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2009/05/27 at 12:00am

Film Review: ‘Drag Me to Hell’

05.27.2009 | By Jack Rico |

Sam Raimi’s ‘Drag Me to Hell’ is a deliberately funny, horror film, which is neither too funny nor too scary. It’s definitely not a classic, but a refreshing return to a format that has seen many successes in the decade of the 80’s. This film is not meant to be taken seriously at all; you’re supposed to laugh at the funny parts, and as a nice surprise, you’ll occasionally be on the edge of your seat with suspense. What you should expect is to be grossed out by a myriad of scenes. Raimi is obviously looking to make you feel uncomfortable.

The plot is simple and straightforward – a loan officer is cursed by a gypsy for not helping her keep her home and now she needs to try and stop evil spirits from dragging her to hell.

I must admit, I was caught off guard with the intentional hilarity of the film. I’m so conditioned to laugh at today’s horror films because of how bad they are that this one almost tricked me. Cinematically, this movie is not good. The acting is bad, the dialogue is comical and the pacing is off. Fortunately for me, I understood what the Raimi was trying to do here and it made me enjoy the rest of the film. Sam Raimi, known for his three Spider-Man films, is no neophyte to the horror/comedy genre, actually he’s known in many circles as the guy who created it with his series of 80’s cult movies – Evil Dead.

It’s funny to me though, how much the Spanish language and Hispanics (Mexican’s really) have integrated themselves within Hollywood storylines. The opening 5-8 minutes of the movie are spoken completely in Spanish with a Mexican couple trying to save their son from the clutches of the devil. The Oscar nominated Mexican actress Adriana Barraza (Babel) plays an enchantress who wants revenge on the devil. She goes on this Spanish spell monologue without subtitles which makes it difficult for non Spanish speakers to understand, but advantageous for us bilinguals to appreciate.

Overall, ‘Drag Me to Hell’ serves as a senseless night out with friends looking to laugh and be grossed out. I particularly wouldn’t pay New York City prices for it ($12.50 a ticket), but a good $5-7 ticket buy wouldn’t be out of the question for a fun time at the flicks.

Blogs want Javier Bardem in new Star Trek sequel

By Mack Chico

2009/05/17 at 12:00am

Movies

Blogs want Javier Bardem in new Star Trek sequel

05.17.2009 | By Mack Chico |

Javier Bardem is being talked about, across the online press spectrum, to play Khan in the new Star Trek sequel.

And the primary cast and filmmakers have already signed for at least two more movies, though that doesn’t necessarily guarantee they will get made.

Still, that hasn’t stopped the rumor mill from grinding away. If you can believe the conjecture, the main villain has already been chosen for the next movie, namely genetically enhanced, would-be universal conqueror Khan Noonien Singh.

(Ricardo Montalban played that role on the original “Trek” series episode “Space Seed,” as well as the 1982 movie spin-off, “The Wrath of Khan.”)

In fact there’s some speculation about who might step into Montalban’s shoes: Spanish actor Javier Bardem.

He’s already played one memorable villain role — hired killer Anton Chigurh in “No Country for Old Men,” a performance for which he won a Best Supporting Actor Academy Award.

But frankly, I’d prefer to see Bardem play a new character. Perhaps a Klingon opponent for Chris Pine’s Captain Kirk.

By Jack Rico

2009/05/15 at 12:00am

Movies

Trailer Premiere of "In the Loop"

05.15.2009 | By Jack Rico |

“In the Loop” is drawing instant comparisons to some of the great political and absurdist comedies such as “Doctor Strangelove”, “Wag the Dog”, “Thank You For Not Smoking”, “Monty Python”.

The film is a smart comedy with razor-sharp, truly laugh-out-loud dialogue that pokes fun at the absurdity and ineptitude of our highest leaders. With everyone looking out for number one, and the fate of the free world at stake (but apparently incidental), the hilarious ensemble cast of characters bumbles its way through Machiavellian political dealings, across continents, and toward comic resolutions that are unforeseeable.

“In the Loop” will be released in theaters on July 24th, 2009.

