I‘m not sure how many of you caught the original Feast movie. It was the first movie created by Project Greenlight. “Project Greenlight is a contest and documentary series, and money making venture, focusing on amateur filmmaking. Founded by Matt Damon, Ben Affleck, and Chris Moore through their production company LivePlanet, along with Miramax Films, Project Greenlight first aired on HBO for two seasons before moving to Bravo for season three.” (wikipedia)

     Feast was by no means a terrific piece of cinema but it sure was a fun campy horror movie and the following news makes me happy. I just found out over on Fangoria via Beyond Hollywood that Feast 2 and 3 are going to be coming out.

     FEAST 2 and 3 are coming together, with [director John] Gulager back,” Dunstan tells Fango. “Neo Art & Logic is producing again, and if they let us get away with the vulgarities we’ve currently scripted, and if we don’t get deported, we just may have the NC-17-rated monsterfest that was only hinted at in the first film.

     I’m going to make the guess that these will both get a very limited (if at all) release in theater but I’ll probably still check them out on DVD when I’m in the mood for some schlock.

     To anyone who cares, sorry that there will not be a show this week for lots of reasons. Major changes at my “real” job, water skiing injury and just plain wanting to take a break from producing a show (it takes a long time). So I was debating having a show at all, then Kurt talked me into recordind a very short podcast tonight. Then I got home and found my modem fried, so that pretty much puts the nail in that coffin.

     We’ll be back early next week with full blown Cinecast goodness: Bourne, Simpsons, Stardust, Rush Hour 3 (unlikely, but possible), The Ten, and a boatload of DVD recommendations and warnings. Not to mention the summer movie season is finally over which means fall greatness (Oscar bait) is almost upon us!

     See you next week with episode #58!

     Michel Gondry is a genius. No doubt about it. That word gets tossed around a lot these days, but with Gondry, I really believe it to be true. The man truly is a visionary and breaks the mold of how Hollywood traditionally makes a film.

     His newest release, Be Kind Rewind stars Jack Black as a video store clerk who’s brain gets somehow magnetized, thereby erasing all of the tapes in the store. Instead of re-buying all the movies, he and his co-worker (Mos Def) decide to just refilm all the movies in the own way. It is frakking brilliant.

     Today the trailer for the movie was released and I gotta tell ya, I cannot WAIT for this movie. It looks to possibly be Gondry’s best work. It gets my ten bucks in a heart beat. Check the streaming version below or head over to Yahoo! for a larger version and hi-def versions and thanks to Marina for the heads up.

Stills…

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     With Planet Terror finally hitting other parts of the world soon, Tarantino himself is judging some of the fake trailers that will be show with the films. In the Netherlands, here are some of the nominees that QT will be judging. Not exactly sure how the whole thing works since the web site is not in English, but somehow votes are taken into considerations as well.

     So anyway, you can head over to http://www.planetterror.nl/faketrailer/ and take a look at all the nominees. Just click on the thumbnail image to see the streaming video, or hit the button to tally a vote for any video you choose.

     Most of them are pretty stupid. Nailed By Nikita seems to be getting the highest praise so far and it looks to be pretty heavily inspired by Hobo with a Shotgun - the fake trailer only showed to Canadian audiences.

     Head over to that foreign site to see them all, but here’s one I had to vote for for obvious reasons entitled Bloody Andrew:

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     I remember as a kid back in 1980 running home from my friends house after watching Flash Gordon. At the time this movie had me more pumped up than Star Wars did. There is just something about the Queen music combined with the visuals of Flash and the Hawkmen fighting their way through the laser light show in order to stop Ming the Merciless from marrying Dale Arden.

     Other than Steve J. Jones as Flash, he is pretty much the weak point but I also think he was not really given much to work with, you have a pretty cool cast. Max Von Sydow is Ming the Merciless, Topol is Dr. Zarkov and Timothy Dalton is Errol Flynn, sorry I mean Prince Baron. Yes his name really is Prince Baron. Brian Blessed is also over the top as Prince Vultan, the leader of the Hawkmen.

     If you can not tell this movie really holds a dear spot in my heart and I’ll be running out shortly to pick it up on DVD. This is a movie of excess and if you are a fan of Science Fiction you need to get out there and at least see it. Otherwise I don’t think you can call yourself a SciFi fan.

