Movie: Blood: The Last Vampire (2009)

“In 1970, the four hundred year-old skilled samurai Saya is sent to the Kanto High School in an American military base in Tokyo by the Council, a secret society that has been hunting vampires for centuries. Saya has the appearance of a teenager but is the tormented half-breed creature with the soul of her human father and the powers and need of blood of her vampire mother. She is obsessed to face the powerful demon Onigen that killed her father. In the base, Saya saves Alice McKee, who is the daughter of General McKee and commander of the base, from the attack of several vampires. When General McKee is killed by a member of the Council, Alice runs to the hotel where Saya is lodged. They join forces and go to the countryside to chase Onigen. Written by Claudio Carvalho, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil”

• Director: Chris Nahon
• Release Date:
  29 May 2009 (Japan)
• Run Time:
  91 min
• Country: Hong Kong , Japan , France , Argentina
• Genre: Action , Horror , Thriller
• MPAA:
  Rated R for strong bloody stylized violence.

Tagline: Where evil grows she preys

Goofs: Anachronisms: US military personnel are shown using Beretta M9s (US Military designation of the civilian Model 92F/FS, etc) which were not issued as sidearms for the US Military in 1970. The 92 wasn’t designed until 2 years after this movie is set, and the side arm wasn’t issued till 1990.

“Trained since childhood to be a lethal killer, Raizo has since turned his back on the Ozunu clan that raised him and now seeks revenge for their heartless murders. Teaming up with Europol investigator Mika, Raizo steadily butchers his enemies while inching ever closer to the long-awaited bloody reunion with his former master. Written by The Massie Twins”

• Director: James McTeigue
• Release Date:
  25 November 2009 (USA)
• Run Time:
  99 min
• Country: USA , Germany
• Genre: Action , Crime , Drama , Thriller
• MPAA:
  Rated R for strong bloody stylized violence throughout, and language.

Trivia: After Raizo – played by Rain – is first captured and chained to the wall, one of his captors looks at him through the camera monitoring him and says, “He looks like he should be in a boy band.” Rain started his career in the boy band Fanclub before becoming a superstar solo artist whose initial popularity in Asia has spread to other continents.

Goofs: Continuity: In the scene where Mika is having lunch with Maslow in the park, the amount of Maslow’s drink keeps changing between takes.

“Norma and Arthur Lewis, a suburban couple with a young child, receive a simple wooden box as a gift, which bears fatal and irrevocable consequences. A mysterious stranger, delivers the message that the box promises to bestow upon its owner $1 million with the press of a button. But, pressing this button will simultaneously cause the death of another human being somewhere in the world; someone they don’t know. With just 24 hours to have the box in their possession, Norma and Arthur find themselves in the cross-hairs of a startling moral dilemma and must face the true nature of their humanity. Written by Warner Bros. Pictures”

• Director: Richard Kelly
• Release Date:
  6 November 2009 (USA)
• Run Time:
  115 min
• Country: USA
• Genre: Drama , Horror , Mystery , Sci-Fi , Thriller
• MPAA:
  Rated PG-13 for thematic elements, some violence and disturbing images.

Tagline: You Are The Experiment

Trivia: On the commentary of Tony Scott’s Domino (2005), Richard Kelly outright dismissed shooting a 1970s period piece with a digital camera. But after seeing David Fincher’s Zodiac (2007/I), Kelly’s position quickly changed and he was quoted saying, “It can be done.”

Goofs: Anachronisms: When footage is shown of the Langley Research Center we can see a fuselage of an A-320, an aircraft not built until 1989.

“In 1972, a scale of measurement was established for alien encounters. When a UFO is sighted, it is called an encounter of the first kind. When evidence is collected, it is known as an encounter of the second kind. When contact is made with extraterrestrials, it is the third kind. The next level, abduction, is the fourth kind. Modern-day, Alaska, where-mysteriously since the 1960s-a disproportionate number of the population has been reported missing every year. Despite multiple FBI investigations of the region, the truth has never been discovered. Here in this remote region, psychologist Dr. Abigail Tyler began videotaping sessions with traumatized patients and unwittingly discovered some of the most disturbing evidence of alien abduction ever documented. The Fourth Kind exposes the terrified revelations of multiple witnesses. Their accounts of being visited by alien figures all share disturbingly identical details, the validity of which is investigated throughout the film. Written by Anonymous”

• Director: Olatunde Osunsanmi
• Release Date:
  6 November 2009 (USA)
• Run Time:
  98 min
• Country: USA
• Genre: Horror , Mystery , Sci-Fi , Thriller
• MPAA:
  Rated PG-13 for violent/disturbing images, some terror, thematic elements and brief sexuality.

