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Fan Made: Drive Like 'The Dark Knight'
Filed under: Action, Fandom, Comic/Superhero/Geek, Images

It's cool to see small replicas, funky cakes, or maybe something knit, but there's just something even cooler when your fan creation needs its own room for storage.
This latest bit of Fan Made comes courtesy of /film's Cool Stuff -- it's a working replica of The Tumbler from both Batman movies. The guy responsible, Bob Dullam, made this thing without blueprints. It was all done with photos found online, piece by piece. I'm beyond impressed. He says, "All parts are scratch built, 'cept tires, rims, brakes, engine, etc.. meaning all body parts brackets, just about everything external on the car." This isn't just a bunch of cardboard tacked onto a car he already had. And now he wants to make the inside look as close as possible to The Tumbler's real inside.
Man, imagine hopping in that thing and driving to the store? It'd be a madhouse. It's sure to make a number of fans go wild, and I bet make a few people teetering on the edge of sanity begin to believe that Batman is real. And do you even need a car alarm for that?
Check out a few more pics of the fan made Tumbler in the gallery below ...
This is What Happens When Simon Pegg Runs an Interview
It's not some big, gasp-worthy piece of news here, but if you are among the masses who love Simon Pegg, Edgar Wright, and Jessica Hynes, and devour all things Spaced, you should check out the Pegg-run interview over at Collider.Why would he run the interview? Well, Collider head Steve Weintraub got smacked in the head by a falling, curtain-holding beam as the back of Hall H collapsed at Comic-Con. Since this world isn't one of brief birdies and quick, 100% recoveries, Pegg agreed to take over the interviewing duties.
As you can imagine, this is no well-paced interview or thought-provoking questions and serious responses. This is full-force Pegg, Wright, and Hynes. Imagine a lot of jokes, riffing on Weintraub, and a neverending sea of media references in true Spaced form. Should Pegg's career ever tank, or slow down a bit, that man could make a fortune with his own reality show -- Simon Pegg and the Ultimate Geek Showdown.
What I Learned: 'Sex,' 'Pants,' and Abba
Filed under: Comedy, Drama, Fandom
If you pay attention, you can learn a lot from movies, even ones you haven't seen. For example: No one dragged me to see Sex and the City and I wasn't inclined to spend money on a dialogue-heavy show that played just fine on TV. Oh, boy, did I miss out! The movie sparked raging debates, both pro and con, and became a rallying cry for neglected female audiences. What I learned: It can be enlightening to expand the range of movies you watch.
Determined not to avoid the next chick flick phenomenon, I hustled out to see Mamma Mia! The audience was overwhelmingly female and mostly as old or older than (middle-aged) me, and it was great to see almost everyone enjoying themselves. Too bad the movie itself was shrill and poorly-directed; even Meryl Streep floundered at times. What I learned: Abba's songs are incredibly catchy; it's OK to have sex with multiple partners within a few weeks time, as long as you can retreat to your own hotel on a gorgeous Greek island to raise your child on your own.
The audience for The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants 2 was younger but more racially diverse, though I didn't understand the message of sisterhood that was supposed to be underlying everything. What I learned: You can neglect your friends' obvious emotional needs for weeks at a time as long as you have access to millions of frequent flyer miles and can retreat to a gorgeous Greek island to reconnect.
What have you learned from the movies lately?
Discuss: Movies That Deserved a Different Rating
Filed under: Comedy, Drama, Celebrities and Controversy, Fandom, Exhibition

Over the past few weeks, movie ratings have been a popular topic for discussion. While Kevin Smith's upcoming Zack and Miri Make a Porno appealed an NC-17 rating (and won), The Dark Knight was enjoying a record-setting box office take and a pretty controversial PG-13 rating. Once again, we ask: Why is sex more inappropriate than violence? Should raunchy language and a few "thrusts" be condemned while a dude with half his face falling off and a psychopathic, murderous clown get off practically unscathed? And are there other issues at work here? Does a film with a giant budget and an all-star cast get it "easier" than a smaller film with a lesser-known cast and a director who chain smokes profanity?
No doubt there are shady politics at play here (as is all over this fine country of ours), and over the years there have been a number of films that deserved a different rating. Over on OMG Lists, they currently have up a list of six wrongly rated movies; films that, for one reason or another, deserved either a lower or a higher rating. It's a weird system, for sure -- these days, if you're a comedy, you kinda want that 'R' rating because your box office take will most likely be higher. However, if you're a horror flick, you want to try for a PG-13. Strange world we live in ...
