I remember last year Kevin Smith had announced that he would be recording an audio commentary fro Clerks II that you could download and then listen to on your iPod while in the theater during the film. I remember thinking it was a cool idea; except for the fact that I wanted to watch the movie first, so I’d have to pay again to see the movie while listening to the commentary. So although I think it’s a cool and novel idea, I doubt it’s something I would actually partake in, unless I really, really, REALLY like the movie.

     So thanks to filmstalker, I got the heads up that John August, director of the upcoming film,The Nines has teamed up with star Ryan Reynolds and recorded an audio commentary for this film that opens in limited release this weekend. Alas, not in Minneapolis.

     You can download the commentary (47MB) over at John August’s personal blog, along with some of his guidelines and other tid bits of information. It looks as though he personally responds to some of the comments left by readers. Seems like a cool guy. I look forward to checking out his picture; though most likely without the commentary (at least until the DVD is available).

     If you listen though, let us know how it is.

     I don’t really like posting stuff like this, but I also like explosions. So here are a few images and a video capture of an explosion on set of the new The Dark Knight movie. The reason I consider them spoilers is because in the video it tells you what it is that is exploding; and you may not want to know. But if you don’t care, you can check out the pictures and video by unwrapping the text below…

UNWRAP TEXT or SHOW **SPOILER**

     Stephen King is a guy who writes some masterfully intense stories. The film adaptations of these great stories, on the other hand, can be very hit or miss. And when I say very hit or miss, I mean VERY hit or miss. The films are either completely amazing (Shawshank Redemption, Stand by Me, The Shining) or they can be total crapola (Sometimes they Come Back, Langoliers, Secret Window, Needful Things, Thinner).

     I read The Mist as part of a collection of short stories back in high school and remember loving it; but with King’s catalog of films, I’m not holding my breath for anything too great with the film version. Still, it has possibilities. Anyway, the trailer hit the web recently and we’ve got it here for you to check out…

     This looks like it could be okay, but to be honest, I’m MUCH more interested in seeing the film adapation for “The Long Walk.” King’s most intriguing story to date that has yet to be made into a movie - in my opinion.

     Sorry to those waiting for the big episode 60. Andrew was still very sick this week and Kurt is busy building his TIFF schedule - which I understand is a big task. We had talked about doing a show later in the week, but because of previous engagements it didn’t happen.

     So there will be a short hiatus from the show for a couple of weeks for Kurt. But Andrew and special guest will be around sometime mid to late next week with some new reviews, various festival previews and possibly a full Fall preview edition. Sorry about the weirdness in the past couple of weeks, but I promise we will be back on track soon.

     Thanks again to everyone for your support; we really appreciate it!!

     The Toronto After Dark web site has just officially anounced its first seven titles to screen at the festival; running October 19-25. Though I’ve already provided synopsis’ and trailers for all seven films in an easy to read format, if you feel you MUST go elsewhere to get the info or you have to have it from the original source, head over to TorontoAfterDark.com for more details.

     Also, they’ve released a short preview of the first seven titles all in one action packed vignette, which you can see below:

     If you’re overwhelmed with the sheer amount of possibilities at this year’s Toronto International Film Festival, Todd over at Twitchfilm has meticulously gone through each title and found the link to the title’s official web site or trailer (or both). It’s been really easy to check out all the films playing and see what they’re about via the trailers. Good work Todd. head on over to the “one stop trailer shop” at Twitch.

cut and paste job from worstpreviews.com:

     They are some of the highest-grossing movies of all time, but Ewan McGregor regrets appearing in “Star Wars,” reports The Sun.

     During a recent trip to a Scottish hospice, the father of a young patient suffering from an incurable condition, asked him about his best and worst film. In a very surprising answer, McGregor branded the sci-fi movies the worst work he has ever done.

     Hamish Glasgow, whose three-year-old son Hamish suffers from rare Hoyeraal Hreidarsson, says: “Ewan was really down to earth. He was great with Cameron. He was really relaxed and you could tell he’s a really good dad. He said the favorite movie he’d done was ‘Trainspotting’ and the one he liked least was ‘Star Wars.’”

