Funny and Insightful

The following 20 minute video is Kevin Smith talking about his version of a Superman movie that he did for Warner Brothers back in 1998-1999. He talks very humorously and intelligently about the process he had to go through on writing the drafts of his script. In the end Warner Bros. turned Smith down for his version and picked up Tim Burton's version instead...but of course they turned that one down too and picked up J.J. Abrams' version in the end and that is what came to be called Superman Returns. Even with Superman Returns there are numerous versions that were "supposed" to be made and that got discarded for any number of reasons.

Kevin Smith's story of writing a script for Superman is really funny. It's also sad that movies get made this way, because movies often get made by people who don't have a fucking clue what they're making. Oh well.

Sorry...but I'm making amends

I know I've been really negligent with this blog for the past 10+ days, and I'm sorry. Some of you come here because of some sort of perceived friendship-obligation, some of you come here for the movie opinions/reviews, some of you come here for the weird shit I put up here sometimes.

Today, I am putting up something ultra-weird. Michael Jackson's stuff is going up for auction soon, and Paul Sheer (a.k.a. some guy) went around looking at everything and took a bunch of photos of all the strangest stuff the auction had to offer. It is a collection of mind-blowing craziness. Follow the link to gain a little insight into Michael Jackson. After you're done viewing the stuff he publicly put up for auction, think about what he kept in his private collection that you might never get a chance to see.

Some day the monkeys that take over the planet will unearth a fifty foot tall pewter statue of Michael Jackson riding a dolphin with the face of Michael Jackson. Look at these photos and tell me that's not a possibility.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/paulscheer/sets/72157617373340442/show/with/3478337725/

Lars Von Trier's Anti Christ trailer

Here's something to make you squirm a bit. It's not gross or explicit, just unnerving.


Lars von Trier's Antichrist - Official Trailer from Zentropa on Vimeo.

And I'm Published

So, I have my first post up on an official horror website. Go here if you want to read what I have to say about horror fans themselves. My editorial has been titled "What's Wrong with Horror Fans?" You can scroll down to the editorial section, or you can click on that first big picture at the top. Then you can tell me what you think, either on here or on there.

Thanks!

The future is expensive, but at least it's now

It's official: We are living in a science fiction place. Science fiction has always been lumped together with fantasy, and therefore people often confuse the two. Star Wars: fantasy. 2001: science fiction. Star Wars has no scientific value, so it's fantasy. Science fiction, by definition, is a melding of science and fiction. True science fiction influences and is influenced by technology and real-world scientific achievements.

Here's an interesting article about ten terms that science now uses that were coined by science fiction writers.

And here's the article that compelled me to write this post. 3D HDTV automated surgery. Probably invented by Skynet.

More remake madness

Here's the new news on the remake front:

- It is going to be rated R. People all of sudden think that this will save the movie and make it great. It'll still blow for all the reasons previously stated.

- Jakie Earle Haley will play Freddy Krueger in the new Nightmare on Elm Street remake. Jakie Earle Haley is an Oscar-nominated actor who did great work in Little Children, and most recently Watchmen (as Rorschach). You might also know him as Kelly from The Bad News Bears (1976). I think he'll be great. He throws himself into his roles and he is an effective actor. In Little Children he played a convicted child molester living with his mother in a neighborhood where his presence was greatly resented. He did a fantastic job and interestingly enough, Freddy Krueger was a child molester before the Elm Street parents burned him alive turning him into the dream stalking slasher we know him as in the many films. Who knew Jackie's Oscar-nominated role would be training him to be the replacement for Robert Englund?

The new Nightmare on Elm Street might have an awesome Freddy, but it might still suck. Time will tell.

Adventureland

If you want an example of how differently a movie can be in its full form from how it is advertised to the public, watch the trailer for Adventureland, and then go see the movie. Hollywood tends to run on a theory of sure-things. If a director makes a movie that does very well, their follow-up film is usually advertised as being just like their first effort. In the case of Adventureland, the director, Greg Mottola, had previously directed Superbad, so of course Adventureland, which has a few comedic moments, was billed as being the next Superbad. It is not the next Superbad. Adventureland exists on its own and is an efective drama with some funny parts, not a comedy with heart, like Superbad.

