I'm with you Campea, I've been a big Eric Bana fan for quite sometime now. All the way back to the days to which, I'm sure you wouldn't be aware of. Eric Bana used to star on an Australian Sketch TV show called Full Frontal, which was hugely successful in Australia (and possibly the UK, I'm not sure. Most Aussi shows are big over there). He was so popular on that show, it actually spawned his own sketch show some years later called "The Eric Bana Show", I think it only ran for about two seasons though. Most Memorable charactor was 'Poiter!' ('Peter' with a a bit of Aussie twang, bloody comedy gold!).....
But what disappoints me most, is the fact that he got hardly any international recognition for what myself and thousands of other Aussies consider Eric Bana's best role (keeping in mind, I havenot either seen Munich) .... He starred in Aussie Biographical movie about a serial killer Chopper Reed, in which he played to title character to perfection! He won an AFI award for the performance (AFI award being equivelent to a Best Actor Oscar in Australia)
Please oh please check it out, or someone else at least back me up on this ... You can also check him out in the Hilarious Aussie comedy which i believe had a little more success in the us called "The Castle" starring Michael Caton also ....

Doug - I'm with you, the Hulk Dogs SUCK! Oh my gosh that whole scene was awful and the dogs looked ridiculous! It makes my head hurt just thinking of it.

In John's defense The Hulk was not a horrible movie. I was entertained and thought it had some good moments. Of course the CGI Hulk did rather put me off because he was WAY too cartoon like.

Eric Bana - I think he's awesome! I can't wait to see him in Munich.

1) Loved The Hulk. Do I think Hulk should have went up against Hulk-Rats instead of Hulk-Dogs? Yes. Do I think Nick Notle over acted? Yes. Did the Hulk look like a bloated Shrek? In some scenes, you bet.

My biggest problem with Ang Lee's film is the "picture in a picture" and stylish editing (which is a gutsy move, but not innovative) because the attention is distracting. If it were only a multi-camera angle on the DVD (which is alright, but has generally one step away from the crapper- Sunny D spot, non skip commercials, redone artwork) ...well, it was better than most give it credit for.

Bana- and Peter O Toole- were the only two actors I really liked in Troy.

I am also looking forward to Munich (and, by the way, I highly reccomend the documentary "One Day In September" which is about the events in Munich from where Spielberg's film spring boards from--it was out a few years ago)

2) Geisha.
Your views echo mine, because all of the actors in the film are good actors.
But I couldn't believe what I read on the IMDB -and the main source being Reuters- I was just stunned. I didn't hear too much contreversy over casting with the possible exception of the film's early development stages. Only now is it out in the open, and I think it is important to know that the casting may reflect American sensibility.

Thanks to "Last Samurai" and "Batman Begins" we all know who Ken Wantabe is. Thanks to films like "Hero" "Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon" and "Rush Hour 2" we know Zhang Ziyi, who is still a rising actress. We know Michelle Yeoh, who was the best Bond girl *ever* in my opinion. The point is to get the best actors, a solid international cast...

-Seal guy out.

I agree that Bana is one to watch, and that he made Troy almost watchable. He was utterly fantastic in 'Chopper', if anyone missed that one (2000), then do yourself a favour and get hold of a copy.

The current tension over the forthcoming film 'Geisha', between China and Japan, is actually more worrying than it may appear.
The brutal occupation of China by Japan, particularly the utterly terrifying rape of Nanking, actually beggars belief and is as stamped onto the Chinese psyche in the same way as the Holocaust is in Europe and Israel. The difference is that no reconciliation has been reached, and, the now devoutly peace loving, Japan has not really confronted her own demons in the same way as Germany has.
If the tension over this movie is bad, then imagine an Asiatic equivilant of Shindlers List - it will happen, and it's frightening.

Koko has Eric Banas career down in some accuracy. I lived in australia for 5yrs(not there now sadly, but am itching to head back to the sun and surf) anyways. Full frontal(while being incredibly stupid at times) had my sides splitting with laughter. Poiter being one of the funnier guys(loved the blonde mullet wig he used to wear).

