel, and after a brief stand off, Axel and Sarah realize that Tom is delusional and sees himself as Warden. Sarah shoots Tom in the abdomen, and the bullet goes straight through him and into a methane tank, causing a fireball to knock down Tom. She escapes with Axel. A rescue team comes in to the mine to help Tom, but Tom kills one of the rescuers and escapes the scene dressed as one.

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New in Town

2009-02-07T13:36:00.001-08:00

New in Town (formerly Chilled in Miami) is an upcoming American romantic comedy film, directed by Jonas Elmer, starring Renée Zellweger and Harry Connick Jr. It was filmed in Winnipeg and Selkirk, Canada, and South Beach in Miami, Florida, US.

New in Town movie poster

Plot

A high-powered consultant (Renée Zellweger) in love with her upscale Miami lifestyle, adjusts to her new life in a tiny Minnesota town (New Ulm, MN). She has been sent to oversee the restructuring of a factory. The locals give her a frosty reception. When she is ordered to shut down the manufacturing plant, the factory’s union man (Harry Connick, Jr.) fights to protect his co-worker’s jobs.

Cast

Renee Zellweger as Lucy Hill
Harry Connick Jr. as Ted Mitchell
J.K. Simmons as Stu Kopenhafer
Siobhan Fallon as Blanche Gunderson
Frances Conroy as Trudy Van Uuden
Mike O’Brien as Lars Ulstead
Dan Augusta as Billy Gunderson
Rashida Jones as Natalie
Nathan Fillion
Adetokumboh M’Cormack as Pierre Raineau
Jimena Hoyos as Cathy
Nancy Drake as Flo
Kristen Harris
Tracy McMahon

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The 2009 Oscar Nominations

2009-02-07T13:35:00.004-08:00

The 81st Annual Academy Award nominations have been announced with a few surprises and some glaring omissions.

‘Best Film’ played it safe - though four (Benjamin Button, Frost/Nixon, Milk, Slumdog) were pretty much locked, that fifth slot many were hoping the Academy would go for something acclaimed but more risky or mainstream than they usually go for like “The Wrestler” “Revolutionary Road” or “The Dark Knight”. Instead they opted for the little seen but very Academy-friendly Weinstein-produced vehicle “The Reader”.

In fact that trio of films (Wrestler, Road, Knight) were awkwardly missing in some other key areas like director and screenplay, though all got acting noms and ‘Knight’ in particular scored a lot of technical nods.

In sheer number of nominations “The Curious Case of Benjamin Button” lead the way with thirteen; followed by “Slumdog Millionaire” with ten; “The Dark Knight” and “Milk” with eight; “Wall-E” with six; “Frost/Nixon”, “Doubt” and “The Reader” with five.

Notable omissions and strangeness - “Gran Torino” “Che” “I’ve Loved You So Long” not getting any major nominations. “Vicky Cristina Barcelona” only scoring a nom for Cruz, “Happy-Go-Lucky” scoring a best script but not a best actress nomination, “In Bruges” only getting a screenplay nom, and “Gomorra” missing out on Best Foreign Language Film.

One very welcome surprise was Michael Shannon, the actor who has essentially been ignored by most of the other critics and guilds getting a nomination for his brilliant supporting turn in “Revolutionary Road”

Here’s the complete list:

BEST PICTURE
The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
Frost/Nixon
Milk
The Reader
Slumdog Millionaire

ACTOR IN A LEADING ROLE
Richard Jenkins (”The Visitor”)
Frank Langella (”Frost/Nixon”)
Sean Penn (”Milk”)
Brad Pitt (”The Curious Case of Benjamin Button”)
Mickey Rourke (”The Wrestler”)

ACTRESS IN A LEADING ROLE
Anne Hathaway (”Rachel Getting Married”)
Angelina Jolie (”Changeling”)
Melissa Leo (”Frozen River”)
Meryl Streep (”Doubt”)
Kate Winslet (”The Reader”)

DIRECTING
David Fincher (”The Curious Case of Benjamin Button”)
Ron Howard (”Frost/Nixon”)
Gus Van Sant (”Milk”)
Stephen Daldry (”The Reader”)
Danny Boyle (”Slumdog Millionaire)

ACTOR IN A SUPPORTING ROLE
Josh Brolin (”Milk”)
Robert Downey Jr. (”Tropic Thunder”)
Philip Seymour Hoffman (”Doubt”)
Heath Ledger (”The Dark Knight”)
Michael Shannon (”Revolutionary Road”)

