Tuesday, January 17, 2012

Clash of the Titans [Blu-ray]

  • Condition: New
  • Format: Blu-ray
  • AC-3; Color; Dolby; DTS Surround Sound; Widescreen; Subtitled
In Clash of the Titans, the ultimate struggle for power pits men against kings and kings against gods. But the war between the gods themselves could destroy the world. Born of a god but raised as a man, Perseus (Sam Worthington) is helpless to save his family from Hades (Ralph Fiennes), vengeful god of the underworld. With nothing to lose, Perseus volunteers to lead a dangerous mission to defeat Hades before he can seize power from Zeus (Liam Neeson) and unleash hell on earth. Battling unholy demons and fearsome beasts, Perseus and his warriors will only survive if Perseus accepts his power as a god, defies fate and creates his own destiny."Release the Kraken!" Ah, it could only be Clash of the Titans, the 2010 remake that retains the instruction to unleash the great beas! tie from the sea. The 1981 original boasted Ray Harryhausen's legendary stop-motion technique of animating various mythological creatures--it was his final feature project--and given the cornball approach of the movie in general, that was the main draw. The remake supplies new state-of-the-art special effects (it was released in theaters in 3-D) and a nicely muscular sense of momentum. Sam Worthington (the Avatar guy) plays Perseus, a demigod who doesn't know that Zeus (Liam Neeson) is his father. Perseus is selected to lead an expedition to find and slay the Medusa, lest Zeus's evil brother Hades (Ralph Fiennes, in fine slinking mode) rain down misery upon a seaport--and you just know that means the Kraken is coming. Ye gods, it's a mess, and we haven't even mentioned the witches and the harpies and the giant scorpions. But if we did, it would be clear that Clash of the Titans is a perfectly dandy popcorn epic, unpretentious and punchy. Director Louis Leterri! er (Transporter 2) gets a fine rhythm going during Pers! eus's tr ek, and you can even forgive the hokey shafts-of-light-through-clouds look of Olympus. Leterrier also had the good sense to import the marvelous Danish star Mads Mikkelsen to provide mentoring duties to Perseus; Gemma Arterton and Alexa Davalos fulfill the eye-candy roles. It's up to individual viewers to choose which they prefer--Harryhausen's magically hand-wrought creations (his Medusa sequence is an absolute killer) or the 21st century's slick computer-generated variations. But nostalgia aside, it would be hard to deny that this is one case where the remake tops the original. --Robert HortonIn Clash of the Titans, the ultimate struggle for power pits men against kings and kings against gods. But the war between the gods themselves could destroy the world. Born of a god but raised as a man, Perseus (Sam Worthington) is helpless to save his family from Hades (Ralph Fiennes), vengeful god of the underworld. With nothing to lose, Perseus volunteers to lead a da! ngerous mission to defeat Hades before he can seize power from Zeus (Liam Neeson) and unleash hell on earth. Battling unholy demons and fearsome beasts, Perseus and his warriors will only survive if Perseus accepts his power as a god, defies fate and creates his own destiny."Release the Kraken!" Ah, it could only be Clash of the Titans, the 2010 remake that retains the instruction to unleash the great beastie from the sea. The 1981 original boasted Ray Harryhausen's legendary stop-motion technique of animating various mythological creatures--it was his final feature project--and given the cornball approach of the movie in general, that was the main draw. The remake supplies new state-of-the-art special effects (it was released in theaters in 3-D) and a nicely muscular sense of momentum. Sam Worthington (the Avatar guy) plays Perseus, a demigod who doesn't know that Zeus (Liam Neeson) is his father. Perseus is selected to lead an expedition to find and slay the! Medusa, lest Zeus's evil brother Hades (Ralph Fiennes, in fin! e slinki ng mode) rain down misery upon a seaport--and you just know that means the Kraken is coming. Ye gods, it's a mess, and we haven't even mentioned the witches and the harpies and the giant scorpions. But if we did, it would be clear that Clash of the Titans is a perfectly dandy popcorn epic, unpretentious and punchy. Director Louis Leterrier (Transporter 2) gets a fine rhythm going during Perseus's trek, and you can even forgive the hokey shafts-of-light-through-clouds look of Olympus. Leterrier also had the good sense to import the marvelous Danish star Mads Mikkelsen to provide mentoring duties to Perseus; Gemma Arterton and Alexa Davalos fulfill the eye-candy roles. It's up to individual viewers to choose which they prefer--Harryhausen's magically hand-wrought creations (his Medusa sequence is an absolute killer) or the 21st century's slick computer-generated variations. But nostalgia aside, it would be hard to deny that this is one case where the remake tops ! the original. --Robert Horton

