Author Archive

  • 23 Aug

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    “I think the animals have just accepted me.”

    5

    Martin Strel swam the entire Amazon River. 3,375 miles. 10 hours a day. 66 days straight. And he did it at age 55, with a potbelly, and drinking two bottles of wine a day. Get out Michael Phelps, you may have won eight gold medals at the Beijing Summer Olympic’s last year, but you never swam the mighty Amazon and had to face obstacles such as tropical storms, unbearable heat, murderous bandits, dangerous natives, diarrhea-inducing diseases, dehydration, exhaustion, not to mention piranhas, crocodiles, anacondas, stingrays, sharks, wasps, skin-burrowing larvae, and the candiru fish which swims will swim up a man’s penis to feed on blood and can only be removed with surgery.

    He did it though and now that he is a worldwide hero? “Yes, I get hit on a lot and sure, I do like pretty ladies,” he says. “But I’m already married. I have to keep my head clear – just as I did when I took on that river.”

    He’s a better man than I, because I’d be going to the bar every night telling the most beautiful women there that I am the only person in the world that swam the Amazon. An everyman in every sense of the word, this Martin Strel – except for the fact that he swam the Amazon and we couldn’t even make it across the pool without stopping for a breath.

    The upcoming documentary about his exploits is titled Big River Man and you can check out the trailer below. There is currently no US release date, but the folks over in the UK will get to check it out on September 4. On this side of the Atlantic, I’m guessing we’ll have to wait for a DVD, but we’ll see. In the meantime, you can read more about the documentary over at the official site.

  • 23 Aug

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    Jones and Jackson do Cormac McCarthy

    1


    This is a room in a tenement building in a black ghetto in New York City. There is a kitchen with a stove and a large refrigerator. A door to the outer hallway and another presumably to a bedroom. The hallway door is fitted with a bizarre collection of locks and bars. There is a cheap formica table in the room and two chrome and plastic chairs. There is a drawer in the table. On the table is a Bible and a newspaper. A pair of glasses. A pad and pencil. A large black man is sitting in one chair (stage right) and in the other a middle-aged white man dressed in running pants and athletic shoes. He wears a T-shirt and the jacket – which matches the pants – hangs on the chair behind him.

    BLACK. So what am I supposed to do with you, Professor?
    WHITE. Why are you supposed to do anything?
    BLACK. I done told you. This aint none of my doin. I left out of here this mornin to go to work you wasnt no part of my plans at all. But here you is.
    WHITE. It doesnt mean anything. Everything that happens doesnt mean something else.
    BLACK. Mm hm. It dont.
    WHITE. No. It doesnt.
    BLACK. What’s it mean then?
    WHITE. It doesnt mean anything. You run into people and maybe some of them are in trouble or whatever but it doesnt mean that you’re responsible for them.

    And so begins Cormac McCarthy’s powerful The Sunset Limited, his “novel in dramatic form” as the cover of the book appropriately subtitles it. The one-act play (which again, is unconventional in that it is completely driven by the dialogue of a single conversation) has but two unnamed men: a black, uneducated ex-convict who now does his best to go through life with the Bible as his guide (“I think for the most part people are good to start with. I think evil is somethin you bring on your own self. Mostly from wantin what you ain’t supposed to have”), and a white, atheist college professor who just before the play begins is saved by the other from attempted suicide by hurling himself in front of a train (“If people saw the world for what it truly is. Saw their lives for what they truly are. Without dreams or illusions. I don’t believe they could offer the first reason why they should not elect to die as soon as possible”). Through their interactions, more about their characters are revealed as we look at two very different men with two very different outlooks on life, as they discuss the existence of a high power, the nature of man, and the moral implications behind White’s attempted suicide. If you and friends have ever had similar conversations (as the lone atheist amongst my close friends, it a topic that comes up often over some beers in our circle), this is a must-read, as Cormac’s dialogue is some of the best of any writers today, with shades of Dostoevsky and Faulkner very apparent in both his writing and the themes his stories tackle.

