Friday Flashback: Total Recall

Y'all remember Total Recall dont ya? The 1990 Arnold Schwarzenegger action flick set on future earth and Mars. It had all those cool (for the time?) visual effects and the "Johnny cab"! Just re-watched it and I thought that it was sooo fun. I last saw it when I was a kid, and of course my eyes [and ears] were constantly being covered and uncovered by my parents. I missed the three boobs, the exploding heads, and half of the "colorful" dialouge. Not this time though. Well lessee....

Memorable scenes: Two Weeks



Memorable scenes: Johnny Cab




Its up to you now. Get to talking. What was your favorite scene? Did you love or hate this one? LEMMIE KNOW. What should we cover next weekend?

--Aaron

New Friday Feature!!!!

Welcome to our new weekend Feature, "Friday Flashback". This is everyone's chance to speak their mind on a throw-back movie or game that made everyone laugh, cry or want to get a refund. Each Friday I'll be posting a quick retrospective on a film or game from the past which has been recently revisited, and you get the chance to speak out. Don't forget to comment on this week's movie in the notes and give us suggestions for what to cover next week. Trust me, this week, your suggestions will be highly weighted...

---Aaron

Curiouser and curiouser

(Alice in Wonderland)

It looks like our favorite oddball director Tim Burton is back again with his new film based off of the Lewis Carroll's book “Alice in Wonderland.” This new film will have all the visual gothic, zany touches that we have grown to expect from every film that he makes. Including touches such as beautifull dreary landscapes and a weird looking Johnny Depp (underneath all that makeup lies a secret garden of hotness!) Both of these are things I would have loved to visit as a kid….I was sort of a twisted kid.

(Johnny Depp as the Mad Hatter) (Helena Bonham Carter as the Queen of Hearts)

( Alice on the Tea Cup ride at Disney land)

--StrangeContainerOfPudding!!!

R.I.P Billy Mays, Farrah Fawcett

Three incredible legends passed this week, and Braindamage will not easily forget any of them... Read on for our Rest in Peace blessings for Billy Mays and Farrah Fawcett. Hit this Jump for our Michael Jackson remembrances.

The Face of beauty and grace in the 1970's and beyond, Farrah Fawcett bravely battled a rare cancer for years. Best known for her extremely popular pin-up (left), and her role as the most popular Charlie's Angels character, Farrah was a legend. The blond bombshell's famous, feathered tresses even spawned a Farrah shampoo brand in the 1970s. The actress chronicled her painful struggle with cancer in Farrah's Story, a documentary which aired in May. Fawcett was 62. We'll miss you Farrah.







Billy Mays--50--pitchman extraordinaire, passed away this morning. Billy was an incredible salesman and to be honest he got me hooked on Oxi-clean! The man was an inspiration to me, because during my college years, I watched him parlay a great sales pitch--for a great product--into uber success. He taught all of us to stand behind something great [and success will follow] . R.I.P Billy Mays



--Aaron

M.J Leave Me Alone VIDEO

This was my childhood favorite video of Michael's. I was always a little afraid of the video, though, i found the graphics frightening. R.I.P Michael.

--Aaron

R.I.P Michael Jackson, once and future King

Thursday June 26--LA Califonia,

50-Year-old Michael Jackson dead of cardiac arrest.

Aaron's Take:

"The King of Pop was such an inspiration to the entire Braindamage Crew. Everything we do here is based upon the kind of entertainment that he created. Strange and I grew up with Micheal and were alive during the Thriller and Bad eras. We have never in our lives known a bigger star, and his passing has left us reeling. I remember playing with the official Michael Jackson doll, its surreal. My sister almost fainted when Michael first moon-walked across the stage at the Grammy's!" Perhaps,one of today's biggest pop stars--Britney Spears--said it best: "He's been an inspiration throughout my entire life and I'm devastated he's gone."


We will all miss Michael Jackson and pray that his family will find peace.


