Friday, January 29th, 2010

I have to be honest, when reading James Bobin's name earlier today, I hadn't a clue who he was. But after a further look, the man who was a writer/producer for Da Ali G Show and Flight of the Conchords is rumored to be taking the directorial role for the latest Muppet movie that is being penned by Jason Segel and Nicholas Stoller. Vulture also reports that Bobin is also being courted by Judd Apatow for the Kristen Wiig-written Bridesmaids, which may put the Muppet project in jeopardy. Overall though, we can't really oppose Bobin's involvement with a reboot of Jim Henson's Muppets, so let's hope it goes through.

I can't get over how every few months, something pops up on the blogsphere to make The Green Hornet look even better. Today, I Watch Stuff noticed that Film Score Monthly was crediting Danny Elfman as the composer for Hornet on his profile page, despite that an official press release for Elfman's hiring has yet to make the rounds. Michel Gondry's style of directing seems like a dream match for Elfman's music, coupled with Seth Rogen's inaugural superhero screenplay, it would almost be the biggest shock of the year if it failed.

If you've ever watched This Film Is Not Yet Rated, Indie Sex or just plain had some issue with the MPAA along the line, you've probably figured that the U.S. was the harshest of all ratings systems, and that other countries allowed the art of cinema to go unabashed. Well, apparently, we MPAA haters have never really looked at Australia's ratings classification, because after their most recent announcement, courtesy of Geekologie, I'm sure they have always been slightly cracked. The ratings board has put a ban on the depiction of women with small breasts, because of the mental association it could have with pedophilia. Also out, female ejaculation, because it is similar to urination. Male ejaculation on the other hand is still in. So, to put this all in perspective, Natalie Portman's side shot in Hotel Chevalier, Wes Anderson's brilliant short prologue to The Darjeeling Limited would be banned under the new sanction because after seeing Portman, we would most definitely want to rape a child. Yet, we could go to a theater and watch Michael Winterbottom's 9 Songs, which contains an ejaculation scene, and is for all purposes a hardcore porn with a hipster soundtrack that the Hustler parodies can't really afford.

On a final note today, another tidbit from the Sundance Film Festival. Here is the trailer for a short film I'm highly anticipating, Spike Jonze's I'm Here, a robot love story. Enjoy.

Wednesday, January 20th, 2010

It won't be long before we get Tim Burton's unique look at Lewis Carroll's classic tale of Alice in Wonderland. Of course, Burton follows in the footsteps of Jan Svankmajer, and even Walt Disney's own animation department with trippy versions of the most famous of all the "literary nonsense" genre. Still, the Disney train is looking at Burton to helm a new live action version of one of their classic animated princess stories, Sleeping Beauty. The film, entitled Malificent, will retell the story focusing on the titular evil antagonist. The /Film article this is reported on does not confirm Burton's participation with the project, but with a 2011 release of the Philip K. Dick adaptation The King of the Elves for Disney animation, whatever Pixar is doing, Tron Legacy and this, it looks like Disney may actually be something more than being the conglomerate ass of Hollywood in the coming years.

The daily dip of news from the world of Pandora comes way of ABC News today. It has been reported that while watching Avatar, a 42-year-old Taiwanese man suffering from hypertension got over-excited, took a stroke and passed away. This almost makes me want to stick a toe back on the James Cameron bandwagon for a bit.

Cinematical posted the story today that Paramount Pictures has announced the release date for the Coen Brothers' remake of the western classic True Grit to Christmas. How much does the recent buzz for Jeff Bridges' part in Crazy Heart psych everybody up for his ability to outdo John Wayne tenfold in this flick?

CineMusic has reported after not being able to complete the score due to scheduling differences, the portion of the score already recorded by Danny Elfman will be seeing the light of day when The Wolfman is released, replacing his replacement Paul Haslinger. Conrad Pope has been signed on to round out the unfinished score.

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.