As I was walking home yesterday on my deserted street I started to think about the biggest release this week. I loved 28 Days Later for many reasons. A few of the things that made it memorable for me include the sense of loneliness and emptiness of a deserted London, having what were in effect zombies as fast moving monsters, and the way it turned around on itself during the second half of the movie.

UNWRAP TEXT or SHOW **SPOILER**

     On Friday I am sure we will see an empty London once again and we will see the “quick” zombies. I am worried though that we will only see this or perhaps they will try to go with the same twist which occured in the second half of the original. Perhaps I am wrong but I just don’t see 28 Weeks Later Living up to the original.

     Ethan Hawke has signed on to play a vampire in the upcoming film Daybreakers. Yahoo News tells us the basic plot:

He will play a researcher in the year 2017, when a plague has transformed most of the world’s population into vampires. As the human population nears extinction, vampires must capture and farm every remaining human or find a blood substitute before time runs out. However, a covert group of vampires makes a discovery that has the power to save the human race.

     Is it just me or are we getting a lot more apocalyptic type movies right now. We just had Children of Men (Movie Patron Review), this weekend is 28 Weeks Later, I am Legend opens this christmas and I just posted the news about Doomsday. I don’t think its a bad thing but it sure does show that Hollywood goes in phases.

     Since Paul Giamatti is the greatest living actor of our time, I feel I would be remiss in not giving a glimpse of his newest film, The Hawk is Dying. With other upcoming films on his plate such as Shoot em Up and the much anticipated Fred Claus with Vince Vaughn; not to mention his role in Coscarelli’s Bubba Noferatu and the Curse of the She-Vampires, I have had no choice but to spend my entire allowance on the Hollywood Stock Exchange and buy up all the Giammatti stock I can afford.

     Enough Giamatti ass-kissing. Here’s the newest trailer. It looks fairly indie, which is definitely not a bad thing and it looks like it has some decent side roles as well. Plus, it’s based on a novel by one of my favorite authors, Harrey Crews. This will be great I have no doubt.

Thoughts?

     So in the last couple days, two stories have surfaced that really chaps my hide.

     First of all, a popular internet site (IESB.net) was shut down by legal pressure from Paramount Studios for releasing pictures of the upcoming film Iron Man. The pictures were taken from a long way away and were shots of an unknown man donning the Iron Man outfit. Although the pictures reveal the inner workings of a closed lot, the shots were taken from a public area which makes them perfectly legal. IESB posted the shots online and within a couple days the site was shut down from legal pressure (the site seems to be back up now, but still looks a little funny).

     This is all I know on the story. But it seems to me that from a movie fan standpoint, this is ridiculous and it should make us all very upset. Why would Paramount not just ask to have the shots taken down? Why go through the legal hassle and time to get a web site shut down that does nothing but PROMOTE their film? This is a blatant attack upon it’s free (not to mention again, LEGAL) marketing and its fans. It makes no sense and I fear it will lead to a backlash against the movie (possibly even an attempted boycott) since IESB has lost readership, traffic and revenue over this debacle. Although let’s be honest; internet readership is a drop in the hat compared to the movie going public, so I would guess that 99% of people who will see this film, don’t care or even know about the incident. I’ve emailed director Jon Favreau about the incident, but as of yet have had no response.

     The second bit of disconcerting news comes from Variety (via Filmstalker), in which Richard reports on the fact that another studio, Warner Brothers, has announced that it will no longer feature prescreeners and promotional screenings before the actual release date of the film. This practice will continue until the governement changes the law to make it illegal to bring recording devices into theaters. This is in the wake of a previous story that 20th Century Fox might well DELAY the release dates of films until the laws are changed.

     While I completely agree that piracy should be stopped and the laws maybe should be changed, this makes absolutely no sense. You’re going to delay releasing a movie in hopes that it will curb piracy? Won’t this encourage piracy if you’re not able to get to see the film along with the rest of the world (or at least the USA)?

     This is a case of Hollywood completely being out of touch with its audience and fans and completely not getting the whole “the world has changed with the internet” thing. And frankly, it disgusts me. Thoughts?

     If for some crazy reason Favreau actually responds to my email, we’ll be sure to mention it on the show tomorrow night (episode #46).

     There is pretty much nothing that compares to a really good western and I’m really hoping that the new Brad Pitt flick turns out to be a good western. From the sounds of things this is only going to get a limited release in September. That could mean that it is just too amazing (art house type of movie) for everyone to see or it might just not be that good. I’m hoping for the former. Either way if it shows up here I’ll be in the theater to see.