     Hmm. Not Down with Love, not Robots and not The Island; but Star Wars. Admittedly, The Phantom Menace was a pretty poor film, but the third installment (Revenge of the Sith) was pretty balls-out fun. Though the article doesn’t specify which Star Wars film he means specifically, I can only assume one of two things: either he means the entire trilogy or just part 1. But still, I’m surprised he doesn’t like it at all compared to some of his other works. Oh well, he was there and I wasn’t. PLus, to each his own I guess.

     Sin City was one of my favorites of 2005, certainly the most entertaining. I absoluetly loved it. With Sin City 2 on the way in 2009, I am very much anticipating it already. Along with the huge cast already on the bill, according to IMDb (which is notorious for getting it wrong quite often), including many of the actors from part 1, is rumored to be none other than Johnny Depp; who is, in my opinion, one of the top 3 actors of his generation. During a VH1 interview, director Robert Rodriguez had this to say:

“[Depp] was interested in doing the Jackie Boy character that Benicio [del Toro] played [in the first one], but he was doing that movie Libertine (MP review) in Europe and it just kept getting pushed and delayed and went right through our shooting schedule. But there is a better role for him in [’Hell and Back’]. I kept going, ‘Gosh, Jackie Boy is a small part, he could be really good [as Wallace].’ When he wasn’t available, I thought maybe it was meant to be.”

     I don’t know (or can’t remember) who Wallace is, but this sounds good to me. With the already stellar cast (Clive Owen, Banderas, Rosario Dawson, Madsen, Trejo, Rourke, Powers Boothe) Depp should fit into Rodriquez’ and Frank Miller’s vision quite well I should think. Color me excited.

source: MoviesOnline.ca

     Why the hell do I keep posting these? I have zero interest in this film. Anyway, here they are anyway….

What is this; like the 15th poster for Saw 4 released?

Another crazy, death contraption somehow set up by Jigsaw who is dead…

     For the 30th anniversary of Star Wars, Movie Patron contributed by hosting our very own blog-a-thon; which actually turned out to be quite a success. Well, the folks at Southwest Airlines and NASA were thinking a little more grander than myself (of course, they also have the funding for something like this). They’ve managed to secure a spot on the Space Shuttle Discovery STS-120 for Luke Skywalker’s “original” lightsaber.

     Launching October 23rd, the saber will be in its rightful spot aboard the international space station. Once the mission has been completed and the saber has traveled 6 million miles, it will return home to be on display at Houston International before going back to Skywalker Ranch.

     You can see video of the announcement over at CNN.com. It appears Vader, R2-D2, Boba-Fett, R5-D4 and a host of other Star Wars characters were on hand for the event.

     Although the story claims it is Luke’s “original” lightsaber, it technically isn’t. The one in the presentation anyway, is the saber from Return of the Jedi. Luke’s original lightsaber was given to him by Obi-Wan Kenobi in Episode IV: A New Hope; which he loses when his hand is cut off. Anyway, that saber is not the one going into orbit. Just thought I should clear that up.

     I was just reading over at comingsoon.net (via Screenrant) about a story in which Paul Haggis has said that the next Bond film will start about 2 minutes after where Casino Royale left off. I think this is an excellent idea; not to mention fairly original. Especially in the Bond universe.

“My Bond is an actual assassin; when he kills someone, he kills them with a knife, they’re bloody and he pays a price. He denies that he pays a price, but he does. When he sees a woman who witnesses something horrific, and he sees her taking a shower, he doesn’t just go in there and f*ck her, like the old Bond would have done. He sits there with her, and she says, ‘I can’t get this blood from my fingernails.’ So he helps her get the blood from her fingernails; that’s what he does, that’s my Bond. So it’s a different guy… [the next film] picks up 2 minutes after the last one, and it’s going to be fun.”

