Archive for June, 2011

  • 05 Jun

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    Your Pointless but Fun Item for Today

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    This guy takes movie stills with guns in them and replaces them with the zapper guns from the old 16-bit Nintendo system. Like I said, pointless but fun.

     

  • 05 Jun

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    Everybody’s Doing Drugs… Especially in the TV/Movies

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    Ever noticed how many movies have people taking or selling drugs? Yeah, it’s damn near all of them. Most of the time it’s coke or pot but in a lot of cases things are just creatively made up by screenwriters. Sometimes just for fun, sometimes just to have more unrealistic side effects that are needed for a character’s personality or development and sometime just to move along a plot that would otherwise be pretty much impossible (see Luke Skywalker in the Bacta tank in Episode V). And it’s not just movies, but also television shows and video games.

    So I see this all the time but it’s never dawned on me just how prevalent this practice actually is. But the other day I ran across this pretty neat Wiki article that is a pretty comprehensive list of all the made-up drugs in the movie universe. A couple of my favorites…

    Turbolax in Dumb and Dumber, The Geoffrey from Get Him to the Greek: A joint “laced with heroin, LSD, cocaine, ecstasy, and [possibly] PCP.”

    Here’s the complete list.

     

  • 03 Jun

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    We Talk Amongst Ourselves (The Great Comic Book Movie Debate)

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    It is Mamo! vs. Cinecast over at The Substream as we debate whether or not Superhero Comic Book Movies (SCBMs) are a viable genre that is built to last.

    Enjoy!

  • 03 Jun

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    Trailer Roundup

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    Oops. It’s been so busy I’ve missed the last two weeks of trailers and yet, not an astronomical amount of material to cover but what there is is, mostly, pretty darn good.

    The Descendants

    Last week, Kurt posted the really appealing poster for Amexander Payne’s upcoming comedy starring George Clooney as a guy who is trying to re-connect with his daughters. I remember when Payne’s Sideways hit the scene a few years ago and swept everyone off their feet. I enjoyed the movie but it’s one I’ve liked less with each viewing (after the second I decided never again or I may end hating the bloody thing) likely because I dislike both of the characters (though the actors put in fine performances). I’m thinking Clooney’s Matt King might be a little more likeable for repeated long, term appeal. Certainly looks like it’ll doll out a few funny and touching moments.

    On a side note, Clooney is aging like an old school movie Star (capital not an error). He is one handsome fellow.

    The Descendants opens December 16th.



    The Whistleblower

    Until someone perfects cloning technology or the Whistler Film Festival starts running for longer than four days, chances are one will never have the opportunity to see all of the films at the festival. Larysa Kondracki’s The Whistleblower, which took home the Phillip Borsos Award for best Canadian film, was one I missed due to other commitments but it was one I really wanted to, and am still interested in seeing.

    It stars Rachel Weisz as Kathryn Bolkovac, a Nebraska police officer who served as a peacekeeper in post-war Bosnia where she discovered and publicized the United Nations for covering up a sex scandal. The film is based on true events and features supporting performances from a stellar cast including Monica Bellucci, Vanessa Redgrave, David Strathairn, Liam Cunningham, David Hewlett and Benedict Cumberbatch.

    The Whistleblower opens August 5th.

    » Read the rest of the entry..

  • 03 Jun

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    Review: Beautiful Boy

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    [For those of you in Canada, Shawn Ku's film is getting a limited theatrical release, and here is my previously written review (slightly copy-edited) from TIFF]

     
    There are enough school shooting films out there at the moment that they are threatening to become a sub-genre unto themselves. Elephant, Bowling For Columbine and Polytechnique have all won major awards and even Uwe Boll has even made a film on the subject, so there is your filmmaker spectrum rather covered. Enter freshman filmmaker Shawn Ku who gives us a different perspective on the genre with Beautiful Boy. It is a solid first film, but rather torn on two fronts: On one hand it struggles to transcend clichés as a hand-held realistic and grounded drama, and on the other it wants to throw plates, obsessively scrub gravestones and have its principle characters do enough body-shaking crying so as to rival a belly-dancers funeral. There is a good film struggling to get out past a few bad writing choices, screenplay feels just a tad overwritten. Bolstered significantly by top shelf performances from its leads, Maria Bello and Michael Sheen (with a solid American accent), the two play the grieving parents, Bill and Kate, of freshmen college student Sam. Sam is killed in a columbine style school shooting and Kate immediately knows her son is the victim when the cops come knocking at the door. But both parents are flabbergasted when they discover that it was their son who shot all of his classmates before turning the gun on himself.

    » Read the rest of the entry..

  • 03 Jun

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    Screen Shot Quiz #254

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    The goal of the screen shot quiz it not to just guess what the movie is that the screen shot is from but to encourage discussion on the film. Feel free to shout out in the comments what the movie is and then provide an opinion or some thoughts on the movie. Oh and the first person who gets the movie right wins our respect.

  • 03 Jun

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    Friday One Sheet: World on a Wire

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    It is a slow week in the world of Key Art, so I am going back and pilfering from MUBI who pointed this one out last friday. This classically designed poster was made for the re-release of R.W. Fassbinder’s 1973 TV-mini World on a Wire; a film which is Cyberpunk at its absolute earliest. Toronto folks can catch this at Lightbox on a restored 35mm print in mid-June.