Tagline: There are four kinds of alien encounters. The fourth kind is abduction.

Trivia: The real Nome is 51% native American, but there are no indigenous characters in the film (at least not stated to be).

Goofs: Continuity: When Abby is packing the suitcase to leave town, every time she turns around to grab clothes from the closet and put them into the suitcase; the suitcase is empty.

“Special Agent Strahm is dead, and Detective Hoffman has emerged as the unchallenged successor to Jigsaw’s legacy. However, when the FBI draws closer to Hoffman, he is forced to set a game into motion, and Jigsaw’s grand scheme is finally understood. Written by Anonymous”

• Director: Kevin Greutert
• Release Date:
  23 October 2009 (USA)
• Run Time:
  90 min
• Country: Canada , USA , UK , Australia
• Genre: Crime , Horror , Mystery , Thriller
• MPAA:
  Rated R for sequences of grisly bloody violence and torture, and language.

Tagline: The Game Comes Full Circle

Trivia: The movie contains storylines that are fully explained in Saw (2009) (VG).

Goofs: Continuity: When Hoffman raises the lid to the glass box after escaping the Crushing Room, the blood remains on the lid in a fixed pattern, showing it is dry, even though it was only spurted on to it seconds before.

“In 1982, a massive star ship bearing a bedraggled alien population, nicknamed “The Prawns,” appeared over Johannesburg, South Africa. Twenty-eight years later, the initial welcome by the human population has faded. The refugee camp where the aliens were located has deteriorated into a militarized ghetto called District 9, where they are confined and exploited in squalor. In 2010, the munitions corporation, Multi-National United, is contracted to forcibly evict the population with operative Wikus van der Merwe in charge. In this operation, Wikus is exposed to a strange alien chemical and must rely on the help of his only two new ‘Prawn’ friends. Written by Kenneth Chisholm (kchishol@rogers.com)”

• Director: Neill Blomkamp
• Release Date:
  14 August 2009 (USA)
• Run Time:
  112 min
• Country: USA , New Zealand
• Genre: Action , Drama , Sci-Fi , Thriller
• MPAA:
  Rated R for bloody violence and pervasive language.

Tagline: You are not welcome here.

Trivia: The creatures used in the small fighting arena were meant to be rodents/pests which were aboard the ship.

Goofs: Errors made by characters (possibly deliberate errors by the filmmakers): When Wikus walks into the Nigerian base, Obesandjo says he has a lot of guts for a white man. But the word he uses for “white man” is the Kiswahili word “mzungu”. Kiswahili is widely spoken in East Africa, but not in South Africa or Nigeria.

“A serial killer in the San Francisco Bay Area taunts police with his letters and cryptic messages. We follow the investigators and reporters in this lightly fictionalized account of the true 1970’s case as they search for the murderer, becoming obsessed with the case. Based on Robert Graysmith’s book, the movie’s focus is the lives and careers of the detectives and newspaper people. Written by tom day”

• Director: David Fincher
• Release Date:
  2 March 2007 (USA)
• Run Time:
  157 min | 162 min (director's cut)
• Country: USA
• Genre: Crime , Drama , Mystery , Thriller
• MPAA:
  Rated R for some strong killings, language, drug material and brief sexual images. (also director's cut)

Tagline: There's than one way to lose your life to a killer

Trivia: Scenes of Dave Toschi and Robert Graysmith watching Dirty Harry (1971) were filmed inside the Mann National Theatre in Westwood, CA. The garish color schemes of the movie theater were not added by the art department. The very retro interiors of the theater have remained unchanged since 1969, when the National was first built. Interestingly, “Zodiac” played at the Mann National Theatre in mid March of 2007. Thus, moviegoers watched other moviegoers occupy their seats – on the National’s trademark large screen. The theater has since been torn down.

Goofs: Incorrectly regarded as goofs: In the store there is a calendar behind the desk that indicates it is February 1980. However, as Graysmith is entering the store, the caption says it is Dec. 20, 1983. The prominent out-of-date calendar may just be a way of showing that the store that Allen works in is a sleepy place where they’ve forgotten to change the calendar for four years.

