Richard Roeper Gives Haywire an "A"

Of course I'm posting this because Gina Carano is in it, but it seems Richard Roeper likes her new movie Haywire. Check out his review and more scenes below. Opens tomorrow!

Universal Pictures in 2012

Universal Studios turns 100 this year! Wow, they don't look a day over 80. What's in store for the big anniversary? Well from the fine folks at ClevverMovies, here's a quick look at what's coming from them in 2012. Some pretty good stuff like Dr. Suess' The Lorax, Contraband with Mark Walhberg, Battleship, The Bourne Legacy and Russel Crowe in The Man With The Iron Fists. Dig it below:

2011... The Year in Movies

2011 was a year in which I probably got out to the theaters less than any year in decades. Even the big Summer blockbuster season only lured me out a few times. Reasons? People on their damn cellphones? Prices? Weak movies? DVDs hit shelves 4 months later and I can watch movies in the privacy of my living room theater? All of the above perhaps, but still there was a lot of stuff I liked. So I may not have seen some of the year's biggest, but here ya go; my favorites and no-so-favorites of 2011.

Favorite Horror Films of 2011

10. The Rite
9. The Innkeepers
8. Seconds Apart
7. Fright Night
6. Grave Encounters
5. Insidious
4. Attack The Block
3. Troll Hunter
2. I Saw The Devil
1. Paranormal Activity 3

Decent year overall for horror, but not exceptional. I missed the annual Saw movie, and I haven't seen Final Destination 5 or Scream 4 yet (despite having both blu-rays laying on my kitchen table at the moment... ugh). But Paranormal Activity 3 really had me jumping in my seat and spritzing in my underwear. Fun film. I Saw The Devil was just totally brutal. Troll Hunter was very creative and fun I thought and Attack The Block was a blast.

Favorite Documentaries of 2011

3. God Bless Ozzy Osbourne
2. Foo Fighters: Back and Forth
1. Hot Coffee

Favorite Animated Films of 2011

6. Gnomeo and Juliet
5. Puss in Boots
4. Rio
3. The Adventures of Tintin
2. Kung-Fu Panda 2
1. Rango

Biggest Disappointments of 2011

5. The Roommate
4. Green Lantern
3. Stephen King's Bag of Bones
2. Dylan Dog: Dead of Night
1. Conan The Barbarian

It wasn't that I didn't like Green Lantern, I thought it was OK, it's just that expected to like it a whole lot more I guess. The Roommate had a double-sexy combo of Minka Kelly and Leighton Meister and was rated PG-13... could have been soooo good. Bag of Bones was OK but could have easily been a 2 hour movie, not a mini-series. My top 2... meh.

Favorite 11 Movies of 2011 (excluding above)

11. Green Hornet
10. Super 8
9. Limitless
8. Transformers: Dark of the Moon
7. Captain America: The First Avenger
6. X-Men: First Class
5. Thor
4. The Eagle
3. Warrior
2. Rise of the Planet of the Apes
1. Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2

I guess I like super hero movies? And violence. And action. Big, dumb popcorn movies are made specifically for me.

Possible Top 5 Movies of 2011 I Haven't Seen Yet (that look like I'll love 'em)

5. Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides
4. Fast Five
3. Real Steel
2. Mission Impossible: Ghost Protocol
1. Sherlock Holmes: Game of Shadows

12 Most Highly Anticipated Releases for 2012

12. Frankenweenie
11. The Woman in Black
10. The Cabin in the Woods
9. Chronicle
8. Battleship
7. John Carter
6. Brave
5. The Amazing Spider Man
4. Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter
3. The Dark Knight Rises
2. Wrath of the Titans
1. The Avengers
1. The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey

OK so I cheated!! I can't pick between those top 2 movies I swear. 13 movies is a much luckier number though, so I'm staying with that.

Check Out The New Silent House Trailer

From ClevverMovies

Silent House hits theaters on March 9th, 2012.

Silent House is a uniquely unsettling horror thriller starring Elizabeth Olsen as Sarah, a young woman who finds herself sealed inside her family's secluded lake house. With no contact to the outside world, and no way out, panic turns to terror as events become increasingly ominous in and around the house. Directed by filmmaking duo Chris Kentis and Laura Lau, Silent House uses meticulous camera choreography to take the audience on a tension-filled, real time journey, experienced in a single uninterrupted shot.