  • 02 Jun

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    Can cancer be funny?

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    There just aren’t many comedies about cancer. How does one make a light-hearted film about such a brutal and devastating disease that nearly every person on the planet has been affected by in some way? Perhaps having a screenwriter such as Will Reiser, who is a cancer survivor, would be a good first step. A second step may be hiring talented and likable actors such as Joseph Gordon-Levitt and Seth Rogen who can balance comedy and still do the drama without getting overly sentimental.

    Formally titled I’m With Cancer, 50/50 is that comedy and it looks damn good. Both actors are doing their usual thing – along with Bryce Dallas Howard, Anna Kendrick, and Anjelica Huston – and the movie looks like it may have found the way to successfully approach such a tragedy with the right touch of humor. If they market this right, between the universally understood subject material and the star power of these two popular actors, this could be a big hit when it is released on September 30.

    What do you think of the trailer? Does it look to be a success or am I simply blinded by my man crush on JGL?

  • 02 Jun

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    Rise of the Planet of the Apes gets a second trailer.

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    Back in April, Kurt posted the first full-length trailer for the prequel, reboot, whatever you want to call it Rise of the Planet of the Apes. Today, the studio released a new trailer, which includes some footage from the original trailer, but gives off a slightly different vibe with the new footage. I am still unsure of what I think about this project.

    Check it out for yourself. What do you think of this film? Is there any interest out there for this or did the 2001 Tim Burton remake leave too bad of a taste in the mouths of everyone?

  • 02 Jun

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    Cinecast Episode 215 – The Pleasure is in the Ritual

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    Consider this episode to be the B-side for a future show. With nothing to talk about theatrically, we dive right into the goings on within our own homes and portable devices. The ever controversial Ocean’s franchise is debated once again at length. Who wins? You decide. Also, classic Spielberg, classic WWII and we give Wes Anderson another go around and he emerges victorious once again as he is want to do. The whole she-bang starts however, with a quick look at Fincher’s new Dragon Tattoo trailer (both red and green) whilst analyzing the merits of the marketing and the merits (or lack thereof) of the film being remade at all. For not much to talk about we sure do ramble on for a good 150 minutes. Sit back and enjoy the ride – no yelling on the bus!

    As always, please join the conversation by leaving your own thoughts in the comment section below and again, thanks for listening!

     
     

    Cinecast Episode 215 [ 2:32:37 | 104.8 MB ] Play Now | Play in Popup

     

    To download the show directly, paste the following URL into your favorite downloader:
    http://rowthree.com/audio/cinecast_11/episode_215.mp3

     
     
    Full show notes are under the seats…
    » Read the rest of the entry..

  • 02 Jun

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    Screen Shot Quiz #253

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    The goal of the screen shot quiz it not to just guess what the movie is that the screen shot is from but to encourage discussion on the film. Feel free to shout out in the comments what the movie is and then provide an opinion or some thoughts on the movie. Oh and the first person who gets the movie right wins our respect.

  • 01 Jun

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    DVD Triage: Week of May 31

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    The biggest release of the week would be the DVD and Blu-ray box set of Stanley Kubrick films, if those films hadn’t already been released in box sets at least once or twice before. However, a couple of his films are coming to Blu-ray for the first time, so that’s definitely worthy of note. Aside from that, we have Best Foreign Film and Actor Oscar nominee Biutiful, which underwhelmed me but pleased many other people, the Nic Cage revenge flick Drive Angry, and some other stuff. We also get Once Upon a Time in the West in Blu-ray for the first time, which is awesome. Also note a bunch of Warner Archive stuff, largely really early Myrna Loy films, hitting the classics section. I haven’t seen any of these films, but for Loy fans, this is likely the only way you’ll ever be able to get them (unless TCM plays them). On the Instant Watch side, a lot of stuff is coming on today (June 1st), including a bunch of the Miramax titles that were rumored a few weeks ago – I only highlighted about fifteen, in keeping with my attempts to streamline this post a bit, but definitely check out the rest of the list. Lots of good stuff there. Most of the expirations went offline today, so there’s not much in that category this time, though still a couple worth looking at before they go away.

    NEW RELEASE PICKS OF THE WEEK

    Biutiful
    I wasn’t a big fan of Iñárritu’s latest, which doesn’t really hang together all that well, though it has its moments. He’s managed to go from an ensemble cast to a single character, but still has a bunch of interlocking stories which are ultimately too much for the film to handle. RENT
    2009 Mexico. Director: Alejandro González Iñárritu. Starring: Javier Bardem, Maricel Álvarez.
    Amazon DVD | Amazon Blu-ray | Netflix

    Drive Angry
    This looks SO stupid, and yet kinda fun, as Nicolas Cage returns from hell (yes) to wreak revenge on those who killed his daughter and kidnapped his granddaughter. Missed my shot to see it in 3D. OH WELL. RENT
    2011 USA. Director: Patrick Lussier. Starring: Nicolas Cage, Amber Heard.
    Amazon DVD | Amazon Blu-ray | Netflix

    Kaboom
    Looks a bit over the top, as one might expect from the director of The Doom Generation, but I’m always curiously about things that are stylistically out there, and this coming-of-age sci-fi story looks to be that. RENT
    2011 USA. Director: Gregg Araki. Starring: Haley Bennett, Thomas Dekker.
    Amazon DVD | Netflix

    » Read the rest of the entry..

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