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Trailer Park: Everybody's Fine
Upcoming remake Everybody's Fine could be another tipping point for De Niro, and this one could go either way. With What Just Happened?, he seemed to have put his shakiest decade behind him and started on the road to recovery - and while this trailer stinks like a Shining parody, the film could actually be quite good. We'll see.
26th Feb 2010 - Add Comment - Tweet
Trailer Park: Get Him To The Greek
Trailer up for Get Him To The Greek, a pseudo-sequel to the amusing Forgetting Sarah Marshall and featuring Jonah Hill being sent to chaperone rock star Russell Brand from London to a gig in NYC in 72 hours. Or something. Actually could be quite funny.
25th Feb 2010 - Add Comment - Tweet
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Trailer Park: Edge of Darkness
Aint-it-cool are reporting good things about Mel Gibson's new movie Edge of Darkness. Martin Campbell directs a remake of his own UK mini-series, with Gibson starring in his first film for 8 years.
28th Jan 2010 - Add Comment - Tweet
LCD Trailer
Nice little trailer up on the LCD Soundsystem website for their forthcoming new album...
27th Jan 2010 - Add Comment - Tweet
Trailer Park: Exit Through The Gift Shop
Banksy film debuting at Sundance
22nd Jan 2010 - Add Comment - Tweet
Shoes To Wear In A Galaxy Far, Far Away
More promo action from the AdisaStarWars mashup coming to a store near you. Yes, it's a galaxy far, far away... from the original idea
21st Jan 2010 - 1 comments - Add Comment - Tweet
A>W>E>S>O>M>E / P>O>I>N>T>L>E>S>S>! Star Wars Vs Adidas
in another one of those crazy tie-ups where they've targeted two key markets with massive venn diagram crossover potential, Adidas have teamed up with George Lucas's evil empire to bring you a whole new range of stuff that will have you holding them and thinking things along the lines of "no, I'm not ten. But shit - it's a Skywalker trainer! A Deathstar Superstar! How can I resist the power of tying my Tie-Fighter laces?" oh to be free of target audiences.
might just draw a rebel alliance sign on my old superstars and leave it there
19th Jan 2010 - Add Comment - Tweet
'YOU'RE REALLY SCREWING UP MY UNDERAPPRECIATED STATUS HERE'
The Dude won Best Actor for Crazy Heart at the Golden Globes
18th Jan 2010 - Add Comment - Tweet
Much A Dude About Nothing
Never mind all this debate about whether we should be re-living the old masters or focussing on new art & literature - we can now have the best of both worlds. Screenwriter Adam Bertocci has re-written old classic The Big Lebowski as The Two Gentlemen of Lebowski. Check it out on his website.
VIA The Guardian
15th Jan 2010 - Add Comment - Tweet
Trailer Park: The A-Team
Unfortunately, this plan seems to have come together and there's a trailer out for the Joe Carnahan-directed A-Team movie. Doesn't look too bad - until they fall out of a plane and parachute down in a tank, guns blazing.... YouTube it.
12th Jan 2010 - Add Comment - Tweet
RIP: Eric Rohmer
French nouvelle-vague director dies aged 89.
L'Ami de mon amie was one of my favourites.
The Phantom Menace Review
Finally... it's here. Part 1 of 7.
Don't bother going to Film School. There's a film-making 101 right here.
11th Jan 2010 - Add Comment - Tweet
Bond 23 with Sam Mendes
Interesting news on the next Bond movie - character-driven director Sam Mendes (American Beauty, Revolutionary Road) will be in charge of the as-yet-untitled Bond 23. Let's hope he strikes a nice balence between the overlong Casino Royale and the over-compressed Quantum of Solace.
6th Jan 2010 - Add Comment - Tweet
Contra Band
Vampire Weekend are streaming the whole of their new album Contra over on their MySpace page
5th Jan 2010 - Add Comment - Tweet
A Serious Man
Ethan and Joel Coen
A Serious Man? A seriously boring film.
30th Dec 2009 - Add Comment - Tweet
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Trailer Park: Frozen
hope this doesn't put the chimp snow team off...
23rd Dec 2009 - Add Comment - Tweet
Adidas Death Star
I'm not quite sure what Adidas and Star Wars have in common, but check out the Adidas Death Star - a Google Maps mash-up that lets you destroy your friends houses with the Death Star.
22nd Dec 2009 - Add Comment - Tweet
Promo Promo: Metal on Metal
Nice slice of Battle Royale style ping pong horror in this promo for Metal on Metal. Promo by The Glue Society.
21st Dec 2009 - Add Comment - Tweet
RIP: Brittany Murphy
RIP Brittany Murphy. Dead at 32 from a cardiac arrest.
20th Dec 2009 - Add Comment - Tweet
Panic Attack!
Great news for the maker of this low-buget retro robot invasion short - Hollywood have signed him up for a big-budget remake.
