Tuesday, January 5th, 2010

It was quite upsetting to read an un-blogged about story on how The Farrelly Brothers had finally passed on doing a Three Stooges biopic to go onto an Owen Wilson starring comedy called Hall Pass. Now we can rejoice that Sean Penn has come out of his short-lived retirement, as The Boston Herald has posted that the actor has expressed interest in playing Larry Fine again. I still think that the original rumor of Penn's replacement, Paul Giamatti, would be a better choice, but if anything, this will give the film more exposure. I'm also still not exactly sold on Benecio del Toro playing the part of Moe Howard, but my final decision of if this will be great or terrible weighs on the eventual casting news of Curly.

I am still deciding on what level of douchebaggery it would register if I purchased some old favorites on Blu-ray. Courtesy of a CHUD post, my decision may be made slightly easier, as the Back to the Future trilogy is being released on a new special five disc collection, which among other things will include a brand new short film, Jaws 19 in 3-D, the film seen in the background of Back to the Future Part II. Awesome, the way 3-D was intended to be used, a gimmicky accessory to the films we find great, not a medium to itself.

I am happy to pass along an article from The Hollywood Reporter's Heat Vision Blog, announcing that Sam Mendes will take the director's chair on the 23rd James Bond film, third in the reboot franchise with Daniel Craig portraying the suave spy. I think it will be interesting to see what the director of American Beauty can do with something as action packed as the Bond series, especially following in the footsteps of the transformation after Casino Royale. Still, most of my excitement isn't even really directed towards the Bond series at all, but because it dispels rumors that the series would be put on hiatus due to MGM's financial woes, which was also rumored to have put a wrench on the cogs on the preproduction of The Hobbit. Maybe this positive sign will continue along and get the J.R.R. Tolkien adaptation underway.

And finally, where we would be anymore without mention of James Cameron's Avatar in a post. Geekologie passed along a link to a forum to help those of us suffering from the realization that we will never see Pandora. This is obviously fake, but I find it disturbing that this is somehow getting the weirdness of Twilight fandom popping up here and there.

Monday, November 16th, 2009 (100th Post!)

My 100th post here on the Blogger account, and a decently busy day for interesting movie tidbits, so off we go. First off, The Mirror was one of the many blogs posting the accompanying screen capture of R2-D2's cameo in J.J. Abrams' new Star Trek film coming courtesy of the special effects crew from Industrial Light and Magic as a calling card that the article also claims popped up in Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen. The article goes on for a few videos that will make your day in the cameo department, including Orson Welles in The Muppet Movie, Tom Cruise's bizarre appearance in Tropic Thunder and a compilation of Alfred Hitchcock cameos.

Variety has reported today that the rumors of MGM's financial troubles are all too true, as the iconic film company has put its assets up for sale today, which among many other important things includes half the ownership to the upcoming The Hobbit films. This is possibly panic-worthy news for any cinema fan as the entire library of films tallies in above 4,000. The article also names Time Warner, News Corp. and Lionsgate as interested buyers. In short, I'm sure this will pop up in plenty of future blogs.

2012 easily brought in the top spot at the box office this weekend with a little over $65 million. However, the biggest story may have been the success and 213% increase of the indie drama Precious: Based on the Novel "Push" by Sapphire that landed in the third spot this weekend, tailing the heels of Oren Peli's amazing showing of the ultra low budget horror flick Paranormal Activity as two of the more financially successful indie films to come out of Hollywood in some time. In further box office news, Deadline Hollywood has reported that The Twilight Saga: New Moon has already broke the record for advanced ticket sales, beating out The Dark Knight, Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince and Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith, the previous owner of the record.

Mail Online has an interesting story up about some controversy stirring up in Britain, due to the promotional poster to the comedy Couples Retreat, as the UK poster erases Faizon Love and Kali Hawk, the black couple, from the poster. Yeah, probably not the best idea.

Cinematical has a story posted on a new casting call for Spider-Man 4, referred to only as "Toddler Boy", in which among all the speculations, Cinematical even includes Cletus Kasady, better known in the comic world as Carnage. An odd estimation, but intriguing all the same as the rumored and speculated villain list continues to grow.

Edward Woodward passed away yesterday. I didn't know the British actor from a lot, other than his appearance in Edgar Wright's Hot Fuzz, so therefore I will direct you to Wright's personal site and his little tribute to the actor to find out more.

Finally, in honor of my 100th post, here is Liquid Generation's 100 Best Movie Quotes in 200 Seconds. I know that the second is Rob Schneider from The Waterboy, but trust me, 95 to 97 of the ones that follow are pretty fucking fantastic.

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.

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.