“Bourne is once again brought out of hiding, this time inadvertently by London-based reporter Simon Ross who is trying to unveil Operation Blackbriar–an upgrade to Project Treadstone–in a series of newspaper columns. Bourne sets up a meeting with Ross and realizes instantly they’re being scanned. Information from the reporter stirs a new set of memories, and Bourne must finally, ultimately, uncover his dark past whilst dodging The Company’s best efforts in trying to eradicate him. Written by Corey Hatch”

• Director: Paul Greengrass
• Release Date:
  3 August 2007 (USA)
• Run Time:
  115 min
• Country: USA , Germany
• Genre: Action , Adventure , Mystery , Thriller
• MPAA:
  Rated PG-13 for violence and intense sequences of action.

Tagline: This Summer Jason Bourne Comes Home

Trivia: A set had to be created for the Moscow scenes. Since the opening scene of the film takes place directly after the ending of The Bourne Supremacy (2004), yet the production time difference was several months, it was January in Moscow. This would have been too cold and Berlin was chosen as the location of the shoot. The fake snow was made using paper and foam, and took an excess of 5 hours to cover the entire set. Paper and foam were used instead of real snow so there was no risk of melting.

Goofs: Factual errors: In the Port Authority Bus Terminal garage, Bourne is confronted by an NYPD car. The Port Authority has its own police force, so it should have been a PAPD car.

Movie: Spider-Man 3 (2007)

“Peter Parker has finally managed to piece together the once-broken parts of his life, maintaining a balance between his relationship with Mary-Jane and his responsibility as Spider-Man. But more challenges arise for our young hero. Peter’s old friend Harry Obsourne has set out for revenge against Peter; taking up the mantle of his late father’s persona as The New Goblin, and Peter must also capture Uncle Ben’s real killer, Flint Marko, who has been transformed into his toughest foe yet, the Sandman. All hope seems lost when suddenly Peter’s suit turns jet-black and greatly amplifies his powers. But it also begins to greatly amplify the much darker qualities of Peter’s personality that he begins to lose himself to. Peter has to reach deep inside himself to free the compassionate hero he used to be if he is to ever conquer the darkness within and face not only his greatest enemies, but also…himself. Written by Dark-Spidey”

• Director: Sam Raimi
• Release Date:
  4 May 2007 (USA)
• Run Time:
  139 min
• Country: USA
• Genre: Action , Thriller
• MPAA:
  Rated PG-13 for sequences of intense action violence.

Tagline: Next summer, the greatest battle lies… within.

Trivia: The scene where Spider-Man throws an exploding pumpkin back at Harry, and it explodes in his face, recalls a similar scene in the first film. Green Goblin throws a pumpkin at Spider-Man, whose reactions are the same, blowing off half of his Spider-Man mask.

Goofs: Miscellaneous: During the ending fight, while Spiderman’s hands are tied by Venom, an artificial left eyebrow is very obvious on Brock.

“In rural Texas, welder and hunter Llewelyn Moss discovers the remains of several drug runners who have all killed each other in an exchange gone violently wrong. Rather than report the discovery to the police, Moss decides to simply take the two million dollars present for himself. This puts the psychopathic killer, Anton Chigurh, on his trail as he dispassionately murders nearly every rival, bystander and even employer in his pursuit of his quarry and the money. As Moss desperately attempts to keep one step ahead, the blood from this hunt begins to flow behind him with relentlessly growing intensity as Chigurh closes in. Meanwhile, the laconic Sherrif Ed Tom Bell blithely oversees the investigation even as he struggles to face the sheer enormity of the crimes he is attempting to thwart. Written by Kenneth Chisholm (kchishol@rogers.com)”

• Release Date:
  21 November 2007 (USA)
• Run Time:
  122 min
• Country: USA
• Genre: Crime , Drama , Thriller , Western
• MPAA:
  Rated R for strong graphic violence and some language.

Tagline: There Are No Clean Getaways

Trivia: Joel Coen and Ethan Coen share the record of four Oscar nominations for a single person for the same film (in this case, shared by the two) with Orson Welles’ four nominations for Citizen Kane (1941) and Warren Beatty’s for Reds (1981). The Coens’ four nominations are for Best Picture (as producers with Scott Rudin), Best Director, Best Adapted Screenplay, and Best Editing (under the pseudonym Roderick Jaynes). Welles was nominated both Best Picture (also as producer) and Best Director, as well as Best Original Screenplay (won, and shared with Herman J. Mankiewicz), and Best Actor. On the other hand, Beatty was nominated for Best Picture (also as producer), Best Director (won), Best Original Screenplay with Trevor Griffiths and Best Actor.

Goofs: Anachronisms: The weapon Moss picks up in the drug dealers truck is a Heckler and Koch SP89, so named because it was introduced to the American market in 1989. It was also a unique variation and was not sold in that form outside the US but modified specifically to conform with US gun laws.