I sure do love me some Stephen King. I own every book and have gone out of my way to see every lame movie adaptation. As a fan, I can say that this week’s news of both a theatrical remake of The Stand and the possible casting of Javier Bardem as Roland in the Dark Tower films and TV series is all absolutely wonderful. I have full confidence that things are looking up in the Stephen King film world.
That being said, I will shamefully admit that this trailer is my all-time favorite King film low. The best part? It was brought to us by (a mostly high) Stephen King himself.
I tell ya, this Spider-Man musical, huh? Am I right? The shakily-reviewed, fan-maligned, still unreleased Broadway debut of your friendly neighborhood wall-crawler has been delayed once again. So what’s the deal this time? More horrifying wrist injuries? No, apparently, one of the main issues is that preview audiences have had a tough time following what the hell is going on.
/Film says that producers “have decided that the second act, which is where the show strays from the classic Spider-Man mythology, is unclear and needs to be tinkered with.” So, first, great job fucking up the story of one of the most recognizable characters in popular fiction to such a degree that it’s not only disappointing, but flat out incomprehensible.
Second, if the whole point of a musical is to tell a story through music, I’m going to guess that the droning, generic contributions of Bono and THE EDGETM probably aren’t cutting it. Not a surprise, based on what we’ve already seen. C’mon, that could be a song about literally anything. What does it tell us about Spider-Man?
Luckily, Batman swoops in to the save the day. Not that probably-also-shitty Batman musical they’re cooking up. I’m talking about Christian Bale himself. Check out this interview where he actually starts to sing a song from Newsies. Sure, he stops after only two words, but it still made my day. Plus he transitions in the Powerpuff Girls theme for some reason, which is amazing in its own right. Any father who exposes his daughter to an excellent cartoon that’s been off the air for six years is a great dad in my book.
Not a ton going down today, but remember that new CG animated Road Runner short WB was working on? Well here it is (in full this time), and you don’t have to suffer through some terrible Cats & Dogs movie to see it.
I dig it. It hit all the right beats, had me laughing out loud, then got out quickly. And it reminded me of Tangled, in that it was produced with CG, but was obviously tailored to look like its hand-drawn source material. Nice going, WB. Let’s see more where this came from, hopefully in front of better movies than Cats & Dogs.
Finally, we’ve got our first real taste of Telltale’s new Back to the Futureadventure game and it’s glorious. AJ LoCascio sounds amazing as Marty. Chris Lloyd is as Doc-like as ever. The look, the music, and the DeLorean are all pitch perfect. As far as I know, there’s no solid release date, but the first episode is coming out sometime this month.
The biggest remaining question mark involves the villainous Tannen family line. According to the end of the trailer, the second episode is called “Get Tannen!” That indicates that Biff Tannen or one of his ancestors will appear. But Tom Wilson, who played Biff in the films, has told BTTF.com that he hasn’t been approached for voice work. Seems odd since Telltale is pushing hard for authenticity and Wilson’s an active (and probably inexpensive) actor. Maybe the two parties have already struck a deal and are just waiting for the right time to make the big announcement. Either way, we’ll find out soon.
What a beautiful place…to be with friends. REVIEWED: Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 1. PLUS: Logan’s dangerous obsession with National Lampoon Magazine.
Hey folks. It’s a short week due to Thanksgiving. No podcast and we’ll just be posting today and tomorrow. So, before the holiday break, I wanted to clear out a couple things I meant to post about last week:
First up, here’s some long lost footage from Back to the Future Part II. It’s the full video loop that plays outside the Biff Tannen Museum scene in alternate 1985. There’s definitely more here than we see in the finished film, and it sounds like the narration is still temp. So, I guess that makes this the version from alternate alternate 1985.
While we’re on the subject, check out this very interesting article where BTTF scribe Bob Gale debunks some common misconceptions about the trilogy.
It’s old news now, but here’s the full Green Lantern trailer. Everything about it pleases me except the costume which was created entirely by CG rather than physical material. It looked great on the cover of Entertainment Weekly awhile back, but it’s kind of fakey when seen in motion. Hopefully they’ll give it one more pass before it hits theaters.
Here’s a publicity shot for the Broadway musical Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark wherein Nicole Kidman from Moulin Rouge! is terrorized by a slouchy, bipedal version of the Flying Spaghetti Monster. Badass Digest has three others, each goofier than the last.
"It's the fact that I'm a walking abomination isn't it?"
