Tag: trailers

10 Horror Films to Watch on Halloween (as voted by you)

You’ve been having costume parties all weekend, gone trick or treating and eaten your own body weight in candy. Now you’ve also noticed that it happens to be Halloween. Is there a better way to celebrate the day itself than by watching a few good horror films?

A few days ago, we asked our social networks of Facebook and Twitter to name some of their favourite horror films for the season to be spooky. Here’s what they came up with (and a few we added in as well):

Paranormal Activity (2007)

Given that the second sequel is out this week, Christina Lungo has chosen the original Paranormal Activity. There have been a wave of “found footage” films since, including this year’s Apollo 18, and here’s the trailer that started it all. Well, except The Blair Witch Project, which started it all back in 1999.

The Blair Witch Project (1999)

Speak of the devil, or at least one of it’s minions, Sean Riley has suggested that we include this on our list of horror films this year. In October 1994, three student filmmakers disappeared in the woods near Burkittsville, Maryland while shooting a documentary. A year later their footage was found. At least that’s what the clever viral marketing campaign from Daniel Myrick and Eduardo Sánchez would have us believe. It may seem so played now, but at the time there was some genuine and justified buzz around this film. Try and picture yourself back in 1999 while watching this:

Wolf Creek (2005)

Let us just say that while we aren’t the greatest fans of this Aussie horror flick, it certainly made an impact on local and international audiences. It also made us see John Jarrat, who we previously knew as a beloved television personality, as the psycho killer he was born to be. Jane Whelan voted for this one to be included on our list.

A Nightmare on Elm Street (1984)

This got included on our favourite horror movie posters, and it remains a classic for many, including James Morrison. That’s our reader James Morrison, and not the late lead singer of The Doors. Unless, of course, the latter is reaching out from beyond the grave to let us know his favourite horror films. Never sleep again!

A group of teenagers, including a very young Johnny Depp, are stalker in their dreams by a killer paedophile. The film spawned five direct sequels, original director Wes Craven’s meta-entry Wes’s Craven’s New Nightmare, monster mash-up Freddy Vs. Jason and a terrible 2010 remake.

Ringu (1998)/The Ring (2002)

Here’s where we get a little cheaty and include two trailers. Japanese horror sensation The Ring (Ringu) was in many ways responsible for the short-lived global fascination with all things J-Horror. The trailers are worlds apart, with the first showing visceral and often abstract imagery and the second explaining the plot. Our ideal film is a combination of the two.

The Orphange (2007)

This one had completely slipped from our minds. The reader suggestion came to us via Jason Reed, who actually suggested about five titles, many of which ended up on this list as bona fide classics. Juan Antonio Bayona’s film was, like 90% of all films, produced by Guillermo del Toro. As explained by IMDB: “A woman brings her family back to her childhood home, where she opens an orphanage for handicapped children. Before long, her son starts to communicate with an invisible new friend”.

Halloween II (1981)

Reader George Matheos said that “Halloween Part II scared the hell out of me as a kid…”, and that hot tub scene is fondly remembered for its large amounts of nudity and terrifying dying. Immediately following the events of the first film, it isn’t one of the greatest films in the series. Directed by Rick Rosenthal, who would go on to direct the Halloween: Resurrection sequel, this is pure 1980s!

Psycho (1960)

We had to include this. The Alfred Hitchcock film needs little introduction, and is the consummate horror film. In an age where the Internet spoils us with copious amounts of footage, this is how one markets a film with a six minute trailer that actually shows you virtually nothing of the film, and certainly none of the plot details. Naturally, it features Hitch taking us on a tour of terror.

Silent Night, Deadly Night 2 (1987)

A personal indulgence. This film contains about 80% footage from the first entry. The trailer ups the ante by including about 95% of the footage from the first film. That’s some marketing.

Sex and the City 2 (2010)

We had to include this. On Twitter nathangielis says: “Sex and the City 2 – those harpies are fucking terrifying.” We couldn’t agree more.

