When the first Resident Evil game was released in the United States in 1996, I don’t imagine anybody thought that it would inspire a still-thriving series of games thirty years later, much less a series of films. The first adaptation, a 2002 movie with the same name, was stylish and fun, but the many sequels…
After a 13-year break, the ultimate 21st-century horror parody franchise is back! The sixth installment in the Scary Movie saga gets into the re-equel game with the appropriately titled Scary Movie. Some familiar creative faces have reassumed control of the storytelling this time around. Marlon, Shawn, Keenen Ivory, and Craig Wayans are back at it…
Pairing wine with movies! See the trailers and hear the fascinating commentary for these movies, and many more, at Trailers From Hell. This week we celebrate the great stop-motion effects master Ray Harryhausen, with some lively wine pairings to go with each film. Clash of the Titans, from 1981, was the final movie to feature…
David Lynch’s 1992 prequel to the tv series Twin Peaks has received a 4K Criterion upgrade, which will be good news for his legions of fans and film lovers in general. The harrowing tale of the last week of Laura Palmer’s life is much darker and bleaker than the show’s beloved blend of weirdness and…
The mighty Star Trek franchise is still a big deal in fan circles, which will make this 60th Anniversary disc set a desirable item for the curious. Six decades later, Roddenberry’s idealistic space odyssey presents a winning stack of attitudes, some progressive and other dated. It doesn’t matter, as we still love the personality dynamics…
Pairing wine with movies! See the trailers and hear the fascinating commentary for these movies, and many more, at Trailers From Hell. This week we celebrate some Hong Kong action films, two directed by John Woo and one not. There will be wine pairings, too. For all three. Hard Boiled was Woo’s 1992 answer to…
Dennis Hopper’s Texas neo-noir is a sultry sizzler, long on atmosphere and rather poky in the pace department. Ladies’ man Don Johnson drifts into a Texas burg and commences romancing both Jennifer Connelly and Virginia Madsen. But who is seducing whom and for what underhanded reason? Throw in a bank robbery and a couple of…
They say You Can’t Go Homer again, but it’s no problem making a slam-bang fantasy Iliad tuned to the star chemistry of Brad Pitt and the new (in 2003) ability to fill the screen with thousands of Greeks battling with sword ‘n’ shield. David Benioff’s script is intelligent and the dialogue isn’t bad; Pitt swings…
Is it surreal, or psychedelic? The source novel dates from 1813. This mind-blowing exercise in narrative puzzle-making is a classic with unique qualities, and its Polish director Wojciech Has is a genius. Investigating a strange book found on a Spanish battlefield, soldier Zbigniew Cybulski is plunged into a fantasy vs reality labyrinth that darn near…