What better way to remember Michael than though the lens of his amazing career--

Aaron --

Is Jennifer Aniston being hunted?

Here are pics from the filming of the new Jennifer Aniston movie The Bounty.



(In these picks Jen steals a pedicab)

The bounty is a romantic comedy about a journalist named Casidy played by Jennifer Aniston who goes on the run after her ex-husband played by Gerard Butler (300) sends a bounty hunter to kill her

--StrangeContainerOfPudding!!!

Jennifer Aniston News!!

I was reading a gossip Rag like a week ago and I read about cute "Friends" alum Jennifer Aniston's drama filled life. So anyway, I really was like thinking about her recently, and Strange called me to report a sighting of the actress. Aniston was apparently in A.C. filming The Bounty. Strange has pictures and video of the sighting so look for it here!

Apple to take bite out of gaming market

Apple announces a new iPhone for summer. Looks good, whaddaya' think? Is cost an issue when upgrading?


--Aaron

The Princess and the Frog "pics"

We've got more froggy pics for you guys!

(Princess & the Frog)

(Prince Naveen)

(Concept Design)

--StrangeContainerOfPudding!!!

Nurse Jackie First look

I had the chance to screen Showtime's new dark-comedy series: Nurse Jackie today. While I must admit to having only minor acquaintance with HBO'S mega-hit Mob series The Sopranos, I will say that Edie Falco--Main character Tony Soprano's diva-ish wife in the series-- has always had a star quality which was immediately recognizable. Now, several years after the last high note on The Soprano's set has been sung, Falco scrubs-up to play Nurse Jackie, a pain-killer addicted workaholic mother straddling the line between caring nurse and addict. The premise for the 30-minute pilot was strong enough; place the very capable Falco in a hospital with know-it-all doctors and trainee nurses and watch as she holds the place together in the face of death,(her personal) addiction, and staff incompetency. Nurse Jackie looks good on a 1080p set [not sure what the original brodcast ratio is]. There is also some great--but not so happy--imagery in between scenes which also looks swell in HD. The shows music quality lagged throughout though--something I hope they fix.

Another fixable but damnable aspect of the pilot was the predictable writing and [some] awkward casting. Falco though, seemed to soar above these limitations, by envisioning a deeply-flawed, lovable character and bringing her to the set day one. Showtime is a good venue for this series and I believe that the network should allow Jackie the chance to vaccinate audiences with her intriguing personal story before fleshing-out other characters more. There is a lot to like with Jackie but after seeing the pilot, I believe Falco--like the druggie nurse--has to shoulder the weight for everyone else, at least until the writing becomes more compelling.

--Aaron

Lil Orphan Esther

How many times have you thought about adopting a psycho killer…. Probably not that much, but if you have then we have a movie for you; it’s called "Orphan" and it is about a father (Peter Sarsgaard) and mother (Vera Farmiga) team who adopt a little girl by the name of Esther (it’s 2009 and her name is Esther…and nobody became suspicious?). Once they bring Esther home the body count in the neighbor hood begins to rise.

(Release date: July 24 2009)

--StrangeContainerOfPudding!!!

You can stand under my umbrella

What does an insane Eiffel tower, a diabolical orchestra, and evil robots from the future have in common. Well for one they are all about to catch a beat down in this first volume of "The Umbrella Academy" (Apocalypse Suite). "The Umbrella Academy" is about an outlandish group of superheroes who come together at their alien father’s funeral to stop the Orchestra Verdamten and it’s conductor from destroying the world. This first volume includes all six issues of the apocalypse suite, and some early sketches.

"The Umbrella Academy" is the brainchild of Gerard Way who is best known for being the lead singer of the band "My Chemical Romance". The story art which I liked and would love to see in other comics is created by Gabriel Bá, while the cover art is done by James Jean who also does the cover art for the Fables series.

