Wednesday, September 30th, 2009

Last week I mentioned an interview with one of the Weinsteins that announced a decently impressive upcoming slate for further bastardization of at one time decent horror franchises, including Scream 4, another remake of Children of the Corn and reaffirming the already rumored 3-D installment of the ill-received Halloween reboot. Today, DeadlineHollywood already has a retraction from that interview by announcing that The Weinstein Company has shelved plans for Halloween 3, presumably until the new director onboard for the franchise, Patrick Lussier, becomes available. Still, as Cinematical noticed, the New York Post has a conflicting story, suggesting that the loss of the popular horror series in our near cinematic future is due to TWC's economic troubles, and furthermore, Summit Entertainment is looking into purchasing the company. The story also goes on to state that Summit is also looking into acquiring MGM, and even cites the entire conglomerate-esque activity of the company is due to the major success of Twilight. Who knew that all along, to kill Michael Myers, it just took one intense stare. Is this a good thing? Sure, Halloween without John Carpenter isn't Halloween quality, that's something we've known for years. But is it a good thing that a company responsible, and proud of, the Twilight Saga will now hold the key to some of our greatest musicals, as well as the future, more in particular the future of Middle-earth? My worries eclipse (for Christ's sake, that is not a pun) the slight happiness of the squashing of H3.

Cinematical also has a picture of Seth Rogen's stuntman on the set of The Green Hornet up today, giving us a bit of a teaser on what the costumed hero may look like. The article asks the question of what hardcore Green Hornet fans might think, if they are indeed hardcore fans. I think the fact that the question of is there hardcore fans has to be asked means that this is a comic adaptation that can be played with a little more, and I am ecstatic over what the mind of Michel Gondry can do from a script by Rogen, a generalized fanboy.

Finally, Opening Ceremony has some really awesome looking Where the Wild Things Are apparel, that is way, way overpriced.

Tuesday, September 29th, 2009

Not since the Muppets has a soundtrack for a family film been so anticipated, as is Karen O and the Kids' upcoming release for Where the Wild Things Are. Everything about Spike Jonze's big screen adaptation of Maurice Sendak's timeless storybook seems perfect, and the music from the wonderful lead singer of the Yeah Yeah Yeahs makes a perfect fit for the movie. Take a listen for yourself, via a post from IWatchStuff.

I failed to see any posts on any of the normal blog sites I hit yesterday on the weekend's box office performances. Maybe it was because a second week of domination at the hands of Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs is just slightly disheartening. Still, I am happy to report that my prediction of Fame taking the number one spot was way off, as the film ended up being third overall in a somewhat disappointing showing. Second place went to another debut on the charts, Jonathan Mostow's Surrogates.

Finally, to end a rather slow news day, Asian Movie Pulse announces some upcoming plans of Studio Ghibli. The most important in my mind is that Hayao Miyazaki is now contracted to churn out two more feature films in the next three years. Also, Miyazaki's Ghibli co-founder Isao Takahata will be directing his first film in ten years, Taketori Monogatari, an adaptation of an old Japanese folk tale.

Monday, September 28th, 2009

Whenever I heard about a remake of Friday the 13th, I cringed. I hung my head both times it was announced that Rob Zombie would be taking on John Carpenter's classic Halloween franchise. Yet for some unknown reason, I've attached myself to Samuel Bayer's new take on Wes Craven's 1984 slasher A Nightmare on Elm Street. Is there any reasoning behind it? Well, I do love Bayer's music video work, but this is also his feature film directorial debut, and it is alongside a production credit with Michael Bay, one of the silver screen's leading douchebags. Also, Jackie Earle Haley is taking over the iconic role of Freddy Krueger. Sure, Haley definitely did the character of Rorschach justice in the adaptation of Alan Moore's Watchmen, but the actor is still relatively new to me, and despite his acting chops, will take nostalgia points away by simply not being Robert Englund. And finally, I haven't even heard of the lead actress, Rooney Mara, before. So, after this trailer, am I still wrongly and uncharacteristically stoked for this film? Probably, but here's hoping the odd intuition is right. Enjoy the trailer.
A Nightmare on Elm Street in HD


So, what does everybody think about Roman Polanski, a director constantly mentioned among the greats, getting arrested in Switzerland for a crime he committed in 1977? Of course, the crime was statutory rape. Still, on Polanski's side, the victim, the now 45-year-old Samantha Geiner doesn't want prosecution to be brought down upon the director. Another interesting thing to think about is that if Polanski would have been arrested back in 1978, when the United States issued warrants for his arrest for fleeing the country, we would have never had gotten his masterful 2002 film The Pianist. One last note on the Polanski scandal, I saw on Wikipedia, without a source, that his latest directorial effort, The Ghost was still in production and thus, has been put on hold. This definitely sounds like something that probably should be true, but I've yet to find an actual news site/blog to verify it.

Cinematical posted an article today announcing that, via Rian Johnson's Twitter account, The Brothers Bloom will get an earlier DVD release than planned, and will be on shelves tomorrow for rental only, not for purchase. I was actually shocked the film didn't get superb ratings, only scoring a 48% on RottenTomatoes from the top critics (vs. an 85% from the RT community), but I still have faith in the film and now have something planned for tomorrow.

Finally, another story that has been kicking around that I've yet to really grab onto is that CineVegas, the annual Los Vegas, Nevada film festival will be cancelled for 2010, presumably due to the "economic climate" according to the official site. I'm not all that broken up, because unfortunately living in southeastern Kentucky, film festivals are as imaginary and fantastical to me as the plot line to Attack of the Killer Tomatoes. Still, CineVegas was the original venue for Visioneers last year, and any time an outlet for quality stuff that could fly completely under the radar leaves, it is a bit saddening.

Sunday, September 27th, 2009 (Short Film Sunday: Cashback)

Despite never working in an office, every time I watch Mike Judge's Office Space, I get a rebellious, uprising feeling against whatever menial workplace I am currently working at throughout my all too long college career. I think the reason of this, is that every job is similar in regard to ridiculous bosses, repetitive work, and failure to ever reach the expectations of the employee. Still, after spending most of my time as a stockperson at a grocery store staring off into space, hoping to awaken at the hour of departure back into freedom, I can relate to this artsy Sean Ellis short Cashback.

The short film itself is about an art student (as portrayed by Sean Biggerstaff), whom is trying to combat time while on the clock. Each character in the story combats time in different manners, most of which I'm sure any of us can relate. Somewhere near the middle, the story turns slightly away from comedy and ventures into a piece about the beauty of the naked female form. For this, the short is sometimes difficult to find online, and also gave birth to a rather raunchy feature film version in 2006, that took on more of a softcore pornography feeling than the witty artistic quality of its predecessor. The feature also features the talents (by that I mean nude body) of busty English model Keeley Hazell, which almost makes it impossible to watch this without getting linked to her leaked sex video with some soccer star (forgive me for not looking more into it). If you can look past the surrounding trashiness, the very overlooked, beautiful short is well worth the time.

As for Ellis, 2004's Cashback was just his second short, and the 2006 adaptation was his feature directorial debut. Despite being lauded for the short, critics were more mixed on the feature, and his career has since went to directing a lukewarmly reviewed British horror flick (The Broken) and returned to comedic short films with The Business Trip, although still not as successful as the film below. Here's hoping that one day Ellis can recreate the magic in this short, and that it may eventually be known more for than a way to see boobies in the vast collection of readily viewable breasts online. So, without further adieu, here is Cashback.

