Ted Danson Goes to CSI. Fishburne Out.

Posted Jul 13, 2011 by Walt Belcher

Updated Jul 13, 2011 at 09:49 AM

 
CBS announces that Ted Danson is joining the cast of CSI: CRIME SCENE INVESTIGATION, in a series regular role. His character will debut in the season premiere on Wednesday, September 21.  He’s replacing Laurence Fishburne who played Dr. Raymond Langston for two years. Fishburne had replaced the show’s original star, William Petersen.

Danson will play the new CSI Supervisor for the grave shift after heading the crime lab in Portland.  He comes to the team as they are still grappling with the professional and personal fallout from last season’s take-down of serial killer, Nate Haskell. 

You can create a new character on the page, but until the perfect actor comes along and breathes life into it, it’s just words,” said Executive Producer Carol Mendelsohn.  “We’re very excited Ted Danson came along.” 

“From the moment we all started talking about the role, it was clear he couldn’t be more perfect,” said Executive Producer Don McGill.  “Intelligence, wit, warmth, depth of character and emotion, he brings it all.  And now he’ll have to bring latex gloves.”

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New Releases for Tuesday, July 5, 2011

Posted Jul 8, 2011 by John Allman

Updated Jul 8, 2011 at 06:51 PM

What’s new in stores and on video shelves this week:

Hobo With A Shotgun
Genre: Action/Cult
Directed by: Jason Eisener
Run time: 86 minutes
Rating: R
Format: Blu-Ray

The Lowdown: A lot of movies have tried lately to resurrect a long-lost film style, the cheesy, often ludicrous drive-in or grindhouse films of the 1970s and 1980s.

Some have nailed it. Others have not.

But I would argue that no single film has truly captured that undeniable, distinct flavor of this genre like “Hobo with a Shotgun.”

This is truly an amazing film, not an homage. It belongs up there with the absolute greats of the 1980s, in particular. I’m talking “C.H.U.D.” and “Street Trash” great.

That’s right, I said Cannibalistic Humanoid Underground Dwellars.

Director Jason Eisener takes everything good about the nonsensical horror and cult classics of the 1980s and makes them his own. That might not seem like a compliment, but oh, yes, it is. I am completely smitten with this movie.

From the casting of Rutger Hauer, who just kills his performance in a way that only Hauer could do (and I’m one of those people who name check “Nighthawks”), to the unbelievable gags like street derby with human heads in manhole covers, to the speech in the delivery ward that deserves to be sampled in a bad-##### industrial song, to the fact that female lead Molly Dunsworth should have died multiple times after being sawed on, beaten and stomped, I heart this movie.

This is just a fun, well-made film that doesn’t take itself too seriously, especially in creating one of the most lawless cities ever, and that’s a huge part of its charm. Everything is exaggerated to the perfect point. Not too much, not too little.

You never feel like you’re watching a camp classic. “Hobo” doesn’t mock itself openly.

It’s that subtle difference between “First Blood” and “Rambo: First Blood II,” the small details that say “First Blood” is an amazing picture while “Rambo” is a cartoon, fun to watch but completely disposable.

“Hobo” is not disposable.

It’s a fun movie. It’s cooler than either “Planet Terror” or “Death Proof,” and I liked those both.

And you can put it in for friends and know they will be equally appalled and overjoyed.

Check it out. I think you will dig it too.

The Stuff You Care About:
Hot chicks – Yes.
Nudity – Yes.
Gore – Considerable.
Drug use – Yes.
Bad Guys/Killers – Drake the crime boss and his delinquent sons. 
Buy/Rent – Buy it.
Blu-Ray Bonus Features – Interactive “Shotgun Film Mode”; “More Blood, More Heart: The Making of Hobo With a Shotgun”; multiple commentaries; alternate ending; deleted scenes; video blogs; and the best, the “Original Hobo with a Shotgun” winning trailer.
On the Web – http://ca.hobowithashotgun.com/

13 Assassins (Magnet/Magnolia, 126 minutes, R, Blu-Ray): Takashi Miike’s “13 Assassins” is a breathtaking and brutal look at honor and tradition, as filtered through a samurai’s eyes. People throw around the term ‘masterpiece’ too easily these days, but Miike’s film is truly something special, deserving to be placed up there with the best that this genre has ever produced. The amazing thing about “Assassins” is that it retains the director’s trademark over-the-top, highly stylized violence, but conforms it to the more traditional style of samurai warriors fighting during feudal era Japan. That means instead of exploding bodies, you get bulls set on fire. Instead of improbable yet thrilling gunfights, you get an entire village booby-trapped into a village of death where every corner holds a bloody surprise. This is just simply a damn fine action film that you should see sooner, not later. Go, now.