To say that "The Umbrella Academy" is just about a family reunion from hell is a bit of an understatement. This comic had everything action, gore, a chimpanzee wearing glasses and yet I still could not get into it. It felt very similar to "The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen", but I loved that series so why not this one? I think what threw me off was the lack of character & environment development, it’s as if you were supposed to automatically know that the Eiffel Tower eats people and I did not learn that in school (damn public schools!)

6.5/10

--StrangeContainerOfPudding!!!

Blocks, Yes. Full motion control, Maybe. Says Tetris inventor

Creator of the popular in the eighties popular Tetris game, has his doubts about Xbox360's full motion controller, project Natal. According to Blog Superfriend, Kotaku, Alexey Pajitnov Said this about Full motion control: "I am a little bit skeptical... I know how interfaces work and the reliability...is the key problem. You have to have 99.9 percent accuracy...98.9...(is) no good." According to the blog, Pajitnov's Tertis game is licensed to a company which is currently making a full motion controlled version of the puzzler. Shot-in-the-foot, or insight?--you decide.

--Aaron

Dead Snow...Its about to be summer though!

Sundance has given us some killer movies in the past like...and...who can forget?... Okay, so I'm not a big "Sundancer" I'm more into movies with fun stuff like snow and zombies--hey wait-- there is a Sundance film with snow and zombies--Nazi Zombies at that! Its called Dead Snow and it follows the exploits of a fun-loving group of Norwegian Medical students who stumble across a pit of frozen Nazi Zombies while on a ski holiday. Sounds fun right? watch the trailer. Tell us what you think! And we'll keep you posted on this one. With a tagline like: Ein! Zwei! Die! this has got to be epic!



--Aaron

Xbox's "Natal" throws baby out with bathwater

In this case "the baby" would be "a controller" and "bathwater" would be "creating an electronic interface where the need for a physical device for control would become obsolete"--whew

"Natal" E3 Video--BTW, where do Nintendo and Microsoft find these living rooms, and are they the same ones used in porn videos?--just askin'.



--Aaron

Its My E3 I can cry if i want to...

Strange's "lover" Yoshi has resurfaced in the Newest 3-d Mario title, announced at E3. Super Mario Galaxy 2 (for the Wii) has been announced, and although not playable at the convention, Nintendo has blessed us with some trailers and such. The original Super Mario Galaxy was a fun game--nothing to write home about though--and this new title looks to stand on the (globular) laurels of the original.



Nintendo Also announced New Super Mario Bros. Wii for the um, Wii. That makes two Mario titles, for the Wii console--wow. The Japanese mega company seemed to pull out the big guns against Microsoft's "Natal" technology. Blog SuperFriend Kotaku is at E3 and they have full convention coverage. Strange and I will not be able to go until next year
*sobs*.



--Aaron

Disney's circle of life.

Well it looks like Disney may be back with their new movie "The Princess and the Frog". This movie marks disney return to their original style--which I so missed--of lavish musical numbers and some of the best hand-drawn animation (2D) in the business.

Not much is known about the story for Disney's "The Princess and the Frog" but what we do know is that the film takes place in New Orleans' French Quarters and stars Tiana as the newest princess in a long line of Disney princesses and her frog prince's name is Naveen. Tiana works as a waitress in a diner and is voiced by Anika Noni Rose (Dreamgirls). Some of the other celebrity voice actors for this film are Oprah, Terrence Howard, John Goodman, and Jenifer Lewis.

The film will be in theaters on December 1

--StrangeContianerOfPudding!!!

The Xbox 360 answer to the paternity test...You are the father!

Don't know how true the title is, but hey, I'm a blogger and you're reading right? So using the The Xbox 360's new "Natal" technology, Fable creator: Peter Molyneux and his team has created a virtual son (or friend) named Milo for the Xbox 360. The "Natal" technology, which has been spoken of for weeks, is a motion sensing camera device for the 360 which reads body movements, scans images, and can transfer sound. With the Milo demo, we see it in action. This technology of course, is set to compete with Nintendo's Wii remote and the upcoming motion plus add on.