    Then, once you’ve read this, you can be excited to know that Tommy Lee Jones (who, you may remember, starred in the Best Picture winning adaptation of Cormac McCarthy’s No Country for Old Men) is set to direct and co-star with Samuel L. Jackson in an adaptation of this. Anyone that has watched No Country or Jones’s directorial debut The Three Burials of Melquiades Estrada will know that we shant be worried about McCarthy’s play being butchered and the thematic elements being toned down. The most excited part and why I have faith in this adaptation? Cormac McCarthy adapted it into a film script himself.

    Super geek out. I’m looking forward to this with the eagerness of a young child on Christmas Eve.

    —–
    If this post interests you, be sure to check out:
    -McCarthyism
    -The Lost Cormac McCarthy Mixtape
    -Cormac McCarthy Has Four Completed Novels?

  • 13 Aug

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    AMC to develop another quality series.

    9

    If there is one thing that the cable television station AMC is known for amongst my group of friends, it would be the month-long span that they played Home Alone 3 (you know, the sequel sans Macaulay Culkin), deeming it an instant American Movie Classic. If there is something that the station is becoming known for though, it is the quality original programming that they have been pumping out recently. From the Emmy Award-winning Western miniseries Broken Trail to the critically adored Mad Men to the award winning Breaking Bad, whispers around the internet are saying that AMC is going to surpass every other station out there in terms of original programs.

    While I wouldn’t go that far quite yet, AMC does have a new show in their lineup that promises to have plenty of potential, especially when word comes from The Hollywood Reporter that Frank Darabont (The Shawshank Redemption, The Green Mile, The Mist) is on board to write, direct and executive produce the television show. Adapted from Robert Kirkman’s comic book The Walking Dead, the show will follow a group of survivors traveling in search of a safe place to live during the years following a zombie apocalypse.

    Hardly an original concept, but as Joel Stillerman, senior vp of original programming described it: “I don’t know of another series of books that has such beautiful storytelling, great human emotions and everything that really works on AMC. It allows us to stay where we want to stay: in the world of smart, sophisticated storytelling and apply that to a show that we think the audience would love.”

    My question: why hasn’t somebody made a zombie television show before this? With the commercial success of zombie movies in the past decade (28 Days Later, Dawn of the Dead, Resident Evil, Shaun of the Dead), this seems overdue, although I suppose the idea of developing a horror concept into a television show may be what frightens off potential developers. Even if the movie market is over-saturated with zombies, with the quality of talent behind this and Darabont’s ability to create likable (and despicable) characters and evoke all ranges of emotions, this should be an exciting television series to look forward to. There is so much crap out there in the television world that I almost quit watching TV altogether – but with folks like HBO and Showtime and AMC out there, I’m slowly beginning to have a change of heart.

    Zombie apocalypse television show? I’ll be there.

  • 08 Aug

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    Patrick Duffy & The Crab Discuss a Threesome

    0

    Discuss.

  • 03 Aug

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    Shorts Program: A Gentleman’s Duel

    0

    Cute. Saucy. Steampunk.

    Created by: Blur Studio

  • 03 Aug

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    Spielberg to Adapt Harvey

    4

    Harvey could very well be my favorite “feel good” film. It’s a movie I can pop in and no matter how blue I may be, I’m smiling joyfully within minutes, as James Stewart’s Elwood shares with his family and friends the stories he has with his good friend, a six and a half foot tall invisible rabbit. It’s a film that has held up very well over the years and even those who I show this to that have trouble getting into classic American cinema seem to enjoy the movie quite a bit.

    Chalk this up as very surprising news then. While doing my daily browsing, I came across an article on Variety confirming that another adaptation of the award winning play is in the works – and it is going to be Spielberg’s next directorial project.

