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DVD review: Clone Hunter

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Often, sci-fi and low budget indie productions go together about as well as chocolate and onions. The high budget demands on special effects eventually hamper the entire story. Clone Hunter is indeed  [ ... ]


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 What to make of the ending to Inception?

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So far, my favorite film this year is Christopher Nolanís Inception. Not only does it deliver all the action and thrills expected of a big budget summer blockbuster, but it has inspired endl [ ... ]


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 DVD Review: The White Ribbon

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The White Ribbon is a drama starring Christian Freidl, Ulrich Turkl and Burghart Klaussner. Directed by Michael Haneke.

There is something wrong here. In a seemingly quaint German village pre-WW1, [ ... ]


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 DVD Review: Shutter Island

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The film begins on an ominous note. Eerie strings play as the film fades to white. Soon, a ship appears out of the fog. Cut to a gumshoe, looking and speaking as if he has stepped straight out of a [ ... ]


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Film Discussion
Bring Out Your Dead! PDF Print E-mail
Written by Bruce Frigeri   
Monday, 21 September 2009 11:10
With Halloween approaching, we thought it would be fun to see what you all thought were your ten most "memorable" death scenes in movies. Trent, our intrepid critic, has already written his list. What about yours? I want to use "memorable" as the defining guideline here. If memorable means gruesome and bloody for you, so be it. Sometimes, "memorable" could mean surprising, or heartbreaking, or, as you'll see from my films, spectacular.

I found the list of possible candidates quite long once I got the cobwebs out of my brain. It could change tomorrow, but without further a do, below is my current Top Ten Death Scenes, in no special order.

THE OMEN 2: Death beneath the ice. As an avid outdoor ice skater, I will never forget the first time I saw this rather mediocre sequel. The frantic drowning of one of the characters beneath some very clear ice as his companion struggles to break through and save him still gives me the willies. For good measure he even pops up once, only to disappear under the ice again for good.

CASINO ROYALE: Keeping with the drowning theme, the death of Vera Lynn in the submerged elevator of the sinking house in as Bond does all he can to try and save her has also stayed with me. I think it's the fact that we like this character so much (and she's beautiful to boot), and Bond loves her so much, that makes this one especially disturbing.

JAWS: The opening sequence of the skinny dipping teenage girl who gets torn to shreds by the great white shark still stands as one of the most horrific deaths of modern cinema. We never see the shark, which only makes the scene even more disturbing. The ringing bell on the buoy and the girl's bloodcurdling screams as she's chopped up into a blue plate special are just unforgettable. Add a comment
Last Updated on Monday, 21 September 2009 13:01
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Top 10 Death Scenes PDF Print E-mail
Written by Trent Daniel   
Saturday, 19 September 2009 15:01
Some of the most memorable moments in film history are death scenes, perhaps because they can be extremely versatile in drawing extreme emotions, be it fright, disgust, sadness, even laughter. All the death scenes listed below are memorable because they make a profound impact on the viewer.

My Top 10, sorted by year:

Beauty kills the beast-King Kong (Merian C. Cooper and Ernest B. Schoedsack-1933)



The death of Kong is one of the most magnificent, as well as bitterly sad, scenes ever. Dragged from his home and put on display, his rampage through New York seems justified. He is soon brought down in his ill-fated attempt to claim and protect the one human he cares for. Call me silly, but seeing him gradually weaken under the hail of bullets from the plans, then make his famous plunge from the top of the Empire State Building, always makes me want to cry.
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The Suit Me Suit You Blues PDF Print E-mail
Written by Bruce Frigeri   
Friday, 04 September 2009 10:06
August is usually a quiet month in the film business but this year some Hollywood studios have their long knives out. They are filing aggressive law suits against Red Box and other rental kiosk companies, ostensibly to prevent them from eroding whatís left of their sell thru revenue and hurting their traditional rental customers like Blockbuster, etc. In turn, Red Box has filed their own claims against Warner Brothers. The Warner suit is the third such legal action taken by Red Box in the last year, with earlier actions against 20th Century Fox and Universal still pending. Clearly the $1.00 per rental fee charged by Red Box has the studios nervous. At the same time, Red Box has a great business model that they donít want the studios to undermine.
 
However, I suspect that all this focus on sell thru is a bit of a bait and switch on the part of the studios. They are nothing if not smart, and they see as well as anyone that the future of home entertainment profits, especially for new releases, is going to be earned by video on demand.
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Top 10 Biography Films PDF Print E-mail
Written by Trent Daniel   
Thursday, 20 August 2009 18:34

 
In my recent review of Milk, I admitted that biographies are not my favorite film genre, primarily for two reasons: 1) the story is already written, which can often hamper the artist in telling the story and 2) there is often a tendency for film biographies to fall too much in love with its subject, which can lead the film down a path of worship and away from perhaps telling the true story and/or from presenting the real subjectís flaws as well as his or her triumphs (which I felt was the case with Milk).

In making my Top 10, I noticed that my list was eclectic, that it included low level gangsters, failed musicians and file clerks alongside queens, emperors and generals. It does not focus solely on those who reached noble heights, but focuses as well on some people of dubious character who did not always succeed. However, I feel that each of these films is honest toward their subjects, showing their flaws as well as their triumphs. Furthermore, each works as a film, telling their stories in innovative, original and striking ways.
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Last Updated on Thursday, 27 August 2009 17:57
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Top 5 John Hughes Films PDF Print E-mail
Written by Trent Daniel   
Monday, 10 August 2009 17:32
ImageLike many of my fellow kids of the 80s, I was very sad to learn of the passing of John Hughes. He is best remembered now as the king of the ìteen angstî comedies of the 1980s and many scenes from his films seemed to define my generation much like Woodstock did the 60s or the birth of rock did the 50s. His best work stood out because he seemed to not only genuinely like teenagers, but also respect and understand them as well. Current filmmakers like Judd Apatow and Kevin Smith recently noted how influential Hughes was on their careers (with Smith adding that much of his work is basically a ìraunchy version of a John Hughes film.î)

However, while making a tribute ìTop 5î list to Hughes, I somewhat surprised myself, as I discovered that 3 of my 5 favorite films by him were not his ìteenî films, but ones that primarily centered around adults and families (particularly the father figure) and featured hilarious, memorable work by [[Steve Martin]], [[Chevy Chase]] and [[John Candy]]. Others may wonder why other favorites by him, such as [[The Breakfast Club]], [[Some Kind of Wonderful]], [[Pretty in Pink]], or [[Home Alone]] are not on my list, but again, all lists are subjective. A weekend spent watching his best work is not a bad way to spend the weekend at all. RIP Mr. Hughes.
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Last Updated on Monday, 10 August 2009 17:53
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In the wake of Inception, I thought it might be fun to create a list of 10 of the best mind mess movies. All of these films are very good, with some masterpieces. What they have in common is a tendency to question re
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