For A Few Movies More

Dean goes back to the 80s for a week of cheap horror, Eden and Lee talk Breaking Bad and the gang saves the best til last with an in depth look into The Dark Knight Rises. Spoiler City for the last 15 minutes so consider yourself warned.

Movie of the Week: Street Trash

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A few weeks ago, Peter Jackson revealed his interest in a making a third Hobbit film. Warner Bros. has now confirmed the go ahead.

Read more after the jump…

Ah…Street Trash. The quinessential 80s “Melter”. The Melting genre, usually reserved for “Troma” and “Troma-esque” movies was never a succesful one, albeit always entertaining. Whilst it couldn’t hold a candle to the “Slashers” of the decade, it was always there silently bubbling away in the background with titles like “Slime City”,”H-Man” and “The Toxic Avengers” oozing and seeping with poor taste to anyone with a cast-iron stomach and 90 or so minutes to kill at a time. OK, The “Melter” was technically never a genre, but if Music can claim “Alternative-Nu-Avant-Garde” as a genre, then the movies can surely take “Melter”.

There’s a very good chance you have never seen this movie. It slipped through the cracks, never turned any heads (It struggled to get anyone to sponsor or endorse it) and was basically tucked away until the internet allowed us fine people to go and “locate a copy”. I was lucky enough to see it as a kid, via the local video store. The cover alone made it a rental as it showcased what looked like the remains of a man melting into a toilet, or out of a toilet depending on your interpretation, half glass full right? It was around that time, I saw what was the scariest scene of my childhood in “Ghoulies 2″. It involved a toilet, the Ghoulies and me having nightmares until I was …uh let’s see I’m 26 so…26 years old. I don’t recall much of my viewing the movie as a child, but it did make me quesy and upon recent viewing again, it still made my stomach churn just a tad, and I live on the Internet, There isn’t anything I haven’t seen.

The stable of foes that have lined up for their chance to take down The Batman is vast to say the least. And the most infamous of this band of lunatics would have to be The Joker. In Christopher Nolan’s world The Joker rose from obscurity after bringing down the judicial system, taunting the criminal underbelly and terrorising the Gotham citizens – not to mention defacing (literally) the body and soul of Harvey Dent, Gotham’s White Knight. Nolan had his work cut out if he was to find a villain to carry a sequel, and while the halls of Arkham Asylum are full of worthy candidates, was there really anyone who could truly serve to elevate this legend to the next level? He would need someone highly intelligent, someone with super strength, someone scary as hell on earth. He would need Bane.

To help define Bane and place him in the Batman world I will hold on to the comparison with The Joker a moment longer. Throughout their history, and especially in The Dark Knight, Joker fights a primarily psychological war with Bats. He hopes to break Batman’s will and his belief in the people of Gotham. This is highlighted by torture scenes and elaborate schemes with explosive-ridden ferries. Bane on the other hand is a pure physical force; that is the threat he offers to Batman. While The Joker will take a beating and think nothing of it, Bane will simply dish it out. His presence alone is terrifying. There are moments in The Dark Knight Rises where Bane appears to simply touch or rest his hand on somebody and they are paralysed with fear. And when he is finally called into action nobody is able to stop him – not even Batman.

¿Que, yo otra vez? ¿Que está pasando? Dean es perezoso, ¡que es que está pasando! Jajajajaja… No, Dean no es perezoso, pero él está muy ocupado. Así que tengo los Fun Stuff de esta semana. ¡Espero que lo disfrutes!

My love for movies as I know it today came about when I was 17. During the break from school (in which I was meant to be studying for HSC exams) I watched a lot of very mature films and really felt, and still feel, like that time was an education in life. I spent so much time at school wanting to experience the life outside it. The adult world, as they say. And all these stories involving adults dealing with important, deep, emotional issues was the closest thing I would get to that outside world before my own life really started rolling. A lot of deep issues, such as existentialism, true love, even fatherhood were presented to me, and I learned from them as I still do. The human experience is an endlessly fascinating thing to me and I seek films that will show me something about humanity that cuts deep, that gets to the truth of this life, and can inform me, if even just a little bit, how to navigate through this crazy existence.

