In this special episode of the /Filmcast: After Dark, Dave Chen, Devindra Hardawar, and Adam Quigley chat with writer/director Richard Kelly about his reaction to S. Darko, and about the necessity of reading the graphic novel prequel to Southland Tales. They also discuss everything you ever wanted to know about Donnie Darko but were afraid to ask. Richard’s newest film, The Box, is out in theaters today.

You can always e-mail us at slashfilmcast(AT)gmail(DOT)com, or call and leave a voicemail at 781-583-1993. Join us next Monday at 9 PM EST / 6 PM PST at Slashfilm’s live page as we review The Box.

Download or Play Now in your Browser:

Subscribe to the /Filmcast:

• New Clip from The Box Features the Strangest Car Ride Ever
• Richard Kelly Talks Box Release Shift and Soundtrack
• Comic-Con: Much New Footage Shown From Richard Kelly’s The Box
• Writer/Director Richard Kelly’s Next Script Is Set In Future Manhattan, Features Motion Capture
• Movie Posters: The Box and Kick-Ass
• Richard Kelly’s The Box Movie Trailer

Vulture have been given a preview of Tim Burton’s MoMA retrospective exhibition. Two of their 33 gallery images are above.

Page 3 is the eccentric little brother of Page 2 and compiles even more stories which, for whatever reason, didn’t make the front page of /Film. There’s a whole heap of different items after the break - video clips, posters, pictures, odd snippets of news.

Below is the poster for Tom Ford’s directorial debut A Single Man. Take a good look at Colin Firth here, on his way to an Oscar and Julianne Moore, already arrived at being reason enough to see a film just by herself.

The NY Times have taken a look at plans for Mickey Mouse’s makeover. It will start with Warren Spector’s Wii game Epic Mickey (can’t wait) and move on through a “parallel but separate effort” at Disney to rethink Mickey’s persona. The rejig will run from “the way Mickey walks and talks to the way he appears on the Disney Channel and how children interact with him on the Web — even what his house looks like at Disney World.”

The Telegraph’s list of the 100 best films of the decade features a Peter Jackson, a Michael Moore, a Brad Bird, an Ang Lee and a PT Anderson in the top 5… though I haven’t spoiled the order. An amusingly wacky list - like every other list ever published, maybe? Bixarrely/stupidly, their list also features Avatar even though they haven’t seen it.

Eugenio Mira’s first film, The Birthday, is one of the lost cult gems of recent years, I think - can’t anybody pick it up for a decent DVD and BD release? - so I great every detail of his sophomore effort with glee. Here’s one of a few new images from Agnosia that Twitch have scored.

The Agnosia synopsis says the film is a “romantic thriller set in Barcelona in 1899, in which a terrible plot is woven around the strange illness of a young heiress” and, from what I remember from before, there’s a giant deadly lens used in the plan somehow. Maybe to burn humans as though they were ants? The film’s script is by Antonio Trashorras, one of Guillermo Del Toro’s collaborators on the screenplay of The Devil’s Backbone.

There’s so much AFM artwork out there I don’t even know where to begin. Let’s just rattle through a bunch of the best quickly, I think: Scream 4 poster at AITH; a nice poster for The Shock Labyrinth 3D at Bloody Disgusting; Jessica Alba in Machete at Perez Hilton; Toxic Avenger 5 at Bloody Disgusting; a Conan poster and sales blurb at Dread Central; The Twilight Saga: Eclipse at Bloody Disgusting; a Saul Bass inspired poster for Luster at Twitch.

Sita Sings the Blues‘ director Nina Paley is working on a comic book about “free culture”, memes and so on. Here’s an image she’s still working on, and about which she’d appreciate your feedback. Nobody mention Tintin in the Congo.

The current SAG scoreline for John Landis‘ upcoming Burke and Hare reads like this: Simon Pegg and David Tennant in the lead roles, Bill Nighy and Dan Aykroyd in back-up. Even if Shock Till You Drop are reporting Ealing Studios’ admission that Aykroyd isn’t locked yet. He can’t not do this but do Yogi Bear, surely?

The Hollywood Reporter tell us Ringu director Hideo Nakata is now signed up for Voice from the Stone, adapted from Silvio Raffo’s novel Il Voce Della Pietra. The screenplay is by Mark Wheaton, formerly the online film writer Smilin’ Jack Ruby and the man who wrote The Messengers. It’s a supernatural thriller, they say, and I don’t want to give away too much because it is one of those twist pictures.

Nate News, found via Twitch, have reported that The Host 2 is going to have a tie-in FPS videogame. Twitch also had a new piece of concept art revealing a slightly different kind of creature than last time around.

Paul McGuigan, who I was writing about only this morning, has got another project in the works. Screen Daily describe T Leaf thus:

The film follows small-time crook Terry, who, fleeing the scene of a botched robbery, is forced to leave a bag of cash with day-dreamy travel agent Meredith. She books him a round-the-world trip. On a whim, she takes off after him to reunite him with the money. Also on his tail are two assassins - sophisticated hitman Hal and street-smart babe Kylie - hired by his former accomplices.

Want to make a horror film and looking for a book to tell you how? This trailer for The Filmmaker’s Book of the Dead might convince you that Danny Draven’s tome is the one you’re looking for. Shame it isn’t streeting before Christmas, I think.

After The Hangover and Peter Chelsom’s Vegas comes a gender-bent version of the same narrative tropes, courtesy of a newly sold script called Desperados. THR tell us that the picture is being lined up as a vehicle for Isla Fisher.

Even our simian cousins are freaked out by the Uncanny Valley. National Geographic explain an experiment in sinsister CG experimentation. Top quote: Monkeys Preferred Faker Fakes. I think they’d probably be alright with A Christmas Carol and Monster House, mildly perturbed by bits of Beowulf and sent to the monkey loony room by Polar Express.

MTV are fanning the flames of a bizarre rumour… will Richard Kelly direct Twilight 4: Breaking Dawn? Of course not.

Jamie Thraves made his name with the Just video for Radiohead and The Scientist for Coldplay. Variety tell us that his new movie, Cry of the Owl, will be released to US cinemas in the coming months. I’m hoping it’s good - it has Paddy Considine and Julia Styles and is adapted from Patricia Highsmith’s novel.

Terry Gilliam spoke to Making Of about “The Miracles of Filmmaking” and here’s the resulting video:

Talking of Gilliam, which I often do, he’s gifted the Imaginarium of Dr. Parnassus Support Site with a very lavish book of Parnassus storyboards and concept art which you can get a sneak peak at below, or see more over at their site.

• No Related Post

John Cusack says “I don’t know if there are any more superheroes left”, but he knows as well as we do that there’s plenty more, cape-free comic books ripe for big screen adaptation, and that a great number of them seem fit to make for rather good movies. One project in particular has caught his eye, and that’s the movie adaptation of Preacher that Sam Mendes is still attached to and that John August has been screenwriting.

Meanwhile, Idris Elba - The Wire’s Stringer Bell and Roque in The Losers - would really like a role in any 100 Bullets movie that might come along from Brian Azarello and Eduardo Risso’s comic. I spoke to him at the MCM Expo last month (think: the UK’s Comic-Con, smaller but getting bigger and better all the time) and while the full details of what I found out about The Losers are still pending, I can tell you what he was saying on the subject of his dream comic book role after the break.

First, Preacher. Cusack is out and about on the campaign trail for 2012, where i09 spoke to him about comic book adaptations:

I think the adult comics are some of the best film ideas out there… there was one or two that I heard of that sounded really cool. One of them was about, I think… it’s a vampire and a killer, and they’re on the road, and it’s this really strange story.

They ask him if it’s Preacher and the name seems to ring a bell. That’s good enough for me. I mean, what else is it going to be? But is he going to get involved? If he has any say it, then yes:

I’m trying to. I heard about that one, I like that. [As] I’d say either the vampire or the priest. One of those two guys.

On the other hand, Idris Elba knew the name of the comic he was interested in, without a single ounce of doubt:

There’s a thing that Vertigo do called 100 Bullets. I like that. I think it could be an interesting little thing. I’ve just started reading it and it could be quite interesting.

So, has he actually spoken to anybody about a role in the film? Nope. Maybe that’s why he wants this idea out there, running around the interwebs. All he’s done so far is make sure to be “keeping an eye on it”.

I’ll be doing the same, and I wont be surprised to see him end up with a role as the project moves forward and, as far as Cusack goes, I’d like to hope he’d be in with a shot too.

• LOL: 2012 Without The Special Effects
• Takers Movie Trailer (Like Heat with Paul Walker, Chris Brown, and T.I.)
• 2012 Japanese Trailer
• Is Brian Azzarello’s 100 Bullets Being Developed as an HBO Series?
• 2012 Movie Trailer
• Chevy Chase Joins Hot Tub Time Machine; Considering Fletch Reboot/Sequel

Trailers are an under-appreciated art form insofar that many times they’re seen as vehicles for showing footage, explaining films away, or showing their hand about what moviegoers can expect. Foreign, domestic, independent, big budget: I celebrate all levels of trailers and hopefully this column will satisfactorily give you a baseline of what beta wave I’m operating on, because what better way to hone your skills as a thoughtful moviegoer than by deconstructing these little pieces of advertising? Some of the best authors will tell you that writing a short story is a lot harder than writing a long one, that you have to weigh every sentence. What better medium to see how this theory plays itself out beyond that than with movie trailers?

Mammoth Trailer

Two things:

1. Lilja 4-Ever is a heartbreaking, sad, dismal film from 2002 and could not be more worth hunting out and watching.

2. Nothing good ever happens in a movie when businessmen go to Thailand. Nothing. If I could submit anything to Roger Ebert’s compendium of movie minutia it would be this.

Much to my delight, director/writer Lukas Moodysson is back with a movie that looks to continue his penchant for films that don’t let you simply be whisked away to a fantasy land. To wit, one of his last films, the Swedish language feature A Hole in My Heart had a “disturbing images” warning slapped on its posters by the Swedish censors which hasn’t happened, if the facts are to be believed, since 1975’s Salo, or the 120 Days of Sodom. This doesn’t look anywhere near as troubling as, at first glance, you just think this deals with the issues facing a couple who work too much, have a child, and are in need of some relief.

Well, that release looks like it is going to come from all sorts of places, but the kind of R-O-L-A-I-D-S relief that Gael García Bernal is looking for does not include his lovely wife Michelle Williams and that’s where the Moodysson I know starts to come out.

The trailer opens pretty simply, beautifully. A city block bathed in a nice balance of street light and darkness. It’s serene. Gorgeous. Deceptive.

After the moment is set up we get, what I would consider, a lame interstitial that says, “Their family seemed perfect.” First, any trailer that wants to put that in writing is already giving up the fact that by the end of the movie it’s not going to be. It seems lazy to me that this kind of blunt force trauma upon our collective minds is allowed but since I’m not being paid to slap these together que sera sera. Past that, though, there is some really good tension with dad having to leave mom and daughter for a business trip, mommy having to work in an ER, a nanny who is obviously in despair over the lives of her own children living what looks like thousands miles away, it all feels tightly wound.

I don’t know what to make of the whole connection between Bangkok and the loose morality that happens with guys in movies who go over there. Gael’s business partner obviously loves himself some sex tourism but even the reluctant Gael is somehow rendered powerless against the mighty poon that must turn faithful husbands and fathers into horny monkeys that need to endlessly indulge in carnal delights. The trailer does a bad job convincing me that he would do this without provocation, I believe Tom Cruise had some of that beach love with that woman in The Firm more than I do Gael giving in to temptation, but what I can believe is Michelle Williams’ complete meltdown as she tries to understand how her marriage somehow is now dissolving and how distant she feels to her daughter. That’s something I can feel coming through in this trailer and it’s heartbreaking.

The end of this trailer just makes me feel distant and cold. The image of the nanny’s little boy walking away from someone, I don’t know where in the world he is, looking like he is being walked by a white guy in a way that feels dirty and sad, is just terrifying. I may not know exactly what’s afoot here but I don’t think fidelity is one of those things.

The White Ribbon Trailer

Michael Haneke scares me.

