Over at JoBLo today I read an article talking about how the new Clerks movie will have an optional commentary that you can listen to while at the theater! Here’s how it will work:

     The audio commentary has already been recorded and you can download it to your iPod (or other device) and listen to it while in the theater. Of course you’ll want to see it normal first then pay a second time to see it with the commentary running through your headphones. The podcast is not available for download yet and no news yet whether this will be something that is free or if you’ll have to a pay a fee.

     This is a near genius stroke by Kevin Smith. This will get people back in the theaters a second time. Plus, it’s just a cool idea. No need to wait for the DVD to see the commentarty and be the first to get the inside scoop from the director himself.

     What do you think? I don’t know if I’ll actually do it, but it sounds like a really neat idea anyway.

~ Drewbacca
MoviePatron.com

     More than simple rumors abound that a Wall Street sequel is indeed in the works.

Moviehole carries an interesting tid-bit from an inside source at Fox:

     “It’s a continuation of the Gordon Gecko story….set twenty-odd years later. Basically, it’d start with Gecko coming out of jail - everything caught up with him, as it did most people like him at the end of the 80s - and then having to apply his ways to the very changed world.”

     Apparently, both Douglas and “Wall Street” director Oliver Stone are in the “early stages” of writing the film…It’s Douglas. It’s Oliver Stone. It’s Ed Pressman, producing.

     As for whether Chuck Sheen will return, to reprise his role from the first film, doesn’t sound like it. According to the source, “No idea, but doubtful. Heard nothing on Sheen. I assume, maybe, the only other person that might return is Sean Young - amusingly enough - as Douglas’s wife. Have to wait to see the script, though.”

     Done deal. As long as it’s Michael Douglas, who’s getting older but still releases good material (The Sentinel), and Oliver Stone, I’m in. I doubt it will be the Oscar winner the first one was, but there are sooo many possibilities for a story here, that it’s just got be good. “Greed is good.”

~ Drewbacca
MoviePatron.com

     Have you ever been so frickin excited for a movie that it could never meet with your expectations and maybe it even ends up being really bad? I am really hoping that doesn’t happen with this summer’s “Lady in the Water;” but I’m not too worried, because M. Night Shyamalan (Village, Sixth Sense, Signs, Unbreakable) always spins fantastic yarns of the unbelievable. Heading the cast is the ALWAYS fantastic, and my current favorite actor, Paul Giamatti (Sideways, Cinderella Man, American Splendor) and Bryce Dallas Howard - daughter of director Ron Howard. Her role in “The Village” was exceptional and it looks to be more of the same from her in this one as she portrays “the lady.”

     You can get a good look of the style and basic storyline from this short theatrical trailer that has just hit the web. This is not the teaser trailer that was released a couple of months ago; this is the main one and again…I’m excited as hell.

You can check out the new Lady in the Water trailer here.

For more info on the movie, you can visit:
The Official Site
or
IMDb.com

~ Drewbacca
MoviePatron.com

     The latest from the internet rumor mill is that Terry Gilliam may be directing the next Harry Potter film: Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince. As you may or may not know, I am a huge detractor of the Harry Potter franchise. I think all of them are silly and boring. The last one especially pissed me off because it had so much potential and then flopped on so many levels…for me anyway.

     But if anyone can resurrect the franchise for me, I can’t think of anyone better than the likes of Monty Python alum, Terry Gilliam. The dreamlike, 17th century quality to his films would be a perfect match for a Potter film. I didn’t think a whole lot of his latest effort, The Brothers Grimm, but in the past, he has succeeded time and time again with great tales. Here is a bit from an interview Gilliam had with Entertainment Weekly back in September:

     “I was reading the script as I was flying to Los Angeles for the Warner Bros meeting and thought, ‘Oh, she’s seen Time Bandits, she’s seen Monty Python.’“You know you’re not going to get the job. It’s just to keep her happy - due diligence.

