Friday, July 31st, 2009

I have read for some time that Fox has been trying to get a new prequel to Ridley Scott's 1979 science fiction masterpiece Alien off the ground for some time. I never got too excited about this. Both Scott's original and James Cameron's sequel Aliens were incredible films, and I am one of the few who even quite enjoyed David Fincher's spot in the series in the mostly negative-reviewed Alien 3. However, not even talking about Alien Resurrection (a disappointing effort from Jean-Pierre Jeunet, one of the men behind the fantastic The City of Lost Children), I figured that the two Alien Vs. Predator films had officially killed off the franchise once and for all. Any and almost all fans of Scott's original concept would have feared that any new installment would have been going down the same road as these colossal cinematic failures. Yet, today Variety gave all the fans of the original series hope when it was announced that Scott would return to direct the prequel. The man behind the screenplay will be Jon Spaihts, which I'm not familiar in the least with. Let's hope he holds a candle to Dan O'Bannon, Ronald Shusett or Walter Hill.

Speaking of director news, Variety again, has a blog up saying that Walt Disney Pictures is close to bringing Rob Marshall aboard to helm the fourth installment in the Pirates of the Caribbean franchise. Marshall doesn't seem like a great choice to take on the comic swashbuckling stylings of the series, having previously directed the high profile musicals Chicago and the upcoming Nine. Yet, before Gore Verbinski stepped behind the camera of the first three films, he was mostly known for the American remake of The Ring. Also, after At World's End, which felt so disappointing following quite a smarter sequel in Dead Man's Chest than anybody was prepared for, maybe a new direction needs to be taken. So long as Johnny Depp comes back as Captain Jack Sparrow, we'll at least have a decent performance to look forward to.

Following the theme of Disney, the official Walt Disney Animation website updated some stills of the visual development of the 2010 film Rapunzel. I personally cannot wait until some kind of visual is released from King of the Elves, an animated Disney adaptation of a Philip K. Dick fantasy short story. Either way, the fact that Disney is focusing on hand drawn animation again is enough to make any movie fanatic happy, no matter what genre you generally favor.

I am slightly disappointed with Seth Rogen. A few weeks ago he was all in the tabloids after an exchange of words and jokes with the writers of HBO's Entourage. Now, Us Magazine (I shudder at even having read a story from their site), reports that while promoting Funny People on Howard Stern's Sirius XM radio show, Rogen and director Judd Apatow spoke about their co-star in Knocked Up and her claims that the film was sexist. We all know that Heigl's only asset is her looks after all of her quite public squabbles with the writers of Grey's Anatomy. So, can't Funny People sell itself without getting free publicity beside of a an attempted shot at catching Miley Cyrus' underage snatch by a paparazzo?

Anyhow, speaking of Funny People, Apatow's latest film, starring Adam Sandler, Rogen, Jonah Hill, Jason Schwartzman, Leslie Mann and a few other legitimately funny people, came out today. Judging from the trailer, it looks like Sandler's first good film since Punch-Drunk Love, and possibly the first film of his that will make us laugh since Happy Gilmore. Great reviews are also pouring in. Of course, as I write this, I am also trying to plan out where I can go see the film, because although I'm almost certain that the film will take this weekend's box office, the fact that it is the best reviewed film coming out today on Rotten Tomatoes, not to mention the draw of both Sandler and Rogen, my local Carmike Cinemas have chosen to not get this film, instead filling our theater with Aliens in the Attic. I had hoped, that for the sake of a bright future, humanity would cause this thing to flop. The trailer looks absolutely abysmal. RT gave the film a 25%, which makes me feel like it is the most overrated film of the year thus far. I mentioned yesterday how ecstatic I was for children's cinema this year with the upcoming releases of Where the Wild Things Are and The Fantastic Mr. Fox. Yet, what the anticipation these films gives does for children's cinema, this film takes out, rapes it, name calls it's mother, and shits on its face. I sincerely hope that this doesn't take the box office this weekend, destroying any shock value that G-Force gathered when it overtook Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince this past weekend. Anyhow, bottom line, if you have any other theater to go to, boycott your local Carmike. The longer I keep this blog, the more any readers that happen upon it will learn of my grave distaste for our local cinema. Oh, another option this weekend is The Collector, a mediocre-looking horror flick, as well as the documentary Not Quite Hollywood, chronicling the days of ozploitation, the name given to exploitation films out of Australia. It will most certainly be a very overlooked, entertaining gem for any fan of the exploitation era, as some of these films never reached us stateside. You can check out the trailer (which is NSFW, and probably best not to embed) at the official site. Enjoy.

Thursday, July 30th, 2009

Most of what I do on this blog is complain or rejoice orgasmically over casting rumors. Most of the time, it is the big name stars that draw us in to watch a film, case in point being last year's Coen Brothers film Burn After Reading. The film's amazing cast included George Clooney, John Malkovich, Frances McDormand, Brad Pitt and Tilda Swinton, and they all delivered as to be expected in a dark comedy that was brilliantly written and beautifully directed. As refreshing as such a success is, a more fulfilling viewing experience is when a film with virtually no star power, other than the aforementioned directorial talents of the Coens, gives off the same vibe of excellence. The Coens' new film, A Serious Man, debuted its trailer today, with the only "star" that I noticed was Richard Kind of Spin City fame. The main star is Michael Stuhlbarg, an owner of a rather abysmal IMDb filmography page. The film doesn't appear that it will suffer from the lack of Clooneys or Pitts however, as after watching this trailer, it has shot to the top of a short list of must-sees for late 2009. Also, the best trailer I've seen this year. Even if the film disappoints in every aspect, I was thoroughly entertained for the two minutes afforded to me. Enjoy the trailer.


Yahoo! Movies released another high profile trailer today for the upcoming re-release of the two original Toy Story films in 3-D.

Universal Pictures, via Variety, has announced that the Joe Johnston horror flick The Wolfman has been pushed back to 2010, to be released on Valentine's Day weekend.

Ilene Chaiken, creator of the Showtime series The L Word, has mentioned, via AfterEllen, that there may be a feature film to carry over the series' cliffhanger storyline in the works. Now, I have to admit that The L Word was a guilty pleasure of mine for a bit after a friend forced me to watch it a while back. Maybe it was due to a childhood crush on Jennifer Beals after watching Flashdance. Who knows? But a feature? Am I the only one thinking this is bordering on unnecessary?

It was a great day for trailers. I'll end tonight with a continuation from yesterday's post when I featured a new photo gallery from the official site of Wes Anderson's upcoming stop motion animated The Fantastic Mr. Fox. Today, the trailer debuted, and as great as the stills have been, and as, excuse me for saying, fantastic, that this looks like on paper with the likes of Clooney, Bill Murray, Meryl Streep, etc., etc. behind an Anderson-directed stop motion adaptation of a highly imaginative Roald Dahl children's book, the trailer actually furthers the anticipation for this thing. Has there ever been a year, with this and Spike Jonze's Where the Wild Things Are and Henry Selick's wonderful Coraline earlier this year, so great for children's film? Not since The Dark Crystal has children actually had something that doesn't insult their intelligence. And of course, something that adults will very much enjoy. Enjoy the trailer.

Wednesday, July 29th, 2009

I had imagined with "going green" being the bees knees in Hollywood recently, that Dr. Seuss' fantastic 1971 environmentally friendly fable The Lorax would have already been put on the big screen. The wonderful tale is my favorite children's book of all time, and through the years I have had fears of Mike Myers in a skin tight orange catsuit and a mustache that would make a proverbial lovechild of Nietzsche and Rollie Fingers blush. Yet, although I have always fancied a brilliant stop motion adaptation, Variety has announced that the inevitable has happened, and at the very least, it will take the road of the Horton Hears a Who film, and join the ranks of CGI-mania, directed by Chris Renaud, Cinco Paul and Ken Daurio. I'm sure until the release in 2012, I will rant and rejoice about this beloved gem of my childhood, but the one good thing I can say so far, is that I enjoy the tentative release date is what would have been Theodor Geisel's 105th birthday.