(Funny things happen to you when you go into a movie with focused expectations. The same thing happened with Fargo. Fargo got billed as this murder-mystery-comedy. It's not. It has serious moments of pain and violence. It is about the kidnapping of a woman who's husband owes money and is blackmailing his father-in-law. You sit down ready to laugh your ass off, and then you're struck dumb by all the serious plot elements that keep cropping up. I hated Fargo when I first saw it. Now, having seen almost all of the Coen brothers' films, I know how to watch it.)

Adventureland has college grads having to reevaluate their futures because of new financial problems in the family, intelligent literature majors working menial jobs and dealing with being smarter than all the people they "serve", drugs and alcohol (surprise, surprise!) being used as an outlet for angst, etc. It's a serious movie dealing with the serious problems of serious people who are very average in most respects.

The title refers to the theme park where the main cast is employed, but it's also a hint that working there isn't going to leave you unchanged. The main character, James (Jesse Eisenberg), is on his way to Europe with friends and then to Columbia grad school for journalism. His father gets demoted at his job and money gets tight forcing James to scrap his Europe plans and take a summer job at the titular park. Instead of spending the summer away from his friends, he makes new ones and learns a lot. It sounds trite, but it doesn't play out that way. Plus his summer's adventures lead him on to a very different adventure of his own when summer ends.

There's a lot going on in this movie and it's a great slice-of-life flick. There are a lot of characters that you end up feeling different things for. Much like if you had worked at Adventureland for a summer, you would know some people and not others, you would have ups and downs. The movie is detailed and has some great tension between characters leading to a "happy" ending but not a story-book one. There aren't villains or heroes, just people being different the way people are from one another. I'm sorry that this movie is advertised as being something it's not because people will think it's an unfunny comedy, and not a great dramatic piece of 80's nostalgia.

New Cool Stuff

I discovered this web comic yesterday. It's called Cyanide + Happiness. It's weird, but sometimes it's really funny. Here's one from a few weeks back.


Cyanide & Happiness @ Explosm.net


There's not much I can do about its size, so click on it to be taken to the site where you can see it completely.

In movie news...

Fox decided to "save" itself some effort and money by releasing rental copies of movies. These so-called "rental copies" would have no special features, just the movie on a disc. I tried really hard but I don't see the point of this venture. I have just as much right to rent a disc to check out the quality/depth of the special features as I do the movie itself.

I thought I'd have to wait a few years before an ugly side reared up and showed Fox how stupid it was, but I only had to a wait a couple days: On Tuesday, Slumdog Millionaire came out on DVD. Guess what? About half of the DVDs that went to stores to be bought for home viewing were rental copies so they didn't have any of the extras on them at all. Way to go Douchebags At Fox.

In other kind of shitty movie news, Fox has decided not to eat the cost of 3D glasses for Ice Age 3. This means that theaters will have to pay for the glasses themselves, or charge you for them when you go buy your $10 movie ticket. I predict that many theaters will simply choose not to show the movie in 3D.

From The A.V. Club.

Coolest thing this week

George Lucas finally got the ball rolling on Star Wars beach and pool toys! Now we can have inflatable Death Star beach balls and X-Wing kites!

From boingboing.net...on Star Wars beach/pool toys.

Now if we can just get Lucas to sign off on this little item...I'd be first in line.

Who in their right mind wouldn't want a Jabba the Hutt beanbag chair? No one I know, that's who.

Hmmm, sex

Best quote of all time, combined with the best comment on sex of all time, combined with the most accurate description of all time:

"Isn't sex, like, fundamentally, a positive? Like, get laid, high five, as you were, etc." - Susannah Breslin

You can read her whole blog posting here. I was just struck by those two sentences.