An original horror movie and Silent Bob joins the Army?

I've been interested in this movie since I first heard about it, yet somehow I missed the release of the trailer. What first peaked my interest was that this movie is constantly being associated with Pulp Fiction. But from what I've heard it's only because it's told as four stories that are intertwined. It's pretty discouraging to think that few people have really used nonlinear story telling to its full extent since Tarantino's masterpiece. Although there was the Nolan brother's genius Memento, but that's getting off topic, I'll get back to those guys later. The atmosphere of Trick 'r Treat looks brillant. Why haven't more movies taken advantage of the Halloween atmosphere. Horror movies these days focus too much on blood and gore and not enough on supernatural stories. But this movie looks like it's trying it break out of that mode with what appears to be vampires, ghosts, and other crazy stuff. The use of Jack-o-Lanterns reminds me of the original Halloween with that pumpkin from the opening credits. The first scene in the trailer with Anna Paquin walking through the woods is set up beautifully with the dark blue-grey road and the occasional orange of a glowing pumpkin that really makes the background pop. My favorite part of the trailer is what seems to be refered to as "the School Bus Masacre". The faded orange light with those old masks is perfect, it almost has a Donnie Darko feel (I really am going to try and stop refering to that movie). The design of the movie looks very unique. Kind of like a toned down Tim Burton. And I don't know what's going on with that ghost thing that chases the old guy but it looks good. Too bad it's a whole year until next Halloween.

I came across something else interesting this week. After viewing the Southland Tales trailer many, many times I was sure Kevin Smith was not in it. Then I saw Mr. Smith's new myspace pic. And sure enough he was in the trailer all along.

It looks like he's playing some sort of old general or something. Weird yet awesome.

Finally, back to the indomitable Nolan brothers. Comingsoon.net had a small post about The Dark Knight. Apparently Bats' new suit is going to have some kind of sonar that turns the eyes of the mask white when turned on. This is small, insignificant some might say, BUT it's getting closer to the comic book Batman. I can only hope that the new suit is going to be the classic grey fabric or at least thin armor. If Morgan Freeman can make a fabric that can hold its shape when an electric current is run through it, why can't he invent a bulletproof fabric? Also, the Dark Knight candle seems to be getting dimmer. There isn't supposed to be anything major till December, but could the Joker have a Halloween trick or treat in mind (I know that was lame, but I couldn't help it.)? And by the way I love this marketing campaign, viral sites seem to be the new thing and I'm liking it. And the Jack-o-Lantern looks like the one in The Long Halloween, one of the best graphic Batman novels around. I can only hope that The Dark Knight picks up on some of the story lines.

Far more futuristic than they originally predicted.

Around last Christmas I heard about this new movie, Southland Tales, that Richard Kelly (Donnie Darko) was making. An IMDB check showed the date of the movie as 2006, but I could find no information about an actual release. So I figured that it was lost in production somewhere and forgot about it. Boy was I wrong.

The trailer came out about a month ago and after first seeing it I was confused, amazed, and kind of disturbed all at the same time. I really wasn't sure if I would ever want to see it. But after watching it some more I have to said that I'm pretty excited to see it. The story takes place in the near future after America has been hit by a nuclear attack. This leads the government to beef up the patriot act so that it can basically follow anyone it wants. The rest of the story I'm no so sure of. Supposedly there's also something about creating power generators that run on the ocean's tide, which in turn screws up the ocean currents, disrupts Earth's orbit, which of course creates a rift in the space-time continuum. Of course. And I thought Donnie Darko was strange (yet awesome). But the craziest part of this movie might be the cast, which includes: Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson, Sarah Michelle Gellar, Seann William Scott, Mandy Moore, Justin Timberlake, John Lovitz, Amy Poehler, Cheri Oteri, and Kevin Smith, just to name a few. That is easily the most random cast I can possibly think of.

