I finally got out to see The Day The Earth Stood Still remake, starring Keanu Reeves and Jennifer Connelly. I made sure to see it in IMAX because from what I could tell from the preview footage, the special effects are amazing and would definitely be heightened by the IMAX experience.

I’m a big fan of the original 1951 film by director Robert Wise and not so keen on remakes, which is why I wasn’t running out to see this movie when it was released in early December. The story centers on Klaatu, an alien who comes to Earth wanting to speak to its leaders about their destructive behavior. In the original, made during the Cold War, Klaatu warns that unless the human race ceases its warmongering, they will be destroyed. In the remake, Klaatu also threatens the extinction of the human race, but because humanity has been deemed a threat to the Earth itself.

As far as the special effects and aesthetics go, this film from director Scott Derrickson does not disappoint. Klaatu’s glowing spherical spaceship landing in Central Park is such a sight to behold that I’m willing to let it go that people — including a woman with a baby stroller! — are just standing there watching it land … and then have to run for the damn lives…

Garden Party
Starring Vinessa Shaw, Willa Holland, Ross Patterson, Erik Smith
Written and Directed by Jason Freeland
Lionsgate Home Entertainment
Release Date: November 18, 2008

Ever see a movie that you really had no feelings for? A movie that was not good or bad and that you couldn’t make heads or tails out of? Well, if you are interested in having such an experience, by all means grab yourself a copy of Garden Party.

Garden Party is a direct-to-DVD feature from Lionsgate that follows a group ambivalent youngsters in Hollywood. There is 15-year-old April (Willa Holland), who is trying to escape her broken home and make something of herself but ends up just taking her clothes off for some skivvy photographer. Along the way we meet Nathan (Alexander Cendese), a dancer from Wisconsin who may or may not be gay; Sammy (Erik Smith), a musician on the rise; Todd (Richard Gunn), an artist; and Sally St. Clair (Vinessa Shaw), who grows weed in her house and sell houses for a living. They all have nothing in common but the dream to make it big in LA LA Land [...]

Hello, friends. A very happy New Year to you all.

Hopefully by now you’ve all done our hamster wheel routine to work off that excess holiday weight and recovered from any New Year, Same Hangover you might have battled to the bitter end.

To start things off right, EW has a new issue out with a 2009 preview and a whole bunch of images to go with it. Some of them we’ve seen, but most are new, so below we’ve included some of the better ones to check out and mark on that shiny new Hannah Montana calendar you got for Christmas!

Keep in brain that this is just a taste of some of the movies coming along from the article at EW. There’s many, many more movies coming this year that will undoubtedly garner some excitement in you and I and when they do come, we’ll count our goosebumps together — but for now, enjoy this small little preview of some movies you’re either already thrilled for, or maybe you didn’t know about yet [...]

I wrote a scathing piece regarding the planned Crow remake that discussed how Hollywood is tearing up my favorite movies to bits and using them for kindling in a derelict’s dumpster fire. It’s a few weeks later and sure, I can rectify sound financial reasoning, but I still can’t fathom a good artistic reason for remaking the Crow. Now I find myself in the equally unenviable position of writing about the upcoming Hellraiser remake. My initial reaction is an even deeper feeling of illness than a Crow remake, but attached writer/director Pascal Laugier was able to do something that Crow redux director Stephen Norrington was not — instill me with a feeling of comfort for his decision to tackle the remake.

In an interview with The Northlander of AICN at a post-screening for his most recent horror film Martyrs, Laugier was asked about his plans for the Hellraiser remake, his motivation for accepting the project, and his thoughts on the omnipresent remake trend. For Laugier, remaking Hellraiser is “a child’s dream coming true” and he has no intention of betraying Clive Barker‘s work. “I want to do a fresh film filled with a lot of unexpected and surprising things. At the same time, I want it to be connected to the real, original material,” said Laugier [...]

Death Race (Unrated Edition)
Directed by Paul W.S. Anderson
Starring Jason Statham, Tyrese Gibson, Ian McShane, Joan Allen, Natalie Martinez
Universal Home Entertainment
Released Date: December 21, 2008

Let’s get one thing out in the great wide open right off the bat: Death Race is not a good movie. It’s completely mindless and filled with over-the-top absurdities (when did the women’s prison get stocked with friggin’ supermodels?) dancing around a very “WWE Films Present” tone.

OK, now that that’s out of the way, I have to admit… Death Race is a pretty damn fun movie. Yes, I really just said that. No, I don’t get it either. Seriously, though, as obvious as it is that the movie won’t be scooping up a collection of Oscars, it’s not out there trying to look like it should be.

Death Race is about an ex race car driver (Jason Statham) who’s out trying to find work in the new great depression (surprisingly fitting) when his wife is murdered and he’s framed for the crime, setting this up to be one of them big, scary movie prisons. The Warden (Joan Allen) offers him the chance to take the place of their most popular (and now deceased) driver so they can make a lot of money off the name with their Internet sensation, the Death Race, where inmates race to the death and where if you win five events, you go free. Without much of a choice, he accepts the offer and attempts to find a way to pull it off [...]

The Weinstein Company has officially announced that Quentin Tarantino‘s World War II movie Inglourious Basterds will be released on August 21, 2009.

At last year’s Cannes Film Festival, Tarantino promised to have the movie for the ’09 festival. No word yet as to if he’ll still fulfill that promise with the release date now set for three or so months after Cannes. I won’t be there, so I’m just happy to know when I’ll get to see it, but I am starting to think he’ll have it there and hopefully we’ll start to hear some feedback on what to expect [...]