I mentioned stop motion animation up there, and when talking about the medium one can't help but mention Wes Anderson's upcoming The Fantastic Mr. Fox. I posted pictures a while back showing off the titular Mr. Fox, but now the official site of the film has a gallery up with some of the better pictures featuring Bill Murray having some fun with the figures being used.

The Green Hornet casting news has been littered all about my blog, and a new piece of news, courtesy of LatinoReview, states that there is a new replacement for Stephen Chow's abandoned Kato role. Famous South Korean actor Kwon Sang-woo has been confirmed by several unnamed "Chinese news outlets" to be taking the role of Seth Rogen's sidekick. The actor has yet to breakthrough stateside, so I have no clue if I should be excited or repulsed, but I'm still generally stoked about what Michel Gondry could do with a superhero flick written by Rogen and Evan Goldberg, so I seriously doubt this guy's previous credits would really matter in my overall excitement for this.

In more casting news, via IWatchStuff, Bryce Dallas Howard has joined the cast of The Twilight Saga: Eclipse, taking over for Rachelle Lefevre in the role of Victoria after some scheduling squabbles. Now, I try my best not to speak of anything pertaining to the Twilight universe, but this bit of casting intrigues me. I may be alone here, but I think Howard is a good actress, and using the little bit of knowledge I know of the Twilight books, Eclipse is when Victoria becomes a decent villain, which would seem to turn to the side of luck, albeit a slight continuity snag, for the vampire romance. This may stifle a bit of the initial complaints when I accompany the lady to the theater for this, especially added to the fact that the third installment will be directed by David Slade (of 30 Days of Night fame), who has publically criticized the original film, and the hightened chance he brings that may change this into a watchable film for anybody who isn't masturbating nightly to a cucumber with "Team Cullen" painted on it with nail polish while simultaneously using Dad's barbeque fork to simulate a vampire's bite.

Finally, Cinematical gave a link to a great blog called Reelizer today, which features cinema-based art. Some interesting stuff on there. I could picture some of these on a larger scale adorning my living room walls. Enjoy.

Monday, July 27th, 2009

Well, thus begins the week of movie blogging after the San Diego Comic Con. With the endless news flowing out with feverish fluidity that made every blogger out there, be it the big timers at Cinematical or AICN, or the nobodies like myself whom, with giggly ecstasy write about our passion of cinema to a handful of readers if that, it makes the week after seem completely dead and void of any real news. But before we put the conventions of all conventions behind us, MaximumPC has a huge 600+ picture gallery of the excellent cosplay that went down. The one pictured, admittedly has more to do with the fact that somebody actually cosplayed as PedoBear than anything in the movie blogsphere, although to make it relevant, I found him sexually badgering some of the Disney movie princesses, in which the cosplayers could be of questionable age.

On to some news... the biggest of the day is the shock that Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince didn't take the box office for the second straight weekend. I don't think anyone expected the live action/CGI combination of hamster secret agents in G-Force could outdo the absolutely massive and fanatic fanbase of the highly anticipated sixth Potter film. Completely mind-boggling. On a lighter shock for myself, The Ugly Truth beat out Orphan for the third spot. I just didn't see a lackluster romantic comedy that has been panned making more money than a horror film that good or bad, had a bit of a draw. So, what do you think for next week? Will Funny People take the top spot? Will Half-Blood Prince not take a huge drop from this week, and capture it again? Or will G-Force get two weeks as number one over these other blockbuster events? Let's hope against that last one at least.

MTV's movie blog has a bit of a surprising casting rumor. MTV had an interview with Robert Rodriguez about his upcoming film Machete, in which the director wouldn't confirm or debunk the rumors earlier this month about the possible casting of Robert De Niro and Jonah Hill, but added another name to the already motley crew of possibilities with Lindsay Lohan. The controversial tabloid grabbing actress was said to have a role waiting if she wanted to partake. How could Lohan not take it? She would be perfect for an exploitation film, as her acting wouldn't be on a spotlight, and is one of the few ways she could rejuvenate the minuscule film career she has left. But then again, do we want this? Couldn't Rodriguez, even if he thought he needed a publicity stunt, go elsewhere for someone that has already been in films that are more suited to the exploitation fan's tastes? Who knows.

Finally, The Hollywood Reporter confirms that Mila Kunis has been cast in Darren Aronofsky's upcoming supernatural story of dueling ballerinas, Black Swan, with Kunis taking the villainous role, that has been hinted might actually just be part of the main character's sub conscience. That main character has already been confirmed to be Natalie Portman. Excited about Aronofsky's latest head trip yet? I'll have to admit that I wasn't as hot about The Fountain as everyone else, although I absolutely love Requiem for a Dream, Pi and The Wrestler. I don't think there is any denying however, that even if I don't deem the movie a classic, it will certainly be worth a view.

P.S. I may or may not post tomorrow. I am going to King's Island just outside of Cincinnati. Since the park isn't owned by Paramount any longer, I don't think I'll find anything pertaining to my blog, but I will look diligently for nougat of something to post on here.

Sunday, July 26th, 2009 (Short Film Sunday: Vincent)

Last week's short film, Treevenge, was directed by Jason Eisener, a director that I feel one day may become a big name. This week however, I am going to feature a filmmaker that most up and comers hope to emulate, the masterful Tim Burton. Almost everything the 50-year-old director has touched, has become something of a masterpiece, or cultural phenomenon. This past week has been no exception, as during the San Diego Comic Con, the trailer to his newest film, Alice in Wonderland, an adaptation of Lewis Carroll's whimsical novel, made its debut. Burton's official website also released a teaser gallery from his upcoming picture book, The Art of Tim Burton.

Burton had just as interesting of an early career years before he got to this point. His career began as a cell animator for the 1978 animated version of The Lord of the Rings, directed by Ralph Bakshi. Then, I have read rumors for years that he was an uncredited Muppeteer in 1979's The Muppet Movie, and the listing still exists on IMDb, as well as on Burton's Wikipedia page. Leaving the 70's behind, Burton got a job as an animator on the Disney film The Fox and the Hound. While working for Disney, we would also get our first look at Burton behind the camera, taking the helming role when he would shoot tonight's featured short, Vincent, about a young boy named Vincent Malloy, that was obsessed with Burton's real life hero, horror icon Vincent Price, who also narrated the story. The film saw a brief theatrical release running before the forgotten Matt Dillon film Tex, but the brilliant short went mainly unseen, as some of the more macabre references to Price's films wasn't very Disney-friendly, and the crowd wanting to see the badly received teen drama Tex didn't mesh with Burton's humor.

The film would lead to another Disney short called Frankenweenie in 1984, which would lead to Burton being fired by Disney for wasting the company's money and creating a film that was too scary for the audience in which it was intended. Both shorts would later find success and cult followings once they showed up on the special edition DVD for The Nightmare Before Christmas, and of course, the popularity of YouTube. They would also succeed in getting Burton noticed by Paul Reubens, a bizarre comedian that went under the pseudonym Pee-Wee Herman, who also famously created an act that looked like it should be targeting children, but kept an adult audience with its wit. He was impressed and got Burton to direct a screen adaptation of The Pee-Wee Herman Show, Burton's first feature film, Pee-Wee's Big Adventure. This would be followed with a second huge cult hit in Beetlejuice, and rounding out the 80's, Burton would hit his first blockbuster gold with the film Batman.