     I awoke this morning to an e-mail from Andrew with a link to some movie news. I’m pretty sure he spends as much time as I do browsing the web reading about movies. This morning’s email contained a link to a story called Gordon Gekko Never Sleeps. It was posted over at IGN. I thought I at least knew about most mainstream movies even if I hadn’t seen them but in this case I had never heard about the movie Wall Street. So I guess the main point of this post here is let Andrew know that I’m now heading out to rent it as soon as possible and then I’ll post more about the sequel once I’ve seen the original.

     Oh alright here is a bit about the sequel called Money Never Sleeps:

Edward R. Pressman, who produced the 1987 original, will produce the sequel as well. The screenplay is being penned by Stephen Schiff (True Crime, George Clooney’s forthcoming Leatherheads), who is expected to turn in a draft later this year. Pressman and Fox closed a deal this week to develop the sequel.

     So where’s Gekko been all these years? Pressman informed the Times, “He went to jail.” Douglas assured fans that Gekko has not mellowed with age. “I don’t think he’s much different,” he said. “He’s just had more time to think about what to do.”

     Crave Online via Bloody Disgusting has just posted some information about My Name Is Bruce. While I am desperately waiting for Bubba Nosferatu to be made and released I am willing to accept this directed by and starring Bruce Campbell flick. My Name is Bruce tells the story of the real life Bruce Campbell coming to a small town to fight off Zombies when the local townspeople believe him to be Ash from the Evil Dead series.

     The interview has a fair amount of information about upcoming projects. Bruce Campbell is setting My Name is Bruce up for a theatrical realease with a sequel already planned:

“We’re finishing it for theatrical. We’re doing all the effects at a high enough grade that it will be for theaters. Yeah, this film will not escape. It will be released.”

“We already have the money for the sequel,”

     I love the concept for My Name is Bruce and I can not wait to see how it comes out.

As for Bubba Nosferatu:

Crave Online: How about Bubba Nosferatu?

Bruce Campbell: When we have a script.

     I so hope this gets made. Bruce Campbell is Elvis in my mind.

Current Mood: Alarmed & Angry

     Most unfortunately, Spider-Man 3 (review) made box office history this weekend with the largest opening weekend gross of over $148 million. It showed on over 10,000 screens which is the largest release ever. It also grossed the most for a Friday ($59.3 mil), Saturday ($51 mil) and a Sunday ($37.7 mil) alone.

     I say unfortunately, because it just proves Mike Judge correct. We’re all slipping into some sore sort of idiocracy as a society. This was one of the worst movies of the year and attracts us all like a moth to a flame. Meanwhile, fun and original films (like Grindhouse) or thought provoking films (like Zodiac or Little Children) or historical films with true impact and something to say (like Black Book or Wind that Shakes the Barley) barely make a scratch at the box office.

     Sure, I’m one of the people who went to see Spider-Man on opening night - part of that $148 million is from my pocket. But I’m different: I have a passion for film in general; not to mention I also run a movie review web site. So I don’t count. I’m also not saying don’t go see the film or you’re a tard if you do; my point is, where were all these people for Grindhouse? If they’re going to go see SM3, they surely would want to see something that’s far better, far more fun, full of talent and is impactful. Spider-Man 3 is a way to kill two hours of your life with some bright lights… nothing more. And because we spend $148 million in 3 days on this trash, the studios will continue to make them. Meanwhile, Grindhouse is getting ripped apart (literally) for its UK release. Sad.

     I predict that Pirates 3 will beat SM3 with its opening weekend numbers. And yes, I’l be there. But so will 800 screaming teenagers that should be going down to the theater to watch… well, anything else.

     As a companion piece to some of the good summer hits I thought it would be fun to post a short list of some of the terrible ones.

• The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen (2003)
• Catwoman (2004)
• Batman & Robin (1997)
• King Kong (2005)
• Planet of the Apes (2001)
• Pearl Harbor (2001)
• Speed 2: Cruise Control (1997)
• Star Wars: Episode I - The Phantom Menace (1999)

Do the good movies outweigh the bad ones?

Several of these movies have the same problem that I think a fair amount of this years movies have. They are bloated down with too many characters, too many plots and too many special effects.

     So I was thinking about my post about the summer blockbuster season starting and how I wasn’t too excited about it. I decided to give myself a little reminder about some of the other good movies that have come out during past summer seasons. Here are just a few of them.