With corny dialogue, over dramatic acting, and the Rock's Mr. Burn's like finger tapping it looks like Kelly is making a satire. A satire of what? No idea. That's a lot to judge from just a trailer, but it's just my initial impression of it. I can't imagine where he came up with a plot like this. But then again Kelly supposedly did write an adaptation of Vonnegut's Cat's Cradle, which never got made. If Kelly's a Vonnegut fan that explains a lot. A story this weird could have come right out of one of his novels. Even Donnie Darko was Vonnegutish, especially due to the fact that nothing at all was explained in the movie. I know I should stop comparing Southland Tales to Donnie Darko, but how could you not? There is no other movie that fits into this category of science fiction. It's almost as if it was meant just to create meaning through a mood rather than letting you in on what was happening. But no matter what I will be awaiting the release of Southland Tales.

Amateurs.

I loved the idea for Be Kind, Rewind from the second I heard about it sometime ago. Jack Black somehow becomes magnetized and erases all the tapes in the video store where he works. Naturally, he and Mos Def remake the movies themselves in order to save the store. A couple months ago not so good reviews from test screenings began to show up online. I felt disappointed, let down, heartbroken and I gave up. But then this week I noticed that a trailer for the film had been released some time ago. I officially cannot wait for this movie.

I love the opening scene of the trailer where Jack Black discovers he's magnetized. I know studio's usually cut the trailers but that moment is perfect. The next thing to catch my attention was the montage of the duo remaking Ghostbusters. Some of the footage from the remake looks like it was shot on a regular old crappy VHS camera from circa 1995. That had me sold right then and there.

It looks like rest of the premise of the movie is that customers love these remakes, while the FBI comes to shut the place down for copyright infringement.

I can't find anything wrong with what I've seen of this movie so far. It does seem strange that there would still be a video store that has only VHS, but who cares?

Jack Black seems to play the same type of character that plays in most movies. That could become repetitive, but it looks perfect for this movie. The scene where he sings the Ghostbuster's "Theme Song" is proof of that. I don't really know a lot about Mos Def, but he seems to be a pretty good fit. Also, the director is Michel Gondry, from Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind. What else could you possibly want? Well I remember hearing awhile ago that their list of remakes includes Back to the Future. I hope that's true.

I'm just hoping that this movie is all that it appears to be.
"I'm pretty sure it is."

Has he lost his mind?

I don't really know much about Iron Man. And I didn't really care that much about the movie. But after contemplating the trailer, it's starting to peak my interest. I think including Sabbath's Iron Man in the trailer was a bold move. I thought it would be corny to put such an obvious reference in the movie. And it is, but it works. With jokes about Myspace and other lame wisecracks, Stark seems to enjoy a bit or corn, himself. But, why should that be bad? Comic books are ridiculous which is part of what makes them unique. Just as long as this movie doesn't go overboard on the ridiculous factor. Spider-man 2 & 3 are perfect examples. Sam Raimi definatly added some quirkiness to Spider-man 2 (as he did with Evil Dead 2) and made it the best of the series. Then in Spider-man 3 he stepped up that quirkiness (as he did with Army of Darkness). But where it worked for the Evil Dead trilogy, it didn't turn out so well for Spider-man, although it could have been worse had the original origin of the symbiote been used. Hopefully Iron Man will stay within that perfect range.

It should be interesting to see Iron Man fighting terrorists. As Frank Miller said about superheroes, namely Batman, fighting terrorists:

Superman punched out Hitler. So did Captain America. That's one of the things they're there for.

Which reminds me, where is Holy Terror, Batman!?

I Saved Latin.

VIDEO IS NOT BROKE - GIVE IT A SECOND

The dinner scene is proof that Rushmore exposed Bill Murray's genius, not to mention the brillance of Wes Anderson. Why? It's all based on the semi-repressed laugh/choke. It's awkward and it's real. Max makes a dumb joke and Mr. Blume laughs inspite of the awkward situation. Someone besides Anderson would have made that a more outright reaction if not simply ignoring it. But he doesn't and it makes all the difference. It adds comic relief to an incredibly tense dinner party. I can't watch that scene without feeling completely out of place and uneasy which is exactly how it should be. Caddyshack is funny and Ghostbusters rules, but this is my favorite Bill Murray scene of all time.

What did you ever do?