Cashback - court-metrage - keeley hazell et haley mary
by hot-videos

Saturday, September 26th, 2009

I tired and have a fear that I'm getting sick. Still, insomnia has kicked in, so I drug myself out of bed and despite the utter lack of cinema-related news today, I figured be best nausea-induced sleep deprivation antidote would be blogging. So, you made had noticed that there is three things I go to if there is nothing bitch-worthy making the blog rounds; awesome Star Wars merchandise, Werner Herzog's wacky antics, and the complete depravity of John Waters. Today, in honor of a coffee table book of exploitation film posters that I bought (edited by Tony Nourmand and Graham Marsh, which have several film poster/art books, the two I have are really great) has this incredible picture of Waters' comically corrupt sophomore trash masterpiece Desperate Living, which was released in Italy heavily edited and re-titled Punk Story.

Well, I looked for the actual poster on Amazon to no avail, so to boost the spirits, I actually found a trailer that will probably be kicked off YouTube soon due to the cavalcade of perversion (Multiple Maniacs reference) contained within, including a snippet of Jean Hill and Mink Stole's sex scene. Enjoy kiddos.

Friday, September 25th, 2009

Some disturbing news today coming from an MGM conference call to shareholders, via DeadlineHollywood, in which the company claims they are very close to bankruptcy. The call basically says the company needs $170 million dollars now through the end of the year to continue on funding projects, one of which is Guillermo del Toro and Peter Jackson's The Hobbit. The article also mentions the possible loss of the James Bond franchise from MGM. Of course, these properties are so huge that I don't think they face extinction with the fall of MGM; however, for fans that are already feeling that 2011 is far too long to wait for another glimpse into Middle-earth, this news is rather disappointing, as the shop for a new studio to take over production will take a little time. Also, on a lesser note, it would be a sad day if MGM ceased to exist. Just a few hours ago I was watching some scenes from That's Entertainment! III, a great documentary showing some cut scenes from classic MGM musicals. I mean, that is a lot of rich history in cinema to be flickering out. Maybe not time to panic yet, but after the Marvel merger, I can see The Walt Disney Company coming in here and pretty much declaring the entire entertainment business as their own. I'm sure this will be a topic on here in the future, so stay tuned kiddos.

Variety reported that Harvey Weinstein has announced that a new Scream trilogy will be in the works, with Neve Campbell, David Arquette and Courtney Cox-Arquette returning to their respective roles in Scream 4, and that Wes Craven was being sought out to direct. The article also mentions that Dimension Films will also be looking to put an emphasis on 3-D, including Robert Rodriguez currently writing Spy Kids 4 and 3-D versions of Halloween 3 and a remake of Children of the Corn (because apparently a terrible Syfy original isn't enough, but the world beckons for a terrible 3-D version as well).

RottenTomatoes has a great countdown of the absolutely worst films of the new millennium. A decent read, until you come to the realization that all the people involved probably triple your salaries.

And finally, today is Friday, therefore it is time to gear up for some new releases. A few movies that look decent, but probably nothing really special. Jonathan Mostow's Surrogates, starring Bruce Willis, reads like a wonderful concept, but there seems something missing when watching the trailer. I still have hope for it, but I don't fancy the reviews being staggering for this one. Pandorum and Paranormal Activity both look like decent enough horror fare, although I seriously doubt either one leaving a lasting impression. There's also Trailer Park Boys: Countdown to Liquor Day, based on the popular Canadian comedy series that would completely bypass me as I've never seen the show. Finally, the remake of Fame is released today, and will more than likely go on to take the box office for the weekend. The original being a defining piece of pop culture for the early 80's (not to mention being directed by Alan Parker) is what made it a good film. Taking the lack of storyline anyways, and turning it into nothing more Step Up 3 targeted to a whiter audience, without all the cultural relevance of being 80's and being awesome, will surely result in disaster.

Thursday, September 24th, 2009

If I do have any readers, you will surely know by now that I adore Werner Herzog's filmmaking style. There is truly no other filmmaker quite like the helmer of Fitzcarraldo. All of the stories from the makings of Herzog's films are almost certainly and consistently more entertaining than the films themselves. Maybe Herzog realizes what a treasure trove he is, and what a lost art his guerilla style filmmaking has become, because Cinematical points out a new site to recruit aspiring directors to join Herzog's Rogue Film School to teach you all the things that actual film school will not. In the about section of the website, points eight and ten tell exactly why one would want to join a class taught by one of cinema's greatest visionaries.

"8. Related, but more practical subjects, will be the art of lockpicking. Traveling on foot. The exhilaration of being shot at unsuccessfully. The athletic side of filmmaking. The creation of your own shooting permits. The neutralization of bureaucracy. Guerrilla tactics. Self reliance.

9. Censorship will be enforced. There will be no talk of shamans, of yoga classes, nutritional values, herbal teas, discovering your Boundaries, and Inner Growth."

The site also notes that there will be another class in 2010 on the east coast. So, if anybody's looking for a birthday/Christmas or whatever the hell else you buy gifts for idea, the $1,500 enrollment to the Rogue Film School would be accepted.

In other news, The Hollywood Reporter's Risky Business Blog has announced that David Cronenberg is in talks with Fox to write and direct a remake of Cronenberg's own critically acclaimed 1986 remake of the 1958 Vincent Price vehicle The Fly. I never really thought that The Fly warranted another remake, but if Cronenberg is aboard, my curiosity will get me in the seats. Also, who else is hoping that Jeff Goldblum will also return?

Bukowskis has the viewing for Ingmar Bergman's personal possessions that are to be auctioned off online at the moment until the auction actually begins on the 28th. Really, aside from a swivel chair, everything on the site looks amazing. The item that I'm interested at how much it will go for is the wooden chess set used in The Seventh Seal.

Finally, The Wrap has reported that Disney has trashed David Mamet's script treatment of The Diary of Anne Frank, which wasn't even set in the Holocaust, nor was the main character Anne Frank. Whenever the original story was announced, I have to admit, I wasn't as shocked as some, seeing that I'm not all that familiar with Mamet's work, and saw no real problem with him pairing with Disney for an adaptation of Frank's writings. I think I was personally more worried about the years and years of Walt Disney's alleged anti-Semitism being projected in a big budget movie about the suffering of the Jewish people. Regardless, I guess for the time being, both the national media's fears of Mamet and mine of Disney's history of racism have both been quelled.

Wednesday, September 23rd, 2009

I was pretty happy with my purchase of the director's cut of Watchmen. The few added scenes was well worth the purchase in my humble opinion. Still, the rumored inclusion of Tales of the Black Freighter, as well as Hollis Mason's Under the Hood documentary was absent. This brings us to the upcoming release of Watchmen: The Ultimate Cut, alerted to me via a Cinematical article. I usually agree with Elisabeth Rappe; however, in this case I have to say that I disagree with her assessment and would like to own the new version. I do hate how planned the commercialism is of these special editions and whatnot to suck as much money from the fan base as economically possible are. Still, to me, the director's cut was just the copy to calm the anticipation to what I figured would be some kind of anniversary release. Anyhow here is a link to the item's Amazon page.

