Thursday, December 10th, 2009

Mickey Rourke was great in The Wrestler. That was probably because Rourke is Randy "The Ram" Robinson. So, despite one of the better lead performances this side of Philip Seymour Hoffman this decade, it is always somewhat worrisome when the news of Rourke's hiring comes, especially if it is a flick as anticipated as Iron Man 2. Faith may be restored a bit more now, as this new poster for Jon Favreau's second installment of the Marvel franchise features Rourke as a very convincing Whiplash. Not to say that my faith ever completely faltered though, with Favreau and Robert Downey, Jr. being very capable hands for the comic-to-screen adaptation. Another addition to this poster, from the Cinematical article that I first saw it, claims that the rumor mill has been speculating that we will see a trailer for this by the end of the year before either Sherlock Holmes (which would be fitting) or Avatar.

Speaking of James Cameron's Avatar, via another Cinematical article, the huge-budget science fiction film screened for critics today, and the linked article lists several ecstatic Twitter mini-reviews. Does this get you stoked, or further the unattainable pedestal that we all will inevitably have this on after all the hype that is soon to go into onslaught mode for the December 18th release?

Spoiler TV is reporting that Jonah Hex currently has out a casting call for reshoots, as rumors are also circulating that Francis Lawrence has come aboard to help the troubled direction from Jimmy Hayward (it might be noted that Jonah Hex is Hayward's first live action feature, as his directorial debut was last year's Horton Hears a Who). Let's hope that, especially the source being Spoiler TV, that everything is still ok within the production of this film, probably the last chance for salvation within the sub-genre of the R-rated comic book movie.

Wednesday, December 9th, 2009

Aside from the Pocahontas, here is some decent zombified cosplay of the Disney princesses, courtesy of Geekologie.

The only real piece of news worth mentioning today comes from a story in the Los Angeles Times stating that Josh Brolin is being considered to star in a third installment into the Men in Black franchise, by either playing Agent K (portrayed by Tommy Lee Jones in the original two films) as a young man, or his successor. I'm still not really sold on a third MIB, but if the powers that be must cash in on this franchise one more time, and Jones is not going to be part of it, I suppose Brolin is a good choice, especially after his nerd stock will rise after next year's Jonah Hex.

Finally, to end a rather short post today, here is the red band trailer for Youth in Revolt, Michael Cera's latest film. It actually looks pretty funny, and I was shocked when I looked it up and found that Zach Galifianakis has a supporting role in the film, as well as Mary Kay Place, Jean Smart and Steve Buscemi to name a few. Anyhow, I find it amazing at how many films Galifianakis has been appearing in lately. A great, underrated year, with all his movie work and his Between Two Ferns series on Funny Or Die.

(Note: By pure accidental coincidence I linked to the first episode of Between Two Ferns, in which the guest was Youth in Revolt star Cera... enjoy.)

Youth In Revolt Red Band Trailer - watch more funny videos

Tuesday, December 8th, 2009

Ever since I began this blog, one of the mainstays has become casting news for Sam Raimi's upcoming Spider-Man 4. The latest batch, via Movieline, of news concerning Peter Parker's newest silver screen adversary contains the one and only John Malkovich being rumored to play the role of The Vulture. I don't really know anything about The Vulture, and personally am behind both the rumors for Dylan Baker to finally take his role of Dr. Curt Connors to the villainous The Lizard and Bruce Campbell to take over a larger role in some capacity against the web-slinging hero. Still, I can't say that I can be truly against anything that has Malkovich in it. What I can be against though, is with the plethora of baddies that Spider-Man has faced over the years, that Raimi is thinking of creating a new one, The Vulturess, played by Anne Hathaway, earlier rumored to take on the role of Felicia Hardy/The Black Cat. Does this ludicrous part two of Movieline's article tend to take this over the edge of believability? Probably.

On another casting note that seems to dominate my blog, The Hollywood Reporter has an article today stating that The Hobbit will begin casting this week for every role except Gandalf, which is being reserved for Sir Ian McKellen. In an interview with Peter Jackson, he vows to not bow under star pressure for the film, stating that the star of the series and his Lord of the Rings adaptation was J.R.R. Tolkien, not any of the actors. Jackson wouldn't comment on if Andy Serkis and Hugo Weaving was a lock to return to their respective roles of Gollum and Elrond. The producer also denies rumors that James McAvoy had been approached for a rather large role (a rumor I had actually not heard before reading THR's story) and that the production of the films had been put on a delay.