The guy can take a singular idea and contort it into a film that is frightening and thrilling at the same time. I don’t know of anyone who can watch his original version of Funny Games and not reel in the subversive and explicit themes explored in that vision. So, too, do you feel on edge for the complete running time of this trailer. I cannot explain why that is the case when nothing of great importance happens in it but there is tension just beneath its black and white veneer.

It should have gone without saying that the way you lead with this preview is to let the world know that you’re Palme D’or straight trippin’, yo. And without missing so much as a beat, the black and white palette comes into focus as we have one of our German actors talking about a couple of people who were tortured (fancy that) as a woman gingerly moves throughout a room, surveying it. I don’t know where you come from but I am not used to voiceovers talking about torture, barn burning, and the possible murder of a doctor as some handmaid makes the rounds in her palatial estate without so much as a little context. Work with me here, Michael.

Snap to a young fraulein, looking all blonde, sweet, innocent, Aryan, as she has a flirtation with a man who looks dweeby as all get out. They dance and cavort and then, quickly, the same guy is running through a forest. Smash cut to a different guy, stopping in front of a small cabin, opening the door as we see a guy who’s hanged himself. The geek talks some esoteric philosophical jive as a sweet little boy asks whether everyone in the world dies. It’s really a sweet moment before we’re rushed to another image that has no context whatsoever: a guy is dead on a slab in his Sunday best with a doily over his face. I couldn’t tell you who it is or why we should even care but I’m skeeved out.

We get more of that as our Aryan blonde bombshell is crying her eyes out and as people are trudging through the forest with torches, a la Frankenstein, confronting the woman at the entrance of her home. Cut to a barn burning as some kids look on. No matter, we get shoved into a monologue about the nature of white ribbon and how it’s used in everyday dress to convey purity to the outside world. Then we get some mean old guy who I think is literally kicking a kid. I can’t be sure but the cries are enough evidence for me.

The movie is littered with these moments that make you feel uneasy, not pleasant, and I am amazed that this constitutes as trailer at all as it seems more like a mockery of films that have too much self-importance.

Love Trailer

I don’t know what to think of a trailer that looks like it could be something special when you consider the band that’s scoring it, Blink-182’s vocalist/guitarist Tom DeLonge’s side project, Angels and Airwaves, are prominently displayed in the film’s title. It feels a little megalomaniacal  but if you’re the one making the movie then I guess you can do whatever you like.

The question remains, however: Is this one long music video for the band? Is this like R. Kelly’s Trapped In The Closet series but instead of hilariously mouthed lyrics are we going to get a lot of emo posturing? Does the fact that DeLonge also is helping to co-produce somehow put this film in a different category? I don’t know the answers to the questions but I do know that the premise, of a man being abandoned on the International Space Station one that is ripe with possibilities and it is interesting.

Of course, none of this is made evident by watching the trailer but what I do like about it is that it doesn’t give any of this away and we start with a real quiet sequence. It’s space, there’s a space station, and there’s one guy in it. We don’t know who he is, what he’s doing, or why he’s there. Oddly, but interestingly enough, we shift to a guy who looks like he’s from the civil war. Just like the astronaut, he’s alone and he’s in the middle of what looks like the desert. Next scene, a modern day soldier is hanging out of the back of a truck in the middle of what could be any country where we’ve started a war. Next scene, some old guy who looks like Zach Galifianakis’ dad is getting dirt rained upon his head.

Then we get the news. It is revealed, albeit very slightly, that our astronaut is in some kind of trouble. Flash back to the earth and we get people playing pool, some skateboarders out at night, a different civil war figure appears draped in snow flakes, a guitar plays in the background, and it all crescendos with a torrent of music that is undeniably done by Angels and Airwaves albeit without any words.

The flood of scenes that we’re given is simply too many to count or to make any sense out of but I will be damned if I don’t think this looks like a movie I want to see if for no other reason than to find out whether it can be interesting beyond a snappy looking music video.

One of the things that fascinate me as a movie lover is finding the documentaries that exist in other countries and deciphering what these films say about life elsewhere.

Kind of like Kon Ichikawa’s Tokyo Olympiad, a good documentary made beyond this country’s bounds that informed the sensibilities of the artist, the country, this trailer wants to make an objective observation though his eyes. That’s why when I see Chris Atkins’ latest documentary on the nature of fame it really stoked a flame inside of me. Not only does this production, Atkins’ last dealt with how terrorist attacks in Britain seemed to produce the same liberty-snatching steps our own legislature did here, look at the notion of fame but the trailer engenders excitement because it’s something that transcends the thousands of miles between us. They, too, love their idols as much as we seemingly do with no rational exploration as to why we covet the details of these people who are simply more popular than we are.

What really got me excited about this movie is that all the information above is well and good but the one question remains: How do you make a documentary sexy? Somehow, the job in selling this movie to those who need to come out and support it fell upon the shoulders of a trailer maker that jazzed up the theory to make it more thrilling. The quick graphics at the outset satisfied my ADD need for things to get right to it and right to it this trailer certainly does. I like it even more that the jaunty voiceover lets me know this is a movie about me. The mere utterance of this line buys this trailer extra selling time, so it’s fortuitous.

The use of classrooms with people of varying ages giving the affirmative nod to the query of “Who would like to be famous?” is interesting. It’s amusing. This springboards into a dissection of how we’ve reached a point in our modern media consumption and what it means to the overall picture of fame and the famous.

I am not so sure, though, of the use of the Mr. Wizard top hat with the rest of the trailer being set up as a card trick that needs to be exposed but it does allow the trailer to break things up in smaller morsels. From the hint that one of the twisted morons that “judge” on America’s Got Talent, Piers Morgan, actually helped to change the face of journalism in the UK to one that depended less on tradition to one based on sensationalism to the implications this has had on celebrity is fascinating.

While it gets kind of uneven towards the end, it still does not take away from the fact that the images of Brad Pitt, George Clooney, and other celebrities are used to a good degree in bolster the hypothesis of what we’re in for, as a global entity, as the desire for fame seems omnipresent.

Love The Beast Trailer

I am not a gear head. Frankly, I am amazed I am able to get by on knowing so little about cars.

Lately, however, I am enamored with listening to Adam Carolla’s CarCast that tackles all things automobile in a way that is part informative and part entertainment. I don’t think I’ll ever understand the way in which men fall in love with a heap of metal but this movie with Eric Bana looks like it will at least give me some insight into this phenomena. What I like about this trailer, though, is that while, superficially, the subject matter doesn’t excite me the presentation is enough that it gets a nod from me after an engaging opening sequence. As well as the quote that deserves to be pulled for any future marketing materials at about the 35 second mark; one of Bana’s oldest friends laments on how much the Hulk loved the car that the movie seems to be about: a Ford GT Falcon Coupe.

Like I mentioned, the opening sequence is very airy, very simple, just a shot panning overhead of a winding road that seems to twist and gnarl around a mountainous path. The music is soothing as is Bana’s voice. He recounts the past passion of wanting to be a race car driver, of seeing his career as a movie star as a bit of a diversion, but he emphasizes the relationship he still has with his friends and with the car known as The Beast.

We’re blasted though a chute of clips and sound bites ranging from his oldest buddies to, oddly, Dr. Phil as it pertains to the connections we have with inanimate objects. What I think really shines, though, is the racing that Bana does through the small towns at a wicked rate of speed. He’s racing through a neighborhood with a navigator at his side, all suited up in a helmet and a flame-retardant outfit, and he’s power sliding all over the road. Fast forward to more tripping through the countryside and then the screen goes black. The sound of crunching metal can be heard.

I am, further, a fan of this trailer in that this seems to be a movie that is the first of its kind. It looks like it’s the first documentary to deal with the loss of a vehicle. Most people are just thankful everyone’s alright, giggle about it, and then are made whole by a new car. Not Bana. He looks dejected and I am utterly not convinced how this could possibly be a feature length production. However, what this mediation on car ownership might have to say in helping me understand my gender a little more is a curious idea.

Plus, how could you not want to see what Bana has to say as a director of his first film? The curiosities are everywhere and to see a celeb being slagged by his mates could prove to be an interesting exercise.

In case you missed them, here are the other trailers we covered at /Film this week:

• Despicable Me Trailer #2 - I am still confused at what is supposed to be going on here. If you can’t make it clear to a 34 year-old mental midget imagine what it is doing to a young’un. The trailer is messy and wants to be something more than it is.
• Prince of Persia: the Sands of Time Trailer with Commentary - I think the only thing more grating than a guy reviewing movie trailers with words is having to hear someone lay down a commentary track on one. Seriously, I barely made it all the way through this.
• Sherlock Holmes Trailer #3 - As many times as I see this trailer I cannot get a sense that Guy Ritchie is trying to stretch as a director. I guess I should be happy for the guy who is comfortable in making different variations of the same movie as I am sold on seeing this opening weekend.
• Salt Trailer - My parents have been looking for a film they can call their own ever since Duplicity. With hints of Wanted and a dash of Mission: Impossible with just a tablespoon of PG action I am sure it will do well to appease the masses who like their action movies bland.
• Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time International Trailer - This looks like a mishmash of all the bad sword and sandals productions we’ve received in the last decade. I am sure kids under the age of 12 will love this but I’ll pass.
• The Final Storm Trailer - Hey, everyone, Dylan from 90210 is back and he’s looking for answers about where his Porsche, and hair, have gone. The movie, however, actually looks leaps and bounds over previous Uwe Boll films so I think that’s something positive, right?
• How To Train Your Dragon Trailer - I guess this looks OK. I don’t know what it is about DreamWorks but when you have a varsity athlete like Pixar on the field DreamWorks always seems like the kicker who’s constantly shanking it to the left of the uprights.
• The Road Trailer #2 - Well, someone wants you to believe this is an action packed meditation on the more emotional side of post apocalyptic destruction. I want to see it either way but I know they’re selling a list of goods that aren’t there.
• The Killer Inside Me Trailer - One of the more complex trailers I’ve seen this week, it appears that Casey Affleck is on a mission to thrill. The story seems simple enough but there’s more than we’re given and I appreciate that as someone who doesn’t need every plot point spoiled.
• The Brothers Trailer #2 - I like the trailer. That said, the voiceover is completely unnecessary, some of the scenes used seem really out of place, but the overall chilling vibe it was trying to convey comes across perfectly.

• Shutter Island Movie Trailer #3: Now With More Pulp!
• Shutter Island Movie Trailer #2
• Casting Notes: Gael Garcia Bernal, Josh Lucas and LeBron James Join New Projects
• The White Ribbon International Movie Trailer
• Funny People Red Band Movie Trailer
• First TV Spot For Judd Apatow’s Funny People

During the World Series a new ad spot for Avatar popped up on television, and I think if this had been the first thing people saw for the film they would have been all over it. Because this is a spot cut to look like an ad for Terminator 2 or Aliens. It’s all killer, no filler — power suits, alien beasts, combat, angry men and plenty of big blue cats, but none of their feelings. Check it out after the break.

This comes on the heels of a report that says the full-length theatrical trailer boosted Avatar’s online views by 418%. Which is a confusing number, as reported by Variety, that doesn’t really tell us much about whether more people really know more about the film now. But it does suggest that the whole Avatar Day thing was really a big waste of money, which a lot of us had already suspected, having attended half-full ’screenings’.

So, after all the noise about needing a new way to sell this movie, it’s the regular old theatrical trailer that starts to change awareness of the film. And now this TV spot can’t hurt, because it is so simple, so stripped down, and possibly so tailored to skirt around all the romantic angles of the movie. It’s ironic that this is probably the most mainstream bit of promotion that Fox has come up with yet for the film, given that the romance is what kept people coming back to Titanic. I’m quite curious to see how people respond to the film in December; Titanic might have just been exactly the right thing and the right time to capture a phenomenal audience.

Also, under the TV spot embed, we’ve got the international Avatar trailer and the very silly little Coke Zero commercial that has a bit of new footage. Excepting all the CGI-heavy effects, the Coke commercial looks like it was made around the time Cameron last directed a non-documentary feature film. So it’s fairly amusing in that sense, but not much use otherwise.

