Want to know why movie nerds of my approximate age have a real fanboy affection for director Joe Dante? Here's why: Piranha, Rock 'n' Roll High School, The Howling, Gremlins, Explorers, Innerspace, The 'burbs, Gremlins 2, and Matinee. Hell, I even enjoyed his last movie, Looney Tunes: Back in Action, although I seem to be in the vast minority on that one. Unfortunately Mr. Dante is not nearly as prolific as his fans would like, so when word comes down that the flick-lovin' filmmaker has not one but TWO new projects on the horizon, we get all excited. Ooh, and both of 'em are horror movies!
We'd already heard a little bit about Bat Out of Hell, which looks to be a flick that combines air travel, hijackers, and vampires. That script comes from the horror-geek writing team of Scott Swan and Drew McWeeny, and it's one I'm certainly looking forward to. But now comes Shock with some info on another Dante assignment, and it sounds interesting enough: The Hole will be about a family of fugitives who "hole" up in a house that has a very strange ... PIT ... in the basement. Shock's Ryan Rotten says this one will be a PG-13-style horror flick, and in most cases that'd irritate me -- but Joe Dante has never really gone for the hardcore gore or nasty ultra-violence, so in this case I don't feel so bad. (I bet The Howling would be PG-13 if it came out today.)
More on these projects as the info becomes available. I'm still hoping the director decides to remake a certain Dario Argento flick, just so we can see a movie poster that says "(Joe) Dante's Inferno." That'd make me chuckle.
Prolific producer Neal H. Moritz knows a whole lot about making patently un-scary horror flicks (his resumé is littered with two Urban Legends, three Skulls, a Soul Survivors, three people who Know What You Did Last Summer, and one Prom Night -- so far. Therefore simple logic dictates that, now that the mega-successful Goosebumpsbooks are about to leap into the multiplexes, Mr. Moritz should be in charge of the operation.
According to Variety, R.L. Stine's Goosebumps series is the second-best-selling pre-teen book series in the world, second only to the literary adventures of a certain young wizard. And while fans certainly have fond memories of the rather large book series (and a 1995 TV adaptation), this will mark the first time the Goosebumps will be doled out in cinemas. (Not surprisingly, there's also a video game on the way -- all from a company called "Scholastic.") Mr. Moritz will produce with his Sony-connected Original Films banner, and the team is presently on the hunt for stuff like actors, writers, and directors: "Moritz said they likely will cast unknown child actors and then pepper the film with well-known thesps in supporting roles, much like Warner did with the Harry Potter franchise."
Frankly I think this is a very cool idea. Horror should NOT be a grown-ups-only experience, and I'm really tired of my cheesy old favorites getting dusted off and promptly neutered for a new generation of pre-teens. The Goosebumps books were created with young audiences in mind, so this sounds like it could be the beginning of a very profitable relationship. (Yes, obviously Sony is thinking "franchise" here.)
Gotta love those fan-friendly filmmakers. Next Saturday the Hobbit-makers (Peter Jackson and Guillermo del Toro) will participate in an online Q&A session -- and you'vewe've been invited to contribute some queries! Got a question about the cast? The second film? SMAUG??!? Then make sure you're signed up in advance, and get your question(s) ready!
ComingSoon.net tipped me off first, but you can see a full invitation from Mr. Jackson right here. Here's a snip: "We ask all fans with an interest in The Hobbit or The Lord of the Rings to send one question to this website. Ask us anything! Guillermo and I will select and answer the 20 most common questions, so we can both attempt to address the key issues as best we can ... In addition to answering your 20 questions -- for the entire hour we'll take additional live questions and chat about the projects with anyone who's interested."
(Dramatic pause)
ANYONE WHO'S INTERESTED? Holy macaroni, my geek-meter just overheated. Hell, I don't even need to ask a question (anything I'd want to know would probably be covered by a smarter geek than me), but I cannot WAIT to read the transcription of this chat session. Ugh, I can't believe we have to wait over two years for this Hobbit movie, but what sweet torture it is.
