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 Tue, 22 Jul 2008 08:40:47 PDT Maverick’s Headed Back to Top Gun, Goose Still Dead [Blast from the Past]
Many would argue that the box office power of mega-star Tom Cruise has diminished in recent years. What, with all of the Scientology-bashing and couch dancing, Cruise has definitely seen his fair share of negative press in recent years. But while we in the media may give him endless amounts ...

Tom Cruise in Top Gun

Many would argue that the box office power of mega-star Tom Cruise has diminished in recent years. What, with all of the Scientology-bashing and couch dancing, Cruise has definitely seen his fair share of negative press in recent years. But while we in the media may give him endless amounts of “the business” for his crazy antics, there is no denying that the guy has had a good run. And it is a run that was propelled greatly by the blockbuster sensation that was Top Gun. Personally, this is one of those films that kick-started my love for big action flicks and of course, Kelly McGillis.

Now according to reports from The Sun and The Daily Mail, Cruise is apparently in talks to reprise his role as Lt. Pete ‘Maverick’ Mitchell in a sequel that is 22 years in the making. No other details have been released about the project, but an insider told The Sun that “The idea is Maverick is at the Top Gun school as an instructor - and this time it is he who has to deal with a cocky new female pilot.”

As long as Katie Holmes doesn’t play the cocky new female pilot, we should be alright. My vote would be Battlestar Galactica’s Katee Sackhoff. Don’t ask why — just go with it. As well, if Stallone can make both Rocky and Rambo work, then I see no reason why Cruise shouldn’t get the shot at Pete Mitchell again. Done right, this could be a decent flick and would surely put butts in the seats.

On a semi-unrelated note, watch out for Tom Cruise in the upcoming Ben Stiller comedy Tropic Thunder — the bastard damn-near steals the show.

Are you interested in seeing a Top Gun sequel 20+ years after the original?

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 Tue, 22 Jul 2008 07:50:47 PDT Let’s Talk About Two-Face: Spoilers Ahead! [Dark Knight Mania]
**Warning: This Article Contains Major Spoilers** I'm sure by now that anyone who ventured into this post has seen the biggest movie of 2008, The Dark Knight. Judging by the box office numbers, rabid comments and critical reception that most of you would like to see a third film. Now everyone ...

Harvey Dent holding a coin

**Warning: This Article Contains Major Spoilers**

I’m sure by now that anyone who ventured into this post has seen the biggest movie of 2008, The Dark Knight. Judging by the box office numbers, rabid comments and critical reception that most of you would like to see a third film. Now everyone made the assumption that TDK would be The Joker’s film, and end by introducing a new villain in Aaron Eckhart’s Harvey “Two-Face” Dent. Now you know what happens when we assume…

I am going to make three assumptions. First, I am going to assume that you have seen The Dark Knight. Secondly, I assume that you might have been surprised about the death of Two-Face. Finally, that you are left wondering to yourself who will be the next film’s villain. Some names that have already come up (with some getting squashed early) are The Riddler, The Penguin, Bane, Deadshot, Two-Face and even The Joker once again. So who is it going to be? I think Harvey Dent will show his faces in the next film.

If Harvey “Two-Face” Dent is to be the next villain, that would have to mean he is alive, right? Did they ever say he was dead? Did you see a casket? All the film showed was a motionless body, and what seemed like a memorial service. Remember, Batman and Gordon are ready to lie about Harvey’s actions in order to preserve his reputation, so why wouldn’t they lie about his death? For all we know, Gordon could have transported Harvey to a maximum security cell in Arkham. Maybe Harvey is brooding in his cell right next to his new pal.

If Gordon and Batman were to conceal his death and lock him up in Arkham, that would give Two-Face even more of a reason to hate Gotham and its officials. Talk about ammunition for revenge, the guy would come out swinging. So go see the film again. If I remember correctly, Batman even said something like “Noone can ever see him like this.” Would you say something like that about a dead man? Everyone knows he is disfigured, but not everyone knows about his newly acquired vengeful and murderous personality.

