Jim Brunzell III, Writer

I saw over 200 films in 2008, and narrowing a list down to the top ten films is tough. In 2002, I bought a blank book and started writing down every film I saw, making it easier to create a top-ten list each year. Going through my book brought back a lot of memories of films that I hardly remember anything about. For instance, how did the French film Roman de Gare end? I don’t recall. Does that mean it’s forgettable? Not exactly, but the ones that jumped out are denoted with a little star—if anyone asked me about one of those movies, I could tell him or her what I enjoyed about it or why it worked. MORE »

Valkyrie, the much-hyped and heavily advertised Tom Cruise action vehicle, opens on Christmas Day. After some reshoots were done last June, and after no fewer than four different release dates were announced—at one point, release was even going to be delayed until February 2009—everyone can now witness this amazing story told with lifeless imprecision. MORE »

Bruce Campbell has been acting for close to 30 years. He was first noticed in The Evil Dead, which has become one of the greatest American cult films, spawning two sequels: Evil Dead 2: Dead by Dawn and Army of Darkness (a.k.a. Evil Dead 3). He has appeared in over 50 films, starred or appeared in over 25 TV series, is the author of two books (If Chins Could Kill: Confessions of a B-Movie Actor and Make Love the Bruce Campbell Way), and added directing to his résumé with 2005’s The Man with the Screaming Brain. Campbell is in town this weekend to promote his latest film, My Name is Bruce—which he stars in, produced, and directed. I spoke with him by phone as he made his way to the Twin Cities. MORE »

Horror films may be, artistically, the most dismissed genre in film, but the genre has become a cash cow for studios. Films in franchises like Halloween, Friday the 13th, and Saw can cost less than $10 million but make triple that in opening-weekend ticket sales. Unsurprisingly, many of the older horror franchises have been recently remade or updated—a new Friday the 13th film is opening on Friday the 13th of February, 2009. MORE »

Since having its world premiere and winning the “Best of Fest” award this past April at the Minneapolis-St. Paul International Film Festival, the wonderfully entertaining sports documentary Pond Hockey has won fans across the country. On Wednesday the film returns for one last screening in the Twin Cities before its November release on DVD. The (mostly) locally-shot film depicts the U.S. Pond Hockey Championship, which takes place on Lake Calhoun. It follows some of the players in the tournament (including former Minnesota Gopher players Tyler Hirsch, Dave Spehar, and Matt Henderson) from the tournament’s beginning to its end. MORE »