Category — science fiction

BATTLE ROYALE up on the big screen where it belongs! In Austin!

Austinites rejoice! Spearheaded by our very own IsleOfCinemite Rockie [@RockieWarAntz], IOC is proud to present a very special treat for fans of fantastic film in Central Texas! April 25th, 2013 – MARK YOUR CALENDAR!

As many of you already know, Kinji Fukasaku‘s Battle Royale (2000) - the GREATEST movie of the 21st Century – was never shown theatrically in the U.S. of A. This travesty is now being corrected, and here’s your chance to see this masterpiece as it was intended – with a crowd of fans in a packed freakin’ theater!

I’ll spare you more superlatives because there is simply nothing I can say to do this movie justice. All you need know is that it is the culmination of one of the finest directorial careers of all time, that rare cinematic beast that satisfies heart, mind, soul – and hunger for action! I’m serious – if Luis Buñuel, Seijun Suzuki, Jack Hill, Peter Jackson, Samuel Fuller, Steven Spielberg, Álex de la Iglesia, Quentin Tarantino, Joe Dante, Brian DePalma and several more of your favorite filmmakers (and some you never heard of) had a celluloid baby this would be it. THIS WOULD BE IT! Or forget all those names and just know that it’s a goddamm Kinji Fukasaku film!

So gather all ye Austinites! If you’re a fan of J.J. Abrams‘ Lost, if you’re a fan of The Hunger Games (nobody’s judging), of The Running Man (1987), if you’re a fan of Lord of the Rings, Lord of the Flies, Lord of Illusions, Lord of the Dance, Traci Lords - hell if you possess a set of eyes in your skull -

YOU MUST SEE THIS MOVIE!!!

And check out a great scene from the movie, previously featured here !

We need your asses in the seats to make this happen! So go sign up to see it now! April 25th, 2013 – but you have until the 18th to purchase tickets!

[here, press here!]

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• ‘Battle,’ ‘Games’: Cold Brutality A Common Theme
• BATTLE ROYALE Poster From Bryan Lee O’Malley, Kevin Tong & Mondo!
• The Hunger Games vs. Battle Royale: A Study in Hollywood Violence
• Parting Shot: Bryan Lee O’Malley & Kevin Tong Draw ‘Battle Royale’ for Mondo

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DREDD 3D is “the law,” done right.

Dredd 3D (2012) is a simple film: bad guys out of control, send in a bad-ass to take control. But thanks to the incredibly lame Sylvester Stallone/Rob Schneider vehicle Judge Dredd (1995), it’s also a film that finds itself with a lot to prove. Thankfully director Pete Travis manages to bury the past by giving us a film with tons of swagger, carnage, and confidence. A ‘veteran cop takes a rookie under his wing’ yarn with a dash of mutant powers thrown in for good measure, Dredd (gonna drop the “3D” from hereon out) is pure action/ comic book fun. It’s set in a future where the U.S. has become Mega-City, a sprawling landscape riddled with chaos under the watchful eye of ‘Judges’: men and women serving as judge, jury and executioner. When two such peacekeepers arrive at a multiple homicide crime scene – a massive 200 story skyscraper teeming with residents – we have our central conflict. And so seasoned vet Judge Dredd and rookie Anderson – still trying to earn her title as Judge – arrive to deliver justice, and quickly things escalate as they realize the building is run by ruthless drug lord and gang leader Ma-Ma, who locks down the building and commands the inhabitants to destroy the out-manned & outgunned Judges. But before you can scream The Raid: Redemption (2011) let me say that while both films are indeed similar, to say one ripped off the other is silly. The Raid is a showpiece of insane stunt-work while Dredd is all snarly, mean ‘tude with well-staged brutal action (complete with flying limbs). There’s some exceptional casting too, the gals doing their best to steal the show from Karl Urban‘s Dredd. Olivia Thirlby proves she can handle any genre – whether as a high school student in love with older men in Juno, your perfect first crush in The Wackness, or here, as a budding bad ass with powers, completely believable and an instant sci-fi/ comic-con cosplay heroine. And Lena Headey as Ma-Ma can add another amazing baddie to her resume. Fans of Game Of Thrones will squeal as she eats up screen-time (no pun intended) with her crooked appearance – her bad teeth, shifty eyes, and snaked-tongued scar making her an instantly classic new-school villain. And back to Karl Urban – he takes full command as Judge Dredd, his grizzle full-blown by film’s end. Similar to Tom Hardy‘s portrayal as Bane in The Dark Knight Rises (2012), Dredd shows very little of his face yet carries the film to the end, with a delivery that earns him an immediate ‘graduated from the school of one-liners’ Ph.D – with honors for the gravitas he creates with such a grumbly-mumbly character. Let me also say that Dredd never goes soft, pacing-wise – we’re constantly thrown from fight to fight without ever losing our sense of location or urgency. The action – while never ground-breaking – fits the film and its universe perfectly – think the 3rd act of 2008′s Punisher: War Zone (an underrated gem) but stretched out for an entire film – or your favorite old-school Dimension Films jam (that one with all the gnarly kills that you watched a million times) – or all the raw, bat-shit crazy parts of the last Rambo (2008) film rolled into one. That’s Dredd – a more than adequate addition to the comic book cinema universe, and a movie I heartily recommend.

Related articles

• MOVIE REVUE: Don’t Judge This Movie by its Dredd-ful Past
• Urban shoots for authenticity in ‘Dredd’ role
• Dread Dredd. Judge Dredd
• Judge Dredd

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Nobody’s arguing that this shameless Alien knockoff is any good. But the fact of the matter is that it’s not totally unwatchable either. There are several redeeming factors in William Malone‘s Creature (1985) – namely the presence of scenery chewing Klaus Kinski in a teeny-tiny-itsy-bitsy role, some serviceable Fangoria moments that’ll satisfy gorehounds, and above all – wait for it – the presence of an exploding head! Which of course brings the grand total in IOC‘s boom-capitation series to six (6) – and we haven’t even begun to look at the Scanners trilogy and spin-offs yet! The story of a space crew that travels to Titan and inadvertently awakens a creature who’s been sleeping for like a million centuries is one I’d recommend to horror completists only – or cellulo-masochists who enjoy flicks like Troll 2. This scene, however, is a different story – so if you can stand a bit of gore feast your eyes on some ‘splodin’ noodles.

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We’re easing back into things after a hectic couple of weeks here at IOC with the little-seen Arena (1989) – a movie directed by Peter Manoogian starring a variety of familiar soap and b-grade actors (Paul Satterfield, Claudia Christian, Marc Alaimo, etc.) in the story of an intergalactic fighting competition where a human underdog finds himself outmatched by larger, evil-er aliens and a corrupt governing body. Here’s a scene in which our Rocky-light hero (who looks more like Ivan Drago) takes on a pretty cool looking creature which was unfortunately designed to hide the fact that it can’t move – making it more painfully obvious every time they cut to it. Still, it’s a good deal of ridiculous and cheesy fun, from a bygone era before bad computer fx replaced bad practical fx.

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