Tuesday, August 11th, 2009

A while back, I read an article, that I can no longer find to link to, that stated that Paul Reubens' infamous man-child comic character Pee-Wee Herman would be returning to the big screen once again. I have always felt Reubens got a really raw deal when it came to his public image after the porn theater scandal. I mean, sure, he was the star of a children's show, but did the mothers' that kicked against his career ever care to look up the source material of his act, The Pee-Wee Herman Show, or the much viewed HBO special of it that was released to home video during his heyday. The generally subtle raunchy nuances was if anything, just a cliche in the very popular CBS morning show Pee-Wee's Playhouse. But since those days, we haven't seen much of the television personality with the red bow tie. Reubens, of course, went on to star in a few things like Mystery Men, Blow and a pretty funny guest spot on Reno 911! just off my memory, but the days of being the star of a feature film like Pee-Wee's Big Adventure passed long ago. So, with this thought of injustice over the misunderstood comic, I was devastated to read today, via Variety, that The Pee-Wee Herman Show was going to return for a special engagement in Hollywood, leaving many to speculate that plans for a new feature is a dead project. The article doesn't confirm it, but with no mention of a future for Reubens' creation, we cinephiles cannot expect much.

Just when it seemed that Michael Jackson would finally be out of, at the very least, the movie blogsphere, it was announced that a documentary of his final tour preparation would be released on October 30th, entitled This is It. The close to Halloween release date is fitting, as the article at Reuters states that some of the test footage was shot in 3-D, therefore we can only hope that this means a performance of "Thriller" in full, glorious use of the marketing gimmick. A Cinematical article also points out that the director of the documentary will be 80's choreographer Kenny Ortega, known from such great decade fare as Dirty Dancing and the late John Hughes' Ferris Bueller's Day Off.

Speaking of which, with all the talk about one 80's icon being memorialized on screen with the King of Pop, when is all the blogs going to pick up and start talking about Don't You Forget About Me, a film chronicling a road trip to find the director before his death, by unknown filmmaker Matt Austin-Sadowski. I first read about the film in Geek Monthly, and just Google searched it for to find the directors' name for a reference point, and found an article on The Guardian stating that it had found a distribution deal. If some stranger happens up on this blog, and you do nothing else I implore you to do, look up this film, read a bit about, and if it pops up online, comes out to theaters, to DVD, jump aboard. It sounds very intriguing, and outside of a few blogs from Internet nobodies, it does seem that even in death, Hughes has been vastly overlooked.

Vulture has an interview with Bill Hader up, in which one of the topics discussed is the upcoming Saturday Night Live-inspired film MacGruber, including an apparent hard-R rating. For some reason, I've been gaining a bit of faith with the new cast of SNL after harboring some negative feelings by thinking they should do the impossible and live up to the likes of Bill Murray, Chevy Chase, Dan Aykroyd, Eddie Murphy, Mike Myers, Chris Farley, Will Ferrell, etc. Yet, I've still never really gotten aboard the enthusiasm train for the MacGruber skit, but Hader and Will Forte are both decent enough comedians and a hard-R rating at their capable hands probably gives me enough reason to get in the seats for this.

Cinematical's Kevin Kelly has a story up on how J.J. Abrams and Damon Lindelof has bought the rights to Stephen King's epic series of novels The Dark Tower. The article declares that the pre-production wouldn't even begin until after the 2010 conclusion of Lost, so we're still some time away; however, Kelly does sell me on reading The Dark Tower.

Finally, a star-studded (Zach Galifianakis, Henry Rollins, Ben Stiller, Olivia Wilde, Billy Crudup, Julianne Moore, Alexis Bledel, Sargent Slaughter of WWF fame, Chuck Liddell and many more) video from FunnyOrDie has been released, in a bit of a mock-up of G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra. Enjoy.

