| MOVIE & VIDEO REVIEWS (June 2006) |
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| AN AMERICAN HAUNTING (PG-13) FREESTYLE RELEASING (Theatre) 2006 Starring: Donald Sutherland, Sissy Spacek, Rachel Hurd-Wood, James D'arcy, Matthew Marsh & more. This movie is based on the one actual recorded event of a haunting that killed a man. The movie takes place in the old days on a small plantation home. A small child is haunted by some scary ghost hauntings. The hauntings just keep getting worst & start getting very violent. None of her friends or family believe here, until they actual witness one of the violent haunting first hand. The ghost starts attacking other members of the family especially the father. The father is the one who gets killed by the ghost. The movie was pretty decent & had some freaky parts, but I was a little let down by it. i thought it was going to be much scarier, but it's still worth seeing. Check it out if you like true ghost stories www.ANAMERICANHAUNTINGonline.com |
| BODY COUNT - LIVE IN L.A. (UR) ESCAPI MUSIC / NAVARRE (DVD) 2006 Starring BODY COUNT This is a live DVD of the great band BODY COUNT fronted by ICE-T. The live shot footage is taken from their Memorial concert for past recently lost members of the band which is D-Roc, Beatmaster V & Mooseman. The show was filmed at the legendary Troubadour in Los Angeles, California. The set list includes some great classics like "Bowels Of The Devil", "KKK Bitch", "There Goes The Neighborhood", "Cop Killer" & more. There is even a new song "Murder 4 Hire" from their forthcoming album. The DVD includes interviews & bonus CD with two new songs. This is a great DVD for any fan of BODY COUNT & any fan who was lucky enough to catch BODY COUNT live like I did in Philly!!! |
| GRADUATION DAY (R) TROMA FILMS (DVD) 1981 Starring: Christopher George, Patch Mackenzie, E. Danny Murphy, E.J. Peaker, Michael Pataki & more. When a young college girl on the track team is pushed to finish her race in under 30 seconds, she wins, but then collapses & dies on the track. Her sister returns home from the marines to speak at the graduation her sister would have attended. Days before the graduation the rest of the track team members are slowly killed off one by one in gruesome gore ways. There was a lot of slow parts through out the film, but then the lkillings kick in. This wasn't the greatest horror flick, but it wasn't too bad for the time of it's release. Most TROMA fans will dig this film! |
| GRANDMA'S BOY (UR) 20TH CENTURY FOX (DVD) 2006 This is one of those films that didn't do too well in the theatre, but will probably be a cult film on DVD. The story follows a 40 year old video game tester, who gets kicked out of his apartment & is forced to move back in with his grand mother & here two elderly roomates. This guys has a rivalry with the guy who created the game he is testing for the love of their new female boss. The creator of the game thinks he is part robot & part human & dresses like the MATRIX. They also hang out with a stoner guy who gets them high all the time & has a pet monkey. This film was really funny & much better than I was expecting. It was produced by Adam Sandlers production company HAPPY MADISON. If you like Adam's earlier films, then you'll love this one. www.GRANDMASBOYmovie.com |
| HARRY POTTER & THE CHAMBER OF SECRETS (PG-13) WARNER BROS. (DVD) 2002 Starring: Daniel Radcliffe, Rupert Grint, Emma Watson, Toby Jones, Harry Melline & more. This is the second installment in the HARRY POTTER films. In this film, Harry is warned not to return to school for the second year as there are somethings that will endanger him. Harry must return & find out what is going on. When people start disappearing & being turned into stone statues, Harry must uncover the entrance to the Chamber Of Secrets. He must descover what & where the secrets are held & save the future of the school for everyone. This film was better than the first one & had more special effects, action, adventure & a better story too. If your a fan of these films you'll definately enjoy this one!!! www.HARRYPOTTER.com |
