Orson Scott Card’s bestselling, award-winning Ender’s Game series has long been a favorite of sci-fi fans and non-fans alike. Focusing more on the moral, spiritual, and emotional implications of advanced technology, the first novel (naturally called Ender’s Game) takes place in a universe where families are limited to two children each. This does not, however, become the focus of the story - it’s merely the backdrop for the existence of Ender, one of the few third children (or “thirds”) left in the world - and probably the only legal one.

At this point in time, defense against mysterious alien invaders has become the government’s main focus. They’ve established a prestigious “battle school” in space, to which they snatch off all promising kids, training them to be efficient soldiers for the upcoming war. Ender’s parents, the Wiggins, had two children who were almost perfect candidates. The government gives them special dispensation to have a third, hoping he will be perfect.

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It seems like reviewers spend an inordinate amount of time warning people about what movies to NOT, UNDER ANY CIRCUMSTANCES, GO SEE. Promotional material should make these things obvious, but in some cases, it doesn’t - which is exactly why we exist. It’s a thankless job, but somebody has to do it.

Then, there are those times when the studio is kind enough to let you see, in massive, surround sound, Technicolor clarity, just how bad their movie is going to be. For situations like these, you really wouldn’t think that we would be needed. But somehow, these films still rise to the top of the box office - and no amount of awful promotion or bad reviews can stop it.

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Now this is some scary news here—the cast for Wes “Nerve Gas” Craven’s upcoming self-cannibalization “25/8” is undergoing some serious shifting. Henry Lee Hopper, son of Dennis Hopper, who was one of the big draws for Craven’s newest cinematic stinkbomb in the making has bugged out, but apparently on mutually pleasant terms. Hopper, apparently, came down with a case of mono, and since an upcoming actor’s strike looks more and more likely by the day, Craven simply couldn’t wait. Which is fair enough, I suppose—God forbid we’re forced to wait until the end of an actor’s strike to see the newest waste of film from Wes Craven.

Plenty other low-rank no-names have been filtering in and out of the cast, so it seems as though “25/8” is going to be continually in flux until it hits the theatres. And all this happens before principal photography begins—it’s starting later this month.

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How much viral marketing is too much? Cloverfield, J.J. Abrams’ overhyped monster movie, is a perfect example of too much. The backstory behind the film was revealed in bits and mysterious pieces, but very little satisfaction was delivered in the film itself - most of the viral campaign, in which people invested much time and energy, was just a red herring. The “why” behind the monster is not and will probably never be explained. We can shake our fists all we like, but the damage is done.

Unlike Cloverfield, however, most films are content to merely dabble in viral marketing. Rather than becoming the basis for the entire advertising campaign, viral sites and fake ads are just fun distractions for fans who are waiting for the movie anyway. A perfect example is Humans for the Ethical Treatment of Fairies, Elves, and Trolls. This site is a promotion for Guillermo del Toro’s upcoming Hellboy II: The Golden Army. Hellboy creator Mike Mignola said in an interview with IGN that the story of the film will focus, not on Nazis or Lovecraftian monsters, but on old creatures like elves and fairies that have been ignored by humans for too long. The HETFET site contains articles, pictures, and a message board for fans to connect.

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In the early 1940s in Europe, six million people were killed for no other reason than their shared cultural heritage. April is Holocaust Month, and in honor of this, Kwanzoo will be featuring some films on the subject of ignorance, oppression, genocide, and the ultimate triumph of the human spirit.

Roman Polanski’s The Pianist tells the incredible true story of Władysław Szpilman, a Polish-Jewish pianist who survived the “final solution” and went on to write his memoirs years later. Polanski, himself an escapée of the Warsaw ghetto during World War II, felt a personal connection to the story and began adapting it just a year after Szpilman died. It debuted one year later in 2002, garnering many awards and accolades, and securing the lifelong fame of its star, Adrien Brody.

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In the early 1940s in Europe, six million people were killed for no other reason than their shared cultural heritage. April is Holocaust Month, and in honor of this, Kwanzoo will be featuring some films on the subject of ignorance, oppression, genocide, and the ultimate triumph of the human spirit.

Perhaps the most famous depiction of white supremacy on film, Tony Kaye’s American History X stars Ed Norton, Edward Furlong, and Beverly D’Angelo as members of a family trying to live in the violent ghetto that is much of Los Angeles. Eldest son Derek Vinyard (Norton), having learned from his father that all minorities are suspect at best, finally snaps when his dad is shot down by a black gang. He covers himself in threatening tattoos, most notably that of a large swakstika on his chest. Shaving his head down to the skin, he whips up his friends and neighbors into a white supremacist frenzy. They intimidate and harass all other races and ethnicities at his behest. And younger brother Daniel (Furlong) seems ready to follow in Derek’s footsteps.

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All the big-name comic book heroes have had their chance to shine. In theaters across the world, we have seen Superman, Batman, Spider-Man, the X-Men, the Hulk, the Fantastic Four, and, soon enough, Iron Man. The recent Justice League project has been shelved, but it will no doubt return someday. It seems that the only remaining untapped comic book resources are downright obscure.

Hellblazer’s John Constantine is arguably well known in the comic world, as is Hellboy, but The Spirit? He’s been around since 1940, created by comic book legend Will Eisner…you just don’t hear anyone talk about him. But Frank Miller, comic book author turned director since Robert Rodriguez brought him into the adaptation of his own work (Sin City), is a big Spirit fan. Apparently, he feels that the world deserves to know Denny “The Spirit” Colt.

The genre-bending comic will soon be coming, highly stylized, to a theater near you. It will be Miller’s first solo directing effort, as well as his first adaptation of someone else’s work. Since he and Eisner are friends, most believe that he will do his best to recapture the feeling of the original comic. You can check out the teaser trailer here.

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Being a movie critic isn’t all fun and games, you know. What with the late-night screenings, nerd-laden conventions, being legally obligated to watch the latest Tyler Perry film…the perks are many, but they barely make up for the stress. Except, perhaps, for one.

Free Screener DVDs.

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In the early 1940s in Europe, six million people were killed for no other reason than their shared cultural heritage. April is Holocaust Month, and in honor of this, Kwanzoo will be featuring some films on the subject of ignorance, oppression, genocide, and the ultimate triumph of the human spirit.

When it comes to Holocaust heroes, Oskar Schindler is second only to Anne Frank. Thanks in part to Steven Spielberg’s Schindler’s List, everyone knows the man who risked his career, his fortune, and his life to save an approximated 1,200 Jews from certain death.

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In the early 1940s in Europe, six million people were killed for no other reason than their shared cultural heritage. April is Holocaust Month, and in honor of this, Kwanzoo will be featuring some films on the subject of ignorance, oppression, genocide, and the ultimate triumph of the human spirit.

The Killing Fields tells the story of the infamous Cambodian genocide that ended in the slaughter of approximately two million people. Told through the eyes of journalists trapped in the Khmer Rouge regime, it stars Sam Watterson as Sydney Schanberg and Haing S. Ngor as Dith Pran. Both were real people who experienced the Khmer Rouge firsthand, and it was Pran himself who coined the term “the killing fields” after escaping from a government that would have certainly murdered him.

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