• Star Wars (1977)
• 12 Angry Men (1957)
• Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981)
• Psycho (1960)
• Sunset Blvd. (1950)
• Apocalypse Now (1979)
• Chinatown (1974)
• Alien (1979)
• The Shining (1980)
• Saving Private Ryan (1998)
• The Great Escape (1963)
• Forrest Gump (1994)
• Touch of Evil (1958)
• Terminator 2: Judgment Day (1991)
• Jaws (1975)
• On the Waterfront (1954)
• Strangers on a Train (1951)

I guess summer isn’t a total mindless wasteland. 

     Because of internal pressure, I’ve changed the poll on the right side of this blog. Take a moment to cast your vote. My vote was for Ocean’s 13 by the way.

     I headed out to see the local art house theater here in town and caught the interesting Perfume: The Story of a Murderer. At the end of the movie the credits started to roll. My crew and I remained seated and watched all the credits. What at first amazed me was that about half of the small audience also remained. I eventually found out they were all just sitting there waiting for the next movie to start but for a brief time I actually thought others find the credits interesting. I often find out some interesting bit of information about the movie or I at least hear some music that I can later associate with the movie.

     Did you know that Cheech Marin is credited in Pan’s Labyrinth. I believe he gets credited because of the following:

“We also had two live stick bugs we named Cheech and Chong that we kept in-house as reference. We watched a lot of Ray Harryhausen films for inspiration, as both Guillermo and I are big fans.”

Source: http://www.digitalartsonline.co.uk/

     I have a few questions for all you readers. The first is do you also sit through the credits or do you rush outside hoping to stay ahead of the crowd? The second is what do you get out of watching the credits? And, finally for the third question is are there any interesting things that you learned from the credits of any movie?

     Likely the best part of my dreadful Spider-Man 3 (review) experience last night, was an unexpected trailer for a film called Across the Universe directed by Julie Taymor. I’d never heard of her and was surprised to see that she’s directed both Titus (Anthony Hopkins) and Frida (Salma Hayek). Neither of these have I seen, but I’ve heard good things about both of them and they are both in queue and I plan to see them eventually.

     Anyway… the directing style for this film looks fascinating and I’m definitely interested in hearing more about it and researching more about Julie Taymor and the relative unknown actors within this film. Have a look at this trailer and let me know what you think. It starts out as typical fare; resembling a normal drama about kids in the 60s. But by the end, it gets very Michel Gondry-esque and looks DAMN cool. Maybe this is old news, but I’ve never seen or heard of this movie before:

Cool eh?

You are supposed to mark the ones you’ve seen with an X. According to the poster if you’ve seen over 85 you have no life. There are 238 movies listed.

There are a lot of movies on here that I consider not to be worth my time but there are a few that I really should see that I haven’t.

I’m going to use our new hidden spoiler feature to hide the list as it is pretty long. Click on the show spoiler link for the complete list.

UNWRAP TEXT or SHOW **SPOILER**

Now Add them up and…

     I do believe this is one of the seven signs of the apocalypse. A few days ago I posted a bit on movies I regretted seeing. I totally forgot to include Bloodrayne in the list. Prior to this I had only heard about how bad Uwe Boll is as a director, producer and writer of not just bad movies but bad video game movies. I’ve deliberately avoided all his movies simply based on his reputation up until that point. For some reason though I caved in an watched it. It was not so much that it was just a bad movie but it was a bad movie with good actors in it. What he did to Ben Kingsley, Billy Zane and Michael Madsen I can not forgive.

     One of my movie going crew has told me about Alone in the Dark. In it apparently Boll decided to simply cut bits of the actual video game in as special effects. He didn’t even bother to remove the little bits of the screen that tell you how much ammo and health you have. I’ve pretty much written Boll off as a hack and had never planned to see anything associated with him again.

     Boll’s newest creation Postal is due out in theaters sometime this year. I can’t find an actual release date but this isn’t really a post about Postal itself and when it will be out so we can go see it. This is a post about Todd over at Twitch has given it a good review. I have a fair amount of respect for Todd. He has created one of top foreign film sites and I generally agree with his reviews. Here is some of what Todd has to say about Postal.

     Uwe Boll has made a good movie. This is not a joke. This is not a test of the emergency broadcast system. This is honest to god truth. Postal is not merely competent. It’s not just okay. It is brash, bold, smart when called for and stupid when required and - most importantly - it is frequently and intentionally laugh out loud funny.

