Beverly Hills Chihuahua 2 Now Available For Pre-Order On Blu-Ray & DVD

From the creators of Beverly Hills Chihuahua, everybody’s favorite talking Chihuahuas are back in a comedy that’s a pack of outrageous fun for the whole family. Puppy mayhem turns the lives of newlywed Chihuahua parents, Papi and Chloe, upside down when their playful puppies present one challenge after another. But, when their human owners find themselves in trouble, the tiny pups will stop at nothing to save them—because in good times and hard times, the family always sticks together. Papi, Chloe and the puppies embark on a heroic adventure, proving once again that big heroes come in small packages.

Beverly Hills Chihuahua 2 Pre-Order Link (DVD Version)

Mirrors 2 - Movie Review

The original MIRRORS (Alexandre Aja’s American remake of the Korean movie INTO THE MIRROR) was a pretty good little b-movie. Kiefer Sutherland played a troubled night watchman at a fire-damaged department store who starts seeing creepy things in the building’s mirrors, causes his estranged wife to believe he’s lost his mind, solves a mystery and faces down a curse or something. But that story left alot of questions unanswered, for example “What if a different troubled individual worked as a night watchman in a different not-currently-open branch of the same department store chain where a different bad thing happened, so he has to solve a different mystery about what the mirror wants, and kind of on a smaller scale as if it were being filmed on a smaller budget?”

Well, wonder no more, friends. MIRRORS 2 answers that question with fierce adequacy.

Nick Stahl (John Connor #4 [after "Old John Connor" Michael Edwards, "Infant John Connor" Dalton Abott, and Edward Furlong, before Thomas Dekker and Christian Bale]) plays Max Matheson, who’s been depressed and on medication since his fiancee died in a car accident. Actually she started out the trip as his girlfriend, but he proposed to her in the car, she said yes, and then the moment was quickly spoiled when he wrapped the car around a telephone pole and they both died (but he was revived).

So now he’s alone and obviously blames himself (and will never try another wild romantic gesture again) but for some reason his dad (William Katt from CARRIE, but I didn’t recognize him with his new hair do), the owner of the Mayflower department store, thinks the best thing for him would be to spend every night alone in a spooky building where the last guy went crazy and nearly killed himself chewing on broken mirrors. I mean I know his dad means well, but I don’t think he’s thinking this through too well. Even if there was no supernatural mirror curse I just don’t think that’s an environment for fostering a positive mental attitude, in my opinion.

By the way, 8-MILE was on TV last night and I watched part of it, and I had forgot about Jimmy Rabbit’s dorky friend Cheddar Bob, so I was happy to see that Cheddar Bob is the guy who eats the broken mirror in MIRRORS 2. Welcome back, Cheddar Bob.

Right away Max starts catching glimpses of a girl (with ghoul makeup) in the mirrors at work. His therapist thinks it’s not that big of a deal, but Max thinks it’s visions form beyond death because he was half past dead in that accident. Meanwhile some of the other employees of the not-yet-open store are gorily murdered by their own reflections.

One of the things I enjoyed in MIRRORS was the way Sutherland had to try to convince his family of this crazy supernatural menace, but they know he has a past of substance abuse and other problems so when he starts painting over all the reflective surfaces in their house they think he’s lost it and react accordingly. Part 2 skips over that. He has to convince a stranger whose sister is missing that he’s seen her in the mirrors. It’s hard to believe that it’s not that hard to believe, and this actress (Emmanuelle Vaugier) is not really up to the task of selling something like that. But the movie does start to pick up around then. I like the way the mirror tells him what it wants (the reflection of his flashlight shines, bounces off other mirrors and points at what it wants him to look at). The story wraps up pretty neatly and quickly for a reasonably satisfying conclusion, and wisely doesn’t repeat the cool ending of part 1.

The best thing about the movie is a couple of over-the-top brutal deaths, clearly taking inspiration from the jaw-breaking and leg-shaving of part 1. That makes it feel kind of forced, and there’s a very questionable digital shot involved, but the deaths are still amusing in their horribleness. I mean, you gotta respect a slipping-in-the-shower-decapitation. That’s an ambitious pratfall.

The worst thing about the movie is the familiarity. Every time there’s a mirror you just watch the reflection waiting for it to do something, and you usually don’t have to wait long. So there’s not alot of time to be in suspense and get creeped out. Like so many DTV sequels the main problem is that it doesn’t justify there being a sequel. You gotta really come up with some crazy new twist on the idea, otherwise it just seems like what it is: the same thing done not as good for less money.

So I figure it’s gotta be above average for a DTV sequel to an Americanized remake, but I’m not gonna go much further than that. On the other hand it does have the original Korean movie on the flip side of the DVD, that’s pretty cool, because I’m sure most people who rent it won’t have bothered to see that. I speak from experience, and I still haven’t seen it. But maybe you’ll be more responsible.

-Vern

Check out Vern's site below
outlawvern.com

30 Days of Night: Dark Days - Movie Review

Holy shit, all the sudden it’s October. And you know what that means, this is when I pretty much switch to an all horror programming lineup. I’m gonna be watching horror movies all month, and most likely failing to find a great ’70s or ’80s slasher movie I never saw before. (Don’t worry non-horror junkies, I still got some residual September viewing I haven’t written up yet, and I’ll do some new releases I’m sure.)