If you're interested in making your own low-budget movie, check out Wired's How-To Wiki.
18th Dec 2009 - Add Comment - Tweet
Ad Nauseum: Adidas Originals
You might have caught this star-studded Adidas Originals campaign on TV this year - a well planned campaign that started with invites going out with a teaser clip, followed by the party/ad itself and even ending up with a Simpsons parody (below). All run through their website, Facebook and Youtube page.
Great concept, great photography and great direction - by Nima Nourizadeh, through Partizan.
Final ad above. You can probably dig out a more legit copy of the final clip on the Adidas website, or see it on the Partizan site.
P.S. Check out Beckham's hole in one too.
18th Dec 2009 - Add Comment - Tweet
Promo Promo: The Pinkmountaintops
Forgot to post this when it debuted, but check out this slick promo from The Pinkmountaintops for their track Execution.
Directed by Shira Blustein.
17th Dec 2009 - Add Comment - Tweet
Entourage The Movie
The TV show is still going strong, with possibly the best season yet just finishing - but already there's talk of a post-season movie - Sex In The City style.
17th Dec 2009 - Add Comment - Tweet
Trailer Park: Robin Hood
Not sure about you, but I have a pretty specific idea of a what a Robin Hood movie made by Ridley Scott/ Russell Crowe might look like.
Here it is.
16th Dec 2009 - Add Comment - Tweet
Avatar
(dir. James Cameron)
Yes, they do look like overgrown smurfs running around some Ferngully-like forest that's been designed by Roger Dean in the style of a giant 3D Yes cover - but so what?! This is an amazing film experience - and one that looks loads better than in does in the trailers (for once).
The story's pretty generic once you break it down - basically a Dances With Blue Wolves eco-friendly adventure in which our ex-marine hero Jake Sully (Sam Worthington) ends up thinking that the natives he encounters on Pandora, the alien planet he's been sent to, might have a better way of thinking about the world. You know, be nice to the planet, and it'll be nice to you maaaan. His job is to try to encourage them to leave their home so the nasty human corporation he works for can start mining the huge deposits of "unobtainium" - and if they don't vacate pronto, the military hardware is going to kick in ASAP and BLOW SHIT UP!
But don't worry about all that - it's just an excuse to let you wander around the world's biggest 3D landscape, amazingly rendered, detailed and immersive - it's the film that this new wave of 3D tech has been waiting for. At times it feels like the start of a whole new wave of game/film hybrids, like you can see where they're going to go with it all once they figure out how to let you play this film. For now though, it's a great ride - would totally recommend the full-on 3D IMAX combo.
The interaction between Sully (a wheelchair user) and his avatar is all pretty interesting, mirrored with the chunky military exo-skeletons and the way the Na'vi communicate with their animals - by plugging their tails in! Sigourney Weaver - the only Cameron vet on this mission - is her usual credible self, even if we've seen her do the hardass to perfection before. It's long, but you can imagine wanting to spend another few hours in this Pandora's box. The plot's generic, but the experience isn't - 4****
16th Dec 2009 - Add Comment - Tweet
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Ad Nauseum: Google Out of Office
Clever clip pulling together the many assets of Google, in a National-centric way.
15th Dec 2009 - Add Comment - Tweet
Mr Beaks' top 100 movies of the decade
Mr Beaks of AICN has been running through his top 100 movies of the decade. Here's the final 25. Some interesting choices (good and bad), but Songs From The Second Floor sounds particularly interesting.
15th Dec 2009 - Add Comment - Tweet
Oscilloscope Laboratories
Aint it cool have a great interview up with Beastie Boy MCA. They touch on his health issues (recovering well), but the main drive of the article is about his blossoming film production and distribution company - Oscilloscope Laboratories.
The company produced the Gunnin' For That #1 Spot documentary, but have also had lot of success with their distribution, notably with The Messenger with Ben Foster and Woody Harrelson.
Their approach mirrors that of the indie record label, pushing more interesting projects than the majors, using innovative techniques. Check out their Circle of Trust program, which gets you their next ten upcoming release DVDs (ahead of time), plus a 50% discount on their back catalogue for $150.
14th Dec 2009 - Add Comment - Tweet
Star Wars Hoodies
Can't say I'm a big Ecko fan, but my 10 year old self would have loved these Star Wars hoodies. Boba Fett in particular.
11th Dec 2009 - Add Comment - Tweet
Lynch talks Return of the Jedi
Interesting info coming through from a recent David Lynch event, where he talks about being offered the Director's chair on Return of the Jedi.
Very interesting, if a little revisionist. For one thing, he was a big shot director back then who had Elephant Man in the can and Dune on the horizon. If that hadn't been a turkey (and thank god it wasn't ROTJ), who knows where he'd be now.
10th Dec 2009 - Add Comment - Tweet
Promo Promo: Vampire Weekend - Cousins
Nice low-budget promo up for the new Vampire Weekend track, Cousins.
