With my favorite holiday Halloween just around the corner, I thought I’d open a forum on what are the best spooky holiday flicks.

So, what do you think? What is your favorite Halloween movie? Are you a classic fan & go with the ever-entertaining Michael Meyers? Or are you more of a Jason or Freddy fan.

You tell me.

Warner Bros president of production Jeff Robinov is a complete idiot. (Can you guess how I feel about this?) This fine gentlemen has decided (allegedly, now) that since Jodie Foster’s The Brave One, Emma Robert’s Nancy Drew, Hilary Swank’s The Reaping, and Nicole Kidman’s The Invasion fared poorly at the box office that Warner Bros. will no longer make films with women in the lead roles.

Update: Warner Bros has denied this, but I still feel it needs to be talked about…just to make sure we’re hitting home with how ridiculous this idea is.

Let’s address why those films might not have done so well:

The Brave One – With Jodie Foster coming off hits like Panic Room and Flight Plan, how could this one not be a hit? Oh yeah – maybe because no one has been going to Jodie Foster movies since Contact. On top of that, Jodie Foster’s core audience is largely female (can’t imagine why), and it might be – JUST MAYBE – that they don’t want to see a revenge picture. Maybe.

Nancy Drew – Let’s see…did you see an ad for this thing? I didn’t. I had no idea a Nancy Drew movie even came out until I walked into the theater and it was playing. Obviously, I’m not the target audience, but Nancy Drew was released in the summer – I assume as counter programming – and that doesn’t always work. Why wasn’t this film released at a less crowded time? If it had been, a few people might have seen it.

Reaper and Invasion – I lump these two movies together because THEY WERE TERRIBLE! It’s not that the movies has female characters in them…it’s that they were bad movies.

NOTE TO WARNER BROS – STOP MAKING CRAP and PEOPLE WILL GO TO THE THEATER TO WATCH YOUR MOVIES!

That is all.

via Slashfilm

Warner Bros president of production Jeff Robinov is a complete idiot. (Can you guess how I feel about this?) This fine gentlemen has decided (allegedly, now) that since Jodie Foster’s The Brave One, Emma Robert’s Nancy Drew, Hilary Swank’s The Reaping, and Nicole Kidman’s The Invasion fared poorly at the box office that Warner Bros. will no longer make films with women in the lead roles.

Update: Warner Bros has denied this, but I still feel it needs to be talked about…just to make sure we’re hitting home with how ridiculous this idea is.

Let’s address why those films might not have done so well:

The Brave One – With Jodie Foster coming off hits like Panic Room and Flight Plan, how could this one not be a hit? Oh yeah – maybe because no one has been going to Jodie Foster movies since Contact. On top of that, Jodie Foster’s core audience is largely female (can’t imagine why), and it might be – JUST MAYBE – that they don’t want to see a revenge picture. Maybe.

Nancy Drew – Let’s see…did you see an ad for this thing? I didn’t. I had no idea a Nancy Drew movie even came out until I walked into the theater and it was playing. Obviously, I’m not the target audience, but Nancy Drew was released in the summer – I assume as counter programming – and that doesn’t always work. Why wasn’t this film released at a less crowded time? If it had been, a few people might have seen it.

Reaper and Invasion – I lump these two movies together because THEY WERE TERRIBLE! It’s not that the movies has female characters in them…it’s that they were bad movies.

NOTE TO WARNER BROS – STOP MAKING CRAP and PEOPLE WILL GO TO THE THEATER TO WATCH YOUR MOVIES!

That is all.

via Slashfilm

In an effort to develop a film industry in a Gulf Arab nation, Abu Dhabi will be launching its first film festival this month.

From October 14 – 19th, the Middle East International Film Festival will feature home-grown talent as well as emerging films.

I don’t know about you, but I can’t wait to see the photos….

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Well, I have to say that this week’s DVD releases are better that what last week had to offer. Just skip right on over Bratz & enjoy some great escapism with 28 Weeks Later, I think you might just have a good time.