Bana was pretty good in the castle, but superb in Chopper. Although chopper can be a little bit gruesome and quite eerie. Great in the hulk and ok in Troy. Watch him just get better and better.

DOUG!!! FOR THE LOVE OF GOD CUT DOWN ON THE "D'you know what I mean".

LOL.

It drives me nuts.

Hulks dogs bad...

I GIVE YOU that Eric Bana was good in Hulk. But this movie SUCKED DONKEY BALLS !!! I turned green in the theatre and puked on my Hulk-Dog look-alike-girlfriend next to me. And I think, I was being very mild, considering the awful script that was spilled all over the screen.

I agree about Bana in Troy. He was fab as Hector. And Peter O' Toole! I'm with you on this one Darren.

Pitt and Bloom were obviously out of place in the company of better actors.

I enjoyed Hulk, and looking forward to the sequel.

I liked The Hulk even though it did take forever for The Hulk to actually be in it and Bana did a great job playing Bruce Banner. I can't wait to see Munich even though i know I'll have to wait til it comes out on dvd.

I would love to see a sequel to Bubba Ho-Tep just because anything with Bruce Campbell in it is gold as far as I'm concerned.

I agree with Stuart, stop with all the "D'ya know what I mean" Doug.

Bryson, just incase you haven't already you should read If Chins Could Kill by Bruce Campbell. I read alot and it is one of the funnest books I've read in a long time, I look forward to reading anything he writes, I wish one of his t.v. shows lasted longer.

During the first hour of Hulk, this is what i did:

Took a pee, cooked a chimichanga, ate the chimichanga, wrote my autobiography, and still had time to sleep half an hour before the action started.

During the last hour and a half, HOLY CRAP the movie rocked! Excellent special effects, great acting, EVERYTHING. I give the first half 1/2 a star out of 4, and the second half 3 1/2 stars, so by default it gets 2 stars from me.

One thing annoying about John is that he's a bit too much of a know-it-all and he praises films that don't deserve it and slams films that aren't as bad as he thinks. It would be great if he could rewatch some of these movies before making such crazy comments.

Hulk sucked. I loved bana in it and it couldve been interesting but if he watched it a second time i think he would completely change his positioning on it. Tomb Raider is unwatchable. I saw the DVD case when it came out and bought it because it still is a promising concept. But the movie is unwatchable a 2nd time. Harry Potter Prisoner of Azkaban wasn't great but its not the turd they think it is and if they give it another shot they'd probably see that without high expectations its not so bad.

But whatever. John will stick to his guns like always and Tomb Raider and Hulk will forever be considered good while Azkaban will suck for all eternity. Its a shame.

Hey Cole,

You said:

"One thing annoying about John is that he's a bit too much of a know-it-all and he praises films that don't deserve it and slams films that aren't as bad as he thinks."

Ummm... you do realize that by saying that... what you're essentially saying is that YOU are the one who knows when a film is good or not. You do see that right? So why are your opinions more valid than mine?

You also said:

"Hulk sucked. I loved bana in it and it couldve been interesting but if he watched it a second time i think he would completely change his positioning on it."

I actually own the DVD and have seen it 4 or 5 times.

You also said:

"One thing annoying about John is that he's a bit too much of a know-it-all"

That's funny... I'm not the one saying that your opinions are inferior to mine... so who is the "know-it-all"?

Haha (Cole), How you like them apples!?
When's the new Audio edition gonna be posted!?

John, I just got an idea for the site. With all the talk about Mr. Spielberg not doing DVD commentaries, and you mentioning you've done them, what if you made your own fan commentary for a film?

I just stumbled upon the whole idea of fan made commentaries. I listened to one made by a group called MMM [www.mmmcommentaries.com] for Star Wars, and found it quite a bit more informative and entertaining than the spliced-together Lucasfilm commentary.

What if you got a group of people together (with Doug of course) and put together a commentary for a movie you all know way too much about, like say Highlander?

Of course I don't know how many people around here actually listen to commentaries, or would be interested in something like this. Any thoughts?

themovieblog is getting wayyy too populist. its always rumors for big movies, when are you guys going to talk about cult movies or little known documentaries, or a foreign film.

christ, vary it up more. you do a show every day, theres no reason why you cant talk about a wider variety of subjects.

