It’s safe to say Tim Burton is comfortable where he’s at in his career. If we would have heard 20 years ago - even 10 - he was redoing “Dark Shadows”, the 1960's soap opera about vampires, ghosts, and all things supernatural, we never would have imagined something more sinister than Johnny Depp overacting in white makeup or Burton spitting every color in the rainbow at a macabre world. Like Poe written in Crayola, Dark Shadows takes the cheesy, chintzy nature of the series and revamps it for broad comedy. Though it's entertaining through and through, the comedy doesn't quite work when it's supposed to, and Burton's dreams of recreating the show for mass audiences are sadly washed away in a river of colorful Skittle puke. ›››

Continue reading: Review: Tim Burton's 'Dark Shadows' is More Fun Than It is Funny

At midnight on May 4th, The Avengers assembled on the big screen for the very first time (read Jeremy's review here) and audiences have turned up to the tune of over $200 million this weekend alone. But for the entire day preceding, some dedicated and loyal fans of the iconic superheroes had enough free time (or skipped out on work) to spend an entire day in the theaters as part of the epic Marvel Marathon hosted by AMC Theatres. The event ran through Iron Man, The Incredible Hulk, Iron Man 2, Thor and Captain America: The First Avenger, in that order, leading to The Avengers, and damn was it great. ›››

Continue reading: Ethan Survives 15 Hours, 6 Films and an Assembly of 'The Avengers'

Chris Evans as Captain America. Robert Downey Jr. as Iron Man. Chris Hemsworth as Thor. Mark Ruffalo as the Hulk. Scarlett Johansson as Black Widow. And they're all under one roof. Since 2008, The Avengers has been on the minds of moviegoers everywhere. Thanks to deft screenwriting and a grandeur Joss Whedon brings to its execution, that film is here, and it delivers. It may not be the most accomplished of comic book movies or even the best Marvel Studios has to offer from recent years, but The Avengers blazes a trail like few others, satiating the appetites of superhero junkies the world over. ›››

Continue reading: Review: Marvel Finally Assembles 'The Avengers' to Awesome Results

Sadly, they went with that terrible title. A movie with the flimsiest of plots that takes the most basic of turns needs something extra to keep eyeballs firmly on the big screen. It's a good thing Jason Statham doesn't need much story to deliver convincing punches and deadly knees to the face. It's all him at work in Safe, the latest film written and directed by Boaz Yakin. The filmmaker relies on one element to keep his film this engrossing, hard-hitting action and Statham at the center of all of it. The action works in Safe, little else does, and, when the credits roll, that's all that matters. It's hard to remember plot holes when you've just had your ass kicked, especially by Jason Statham. Safe doesn't necessarily do that, but it comes damn close. ›››

Continue reading: Review: Statham & Yakin in 'Safe' Deliver Worthwhile, B-Level Action

The stage is set, the curtain lifts, and director Darren Bousman and writer Terrance Zdunich have graced us with another twisted yarn of dark ideals in fantastic worlds set to some seriously catchy songs. The Devil's Carnival isn't set in a sci-fi world like Repo! The Genetic Opera, the duo's first trek into ambitious, musical fables, rather the underworld, the depths where sinners lie. Call it Hell. Their conceit is hefty, their execution is moodily carried off, and The Devil's Carnival becomes a tale even more giddy in tone yet grim with its underpinning than Repo! With an added pre-shows as part of the road show events ›››

Continue reading: Review: Bousman/Zdunich's 'The Devil's Carnival' One Hell of a Night

"Hi, my name is Jim, and I humped a pie once." "Hi, my name is Stifler, and I ingest disgusting things." "Hi, my name is Finch, and I had sex with Stifler's mom." The characters in American Reunion may as well write confessions on their name tags the jokes are so tired. It's all familiar, the same grotesque peaks and raunchy valley we've seen at least three times before, and, more than ever, these jokes define the characters. There's little else to offer. It's beyond what one finds funny. Comedy is the most subjective of art forms, but when something is as paint-by-numbers as American Reunion, even surface level entertainment ›››

Continue reading: Review: 'American Reunion' Proves the 'Pie' Series Never Changes