IN THE LOOP Trailer Premiere Starring James Gandolfini – watch more funny videos

Free tickets to see ‘Next Day Air’ in NYC

By Mack Chico

2009/04/30 at 12:00am

Movies

Free tickets to see ‘Next Day Air’ in NYC

04.30.2009 | By Mack Chico |

ShowBizCafe.com invites you to see an advanced screening of the comedy ‘Next Day Air’ starring Mos Def, Mike Epps and Donald Faison on May 6th at 7pm at an undisclosed theater in Manhattan, NY. 50 winners with an ADMIT ONE ticket will be picked.

Synopsis:

When two bumbling criminals accidentally receive a package of grade-A cocaine, they think they’ve hit the jackpot. But when they try to cash in on their luck, it triggers a series of events that forever changes the lives of ten people. Smalltime hoods Brody and Guch have seen better days. But when a wacked-out courier accidentally brings them a box containing 10 kilos of high-quality cocaine meant for their next-door neighbors, it sets in motion a chain of events that could cost all of them their lives. Brody and Guch immediately arrange to sell the coke to Brody’s drug dealer cousin and his tightlipped bodyguard. But when the intended recipients of the package, wannabe gangster Jesus and his feisty girlfriend, realize the box hasn’t arrived, they set out on a desperate search to find it before ruthless drug kingpin Bodega Diablo notices it’s missing. But they’re too late. Furious over the loss of his shipment, mob boss Bodega will stop at nothing to get the drugs back. With Brody and Guch’s drug deal about to go down, all parties are on a collision course that’s almost certain to end in heavy gunfire. And whoever’s still standing when the smoke clears could walk away with nearly a million dollars in cash and drugs.

Opens nationwide in theatres on May 8, 2009. All winners will be notified by e-mail.

Send us your name and email to our COMMENTS section below and we will then proceed to send you the electronic ticket to attend the screening.

Good luck!

Tickets are limited and are allocated to a random sampling of respondents. Limit one (Admit-One) pass per person. Seating is first come, first served. No purchase necessary. While supplies last.

Rated R for Pervasive Language, Drug Content, Some Violence and Brief Nudity.

No one under 17 will be admitted.

The theatrical release will be May 8th.

http://www.nextdayair-themovie.com/

Passes are not for sale.

"Hannah Montana: The Movie" #1 at box office!

By Mack Chico

2009/04/12 at 12:00am

Movies

"Hannah Montana: The Movie" #1 at box office!

04.12.2009 | By Mack Chico |

“Hannah Montana: The Movie” opened as the top film over the Easter weekend, taking in $34 million in ticket sales at theaters in the U.S. and Canada.

“Hannah Montana,” from Walt Disney Co., displaced the action film “Fast & Furious,” which fell to second with $28.8 million, box-office researcher Media By Numbers LLC said today in an e-mailed statement.

Sales rose 61 percent to an Easter holiday weekend record of $130.2 million from a year earlier, the third straight weekend of year-over-year gains for Hollywood studios. For the year to date, box-office revenue is 17 percent ahead of last year, and attendance is up 15 percent.

“‘Hannah’ had a gigantic Good Friday, when kids were out of school, it didn’t do as well on Saturday or Easter Sunday, but this was well above expectations,” said Steve Mason, a film analyst with BigHollywood.com, in a telephone interview. He had expected the movie to earn about $25 million.

In “Hannah Montana: The Movie,” a spinoff from Walt Disney Co.’s “Hannah Montana” television show, Miley Cyrus plays a teen-age star who returns to her hometown to escape the pressure of stardom. Cyrus’s father, Billy Ray Cyrus, co-stars.

A 3-D concert film, “Hannah Montana/Miley Cyrus: Best of Both Worlds Concert Tour,” took in $70.6 million worldwide last year, according to Box Office Mojo. The film had $31.1 million in sales during its opening weekend.

‘Fast & Furious’

“Fast & Furious,” from Universal Pictures, is the fourth in the series about illegal street racing. Vin Diesel and Paul Walker, stars of the original “The Fast and the Furious,” return for the first time since the original film to reprise their roles. Diesel made a cameo appearance in “The Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift” in 2006.

NBC Universal is a unit of General Electric Co.