One of the first things that led me to this conclusion is that Christopher Nolan has some director trademarks that point directly in this direction. First, Nolan has an obsession with pairs or the number two. In Memento, Leonard had two people trying to manipulate him throughout the film. In Batman Begins there were a pair of villains, both with dual identities/personas. In The Prestige there were two main characters which were both two men at sometime within the film (Borden as a twin, and Angier as a copy), and had both romanced two different women within the film. In The Dark Knight you see two good characters Batman/Gordon battling Joker/Two-Face, with Two-Face being a man with obviously two faces. Also Nolan has a repeating theme of fake deaths/coming back from death within his film. Ra’s Al Ghul ends up not being dead in Batman Begins. Borden cheats death in The Prestige. Gordon even faked his own death in The Dark Knight. So would it be too far fetched for a man with two faces to cheat death in Nolan’s newest film?

I guess the next question would be is Two-Face’s story arc complete? In other words, what appeal is left in bringing Two-Face back? I don’t doubt that we may see Harvey Dent again, but to what capacity is left to be seen.

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 Tue, 22 Jul 2008 07:42:14 PDT Caprica Trailer Promises Drama… and Little Else [TV for Movie Lovers]
I'm a huge fan of the Sci-Fi Channel's Battlestar Galactica reboot... as should be anyone with a taste for quality action, drama, character development, and eye candy. The show's in its final season, and now a new trailer has been released for its supposed successor. Which is technically a predecessor... ...

Caprica Trailer

I’m a huge fan of the Sci-Fi Channel’s Battlestar Galactica reboot… as should be anyone with a taste for quality action, drama, character development, and eye candy. The show’s in its final season, and now a new trailer has been released for its supposed successor. Which is technically a predecessor… The prequel series, Caprica, takes place several years before the events of BSG. By the looks of the trailer, it may also be several years before anything of interest took place on the planet. Take a gander.

See what I mean? A family drama about the creation of the first Cylons? Without Vipers, dogfights, cliffhangers, or frakkin Grace Park? One of BSG’s many strengths is its strong, dramatic story lines, but they work as part of the whole BSG package. Removing everything but the drama would probably make for a decent TV movie, but an entire series? The only things of interest I can see from the trailer is a continued look at religious fanaticism (something BSG has always excelled at) and the dancing booby at the 1:14 mark. (Yes, my tastes do concurrently run both highbrow and trashy.) With the likes of Eric Stoltz and Esai Morales on board it’s guaranteed the acting will be strong; and BSG creator, Ronald Moore, is shepherding Caprica as well so it’ll definitely be a quality production. And yet…

Caprica revolves around the intertwining lives, morals, and families of two men, Joseph Adams (Adama) and Daniel Graystone. Adams’ daughter, Zoe, is killed in a terrorist act by her fanatical boyfriend, but not before having uploaded her DNA and memories into her new iPhone. Graystone, a scientific and practical minded kind of guy, mixes those elements with a little bit of elbow grease and creates a robot Zoe, the first skinjob. (Wikipedia, always an impeccable fountain of knowledge, lists dead daughter Zoe as belonging to the Graystones, but it seems clear in the trailer that she is in fact an Adams, which of course makes her Admiral William Adama’s sister.)

What do you think of the first trailer for Caprica?

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 Tue, 22 Jul 2008 05:45:23 PDT More Cool and Whimsical Sci-Fi with ‘Stargate Atlantis’: Season 4 [DVD Reviews]
Over the past few years, I have grown quite fond of the Stargate series. I didn’t watch SG-1 when it was first broadcast (although I did gain an affinity for it by watching the DVDs), but I picked up on Season 2 of Stargate Atlantis and have enjoyed it ever since. In ...

The New Cast of Stargate Atlantis: Season 4

Over the past few years, I have grown quite fond of the Stargate series. I didn’t watch SG-1 when it was first broadcast (although I did gain an affinity for it by watching the DVDs), but I picked up on Season 2 of Stargate Atlantis and have enjoyed it ever since.

In this respect, I come to the Stargate universe from a different angle than most. While most fans became such by watching the first series, I stepped into the universe after the Goa’uld had pretty much been defeated, the Ancients revealed and the Asgard having bestowed their technology to us.

In many ways, Stargate Atlantis is more like the later series of the Star Trek universe than the old SG-1 shows. But what makes this series better than Star Trek is that it has plugged a lot of the holes. Sure, aliens from different galaxies are able to speak perfect English, but at least the Stargate series have a decent explanation as to why humans can be found so far and wide in both the Milky Way and the Pegasus galaxies.

