MCN Blogs
David Poland

By David Poland poland@moviecitynews.com

BYOB 102711

Be Sociable, Share!

72 Responses to “BYOB 102711”

  1. sanj says:

    the guy who plays the gangster in every movie got
    a music video

    Music Video: Luis Guzman By Duck Sauce

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y7vPfmiDLpI

  2. Gus says:

    Anybody get AFI tickets? I have confirmations for four films including the SHAME gala, but haven’t picked up the tickets yet. Never did this before. Does a confirmation number mean I am guaranteed a ticket? It says on the site that a ticket does not guarantee admission. Guess I just have to show up early enough with ticket in hand? The free ticket thing is actually a little confusing to me.

  3. LexG says:

    Is AFI free again this year? That was a DISASTER last year, meaning that MOVIE PRESS ROYALTY like LexG couldn’t get into screenings, but fucking HOMELESS PEOPLE were snoring and lighting off farts in exclusive showings of things like Blue Valentine and The Fighter… Also be prepared to stand in lines with some of the most unsavory, unwashed TWOP-type loudmouth “fan” fringe weirdos straight of “Cinemania” you’ll ever encounter… I did two hours in a line for Black Swan listening to some tubby woman drone on about her autograph collection and was halfway to homicide before throwing in the towel.

    The FREE thing is a HORRIBLE idea… Fucking SNORING HOMELESS PEOPLE in the screenings.

  4. Breedlove says:

    I really hope some A-list director spends 200 million and films A TALE OF TWO CITIES before I die. Am I crazy or this this one of the most cinematic stories ever? I am trying to think who could nail this with Anthony Minghella leaving us too soon…

    Another no-brainer is a movie of the SPRING AWAKENING musical, which would be huge.

    And those are my two random thoughts on a rainy evening in NYC.

  5. Joe Leydon says:

    Seriously: Didn’t Spike Lee already do Spring Awakening?

  6. Joe Leydon says:

    Any while we’re wishing: Dear God, please give me a Blu-Ray of Claude Lelouch’s Les Miserables.

  7. JKill says:

    I think an A TALE OF TWO CITIES adaptation was on The Black List a couple of years back but I don’t know how far along it got/it is. Dickens is one of my favorite novelists, and I think, out of what I have read, that is his most cinematic book.

    I think Marty, Spielberg, Paul Greengrass, Ridley Scott, Alfonso Cuaron, Peter Jackson, Bigelow, Fincher, or Mann could make really cool, wildly different versions.

  8. Gus says:

    Lex, it’s free, but did you know you can reserve tickets ahead of time, and pick them up ahead of time? That’s what I’m talking about. If you go to the fest site now I think some are still available. Also they are staggering releases of more tickets, if you follow them on Facebook you can see the updates.

  9. movieman says:

    Spike Lee did “Passing Strange,” not “Spring Awakening,” Joe.
    (I was a videotaped recording of the B’way musical rather than a full-blown adaptation. Not surprisingly, it aired on PBS’ Great Performances series shortly after a “courtesy” Sundance premiere.)
    In 2009, McG was tapped to helm the film version of “Spring Awakening.”
    But I haven’t heard a peep about the project since. My guess is they’re still looking for a replacement director. (Pray that Chris Columbus doesn’t get the nod.)

  10. sanj says:

    entertainment tonight gets people to wear fat suits .

    so stupid they should turn this into a sitcom..

    1 minute video

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XSEYe9MDkns

  11. pengster says:

    ‘In Time’ is set in the near future. How come no one uses a cellphone in the movie?

  12. MarkVH says:

    A Tale of Two Cities is minor Dickens.

  13. Joe Leydon says:

    Pengster: In the near future, they found out that cell phones cause brain cancer?

  14. sanj says:

    mtv brought back beavis and butthead

    this time they make fun of tv shows and music videos

    however they make fun of jersey shore which is on mtv

    overall this new version is the same animation and characters from the first version like 15 years ago but the writing isn’t there.

    they’ve got lots of commercials for tower heist / puss and boots and just dance 3 video game .

    why isn’t DP reviewing this ..DP are you too good for beavis and butthead ? are you mad they aren’t making fun of the dp/30’s …cause that would be fun.