• Avatar Updates - Trailer Comparison Video and International Posters
• Avatar Full Theatrical Trailer
• International Avatar Movie Trailer
• Is James Cameron’s Avatar Actually an Uncredited Rewrite of a 1957 Poul Anderson Story?
• New Avatar Trailer in Theaters This Friday
• James Cameron’s Producer on Battle Angel Alita, The Dive and Avatar 2

Lionsgate held a round of test screenings in the last couple days for Matthew Vaughn’s big screen adaptation of the Mark Millar comic book series Kick-Ass. I’m not quite sure why they are testing the film, as I know the studio knows they have a great movie on their hands. Also, I heard about screenings in both Los Angeles and London. Lionsgate released a batch of character teaser posters, launched the film’s official website iamkick-ass.com, and the trailer will be online on Sunday November 15th (at least according to the countdown clock, although the weekend date seems a bit odd).

A friend called it “one of the best movies” he’s “EVER SEEN” and claimed that he got more of a movie high off of that than the first MATRIX. Someone else called it a cross between Matrix and Shaun of the Dead (you will see that the Matrix comparisons are pretty consistant) and called it “the best superhero movie ever made.” We received two anonymous reviews overnight, which you can read after the jump. Both are extremely positive, and fairly spoiler free.

As always, the usual disclaimers apply: The /Film readers below are not professional reviewers/film critics (as far as we know…), and their opinion does not reflect that of /Film. The print that was screened appears to be an early cut of the movie, and thus is not a 100% accurate representation of the final film. That said, here are the reviews:

The first review is from “IG”:

Avoiding spoilers I worry it just sounds like ranting and raving summing up to “THAT WAS AWESOME….” but what can I say? That’s where my head is at, all over the place cause my mind got blown…

I’m sure you’ll be getting lots of emails on the subject as Lionsgate is cranking out Screenings like gang busters but I just came from one and hot damn, what a flick. I never read the comic but this movie was a great fun incredibly violent ride.

The cut I saw was very much R rated, they did not pull back from violence or language in the least. Graphic violence and language for all sexes of all ages, equal opportunity obscenity. Seeing the mayhem on the screen tonight I’m glad the filmmakers acquired independent financing rather than make sacrifices in the major studio system for PG13 demands. A child dropping F-bombs, C-bombs, and committing acts of mass murder… OK I suppose its understandable to feel hesitant about that. But sometimes you need to take those chances and not pull punches and here it pays off. The action throughout the film is superb and there are sequences where my eyes were absolutely glued to the screen. I fear over hyping, but I’d say not since the Matrix Lobby Shoot Out have I had so much fun watching the bullets fly across the screen.

The mayhem was set to pure temp track, Superman, Batman and Sunshine being three stand outs. Hopefully the completed score will live up to the energy I felt tonight. Effects were still in progress but looking good. I had heard from a previous screening that the ending was all anamatic so they’ve made lots of progress since then. The only stand out was a “comic strip” sequence giving some much needed backstory on a particular character, this sequence was all in pre-viz form.

For some reason I find it very refreshing that I can be proud of Nicholas Cage on the screen again. Nice to see him putting in effort in a great film once more. The entire cast was wonderful to watch, the standout of course being Chloe Moretz playing Hit Girl. Her dynamic with Cage is pure entertainment (in a twisted kind of way) to watch.This leads me to my only complaint for the film, Kick Ass himself. Nothing in particular was wrong with the character or actor with exception that his arc seems in a way so standard that standing next to the assortment of colorful characters he becomes less interesting. Reflecting on this point too long feels like nitpicking, and to explain further may lead to spoilers so… moving on.

Overall this movie lived up to its title. It simply… kicked ass… and I can’t wait for more. Again, I haven’t read the comics but a world is introduced here in a way that I look forward to a healthy dose of sequels. The crowd tonight was cheering and applauding throughout. Hopefully this film will catch on and be successful enough to teach the larger studios that sometimes you need to go for the R. (What Watchmen?) If it’s not a commercial success for whatever reason this is guaranteed cult classic status, period. I can not rave about this movie enough and await the final cut in April. I’ll have to wait till then to begin urging all my friends to check it out. It’s been discussed on the Slashfilimcast before that there’s a tendency to over-hype oneself for being one of the first to see/experience something that’s still awaiting its release on the world. Only time will tell for sure if the hype is deserved. Until then I can only say I had a fantastic evening viewing, Kick-Ass.

The second review is from Ranjit R:

First off, let me preface this by saying that I have not read any of the Kick-Ass comic books. I am an avid comic reader and a film geek, but reading that particular comic is something I haven’t gotten around to yet. That being said, after seeing an early screening of the new Kick-Ass movie, that comic has now jumped to the top of my list.

As I write this, I’m desperately trying to refrain from making what is an inevitable statement from at least one critic as the release of this film draws nearer – that “Kick-Ass truly kicks ass!” But simply put, it’s a statement that I can’t argue with. Equal parts Spider-Man and Superbad, Kick-Ass is a terrific film filled with the level of action we’d desire from any good superhero movie while possessing comedic dialogue and storytelling that had me laughing harder than I have at any other movie in 2009. It’s rare to see a film take multiple genres and meld them so well, but Kick-Ass manages to make it so, creating an overall mood more satisfying than any given moment in Hancock (the last film to attempt such a mix).

Though Hancock may have made enough money to satisfy the studio, the film was rife with problems, especially because it seemed that the drunken, Bad-Santa-esque superhero we were hoping for was replaced by the watered-down, politically correct version. And here is where Kick-Ass stands alone. Learning in the first five minutes that Dave Lizewski (the character who eventually becomes Kick-Ass) spends the majority of his lackluster teenage life wacking off to internet porn and that his own origin story bears no semblance to the likes of Spider-Man (no vengeance story, no super powers, no responsibility), we quickly realize that we’re in for something we haven’t seen before and, dare I say it, a superhero movie that doesn’t pull its punches (or jokes).

These early moments with Dave are followed by a quick “meanwhile…” over to an abandoned lot where we are introduced to Nicholas Cage’s character, Damon Macready, aka Big Daddy, and his daughter Mindy Macready, aka Hit Girl (played by Chloe Moretz). We watch as Damon shoots his daughter in the chest at close range to prep her for the shots they may take in the field. Shortly after, they talk over hot fudge sundaes as Mindy casually doles out f-bombs and we are hit again with message that this is a both a comedy and a superhero movie unlike anything you’ve seen before.

What’s more is that the film can actually back up these early statements. Where Spider-Man appears to be relatively successful on his first few attempts at fighting crime, Kick-Ass is a complete failure, getting into fights that are bloody and brutal, landing him in the emergency room. But these early fights aren’t a total loss, as they garner him a cult following around the city – the impetus that aligns Dave Lizewski’s story with those of the other characters and transcends Kick-Ass to the level of doing more than fighting petty crime.

Though these scenes are pretty fun, I have to say that by far the best scenes in the entire movie are those that involve Mindy Macready fighting crime as her Hit Girl persona. The mere concept of seeing an 11-year-old girl beat the shit out of hoards of thugs and criminals is entertainment enough, but the excellent choreography and the fact that Hit Girl is actually maiming and killing these villains brings to fruition the idea that Hit Girl is an absolute bad ass. And while one would think that seeing her encounter groups of criminals only to leave them in a bloody mess would get old, Vaughn continues to up the ante throughout, resulting in what can only be described as one of the best climax action sequences I’ve ever seen.

On a side note, props to the producers and casting for picking (relatively) unknowns for these lead parts that managed to deliver terrific performances against their co-stars, especially when they could have cast Zak Efron,

Okay, so now that I’ve lavished enough praise, I have to note the cons. No, Kick-Ass was not perfect, but I will say that its problems are few and far-between and most lie in the story structure. The movie tends to lag in the middle. Despite the fact that the film is called Kick-Ass, there are significant portions that don’t feature Kick-Ass at all. This combined with the multi-story writing makes it feel like the movie is twice as long as it actually is. The first half of the movie alone is filled mostly with the Kick-Ass origin story. While a great deal of comic geeks and film geeks hold the general opinion that origin stories should be left out of the feature presentation (and I tend to agree with that sentiment for the most part), it’s difficult to argue its inclusion in this particular film. The simple point of the matter is that Kick-Ass is NOT a known property on the level of Iron Man, Spider-Man, or the X-Men. Therefore, some degree of an explanation appears to be necessary, at the very least to allow for the audience to truly associate with this adolescent vigilante.

Furthermore, the movie is also bogged down by its structure. From very early on, the film is divided into three stories. So we’re not just following Kick-Ass, but simultaneously following the subplots of Big Daddy and Hit Girl AND Red Mist and Frank D’Amico as well. But rather than having those subplots occupy just a scene or two each with the absence of the main character, as any typical film would do, one could almost argue that any of these supporting characters – Big Daddy, Hit Girl, or Red Mist – could be the main character or at least on the same level as Kick-Ass. This could be read as a good thing or a bad thing, as this allows for all the characters to feel more complete, more human, but at the same time, any greater focus on other characters draws away from the focus on Kick-Ass himself.

Despite having not read the comic, I feel that this aspect is actually directly tied to the stylistic choices of the director, Matthew Vaughn. One aspect I noticed when watching Vaughn’s previous film, Stardust, was that the villain is not necessarily as bad as you’d expect her to be and the other supporting characters are fairly human. That is to say, they’re good, they’re bad, and most of all, they’re fallible. Such is the case with Kick-Ass, in which we don’t just see a bunch of kids running around and fighting crime, but we see how these actions impact the relationships between these characters and their respective parents, whether the parents be the heroes or villains, eventually establishing the dichotomy of two generations of superhero struggles and ending with the ushering out of the old and the ushering in of the new.

Such is the level that this movie speaks on in terms of the superhero genre. And while some may say that making such statements is overestimating the depth of this superhero-comedy, as I watch the main character shove a copy of Watchmen into his backpack, I can’t help but think that it was all intentional.

• Comic-Con Video Blog: Matthew Vaughn’s Kick-Ass
• New Photo: Chloe Moretz as Hit Girl in Kick-Ass
• First Look: The Cast of Kick-Ass
• Kick-Ass Character Posters
• Kick-Ass and The Expendables Release Dates Announced
• John Romita, Jr Describes His Animated Kick-Ass Sequence

Nationwide, Juggalos are already boycotting in parking lots, in addition to breeding. Eminem, the 37-year-old adolescent rapper, will follow up his $116 million grossing fictionalized biopic, 8 Mile, from 2002 with a 3D anthology horror movie horrifically entitled Shady Talez. The project has kicked around for a while, and is now part of a synergy package that includes a same-named four-issue comic book series due 2010 from Marvel Icons. The above image comes from that. Slim Shady will produce and star in multiple roles in the film, which will give an “urban wink” to genre classics such “as Christine, Aliens, and The Lost Boys“ in the style of George Romero’s Creepshow. What, no characteristic ode to Irreversible or Twisted Nerve?

A director was not announced. According to Screen Daily, the script is being written by co-producer Dallas Jackson (Uncle P starring Master P, The Last Dragon remake) and Kevin Grevioux, who created the story that launched the Underworld franchise. Mirroring Creepshow in what sounds like slick marketing, a Shady Talez comic book will tie the film’s stories together. The film’s incredibly juvenile and dated title instantly evokes a cheap horror effort rushed straight-to-DVD, but otherwise Eminem and the genre are a natural match. His lyrics are peppered with gory imagery and murder fantasies and he’s appeared in previous marketing materials wearing hockey masks, toting chainsaws, and dressed as Alex from A Clockwork Orange on a Rolling Stone cover. I seem to remember him showing interest years back in appearing in a Friday the 13th film, but didn’t find any link to support that.

If the production values are there, I’m curious to at least see Eminem kooking it up with different roles, accents, and costumes. The dude arguably does a better Pee-wee Herman impression than Paul Reubens circa now, and he’s not a rapper known for acting in cash-grabs. (8 Mile at the very least was not an all-out embarrassment and spawned one of his best and most popular tracks.)