And finally, if you’re spending Monday counting the hours until the Thanksgiving holiday, embrace your frustration with this video compilation of every violent, primal, non-lingual utterance Arnold Schwarzenegger has ever committed to film. See you next week!
Happy Halloween, folks! If you’re like me, Halloween has transformed over the years from an excuse to dress up and bug people for candy to an excuse to sit at home and watch scary movies. And eat candy.
Recently, some friends asked me to put together a list of thriller/horror movies that I recommended. I was pretty happy with what I came up with, so I’m sharing it with you, in case you needed some inspiration for your own All Hallows’ Eve celebration. Feel free to disagree in the comments.
SOME REALLY GREAT AND PRETTY GOOD THRILLER/HORROR MOVIES IN NO PARTICULAR ORDER EXCEPT THE LAST ONE!
Psycho (thriller/slasher) Obviously. First and best slasher.
Three…Extremes (Saam gaang yi – subtitled) – Watch Instantly from Netflix – This one’s great for a party because it’s composed of three short stories, all creepy. None of them are blow-you-away-awesome but they’re each fun and disgusting in their own way. Gets very gross.
The Evil Dead Trilogy (horror/horror comedy/action adventure) – Watch Instantly from Netflix – Obviously a must see. The second one’s the best, but they’re all great and better as a marathon.
Psycho Beach Party (horror comedy) My favorite horror comedy of all time. Gidget meets Hitchcock.
Re-Animator (horror/dark comedy) – Crazy college student discovers Frankenstein serum, creates super disturbing zombies. Jeffrey Combs is amazing in this.
Dead Alive – (horror comedy-ish) aka Braindead. Early Peter Jackson does Evil Dead.
The Frighteners (horror comedy-ish) later Peter Jackson does Ghostbusters
The Mist (thriller) – Most of the movie is an awesome and faithful adaptation of the Stephen King novella. Then the end…oh man, the end. Different from the book but AMAZING.
Undead (horror comedy) Probably my second favorite horror comedy. Australian zombie flick with kickass action and a really weird plot twist. Succeeds both in the comedy and the horror which is rare.
Infection (Kansen – subtitled) – Watch Instantly from Netflix – Some weird infection makes people kill people in gruesome and awesome ways. The story’s not stellar, but the suspense and effects are pretty great.
Identity – Remember this? John Cusack….anyone? I liked it.
Dawn of the Dead (the 2004 remake) I wasn’t a fan of Romero’s original but this remake is pretty good.
Premonition (Yogen – subtitled) – Watch Instantly from Netflix – NOT the Sandra Bullock version. Very cool film.
The Omen (the original)- Watch Instantly from Netflix – Awesome suspense film made even better by giving you the opportunity to do Gregory Peck impression’s the whole time. I’ll get you started:
“I remember when my daddy gave me that gun. He told me that I should never point it at anything in the house; and that he’d rather I’d shoot at tin cans in the backyard. But he said that sooner or later he supposed the temptation to go after birds would be too much, and that I could shoot all the blue jays I wanted – if I could hit ’em; but to remember it was a sin to kill a mockingbird…”
The Howling (horror/dark comedy) – Early Joe Dante’s take on werewolves mixed with some weird social commentary. If you watch this, you must PROMISE me that you’ll be deathly quiet when the female lead is searching the dark office. Because the best thing ever is about to happen.
The Descent – Spooky thangs in a cave.
Creepshow (cheese factor) – Watch Instantly from Netflix – Adaptation of several Stephen King short stories. The one King himself stars in is hilarious.
Final Destination (cheese factor) Though I secretly like this movie on a non-ironic level. Avoid all the sequels.
Gremlins and/or Gremlins 2 – Again, an obvious one.
The Thing (John Carpenter)
Black Sheep (horror comedy)
The Eye (Gin gwai – subtitled) NOT the Jessica Alba version.
The Texas Chainsaw Massacre (original) – It’s not stellar but it did invent the chainsaw maniac as well as the documentary style horror movie.
The Wickerman (original) Two words: Christopher Lee.
Child’s Play (slasher) – Watch Instantly from Netflix – The series is really hit or miss but the first one is pretty solid.
A Nightmare on Elm Street Series (slasher) – Most of these movies aren’t “good” per se, but they’re kind of required viewing of the genre. The worthwhile entries are:
Friday the 13th Series (slasher) – Most are even worse than the Elm Street movies. The first Friday the 13th is reasonably good and has a nice twist that everyone already knows. And Freddy vs. Jason is actually pretty awesome (a highlight for both characters). Also, despite Logan’s protests, I thought the Michael Bay produced remake was surprisingly good. The others are only good for their comedic value. Particularly…
Friday the 13th: The Final Chapter – Funny for not being the final chapter, and containing the antics of both Corey Feldman and Crispin Glover.