From the directors of Open Water and starring Elizabeth Olsen (Martha Marcy May Marlene), Silent House is based on "La Casa Muda", the official Uruguayan entry in the Best Foreign Language Film category to the 84th Academy Awards.

Silent House trailer courtesy Open Road Films.

Wrath of the Titans Trailer

Maybe you've seen the new Wrath of the Titans trailer, but it's so cool it won't hurt to keep watching it over and over right? I think it's a pretty sweet trailer personally. I actually was one of the ones who enjoyed Clash of the Titans so I was already looking forward to this even before the trailer hit. No, much more so. It doesn't hurt that they used Marilyn Manson's awesome "Sweet Dreams (Are Made Of This)" during the trailer either. How many movies has this song been used in now? I can name 4 before this... Enron: The Smartest Guys in the Room, Gamer, Trick 'r Treat and the remake of House on Haunted Hill.

But anyway, the monsters in this look kick ass. Give me a good story and all that, but throw in some giant monsters and such and I'm there everytime.

It's due out March 30th!

The Cabin in the Woods Trailer

At first, this trailer looks like just another "teens in the woods" type movie... but then things get turned on their ass pretty quickly. I've been eager to see this movie since I first heard about it, and it looks like it'll finally hit theaters April 13th, 2012. Check out the awesome trailer below for The Cabin in the Woods, written by Josh Whedon (Serenity, Firefly, Angel) and Drew Goddard (Lost, Alias).

Storyline: A group of friends at a cabin retreat scratch the surface of something so massive and horrific that they can only begin to fathom it as time quickly runs out.



Release Date: April 13, 2012
Genre: Horror | Thriller
Director: Drew Goddard
Writers: Joss Whedon, Drew Goddard
Starring: Richard Jenkins, Bradley Whitford, Kristen Connolly, Chris Hemsworth and Fran Kranz
MPAA: Rated R for strong bloody horror violence and gore, language, drug use and some sexuality/nudity

The Innkeepers Trailer Is Here

From Writer-director Ti West (director of The House of the Devil) comes a new horror offering, The Innkeepers. Not sure of an exact release date yet, but should be sometime in 2012 I'd guess.

The Innkeepers stars Sara Paxton (Shark Night 3D, The Last House on the Left) as Claire and Pat Healy (The Assassination of Jesse James) as Luke, a pair of co-workers at an aging New England hotel. The Innkeepers has received terrific reviews since its debut at the SXSW Festival and this trailer seems to have a pretty creepy atmosphere and a few jump-scares. Check it out below:

Synopsis: "After over one hundred years of service, The Yankee Pedlar Inn is shutting its doors for good. The last remaining employees -Claire and Luke - are determined to uncover proof of what many believe to be one of New England's most haunted hotels. As the Inn's final days draw near, odd guests check in as the pair of minimum wage "ghost hunters" begin to experience strange and alarming events that may ultimately cause them to be mere footnotes in the hotel's long unexplained history."

The Raven Trailer

Although it's not hitting theaters until March 9th, 2012, the new trailer for The Raven is out. Supposedly it's a fictionalized account of the last days of Edgar Allan Poe's life, in which the poet pursues a serial killer whose murders mirror those in the writer's stories. It stars one of my favorite actors, John Cusack, as Edgar Allan Poe.

Check it out:

John 5 Settles the Score for The Lords of Salem (DreadCentral.com)

John 5 Settles the Score for The Lords of Salem:

If there's one thing you can always count on in a Rob Zombie flick, it's that it will probably have a killer soundtrack. Today the rocker/filmmaker announced who'd be providing the tunes for his new flick, The Lords of Salem, via his Facebook page.

Zombie's current guitarist John 5 will be composing the score for The Lords of Salem, which begins lensing in just two weeks.

The flick stars Richard Lynch as the film's protagonist, "Reverend John Hawthorne"; Billy Drago as "Judge Samuel Mather," a key player in the history of the Lords; Dee Wallace as "Sonny," a self-help guru; Bruce Dern as Francis Matthias, author of the book "Satan's Last Stand - The Truth About The Salem Witch Trials"; Torsten Voges as Count Gorgann, lead singer of the Norwegian death metal band Leviathan the Fleeing Serpent; Jeff Daniel Phillips as Herman "Whitey" Salvador, one third of "The Big H Team" at WIQZ - Salem's Rock Radio; Meg Foster as Margaret Morgan, the leader of a secret coven of witches in Salem; Ernest Thomas, who will play Chip "Freakshow" McDonald, the station manager at Salem's #1 rock station; and Sheri Moon Zombie.