October 31, 2011
New poster and trailer for My Week with Marilyn

A trailer and a new poster for the biopic My Week with Marilyn has been released online. Although labelled an exclusive by iTunes Trailers, we’re pretty sure this trailer has been floating around for at least three weeks. The poster, pictured below, is brand new and comes to us via Moviefone.

In the early summer of 1956, 23 year-old Colin Clark (Eddie Redmayne), just down from Oxford and determined to make his way in the film business, worked as a lowly assistant on the set of ‘The Prince and the Showgirl’. The film that famously united Sir Laurence Olivier (Kenneth Branagh) and Marilyn Monroe (Michelle Williams), who was also on honeymoon with her new husband, the playwright Aurthur Miller (Dougray Scott). Nearly 40 years on, his diary account The Prince, the Showgirl and Me was published, but one week was missing and this was published some years later as My Week with Marilyn – this is the story of that week. When Arthur Miller leaves England, the coast is clear for Colin to introduce Marilyn to some of the pleasures of British life; an idyllic week in which he escorted a Monroe desperate to get away from her retinue of Hollywood hangers-on and the pressures of work.

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U_tbnTM7zVE

October 29, 2011
Blu-ray Review: Robot Chicken – Star Wars Episode III
[stextbox id=”grey” caption=”Disc Specifications” float=”true” align=”right” width=”220″]

Director: Chris McKay

Runtime: 44 minutes

Starring: Seth Green, Rachael Leigh Cook, Anthony Daniels, Zac Efron, Tom Kane, Breckin Meyer, Seth MacFarlane

Video: 1080p HD/2:40:1 (16:9)

Audio:
- Dolby True HD: English 5.1
- Dolby Digital: English 5.1
Subtitles:
- English for the hard of hearing
Extras:
- Audio Commentary
- Video Commentary
- Deleted Scenes
- Behind the Scenes
- Gag Reel
- George Lucas Feature
- Trailers
Distributor: Madman

More info

[/stextbox]

The Robot Chicken series has unleashed the sadistic monster in all of us that likes to do strange things with our toys. Corrupting our innocence by desecrating our beloved childhood memories, the original television series was was inspired by the Twisted Mego Theatre/Twisted ToyFare Theatre, taking established toys and real-world characters and putting them in alternatively bizarre and mundane situations. Imagine Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan as an Italian opera, or a comedy back-story to the construction of the temple from the opening sequences of Raiders of the Lost Ark. Since 2008, Robot Chicken has been running an annual special dedicated to all things Star Wars.

Unlike the first two specials, Robot Chicken – Star Wars Episode III takes a narrative approach. Rather than being a series of non sequiturs, the third chapter gives us the untold story of Emperor Palpatine, from a time before Star Wars: Episode I – The Phantom Menace to his untimely demise at the end of Return of the Jedi. Spoilers? “Nooooooo!”. Using a freeze-frame motif that would sit nicely in a 1980s comedy, Palpatine tells us of his entry into politics, his regrets over choosing Anakin Skywalker as an apprentice and life in the Empire. We also get some extended universe stories, including the further adventures of Boba Fett in the pit of the Sarlacc and tertiary characters like Prune Face. Apparently, he had his own action figure.

The sequential Robot Chicken works surprising well, perhaps due to the last few seasons failing to have the impact of the outrageously funny originals. When one begins to expect the unexpected, the only fallback seems to have been toilet humour. Not so with this special, which clearly pours a lot of love for the franchise into the 44 minutes of special goodness found here. Unlike the Family Guy parodies, also from Seth MacFarlane, Robot Chicken does not simply replace Star Wars scenarios with different characters. Rather, it re-imagines the entire universe if George Lucas had created it on the drugs that he has clearly been on since 1997. For every Star Wars geek who will die defending George Lucas’ every change to the Trilogy, there are those of us who just enjoy mocking our own hopeless love of a series that may never cease to be enjoyable. This is the target market of Robot Chicken – Star Wars Episode III.

The Disc:

As one would imagine from a disc of the fairly recent origin of 2010, the HD video does a great job of translating from the small screen to exactly the same size screen. You can see every bit of cloth and plastic that were used, but not harmed, in production.

