Movie Scum

The original Sinister was a kick in the gut as far as horror films go. Having grown up with a steady diet of Freddy, Jason, Michael Myers, and whatever other random shlock was out at the time, I typically don't respond well to horror films for their intended purpose: to scare. But I'll be damned if Sinister didn't get me time and time again but not with cheap jump scares and cats in pantries, but with truly disturbing imagery and an unsettling tone throughout. Much like James Wan 's recent non- Saw output, such as The Conjuring or Insidious , I do respond to those low-key but emotionally terrifying scenes that present a real danger to the characters, rather than one composed by lazy screenwriting to justify a horror label. And much like The Conjuring, Sinister was not big on jump-scares or fakeouts but real scenarios playing out to real-ish characters that carried emotional weight. But since Sinister focused on Ethan Hawke and his family, I wonder what directi

More Machete! Even though both movies released thus far have only grossed about $30 million, it seems that someone is bankrolling Robert Rodriguez's next entry into Danny Trejo's Machete series. Only this time, it's in space! And it might be titled Machete Kills In Space ! And you know, I can't think of any other floundering series that has turned to space and hasn't come back into relevance. Next: Slinky: The Movie Hasbro, not content with ruining childhood through bad Transformers movies, is reportedly looking to make a movie from everyone's childhood diet-staple, Play-Doh. Deadline reports Paul Feig is in talks to direct the film but the rest of the details are sparse. Granted, this sounds like a bad idea but then again The Lego Movie did as well. Maybe it'll turn out not horrible? Nawwwwww. The Gift of Creepy Joel Edgerton The trailer was just released for co-star/director Joel Edgerton's upcoming The Gift . I like Jason Bateman and I l

If there was ever a movie at odds with itself, The Kingdom is it. Released in 2007, Peter Berg ’s film about an attack on Americans living in Saudi Arabia likes to attempt straddling the line between political thriller and mindless action film. The story written by Matthew Michael Carnahan seems to try delving deeper into the social and political ramifications of Americans killed abroad and the subsequent FBI investigative team sent but is constantly undercut by half-handed dialogue and shoot-’em-up scenes to keep it from becoming “boring.” Most jarring is the third act of the film which changes from a milquetoast Tom Clancy novel into a milquetoast Tom Clancy novel-based film in which the main team, led by the quite charismatic Jamie Foxx , is pulled into a rugged Saudi neighborhood with machine guns and RPGs apparently just laying around. After an hour and a half of diplomacy and some sense of restraint, the film pivots into a full out action, go ‘Murica type of film. Othe

In spite of the fact that international espionage is certainly not any 12-year-old's ideal movie plot, 1994's Clear and Present Danger was and remains one of my favorite action movies and the watermark for Tom Clancy's unsteady Jack Ryan series. But okay, while the political in-fighting, old-school computer hacking (aka guessing passwords), and Mexican drug cartel stuff is in fact interesting, one nearly 10 minute sequence clenched my love for this movie. Unfortunately, only a snippet of it appears on Youtube but the scene where Jack Ryan and his CIA cohorts are besieged in the streets on Bogota, is pure excellence in staging and direction on director Philip Noyce's part. So, it's Friday! Enjoy! Watch some Suburbans get blown up (which between this and Speed made the Suburban my dream car)!

Although there's been a smattering a tours and reunions, most folks have been missing Bob Odenkirk and David Cross since 1998. Well, okay, that's not exactly true between Arrested Development for Cross, and Breaking Bad & Better Call Saul for Odenkirk, but Deadline has news that Bob and David are coming back to their proper home: sketch comedy. Netflix has picked up the show with the two acting as executive producers for four half-hour episodes and a 'making-of documentary.' I don't know what any of those words mean because Bob & David are coming back and I'm insane! Yay Netflix! Boo Communism! Words! No word yet on a return for Pit-Pat, the Pansexual Spokes-thing though.

One of these things is not like the other. Furious 7 We've already discussed this last week but all the early reviews indicate this entry is fasterer and furiouserer than the preceding films, which were already quite fast and furious. It'll make a billion dollars and you'll probably see it just for Jason Statham's apparently awesome villain. Woman in Gold What appears to be a touching, if ultimately kind of boring movie, starring future Fast & Furious villain Helen Mirren in a valiant effort to get a priceless family heirloom back. And she's aided by brilliant attorney ... Ryan Reynolds? Well, okay then movie. I'd wait for Netflix on this one.