After the seemingly endless list of lawsuits that streamed from the aftermath of Borat: Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan, it has been kind of shocking to me that the same level of legal troubles hasn't plagued Sacha Baron Cohen's latest raunchy comedy Bruno. Yet, finally, according to The Daily Mail, a lawsuit seeking over $100 million has recently popped up. The lawsuit stems from the scene where Bruno supposedly interviews at real life terrorist in a refugee camp, claimed to be the Lebanese leader of a group called Al Aqsa Martyrs Brigade. Turns out, the actual man interviewed, Ayman Abu Aita, is a grocer, a self-proclaimed peace activist, Palestinian and interviewed at a hotel outside of Bethlehem. Not only does this kill any comedy the scene had, but after Cohen's stories of how he actually got the clip with the terrorist, most famously during his appearance on The Late Show with David Letterman, but it certainly makes us wonder that with the low key legal department, that most of this flick was completely scripted. I mean, some of the scenes, such as the parent interviews, or Paula Abdul's cameo, seems so outrageously unbelievable, that now we have to assume that we've been had. Is it still funny to see Cohen's flopping penis in the midst of a focus group or a black baby hanging from a cross? Yes, but if we wanted scripted raunch, we would pull out some old John Waters DVDs.

According to BoxOfficeMojo, the latest in the spoof craze of films, Transylmania, set the record for all time low box office gross for a film debuting in over 1,000 theaters. Thank God, now maybe this will discourage Jason Friedberg and Aaron Seltzer from continuing their careers.

On a final note, Cinematical's Jenni Miller had an article today complaining on the continued use of the term "The Wachowski Brothers" since Larry Wachowski has recently came out to live his life as a woman, now being referred to as Lana Wachowski. First time I heard this, and I though rather interesting news to pass along.

Monday, December 7th, 2009

I was quite saddened a few months back when I read that Robert Luketic would be taking over the directorial position on the Barbarella remake, a project that had once been in the hands of someone more familiar with exploitation film, Robert Rodriguez. Trading Rodriguez for the guy most famous for directing Legally Blonde just doesn't really click for me. Anyhow, ever since Luketic's name became attached, it seems as if the project has took another dive into development hell, as no casting or production news has came forth. Despite the lack of news, a Cinematical article takes a look at this Absolut Vodka ad starring Zooey Deschanel as a blonde and noting the similarities to the erotic science fiction vixen. Would Deschanel take such a raunchy role? Despite looking the part, I can't really see Deschanel taking the role of a sexpot and leaving her (or our) comfort zone as the quirky girl. It would be like Janeane Garofalo taking the titular role in a reboot of Barb Wire. Sure, she could pull it off, but why?

In other kind of casting news, CinemaSpy reports that Tom Waits is in talks to join the cast for The Hobbit. The eccentric actor/singer whom last appeared in Terry Gilliam's soon-to-be-released The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus, carries the right audience to fit in without too much argument from the hardcore Middle-earth-to-cinema fans. Still, who would Waits play? The consensus coming from the message boards I've been surfing through is the voice for Smaug. Although, this will cross another popular Internet rumor that Ron Perlman, a frequent collaborator with director Guillermo del Toro, will be taking up the voice acting duties for the dragon. Still, something to think about as we slowly trudge forward to the next piece of Hobbit news.

Shockingly, The Blind Side took the top spot at the box office in its third week of release, toppling the current reign of The Twilight Saga: New Moon... also in its third week. Is those top two in the runnings enough to make a cineaste slightly depressed? If so, maybe it is a bit of a spirit lift to note that per theater, nothing touches Disney's latest return to traditional animation with The Princess and the Frog and Jason Reitman's highly praised Up in the Air, which landed overall in the sixteenth and thirteenth positions respectively.

Friday, December 4th, 2009

'Twas a slow news day today, so I'll share with you my big find, a Chinese toy company, Hot Toys. They were behind the awesome Joker figure from The Dark Knight that surfaced last year, but I didn't notice the company behind it then. They are currently releasing new additions to the Iron Man and 300 series that are definitely worth your time.

Yesterday, I mentioned that Jason Reitman's upcoming Up in the Air was named by the National Board of Review the film of the year, creating a significant amount of Oscar buzz. I don't know if I have already said it or not, but usually after something with George Clooney is released, I automatically assume it will be overrated due to an insane amount of political power the former People's sexiest man has on the movie industry and award ceremonies. That may be bad, as Good Night, and Good Luck was an outstanding film and generally his acting is pretty solid. Maybe it was my feeling that Michael Clayton got way too much attention, I don't know. Anyhow, I watched the trailer and did some digging for Up in the Air and it has quickly gained a top spot in my must see list. The trailer down below looks quite great, and the supporting cast, all of whom had their roles written especially for them from Reitman, includes Vera Farmiga, Anna Kendrick, Jason Bateman, Danny McBride, Melanie Lynskey, Sam Elliott, J.K. Simmons and the wonderful Zach Galifianakis. That is truly a cast anybody can get behind. Anyhow, enjoy the trailer.

