Time to head to the multiplex and catch another wicked pissah of a flick. Hope the previews are good.
AZM Ally Henry sent along this video announcing Monty Python’s new YouTube Channel. That’s pretty much as cool as it gets!
[Via The Monty Python Channel]
“Brother! Your death will not go un-avenged!”
Oh man, Black Dynamite is gonna kick the ever loving shit out of all the other jive ass mother fucking movies!
Your brain will explode if you tried to understand what you’re watching. We should be well past glorifying stereotypes in the new millennium. The thing is, Blaxploitation is so over the top that there’s no way you can take it seriously, especially in a modern context. Black Dynamite is awesome precisely because it takes all the stereotypes of Blaxploitation film straight up to 11. It’s so wildly wrong, it’s right!
Big ups to AZM Ally Mike Dent for sending this along. I’m so excited for this movie to drop!
Ted O’Hanlan just sent over this truly moving trailer for The Wrestler which opens December 31. Mickey Rourke plays Randy “The Ram” Robinson, a washed-up wrestler on the come back trail. For wrestling fans, it’s always a treat to see the old greats coming back for one final match. But we’re rarely treated to the stories behind the comebacks. Even though it’s a fictional story, I get the sense there’s a lot of truth and sincerity in Mickey’s portrayal.
I don’t know, I could just be a sucker for a man in tights, but this movie looks excellent. Marisa Tomei is all glowy and Evan Rachel Wood is stunning. I really loved The Fountain and I think Darren Aronofsky has a real winner with The Wrestler. Wrestling fans will absolutely love this and I’m sure non wrestling fans might enjoy it despite themselves.
[Via Cinematical]
AZM Ally Kensei Dave writes in with the horrifying news that the evil genius behind the CW’s meteoric and ponderous success has been tapped to write the next X-Men movie, X-Men: First Class. Josh Schwartz is the sick and twisted mind behind “The OC,” “Gossip Girl,” and “Chuck.” Okay, so “Chuck” is somewhat watchable. But that CW crap is unforgivable!
In comics, First Class features the original X-Men lineup of Angel (before metal), Beast (before blue), Cyclops (before being boring), Iceman (before, um… stuff), Jean Grey (before Pheonix) all in their early years. In the movie? I imagine Jean taking first class flights out to LA to talk about boys and go shopping and cheat on Scott with a young Logan because she’s attracted to bad boys but still loves the goody two shoes but can’t decide so she’ll bang them both and cry about it later in between message parlors and nail salons. UGH!
The sick thing is that Schwartz’s work appeals to the tweeny boppers who will all go see Twilight this weekend and make it a box office smash. If he dresses up the X-Men in that same sexy but ultimately superficial glamor of his CW shows, X-Men: First Class will bring a whole new generation of fans to the theater which is exactly what Fox wants.
Stupid Marvel. Why didn’t you buy back the rights?
[Via Variety]
So here’s the latest teaser trailer for the Astro Boy movie from Imagi studios. While I’m not entirely opposed to a CG Astro Boy (I’m sure Tezuka would love playing around in 3D if he were still around today), the character designs just don’t do it for me. Mighty Atom just isn’t Tezuka enough for me. And the two scientists cowering in the lab look like they were based character designs from The Incredibles rather than Tezuka’s work.
Ah well. I think this should appeal to the kiddies which is the entire point. I don’t know, I think I should be more excited about this but I’m rather meh.
Earlier, we reported that Lawrence Kasdan, the scribe of The Big Chill and Raiders of the Lost Ark, was to write the live action adaptation of Robotech. Now we get word from Angry Zen Minon Ted O’Hanlan that Alfred Gough and Miles Millar have been tapped to write another draft. The duo worked on The Mummy: Tomb of Jet Li, Spidey 2: The One That Didn’t Suck, and “Emoville” known more commonly as “Young Superman in Love.” If they’re going through another draft, it sounds like Warner Brothers is really serious about this.
So it’s time to play the casting game!
They’re probably only going to focus on the Macross era of Robotech so that narrows our casting field. I’m most interested in who’d they choose for Roy, Rick, Lisa, Minmay, and Claudia. And I still want Maggie Q for Miria!
[Via Hollywood Reporter]
AZM Ally Kensei Dave pointed me to a shot by shot break down of the HD version of the new Star Trek trailer. Does the trailer hold up to nerd scrutiny? Kinda yeah and kinda no.
There were a few things that I missed the first few times I saw the trailer like the ridged-masked Klingon prison guards (awesome!), Sulu fencing (jooshy!), some creepy giant tentacle monster (the Overfiend is in Star Trek!), and a weird tentacle space ship (the Overfiend came from Romulus!). Of particular note are two scenes played entirely for the titillation, one with a shirtless Kirk seducing some hapless green chick and the above scene with Uhura taking her shirt off. AZM Ally Val asks why is it necessary for the only female crew member to strip, but more importantly, why the fuck is such a scene in the trailer.
