This new film, currently titled The Zone, is said to be a “$5 million dollar ‘found footage’ film”, in the vein of Cloverfield, as it deals with an alien invasion. Seems hard to believe that the man who can go toe-to-toe with Bay for explosions and world demolition who tackle such a low budgeted idea. We shall see, although lately he’s been hit-or-miss. 2012 was pretty fun, but his 10,000 B.C. was not.

The Film:

Remember in The Dark Knight when Batman apprehends the copycat Batmans, and one questions: “What gives you the right? What’s the difference between you and me?” Batman calmly puts it: “I’m not wearing hockey pads!” That scene and verbal exchange struck me when I watched Defendor. In this film Woody Harrelson (2012, Zombieland) plays Arthur Poppington, a man who is sick of crime and the filth, and decides if no one else will clean up the streets, he will. It’s a black comedy, a deep satirical look at comic books and the heroes who occupy the pages, but it’s also an interesting character study of the character of Arthur, who in the film, just might not be all there in the head.

Defendor is sort of brilliant. Seriously. Throughout all of the costume changes, the tough guy-comic book hero talk, the spin on the genre, it also has a serious tone, that really echoes through the plot. It gives us weight, and even though poor Arthur might just be disillusioned, we care for him. The film defiantly has to be good at its balancing act, because Arthur is a cheeseball; when he is Defendor, he proclaims big talk, like Adam West in the 1960′s Batman TV series, but there are key moments of sympathy and turmoil in his eyes, that really flip the film back from just a send-up of the comic book genre.

Periodically, Arthur listens to a radio show, and in voice overs, the host tells about the crime in the city, the drugs and prostitution, and a caller chimes in saying why does he talk about it all the time. The radio host, says even if he does stop, the crime is still going to be there, and by not talking about it, it won’t get cleaned up by itself. This is the hook of the film. There are so many instances in our city’s news, where citizens look away. We don’t want to get involved. Do you remember when you saved Jack’s life? I’ll never forget what you did that day. You were just a regular guy doing something remarkable. You don’t need a costume. Ordinary people, they do extraordinary things all the time. You’re always going to be that hero, Arthur, just by being yourself. Arthur is told that, and even though he might be “not-all-there” in the head, his intentions speak loudly, and resonates with us, especially when we flip through our newspaper this evening.

The world needs a hero, and I would be glad if Defendor was there. Don’t judge it by the DVD cover art, this is a hidden gem, that should have been given a decent theatrical release. Defendor is what Kick-Ass wanted to be, but wasn’t.

The DVD:

Audio/Video: Sony delivers a sweet disc. The film has a gritty, real world New York feel to it, and the transfer perfectly recreates this. It’s a detailed standard definition transfer, with nice facial textures and some blacks. The audio is lively as well, with nice bass and urban atmospherics in the surround speakers.

Commentary: Everyone is here, the director Peter Stebbings, producer Nicholas Tabarrok, and actors Woody Harrelson and Kat Dennings, for a solid chat. It’s a fun listen, but also informative with plenty of good tidbits.

Featurettes: Broken up into five parts, we get nearly an hour of behind-the-scenes footage with set visits and interviews. It’s a decent watch for the earnest look at low budget film making.

Deleted Scenes that actually offer up some good material and Outtakes round out the extras.

Conclusion: A diamond-in-the-rough is Defendor, so see it now.

The Film: Rating: 4 out of 5 stars

The DVD: Rating: 4 out of 5 stars

The Film:

The Mayans, as well as other wizards of prophecy, have predicted that our world would end on December 21st, 2012. For all of the what ifs, plausible science, and some hefty inconvenient truths, it doesn’t take a scientist or NASA brainiac to see our world is exhibiting a change. Will this change cause and lead us to our doom? Maybe, and I think any logical human would say at least that’s a truth. But I also think any logical person could assume through rational thinking, that December 21st, 2012 is about as scary as all of that Y2K business a decade ago.

If anything, the Mayans, who couldn’t predict their own demise, probably could not predict a Mr. Roland Emmerich would take their Doomsday calendar, and craft pound-for-pound, one of the ultimate disaster films. So, props for the human sacrificers and Hollywood exploitation? Yeah, totally.

Jokes aside, 2012 is perhaps one of the best displays of global carnage ever put to screen. I’ll admit, Emmerich is no better or worse at the things Michael Bay does, but Emmerich has a heart and tries valiantly to inject a story and emotions into the characters, where Bay’s one mission is to blow things up, and how many times he can continue to blow more things up. I’ll give Bay credit though, he’s a great, if not the best second unit director out there, but Emmerich is a director, albeit one that loves B-films and popcorn. To each their own on what’s more entertaining, but Emmerich knows one thing, and that’s how to have fun. He has had some stinkers in his career, but 2012 literally blasts those prior duds to oblivion. 10,000-what?

