The 12th "13th"...Enough Already?!

Yet another horror remake comes up short

An all-star cast lends credibility to the year's most intelligent and original thrasher movie, the resurrection of the Friday the 13th series. The only truth to that last sentence is the rebirth of the 29-year-old Jason Voorhees character, a tired and worn-out story that has been told 11 times prior to this latest reincarnation (including 2003's Freddy vs. Jason).

There isn't much to this remake of the 1980 original, so former music video director Marcus Nispel--who also brought back The Texas Chainsaw Massacre in 2003--supplemented plenty of titty shots, a host of young stars who looked like they just stepped out of an Abercrombie & Fitch catalogue, and an appropriate Friday February the 13th release date, in order to help sell tickets to an outdated film that has almost nothing else to offer.

The reboot begins with a short recap of what happened to Voorhees' mother in the first series, and then has five typical-horror-movie-teens return to the Camp Crystal Lake area for sex, weed, and more sex. All but one of the "teens" are killed off one-by-one, as a young lady named Whitney (played by The OC's Amanda Righetti) is taken hostage by Voorhees, who has apparently confused her for his decapitated mother. Whitney's brother--portrayed by Supernatural's Jared Padalecki--leads a second group of typical-horror-movie-teens to their doom, again knocked off one-by-one in witty fashion...Voorhees has the aim of a master archer and the timing of a seasoned Samurai. Not surprisingly, brother-and-sister are left to fend off Jason on their own, killing him, but not really.

The characters can't help but remind us that this is a modern take on the hockey mask-wearing psychopath, with a steady flow of references to Ipods, cell phones, and GPS units. Thanks to technological advances, Friday the 13th looks much better on the big screen than its original counterpart, and there are periods of sustained suspence, but it lacks eccentricity and originality. Despite this, the movie is expected to produce major box office numbers over the coming weeks, and probably will, mostly for the novelty of a horror franchise oddity that many of us have grown up with. And with an open-ended ending to cap-off the Voorhees return, be sure to expect a 13th installment of the 13th to hit local theatres by next year's Friday the 13th.

1.5/5 stars

Emil Tiedemann

'Push' Is a Cut Above

'Superhero' clan brings new concepts to a genre in its prime

BY EMIL TIEDEMANN

Chris Evans trades in his Fantastic Four outfit for a different kind of superhero movie, one that tends to its own quality rather than to a marketing campaign like most other films featuring these types of characters. Paul McGuigan's Push is set and filmed in Hong Kong, which immediately allows it to set itself apart from the Marvel and DC comic flicks that have become all the rage during the last decade.

Evans' character is slowly polishing his God-given ability to move objects with his mind, when he is suddenly thrust into an underground world of others with powers similar to his own. Some can heal wounds with their bare hands ("stitchers"), some can control your thoughts and readjust memories ("pushers"), and others can see the near future ("watchers"). Dakota Fanning's character is the latter and uses her gift to locate Evans and then recruits him to help her change the imminent visions she has of each of their fates.

Fanning, who is still just 14-years-old, is growing up on film, and shows us that her acting is along for the ride, as she pulls off an impressive performance in Push, including a convincing drunk scene! The unlikely pair, with the imperative help of their paranormal friends--including the beautiful Camilla Belle as one of the world's strongest "pushers"--upset the balance of their destiny, and unravel the "Division," a government-run organization that soughts after these unique individuals in order to benefit from their unusual powers.

The characters' abilities are intriguing, the locations are eye-catching, and the visuals are simple yet worthy of its peers. The flashy action film ends with the potential of a follow-up, which I--like many others I hope--welcome.

3/5 stars

Inglourious Basterds

The teaser has been dropped. Writer and director Quentin Tarantino finally is getting the movie made he has talked about since 2001. Check it out below.

