Friday, January 29th, 2010

I have to be honest, when reading James Bobin's name earlier today, I hadn't a clue who he was. But after a further look, the man who was a writer/producer for Da Ali G Show and Flight of the Conchords is rumored to be taking the directorial role for the latest Muppet movie that is being penned by Jason Segel and Nicholas Stoller. Vulture also reports that Bobin is also being courted by Judd Apatow for the Kristen Wiig-written Bridesmaids, which may put the Muppet project in jeopardy. Overall though, we can't really oppose Bobin's involvement with a reboot of Jim Henson's Muppets, so let's hope it goes through.

I can't get over how every few months, something pops up on the blogsphere to make The Green Hornet look even better. Today, I Watch Stuff noticed that Film Score Monthly was crediting Danny Elfman as the composer for Hornet on his profile page, despite that an official press release for Elfman's hiring has yet to make the rounds. Michel Gondry's style of directing seems like a dream match for Elfman's music, coupled with Seth Rogen's inaugural superhero screenplay, it would almost be the biggest shock of the year if it failed.

If you've ever watched This Film Is Not Yet Rated, Indie Sex or just plain had some issue with the MPAA along the line, you've probably figured that the U.S. was the harshest of all ratings systems, and that other countries allowed the art of cinema to go unabashed. Well, apparently, we MPAA haters have never really looked at Australia's ratings classification, because after their most recent announcement, courtesy of Geekologie, I'm sure they have always been slightly cracked. The ratings board has put a ban on the depiction of women with small breasts, because of the mental association it could have with pedophilia. Also out, female ejaculation, because it is similar to urination. Male ejaculation on the other hand is still in. So, to put this all in perspective, Natalie Portman's side shot in Hotel Chevalier, Wes Anderson's brilliant short prologue to The Darjeeling Limited would be banned under the new sanction because after seeing Portman, we would most definitely want to rape a child. Yet, we could go to a theater and watch Michael Winterbottom's 9 Songs, which contains an ejaculation scene, and is for all purposes a hardcore porn with a hipster soundtrack that the Hustler parodies can't really afford.

On a final note today, another tidbit from the Sundance Film Festival. Here is the trailer for a short film I'm highly anticipating, Spike Jonze's I'm Here, a robot love story. Enjoy.

Wednesday, November 4th, 2009

'Tis late, and I wasn't blogging due to being engrossed with The Tonight Show with Conan O'Brien. I will very openly admit how much I hate the NBA, but with Magic Johnson and Larry Bird being guests, the little boy in me was entranced. Anyhoo, instead of boring you, dear readers, with news for another night, since I am anxiously looking forward to tomorrow, as we are going to celebrate Guy Fawkes Day with a bonfire after I get off work, I will leave you with a scene from V for Vendetta... it's A Christmas Story for Guy Fawkes Day.

P.S. Since I will most likely not be blogging tomorrow, at least if the day goes anything like I am hoping, I will also leave a bit of a parting gift. Christopher Walken, he's an actor so it is relevant to the blog in my mind, recently recited the lyrics of Lady Gaga's "Poker Face" on Friday Night with Jonathan Ross.


Also, because I'm giddy, and in that rare, crazed Walken mood, here he is in one of the greatest music videos of all time, "Weapon of Choice"... directed by Spike Jonze (director of Where the Wild Things Are and Being John Malkovich)... further relevance for the blog.

Monday, October 19th, 2009

One of the most unfortunate things about living in the part of the country that I do, is that spectacular looking films, such as Robert D. Siegel's Big Fan, didn't come within a hundred miles. Still, the Patton Oswalt starring dark comedy has been championed in this blog for sometime as I wait with bated breath for the DVD release. While I wait, via Cinematical, the independent sports flick has nabbed three nominations (Best Feature and nods for Siegel and Oswalt's work respectively) at the Gotham Awards, honoring the best in independent cinema. Two other films that are high priority on my list to catch-up on when they finally hit store shelves is Kathryn Bigelow's The Hurt Locker and the Coen Brothers' latest, A Serious Man.

Speaking of A Serious Man, the flick took a decent leap in the box office this week, taking an 84% rise, still only netting it in the top 15. Also, Paranormal Activity still continues to climb its way to the top, landing at number three this weekend, taking sales up 148%, after a 1000+% increase last weekend. Still, the top story is that Spike Jonze's incredible Where the Wild Things Are took the top spot easily with approximately $33 million. Law Abiding Citizen and The Stepfather also debuted within the top five, which if not for Wild Things getting such a great release, would be cause to shoot ourselves in the head in honor of intriguing cinema, such as the 35th spot, Black Dynamite, which essentially will go unnoticed.