The proceedings here are pretty typical, as he has crafted the standard issue disaster movie fodder, with stock characters of an estranged dad, humane scientists, father-son issues and their eventual respect, and Presidents as lead characters. Sounds familiar? It should, but one key difference makes all of the Emmerich cliches worth it: Chiwetel Ejiofor. He gives what this film needed, in between the awesome CG devastation scenes, he adds heart and humanity to everything. He’s so good, as he rises above the script, which I’ll admit, thinly characterizes the people. Ejiofor speaks for the theme of the film, and maybe even for the existence of mankind in 2012. Let’s assume if this all went down, that there would be anarchy, as people are struggling to survive. But his character knows outside of all of the science, that civilization and culture isn’t about who’s who in the political circles and who has the most coin in their bank accounts. Regular people doing what they do day-to-day makes up our culture and society, and Emmerich plays this chord in some nerve-racking moments towards the end of the film, that makes 2012 better than most of his other disaster films.

I don’t know where Emmerich goes from here. 2012 is like a maestro playing his grand opus, orchestrating each note to fine precision, all we can do is stand up and applaud. Look, 2012 promised nothing more than an epic display of destruction, and it delivers. True, Emmerich most likely had a blank check to construct these scenes, but they are really worth it. The whole escape from L.A. sequence is full of carnage and awe, and the same can be said for the Yellow Stone National Park scene. The disaster movie genre has been around for a good while, made famous from the ex-king of disaster films, Irwin Allen, but Emmerich has set the benchmark with 2012. Could some of the silliness be left out, and better characterizations be included? Sure, but the few flaws aside, 2012 is pure bliss for our carnage loving souls-a summer movie at heart, and Michael Bay has just been one upped by Emmerich.

On December 21st, 2012, as religious people are praying and atheists are waiting to see, the only ending I’ll be witnessing is the time code on my Blu-ray player, as I watch 2012 for the umpteenth time. It really is the the end-all-be-all of disaster movies. If anyone can top it, I bet his name is Emmerich.

The Blu-ray:

Audio/Video: Sony delivers a blast of reference quality audio and video. Even if you disliked the film, the audio in DTS will crush you, making for a sonic assault with deep bass and constant surround elements. The video is near perfect as well, with solid blue and black levels in the darker scenes, and rich clarity in the daylight scenes. There’s nothing to dissuade me from saying this is a pitch perfect Blu-ray from Sony. Wow.

Commentary: For such a long film, director Roland Emmerich and his screenwriter chat away for the length of the film endlessly with fun tidbits like a hard-to-spot North by Northwest nod, FX work, story ideas, and the like. It’s actually a fun listen, full of info on film making, making it a nice spin for commentary and the film’s fans.

Roland’s Vision: This is a picture-in-picture track. While neat, it’s far from the best I’ve seen using the PiP idea. Comments from the crew and actors are too brief for any real weight, but it’s worth skimming around for a few nuggets of info.

Deleted Scenes: In HD, the touted alternative ending is kind of cool to see, while other scenes were rightfully nixed.

Interactive Mayan Calendar: Okay, I must admit: this is sorta cool. I say sorta, because after a few minutes it gets old, but one learns the Mayan calendar and  glyphs, plus a neat little video on it all.

Countdown to the Future: This HD 30 minute piece is for people like me that dig into all of this End-of-the-World prophecies, as it features all of the Mayans’ beliefs and myths. A decent watch.

Designing the End of the World: In HD, this covers all of the great FX work in the film with behind-the-scenes footage. Good stuff.

Science behind the Destruction: In HD, this covers the film’s use of technology and how it evolved over the course from day one to finished product. It’s a little redundant as the commentary covered it mostly already.

The Master of the Modern Epic is a love letter to Emmerich, End of the World: An Actor’s Perspective is ho-hum, Trailers, Online Activity, and an Adam Lambert Music Video round out the extras. Look for a Digital Copy on the other disc of this set.

Conclusion: Good times with the End of the World from Emmerich on a superb Sony Blu-ray.

The Film: Rating: 3.5 out of 5 stars

The Blu-ray: Rating: 4.5 out of 5 stars

2012

Big, loud, and every bit as fun as we hoped, Emmerich delivered. (Formats: Blu-ray/DVD)   Jon says: Buy   Donny says: Rent

Where the Wild Things Are

Wow, just wow. How could this film be so tedious and boring? I don’t know, but it was very, very boring. Our own Mike Cook had to nudge me a few times to stay awake! I never believed that one of my own personal hyped films, would be so disappointing. (Formats: Blu-ray/DVD)  Jon says: Avoid   Donny says: Rent

Ponyo

While slightly different than most of the work from Miyazaki, it’s a wonderful, cheerful tale, that is a must watch. (Formats: Blu-ray/DVD)  Jon says: Buy   Donny says: Buy

Bitch Slap

Those crazy Russ Meyer films live again…we hope. Looks outrageous! (Formats: DVD only)  Jon says: Rent   Donny says: Buy

Return to the 36th Chamber

The classic sequel gets a ho-hum DVD release from Dragon Dynasty. No extras, sadly, but this is a classic martial arts film from the Shaw Brothers, and a film that help spur the legend in rap known as the Wu Tang Clan! (Formats: DVD only)  Jon says: Buy   Donny says: Buy

Gentlemen Broncos

Team Napoleon Dynamite return with this little seen comedy. (Formats: Blu-ray/DVD)  Jon says: Rent   Donny says: Rent

New to Blu

36th Chamber of Shaolin

Clash of the Titans (1981)

The Neverending Story

Look for reviews of these discs and more, only on Killer Film!

