<IMG SRC="/images/archivesart/dragme.jpg" WIDTH=200 BORDER=0 ALIGN=RIGHT>After a hiatus from horror to make the three <i>Spiderman</i> movies, writer/director Sam Raimi returns to the genre. I'm not a fan of horror films, but given the dearth of review material on my desk right now, I thought I would give <i>Drag Me to Hell</i> a spin. The story is average, but the video and audio were so good, they kept me watching until the end—a rarity with horror films!
Not so much The Da Vinci Code meets Se7en but more The Bourne Identity meets Run Lola Run, director David Fincher's scene-by-scene remake of the original 2009 Swedish adaptation of the first part of novelist Stieg Larsson's Millennium Trilogy is as if the original film had taken steroids. It's tight, tense, stylish, and very involving.
In sixth-century England, an ill-tempered, fire-breathing creature—ominously known as Vermithrax Pejorative—terrorizes the inhabitants of a small kingdom. In response, their king institutes a lottery whereby each year, a virgin maiden is sacrificed to him.
Between "message" pictures, a little sunshine, and a long-frustrated bandwagon for director Martin Scorsese, <I>Dreamgirls</I> was not nominated this year for a Best Picture Oscar. But it was, nevertheless, one of the best movies of 2006, and one of the most highly anticipated video releases of 2007. The Blu-ray discs are reviewed here. An HD DVD version, with identical contents, is also available, as well as two standard definition DVD sets.
<IMG SRC="/images/archivesart/drillbit.jpg" WIDTH=200 BORDER=0 ALIGN=RIGHT>Entering high school can be a harrowing experience. It's even worse for three self-proclaimed geeks—Wade (Nate Hartley), Ryan (Troy Gentile), and Emmit (David Dorfman)—who are tormented daily by school bullies Filkens (Alex Frost) and Ronnie (Josh Peck). Fed up with the harassment, they decide to hire their own private bodyguard, Drillbit Taylor (Owen Wilson), a former soldier of fortune who isn't all he seems to be.
Expectant father Peter Highman (Robert Downey Jr.) is flying home from Atlanta in order to bear witness to the birth of his first child. When he encounters Ethan Tremblay (Zach Galifianakis), a socially retarded wannabe actor at the airport, things get off on the wrong foot when they inadvertently exchange bags and Peter gets stopped in security for carrying drug paraphernalia. Sadly, that's the highlight of his trip because he's soon kicked off the plane, put on the no-fly list, and is forced to take a cross-country car trip with the man responsible for his troubles.
My expectations were pretty low going into this, and for good reason. The trailers made it look like a complete rip-off of Planes, Trains, and Automobiles, and unfortunately it isn't as funny as the classic John Candy/Steve Martin movie. The first act sets up the scenario pretty well, but then it quickly falls apart when the two protagonists hit the road.
Frank Herbert's Dune had turned into a sort of creative graveyard for filmmakers over the years, causing the beloved sci-fi novel to be labeled unadaptable. The first attempt was made by Alejandro Jodorowsky, who started his adaptation in 1974, working with artists including H. R. Giger, Chris Foss, and Jean "Moebius" Giraud for set and character designs, resulting in over 3,000 storyboard sketches.
<IMG SRC="/images/archivesart/dunebd.jpg" WIDTH=200 BORDER=0 ALIGN=RIGHT>In the year 10,191, the remote world of Arrakis is the only source for "Melange," or spice, which makes interstellar travel possible. When Duke Lito (Jurgen Prochnow) is murdered, his son Paul Atreides (Kyle MacLachlan) sets out to avenge his death by discovering the secret of the planet and uses its resources against his enemies in order to free the people from tyranny.
Less than three weeks after the Germans invaded France in May 1940, the British Expeditionary Force found themselves backed up against the English Channel. The evacuation that followed sought to rescue over 300,000 British and French troops using a combination of British warships and hundreds of “little boats.”
<IMG SRC="/images/archivesart/duplicity.jpg" WIDTH=200 BORDER=0 ALIGN=RIGHT>Former MI-6 spy Ray Koval (Clive Owen) is hired by a CEO (Paul Giamatti) to help steal industry secrets from a rival corporation. To Ray's surprise, the mole inside said corporation is none other than Claire Stenwick (Julia Roberts), who's duplicitous behavior five years earlier cost him his career. How did he get himself into this mess?
<I>Brad Pitt, Eric Bana, Orlando Bloom, Diane Kruger, Brian Cox, Sean Bean, Brendan Gleeson, Peter O'Toole. Directed by Wolfgang Petersen. Aspect ratio: 2.40:1 (anamorphic). 162 minutes. 2004. Dolby Digital 5.1 (English, French). Warner Brothers Home Entertainment 28411. R. $29.95.</I>