Movie Features

Box Office Wizard (9.10.10)

If I told you Milla Jovovich was into wizards, would you play Box Office Wizard, our weekly box office prediction game? Well, it’s true, or at least according to TMZ. So, with that in mind, all you need to do to win your Ukrainian dream girl’s affections is predict which five movies will place in the top five of this weekend’s U.S. domestic box office chart. I will make my own predictions here and explain them to you each week to give you some sort of reference point. It’s then your job to enter a comment with your top five. 

Resident Evil: A Series Retrospective

Resident Evil: Afterlife (in 3D, lest we forget) debuts tomorrow. For fans of the franchise, it’s been a long ride thus far. We (Max and Simon) are going to revisit and take you through the first three chapters of the saga, which to this point is the undisputed champion of the video-game film world. We’ll present background info for the films, talk about the various references to the game series and discuss our thoughts on each film.

The PAM-10: Best George Clooney Roles

If you’re a woman over the age of 30, he drives you wild. If you’re a woman under the age of 30, he still drives you wild — but in an awkward sexy dad sort of way. If you’re a man, you’ve thought about sneaking up on him with a tupperware container in hopes of capturing the “cool” leaking from his pores. He is George Clooney, and his most recent film, The American, was tops at the box office this past weekend. As such, here is my list of the magnetic actor’s top 10 roles.

Trailer Tracker: Hobo with a Shotgun and The Horde

As kids head back to school and adults back to the rat-race that is work, Trailer Tracker here at Player Affinity remains a shining beacon of hope as summer comes to close. Alas, it seems that the coming of fall has managed to drain even some life from the movies, as only three new clips have hit the web this past week. WithGrindhouse-born Machete having just been released over Labor Day weekend, we get a first look at the next trailer-turned-feature, the bluntly titled Hobo with a Shotgun. Next is the bloody French zombie flick The Horde and finally acclaimed director Julian Schnabel returns with his latest project Miran starring Frieda Pinto. Put that back-to-school shopping on hold and let’s have a bit of fun.

Like Machete? Try El Mariachi

Writer/director Robert Rodriguez has made more successful action pictures [than Machete] over the past 20 years, not the least of which are Desperado and Planet Terror (however, Machete is a vast improvement over Spy Kids.) Today though we shall focus on his first feature, 1992’s El Mariachi.

El Mariachi is a prime example of a mistaken identity film. The eponymous character is just a poor guitar player looking to make a living in a rural Mexican town. Unbeknownst to him, another man, Azul, has recently escaped from prison and is looking to kill his former friend, Moco. Unfortunately for El Mariachi, Azul wears similar clothes and has a guitar case too, but his is full of weapons. A series of chance encounters results in El Mariachi and the object of his affection getting into confused trouble with Moco’s henchmen, eventually ending up in an exciting finale . It becomes clear to him quickly that he’ll have to do something other than play music if he hopes to get out of this mess.

Box Office Wizard (9.3.10)

This proposition is simple, amigo. Either you play Box Office Wizard, our weekly box office prediction game, or I cut your arm off, diagonally, with a rusty machete. I say keep your arm, because all you’re required to do is predict which five movies will place in the top five of this weekend’s U.S. domestic box office chart. I will make my own predictions here and explain them to you each week to give you some sort of reference point. It’s then your job to enter a comment with your top five. 

Director Affinity: Robert Rodriguez

This Director Affinity is dedicated to a buddy of Quentin Tarantino’s and a dedicated schlock auteur extraordinaire. In a typical Hollywood story, Robert Rodriguez developed his fascination with film as a child. He wasn’t the conventional type, and although he went to college he couldn’t make the grades for film school at first. After spending a few years dallying in trivialities he filmed a $7000 Spanish language film El Mariachi which went on to win the Audience Award at the Sundance Film Festival in 1992.

Trailer Tracker: Jack Goes Boating and Tamara Drewe

Welcome back to a relatively low-key edition of Trailer Tracker here at Player Affinity where we act as your private investigator, slinking through the shadows of the Internet searching for the newest trailers. First on a quadruple shot of indie trailers is the directorial debut from Phillip Seymore Hoffman, Jack Goes Boating, followed by British director Stephen Fears’ latest, Tamara Drewe, starring rising star Gemma Arterton. Rounding off the docket is the sex-and-relationship Sundance release The Freebie and finally the trailer for wrestler John Cena’s big “acting” debut, Legendary. 

PAM’s Top 10 Movies for Fall 2010

Prepare to have your mind blown. All seven writers on the PAM staff wrote down our top 10 most anticipated movies of the fall season (through the weekend of Nov. 12) and then we combined them into one list. This might sound very easy to you, but you didn’t compile it. Truth was, not only were no two lists the same, but no one film made every single one of our lists. So, to compliment our combined top 10, we’ve each included a Critic’s Pick of a film high on our lists (or that just missed the group cut) and previewed it for you.

Summer 2010: The Summer of No Satisfaction

Recall that famous quote, “Those who do not learn from history are doomed to repeat it.” I suppose this phrase doesn’t get around much in Hollywood because this summer has suffered the same snooze-inducing and blood-boiling goofs of last year.  Rather than correct wrongs, studios followed a similar formula yet managed to produce an even worse lineup of films. This summer brought us such near tragedies as Robin Hood, Shrek Forever After, Jonah Hex, The Last Airbender, Grown Ups, and sadly, Iron Man 2.