Like most mega-pathetic movie spazzes, I bought this box set the day it came out. (Actually I bought this version, got home, freaked out, and brought it back to the store to exchange for the correct one.) The first "Adventures of Indiana Jones" package came with a fourth disc that has a two-hour documentary on the whole series, plus a handful of brief featurettes on stunts, sounds, magic, and music. Definitely some good stuff, but the movie discs (NOT sold separately) were entirely bare-bones affairs.
So there are two things that are welcomely different about the second Indiana Jones box set: A) Now you CAN purchase the movies individually, and B) there's no extra disc: This time around the extra features are on the "main feature" discs. This sounded pretty good to me, as I've been hoping for more "flick-specific" supplements on the re-issue ... but here's where I get a little annoyed: Obviously the new goodies are of a very high quality (given that they were overseen by DVD magic-man Laurent Bouzereau), but ... why so skimpy? I'll offer a few nerdy gripes and then offer a theory as to why this stuff happens, followed by a complete list of all the new features found on the latest Indy DVD set...
The last time I saw my awesome amigo Nacho Vigalondo, it was at a Sundance party during which he was A) very thrilled to have his film play the festival, B) mega-elated that writer/producer Steven Zaillian would be involved in the English-language remake of his film (Timecrimes), and C) seriously drunk and hanging out with an overworked karaoke machine. When I pressed him for additional details, he said something to the effect of "I don't know yet, but .... Steve SALE-IAN, man! He wrote Bobby Fischer and Gangs of New York, man..." To which I responded, "Yeah, dude. Damn good writer. Plus Schindler's List, A Civil Action, American Gangster,and the awesome Falcon and the Snowman!"
The drunken Spaniard's eyes went absolutely wide: "Steve SALE-IAN is remaking my movieeeee!" He was like a little kid on Christmas morning, I swear. It was an awesomely sweet thing to see. But since we weren't really sure about Mr. Zaillian's specific attachment to the remake, this fresh news is also pretty exciting. Wouldn't it be cool if the Timecrimes remake had a Steve Zaillian screenplay and a director named ... David Cronenberg?? (I've seen Timecrimes more than once, and I think Mr. Cronenberg would be a perrrrrrrrfect fit for this time-travel / serial killer material.)
The United Artists re-do is still in the very early stages, so we could see a lot of personnel changes before the American version of Timecrimes hits the scene -- but given how positive the reaction has been among festival audiences, flick-buyers, and remake makers, we might just see it a little sooner than later. In the meantime, keep an eye out for the original film, which is a favorite among the Magnolia gang, and should be getting a release some time later this year.
A while back we shared the news that filmmaker JT Petty (Soft for Digging, Mimic: Sentinel) would be mounting some sort of Faces of Deathremake for Universal's Rogue division. I know that Mr. Petty is putting the final touches on a project called The Burrowers, but obviously I'm fascinated to see how a (mostly fake) exploitation documentary will be transformed into a new property. If you've seen the Faces of Death flicks, then you'll probably never forget them -- but if you've never seen the original one, it looks like you'll have your chance soon enough. (And I'm not kidding when I say that these "death docos" are NOT for the squeamish.)
According to the gore-soaked lunatics of Dread Central, who got word from one of their pals at supplement house Red Shirt Pictures, Gorgon Video is planning a Faces of Death DVD for release later this year. Extras will include a trio of featurettes (one on the effects, one on the editing, and one on the "impact") and a "very in-depth" audio commentary from director Conan le Cilaire (aka John Schwartz). And since Faces of Death was one of the most controversial horror movies in my whole middle school, I can only assume that the new DVD release will cause a bit of colorful chit-chat all over the horror sites.
Frankly I remember being sickened and irritated by the Faces of Death flicks, but a new DVD package seems like a good reason to give it another shot. For more info on this much-discussed series, check out the FoD Wikipedia entry.
(In honor of Mother's Day, we're launching a series of posts today written, in part, by our mothers after we asked them one simple (yet very complex) question: What's your favorite movie and why?)
