I loved this movie, and you will too.  That’s not a command from me, it’s from the Bureau.  If you try to avoid buying the ticket at the multiplex, they’ll adjust you.  You will go see this film, you will enjoy it.

Matt Damon leads this sci-fi thriller as David Norris.  Norris is a young, energetic congressman whose just been handed a defeat in the election and is preparing his obligatory concession speech when he meets Elise Sallas, a rising star in fine dance who crashes a party in the same building.  Their connection is instant and the type that lingers which for David, manifests itself in a ‘muse’ type manner.  Rather than congratulate his election opponent, his run in with Elise causes him to release a passionate speech filled with honesty and heart.  It endears him to the public and makes him a front runner for the coming elections.  The problem is that their meeting was accidental, and despite the efforts of the mysterious Adjustment Bureau, keeps happening by chance.  David is eventually confronted by the Bureau that threatens him with the equivalent of a lobotomy if he does not cease all efforts around finding Elise.  Refusing to accept the path and plan he’s being told, David relentlessly pursues her all the while chased and tracked by the men in black who are determined to keep them apart.

What makes this film great is its explanation of the system that controls the Bureau agents.  They may be angelic or other-worldly, but they are still bound by rules and laws just like humans.  No interference with free will, but power to deduce our decision making within the mind.  They’re able to manipulate moments of our lives, but still require administrative approval and paperwork to get it done.  Clearly able to be seen by the common man, all the while being able to move seamlessly through the world while tethered to their bowler hats.  It’s very smartly written and no surprise when I learned it was based off a short story by Philip K Dick (Minority Report).  A visionary by his own rights, his previous effort like 2006’s ‘A Scanner Darkly’ just gives more credence to this film.  Emily Blunt (Gnomeo & Juliet) is divine in the role.  Airy, fresh and so easy on the eyes – her ability to portray the vulnerability that love can put someone in shows through splendidly.  Damon may be a pit pudgy and up in years to play a mid twenty-something character, but that visual is easily pushed aside in favor of an intense story that is fraught with tension from the moment the two meet because you know that fate is conspiring against them.

Even when you learn their fate if they were to stay on the AB’s plan, and then what happens if they don’t, you’ll question what is the best outcome for them, for your viewing pleasure, and even the best decision for the world.  If theirs is a love that could burn this world to ashes – who wouldn’t want to watch that fire?  Why doesn’t fate understand that after two people share a ‘moment’ it’s next to impossible to remove that desire from the human spirit?  What actor did they get to play the Chairman of the Bureau?  No spoilers here (at least not any crucial plot ones) to give you the answers, but believe me when I say that you will enjoy this movie.  This film is what Damon’s last effort ‘Hereafter’ should have been.   

5 Stars out of Five.

The Adjustment Bureau Beastly is rated PG-13 for brief strong language, some sexuality, and a violent image.  Running Time: 105 minutes

Do you like Jack Black? Do you like Jack Black as an enormous person in a land of small folk? Well Atomic Popcorn has the privilege of giving passes to those of you who do!

Jack Black, Jason Segel, Emily Blunt, Amanda Peet, Billy Connolly star in this upcoming adventure-comedy from 20^th Century Fox.

Synopsis:

In a contemporary re-imagining of the classic tale, Jack Black stars as Gulliver, a big-talking mailroom clerk who, after he’s mistakenly assigned a travel piece on the Bermuda Triangle, suddenly finds himself a giant among men when he washes ashore on the hidden island of Lilliput, home to a population of very tiny people.  At first enslaved by the diminutive and industrious Lilliputians, and later declared their hero, Gulliver comes to learn that it’s how big you are on the inside that counts.

Trailer:

CLICK HERE FOR YOUR PASS:

Secret Code:

ATOMICZ8

Make sure you check out our other free screenings in the Baltimore Area.

It has been a  cold, cold winter.

Snow has been piled high here in Baltimore since late January and it’s been raining down indiscriminately from the heavens since mid December. Snow shovels have become my ally and stolen parking spaces the bane of my existence, but the promise of spring looks set to melt that all away.

Unless, of course the chill returns and with it more seasonal storms. Thanks to the recent blizzards, we are entering the merry month of March and all of us are still looking over our shoulders, waiting for Jack Frost to give us an icy wedgie.

And when you are there, lodged in your home, with no way to get out, it’s understandable that a bit of stir craziness might set in. What better way to counteract that than with some good old fashioned cinematic madness?

