1. Watchmen

A complex, multi-layered mystery adventure, Watchmen is set in an alternate 1985 America in which costumed superheroes are part of the fabric of everyday society, and the “Doomsday Clock” – which charts the USA’s tension with the Soviet Union – is permanently set at five minutes to midnight. When one of his former colleagues is murdered, the washed-up but no less determined masked vigilante Rorschach sets out to uncover a plot to kill and discredit all past and present superheroes. As he reconnects with his former crime-fighting legion–a ragtag group of retired superheroes, only one of whom has true powers–Rorschach glimpses a wide-ranging and disturbing conspiracy with links to their shared past and catastrophic consequences for the future. Their mission is to watch over humanity…but who watches over them?

What’s good about it:
Everything. Zack Snyder’s fantastic vision of Alan Moore’s nihilistic yet campy graphic novel is breathtaking. The cast is fantastic, particularly Jackie Earle Haley and Patrick Wilson. I wasn’t a fan of 300 (yes, I know it’s a sin) but Snyder more than makes up for it with Watchmen. Must own this film.

What’s bad about it:
It’s not for everyone. Some of you will find it a bit too heavy-handed and ponderous.

Bottom Line:
Like I said it’s not for everyone. Those of you who enjoyed Moore’s graphic novel will likely enjoy the experience. Those that go into it expecting The Dark Knight or another 300 will be sorely disappointed.

2. The Echelon Conspiracy

Mysterious cell phone messages promise a young American engineer untold wealth–then make him the target of a deadly international plot. Dangerous security operatives chase the engineer across the globe, while a powerful government official pursues a mysterious agenda that threatens the stability of the entire world.

What’s good about it:
Nothing. The film’s obvious budget constraints work against it.

What’s bad about it:
Just about everything. Ed Burns showed up for a paycheck, and you can tell. The storytelling is sloppy and the editing and camerawork are standard at best.

Bottom Line:
This is a waste of your time. If you’ve seen Enemy of the State or the atrocity that is Eagle Eye you know exactly what you’re in for here.

Other releases I didn’t get to see:
Coraline, The Great Buck Howard, Super Capers, Skeleton Crew.

*Buck Howard is getting some great reviews.

What you should buy on Blu-Ray this week:

1. Midnight Express

Midnight Express is the story of a young american, Hayes, who is caught trying to smuggle drugs out of Turkey and is thrown into prison. It is basesd on Billy Hayes’ autobiographical book of the same name and was adapted to the screen by Oliver Stone. Express is one of Stone’s first produced writing efforts. Second only to his hard to find horror “Seizures”. While it may seem a bit tame in comparison to HBO’s “Oz” Midnight Express is still a solid prison Drama that packs an emotional punch. The high definition transfer looks fantastic except for a bit of grain during the darker scenes.

1. The Haunting in Connecticut
After a family is forced to relocate for their son’s health, they begin experiencing supernatural behavior in their new home, which turns out to be a former mortuary.

What’s good about it:
Zero. There is not a single shred of originality, entertainment value, or style in this film. It’s like an episode of Full House, but with ghosts.
On the upside there are no Olsen twins!

What’s bad about it:
See the above statement.

Bottom Line:
Director Peter Cornwell vomits this celluloid waste on to the screen with, what seems like, zero regard for the genre of horror. Avoid at all costs.

2. The Horsemen
A recently widowed detective still grieving over his wife’s death discovers a shocking connection between himself and the suspects in a serial killing spree linked to the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse.

What’s good about it:
Strong performances by Dennis Quaid and Ziyi Zhang. Zhang is particularly creepy (and hot) as Kristen. Director Jonas Akerland has a strong visual style that keeps the Horsmen afloat for most of its duration, and the film’s gore is very well done.

Bottom Line:
Wait for cable. Horsemen will pass for slight entertainment for fans of the genre, but its cliched characters and ending will leave most of you disappointed.

Blu-Ray Releases of Note

1. The Towering Inferno

At the opening party of a collosal, but poorly constructed, office building, a massive fire breaks out that threatens to destroy the tower and everyone in it.

Absolutely one of the best disaster films ever made! Steve McQueen, Faye Dunaway, William Holden, Paul Newman, Susan Blakely, Richard, Chamberlin, Fred Astaire, and Robert Wagner! You can’t really go wrong! This film is a must own.