Ha, my mom's hilarious. I thought she was going to pick Spartacus, Forrest Gump, or Steel Magnolias. She went with a horror flick.
"OK, so, being Scott's mom, it should come as no surprise that over the years he has supplied me with many movies to watch, most of them ... horror flicks. I enjoy a good scary movie but I'm not a huge fan of the gory stuff -- but one I caught quite by chance one night was The Hitcher, starring Rutger Hauer. OK, so I start out watching thinking this is going to be some nice, safe, slightly suspenseful yarn about a young man meeting up with one strange character while delivering a car to someone in another state. Well, I was as wrong about that as I was in thinking that Scott was going to be my second daughter. Halfway though the movie I made a mental note to see the manicurist the next day because I had gnawed my nails down to the cuticles. As "the hitcher," Rutger Hauer not only terrorizes a poor young man and his newfound girlfriend (who meets one of the most gruesome demises I have ever witnessed ... although you don't really see it, but yikes, the mental pictures!!!) but he also leaves a horrible bloodbath in his wake. I probably wouldn't call it one of my all-time favorites, but when people talk about movies that really scared them ... I think of The Hitcher. There are many things I would love to do with Rutger Hauer, as I find him to be not only very hot but also a great actor -- but one thing we wouldn't do is go for a drive in the desert!
Happy Mother's Day! Next year I hope to review Enemy Mine."
I'm very pleased that my Cinematical colleague James Rocchi both enjoyed Speed Racer and published his review before mine, and here's why: I couldn't wait for the damn thing to end. This garish, aimless film wore out its welcome (and its crayon box) after about 25 minutes, but the cinematic eyesore just kept lumbering on for two full hours. I know it's tough to keep kids still in a movie theater even when they like the movie they're watching, so I can only imagine what parents will be dealing with as Speed Racer's merciless stretches of blah-blah-blah hit the screen. Aside from three or four mega-flashy racing sequences, Speed Racer feels like the pilot episode of a Fox TV series called The Generic Family from Plastic World.
A young man named "Speed Racer" grows up to become a hot-shot car racer (imagine that), but when he refuses to sign with an evil tycoon, it kick-starts a third-act conflict that can only be solved by ... car racing! There's the whole of your plot in a nutshell, but I've left out the resoundingly clumsy flashback structure, the nominally interesting but ultimately pointless side characters, and several absurdly "emotional" moments that might have made an impact if they didn't occur on sets made entirely of bright pink styrofoam and glitter. There's also an allegedly mysterious character called Racer X, a button-cute and entirely superfluous girlfriend character, and (wedged in clumsily whenever things get dull) a mischievous little kid and his monkey sidekick.
Here's where I get confused: If you knew a pair of people like the characters played by Cameron Diaz and Ashton Kutcher in the new feature-length sitcom pilot What Happens in Vegas, you'd probably hate them. Undoubtedly, in real life, you'd want to punch / mock / immediately walk away from people so outrageously stupid, selfish, and insufferable. So here's my question: Why would you actually PAY for the experience of meeting two such woeful and worthless people? It's not like there's much upside for you...
Pre-packaged movie star detritus of the most inane order, What Happens in Vegas offers an I Love Lucy premise, an Odd Couple leading duo, and a Three's Company screenplay. (I mean, like, season five Three's Company, when you could spot the flaccid punch-lines the split-second the set-up is delivered.) It's not like I went in gunning for the flick, because I happen to think that A) Ashton Kutcher is a fairly funny guy, B) Cameron Diaz is still (often) a generally appealing movie star, and C) "high concept" comedy can sometimes make for one colorful and energetic night at the cinema -- but I've been to writing seminars that offer more humor, creativity, and cleverness than what's on display here. And trust me, writing seminars have none of those things.
He's one of pop culture's most beloved outer space adventurers, but we sure haven't seen a lot of good ol' Buck Rogers lately. (Then again, Flash Gordon's most recent incarnation was pretty awful, so maybe that's a good thing.) Born in 1928 from the pen of Mr. Philip Nowlan, Buck Rogers was a pilot / astronaut who fell into a five-century coma, only to awaken to find the world all futurized and stuff: robots, laser guns, spaceships, interstellar wars, all that jazz.