     What I liked about Casino Royale (MP review), was how unseasoned Bond was and the whys and how of his evolution into what we know as the Bond today. Bond learned a serious life lesson (more than one actually) at the end of Casino Royale. It will be fun to see how that shapes his character almost immediately in the next installment in the Bond saga.

     Hollywood seems to really be into this Apollo series. First was the Ron Howard directed, Apollo 13, starring Tom Hanks, Kevin Bacon, Gary Sinise and Bill Paxton. Then a collaboration with Ron Howard and Tom Hanks for the HBO mini-series, “From the Earth to the Moon.” Now Hollywood has a new documentary being released that looks like it could be the best yet.

     In the Shadow of the Moon brings together, for the first time (and maybe the last), all the surviving astronauts of the Apollo moon mission to discuss their experiences, thoughts and dreams on what it was like and what it meant to themselves and indeed the world to visit our nearest neighbor, la luna.

     As much as I love Apollo 13, the best thing about it is the included commentary track by the real Jim Lovell and his wife on the DVD. Hearing their thoughts on the experience is interesting as hell and still the best commentary track I’ve yet to see. “From the Earth to the Moon” was a little on the slow side and a little too drawn out for me, but it was decent.

     What makes this particular film look so inviting, is to hear the stories straight “from the horse’s mouth” so to speak. When you hear the voices of the actual guys who really did it, it is ten times more fascinating and heartfelt than a bunch of Hollywood super-stars. With newly restored, remastered and never before seen, archival footage from the entire Apollo era, this film looks unbelievably brilliant and emotionally stunning. A rare case of a documentary really having me excited. If ever I want to pay double movie prices for the IMAX experience, this film is it.

check out the embedded trailer below, or see it here in glorious Quicktime.

This feature post is basically to put films in the spotlight a bit that didn’t do well at the box office but that ended up actually being very good. Later they might have found their home on DVD and became a success there and yet for some reason they just weren’t appreciated as much as they deserved to be in theatres.

(On a quick note this was the first ‘Western’ I ever watched (….yes…I know…))

     This was such a good film with fantastic performances all round. But the general movie going public decided to almost completely ignore it and it seems that only really avid film fans made the effort to go and see it.

     The film only made 7.75 million dollars. And you must be thinking, “yes that’s just on opening weekend, surely it made more than that?” No, 7.75 million dollars is all it made. And you then must be thinking, “but that must just be in the US or just domestically?” No, in fact the film only made 7.75 million dollar in TOTAL. That’s in all the time it was in theatres it only made just under 8 million dollars! I realise that this may be due to the fact that it was on limited release which reinforces even more the fact that this film deserved a lot more appreciation, by both the company and the general movie going public. Shame on you all, you know who you are. Go and rent this if you haven’t already, if you have; rent it again. And if you own it make plans to re-watch it.

(Thanks to this I am now a Western fan.)

     Some of you may recognize this feature from a certain other blog website about movies, but I think it is a general enough thing for me to do my own one over here at Movie Patron. The next paragraph shall explain and every time I put up one of these (which will be every few days or so) this paragraph will be put up every time to remind you.

This feature post is basically to put films in the spotlight a bit that didn’t do well at the box office but that ended up actually being very good. Later they might have found their home on DVD and became a success there and yet for some reason they just weren’t appreciated as much as they deserved to be in theatres

     So today as I went through my daily movie-website visits I came across Total Film’s list of The Greatest Directors Ever. The directors are listed from 100 to 1. Each is given a nickname and dedicated a paragraph on his/her work, and it’s decided what his/her best film is.

     As I go through the well planned list I notice a couple noteworthy inclusions. Sofia Coppola, for example, makes the list at #99, a talented and promising underrated director who’s latest film Marie Antoinette I consider one of last year’s best.

     I scroll further down the list and I’m more or less satisfied and as I get to the top ten I say to myself: “Alright! Antonioni has yet to come up. He must be in the top ten.” At times severely underappreciated, Antonioni generally makes top 100 lists but rarely makes the top ten. I scroll down further: Kubrick, Welles, Fincher (what? at number 10?!?!?!), Bergman, Coppola, Spielberg, they’re all there. And so I’m expecting Michaelangelo Antonioni any minute, and to my total surprise not only is he not in the top ten, he hasn’t even been included on the list! Abel Ferrara sits happily at 100 while Antonioni is nowhere to be found.

