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.

Tuesday, October 27th, 2009

The casting for Michel Gondry and Seth Rogen's 2010 superhero flick, The Green Hornet, has been one of the more fascinating since I've started keeping a movie blog. Today, I learned that, despite principal photography and filming actually taking place now, the casting news thickens. First off, Rogen, in an interview with MovieWeb, has confirmed that Anvil, the Canadian metal band that gained prominence with this year's documentary Anvil! The Story of Anvil, will play a band for the film. Also, Rogen announced that Edward Furlong has also been added to the lineup, although he would not confirm in what capacity.

A lot of things to cover today, so moving more quickly, an online petition has been started to get Sam Rockwell a nod for this year's Academy Awards, as the sponsor feels that Moon will be overlooked due to the film being director Duncan Jones' directorial debut, and nowhere near the promotional buzz needed to trump the other films that will be campaigning. I absolutely hate how political the Academy Awards are, as it really comes down to the best campaign, and not the best performance. Anyhow, without seeing Moon, I have to say that I hope Rockwell lives up to the praise, but I can't have an extreme opinion as of yet.

MarketSaw announced today that The Lizard will be the only villain in Sam Raimi's upcoming Spider-Man 4. This is good news for Dylan Baker fans (assuming that I'm not the only one), but makes us have to question what the expanded role of Bruce Campbell will be. Also, it has to be noted that the source is MarketSaw, which reported last week that Steven Spielberg and Francis Ford Coppola will both direct a chapter in a sequel trilogy of George Lucas' Star Wars saga. Trustworthy?

At midnight, or a few short minutes from when I'm writing this, the highly anticipated Michael Jackson documentary This is It debuts at theaters. I still have my doubts about this rushed doc's quality, but who can resist the spectacle?

Paranormal Activity took the top spot at the box office this weekend, beating out Saw VI in its opening weekend. This is a breath of fresh air to anybody like myself who thinks that the Saw series has finally run its course, as well as anybody that is just generally excited about independent films gaining widespread success.

Movie-related Christmas ideas have already began pouring in, as DVDSnapshot, courtesy of a link from Cinematical, has posted the details and contents of The Mel Brooks Collection, a nine disc Blu-ray compendium of comedy, which will include such films as Blazing Saddles, History of the World: Part I, Robin Hood: Men in Tights, Silent Movie, Spaceballs and Young Frankenstein among a few others.

Finally, I had a decent weekend whilst not blogging as I partook in several October activities including taking in The Rocky Horror Show live at Berea College, a corn maze and attending The Grand AdventureCon in Pigeon Forge, Tennessee. We actually set in on two panels, one for Mickey Dolenz (of Monkees fame) and one for Kevin Nash, So Cal Val and Traci Brooks of TNA. I'd like to say I brought back some exclusive knowledge for my blog, but I don't think any of their cinematic careers, if they even exist much at all, are flourishing at the moment. Still, when looking up to see if they were going to be in anything, I ran across the fact that Dolenz was in Rob Zombie's re-working of Halloween, which I didn't know, and this picture...

That is So Cal Val in Princess Leia's infamous slave girl get-up. And yes, it is from a site dedicated to cosplay of that one costume (and does border of creepy most of the time). Even though my only readership is my fiance and another straight female, I think even they would appreciate such a site.

Thursday, October 1st, 2009

The ongoing modern battle of wits between Hollywood's biggest douchebag, Michael Bay, and the attractive psychopath, Megan Fox, will apparently continue as, via Bay's personal blog, there will be a Transformers 3, in which Bay, Fox and Shia LaBeouf has been confirmed. Bay's blog also confirms that the screenplay is finished, mentions that he is currently meeting with ILM and Hasbro and also leaves a predictably douchey Bay message towards Fox. Of course, the bickering between the two has been way more entertaining than either of the first two Transformers, so here's hoping for a full on meltdown for the filming of the third.


