Deja Vu All Over Again...

A new trailer for the next Denzel Washington movie - Deja Vu (Nov.22) - is online over at Yahoo Movies. Looks like an interesting take on the time travel genre. It's also a movie filmed in post-Katrina Louisiana. For that alone, it'd be interesting to watch for the cinematography. However, I like the feel of the trailer, and I can enjoy the notion of time travel in movies (when done right), and Denzel Washington is always watchable. Directed by Tony Scott could be good or bad though. If he doesn't get too carried away with camera tricks and quick edits, it'll be good. I really liked Man on Fire and thought the camera effects worked really well for that one, but I have yet to sit through Domino, so we'll see. The only thing I didn't like about the trailer was the weird KITT sounding, movie-guy, voice over at the beginning. Kinda took me out of it there for a second... As a side note - looking at IMDB's listing for Tony Scott, he's set to direct a remake of The Warriors?! That was a movie I didn't know anything about till I caught it on Spike TV one night and thoroughly enjoyed it - cheesiness and all. I can't imagine what an updated Tony Scott remake is going to look like...

Somewhere Along The Way...

Well, I woke up Sunday morning With no way to hold my head that didn't hurt. And the beer I had for breakfast wasn't bad, So I had one more for dessert. Then I fumbled through my closet for my clothes And found my cleanest dirty shirt. Then I washed my face and combed my hair And stumbled down the stairs to meet the day. I'd smoked my brain the night before On cigarettes and songs I'd been picking. Then I lit my first and watched a small kid Cussin' at a can that he was kicking. Then I crossed the empty street And caught the Sunday smell of someone frying chicken. And it took me back to something that I'd lost Somehow, somewhere along the way. On a Sunday morning sidewalk, Wishing, Lord, that I was stoned. 'Cause there's something in a Sunday That makes a body feel alone. There ain't nothing short a' dying Half as lonesome as the sound Of the sleeping city sidewalk And Sunday morning coming down. In the park I saw a daddy With a laughing little girl that he was swinging. And I stopped beside a Sunday school And listened to the songs they were singing. Then I headed back for home, And somewhere far away a lonesome bell was ringing, And it echoed through the canyon Like the disappearing dreams of yesterday. On a Sunday morning sidewalk, Wishing, Lord, that I was stoned. 'Cause there's something in a Sunday That makes your body feel alone. There ain't nothing short a' dying Half as lonesome as the sound Of the sleeping city sidewalk And Sunday morning coming down. --by Kris Kristofferson

A Memory As Good As Logan's...

There is now a website up for the X-Men 3 DVD coming October 3. Not a lot there really – the same mutant profiles and wallpapers as the movie site and a desktop theme that is not available yet. However, there are 6 movie clips that you can watch. The fifth one was interesting to me… How did I miss that in the movie? Is that an extended scene, or did I watch the movie twice and just not catch that? In the quick clip, Logan and Storm are in Jean’s house fighting Juggernaut and Callisto. Logan is having a tough time with Juggernaut, but manages to dig his claws into him. Then he yells out to Storm who throws a bolt of lightning at his other hand with claws extended. Logan uses his adamantium frame and his own body as a conductor to fry Juggernaut. Of course, Logan will heal, and it’s a good way to slow down Juggs. It’s a pretty cool fight moment, but I don’t remember seeing that in the movie. Same for the parts where Storm tries to throw lightning bolts at Callisto, but Callisto blocks Storm’s arm and the ceiling winds up with holes in it. That house sequence was one of the few parts of the movie that was really well done, but how did I miss stuff like that? Maybe I’m getting old…

Another Trailer Online

Trailer For De Niro's Good Shepherd Two nights in a row I come home from work to find a new trailer has hit the net. Cinema Blend has a link to the trailer for the upcoming December movie, The Good Shepherd. It's about the birth of the CIA and looks pretty good. It stars Matt Damon, Angelina Jolie, and Robert DeNiro among others. Joe Pesci also is in there, and as Cinema Blend pointed out, looks incredibly old. I almost didn't recognize Leo Getz... As long as this doesn't venture into The Talented Mr. Ripley territory (oh that was an awful flick), I'll want to see it. It should be good if you got DeNiro and Jolie in there as well. You can follow the link above for the story and trailer, or download the trailer here. I don't think its QT7, but I could be wrong...

