100 Feet 2008

Director: Eric Red

Writer: Eric Red

Starring Famke Jansen, Bobby Cannavale, Ed Westwick, Michael Pare, John Fallon and Patricia Charbonneau

    Eric Red is one of the best horror filmmakers that came out of the 80’s and 90’s and he has been silent since that werewolf film Bad Moon in 1997.  It is great to finally see him tackle the horror genre again.  And the subject he tackles is very powerful and gripping.  The film tackles the themes of domestic abuse, self defense and preservation.  The film combines a film like Poltergiest with The Burning Bed.  It is a solidly gripping film that starts out slowly but as the story progresses, the viewer knows something is not quite right and it is not long till the spirit of the vengeful ghost begins to wreak havoc and with each attack it gets more brutal and violent.  The mood of the film really makes it work, the entire ordeal has a sense of desperation to it.  The cast is excellent too, the film really hinges on the portrayal of Jansen as the battered and coping wife, and she does an exemplary job in the role.  The film is dark and dismal but, it is peppered throughout with bits of dark humor that alleviate the tenseness somewhat.

    The plot basics are this, Marnie Watson (Jansen) is granted a early parole from the conviction of killing her husband.  The only catch is that she has to wear an ankle bracelet that will not let her move more than 100 feet from her home, the same home that she killed her abusive husband (Pare) in self defense.  She is kept under tabs by her husband’s ex partner in the police (Cannavale), who still has resentment and anger towards her.  She begins to adjust to her life as a prisoner in her own home, when strange things begin to happen.  Soon, she is being attacked by an unseen able force and she soon realizes it is the ghost of her husband back for revenge.  Marnie now has to find a way to survive and cope with this and try to find a way to exorcise his ghost from the house before he kills her or anyone who enters the house and is friendly with Marnie.

    This is one of the best ghost stories I have seen on film in a long time.  Red’s direction is tense throughout, he sets it up so, that the viewer knows something is not right and soon those hunches are paid off.  The scenes of the spectral attacks are executed flawlessly.  The script is very taut and stress filled too.  The story really makes you feel much empathy for Marnie and the struggles she has to endure in the film.  There is good use of flashbacks to show you what has transgressed that has led her to this dilemma.  The cast is uniformly excellent too.  Jansen really holds the narrative together and is very believable as the battered but surviving wife who is trying to keep her sanity intact.  Pare is great as the vengeful spirit and with never speaking a word he speaks volumes with his performance,  Cannavale is great as the cop who at first doesn’t; swallow any of her story, but soon comes to her aid and tries to help her.  The SFX and effects in the film are amazing.  My personal favorite is when the ghost goes crazy after watching Marnie have sex with the delivery boy and he gives him such a massive beat down that his spirit gets soaked in blood.  The score by John Frizzell is melancholic and eerie and it sets the mood of the film accurately well.  This is definitely one of my favorite ghost stories now and I highly recommend it.

This one gets 5 out of 5 

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The Smoke Monster from Lost totally deserves it’s own show, am I right?

I feel like I might have to start something called the Reboot Report here or something. In this week’s entry: They’re rebooting Highlander. I never saw the movies, well, except for the one with the two of them, but shit. Seriously, guys? Highlander? I mean, who gives a shit? Remember back in the 90s, back in the glory days of syndicated sci fi ridiculousness, and this show as ALWAYS FUCKING ON. If it was on at 10 PM on channel A, then it was on at 11 PM on channel B. And channel C? No worries, they were airing it at midnight.

I wonder who they’ll get to play Sean Connery’s character. I mean, I’m sure it’ll be someone who sucks, but still, I’m curious. Weren’t they aliens in the original movie, rather than just immortal Scottish sheepfuckers? Well, if Connery’s character was a mentor type, I’m sure they can get Liam Neeson to play it. If he’s not busy doing Taken 2, in which he hunts down the manufacturers of that chairlift and makes them pay.

Joss Whedon on the Buffy movie redo: “I hope it’s cool.”