Wrath of the Titans wasn't beholden to any original it was remaking. Its predecessor, 2010's Clash of the Titans, was a remake of the "classic" 1981 sword-and-sandals epic that didn't use much from the original film aside from title, character names, and basic plot beats. Wrath, at a conceptual level, was free to use any classic tales from Greek mythology to connect its own moments of blockbuster action. There was room to come up with something interesting with engaging moments of drama to grab its audience. However, it doesn't do that, and while Clash was a mess of CG, monster violence, Wrath of the Titans is a huge bore. ›››

Continue reading: Review: 'Wrath of the Titans' is Just the Same Old Blockbuster Joke

The "it could have been better" argument works for and against the film begin discussed. On one hand, the film, the case here being The Hunger Games, works to a certain point, but, on the other hand, you can't help but wonder what more could have been pulled from the material. We're not asking for a three-hour adaptation of Suzanne Collins' first of three novels. However, the two-and-a-half-hour version we do get doesn't use the time it has to the best of its potential. Once the titular Game kicks in, the possibilities of its first act slip into routine, survival action. It's never boring or tedious, but something important is missing. ›››

Continue reading: Review: 'The Hunger Games' is Fine Sci-Fi That Could've Been Better

Don Coscarelli has a way of creating heroes, building protagonists in his films, whether he writes them or not, to a point where there's no choice but to do battle with forces of evil. Hell, he's the guy who pit Elvis and a black-dyed JFK against an evil, Mummified spirit. John Dies at the End, Coscarelli's latest, is based on the novel by David Wong, but the material is ripe for Coscarelli tone. Colorful in its elaborate, often horrific characters and not always comprehensive in story, the film is a fine joining of Wong's material and Coscarelli's film grammar. For better or for worse, John Dies could be the quintessential Coscarelli film. ›››

Continue reading: SXSW 2012: 'John Dies at the End', Don Coscarelli's Fun Mind-Trip

In 1996, Bernie Tiede, a funeral director in Carthage, Texas, shot and killed 81-year-old Marjorie Nugent. He confessed, and a first degree murder trial began, one many locals in Carthage believed was too harsh. You see, people liked Bernie, a pleasant man who contributed so much to that community and who would seemingly never harm a fly. They didn't feel he was the calculating murderer the prosecution made him out to be but a man who was pushed to tragic extremes by Nugent, essentially a woman no one liked and for good reason. Now, Texan-native filmmaker Richard Linklater has turned his story into a film, Bernie. ›››

Continue reading: SXSW 2012: Linklater's 'Bernie' is a Texas Story About Texas People

Classic monster stories have creatures tormenting children. Children are often the protagonist unless there's an adult around to really take charge of a situation. Monsters haunting children is comfortable to a story. It's easy. At least, it feels easy with Intruders, the new film from Juan Carlos Fresnadillo. But Fresnadillo, who knows intensity and haunting atmospheres, has the whole thing on auto-pilot. Intruders is a film that desperately yearns to find its rhythm, which it never does, all the while we're revving up for the inevitable information dump. Info dumps are easier than monsters scaring children, now that I think about it. ›››

Continue reading: SXSW 2012: Real Potential is Lost Entirely in Clive Owen's 'Intruders'

While found footage is on the upswing and may be taking over the planet soon, anthology horror is a thing of the past. A genre that's never really found its footing for upper level cultural dominance, anthology horror films find themselves in 2012 on DVD shelves, film festivals, and the occasional, short-lived TV series. Creepshow was 30 years ago. Thankfully, we do have those film fests that showcase quality films, anthology or found footage, when they come into play, and V/H/S is both. It's an anthology of found footage films, all tied with a wrap-around story and dished out for your horror hunger pangs. It's scary. It's funny. ›››

Continue reading: SXSW 2012: 'V/H/S' Marries Found Footage & Anthology to Horrific Success

What would it be like to be the last of a species in the world, especially a world that scours the planet for rarities? It would be a threatened life, always on the move, even more so a rare creature living in the wild. That's just one of the questions raised in Daniel Nettheim's The Hunter, a haunting yet balanced film with the vibe of The Edge and precision of The American. With a stunning performance by one of today's best actors, it transcends its slow burn, a touch slower than necessary, to become a top-notch thriller, one that thankfully has something important to say. It's anything but flawless, but, then again, the rarities ›››

Continue reading: SXSW 2012: Solid, Slow Burn Thriller 'The Hunter' Speaks Volumes

