Archive for month: October, 2011

One week left until Halloween which means that there is plenty of time to get in and grab some choice horror flicks to get you in the right frame of mind for the best celebration of the year. I’ll have a list of some of my favorite horror films in this edition of the newsletter in case you can’t make up your mind.

Also this Thursday is the last Thursday of the month so that means that it’s free film Thursday! How does that work, you ask? Well, let me tell you; bring in a charitable donation to either the Cambie or the Commercial location and receive a free movie! Easy peasy. We’re going to go with a donation to the Vancouver Food Bank again this month as we didn’t get a lot of donations last time around. Although we did get a delicious can of expired clams. Mmmm good eatin’ there.

And a reminder that there’s some big Halloweeny type doings a transpiring on Cambie St. this coming Saturday. Bring the wee folk and come on by for some Halloween good times.

New Releases for Tuesday October 25th

Attack the Block – Great little indie effort from ole’ England about some street punks who have to deal with some hungry aliens (the outer space kind) that crash their hood. Nice crisp funny Englandy slang dialogue helps along the proceedings. In any other film you would hate these little bastards but you end up rooting for them anyways. Truth. Good job! Also on the Blu Ray.

Captain America – In a year full of lame to mediocre to outright garbage super hero comic book type films, comes along a pretty half decent one. In fact, after the X-Men movie, this is the best of the lot (I’m looking at you, Green Lantern, Thor, Green Hornet). Creepy looking little nice guy Steve Rogers (great name!) is too small to go off and fight the Nazis so he undergoes an experimental treatment that embiggens him – making him a creepy looking, buff, shiny nice guy Steve Rogers. The awesome Hugo Weaving is the main redheaded bad guy Steve Rogers has to bring down. This film is basically a set up to the Avengers film that comes out next year. Also on the Blu Ray.

City of Life and Death – Historical epic about the Japanese attack and siege of Nanking in 1937. Brutality ensues. Filmed in black AND white.

Eco Pirate: The Paul Watson Story – Locally made doc on the famous Greenpeace guy and activist Paul Watson. Word has it that’s it’s quite an excellent doc for all you tree hugging hippies out there..

Father of Invention – Kevin Spacey plays an infomercial guy and inventor who’s invention maims a lot of people. He goes to jail, gets out and tries to connect with his estranged family and get back to the top of the infomercial world. Seems to me that there is a lot of Kevin Spacey movies that end up being straight to DVD as of late. What ever happened to that guy? Is he the next Eric Roberts?

Leap Year – Graphic Mexican film about a lonely woman who drifts from one fling to another until she meets a dude who has some darker sexual appetites. Supposed to be very good and chock full of naughty bits.

Rare Exports: A Christmas Tale – Twisted Xmas tale from Finland about some guys who unearth Santa Claus during an archeological dig. Then children start disappearing. Then Santa’s elves (I’m hoping that they’re the blood thirsty type of elves) arrive to help out their master. This sounds like it is destined to become a holiday classic! I was really looking forward to checking this out but it’s late (again!) and will hopefully be on the shelves sometime this week.

The Tree – Very sad sounding tale about a woman with four kids (her husband just died suddenly) trying to cope in Australia. One of the little girls insists that dad is alive and speaking to her through the enormous fig tree growing in the yard. Dad’s an Ent! Complications ensue when it looks as if the tree will have to felled.

Winnie the Pooh – Winning new animated tale of Pooh, Eyeore, Tiger, Piglet and others as the gang plan one last bank heist. Things, of course, go wrong and Owl is shot dead and then there’s a zombie outbreak and…

Old Stuff Just In…

Mimic – Director’s Cut on Blu ray
The Others – Blu Ray

Coming Next Week

Magic Trip
Trespass
Beginners
Californication Season 4
A Little Help
Cars 2
Crazy Stupid Love
A Better Life
Tabloid
Water for Elephants

Some delectable delights in the realm of horror for your Halloween viewing pleasure…

Trick or Treat – nifty little horror anthology. Good kid with a burlap sack on his head film.
Eden Lake – you’ll never go camping again, at least not in Australia
High Tension – good bloody French fun. May make you rethink your trip to France
Piranha – either the original or the remake (remake is great gory fun)
Ills – You’ll never go to your country home again, at least not in France
Dead Alive – the most gory fun ever! Great party movie
Inside – don’t watch this if you’re pregnant, know someone who’s pregnant or know what pregnant means (I love this film!)
The Haunting – the original is all sounds and atmosphere and very scary
Cemetery Man – great comedy horror about a dude working in a graveyard who has to keep killing the cliental
Pieces – college coeds and a chainsaw, need I say more?
Frontiers – another reason not to go to France, see High Tension
The Howling – the best werewolf film ever!
Invasion of the Body Snatchers – either the original or seventies remake are great
The Orphanage – great atmospheric thriller, one of the best small guy with a burlap sack on his head horror films
The Others – great haunted house chiller with a killer twist at the end
Wolf Creek – you’ll never go on a road trip in Australia again. In fact, never go to Australia
House on Haunted Hill – Vincent Price and a haunted house! Sweet.
The Devil’s Rejects – Rob Zombie’s masterpiece. For whatever that’s worth.
Let the Right One In – best vampire flick ever, remake’s not bad either

There’s a few numbers to mull over. We have plenty more scary flicks of course and staff that are more than happy to help you out with all your chills!

And some recommendations of recent fare that are not in the horror genre

The Robber – DVDs are in the mail for both stores!
Attack the Block
Captain America
The Last Circus
Batman: Year One
Hesher
Bill Cunningham: New York
Red State
Tree of Life
Beautiful Boy
The Trip
Troll Hunter

That’s it for this week, kids. Have a swell week, be safe and remember, keep watching.

