Twilight Breaking Dawn Part 2 Review

The Meal: Promotion

ANNOUNCEMENT!!!! I have set in motion my plans to make my first Big short film! The script is written, a website and kick starter will be made and if you want to help out Please let me know!  It's about two men locked in a room together and the one plans to kill the other. Here's a preview of the script:




FADE IN:
INT. A DARKLY LIT ROOM- DUSK

Cody a twenty year old man is chained to a chair in the middle of the room. Cody slowly wakes up looking around the nearly empty room, seeing a refrigerator and stove to the right of him and a bed to the left, and only one window high up.

                                    CODY
               Ugh.....wh-where am I?

Cody looks up and sees BLAKE, a man about the same age as Cody, sitting in a chair across from him. Blake is listening to an mp3, noticing Cody as he wakes up.

                                    BLAKE
               Oh! You're up! Good, I need you up.

                                      CODY
               Who....who are you?

                                      BLAKE
                I'm-

Cody suddenly starts to fall unconscious again, though Blake tries to keep him up.

                                      BLAKE (CONT'D)
                 Wait! Stay up! Stay up!

Blake punches Cody on the knee really hard, causing Cody to jump. Cody finally notices the chains around his wrist and ankles, and violently thrashes around now fully awake.

                                        CODY
                   Who are you!? Why am I chained up!? Who the hell are you!?

                                       BLAKE
                  Calm down, calm down.

                                        CODY
                  What are you going to do to me!? What do you want!?

                                       BLAKE
                  I said, calm the hell down!

Blake pushes Cody back down by his shoulders, sitting down in his chair across from Cody.

                                        BLAKE (CONT'D)
                  I'm sorry.....confession time. I knocked you out and in about an hour I'll be killing.

                                         CODY
                  What!?

                                         BLAKE
                   Well yeah and in the next hour or so, I'll try my best to ready you for your death.

                                          CODY
                      You're fucking insane!

                                         BLAKE
                       I wish that was true....

Cody struggles to get out of his chains as Blake simple walks over to the stove and refrigerator. Cody then sees his cell phone on a small table sitting next to him but its outside his reach.

                                          CODY
                       Why do this huh? Why not just kill me now!?

                                         BLAKE
                       Because...I want to keep some of my humanity.

                                          CODY
                        How touching.

                                          BLAKE
......if you want you cell phone, just ask. Besides I was going to start with your last meal before we get to phone calls.

                                          CODY
What do you mean by last meal!? You're gonna feed me poison, or something?

                                          BLAKE
I was actually going to cook anything you wanted. Again it's your last meal.

Film News: Morrison & Robertson's Happy to be developed for Film by Rza & Hudlin

  The miniseries first issue has just come out mere weeks ago and it is already getting a film. Grant Morrison and Darick Robertson's Happy miniseries has been picked up by newly minted director RZA and producer Reginald Hudlin for a film adaption. The book focuses on  a former cop and hitman by the name of Nick Saxx who starts to see a 'Care Bear' level of sweet and happy blue flying horse who will not allow Saxx to feel sad ... for ANY reason.

Grant Morrison had described Happy to CBR earlier this summer.

"Imagine the most cynical, fucked up man in the world having to deal with this -- with a sickeningly upbeat little cartoon character -- each trapped with the other.' What would it be like if the Bad Lieutenant teamed up with Pegasus the Flying Horse? By this time, I knew the Happy the Horse would be tiny. And it struck me that I could throw 'Christmas story' in with this as well. I've always wanted to have a go at a classic Christmas story like 'It's A Wonderful Life' or 'A Christmas Carol' but with characters drawn from the shock headlines of the 21st century. So this idea seemed to lend itself to that and it gave me a chance to do the kind of wider, symbolic pop cult critique that I like. It just grew from there."



 The script for the movie adaption has been confirmed to be written by Morrison himself. While there is no set date for when the Happy film will come out ... prob ably around Christmas next year or so ... but Happy #1 by Morrison and Robertson is in stores now.
 

Film News: V/H/S DVD & Blu-Ray release in December

Reported by Bloody-Disgusting.com's, Brad Miska (Mr. Disgusting), the horror indie film, "V/H/S" will be released on both DVD ($ 26.98) and Blu-Ray ($29.98) on December 4th, courtesy of Magonlia Pictures.

Available to view on VOD (video-on-demand) services and released in selected US theaters today, October 5th. V/H/S is a American anthology horror film that was shot with the "found-footage" motif in mind.

