Dracula 3D currently filming

Italian actress Asia Argento has tweeted a pic from the upcoming Dracula 3D directed by her father horror icon Dario Argento. The film also stars Rutger Hauer as Van Helsing, who was just in the awesome Hobo With a Shotgun. Asia is a sultry underrated actress, with talent and flair and that combination should prove to be entertaining.

Pic from Asia Argento Twitter.

The movie is set to release in 2012

X-Men First Class -Best of the X Men

As a child I never really liked comics until I read the X-Men. So I am not necessarily a true comic book fan, but a huge X-men fan. The characters, what they have to deal with, and the interplay of the various factions, and their views on human mutant interaction. It is the thinking person's story, not all explosions and fighting. I liked all of the films, and especially X-Men 2 the most, thanks to Kelly Hu and the detailed character development (like the fact that Deathstrike could not speak because she was under mind control). First class,however, is in a class of its own, with relation to story and character development.

This movie has a lot of dialogue and really takes time to tell the story. With a run time of 2:12 as opposed to 1:45 there is ample time allowed for a back story, and complete development of all three factions. The Hellfire club is explored, Magneto and of course Charles Xavier. No spoilers on this one. Set in 1962 don't expect 2011 technology, but the start of it all. First Class. Watch and listen closely and I must recommend multiple viewings.

Watch for newcomer Zoe Kravitz, she puts on a blistering performance as Angel Salvadore. Below is a promotional pic from 20th Century Fox, of a small part of Zoe's beguiling performance, now she is an X-Men!! Stop reading this and go see it!

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My rating on this is 9.5 out of 10

MTI Home video releases for Spring 2011

Greetings fellow independent movie buffs, the good folks at MTI have a few interesting releases on their schedule from April to June. Here is the info direct from MTI: Look for up coming movie reviews from Dan's Movie Report.

Coming in April, 2011
Chicago Overcoat
The fates of an aging hitman and a washed up detective become entwined when one last job leads to one last chance to settle an old score.

"The most charismatic mafia murderer since Tony Soprano." - Variety

"Fans of The Funeral and The Boondock Saints will eat this up." -Chicagoist


Street Date: April 19, 2011

Coming in May, 2011
Gene-Fusion
In the year 2310, a new sport, Gene-Fusion is all the rage! In this exciting game, specially-trained athletes, called Fusers, design their own super-creature by combining three forms of animal DNA... Four teens, seemingly plucked from obscurity, are trained to be Fusers. They become instant celebrities as they perform before sold out crowds. But what they don't know is that each of them has a role to play in an alien conspiracy to take over the world. Only through learning to work together as a team can these four, young heroes take on this alien threat and save the planet from destruction.

Street Date: May 10, 2011
Death Hunter - Werewolves vs. Vampires
When his wife is abducted by a group of blood-thirsty Vampires, John Croix is left to die in a forgotten region of the desert. It is here where an unspeakable evil exists. Now, by no choice of his own, Croix will come face-to-face with the most terrifying creatures of the night. Still a man, but possessing all the strength and power of a werewolf when the moon is out, Croix becomes a reluctant hero for mankind when he learns that his wife may still be alive. Croix sets out on a mission to rescue his wife - venturing deeper and deeper into the Vampire's lair- in his quest to save her before she is lost to the world of the undead forever.

Street Date: May 24, 2011

Coming in June, 2011

Chained
Let out of jail after five years, Julian is rewarded by his crime syndicate for keeping quiet. He is put in charge of a gentlemen's pleasure house (the Hobby Farm) and trusted with the proceeds from illegal gambling, drugs and sex slavery. But the women he meets -and the secrets he carries- proves deadly... When faced with the horrific treatment of one of the enslaved girls, newly brought to the farm, Julian must overcome the demons of his own past and turn against the only life he has ever known, to save the girls, and himself.

For further information on these releases go to http://www.mtihomevideo.com

Sanguepazzo Movie Review (Wild Blood)

Picture is Monica Bellucci (Freida) watching on frustrated as Luca Zingaretti (Valenti) gets his morphine fix.


Hollywood often wraps up movies into a simple, neat little package to satiate the audience with car crashes, explosions and boring dialogue. The hero survives, and everyone leaving the theater has a warm fuzzy feeling either driving home or after watching the DVD. In several foreign films, such as Irreversible, In My Skin, and Sanguepazzo, the subjects are neither warm and fuzzy, nor are the protagonists in good shape at the conclusion.

Sanguepazzo (Wild Blood) follows the true story of Italian actors Luisa Freida (played by Monica Bellucci) and Osvaldo Valenti portrayed by Luca Zingaretti. Their tormented relationship, Luisa's rise to fame, the substantial drug use and suspected consorting with Germany's Fascist Regime. Please be advised as a viewer, this is a long 2.5 hour film with many lines of dialogue. I watched in the original language, but had to do the subtitle reading.