I remember a few years ago reading something where Joss had been asked why he wasn’t directing X-Men 3 after Bryan Singer left (at the time, Joss was writing a truly amazing run of X-Men comics) and Joss, ever the taker of the high road, said something like, “You know, I really searched my feelings, searched my heart on the matter, and I realized… They never asked me to.”

I’m just like Jerry here, I totally hated that Michael on Melrose Place back in the day. Somehow he kept getting these amazing women, and then he’d try to kill him (which is kind of a really huge jerk move when it comes to break ups) and they’d still take him back. Sigh. Heather Locklear was ehhh, and of course, everyone remembers Marcia Cross’ gross scar reveal. But my favorite character was always Laura Leighton’s Sydney.

I’m not going to lie and say it was because of any depth of character or anything, it was mostly just because she was hot. Anyway, she’s in the Melrose Place restart (a la 90210) and she dies in the first few minutes. She’s the big murder mystery that will run through the first season. Pause for a moment to think about how shocking it is that there will be a first season to a redo of Melrose Place. Have we completely burnt out on 80s nostalgia that we’re shitmining the 90s for their magic and wonder?

Other nerdy TV news: Freddie Prinze Jr. is joining 24 (wha huh?), Famke Jansen’s transsexual character is coming back to Nip/Tuck, Claire is rejoining Lost for it’s long rumored zombie last season, Tom Swift has daddy issues, somehow they won’t fucking cancel Scrubs, no Gossip Girl spinoff set in the 80s, and maybe, just maybe, Summer Glau will show up on Dollhouse. Also, a query: Who the fuck actually watches Burn Notice?

Of big dorky relevance to me this past week was news about the opening title sequence to next proper season of Doctor Who, dropping on our heads somewhere in 2010. Here’s the title sequence to the first season of the restarted Doctor Who a few years back with Christopher Eccleston…

Simple, classic. I wasn’t a geek who had stuck with this show for 40 years so I have no problem with that opening at all. In fact, the nice thing about it, along with a show like The Venture Bros is that they keep the opening teaser very short, very tight, and then end it on a sharp note and then boom you right into the hard, driving title sequence (the theme was redone to be even more booming and driving in the last season with David Tennant). But, that’s that. The dorktastic news I was mentioning is that when the show changes Doctors and creative hands next season, they want to go for more of a nostalgia kick and work in the large, floaty superimposed head of the Doctor (in this case, the very scary looking Matt Smith as the next regeneration) somewhere in the credits. This kind of nostalgia, like I said, means nothing to me, and as an example of why this is bad, I give you the credits sequence of the last Doctor, Sylvester McCoy, who had it:

And he winks at you! That just makes it so much more cheesy and stupid. Ha ha! Ah, but if I could steal your attention away for a moment for cheesy but great TV show openings…

Fuck yeah MacGyver. Although the Magnum P.I. one is pretty great too. And if you don’t believe me, I will fight you to the death. Hawaii 5-0 is probably the greatest TV credits sequence ever, but I would live happily with a Magnum P.I. theme ring tone:

Star Trek XXX…

…starring Sasha Grey. This works as a reboot, I think. I can’t wait for the sequel when they work the whales in.

The thing about Ian McKellen is that there’s always just a certain strength and class in just about everything he does. That said, I’m going to say ehhh not so much to this teaser for The Prisoner remake miniseries (up above there), cause there’s nothing here really to be for or against, but just that it was made at all. Ugh.

The Prisoner is probably one of my favorite shows of all time. Discovering this show back in junior high did something horribly wonderful to the way my brain worked and I’ve been grateful ever since. McGoohan actually died back in January, and the remake miniseries looks… not promising. Somehow the planned movie remake hasn’t been canceled yet, so who knows what’s going to happen. It may be a bit of a fiasco, which has Caviezel as it’s No. 6. That sounds… scary. And boring in a kind of unrivaled way.

But here you can catch a little behind the scenes teaser for the new miniseries.