     Sure there are other directors they forgot. They remember contemporary directors such as Baz Luhrmann, Ferrara, and M Night Shyamalan but forget the likes of Alejandro González Iñárritu, Alfonso Cuaron, Wes Anderson, and two-time Palme d’Or winning Luc and Jean-Pierre Dardenne? They include Hollywood blockbuster machines Bryan Singer and Tony Scott but leave out classic filmmakers Charlie Chaplin and Alain Resnais? As is the case with any such list (the recent OFC Top 100 comes to mind), some deserving candidates will get lost in the shuffle.

     But these otherwise egregious oversights pale in comparison, fully eclipsed by the total ignorance of leaving out one of the 20th Century’s brightest and most important artists. Antonioni’s films are just as, if not more, important to cinema history than the films of Welles, Bergman, or Coppola; much less George Lucas or John Woo (both included).

     Personally this terribly obvious oversight strips away any and all validity Total Film’s list at one point held.

     Well, summer movie season is pretty much over with. Now it’s the time of year for true cinemaphiles to smile. The kids are back in school so we can see movies that make us think and drop our jaws. But wait, was the summer season that bad? My initial reaction was yes, it was. But after looking back, there were some real gems over the past 4 months. Let’s have a look…

     It all started with Spider-Man 3. Oops; off to a bad start, let’s continue with just the good ones.

28 Weeks Later (4/5 stars) - A most triumphant sequel to Danny Boyle’s 28 Days Later. Fast, exciting and Zombies! The first 15 minutes is worth the price of admission alone. Great follow up to an already great movie.

Bug (3.5/5 stars) - This little film that did nearly zero at the box office and had more people walk out of during the screening than any other movie I’ve ever seen was actually borderline spectacular. Judd proves she can act and the entire premise is something intriguing and annoyingly itchy at the same time. NOT a creature feature, but one of the better “close quarters” films I’ve seen with great performances all around.

Mr. Brooks (3.5/5 stars) - Another surprise that didn’t do so well at the box office. It’s nothing overly spectacular, but I’m a big Costner fan and to see him playing a darker role was a real delight. The back and forth exchanges with his darker, alter-ego played by William Hurt was not only fun in terms of the dialogue, but the way the idea was portrayed and how it was delivered really worked well in an original fashion.

Knocked-Up (3.5/5 stars) - Very funny. But I was dismayed about the fan boys over reaction to it. It wasn’t that great.

Paris je’Taime (4/5 stars) - Maybe not technically a summer film as I saw it rather late, but who cares? It made it’s wide release in the states in June and was one of the most enjoyable experiences I had at the theater all summer.

Ocean’s 13 (4/5 stars) - Almost as good as the first film. Just as much fun and Soderbergh is back in top form. A real comeback after the crap that was Ocean’s 12.

Day Watch (4.5/5 stars) - If every big budget, effects bonanza was as good as Day Watch, I would stop complaining about three-quels and the entire nature of the summer blockbuster season. This is how action/effect films should be made always!

Ratatouille (3/5 stars) - Though I didn’t like it as much as everyone else did, I still found it rather enjoyable and it obviously has captured the hearts of critics everywhere. Wonder why it didn’t do as well at the box office? Oh yeah, because I’m right and it’s not funny enough, not aimed at children (as it should be) and focusses far too much on humans instead of fantastical beings (like cars, toys, monsters, fish, etc).

Once (4.5/5 stars) - Probably my favorite movie of the year so far. Charming, delightful, beautiful, artful and most of all, tremendously musically inclined! If you don’t like this movie, chances are I don’t know you.

A Mighty Heart (4/5 stars) - Raw, emotional power that is shot extremely well and likely gives Angelina Jolie the chance at another Oscar. It’s depressing, but fascinating and captivating as well.