    Below is my favorite scene from the movie, a monologue I have just about memorized from my countless times watching it. While I think a Spielberg adaptation of the play would be, uh, interesting (who would Spielberg cast as Elwood? Tom Hanks seems like the obvious choice – but I could see him aiming for someone less conventional: Paul Giamatti? Even a restrained Jim Carrey?), I can’t imagine anything would top the 1950 adaptation with Stewart. I’d rather see something more original from the man, like his long-awaited Lincoln biopic (Liam Neeson isn’t getting any younger to play Abe, you know). Watch below and enjoy. If you haven’t watched this, I hope the scene below will convince you to put that right atop of your Netflix queue.

  • 31 Jul

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    Seinfeld Reunion

    1

    Seinfeld isn’t a movie, but fuck off, I already knew that. I’m just excited and want to share this here, rather than our excellent sister site about all things pop culture, More Pop, because I think this news will be appreciated by our loyal readers – at least, I hope.

    Anyone who is anyone knows that Curb Your Enthusiasm is the funniest show on television. For those ignorant of its brilliance, the show follows a fictionalized version of Larry David (played by Larry David), co-creator and producer of the show Seinfeld, and revolves around his inappropriate interactions with those around him and all of the awkward shenanigans he gets himself into. Most people who have watched all six seasons would probably agree that it is on par with (or in my opinion, even better than) Seinfeld.

    Now, going into the seventh season, Larry David confirms that within his show, there will be a Seinfeld reunion taking place. From NJ.com:

    The seventh season of David’s improvised HBO comedy, which returns on Sept. 20, will be centered around the TV version of David finally agreeing to do a reunion of the defining ’90s sitcom. All four “Seinfeld” castmembers — Jerry Seinfeld, Jason Alexander, Julia Louis-Dreyfus and Michael Richards — will play themselves in multiple episodes, and the season finale will feature extensive snippets of the show-within-the-show.

    “For years, I’ve been asked about a ‘Seinfeld’ reunion,” David told reporters at the Television Critics Association summer press tour in Pasadena. He always refused, but, “Then I thought it might be very funny to do that on ‘Curb.’ And I kept thinking about it.”

    Seinfeld will appear in five episodes, sprinkled throughout the season, and the others will appear in as many as four or five episodes, albeit not always together.

    “We’ll see writing, see aspects of the read-through, parts of rehearsal, see the show being filmed, and see it on TV,” David explained. “You won’t see the entire show. You’ll see parts of the show. You’ll get an idea of what happened (to the ‘Seinfeld’ characters) 11 years later. Within the show, it will be incorporated into regular ‘Curb’ episodes. “

    Umm… sweet sassy molassey. I was wondering where they were going to head with the seventh season, after the surprising ending to the sixth season. This sounds like a perfect way to keep the show fresh and bring on some “new,” but familiar characters (and perhaps a perfect way to end the series altogether, I am wondering if they are thinking?). Needless to say, this is the most exciting thing to happen on television since Janet Jackson’s wardrobe malfunction.

  • 25 Jul

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    Funny People Viral Marketing

    3

    Check out Yo, Teach!, some awesome viral marketing for Judd Apatow’s upcoming Funny People, where we get a glimpse into a 90s-type sitcom that stars one of the characters in the film, Mark Taylor Jackson (played by Jason Schwartzman). Here’s the description given by YouTube:

    High school is tough enough without the added distractions of drug abuse, teen pregnancy and anorexia. Fortunately for the colorful underachievers at Jackson High, theres a teacher whos got their back: Mr. Bradford (Mark Taylor Jackson), the wise-cracking mentor of Yo Teach…! Each week, Mr. Bradford tosses his lesson plan to the wind and tackles a new moral dilemma while keeping one step ahead of Principal Andrews and the politically correct PTA.

    This is golden. Also glad to see self-made YouTube star Bo Burnham sneak his way into a role here. You can watch all of them after the jump.


    » Read the rest of the entry..

  • 24 Jul

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    Could this plot be so ridiculous that it might actually work?

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  • 23 Jul

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    Who wants a Roger Rabbit sequel?

