ParaNorman will save your homes soon (Theatrical Review)
ParaNorman (2012) (Theatrical Review Repost)
Starring the voices of Cody Smit-McPhee, Tucker Albrizzi, Anna Kendrick, Casey Affleck, Christopher Mintz-Plasse, Leslie Mann, Jeff Garlin and John Goodman
Written by Chris Butler
Directed by Chris Butler and Sam Fell
From the same studio that brought us Henry Selick’s Coraline we get a new stop-motion animated film also dealing with the slightly macabre, ParaNorman. From directors Chris Butler, storyboard artist on Coraline, and Sam Fell, director of Tale of Despereaux and Flushed Away, comes the story of a boy with the gift to talk to the deceased and a mission to fulfill. But can these two directors live up to the brilliance that was Coraline?
Norman Babcock (Smit-McPhee) is an awkward child with an extraordinary gift, (more…)
‘The Watch’ comes home to protect your neighborhood (Blu-Ray Review)
The Watch Blu-Ray
Starring Ben Stiller, Vince Vaughn, Jonah Hill, Richard Ayoade, Will Forte and Billy Crudup
Written by Jared Stern, Evan Goldberg and Seth Rogen
Directed by Akiva Schaffer
Hitting Blu-Ray and DVD this week from Fox Home Entertainment is the action comedy that disappointed at the box office this summer, The Watch. Hurt due to a truncated advertising campaign and name change to avoid all possible ties with the real life Trayvon Martin incident, The Watch finally gets its chance to be seen on home video. But can the combined comedic chops of Stiller, Vaughn, Hill, Ayoade (director of last year’s brilliant Submarine) and Forte along with director, and one-third of the comedy troop of The Lonely Island, Akiva Schaffer, deliver the comedy of the year?
Evan (Stiller) seems to have it all together. He has a lovely wife (more…)
Reel Asian 2012: Cha Cha for Twins Review
Starring Huang Peijia, Paul Chiang, Lun Ou Yang
Written by Yi-Chien Yang
Directed by Jim Wang, Yi-Chien Yang
Kicking of Saturday’s lineup at the Richmond Hill Centre for the Performing Arts is the award winner from this year’s Taipei Film Festival, Cha Cha for Twins. This coming of age story centers on the tale of twin sisters who, now that they have turned 17, are discovering just how different, and alike, they truly are as they both strive to emerge as individuals apart from each other. But growing pains aren’t called ‘pains’ without reason.
Poni and Mini (Peijia in a dual role) have always done everything together. (more…)
Reel Asian 2012: Wolf Children Review
Reel Asian Film Festival 2012
Wolf Children (2012)
Starring the voices of Aoi Miyazaki, Takao Osawa, Haru Kuroki, Momoko Oono, Yukito Nishii and Amon Kabe
Written by Satoko Okudera, Mamoru Hosoda
Directed by Mamoru Hosoda
Considered by many in Japan as the heir apparent to the anime crown currently adorning the master animator Hayao Miyazaki, director Hosoda delivers a fairy tale/fable with a very sophisticated and adult message, Wolf Children. An anime master in his own right, Hosoda shows off classic hand drawn characters on sophisticated backgrounds in a coming of age story with a very worthwhile message at its core. But how will Wolf Children measure up to the classic Miyazaki fare like Princess Mononoke, Ponyo and Spirited Away?
Vampires get ‘Clueless’ as Amy Heckerling & Alicia Silverstone bring us ‘Vamps’
Amy Heckerling teams up with her Cluelessstar Alicia Silverstone for the first time since Clueless to give us the horror comedy Vamps. Bringing along a stellar supporting cast and co-starring Krysten Ritter (Don`t Trust the B—– in Apartment 23), Heckerling and Silverstone are trying once again to bring us the charm and fun that permeated their previous now classic comedy, but does Vamps have enough bite to deliver? Now thanks to Anchor Bay Entertainment we can find out the answer on Blu-Ray.
Vamps – Blu-Ray Review
Starring: Alicia Silverstone, Krysten Ritter, Sigourney Weaver and Wallace Shawn.
Kiefer tries to prove he still has the ‘Touch’ for TV (DVD Review)
Touch Season 1 DVD
Starring Kiefer Sutherland, Gugu Mbatha-Raw, David Mazouz, Roxanna Brusso and Danny Glover
Created by Tim Kring
New on DVD from Fox Home Entertainment is the first season of the new series from Heroes creator Tim Kring, Touch. The mid-season replacement from earlier this year is another high concept production from Kring, this time focusing between the relationship of a father and his son. But of course with Kring things are never quite that easy.