--Aaron

MTV Movie awards: Asses, Vampires rule the night

I dunno what I think about MTV anymore ever since they stopped playing music all the time and started playing 12 hours of reality TV, I stopped "wanting my MTV". Last night was the MTV movie awards and Sacha Cohen was more exciting than anything else--BTW Sacha, thanks for turning Shady into a fleeing, shrieking fem-bot--Below is a list of MTV's popcorn-taker-homers:

-Breakthrough Female Performance: Ashley Tisdale, High School Musical 3

-Best Fight: Robert Pattinson and Cam Gigandet, Twilight

-Breakthrough Male Performance: Robert Pattinson, Twilight

-Best Male Performance: Zac Efron, High School Musical 3

-Best Kiss: Robert Pattinson and Kristen Stewart, Twilight

-Best WTF? Moment, Amy Poehler in Baby Mama

-Best Song from a Movie: Miley Cyrus, "The Climb"

-MTV Generation Award: Ben Stiller

-Best Female Performance: Kristen Stewart, Twilight

-Best Comedic Performance: Jim Carrey, Yes Man

-Best Movie: Twilight

--Aaron

The last of the swag

We are coming to the end of our "Drag Me To Hell" weekend, so here are the final swag pics.

DMTH Hat

front of DMTH cup

back of DMTH cup with levels of The Circle Of Hell For Drunks written on it.

ALL THE SWAG!

--StrangeContainerOfPudding!!!

"Up" slays "Hell" at box office, "Museum" displays second week suprise

Just in time for the end of our extensive "Drag Me" coverage, the final Weekend Box office totals come pounding down the door.

TW	LW	Title (click to view)	Studio	Weekend Gross	% Change	Theater Count / Change		Average	Total Gross	Budget*	Week #
1	N	Up	BV	$68,200,000	-	3,766	-	$18,109	$68,200,000	-	1
2	1	Night at the Museum: Battle of the Smithsonian	Fox	$25,500,000	-52.9%	4,101	+5	$6,218	$105,296,000	$150	2
3	N	Drag Me to Hell	Uni.	$16,628,000	-	2,508	-	$6,630	$16,628,000	-	1
4	2	Terminator Salvation	WB	$16,140,000	-62.1%	3,602	+72	$4,481	$90,657,000	$200	2
5	3	Star Trek	Par.	$12,800,000	-44.1%	3,507	-546	$3,650	$209,500,000	-	4

Did anyone see Up, Night at the museum, or Drag me to Hell? Let us know your thoughts.

Numbers by: Box Office Mojo, LLC.

--Aaron

PSP Go is alive!!!

The oft publicized successor to Sony's floundering PSP (portable) has leaked--just days before the Video Game industry's biggest trade show, E3. Take a look at Sony's PSP Go.



According to Blog friend Ars Thechnica: "The hardware will not take the place of the current PSP-3000 on store shelves—they will be sold side-by-side...hardware is significantly lighter, with 43 percent less weight...screen is 3.8 inches...16GB of memory and a memory card slot for expanded storage...bluetooth support. The screen slides to reveal the buttons..."

As a techie extraordinaire, and someone who pre-ordered the original PSP, I'm looking forward to this. Especially the end of the messy UMD days. Hopefully Sony will give us some more solid info on its release at E3.

--Aaron

Upcoming Wii-make's startling beginnings

I just got in from a long night out. Its 5:03am here. I just wanted to show you guys an interesting nugget I found yesterday when I was putting together the Resident Evil: the dark side chronicles post.

Check out these Resident Evil Zero beta movies from when the game was going to be a N64 exclusive.



Here is the Gamecube/Wii version



Not that I'm geeking out over the graphical improvements, I just didn't know that the game was that far along before Capcom scrapped it and rebuilt it using the Resident Evil engine...Too much Bud Light! G'Night.

--Aaron

Horror weekend, Horror video game?