Wake Wood (Image, 91 minutes, Unrated, Blu-Ray): So, three films in and the revamped Hammer Films brand is not hitting above .500. In fact, so far, the company that created its own distinct brand of gothic horror films in the 1960s and 1970s, taking classic Universal monsters and giving them a decidedly British kick, has underwhelmed with its recent spate of releases. Only one, “Let Me In,” the Matt Reeves-directed remake of the Swedish original, has been worthy of recommendation. And make no mistake – it’s a hell of a great film that was criminally ignored at the box office. But the other two Hammer-produced originals, “The Resident,” an awful woman-in-peril thriller starring Hillary Swank, and “Wake Wood,” an Irish take on Stephen King’s “Pet Sematary,” have failed to wow. “Wake Wood” begins impressively with the vicious death of a little girl by the family dog. Her parents pick up and move, hoping a change of address will give them peace. But the village of Wake Wood harbors an awful secret. The dead can be brought back if they have been in the ground less than a year. The process, a disturbingly cool Wiccan-lite ceremony that involves using the carcass of a recently deceased individual to literally give birth to the dead, is gory, gooey and fun. But the predictable plot points that follow the family’s decision to seek a few more days with their dearly departed daughter aren’t fun. They grow tiresome if only because you know what’s going to happen two steps before it does. There’s a late in the game twist that must have been conceived as a desperate bid to retain some measure of street cred, but it only serves to muddy the already dense plot that much more. “Wake Wood” is disappointing in that way where you wanted a movie to be so much better than it ultimately was. It’s not a death knoll for Hammer, by any means, but the company definitely needs to branch out more, get away from the familiar or, at least, take the familiar and twist it up so much that it becomes your own. That’s what the Hammer Films that I grew up on would do.

Bloodlust Zombies (Vicious Circle/Breaking Glass, 80 minutes, Unrated, DVD): Dan Lantz’s low-budget first feature has gotten dinged by some for featuring a porn star (Alexis Texas) in her first non-adult role, but truth be told, Texas does a decent job here. Granted, she’s not asked to do much more than her day job, look hot and act sexy, including a gratuitous sex scene at the start of the film, but she does it well. Most of the cast handle their roles well, minus a few stand-outs who look and act like this is local theater instead of off-Broadway. What elevates “Bloodlust” above other, flashier, albeit low-budget, zombie offerings? That’s a tough call. In fact, for the first 17 minutes, despite Texas’ taking off her top and doing dirty things on camera, there was zero zombie action and I was getting worried that I was watching another “Half Moon,” a would-be horror movie with no horror toplined by a porn star trying to go mainstream. But “Bloodlust” features several scenes that hook you, and surprisingly, most of them aren’t about the carnage factor, but instead the acting. Two of them feature Texas – and in one scene, she completely breaks down and freaks out and it is totally believable, more so than you would ever expect, and not because of her former profession, but because most fledgling actors couldn’t pull that scene off and make you believe the emotion on display. The other Texas scene is the best scene of the film, and it’s almost at the end, and it’s Lantz’s moment to shine and he nails it. Basically, it’s Texas versus the undead and in one sequence, complete with axe fighting and a decapitation, Lantz geeks out and declares that he may be a director to consider, which is pretty cool in my book.

Also Available:

Transformers: The Japanese Collection: Headmasters – First season of the rare Japanese animated series featuring everyone’s favorite Autobots and Decepticons.

Empire of Assassins – Is an Empire of Assassins better than 13 Assassins? I sincerely doubt it. Trust me.

Witchville – Is that where all the witches live? Whereville? No, Witchville. Whoville? No, I’m asking about Witchville. Whatville? Never mind.

Mannix: Season 5 – This show would never have gotten the green light if it had been called “Womannix.” Just saying.

Dynasty: Season 5 Volumes I and II – I don’t know about you, but I was always partial to Alexis. Something about bitchy, evil Joan Collins. Meow.

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New Releases for Tuesday, June 28, 2011

Posted Jul 8, 2011 by John Allman

Updated Jul 8, 2011 at 06:44 PM

What’s new in stores and on video shelves this week:

Sucker Punch: Extended Cut
Genre: Fantasy
Directed by: Zack Snyder
Runtime: 128 minutes
Rating: R
Format: Blu-Ray

The Lowdown: I wanted to love this movie so much more than I did when it was first released in late March 2011, yet I couldn’t.

It didn’t feel complete. 

Now I know why – director Zack Snyder was forced to cut nearly 18 minutes from his first original feature, and seeing his version now, months later, the story feels more whole, the character arcs make better sense and the sacrifices being made hold emotional heft.