What I love about Stargate Atlantis is how imperfect the characters’ actions are. Indeed, they result in uprooting a lot of evil out there. Even when the Atlantis team is trying to do some good (or fix problems they started), they make things worse. If this isn’t a metaphor for the entirety of human existence, I don’t know what is.

Season 4 of Stargate Atlantis picks up with the ancient city under siege by the Replicators. Dr. Elizabeth Weir (Torri Higginson) is injured, and the team is forced to fly the city off into space. The loss of Dr. Beckett (Paul McGillion) in the previous season was a sign of things to come as we see more cast changes. While Weir is still around for part of the season, her command is compromised, and the I.O.A. sends Samantha Carter (Amanda Tapping, originally from SG-1) to be the new mission leader.

Other changes in this season is the introduction of a new doctor, played by Jewel Staite from Firefly fame. We also see a much stronger arc with Teyla (Rachel Luttrell), which incorporates her real-life pregnancy into a chilling storyline. We also see the return of some familiar faces that have become favorite antagonists – Todd the semi-good Wraith and Michael the hybrid.

The only real complaint I have in Season 4 is the choice to bring Samantha Carter on as the mission leader. I always liked her in SG-1, but because she’s been there and done that with practically everything in the Stargate universe, there was really no room for her to grow. Her character was stagnant, and she was unfazed by anything that happened. Even the rocky sexual tension with Rodney McKay is lost with her as his superior.

Still, that didn’t stop me from continuing to enjoy the show. While I consider Seasons 2 and 3 to be the best ones out there, Season 4 is up there with strong storylines.

The episodes that the filmmakers seem most jazzed about in the special features (including “Trio” and “Quarantine,” which features different characters trapped with each other) aren’t my favorites. Rather, the ones I enjoyed the most are the ones that furthered the overall storyline of the series. The Michael story arc is a meaty and not terribly comfortable one, and the interrelationship between Dr. Weir and the Replicators were the most interesting to me.

The Season 4 DVD set includes audio commentaries on key episodes, as well as “Mission Directive” mini-docs for them as well. There’s a blooper reel – a first for the Stargate Atlantis series – along with 25 minutes of deleted scenes, a gushing spotlight on Amanda Tapping, a look at Paul McGillion as Dr. Beckett, a look back at the season and multiple photo galleries.

Today, the cable stations – and SciFi Channel in particular – continue to give us some of the best science fiction television in years. Along with Stargate Atlantis, we’ve got a Friday night line-up that also includes Battlestar Galactica and Doctor Who. Throw in Tuesday nights with Eureka, and you can now see the SciFi Channel becoming everything we hoped it would be when it launched in the early 1990s.

THE UPSIDE: More Stargate awesomeness for the fans.

THE DOWNSIDE: Yeah, I’ll say it again. Colonel Carter was somewhat lukewarm as the new leader. But her replacement in Season 5 is bound to be better.

ON THE SIDE: My wife and I named our third son Nicholas Ronon, after the character played by Jason Momoa. Yup, we’re geeks.

Grade: A

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 Mon, 21 Jul 2008 23:25:18 PDT ‘Stargate: Continuum’ Puts a Cap on SG-1 [DVD Reviews]
After watching the ten seasons of Stargate SG-1, the four seasons of Stargate Atlantis and the recent direct-to-DVD release of Stargate: The Ark of Truth, I can say with confidence that this whole universe beats the pants off of the Star Trek franchise. I know. That’s going to piss off Trekkers ...

Ba'al Returns in Stargate: Continuum on DVD

After watching the ten seasons of Stargate SG-1, the four seasons of Stargate Atlantis and the recent direct-to-DVD release of Stargate: The Ark of Truth, I can say with confidence that this whole universe beats the pants off of the Star Trek franchise.

I know. That’s going to piss off Trekkers from here to Ceti Alpha Five, but so be it. The Stargate universe, while not without its flaws, has consistently shown that it can handle science fiction television far better than anything Gene Roddenberry’s creative offspring can.

This is demonstrated perfectly in the new direct-to-DVD release of Stargate: Continuum. Where The Ark of Truth wrapped up the Ori storyline, Continuum puts the finishing touches on the Goa’uld. The last of the Ba’al clones has been found, and the Tok’ra are preparing to extract the symbiote. However, during the procedure, people literally start to disappear. In a desperate attempt to get back home, Carter (Amanda Tapping), Mitchell (Ben Browder) and Daniel Jackson (Michael Shanks) jump through the stargate to find themselves trapped in the Arctic.

