News

Remaking Arthur… WHAT IN HOLY HELL IS HAPPENING!?

I think that I have a headache just THINKING about this…

 

The CLASSIC film Arthur starring Dudley Moore is being remade by Warner Brothers. The script is currently in the process of being written and is set for a 2011 release date. 

Several things upset me about this:

1. Why in the name of all that is holy would you remake this classic film? You think you can do it better?! 

2. Russell Brand is set to play the icon character. WHY? 

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Oh look… they kind of look the same. Too bad they have completely different energies about them. Not to mention, just because you are British and mildly entertaining  doesn’t mean you hold a candle to the greatness that was the late Dudley Moore. Sure you can remake this film, but I find this to be a personal insult. There is no a chance that this film will live up to the glory of the original. If anything you will find yourself Netflixing the original and having a much more satisfying movie experience. 

And another thing, do you really think that there is an actor in existence that can take on the role of Hobson? It isn’t physically possible. John Gielgud created one of the most memorable film characters in history. 

I have no problem in saying this: Warner Brothers, kiss my ass!

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Paranormal Activity **Theatrical Review**

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Paranormal Activity

R

1 hour, 26 minutes

Starring: Katie Featherston & Micah Sloat

 

 

 

 

I finally got to see it! As many of you know I have been following this film quite closely and when I heard that it was playing at one of my local theaters in an extended limited release, I jumped at the chance. 

Paranormal Activity tells the story of a young couple, Katie & Micah, who are convinced they are being haunted by ghosts. In an effort to prove or disprove this theory, Micah buys a camera to record around the house to see what they discover. Naturally they get a little more than the bargained for as the small incidents seem to escalate.

I can honestly say that Paranormal Activity is the scariest movie I have ever seen. This film does exactly what a good horror movie will do, mess with your head. Too many films these days show tons of blood and gore without leaving anything to the imagination. What most fail to realize is your imagination will come up something far worse than the reality could ever be. This film shows you just enough. Not to mention the pure documentary style of the film makes everything feel a little to real. The build of tension and horror is absolutely magnificent. About half way through the film, when the scenes would cut to night, I found myself curling into a tight ball, waiting for the unthinkable to happen.

It’s been awhile since I openly screamed in a theater due to absolute terror. That’s pretty amazing that the whole film only cost $11,00 to make. With the use of mainly practical special effects, this movie feels very REAL. The Blair Witch Project may have started this style of filmmaking, but Paranormal Activity perfected it!

In short, not only should you go see this movie, but see it in the theater! Nothing will beat the experience.

Not to mention, Paranormal Activity will be getting a wide release on October 16th so please take full advantage of it!

5 out of 5

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Boondock Saints II: All Saints Day

Talk about a blast from your nerdy, action loving, cult classic past!

I had no idea what Boondock Saints was until a dear friend of mine from high school brought this to my attention. In general it’s a rather unexpected kind of film. Also, it was the first time I was introduced to Billy Connolly and I’ve been in love ever since. Since this cult classic came around almost 10 years ago… I am pleasantly surprised to see that it has resurfaced in the sequel Boondock Saints II: All Saints Days.

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This poster is just plain magical and gives me lots of hope. Sadly, I’m afraid that this my be doomed to cult status. Not that it’s a bad thing, but it would be nice to see something like this get more wide recognition. 

In limited theaters October 30th.

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Help get Paranormal Activity a Wide Release!

My newest obsession is Paranormal Activity. Have I seen the movie? No. 

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However, like many people across the country, I have fallen victim to the ever present viral marketing. Just as I predicted, Paranormal Activity is following in the footsteps of The Blair Witch Project. As many might recall, The Blair Witch Project caused a phenomena across the country. This wasn’t done by ad campaigns. This was all viral marketing and word of mouth. 

Paranormal Activity had this little baby release of 13 locations, midnight showings, one night only. The word was spread about people losing sleep and how this may be the scariest movie to hit cinemas in a long time. The people demanded more and their prayers were answered. However, it was still not enough. 

The website eventful.com is holding a contest on behalf of Paramount: If demand for the film hits 1,000,000 people it will get a wide release! Currently the number is set to a sad 377,487 and counting. 

Click on the link below to demand Paranormal Activity. Let’s make this one happen people!

DEMAND PARANORMAL ACTIVITY!

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FINALLY! Arrested Development: The Movie

We aren’t just talking rumors anymore kittens. This is the REAL deal!

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After months and months of endless speculation and hearing, “It’s happening,” and  ”It’s not happening,” Finally we have official confirmation that everyone (and I mean EVERYONE) is on board for the feature film version of the beloved short-lived Fox series, Arrested Development.

