Review: New "Evil Dead" Just Another Scary Movie

TRASH IN MY EYE No. 52 (of 2013) by Leroy Douresseaux

Evil Dead (2013)
Running time:  91 minutes (1 hour, 31 minutes)
MPAA – R for strong bloody violence and gore, some sexual content and language
DIRECTOR:  Fede Alvarez
WRITERS:  Fede Alvarez and Rodo Sayagues (based on the motion picture, The Evil Dead, written by Sam Raimi)
PRODUCERS: Sam Raimi, Robert G. Tapert, and Bruce Campbell
CINEMATOGRAPHER:  Aaron Morton
EDITOR: Bryan Shaw
COMPOSER:  Roque Baños

HORROR

Starring:  Jane Levy, Shiloh Fernandez, Lou Taylor Pucci, Jessica Lucas, Elizabeth Blackmore, and Randal Wilson with Bruce Campbell

Evil Dead is a 2013 horror movie.  A loose remake of Sam Raimi’s 1981 movie, The Evil Dead, this is the fourth film in the Evil Dead movie franchise, serving partly as a continuation of the series and partly as a reboot of the franchise.  The new Evil Dead focuses on five friends in a remote cabin where they fight off an evil presence that is determined to possess them all.

Mia Allen (Jane Levy) has a severe drug addiction.  Her best friends, Olivia (Jessica Lucas) and Eric (Lou Taylor Pucci), have arranged a getaway to an old remote cabin in the woods that apparently belongs to Mia’s family.  There, they hope that Mia can be forced to get clean or “detox.”  An important member of this intervention is Mia’s estranged brother, David (Shiloh Fernandez), who brings his girlfriend, Natalie (Elizabeth Blackmore), with him.

The five young people arrive at the cabin to find that someone has previously broken into it.  While searching the cabin, they find the remains of a bizarre ritual and also a strange old book.  This book, which is entitled the “Naturom Demonto” (Book of the Dead), leads them to unwittingly summon up demons hiding in the woods surrounding the cabin.

Evil Dead is just a remake – plain and simple.  It is not an exceptional horror film, except for the fact that there is no CGI used in creating the effects (as the director claims).  The Evil Dead was a comic horror film that was shocking, horrifying, comical, and defiantly original.  Evil Dead, the new thang, replaces the comical aspects and trades for family history – both melodramatic and dysfunctional.  I did find myself wishing that Mia could beat her demons and that her brother could reconcile with her, but as the movie went along, I cared less and less.

Director Fede Alvarez and his co-screenwriter Rodo Sayagues offer bloody violence and gore aplenty.  No matter how much of that they offer, however, this movie comes from the same old horror movie wheelhouse that has been the birth canal for many of the horror flicks going back a decade.  Evil Dead is merely torture porn reconfigured as self-torture porn.  It is sometimes shocking, thrilling, scary, and creepy.  However, I think the only people who will find this movie to be a bold, fresh thing are those who never saw the original, The Evil Dead.

5 of 10
B-

Sunday, August 04, 2013

"The Conjuring" Crosses $100 Million Box Office Mark

New Line Cinema’s “The Conjuring” Crosses $100 Million at the Domestic Box Office

BURBANK, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--One of the most talked about hits of the summer, New Line Cinema’s “The Conjuring” has surpassed $100 million at the domestic box office on only its third weekend in theatres, it was announced today by Dan Fellman, President, Domestic Distribution, Warner Bros. Pictures. The film crossed the $100 million mark on Saturday, August 3, and has earned an estimated $108.6 million domestically to date, and still climbing.

“The Conjuring” is also off to a great start internationally, opening in just 13 markets thus far. The film opened in the UK this weekend, taking the #1 spot on Friday and Saturday, and it is also holding extremely well in other early release markets, particularly in Australia and Spain. The international total to date is an estimated $28.6 million, with many major markets yet to open, including France, Italy, Belgium, Holland and Mexico.

The terrifying supernatural horror thriller, from director James Wan, opened to rave reviews from critics, as well as audiences, a fact that was reflected in the film’s A- CinemaScore—an extremely rare mark for the genre. “The Conjuring” had an extraordinary $41.9 million opening weekend at the domestic box office, the largest opening ever for an original horror film.