Black Dog Video

Happy (belated) Thanksgiving everyone! I hope you all had a nice weekend with friends, family, or whoever or even by yourself (I do miss those days on occasion). I hope that you all had your fill of turkey or toefurkey or ham or toeham with all the fixin’s or whatever strikes your fancy. I think that I may have indulged a little to much last night. It’s been a long day.

Pretty good, if not diverse, week for releases. We have what many are considering to be the best film of the year and not one, but two the worst films of the year, one of which I contend might be one the worst films of all time.

There will not be any Unthank Cinema events for the next couple of weeks. The fine films return on Wednesday October 26th with a showing of Night of the Bloody Apes! Sounds wonderful!

New Releases for Tuesday October 11th

Beautiful Boy – Sad looking (as in probably a heavy tear-jerker type of thing) drama starring Michael Sheen and Maria Bello as parents of a teen who shot a bunch of people and then took his own life. Doesn’t get much more heavier than that I suppose.

Green Lantern – This atrocity may be one of the the worst films ever made. I’m saying that because it exemplifies everything that is wrong with Hollywood and the way they go about making films. Word has it that this debacle cost $300 million to make! Like how do you respond to that? Yes the money could have been better spent elsewhere in these troubling times but that’s not the point. Movies cost a lot to make, no question. But what I don’t understand is how something this expensive gets all the way through the Hollywood system without someone along the way saying, wait a minute, this is a piece of crap, what are we doing here?!  It’s all special effects – and not very impressive ones at that – and no time spent on anything like characters, dialogue, plot or pacing. It’s the kind of film where all of the aliens speak English although they’ve never even encountered humans before. The kind of film where they whisk away our “hero”, who is an idiotic man-boy douche bag, to another planet to train him – for all of about 2 minutes – and examine him while he floats naked except for a little loin cloth that covers his junk. If they’ve never encountered humans before, why do they think it’s necessary to cover up his man parts? The only way I can see to enjoy this is to get some friends together, have a few drinks and/or joints and go Mystery Science Theatre 3000 all over it’s ass. I could go on but if you are interested in more please check out this review – it’s pretty funny – http://www.toplessrobot.com/2011/06/topless_robot_presents_the_best_scenes_from_the_gr.php

Releases this Friday on the DVD and the Blu Ray..

Horrible Bosses – Whew! I thought this was that documentary they filmed about me! Glad to hear that it’s a pretty funny comedy about some employees led by Jason Bateman (who seems to be in almost every film these days) who want to do in their, well, horrible bosses – Colin Farrell, Kevin Spacey and Jennifer Aniston. Good times I hear about this one. Also on the Blu Ray.

Judy Moody and the Not Bummer Summer – G – rated ditty based on the book. Kids will love it I imagine. And it has Heather Graham (Rollergirl) so dads may enjoy it as well.

Life in a Day – Amazing compilation of Youtube videos that were uploaded all across the planet (Earth) on July 24/2010. Word has it that it’s quite an amazing thing to watch. And no, I don’t believe that there’s any porn. Sorry.

The Pig Farm – Yes you guessed it, a documentary about Robert Pickton. Surprised it took this long to get this out.

Romantics Anonymous – Oh-so-French (there’s even a scene where four characters all look into a room together through a doorway) romantic comedy about love and desire in the world of chocolate. Sounds like this film has everything!

Snuff Box – Famed cult BBC sketch comedy thing ala Monty Python, Mighty Boosh and the IT Crowd. (at Cambie, late to Commercial)

Sweatshop – Horror film about a maniac with a giant hammer who bludgeons a bunch of horny teens at a rave. Sounds almost perfect. (at Cambie, late to Commercial)

Terri – Most excellent (from what I hear) comedy drama about a large misfit boy who wears pajamas to school. Wouldn’t it be nice to just wear your PJs everywhere (assuming, of course, that one wears PJs)? If Hugh Hefner can wear them, why can’t everyone? John C. Reilly plays the school Vice Principal who befriends Terri and Creed from The Office plays his dad. Looks like a winner folks! (at Cambie, late to Commercial)

Tree of Life – Terence Malik’s Cannes winner about growing up with crew-cut Brad Pitt as your hard-ass father in Texas is also a meditation on life, and the history of the universe. Sounds ambitious. I think that this will divide people into two camps – those who think it’s an incredible visual masterpiece worthy of best film of the year/decade and those who think it’s a pretentious boring slog. As my friend put it “It’s kinda like being forced to listen to an entire Pink Floyd album”. So I guess depending on whether you like Pink Floyd and dinosaurs or not, you’ll have to watch and decide which camp you fall into. Also on the Blu Ray.

Wishful Drinking – Carrie Fisher’s stage thingy where she talks about her strange life with her famous parents, her affinity for booze and drugs (my kind of princess!) and, of course, her Star Wars experiences as Princess Leia. Supposed to be quite funny and interesting.

Zookeeper – Great. Just what the world needs, another “comedy” about talking animals. Besides Kevin James it also features many other talking animals who conspire to help the poor schmuck get laid. Hi-larious! Remember I mentioned that there were 2 of the year’s worst films on display this day? Well here ya go, knock yourself out.

Coming Next Week

Bad Teacher

Hesher

Page One: Inside the NY Times

The Last Circus

Kevin Smith: Too Fat for 40

Red State

Robber

Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides

Batman: Year One

Attack on Leningrad

Monte Carlo

Recently Viewed and Recommended

Horrible Bosses

Incendies

Troll Hunter

The Trip

Uncle Boonmee

Bill Cunningham: New York

Red Chapel

Fast Five

That’s a wrap for this week folks, sorry no internet goodies (didn’t have the time at all). Hope everyone stays safe and dry and remember, keep watching.

Black Dog Video

Black Dog Video