Okay, I was gonna write a post on this last night, but I was sleepy - deal with it, okay? excellent.

The Trailer

Either way, in my sleepy stooper, I saw the Trailer for “Open Water” - an indie flick about two people who get left behind when their deep sea scuba exhibition leaves the dive site without them — Leaving them - dogpaddling - in the Middle of The Ocean. With nothing but them and mile after mile of endless water surrounding them. And it’s based on a true story. How much of a CRAP day would that be? Holy gee-willickers. Now, I’m certain the truth will be stretched for dramatic’s sake, however, the premise of this movie and the accompanying trailer gives me the creeps.

Okay, I was going to wait until I finished making my way through the box set before posting something about this but I just hit something that’s thrown me right over the edge …

You may recall some of us getting all giddy about a wee British film called Shaun of the Dead not so long ago. Well, I’ve got a friend who’s been roaming the world for the past couple years and is currently in the UK (Nottingham, actually. Insert bad Robin Hood joke here. God knows I have been.) who I imposed upon to pick me up a copy of a little sitcom the key Shaun of the Dead folk did called Spaced. I’d heard good things and my expectations were high. They’ve all been shattered. Utterly. This is genius. It’s a simple enough premise - a wannabe writer and a wannabe comic book artist pretend to be a married, professional couple so that they can rent a flat - but it’s got a completely different tone to it than pretty much anything else I’ve ever seen. It’s certainly worlds away from anything you’d see on an American network. Though definitely written to be a straight out comedy the humor is rooted incredibly deeply in the character work of the two leads and is so specific that it’ll probably only really appeal to a fairly narrow range of people. But those who get it get it hard and if you’re reading this chances are you’ll get it. This thing is so littered with pop culture references - specifically sci-fi, comic book and b-movie references - that you’ll spend a good portion of the show just giggling over how they’ve managed to work stuff in but they also manage to create such strong characters that it hangs together as a remarkably strong whole.

Anyway … here’s what got me writing this … Season One is a compelling enough start - the episode lifting from the Evil Dead is just fantastic - but four episodes into Season Two it’s clear that they reached an entirely different level the second time round. Not only did the manage to work two members of the League of Gentlemen into the first three episodes but those three episodes include a wicked parody of the Matrix, repeated rantings on how bad The Phantom Menace sucked, an out of the blue shot at Babylon 5, and an episode that somehow manages to create a seamless fusion of Robot Wars, One Flew Over the Cuckoos Nest and Fight Club. Episode Four (there are only seven episodes per season, by the way) is what has made me a true believer for life. In a throwaway scene - a complete and total throwaway - they not only create a note perfect reconstruction of the bike accident scene from the Sixth Sense but they somehow got Olivia Williams (that’d be the wife in the Sixth Sense) to play the cyclist. If I hadn’t been lying down I’d have fallen out of my chair.

Just insanely good. Seriously.

Okay, I think I’ve been pretty clear that I’m a big fan of the Pang Brothers and their films, so I was mighty pleased to see this article in which Fangoria interviews Oxide Pang about the sequels to The Eye and his other upcomiong work … There are a mittful of new Pang films in the works which is a good thing in my books … go read now …

Fangoria has released a list of films confirmed to play at this year’s Fantasia Festival and it’s a good one if you’re a fan of genre film … French slasher flick Haute Tension, the Ginger Snaps prequel (Ginger Snaps Back), a trio of Godzilla flicks, A Tale of Two Sisters and a flurry of other films will be screening … I’ve actually seen a good number of the films announced so far so believe me when I say this is a very strong lineup.

For those not in the know Fantasia is a genre film festival - with a strong slate of Asian films - held annually in Montreal. This year’s fest will run from July 8th - 31st. It’s worth the trip if you’re able to go. Click here for the Fangoria article, complete with partial film list, and here for the official Fantasia site.

In case you lived under a rock for the last 33 years, or had a girlfriend, the fiction literature that truely defines geek noir sci-fi comedy, is finally being made into a feature film. There was a BBC series, graphic novels and of course a BBC RadioPlay, but for the first time, we get to see Adams’ opus on the big screen.

