Thursday, October 29th, 2009

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 Reporter that 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 Last Rainforest's environmentalist bravado.

Tuesday, October 20th, 2009

During the Halloween season, there is always a plethora of places I want to go, including and not limited to, Halloween film festivals, corn maizes and supposedly haunted places to do a ghost investigation. One thing that I never really think of, especially seeing that I'm in the part of the world that cinema usually overlooks, is filming locations to classic horror fare. Turns out that in Morristown, Tennessee, roughly an hour and half away, was the site of Sam Raimi's classic 1981 The Evil Dead. Sadly, the site has a no trespassing sign up, but you can visit this web page to see pictures of the remnants of the burnt cabin if you would rather set online and look over risking jail time. They're also selling vials of earth and burnt cabin remnants. Anyways, this may warrant a stop on the next trip through the area.

Cinematical has a great countdown today of the seven best horror themes. A fitting countdown for the month that includes The Exorcist, Halloween and Psycho, among others.

Collider recently interviewed Jackie Earle Haley to debunk rumors that the actor will return to the DC Universe, this time to play Sinestro in the feature film adaptation of The Green Lantern. The good thing though, Haley didn't say he was uninterested, just was without invitation. So, we know Haley is a great actor, but with Haley being known to comic fans as Rorschach, would this be seen negatively? I mean, sure the man playing Hal Jordan, Ryan Reynolds, is also known as Deadpool, but that was in the horrific and very forgettable X-Men Origins: Wolverine. Still, I think Haley may be the best name I've heard thrown around for the role, so hopefully if casting hasn't already gotten underway, the folks over at Warner Brothers/DC will take a look at the positive buzz and consider this.

Speaking of superhero casting, until a sequel to The Dark Knight is either in theaters or completely confirmed to be dead, rumors will run rampant on who will be casted as the new villains. Well, this has been on my mind today as I had an off day from work and school and spent the entire day not moving from playing Batman: Arkham Asylum. Sure, I may have jumped aboard a bit late on this, but I can't get over how brilliant the character of Harley Quinn is. There is a overabundance of message boards you can go to in order to find who the public wants to play the villainess if she were to ever hit the big screen, such as this one from Newsarama, showing how truly terrible casting directors the general public would be. Anyhow, who do you think would make a good Harley? Of course, there is the veterans to the role, Arleen Sorkin, who voices The Joker's stalker-esque female companion in the aforementioned game as well as Harley's most widely known incarnation in Batman: The Animated Series. I also didn't think Marielle Guerber was a slouch in her version of the role in the dark French short Ashes to Ashes. The perfect voice, and possibly the perfect look if it had been shot right after the Wachowskis' Bound would have been Jennifer Tilly. Still, I can't really think outside the box on this one as reading down any list, they all seem absurd. Conversely though, I originally thought the same when I heard Heath Ledger's name mentioned, and that is now the reason that the future of Christopher Nolan's incredible reboot of the franchise is now in question... because he could never be duplicated. Anyhow, I'm going to get back to the game.

Saturday, August 29th, 2009

I've yet to see Halloween II yet, and even though I still plan to do so, most of my class and work conversations today somehow drifted off to how awful Rob Zombie's latest in the franchise reboot actually is. The good thing however, is that the release has given us reasons to talk about classic horror cinema, like John Carpenter's original flick. In fact, the picture in the corner there of Jamie Lee Curtis is part of a gallery on Rotten Tomatoes of their favorite pictures of movie scream queens, which covers everyone from Faye Wray of the original 1933 version of King Kong to Scout Taylor-Compton, the actress that took over the role of Laurie Strode in Zombie's version of the Halloween franchise, originally portrayed by Curtis, as evidenced above. Worth a look on a slow news day.

Continuing on the topic of Rob Zombie, when he announced yesterday that a possible re-make of the 1958 horror flick The Blob could be in the works, he must have loosened the ground for Joel Silver not to care to upset a few horror fanatics by announcing today, via Collider, that he plans on remaking the 1982 comic-to-film adaptation of Swamp Thing, originally directed by Wes Craven. This is a case that to me, is exactly like yesterday's statement concerning The Blob. Sure, special effects could update the film, but really, the only reason people even remember the mostly bad Swamp Thing is the kitsch factor and that should be left alone. Also, if you read the article, it sounds more like Silver is concerned with capitalizing on the medium of 3-D instead of searching for a film that would actually work well with the gimmick. Instead of jumping on the bandwagon with the first property he can find, maybe he should focus on a finding a project that works on its own. I would jump aboard this though if it got a decent enough writer that would follow Alan Moore's work with the comics, but if anybody's ever read what Silver said his version of Watchmen would have been like, I seriously doubt we could see the representation of the un-commercial work of Moore make the big-screen horror/3-D market.

Cinematical has an interview up with Patton Oswalt. If there is anybody that actually reads my blog, you may recall that I've been saying from what I've seen, I am very much hoping for an Oscar caliber performance from Oswalt in Big Fan, which debuted yesterday. Do I think it will happen, not a shot in hell, but I'm still very much a supporter of this film even though it came nowhere near me and once again, I will probably have to wait for the DVD release before I can enjoy it. The directorial debut of Robert D. Siegel looks great though, and if you are like me and awaiting your chance to see this, the interview should tide you over for a bit.