It was inevitable that someone would eventually make a documentary about the folks who upload videos to YouTube, and it's kinda fitting that we get to watch a trailer for said doc on, well, YouTube. Directed by Chuck Potter, I Want My Three Minutes Back "examines the phenomenon of online video through the stories of YouTube video creators." I'm not very hip to the whole YouTube scene (then again, I'm not very hip to any scene), so the following names might not mean much to me, but they may mean a whole lot to you. Among the folks who participated in the doc are Tay Zonday (Chocolate Rain), Judson Laipply (Evolution of Dance), Michael Buckley (What The Buck Show), Phillip DeFranco (sxePhil), Christine Gambito (Happy Slip), Terry Roth (Zipster), Katie Graham (K80Blog), Paul Robinette (Renetto) and Travis and Jonathan (Jackie and Dunlap of Red State Update). I Want My Three Minutes Back is currently attempting the film festival route, and depending on the final product this is totally something I could see premiering at SXSW. Check out the trailer below, and answer this: You may waste time watching these YouTube videos, but are you really interested in the people who created them?
Last we heard from the Farrelly camp, the brothers were cooking up a re-launch of the Three Stooges. Now, in a bit less aggravating news: One of them, Peter Farrelly, is getting into the trend of cooking up a myriad of shorts for one feature -- a la Paris je T'aime. The Hollywood Reporter posts that Farrelly and Charles Wessler are teaming up with Liberty Media to create a comedy-centric mix that could hold as many as 24 shorts.
What names are attached thus far? None, other than Farrelly, who will direct not one, but two shorts. Beyond him, the infamous Brett Ratner, Todd Phillips (Old School), Mike Judge (Office Space), and Blades of Glory directors Josh Gordon and Will Speck are all in talks to write and/or direct. The plan is to score "other actors and directors from across the film world, even some not known for comedy." So far, no city-centric or overriding theme has been given.
Some of the names are good, but some -- *cough* Ratner *cough* -- aren't the first names I'd think of in the world of comedy, which makes me wonder what sort of film they're going for. The plus of the Paris and New York collections is the diversity. So, I can only hope that means we'll get not only stateside names like Tina Fey and Christopher Guest, but also some Guy Maddin, Patrice Leconte, Terry Gilliam, Gurinder Chadha...
In October, Eric D. Snider shared the wildly strange and awesome news that Steven Soderbergh was following uber-long biopics with a rock-singing Cleopatra in three dimensions. Soderbergh had set his sights on two unsurprising leads -- Catherine Zeta Jones and Hugh Jackman (Marc Antony). But that left one major hole to fill -- the sandals of Caesar himself.
According to MTV, that honor will be given to Ray motherfrakking Winstone. The thought of him playing the iconic figure in a rock opera -- it just sounds too good to be true. Anyhow, the filmmaker went on to say that this will be a period piece shot on backlots, and explained his motivations. It seems he was itching to do a rock 'n' roll musical like Tommy, but didn't like the options coming his way so he started researching. Musicals led him to female-driven plots, which led him to female protagonists and figures, and then Cleopatra. Jackpot!
It all sounds wonderful to me, although part of me sort of wishes that he'd hook up with Julie Taymor for this (can you imagine the visuals if he did?!). Best of all -- we shouldn't have to wait an eternity since Soderbergh plans to begin shooting Cleo this April. Are you ready to see Catherine, Hugh, and Ray don retro-wear and sing in 3D?
A couple of months ago -- and after watching the film spit out monster box office totals -- there was word Warner Bros. would throw The Dark Knightback onto IMAX screens (and possibly conventional theaters) for one last run. With the flick currently lingering around the $996 million mark, a re-release would all but guarantee it the much sought-after $1 billion. However, according to Superhero Hype, it's not gonna happen. They don't give much of a reason or a statement, just that plans to re-release on IMAX screens have apparently been scrapped.
It's unfortunate, too, because the DVD (which we'll review tomorrow) includes a few great behind-the-scenes features on the film's IMAX sequences. And, as someone who did not have a chance to catch the flick on IMAX screens, I was kinda looking forward to taking in a screening this January during the re-release after watching how they went about shooting it. Considering Christopher Nolan and his crew made history by becoming the first major feature film to shoot partly using IMAX cameras, you'd think folks might want to stage an encore engagement. Oh well.
