The final six films for TORONTO AFTER DARK FILM FESTIVAL have been announced and this thing just gets better and better. I’ve said multiple times in blogs and podcasts that I am not a fan of Horror films. That’s not exactly accurate. I actually really enjoy horror films, it’s just that very few are really any good. The films that have been announced for this festival sound so interesting and original I can’t help but get excited.  

  

     On top of this, Science Fiction, when it’s done well, is my absolute favorite genre. From Star Wars to Clockwork Orange, I am a major fan of good, futuristic and surreal storytelling. And when all of these amazing-looking films are created by relative new comers and independent artists, the whole experience becomes just that much more enjoyable.

     As I will be an audience member at all 13 screenings of each film, I’ll be providing daily updates and reviews of all the happenings, screenings and galas of each day. I haven’t figured out exactly where the reviews will be, but keep checking back here over the next couple of weeks for updates and links to locations where the reviews will be posted. This blog will be used exclusively for a day-to-day posting of events.

    For now, here is a link to a list of all the films and links to their descriptions and trailers. Some of these look amazing. Stop by Movie Patron.com Sunday evening to download the podcast in which I will be talking extensively about the festival and its films to be shown. Until then, take care and we’ll see you at the movies!

 

     Bottle Rocket starring Luke and Owen Wilson is not only one of my favorite films of all time (#37 on my top 100), but it was also my first exposure to the Wilson boys and director Wes Anderson (Rushmore, Royal Tenenbaums).  It has continued to be one of the joys in my life since that first viewing. It is one of the best, in my opinion, truly independent films ever made.

     At one of last year’s awards shows, the Wilsons presented an award for something or other and mentioned that tey got their start with a small 15 minute film entitled Bottle Rocket.  At the time I had no idea Bottle Rocket was originally a short film directed by Anderson and starring the same actors and characters.

     Thanks to TJ for sending me this link to that original short film.  It’s black and white,fairly low quality and hard to decipher everything that is being said, but here are the Wilsons and Wes Anderson in their very first collaboration…

 

1) Netflix allows me to have a friends list and make recommendations and listen to other people’s thoughts (whom I trust) on what I should see.  It’s kind of fun.  Actually, it’s a lot like Flixster; which is probably my favorite site on the web and I visit them daily.

2) Netflix gives me an RSS feed for several things at their site.  Most notably a feed for my queue, so I can post my queue to the world and it will automatically be updated everytime I make a change (instead of having to change the HTML code on my site every week).

3) I already control 2 other people’s Blockbuster queues and in exchange I get to use their free, in store coupons. If I didn’t have this little luxury, I never would’ve switched.  I like the coupons too much to sacrfice them simply for a friends list.

4) Blockbuster has been sending me emails for roughly 6 months about how great their site is gonna be and that the whole thing is being over hauled, etc.  Well, I have yet to see that happen.  I got to try the beta test of it, and to be honest, I wasn’t that thrilled and that was also like two months ago.  Where’s the new site kids?  Yeah right.

     So for now, I’m sticking with Netflix until something better comes along.  I may switch back if I’m not happy with the service.  It’s a two week free trial and I just paid my BB invoice about three days ago.  So I guess, technically, I’m not officially out yet.  Look me up if you’re a member of Netflix.  Maybe we can be “friends.”

          
hooray.

     With Roger Ebert still out sick, this week’s guest on the Roeper and Ebert show was comedian Fred Willard.  You may recognize his face from films such as Best in Show or A Mighty Wind, among others.

     So far, compared to all the other fill in guests (Leno, Kevin Smith, etc.), Willard has been my favorite.  He expresses his thought very clearly and concisely.  He wasn’t trying to be funny (which you might think is a negative - and it may be for some people), but for me that was fine.  He talked about each movie and gave his honest opinion.

     I also respect his opinion a great deal.  Having apeared in countless films, Willard seemed to be knowledgable and really know what he was talking about.  His video pick of the week also matches mine, so…

     Anyway, you can listen to the show via iTunes podcasting service RIGHT HERE.