Martin Bohm (Sutherland), a former reporter who now works at the airport (more…)
Reel Asian 2012: Graceland Review
Starring Arnold Reyes, Menggie Cobarrubias, Dido De Le Paz and Ella Guevara
Written and Directed by Ron Morales
One of the grittiest films to play Reel Asian this year is the crime thriller Graceland from the Philippines. Not to be confused with the lavish estate of Elvis in Memphis, Graceland in this case refers to the seedy underground that inhabits and seeps out of every pore of the city of Manila. A place where everything has a price and nothing appears to be as it seems.
Marlon Villar (Reyes) is a pious family man who minds his own business (more…)
A Tale of 2 Steve`s: Austin and Seagal show `Maximum Conviction` (Blu-Ray Review)
Are two Steve`s really better than one? This week we get one answer to this question in the form of the newest release from Anchor Bay Entertainment on DVD and Blu-Ray,Maximum Conviction starring Steve Austin andSteven Seagal. The direct to video actioner set in a maximum security prison was produced by both Steve’s, but does the film benefit or fail from the Steve’s working together?
Maximum Convicton
Starring Steve Austin, Steven Seagal, Bren Foster and Michael Pare.
Written by Richard Beattie
Directed by Keoni Waxman
When former black ops operative Tom Steele (Steven Seagal) and his partner Manning (Steve Austin) are assigned to decommission an old prison, Steele decides to oversee the (more…)
Wrong Turn 5 plods along in familiar territory (Blu-Ray Review)
Wrong Turn 5 Blu-Ray
Starring Doug Bradley, Camilla Arfwedson and Simon Ginty
Written and Directed by Declan O’Brien
New on Blu-Ray from our friends at Fox Home Entertainment is the newest entry in the mostly direct-to-video series Wrong Turn, Wrong Turn 5: Bloodlines. The original Wrong Turn was a passable genre romp that has somehow managed to spawn four sequels, the last three being directed by O’Brien. But should the series have ended before it started?
In Wrong Turn 5 we begin in a small West Virginia town that is hosting the legendary Mountain Man Festival on Halloween. The concert is where throngs of costumed party (more…)
Excision Blu-Ray Review
Excision Blu-Ray
Starring AnnaLynne McCord, Traci Lords, Ariel Winter, Roger Bart, Jeremy Sumpter, Malcolm McDowell, John Waters, Marlee Matlin and Matthew Gray Gubler and Ray Wise
Written and Directed by Richard Bates Jr.
SPOILERS
New on Blu-ray and DVD from Anchor Bay Entertainment comes the bizarre medical based thriller, Excision. On the surface the film shares a lot of similarities with the body modification horror film from the Soska Sisters, ‘American Mary’, but upon closer examination the two are very different. The Soska’s Mary is an overachieving and talented student while McCord’s Pauline is the ultimate slacker. So how does Excision stack up?
Pauline (McCord) is an 18 year old failing student with aspirations of a career in (more…)
Top 5 Reasons To Check Out Reel Asian Film Fest 2012
Toronto Reel Asian International Film Festival
November 6-11 Toronto
November 16-17th Richmond Hill, Ontario
Toronto’s largest and oldest all Asian film festival, Reel Asian, will play out on screens across Toronto and Richmond Hill over the next week and a half. One of Toronto’s bigger and most recognizable festivals, the 16th edition of Reel Asian brings us over 60 films, feature length and short form, from over 13 countries. Without delving too extensively into the myriad of options available, we will simply highlight the five most intriguing reasons to attend based on what we have seen on the schedule.
Abraham Lincoln Vampire Hunter Blu-Ray Review
Abraham Lincoln Vampire Hunter Blu-Ray
Starring Benjamin Walker, Dominic Cooper, Anthony Mackie, Mary Elizabeth Winstead, Rufus Sewell and Jimmi Simpson
Written by Seth Grahame-Smith
Directed by Timur Bekmambetov
Now out on Blu-Ray and DVD from Fox Home Entertainment, Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter is the teaming up of writer Seth Grahame-Smith, Producer/Director Bekmambetov and Producer Tim Burton, to bring the first of Grahame-Smith’s books to home screens. With its over-the-top visuals and absurdist premise, will Abraham Lincoln Vampire Hunter be among this year’s most fun purchases for your home theater or will it be this year’s Jonah Hex?