I guess no one was lining up to interview with the screenwriter, Karey Kirkpatrick.

So quite true to Douglas Adams style … he interviewed himself.

First question to the panel:
WHO THE H*#&! ARE YOU AND WHAT GIVES YOU THE RIGHT TO MUCK AROUND WITH THIS TREASURED PIECE OF LITERATURE, YOU AMERICAN HOLLYWOOD HACK?

READ IT HERE

In case you all had forgotten, and as I have been so recently reminded:

This fight scene in “They Live” is something else. Good Grief.

Okay, I was pretty sure the Gondry news was the best I would come across today, but then I found this: MonkeyPeaches is reporting that Michael Barker - a co-President of Sony Pictures Classics - has told a Beijing newspaper that Sony will be releasing Zhang Yimou’s newest film (Shi Mian Mai Fu or The House Of Flying Daggers or Lovers depending on your language preference and location) in North America for the 2004 Christmas movie season and will be pushing it hard to Oscar voters.

Huzzah! Finally a company that gets it! Now why do I believe Sony will follow through when Miramax made and broke all of the same promises with Yimou’s Hero? Four reasons. First, this is the exact same path they charted to great success with Crouching Tiger and when you’ve got a system that’s proven to work you don’t mess with it. Second, the film is riding a wave of positive press from Cannes and Sony’s not nearly dumb enough to fail to take advantage of that. Third, they’ve said all along that they’re aiming to release the film as close as possible to the Asian release to prevent Chinese DVDs from crossing the ocean and diluting their box office take. I question whether first seeing the film on DVD would prevent someone from wanting to see it on the big screen - every viewing of Hero leaves me itching just a little bit more to see it in all it’s projected glory - but the simple fact is that the film hits Chinese screens in mid-July so if they want to keep release times tight they’ve got to do it before the end of the year. Fourth, and this is the one that makes me giggle with delight, releasing this film three months or so after Miramax’s release of Hero (assuming it actually happens this time) allows Sony to piggy back onto the Hero press campaign. Basically Miramax is going to spend a bunch of money trying to educate the audience on who Zhang Yimou is and how to approach this sort of film and while that’s still fresh in both audience and critics’ minds Sony can come along and say “Remember that film? Liked it a bit? Here’s another one.” There’s a certain poetic justice in having a company that screwed this fantastic film maker over for years inadvertently help out in the promotion of his next film. It makes Bubba a happy boy, indeed.

And if you’d like to check out some of that aforementioned positive press you can check out this review. Or this one. Or this one. And if you’ve not yet seen the trailer you are a truly foolish person but can redeem yourself from your own pit of folly by clicking here.

Well, he’s responsible for what I still say is far and away the best film so far this year - that being Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind - so you could say that I was a wee bit pleased to see details on Michel Gondry’s next film surface in Variety today. According the trade paper Gondry’s next project will be an adaptation of Master of Space and Time by Rudy Rucker. Despite the obscene amount of sci-fi I consumed in my youth (err, yeah … my youth …) not only have I never read a Rucker novel but I’d never heard of him before today. So I went a google-ing … couldn’t turn up a decent review of the book but what I’ve gleaned is that it’s a quantum physics sort of take on the whole ‘three wishes’ thing, it involves a pair of moderately insane scientists jumping between dimensions, it involves evil parasitic brains, the people who like it like it a lot, and it draws a good number of comparisons to the work of Douglas Adams much of which I can still quote from memory. I’m already thinking this sounds like a perfect fit for Gondry’s particular vision of the world when I hit the key piece of information: Jack Black. Bliss! Black is just an immensely talented performer who, with the exceptions of High Fidelity and School of Rock, has been woefully underused and after seeing what Gondry did with Jim Carrey this betting man is betting that he’s the man to show Jack Black to the world in a whole new way. Excited? You bet.