This BD contains a plethora of special features. The full list follows:
Commentary by F.X. Feeney, film historian
Scene-specific commentary by Mike Vezina, special effects director on ‘X3′
Scene-specific commentary by Branko Racki, stunt coordinator on ‘The Day After Tomorrow’
32 extended and deleted scenes
Alternate opening sequence
10 featurettes:
Inside the Tower: We Remember
Innovating Tower: The SPFX of an Inferno
The Art of Towering
Irwin Allen: The Great Producer
Directing the Inferno
Putting out Fire
Walking on Fire
Still the World’s Tallest Building
The Write Stirling Silliphant
AMC Backstory: The Towering Inferno
Six storyboard comparisons
Vintage promotional materials:
NATO presentation reel
Two original 1974 featurettes
Irwin Allen 1977 interview
Trailer farm:
‘The Towering Inferno’ teaser
‘The Towering Inferno’ trailer
‘The Poseidon Adventure’ trailer
Interactive galleries:
American Cinematographer article
‘The Towering Inferno’ and how it was filmed
Photographing the dramatic sequences for ‘The Towering Inferno’
“Action Unit” lives up to its name while shooting ‘The Towering Inferno’
Stills galleries:
Shot compositions
Publicity
Behind the scenes
Conceptual sketches
Costumes

2.Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon / Curse of the Golden Flower / House of Flying Daggers Box Set

The Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon Blu-ray will feature the following bonus materials:

Three visually arresting martial arts epics in one blu-ray box set. I just wish that they offered a bit more in the way of special features. I’ll likely wait until they are released separately with all the extras these films deserve. You should do the same.

Audio commentary with Ang Lee and James Schamus
A Conversation with Michelle Yeoh
Unleashing the Dragons: Making Of Featurette
Photo Gallery

The Curse of the Golden Flower Blu-ray will feature the following bonus materials:

Los Angeles Premiere Featurette
Secrets Within: Making Of Featurette

The House of Flying Daggers Blu-ray will feature the following bonus materials:

Storyboards
Creating the Visual Effects Featurette

3. Death Trance


Living in an undisclosed time and location, a master samurai known as Grave is on the constant lookout for a battle worth his energy. He finds this fight in a quest for a coffin from the Tougan Temple, a journey that puts a young woman from the temple grounds on Grave’s path.

I’m not sure how well this will turn out in HD, but I’m willing to give it a shot. While Death Trance is not a great film it certainly is visually stunning. I haven’t been able to find any specs or extra features information online so if you’ve bought the disc or have a link to the info drop me a line.

Taxidermia is Gyorgy Palfi’s grotesque tale of three generations of men, including an obese speed eater, an embalmer of gigantic cats, and a man who shoots fire out of his penis. Seriously. Do I even need to say anything else? This austrian flick has garnered positive buzz after hitting a slew of festivals over the last 3 years, and will get a limited stateside release on July 17th. I’m crossing my fingers we see it here in DC. What do you think? Anyone else want to see this?

1.Knowing

In 1958, as part of the dedication ceremony for a new elementary school, a group of students is asked to draw pictures to be stored in a time capsule but one mysterious girl fills her sheet of paper with rows of apparently random numbers instead. Fifty years later, Professor John Koestler (Nicolas Cage) makes the startling discovery that the encoded message predicts every major disaster of the past 50 years. As John further unravels the document’s chilling secrets, he realizes the document foretells three additional events—the last of which hints at destruction on a global scale and seems to somehow involve John and his son.

What’s good about it
The special effects…maybe.

What’s bad about it
Where do I begin? This movie was almost too painful to finish. The films mixed religious overtones were ridiculous and confusing, and the ending may induce riotous laughter. What happened to director Alex Proyas?! He did Dark City! And The Crow! I tried to forgive him for I, Robot. But seriously this film should be filed under Atrocity. I would rather welcome a documentary on Nicholas Cage’s ever changing locks. Now that would be entertaining.

Bottom line
Do I really need to say it again?

2.The Unborn

In this supernatural thriller, Casey, (Odette Yustman) is plagued with nightmares and a demonic force that haunts her during her waking hours. Her only hope to break the debilitating curse is spiritual advisor Sednik, played by Gary Oldman.

What’s good about it:
Not a damn thing. Unborn offers absolutely nothing new to the genre. Director David S. Goyer leeches from far superior source material and defecates all over it. Thanks Mr. Goyer.

What’s bad about it
Not even the presence of the mighty Gary Oldman can save this complete waste of celluloid. There is nothing of any value to see here.

Bottom Line
Don’t rent it. Don’t buy it. Avert your eyes at all costs.

3. Push

Director Paul McGuigan spins this sci-fi action tale about a group of super powered paranormal operatives. A telekinetic “mover” (Chris Evans) teams up with a future seeing “watcher” (Dakota Fanning) to steal a billion dollar secret. But to outrun the government agents after them they must enlist the help of a mind controlling “pusher” played by Camilla Belle.

What’s good about it
Director Paul McGuigan proves that he can put together some good action sequences, and most of the cast turns in credible, if sometimes hammy, performances.

What’s bad about it
Chris Evans. Does anyone else feel like he’s a second rate Ryan Reynolds? The script does a decent job of explaining the universe that these supernatural beings live in, but ultimately it’s too convoluted and the characters are too thinly drawn.

Bottom line
Rent it if you’re in the mood for brainless action science fiction, but don’t expect too much.

1. Street Fighter : The Legend of Chun Li

In trying to right the wrong that was done with Van Damme’s 1994 version of the video game director Andrzej Bartkowiak (Doom, Exit Wounds, Rome Must Die) have only done, well, more wrong. This time the story centers around Chun Li (Kristin Kreuk) and her quest for vengeance against Bison (Neal McDonough) for wrongs done against her family when she was a child.

