News Chat - by Wormwood - November 21, 2006 - 22:48 America/Montreal - 8 Comments
Okay fellas, if your life is panning out anything like mine, one day you’ll find yourself befriending people you’d never think you’d meet let alone hang out with. Victoria is one of those people. Her and 5 of her friends would love your help — and to do so, all you need to do is come out to a strip club. No really. Life’s tough, huh? Can you get to Midland, Ontario?
Okay, here’s the scoop: 6 former strippers, now between the ages of 29 and their mid-thirties are all involved in the creation of a documentary that follows where their lives have gone since – as they re-unite for one final night on stage. And they want you to come out. So do it. Or they’ll get the whip out.. Well, maybe not.. but maybe..
Anyway!!..
Being distributed by All Channel Films in LA and executive produced by Michael Maschio, the working title is “1 Grandmother, 4 MILFS and a Married Chick.” Yes, Grandmother – and she’s not even the “oldest”. They’ve had some crazy lives, and what started out as just a whim of an idea has slowly grown into a full-on feature length doc that’s that all goes down on the 26th of November.
Heres the details folks. Bring everyone you know:
Sunday, November 26th
Place: “The Bar”
Midland, Ontario
5pm – 1am
713 Vinden St.
Midland, Ontario
705.526.8007
And yes, those two in the picture will be there.
News Chat - by Wormwood - November 18, 2006 - 23:23 America/Montreal - 14 Comments
Okay, I know it’s the 18th, but I started writing this yesterday and then proceeded to work for 16 hours, so I didn’t get to it until just now. (Sorry ’bout that)
Has it been 28 years already? Good grief. Many of us can remember the day. And many more can only refer to it as a legend that carries a huge mark / stain, depending on your point of view. No one can, however, deny the stake it has claimed in the fertile ground of what would become the lives of future geeks.
Not much needs said, but just as a reminder: Exactly 28 years ago at the time of this writing. 28 years +1 day at the time of your reading, The Star Wars Holiday Special punched holes into the heads of innocent and unsuspecting media starved children everywhere. Every year around this time, you can still hear them pissing themselves.
And every once in a while, to celebrate, ….. someone…. somewhere…. will actually:
Give you a LINK. (If you actually do it, do it fast)
Use cautiously. If you piss yourself, ’tis the Season to not be our fault.
Happy Anniversary. (Hey look, the review I wrote years ago is still here…)
News Chat - by Wormwood - November 3, 2006 - 04:31 America/Montreal - 21 Comments
I’m excited about posting this even just for the game-fan’s comments that’ll ensue. You see, anyone worth their salt in “Internet buzz” knows the Nintendo Wii is the system to watch. Oh sure, the PS3 will be great and all, but those same people I mentioned know all too well, the myriad of marketing screw ups Sony has committed so far with their system that isn’t even out yet.
However, 20th Century Fox’s faith in the PS3 is still pretty strong. Determined to beat the flood of parent’s money being spent on PS3’s on November 17th, Fox is rush-releasing the Blu-Ray version of X-Men 3 to be out on the 14th. Frankly, I think this is a little bit of a panic over nothing. Not saying the PS3 won’t sell, because it will – but just look at marketing.. 1) 6 million normal DVDs of X-Men 3 have already been sold. – I highly doubt 1 million are “holding out” to get the blu-ray version. 2) Especially since ..oh.. let’s make a rough guess of 100% of the first things anyone will do with the PS3 will be play games, I’m guessing “watching a movie” will rank 5th or 6th on the priority list of things to do once they get their new console. And since #4 is “Upgrade to a 6000 buck theatre system so I can’ appreciate the PS3’s capabilities”, I don’t think the need to RUSH the Blu-Ray Xmen 3 DVD is that important. Besides, I only knew 3 people out of all the PS2 owners I’ve met, who actually used their PS2 as their sole DVD player.