Synopsis:

"When a group of petty criminals is hired by a mysterious party to retrieve a rare piece of found footage from a random house in the middle of nowhere, they soon realize that the job isn't going to be easy as they thought. In the living room, a lifeless body holds court before a hub of old television sets, surrounded by stacks upon stacks of VHS tapes. As they search for the right one, they are treated to a seemingly endless number of horrifying videos, each stranger then the last."

DVD/Blu-Ray Extras:

• Deleted scenes

• Visual Effects feature

• Behind-the-scenes feature

• AXS TV: A Look at V/H/S feature 

• Trailers

The directors that take part of  this horror anthology piece:

- Adam Wingard (You're Next, A Horrible Way to Die, Pop Skull)

- Simon Barrett (You're Next, Dead Birds, Red Sands)

- Ti West (The House of the Devil, The Roost, The Innkeepers)

- David Bruckner (The Signal)

- Joe Swanberg (Silver Bullets)

- Glenn McQuaid (I Sell the Dead)

- Radio Silence Productions "Chad, Matt and Rob" (YouTube partner)

The production team for this movie was Bloody-Disgusting Production, a film production company created by both Mr. Miska (the co-owner/co-founder of the aforementioned site) and the Collective management firm. The production subsidiary was announced and debuted last year.

The film made it's official debut at this year's Sundance Film Festival, during it's midnight movie run.

Trevor Groth, the programmer of the festival block talked about the film, stating:

"I give this all the credit in the world because conceptually it shouldn't have worked for me. Personally, I'm bored by found-footage films, which this is. And omnibus attempts rarely work. But this one does. It's terrifying, and very well executed."

During the film festival, Magnolia Pictures bought the US theatrical/DVD rights to the film for almost over one million dollars.

Again, V/H/S is now available to view on VOD services and in selected theaters nationwide. I recommend the film, go check out. It's a great movie and a great way to start getting into the holiday spirit.

For all your film news, updates in the industry and film culture, please stay tuned to the broken infinite.


What do you guys think ? Leave your comments and thoughts in the comment box below.

Source:

- Bloody-Disgusting



twitter:

- @bradmiska


- @BDisgusting

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Next-Gen podcast - Season 2: March 2013

Review: Lupin III: The Secret of Mamo

Spoiler alert: I was actually going to review the first Lupin III anime series this week, but tests have kept me from rewatching the entire thing. You'll be seeing that review next week. Instead, enjoy my review of the first feature Lupin film, The Secret of Mamo.

Lupin III: The Secret of Mamo

Directed by Soji Yoshikawa and Yosuo Otsuka 

Summary: "Lupin, the master thief/spy/Jack of all Trades, has been executed, but he is still alive, and not even Lupin himself knows how that is possible. While trying to figure out, however, he and his gang are thrust into a conspiracy involving clones, Lupin's un-trustworthy rival Fujiko, and a minature mad-madman's plot to take over the world." (from AnimeNewsNetwork)

This is both a typical and atypical Lupin movie. My first time watching this, all I could remember was seeing the bizarre reveal at the end, which I won't spoil here. Watching it a second time, the first half is full of the stuff you expect from a Lupin adventure, but then the second half hits and we enter a scifi conspiracy film. It's cool stuff and once you wrap your head around it, it's a good movie, but on your first time watching it you will be stunned. 

Let's start from the beginning. The movie begins with Lupin being executed. Well, short movie, right? Inspector Zenigata refuses to believe he's dead, and after a Dracula homage and a quick escape, Lupin is alive and kicking. We cut to Lupin and the gang stealing the Philosopher's Stone as part of a contract, but Fujiko being the traitor she is, takes it from Lupin to claim the reward from a mysterious man named Mamo. The gem turns out to be a fake, and understandably Mamo is pissed by this, so he tries to have the Lupin gang killed. What follows is several chase sequences involving helicopters, planes, and a giant truck that vaguely looks like Optimus Prime being sent after Lupin. Naturally, Lupin manages to give them the slip, but ends up being stranded in the desert, where the Lupin gang dissolves after a lot of in-fighting.

The animation isn't very notable for a 70's animated film, only being a bit better than the Lupin TV series that was airing at the time. Still, the chase sequences are well-done and will grab your attention, and there's still the classic Lupin slapstick and sexual humor. Then things get weird, but I'll try to explain it without spoiling much. 