     So as if Alien vs. Predator wasn’t bad enough, there will be an Alien vs. Predator 2 - which is actually old news, but they’ve found some cast memebers now.  This is from Variety…

As Alien Vs Predator 2 stalks towards production, its casting face huggers have attached themselves to a pair of actors better known for their TV work than their film careers.

Reiko Aylesworth, AKA Michelle on 24 has been cast alongside Rescue Me’s Steven Pasquale.  It’s not known what roles they’ll be playing yet, but they’ll be under the direction of Colin and Greg Strause.

     As a movie snob, I don’t understand the point of making this movie.  As a businessman, I totally get it.  A bunch of poor schlubs doled out over $170 million dollars just in box office receipts for this crap the first time through (plus DVD rentals and sales).  It makes me sad that creative talent is being wasted on this filth.\

     However: I have heard rumors that Ash (Evil Dead, Army of Darkness) could be involved.  If that’s the case, then this is a whole new ball of wax and woul officially be the film I’d most look forward to in years.  Bruce Campbell is a golden god.  But I seriously doubt that’s going to happen.  I’ll keep you posted.

     Uh-oh!  We all know what that means - the movie is going to suck.  Not that that is really much of a surprise.  Horror movies suck in general and Saw II is in the upper eschelons of stupidness.  With the very rarest of exceptions, studios that don’t release their films for critics before the wide release dates, do so because they know the movie is a steaming pile of horse manure and don’t want negative press before the release date.

     It’s possible that the makers are so confident that the film will market itself simply by title alone, just knowing everyone’s going to go to see how the trilogy resolves.  But if I were a betting man, I’d say my first hypothesis is true… the movie is going to suck hard. I first read about this at Filmstalker!

Thanks to Richard at Filmstalker for pointing me to this…

     The trailer for the new film Shoot ‘em Up has hit the web and oh sweet goodness does this look awesome.  For no other reason that my boy Giamatti is in it.

There seems to be a tiny, un-important glitch in the quality of the trailer, but HERE’S A LINK to it over at Latinoreview.

According to Richard, here is the premise of the film:

“Owen’s character delivers a baby during a shoot out and then proceeds to defend the aforementioned baby from the army of gunmen. Simple.”

I can assure you that this movie is going to rock, with a cast of Belucci, Clive Owen and the greatest actor of the current breed: Paul Giamatti as the crazy bad guy, this thing will be gold.  I can’t wait.

thoughts?

 Cinecast Episode 16 [51:38m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

FALL MOVIE PREVIEW
click on any title to go the official site.

This weekend…

Jackass Number Two
Director: Jeff Tremaine
Starring: Johnny Knoxville, Steve-O, Bam, Chris Pontius
TRAILER

Flyboys
Director: Tony Bill
Starring: James Franco, Jean Reno
TRAILER HERE

OCTOBER…

Science of Sleep
Director: Michael Gondy
Starring: Gael Garcia Bernal, Charlotte Gainsbourg, Alain Chabat
TRAILER HERE

The Departed
Director: Martin Scorcese
Starring: Leo DiCaprio, Matt Damon, Jack Nicholson, Mark Wahlberg
TRAILER HERE

Killshot
Director: John Madden
Based on a novel by Elmore Leonard (Out of Sight, Get Shorty, Jackie Brown)
Starring: Diane Lane, Mickey Rourke, Thomas Jane, Rosario Dawson, Joseph GOrdon-Levitt, Johnny Knoxville
TRAILER HERE

Babel
Director: Alejandro Gonzales Inarritu
Starring: Brad Pitt, Cate Blanchett, Gael Garcia Bernal, Jaime McBride
TRAILER HERE

Man of the Year
Director: Barry Levinson
Starring: Robin Williams, Christopher Walken, Laura Linney, Lewis Black, Jeff Goldblum
TRAILER HERE

Flags of Our Fathers
Director: Clint Eastwood
Starring: Ryan Phillippe, Jesse Bradford, Adam Beach
TRAILER HERE

The Prestige
Director: Christoher Nolan
Starring: Christian Bale, Hugh Jackman, Michael Caine, Scarlett Johansson, David Bowie, Andy Serkis
TRAILER HERE