300 Promo Trailer Is Online!

The Movie Blog: 300 Promo Trailer The trailer for the movie 300 has finally arrived, and it is fantastic. It's a movie based on Frank Miller's graphic novel about the vastly outnumbered 300 Spartans that battle the invading Persians in the 480 BC Battle of Thermopylae. It is said it helped bring about the world's first democracy. The trailer at the link is of course Flash based, so if you can't see it just remember to watch the movie "300" when it comes out next year. Trust me, this is going to be good. "Before this battle is over, the world will know that few stood against many."

New Trailers

ComingSoon.net - New Trailers for Blood Diamond & The Prestige New trailers out today. Blood Diamond looks like an intense action-drama with Leo DiCaprio and Jennifer Connelly. DiCaprio with a British accent takes some getting used to though... Then there's the new one for The Prestige. Not really anything new shown, and in fact it's not as good a trailer as the first one. This one kind of left me feeling 'meh', where as the first one really got me interested. If you didn't know anything about the movie, this wouldn't necessarily get you intrigued. Too flat, lack of pacing, and no connection to the characters. I still think the movie will be good, but odd that they'd release a poorer trailer now...

X-Men 3 DVD a Double Dip

Ratner On the X-Men DVD Oh I'm shocked, just shocked, that they would douple dip and have a Special Edition coming out soon. Really, though, who didn't see this coming? The release on October 3 is a single disc, as far as I can tell, whether you get the special 'Stan Lee Collection' or the basic one. Now, both the previous films came out on 2 disc editions, and Singer proclaimed he hated double dips on the X-Men 1.5 release (oh, the irony), and there was no double dip on X2, so with him gone and Fox in charge, you just knew this was going to happen. I haven't heard a date yet, but if you're going out to but this DVD on October 3, consider yourself warned. The one thing I am interested in on the Oct 3 release is the three alternate endings. Just how bad were the other two that they went with the one they did? Sure, I enjoyed the movie, but it could have been just so much better...

"They Won't See This Coming"

In a salute to one of the best shows and movie ever made - Firefly / Serenity - not to mention last September's heart breaking box office flameout (Why put it out in September, Why?!), I bring you a YouTube find of a fanmade music vid for Serenity set to Bon Jovi's Dry County. Vid made by someone called 'SuddenDeathbyFangirl'. It's an excellent video, well made, and fits the Serenity world perfectly. Plus, it's over 9 minutes long. Enjoy. Note: Spoilers aplenty if you haven't seen the movie.

Anyone Going To the Movies?

Another weak weekend at the box office. September is like a black hole for movies doing well money wise, so it's no surprise. Gridiron Gang came in first with 15 mil in 3,504 theatres. The one I want to see, The Black Dahlia, came in second with 10.4 mil in 2,226 theatres. About a 3rd less money in a 3rd less theatres, seems about right. Still, I was hoping The Black Dalhia would cakewalk the top spot and we'd have a revival of noir films. Oh well, back to the niche spot I guess...

My Two Common Cents...