Mamo's an interesting Lupin villain. He's not the first to claim mystical powers, that honor belonging to Pycal. He does however have access to technology that shouldn't exist for centuries, including cloning. He's actually been cloning himself to stay alive for centuries, with his life spanning back to ancient times, or at least so he claims. His evil plan is to become god of the earth, and to do that he needs to find true immortality, and he offers to Fujiko and Lupin immortality because he finds them worthy. He's more of a sci-fi villain than a mystical villain, but a reveal near the end makes him an almost otherworldly adversary for Lupin, making him one of the more unique and memorable villains in Lupin history.

So does the sci-fi conspiracy mix well with the comedic action of Lupin III? I think it helps that the film eases the audience into the weirdness that is Mamo by starting out with the typical Lupin tropes, only scaled up for a feature film debut. The reveal at the end is still bizarre and some fans might find it unacceptable, but after a second watch I consider it one of the highlights of the film and a reason to watch it. There are other bizarre moments in the film, such as an American agent insulting Jigen by calling him a Democrat (this was during a time when the president was a Democrat), a Lupin comic featuring DC Comics characters making a brief appearance, and Lupin meeting Hitler. No, that all actually happened. I could probably point every weird thing that happens in this movie, but we'd be here all day. 

Oh hi Godwin's Law.

The story overall is an epic one for the Lupin gang. While characters like Goemon and Zenigata have little to do in this movie, they still have their crowning moments of glory, such as Goemon taking out a helicopter with a sword and Zenigata leaving the police force just so he can still hunt Lupin. Lupin and Jigen are the same characters as usual, but Fujiko's more of a damsel in distress this time around. She's still great at manipulating both sides, but she needs to be saved a few times and spends a lot of time screaming. Fujiko's gotten herself in hairy situations before, but she's never been a true damsel in distress. She's always had a backup plan of some sort, or at least managed to put on a confident face when in danger. If you want to see Fujiko being awesome, this is not the Lupin feature for you.

Now for the dub, or rather dubs of this movie. This movie has a long history of English dubs. It was first dubbed back in 1978 for Japanese Airlines by Toho, but that dub is extremely rare and few people have heard it. The second dub was released in America by Streamline Pictures in 1995, starring Bob Bergen as Lupin, and Manga Video released a dub for the UK a year later. In 2003, Geneon took a crack at dubbing the movie with the same cast they used to dub the second Lupin III TV series, featuring Tony Oliver as Lupin, Richard Epcar as Jigen, Lex Lang as Goemon, Michelle Ruff as Fujiko, and Jake Martin as Zenigata. Tony Oliver's a decent Lupin, but never been my favorite rendition of the character in English. He sounds comedic enough, but he lacks the gusto that makes the character as fun and tough as he is. Epcar as Jigen is pretty good, appropriately gruff and deep enough and never letting up on the snark. Sadly, Goemon and Fujiko sound flat in comparison. Lex Lang sounds like he's reading his lines off a script and never emotes. Goemon is a stoic character, but he's not supposed to sound like a robot. Michelle Ruff is slightly better, but her attempts at sounding sexy sound fake, and she doesn't have the fun dangerous undertones that the Japanese actress had. Zenigata sounds like a redneck and it's just weird. Paul St. Peter as Mamo does a good job of playing the power hungry villain. He's never over-the-top, but his sinister tone and air of superiority are carried through his voice. The only dub I've seen is the Geneon dub, and it's the easiest to find, being available to watch on Hulu. It's an okay dub, though definitely not the best Lupin dub I've heard.

Overall, for the first Lupin III film, Secret of Mamo is a memorable trip, full of adventure and comedy you expect from Lupin with some weird science fiction to spice it up. Maybe the science fiction will be too spicy for some to handle, but I think it gives the film some much needed weight. It's not the best Lupin film; Hayao Miyazaki's Castle of Cagliostro beats it out on pretty much every level, but it's a worth a watch for anyone curious about Lupin.

Sadly, Secret of Mamo has been out-of-print for awhile, but there is some good news. As I mentioned earlier, the film is streaming on Hulu. Discotek Media recently acquired the film's license, and they plan to release the film with not 1, not 2, but all 4 English dubs, including the rare Toho dub. Discotek usually puts a lot of effort into their Lupin releases, and it looks like this will be the must-have version of Secret of Mamo. When it comes out, I recommend buying it.

BUY IT!