Here’s hoping the rest of the year is smooth sailing from a meteorological standpoint, but if it isn’t, here are ten creepy chillers you can snuggle up with on a cold evening:

30 Days of Night-

Before they were fey emo poets, vampires were not just fearsome entities but walking signposts of death and decay. When you get down to it, what better season for the Nosferatu than winter? The sun is dim, the evenings long and the days short, and with everyone wrapped up tight and shivering, it’s easier to go unnoticed. Lately, we have had a trio of cinematic vampires who have chosen the dreary northern climes to inhabit; Frostbiten, Let the Right One In, and this comic adaptation that sees a tribe of dying vamps lay waste to a town in Alaska during a month of perpetual darkness. The other two films fall out of the range of horror/thriller but 30 Days has the creepy color palette, the perfect menace, and the right setting for a terribly enjoyable action/horror romp. Hartnett isn’t the most believable action hero, but Danny Huston as the head vamp is a baddie with real menace. When the remaining survivors discover a young girl who has been bitten, the creep factor goes through the roof.

Wind Chill-

I never really took inventory of Emily Blunt until I saw this 2006 indie ghost story that casts her as a self absorbed college student who catches a ride home with a guy on campus she doesn’t really know. Then, the two find themselves stranded together on a freezing back road during Christmas break. Sound romantic? It isn’t. In addition to the mounting unease that Blunt feels when she realizes her driving buddy might be a stalker, there’s also the possibility of hypothermia setting in before they are rescued, and the fact that the road they broke-down on is inhabited by a plethora of real ghosts. Blunt really delivers a strong performance and for entire chunks of the movie she is alone, pitted against the supernatural forces of this stretch of highway. There’s a feel of Jack London survival stories in all of the tragic details and in the nature of the ghosts themselves, who are playing out a long forgotten misery that traps all who come that way. It’s not a classic, but it does what it does effectively with a good amount of spookiness.

Transsiberian-

The atmosphere alone in Brad Anderson’s wintry suspense thriller makes it worthy of a place on this list. Anderson, who has channeled unspoken fears before in Session 9 and The Machinist,tells the story of a couple of missionaries (Mortimer and Harrelson) riding a train from China to Moscow, meeting up with a sketchy young couple, and getting involved with murder, international intrigue and a stone-faced Ben Kingsley who looks ready to snap. Mortimer and Harrelson have an odd chemistry as the couple, and Kingsley flip-flops between sinister and benign. All of this helps craft an uneasy sense that we can’t trust anything we see. The desolate, snowy scenery is matched against the cramped, claustrophobic confines of the train to deliver a thriller that moves single-minded about the business of fraying our nerves. Hitchcock would be proud of this one.

Ravenous-

Foreboding and gritty, Ravenous is half thriller, half dark comic farce. All of it is revolting in a thematic way. Guy Pearce and Robert Carlyle play two opposing forces battling it out at a military outpost in the Sierra Nevadas circa 1847. Pearce is Boyd, a disgraced soldier sent to the fort as punishment by his superior, and Carlye is  Colqhoun, a pioneer whose party was lost in the wilderness and went cannibalistic. Colqhoun is the only survivor and he finds he not only has a taste for human flesh, but in keeping with Native American legend, he can absorb his victim’s power. The stage is set for all kinds of dark hi jinks as Carlyle starts eating his way through the outpost, and making converts as he goes. The cinematography is stunning and beautiful and director Bird captures several disconcerting shots of suspicious meat cooking on the stove. A thoughtful and cheerfully gross horror movie that will help curb that winter desire to snack all day.

Misery-

Got cabin fever? Well, no one handles the idea of cabin fever or interior isolation better than Stephen King, who has two titles on this list. There’s even a snowstorm in this one, albeit it mostly serves as a plot device to keep James Caan’s Paul Sheldon in the helpless care of the psychopathic Annie Wilkes, played to passive-aggressive perfection by Kathy Bates. What Annie does to Paul over the course of months he is in her ‘care’ ranges from subversively funny to downright harrowing. If you ever end up house bound as a result of the weather, or have to hole up for an extended period of time with company that isn’t exactly cheerful, just remember Sheldon’s misfortunes and that hot cocoa will taste all the sweeter. To this day, I can’t watch that scene involving the sledgehammer and Caan’s ankles without turning away.