The Ballad of G.I. Joe from Olivia Wilde

Monday, August 10th, 2009

I can remember reading something earlier this year announcing that the Marvel/Icon comic Kick-Ass was going to be adapted into a film. Always willing to jump aboard a comic book movie, despite never reading or knowing anything about this, I saw that Christopher Mintz-Plasse was casted as one of the heroes in the movie, put it on a shelf of intriguing must-sees in my sub-conscience, and never really looked much more up about it. Well, today I go to IWatchStuff to see some good old fashioned pirated previews from the San Diego Comic Con on behalf of this film, and wow, did it blow me away. Upon further inspection, I found out that the comic looks certifiably bad ass, hence the caption on the image up there "Sickening violence: just the way you like it". The ongoing series is written by Mark Millar, of Wanted and Civil War fame, and illustrated by the legendary artist John Romita, Jr. The film itself also has a few credentials that would get me into the seat. The superhero fare will be helmed by Matthew Vaughn, the director of what I feel was the most underrated film of 2007, Stardust. Also, the lead character Kick-Ass, secret identity Dave Lizewski, will be portrayed by Aaron Johnson. Personally, I really know nothing about the up and coming British actor, but in a gruesomely, excuse the expression, kick-ass film, it will be much easier to get my girlfriend in the seats on opening night since he is best known, according to Wikipedia at any rate, from starring in Angus, Thongs and Perfect Snogging, an adaptation of one of her favorite author's, Louise Rennison's, novels. However, take away all of the credits, if I had no clue who any of the involved parties were, take a look at this leaked trailer, as it will most likely be deleted in the upcoming days, and try not to be excited for this.


The Los Angeles Times has an interesting interview with Louise Leterrier, the director of The Incredible Hulk. Among other things, Leterrier gives his bid to direct the upcoming Marvel film The Avengers, as well as giving a very thought provoking vision of what the film could be. I highly doubt that anything Leterrier says will come to fruition, but it will definitely become the basis of what fanboys use to judge the actual direction Marvel will take.

Nothing too shocking at the box office this weekend, with G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra taking the top spot, followed by another debut in Julie and Julia. The most saddening news looking at the results is that Charlyne Yi's semi-documentary Paper Heart only grabbed the 25th spot, barely edging out the terrible The Taking of Pelham 123 in its ninth week. Next week, I'm curious if G.I. Joe can gain a second go at the top against District 9.

The Boston Globe had a few announcements courtesy of hometown Boston directors, The Farrelly Brothers', upcoming biopic on The Three Stooges. First, after Sean Penn announced he would drop out of the role of portraying Larry Fine some time back, it was announced the Jim Carrey, whom was once rumored to be playing Curly Howard was out as well. Some good news though came as well, that Paul Giamatti, a good actor that visually looks similar, will replace Penn as Larry.

Finally, a new trailer for Spike Jonze's Where the Wild Things Are. After a few looks at Jonze's rendition of Maurice Sendak's beloved children's book, it still looks absolutely flawless. Enjoy.

Friday, August 7th, 2009

Yesterday, in the midst of mourning over the loss of the 80's icon John Hughes, I mentioned the casting news for Robert Rodriguez' upcoming exploitation film Machete. Today, The Hollywood Reporter ran a story that the remake of the 60's science fiction sexploitation Barbarella is starting development back. At first read, this may seem that Rodriguez is single-handedly bringing back the beloved kitschy era of cinema, yet upon closer inspection of the THR article, Rodriguez is out as director (as rumored some time back), and now taking over is Robert Luketic, made famous by an IMDb resume of moderately watchable fare. Even more disheartening is the fact that the writer Joe Gazzam plans on keeping the sexuality and science fiction elements of the original, but trying to produce a film without the campy nature that the original was known and loved for. Almost every blog I've visited tonight is in agreement that this is a bad idea, and is alienating the built in fan base. I will link to Monika Bartyzel's article on Cinematical, which pretty much sums up the collective view from the blogsphere. I tend to think it will end up watching like a direct-to-DVD Species sequel myself. The only good news is that the original film's producer Dino De Laurentiis, along with his wife Martha, will be returning as producers in the reboot as well.

