Film News Round Up 8-30-10

http://www.aintitcool.com/node/46322 Ghostbusters 3
Makes sense!

http://www.bloody-disgusting.com/news/21476 Human Centipede 2
12 eh? Different Doctor?

http://www.bloody-disgusting.com/news/21475 Chillerama
Throw in Ti West perhaps, regardless i'm excited.

http://www.bloody-disgusting.com/news/21470 Underground
I like Marshall but his films haven't been exactly on my favorite lists, the Decent is his best, but CENTURION opens friday so we'll see.

http://www.bloody-disgusting.com/news/21467 The Raven
Fine casting

http://www.joblo.com/ryan-reynolds-and-bradley-cooper-set-for-cop-comedy
As long as it's better than Cop Out

http://www.joblo.com/breaking-bad-star-bryan-cranston-is-interested-in-serial-killers
Very cool, Cranston is awesome on Breaking bad, and i see him being great in a role like this.

http://www.joblo.com/directors-notes-aronofsky-for-wolverine-2-jonathan-liebesman-for-clash-of-the-titans-2
Aronofsky? While it'd be great to see a great director do a Wolverine film, i don't want to see him take on a project like this.

http://www.joblo.com/fantastic-four-reboot-has-three-rumored-director-options
Nice options

Film News Round Up 8-25-10

http://www.aintitcool.com/node/46253 David Goyer's HEAVEN'S SHADOW
Goyer is an underrated writer in my opinion, even if he helped with the Dark Knight, and this is a cool concept, i'm sick of shitty alien films, hopefully Goyer will be able to pack a punch!

http://www.bloody-disgusting.com/news/21420 Ghost Rider 2
I love me some Dracula but can we get some Morbius thrown in here at some point in a Marvel flick?

http://www.bloody-disgusting.com/news/21421 My Name Is Bruce 2
Badass! Geekass! Nerdass! Sweetass! Gimme some sugar baby, sure My Name is Bruce isn't a classic by any means, but it was alot of fun, but hearing it might be a whose who of horror icons is enough for me!


I love real life adventure flicks liek this & Into the Wild, and i love Danny Boyle, as a filmmaker i love reflecting on a directors past, as they did at the beginning of this trailer, similar to the Coens & A Serious Man's trailer. As for the film itself, i think it looks great.

Film News Roundup 8-24-10

http://www.aintitcool.com/node/46243 Piranha "4"
I gotta say, i had a blast with the Aja version, sex & violence, what more can you ask for in a gore flick? Elizabeth Shue...that's it, plus cameos galore, including a favorite of mine in Dreyfus's song at the beginning! Bring on a sequel!

http://www.aintitcool.com/node/46247
Will he ever do something like Swingers or Go again? Who knows, but he is good at what he does, so more power to him!

http://www.joblo.com/total-recalls-paul-verhoeven-back-with-a-new-project-about-psychic-muslims
I'd love to see Verhoeven back in action!

http://www.bloody-disgusting.com/news/21400 Hellraiser
It might wind up to be pure shit, but it might be fun to rent a Hellraiser flick again.

http://www.bloody-disgusting.com/news/21395 Hostel 3
Not much of news, but it'd be nice to see Spiegel get a theatrical film.

http://www.bloody-disgusting.com/news/21392
http://www.bloody-disgusting.com/news/21396 George Romero
Any Romero for me is good Romero!

From Midnight With Love: 70's Cult Films

http://frommidnight.blogspot.com/ Fellow MIDWEST! blogger, The Mike from the awesome From Midnight With Love wants us to come up with our list of essential films from the 70's, my favorite decade, this may be hard to get down to 5, but damn it to hell, here are mine.

Also note, to some these may not be "cult" films, but hey the masses don't really watch em, so...yeah, to me they are!


Rocky Horror Picture Show
My favorite film of all time, tied with Clerks that is, the film i've seen in theatres more than any other film, my commitment to the part of Frank N Furter even led to me getting a tattoo of his boss/heart tattoo. It's a B Movies fans wet dream, full of references to the past, plus it unfold the convention of B movies in such a glorious & humorous way.



