Haunter: Trailer for New Vincenzo Natali Horror Flick

July 31, 2013 ryancroftj Leave a comment

After a tremendous start with the low-budget horror film Cube, director Vincenzo Natali has had a hit or miss track record since, most recently being the tantalizing, twisted film Splice. But if his films prove anything, it’s that they’re different, which to me, warrants a viewing.

So that brings us to his newest flick Haunter starring Abigail Breslin (Little Miss Sunshine) in the lead, and Stephen McHattie (300, Hellmouth) as I believe the antagonistic killer. The listed premise seems intentionally vague, which could mean there’s quite a few twists in the film that are hidden, cause the trailer hints at more, but here it is via IMDb : The ghost of a teenager who died years ago reaches out to the land of the living in order to save someone from suffering her same fate. Check out the Haunter trailer below.

The trailer is pretty good, giving us a hint that the film hopefully pushes the boundaries of the standard haunted house flick. That said, reviews I’ve read so far have been mixed, with some saying it’s better than the average horror film, but others straight up panning it. Then again, Natali’s other films weren’t for everyone, so if you’re a fan of his previous flicks, this could be right up your ally. The official synopsis of Haunter can be seen on the SXSW website, but other sites have reported it gives away hidden details, so I’ll leave it up to you if you want to read it.

Haunter hits theaters and Video-on-Demand October 18th.

GAMING

‘The Walking Dead’ to Be Shoehorned into Risk and Monopoly…

July 31, 2013 J. Nisen Leave a comment

Here’s a question — do you really like The Walking Dead?

Do you really like Risk (the board game)? How about Monopoly?

If you would enjoy a classic board game injected with mindless, brain-sucking sensibilities, you’re in luck. Diamond, USAopoly and Skybound are joining together for Walking Dead-branded versions of Risk and Monopoly.

Continue reading ‘The Walking Dead’ to Be Shoehorned into Risk and Monopoly… →

Movie Trailers

American Hustle: First Trailer for David O. Russell’s New Film

July 31, 2013 ryancroftj Leave a comment

The first trailer for David O. Russell’s follow-up to Silver Linings Playbook has been released, giving a first look at the tremendous cast, 70’s flare, and somewhat atrocious hair cuts. Leading the film is Christian Bale (Dark Knight Trilogy) and Bradley Cooper (The Hangover Trilogy) as the former being a con man recruited to help the latter, an FBI agent. In addition to those two big names are Academy Award winners and ‘O. Russell’ alums, Jenifer Lawrence (Silver Linings Playbook) and Robert De Niro (The Godfather Part II). But wait, there’s more well-known faces in Jeremy Renner (The Hurt Locker), Amy Adams (Man of Steel), and Louis C. K. (Blue Jasmine). Co-written by O. Russell, this seems to be a sure contender come next February. Keep your eyes peeled for this, and check out the trailer below.

Originally titled ‘American Bullshit’, the script made the blacklist (an unofficial list of the top un-produced scripts voted on by producers) in 2010, and was bought by Sony Pictures who lined up David O. Russell to direct. The story goes as follows, a fictional take on the 1970’s FBI sting operation know as Abscam that follows a con-man and an FBI agent as they try to turn the table on other cons, mobsters, and politicians in the area.

The film is due out December 13th, and if Columbia shelling out what ever insane amount for a Led Zeppelin song is telling, they are gonna spend as much as they can to market this film in the coming months.

Dexter Review: 8.05 – “This Little Piggy”

July 30, 2013 Michelle L. Mattock Leave a comment

Even though the supposed “Brain Surgeon” was killed by the Dexter/Deb duo, ‘This Little Piggy’ was one of the more boring episodes of season 8 so far. Certainly not as entertaining as last week’s ‘Scar Tissue’.

Dexter and Deb have a therapy session with Vogel and suddenly, after a brief angsty bitch session by Dexter, everything is okay again between the brother and sister. Deb wants to help Dexter kill Yates after the “Brain Surgeon” kidnaps Vogel because, as she said, “…the family that kills together…”. They are successful in ridding the world of Yates, but something tells me that the world is not rid of the “Brain Surgeon”. Why would it be Yates? If he is this easily manipulated and this precise thus far, how did he let himself get caught and why would he suddenly kidnap Vogel? I guess he could be the Brain Surgeon, but I wouldn’t like how little sense that makes. Also, usually there is much more of a chase than this has been with Yates. I would want it to be someone stronger; someone like Dexter.

Quinn goes to get a DNA sample from a man who is very wealthy and contributes a lot to the community, so when he gets a bad feeling about the man’s son, Matthews shoots him down. Here’s the thing….. the “feeling” Quinn got? Yeah, we all got that as well. What f-ckery is this, where they make the supposed psychopath look like an outright… well… psychopath! He is obviously up to something when you first see him. If that wasn’t telling enough, the kid asks Quinn a bunch of questions about the murder. So even dumb as rocks Joey Quinn can tell that there is something obviously wrong with this Hamilton kid. They should just play ominous cheesy 80s horror film music as he appears on camera.