I reported that LatinoReview had announced Stephen Chow's replacement as Kato in The Green Hornet as Kwon Sang-woo. Today, MovieWeb released a conflicting article stating that Taiwanese actor Jay Chou will be the man stepping into the role. Chou may be a little more recognizable to American audiences, having starred in Curse of the Golden Flower, which saw a stateside release. Whatever the case, I'm still not really concerned. As long as the actor is somewhat talented, my unrelenting faith in the director-writer combination of Michel Gondry, Seth Rogen and Evan Goldberg, makes me think that it will turn out spectacular.

It's Friday, which means a batch of new films are being released, three of which will be in wide circulation. The big one, and sure box office winner will be Stephen Sommer's G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra. The mixed response (Rotten Tomatoes updated score for the film is at 38%) has me more curious than anything. I also have had the mental debate of how terrible the super suits make this thing seem, and how awesome Ray Park's Snake Eyes and Sienna Miller's Baroness make it appear to be a feasibly good popcorn summer flick. There is also Julie and Julia. I don't think it would be too much of a stretch to classify this as a chick flick, but the fact that Meryl Streep is almost always amazing, and even gives Dan Aykroyd a run for his money in her Julia Childs will definitely make it watchable. Finally, A Perfect Getaway, another horror film promising a plot twist, just two weeks after Orphan. I'm speculating that this will be terrible.

Buried beneath the wide releases this week are a few noteworthy films. First, Paper Heart, a self-proclaimed "hybrid documentary" starring the underrated Charlyne Yi along with Michael Cera. The film looks interesting, original, and most intriguing of all, being Yi's screenwriting debut, the film took home the coveted Waldo Salt Screenwriting Award at the Sundance Film Festival. Also, another horror/comedy film for the year, this time with a good bit of historical adventure thrown in, via the film I Sell the Dead. The film stars the appealing trio of Dominic Monaghan, Ron Perlman and Larry Fessenden (whom was mentioned in a recent blog as the director for the English speaking remake of The Orphanage). And finally, Cold Souls, which stars Paul Giamatti playing an actor of the same name, driving himself further and further to psychologically prepare for a role. The film looks to be a quirky comedy completely driven on the talent of Giamatti, which probably is a decent idea. So all in all, about five watchable films this week.

Finally, the trailer for Terry Gilliam's highly anticipated The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus was released today. It looks like vintage Gilliam, ala Time Bandits or Jabberwocky with an Oscar-worthy cast and a bit more budget. I don't really see how this can fail. Enjoy.

Tuesday, August 4th, 2009

We have basically seen the new poster for Avatar pictured here already, as the same still of the Zoe Saldana's computer generated character Neytiri was all over the Internet's coverage of the San Diego Comic Con. The only new thing about this to me is the title of the film is there, with a note telling us that James Cameron did, in fact, direct Titanic. So why really post this when it's nothing new? I feel that outside of bloggers and mildly hardcore cinephiles, not enough people care about Avatar, or can distinguish the title from M. Night Shyamalan's The Last Airbender when you mention it in conversation. Not that my unread blog is going to alert the world about what many think will be a milestone in science fiction and computer graphics, but rather that I want to blog more about this film, yet I know nothing about it other than the bit of information of Moviefone, IMDb or Wikipedia.

Variety reports that Hugh Jackman has been cast as the wonderfully eccentric P.T. Barnum in Fox's upcoming "contemporary musical", The Greatest Showman on Earth, to be scripted by Jenny Bicks of Sex and the City fame. A musical biopic of Barnum sounds intriguing to me, as I have always been fascinated with the man, and a musical spin on what I'm sure will be a rather bizarre life story could just be weird enough to truly stand out. The article also mentions that Anne Hathaway is in talks to star opposite Jackman. This thing could possibly have potential, but like so many interesting projects, should we expect this to crash and burn? Especially with the scribe of Sex and the City?