Dawn of the Dead

In my opinion, the greatest horror film made, so brilliant, Romero's true masterpiece, he took Night of the Living Dead to the next level in this one, very funny & some of the best gore in film history. I lvoe it so much i went to the Monroeville Mall just to see the locations.



Halloween
The best slasher of all time, and my favorite film by my favorite filmmaker. People can say what they want about the slasher sub genre, but Halloween is in a league of its own.



Taxi Driver
It may not be Scorsese's best film, to me that honor goes to Goodfellas, maybe Shutter Island or the Departed, but my favorite film of his is Taxi Driver. Such a brilliant film, perfectly shot, the colors, the tone, it perfectly captured the way Vietnam warped minds, it feels like a studio version of an exploitation film.



Phantasm
To me it's the beginning of the best horror series ever(well toss up with this and Evil Dead). This and Evil Dead together are actually apart of my dream project as a screen writer. I've met Reggie Banister and he is the coolest mother fucker there is!

Film News Round Up 8/20/10

http://www.joblo.com/david-slade-set-to-direct-wolverine-sequel-for-fox
Sure he's doign Twatlight, but atleast he can do an entertaining comic flick, like 30 Days of Night, shut up, i liked it.

http://www.joblo.com/bruce-willis-and-danny-trejo-join-carey-mulligan-and-saiorse-ronan-in-violet-daisy
Nice

http://www.joblo.com/tim-burton-reunites-with-his-ed-wood-screenwriters-for-the-addams-family-and-big-eyes
The original Adam's Family felt Burton esque, and Burton has been hit & miss recently, but with the Ed Wood team, i say it's in good hands.

http://www.joblo.com/john-woo-wants-liam-neeson-to-fly-unfriendly-skies-in-his-wwii-imax-epic-flying-tigers
Liam can do award winning serious films, then do genre films & blockbusters at the same time. I'd like to see Woo do old school flicks again, but atleast he's got projects rolling again.

http://www.joblo.com/new-teenage-mutant-ninja-turtles-movie-gets-writers
Ubber pumped for this one, i love the Turtles cartoons but i'd love for a gritty comic version to appear on the big screen atleast once!

http://www.thewrap.com/movies/column-post/paramount-projects-exposed-will-smith-kathryn-bigelow-jj-abrams-20208
Alot of those i'm excited for, Zoolander 2 anyone!?

http://www.joblo.com/whos-on-the-list-to-play-peter-parkers-love-interest-in-the-new-spider-man
Fuck yes for Gwen! Fuck yes for Winstead!

http://www.joblo.com/alexandre-aja-goes-from-piranhas-in-3d-to-cobra-space-pirate
I'll review Piranha tomorrow but i'm digging Aja's work, so i say bring it on!

Expendables/A Team

Last Friday i saw the Expendables, which stars a whose who of action stars going overseas to overtake corruption & save the girl. The next day i finally saw the A Team, with soem non action stars trying to clear their name. One is a hard R film, the other is glossy PG 13, both are over the top, but one featured plenty of gore and the other disappointed at the box office. This is the year for men on a mission films, last year we had GI Joe, which fucking sucked, seriously it sucked harder than a guy at a glory hole. Then we had Inglorious Basterds, which wasn't quite a man on a mission film, but i still loved, it was classic Tarantino. 2010 however has offered some fun men on a mission films, The Losers was tons of fun, and a cheap(for studios anyhow) DC Comics flick. The A Team to me did what GI Joe wanted to do, be a fun summer blockbuster, now some will say GI Joe was that, but as a GI JOe comic/cartoon/action figure fan, i hated it. The A Team captured the show, while some say it wasn't, to me it felt like a hollywood version of the series, and not a bastardisation(no pun intended) of a beloved series. Which brings us to the Expendables, which is what GI Joe should've been aswell, a special ops team sent on a mission, with jokes & gore, sure GI Joe didn't need the gore, but hey, i'm a gore hound and get a kick out of it. Later this year, RED comes out, which looks like alot of fun, but i'm not that familiar with the comic for which it is based. 2010 is a fun year, with soem good genre fare, especially in the MOM subgenre of action flicks. My favorite of the bunch is the Expendables which my theatre was a geek fueled blast of awesomeness.