Rescue Dawn (5/5 stars) - The only perfect film I saw this summer. I could honestly not find one fault through the entire picture. I’m not even much of a Werner Herzog fan… I am now.

Sunshine (4/5 stars) - Though not without its flaws, Sunshine delivers on almost every level during the first 90 minutes of the film. Unfortunatle it falls apart after that, but the first part is good enough that it’ll be worth a purchase come DVD release day. Too bad too, because hed the ending been changed, this had a good shot at a 5 star effort.

The Bourne Ultimatum (4/5 stars) - Even though it’s exactly the same as the last movie, almost step for step, it is still the best action movie of the year and rip-roaring good time. You also won’t find a much better cast as this.

The Simpsons Movie (4/5 stars) - Funny as hell. Laugh and then laugh some more. It’s basically one long episode, but who cares? It’s almost 20 years in the making and it delivers in spades.

Superbad (4/5 stars) - Finishing off the summer season we end a pretty high note (unless you consider Rush Hour 3 to be the end of summer season). The Apatow crew delivers again with a hilarious teen comedy. You don’t have to be a teen to appreciate this one. Everyone will laugh; including you.

     So that’s it. 2007 Summer wrap-up. Though there was definitely some shit out there, looking back at this list, I’m happy to report that my knee-jerk reaction was incorrect. It wasn’t so bad was it?

     At Toronto After Dark, there have been two zombie films announced already to take place as a double bill immediately following the zombie pub crawl. Both look fairly good. Although let’s be honest, any zombie movie is a good zombie movie. So to my delight, a meesage in my inbox tonight from John Allison alerted me to a zombie trifecta!

     The Zombie Diaries looks to be shot totally on hand held, shaky cam (which could be a problem) in sort of a documentary style; much like Blair Witch Project. A virus has engulfed the planet and when people die, they are reanimated as zombies. Sounds like fun to me. In fact, over on facebook, I just joined the group, “The hardest part of a zombie apocalypse is pretending I’m not excited.”

click for hi-res

     I like the poster. With the motion blur, it appears to be a fast paced film (is that Tom Cruise?). If the poster and synopsis doesn’t convince you, have a look at the trailer. It’s pretty intense with a nice visual style…

     I wasn’t able to track down exactly when The Zombie Diaries is due to hit theaters or DVD. My guess is though that it will be difficult to track down as it is fairly independent. Look for it on the festival circuit though - I know it’s playing in Austin at the fest down there and those of you in the UK can already pick up the DVD at amazon.co.uk. I’ll keep my eyes peeled for more local screenings. If I learn anything I’ll let you know.

     The Toronto After Dark Film Festival is just a few short weeks away. At last year’s event, I saw 13 feature length films in five days; four of which entered into my top 20 of the year, two in my top 10 and 2 in my top 100 of all time. A film entering my top 100 is not easy, so it was well worth the drive from Minneapolis.

     This year’s festival has expanded to include even more great films (14 feature length and 36 shorts!) and over a longer timeline. With more financial backing and more time, MoviePatron’s coverage should be a bit more extensive this year: including some “on location” cinecasts and interviews with stars, film makers and guest hosts from other movie web sites. And of course Kurt and I will do at least one (probably more) regular length Cinecasts from the event.

     Anyway, to see the seven films announced so far, complete with trailers and synopsis, head over to the Movie Patron After Dark Headquarters for all the info so far. We’ll keep updating it as things progress. Thanks to John from FilmGrotto who scooped up all the info at the Toronto FanExpo.

UPDATE: all TAD previews are now directly commentable.

Current Mood: Angry & Angry

Here’s a fairly poorly written ramble I wrote on my personal blog a couple of years back. It may not be well written, but I still agree with its contents…

07/05/05

     Here’s a rant about something that has bugged me for a while now. As you may or may not know, I’m a fairly impatient person. Whether that’s a product of our “fast-moving” society or just who I am, I don’t know. Part of what I love about DVD technology, is it’s speed and simplicity; but of course studios have to make their products flashy and annoying…like Budweiser billboards. This is what I hate: overly elaborate and complex user menus. Long, drawn-out and completely useless animated menus. They’re supposed to look flashy and fun, but all they are is annoying and slow. It’s bad enough that I am forced to read through the FBI warnings in several languages; of which I used to be able to fast forward through on my VCR. Granted I can still do that on some of my older DVDs, but many of the new ones do not allow you to skip them.