According to the Hollywood Reporter they could go into production as early as Spring of 2010. 

Well hot damn! I can’t wait to revisit my favorite dysfunctional family. For those of you who have been living under rock, Arrested Development was the best show that no one was watching. If you have the opportunity, go out and snag yourself a copy of the series on DVD. It’s almost impossible to be disappointed from this show. I can only imagine the movie will go one step further, as they don’t have network regulations standing in their way. 

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Cowboy Bebop feature gets a rewrite!

This just made me smile in every way possible!

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For those of you who were not aware, there is a live action, feature film adaptation of Cowboy Bebop in the works. As of now, Keanu Reeves is set to be our “Lonely Space Cowboy” Spike Spiegel. I don’t know how I feel about the casting. I can’t say it’s a great idea, but I can’t say its a terrible one either. Regardless, that is neither here nor there for the purposes of this post.

In a recent interview with Keanu Reeves it turns out that the current draft of the script is TOO good. I didn’t know such a thing was possible.

“There’s a draft of the script, but the writer did such a great job [that] in order to make the movie, you would need half a billion dollars… So the studio went, ‘This movie is fantastic and it would cost half a billion dollars,” laughed Reeves, “so he’s doing a rewrite.”

Well isn’t that just peachy keen!?

According to the star, everyone is going to be in this movie. Obviously our main concerns are Jet, Faye, Ed, and Ein. It looks like we have another Science Fiction / Western on our hands. Cowboy Bebop is something that I hold pretty close to my heart, just as any good self respecting nerd would. The best news to come out of all of this is the writer of the script, Peter Craig, has promised to stay extremely faithful to the source material.

I’m pretty excited!

So let’s talk about this one kittens. If Keanu is signed as Spike, who would you like to see in the other roles?

More importantly, I will consider it a CRIME if Tank! doesn’t make it in the film. Opening credits… that may be the only place where it belongs!

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Megan Fox Blasted by the Crew of Transformers

This is one of the most interesting things I’ve seen pop up in awhile.

Recently Megan Fox has been speaking out about the director that made her famous, Michael Bay.

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“He’s like Napoleon and he wants to create this insane, infamous mad-man reputation. He wants to be like Hitler on his sets, and he is. So he’s a nightmare to work for but when you get him away from set, and he’s not in director mode, I kind of really enjoy his personality because he’s so awkward, so hopelessly awkward. He has no social skills at all. And it’s endearing to watch him.”

Yes, Michael Bay is infamous for being a complete “ass-hole” on the set. That’s actually a rumor that I’ve heard more than once over the past couple of years. I will say that I believe Megan Fox. Regardless if she is right or wrong – I do not believe that it is appropriate to bite the hand that is feeding you. Megan Fox is a star because of Transformers...

Her comments were just the beginning.

In response, three crew members of the Transformers franchise responded in a open letter:

“This is an open letter to all Michael Bay fans. We are three crew members that have worked with Michael for the past ten years. Last week we read the terrible article with inflammatory, truly trashing quotes by the Ms. Fox about Michael Bay. This letter is to set a few things straight.

Yes, Megan has great eyes, a tight stomach we spray with glycerin, and an awful silly Marilyn Monroe tattoo plastered on her arm that we cover up to keep the moms happy.

Michael found this shy, inexperienced girl, plucked her out of total obscurity thus giving her the biggest shot of any young actresses’ life. He told everyone around to just trust him on his choice. He granted her the starring role in Transformers, a franchise that forever changed her life; she became one of the most googled and oogled women on earth. She was famous! She was the next Angelina Jolie, hooray! Wait a minute, two of us worked with Angelina – second thought – she’s no Angelina. You see, Angelia is a professional.

We know this quite intimately because we’ve had the tedious experience of working with the dumb-as-a-rock Megan Fox on both Transformers movies. We’ve spent a total of 12 months on set making these two movies.

We are in different departments; we can’t give our names because sadly doing so in Hollywood could lead to being banished from future Paramount work. One of us touches Megan’s panties, the other has the often shitty job of pulling Ms. Sour pants out of her trailer, while another is near the Panaflex camera that helps to memorialize the valley girl on film.

Megan has the press fooled. When we read those magazines we wish we worked with that woman. Megan knows how to work her smile for the press. Those writers should try being on set for two movies, sadly she never smiles. The cast, crew and director make Transformers a really fun and energetic set. We’ve traveled around the world together, so we have never understood why Megan was always such – the grump of the set?

When facing the press, Megan is the queen of talking trailer trash and posing like a porn star. And yes we’ve had the unbearable time of watching her try to act on set, and yes, it’s very cringe-able. So maybe, being a porn star in the future might be a good career option. But make-up beware, she has a paragraph tattooed to her backside (probably due her rotten childhood) easily another 45 minutes in the chair!

So when the three of us caught wind of Ms Fox, pontificating yet again in some publication (like she actually has something interesting to say) blabbing her trash mouth about a director whom we three have grown to really like. She compared working with Michael, to “working with Hitler”. We actually don’t think she knows who Hitler is by the way. But we wondered how she doesn’t realize what a disgusting, fully uneducated comment this was? Well, here let’s get some facts straight.

Say what you want about Michael – yes at times he can be hard, but he’s also fun, and he challenges everyone for a reason – he simply wants people to bring their ‘A’ game. He comes very prepared, knows exactly what he wants, involves the crew and expects everyone to follow through with his or her best, and that includes the actors. He’s one of the hardest working directors out there.

He gets the best from his crews, many of whom have worked with him for 15 years. And yes, he’s loyal, one of the few directors we’ve encountered who lowered his fee by millions to keep Transformers in the United States and California, so he could work with his own crew.

Megan says that Transformers was an unsafe set? Come on Megan, we know it is a bit more strenuous then the playground at the trailer park, but you don’t insult one of the very best stunt and physical effects teams in the business! Not one person got hurt!

And who is the real Megan Fox? She is very different than the academy nominee and winning actors we’ve all worked around. She’s as about ungracious a person as you can ever fathom. She shows little interest in the crew members around her. We work to make her look good in every way, but she’s absolutely never appreciative of anyone’s hard work. Never a thank you. All the crewmembers have stopped saying hi to Ms. Princess because she never says hello back. It gets tiring. Many think she just really hates the process of being an actress.

Megan has been late to the sets many times. She goes through the motions that make her exude this sense of misery. We’ve heard the A.D’s piped over the radio that Megan won’t walk from her trailer until John Turturro walks first! John’s done seventy-five movies and she’s made two!

Never expect Megan to attend any of the 15 or so crew parties like all the other actors have. And then there’s the classless night she blew off The Royal Prince of Jordan who made a special dinner for all the actors. She doesn’t know that one of the grips daughters wanted to visit their daddy’s work to meet Megan, but he wouldn’t let them come because he told them “she is not nice.”

The press certainly doesn’t know her most famous line. On our first day in Egypt, the Egyptian government wouldn’t let us shoot because of a permit problem as the actors got ready in make up at the Four Seasons Hotel. Michael tried to make the best of it; he wanted to take the cast and crew on a private tour of the famous Giza pyramids. God hold us witness, Megan said, “I can’t believe Michael is fucking forcing us to go to the fucking pyramids!” I guess this is the “Hitler guy” she is referring to.

So this is the Megan Fox you don’t get to see. Maybe she will learn, but we figure if she can sling insults, then she can take them too. Megan really is a thankless, classless, graceless, and shall we say unfriendly bitch. It’s sad how fame can twist people, and even sadder that young girls look up to her. If only they knew who they’re really looking up to.

But ‘Fame’ is fleeting. We, being behind the scenes, seen em’ come and go. Hopefully Michael will have Megatron squish her character in the first ten minutes of Transformers 3. We can tell you that will make the crew happy!”

-Loyal Transformers Crew”

WOW on a stick. I have to say that this is one of the most ballsy things I have ever seen. This is a potential PR nightmare for a variety of reasons. With that being said, the “Good Man of the Day” award goes to Michael Bay and his beyond classy response:

I don’t condone the crew letter to Megan. And I don’t condone Megan’s outlandish quotes. But her crazy quips are part of her crazy charm. The fact of the matter I still love working with her, and I know we still get along. I even expect more crazy quotes from her on Transformers 3.

- Michael

He protected Megan and himself… job well done Michael.

Now for the crew. They tried to be vague to protect themselves, however they were just specific enough. Anyone who actually works on the set can probably put the pieces together. I think it’s safe to say that I witch hunt is currently in the works for the three. If they are discovered, they will never work in this town again. As cliche as that sounds… it’s completely true. No one likes a tattle-tale. In this business, they protect their own, whether they deserve it or not.

I can’t say that I feel that Megan Fox has been victimized in way. I’m sure these crew workers have had enough experience with the actress to feel the way that they do. In reality, she did throw the first stone and has been trash talking Michael Bay for months now. Their letter was an attempt to lash out against the actress and her claims against the director that keeps them not only employed, but someone they actually enjoy working with.

Despite Michael Bay’s reputation, he handled this the best (regardless if this is actually how he feels or not).

There is definitely a lesson to be learned from all of this. Sadly is goes back to the phrase everyone’s mother has uttered at least once, “If you don’t have anything nice to say don’t say anything at all.”

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Fantastic Four set for a Reboot

 

Evans, Chiklis, Alba, and Gruffudd as The Fantastic Four

Evans, Chiklis, Alba, and Gruffudd as The Fantastic Four

Fox has just announced that they plan to reboot the Fantastic Four franchise. 

After reading the statement I just sort of stared blankly at my computer screen. It’s the same stare you give when you watch your best friend about to trip over their own feet, but you want to see if they’ll catch themselves, but you watch them fall over anyway.

Fox is freaking out because Disney just bought Marvel, now they need to capitalize off of the property while the opportunity is still for the taking. Problem is, they screwed it up already, so what makes them think they can do it right this time around?

Word on the street is Michael Green is set to pen the script. His credits include Heroes, Kings, and Smallville. He is also responsible for the script for the Green Lantern film. Say a little prayer children. 

Now the real questions we should all be asking ourselves is: who is the cast?! I would love to hear your thoughts on the casting for Fantastic Four. I have a little dream team in mind, but I want to hear what y’all think!

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Oscar voting changing

bill-eppridge-oscar-the-academy-award-statuetteThe Academy Awards are changing the way that they do things, yet again. As some of you may recall, the Best Picture category has expanded to from 5 films to ten.

If you don’t remember this, you can check out the article here.

As a result of this, the bosses at the Academy awards are changing the way that everyone votes on the best picture as well.

In the past, they asked that everyone just pick one as the winner. Instead, they will be rating each film in order preference. They want to see which film as the most support from the Academy.

Bruce Davis, Executive director to the Academy, says. “There are certain mathematical dangers with more nominees. You could really get a fragmentation to the point where a picture with 18 or 20 percent of the vote could win, and the board didn’t want that to happen.”

Sadly, I really don’t understand this. Wouldn’t the picture that most people pick as their number one choice be considered the film with the most support? Honestly, I don’t know enough when it comes to calculating votes and such. It only seems natural that when you have more options to choose from, the vote will be more divided.

Does this mean that if there isn’t an overwhelming support based on the number one vote, but nearly everyone chooses a particular film as their number two, than the number two film will win best picture?

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Disney buys out Marvel

3574785269_0ef793fe3f_oThis is probably one of the strangest and most random news stories to come out in awhile. The best part about it? It’s 100% true!

Disney has bought out Marvel Entertainment. That means that they same people that own Mickey Mouse and peddle off gems like Miley Cyrus and the Jonas Brothers now OWN every single character in the Marvel catalogue. 

This feels like an episode of the Twilight Zone. I don’t really understand the purchase. Obviously Disney sees some long term financial benefit for needing Marvel. It just seems like a terribly strange mis-match.

In the future, Disney will most likely be the people distributing the Marvel Studios films as well as their expanding animated films. For now, they are honoring all of the existing distribution deals; Paramount Pictures and their deal for the Iron Man franchise.  

I’m still trying to decide how I feel about this one. 

I can see many benefits for Marvel and their characters. Disney has money falling out of their pockets and they are always willing to throw down serious piles of cash for the big sure-to-be-money-maker films. Since Disney is more well known for the animation, maybe some full length animated Marvel films are in our future?

The reality is, Marvel (as a brand) conflicts with Disney (as a brand). Fans of their superheroes love the hardcore action, violence, and strong emotional stints that these characters carry. Will the fact that Tony Stark (Iron Man) is an alcoholic conflict with the Disney brand? Doesn’t Disney stand for family and good, clean, wholesome fun? Although we have characters like Captain America, who is the biggest boy scout on the Earth, but then you have characters like the Punisher, who goes around murdering people. 

How active is Disney going to be in Marvel and their content. I can’t imagine Disney wanting to but their name on a violent action film. What is the alternative? Is Disney going to water-down the characters I have known and loved since I was a child?

What does this mean for Marvel and Disney?

Addition from original post: I made a bit of an error in this blog by forgetting something VERY important. Disney has a couple of different production companies, namely Miramax, Touchstone, and Hollywood Pictures. I think it’s quite obvious to say that the Disney Pictures logo won’t be appearing along side Marvel but will most likely be distributed by the companies mentioned above.

With that being said, I can only hope that they outlook for Marvel is nothing but optimistic.

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