Strange and I are horror fans. So when we screened Drag me to hell last week, the inevitable video game question reared its ugly head "how can we fit some gaming into a DMTH weekend?" Strange asked. I thought that I could at least answer the call for some video game horror news with snippets and tidbits from Capcom's upcoming Survival horror game, Resident Evil: The Darkside Chronicles. This blog is quite friendly with the Resident Evil series, so here's the scoop. The Darkside Chronicles is a re-interpretation of fan favorite Resident Evil 2. Its an "on rails" shooter--read rail shooter--and will be released on the Wii. Graphically the game looks tight, Lets hope the "Wii HD" will be around in time for its future (dont know when people) release . BTW, Resident Evil is known as Biohazard in Japan and Europe.




--Aaron

Disney Pixar's: Up-- flying high

Just posted the friday box office numbers and Disney Pixar's: Up, earned Will Smith's per-movie salary in just one night! Good to see the box office isn't as lethargic as everything else these days. Up and, Night at the Museum 2 *cringes* are DMTH's two main competitors this weekend so we'll file it under "good for you" in the "DMTH Weekend" box.

--Aaron

"Drag Me" in third place Friday

ScreenCrave has an interesting little Box office poll going on. Since "Drag Me" opened against Disney/Pixar's: Up this weekend, both films will duke it out for the top box office spot. Since this is DMTH weekend, we're rooting for the undercat--er dog rather. If Up does snag the top spot, you can blame Balloon fiend, Sam Raimi for that. Friday BO numbers:

Rank*	Title (Click to view chart)	Friday 5/29 (Estimates)	Saturday 5/30	Sunday 5/31	Monday 6/1
1	UP Buena Vista 3,766	$21,400,000 -- / $5,682 $21,400,000 / 1	N/A	N/A	N/A
2	NIGHT AT THE MUSEUM: BATTLE OF THE SMITHSONIAN Fox 4,101	$7,550,000 +146.1% / $1,841 $87,346,000 / 8	N/A	N/A	N/A
3	DRAG ME TO HELL Universal 2,508	$6,420,000 -- / $2,560 $6,420,000 / 1	N/A	N/A	N/A
4	TERMINATOR SALVATION Warner Bros. 3,602	$5,090,000 +91.6% / $1,413 $79,607,000 / 9	N/A	N/A	N/A

courtesy of Box Office Mojo, LLC.



--Aaron

Justin long on "Drag Me To Hell"

Justin long (Jeepers Creepers & accepted) talks about working with Sam Raimi and his character role as a supporting boyfriend.


Youtube video Here

--StrangeContainerOfPudding!!!

$72 zombie film gets worldwide release...

I know its DMTH weekend and all...
Hey guys, Strange is gonna kill me, but I was watching CNN the other day and read about this one on the ticker. It appears that a Welsh director has made a Zombie film on a recession-worthy budget-- 72 bucks!--the film: Colin played at Cannes and has been getting a bunch of buzz, oh and i think the CANNEADIANS liked it. Worldwide distribution rights are being zuzged as we speak.For more go to Movie Blips, okay?

--Aaron

Drag me to Hell weekend...

The big DMTH weekend has just kicked off, and now the film is officially playing to packed theaters. Just to get you all ready in style, I'm adding some Jumps so you can go to the theatre prepared...

Aaron's DMTH review

DMTH SWAG PT. 1


Keep an eye peeled for Strange's update on the swag.

--Aaron

Drag Me to Hell Pics

These are pics from the big séance scene!!!

Adriana Barraza as the possessed psychic.

(left to right) Alison Lohman, Dileep Rao, & Adriana Barraza

watch as Kevin Foster floats over the table.

-- StrangeContainerOfPudding!!!

Sam Raimi obssesed with Robots, Balloons...