Mezco Living Dead Dolls: Halloween II (2009) Michael Myers Doll

  • Based on the new film
  • Dressed in a film-specific costume
  • Stands 10" tall
  • Comes with bloody knife
  • Window box packaging
Rob Zombie's H2 (Halloween) picks up at the exact moment that 2007's box-office smash, Halloween stopped and follows the aftermath of Michael Myers's (Tyler Mane) murderous rampage through the eyes of heroine Laurie Strode (Scout Taylor Compton). Evil has a new destiny. Michael Myers is back in this terrifying sequel to Rob Zombie’s visionary re-imagining of Halloween. It is that time of year again, and Michael Myers has returned home to sleepy Haddonfield, Illinois to take care of some unfinished family business. Unleashing a trail of terror that only horror master Zombie can, Myers will stop at nothing to! bring closure to the secrets of his twisted past. But the town's got an unlikely new hero, if they can only stay alive long enough to stop the unstoppable.Rocker turned writer-director Rob Zombie returns to the horror field with this visually ambitious and aggressively brutal follow-up to his 2007 reinvention of John Carpenter’s seminal slasher Halloween. The 1981 sequel to the Carpenter film is completely ignored here (and for good reason) in favor of an extension of the central focus of Zombie’s Halloween, and all of his films, for that matter: the corruption at the heart of the nuclear family. Here, Laurie Strode (Scout Taylor Compton) is attempting to heal the psychic wounds from her previous encounter with brother Michael Myers (Tyler Mane) by bonding with Sheriff Brackett (Brad Dourif, a pleasure to watch as always) and his daughter Anne (Danielle Harris, herself a vet from the original run of Halloween sequels). Her previous surrogate fa! ther, Dr. Loomis (Malcolm McDowell) has forsaken his connectio! n to Lau rie by exploiting his connection to Michael with a tell-all book; meanwhile, Michael himself roams the lonely outskirts of Haddonfield, driven by visions of his mother (Sheri Moon Zombie) and a single-minded urge to bond with his sister at any cost.

Aesthetically, H2 is striking, thanks largely to the ashen color scheme by cinematographer Brandon Trost (Crank 2: High Voltage), which underscores the doom-laded spiral track each of the main characters seem to travel in the film. And Zombie is to be commended for venturing outside of his comfort zone--the grimy, pop-culture ironic, white trash environment his characters frequently inhabit--with the scenes between Michael and his mother. But again, his ambitions don’t meet with his abilities--Moon looks impressive, but her apocalyptic mutterings ring more silly than spectral, especially when she’s forced to play opposite an enormous pale horse (insert heavy-handed Biblical imagery here). Most fans will fi! nd these moments more tedious than inspired, and a distraction from the murders, which retain Zombie’s preference for mayhem. He succeeds in this department, but if the end result is a menu of ugly killings, the point of revamping the Halloween franchise is somewhat moot, since the threadbare follow-ups to the Carpenter original already achieved that goal. Zombie’s knack for offbeat casting remains his most inspired talent: Haddonfield is filled with cult icons like Caroline Williams (Texas Chainsaw Massacre 2), Margot Kidder, and Daniel Roebuck, who jostle for space with rough-hewn character players like Duane Whitaker, Mark Boone Junior, and Dayton Callie (Deadwood) and left-field cameos by Howard Hesseman and “Weird Al” Yankovic. --Paul Gaita

It's that time of year again, and Michael Myers has returned home to sleepy Haddonfield, Illinois, to take care of some unfinished family business. Unleashing a trail of terror that only horror ! master Rob Zombie can, Myers will stop at nothing to bring clo! sure to the secrets of his twisted past. But the town's got an unlikely new hero, if they can only stay alive long enough to stop the unstoppable. From acclaimed musician and filmmaker Rob Zombie (The Devil's Rejects, House of 1000 Corpses) comes the sequel to the highly successful and terrifying 2007, Halloween, adding to a legacy that began in 1978. The 2007 remake debuted in theaters on August 31, 2007, and took the #1 spot at the box office. Written and directed by Rob Zombie, The Weinstein Company opens Halloween II on over 2000 screens on August 28th.Hephaestus Books represents a new publishing paradigm, allowing disparate content sources to be curated into cohesive, relevant, and informative books. To date, this content has been curated from Wikipedia articles and images under Creative Commons licensing, although as Hephaestus Books continues to increase in scope and dimension, more licensed and public domain content is being added. We believe books such as this represent a ! new and exciting lexicon in the sharing of human knowledge. This particular book is a collaboration focused on Films directed by Rob Zombie.Living Dead Dolls Michael Myers Halloween 2 Doll

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