Category: Movies

Dr. Jekyll has Two Secrets

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In the spirit of Halloween, I’ve been watching [and enjoying] quite a few horror movies lately. As most of you know, I’m a big fan of the genre especially the classic monsters… Wolfman, Dracula, Frankenstein, The Creature from the Black Lagoon…

Until this week I was never a fan of Dr. Jekyll & Mr. Hyde [in any of the many movie versions]. I decided to watch the 1931 film starring Frederich March and Miriam Hopkins. I know I had seen it before when I was a kid and it didn’t impress me. Watching it again the other night was like seeing it for the first time.

Fredric March won a Best Actor Oscar for his role[s]. Miriam Hopkins is just right as the saucy barmaid who adds fuel to March’s fire. The special effects were excellent.

What suprised me most was the movie used Jekyll’s sexual frustration as the focal point of the duality of man’s battle with good vs evil. For a film made in the 30’s it was pretty surprising.

At any rate, if you’re looking for a good movie for Halloween, give the 1931 version of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde a view. You might discover that there’s more to both Dr. Jekyll and the movie than appears at first glance!

“Dr, Jekyll and Mr. Hide” [1931] rates a B

White Noise

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Some people believe that the dead can speak to us and their voices and images are sometimes captured in pictures and recordings.

There’s even an organization dedicated to the study of the phenomena. And whether you believe it’s possible or not, I’ll bet that you spend a bit more time than expected if you visit their site.

I always try to keep an open mind to things and love the idea that it may be true. But true or not, the concept does make a great springboard for a movie.

It’s Not Your Parents’ "Little Red Riding Hood"

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I like Kiefer Sutherland, Reese Witherspoon, Dan Hedaya, and Michael T. Weiss. So when I saw that they all starred in a movie called “Freeway“ [along with Brooke Shields, Amanda Plummer and Brittany Murphy], I decided to give it a look.

And although I’m glad that I watched it, it’s not a movie I can easily recommend. It was well done. I have no complaints with the acting, directing, or editing. In fact I would commend most of the actors for taking on roles which allowed them to stretch.

It’s such a dark, dark comedy and at the same time a modern day take on “Little Red Riding Hood.” Siskel and Ebert gave it two thumbs up, so maybe my recommendation isn’t needed.

Let me just say, that if this is the sort of thing that you like, then you’ll like it. And if you don’t like it, hey, blame Siskel and Ebert!

“Freeway” rates a C

Sin City Photos

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I can’t wait to see Frank Miller’s Sin City on the big screen.

It’s still hard for me to believe that it’s being made. Especially when you add Robert Rodriguez [one of my favorite directors] to the mix.

When the topic of comic adaptations to movies would come up, my first choice was always Sin City.

But the fly in the ointment was that Sin City creator, Frank Miller, had said that Sin City would never be made into a movie. Frank didn’t want to turn over his creation to a studio that would Hollywoodize it and turn it into something else.

But that was before Robert Rodriguez showed Frank exactly how he would adapt Sin City to make it faithful to the comics. Robert even brought Frank on board to serve as co-director!

When it was announced that Rodriguez and Miller were teaming to create Sin City, I thought, “How can it get any better?”

Then the cast began to form… Mickey Rourke… Bruce Willis… Jessica Alba… Rosario Dawson… Benicio Del Toro… Michael Clarke Duncan… Josh Hartnett… Michael Madsen… Clive Owen… Nick Stahl… Elijah Wood.

Ain’t It Cool News just posted some screencaps from Sin City. You can see them by clicking HERE. Cool aren’t they?

Now if we could just get a release date for the movie!

"Dr. Strangelove" Frighteningly Realistic

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One of my all-time favorite movies is Stanley Kubrick’s dark comedy “Dr. Strangelove: Or How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb.”

If you love it as much as I do, then you’ll be happy to know that a special 40th Anniversary Two Disc set is being released on November 2nd.

And whether you love “Dr. Strangelove” or not, you’ll probably be surprised to read just how realistic it was. Read THIS ARTICLE and suddenly the comedy seems even darker.

Thanks to Mark Evanier for posting the link.

Dr. Strangelove rates an A+

Carlito’s Way

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One of my favorite Al Pacino movies is Carlito’s Way.

If you haven’t seen it, you should give it a look, especially if you’re a fan of Pacino, Sean Penn, or gangster movies. It’s directed by Brian DePalma and is really, good. [I’d place a link to the dvd, but they’re coming out with a Special Edition in the near future so you should wait if you’d like a copy for your collection.]

At any rate, Carlito’s Way is one of my favorite movies. So you think I’d be excited to hear that a prequel may be in the works, right?

Well, unfortunately what JoBlow is reporting, is that if there is a sequel it doesn’t look like Pacino, Penn or DePalma will be involved!

The cool thing is that no matter what happens with the prequel we’ll always have the original.

“Carlito’s Way” rates an A

I Want "Sin City" Now

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I can’t wait to see Sin City on the big screen.

Frank Miller.

Robert Rodriguez.

Mickey Rourke.

Bruce Willis.

Jessica Alba.

Rosario Dawson.

Benicio Del Toro.

Michael Clarke Duncan.

Josh Hartnett.

Michael Madsen.

Clive Owen.

Nick Stahl.

Elijah Wood.

Whew! This baby is gonna rock.

Don’t believe me? Read this interview with Robert Rodriguez [brought to us by Quint at AICN] and you’ll be a believer! Man, I can’t wait…

Buried Secret Goes to Far

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The Sci Fi channel has, for weeks, been advertising an “unauthorized documentary” [some even called it a “disturbing expose” ] about M. Knight Shyamalan. The story was that M. Knight first cooperated, but then tried to shut it down when producers delved too deeply into his personal life. The documentary advertised that it would present a “buried secret.”

I’ll be the first to admit that the documentary sounded interesting, but something about it just didn’t seem right. My wife speculated, a couple of weeks ago, that M. Knight was probably behind the whole thing… and it turns out she was right.

Today the Sci Fi cable network and parent company NBC Universal acknowledged that the documentary was really part of a “guerrilla marketing” hoax that went too far. It seems that “a number of entertainment journalists…” were left “…grumbling after they were duped…”

I watched the special and it was so obvious that the doc was set -up, that anyone who is upset because they were duped should be upset with himself for being so gullible.

Cool Stuff from the Sky Captain

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The Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow site is starting to make available more and more cool stuff to get us all psyched for the movie.

In addition to the cool movie poster shown to the left, JoBlo.com has six others that are just as cool. [Well… most of them are.]

JoBlo also has several images from the movie.

The official site has a new trailer, which looks even better than the teaser did.

There’s also a cool clip of an undersea battle available at Apple’s trailer site for Sky Captain.

I really don’t know how Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow is going to do at the box office, but I do know that I can’t wait to see it.