  15. Breedlove says:

    Alfonso Cuaron. Fuck yes. I was thinking Marty, Spielberg, Nolan, Mann, the usual big guys, but Cuaron is the answer. Great call.

    Spike Lee actually was attached to Spring Awakening at one point, wasn’t Justin Timberlake supposed to be in it?

    You know what’s painfully awkward? When celebrities bring up the same lame shit in interview after interview. Chris Martin of Coldplay constantly name drops in every single interview I’ve ever read with him, never fails to mention that he hangs out with Jay-Z, and seems awkwardly obsessed with Coldplay’s standing compared to Beyonce and Adele and Justin Bieber, I’m not explaining it well but he always gives these People magazine type interviews obsessing over other lame pop acts and how Coldplay compares to them and how famous they are in this attempt to be self-deprecating that totally backfires and makes him look like a douche. Pretty sure Thom Yorke doesn’t care about that shit, just saying. Other examples: Kings of Leon brag endlessly about how much they drink in every single interview, and Jesse Eisenberg mentions that he doesn’t own a TV or ever watch movies in every interview. LAME.

    Alfonso Cuaron if you are reading this get Christian Bale and make ATOTC happen.

  16. scooterzz says:

    fwiw — when i interviewed mcg last year (for ‘human target’), he still had his hands all over ‘spring awakening’ and was pretty clear in how he wanted to bring it to the screen…. i’ve no idea if he’s still on-board but he sounded pretty invested at that time…

  17. Breedlove says:

    Bummer if McHack does it.

  18. yancyskancy says:

    Disagree with sanj — loved the return of Beavis and Butthead (though admittedly the first half was funnier than the second). And the only repurposed animation is the stuff during the videos; the story sections are new and in HD.

  19. sanj says:

    watched beavis and butthead again – yeah still not
    funny – they aren’t doing any smart commentary like
    south park does …

    i did like the beavis and butthead movie ..

    beavis and butthead – still better than the new Adam Sandler movie

  20. Paul MD (Stella's Boy) says:

    So, anybody watching anything special over Halloween weekend? And why the hell isn’t there a wide-release horror movie coming out this weekend?

  21. Greg says:

    Canadian classic ‘My Bloody Valentine’ is playing at the Bell Lightbox on Halloween night with director George Mihalka in attendance. Ive got my tickets (although they overcharged my credit card).

  22. Paul MD (Stella's Boy) says:

    The uncut version I imagine? That will be fun.

  23. Greg says:

    Actually, its the cut version (Im assuming 35mm). After the film, he will be discussing the problems with the MPAA and showing the deleted scenes.

  24. Paul MD (Stella's Boy) says:

    Oh OK. I’m jealous. That sounds like a great time.

  25. sanj says:

    i upgraded to IE 9 .. took 10 minutes .

    every microsoft update on anything requires a reboot
    and that has a basic screen …and it always seems like
    it gets stuck but doesn’t . very annoying .

    so now i have a backup browser to firefox and chrome .

    so when the browser totally crashes . it kinda hard
    to get on the internet to figure out the problem
    unless you got a backup browser which i have.

    unless its a internet connection problem which is something else that requires phone calls to tech people.

    so updating IE is a pain and just get firefox .

    plus save your bookmarks .

    nobody really has made a super easy to way to save
    everything on your computer that takes less than 5 minutes.

  26. movieman says:

    And why the hell isn’t there a wide-release horror movie coming out this weekend?

    Probably because everyone knows they’d be crushed by “PA3.” If “PA” could single-handedly kill the “Saw” franchise (good riddance, Jigsaw), they could do it to any other horror flick-come-lately.

  27. sanj says:

    celebrities photoshopped to make them look short

    http://imgur.com/a/T4hzK#0

  28. Gus says:

    Makes Fright Night’s release date all the more puzzling.

  29. LexG says:

    JIGSAW was the heir apparent to Michael Myers as the GOD OF HALLOWEEN.

    He is greatly missed (by me) this year… It really isn’t the same without a new SAW this weekend; How much could those movies cost, 10 mil, tops? MORE SAW PLEASE.

    Also ANONYMOUS is fantastic… could not BELIEVE how good Rhys Ifans is in it. And Rafe Spall. And Joely Richardson.

    But is Derek Jacobi kind of INSTANT HILARITY now, post-Hereafter?

