So, the big things in the news today, finally overshadowing the reboot of Marvel's Spider-Man series or Avatar's financial success was the National Board of Review awards gala last night. First off, Ivan Reitman was in attendance in support of his son, Jason Reitman, and the honoring of his latest directorial effort Up in the Air receiving the distinction of the year's best film. While there, MTV caught up with Ivan to question him on the status of Ghostusters 3, and while the director wouldn't confirm nor deny Signourney Weaver's slip-up spoilers from a few weeks back, he did announce that he would be stepping behind the director's chair one more time in the series and that Harold Ramis' projected 2011 release could be happening as the script is finished and he has hopes of filming beginning within the year.
Secondly from the event, a special achievement award went to Wes Anderson for his stop motion film, The Fantastic Mr. Fox, in which he accepted via a nice stop motion animated skit. Forgive me for not being able to find an embeddable version of the clip, but here is the link to /Film's coverage.
Cinematical's Monika Bartyzel has an excellent article up on her elated feelings on the Los Angeles Film Critics Society's choice for the greatest film of the decade... David Lynch's typically bizarre homage to Hollywood life, Mulholland Drive. Well worth the read.
The New York Times announced today that the Nintendo Wii will join the ranks of the fellow new generation video game consoles and will begin streaming Netflix over the Internet. The only downside is Wii's inability to play high definition, although the linked article speculates on the release of a Wii HD, already an inevitability.
Still trying to post something relevant to the Halloween season, I dug out two countdowns of the scariest films of all time, the first is an unranked look at 20 great genre films at the hands of Entertainment Weekly, originally published in 2004, the second a top 10 from MSN Movies. Of course, there is plenty of similarities, the classic pictured Exorcist, as well as John Carpenter's Halloween, Alfred Hitchcock's Psycho and Tobe Hooper's, The Texas Chainsaw Massacre. Still, there are a few interesting choices on both lists, most strikingly the appearance of David Lynch films. The bizarrely creepy voyeur Lost Highway on EW's countdown and the nightmarish surrealism from 1977's Eraserhead on MSN's list. Enjoy.
Another spot on EW's list is Jonathan Demme's 1991 Oscar-winning masterpiece The Silence of the Lambs. This is in no small part due to Anthony Hopkins brilliant performance as Hannibal Lecter. So it would seem the perfect time to pass along an article from The Hollywood Reporterthat confirms Hopkins will add the role of Odin, Thor's father and ruler of Asgard to his repertoire of roles in the upcoming Marvel film Thor.
Currently, I'm reading an interview with Ridley Scott in Empire to see if he spills anything interesting about the Alien prequel he is set to direct down the line. I'm a bit saddened that it sheds light on nothing at all.
I mentioned yesterday that I was searching for Sex and Drugs and Rock and Roll, starring Andy Serkis, whom received a nod at the British Independent Film Awards for his performance, yesterday. Well, I regret to report that I can find nothing. When searching YouTube, if a trailer exists, it is trumped by actual videos of Ian Dury, in which the film is a biopic of. IMDb also currently lists the project as "in production", so hopefully I'll eventually grab this for a post.
Finally, the wait for a big trailer for James Cameron's Avatar is over. I resisted the temptation of posting a bootlegged low quality version last week. If you decide to actually watch this thing, please do it full screen. As a note, I actually hate when people talk about how awesome Transformers was, because it was all effects with no substance. I mean, there is plenty of films that put a good deal of bang in both categories, but after watching this trailer, attached to the huge buzz of the theater experience this will bring, it may be the only film I am really going to champion on effects alone. Not saying I'm ruling out a decent storyline, but really, there is too much eye candy in this to really care about Sam Worthington's legs, allegories to Native Americans or similarities to FernGully: The LastRainforest's environmentalist bravado.
On Wednesday, I featured the new trailer for the film My Son, My Son, What Have Ye Done on the blog. Upon watching it though, I was slightly disappointed. Was it bad? Did it look like a terrible movie? Not at all, but coming from director Werner Herzog and producer David Lynch, I feel a little let down if I'm not completely mindfucked in a groundbreaking event of cinema. Also, regardless of how good the film turns out, it has given all of us movie bloggers a reason to talk about the two ingenious, truly original directors, in particularly Herzog's antics as director since he is helming the upcoming feature.
I'll start by saying, if the chance ever presents itself to watch a Werner Herzog interview, you'll be doing yourself a favor by doing so. Not only is most of his classic films engaging, the stories behind the camera is usually as fascinatingly entertaining as anything the visionary puts on screen. One great story he often tells when interviewed is about his somewhat bizarre 1970 film Even Dwarfs Started Small. In the film, to make the dwarfs feel more comfortable with his stunts and not feel exploited, Herzog jumped into a cactus for the sole entertainment of his mostly unknown cast of smaller actors. Yet, maybe his best behind-the-scenes story comes courtesy of two films in which he didn't take the director's chair.
The story begins in 1978 with documentarian Errol Morris and his very critically acclaimed movie, Gates of Heaven. The low budget documentary from newcomer Morris chronicled the daily lives of those involved in the pet cemetery business. The seemingly unmarketable film was eventual released and was even at one time on Roger Ebert's top ten films of all time in any genre. Morris' vision will be remembered for many things, but quite possibly more than all, it will be remembered for a wager that Herzog made with him, claiming he would eat his shoe if Gates of Heaven could be completed and secure a release in a public theater.
Being a man of his word, Herzog would fly in from Germany to the premiere of Morris' film at the UC Theater in Berkeley, California, and would prepare and cook the shoes he was wearing when he originally laid down the challenge. Herzog chose to eat the shoe in front of an audience in order to bring some much needed publicity to Morris' film, and would also invite another documentary filmmaker, Les Blank, along to keep the lenses on Herzog's entire adventure, ultimately making a short film that would be as fondly remembered as anything in any of the three men's careers, the twenty minute featured short tonight, Werner Herzog Eats His Shoe.
The short highlights Herzog's entertaining personality, as well as being the first time Blank and Herzog would work together. Blank would go on to direct his most successful and popular feature-length film, Burden of Dreams, documenting the difficulties in the making of Herzog's highly praised Fitzcarraldo. I've never heard exactly why Blank was chosen as the director of this particular short, but I would personally expect it to be because at the same time he was working on a documentary Garlic Is as Good as Ten Mothers, focusing on cooking with garlic, one of the major preparations by Herzog and famed chef Alice Waters used on the shoe in the film. Maybe that in itself will be another great story to hear the director tell in an interview I've yet to see.
So without further adieu, enjoy the wonderful 1980 short, Werner Herzog Eats His Shoe. Werner Herzog Eats His Shoe
So, the big things in the news today, finally overshadowing the reboot of Marvel's Spider-Man series or Avatar's financial success was the National Board of Review awards gala last night. First off, Ivan Reitman was in attendance in support of his son, Jason Reitman, and the honoring of his latest directorial effort Up in the Air receiving the distinction of the year's best film. While there, MTV caught up with Ivan to question him on the status of Ghostusters 3, and while the director wouldn't confirm nor deny Signourney Weaver's slip-up spoilers from a few weeks back, he did announce that he would be stepping behind the director's chair one more time in the series and that Harold Ramis' projected 2011 release could be happening as the script is finished and he has hopes of filming beginning within the year. 