ACTRESS IN A SUPPORTING ROLE
Amy Adams (”Doubt”)
Penelope Cruz (”Vicky Cristina Barcelona”)
Viola Davis (”Doubt”)
Taraji P. Henson (”The Curious Case of Benjamin Button”)
Marisa Tomei (”The Wrestler”)

FOREIGN LANGUAGE FILM
The Baader Meinhoff Complex
Class
Departures
Revanche
Waltz With Bashir

ANIMATED FEATURE FILM
“Bolt”
“Kung Fu Panda”
“Wall-E”

SCREENPLAY (Adapted)
“The Curious Case of Benjamin Button”
“Doubt”
“Frost/Nixon”
“The Reader”
“Slumdog Millionaire”"

SCREENPLAY (Original)
“Frozen River”
“Happy-Go-Lucky”
“In Bruges”
“Milk”
“Wall-E”

ART DIRECTION
“Changeling”
“The Curious Case of Benjamin Button”
“The Dark Knight”
“The Duchess”
“Revolutionary Road”

CINEMATOGRAPHY
“Changeling”
“The Curious Case of Benjamin Button”
“The Dark Knight”
“The Reader”
“Slumdog Millionaire”

COSTUME DESIGN
“Australia”
”The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
”The Duchess”
”Milk”
”Revolutionary Road”

DOCUMENTARY FEATURE
“The Betrayal (Nerakhoon)”
”Encounters at the End of the World”
”The Garden”
”Man on Wire”
”Trouble the Water”

DOCUMENTARY SHORT SUBJECT
“The Conscience of Nhem En”
”The Final Inch”
”Smile Pinki
”The Witness — From the Balcony of Room 306″

FILM EDITING
“The Curious Case of Benjamin Button”
“The Dark Knight”
“Frost/Nixon”
“Milk”
“Slumdog Millionaire”

MAKEUP
“The Curious Case of Benjamin Button”
”The Dark Knight”
”Hellboy II: The Golden Army”

MUSIC (SCORE)
“The Curious Case of Benjamin Button” Alexandre Desplat
“Defiance” James Newton Howard
“Milk” Danny Elfman
“Slumdog Millionaire” A.R. Rahman
“WALL-E” Thomas Newman”

MUSIC (SONG)
“Down to Earth” from “WALL-E”
“Jai Ho” from “Slumdog Millionaire”
“O Saya” from “Slumdog Millionaire”

SHORT FILM (ANIMATED)
“La Maison en Petits Cubes”
”Lavatory — Lovestory”
”Oktapodi”
”Presto”
”This Way Up”

SHORT FILM (LIVE ACTION)
“Auf der Strecke (On the Line)”
”Manon on the Asphalt”
”New Boy”
”The Pig”
”Spielzeugland (Toyland)”

SOUND EDITING
“The Dark Knight”
“Iron Man”
“Slumdog Millionaire”
“WALL-E”
“Wanted”

SOUND MIXING
“The Curious Case of Benjamin Button”
“The Dark Knight”
“Slumdog Millionaire”
“‘WALL-E”
“Wanted”

VISUAL EFFECTS
“The Curious Case of Benjamin Button”
The Dark Knight”
“Iron Man”

Tags: 2009, Annual Academy Award, movie awards, movie list, movie nomination, movie price, oscar 2009, oscar 2009. movie awards, oscar awards, top movies, top movies list

Notorious

2009-02-07T13:35:00.003-08:00

Notorious is a 2009 biopic film about the life of hip hop star Christopher Wallace / Biggie Smalls / The Notorious B.I.G., who is played by Jamal Woolard. The film co-stars Angela Bassett as his mother Voletta Wallace, Derek Luke as Sean Combs, and Anthony Mackie as Tupac Shakur. Other roles include Naturi Naughton as Lil’ Kim and Antonique Smith as Faith Evans.

Notorious Movie poster

The film was released in American theaters on January 16, 2009. A teaser trailer was released in late September 2008. An exclusive trailer was played during the BET Hip Hop Awards, showing more of what Biggie does and more of Tupac’s part. The film has been rated R by the MPAA for “pervasive language, some strong sexuality including dialogue, nudity, violence and for drug content.”

The film begins in March 1997 in Los Angeles with a party playing the song “Hypnotize”. Biggie is seen sitting at his chair smoking a cigar, as dancers, including Faith Evans and Sean Combs, move to the music on the dance floor. Moments later, Biggie, Combs, and friends are driving. They stop at a red light, while Lil’ Cease is flirting with the girls outside. A black Chevrolet Impala pulls up, suddenly, and someone inside fires a single shot at Biggie. The shot freezes with a look at Biggie.