Well it appears that Harrison Ford’s self imposed hiatus following the travesty that was Hollywood Homicide (Look at me! I’m Harrison Ford and I’m made of wood! And no, I didn’t go see it. The trailer was scarring enough.) he’s back with a couple new projects coming down the pipe … Project one is a drama coming through Warner Brothers titled The Wrong Element. An appropriate enough title for a Ford starring-vehicle considering he has been precisely that wrong element in pretty much every film he’s appeared in over the past decade. The one that caught my eye, though, is Godspeed, a sci fi thriller set on an international space station being produced by James Cameron and written by Ryne Douglas Pearson. Pearson is also the man behind Knowing - widely touted as Richard “Donnie Darko” Kelly’s next directing project - and is doing the adaptation of the Pang Brothers’ stellar ghost story flick The Eye.

There was a time when Ford was money in the bank but that time ended oh, so very abruptly with Air Force One, since which time he has been absolutely wretched in everything he’s appeared in (What Lies Beneath being a possible exception) and looking like he’s just mailing in “performances” for the sake of a paycheck. I’m hoping that this has just been an extended dry spell for him and, if so, this looks to be the kind of project that could pull him out of the slump. First, he’s good in sci-fi. Second, it’s got an interesting writer attached. And third, if there’s one thing you can say about James Cameron it’s that he’s not about to let anybody slack off on the job for any reason. This is the man who once made Arnold Schwarzenegger piss himself rather than give him a bathroom break and set the shot up again. So we know there will be a bit of whip cracking and name calling going on if Ford is giving anything less than his best. There’s still no director attached but I’m willing to say that if Ford doesn’t pull his socks up on this one and turn in something at least passable it’s because he simply doesn’t have it in him any more …

Well, I wasn’t expecting to see this - partly because I didn’t think the original would get a release so close to the remake’s release and partially because it’s 4:51am and I just woke up for some crazy reason. But what else to do in a sleepless night’s stooper than report on horror movies? - Good Ones even!

Okay, so the American remake is slated for later this year - I’ve heard before Hallowe’en, but that’s sketchy at best. And I just read on aintitcool.com (here) that Lion’s Gate is planning on releasing the original version mid-summer. Ifilm.com is even hosting a tacky narrated trailer for it which can be found in the first of the following two links:

So I’m gonna be a real nice guy and give you TWO DIFFERENT links to 2 Different Versions of the original Ju-on: The Grudge trailer:
The Trailer for American audiences with “Mr. Fearless” hopelessly narrating the thing. Or
The Japanese Trailer with English Sub-titles - (click on the “audio/video Materials” tab - and turn up your volume, the encoding’s very quiet)

I’m going back to bed.

Here’s my review of the film I wrote after the Toronto Film Festival.

Okay there boys and girls … one of the things about my posting so much about Asian films is that I get asked where people can buy these things. A lot. So to make life simpler for you and more lucrative for me I’ve gone out and joined a few associate programs so you’ll be seeing links to the Asian films I talk about if they’re available. I’m not going to pretend that buying stuff through our associate links is going to help support the site – thanks to all of these places being overseas store credit is the only option – but it will help us here at the Movie Blog subsidize our viewing habits. And a foreign film fetish gets pricey fast, trust me. For more information on the companies we’re linking to and why, as well as links to recent films that we’ve been talking up and others that every self respecting film fan really should have click the link below.
(more…)

Someone just pointed out on the KFC boards that the official website for Godzilla Final Wars has been updated … It’s a bit early for the artwork to be actual shooting stills, so I’m banking that the backgrounds are actually high res artist’s concept pictures, but they’re pretty sweet. You also get a run-down of 12 of the reported 15 kaiju monsters that appear in the film. No english text on the site (other than the control bar) but you can read a choppy engrish translation of the summary here after perusing the actual site here.

In other Godzilla news Midnight Eye is currently running an interview with director Ryuhei Kitamura which both drops interesting tidbits - like long-time collaborator Tak Sakaguchi being employed as action director for Godzilla - while also generally confirming my overall opinion that the man is maddeningly undisciplined.