The 90's would follow with another pairing with Price, this time in a small, and Price's last, on-screen role in Burton's masterful story Edward Scissorhands, a dark big budget sequel in the Caped Crusader franchise with Batman Returns, his return to stop motion animation in the classic Nightmare Before Christmas (a film that centered around the character Jack Skellington, whom made his debut as a background character in Vincent), his first flop that still has some following in Cabin Boy, creating a great homage to cult film icon Edward D. Wood, Jr. in Ed Wood, stepping down to producer in the moderately successful Batman Forever, returning to praise cult cinema with the star-studded Mars Attacks!, and rounding out the decade with another clever, dark adaptation in his first horror film, Sleepy Hollow.

In the new millennium, Burton gave us the only film of his that I have disliked, a re-envisioning of the classic Planet of the Apes, the very whimsical tale of growing old in his underrated Big Fish, another lavish and unique telling of a classic story in Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, another return to the world of stop motion with Tim Burton's Corpse Bride, the horror musical Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street, and rounding out the decade by producing Shane Acker's upcoming film 9.

To think, such a grand career from roughly six minutes of animation, and a clever poem about his hero. Without further adieu, one of Burton's best, albeit short, works Vincent.

Saturday, July 25th, 2009

'Tis Saturday, which on a normal week would mean I would scrape through twenty some odd blogs and news sites trying to find some kind of movie news I had yet to say something about earlier in the week, maybe find something awesome on ToyRocket.com that was new to me, or possibly even giving up, laying down, and watching Saturday Night Live, hoping for some better blog fuel on Monday morning. Yet, today, I am home alone, no stress of work, and have been reading coverage from the big day at the San Diego Comic Con for a few hours. There is so much that I will try to go as brief as possible, but this may be a long one. Oh, and the picture is of some random fangirl in Return of the Jedi's infamous slave girl Leia costume. Of course, one might find some sexual appeal, but if you notice, the girl is mostly plain, and her legs definitely shouldn't be considered kosher in lieu of such scandalous attire. But I thought the pic, from Cinematical's gallery of hottest cosplay this year, embodies why I want to go to the convention. Sure, the news is huge, but it would be quite hard to get into the panels and discussions, but the fans, no matter how terrible or awesome the costume, is why it would be an amazing experience. I can remember I used to be quite intimidated over extreme fandom, but now I feel like I could never delve deep enough, and San Diego's annual event is the abyss I would like to find myself in on an annual basis. So yeah, until I get a decent job, in short, damn you people for being accessible to San Diego... damn you to hell!

First up, James Cameron and Peter Jackson took part in a visionaries panel today, discussing 3-D transfers of their films, with Titanic being in the process of conversion with a tentative release date in 2011, and The Lord of the Rings trilogy being suggested by Jackson, but turned down by Warner Brothers, due to the lack of accessibility of the 3-D market. Here's the video for more.


Also coming from Jackson, he discussed that casting for Bilbo Baggins is very far off, and that the rough draft of The Hobbit hasn't even officially been turned in yet. And technically speaking, the film has even yet to get a green light, though there is no doubt that it will. Nevertheless, this means that we will be at least a few more months before we find out who will be taking on the roles of the beloved characters, at least.

Whilst promoting Sherlock Holmes, star Robert Downey, Jr. described the relationship between the characters of Sherlock Holmes and Jude Law's Dr. John Watson as "circumstantial homosexuality".

Disney's panel featured a sneak preview of the 3-D renderings of the original two Toy Story films, as well as the announcement that Michael Keaton will voice Ken, of Barbie fame in the upcoming Toy Story 3.

I will break away from Comic Con for just a few seconds before I end today. First it is the 25th anniversary of the PG-13 rating. After a bit of controversy following Gremlins and Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom, the John Milius directed, Patrick Swayze starring war film Red Dawn became the first film to hold the rating 25 years ago today.

Also, The Hollywood Reporter broke the news that the Irish government is cutting funding for the Irish Film Board. I do quite like a bit of Irish cinema, such as The Commitments, but looking through some of the films pumped out by the IFB, I can't say that I am familiar with a lot of them; however, John Carney's beautiful low-budget Once was funded by the organization, so it does sadden me that some gems like that film may miss us stateside due to this.

Ok, I'll end today with one more piece from the SDCC, a new teaser trailer for Tron Legacy. What do you think? A good enough mesh up of kitsch and bad ass to compare to the original? Also, how can Jeff Bridges mess this up? I am officially stoked.

Friday, July 24th, 2009

Another day that I should be sleeping due to my work schedule, yet like yesterday, a plethora of geeky wonderdom has come out of the San Diego Comic Con for all of us cinephiles to gawk at, complain about and rejoice over. First, the picture there is the first poster for 2010's Jimmy Hayward directed Jonah Hex.

Maybe the biggest story to come out of the convention today comes via the panel promoting The Book of Eli, the Hughes Brothers' upcoming film set in a post apocalyptic dystopian society, starring Denzel Washington as the protagonist and Gary Oldman taking on the villainous role. Mila Kunis, Michael Gambon and a few others star in a film that we are yet to find much out about the plot. However, via I Watch Stuff, we get to see the initial trailer, and during the interview itself, Oldman dropped a bomb that took a little of the focus away from The Book of Eli for a moment. Cinematical reports that Oldman, who plays Commissioner James Gordon in Christopher Nolan's reboot of the Batman franchise, claims that a sequel to The Dark Knight will begin filming next year with a potential theatrical release as early as 2011. This announcement brings up a lot more questions than it answers. Of course, the most worrisome of those questions, that the Cinematical staff promptly points out, is with Nolan busying himself finishing his anticipated film Inception, as well as touring for press junkets and whatnot up until at least the middle of 2010, then how quick could a blockbuster of Dark Knight stature be shot and ready to be in theaters by 2011? Does this mean Nolan is out?

Cinematical's affiliate SciFiSquad also has a very interesting review of the Peter Jackson-produced science fiction film District 9, that seems to be continually overlooked. I was hoping for more information of the plot, as well as maybe some questions directed towards Jackson about his film The Lovely Bones, or of course, a little something about The Hobbit; however, after already being a little stoked for Niell Blomkamp's tale of alien life in Johannesburg, South Africa, the ecstatic review from Kevin Kelly is one of the first detailed pieces I've read on this movie and increases my level of excitement quite a bit.

Stepping away from the Comic Con bubble for a moment, Variety has announced that there will be a Saw VII, with David Hackl returning to direct. Does this inevitable story make the entire advertising campaign for Saw VI being the "final chapter" even more annoying to anyone else?

It's also Friday, so for those of us unfortunate enough to be outside of San Diego, we can go see a few flicks this weekend. Orphan is probably the highest profile release this week. The film seems like one that is either hit or miss, no in between feelings. It holds a 50% on Rotten Tomatoes, was slammed by Variety and The New York Times, and given a three and a half star rating from Roger Ebert. It advertises a twist that could make or break the film, and has the star power of the incredibly talented Vera Farmiga and Peter Sarsgaard. The other two movies that will be wide release this week might not be so good. First, G-Force, despite having Zach Galifianakis and the voices of Tracy Morgan, Penelope Cruz, Sam Rockwell and Nicolas Cage, I just don't think anything could save this Disney film. Also, The Ugly Truth, a romantic comedy starring Katherine Heigl. Despite her likability, I can't see it being worth seeing. Some overlooked films for the week that will almost certainly go under the radar is the raunchy indy bromance comedy Humpday, Kevin Spacey as a quirky psychiatrist in Shrink, with appearances by Gore Vidal, Robin Williams and many others, and finally The Answer Man, which I want to find more out about, stars Jeff Daniels, nabbing supporting roles from two up and coming actresses Kat Dennings and Olivia Thirlby.

