This just looks more and more awesome!
Wednesday, September 30, 2009
Tuesday, September 29, 2009
Carrie Fisher Roasts George Lucas
I missed this one! Just saw her on the Today show hawking her new book and Broadway show, 'Wishful Drinking,' and also reminiscing about Michael Jackson. She is just one cool broad.
Hat tip: List of the Day
Mazel Tov to Hugh Dancy and Claire Danes
These two know how to keep a secret! Clair Danes and Hugh Dancy announced their engagement last February, and married secretly in a small private ceremony in France earlier this month. Yeah, I don't want to scratch her eyes out too much!
They met on the set of the film Evening, which isn't the greatest movie ever, but they were both lovely in it. This is my favorite scene:
They didn't have a happy ending in the movie Evening, but they do in real life. Mazel Tov!
New Moon Posters!
I think this looks like a romance novel clutch, don't you? I kind of prefer the ones with Taylor, Edward and Bella.
Very cool of the Voluturi!
Monday, September 28, 2009
LIPDUB - I Gotta Feeling (Comm-UQAM 2009)
172 communications students at the University of Quebec at Montreal put together this video to the Black Eyed Peas’ “I Gotta Feeling.”
There was a group of university students who did one in France with a similar style last year. Very cute!
Robert Pattinson in AnOtherMan
Robert Pattinson, channeling James Dean on the cover of AnOtherMan magazine.
Jake Gyllenhaal is now a Lego
Lego Jake as the Prince of Persia just ain't sexy enough for me. lol Yeah, it's a hard body, but, well....
Hugh Jackman & Daniel Craig vs. the Cellphone
In character, Hugh Jackman and Daniel Craig react to a cellphone that goes off twice during their Broadway play, 'A Steady Rain.'
I saw Hugh Jackman in Boy From Oz and he would stop the show, in character, and call out people who came in late. "Traffic, darlings? We'll wait."
Sunday, September 27, 2009
Incredible Helmet Cam video of a Skier caught in an Avalanche
Avalanche Skier POV Helmet Cam Burial & Rescue in Haines, Alaska from Chappy on Vimeo.
A backcountry skier gets buried in an avalanche near Haines, Alaska. His glove fell off marking where he was buried, so he was uncovered in only 4 and a half minutes. Full description here:
This was a decent sized avalanche. 1,500 feet the dude fell in a little over 20 seconds. The crown was about 1 - 1.5m. The chute that he got sucked through to the skier's right was flanked on either side by cliff bands that were about 30m tall. He luckily didn't break any bones and obviously didn't hit anything on the run out.
He was only buried for 4 and a half minutes which is incredibly short. I cannot stress these next sentences enough; that in and of itself to be unburied in ONLY 4:28 is miraculous if you have any understanding of being caught in an avalanche and what it takes to be found. It could literally be some kind of "world record" just on how good the guide and supporting cast of other skiers was in getting to him. It also shows why you should ALWAYS be going with people trained in avalanche rescue / first aid....as well as why you'd want to be going with a guided heli operation. Sure this was terrifying for him, but he would've probably been dead if not for going with a guide.
He also got very lucky to be honest. In the time that he's buried, you can hear his breathing already accelerate. The ruffling noise back and forth is his chest rising and falling and the noise that his jacket makes. The intermittent whimpering noise you hear is him trying to swallow and get some air since the avalung wasn't fully in his mouth and instead just to the corner of his mouth. Still sends chills up the back of my neck. Oh...the luck? They located him so fast because his right glove came off just before he came completley to rest and there was an excellent visual of course.
And then the digging out is utterly amazing. I don't think that you could've paid a Hollywood crew to stage something better. The fact that he could've been facing any 360 direction and yet he's looking right up into the sun-filled blue sky with that first full scoop away of the shovel is borderline spiritual.
Saturday, September 26, 2009
Friday, September 25, 2009
Eric Idle Responds to Your Fatuous Comments
"Just the sort of people we hoped to offend! Well done!"
LOL!