Variety reported today that Stephanie Meyer's non-Twilight novel, The Host, has been put into motion for a big screen adaptation. I know absolutely nothing about The Host, but the article also mentions that Gattaca's Andrew Niccol will write and direct, so it already has a leg up on the Twilight series thus far.

IWatchStuff has a sample of Daft Punk's bitching theme for Tron Legacy, check it out.

IWatchStuff also pointed me in the direction of the Stan Helsing trailer earlier, which is for all purposes of understanding the atrociousness of the film, is Scary Movie's take on Van Helsing. The article attempts to explain exactly how appalling the movie looks, but it really is no comparison. The one thing I don't understand is why Kenan Thompson is in a poorly done Superman costume. I forced my fiancé to partake in the displeasure, and she suggested a possible reprisal of Superdude, the lactose intolerant Thompson character from All That. *sigh* If nothing else, a piece of nostalgia, that could have actually been provoked without watching the following clip. Still, you almost have to, right?

Tuesday, September 22nd, 2009

Admittedly, I'm not a very manly fellow. Still, one of the few typical male things about me is that I don't have a clue about anything fashion, therefore, despite the ties to the cinema industry, you'll hardly ever see me blog about fashion, unless it is extremely gaudy (meaning that I enjoy Bjork) or if it has something to do with Halloween. In the latest issue of Harper's Bazaar, Tim Burton has lent his style to Halloween fashion. Check out the gallery at Cinematical. What does it say about me that I dig the mummy?

It doesn't take much to see by the opening there that it was a slow news day in the movie world, so instead of blogging about how stupid some casting news is, here are a few random movie related articles I've found throughout the day to keep me occupied.

First, Time Out London has counted down the top fifty directorial debuts in cinematic history. Sad to say that I've never seen the top spot, Charles Laughton's The Night of the Hunter, but I can say it has some mighty big shoes to fill. Also on the list is Orson Welles' Citizen Kane, the Coen Brothers' Blood Simple, George A. Romero's Night of the Living Dead, Tobe Hooper's The Texas Chainsaw Massacre, David Lynch's Eraserhead, Quentin Tarantino's Reservoir Dogs, Luis Bunuel's L'Age D'Or and Sam Raimi's The Evil Dead among others.

Coed Magazine has a countdown of the worst movies to hit number one at the box office. Topping the list is Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen, but come on, what about the original Red Sonja? Ishtar? Also, Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace may have been an abysmal entry in comparison to George Lucas' original trilogy, and when reading movie articles all the time, you get accustomed to nerd rage directed at Lucas and Phantom Menace being the norm. But Jesus, saying it was a worse movie than Epic Movie, Norbit or Batman and Robin? Somebody needs to be stoned to death (Michael Dance).

I spent most of my downtime today watching a set of YouTube videos, set around a guy looking through the tapes of a fictional unfinished short film called Marble Hornets. The series of videos begin as what would appear to be a friend mocking a fellow student filmmaker, almost suggesting the feel of American Movie, and eventually evolves into an amateur horror web series. Most of the bizarre happenings come from the mythical creature of Slender Man, a character made up from a web contest by SomethingAwful.com. Still, I'm posting it because what the guy does works. With Paranormal Activity coming out this weekend, the documentary style horror subgenre seems to have some stories yet to tell, even in a post-Blair Witch Project world. The kid that edited this has gotten a lot of people's attention and should probably be applauded for making a series of homemade shorts that will surely be more entertaining than all the other entries in the faux documentary style, sans the great Cloverfield of course.

Monday, September 21st, 2009

After watching Neill Blomkamp's District 9, I felt like I was watching something more important than the normal science fiction farce. Of course, the storyline is obviously full or allegorical connection to South Africa's former apartheid state. Blomkamp himself being a native of Johannesburg, South Africa and living in the country under apartheid definitely had his own images in comparing the treatment to the aliens as compared to the treatment of foreigners migrating to the country. So I was shocked a little today when the entire blogsphere was running this BBC News story on how Nigeria's Information Minister, Dora Akunyili has called for a ban of the film in Nigeria as well as an apology from the filmmakers for the portrayal of Nigerians as street thugs, prostitutes, criminals and/or cannibals. I'm kind of shocked, because I found an entire underlying theme of "environment dictates behavior". I think it is to be believed that the aliens were all like Christopher by nature, transformed by the brutal surroundings, using the comparison of the Nigerians, one of the real life sufferers of apartheid, as a comparison point, showing what the government had caused them to become to survive. Such a pity, it probably deserves to be seen by the very demographic it is being held from, as it would probably touch a little deeper than the rest of the western world in which it is being embraced.

I was slightly disappointed at the fact that Jennifer's Body didn't make its rounds to the local theater, despite being a for sure #1 at the box office in my mind. Wow, did I misjudge or what? The Megan Fox vehicle that is getting mixed reviews, and still looks very intriguing to me, landed at a measly fifth spot with just under $7 million. The Informant! landed the number two spot, despite being released limited with a little more than $10 million. However, topping the weekend with $30 million, the children's 3-D flick Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs.

IWatchStuff posted a typically bizarre Japanese commercial for Panasonic which features a new clip from James Cameron's Avatar. The article also links to a new website for the upcoming highly anticipated film that I have yet to see, masquerading as a business/promotion site for the Resource Development Administration's AVTR program.

I read an awful article on Cinematical in which The Weinstein Company has given Twitter credit for Quentin Tarantino's latest Inglourious Basterds raking in over $100 million dollars at the box office. Please don't let this become a marketing norm.

Finally, the amazing featurettes from Wes Anderson's The Fantastic Mr. Fox keeps pumping out. The latest containing what author Roald Dahl's widow Felicity has to say about the film and how close it would be to Dahl's imagination.

Sunday, September 20th, 2009 (Short Film Sunday: Time Piece)

I was just flipping through the pages of Geek Monthly and read a wonderful article on the genius of Jim Henson in honor of a traveling exhibition of the art of the Muppet creator. The article points out that most of the time Henson's beloved characters are much more recognizable than he ever will be, but the new exhibition, Jim Henson's Fantastic World, attempts to focus on the man behind the puppetry, as well as the art of it all, and some of the more profound statements he was making. This included speaking a little of the pre-Muppet Henson and his 1965 Academy Award nominated short film Time Piece.

We are all well acquainted with The Muppet Show, the many cinematic spin-offs that would follow, Sesame Street, Fraggle Rock, The Dark Crystal, Labyrinth, early Saturday Night Live, The Jim Henson Hour and even some of us are familiar with Sam and Friends. However, I had never seen Time Piece before looking it up tonight, but it is something I instantly have to share. The little experimental short that debuted at New York's Museum of Modern Art only has one word of dialogue and is otherwise set to a ticking soundtrack to keep with the clock motif. The surrealism of the film, along with some more adult content (despite keeping a more cartoonish tone) seems somewhat different than what we're used to from Henson, but it definitely fits. Also see if you can spot Muppet regulars Frank Oz and Jerry Juhl. Also, I noticed in the end credits of the film that April March is credited as the stripper. I got really excited until I realized that 1965 was the year the singer April March was born.

