Tag Archives: Mary Louise Parker

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MOV023: “I Kill People, Dear”

The Crow is being remade with possibly Mark Whalberg?! Brandon Rother might get back into tights, Iron Man 3 being released by Disney, Jamie Lee Curtis looks like Jeff’s cousin when she was younger, Helen Mirren with guns just kicks ass, and the Unstoppable Trailer.

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The Past: Halloween (1978)

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Director: John Carpenter

Starring: Jamie Lee Curtis, Donald Pleasence, Nancy Kyes, P.J Soles

Trivia:

  • Though set in fictional Haddonfield, IL. the movie was shot in Pasadena, CA. (You can see the CA licence plates on all the cars)
  • Jamie Lee’s first feature film
  • All the leaves were fake, purchased and painted … and reused for every outdoor shot
  • Made for 325k and grossed 47 Million Domestically

Talking Points:

  • OMG! THE HAIR! – The Scariest thing in the movie? – Jeff
  • Music’s role in this movie – Ray (Similar sounds like The Howling – Steve)
  • Anyone notice the movie playing on the TV? -Ray
  • No sympathy for most of the characters… except Jamie, Intentional? -Ray
  • Use of Steadicam was innovative for the time – Steve
  • Remake any good?

What We’ve Learned:

  • Boys who have been institutionalized since early childhood are excellent drivers.
  • Why does Jamie Lee Curtis look like a younger version of my Cousin Lisa?
  • Cops have no sense of smell
  • Its best just to ignore the teenage girl screaming hysterically outside your door..
  • Virgins always survive.
  • In the 70s, you could steal a car with State plates and markings – and no one will notice.

Trailer:

Recommendations:
Jeff: I think the only part of the movie I got excited for was the last 10 minutes. But worth a rental for being a classic.
Ray: You cannot call yourself a horror fan without seeing this movie. This is the one that set the standard for the next Decade (At least)
Steve: Solid movie that set the standard for a long time to come. Shows a horror movie can be done well with just actors and a movie camera.

The Present: RED

Director: Robert Schwentke

Starring: Bruce Willis, Morgan Freeman, John Malkovich, Mary Louise Parker, Helen Mirren

Trivia:

  • John C. Riely was to play the role of Marvin, which went to John Malkovich and Meryl Streep was considered (only considered?) for the Role of Victoria
  • While filming in Toronto, the police received several phone calls reporting machine gun fire after local residents mistook the movie’s gunshot effects for the real thing.

Talking Points:

  • Supposedly the story was changed from the graphic novel to make the story longer… oy? really? -Ray

What We Learned:

  • It must be easy to sleep through a hail of gunfire at 3:45am.
  • Duct Tape can be used on the first date
  • Combat boots go well with a white evening gown
  • There’s a reason they are classified as retired and extremely dangerous and usually that means just leaving them alone.

Trailer:

Recommendations:
Jeff: Helen Mirren with guns. Awesome.
Ray:. Wowed by the Actors, Bored by the Script…
Steve: My favorite movies in a long time! I thoroughly enjoyed it!

The Future: Unstoppable

Director: Tony Scott

Starring: Denzel Washington, Christopher Pine, Rosario Dawson

Trivia:

  • Been in development since 2004
  • Based on a real life incident from May 2001 when a 47 Car CRX train left a Toledo,OH rail yard without an engineer and wasn’t stopped before it went 66 miles and through 3 counties

Talking Points:

  • Is this an overused formula?
  • Is this film unique enough to be a success?

Summary:
A rail company frantically works to prevent an unmanned, half-mile-long freight train carrying combustible liquids and poisonous gas from wiping out a city.

Trailer:

Excitement:
Jeff: Despite formula-ity, I’m excited to see this.
Ray: Normally I wouldn’t be excited by this .. except for the Director.
Steve: Seems like Armageddon on train tracks. Looks nice, but not excited about it.

Coming Attractions – Steve

The Past: Fright Night
The Present: Paranormal Activity 2
The Future: Monsters

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MOV014: “I’m just a little bi-furious!”

Evangelion 1.11: You Are (Not) Alone, Scott Pilgrim Vs The World, RED, and much discussion on Star Wars coming to Blu-Ray

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The Past: Evangelion 1.11: You Are (Not) Alone

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Director: Hideake Anno (supervising)

Staring: Megumi Ogata/ Spike Spencer (Shinji), Megumi Hayashibara/Brina Palencia (Rei), Kotono Mitsuishi / Allison Keith(Misato)

Trivia:

  • Based of the Series Neon Genesis Evangelion – Which ran in Japan for 26 episodes from 1995 to 1996 in Japan – and has grossed over 150 billion yen.
  • As an April Fools joke for 2009, USA and Canada distributor FUNimation Entertainment released a bogus but well known cast list for the main characters, in the vein of the success of the Hollywood cast in Afro Samurai: Resurrection (2009). It included Shia LaBeouf as Shinji Ikari, Lindsay Lohan as Rei Ayanami, Miley Cyrus as Asuka Langley Sohryu, Angelina Jolie as Misato Katsuragi, Samuel L. Jackson as Gendou Ikari, and Sean Penn as Pen Pen.
  • In the Japanese version – The Character Shinji Icari is played by a girl and the Voice Actress who plays Rei Ayinami refuses to voice any other characters in Japanese anime other than Rei and Pikachu
  • Studio basically stopped paying its taxes to have the money to fund this and the second movie of the planned Tetraology – has since gotten the ok from the studio for and “Unlimited” budget and “Unlimited” Timeframe to work on the remaining two films.
  • The DVD Release featured over 266 shots that received minor enhancements from the theatrical release.
  • A real version of the cellphone used by Misato was released by Sharp – The limited edition phone sold for $900 US and easily goes for over $1000 on ebay, all 20,000k phones available for pre-order sold out in 5 minutes.

Talking Points:

  • English or Japanese – How did you watch it?
  • The Differences between American and Japanese perceptions of Animation (for kids / for adults)
  • Live action Evangelion Movie “In Development Hell” would it work?
  • There is much debate as to if this movie is a re-telling of the original series, or a sequel to the series – How does this movie stand up to viewing if you have never seen the original series

What We’ve Learned:

  • In Japan – Everything Explodes!
  • Japanese Cities are amazingly resistant to everything that explodes!
  • Extremely complicated artificial beings are amazingly easy to operate with very little training
  • Whiny insecure emotionally neurotic children make the best mecha pilots
  • Warm Water Penguins can read the newspaper
  • You Mustn’t run away.
  • Misato Did Indeed Change the Carpet (inside joke to EVA fans)

Trailer:

Recommendations:
Jeff: Amazing! Anime fan, buy it. Not an Anime fan, rent it.
Ray: Check it out, If you dig it, check out the series and two original movies then come back and watch this movie again.
Steve: Great story, visually appealing. As a fan of Robotech, I approve as an upgrade.

The Present: Scott Pilgrim Vs The World

Director: Edgar Wright

Staring: Michael Cera, Mary Elizabeth Winstead, Kieran Culkin, Ellen Wong, Anna Kendrick, Alison Pill, Mark Webber & Johnny Simmons

Trivia:

  • In 2009 Edgar Wright started a year long photo blog where he would take at least one picture every day and post it on his website. Much of the cast and crew appeared in this daily photo blog while they were shooting, most of the time with no direct credit given and their faces partially obscured in some way.
  • One of the evil exes that Scott (Michael Cera) must defeat is Roxy Richter (Mae Whitman) who previously played Cera’s character’s girlfriend in “Arrested Development” (2003).
  • During the editing process, Edgar Wright showed filmmakers Quentin Tarantino, Jason Reitman, and Kevin Smith a rough cut of the film, to which they responded positively.
  • Edgar Wright thought of casting Michael Cera as the titular character after watching episodes of Arrested Development (2003) during the writing of Hot Fuzz (2007).
  • The stunt doubles of Lucas Lee are actually the stunt doubles for Chris Evans. Only a quarter of the doubles resemble Evans.
  • Edgar Wright obtained permission to use the famous theme song from the NES title, The Legend of Zelda (1986), by writing a letter to Nintendo, saying that it is considered to be “the nursery rhyme of this generation”. He was also allowed to use the “Seinfeld” (1990) theme song for a sitcom-style sequence.
  • The wide open eyes of Knives Chau was not created with any practical or CGI effects. Ellen Wong, who plays Chau, did it herself.
  • Although Anna Kendrick (cast as Stacey Pilgrim, age 18) plays the younger sister to Michael Cera’s character (Scott Pilgrim, age 22), in real life Kendrick is nearly 3 years older than Cera.

Talking Points:

  • Did you have any sort of emotional connection with the main characters?
  • This movie didn’t do so hot its opening weekend, why? surprised?
  • Some of the best Fight Choreography Ive seen, Very little use of the ADHD Handheld shakey cam editing technique! Thank god!

What We’ve Learned:

  • Everyone has Baggage.. some peoples baggage can be fatal
  • It snows a lot in April In toronto
  • Orgasms can be fatal

Trailer:

Recommendations:

Jeff: AMAZING!
Ray: Highly Entertaining, visually Striking, Story is a little hollow.
Steve: Very entertaining, kept my attention, big fan of the quips that make you think

The Future: RED

Starring: Bruce Willis, Morgan Freeman, Helen Mirren, John Malkovich, Mary Louise Parker

Trivia:

  • Based on The Graphic Novel from DC comics
  • John C. Reilly was set to be in the movie but dropped out and was replaced by John Malkovich.
  • While filming in Toronto, the police received several phone calls reporting machine gun fire after local residents mistook the movie’s gunshot effects for the real thing.

Talking Points:
This looks like a whole lot of fun! story looks a little played out (retired spy/secret agent forced back into service)

Summary:
Frank (Bruce Willis), Joe (Morgan Freeman), Marvin (John Malkovich) and Victoria (Helen Mirren) used to be the CIAs top agents but the secrets they know just made them the Agencys top targets. Now framed for assassination, they must use all of their collective cunning, experience and teamwork to stay one step ahead of their deadly pursuers and stay alive. To stop the operation, the team embarks on an impossible, cross-country mission to break into the top-secret CIA headquarters, where they will uncover one of the biggest conspiracies and cover-ups in government history.

Trailer:

Excitement:
Jeff: Very excited despite the fact that John Malkovich is in it.
Ray: Ill see this Just for Helen Mirren
Steve: Helen Mirren as a contract killer/CIA agent? I’m in!

Coming Attractions

The Past: The Craft
The Present: The Expendables
The Future: The Chronicles of Narnia: The Voyage of the Dawn Treader

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