  30. torpid bunny says:

    Interesting concept Sanj. It begs the question, with all this retroactive 3D, couldn’t we go back and cgi all of Bad Boys 2 so that Smith and Lawrence have Little People proportions? And would this open up whole new vistas in this significant film? It would be an interesting experiment certainly.

  31. GexL says:

    Horror movies upset me, as does excessive foot odor.

  32. JKill says:

    I held off on PA3 last week, so I went to it today to celebrate the holiday. I had a pretty great time with it; it’s defintely the most amped up of the movies, and I’m pretty charmed by how they’re creating an interlocking mythology, while keeping the films whole and separate, and not a yearly episode of television. I thought the cast was uniformly good, and the CATFISH guys handled both the haunted house stuff and the domestic reality quite well.

    I’m jealous at those who have already seen ANONYMOUS. I have to wait.

  33. sanj says:

    torpid bunny – little people …let Peter Jackson / Tim Burton do it.

  34. LexG says:

    PA3 is terrific, maybe my favorite of the three, plus the “mom” is HOT. No idea who that is, but she needs to get more work from it.

    Also enjoyed Baba Booey’s lead performance.

  35. JKill says:

    Yeah, the mom is defintely hot. (LOVED the scene where the couple attempts to do what almost every couple would try to do if they had this much video technology around…) For a while, I thought the lead dude (who was very good) was the co-director’s brother from CATFISH with a beard…but the credits told me otherwise.

    I’m curious if Lionsgate is going to try to make their turn with TEXAS CHAINSAW (by the director of TAKERS, no less) into their next SAW. SAW has defined the company over the last decade or so, and I would think they would want another dependable franchise. I do think having a SAW every year, and now a PA every year, is a fun thing for a horror fan. (I still haven’t watched the last two entries of SAW. Maybe Monday night…)

    Speaking of the true GOD OF HALLOWEEN, I watched H4 and H5 back to back, and I’ve came to the realization that what Myers has that the other horror icons don’t is his ability to drive a car really, realy well.

  36. Joe Leydon says:

    I just today learned that The Host has been retrofitted for 3-D — and that a sequel will be shot in 3-D. Sounds good to me.

  37. sanj says:

    they need some new writers to keep the saw series fresh
    + new actors who have real stories people care about .

    probably easier making final destination movies every year..

    where are all the horror movie dp/30’s . stupid oscar nominated movies prevent DP from reaching down to the horror movie level and telling us scary stories …

    i’m pretty sure sex and city 2 can qualify has a horror movie.

  38. sanj says:

    its too bad that Maria Sharapova the tennis star don’t act .. she has the LOOK AT HER factor …
    could be in dozens of movies in small parts .

    Anna Kournikova was a model pretending to be a tennis star . now on a reality show.

    DP – use your movie critic superpowers and put Maria into transformers 4 or Bond film. she’s got international look about her .. she can wear nice dress and use guns .
    = box office power.

    Maria helps kids around the world .

    http://www.mariasharapova.com/foundation.aspx

  39. sanj says:

    Justin Bieber Orders Imprisonment of U.S. Senator

    “Bieber said that he loves it when his fans record themselves singing his copyrighted songs and post them to YouTube. And according to some critics, Klobuchar’s bill could make it a felony to simply post a video of yourself singing a copyrighted song to YouTube, ”

    http://gawker.com/5854368/justin-bieber-orders-imprisonment-of-us-senator?tag=idols

  40. LexG says:

    JKill (or any other horror fans, given it’s the time to discuss such things)…

    The HALLOWEEN series is pretty much along w James Bond in terms of being things that are “my Star Wars”… Halloween being my absolute favorite horror franchise, in part BECAUSE of the totally ramshackle, zero-continuity, pulled-out-the-ass inconsistencies and blasphemies they’ve had to indulge to keep a series going for 33 years even though Michael Myers AND CLEARLY Dr. Loomis were blown to smithereens at the epicenter of a MASSIVE explosion that took out an entire hospital *eight* movies ago.

