Thursday, September 10th, 2009

Right now, I should probably be doing something other than blogging. I counted up of my next 72 hours, I have roughly 13 to sleep, study and blog, so I'm probably making the wrong choice right now, but I'm bored, can't sleep and cannot seem to will myself to study. Regardless, it will be a quick one. First, here is the new poster for Lars von Trier's Antichrist, which is shockingly the least disturbing thus far. You can check out IMPAwards to see the others.

BlackFilm has put Sharlto Copley's name up for the rumor mill considerations of the role of Howling Mad Murdock in the big screen adaptation of The A-Team. Earlier this week it was announced that former UFC fighter Quintin "Rampage" Jackson was joining the cast to play the role Mr. T made famous, B.A. Baracus. At least Copley, who is relatively new to American audiences after a pretty great performance in District 9 would set this thing back to potentially watchable.

I also read somewhere that Edgar Wright did an interview yesterday, that I can't find a link for, debunking the rumor of Pixar holding interest in his script of Ant Man. He does however confirm that he is still actively pursuing the project in live action style, as a second draft of the screenplay is being worked on at the moment and had taken a back seat to production of Scott Pilgrim Vs. The World. He also states that he wouldn't mind working with Pixar, which will surely be the source for a few rumors in the future.

Finally, Cinematical has a very disturbing post on the release of This Isn't Twilight: The XXX Parody, the inevitable porn movie based on the popular vampire romance flick Twilight. The movie stars Jenna Haze, which is probably a big deal in the porn world because the link provided in the article states Haze was the winner of the AVN Award. Trying to squash the idea of this outselling movies like Big Fan becomes more tragic when you realize Jenni Miller's article states that sadly enough, it isn't the first, as a less popular movie, Twilight of Virginity, was released a few months ago.

Sunday, August 9th, 2009 (Short Film Sunday: Alive in Joburg)

Yesterday, whilst blogging about the speculation of Steven Spielberg producing a big screen version of the hugely popular XBox game Halo, I mentioned that I would fill in a bit of time between the production of the failed Peter Jackson/Neill Blomkamp Halo to their new project, next Friday's District 9. The story actually begins with the 2005 South African short film by Blomkamp, Alive in Joburg. The nearly six minute science fiction film deals with a documentary style of interviewing characters in Johannesburg, South Africa about a group of extraterrestrials being contained by the government. The film takes place in 1990, when South Africa was still under apartheid, and puts the alien refugees among the already oppressed black population.

Taking a passenger seat to the unique use of the cinema verite technique in a genre picture, and the heavy topic of race relations in a very short film was the special effects. One thing Blomkamp lacked in his short was a budget, but a good head for a science fiction picture was there. And to say that the former television commercial director still created some decent effects with a low budget would be a vast understatement. The first of the film, in which the aliens are inside the technologically advanced bio-suits, looked like it could be right at home in a well developed video game. This could have been a reason that Blomkamp was picked up as the director for the film adaptation of Halo, a highly anticipated flick with an already built-in hardcore fan base in his debut feature. It wasn't meant to be though, as development hell would grab producer Peter Jackson's project by the throat.

As bad as this would seem on paper, it was a great beginning for Blomkamp, as Jackson became so impressed, that he decided to just place the young director's talent elsewhere, and commissioned Alive in Joburg to be expanded into a feature length film, to be produced and distributed by Jackson's WingNut Films. This project, of course, is what would eventually become this week's big conversation point, District 9. One casting note in this now highly anticipated sci-fi motion picture is that of Sharlto Copley, a producer for the short in which it is based. Copley can also be seen around the 3:22 mark of the short featured below.

So, if you are like me and think that District 9 has the possibility to be the next big thing, watch this short and be entertained. Enjoy, and just think of what could be done with roughly 106 more minutes and some $30 million extra.