| MADAGASCAR (PG) DREAMWORKS (DVD) 2005 Satrring: Ben Stiller, Chris Rock, David Schwimmer, Jada Pinkett Smith, Sacha Barton & more. I'm sure most people already know of this animated film, it only made a ton of money! This is a story about 4 New York City Zoo animals who don't realize how good they have it until they go on a journey to the wild. They are accompanied by 4 militant penguins looking to go to Antartica. Along the way there is mishap & they end up in Madagascar, where they run into some really crazy & funny lemur's. DISNEY better watch out because DREAM WORKS is pumping out some really great computer animated films lately & they are done better, funnier & have been making more money! This is great for kids & adults a like!!! www.MADAGASCAR-themovie.com |
| MAN-THING (R) ARTISAN ENTERTAINMENT / MARVEL ENTERTAINMENT (DVD) 2005 Starring: Matthew Le Nevez, Rachael Taylor, Jack Thompson, Rawiri Paratene, Steve Bastoni & more. This film is based on the MARVEL comic of the same name from the 70's. The story takes place in the swamp lands where a rich oil millionaire has built a drilling factory to suck the resources of the land dry. The locals don't like the oil drillers there & are affraid of the things in the swamp that come out at night. There is an old indian legend of the creature who merges himself with the plantattion & seeks revenge on those who destroy the land. Everyone who goes into the swamps never seem to return. This movie is kind of like the movie SWAMP THING & seemed to stay pretty much true to the comic book. Worth a few viewings!!! www.scifi.com/MANTHING |
| MIRROR MASK (PG) SONY PICTURES (DVD) 2005 Starring: Jason Barry, Rob Brydon, Stephanie Leonidas, Gina McKee, Dora Bryan & more. MIRROR MASK, follows the journey of a young girl, whose family works in the circus & she hates it. She makes an awful wish about her mother, who then falls ill & is placed in a hospital. The girl then finds herself in a magical world, where she has switched places with an alternate version of herself. The girls msut find a mistical "Mirror Mask" in order to return home. Along the way she has many incounters with some very strange & interesting characters. This was like a more darker & dreaier version of ALICE IN WONDERLAND meets THE WIZARD OF OZ. I really liked this film a lot & thought it was done extremely different & very good. Neil Gaimin did a great job in writing this story!!! www.sonypictures.com/movies/MIRRORMASK/index.html |
| SILENT HILL (R) COLUMBIA / TRI STAR (Theater) 2006 Starring: Radha Mitchell, Sean Bean, Jodelle Ferland, Laurie Holden, Deborah Kara Unger & more. When a young girl suffers from sleep walking spells & night terrors, her mother decides to take her to SILENT HILL hospital for special treatment. Once they head that direction they entire a time lapse portal to an abandonded town. The daughter runs off & the mother must try to find her. In her search to find the missing daughter, the mother encounters some strange town folks as well as some strange burnt up zombie like creatures. She must do battle against these things in order to save her child. The film is based on the popular video game. I thought it was a decent film, but just didn't turn out as I was thinking it would. www.sonypictures.com/movies/SILENTHILL |
| SLEEPAWAY CAMP 3: TEENAGE WASTELAND (R) ANCHOR BAY (DVD) 1989 Starring: Pamela Springsteen, Tracy Griffith, Michael J Pollard, Mark Oliver, Sandra Dorsey & more. This is the third installment in this film series & probably the worst of all three. The camp where Angela slayed all those people is now reopened with new owners & a new name. They try to bring rich kids & poor kids together to unite the youths. Well Angela is disguised as one of the campers, she previously killed so she can return & continue what she started. This one has some cool death scenes, but most of the dialogue & story along with acting is very cheesy & poor. This is a cool viewing for fans of the series, but if your expecting a great horror flick, then stay clear of this one!!! www.SLEEPAWAYCAMPfilms.com |