That, combined with the fact that I really, deeply, truly hope the Blu-Ray flops just makes it seem silly. As far as I’m concerned, Sony can keep the Blu-Ray for the PS3’s format and go retarded with it. Knock yourself out. Everything else you make is Exclusively Sony anyway, so hey – the Blu-Ray is all yours – But if you’re hoping to make me buy nothing but Blu-Ray dvds 3 years from now, I’ll be rather, as Prince Humperdink would say, Put Out.
Your 42 dollar, Blu-Ray, Xmen 3 DVD will be available on the 14th is all I’m saying. Basically.
Source: Yahoo News.
News Chat - by Wormwood - November 1, 2006 - 21:01 America/Montreal - 6 Comments
Tired of drunk guys’ mumbling garble during your movies? Sick of teens addicted to sugar/E/smack/crack bellowing during the emotional bits? Well, we’ve got a movie for you, because you won’t be finding anybody like that at this one. In fact, you can leave your pulse at home – it’s ‘Fast and the Furious’ proof. Not saying it’s bad, mind you, apparently it’s great – so says the European Film Academy as it lobbed the award for Best European Documentary its way – The Sundance Festival gave it a special Jury prize back in January as well.
The rightly titled “Into Great Silence” is about a virtually hidden sect of French Monks. [I just lost half the readers I think]. In order to get permission from the “head honcho Monks” to film it, it took the director 16 YEARS. 16 years – the only thing I’ve done for 16 years in my entire life was wait for my nuts to drop. 16 Years for one film – Regardless, this guy must really love his subject. And he loves it quiet.
There’s virtually no dialogue in the entire film as it sets out to contrast our modern, hectic, Fight-Club “Get Out And Buy Stuff” mentality with a trip through the power of stillness and the need for silence in our lives. Therefore, Tony Little probably won’t see it either. North America will get its chance to see-and-not-hear-it at an as of yet, unpublished date.
Source: Hollywood Reporter/Reuters
News Chat - by Wormwood - November 1, 2006 - 15:00 America/Montreal - 10 Comments
Hey look at that… Some people can actually agree to disagree…
Here’s the situation: Alec Baldwin doesn’t politically support Arnold Schwarzenegger, but was cast to narrate a documentary about him called ‘Running With Arnold’ and Alec agreed. As far as I know – in this day and age – most people would jump at the chance to be in something that pokes a bit of criticism in the direction of a politician we don’t agree with. Oh who’s kidding, with the States being Redder and Bluer than they ever have been, almost everybody would. (I’ve probably ruffled feathers just typing that.) Anyhow…
The film has gone and dug up some 60 year old Nazi footage of some guy who didn’t go to Arnold’s wedding, but is said to have been invited. And some paperwork about Arnold’s Dad. Reading that over, it’s hardly likely that they were being used in a happy-Christmastime manner. And Alec, instead of buckling down and saying “Oh, this’ll be fun”… He’s gone on the record as saying: “”The filmmakers hammer Schwarzenegger over his private behavior and his record as governor… But Schwarzenegger deserves to be treated fairly and the film’s images of Nazi rallies were over the line.” The filmmakers of course, say “…this is not really a critical look at Arnold — there’s a lot more we could’ve done to be critical,”. Yeah, I bet.
Alec went a step further and returned his payment for the narration and THEN put out a Cease and Desist order on the film. Holy Crap. I gotta hand it to him, not bad for a guy defending someone else he doesn’t even agree with. That’s sorta like me writing this good-natured article even though Alec’s a PETA member. (Sorry Alec, had to squeeze that one in..)
Source: USAtoday.com
News Chat - by Wormwood - October 31, 2006 - 12:39 America/Montreal - 20 Comments
I guess you can file this under “Releases we weren’t expecting” or perhaps”Releases I won’t notice.”
To be fair, I might be jumping the gun on that one, but looking at history gone by, this can’t be a good idea. (Although the guy who wrote it, Justin Marks, just finished a “Voltron” script, which I find terribly funky.)