AND the one thing that AMC did right here is that they put all the original episodes of the original show online free to view. That’s fucking brilliant. And until next time…

Hollywood has felt the heat around Teen Star Trek and are starting to make moves of their own. Which is why JoBlo is reading the smoke signals about X-Men: First Class, a pubescent-friendly take on the merry Marvel mutants from 20th Century Fox. According to producer Lauren Shuler Donner, “It is the first class of Xavier’s school, way back when, so it’s young Scott, young Jean, young Beast and that’ll be really fun.”

So in place of James Marsden, Famke Jansen, and Kelsey Grammer, there will instead be some younger and more toothsome mutants, acting under the aegis of O.C. creator Josh Schwartz. As JoBlo’s Mike Sampson notes, the conceit necessitates a little historical detail. Based on the X franchise’s current time-line, the younger mutants will presumably be debating Nirvana vs. Alice in Chains and quoting the latest episode of Seinfeld. At least one of them will think that Wilson Phillips are rad.

There’s nothing wrong with making the X-Men teens again. The whole series is about feeling like a young misfit. What is odd is the time-frame, which will be rife with I Love the ’90s-isms that could fly over the head of the teenage audience a newer, buffer X-Men would be aimed at. Older fans, on the other hand, may enjoy the conflation of their geek concerns with a nostalgia for the days when they worked behind the comic shop counter.

What do you think? Can this franchise be saved? Who are your picks for Kid Cyclops, Phoenix-ette and Boy Beast? Leave a tip in the comment jar.

Kenneth Branagh may as well be Woody Allen and Wino Ryder is just sort of annoying as Nola, nevertheless Celebrity is easy to get through, injected with moments of interest sporadically – notably thanks to DiCaprio among an embarrassment of riches cast list.

These lists are my personal favourites, so don’t get mad if you disagree.  The list will go from 001 to 007, with 007 being the best.

001 – Famke Jansen (Xenia Onatopp)

002 – Barbara Bach (Anya Amasova)

003 – Akiko Wakabayashi (Aki)

004 – Diana Rigg (Teresa di Vincenzo)

005 – Eva Green (Vesper Lynd)

006 – Honor Blackman (Pussy Galore)

007 – Ursula Andress (Honey Ryder)

Rose McGowan

It’s beauty and the beast time as this quiz looks at hotties in horror movies. Go here to take the quiz: http://www.flixster.com/user/bradwest/quiz/the-babes-of-horror?invitorId=837885824

Warning – Feels like a parody
Story: An abused woman kills her husband in selfdefense and is sentenced to house arrest. Beeing in the house where she has experienced alot of abuse does not bother her too much. The only problem is that she is not alone.

Cast:
Famke Jansen (“Marine Watson”)
Bobby Cannavale (“Shanks”)
Ed Westwick (“Joey”)

Links:
IMDB, Wikipedia, Trailer
Buy (DVD), Download (Xvid)

Review: I actually like Famke Jansen (not only for her good looks) as an actress. In this movie her performance is ok, but sadly the script sucks so bad that you laugh more than you scream.
1/5

El tan sólo averiguar que Búsqueda Implacable fue escrita por Luc Besson, me produjo un enorme rechazo al recordar cintas tipo El Transportador y aquellas que realizó como director después de El Quinto Elemento. Nada bueno podría salir de esto, pensé. Pero había una esperanza al final del arcoíris, ya que el irlandés Liam Neeson no suele decepcionar con su trabajo, a pesar de su medianamente larga carrera. Además, recordé,  está Famke Jansen, razón de sobra para asistir al evento. Claro que lo que realmente me amarró fue el vertiginoso tráiler y el tratamiento a una historia simple, pero que al parecer promete.

Bryan, un agente retirado que planea estar lo más cerca posible de su hija para de esta forma retribuirle el tiempo perdido por estar al servicio de su nación. Pero Kim (Maggie Grace, la Shanon de Lost) ya no vive con él, sino que con su madre y el nuevo marido de esta, un millonario que no escatima en agradar a ambas, por lo que a Bryan su tarea de reivindicarse como padre se le hace cada vez más difícil. Es entonces cuando su hija le pide le firme la autorización para visitar París con su amiga Amanda. Bryan conoce el mundo y los peligros que oculta, peligros que se harán realidad cuando a su hija la rapten sin dejar evidencia ni rastro alguno.

