by Ryan Stewart
“The level of desperation was a lot higher than I’d thought…”
– J.W. Rinzler
Few films in history have been as meticulously pored over as the Star Wars trilogy, which is why the best compliment owed to The Making of Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back is that it feels completely fresh. An exhaustive, official biography of one of the most beloved films of the past thirty years, Making Of runs a sprawling 350 pages, is replete with interviews and insights from George Lucas and dozens of other contributors, and contains over 1,200 rare photos, including conceptual art, storyboards, candid set photos and special effects designs. More importantly, it’s a smart and candid history that doesn’t shy away from the underlying sources of drama that fueled Empire’s production, from Lucas’s brush with financial ruin when the self-financed film went massively over budget, to on-set bickering between Harrison Ford and Carrie Fisher, to creative tensions between the producers and their hand-picked director, Irvin Kershner.
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by Brett Warner
The Girl Who Played With Fire – the second film in the series based on Stieg Larsson’s best-selling “Milennium” Trilogy – arrived in stores on DVD and Blu-Ray this week. The Girl Who Kicked The Hornets’ Nest will be in select theaters this Friday, though you’re unlikely to hear much about it because the name on everybody’s lips is not Swedish director Daniel Alfredson, or even the late Mr. Larsson himself – it’s David Fincher. The Fight Club and Seven auteur is currently filming a big-budget, Hollywood remake of The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo with young actor Rooney Mara (aka Mark Zuckerberg’s fabricated girlfriend in The Social Network) replacing Swedish actress Noomi Rapace in the role of Lisbeth Salander, valued Hot Topic customer and computer hacker extraordinaire. With the films finally seeing a stateside release and the books available at every book store, grocery store, and drug store in the country, it begs the question: Why do we need this? Along with this year’s Let Me In, why does the world need an American remake based on a fantastic film based on a very readable book? Does the same imperialist, We’re Number One mentality that informs our country’s foreign policy also dictate the movies we produce, or are we simply just as dumb as the big studio producers seem to think we are?
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by Andrew E. Konietzky
October is my favorite month because locked in the gooey insides is my favorite holiday, Halloween. Before I head off to some of the cool seasonal events around Florida, I have put together a Top 10 List of Horror Films* for the many genre fans out there.
There are so many amazing films that it’s hard to narrow them down to a mere handful, and impossible to put them into some kind of order. And one person’s idea of a great horror film will likely differ from others. Someone who enjoys the gory and violent side of horror might be inclined to watch films like Saw, Cabin Fever, or Last House on the Left, while those are more into the psychological side of things might prefer The Shining, Night of the Living Dead, or The Exorcist. So first, I must post a small disclaimer: We all have our fears, scares, and dark corners, but here are 10 of my personal favorite dark, sticky, blood-soaked treats.
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by Ryan Stewart
“Are we the monsters?”
– Gareth Edwards
David Spade once had a stand-up bit about how audiences shouldn’t have to cut a movie slack for having a low budget, since ticket prices are all the same. Monsters, a new indie sci-fi film made for $15,000 – less than Kevin Smith’s Clerks – passes the high-expectations test with flying colors.
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by Nicole Powers
“I don’t like taking any cock out.”
– Johnny Knoxville
The new Jackass feature film is spectacularly shitty – in an awesomely gross kind of way. And because it’s shot in 3D, the excrement literally comes flying right at you, giving the MTV-rooted franchise the opportunity to connect with its audience in a whole new, and yet familiarly meaningless way.
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by Damon Martin
It’s been announced that 300 and Dawn of the Dead director Zack Snyder will helm the latest installment of the Superman film franchise. The news has been much anticipated after producer Christopher Nolan (Memento, The Dark Knight) met with several major directors including Tony Scott and Darren Aronofsky.
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by Daniel Robert Epstein
David Arquette made a name for himself in the Scream trilogy and since then has had a long career in television and film. But for his directorial debut, The Tripper, Arquette has gone back to the horror genre, this time infusing it with political overtones. The Tripper is about a Ronald Reagan-obsessed serial killer that targets a bunch of hippies.
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