A long time ago, movies weren’t allowed to have any violence, not even blood. Some monster would drag its hapless victims off screen and your mind would have to fill in the bloody blanks. These days, we have “Hostel,” the director’s cut. Enough said.

In July Fox Searchlight is set to release Joshua, a creepy psychological horror film from director George Ratliff. When I first saw the trailer, two things crept through my brain: first I was completely creeped out, and second, I could not help but be reminded of The Omen, and the creepy son of the devil in that creepy tale.

What will we do now that the people whose luxurious lives we lusted over are either in or going to rehab, rehab and jail? While they’re off the front pages of the gutter press, we’ll have to trust that their expensive public relations firms will find other ways to keep them in the public eye, something which Paris’s people are already working on.

Rumor has it the threesome of Edgar Wright, Simon Pegg and Nick Frost are working on a third film as a trilogy of sorts of British odes to American films, but the rumor mill must be on a break. Maybe they just need a bright idea. Here’s the windup and the pitch.

In Judd Apatow’s film “Knocked Up,” Katherine Heigl gets a bun in the oven courtesy of the doughy but funny Seth Rogan after a night of heavy drinking. Considering America’s fascination with emulating the behavior of movie characters, who wouldn’t want to drink profusely in the hopes of landing a babe like Heigl?

A few years ago, a Brit photographer by the name of Sean Ellis decided to become a film director. His short, called “Cashback” didn’t exactly bring back cash, but an Oscar nomination isn’t bad either. People liked his main character and his ideas, so they bugged him to turn it into a long feature. He did, by giving his star a past, a future and a good romance and the result may not be apocalyptic but it’s funny and engaging, a rom-com strictly for the guys.

This has been out for awhile but with the third installment on its way, we’re throwing this review out to you. This package is a pretty sweet one and though it’s called the “explosive extended cut” the extended action sequences don’t add any explosions. In fact, I found them to be rather bland and not worth it. When offered the chance to view the theatrical version or the version with the bookended new beginning and ending, choose the theatrical. You can watch the scenes as extras later just to see and they explain why they were needed, which is interesting. Obviously we get the film and it’s a good action/thriller. If you haven’t seen it yet, get caught up before Bourne Ultimatum comes out. Basically we get super-spy in a super-coma Jason Bourne, a pretty bad ass dude. As they say in The 40 Year Old Virgin “I always thought Matt Damon was like a Streisand but he’s really rocking the shit in this one!” This thriller follows the “Just leave me alone” Super spy as he journeys to find out who he is. But when Chris Cooper is involved as a shady CIA handler, you just know things aren’t going to go smoothly. Be on the lookout for Clive Owen as well as he pops up as super-killer “The Professor” back in the days before his face could sell a movie. The real cool thing we get here is a good deal of extras. They’re all, for the most [Due to Content Scraping and Theft, we have been forced to try abbreviated feeds. We apologize for any inconvenience this may cause and woud very much appreciate you clicking through to view the full article on FilmSchoolRejects.com]

Yesterday I gave you my personal list of The Ten Most Powerful Movie Franchises in History, so today it is time for you to give me yours. As many commenters have pointed out, my list was a bit subjective. So let’s throw objectivity way out the window and take it to a vote.

No Steven Seagal here, just the hard-hitting action of the justice system! Above the Law is a violence happy film about a dead-eye prosecutor who’s handy with a pistol and his hands and feet, and he’s out to find justice! Seriously. Intermixing bits of foreign silly-humor with hard hitting action and a strong plot (seriously) this movie has a following for all the right reasons. Now, by serious plot, I may be stretching slightly. The premise is solid. In a corrupt justice system what must one do to achieve justice? When the law is abused to protect the guilty, what can the innocent do? That is solid. The answer the movie finds, less solidly, is have a tough as nails prosecutor with a full arsenal of ass-kick in his briefcase take the law into his own hands and kill those who evade justice. Cynthia Rothrock co-stars as an English Detective on the trail of our prosecutor (Yuen Biao) who she believes to be another criminal, no matter who he’s killing. Biao and Rothrock have a great on-screen flow and their fight sequence is the best in the film. Our main villain is the recognizable and frightening Melvin Wong, who is awesome as always. We get a few side characters thrown in for comic relief, though you won’t be laughing much because the plot is often dead serious and tragic. If you took out the few silly parts this would be on the level of The Departed if The Departed was [Due to Content Scraping and Theft, we have been forced to try abbreviated feeds. We apologize for any inconvenience this may cause and woud very much appreciate you clicking through to view the full article on FilmSchoolRejects.com]

What makes a great movie franchise? Is it a cult-like fanbase? Is it a franchises ability to gross big amounts at the box office, on DVD or with merchandise sales? Or is it just longevity? All of these questions will be answered in good time as we round up the Ten Most Powerful Movie Franchises in History…

If you take away the first two months of the year, 2007 has been one of the more plentiful financial periods in recent history, with Box Office records falling faster than Lindsay Lohan’s acting career. 300, Spider-Man 3 and Shrek the Third all saw their fair share of records, and now the third installment in the Pirates of the Caribbean franchise is getting in on the action.