Saw III
Director: Darren Lynn Bousman
Starring: Tobin Bell, J LaRose, Angus Macfadyen, Dina Meyer
TRAILER HERE

NOVEMBER…

Borat: Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan
- and yes that is the correct title. I can’t believe I forgot to mention that. HILARIOUS title.
HERE’S the link to BORAT myspace page Director: Larry Charles - who wrote for “Seinfeld” and “Curb Your Enthusiasm”
Starring: Sacha Baron Cohen
TRAILER HERE

The Fountain
-67% at rottentomatoes.com
Director: Darren Aronfsky
Starring: Hugh Jackman, Rachel Wiesz, Ellen Burstyn, Cliff Curtis, Alexander Bisping
TRAILER HERE

Casino Royale
- Bond 22 is already in pre-production. Other movie Daniel Craig is in that I couldn’t remember: Munich, The Jacket, Lara Croft: Tomb Raider
Director: Casino Royale
Starring: Daniel Craig, Eva Green, Mads Mikkelsen, Dame Judi Dench
TRAILER HERE

END OF PART 2

Leave comments below, check out the MoviePatron forum. Be my friend at myspace.com/moviepatron?

 Cinecast Episode 16 [51:38m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

Summer Movie Wrap-up

GET THE PODCAST (episode 16) FOR THESE NOTES HERE
Sorry about the popping sounds everytime I say something starting with “P”

Movie title, score (out of 10), box office info and liner notes…

X-Men III (6) - $446 million at the box office. Starring: Hugh Jackman, Ian McKellan, Halle Berry, Patrick Stewart, Kelsey Grammer, Famke Janssen, Rebecca Romijn-Stamos. Available on DVD 10/3.

Mission: Impossible III (7) - $396 million. Starring: Tom Cruise, Phillip Seymour Hoffman, Ving Rhames, Keri Russell, Laurence Fishburne, Billy Crudup, Michelle Monaghan, Jonathan Rhys-Meyers. HERE’S the story about Tom Cruise I mentioned.

The DaVinci Code (5.5) - $753 million. Starring: Tom Hanks, Audrey Tautou, Ian McKellan, Jean Reno, Paul Bettany, Alfred Molina. Buy the book HERE. - be sure to check out the illustrated version of the book. That’s the one I read and it made it soooo much better.

Poseidon (4) - $181 million. Sucked ass. I neglected to write a review. Just don’t bother.

Superman Returns (8) - $383 million. Starring: Brandon Routh, Kate Bosworth, Kevin Spacey, James Marsden, Parker Posey, Marlon Brando. Oh yeah, forgot to mention they re-created Marlon Brando as Jo-rel - amazing. Worth the rental. Less action, more story. But that’s a good thing and the action that’s there is great.

Cars (9.5) - $425 million. Voices: Owen Wilson, Paul Newman, Bonnie Hnt, Larry the Cable Guy, Cheech Marin, Tony Shalhoub. So far, best movie of the year aside from United 93.

The Omen (6) - $118 million. Starring: Seamus Davey-Fitzpatrick, Julia Stiles, Liev Schriber, Pete Postlethwaite, Mia Farrow.

Click (6) - $177 million. Starring: Adam Sandler, Kate Beckinsdale, Christopher Walken, David Hasselhoff, Henry Winkler.

The Break-Up (7) - $190 million. Starring: Vince Vaughn, Jennifer Aniston, Joey Lauren Adams, Cole Hauser, Jon Favreau, Jason Bateman, Vincent D’Onofrio

You, Me and Dupree (5) - $101 million. Starring: Owen Wilson, Matt Dillon, Kate Hudson, Michael Douglas. Don’t bother unless you’re hard core Owen Wilson fan. And I mean hard core.

Pirates 2 (6) - $1 BILLION. Starring: Johnny Depp, Orlando Bloom, Keira Knightly, Bill Nighy, Jonathan Pryce. Holy crap did this movie make a ton of money!

Miami Vice (7.5) - $136 million. Starring: Colin Farrell, Jaimie Foxx, Gong Li, Naomie Harris, John Ortiz.