    There’s so many crazy permutations– You can be a purist and only recognize Carpenter’s original; You can consider I & II official and everything else bullshit since Michael and Loomis die there… H20 TOTALLY ignores Halloween 2; Halloweens 4, 5 and 6 are their own weirdo low-rent Salt Lake City bargain-basement mean-spirited AWESOME trilogy of storytelling incompetence, bad masks (Michael looks like a TOTAL DOUCHE in part 4), and good suspense setpieces… H20 is all tony and respectful and this loving swan song to Jamie Lee… then five minutes into the next one they off her in the most depressing way ever… Then there’s the Zombie movies, which are kind of their own inverted weirdo version.

    It’s like the most cynical franchise ever if you look at one way, or it’s just an escalating series of remakes and new approaches to the same material, more like old monster movies than something like Freddy that played pretty much fair with the style and backstory… And of course there’s Halloween III, which is deranged genius in its own way, and stylistically more of a piece with the first two than any of the subsequent Michael movies.

  41. JKill says:

    I haven’t seen THE CURSE OF MICHAEL MYERS, but that’s a pretty great description of the series. I was always more into FRIDAY THE 13th as a kid, even though I considered Carpenter’s HALLOWEEN a better movie.

    HALLOWEEN II works perfectly well as a companion to the original, and it’s kind of like PSYCHO II (which is also awesome) in how it’s more slasher-y and violent but feels faithful in spirit. HIII is sort of amazing, both in what a left turn it is in the series and how effective the actual movie is once you get past the fact that it’s unrelated to the first two movies. (“Silver Shamrock” is the catchiest thing ever.)

    H4 and 5 are obscenely entertaining. Yeah, not only does Michael have an odd mask in 4 but his hair looks overly blonde. I also love how shameless these two are with pumping Carpenter’s theme song. The later movies use it more sparingly, but they just go all out and it’s great. The scene in 4 where Michael and Loomis have a show down in a gas station, which leads to Michael driving through the garage door, which somehow causes a massive explosion, all set to Carpenter’s sweet, sweet sounds is a kind of movie nirvana.

    H20 and H:R saw the series morphing into the then-popular neo-slashers of the era (SCREAM, URBAN LEGENDS). I’m in the process of watching these two again now.

    I think the two Rob Zombie entries are fascinating. They are like the art house, nihilistic, and angry take on the character. It’s strange that people freaked out about Zombie remaking it, considering the loopy, ever changing mythology you mentioned above. Those two movies are so ingrained with his voice, that they feel original despite their origins. (The second, in particular, merits serious academic consideration because it is so aesthetically and thematically off-beat.)

    The one thing MOST of the HALLOWEENs have in common is great endings. Other than RESURRECTION (whose ending I remember despising), they all end on really striking notes and images that linger in a macabre way.

  42. sanj says:

    hey Joe – you still getting comments from that Leo interview you did ?

  43. Paul MD (Stella's Boy) says:

    Most horror geeks love Zombie (“He’s a true fan”) and his movies. If any of them freaked out over his Halloween remakes, it had more to do with the fact that Halloween was being remade and less to do with Zombie remaking it. Also, like a year or two before he remade Halloween, Zombie dumped all over remakes, so he caught a little flak for that.

    I despise his remakes, and not because I care about someone remaking Halloween. Attempting to explain Michael Myers was beyond idiotic, and I’m not overly fond of Zombie’s obsession with white trash scum. His remakes are boring and I’d rather rewatch any of the previous Halloween movies over either one of Zombie’s.

    I also love the series. Just rewatched H20 and Resurrection about a week ago. I love the music and seeing Myers onscreen. Never get tired of it. Watching 4&5 repeatedly on AMC every October used to be an annual event before I ditched cable. Good times.

  44. sanj says:

    movie critics time is running out – you can convert the people who see twilight into indie movie fans .

    give away 100 passes to an indie movie to the twilight fans and then interview them ..see which one they liked better .

    this would be a great pr stunt by a movie studio like ifc …which can give out stakeland – x – we are the night .

    we are the night 2011 is the best choice – twiight fans will go crazy for this movie and ifc will get every twilight fan to watch and suddenly it makes 10 million dollars on dvd or vod sales.

    i got the bestest ideas nobody uses .

  45. Martin S says:

    Zombie is worthwhile when it’s something original, like his Salem project. His potential remakes…maybe if he did something totally unexpected but in his wheelhouse, like Gremlins…

    …actually, he was the perfect guy for Fright Night, come to think of it. His ability to play the garish “Fright Night” TV show visuals versus his monsters next door would have been pitch-perfect. What a lost opportunity.