You may remember “Street Fighter” being released 12 years ago – but, let’s be realistic: – No you don’t. Geez, I’ll be honest, I had to look it up. That may work in their favour as the “remake” / “re-attempt” is slated for your eyeballs sometime in 2008 – apparently marking its irrelevant 14th year anniversary.
I may be committing what the filmmakers don’t want – which is a comparison. As the new film has nothing to do with the first one – as far as I’ve read. They’re keeping the plot line [smirk] under wraps because, I’m guessing it’ll just, like, completely blow your mind. Although we do know the film will center around Chun Li, y’know, everyone’s favourite female character in the game – who will also, no doubt, have cleavage that practically covers her face. Lara Croft who?
Source: Variety & Movieweb
News Chat - by Wormwood - March 4, 2004 - 09:56 America/Montreal - 19 Comments
Forget Jackie Chan. Forget Jet Li. Dare I say it? Forget Bruce Lee. Ong Bak Muay Thai Warrior is here, and all martial art film fans shall bend their knee to the best martial arts performer the screen has ever seen. Phanom Yeerum is the real deal folks. Not only does he do the most impressive things I ever seen a human being do, but he does it all without wires or camera tricks. Everything he does in the film is actually him doing it. My jaw still hurts from hanging open so much. I also believe a change of underwear was required… twice.
The story of Ong Bak is rather weak. I’m not recommending this film based on it’s plot or character development. It’s the action. My heavens it’s the action. I just can’t overstate this enough, you will not believe your eyes.
Harry over at Ain’t it Cool News puts it this way:
This man does the things you see him do in this film. He exhibits a dexterity that perhaps only Jackie Chan exhibited at the height of his body’s elasticity and prowess. He exhibits a lethal quickness and freshness and charisma that I have not seen since Bruce Lee. This guy is the real deal. The reviews from last year’s Toronto Film Festival announced it, then when I saw it, I flipped the hell out. Luc Besson has bought the worldwide rights to the film, and this April it hits in France. God and Fox willing, it will hit the United States later this year. These trailers are cool, but only hint at the sheer exhiliration that this film creates in audiences. Going under the title, ONG BAK – this film will own everyone that sees it.
I couldn’t agree more with him. You can see Ong Bak now on DVD (which is how I saw it). But you’ll have to find it in a specialty Chinese dvd store. Want to see a trailer? Go here.
News Chat - by Wormwood - March 3, 2004 - 08:19 America/Montreal - 4 Comments
We at The Movie Blog have lamented for almost 6 months over the fact that Bubba Ho-Tep never got a wide release in theaters. Oh well. But now, as of May 25th we will all be able to bask once again in the glory of Bruce Campbell!Looks like MGM’s Home Entertainment is relying on the star power of Bruce Campbell and Elvis for the cover art of their DVD release of BUBBA HO-TEP due on May 25th. Easily one of my favorite films of 2003, BUBBA is getting a very special treatment for it’s video version and I expect they will be rewarded with outstanding numbers in sales and rentals as not everyone had a chance to catch the film in theatres.
Read the whole article here
News Chat - by Wormwood - March 3, 2004 - 07:46 America/Montreal - 3 Comments
As I’ve mentioned in previous posts, I like the Harry Potter films, but I’m not thrilled with them. However, I must admit that the promotional material for Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban has looked pretty sharp. Now this:
The early buzz surrounding the movie is extremely positive. Filmmaker Guillermo Del Toro (director of “Blade 2″ and the upcoming “Hellboy”)recently saw the film and told Latino Review, “It’s absolutely fantastic. It’s not only a beautiful Harry Potter film, it’s an absolute delight of a film period. It’s just… ‘Alfonso imagination’ for anyone who saw Little Princess, it’s extremely rich and Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban is incredibly detailed, incredibly full of spectacle and intelligence. I mean I was blown away by it, I think it’s going to be a huge success. I saw it in London and it’s simply fantastic.”