Long before Jackie Chan teamed with Owen Wilson to bring the Far East to the Old West in Shanghai Noon, and even before Jet Li brought the East to the West in Once Upon a Time in China and America, actor/director Sammo Hung brought the two together within the Chinese confines with Shanghai Express, originally known as Millionaire’s Express. This film combines screwball comedy with martial arts action with a bit of a Western bent. It is partially successful in creating an entertaining film, but I have to admit to being a bit underwhelmed by the endeavor. The main story follows Cheng (Sammo Hung) as he returns home, a wanted man, proceeds to buy up all the businesses he can with plans to blow up the nearby railroad tracks in order to divert the wealthy passengers to the town so they will spend their money there. Meanwhile, there is the lawman who is pursuing Cheng with the intent to collect the reward money. Then there are the bored police of the town who decide to set a fire so they can rob the bank. Finally we have the firemen, led by Yuen Biao, who, as the most virtuous of the lot, takeover as the police and set out to clean up the town. And this is before we even get to the train. Now, the train brings with it a whole new set of issues. There are the wealthy people on board that Cheng wishes to divert to town, plus [Due to Content Scraping and Theft, we have been forced to try abbreviated feeds. We apologize for any inconvenience this may cause and woud very much appreciate you clicking through to view the full article on FilmSchoolRejects.com]

It appears that IMAX is about to take a small step forward next year, as USA Today reported yesterday on Christopher Nolan’s intentions to use IMAX to film 4 key action scenes in his highly anticipated film, The Dark Knight. The article reveals that not only will Nolan use IMAX format for action sequences, but he will also use it to introduce the world to his version of The Joker.

Coincidentally the film “Knocked Up” will hit theaters this Friday, because the Fat Guys have birthed a new show (explaining Kevin’s girth). This new fancy “update” edition of Fat Guys at the Movies promises to deliver more news, more box office banter and even more rants about Lindsay Lohan’s coke addiction. Also, Kevin joins the cast of “The View”, Neil kidnaps nubile Asian girls and hides them in a hotel and the age old dispute of which 1st Lady in History is most bangable is finally settled! We’re comin’ for you, Eleanor Roosevelt!

The new “Pirates of the Caribbean” film is different because the news surrounding its release has made as much buzz as the movie itself. Several months ago, the lack of trailers made many cinemaphiles scratch their heads. Now, the entertainment news is giving equal coverage to the fact that Disney has given a gag order on spoilers and plot twists…

Do you want to know about Pirates of the Caribbean: At World’s End? Naturally, here at FSR we have posted our share of reviews and given you our stance on the film. But while we know that you read our opinions and occasionally take them to heart, we also know that we are not quite as entertaining as the “Ask a Ninja” ninja. In a recent episode, the Ninja gives the world his take on POTC 3. Take a gander after the jump…

Unlike Paris Hilton who does nothing and does it well, Lindsay Lohan can act, though we’ve seen no evidence of that since forever ago. What Lohan doesn’t do well is come up with rational excuses for really bad driving. To help her out, Film School Rejects has a few suggestions for the next time she’s chosen to be designated driver by her snooty friends.

I can’t fault writer-director Amy Berg for tackling a subject—presbyteral molestation and the subsequent Catholic cover-up—in Deliver Us From Evil that’s by now old hat, since she scored a remarkable opportunity too extraordinary to pass-up: an exclusive, three day interview with the straightforward and candidly confessional Oliver O’Grady, a former priest and convicted sex abuser now living in Irish exile. But ultimately O’Grady presents Berg with quite a conundrum that she doesn’t quite having the courage to confront, and which ultimately brings Deliver Us From Evil down—Oliver O’Grady is the most likable and charismatic person in the film. When he reappears near the end, after a long hiatus from the narrative, I was happy to see him again, and yet this is a man that admittedly molested and raped probably upwards of hundreds of children over the course of his ignoble career! O’Grady is and always was an ostensibly unassuming and non-threatening presence, “the perfect example of what a priest would be,” according to the mother of one of his victims, but on the inside O’Grady is a fiend, a sociopathic pedophile who admits that nothing gets him jonesing like a child in a bathing suit. The basic story, as I said, is familiar: O’Grady is first accused of abuse in 1976 and, over the course of the next decade or two, is bounced around Central California, from Lodi to Thurlock to Stockton to San Andreas, where in every city and town it’s basically the same story (until he was [Due to Content Scraping and Theft, we have been forced to try abbreviated feeds. We apologize for any inconvenience this may cause and woud very much appreciate you clicking through to view the full article on FilmSchoolRejects.com]

This is a movie that will put a smile on your face and a grumble in your tummy. Waitress is a sweet film that moves at a poetic pace through the dramatic comedy landscape. If you are looking for a movie that is upbeat and positive and bright without the cynicism that can creep into modern comedy, not to mention steering away from the popular improvised comedy that can be found in Will Ferrell style comedies, this is the movie for you.

Fido takes a bite out of its competition, and claws at traditional zombie movies to create a movie experience that is horrifyingly funny. This is a movie that pretends to eat at your heart, but ends up picking at your brain-and taking swings at your funny bone. If you like spoofs, you are in luck. If you like zombie flicks, you won’t be disappointed.