There is precedent for the ghetto-fab anthology movie, with Snoop Dogg playing the Crypt Keeper-like host as the “Hound of Hell” in 2006’s Hood of Horror, which featured Ernie Hudson and Danny Trejo feeding their fams. Some will also recall that Snoop Dogg played the lead as a pimp-slapping ghost alongside Pam Grier in 2001’s Bones, a film more dead on arrival than Wes Craven and Eddie Murphy’s A Vampire in Brooklyn. Of course, the gold-toothed granddaddy of this modern horror niche, and one of the most successful in terms of camp, is 1995’s Tales from the Hood, if only for the inspired casting of the great, grey Clarence Williams III. And going back to the original source, 1972’s Blacula still holds it own.

One movie that Shady Talez should stay away from “winking” at is Child’s Play, as the newly released Black Devil Doll gets all kinds of crazy on that ass.

• Trick ‘r Treat HD Movie Trailer
• First Look: Eminem in Judd Apatow’s Funny People
• VOTD: Bruno Tea-bags Eminem at MTV Awards
• Could There Be A Dark City 2? Maybe… But Not From Fox

For years, Japan has had an amazing scene where low-budget genre films can flourish. Lately it seems to be exploding, as films like Tokyo Gore Police, Machine Girl and the upcoming RoboGeisha push the form into pure absurd balls-out bliss. These go way beyond the level of craziness in films like Wild Zero and Versus, and those films were already pretty nuts to begin with. The current wave of movies don’t make any particular sense, and they’re often not even good in the traditional meaning of the word, but they’re mind-bogglingly amazing at the same time.

Now, straight from the American Film Market comes news of a film that I’d think was six or seven years too late, if it wasn’t sprung from the same mold. From Seiji Chiba and action director Yuji Shimomura, who previously collaborated on Death Trance, comes Aliens Versus Ninjas.

Twitch has news of the film, and the plot recap that follows. They also have a brief first-hand account of the sales trailer that is making the rounds there. While the effects are evidently unfinished, Todd Brown says, ” If you’re thinking Predator as filtered through Tokyo Gore Police, you’re not far off.” Actually, I wasn’t thinking that, but now that the idea has been put into my head I want a double feature of this and RoboGeisha, like, now.

Once upon a time in Japan, there was a band of great Ninja warriors led by Yamata called Iga Ninja.  One day they witness a flash in the sky and a roaring giant ball of fire crashes into the distant forest.  The warriors rush into the deep woods in an attempt to identify the mysterious fireball.  There, instead of finding predictable enemies, they are stunned to face never-seen-before creatures with claws and fangs, the aliens!  The hungry brutal aliens start to savage and feast on the Ninja warriors, leaving only a few to survive.  Yamata and his warriors swear to avenge their comrades’ deaths and risk their lives to challenge the aliens.  However, none of the Ninja weapons, neither their swords nor their throwing stars, has any affect on the alien warriors.  Now the Japanese greatest Iga Ninja face the biggest challenge ever!

• No Related Post

American Psycho author Bret Easton Ellis has a couple of projects in the works. One is his co-writing deal with Gus Van Sant, where the pair will chronicle the lives and odd, tragic suicides of artist/filmmaker couple Theresa Duncan and Jeremy Blake.

The other project is another writing gig that we haven’t known much about. But many things become clear during the American Film Market, where indie pics are shopped for financing and distribution. The latest Ellis script is a revenge tale that takes place among a group of rich kids when they get involved with a working class kid in a beach resort town. The film is called Bait, and the main character seeks to use an unusual and possibly entertaining method of gaining his revenge: he wants to feed the rich kids to sharks.

Ellis really must struggle with hating the rich. (And, to some extent, with hating humanity in general.) The synopsis below is courtesy of Shock Til You Drop, as editor Ryan Rotten has been cruising the AFM. Just from these few paragraphs I get the sense that this could be a wild rant against the decadence and entitlement of the upper class. But then again, the main character seems to be a bit off his nut as well, and there’s the whole shark angle. I’m always ready to see a film in which people are chewed up by sharks, whether they’re rich or poor. Read on for more on Bait, to be directed by Brad Furman.

Cole is a quiet young man, unassuming, who works as waiter at a posh beach club. But underneath his polite demeanor is a suppressed rage at hte wealth and bounty that surrounds him and is out of his reach. The arrogance and dismissive nature of the rich fuels his anger at the unfairness of the world, and he is a ticking time bomb just waiting to explode.

One night, a group of these elite kids build a bonfire on the beach and party into the late hours, drinking, dancing, swimming and having fun. Cole, off duty, watches the festivities out of sight. When he moment is right, he hesitantly strikes up a conversation with the pretty Haley. But when her boyfriend Ryan spots the two talking, he is incensed and aggressively confronts Cole. In spite of Haley pleading to let him be, Ryan and his friends beat Cole to the ground and then humiliate him before the crowd. It’s the trigger that sends Cole over the edge.

The next day the hung over friends plan to spend the day on Ryan’s father’s luxurious yacht. Haley had slipped this bit of information to Cole during their talk, and Cole is determined to exact his revenge. He disposes of the yacht’s first mate and reports for duty, claiming to the Captain to be the first mate’s friend, who had to go away on unexpected business. The Captain obliges and Cole stows beneath deck while Ryan and his friends climb aboard. When they get too far out to sea to be spotted from the shore, Cole kills the Captain. Waiting until everyone is in the water, Cole unleashes his sinister plan of revenge. His weapon of choice is a school of sharks smelling blood and slowly circling the boat. As Cole steadily picks off each of his enemies, their desperate chances for survival grow slimmer and slimmer.

• Eerie: Tom Cruise was Christian Bale’s Inspiration for Patrick Bateman
• Gus Van Sant and Bret Easton Ellis Team to Write Suicide Film
• NSFW: The Informers UNRATED Movie Trailer
• The Informers Movie Trailer
• Bret Easton Ellis Adaptation The Informers Loses Entire Vampire Sub-Plot with Brandon Routh?
• Casting Bret Easton Ellis’ The Informers

While journalist and documentarian Jon Ronson is currently undergoing a metamorphosis into a screenwriter, the first film to bear his name is not from one of his own scripts but has been fictionalized, and rather heavily so, from his non-fiction book The Men Who Stare at Goats by Newcastle scribe Peter Straughan. What Ronson set down on paper as a darkly comic and increasingly scary investigation into the American military’s more fanciful, or eventually insane, experimentation and research has become an oddball comedy with a tinge of the surreal. Many of Ronson’s ideas run between the lines of Straughan’s invented plot, though I don’t think I personally could have found the film to feel any more different to Ronson’s book or in-parallel TV documentary.

It’s a win-win, though, as far as the book is concerned because those who love the film (and as you’ll find out after the break, that’s an awful lot of people) are bound to find the extra information every bit as engrossing and possibly even more surprising, while those who find some of the film’s seemingly contradictory attitudes towards the paranormal and supernatural or it’s unexpectedly upbeat tone to be off putting will find the book more satisfyingly shaded. I do think, though, that adding sweetness for palatability seems like a curious misstep when you already know your recipe appeals to those with a taste for the bitter.

I’m a very big fan of Ronson’s writing and TV work, so I took great pleasure in interviewing him about Goats. We spoke for over an hour in total but almost immediately, I think, he sensed my disappointment in the film. Neither his enthusiasm or candor were curbed by this and, anyway, as Ronson told me I’m definitely in the minority and the film has been going down superemely well so far.

He’s tracked the comments of those to have seen the film in prerelease screenings via Twitter:

I don’t want to make it sound like I’m obsessive because I’m not but I’m interested. I’m curious to know what people are thinking. I’m gratified. I was just pleased to see that maybe 70% of people who came out of the film seemed to really, really like it and I think that’s a real result and the same thing seems to be happening with press as well.

I’d be interested to know how many of that 70% were carrying the baggage I was, what with my familiarity with the Goats book, documentary and Ronson in general. I suspect the film is scoring higher with Goat virgins (if you pardon the expression). Ronson told me why he thought audiences were responding so well:

There’s something about the film that I think is very engaging. I think a lot of it is to do with George Clooney’s performance. The film worked for me in the way that a film like Little Miss Sunshine worked for me, you know, that it’s a sweet natured, slightly batty, engaging watch. I think a lot of that comes from the fact that Grant Heslov is a nice guy and really likes the world and likes the people in the film. It’s not an arch film. My book could be described as being quite arch because I’m such a skeptic, I’m such a non-believer, and my books’ quite dark, you know, the second half of it. I could be accused of being a bit arch and the film absolutely could not be accused of. And you know what? And when people go to the cinema, they want to see… you want to have a good time. There’s something very unselfconsciously nice about this film.

And that’s definitely not the book. The book is more Strangelove than Sunshine.

I think one of the key elements that set film and book apart are how the adaptation plays about with an audience’s acceptance that, in a narrative feature film – very much as opposed to a nonfiction book or a documentary – just about anything is possible. One reading would be that it even expands this to not just playing and really allowing just about anything to be possible.

You almost don’t really know what sort of genre the film is at the beginning, you‘re sort of wondering could it be sort of X-Men and the main character really can do all these incredible things. Of course, [screenwriter] Peter’s not a believer either, Peter’s a skeptic.

I think one of the things Peter did really, really well in this picture, in fact I’d say it’s probably my favourite thing about Peter’s script, is toying with this idea that we don’t know whether Lyn has these powers or not. Like the cloudbursting scene, the clouds really do disperse yet he then hits the rock. I think that’s the stuff that Peter brought to the script that was the cleverest, personally, because in my book you never for a second think any of these people have any of these powers and god forbid that I would ever have toyed with that in the book but I think in film you’re kind of allowed to toy with things in and I think that’s why Peter is a screenwriter and I’m an author.

I’m really not sure that the trailer is an accurate representation of the film, and there’s definitely one piece of voice over in there that smacks of hard-sold schmaltz and middle of the road cheesiness – “I went looking for a story and my friend Lyn brought me an adventure”. This is the moment when Bob Wilton, the film’s analogue for Jon Ronson, seems less like the author than any other. Would Ronson agree that this bit of VO is, at least, naff and off putting?

I think the marketing of this film has been stunning. I think the two best trailers that I’ve seen in months are Goats and Where the Wild Things Are. Even if that one line of voiceover feels slightly out of place it’s such a brilliant trailer. My only real worry in all of this is a sort of generic one which I think probably people have all the time about their projects which is there’s two trailers and there’s an awful lot of clips and if somebody’s watched them all, you know, ten times, will they go to the film and feel they’ve seen too much of the film already.

I have to make it clear that I’m not critical of the film for simply being different than the book. Indeed, I’m not at all sensitive about fidelity in adaptation at all, and know full well that what makes a film work is not the same thing as what makes a book work. With Goats and Goats, I know that they each have different objectives but I’m simply convinced that the books operates better on its own terms than the film does.

Ronson’s way of describing the collaborative nature of filmmaking, at least as far as adaptation goes, was brilliantly simple and even raised a chuckle. He’s given me a metaphor I can steal for the classroom:

I strongly believe, and I know this now from screenwriting as well, that these things are like a kind of relay race. I had the baton when I wrote the book and then I gave it to Peter and he did what he felt was right and then he handed it to Grant and George and they did their stuff. And that’s the way it should be and that’s the way it is. The last thing you want to do in a relay race is chase after the baton and try and get it back. The thing I thought was most important was that I felt that peter, even though he took it in different directions, is that he kept my voice. And the proof of that is the fact that we’ve written a film together and completely effortlessly.

This other film is Frank, a fantastic sort-of biopic of British light entertainment legend Frank Sidebottom. Even though it is rather freshly written, and there’s bound to be further drafts to come, I’m thinking we’ll be seeing it in cinemas a long time before one long-pending Ronson project. For some years now Edgar Wright and Mike White have promised us Them, an adaptation of Ronson’s non-fiction book that was subtitled Adventures with Extremists. Ronson has precisely as much idea as we do about when, if ever, Edgar might get onto that one:

He has about four planes circling. I think if it was in complete chronological order of when he attached himself to things, Scott Pilgrim was first, definitely, because he was already attached to Scott Pilgrim when he took on Them. I think Them and Ant Man came pretty much exactly at the same time so if he went with Ant Man next, it wouldn’t be unfair and if he went with Them next it wouldn’t be unfair either.

I literally jumped up and down when I heard that Mike White wanted to adapt Them. There’s something very special about Mike and I’ve read his Them script and I think – it’s just a first draft what I’ve read but its really good. There’s no question if Edgar directed it, there’s no question it’ll be a good movie.