In “Fast & Furious,” an undercover cop played by Walker joins forces with Diesel’s character, a former convict. The first three films generated $334.2 million at theaters in the U.S. and Canada, according to Box Office Mojo LLC. The film was expected to take in $32 million in its second weekend, the estimate of Gitesh Pandya, the editor of BoxOfficeGuru.com in New York.

Third place’s “Monsters vs. Aliens,” the 3-D animation feature from Dreamworks Animation SKG Inc., earned $22.6 million in its third week. The movie, which is about a group of monsters called on to battle invaders from outer space, features the voices of Reese Witherspoon, Seth Rogen, Hugh Laurie, Rainn Wilson and Stephen Colbert.

‘Observe and Report’

“Observe and Report, which debuted in fourth place with $11.1 million, stars Seth Rogen as a mall security guard who longs to become a real police officer. He gets to try out his sleuthing skills when a streaker targets the shopping center. The film is distributed by Time Warner Inc.’s Warner Bros.

The Nicolas Cage thriller “Knowing” earned $6.67 million for Summit Entertainment LLC in fifth place. Cage stars as a professor who decodes a document, left in a 1958 time capsule, that has foretold the world’s worst disasters, including some yet to come. Rose Byrne co-stars.

Here’s a complete look at the weekend’s top-grossing films based on Friday-Sunday estimates as compiled by Exhibitor Relations:

Hannah Montana: The Movie, $34 million
Fast & Furious, $28.8 million
Monsters vs. Aliens, $22.6 million
Observe and Report, $11.1 million
Knowing, $6.7 million
I Love You, Man, $6.4 million
The Haunting in Connecticut, $5.7 million
Dragonball: Evolution, $4.7 million
Adventureland, $3.4 million
Duplicity, $3 million

By Mack Chico

2009/04/12 at 12:00am

Movies

‘Fast & Furious 5’ is a go in Brazil!

04.12.2009 | By Mack Chico |

Those old parts Universal threw into the Fast & Furious machine churned out new cash and lots of it. Though you might expect the studio to be sitting back and counting their increasingly growing pile of loot, the gears are in motion to ride the franchise into another installment.

Universal confirmed today to E! News that a sequel to Fast & Furious is already in works. That could mean two studio execs shooting the breeze at the urinals or intense boardroom discussions. Either way there’s no doubt Universal wants to extend their winning streak while the going’s good.

The studio was forced into addressing the sequel after Paul Walker proclaimed during an interview this morning to MYfm’s Valentine that he and Vin Diesel are “without question” coming back for more.

Walker even went as far as to throw out a location, “This was supposed to be it (re: Fast & Furious) There wasn’t supposed to be the open-ended closing like there was. When I first read the screenplay, I was like, ‘Man, look what they’re doing.’ But without question, with the way things opened up, Vin and I will be coming back, we’re making a fifth one, and we’re going to Brazil, that’s it.”

With the studio’s bulging economy-defying checking account lets see those streets lined with Brazilian supermodels. There’s an extra $5 million at the box office alone.

By Jack Rico

2009/03/27 at 12:00am

Interviews

John Cena quits WWE for Hollywood?!

03.27.2009 | By Jack Rico |

Wrestler turned film actor, John Cena, took time out of his busy schedule to talk to us, ShowBizCafe.com, about his second movie, 12 Rounds.

The film, a mix between the movies ‘Speed‘ and ‘Die Hard‘, is “action personified” from beginning to end. He seemed to be aware of this opinion and agreed with us that it, perhaps, is the best Hollywood film where a WWE wrestler has starred in.

In a very revealing moment, he promised that, unlike Hulk Hogan and Dwayne ‘The Rock’ Johnson, he will never leave the WWE to pursue a full-time career as an actor. So he says… I guess only time will tell.

Expect to see Cena out of wrestling (due to an unforeseen injury, wink, wink) this June thru September shooting a new action flick. Check out the interview in it’s entirety right now!

Official posters of ‘Broken Embraces’ revealed

By Jack Rico

2009/03/04 at 12:00am

Movies

Official posters of ‘Broken Embraces’ revealed

03.4.2009 | By Jack Rico |

November 6 is the release of Pedro Almodovar’s ‘Broken Embraces’ in the US and film products from the movie are beginning to be unveiled by Pedro himself. We just obtained these new official posters of the film which are designed in a ‘Warholesque’ way.