But anyway, among the films featured on their list are Planes, Trains and Automobiles, which, at the time, received an R-rating because of a few profanity-laced scenes, but totally could've gotten away with a PG-13. Or what about Jaws ... with its PG rating! Hey, it's a film about a giant shark that devours people -- bring the whole family!
Megan Fox Does Mother Teresa ... in NC-17!
Filed under: Comedy, Fandom, Movie Marketing, Trailers and Clips
I can't think of anything hotter than Megan Fox as a sexed-up Mother Teresa in an NC-17-rated film. We should just call that Atheist Porn. I kid, I kid. But anyway, the entire movie world was thrown for a loop when this mysterious trailer for a hardcore Mother Teresa flick starring Megan Fox showed up online. Was this an older film Fox starred in before she became hot-famous? Was this leaked footage from Michael Bay's private fetish collection? Or ... was it another one of those fake trailers for a movie within a movie? Unfortunately for all the disturbed individuals who'd love to watch a full-length, NC-17-rated Mother Teresa biopic, the latter is indeed true and the above fake trailer is part of the marketing campaign behind Fox's next flick, How to Lose Friends and Alienate People.
The fake film, titled Mother Theresa: The Making of a Saint (official website here), stars Sophie Maes (Megan Fox) as Mother Teresa. Maes, we assume, is the name of Fox's character in How to Lose Friends. That film, in case you're wondering (watch the real trailer over on Moviefone) is based on Toby Young's memoir and tells of a bumbling celebrity journalist (Simon Pegg) who's hired by an upscale New York magazine and proceeds to, well, lose friends and alienate people. How to Lose Friends and Alienate People arrives in theaters on October 3. Meanwhile, Megan Fox's NC-17-rated Mother Theresa movie is currently available for download in your dreams.
Tarantino and the Original 'Inglorious Bastards' on DVD
Filed under: Action, Fandom, New on DVD, Quentin Tarantino, Home Entertainment, War

Men on a mission! Naked women shooting machine guns! Wildly inappropriate hair styles! The recent arrival of Enzo G. Castellari's The Inglorious Bastards on DVD makes clear that the movie is an entertaining, stylish adventure in its own right, justly deserving its reputation as a Eurocult genre gem. Inevitably, it also prompts speculation about what exactly Quentin Tarantino will do with his upcoming version, especially since the DVD features an extended conversation between Tarantino and Castellari about their respective visions.
The 1978 original doesn't have a "bat-wielding Nazi hunter," as one character has been recently described in casting talks for Tarantino's version, though it is set in World War II France. Miscreant Bo Svenson and murderer Fred Williamson are headed to military jail when their convoy is attacked by the Germans. The handful of surviving deserters plan to escape to neutral Switzerland before they end up on a suicide mission for the Allies under the command of Colonel Bruckner (Ian Bannen).
The men take a jaunty trip through a cartoon wonderland constructed out of Hollywood fantasy and Italian wish fulfillment. The film only rarely intersects with real life, instead inhabiting a world of wisecracks and world-weary warriors whose guns never run out of bullets. Castellari is such a brilliant director, though, that The Inglorious Bastards fairly pops off the screen with energetic fervor in nearly every sequence.
As such, it serves as a fabulous blueprint that Tarantino has probably drawn upon, ripped apart, and reassembled.
Watch This: 'Beautiful Losers' Trailer
Filed under: Documentary, Fandom, Movie Marketing, Trailers and Clips
Beautiful Losers film trailer from beautifullosersfilm on Vimeo.
The documentary Beautiful Losers has been building buzz ever since it premiered at this year's SXSW Film Festival. It nabbed the Documentary Jury Award at Cinevegas earlier this summer and we now have a trailer (above, as well as news on a unique distribution partnership with Nike Sportswear. Oh yes, you heard that right -- Nike has partnered with Sidetrack Films and will help release the film in five markets, while also providing prints and advertising support (according to this indieWIRE story).
Directed by Aaron Rose and Joshua Leonard, Beautiful Losers features such celebrated artists as Harmony Korine, Mike Mills, Todd James, Ed Templeton, Tobin Yelland, Geoff McFetridge and more, and, through their own unique voices, we share with them memories of how each discovered their art and subsequently created an entire movement in the early '90s. From the synopsis on the film's official website: "Beautiful Losers focuses on the telling of personal stories. It speaks to themes of what happens when the outside becomes "in" as it explores the creative ethos connecting these artists and today's youth."