Here they are, folks, the DVD releases for Tuesday October 9, 2007:

28 Weeks Later
Ben 10: The Complete Season 2
Black Sheep
Bratz: Super Babyz
Evan Almighty
Family Ties: The Second Season
Hannah Montana: Life’s What You Make It
Johnny Kapahala: Back on Board
Poltergeist
Reign Over Me
Rise: Blood Hunter
Roots: The Next Generations
Surf’s Up
Twilight Zone: The Movie
Wrong Turn 2: Dead End
You Kill Me

SlashFilm:  USA Network’s ”Thank You For Smoking” TV series 

The Movie Blog:  WTF?  Warner Brothers calls for female lead ban?! 

Celebrific:   Pamela Anderson gets married, again 

Cinematical:  Sony Pictures to bring ‘EverQuest’ to the big screen 

Ain’t It Cool:   Guess who’s joined Frank Miller’s The Spirit now? 

I know how you’re almost too excited about the November 2 movie release, Bee Movie, but you’re just going to have to sit on your hands expectantly & wait until next month.

But I do at least have a little treat for you all the same, as a new Bee Movie poster has finally been revealed. Pretty hot, right? Jerry Seinfeld’s new Dreamworks film is leaving a lot to be desired, if you ask me.

I mean, “Honey just got funny”!!!? Is that even a stab at humor? Or was that more of a lazy attempt? I think I’m going to have to go with the latter.

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I know how you’re almost too excited about the November 2 movie release, Bee Movie, but you’re just going to have to sit on your hands expectantly & wait until next month.

But I do at least have a little treat for you all the same, as a new Bee Movie poster has finally been revealed. Pretty hot, right? Jerry Seinfeld’s new Dreamworks film is leaving a lot to be desired, if you ask me.

I mean, “Honey just got funny”!!!? Is that even a stab at humor? Or was that more of a lazy attempt? I think I’m going to have to go with the latter.

{Source}

1980 is when the Slasher subgenre really began to hit off, which is why the Slasher-esque horror films of the late 70’s intrigue me so much. Since they predate the standard Slasher conventions established by films like “Friday the 13th”, but still retain familiar elements of the subgenre, they’re much less predictable or clichéd and typically have a few ounces more story to them than most Slasher flicks from the 80’s. “Tourist Trap” is one of those late 70’s Slasher flicks I enjoy so much. It keeps from falling into the by-the-numbers rut of its successors, but still features enough aspects of that horror subgenre I love so much.

While traveling along the back roads of Midwestern America, a group of teenagers stop by a dilapidated rest stop and wax museum located far off the beaten track when their car breaks down (you can tell where this is going). The museum is run by the friendly salt-of-the-Earth Mr. Slausen (Chuck Conners), who takes a liking to the group fairly quickly. He offers to help them fix their car and get going, but only on the condition that they stay away from the creepy mansion across the way, where Slausen’s crazy brother Davy, the creator of the numerous wax mannequins, supposedly dwells. Well, kids are stupid and they decide to investigate the mansion anyway. They then find themselves the prey of a creepy man in a wax mask with telekinetic powers and the ability to bring his wax mannequins to life.

“Tourist Trap” is a much more surreal experience than I was expecting, and all the better for it. I was pretty much anticipating a movie about killer wax dummies stalking stupid teenagers, but to my surprise, the wax mannequins actually play a rather small role. The spotlight is cast firmly on Mr. Slausen, Davy and the one good egg of the teenage group, Molly (Jocelyn Jones). The Slasher in question, Davy, defies the archetype of most Slashers and has a lot of personality, talking constantly and divulging information about his relationship with his goody-two-shoes brother, Slausen. While I love the Jason Voorheeses and the Michael Myerses of the world, I sometimes prefer my Slashers to have a little more going on for them than the “strong silent type”.

The movie quickly turns into a bit of a psychological horror show after the plot twist is made perfectly clear. I’d hate to ruin it for any of you, so, uh, stop reading if you don’t want to know.