On the topic of Where the Wild Things Are, I was left with affirmation that Jonze is, in fact, one of the greatest geniuses in modern movies. The director of Being John Malkovich has really done no wrong thus far in his career, and prior to film, he has helmed such wonderful music videos as the Beastie Boys' "Sabotage", Fatboy Slim's "Praise You" and Wax's "California". So, it was definitely a shock to see an article on Cinematical highlighting a short film Jonze had done with douchebag extraordinaire, Kanye West, entitled We Were Once a Fairytale. It is hard for me to believe that, despite the high level of talent behind the camera, West could do anything remotely entertaining... on purpose. This thought continued as the embedded YouTube video provided by the link was taken down due to noncompliance in the form of a copyright claim from West himself.

Variety ran a story today about the possibility of reviving the failed attempt of a Broadway adaptation of Brian De Palma's classic horror flick Carrie. I don't really see why this wouldn't work. Actually, this makes me wonder why, when speaking of great Halloween staples in the same vein of The Rocky Horror Picture Show, why Carrie doesn't get some costumed midnight showings around this time of the year. Given, the Stephen King adaptation isn't nowhere near the same amount of fun as Rocky Horror, but the kitschy horror, and what would surely be a plethora of prom dress clad moviegoers doused in pig blood in the audience, definitely makes for at least one hell of an opening act. The Variety article also gives me reason to put up the prom scene clip from the movie, which has been on my mind recently, stemming from a rather comical incident during classes the other day. Enjoy.

Thursday, September 3rd, 2009

I thought I would start out the blog today by posting this awesome cover of the upcoming Filter, which prominently features the art and music of Spike Jonze's brilliant-looking upcoming children's flick, Where the Wild Things Are. Among other interviews, I'm informed by WeLoveYouSo that the magazine will conversate with Jonze, Karen O of the Yeah Yeah Yeahs, whom will be contributing some original music to the film as well as two of my favorite actresses Catherine Kenner and Catherine O'Hara, among others.

Away from that piece of eye candy however, the big news for me today was a small trailer posted on Cinematical for a movie I've not heard very much at all about, Defendor, set to make its premiere showing at the Toronto International Film Festival. The original and quirky superhero dramedy looks absolutely perfect to me. The film stars the intriguing combination of Woody Harrelson and Kat Dennings and is written and directed by Peter Stebbings. Personally, I've never heard of Stebbings and after looking over his IMDb page, I am not familiar with anything he's directed, although he has got some starring credentials in a few bit parts of good television series including 21 Jump Street, The X-Files, The Outer Limits and Stargate SG-1. Also, where the hell has Harrelson came from all of a sudden? The sometimes estranged actor I have always felt was a bit underrated, but after this Canadian gem and the upcoming horror/comedy Zombieland, not only is Harrelson bordering on having a respectable career again, but may actually become "hip", as the kids would say, amongst young cineastes, going on eighteen years after the last episode of Cheers. That is actually quite impressive. But all of my raving aside, see if you enjoy this trailer as much as I do.


I always have to follow good news with something that brings all of our cinematic hopes and dreams crashing to the ground. Variety announced today that 20th Century Fox has hired Randi Mayem Singer to write a third installment to the Big Momma's House series. Not that I would enjoy or look forward to the film if Martin Lawrence came back to the series, but who sees Ice Cube doing this and it being straight-to-DVD?

I've always been amazed at the cult success of The Boondock Saints, the off-beat, critically based action movie from director/writer Troy Duffy. Despite bad reviews, the flick continues to have a massive fanbase that goes outside of the normal action movie crowd, that's what I'm surprised that this trailer came up to surprise me. I've heard rumors of a sequel for some time now, but I had no clue it had ever actually gotten off the ground, so here is the new trailer for The Boondock Saints II: All Saints Day, with Duffy returning as well as the original main cast, sans Willem Dafoe. Sure, Dafoe is a huge loss, but the trailer looks decent enough. Yet, I still don't think I'm going out on a limb by saying that this will not equal up to its predecessor's status at all. (Note: The damn IGN player isn't cooperating, so here is the link, via IWatchStuff. Still, enjoy.)