Also of note: Variety reports that The Dark Knight will arrive via video-on-demand in South Korea two weeks before the DVD hits shelves, making it the first Hollywood blockbuster release to go VOD before DVD.
Were you looking forward to watching The Dark Knight again on IMAX screens?
UPDATE: BoF reports (via a Warner Bros. source) that this is not true, and that the film will indeed be released on IMAX screens in January. Superhero Hype has removed the original story from their website. We'll let you know when something a little more official hits, but it looks good for fans ...
At the beginning of this past summer, I finally caved and decided to check out Lost on DVD. A friend of mine had gone on some crazy Lost binge, watching all four seasons in, like, a week, and afterward the dude was a little dizzy, dirty and distant. So, instead of going the crazy route, I spread the sucker out over five months and just finished up season four last week ... itching for more, of course. With season five debuting in January, and season four arriving on DVD this December 9, series writers Damon Lindelof and Carlton Cuse sat down for a roundtable discussion and answered questions about the show.
Collider has a great transcript, and I could spend hours chatting it up with you, but this is a movie blog and we're more comfortable sticking with things that may or may not end up on the big screen. Case in point: What about Lost? Sure, they've cut a deal to end the series in 2010, but will they surprise us with a finale in theaters? When asked this, Lindelof said, "No. At least not by us. We've always felt that the show should definitively end the same place it started... on television. To bring our characters to some sort of cliffhanger where the audience gets none of the answers that they really care about and then say, "Now give us ten bucks, buy some popcorn and we'll give you the rest!" would pretty much be the worst thing ever."
What do you think? Should Lost stick to the small screen, or would a theatrical finale be more fitting?
He's had the honor of being the on-screen offspring of names like Harrison Ford and Carrie-Anne Moss. He's faced a few different types of robots. And now, well, he's following the likes of Tom Cruise, Denzel Washington, Matthew McConaughey, and Matt Damon.
Variety reports that Shia LaBeouf is going to star in the next John Grisham flick cooking up at Paramount, The Associate. If it doesn't sound familiar -- that's because it's an upcoming novel slated for release in January. The film will focus on a student (LaBeouf), heading towards graduation at Yale Law School, who somehow gets manipulated into taking a job with a prestigious law firm. This gig gives him "privileged information about a multibillion-dollar lawsuit." After that, I guess thrilling twists ensue.
It looks like the Shia train has no signs of stopping quite yet. Could the fiery world of law do it? I don't know... I liked him more when he was a wee tyke, and I can't picture him as a Yale smartie. Can you?
I really loved the first Speed movie. You had Keanu before he became Keanu, and Bullock before she became Sandra Bullock -- it was simply a nice, refreshing on-screen duo featuring two actors we didn't quite know yet and a villain played by one we already loved. Speed 2: Electric Cruise Ship Boogaloo? Not so much. And even though the sequel wasn't nearly as successful as the first (partly because the story was absurd, and partly because Keanu was replaced by Jason Patric), folks still talked about a third installment in the series -- so much so that The Guardian even announced last year that Dennis Hopper had a role in it. Weird, I know, considering the ending of the first flick, but who knows what these Hollywood types have up their sleeves.
Which brings us to today and yet another Speed 3 rumor. This time, AICN has received a message from one of their sources that says a scriptment for the sequel is floating around and it reintroduces the Jack Traven character, played by Keanu Reeves. And yes, the studio would like to talk Reeves back into starring. No word on whether Bullock would play leading lady (what else does she have to do?), but something tells me folks would rather Keanu if they had a choice between the two, hence Speed 2: Keanu-less Water Park Nightmare.
What say you? Speed 3 with Keanu? You down for it? And did the film Crank already give us the best possible Speed 3 premise?
When Cinematical visited the set of Sherlock Holmes last month, we certainly wanted to learn a lot more about this much-anticipated film (which we did), but we also wanted to find out once and for all whether the classic Holmes villain Moriarty would make an appearance. Up until this point, Lord Blackwood (Mark Strong) was the only villain on record, and so far folks behind the scenes have managed to successfully dodge the big Moriarty question. That is, until now.