Bryan no escatimará cualquier método para sacar la información necesaria.

Lo que en un principio refleja la historia de un dedicado padre que hace todo por demostrarle a su hija que nunca la ha abandonado, el dolor que le produce el estar siempre tres pasos atrás de su nueva y adinerada familia, cambia muy temprano en la historia cuando tras ser su hija secuestrada, el personaje de Neeson decida ir a París a rescatar con métodos muy inusuales a su querida hija.

Junto a la desbordante acción que el francés Pierre Morel nos entrega para contar las vicisitudes por las que pasa Bryan, las que lo llevan, paso a paso, a descubrir sucios negocios de trata de blanca, que pasan desde armenios de poca monta, hasta políticos en una especie de club pederasta; el gran acierto de Búsqueda Implacable es justamente el amor y el coraje a los que el personaje de Neeson se aferra en pos de lograr su cometido.

En alguna parte había visto a esta chica. Resulta ser que era la insoportable Shanon de Lost.

Puedo decir que es un agrado el acompañar a Bryan en su tarea, disfrutando momento tras momento su metodología para encontrar la verdad y la facilidad con que se mueve por las calles de París. Besson se acerca más a lo logrado en El Perfecto Asesino, quizás su último gran trabajo como director.

Sumamente recomendable para todo aquel que guste de un buen thriller, para quien se agrade con una violencia que dista de la de Jason Statham que de haberlo elegido en vez de Liam Neeson, la película hubiera llegado directo al tarro de la basura.

La danesa Famke Jansen no ha podido salir de su papel de la mutante Jean Grey, no obstante estos papeles de madre le quedan muy bien.

Emotiva, rápida, violenta y siempre en asenso, Búsqueda Implacable es una película que mantiene expectante al espectador. Si bien sabemos que Bryan rescatará a Kim, no sabemos cómo lo logrará ni qué encontrará en el camino. Sólo tiene 96 horas para encontrarla o perderla para siempre, y ese vértigo nos acompaña marcando el paso de cada segundo.

Watch it – Probably the movie of the year
Story: Bryan, missed out of his daughter growing up, because of his work as a “preventer” for the government. When his 17 year old child is kidnapped and forced into the sex slave trade, Bryan being a highly trained and experienced assasin, begins a hunt to neutralize the responsiles and save his daughter.

Cast:
Liam Nelson (“Bryan”)
Famke Jansen (“Lenore”)
Maggie Grace (“Kim”)

Links:
Official site, IMDB, Trailer
Buy (DVD), Buy (Blueray), Download (Xvid)

Review: Just a great movie. Thrilling, action-packed and disturbing. Liam Nelson does a great role and performs a great combination of revenge, killer instinct and total desperation. It is by far one of the best movies this year. A must see.
4,5/5

Actress Famke Jenssen is always seen w/ her Boston Terrier Licorice out and about! Here is a nice collection of pics of the 2 and CLICK HERE to view a video talking to Famke in the Hamptons…and she’s there with Licorice!

Al imponente Liam Neeson le hemos visto esta semana Enfrentado con Pierce Brosnan. En Taken, sus enemigos serán más de uno aunque su objetivo es muy similar. Su hija ha sido secuestrada por una peligrosa banda de trata de blancas. Lo que los criminales desconocen, es que el padre de su víctima es un habilidoso agente secreto que utilizará todos sus recursos para dar con su primogénita. Maggie Grace y Famke Jansen participan también en la película.

Cuando un grupo de tratantes de blancas se hace con su última presa, no puede imaginar que el padre de la chica es en realidad un ex-espía que usará sus habilidades para darles caza. Liam Neeson, Maggie Grace y Famke Jansen protagonizan el thriller dirigido por Pierre Morel, y de cuyo guión se encargan Luc Besson y Robert Mark Kamen. Las primeras noticias sobre la película llegan en forma de este curioso cartel, y del primer teaser trailer, que deja bastante clara la misión del protagonista y sus motivaciones.