Check out Sam Raimi's interview over at Cinematical.com. When Asked what summer film he wants to see the director said: Yes. I'll tell you, I'm looking forward to Terminator. The trailer looks cool, really cool. I'm looking forward to Up, I only saw the teaser some time ago but that looked really cool. It looked great, and they've never failed. Strange and I are looking forward to those movies too, But I guess you don't care what two non directors think...



Cinematical interview

--Aaron

DMTH swag

as part of the Drag Me To Hell weekend we are showing off some of our DMTH swag.

(DMTH T-shirt & our "junior" press pass)

--StrangeContainerOfPudding!!!

Drag Me to Hell Review

What can be said of the latest horror film: Drag Me to Hell that hasn’t already been espoused across the web? For one, it’s not perfect. Two, while not exactly Gone with the wind-meet-the exorcist; this film has single handedly assured the convalescence of the languishing PG-13 Horror genre. I’m sure Director Sam Raimi had less lofty goals for his summer flick, but Drag Me succeeds where it counts by blending slapstick, over-the-top Army of Darkness style sight gags with, gag-inducing moments so full of goo and bodily fluids that the Garbage Pail Gang would double-take. And Believe-IT-OR-NOT, both of these elements are so craftily intertwined that the film feels fresh; and Drag Me’s liberal use of slime –and plegmy drool— seems a yoke breaker, liberating the genre from the SAW/HOSTEL pact-of-gore. Besides the gross-out factor though, the film also has its well crafted and unique moments of creepiness and terror, making it quite a fun summer romp.
As we all know, Drag me to Hell places actress’ Alison Lohman’s Christine Brown into a fight for her life—and eternal soul—against a centuries old Roma curse which plagues its victim for three days and, salvation barring, drags the afflicted kicking and screaming into Lucifer’s barbecue pit. As a well tempered Loan officer tasked with making money for the bank, Brown denies the sickeningly monstrous old gypsy Mrs. Ganush (played to devastating effect by actress Lorna Ravor) an extension on her defaulted home loan, starting a chain of events which are both exciting and terrifying. When a livid and crazed Ganush attacks Christine in a parking deck, the tension gushes from the screen like a fly-induced nosebleed. And lest you have any doubt that a PG-13 horror film will pack the punch that genre fans crave, watch Brown turn a common stapler and ruler into deadly weapons.
Moments like this show that the wildly imaginative director is willing to take risks with his work. These risks however, are oft times counterbalanced by safe plot shelters, and duly foreshadowed plot devices; both of which detract from the overall edginess of the work and foil the ending. Case-in-point Brown’s boyfriend, Clay Dalton—played competently by actor Justin long—is the film’s skeptic with a heart-of-gold. When his love interest begins to invest time and money in ridding herself of the satanic curse, Dalton is always two steps behind ready to inject kind-spirited cynicism. Allow me to say that while these two complaints strip the film of a perfect rating, they are not enough to detract from my overall reverence for “Drag Me”.
Drag me to Hell’s most significant meat can be found in the mythical Gypsy curse which plagues our protagonist—and her plans to get rid of it. To do so, Brown consults with psychic-guru Rham Jas, played by actor Dileep Rao, and eventually has an “exorcism” performed by Shaun San Dena, portrayed by the fabulous Adriana Barraza. Both of these characters are well placed, and interactions between them lead to some funny—and haunting moments. One complaint I have is the insistence Raimi placed on keeping the curses’ cure locked within the confines of the occult community. It seems that the Hell construct is one leased by the Christian church, thus, a zany priest would have added some real world continuity to the film.
Drag Me to Hell is an incredible, imaginative film that ought not be missed. In this rough economy where our retirement plans have all been Dragged into the beyond, Director Sam Raimi has given all moviegoers a gift, one that promises to change the horror landscape for years 8.5/10—Aaron

Drag Me to Hell Weekend...

Welcome to Braindamage Reviews! This weekend Sam Raimi's long awaited horror film: Drag Me to Hell lands in theaters. We got you covered with reviews, news and a sneak peak at our reviewer swag. Stay close.

--Aaron