It’s probably a little less developed than Peter’s first draft [of The Men Who Stare at Goats]. Peter’s first draft was kind of a second draft. But nobody could read Mike White’s draft without thinking there’s a really good film there.

While he refused to divulge any information at all on one of the scripts he’s working on, Ronson’s other announced project is a screenplay about Gary McKinnon, a British hacker facing extradition to the US after allegedly hacing into a great number of NASA and US military computer systems. This summer, McKinnon lost his appeal which was being made on the basis of his newly-diagnosed Asperger’s syndrome, and had he not become such a prominent name in the media, where there was much outcry over how he was being treated, it seems likely to me that he’d now be in the US and subject to their sentencing. As it stands, however, the UK Home Secretary has frozen the process while more medical evidence about McKinnon’s condition is being examined.

I asked Ronson if he had consulted Gary personally at all, and while he hadn’t - yet - he did tell me that the projects producers had made contact. Similarly, Ronson has yet to speak to Chris Sievey, Frank Sidebottom’s alter ego, about that film:

Of course Gary will read it and Chris read Frank but you just want to choose the right time. And the same thing’s happened to me with everything that’s been written based on stuff that I’ve done. Peter gave me Goats at the right time and Edgar gave me Them at the right time so it will happen, it just hasn’t happened yet. It’s kind of out of my realm with Frank and Gary I’m the screenwriter, I’m not the producer, so even though I’m doing slight, producery vague things I’m just the screenwriter.

Raking over one of my main sticking points with the Goats picture involved Ronson and I discussing the very last scene of the film. You might interpret this as full-on major spoiler material, but in many respects it isn’t at all, coming more as a coda than a conclusion to the narrative proper. All the same, you might want to skip the next paragraph and the quote that follows it.

The very end of the picture features Bob Wilton managing to command some kind of paranormal ability and run through a solid wall in his office. Earlier in the film some incidents seem to either support the existence of the supernatural, at least within this storyline, or just be lazy and dependent on extreme coincidence. In either case, I think this is moving far away from the meanings and messages in the book. Ronsons’s skeptical questioning of how a superpower’s government could indulge such spurious pseudoscience requires it to be clear that it is spurious pseudoscience. I was therefore quite disappointed by the film’s conclusion and as a result, curious how Ronson felt about it:

I never discussed this with Grant, but I think he was making a… you know, like that Godard line. I believe it’s Godard, and if it’s not, I’m gonna look like an idiot, but “film should be about life and it should be about film” and I personally think he has Bob Wilton running through the wall successfully at the end as a sort of comment on the possibilities of the kind of things you can do in cinema. But I could be misreading it, but that’s what I thought, that it was a moment about film.

I couldn’t be more of a skeptic yet I didn’t have a problem at all… I just thought it was sort of nice, sort of eccentric. It’s quite an eccentric film in quite an unexpected way and I really like that about it. And of course, we skeptics, it doesn’t stop us enjoying horror movies.

With the publicity a George Clooney movie can bring, I’m hoping to see Ronson’s own The Men Who Stare at Goats take another run at the best seller list and if they include the original, stupefying Crazy Rulers of the World documentary on the movie’s DVD or Blu-ray, I’ll definitely be buying a copy.

• George Clooney to Star in Men Who Stare at Goats
• The Brit List 2009
• Jack Black to star in Edgar Wright’s THEM?
• New Clip and Buzz for The Men Who Stare at Goats
• The Men Who Stare At Goats Movie Trailer
• George Clooney Packs Up His Warner Bros. Office, Moves To Sony

What If I told you that Wil Wheaton appears in JJ Abrams‘ Star Trek? You’d probably say that you didn’t believe me. Heck, we saw the movie, twice even, and didn’t see or hear a not-so-young anymore Wesley Crusher at all, not even in the corner of the screen. Or at least we thought that was the case. It had remained a highly guarded secret until this week when Wheaton blogged about his experience providing his voice for the Trek reboot:

“Back in the old days, before Twitter exploded into the phenomenon that it is now, I got a message from Greg Grunberg.” … “He sent me a private message that said something like, “JJ needs voice actors for Star Trek. Would you be interested in doing that?” … “I replied in the affirmative as quickly as my fingers could get the thoughts out of my head.” … “About 24 hours later, JJ Abrams called me. It was an entertaining conversation; I couldn’t believe he wanted me to do work on his film, and he couldn’t believe that I wanted to do it. He asked me if I’d be interested in playing some Romulans, and I think I held my hand over the phone so he couldn’t hear me squeal in delight before I calmly told him that, yes, I thought I could do that. I don’t recall precisely why, but we agreed that it would be extra cool to keep it a secret until the heat death of the universe, an uncredited bit of awesome that only a handful of people in the world would know about … unless we told them. (In fact, as far as I know, only a dozen people in the world knew about this until some meddling kids and their dog at Viacom found out about it this summer, and said we had to give me credit and stuff.)”

Yes, Wil Wheaton actually dubbed various voices for Nero’s Romulan crew. TrekMovie was nice enough to post an actual clip of Wheaton’s voice in Star Trek, which you can watch after the jump.

“They digitally-altered my voice to sound like different people, but when I saw the movie, I could definitely tell that it was me underneath the effects. In fact, there’s one moment near the end of the movie where one of the Romulans is yelling at Nero, and it’s my plain old voice without any alterations. I bounced in my seat when I saw that in the theater just like … well, you know.”

Here is the clip:

• Star Trek Cameos Revealed
• Star Trek Deleted Scene: Nero Interrogated By Klingons
• Cool Stuff: Star Trek Limited Edition Replica Gift Set
• Cool Stuff: James Clyne’s Star Trek Concept Art
• JJ Abrams Says Shatner and Khan Are Possible in Star Trek Sequel
• Video Blog: The Future of Star Trek

As you probably know by now, I love the fly-on-the-wall making of documentaries which over the last decade have almost completely been replaced by generic making-of featurettes. A video has appeared on YouTube showing the Ghostbusters 2 effects team and Robin Navlyt (who wore the Slimer suit in the film) testing out the Slimer wearable puppet’s ability to emote. While this isn’t a making of documentary, it does give you a fly on the wall perspective of what it was like to design and work on the special effects for this infamous film. I wish more footage like this would be released by Sony, instead of a stupid “Restoring the Ecto-1 featurette”, which was one of the only new extras included on the recent Blu-ray release of the original film.

And say what you will about the sequel (and most of it is warranted) but the range of motion in the face of everyones favorite slime ghost was much improved from the first film. It’s actually pretty incredible the range of emotion they were able to get out of the puppet. Watch the video after the jump.

via: protoncharging

• Cool Stuff Reviewed: Adult Swim’s $75 Pants, Ghostbusters: The Video Game
• Cool Stuff: Complete Crazy4Cult 3D Art Preview
• 7 Minutes Of Harold Ramis Talking Ghostbusters 3
• Cool Stuff: Chariots Retired T-Shirt
• Cool Stuff: Simpsonized Ghostbusters
• Michael Cera Has No Interest In Ghostbusters 3, Jack Black Would Bust Ghosts If He Could

Coming to you weekly from my vantage point in good old Blighty, it’s Slashfilm UK. Anglos and Anglophiles rejoice as every Friday – GMT, of course – I’ll be bringing you a round up news, links and coverage specific to the film comings and goings here in the UK. Sometimes we’ll be talking about films that have already played in the US, other times it will be films that won’t make it to the US for a good while yet, and from time to time you’ll read about films that will never make it to the US at all.

Coming up after the break are a record breaking attempt from Mission: Impossible, Grant Morrison teaming up with Stephen Fry, your first chance to see The Princess and the Frog in the UK, Steve Martin playing banjo and an awful lot more.

This Saturday night, Pinewood Studios are hoping to set a world record for the largest cinema screen ever. Their presentation of Mission: Impossible is set to measure over 73 metres wide and more than 18 metres tall. Have no fear about picture quality, though, as The Telegraph tell us that ” the very latest projection technology” will ensure the film “will look absolutely sensational”.

Waterstones online are currently offering a 30% discount on a series of BFI books.

The lineup for the London Children’s Film Festival has been announced. The opening night Gala on November 21st will be Miyazaki’s Ponyo on the Cliff by the Sea and the festival will end on November 29th with the first UK screening of The Princess and the Frog. There’s also something called Burton’s Bedtime Stories, in which a double bill of Charlie and the Chocolate Factory and The Corpse Bride will be punctuated with slumber-party themed activities.

Martine McCutcheon, sometime tea lady to Prime Minster Hugh Grant and erstwhile Eastenders ragamuffin, has told The Telegraph that the lead character of her new novel The Mistress was created in the actress’ image to give herself an acting job.

UK Film magazine Little White Lies are selling screen prints of their special Geoff McFetridge Where the Wild Things Are cover.

Former Channel 4 drama head Liza Marshall has told Broadcast that her new position at Ridley and Tony Scott’s Scott Free is good for Brits in the industry:

Ridley loves the UK market and the talent here, but has not found the right person to run it. He loves the shows I worked on such as The Devil’s Whore and he has optioned Red Riding. That shows a commitment.

After 20-some years on the London stage, courtesy of Stephen Malatratt’s wonderful adaptation, Susan Hill’s ghost story The Woman in Black seems set to become a 3D feature film. Dread Central report that Jane Goldman has been hired to pen the screenplay for the newly renovated house of horror we call Hammer.

Here’s a new poster for Philip Ridley’s wonderful Heartless. The film opens in the UK next Spring, but there’s another early chance to see it this November 24th, at the ICA. The screening will be accompanied by a Q&A with the director and is part of the Comica festival, of which a screening of The Sky Crawlers is the only other movie moment.

With a series of incremental updates, Bleeding Cool managed to piece together that Grant Morrison, Stephen Fry and Paul McGuigan were looking to collaborate on a BBC Scotland project. We don’t know what they were pitching, and we don’t know how it went - but we do know that Morrison wore a purple suit to the meeting. BBC Scotland were interested in adapting Morrison’s The Invisibles comics at one point… could this be that?

When the UK Blu-ray of Moon gets let out of the traps on the 16th, a good few copies could be winging their way to foreign lands as it has been confirmed by the Man Made Movies blog to be a region free disc. That’s just the BD mind, not the DVD.

The UK Film Council have named their Breakthrough Brits, a roster of 13 black and Asian film makers from Blighty who will be sent to the AFM for a bit of schmoozing. Screen Daily list the winners (because that’s what they are) as:

Dipo Agboluaje, Riz Ahmed, Eran Creevy, Yann Demange, Daniel Kaluuya, Shan Khan, Tinge Krishnan, Kolton Lee, Nahrein Mirza Kemp, China Moo Young, Mel Nwanguma, Femi Oguns, and Ian Iqbal Rashid.

There’s a few you have more likely heard of than the rest. For example, Ahmed and Creevy were the star and writer-director of Shifty and Yann Demange directed the Big Brother zombie show Dead Set.

So much for collaborting with Ben Stiller on a Little Britain movie - David Walliams has told Newsbeat that he’s now working with Matt Lucas on a new TV series that will be somewhere between a sketch show and a sitcom.

The NME have details of Steve Martin’s first UK gig as a musician. Next Monday, the 9th of November, he’ll be playing the Royal Festival Hall with a show he’s calling An Evening of Bluegrass and Banjo.

Screen Daily have the details on FilmBuff VOD’s move into the UK market.

Here’s a competition announcement from the Bunny and the Bull guys. A competition that sounds more fun to enter than to win for once…?

As Nikki Finke put it, “Mel Gibson Sells Off UK Arm of his Icon Group”. The Hollywood Reporter looked at it as a purchase not a sale with “Stuart Till Finalizes Icon Group Deal”.

There’s a remake of The Asphyx coming, courtesy of UK indie outfit Black and Blue. Screen Daily tell us that Matthew McGuchan (not to be confused with the aforementioned Martine McCutcheon) will write and direct. The original film, about death spirits, Victoriana and other stuff that I find mildly creepy, has stood the test of time very well.

Hey U Guys tell us that British comic book Buskers is coming to the big screen with Kevin Spacey, Mos Def and Damon Albarn amongst the cast and the lead female role still open. Shooting starts in Decemeber and there’s already an official site.