Further to the comments of the last post, how do you get people to smarten up and not give away freedom in the process? Should people be allowed to be freely stupid at a cost to others, and if that is curbed, is that an encroachment on freedom? From what I’ve seen, people don’t change their ways unless is costs them big time. And even then it sometimes doesn’t take. Still, can you legislate common sense? Is that what no smoking laws are? Seat belt laws? Drunk driving laws? Is that the government stepping in saying “you’re not smart enough not to hurt yourselves, so we have to do something about it.”? If people want to do something stupid and the only cost would be to themselves, I say have at it. It’s when their actions cost me that I get perturbed. Take the smoking bans for instance. I’m all for banning it. Just because someone can stand beside me and smoke and pump out noxious fumes that screw my lungs up doesn’t mean they should. I don’t like the fact that my health is taking a hit just so someone else can have the ‘freedom’ to smoke. Where’s my ‘freedom’ to be healthy? But how do you make people start to think unless the cost is large. Take the drunk driving laws. From Wikipedia, here’s Canada’s laws if you blow over 80: For the first offence: $600 fine, 1-year driving prohibition; or jail time For the second offence: 14 days jail, 2-year driving prohibition; and time in jail For the third or subsequent offence: 90 days jail, 3-year driving prohibition. That’s way too lax. And here’s the max sentence ever handed out: On Dec 15, 2005, Charly Hart of Watford, Ontario, a man with a 35-year history of impaired driving which included thirty-nine convictions, was on the occasion of his latest such conviction sentenced to six years in prison, the most severe penalty ever handed down in Canada when the offence did not involve a fatality, and the maximum sentence permitted under the law. That’s insane! 35 years and 39 convictions of drunk driving and he finally gets a 6 year sentence. The justice system should be embarrassed. If you really want to cut out drunk driving here’s what you do – first conviction = lifetime license revoked and 10 years in jail. THAT’s how you get people’s attention. If someone wants to drive their car around on their own property stone drunk, I say have at it. But you go on the roads and put my life at risk, I say throw the book at them. Now, how is that different from smoking? Banning drinking and driving is taking away freedom and legislating common sense and so is banning smoking. Both actions risk the health of others, but one is commonly accepted as being justly against the law and the other is fought tooth and nail as losing a ‘freedom’. If my tax dollars have to go into a health care system that is just holding together by a thread as it is, would it be a bad idea to put in a law that says self inflicted, preventable injuries have to be paid for by the individual so the free health care can go to those that need it? The mega problem with that, however, is who decides where that line is. Politicians? Insurance companies (shudder)? Doctors? There’s obviously no good way to do it, so the freedom to be stupid and have someone else pay the price remains intact. But if I have to work my ass off so half my paycheque can go to taxes to cover the costs of people being stupid, is that really freedom to begin with?

Paging Doctor Feelgood to the White Courtesy Phone...

Watching one of the ‘outrageous moments caught on tape’ shows on TV, I wondered just how ticked off Doctors and Nurses and emergency workers get. There are all kinds of people suffering from illness and disease that they have no control over, and these medical workers do their best to help them. Then there are the idiots. People who do stupid things and wind up – surprise, surprise – getting hurt, having to be rescued, and needing medical attention. You treat a lion like a pet and he wants a hunk of your arm instead, don’t be shocked. You base jump off a tall building in bad winds and get slammed back into the concrete building injuring all sorts of important things, don’t blame physics. You try to paraglide in one door of an airplane hangar and out the other and get slammed to the floor when your ‘chute gets caught, how can you be surprised? Consider it nature’s way of knocking you up the backside of your head and yelling ‘idiot!’ I just feel sorry for the people who have to patch these morons up. They show an event gone bad on that TV show, and then say something like ‘doctors didn’t think he would walk again, but after three surgeries he was able to.’ That’s good, but what I’m thinking is that’s three surgical teams and beds tied up to fix something that didn’t need to be broken in the first place. I wonder if someday they’ll wind up teaching Common Sense 101 in schools…

Windows Ripoff - I Mean Vista...

How Much Is Windows Vista Really Worth? : Christopher Null : Yahoo! Tech Interesting article here where the writer, Christopher Null, breaks down the new features of Windows Vista and what they'd be worth. An Upgrade to Vista will cost $260, and the whole enchilada comes in around $400. That right there makes it not worth it, but the writeup of costs for features comes in around $133. That's what Null thinks its actually worth. Here's what caught my attention, and will be one of many reasons I won't be looking to upgrade: DRM - minus $10 - Vista is swarming with DRM software that will prevent you from doing all sorts of things you should be allowed to do. $10 penalty. I HATE DRM crap. It's complete BS. And now an OS is over run with it? I'll be saying no thanks to Vista for quite some time...

Killshot...It's Mickey Rourke - I'll Watch It...

The trailer for the movie Killshot is online (in shockwave flash, unfortunately). There’s a good writeup about it here, too. I think it comes out October 20th, and it looks pretty good. Quite the cast too – Diane Lane, Thomas Jane, Mickey Rourke, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Rosario Dawson, and Johnny Knoxville. Here’s the synopsis: Beautiful Carmen Colson (Lane) and her ironworker husband Wayne (Jane) are placed in the Federal Witness Protection program after witnessing an "incident". Thinking they are at last safe, they are targeted by an experienced hit man (Rourke) and a psychopathic young upstart killer (Gordon Levitt). The ensuing struggle will test Carmen to the limit. Looks like it’s got some good action in it. Always good seeing Mickey Rourke back in the movies too. Kind of odd though, after his stellar turn in Sin City as Marv, hearing that voice of his in this movie keeps making me think Marv should show up. Again that casting is wild. You’ve got the hot Diane Lane, The Punisher (Thomas Jane), Sin City’s Marv (Mickey Rourke), Sin City’s Gail (Rosario Dawson), Brendan from Brick (Joesph Gordon-Levitt), and Luke Duke (Johnny Knoxville) all in the same movie! Let me guess – the couple escapes in the General Lee at the end…

Caa-raaaazzzzy....