Colbert tries Battleship
| The Colbert Report | Mon - Thurs 11:30pm / 10:30c | |||
| Tip/Wag - Guns on Amtrak, Fake Lesbians & Battleship Audition | ||||
| ||||
Stephen Colbert discusses the upcoming film Battleship based on the game, directed by Peter Berg. He ropes in Jeff Goldblum to give us a taste! It's at the 3:21 mark.
Thursday, September 24, 2009
No Signal (and other cellular drama)
Can you hear me now?
One of the most overused plot devices, especially in horror films!
Wednesday, September 23, 2009
Allan Gray - Legend
A South African Investment Bank imagines what could have been in this very creative commercial:
Film critic Barry Ronge described the minute-long film as "the perfect blend of simple storytelling, superlative camera effects and the smartest use of a celebrity we have seen in a decade.
“Legend” was shot over 14 months with a cast of 300 and crew of 150. "Legend" was shot over 14 months with a cast of 300 and crew of 150th The producers carried out a worldwide search for a suitable actor, considering entrants in James Dean lookalike competitions in the American midwest. The midwest producers carried out a worldwide search for a suitable actor, considering entrants in the James Dean lookalike competitions in the American. But they settled on Des Erasmus, a mechanic from Cape Town. But they settled on Des Erasmus, a mechanic from Cape Town.
Keith Rose, director of the ad for Velocity Films, said: “Dean might have become a junkie and done a Marlon Brando, but we prefer to think he'd have lived a long and wholesome life.” Keith Rose, director of the ad for Velocity Films, said: "Dean might have become a junkie and done a Marlon Brando, but we prefer to think he'd have lived a long and wholesome life."
Hat tip: Nerdcore
Tuesday, September 22, 2009
Gorgeous behind the scenes pics from New Moon
The LA Times has 41 gorgeous behind the scenes photos from the filming of New Moon. These five are just a small sample!
Monday, September 21, 2009
Dr. Horrible on the Emmys
Wasn't Neil Patrick Harris great last night hosting the Emmy's?
And the opening number for the Oscars won, too. Hurray for Hugh!
'Valentine's Day' Trailer HD
Didn't we already see this movie, but it was British and called Love Actually? Oh, right. That was Christmas, not Valentine's Day. Somehow, I don't have high hopes that it will be as good.
Is there anyone left in Hollywood that isn't in this movie?? Well, it has Bradley Cooper, so I'll be there, even if does also have Ashton Kushner.
Total Eclipse Of The Heart - In Lego!!
Click through to Youtube to watch the video. This Welsh men's chorus is awesome, and the video is wonderfully bizarre.
Sunday, September 20, 2009
FIGHTING DIRTY IN SCRABBLE by Mehal Shah - Ep 30
Unfortunately, you can't fake words in online scrabble on Facebook! lol
Journey Through a Melted Brain
Journey Through A Melting Brain (The Stratacut of David Daniels) from Bent Image Lab on Vimeo.
Stratacut Animation Montage
Hat tip: Daily Dish and Nerdcore
Saturday, September 19, 2009
The Jewish Service Heard Around the World
The New York Times yesterday profiled the cantor who sang at this 1944 service in a battlefield in Germany, the first Jewish service heard since the Nazis had overtaken Germany. The YouTube clip has had thousands of hits. The man who sang the Yigdal prayer at that service over 60 years ago, is singing the same at Rosh Hashanah services in his temple in New York this weekend.
L'Shana Tova.
Aaarrrrrrrggghhh!
It's Talk Like A Pirate Day!
And Captain Jack himself arrived at the Disney Expo D23 to announce Pirates 4: On Stranger Tides due out in 2011. There can never be enough Captain Jack Sparrow, savvy?
Friday, September 18, 2009
May Your New Year Be Sparkly!
Smart Bitches, Trashy Books has been running a contest of creating "Twilight" like covers for other books, and graced us this Jewish New Year's message tonight! And now I'm off to Erev Rosh Hashana services myself.
L'Shana Tova!
See who won the cover contest here!