The list of bonus features is quite extensive, starting with four audio commentaries covering the actors, the directors, the writers and the technical crew. Chicken Nuggets is a branched feature that doesn’t work entirely, and would have been much better served by a PiP track. If that’s not enough, there’s also about 22 minutes worth of featurettes, the Skywalker Ranch Premiere, the panel from the Star Wars Celebration V convention, 26 deleted scenes that run for about a minute each, a special appearance by George Lucas (who seems to have dedicated far too much space to parodies on his own Blu-rays) and of course, some Madman trailers.

[stextbox id=”custom” caption=”The Reel Bits”]Perhaps the best Robot Chicken special to date, adding a cohesive narrative it manages to achieve something that the official Star Wars movies have not managed for the last decade or so, and make a Star Wars adventure that never takes itself seriously and is just fun.[/stextbox]

Robot Chicken – Star Wars Episode III was released in Australia on 3 August 2011 from Madman.
September 11, 2011
Footage from ‘Twilight: Breaking Dawn’ Panel at Comic-Con

Crowds cheered as stars Robert Pattinson, Kristen Stewart and Taylor Lautner took to the stage at Comic-Con over the weekend to promote the two-part The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn film and answer questions. Thanks to Summit Entertainment and NIXCO, we have some footage from that panel.

The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn – Part 1 is the first part of the last chapter in the epic vampire saga that has launched a thousand fan sites. One of the most anticipated elements of this next film is the much talked about “wedding” sequence, which we have already seen glimpses of from the teaser trailer so far.

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6zVg9wqq8Ek

The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn – Part 1 is released in Australia on 17 November 2011 from Hoyts Distribution.

The Reel Bits is the cinema arm of DVD Bits. Richard can be found on Twitter @DVDBits. The Reel Bits is also @The_ReelBits

July 26, 2011
New Look: Clips from ‘Transformers Dark of the Moon’, James Cameron and Michael Bay talk 3D

As the release of Transformers: Dark of the Moon draws closer, the number of clips that Paramount are released continues to increase. The two latest offerings from the film are a short clip from the forthcoming film, and the second is a featurette on the state-of-the-art 3D camerawork used in the production in a conversation with James Cameron and Michael Bay.

Transformers: Dark of the Moon follows on from 2009′ss Razzie Award winningTransformers: Revenge of the Fallen, and is based on the 1980s animated series of the same name.

In the clip ‘Duchess’, Sam Witwicky (Shia LaBeouf) and his Megan Fox replacement Carly (Rose Huntington-Whiteley) are introduced to the slick Dylan (Patrick Dempsey), setting up something of a potential love triangle. It also gives us our first taste of the Maxim-winning models acting…er…talents.

Transformers 3-Dark of the Moon Duchess clip by Paramount_Australia (Click link if video isn’t displaying)

This second feature will be of particular interest to people who are interested in all things geeky, but the winning combination of Avatar helmer James Cameron and Transformers series director Michael Bay certainly provides an insight into how two titans of the industry see the future of the format. The featurette, entitled 3D: A Transforming Visual Art gives you some indication of how these two guys view the format. Regardless of whether you are interested in the film or not, this is a must-watch interview, even if there is a little bit of mutual ego-fluffing happening. A classic moment is Michael Bay describing himself as “a director with a little dream of doing a 3D movie”. ‘Nuff said.

Transformers 3-Dark of the Moon Bay & Cameron… by Paramount_Australia (Click link if video isn’t displaying)

Transformers: Dark of the Moon hits Australian cinemas on 30 June 2011 fromParamount.

The Reel Bits is the cinema arm of DVD Bits. DVD Bits can be found on Twitter@DVDBits and The Reel Bits@The_ReelBits. DVD Bits is at http://www.dvdbits.com.

May 25, 2011
First Look: New ‘Super 8’ train clips

As anticipation for the J.J. Abrams (Star Trek, Lost) and Steven Spielberg (do we really need to tell you what he’s done?) collaboration Super 8 grows, Paramount have seemingly begun to release the crucial “train sequence” in 30 minute segments. We’ve held off posting each of them here, but thanks to Paramount Australia we can now present all four clips together in one hit.