  46. Martin S says:

    Christ Almighty Sanj – Open a GODDAMN TWITTER ACCOUNT ALREADY!!

  47. Tim DeGroot says:

    An amusing ancillary to the Halloween series was the paperback novelization of the original film, which had a prologue set in the middle ages and suggested that Michael was possessed by the spirit of a retarded and murderous medieval peasant.

  48. Joe Leydon says:

    Sanj: If you mean my Leonardo DiCaprio interview on YouTube — yep, still get comments. Bet I get even more once the 3-D Titanic sets sail next year.

  49. JKill says:

    I’m going to have to track down that novelization. It sounds amazing. I actually did read a HALLOWEEN novel that had to do with Myers stabbing his way through a student created haunted house or something…

  50. Don R. Lewis says:

    I love Zombie’s HALLOWEEN movies…sorta. I agree trying to explain Myers was a bad choice and all that white horse nonsense in 2 was super lame. I just don’t think Zombie has the mental ability to psychoanalyze Myers or, anyone for that matter. Not saying he’s dumb, I have no clue. His “insight” into Myers psyche seemed cribbed from “A Dummy’s Guide to Mental Illness.”

    Still, I find those movies creepy, gross and above all- BRUTAL. Myers is so unhinged and the deaths are so brutal and mean spirited. I just feel bad for everyone getting hacked up. Which is an interesting dichotomy to most horror films where you’re anxiously awaiting the deaths.

    Also-
    finally caught BELLFLOWER last night….wow. WOW. Great, weird, creative and totally engrossing film. There’s so many influences in it and so much creativity it becomes wholly it’s OWN thing. I loved it.

  51. Sideshow Bill says:

    I have that novelization in my garage, in a box with a bunch of novelizations. Forgot about that, Tim.

    I’m with LexG on the Halloween series being more important than Star Wars to me. Even the bad ones. H5 is the worst to me. The mask is horrid, it’s badly lit and paced, there isn’t one sympathetic character (even Loomis is annoying). If you listen to the commentary (yes, I have too much time on my hands) the director seems to think he made THE SHINING.

    I’ve grown to like CURSE (or H6) because it’s so wacked out. Has some good atmosphere and good character moments. Bradford English gives a great performance as a total prick, too.

    I’m a sucker for the series. The remakes are very hit and miss for me (I like how brutal Michael is, and I like the mask a lot). There was a missed opportunity, though, because the themes of paranoia and fear were very relavent in the country around the time the remake happened, and that could have been exploited for something.

    I’m looking forward to LORDS OF SALEM and I have never looked forward to a Rob Zombie movie. It seems like a good match between material and filmmaker’s skil; set.

  52. JKill says:

    One of the reasons I appreciate Zombie’s two HALLOWEENs is that quality of just “feeling bad” for the victims, as you said Don. His sequel is so interesting to me because we stick with the “survivor” of the original movie, and she’s messed up in an unpleasant, real way, something that’s pretty rare for the genre. I don’t need movies always to be morally sound or to depict violence and life in all its cruelty (One of the most fun theater experiences of the year, for me, was FINAL DESTINATION 5…) but I think the way that there are physical, psychological, and emotional consequences to the mayhem is a worthwhile tweak to the slasher genre.

    I probably should add, if we’re on the discussion of Zombie, that THE DEVIL’S REJECTS would probably make my top 25 American films of the aughts list.

  53. LexG says:

    It’s a superficial thing but not a minor one: It’s always bothered me, how hard it really could be to get that mask right; I know that MASK MANIAC Zombie probably wanted masks that were close in spirit but still up his alley, but those middle sequels… My God, how hard could it really have been to re-create the Shatner original from 1 and 2?

    Halloween 4 he’s got this ROUND FACE with weird hair, and his ROYAL BLUE JUMPSUIT has shoulder pads and flood pants… 5 has this ENORMOUS MASK with weird features and a protruding neck… 6 is a little closer but still bizarre; They shot H20 with him in some sleek plastic helmet mask they had to CG over in at least one shot… And one thing EVERY post-H2 director has gotten wrong is showing the eyes. They should never be visible thru the slits, but everyone has fucked this up.