DiPietro sticking around Long Island for a long time - NHL - Yahoo! Sports The New York Islanders continue to prove that they are indeed Crazytown of the NHL. Mr. Wang, the owner, has decided on a management by committee or something, regime. He has no hockey experience, but to say he is involved on all decisions is an understatement. This resulted in the very experienced GM they had just hired – Neil Smith – quitting over the summer. This was understandable, as the GM is supposed to have the power of hockey decisions, and the owner wasn’t letting him work. So he was replaced by Garth Snow, who had to retire first, because he was the backup goalie at the time. And now today comes word that they have just signed Rick Dipietro – their number 1 goalie – to a staggering 15 year, 67.5 million dollar contract. This is unheard of in the NHL. The money isn’t so bad – it equals 4.5 million per season for a goalie who won 30 games last year – but the length is sheer stupidity. They will be paying Dipietro until he turns 40 in 2022. Not too many goalies are still top tier at 40. The thing is the Islanders were also the ones who handed out the insane 10 year deal to Alexei Yashin. That one was worse financially, and has been an albatross to the organization since it happened. (Kudos to Ottawa who wound up getting Jason Spezza as part of the deal that sent underachiever Yashin to NY). I guess those that don’t learn from history are doomed to repeat it. Should be fun to watch the Islanders this year…

An 'Official" Movie Website That Works

Spent some time looking through the official website for the movie The Black Dahlia, coming out on the 15th. Like all official movie sites these days, it’s all Flash based, so if you don’t like Flash, you’re out of luck. However, I thought this site was really well done, and had lots to see and read through while listening to some cool, moody music playing in the background. Several clips are available to watch, though I didn’t watch them all as I don’t want to chance ruining the film for myself. The usual desktop wallpapers (my two faves here and here), icons, synopsis, and trailers, are there, but the parts I liked the best were under the Features menu. The “Dark L.A.” was interesting to watch, as it showed newsreels of current events from the ‘40s like the kind that used to play before movies up until apparently the ‘60s (maybe they should bring newsreels and shorts back instead of the bad music videos and commercials we have to sit through nowadays). LA was quite the place back in the day. I hadn’t even heard of the “zoot-suit” riots either (extreme racial profiling, anyone?), which apparently is how the book starts off. The newsreel finishes as it announces the news of the Black Dahlia murder. The other fascinating part of the site was the “LA: Then & Now.” It shows eleven pictures of various LA sites that morph between shots from the ‘40s and current day. Each picture has a small write up of the significance and changes that have happened. I didn’t know that the opening of the famous Chinese Theatre sparked a riot or that the LA City Hall was the tallest building in LA until 1964 – not so much because of its height (454 ft), but because of seismic concerns that kept all buildings in the area short. This is a pretty cool website that promotes the movie, provides some nice informative background, and is laid out easily and clean without clutter or overuse of laborious Flash animation. If more movie websites were made like this, I might visit the ‘official’ sites more often.