Yesterday, I linked to a picture of Seth Rogen's stuntman on the set of The Green Hornet. Today, Splash News has a picture of Rogen in costume for the role, as well as the first look of Jay Chou as Kato.

I am quite dreading to see what the American version of Let the Right One In (the title will be changed to Let Me In for the remake) will be like. I have been preaching the graces of Tomas Alfredson's near-perfect flick to everyone since I watched it earlier this year, and I know that despite having Matt Reeves on as director (the guy that helmed Cloverfield), I just imagine of all the things that would be changed. For one, the names of Oskar and Eli has been changed to Owen and Abby. That is enough to make me want to boycott this thing. Still, Cinematical announced that some casting news for the feature, including Richard Jenkins as Hakan and Kodi Smit-McPhee and Chloe Moretz taking the roles of the children. I don't know anything about the two younger actors, so I can't bitch too much about it yet. Still, I'll keep my eyes peeled. On a side note, after a quick visit to Wikipedia, I found out that Moretz will also be a co-star in the much anticipated 2010 big screen comic adaptation Kick-Ass.

BadTaste, an Italian movie site has an interview with Quentin Tarantino. I tried to watch it, but save me, with no subtitles I just couldn't do it. Still, reports on ComingSoon, Cinematical and MovieWeb indicate that Tarantino teases us with a brief mention of the possibility of a third Kill Bill film. A much more hopeful story than the bastardization of Let the Right One In.

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.

Thursday, September 17th, 2009

Occasionally, I'll feel the need to stop watching or reading about movies online long enough to bitch at the ol' telly during an episode of Glen Beck's Fox News program. I've often wondered exactly how the entire "death panel" thing he harps about all the time would work. The accompanying picture there, via Geekologie, says it all. On a side note, I'm sure most African Americans have to be disappointed after Barack Obama came out as a fan of The Amazing Spider-Man comics, and now wielding a light saber, he's way whiter than even Jimmy Carter.

I just read an article on Yahoo! News Canada, while covering the Toronto International Film Festival, that Nicolas Cage gave an interview and claimed to had dropped out of The Green Hornet's villainous role due to the character not having enough humanity in the script, even having the audacity to point out that Seth Rogen and Evan Goldberg's treatment had a different take on Chudnofsky. Before I join the ranks of bloggers that are building a tower of bitch around Cage for taking basically any role given to him, be it something genius like Charlie and Donald Kaufman in Spike Jonze's Adaptation., or ill fated attempts at a Ghost Rider movie, a remake of The Wicker Man and so on and on, I do have to admit that I enjoy Cage a little and despite his inability to choose a good role, do not necessarily agree with the majority that casting the former Academy Award winner (for Leaving Las Vegas) to be the cinematic equivalent of drinking poison. Still, how much do you think Cage was kicking himself to find out that Christoph Waltz, fresh off of the huge success of Inglourious Basterds, is rumored to be filling his shoes.

Of course, Cage was at TIFF promoting Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call New Orleans, Werner Herzog's remake of Abel Ferrara's 1992 cult classic. I have attempted not to blog much about this flick as I love Herzog and hate to talk about what is sure to be a huge failure (Cage is joined by Eva Mendes and Xzibit, need I say more). Anyhow, I ran across this older article from Vulture, indicating how much Ferrara hates Herzog for the film, and how little Herzog knows about his fellow director or the film that he is remaking. Interesting read, and despite how terrible the film looks, as always, Herzog is more of a story than the film itself.

Before we can even get over the passing of Patrick Swayze as a nation, Henry Gibson has now passed along. Among other things, Gibson starred in The Nutty Professor (Jerry Lewis, not Eddie Murphy), Nashville, The Kentucky Fried Movie, The Blues Brothers, Innerspace, Magnolia and Wedding Crashers. IWatchStuff has a decent little article about him, including a clip from Magnolia.