On screens of various size, the character has appeared in a 12-part 1939 serial from Universal Pictures, a short-lived 1950 television series, and (of course) a 1979 movie / TV program that starred Gil Gerard and (sigh) Erin Gray. So the big guy is heading back to the cinemas? Yep. According to IGN Movies, it's Avi Lerner's Millennium Films that will resurrect the Buck Rogers character for a whole new generation of sci-fi nerdlings. (I guess Millennium is using their Rambo money on this project.)
But it gets even geekier! Apparently author / artist / filmmaker Frank Miller will be the one in the director's chair! IGN says that the $40 million Buck Rogers project will be Miller's next gig once he's all finished with The Spirit. The screenplay comes from genre veteran Flint Dille, but there's one thing that gives me a little pause, and it's this quote specifically: "The cheapness of the low-budget effects will be a running joke in the movie, which will retain the campiness of the 1980s TV series Buck Rogers in the 25th Century starring Gil Gerard." Whoa, really? That's the direction you want to go in, fellas? Maybe I'm just an old-school Kaelist, but I think BAD things happen when you try to force "campiness." A sense of humor is fine, but let's not make a cheap joke out of good ol' Buck Rogers.
Their batting average might not be all that stellar, but I'm still rooting for the After Dark team. In theory, their idea of snatching up eight indie / foreign horror flicks a year and offering them a brief theatrical run is fantastic. And I've no doubt that the AD crew does the best they can with the flicks and funds that are available, but let's face it: Their track record isn't exactly sterling, now is it? (Their flick recap can be found after the jump.) But things seem to be looking up in After Dark country: According to The Hollywood Reporter, the scrappy little distributor plans to get a lot more involved in the production side of the equation.
They've already announced Sean Ellis' The Broken* as the first AD08 title, but now we seem to have movies two and three. Production begins this month in Romania on both Faithless and Perkins' 14, the former a thriller about a woman on the run from domestic abuse, the latter a serial killer chiller. (Hey, the less I know about the plots, the better.) Faithless comes from the team of Stewart Hopewell and Tim Long, while Jeremy Donaldson's Perkins' 14 was apparently the winner of a screenwriting contest at Massify.com, which is kind of interesting. That flick will be directed by Craig Singer, whom Horrorfesters will remember from Dark Ride. This pair of flicks marks AD's first return to full-on production since 2006's An American Haunting.
Here's a tip to all my writer friends: If you cook up a basic yet amusing idea about an article that ties in to an upcoming holiday .... don't wait to write it! The interwebs are full of smart writers who can hatch that very same idea all by themselves, but in this case it was my good pals at FEARnet, so I only kicked myself twice. Anyway, what with Mother's Day on the way, FN's Gabrielle DiPietro and Joe McCabe came up with a crackin' Top 10 list of MILFs (Moms I Like to Fear), which you can enjoy right here.
And since FEARnet (like most quality horror sites) is run by folks who actually know what they're talking about, this list has a solid handful of surprises in there. Of course Mama Bates earns a spot, and I'd be flipping out if Mrs. Voorhees didn't get a mention -- but kudos to the FEARnetters for including ... well, I don't want to spoil the fun, but these are NOT all obvious choices. My favorites are #7, #6, #2, and #1, but that 'honorable mention' pick is as hilarious as it is appropriate. Here's a fun question, though: Who did Gabby and Joe leave out? It's a fine list to be sure, but there's LOTS of other "horror moms" out there...
Those lovable Twitch boys love their foreign genre fare a whole lot, but when they get THIS enthusiastic about an upcoming project, that's usually enough to get me salivating like a movie-nerd version of Pavlov's dogs. What's the movie that has the Twitch boys extra-twitchy today? It looks to be a VERY enticing flick called Iron Sky, which is a Finnish sci-fi comedy noir (I think) about the Nazis who colonized the moon in 1945 and are due for a return to Earth in 2018.