Monster House (8.5) - $115 million. Voices: Steve Buscemi, Mitchel Musso, Sam Lerner, Spencer Locke, Maggie Gyllenhaal, Jason Lee, Kevin James. I promised the director’s name. Here it is: Gil Kenan.

Clerks II (8.5) - I was RIGHT! $25 million. That’s ridiculous! People need to go see this who want to laugh. Starring: Brian O’Halloran, Jeff Anderson, Rosario Dawson, Trevor Fehrman, Jennifer Schwalbach Smith, Jason Mewes, Kevin Smith.

Lady in the Water (3) - $61 million. Starring: Paul Giamatti, Bryce Dallas Howard, M. Night Shyamalan. Worst movie of the year; maybe of the decade.

My Super Ex-Girlfriend (7) - $41 million. Starring: Luke Wilson, Uma Thurman, Rainn Wilson, Anna Faris, Wanda Sykes. The girl who’s name I couldn’t remember is Rainn Wilson.

Talladega Nights (5.5) - $145 million. Starring: Will Ferrell, John C. Reilly, Gary Cole, Sacha Baron Cohen, Jane Lynch, Amy Adams, Michael Clarke Duncan.

Invincible (8) - $50 million. Starring: Mark Wahlberg, Greg Kinnear, Elizabeth Banks, Kevin Conway, Michael Rispoli.

Pulse (4) - $23 million. Starring: Kristin Bell, Ian Somerhalder, Christina Milian, Rick Gonzalez, Jonathan Tucker.

World Trade Center (6.5) - $69 million. Starring: Nicolas Cage, Maria Bello, Michael Pena, Jay Hernandez. SEE UNITED 93 INSTEAD!! SEE IT NOW!

Little Miss Sunshine (9) - $48 million. Starring: Greg Kinnear, Steve Carell, Toni Collette, Paul Dano, Abigail Breslin, Alan Arkin. Best comedy of the year that has no beastiality in it.

Snakes on a Plane (8.5) - $50 million. Starring: Samuel L. Jackson, Julianna Margulies, Nathan Phillips, Flex Alexander, Kenan Thompson, Keith Dallas, Rachel Blanchard, Bruce James, David Koechner, Todd Louiso. Check out my podcast #14 for my SoaP review. Then listen to epsiode 15 with discussion on SoaP at the box office.

Films I didn’t get around to seeing but wanted to: The Devil Wears Prada (Meryl Streep and Anne Hathaway are the names I couldn’t remember), The Lake House, Nacho Libre and Over the Hedge.

END OF SUMMER MOVIE WRAP-UP.

CLICK HERE FOR PART TWO - FALL MOVIE PREVIEW

Summer movie Wrap-up.
Fall movie preview.
Download the podcast HERE.

Follow along with the podcast liner-notes HERE.

CLICK ON COMMENTS (BELOW) TO SPEAK YOUR MIND ABOUT THE SHOW.

     Thanks to Mary G. for the heads up on this one.  According to the Turner Classic Movies website, hard rocker/film director Rob Zombie has been tapped as the host of a new cult movie showcase that will air Friday nights at about 2am.  Here’s what TCM news service has to say…

Turner Classic Movies is taking a walk on the wild side as it welcomes auteur filmmaker and legendary rocker Rob Zombie as the host of the network’s newest weekly movie showcase, TCM UNDERGROUND. The late-night franchise, which will feature off-the-wall movies chosen and introduced by Zombie, is set to launch in October.

“TCM UNDERGROUND will serve as home to some of the truly visionary cult films that have been made over the past century, from stylish horror movies to offbeat black comedies,” said Tom Karsch, executive vice president and general manager for TCM. “We are proud to have a talent like Rob Zombie hosting this showcase, which is certain to broaden TCM’s appeal beyond our loyal core audience.”