Film News Round Up 8-17-10

http://www.joblo.com/paramount-to-turn-hyped-graphic-novel-last-man-standing-into-a-film
I remember seeing this at Con, never gave it much of a thought though, seem cool though.

http://www.joblo.com/a-live-actioncg-bugs-bunny-film-from-the-writer-of-elf-its-true
I'm all for Looney Toons, but i feel this will be retarded.

http://www.joblo.com/karl-urban-will-be-the-law-in-the-new-judge-dredd-movie
That's a pretty kick ass choice, he was the best part of Star Trek, and havign a gritty Dredd will be all sorts of badass.

http://www.bloody-disgusting.com/news/21304 Toyer
Fuck YES! De Palma returns to horror!

http://www.bloody-disgusting.com/news/21303 Terminator
All i'm gonna say is.....GOOD...that is all.

http://www.joblo.com/rooney-mara-cast-alongside-daniel-craig-in-dragon-tattoo
Very hott chick in Youth in Revolt and Night on Remake ST, but i don't know if she can pull this off, then again, she may be a huge surprise.

http://www.joblo.com/want-a-sequel-always-bet-on-black-dynamite
This makes me say WOWOWOWHOHOHO

http://www.joblo.com/the-x-men-first-class-cast-grows-and-grows----how-about-january-jones-zoe-kravitz-and-more
Frost is in the film...that's all that matters.


Fuck yes!


So we got a movie about online porn, facebook & viagra, all coming out soon....maybe that should be spelt with a U.


Interesting


I'm not a big fan of Crowe but this looks like a very decent film. Good cast plus Haggis is a talent.


Holy fuck, this flick was shot for supposedly around 15 thousand, makes me feel good to know films can be made on the cheap like this, genre films i mean, and good looking ones at that.


Looks like loads of fun.


OH MY GOD...Holy shit, that looks amazing, i've been excited for this film since i first read about it, even more so now.


This flick i've been weary on, but while i trailer is a tad underwhelming, i still have to say it caught my interest.


Routh is getting more awesome with each project.

Film News Round up 8-10-10

http://www.joblo.com/jack-black-to-reteam-with-richard-linklater-on-bernie
I've still yet to see Linklater's latest film, but i'm not the biggest fan of School Of Rock, i like Jack Black just fine, and want him to have a good flick, i just hope this is it.

http://www.joblo.com/adam-mckay-wants-jim-carrey-or-edward-norton-for-his-lee-atwater-biopic
Still need to see The Other Guys, but i like how McKay is branching out in his film career it seems.

http://www.joblo.com/jason-bateman-is-suggesting-jennifer-aniston-for-a-part-in-the-arrested-development-movie
I don't care for Aniston, but i would love to see Arrested Development the movie, who knows maybe Aniston will be back to her old Office Space self before it lenses.

Seconds

So one of my favorite book stores/art galleries is Polyester, it just opened a few months ago but is helping bring film to Omaha, good film, great film, the owner has exploitation films lined up, a drive in(fuck yes) and they do roof top showings of classic films such as Cool Hand Luke, Buckaroo Banzai & Cinema Paradiso. Last night they played Seconds, holy fuck, for those who haven't seen it, watch it! I was amazed, shot gloriously, gorgeous black & white, great story, cinematography, everything.

It's about Arthur Hamilton (John Randolph), an older man married to Emily(Frances Reid), but he doesn't seem happy, he then receives a phone call from an old friend of his, Charlie Evans (Murray Hamilton), who tells him to go and seek out this organization, it's very word of mouth, they drug Arthur and tell him about his death, a faked death so he can start a new life, to become a second, he agrees and becomes Tony Wilson(Rock Hudson), and has a whole life in process as an artist. He meets Nora(Salome Jens) and the two become an item, even going to hippie fests making wine, it is all eggs & hashbrowns until Tony gets drunk at a party and starts spilling his guts to everyone. Luckily everyone there are also seconds, however it doesn't go good for him, he wants his old life back, visits his ex wife, finds out she thought he was distant, tries to get a new life again, but is denied when he refuses to sponsor someone, aka do the word of mouth as Charlie did to him. They finally agree but there is a double cross of sorts.