Thursday, December 3rd, 2009

It seems that every time I notice The Hobbit in the news, it is always something disappointing. This time, in a German interview transcribed by TheOneRing with Peter Jackson, to promote his upcoming, critically appraised film The Lovely Bones, announced that filming would be pushed back to July-ish 2010. The producer of J.R.R. Tolkien's predecessor to the epic The Lord of the Rings did not elaborate on if it would affect the projected release dates of December 2011 and 2012, but we have to assume it will. This just adds to the turmoil that is MGM's financial troubles swirling just over the head of the films' pre-production. For something to perk you up after reading that, here is a link that I've been stuck on since reading the article on TheOneRing... New Zealand's Red Carpet Tours, taking us to the filming locations around the beautiful country. The 12 night tour is actually only $180 U.S. dollars, while the one night tour from Auckland to Hobbiton is $140. After blogging, I will probably spend the rest of the night, wishingly searching Orbitz for cheap flights.

I was going to make a joke about the economy to segue into this Variety article on how the box office this year will probably break the record for raking in some $10 billion, topping last year by 8%, but I find most of the economy talk rather insipid. Anyhow, those estimates come before the releases of Alvin and the Chipmunks: The Squeakuel, which despite the horrendousness that will surely be contained within the hour and a half run time, will bring in the bucks from the kiddies out there, as well as potential blockbusters Sherlock Holmes and James Cameron's Avatar, not to mention a box office sleeper, the Oscar hopeful Invictus.

Invictus' Oscar dreams is another decent segue as the National Board of Review named their film of the year today, via Cinematical. The winner of the honor is Jason Reitman's latest, Up in the Air, starring George Clooney, whom also took home the NBR honor of Best Actor, tied with Morgan Freeman's Invictus performance. Taking home honors in the NBR's Ten Best Films were also good movie nerd fare such as (500) Days of Summer, Inglourious Basterds, A Serious Man, Up, Star Trek and Where the Wild Things Are.

Pajiba reported today that a rumored remake of Alfred Hitchcock's classic The Birds is back up and running with a new director attached, Dennis Iliades, the man behind the remake of Wes Craven's The Last House on the Left. I think somewhere in there I saw Michael Bay's name as producer, which almost assures that this already bad idea of trying to recreate the genius of Hitchcock by "modernizing" it, will be a total disaster.

Check out the new site MovieClips.com. The site boasts some 12,000 movie clips, with some good categorizations (I appreciate that at least) and even a bit of trivia. Anyhow, I'm not really sure why I chose the "Snap Out of It!" scene of Moonstruck as a demonstration, but I hope you enjoy nonetheless.

Wednesday, December 2nd, 2009

Empire Magazine is turning twenty, and in response they have released this incredible gallery of pictures on their web site, featuring stars in photographs reminiscent of some of their more popular roles since the magazine's release. Pictured is one of the more dapper pictures of Mel Gibson post-Passion of the Christ and anti-Semitism, with the iconic Braveheart paint. Also included in the star-studded pictorial are Arnold Schwarzenegger, Christian Bale, Simon Pegg, Nick Frost, Anthony Hopkins, Jodie Foster, Sam Neill, Daniel Radcliffe, Emma Watson, Rupert Grint, Clint Eastwood, Morgan Freeman, Michael Sheen, Ben Stiller, Laurence Fishburne, Keira Knightley, James McAvoy, Sean Bean, Viggo Mortensen, Jack Nicholson, Matt Damon, Woody and Buzz Lightyear, Gerard Butler, Kevin Spacey and Tom Cruise. Quite a list, check it out.

A lot of award talk the past few weeks on here, and yet another ceremony has released its nominations. This time, the International Animated Film Society's Annie Awards, via Cinematical, announced that Henry Selick's underrated 3-D stop motion flick Coraline led the pack with ten nominations, with the much more lauded, and equally good film, Pixar's Up coming in second place with nine.

Variety reported today that two 3-D sequels are in the works. First, from Paramount, Zombieland will return to the big screen in a new chapter with the 3-D treatment. Is this a good idea? Zombieland was great, but I'm not sure how a sequel can be made without diluting what the original had. Not to mention that I'm still not really on board with the entire 3-D fad going on in the movie industry at the moment. The second sequel mentioned in the article is even more shocking, and uncalled for within the medium... a third Jackass film. I am willing to place my entire year's wages in a bet that the first thing filmed will be Chris Pontius' penis in 3-D.

Despite not being film news per say, due to Marvel Comics close link to cinema I feel it relevant to post a link to the bitchin' concept art of a Marvel themed amusement park being built in the United Arab Emirates, courtesy of Gamma Squad. It looks absolutely incredible, and furthers the notion that we should probably be packing up and moving to Dubai pretty soon.