Sinister had just ended. A sense of unnerving rushed over the SXSW audience, at the film's surprise secret premiere. At first, I didn't think I like the film I had just seen, the R-rated, haunted house horror starring Ethan Hawke and co-written by C. Robert Cargill (aka AICN's Massawyrm). I didn't think I liked it. In hindsight, I realize it just upset me. Sinister is the kind of horror that hurts, a found footage film where you see the character who actually finds the footage. But this footage isn't film students running through the woods or even a 9-foot tall demon bending people over backwards. This is snuff Hawke's writer character is ›››

Continue reading: SXSW 2012: Scott Derrickson's 'Sinister' is a Welcomed Discomfort

You know Channing Tatum is damn funny, right? There hasn't been much opportunity for him to flex his comedic muscles with things like G.I. Joe and The Vow getting in the way, but all that changes in 21 Jump Street. Tatum is funny. His co-lead Jonah Hill is funny, but we knew that. In fact, listing the aspects of 21 Jump Street that will make you laugh is a fruitless act. Everything about this film is funny and not only funny. It's delirious how viciously funny 21 Jump Street is, a modern update of the '80s TV show about undercover cops going back to high school to bust drug rings. You could call the comedy in this intense. ›››

Continue reading: SXSW 2012: Intense Comedy Makes '21 Jump Street' a Riotous Update

Nir Paniry's Extracted, playing at SXSW, is a classic case on how indie science fiction works. Focusing more on narrative and character than blockbuster explosions or motion captured creatures, Paniry wraps his story tightly around its central premise and leaves little fat around the meat. Extracted moves with a purpose, setting up the characters and conflict quickly so that there's plenty of room for the second and third acts to breath. The non-linear structure combined with the vast amount of time within which the story takes place create a scope that no amount of computer generated, alien landscapes could achieve. ›››

Continue reading: SXSW 2012: Low Budget Sci-Fi Shines Again in Nir Paniry's 'Extracted'

Thank God for Bobcat Goldthwait. While many other directors are culling together banal statements — sometimes not even a statement — and hack representations on how they think the world should go, Goldthwait is saying something. What he says isn't always said subtly. More often than not, it's said in the most unflinching, some call it abrasive, ways imaginable. When Goldthwait isn't subtle, his art suffers for it. Case in point, God Bless America, a film ten times more interesting than the cliched image pushing we so often get with today's filmmakers. Even when Goldthwait speaks off key, his voice is a welcomed departure ›››

Continue reading: SXSW 2012: Bobcat Goldthwait's 'God Bless America' is No 'Network'

What can you say about a film that begins by revealing its climax, one of the most fulfilling of its kind, from scene one? Little can be said about Cabin in the Woods, especially if one is so inclined to worry about things like spoilers. You shouldn't know much about this film. Know that five friends trek to an abandoned cabin for some rest and relaxation—I'm sure that's all—and things don't go as planned. Things get quite horrific, in fact, and, as with the best horror, nothing ever goes as expected. Beyond that, there are only so many ways one can say it's the most intelligent, enjoyable and satisfying horror to come along in years. Maybe ever. ›››

Continue reading: SXSW 2012: 'Cabin in the Woods' is Close Enough to Perfect For Me

Yes, 95 years is a long time for fans of a novel to wait for a film adaptation. Anyone waiting that long for one film probably won't be satisfied by the results, either, the build has been so big. Chances are, anyone who grew up reading Edgar Rice Burroughs' John Carter series of novels isn't even around to see the new film from Andrew Stanton. They'd be missing out, too. John Carter, based on the first of Burroughs' Barsoom series, A Princess of Mars, is a swashbuckling adventure that relies heavily on character, story, and visual effects alike, and they all mesh wonderfully. It's been a long wait, but for all the fans, it will be well worth it. ›››

Continue reading: Review: John Carter Deserves All the Legendary Status It Can Get

Three people trapped in an ATM building. A hooded killer stands outside, toying with them. He doesn't try to break in. He doesn't let them leave, either. What would you do? That's the question screenwriter Chris Sparling and director David Brooks ask the audience with the high-concept thriller, ATM. It could have worked. If the characters here reacted in any real way, they might have pulled it off. They don't, and it becomes exceedingly obvious that ATM is a 15-minute idea trapped in a 90-minute movie. With unsatisfying and unnatural padding, flashes of style, it's tone and energy is too often replaced with shambling and idiocy. ›››

Continue reading: Review: 'ATM' is a 15-Minute Idea Trapped Inside a 90-Minute Movie