Variety reports that the University of Southern California will now be offering a stereoscopic 3-D course. I hate that 3-D is taking over, and want to believe that it is a fad, but most of all, I still just hope that My Bloody Valentine doesn't go down in history as the movie that changed everything.

Monday, September 14th, 2009

After reading about two years of depressing tabloids, I thought I would be more prepared for Patrick Swayze's eventual passing at the hands of pancreatic cancer. Instead, I'm a grown heterosexual man eating ice cream, near the stage of weeping, watching the 80's icon stand up to stodgy old Jerry Orbach. Swayze leaves behind a memorable body of work including Dirty Dancing, Next of Kin, Road House, Ghost, Point Break, Too Wong Foo, Thanks for Everything, Julie Newmar, Black Dog, Donnie Darko and one of the better Saturday Night Live sketches of all time alongside Chris Farley among others. Swayze had the uncommon ability to balance carrying the Fabio complex of being manly to the point of comedy, self-parody and actual acting skills in a classy and memorable fashion. Rest in peace.

In an attempt to tear myself away from the proverbial tear-stained pottery wheel, a few decent news stories in the land of cinema to bring the spirits up comes our way... First, Access Hollywood interviewed Bruce Campbell recently in which the cult film icon spoke of the upcoming Spider-Man 4, which supposed to begin shooting early 2010. When asked about his role in this film, he responds that director Sam Raimi has a much bigger role in mind. The rumor mills have all been salivating at how plausible and obvious of a decision it would be to have Campbell play the villain Mysterio. One can only hope.

Also making rounds in the rumor circuit is Christoph Waltz of Inglourious Basterds fame. The actor, who has been heavily touted as a huge Academy Award contender, has been mentioned, via DeadlineHollywood, as the replacement for Nicolas Cage as the baddy in Seth Rogen's The Green Hornet. I said earlier in the week when it was announced that Cage would be dropping out of the picture that it could turn around to be a wondrous Stephen Chow to Michel Gondry type change, and if they can nab Waltz, who deserves all the praise he is getting from Basterds, Rogen's superhero flick will have pulled another good-to-great crew change.

I can't believe that 9 garnered just $10 million at the box office, landing behind Tyler Perry's I Can Do Bad All by Myself. At least it didn't flop as bad as Sorority Row, which landed a debut at the six spot with just slightly over $5 million.

Last night, despite the absence of the Yeah Yeah Yeahs or Ben Folds being nominated, the MTV Video Music Awards played a sinister trick in the pre-show on my heart by introducing the Muppets into the mix, as Kermit the Frog escorted Lady Gaga (clad in a costume fit for a background character in Hellboy, plus a performance that included dancing cripples, vaginal piano playing and Carrie-esque blood covered female, so I sickenly, disappointingly can't even call it a terrible happening). Anyhow, aside from the whole Twitter drama regarding Kanye West's douchebaggery, the award show focused on film a bit, by debuting trailer's for The Twilight Saga: New Moon and the Michael Jackson documentary This is It. Instead of displaying any of these trailers, I opted for a challenge to any readers that I have. In Janet Jackson's tribute to her brother that opened the show, much of the video for "Scream" was shown and I noticed that some anime is prominently displayed in the background. I can't find anywhere what anime it is, although the Answerman on AnimeNewsNetwork says that it is often claimed to be Akira, although there has never been confirmation. Happy hunting kiddos. Oh, on a side note that I find interesting about the VMA's, big names in film that have won in the technical awards include Steve Barron, David Fincher, Tarsem Singh, Mark Pellington, Spike Jonze, Jonathan Dayton and Valerie Faris, Samuel Bayer, Dylan Tichenor and the Brothers Quay.

Finally, to close today's blog, a few of the most memorable Swayze moments.