Ok, I’m sold. If Del Toro says it’s that good, then that’s good enough for me. I’ll go try on my wizards hat. Read the whole FilmForce article here.
News Chat - by Wormwood - March 3, 2004 - 07:32 America/Montreal - 7 Comments
If Hidalgo is all some made up story, then we as a viewing audience shouldn’t be surprised. Hollywood has become horible for their movies “based on true stories”. The word “based” gives them a lot of room to fiddle with the facts (A Beautiful Mind is just one example). Should we be outraged about this? Well, actually, NO. Hollywood isn’t in the historical education business, it’s in the entertainment business. The main goal for them is to produce the most entertaining product they can that will bring in as much money as it can. We can’t fault them for that. It’s their business. I usually only take issue when a film purports itself to be historically accurate, and then ends up being as fictional as George Bush’s Weapons of Mass Destruction fairy tale. But back to Hidalgo:
Critics charge that the new Disney movie “Hidalgo” is not based on a true story. They say legendary cowboy and horseman Frank T. Hopkins, the movie’s main character, invented many of his feats. Here’s a list of those feats – and what his critics say.
Won a race from Galveston, Texas, to Rutland, Vt., in 1886. Casey Green, head of special collections at the Rosenberg Library in Galveston: “We’ve referenced every newspaper between 1880 and 1890, but there is absolutely no mention of Frank Hopkins or his race from Galveston to Vermont.”
Starred in Buffalo Bill’s Wild West Show for 32 years. Juti Winchester, curator of the Buffalo Bill Museum in Cody, Wyo.: “We are unable to find any Frank T. Hopkins in our database of known cast members, acquaintances, employees or friends of Colonel Cody.”
Won a 3,000-mile race across the Arabian Desert. Dr. Awad Al-Badi, director of research at the King Faisal Center for Research and Islamic Studies in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia: “There is absolutely no record or reference to Hopkins with or without his mustangs ever having set foot on Arabian soil. The idea of a historic long distance Arab horse race is pure nonsense and flies against all reason.”
You can read the entire Billings Gazette article here
News Chat - by Wormwood - March 2, 2004 - 13:33 America/Montreal - 2 Comments
I’ve been a raging Terry Gilliam fan for years now and it has pained me beyond words to see project after project fall through on the man so I was ecstatic when he finally started to roll film on The Brothers Grimm. The content is absolutely perfect for Gilliam, the cast is fantastic and to make my life complete (no, not really …) I’ve just stumbled across this on set report courtesy of Dreams, a stellar Terry Gilliam fan-site.
News Chat - by Wormwood - March 2, 2004 - 13:25 America/Montreal - 1 Comment
Don’t bother asking what the title means because I have no clue, but Gusher No Binds Me is yet another sweet looking sci-fi flick coming out of Japan, though this one is of a much lower budget and campier variety than the almighty Casshern. Is it just me or are these visuals something you’d expect to see from Jean-Pierre Jeunet or Terry Gilliam?
Gusher shares a producer with classic samurai / yakuza / zombie flick Versus and the more I see of Versus director Ryuhei Kitamura’s other work and the more I see and hear of films by other related people – i.e. Gusher made with the same producer, Battlefield Baseball directed by Kitamura’s A.D. – the more I’m becoming convinced that Kitamura’s support staff were more responsible for the delirous ride that was Versus than he was himself …
Check out the trailer – in Quicktime format – here …
News Chat - by Wormwood - March 2, 2004 - 11:26 America/Montreal - 8 Comments
Infernal Affairs is the best non-martial arts asian film I think I’ve ever seen. Now it looks like DiCaprio is up for one of the two lead rolls in the American version of the film, with producer Brad Pitt considering the second. All joking aside, I actually think Leonardo would be great in this. He is a talented actor and seems to have the right “aura” about him for it (you’d have to see the origninal to understand what I mean).