The film then flashes back through many scenes all the way to the 1980s showing Biggie as a kid. Biggie writes several songs as he’s made fun of by some school girls. Soon Biggie’s mother, Voletta Wallace, comes back to face with Biggie’s father, who left when he was a child. There’s a fight that Biggie witnesses and continues to listen to his music. Biggie soon starts “hustling” and being involved with drugs.

Then in 1990, when Biggie is seventeen, he and his friend D-Roc (Dennis L.A. White) start to hustle with Lil’ Cease. Biggie wins a rap competition on the streets and meets Lil’ Kim. After leaving the battle Voletta becomes aware of Biggie’s drug dealing and kicks him out onto the street, where he finds his own place and starts getting money.

Biggie soon finds himself in prison for 2 years. He is then released from prison and he goes to see Jan, his girlfriend and their new daughter. Biggie’s mom has forgiven him for what he has done. After making up with his mother he goes to find D-Roc and Lil’ Cease and other friends and records a demo called “Microphone Murder.”

Biggie soon meets Combs, an ambitious producer for Uptown Records. Combs promises Biggie that he’ll become a millionaire by the time he’s 21 and that a record deal is right around the corner for him. Although, Combs will only accept Biggie if he gives up the drug dealing game. Biggie agrees with Combs, and then leaves. After he leaves he begins a relationship with Lil’ Kim after he meets her walking home from work.

A few days later Biggie meets up with D-Roc and is caught with drugs by a nearby cop. Two police cars chase after Biggie and D-Roc. As they run Biggie throws his pistol into a nearby bush. Eventually they both get caught and are interviewed by a cop, who says that one of them must go away for carrying an illegal firearm. D-Roc takes the fall saying that Biggie has a chance in the rap game and if someone like him can make it then they can all make it.

Combs soon reveals to Biggie that he got fired from Uptown, but tells Biggie that some time soon he’ll get a record deal. Biggie, frustrated and upset, leaves Combs and goes back home only to discover that his mother has breast cancer. Biggie goes into a state of sadness and depression, but this turns around when Combs begins his own record label, Bad Boy Records and Biggie gets his first gift inside of a Big Mac box, which had the words ‘B.I.G. Mack’ on them, symbolizing The Notorious B.I.G. and Craig Mack. Biggie’s sadness starts to turn around.

Biggie starts recording songs for his first album, Ready To Die. Biggie records for his first album and enjoys time with Combs, Lil’ Cease and other friends. He gets down his supposed first single, but Combs refuses saying there’s another track that Biggie can record. The track is called “Juicy”. Biggie’s friends laugh at it, but Biggie eventually records the first single and everyone enjoys it.

At a photoshoot Biggie meets Faith. They begin a relationship, even though Faith has an infant named Chyna. Then they get married several days later. Meanwhile, Biggie continues to ignore his relationship with Jan and their child together.

Biggie begins a friendship with Tupac Shakur, who is already a major rapper and film star. Biggie celebrates for his album Ready To Die with Tupac and actually looks up to him. Ready To Die is amazing with fans. As this goes on Jan visits Faith and tells her that Biggie needs to see his daughter once in a while. Faith calls Biggie and gets slightly suspicious of what he is doing. Driven by this Faith goes to check on Biggie and sees him with another woman. Faith gets into a physical fight with the girl and leaves in tears and disgust.

Biggie goes to the studio to find Combs and Faith recording. Faith forgives Biggie and they make up. As this continues, tensions between Biggie, Faith and Lil’ Kim continue to grow, while recording songs.

Things change suddenly when Tupac is shot in Quad Studios and blames it on Combs, Biggie and Bad Boy Records. At The Source Awards in 1995, Death Row Records’ Suge Knight makes a speech dissing Combs and Bad Boy Records, claiming Death Row is the place to be. Soon the disagreement has escalated into an East Coast-West Coast beef and attacks are made on both sides. The friendship between Biggie and Tupac is crushed. Tupac meets up with Biggie and verbally fights him, but decides to leave when Biggie’s security pulls out a pistol. This whole thing is bringing down Biggie and making him clueless about what to do next.

A track is leaked called “Who Shot Ya?” which claims to diss Tupac. The streets heat up and continue to pick sides. Biggie and Combs claim that Who Shot Ya? was recorded before any of this happened, but Suge and Tupac claim otherwise.

