Podcast

MOV006: “Stroke The Furry Walls”

Steve, Ray and Jeff cover the gambit of Remakes, Soldier’s Girl, Get Him To The Greek, Resident Evil: Afterlife, and more.

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News:

  • Another classic getting rebooted – Fright Night
  • Is this really necessary??? Mean Girls 2
  • Steve: Finally saw Avatar and wow it was awesome! Speaking of Avatar…Sam Worthington is slated to star in the 2011 release of the Dracula origin story, Dracula Year Zero. Alex Proyas is noted as the Director, best known for Dark City.
  • First Marvel Movie to be released under the Disney moniker.. Dr. Strange

The Past: Soldier’s Girl

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Director: Frank Pierson

Staring: Troy Garity, Lee Pace, Andre Braugher, Shawn Hatosy, Philip Eddolls

Trivia:

  • The real Calpernia talks about the movie
  • Soldier’s Girl was also hailed as one of the ten best Television Programs of the Year (2003) by the American Film Institute.
  • Nominated for a ton of awards (Emmy, GLAAD, Golden Globe, Independent Spirit, among others) and won Lee Pace a Breakthrough Award during the 2003 Gotham Awards and a Peabody Award in 2004.

Talking Points:

  • Contact with Calpernia Addams
  • Pretty much a word for word story from real life. Crazy to believe, but true.
  • Don’t Ask Don’t Tell
  • COL014: In the Army
  • July 4th is the 11th Anniversary of Barry Winchell’s murder

Trailer:

Recommendations:

  • Jeff: Must see, but a Rental will be fine.
  • Ray: Very Powerful, I would recommend this to a lot of people.
  • Steve: Powerful! Must see! Just be prepared to cry and be left thinking a lot.

The Present: Get Him To The Greek

Director: Nicholas Stoller

Staring: Jonah Hill, Russell Brand, Rose Byrne, & Sean “P Diddy” Combs

Trivia:

  • Russell Brand nearly chipped a tooth while filming ‘The Clap’ performance scene at the Today show.
  • Emily Blunt was announced for the role of Jackie Q but had to pull out and Rose Byrne replaced her.
  • Russell Brand filmed scenes of him performing as rock star Aldous Snow at his sell out comedy show – “Scandalous”, at the O2 arena in London, in front of an audience of 20,000 fans. He was joined on stage by Jack Black and Jason Segel.
  • This movie is a spin-off from Forgetting Sarah Marshall (2008). Jonah Hill is in both films, but as two different characters. Kristen Bell reprises her role as Sarah Marshall in a cameo.
  • A week after the release of Forgetting Sarah Marshall, Universal Studios announced a new film Get Him to the Greek, reteaming Jonah Hill and Russell Brand with writer/director Nicholas Stoller and producer Judd Apatow. Variety initially announced the project would focus on “fresh-out-of-college insurance adjuster (Hill) who is hired to accompany an out-of-control rock star (Brand) from London to a gig at L.A.’s Greek Theatre.” In July 2008, Brand mentioned that he would be reprising his Aldous Snow role from Forgetting Sarah Marshall, in a new film from Apatow in which the character was back on drugs
  • In an interview with CHUD.com, Apatow would later reveal that Get Him to the Greek was indeed a spin-off of Forgetting Sarah Marshall with Brand again playing a no-longer-sober Aldous Snow while in a different interview Nicholas Stoller said that Jonah Hill will play a different character named Aaron Green, a young music executive
  • While Russell Brand was backstage at the Paramount studio lot preparing to present the 2008 MTV Video Music Awards, he approached Christina Aguilera, Pink, and Katy Perry about filming cameos for Get Him to the Greek.
  • On April 17, 2009, Brand filmed scenes of him performing as rock star Aldous Snow at his sellout comedy show “Russell Brand: Scandalous”, at the O2 arena in London, in front of an audience of 20,000 fans. He performed the songs “Inside Of You” and “I Am Jesus”.
  • The movie has gotten relatively favorable reviews. Even Roger Ebert of the Chicago Sun-Times gave the film three out of four stars by saying that “under the cover of slapstick, cheap laughs, raunchy humor, gross-out physical comedy and sheer exploitation, Get Him to the Greek also is fundamentally a sound movie.”