The film has moments you almost feel inspired Martin Scorsese, Darren Aronofsky, and is a product of it's time, yet ahead of it's time at the same time. It has some very psychedelic sces, and a very trippy credit sequence. I loved this film, i need to own it.

Bitten

So Fangoria was giving out dvds at Comic Con, the dvd in question was Bitten, starring Jay Mewes, and it's....it's...oh HI Tommy.

The film is about Jack(Mewes), a paramedic who needs some loving, he hates working the nightshift, and his partner Roger(Richard Fitzpatrick) is always taking shits. One night while walking home he spots a girl, Danika(Erica Cox), all bloodied up laying in the trash, he takes her in and she begins to crash there with him. Danika seems all drugged up, atleast to Roger, who only wants her around for Jack to fuck, which he does, but once Jack's ex arrives, the truth is told, the fangs are out, and death becomes her. Jack initially is freaked out, but begins to bring Danika victims. After a while he begins to lose sleep, and Roger is getting pissed, it's either the job or the girl, but when Danika goes after Roger, Jack gets pissed, locks her up, takes a walk, sees happy couples, goes back and Danika goes after him, Roger attempts to rescue him, but Danika bites Jack. Doesn't really mean anything, he'll just be accused of being a fang banger, but Roger stakes her anyhow.

The film at first i thought was good, five minutes later, i thought it was bad, then it went to so bad it's good, then maybe they made it this mad on purpose, hell they had maraca music between scenes. Tommy Wiseau has said he wants to make a vampire film, this could be it, Jack brings her victims then gets pissed when he sees blood on the floor, the dialogue is shit, but it's an entertaining piece of shit i'll say that.


Only trailer i could find.

Film News Round Up 8-8-10

http://www.joblo.com/viggo-mortensen-goes-back-on-the-road-with-amy-adams
NICE, very nice, i love On The Road, and getting Viggo involved is great news.

http://www.joblo.com/tony-scott-attached-to-direct-adaptation-of-mark-millar-and-steve-mcnivens-nemesis
I'm a fan of Millars work, i much prefer his Wanted comic to the film, but i have yet to read this, Scott is a hit & miss director, not that he's bad, just doesn't always deliver the goods, but as a HUGE True Romance fan, i'm more than willing to overlook lesser films of his.

Puppet Master: Axis of Evil & REC 2

So i recently bought the original Puppet Master and won the newest one, aswell i purchased a bootleg of REC 2. Well here's the thing, they're both pretty much the same as the others in their respective series. Axis of Evil is pretty much every other Puppet Master flick but with World War 2 undertones, which is not a bad thing at all. So what is the point of this? Well it's similar to the rest, which is not a bad thing at all, i just prefer the earlier ones. The real point is REC 2, it is also pretty much like the original, found footage, same building ect, ect, ect...however with REC 2, i much prefer it to the original. REC was great, Quarantine was shot for shot but not as effective, REC 2 starts off kicking ass, and does so for an hour & a half, and the ending is great, brign on REC 3, sure it'll be more of the same, but it atleast has to be continued points(not really in the Back to the Future kind of way).

Hell's Pizza

I've recently have gotten in to chose your own stories in the realm of comics, and there are a few indies that seem interesting coming out soon that i found out about at Comic Con, i just found this on Aint it Cool News, seems awesome so far.

Comic Con, Inception, Mandy Lane, Mutant Girl Squad, Scott Pilgrim & The Kids are Alright

So 2 weeks ago i left for vacation, to the San Diego Comic Con, i'm just a city boy, born a raised in midtown Omaha, i hopped a midnight train going anywhere....and it was relaxing, it almost felt like i was stoned, anyhow i left on a Sunday night/Monday morning around midnight, and got to San Diego on a Wednesday morning around 6 am. after venturing around the city and checking into our hotel, my uncle & I went to go see Inception!

