Pop Culture Buzz

**** STARS

Sam Raimi, creator of the classic “Evil Dead” trilogy and Director of the “Spiderman” films, has made the best horror film of the past 20 years with “Drag Me To Hell”. This white knuckle modern horror classic is already my pick for the best movie of 2009. From beginning to end it is unrelenting and completely terrifying while still containing Raimi’s campy humor. This movie has the perfect blend of jump out of your skin scares and uncomfortable gore with the grossest sound effects I have ever heard in a film just thrown in for good measure.

The film follows a loan officer (Alison Lohman) who is ordered to evict an old woman from her home and finds herself the recipient of a supernatural curse that turns her life into a living hell. Desperate, she turns to a seer to try and save her soul, while evil forces work to push her to a breaking point. I love that Raimi isn’t afraid to give his female lead, Alison Lohman, a Bruce Campbell-style beating. For example, in one scene Alison Lohman starts bleeding from her mouth, and when she goes to cover it, blood shoots from her nose all over the place.

This isn’t your average horror film; this is a Sam Raimi horror experience that will have you screaming in disbelief. “Drag Me To Hell” has all the right elements that make up a classic horror movie tale; a gypsy curse, a sassy Medium to add comic relief, the gross out gore, perfectly timed scares and terrifying demons. Raimi has created a frightening tale that may have not been able to be pulled off if it weren’t for his trademark style and swooping camera angels.

The pacing of “Drag Me To Hell” grabs you by the jugular within the first 5 minutes and it doesn’t give you much time to breathe leading up to its twisted ending. It’s refreshing to see one of Hollywood’s most inventive directors fully reinvigorated. Raimi has lived up to the hype surrounding his return to the horror genre. While going gloriously over the top, Raimi makes us laugh as much as he scares the pants off us. “Drag Me To Hell” is well on its way to becoming an immediate classic and could very well be the sleeper hit of this summer. All I have to say is, “you are forgiven for “Spiderman 3” Mr. Raimi”.

** STARS

The “Terminator” franchise has always been one of the most lucrative and entertaining series of science fiction films to ever be created, and one of my personal favorites. I don’t care what critics say, “T3: Rise of the Machines” was a fun action packed romp with stellar effects and chase scenes, it was a blast to see Schwarzenegger once again playing the role that made him huge. The anticipation level for “Terminator: Salvation” was high and it was my own fault for thinking that McG, the director of the “Charlie’s Angels” films and “We Are Marshall”, could pull off a richly developed installment in the “Terminator” film series. Even the always terrific Cristian Bale comes off as a caricature of his brooding “Batman” persona with his laughably raspy voice.

McG’s choppy editing and bleak direction gave this film a stale and rehashed feeling making this the first unoriginal installment in the franchise. No matter how many explosions or blood thirsty robots you put on the screen, there still needs to be a rich storyline to keep people interested and coming back for more. McG has no clear vision or style; even his actors go through each scene like mechanical drones with no real appeal to them. All of the fun, irony and wit from the original “Terminator” films has completely disappeared.

“Terminator: Salvation” is far from awful, but it is close to joyless and down right silly. The movie’s only pleasure is a too-brief fight scene between Connor and a naked combatant made up to look precisely like Arnold Schwarzenegger. This film relies too heavily on previous knowledge of the Terminator world, and constant explanations and references eventually become obvious and repetitive. At this point let’s just say the machines have won and put this tired franchise to bed. Everything that could be said has been said, and much better I might add!

“Monsters vs. Aliens” is the new computer-animated 3-D feature film scheduled for a March 27, 2009 release from DreamWorks Animation. The release date was moved up to prevent competition with James Cameron’s upcoming “Avatar”. This will be the first computer animated movie which will be produced in real 3-D instead of converting the film into 3-D after it is finished, which added $15 million extra to the film’s budget.

When a meteorite from outer space hits a young California girl named Susan Murphy and turns her into a giant monster, she is taken to a secret government compound where she meets a ragtag group of monsters also rounded up over the years. As a last resort, under the guidance of General W.R. Monger, on a desperate order from The President, the motley crew of Monsters is called into action to combat the aliens and save the world from imminent destruction!

“Monsters vs. Aliens” is starring the voices of Reese Witherspoon, Paul Rudd, Hugh Laurie, Seth Rogen, Will Arnett, Rainn Wilson with Stephen Colbert and Kiefer Sutherland. I am a huge fan of animation and I love to collect toys from animated films and boy does this cartoon have some kick ass characters and voice work! By the looks of “Wall-E”, “Kung-Fu Panda”, “Bolt” and now this film, animation is going through a creative boom! I am as giddy as a little child with anticipation.

CHECK OUT THE TRAILER HERE::

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STORY FROM WIKIPEDIA.COM

“Christmas on Mars” is a forthcoming science fiction feature film from my favorite Oklahoma psychedelic alternative rock band The Flaming Lips. It has been in development since 2001. Filming was completed in October of 2005, and the film is scheduled to premiere on May 25th, 2008 at the Sasquatch! Music Festival.