… Much like South Park, Postal is far smarter than it appears on the surface. Yes, there is a healthy portion of pure toilet humor but Boll proves surprisingly adept at taking positions held by both extreme right and left American politics, stretching them way beyond their logical conclusions and turning them back in on themselves.

… for a film of this type Postal is an unqualified success, a film that knows what it wants to be and hits all of its marks. A good film? Hell, I can’t remember the last film that made me laugh this hard.

     I am totally torn now. Do I see it when it comes out? If I do I think I will see it in all by myself and I shall not tell anyone simply to hide my shame.

 Cinecast Episode 45 [74:01m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

These are the show notes for Cinecast Episode #45.
You can download or subscribe to the show HERE

IN-House Announcements:

New staff writer: JOHN ALLISON, writing lots of great posts on the BLOG main pages. Check it out and leave your comments on how wrong or right he is on whatever =)

Join us on Facebook: Much cleaner and nicer than myspace and easy to keep in touch. A lot more fun too as more people join everyday. HERE’S the link to our group

DVD Pick of the Week:
Little Children (IMDb)
Andrew’s Review
Kurt’s Review
Quicktime Trailer - or see below…

Inland Empire:

David Lynch’s (IMDb) film opens in Toronto this week. Tune in to next week’s show for Kurt’s review. In the meantime…

Lynch’s “For Your Consideration” campaign for Laura Dern. “Without Cheese, there would be no Inland Empire”:

also,

Lynch on Product Placement… Hilarious:

Cannes:
CLICK HERE for the Blog post of the official poster and list of jury members and films in and out of competition.

I couldn’t find the Wong Kar-Wai BMW commercial mentioned, but for some excerpts of his amazing direction on YouTube, CLICK HERE

Andrei Zvyagintsev’s The Return - aka Vozvrashcheniye

Twitch story about Tarantino’s remake of Come Drink with Me

Summer Blockbuster Season:

I don’t have the time or the gumption to include IMDb links to all of these. Look em up yourself, lazy ass (I think the aforementioned martini is getting to me).

Spiderman 3
28 Weeks Later
Pirates of the Caribbean: At World’s End
Day Watch (not really a BB)
Ocean’s 13
Fantastic 4: Rise of the Silver Surfer
Evan Almighty
Die Hard 4
Ratatouille
Transformers
Harry Potter
Simpsons
Bourne Ultimatum
Underdog
Rush Hour 3
Stardust
Halloween
Sunshine (technically fall, but still… we’re REALLY looking forward to it)

Homework:

GO BUY LITTLE CHILDREN!

Comments or questions?
feedback@moviepatron.com (general)
andrew@moviepatron.com
kurt@moviepatron.com
- - Kurt’s BLOG - this week, Wolfhound.

     The summer blockbuster season starts Friday at 12 AM in most cities with Spiderman 3. I used to really look forward to the summer season for all the really cool big budget Hollywood movies. I am finding more and more that I am becoming dissatisfied with them. I want more from movies than big explosions. I want a good story with good acting. I know for a fact that I’ll see all the blockbusters this summer. I can’t help myself. I am trying to think if there are any of them that I am just dying to see and unfortunately I’d have to say no.

     I thought Spiderman 3 had the best chance of telling a good story but from what I’ve heard I could be totally wrong but from everything I’ve heard is that it is too bogged down with too many characters. This is a shame since I thought the first two movies had actually well developed characters and stories.  Are you really looking forward to it this Friday or are you somewhat apathetic like me.

     Oh and yes I know its strange to say I’m apathetic when I’ll be there opening weekend but I’m a movie addict so I can live with being slightly hypocritical.

     You can fully count me in on the Joseph Gordon-Levitt bandwagon. Brick is one of my favorite movies from 2005 although I didn’t get to see it until 2006. The Lookout (moviepatron review) was a good little crime drama in which he shined once again. It seems hard to believe that he is the Tommy Sullivan from Third Rock From The Sun. He seems determined to take only good roles in smaller films and I love him all the more for it.

     The Hollywood Reporter via Cinema Blend has the following news about JGL:

… Joseph Gordon-Levitt is attached as the romantic lead in producer Darren Star’s directorial debut “The Frog King,”

… In “King,” produced by Intermedia and GreeneStreet Films and written by Bret Easton Ellis, Gordon-Levitt plays a ne’er-do-well assistant editor whose penchant for messing up threatens a relationship with his dream girlfriend.