Directed by Garth Jennings of Hammer & Tongs. Check out his rough mock-up from the pitch below.
8th Dec 2009 - Add Comment - Tweet
Mini Hulkmania
Another great faux stop-motion miniature from Keith Loutit. Check out Hulkmania.
7th Dec 2009 - Add Comment - Tweet
Darth Cathedral
Cathedral in Washington with a Darth Vader Gargoyle
4th Dec 2009 - Add Comment - Tweet
Jackass 3D
A movie that might actually benefit from the inanity of 3D is the stupidest movie of them all - Jackass. According to Variety (via AICN) the possibility of Jackass 3D is highly likely. Can't be worse than Jaws.
Previously on Jackass:
3rd Dec 2009 - Add Comment - Tweet
Trailer Park: Blur No Distance Left To Run
woo-hoo... Blur have got a film coming out next year
2nd Dec 2009 - Add Comment - Tweet
Trailer Park: The Rock-A-Fire Explosion
pizza AND animatronics?! The Rock-Afire Explosion looks like a winner, and here's a doc about some guys trying to relive their childhood dreams. wonder if it was as good as Chuck-E-Cheese
27th Nov 2009 - Add Comment - Tweet
Huck + Little White Lies
nice to see some magazines still experimenting and having fun - check this cover team-up designed by Geoff McFetridge for Huck and Little White Lies for their Where The Wild Things Are covers (via Notes From My Sofa)
#chimp71
#Books&Comics
#Film
#Skateboarding
18th Nov 2009 - Add Comment - Tweet
RIP: Edward Woodward
Depending on your generation, Callan or The Equalizer has finally met his match.
16th Nov 2009 - Add Comment - Tweet
James Franco Gets All Arthouse/ Joins General Hospital
sounds like James Franco is heading into some fun meta-art project territory with a guest role on long-running US soap General Hospital - which is then going to be part of some other project with his buddy Carter, who shot Erased James Franco
16th Nov 2009 - Add Comment - Tweet
Coming Soon: Crazy Heart
Jeff Bridges as a washed-up country singer? Crazy Heart could be a Wrestler-style hit for the Dude...
16th Nov 2009 - Add Comment - Tweet
Trailer Park: Kick-Ass
Trailer up for Matthew Vaughn's post-Guy Ritchie superhero movie: Kick-Ass
11th Nov 2009 - Add Comment - Tweet
Trailer Park: Clash of the Titans
"Titans Will Clash" Heavy-metalacized trailer up for the Clash of the Titans remake.
11th Nov 2009 - Add Comment - Tweet
DeNiro on Sesame Street
Forget the fact that Michelle Obama is making an appearance on the 40th anniversary episode of Sesame Street - and watch this Robert DeNiro clip instead.
#marmot
#CurrentAffairs
#Film
#TV
10th Nov 2009 - Add Comment - Tweet
100 Best Films Of The Noughties + 50 for 2010
The Times are jumping into the 00s list frenzy - here's their 100 Best Films, with a bonus 50 coming up in 2010
8th Nov 2009 - Add Comment - Tweet
The Men Who Stare At Goats
(dir. Grant Heslov)
It's a great set-up - as anyone who's read Jon Ronson's original book will tell you. Psychic spies operating out of a US military black ops unit called the First Earth Battalion, working on off-the-wall experiments like remote viewing, running through walls and killing goats just by staring at them - it's real life X Files stuff.
There's a decent cast: George Clooney as the burnt-out psychic spy heading for one last mission in the desert; Jeff Bridges as the pony-tailed leader of the unit; Kevin Spacey the new recruit to the unit who's jealous of Clooney's psychic skills.
So why doesn't it work here? To start, Ewan McGregor doesn't help - especially when saddled with an American accent that isn't that convincing.
But the main problem is that this is a film in search of a story. Watching Clooney and McGregor running around lost in the desert alternating with flashbacks to the First Earth Battalion's wacky history is quite amusing, and occasionally funny, but it's not exactly gripping.
Feels like everyone's coasting on their charm here - with little from Clooney, Spacey or Bridges that we haven't seen before, and more than enough of that McGregor flatness that we have. One reference to the unit thinking of themselves as "Jedis" is kind of funny - using it all the way through the film and expecting us not to immediately think - "yeah and look what Ewan did when HE had Jedi powers" - is just annoying.
By the time we get to see some of the "dark side" applications of the experimental army techniques - ie a glib hint at the terrors of Guantanamo, Abu Ghraib etc - it's far too little too late; especially when it culminates in a bizarre desert romp episode - pretty offensive given the scale of the real life incidents it alludes to, rather than hitting the kind of Catch 22 levels of satire it seems to be aiming for.
It's also one of the first films in recent years to cop out with an 80s freezeframe ending.
6th Nov 2009 - Add Comment - Tweet
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