In making the announcement, Fellman said, “James Wan has created a film that stays with moviegoers long after they leave the theatre, resulting in terrific word-of-mouth that should carry it through the rest of the summer. Surrounded by tentpole summer movies, ‘The Conjuring’ has become the must-see film of the season.”

Sue Kroll, President, Worldwide Marketing and International Distribution, Warner Bros. Pictures, added, “‘The Conjuring’ is performing beyond all expectations, breaking barriers as not just a great genre film, but a great film of any genre. The phenomenal results in the U.S. are also starting to be seen globally as ‘The Conjuring’ expands its reach, with tremendous worldwide potential. We congratulate James Wan, the remarkable cast and everyone involved in the film.”

New Line Cinema President and COO Toby Emmerich stated, “We’re excited that ‘The Conjuring’ continues to have such a big impact on fans and that they are sharing their enthusiasm with friends and family. James Wan made a fantastic movie and audiences clearly agree, as is evident in the film’s great CinemaScore, social media engagement and theatre attendance.”

Based on the true life story, “The Conjuring” tells the tale of how world renowned paranormal investigators Ed and Lorraine Warren were called upon to help a family terrorized by a dark presence in a secluded farmhouse. Forced to confront a powerful demonic entity, the Warrens find themselves caught in the most horrifying case of their lives.

From New Line Cinema comes a feature film drawn from the case files of married demonologists Ed and Lorraine Warren. “The Conjuring” stars Academy Award® nominee Vera Farmiga (“Up in the Air,” TV’s “Bates Motel”) and Patrick Wilson (“Insidious”) as the Warrens, and Ron Livingston (“The Odd Life of Timothy Green”) and Lili Taylor (TV’s “Hemlock Grove”) as Roger and Carolyn Perron, residents of the house. Joey King, Shanley Caswell, Hayley McFarland, Mackenzie Foy and newcomer Kyla Deaver play the Perrons’ five daughters, and Sterling Jerins is the Warrens’ little girl, Judy. Rounding out the cast are Marion Guyot, Steve Coulter, Shannon Kook, and John Brotherton.

James Wan (“Saw,” “Insidious”) directed the film from a screenplay by Chad Hayes & Carey W. Hayes (“The Reaping”). The film is produced by Tony DeRosa-Grund, Peter Safran and Rob Cowan, with Walter Hamada and Dave Neustadter serving as executive producers.

New Line Cinema presents a Safran Company / Evergreen Media Group Production of a James Wan Film, “The Conjuring.” The film is being distributed by Warner Bros. Pictures, a Warner Bros. Entertainment Company.

This film has been rated R for sequences of disturbing violence and terror.

www.theconjuring-movie.com

Review: Marilyn Monroe and Don Murray Still Heat Up "Bus Stop" (Remembering Marilyn Monroe)

TRASH IN MY EYE No. 12 (of 2004) by Leroy Douresseaux

Bus Stop (1956)
Running time:  96 minutes (1 hour, 36 minutes)
DIRECTOR:  Joshua Logan
WRITER:  George Axelrod (based on the plays of William Inge)
PRODUCER:  Buddy Adler
CINEMATOGRAPHER:  Milton Krasner (D.o.P.)
EDITOR:  William Reynolds
COMPOSERS:  Cyril J. Mockridge and Alfred Newman
Academy Award nominee

ROMANCE/COMEDY/DRAMA

Starring:  Marilyn Monroe, Don Murray, Arthur O’Connell, Betty Field, Eileen Heckart, Robert Bray, and Hope Lange

The subject of this movie review is Bus Stop, a 1956 romantic comedy and drama from director Joshua Logan.  Bus Stop is based on two plays, People in the Wind and Bus Stop (1955), by American novelist, Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright, and Oscar-winning screenwriter, William Inge.  Bus Stop the movie focuses on a naive but stubborn cowboy (he’s a virgin) and a saloon singer whom the cowboy tries to take against her will back to his ranch in Montana.