Rogue Pictures has released a whole pile of images, videos, and links for their upcoming supernatural thriller The Unborn from The Dark Knight writer David Goyer, and we have all of it right here for you now!

In addition to images, clips, and trailers that have been seen, many new clips and images have been released; also, a one-sheet, a brand new official website, and the official synopsis, as well as official YouTube and MySpace profiles. Fans of the scary and those looking forward to the movie will find all sorts of things to do at these various links.

The movie stars Gary Oldman (The Professional, Harry Potter), Odette Yustman (Cloverfield), Cam Gigandet (Twilight), and Meagan Good (Saw V) and will be released on January 9, 2009 [...]

Hulu now has The Fabulous Baker Boys online to watch for free. You can also watch it RIGHT HERE.

While this 1989 film is far from a geek pick, I thought I’d link it because it’s actually a really good movie and I’m pretty much a sucker for all ’80s movies. It stars real-life brothers Beau Bridges and Jeff Bridges as two brothers who make their living in the Seattle area as a hotel piano lounge act known as The Fabulous Baker Boys. Frank (Beau Bridges) handles the management end of the business, while his brooding playboy younger brother Jack (Jeff Bridges) is really the talent of the show. Unfortunately for the duo, while they’ve managed to make a living off of songs like “Feelings” for decades, it seems piano lounge music is dying out, leaving them with fewer gigs. So, Frank gets the idea to hire a female singer to update their act. Enter Susie Diamond (Michelle Pfeiffer), a downtrodden yet beautiful young woman, who inadvertently causes tension between the brothers, putting the future of The Fabulous Baker Boys in jeopardy.

Read on for tidbits about the film [...]

Today’s Gold Box spotlight deal of the day over at Amazon is The Die Hard Collection Blu-ray for $46.95 (64% off the original price of $129.98 and down significantly from the site’s often discounted price of $81.99.)

This blu-ray collection contains all four films from the Die Hard action franchise, which stars Bruce Willis as New York cop John McClane, in one case and includes all the bonus material from the individual Blu-ray releases: Die Hard, Die Hard 2: Die Harder, Die Hard with a Vengeance, Live Free or Die Hard.

Another deal going on right now is for the Resident Evil Trilogy Blu-ray for $49.99 (that’s 44% off the original price of $89.95). Also housed in one blu-ray case, this collection includes Resident Evil, Resident Evil: Apocalypse, Resident Evil: Extinction, the films starring Milla Jovovich.

Speaking of Resident Evil, Resident Evil: Degeneration [Blu-ray], an all-new CGI-animated feature film, is available now for $19.99 (50% off the original price of $39.95!).

Here are some other Blu-rays deals going on right now:

– Buy both Lost: The Complete Fourth Season [Blu-ray]
and Lost – The Complete Third Season [Blu-ray] and get an additional $20 off your total purchase.

– Wanted [Blu-ray] for $21.99 (down 45% from $39.98)

– Journey to the Center of the Earth [Blu-ray] for $21.99 (down 39% from $35.99)

– Serenity [Blu-ray] for $19.99 (down 33% from $29.98)

– Pre-order The Bourne Trilogy [Blu-ray] for $76.99, which comes with The Bourne Identity, The Bourne Supremacy, and The Bourne Ultimatum (release date is January 27, 2009).

Does Internet Fan Reaction Help Or Hurt Your Favorite Shows

So I just finished watching the latest episode of Heroes (on VHS — insert old-timer joke here) titled “Dual,” which everyone seems to have liked and it got me thinking. There has been so much news and talk on the Internet about how tired and convoluted the show has become and how it is no longer as good as it was in season’s past that producers have started taking notice of the negative fan reaction.

Recently, several of the writers for Heroes were fired after the show dipped low in the ratings and fan complaints surfaced, but was that a good thing? Tim Kring, creator of Heroes, has told fans that the series has already completed a good portion of the entire third season. As it turns out, this last episode which people are starting to come around to was written by Jeph Loeb, one of the writers axed. So could NBC have jumped the gun in causing such a shake-up? Could perhaps the show have eventually regained some of its ratings on their own?…

The travesty of Disneyfication that surrounded the first wearying and child-like installment of C.S. Lewis’ seven-book series is still lurking somewhere in the shadows of the second adaptation, The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian.

The first half of the movie details the overthrow of Narnia by the ruthless Telmarine Empire, an army of men sporting perfectly-sculpted beards that scream EVIL! The Narnians have problems of their own. Their deceased king’s son, Prince Caspian (Ben Barnes), is next in line to inherit the throne, but the man who killed his father is his Uncle Miraz (played with abundant energy by Sergio Castellitto). Not only does Miraze want the throne for himself, he also intends for his newborn son to inherit it from him. Caspian is thus forced to flee from the medieval castle.

All four of the Pevensie children are back from the previous film, The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe. This time around they return to Narnia on a speeding train. One year has passed in their time, but 1,300 years in Narnia’s. They realize things are fishy when a starving bear doesn’t stop to have tea with them, but instead regards one of the Pevensie children as fresh meat. This isn’t Narnia anymore. The four meet up with Caspian, who used Queen Susan’s horn to call upon the Narnians to help him regain his rightful place on the throne, to stop the violence, and to restore Narnia’s wonder [...]