What’s good about it: Nothing really. Yes Kristin Kreuk is impossibly hot, but unless you’re a huge fan of wirework stunts and cheesy martial arts flicks you won’t find much here.

What’s bad about it: Everything you could possibly imagine. The characters are shallow, the script is lazy, the direction is standard at best, and sadly they even leave room for a sequel. Not that it’s likely to get made.

Bottom Line: Don’t rent it. Don’t buy it. Don’t even look at the dvd. Well maybe look at the dvd. Kreuk is still amazing to look at. Which is why chose the pic above instead of the awful movie poster.

12 Rounds is essentially the same film as Die Hard 3. Protagonist (John Cena) kills someone close to antagonist, in this case by accident. Antagonist (Aiden Gillen) comes back years later to exact revenge by putting protagonist through a series of rigorous tests and “games” keeping the entire police force busy while antagonist steals truckloads of money.

What’s good about it: You guessed it, not much. Renny Harlin has never been bad at putting an action sequence together, and there are some decent ones here but nothing you haven’t seen before.

What’s bad about it: The wooden acting, derivative material, and uninspired direction.

Bottom Line: Be glad they didn’t rehire Harlin to direct Die Hard 3, because this is what we would have ended up with. If you’ve seen more than a few action movies, you’ve seen this film. Stay away. Very far away.

3.Tokyo!

Three talented directors (Michel Gondry, Jooh-ho Bong, Leos Carax) tell three very different stories all involving one city. Tokyo!

What’s good about it: Gondry’s segment “Interior Design” is beautifully shot and acted. It’s likely my favorite. Joon-ho Bong’s “Shaking Tokyo” is a quirky, fun, and atmospheric love story involving a junk collector and a pizza delivery girl.

What’s bad about it: Leos Carax’s “Merde” segment isn’t exactly bad, but it’s certainly the weakest link in the group. While it’s well shot, Merde, seems to try the patience of it’s viewers in the last act.

The Bottom Line: If you own a Blu-Ray player this is worth buying. It’s scenes of Tokyo as seen through the eyes of these directors are absolutely awesome.

Okay Bobcat probably won’t come to your house and punch you in the face, but I might if you don’t see this movie. Robin Williams is at his best in dark comedy. I’m not talking about the mangled mess that was Death to Smoochy. Think more along the lines of The World According to Garp, but darker. Bobcat Goldthwait directs this tale of a high school english teacher who fakes his son’s suicide note after an embarrassing accidental death. When the note becomes and unexpected hit he uses the opportunity to realize his dream of becoming a successful author. I love Goldthwait’s Shakes the Clown. Fuckin’ Mimes! So I’m 100% in on this one. World’s Greatest Dad releases August 21st to select cities.

Chan-Wook Park’s amazing looking tale of a priest accidentally turned vampire will be releasing to select U.S. cities July 31st. Park is the man responsible for giving us the vengeance trilogy*, and if you haven’t seen those you’d better get off your ass. If early buzz is any indication Thirst might be Park’s best film to date. Check out the trailer below and make sure to get out and see it as soon as it hits your city.

* The vengeance trilogy is Sympathy for Mr. Vengeance, Oldboy, and Sympathy for Lady Vengeance.

It’s about damn time we got a trailer for Cold Souls. CS received a lot of positive internet buzz after it’s Sundance premiere despite a lukewarm reception from the judges. Paul Giamatti plays himself in this comedy with a tinge of science fiction. Stumbling upon an article in The New Yorker about a high-tech company that extracts, deep-freezes and stores people’s souls, Paul very well might have found the key to happiness for which he’s been searching. But, complications arise when he is the unfortunate victim of “soul-trafficking”. Sounds like fun to me. The film releases August 7th in NY and LA with a wider release in weeks to follow. Check out the trailer below.

A few days back the site for the Peter Jackson produced Neil Blomkamp directed Science Fiction film District 9 went live. And it kicks some serious ass. Blomkamp previously worked as an additional director on Jackson’s war short Crossing the Line. District is shot documentary style and automatically seems reminiscent of Cloverfield, but I have a feeling we’re in for something a bit better. Before you fanboys get your knickers in a twist let me get this out of the way. I like Cloverfield. It’s a decent film. I just think District 9 is going to kick its lilly white ass.
The film releases August 14th. Check out the site and teaser trailer here.

Martin Scorsese has quite a few films that fit into quite a few categories, but he has yet to give us a true horror film. I’m not sure that Shutter Island really falls into the horror genre but the
trailer sure as hell makes it look like it does. With a stellar cast that boasts Michelle Williams,
Patricia Clarkson, Leonardo Dicaprio, Mark Ruffalo, Ben Kingsley, Max Von Sydow, Emily Mortimer,
Ted Levine, Jackie Earle Haley, and Elias Koteas I don’t really see how this film can go
wrong. Shutter Island releases October2nd. Check out the trailer below and let me know what
you think. Thanks to Heather for the link. I agree with her, does anyone else see elements of Kubrick’s The Shining in this there?