Push{ed}

Push starts Chris Evans as a "pusher", a person with the ability to move objects and people with no more than just a thought and slight movement of hand.  We never get to know how he got his power, only shown his brief background,10 years prior, while on the run from the government with his father.  His father seems to have this power too,so, we are to assume that he got it passed down, but, that's just a guess.  As an adult, his character Nick Gant hasn't fully developed this power.  He runs into Dakota Fanning's character Cassie, who can see the future and then draws it,  and are stuck together in their quest to find a briefcase.  They run into Nick's ex girlfriend Kira,  played by Camilla Belle. The three of them,along with some help from a few others, work together to find this briefcase that contains some drug that could change the future greatly.  Along the way they are followed by an Asian gang which includes a seer, and a couple of screamers, who pretty much, scream and destroy things with their voices.  Also looking for this drug is Henry Carver,played by Djimon Hounsou, and his bodyguard/sidekick.  Henry is part of the government agency that is chasing the heroes in the quest for this drug.  It makes for a good chase, and the action is very good as all participants are fighting for the drug. All in all I found the film quite entertaining, but one thing kind of disturbed me a bit.  The need to have Cassie in a short skirt and having her kind of a sex object was really unnecessary, as she is all of 14 years old, but, her body and  young face make her seem much younger than that.  I found it a bit wrong.  They left an open ending, speculating that if the movie did well it would definitely scream for a sequel, and most of the time I do not like when they do that, as was the case this time.

3.5 out of 5

Pushing At Greatness?

Push is a science fiction thriller directed by Paul McGiugan who directed Lucky Number Slevin. The film stars Chris Evans, Dakota Fanning, Camille Belle and Djimon Hounsou. The plot is your basic government agency trying to use something it probably shouldn’t for bad things. Throw in a few “super powers” and voila you have a bunch of action sequences all ready to play around with. While the movie briefly touches on all the different types of powers one can have it doesn’t give us much of an explanation of the movers', pushers', watchers', bleeders', sniffs', shifters', wipers', shadows' or stitches' actual powers. We are just given a brief narration over the opening credits where we learn the basic “rules” that apply to the world in the movie.

After that we are thrust into the story with very little attention paid to setting up the characters. The basic premise all set and the characters now in place we do end up seeing a masterfully directed plot. The weakness of the back story to Dakota Fanning and Chris Evans characters early in the film is filled in while they are learning about each other and start gaining chemistry. Fanning also has the anime look to her, which could be a nod to the pop culture of their world. She seems like she will be sticking around in Hollywood for a long while with her terrific acting. Chris Evans gets a little help from his Sunshine co-star Cliff Curtis, who is always demanding more attention on screen over him. Djimon Hounsou also portrays a very menacing villain although not your typical villain as he is very quite and seems more in the background than he really is. The director weaves complete doubt not only for the characters in the movie but for the viewer as well. This plot twist is one you know is coming and the director establishes it so you know it is coming. But it still works as he eventually gives you enough doubt that you can’t ignore it, only to be suckered in at the ending that you knew was coming. Aside from a few plot holes that are very minor and could be brushed off by the screenwriter or director with a few quick words about powers this movie is a very fun film.

Unless you watch a lot of foreign films the visuals will also be a treat. With many shots of the Hong Kong skyline, city streets and the marketplace we get to view a part of the Chinese culture not normally seen in the film industry. As much as the New York skyline is fantastic, Hong Kong is exotic and captured wonderfully with all the lights brightly shining that looks beautiful on the big screen. The film score is also very subtle and is always kicking around in the background and picking up the tempo for the action sequences. But a few scenes I felt the music was trying to take itself in another direction briefly by switching to some kind of electronic disco for a seconds only to right itself back on track, not sure the reason for this but it took me out of the movie for a moment.

A high concept idea with good acting and directing make this are very fun action flick that will probably hold up for multiple viewings. I really hope that this film makes enough for a sequel. It has lots of potential for future instalments and as long as they are done like this one I will gladly pay for another movie ticket.

4 out of 5 stars
Colin Enquist

Rob Zombies: H2

Dimension Films has released the new teaser poster for writer/director Rob Zombie's Halloween sequel, H2, hitting theaters on August 28. The film, which will pick up at the exact moment the first movie stopped, stars Scout Taylor-Compton, Danielle Harris, Daniel Roebuck, Ezra Buzzington, Jeffrey Daniel Phillips, Richard Brake, Matt Bush and Howard Hesseman. With Tyler Mane reprising the lead role. I believe they could have come up with a more original title for the film, but I will be paying for tickets opening weekend to see this sequel!

(click on picture to enlarge)