Note: Watch for spoilers below ...
While we received a number of shady answers (followed by evil smirks) from the cast and crew regarding Moriarty during our set visit, IGN managed to get someone to talk: Mr. Mark Strong. At the British Independent Film Awards over the weekend, Strong said this about Moriarty's involvement: "Moriarty's in it ... but you don't really see him. I think he's there because if the franchise carries on, there's a possibility that he will appear in a larger guise. But for the purposes of this one and the detective narrative, I'm the guy that Sherlock's after, Lord Blackwood. And he's a cultist/Satanist lord who is the ultimate cad." So he's there, but you don't see him? Hmmm. I guess we'll take that as solid confirmation ... until we find out who's playing him (ahem, Russell Crowe?).
You'd think there wouldn't be a ton of stuff to catch you post-Turkey blokes up with, but it's the exact opposite. So here's some stuff(ing) and things to skim over today:
-- Folks are going bonkers today over news in Production Weekly that the much-anticipated (and kinda secretive) Tron sequel has changed its title to TRZ in order to trick young kids into thinking MTV has adapted their now-retired TRL for the big screen. Okay, that's not the real reason ... but do we really need to know the real reason? TRZ? Here's the snippet of plot synopsis they provided: "After being transported into the surreal landscape of a mainframe computer to destroy an intruder, a programmer finds himself allied with the leader of a rebellion against a corrupt cyber-entity." According to Disney, an official title for the Tron sequel is not set yet.
-- George Miller finally went on the record and told a talk show in Sydney that he's officially off Justice League. He's done. That's it. Over. Dark Horizons says Miller thinks the film will be recast when (and if) it happens because "the studios seem to want bigger stars in their superhero movies now." We wonder why?
-- According to Shock, a source tells them Rob Zombie will indeed return to direct Halloween 2, the follow-up to his successful (at the box office) reboot of the franchise, titled Halloween. Additionally, the site claims Halloween 2 will begin shooting as early as this March.
-- Why do all the Nazi flicks come out during the holidays? And how do you sell them?
-- Jennifer Hudson's estranged brother-in-law has been arrested for the deaths of the actress/singer's mother, brother and nephew, according to CBS News.
After the jump: First looks at Whip It and Youth in Revolt, more on Chef and a very cool short film contest.
While I still think there's nothing cooler than the talking Tick I got a friend, this other (in)action figure is pretty cool. At some online outlets like Panik's Toy Box, you can pick up a foot-tall talking figure of Frank the Bunny. You know, James Duval's character from Donnie Darko.
As you can see to the right, Frank is chilling next to a mailbox, and you can choose to keep him at his bunny best, or switch the head and look at human Frank. The phrases that play include: "Why are you wearing that stupid man suit?" -- of course -- and "Do you believe in time travel?" As for the price, it's not too bad -- $34.99 -- and it's much more worthy than that damned director's cut. (Although the #1 fan bit rocks.)
Now we just need a Heathers figurine that belts out classics like "How very" and I'll be a happy camper.
Forget about the Clone Wars, because here we have an impressive three-minute trailer for a film that tells of one pen's journey to defend the enslaved pencils from their evil masters, the straight-edge rulers. Described as an "action-packed-epic-romantic-war-thriller -drama-saga starring ... office supplies," The Pen Is Mightier was created for the 2nd Annual Trick 17 Stop Motion Competition where it was awarded the Best Editing prize. According to its little blurb on YouTube, this sucker was "made in 52 hours on 2 dozen redbulls." Now someone get Michael Bay on the horn -- we need to see this epic realized in live-action on the big screen, like, yesterday.
Cinematical has received this exclusive clip from the film Let Them Chirp Awhile, directed by Jonathan Blitstein, and starring a pretty impressive cast of indie talent like Justin Rice (Mutual Appreciation), Brendan Sexton III (Welcome to the Dollhouse), Zach Galligan (Gremlins) and Anthony Rapp (Dazed and Confused).