We first meet Abraham as a child as he interferes with the beating of a local black child, (more…)
TAD 2012: Wrong Review
Toronto After Dark Film Festival 2012
Wrong (2012)
Starring Jack Plotnick, Eric Judor, Alexis Dziena, William Fichtner, Steve Little and Regan Burns
Written and Directed by Quentin Dupieux
The infamous Quentin Dupieux, aka musician Mr Oizo, the director of the movie about a car tire on a killing spree ‘Rubber’, is back with his newest absurdist comedy ‘Wrong’. With Rubber being an extremely divisive film, and Dupieux’s penchant for the bizarre, I knew this would not just be simply a story of a man trying to find his lost dog. I also knew that this was likely to be the most loved and most hated film of this year’s Toronto After Dark lineup.
Dolph Springer (Plotnick) wakes up one morning to realize he has lost the love of his life, (more…)
TAD 2012: Game of Werewolves Review
Toronto After Dark Film Festival 2012
Starring Gorka Otxoa, Carlos Areces, Secun de la Rose and Luis Zahera
Written and Directed by Juan Martinez Moreno
The closing night film from this year’s Toronto After Dark Film Festival was the Spanish horror comedy ‘Lobos de Arga’. The translation literally meaning Wolves of Arga (pronounced r-e-ah) but retitled Game of Werewolves for the international market. Game is throwback film. Wearing its influences like a badge on its chest, Game is clearly inspired by the Universal Monster films of old and more modern masterpieces like An American Werewolf in London and The Howling. The only question remaining is does it belong in the company of these classic films? (more…)
Prometheus Blu-Ray Review
Prometheus Blu-Ray
Starring Noomi Rapace, Michael Fassbender, Guy Pearce, Idris Elba, Logan Marshall-Green, Sean Harris, Rafe Spall and Charlize Theron
Written by Jon Spaihts and Damon Lindelof
Directed by Ridley Scott
Audiences were not prepared for what Ridley Scott unleashed upon them this summer when Prometheus was projected on screens across the country this summer. Coming nowhere near the tone of his previous Alien film, Prometheus is very heavy on the SCI part of the equation and very light on everything else. Scott goes completely cerebral for a film clearly inspired more by 2001: A Space Odyssey. The question remains, doe s the film play better the second time around? (more…)
Ruby Sparks Blu-Ray Review
Ruby Sparks Blu-Ray
Starring Paul Dano, Zoe Kazan, Chris Messina, Annette Bening, Antonio Banderas, Elliot Gould and Steve Coogan
Written by Zoe Kazan
Directed by Jonathan Dayton and Valerie Faris
Now available on Blu-Ray and DVD from 20th Century Fox is the quirky comedy from writer/star Zoe Kazan, Ruby Sparks. Zoe, granddaughter of prolific director Elia Kazan, is following in the footsteps of her parents by writing Ruby Sparks. Yet when it came to directing the film she was more than happy to let the tandem of Jonathan Dayton and Valerie Faris of Little Miss Sunshine fame take the lead. It’s been six years since Dayton and Faris stormed the indie scene with the runaway sensation of Sunshine, will Ruby Sparks make that six year span without a follow-up worth the wait?
29 year old high school dropout Calvin, who at 19 wrote a ground-breaking novel (more…)
TAD 2012: Dead Sushi Review (Kirk Haviland)
Toronto After Dark Film Festival 2012
Starring Rina Takeda, Shigeru Matsuzaki and Kentarô Shimazu
Written by Noboru Iguchi, Makiko Iguchi and Jun Tsugita
Continuing a long tradition of Japanese splatter films at Toronto After Dark – past years have also brought us Tokyo Gore Police, RoboGeisha and Vampire Girl vs Frankenstein Girl – we were treated to Noboru Iguchi’s Dead Sushi for the 2012 edition of the festival. One of Iguchi’s first films outside of the Sushi Typhoon label since that company launched, Dead Sushi has been hailed as a fun romp that returns Iguchi back to the form of Machine Girl, the film that helped launch Typhoon in the first place. (more…)
TAD 2012: Resolution Review
Toronto After Dark Film Festival 2012
Starring Peter Cilella, Vinny Curran, Zahn McClarnon
Written by Justin Benson
Directed by Justin Benson and Aaron Moorhead
Resolution, the hit film from the Tribeca and Fantasia festivals made its Toronto debut at Toronto After Dark 2012. Another cabin in the woods style thriller in a year that has also given us ‘Cabin in the Woods’, Resolution is a smaller more compact story that strives to tell an equally intense and original story. But the question is can they succeed?