Considering the 84-year-old director has helmed nine films in the past decade, that may not be much of a stretch. But Clint Eastwood isn't going for the gold in a 400 meter dash. Yahoo reports Eastwood is heavily considering a film based on the Centennial Olympic Park bombing that took place in 1996's Olympic Games in Atlanta. So far, Jonah Hill has been cast as Richard Jewell, the security guard who discovered the bomb and later became the top suspect, with Leonardo diCaprio in talks to play his defense attorney. Even if you don't particular like Eastwood as a director (I was ambivalent toward J. Edgar and completely uninterested in Jersey Boys ), you have to admire his stamina. Clint Eastwood is the Hugh Hefner of Hollywood.

Warner Brothers is clearly disappointed in revenue relating to Batman properties, especially considering Christopher Nolan's Dark Knight Trilogy only made about $1.2 billion at the box office. So naturally, in addition to shoehorning Batman into the next Superman movie, the original Batman and Robin, Adam West and Burt Ward are returning to their characters , albeit in animated form. The animated flick is set to open sometime in 2016 to commemorate the original series' 50th anniversary. No word yet on whether onomatopoeias such as 'BLAM' and 'SMACK' will be along for the ride.

As I read a feature over at The Dissolve about making Blu-rays relevant again , I realize that I am not the type of film-viewer that would ever, willingly, make them irrelevant to begin with. From my early years in the late 80s and early 90s, I loved the act of collecting films on physical media, whether it be a less-than-perfect dub from a video store rental, a recording from HBO, or a hard-to-find 'SP' version of A Nightmare on Elm Street 3 . Eventually, these VHS tapes gave way to laserdiscs (which were prohibitively expensive mostly), DVDs, and then now Blu-rays. The actual rationale (if there is one) behind my desire to own physical media has not diminished, even if the majority of the world disagrees. Blu-rays and DVDs represent something tangible to me. If you were to look at my collection, you might be impressed at the variety of titles or abhorred at the titles themselves. I mean, who really buys Maniac Cop 2 on Blu-ray? But at the very least, these discs rep

Hollywood 's 'It-Woman' who has played everything from royalty to an assassin wants a part in the Fast & Furious series. Helen Mirren told Yahoo : My great ambition is to be in a Fast and Furious movie. I so want to be a mad driver in a Fast and Furious movie. My claim to fame is I always do my own driving — I was on Top Gear, and I did [my lap] in a very good time. I keep putting it out there, and they never ask me. If this series is to continue, this needs to happen. If only so Mirren can proclaim her Vin Diesel love in person.

AMC's much touted first look at The Walking Dead spinoff, Fear the Walking Dead was quietly tucked away into an early commercial break of last night's season finale of the parent show. Presumably the reason for this being that this 'teaser' stretches even the very definition of a teaser with just a few shots of sunny Los Angeles as a voice-over talks about a "strange virus going around." Given AMC's dearth of notable shows with Walking Dead now done for the season and Better Call Saul and Mad Men wrapping up, I expect we'll see a lot more. Fear the Walking Dead , which I will admit is a better title than 'Be Cautiously Aware of Those That Appear to be Walking Dead', will fill the gap between Walking Dead seasons premiering this summer, showing the beginning of the outbreak. At the very least, I will be looking forward to this if only because so many zombie tales skip the initial outbreak and are thrust straight into the apocolypse. I

For a movie to combine the fears of old age, Alzheimer's disease, child abduction, and murder must have been a nightmare to pull off. The Taking of Deborah Logan manages all that and more in spades. In honesty, I was perusing Netflix last night, just aimlessly looking but especially focusing on horror movies that may or may not be crap. I almost watched Event Horizon again. But the image and synopsis for Deborah Logan drew me in. Now, after being able to watch it kid-free, I am quite glad I stumbled upon it. At first, I was dismayed at the "found footage" nature of the film. After all, since The Blair Witch Project came out almost two decades ago, almost every other horror movie has used that effect in one way or another. But surprisingly, it works well here. Sarah Logan, tasked with caring after her mother who is showing symptoms of Alzheimer's Disease, is approached by a group of students studying the disease to help and film the progress. Of course, not