| SLUMBER PARTY MASSACRE 3 (R) NEW HORIZONS (DVD) 1990 Starring: Brandi Burkett, Hope Marie Carlton, Keely Christian, Maria Claire, Maria Furd & more. In this third addition of this series a bunch of girls decide to have one last slumber party in the one girls house before she moves. As in the other two, all the girls come over, get drunk order pizzas, dance, some get naked & then all get murdered. The plot is the same in all the films, with slight twists here & there. This one flollowed along that same path, except the girls were better looking, there was a bit more nudity, some better killings & a slightly better story line.There were some cool death scenes, but this was still a cheesy 80's slasher film. All be fans of this genre will dig this film, it's the best of the trilogy!!! |
| SUICIDE CLUB (R) TLA RELEASING (DVD) 2002 Starring: Ryo Ishibashi, Akaji Maro, Masatoshi Nagase, Saya Hagiwara, Hideo Sako & more. This is a cool Japanese film about 50 gilrs who commit sucide all at the same time by jumping off a platform in front of a moving train. When cops start investigating the bizarre suicide, more & more teens start killing them- selves as well. A bunch of teen at a school joke about it & then all jump from the schools roof. Others do similar things in killing themselves,all while the cops try to uncover the mystery of this SUICIDE CLUB they have all been chosen to join. There were some pretty graphic parts in this film & some really detailed & gory special effects. There was even a little humor tossed in at times. This was a really cool film & highly recommended for fans of mystery & horror films, with some weird twists!!! |
| THE CROW: WICKED PRAYER (R) DIMENSION FILMS (DVD) 2005 Starring: Edward Furlong, Emmanuelle Chriqui, Tara Reid, David Boreanaz, Danny Trejo & more. This is the fourth CROW movie, which was only in the theaters for one week. The film was better than I thought, but still a little lame. I didn't think there were good choices for the roles. Furlong, was pretty bad as the crow, Tara Reid is a bad actress & Boreanaz was too over the top & over acting as the cheesy bad guy. The story is the same, some bad guys kill the guys girlfriend & then him. He comes back to life to avenge their deaths & make everybody pay. I don't know if it's cause I just loved the original so much & thought Brandon Lee was perfect for that role or what, but each new CROW movie just seems really bad & doesn't do the first one any justice at all! Not the worst movie out there, but definately not a great one either!!!! |
| THE WEATHERMAN (R) PARAMOUNT PICTURES (DVD) 2005 Starring: Nicholas Cage, Michael caine, Hope Davis, Nicholas Hoult, Michael Rispol & more. Nicholas Cage is a weatherman for some local tv station & is trying to make it into the big time network stations & be know acroos the country. During all this struggle to advance in his carear, he is dealing with his father dying, his seperation with his wife, her new boyfriend & trying to develop some kind of relationship with his two kids. There is a really good story line that is filled with emotions, soem drama, comedy & more. I was expecting to het this film, but wound up enjoying it a lot. I'm not a big fan of Nicholas Cage, but when he plays some really off characters, such as this one, I seem to really enjoy his films! http://WEATHERMANmovie.com |
| TRISTAN & ISOLDE (PG-13) 20TH CENTURY FOX (DVD) 2006 Starring: James Franco, Sophia Myles, Rufus Sewell, David O'hara, Mark Strong & more. This movie is about these two kingdoms, one from England & one from Ireland, that are in a battle to take control of each others land. During one of the battles, one of the soldiers is left to die out at sea. He eventually floats back into land & is found by the daughetr of the King of Ireland. She keeps him hidden & takes care of him & his wounds. they eventually fall in love, but can not be together, because of their rivaling families. The families eventaully come to peace & she is to be come the new wife of the king of England. The soldier & her have a secret love affair & eventaully get caught. This was like the Romeo & Juliet story, but his had a lot more action & fighting in it, whch made the story a lot better. This film is more than a love story & wortch checking out!!! www.TRISTANANDISOLDEmovie.com |