Biggie is walking out of his house one day to see Lil’ Cease with a magazine with Tupac and Faith hugging each other. Biggie becomes enraged as he interrupts an interview with Faith and a local news station and starts to run after Faith, until she hides from Biggie and Biggie is forced to go away by one of his managers, Mark Pitts.

Biggie soon meets up with Faith, who is packing up and ready to leave. Faith says that Tupac and her met at the House of Blues and simply took a picture. Biggie tries to make Faith laugh and renew the relationship, but it isn’t enough and tensions grow between them.

Fights continue, until in September 1996 Tupac is shot in Las Vegas with Suge in the car with him. Tupac dies and is seen in the papers by Biggie and Lil’ Cease. Biggie calls his mother, Voletta, to consult. Voletta claims that Tupac’s mother is brave and says that he probably died because of their arguments.

Biggie has trouble handling with Tupac’s death. He didn’t expect it and no one did. On top of everything he has relationship problems with Faith, Janet and Lil’ Kim. Biggie starts to clean everything up by meeting with Jan and his first kid more and more often.

Biggie and Lil Cease are driving one day when they crash in the car, forcing Biggie to have a cane for the rest of his life. While in the hospital, Biggie is met by D-Roc, who has just been released from prison. Biggie, D-Roc and Lil’ Cease all reunite as Biggie decides to go to Los Angeles to promote for his upcoming album Life After Death.

Biggie, Lil’ Cease, D-Roc, Combs and Faith all go to Los Angeles to promote the album. Biggie gets death threats on Lil Cease’s phone several times. That night Biggie is in the back of an award show and complains about the size of his shoes. Combs calms him down. Biggie reveals that Faith is pregnant with a boy, CJ.

Before leaving Biggie calls Lil’ Kim and apologizes and tells her he would like to talk when he gets back, Biggie then leaves the award show in an SUV, with Combs in the other van. At an intersection another car pulls up and fires into their vehicle. Biggie is shot several times and dies. A few days later Voletta, Combs, Lil’ Cease, D-Roc, Lil’ Kim, Faith and others all grieve over the death of Biggie at the funeral. In a black limo Voletta leaves. Fans everywhere are shouting. As Voletta leaves she hears her son’s voice; overwhelmed with the bittersweet moment she hears B.I.G.’s single “Hypnotize”. The film closes with a message about the aftermath of his passing and reminding the viewers that no dream is too big. The sky is the limit. During the end credits, a curtain call shows clips of the actors who portray real people.

Tags: Notorious, Notorious movie, Notorious movie cover, Notorious movie overview, Notorious movie poster, Notorious movie review, Notorious rating, top movies, upcoming movie

The Pink Panther 2

2009-02-07T13:35:00.001-08:00

The Pink Panther 2 is the 2009 sequel to the 2006 film The Pink Panther, a reboot of the popular comedy series. The film is currently scheduled for release on February 6, 2009 in North America

The Pink Panther 2 movie poster

In the film, Inspector Clouseau must team up with detectives from other countries to rout the daring cat burglar, The Tornado, who has returned after a decade of inactivity.

The Film marked the first appearance of the new Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer logo featuring a CGI MGM Channel Sony Pictures

Steve Martin, who will reprise the role of Clouseau, originated by Peter Sellers, polished the original script written by Scott Neustadter and Michael M, Weber in November 2006. Columbia Pictures, partnering with MGM on the sequel, hired the team of Lowell Ganz and Babaloo Mandel to perform a further rewrite in January 2007.

Principal photography began in Paris on August 20, 2007, then moved to Boston several weeks later, where filming ended on November 2, 2007.

Bollywood actress Aishwarya Rai appears in the female lead as criminology expert, Sonia. John Cleese replaces Kevin Kline as Chief Inspector Dreyfus with Jean Reno and Emily Mortimer reprising their roles as his partner Ponton and his girlfriend Nicole. Andy García and Alfred Molina round out the cast as detectives, Inspector Vicenzo Brancaleone and Chief Inspector Randall Pepperidge. Harald Zwart is directing the sequel.

Clouseau is sent away from France on holiday by Chief Inspector Charles Dreyfus, only to have the vacation turn out to be an elaborate ploy to make him leave. When he leaves France the Pink Panther diamond and several other artifacts are stolen (once again). Along with a team including Inspector Pepperidge (Great Britain), Vincenzo (a wealthy businessman from Italy), Kenji (an electronics specialist from Japan), and Sonia (a researcher and criminology expert from India), Clouseau has to solve the case of the Pink Panther diamond, identify the robber known only as “the Tornado”, and solve the theft of the Magna Carta and other of the world’s most valuable items.