Patrick Swayze - Chippendale
by tressage

Wednesday, Septermber 9th, 2009

Yesterday, I blogged about the first piece of good news to come from The Walt Disney Company and Marvel Comics huge merger in the form of Pixar giving some desirable eyes to Edgar Wright's script treatment of Ant Man. Well, today there comes the news of the vast implications that concerned us in the broad scheme of things, even outside of the world of Marvel. Via Variety, Warner Brothers is creating DC Entertainment in opposition to the Disney ran Marvel Entertainment. Will much change? The first major blow is to the comic world as former president and publisher of DC Comics Jeff Levitz has stepped down to become a contributing editor, writer and consultant to the new rebooted version of the company, under the tutelage of Warner's Diane Nelson. Obviously this news will strike readers a little hard, but what about the implications on DC's cinematic adaptations? Well, the first and most obvious is that the long secretive next step in the Batman film franchise is hinted at in the article of having a tentatively 2012 release. Is this good news, or is this just going to become a conglomerate race to see whom can ruin their respected comic company first? Only time will tell.

Speaking of Disney, a new trailer for their upcoming return to cel animation, The Princess and the Frog, has been released to much criticism online. Of course, as predicted in Disney's long history of alleged racism, the company's take on a black princess is being scrutinized. Also, IWatchStuff throws in the claim that there is a bit of bestiality for good measure. Watch for yourself and see what you think.

'Princess and the Frog' Theatrical Trailer @ Yahoo! Video

Fox News has a story on another bump in the road for Robert Rodriguez' Red Sonja adaptation as Rose McGowan had to endure serious wrist and elbow surgery after suffering an injury that will put production on hold until the actress heals. I just hope this doesn't kill the project completely as McGowan looks so much better than Brigitte Nielson's big screen turn as the character. Also, you have to love the fact that McGowan is doing her own stunts. So there, I said it, despite all the bad buzz, I am actually looking forward to this.

Yahoo! Movies has released the official poster for Columbia Pictures documentary on the last performances of Michael Jackson in This Is It. Nothing too special, probably to match the film, which will more than likely not be anything more than a money pump from AEG to capitalize on the death of Jackson.

According to The Hollywood Reporter, Nicolas Cage has dropped out of the villainous role in The Green Hornet. It seems that Seth Rogen and Evan Goldberg's version of the flick just can't keep anything going for long. But, if it is like other news, such as Stephen Chow's leaving the director's chair for Michel Gondry, it can only bode well for the little film. A piece of casting news we'll be keeping an eye open for.

9 is out today, snagging the interesting release date of 09-09-09. Looks pretty decent. We'll look more at this Sunday when I'll show Shane Acker's original short film that serves as the basis of the Tim Burton/Timur Bekmambetov-produced feature.

I was alerted that today is officially A Day Without Cats online. Of course, The Cheezburger Network and 4Chan are protesting the event pretty hard, and I was going to do my part by looking up some cute cat clips from cinema. Unfortunately, when you type that into Google, you get something like this... McBeardo's Top 100 Cult Movie Nude Scenes, which to be honest wasn't all that bad of a list, and gave me a reason to watch a few clips of Dan O'Bannon's The Return of the Living Dead. When searching a similar query on YouTube, I came up with probably the only thing raunchier than the countdown up there, a red band trailer for Ralph Bakshi's X-rated cartoon Fritz the Cat. I was personally hoping to get a video of two adorable kittens re-enacting the entire "we got a full tank of gas, half a pack of cigarettes, it's dark and we're wearing sunglasses" scene from The Blues Brothers in a cardboard box car. Watching animated cats have explicit group sex in a bath tub comes in at a close second I guess. (In case it wasn't implied, the aforementioned link and the video down below are NSFW.)

P.S. Here is a real fix of kitten fun if you need it.