An innocent (and infantile) rodeo cowboy named Beauregard “Bo” Decker (Don Murray) temporarily leaves his Montana ranch to attend a rodeo in Phoenix, Arizona.  His surrogate father Virgil (Arthur O’Connell), who travels with him, thinks it time for the sexually inexperienced 21-year old to find a wife.  What Virgil didn’t have in mind was for Bo to fall in love with Cherie (Marilyn Monroe), an abused bar singer with a lot of man mileage on her.  Bo, used to having his way and naively regarding women as if they were nothing more than life stock, stalks and kidnaps Cherie in order to bring her back to the ranch.  It’s at the titular bus stop where Bo finally gets him comeuppance, but does love still bloom?

Many people consider Bus Stop, based upon a well-known stage play of the time, to be the film in which Marilyn Monroe showed that she could act and that she wasn’t just a hot, blond tart.  Although her performance is a bit over the top (wildly over the top in some places to the point of giving a performance that verges on hysteria), she seems to really fit this film.  Don Murray, however, steals Bus Stop, in his first movie role after getting recognition for his stage work.  He earned an Oscar® nomination as a supporting actor for Bus Stop, but he is really the lead, as the film and story revolves around Murray’s Bo and Arthur O’Connell’s Virgil.  The thoroughly handsome Murray is a lightning bolt and a ball of boundless energy.  He really does sell the notion that he is a virginal cowboy who knows nothing about women, and he also makes the father-son relationship with O’Connell feel real.

Bus Stop is an odd and quirky film that is equally parts romance and comedy, more of a comic romance than a romance comedy.  Joshua Logan (Picnic, 1955) does a fine job with what could have been a curious film disaster by keeping the pace fast, never letting us focus on the story’s logical missteps.  He makes the audience laugh with the characters, and he turns up the romance just at the proper moments.

8 of 10
A

NOTES:
1957 Academy Awards, USA:  1 nomination: “Best Actor in a Supporting Role” (Don Murray)

1957 BAFTA Awards:  1 nomination: “Most Promising Newcomer to Film” (Don Murray-USA)

1957 Golden Globes, USA:  2 nominations: “Best Motion Picture - Musical/Comedy” and “Best Motion Picture Actress - Comedy/Musical” (Marilyn Monroe)

Updated:  Monday, August 05, 2013

Johnny Knoxville Returns in "Bad Grandpa"

Real people. Real reactions. Real messed up.

Johnny Knoxville is back as Irving Zisman in JACKASS PRESENTS: BAD GRANDPA

Watch now: http://youtu.be/_MSrAwfagG4

Make your own GIFs using the Bad Grandpa GIF Creator: www.BadGrandpa.com (You know you’re going to.)

ABOUT THE FILM: 86 year-old Irving Zisman is on a journey across America with the most unlikely companions, his 8 year-old Grandson Billy in "Jackass Presents: Bad Grandpa.” This October, the signature Jackass character Irving Zisman (Johnny Knoxville) and Billy (Jackson Nicoll) will take movie audiences along for the most insane hidden camera road trip ever captured on camera.

Along the way Irving will introduce the young and impressionable Billy to people, places and situations that give new meaning to the term childrearing. The duo will encounter male strippers, disgruntled child beauty pageant contestants (and their equally disgruntled mothers), funeral home mourners, biker bar patrons and a whole lot of unsuspecting citizens.

Real people in unreal situations, making for one really messed up comedy.

In theaters everywhere October 25th, 2013.

Official website: www.BadGrandpa.com

Facebook : www.facebook.com/jackass

Twitter: www.twitter.com/jackassworld

Happy Birthday, President Barack Obama

Happy 52nd from Negromancer. Still looking good.

Review: Something for Everyone in "Amazon Women on the Moon" (Happy B'day, John Landis)

TRASH IN MY EYE No. 207 (of 2004) by Leroy Douresseaux

Amazon Women on the Moon (1987)
Running time: 85 minutes (1 hour, 25 minutes)
MPAA – R
DIRECTORS:  Joe Dante, Carl Gottlieb, Peter Horton, John Landis, and Robert K. Weiss
WRITERS:  Michael Barrie and Jim Mulholland
PRODUCER:  Robert K. Weiss
CINEMATOGRAPHER:  Daniel Pearl
EDITORS:  Malcolm Campbell, Marshall Harvey, and Bert Lovitt
COMPOSER:  Ira Newborn