According to the band’s website, Christmas on Mars is a film “written and directed by Flaming Lips frontman Wayne Coyne, and featuring all of the band and many of their associates as actors.”

The film tells the story of the experiences of Major Syrtis during the first Christmas on a newly-colonized Mars. Coyne has described the film as “Maybe “Eraserhead” or “Dead Man” crossed with some kind of fantasy and space aspects, like “The Wizard of Oz” and maybe “2001: A Space Odyssey”, except done without real actors or money, and set at Christmas-time. The story that unfolds is intended to hint at childlike magic within a tragic and realistic situation.”

I have been waiting for this bizarre little “film” for a few years. I am one of the biggest Flaming Lips fans around. 2 years ago I was picked out of the audience at one of their shows in S.F. on New Years Eve to dance on stage. I have been an rabid fan ever since!

It is not intended for ‘Christmas on Mars’ to be released at conventional movie theaters. Instead, a DVD release will be preceded by a number of screenings at rock venues. In true Flaming Lips style, the plan is to use more than the standard movie screening equipment and turn each screening into ‘a big visceral event’.

Lead singer of The Lips Wayne Coyne mentioned that the band plans to take the film on a tour of some sort. “I want the Flaming Lips audience to shape this. It’ll be like our live show, which evolves as it goes. We’ll show it to the audience and let them talk out there on message boards, and then maybe we’ll take that and go back and change it and put it out there again and see what they think. It’ll be a different experience than sitting at home and watching a DVD, for sure. I don’t know if a lot of bands can do that, but the Flaming Lips sure can.”

WATCH THE “CRHISTMAS ON MARS” MOVIE TRAILER BELOW:

(RECENT PHOTO OF MADONNA)

Madonna’s fan site “Drowned Madonna” reports that Madge plans to call her next album “Give It to Me” after one of its thirteen tracks. Rolling Stone magazine says that Madonna previewed the new tunes in a conference room decorated like a candy shop in honor of the song Madonna recorded with Pharrell.

KANYE & PHARRELL BOTH APPEAR ON MADONNA’S NEW C.D.

Madonna previewed ten tracks and said she had completed recording just a few days prior. The album includes Kanye West on “The Beat Goes On�? and a reinvention of an unreleased older song, “The Devil Wouldn’t Recognize You.�? According to Madonna, the album is scheduled to come out the last week of April 2008.

I am not quite sure why I am excited for the Spice Girls reunion. I couldn’t get tickets to their sold out world tour here in the bay area. This song is a bit of a disappointment, I wish the girls would have released a more up tempo or fster dance track as their first single. The Spice Girls have never been known for their ballads (although “2 Become 1″ is a great song) so we will see if this song makes any impact at all. Check out the music video below:

TOTAL THIS WEEKEND / TOTAL SO FAR

1.) Ratatouille $47,027,395 / $47,027,395

2.) Live Free or Die Hard $33,369,559 / $48,398,130

3.) Evan Almighty $15,143,945 / $60,679,545

4.) 1408 $10,662,804 / $40,442,058

5.) Fantastic 4: Rise of the Silver Surfer $9,143,876 / $114,944,684

6.) Knocked Up $7,302,325 / $122,291,755

7.) Ocean’s Thirteen $6,085,959 / $102,120,537

8.) Pirates of the Caribbean 3 $4,960,368 / $295,703,075

9.) Sicko $4,501,712 / $4,616,786

10.) Evening $3,501,971 / $3,501,971

He may look old, but he is still our Indy, and he looks great. I am pretty excited to see the next installment of “Indiana Jones” just as much as every other movie geek. We’ll have to wait until summer of 2008 to get our fix!

1.) Evan Almighty $32,112,000 / $32,112,000

2.) 1408 $20,175,000 / $20,175,000

3.) F4: Rise of the Silver Surfer $20,150,000 / $97,604,000

4.) Ocean’s Thirteen $11,350,000 / $91,018,000

5.) Knocked Up $10,636,000 / $108,982,000

6.) PofC: At World’s End $7,215,000 / $287,015,000

7.) Surf’s Up $6,700,000 / $47,313,000

8.) Shrek the Third $5,754,000 / $307,908,000

9.) Nancy Drew $4,500,000 / $16,188,000

10.) A Mighty Heart $4,006,000 / $4,006,000

TOTAL THIS WEEKEND / TOTAL SO FAR

1.) Ocean’s Thirteen $37,080,000 / $37,080,000

2.) Pirates of the Caribbean 3 $21,316,000 / $253,614,000

3.) Knocked Up $20,017,000 / $66,241,000

4.) Surf’s Up $18,000,000 / $18,000,000

5.) Shrek the Third $15,750,000 / $281,892,000

6.) Hostel Part II $8,750,000 / $8,750,000

7.) Mr. Brooks $5,000,000 / $18,682,000

8.) Spider-Man 3 $4,400,000 / $325,680,000

9.) Waitress $1,650,000 / $12,016,000

10.) Disturbia $550,000 / $77,795,000

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