Viva Machete!
September 2nd, 2010 by Gerard Iribe
“They f****d with the wrong Mexican!” You ain’t never lied! Chopped straight from the pages of Robert Rodriguez’s Planet Terror comes the tale of the man, the myth, the MACHETE! Featuring an all-star cast that include: Danny Trejo, Robert DeNiro, Jessica Alba, Jeff Fahey, Michelle Rodriguez, Don Johnson, Lindsay Lohan, Steven Seagal, and Cheech Marin, the film continues the tradition (at least in 2010) of eclectic casting (The Expendables and RED come to mind). I was honored to have had a chance to screen the film before audiences and nearly had a stroke in doing so. Machete kicked my butt! Continue reading ‘Viva Machete!’
One of Walt Disney’s biggest gambles has to be the much beloved Fantasia. At the time, Disney wanted to bring Mickey Mouse back in a big way as a comeback vehicle where the animation would be combined with classical music selections to tell a collection of different stories. Disney spared no expense to achieve the desired focus on quality and detail and even Mickey Mouse was redesigned to have a more modern and realistic look. Famed conductor 
One of the most influential movies of the post-apocalyptic genre, Mad Max will arrive on Blu-ray on October 5. This is the movie that catapulted the career of an unknown Mel Gibson into a box-office draw. In this movie, Gibson stars as Max Rockatansky who is basically Dirty Harry of Australia. Set in a dystopian future, where the civilized world as we know it has ended and societal norms have degraded to the point that gangs openly terrorize what’s left of the populace. 
Yes, the hills will be alive with the Sound of Music this November! This is one of my all time favorite musicals (a genre that doesn’t have that many movies that interest me) and I can’t wait for this to come out. Brilliantly directed by Robert Wise, with a stellar cast, great songs and choreography, and breathtaking panoramic visuals, this is the kind of movie that Blu-ray was created for. 
The final season of arguably one of the greatest TV shows ever made will be released this August with a ton of great extra features especially if you buy the complete collection that includes even more goodies; like the Senet game played by Jacob and the Man in Black and a collectible ankh and a black light along with a custom LOST island replica. I have to say that I loved this show even though it’s deliberate machinations sometimes maddened me to distraction. This is a show that you need to watch in order and with your full concentration. 
One of the funniest shows on TV right now is The Office and this September Season 6 finally arrives on Blu-ray and DVD! Some of you may know that this is an American remake of a hugely successful British series that starred Ricky Gervais. In my opinion, this new version is far superior in every way. With a stellar cast led by funny-man Steve Carell, this is a ground-breaking show that consistently makes me laugh. One of the rare things about this show is that they cast wears several hats as they also frequently write and direct some of the episodes as well as produce the show. 
One of the greatest movies of the 80s is finally coming to Blu-ray and it’s coming in style! The Goonies 25th Anniversary Box Set will arrive this September with a lot of extra goodies. I’ve always loved this movie and I think this was a one of those rare movies that is a part of our cultural landscape and loved by most of my generation. You can’t go wrong when the movie was conceptualized by Steven Spielberg, written by Chris Columbus, and directed by Richard Donner and has a fantastic cast. 
A lot of people including some reviewers on this site were somewhat disappointed with the latest re-imaging of Robin Hood, but I enjoyed it although I wish the movie began where it ended which would have been the traditional Robin Hood story. I’m a big fan of Ridley Scott and Russel Crowe and I have a lot of respect for their efforts to do something new but for a story that is so ingrained culturally across the world, I think they should have added more of the Robin Hood mythos along with the new back-story. 
Coming to save us all this September is MacGruber! For those of you that may not be familiar with this character which is a take off off MacGyver, it began as an Saturday Night Live sketch starring Will Forte and Kristen Wiig who inevitably have to defuse a bomb in a short amount of time. While some of the sketches are repetitive, this movie expanded the premise and was critcally well received, but it didn’t do as well at the the box office that many had hoped for. 
