Check out film stills from David Mamet's much-anticipated Redbelt; Baby Mama, starring Tina Fey; the Wachowski brothers' Speed Racer and more -- all premiering at this year's Tribeca Film Festival.
Check out film stills from David Mamet's much-anticipated Redbelt; Baby Mama, starring Tina Fey; the Wachowski brothers' Speed Racer and more -- all premiering at this year's Tribeca Film Festival.
When geek icon Joss Whedon casually mentioned he had created a 10-episode web series during the recent WGA strike, the Internet, understandably, freaked out. Whedon's series is called Doctor Horrible's Sing-Along Blog, so naturally, it was only a matter of time before a fan blog sprung up in reaction to the news.
"When I heard about Doctor Horrible's Sing-Along Blog, I knew there was going to be a lot of interest in it," said the thirty-six-year-old owner of DoctorHorrible.net (who prefers to remain anonymous). "Before I'd had the chance to actually design the layout, the site got leaked to the Joss Whedon fan site Whedonesque. In a matter of hours there were thousands of people visiting, so I had to very quickly throw together a more appropriate design."
]]> Though there's been little news about the web series, we do know that it will be 10, three-minute-long episodes, and stars Nathan Fillion (Firefly), Neil Patrick Harris (How I Met Your Mother), and Felicia Day (Buffy the Vampire Slayer). In fact, it was the last who made the website "official.""At one point Felicia Day referred to doctorhorrible.net as the
'official' fan site in her blog, and later that same day, one of the [series']
writers said to me, 'You are officially the official fan site,'" said
the site's administrator. "That was enough confirmation for me."
There's no set release date for Whedon's musical web series yet. But as the time for it's arrival draws near, and whenever there is news, DoctorHorrible.net will be there. "I have a couple of people helping to keep up with the buzz and contributing to the site's content," said the owner. "We'd also like to think that there will end up being more than just three 10-minute episodes, or another new series to follow, so who knows what the possibilities are."
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Matthew Holtzclaw believes that our fondnesses for horror movies and stage magic spring from the same dark well. "Magic should be scary. It should unsettle," he says. "The construction of a moment of horror is similar to the construction of a moment of magic... I always say, the monster in your front yard is more disturbing than the one in the haunted house. You walk into a bad place expecting bad things. A good magic trick sneaks up on you while you're just relaxing."
This seasoned performer also works as a consultant on magical effects in theater and film, recently working with Teller (yes, that Teller) on a particularly violent version of Macbeth. "I'm now consulting for a stage production of Dracula," he says. "Strangely, I'm often asked to find creative ways to kill people."
Matthew Holtzclaw's Top 10 Horror Films
]]> 10. The Thing"That can't be a set. Those can't be costumes. I can't begin to imagine there was an art department. But there was," says Holtzclaw about his top pick. "This is an intensely crafted little film and I love it. Man, oh man, when Sally frantically runs upstairs into that little room and Grandma and Grandpa are sitting there next to a bare lightbulb... bring a change of underwear."
]]>• Charlie Wilson's War should have been a no-brainer, with a cast including Tom Hanks, Phillip Seymour Hoffman and Julia Roberts, a script written by Aaron Sorkin, and direction by Mike Nichols. The true story of Charlie Wilson, who helped raise money for the Afghan Civil War (and may have single-handedly caused our current situation in the Middle East), the film is not as good as it could have been, but for fans of any of the above, it's worth a look.
]]> • Guillermo Del Toro only produced The Orphanage, but his fingerprints are all over it. Lurking ghosts, a Spanish setting, and dark secrets that should remain hidden are all hallmarks of Del Toro's work. Directed by a novice with a steady hand, Juan Antonio Bayona, The Orphanage should be considered a must-see.• It's a big DVD week for Phillip Seymour Hoffman, who also stars in The Savages. With Laura Linney, the film focuses on siblings dealing with their father's increasing dementia. Tamara Jenkins direction contains well observed nuances of human behavior, and never comes off feeling precious.
• Cloverfield was the recipient of a rather large backlash for it's hand-held, YouTube-style look. Now that the hype has died down, give the J.J. Abrams produced monster movie a second look, and perhaps you'll see that it takes an enormous degree of skill to coordinate that much chaos.