Okay, apparently, this is a Tv Spot, but folks, I’ll be honest, I hadn’t even heard of this: A Series of Unfortunate Events, Due December of this year. - Although I gotta hand it to Mr. Carrey, sure he’s eccentric, and maybe it’s the outfit, but this actually looks delightfully fun - and although 1 minute is by no means a lot to judge an actor’s character over, Jim seems to have a subtle disturbance in this character and [actor mode:] his energy really seemes to be held much higher. [end of mode]. Jim really does a good job from what I see. If anyone knows anything about this sucker, leave a comment, cause apparently, I know nothing.

Click this to view the Trailer/TV Spot

(I don’t even know what Lemony Snicket *IS*.. or WHO it is, I guess I should say.)
Oh look at that! 2 minutes of research and apparently, it’s a book-related thing.. people still read?

Yes, that picture IS Jim Carrey

Okay, I don’t care what of how many of who’s ever Lord of How Many Rings you plan on buying today, because Today is The Day that Bubba Ho-Tep becomes available to purchase for your very own self — NOW GO BUY IT! You’ll never buy a better Evil-Mummy battling Elvis and JFK in a retirement home movie - EVER…

Stop reading you dork! Go get it!

*****
Big Bald Dave just left a comment here with a link, so I’m adding a little bit to this post. Head over to his site www.imaginedat.net and check out the big link to hear an audio review and analysis of Bubba Ho-Tep. Food for your Brain.

Wow. I expected Shrek 2 would take the top spot at the box office but not like this … and judging from the quotes I’ve seen from Dreamworks execs today they’re all pretty stunned too. The big green guy opened with $106 million over the weekend, $127 mil if you start counting from the Wednesday opening, giving it the second highest opening ever (behind only Spider Man) and by far the largest opening ever for an animated film.

The other really interesting box office news comes at the bottom of the top ten … Super Size Me managed to crack the box office list despite playing on a measly 148 screens. Pretty impressive.

Moving with uncharacteristic speed (Seriously, this guy takes forever to get his films made) Chinese auteur Wong Kar Wai has announced that his follow up to 2046 - which premiered a day late at this year’s Cannes film fest due to the director making a series of last minute changes - will be a film about martial arts legend Bruce Lee and Lee’s relationship with his martial arts master. No word yet on who will play Lee but early reports are that Tony Leung - a WKW favorite - will be filling the role of the master. You can read the full article here.

As you can see, I spent some time on our server’s stat page today and found that some of you are STILL looking for how to auditon for a role in Pirates of the Caribbean 2. How can I say this lightly?

- Yeah, and that means you too.. Yeah you, the person reading this who is thinking that what I’m writing applies to everyone else BUT you? — Yeah, that ESPECIALLY means you. Whoever you are, you simply will not be sharing the screen with Orlando, Ms. Knightley or Mr. Depp. Sorry.

Never has there ever been an open casting call for this movie. Ever. At all. It has never happened and unless God grants you the best week ever experienced by humans, you won’t be going.

Whatever rumour you’ve heard that they are auditioning for the role of Capitain Black’s neice, or Orlando’s love Interest or Keira’s ‘competition’ — are fake. Completely.

The Trailer has finally been released!
Click Here For The Trailer [CURRENTLY BACK UP!! as of June 5th]
Alternate Downloads:
Official Trailer in Full Quicktime on Apple.com [Currently Up]
www.dreamscapesoftheperverse.com [Currently Up]
www.ifcfilms.com [Currently Up]

The trailer is released to theatres today (June 4th), so you could always get out of the house and go see a movie… *MayBe* with a FRIEND even! Whoa. Pretty heavy.
And if you fancy yourself a reader, here’s a BBC article about the movie and the trailer.

There you are — for those of you who are interested, you can still see the press conference stuff from Cannes below:
Press Conference and a very small amount of film footage - In Realplayer Format - 8 Minutes

Just the Press Conference Footage:
Windows Media:
Hi-Res
Lo-Res
Realplayer (bleah):
Hi-Res

Well, I’ve heard basically nothing about this - it’s not even listed on the Internet Movie Database - But in my reading, I did run across This (click that) which seems to say that they’re planning a 3rd Pirates of the Caribbean movie and pulling off a “Matrix sequels”-type of release format - with parts 2 and 3 filmed at the same time and being released 6 months apart from each other in the same year.