And finally, from TrailerAddict, Where the Wild Things Are author Maurice Sendak speaks about Spike Jonze and his upcoming, highly anticipated adaptation. Enjoy.

Thursday, July 23rd, 2009

I worked late tonight, so I come home expecting to sleep rather than blog, but then I check a few things online and get completely submerged into all of the San Diego Comic Con coverage. The first thing I find is via ComingSoon, where the 2010 Joseph Kosinski Tron sequel finally got a title, Tron Legacy.

Elsewhere, we get plenty of coverage on The Green Hornet over at Cinematical. First, director Michel Gondry raps about the upcoming feature, and in a separate story, writers Evan Goldberg and Seth Rogen (who also will star as the titular character), revealed the hero's car, a black 1966 Chrysler Crown Imperial.

It was also announced that Saw's James Wan will take over the job of director in an adaptation of one of my favorite video games of all time, Kanomi's Castlevania. I'm not crazy familiar with any of Wan's work, other than Saw; however, it may be an improvement over the last director attached to the project, Sylvain White, who previously directed Stomp the Yard, yet on the other hand has already signed on the helm the big screen version of DC Comic's The Losers.

Today, during the Avatar panel, fifteen minutes of the film was shown. Yet, if you are envious like me, and about a three day drive from San Diego, we will all get a chance to watch the preview for free on August 21st at IMAX theaters worldwide. An interesting marketing ploy for something that I felt already had quite a bit of buzz going on to not have a built in fan base already.

Away from Comic Con, well, it could have actually debuted there, but IGN doesn't have much of a write up about it, a new poster to Samuel Bayer's remake of A Nightmare on Elm Street came out today to compliment our first view of Jackie Earle Haley as Freddy Krueger yesterday. The poster features Haley again, although as before, we cannot make any of his features out.

And finally, the Alice in Wonderland trailer that I had promised yesterday. You'll have to click the link though, as embedding was disabled on Moviefone, as well as YouTube. As expected, the film definitely looks intriguing, and very Tim Burton-y.

Wednesday, July 22nd, 2009

Have you ever been really excited by the upcoming release of a film, yet think you will hate it? That is kind of how I feel about next year's remake of A Nightmare on Elm Street. I was the same way with Rob Zombie's remake of Halloween, as I was sure it wouldn't be anything like the original John Carpenter version that I loved so much, yet I couldn't wait to see it. This newest picture that I found on MySpace Trailer Park, giving us the first, albeit unrecognizable, shot of Jackie Earle Haley as Freddy Krueger, furthers my excitement, yet doesn't show enough to distill the dread of probable disapointment.

The teaser trailer for Tim Burton's Alice in Wonderland went online today, but before I could get home from work, was pulled until tomorrow. Still, if you can't wait, I'm sure there is still somewhere that has yet to pull it out there.

Yahoo! Movies has another look at Scarlett Johansson in Iron Man 2. We've still yet to see a quality picture of Johansson in full Black Canary get up. I'm sure that will be saved for the trailer.

AICN dropped the bomb today that Sam Raimi is on board as the director of a film adaptation of World of Warcraft, which will begin to shoot after Spider-Man 4. I have still yet to delve into the fandom of WoW, so I can't be too excited, but can you imagine the following this movie will obtain?

All movie blogs of the Interwebs will be buzzing this week due to the San Diego Comic Con getting under way. Although I am excited to receive all the nerdy spectacular news that will flow forth, envy for the cats in attendance is really the weightiest emotion I'll have this weekend.

SciFiSquad has a story saying that the F.W. Murnau Foundation of Germany has gotten their hands on some footage of Fritz Lang's epic 1927 science fiction masterpiece Metropolis, which up until now has been presumed to be lost. The footage, found in the archives of an Argentinean musuem, will be cleaned up by the Foundation, and will be released sometime in the future. The linked article tends to think the release will be in 2010 at the earliest, but it will definitely be an event, as it will be the most complete version shown, since probably the late 20's.

Tuesday, July 21st, 2009

Yesterday, I blogged a bit about DC Comics' upcoming film adaptation news, and after reading through that story, I think a collective fear of fans of the superhero subgenre of films is that, especially after the massive success of last year's incredible The Dark Knight, that most of these films will just be attempts to copy and collect the reward, instead of bringing the beloved characters to life. Enter The Green Hornet, a comic film that will most certainly break the mode that has been set. The history of a Green Hornet film has always been interesting, as a 1990 re-edited group of episodes of the television series showed up as a feature film, via GoodTimes Home Video, to cash in on a resurgence of Bruce Lee fandom. Then, we saw the huge comic fanboy Kevin Smith jump aboard the wagon writing a script that was eventually abandoned. A real Hollywood movie eventually began to be realized though, when Seth Rogen, of all people, jumped on board to fill the spot of The Green Hornet role and write a script with screenplay partner Evan Goldberg, and attaching Stephen Chow as director, and star in the role of Kato. Recently, Chow dropped out of both roles, but the director slot was filled by Michel Gondry. A comic book film by Gondry? Starring Rogen? Written by the team behind Superbad? Definitely sounds like a good, original direction to be headed, even in light of the comic, that likes of which has transformed well into different genres and styles since its conception as a radio serial in 1936. The latest news however, is that Variety reports that Nicolas Cage is in negotiations to play the villain in the film. Now, some may recall the tragedy that was Cage in Ghost Rider, but we have saw what Cage can do while under a quirky director in Spike Jonze's Adaptation., which was a performance that actually doesn't deserve the "terrible actor" moniker that has befell him recently. There is also rumors about Cameron Diaz joining the cast as a love interest. Good or bad? As long as it is under Gondry and Rogen's tutelage, I can't really say anything bad about it, Diaz has actually been quite great in a few select films, such as one of my all time favorites Being John Malkovich, as well as Martin Scorsese's Gangs of New York.

More pictures are up for The Fantastic Mr. Fox, via The Rushmore Academy. It looks brilliant.

Although it pops up on every other blog on the Internet, I have been trying to avoid covering anything related to The Twilight Saga: New Moon. However, in a recent interview with RottenTomatoes, Chris Weitz takes the conversation towards music and the possibility of Radiohead's Thom Yorke working on the soundtrack. Anything to pull in a normal person, eh Twihards? I think I'll just watch "Paranoid Android" on YouTube to get my fix, and Chris Weitz can go to hell!

One of the better days for DVD releases I can ever remember. The Watchmen director's cut is out today, including Amazon's exclusive Nite Owl ship and digital bundle that I may put in a few extra hours of work and/or prostitution to get enough money to buy. Also, my long wait for a theatrical release of Jared Drake's Visioneers, starring Zach Galifianakis, was never realized, but after a short festival run, it is finally available for purchase today. To add to my list of things I didn't get to see theatrically, despite getting a limited release, The Great Buck Howard came nowhere near a local theater, so today is the first official day I will get to see the quirky looking Sean McGinly film that features the talents of John Malkovich, Tom Hanks, Colin Hanks and Emily Blunt among others. And finally, Coraline, a great piece of animation from the hands of Henry Selick that is already on a short list of the year's greatest rounds out a list that will take most of my paycheck.

I will leave you today with a video from Cinematical, which combines my love for Japanese television that I don't fully understand with a bit of a shot of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows. The video doesn't tell us much about the upcoming film, yet the scene where Daniel Radcliffe peeping around the door framing in the first few seconds is worth watching. After all these years of women having creepy pedophilic magic filled dreams, Harry Potter finally nails the look of the rapist himself.

