South Korean cinema was the most exciting thing happening to film in the early 2000s. It has taken about 10 years for it’s influence to be really felt in Hollywood. Oldboy is being remade, and Jee-Woon Kim is making his first English language movie, The Last Stand. Now Park Chan-Wook is making his American debut with Stoker. The Last Stand looks pretty cool, but Stoker looks incredible.
Via Aint It Cool
Alejandro Jodorowsky’s Dune is the greatest movie that was never made full stop. Jodorowsky’s Dune would have completely changed the science fiction genre as we know it, and it indirectly did have a huge effect, Dan O’Bannon was hired to do the effects and H.R. Giger was hired to do some designs, and when the film fell through, they hooked up to make Alien. That’s just one of the many crazy stories (check out the Dali stuff) that you can read HERE
I’ve been aware of the documentary about it for a while now, but there hasn’t been too many updates. There was this trailer from a year ago:
But now there is a poster, and it is beautiful:
Via Boing Boing
Len Wiseman has been hired to shepherd the reboot of The Mummy franchise. Apparently the studio wants to take the series in an entirely different and darker direction, so they hired Wiseman. So far, if we are keeping score at home, Len Wiseman created and directed the vastly underwhelming Underworld series, he directed the infinitely dumb Live Free or Die Hard, and he directed the remake bomb of the summer Total Recall. There are two common threads in Len Wiseman movies; Kate Beckinsale (his wife), and life-less set pieces. Maybe life-less is what a Mummy film needs? Probably not.
I am at my wits end with Hollywood. I get that monster movies will continually be revised and released etc, but why are we attaching hacks to projects that could be great. Say what you want about Stephen Sommers’ Mummy films, but at least they were fun. No they weren’t be any stretch the definitive Mummy film, but they were fun adventure films that killed time. Len Wiseman can only make lense-flare filled action scenes with his wife front and center. Nothing he has made gives me confidence this is a good idea. What I can tell you is that Wiseman is the perfect director for a studio that doesn’t want to take risks. He can make your movie on time, on a lower budget, and he wont be a problem to work with! I’m sure he’s a nice guy, but we have to stop giving this guy major franchises. He can’t do it. He can film is wife’s butt awesomely though.
I think every studio should just stop and think WWGDTD (What Would Guillermo Del Toro Do?) when thinking about starting a new sci-fi/horror franchise.
This trailer is pretty great all the way up until the last line. At which point this whole trailer is turned to shit. Directed by Gus Van Sant, co-written by Matt Damon and John Krasinski, based on a story by David Eggers. All this good will goes down the drain with it’s overly cheesy trailer ending verbal emotion punch.
Hopefully Frances McDormand knocks this out of the park like she does with everything. Also there is something about Rosemarie DeWitt I just love.
Zach gave me this title last night. Russ told me I had to do it and make it really racist. I think I can make this really stupid instead.
There No Turning Black
Cedwick is a good kid. He’s smart, helps out around the house, does all of his school work, just a damn good kid. Trouble is he is the only one. The only white mage living in a town full of black mages’. His step parents have tried to turn him evil but there is nothing they can do to help. Their black magic spells don’t work on him, unlike all other white mages, so they decided they had to take him in.
Bride-along
I just realized I haven’t made a real lapse of logic shitsandwich in a few weeks, so here is my attempt at eye-rolls.
Bride-along stars Sandra Bullock in a role curiously similar to that of her character in Miss Congeniality. She’s a no nonsense detective named Grace who is engaged to be married to her longtime sweetheart, Ben played by Owen Wilson. Grace is a total alpha woman and super tough, while Ben is a really laid back, “Californian” elementary schoolteacher. They are pretty much opposites, but they make it work. The opening credits of the film show the formative years of their relationship and all of the comic instances where Grace is super tough and Ben is a complete laid back, but also pussy about stuff. As the montage scenes play on and Grace is a detective, it’s easy to notice that Ben wants commitment from her, and one day she eventually asks him to marry her.
I attempted to write about the Panda naming thing I mentioned last night during the live podcast, but nothing strong came out of the thought process. So here’s what I originally thought about writing based on a dream I had early this week.
Little Sister
We open up on a teenage boy named Tyler lying in bed, played by Max Thieriot, reading a letter. We see it’s from a girl dumping him. His mother knocks on the door and says he can’t lie around forever moping. He goes with his mother and father to a church yard sale.
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Ashley Carter’s weekly reminder that she is in fact a crazy person:
Hi Guys,
So apparently I just write the material movies are based on now. This will one day be made into a coming of age movie. Or maybe an experimental film done entirely from household objects’ points of view. Enjoy!
The Clock
I can’t believe a Jackie Robinson movie hasn’t been made yet. I feel like I’ve seen this film already, but it still looks good. Smart move opening it right before baseball season, and getting a top draw (formerly) actor like Harrison Ford to co-star in it next to a relative unknown. This movie should do very well and cost not a whole lot.
Only issue I have with the trailer is that ever prevailing idea of having modern music in old timey films. I hate it.
But the movie looks legit:
I had to put this up. You guys already know I drank the Hobbit kool-aid, so I’m loving every moment of this new trailer. How do you guys like it? It definitely seems that it has a lighter tone than the Lord of the Rings. What do you think of Radagast’s hedgehog?