June 8th, 2009
You’ve probably never heard of the movie MAN HUNT, but it’s a great World War II thriller that just made its debut on DVD. Based on a popular 1939 novel, MAN HUNT has a heck of a compelling hook: A big game hunter gets Hitler in his sights, then gets caught by the Nazi’s guarding Adolf’s Bavarian retreat.
It was directed by the legendary Fritz Lang, who knew a little something about the Third Reich himself. (He was offered the chance to run the German film industry by Josef Goebbels himself, but refused and fled the country instead.)
Here’s my Movie Man column focusing on the DVD, and here’s a video review with some clips that will hopefully encourage you to check it out. Seriously. Give the new movies a break just this once and watch a true – and almost unseen — classic.
June 8th, 2009
Managed to sneak out to an actual movie theater this weekend and caught a showing of Sam Raimi’s return to the horror genre, DRAG ME TO HELL. And, I’m happy to say, I had a great time.
It might sound like a strange thing to say about a movie prominently featuring demons, damnation and gallons of old lady saliva, but DRAG ME TO HELL is, above all else, a fun movie. This isn’t HOSTEL or SAW, where you’re afraid to look at the scene for fear of seeing the human body defiled in some new and disgusting way. Nope, this is an old-fashioned sort of scary movie, where the thrills and chills come from monsters appearing suddenly on the screen and from the characters (whom you actually care about — note this, modern horror writers!) having their lives go horribly wrong in ways you don’t expect.
The plot focuses on a friendly, mostly kind-heared bank employee (Alison Lohman, proving to be one heck of a good sport) getting a curse put on her after reluctantly turning down an old woman’s loan request. Naturally, things go downhill for our poor heroine from that point, but I won’t say anything else, because much of the fun of DRAG ME TO HELL comes from the specific ways that curse takes effect.
None of this is groundbreaking stuff, but it feels fresh, mostly because Raimi (who wrote the movie with his brother, Ivan) know just how to structure the film, delivering a nice mix of jump-out-of-your-seat shocks and they’re-not-really-going-to-do-that-are-they visuals. Before seeing DRAG ME TO HELL, I was worried about the PG-13 rating, but the lack of an R doesn’t hurt this movie a bit. Sure, it’s gross, but it’s not gory. The most blood, in fact, comes from a nosebleed. So if you like scary movies but hate onscreen anatomy lessons, don’t be afraid to see this one.
Anyone else see DRAG ME TO HELL? What did you think?
June 8th, 2009
Here, courtesy of Worth1000.com, are just a few of the responses to the “Celebrity Star Wars 5″ quiz, where entrants were asked to “Change a celebrity into a Star Wars character. Do NOT use an actor who actually was in Star Wars. Feel free to change the celebrity into any of the weird and wacky supporting Star Wars characters.”
Weird and wacky indeed…
Barrack Obama as Yoda…
The late John Denver as Luke (I like the whole 1970s vibe of this one, right down to the pattern on the tunic)…
And, course, Susan Boyle as an ewok.
See more — a lot more — here.