I looked up to see if I could find The Chicken, the Claude Berri short that would take home the Oscar statuette over Henson's film, but alas, I could not find it. Nonetheless, I seriously doubt it would be as good of a film as this, with or without the nostalgia of Henson. One last note on Henson, despite going to Atlanta a few times, while looking up Time Piece today, I came across The Center for Puppetry Arts for the first time, established to educate and entertain in the medium of puppets. Henson originally cut the ribbon on the public opening for the center and museum along with his most famous character Kermit the Frog in 1978. The center has also announced that a wing of the museum to focus strictly on Henson's work will open in 2012, adding to an already impressive collection from Henson's workshop. So now, without further adieu... a treasure that has been forgotten by the passing of years, starring, written, directed and produced by one of the true geniuses and innovators of television and cinema, Jim Henson's Time Piece.
Time Piece


P.S. Yesterday Yoshito Usui was found dead. I mention this briefly, because to most people Usui, whom was found after turning up missing during a hiking trip due to natural causes, wasn't really famous at all. Yet, Usui was the creator of Crayon Shin Chan, a rather bizarre comical anime that is part of the Adult Swim family, and to keep relevant to my blog, produced several film spin-offs from the anime series, itself adapted from Usui's manga, which may or may not find the eventual stateside light of day. R.I.P. Usui.

Saturday, September 19th, 2009: International Talk Like A Pirate Day

Arr me hardies! I hope the massive consumption of grog, raping and pillaging of International Talk Like A Pirate Day hasn't completely exhausted your impulse to be an angry riotous group. What I mean by this is, I keep trying to take up for The Walt Disney Company. Because of them we have Pixar, we have Miramax's money supply, and we have American distribution of Studio Ghibli films. Still, the bastardry went a little too far late last night, when on the eve of ILAP, Disney told the man responsible for the Pirates of the Caribbean franchise to walk the plank, or in more precise terms, the Los Angeles Times reports that Disney chairman Dick Cook was fired last night with an immediate impact being seen as Johnny Depp gave an interview showing his concerns and doubts on going forward with Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides without Cook's involvement with the company. To put out the largest swashbuckling film franchise on the holy day might as well been the equivalent of allowing Mickey Mouse to defecate on any of the religious relics found sacred to The Church of the Flying Spaghetti Monster. Just terrible.

Before I get angrier at Disney's mockery of the one day we can truly reach out to people in hopes of them being touched by thine noodly appendage, and despite the fact that instead of any real rape or adventurin', I was reduced to daydreams of swords, busty wenches, barrels of rum and battling mythical sea monsters while writing twenty pages of notes on barbiturate abuse. Still, I can further slip into the imaginary fantasy via a few clips of great pirates in cinematic history. First, is the great sword fight/fencing scene from the 1935 Errol Flynn vehicle, Captain Blood. Next, I included a rather inappropriate clip of bad acting from the first big budget porn, the swashbuckling hardcore Pirates. Lastly, I'll end with all of our favorite movie pirate... the Dread Pirate Roberts, and his battle of wits against the Great Vizzini. Also, as a bonus, here's a link to the LastFM page featuring the best pirate of song of all time, The Sex Pistols' "Friggin' in the Rigging".




P.S. I know it breaks the entire piratey theme, but Mania has an article arguing to whom should be cast in the beloved role of Bilbo Baggins in Guillermo del Toro's The Hobbit adaptation. It will give you enough reason to bitch for the next week or so. David Tennant and Martin Freeman are feasible by the way. Maybe not right, but feasible.

Friday, September 18th, 2009

I just got done voting for the Scream Awards, which is set to air October 27th on Spike TV. As much as the countless Twilight nominations made me want to boycott an award show about science fiction and comic books that is being broadcast on a channel devoted to appeasing the male demographic, I was very much pleased to see that Let the Right One In garnered several nods, including the show's equivalent to Best Picture in genre films, the Ultimate Scream Award. Despite the success the Swedish romantic/vampire flick had in the foreign film awards, as well as critic circles, to my knowledge the Scream Awards will be the first televised show to honor the truly outstanding Tomas Alfredson film. The show is also saturated with plenty of good stuff like J.J. Abrams' Star Trek, Watchmen and my next reading entry, Mark Millar and John Romita, Jr.'s Kick-Ass getting noticed in all the comic book categories. Definitely worth your time to visit their site.


It has become a regular thing on my blog to talk about the latest happenings of The Walt Disney Company, and their conglomerate bastardry in the medium of motion pictures. Today though, via The Hollywood Reporter, we get some nerd-friendly news that Tron Legacy will be released in IMAX. Also, the article cites that 2011's Spider-Man 4 will be shown in IMAX as well, although despite Disney owning Marvel, the movie will be released by Columbia Pictures, whom already had the rights. Still, you got to think that Disney will be happy as it can only make the Marvel stock go up.

Empire has released the character posters for The Fantastic Mr. Fox. Nice.

SpoilerTV has posted the casting call sheet for The Green Lantern. If it is to be believed, Sinestro and Dr. Hector Hammond will be the villains in the big screen adaptation. Let the rumor mill begin.

Variety has a troubling article today. With the recent boom in the 3-D market, Gucci is rushing to release some designer Real D glasses, hoping to get them available before the release of James Cameron's Avatar. I have to admit, Avatar is a high priority in my upcoming movies list, but this whole 3-D craze has got to stop soon.

And it is Friday, so to cover a bit of our options for the weekend, we have two movies that look pretty good. First, Jennifer's Body intrigues me, looking reminiscent of John Landis' Innocent Blood, fused with Diablo Cody's own unique hipster linguistic style as seen in Juno, and Megan Fox in probably the only role that truly suits her wacky public persona. I mean, if she does decent in this, after pretty much denouncing the Transformers movies, comparing Michael Bay to Hitler, and starring in next year's Jonah Hex, I may actually become a fan. Also, there is The Informant!. I still haven't seen anything that makes me know this will be really awesome. Being that it is a Steven Soderbergh movie starring Matt Damon is enough to get me in the seats, and with all the reviews, I hope that I will be pleasantly surprised. The only problem is the limited release means I won't get to see it until it goes wide, or until its DVD birth. I actually don't mind the lackluster trailers, as it gives it a chance to exceed expectations, I just hope it lives up to reviews. Finally, among a few other movies that don't really stand out to me is Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs. There is better children's movies coming. Note The Fantastic Mr. Fox above.

P.S. Tomorrow is International Talk-Like-a-Pirate Day. Hope all you Pastafarians spread the message of the Flying Spaghetti Monster and his swashbuckling chosen people. Tomorrow, if my Internet withstands, I'll be back with some piratey goodness to celebrate.

Thursday, September 17th, 2009

Occasionally, I'll feel the need to stop watching or reading about movies online long enough to bitch at the ol' telly during an episode of Glen Beck's Fox News program. I've often wondered exactly how the entire "death panel" thing he harps about all the time would work. The accompanying picture there, via Geekologie, says it all. On a side note, I'm sure most African Americans have to be disappointed after Barack Obama came out as a fan of The Amazing Spider-Man comics, and now wielding a light saber, he's way whiter than even Jimmy Carter.