This is a very important film as the parallels can be drawn on today save for the fascist part of it. Being with the backdrop of WWII they were constantly in search of a new fix, new films and new ways to love and have some semblance of a normal life.

There lives were so dramatic, way more so than any of their films and watching Luca Zingaretti jump into the role of the doomed 30s and 40s Italian star is refreshing. He was a bastard, egotist, but so talented is the impression I had of the Valenti character. Luca commanded the screen and was amazing to watch.

The initial calming force Freida is brought to life by Monica Bellucci. This is a difficult character to play as it requires subtle subservience coupled with seething energy. Watching the transformation as the film moves into the second hour is a true testament to how far this person would go to please her man, or be angry at his ways. Monica pulls it off, she is not only beautiful, but sensual. When she shows her anger it is refreshing and dynamic.

The filming is lush, interspersing actual World War 2 footage with movie footage. The action is more toward the final 40 minutes, as the director takes time to set up the characters. Camerawork, costumes, and sets are fantastic. They all set the mood of a 40s flick and is an impressive backdrop to the sordid character study.

My advice to potential viewers, is to briefly review the story of Valenti and Freida. Watch the movie uninterrupted the first time, by yourself, in the original Italian Language. There is a lot of dialogue, and it is important to the story. A second viewing with friends is an excellent idea to discuss the details. For anyone in the movie industry, watching Valenti desperately trying to preserve his films, the allegory, and symbolism is priceless.

This is not a perfect movie, however, I find it to be a sprawling and important historical drama. I do rate it a 7 out of 10.

This is a very hard movie to find. Amazon has it secondhand or www.deastore.com have copies available.

Monica Bellucci Book and Review of Deastore in Italy

Purchasing on the internet can be a slippery slope. Often, unless you deal with the traditional stores such as Amazon, Barnes and Noble, and Borders to purchase a book, the shipping charge is huge, the customer service is impersonal, and delivery can be a hassle.

Starting in February I searched far and wide to purchase Monica Bellucci's Photo Book. My search started with several calls to Barnes and Noble. They told me that this book was a special order. I decided to place my order with them online. The Book, according to them was on back order. They kept telling me that they ordered it, and were waiting for it to arrive. This went on for 5 weeks. After their final window had expired I called their head office in NYC and they again assured me that the book was on order. I told them I would wait one more week. It never came and they still had the book available on their site. Finally they told me in an e-mail after I canceled my order that they could not get the book. This was more than 6 weeks, after me doing all of the leg work. Needless to say, this was quite frustrating.

During the time I was waiting I searched all over the internet to purchase the book at a reasonable price, not the crazy price from Ebay dealers or some of the Amazon market place dealers who bought several copies of the book when it first came out, and are now selling it at 400 to 500 percent of the actual value of the book. Normally I am all for free market capitalism, however it was Monica's initial desire when she agreed to do the book was that the proceeds would be donated to a couple of charities she picked. The initial printing of the book was by Rizzoli in Italy, in Italian. Limited copies were produced for the English market, but being that I am a purist, and the fact that this is mainly a photographic book. I wanted the Original Italian language book. I honestly was not willing to pay $300 for a book that retailed for 50 Euros ($60 US) at the time.

I saw on Amazon, a market place seller called Deastore that had the book for $72.95. I did some research on the internet and realized they are a huge online outlet. Read some of the comments about them and decided to make a purchase.

To be honest this Deastore was perhaps one of the best purchases I have ever made on the internet. I was contacted as soon as I made the order, as soon as the order shipped which was only 2 business days later. I had several questions regarding the order and not only did they answer them all, they were so polite and respectful.

Although the book took awhile to arrive because Amazon had only the ground shipping option they were very reassuring and continued contact with me. The kind folks at Deastore, were excellent. The 5 pound package arrived, in perfect condition. There was a professional invoice, including their address and phone number in the package, and a very nice gesture of a 15 percent off coupon good until the end of the year on any item in their vast library!

All I can say it Graze Mille!

For more information go to http://www.deastore.com

Buy from these folks!

As far as the book goes, it is awesome, especially for any photography buff like myself. It is 250 pages of various photos scattered all throughout Monica's modeling and film career. There is a artist drawing in the beginning, a forward, and a note from Monica in the front few pages. The paper it is printed on is very high quality and the book has the quality of an archival volume.

I like how the photographers are named as the pictures are taken, and there a a few fold out pages as well. A full location, photographer, and page listing is found at the end of the book. Excellent all the way around. This is a must purchase book for any photography or Monica Bellucci fan.