Monday, July 20th, 2009

It was no big shock when Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince took the top spot at this weekend's box office, raking in nearly $78 million, approximately $60 million more than the second spot Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs. However, the big news in the box office report today wasn't the sixth Potter film, but in the number five spot, Todd Phillips' raunchy comedy The Hangover. Coming in at around $8 million, the film hangs on to the top five, beating out high profile films Public Enemies and The Taking of Pelham 123, despite being released later. Not only does the film hang on for some extra glory, it surpassed Beverly Hills Cop as the top grossing R rated comedy of all time, and behind only The Passion of the Christ and The Matrix Reloaded as top grossing R rated film of any genre. The film deserves it, and let's hope this catapults Zach Galifiankis' career past ever doing a film like the upcoming G-Force ever again.

The Hollywood Reporter has taken a look at DC Comics' upcoming films. The list is very impressive, although it doesn't elaborate on really anything. It announces that The Losers has started principal photography in Puerto Rico, and stars among others Watchmen's Jeffrey Dean Morgan and Star Trek's Zoe Saldana. I don't know much about Losers, so I can't comment too much about the casting news, but seeing that both of them did justice to geek relics thus far, I imagine the fans can't be that upset. The article also mentions The Green Lantern news of Ryan Reynolds' casting, as well as name dropping Jonah Hex. Possibly the biggest news was all as brief as possible, David Howard and Robert Gordon are writing a version of Bizarro Superman, a sequel to the film Constantine is in the works, and two concurrent screenplays for a solo shot of The Green Arrow are being worked on. Charles Roven is already looking into producing a big screen adaptation of The Flash, and Akiva Goldsman will be behind a version of the Teen Titans. Yeah, that last one worries me a little, but all in all, a bundle of possible great news from DC, and I'm going to go look up The Losers as soon as I'm done blogging.

More really awesome news for the day. TheOneRing has posted pictures of the re-building of Hobbiton, getting us all way too psyched up for The Hobbit to more than two years away.

Saw VI has a motion poster. I am going to throw a prediction out, that this poster will be more intriguing and entertaining than the actual film.

In real world news, today is the 40th anniversary of the Apollo 11 moon landing. If you haven't already been today, Google is themed for the event, giving a link to an Apollo 11 search, which while looking through it, came upon a story on how sad it is that Stanley Kubrick will go uncredited for the famous video of the landing. I like that this conspiracy theory will never die. In other news of the occasion, Cinematical has a poll up requesting our favorite moon movie. Out of the choices is the 1902 Georges Melies classic A Trip to the Moon, the wonderful Kubrick film 2001: A Space Odyssey and the recently released Moon. Sadly, The Adventures of Pluto Nash is also a choice and holds 5% of the vote. Here's hoping that those five percent were either joking, and will be weeded out via natural selection in the next few days or so. Oh, by the way, despite loving 2001, Melies' monumental milestone of a film was my pick. The current leader is Ron Howard's Apollo 13, which isn't too shabby either.

Sunday, July 19th, 2009 (Short Film Sunday: Treevenge)

Jason Eisener is a name most people does not yet know, but I predict will eventually be in the ranks of Sam Raimi, Edgar Wright, Rob Zombie, Robert Rodriguez and Quentin Tarantino when it comes to being able to direct quirky exploitative horror/comedy meshes, and a huge figure among the cult film scene. So far, the Canadian-born director has only put his name on three shorts, the most famous Hobo with a Shotgun, appearing as a faux trailer in Rodriguez and Tarantino's brilliant double feature, Grindhouse. His first short was Discrimination of the Dead, a mockumentary PSA-styled film warning of zombie discrimination.

His latest short however, may put him on the map. It aired as a precursor to the Tommy Wirkola Nazi horror film Dead Snow at the Sundance Film Festival and gained widespread acclaim when all 15+ minutes was released to the Internet, circulating around most movie blogs. The film is called Treevenge, a gory, comedy/splatter film where Christmas trees strike back against the cruelties they were suffered. It may also be noticed that Sarah Dunsworth (who served as a producer in Grindhouse) and Jonathan Torrens, both of Trailer Park Boys fame, appears in the film.

So it is my pleasure to present to you, Treevenge. Enjoy. You can also familiarize yourself with Eisener's work here and here.


P.S. A few briefs before we go. An awkward story on Cinematical where Joel Silver, at a press junket to promote the upcoming Orphan, talked about what his version of Watchmen would have been like. Funny if you read the story, looks like complete shit.

I forgot to say anything about (500) Days of Summer on Friday, as it seems Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince has completely overshadowed all other releases this week. From what I can tell, the film looks incredible, has had nothing but great reviews, and stars the wonderfully charming Zooey Deschanel. If you have a chance, and don't want to visit Hogwarts for the seventh time this week, it definitely looks to be a great alternative. Myself, probably have to wait for the DVD release.

Saturday, July 18th, 2009

After Righteous Kill, is it still okay to get excited when Robert De Niro gets casted into something? Well, the film in which he starred opposite Al Pacino was a rare miss for the actor, but when the film is a violent exploitation throwback from the hands of Robert Rodriguez, stemming from Rodriguez and Quentin Tarantino's brilliant Grindhouse, it is more than okay to get excited. Bloody-Disgusting is reporting a rumor that the Taxi Driver star will take a role in the film Machete, alongside the already announced Danny Trejo, reprising the role from the faux trailer the film comes from, as well as rumoring the casting of Michelle Rodriguez (whom despite starring in Fast and Furious, she is set to be in James Cameron's Avatar, which if the film lives up to my expectations, will redeem the aforementioned atrocity, and make this a good thing.), and an as shocking addition as De Niro, Judd Apatow regular Jonah Hill. What a motley crew. Will it work? I have hope on this one.

Empire interviews Peter Jackson in the new issue and verifies that there will be no casting news for The Hobbit at the San Diego Comic Con. The article goes on to mention that Jackson may keep the possibility open to direct the adaptation of Temeraire, a 2006 fantasy novel by Naomi Novik as his next project following The Lovely Bones. So, the article gives us a bit of news, although not the piece we were wanting.

Check this out, via Geekologie, I found this replica of Batman's leather motorcycle get-up from The Dark Knight. Quite impressive.

MovieWeb posted the Italian dubbed trailer to Walt Disney's upcoming motion capture, Robert Zemeckis directed, A Christmas Carol. I, myself, can wait for the English trailer, but it is Saturday, and not really much to blog about, so have it.

Friday, July 17th, 2009

This picture showed up on I Watch Stuff today, and I could not blog without posting it. Just gives off a wonderful vibe, doesn't it?

More good news for the day, Kevin Smith's two biggest hits, 1994's independent gem, and one of my favorite films of all time, Clerks., as well as 1997's Chasing Amy will be getting the blu ray treatment. Among the extras, the Clerks. disc will feature a three hour documentary formerly only seen at festival screenings, called Oh, What a Lovely Tea Party, a behind-the-scenes taping of Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back directed by Smith's wife Jennifer Schwalbach-Smith. I still personally stick with the DVD medium for the most part, unless I can find a really bitchin' VHS. But I am glad that whenever DVD becomes obsolete, that Smith's two classic raunchy comedies will be there waiting for me.

Has anybody heard that some theaters' automated telephone schedules have been giving a warning about the content in Bruno? I am just curious to what got cut for the MPAA to change the film's rating from an NC-17 to an R, considering it had to be somewhat more shocking than what the world is up in arms about. Can't wait for that DVD.

