The MacGuffin

In Murder Party, a random guy is walking down the street on Halloween night and steps on an invitation to a Murder Party. He has just rented some videos to watch that evening, and since he has nothing else to do, decides to go to the party. He dresses up as a cardboard knight and heads out. He shows up at this warehouse where these costumed people are waiting to kidnap him, torture him, and kill him.

Black Christmas (2006): Takes a suspenseful movie with interesting characters and remakes it with gratuitous gore and dumb co-eds. 2/10

Black Christmas (1974): Influenced every slasher that came after. Superb direction and performances keep this near the top of the pack. 9/10

Magic (1978): The classiest killer doll movie around. Starring Anthony Hopkins & Burgess Meredith and directed by Richard Attenborough. 8/10

Piranha II: The military creates flying piranha. Needless to say they escape and attack beachgoers. Directed by James Cameron! 1/10

In this movie, two brothers in England scrape together some money to buy a sail boat. The one brother (Colin Farrell) gets his money from gambling and the other brother (Ewan McGregor) is slightly more responsible and has been setting aside money for a business venture with some friends from the US. Colin gets in too deep into the gambling and after a couple of wins, ends up getting in the red for 90K. Ewan tries to help him out by borrowing money from their dad’s restaurant – which isn’t doing well in the first place.

Spencer and John review Up In The Air and look back on the career of Jason Reitman. Next, they give their DVD picks of the week. Finally, the episode ends with a preview of Peter Jackson’s latest film, The Lovely Bones.

The DVD Picks of the Week are Lost: The Complete Fifth Season Dharma Initiative Orientation Kit and Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince Special Edition.

This episode is also available through iTunes.

Chinese Hercules is a traditional kung-fu film in which an orphan kung-fu student accidentally kills a guy in a fight over a girl and has to run for his life and also vows never to fight again. He leaves the area and gets a job hauling bags of rice from ships to a storage facility. He tries to be a good person, but every time he does, the bad guys beat him down (sometimes physically).

Piranha (1978): The best of the Jaws rip-offs entertains with plenty of humor, a great Kevin McCarthy performance and gallons of blood. 7/10

Traditionally this time of year is the last chance for movie studios to release their films they think have the best shot at winning awards, but for me there are really only has four films coming out that hold much interest for me: Up In The Air, The Lovely Bones, Avatar and Sherlock Holmes.