New Goodies So Far This Week!

A couple of awesome films receive the blu-ray treatment this week and I snatched em up as quick as I could! And for only $20 each they are a bargain!!

Also snapped up another Bond film from Big W for only $12.98!

From Russia With Love (1963)

Directed By Terence Young

Another fine Blu-ray release for Mr. Bond. This time we see Bond trying to get his hands on a Russian decoder, with the help of a Russian defector who is supposedly in love with him (having seen his photo of course). A great nights entertainment and another amazing restoration by Lowry digital!

American McGee's Alice Returns Next Year!

I am not a huge video game fan, I am very picky about the games I choose to play. I either want full autonomous control (Grand Theft Auto, or more recently Red Dead Redemption), or a story I can sink my teeth into (Heavy Rain, Fahrenheit). American McGee's Alice falls into the latter, taking the much-loved Lewis Carroll character and placing her in a decidedly darker Wonderland. It is one of the few games I have played multiple times and each time I enjoy it just as much as the first time I lay eyes on it! I even sought out one of the original releases with the big hefty box!

Speculation of a film version has been rife for many a year, with talks about it being CG, then live action, then nothing for years. Well, finally after nearly 10 years we are set to return to Wonderland, at least in the form of a sequel to the game, but this time on more than just the PC platform. Here is the teaser released a month or so ago:

I for one can't wait!!

Recent Viewings...

Here is the usual round up of last week's viewing...

Exit Through The Gift Shop (2009)
Directed By Banksy

Thierry Guetta is obssessed with filming, he films all aspects of his life, every minute he can. When he turns his attention to filming street art and the artists who create it, he sets in motion a series of events that will end up with him becoming one of the most famous street artists himself! Exit Through the Gift Shop is speculated to be a mokumentary, and if it is, it is a very good one and refreshingly entertaining. Even if you have no interest in street art, I am sure you will still find something to like about the film, which is a testament to how well it has been produced.

Pinocchio's Revenge (1996)
Directed By Kevin Tenney

This was my B Movie Challenge for the week. My only real issue with the film is the lack of focus on its main character. With Chucky (Child's Play), we know that the doll is possessed by a serial killer, here we have no indication as to why Pinocchio is in fact alive or why he is able to manipulate people. In fact, we have no idea why he is "evil" at all. As it stands, the film is very obviously a TV movie, with fairly lame acting and sloppy direction, which is a shame given the potential for this type of material.

Trilogy of Terror (1975)
Directed By Dan Curtis
Speaking of puppets, I also watched The Trilogy of Terror, a made for TV movie featuring 3 individual tales of terror, each starring Karen Black in the lead roles. The first and third tales are the best, with the second a little too obvious for its own good (and not really all that terrifying). They are written (in part) by Richard Matheson, who has been a fairly prolific writer for horror and sci fi television with episodes for The Twilight Zone, The Outer Limits and more recently The Masters of Horror.

Trilogy of Terror II (1996)
Directed By Dan Curtis

21 years after the original Trilogy of Terror, we are treated to a sequel, again the first and third are the strongest and again the lead actress, Lysette Anthony, appears in all three. The third story is a direct sequel to the third story of the first film featuring the Zuni Fetish Doll. It pays many a tribute with much of the same set of events occuring, only in a slightly different environment.

Dr. No (1962)
Directed By Terence Young

Having purchased this on Blu-ray for the princely sum of $12, I was staggered by how good this film looks on the Blu-ray format. It is presentations like this that will convert any die hard movie fan over. I watched Dr. No for the first time on VHS back in the day, to think that kids these days can watch a film from the 60's in a quality only dreamt of by the directors of that time is astounding. This and North by Northwest are possibly the two best film restorations I have ever seen, but I am looking forward to Frtiz Lang's Metropolis hitting the high def format later in the year! Of course the film is great and Sean Connery really is James Bond....I'll have none of this Daniel Craig BS.

Scott Pilgrim Vs. The World (2010)
Directed By Edgar Wright

I completely Lesbians this movie! Possibly the most fun I have had watching a movie in Cinemas since...well actually, since Kick Ass, but still, The best film so far this year!

The Expendables (2010)
Directed By Sylvester Stallone

And... the worst film of the year so far. What a waste of talent. (If you can call them that). A shoe string story with more potholes than the Brooker Highway, awful dialog, wooden acting and cameos that (lets be honest) are just for the sake of it! Whilst I appreciate that the film would not look at all out of place next to 80's rubbish action films like Commando, this could have been sooo much better!

Episode 47 - Killer Puppets

This weeks How B Grade Movies Saved or Ruined My Life episode discusses killer puppets and demonic toys!

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Kick Ass Blu-ray

This is the exclusive JB-HIFI Superheroes Collector's Edition that comes with:

Collector's Outter Box.
Individually numbered certificate with forward by Mark Millar (Kick Ass author).
Blu-ray with interchangeable packaging.
Kick Ass Graphic Novel, the complete collection.
Kick Ass T-shirt.
Storyboard Screenplay Excerpt


Also as a pre-order bonus I received this print of Hit Girl:

Mr. Nobody (1999) Redux

I totally forgot that I had ordered this disc months ago... sadly it does have forced French subtitles when the English dialog is selected, but the film is very impressive in the blu-ray format.

Another bonus, is the inclusion of an extended cut of the film, and whilst it does add quite a bit to some of the stories (including an entirely new plot point), I am not sure that it is for the better. The great thing about the film though, is the ease with which a repeat viewing can occur. I don't think that I would really ever get sick of watching the film, and there are so very few films that fit that category for me.