Me Mini Movie Reviews: To Have & Have Not

I’ll start by saying I got into film noir over a year ago thanks to Sin City, and have been checking out older 40’s movies ever since. I’d seen Casablanca before that, and loved it and Bogart’s performance. Recently, I got around to seeing The Maltese Falcon, which is pure noir, and really enjoyed that and catching all the ways this year’s best movie, Brick, nodded to it. Now, 1944’s To Have & Have Not is not film noir, but it is a fantastic movie. I have to say, I love this movie, and I watched it twice in a week and it has landed a spot on my favorites list for sure. There are obvious comparisons to Casablanca, and the story does have a similar direction (Nazi’s, Martinique, Bogart’s ex-patriot helping the French Resistence, all centred around a night club). However, while the plot is serviceable and interesting, you don’t watch the movie for that. You watch it for Bogie and Bacall. This was their first movie together, and their real life romance started while filming. You can see the attraction and chemistry on screen, and the two play off each so well. Lauren Bacall, as Marie ‘Slim’ Browning, practically sets the screen on fire as she smolders her way through the movie with crackling dialogue and perceptive looks. Humphrey Bogart, as Harry ‘Steve’ Morgan, is an effortless cool, with charisma to burn. The situations keep getting tighter around him, yet he just keeps one step ahead of everybody – the Gestapo, the Free French, money issues – while cracking one liners and dialogue that put most of today’s screen writers to shame. I was laughing out loud at some of his witty comments, delivered in a deadpan manner or a slight smirk intended to put people off their guard, which happens again and again. One classic quote after another. Another main player is Walter Brennan as Eddie. He is Harry’s boating partner, an alcoholic, and thinks he’s watching out for Harry, although it’s debated as to who is watching out for whom. It’s never explained why, but the characters are old friends and Harry keeps an eye on Eddie to make sure he’s alright. Their conversation on the boat as they head out to a risky job is priceless. (I remember Walter Brennan the best from his classic acting as Stumpy in John Wayne’s Rio Bravo, another favorite of mine.) There were some special features on the DVD I watched, including a background on the filming. It was interesting to find out how the movie came about (Howard Hawks claimed he could make a movie out of Ernest Hemingway’s worst work, and he did), and the background of the beginning of the legendary Bogie and Bacall. One interesting note was that in Bacall’s first scene, she was so nervous that the only way she could stop shaking was to keep her head down, chin low, eyes gazing up. And hence, her famous look was born. As Hollywood continues to lower the bar on the mediocrity of its current day films (oh, there are still some gems being made), it’s worth a look to the classic movies of yesterday to see how to do it right. To Have & Have Not is obviously a classic. It’s got a bit of everything – witty humour, action, adventure, and romance (without the nausea factor of some of today’s romcoms). I’m relatively young, but even I’m starting to say they don’t make movies like that anymore… Verdict: A Must See.

Warning: Rant Ahead...

Unbelievable. A couple days after posting the video of Tim and Faith singing their song “I Need You” on Oprah that I found on YouTube, the video has now been taken down and no longer available. Double clicking on it leads to a YouTube page with this announcement. “This video has been removed at the request of copyright owner The EIP Group because its content was used without permission” Curious, I Googled the EIP Group. How they are the owner of this boggles the mind. Apparently they’re some (mafia ;-) lawyer group specializing in bad marketing tactics…oops, I mean ‘intellectual property’ of film, television and other stuff. Clients include a list of television shows. I couldn’t find a direct mention of either Faith or Tim’s respective camps or Oprah. However, the TV station WTTW, a Chicago public TV station, is listed. I couldn’t find Oprah listed on the WTTW website, but Oprah is out of Chicago, so could there be a connection? Getting more curious and bemused by this ridiculousness, I went back to YouTube and did a search that I had done before that had produced other Tim and Faith clips from the same Oprah show. To no surprise, they’re gone too. Then I did a search for any Oprah clips, and found none. I think its safe to say this BS is logically coming from Oprah’s camp or a television station out of Chicago that broadcasts it. I can turn my TV on to find Oprah yammering away five days a week, but put clips from the same shows broadcast on basic cable tier TV onto the internet, and the Gestapo descends. Idiocy, to the nth degree. Who was hurt from this? It’s free publicity for Tim and Faith (though I doubt their camps are involved in any of this) and a song that isn’t even available on any album yet. I’ve heard it might be on the next Tim McGraw album, so having people hear it now only gathers more support for it – as in, “where can I buy that song?” And I don’t think it hurts Oprah either – it shows she has some interesting guests that may appeal to (cynical) non watchers of the show that may start to make up for her unleashing Dr. Phil onto an unsuspecting public. This looks like legalistic, pencil-necked, bean counters getting in the way of common sense yet again, and it provides one more reason (as if I needed any) to NOT WATCH Oprah.

Popcorn, Get Yer Popcorn...