“Sucker Punch” is still not the be-all, end-all movie event that I anticipated. I was ready for something closer to “Fight Club,” a film experience that shook me up, made me look differently at the world, made me think long and hard about something.

But I definitely feel closer to it now, having seen the director’s Extended Cut.

“Sucker Punch” is an impressive, thought-provoking movie that didn’t deserve the critical lambasting it received. The harshest critics seemed overly eager to pounce on Snyder’s decision to bounce his feminist manifesto through multiple hoops, including one where the young, scantily-clad female cast are held prisoner and forced to work as prostitutes.

The 17 minutes and change of additional, excised footage includes two extended scenes, one from the beginning and one from the end of the movie, that help better establish what is happening, what is at stake and who the story is really about.

The first extended scene is basically the closing credits dancehall routine, but it serves a crucial purpose, which is to better flesh out this crazy burlesque world that you’ve suddenly been thrust into. Snyder uses a nifty cover of Roxy Music’s “Love Is the Drug” to introduce each of his female protagonists, plus their Russian dance instructor and the various men who work at and frequent the club.

The second extended scene deals with Baby Doll coming face to face with High Roller (Jon Hamm), who is both the doctor responsible for performing lobotomies AND the big-deal money pants who holds sway over the burlesque club, depending on which reality you happen to be standing in.

The story within a dream within a dream plot device isn’t new, and it’s not that Snyder does anything too remarkable with it here, but he definitely utilizes this specific structure to maximum benefit, particularly whenever Baby Doll (Emily Browning) is asked to dance.

That’s when he lets his inner geek run wild, and honestly, it is pretty remarkable the landscape he creates and populates with such a colorful concoction of fanboy loves – giant samurai statues, nazi zombies, an army of killer cyborgs and my personal favorite, a fire-breathing, mad as hell dragon.

What Snyder is trying to do is admirable, highly so. He’s using imagery that he knows will transfix people while he essentially makes a political statement about the victimization of women in popular culture (I think). And he basically says that women hold the key to their own individual stories, that they are stronger than they know and that, maybe, if they don’t like what’s happening around them, they can walk away (Again, I think).

I have no idea exactly what Snyder is trying to say, but there’s definitely a message there, and personally, I wasn’t too bummed that it didn’t smack me over the head. I liked what he was doing, the places he was trying to mine, I loved the musical choices, especially the use of the performing cast, and I really liked the young actresses that he got to play the respective roles, including Carla Gugino, who everyone knows is my second wife, even if she has yet to respond to any of my emails.

And finally, even if I didn’t get it, the big idea, the big statement, that Snyder was aiming for because he just didn’t slam it home clearly enough, even if all I was watching for two hours was a movie about a woman getting help from her improbably hot friends to break out of an insane asylum, I’m OK with that. I liked it.

I liked it even more the second time.

The Stuff You Care About:
Hot chicks – None hotter than Ms. Gugino. (Write me back!)
Nudity – No.
Gore – Fantasy violence.
Drug use – No.
Bad Guys/Killers – Creepy pedophilic dads, giant samurai statues, guys who perform lobotomies on girls, you name it.
Buy/Rent– Buy it.
Blu-Ray Bonus Features – Two versions of the film, the theatrical 110-minute cut and the extended 128-minute cut featuring Maximum Movie Mode, which is a total breakdown, often scene by scene, with director Zack Snyder, which is worth the disc alone; “Sucker Punch: Animated Shorts,” the interesting animated films created especially for the film; and “Behind the Soundtrack.”
On the Web – http://suckerpunchmovie.warnerbros.com/dvd/

Season of the Witch (Fox, 95 minutes, PG-13, Blu-Ray): Wow, who knew. Based on its dismal box office and absolute savaging at the hands of merciless critics who seem overly-eager to rip apartany new Nicolas Cage B-grade action/fantasy film, I went into “Season of the Witch” expecting a thoroughly miserable experience.

Basically, I thought I was sitting down to watch the equivalent of a bigger-box office SyFy Saturday Night Original. And, you know what, if SyFy’s Saturday Night original movies were more like “Season of the Witch,” I might actually return to watching the SyFy Channel after a many years-long hiatus.

In short, “Witch” is not the abomination that it was made out to be. It’s a fun, funny, above-average CGI fantasy-horror film that is neither scary nor totally original, but it is entertaining, which definitely means something when compared to the barren landscape that is most direct-to-DVD or box office bombs coming out these days.