Yeah, feel free to read that description a second time -- and then click here to visit Twitch and enjoy the very cool promotional teaser for the flick. I know nothing about the movie aside from Todd Brown's basic description and what's offered in the promo clip -- but hot damn I sure hope this movie ends up at one of the genre festivals I'm covering later this year. This is a seriously impressive little mini-movie, from the noirish visual style and the haunting song to the sci-fi slickness and the (very amusing) final shot of the statue... If the movie's only half as cool as Twitch hopes it will be, it will still be pretty damn neat. (For more info, bookmark Twitchfilm and then check out the official Iron Sky website.)
OK, first off: Whoever decided to call this movie Beverly Hills Chihuahua needs to be fired really quick. I mean, seriously: Are we still cribbing titles off of Beverly Hills Cop -- which came out 27 years ago? You want your new kiddie flick to be remembered as fondly as Beverly Hills Ninja, Beverly Hills Bodysnatchers, Troop Beverly Hills, and The Taking of Beverly Hills? With all due respect to Down and Out in Beverly Hills and Slums of Beverly Hills, the phrase is practically the kiss of death where movies are concerned. (Makes me wish Axel Foley's first adventure had had a more accurate title, like A Detroit Cop in Beverly Hills or The Cop Who Laughed Funny.)
But somehow I doubt it's the title that's going to irritate you most about this trailer. Personally I couldn't get past the fact that the computer-generated canines look about as realistic as a bunch of Muppet puppies. And get this: I actually own a half-chihuahua / half-terrier (it's actually my sister's freaky little dog), so I guess I'm part of the intended audience for this thing. Anyway, check out the mind-numbing promo clip and then we'll talk blame.
If I asked you to name a half-dozen Marvel characters besides Spider-Man, Wolverine, and The Hulk, you'd probably have no problem. But if I asked you to rattle off six DC Comics superheroes besides Superman and Batman, your response might sound a little like this: "Well, The Flash, of course. And Wonder Woman. Oh, Aquaman! Um ... Green Arrow and Green Lantern, I suppose..." and then I'd rudely interrupt you with mentions of Hawkmanand Martian Manhunter before you started shaking your head in either confusion or disbelief in my nerdiness. (I can never tell which is which.)
I know all about the Justice League movie problems and the inability to get Wonder Woman flying, but really: After seeing how well-received Iron Manwas -- and after hearing about Marvel's plans regarding The Incredible Hulk, Thor, Captain America, and The Avengers -- I'm starting to feel a little bad for DC Comics' movie division. But here's the thing: As a character of popular culture, Iron Man (born 1963) is not exactly a Spider-Man or even close to a Superman -- and still Marvel and Paramount were able to bang a really excellent blockbuster out of the guy. (And let's not forget that a relatively obscure Marvel character called Blade pretty much kick-started this comic-flick renaissance.) Does anyone doubt that a character like The Flash could have similar results? Given the right cast and crew, I'm thinking The Flash could be one hell of a fun flick. So let's get moving already!
Want to know why movie nerds of my approximate age have a real fanboy affection for director Joe Dante? Here's why: Piranha, Rock 'n' Roll High School, The Howling, Gremlins, Explorers, Innerspace, The 'burbs, Gremlins 2, and Matinee. Hell, I even enjoyed his last movie, Looney Tunes: Back in Action, although I seem to be in the vast minority on that one. Unfortunately Mr. Dante is not nearly as prolific as his fans would like, so when word comes down that the flick-lovin' filmmaker has not one but TWO new projects on the horizon, we get all excited. Ooh, and both of 'em are horror movies!
Prolific producer 
Gotta love those fan-friendly filmmakers. Next Saturday the 
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He's one of pop culture's most beloved outer space adventurers, but we sure haven't seen a lot of good ol' 
Their batting average might not be all that stellar, but I'm still rooting for the 
Here's a tip to all my writer friends: If you cook up a basic yet amusing idea about an article that ties in to an upcoming holiday .... don't wait to write it! The interwebs are full of smart writers who can hatch that very same idea all by themselves, but in this case it was my good pals at 
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