Situated in a secret location in downtown Toronto, Trash Palace is by far my favourite movie theatre. Playing only the finest in 16mm entertainment, and plastered wall-to-wall in lurid exploitation posters with fresh popped corn and beer available at the concession stand, the theatre is the trash cinephile’s hidden clubhouse. And now the Trash Palace is going on tour, with a stop this Saturday in lovely St. Catharines. On tap are various classroom shorts and the main attraction, Deadly Eyes, a Toronto-lensed killer rat movie by the director of Enter The Dragon. Tickets are $5 at the Niagara Arts Centre, 254 Saint Paul Street. Doors open at 7:30 and the show begins at 8:30. Other stops on the tour, including Peterborough and Hamilton, can be found at the Trash Palace facebook page.

Expand this post for even more of their coming attractions, and find out for yourself why Trash Palace is considered Toronto’s Classiest Cinema.

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The convenience of watching movies at home has spoiled me. For the most part I watch movies in snippets between assorted tasks or right before I go to bed. Surprisingly, writing for Film Junk is part of the problem, as I often feel guilty when watching a movie instead of creating new content. The only exception to this is when I go to the theatre and have no control over how I watch a movie. This past Sunday I decided to clear the day and watch Sergio Leone’s Man With No Name trilogy back-to-back with the crew from the Macho Movie Review, something I’ve always wanted to do.

Afterward, we got into a discussion about our dream movie marathons which got me curious as to what the fine visitors of Film Junk would choose. Your selections should be no fewer than three films, with no upper limit excepting how long you think you could stay awake, so say 24 hours worth. They needn’t be themed or all from the same franchise, though it helps. While you can certainly choose movies that you’ve already seen, you should avoid any combinations you’ve already partaken in. These should be your unfulfilled movie marathons.

Along with the train wreck that was Dragonball: Evolution came the inevitable question; could this be the end of Dragonball? Leave it to the birthplace of Existentialism to set the record straight by holding a funeral service for the beloved manga and anime franchise.

Now that it’s official, all we have left to look forward to are tears and memories. Twenty-five years is a good run, but with Dragonball finished forever it’s time to move on and enjoy other pursuits. What anime would you suggest to fill this hole in my heart, or do you join the millions of grieving otaku in denial?

Word on the street is that Jason Statham is set to step into some mighty big shoes with a remake of the Charles Bronson action film The Mechanic. The original dealt with a hitman who takes on an apprentice, only to have his pupil turn on him. Dependent upon whether or not they keep the basic plot, I wonder who they will cast opposite Statham. That could make or break it for me.

I’m an avowed fan of Jason Statham, even if I don’t enjoy all or even most of his movies. I like the very idea that someone is out there bringing back disposable action films, filling a need that hasn’t been met since the early 90s. But is Jason Statham a worthy successor to Charles Bronson, and if not, who is?

For many people, Eastbound & Down left us far too soon. Thanks to the fine people at the Sundance Institute, you can salve your wounds with a short video starring Danny McBride in which he takes a day off work to shred.

There are numerous other shorts available as well, including an ode to slapstick comedy by the filmmakers behind Little Miss Sunshine and a take on the commercialization of revolutionaries by the director of Fast & Furious. Check them out and let us know what you think here. Thanks for the hook-up, Kurt!

With all the excitement surrounding The Expendables, it’s easy to lose sight of the other old school action movie team-up coming down the pike; Universal Soldier 3 featuring Jean-Claude Van Damme and Dolph Lundgren. The first photo of the two stars together has been released, and it strikes exactly the right balance of rugged machismo and unbridled homoeroticism that we’ve come to expect from the duo.

The one sour note in this touching reunion is the proposed title for the film; Universal Soldiers: The Next Generation. Are they pulling a Ghostbusters and introducing a fresh-faced batch of ‘lil Universal Soldiers to the mix? Unless we’re promised a full-on Van Damme/Lundgren make-out session to make up for it, I’ll wait for Command Performance to get my Lundgren fill. How does Universal Soldier 3 rank in your most anticipated action movies?