Cold Prey-

A Swedish production and little known here in the US, Cold Prey is one of the best slasher films in recent memory and the arctic setting has almost everything to do with that. A couple of ski buddies head up to a remote and abandoned (aren’t they always?) resort in the mountains and there they find a force bent on dispatching them one by one. I gave up on dead teenager movies ages ago, but the style and suspense of Cold Preyreally works. The snow-capped mountains and ice glaciers are a spectacular canvas upon which to splash a little blood and viscera. The killer, a hulking giant in a snow parka, is a satisfying villain and among the ranks of the hapless youngsters, Ingrid Bolsø Berdal proves she can swing an ice-pick with the best of them. The perfect remedy for that long-distance ski vacation you’ve been planning. The film also has a sequel which manages to be similarly unnerving.

Runaway Train-

Based on a screenplay by the legendary Akira Kurosawa, Runaway Train is an action spectacle that never lets up and what really makes it sing are the performances by Jon Voight and Eric Roberts and the dazzling, snowy landscapes that the train hurtles through as it heads towards it’s destination. Runaway Train has a harsh, near existential quality to it that distinguishes it from other thrillers of the same era. Voight and Roberts, as two prisoners trying to make a getaway, are seemingly up against the whole universe in their bid for freedom. Although there’s much that feels metaphorical, the frozen, craggy wasteland that these men are thrust into pushes reality and consequence front and center. Intelligent, emotional and entertaining, Runaway Train is the perfect popcorn thriller for a cold afternoon.

A Simple Plan-

Quite possibly Sam Raimi’s best movie, and probably one of the most underrated, A Simple Plan captures the melancholy and eerie loneliness that can accompany a long winter. Bill Paxton and Billy Bob Thornton are brothers who stumble upon a bag of money in a downed plane while they are out hunting. With Paxton’s wife Bridget Fonda, playing lady Macbeth, Paxton, Thornton and a family friend conspire to keep the money for themselves and then things begin to go amiss and haywire. A treatise on greed and the dangerous nature of moral compromise, A Simple Plan is heartbreaking in its emotional depiction of a family pulling apart in the face of temptation. Thornton, particularly, is poignant as a man who isn’t terribly bright, but is enough so that he understands how it is exactly that he doesn’t fit in. Paxton is compelling as a good man driven quickly and devastatingly from the path. The shivery scenery casts exactly the right funeral pall for the film’s events. Crows dangle menacingly from an icy tree and Thornton muses contemplatively “They eat dead things. What a weird job to have.”

The Shining-

The granddaddy classic of all isolated paranoid thrillers involving winter, Kubrick’s The Shining deviates significantly from the events of King’s book, but it is terrifying and scary nonetheless. Kubrick makes the Overlook a most menacing antagonist through long angle shots, still frames, and tracking scenes that capture the disquieting and the unsettling with no particular fanfare. When evil blossoms in such a potentially mundane scenario, everything becomes charged with fear very quickly. Images of swirling snow, and gently falling flakes have the same effect upon our psyche, and I don’t think there has ever been a more perfect use of interior/exterior contrast where setting is concerned. Forget all of that though, and you still have the main attraction; Jack going crazy and stalking his wife and child with an axe through the art deco halls of the Overlook. The ultimate family dysfunction winter madness medley, this one gets me every time.

The Thing-

This is it, the most distressing and sneaky piece of cold weather paranoia I have ever laid eyes on. John Carpenter designs a foreboding atmosphere with this Antarctic base camp and the star ship long frozen in the snow. It adopts all of the functions of the original Howard Hawks movie but it skews more closely to the short story “Who Goes There?” when it comes the shape-shifting identity of the monster. Kurt Russell testing the blood with fire to determine who among the crew isn’t what he appears to be is spine-tingling tension at its very best. The gooey fx that include a head on spindly spider legs, mutated husky dogs, and Wilford Brimley trying to eat his coworkers are still neat all these years later. I also appreciate the way the weather conditions are presented as merciless and dangerous, and don’t take a side seat once the alien terror shows up. There are few horror movies that work as well as The Thing and fewer still that stick with us when they are over.

How about you? Is there a particular movie that evokes the icy dread of winter? Any titles I missed that help reinforce that feeling of unease when the white stuff starts falling? Share with us below!

“Even a man who is pure in heart and says his prayers by night, may become a wolf when the wolfbane blooms and the autumn moon is bright.”