    It’s also eternally amusing to me that every Myers sequel AND REMAKE has hinged on that “Laurie’s his sister!” bullshit that wasn’t in the original at all, which was just a last-minute bad idea Carpenter says he whipped out after too many beers after hitting a block writing H2. Michael in the original is just some motive-less cipher who kills randomly; He’s not related to Laurie Strode. Also much as I like Zombie’s versions, there’s something to be said about how graceful, good-humored and GOOFY Michael is in the ’78 film, setting up elaborate practical jokes and disguises and just walking around delightfully even when he’s chasing Laurie. That was kind of what was so effective, as opposed to the HURRICANE OF DESTRUCTION mean-spirited Michael of the sequels and remakes.

  54. Sideshow Bill says:

    It’s not superficial. Myers IS that mask. They fucked it up so badly sometimes it take you out of the movie. Jason’s hockey mask was at least consistent even if what was underneath was not. Steve Miner fucked the mask up in H20, and they made it worse with that CGI. It looks animated at times. Why not just use an 1985/86 Don Post “The Mask”? Not great but better than some of the shit they designed on their own.

  55. Don R. Lewis says:

    JKill- when the credits roll at the end of Zombies H2 and there’s just that main survivor girl’s crying heard, I just feel yucky. That’s effective filmmaking.

  56. I’ve always liked Halloween 6 more than most. Flawed as it is (I’ve seen both versions, btw), the whole thing has this sorrowful, painfully depressing quality to it that really stings, a portrait of a small town that’s already so mournful and lost that Michael Meyers coming back is just adding salt to an already festering wound (it’s what Freddy’s Dead could have been had they taken the ‘return to a childless-Elm Street’ premise seriously). Fair or not, Pleasance’s passing gives it more weight than I think was intended, as his portrayal of an Ahab who has finally giving up searching for the white whale only to realize he has nothing left to live for is powerful and sad.

    I was pretty down on Zombie’s Halloween when it first came out. I stand by the film’s structural issues (the second act is basically the original film truncated into 30 minutes, while the third act is a painfully dull ‘chase the final girl’ finale), I think the cruelty of the violence rubbed me the wrong way and I shouldn’t have penalized the film for disturbing me as such. I rather like Zombie’s Halloween 2, especially if you buy Luke Thompson’s interpretation*, and I loved the whole idea of somewhat realistically dealing with what an actual survivor of such a rampage would actually go through (which is one of the reasons I love Scream 2). I like that Halloween II takes place right after Halloween, as its a rare chance to see the ‘real time’ discovery of the carnage, which is still something that I don’t think has been replicated (?). As for Halloween III, it’s still one of the trippiest, creepiest and just-plain fun 80s horror films around. The last act is pretty terrific and I’ve long argued that, without the confusion and complaints about it not belonging in the Halloween series, it would otherwise be appreciated today as the horror classic that it is (admit it, you now have the Silver Shamrock song in your head… you’re welcome).

    Scott Mendelson

    * For those who care (spoiler-filled) – http://www.lytrules.com/blog/2009/08/29/rob-zombies-halloween-ii-a-spoiler-heavy-defense/

    PS – Lex is right though about the varied continuity. There are so many options regarding how to watch the series that it becomes a Choose Your Own Adventure of sorts. I actually made a chart years ago for an essay that I never wrote, so I might as well toss it here.

    Halloween -> Halloween II -> Halloween III: Season of the Witch -> Halloween IV: The Return of Michael Myers -> Halloween V: The Revenge Of Michael Myers -> Halloween VI: The Curse of Michael Myers* -> Halloween H20: 20 Years Later -> Halloween Resurrection

    Halloween -> Halloween II -> Halloween IV: The Return of Michael Myers -> Halloween V: The Revenge Of Michael Myers -> Halloween VI: The Curse of Michael Myers* -> Halloween H20: 20 Years Later -> Halloween Resurrection

    Halloween -> Halloween II -> Halloween H20: 20 Years Later -> Halloween Resurrection

    Halloween -> Halloween H20: 20 Years Later -> Halloween Resurrection

    Halloween (2007) -> Halloween II (2009)

  57. Sideshow Bill says:

    There is a lot of good stuff in H6. The premise/explanation itself isn’t bad on it’s own. It just needed a different touch.

