The devil you say? Daredevil headed back to the big screen

I enjoyed Mark Stephen Johnson's 2003 Daredevil movie a whole lot more than most people. And his unrated director's cut is even better. So I'm not disappointed to hear that 20th. Century Fox is moving ahead with a second film.

But gone are Ben Affleck and the rest of the cast, as well as Johnson himself. In is director David Slade, best know for his hard-R rated horror outings Hard Candy and 30 Days of Night.

Of yeah, he made one of the Twilight films too, but I won't begrudge the man a decent paycheck.

Fox isn't calling the film a reboot, but it sure sounds like one. I wouldn't mind having Affleck back, as State of Play and The Town revealed a performer who has matured with age. And I dug his Matt Murdock/Daredevil.

No word yet on what the story will be or when the film is due in theatres. We'll keep you posted, as always.

The Top Five of 2010: Jason's Picks

As I said in my review for True Grit, 2010 was a terrible year for movies. I ventured to a theatre perhaps five times this year and sought out very few of the year's offerings on DVD. Given that our Basement duties require us to seek out the odd, obscure and crappy, Shawn and I have little time to catch up on the latest releases anyway.

But I was able to scrounge up a Top Five for the year, which are listed below. Keep in mind these are my biased choices based on what I've seen. Films that could very well be in the running include The King's Speech, 127 Hours, The Social Network, The Fighter and a slew of others. But, based on what I've watched, I will stand by and hang by this list.

Remember, Shawn and I are back in The Basement next Friday (Jan. 7) at 10 p.m. PST on 92.5FM CFBX Kamloops and www.thex.ca. The podcast will be up by the Monday. We'll put the urban legend documentary Cropsey and the mockbuster sequel Mega Shark Versus Crocosaurus on the chopping block. Stick with us!

1) True Grit: We didn't need a remake of John Wayne's classic Western, but Joel and Ethan Coen have gone back to the source material, the 1968 novel of the same name, and done a retelling that's all their own. The film is a fine balance between drama and action picture, with a healthy dose of character study and black comedy added to the mix. And don't forget four of the best performances anyone is likely to see in years. Best of all, True Grit is relentlessly entertaining. You don't need to wind your brain up too much to enjoy the hell out of it.

2) Inception: How does one describe Inception? Smart, innovative and thrilling come to mind. So does mind blowing, visual stunning and incredible. The Dark Knight was a masterpiece, but that property wasn't 100 per cent Christopher Nolan's. Inception is, and it is a great piece of work. A masterwork from a master craftsman. This is a movie people will go see and then argue about and then, very likely, go see again. It is the must-see film of the summer, if not the year. Nolan dares us to think big here, yet he also thrills us with some of the biggest and best action scenes to ever reach the big screen. Inception is the film movie fans have waited all year for, it's a slick brain-twister that makes the year's other mainstream releases look boring and empty-headed in comparison . . . because they are.

3) The Town: A seriously awesome Ben Affleck movie? You bet! The actor, who quickly became the butt of many jokes at the beginning of the last decade, re-invented himself as a director to watch with Gone Baby Gone. With The Town he pulls out all the stops in front of the camera and behind it. This is a gritty, exciting, emotional, fast paced and fun crime picture. In other words, it's a brilliant piece of work. Affleck surrounds himself with a solid supporting cast, including The Hurt Locker's Jeremy Renner, and cements his credentials as a serious filmmaker who doesn't let style get in the way of a good story. An award-worthy picture.

4) Restrepo: It's tough to put my feelings for Restrepo into coherent thoughts. As a filmgoer, my mind has been trained to expect certain things from a war movie, and Restrepo gives me all of them. But this isn't fiction, it's real. The documentary is like a punch in the gut at times. Other moments are an amusing portrait of men who have chosen a soldier's life. We see them bond, suffer boredom together, live together, die together and grieve together in one of the deadliest place in the world. I felt like I was there for all of it and suffered the deployment with them. I had to keep telling myself this was really happening, which proves what an exceptional documentary this is.

5) Harry Brown: One of the best movies of the year featuring a powerful performance by Michael Caine, who balances ferocity and frailty throughout. The film is a button pusher, making one feel sad. angry and vengeful, often all at once. The first two minutes are among the harrowing ever put on film. What follows is somber and emotionally jarring. When Brown turns to vengeance, the film becomes about a man who has nothing to lose and the results will make you want to cheer for joy and cover your mouth with shock. Harry Brown offers no easy answers, but it does satisfy one's brain and bloodlust all at once.

Micro Review: The Town

A seriously awesome Ben Affleck movie? You bet! The actor, who quickly became the butt of many jokes at the beginning of the last decade, re-invented himself as a director to watch with Gone Baby Gone. With The Town he pulls out all the stops in front of the camera and behind it. This is a gritty, exciting, emotional, fast paced and fun crime picture. In other words, it's a brilliant piece of work. Affleck surrounds himself with a solid supporting cast, including The Hurt Locker's Jeremy Renner, and cements his credentials as a serious filmmaker who doesn't let style get in the way of a good story. An award worthy picture, and a Good rating from The Basement from me.

Box Office Report: The Town Comes Home To No. 1

B-Aff really went to town at the box office this weekend as the actor/director/co-screenwriter of The Town saw his crime drama perform much better than expected in its debut, taking in an estimated $23.8 million to open in first place, upsetting the widely predicted winner Easy A.

Ben Affleck's film, his second as a director, was expected to open in second place with around $15 to $17 million. Credit its actual performance to strong reviews, positive word of mouth and its status as the first serious Oscar hopeful to come out of the gate this season.

Easy A had to settle for second place and earned an estimated $18.2 million.

Opening in third place was Devil. The movie, the first in the Night Chronicles series of low-budget horror releases produced by M. Night Shyamalan, scared up an estimated $12.6 million.

'Devil' had to share a genre audience with last week's champ, Resident Evil: Afterlife. That film slipped to fourth place and lost 62 percent of its business, for an estimated take of $10.1 million. That second-week drop is typical for this franchise, but with a total so far of $44 million, Afterlife is on target to be the highest grossing of the four 'Resident Evil' movies.

Opening in fifth place was the 3-D animal cartoon Alpha and Omega with $9.2 million. It was the only new children's film in a marketplace currently devoid of family fare, but its marketing campaign was barely visible and few kids or their parents were likely aware of the film.

The full top 10:
1. The Town $23.8 million (2,861 screens), new release
2. Easy A $18.2 million (2,856), new release
3. Devil $12.6 million (2,809), new release
4. Resident Evil: Afterlife $10.1 million (3,209), $44.0 million total
5. Alpha and Omega $9.2 million (2,625), new release
6. Taker $3.0 million (2,139), $52.3 million
7. The American $2.8 million (2,457 screens), $32.9 million
8. Inception $2.02 million (1,305), $285.2 million
9. The Other Guys $2.0 million (1,827), $115.4 million
10. Machete $1.7 million (1,704), $24.3 million
10. Eat Pray Love $1.7 million (1,668), $77.7 million

Trailer Alert: The Town

Fall is certainly shaping up to be a far more interesting film season than summer. First we've got the hilarious looking Due Date (see below) and now the trailer for The Town has appeared, and boy does it look great.

Don't let the presence of BAff scare you. The man was good in State of Play and he directed the brilliant Gone Baby Gone. He's directing again here, and I'm pretty sure he could have a second career in that chair. The film also stars Jeremy (Hurt Locker) Renner and Chris Cooper, who rarely disappoint.

This one looks like a winner, but watch the trailer on iTunes and judge for yourself. It hits theatres Sept. 17. Sorry, couldn't find one to embed here.