CHICAGO – Some films never get a fair shot with audiences. They open in a handful of art house theaters scattered throughout the country before inconspicuously landing on DVD. Passionate movie lovers are left with the task of championing these unjustly obscure titles and helping them to acquire the audience they deserve. Before I reveal my picks for the top five films of 2010 that you probably didn’t see, here are the 10 runners-up. Read More

Stanley Kubrick’s Dr. Strangelove, which has won wide and continued acceptance from the time of its release, has come to be considered one of the screen’s great masterpieces of black comedy. Yet Kubrick had originally planned the film as a serious adaptation of Peter George’s Red Alert, a novel concerned with the demented General Jack D. Ripper (Sterling Hayden) and his decision to order a group of B-52 bombers to launch an attack inside Russia. Gradually Kubrick’s attitude toward his material changed: “My idea of doing it as a nightmare comedy came in the early weeks of working on the screenplay. I found that in trying to put meat on the bones and to imagine the scenes fully, one had to keep leaving out of it things which were either absurd or paradoxical, in order to keep it from being funny; and these things seemed to be close to the heart of the scenes in question.” Read More

Much of this past year was spent talking about the visual aspect of movies, what with the whole 3-D revolution (or plague, depending on your perspective) and the increased sophistication of CGI effects. But let’s not forget the other half of the audio/visual equation. Read More

If your memories of your high school years consist mostly of teen angst, awkward romances, and acne breakouts the night of the big dance, take heart—you’re not alone. Unless you were a football jock or prom queen, high school was basically four years of dealing with boring math teachers and controlling parents. Would things had been different if you went to the same high school as Harry Potter or Jeff Spicoli? Let’s take a look at the lazy and crazy TV and movie high schools that we would apply for in a heartbeat if they were actually real. Read More

There is a huge mass appeal to period dramas. But what is it that makes them so interesting for people who really know nothing of that world other than vague stories and, of course, the period dramas themselves? Read More

Bill Cosby

Many of you probably only remember Bill Cosby from The Bill Cosby Show, as host of Kids Say the Darndest Things or simply as a Jello salesman. But that’d be like judging Def Leppard entirely on their career after losing a guitar player and a drummer’s arm – it misses all the best stuff. Read More

Crank 2: High Voltage is the upcoming sequel to the action film, Crank. It picks up exactly where the first film left off, retaining its “real-time” feel. The film is rated R for “Frenetic strong bloody violence throughout, crude and graphic sexual content, nudity, and pervasive language”. Crank 2 is written and directed by Mark Neveldine and Brian Taylor, who both wrote and directed the previous film, Crank.

Set three months after his destructive run through Los Angeles, Hitman Chev Chelios (Statham) launches himself on a literally electrifying chase through Los Angeles in pursuit of the Chinese mobster who has stolen his nearly indestructible heart and replaced it with a battery-powered heart that requires regular jolts of electricity to keep working

Crank 2: High Voltage origina posters

New Crank 2: High Voltage movie poster

After years of slasher/horror flicks gracing the big screen (most of which were sequels), these 10 serial killers stand out above the rest.

10. Chucky. Okay, the Child’s Play franchise has gone from all-out horror to comedy-horror over the course of five films, but any way you look at it, the Lakeshore Strangler is one mean SOB. Let’s also not forget Tiffany, Chucky’s wife, in Bride of Chucky and Seed of Chucky. Be prepared for Charles Lee Ray to return in a remake of the 1988 original.

9. Ghostface. With a mask inspired by Edvard Munch’s painting The Scream, Ghostface is actually five people over the course of three films. Scream, brought to us by Wes Craven, revitalized slasher flicks in the mid-90s. After two successful sequels, and the Scary Movie spoofs, Ghostface deserves to be on this list.

8. Michael Myers. John Carpenter brings us Mr. Myers, who killed his sister when he was a kid, went to a mental institution, escaped 15 years later and now kills people on Halloween. Originally in theaters in 1978, Halloween spawned seven sequels, not including a remake of the original by Rob Zombie. Another one is slated to be released by Zombie.