Anyhow, you find out that Slausen and Davy are the same guy, but with split personalities. It’s actually fairly well hidden through most of the movie and caught me slightly off guard, I will admit. I was a bit disappointed that the wax mannequins didn’t get much to do, as I felt they were the creepiest aspect of the film. Still, the ending is a major head trip, as you find out that all of Molly’s friends are really wax mannequins that Slausen brought to life with his mental powers. It leaves you with the nagging question of whether the teenagers were mannequins through the whole movie or if they were just turned into them halfway through. Personally, I like flicks that leave me with a few puzzling questions at the end.

The movie reminded me a lot of the ill-conceived remake of “House of Wax” made in 2005, and it’s pretty obvious that that film drew more inspiration from “Tourist Trap” than the flick it was supposed to be remaking. So if any of you (likely, most of you) were disappointed with the aforementioned “House of Wax” remake, then I’d recommend you check this film out and see a similar-but-better version of that story.

Grade: C+

Based on a children’s book I’ve never heard of, “The Seeker” is a pretty formulaic PG-rated fantasy flick, but aren’t they all? Predictable (and at times, trite) though it may have been, it was certainly a fun venture that’s sure to please the Harry Potter-hungry tykes during the downtime between sequels. I actually found it to be far less childish and goofy than the trailers made it out to be, which was a pleasant surprise to say the least. Although “The Seeker” isn’t a masterpiece, it’s a good movie to take your kids to and one you parents might enjoy a little, as well.

Will Stanton (Alexander Ludwig) is your average everyday ordinary by-the-books not special whatsoever nothing amazing could ever possibly happen to him no seriously he’s totally normal fourteen year-old kid. Then one day a legion of mystical guardians called the Old Ones (not to be confused with the Lovecraftian Old Ones, who drive people insane) inform him that he is the Seeker, a warrior of the Light entrusted to gather all seven magical signs before the Dark destroys the world. Guess he wasn’t so ordinary after all. Will isn’t so hot on the idea of being responsible for the welfare of the Earth, but he doesn’t have much time to mull it over, as the Rider (Christopher Eccleston) is determined to destroy Will and usher in the Dark, leaving Will with only five days to get the job done.

Yeah, it doesn’t get more formulaic than “Light vs. Dark”, but at the end of the day this is a kid’s movie, so just because we 20-somethings have seen a jillion movies and TV shows that extol the virtues of light and the evils of dark doesn’t mean every 9 year-old has. While the story itself is fairly cut and dry, Director David L. Cunningham manages to inject some life into it with some very colorful and at times, somewhat frightening cinematography. The scene where Will is being interrogated by the evil mall security guards is particularly well done. While I wouldn’t go so far as to say this is a scary movie by children’s standards, it can get pretty intense. Walden Media also throws there hand in, providing their usual top-notch special effects. “The Seeker” isn’t as heavy with digital effects as some of their other projects, like “Lord of the Rings”, but what they do provide is up to their typical standard of excellence.

There are good and bad things about the presentation of the plot. While it basically reduces down to an “item collect” storyline, they manage to pull it off better than I expected. What I had anticipated was Will quickly gathering all the signs in rapid succession near the end of the flick as time ran out, but they actually managed to spread out his discovery of each sign at a consistent and steady pace that worked with the other plotlines running throughout the movie. As for the bad, “The Seeker” falls back on a few blatant clichés. For instance, they introduce a hooded mystery villain halfway through the film, but their identity is obvious from the start since there’s really only one suspect. And of course, when the villain is unmasked they play it off as some grand revelation when even the seven year-olds in my audience saw it coming an hour beforehand.

Is “The Seeker” a bad movie? Nah, not really. Is it a predictable but entertaining kid’s flick? Yeah, that’s probably the better description. I think to really enjoy the movie you have to be in the target audience, but as far as flicks aimed at kids go, it treats its audience with far more respect than most of the competition (not a single fart or burp gag in the whole flick).

Grade: B-