    4

    One of my favorite movies from the 1980s is one that still holds up surprisingly well, considering that it was a film about a detective investigating the wife of a cartoon rabbit. Who Framed Roger Rabbit would be one of the movies, along with the likes of Indiana Jones and Star Wars, that was played so often in my VCR that the tape wore itself right out. A Chinatown for children and adults alike, I couldn’t get enough of the stuttering Roger and the jaded Eddie Valiant, played by one of the greats, Bob Hoskins. It has all the elements of a classic noir, but with the whacky and inspired idea of making it a world where cartoons and real people live amongst each other.

    Now with news from /Film that Zemeckis has been talking a little bit about the potential for a sequel, I’ve been wondering a bit about if this classic is one that should be left alone or if a sequel could really work. While Zemeckis says that he would absolutely keep all of the characters from the original 2D and that Hoskins is very interested in reprising his role, it would be refreshing to see such a successful movie – one that admittedly has plenty of potential for a sequel – be left alone for once. It’s a great and unique stand-alone classic as it is. Do we really need another, especially over twenty years after the original?

    Although, with that said, I’d certainly be following this project very closely were it to be greenlit.

  • 20 Jul

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    Casting News for A Game of Thrones

    1

    Straight from excellent not-a-blog of A Song of Ice and Fire author George R. R. Martin himself, I stumbled across news concerning the pilot episode the HBO-produced A Game of Thrones. While a few months ago, it was announced that actor-director Thomas McCarthy (The Station Agent) would direct the pilot and Peter Dinklage would be filling an important role, now we have an announcement that much more of the cast has been filled.

    Surely to appease most über-geeks of the fantasy world out there, Sean Bean has signed on for the main role of Lord Eddard Stark. He should have no problem fitting the role after delving into the world of fantasy several times, most notably as Boromir in Lord of the Rings. Filling the role of King Robert I Baratheon is Mark Addy, who has been in various roles during the past twenty years, none too memorable, but he is a recognizable nonetheless. Most notably though, the role of Jon Snow, my favorite character in A Game of Thrones as the bastard son of Lord Stark, will be played by Kit Harington (pictured above), a young British theater actor who Martin says we may not know yet, but that we will before long due to his “talent and intensity.”

    If there is one thing HBO does well, it is pumping out quality television series (Deadwood, Oz, The Sopranos, Curb Your Enthusiasm, The Wire, Entourage, Rome, True Blood, Carnivàle, etc.). This is something to get excited about, whether you have read the books that have been released so far or not – a quality fantasy series, one of the most epic and interesting and well-written fantasy series ever written. Obviously, if you haven’t begun to read these, I recommend it. Rarely will you see me recommend fantasy to read.

  • 08 Jul

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    Has there ever been a good SNL movie?

    11

    Well, yeah. A couple. Who doesn’t love The Blues Brothers? Or the first Wayne’s World? Since those two, most have been poor to downright awful, which is probably why there hasn’t been a movie based on an SNL character since 2000′s The Ladies Man – that is, until now, with the announcement that there is going to be a MacGruber movie, the SNL character that spoofs – you can probably guess it – MacGyver.

    Directed by Jorma Taccone of Lonely Island fame and starring Will Forte as MacGruber, apparently Val Kilmer and Ryan Phillippe are also in talks to co-star, according to the Hollywood Reporter. The movie’s premise:

    The legendary, much decorated MacGruber is pulled out of retirement as a monk in Ecuador by a colonel, who needs him once more to fight on behalf of his country. This time the mission involves going up against the evil Cunth, who has a nuclear warhead; the mission is personal because Cunth killed MacGruber’s bride. The movie version would see Phillippe playing Piper, an Army officer forced to pair up with a reluctant MacGruber. Kilmer would be Cunth.

    I don’t really have a reason for even talking about this, since more than likely, I’ll never even go see it, because the skits aren’t funny and are about fifteen years too late on the reference, but it’s been a slow past month for news and I started writing this up before I realized how much I didn’t feel like writing about this movie, but I got in too deep and decided to finish writing it anyway. So, like, watch this stupid MacGruber skit and then discuss whether The Blues Brothers or Wayne’s World is better, man. ‘Cause I totally can’t decide.

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