     I don’t know if this is old news but since I just came across it I thought I would mention it here. Through people doing it on FaceBook I went over to The Simpsons official website and created my very own character. It’s a fun, probably useless way to spend some of your precious time. Head on over to The Simpsons Official Website to create your own character and if possible post them here. Here is mine:

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     Here’s a great zombie short to whet the appetite of any zombie film whores out there (like me). I can never get enough: good, bad, short, long - anything zombie is good. Well, thanks to Twitch, here’s a little Italian Zombie short film that is available through YouTube in three parts. There’s almost no dialogue (I wish I knew Italian and could understand the radio broadcast). I’ve only watched the first part so far; but I like it. Here’s part 1:

     If you can read Italian, here’s the main page over at splattercontainer.com with the streaming video in its three parts as well as a couple of streaming behind the scenes videos and also what appears to be some sort of interview with someone involved with the making of the film (probably the director).

You can see part two and three by reading the rest of this story…

Read the rest of this entry »

Director: Sergio Leone

Writer: Sergio Leone, Sergio Donati (screenplay)

Starring: Henry Fonda, Charles Bronsan, Claudia Cardinale and Jason Robards

Rating: 15

Runtime: 168 min approx.

     The word “masterpiece” is thrown around a lot these days. Many people label a film as one in vain. Once Upon A Time In The West is one of the few absolute masterpieces that exists in the world of film.

     Having not seen all that many Westerns, only two in fact (and those were both extremely recent) I wasn’t sure what I’d think of this film. It’s one of the very few genre’s that for some reason I just hadn’t gotten round to watching many of. From this film I can tell I will be a big fan of westerns from here on out, very few films can set me on a hunt for more of a certain genre.

Read the rest of this entry »

     Yes, it’s 3:30am but I HAD to post this. Can’t believe I missed it. I now know what I’ll be doing for about the next 15 years. Siskel and Ebert, at one time, were THE reviewers that everyone paid attention to. The whole “thumbs up, thumbs down” thing became stuff of legend and is on countless movie posters and video boxes.

     Everyone thought they were crazy back in the day for saving miles of footage of their TV show well before the home video age. Well not anymore. Now it is all online and archived for all to see. And the best part? It is completely free. Just head over to atthemoviestv.com to catch all their reviews from the early days and even including all the newer episodes with Richard Roeper (a critic I agree with quite often).

     You can search the database by title, director or actor. It’s bloody amazing. Hours of fun right online and totally free. This just went online today, so have fun. So much for the Top 100 movies I was going to catch up on, now I have over 20 years of Siskel and Ebert to catch up on.

     Unfortunately, it looks like most of the tapes pre-1985 were lost or destroyed to save space. but Buena Vista preserved everything from 1985 on. On the site, there’s a special introduction from Rober Ebert which explains the details…

“Gene and I knew those old shows would be worth saving, but for a long time nobody agreed with us. In the years before home video, it seemed like a waste of expensive video tape to preserve hundreds of episodes of our earlier incarnations on “Opening Soon at a Theater Near You,” “Sneak Previews” or “At the Movies.” After all, the movies we were reviewing weren’t going to be opening again, and who’d want to watch a show of old movie reviews? Right?” asks Ebert. “all of that changed, and the current era of DVDs and Blockbuster and Netflix and streaming online content began to unfold. Today, there would be an audience for the original Siskel & Ebert reviews of, say, “Batman” or “Jurassic Park,” or Ebert & Roeper trading opinions on “Crash” or “Brokeback Mountain,” or Martin Scorsese and I picking the best film of he 1990s.”

     A big thanks to /film for pointing this out! Now, I gotta go watch their review of Back to the Future Part II

     I just realized that it’s been a while, a long while actually, since I posted a new Top 10 List. Stealing a page from a recent filmspotting episode and with the very recent love of Once, and with the newly generated OFC top 100, I thought I’d put together my top 10 favorite films about music. These are not musicals (with one exception), these are movies that are more or less about music in some capacity. This list is compiled from a “nominee” list of 22 films that I’ve seen that are about or relating to music. Here they are:

10) The Blues Brothers
- An instant classic with Aykroyd and Belushi in ther prime. Fun as hell and Carrie Fisher looking f.i.n.e.

9) Hustle and Flow
- As much as I hate hip-hop/rap, this movie struck me pretty hard with some great performances (I’m a Terrence Howard fan for life now) and one of the best scenes of that year - the first recording session of “It’s Hard Out Here for a Pimp.” Which was ripped by people for winning the Oscar, but those people didn’t see the song in context of the film. It was amazing.

8) Fantasia 2000
- Saw this on the IMAX screen and was blown away. Love all the songs and the animation is beautiful, cute and heartwarming. Rhapsody in Blue, the flying whales and Donald Duck in Noah’s Ark being personal favorites. It’s just a gorgeous film - betters the original.

7) Moulin Rouge
- Here’s the one exception. Not a lover of musicals AT ALL! But this one struck me as different. Baz Luhrman’s directing style is autier enough to keep me interested; but what really makes the film fun is the fact that almost all of the songs are renditions of popular tunes. Every band ever was represented here (Nirvana, Poilce, Madonna, U2, Elton John, and on and on and on).