Even as Scorsese’s reps are busily trying to negotiate the helmer’s deal to direct a remake of “Infernal Affairs” at Warner Bros., insiders say the director already has DiCaprio in mind for one of the two starring roles. Both leading roles give new meaning to the cliche “good cop/bad cop” Based on the original Chinese-lingo gangster pic of the same name (”Wu jian dao”), “Infernal” will be reset in Boston, amid tough Irish-American mobsters and cops who are their constant nemeses. Pic would be produced by Scorsese as well as Brad Grey, Jennifer Aniston (news) and Brad Pitt (news)’s Plan B shingle, with Pitt considering a starring role in the film, too.
Read the whole articel here
News Chat - by Wormwood - March 2, 2004 - 11:09 America/Montreal - 24 Comments
It’s funny. The other day I mentioned to a friend of mine that “With the huge success of Lord of the Rings, and now The Passion of Christ, I bet it won’t be long before we see The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe turned into a movie”. Little did I know just how quickly my prediction would come true. The following is from CNN:
Budgeted at more than $100 million, according to sources, the film is scheduled to begin shooting in the summer, with “Shrek” director Andrew Adamson at the helm. The film, the first installment of Walden’s “Chronicles of Narnia” franchise based on the series of children’s fantasy books by C.S. Lewis, will be released at Christmas 2005 by Walt Disney Pictures. Under the deal, which includes worldwide distribution rights, merchandising and all ancillary rights, Disney retains the option to release future films in the series, Walt Disney Studios chairman Dick Cook said.
The story of Narnia revolves around the Pevensie siblings — Lucy, Susan, Edmund and Peter — who go through a magic wardrobe and enter the world of Narnia, a once peaceful land of talking beasts, dwarfs and giants that has since become frozen by the evil White Witch. The four children then help the lion Aslan break the witch’s spell.
I don’t know how good of an idea this is. Most people know that The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe is a faith based piece of literature. The Passion of Christ was done by Mel Gibson, a devote Catholic, but Disney doing Wardrobe? I have a feeling this could be a PR disaster of monumental perportions. Someone is going to get ticked off.
News Chat - by Wormwood - March 2, 2004 - 10:04 America/Montreal - 10 Comments
You know, just when you think Kevin Costner might be getting his career back on track (Open Range) he goes and does something like this. What is he thinking? From Empire Movies:
New Line Cinema has picked up North American distribution rights to writer-director Mike Binder’s “The Upside of Anger”, a bittersweet comedy-drama about an alcoholic suburban housewife raising four headstrong daughters, with an ensemble cast headed by Kevin Costner and Joan Allen. The film also stars Erika Christensen, Evan Rachel Wood, Keri Russell, Alicia Witt and Binder (HBO’s “The Mind of the Married Man”.)
After being abandoned by her husband, Allen’s character finds her life changed when a once-great baseball star (Costner) steps in as her drinking buddy and becomes an ad-hoc member of the dysfunctional family.
News Chat - by Wormwood - March 2, 2004 - 09:40 America/Montreal - 3 Comments
I found this interesting little article on the history of Asian film making and how it has influenced the western entertainment industry. A really good read, but Bubba would be better to critique it than I would. Anyway, here’s an excerpt from the article found at CHUD:
It can be argued that the origins of today’s Asian influence in Tinseltown can be traced all the way back to the Chinese art of Peking Opera. An entertainment form rising to prominence during China’s Ming dynasty, Peking Opera mashed together music, dance, acrobatics and acting. It was also partly responsible for the further development of Chinese martial arts (an instrumental component of many Peking Operas), and by association the later evolution of Hong Kong’s kung fu cinema, thanks to one all-important element: actors pretending to wallop each other.
As the movie industry grew in Hong Kong, more and more Peking performers exited stage left in favor of literally jumping in front of the camera. In fact, one notoriously punishing Peking Opera academy would produce a trio of talented entertainers that would go on to reign supreme at the Hong Kong box office: Samo Hung, Yuen Biao, and Jackie Chan.