You can check out my original review of the film here

I have also posted the trailer for your viewing pleasure:

All things Red & Dead.....

So for the better part of the last month most of my spare time has been consumed with this:

As it has both on-line and single player games it is most addictive and as such I have watched very little in the way of movies or TV shows, which is not to say that I haven't still been buying titles. In fact, quite the opposite. I have purchased more blu-rays in the last month than I have most of the year!

These included the awesome Kick Ass Limited Edition (Pics in a future post), as well as the following titles from Big W for only $12 each!!

I also have a few discs on order from the UK:

Hopefully these will arrive today in time for viewing over the course of the weekend.... (if I can tear myself away from Red Dead that is!!)

I did manage, however, to watch a High Definition copy of Lost & Delirious that stumbled across my desk, one of my favourite films in the last decade, A film I have briefly touched on in this blog post here. Suffice to say, it was great to see this in High Definition given that the DVD is a pretty lousy transfer and the low budget of the film hardly helped! Let us hope that one day the film will get the treatment it deserves, but for now I am happy with just having the opportunity to have seen it in HD!

Episode 46 - It’s All Foreign To Me!

This weeks theme is foreign films (at least foreign to English speaking audiences.)

B Grade Movie Challenges: Matt - The Quiet Family (1998) Steven - Frontier(s) (2007)

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Trailer Alert - Sucker Punch (2011)

March 2011 is sooo far away :(

Episode 45 - Decades Of Film - 2000s

The latest episode is up, and this week marks the end of our Decades of Film specials!!

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Special 4 - Friday The 13th: The Big 3

This week we have an exclusive online podcast to celebrate Friday the 13th! For this special day we have recorded a show featuring 3 of the biggest horror franchises in the business!

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Weekly Round-Up

Well, another week has drawn to a close and some interesting viewing was had....firstly the goggle box..

Self Esteem is Bullshit, at least according to Penn & Teller. Sad to see this weeks episode on Vaccinations will be the final of another great series, one that gave us Teen Sex, Old People and Criminal Justice among others!

Still not sure what to make of The Gates, and that is 7 episodes in!! I am getting a bit sick of the whole Vampire theme in everything though!

I know, I know.... melodrama at its finest! Why am I still watching this?

I know Happy Town has been canned, but I have still been watching it and now only have the final episode left to watch. I hope it has some kind of resolution because I will be very annoyed if it doesn't! I felt this show had some potential, but I guess I must have been alone in this thought.

On the DVD & Blu-ray front I finally watched the Blu-ray of North By Northwest! All I can say is wow! A fantastic film with an amazing transfer! I have seen films made in the last 10 years look worse than this did!! Great job Warner! Really makes me want to re-watch more of Alfred Hitchcock's great films! And with that my Blu-ray copy of Psycho is on its way so I at least have that to look forward to!

I revisted one of my favourite quirky horror films in the form of Critters (1986), followed it up with Critters 2 (1988) and have rented Critters 3 (1991) & 4 (1992) for next week!! Love the little Critters! The first and second hold up surprisingly well!

I also watched Farmhouse (2008), not at all what I was expecting, it had some pretty obvious plot holes, but given that is was direct to DVD, it is much better than most movies of its kind and I will certainly not be using my cheese grater anytime soon!

And lastly... those of you who listen to How B Grade Movies Saved Or Ruined My Life will be pleased to see that Friday the 13th did not escape us... we did a show especially for it!!! You can take a listen here!

Trailer Alert - Let Me In

Coming to Australian cinemas this October, courtesy of Icon Entertainment, is the remake of the amazing 2008 Swedish film Let the Right One In.


I have many and varied feelings about American remakes of foreign (at least to them) films, not at all helped when I read interviews with director's of the remake and they make comments like this: "It's very much an Americanization of the tale that John Ajvide Lindqvist tells." - yep, that is Matt Reeves director of Let Me In letting us all know that the remake will be Americanized, whatever that means.

Of course he does go on to add, "The film touched me. And I read the book, which he also wrote, and it moved me too. It reminded me so much of my own childhood in certain ways. It's so much about that period of preadolescence, that feeling of being a child and of being bullied, the difficulties of growing up. It's such a beautiful coming-of-age story, in addition to being such a terrific genre story. One of the things I really wanted to do was find my own way into the story while still being very, very reverent to the beautiful film and to the wonderful story that they created. And so the story in many ways follows the same trajectory. I really wanted to put you, even more so, into the point of view of the boy and understand his childhood as vividly as it comes across in the book."

There was some hope, but I wish to point out that the screenplay of the original film was also written by John Lindqvist, which means that any omissions from the book to film adaptation are at the very least approved by its author.

A few weeks ago an international teaser trailer made the rounds on the interweb, this trailer basically made Matt Reeves film look like a shot for shot remake of the original! However, during Comic-con a red band trailer was previewed, and that has somewhat restored my faith in his efforts a little. I have placed it below for your viewing pleasure, but be warned that the content may disturb and is not suitable for younger audiences!

Episode 44 - Decades Of Film - 2000s

Well, we have finally made it to the 21st Century, this week we discuss the first 5 years of the 2000's, The challenges are; Matt - The Devil’s Backbone (2001) Steven - Nothing (2003).

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Episode 43 - Decades Of Film - 1990s Part 2

The final leg of the 90's sees the following challenges put forth:

Steven – Thrill Seekers (1999)

Matt – The Blair Witch Project (1999)

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