There are quite a few films that did not make the cut, some of them include Watchmen, G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra, Coraline, Where the Wild Things Are and Disney’s A Christmas Carol. The Academy Awards takes place on March 7th at the Kodak Theatre in Hollywood. Here’s the list from Reuters.:

Best Visual Effects Shortlist

• Avatar
• District 9
• Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince
• Star Trek
• Terminator Salvation
• Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen
• 2012

The unfortunate part is for the surprisingly hilarious and light hearted comedy Pirate Radio, barely able to make $2.8 Million through it’s opening weekend. Precious continues to show what the power of Oprah’s voice can do with it’s wider release as it makes a cool $6 Million. Paranormal Activity proves that it’s not going anywhere as it passes the $100 Million mark, completely proving that a good idea can keep a movie afloat better than star power. Here’s the rest of the list, provided by Box Office Mojo, right below.:

Weekend Box Office (November 13-15)

1. 2012  ($65 M)
2. A Christmas Carol  ($22.3 M)
3. The Men Who Stare at Goats  ($6.2 M)
4. Precious  ($6 M)
5. Michael Jackson’s This Is It  ($5.1 M)
6. The Fourth Kind  ($4.7 M)
7. Couples Retreat  ($4.25 M)
8. Paranormal Activity  ($4.2 M)
9. Law Abiding Citizen  ($3.9 M)
10. The Box  ($3.1 M)

Turkey time is drawing near, and what better way to start stuffing your movie palate than with The Blind Side, Planet 51 or every other teenage girl’s most anticipated movie with Twilight Saga: New Moon.

Roland Emmerich, the man behind such disaster porn films as “Independence Day”, “The Day After Tomorrow”, “Godzilla” and the upcoming “2012″ recently spoke with the folks over at The Guardian. He stated that, aside from the famous religious icons seen destroyed in the films trailer, his plans were to also destroy the Kabba. It is a Muslim object of faith where Muslims all over the world turn to in prayer.

In an attempt to keep the peace, the director decided not the destroy the iconic cube shaped structure in the grand mosque stating:

“I wanted to do that, I have to admit,” Emmerich said. “You can actually let Christian symbols fall apart, but if you would do this with [an] Arab symbol, you would have … a fatwa, and that sounds a little bit like what the state of this world is. So it’s just something which I kind of didn’t [think] was [an] important element, anyway, in the film, so I kind of left it out.”

So whether it was in fear of the so called death sentence (fatwa) or just trying to be politically correct, Emmerich feels only Christian and Buddhist objects of faith were in good taste to completely destroy.

Source: The Guardian

“Dean Devlin and I are still set to make a sequel likely because we’ve found some sort of idea and we approached FOX and FOX has not quite figured out how to incorporate Dean’s and my deal, and Will’s (Smith) deal. Will wants to do it in some sort of a package they can live with. So it’s just been in [negotiations] now since forever, and naturally FOX says ‘Why don’t you do it without Will Smith?’ I said Will is essential for us, for this movie and actually for the audience too. And, so, it’s in limbo and lately the studios are fighting. Like gross players, and Will is a gross player and is probably the only gross player right now who’s worth his gross. So we’ll see what happens. I would love to do it.”

At the moment Roland Emmerich is knee deep in post-production on his newest disaster film 2012. He is also attached to two projects, one of them being the comic book based science fiction film “The Foundation”. The other that is in some what on back burner limbo is “Isobar”, a high priced science fiction film that Emmerich got his hands on a couple of years back and has sunk into the deep recesses of development.

Jennifer’s Body:

2012:

This is all currently just a rumor. I love all things Godzilla, but we have experienced two American version already: Godzilla: King of the Monsters in 1956 and of course, the Matthew Broderick starring Godzilla (1998). Plus, for all intent and purposes, Cloverfield was a Godzilla-like film. If this is true, and that’s a big if, maybe whoever is the writer and/or director needs to look at what made the original Japanese Gojira (Godzilla) work: subtext and themes. If I remember correctly, Toho Studios said after the Emmerich blockbuster flop, they wouldn’t allow anyone else to take Godzilla again, and in Godzilla: Final Wars (currently the last Godzilla film), the original Gojira kicked the crap out of ‘Zilla (from the US 1998 film).

For fans of the original, look for the Classic Media release of Gojira on Blu Ray this September, and keep it here for further developments on this.

Source: /Film

Avatar

Nightmare on Elm Street

Dead of Night

Scott Pilgrim Vs. The World

Alice In Wonderland

Iron Man 2 (site is live but no updates as of yet)

Saw 6

Tron: Legacy

True Blood

2012

The Book of Eli

Where The Wild Things Are

Sherlock Holmes

Source: Trailer Addict

Source: THR