Joaquin is pronounced Wah-keen :)

I'm glad that there is Oscar buzz for Eric Bana and I'll be looking forward to Munich.

Iffy on the Hulk dogs but I loved the Hulk because it wasn't a typical comic book movie.

"themovieblog is getting wayyy too populist. its always rumors for big movies"

Yeah, Bubba Nosferatu is a regular summer blockbuster.

*sigh*

okay, so they talked about that, but give me another example... and remember the big rant saying the majority of indie movies being crap? I just always get the feeling that the guys dont see near enough of whats outside the mainstream..
they talk about movies that they say look like crap... then they go see them, and complain about them.

Transamerica is indie ... they had a big convo about that?????

where is the new audio edition, has there not been one for the last couple of days?

"I actually own the DVD and have seen it 4 or 5 times." - John Campea

:(

That also means he's seen the "2 Fast 2 Furious" trailer at least 5 times and could not hit the menu button. I wonder how many times he viewed the Sunny D commercial :)

Gary - You can always check out www.spacejunk.org for some indie/documentary news and reviews!!

As for Pixar, i'm sick of them making the same movie over and over. Inanimate objects given personalities, puns and gags based on what they are, blah blah. I had come up with the perfect Pixar film. It's called 'Phones', and it's about a little cell phone who loses touch with his father, Charles (a telephone booth). The cell phone makes it's way across country on a roadtrip, joined by his old rotary dial phone friend Scruffy (southern accent) and one of those fancy phones (british accent), and one of those old school 80's cellular phones (california surfer accent) and so on and so on.....

Jay and I continue to disagree on this (but I'm right :P)

Toy Story - inanimate objects (but ones with built in character/faces, etc) given personality
A Bugs Life - ANIMATE OBJECTS (insects)
Finding Nemo - ANIMATE OBJECTS (fish)
Monsters Inc - ANIMATE OBJECTS (monsters)
The Incredibles - ANIMATE OBJECTS (people)

Cars will be the first example of Pixar putting faces on objects that dont already have them...

Wheres the new audio audition??? I'm hungry for more.

Hey, Goon, I actually agree with you! Pixar is the best animation company, by far. Man, disney is pathetic, though. To many princes and princesses. I'm glad that they have recently started making better movies like Pirates of the Carribean and National Treasure. I heard that disney and Jerry Bruckheimer got the rights to turn Prince of Persia into a movie. That would be awesome!

Regarding Car's PIXAR's new animated film. These are my thoughts.
Think about this hyperthetical...If there have been strained relations between PIXAR and Disney for sometime.(The BULLS#!T Disney doing Toy Story3 without PIXAR's involvement what a joke!) It's only logical that PIXAR would go with something not as strong and creative as their other stories/movies of the past. Why would PIXAR go with something that's going to knock our socks off story wise and cater to all ages, when there is a possibility of them parting ways with Disney. And if it came to that they would lose out on a lot of money giving Disney their cut of the profits. We all know that PIXAR are the brains and Disney are the legs distributing PIXAR's films. If this is there mode of thinking I applaud them. Remember this is a hyperthetical! Keep your most creative ideas close to your chest PIXAR!
Look I'm not saying PIXAR are going to do a half-arsed job of this movie, the trailer looks amazing and I would expect nothing less than their best. Nor am I saying that they would intentionally rob their older fans of a kick-a$$ film. That's not what I'm saying at all, they care about their craft and they care more so about story telling, but I must say the premise for this movie is a bit cheesy and weak and not very creative, but their target audience is kids for the most part and we big kids love there films too!
PIXAR are the most creative film company out there, they're going to do what they always do best and that's serve up a funny, awesome, amazing visual animated film. I think it will do well. It will be nowhere near their best work story wise creatively speaking. But they will give it there all! They're an inspiration to all 3d artists out there also could teach other people in the film industry about the importance of story telling.

P.S. John I'm a first time poster and I would like to say "love the audio edition and enjoy both Doug and your views on issues relating to the world of movies, keep up the good work".