In the summer of 1979, a group of friends in a small Ohio town witness a catastrophic train crash while making a super 8 movie and soon suspect that it was not an accident. Shortly after, unusual disappearances and inexplicable events begin to take place in town, and the local Deputy tries to uncover the truth – something more terrifying than any of them could have imagined.

Super 8 – Train Clip (1) by Paramount_Australia

Super 8 – Train Clip (2) by Paramount_Australia

Super 8 – Train Clip (3) by Paramount_Australia

Super 8 – Train Clip (4) by Paramount_Australia

It’s been a bit unfairly labelled as “E.T. with lens flare”, following the Interweb’s bemusement over lens flare in space in Abrams last Star Trek film, but we think that the hand of Spielberg on this will ensure there is a decent Stand By Me meets Cloverfield vibe going for it. If that’s not on a poster by the end of the year, we’ll gladly eat our ham hats.

Super 8 is a Bad Robot/Amblin Entertainment production, directed by J.J. Abrams from his original script and produced by Steven Spielberg, Abrams and Bryan Burk.

The film stars Kyle Chandler, Elle Fanning, Joel Courtney, Gabriel Basso, Noah Emmerich, Ron Eldard, Riley Griffiths, Ryan Lee and Zach Mills.

Super 8 will be released on 9 June 2011 in Australia from Paramount.

The Reel Bits is the cinema arm of DVD Bits. DVD Bits can be found on Twitter @DVDBits and The Reel Bits @The_ReelBits. DVD Bits is athttp://www.dvdbits.com.

May 21, 2011
New banners and trailer for ‘Transformers: Dark of the Moon’

With a new trailer exploding across the interwebs as we typed this, the good people at Paramount Australia have sent over a look at three new character banners for the forthcoming Michael Bay film: Bumblebee, Optimus Prime and Shockwave.

Transformers: Dark of the Moon (yes, they are still going with that title) follows on from 2009’ss Razzie Award winning Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen, and is based on the 1980s animated series of the same name.

You know the score: the battle between the Autobots and the Deceptacons continues, and Shia LaBeouf returns as Sam Witwicky. Sadly for the fanboys around the world, Megan Fox has dropped out of this film. For lovers of fine acting, this shouldn’t prove to be a problem.

Transformers: Dark of the Moon hits Australian cinemas on 30 June 2011 from Paramount.

April 29, 2011
Trailer Round-Up: ‘Three Musketeers’, ‘Get Low’ and ‘Burke & Hare’

A trio of trailers have landed in our inbox, each for a tale that embodies the spirit of adventure. With Australian trailers for latest version of The Three Musketeers, the quirky Get Low and the marvelous-looking Ripper comedy Burke and Hare, it seems as though we are safe from the scourge of boredom for the time being.

The Three Musketeers

The recipient of almost 30 screen adaptations, starring everyone from Don Ameche and Gene Kelly to Michael York and Kiefer Sutherland. Proving once and for all that any idea worth filming is worth filming again (and again), Paul W.S. Anderson (Resident Evil: Afterlife) is bringing the characters back to life in glorious 3D (of course) and bringing Logan Lerman, Ray Stevenson, Luke Evans, Christoph Waltz, Orlando Bloom, Milla Jovovich and Matthew Macfadyen with him.

Despite Mickey Mouse and Barbie® both having a crack at the Alexandre Dumas tale on the direct-to-DVD front, we haven’t seen a proper big-screen adaptation since Disney’s 1993 adaptation with Kiefer Sutherland, Chris O’Donnell, Oliver Platt, Tim Curry and a pre-winning Charlie Sheen. Does this new adaptation have the tiger-blood necessary to make this stand out in a crowded season?

Check out the trailer and decide for yourself:

The Three Musketeers is released in Australia on 12 May 2011 from Hoyts.

