Tag Archives: Mike Maas

MOV122: Can I please get that hour and 26 minutes of my life back?

This reel of COL movies takes us back into the past to see the very very very very very low budget movie “Blood Guts Bullets and Octane” is this late 90’s take on the Tarantino style of film worth watching, or would we rather get run over by a 64 Pontiac LeMans? Next we jump to the present to watch the again oddly released Horror film “The Possession” Is this modern take on a classic genre a good one or has it left us wondering what possessed them to make it? Next up we jump to the not so distant future to talk about the release of “Cloud Atlas” will this be the film that regains the Wachowski’s the film making crown? Or are we expecting another Speed Racer? All this plus some news about theater ninjas, Jos Whedon writing shakespear? Oh god…another Transformers movie? All this plus some google powered 6 degrees of Kevin Bacon with COL Movies 122 “Can I please get that hour and 26 minutes of my life back?”

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News:

The Past: Blood, Guts, Bullets and Octane
Rotten Tomatoes 43% Rotten; 37% Audience

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Director: Joe Carnahan

Staring: Joe Carnahan, Mike Maas, Nick Fenske, Mark Priolo

Trivia:

  • The Pontiac LeMans central to the story is a 1964 model, not a 1963.
  • Mr Reich claims to have doused Vernon with propane and roasted him in a motel room but when propane is decompressed and introduced into any atmosphere warmer than -43°C (-45.4°F) it instantly evaporates
  • There are several claims in the movie that the main car in the film was a 1963 Pontiac LeMans convertible. Yet, the car in the Movie was actually a 1964 Pontiac GTO convertible. On top of that, the Car on the Cover is a different generation GTO than the one in the movie. The GTO was not in existence in 1963.
  • As of 1999, the film had been negotiated to be developed by Carnahan and producer Bob Levy as a prime time series on NBC. However, the series has not materialized.

Talking Points:

  • The annoying switch from hand held to not…
  • The horrible dialogue
  • Budget: $7300, Earned: $13,674

What We Learned:

  • The best Car Salesmen in the business are fabulous magicians
  • You have to understand the nature of the sale to in order to understand the sell
  • you cannot sell shit, cuz shit don’t sell.
  • Sometimes in life you have to do things sight unseen
  • Johnny Cash got fucked at Folsom.

Trailer:

Recommendations:
Jeff: Well, the first 24 minutes was weird. I wonder what the rest was like.
Ray: Its like a bad copy of a bad copy….I felt like this was watching the director/writer/lead actor masturbate on screen while he was watching himself masturbate on screen… perhaps for a drunken riff trax? other than that.. kill it with FIRE. Should have had a more accurate title… like “Bad Acting, Horrible Dialogue, and No Production Value” This is what happens when you try and copy Tarantino, but can’t actually write.
Steve: I don’t even know what I just watched. Clearly, it’s a car movie so Ray put it in – but I hate to say it but that just sucked. First – guys like this wouldn’t have dialogue like that, Second – there were too many characters, Third – this movie wishes it was Fargo and Reservoir Dogs. A definite skip-a-roo-ski.

The Present: The Possession
Rotten Tomatoes 37% Fresh; 55% Audience

Director: Ole Bornedal,

Starring: Natasha Calis, Jeffrey Dean Morgan, Kyra Sedgwick

Trivia:

  • Was originally rated R by the MPAA for “violence, terror and disturbing images” but the film was eventually edited to receive a PG-13 rating for “mature thematic material involving violence and disturbing sequences.”
  • While promoting the film on Craig Ferguson [airdate 8/29/12], Jeffrey Dean Morgan reported that strange incidents took place during production that couldn’t be explained. Lights exploded during the filming of key scenes; and just two days after wrapping principal photography, all of the props for the film, stored in case of re-shoots, were destroyed in a fire that mysteriously erupted from within the storage-house.
  • The story is based on the allegedly haunted Dybbuk box. Bornedal cited films like The Exorcist as an inspiration, praising their subtlety.
  • Bornedal stated that he was drawn to the script for The Possession, having seen it as more of an allegory for divorce than as a true horror film.
  • The owner of the Dybbuk box, Jason Haxton, offered to send it to producer Sam Raimi, who was both interested and reluctant. Raimi laughingly told an Entertainment Weekly interviewer, “I didn’t want anything to do with it. I’m scared of the thing.” He also told the interviewer that he was raised in a conservative Jewish home: “You don’t hear about dybbuks when you go to synagogue. I know the demonic lore of The Exorcist. But what does my faith believe about demonic possession? … The stories chilled me to the bone.” Jeffrey Dean Morgan felt similarly: “In the research I did, I started getting creeped out. My girlfriend was like, ‘Let’s just make sure that we don’t actually go near the real Dybbuk Box.'” “We were like, ‘Hell, no,'” recalls screenwriter Juliet Snowden. “‘We don’t want to see it. Don’t send us a picture of it.'”

Talking Points:

Critic Notes:

  • Positives: The first half was very creepy and set a cool atmosphere around the box; If you believe in demons it will scare you to death; it’s eerily enjoyable fodder; One of the better “exorcism-inspired” films of recent years; Interesting twist involving Jewish faith rather than Christianity
  • Negatives: Didn’t really add anything to the genre; formulaic and predictable; relies on cliche’s rather than sucker punches; Raimi did it for the money, Bornedal phoned it in

What We Learned:

  • Pizza doesn’t grow on trees
  • Moths are just butterflies without the pretty color.
  • Don’t touch the box.

Trailer:

Recommendations :
Jeff: I hated it but I don’t. This is really not my type of movie but really felt it wasn’t too bad, if I liked this type of movie.
Ray: This movie has a strong start, but an awful finish. It made me jump a couple times, which is why we go to scary movies right? I think this would be more of a at home in the dark film than a theater movie.
Steve: Any PG-13 horror movie is already going to have me questioning just how good it is. However, considering that fact, I actually found it interesting. The effects, albeit lame story-wise at times, looked really cool – especially the times they were trying to show something inside someone trying to get out. I’m probably affected by the fact I actually saw the source material and see how they brought it to life – so I encourage others to do the same. I was satisfied.

The Future: Cloud Atlas

Release: October 26th, 2012

Director: Tom Tykwer, Andy Wachowski, Lana Wachowski

Starring: Tom Hanks, Halle Berry, Hugh Grant

Summary:

An exploration of how the actions of individual lives impact one another in the past, present and future, as one soul is shaped from a killer into a hero, and an act of kindness ripples across centuries to inspire a revolution.

Talking Points:

  • The structure of the book, will it translate to film?
  • “Extended” trailers – over 5 mins? really?

Trailer:

Excitement:
Jeff:. This looks like a very interesting, multigenerational plot. I’ve always liked the idea of history repeating itself and this kinda sorta goes in this direction. More of soul mates finding each other in each reincarnation, but that’s still an interesting story. I want to see it.
Ray: Looks like a very ambitious project, but from what I know about the book… I’m not sure how well this will translate to the screen, If the Wachowski’s can pull it off it will be an amazing film. Hopefully Ill have read the book by the time it comes out, but I’m excited to see it.
Steve: Wow…this kind of takes me back to our conversation about “The Tree of Life”. So not the kind of movie I seek out. It looks interesting, particularly visually. The concept seems pretty cool…but very heady. I think I just need to learn more about it before I can commit.

The Past: Mean Girls

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The Present: Resident Evil: Retribution

The Future: Oz: The Great and Powerful

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