They soon discover that the original Ba’al has slipped through their fingers, traveled back through time and wiped out the entire Stargate program on Earth. Carter, Jackson and Mitchell have to work through an alternate timeline to stop Ba’al from taking over the galaxy with the full force of the Goa’uld behind him.

Okay, I’ll admit if you haven’t seen any of the Stargate series, this isn’t going to make any sense to you at all. Like The Ark of Truth, this movie is for the fans of the show, playing out like an extravagant two-part episode. So, if you’re a Stargate virgin, you’d be better off renting the series of DVDs from SG-1’s ten seasons.

Unlike the Star Trek franchise, the Stargate team hasn’t overused the time travel element. In fact, they have stayed away from it for the most part, probably because making time travel too easy would convolute the show beyond recognition. This is different than the parallel universe plotline that has been used numerous times in the series.

Continuum provides an interesting look at some questions that arise during a time travel event. Whose reality is more worthy of becoming real? How do you exist in a universe where your double is a phone call away? Will we ever get rid of Ba’al? The questions are infinite.

The production value of this show exceeds that of not just the series, but the previous direct-to-DVD film. The crew filmed part of the show in the Arctic (sans Michael Shanks, who had some scheduling conflicts and didn’t want to be too cold), making it the production with the highest latitude ever. The location doesn’t go to waste, with beautiful shots of glaciers and ice fields, and a nice stint on a nuclear submarine.

The only downfall to Continuum is its fractured cast. While Richard Dean Anderson comes back to reprise his role as General Jack O’Neill, he’s not in the movie for very long at all. Likewise, with Earth’s Stargate program a literal thing of another past, Teal’c (Christopher Judge) is no longer a main character.

Stargate: Continuum is made for the fans, and it gives us everything we’d want to see. There’s multiple call-backs to previous shows, including cameos by the Goa’uld system lords we saw fall in the first eight seasons of the show. And we get to see Claudia Black in one of those sexy Goa’uld costumes, which is definitely enjoyable.

The DVD includes filmmakers commentary and a thorough making-of featurette, a real-world (albeit a bit stuffy) look at the possibility of time travel and a featurette that highlights the Arctic shoot.

THE UPSIDE: A nice way to end the whole Goa’uld shebang.

THE DOWNSIDE: Pretty much signals the end of SG-1 as a regular series… but we can hope for more movies.

ON THE SIDE: Be sure to check out FSR’s coverage of the premiere of Stargate: Continuum at this year’s Comic-Con!

Grade: A

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 Mon, 21 Jul 2008 17:18:06 PDT ‘Birds of Prey’ Will Do in a Pinch [DVD Reviews]
I’ll bet everyone from Joel Schumacher to Adam West is cursing Christopher Nolan. Even though he has made the most beloved Batman films to ever grace the silver screen, in a way he’s ruined the franchise for anyone else. The 2002 series Birds of Prey is seeing new life thanks to ...

Birds of Prey: The Complete Series

I’ll bet everyone from Joel Schumacher to Adam West is cursing Christopher Nolan. Even though he has made the most beloved Batman films to ever grace the silver screen, in a way he’s ruined the franchise for anyone else.

The 2002 series Birds of Prey is seeing new life thanks to the release of Nolan’s The Dark Knight. However, the hype machine that will undoubtedly sell some DVDs of this television series has set the bar of quality so high, it is impossible to measure up.

So, if you want to check out Birds of Prey, it’s not a bad idea. Just remember that this series was made before The Dark Knight, before Batman Begins and only a few years after Joel Schumacher ground the movie franchise into the dirt with Batman & Robin.

Birds of Prey has a relatively simple, and not undesirable premise – take the ladies of DC Comics and wrap an entire series around them. I, for one, have no problem watching sexy superheroines in tight leather. Ashley Scott stars as Helena Kyle, the daughter of Batman and Catwoman. The Joker has killed her mother, and she’s taken in as a protege to Barbara Gordon (Dina Meyer), who is in a wheelchair following another attack by the Joker.

Joining Helena and Barbara is a young runaway named Dinah (Rachel Skarsten). Borrowing from X-Men, they discover that Dinah is a full-grade meta-human whose powers include mind-reading and telekinesis. Together, they fight crime in New Gotham.