COMEDY

Starring:  Arsenio Hall, B.B. King, David Alan Grier, William Bryant, Roxie Rocker, Rosanna Arquette, Steve Guttenberg, Ed Begley Jr., Carrie Fisher, Sybil Danning, Michelle Pfeiffer, Griffin Dunne, Henry Silva, Andrew Dice Clay, and Russ Meyer

The subject of this movie review is Amazon Women on the Moon, a 1987 satirical comedy and parody anthology film.  The film spoofs 1950s sci-fi movies by featuring a fake 50s sci-fi movie called “Amazon Women on the Moon.”  In between segments of “Amazon Women on the Moon,” the movie offers 21 comedy sketches meant to parody the experience of watching low-budget movies and infomercials on late-night television.

Amazon Women on the Moon is kind of a sequel to The Kentucky Fried Movie, the cult classic spoof film comprised of several skits lampooning TV news, commercials, and films.  Amazon Women on the Moon does much of the same thing – using short comedy sketches to spoof late night porn, commercials, infomercials, and educational films.  The movie also spoofs 1950’s sci-fi films in the form of the title skit, Amazon Women on the Moon.  The tale of three astronauts who travel from the Earth to the moon and discover a race of superwomen led the buxom Queen Lara (Sybil Danning).  The Amazon Women skit not only pokes big fun at the super low production values of old science fiction films, it even makes fun of the technical difficulties that occasionally plague late night TV and old movies.

Perhaps, the subject that the film best skewers is tabloid news fodder, the kind of sensational human interest stories one would find in tabloid magazines because of their shock value.  Some of Amazon Women on the Moon’s best moments include skits about a doctor loosing a couple’s newborn son (featuring Michelle Pfeiffer), a woman who uses a credit card machine to download a consumer dating report on her blind date, a funeral home that uses a celebrity roast in lieu of a funeral service to send off the recently departed, and a man who is killed by his rabidly malfunctioning household appliances (featuring Arsenio Hall).

I found Amazon Women on the Moon not quite as funny as I did the first time I saw it about 16 or 17 years ago, but it’s best moments are still quite hilarious and irreverent, even jaw dropping and surreal, at times.  Imagine “Saturday Night Live” or “Mad TV” with a harder edge or with a more brutal sense of humor.  It’s wacky, wild, and weird, and I heartily recommend it.  Even those who won’t like it much will still find at least one skit that strongly assaults their funny bone.

7 of 10
B+

Updated:  Saturday, August 03, 2013

Surf Drama "Drift" Now Playing in Select Cities

LIONSGATE Presents

DRIFT

Runtime: 113 min; Rating: R

A film by Morgan O’Neill and Ben Nott

Starring: Myles Pollard, Xavier Samuel, Sam Worthington

DRIFT Will Open in Select Theatres Nationwide On August 2, 2013

DRIFT Will Open in the Following Los Angeles Area Theatre on August 2nd
Laemmle’s Monica 4 Plex (1332 2nd St, Santa Monica)

DRIFT Will Open in the Following New York Area Theatre on August 2nd
AMC Empire 25 (234 W 42nd St)

ABOUT THE FILM: After their mother escapes from Sydney to Margaret River in the 1970’s, the two Kelly brothers spend their youth searching for the perfect wave. Out of necessity the family launches a backyard surf business ‐ re‐thinking board design, crafting homemade wetsuits and selling merchandise out of their van.

Battling big waves, small town conservatism and criminals, the brothers give rise to a global brand. A story of passion, corruption, friendship and loyalty, deadly addictions and fractured relationships, DRIFT tells a tale of courage and the will to survive at all odds.

DRIFT is directed by Morgan O’Neill and Ben Nott and written by Morgan Oneil. Starring Myles Pollard, Xavier Samuel, Sam Worthington, Robyn Malcolm, Lesley-Ann Brandt, Aaron Glenane, Steve Bastoni, Maurie Ogden, Sean Keenan, Kai Arbuckle, and Harrison Buckland-Crook.  DRIFT is produced by Tim Duffy, Michele Bennett, and Myles Pollard. Executive Producers are Joan Peters and Peter Lawson.