The other notable being that this page has Keith Richards listed in the cast. I had heard Johnny Depp wanted him in the sequel(s), but hadn’t heard anything concrete. This report is probably fairly sketchy at best so far. At least we can blame someone else if it’s wrong.

First off, if you don’t live in England, you can pretty much skip this - but if you do and you think you have a very snappy “background of a Batman Film” look to you, 2020 Casting Limited (click for their webpage) is looking for people over 18 to be involved in the filming of Batman Begins that shoots from June 21st to July 28th. (I doubt you’ll be needed for all those days - as an extra you likely will be needed only once). The shooting will be in Bedford with a few extra shoot dates in September as well.

Auditions are May 30th, 31st and June 1st.
If you do live in England, you have too much rain.

Well, I’ve heard rumblings of this for a little while, but it’s just been confirmed … Toshiaki Toyoda’s Blue Spring is coming to DVD in North America and the UK in June. I’m one happy boy. Anybody that’s read this thing for, oh, a day or so has probably clued into the fact that I have a major fetish for Japanese films and Blue Spring is a major reason why. This is just a flat out incredible film. Director Toyoda adapted the film from a manga by the same artist responsible for Ping Pong - another brilliant Japanese film unavailable in the western world - and just nailed it. A perfect blend of style and substance Blue Spring is the story of disaffected youth in a Japanese high school struggling to find any sort of meaning or purpose in their lives. It generated a lot of press due to the violence - which actually occurs mostly off screen - but it’s the depth of the characters, strong performances, insightful script and vibrant direction that makes this film a keeper.

The company releasing the film - Artsmagic - has a mixed reputation in their native UK thanks to some substandard releases but they’ve promised to clean up their act and judging from the specs listed here they’ve kept their word. An enhanced anamorphic widescreen transfer, an interview with the director and commentary by stellar Japanese film critic Tom Mes - the man behind Midnight Eye and author of a book on cult director Takashi Miike - has this looking to be the best release this film has yet received worldwide. There are rumors that Artsmagic is after Toyoda’s Nine Souls as well and based on this I’m hoping they get it … You can see a trailer for Blue Spring here.

Well all you Michael Moore haters here’s the thing. The man may still have a weight problem but he also now has the most prestigious film award in the world. Cannes just announced their winners and Fahrenheit 9/11 took home the Palme D’Or as best picture.

I’m actually a little surprised by this considering there was a strong American and British presence on the jury which I thought may prefer to dodge the controversy. Before things kicked off I figured Chan Wook Park’s Old Boy was a near lock for the big hardware considering it played right into Jury President Quentin Tarantino’s twin fetishes for all things Asian and all things violent but it was not to be. In his acceptance speech Moore noted the irony in the fact that the film has a distributor in pretty much every country of the world - including places as remote as Albania - but has still not landed a distributor in the US.

Other major awards winners include Old Boy with the Grand Prix, Maggie Cheung as Best Actress, Yagira Yuya as best actor, and Tony Gatliff as best director.

Bleary eyed, yes. Smeared on the Interstate, no. I made it back from Chicago last night to find a bloody huge stack of mail waiting for me (more on that later) and some interesting info …

Whilst in Chicago I spent the week with my friend Big Bald Dave who you may have noticed insulting Day-Vuhl around here lately. It’s okay. That’s how he shows affection. Big Bald Dave runs a little film / dvd / collectibles / comic review site over here that I like a bit. I like it enough, or at least I like Dave enough, that I wrote a few reviews for it while I was there. You can read my review of Ozu’s Floating Weeds here and ones I did of Panic Room and The Good the Bad and the Ugly here, though you’ll have to scroll down a bit for those. The things I did for Jeeves and Wooster and Bubba Ho-Tep have yet to appear. And yes I went on vacation and spent a solid day doing nothing but write DVD reviews. I’m a freak.