Friday, September 4th, 2009

One of the few true gems of cult cinema that seems to not get ANY deserved attention, mainstream or no, is Richard Elfman's 1980 semi-musical comedy Forbidden Zone. The film itself is based upon the apparently bizarre stage act of performance group The Mystic Knights of the Oingo Boingo, which would later change their name to just Oingo Boingo, featuring brothers Richard and Danny Elfman. This would be Danny Elfman's first scored film, as well as his acting debut (as Satan). The film also served as Richard's first time in the directorial role. The somewhat enigmatic cast only has one paid actor, Herve Villechaize, of Fantasy Island fame, and former boyfriend of top billed Susan Tyrrell. Background characters would also feature the Warhol Superstar Viva and the contemporary artists, The Kipper Kids. The story itself is an incredibly trippy and original tale of Frenchy Hercules and Rene's (as played by screenwriter Matthew Bright) adventure in the Sixth Dimension and dealings with the midget King Fausto and Queen Doris (Villechaize and Tyrrell). To me, it seemed like the product of a John Waters, David Lynch and Richard O'Brien collaboration. If you haven't seen it, do yourself a favor and watch it. Anyhow, the point of explaining the film is to get to the news posted on Reuters today that Michael Holmes is currently writing an adaptation for the stage to be performed at the Sacred Fools Theatre in Hollywood, California. I seriously doubt I'll ever get to see the play as there is very few venues for such thing around my small town Bible Belt community (although Barter Theatre in nearby Abington, Virginia is about the start a run of Little Shop of Horrors), but I'm excited that this could endorse some well needed attention to Richard Elfman's masterful piece of weird cinema.

The Hollywood Reporter posted today that Disney has set Tron Legacy's release date as December 17th, 2010. Turns out that this is the exact same date for Columbia Pictures' The Green Hornet. I can't see both films being released on the same day, seeing that they are probably two of the most anticipated of the coming year. I picture The Green Hornet moving up a little, hopefully not back into 2011. Also, the fear over what Disney will do with Marvel Entertainment... dickish moves like this supplant such horrendous images of what will come.

Cinematical's best, Elisabeth Rappe, has an interesting column asking readers to what movie destinations have they travelled. I personally fell in love with the premise of the recent John Hughes inspired documentary Don't You Forget About Me, and can't wait for the DVD release, as it is just a few filmmakers going on a pilgrimage to find all the important spots in Hughes' films and ultimately meet Hughes himself. Rappe speaks of a church in London that had been the backdrop for Four Weddings and a Funeral, Shakespeare in Love and the upcoming Sherlock Holmes. So it got me thinking about some possible goals for my next vacation. I have already scoped out much of John Waters' filming locations, being the streets of Hampden, a town in Baltimore, Maryland (though I would like to see more such as the now defunct Enchanted Forest park used in Cry-Baby, or the mountainous area the trailer was burnt in Pink Flamingos), as well as checking out Divine's grave. I have also been to the wonderful house used in A Christmas Story in Cleveland, Ohio on two occasions, once before it was turned into a museum honoring the wonderful holiday movie based on Jean Shepherd's writings and once afterwards. But what would be a good film pilgrimage? Any ideas? (Sad that I imagine people read this.)

Also, as suggested by the only reader, I checked out the trailer for Grant Heslov's The Men Who Stare at Goats. I first spotted the trailer on IWatchStuff, in which the author referred to as "Coen Brothers lite", so I kind of ignored it. Yet, it does look quite great. Hopefully, the inclusion of George Clooney will also get it noticed a little. Have a look and 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.

Wednesday, July 29th, 2009

I had imagined with "going green" being the bees knees in Hollywood recently, that Dr. Seuss' fantastic 1971 environmentally friendly fable The Lorax would have already been put on the big screen. The wonderful tale is my favorite children's book of all time, and through the years I have had fears of Mike Myers in a skin tight orange catsuit and a mustache that would make a proverbial lovechild of Nietzsche and Rollie Fingers blush. Yet, although I have always fancied a brilliant stop motion adaptation, Variety has announced that the inevitable has happened, and at the very least, it will take the road of the Horton Hears a Who film, and join the ranks of CGI-mania, directed by Chris Renaud, Cinco Paul and Ken Daurio. I'm sure until the release in 2012, I will rant and rejoice about this beloved gem of my childhood, but the one good thing I can say so far, is that I enjoy the tentative release date is what would have been Theodor Geisel's 105th birthday.