From the synopsis: "Let Them Chirp Awhile follows three twentysomething artists as they juggle their careers, relationships and emotions in New York City. Bobby (Rice) is a struggling screenwriter who tries to get romantically involved with a woman by agreeing to take care of her dog. His friend Scott (Sexton III) is a depressed, womanizing musician with a sweet and innocent girlfriend while Hart, (Galligan) Bobby's nemesis, is a successful playwright whose campy play about 9/11 has won awards and a run at an off-Broadway theater. What begins as a quirky comedy about relationships and writer's block becomes a coming-of-age tale about competition and self-reliance among the "me-generation."
Let Them Chirp Awhile opens in New York on December 5 (Cinema Village), Chicago on December 12 (AMC Loews Pipers Alley) and Los Angeles on January 2 (Laemmle Sunset 5).
I'm a foodie, so I'm always wowed by the fan cakes that pop up, but this ... this (pardon the pun) really takes the cake. The above should look familiar -- it's an Indiana Jones/Raiders of the Lost Ark Idol Cake, courtesy of Clever Cake Studio. Clever indeed!
Forget old Indy, his son, and the new episodes and sequels. Blech. There's nothing quite like the original, real thing. The only thing that could make this cake better would be to geek it out with a sensor that could tell when the bag is switched with the idol -- without, of course, the tumbling walls and booby traps, that is. To add those would just be a bad idea. Nevertheless, the kid who got that cake is pretty darned lucky.
Or maybe not. I don't know that I could eat something that looks that cool. I'd probably want to leave it out and see how many people practice switching the bag for the idol.
Look, this has nothing to do with films that air on cable television without commercial interruption. And it's even hard for me to rant against films that air on television with commercial interruption because this is the way it's been done for many years now. I can deal with that. I have a DVR, I can record films that air on, say, NBC, and fast forward through the commercials. Sure, from time to time I'll stumble across a flick like Lord of the Rings: Return of the King on TNT HD, become sucked in because Peter Jackson created three awesome movies, and have to deal with commercials since I never recorded it. This happened to me yesterday.
But what I didn't sign up for was to watch some stupid character from whatever random television show drop down the middle of my television screen and start waving at me during a key scene in the film. Oh yes, from out of nowhere this guy swings right down the middle of the screen where he meets some girl and -- whaddya know -- it's an advertisement for another TNT show airing later in the week. Thanks. Because it's bad enough they have to interrupt these films with five-or-so minutes of advertisements, but now they're advertising things DURING THE FREAKING MOVIE.
I got over the watermark in the lower corner because they've since made them a bit more translucent (though MTV is notorious for covering up dialogue on the bottom of the screen with their stupid watermark). But this ... I simply cannot get over. I've noticed these little miniature characters walk on the screen during films and TV shows on both TNT and TBS, and I'm not sure who else is at fault but it needs to stop now. It's literally so irritating that I've banned TNT and TBS in my apartment. Not watching either station until they lose the stupid ads. Please join me.
Back in October, we heard about the large cast of unknowns that were assembling for the remake of Fame. Now we've got word of the instructors, and I'm happy to say -- Debbie Allen leads the pack!
Variety reports that Allen, Charles S. Dutton, Kelsey Grammer, Megan Mullally, and Bebe Neuwirth have signed on for "the roles of instructors and supervisors" in the upcoming remake. Don't worry -- Frasier won't be in tights, but sadly, Allen isn't either. Instead of teaching the kids to dance, Allen will be the school's principal (which makes sense), while Dutton plays an acting teacher, Grammer plays an orchestra maestro, Mullally plays a voice instructor, and Neuwirth plays a dance instructor.
Damn, these kids are lucky -- you can't much better than that for your intructors. But perhaps more importantly -- this means a reunion for Lilith and Frasier! Bebe played Dr. Lilith Sternin-Crane in Cheers, and popped up as the ex in a handful of Frasier episodes. Will the dance instructor canoodle the maestro once again?
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He's had the honor of being the on-screen offspring of names like Harrison Ford and Carrie-Anne Moss. He's faced a few different types of robots. And now, well, he's following the likes of Tom Cruise, Denzel Washington, Matthew McConaughey, and Matt Damon. 
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Look, this has nothing to do with films that air on cable television without commercial interruption. And it's even hard for me to rant against films that air on television with commercial interruption because this is the way it's been done for many years now. I can deal with that. I have a DVR, I can record films that air on, say, NBC, and fast forward through the commercials. Sure, from time to time I'll stumble across a flick like 
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