6) Walk the Line
- Johnny Cash has been one of my favs since I was a little kid. And Reese and Joaquin made it absolutely come alive with spectacular performances (including their amazing singing voices that sound just like Cash and Carter). It’s toe tapping the whole way through.

5) High Fidelity
- My first brush with Jack Black and of course Cusack is great as always. Wonderful little performance from Todd Louiso as well. As a teenager, I probably spent more time in the record store than I did at school and if you’ve seen this film, you might find it fitting that this movie is coming in at #5 on my list (and I swear I didn’t plan it that way).

4) This is Spinal Tap
- The original “mockumentary.” Absolutely HYSTERICAL.

DAVID: “I do not, for one, think that the problem was that the band was down. I think that the problem may have been, that there was a Stonehenge monument on the stage that was in danger of being crushed by a dwarf.”
or
NIGEL: “It’s like, how much more black could this be? and the answer is none. None more black.”

3) The Pianist
- OK, admittedly this one is a bit of a stretch as being about music, but Brody plays a pianist and it’s the memories of music that keep him going. An absolutely fantastic and powerful film (Polanski’s best in my opinion - though I haven’t seen them all). I saw this three times in the theater.

2) Once
- We’ve talked about this ad nauseum on this site. I ADORE this movie to death and can’t wait to see it again. One of the ten best of 2007 (maybe even in the top 5 by year’s end). Another hidden gem that everyone should seek out. If you don’t like it, you’re not only wrong, but cold hearted as well.

1) Almost Famous- In my top 20 movies of all time. From the dialogue to the beautiful shots to the great acting by all around (Macdormand, Hudson, Crudup, Lee - back when he had a decent career, and the fantastic cameo of Phillip Seymour Hoffman as Lester Bangs). It’s also a great coming of age story set in the world of the 70s rock phenomenon.

It also has maybe my favorite scene of all time of any movie ever: The band and all the roadies and “band-aids” have a huge fight and everyhing looks like it might fall apart. The next day when they’re driving through the countryside on their bus is a transcendant scene. One guy starts singing Elton John’s “Tiny Dancer” out loud, but softly to himself. Soon, someone else joins in and then another and another until the whole bus is singing joyously in unison… bloody fantastic. It truly almost brings a tear to my eye just writing about it. Everything bad in the world just goes away with a little bit of good music and friends.

     So there you have it. My ten favorite (not necessarily best) films about music. I had a nominee list of about 25 movies and cut it down to these final ten. What do you think? Did I miss any or am I wrong about any?

     Strolling around the internet a bit today I came across this trailer for King of California; a trailer I had not yet seen, but I guess it’s been out for a while now. Apparently it’s by the same producers that did Sideways - which is easily in my personal top 100 favorite films of all time.

     According to the IMDb profile for this film, this is a first time writer/director by the name of Mike Cahill. And I gotta tell you, judging by this trailer alone, this looks to be a fantastic little film. It looks to be kind of a similar style to Sideways and it stars one of my fav’s, Michael Douglas, in a quirky, untypecast sort of role. I love this trailer from beginning to end and can’t wait for the full feature. It doesn’t hurt that “The Flaming Lips” are on the soundtrack. Check it out:

     There’s another slightly different variation on this trailer (which I actually like a little better) over at Access Hollywood

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     Just wanted to say thank you to all of you out-of-towners (and out-of-country-ers) who took the time to email or voice chat with me last night to make sure me and mine were OK; what with the crisis in Minneapolis last night. That was really cool and I appreciate you thinking about me. Some of you I’ve never even met in person! Crazy. Thanks again for your thoughts and checking in on me. I appreciate it.

     And still as far as I know, all my friends and family are safe. Thanks again; it’s very heart warming.

Cheers.

 Cinecast Episode 57 [115:55m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

this episode:
SPOILERIFIC review of Sunshine, OFC Top 100 list, Once revisited, Talk to Me, DVD picks.
…and some other movie goodness.

Unwrap the complete Show Notes by clicking on this link…

Read the rest of this entry »

     Just to give you a heads up; I have decided to post some occasional reviews for any films I think would make for great discussion. So without further ado here is my first review for the Movie Patron Blog; a review for Alfred Hitchcock’s Rear Window.

