Meet In The Lobby

Here’s our movie review roundup for the weekend of May 8: Speed Racer, What Happens in Vegas… and Turn the River.

:: SPEED RACER
Rotten Tomatoes: 37 / 100
Metacritic: 37 / 100
filmcritic.com: 1 / 5

With the Matrix trilogy, the Wachowski Brothers expected viewers to understand religion and philosophy. With Speed Racer, moviegoers only need a dose of Ritalin. Kids will love the wild overactive visual effects, but adults may turn catatonic.

:: WHAT HAPPENS IN VEGAS…
Rotten Tomatoes: 40 / 100
Metacritic: 38 / 100
filmcritic.com: 1.5 / 5

Sounds like whatever happens in Vegas should really stay there. If you like Ashton, great. If you like Cameron, even better. If you choose to refer to them by just their first names, this one’s probably for you.

:: TURN THE RIVER
Rotten Tomatoes: 88 / 100
Metacritic: 65 / 100
filmcritic.com: 4 / 5

Famke Janssen turns in an impressive performance as a gambling girl looking to get out, in actor Chris Eigeman’s (Barcelona) first turn as a director.

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May 8th, 2008
Categories: Movie Review Roundup, Independent Film, Action Movies, Comedies . Author: Norm Schrager . Comments: No Comments

Our friends at firstshowing.net found this new movie poster for the upcoming X-Files 2 aka
X-Files: I Want to Believe. The only thing — it’s in Polish… The translation at the top: “If you want to discover (find) the truth, you must believe.” More Chris Carter crazy talk.

Six years have passed since we last saw Fox Mulder and Dana Scully running away from an alien-controlled government conspiracy that doomed the future.

After the popular TV series ended, there was always talk of another movie but you know how that stuff doesn’t happen. I guess they really did just need a break (or a lag in their careers) because we got David Duchovny, Gillian Anderson, and Mitch Pileggi (A.D. Skinner in the series) along with director Chris Carter and co-writer Frank Spotnitz.

Slated for a July 25, 2008 release, X-Files: I Want to Believe has revealed this poster (anyone read Polish?), some leaked trailers, and the original poster. But what, no Doggett?

Also set to star: Billy Connolly (Lemony Snicket’s A Series of Unfortunate Events, Fido), Amanda Peet (Something’s Gotta Give, Saving Silverman), and Xzibit (8 Mile, xXx: State of the Union)…

Excited about X-Files 2? Or is this franchise done?

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May 8th, 2008
Categories: Movie Posters, Action Movies, Science Fiction . Author: Allison Stevens . Comments: 2 Comments

While George A. Romero’s Night of the Living Dead and Diary of the Dead hit DVD later this month, the Romero nightmare The Crazies is about to be remade, for a 2010 release.

Shooting will begin this summer with director Breck Eisner (Sahara and, yes, he’s the son of Michael). If you’re not familiar with The Crazies, let’s just say the plot is a few decades ahead of its time: A virus is spreading throughout a small town, and those who catch it go out-of-control bonkers. 

Romero’s 1973 original had a distinct anti-war sentiment, with the U.S. military playing a major role. In an interview with Sci Fi Wire, Eisner explains the changes he plans to make with his version:

The military is a little less heavy-handed, but more dangerous … In a way, the military exists on two levels: as … a column of tanks or a mass of soldiers and then as the individual soldiers. I think the individual soldier is different than the mass, and I want to explore [that].” 

Ray Wright (Case 39) is Eisner’s screenwriter on The Crazies, and Romero is credited as a producer. However, according to the story, the granddaddy of zombie films is not involved in the day-to-day development. 

If you want to know the direction Eisner might go, look to the film that scared him most as a kid: John Carpenter’s The Thing. Eisner’s next remake: The Creature from the Black Lagoon.

Photo credit: Weinstein Company

What are your thoughts on this (yet another) remake?

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May 7th, 2008
Categories: Independent Film, Horror Movies, Movie Previews . Author: Norm Schrager . Comments: No Comments

In honor of this past Saturday’s Free Comic Book Day we’ve got two trailers for you. What? You didn’t take advantage of Free Comic Book Day? I got myself the G.I. Joe issue where Snake-Eyes first appears… which also happens to have ads for that wonderful 80’s candy, Bonkers. Old people getting crushed by giant fruit. Gets me every time.

Moving on… Hellboy 2: The Golden Army will be in theaters on July 11, 2008. Recently confirmed Hobbit director Guillermo del Toro (Pan’s Labyrinth) is back as director, as well as our beloved Ron Perlman (Blade II, The City of Lost Children) as Hellboy and Selma Blair (Cruel Intentions) as girl-on-fire Liz.

This time they’re battling the mythical creatures that originally ruled this world and want to take it back. The trailer plays as though this isn’t a sequel at all — which is pretty darn cool. Although, I could have sworn I saw some of those same creatures in Pan’s Labyrinth. (Did you see the Hellboy 2 Valentine’s Day cards?)

(UPDATE: 05.07.08 – Lionsgate has moved up the release date for The Spirit. It’s now officially a 2008 film, with a Christmas Day opening.)  

Next we have Frank Miller’s The Spirit. Originally a comic strip created by Will Eisner back in the 40s, The Spirit is about a cop that comes back from the dead (as “The Spirit”… get it?) and uses his non-existent identity to fight for justice. Frank Miller uses his signature Sin City visuals to recreate Eisner’s comic for film. In fact, the trailer feels like it could be Sin City 2 (out in 2010!)… or even Sin City 3 (out some time later than 2010).

I have a feeling that the trickling release of images, posters, and trailers for The Spirit means we’ll be kept quite busy until 2009.

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May 6th, 2008
Categories: Action Movies, Trailers . Author: Allison Stevens . Comments: No Comments

Looks like no one makes a superhero film without putting two sequels in the actors’ contracts anymore. After a big box office weekend for Iron Man, Marvel has already pinned down Iron Man 2 for 2010 as well as several other superhero films (Thor in 2010, The Avengers in 2011).

Robert Downey, Jr. and Gwyneth Paltrow will be back but no certainties on Jon Favreau as director yet. I wonder: Is it possible we’ll get sick of superheroes any time soon? Or is this something we can’t get enough of?

What do you think?

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May 6th, 2008
Categories: Action Movies, Box Office News . Author: Allison Stevens . Comments: 1 Comment

Ooooooh… Not only is the subject matter of The Babysitters pure titillation (heh, heh), but now distributor Peace Arch gives us a red band trailer. Somebody book time for these scandalous people on the Maury Povich show!

Yeah, we’re being sarcastic. Tough to tell whether this will be good underbelly-of-suburbia drama or just exploitive fantasy. (See the movie poster.) All we know is between this and Summer of Sam, that John Leguizamo has trouble keeping his chorizo in his pants.

The Babysitters hits theaters May 9.

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May 6th, 2008
Categories: Trailers, Movie Previews . Author: Norm Schrager . Comments: 1 Comment