Microwave popcorn sure is a neat invention. Let’s take some kernels of corn and radiate them into a nice light, puffy snack in two minutes. Genius. Of course, no brand in the world could match the taste of my Grandma’s stove top, kettle made classic popcorn I ate up in that farmhouse kitchen when I was a kid. Not to mention the pitch perfect toss from kettle to bowl with two inches of popcorn above the pot rim. Now that’s talent. :)

Run, Forest, Run!

Watching a KC vs Boston ballgame here. Boston had a runner on first, and he had quite the adventure. He got caught in no man’s land between first and second, making multiple back and forth moves. Then the throw to second missed and headed into the outfield. He made a move for second, then seeing the center fielder get the ball, decided to go back to first. The throw to first almost got there in time, but he slid in safe. To which the announcer stated: “That’s a lot of energy to end up where you started from.” No Kidding. :)

Box Office Mayhem...

CinemaBlend: Summer Box Office Interesting article here from CinemaBlend. They look at the summer's blockbusters and do a rundown on the box office winners and losers. Some interesting figures in there too, like: * Pirates 2 crossed a billion dollars intake worldwide. I still haven't seen the movie yet, but that is just insane. It can't be that good, and from the reviews I've read, it isn't. I still want to see it, but come on people - a billion $$$ ??? * Click, the Adam Sandler comedy, made $135 mil., and before that, the Longest Yard made $158 mil., and before that 50 First Dates made $120 mil. What?!? Adam Sandler, box office gold - who knew? * I'm a big Kevin Smith fan, but I missed Clerks 2 as it whipped through theatres around here. Can't wait to see it on DVD. Gotta love it when he makes a movie for a budget of $5 million and makes $10 million on opening weekend and $23 mil so far domestic. Nice fiscal responsibility there - cough, cough, Superman Returns, cough, cough... * Superman Returns, which I also missed, cost around $270 million to make. It's crossed $300 million worldwide intake, but it's not the profit maker the studio thought it would be. * Miami Vice, cost $135 million, made $96 million worldwide. Ouch. I really wanted to see this based on the first teaser trailer, but when I read reviews of how they all mumbled their lines in the movie, I decided not to waste 10 bucks on dialogue I couldn't hear. I'll wait for DVD and subtitles... Looking at the list of summer movies, I realize how many I wanted to see and missed (MI:III, Supes, POTC2, Miami Vice, Clerks 2, etc) . I do love me some DVD, so I'll have to wait for November when they start coming out. As much as I love movies, the costly and awful theatre experience is apparently keeping me away. I suspect I'm not the only one...

That's a Good Movie?

“Feel like watching a good movie?” So starts the commercial for Rogers on Demand, their PPV option. Then they proceed to trumpet 3 movies – “playing right now!” And those three movies are – Benchwarmers, Scary Movie 4, and Final Destination 3. I haven’t seen any of those flicks, and there’s a reason for that. I’m still waiting for that good movie you were talking about there, Rogers…

Finally Got It...

I first heard this song on Tim McGraw’s NBC special. Failed to get a recording of it at the time, and searched the net unsuccessfully for it too. Then today I was flipping through the channels and caught a rerun of Tim and Faith on Oprah. Normally, I don’t watch Oprah, but I made an exception today and managed to record this song. Wish I had the version from the NBC special too, but this is really good. Was going to upload it to YouTube, but someone beat me to it: It’s a slow, understated, well-sung song with some good lyrics, especially this one near the end that I like… I want to drink that shot of whiskey, I want to smoke that cigarette, You know some cowboys like me go out like that… So I need you…

Just Re-Imagine...

Fraser to Reprise Mummy Role - ComingSoon.net In sequels nobody asked for news, Brendan Fraser is set to reprise his role in a 3rd "Mummy" movie. Sounds like the writer and director will not be the original Stephen Sommers either. Here's what sounded weird to me though: The site says that the project will be a reimagining of the first two films, so we'll have to see whether Rachel Weisz, John Hannah, Arnold Vosloo or Oded Fehr will be back as well. What does a "reimagining" mean? I'm guessing something along the lines of a T3 Arnold with no Linda Hamilton or James Cameron; or a Die Hard 4 with no Bonnie Bedalia; or a Dukes of Hazzard movie with Daisy played by Jessica Simpson. Oh, now I get it. "Reimagining" means this movie will be crap. At least they're being up front about it...

Still Around...