Director: Alfred Hitchcock

Writer: John Michael Hayes
Starring: James Stewart, Grace Kelly, Wendell Corey and Thelma Ritter
Rating: PG
Running time: 109 min

     An expertly crafted film from the master of suspense Alfred Hitchcock. This is pretty much the blueprint for most of the mystery thrillers that came after this. Just look closely at any film of this type you watch from now on and I guarantee you will see some of the same techniques employed. Read the rest of this entry »

Beyond Hollywood has put up an early poster for the next Frank Miller movie The Spirit and I hate to say it but it looks too much like a Sin City poster.

If you are wondering about the reflection in the picture it looks like the poster is a photo taken from Comic-Con.

     Damn, I love this poster…

click image for super hi-res version

     Marina over at Mad About Movies via Obsessed With Film just informed us all that the new red band trailer is up for Shoot ‘Em Up. All I have to say is that this is going to be such a cool over the top movie. I loved Crank and also Smokin’ Aces and from the trailer I think this actually looks more over the top. When your watching it be sure to keep your eye out for the carrot!

     In order to watch the trailer you need to be a grown up and from the United States. Unfortunately some of us do not live in the US. Since this Andrew lives in the US I’m not going to post how to get around the age verification. What I do though is point you to Film Grotto. I’m pretty sure the person who runs that site lives in Canada and doesn’t feel bad at all about posting how to get by it.

     Just a post to let you all see some of the new trailers I have come across over the past few days:

“Things We Lost In The Fire“

Directed by Susanne Bier

Starring Halle Bery and Benicio Del Toro

Trailer verdict - Looks like it could be very heartwarming.

“Lust, Caution”

Directed by Ang Lee

Starring Tony Leung and Joan Chen

Trailer verdict - Looks like it could be “Best Foreign Language Film” material.

“10,000 BC”

Directed by Roland Emmerich

Starring Cliff Curtis and Camilla Belle

Trailer verdict - Looks cool but I have a feeling it is going to be cheesy as hell

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     Every so often I like to bring up television shows. I generally prefer movies over TV although lately (the last few years) there has been a growing amount of good tv. I’m going to guess the following is not going to be good but maybe I’m wrong.

     The whole reason I am bringing up the new Flash Gordon series is that I was just trying to think of a good science fiction movie that a lot of people probably haven’t seen and I just kept coming up with the 1980 Flash Gordon. Is it good cinema? Nah, not really but it sure is fun in a campy way and the theme music from Queen still runs through my head every so often.

     Anyways, I thought I’d just mention that a new trailer for Sci Fi’s Flash Gordon is up. I’ll probably start watching the series when it comes out on the 10th but I’ll probably quit after two episodes or so when I realize just how cheesy it is. I think I’ll then go back and watch Brian Blessed as Prince Vultan, Timothy Dalton as Prince Barin, Max von Sydow as Ming and Sam J. Jones as Flash.

     The Online Film Community’s Top 100 project is finally complete and ready for viewing! Check it out and make sure you see them all.

What:
The OFC Top 100 was the brain child of Jonathan Burdick of CinemaFusion and was meant to be a nie alternative to other top 100 lists out there. We weren’t trying to show anyone up or make a “definitive” list. It was mostly just something fun that the online movie community could get together on and see what comes out. It was loads of fun and we’re happy it worked out so well and we’re thrilled on the turnout on the number of voters and sites participating.

How:
It started with just a nominations list by each writer of 100 titles that they’d like to nominate for the list; using whatever criteria they so choose. All titles that were nominated at least three times were then put on one large list of over 500 titles. From this larger nominations list, each writer chose 100 films, ranked them in order from 100-1 and then a point system was applied to each list (#100 = 1 point, #99 = 2 points, #98 = 3 points and so on). The film with the highest number of points after the tallying was completed became our #1 movie of all time, and the next largest point getter became #2 and so on and so on.

     So thanks again to Jonathan on getting this all put together. It was loads of work and we all appreciate it and it seems to have turned out quite nicely. I’m pretty happy with the list as I scan the titles. A few titles left off that I’d like to have seen and some that shouldn’t be there, but it’s a nice alternative list with lots of great entries. Kurt and I will discuss the list a bit on this week’s Cinecast (episode 57).

The List:
100 Nosferatu (Murnau, 1922)
99 Cinema Paradiso (Tornatore, 1988)
98 On the Waterfront (Kazan, 1954)
97 Blue Velvet (Lynch, 1986)
96 Reservoir Dogs (Tarantino, 1992)
95 His Girl Friday (Hawks, 1940)
94 Lord of the Rings, The: The Return of the King (Jackson, 2003)
93 Toy Story (Lasseter, 1995)
92 Notorious (Hitchcock, 1946)
91 400 Blows, The (Truffaut, 1959)
90 Ghostbusters (Reitman, 1984)

to see the full list and names and sites of contriutors, just unwrap the text…
UNWRAP TEXT or SHOW **SPOILER**

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