I just read an article on Yahoo! News Canada, while covering the Toronto International Film Festival, that Nicolas Cage gave an interview and claimed to had dropped out of The Green Hornet's villainous role due to the character not having enough humanity in the script, even having the audacity to point out that Seth Rogen and Evan Goldberg's treatment had a different take on Chudnofsky. Before I join the ranks of bloggers that are building a tower of bitch around Cage for taking basically any role given to him, be it something genius like Charlie and Donald Kaufman in Spike Jonze's Adaptation., or ill fated attempts at a Ghost Rider movie, a remake of The Wicker Man and so on and on, I do have to admit that I enjoy Cage a little and despite his inability to choose a good role, do not necessarily agree with the majority that casting the former Academy Award winner (for Leaving Las Vegas) to be the cinematic equivalent of drinking poison. Still, how much do you think Cage was kicking himself to find out that Christoph Waltz, fresh off of the huge success of Inglourious Basterds, is rumored to be filling his shoes.

Of course, Cage was at TIFF promoting Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call New Orleans, Werner Herzog's remake of Abel Ferrara's 1992 cult classic. I have attempted not to blog much about this flick as I love Herzog and hate to talk about what is sure to be a huge failure (Cage is joined by Eva Mendes and Xzibit, need I say more). Anyhow, I ran across this older article from Vulture, indicating how much Ferrara hates Herzog for the film, and how little Herzog knows about his fellow director or the film that he is remaking. Interesting read, and despite how terrible the film looks, as always, Herzog is more of a story than the film itself.

Before we can even get over the passing of Patrick Swayze as a nation, Henry Gibson has now passed along. Among other things, Gibson starred in The Nutty Professor (Jerry Lewis, not Eddie Murphy), Nashville, The Kentucky Fried Movie, The Blues Brothers, Innerspace, Magnolia and Wedding Crashers. IWatchStuff has a decent little article about him, including a clip from Magnolia.

Variety reports that the University of Southern California will now be offering a stereoscopic 3-D course. I hate that 3-D is taking over, and want to believe that it is a fad, but most of all, I still just hope that My Bloody Valentine doesn't go down in history as the movie that changed everything.

Wednesday, September 16th, 2009

I wish I could say I've missed a few blogs this past week due to some kind of fantastical road trip or an adventure. Instead, I turned to the solace of Play Station to pass time whilst my Internet was out, because one of the prices for living in the serenity of the marriage grounds of meth labs and incest, is bad Internet connection, along with dreadful service with any piece of technology you can think of. Anyhow, I am back today, starting off with an interesting poster for Grant Heslov's upcoming film The Men Who Stare at Goats. I just loved the fact that the goat got a higher billing than Robert Patrick (the T-1000 for Christ's sake!).

The Independent has a story up that continues the trend of The Walt Disney Company stepping into the role of conglomerate bastardry that we have all come to expect from them. One of the biggest time honored yuletide traditions in England, the lighting of Christmas lights on London's Oxford and Regent streets, has been compromised to accommodate the British premiere of A Christmas Carol, moving the schedule of the event up by nine days. London mayor, Boris Johnson, has already received a shit storm of complaints. Kind of makes you forget about Marvel for a second, right?

Well, it would if I didn't directly blame the Disney/Marvel merger for Time Warner turning DC Comics into the competing DC Entertainment. And the new head of DC Entertainment, Diane Nelson, recently gave an unsettling interview to MTV. The linked article mainly focuses on the fact that Nelson pretty much confirms that any follow up to Superman Returns is completely dead. Of course, after a somewhat (undeserved) mixed response, I can kind of see why DC would pursue some of the more interesting, silver screen virgin characters on their roster. Still, with Nelson's first big interview in the big role garnering some negative fan reactions, I am just curious what is to come.

Jumping back to the Marvel boat, Variety has announced the official opening day of Spider-Man 4 as May 6th, 2011. The article also confirms that Gary Ross, most famous for Big and Pleasantville, will helm the script treatment of the film.

I keep reading these great reviews on The Informant!, but I've yet to really jump aboard based solely on the trailers. I'm sure it is a good movie, with the talents of Matt Damon and Steven Soderbergh, but I think I'm going in a bit more cautiously than the rest of the viewing audience. Nonetheless, I'm still intrigued at the news, courtesy of People, that Soderbergh and Damon teaming back up again for Liberace, a biopic on the titular eccentrically flamboyant pianist. Damon will play the lover of Liberace (played by Michael Douglas).

Geekologie has a troubling post of a visual aid picture of Yaddle, a female member of Yoda's species whom appeared briefly in Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace, along with a green fleshlight. It may be rather repulsive, but it is still leaps and bounds easier to take than another Twilight sex toy.

Finally, speaking of missing a few days due to my crappy Internet, I missed posting a short film on Sunday for the second week in a row a few days back. After the abysmal box office intake for an animated feature, as well as a somewhat luke warm response on RottenTomatoes, I figure that a drawn out introduction to Shane Acker's 9, the short film inspiration to his feature of the same name, isn't required. I have yet to see the extended version, but hopefully you'll be entertained by the little short so we can move on to something else this coming weekend.

Monday, September 14th, 2009

After reading about two years of depressing tabloids, I thought I would be more prepared for Patrick Swayze's eventual passing at the hands of pancreatic cancer. Instead, I'm a grown heterosexual man eating ice cream, near the stage of weeping, watching the 80's icon stand up to stodgy old Jerry Orbach. Swayze leaves behind a memorable body of work including Dirty Dancing, Next of Kin, Road House, Ghost, Point Break, Too Wong Foo, Thanks for Everything, Julie Newmar, Black Dog, Donnie Darko and one of the better Saturday Night Live sketches of all time alongside Chris Farley among others. Swayze had the uncommon ability to balance carrying the Fabio complex of being manly to the point of comedy, self-parody and actual acting skills in a classy and memorable fashion. Rest in peace.

In an attempt to tear myself away from the proverbial tear-stained pottery wheel, a few decent news stories in the land of cinema to bring the spirits up comes our way... First, Access Hollywood interviewed Bruce Campbell recently in which the cult film icon spoke of the upcoming Spider-Man 4, which supposed to begin shooting early 2010. When asked about his role in this film, he responds that director Sam Raimi has a much bigger role in mind. The rumor mills have all been salivating at how plausible and obvious of a decision it would be to have Campbell play the villain Mysterio. One can only hope.

Also making rounds in the rumor circuit is Christoph Waltz of Inglourious Basterds fame. The actor, who has been heavily touted as a huge Academy Award contender, has been mentioned, via DeadlineHollywood, as the replacement for Nicolas Cage as the baddy in Seth Rogen's The Green Hornet. I said earlier in the week when it was announced that Cage would be dropping out of the picture that it could turn around to be a wondrous Stephen Chow to Michel Gondry type change, and if they can nab Waltz, who deserves all the praise he is getting from Basterds, Rogen's superhero flick will have pulled another good-to-great crew change.

I can't believe that 9 garnered just $10 million at the box office, landing behind Tyler Perry's I Can Do Bad All by Myself. At least it didn't flop as bad as Sorority Row, which landed a debut at the six spot with just slightly over $5 million.