7. Jigsaw Killer. Unlike others, Jigsaw does not intend to murder. He wants to see if the victim has the will to survive, thus inflicting enough psychological trauma for them to appreciate their life and save themselves from their own demons. If anything, he’s doing them a favor. Saw VI will be out on the fall, but only the first one is must-see.

6. Freddy Kruger. Robert Englund plays the dream killer in the Nightmare on Elm Street series, also brought to us by Wes Craven. Kruger’s motives are to kill teenagers as revenge on their parents, who had burned him alive years before. Expect more Nightmares to come, but this time reportedly without Englund.

5. Jason Voorhees. Slashing up teens at Camp Crystal Lake through 12 Friday the 13th flicks (most recently a remake of the original), Jason did wonders for the old school hockey goalie mask. Met another legend, Freddy Kruger, in 2003’s Freddy vs. Jason (That was the most fun I ever had at the movies, as audience members were loudly cheering for their favorite of the two.) Unlike Kruger, Jason has a sad backstory, having been deformed and humiliated as a child. Eight of the Friday films came out in the 80s, 1 in the 90s, and 3 in the 00s.

4. Leatherface. Loosely based on real life killer Ed Gein, Leatherface is severely mentally retarded and disturbed, often using a chainsaw and sledgehammer to slaughter his victims. His family of fellow cannibals abuse him and tell him what to do. The Texas Chainsaw Massacre came out in 1974, the first in line of more slasher flicks to come. Six films have been made over the years, including a remake of the original in 2003.

3. John Doe. After killing five people who are, in fact, sinners, John Doe, played by Kevin Spacey, delivers a this-all-makes-sense monologue to Brad Pitt, justifying the murders and making the Seven audience nod along in agreement. But then he turns out to be a sinner himself, “envy,” to be exact, and completes his masterpiece with his own death by the hand of “wrath.” This is the only killer on this list in a stand-alone film.

2. Norman Bates. Alfred Hitchcock’s 1960 film Psycho, most notably the shower scene, set the tone for just about every serial killer made after that. The cross-dressing, momma-loving motel peeper was based on real life killer Ed Gein (Gein was only convicted of killing two, but his grave robbery and hobby of making trophies out of bones and skin made him arguably the top killer that influenced other very famous fictional serial killers.) Five movies have been released in this series, including an unnecessary remake of the original in 1998.

1. Hannibal Lector. Lector, played by Anthony Hopkins in three films (Silence of the Lambs, Hannibal and Red Dragon), was voted by The American Film Institute as the most memorable villain in film history. Why? Because the audience rooted for him, unlike his former patient, transvestite wanna-be woman killer Jame Gumb (also inspired by Gein). Lector was popular even before his tragic backstory was told in 2007’s Hannibal Rising.

Yes, there are some I purposely left off, such as the guy in American Psycho, the Driftwoods in House of 1,000 Corpses, the Leprechaun, and many, many others. Argue amongst yourselves.

VIA

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In the recent months of 2010 there have been many articles written on the Internet regarding the future of tridimensional movies at the US box office as well as their potential. Most of these analysis made on the current 3D movies have been one-sided, instead of being 100% objective, judging the pros and cons. This year we saw many 3D movies that failed to earn big money at the box office, but at the same time there were others that were a hit in terms of ticket sales. This situation applies to the non-3D movies released in 2010.

Judging the quality of a 3D movie should be done very carefully and from an objective point of view, taking into consideration not only the quality of the format, but also competition, time of release and screen count. After the release of movies like Clash of the Titans or The Last Airbender across the theaters that support 3D, most of the viewers realized the fact that this new generation of 3D movies isn’t the same, meaning that some are different than the other. These two examples as well as other 3D films gave the new video format a bad name, convincing viewers that in order to make them pay more money in comparison to a 2D movie, the film must have something special that the old format cannot feature.

This summer has seen the first batch of rushed 3D conversions that made it to the big screen and as with the vast majority of their visuals, the logic and common sense of using the 3D technology is getting murkier with every new movie released in this format. For every film that is capable of fully integrating the 3D aspect to a breathtaking level like How To Train Your Dragon, there is a counter example – like Clash Of The Titans, which many movie buffs will say that it is more pleasurable if seen without the 3D glasses.

In the present there are many film directors that are considering implementing this technology in their future movies for increased creativity (like Steven Spielberg for Tin Tin, or George Lucas for the Star Wars franchise), there are at the same time a couple of movies that will most likely be better watched without the glasses, as there is no need to pay extra for your cinema ticket. In the following months, there will be many 3D movies launched all over the world, like: Shrek Forever After, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 1, Yogi Bear, Tron: Legacy and others like Cats & Dogs 3: The Revenge of Kitty Galore, these of course are most likely to be big hits at the box office, we will have to wait and see what other 3D movies will be launched, hopefully of good quality.

Without any doubt these are the first days of the 3D technology and although it has some great potential, in the near future it will be most likely ruined by the people that are looking only on ways to earn money by rolling out 3D movies that are not only badly written, but giving the viewer of feeling that it was done in a rush, with the simple purpose of making him pay for the ticket. The most successful 3D movie at the moment is of course Avatar, earning $2.73 billion. In the future we hope that all movies will be just as exquisite like this one, with great acting, script and incredible 3D image quality.

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2010 was a big year for cinema, with the biggest surprise coming from the success of 3D’s return to the big screen. The visual effect, which was largely dropped around the early-90s for not being particularly affective, has made a silver-screen return thanks to far better technology being readily available today, namely 3D movies cameras. So with Avatar and Inception taking the box offices by storm in 2010, what are the most anticipated movies releases of 2011 set to be? In no particular order, here are some of the most eagerly awaited.

Making a comeback from the 80s, Transformers continue its franchise with the third instalment set for release in summer 2011. Transformers 3: Dark of The Moon sees Shia LaBeouf return under Michael Bay’s direction to lead the Transformers into another futuristic battle. Staying within the realms of fantasy, 2011 is set to be a big year for super heroes too. The big announcement of 2010 was that Marvel are to continue their chain of super hero hit movies with the production of Captain America : The First Avenger. After failing to make it into the US army, soldier Rogers, played by Chris Evans, signs up for a top secret government experiment which inadvertently turns him from a nobody into Captain America. From one super hero to another, 2011 also sees the release of the much-anticipated The Green Hornet. By day Britt Reid is a moneyed newspaper publisher but, by night, he turns into crime-fighting masked crusader The Green Hornet.

From fantasy to just plain fiction, Tom Cruise is set to reprise his role as Ethan Hunt. Though it’s been almost fifteen years since the first Mission: Impossible movie, the fourth film in the series, titled Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol, is apparently set to be a departure from the first three M:I movies.

One much-anticipated movie which needs virtually no introduction is the final instalment of the Harry Potter series. Perfect for high definition screens, Harry Potter and The Deathly Hallows: Part 2 will be the eighth and final film in the most successful movie franchise in history. Of course the plot will comes as no surprise to avid fans of the children’s books, but the real anticipation comes from JK Rowling’s promise to make the final movie the darkest one yet.

From ghouls to comedy, the two big releases of 2011 that are set to get funny bones twitching are Paul and The Hangover 2. After almost four years apart, the comedy duo of Nick Frost and Simon Pegg are set to return to the big screen with their self-penned road movie Paul. A tale of two British comic book geeks who travel across America, where Paul deviates from the norm is when the pair inadvertently pick up a hitch-hiking alien. 2009′s surprise breakthrough comedy was undoubtedly The Hangover, which made instant stars of both Bradley Cooper and Zach Galifianakis, and 2011 sees the team return again but this time on an ill-fated trip to Bangkok.

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