Saturday Night Fever
Directed by John Badham
Starring John Travolta, Karen Lynn Gorney, Joseph Cali, Paul Pape, Barry Miller
Paramount Home Entertainment
Release Date: May 5, 2009

Saturday Night Fever is a portrait of a particular passion drowning as much as it can life’s harsh and unforgiving reality. Almost as if he’s hypnotized, John Travolta‘s Tony Manero struts down the streets of Brooklyn in a black jacket that’s worn over a red buttoned-up shirt that’s not fully buttoned. He’s brim full of confidence even while carrying a can of paint he got for his boss at the hardware store. He doesn’t know he’s carrying that can, doesn’t know that he’s at the age of nineteen and still universally entrenched in his dreams, and he doesn’t know anything else that isn’t relevant to dancing. His mind and thoughts are unable to resist what the night holds for him and his equally confident friends at the disco dance hall in the 2001 Odyssey club. The present is what matters to Manero, not the future: “Fuck the future,” he tells his boss.

Tony from the start of the movie is a different Tony when the film reaches its end. It’s a beautiful character study. Watching him progress from his rebel attitude into manhood as the movie deepens is what makes director John Badham‘s Saturday Night Fever a great film. Bedham knows what he’s doing when he laces his film with vulgarity, booze, sex, and more vulgarity. He’s doing it for a reason [...]

Behind the Mask: The Rise of Leslie Vernon is one of the great, unique horror movies that has been released in the past few years. If you haven’t seen it, I suggest you do so in the quickest of fashions. Being an indie horror, many didn’t expect a sequel to come around, but now, thankfully, it appears that interest in a second movie has picked up and writer/director Scott Glosserman and co-writer David J. Stieve have started developing the follow-up.

Behind the Mask tells the tale of Leslie Vernon (Nathan Baesel), an aspiring slasher killer who has looked up to his predecessors: Jason Voorhees, Freddy Krueger, and Michael Myers. Like Freddy, Leslie has quite the personality to accompany his affinity for painful, unexpected death. Leslie also happens to have a more open side to him, and he decides to share that with Taylor (Angela Goethals), a reporter and her team who follow Leslie around and film a documentary-style piece about all of the work that goes into being a successful slasher killer. Think of the movie like an up-and-coming band or actor trying to make a name for themselves by taking notes from those who came before them and laid the groundwork. [...]

There have been comparisons all over the Twitterverse this morning of the new Star Trek cast and a litter of cute newborn kittens. This of course is reaffirmed by adding LOL-speak to stills of the new movie, as done by Lolodeck. Right now there aren’t that many up but of the shots they have posted, they are worth of a click through.

Personally, I couldn’t wait for more so I made one of my own (scroll down) using Google Image Search, Griffin’s FAIL Maker App for the iPhone and a lolcat speak translator (found here).

If you feel the urge to do the same, post the links in the comment section below…(puleez?) [...]

The first BioShock 2 trailer finally showed us some gameplay footage and it was a wonderful treat — now comes a 9-minute long video walkthrough from IGN of what’s likely to be the game’s opening sequence and/or demo.

The walkthrough is with BioShock 2 Creative Designer Jordan Thomas, who will offer a little insight into what to expect in the game while showing you in the game itself. You will notice many parts that were featured in the trailer above, but with a much more in-depth look at these parts.

Many people seem to be against this game coming out, but we have to keep in mind that is a game, not a movie. Game’s are built to have sequels if the original finds success, and their sequels tend to be a lot more well-done than the movie follow-ups that we’re so used to. Even if the first game is the best of the best and can not possibly surpass the first, why not travel back to our haunting and beloved Rapture for more adventures? This is why I’m so excited to see what they come up with. [...]

I’m sure most (if not, all) of you are aware of the promotions that fast food giant Burger King has been running for J.J. Abrams‘ box office smash Star Trek, where they offer Trek-themed toys to kids and Trek-themed drinking glasses to adults. It, of course, has been nearly beaten to death by various ad campaigns, whether in the form of radio announcements, television spots, or ridiculous-looking window clings stuck to the fronts of most of their buildings.