Walter Cronkite passed away today at the age of 92. Cronkite didn't have much to do with cinema, but was indeed a panelist on most of the American Film Institute countdowns and television specials on classic films, a interviewee in several documentaries, including Out of the Shadows: The Man Who Was Deep Throat, Good Grief, Charlie Brown: A Tribute to Charles Schulz and Bob Hope: The First 90 Years among others, and even provided his voice to the lackluster cartoon We're Back! A Dinosaur's Story in 1993. Not to mention receiving a load of special thanks credits that include Apollo 13 and Empire of Dreams, the documentary featured on the 4-disc 2004 release of the original Star Wars trilogy. Needless to say on tomorrow's news, none of these things will be mentioned as Cronkite's coverage of things, such as John F. Kennedy's assassination and the Vietnam War are much more important, and in that way, is why more so than anything I listed above, Cronkite is important to film. He is the news anchor of news anchors, and is the archetype that most screenwriters and authors put to use for such a character.

Finally, I mentioned Where the Wild Things Are yesterday, but a video surfaced on the web today on what a potential Disney animated version of Maurice Sendak's beloved children's work could have been like. Directed by Pixar founder and animation legend John Lasseter, it actually looks quite good. But before you get too down, go look up Spike Jonze's trailer again and you will realize that ultimately, it was a good thing this failed, or else we might not have the upcoming live action version. Enjoy.



P.S., I try to stay away from covering television on here, but since Futurama has spun-off four direct-to-DVD films, it is close enough. The A.V. Club has reported that Comedy Central is looking to recast the voice talent for the series. Look, it broke my heart when they left Adult Swim, but to keep this going with new people, it's just wrong. In my digging on more to this story, I even found a character description of Dr. Zoidberg. Does this mean no Billy West? Really!? Jesus, what's the world coming to.

Thursday, July 16th, 2009

When speaking of upcoming films, one of the most overlooked is the upcoming stop motion animated adaptation of Roald Dahl's children's book The Fantastic Mr. Fox, to be directed by Wes Anderson and getting a screenplay treatment from Anderson and Noah Baumbach. What you're looking at in the picture there is one of two images that have just been released from the film, which looks rather incredible. Aside from the nice screen grab, the voice power behind it will include George Clooney, Meryl Streep, Jason Schwartzman, Anjelica Huston, Bill Murray and many more. So put this up there with Spike Jonze's Where the Wild Things Are as potentially two of the better family films since Jim Henson was alive.

Cashing in on Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, as all tabloids currently are, The Sun has ran a story that Emma Watson is rumored to be pairing up with Marilyn Manson for a gothic musical re-envisioning of Cinderella. The easy part of this to believe is that Manson would be making the film, as we are still waiting for his directorial debut with Phantasmagoria: The Visions of Lewis Carroll. However, Watson, despite the success she has had in the Potter series, is yet to appear in a big screen role outside of Hogwarts. I am guessing she will be a little pickier, but who knows. Oh, an after thought about this story, it hurt me on the inside that people get paid to write for The Sun. What a dreadfully written article. Does their key demographic of adolescents looking for flashes of snatch not care about quality when a nip slip isn't involved? Jesus.

I Watch Stuff posted the new cover of Entertainment Weekly, which gives us a peek at Robert Downey, Jr., Mickey Rourke and Scarlett Johansson in their Iron Man 2 get up.

In the world or real news, Sean Stanley, a 19-year-old man was arrested in Nevada walking on the highway naked, and when asked by officers what he was doing, replied that he was a terminator sent from the future. The guy was on LSD. Wouldn't that be an awesome Dallas-esque ending to the series, the franchise was all just a huge Schwarzenegger LSD trip.

The New York Times reports that a boy, Kyle Shaw, that set a bomb off at a Manhattan Starbucks in May, has cited Fight Club as his motivation. The Times tried to contact director David Fincher, as well as the book's author Chuck Palahniuk for comment to no avail. So, what would have happened if this little nut job would have watched Nitrate Kisses? Would he had changed sexual preference? What if he had watched The Original Kings of Comedy at a young age? Would he go around in a sad but failed attempt at being funny? Ridiculous.

Finally, here is the new trailer for Drew Barrymore's directorial debut, Whip It. I will admit that eventually Ellen Page has to jump off the quirky comedy train while the getting is good, but this still looks like a decent film, so at the moment, all is fine. In the trailer, I also noticed Kristen Wiig, Zoe Bell of Grindhouse fame, and in a true OMG moment for me, due to thinking his career was definitely over, Daniel Stern plays Page's father. In addition to what looks like a stellar cast, I have to admit that if there was a local roller derby about, I would frequent it, so the film, even if bad, will probably be slipping in the guilty pleasure column. Enjoy.

Wednesday, July 15th, 2009

It will not be my custom to review movies, that is not what I'm about. I'm thinking about eventually opening a new blog for the sole purpose of reviewing some of my more favorite films; however, I live in a very small town that doesn't get a lot of movies, in addition to working and being a full time student, to review films in a timely manner is nearly impossible, and let's be honest, bitching is more fun. But then there are cases like last night's midnight showing of Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, the sixth film in J.K. Rowling's epic wizarding franchise. Remember how I said bitching is more fun. Well, lucky for me, there is fuel aplenty for any fan of the books, so let's get to some of my biggest peeves, no Potterverse (is that a term yet?) pun intended. Oh, I suppose there needs to be a spoiler alert, hypothetically and probably illogically assuming here that a) Somebody will eventually read this and b) Anybody that is prepared to read a rather drawn out complaint about the film adaptation has yet to read the book and know the plot for themselves already.

First off, my favorite character in the book or film series is Professor Severus Snape. In the films thus far, Alan Rickman has perfectly played the deadpanned semi-antagonist, but in the books, we really get a feel of the character, and feel sorry for him no matter what hideous act we think he has done throughout the series. Rowling herself even referred to Snape as a "gift of a character" on Snape's official fan site. So, with a true anti-hero that is in the story's namesake (after the revelation that Snape is indeed the Half-Blood Prince, the story might as well be called Harry Potter and Severus Snape), I was prepared for a wonderful performance from Rickman in the film. Instead, I felt like crying when on the drive home, I realized that Potter newcomer Jessie Cave (as Ron's love interest Lavender Brown) had more screen time and lines.

Getting further into my argument, I could trample all over Steve Kloves' script as it seemed it left out a lot of important parts (i.e. the funeral of Albus Dumbledore for Christ sake!, the three leads trying to find out who the Half-Blood Prince is, anybody caring that Harry did the sectumsempra spell on Draco Malfoy, etc., etc.), the importance of some of the book's big players (Neville Longbottom has one sentence in the film, and the delightful Natalia Tena as Tonks, as well as David Thewlis' Remus Lupin is nearly filler characters), and many, many other things, but I think the bottom line on it all, is that I'm disgusted with the overall way the film franchise has been handled. Since the success of Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone, the films have been more about how much money could be made, and catering the films to teenagers, especially in a post-Twilight (I think this would qualify for a "dystopian") society. Whenever you read the books, the awkwardness and corny jokes are there, it is part of Rowling's style, and it is one of the more charming things about the book, but as the characters grow older and the original readers gets older, the books became more mature. Not creating a Dark Knight atmosphere, but the subject matter of the latter books are definitely not the same as when young Harry first came to Hogwarts. Instead of letting the films get more heavier, Kloves' script attempts to push the teen relationships more than the crucial storyline, and even there, we're not given some of the more iconic scenes from the book (i.e. Harry breaking up with Ginny at the Dumbledore's funeral.) This type of thinking is undermining to America's teenage demographic. What makes Ron and Hermione's flirtatious beginnings and eventual relationship such a nice element in the novels are the adventures and hardships they share with Harry. And to cut out Harry's break-up with Ginny seems to be destroying the teen romance card push Kloves and director David Yates was hoping for. To take out the heavier moments is insinuating that all the teen audience cares about is senseless snogging and cute anecdotes here and there.