The Hollywood Reporter announced today that Watchmen's Sally Jupiter, Carla Gugino, will team up with Zack Snyder once again in his upcoming film Sucker Punch in a supporting role.

Finally, you can't really go to any movie blog this week without hitting an overload of G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra, so it is kind of hard to ignore. Today, on Stephen Sommer's official site, we see some concept art for the character Destro, confirming him to keep the metal head he was known for in the cartoon and toy line. Also, in a preview to an interview with Sommers on Cinematical, the web site announces that Sommers is hopeful he will be able to put a sequel into development. There is no doubt in my mind that there will be a sequel, because the movie will kill at the box office, despite if the film is a complete train wreck or not. Also, I am personally shocked that the film currently holds a 91% on Rotten Tomatoes. I have to admit that I actually somewhat enjoy Sommers. It doesn't matter that The Mummy and Van Helsing had awful plots, or that they were critically bashed, they were the epitome of a summer popcorn movie, being flashy, fast-paced, high energy, and entertaining enough to make us forget all the stupidities of the plot. However, I cannot see myself leaving G.I. Joe happy, with 1) the super suits and 2) the incredibly high chance that Kid Rock's "American Bad Ass" will pop up somewhere in the film.

Saturday, August 1st, 2009

Last year, Universal Pictures hit big with the Abba musical Momma Mia!, setting records over in the United Kingdom, and raking in a decent amount stateside as well, and almost inevitably opened the flood gates for Hollywood to begin a musical craze to try to capitalize on the film's earnings. So no surprise that Universal, via RiskyBusinessBlog, announced that there is a remake of the 1970's funky controversial look at the Biblical life of Jesus and Judas in Jesus Christ Superstar. I don't really see a remake of this cashing in nearly as much as Momma Mia! did. Can you imagine the religious groups already? In a post-The Passion of the Christ world even? There is so many people now just looking for a reason to be angry or offended at a film such as this. Yet, there is one good thing. It is rumored that Marc Webb, the man behind the wonderfully reviewed film (500) Days of Summer, may be helming the project. I have yet to see his latest effort that stars Zooey Deschanel, but if the trailer and reviews are worth anything to go on, a quirky re-imagining of this may actually be an entertaining idea. Probably not a popular one, but entertaining nonetheless.

In more remake news, Variety reports that a remake of the 1935 swashbuckling classic Captain Blood may be re-worked into the fabric of un-needed films. I do enjoy Errol Flynn and Olivia de Havilland, but I would have to agree that a film that is nearing its 75th anniversary may be remade without a terrible argument, no matter how great it was during the original release. However, it isn't the fact that the film is being remade that bothers me, it is the direction of the story in which the new film will take. The directors, Michael and Peter Spierig, of the upcoming Daybreakers film, and writer John Brownlow is switching the tale from the high seas to outer space. Here's hoping that Daybreakers fails, and this goes straight to Syfy.

MovieWeb had an interview with Eric Bana, in which the actor reveals that he will not return as Captain Nero, the Romulan villain of the latest Star Trek film, in the sequel. If there is much to say bad about J.J. Abrams' adaptation, it is that the villainous time-travelling Romulans wasn't strong enough, speaking of course in terms of Ricardo Montalban as Khan. Not that Bana was bad, but I'm not too crushed of the grand possibilities that could come from the next film.

As you can clearly tell, it is a very, very slow news Saturday. So, if you're like me, and none of the aforementioned news bits keeps your interest alive long enough to go and have a fight on message boards across the web, you can entertain yourself by going over the San Diego Comic Con exclusives on ToyRocket. A few from Star Wars, as well as an Indiana Jones fertility idol from Mighty Muggs, some G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra stuff and a figure from Coraline make it all relevant enough to put on this blog.