I recently went to the theaters to see a critically acclaimed film- Children of Men.

I will have a review to put up in a few days, but I’m putting some real effort into this one so it might take a while. In the meantime I’m putting up a video from YouTube. This is a fan-made trailer that is trying to make up for the poor promotional trailers that the studio made for the film. I have to admit the first time I saw the studio trailer, though I’m a huge Clive Owen fan, this movie did not look appealing to me in the least. This trailer, however, definitely brings it to a whole new level and convinced me to go see it.

Here it is:

Now, I myself have never been the biggest fan of Indiana Jones, though at one point in my life I’m sure I was diving through my parent’s closet to find a fedora and leather jacket (God help me if I found a whip), but I must say the third film was probably my absolute favorite.

Ford’s sidekick was much more fine-tuned than a crazy Latina-esque chick or a tiny, crazy Asian boy who sounded like Fuu Man Chuu or whatever. The chemistry of the characters was just stronger, and that definitely boosted the feeling of “adventure.”

Well, everyone’s been waiting for the news, and a few weeks ago it was announced that yes, in fact, Indiana “Henry” Jones will be making a return, starring the much…much aged Harrison Ford. Oh dear…did anyone even SEE Firewall ? I didn’t…and I really don’t think I was missing much.

Seriously, I’m going to find that clip from Robot Chicken and put it up soon…

In any case, an OFFICIAL PRESS RELEASE has been put up for the film from HNR.

Here’s an excerpt with a link to the full page:

The World’s Favorite Action Hero is Back!

Indiana Jones to Start Production in 2007.

In a long-awaited announcement, George Lucas and Steven Spielberg revealed today that the fourth installment of Indiana Jones will begin production in June 2007. Harrison Ford returns in his role as the daring Dr. Jones for the new adventure. The film will be produced by Lucasfilm Ltd., directed by Steven Spielberg and released by Paramount Pictures throughout the world in May 2008.

I’d like to see what they decide to do with the franchise, I think it could be really interesting…but still wasn’t Indy immortal at the end of Crusade? So shouldn’t he still look 30 or whatever?

I dunno, someone explain this to me. Or maybe I just don’t care enough. Sequels are for video games, and I thought Crusade was a GREAT ending to the series. What are your thoughts ?

Silent Hill was about a mother looking for her child. If the second movie was to coincide with the second game, would it be a husband looking for his wife? Sean Bean played a very underused character in the first flick. I know I’d be happy as hell if he was brought back for the pivotal role in the second movie.

The 2006 fantasy-horror film, Silent Hill was a very much hit-or-miss video game adaptation amongst gaming and horror fans alike. Featuring some of the most bizzare and creative monster effects in the last ten years, the story failed to capture most critics as Roger Ebert himself thought the plot was overly-convoluted. In his 1.5 star review, Ebert said “Not only can I not describe the plot of this movie, but I have a feeling the last scene reverses half of what I thought I knew (or didn’t know).”

Video game adaptations have had a really nasty track record- Mortal Kombat and Resident Evil were two franchises that actually could have worked out to be decent movies even if they weren’t sourced from videogames. The plot alone from the various scenarios was rife with suspense in the Resident Evil games, and the Mortal Kombat franchise had many interested (and possible-to-develop) characters. Unfortunately both franchises got handed off to Paul W.S. Anderson, who I will one day punch in the face for AVP. I won’t even mention the reasons why Street Fighter sucked, just the result: It killed Raul Julia with its suckiness.

When the Silent Hill film came out I was really indecisive about my own criticisms. The characters were there, but they felt like mere gimmicks compared to their video game counter parts. The story was there, but became Hollywood-ified as somebody during the screenwriting process decided to change the “evil” from a demonic Lovecraftian cult to uber-puritans. That was a big “NO” in my opinion. If you put Pyramid Head into the movie he is supposed to be a fantastical example of their executioner- The Red Demon, Xulchibara.

Yeah, I’m a total nerd for this series. That’s why over all I did end up liking the movie. The set designs and overall direction was just so beautiful in its own twisted, mysterious and fantastical way that I still watch the movie anytime I just want to mellow out and take in some…well bizzare scenary.

