Tag Archives: Lucy Liu

MOV128: All Bets Are Off!

After 5 weeks the band is finally back together on this the 128th reel of COL Movies. This week the boys get right into the swing of things by jumping to the past and examining Guy Richie’s. Snatch! For our exploration of the present we strap on some Iron Gauntlets to chop away at the RZA and Eli Roth Kung-Fu Extravaganza The Man With The Iron Fists. Finally we all keep the Iron hot by looking to the future to talk about Iron Man 3. On the news front we have some information on Brian Syngers new project, Some Star Wars Episode 7 announcements and last but certainly least we get to talk about some very exciting casting news for the masterpiece that will be Transformers 4! All this and more on the 128th reel of COL Movies: All Bets Are Off!

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News:

The Past: Snatch
Rotten Tomatoes 72% Fresh; 92% Audience

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Director: Guy Ritchie

Starring: Jason Statham, Brad Pitt, Benicio Del Toro

Trivia:

  • Brad Pitt, who was a big fan of Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels, approached director Guy Ritchie and asked for a role in this film. When Ritchie found Pitt couldn’t master a London accent, he gave him the role of Mickey the Gypsy.
  • To keep things in order during production, director Guy Ritchie introduced a system of fines on set. There were fines for mobile phones ringing, arriving late, taking naps during shooting, being “cheeky”, being unfunny, and/or moaning and complaining. One staff member was even charged for letting the craft service table run out of coffee cups.
  • When Mickey “wins” a new trailer van for his mother from Turkish, he specifically picks out “periwinkle blue” as the color. In Psycho, we are told that Norman Bates helped to pick out a “periwinkle blue” dress for his dead mother. Mickey, just like Norman, is also responsible (albeit indirectly) for his own mother’s death.
  • When Vinnie Jones is introduced in the movie, he is slamming a man’s head in a car door, It was the head of stunt co-coordinator and action director Tom Delmar, who volunteered for the job.
  • Bullet Tooth Tony’s character is introduced slamming a man’s head between a car door and a car, which the same actor does in Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels, another Guy Ritchie film.
  • The hardcore band “Cold War from Orange County, California” quotes this movie several times throughout their CD “From Russia With Love.” Some of the lines quoted are: (“Quote” – Character / Song in which quote is used) “From Russia with love, ah?” – Doug The Head / Love Betrays “Heavy’s good, heavy’s reliable.” – Boris the Blade / Painful Delight “Do you know what “nemesis” means? A righteous infliction of retribution manifested by an appropriate agent. Personified in this case by an ‘orrible c*nt… me.” – Brick Top / Retrace My Steps
  • Lennie James actually hit himself in his private parts with the shotgun while blasting a hole in the wall at the bookies, but continued the scene. That footage was used in the film.
  • Boris the Blade pulls a large cleaver from his belt. Soap did the same thing in Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels, another Guy Ritchie movie.
  • Guy Ritchie reportedly paid US $1 million for the use of Madonna’s song, “Lucky Star”.
  • Every mistake that Sol, Vincent and Tyrone make were inspired by various late-night TV shows about real-life crimes gone horribly wrong.
  • Tim Maurice-Jones, the cinematographer, plays the man who is repeatedly battered over the head at the beginning of the movie by Frankie Four-Fingers (Benicio Del Toro). In Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels, for which he was also the cinematographer, he was the man being drowned at the beginning of the film by Barry the Baptist (Lenny McLean).
  • Nearly every death in the movie takes place off-screen.
  • In the final scene, the 86-carat diamond is referred to as an 84-carat diamond.
  • In Guy Ritchie’s previous film Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels, there is a scene in which Harry, Barry and Chris have a conversation. Barry says the line. “No, Harry, you can’t,” which is shortly repeated by Chris, then by both together. This joke is carried over to this movie when Alex and Susi do the same thing with the line, “Yeah, Dad, you told us.”
  • When Guy Ritchie told Brad Pitt that he would be playing a boxer, Pitt became concerned because he had just finished shooting Fight Club and did not want to play the same type of role again. Pitt book the role anyway because he wanted to work with Ritchie so badly.
  • The U.S. distributors considered changing the title to “Snatched” or “Snatch’d”.
  • The word “fuck” is said 163 times.
  • During the opening credits, the Hasidic-clad diamond thieves are discussing the Virgin Mary. This is a reference to Reservoir Dogs, where during the opening scene the thieves are discussing the Madonna song “Like a Virgin”.
  • Franky Four-Fingers changes into four different outfits during the short telephone conversation to cousin Avi.
  • According to the DVD commentary, Bow, the dog was very difficult to work with. During car scene with Vincent, Sol and Tyrone, the dog was actually attacking Lennie James, and James was actually bitten in the crotch by the dog but didn’t suffer any serious injury. The dog was replaced after that incident.
  • The producers couldn’t afford enough extras for the boxing match sequences. Whenever a camera angle changed, the extras had to move around to create an impression of a crowded house.
  • When Vinny and Sol are sitting outside Brick-Top’s Bookies, about to give him the diamond, the man that approaches the car is not really Bullet-Tooth Tony, it was a look-alike. Vinnie Jones didn’t show up for shooting that day because he was in jail for fighting the night before.
  • Body count: 26
  • Brad Pitt’s character and indecipherable speech was inspired by many critics’ complaints about the accents of the characters in Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels. Guy Ritchie decided to counter the criticisms by creating a character that not only couldn’t be understood by the audience but the also couldn’t be understood by characters in the movie.
  • One of the boxers is called Bomber Harris. “Bomber Harris” was the nickname of Arthur Harris, chief of RAF Bomber Command in World War II. The name later appeared in a German Monty Python special (Monty Python’s Fliegender Zirkus) as the name of a man who wrestles himself – Colin “Bomber” Harris.
  • The role of Brick Top Polford was originally offered to Dave Courtney.
  • Just before Micky and Bomber Harris begin their fight, Bomber Harris head-butts Micky just after the bell rings. Micky recoils checking for blood on his glove and then floors his opponent with one punch. This was a nod towards Lenny “The Guv’nor” McClean when he fought “Mad Gypsy” Bradshaw in an almost identical fight. Lenny McLean worked with Guy Ritchie on Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels and passed away in 1998.
  • Throughout the movie, Turkish (Jason Statham) makes comments to Tommy (Stephen Graham) about his getting a gun for protection from “Ze Germans”. Graham also played Sgt. Myron ‘Mike’ Ranney in the series Band of Brothers, although Snatch was released a year prior to the series.
  • The car driven by Tyrone is a Rover SD1. It is the Vitesse version which was the fastest version made. It has a 3.5 litre V8 engine which ran on petrol/gasoline. The car was in production from 1976-1986 and in this time there was a “facelift” updated model as used in this film. The car is driven by the rear wheels and was a favorite amongst police and criminals when they were in production; so much so in fact, that the police started buying second hand cars and converting them for use in the police force when they went out of production. There were many different engines available, such as a 2.3 and 2.6 liter in-line 6 cylinder engine and a 2.4 liter turbo diesel engine, which was revolutionary in the 1980s. After the car went out of production, the design was sold to a company in India and it was re-badged and sold again as the Standard 2000.
  • Jason Flemyng joked that the working conditions on this film were so terrible that Brad Pitt’s trailer was picketed by Amnesty International as not being fit for someone to live in.
  • Guy Ritchie: In the back of the bar when we are first introduced to Doug The Head. Ritchie is the man reading the newspaper.
  • The film’s title only appears once throughout the entire movie, where Vinny (Robbie Gee) tells the dog, “Don’t Snatch!” as it takes the squeaky toy. It is said to the dog because it’s the dog who eats the diamond.

Talking Points:

  • Understanding the dialogue

What We Learned:

  • Whenever you reverse, things come at you from behind
  • If all bets are off, there can’t be any money
  • It’s easier to cut a body into 6 pieces then to try and carry it whole
  • It takes 16 pigs 8 minutes to devour a 200 lbs man
  • You can’t find a pikey that doesn’t want to be found.

Trailer:

Recommendations:
Jeff: I have some strange mixed feelings on this movie. I think it’s brilliant like Trainspotting but I think it has to do with some English sensibilities or something. I recommend seeing the movie at least once and hope you all appreciate it as much as I do.
Ray: Just wasn’t my kind of movie, I had a real hard time keeping up with the dialogue and the editing was exhausting. Brad Pitt was pretty amusing in it though.So far Guy Ritchie is 0 for 3 for me.
Steve: I like this one…and I also like LS&2SB, so I’m good with Ritchie. It’s just something kind of Tarantino about it, but also unique. I also enjoy the absurdity and he does a good job telling several intertwining stories without making you feel too lost. It’s hectic, but fun.

The Present: The Man With The Iron Fists
Rotten Tomatoes 53% Rotten; 52% Audience

Director: RZA

Starring: Russel Crowe, Cung Le, Lucy Liu

Trivia:

  • Development of the film that would become The Man with the Iron Fists began as early as 2003 when RZA produced the soundtrack for Quentin Tarantino’s film Kill Bill. RZA set himself a $50,000 budget and flew to the Kill Bill set in Beijing, China, where he spent approximately thirty days taking notes on how Tarantino directed the film.
  • The first cut of the film was 4 hours long and RZA suggested splitting it into two films, but Roth disagreed and it was ultimately cut down to 96 minutes to meet the studios requirements and to excise gorier content that would gain the film a restrictive rating, limiting its audience. RZA admitted to walking away from the editing process for two weeks at one point out of disgust at having to cut the film.
  • RZA and Eli Roth worked on the screenplay together over two years, talking through every aspect of the story, down to the detail of every weapon.
  • RZA then financed and directed a martial-arts short film called Wu-Tang vs. the Golden Phoenix featuring kung-fu trained actors flown in from Hong Kong. When he and Roth finally pitched The Man with the Iron Fists to producers, RZA used the short to prove that the musician could handle the martial arts action and be trusted to take on his first director role.
  • During the development process, Tarantino agreed to lend his name to the film with a “presented by” credit.
  • Approximately 6 weeks into filming, RZA began pushing the crew to work faster to remain on schedule. His assistant director eventually informed RZA that the push was resulting in stunt workers receiving injuries and being sent to the hospital daily. After this, RZA abandoned some of his intended shots and replaced them with Computer Generated Images (CGI).

Talking Points:

  • Silver lion’s hair
  • Lucy Liu’s character & “Black Widows”

Critic Notes:

  • Positives: Refreshingly bad; as an exercise in the genre, it always feels like you’re coming in halfway through the movie; Maybe one of the best bad movies ever; Demonstrated neo-exploitation cinema is not dead; As endearing as a hyperactive puppy, but just as exhausting and exciting; Sufficiently well done for those who like this sort of thing.
  • Negatives: RZA is awful at acting and in incompetent narrator; lavish imitation; lunatic, unnecessarily gorey, and borderline incomprehensible; a bad movie with big names is still a bad movie

What We Learned:

  • When it comes to money things get funny
  • A dog living in a palace is still a dog

Trailer:

Recommendations :
Jeff: You know, I thought this would be a bit more exciting of a movie. I did like Russel Crowe and Brass Body. Rawr.
Ray: I wanted to like it, and it really lived up to what it wanted to be which is a bad kung fu movie, but I found it sort of pretentious. RZA should have kept himself out of the movie.
Steve: The opening dialogue from RZA sealed the deal for me. This was just a combination of RZA’s wet dreams rolled into a film. He gets to bang the hot Asian chick, get a super power, and beat up a WWE superstar. BFD! The only things that almost saved this were how it looked, the fight scenes and Lucy Liu, otherwise I would have left it.

The Future: Iron Man 3

Release: May 3, 2012

Director: Shane Black

Starring: Robert Downey Jr., Guy Pearce, Gwyneth Paltrow, Ben Kingsley

Summary:

Tony Stark uses his ingenuity to fight those who destroyed his private world and soon goes up against his most powerful enemy yet: the Mandarin.

Talking Points:

  • Ben Kingsly Voice
  • Tie In to the Avengers

Trailer:

Excitement:
Jeff: Iron Man? Yes, please.
Ray: Are you kidding me? Yes!
Steve: Looks epic! I don’t know about the Mandarin though. Guess I just thought he might be younger looking.

The Past: For Your Eyes Only

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The Present: Skyfall

The Future: World War Z

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MOV119: “So, you were havin’ sex with the little fellow, then”

On this next reel of COL Movies we take a trip back to 1987 via the 1996 critically acclaimed “Fargo” Whats our take on what some would call a Coen Brother Masterpiece? Do we think it’s deserving of all it’s praise or better off getting run through the wood chipper? Next up we come back to the present to look at “ParaNorman” a 3D stop motion puppetry extravaganza brought to us by the creators of the much loved 2009 film “Coraline” Has lightning struck twice? or is this movie and it’s viewers cursed to a slow agonizing death? Last but certainly not least we Look ahead to this November’s upcoming Kung-Fu blood-letting of “The Man with the Iron Fists” Is this RZA directed martial arts epic getting us excited to head to the theaters? All that plus updated casting news on Robocop, and Interesting Rumor about John Travolta’s next project and some possible comic book ensemble action in store for the Wachowskies. All this and more on the next COL Movies reel 119, “So, you were havin’ sex with the little fellow, then”

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The Past: Fargo (1996)
Rotten Tomatoes 94% Fresh 91% Audience

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Director: Joel Coen

Staring: Frances McDormand, William H, Macy, Steve Buscemi

Trivia:

  • When working on her Minnesota accent for the film, Frances McDormand worked with Larissa Kokernot, “Hooker #1.” McDormand referred to her accent and mannerisms as “Minnesota Nice.”
  • The region was experiencing its second-warmest winter in 100 years. Filming of outdoor scenes had to be moved all over Minnesota, North Dakota, and Canada.
  • In the kidnappers’ cabin, Bruce Campbell can be seen on the fuzzy TV screen. Bruce Campbell was in the Coen Brothers’ The Hudsucker Proxy and has been in various films by Coen buddy Sam Raimi. The footage was not shot for this film, but was actually old footage of a regional soap opera in which Campbell appeared.
  • The seal for the Brainerd police department has a silhouette of Paul Bunyan and Babe the blue ox.
  • Approaching Brainerd from the south, you see a statue of Paul Bunyan with a sign reading “Welcome to Brainerd.” In reality, Brainerd has no such statue. Paul Bunyan Amusement Park, located just outside Brainerd, had a huge statue of Bunyan and Babe the Blue Ox. The park is now at ‘This Old Farm,’ between Brainerd and Garrison.
  • In the Lundegaard’s house, the magazine rack by the toilet holds a Playboy magazine. It’s visible when Jerry comes back home and sees the aftermath of the kidnapping.
  • William H. Macy begged the directors for the role of Jerry Lundegaard. He did two readings for the part, and became convinced he was the best man for the role. When the Coens didn’t get back to him, he flew to New York (where they were starting production) and said, “I’m very, very worried that you are going to screw up this movie by giving this role to somebody else. It’s my role, and I’ll shoot your dogs if you don’t give it to me.” He was joking, of course.
  • None of the movie scenes, either exterior or interior, were actually filmed in Fargo. The bar exterior shown at the beginning of the movie is located in Northeast Minneapolis.
  • William H. Macy stated in an interview that, despite evidence to the contrary, he did hardly any ad-libbing at all. Most of his character’s stuttering mannerisms were written in the script exactly the way he does them in the film.
  • Jerry Lundegaard’s last name comes from Bob Lundegaard, movie critic for the Minneapolis Star and Tribune from 1973-1986.
  • The reference to “Midwest Federal… talk to ol’ Bill Diehl” is a nod to film critic Bill Diehl, who wrote for the St. Paul Pioneer Press-Dispatch and interviewed the Coen Brothers shortly after the release of Blood Simple..
  • The airplane seen just before Carl goes to the airport parking lot to steal a license plate, is a Northwest DC-9.
  • The irate customer’s name is Bucky (you can hear his wife say his name under her breath).
  • The role of Carl Showalter was written specifically for Steve Buscemi.
  • The duck paintings briefly shown in the Gunderson home were painted by “those Hautmanns,” who are close friends of the Coen brothers. These three brothers frequently win federal and state wildlife stamp competitions.
  • The snow plow that drives past the motel at the end of the film was not part of the script. Signs in the area warned motorists not to drive through due to filming, but a state employee ignored them.
  • The film is not actually “Based on a true story”. The Coens later admitted that they added that disclaimer so the viewer would be more willing to suspend disbelief in the story. (An urban legend even says that people have gone to search Minnesota for the briefcase of money.) While the specific crimes in the movie didn’t happen, the plot has elements of two well-known Minnesota crimes. In 1962, a St. Paul attorney named Eugene Thompson hired someone to kill his wife, Carol. Unbeknownst to Thompson, his man hired someone else to do the job. The second man fatally wounded Mrs. Thomspon in her house, but she managed to escape him. She went to a neighbor’s house for help while her assailant fled the scene. The sloppiness and brutality of the crime attracted great attention. The murderers were quickly caught and gave up Thompson, who denied knowing anything about the crime for many years afterward. In 1972, Virginia Piper, the wife of a wealthy Orono banker, was kidnapped. A million-dollar ransom was paid, one of the largest in U.S. history. Mrs. Piper was found tied to a tree in a state park. Two men were convicted of the crime, but were acquitted after a re-trial. One of them later went on a shooting spree after his wife left him, killing her, their 5-year-old son, her son from a previous marriage, her new boyfriend, and one of his sons. Only $4,000 of the money was ever recovered.
  • Joel Coen had Frances McDormand and John Carroll Lynch conceive a back-story for their characters to get the feel of them. They decided that Norm and Marge met while working on the police force, and when they were married, they had to choose which one had to quit. Since Marge was a better officer, Norm quit and took up painting.
  • The morning talk show hosts on the TV right before Mrs. Lundegaard are kidnapped were actual Minnesota morning talk show hosts for many years during the 80s and early 90s. They hosted a show called “Good Company”.
  • About thirty minutes into the film when Peter Stormare’s character Gaear Grimsrud chases after the eyewitnesses in the car, he says, “Jävla fitta!” which in Swedish means ‘fucking c*nt!’
  • A Danish band called “Diefenbach” has taken their name from the character Riley Diefenbach in this movie.
  • All of the scenes that show Margie (Frances McDormand) with her husband Norm (John Carroll Lynch), they are either eating or lying in bed.
  • During the interview process at the Blue Ox where Frances McDormand interviews Melissa Peterman “Hooker #2”, she mentioned she’s from Le Sueur (MN) but amplifies her answer to include the high school she attended in White Bear Lake (MN). White Bear Lake Area High School (complete with bear mascot – “Go Bears”), formerly White Bear Lake Mariner High, is approximately 75 miles northeast of Le Sueur but significantly closer to Chaska (MN); the birthplace of Larissa Kokernot “Hooker #1” and the probable rationale behind the erroneous association. Although, Hooker #2 never says that White Bear Lake is near Le Sueur.
  • In the scene where Margie asks about the Blue Ox trucker’s stop she says it’s off I-35. In reality I-35 is over 80 miles to the east of Brainerd.
  • There is an enormous amount of pig statuettes, and little pig adorns scattered around Jerry’s house.
  • Bruce Paltrow and Robert Palm wrote a 1997 pilot for a proposed TV series featuring the characters of Marge Gunderson and Officer Lou. It eventually made it to TV as Fargo.
  • When Jerry meets Wade and Stan to discuss the ransom, the restaurant muzak system is playing “Feels So Good” by Chuck Mangione.
  • ‘Frances Mcdormand’ wore a “pregnancy pillow” filled with birdseed to simulate her pregnant belly. She says that she didn’t deliberately try to move in a “pregnant” way, it simply came as a natural response to keeping the extra weight balanced.
  • Peter Stormare had regretted turning down the Coen Brothers for a role in Miller’s Crossing, and so was glad when they offered him a role in this film.
  • Early in the movie Wade is watching a University of Minnesota hockey game. At one point an announcer can be heard saying “goal by Ranheim” and the TV shows the Gophers playing Wisconsin. The goal scorer would be Paul Ranheim, who scored 88 goals for Wisconsin from 1984 to 1988 and later played in the National Hockey League with Calgary, Hartford/Carolina, Philadelphia, and Phoenix.
  • Director Trademark
  • Joel Coen: [Stanley Kubrick] Carl says he’s in town for “just a little of the ol’ in-and-out,” a reference to A Clockwork Orange. When Carl and Gaear are driving outside Minneapolis, the song ‘These Boots are Made for Walkin’ can be heard on the radio, a reference to Full Metal Jacket, which features the same song.
  • Spoilers
  • The trivia items below may give away important plot points.
  • Fuck” and its derivatives are said 75 times, mostly by Carl Showalter. He says 10 of these during the scene where Steve Buscemi shoots Harve Presnell.
  • Body count- 7 (the state trooper, the 2 passers-by, Wade Gustafson, the parking-lot attendant, Jean Lundegaard, and Carl Showalter)
  • Although Frances McDormand’s character is the film’s central role, she does not appear on the screen until over 33 minutes (or 1/3) into the film.
  • Despite hints to the contrary at the time of the film’s release and in the closing credits, Prince does not play the Victim in the Field; this is J. Todd Anderson, who was actually a storyboard artist on the film. This was yet another Coen Brothers in-joke, since Prince was a famous native of Minneapolis, Minnesota. To further muddle matters, this moment in the film was memorialized in a “Snow-Globe” promotion included with a special edition version of the DVD, subtly hinting that the dead victim in the snow was a famous cameo.
  • The opening scene contains what might be a hint at the coming mayhem. In the bar scene, there are seven open beer bottles on the table and the body count by the end of the movie is seven. Empty beer bottles are often called “dead soldiers”. Also, Carl Showalter (Steve Buscemi) is finishing the last beer, number seven, and he is the seventh one killed in the movie.

Talking Points:

  • What do you think makes this movie resonate so strongly with critics.
  • Favorite Character

Critic Notes

  • Positives: Great characters; interesting plot; fun murder mystery with blundering crooks and cops; unique take on the genre
  • Negatives: too low browed, just poking fun at Minnesotan accents – just do the movie; the characters didn’t have enough punch to love or hate them

What We Learned:

  • Second hand smoke is cancerated
  • Steve Beuscemi is funny lookin in a general kinda way.
  • Woodchippers are not the most discrete way to dispose of a body.
  • Theres more to life than a little money, ya know.

Trailer:

Recommendations:
Jeff: Well, ya know, this is one of those movies with a bunch of start and stopping and hiding and such. The only really character I liked in this movie was Marge. I really would have preferred to seen a version of this movie that was just her story and leaved the rest out of it.
Ray: It’s a quirky dark “comedy” that certainly isn’t for everyone. If you are a fan of the crime drama though you should definitely take a look at this. Some people cant seem to process the way this movie combines some over the top ideas with a matter of fact delivery, I on the other hand love it.
Steve: I love this movie. It has some intellectual moments where you have to look past the strange looking and/or sounding characters. It’s a solid “this could happen anywhere” type movie – which is the whole point.

The Present: ParaNorman
Rotten Tomatoes 87% Fresh, 80% Audience

Director: Chris Butler, Sam Fell

Starring: Kodi Smit-McPhee, Anna Kendrick, Christopher Mintz-Plasse, Casey Affleck, John Goodman

Trivia:

  • The film was shot using a Canon 5D Mark II DSLR Camera. To generate the 3D effects, the camera was mounted on a special rig that would take one shot, then slide to a slightly different viewpoint to take another shot.
  • The film company Laika used 3D printers to generate all of the different faces needed for the characters.
  • During the last few weeks leading up to the film’s release, Laika sent 49 packages to 49 people (including Neil Gaiman and Kevin Smith). Each package consisted of a wooden crate from “Blithe Hollow” full of “grave dirt” which recipients had to dig through to unearth a coffin. Inside the coffin was one of the seven cursed zombies, complete with background information and name.
  • Save for Judge Hopkins, the seven cursed zombies are not referred to by name, but they did have names: the aforementioned Judge Hopkins, Eben Hardwick, Thaddeus Blackton, Lemuel Spalding, Amelia Wilcot, Goodie Temper, and Wile London.

Talking Points:

  • The dying art of stop motion?
  • Why was this movie not released at Halloween? Should that matter?
  • “Your gonna love my boyfriend”
  • Bullying message

Critic Notes

  • Positives: Good for them for taking on a scary concept; Good for adults and kids; Visually stunning; Laika has the market cornered on stop motion
  • Negatives: Too slow; too many holes in the plot; relied too much on the look and story wasn’t as interesting

What We Learned:

  • Sometimes people say mean things when they are afraid
  • There is nothing wrong with being scared as long as you don’t let it change who you are.
  • Firing guns at civilians is the Police’s job

Trailer:

Recommendations :
Jeff: Ooo, this was a delightful fun movie. The plot is not really told at all in the trailer, kinda reminded me of the Brave situation but not quite. The animation was amazing, the voice acting spectacular, the story was . . . okay. I think it’s worth seeing in the theater. 3D not a requirement.
Ray: While I felt the movie was gorgeous to look at I felt somewhat disappointed by this film, although I did like the overall message of the movie. It could just be that I went to see it after only getting a couple hours of sleep, but I had a hard time staying awake. As a warning I think this may be a little too dark and scary for some younger viewers, the PG rating is there for a reason folks! Oh and I would say skip the 3D.. it’s not necessary for this one. I think I need to get a few more hours of sleep and go see it again.
Steve: I really wanted to love it. However, I only liked it. It looked amazing, but I think the story itself lacked somewhere.

The Future: The Man With The Iron Fists

Release: November 2, 2012

Director: RZA

Starring: Russel Crowe, Cung Le, Lucy Liu

Summary:

In feudal China, a blacksmith who makes weapons for a small village is put in the position where he must defend himself and his fellow villagers.

Talking Points:

  • Not a whole lot…lol

Trailer:

Excitement:
Jeff: Quentin Tarantino involvement, lots of over the top violence, magic-ish armor. I’m sold. Not expecting amazing movie but super fun to watch.
Ray: Possibly one of the most over the top, ridiculous trailers I have seen in a great many years….. I’m so there!
Steve: Clearly, Quentin Tarantino is only making self-indulgent movies these days. I’m not sure about the whole mixing of hip-hop and martial arts, but Batista looks hot! Any Lucy Liu, always awesome!

The Past: The Heroic Trio

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The Present: Premium Rush

The Future: Skyfall

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MOV055: “Ska-Doosh”

The boys kick off their Pride Month celebration with a review of “BearCity”, then talk about their favorite gay-themed movies. In the present, they check out “Kung Fu Panda 2” and then head to the future to discuss Hugh Jackman’s upcoming flick, “Real Steel” or as we call it – Rock Em Sock Em Robots: The Movie. All this and news about LOTR, Spider Man, James Bond…and the fate of 3D at the movies? Join us in this 55th reel of COL Movies!

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News:

  • Its Lord of the Rings the return of the… Elf? Everyones favorite elf is back!
  • Peter Jackson confirms on facebook, Orlando Bloom confirmed for “The Hobbit” “Ten years ago, Orlando Bloom created an iconic character with his portrayal of Legolas. I’m excited to announce today that we’ll be revisiting Middle Earth with him once more. I’m thrilled to be working with Orlando again. Funny thing is, I look older—and he doesn’t! I guess that’s why he makes such a wonderful elf.”
  • The Amazing Spider-Man Swings into Comic-Con
  • Columbia Pictures will be presenting the film at San Diego Comic-Con 2011
  • Contest will pick one fan to be the “Face of the fan” and send them on an all expense paid trip to Comic-Con
  • To enter fans need to submit a 60 second video of why they believe they should be the “Face of the Fan’s” Correspondent
  • James Bond finally has a date!
  • Officers of Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Inc., today announced that the 23rd James Bond film will commence production in late 2011 for a worldwide release on November 9, 2012. The UK and Ireland will be getting the movie two weeks earlier, on October 26.
  • Is the 3D fad finally dying?
  • The latest “Pirates of the Caribbean” installment disappointed with only 47 percent of tickets from its $90.2 million weekend booty coming from 3-D purchases. So-called “event films” tend to do more than 60 percent of their business in 3-D.
  • 3-D tickets accounted for only 45 percent of Memorial Day weekend release “Kung Fu Panda 2.” Meanwhile, ” The Hangover Part II ,” which avoided the 3-D fad, opened to a staggering $103.4 million last weekend
  • Still, international audiences continue to embrace 3-D films, where they remain a novelty. “3D Sex and Zen: Extreme Ecstasy” recently opened to $360,000 on its first day in Hong Kong, vaulting it past fellow 3-D picture “Avatar” to claim the record for the biggest single-day gross in film history there.

The Past: BearCity (2010)

Rotten Tomatoes: 57% Fresh; 47% Audience

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Director: Douglas Langway

Starring: Joe Conti, Gerald McCullouch, Brian Keane, Stephen Guarino, Alix Di Dio, Gregory Gunter, James Martinez

Trivia:

  • On June 11, 2010, world premiere at NEWFEST to a sold out, standing room only crowd.
  • BearCity wins the coveted Los Angeles Outfest 2010 Grand Jury awards for Outstanding Screenwriting (Director/Co-Writer Doug Langway, Co-Writer Lawrence Ferber) and Outstanding Actor in a Feature Film (Stephen Guarino).
  • BearCity wins the Audience Award for Best Feature at the 20th Skeive Filmer / Oslo Gay & Lesbian Film Festival.
  • BearCity wins the Jury Prize for Best Feature Film (Fiction) at the 6th Andalucía (Spain) International Festival of Gay & Lesbian Cinema.
  • BearCity wins the Jury Award for Best Men’s Film at the 2010 Long Island Gay & Lesbian Film Festival.
  • BearCity wins the Jury Award for Best Film at the 2Jury Award for Best Feature Film 2011 Stella Artois QFest St. Louis LGBTQ Film Festival.
  • BearCity wins Best Bear Video from The Complete Bear’s Best Of The Bears 2010

Talking Points:

  • How representing of the Bear community?
  • BearCity 2 in production – Expected Spring 2012 according to http://www.bearcitythemovie.com

What We’ve Learned:

  • Vowels just don’t cut it for the gay generation
  • You don’t get any attention with clothes that fit.
  • The director has the ecstasy

Trailer:

Recommendations:
Jeff: I really enjoy this movie, it’s sweet, and charming. Great? No, but still an enjoyable movie to me.
Ray: While I found some of it entertaining, most felt forced and gimmicky… like we were a few deleted scenes away from a bear porn.
Steve: It’s OK. A snapshot, but not necessarily truth for everyone. Appreciate that it shows there are good and bad sides to the community…you have to make the most of whatever ‘“family” you choose.

Intermission: Best GLBT Movies

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Jeff’s Gay Pride Month Movie Challenge

The Present: Kung Fu Panda 2 (2011)
Rotten Tomatoes: 80% Rotten; 87% Audience

Director: Jennifer Yuh

Starring: Jack Black, Angelina Jolie, Dustin Hoffman, Gary Oldman, Jackie Chan, Seth Rogen, Lucy Liu, David Cross, James Hong, Michelle Yoeh

Trivia:

  • Kung Fu Panda 2 was screened at the 2011 Cannes Film Festival in early May before its commercial release.
  • In Kung Fu Panda 2, the production crew’s shown increased familiarity with Chinese culture. In 2008, after the release of Kung Fu Panda, Dreamworks CEO Jeffrey Katzenberg and other Dreamworks members visited the city of Chengdu, which is considered as the “panda hometown.”
  • In addition to seeing real pandas, crew members learned about the local culture. Katzenberg has stated that Kung Fu Panda 2 incorporates many elements of Chengdu in the film.
  • The film’s landscape and architecture also found inspiration from those found at Mount Qingcheng, a renowned Taoist mountain.
  • Some critics noted the influences of executive producer Guillermo del Toro’s works in the film’s darker themes, and Jim Tudor of TwitchFilm.net describes that with del Toro on board, the film “effectively probes deeper into Po’s emerging hero’s journey and personal issues, evoking a truly fulfilling Campbellian archetype, but also remains fully viable as mainstream entertainment suitable for all ages.”

Talking Points:

  • Quality inconsistency, Great to Amazing and back.
  • Jack Black – another Will Ferrell?
  • Adoption theme?
  • 3D
  • Favorite scene?
  • Video Game?

What We Learned:

  • If you mess with the wolf, you get the fangs

Trailer:

Recommendations:
Jeff: I Loved it, minor point of goofiness timing I didn’t like but did not take away from my enjoyment of the movie.
Ray: Think I liked this one more than the first.. loved the use of experimental animation
Steve: I like it better than the first movie. I thought the 3D was great! Liked the adoption theme.

The Future: Real Steel

Director: Shawn Levy

Starring: Hugh Jackman, Dakota Goyo, Evangeline Lilly, Kevin Durand

Trivia:

  • Based on the 1956 short story “Steel” by Richard Matheson.
  • In the short story, Matheson illustrates a cold-feeling dystopia, but Levy chose to set the film in state fairs and other “old-fashioned” Americana settings that would exude nostalgia and create a warmer tone for the film’s father-son story.
  • Filmmakers built 19 animatronic robots to feature in scenes with human actors. For scenes when the robots brawl, motion capture technology was used. Boxing legend Sugar Ray Leonard was an adviser for these scenes.
  • Filming began in June 2010, taking place primarily in Michigan. Locations include those around Detroit and across the state.
  • While the film features boxing robots, Levy said he wanted to show in the trailer “the father-son drama, the emotion, the kind of rousing sports movie, the Americana of it”. He said, “We are very much the robo-boxing movie, but that’s one piece of a broader spectrum.”
  • Real Steel was initially scheduled to be released on November 18, 2011, but it was moved earlier to October 7, 2011 to avoid competition with The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn.
  • An episode of The Twilight Zone called “Steel” is also based on Richard Matheson’s short story.

Talking Points:

  • Rock’em Sock’em Robots: The Movie

Summary:

A future-set story where robot boxing is a popular sport and centered on a struggling promoter (Jackman) who thinks he’s found a champion in a discarded robot. During his hopeful rise to the top, he also discovers he has an 11-year-old son who wants to know his father

Trailer:

Excitement:
Jeff: Rock’em Sock’em Robots: The Movie and I LOVE IT! Not expecting a great movie though.
Ray: When i saw the first trailer.. i was not impressed, but this one actually has me interested.
Steve: Yawn…bite off of Rudy and Transformers. Oh Hugh, what are you doing?

Coming Attractions

The Past
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The Present

The Future

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MOV047: “You’re A Sexist, Egotistical, Lying, Hypocritical Bigot.”

This week we check out the classic Nine To Five, the present Jake Gyllenhaal film Source Code, and look the Kung Fu Panda 2 trailer. This plus movie news all in this reel of COL Movies.

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News:

The Past: Nine to Five (1980)
Rotten Tomatoes: 88% Fresh, 69% Audience

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Director: Colin Higgins

Starring: Jane Fonda, Lilly Tomlin, Dolly Parton, Dabney Coleman

Trivia:

  • Dolly Parton’s first film
  • The TWA flight shown taking Roz to the Aspen Language Center was used in reality on the ill-fated TWA 800, which exploded off of Long Island, NY
  • Violets Fantasy Characters were to reference Snow White, and Robin Hood
  • A VHS Release was planned the same day as the Theatrical release, but was pushed back 3 months due to complaints from Theater owners.

Talking Points:

  • What 3 women would you cast if this movie was made today.

What We’ve Learned:

  • Xerox Machines can be operated by morons
  • Always check for a skull and crossbones when making your bosses coffee
  • Smoking in a hospital is always acceptable
  • Doctors don’t talk to candy stripers… piss off
  • Corpse Stealing, Kidnapping, Hostage Taking, Trespassing, Signature Forging, Credit Card Stealing are all OK as long as you get your boss promoted.

Trailer:

Recommendations:
Jeff: It’s a wonderful movie. Had a bunch of parts where I wanted to run and hide but in this case, it’s all good parts of the movie. I think I need this for my collection.
Ray: Another movie I watched over and over in my childhood…
Steve: One I hadn’t watched in a long time. Definitely smiled and reminds me of the female comedies of the 80s like Outrageous Fortune, Big Business, and similar.

The Present: Source Code
Rotten Tomatoes: 90% Fresh, 87% Audience

Director: Duncan Jones

Starring: Jake Gyllenhaal, Michelle Monaghan, Vera Farmiga, Jeffrey Wright

Trivia:

  • The Voice of Colter’s father on the phone was none other than Scott Bakula, from TV’s “Quantam Leap” and he started off his conversation by saying “Oh Boy” his catch phrase from the show.
  • Colter Keeps saying “Everything is going to be ok” a line he also spoke in the Alternate Reality mindbender “Donnie Darko”

Talking Points:

  • Not that you guys would notice, but I kept getting distracted by the things in Chicago that were “not quite right”
  • Quantum Leap on a Train?
  • The Doctor’s character…annoying?

What We Learned:

  • Chicago has WAY fancy commuter rail lines with huge bathrooms!

Trailer:

Recommendations:
Jeff: It’s a nice way of doing the Groundhog’s Day thing. Everything was well put together and enjoyable, just not great.
Ray: Although a bit predictable in certain respects.. it was an entertaining film.
Steve: It’s alright. Entertaining. Jake acted well.

The Future: Kung Fu Panda: The Kaboom of Doom

Starring: Jack Black, Angelina Jolie, Jackie Chan, Seth Rogen, David Cross, Lucy Liu, Dustin Hoffman, Jean-Claude Van Damme, Gary Oldman

Trivia:

  • The teaser trailer was shown with both 2D and 3D versions of the films Megamind, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 1, Tangled, and Justin Bieber: Never Say Never. The trailer was then released on the Internet on November 7, 2010. Three posters have been released so far.
  • The trailer was shown numerous times during the commercial breaks of the 2011 Kids Choice Awards.
  • On December 30, 2010, DreamWorks released a fifteen second TV spot for the film.
  • On February 4th, 2011, a thirty second TV spot was released on the internet, and was aired during Super Bowl XLV, on February 6th, 2011.
  • A full length theatrical trailer was shown in front of screenings of Rango and Hop. This was later uploaded on DreamWorks Animation’s YouTube page.

Talking Points:

  • Jack Black is like Will Ferrell

Summary:

Po (Jack Black), now a kung fu master, is fighting to protect the Valley of Peace alongside with Master Shifu (Dustin Hoffman) and the Furious Five; Monkey (Jackie Chan), Crane (David Cross), Tigress (Angelina Jolie), Viper (Lucy Liu), and Mantis (Seth Rogen), when a new evil, the emperor albino peacock Lord Shen (Gary Oldman), emerges to take over China with a weapon so powerful, it threatens the existence of kung fu itself. Po sets out with the Furious Five to vanquish this threat, but must first confront his own mysterious past in order to find the strength to succeed

Trailer:

Excitement:
Jeff: Skadoosh!
Ray: Yes Yes Yes!
Steve: Loved the first movie…so I’m going to take the chance on this one, despite Jack Black.

Coming Attractions

The Past
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The Present

The Future

Download Podcast