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Push

2009-02-07T13:34:00.002-08:00

Push is an upcoming action/thriller film set for release on February 6, 2009.

Push movie poster

This sci-fi action film involves a group of young American expatriates with telekinetic, telepathic, and clairvoyant abilities, hiding from a clandestine U.S. government agency referred to as “Division.” They try to find the only woman that ever escaped from “Division”. She is their only key to finding out how to escape the agency. They must also use their different talents and band together for a final job enabling them to escape the agency forever.

Variety writes that:

“The film reportedly focuses on a group of American ex-pats in Hong Kong. Since they’re also sheltering telekinetic and clairvoyant powers, the government is after them.”

Those with these abilities are divided into several categories:

Movers can manipulate inanimate objects at varying distances. The actual technique is known as kinetic signature control, where the mover is trained to “hear” and identify the specific atomic frequency of any given material, and alter the gravity wave around it, usually producing the nearby air to appear “warped”. Advanced movers can work at the molecular level creating protective shields in the air around them.
Pushers can “push” specific thoughts, memories, and even emotions into their targets. This technique can be used to gain a subject’s trust, or to have them perform any action, thinking it was their own agenda.
Watchers are trained to self-induce visions of the future, very much like a prolonged sense of déjà vu. The technique of following the future, either of a person or object, is called subject tracking. A Watcher’s skill is primarily rated by how far they can see into the future.
Bleeders have the ability to emit high-pitched sonic vibrations that cause ruptures in a target’s blood vessels.
Sniffs are highly developed clairvoyants who can track the location of either people or objects over varying distances. Like psychic bloodhounds, their tracking ability is increased if they have tactile access to an object that has been in direct contact with the subject. Sniffs receive information based on images, not specific addresses, which is why identifiable landmarks help increase their effectiveness.
Shifters can temporarily shift patterns of light on any object to create illusions to the naked eye. They work mostly on a touch basis, but once the illusion is established, it remains with the object for short periods of time. For example, a Shifter could momentarily touch a one dollar bill, altering its light pattern to appear as a one hundred dollar bill for hours, until the effect expires. The length of the shift is based on experience and ability.
Wipers are skilled at either temporary or permanent memory erasure, an invaluable asset in espionage. Experience will dictate the accuracy of their wipes, though the danger is always present that they will eliminate a desired memory.
Shadows are trained to block the vision of other clairvoyants such as Sniffs, making any subject within their target radius appear “dark”. Experience will enhance the size of the area they can shadow and the intensity of their shielding effect. Shadows need to be awake to perform their ability, and it is common for a detail of two Shadows to operate in shifts while protecting a person or object for extended periods.
Stitchers are psychic surgeons trained to quickly reconstruct cells to their previous or healthy state. Using only their hands, they can heal and even “unheal” whatever they have done. For more detailed work, Stitches use a silver based cream on their hands which acts as a conductor to their ability.

Tags: Push, Push movie cover, Push overview, Push review, Push the movie, Push upcoming, push-movie-poster, top movies, topmoviez.net

Gran Torino

2009-02-07T13:34:00.001-08:00

Gran Torino is a 2008 American drama film directed by, produced by, and starring Clint Eastwood. The film features a predominantly Hmong cast, as well as Eastwood’s younger son, Scott Eastwood. Eastwood’s older son, Kyle Eastwood, provided the score. The film opened to theaters in a limited release in North America on December 12, 2008, and later to a wide release on January 9, 2009.

Gran Torino movie poster

Walt Kowalski (Clint Eastwood), a retired automotive worker and a Korean War veteran, lives in a changing Detroit neighborhood which is dominated by immigrants. At the start of the movie, Walt is attending his wife’s funeral, bristling at the shallow eulogy of young Father Janovich (Christopher Carley). He similarly has no patience for his two sons and their families who show little respect for Walt or their late mother. Throughout the movie Walt views them as spoiled and self-absorbed who avoid him, unless it is of their own self-serving interest; his sons see him as “always disappointed” with them and their families.