Jason Blum, Steven Schneider, and Oren Peli of Haunted Pictures are producing as well as Zombie regulars Andy Gould and Brian Kavanaugh-Jones.

Synopsis

Heidi, a blonde rock chick, DJs at a local radio station and, together with the two Hermans (Whitey and Munster), forms part of the "Big H Radio Team".

A mysterious wooden box containing a vinyl record arrives for Heidi, "a gift from the Lords". She assumes it's a rock band on a mission to spread their word. As Heidi and Whitey play the Lords' record, it starts to play backwards, and Heidi experiences a flashback to a past trauma.

Later Whitey plays the Lords' record, dubbing them the Lords of Salem, and to his surprise, the record plays normally and is a massive hit with listeners.

The arrival of another wooden box from the Lords presents the Big H Team with free tickets, posters and records to host a gig in Salem. Soon Heidi and her cohorts find that the gig is far from the rock spectacle they're expecting: The original Lords of Salem are returning, and they're out for BLOOD.

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And So It Begins... Halloween Month

I don't have to tell anyone who follows this blog what my favorite month is do I? Expect a month of the same in 2011... Halloween themed comics, tales, movies, books and etc.

The theaters won't be exactly overflowing with horror movies this year what with Saw no longer dominating the holiday. The Paranormal Activity franchise sort of took their place in the yearly sequel category I guesss, and as much as I love all the Saw films it had definitely run it's course. Here's how the theaters are shaping up:

* Sept 30th - Dream House

* Sept 30th - Tucker and Dale vs Evil (limited release)

* Oct 7th - The Human Centipede II (Full Sequence) (limited release)

* Oct 14th - The Thing

* Oct 21st - Paranormal Activity 3

* Oct 21st - Red State

And that's it. Not a whole lot to pick from really when you conisder 2 of the films are going to be pretty limited release and I bet that Kevin Smith's Red State won't be on many screens. I am looking forward to The Thing, Paranormal Activity 3 and Dream House though.

But this year I've watched a lot more films at my house than in the theater anyway. It's not just that I really like my home set-up it's also people talking and texting and such in theaters has really begun to annoy my old ass ("You kids get out of my yard!!" *shakes fist*). You can buy a disc now with a blu-ray, regular and digital copy of a film for less than 2 people can go to the theater anyway, so I'm just patient and wait for the films to hit home. Here's what's stabbing it's way onto your home video shelves for October:

* Oct 4th - Scream 4

* Oct 4th - Friday The 13th: The Ultimate Collection

* Oct 4th - Elvira's Haunted Hills

* Oct 4th - Elvira's Movie Macabre: Lady Frankenstein / Jesse James Meets Frankenstein's Daughter

* Oct 11th - The Bad Seed (Blu-ray)

* Oct 11th - Maniac Cop (Blu-ray)

* Oct 18th - Hellraiser: Revelations

* Oct 25th - The House By The Cemetery (Blu-ray)

* Oct 25th - Zombie: 2-Disc Ultimate Edition (Blu-ray)

* Oct 25th - Wrong Turn 4: Bloody Beginnings

There's some good stuff in there, but it's not an incredible selection or anything. Might keep me pretty busy. Add onto these 2 lists that the excellent looking series American Horror Story is debuting on FX and Dexter is back on Showtime for another bloody season and I should make it through the holiday satisfied.

If you just can't wait for some of these releases, here's a few reviews for horror movies that I've done this past year of recent releases that you can find on shelves right now, with my overall rating:

* A Horrible Way To Die (5/10)

* Bereavement (7/10)

* The Ward (6/10)

* Grave Encounters (7/10)

* Stake Land (8/10)

* Seconds Apart (7.5/10)

* Fragile (7/10)

* The Rite (6/10)

* Wake Wood (6/10)

* Pig Hunt (6.5/10)

* I Saw The Devil (7.5/10)

* Let Me In (8/10)

* The Troll Hunter (8/10)

* Insidious (7.5/10)

And there are plenty more! I've not listed some of the ones that I wasn't too crazy about, but who knows you may love them. Click the "movie review" tab and browse around if you want, don't cost nuttin'.