Anyway … the stuff that affects you … Big Bald Dave and I were talking about doing some things co-operatively between the two sites and what we came up with is this: Giving things away. For free. To you. He’s got some friends over at Sideshow Collectibles who are creators and purveyors of the absolute sweetest movie figures around and just as soon as Big Bald Dave pries something suitably impressive from their grasp (we’re hoping for some large scale Hellboy stuff) we’ll be hosting a wee contest to find it a caring home. So be watching …

Oh. The stack of mail. It included my very own copy of Old Boy which is currently in competition at Cannes. Mmm. If my digital camera hadn’t died on me I’d throw some pictures of it up here, but for now you’ll have to take my word when I say that this is one of the better packaging jobs I’ve ever seen. And this is the supposedly ‘bare bones’ edition. Those Koreans. They’re wacky.

Well, that title is pretty self-explanatory, isn’t it?

Click here to check out the first 5 minutes of Shrek 2

C’mon folks, it’s opening weekend give yourself a sample and go check it out. I’d talk longer, but I’m in the middle of working two doubles and this post is the best I can do right now. Sleep Now. More Later.

I am shamed to think that I have never seen this movie.

I intend to resolve this. George Lucas’ first feature film is coming back to theatres to promote the DVD Release.

In 1971, a visionary filmmaker named George Lucas created a chillingly prescient look at a disturbing future world as his feature film debut. Years ahead of its time, THX 1138 has since attracted a strong following, with its cutting edge visual and sound experience, and provocative and resounding messages.

This fall, this debut film will return as THX 1138: The George Lucas Director’s Cut. It will come to theaters as a special limited engagement, and then to DVD.

More at Coming Soon!

The teaser has been released for quite a while and with the release of the trailer, I realized I never made a post about it.

Either way, Spongebob, despite all of the popularity hype, is one cool cartoon. I think I’m a bigger fan of the teaser almost, but both make me chuckle. Stop trying to be cool for a few minutes and check ‘em out if ya can.. Click this: Trailer and Teaser - all in Quicktime.

We’re getting lots of hits from people looking for the Teaser or the Trailer — here they are:
The Japanese Teaser (Windows Media) and The Trailer (the trailer is in Japanese - I haven’t found an english trailer yet)

I highly doubt it was even a question if Miramax had a snowball’s chance in Hell that they’d have the opportunity to THINK about bidding for the North American rights to this after the mess they concocted with the release for Hero - director Yimou Zhang’s other kick ass film.

However, I just felt like I needed to celebrate that Miramax doesn’t have a film that seems to be more than worthy of a North American shot. Isn’t that Wonderful? Yes, yes it is. It turns out that Sony Pictures Classics has picked up “Shi…” Good for them - let’s see how well they handle it. [Say that sentence like 'Dark Helmet'] The title is still a question - The English title of “House of Flying Daggers” apparently, is only what it’s being referred as, and isn’t the actual title. Bubba made a post a while back saying the teaser trailer was listed under the title “Lovers” (check the “House of…” link) So who knows what it’s called. So monkeypeaches.com has a link to a forum where people are coming up with their own suggestions if you can think of something better.

Consider this opening sentence your “Grain of Salt” warning.

That said, what they are claiming to be an ‘Ain’t it Cool’ Exclusive, aintitcool.com has posted this rather disturbing picture from the upcoming “What-I-George-Lucas-Declares-to-be-the-Original” Star Wars DVD releases. (Click the picture or Here to see an enlargement) Apparently, he’s edited one of the final shots in Return of the Jedi by removing Sebastian Shaw (the guy who actually played Darth Vader) who can be seen Standing with Obi-Wan and Yoda, remember? - and replaced him with a young-looking Anakin. Why?? Who knows!! Yoda still looks old. Obi-Wan still looks old. But we’ve decided to throw in a budding new-character in exchange for the original Darth Vader - for no real reason whatso-fricking-ever.

Regardless of what people think about this change, it is a completely pointless edit that will only result in pissing off fans of the ACTUAL original films. Besides the fact with the unchanged ages of the other two, he’s editing IN a continuity error.

I’d love to say I’m buying these dvds. But I’m not.