According to The Guardian, both the BBC and The Sun accidentally used stills from Nick Love’s remake of The Firm as suspect’s mugshots… and it was all the fault of the police. That’s probably the first and last time anybody will mistake images from a Nick Love film for anything remotely like reality.

After 18 months of delay, John Hurt has told The Telegraph that he is “a bit fed up” that ITV haven’t yet screened An Englishman in New York, his second turn as Quentin Crisp after The Naked Civil Servant. A bit fed up? I’m positively hopping.

A two-player ARG game to promote Guy Ritchie’s Sherlock Holmes has finally been given a proper launch. As is always the way with these things, I’m finding it a little bit confusing so any tips you can offer would be greatly appreciated. The big idea of 221B (it’s named after Holmes’ address) is that you can interrogate characters in the game by actually phrasing your own questions and not selecting from pre-set options. Very ambitious.

Want to get a Sack ‘n’ Crack wax, for free? To promote the release of Bruno on DVD and BD next Monday, gentlemen will be able to for that day only get a complimentary makeover of their overgrown undercarriages. On a strictly first come, first served basis you’ll be able to get your smooth on at the following salons:

The Sugar Shop, 142 Commercial Street, London, E1 6BJ

The Sugar Shop, 35 Southwick Street, London, W2 1JQ

Brazilian Waxing Company, University Precinct, Oxford Road, Manchester, M13 9RN

Designer Waxing, 183 Bath Street, Glasgow, G24HU

If you do go and get a treatment, let me know how it went. Pictures would be funny too, but I can’t promise I won’t publish them or put them up in London phoneboxes.

Stephen Soderbergh’s call girl drama The Girlfriend Experience is coming, at long last, to UK cinemas. There’s a screening at the BFI at 8.45pm on November 16th with star Sasha Grey on hand to do a Q&A and, probably, be rushed out of the back door by big security men with heavy coshes. If you’d like to win a pair of tickets to join me at that screening - there’s two pairs to give away - then just e-mail me an answer to the following question:

On what date does The Girlfriend Experience go on general release in the UK?

I’ll draw the winners out of some kind of virtual hat.

• No Related Post

The Hangover star Bradley Cooper is now set to replace Shia LaBeouf in Neil Burger’s (The Illusionist) upcoming thriller, Dark Fields. The film is an adaptation of the Alan Glynn book of the same name, and will feature a script by eclectic screenwriter, Leslie Dixon (The Thomas Crowne Affair, Mrs. Doubtfire, Hairspray). The film is among many projects Cooper has signed on for post-Hangover (which is strange, because I still know the guy best as Sydney Bristow’s best friend on Alias).

Cooper will play a struggling writer who takes a top-secret pharmaceutical drug that makes him smarter. He finds success, but also comes to learn there are consequences, such as the phenomenon “trip-switching” which makes him perceive time moving similar to stop-motion.

The official book description follows:

Imagine a drug that makes your brain function with perfect efficiency, tapping into your most fundamental resources of intelligence and drive, releasing all the passive knowledge you’d ever accumulated. A drug that made you focused, charming, fast, even attractive. Eddie Spinola is on such a drug. It’s called MDT-48, and it’s Viagra for the brain-a designer drug that’s redesigning his life. But while MDT is helping Eddie achieve the kind of success he’s only dreamed about, it’s also chipping away at his sanity-splitting headaches, spontaneous blackouts, violent outbursts. And now that he’s hooked and his supply is running low, Eddie must venture into the drug’s dark past to feed his habit. What he discovers proves that MDT, once a dream come true, has become his worst nightmare.

The film sounds like a trippy technothriller, and Burger has proven able to acquit himself well to more fantastical stories with The Illusionist. Cooper also has some genre experience with Midnight Meat Train, but then again there’s no telling how watered down this film adaptation will be from Glynn’s novel.

[Source: THR Heat Vision Blog]

• Shia LaBeouf’s Next Film to Be Dark Fields For Director Neil Burger
• Shia LaBeouf to Star in Neil Burger’s Dark Fields
• First Official Look: The A-Team
• Photo Roundup: New Looks at The A-Team, Green Hornet, Clash of the Titans, Red Dawn and Date Night
• Valentine’s Day Movie Trailer
• New York, I Love You Movie Trailer

Director Stephen Frears and writer D.V. DeVincentis are teaming up for another project, which seems to have some similarities to the John Cusack-starring hit, High Fidelity. The two are adapting the upcoming Beth Raymer memoir, Lay the Favorite, Take the Dog, which will be released this spring. The adaptation will simply be titled Lay the Favorite.

The dramedy concerns a thirty-something woman who falls in with a crowd of older math geeks that have figured out how to game the sportsbook system in Vegas. Says DeVincentis, “It’s a less violent, less sketchy version of the mob. This is the version of 50-year-old math geeks from Queens in basketball shorts who have pet guinea pigs.”

He also goes on to spell out the similarities to High Fidelity, “[the gamblers] have an intense pride in a very specific expertise — and a lack of socialization.” And of course, they’re struggling to come to terms with adulthood just like Cusack’s infamous manchild.

DeVincentis also wrote another great Cusack vehicle, Grosse Pointe Blank, and Frears has gone on to direct gems like Dirty Pretty Things, and The Queen (I’ve yet to see Cheri). The pair could certainly do something great with this premise, Frear in particular has grown a knack for compelling little dramas, and I’m glad to see that he isn’t above directing a film with a bit more mainstream appeal (at least judging from the premise).

The project sounds a lot more like Croupier (except with some funny) than it does the recent gambling pic, 21. I’m partial to a well done gambling drama, and with this pedigree Lay the Favorite certainly looks like one to keep an eye out for.

[Source: THR]

• No Related Post

We have a bevy of TV updates tonight: First up, it appears that J.J. Abrams is in talks to direct the pilot of his newest series on NBC, a spy drama entitled Undercovers. We previously reported the fact that he was developing the show, and that it seemed to be strikingly similar to Mr. and Mrs. Smith. It’s been a while since we’ve seen Abrams behind the directors chair for one of his own shows. He directed Lost’s fantastic pilot, but hasn’t yet done anything for Fringe.

Alias’s pilot was his first foray into directing action, and he’s definitely honed that craft in his subsequent works, especially Mission: Impossible 3 and Star Trek. It’s going to be interesting to see how he translates his recent big screen experience to television.

Also, Cartoon Network has given the production green light to two live action series. Tower Prep concerns a rebellious teen who finds himself in a mysterious prep school and enlists friends to learn more about it, including how to escape. Unnatural History revolves around a teen who encounters mysteries at the National Museum of History, shortly after moving to Washington, D.C. The network has actually dabbled in live action programming for some time, but this is their first foray into scripted live action series.

We’ve also learned that The Onion and Comedy Central are teaming up for a half-hour pilot based on the Onion Sports Network site. The show is apparently aiming to appeal to both casual and hardcore sports fans. A quick look at the site will give you a sense of the sort of humor the show will be going for.

Finally, it seems that HBO is developing a series exploring the gender transformation of a woman into a man, entitled T. The show comes from the couple Anya Epstein and Dan Futterman, who’ve recently signed to run the third season of In Treatment. This American Life’s Ira Glass is also exec-producing, apparently the series was inspired by an episode of his show.

• Trivia: Wil Wheaton Voiced Romulans in JJ Abrams’ Star Trek
• JJ Abrams to Produce Micronauts?
• JJ Abrams to Dose Us With 500 Rads
• Star Trek Deleted Scene: Nero Interrogated By Klingons
• J.J. Abrams Spills on Star Trek 2, Mission: Impossible 4, and Fringe
• J.J. Abrams Developing New Spy TV Series for NBC

Teefury has an awesome LOST-themed t-shirt as today’s t-shirt of the day. Ian Leino’s scratchboard style Polar Beer t-shirt design features the logo for a fictional beer of the same name, with a couple clever taglines “a CONSTANT favorite”, “From the ARTIC to the ISLAND” and “Down The HATCH”. And of course there are the more obvious references, including the necklace around the bear’s neck and the dharma logo. Any more I’m missing? As always, the shirt is on sale for only $9 plus shipping, in both men’s and women’s sizes, but for 24 hours only.

Cool Stuff is a daily feature of slashfilm.com. Know of any geekarific creations or cool products which should be featured on Cool Stuff? E-Mail us at orfilms@gmail.com.

• TV News: V Brings on Chuck Producer, Zuleikha Robinson Now a Lost Series Regular
• Lost: The Final Season Teaser Trailer
• The Final Season of LOST Will Be Interrupted By The Olympics
• Cool Stuff: Lost Art - Dan McCarthy’s “Rousseau’s Transmission”
• Cool Stuff: Lost Art - Kevin Tong’s “The Hatch”
• Cool Stuff: Lost Art - Ken Taylor’s “The Smoke Monster”

Derrick Comedy has been so busy making and promoting their feature film debut Mystery Team, that they haven’t had the time to produce a new internet short film/comedy sketch in almost two whole years. Until now, that is. Derrick is releasing the short film “Boy Band” online to celebrate the further expansion of  their indie comedy feature. To me, “Boy Band”, is a perfect example of why I love these guys. It’s so very politically incorrect in all the right ways, the lyrics are brilliantly written, and the production is top notch, especially for an internet production (to me it looks as good, if not better, than any of the Digital Shorts on SNL).

A rough cut of “Boy Band” premiered at the Alamo Drafhouse before the national premiere of Mystery Team. But aside from the Austin Texas audience who were in attendance at that screening, you are the first to see the new short. Derrick has decided to premiere the new short film exclusively on /Film, as a way of saying thanks to you guys, the /Film readers, for the continued support of their debut feature.

For the past month, Derrick has asked you to DEMAND that Mystery Team play in your town, and now Roadside has announced that the movie is coming to some of the most demanded cities. Derrick tells us that the theatrical release will continue into the new year, so if you want to see the movie, DEMAND IT in your town, and tell your friends do the same. Watch the new short film after the jump, followed by information about Mystery Team’s Holiday expansion plans.

Over the next month and a half, Mystery Team will expand to four new cities:

• 11/13/09 - Phoenix, AZ - Harkins Valley Art Theater
• 12/4/09 - New York, NY - Quad Cinemas
• 12/11/09 - Albequerque, NM - The Guild Cinema - MIDNIGHT SHOWS
• 2/4/10 - Chicago, IL - Music Box

Here is a quote from the Derrick guys:

There is no big corporate machine behind this movie, it’s just us and the movie and you guys, the people who want to see it. We are, as ever, entirely in your hands. We thank you for your continued support, your patience, and your excitement. Please let us know you’re out there by DEMANDING “Mystery Team.”

Want Mystery Team to play in your city? Demand it now! Roadside is actually listening (or reading, as it may be) and will be brining the film into the most demanded markets, if you can shout loud enough. Demand it and tell your friends!

• Sundance Movie Review: Mystery Team
• Paranormal Activity Grosses $535,000 at Midnight in 33 Cities, Expands Next Week
• The Mystery Team Solves the Case of the Haunted Hotel
• New Mystery Team Trailer - /Film is Giving Away Tickets To Special Comic-Con Screening!
• Comic Con Updates: Avatar, Mystery Team, Repo, Pandorum, Extract and 9
• Mystery Team, Richard Kelly, Ninjas and More Invade Comic-Con 2009

Lionsgate has premiered the first official posters for Matthew Vaughn’s adaptation of Mark Millar’s comic book Kick-Ass on IGN. The posters come in the form of four character posters, which combine to form the title of the movie. I love the fact that the posters are not even trying to win audiences with the names of the actors involved, and are instead going in-story with the character credits like “DAMON MACREADY IS BIG DADDY” instead of saying Nicolas Cage.

Click on over to IGN to see the poster in full resolution.