Last night, despite the absence of the Yeah Yeah Yeahs or Ben Folds being nominated, the MTV Video Music Awards played a sinister trick in the pre-show on my heart by introducing the Muppets into the mix, as Kermit the Frog escorted Lady Gaga (clad in a costume fit for a background character in Hellboy, plus a performance that included dancing cripples, vaginal piano playing and Carrie-esque blood covered female, so I sickenly, disappointingly can't even call it a terrible happening). Anyhow, aside from the whole Twitter drama regarding Kanye West's douchebaggery, the award show focused on film a bit, by debuting trailer's for The Twilight Saga: New Moon and the Michael Jackson documentary This is It. Instead of displaying any of these trailers, I opted for a challenge to any readers that I have. In Janet Jackson's tribute to her brother that opened the show, much of the video for "Scream" was shown and I noticed that some anime is prominently displayed in the background. I can't find anywhere what anime it is, although the Answerman on AnimeNewsNetwork says that it is often claimed to be Akira, although there has never been confirmation. Happy hunting kiddos. Oh, on a side note that I find interesting about the VMA's, big names in film that have won in the technical awards include Steve Barron, David Fincher, Tarsem Singh, Mark Pellington, Spike Jonze, Jonathan Dayton and Valerie Faris, Samuel Bayer, Dylan Tichenor and the Brothers Quay.

Finally, to close today's blog, a few of the most memorable Swayze moments.

Patrick Swayze - Chippendale
by tressage

Friday, September 11th, 2009

It seems like The Walt Disney Company has been dominating the news lately ever since their acquisition of Marvel Comics. However, at the Disney D23 Expo, the company has been making huge movie geek news here and there, satisfactorily enough to make us forget about the entire Marvel ordeal for a day. First, and the most mainstream, Johnny Depp showed up at the event dressed in full costume as Captain Jack Sparrow and announced the title to the fourth installment of his swashbuckling franchise would be Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides, to be released during summer 2011. The same article on ComingSoon also pins down the release date to Pixar's first live action endeavor, John Carter of Mars, as Summer 2012.

The other big news coming from the Disney exposition comes from Guillermo del Toro. The director spoke to the audience via satellite from New Zealand on location for some production work on The Hobbit (enough to get the story on my blog), where along with Disney Studios chairman Dick Cook announced that the incredible fantasy/horror director will be taking on a new horror label for Disney entitled Disney's Double Dare You. Via Cinematical, the label will come out with "a line of animated films, books and merchandise". The first project is a movie based on an original idea of del Toro's called Trollhunters, which we know nothing about.

Outside of the world of Disney, Variety reports a potentially good piece of casting news in the form of Jeff Bridges re-teaming with the Coen Brothers, taking on the one role that would win John Wayne an Academy Award, Rooster Cogburn, in the upcoming adaptation of the 1968 western, True Grit. This is exciting for a few reasons. First, Bridges will be teaming up with the Coens for the first time since churning out one of the greatest of all time, The Big Lebowski. Secondly, though not exactly a western per say, the Coens' No Country for Old Men was the first time I've really jumped aboard the fan wagon of something close to a western since I watched the incredible Clint Eastwood-starring the The Good, the Bad and the Ugly when I was just a young lad, and look forward to what they could do by submerging themselves entirely into the genre. And third, for the first time since he was an alcoholic Foghat fan in the 70's, my father will enjoy something culturally relevant.

With 9 garnering the Wednesday release this week, today seems to pump out a bland line-up. Sorority Row would probably be of the highest profile due to Carrie Fisher gracing it with her presence, despite the fact it looks to be a ridiculously predictable horror effort. There is also Peter Hyams' remake of Fritz Lang's Beyond a Reasonable Doubt, which may be worth watching with what looks like a decent cast and directed by the only guy with the audacity to direct a sequel to Stanley Kubrick's masterpiece 2001: A Space Odyssey, but will more than likely be forgettable. Whiteout also debuts, which without the draw of Kate Beckinsale wouldn't even be mentioned among the other films. And finally, Tyler Perry continues to milk the Madea character in Tyler Perry's I Can Do Bad All by Myself.

Finally, I came home in a wretched mood tonight. My day in a nutshell, I woke up after two hours of sleep, went to work to unload a truck with the main bosses present, got called into a ridiculous meeting in which among other topics was the fact that free pens to employees will be cut out to save the company thousands of dollars by the end of the year, therefore we will have to start supplying our own writing utensils, I escaped the meeting just in time to get to school a take a test that I had been stressing about all day, went home with a new ulcer, talked to my lovely fiancé for the three minutes I'm allowed before she crashes out and then somberly watched a documentary of 9/11 on The History Channel that was more heartbreaking than I initially recall the news coverage being. So I was left to cheer myself up by one of my favorite scenes in cinematic history. I don't think I divulge to most people that this cheers me up so. So without further adieu, maybe it will set your spirits a little higher on a rather somber day, the ending to Charlie Chaplin's beautiful City Lights.

Thursday, September 10th, 2009

Right now, I should probably be doing something other than blogging. I counted up of my next 72 hours, I have roughly 13 to sleep, study and blog, so I'm probably making the wrong choice right now, but I'm bored, can't sleep and cannot seem to will myself to study. Regardless, it will be a quick one. First, here is the new poster for Lars von Trier's Antichrist, which is shockingly the least disturbing thus far. You can check out IMPAwards to see the others.

BlackFilm has put Sharlto Copley's name up for the rumor mill considerations of the role of Howling Mad Murdock in the big screen adaptation of The A-Team. Earlier this week it was announced that former UFC fighter Quintin "Rampage" Jackson was joining the cast to play the role Mr. T made famous, B.A. Baracus. At least Copley, who is relatively new to American audiences after a pretty great performance in District 9 would set this thing back to potentially watchable.

I also read somewhere that Edgar Wright did an interview yesterday, that I can't find a link for, debunking the rumor of Pixar holding interest in his script of Ant Man. He does however confirm that he is still actively pursuing the project in live action style, as a second draft of the screenplay is being worked on at the moment and had taken a back seat to production of Scott Pilgrim Vs. The World. He also states that he wouldn't mind working with Pixar, which will surely be the source for a few rumors in the future.

Finally, Cinematical has a very disturbing post on the release of This Isn't Twilight: The XXX Parody, the inevitable porn movie based on the popular vampire romance flick Twilight. The movie stars Jenna Haze, which is probably a big deal in the porn world because the link provided in the article states Haze was the winner of the AVN Award. Trying to squash the idea of this outselling movies like Big Fan becomes more tragic when you realize Jenni Miller's article states that sadly enough, it isn't the first, as a less popular movie, Twilight of Virginity, was released a few months ago.

Wednesday, Septermber 9th, 2009

Yesterday, I blogged about the first piece of good news to come from The Walt Disney Company and Marvel Comics huge merger in the form of Pixar giving some desirable eyes to Edgar Wright's script treatment of Ant Man. Well, today there comes the news of the vast implications that concerned us in the broad scheme of things, even outside of the world of Marvel. Via Variety, Warner Brothers is creating DC Entertainment in opposition to the Disney ran Marvel Entertainment. Will much change? The first major blow is to the comic world as former president and publisher of DC Comics Jeff Levitz has stepped down to become a contributing editor, writer and consultant to the new rebooted version of the company, under the tutelage of Warner's Diane Nelson. Obviously this news will strike readers a little hard, but what about the implications on DC's cinematic adaptations? Well, the first and most obvious is that the long secretive next step in the Batman film franchise is hinted at in the article of having a tentatively 2012 release. Is this good news, or is this just going to become a conglomerate race to see whom can ruin their respected comic company first? Only time will tell.

