While it may not seem like it, MTV still appeals to kids. Though they aren’t the same cut of “kid” that was watching Twisted Sister music videos (or music videos in general), they’re still the #1 demographic for the network.

With that in mind, it was no surprise that Twilight: New Moon took home nearly half of the awards from last night’s MTV Movie Awards. A few other upsets included Ken Jeong winning for Best WTF Moment, and international superstar Rain being crowned Best Badass.

Aziz Ansari managed to hold together the night, bringing the same amount of energy and seniority that Andy Samburg brought to the awards show last year. A few fun surprises like Sandra Bullock and a drunk Peter Facinelli were entertaining. The newest go-to gag of Betty White and yesterday’s go-to gag Will Ferrell delivered, as usual.

Biggest surprise of the night has to go to Tom Cruise reprising his Les Grossman role from 2008′s Tropic Thunder. 2008! That would be two years ago. Long enough for it not to be relevant, but not far away enough for it to be retro. That would be like Owen Wilson doing a bit as Marmaduke 3 years from now. Not entirely necessary.

Check out the full list of broadcast winners from last night’s show, and be sure to catch the worthwhile clips of last night’s ceremony all over the web.

Continue Reading →

Even though I didn’t exactly give Ninja Assasin a rave review when I first saw the film last year during Fantastic Fest in Austin, TX I was still loking forward to seeing it on Blu-ray when it came out. Well, it has and I did watch it on the HD format and all I can say is I’m more impressed with the film now than I was the first time around.

Granted, the story of a boy trained from childhood in the way of the Ninja who is stalked by his former brothers and their dojo master (martial arts legend Sho Kosugi) and who is also on the run with a Europol agent (Naomie Harris) with proof the clan sells assassination services to governments, is still pretty much the same and the flaws I have with it are still pretty much the same. However, experiencing the film on Blu-ray added very much to my enjoyment of it.

I’ll go out on a limb and say one of the main reasons is that the Blu-ray represents the final version of the film with completed visual effects, final color correction, sound, etc. Most likely the version I saw last September was not the final version. This one simply looks and sounds better.

Visual effects, especially the simulated blood (of which there’s a lot) look far better on the Blu-ray version than before. Also, other effects have been cleaned up and the entire presentation of the film has been improved. Plus, you can actually see more of the fight sequences in this version as they have been somewhat lightened, probably due to early screening feedback. Who knows, maybe even I had something to do with it? It’s possible.

Continue Reading →

This week sees the release of several new movies and TV shows, some for the first time ever on Blu-ray. Of the ones coming out this week, we’re excited for Ninja Assasin, new seasons of Hawaii Five-O, Monk, and South Park and the Blu-ray release of The Wizard of Oz 70th Anniversary Edition.

Oh, and there’s that Twilight movie coming out on Blu-ray this week you may have heard of. I think its called New Moon.

Check them out:

Movies

Armored ~ Matt Dillon, Laurence Fishburne (Blu-ray and DVD)

Astro Boy ~ Nicolas Cage (Blu-ray and DVD)

Bandslam ~ Vanessa Hudgens (Blu-ray and DVD)

Broken Embraces ~ Penélope Cruz (Bl-ray and DVD)

Did You Hear About the Morgans? ~ Sarah Jessica Parker, Hugh Grant (Blu-ray and DVD)

Fallen Angels ~ Leon Lai Ming, Karen Mok (Blu-ray and DVD)

Continue Reading →

When I watch a movie like James McTeigue’s Ninja Assassin I think about what could have been. Its not that the film is terribly bad, it is just not terribly good. But oh how I wish it was. Nothing would make me happier than to see a resurgence of the ninja movie genre driven by a big budget studio film with all the money, time and craft that could be brought to it.

Instead, we’re given a movie which intercuts the Ninja story with Europol agents and their search for the ninjas. Every time the action cuts away from the story of the ninjas and went to the agents, I was bored. On top of that, the main female researcher is played by Naomi Harris, one of the most annoying and weak actresses in recent memory.

One surprise for me in this film is how much I actually liked Rain in the title role. Sure, his acting for a non-native English speaker isn’t particularly good, but he has a certain screen presence that works here. Seeing him in this film its easy to understand why he has such a huge following in Asia.

Do I wish he was an actual martial artist and could more realistically accomplish the fights himself without the aid of stunt doubles or CGI, of course. Also, the fact that he’s actually Korean and not Japanese and is playing the lead in a very deeply felt Japanese genre film may cause some, as director McTeigue put it after the screening I saw, “push back.” Maybe so, but that’s not really the problem here.

Continue Reading →

We’ve been pretty excited for Warner Bros.’ newest action film, Ninja Assassin around the office, and we just came across a few clips that got us even more excited. The film hits theaters a week from Wednesday, but we thought it would be okay if we gave you on a sneak peak now.

The film, co-written by comics’ “Who’s Who” J. Michael Straczynski, is about a cult of ninja killers who raise a boy to become a superior ninja. Later, he learns that the ways of his clan need to be stopped. Straczynski has been the man behind such other fan favorites as Spider-Man and Silver Surfer in comics, and Babylon 5, Jeremiah, and even The Real Ghostbusters on TV.

In both 3D and Digital theaters, the film is said to be visually stunning. With James McTeigue (V For Vendetta) behind the wheel, you can believe that the film won’t be boring. We’ll be sure to have plenty more coverage of the film, including a review next week.

In the meantime, check out these new clips (totaling nearly 7 minutes!) from Ninja Assassin, in theaters November 25th.

Continue Reading →