I mentioned stop motion animation up there, and when talking about the medium one can't help but mention Wes Anderson's upcoming The Fantastic Mr. Fox. I posted pictures a while back showing off the titular Mr. Fox, but now the official site of the film has a gallery up with some of the better pictures featuring Bill Murray having some fun with the figures being used.

The Green Hornet casting news has been littered all about my blog, and a new piece of news, courtesy of LatinoReview, states that there is a new replacement for Stephen Chow's abandoned Kato role. Famous South Korean actor Kwon Sang-woo has been confirmed by several unnamed "Chinese news outlets" to be taking the role of Seth Rogen's sidekick. The actor has yet to breakthrough stateside, so I have no clue if I should be excited or repulsed, but I'm still generally stoked about what Michel Gondry could do with a superhero flick written by Rogen and Evan Goldberg, so I seriously doubt this guy's previous credits would really matter in my overall excitement for this.

In more casting news, via IWatchStuff, Bryce Dallas Howard has joined the cast of The Twilight Saga: Eclipse, taking over for Rachelle Lefevre in the role of Victoria after some scheduling squabbles. Now, I try my best not to speak of anything pertaining to the Twilight universe, but this bit of casting intrigues me. I may be alone here, but I think Howard is a good actress, and using the little bit of knowledge I know of the Twilight books, Eclipse is when Victoria becomes a decent villain, which would seem to turn to the side of luck, albeit a slight continuity snag, for the vampire romance. This may stifle a bit of the initial complaints when I accompany the lady to the theater for this, especially added to the fact that the third installment will be directed by David Slade (of 30 Days of Night fame), who has publically criticized the original film, and the hightened chance he brings that may change this into a watchable film for anybody who isn't masturbating nightly to a cucumber with "Team Cullen" painted on it with nail polish while simultaneously using Dad's barbeque fork to simulate a vampire's bite.

Finally, Cinematical gave a link to a great blog called Reelizer today, which features cinema-based art. Some interesting stuff on there. I could picture some of these on a larger scale adorning my living room walls. Enjoy.

Thursday, July 23rd, 2009

I worked late tonight, so I come home expecting to sleep rather than blog, but then I check a few things online and get completely submerged into all of the San Diego Comic Con coverage. The first thing I find is via ComingSoon, where the 2010 Joseph Kosinski Tron sequel finally got a title, Tron Legacy.

Elsewhere, we get plenty of coverage on The Green Hornet over at Cinematical. First, director Michel Gondry raps about the upcoming feature, and in a separate story, writers Evan Goldberg and Seth Rogen (who also will star as the titular character), revealed the hero's car, a black 1966 Chrysler Crown Imperial.

It was also announced that Saw's James Wan will take over the job of director in an adaptation of one of my favorite video games of all time, Kanomi's Castlevania. I'm not crazy familiar with any of Wan's work, other than Saw; however, it may be an improvement over the last director attached to the project, Sylvain White, who previously directed Stomp the Yard, yet on the other hand has already signed on the helm the big screen version of DC Comic's The Losers.

Today, during the Avatar panel, fifteen minutes of the film was shown. Yet, if you are envious like me, and about a three day drive from San Diego, we will all get a chance to watch the preview for free on August 21st at IMAX theaters worldwide. An interesting marketing ploy for something that I felt already had quite a bit of buzz going on to not have a built in fan base already.

Away from Comic Con, well, it could have actually debuted there, but IGN doesn't have much of a write up about it, a new poster to Samuel Bayer's remake of A Nightmare on Elm Street came out today to compliment our first view of Jackie Earle Haley as Freddy Krueger yesterday. The poster features Haley again, although as before, we cannot make any of his features out.

