Criticize This!

MOVIE REVIEW: Halloween (2007)

One of the charms of John Carpenter’s Halloween, about a psychotic killer named Michael Myers who goes on a homicidal rampage on October 31, was that he employed loads of low budget trickery to create a cinematic treat that has helped elevate the movie’s status beyond the horror genre.

Released in 1978 on a shoestring budget, $300,000, the little compromises director Carpenter had to make to get his movie finished are what give it personality. From the spray-painted Captain Kirk mask Myers wore to the fake fallen leaves carried from scene to scene because the budget only allowed for so many, the film was in every way indie. But it was also scary as hell, and upon its release became the highest-grossing independent film ever made at that time.

Fast-forward 29 years to 2007 and director Rob Zombie’s Halloween, a re-imagining of the classic horror film. The budget? $20 million. Small by current standards, true, but still well beyond what it took to create the original. And though it’s obvious Zombie is a fan, his version lacks the rough-around-the-edges, DIY spirit of Carpenter’s original.

New in theatres - August 31, 2007

Death Sentence - Mild-mannered businessman Nick Hume (Kevin Bacon) finds himself irrevocably changed by a violent encounter that rips his life apart. Based on the novel by Brian Garfield and directed by Saw's James Wan, Death Sentence examines the lengths a person is willing to go to to protect their family.

Halloween - Director Rob Zombie calls this a combination of a remake of John Carpenter's classic 1978 horror film, featuring serial killer Michael Myers, and a prequel to it. No doubt it'll be a unique take on the nearly 30-year-old series with Zombie at the helm. In a cool bit of casting, which only fans of the series will get, Danielle Harris is back. She played Laurie Strode's daughter Jamie Lloyd in the fourth and fifth episodes but now returns as Annie Brackett. Another casting coup - scoring Malcolm McDowell to play Dr. Sam Loomis, although in my mind Donald Pleasence owned this role.

MOVIE TRAILER: Mr. Magorium's Wonder Emporium

I had never heard of Mr. Magorium's Wonder Emporium until I saw this trailer. Dustin Hoffman is Mr. Magorium - the owner of a magical toy store. Natalie Portman is the giddy girl who works at the store, and Jason Bateman is the cranky accountant who doesn't believe. The movie is bizarre to say the least.

Source: IGN

ALBUM REVIEW: The Beastie Boys - The Mix-Up

Beastie Boys
The Mix-Up
Capitol 2007

The Beastie Boys putting out an all-instrumental album is the musical equivalent of Plácido Domingo doing a little spoken word. Sure he can do it, but what’s the point? The Beastie Boys have perversely decided to ignore the skills that paid the bills to concentrate on making an album that feels strangely anonymous. Perhaps this disavowing of the mythology that surrounds the Beastie Boys is precisely the intention: lower the expectations and a lesser result will seem more astounding.

The Mix-Up starts off well enough: a few seconds of studio noise on the front end before it slides into a lazy Jimmy Smith groove. Within a few songs, however, you start to realize that the gears aren't changing much, and the vibe just kind of, well, fades. There isn't enough variety within and between the songs to distinguish them, and there isn't enough virtuosity on display to pull off the enormous conceit that is a funk instrumental album.

COMIC BOOKS #3: Preacher, Secret War, and a look at Fan Expo

And for this week's show:

Graphic Novels:
Preacher
Secret War

Issues:
Batman Lobo Deadly Serious #1   
Superman Vol 3 #666   
Black Summer #2

COMIC BOOKS is written, shot, and edited by Madclan

New on DVD - August 28, 2007

Blades of Glory Criticize This! pick of the week - Will Ferrell and Jon Heder battle it out on the ice rink (wearing silly costumes I might add), get banned, and then become partners in order to compete again. What's not to like? Also available on HD-DVD.

Kickin' It Old Skool - A break dancing accident in 1986 puts Justin Schumacher (Jamie Kennedy) into a coma. Twenty years later, Justin wakes up and soon finds out that everything has changed.

Fay Grim -  Parker Posey revives her character Fay Grim in this sequel to the 1997 Hal Hartley film Henry Fool.

Heroes: Season 1 - The hit NBC television show is finally getting released on DVD (just in time for the new season to start in September). Save the cheerleader. Save the world. Also available on HD-DVD.

Five Flicks for Fall

I don't know about you but I found this summer's crop of movies pretty ho-hum. It was the summer of the three-quel (Pirates, Shrek, Spider-Man, Rush Hour), only one of which (Bourne) I found lived up to the hype.

That's not to say I didn't see some good films – Sunshine and Once were memorable, and I got a real kick out of Superbad. But for the most part, fairly forgettable stuff.

So, on to my favourite movie season, the fall, because this is when we start seeing some of the studios' “prestige pictures” that could be up for Oscars the following year. Here are five films opening this fall – all of them in September, actually – that I'll be first in line to see.

MOVIE TRAILER: Right at Your Door

Brad (Rory Cochrane) seals himself in his house when a bomb goes off in Los Angeles releasing a poisonous gas in the air. When his wife Lexi (Mary McCormack) returns, Brad leaves her outside to die because he is too scared to let her in.

Right at Your Door looks like an interesting film. It could potentially be the next 28 Days Later if given a wider release.

Source: IGN

MOVIE REVIEW: War (2007)

Early on in War, a passable action flick starring Jason Statham and Jet Li, one of the main characters ruminates on the issue of trust and never knowing who’s on whose side. It’s a theme central to the film, which starts and ends well but gets bogged down by a murky middle act.

There are two main conflicts - one between rival Asian gangs the Japanese Yakuza and the Chinese Triads, and the other between two men, FBI agent Jack Crawford (Statham) and assassin Rogue (Li). Crawford suspects the elusive Rogue killed his partner, along with his partner’s wife and child, as revenge for a previous confrontation that ended badly for the hired gun. Now he’s the one with the score to settle, and makes it his mission to hunt down Rogue and avenge his friend’s death.

PRODUCT REVIEW: Toshiba HD-A20 HD-DVD Player

With its bargain price of $399.99, the Toshiba HD-A20 could be considered an entry-level HD-DVD player. Fortunately Toshiba has not compromised quality for a lower price and has packed a lot of player into one beautiful machine.

Look & Feel

Typical of most Toshiba HD-DVD players, the HD-A20 has a very clean, simple look. The unit fits great next to my other components, as it's the same size of a regular DVD player. The control buttons are located under a flip-down cover on the front (unlike the LG Super-Blu, which runs along the top), making it easy to access when needed. One thing I really like about Toshiba players is that the power cord detaches, making it much easer to set up in a cabinet, and this one follows that same form.

Toshiba HD-A20