The film reteams Almodovar with Penelope Cruz and the plot itself gives you a little more insight into the design:

Broken Embraces is a four-way tale of amour-fou, shot in the style of ’50s American film noir at its most hard-boiled, and will mix references to works like Nicholas Ray’s “In a Lonely Place” and Vincente Minnelli’s “The Bad and the Beautiful,” with signature Almodóvar themes such as Fate, the mystery of creation, guilt, unscrupulous power, the eternal search of fathers for sons, and sons for fathers.

The international teaser trailer is already available right here on our site, but I am sure it won’t be too long before we start to hear more and more as it debuts in Spain on March 18 and has a slow international roll until its end-of-year domestic release.

Here are the posters – enjoy!

‘Broken Embraces’: First stills from the film

By Mack Chico

2009/03/03 at 12:00am

Movies

‘Broken Embraces’: First stills from the film

03.3.2009 | By Mack Chico |

New photos from Pedro Almodóvar‘s “Broken Embraces” starring Penélope Cruz have popped up online and they give us some further clues and insights to the semi-secretive noir.

What we do learn from these photos is that ‘Embraces’ reunites much of the fantastic cast of “Volver” including Lola Dueñas, Blanca Portillo and Chus Lampreave.

Once again the synopsis: Broken Embraces is a four-way tale of amour-fou, shot in the style of ’50s American film noir at its most hard-boiled, and will mix references to works like Nicholas Ray’s In a Lonely Place and Vincente Minnelli’s The Bad and the Beautiful, with signature Almodovar themes such as fate, the mystery of creation, guilt, unscrupulous power, the eternal search of fathers for sons, and sons for fathers.”

Cruz said the role was one of her most difficult and challenging to date and it appears she had to go to some tough emotional places, but in Almodovar — her loving and tough longtime collaborator — she trusts. “I don’t want to work with someone who tells me it’s perfect all the time,” she said. “If there’s a take he likes, he’s going to tell me and if there’s a take he doesn’t like he’s going to tell me about that too. And in the end that instills confidence. I prefer that way of working.”

“It’s been difficult for her psychologically,” Almodovar has said. “But fortunately for her there’s been no lasting effects.”

Here’s the pics, enjoy!

Woody Allen’s "Whatever Works" to open up Tribeca Film Festival

By Mack Chico

2009/03/02 at 12:00am

Movies

Woody Allen’s "Whatever Works" to open up Tribeca Film Festival

03.2.2009 | By Mack Chico |

The Tribeca Film Festival and Sony Pictures Classics today announced that Woody Allen’s Whatever Works will have its world premiere as the opening night film of the 2009 Tribeca Film Festival, presented by American Express. The highly anticipated new comedy is Allen’s first film shot in New York since 2004. Whatever Works, which is written and directed by Allen, stars Larry David (“Curb Your Enthusiasm”), Evan Rachel Wood (The Wrestler), Patricia Clarkson (Vicky Cristina Barcelona), and Ed Begley Jr. (Pineapple Express.) The premiere will take place on Wednesday, April 22; the Festival will run through May 3.

“I fell in love with New York through Woody Allen’s movies and I am excited we are opening this year’s Festival with Sony Pictures Classics for the world premiere of Woody’s Whatever Works,” said Tribeca Film Festival co-founder Jane Rosenthal. “Whatever Works is a uniquely funny addition to his body of work.”

Whatever Works follows the success of Allen’s latest release, Vicky Cristina Barcelona, which took home the Golden Globe Award for Best Musical or Comedy and garnered Penelope Cruz the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress. Allen’s last film in collaboration with Sony Pictures Classics, 1999’s Sweet and Lowdown, earned two Academy Award nominations for Best Actor (Sean Penn) and Best Supporting Actress (Samantha Morton).

“A lovely idea of showing my film in a film festival in my own city. It’s very exciting,” said Woody Allen.

Sony Pictures Classics states, “The opening of the Tribeca Film Festival is the perfect opportunity to celebrate Woody Allen’s return to filmmaking in New York.”

The 2009 Tribeca Film Festival will announce its feature film slate on March 9 and 11, 2009.