The back-and-forth banter between Cage and Ron Perlman is pretty damn funny. It’s like they just didn’t even bother to pretend that they are supposed to be Templar knights serving the church during the Crusades. They trade quips and jabs and broker deals about like modern-day soldiers out on patrol, or a couple of good old boys from the neighborhood, only they’re discussing who is buying the ale for killing the most adversaries, not a case of cold Bud Light. Yet, it works.

Overall, “Witch” is predictable but not offensive, and it actually entertained me more than “Drive Angry,” likely because I had high expectations for “Drive Angry” that weren’t met early on and often, “The Sorcerer’s Apprentice,” which was just lame, and even “Knowing,” which I liked a lot.

Actually, “Knowing” is probably a good litmus test for how you will receive “Season of the Witch.” If you were willing to disregard the obvious flaws, and just let yourself enjoy the alien abduction/psychic hoobalah of “Knowing,” then you will dig “Witch” as well.

The Warrior’s Way (Fox, 100 minutes, R, Blu-Ray): There seems to be a pattern with many wacky action imports - they are either so over the top that you can’t help but be carried along, like a piece of debris swept up in a flood, or they just stutter and sputter, lurching to and fro with such an uneven cadence that you can never fully become invested.

“The Warrior’s Way,” a New Zealand kung-fu/western hybrid from first-time director Sngmoo Lee, is curious not because it’s not a great movie.It’s curious because it somehow attracted two top-caliber actors, Geoffrey Rush and Danny Huston, to mostly thankless roles (Rush gets to stumble around drunk and even shows off his bare butt at one point) and it decided to spotlight a much-lesser quality actress, Kate Bosworth, who has really done very little since the bomb that was “Superman Returns.”

Lee can’t decide what his film is about - and that indecision causes frustration from the get go. At the onset, “Warrior’s Way” seems to be a fantasy film about a warrior defeating mythical enemies to attain the rank of the world’s greatest swordsman. Then suddenly he is looking after a baby, the last heir to the line of enemies he just crushed. Then he is suddenly in the American West, a fish out of water surrounded by cowboys and outlaws and ninjas (?) where people defy gravity with ease and no one bats an eye when random violence erupts. Oh, and the main character inherits a laundry business. Okay…

If you watch it solely for the action scenes, and with the sound down low, it’s serviceable. But otherwise, this is one to avoid.

Tetsuo: The Bullet Man (IFC, 72 minutes, Unrated, DVD): Japanese director Shinya Tsukamoto began his Tetsuo trilogy in 1989 with his groundbreaking first film, “Tetsuo, the Iron Man.” He followed that with “Tetsuo II: Body Hammer” in 1992. And then he waited, 17 years he waited, until 2009, to deliver his third vision, “Tetsuo: The Bullet Man.” For the uninitiated, “Bullet Man” plays like some crazy live-action manga about a guy who turns into a living weapon to avenge the tragic loss of his son. It’s over-the-top, absolutely zany and fun – if you’re a newbie. For longtime Tetsuo fans, this third installment might be a letdown as it seems too linear, too Americanized, too clean. “Bullet Man” still looks like a Tsukamoto film. It just plays like one with a conflicted soul.

Deliver Us From Evil (IFC, 93 minutes, Unrated, DVD): This Danish import from director Ole Bornedal doesn’t care about personal space. It gets right up in your face from the get-go, introducing several key characters, most of whom aren’t exactly likable. Things spiral out of control quickly in this fascinating, uncomfortable study in social strife that hinges on religious persecution, cultural intolerance and the God-like feeling that comes with living in an isolated village as opposed to an urban environment where laws are enforced. The basic plot involves an accidental death, a cover-up, false allegations, the race card and a right-wing zealot who whips up a frothy mob to meter out their own brand of justice, regardless of who gets hurt. “Deliver Us From Evil” is powerful filmmaking that forces the viewer to think. I like that. I think you will too.

The Nesting (Blue Underground, 103 minutes, R, Blu-Ray): After a string of Dario Argento giallos and a handful of erotic cult masterpieces, Blue Underground returns with this curious 1981 psychological horror film about an author with agoraphobia and a country house where bad, bad things happened. “The Nesting” is directed by the late Armand Weston, whose career before and after was mostly comprised of softcore and hardcore adult films starring well-known porn actors like Vanessa Del Rio and xxxx. Here, he draws both an Oscar-winning actress and a legendary old Hollywood icon (Gloria Grahame and John Carradine, respectively) for small roles in what amounts to a muddled, often difficult to decipher ghost story. The film builds slowly to a whiz-bang climax featuring vengeful spirits, explosions and all kinds of crazy havoc. If only you cared more. I’m never one to discourage resurrecting older horror films, but “The Nesting” doesn’t have enough under its hood to classify as a deserving cult classic.