One of the most important subjects in Peking Opera and early Hong Kong film was Chinese folk hero Wong Fei Hung, a venerated real-life martial arts master and chivalrous warrior of the 1800s. Wong Fei Hung’s embellished exploits have been the subject of well over a hundred movies (most often starring Kwan Tak Hing, Hong Kong’s first real action star), from the foremost true instances of martial arts films right up to more recent tales such as Drunken Master, Iron Monkey and the Jet Li Once Upon a Time in China series. The legend of Wong Fei Hung would ultimately have a greater effect on Asian cinema than all the combined contusions and bruises administered by Bruce Lee.
You can read the entire article here.
News Chat - by Wormwood - March 1, 2004 - 11:52 America/Montreal - 48 Comments
Was swimming up Dark Horizons website today and came across some news that may make today the greatest day of my sad little pathetic life. It looks like the early rumors were true and New Line is developing a Freddy vs Jason 2 project, but this time it will have ASH in it! Who needs viagara!
Jeff Katz has done a 20-page internal treatment. It brings back the “Ash” (Bruce Campbell) character from the EVIL DEAD franchise. New Line is negotiating with CAA/Raimi to see if they can get him into this movie, with the then intent to do EVIL DEAD 4. Shannon & Swift won’t be doing this.
I can not put into words how damn cool this would be. You’ll have to excuse me, I have to go to the bathroom.
News Chat - by Wormwood - March 1, 2004 - 11:34 America/Montreal - 3 Comments
For the most part, I had to agree with all the winners of last nights show. However, a couple of awards stood out to me as being a little bit surprising:
1) Johnny Depp didn’t win. Now don’t get me wrong, Sean Penn fully deserved to win Best Actor. However, I was almost certain that Penn and Bill Murray would split votes between them and allow Depp to sneak up from behind to grab the prize. At least all three actors took home awards this year. Penn with an Oscar and Golden Globe, Murray with the Golden Globe, and Depp just the other night won the SAG best actor award.
2) Ken Watanabe didn’t win best supporting actor. I thought this one was a shame. Full credit to Tim Robbins who was great in Mytic River, but I just thought Watanabe gave the best supporting performance I’ve seen in a film since Lou Gossett Jr. In Officer and a Gentleman
3) Lord of the Rings won EVERYTHING. I’m thrilled. If you’ve been reading The Movie Blog long you know that I actually think Return of the King is the greatest film ever made. However, I never expected the academy to give it every award it was nominated for. I knew it would win Best Picture, but wow… I don’t think even Peter Jackson expected this.
Besides those little surprises everything else went pretty much as I expected. A very good show overall.
News Chat - by Wormwood - March 1, 2004 - 08:21 America/Montreal - 2 Comments
It was a wonderful ceremony, probably the best Oscar show in the last 5 years. Billy Crystal was wonderful, you can just tell that the Oscars are HIS show. The program was crisp, it moved along at a nice pace without feeling too rushed and the special reflections and presentations made to honor a number of the stars who had past away this year was done with taste and class. Well done. The evening was then capped off as it should have been, with Lord of the Ring: The Return of the King winning Best picture.
Meanwhile, at the first annual “The Movie Blog Oscar Party”, Day-Vuh destroyed the competition, winning the Oscar pool by correctly predicting 20 of the 24 winners. I’m sure he’ll be posting and boasting about this for months. I’ll post more of my thoughts later today about the show and its winners and should have been winners.
For now, here are the results of the Oscars last night…
Full Story
News Chat - by Wormwood - March 1, 2004 - 00:05 America/Montreal - 1 Comment
Here it is, Oscar night. The whole reason we do this silly website comes down to this. The Academy Awards. We love the movies, they love being in them. I’m happy with that.
John will no doubt have a list of winners soon and how he predicted it would turn out, but here is my less thought of, yet (in my opinion more fun) list of awards that I would like to give out.
Full Story