**As a side note, I’d like to reiterate that if Robert Zemeckis released an altered version of Back to the Future with removed characters and obviously placed CGI characters and scenes, and then preceded to tell me that this *IS* the original version that I fell in love with when I was 10 years old, I’d be really REALLY pissed off.
Read MSNBC’s ‘Can Star Wars Episode III be saved’ Article.
Read Reader’s suggestions on how they could do it.

Well, Bubba is still hard at work even though he’s elsewhere in world…

Apparently, he’s been chatting with a few important people that know more than we do as far as marketing goes and these “important people” sent him an email with a sick amount of video links in it..

And so here I am passing it off to you. Isn’t that nice? There’s a whole whackload of stuff in here for ya, check ‘em out.. Although I’d recommend the Quicktime stuff because it’s nice and sharp - and avoid the Realtime stuff, because it’s blocky and gross and the software makes me feel like I’m spooning with the devil. On you go! Have a video circus. Invite your friends!

Around the World in 80 Days	Tv Spot 1: "Countdown" Windows Media 56k: 176×132 300k: 320×240 Quicktime 300k: 240×180 1500k: 480×360	Tv Spot 2: "Rock the World" Windows Media 56k: 176×132 300k: 320×240 Quicktime 300k: 240×180 1500k: 480×360
The Village	Tv Spot: "Year" Windows Media 56k: 176×132 300k: 320×240 Quicktime 300k: 240×180 1500k: 480×360
Arthur	Arthur: Trailer #2 Windows Media 56k: 192×76 100k: 240×96 300k: 320×128 Quicktime 300k: 240×96 750k: 320×128 1500k: 480×360 3000k: 640×256 Real Player 56k: 192×76 100k: 240×96 300k: 320×128

Okay sure, it’s a big corporate attention grabber so people will flood the store to buy the DVD once the movie is finished, but it’s still a great movie, and it’s still on a big screen, and it’s free.

At 8pm on the 24th of May (the eve of the Great DVD Release day) [A really big company] (hey, I’m not gonna advertise for them) is screening “Lord of the Rings: Return of the King” at the large (ugly and horribly designed) so-called “Dundas Square” in downtown Toronto. There’s room enough for thousands, so if you’re in downtown Toronto and want to see the 3rd chapter of LOTR on a big screen one last time, now’s your chance and it won’t cost you anything. - And you can run across the road when it’s done and buy the DVD - which is the whole reason [the really big company] is screening this in the first place. — So how about NOT buying one and sticking it to The Man in the process?

Yes, that’s right, DON’T buy the DVD: wait for box-sets young grasshopper. - Oh, you can wait — Don’t say you don’t know how to download it until then you slimy weasel….

As opposed to the post below, this is something I really HATE. I really liked Ocean’s 11, I thought it was well done. Didn’t make me wet my object of passion known as my pants or anything, but I had fun watching it. So with Ocean’s 12 up and coming, I’m kinda keen on seeing it. Same full cast, they still have trippy cool music - all is well so far…

Then they released the Teaser Trailer. Now, I understand that Teasers are just supposed to… well… tease, but this is stupid. The Ocean’s 12 teaser/trailer is easily something a 12 year old with a knowledge of how to use Flash could’ve made in about 20 minutes. The music is still cool, but that’s it. Tease me with a cool setup, or someone doing those “I’m too hip” motions with an eyebrow or something. If someone paid more than 50 bucks for this Teaser Trailer, they got ripped off.

Click the link up there or click this to watch what happens when a teaser editor suddenly remembers he has to present a teaser to executives in 25 minutes.

I’m actually kinda liking this trend that seems to be building a wee bit. Studios releasing a chunk of their film to the Internet to wet the whistles of those who deem the trailer to not be enough. (Off hand, if you haven’t seen it yet, the trailer for “HP and the Prisoner of Askaban” is right here.)

Either way, Warner Bros. has released 10 minutes of the new Potter film which, you can watch all by your wee little self: **Correction** as it seems, the data I got was all screwy and this is a 10 minute Behind the Scenes look at the New Harry Potter… still lots of clips n discussions in it though… as you were..***

Click here to see 10 Minutes of Harry Potter. Keep in mind, this sucker is 63 Megs big.