Speaking of Disney, a new trailer for their upcoming return to cel animation, The Princess and the Frog, has been released to much criticism online. Of course, as predicted in Disney's long history of alleged racism, the company's take on a black princess is being scrutinized. Also, IWatchStuff throws in the claim that there is a bit of bestiality for good measure. Watch for yourself and see what you think.

'Princess and the Frog' Theatrical Trailer @ Yahoo! Video

Fox News has a story on another bump in the road for Robert Rodriguez' Red Sonja adaptation as Rose McGowan had to endure serious wrist and elbow surgery after suffering an injury that will put production on hold until the actress heals. I just hope this doesn't kill the project completely as McGowan looks so much better than Brigitte Nielson's big screen turn as the character. Also, you have to love the fact that McGowan is doing her own stunts. So there, I said it, despite all the bad buzz, I am actually looking forward to this.

Yahoo! Movies has released the official poster for Columbia Pictures documentary on the last performances of Michael Jackson in This Is It. Nothing too special, probably to match the film, which will more than likely not be anything more than a money pump from AEG to capitalize on the death of Jackson.

According to The Hollywood Reporter, Nicolas Cage has dropped out of the villainous role in The Green Hornet. It seems that Seth Rogen and Evan Goldberg's version of the flick just can't keep anything going for long. But, if it is like other news, such as Stephen Chow's leaving the director's chair for Michel Gondry, it can only bode well for the little film. A piece of casting news we'll be keeping an eye open for.

9 is out today, snagging the interesting release date of 09-09-09. Looks pretty decent. We'll look more at this Sunday when I'll show Shane Acker's original short film that serves as the basis of the Tim Burton/Timur Bekmambetov-produced feature.

I was alerted that today is officially A Day Without Cats online. Of course, The Cheezburger Network and 4Chan are protesting the event pretty hard, and I was going to do my part by looking up some cute cat clips from cinema. Unfortunately, when you type that into Google, you get something like this... McBeardo's Top 100 Cult Movie Nude Scenes, which to be honest wasn't all that bad of a list, and gave me a reason to watch a few clips of Dan O'Bannon's The Return of the Living Dead. When searching a similar query on YouTube, I came up with probably the only thing raunchier than the countdown up there, a red band trailer for Ralph Bakshi's X-rated cartoon Fritz the Cat. I was personally hoping to get a video of two adorable kittens re-enacting the entire "we got a full tank of gas, half a pack of cigarettes, it's dark and we're wearing sunglasses" scene from The Blues Brothers in a cardboard box car. Watching animated cats have explicit group sex in a bath tub comes in at a close second I guess. (In case it wasn't implied, the aforementioned link and the video down below are NSFW.)

P.S. Here is a real fix of kitten fun if you need it.

Tuesday, September 8th, 2009

There is just some characters that can never be re-casted. One of those is B.A. Baracus of the 80's television series The A-Team, as performed by the one and only Mr. T. I'm not saying the bizarre popular culture icon deserves to be in the same category as Charlie Chaplin and his timeless little tramp bit or Robert De Niro's turn as Travis Bickle in Taxi Driver, but his eccentricities did make him a national treasure during that beloved decade. So, who is to step into the role in the upcoming big screen adaptation of the series? The Vancouver Sun reports that former UFC fighter Quintin "Rampage" Jackson will be taking the part, despite not having much of an acting career to speak of, excluding a few bit parts and cameos to promote his badassedness in the ring. Not only is the fact that the UFC ring probably isn't the best bet for a casting pool, but the little bit I know of Jackson is that he was arrested in a truck clad with a huge douchebaggish picture of his painted face on the side after driving on sidewalks, nearly killing several people, causing a victim to have a stillbirth and blamed it all on a binge of energy drinks after becoming depressed due to a loss against fellow fighter Forrest Griffin. It's not that I've ever expected the creators of this film to even attempt to make it good, probably setting the goal of "Starsky and Hutch quality". Still, after casting Bradley Cooper and Liam Neeson, there was a brief moment where it looked promising, but I always knew the nail in the coffin would be the B.A. casting.

Cinematical alerted me to a very sad story today. A few days ago two film critics, partners in life, love and career, were killed in Manila. Alexis Tioseco and Nika Bohinc focused on reviewing little known Southeast Asian films to English audiences that would not normally have heard of them. I never had read a piece by either of the writers, or heard much of any of the flicks they championed in their careers, but after reading the article linked from the jump up there, that Tioseco wrote for Rogue magazine, I had to repost it. It is a heartbreaking letter from Tioseco to convince his Nika to move from her native Slovenia with him in Manila, encompassing the publicized note with love for cinema, love for the Philippines and most importantly love for Bohinc. The article ends, and the next one I read regarding the couple, via The Hollywood Reporter, makes it clear that Nika took him up on the offer, as the two were shot dead for the theft of a laptop computer in Tioseco's adored home of Manila. Tragic.

An article on BleedingCool claims that Pixar Animation is already looking at the script treatment that Edgar Wright has given the Marvel property Ant Man with possible intentions for a film. The story claims to be from Entertainment Weekly although I could not find the source writing to back it up. However, we have been expecting Pixar to make a move, as it is obviously the only way a Disney/Marvel film can happen without the negative stigma that came after the announcement of Disney's acquisition of the comic giant last week. I am sure we will have more of this later on whenever it is debunked or confirmed.

The Final Destination continued to top the box office this past week. Does this make anyone else lose hope in humanity? I suppose 9 will at least dominate next week.

Collider has an article up stating that Mark Fergus and Hawk Ostby, made famous by Children of Men and Iron Man among other things, have been brought on board for the live action Leonardo DiCaprio-produced Akira remake. I can see reason to get excited about this eventually.

I'm a huge corn maze fan, but I think I just lost hope in the wonderful autumn event after Geekologie posted pictures of this Team Jacob/Team Edward mazes in Utah. Terrible.

Saturday, September 5th, 2009

On a few occasions on a newsless Saturday, I've turned to pictures of John Waters' MySpace Fan Page, or some of his art, but today he actually made a bit of news, via Movieline and Monika Bartyzel's related column on Cinematical (with reference to Cecil B. DeMented). The articles report that in a recent interview with Modern Painters magazine, Waters claims that he only has two films left. One of the two films will be a children's holiday flick called Fruitcake that has been in development hell for some time. I agree with the Movieline article that if he co-writes Hairspray 2, it doesn't count as his other 50 percent. I personally would love for Waters to pump out one more golden piece of trash cinema, but if he doesn't, I think he has already done enough for the movie industry. It would be a sad day when the official retirement comes, but as of now I am taking it as good news as a possibility of seeing the king of filth in action one last time. Speaking of a new Waters movie, I just found the book, Trash Trio: Three Screenplays (Pink Flamingos, Desperate Living, Flamingos Forever) on Amazon for just a little over a dollar.

So, what else could I possibly have to say on Labor Day Weekend when most of the bloggers are barbequing, raving or whatever the hell people actually do on Labor Day other than watch the Dirty Jobs marathon tomorrow and possibly schedule out a time to eventually see Inglourious Basterds after a very late debut at the local Carmike (if you have another cinema in your town, please don't go to a Carmike) and in my unforunate case, attend a funeral? Well, a few random thoughts... A great countdown of the worst 80's film posters is up at 11Points. Enjoy it.