Jessica Biel to play Kathleen Zellner, Local Chicago Attorney
The above images were the entire front page of our local paper this morning. This is very strange for me, as this is the first time I'm writing about a movie based on someone I have actually met in real life (not reel life!) Kathleen Zellner is a local attorney, and to say that she is tough as nails is an understatement. She eats nails for breakfast. I once had an hour long meeting with Zellner, and let's just say that she could out tough Meryl Streep in Devil Wears Prada or Angelina Jolie for that matter any day of the week. I haven't seen Blade Trinity, so my first thoughts were that Jessica Biel is not nearly badass enough to play Kathleen Zellner.
But in Priviledged Information, Jessica Biel is playing Kathleen Zellner from 17 years ago, when she was a Chicago criminal attorney representing the death penalty appeal of serial killer Larry Eyler.
The case was intriguing, as Eyler confessed 21 murders to Zellner, but their attorney-client relationship prevented her from revealing that information -- at the same time Zellner was being hunted by Eyler's killing partner.
"It's not going to be a slasher movie. It's going to be more of a thriller, and suspense," she said, likening the tone of the film to the haunting Anthony Hopkins-Jodie Foster collaboration, "Silence of the Lambs."After writers are chosen for the project, Jessica Biel will shadow Zellner in her job to prepare for filming Priviledged Information. How does Zellner feel about Jessica Biel playing her?
Before he died of AIDS in 1994, Eyler revealed to Zellner, one crime at a time, how he killed 21 people in addition to the victim whose killing had landed him in the penitentiary where the confidential confessions were made.
It wasn't easy carrying around the awful knowledge for the 18 months that went by before Eyler succumbed to his illness, but she had no choice. The constraints of attorney-client privilege demanded that she keep it to herself.
"It was very difficult, but you have an ethical obligation as an attorney," said Zellner,
I feel very confident in her ability to play the role," Zellner said Thursday. "She was telling me how difficult it is as a woman to get a leading part in a movie. There just aren't that many interesting roles."Read the whole article here.
"It sounded to me like this is really one of her top projects," Zellner said. "I think she's really focused on it."
Thursday, September 17, 2009
Raiders of the Lost Ark (1951) Trailer
I just love these "pre-make" trailers! He's used scenes from many of the movies that inspired Raiders and the Indy movies.
Raves for Bright Star
A. O. Scott of the NY Times is rapturous about Jane Campion's new film Bright Star, the love story of the poet Keats and Fanny Brawne. He expecially lavishes praise on Abbie Cornish, who plays Fanny:
The movie really belongs to Brawne, played with mesmerizing vitality and heart-stopping grace by Abbie Cornish.The film is very romantic, but their love was never consumated:
Ms. Cornish, an Australian actress whose previous films include “Stop-Loss,” “Candy” and “Somersault,” has, at 27, achieved a mixture of unguardedness and self-control matched by few actresses of any age or nationality. She’s as good as Kate Winslet, which is about as good as it’s possible to be.
That Fanny and Keats must sublimate their longings in letters, poems and conversations seems cruel, but they make the best of it. As does Ms. Campion: a sequence in which, fully clothed, the couple trades stanzas of “La Belle Dame Sans Merci” in a half-darkened bedroom must surely count as one of the hottest sex scenes in recent cinema.Watch this scene as they are separated by a wall, and yet communicate their love:
Can't wait!
Everybody's Fine Trailer
This sort of reminds me of About Schmidt or The Savages. I hope it's as good as it seems from the trailer. Interesting cast -- I'll enjoy seeing Sam Rockwell go up against De Niro.
Wednesday, September 16, 2009
Remembering Patrick Swayze
Last night, I caught the last hour of Point Break, a movie I had never seen. The only thing I really knew about it was the spoof that Hot Fuzz did about the scene where Keanu Reeves shoots his gun in the air. Fortunately, the last hour included that scene! The interesting thing about Point Break now is that it was one of the first films of the director of The Hurt Locker, Kathryn Bigelow.
Popwatch also reminded me of this classic SNL sketch. OMG. They have Ten great Patrick Swayze moments here.