Walt’s teenage Hmong neighbors, a shy Thao (Bee Vang) and his feisty sister Sue Vang Lor (Ahney Her), live with their mother and eccentric grandmother. When a Hispanic gang confronts Thao, the Hmong gang, led by Thao’s older cousin Spider (Doua Moua), helps Thao by frightening the Hispanic gang and forcing them to flee. The Hmong gang, at that point, tries to persuade Thao to join them. Thao’s initiation is to steal Walt’s prized 1972 Gran Torino. Walt interrupts the robbery, pointing a rifle in Thao’s face and forcing him to flee. After a few days, Spider and his gang return. With Sue at his side, Thao manages to verbally confront them to no avail. The gang drags Thao off his porch in an attempt to assault him. His family tries desperately to fend off Spider and his cohorts. The conflict ends when Walt, who fought in in the United States Army’s 1st Cavalry Division, threatens the gang members with his M1 Garand rifle and orders them to “get off my lawn.” They leave the neighborhood, telling Walt to watch his back.

The Vang Lors thank a grumpy and impatient Walt, who insists he only wanted the “gooks” off his property. When the neighborhood hears of Walt’s brave act, they reward him by decorating his porch with Hmong dishes and garden plants. Thao admits to trying to steal his Gran Torino. Walt is not pleased, seeking only to be left alone. Father Janovich goes to Walt, reminding him of his wife’s desire for him to go to confession. Walt refuses.

After seeing Sue being harassed by three black teenagers, while her “date” (Scott Eastwood) cannot help her, Walt steps in to rescue her, confronting the teenagers and threatening them with a Colt 1911 pistol. Sue gets to know Walt, and invites him to a family barbecue, bringing him closer to her family, explaining Hmong culture and that during the Vietnam War they fought on “his” side. Sue, Thao, and their mother confront Walt and his Labrador Retriever Daisy the next day, volunteering Thao to work for Walt to atone for his attempted theft of the Gran Torino. Walt has Thao clean up the neighborhood until his debt is paid and shows Thao the ways of American men. He gets Thao a construction job and a date with another Hmong girl called Youa, whom Walt refers to as “Yum Yum”.

After discovering blood when he coughs, Walt visits the doctor. Here again he is confronted by the changing times, seeming to be the only white man in the waiting room, his name is mispronounced by a Muslim nurse, and he’s informed by his examining Asian woman doctor that his old familiar doctor retired three years earlier. After viewing the results of his examination he calls his son and awkwardly tries to talk but the the call is cut short when the son tells Walt he is busy. The Hmong gang, meanwhile, keeps pressuring Thao to join them. When they find Thao alone, they mug him and burn his face with a cigarette. Walt confronts and beats one of the Hmong gang members in retaliation. The gang returns days later and shoots up the Vang Lors’ home, wounding Thao in the neck. Sue, who had left for her aunt’s house before the shooting, returns, beaten and raped. The Hmong keep a code of silence and do not tell police who did it. Walt storms home, punching walls and bloodying his knuckles in anger. Father Janovich who has “worked with Asian gangs”, visits. The two drink beer together, and discuss what Walt will do about it. He eventually goes to confession with Father Janovich, who after hearing a few old, and somewhat minor sins, tells him to pray.

An angry Thao urges Walt to take vengeance on the Hmong gang with him. Walt first tells him to come back later as revenge must be planned carefully. When Thao returns, Walt gives him the Silver Star medal he earned in Korea but locks him in the basement, saying he does not want him to live with the consequences of killing someone. Walt drives to confront the gang, calling Sue to have her unlock the basement and let Thao out. Outside the gang members adjacent houses Walt berates them for the shootout and rape. As the jumpy gang members show their automatic weapons, Walt waits and watches neighbors begin to look out of their windows and from behind doors to witness. He takes out a cigarette from his jacket, puts it in his mouth, and asks the gang for a light. He begins praying the “Hail Mary” (which was the penance assigned to him by Father Janovich in confession) and then quickly reaches into his jacket. Thinking Walt is going to shoot, the gang unleashes a hail of fire, riddling Walt with bullets. A shot of Walt lying dead on the ground reveals he had grabbed his lighter not a gun. Thao and Sue arrive at the crime scene and ask police what happened. Speaking in Hmong to a Hmong police officer they are told that the gang has been arrested and will be imprisoned for a long time, having killed an unarmed man. Hmong neighbors who witnessed the killing break their code of silence and testify against the gang members.

A funeral service is held for Walt with Father Janovich delivering a memorable eulogy of Walt, who is to be buried in a tailored suit he bought the same day he was killed. Thao and his family attend in a large number opposite Walt’s family, which has Walt’s son wondering how the Vang Lors know Walt. In his will, Walt leaves his house to the church, and his Gran Torino to Thao, much to the surprise and chagrin of his family. In the final scene, Thao is driving the Gran Torino with Walt’s dog, Daisy, next to him.

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