Death to Smoochy is not one of those films.

It is a stupid, offensive movie. Every character is either unlikeable, dumb or both. In other words, it’s stupid and offensive in the way Family Guy is stupid and offensive. And I first saw Death to Smoochy during my ‘HSC study break’, in the midst of all the heady films about deep shit. Then I saw it another three times over the next six months.

Really, I swear. No, please keep reading, this isn’t a joke! Alright, well just keep reading and give this a chance, please…

See the proof after the jump…

Poster Roundup has arrived and it shall leave no prisoners… This week we take a look at the latest poster designs for The Master, The Expendables 2, Life Of Pi, Bachelorette, Robot And Frank, A Common Man,Leave It On The Floor, General Education, Diary Of A Wimpy Kid: Dog Days, After, About Cherry, Freeloaders, Detropia and Ai Weiwei Never Sorry.

The first official poster for Paul Thomas Anderson’s The Master has been unveiled and it’s every bit as cryptic and intriguing as you would imagine. It’s a great design, even if I’m not exactly sure as to what the symbolism of the apparent wine bottle design is supposed to mean. However at the least its deceptively simple design is sure to stand out amongst the various in-your-face one sheets currently lining multiplexes. Speaking of which, the new poster for The Expendables 2 is quite the sight to behold. There’s nothing much new to see here, however a heavily armed motley crew of ultimate badasses is more than enough to lure this easily pleased viewer into the cinema. Lastly, I’ve never heard of this film called After before, but after seeing its enticing poster, I kind of want to. What’s up with all those keys?!? I need to know!

This week may not be the best week for good posters, but it sure is a good week for bad ones. First, I’d like to direct your attention to the terribly conceived Leave It On The Floor designs. Once you’ve finally finished laughing, I’d like you to shift your gaze over to the Life Of Pi poster. Now Life Of Pi is a highly revered book, so with such a classic piece of literature to borrow from you would think something better than an image of an apparent dwarf hanging out with an obviously fake tiger would be used to market the film. Plus the backdrop looks painfully unconvincing. Life Of Pi will most probably be a huge hit, but you wouldn’t be able to tell so from looking at its poorly photoshopped poster. Lastly I have zero clue as to what  Ai Weiwei Never Sorry is (apparently it’s a documentary about a controversial artist), but a less appealing poster for a film I have never seen.

Head on after the jump to view this week’s selection in full. Click on each individual thumbnail to enlarge the image or scroll down a little further to see a larger version of the entire gallery. Enjoy!

Man Of Steel

Director Zack Snyder

Starring Henry Cavill, Kevin Costner, Diane Lane, Michael Shannon, Russell Crowe and Amy Adams

With The Dark Knight Rises done and dusted, it’s now time to start looking toward the horizon in search of DC’s next big superhero blockbuster. And if you squint hard enough, you might just make out a shape that doesn’t quite look like a bird, nor a plane, it fact it kind of looks like, well, you know the rest… I feel that Superman needs as little of an introduction as Batman does, but while Batman has dominated the cinema over the last few years thanks to Christopher Nolan’s brilliant trilogy, Superman has not been quite so fortunate. Superman Returns was supposed to be the return to form for the character, however that didn’t quite work out as planned. The film was a jumbled mess that was both underwhelming and plain boring at times. But with that blemish on the Superman name just a forgotten memory, it’s now time for director Zack Snyder to take a shot at getting the Man Of Steel back on track.

Admittedly little is shown of Superman doing what he does best in this early teaser for Man Of Steel, but that doesn’t matter much. For the footage showcased here is so stirring and emotional that it has all but convinced me that Snyder has fashioned a take on the iconic superhero so brilliantly unique that it’ll be unlike anything we’ve seen before. The visuals are beautiful, the voiceover effective and the final tease of Superman enticing enough to leave you wanting more. I know this might be a big statement to make, but this may very well be one of the most effective trailers I’ve seen in months. Great stuff, I simply cannot wait to see more.

Anticipation Level: 4.5/5

Also here’s the alternate teaser with a different voiceover: