As though we all don’t already think this — the Internet is AWESOME. The Internet, whether Al Gore’s brainchild or a Big Bang-style happy accident, allows artists to share their work with the largest audience ever. As a member of that audience I say “thank you!” (I’m not sure where Al Gore stands on Intellegent Design but I’m pretty sure he’s never been opposite the Big Bang theory.) I say all of this because daily there are wonderful works of art, inspired by film, put on display (the Internet) and every instance I find/know of/or you share with me/us, I will share with you! Today the work of Brandon Schaefer, found at his website (under construction right now) which includes Fred Savage’s The Wizard, The Rocketeer and Jack Nicholson’s One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest

as well as Bill Murray’s Groundhog Day, Wes Anderson’s The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou and (yet another!) Stanley Kubrick’s The Shining! One of these days we’ll have a gallery of just The Shining inspired works of art!

and check out these brilliant Bluray covers for Steven Spielberg’s JAWS and the children’s classic The Secret Garden.

Horror comedy enthusiasts, behold!

First your patron saint Raimi returns with Drag Me to Hell, and now Norwegian Tommy Wirkola’s Dead Snow comes shambling onto DVD to revive the slap-stick scare routine of the incomparable Evil Dead 2.

And for anyone with a zombie fetish or just a plain weird sense of humor (or both), the film’s ’big idea’ is that its vacationing med students are set upon by legions of the Nazi undead. In a year when the Nazi has resurfaced as a go-to symbol of evil and moral compromise, Snow goes hog wild with the concept; the zombies are rotting, ferocious cadavers in full battle attire, led by a menacing officer in SS uniform.

Dead Snow has a lot of fun with its basic premise and its ambitions are very simple: deliver a goofy good time that pays tribute to the endless parade of genre titles that have come before it. It works because of skillful production and a Puckish attitude that freely pokes and prods the audience as often as it jolts and shocks them. There is ZERO subtlety used and absolutely no substance to the overall story. But unlike other horror-comedy misfires like Jennifer’s Body, Dead Snow understands that humor and zany contrivance require a certain finesse and patience.

Ultimately, it’s a little too patient for its own good, never really taking off into the stratosphere of insanity until its final twenty minutes. But fans of horror and schlock will get exactly what they are looking for from Dead Snow; well-timed thrills, visually inventive action sequences and a gore and dismemberment factor that leaves biological accuracy behind for Looney Tunes town. I was resisting the movie for its first half hour, but when I saw one of the heroes dangling Cliffhanger style over a dangerous precipice, clutching onto nothing more than miles and miles of a zombie’s intestines, I just gave up and went with it. And in the end, I was glad I did.

The plot is by the numbers horror fodder. Four guys and four girls are scheduled to meet up at a cabin in ski country. One them arrives early to prepare the place for the others. When the rest arrive, she’s nowhere to be found and inside the cabin the group discovers a box of old coins. Later, a grizzled old vagabond shows up (as they often do in this type of film) and tells them the story of a Nazi unit who terrorized the nearby town and were driven off and trapped in a cave by the angry citizens. The creepy passerby rolls up, issues the odd warning, lights a joint and puts it out in a cup of coffee, snags a beer and then heads on his way. Shortly thereafter, the last remnants of the Third Reich drop by the cabin and before you can say “Great Gallons of Gore, Batman!” legs are being gnawed, zombie torsos mashed and heads removed for a bracing game of hot potato.

The first hour or so of Dead Snow progresses exactly like a typical slasher film with the usual stock characters; sensitive guy, fat movie geek(complete with a Brain Deadt-shirt), jock girl who has one crippling weakness (claustrophobia) waiting to be exploited. The zombies get a slow reveal and a scene involving the drifter’s campsite and an ominous shape in a parka is one of the creepier moments in recent horror pictures. The film’s ickiest sequence doesn’t even involve guts but a rendezvous between the movie geek and his prospective gal in an outhouse; zombies are roaming the woods around them, but I could only cringe and think “he hasn’t washed his hands!”

Lots of Dead Snow is like that; disarming. Whether it’s an out of the blue, spoken in English, reference to Indiana Jones or an extension of scenes we think are finished (at one point we assume one of the students and a zombie have fallen to their deaths only to realize they are both buried under the snow, alive and in biting proximity of each other) Snow keeps pulling old but reliable rabbits out of its hat. There is absolutely nothing here I haven’t seen before, including the Nazi zombies, but the style with which it is assembled makes all the difference.

The weakest aspect of Dead Snow is its characters. They are developed in all of the usual ways, but for the first half of the film we barely know anything about them or their personalities. We don’t care at all, and some of them are dead before we do. By the middle and definitely by the finale, we are invested in them and cheer on two of the bolder guys who make a desperate charge on the entire zombie army while a Norwegian pop song blares in the background. But because of this hesitation to invest, the film feels relatively flat, only springing to life in time for it all to end. It’s competent and entertaining throughout, but the second half is so good that I wish it had found its legs and its tone earlier.

If you enjoy crazy B-movies or thrillers that aren’t afraid to laugh at and with themselves then you might want to consider Dead Snow. It’s hardly original in content, but it is inspired in the execution ( pun fully intended). Wirkola and company accomplish exactly the kind of thing Eli Roth tries and fails at; this is drive-in silliness at its most entertaining.  It doesn’t do a whole lot with the concept of the zombies being Nazis, but their dark grey outfits contrasting against the chilly winter scenery is truly striking and evokes the sensibility of a graphic novel. It also provides the basis for one of the funniest bits in the film. When one of the med students is bitten, and acting on advice from the film geek decides to conduct emergency surgery on his arm, his friend intervenes. “Wait, is that necessary?” he asks. “Isn’t your mother’s father Jewish? I’m pretty sure they wouldn’t want to recruit someone like you!”

Dead Snow is now available on DVD and Bluray.

Rating: ★★★½☆ 

This is a cool little bit of news.

Universal (and probably all the big guns will follow suit, with the exception of Sony, perhaps) is pairing some of its upcoming Bluray releases with iPhone and iPod Touch apps that will allow for handheld interaction with the film while you are watching it on the screen.

Namely, for Bruno, Funny People, 9, American Pie Presents: The Book of Love, Public Enemies and Inglourious Basterds (which one of these doesn’t seem to fit in?) you’ll be able to access a bunch of features using the new “pocket BLU.” Pocket BLU will access your iPhone’s wifi connection and seamlessly link that to the network connection in the Bluray player itself.

According to the official press release, some of the features available through the pocket BLU app are:

• Advanced Remote Control: A sleek, elegant new way to operate your Blu-ray™ player. Users can navigate through menus, playback and BD-Live™ functions with ease.

• Video Timeline: By turning the phone to landscape mode, users will bring up the video timeline, allowing them to instantly access any point in the movie.

• Mobile-To-Go: Users can unlock a selection of exclusive bonus content with their Blu-ray™ discs to save to their device or to stream from anywhere there’s a Wi-Fi network, enabling them to enjoy exclusive content on the go, anytime, anywhere.

• Browse Titles: Users will have access to a complete list of pocket BLU™-enabled titles available and coming to Blu-ray™ Hi-Def. They can view free previews and see what additional content is available to unlock on their device.

• Pop-Up Keyboard: Enter data into a Blu-ray player with this easy and intuitive keyboard that will facilitate such Blu-ray™ features as chatting with friends and sending messages.

If you can’t wait to see what all the fuss is about, the pocket BLU app is available in the iTunes app store now, so go grab it and then pick up one of these Blurays when they get released soon!

Love or hate Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen, you have to admit that the movie will undoubtedly sell like gangbusters when it’s released on DVD and Bluray on October 20th. If you’re really in love with the film, you can pick up a special edition of it at Best Buy stores, where it comes bundled with an Optimus Prime miniature head replica — which we all know is a necessity in daily life — and a $50 gift card to SideshowCollectibles.com. Win.

We have a few behind the scenes clips from the making of Transformers 2, which are excerpts from larger special features you can plan on seeing on the Bluray. Check them out! The first deals with Sam Witwicky’s character arc, while the second and third deal with the conditions of filming on location in Egypt and the bombastic action scenes throughout. Take a gander.

Thanks to 360i and Paramount Home Entertainment for the heads up.

Mythology and Sam’s Storyline:

Filming in Egypt:

Behind the Action:

Like it was for many males of my generation, Fight Club was a formative film of my youth. It was brutal, hip, mean and fun — everything that a young teenager aspires to be!

Unlike many other males of my generation, I understood it was satirical and sarcastic, and that fight clubs were indeed not cool to start up in loving tribute of the film.

However, revisiting the film brings back warm memories of one of my first ventures into innovative, stylized filmmaking, and it’s surely one of David Fincher’s best works.

To date, it’s also the only completely successful film adaptation of a Chuck Palanuik novel.

Now, the beautifully gritty film will finally be arriving on Bluray on November 23rd, 2009. From the official press release for the disc:

“Quit your job. Start a fight. Prove you’re alive. If you don’t claim your humanity you will become a statistic. You have been warned. Clever, savagely witty and dark, Fight Club: 10^th Anniversary Edition, arrives on Blu-ray on 23^rd November from Twentieth Century Fox Home Entertainment.  Acclaimed filmmaker and Academy Award^Ò-nominee David Fincher (Se7en, The Curious Case of Benjamin Button) spent hours analyzing every shot in his cult classic, making painstaking alterations to almost every frame for this ultimate high-definition release.

Based on the novel by Chuck Palahniuk (Choke), Fight Club is a pitch-black comedy that follows a ticking-time-bomb insomniac (Edward Norton; The Incredible Hulk) seeking an escape from his mundane existence and white-collar job in American society.  Finding solace only in feigning terminal illness and attending support groups, he meets the feisty chain-smoking vixen Marla Singer (Helena Bonham Carter; Terminator: Salvation; Harry Potter films) who immediately gets under his skin with her unconventional outlook on life.  Upon returning from a business trip, he stumbles upon a more intriguing character, the subversive soap salesman, Tyler Durden (Brad Pitt; Mr. and Mrs. Smith).  The two quickly become friends, bonding over a mutual disgust for corporate hypocrisy and find release in an eccentric, shocking new form of therapy – Fight Club.  A brutal, bare-knuckle underground secret society run by the premise that men are only able to find freedom when they are willing to risk death, the club escalates to a whole other level, where the boxing matches and harmless pranks soon lead to an out-of-control spiral full of twists and turns towards oblivion and ironically, self-discovery.

The Fight Club: 10^th Anniversary Edition Blu-ray is packed full of punches with all-new bonus materials including two interactive featurettes – “A Hit In The Ear: Ren Klyce and the Sound Design of Fight Club” which allows users to remix four key scenes themselves with the help of Oscar^Ò-nominated sound designer Ren Klyce; and “Insomniac Mode: I Am Jack’s Search Index,” giving viewers the ability to access any part of the disc’s extensive bonus material via interactive tools.

The Blu-ray also features behind-the-scenes with Fincher, Pitt and Norton as they accept the Guy Movie Hall of Fame honor for Fight Club at SPIKE TV’S 2009 GUYS CHOICE Awards, commentary by David Fincher, Chuck Palahniuk, Brad Pitt, Edward Norton and Helena Bonham Carter, “Welcome To Fight Club” featurette, seven deleted scenes, a music video, photo gallery and much more.”

The Bluray will include a whole slew of special features, some new, some pulled from previous DVD releases of the film:

New A Hit In The Ear: Ren Klyce and the Sound Design of Fight Club

o Welcome To Fight Club

o Angel Faces Beating

o The Crash

o Tyler’s Goodbye

· New Flogging Fight Club

· New Insomniac Mode: I Am Jack’s Search Index, Commentary Log, Topic Search

· New Guys Choice Award

· New Work: Production, Visual Effects, On Location

· New Edward Norton Interview

· Commentary by David Fincher

· Commentary by David Fincher, Brad Pitt, Edward Norton and Helena Bonham Carter

· Commentary by Chuck Palahniuk and Jim Uhls

· Commentary by Alex McDowell, Jeff Cronenweth, Michael Kaplan and Kevin Haug

· Seven Deleted Scenes and Alternate Scenes

· Theatrical Teaser, Theatrical Trailer, The Eight Rules of Fight Club

· 12 TV Spots

· Public Service Announcements

· Music Video

· Five Internet Spots

· Promotional Gallery

· Art Gallery

I’m excited to revisit this bloody masterpiece in high definition. How about you?

Main Feature

I really wasn’t sure how I’d feel about this film. On one hand I’m a fan of Baz Luhrmann’s previous work especially Strictly Ballroom which I found so refreshing all those years ago and still do. On the other hand I’m not a fan of Nicole Kidman’s acting and from early interviews I couldn’t avoid feeling that Luhrmann was trying too hard to create an epic and to me this spelled disaster.

The mixed expectations I had were further confused by the fact that I wasn’t sure what kind of film it would be and so didn’t know how to approach it. I am certain some of you may dislike the idea of genres and the rules and boundaries which come as part of the deal but they can provide a helpful route into a film. I was pretty sure there’d be no Sci-Fi elements although part of me did hope that Hugh Jackman would be running around putting wrongs to right with the help of some Adamantium claws. As it turns out this is very much a film in the Western genre complete with elements of action, adventure, romance, and occasional comedy, all wrapped up in a World War II setting. Simple.

It struck me that I’ve seen Kidman in a carbon copy of this role many years ago. An upper class woman sets off on a huge adventure, finds herself in an unusual environment which she must come to terms with, and predictably falls for the rough and ready man she thought she had nothing in common with. That film is Ron Howard’s Far and Away. I have been critical of Kidman’s acting style for many years as I often find that she over-plays her lines in an Oscar-friendly fashion but I might have to re-evaluate her previous roles as she really impressed me in this film. Perhaps Kidman requires a great Director to get the most out of her because for me her two previous best performances are in To Die For and Eyes Wide Shut directed by Van Sant and Kubrick respectively.

Hugh Jackman’s performance in this film also surprised me because I now realise he has proper leading man credentials in an old fashioned Hollywood sense. I’d be surprised if his character wasn’t intentionally modelled on the lone hero archetype made famous by Clint Eastwood and he certainly shares a similar on-screen presence to the great man. Brandon Walters, who plays the “half-caste” Nullah, put in a great performance I’m sure we’ll be seeing a lot more of him in future.

Something I found interesting in this film is that while it has an important message, relating to the problems the Aborigines had to face, about treating everyone as equals, that was largely pushed to one side in favour of the romantic element. I certainly don’t think the director and writers intentionally ignored that part of the story, as the treatment of the Aborigines is shown to be abhorrent, but it wasn’t the “Baz Luhrmann’s Gandhi” I half expected to see. References to ‘The Wizard of Oz’ aren’t exactly hidden as one scene involves Nullah actually watching the film and “Somewhere Over the Rainbow” is heavily featured throughout. Some may dislike the overuse of such references but I prefer to see this as Luhrmann’s way of telling the audience that the film is supposed to be over-the-top and fantastical.

Extras

There are just two small deleted scenes which is surprising as anyone with experience in the editing room will know that, no matter the length of the final cut, the clips left on the cutting room floor will always be substantial. It’s understandable that both these scenes were omitted as “what about the drove?” repeats the ‘I am as capable as any man’ statement found elsewhere and “angry staff serve dinner” is out of touch with the rest of the film.

“Australia: The people, the history, the location” is a short documentary in which Luhrmann touches on the amount of research he conducted and describes the importance of using story-telling techniques whilst maintaining historical accuracy.

“Behind the Scenes” is is a documentary broken into different sections, photography, production design, costume design, locations, cinematography, sound, editing, music, and visual effects. I found myself frustrated at needless fluff from Luhrmann and his wife and the fact that neither seem able to display modesty when the camera is on them. This puts Luhrmann in direct contrast to a Director such as Sam Raimi who takes pleasure in disclosing how he manages to create something magical from something basic. I enjoyed this more in the later stages, especially the sections on editing, music, and visual effects, and it’s certainly a good watch if you’re interested in how the film was made.

No Director’s Commentary. This is a huge surprise but having listened to the Director in “behind the scenes” I’m almost thankful to avoid sitting through 165 minutes of Lurhmann telling the world how incredible every one of his thoughts are.

Summary

There are some great performances in this film and Luhrmann and his crew did a fantastic job in recreating this turbulent period in Australian history. Despite the lightweight extras, and the bizarre lack of commentary, Australia’s rich landscape is certainly worthy of appearing on the Blu-ray format. Having said this I can’t help thinking that some extras and the commentary have been held back for the future release of a “super special ultimate edition” and that idea bothers me. I think anyone who approaches this film with an open mind will be pleasantly surprised but they may, just as I did, expect more from this Blu-ray release.

Rating: ★★★★☆ 

Main Feature

This film, based on true events which had a profound effect on the world, needs little introduction. Gandhi is an epic in every sense of the word from its passionate subject matter to its lengthy three hours running time. The Academy Awards in 1982 were taken over by Gandhi fever as the film picked up no less than 8 Oscars including the all-important Best Picture, Best Screenplay for John Briley, Best Director for Lord Richard Attenborough, and with Sir Ben Kingsley walking away with a Best Actor award.

This film follows Gandhi’s long and arduous journey from the moment he decided to fight against widespread oppression to his ill-fated demise which had such a huge impact all over the world. The man is mentally, emotionally, and physically abused yet he never strays from his belief that passive resistance is the only way forward. If nothing else this film contains many valuable quotes from the great man and the most important of all being the famous sentiment that an eye for an eye will only make the whole world blind.

While reacquainting myself with the film a worrying thought crossed my mind. I wonder if Gandhi’s story would be anywhere near as well known if not for the fact that this film was not only made but that it had such an overwhelming reaction. The notion that such an important event could be hidden away in history books further convinces me that the power of the ability to educate through the medium of film should never be overlooked.

Extras

There is a director’s commentary which is commendable for a film of such length. ‘Gandhi’s Legacy: A Picture-In-Graphic Track’ is a wonderful feature which provides historical detail alongside the film such as archival photographs and personal writings from Gandhi himself. One piece of information which helped me put an early scene into better context is that “In India, the word ‘Coolie’ only meant porter or workman. It took on a derogatory connotation in South Africa”. There is a short and sweet introduction from Lord Richard Attenborough in which he explains why Gandhi means so much to him and he comes across as a really nice man.

There certainly isn’t a large number of extras on the disc but “Gandhi’s Legacy: A Picture-In-Graphic Track” is filled with information and it’s a very impressive feature.

Summary

It is rare that the importance of a film can stretch far beyond the art of film-making itself and Gandhi is one of those special films. It would be a shame if the running time deterred anyone from watching this because while there are lengthy films which seem to drag on (such as Jackson’s remake of King Kong), this touching epic is a very worthwhile experience. I highly recommend this to everyone but especially those with an interest in world history, religion, and politics. Forgive me if this seems like a silly romantic notion, but I firmly believe that watching this type of film could very well lead to a positive change in your life.

Rating *****

Main Feature

I must admit that when I first heard of this film the thought which crossed my mind came in two parts: “This looks like one of the worst films ever,” and, “although, Anna Faris is hot”. The House Bunny is very much cast from the same mold as Clueless and, more recently, Mean Girls. Shelly (Anna Faris) is a Playboy bunny who finds herself thrown out of the Playboy mansion and rather bizarrely takes refuge in the role of ‘house mother’ to a bunch of socially inept sorority sisters.

The formula is one enormous cliché with a group of impressionable young girls who, in an attempt to fit in with everyone else, fall to the dark side and become an imitation of the very people they detest for making their lives such a misery. This is coupled with another clichéd attempt at fitting in when the not so bright model feigns a superior intellect in order to try and impress the boy she likes. Misguided opinions on the Internet never cease to amaze me. It seems many have labeled this film as being ‘anti-feminist’ and if by that they mean The House Bunny doesn’t take itself too seriously then I couldn’t agree more and I welcome that fact.

Anna Faris is surprisingly good in her role as the slow-witted but innocent Shelly and I am glad she didn’t go over the top in some over-exaggerated performance; a caricature would have ruined the film. Colin Hanks (son of Tom) shares his father’s expressionless, or dare I say, wooden, acting “style” and compared to his starring role in Orange County he really doesn’t have much to do in this film other than play Shelly’s rather dull love interest. To go into any kind of detail on the supporting cast in The House Bunny is not an easy task because while it involves multiple characters this really is The Anna Faris Show. What I can say is that the gorgeous Katherine McPhee, making her film debut, did a good job as the heavily pregnant Harmony and it was amusing to think “That girl has a good voice” during the karaoke scene and later discover that she was runner-up on American Idol.

Extras

I wish I could say that the Extras here are a mixture of good and bad but they are actually just varying degrees of bad. There really isn’t much to offer and what there is just seems like needless padding to me. The deleted scenes offer nothing interesting and the ‘behind the scenes’ featurettes amount to a collection of silly dances and face pulling for the camera and some comments from the Playboy bunnies who make cameos in the film. Based on their appearance in videos it is remarkable how incredibly dumb the real-life bunny girls appear to be. One of the girls comment on the fact that the “character” she plays is so much like her because at one point in the film she suggests watching Scarface and that is the type of thing she would do in real life. Incredible. The Extras are so wafer thin on this disc that they didn’t even bother including any kind of commentary and, while I want to avoid being labeled as some sort of Extras-police, I find this unacceptable in a Bluray disc.

Summary

I prepared myself to label The House Bunny an absolute disaster but the film, while far from groundbreaking in the “teen” romantic-comedy genre, had just enough laughs and cuteness to leave me feeling pleasantly surprised. While not as good as Clueless or Mean Girls, fans of either of those films should certainly check this out. This is very much a film aimed at the female of the species but I’m confident that plenty of guys will enjoy an opportunity to witness Anna Faris looking stupidly hot.

Rating ***