And finally, the Alice in Wonderland trailer that I had promised yesterday. You'll have to click the link though, as embedding was disabled on Moviefone, as well as YouTube. As expected, the film definitely looks intriguing, and very Tim Burton-y.

Tuesday, July 21st, 2009

Yesterday, I blogged a bit about DC Comics' upcoming film adaptation news, and after reading through that story, I think a collective fear of fans of the superhero subgenre of films is that, especially after the massive success of last year's incredible The Dark Knight, that most of these films will just be attempts to copy and collect the reward, instead of bringing the beloved characters to life. Enter The Green Hornet, a comic film that will most certainly break the mode that has been set. The history of a Green Hornet film has always been interesting, as a 1990 re-edited group of episodes of the television series showed up as a feature film, via GoodTimes Home Video, to cash in on a resurgence of Bruce Lee fandom. Then, we saw the huge comic fanboy Kevin Smith jump aboard the wagon writing a script that was eventually abandoned. A real Hollywood movie eventually began to be realized though, when Seth Rogen, of all people, jumped on board to fill the spot of The Green Hornet role and write a script with screenplay partner Evan Goldberg, and attaching Stephen Chow as director, and star in the role of Kato. Recently, Chow dropped out of both roles, but the director slot was filled by Michel Gondry. A comic book film by Gondry? Starring Rogen? Written by the team behind Superbad? Definitely sounds like a good, original direction to be headed, even in light of the comic, that likes of which has transformed well into different genres and styles since its conception as a radio serial in 1936. The latest news however, is that Variety reports that Nicolas Cage is in negotiations to play the villain in the film. Now, some may recall the tragedy that was Cage in Ghost Rider, but we have saw what Cage can do while under a quirky director in Spike Jonze's Adaptation., which was a performance that actually doesn't deserve the "terrible actor" moniker that has befell him recently. There is also rumors about Cameron Diaz joining the cast as a love interest. Good or bad? As long as it is under Gondry and Rogen's tutelage, I can't really say anything bad about it, Diaz has actually been quite great in a few select films, such as one of my all time favorites Being John Malkovich, as well as Martin Scorsese's Gangs of New York.

More pictures are up for The Fantastic Mr. Fox, via The Rushmore Academy. It looks brilliant.

Although it pops up on every other blog on the Internet, I have been trying to avoid covering anything related to The Twilight Saga: New Moon. However, in a recent interview with RottenTomatoes, Chris Weitz takes the conversation towards music and the possibility of Radiohead's Thom Yorke working on the soundtrack. Anything to pull in a normal person, eh Twihards? I think I'll just watch "Paranoid Android" on YouTube to get my fix, and Chris Weitz can go to hell!

One of the better days for DVD releases I can ever remember. The Watchmen director's cut is out today, including Amazon's exclusive Nite Owl ship and digital bundle that I may put in a few extra hours of work and/or prostitution to get enough money to buy. Also, my long wait for a theatrical release of Jared Drake's Visioneers, starring Zach Galifianakis, was never realized, but after a short festival run, it is finally available for purchase today. To add to my list of things I didn't get to see theatrically, despite getting a limited release, The Great Buck Howard came nowhere near a local theater, so today is the first official day I will get to see the quirky looking Sean McGinly film that features the talents of John Malkovich, Tom Hanks, Colin Hanks and Emily Blunt among others. And finally, Coraline, a great piece of animation from the hands of Henry Selick that is already on a short list of the year's greatest rounds out a list that will take most of my paycheck.

I will leave you today with a video from Cinematical, which combines my love for Japanese television that I don't fully understand with a bit of a shot of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows. The video doesn't tell us much about the upcoming film, yet the scene where Daniel Radcliffe peeping around the door framing in the first few seconds is worth watching. After all these years of women having creepy pedophilic magic filled dreams, Harry Potter finally nails the look of the rapist himself.