Category: Action Movies (Page 101 of 165)

Disney, Diablo, and the King Kirby clan’s Spidey claim

September 23, 2009 / Bob Westal

Just a few interesting items in recent movieworld news.

* Nikki Finke selects a possible future “toldja” candidate for the next Disney chairman. Toothy, bespectacled Rich Ross is not a name that’s likely to excite movie fans, as his background is pretty much Disney Channel material. Interesting comments on this one.

* Fresh on the heels of the bad box office of the graphic comedy horror flick, “Jennifer’s Body,” “Juno” authoress Diablo Cody’s next outing will be a major dialing down of the “edgy” factor, as she will be adopting the Sweet Valley High book series for the movies. I had only heard of the television series until I saw this item, but according to the Heat Vision blog, a humongous 150 of the books were published between 1983 and 2003 and 60 million copies are in print. That’s not small and reminds me of a female-skewing variant on classic pulp series based on characters like the Shadow and Doc Savage.

Attaching Cody to this project strikes me as a canny move. Not only is she apparently a fan, but giving it to a writer with a known “edge” might broaden the appeal to cynics and, possibly, males. I’m far from Cody’s biggest fan, but I’m still a lot more likely to check out the movie than I would have been otherwise.

* Also courtesy of Heat Vision, the Jack Kirby estate law suit against the Disney owned Marvel continues to play out. The THR blog’s Borys Kits and Matthew Belloni say that they’ve seen some of the legal “termination notices” and that this might be a more sweeping suit that was thought. To me, the really interesting portion of this is that one of the notices was for Spiderman, a character Kirby never drew that’s usually credited largely to the eccentric and brilliant Steve Ditko. However…

According to several accounts, Kirby, with his Captain America co-creator Joe Simon, did create a character called the Silver Spider, whose alter ego was an orphaned boy living with two elderly people, and that character was morphed into Spider-Man. Other accounts have the Silver Spider becoming the Fly for another comic company.

It gets a lot broader than that, with the Kirby claiming some possession of several Spidey supporting characters, but that may be just so much legal jockeying. We’ll see.

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Diablo Cody Disney Disney channel Disney/Marvel Doc Savage Jack Kirby Jennifer's Body Joe Simon Nikki Finke Rich Ross Spiderman Steve Ditko Sweet Valley High The Shadow

Blu Tuesday: Observe and Report, Wallace & Gromit and Star Trek

September 22, 2009 / Jason Zingale

On the surface, this week’s selection of Blu-rays may not look like much, but there’s something here for everyone, including the latest from Seth Rogen, the debut of a couple cult classics, and a few box sets that most movie nerds already have on their radar. There may not be any really major titles being released today, but I’d much rather have the option to choose from a solid list like this any day of the week.

“Observe & Report” (Sony)

A curious mix between “Paul Blart: Mall Cop” and “Taxi Driver,” Jody Hill’s sophomore effort isn’t the usual Seth Rogen laugh-a-thon, but rather a pitch-black comedy that only gets darker and more sadistic with each passing minute. This is the kind of film that usually divides moviegoers, and though I didn’t love it or hate it, I will admit that it’s Rogen’s strongest (and most mature) performance to date. It usually takes a while for a comic actor to branch off into more serious roles, but Rogen has been so overexposed lately that it’s nice to see him try something new. “Observe and Report” is hardly the kind of film that benefits from high definition, however, so Warner Bros. has made a point of distinguishing the Blu-ray edition from its DVD counterpart by making all of the extras – like a picture-in-picture commentary, deleted scenes and a gag reel – exclusive to this release. It isn’t exactly the smartest business practice, but HD fans won’t complain. At least we’re finally getting a little extra bang for our buck.

“Wallace & Gromit: The Complete Collection” (Lionsgate)

People may think of Tim Burton when they hear the words “stop motion animation,” but for my money, Nick Park is the king of the genre. His “Wallace & Gromit” shorts have earned a nice little following over the years, and though the feature-length “Curse of the Were-Rabbit” failed to take the franchise to the next level, it’s still a darned good film in its own right. Still, Park’s bread and butter (or crackers and cheese, if you will) has always been the shorts, and along with collecting his three previous films (“A Grand Day Out,” “The Wrong Trousers” and “A Close Shave”), the new compilation also features Wallace and Gromit’s latest madcap adventure, “A Matter of Loaf and Death.” To sweeten the pot, Lionsgate has also included a bevy of bonus material like commentary tracks, making-of featurettes and a hilarious episode of “Shaun the Sheep.” At only $20 bucks for the Blu-ray edition, it’s hard to imagine even the most casual fan not succumbing to such a great deal.