     So anyway, after I get through reading the French version about how I will go to jail and how much money I will be fined if I hook my DVD player up to my VCR then sell the tape for $5, I have to watch a public service announcement about how bad it is for society and the poor Hollywood community if I download a movie on the internet. Not to mention how guilty I’ll feel for committing such an atrocious crime. By the way, this is on a DVD that I bought and/or rented. Thanks for giving me an idea though. You mean I could’ve just gotten this mediocre crap-fest of a movie for free!? On the internet!? Why didn’t they tell me so before!? So after all this general nonsense, I get to watch previews for movies that came out over 3 years ago. At least these I can fast forward through.

     So finally I have arrived at my destination… the main menu. But wait, what is this? My TV screen is flashing various parts (usually dramatic or funny lines) of the film in front of my eyes before I’ve even seen the picture yet. Also, is it me, or is this taking a really long time to get to the usual choices? Anyway, after finally seeing the building explode, the villain make some nasty comment regarding the plot of the film and our hero flying an airplane that he made from old parts from a Huey 370 and a ‘79 Ford Mustang, I finally see my choices on the side of the plane. How clever! So since I’m watching this movie with my latina girlfriend, I click my remote control on the language options icon. WHOOOOSH! The plane starts moving again and this time we follow along in a harrowing chase through the caverns of Necros and into the belly of the beast (which we’re not even supposed to be seeing as it is supposed to be a major surprise antagonist towards the end of the film). Here are my language choices. I hit Spanish and hope to continue; but not without some theatrics of course: after narrowly missing a giant stalactite, the plane containing our hero sweeps out of the opening of the cave with a witty remark straight from the film by the rear-seat passenger. Now we’re back to the main menu again and all I have to do is click the “start movie” button. I do this as an amazing orchestral extravaganza begins playing and a witty line from the film is spoken, i.e. “If you’re going to go that way, you should’ve brought the telescopic lens!” Well, that line in the film has just been ruined for me. Plus, all of these shenanigan’s have taken approximately 2 minutes of my time on top of the 10 minutes of FBI warnings, PSA’s and movie trailers.

     I am tired of this nonsense. Maybe it is a trivial thing for most, but for me, it is bonkers up the wall and through the roof! Just show me the menu with my choices and get on with it. I don’t need all of these half-ass theatrics and sound from the movie that I’m about to see. I don’t need to see the dramatic photo-montage of all the characters merging together in a blurry fashion that inspires awe and wonder at the greatness of Cate Blanchett and Jason Statham. In conclusion, stay away from any DVD that, on the back, says something along the lines of fantastic 3-D interactive menus. Just steal that movie from the internet; because chances are, the studio is trying to make up for something by incorporating these neat-o menus that make you think, “Wow! This is taking forever and I wish I could just start watching the film.”

This post is mostly just me rambling about how good my library is and to make sure everyone else thinks about checking their libraries out for DVDs. Yesterday I had to drop some educational type videos at the library for my wife. While there I decided to check out their selection of movies. They had an amazing selection of older movies and I’m sure if I browsed through their computers I’d find even more terrific movies.

Here is what I ended up taking home with me yesterday:

• 3:10 to Yuma
• Aguirre: The Wrath of God
• Solyaris
• The Sweet Hereafter

I don’t really have the time right now to watch them all so I just ripped them to my hard drive and will watch them coming up shortly. I returned them this morning and picked up:

• The Battle of Algiers
• Bicycle Thieves
• Blow Up
• and I reserved for later pickup as it was out Yojimbo

I think I’m going to stop hitting the Blockbuster Video for a while and just hang out at the Library. They don’t have all the new movies but damn they have some good old ones.