]]>Perhaps the most fitting thing a horror website can do is die and then spring back to life. Such was the fate of Bloody Good Horror, which began as a small hand-coded HTML site back in 2001, says editor Eric Newell. "My life caught up with me and I wasn't able to keep up with the daily work (let alone bandwidth costs) so we shut our doors and took the site down," he says, "We had already accomplished more at that point than I thought we ever would, so I figured I would never really be talking about it again."
A writing gig at Horror Hound changed all of that; newly emboldened by the experience, Newell and his brother Mark (the site's web developer) assembled a cadre of other writers and shocked new life into the limbs of their discarded site, creating a place where news, reviews, and podcasts could coexist peacefully under one sleekly designed roof. That design is itself quite a departure from the aggressively obnoxious look that many horror sites still cling to. "That has been Mark's pet peeve from day one," says Newell. "The generally concise layout, combined with the white background (another oddity in the horror community) is what makes us unique. That, and of course when you go to the site there's a headless corpse grasping at you... that seems to get people's attention also."
]]> But without the content to back it up, it doesn't matter how slick your site is. Fortunately, Bloody Good Horror has an abundance of, well, bloody good horror. The site's podcasts -- meaty round-table discussions between writers from all over the US, who have become fast friends within the constraints of their weekly Skype rap sessions -- cover horror from every angle and have become a huge draw to the site, something Newell never foresaw. "I mean, I talk to these guys for two hours every Sunday night, every week, like clockwork. I don't even talk to my own mother that much!"Newell doesn't need a huddle with his team, however, to choose which movie would sum up the character of his site, "Easy, Sleepaway Camp II: We're fun-loving, we try not to take ourselves too seriously and we were shot for much less money than it looks like. When it comes to philosophy on life, I try to refer to late '80s slashers as much as possible. It's gotten me this far, so I must be doing something right."
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Perhaps the reason so many filmgoers came down with Cloverfield seasickness is that the film was meant to be seen on a much smaller screen. So says director J.J. Abrams, whose claim about the film, which purports to be a recovered video document, coincides neatly with its April 22 DVD release. "The movie is like a videotape. It lives on your TV. In many ways, it is supposed to be viewed on a (TV) monitor," Abrams said.While it's not impossible that this is just a cynical approach to promote the Cloverfield DVD, I think Abrams is onto something here.
]]> Having viewed the film on DVD just last night, I can personally testify to how much easier it was to tolerate the lurches and wild swings of the camera when they weren't being projected across an entire wall. Also, let's not forget that Abrams is a TV guy. He may have a cinematic flair for tension and special effects, but it's pretty easy to imagine his mind framing Cloverfield like a television show instead of a movie. From the running time (just over an hour) to the oft-complained about human characters, nothing in the film seems designed for the big screen except the monster itself. Those of you who caught it in theaters (and weren't overwhelmed with vertigo) at least got that much out of it -- now the rest of the world gets to have their say from home.]]>
Critics had a ball sniping at Cloverfield, complaining that its jarring thrills were empty calories without context -- but in the DVD release, the filmmakers finally get their rebuttal. This secret government "document" still leaves much to the imagination when it comes to the film's human components, but it reasserts its bid for supremacy by revealing the mind-boggling detail that was put into every single shot. Deleted scenes, alternate endings and several making-of featurettes all make a case for Cloverfield because of -- not despite -- its preference for gasket-blowing special effects over petty human concerns. In January I emerged from the theater feeling bumped and bruised. Getting to share in the filmmakers' enthusiasm on DVD, however, is a ride I don't mind going on again.