If it sounds like I am complaining, I assure you, I’m not. It’s been a long while since a chain such as BK has released glasses like these, because nowadays the “adult toys” usually constitute watches of some sort (like the awesome Star Wars ones or the terrible talking Simpsons ones; take your pick), and I was always a huge fan of the collectible cups and mugs that they have offered throughout the years (Lord of the Rings, Star Wars, and Batman Forever? Yes please!). So hearing that they were going back to basics and offering a line of four cups to collect was awesome news to hear… about two months ago [...]

The dudes over at College Humor have a new video comparing the new Star Trek film with the first Star Wars movie.

While on the surface, it would seem like these two iconic science fiction franchises would obviously be alike — both in space, young heroes fighting evil foes, advanced weaponry and technology, and so on. But, after watching this short video you’ll really see the similarities [...]

Angels and Demons
Directed by Ron Howard
Starring Tom Hanks, Ewan McGregor, Stellan Skarsgard
Rated PG-13
Release date: May 15, 2009

Angels and Demons is a direct sequel to The Da Vinci Code and based on the book of the same name (though Dan Brown fans will tell you Angels is actually supposed to be the prequel of The Da Vinci Code).

Angels and Demons brings back symbologist (aka glorified scavenger hunter)Robert Langdon (Tom Hanks) on another yet mystery involving Catholicism. On the eve of the latest’s Pope’s death, the four cardinals vying for the Papacy have been kidnapped by a member of a secret organization known as The Illuminati. The assailant promises to kill one cardinal for every hour until midnight when he sets off an anti-matter bomb somewhere in Vatican City. Now, it is a race against time as Langdon searches for the Cardinals and tries desperately to stop the bomb before it kills thousands.

Written by David Koepp (Spider-Man) and Akiva Goldsman, Angels is a fast-paced thrill ride from beginning to end. One part National Treasure, one part Where In The World Is Carmen Sandiego?, the movie starts off with a murder and never gives you a chance to breathe [...]

I’m going to hit this one off immediately: if you have not seen the Lost season 5 finale yet, stop reading right here! If you’ve not see Lost at all, stop reading NOW! This is, in many people’s (including myself), one of the greatest shows ever made; but it is also one that requires that you watch it from season 1, episode 1 straight through. The front end will be without worry, but once you click to the second half of this piece, nothing is sacred.

Before getting into it, let me just say that this was one of the best season finales I’ve ever seen. It had its areas of question that I wasn’t a big fan of, as I’m sure was the same for many people, but overall, it was intense and emotional and just blow-your-mind good. Lost‘s typical recipe is to have a smaller twist before the title sequence, and then a big twist ending point. In this finale, it seemed like every freakin’ commercial break had a twist to preface it. [...]

This is one of those news stories that can give you goosebumps. One of the greatest directors ever to live, to direct a movie about one of the greatest entertainers to ever walk the earth. Take that one in.

Nikki Finke has reported that Universal Pictures has acquired the rights to make the movie based on the life of Frank Sinatra with Martin Scorsese attached to direct. Universal obtained the rights from Mandalay Pictures with Phil Alden Robinson (writer/director of Field of Dreams, Sneakers) penning the script. The project was announced after the family of the icon known as Ol’ Blue Eyes — who passed away on this date eleven years ago — gave them permission. Within that permission, Frank’s daughter Tina Sinatra will also act as an executive producer.

A day after the news, with everyone wondering who could possibly fill the god-like shoes of Sinatra, Nikki Finke is hearing that the studio very much wants Johnny Depp to take on the role. Word is, Scorsese has always had his go-to-guy Leonardo DiCaprio in mind for the part, but because of Depp’s performance in Public Enemies, Universal is all about hanging on to him tightly. [...]

Friday the 13th: Uncut
Uncut Blu-ray Edition
Directed by Sean S. Cunningham
Starring Betsy Palmer, Adrienne King, Jeannine Taylor, Kevin Bacon, Robbi Morgan
Paramount Home Entertainment
Release Date: February 3, 2009

I’ll lay my cards on the table now; this is the first time I’ve seen the original Friday the 13th from beginning to end. Call it a sheltered childhood, call it a lack of interest, call it laziness after a certain point, but even when I could see it, I never bothered until now. I mean, its Friday the 13th. Every genre movie fan has to see this at some point in their life, right? So I jumped at the chance to see this new uncut version of the film. Is it the modern horror classic that I’ve always been told it is? Did it live up to the hype built in my own mind? I can’t say that it did, but I’ll say that this may still be a worth-while purchase for fans of the film, due to the documentaries and other special features included.

