In case you didn’t know (and how could you not?), superhero epic “Marvel’s The Avengers” sees its long-awaited theatrical release in American theatres this coming Friday, even though its UK release was last Thursday, when I went and saw it (if you will allow me to gloat and grin and dance merrily down the street for a moment or two). To celebrate, I thought I’d take a look at the ten finest examples to come out of the cinematic superhero genre, which I have listed below along with justifications for each entry. Some of the films are based on comics, some of them are original; some of them are straight-faced, some of them are comedies; some of them are bloody, one of them was made by Pixar. And hey, one of them might even have a certain Iron Man, Thor, Captain America and The Hulk in them (nudge, nudge). [Read more…]
The Top 10 PG/PG-13 Horror Movies
There’s been an earth-shattering debate (read: crybaby whining) going on at the IMDb board for Ridley Scott’s upcoming sci-fi horror feature “Prometheus.” Apparently, the film is under threat of being slapped with a PG-13 rating, which, as many horrified posters have anxiously pointed out, is “OMG, the same rating as Twilight, so gay.” This, in spite of the fact that the film serves as something of a prequel to the “Alien” franchise, each entry of which has been granted with a much harsher R rating, mostly for gore, bloody violence and frequent scenes of chest-bursting.
As of this moment, the MPAA (that’s the Motion Picture Association of America) is yet to officially announce the film’s American rating, but many are dead certain that film studio 20th Century Fox are gunning for a PG-13 rating purely for financial gain. Those complaining claim that the level of raw, pants-crapping intensity captured in the previous “Alien” films simply cannot be recreated in a supposedly watered-down, hacked-to-bits PG-13 cut. As sort of a counter-argument, I thought I’d take a look at the ten best examples to come out of the horror genre brandished with either a PG-13 rating or an even lighter PG rating, along with how spooky they managed to be, even though their rating clearly meant “Twilight” levels of gayness, and what they would be like had they been granted an R rating. [Read more…]
Cabin in the Woods Movies: A Non-Scientific Study
Today marks the release of writer-director Drew Goddard and co-writer Joss Whedon’s genre-skewering horror comedy “The Cabin in the Woods,” which, and I don’t think this will come as much of a surprise, is set primarily in a cabin in the woods. To celebrate its long-awaited public unveiling, I thought I’d take a look back at the “cabin in the woods” genre, or more specifically the ten most notable films to come out of this area of horror cinema. I should note that the films collected below are listed not in terms of quality but in chronological order of release, so as to see how the “cabin in the woods” genre has evolved over the years, if at all. [Read more…]
6 Movies That Strayed Far, Far Away from the Book
Just because the poster says the film is “based on the novel by” doesn’t mean they are contractually obligated to faithfully represent the ideas, themes or even the plot of the book on which it is based. The authors have their checks. The actors and directors have a script to shoot with and even bigger checks in their bank accounts. The studio executives have a huge bundle of cash in their penthouse apartment that they use to line the floor of their equally massive hamster cages for their ultra rare Stolzmann’s fish-eating rats.
The only group that gets screwed is the audience. They faithfully plonk down $10.50 in change for a ticket to see their favorite novel brought to life, only to be more disappointed than the readers of “Weekend at Bernie’s: The Book”. It’s understandable that some small details or characters wouldn’t make it into the final product for the sake of continuity or screen time. Some, however, stray so far away from the source material that they really shouldn’t be allowed to use any of the words from the book’s title in lines of dialogue, let alone on a poster or a movie marquee. [Read more…]
Top 5 James Bond Villains
James Bond is cool. We know he is and we love him for it. But Bond’s gadgets and suave sex appeal (if you’re into that sort of thing) are not the only reasons for the franchise’s fan base and longevity over the past decades. It is the villain, the rival, the nemesis of Mr. Bond – and his continued distinction and rogue tactics – that has brought the books and the films to the fore of franchising. But who have been Bond’s greatest adversaries? [Read more…]