However, it's not all bad. The cast, as always, is superb. Rickman, Michael Gambon, Jim Broadbent, Maggie Smith, Thewlis, Robbie Coltrane, Timothy Spall, Helena Bonham Carter, Julie Walters. Not to mention the young leads Daniel Radcliffe, Rupert Grint and Emma Watson, even the less expierenced Evanna Lynch is perfect as Luna Lovegood. However, I have not heard much praise for young Tom Felton, who plays Draco. I don't know if Susie Figgis, the casting director of the first film, knew what she was doing when she cast him, but Felton grew up to be one creepy-looking bastard. Also, as always, John Williams gives an incredible score. At the film's heart, it still is a summer blockbuster, and when in the middle of the action, your attention is brought to how wonderful the score is, it is an excellent achievement.

Now, I don't feel bad for making this a rather long blog, seeing that I was absent yesterday, but are you ready for Potter overload? A few news items...

Half-Blood Prince has set the record for a midnight show, defeating The Dark Knight and Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith easily.

Guardian is reporting that the Vatican has decided that the sixth film will not send you, the viewer, to Hell, as the others have been condemned. Interesting.

If you're sick of Potter and his pals, here is a link to see The Empire Muggs Back, a collection of Mighty Muggs toys to be auctioned off to raise money for the Make-A-Wish Foundation. Awesome set of toys.

Finally, The Grand AdventureCon in Pigeon Forge, Tennesse, the closest comic book convention to my neck of the woods, have added a few more names to the guest list. David Barclay, the chief puppeteer of Jabba the Hutt in Return of the Jedi and Maria de Aragon, best known as Greedo from A New Hope.

Monday, July 13th, 2009

This past March, I was averaging around 80% of all conversation being devoted to the Zack Snyder-directed adaptation of Alan Moore's classic graphic novel Watchmen. A lot of people I spoke to decided to dislike the film because of the change in the story's ending, although since it kept the central themes of Moore's writings, and the fact that the first 150 or so minutes of the film was nearly spot on perfect, it more than forgave the ending of a film that I feel is the best of the year, thus far. Notice that I put "nearly" spot on up there. Well, that's because the few things that Snyder did leave out for the theatrical version have either been teased or promised for the director's cut of the DVD, due out July 21st. Of course, one of the main events of the buy will be the deleted scene of Hollis Mason's murder, which shockingly, Warner Brothers has released on the Internet. Unfortunately, WB has disabled embedding of the clip, so here is the link for the YouTube video. Enjoy the clip, because like the rest of the film, it is unbelievably perfect.

Speaking of Snyder, I read a while back that he was shockingly going to put out his first PG-13 film with Sucker Punch, described in a previous Cinematical article as "Alice in Wonderland with machine guns". However, the chances of achieving the rating has just got slimmer as the blogsphere has been all abuzz due to a Metro UK story claiming that newly confirmed star of High School Musical fame Vanessa Hudgens will "strip naked" in the film.

Remember after it was announced that Raja Gosnell would take over a live-action version of The Smurfs, I said God hated Hanna-Barbera? Well, it was announced today, via Variety, that the wonderful cartoon Hong Kong Phooey will be next in-line for the live action/CGI hybrid silver screen fix, directed by Alex Zamm, whose last picture was the direct-to-video Dr. Dolittle: Million Dollar Mutts. So yeah, that statement is now official.

Yesterday we took a look at a very impressive fan film in Ashes to Ashes (check it out if you already haven't). Today, Cinematical ran a story on the mother of all fan films, 472 people breaking up Star Wars into 15-second intervals, to make a hodgepodge mesh of different styles and interpretations of the film. Headed up by Casey Pugh, this could be ingenious, or the worst idea ever. Either way, it will certainly be interesting.

Natalie Portman was announced to be the big screen version of Jane Foster, the love interest of Thor. I'm not extremely knowledgeable on the Thor comics, so I don't know if this is a good call or not, but I quite love Portman, so it could definitely be worse.

Bruno took home the top of the box office this weekend. I have been trying to distance myself from reviews, in fear that I may ruin some of the better jokes. The sad thing is, I fear that with Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince dominating this weekend, my local theater might just decide that it isn't even worth toying with anymore, as the second week intake up against the upcoming blockbuster will certainly be pitiable compared to this week.

And finally, speaking of the newest installation of the Harry Potter series, I will not be blogging tomorrow as I am to head out of town to a decent theater to take in the midnight showing. I will be back on Tuesday, probably with plenty of rants, and maybe with something a little special I can dig up as an offering for my absence.

Sunday, July 12th, 2009 (Short Film Sunday: Ashes to Ashes)

Since there is no news on Sundays to speak of, I'm going to start a feature I employed on my last blog, Short Film Sundays. If you're curious, you can check out my old blog on Weebly and scroll through the days to find the first two entries of my featured short films, being the Quay Brothers' creepy Street of Crocodiles and Francesco Vezzoli's star-studded sexually charged Trailer for a Remake of Gore Vidal's Caligula. My latest and inaugural Blogger entry will be a slight departure from these art pieces, and is instead a fan film of Bob Kane's beloved comic figure, the Caped Crusader, Batman.

Directed by French first-timers Julien Mokrani and Samuel Bodin, Ashes to Ashes is by far the darkest, most grisly, disturbed version of the DC vigilante we have ever seen. I have always been a fan of the grittier versions of the character, including takes by Frank Miller, Kevin Smith and Alan Moore among others, not to mention the immensely popular film The Dark Knight. However, if the most unsettling thoughts from what all the aforementioned comic writers have brought to the character, and the darkly psychotic feel Christopher Nolan's film brought us, added with a pinch of the trippy sexuality that I've always imagined to had been included in Andy Warhol's lost fan film Batman Dracula, throw up a high quality Sin City-esque background and just a dab of Eli Roth's nightmares, and the proverbial demented iceberg of this darkly twisted short might be tipped.

Is it good? Ah, a question that I have pondered since I first saw it a few days ago. The colors and backgrounds are so rich, it is hard to follow the subtitles, and easy to lose yourself in the storyline, especially seeing that the main character is a petty criminal named Eddy, and not a Gotham regular. However, after a second viewing, once you let the text register, the storyline is actually quite good. I love the looks of The Penguin and Harley Quinn, and in a pre-Heath Ledger as Joker world, unknown Matthieu Lemeunier would have been the closest to the savage Joker we've come to love in comics such as The Killing Joke. Yet, it also goes too far. Is that hard to digest coming from a blogger that praises John Waters as a true visionary and an all-time great? Well, it could never make a main audience, and some of the filth seems to be there strictly for the purpose of being filthy. One the same token, Batman being pushed too far and breaking, and striking the extremely evil cord with The Joker could be done if a proper balance was found, and is by far the greatest fan film I have ever seen. And if for nothing else, let's hope that Nolan (Please God, I understand why he wouldn't, but don't allow us to suffer another Joel Schumacher takeover), or whomever Warner Brothers hires in his place will see this and consider a big screen version of Harley Quinn. Enjoy, and form your thoughts on this very interesting short, and visit the official site, or the film's MySpace page, whether you like what they did with Gotham's Dark Knight or not, and praise them for making such a visually stunning fan film, they deserve it.