Dawning (Vicious Circle/Breaking Glass, 81 minutes, Unrated, DVD): “Dawning” is a difficult, if not impossible, film to categorize. Sure, the standard terms like “psychological horror” and “cabin in the woods genre” apply. But how do you describe a film where there’s nearly zero blood shed, only one major character is confirmed killed and almost nothing substantial happens. You keep feeling like something big is about to happen, like a giant paw is going to rip through a plate-glass window and drag out screaming one of the protagonists, but no, alas, this does not happen.

What “dawning” does well is establish its characters. The problem is, once that takes place, the film doesn’t progress. It builds substantial tension but fails to find the proper release. Instead, you may find yourself bottled up on the couch, waiting, waiting, waiting and then it ends. That’s never good.

The other thing that “Dawning” does well is slyly inject some snarky, subversive thoughts to rile up the main group through characters speaking outwardly with their inner voice, as if they were unaware. This happens a couple of times so quietly and almost absently that you can’t tell at first if it’s intentional. It is, I think. And if it’s not, I’m going to give it to writer/director Gregg Holtgrewe anyway because he needs some points in the win column after a confounding first release.

Also Available:

Cyrus: Mind of a Serial Killer – Danielle Harris is super hot. She’s one of the most recognizable scream queens around and one of the few with actual acting chops. I just wish she would pick better projects. And I wish Lance Henriksen would never, ever attempt a Southern drawl again.

Beastly– It’s “Beauty and the Beast” with superficial high school kids and an Olsen twin as a manipulative witch.

Erasing David – Is it possible in today’s society to disappear from the grid? Watch and learn.

Barney’s Version – Paul Giamatti continues to balance passion projects with paycheck movies. This one is a passion project that netted him a Golden Globe.

Billy the Exterminator: The Complete Season 3 – I just love that Billy is single-handedly helping keep Hot Topic in business. Bravo Billy, bravo.

Ancient Aliens: The Complete Second Season – Very, very cool show about how alien life forms might have previously visited our planet, and the scientific evidence that exists to support that theory.

Wild Cherry – High school sex comedy. Oh, how I miss the days of “Porky’s” and “Private School.”

Immigration Tango – Wacky relationship comedy about couples who switch partners in order to marry for a green card. Or, as we like to call it, whatever excuse works to shag your friend’s old lady.

Bloodworth – Kris Kristofferson deserves a shout-out for headlining this all-star ensemble about an aging country performer who returns home after 40 years to a family is disrepair. His sons are played by Val Kilmer, Dwight Yoakam and W. Earl Brown. “CrazyHeart,” this ain’t.

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Nancy Grace Answers Her Critics: She Doesn’t Care

Posted Jul 8, 2011 by Walt Belcher

Updated Jul 8, 2011 at 09:39 AM

HLN anchor Nancy Grace makes no apologies for her opinions about Casey Anthony verdict in an interview with Broadcasting and Cable Magazine.

Check it out: http://www.broadcastingcable.com/article/470682-Nancy_Grace_Fires_Back_At_Her_Critics.php

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Larry King Back on CNN Sunday with Harry Potter Special

Posted Jul 7, 2011 by Walt Belcher

Updated Jul 7, 2011 at 09:42 AM

Larry King returns to CNN at 8 and 11 p.m. Sunday for “CNN Presents: A Larry King Special – Harry Potter: The Final Chapter.”

King, who retired from his nigthly CNN show earlier this year, has first interview with film’s stars days before final Harry Potter movie released.

“Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows - Part 2” opens July 15.  King’s one-hour special will feature interviews with Daniel Radcliffe, Emma Watson,  Rupert Grint, Tom Felton, Helena Bonham Carter and Robbie Coltrane, as well as never before seen footage from the film days before its worldwide premiere.

Additionally, James and Oliver Phelps, who play the Weasley twins, take viewers on a tour of the Wizarding World of Harry Potter at the Universal Orlando Resort and interact with fans on the eve of the final Harry Potter movie. The special will also air on CNN International.

Radcliffe, calling the final Potter film a “hell of a movie,” tells King that he “wept like a child on that last day” of filming. 

The three main stars, who have spent half of their lives playing these characters, open up to King and reflect on the end of the series of films.  “I was so young, it’s difficult to remember much of my life before this thing happened to me,” Watson says.  “I was still losing my baby teeth” while playing Hermione. Grint says after 10 years of his life playing Ron Weasley, leaving the character behind was “quite a big kind of shock.”

The film marks the end the most successful film franchise in history.  The films are based on a series of seven best-selling novels, written by J.K. Rowling. 

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