Beautiful Losers opens at New York's IFC Center this Friday before expanding to other cities. Check it out.
Britney Spears to Officially Play Lesbian Pussycat Stripper for Tarantino?
Filed under: Action, Casting, RumorMonger, Fandom, Remakes and Sequels
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So if this was the halfway mark on an E! True Hollywood Story, we'd segue from "Britney's manager accused of drugging her, gets restraining order issued against him" to "Quentin Tarantino offers Spears a role as a lesbian stripper/murderer in a remake of Faster Pussycat! Kill! Kill!" (Boy would I like to be the voiceover guy during that episode!)
Back in January, Variety's Liz Smith reported that Tarantino was interested in Britney Spears for a role in his Pussycat remake, along with Eva Mendes and Kim Kardashian. (Quick, which one of those three never starred in a moronic reality show?) Now, either the Telegraph is re-running a six-month-old rumor in order to grab some traffic, or Tarantino finally made this particular casting choice official. Says the Telegraph: "Spears' character murders the boyfriend with her bare hands before taking the girlfriend hostage. The troubled singer will also have sex scenes with another girl before the drama ends in a blood-bath."
Well, that's one way to get your career back on track.
No word on the other two girls, or whether Mendes and Kardashian are still being considered, but for now we'll assume a club remix of "Baby Hit Me One More Time" will be featured on the soundtrack.
Poll: What Are You Watching -- 'Pineapple Express' or 'Traveling Pants 2'?
Filed under: Action, Comedy, Romance, Fandom, Exhibition, Polls
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Hey, when did the LA Times become the new Cinematical (ahem ... and ahem)?
We've got such craziness this week with two big summer films landing in theaters on Wednesday instead of Friday. No, you don't have some fancy holiday weekend coming up (sorry cubicle dude), but the Olympics do begin later this week, and, well, some of us really want to get our Women's Swimming 100m Butterfly on. That said, those mid-weekers have a choice between the weed action/comedy Pineapple Express and the sober adventure/comedy/romance/jeans-wearing sequel The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants 2.
I imagine each film has a completely different audience, with one attracting stoners, fans of Judd Apatow-produced content, comedy nuts and the Girls Obsessed with Seth Rogen Association of America (or GOWSRAA), while the other looks to bring in pre-teen and teenage girls (and their parents) who like to watch other girls come of age and explore the rest of their lives ... or something like that. Word has it each flick is worthy of your nine bucks (I've seen Pineapple and can vouch for its coolness), so it's really about which movie fits your cinematic tastes.
So, what are you watching: Pineapple Express or The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants 2?
Jason Statham Wants to Be Daredevil
Filed under: Action, RumorMonger, Fandom, Newsstand, Comic/Superhero/Geek, Remakes and Sequels
This is all casual talk, occurring over beers at the Hard Rock Hotel (oh, to have been at the bar next to them), but it's a fun bit of rumors and dream casting nonetheless. Geoff Boucher of the LA Times' Hero Complex blog chatted up Jason Statham and Frank Miller on, of all things, Daredevil. The three started talking about a potential reboot of the character, with Statham taking on the role of Matt Murdock. The hard-hitting Brit is excited at the very prospect. "Absolutely, just give me the chance, I would love to be Daredevil." (The emphasis is all Boucher.) In fact, when Boucher suggested he'd make a better Bullseye, Statham looked as though he'd hit him with his pint glass. "Forget Bullseye, I want to be Daredevil!"
Miller thinks he should be Daredevil too -- and apparently got quite quite a twinkle in his eye at the very thought of another movie. That's not surprising, since the character made his career, and I could see him ushering a Daredevil reboot into gear sooner than penning a sequel to 300. (At least, that's what I hope and dream would happen.)
So, what do you guys think? Would Statham be a good fit for the Man Without Fear? As I could watch Statham in just about anything, I'm too biased to judge. (He's got the right jawline for the mask!) I also haven't read as much Daredevil as I should; I have the misfortune of always encountering him as a secondary or background character, so I don't have a very good feel for him. But I like the idea, if only so I could get the Elektra reboot of my dreams.