Tuesday, September 15, 2009
How To Train Your Dragon Teaser Trailer
Voice talent includes Gerard Butler, Craig Ferguson, America Ferrera, Jonah Hill, and Kristen Wiig. The film, based on the children's book by Cressida Cowell comes out March 26th.
Monday, September 14, 2009
RIP Patrick Swayze
"Nobody puts Baby in a corner!"
A fond farewell to an icon from my youth. I bet you're up in heaven dancing on the clouds with Fred Astaire and Gene Kelly. Show those angels some Dirty Dancing!
Christoph Waltz to be the villain in Green Hornet!!
Nikke Finke has the scoop:
Christoph Waltz who won Best Actor at the Cannes Film Festival for playing a Nazi in Inglourious Basterds (and is a shoo-in for an Oscar nomination) has now been cast as villain Chudnofsky in Sony’s The Green Hornet opposite Seth Rogen and Cameron Diaz. Since Quentin Tarantino’s Inglourious Basterds came out — and crossed the $100M mark this weekend — Waltz has been offered a lot of big movies by a lot of big directors. And he’s getting big bucks now. How great he’s found success at age 52.Nic Cage just dropped out of this role and I am positively doing CARTWHEELS over the news that Christoph Waltz is in. This is just delicious! I wish Waltz even more success, and can't wait to hear what other roles he may score with his triumph in Inglourious.
Sunday, September 13, 2009
New Moon Trailer - with the Volturi!
Find more videos like this on Twifans
It's a crappy copy somebody filmed in a screening, but still you can see the Volturi in action for the first time. Two more months to wait!!
Solomon Kane Trailer
This looks like a cross between Van Helsing and the Underworld films, in costumes at least! I love James Purefoy, and I'm glad to see him in his shirtless glory, in a fun action flick. I just can't seem to get into his latest TV series however. This film looks completely silly, but you'll find me there to hear James snarl:
"I am not yet ready for hell."
A Single Man Trailer
I've been waiting for this one. It's getting great reviews in Venice at the film festival, and Colin Firth won Best Actor there.
Some of those shots of Matthew Goode are beyond gorgeous!
The film is the first directed by Tom Ford, the famous fashion designer, who also co-wrote the film.
Firth, who plays a gay professor mourning the death of his partner in Ford's adaptation of Christopher Isherwood's landmark 1964 novel, said on accepting the Volpi Cup: "I'm here for the gift that Tom Ford gave me."
The 48-year-old fashion designer "had a cause that he put in my hands, so it became a very important thing for me as well", Firth said.
Ford told AFP earlier: "I didn't want this to be a 'gay film.' It's a universal film, about love and connection ... The character happens to be gay, so what?"
Saturday, September 12, 2009
Friday, September 11, 2009
The Voice of Gollum contest
These are the finalists from the Voice of Gollum contest at Comic Con. My favorite is Randy, but all of them are pretty darn good! Sneaky little hobbitses!
Vote! http://www.wetanz.com/voiceofgollum
Hat tip: Nerdcore
True Blood Finale Music Video
Two more days till the finale!!
Oh, man. When Eric wipes his mouth in this video!
Timothy Dalton is Mr. Pricklepants in Toy Story 3
News is coming out about Toy Story 3, and Timothy Dalton is going to be a hedgehog toy called Mr. Pricklepants who wears lederhosen. Is that not the best name ever?
Empire got a sneak peak:
Lasseter also gave us a sneak peek at a sequence from the film and the as-yet unreleased trailer. The clip showed Andy packing from college, and emptying all his toys into a black bin bag for storage in the attic. He hesitates over Woody and Buzz, finally putting Woody in the box of things to take for college. But all the toys are panicked - especially Woody, who's worried for his friends. When Andy is distracted by his little sister and leaves the garbage bag on the landing instead of upstairs in the attic, his mother takes it out to the kerb - and a frantic Woody has to save his friends from a rapidly approaching bin lorry.My favorite role for Timothy Dalton was not Bond, but Simon Skinner, the villain in Hot Fuzz. I hope Mr. Pricklepants will be as delicious a role!