Birds of Prey has more in common with the superhero films of the 80s and 90s than those of the new millennium. It’s chock full of corny dialogue and some pretty weak plot devices. If you’re a die-hard superhero fan, Birds of Prey will do in a pinch, but with the grade of superhero flicks coming out now, it’s a bit tough to swallow.

In keeping with the “girls only” theme, we see some guest spots from other famous superladies, like Black Canary. It’s no surprise that Green Arrow isn’t mentioned at all in this storyline. Even the main villain, the Joker’s protege Harley Quinn (Mia Sara), is a woman. If you’re intimidated by these powerful women, you might be turned off. However, for the right guy, this is a great concept.

The only notable men in the series is Shemar Moore as a police detective that always looks like he’s come from a modeling gig. Alfred Pennyworth, Bruce Wayne’s old butler, serves as narrator. The only other men who cross the path of the Birds of Prey are villains intent on taking over New Gotham – and even then they are usually subservient to Quinn.

For as much as they mention Batman, there’s very little batness to the series. Rather, it centers on Helena as Huntress and Barbara as Oracle. She makes a few appearances as Batgirl, but generally serves as the puppet master to Huntress.

The DVD set includes all 13 episodes of the series. It also includes an unaired pilot which differs only in the introduction and the use of Sherilyn Fenn as Harley Quinn. I’m not sure why they went with Mia Sara rather than Fenn, but I preferred the pilot over the premiere episode.

While the series is mildly enjoyable for comic book fans, what I found more fun were the 30 episodes of the web-series Gotham Girls. This roughly animated short series followed the good girls and bad girls of Gotham in various silly and cartoony situations.

THE UPSIDE: If you’ve gotta watch mildly entertaining superheroes, they might as well be hot girls in tight pants.

THE DOWNSIDE: Closer in spirit to the first wave of Bat Films than the most recent ones.

ON THE SIDE: Look for some guest appearances by sci-fi icons Joe Flanigan and Mitch Pileggi.

Grade: C

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 Mon, 21 Jul 2008 15:32:06 PDT The Joker’s Magic Trick T-Shirt [Dark Knight Mania]
So if you have seen The Dark Knight, then a magic trick that makes a pencil disappear should mean alot to you. It seems that the infamous scene has already gained some fanfare, and Redbubble user LuckyMachete has decided to immortalize the scene just for you. You can now wear ...

Officially Cool

So if you have seen The Dark Knight, then a magic trick that makes a pencil disappear should mean alot to you. It seems that the infamous scene has already gained some fanfare, and Redbubble user LuckyMachete has decided to immortalize the scene just for you. You can now wear a piece of The Joker’s lunacy right across your chest for just $22.94. I’m sold.

oc-batsignal

Source : Redbubble

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 Mon, 21 Jul 2008 11:12:46 PDT ‘Burn Notice’: The Lighter Side of Spy Shows [DVD Reviews]
I really must tip my hat to cable television. As the recent Emmy nominations have shown us, this segment of the dial that used to be simple niche programming, is putting out content that is just as good, if not better, than what you’ll get on the major networks. Sure, there’s ...

Get Burned with Burn Notice: Season One

I really must tip my hat to cable television. As the recent Emmy nominations have shown us, this segment of the dial that used to be simple niche programming, is putting out content that is just as good, if not better, than what you’ll get on the major networks.

Sure, there’s always going to be HGTV, The Food Network and the home shopping stations that will crap out low rent, cookie-cutter reality television. However, there are several cable networks that give us some really clever original programming.

The USA Network has created a cottage phenomenon with their original spy dramedy Burn Notice. Jeffrey Donovan stars as a spy named Michael Westen that gets “burned.” He discovers that being burned goes beyond just being fired. He’s cut off completely and struggling to survive. With the help of his trigger-happy ex-girlfriend Fiona (Gabrielle Anwar) and old special forces buddy Sam (Bruce Campbell), he takes odd jobs helping people to make ends meet… all the while trying to track down who burned him and why.

At the start of the show, some things didn’t set right with me. First was Fiona’s Irish brogue (which didn’t sit well with others, apparently, since it was dropped by the second episode). The other elements to the show that grated on my nerves in the first couple episodes was the too-cool representation of the city of Miami and the hackneyed narration that Michael has throughout each episode.