Official Plot Synopsis: A twisted, funny, high-octane adventure, director Matthew Vaughn brings KICK-ASS to the big screen. KICK-ASS tells the story of average teenager Dave Lizewski (Aaron Johnson), a comic-book fanboy who decides to take his obsession as inspiration to become a real-life superhero. As any good superhero would, he chooses a new name — Kick-Ass — assembles a suit and mask to wear, and gets to work fighting crime. There¹s only one problem standing in his way: Kick-Ass has absolutely no superpowers. His life is forever changed as he inspires a subculture of copy cats, is hunted by assorted violent and unpleasant characters, and meets up with a pair of crazed vigilantes, including an 11-year-old sword-wielding dynamo, Hit Girl (Chloë Moretz) and her father, Big Daddy (Nicolas Cage).

Kick-Ass hits theaters on April 16th 2010.

• Matthew Vaughn’s Kick-Ass Described As “Teenage Tarantino”
• Mark Millar Pushing Through Kick-Ass 2 And More
• First Official Kick-Ass Photos
• Exclusive: Kick Ass Set Photos
• Clark Duke to Kick Ass in Matthew Vaughn’s Kick-Ass!
• Mark Millar Plans for New Superman Trilogy; $70 Million Budget for Kick-Ass

Entertainment Weekly has learned that Anna Faris, Dan Aykroyd, and Justin Timberlake are in talks to star in the hybrid live-action/computer animated feature based on the Hanna-Barbera cartoon Yogi Bear. The big screen 3D movie is being directed by Eric Brevig (Journey to the Center of the Earth), from a screenplay by Brad Copeland (Wild Hogs).  What characters will Faris, Aykroyd and Timberlake play? Details after the jump.

• Faris will play a live-action character named Rachel, a nature documentary filmmaker who is trying to film Yogi and Boo-Boo for her next project.
• Aykroyd will voice the computer animated Yogi, the lovable Jellystone Park bear who is notorious for his attempts at stealing picnic baskets from campers, much to the displeasure of Park Ranger Smith.
• Timberlake will voice the computer animated Boo-Boo, a bow-tied bear cub who acts as Yogi’s constant companion and conscience.

Park Ranger Smith has yet to be cast, but I assume he would be played live-action.Lets just hope someone like Will Ferrell doesn’t fall for this paycheck trap. The film will begin filming next month in New Zealand . Warner Bros is aiming for a December 17th 2010 release.

• My Eyes!: 3D Yogi Bear Movie Moving Forward with Journey 3D Director
• Confirmed: Eisenberg, Timberlake and Garfield Cast in David Fincher’s The Social Network
• Rumor: Eisenberg, Timberlake and Garfield Cast in David Fincher’s The Social Network
• Justin Timberlake Screen Testing For Green Lantern
• The Jody Hill Interview Part 2: Observe & Report, the “Sex Scene Controversy,” Mall Hate, Parents, The Foot Fist Way, and a “Southern Godfather”
• Ghostbusters 3 Round-Up - Including First Line of Dialogue?

This isn’t the first time this has happened. Peter Jackson held a simuler stunt with the Extended Editions of The Lord of the Rings series, allowing fan club members to have their names in the DVD credits. And Kevin Smith famously included the first 10,000 MySpace users to friend the Clerks II movie account in the film’s credits (Weinstein Co thought it would take weeks, but enough people signed up in the first two hours).

But the coolest thing about the Paranormal opportunity is that fans won’t have to sit through 5 minutes of white scroll to see their names. Anyone who has seen the movie knows there isn’t many credits included on the tail end of the film.. actually, not much more than a few seconds and one title card.

• VOTD: Paranormal Saw
• Saw Series Dethroned At Box Office, Paramount Now Considering Paranormal Activity 2
• Paranormal Activity Director Goes To Area 51
• Paranormal Activity Grosses $535,000 at Midnight in 33 Cities, Expands Next Week
• /Filmcast Ep. 69 - Surrogates (GUEST: Eric D. Snider from Film.com and Cinematical)
• Fantastic Fest Video Review: Paranormal Activity

I knew it was bound to happen eventually… in the future the masses won’t have to travel to the snow-filled mountain town of PArk City Utah to attend the Sundance Film Festival. Eventually the festival will offer digital streaming of some of the independent feature film premieres the movie theaters across the country. While that day is still a few years off, Sundance announced yesterday that they will be launching a new expansion this year called Sundance Film Festival USA, a new program which will screen films from the festival in eight cities across the country as the festival coems to a close in Park City. Details after the jump.

Sundance Film Festival runs January 21st to the 31st in Park City Utah. At the very tail end of the festival, Sundance, on Thursday, January 28th to be exact, Sundance will dispatch eight filmmakers with their films from Park City to eight cities across the country to screen and discuss direct-from-Festival films with audiences. Tickets will be available through each theatre’s individual box office. All films will be selected from the official Sundance Film Festival program, which will be announced in December.

An introductory video featuring Robert Redford will precede the screenings, and is also expected to include “festival highlights”. And the screenings will be followed with a live conversation with the filmmakers. The only question is what level of films will Sundance be including in this national tour?

The events will take place in Los Angeles, CA (Downtown Independent), San Francisco, CA (Sundance Kabuki Cinemas), Chicago, IL (Music Box Theater), Brooklyn, NY (BAM), Nashville, TN (Belcourt Theater) plus Ann Arbor, MI. (Michigan Theater); Brookline, MA. (Coolidge Corner Theater); and Madison, WI. (Sundance Cinemas Madison).

• No Related Post

Universal Pictures has released a deleted scene from Sacha Baron Cohen’s Bruno, which will be included in the DVD/Blu-ray which debuts November 17th 2009. The sequence features Baseball legend Pete Rose, in the same situation that you see Paula Abdul in the released film — having to do an interview while sitting on a mexican gardener. Rose was a lot nicer about the situation, which explains why they probably reshot the sequence with Abdul. Watch the clip after the jump.

Press release below:

The Uproarious New Comedy from the Creator and Star of Borat Brüno

“A no-holds-barred comedy! — Roger Ebert, Chicago Sun Times

Available to Own on Blu-ray™ Hi-Def and DVD on November 17, 2009 from Universal Studios Home Entertainment

OVERVIEW: The inimitable prankster Sacha Baron Cohen (Borat: Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan) launches another inspired comedy offensive in the boisterous Brüno, coming to Blu-Ray™ Hi-Def and DVD on November 17, 2009 from Universal Studios Home Entertainment.

As in the hugely popular Borat, Sacha Baron Cohen once again creates improvised pandemonium, this time as an Austrian TV host searching for fame and fortune in America, ensnaring everyone he meets in hilariously unpredictable, unscripted and unsuspecting ways.

Featuring an hour of exclusive footage of deleted scenes not shown in theaters and a revealing commentary by Sasha Baron Cohen & director Larry Charles about how some of the film’s unbelievably funny pranks were achieved, Brüno has been hailed even “Funnier than Borat” by Owen Gleiberman, Entertainment Weekly and “Uber-hilarity!” by Claudia Puig, USA Today. Hilarious, irreverent, shocking and entertaining, Brüno is the most talked-about comedy of the year.

BONUS FEATURES EXCLUSIVE TO BLU-RAY™ HI-DEF:
Exclusive Video Commentary with Sacha Baron Cohen and Director Larry Charles
BD-LIVE — Allows viewers to connect to the Internet and access new and exciting exclusive online and interactive features, including My Scenes Sharing and My Chat.

BONUS FEATURES (DVD AND BLU-RAY™ HI-DEF):
An hour of Alternative, Deleted and Extended Scenes not shown in theaters
Enhanced Commentary – Hear in depth stories for selected scenes from Sacha Baron Cohen and director Larry Charles.
An Interview with Hollywood Agent Lloyd Robinson – Get the story behind Brüno’s real Hollywood agent.

SYNOPSIS: Sacha Baron Cohen (the creator and star of Borat) returns to the big screen in the hilarious adventures of Austria’s favorite fashionista, Brüno. In this gleefully anarchic mockumentary, the flamboyant television host loses his homeland talk show, “Funkyzeit,” and does what any self-respecting wannabe would do—he moves to Hollywood to pursue worldwide super-stardom. From worlds of fashion and entertainment to the military, Brüno puts his worst foot forward as Baron Cohen fearlessly tramples the boundaries of good taste in ways that confound celebrities and just plain folks alike. Fans of Baron Cohen’s gonzo comedy can look forward to an hour’s worth of hysterical scenes not shown in theaters on both the DVD and Blu-ray versions

• “Terrorist Leader” Feels Duped By Bruno, Isn’t Actually a Terrorist?
• Second Edit of Bruno Set For UK Cinemas
• Bruno - What Did You Think?
• Bruno Movie Review
• Michael Jackson Jokes Trimmed (Temporarily?) From Bruno
• Gay-Friendly Bruno Reshoots Rumored

Lionsgate has released a new trailer for the family drama Brothers, which is directed by six-time Oscar nominee Jim Sheridan (In America, In The Name of the Father), from a screenplay by David Benioff (The Kite Runner, 25th Hour), and stars Tobey Maguire, Jake Gyllenhaal, Natalie Portman, Sam Shepard, Clifton Collins, Jr., Carey Mulligan, and Ethan Suplee.

The film tells the story of a black-sheep younger brother who cares for the wife and children of a decorated Marine who goes missing overseas, “with consequences that will shake the foundation of the entire family.” The list of names involved with this film is very impressive. The trailer has a really over-the-top, on-the-noise, voiceover, which gives the feel of a made-for-television movie, rather than an Awards hopeful. Watch the trailer embedded after the jump. As always, leave your thoughts in the comments below.

BROTHERS tells the powerful story of two siblings, thirty-something Captain Sam Cahill (Tobey Maguire) and younger brother Tommy Cahill (Jake Gyllenhaal), who are polar opposites. A Marine about to embark on his fourth tour of duty, Sam is a steadfast family man married to his high school sweetheart, the aptly named Grace (Natalie Portman), with whom he has two young daughters (Bailee Madison, Taylor Grace Geare). Tommy, his charismatic younger brother, is a drifter just out of jail who’s always gotten by on wit and charm. He slides easily into his role as family provocateur on his first night out of prison, at Sam’s farewell dinner with their parents, Elsie (Mare Winningham) and Hank Cahill (Sam Shepard), a retired Marine.

Shipped out to Afghanistan, Sam is presumed dead when his Black Hawk helicopter is shot down in the mountains. At home in suburbia, the Cahill family suddenly faces a shocking void, and Tommy tries to fill in for his brother by assuming newfound responsibility for himself, Grace, and the children.

But Sam is not dead; he and a fellow soldier have been captured by Taliban fighters. In Afghanistan’s harsh, remote Pamir Mountains, Sam is subjected to traumas that threaten to rob him of his very humanity. At the same time that Sam’s sense of self is being destroyed overseas, Tommy’s self-image is strengthening at home. And in the grief and strangeness of their new lives, Grace and Tommy are naturally drawn together. Their longstanding frostiness dissolves, but both are frightened and ashamed of the mutual attraction that has replaced it.

When Sam unexpectedly returns to the States, a nervous mood settles over the family. Sam, uncharacteristically withdrawn and volatile, grows suspicious of his brother and his wife. Their familiar roles now nearly reversed, Sam and Tommy end up facing the ultimate physical and mental challenge when they confront each other. In the shifting family dynamics, who will dominate? And how will the brothers come to terms with issues of love, loyalty, and manhood—and with the woman caught between them?

Lionsgate and Relativity Media proudly present the riveting family drama BROTHERS, directed by six-time Oscar® nominee Jim Sheridan (IN AMERICA, IN THE NAME OF THE FATHER), from a screenplay by David Benioff (THE KITE RUNNER, STAY, TROY), and starring Tobey Maguire, Jake Gyllenhaal, Natalie Portman, Sam Shepard, Bailee Madison, Taylor Geare, Patrick Flueger, Clifton Collins, Jr., Carey Mulligan, Omid Abtahi, Ethan Suplee, and Mare Winningham. A Sighvatsson Films Relativity Media, LLC Michael De Luca Productions, Inc. production. The producers are Ryan Kavanaugh, Sigurjon Sighvatsson, and Michael De Luca. Executive producers are Tucker Tooley, Scott Fischer, Zach Schiff-Abrams, and Jon Feltheimer, with co-executive producer Jeremiah Samuels. Mark Fischer and Matt Battaglia are co-producers. BROTHERS is based on the Danish film BRØDRE by Susanne Bier and Anders Thomas Jensen.

