Drag Me To Hell
Directed by Sam Raimi
Starring Alison Lohman, Justin Long, Lorna Raver, Dileep Rao
Rated PG-13
Release date: May 29, 2009

“There are three rules. Law number one is The Innocent Must Suffer. Law number two is The Guilty Must Be Punished. And the third law is You Must Taste Blood To Be A Man. We’re working now on a fourth law, The Dead Shall Walk; but we’re not sure whether or not it’s universal.” – Sam Raimi

I love Sam Raimi and that special power of his to take all the unrestrained visual madness constantly bursting forth from his medulla oblongata and shape it into something wonderfully entertaining. I have missed him in the years since he started seeking respectability. The impish son of Polish Jews from the frozen wilds of Michigan got his start directing crazed Super 8 short films loaded with slapstick violence when he was just a kid. Over the years he built up a company of repertory players as full of imagination and crazed bravado as he was, the most prominent members being actor Bruce Campbell and producer Robert Tapert. This team under Raimi’s refreshingly unpretentious direction refused to buckle under the pressures of Hollywood conformity and brought us a veritable slew of genre-defying classics such as the Evil Dead trilogy and Darkman.

Then Raimi broke from his posse and struck out on his own into the wilderness of mainstream success. His hyperkinetic directorial style was clamped way down on films like A Simple Plan and The Gift and was only occasionally let out to play on the Spider-Man trilogy as Raimi pursued stories that valued emotion and character over visual razzle dazzle. He defied expectations to deliver movies that were better than they had any right to be, but that crazy old Raimi black magic was sorely missed. Rumors of a fourth Evil Dead and even a remake of the original were batted around but never seemed to gain momentum while Raimi and Tapert’s low budget horror boutique label Ghost House Pictures floundered with substandard assembly line product like the Grudge movies and Boogeyman. Tension could be seen building in Sam Raimi. The man was sick of being Thor. He was ready to unleash his inner Loki and reign chaos onto his celluloid canvas once more, to inject adrenaline into the cameras and make the sound system rumble like the gods on their bowling league night. He was ready to bring us Drag Me to Hell!

Game Trailers TV had a great special on recently which debuted a bunch of great new videos for games expected to make impacts at the great E3 convention — the convention where most of the year’s biggest and best video games make their first impressions.

Below is a list of big upcoming games, a little about them, and the links to some great video previews that video game fans just need to go and watch. Once you watch one of the videos, you can search for a title on the website and watch any other videos or trailers that they may have.

Keep in mind these are just previews of some of the promising-looking multi-platform games that might be big at E3, which takes place June 2-4 at the LA Convention Center. There’s a whole lot more games than this that are coming out soon that have us all Christmas Day-excited for them. There will also be countless other games talked about at E3. Hopefully, you might find a game here that you weren’t aware of!

Think of this like our Summer Movie Mayhem, but with games. Be sure to stay tuned for any giant E3 announcements that may come along this June! [...]

The American Medical Association Alliance is at it again, making a push for any and all movies that include some form of smoking to be given an R-rating. Dr. Jonathan Fielding of the AMAA drops the heavy research evidence that 1-in-3 kids who see smoking in movies, or whose favorite superstar smokes in a movie, are much more likely to start smoking them selves. Also, that 56% of movies of the past couple of years that were “youth-rated” G, PG, or PG-13 included smoking.

The MPAA quickly corrected the very obvious fact that they had no G-rated films with smoking, and that the others were rated appropriately for their content. The MPAA also reaffirmed that they have been including the act of smoking in their rating systems for a while now and that of the 55% of all movies that included any kind of smoking, only 21% were given a PG-13, with 5% being PG — leaving 75% of the movies getting an R.

This isn’t good enough for the AMAA, who again want any movie with ANY kind of smoking to be rated R. Their “case-closed” example of the year is the recent hit X-Men Origins: Wolverine, which had Hugh Jackman apparently smoking a cigar for two-hours straight in a cinematic homage to the late, great George Burns. [...]

Warren Ellis is a lot of things: comic book author, script writer, storyteller, unapologetic drunkard, and generally a badass. But, most people don’t realize he’s also a master of the 140-character message, also referred to as a ‘tweet’ on popular microblogging site Twitter, which allows its users to update a stream throughout the day. In Ellis’ case, he warns the scum that follow his updates about the dangers of unicorns, warns of unwanted genitalia contact, and threatens the well-being of Apple fanboys.

About a year ago we ran a similar article that sifted through Ellis’ message stream for the top ten best ‘tweets’, but honestly, it doesn’t do him justice. Below are another ten messages that only required looking at the last two months. But, lest ye still challenge my claim that Ellis is master and commander of microblogging, check out his full Twitter page, or better yet, venture on over to his personal site [warrenellis.com] to see some long-form examples [...]

Sam Raimi returns to his horror roots with Drag Me To Hell, which opened in theaters today.

Spoiler Talk is usually reserved for a spoiler-filled discussion about a movie — and we’ll get to a little bit of that later — but for this edition, allow me to focus on the true spoiler of Drag Me To Hell — the American teenage audience. That’s right, I made the dreadful mistake of going to a 7:30pm Friday showing of this PG-13 horror flick, so I got the special viewing complete with running commentary, texting, and cellphone lighting.