Adult Swim is currently showing Bleach: Memories of Nobody, the film from the popular anime series. The trailer that has been showing on the programming block over the past few weeks looks absolutely incredible, so it will more than likely be the way I spend the rest of my insomnia-ridden night.

Lastly, I spent most of the day in a mind-numbing seven hour, note-intensive lecture class on substance abuse, a topic that is most off-putting filled with countless stories of people senselessly ruining their lives. Fortunately though, I lucked up and got one of the better professors of my rather long student career thus far. The guy wrote his dissertation on horror films and works about as many movie references into the class as possible, even fitting in to a story about how bitchin' Re-Animator would be under the influence of a hallucinogen. Anyhow, I thought I would share the only decent story of my long fourteen hour day of the dreaded school/work combination by showing a clip of the H.P. Lovecraft adapted 80's horror flick's goriest scenes. The video is obviously NSFW and will probably be taken off of YouTube eventually after somebody with more dignity than I watches, although it does skip over the decapitated oral part. Enjoy.

Friday, September 4th, 2009

One of the few true gems of cult cinema that seems to not get ANY deserved attention, mainstream or no, is Richard Elfman's 1980 semi-musical comedy Forbidden Zone. The film itself is based upon the apparently bizarre stage act of performance group The Mystic Knights of the Oingo Boingo, which would later change their name to just Oingo Boingo, featuring brothers Richard and Danny Elfman. This would be Danny Elfman's first scored film, as well as his acting debut (as Satan). The film also served as Richard's first time in the directorial role. The somewhat enigmatic cast only has one paid actor, Herve Villechaize, of Fantasy Island fame, and former boyfriend of top billed Susan Tyrrell. Background characters would also feature the Warhol Superstar Viva and the contemporary artists, The Kipper Kids. The story itself is an incredibly trippy and original tale of Frenchy Hercules and Rene's (as played by screenwriter Matthew Bright) adventure in the Sixth Dimension and dealings with the midget King Fausto and Queen Doris (Villechaize and Tyrrell). To me, it seemed like the product of a John Waters, David Lynch and Richard O'Brien collaboration. If you haven't seen it, do yourself a favor and watch it. Anyhow, the point of explaining the film is to get to the news posted on Reuters today that Michael Holmes is currently writing an adaptation for the stage to be performed at the Sacred Fools Theatre in Hollywood, California. I seriously doubt I'll ever get to see the play as there is very few venues for such thing around my small town Bible Belt community (although Barter Theatre in nearby Abington, Virginia is about the start a run of Little Shop of Horrors), but I'm excited that this could endorse some well needed attention to Richard Elfman's masterful piece of weird cinema.

The Hollywood Reporter posted today that Disney has set Tron Legacy's release date as December 17th, 2010. Turns out that this is the exact same date for Columbia Pictures' The Green Hornet. I can't see both films being released on the same day, seeing that they are probably two of the most anticipated of the coming year. I picture The Green Hornet moving up a little, hopefully not back into 2011. Also, the fear over what Disney will do with Marvel Entertainment... dickish moves like this supplant such horrendous images of what will come.

Cinematical's best, Elisabeth Rappe, has an interesting column asking readers to what movie destinations have they travelled. I personally fell in love with the premise of the recent John Hughes inspired documentary Don't You Forget About Me, and can't wait for the DVD release, as it is just a few filmmakers going on a pilgrimage to find all the important spots in Hughes' films and ultimately meet Hughes himself. Rappe speaks of a church in London that had been the backdrop for Four Weddings and a Funeral, Shakespeare in Love and the upcoming Sherlock Holmes. So it got me thinking about some possible goals for my next vacation. I have already scoped out much of John Waters' filming locations, being the streets of Hampden, a town in Baltimore, Maryland (though I would like to see more such as the now defunct Enchanted Forest park used in Cry-Baby, or the mountainous area the trailer was burnt in Pink Flamingos), as well as checking out Divine's grave. I have also been to the wonderful house used in A Christmas Story in Cleveland, Ohio on two occasions, once before it was turned into a museum honoring the wonderful holiday movie based on Jean Shepherd's writings and once afterwards. But what would be a good film pilgrimage? Any ideas? (Sad that I imagine people read this.)

Also, as suggested by the only reader, I checked out the trailer for Grant Heslov's The Men Who Stare at Goats. I first spotted the trailer on IWatchStuff, in which the author referred to as "Coen Brothers lite", so I kind of ignored it. Yet, it does look quite great. Hopefully, the inclusion of George Clooney will also get it noticed a little. Have a look and enjoy.

Thursday, September 3rd, 2009

I thought I would start out the blog today by posting this awesome cover of the upcoming Filter, which prominently features the art and music of Spike Jonze's brilliant-looking upcoming children's flick, Where the Wild Things Are. Among other interviews, I'm informed by WeLoveYouSo that the magazine will conversate with Jonze, Karen O of the Yeah Yeah Yeahs, whom will be contributing some original music to the film as well as two of my favorite actresses Catherine Kenner and Catherine O'Hara, among others.

Away from that piece of eye candy however, the big news for me today was a small trailer posted on Cinematical for a movie I've not heard very much at all about, Defendor, set to make its premiere showing at the Toronto International Film Festival. The original and quirky superhero dramedy looks absolutely perfect to me. The film stars the intriguing combination of Woody Harrelson and Kat Dennings and is written and directed by Peter Stebbings. Personally, I've never heard of Stebbings and after looking over his IMDb page, I am not familiar with anything he's directed, although he has got some starring credentials in a few bit parts of good television series including 21 Jump Street, The X-Files, The Outer Limits and Stargate SG-1. Also, where the hell has Harrelson came from all of a sudden? The sometimes estranged actor I have always felt was a bit underrated, but after this Canadian gem and the upcoming horror/comedy Zombieland, not only is Harrelson bordering on having a respectable career again, but may actually become "hip", as the kids would say, amongst young cineastes, going on eighteen years after the last episode of Cheers. That is actually quite impressive. But all of my raving aside, see if you enjoy this trailer as much as I do.


I always have to follow good news with something that brings all of our cinematic hopes and dreams crashing to the ground. Variety announced today that 20th Century Fox has hired Randi Mayem Singer to write a third installment to the Big Momma's House series. Not that I would enjoy or look forward to the film if Martin Lawrence came back to the series, but who sees Ice Cube doing this and it being straight-to-DVD?

I've always been amazed at the cult success of The Boondock Saints, the off-beat, critically based action movie from director/writer Troy Duffy. Despite bad reviews, the flick continues to have a massive fanbase that goes outside of the normal action movie crowd, that's what I'm surprised that this trailer came up to surprise me. I've heard rumors of a sequel for some time now, but I had no clue it had ever actually gotten off the ground, so here is the new trailer for The Boondock Saints II: All Saints Day, with Duffy returning as well as the original main cast, sans Willem Dafoe. Sure, Dafoe is a huge loss, but the trailer looks decent enough. Yet, I still don't think I'm going out on a limb by saying that this will not equal up to its predecessor's status at all. (Note: The damn IGN player isn't cooperating, so here is the link, via IWatchStuff. Still, enjoy.)