However, after watching some of the installments, the show did grow on me. While Michael continued to narrate, it was toned down a bit. (Still, I get a little tired of him starting sentences with “In covert operations…” or “When you’re a spy…”)

What gives Burn Notice its likeability is its good humor. At heart, Michael is a good guy. He helps people in trouble, often putting himself in dangerous situations. Fiona is a borderline nutcase, but she’s very sexy doing that. Then there’s Sam, expertly played by Bruce Campbell. In the context of relatively serious subject matter, the characters don’t take themselves too seriously, and the show balances comic relief with action and tension.

The only weak part of the show is Michael’s mother, played by Sharon Gless. Michael grew up with a tortuous childhood, and his mother is the most annoying creature on the planet. She excuses his father who beat him as a child, and she keeps burdening Michael with helping out his loser brother. I understand blood ties, but the “family first” argument should be nullified by child abuse and felonies.

Still, Michael’s mother only shows up occasionally in the show, and the main female interest is Gabrielle Anwar in bikinis and short skirts… and that’s okay by me.

Burn Notice stands out among spy stories today because it differentiates itself. It doesn’t try to be a James Bond rip-off. Michael Westen doesn’t get that kind of support. It also doesn’t try to make him as bulletproof as Jack Bauer on 24 or Syndey Bristow on Alias. In a strange way, Michael Westen is one of the most normal spies we’ll see on television. He’s got girlfriend problems, an alcoholic best friend and a mother who annoys the hell out of him. Who can’t relate to that?

Like many current cable shows, Burn Notice has a short season with only eleven episodes. The Season One DVD set includes scene specific audio commentary for every episode featuring creator Matt Nix and the stars. There’s also audition footage for both Jeffrey Donovan and Gabrielle Anwar.

The rest of the special features are a little thin, reusing content from the episodes you’ve probably just watched – a gag reel, character montages, an action montage and a spotlight on the hot girls (though I didn’t mind watching that footage a second time).

THE UPSIDE: A fun spy romp through Miami.

THE DOWNSIDE: More dysfunctional spying needed; less Cagney & Lacey.

ON THE SIDE: If you watch this show carefully enough, you just might learn how to build a homemade bomb.

Grade: A-

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 Mon, 21 Jul 2008 09:49:25 PDT Don’t Go Looking for ‘Lost Boys: The Tribe’ [DVD Reviews]
"Build a man a fire, and he's warm for a day. Light a man on fire, and he's warm for the rest of his life." - Edgar Frog If you get nothing else out of watching the highly unanticipated sequel, Lost Boys: The Tribe, at least take that nugget of wisdom. It's ...

Cory Feldman in Lost Boys: The Tribe

“Build a man a fire, and he’s warm for a day. Light a man on fire, and he’s warm for the rest of his life.” - Edgar Frog

If you get nothing else out of watching the highly unanticipated sequel, Lost Boys: The Tribe, at least take that nugget of wisdom. It’s one of the very few fun bits from what is an otherwise unnecessary movie. But when you make a sequel more than twenty years after its beloved predecessor, can you expect anything else?

Chris and Nicole Emerson (Tad Hilgenbrink and Autumn Reeser) have moved to Luna Bay after the death of their parents in a car accident. You won’t know this from watching the movie (and it’s irrelevant to the plot anyway), but their parents are supposedly Michael and Star (Jason Patric and Jami Gertz) from the original Lost Boys. Chris was a champion surfer before the accident, but now seems solely preoccupied with caring for his younger sister. Their first night in town they’re invited to a party hosted by Shane (Angus Sutherland) and his friends (The Tribe) at Tom Savini’s beach house. Shane and his buds are vampires, really really cool vampires, and soon Nicole is swigging their blood from a flask which as everyone knows is enough to make you a human/vamp mulatto. Chris must not only defeat the evil tribe of X-Games loving bloodsuckers, but prevent his sis from feeding on human blood and completing her transformation as well. Luckily for him (and for the audience) he gets help from one half of the Frog brothers (and one half of the Corey’s) in the form of Edgar Frog, aka Corey Feldman. What follows is a film that fails miserably at being an original, but also misses the mark as an homage to its predecessor.

Lost Boys: The Tribe wastes no time in sharing where it differs from the original film. The opening attack scene highlights that this is an R rating (DVD is unrated technically) for 2008, not 1987… there’s more vulgarity and gore in these first few minutes than in the entirety of Lost Boys. Deaths of both victims and vampires are wonderfully bloody and well-done throughout the film (some bad CGI fire aside), and there’s even some nekkid vampette shenanigans. In fact, the gore effects are one of the two minor saving graces the film has. The other is Corey Feldman.