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Battle for Terra Blu-ray Blu Tuesday Blu-ray new releases Blu-ray reviews Hot Fuzz Blu-ray Observe and Report Blu-ray Shaun of the Dead Blu-ray Star Trek Blu-ray Terminator Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles Blu-ray Wallace & Gromit Blu-ray

Sin Nombre

September 21, 2009 / Bob Westal

You’ll want to watch the DVD of writer-director Cary Joji Fukunaga’s acclaimed feature debut on the biggest television set you can find. That’s not only because this film is full of astonishing Latin American location work from a newcomer with a stunning camera eye, but also because Universal saw fit not to make new subtitles for the DVD version of the film, leaving us with only the tiny, eye-strain inducing subtitles from the theatrical release. That technical annoyance aside, this blend of social drama, action-thriller and love story unites American filmmaking slickness with what feels like an insider’s view of the brutal travails of Central American immigrants and the sickness of life inside today’s gangs. The story brings together a heartbroken Mexican gangbanger on the run (Marco Antonio Aguirre) and an innocent Honduran teen (Paulina Gaitan) trying to unite with family in New Jersey in an involving and violent story that does a fine job of humanizing the “illegal immigrants” that fill the fevered imagination of America’s right wing.

On his first feature (produced by the “Y Tu Mama Tambien” twosome of Diego Luna and Gael Garcia Bernal), Berkeley, California-bred writer-director Fukunaga has made an impossibly slick, extremely well-acted combination of indie subject matter and mainstream style that involves us with strong characterization, fine acting from a cast of unknowns, and visual brilliance. Even if “Sin Nombre” ultimately doesn’t quite justify the heartrending journey the film takes us on, it’s a mightily impressive debut that will inspire young filmmakers and seriously anger Lou Dobbs — two highly praiseworthy achievements.

Click to buy “Sin Nombre”

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Cary Fukunaga Cary Joji Fukunaga Diego Luna Gael Garcia Bernal Marco Antonio Aguirre Paulina Gaitan Sin Nombre Y Tu Mama Tambien

If I were a crimson pirate

September 19, 2009 / Bob Westal

Once again, in honor of International Talk Like a Pirate Day and Rosh Hashanah (Jewish New Year), we’re pairing clips from pirate movies with scenes from 1971’s film version of the enormously successful musical tale of ordinary life in the Russian shtetl, “Fiddler on the Roof.”

Here we begin with diary farmer Tevye (Topol) fantasizing about an easier life while ripping off the musical stylings of Gwen Stefani.

And now Burt Lancaster break the fourth wall and shows off the acrobatic skills he gained in his early years as a circus performer in 1952’s enjoyably silly “The Crimson Pirate.”

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Burt Lancaster Fiddler on the Roof International Talk Like a Pirate Day Jewish New Year Rosh Hashanah The Crimson Pirate

Traditional pirates

September 19, 2009 / Bob Westal

Today is International Talk Like a Pirate Day. Today is also the first full day of Rosh Hashanah (Jewish New Year). That can mean only thing — this weekend we’ll be pairing clips from classic pirate movies with scenes from 1971’s “Fiddler on the Roof,” Norman Jewison’s film version of the gigantically successful Broadway musical about ordinary Jews living in pre-revolutionary Czarist Russia. That makes sense, right?

So, we begin with with this clip from 1935’s “Captain Blood” starring Errol Flynn as a good guy doctor forced into the life of a buccaneer. In this scene, Flynn begins his habit of killing character acting great Basil Rathbone in swordfights. The irony was that Rathbone was actually an extraordinarily good fencer, far better than Flynn. Still, can’t let the hawk-nosed baddie kill the handsome hero, right?

This longish sequence features some really great pirate (over) acting from Rathbone, some nice moments between Flynn and gorgeous female lead Olivia de Haviland and stunning location photography (actually Laguna Beach in South Orange County). Still, if you want to cut straight to the sword fight — which is pretty cool — it starts at about 5:45.