]]> The Orphanage rubbed critics the wrong way -- if the characters' agonizing search for their son didn't seize you, then technically, this was just another missing child/ghost story. Early comparisons to Pan's Labyrinth didn't help either, since what could ever live up to that? On DVD, however, The Orphanage is burnished to a warm glow by featurettes that expose the nuts and bolts of hair-raising makeup and scenic effects that director Juan Antonio Bayona brings to a boil. And frankly, images of the little boy's ghostly playmates never fail to put me back in the mood to see this movie. "Anyone with children is advised to think twice before buying a ticket," said the AV Club when the film debuted. Enough hemming and hawing, already! Put the kids to bed early, pop in the DVD, and just be grateful you're spared the immersive big-screen experience.One thing that everyone seemed to agree on was that if you were going to watch One Missed Call, you might as well watch the Japanese version, Chakushin Ari, instead. I know it's repetitive to complain about these Asian horror remakes (you know a fad is seriously dead when even complaints about it are cliche), but seriously, who is going to rent this movie? Kids who don't know any better, and will settle for whatever PG-13 claptrap they can go to with their friends, that's who. Parents and friends of teenagers, you owe it to tomorrow's generation to sit them down with a snack and a copy of an reliably terrifying movie.
]]>Chazz Palminteri was born to be a gangster -- or at least to play one in the movies. He got his big break when his idol Robert De Niro stumbled upon his quasi-autobiographical play A Bronx Tale and turned it into his directorial debut. Barely a year after that flick made him an overnight success, Palminteri was nominated for an Oscar for his role in Woody Allen's mob comedy Bullets Over Broadway. Straight or side-splitting, Palminteri's performances are always pitch-perfect. He recently spoke with Shootout about his five favorites.
Palminteri's Favorite Palminteri Pictures
• A Bronx Tale
• Bullets Over Broadway
• Analyze This
• Hurlyburly
• The Usual Suspects
Palminteri credits others for his success: De Niro was "a great director who would not compromise and dealt with subject matter truthfully," Woody gave him "a chance to show my comic timing," and Hurlyburly's Anthony Drazan was "a great director who had vision." And as career "gangster," he clearly owes a debt to the genre's classic films.
]]> The actor says his favorite is the classic Angels With Dirty Faces which starred another actor best known for mob roles -- the thirties ultimate tough guy James Cagney. Like A Bronx Tale, that movie is an homage to growing up in a rough New York neighborhood. What worked back then works just as well now apparently.What do you think is the greatest gangster film ever? Do you agree with Palminteri or prefer him over his predecessors?
Naysayers who debate why the future has yet to arrive always point to the distinct lack of robot butlers.
Granted, robots are making headway in Japan... There's a robot greeter out there who can give directions, and gets upset when you grab her inappropriately (this is not a joke). And recently, dancing robots have been all the rage. However, the independent automaton is far from a daily reality, and I can't help but think that scifi is to blame for this.
In the history of science fiction, there have been very few helpful robots. Most are secretly murderous AIs who can't wait to turn on their creators. The most famous of these probably being HAL, from 2001. You could also bring up the entire plots of the Terminator or Matrix trilogies, which hinge on robots not only hating us, and wanting to kill us, but also, winning.
]]> However, if you want the real root of this, you need go no further than Isaac Asimov's Three Laws of Robotics:1. A robot may not injure a human being or, through inaction, allow a human being to come to harm.2. A robot must obey orders given to it by human beings, except where such orders would conflict with the First Law.
3. A robot must protect its own existence as long as such protection does not conflict with the First or Second Law.
What Asimov did when he built the three laws in "I, Robot," was essentially make a dare to his characters. You don't create laws without eventually showing how they can be broken, and what the repercussions may be. And they do get broken, though with significantly less Will Smith than you may remember. Obviously, I, Robot isn't the first time a robot went haywire, but it did lay the groundwork for future robot attacks... It wasn't (always) because they were evil; it was because they wanted to live.
Now that we've set up the basis, we can address the initial question: Why are there no robot servants? Well, before we can get to that, there's another reality that must be addressed, which is that as much as science affects scifi, scifi also affects science. There's a very strong give and take between the two, to the point where scientists will create a new invention in the mold set forth by the scifi before it. Otherwise, why would we have clamshell cell phones, if not for Star Trek's communicators?
Since we know that scifi affects the development of science, and the majority of stories involving robots and/or AI involve them going berserk/killing everyone, doesn't it stand to reason that science would make no great effort to hasten the coming robo-pocalypse?
Take a look at how the news is presented when there is a leap forward in the development of robotics. In particular online, a snarky blogger will, undoubtedly, make a joke about "our new robot masters." In the papers, the discovery is often buried in the science section, if published at all. Don't you think, if we really wanted robot butlers, we'd be pushing for them? Don't you think they'd already be here? And don't you think the reason they're not already here is that we've been trained over the past 80 years that when the robots come, the time of humans is over?