The arrival of Edgar Frog on screen reminds the viewer of the one thing most lacking in The Tribe… any sense of fun. Say what you will about Joel Schumacher’s horribly misguided, homoerotic makeover of the Batman franchise, the man has made some entertaining films (Falling Down, A Time to Kill, D.C. Cab) in his career. Lost Boys was a fun movie. A solid cast, strong and energetic performances, a really fresh sense of humor, an impressive and varied soundtrack, and a Barnard Hughes zinger at the end. The Tribe has none of these things. Kiefer Sutherland’s half-brother, Angus, not so much “acts” in the movie as he does walk and talk and stuff. The script by Hans Rodionoff makes little logical sense and actually includes the line “Why don’t you take a picture, it’ll last longer.” The soundtrack is obnoxiously heavy with rare exception, and includes a cover of “Cry Little Sister” that would be better if the original never existed.

And then there’s Feldman. Thanks to a combination of shadows and surgery he looks pretty damn identical to how he did twenty years ago. Frog is still dead serious about vampires and comic books, although now he earns a living as a board shaver. Feldman is clearly having fun as Frog, and he has all of the film’s best dialogue (”Your sister’s a suck monkey.”) Aside from the unexplained familial connection mentioned above, Feldman is the only real link to the original Lost Boys. Oh, and the shot of an older, shirtless, pot-bellied saxophone player.

Much was made of the Two Corey’s returning in the sequel but as the end credits start to roll you’ll find yourself with one big question. (Several questions actually… why hasn’t Frog hunted this batch of vamps already since he lives in the same town as them? did Tom Savini do the sfx for his own prosthetic and decapitated head? why the hell does Chris walk away in the middle of shower sex with a hot, wet, naked chick to go check on his sister?) The big one though is where the hell is Corey Haim? Well… wait about a minute into the credits and you’ll get your answer. You won’t understand what the hell is going on, but you’ll know why Haim wasn’t in the rest of the film. Check out the DVD’s alternate endings and you’ll also see what happened to Edgar Frog’s brother, Alan (Jamison Newlander)… which, ironically, explains the Haim footage during the credits. If a sequel had to be made, these unused and disregarded scenes are where the story should have gone. Wouldn’t have been as good as Lost Boys… but it most likely would have been better and more interesting than The Tribe.

The Upside: Gory sfx including miscellaneous innards, limbs, and a couple gushing decapitations; nekkid vampette in the shower and on some deer antlers; and Corey Feldman.

The Downside: Some wooden acting; uninspiring screenplay; unrelated (yet still insulting) to the original; and no Corey Haim.

Grade: C

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 Mon, 21 Jul 2008 09:38:36 PDT Jason Statham’s Gigantic Fake Head Takes Over Crank 2 [Behind the Scenes]
Thanks to some prosthetic work on the set of Crank 2: High Voltage, there is no longer anything derogatory about saying that Jason Statham has a big head. Because now he does, in fact, have a huge noggin. The photo above, which was released as part of a Los Angeles ...

Jason Stathams Big Head in Crank 2

Thanks to some prosthetic work on the set of Crank 2: High Voltage, there is no longer anything derogatory about saying that Jason Statham has a big head. Because now he does, in fact, have a huge noggin. The photo above, which was released as part of a Los Angeles Times Hollywood Backlot report, shows a giant Statham head that was made up for a particular scene in the film.

The scene, about which we have few details, was shot on a miniature set with both Statham’s character Chev Chelios and an un-named bad guy. Needless to say, it comes from the twisted minds of co-directors Mark Neveldine and Brian Taylor, so it will certainly be an interesting experience.

Crank 2: High Voltage sees the return of Chev Chelios, who has obviously survived the horrific fall taken at the end of the first Crank. This time around he has had his heart removed by a Chinese mobster and replaced by a battery-powered ticker that requires regular jolts of electricity to keep working. It is a little far-fetched, but what did you expect. Along with Jason Statham, Crank 2 will see the return of Amy Smart and Dwight Yoakam to they roles they played in the first film. Joining the cast are Corey Haim, Clifton Collins Jr. and Bai Ling. The film will hit theaters on April 17, 2009.

To see more images from the set, check out the LA Times Hollywood Backlot report.

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