The sexy is not entirely new to Star Trek. In some light, the first season can be seen as a tribute to Kirk’s mighty Captain’s log. The second episode of The Next Generation had Data and Tasha Yar doing it Mister Roboto style. DS9 featured Dax and Worf smacking each other around in kinky Klingon bondage sex. Thirty Six of D offered to jump on Harry’s log in an episode of Voyager. Enterprise’s premier depicted just how sexy future decontamination is with T’Pal and the Hoshiness disrobing and rubbing all up on each other (or maybe that was a dream I had). Hell, in Star Trek V (*groan*) Uhura danced buck neked on a sand dune to seduce some random hermits. Yes, the Trek is full of the sexy.
However, the sexy was never played up as a draw to the franchise. You never saw commercials for any Trek show that featured the hotness. “This week on the CW Commander Riker bangs a sexy harem of oiled-up Risan chicks because the future is all about the hotness!” God, I fucking hate the CW. Actually, there was a lot more sex on TNG than in any of the other series. But it was always treated maturely, never sexploitive, and never gratuitous.
Sexing up the trailer is probably indicative of just how hyper sexualized our entertainment has become. Which is kind of weird with the FCC cracking down harder on indecency than ever before. It’s difficult to watch broadcast or cable television without some tits and ass thrown around. Even if you’re watching something totally devoid of sexy, a commercial break or two will assault your senses with more boobage than you bargained for. Goddamn Axe commercials! Goddamn CW! So I’m not entirely surprised to see the sexy used to sell the latest Trek.
However, I am disappointed. I understand that this is a Trek for a new generation of fans. But the fanservice indicates to me that the plot isn’t strong enough to engage an audience. Star Trek VI had Iman, one of the absolute sexiest women on the planet. Yet you would have never known from the trailers. The plot was compelling enough to get your ass in the theater. While I think there is a great deal of potential awesome for this new Trek thanks to the trailer, exploiting Uhura’s cleavage worries me.
Oh, and what the fuck? Future bras have underwires? That’s bullshit! There should be some space age tit sling that lifts and separates and can be used as a jet pack or some shit. This vision of the future where an entire ship is built like a dentist’s office and boobs still have to deal with uncomfortable underwires is no future for me!
[Via io9]
“What kind of grown ass man calls himself ‘Puffy’?”
That’s a damn good question Angela!
Biggie will go down in history as one of the greatest MCs to ever rock a mic. I love his music. I have both of his albums. And when he with traded verses another artist, it was lyrical magic. For example, this is Biggie with Method Man in “The What”:
I have some mixed feelings about this movie. I certainly think a biopic is a great tribute to Biggie. But at what point do tributes and remembrances become exploitive?
The movie is scheduled for release next January. I think I might actually check it out. In the meantime, we have Biggie’s music to rock to. “Juicy” is still one of my favorite tracks. We’ll always love you Poppa!
Harry Potter was supposed to open this month. Instead, we have some bullshit Twilight travesty opening this weekend. So while we wait until next year for Fantasy movies to unsuck, here’s H. Piddy breaking it down Hogwarts style.
It’s Big List Tuesday at AZM! Here’s a list of 44 movie sequels coming down the pipe.
Most of these, I just shake my head in disbelief. Few of movies these are sequels to require sequels. Some of them I’ve decried already. Blade Runner 2 is tantamount to sacrilege. Tr2n still worries me. And goddamn 300 2 is goddamn superfluous.
There was a time when sequels were fun and unique. Karate Kid 2 was a surprisingly good extension of the first film. Aliens expanded that universe, uncovered the company’s dirty little secrets, and introduced us to the baddest momma alien of them all. Now, sequels are standard Hollywood operating procedure. It just seems like a lazy way of filling up a slate. Unfortunately, this trend doesn’t seem to be going away any time soon.
I think the only way this madness will stop is if sequels cease to be profitable. Unfortunately, there are too many audiences throwing money at even shitty sequels (Saw. I know, I’m sorry) that even a fourth or fifth film in a franchise will have a decent opening. Audiences just aren’t tired of sequels.
Hmm… you know what could be interesting? You know how all the Dragon Ball Z and GT movies have nothing to do with the series or even each other? It would be really interesting to see a franchise put out a bunch of movies that aren’t straight sequels, more self-contained stories or even side stories. You see that kind of thing with the Super Sentai and Kamen Rider shows. The Saw series could break with continuity and do a movie with a whole new cast and maybe even a new Jigsaw. The second Blade Runner could just be set in the same universe but have absolutely nothing else in common with the first. Side story movies or OVA style movies could make the sequel thing suck less. But until then, we’re stuck with the same old shit. Bleh.
[Via Fail2Care]
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