| ULTIMATE AVENGERS (PG) LIONS GATE FILMS / MARVEL (DVD) 2006 Starring: Justin Gross, Grey Delisle, Michael Massee, Olivia D'abo, Marc Worden & more. This is an animated film based on the popular ULTIMATES comic book put out by MARVEL COMICS. The story is the origin of how the AVENGERS come to be & form a team to take out some alien beings trying to take over earth. The team consists of CAPTAIN AMERICA, THE HULK, WASP, GIANTMAN, BLACK WIDOW, IRON MAN & more. This was an ok animated film, I've seen better & I've seen worst. If your a fan of MARVEL or even more specific THE AVENGERS then you'll dig this film. There is a second one in the works now & should be out by the end of the year! AVENGERS assemble!!! www.ULTIMATEAVENGERS.com |
| WHEN A STRANGER CALLS (PG-13) SCREEN GEMS (DVD) 2006 Starring: Camilla Betle, Tommy Flanagan, Katie Cassidy, Tessa Thompson, Brian Geraghty & more. This is a remake of the 1979 horror film of the same name. In this film a young teenage girl goes to baby sit for a wealthy doctor & his wife in a huge fancy house. The house has all these realy cool features in it that are not in a normal home. The girl keeps getting prank phone calls from some stranger who keeps saying things to her to let her know he is watching her. She starts getting freaked out & calls the police. They say they will monitor the phone calls & eventually find out the calls are coming from in the house. She must try to escape & save the children & herself. This wasn't really a scary film, but more of a suspense thriller. It was done pretty well, but was a little draggy in the beginning of the film. This is still worth checking out though!!! www.sonypictures.com/movies/WHENASTRANGERCALLS |
| WOLF CREEK (R) THE WEINSTEIN COMPANY (DVD) 2005 Starring: John Jarratt, Cassandra Magrath, Kestie Morassi, Phil Stevenson, Nathan Phillips & more. This is an Australian horror film that is based on true events. Three friends decide to take a camping trip through the outback when they encounter car trouble. They have no choice but to wait for someone to come along. They feel they are saved, when a towtruck driver arrives in the middle of the night to help them. He says he can fix their car for them, but back at his station. He gives them a tow & then the torture begins. They find themselves trapped in different psychotic & gruesome situations of torture brought on by this lunatic. The girls fight back & try to survive, but they eventually meet their fate at the hands of this maniac. This film was pretty decent & was a combination of WRONG TURN, HOSTEL & TEXAS CHAINSAW MASSACRE. The fact that it's based on true events makes it all more freaky, especially with the information they give at the end of the film!!! www.WOLFCREEKmovie.com |
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| X-MEN 3: THE LAST STAND (PG-13) 20TH CENTURY FOX / MARVEL(Theater) 2006 Starring: Hugh Jackman, Halle Berry, Ian McKellen, Famke Janssen, Kelsey Grammer & more. I wasn't sure how this 3rd installment was going to turn out, with a new director & some new production crew from the last two films, but it was amazing. This film stands up proudly next to the first two films. In this one the government develops a mutant cure serum & want's to let mutans volunteer to be cure of their mutant gene. Well, this splits mutants apart, some are for it & some are against it. When the Brotherhood Of Mutants is formed they must fight the humans as well as some of the other mutants. The government kicks this battle into high form when they make bullets out of the serum & start attacking all mutants with this new weapon. This esculates into a major battle with three sides. There was more of a back story on some of the mutants as well as a lot more new story going on as well. They introduced some new mutants such as Beast, Kitty Pride, Phoenix & Angel & gave more screen time to Storm, Iceman, Collosus & Pyro. I really liked this film a lot & think this is probably the best Comic to film series yet. If your a fan of the comic book or just the other two films you will really enjoy this one. They even left it ending for another film possibly, even though this is supposed to be the last one of this series. There is a Wolverine solo movie coming out though!!! www.X3movie.com |