Go bananas.

Let it be known: Fahrenheit 9/11 is damn good. So much so in fact, the audience at Cannes, the birthplace of future films and filmmakers, stood and cheered for 15 - 20 minutes (give or take a few).

Aintitcool has a couple reviews posted (click here) - a lot of both is actually a commentary on the social musings surrounding the film and the event.

Apparently, and I’m sure some Moore haters out there will appreciate this, Michael Moore for the first half, frequently abandons his “personally investigation” method and lets stock footage and the timeline of Bush administration events speak for themselves. In the 2nd half, Moore apparently all but disappears as facts speak louder than anything. Close with a personal thought, fade in John Lennon’s ‘Imagine’ and..- Credits. Cue Standing Ovation.

That said: Cue Banter and rantings:

Okay kids, here’s today’s fun game:

First, click this and start watching the trailer for “Undertaking Betty”.
Second, try not to laugh at Christopher Walken screaming his head off.

As far as “Undertaking Betty” goes, this is another shining example of Miramax picking up yet another fine film from another country and doing really weird things with it. Which is apparently, a really hard habit for some certain CEO’s to break. This time they’ve changed the title from Plots (Plotz?) with a View. to “Undertaking Betty” - whatever their reasoning is for it, I’m sure it had something with their assumption that the American Public can’t figure out anything for themselves. You should all hate them just for that. Plots With a View was made a year and a half or so but has, to no surprise, had its feet dragged around getting released in the U.S.

Apparently aintitcool.com posted a little report on this film and a subsequent review a couple weeks back. Read it here.

Hey there boys and girls … I’m heading to Chicago for a week so the Bubba-related traffic will be drying up around here for the next week. It’s not that I don’t love you, it’s just that I don’t love you enough to keep posting while I’m on vacation.

It is to laugh … Sylvester Stallone is suing MGM films. And why? For blocking his attempts to make Rocky 6 and - get this - a Rocky Broadway musical. Apparently he just can’t understand why the film company would do such a thing. Here’s a hint Sly … take a look at your resume and ask yourself these two questions:

1) When was the last time I was in a film that made money?
2) When was the last time I was in a film that didn’t go direct to video?

I mean, seriously … a Rocky musical?

Oooh … surprised this is the first I’ve heard of this, but Variety is reporting that British comedian Eddie Izzard is shopping a documentary of his life and career at the Cannes film festival. Titled Diva 51 the film has been in the works for three years and tracks the life and career of the transvestite comedian John Cleese once referred to as “The funniest man in Britain”. I got to see him perform live last year and I say John’s right …

Bubba’s a happy boy. I first read about Japanese producer Taka Ichise’s plans to make a six short film horror collection a while ago but figured it’d never make it to North America thanks to it’s unusual format - compilation films do well elsewhere but are generally ignored here - but it turns out I was wrong as Lion’s Gate has just acquired world wide distribution rights. Why should you care? Ichise has a frightening and frighteningly good resume. As a producer he’s been behind the original Ring films, Dark Water and Juon all of which are modern classics and all of which generated enough notice to be remade for North America. So he knows his stuff. And he knows his directors … the list of talent involved in this includes the likes of Hideo Nakata (The Ring), Kiyoshi Kurosawa (Kairo, Cure), Takashi Shimizu (Juon) and writer Hirosh Takahashi (the Ring) who will be making his directorial debut. Nakata, Kurosawa and Shimizu all in one place? I soil myself in anticipation of soiling myself in fear.

Man, I hope Coscarelli’s not just messing with us with this one, but Fangoria is reporting that Coscarelli and Bruce Campbell are talking about a possible sequel to Bubba Ho-Tep … according to Coscarelli “you could take the word ‚ÄòBubba‚Äô and follow it with any monster name, and you have a sequel.” Currently leading the pack of possible titles is Bubba Nosferatu: Curse of the She-Vampires. Read the full article here.