Saturday 25 October 2008

She ain't no Ella

All I'm sayin'

'Notorious' Trailer

The reason I am posting this 2009 trailer now.

ANGELA, ANGELA, ANGELA!

You know she is gonna rock this role.

Our thoughts are with your Jennifer.

This is heartbreaking news.

'Last Chance Harvey' trailer

This is the movie the studio has push up from it's original release date of 2009 to compete in this years Oscars, mainly due to Dustin Hoffmans apparently wonderful performance.
You know I am a fan of these 'finding love in your latter years' movies. There should be more of them. I cannot say for sure from this trailer if Dustin will be nominated, or even be a contender, but this trailer is aimed to attract the romantic dramedy Christmas crowd. I will see anything with Emma Thompson, and anything that features Badly Drawn Boy music in the trailer.

'Gran Torino' Trailer

So here it is. The Clint Eastwood racist movie. Not convinced I should be putting him in my best actor predictions yet as wearing a frown and talking in an hybrid voice of Batman, Patty and Selma is not getting my 'actor' on.
However you know the Academy, they will probably nominate him anyways. Could finally be a chance for some break out Asian actors though.

Friday 24 October 2008

Anne Hathaway is the new Julia?

This picture certainly makes you think so. I mean my God, they could be sisters! Just look!
Well they could be, and Anne could be the next Julie box office queen, especially if she keeps up with taking roles in romantic comedies and flashing her star wattage smile. Rom Coms are always the fallback genre for actresses to gain popular appeal. It seems the populous en mass likes their leading ladies to be completed by a man.
Anywhooo… The danger with this is it is not a great path for a long term critically acclaimed career. If you do not believe me ask Meg Ryan, Julia Roberts or Sandra Bullock.

Anne has ‘Bride Wars’ coming out with other Rom Com for lifer Kate Hudson, and now she has signed on to star in ‘The Fiance’.
The story is about a woman who postpones her wedding to her seemingly perfect fiancé so she can figure out who she is and what she wants from life. But her parents begin to meddle in her affairs, making it impossible for her to move on.

The film is being directed, however, by Burr Steers, the man behind ‘Igby Goes Down’….PHEW!
I am thinking this will hopefully be a more dramatic affair than I originally thought when I heard of by Etan Cohen’s (Tropic Thunder) involvement as screenwriter. With this, ‘Alice in Wonderland’ and ‘Get Smart 2’ in her line up, I would really like to see some more dramatic work from Hathaway. I have not seen ‘Rachel Getting Married’ but I am sure she is fantastic in the film as every reviewer I trust has said so, and I loved her in ‘Brokeback Mountain’ so I know she has the chops.

Can she be the next Julia Roberts? Or do you think she is going to try and be clever and pick respected film makers to work with and do the occasional Rom Com to pay the bills?

Then again when you look like this we should be thankful you are gracing our screens.

Thursday 23 October 2008

'The Black Baloon' trailer

When is this being released?

You all know I love Toni with a passion, and I especially love Toni with her Aussie accent. She is supposed to be wonderful in this film, yet there has been no release date yet?

Why! I need my Toni!! She is currently being tied up with Showtimes 'United States of Tara' which could be good, but she needs to be back on the big screen where she belongs!

Remaking movies

A family is shipwrecked off an uninhabited isle. A Father and his two eldest sons salvage as much as they can from the wreck including livestock, tools, and even an organ. The three men construct a tree-house home on the island while the youngest boy investigates the wildlife and Mother prays to be rescued. The Two eldest sons discover a young pirate captive on the island. They rush her to the tree-house. Father realizes the pirates will try to reclaim her and decides to make a stand against them.

Or so goes the premise to the movie ‘Swiss Family Robinson’ one of those films I adored as a child. Probably now I would get really pissed off with the overly sexist nature of the story (Mother prays?…PLEASE we all know it would have been the woman buliding the tree house, cooking the food and basically whipping the men into shape) and the fact that the building of the tree house would have not been very environmentally friendly may have upset me (lets face it, it would have been no Lothlorian).

However I would love to see this film remade today, but vastly different.

Due to current technology we would have to go back and set it in the 70’s when there were still undiscovered islands and no GPS to take into consideration otherwise it would be a case of - open credits - “Oh dear we are shipwrecked…let me use my cell phone….here comes the chopper! YAY!!” – end credits.

Instead of just having one family, perhaps have a group of three wealthy families who go on a yachting trip together on one of those giant numbers complete with maids, chefs, captains, deck hands and the such - we need a little class divide to keep things interesting.

An unexpected storm causes the anchor to snap and the boat to drift very far and basically get battered against the reefs of an island. Of course not everyone survives. Families are broken, parents lose children, children lose parents and it is all very tragic.
Yes I would like to see this as a drama and not a family action adventure as both movies and the source material were. These are things that would not work so well these days, and for selfish reasons I need the plausibility....if you are shipwreacked in the storm, people will die, kind of a no-brainer.

I still want to keep the fabulous tree house, but loose the pirates and captive women and geographically implausible animals. I would like the film to be about how a family can be made from the fragments left behind of other families.

All too often we see these shipwreck movies that involve pirates, giant animals, racist depictions of natives or ‘others’ to amp up the story when just surviving the ordeal is drama enough to more than sustain interest.

I am thinking about making this a regular feature, where I take movies to be remade. I think that movies that should be remade are ones that had a good story/idea, but were not successful in their execution. Technically this idea is not a remake, or like a re-visualization of a classic book/movie, but you get the idea.
I already flirted with this idea here, here and sadly very predictably here, but it kind of didn’t take at the time. Do you think I should continue with this, or should I at some point do a remake blog-a-thon?

'Wendy and Lucy' trailer

There has been considerable festival buzz regarding the performance by Michelle Williams in director Kelly Reichardts critically acclaimed feature about a young woman (Williams) en route to a summer job in Alaska. When her car breaks down and her faithful dog Lucy is taken to the pound, her financial circumstances break down.

We may see Williams name being thrown about come year end awards, but the film is small so she is going to need a considerable push. Good start though as the buzz is slowly rising and she is beginning to crop up on peoples radars.

To have her nominated with Heath will be very bitter sweet indeed.

Wednesday 22 October 2008

The Loves of Buffy

With 'Let the Right One In' trailer on my brain today, I could not help but think about Vampires, and the upcoming 'Twilight'. Two films in one year about humans falling for Vampires. Wasn't Buffy doing just this years ago?

Poor ole slayer. She really did not have a heck of a lot of luck in love did she? Perhaps with so many slayers out there she can find the time to meet a nice guy, one she doesn’t have to kick the shit out of at some point would be even better! Who out of the three main men in her life would she have had the best life with?
Lets have a scientific formula work it out!

Angel.

Looks: 9/10
“Hello salty goodness”, and boy Cordelia was right, especially in the first few seasons when he was slender, dark and broody and damn right sexy. So he porked up during ‘Angle’ the series, but while in Buffy he was still young fresh and new.

Personality: 6/10
Man this guy was dull, a hero, but dull. I mean he did unspeakable horrors that he needs to atone for, I get it, but did he ever go over board with the brooding. Couldn’t he just have done a Briony and written a book? There is only so much damn self hate one can take. No wonder they decided to turn him evil, all that dreary “I’ve been a bad boy” crapola, and Buffy would have just steaked him to shut him up.

Lover Skills: 2/10
If he roots you, he will kill you…..not quite Don Juan material, although the foreplay could be fun unless he is a bit premature.
Did anyone else think that Angel having an orgasm, that would be the one moment of happiness to break the curse, would be a technicality the Gypsies could have taken into account? If you are putting a curse on the murderer of your people, don’t you think you would have made it a no loophole curse?

Buffy Compatibility: 7/10
They had a connection that lasted a good long time. They were honestly in love and that is just grand, but I am thinking that after a while the dear ole slayer would have needed someone to give her a long hard Buffing.

OVERALL: 6/10


Riley.

Looks: 8/10
Now my partner, my hunk of man meat is a Riley fan. He goes for the Abercrombie looking boy. He was totally on board with Angel ‘til he got a little porky and old (I thought vampires were not supposed to age,) and then switched to Riley.

Personality: 5/10

I kind of get the appeal of Riley physically, but please, the boy could not deal with being with a woman who didn’t need him to protect her. He was jealous of Angel and was basically a big ole baby boy in diapers.
In a nut-shell he was a wet blanket, and there is something about army training that just emasculates you, that whole taking orders and not asking questions just kind of makes you a pre Suffrage meek slave girl.

Lover Skills: 8/10

They caused the spirits of teenage horniness to go crazy just from the intensity of their rumpy pumpy.

Buffy Compatibility: 3/10
Buffy needed a man to be there when she needed him, and to understand that most of the time she needs to be alone to face her destiny, Riley would never have been able to provide her with that (cue violins).

OVERALL: 6/10


Spike

Looks: 8/10
More of an acquired taste, but damn he is sexy. Nice tight body and heck I even lobe the hair. He had a real bad boy vibe about him. Not as cuddly as Angel and Spike, but just fine for those who like it rough. Plus you could slice cheese on his cheek bones.

Personality: 8/10
Sure he was evil, and was always trying ridiculous schemes to make money. Sure he couldn’t be trusted most of the time, and until he got a brain chip and soul he was dangerous, but boy was he ever fun. Another thing that always struck me was his capacity to love. He loved Dru with all of his being and he loved Buffy, with and without a soul. Besides he got on famously with Joy...and anyone who gets on with the parents is a keeper.

Lover Skills: 10/10
He and Buffy shook the foundations of a build to the point where it fell down on top of then, thus was the power and intensity of thier love making. We were all shocked when sweet little Spike hating Buffy did the 'ole un-zip and mount. Freaking hot!! Plus she handcuffed him to the bed in a later episode.

Buffy Compatibility: 7/10
He got a soul for her. He cried for her. The man loved her so much he was willing to do anything for her. He was able to be her only source of comfort post death. In all senses he would have been the perfect boyfriend, only Buffy did not love him. He could have offered her everything she needed, except love.

OVERALL: 8.25/10


So the un-biased winner is SPIKE!



Have your say!!

"Let the Right One In" red band trailer

Everyone else is posting it....so why don't I?

This looks like it is going to be brilliant.

VOTE!

Judy and Miranda are fighting it out for 1st place, but can Marisa come along and ruin the party (like she did many years ago)?

Come on people VOTE!!!





Tuesday 21 October 2008

MGMT - Kids

This should be huge! The Brooklyn based group makes fantastic psychedelic electronica pop music. This track 'Kids' was a top 30 hit in the UK, but alas no real chat love in the US.

Music Charts: US vs UK

Time to do the ole chart comparison again. Which top ten chart is better (in my opinion), the U.S. or the U.K.. I will mark each track out of ten, and then give the over a chart a mark out of ten for diversity - just because I am bored!!!

U.S. Chart

1) Britney Spears - Womanizer

You know what, I am really loving this. Sure it is kind of formulaic but sometimes catchy over comes something being un-original. I welcome a comeback! 8/10

2) T.I. - Whatever You Like

Is this what is passing as hip hop? It isn't very hip and I certainly did not hop. Funny song, in the way it seems the poor dear is so insecure he has to promise women cars and diamonds to be with him. 3/10

3) T.I. Featuring Rihanna - Live Your Life

Rihanna tries her best to make this something, but even she is not talented enough. A little better though than the previous one, but not top 10 material. Also sampling O-zone's 'Dragostea Tin Dei' give he absolutely no cred. 4/10

4) Pink - So What

I totally love Pink...she could have been the next Madge. What I do not love is this song. Sure it is catchy and all, but compared to some of her other singles it is no all that. 6.5/10

5) Katie Perry - Hot N Cold

Not quite I Kissed A Girl, but a solid second effort, even if it merges with all the other angsty chic rock pop out there. Probably charted so high due the 'second single released after huge first single' syndrome. 6.5/10

6) Rihanna - Disturbia

Well she has mae it huge, this young girl has, and good on her. I love the fact she is fully embracing dance pop so strongly. 7.5/10

7) Kevin Rudolf Featuring Lil Wayne - Let It Rock

Just a little bit boring really. Hip Hop Metal shouldn't sounds like a 13 year old boy trying to be hard...a little embarrassing really. 3/10

8) T-Pain Featuring Lil Wayne - Can't Believe It

When an artist has to release a song 'featuring' another artist is it because they need to advertise they know cool people/have friends or are just not talented enough on their own? 2/10

9) Ne-Yo - Miss Independent

Well this isn't so bad really. Sure he sounds like he is singing through his nasal passages, but the hand clappy beats are fun. 5/10

10) M.I.A. - Paper Planes

Well done America! Even though it is over a year old and is only popular because of the 'Pineapple Express' trailer, it is still a little slice of political brilliance...a shame some US radio stations have edited out the gun shots....ruins the point. 10/10

As for diversity, considering the presence of M.I.A., rock pop, dance pop amongst the bland hip hop r-n-b junk, I will give it a solid 7/10


U.K. Chart

1) Pink - So What

Been here, and done it. 6.5/10

2) Geraldine - The Winners Song

Comedian Peter Kay's alter ego Geraldine McQueen actually hit the top five! This is whay I love the UK Charts, anything can make it into the top ten, even comedy records taking the piss out of singing competitions. 6.5/10

3) Leon Jackson - Don't Call This Love

Well the brits love their pop idols so much that everyone gets a top five placement. Not loving this at all....bland bland pop idol fodder...cute though. 3/10

4) King of Leon - Sex On Fire

Love it. Great riff, great vocals. Sounds incredibly 80's in a really good way. One of the best tracks on here. 8/10

5) Saturdays - Up

New Spice Girls my arse. But for forgettable pop shite this isn't that bad...could do with a stonking remix to really bring the verse out. Plus they are hot...perhaps Girls Aloud should be wary. 7/10

6) Snow Patrol - Take Back the City

Love Snow Patrol, and this is a bit of a grower. More up beat than their usual somber stadium rock, and a bit of grower. This 80's rock sound is really running rampant over here. 7/10

7) Ne-Yo - Miss Independent

Still kind of like it, kind of don't. Doesn't travel across the pond any better. 5/10

8) Rihanna - Disturbia

Again. 7.5/10

9) Sash Featuring Stunt - Rain Drops

I loved 'Encore En Fois' and I do really like this reworking of his 90's hit. There is a trend of taking really great instrumental or sparsely vocal dance track and adding lyrics which can be kind of boring but this works. 7.5/10

10) Sugababes - Girls

Not a fan of the girls, but this is kind of cute and fun and bubbly. But for a girl power anthem this is a little weak. Would be a much better instrumental. The chorus is distracting. 6/10

Diversity: A comedy piss take record, Pop slush, Pop dance, R -n- B, Dance, Rock. Pretty damn diverse. A solid 7.5/10

Well the overall winner is the Uk with an average of 81.5 (The US got a respectable 57.5) then again UK radio plays much more diverse music on the popular stations and so it should be! Still there is no M.I.A. which is a shame.

New Robyn

Well Robyn featuring her vocal on the new Christian Falk track.

This is just a little this side of brilliant. No surprise that I love this track as I am a very big Robyn fan anyway, but this song and those lyrics.....kind of makes you wanna cry.

The other thing I love about her is her distinct image. Never trying to be the pop star/tart-let she isn't, just more concerned with making good music. I mean when was the last time the Christina's, Britney's, P!ink's, Rihanna's, and even Madonna's scored a 86 on metacritic? (sorry Madonnna....I still love you and 'Ray of Light' and 'Like a Prayer' are not on there)



Thugs and badman
Punks and lifers
F@#ked up interns
Pigs and snitches
Rest your weary heads, all is well
You won’t be strip-searched, torn up tonight
you won’t be cut up, bleeding tonight
you won’t be strung out, cold, shaking to your bones
wishing you were anywhere else but right here
So dream on

Thieves and muggers
Tricks and hustlers
Cheats and traitors
Scum and low-lifes
Rest your weary heads, all is well
You won’t be sad or broken tonight
you won’t be squealed on, ripped up tonight
you won’t be back-stabbed, double cross, face down
teeth knocked out, lying in a gutter somewhere
So dream on

Freaks and Junkies
Fakes and phonies
Drunks and cowards
Manic preachers
Rest your weary heads, all is well
You won’t be pushed or messed with tonight
you won’t be lied to, ruffed up tonight
You won’t be insane, paranoid, obsessed
aimlessly wandering through the dark night
So dream on

Monday 20 October 2008

Slumdog acting

With everyone going on and on about how wonderful 'Slumdog Millionaire' is I have to ask the question....What about the actors?

There has been some real raves for Dev Patels work in the lead category, so should I be seriously considering him, or is a pure Indian actor being nominated far too much to ask of the Academy right now?



Also the wonderful and constantly good Irfan Khan is in this film! How did I not know this? He was brilliant in 'A Mighty Heart' and should have been nominated for 'The Namesake'.



That pesky Academy and their racism.

Poster-iffic!

Those who visit The Film Experience will remember the great post about illustrated movie posters, and how, especially in montage format, are much better than photographic.
I whole heartedly agree. (although the main poster for 'Australia' is not that great, some of the others are breathtaking)
There is something about an illustrated movie poster that gets across the tone and feeling of the film better than a photo or fancy lettering can.

Just look at the US poster for 'Happy-Go-Lucky':


It is fun and gets the tone of the movie perfectly, better so than the a UK version of the poster did. Illustrated posters can de-clutter what, in photographic form could be a mess (usually due to a large star filled cast). With all the star power in 'Burn After Reading' the poster could have looked a mess, instead it looks like art.

Sometimes a photo is not even needed to get across the tone. We all know that 'Doubt' will be serious just by the starkness and boldness of the poster. I mean the symbol of the cross just says so much, especially these days. Clever little marketing peeps.
Same can be said for the 'Cloverfield' poster. I mean 9/11 symbolism much? Worked a treat at the box office though (and one of the most thrilling films of the year for me thus far)

However, graphics, illustrations or photo imagery aside, the best poster campaign of the year would have to go to 'The Dark Knight'. Every poster was art work and genius. They were dark and mysterious, clever and self deprecating. They set the mood of the film, and boy were they unnerving.

Hon mentions would of course have to go to the people behind the campaign for 'W' (very 'Fahrenheit 9/11' opening credits) and 'Funny Games' (don't we all just want to save Naomi?)

All I am saying is sometimes the poster is the first thing people are going to see about a film. You gotta make it pop, have character, be different and be interesting. Don't get us all excited about 'Changeling' only to release a poster that looks scarily like you are going to watch a movie where a big scary Angela Jolie causes havoc by huffing and puffing and blowing little boys away.
If you are having trouble getting representing your film in poster format go simple. Sometimes lettering works wonders. Or just chuck a naked person on it as that usually works. I mean Rose McGowan with a sword! I am so there!

My new mission

Ok. So have been thinking about how to re-organize my blog posting so they follow some sort of coherence. Lately it is far too much all over the place. I guess it is time to allot certain days to certain topics.

So going forward this is how I am going to go about things.

Mondays, Wednesdays, Thursdays, Saturdays– I will concentrate on movie, movie news, trailers, box office reports, awards buzz and the such

Tuesdays – Will be about music

Fridays – The day I either have a rant, or a love fest

Sundays – If I post at all it will be about something close to my heart. The environment, conservation, Madonna, sushi…who the hell knows, but it will be a day all about ME!

Sunday 19 October 2008

You will want to believe!