We also saw the as-yet unreleased trailer, which showed bits of the same scene, but developed the story. Clearly the toys end up being sent to a daycare centre, where they are horribly abused by the little kids - and after that it's time for a break-out attempt to find a safe haven, and hopefully a new owner, in a cruel world. It looks every bit as good as its titanic predecessors.
Thursday, September 10, 2009
Robert is Bothered ... by Snickers Ads
OMG. This is so funny.
"Don't look at me!"
"Don't!" (*smolder*)
LOL! Jimmy Fallon is a treasure.
Wednesday, September 9, 2009
Up in the Air Trailer
George Clooney plays Ryan Bingham, a 35 year old a career transition counselor at a Denver-based management consulting company, Integrated Strategic Management (ISM). Ryan travels around the country to terminate corporate employees. He does not have a personal life and he numbs himself with sex, booze and drugs. His life on the road comes to a halt when his company downsizes its travel budget. He is required to spend more time at home just as he is on the cusp of a goal hes worked toward for years: reaching five million frequent flyer miles and just after hes met the frequent-traveler woman of his dreams.This movie is getting a lot of good Oscar buzz. It was a sneak premiere at Telluride and wins raves for George Clooney. Anne Thompson:
Writer-director Jason Reitman (and obsessive airline mile collector) played the crowd like a pro, hoping that the movie would live up to their expectations. He didn’t need to worry. The director, who debuted Juno here two years ago at the same theater, delivers a winner.Here's another short clip:
Up in the Air will be out December 4th.
Charlize Theron on Between Two Ferns
LOL!! Charlize turns the tables a bit, and makes Zach feel awkward!
"Jumping in a pool with a fat garden gnome"!!! Still laughing over that line.
Wanna see Cam Gigandet Naked?
Director Paul W. S. Anderson talking about his Sci-Fi film Pandorum due out Sept. 18:
“For fans of ‘Twilight,’ there’s a scene where Cam's completely naked. He’s covered in blood, of course. There’s more Cam nudity in this than there is in ‘Twilight’! There’s this great scene where Dennis finds Cam and he’s naked and covered in blood and Dennis covers him up and he says to Cam, ‘Is that your blood, Corporal?’ and Cam says, ‘Some of it,’ and of course the question is, ‘Whose blood is it?’”
The film sounds a little like Alien, and also stars Dennis Quaid.
Tuesday, September 8, 2009
Sense And Sensibility always makes me cry
I was flipping channels last night and Ang Lee's Sense and Sensibility was playing on one of the movie channels. I caught about the last half hour. This is one of those films that I can't help to stop and watch when I catch it. This scene at the end makes me cry every time where Elinor (Emma Thompson), who has been so reserved the whole movie, breaks into loud sobs at hearing that her beloved Edward (Hugh Grant) is not married. I must have seen this part at least 15 or 20 times, and it just makes me weep every time I see it. That watery beaming smile she gives him when he proposes!
Emma Thompson wrote the Oscar winning screenplay to this film, one of my favorites of all time. Plus you've got Alan Rickman playing the romantic Col. Brandon. An interesting trivia note is that Emma Thompson met Greg Wise who played Willoughby during the making of this film, and they later married. Greg Wise reads more Austen on Carte Noire, too.
Hitler is pissed at HBO
ROFLMAO!!
The wait till next Sunday is killing me!
I have purposefully not been reading the books (which I know are somewhat different anyway) so I will be surprised at every turn. Some things are just HBO special -- "Do I have blood in my hair?" lol
Seriously, could the makers of this film ever realize how many funny mashups would be made out of this Hitler tirade?
Get Lost in Edward or Jacob's hair -- take your pick!
Black Island Farms in Utah have made a New Moon inspired corn maze this year. Get Lost in Team Edward or Team Jacob!
Sunday, September 6, 2009
Neil Gaiman's Bookshelves
I love the name of this website: Shelfari.
Shelfari has always been a place where people come together to talk about their books. A place where you can show off your virtual bookshelf and where communities form around your favorite books and authors. It's no surprise to us that you can learn a lot about someone by seeing what's on his or her bookshelf.Which is why we thought it would be fun to take a look at what's on the bookshelves of some of our favorite authors. What books do they love, or consider to have been particularly enlightening, informative or just plain fun? What books do they keep?
So we asked one of our all-time favorites, Neil Gaiman, if he'd be willing to give us a peek into his personal library, and he graciously agreed.
There are many more pictures here, and the cool thing is that they are large enough that you can zoom in and see the titles. That's quite the basement library!
The Rabbi's Shofar and the Dog
A rabbi demonstrating the blowing of the Shofar horn for the upcoming holiday of Rosh Hashanah.
LOL!
Saturday, September 5, 2009
Gamer - Mini-review
I saw Gamer last night and it made me physically ill. The movie itself wasn't that bad, and there isn't Saving Private Ryan levels of gore, but the camera work made me nauseous. Nauseous for hours after so that I had to chew on ginger candy trying to get rid of it. I haven't felt that way since Blair Witch Project. Your senses are assaulted in this adrenaline rush of a movie, and at many points it's quick camera, shaky camera, swooping camera work that makes you feel like you are in one of those video games like Gears of War. Gamer is the title, after all. Maybe I'm just old. I love a good rollercoaster, but man, bring some dramamine if you don't play these types of video games.
/Film recently interviewed the director-writer team (the same ones who made the cult hit Crank) about their guerilla directing style:
Uh, yeah. My stomach could tell that you always have to be moving guys. Gerard Butler even said the directors would be following him through explosions on roller blades holding their cameras. The action is always adrenaline pumping, and definitely R-rated for blood splattering, and bodies exploding. The gore wasn't what set off my queasiness.Neveldine: It’s how we started, yeah. We love it. It’s like a battlefield to us. We both have a camera in our hands, and we like to be in the explosions. And when the guns are going off, we’re putting the camera right in the gunman’s face. It’s just stuff we can really play and have fun with. And we like to move fast because, by the way, your crew and your actors appreciate it when you know what you want as a director and can move fast and keep that high energy up for, you know, less than ten hours. We’re not working people 16 to 24 hours days, which a lot of people do.
Taylor: We get easily bored, too. As you can tell from watching the Crank movies, we’re pretty A.D.D. So if we weren’t actually holding the cameras and doing all of the stunt stff and action stuff ourselves then I don’t know what we would do on set. We’d go crazy. We have to always be moving, we have to always be shooting.
This film was okay, but for someone of my age, it doesn't feel original. Prisoner trapped in a televised game show fighting for his life - Running Man, anyone? Or even Death Race with Jason Statham just last year. Maybe my standards are just too high but this summer we had both Star Trek and District 9, two exceptional Sci-Fi films. Yes, we had some spots of humor in Gamer like the beyond bizarre Sammy Davis Jr. "I've Got You Under My Skin" dance number with Michael C. Hall and company, but not the many satisfying moments we had in Star Trek. They're beating on the theme of the evils of video games and taking them to the extreme, but it left me kind of meh, not talking about it for hours like District 9's allegory to apartheid.
Gerard Butler did what was asked of him -- look and act like a bad ass action star, but the script didn't leave him much room to do much else, not unlike the controllers in the Slayers game. One very unique way to start a truck with an empty gas tank does not a "Yippekiyay, MF" moment make.
There was a parade of interesting actors in very minor roles. I spotted John de Lancie (Q from Star Trek!) as some sort of TV producer. Ludacris plays the leader of the Humanz resistance, and John Leguizamo had a small part as a fellow prisoner. Milo Ventimiglia of Heroes had a very small role as Rick Rape (a kind of Sims character) and had barely groped himself in his latex pants before Gerard's Kable snapped him in half like a twig. It made me wonder if the directors have some actor fans of Crank, and people asked to have a walk on part.
I enjoyed Kyra Sedgwick in her jaded TV host role, and Michael C. Hall knows how to play creepy very well. He made a good villain. Even the young kid who played Simon, the 17 year old who controls Kable (Butler) in the video game was good as an arrogant rich kid. (Trivia note - the Simon character wears a Crank t-shirt at one point.) Individual components of this film I liked, but the whole didn't add up to anything special for me.
I give this film 2 1/2 stars. As a Gerard Butler film, there was no doubt I'd be there opening weekend. I was surprised to see that the theater we saw it in was pretty empty. I went to a weeknight showing of Inglourious Basterds, and that was packed. What gives? Well, it's Labor Day weekend, great weather, and I know most of the high school aged kids in my town had a football game to be at on Friday night. They also didn't screen this movie for critic reviews, and even the fan boy blogs are mostly silent about Gamer. I don't know if this movie is going to do very good box office this weekend. It may do better on DVD, as Crank did.
Friday, September 4, 2009
It's Gamer Day!
After a long wait, Gamer is out today, by the makers of adrenaline action flicks like Crank. Just look at those guns (and I don't mean the kind with bullets!) Gerard Butler is doing a few interviews for Gamer, including this appearance on Good Day LA yesterday morning. I love how the director of the show is obsessed with Gerry (and he plays it up, doesn't he?) Gerry is scheduled to appear on Jimmy Kimmel tonight, as well.
Watch the trailer for Gamer here!
Thursday, September 3, 2009
Godric from True Blood
Ah, Godric. Taylor Shields has some great photos of a very, very dirty Allan Hyde who played Godric on True Blood. He had a very brief run, but made quite an impact as Eric's maker.
“Probably one of the reasons [True Blood creator Allan Ball] chose me [to play Godric] was this accent,” Hyde has said of his Danish-British (and slight American) tongue. “It was the thing [Ball] liked about it. You can’t track [Godric] back to one place.”We can only hope for some more flashbacks like this one.
Here's a montage of some great Godric scenes from episode 8 of the second season of True Blood. Can you believe this kid is only 20?
Be a Daydream Believer
Cheer up sleepy Jean, and let the world know how happy you can be ...
Daydream Believer T available here. %50 goes to charity.
Hat tip: Nerdcore
Ikea Heights
IKEA Heights from DaveAOK on Vimeo.
A crew of independent filmmakers shot this mock soap, "Ikea Heights" at the Ikea store in Burbank, apparently during business hours. I love watching the customers give weird looks as the inadvertently walk into a scene.
It reminds me of some of the Ikea scenes prominent in 500 Days of Summer.
Hat tip: Nadine!
Wednesday, September 2, 2009
A Movie is the Best Revenge
500 Days of Summer is opening in Great Britain after success in America. The movie opens with the usual disclaimer about it not being about anyone living or dead. "Especially you, Jenny Beckman." "Bitch." Those opening title lines have led to much speculation about the real Jenny Beckman. It turns out she's an English girl that writer Scott Neustadter met in England while attending school there. He fell head over heels, but the English girl, he's not saying if her name is really Jenny, never felt the same way. Once they broke up, he channelled his pain and wrote it all down in a screenplay.
Reliving every moment of my bitter-sweet, one-sided romance was a cathartic experience for me - and the end result, we were shocked to find, was pretty decent.He met the English "Jenny" once after writing the screenplay and he gave her a copy to read on her flight back to London from LA.
The finished film tells it all just as it happened, however embarrassing my puppy-like devotion and however aloof it makes her look.
Some time later she wrote me a letter. She loved the story, she said. It had surprised and moved her because she really related to Tom. Yes, incredibly, Jenny hadn't recognised herself as Summer at all.Read the whole story written by Scott Neudstater for the Daily Mail here.
Fantastic Fox Featurette
This is a cool featurette about The Fantastic Mr. Fox, but what I find most fascinating is that the voices were recorded outside on farm locations, instead of in the normal recording booths usually used for animated films.
Hostage: A Love Story
OMG. This is both deeply disturbing and very hilarious.
"How'd you get so sweet?"
"I have sisters."
I love Zachary Quinto. Get this kid another movie, STAT!
Tuesday, September 1, 2009
Sinead's Hand
In the same vein as Hubby Hubby ice cream, comes this cool ad from Ireland.
Hat tip: Andrew Sullivan
Hubby Hubby Ice Cream
In celebration of Vermont allowing same-sex marriages, Ben & Jerry's have renamed their ice cream flavor Chubby Hubby to Hubby Hubby for the month of September.
Ben & Jerry's CEO, Walt Freese, is speaking out. He says, “At the core of Ben & Jerry’s values, we believe that social justice can and should be something that every human being is entitled to. From the very beginning of our 30 year history, we have supported equal rights for all people. The legalization of marriage for gay and lesbian couples in Vermont is certainly a step in the right direction and something worth celebrating with peace, love and plenty of ice cream.”
Hurray! Although, it looks like Hubby Hubby may only be available in Vermont this month.
Before They Were Basterds
Scarecrow Video, which must be an incredible independent video store in Seattle, has compiled a list of movie references in Quentin Tarantino's Inglourious Basterds. They are still working on the list, but they are up to 149 movies so far. I told you this was a movie about movies! For instance, Les Vampires is on the list because the poster for the film is in Shoshanna's office. Here's another weird reference -- who would have thought Disney?!
Disney Treasures: On The Front Lines
This collection of rarely seen WWII era Disney animation is absolutely incredible. Be sure to watch Der Fuehrer’s Face (originally titled Donald Duck in Nutzi Land) where Donald has a nightmare about living under Nazi rule and Education For Death, possibly the darkest film ever produced by Disney.
They've compiled the list not just from films that Tarantino has mentioned in interviews, and all the films he used for soundtrack music, but films that are similar to scenes in the movie. Carrie is a favorite horror film of Tarantino's, the fiery end of Basterds certainly evokes the ending of that film as well.
I knew I was missing a lot of movie references while watching it, but holy moley! I learned a lot by reading through the references listed.
Hat tip: Rope of Silicon
District 9 Opens in South Africa
NPR covered the opening this past weekend of the US Blockbuster District 9 in South Africa. There are subtleties lost on American audiences that are obvious to people living in South Africa, and all the references to apartheid.
"In some ways, it was shocking," says Cape Town resident Christo Schutte, stopping to talk outside a local theater. "I'm a young South African, thinking of District Six."
District Six was a historically interracial Cape Town neighborhood that the government deemed a slum — and from which more than 60,000 residents were forcibly removed — in the 1970s, under apartheid laws.
Schutte, who's white, said watching South African security forces violently evict aliens from their homes in the fictional slum that gives the film its title made him reflect on the real-life forced removals in District Six.
"What happened there ... I never understood, because I never really experienced that," Schutte says. "So for me, that was a shock, as a white South African, to see that."
It's District 9's main character who initially leads the effort to evict millions of aliens and intern them in giant camps. It hasn't been lost on many in Cape Town that the character, Wikus Van De Merwe (Sharlto Copley), is an Afrikaner — a member of the Dutch-descended white minority that instituted apartheid.
"Generally, it's the Afrikaners who were the apartheid people," says Janet Daffy. Daffy isn't Afrikaner herself, but she says the evolution of the character — who goes from following orders to fighting on behalf of the aliens — is a fitting tribute to the post-apartheid South Africa.
It's worth listening to the whole 4 minute piece from yesterday's All Things Considered, and the article has links to a few scenes from the movie, like this one about the aliens arrival in Johannesburg.
WeBite 34 Vampires T-shirt
Chop Shop has come out with a very cool t-shirt with 34 famous vampires from film, TV and animation all in the shape of a bat. The shirts are only $20 and come in a wide range of sizes for men and women. Can you identify the vampires from their silhouettes (click on the image above to see it full size)? The closeup shot below spotlights one famous recent vampire!
I have to admit, most of the weirder anime looking ones have me stumped, but I can spot many of the film vampires.
Hat tip: /Film
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