Mike (Cilella) receives a deranged video via email from his junkie friend Chris (Curran)……………………………… (more…)
TAD 2012: After Review
Toronto After Dark Film Festival 2012
Starring Steven Strait, Karolina Wydra, Madison Lintz and Sandra Ellis Lafferty
Written by Jason Parish and Ryan Smith
Directed by Ryan Smith
Making its Canadian Premiere as part of Toronto After Dark 2012’s Sunday night lineup was the fantasy thriller After. The tale of a pair of bus crash survivors who awake to an empty town hopes to harken back to a darker version of the more whimsical films of Joe Dante and Steven Spielberg back in the 1980’s. But can After live up to such a high pedigree? (more…)
TAD 2012: Citadel Review
Toronto After Dark Film Festival 2012
Starring Aneurin Barnard, James Cosmo, Wunmi Mosaku, Jake Wilson and Amy Shiels
Written and Directed by Ciaran Foy
After receiving numerous awards at festivals around the world, including SXSW, Citadel finally makes its Toronto debut as part of this year’s Toronto After Dark Film Festival. The dark/grimy tale of a man that desperately wants to protect his family but has been so traumatized that he can’t, features a breakout performance from both its lead actor and director.
Tommy (Barnard) and his pregnant wife Joanne………………………………………… (more…)
Can ‘Pitch Perfect’ actually satisfy men as well as women? (Film Review)
(L to R) Denise (WANETAH WALMSLEY), Ashley (SHELLY REGNER), Cynthia Rose (ESTER DEAN), Fat Amy (REBEL WILSON), Stacie (ALEXIS KNAPP), Beca (ANNA KENDRICK), Chloe (BRITTANY SNOW), Lilly (HANA MAE LEE) and Jessica (KELLEY ALICE JAKLE)
Pitch Perfect
Starring: Anna Kendrick, Skylar Astin, Ben Platt, Brittany Snow, Anna Camp, Rebel Wilson, Alexis Knapp, Hana Mae Lee with John Michael Higgins and Elizabeth Banks.
Written by Kay Cannon, based on the book by Mickey Rapkin
Directed by Jason Moore
Every decade we seem to get that one young female driven comedy, you know that one teen/”chick flick” film, that manages to transcend the basic genre trappings with a smart, funny script and great performances. The 80’s brought us Sixteen Candles, 90’s the Amy Heckerling classic Clueless and back in 2000 we got the cheerleading opus that spawned many inferior sequels, Bring it On. And now, 12 years after Bring It On, we get the next contender to join this exclusive group with Pitch Perfect.
Beca (Kendrick) is an aspiring DJ forced to go to college by her professor father……………………………………. (more…)
TAD 2012: Cockney’s VS Zombies Review
Toronto After Dark Film Festival 2012
Starring Harry Treadaway, Rasmus Hardiker, Georgina King, Alan Ford, Honor Blackman, Michelle Ryan and Richard Briers
Written by James Moran and Lucas Roche
Directed by Matthias Hoene
Another entry from the UK, Toronto After Dark presented us with the FrightFest hit Cockneys vs Zombies for its Canadian premiere. The horror comedy set in London’s infamous east end aims to take off from where Shaun of the Dead left off also uses the insular setting of an elderly age care home to stage most of the action. The combination of the care home residents and young protagonists out to save their granddad is unique, but does it work?
Brothers Andy (Treadaway) and Terry (Hardiker),………………………………………….. (more…)
TAD 2012: Inbred Review
Toronto After Dark Film Festival 2012
Starring Jo Hartley, Seamus O’Neill, James Doherty, James Burrows and Nadine Rose Mulkerrin
Written by Alex Chandon and Paul Shrimpton
Directed by Alex Chandon
From the UK we get our next Toronto After Dark 2012 selection, Inbred. Taking direct influence from films like Deliverance, Alex Chandon brings us one of the most un-repentantly, vile and crude films since perhaps A Serbian Film. But is there actual story worth watching amongst the blood splatter and septic tank contents?
Inbred starts with two social workers, the overly eager Jeff (Doherty)……………………………… (more…)
TAD 2012: American Mary Review
Toronto After Dark Film Festival 2012
Starring Katherine Isabelle, Antonio Cupo, Tristan Risk, Davis Lovgren and Twan Holliday
Written and Directed by Jen and Sylvia Soska
The Soska Sisters, better known to those in genre circles as the “Twisted Twins”, arrived at this year’s Toronto After Dark Film Festival with their 2nd feature film, American Mary. The creators of the provocative Dead Hooker in a Trunk return with a graphic horror thriller based in the world of extreme body modification. Does American Mary live up to the promise most genre fans found in Dead Hooker?
Buried under medical bills and tuition…………………………………………… (more…)
MOVIE JUNKIE TO'S Entertainment Fix 