Friday the 13th Part VIII: Jason Takes Manhattan – Hilarious for NOT taking place in Manhattan.
Jason Goes to Hell: The Final Friday – Watch Instantly from Netflix – Jason is killed when the FBI sets up a “sting” for him that consists of a naked chick in a cabin. Then his demon possesses the black guy from X-Files.
Jason X – Jason IN SPACE!
Behind the Mask: The Rise of Leslie Vernon (horror comedy) – Now you’re ready for this one. The horror comedy that becomes an actual horror movie as it goes along.
Folks, this has been a very confusing week for your old pal Logan. First, the Cars 2 teaser leaves me scratching my head, and then just today a seemingly normal trip to my local comic book store erupted into chaos and mass confusion on my part when I noticed this sitting on the shelf:
At first I was just happy to see that they haven’t run out of obvious situations to place The Evil Dead’s Ash in yet. Intrigued, I begin to flip through. Not to give anything away, but it appears that Ash heads to a comic book convention which is also frequented by Barack Obama (and not some other black guy in a suit as the cover seems to imply). Then the evil dead attacks or something. Typical. Ash and his old college pal President Obama can’t go anywhere these days. Especially during an election season.
In the end I decided to pass. I love America. Just not this much.
This is some serious shit, folks. Ever since Telltale announced that Christopher Lloyd would reprise the role of Doc Brown (in voiceover) for the new Back to the Future videogame, nerds have been waiting with bated breath to hear who’d play Marty. They’ve secured the likeness of Michael J. Fox, but presumably he’s not well enough to actually play the role.
Enter AJ LoCascio. He sent Telltale an mp3 of himself doing Marty and it was so good they gave him the job. Drop everything and check out the video below. It’s about as flawless as anyone could hope for. Even Bob Gale says so. I think I’m officially out of things to worry about, this game is going to be brilliant.
In an extraordinarily rare show of common sense, WB has decided NOT to release part one of the final Harry Potter film in 3D, because they “were unable to convert the film in its entirety and meet the highest standards of quality.” So they ran out of time, which isn’t exactly like saying “there was no reason for this to be in 3D in the first place” but I’ll take it. Hollywood’s no stranger to rushed 3D conversion jobs, so it’s nice someone finally had the guts to put the kibosh on one. That doesn’t mean part two won’t be in 3D, however, so you’ll still be able to enjoy the magical wonder that slightly increased depth of field will bring to Ron Weasley’s hair.
You know, that film that made a ton of money last year but wasn’t Avatar? Well, I loved it, and this news has me chomping at the bit for the sequel.
Apparently Jared Harris, who Critical End! fans will know from both Mad Men and the second Resident Evil movie, will be playing Moriarty. And, in news that slipped by me somehow, Stephen Fry will play Mycroft, Sherlock’s older brother! Both of these announcements are huge, as these are some damn fine British actors set to play classic British roles. Which leaves me wondering how Downey’s passable-but-not-outstanding accent will fair in their company.
Either way, confirmation that both Holmes’ arch-nemesis and oft-forgotten brother will appear in the second movie makes me think that they’ll continue to strike a nice balance between literary fan service and modern action. And that is alright by me.
There have been rumors to this affect for a while now, but it appears that it’s now somewhat confirmed. The James Cameron/Schwarzenegger classic True Lies will be morphed into a prime time TV series for ABC.
Honestly, I’m excited to see what they come up with. The spy-with-a-family-life premise still has some juice (though, J.J. Abrams’ Undercovers is treading very similar ground), and Cameron is no stranger to producing TV shows, though they haven’t traditionally lasted very long. Let’s just hope we don’t all have to buy 3D televisions to watch this.
The big question mark is who will take over Arnold’s role. My pick? Arnold. But that’s mostly because I’m anxious to see him get back to acting. He could at least cameo as a rival spy or something, right? Ease back into things a bit. Actually, rebooting old Arnold movies as TV shows could be a great new trend! Imagine Last Action Hero as a Saturday morning cartoon. Each episode, Arnold and the kid go on a new crazy adventure in a different movie. It’ll be like the animated version of Bill & Ted’s Excellent Adventures but without all the annoying, government-mandated learning!