Get Low

For years townsfolk have been terrified of the backwoods recluse know as Felix Bush (Robert Duvall). People say he’s done all manner of unspeakable things – that he’s killed in cold blood; that he’s in league with the Devil; that he has strange powers. Then, one day, Felix rides into town with a shotgun and a wad of cash, saying he wants to buy himself a “living funeral”. Anyone who ever heard a story about him will come to tell it, while he takes it all in. Fast-talking funeral home owner Frank Quinn (Bill Murray) enlists his young apprentice Buddy (Lucas Black) to win over Felix’s business and what he discovers is that behind Felix’s surreal plan lies a very real and long-held secret that must get out.

Bill Murray has reinvented himself as an indie darling in the last few decades, from Lost in Translation, frequent appearances in Wes Anderson films and a well-placed cameo in Zombieland. Soon to star alongside Mickey Rourke and Megan Fox in Passion Play, Aaron Schneider’s 2009 film has taken its time getting to our shores, but we should be grateful that it isn’t going directly to DVD!

Get Low is released in Australia on 26 May 2011 from Rialto Distribution.

Burke and Hare

The 19th century black comedy, Burke and Hare featuring our own Isla Fisher, is coming to cinemas 12 May. With the basis of a true story behind it and a well known director like John Landis, the film is ‘something alternative’ this year and an antidote to the sequels and 3D movies coming out.

John Landis is no stranger to darkly comic material, and this black comedy based on the West Port serial murders certainly seems to be taking a different step to the Starring Simon Pegg (Paul) and Andy Serkis (Lord of the Rings), this throwback looks like it going to be a lot of fun.

Burke and Hare arrives in Australia on 12 May 2011 from Paramount.

April 20, 2011
‘Super 8’ Trailer

J.J. Abrams was last seen around these parts directing the fabulous Star Trek reboot in 2009 (yes, it really was two years ago), and while he has kept himself busy producing Morning Glory and writing/producing the forthcoming Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol, we eagerly anticipate whatever he has in stall for us next.

Back in February, we looked at the Super Bowl Spots from Paramount, giving us a 30-second look at Super 8, co-produced by none other than Steven Spielberg! Now, thanks again to Paramount, we have a full trailer for the film to look at.

In the summer of 1979, a group of friends in a small Ohio town witness a catastrophic train crash while making a super 8 movie and soon suspect that it was not an accident. Shortly after, unusual disappearances and inexplicable events begin to take place in town, and the local Deputy tries to uncover the truth – something more terrifying than any of them could have imagined. Directed by J.J. Abrams from his original script, the Amblin Entertainment and Bad Robot Production film is produced by Steven Spielberg, Abrams and Bryan Burk.

The film stars Elle Fanning, Kyle Chandler, Ron Eldard, Noah Emmerich, Gabriel Basson, Joel Courtney, Ryan Lee, Zach Mills and Amanda Michalka.

Super 8 is released on 9 June 2011 in Australia from Paramount.

March 23, 2011
‘Puss in Boots’ and ‘Kung Fu Panda 2’: 2011 in animation

Animation lovers of the world rejoice as Paramount sends over not one but two new trailers for their forthcoming films, Puss in Boots and Kung Fu Panda 2. We also take a look at some of the other animated favourites, and by that we largely mean sequels and remakes, coming up on the big screen this year.

Puss in Boots

The Shrek franchise has well and truly worn at this point, with no less than four films to the cash-cow franchise. The most recent installment, Shrek Forever After, boldly tagged itself as “The Final Chapter”. This didn’t stop Friday the 13th: The Final Chapter, Final Destination or Star Trek: The Final Frontier (or the entire Final Fantasy series for that matter), and nobody said anything about spin-offs or prequels. Case in point: Puss in Boots.

Antonio Banderas reprises his role as the titular kitty, and is joined by the likes of Salma Hayek, Billy Bob Thornton, Amy Sedaris and Zach Galifianakis (as Humpty Dumpty!). The film will be a prequel to the Shrek films, and tell the back story of the swashbuckling cat and how he came to meet up with the big green ogre and his donkey.

Puss in Boots is due out in cinemas in Australia on 8 December 2011 from Paramount Australia.