Do I really need to explain the plot for Friday the 13th? Honestly, at this point the story is as well known as any fairy tale or bible story. A bunch of kids go to open a summer camp at Camp Crystal Lake, they get up to some sexual shenanigans, they get killed in a series of gruesome ways, and in the end one lone girl confronts the killer. It’s the standard horror film plot that was set down by Halloween, and I can’t help but see the similarities between this film and John Carpenter’s original masterpiece. This is where my distance from the film takes away from my personal enjoyment of it. While I may have never seen this particular film before, I’ve seen the same things a bunch of times before in other films, so it all seems like it’s been done before. But I only get that feeling because I’ve seen the imitators, not the original, so I can’t hold it against this film [...]

Imagine that the world of Star Trek was real and was where we all lived. Naturally, in this crazy high-technology world, advertisements would be produced and shown to market various products. Thankfully, now we know what one might look like: someone decided to put together a little Mentos commercial starring a one Captain James T. Kirk in one of his epic alien battles.

Either that, or maybe William Shatner is still just a little on the bitter side about not having a part in the current king of the box office: J.J. Abrams’ Star Trek.

I only saw this video for the first time earlier yesterday on Attack of the Show, but when I went to get the video on YouTube, it appeared to have been uploaded two years ago. So while this may be old news to some of you, it will be one of those “If I haven’t seen it, then it’s new to me!” deals [...]

MTV spoke to Pete Docter, director of Up and one of the main men at Pixar Studios, and he decided to share a sweet little morsel for fans of the studios’ films as well as fans of Easter Eggs. Docter admitted that the newest member of our favorite group of toys to be featured in next summer’s Toy Story 3, will have a brief cameo in Up, which will be released on May 29, 2009.

We all know that Disney/Pixar movies just love their Easter Egg surprises. Whether it be a tiny appearance by the insects of A Bug’s Life in Toy Story 2, various toy versions of characters being played with, such as a Nemo toy shown in Monsters Inc. before Finding Nemo was anywhere near release, and any of the many others we’ve seen. The difference here is that the Easter Egg is usually revealed later, after the character has become hugely popular in its own film, not before we know who they are.

To go one better, Up producer Jonas Rivera explained where exactly the new toy can be found [...]

Those funny dudes over at Motion Picture Comics have a new movie parody comic strip series — this one, poking fun at the new JJ Abrams Star Trek film.

Three strips are already up on the site, which has previously parodied such blockbusters as Watchmen and Spider-Man 3, and there’s reportedly more to come this week. So be sure to check ‘em out! [...]

Once upon a time (three days ago) word came out that the top pick to direct the new Conan remake is James McTeigue (V for Vendetta, Ninja Assassin). This news came after the joyous announcement that Brett Ratner would not be helming the project anymore (Read: Brett Ratner Off ‘Conan’ Movie; James McTeigue In?) Well, apparently a bit of a disagreement has arisen from the studios involved and he’s not the only director wanted.

CHUD — who first got word of McTeigue — has now received information that while Nu Image/Millennium Films does want McTeigue, partner Lionsgate Entertainment has three other directors in mind that they would rather hire: Christopher Gans, Marcus Nispel, and Neil Marshall.

All four are fitting choices in their own right, and all might just make a decent Conan flick, but who makes the best one?

Nispel is best known in the realm of horror remakes, handling the Texas Chainsaw Massacre and Friday the 13th reboots respectively. Gans is known for the not-so-good Silent Hill adaptation, but he’s also done French film Brotherhood of the Wolf, which was much better. Pair that with the impressive Silent Hill visuals, and he’s a fair choice. [...]

Transporter 3
Two-Disc Edition
Directed by Olivier Megaton
Starring Jason Statham, Robert Knepper, Natalya Rudakova, François Berléand
Lionsgate Home Entertainment
Release Date: March 10, 2009

Spider-Man 3, Superman 3, and The Matrix Revolutions are just some examples of how good movies can go bad. Sure, they are entertaining on some level, but they never match up to their predecessors. So, I was not exactly sure what to make of The Transporter 3 when it came out. The series certainly made an impression when it first came on the scene but the sequel was definitely not as good as the original. Thankfully, fans of the series can rest easy: The movie far exceeds expectations.