    Just got back from seeing PARANORMAL 3 w/ my wife and daughter. Shocked at how much I loved it. This stuff works on me. I know it doesn’t for everyone. And I love the found footage genre. This was a top-shelf effort. There was no annoying male character this time. None of the characters were annoying. It was well-acted. The pacing, for this series, was practically breakneck. Agree that it’s the funniest of the 3. And it was scary. There are 3 or 4 scares here that are as good as I’ve seen in a while, one being a nice nod to Carpenter’s HALLOWEEN. And I thought they handled the “explanation” or what have you with just the right touch. The last 10-15 minutes were a great haunted house run-through.

    Yea. Had a great time. Speaking of “found footage” ATROCIOUS arrived from Netflix today. Anybody seen/care to comment?

  58. Sideshow Bill says:

    Totally off-topic, but I just saw a Target commercial that used the opening riff of “I Was A Teenage Werewolf” by The Cramps/ Wow, They used Carl Newman’s “Miracle Drug” in a previous campaign. I await their Christmas ads accompanied by Robyn Hitchcock’s “The Man With The Light Bulb Head.”

  59. Sideshow Bill says:

    Rob Zombie’s IT’S THE GREAT PUMPKIN, CHARLIE BROWN! (NSFW)

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=380p1agGvhg

  60. sanj says:

    watched zombie apocalypse syfy .. overall this wasn’t stupid enough ..

    http://www.wired.com/geekdad/2011/10/zombie-apocalypse-tonight-at-9pm-et-8pm-ct-on-syfy/

    hopefuily 1 out 100 zombies that get 30 seconds of screen time will come out and do some real acting in the future …

  61. sanj says:

    i was at walmart and Kim Kardashian was on the cover of 4
    tabloid magazines this week.

    the less talent you have the more tabloid covers you can get.

    too all the big shot hollywood actors. dumb yourself down
    so you can too be on the cover.

    sure movie critics don’t read any of these tabloids ..but the people of walmart love this crap.

  62. sanj says:

    The 14 Worst Movie Reviews From America’s Jerk Film Critic – Armond White

    http://www.buzzfeed.com/jpmoore/the-14-worst-movie-reviews-from-americas-jerk-fil

  63. Paul MD (Stella's Boy) says:

    Atrocious is pretty good. It doesn’t break any new ground in the found footage realm, but it’s well-made and often very creepy. I enjoyed it. Did you watch it yet Sideshow? Watched Good Neighbours last night as part of my Halloween horror weekend. That’s one wacked out flick.

    I want to see the Producer’s Cut of H6 (or whatever it’s called). I hear it’s pretty different. And yes it’s brutal, but I wasn’t all that disturbed by the violence in Zombie’s Halloween movies. It’s exactly what I expected from him, and it’s boring. He’s a terrible, terrible writer. He can do despicable white trash and not much else. I hope Lords of Salem is better than his Halloween series.

  64. sanj says:

    she has a LOOK AT HER factor – she was in Maxim magazine … but also has several films coming out … probably won’t win any awards

    fun bio i found …. tending on twitter..fun job.

    Mircea Monroe

    http://www.imdb.com/name/nm1597260/bio

    “She is an active talent in all aspects of new media, creating viral videos and trending on Twitter”

  65. sanj says:

    Kim Kardashian getting a divorce . this means at least 1 month worth of tabloid covers .

    so many real actors can’t this type of fake reality tv coverage….

    the ultimate reminder of power of tv and its effects .

    movie studios should pay attention and try to create something this fake for one of their movies.

  66. sanj says:

    hey DP – Taissa Farmiga is in American Horror Story tv ..
    also sister of Vera Farmiga …who had lots of dp/30’s ..
    so why didn’t Vera hook up her sister with a dp/30 ?
    or did Vera want you to take a year or so before you figured out the connection ?

  67. Sideshow Bill says:

    Haven’t watched ATROCIOUS yet,Paul. Weekend got away from me Halloween party/festivities with the kids, etc. Have the next few days off so may catch up with it and some other things. Thanks for the info and I look forward to it.