Joe Johnston’s The Wolfman opens with that portentous rhyme, lifted wholesale from the original 1940 film with Lon Chaney Jr. It’s the first sign that this new wolf will retain fidelity to its predecessor. Several others follow; there is a hulking Victorian mansion and moonlit moors, the make-up design and characters are remarkably similar, and Larry Talbot is once again a lost soul fearing the dread and torment that the next full moon brings.

What’s wrong here is the tone, which heads out into unintentional camp, and the script, that fails to make the audience feel Talbot’s pain and conflict.

On the level of recreation and re-invention, Johnston has done a stunning job with the surface details of his Wolfman. The film is actually set a bit later than the original, now moved to Victorian England, which provides endless scenes of horse drawn carriages careening over gray, wet country roads and characters scrabbling about in the dark, holding their oil lamps close to their faces so the shadows can dance sinisterly. Later in London, the werewolf scrabbles across gothic architecture to howl balefully at the moon.

Danny Elfman does a fine job with the soundtrack, creating screeching moments of diabolical terror and rising crescendos of melodramatic suspense. Rick Baker, the make-up artist who brought us that incredible transformation scene in American Werewolf in London, renders a wolfman instantly recognizable as the original beast, but decked out with a more savage, animal flare. There’s a stunning attention to detail in the features; you can see every mismatched tooth, and of course,  his hair is perfect.

On the acting front, there’s a team of great performers, some of which are wasted and others who break the chains of the script and run amok all over the film, mauling and tearing the scenery with a lupine glee. The wasted ones, unfortunately, are Benicio Del Toro as Larry Talbot and Emily Blunt as Gwen, Talbot’s late brother’s fiancee.  If you rewatch the original, and note Lon Chaney Jr’s nonchalant, laid-back performance as Larry, you can see what Del Toro was going for here. He captures Chaney’s look, and his mannerisms, but the script has him written as a cowering man-child, hiding in his father’s shadow and he never develops any further.

Emily Blunt is a beautiful and talented actress, and she looks stunning running through the woods, or dangling from a waterfall, or anytime the moonlight catches her frightened gaze (my, what big eyes you have!). Like, Del Toro though, she is left with very little to do but pretend that the proposed romance between them actually exists as anything more than a few throwaway lines.

The two actors who do come out on top despite the screenplay’s attempt to strand them are Hugo Weaving and Anthony Hopkins. They are working at the same level as the film’s visual effects and its surprisingly gory violence; way, way, over-the-top. Weaving is a Scotland Yard detective complete with bowler hat, mutton-chops and baffling ability to show up and make a complete and utter mess of things every single time. He sort of knows he is an after thought and he injects as much classic swagger into the character as possible. When he’s chasing the wolf through London he might as well be in one of those classic horror comics where characters stop and exclaim things like “Hark! Do you hear that? Silence!!”

Hopkins plays Lord Talbot, Larry’s father, and he’s one of the best reasons to see the new movie. When things start sagging in the middle, Hopkins puts on his best predatory grin, narrows his eyes, gnashes his teeth and starts making the elder Talbot as sinister as he possibly can. You get the feeling he only uses candles so he can sit in the shadows and leer out at his guests. He’s more paunchy and feral than I would have expected, and instead of channeling Lecter or Van Helsing, or any of his other notable madmen, he reminded me as nothing so much as a latter-day Orson Welles. Blustery, self-posessed and constantly sneering, I half expected him to growl the words ‘Rosebud’ before it was all over.

As a director, Johnston makes good use of those crazy performances and he tries to help the serious tone of the Larry and Gewn storyline, but the best he can come up with a repeated shots of a time-lapse moon racing behind billowing clouds or people galloping on horseback into the foreboding night. He does give us a few great action sequences, including a particularly effective assault on the gypsy camp where Talbot is bitten.

When the wolfman is finally seen in full, prowling about and ripping off heads and playing keep-away with the villager’s spleens, the visual effects are surprisingly good. It isn’t all cgi, and most of it is well used, save for the scenes where we see the wolf in full gallop across the rooftops or through the forest. Then, he’s nothing more than a furry animated ball, hopped up on Red Bull. When he pulls a Kong in London and starts leaping high into the air, the movie moves almost too close to a superhero tone.