A foggy, oldtowne style pervaded the set design, and it kept the essence of the game clearly in tact, causing many genre fans such as Arrow in the Head to hail the film as a “flawed yet faithful video game adaptation, obviously made for mature horror fans.” This movie definitely could win you over for its presentation if nothing else.

However the ending proved to have some weird twist that made a lot of people in the theater go “what does that mean? I don’t get it!” and myself to lay down a huge “WTF.” I obviously won’t spoil it for you, suffice it to say that while it did make sense in context of the film, it really had nothing to do with ANYTHING plot related and really just caused for a loose conclusion. One wonders if Gans just said to his crew “Ok…well I have no idea what to do at this point…slap an ending here…and lets go get Dunkin Donuts.”
Yet it did leave an opening for a sequel, a sequel which I am happy to announce that according to Christophe Gans, Neil Gaiman is more than in talks to co-write with Roger Avary.

Could this be a match made in heaven? Quite possibly. Gaiman is one of today’s most prestigious and awarded fantasy and horror writers. He’s also a fully functioning graphic artist, creating well-recieved Sandman comic series amongst others. Gaiman is an artistic Renassaince man, and with his ability to create deep characters and fantastical situations just from the tip of a pen, Silent Hill 2 could become one of the greatest horror movies of recent times. That is if Gans comes back for directing. I myself would appreciate the same visual punch he put into it, and I doubt if the same director didn’t work on it, it would feel much too different and end up flopping around a bit.

I’m looking out for this one- expect to hear more news as I get it.

My overall opinion on the matter:

Silent Hill was about a mother looking for her child. If the second movie was to coincide with the second game, would it be a husband looking for his wife? Sean Bean played a very underused character in the first flick. I know I’d be happy as hell if he was broughtback for the pivotal role in the second movie.

Yes, I had too.

Here’s the link to the most recent trailer, the only one that shows us anything so far:

TRANSFORMERS: THE MOVIE HD TRAILER

Ok, so I’m going to give you guys all the info I have so far on the film. First, the basics:

Yes, it is being directed by the notorious Michael Bay of Armageddon and Bad Boys fame. He screwed up huge with Pearl Harbor, but from what I can tell, most people do in fact enjoy watching his movies when they are not meant to be serious.

Michael Bay is REALLY good at blowing stuff up- something I wish to one day accomplish, but his ability to capture actual essence typically misses the mark. Last year, he seemed to strike some level of improvement with The Island, however I haven’t seen it. Roger Ebert, from what I can remember, did however give it a thumbs up in a time when most sci-fi actioneer movies are given thumbs down because all mankind can come up with for his own future is inane garbage.
The one and only Michael Bay film I remember seeing was Armageddon. I personally enjoyed it- I can’t tell you if it was techinically sound or not, and yes it blew up a lot of things, but that is the entire point of disaster films. However, there was an inescapable charm to both Bruce Willis AND Ben Affleck in the film, and considering Steve Buscemi was in it well, how can I really not like it?
Back to the point though- The script has been co-written by at least three people, which in my experience is kinda low for a movie of this magnitude. I mean, the orignal Batman (1989) only required two people, but the script was all over the place nonetheless…So what I’m getting at is that I really doubt there is going to be much focus in this film, seeing as how 80% of it is going to be “In this scene…something gets blown up…and in this scene…something else gets blown up.”
Alex Kurtzman, one of the screenwriters, worked on the series “Alias” writing 10 episodes and producing over 20. There’s some credibility to that, at least if you were to ask my mom, but then again its also in a completely different direction from Transformers. The same goes for Robert Orci, another co-writer of “Alias.”

Starring in the movie is Shia LeBouf- a “Disney Kid” who’s proven his talents in Holes opposite Sigourney Weaver, Constantine, and Bobby. He seems the right kid to play the “Damn that’s one awesome giant robot” role, and if they get it right, I think it’ll work out just fine. However, if they get it wrong with this character, I’ll smell utter disaster A’comin. Personally, I’m just pissed he’s character is named Sam, and not SPIKE. Also in the movie are Tyrese Gibson and Jon Voight. They play the Army Guys. In my opinion, that’s just dandy cause I know they can handle their roles with charisma and toughness.