Talking Points:

  • Drug references in movies today – when does it become excessive?
  • Anyone else think the movie was really choppy? Maybe poorly edited?
  • Can Russell Brand actually speak without doing so through his teeth?

What We’ve Learned:

  • Drug references and lots of puke does not make a great movie.
  • P Diddy can be funny!
  • You can shape your body hair into just about anything (Microphone = Hairyoke?)
  • If life slips you a Jeffrey, stroke the furry walls.

Trailer:

Recommendations:

  • Jeff: Good movie, worth a full price
  • Ray: Thought parts of it were funny, I wouldn’t have gone out of my way to see it, maybe a rent..for a $1…
  • Steve: Could have done without seeing this movie. Not my cup of tea.

The Future: Resident Evil: Afterlife

Starring: Milla Jovovich, Ali Larter, Wentworth Miller, & Sienna Guillory

Trivia:

  • The name of this movie “Afterlife” is the same working title that was used in the previous movie before it became “Extinction”.
  • This is the first live-action movie based on a video game to be in 3-D.
  • Will feature plot elements from Resident Evil Code: Veronica (2000) (VG) and Resident Evil 5 (2009) (VG).
  • The first Resident Evil film to be released in IMAX.
  • Anderson used James Cameron’s Fusion Camera System, the same system that was used in Avatar. He has stated the film has the largest budget in the series thus far and it will also feature new characters taken from the video games
  • Visual effects production manager Eric Roberston described the look of the film, “interesting contrasts, pure whites, which is a staggering look. It’s so clean and tight along with some real darkness too that may evoke a bit of a feel of Silent Hill. So we’ve got the extremes, but it’s definitely a unique look for this incarnation and it’s been fun to see those looks”

Talking Points:

  • 3-D
  • Wentworth Miller!! 🙂
  • Resident Evil: Overkill? Is it about time to put the series to bed?

Summary:
In a world ravaged by a virus infection, turning its victims into the Undead, Alice (Jovovich), continues on her journey to find survivors and lead them to safety. Her deadly battle with the Umbrella Corporation reaches new heights, but Alice gets some unexpected help from an old friend. A new lead that promises a safe haven from the Undead takes them to Los Angeles, but when they arrive the city is overrun by thousands of Undead – and Alice and her comrades are about to step into a deadly trap.

Trailer:

Excitement:

  • Jeff: I’m a sucker for some bad movies.
  • Ray: Hoping it doesn’t fall to the even/odd curse..so far ive liked 1,3 hated 2
  • Steve: Definitely looking forward to it!! Hoping it will be the last though. Let a good thing go before it becomes Resident Evil: Overkill

Coming Attractions:

The Past: Jeffrey
The Present: Toy Story 3
The Future: The Smurfs

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MOV005: “I love it when a plan comes together.”

Ray, Steve and Jeff discuss the announcement of the next Transformers Villian, Voltron coming to the big screen, a Wizard of Oz Prequel, Bear City Premieres, Chuck & Buck, The A-Team, and the Inception Trailer.

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News:

The Past: Chuck & Buck (2000)

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Director: Miguel Arteta

Staring: Mike White (Buck) , Chris Weitz (Chuck)

Trivia:

  • Mike White who wrote and stared in chuck and buck got himself eaten by a zombie in zombieland by violating rule #2, Beware of Bathrooms.
  • Chris Weitz went on to direct and produce such *cough” masterpieces like New Moon and The Golden Compass.
  • When Chuck turns to the TV in his office and claims to have signed the band whose video is playing, the TV is showing They Might be Giants playing their song “Dr. Worm”.

Talking Points:

  • James Keller says the film explores “the hysterical fear of exposure some heterosexual males experience” when they have had sexual relations with another man
  • Have any of us had straightboy crushes or crushes on the guys we’ve been trying to figure out?