The beauty of a Raimi horror film is that there’s suspense, there’s tension… you’re on the edge of your seat the whole time. You know something is going to go “bump” in the night, yet when it happens, you’re startled nonetheless. Well, all of that is lost when Vinnie Stunad and his buddies NEVER STOP TALKING through the entire movie. God forbid there’s a split-second of silence, these hormone-raging ADHD morons just HAVE TO say something, anything, doesn’t matter what it is, if it makes sense, etc [...]

If you’ve yet to hear, Steven Spielberg and Peter Jackson are directing a trilogy based on the popular Tintin character. Spielberg is directing one, then Jackson will direct, and then they may co-direct the third or maybe even find someone new to do the honors. The movies will be shot using motion-capture technology and they will be released in the booming 3-D format. The first movie in the trilogy is happily titled The Adventures of Tintin: The Secret of the Unicorn.

U.S. distributor Paramount Pictures and international distributor Sony Pictures have officially announced that Secret of the Unicorn will be released on December 23, 2011 in the U.S., with the movie opening in late October and early November of 2011 internationally.

The Adventures of Tintin follows a determined young reporter who stops at nothing to get his story, a trait that sees him always in wild predicaments and encounters. The movie stars Jamie Bell as Tintin, Daniel Craig as Red Rackham, Simon Pegg and Nick Frost as Thompson and Thomson, and Andy Serkis. [...]

As it turns out, that little scoop that Bloody-Disgusting ran recently about a new director being brought in to do a new Alien movie with Ridley Scott and Tony Scott producing the movie through their Scott Free Productions was pretty much flat truth (Read: ‘Alien’ Prequel Actually On The Way Without Ridley Scott As Director?).

Frosty over at Collider jumped at the chance to corner Tony Scott at a gather for The Taking of Pelham 123. Surprisingly, Scott was more than willing to share the exciting news: Carl Rinsch is indeed directing a new Alien, and it is a prequel! Rinsch has only really done commercials and music videos, but he works as a director for the brothers’ Scott Free, and so they have the utmost faith in his vision.

Collider did put him on the spot about the painful handling of the character by Fox in the Alien vs. Predator movies. Scott promised that he and Ridley would have some control and that the movie would be fine, which you can take as you will. The truth is that many are already either completely against or highly skeptical of anything Alien, so this being a movie from Fox is something to fear. We can only hope that Ridley really has his hand in this project and can ensure that it is up to standards. [...]

Every Summer, Pixar releases their latest and greatest movie, which always seems to be be even more loved than the last. Along with these movies, we usually get just a little teeny weeny look at what next Summer has in store for us in the form of a teaser trailer. This year was a special year though, because we knew that in 2010, Toy Story 3 would finally greet us…a decade after we last saw our favorite animated toys. Unfortunately, we quickly learned that Disney’s newest return to hand-drawn animation, The Princess and the Frog, would actually be the one teased in front of this year’s Up, and that Toy Story 3‘s teaser would show in front of the new 3-D double-feature re-release of Toy Story & Toy Story 2 this October. Thankfully, this did not last long!

In a joyous turn-of-events, Disney/Pixar chose not to make everyone wait that long, and hook the teaser to Up after all, and now, it is here to watch as many times as you want. [...]

Before we start, a couple of rules that I followed while making this list:

-Documentaries don’t count: Watching the scene and setting the scene are two different things. If you made a documentary before you made your dramatic debut, the dramatic debut is the one I’m counting.

-Your movie had to be distributed: Every once in a while, a feature makes the film festival rounds without actually getting picked up and distributed. If your second film was released in theaters in America, that’s the one I’m counting.

-No Donnie Darko: That movie is actually an episode of Quantum Leap with shitty emo “Kill Yourself” music packed in. Sorry, kids.

So now then…The Ten Best Directorial Debuts of the Decade [...]

Little tiny whispers of a possible and proper return to the world of Alien have breezed past us lately. First there was Sigourney Weaver admitting that her and director Ridley Scott had discussed it, but the disasters that were the Alien vs. Predator movies had basically ruined all hope. Then it was revealed that the idea was being tossed around by the studio and that Ridley Scott was thinking of possible paths the story could go. That story and the link to the Sigourney Weaver piece can be found at the following link (Read: Will Ridley Scott Make A New ‘Alien’ Movie?).

Now comes word from Bloody-Disgusting and their source (the same one who first shared word of the Robert Rodriguez Predator reboot) that this new Alien project is indeed looking to happen. The word is, Ridley Scott will not direct, but he, his brother Tony Scott, and Michael Costigan will act as producers on the Scott Free Productions project. Even more, supposedly they’re looking at a man named Carl Rinsch to direct the movie. Rinsch is an unknown, but he’s done plenty of work for Scott Free, as well as some impressive work with commercials and music. [...]

So before we all rejoice with the security that we’ll get to see Kung Fu action Chuck Bartowski on Chuck next fall on NBC, it’s important to understand one thing: Fanboy outcry played a very little role in the actual save.