Wanted to get some more posts up this week, but between working extra hours and sleeping, I’m not getting to it. That’ll change soon. To quote Brendan from the movie Brick, “I’ve got knives in my eyes, I’m going home.” ‘Course, he didn’t make it home either :) Have to get my review up for To Have & Have Not – excellent movie, by the way. I think it’s landed a spot on my favorites list. On the other end of the scale, check this out if you dare. Cinema Blend has a link to a new international trailer for the brain cell killing movie of the year, D.O.A: Dead or Alive. I’m sure it’s supposed to be campy, but this just looks so stupid. Even worse than the Charlie’s Angels flicks. They’ve even got Eric Roberts as the bad guy. If they didn’t find ridiculous excuses for babes in bikinis, this movie would have no redeeming qualities whatsoever. You can download the trailer here (not QT7, as far as I can tell), and tell me if you don’t think even Saved by the Bell’s Screech couldn’t take out that first chick while she’s waiting for the ‘bra gun’ to fall into her hand...

A New Fall

Can you believe it’s September 1st already? A year ago, some big things were changing for me as I extracted myself from a certain situation and got a new job. It all managed to work out well, and I would have to say I’m happier and certainly more relaxed these days than I used to be. Life’s too short to spend it stressed out, and on the list of important things in life, people should be rating money a lot lower than they do. Still, where the heck did the last eight months go? Time just marches on, I guess. Still got a list as long as my arm of things I want to do and things I want to learn. I did manage to complete a story though – not saying it’s a good one, but it is a complete one - haha (see sidebar :-) Hopefully this year I can buckle down and actually pull off that NaNoWriMo thing in November too. I got ideas bouncing around in my head, just haven’t had the epiphany yet. Anyway, on with the show. There’s only 114 days until Christmas!

De Palma's "Dahlia"

"Dahlia" is De Palma's latest precious flower - Yahoo! News I can't wait to see this movie, coming out September 15th. I love film noir, and this is one for sure. The above article has some interesting info on how this got made too. Apparently, De Palma has been at it for 3 years, trying to get it made. No studio would back it (but they'll back Little Man and Stealth, go figure), so they had to get independent financing and shoot it in Bulgaria. What I found really interesting, though, was that Hartnett had already been tapped for the role of one of the cops, and this was before his noir turn in Sin City that got my attention. To quote: But De Palma stuck with him for one reason: "What he carries with him is that Gary Cooper integrity. In the slimiest situations in the most compromised universe where everyone is a liar and nobody tells the truth, this guy has moral authority." Who knows, maybe Hartnett can get himself out of the romcom game and find his niche in the gritty noir genre. Stranger things have happened. I haven't read Ellroy's book that this is from, but from the sounds of it, De Palma had a daunting challenge to convert it to a movie. It'll be interesting to see how the movie stands on its own, but I like the fact that there are multiple complexities to it. To quote: As De Palma tries to explain each character's motivations in the scene, he stops. "It's a Greek tragedy," he says. "I've only been living with this thing for three years. Believe me, it's all there. To try to understand the complexities of the solutions I've come up with -- please! This is the Ellroy book. If it's successful or I go down with it, this is what it is." Here's hoping its a good movie.

"Not That Kind Of Help!"

Here’s an oddball movie called Zen Noir. It’s got the noir basic – the loner detective – then puts him inside a Buddhist temple to solve a murder. Things get weird from there. Here’s the synopsis: A nameless detective, still mourning the loss of his wife, investigates a mysterious death in a Buddhist temple, but his logical, left-brained crime-solving skills are useless in the intuitive, non-linear world of Zen. Best line from the trailer: Detective: “Where were you at the time of the murder?” Buddhist: “What do you mean by…time?” It’s supposed to hit theatres September 15, but I’d be surprised to see it in any megaplex around here. Could be an interesting flick on DVD though…

He Can Sing, But Can He Act...Like a Singer?

Well, look at that. Toby Keith is now going to try to be a movie star. He’s even got a movie coming out called Broken Bridges. He plays a country music singer who deals with some...stuff, and tries to get his new found daughter a singing career. Or something like that. I watched the trailer, and it’s up there on the cringe worthy scale. I have to wonder how this got green lit for a theatrical release instead of a Hallmark movie of the week... Still, it's got Willie Nelson and Burt Reynolds in it, so this should be "Gold, Jerry, Gold!!" :)