    Is GOOD NEIGHBORS on dvd/OnDemand? Been looking forward to that one but lost track. A friend implored me to see SNOWTOWN, and I’ve been looking forward to seeing that as well since the trailer. Not sure how he saw it. He’s English but lives and works in Bangkok so who knows. Probably best not to ask. He’s my official “head’s up” on Foreign goodies.

    I’ve seen bits and pieces of the H6 Producer’s Cut but never as a whole. Probably not hard to find if you look in the right spots.

  68. sanj says:

    watched new girl tv show – i really liked this weeks episode . funny. Zooey Deschanel did a great job.
    great wwriting – felt like a mini movie.

    breaking …Zooey Deschanel has separated from her husband after two years of marriage.

    covert affairs is back on tv …

    dp/30 with Piper Perabo

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CYdzoLn_IYA

  69. scooterzz says:

    i completely enjoyed ‘a very harold & kumar 3d christmas’ … and it has nothing to do with the case of 64 white castle cheeseburgers delivered to my freezer….jus’ sayin’….

  70. cadavra says:

    Caught WOMEN ON THE 6th FLOOR this evening. I was initially startled by the similarities with THE HELP (purely coincidental, as they were shot roughly around the same time), but it soon struck out on its own as a smart, big-hearted comedy-drama in which essentially decent (but very different) people come to respect each other in an unlikely manner. Fabrice Luchini deserves an Oscar nom as the rich Parisian stockbroker who comes to befriend the Spanish maids in his building; of course, he has even less of a chance than Brendan Gleeson.

  71. Pretty great post. I just stumbled upon your blog and wanted to say that I’ve truly enjoyed browsing your weblog posts. In any case I will be subscribing for your rss feed and I hope you write once more soon!

The Hot Blog

Quote Unquotesee all »

It shows how out of it I was in trying to be in it, acknowledging that I was out of it to myself, and then thinking, “Okay, how do I stop being out of it? Well, I get some legitimate illogical narrative ideas” — some novel, you know?

So I decided on three writers that I might be able to option their material and get some producer, or myself as producer, and then get some writer to do a screenplay on it, and maybe make a movie.

And so the three projects were “Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep,” “Naked Lunch” and a collection of Bukowski. Which, in 1975, forget it — I mean, that was nuts. Hollywood would not touch any of that, but I was looking for something commercial, and I thought that all of these things were coming.

There would be no Blade Runner if there was no Ray Bradbury. I couldn’t find Philip K. Dick. His agent didn’t even know where he was. And so I gave up.

I was walking down the street and I ran into Bradbury — he directed a play that I was going to do as an actor, so we know each other, but he yelled “hi” — and I’d forgot who he was.

So at my girlfriend Barbara Hershey’s urging — I was with her at that moment — she said, “Talk to him! That guy really wants to talk to you,” and I said “No, fuck him,” and keep walking.

But then I did, and then I realized who it was, and I thought, “Wait, he’s in that realm, maybe he knows Philip K. Dick.” I said, “You know a guy named—” “Yeah, sure — you want his phone number?”

My friend paid my rent for a year while I wrote, because it turned out we couldn’t get a writer. My friends kept on me about, well, if you can’t get a writer, then you write.”
~ Hampton Fancher

“That was the most disappointing thing to me in how this thing was played. Is that I’m on the phone with you now, after all that’s been said, and the fundamental distinction between what James is dealing with in these other cases is not actually brought to the fore. The fundamental difference is that James Franco didn’t seek to use his position to have sex with anyone. There’s not a case of that. He wasn’t using his position or status to try to solicit a sexual favor from anyone. If he had — if that were what the accusation involved — the show would not have gone on. We would have folded up shop and we would have not completed the show. Because then it would have been the same as Harvey Weinstein, or Les Moonves, or any of these cases that are fundamental to this new paradigm. Did you not notice that? Why did you not notice that? Is that not something notable to say, journalistically? Because nobody could find the voice to say it. I’m not just being rhetorical. Why is it that you and the other critics, none of you could find the voice to say, “You know, it’s not this, it’s that”? Because — let me go on and speak further to this. If you go back to the L.A. Times piece, that’s what it lacked. That’s what they were not able to deliver. The one example in the five that involved an issue of a sexual act was between James and a woman he was dating, who he was not working with. There was no professional dynamic in any capacity.

~ David Simon