     I personally think this is great.  I very much dig Zombie’s music and creative, artistic talent.  His House of 1000 Corpses was one of the rare exceptions to my dislike and distrust of horror films.  The Devil’s Rejects I could’ve lived without, but every director stumbles now and again.  So it will be fun to watch him hosting and discussing great horror and cult films such as Romero’s The Crazies, Ed Wood’s Bride of the Monster and Brian De Palma’s creepy Sisters.  For the full article and schedule for the show, you can click HERE.

     Here’s a news story I pulled from IMDb…

 Some 40,000 bootleg DVDs and the equipment used to produce them were confiscated during raids in New York Thursday, according to the Motion Picture Association of America and the Recording Industry Association of America, which worked with local police in investigating the source of the pirated movies, many of which that have not been officially released, including Snakes on a Plane and World Trade Center. Police also arrested 19-year-old Abdouraitamance Diallo on trademark infringement charges. News reports said that the discs were being peddled at flea markets.

     All I can say is, good.  Lots of people work really hard to put a film together and for someone to pirate that work is stupid. Especially for some the great, smaller films out there like Little Miss Sunshine or Monster House.  A great movie like Snakes on a Plane already busted at the box office.  It shouldn’t suffer more because of 19 year old idiots who aren’t creative enough to do soemthing on their own; they have to copy other people’s work and capitalize on it.

    To hear more, you can check out this week’s podcast (episode #16) -available Monday September 18th at midnight; but here’s an extremely quick guide to this past summer’s most popular films.

     Here’s a short list of films I wanted to see, but just didn’t get the time to see: 

The Devil Wears Prada
The Lake House
Nacho Libre
Over the Hedge

     About five months ago I posted a story about one of the biggest, hardest, decadent bands of the 1980’s, Motley Crue, getting their own film.  The movie is to be based off their auto-biographical book, “The Dirt: Confessions of the World’s Most Notorious Rock Band.”

     Now it seems the producers have hired a director.  Director Larry Charles has been tapped as the new director.  Charles has directed several episodes of the hit HBO comedy series, “Curb Your Enthusiam,” the film, Masked and Anonymous starring Bob Dylan and also is finishing up work on this fall’s Borat: Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation Kazakhstan. 

From Movieweb.com
Whiskey and porn stars, hot rods and car crashes, black leather and high heels, overdoses and death. This is the life of Mötley Crüe, the heaviest drinking, hardest fighting, most oversexed and arrogant band in the world. Their unbelievable exploits are the stuff of rock ‘n’ roll legend. They nailed the hottest chicks, started the bloodiest fights, partied with the biggest drug dealers, and got to know the inside of every jail cell from California to Japan.

     Without having seen Borat yet, I can’t make much of a prediction on how good the film will be, but I can say this: I will be at the theater opening day for this film.  The band that got me through junior high alive on the big screen?  Oh HELL yeah; I’ll be there.  Rock on!

     The new film based off of the Elmore Leonard novel, Killshot, has hit the web and damn does this thing look awesome!  Leonard has written some great novels that have become films in the past (52 Pick-Up, Get Shorty, Jackie Brown and Out of Sight, just to name a few).  Thanks to Dustin (aka Lerch) for the heads up.

     Now it looks like he hits again with the Quentin Tarantino produced movie, Killshot; directed by John Madden.  Starring Diane Lane, Mickey Rourke, Thomas Jane, Rosario Dawson, Johnny Knoxville and Joseph Gordon Levitt, you can’t really argue with the cast.  The trailer looks great.  Take a look and let us know what you think.

You can see the trailer HERE.

     George’s Clooney’s acting work has always impressed me and I’m a big fan.  From From Dusk til Dawn, to Good Night and Good Luck to Syriana, he puts forth nothing but excellence.  And while I don’t always agree with his political stances, his urging at the UN today impressed me to no end and I thank him for finally speaking what must be said.  I would have liked it to be a bit more forceful, but his words were true and pressing.

     Pleading with the United Nations to do something quickly and mightily to end the violence, and indeed genocide, taking place in the Darfur region of Sudan, Clooney had the following to say…

From MSN.com:

“In many ways, it’s unfair, but it is nevertheless true that this genocide will be on your watch.  How you deal with it will be your legacy, your Rwanda, your Cambodia, your Auschwitz.  After Sept. 30, we won’t need the UN; we will simply need men with shovels and bleached white linen and headstones.”