Sheridan’s prior films have garnered 16 Academy Award® nominations and won two Academy Awards, for lead actors Daniel Day Lewis and Brenda Fricker in MY LEFT FOOT: THE STORY OF CHRISTY BROWN. Sheridan has personally been nominated six times, for writing the screenplay (original material) of IN AMERICA (2003); for writing (adaptation), directing, and producing the best-picture nominee IN THE NAME OF THE FATHER (1993); and for writing (adaptation) and directing MY LEFT FOOT (1989).

The talented behind-the-scenes team on BROTHERS includes cinematographer Frederick Elmes, ASC (BLUE VELVET, DAVID LYNCH’S WILD AT HEART, THE ICE STORM), production designer Tony Fanning (MUNICH, SPIDER-MAN, OCEAN’S ELEVEN), editor Jay Cassidy, A.C.E. (INTO THE WILD, THE INDIAN RUNNER, THE CROSSING GUARD), costume designer Durinda Wood (A MIGHTY WIND, BEST IN SHOW, MULHOLLAND DRIVE), and casting director Avy Kaufman, CSA (THE BOURNE ULTIMATUM, BROKEBACK MOUNTAIN, SYRIANA) with location casting by Jo Edna Boldin, CSA. The music was composed by Thomas Newman

• The Boondock Saints II: All Saints Day Comic-Con Details
• Kirsten Dunst Needs to Learn that EVERYONE is Replaceable
• Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time Movie Trailer
• An Education’s Carey Mulligan Joins This Beautiful Fantastic, a 2009 Brit List Entry
• David Gordon Green’s Suspiria Remake Begins Shooting 2010
• Daniel Craig Joins Jim Sheridan’s Dream House

I love how the trades bury nuggets of info. At the bottom of the piece I used to source info about Michael Fassbender’s upcoming role in A Single Shot was a throwaway sentence that suggests David Cronenberg is still at work on The Talking Cure, a project we’ve heard almost nothing about in the two years since it was first ‘announced’.

Almost exactly two years ago, a few reports said that Cronenberg was adapting The Talking Cure, a 2002 play by Christopher Hampton. (Ralph Fiennes, Cronenberg’s star in Spider, appeared in one of the primary productions of the play.) The story’s arc concerns the founding fathers of psychoanalysis, Carl Jung and Sigmund Freud, and their parallel relationships with a beautiful patient, Sabina Spielrein. Shades of Dead Ringers in there, yeah? In some ways this sounds like the subtext of much of Cronenberg’s work being brought right to the surface. Could be interesting. But we’ve heard almost nothing about the possibility of the film since that announcement.

Then, yesterday, there was this in Variety: “Hanway’s slate includes helmer David Cronenberg’s “The Talking Cure.” ‘Hanway’ in this case is Hanway Films, a London-based company that specializes in financing and sales. I wrote Hanway this afternoon to see if they could provide more detail. Is the film actually still active, and if so has the company already put together a financing package for it? They were trying to sell the film two years ago at the AFM, which is once again going on right now. Are they really still flogging this one? (I hope so!)

Cronenberg is a very active filmmaker when it comes to development. He’s got a list of once-possible projects a mile long; often he’ll work on a few different things, and when one comes together all the others are put down. Often they are fully abandoned. I would have guessed that The Talking Cure would be one of these, so this little mention is a surprise. For what it’s worth, I’d also expect The Matarese Circle, Cronenberg’s aborted Tom Cruise and Denzel Washington project, to be another abandoned effort.

Then, for those keeping track, there’s also Cosmopolis, the Don DeLillo novel adaptation that seemed like Cronenberg’s likely next project after Matarese fell apart. Then Fox reportedly has him developing another remake of The Fly, but that really seems like leverage to get another film made. “Stop dragging your feet here, guys, or you’ll lose me to Fox,” — that sort of thing. Time will tell.

• Remake of The Fly to Be Directed By… David Cronenberg
• Sam Mendes Teaming With Christopher Hampton For Netherland
• David Cronenberg to Adapt Don DeLillo Novel Cosmopolis
• VOTD: The Future of Toy Movies
• What Movie Will Tom Cruise Do Next? James Mangold’s Wichita
• Universal to Remake Videodrome

In May we told you that Todd Lincoln had signed on to will write and direct The Apparition for Joel Silver’s genre label Dark Castle Entertainment. But at the time, details about the project were being kept under wraps. The only thing we knew was that the story is said to be based on true events and involve a haunted house. The project is picking up steam now that Twilight star Ashley Greene is in talks to star, and Variety has some new detail… Apparently the story “centers on a young couple haunted by a supernatural presence unleashed during a college experiment.” And the project is being fast tracked, and will go into production in February 2010.

Lincoln’s short films Honey Pot and Xavier played to acclaim at film festicals, gaining the attention of a Los Angeles commercial and music video production company called Public Works. He has been directing commercials, music videos, and developing a potential feature film debut ever since. Lincoln had been attached to a remake of The Fly for Fox, and has since been developing a live-action adaptation of Hack/Slash for Rogue Pictures, and more recently became attached to an adaptation of Devil Due’s alien thriller graphic novel The Nye Incidents, also for Dark Castle.

I haven’t seen much of Lincoln’s work, as his short films aren’t available online. But I really dug his music video for Lucky Pool’s Judy and Mary. Check it out, embedded after the jump.

• Todd Lincoln To Direct The Apparition
• Vanessa Hudgens Auditioned For Twilight Sequel

I’ve really been looking forward to footage from Michael Winterbottom’s adaptation of the Jim Thompson novel The Killer Inside Me. I’m a massive Thompson fan, and adaptations of his novels have about a .500 average. (I’m the guy that doesn’t like The Grifters much; I infinitely prefer a movie like Tavernier’s Coup de Torchon.)

The cast here seems to be on the money — Casey Affleck as the duplicitous small-town sheriff deputy Lou Ford, Jessica Alba and Kate Hudson as the women in his life, and supporting work from Ned Beatty, Bill Pullman and Elias Koteas. Now there’s a rough long-form sales trailer that makes the concoction look fairly potent. See it after the jump.

Give a big hand to The Playlist for digging up this trailer. Now, if you don’t know the story you might not want to watch this one. It’s about five minutes long and gives away most of the first act, but in a way that, to those new to the tale, will seem like far more is being shown than is really the case. This really plays up the involvement of Jessica Alba, though we’ll actually see more of Hudson across the span of the film.

What we don’t much see here is the grinning, dumb face of Affleck’s character Lou Ford. The idea behind the character is that he keeps most people at arm’s length by spouting white noise. He speaks in platitudes and cliches and generally makes people think he’s dumb as a post, if a nice guy. This trailer shows off more of the calculating truth behind that facade, so in that sense it again seems to give a lot away. (The novel is narrated in first-person, so what the trailer shows is, to some extent, stuff you’d get right off the bat. But not entirely.)

I like the use of the music from The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford, but that also points to the qualm I’ve had with casting Affleck. Namely, this character is in some ways a lot like Robert Ford, and I’d hate to see the guy repeating himself.

Watch the trailer now before it gets pulled, and note: unless you work in a brothel I’d say it is quite NSFW.

• First Look: Michael Winterbottom’s Take on The Killer Inside Me
• Casey Affleck and Jessica Alba to Star in “The Killer Inside Me”
• Elias Koteas, Cara Buono and Sasha Barrese Join Let Me In
• Casting Notes: New Comedy Projects For Jessica Alba, Uma Thurman and John C. Reilly
• Valentine’s Day Movie Trailer
• Defendor Movie Trailer: Woody Harrelson Fights Crime!

In a rather desperate and intrusive attempt to quell piracy, the collective forces of Hollywood have been revving themselves up to put their weight behind a new anti-bootlegging solution. So far, that sounds okay, I would hope you’d agree. It’s what the solution entails that turns the stomach.

Nicknamed the Kill Switch, the Selectable Output Control device is a system by which certain outputs on your cable box or DVR – or, frankly, whatever player of any kind that they could force the specification onto – would be turned off when films or programming with a risk of piracy are being played. Essentially, if you were to turn your cable box over to see some studio film on one of the movie channels, half of the outputs on your system would be instantly disabled.

The problem is that this can’t happen without some nasty side-effects. One, this will limit the amount of new add-on devices and clever ancillary bits of kit that could be invented for your boxes and players; two, only licensees could produce equipment with the technology in place, potentially limiting the range of manufacturers and keeping everything close to the studio’s powerbases; three, everybody would have to shell out for new, SOC equipped pieces of tech to get access to the programs at all.

What can we do? Until the FCC have approved this rather extreme new piece of kit, it can’t be actioned. The FCC are the pass at which we can cut Hollywood off.

Public Knowledge (via Boing Boing) tell us to take action and reach out to the FCC now:

The battle over your home entertainment equipment is heating up again and the time to make your voice heard is now… Thirteen public interest groups today said the FCC should not respond to the “whims of industry” and grant the motion picture lobby the ability to control how consumers use their television sets and set-top boxes. As many as 20 million TV sets could be affected.

I often feel that there’s an awful lot of pro-piracy propaganda out there, some of it under cover of being public interest monitoring of copyright laws, yet I’ve still got to hear an argument for piracy, particularly movie piracy, that doesn’t sound like the selfish whining of greedy people feeling entitled to have access to anything and everything they want at no expense. On the other hand, these plans for the SOC seem quite obviously to be a threat of infringement to consumer rights.

You can contact the FCC by e-mail:

fccinfo@fcc.gov

telephone:

1-888-225-5322

or mail:

Federal Communications Commission
445 12th Street SW
Washington, DC 20554

• No Related Post

First released in Japan in 1974, the toys were later imported to the U.S. in 1976. The line consisted of 3.75-inch tall action figures, vehicles, robots, play sets, and accessories which used a universal, five millimeter inter-connective design. It should also be mentioned that a series of Micronauts comic books were published by Marvel Comics and Image Comics. The original series was written by Bill Mantlo and featured art by Michael Golden, Howard Chaykin, Pat Broderick, Gil Kane, Butch Guice and others.

According to the comic book created storyline, the Micronauts originate in the Microverse, “a microscopic series of diverse habitats that are linked together in the fashion of molecule chains. The original team comes together in response to the threat posed by former academic and now murderous dictator, Baron Karza. Commander Arcturus Rann (returning from a thousand-year deep space voyage in suspended animation) and Biotron, his robot co-pilot, return on the HMS (Homeworld Micro Ship) Endeavor, to discover Karza has slain the royal family, who are in fact Rann’s parents. What follows is an epic war across the Microverse: Rann and his allies against Karza.”

• Trivia: Wil Wheaton Voiced Romulans in JJ Abrams’ Star Trek
• TV News: J.J. Abrams Wants to Direct NBC Pilot Undercovers, Cartoon Network Adds Live Action Shows, Comedy Central & The Onion Team Up for Pilot, HBO Developing Transgender Series
• JJ Abrams to Dose Us With 500 Rads
• Star Trek Deleted Scene: Nero Interrogated By Klingons
• J.J. Abrams Spills on Star Trek 2, Mission: Impossible 4, and Fringe
• J.J. Abrams Developing New Spy TV Series for NBC

Everett Bradford is, for all intents and purposes, a real-life Tony Stark/Iron Man in the making. I wouldn’t be surprised if in a few years we see him flying around the sky fighting supervillains with his self-made robotic suit. He recently demonstrated his “Prometheus Device”, which is a hand-mounted appliance that shoots real fire, in a flame-thrower like blast, into the air. Head on over to Picasa to see scans of Bradford’s design notebook, sketches, CAD shots, and photos of the device in and out of action. Watch a video demonstration of the contraption after the jump.

Cool Stuff is a daily feature of slashfilm.com. Know of any geekarific creations or cool products which should be featured on Cool Stuff? E-Mail us at orfilms@gmail.com.

via: Gizmodo

• Marvel Tinkers With Iron Man 2 3D Conversion; And Why It’s a Bad Idea
• Video Blog: Disney’s Acquisition of Marvel
• Teasers for Wolverine and Iron Man Anime from Madhouse
• 2009 Saturn Awards Winners
• Cool Stuff: Jon Favreau’s Geek Tour Of His House
• VOTD: Iron Man vs. Bruce Lee