Whether it's true that robots would eventually take over the Earth or not, the fact remains that having seen what fiction we've seen... We may never develop robots to the point where they can even properly function.
]]>Of all the panels at this past weekend's New York Comic Con, the most earnest and most historically fascinating was the Weird Tales discussion. Deep in the bowels of the Javits Convention Center, a motley crew of fans and curiosity seekers were privy to stories about the magazine's first eight decades. Armed with a slideshow of the best of those lurid, monster-filled covers featuring semi-nude women, editorial director Stephen H. Segal talked with insight about the magazine that launched the careers of H. P. Lovecraft and Robert E. Howard.
Weird Tales even was the first magazine to publish the fiction of Tennessee Williams, when Williams was just 17. "It was the first magazine devoted to fantasy, horror and science fiction. In fact, it was launched three years before the phrase 'science fiction' was even invented," said Segal.
]]> In the beginning, Weird Tales provided a forum for the best fantasy writers, illustrators and fans to get to know each other and their burgeoning subgenre. After all, said Segal, "H. P. Lovecraft was the first to blend the horrific with science fiction to create this idea of cosmic horror. There would be no Aliens franchise without Lovecraft." Now, with recent redesign and some hip, new writers, Weird Tales is poised to shake up the world of horror, scifi and fantasy once again.With hot, new illustrators like Molly Crabapple and deep profiles by Elizabeth Genco, the publication is showing its mettle in the age of Web 2.0. Offered Crabapple, "I'm basically known for what I call saucy Victoriana. I take all the clothing and weird artificial clothing and strange machines of the Victorian Era and I couple them with a burlesque sensibility." The former Suicide Girl is just one of the new breed of writers and artists who populate the magazine pages. "I have the opportunity to take this artistic sensibility and combine it with these very creative stories to illustrate tales of drunken mermaids and selling your soul to the devil," she says. Howard and Lovecraft would have approved.
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Perhaps the biggest news to come out of the Lucasfilm panel at the NY Comic Con was the lack of a new trailer for Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull.
Sure, its not like the film needs the hard sell (and the lack of major spoilers is refreshing), but with a month still to go until opening weekend, fans are getting pretty rabid for anything Indy. What the audience at Comic Con was treated to, however, was a presentation by Lucasfilm Director of Content Management and Head of Fan Relations (that's some title), Steve Sansweet, on all of the many exciting products that they can spend their money on over the next few months. Trailers and extensive behind-the-scenes videos were shown for two Lucasarts video games, Star Wars: The Force Unleashed and Lego Indiana Jones: The Original Adventures. Both games look cool, but the footage shown was nothing new. Sansweet also plugged the upcoming DVD box set for the third volume of the Young Indiana Jones TV series and, naturally, the DVD re-releases of the original Indy trilogy complete with hours of new bonus features. (Also a large, fancy coffee table book from Random House detailing the complete history of Indiana Jones.)
]]> And then there was Clone Wars. Nearly half of the panel was devoted to footage from Star Wars: The Clone Wars (much of it already online) as well as a pretaped interview with the director and executive producer of the upcoming film and TV series. The creative team behind Clone Wars repeatedly stressed how involved George Lucas was with the production, saying he initially only planned to check in with the team a couple of times a year, but ended up working alongside them on a weekly basis.The 2007 edition of the Tribeca Film Festival not only slimmed down -- to 159 features and 85 shorts -- but also premiered the 2008 Academy Award-winning documentary Taxi to the Dark Side. It was another notch in the festival's belt, particularly it's well-respected non-fiction catalog, which includes Jonestown: The Life and Death of the People's Temple and Jesus Camp. Despite that victory, Tribeca's 2007 edition was highly criticized.
Ticket prices spiked to a record $18; screenings were held well beyond the namesake neighborhood as far out as the outer boroughs. And despite the trimmer slate, the schedule was still jam-packed, perpetuating the criticism that the festival is a place where emerging filmmakers get lost in the shadows of Hollywood: Who paid attention to Taxi to the Dark Side when they could go to see Spider-Man 3 or, even the Drew Barrymore and Eric Bana romance Lucky You.