Sir Michael Caine is going back to his roots with the vigilante crime drama Harry Brown. I first heard about this over at one of my favourite film blogs, Popcorn and Sticky Floors, but at the time they weren’t even sure if it was in production so I promptly forgot about it, if only to keep from having my dreams shattered. However, Ain’t it Cool News has posted an interview with Caine in which he confims that the movie has wrapped and, in the words of Caine himself, it’s as if “Jack Carter got old and they picked on the wrong guy…”

Get Carter is one of my favourite crime dramas, as it should be for all right thinking people, so a return to form is exciting news indeed. One complication that could either help or hinder the film is comparisons to Gran Torino, another vigilante film starring an icon of the 60s and 70s. While I can see some people being turned off by the similarities, I’m sure at least a few enjoyed the taste they got from Gran Torino and would like more, this writer included. I leave it to you, can we ever have enough movies about senior citizens punching out children?

In a surprising announcement, My Bloody Valentine remake director Patrick Lussier has stated that Lionsgate has no intention on producing a follow-up. This news is especially shocking considering the movie only cost approximately 15 million to make and raked in over 50 million domestically, with another 20 million internationally. Not a bad take for a relatively low-budget horror movie.

While I can’t say I’m terribly upset by the news, My Bloody Valentine did have at least one scene that made it all worthwhile and raised it above the abysmal Friday The 13th and Halloween remakes. Still, I’m curious as to why Lionsgate would decide to pull the plug on a potentially lucrative franchise to match the success of Saw. If I had to guess, I imagine they may realize that the main draw of My Bloody Valentine, that is, the gimmicky 3-D, won’t be as fresh when the next installment rolls off the line. Is it wrong that a studio deciding against milking a franchise for all it’s worth confuses me?

The cult classic The Little Shop Of Horrors is getting a fresh coat of paint in the form of a brand new remake. Original director and producer Roger Corman has tapped Wrong Turn 3 director Declan O’Brien to helm the feature. O’Brien hasn’t divulged much, other than to say that like the 1986 version he’ll be taking it in a different direction.

It seems as if The Little Shop Of Horrors is on a 25-year cycle, give or take. I’m looking forward to the 2034 remake, though the 2060 version will most likely be trash. I’m surprised that O’Brien mentions rights, considering the original film is in the public domain. Maybe I’ll film my own version over the weekend and beat them to the punch. Are you excited by the possibility of a new version of this tale, or did either of the previous two already scratch that itch?

And while you’re mulling that over, why not check out the infamous alternate ending to the Frank Oz version of the story?

Fresh off his stint as Sgt. Donnie Donowitz in Tarantino’s Inglorious Basterds, Eli Roth is set to make a return to directing with not one, but two films he hopes to shoot back-to-back. One is a big-budget sci-fi disaster extravaganza, and the other is a quick and dirty callback to his fake trailer from Grindhouse, Thanksgiving. Roth is hoping to sell a studio on the larger project and wrap it up early, using the remaining time and money to whip out his ode to holiday slashers.

As much fun as his larger project could be, Eli Roth was responsible for the best horror movie of the past five years so I’m eagerly anticipating his return to the genre. I don’t fault today’s remakes of slasher classics considering most of the original films were almost as vapid. What I do miss are the lesser-known degenerates of the sub-genre, squalid masterpieces like Pieces and Mother’s Day. If you had to choose, which of the two would you most be interested in; the big-budget disaster movie, or the cheap slasher?

Moby’s upcoming album was inspired in part by a speech by David Lynch on freedom in creativity, so it only makes sense that he would get the director to contribute the video for the first single.

I admit I was put-off by the crude animation at first, but after watching it a few more times I warmed up to the scratchy noir aesthetic. It’s like Lynch’s life work distilled into a three minute meditation on loss and hysteria, filtered through the work of Harry Stephen Keeler, David Goodis and Michael Kupperman. For all those Lynch fans, how do you feel this fits in his oeuvre?

It’s rare that you get insight into what other people think of you. In my case, Sean sent me an announcement that the Turkish version of Rambo is being released on DVD with the intention that I would write a post about it. My life is an open book.

In the crowded world of international cinematic rip-offs, the Turkish film industry was able to rise above the rest by pilfering not only plots and characters, but even music and entire scenes from their inspiration. If Turkish Star Wars is what we can look forward to with the eventual disintegration of copyright law, the sooner the better. Even if you’re not looking forward to this particular release, if you have any interest in cult movie I recommend this interview with Turkish Rambo distributor Dark Maze Studios on how the strange tale of how this DVD came to be. My only hope is that the tampering done to the sound effects was restricted to the trailer and not the movie itself. Can anyone else name a rip-off of a film that they consider better than the original?