The Return Of...AKA Dartflix Edition #14

I just saw the new Transformers trailer and I must say I wasn’t realy impressed. The Transformers don’t look that great to me...cuz they don’t look shit like they’re supposed to. Of course, to a person who grew up playing with them I’ll feel different from the kids that’ll be occupying the seats and marvelling at the special effects. I’d rather watch “Transformers: The Movie” myself...even though my favorite Autobots were blown to hell by Megatron (and some of my favorite Decepticons by Optimus Prime, but I digress), I’d rather see it in animated form. The CGI effects are well and good, but if the end result is something that doesn’t look shit like what it’s supposed to then who in the hell cares?

The Luke Cage project is awaiting a script rewrite and I hope that the screenwriter Killa Ramsey was a “Hero For Hire”/”Power Man And Iron Fist” fan growing up so I at least recognize something of the character I grew up reading (all except his wack ass catchphrase “Sweet Christmas!”..bury that shit!). Hopefully, if this project is successful we’ll see a new resurgence of Black hero movies. Maybe we’ll see the Black Panther project emerge from development limbo (and Wesley Snipes and Amen Ra Films get out of trouble with the IRS) and how about a film about the original Captain America? Who knows? All I know is that I’d like to write one of ‘em. I apologize for not being able to write on of these for the longest. If I can fix my computer issues and not have to negotiate borrowing other folks gear just to get my write on, I’ll get back to doing these regularly (and maybe get back to uploading rare CD’s). Now, on to the top trailers I’ve selected for upcoming flicks.

Dart’s Top Ten Trailers Of The Month (4/3/07-4/30/07):

D.O.A.: Dead Or Alive
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0398913/trailers

Day Watch
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0409904/trailers

Fay Grim
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0444628/trailers

The Tripper
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0760187/trailers

Severance
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0464196/trailers

The Assassination Of Jesse James...
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0443680/trailers

Wind Chill
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0486051/trailers

28 Weeks Later
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0463854/trailers

Day Night Day Night
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0499455/trailers

Bug
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0470705/trailers

Movies you should consider seeing available to rent through Netflix:
Bobby
Smokin’ Aces
Premium
Last King Of Scotland
Young and Dangerous
Young and Dangerous: The Prequel
Beowulf & Grendel
Kill Zone
The U.S. Vs. John Lennon
Haven
Notes On A Scandal
Pan’s Labyrinth
Maxed Out
Deja Vu
Urgh! A Music War
The Last Waltz
Dig!
Home Of The Brave
Apocalypto
.45
For Your Consideration
Casino Royale
Flags Of Our Fathers
The Upright Citizens Brigade
Letters From Iwo Jima
Stranger Than Fiction
Shadowboxer
Seraphim Falls
The Devil & Daniel Johnston
Larry Sanders Show: The Complete First Season
Not Just The Best Of The Larry Sanders Show
La Haine (The Criterion Edition)
The Queen
Thr3e
Alpha Dog
Little Children
See No Evil
The Number 23
The Aura

Dart’s Picks:
The Devil & Daniel Johnston- This documentary about the life of a genius artist/singer/songwriter Daniel Johnston is better than most documentaries because the subject himself recorded his entire life because he always thought he’d be famous. Just when he was on the brink of stardom, he developed mental problems that prevented him from achieving his dreams. He became an underground/cult phenomenon during the early to mid 90’s and he still records and tours to this day. I was surprised to hear one of his songs “Devil Town” covered on the season finale of NBC’s series “Friday Night Lights”...this doc is bugged out and it uses a lot of Johnston’s own footage.

Stranger Than Fiction- I’m one of those people that watches movies with the subtitles on so I don’t miss any lines of dialogue. I love movies like this because it’s almost like having a screenwriter show you how they wrote their material and you get to watch as they deconstruct the entire writing process (and break all of the rules of it) right there on the screen (just like in Adaptation). It was almost like Dustin Hoffman was reprising his role from “I Heart Huckabees”...Watch this joint.

Pusher 2: Blood On My Hands- This sequel to Nicolas Winding Refn’s “Pusher” flick got even grimier. It’s not about the glamorous side of being a dealer, but the dirty, seedy underbelly of the drug trade. Only one deal goes down in the entire flick, but the fall out is ridiculous. I’ll post a review of “Pusher 3: Blood On My Hands” later. You’ll appreciate them more if you watch them back to back to back.

Smokin’ Aces- The last American action movie since “Running Scared” to convince me that quality action films can still be be made on this soil. There were some holes in the story, but that’s to be expected out of a popcorn flick designed specifically to get asses on the seats. I liked it.

Kill Zone- Yet another Asian actioner that spent a lot of time in my DVD player...I would’ve included “Dragon Tiger Gate” but it’s not available on Netflix..you gotta cop that one for yourself (use the list of sites I posted in my Martial Arts Edition of Dartflix to save cash).

Dart’s WTF/Watch This Bullshit At Your Own Risk Award:
Freedom Writers- I know it’s based on a true story but if you’ve seen “Stand & Deliver”, “Dangerous Minds”, “Lean On Me” and “Take The Lead” then just smash them all together and you have “Freedom Writers” (minus the ballroom dancing).

One.