Inception is the story of a ground a mind thiefs who extract ideas, however when one of their marks, Saito(Ken Watanabe) gets the better of them, he makes an offer. The offer is to implant an idea in the head of Robert Fischer(Cillian Murphy), that will cost his fathers business, a competitor of Saitos. SO Dominic(Leonardo DiCaprio) and his team, Arthur (Joseph Gordon-Levitt), Eames (Tom Hardy) & Yusuf (Dileep Rao), agree to it. They need one person to help them create worlds so Dominic goes to Miles(Michael Caine) who helps him enlist Ariadne (Ellen Page). The group must go through several levels of consciousness, dreaming within dreams and over come Dominics haunted past with his wife(Marion Cotillard) before succeeding in their job...or did they? As the ending leaves questions that could be left for interpretation. Is it the best film of the year that many asre claiming? I still got to go with Shutter Island, is it my favorite film of the year thus far? No, but i'll get to that in a bit.



Then the next day was Comic Con, we arrived at 7 to get in at 9, huge lines, unbelievable, the 4 day event was amazing, i met Edgar Wright, Llyod Kaufman, Adam Green, James GUnn, Darren Bousman, Adam Rifkin, Bill Moseley, Sid Haig, Charles Band, i didn't get pictures with them all as some were greeting/sayign goodbye as they were taking off, others like Sid Haig, wasn't too pleasant. Bill Moseley is a cool mother fucker, he was just chilling right behind me during the Troma panel, Edgar Wright was nice enough to stop for a picture with me while walking the exhibit hall, but Haig refused to do shit unless he saw money. Reggie Bannister one of the coolest cats i've ever met, we spoke for like 15 minutes about Don Coscarelli, Angus Scrimm, Bruce Campbell, my projects, a bunch of stuff. Plus a i shot a promo video with Llyod Kaufman for a local theatre that refuses to have a Troma weekend.







Over the 4 days i received alot of free shit, Scott Pilgrim shirts, pins & wristbands, Expendables shirts, Green Lantern shirts, Sushi Typhoon shirts, I Spit on Your Grave wristbands, free food, free comics, a free Lost pin & book, even got free dvds(Bitten with Jay Mewes from Fangoria, and the newest Puppet Master, by spinning a wheel after purchasing the first).

The panels were cool, went to a Gamera retrospective, Scott Pilgrim in the massive hall h, in which he told people if they had a certain pin that they'd get to see the film that night, i didn't but everyone got to see it the next day, well first come first serve that is. I also attended the awesome Sushi Typhoon panel, and was given a shirt. The next day, was in line for the Walkign Dead for 2 hours before not gettign into it, on Saturday there was a stabbing in Hall H, a line i was in to see Paul, Cowboys & Aliens, Thor, Captain America & Kevin Smith, was in line for 2 hours before not getting in, which was good since i saw Troma instead. The Troma panel was a gift to filmmakers, talked alot about low budget filmmaking, showed soem fine clips & trailers and they all goofed around for an hour(Green, Bousman, Rifkin, Kaufman & Gunn). I went to the last half of the Tommy Wiseua panel(i missed the short film he starred in, but got a mask!), pure awesomenes. Other panels attended was a Lost panel & a Gene Rodenberry panel.

The exhibit hall was great, especially the Walking Dead booth, full of props, speaking of props, there were plenty of film props to go around, the Famous Monsters booth was great, seeing a bunch of new figures was a blast too, funny enough the whole time we were there, we were looking for horror films & underground comics, more so than Marvel or DC. I bought Galaxy of Terror, Combat Shock & a bootleg of Rec 2!





Now there were other free things going on, alot of it outdoors, without even having to own a badge, the outdoor shit was fun as fuck, especially seeing David Hasselhoff singing on a double decker bus, plus the whole area downtown was Comic Con'd out, it was everywhere, oh and the chicks were very nice! There was a Robert Rodriguez after party that we thought we had invites to, however our invites were invites to get the real invites. IT was still cool as it was an outdoor party and we could still see it, including the new trailer, and footage from Machete!But my favorite thing was the free film screenings!