There were other things that happened in this episode, none of which I particularly care about. Jamie brought over a cute friend for a double date with Dexter, but he had to leave (Vogel/Yates/Deb situation) and she was very cool about it. Blah. It is too far into the season to be adding new characters and expecting me to care about them.

The reason that Dexter is such a great show is because you get attached to these characters (Rita, Miguel, Lila, Maria, etc…) and you get to watch Dexter destroy their lives, leaving the audience feeling some sort of emotion about it. In the season 4 finale when Trinity killed Rita, the second I saw Harrison in the blood pool I began sobbing. When I saw Rita’s face, I cried my eyes out. John Lithgow still haunts my nightmares! But this adding new characters for a few episodes and then expecting me to give a shit? I dislike that. Like that woman detective who is trying for sergeant…. I cannot remember her name off the top of my head. If she wasn’t in the next episode, I probably wouldn’t even notice. I understand that the series is ending, I just thought it would go out with a bang!

Overall I give this episode a 2 out of 5, and mainly only because Deb and Dex are back together again.

Movie News & Opinions

‘X-Men: Days of Future Past’ – Viral Website Reveals Bolivar Trask and Sentinels!

July 30, 2013 James Henshaw Leave a comment

That Bryan Singer is one sneaky little bleeder. Over the past few months Singer has done a superb job at raising the excitement levels of X-Men: Days of Future Past by dropping sneaky little Tweets and Instagram shots of new characters, costumes, set design and those beautiful character posters during Comic Con.

Now the promo job seems to have set itself into viral mode with the launch of www.Trask-Industries.com. The website itself was launched a little while ago during San Diego Comic Con, but at that time there was very little up on the site. Today there seems to have been a major update that gives us our first shot of everyone’s favorite Lannister, Peter Dinklage, in full 70’s Bolivar Trask get up.

We are also treated to a great little propaganda style Trask Industries infomercial explaining how, if the X-Gene is allowed to continue propagating without limit, that homo sapiens could cease to exist by the year 2030.

The website also gives us a nifty little bit of X-history with a timeline of the Sentinel program as well as the big reveal of the Sentinels themselves.

Now, this all sets up the premise and tone of the film very nicely and obviously starts to point us towards the dystopian future that Wolverine, Kitty Pride and the rest of the X-team inhabit. I imagine that most of the material used here, or at least the premise it sets up, will be covered briefly within the opening scenes or credits of the film once it is released. In the meantime it gives us good insight into were they are going with the film. One of X-Men: First Class’ main accomplishments I feel was the tone. By the looks of things so far, Bryan Singer has really picked up on that and is stylistically aiming to conjoin the two cinematic threads.

I particularly like the ‘Mutants are the Enemy’ posters that were popping up around SDCC and on the web. which you can see more of at the link above.

There are a few things that worry me about X-Men: DOFP, though. I loved X-Men: First Class. In my opinion it was the strongest of all the X-films (I wonder how many more X-idioms I can use). It’s my opinion that the film that X-Men: DOFP bridges First Class with (X-Men: The Last Stand) is probably the worst. Singer revealed to UK magazine Empire that the future set parts take place 10 years after The Last Stand. This leaves a lot of questions to be answered, such as how Professor X is now inhabiting the body of Patrick Stewart again, and not that bloke in the bed who he ‘mind-swapped’? Also, there does seem to be a rather bloated cast. Will there be enough time to give them all the screen time they deserve and not turn it into the cameo fest that was The Last Stand.

Ultimately, this could all be explained very easily and done satisfyingly. I for one am more excited to see this and hopefully Singer and co. will pull out all the stops to avoid X-fanboy ire.

X-Men: Days of Future Past hits theaters on May 23, 2014.

Movie Trailers

‘The Secret Life of Walter Mitty’ Trailer Is Here & It Looks Amazing

July 30, 2013 ryancroftj Leave a comment

Wow. The fact that a trailer forgoes relying on the “directed by…” or the “starring…”, and instead leaves us with beautifully imagery and an accompanying song that sets the mood really means something. Directed by Ben Stiller (Tropic Thunder, Zoolander), and along with starring as the lead, he is joined by a solid cast including Kristin Wiig (Bridesmaids), Adam Scott (Parks and Rec.), and Sean Penn (Milk). The film was given a 20 minute preview at CinemCon that got rave reviews with some even hailing it as a major Oscar contender. While obviously they only saw a snippet of the film, it’s still nice to hear good things, cause boy does this trailer make me believe those comments.

Also, a little shout out to Of Monsters and Men whose song “Dirty Paws” is used in the trailer. It fits great for the trailer, and I highly recommend the rest of their album, My Head is an Animal.

Based off James Thurber’s classic tale of the same name, The Secret Life of Walter Mitty, Ben Stiller stars as a magazine writer who constantly fantasizes about story book elements such as heroism, romance, and action, day-dreaming the themes into his life. When his and his co-worker’s jobs are in danger, Walter embarks on a global journey that could be the real life adventure he has always imagined.

The Secret Life of Walter Mitty

The film is due out Christmas Day, which is perfect timing for a rumored Oscar contender.

Grizzly Bomb

Monthly Archives: July 2013