]]> And amid the razzle dazzle, 33 titles that had their world premiere at Tribeca last year were acquired for distribution, including the aforementioned Taxi, Planet B-Boy, Autism: The Musical, The Hammer and The Grand. With success stories like that, the festival is not without its defenders. Said IFC Entertainment president Jonathan Sehring in Variety, "I was very skeptical the first two years. Initially, we didn't supply movies to the festival, and now we look at it as critical to launching our movies."Edie Falco on the scene last year as a juror, had a simpler explanation for the festival's appeal, "It's all kinds of great movies that I don't get to see under normal circumstances," Falco told USA Today. "And I live in Tribeca, so it's special."
• Watch out, warns Cinematical, that DVD version of the fantastic French slasher film Inside that you picked up at Blockbuster might be the wimpy "rated R" version -- with eight minutes of gory thrills snipped out.
• Lost Ray Harryhausen footage? No, it's a real bird that keeps itself fully plucked due to an unfortunate malady. Sort of cuddly in a leathery, scuttling way, don't you think?
• Rest in peace, Grampa. Texas Chainsaw Massacre II's Ken Evert passed away this month. Just 56 years old, Evert was a Vietnam veteran in addition to being a beloved character actor.
• Run, it's the Blob! Oh wait, it's just the city of Miami flooding its streets with millions of gallons of foam. (Video here.)
• Meagan Good has decided to become the next starlet to be sawed (Sawn? Seen?), joining the cast of Saw 5
He's not just the oldest son of the show's creator. Marten Weiner is also one of the actors in the cast. The 11-year-old performer talked with AMCtv.com about his feelings about his character and working with his dad.
Q: What do you think of your character?
A: He's a little bit weird but he's different than me. It's not like I don't understand his problems, but it's not like I would have those problems.
Q: What's weird?
A: Some of the stuff that he did like walking into the women's bathroom. That was not like me at all. I thought that was kind of weird, but it's not like it's impossible.
]]> Q: What acting experiences did you have before Mad Men?A: None.
Q: So what was your first time in front of the camera like?
A: It was easier than I thought it would be. I thought actually it would be pretty hard, but it's not that bad.
Q: How do you like working with January Jones?
A: On the set, we really didn't talk that much. But she's pretty easy to act with. She was pretty good.
Q: Did you have to do any preparatory work for the scene in the parking lot? That scene's really powerful.
A: I thought, how would Glen best say this, you know? And it's a pretty intense scene. So I just thought, how would he act? Would he be very straightforward or really shy? And then that's what I came up with.
Q: There's been a lot of talk about the costumes in Mad Men. Is Glen's wardrobe much different than what kids wear today?
A: Yes. Definitely. I have to say that the clothes that Glen wore were a lot less comfortable than the clothes I wear normally. The shirt and the pants are pretty tight. The zipper was really long. And it didn't really look like stuff I would wear today either. It's period.
Q; Do you like the costume?
A: It was fun to wear as a costume but it still was uncomfortable. When I did the scene in the episode where I was wearing heavy layers of clothes, it was about 110 degrees in Pasadena. It was pretty hot. I was in the old Volkswagen. It was pretty hot and if you look hot, it's the same as if you're really cold. Your cheeks are flushed so you look similar.
Q: What's your favorite part of doing the show?
A: That had to be having lunch with my dad at craft services. I really like it a lot because we were both eating lunch and we were both at work.
]]>• Grant Morrison talks about a career writing comic books, out of his mind on drugs.
• The official Dark Knight trailer is pretty snazzy.
• Hot on the heels of Marvel Zombies comes Marvel Apes.
• According to io9, Wolfgang Petersen is off Ender's Game.
]]> • Joel Silver says the Wonder Woman movie is back on track.• Harrison Ford on Han Solo: "He's dumb as a stump!"
• Artist Eric Poulton continues to expertly steampunkify Star Wars.
• Topless Robot lists the The 10 Worst CG Effects in Movies That Could Afford Better.
• I didn't care when he helmed X-Men 3, but Hollywood, please, please keep Brett Ratner away from a Richard Matheson property
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