Batman : Ashes to Ashes HD
by JULMOK

Saturday, July 11th, 2009

Over the past few days while I've been away from the computer, the blogsphere has been buzzing about the three finalists for the role of Hal Jordan in the upcoming Green Lantern movie. None of the three seemed to give off the vibe that they would be safe from thousands of rants and petitions from fanboys of the Bill Finger/Martin Nodell created DC hero. First, is the guy that is too known for his comedy to allow fanboys to hope for a serious adaptation in Bradley Cooper. Secondly, we have the complete surprise in Justin Timberlake, whose previous mass popularity would almost make it impossible to watch the film without imagining that the real Justin Timberlake happened by a power ring, and causing all moviegoers to lose sight of the actual character of Jordan. And finally, the best of the three, and today announced as the winner of the race, Ryan Reynolds. Although Reynolds has still had his fair share of cinematic misfortunes (i.e. the currently playing The Proposal), and is already submersed in the comic-to-film world as the character Deadpool in the horrific X-Men Origins: Wolverine and the rumored solo film for the 90's Marvel hero, as well as Hannibal King in Blade: Trinity (Should we just hope that Marvel really hated Reynolds?) . So, are we happy over this? Well, keep in mind that the film is to be directed by Martin Campbell, who made James Bond watchable again in Casino Royale. So, at least there is hope, and maybe Reynolds could actually come out of this thing a nice surprise; however, I'm mostly seeing bitching fuel for cinephiles like myself in his future.

Other things in brief, as there is a lot to talk about. Bruno came out yesterday. Although, since I live in a small town, I don't get to see it yet, even though the aforementioned Proposal is in its third week. I'll talk more about Bruno next week if it becomes available. Also, it got a great review by Roger Ebert saying that John Waters should pass the torch of trash cinema to Sacha Baron Cohen. Maybe a bit of an overstatement, but one of the highest praises I have heard in the cinema world for some time. Also missing my small Kentucky town this weekend... I Love You, Beth Cooper and Blood: The Last Vampire.

In an interview to promote Inglorious Basterds with Cinematical, Eli Roth said that an extension of the faux trailer Thanksgiving from Grindhouse, a la Robert Rodriguez' Machete is in the works.

Variety reports that Raja Gosnell (the man behind Beverly Hills Chihuahua) will be behind a live-action version of The Smurfs. So it is official... God hates Hanna-Barbera.

So, on Thursday I went to Comedy Off Broadway in Lexington, Kentucky to see Hal Sparks do stand-up. I do quite enjoy Sparks, being an alum of Talk Soup, but despite the extreme lustful giddiness and quality reassurance of the friend that put the idea on the table, I was still shocked over how funny he actually was, so I was going to share a stand-up YouTube video as an apologetic offering for not blogging (isn't it weird that I pretend I have readers?), but none could be found that wasn't obviously shot with a camera phone, so instead, here is a more appropriate video for a movie blog, Hal Sparks' cameo in Spider-Man 2, over-dubbed with Japanese.

And finally, one more surprise! Cinematical, via Vimeo, has a great video from David Berry, a rotoscope and animation artist from Star Wars has released some home videos to us collective movie nerds on the Interwebs. Enjoy.

Wednesday, July 8th, 2009

I was looking about the John Waters Fan Page on MySpace a minute ago after they added new pictures, and ran across this gem, and decided that there is no possible way I could actually get on here and talk about movies without sharing it with whomever happens upon this page.

Now, on to some of the tidbits I've uncovered today. First off, the most mind boggling thing, MovieWeb posted that Chris Casamassa, better known to the public as Scorpion from Mortal Kombat, has stated that he will return to the role of the hell-spawned ninja revenant in a third film for the franchise. I have to admit, that as horrible of a film as the first one was, I hold it as a guilty pleasure. But, even after admitting that, I've yet to see the 1997 sequel, Mortal Kombat: Annihilation, and will be happy one day when I die without doing so. I seriously wonder if anybody will read this and be excited.

TheSuperficial reports that Michael Bay had Megan Fox wash his car to gain her breakthrough role in Transformers, and actually filmed it. This isn't quite news yet, but I've been calling Transformers the most exploitative film since Boss Nigger (a blaxploitation film, I've dubbed Transformers a cashploitation film for the constant effects with no substance), and if it comes to fruition that Bay actually played out the whole casting couch porn scenario, how much easier would it be for me to assert my classification up there.

Cinematical has an interesting article, taken from the New York Times, reporting that the pornographic film industry is losing plot and dialogue, and focusing on adding more sex scenes. So, porn used to have a plot?

Finally, District 9 released the full international trailer today. Up until now, the spots for the Peter Jackson produced film haven't gave us much insight to the story or the feel of the film. This trailer doesn't really make us understand anything more clearly, but does make it a slightly higher priority on the must-see list. Enjoy.



P.S.... Work sucks, and because some jack ass injured himself, I have to fill in for the late shift, and I may be going on a little spontaneous trip tomorrow night, so the next few days I may not be able to post. If not, I'll try to find something special to post for the weekend.

Tuesday, July 7th, 2009

Last year, when I first saw the trailer to the Zach Galifianakis-starring film Visioneers, I got way overexcited, and proclaimed to all two people that would ever listen to me, that he could be the movie geek's frontrunner for Oscar contention. Because, let's face it, as great as Sean Penn, Richard Jenkins, Frank Langella, Brad Pitt and Mickey Rourke was in all five respective nominated performances of last year, none has the everyman appeal that Galifianakis does. But did I go a little too far with that statement? Well, seeing that theatrical distribution fell through, I won't know for sure until July 21st, when the film goes direct-to-DVD. However, I have faith, after watching the new trailer for Robert D. Siegel's Big Fan, that Patton Oswalt will take up the mantel for the unexpected contender that we will all be cheering for come this Academy Awards. The trailer is incredible, and seeing that director/writer Siegel also wrote last year's hit The Wrestler, as well as being the former senior editor of the satirical newspaper/web site The Onion, we know he understands drama and humor, and seems capable of mixing the two perfectly. In fact, the first film I thought of when watching the trailer, mixing kind of a gritty, serious storyline with what will surely have its fair share of humor, was Todd Solondz' excellent 1998 film Happiness. To top such a film, in my personal opinion, is a tall order, but watch and see what you think.

Other things in brief... MSN Cinemash has featured an entertaining video from 500 Days of Summer, based on a snippet of dialogue from the film, where Joseph Gordon-Levitt portrays Nancy Spungen, and Zooey Deschanel takes the role of Sid Vicious in a nice parody of Sid and Nancy. Definitely worth a view if you're bored.

Cinematical has an interesting story up, stemming from an interview Francis Ford Coppola did with Esquire, where he said that he originally didn't want to do a sequel to The Godfather, and when finally convinced, he just wanted to take a role to help with the screenplay, and had considered passing off the directorial job to then young Martin Scorsese.

Not shockingly, but sadly, it was announced that Rob Zombie's inaugural animation film, The Haunted World of El Superbeasto, will be released straight-to-DVD. This adds on to the previously mentioned Visioneers as two kind of anticipated straight-to-DVD efforts this year. Maybe one day, we could look forward to the medium not being dominated by rejected Lifetime films and Steven Seagal.

Speaking of Galifianakis, MovieWeb reports he is considering a new film directed by The Hangover's Todd Phillips called Man-Witch, where the bearded comedian will be the only male in a school for witchcraft. Sounds like solid comedy, let's just hope this one gets made.

Stephen Dorff mentioned somewhere that Blade could get a reboot. Don't get me wrong, I'm actually a fan of the first film, but does anybody really want this?

I'll close with another discussion of Michael Jackson. In honor of the media insanity of his funeral today, added with the fact that Bruno debuts this coming Friday, do you think that it was the right choice to completely cut Sacha Baron Cohen's interview with LaToya Jackson out of the film? Sure, the premiere night right after he died, I get that. But, let's face it, the people most likely to be offended at a tactless joke about a recently deceased person would be Christians, homosexuals, and seeing the role Michael Jackson played in breaking down walls, African Americans. And can't we already be sure that the theater will be emptied of these groups? I can't wait to see how many people Baron Cohen offends, why not add a few more?