Daily Loaf

Welcome to a very special, spook-tacular edition of Kevin’s Korner. This week, as we get our costumes ready, our tricks perfected and our tolerance for candy pushed to its peak. Plus, I have some great movie news, including scary tale involving a Spider-Man villain, the newest film from the Broken Lizard crew, and so much more. So, grab some candy corn and read on. And have a great (and safe) Halloween!

MOVIE NEWS

One villain for Spider-Man 4: There are rumors circulating that the actor who plays Dr. Connors in the second and third film (Dylan Baker) is not only back for the fourth film, but is the one and only villain; Connors alter-ego, The Lizard. This sounds like director Sam Raimi is fixing a big problem with the last film – too many villains. Come on, lizards are scary, right?

Broken Lizard’s Slammin Salmon is coming: The crew that gave us Super Troopers, Club Dread and BeerFest are presenting their next movie, involving a restaurant owned by Michael Clark Duncan and the wait staff who work there. The film is now set to be released in December. Personal note: I love these guys and can’t wait for another one of their movies.

Johnny 5 is alive … again: Steve Carr, the director of Paul Blart: Mall Cop, was named director of the remake of Short Circuit. The original 1986 film about a robot who gets a personality starred Steve “The Gute” Guttenberg and Ally Sheedy. This time around, Johnny 5 is a high tech military robot who becomes conscious after a lightning strike. So, it’s kinda like Stealth, but without the cool jets and Jessica Biel … yeah, that’s sounds like fun.

Want a rental? Prepare to wait a bit longer: There was talk this week about studios trying to combat the massive profits Netflix and Redbox by releasing a “for sale only” copy of the DVD, and some weeks later, releasing a rental copy. Obviously, this will hurt companies like Blockbuster, Netflix and Redbox, and force all the people who have patience-deficiencies like me to buy the movie. The plan could happen as early as next year.

The other Guys: Starring Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson, Samuel Jackson, Mark Wahlberg and Will Farrell is currently in production. I don’t know about anyone else, but based on the cast alone, I’m watching this movie.

Mad Max 4 is coming: There has been some progress on the Mad Max 4 front. Two new people have been talked about for the movie, and a mysterious third is still in the rumor phase. The first, two are Charlize “hottest woman in the world” Theron and Sam “I’m the new Jude Law” Worthington. While both are big names (to say the least), the third has got me scratching my head. The rumor is that Mel Gibson himself is coming back to the series that made him famous. Sure, everyone involved is saying it will never happen, but we’ll just have to wait and see. fter all, Mad Max won’t be the same without Gibson, drunk or not.

His ass with a silver platter please – CNN has reported this week that the U.S. has officially asked Switzerland to stop making those little knives and give us director Roman Polanski. Polanski was found guilty of the rape of a 13 year old girl, but skipped the country before he could serve his required time. Now, it seems, the U.S. wants their time. I guess they weren’t a fan of of the Pianist either.

“Nuke the Fridge” has an action figure – The term “Nuke the Fridge” has been coined in a similar way to “jumping the shark,” which generally signals when a TV show or movie has stopped being creative and gone on in another direction that does not coincide with the original design for the characters. The reference to nuking the fridge is to the part in Indiana Jones IV when Indy hides in a refrigerator to avoid a nuclear explosion.

NEW ON DVD THIS WEEK

Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs
Whatever Works
Orphan
Battlestar Galactica: The Plan
Nothing Like the Holidays

OPENING THIS WEEK

This Is It
A Serious Man
Gentlemen Broncos
The Boondock Saints II: All Saints Day
The House of the Devil

BOX OFFICE REPORT

The big story this week is Paranormal Activity, which continued to astonish by beating box office powerhouse Saw VI. Paranormal Activity has now grossed $62.4 million and is still climbing. The film seems likely to break the record for most profitable movie ever,currently held by The Blair Witch Project.

1. Paranormal Activity – $22 million ($62.4 million)
2. Saw VI – $14.8 million ($14.8 million)
3. Where the Wild Things Are – $14.4 million ($53.9 million)
4. Law Abiding Citizen – $12.7 million ($40.3 million)
5. Couples Retreat - $11 million ($78.2 million)
6. Astro Boy – $7 million ($7 million)
7. The Stepfather – $6.5 million ($20 million)
8. Cirque du Freak: The Vampire’s Assistant – $6.3 million ($6.3 million)
9. Cloudy With A Chance of Meatballs – $5.6 million ($115.2 million)
10. Zombieland – $4.3 million ($67.3 million)

KEVIN’S RANT

Since it’s Halloween, I’m going to forgo the usual witty banter about rental DVD’s. This week, I’m talking about your favorite movie monster. In cinema, there are tons of different movie monsters, from mummies and zombies , to vampires, wherewolves, witches and, um, Kanye West. So, which is your favorite?

For me, I have to go with zombies. Movies like Shaun of the Dead and Zombieland have done a great job of making zombies a comedic tool for laughs, but before that, George Romero showed us that zombies are an unstoppable force that requires speed, skill and luck to overcome. Even then, it’s really iffy. Generally, you’ll see the hero have to kill his own friends and family to avoid them becoming the enemy, which makes dealing with Zombies heart-wrenching.

I also think zombies represent death, slowly stalking us, reminding us that no matter how hard we run, or how much we fight, death is right there coming for our brains … er, lives. I also think zombies give a pass to that inner killer in all of us, separating the moral implications of killing someone from the act iteself. (Since they’re already dead, it’s fair game to whip out the chainsaws and go to work.)

So, in the comment section, name your favorite monster, and why they are your favorite.

TRAILER OF THE WEEK

In the spirit of Halloween, we have a truly scary movie with the incredibly hot Milla Jovovich; the film is called the Fourth Kind.

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