Perhaps, that would have been the way to go; a completely over-the-top, comic-book approach. This new Wolfman is entirely too silly to work as a proper horror film, and right now there’s just too much ponderous dialogue and ham-fisted father/son melodrama to really enjoy the rest. I laughed through a great deal of the movie, but I am not sure that’s what the filmmakers wanted. For fans of the wolfman or of monster movies in general, I tend to think you will find things to like and admire here. I was entertained, but also sincerely disappointed. This was a missed opportunity, and the human soul that the first wolf had is absent in this one.

But, if you, like myself, are sometimes just in one of those moods that wants nothing more than to see a werewolf stalking his victims through the fog-shrouded forest, than The Wolfman might be what you are looking for. And if you too, come out disappointed, well, you can always go home and rewatch the original.

Rating: ★★½☆☆ 

Atomic Popcorn has an awesome opportunity for 40 of you to attend a screening for Universal’s highly anticipated horror-action film, THE WOLFMAN starring Benicio Del Toro, Anthony Hopkins and Emily Blunt. THE WOLFMAN will hit theaters February 12^th and the promotional screening will be held Tuesday, February 9, 2010 at a local Baltimore theater.

For those of you not watching Atomic Popcorn or living under a rock, here is a short synopsis of the movie.

Inspired by the classic Universal film that launched a legacy of horror, The Wolfman brings the myth of a cursed man back to its iconic origins. Oscar® winner Benicio Del Toro stars as Lawrence Talbot, a haunted nobleman lured back to his family estate after his brother vanishes. Reunited with his estranged father (Oscar® winner Anthony Hopkins), Talbot sets out to find his brother…and discovers a horrifying destiny for himself. Lawrence Talbot’s childhood ended the night his mother died. After he left the sleepy Victorian hamlet of Blackmoor, he spent decades recovering and trying to forget. But when his brother’s fiancée, Gwen Conliffe (Emily Blunt), tracks him down to help find her missing love, Talbot returns home to join the search. He learns that something with brute strength and insatiable bloodlust has been killing the villagers, and that a suspicious Scotland Yard inspector named Aberline (Hugo Weaving) has come to investigate. As he pieces together the gory puzzle, he hears of an ancient curse that turns the afflicted into werewolves when the moon is full. Now, if he has any chance at ending the slaughter and protecting the woman he has grown to love, Talbot must destroy the vicious creature in the woods surrounding Blackmoor. But as he hunts for the nightmarish beast, a simple man with a tortured past will uncover a primal side to himself…one he never imagined existed. Joe Johnston (Jurassic Park III) directs The Wolfman, and six-time Oscar®-winning special effects artist Rick Baker brings his design and makeup talents to transform Del Toro into the fearsome title character.

We have also included the trailer.

Now on to the part that you all have been waiting for: how do I win? That is the easy part. The first 40 people to sign up below wins an admit “two” pass – good for two to the above screening. Again, if you want to bring a date you still only need to enter once! This is a pass good for two of you! The only rule is that if you signed up for our last screening you are not permitted to attend this screening. If we have any doubts about a name it will be removed from our listing.

This screening is now closed. Thanks for signing up!

I do ask that due to the size of the screening that you try and be there by 6:30pm as this will guarantee you a seat. This will allow all of you fine folks to grab your passes and a great seat for the film.

Your email will be put on a “list” at the door and you will be notified of the theater and showing time via email!

Make sure you check out our other free screenings in the Baltimore Area.

The monster movies are back folks, and in a very big way. Going hand in hand with the recent release of James Cameron’s Avatar trailer is the trailer for The Wolfman. A remake on the 1941 horror film, this film directed by Joe Johnston stars Benicio Del Toro, Anthony Hopkins, Emily Blunt, Hugo Weaving and many others. Due out for a February 12, 2010 release date, lets not keep you waiting any longer, look at it!

Franklyn Featurette

As you probably can tell, I am big fan of movies such as the newest film from Gerald McMorrow’s latest creation in Franklyn. Ryan Phillipe stars as John Priest, a vigilante, hell bent on revenge for someone he lost or let go. With an alternate equivalent to London, we see a world created in Meanwhile City. The city is watched closely by a religious fervor higher than the big brother we are used to seeing. The film noir style, along with the intermingling stories makes this a must watch in my book.

You can watch the Trailer here but make sure you also watch the exclusive featurette that Empire grabbed.

Franklyn opens up across the pond on February 27th, as far as I know, no one has picked this up for the states. A complete travesty if you ask me!