Kung Fu Panda 2

The surprise hit (of sorts) of 2008, the tale of an overweight panda named Po (voiced by Jack Black) was given a deceptively simple and old-fashioned story. Eschewing the kind of pop-song centric approach that many of the Dreamworks stablemates had taken, Jack Black as Po was believable as the everyman in a way he hasn’t been able to pull off in a live-action film in a number of years. The sequel looks promising with the return of the already excellent voice cast that includes Dustin Hoffman, Angelina Jolie, Jackie Chan, Lucy Liu, Seth Rogen, David Cross, and the addition of Michelle Yeoh, Jean-Claude Van Damme and Gary Oldman to the mix.

Kung Fu Panda 2 is due out in cinemas in Australia on 23 June 2011 from Paramount Australia.

2 Other Animated Films We Are Looking Forward To…

2011 looks to be the year of birds, cars, bears, cats, penguins and chipmunks – and whatever the hell a Smurf is. (Delicious, apparently). Yet of those films, only the recent Rango and the forthcoming Rio are original creations. Almost all of the forthcoming animated films in 2011 are part of a larger franchise, and it makes us a little worried for the sake of the Best Animated Film category at the Oscars next year.

The Adventures of Tin Tin: Secret of the Unicorn – If the thought of a CGI-animated Tin Tin doesn’t already float your boat, perhaps the state-of-the-art motion capture technology will. Or maybe that the legendary Steven Spielberg is directing a script by Steven Moffat (Doctor Who), Edgar Wright (Scott Pilgrim Vs. The World) and Joe Cornish (The Adam and Joe Show). Hergé’s most famous creation should have lovers of animation and film-lovers alike wetting their pants in anticipation, especially when the voice (and motion) talents of Simon Pegg, Jamie Bell, Daniel Craig, Cary Elwes, Nick Frost and Andy Serkis grace the cast list. The Adventures of Tin Tin: Secret of the Unicorn is due out in Australia on 26 December 2011 from Paramount.

Winnie the Pooh – The multi-billion dollar franchise may have already overstayed its welcome for some, especially those who still believe it was sacrilege to tamper with the works of A.A. Milne. However, Disney’s red-shirted version of the bear of very little brain has become iconic in its own right, and this gentle reminder of all things great about being simple may be just the ticket in these dark times. To make things more interesting, Disney’s first 2D theatrical short, The Ballad of Nessie, will screen before the film making this a double-feature of sorts for Disney animation buffs. Winnie the Pooh is due out in the US on 15 July 2011, and 22 September 2011 in Australia from Walt Disney Pictures.

… and a Couple We Aren’t Looking Forward To

Alvin & The Chipmunks: Chipwrecked – It baffles the mind that this has made it to a third installment, but at least one other franchise on this page has made it to an official fifth, so go figure. While this is technically only part-animated, with live action and CGI elements mixed together, the principle ‘cast’ are all animated characters so we think it counts. We just really wish that it didn’t. The title-puns are still bad, but this is marginally better than ‘The Squeakquel‘. The similar-looking Hop is coming soon, although that does look as though it has a bit more depth than a record being played at high-speed. Alvin & the Chipmunks: Chipwrecked is due out in Australia on 15 December 2011 from Fox.

Cars 2 – This may be a surprise from a website that has long favoured anything that comes from the House of Mouse or Pixar, but the original 2006 John Lasseter/Joe Ranft vanity project is one of the few misfires in the Pixar canon. There was so much wrong with the overlong and complete unmagical first installment, and adding more cars and the convoluted ‘spy thriller’ storyline only seems likely to compound the problem. We will remain cautiously optimistic in the wake of Up and Toy Story 3, but reserve our excitement for 2012’s Brave. Cars 2 is due out 23 June 2011 in Australia from Walt Disney Pictures.

The Reel Bits is the cinema arm of DVD Bits. DVD Bits can be found on Twitter @DVDBits and The Reel Bits @The_ReelBits. DVD Bits is athttp://www.dvdbits.com.

March 17, 2011