And to be honest, Jon Voight is probably one of the ONLY people who’s weird enough to the point where I’d actually believe him if he told me 50 foot robots were walking around town. So it’s a good call.

However, there’s only one main casting choice that should be taken into consideration, regardless of the robot-aesthetics (which I’ll shortly get into).

Yes, everyone that cares, Peter Cullen IS playing Optimus Prime once again. “Till all are one!” I say. There was even a contest online where fans could submit one liners for Optimus to say during the movie. Scary what the internet is doing to movies these days.

So the casting isn’t bad, the director is probably one of the only people crazy enough to actually TRY making a live action flick…so now lets get onto what could make or break the deal completely. THE ROBOTS.

Well, if you watched the trailer I provided you with up top, your opinion is probably already formed. I’m still on the edge though- the CGI still looks rough (obviously they just need something to show real quick) but it also looks plausible. The designs, however, are what have been getting to me and a lot of fans as well. Check this image out:

I’m still not sure myself what to think of that. He looks…interesting. But with all the stuff pointing out of his body I really don’t think I’m going to pay any attention to his face. That might be the point, but that’ll ruin the effect in my opinion.

I haven’t made a decision yet- I’m pretty damned sure I’ll go see it cause the Transformers were my freaking life when I was five years old, so why not try to give it a chance for the younger generation? Who knows, maybe it’ll inspire some kid to make a Metal Gear (the actual robot, God-forbid they make a movie) and nuke the parts of the world that disagree with U.S. Foreign Policy. You never know.

Hi, Dylan again. I’m not a huge horror buff, but I know my fair share and not just the little tips of info they dished out to 90’s slasher fans in the first two Scream movies.

What I am a fan of is either unoriginal concepts with original execution, or new concepts that well…have a fairly awesome execution.

There are two horror-based sequels coming out that I’m going to link my readers to.

The first is The Hills Have Eyes 2

Now, having only seen this and Hostel in theaters over the last two years in terms of horror (I think the only one before that was Saw and does Sin City count?) the original Hills was definitely the better of the two. Better visual scope, better score, and a really tense and human atmosphere that went from panic to survival. This movie seems to have a reverse theme which will probably remind movie goers of the film Aliens (one of my favorites) and considering its being directed competently, it’ll probably be one of the better military horror-thrillers since.

The second film is 28 Weeks Later.

This is probably the best “zombie” action concept in years since Romero’s Day of the Dead sorta tanked in terms of quality and critique. However, we were offered a chance at “extreme bio-outbreak thriller” with the Resident Evil films. What we got was a Japanese game that played at the strength of American Conspiracy thrillers turned into a freaking cartoon with a good Nemesis. A freaking waste. The “28” series is probably the closest thing we’ll ever have to a truly good Resident Evil styled movie. At least it knows how to truly follow in the “Biohazard” roots.

I guess I’ll let you guys see one more trailer, but I warn you this one could be SCARY! /sarcasm.

Hostel II

This film looks like complete garbage and there’s only one actual shot from the movie in it that lasts about half of a second. The voice over sounds stupid, the shot of a bunch of killing tools on a wall looks stupid (if there was one thing about the original that was enjoyable it was probably the simplicity of some of the murderers despite their sadistic tendancies) and my favorite part is the tagline:
“Americans…they have no imagination.” Thanks for proving yourself righ Eli Roth!

A slick horror concept gone to WASTE is what the Hostel franchise is all about. Roth should have came up with the idea, sold it to Takashii Miike, and I would have been perfectly happy with seeing subtitles of “AHHHHH THIS FREAKING HURTS” over an hour of porn and a collective 10 minutes of “torture” (for the characters or the audience who realized they spent 10 bucks on this garbage? The world may never know).

Style- that is the essence of a horror movie. If you don’t have it, go direct chick flicks.