We’ll get into the good shit soon enough, but I remembered I had a review I was gonna send to Ain’t It Cool and hadn’t yet, might as well kick off the celebration with a  not-very-anticipated DTV vampire sequel. I know in some cultures that’s considered bad luck, but to hell with it. I ain’t afraid of no curse.

mp_30days230 DAYS OF NIGHT: DARK DAYS is the DTV sequel to 30 DAYS OF NIGHT: REGULAR. It begins by re-enacting the ending of part 1’s re-enactment of the ending of BLADE 2 where a couple sit and watch the sun rise together as a sort of love-suicide because one of them is a vampire who turns to ash and blows away. But I could’ve sworn the lady in the Blade/survivor role was Melissa George from TURISTAS, turns out she’s Kiele Sanchez from A PERFECT GETAWAY as Stella, a fire marshal of Barrow, Alaska and sole survivor of the 30 day vampire siege.

But now she’s in L.A. following her new career in public speaking. She does little talks trying to spread the word that all those people in Alaska were killed by vampires, not a gas leak like they say on TV. I mean, she was a fire marshal, she can tell the difference between gas and vampires. But the whole thing was covered up, probly as part of some questionable oil deal would be my guess. I bet Governor Palin knew about the whole thing too and didn’t say shit, not even on Twitter. And she couldn’t have been bothered to veer her wolf-hunting helicopter off course to bust a couple shots off at those fucking bloodsuckers. Anyway I’m getting off topic here. The point is it’s a surprisingly cool opening as we find out how she uses speaking engagements to lure vampires and kill them in front of everybody, a one-two-punch of extermination and awareness. Killing two bats with one stake.

After some vampire killing and some police harassment she goes back to her hotel room where she’s ambushed by three unfriendly fellow vampire-survivors: Harold Perrineau, a white guy, and a really obnoxious whiny girl who thinks she’s tough because every once in a while she takes a dainty sip from her little flask. They scare Stella, then take her to meet this guy Dane, a sort of anti-vampire guru who’s been her pen pal for a while. You know how they always say if you meet a hot girl on the internet it’s really an old fat dude? Well, if you have an anti-vampire pen pal he’s gonna turn out to be a vampire. And she should’ve know too, because who the hell still writes letters with a typewriter?

Anyway these guys recruit her, not for a support group but a vampire hunting team. They’ve used Dane’s insider knowledge to track a vampire queen to L.A. and they’re on a suicide mission to take the bitch out. I don’t know if it works like bees or what – don’t they just hatch a new queen if you kill it? I guess they must know what they’re doing.

This queen is played by Mia Kirschner, who I gotta admit is really attractive even with monster fangs and contacts. I can see why they’d follow her. She’s planning another Barrow, Alaska 30 day all-you-can-suck blood buffet, so the movie is about the humans trying to stop the boat from leaving. There’s not another 30 days of night in the sequel. So it should be called NOT ANOTHER 30 DAYS OF NIGHT!. Or also I thought maybe 30 DAYS OF NIGHT: DARK DAZE would be good, if there was some vampire stoner hijinks in there. Adding a “National Lampoon’s” or “American Pie Presents:” on the front could also work.

It’s nicely shot with lots of faces covered in dark shadows with little golden highlights along the edges. It has a pretty cool ending, a cool way of defeating the queen (or DO they?) and an unexpectedly fucked up conclusion. And I respect that it’s not just a lower budget, lower quality rehash of the original like so many DTV sequels (I’m looking at you, three different WILD THINGS sequels) especially since the original didn’t entirely work and nobody needs to see a not-as-good version of that.

On the other hand the first one did have that cool premise and setting. By moving the story to L.A. you make it more like every other vampire movie. It’s like vampire hunters from VAMPIRES going into a dark building like I AM LEGEND, dealing with vampires and their sycophant minions in the police force like the “familiars” in BLADE, so it reminds you of all these movies that have much better stories, characters and slayings. I don’t remember what rules were established in the first one but this time they just kill vampires by shooting them with machine guns. Not alot of tactics and weirdly not alot of bullet holes even when they shoot up a small hotel room.

So it’s not that bad, but you and I both know we’re in an age when really good DTV movies do exist, so “not that bad” isn’t a recommendation anymore. E for effort, I guess.

But if you hear I got killed by a gas leak don’t believe it.

-Vern

Check out Vern's site below
outlawvern.com

Scorpion King: Rise of the Dead Gets Victor Webster

 

Victor Webster starring in Scorpion King: Rise of the DeadWhat's Playing is reporting that a new sequel to The Scorpion King is being lined up called Scorpion King: Rise of the Dead, with Victor Webster (Castle) set to star.

This third installment will be a straight-to-dvd sequel like the second movie, Scorpion King 2: Rise of a Warrior. Here's a brief excerpt from the site's article, which describes the plot:

"Scorpion King: Rise of the Dead will see Mathayus (Webster) taking on impenetrable bad dudes in the wilds of the Northern Tribes in 3000 BC."

Roel Rein will direct the new movie. Victor Webster beat out Mike O'Hearn for the role. No production schedule was given for the project.

From  Movieweb.com

Death Race 2: Movie Trailer