Happy Halloween month!

Straw Dogs Remake Looks Pretty Cool

I like the looks of this Straw Dogs movie that comes out Sept 16th. It's a remake of the 1971 film of the same name as well as Gordon Williams' novel. That version was directed by Sam Peckinpah and starred Dustin Hoffman and is quite a classic. I know people like to whine and complain about all the remakes, but I couldn't care less really... this looks fun. See the video and synopsis below and decide for yourself I guess.



Synopsis: David and Amy Sumner (James Marsden and Kate Bosworth), a Hollywood screenwriter and his actress wife, return to her small hometown in the deep South to prepare the family home for sale after her father's death. Once there, tensions build in their marriage and old conflicts re-emerge with the locals, including Amy's ex-boyfriend Charlie (Alexander Skarsgård), leading to a violent confrontation.

New Underworld Movie Trailer

Yes, they're still making the Underworld movies. And why wouldn't they keep making them? They're not big blockbusters or anything but they've all made good money still and obviously have a decent fan base.



* Underworld - $52 mil (2003)



* Underworld: Evolution - $62.3 mil (2006)



* Underworld: Rise of the Lycans - $45.8 mil (2009)



Not showstopping numbers at the US box office by any means, but none of these films have cost a fortune either so they're all making money... then add DVD sales and overseas numbers (all pretty much double the US totals) and it's a decent little series for Screen Gems.



I personally like the series and will have to break out the DVD trilogy now and refresh my memory about where the story is at, what's gone before, and how good Kate Beckinsale looks in tight pants.



So anyway, here's the trailer for the 4th and latest entry, Underworld: Awakening, due out Jan 20th, 2012. Of course, it just has to be in 3D too right? Doesn't everything?!?! *sigh*



Starring: Kate Beckinsale, Michael Ealy, India Eisley



Synopsis: Selene escapes imprisonment to find herself in a world where humans have discovered the existence of both Vampire and Lycan clans, and are conducting an all-out war to eradicate both immortal species.

Gina Carano Goes Haywire on Channing Tatum's Tush

It looks like a Haywire trailer finally popped up online over the weekend. Why do you care? Well maybe you don't, but I do because that's the movie featuring Gina Carano, former Strikeforce ladies champ who also appeared as the Gladiator "Crush" on American Gladiators. She hasn't fought in the cage since dropping the belt to Cristiane Santos way back on August 15, 2009.

I really didn't have high hopes when I first heard of her signing on for this project but then I heard that Haywire is directed by Steven Soderbergh and stars big names like Ewan McGregor, Channing Tatum, Bill Paxton, Michael Douglas and Antonio Banderas, so I'd think it should be pretty high quality. The trailer looks like she's going to kick all sort of ass in it, as she does to Channing Tatum here. Sweet.

Synopsis: A black ops super soldier (Carano) seeks payback after she is betrayed and set up during a mission by her own agency.

Heeeerrrrree's Chromeskull!

Here's the latest trailer for Chromeskull: Laid To Rest 2 and it's got Brian Austin Green, who I remember well as Derek Reese on the Terminator: The Sarah Conner Chronicles TV show, but many will forever remember as David Silver on Beverly Hills 90210. It also stars Danielle Harris from Hatchet II and both of Rob Zombie's Halloween films. Nick Principe is back as the Chrome Dome himself. The film is due Sept 20th I believe.

I reviewed the original Laid To Rest right here if you care about that sort of thing.

Official website is up and running as well.

I'm going to find me one of these masks and cool knife thingies for my Halloween costume this year. I must.



Dry County Entertainment, LLC

New Trailer For Contagion

Here's the new trailer for Steven Soderbergh's virus-horror film Contagion and it looks pretty cool. It's due out on September 9th and the unreal cast includes Matt Damon, Gwyneth Paltrow, Laurence Fishburne, Jude Law and Kate Winslet. So yeah, that's packin' plenty of star power.

Contagion is an action-thriller centered on the threat posed by a deadly disease and an international team of doctors contracted by the CDC to deal with the outbreak.

Check it out: