Saturday laze.

Been sitting in the garden looking at a big tree (random). It got me thinking of this wonderful video and track by William Orbit around his Madonna era, so I thought how fitting to share it on here. Hope you enjoy.

william orbit/techno
Uploaded by arborista

Thanks to Daily Motion for this

Happy Birthday Buffy

No matter what she has done since or will do in the future nothing can tarnish SMG's beloved creation Buffy, you know, the Vampire Slayer.
So for that Sarah a huge Thank You!!! Have a wonderful Birthday today and hope you decide to revisit the Hell Mouth again someday soon.

"And the thing is, I like my evil like I like my men - evil. You know, "straight up, black hat, "Tied to the train tracks, soon my electro-ray will destroy metropolis" bad. Not all mixed up with guilt and the destruction of an indigenous culture."

Movie News with extra Hairspray.

John Malkovich, Evangeline Lilly and Romain Duris have joined the cast of French helmer Gilles Bourdos ' supernatural thriller "Afterwards." In the feature, Duris will portray a workaholic lawyer drifting away from his ex-wife (Lilly) and daughter, who meets a mysterious doctor (Malkovich) who claims to have the power to predict people's deaths. Doesn’t sound that exciting does it? Well the most exciting this is the cinematography will be done by Mark Lee Ping-bin who helmed the exquisitely beautiful ‘ In The Mood For Love’


Peter Sarsgaard, Dennis Hopper and Deborah Harry are joining Penelope Cruz, Ben Kingsley and Patricia Clarkson in Lakeshore Entertainment's untitled film based on Philip Roth's Pulitzer Prize-winning novella ‘Dying Animal.’
The film, which marks Lakeshore's second production based on a Roth novel, will be directed by Isabel Coixet who did ‘The Secret Life of Words’.
The screenplay is penned by the guy who did ‘The Human Stain’. So can we expect something else flat, or will this amazing cast raise the playing level of the rest of the team? One can only hope...but how many movies that seem good on paper, great cast/director/source material seem to crash and burn upon release? My fingers ache at the thought of typing out that list frankly.


Phil Traill, whose short films "Flipped" and "Dangle" one numerous festival awards, has signed on to helm the Sandra Bullock starrer "All About Steve" for Fox 2000. At first I was horrified that she was doing a sequal to ‘All About Eve’.
Penned by Kim Barker, the story centers on a brilliant crossword constructor who, after one short date, decides that a CNN cameraman is her true love. Because the cameraman's job takes him hither and yon, she crisscrosses the country, turning up at media events as she tries to convince him they are perfect for each other. She fails in this objective but falls in with a band of misfits who appreciate her for who she is. Now doesn’t that just sound hideous. I love Sandra, but my word the woman does some crap. Lets hope this falls more along the lines of ‘Nurse Betty’ (lemon faces last fine moment) and not ‘Miss Congeniality’.


Harry Knowles has a first review of 28 Weeks Later. I am such a fan of the first movie, and judging by the trailer for this they have hyped up the action, budget and gore, and IMHO that is never really a good thing, but this reviewer seems to think it is along the lines of ‘Aliens’ and ‘Blade II’ in terms of sequals. We shall see, I guess I am still upset about not being able to look at my Cillian with a shaved head anymore (now that was a hot look).


And finally the first proper footage for ’Hairspray’. Getting a little excited here now as this looks more ‘Grease’ than ‘The Producers’, and there is nothing to send the ole heart soaring than tightly choreographed group dancing in period costume. My only quibble is John Travolta. Yes we all know he is a big ole fairy , but he does seem to be doing comedy drag. The great thing about Divine was that you believed…R.I.P,

Musical Appreciation Class 4

Talking about musicals and remakes, please cast Toni, please cast Toni

Rob Marshall to Direct 'Nine'

I was not a fan of 'Chicago', nor 'Memoirs of a Geisha' but I do love a good musical. Perhaps third time will be the charm for Marshall to prove himself to me. I know so many people will be excited/apprehensive about this. Before the mecca that is cyber space starts having fits over this, lets just wait and see who is cast......"please not lemon face, please not lemon face"

From Variety

Rob Marshall will direct a feature version of the stage hit "Nine" for the Weinstein Co.
It marks the first time that Marshall and Harvey Weinstein have joined forces since "Chicago," the 2002 Miramax musical which won six Oscars, including best picture.

Pic will be produced by Marshall and John DeLuca through their Lucamar Productions banner. Marshall and DeLuca will also choreograph the film together, as they did "Chicago."

Marshall and TWC co-chairmen Harvey and Bob Weinstein are in the process of securing a screenwriter.

Music and lyrics are by Maury Yeston, composer and lyricist of the original 1982 Broadway production that was written by Arthur Kopit. TWC acquired rights from Kopit and Yeston, who'll be co-exec producers.

Originally adapted by Mario Fratti, with a book by Kopit, the musical was inspired by the Fellini film "8½" and focused on a film director stuck in neutral as he tries to make a film while haunted by the demands of all the women in his life, including a wife, mistress and even his deceased mother.

The original stage production was directed by Tommy Tune and starred Raul Julia, with Liliane Montevecchi and Anita Morris heading the list of women who haunted him. The musical won five Tony Awards including best musical. Antonio Banderas starred in a 2002 revival which won two Tony Awards, including best revival.

"After I finished 'Memoirs of a Geisha,' I began looking intensely at (other projects), including remakes of movies, originals and Broadway musicals," Marshall said. " 'Nine' (has) a seamlessness between reality and fantasy that is built into the fabric of the material."

Marshall said he'd like to lock in his leading man and actresses early, and custom fit the script to them.

"This one needs to be created specifically for the talent involved, to suit their strenghts," he said.Casting will be a big issue here, and if commitments complicates things, it will be 2009."

Eli Roth’s Thanksgiving Trailer

I know this is all over the net already, but it looks so damn good. I know it is only a trailer done for Grindhouse, but still. I would totally rent this. Poor cheerleader.
"White meat, dark meat, all will be carved."

Thanksgiving Trailer
Uploaded by darkknight37

A Brief Stay at the Trailer Park

Everyones favourite bad vampire slayer is back with The Alphabet Killer. Umm…well.

More Buffy as we get a clip from Southland Tales with Sarah Michelle Gellar. Booed to death at Cannes in 2006, will re-edits, and special effects turn it around?

Marion Cotillard vie for Oscar with her take on Edif Piaf in La Vie En Rose

A glimpse of Things We Lost In The Fire with Halle Berry and Benicio Del Torro.

Keira Knightley, an actress emerges.

Not matter how hard I try to talk my good friends Dean and Lee to watching Keira Knightley in Pride and Prejudice, they will not. Lee is far more open to it, but Dean rants and raves about having to watch anything with ‘Skeletor’, as he calls her, in it. True she has had a less than stellar back catalogue, but I feel this is mostly due to her rocketing to fame so young. When you are part of young Hollywood, making a name is one of the hardest things to do by just being an excellent actor in well regarded films, although there are plenty of exceptions (Sarah Polley, Ryan Gosling and Joseph Gordon-Levitt to name a few), but the rise is slow).
Most of the time you have to do a lot of fluff before you are independent enough to start making your own choices based on artistic merits rather than paycheck. Every actor has their Pirate of Caribbean and Domino on their resume, who are we to judge, lord knows some of the jobs I did for money were soulless.
Keira blew me away in Pride and Prejudice, and if this trailer for Atonement is anything to go by, then I will be blown away again, and be cheering her name come Oscar time like I did before.

Thank you to Nathaniel at The Film Experience for the heads up on the trailer. If you haven’t yet taken a look, he has his Early Bird Oscar Predictions up!!!!

Away From Her

Sarah Polley has always been one of the actresses I really admire, simply for the fact that she underplays everything. She has never been about showboating, or going over board, and instead takes a very quiet and deliberate tone with each role she has played. It is as though she doesn't want to busy her movies with 'performance' and allow simplicity to tell the story. In saying that I do realise that some find her very boring, but I for one am looking forward to this new film 'Away From Her' that is the actresses first feature length film as director.
It stars Julie Christie (I smell Oscar nod), Gordon Pinsent and Olympia Dukakis, and judging by the trailer, it look like it has the power to slowly break your heart....sniff

No rest for the dead.

According to Variety some singer called Willa Ford, who I have never heard of , has been cast as Anna Nicole Smith in an indie movie version of her life.
The movie will cover Smith's life from age 17 until her death in February at 39, including her success as a Playboy centerfold, Guess model and actress, her marriage to billionaire oil tycoon J. Howard Marshall II, the death of her son and her own death five months after giving birth to a baby girl, Dannielynn.
Apparently Ford's best known for her multiplatinum single "I Wanna Be Bad". Where was I for this huge single? I have never heard of this woman. Anyway, back to the story and my reason for this post. Over 5 years after 9/11 people felt Oliver Stone’s ‘World Trade Centre’ was too soon. So why is it morally acceptable to start a film about the life of a celebrity whos corpse is not even cold? Also this film does just scream trash, it is directed by Keoni Waxman, best known for 2005 ‘Shooting Gallery’ with Freddie Prinze Jr, and well…that was his biggest film on IMDB so that must speak volumes.
I feel after all the crap the poor woman went through in her life, she at least deserves a honest movie made, just not right now.

Knit one, Steel Magnolias two?

Mike Binder, who recently wrote and directed "Reign Over Me" and also penned and helmed "Man About Town" and "The Upside of Anger", has been tapped to adapt Kate Jacobs' novel "The Friday Night Knitting Club" for Universal Pictures and producers Christine Peters and Julia Roberts.
The film will star Roberts as a single mom who juggles the demands of running a knitting store with raising her teen daughter. Her regular customers gather once a week to work on their latest projects and chat. When a tragedy occurs, the customers are forced to realize they've created more than just a knitting club. I have not read the book so cannot comment on it's merits or lack of, but what a sweet idea it would be to reteam the ole cast of Steel Magnolias for this.
Mike Binder can write smart and witty dialogue and what better cast could he have then the one that helped stamp some of the best movie quotes into our heads than that of Sally Field, Olympia Dukakis, Dolly Parton, Darrel Hannah and Shirley Mclaine (I have no idea the ages, numbers or the sex of the charactures in the book so this could all be just one big ole fantasy in my head). Well one can dream!

Michael Myers is back - Rob Zombie's Halloween.

I have to say this does look like the type of movie I will have to switch off. I love a good horror, but these days it seems to be less about general suspence and scares, than it is about torture, gore, and exploiting women (was the rape really neccessary in The Hills Have Eyes? I mean butchery is horrible enough, things like rape for shock tactics I find really irresponsible). The trailer does make me nervous...nothing like a masked faceless killer to freak me out.
I guess the kids these days would laugh at the original, but it still creeps me out. I hope it retains the originals slow brewing suspence and doesn't just resort to scantily clad girls running around getting horribly tortured.
Will wait for DVD for this one. Watching a horror film without the distraction of twats talking and laughing in the cinema heightens the atmosphere.

Blades of Glory be to God....

I admit I kind of want to see this movie, most probably on DVD where it will be best appreciated. I am however in two minds about the 'gay' aspect of it. I realise that this is the main joke for it is true that figure skating is considered a gay mans sport, and rightly so, I mean sequins are involved. I do trust that Farrell is conscious enough not to make a 'lets laugh at the pansies' movie, but I still would rather watch it in the safety of my own home. There is no worse feeling than being the butt of a joke that is on wide distribution.
Then again I have not seen it, only read reviews, so perhaps I should refer judgement.
I am not one of those gay boys who complain about gay stereotypes being used in movies/TV. Stereotypes are there for a reason; they will only go away when we all (and I include sexual/racial/religious/financial stereotypes in this) stop living up to them, which we never will. I mean I am gay and like Madonna, musicals and the Oscars which some say are very typical of the homosexual, but I ain't changin’!!
Perhaps instead of cringing at being depicted in these ways, we should celebrate them. I mean isn’t that what having pride is, celebrating each other, flaws and all?
So I leave you with this…..go on, call me a fag, I don’t care.