The first night went to a midnight screening of All The Boys Love Mandy Lane, which i might say is the best slasher since Halloween, i loved it. Mandy Lane(Amber Heard) used to eb an outcast along with her friend(Emmet Scrimm) however after Emmet egged a popular kid on to his death, Mandy Lane ditched Emmet to become "popular". She goes to a farm with several kids who get picked off one by one, until it's down to mandy, the killer and the man in charge of the ranch, Garth, there are soem twist & turns but it leads to a satisfying film, my only complaint was learning who the killer was way to early, there should have been some red herrings.





The film to end all films though, my favorite film of the year, based upon my favorite comic book, i waited in line for 4 hours to see, SCOTT PILGRIM! Holy shit was this an experience, Edgar Wright introduced the cast, then the film began, it begins with an 8 Bit Nintendo esque version of the Universal logo, then the film begins, and i don't even know if i can describe it, it rocked my world, as soon as Kim(Alison Pill) shouted WE ARE SEX BOMB-OMB the whole crowd shouted 1 2 3 4! IT was a raucous crowd to say the least, and the opening credits were great! It's about Scott(Michael Cera) who is in a band Sex Bomb-omb with Kim & Steven Stills(always say his full name) played by Mark Webber, along with their biggest fan Young Neil(Johnny Simmons). Scott is dating a high schooler, Knives Chau(Ellen Wong) she's chinese, he then meets Ramona Flowers(Mary Elizabeth Winstead), leaves Knives for her and must defeat her 7 evil ex's, Mathew Pattel(Satya Bhabha), Lucas Less(an always getting better by each film Chris Evans), Todd Ingram(Brandon Routh), Roxy(Cera's Arrested Development co star Mae Whitman), the twins Kyle & Ken,(Shota Saito & Keita Saito) and finally Gideon Graves(Jason motha fuckin Schwartzman). For the most part it follows all 6 graphic novels, again it's for the msot part, just a couple tweaks here & there, but i didn't mind them at all, especially considerign the 6 book was being written at the same time this was.
The cast is great, especially Scott's gay roommate Wallace Wells(Kieran Culkin), and so was Jule Powers(Aubrey Plaza) and Stacey Pilgrim(Anna Kendrick), and so were the minor characters, and the little comic book bubbles, the video games sounds, and the cameo of the Vegan Police! In the comic and the film i still would have chosen Kim over all the chicks, but that's me, but the film was a geektastic event that ended in a huge near 5 minute long standing ovation, Edgar came out again thanked everyone and brought out Brian O'Malley. Some will say Cera is playing Cera again, but as a huge Pilgrim fan, i bought him in the role and didn't think of him as Evan from Superbad, but Scott Pilgrim!



The other film i saw was Mutant Girl Squad, which is the story of a group of girls with powers that transform parts of their bodies, they soon become a terrorist organization, but three of them chose to fight from with in, but may ultimately end up doing what their group had originally planned anyhow. It's one of the most over the top & fun films i've seen in a long time.



I also saw Rocky Horror with the awesome San Diego shadow cast, Crazed Imaginations. The final day was going around the booths a last time, until havign to leave and come back home. On the way though i decided i liek life on the road, so i'm gonna hit the road next year, and take Crackel on tour, which will be going into production with in the next 2 months. Since i've been home however, it's been all the same, but i long for more events like this one, second convention in a year isn't bad though). I did see The Kids Are Alight

It's the story Joni & Lazer(Mia Wasikowska & Josh Hutcherson) 2 kids whoes parents are lesbians, Nic & Jules(Annette Bening & Julianne Moore), and they seak out to find their sperm donor, Paul(Mark Ruffalo). Once he enters their life he becomes a father figure of sorts for the kids, and engages into a sexual relationship with Jules, the family then hits a rocky stage, and everyone has to come to terms with mistakes, and events that have happened. It's a very good little flick, that may be this years Little Miss Juno. Just to await to backlash it'll receive months down the line.