It sounds like it may be a romance comedy which generally isn’t my thing but I am willing to give it the chance simply because of Joseph Gordon-Levitt.

     Twitchfilm just posted the news that Behind the Mask: The Rise of Leslie Vernon (moviepatron review) is set to be released on DVD on June 26th. Behind the Mask is an excellent horror that deconstructs the whole horror genre and still provides the viewer with a scary horror movie. Andrew and Kurt have talked about it before on the cinecast so I’m not going to into it too much other than saying if you love movies or more specifically love horror movies you should check it out. I’ll be stopping by the video store on the 26th to get my copy.

The DVD will include the following

DVD Features
Region 1
Keep Case
Anamorphic Widescreen 1.85

Audio
Dolby Digital English

Additional Release Material
Audio Commentary Nathan Baesel Star; Angela Goethals Star; Ben Pace Star
Deleted Scenes
Extended Scenes
Featurette The Making Of BEHIND THE MASK: THE RISE OF LESLIE VERNON
Trailers

     The nominations are up over at MTV.com for this years MTV movie awards. While I’m not too into awards I still follow them and like seeing if I can guess right. I’ve bolded the ones I think will win but have put the ones I would like to win in italics. Feel free to comment and tell me how wrong I am.

Best Movie

• “300″
• “Blades of Glory”
• “Borat: Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan”
• “Little Miss Sunshine”
• “Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest”

Best Performance*

• Gerard Butler, “300″
• Johnny Depp, “Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest”
• Keira Knightley, “Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest”
• Jennifer Hudson, “Dreamgirls”
• Beyoncé Knowles, “Dreamgirls”
• Will Smith, “The Pursuit of Happyness”

Breakthrough Performance

• Emily Blunt, “The Devil Wears Prada”
• Abigail Breslin, “Little Miss Sunshine”
• Lena Headey, “300″
• Columbus Short, “Stomp the Yard”
• Jaden Smith, “The Pursuit of Happyness”
• Justin Timberlake, “Alpha Dog”

Best Comedic Performance

• Emily Blunt, “The Devil Wears Prada”
• Sacha Baron Cohen, “Borat: Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan”
• Will Ferrell, “Blades of Glory”
• Adam Sandler, “Click”
• Ben Stiller, “Night at the Museum”

Best Kiss**

• Cameron Diaz & Jude Law, “The Holiday”
• Will Ferrell & Sacha Baron Cohen, “Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby”
• Columbus Short & Meagan Good, “Stomp The Yard”
• Mark Wahlberg & Elizabeth Banks, “Invincible”
• Marlon Wayans & Brittany Daniel, “Little Man”

Best Villain

• Tobin Bell, “Saw III”
• Jack Nicholson, “The Departed”
• Bill Nighy, “Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest”
• Rodrigo Santoro, “300″
• Meryl Streep, “The Devil Wears Prada”

Best Fight

• Jack Black & Héctor Jiménez vs. Los Duendes (Wrestling Match), “Nacho Libre”
• Gerard Butler vs. “The Uber Immortal” (The Spartan/Persian Battle), “300″
• Sacha Baron Cohen vs. Ken Davitian (Naked Wrestle Fight), “Borat: Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan”
• Will Ferrell vs. Jon Heder (Ice Rink Fight), “Blades of Glory”
• Uma Thurman vs. Anna Faris (Super Girl Fight), “My Super Ex-Girlfriend”

Best Summer Movie You Haven’t Seen Yet***

• “Evan Almighty” (June 22)
• “Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer” (June 15)
• “Hairspray” (July 20)
• “Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix” (July 13)
• “Rush Hour 3″ (August 10)
• “Transformers” (July 4)

mtvU Best Filmmaker On Campus****

• Robert Dastoli, “Southwestern Orange County vs. The Flying Saucers”(University of Central Florida)
• Maria Gigante, “Girls Room” (Columbia College, Chicago)
• Josh Greenbaum, “Border Patrol” (University of Southern California)
• Alexander Poe, “Please Forget I Exist” (Columbia University)
• Andrew Shipsides, “Bottleneck” (Savannah College of Art & Design)

* None of these performances rank as best in my mind. Sure doesn’t care about actual artistic merit.
** I haven’t seen any of these so I’ll just go the comedic route here.
*** If Rush Hour 3 wins I am going to boycott the MTV awards from now on.
**** I have no idea about this one at all. Does anyone else know what it actually is. I’m guessing its some show about making movies on MTV.