     The UN peacekeepers and aid workers are all being forced to leave at the end of September by the decree of Sudanese President Omar el-Bashir.  The President has also stated that he will draw upon his army to fight any UN forces that are sent in to replce the ones leaving.

     This to me is of the utmost importance and the saddest story of the last 3 years.  Men, women and children are raped and brutally butchered by the Janjaweed on a daily basis and very little is being done to stop it.  They have killed over 200,000 people since 2003 and over 2 million are still homeless refugees. 

“After Sept. 30, we won’t need the UN,” said Clooney. “We will simply need men with shovels and bleached white linen and headstones.”

     So I thank and admire this member of the Hollywood big shots for taking the time out of his million dollar making schedule to try and talk sense into the world’s peace keeping force.  You can see the recording of Clooney’s plea by CLICKING HERE.

     Mel Gibson.  The name alone can conjure all sorts of thoughts.  Anti-semite, drunk driver, great film-maker, Lethal Weapon and conservativism.  So with all that running through your head, you should check out the extended trailer of his new film, Apocalypto.

     The trailer looks visually stunning.  Stylistically speaking, it reminds me a bit of Terrence Malick (The Thin Red Line, The New World).  The only problem I have with this new trailer is it doesn’t seem to be much more than an extended version of the old teaser trailer.  Neither delves very deep into the plot or gives us much of an inkling as to what is really happening in the story or who the main characters are (save one).  The trailer shoots around with quick edited snippets of action coupled with scenes of artsy proportion.  You can see both the teaser and extended trailer HERE.

     So with Gibson’s latest public antics and mistakes, the new film will be interesting to watch as a film and as a testament to what the public really thinks about Gibson.  I for one don’t really care what a star does off-screen.  He/she may be an idiot (Tom Cruise), but they can usually still create quality entertainment.  I see no reason to believe otherwise with Mel Gibson.  This movie looks awesome and I will be there opening night.

     Rumors and predictions have been flying through the internet blogosphere like wild fire trying to guess who will play the new Wonder Woman.  My vote has and always will be for the always glorious Kate Beckinsdale, but apparently she’s unfortunately turned down the role.

     The new rumor from “Life Style Extra” is that one of the stars from The WB’s “The O.C.,” Rachel Bilson is now slated for the role.  Apparently she donned the famous American outfit complete with the starred Daisy Dukes for an episode of “The O.C.”  This is all just rumor at this point as Warner Brothers has not confirmed yet.  But still, it seems semi-credible as Bilson has worked with Wonder Woman script writer, Joss Whedon, in a few episodes of “Buffy the Vampire Slayer.”  Bilson is also appearing in this weekend’s opening of the new Zach Braff film, The Last Kiss.

     I guess we’ll just have to wait and see.  I’m still holding out hope Beckinsdale will have a change of heart, but I’m not holding my breath.

     This is kind of old news, but interesting and important anyway.  Ben Affleck (Pearl Harbor, Armageddon, Good Will Hunting) was the surprise winner of the best actor award at the 2006 Venice Film Festival for his portrayal of George Reeves in the film, Hollywoodland.

     Since I am not part of the anti-Ben league, I just wanted to extend my congratulations to Ben for achieving something most would never think he would do.  Is he the greatest actor to ever live?  No.  But all the Ben-haters out there I think are just on a band wagon of hate because they think it’s fun.  Sure he’s made some questionable films and made odd choices in some of his roles (what actor hasn’t?), maybe even more than many A-list actors, but he’s also been part of some great films and made the most of several characters.  If you haven’t seen his acting in Changing Lanes or Good Will Hunting, then you have no reason to complain.  Even in movies that aren’t really all that great (Boiler Room, Jersey Girls), Affleck brings the most to his character and helps, in my opinion, to light up the screen.

     So again, congrats to Ben and I really look forward to seeing Hollywoodland with all of the positive press it has been receiving.  I am NOT part of the anti-Ben bandwagon and look forward to more movies in the future, for better or worse.