Subway, however, did.

Yes, I am referring to the world’s largest sandwich artist franchise. It seems that Big Mike’s favorite, the chicken teriyaki $5 foot long deal, was paid for entirely by a special advertising deal between Subway and NBC, according to the NY Times.

The special sponsorship with Subway is enabling NBC to bring back the series, executives said… The partnership was suggested to Ben Silverman, co-chairman of NBC Entertainment, by Subway executives, who were enthused about the special marketing opportunities the series afforded the chain[...]

For those who are uninformed, Paul is a new movie from director Greg Motolla (Superbad and Adventureland) which stars Simon Pegg and Nick Frost of Shaun of the Dead and Hot Fuzz fame. The movie follows two super-geeks on a road trip to Comic Con, and a side-trip to Area 51 afterwards, which sees them finding a little alien named Paul who asks them to help him escape the government and get to his home planet.

If that wasn’t already the greatest thing ever, the supporting cast has been announced and it is pleasantly awesome. Joining Pegg and Frost will be: Seth Rogen, Jason Bateman, Bill Hader, and Kristen Wiig. Rogen is the main casting here, as he will be voicing the title character Paul — who is said to have a fairly filthy mouth in this expected R-rated comedy. No specific word on who the others will be playing, but they will surely add some humor along this comedic adventure. [...]

The Gold Box spotlight deal of the day over at Amazon today is Dead Like Me: The Complete Collection on DVD for only $29.99 (that’s 57% off the list price of $69.98).

This collection includes both seasons of the former ShowTime series, as well as the more recent direct-to-DVD sequel Dead Like Me: Life After Death. This release also comes with deleted scenes, cast commentary, and a photo gallery, as well as a behind-the-scenes featurette. There’s also “The Music of Dead Like Me,” “Dead Like Me…..Again,” and “Putting Life Into Death” featurettes.

Created by Bryan Fuller, this series centers on George (Ellen Muth), an 18-year-old girl who dies and becomes a grim reaper, where she helps the souls of newly dead move on to the afterlife, though she is stuck in this world unable to move on herself [...]

Star Trek: The Original Series: Season 1
Blu-ray Edition
Starring William Shatner, Leonard Nimoy, DeForest Kelley, James Doohan, Nichelle Nichols, George Takei
Paramount Home Entertainment
Release Date: April 28, 2009

The original Star Trek consisted of three seasons on television in the 1960s and starred William Shatner as Captain James T. Kirk and Leonard Nimoy as his first officer, Mr. Spock. Kirk and his crew of the USS Enterprise were the astronauts of our future, zipping around in a starship, exploring strange new worlds — and find them, they did. Back in the 1960s, whether you liked science fiction or not, every television viewer was drawn to the series by the simple fact that it was in color, a trait not too common at the time. While techicolor drew in audiences, it was the unique storylines and non-traditional methods that have kept the franchise alive for over 40 years.

This Blu-ray edition of Star Trek: The Original Series: Season 1 contains digitally remastered versions of all 29 episodes of first season of the original series, which not only cleans up a lot of scratches and scuffs from the original reels, but also looks amazing in high definition. Since the original special effects are outdated in comparison to what’s possible today — even though at the time they were innovative — the episodes have all been enhanced to include alternate, upgraded graphics and special effects. While the themes of Star Trek have transcended generations, this high definition release has an updated look which will attract modern-day audiences without compromising its nostalgia appeal for long-time viewers.

After Ted Turner tampered with all of the old black and white classics and George Lucas ruined the original Star Wars movies with excessive CGI additions, I was really skeptical about the enhanced graphics in this Star Trek Blu-ray package [...]

Ferris Bueller’s Day Off
Bueller…Bueller…Blu-ray Edition
Directed by John Hughes
Starring Matthew Broderick, Mia Sara, Alan Ruck
Release date: April 3, 2009

Back in the 1980′s, John Hughes was the king of teen comedies. Anything the writer/director created was basically a license to print money and mostly stood the test of time. One such movie is Ferris Bueller’s Day Off, which is released now for the first time on Blu-Ray.

Ferris Bueller follows an atypical day in the life high school senior and “righteous dude” Ferris Bueller (Matthew Broderick). Deciding early on that the day is too gorgeous to be trapped in school, he fakes a sickness and decides to play hooky. With his best friend Cameron (Alan Ruck) and his girlfriend Sloan (Mia Sara) by his side, he embarks on the single most exciting cut day ever. He’d better be quick on his toes though, as his sister Jeanie (Jennifer Grey ) and the Dean of Students are on to him and would like nothing but to catch him red-handed.

Now 23-years-old, Ferris Bueller is still the gold-standard when it comes to movies on Senior cut day. I have not seen any made since this movie and there is a reason why. The writing by Hughes is pretty great and while not timeless, is entertaining and realistic to that time period. The movie is quite tame compared to the teen movies that are out in the market now, but I think that is part of its charm. Hughes never insert anything shocking into the script for a laugh but rather write scenes that are funny with dialogue that is funny, a novel concept now in teen movies. The movie also has such a likable lead in Broderick [...]