Review: "Resident Evil" perfectly toes the line between Comedy and Horror

by Ben Miller

It should come as no surprise that director Zach Cregger knows how to blend horror and comedy together successfully. Even when taking a piece of well-established IP such as Resident Evil, the director delivers a thrilling blend of fun and entertainment in a way only he can.

While this film serves as a reboot of the franchise, the spirit of the games in well intact. Characters reference the Umbrella Corporation, while Racoon City is one of the main settings. It might be a big idea, but Cregger keeps everything pretty small-scale. This is a story about one guy attempting to survive and the little people he comes in contact with. It's not about the overarching story, or even with any recognizable characters. It's just the character-driven story, which is a nice change of pace for a video game movie...

Click to read more ...

Super Mario Bros: The First Movie

by Cláudio Alves

The new Super Mario Bros. movie is upon us and some of the early reviews could hardly be more scathing. This Chris Pratt and Anya Taylor-Joy animated romp has sunk a few critics into pits of despair, with some unfortunate souls stating it's even worse than the 1993 flop. We won't know until we see it but one can envision it being a downgrade in terms of sheer lunacy.

Say what you will about the 1993 movie, but it's a fascinating piece of cinema worth revisiting, its abject failure never stemming from a lack of crazy ideas. A lack of conviction, perhaps, since you can smell the flop sweat of exhausted writers, not to mention the confusion of cast and crew and audience, too! It is one confounding mess, and to watch it is to sense one's sanity slipping away...

Click to read more ...

Tweetweek

.

The aesthetic, the world-building, the pulsing drama of Dune...truly incomparable pic.twitter.com/5PVm2UxH09

— Beatrice Loayza (@bealoayza) October 22, 2021

More Dune plus Rita Wilson, Tom Holland, actressexual jokes etcetera after the jump...

Click to read more ...

In the Linked Heights

• /Film Carey Mulligan and Zoe Kazan will be starring as the key journalists in Universal's She Said a dramatization of the NYT exposé on Harvey Weinstein in 2017 which shook Hollywood.
• IndieWire Christian Petzold (Undine, Phoenix) offers 7 tips for a successful career
• Illuminerdi Mexican actor Tenoch Huerta rumored to be playing Namor the Submariner in Black Panther: Wakanda Forever, which means the plot will probably be an Atlantis vs Wakanda situation

More after the jump including the first 8 minutes of In the Heights and a video game based on... Vertigo?

Click to read more ...

Yes No Maybe So: Mortal Kombat (2021)

by Ben Miller

Since 1993, production studios have tried again and again to adapt a video game for movie audiences and again and again they have failed.  Some of these films have been dumb fun (Angelina Jolie’s Tomb Raider), some have been seriously-minded disasters (Assassin’s Creed), while others have been financially viable misfires (Warcraft) or just outright catastrophes (Super Mario Bros.).

Paul W.S. Anderson tried his hand at it with 1995’s Mortal Kombat to the tune of $122 million worldwide.  Warner Bros, producer James Wan and director Simon McQuoid will try again with the aptly titled Mortal Kombat (2021 version).  The new red-band trailer just dropped, so let’s do a round of Yes, No, Maybe So...

Click to read more ...