     Of course I’ll see any upcoming Potter films partly out of curiosity and partly because people demand reviews of such huge films, but I never enjoy them. The Gilliam factor I think could really change all that. He could bring the franchise back with less effects and green screens, and more true film making with props and sets. For the first time, I’m actually interested to see what a Harry Potter film can be.

~ Drewbacca
MoviePatron.com

“We’re glad you think it’s funny, Tom!

     Apparently PR stunts have taken a new leap forward and given a new meaning to the term, “counter-intelligence.” It seems the promoters for Mission: Impossible 3 decided a new stunt was necessary to get the word out about their film. Instead of the usual boring magazine covers and internet pop-ups, they’ve decided it might be fun to rig newspaper stands in Los Angeles and Ventura county with small mp3 devices that play the well-known Mission Impossible theme song everytime the newspaper machine is opened. Tom Cruise’s picture adonrns the front of the display, but the music is supposed to be a surprise as there is no warning it is going to play. Sounds kinda cool right?

     Well, some of us seem to have forgetten that we live in a post 9/11 world and that strange wires and small boxes attached to things in a public area can sometimes be misconstrued as things other than a digital music device. Here are some exceprts about the story from the L.A. Times. Thanks to Big Scott for pointing me to the article:

     “One newspaper buyer saw the device and switch, thought it was a bomb and called authorities. After an inspection of the newspaper rack could not determine whether the device was explosive, the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department bomb squad blew up the newspaper rack.”     ”Authorities received numerous reports of other L.A. Times news racks containing what callers believed to be bombs. Perhaps the most serious was in West Los Angeles, where as many as 300 people, including some 50 patients, were evacuated from the Veterans Affairs Administration’s Ambulatory Care Center. A newspaper buyer had reported a suspicious object in the news rack inside the main hospital building.”

     Aside from the people who needed medical assistance and didn’t get the surgery they were supposed to have, or other medical complications, I find this story hilarious. I don’t blame the people who called law enforcement one bit. I would’ve done the exact same thing in their position. A newspaper machine with red and black wires running around the back side attached to an activation switch? Uh, yeah. Way to think things through there Paramount. Keep up the good work. Maybe I don’t want to be linked from your home page afterall.

~ Drewbacca
MoviePatron.com

     Summer blockbuster season officially kicks off tomorrow with the wide release of Mission Impossible III. I’m really starting to look forward to this film. With Phillip Seymour Hoffman playing the villain, I was intrigued right away. Second, love him or hate him, Tom Cruise makes good movies. There really aren’t any “if,” “ands” or “butts” about it. The guy knows how to pick the right scripts and knows how to help tell a story.
     So being kickoff time for the big budget, super special effects bonanza, summer blockbusters, I thought I would remind everyone what they are in for this summer with a list of links to various trailers for the biggest movies of the next 4 months. They’re listed in order of how much I am looking forward to seeing each of them (which is tough, ’cause I’m looking forward to seeing all of them!). As always, there will be a review of every single one of these at MoviePatron.com the day after release. Enjoy!

Superman Returns (06.30)
Apple Quicktime Trailer
Official site

The DaVinci Code (05.19)
Apple Quicktime Trailer
Official site

Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest (07.07)
Apple Quicktime Trailer
Official site

A Scanner Darkly (07.07)
Apple Quicktime Trailer
Official site

X-Men: 3 (05.26)
Apple Quicktime Trailer
Official site

Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby (08.04)
Apple Quicktime Trailer
Official site

MI:3 (05.05)
Apple Quicktime Trailer
Official site

- Drewbacca
MoviePatron.com

     Recently, word came down the pipe that Quentin Tarantino was beginning preproduction on a Jimi Hendrix biography. Internet buzz and speculation originally had Lenny Kravitz in the hot seat. But that seems to have been just a rumor. Now apparently, Tarantino is reportedly not even sure if the project will get off the ground because of difficulty with casting decisions. That actually makes sense. He’d need to find an actor who is good, at least slightly resembles Jimi and also must be a decent musician (or at least be able to pretend like he is).

     Anyway, I’m keeping close tabs on the story, so stop by here and leave updates as they come in.

- Drewbacca
MoviePatron.com