Quentin Tarantino paid homage to this film in Kill Bill 2. The scene where a buried alive Uma Thurman wakes up inside her coffin is based on a scene in this film. Of course Quentin Tarantino is actually famous for liking films in all shapes and sizes and not just good ones, so the fact that he liked this one enough to quote from it, does not automatically make it a classic. Although there is plenty to see, both in terms of atmosphere and in terms of grossness, this film is more of an oddity than a classic.
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Teenager and serious piece of scum Bruno, always in desperate need of cash, has conceived a child with his girlfriend Sonia. After the kid is born he decides to take it for a walk and sell it to a bunch of scoundrel child traders. After she hears the trick her boyfriend pulled, Sonia freaks out and Bruno tries to get his baby back. Unfortunately, the criminals now demand more money than he was originally paid to give his child back.
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The original Battlestar Galactica series aired in The Netherlands when I was a kid. Since I didn’t know any English back then, and wasn’t able to read the subtitles either, I had to rely on my dad’s translation. But I was fascinated. For me, my love of science fiction for the most part started with “BSG”.

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I was merrily working for the Dutch Film Festival a week ago and attended several meetings with the producer and director of Paradise Now as special guests. They both assured their audience that their film is primarily about the friendship between two men at a rather pivotal point in their lives. Such a statement is a pretty tough one, because the main reason I believe people would be drawn to this film, is the fact it is about the last 24 hours in the lives of two Palestinian suicide bombers. That is also what Paradise Now’s tagline refers to.
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I actually enjoyed watching this.

If I sound surprised, it’s because I am. And to be honest and not give the wrong impression: I did not enjoy this movie because it was good. I had fun because it was bad in an entertaining way. Remember how Barb Wire was an extremely terrible remake of Casablanca? This film does the same for Psycho.
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Having been a cult hit in the UK since 2003, “Undead”, Michael and Peter Spierig’s tale of brain eating zombies, acid rain and an alien invasion, has enough gore to satisy most horror hounds, and finally with a limited release through Lion’s Gate in the States in 2005, it would seem that they would have some work cut out for them. Credited as The Spierig Brothers, the ambitious intentions of the low budget, sometimes inventive horror picture doesn’t really come clear until the third act. It didn’t set any US box office records, Lion’s Gate really didn’t push it enough, and if it wasn’t savaged by critics before, they sure swarmed all over it now.
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It took five years for struggling actor J.P. Davis to gain attention for his script “Fighting Tommy Riley”, and Davis refused to sell the script unless it was agreed that he play the lead role. If that were not enough, three of those years were prep for the role, as Davis actually trained as a boxer for an extra edge. Finally, on an indie budget and with a new director Eddie O’ Flaherty, the film was made, and made the festival rounds in the US before being betrayed with a low key DVD release.
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Even when he uses live actors, Tim Burton’s movies always seem to have an animated quality about them. His first major venture into animation was a film short called Vincent (1982) which he did for Buena Vista Films. He returned to the medium with The Nightmare Before Christmas (1993) which has since received a cult status, though at the time was largely panned by the critics. This month, however, he returns to it in a big way with an all star cast and a movie that has critics singing his praise once again. Burton had lost some favor when his version of Charlie and the Chocolate Factory (2005) failed to impress most movie journalists. With The Corpse Bride (2005), he has seemingly redeemed himself.
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When I first saw this little beauty sitting on the shelves at the video store, I really had to wonder. I’d heard really lousy things about Bruce Campbell’s career, or lack thereof, and I thought his newest movies were going to be a total waste of time.

However, this proved to be much more than I expected.

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Everybody seems to have an opinion on who the next James Bond should be. Gossip keeps surfacing: it’ll be Clive Owen, no wait, it’ll be Hugh Jackman, no wait, it’ll be Colin Farrell.

Here’s a thought: in this brave new millennium, isn’t it about time for James Bond to be sporting two X-chromosomes instead of the usual XY? I can think of a number of actresses who would fit the bill. Sarah Michelle Gellar comes to mind (though she’d need a good dialect coach, obviously and possibly a brown or red dye-job), Keira Knightley is another one. Other names that have been suggested to me were Rachel Weisz (who would definitely make my shortlist), Halle Berry, Kate Beckinsale and Eva Longoria (again with the dialect coach for her). Further more Angelina Jolie has proven she can take on action roles, and indeed a British accent. When you think about it, Lara Croft is basically a goody-two-shoes female Bond with some archaeology thrown in for good measure.
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