The Transporter 3 continues the adventures of Frank Martin (Jason Statham), professional wheelman and overall badass. Frank has retired from the wheelman gig, mostly spending his time fishing with his friend inspector Tarconi (played once again by the great François Berléand) and living in his nice house. But as you all know, trouble is never is too far away as Frank’s famous Audi-S8 reenters his life in explosive fashion. Once again, Frank must take the wheel and the stakes have never been higher [...]

Before the new Star Trek was released in theaters this past weekend, the trailers and clips from the film showed that director JJ Abrams went a bit wild with the lens flare. Yes, it was quite excessive. I think it stands out as the number one non-plot related issue that people have with the film.

Luckily, it didn’t bother me much at the time, since I was really enjoying the movie. But, what if the original Star Trek television series was bombarded with lens flare? Well, here’s your chance to find out. Check out the short video here below where one clever fan added them to the Khan episode “Space Seed.” [...]

Disney has put together a fairly interesting little promotional venture which will involve a train making its rounds on a United States tour for the upcoming motion-capture rendition of the Charles Dickens classic, A Christmas Carol, which stars Jim Carrey in many of the roles.

The tour will span 40 cities with a four-car museum-like exhibit along with mood-setting additions to surround it. To find out when it will be in a city near you, check out the schedule at USA Today.

When you arrive, there will be a portable theater where you’ll be able to see early footage of the movie. You’ll then walk into a Christmas world with carolers, decorations, and even artificial snow. When you get inside the actual exhibit, you’ll find all sorts of cool things, including: digital portraits of the characters that begin from the concept and morph along to the finished character; a display that teaches people about how motion-capture technology works; interactive games with a photo booth that allows people to become Scrooge; and even some artifacts from the Charles Dickens Museum, including a copy of one of the first editions ever printed of A Christmas Carol. [...]

While touted as being “not your father’s Star Trek,” perhaps it was actually your mother’s, because this Mother’s Day weekend, JJ Abrams‘ prequel/reboot Star Trek reportedly earned $79.2 million at the domestic box office and has broken opening weekend IMAX records.

Paramount reports that due to strong attendance on Mother’s Day yesterday — which brought in $21 million — the film exceeded expectations by $3 million. The film went into early previews on Thursday night and played in 3,849 locations.

Meanwhile, 11% of the film’s total domestic gross came from its Star Trek: The IMAX Experience showings, which brought in $8.5 million from 138 IMAX screens. The limited IMAX run registered a per screen average of approximately $62,000 for the weekend, marking the highest grossing Friday, Saturday, and Sunday ever for an IMAX opening [...]

A movie adaptation of the brilliant TV series, Lost, has been subtly mentioned from time-to-time, but with no real guarantee whether it will actually happen or not. To add a giant slice of interesting to all of those subtle mentions, series co-creator and writer Damon Lindelof has shared a little information on the prospective film.

Lindelof explains that there could always be a movie, whether it is a few years down the road, or if it’s a reboot twenty years down the road. But the bomb came when he also admitted that all of the characters that we know, love, and even hate from the show — they won’t be in the movie.

Here’s the quote, transcribed by Latino Review from the video interview that can be seen at the bottom of this story!

At the end of Season 6, their story – all their character resolutions will happen. The characters that we love and cared about, and invested in, their story is, for all intents and purposes, over. [...]

No, no it could not possibly be the greatest movie ever made, and no, it won’t even be good…at all. But dammit, if Mega Shark vs. Giant Octopus doesn’t look like the kind of awful and sickly fun movie that is just so bad that it’s completely worthy of watching and loving every second, well…I’d be wrong.

The movie takes two frozen prehistoric beasts — a massive Megalodon-type shark and a Krakken-like octopus — who thaw out and wreak havoc on San Francisco. To stop them, a plan is devised to have them battle to the death!

They even obtained the acting talents of stars Lorenzo Lamas and ’80s pop star Deborah Gibson!

The scene everyone seems to love the most is when the shark jumps up and takes a bite out of the Golden Gate Bridge, but there are other equally Michael Bay-awesome scenes, like when the giant octopus grabs hold of a submarine like he’s taking a pill, or when the shark leaps out of the water at a plane, Cloverfield style. [...]