If you enjoyed the first two Family Guy Star Wars spoofs (Blue Harvest and Something Something Dark Side) like me, then you will love the final installment in the saga, It’s a Trap! I’ve always been impressed with how much effort the Family Guy team puts into matching the source movies down to the smallest details such as the escape from the Death Star scene from Star Wars where the Millennium Falcon evades a TIE Fighter. Even the editing is dead on accurate which thrills the inner Star Wars geek in me. 
When this movie was released in 1989 it I don’t remember hearing about it and I’d never seen it until now. At the time of this movie’s release, Mickey Rourke was near the beginning of his career freefall after a decade of hits. After this movie failed, his rollercoaster career began which is a shame because he did some good work in this movie. It all has a happy ending however, as The Wrestler brought him back front and center and he just played the main villain in Iron Man 2 so it will be interesting to see where his career goes now. 
I’m an unabashed Sylvester Stallone fan especially when it comes to the Rocky and Rambo movies. Back in the 80s he was in top form but towards the end of the decade, I noticed the quality of his movies were starting to go down starting with Cobra and then continuing on with movies like Stop! Or My Mom Will Shoot! Lock Up falls squarely in that period but fares a little better than a lot of those. It seems like Stallone was getting restless and most likely felt typecast and was trying as many different genres as possible. 
I think most people have at some point wondered “what if” whether it’s about a girl or boy in your past or a decision you made long ago that still keeps you awake at night on occasion. I think if everyone (myself included) were given the opportunity to find out how things could have been different knowing what they know now, they would jump at the chance if they had access to let’s say a GMC Delorean or in this case a Hot Tub Time Machine. 
The summer heat is in full effect, and that means you’re probably doing all you can to stay near the conditioned air. Well, no big deal because I’ve got the scoop on the coolest film festival this year—Sundance 2010. Last January I spent a week in Park City, Utah with frigid temperatures, fast women, and fun films. So, grab a cold one and tap your winter boots together because I’m bringing you back to the most severe winter in American history. Better late than never, here’s a round up of my experiences/journal from the 2010 Sundance Film Festival. 
I am huge fan of Christopher Nolan’s films especially Batman Begins and The Dark Knight, but I’ve also really enjoyed his other movies as well. While I haven’t seen his earliest work on Doodlebug and Following, I did see Memento, which catapulted him into the public consciousness in a big way. Nolan obviously has recurring themes throughout all of his movies as they all contain elements of obsession, psychological and physical pain, guilt, and characters who try to succeed despite their hardships. 
While I love the idea of a channel dedicated to science fiction, The SyFy Channel (formerly the SciFi Channel) seems to be in an identity crisis hence the name change. This is a channel that cranks out a ton of original movies that are questionable in quality such as Mansquito and Mega Snake, but they also had great shows like Battlestar Galactica and Stargate SG-1. I was curious as to where this movie would fall as far quality counted. 
Crazy tells the story of Hank Garland whose name may not be recognizable to most people, but the people he played guitar with and the songs he played on are surely are. Garland was one of the most in-demand session guitar players in Nashville and he played for the likes of Elvis Presley, Roy Orbison, The Everly Brothers, Conway Twitty, Patsy Cline, and Jerry Lee Lewis along with lots of others. 
I’ve always loved movies about magic so I was looking forward to reviewing The Illusionist which I missed in the theaters. I remember this movie came out around the same time as The Prestige so there were dueling magician movies just like volcano, Wyatt Earp and asteroid movies, which usually ends with the first movie doing well and the second one suffering. 
If you told me that mixed martial arts (MMA) fighting was the fastest growing sport around, I’d be hard-pressed to disagree with you. There is no denying the impression MMA has left on the public not just in the States, but around the world. The competitors come from around the globe to match not only their strength, but their wits against their fellow fighters. With personalities such as the Shamrock brothers, Chuck Liddell, and current powerhouse Anderson Silva, the landscape features an array of fighters from all weight classes, each with their unique arsenal of fighting styles. 