What We’ve Learned:

  • Mike White can be really creepy.
  • Stalkers are scary, don’t entertain people who you think may be displaying stalker-ish behaviors!.
  • You never know when you’re going to run into people from your past!! So be prepared!!
  • “I’ve got freedom of my heart, it’s a brand new start” will give you nightmares if you hear it too often in one sitting.
  • Oodalee oodalee oodalee FUCK YOU! MAKE IT STOP!
  • Never invite your straight best friend over so you can blow him when you’re starting to get over him.
  • And Jeff can never watch this movie, not because he doesn’t want to, but because he’d run screaming from the room for 99% of the movie.

Trailer:

  • Impossible to find an embeddable one, but there are 2 versions on IMDB. Link.

Recommendations:

Jeff: Can’t recommend it. Can’t not recommend it either.
Ray: If the Idea of a Gay Stalker version of Napoleon Dynamite doesn’t scare you..go see it!
Steve: Wouldn’t recommend it to just anyone.

The Present: The A-Team

Director: Joe Carnahan

Staring: Liam Neeson, Bradley Cooper, Quinton ‘Rampage’ Jackson, Sharlto Copley, Jessica Biel

Trivia:

  • Bruce Willis was considered for role of Hannibal Smith
  • Common, Ice Cube & The Game were all rumored for BA Baracus
  • John Singleton was the first director, but left when the film went into turnaround by the studio
  • Woody Harrelson & Ryan Reynolds were considered for Murdock
  • Amber Heard & Olga Kurylenko auditioned for role of Lt Sosa
  • Quinton ‘Rampage’ Jackson was originally scheduled to face his heated rival Rashad Evans at a December UFC event. Jackson’s decision to act in The A-Team movie led to a war of words between himself and Dana White, president of UFC. Due to the conflict, On September 22, 2009, Jackson wrote on his website that he is “done fighting”, and would officially retire from the sport. However, now that filming is complete, Jackson and Evans are fought on May 29, 2010. Evans won via unanimous decision over Jackson.

Talking Points:

  • CGI vs Staged Stunts – which is better??? Did anyone else think the end sequence felt very Indiana Jones & the Crystal Skull??
  • Is it a new trend to show teasers in the trailer that aren’t actually in the movie for the big budget flicks? (noticed this both for A Team – window washing scene BA didn’t whistle the A Tram theme & Iron Man 2 – Tony didn’t do the “You complete me” quote)

What We’ve Learned:

  • Not only can OLD helicopters do barrel rolls, they have bullet proof rotors
  • Its completely possible to fly a tank
  • BA Baracus is a very complicated character
  • Only good guys can shoot accurately
  • Never trust the government
  • If a complete stranger shoots you in the arm..its ok as long as your both ex Army Rangers

Trailer:

Recommendations:

Jeff: See it! See it NOW!
Ray: If you were a fan of the show or fan of over the top action flicks..see it..otherwise its wait for video.
Steve: Would recommend it to people who like action, shoot-em-ups & who liked the original TV show.

The Future: Inception

Starring: Leonardo DiCaprio, Ken Watanabe, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Marion Cotillard, Ellen Page, Tom Berenger & Michael Caine

Trivia:

  • Leonardo DiCaprio was the first actor to be cast in the film. He and Nolan spent months talking about the screenplay. In addition, Nolan took a long time re-writing the script in order “to make sure that the emotional journey of his character was… the driving force of the movie”.
  • During production, details of the film’s plot were kept secret. Christopher Nolan, who wrote the script, cryptically described it as a contemporary sci-fi action thriller “set within the architecture of the mind.”
  • Early on, James Franco was in talks with Christopher Nolan for a role. However, due to scheduling conflicts, he was unavailable to join the cast. Joseph Gordon-Levitt was ultimately cast in the role offered to Franco.
  • The labyrinthine style of the movie’s logo resembles the logo of Christopher Nolan’s production company Syncopy.
  • Evan Rachel Wood was Christopher Nolan’s first choice to play Ariadne, but she turned it down.
  • After Evan Rachel Wood turned down the role of Ariadne, Christopher Nolan considered casting Emily Blunt, Keira Knightley and Emma Roberts, but chose Ellen Page instead.
  • Christopher Nolan’s first film since his feature debut, Following (1998), that is a completely original work. All of his films between them are either remakes or based on comics, novels or short stories.
  • Tom Berenger’s first film to receive a theatrical release in the U.S. since Training Day (2001).
  • Leonardo DiCaprio was Emma Thomas and Christopher Nolan’s only choice for the role of Cobb.
  • The name of Leonardo DiCaprio’s character is the same as that of the protagonist in Christopher Nolan’s first feature film, ‘Following’.
  • Nolan worked on the script for 9 to 10 years
  • Script is loosey based on movies like The Matrix, Dark City & Thirteenth Floor where the main priciples are that the world around you might not be real.
  • In the spring of 2010 a viral marketing campaign was started for the film. On June 2, 2010 a manual was sent out to various companies. The manual was filled with bizarre images and text all relating to Inception. No one was really able to make out what it all meant and how it ties into the film. As the month went on, more and more viral marketing began to surface including, posters, ads and strange websites all related to the film
  • Special effects expert Chris Corbould and his team built giant rotating hallways and a massive tilting nightclub for scenes where dream-sector physics become chaotic. One of the film’s actors, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, spent several weeks learning to fight in a corridor that spun like “a giant hamster wheel”. Nolan said of the device, “It was like some incredible torture device; we thrashed Joseph for weeks, but in the end we looked at the footage, and it looks unlike anything any of us has seen before. The rhythm of it is unique, and when you watch it, even if you know how it was done, it confuses your perceptions. It’s unsettling in a wonderful way”.

Talking Points:

  • Inception was first developed by Christopher Nolan, based on the notion of “exploring the idea of people sharing a dream space-entering a dream space and sharing a dream. That gives you the ability to access somebody’s subconscious. What would that be used and abused for?”
  • Furthermore, he thought “being able to extract information from somebody’s brain would be the obvious use of that because obviously any other system where it’s computers or physical media, whatever – things that exist outside the mind – they can all be stolen … up until this point, or up until this movie I should say, the idea that you could actually steal something from somebody’s head was impossible. So that, to me, seemed a fascinating abuse or misuse of that kind of technology”.
  • He had thought about these ideas on and off since he was 16 years old, intrigued by how he would wake up and then, while falling back into a lighter sleep, hold on to the awareness that he was dreaming, a lucid dream. He also became aware of the feeling that he could study the place and alter the events of the dream
  • He said, “I tried to work that idea of manipulation and management of a conscious dream being a skill that these people have. Really the script is based on those common, very basic experiences and concepts, and where can those take you? And the only outlandish idea that the film presents, really, is the existence of a technology that allows you to enter and share the same dream as someone else”.
  • Originally, he had written the film as a heist film but found that “traditionally [they] are very deliberately superficial in emotional terms”. Upon revisiting his script, he decided that basing it in that genre did not work because the story “relies so heavily on the idea of the interior state, the idea of dream and memory. I realized I needed to raise the emotional stakes.”
  • Nolan has said that the film “deals with levels of reality, and perceptions of reality which is something I’m very interested in. It’s an action film set in a contemporary world, but with a slight science-fiction bent to it”, while also describing it as “very much an ensemble film structured somewhat as a heist movie. It’s an action adventure that spans the globe”.

Summary:
Acclaimed filmmaker Christopher Nolan directs an international cast in an original sci-fi actioner that travels around the globe and into the intimate and infinite world of dreams. Dom Cobb (Leonardo DiCaprio) is a skilled thief, the absolute best in the dangerous art of extraction, stealing valuable secrets from deep within the subconscious during the dream state, when the mind is at its most vulnerable. Cobb’s rare ability has made him a coveted player in this treacherous new world of corporate espionage, but it has also made him an international fugitive and cost him everything he has ever loved. Now Cobb is being offered a chance at redemption. One last job could give him his life back but only if he can accomplish the impossible—inception. Instead of the perfect heist, Cobb and his team of specialists have to pull off the reverse: their task is not to steal an idea but to plant one. If they succeed, it could be the perfect crime. But no amount of careful planning or expertise can prepare the team for the dangerous enemy that seems to predict their every move. An enemy that only Cobb could have seen coming. This summer, your mind is the scene of the crime.

Trailer:

Excitement:

Jeff: Intrigued
Ray: Hope it doesn’t end the way im thinking it will.
Steve: Effects look cool…interested in seeing how it all comes together.

Coming Attractions:

The Past: Soldier’s Girl
The Present: Get Him To The Greek
The Future: Resident Evil: Afterlife

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News

Mortal Kombat Rebirth?

First, turn up your speakers and watch this in HD if possible.

Yesterday this video was floating around the intertubes, getting plenty of people stoked for a new and possibly better Mortal Kombat reboot.  Posted under the YouTube account of MortalKombatRebirth.  But what was this trailer for?  Is there a new movie in the works?  Was this just a fan made tease and this really is all we’ll see of it?

Today, Sonia Blade spoke:

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Yes, that was our favorite Borg playing the kick ass Sonya Blade. Be sure to follow her on twitter and we’ll see what comes of this MK concept.

Podcast

MOV004: “Every two hours there is a rest period . . . for 3 minutes.” “Yes, Sir”

Rue McClanahan Died at 86, Neal McDonough joins the cast of Captain America, More Transformers News, COL Movies Store Opens, Bent, Killers, Scott Pilgrim Vs The World.

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News:

The Past: Bent (1997)

Director: Sean Mathias

Staring: Clive Owen, Lothaire Bluteau, Brian Webber, Nikolaj Coster Waldau, Jude Law, Mick Jagger

Trivia:

  • Ian McKellen, who appears as Uncle Freddie in the film, starred in the role of Max in the original London West End theatre production in 1979.

Talking Points:

  • Seems like it’s really more of just another WWII Concentration Camp movie?
  • The first “Phone Sex”?

What We’ve Learned: Mick Jagger is an ugly man…and an even uglier woman.

Trailer:

The Present: Killers

Director: Robert Luketic

Staring: Ashton Kutcher, Katherine Heigl, Tom Selleck, Catherine O’Hara, Katheryn Winnick

Trivia:

  • During filming, Ashton Kutcher accidentally knocked out a stunt man with his fist.

Talking Points:

  • Inferior version of True Lies? (True Lies meets Point of No Return?)
  • Ashton’s best movie to date???
  • Who could you have seen as the female lead other than Katherine Heigl?

What We’ve Learned: The go bag is under the trap door under the kitchen table; if you’re going to hide a gun in your car, put it inside the passenger seat; Anyone can be an assassin…even Mrs. Swan!…In a movie, a constantly drunk mother provides a lot of comedic opportunity…Tom Selleck will always play second fiddle to his mustache…Ashton does look nice without a shirt on and with low rise swim trunks.

Trailer:

The Future: Scott Pilgrim Vs The World

Trivia:

  • After artist Bryan Lee O’Malley completed the first issue of Scott Pilgrim, his publisher Oni Press contacted producer Marc E. Platt with the proposition for a film version. Universal Studios contracted Edgar Wright who had just finished his last film, Shaun of the Dead, to adapt the Scott Pilgrim comics. In May 2005, the studio signed Michael Bacall to write the screenplay for the adaptation. By January 2009, filmmakers rounded out its cast for the film, now titled Scott Pilgrim vs. the World.
  • A video game will be produced based upon the film. The game will be made by Ubisoft Montreal
  • A Comic book made into a movie, with video game overtones..made into a video game..

Talking Points:

  • At a test screening, Kevin Smith was quoted as saying “That movie is great. It’s spellbinding and nobody is going to understand what the fuck just hit them. I would be hard pressed to say, ‘he’s bringing a comic book to life!’ but he is bringing a comic book to life.”

Trailer:

Feedback:

Colin’s “A Clockwork Orange” Analysis

Hey Cubs:
Great job on the show last week I found it really amusing that a Clock Work Orange can still generate so many questions and spark good discussion. I think that film can be really difficult to analyze and the point can be easily taken out of context because it’s so tied into what was going on in the world in 71-72. It’s always important to remember that the strong critic assumes the responsibility for analyzing “what a film was attempting to accomplish” rather then weather or not it fit into said critic’s personal tastes. I find it refreshing that you three have been shying away from “liking and disliking” to a degree, but are rather searching out common questions about the pieces of media that you are viewing.
Like I said a Clock Work Orange is a rather difficult one to analyze due to the fact that it’s so wrapped up in both the American and British social political climates at the time it was in production. Also it’s a film that Slack-jawed soon to be Terintino-tards have been over analyzing since the 70’s and there is allot that has been compounded into all that. The fact that we the viewers of the film have so vehemently refused to forgive Alex his wrongs may be in truth: the legacy of this film. As most fans of Alex’s story know: there is a final piece to his tale that is considered his reprieve, we his audience were originally meant to know that the man turns it around and attempts to find redemption at the end of his tale, however both Kubrick and the original American publishers of the novel decided that this was a worthless chapter and omitted it form their presentations of this story. This is not only telling of late 60’s early 70’s Vietnam/ Second Indo china war effected American discourse, but also indicative of a broader world perspective on the queering of Anglican youth culture visa vi Garry Glitter, T.rex, David Bowie and so on. Such queering can be seen all over the film in both the accepted attire of the characters and the films chosen aesthetics. You have in this story a completely English representation of the monsterization of the western Anglican youth. This sort of outlook was not really the norm jus post WWII, up until Vietnam hit phase 3 of the draft (62-63). In comes Alex, the monster, he does drugs, him and his boys are gang rapists, he is insanely Violent until he is he is “rehabilitated” by an egalitarian fascist establishment using Pavlovian brainwashing in a “mad-science” attempt to re-integrate his ilk into the milieu. This is all an analogy for the uncertainty facing our youth in Vietnam and for the response the world was having to young people at the time in general. Kubrick was very much playing at/with an adult response to a monsterised view of youth, indicative but also in satire of culturally accepted norms. Its easy to forget how severe the generation gap we were facing at the time, but it was a world where the kids that were shot at Kent a year before were thought of as monsters for being un-patriotic. Even worse was the fact that we were seeing our kids come home from war completely unable to re-join society. In a way all the young adults were monsters in the eyes of society (adults). There is also a duality being represented by Kubrick here (British/ American) which exists due to the fact that Kubrick was both an American national and a long time English resident, and very much in tune with what was going on with both of our young people Now on the strictly American side we were given this unforgivable (edited) Alex, we who had just suffered the Massacre of May 4th, we who were in no mood to forgive the youth anything (politically speaking) were able to identify with a representation of a true monster and that’s how Alex came to us. Miraculously even after his choice of “quick fix” and without paying for his mistakes what so ever the general response to Alex is still empathy; interesting. So despite my incessant ramblings on this issue I guess my overall point is that: pretty much every film is made with the intent to accomplish something, and that a Clock Work Orange was intending to open a discourse concerning the 1970s dichotomy between adults, youth, and government. It’s making satire out of the adult perspective of the generation gap at the time, you watch this film and see everything that an elderly parent or grand parent in the 1970’s might fear their child was becoming as they lye in bed staring at the ceiling wondering why little Jimmy wears make up, stays our all night, participates in unpatriotic anti-war efforts, or listens to queer glam rock. I think in that context the film is rather clear about what its trying to say to its viewers at the time. That being said: did you know Michael Alig is up for parole in a month or two here and I hear he is completely rehabilitated…
Thanks guys
Colin-

Coming Attractions:

The Past: Chuck&Buck
The Present: The A Team
The Future: Inception

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