Politically Incorrect Funny-Ass Schtick of the Day

G.A.Y.S. (Guys Against You Serving) from Thomas Lennon

Funny or Die presents 'G.A.Y.S. (Guys Against You Serving)'.

'Dark Side of the Lens'

DARK SIDE OF THE LENS from Astray Films on Vimeo.

This is a beautiful exploration of the photographer's quest.

Another Clip from 'RED'

All I can say is holy shit. Entertaining and smart, with good acting. How'd they swing that.

Trailer for 'Jim'

Wow.

Trailer for 'Leaving'

'The Warrior's Way'

Beautiful trailer. Seems to redefine the whole 'Matrix' look without ripping it off.

As with most movies with Geoffrey Rush, 'The Warrior's Way' is probably required viewing.

Tall Tales

Slate on the degree of truth in Aaron Sorkin's 'The Social Network':

Last month, The Social Network screenwriter Aaron Sorkin told the Harvard Crimson that "[a]ttention to truth and attention to detail were incredibly important" to himself and director David Fincher. By way of example, Sorkin explains that the filmmakers went to great pains to discern what "kind of beer [Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg] was drinking on a Tuesday night in October seven years ago." In reality, the name of the beer—Beck's—can be uncovered with a simple Google search. Sorkin's sincerity is harder to locate. In a New York magazine article headlined "Inventing Facebook," he makes a different claim about his honest intentions: "I don't want my fidelity to be to the truth; I want it to be to storytelling."

After watching The Social Network, it's obvious that Sorkin's second, truth-abdicating quote is the one worth believing.

Does anyone care? Observers seem concerned about the liberal fictionalization but will it matter?

Don't See Our Movie

Poster for 'Little Fockers'. One of the worst posters. Encourages you to see something else. Pushes you away with invisible tendrils. Makes the stomach feel funny.

Don't See Our Movie

Poster for 'Little Fockers'. One of the worst posters. Encourages you to see something else. Pushes you away with invisible tendrils. Makes the stomach feel funny.

'As Good As Dead'

It'll be interesting to see how this plays with bloggers and critics.

Don't Look at the Light

'Skyline' trailer. Nice effects but story has sort of a made for TV feel.

Another Viral Clip for 'Paranormal Activity 2'

These have a simmering creepiness that builds.

Movie of the Day

'Double Dare'. Worth watching for the first minute and a half alone.

The Also-Ran Network

Here's Slate on Facebook's nearest rival, the (other) social network, that almost became the place to socialize online:

As The Social Network dramatizes, Mark Zuckerberg founded Facebook after allegedly backing out of a commitment to work on another networking site, Harvard Connection. Lawsuits ensued, and Zuckerberg ended up shelling out tens of millions of dollars in a settlement with his one-time partners. What the film doesn't mention are all the other college social networks that Facebook shoved aside as it expanded across the country. Of those sites, perhaps the greatest threat to Facebook's dominance was Campus Network, then called CU Community after Columbia University, where it was founded.

The Hollywood Stunt School in Brooklyn NYC

Here's a report from Rocketboom.

'The Social Network' Featurette

Interviews and some footage from 'The Social Network'.

'I Am Number Four'

I get a 'Jumper' vibe from this. Could be superficial product, might draw an audience.

'Monsters' Clip

Monsters Clip
Uploaded by teasertrailer. - Full seasons and entire episodes online.

Love this. Absolutely. At the 1:00 mark, little girl appears to spike camera. Thought it was result of using non-pro actors but, thanks to some good work by director Gareth Edwards, turns out (on reverse angle) she was looking longingly at an ad for passage to the US (for $5000). Nice.

This picture has more potential than most high budget Hollywood productions.

'The Hurt Locker' Wants Payback

CNET on continuing legal action producers are taking against people who illegally downloaded 'The Hurt Locker':

Thomas Dunlap is the attorney representing at least a dozen independent movie studios, including the makers of the Oscar-winning film, "The Hurt Locker." If you illegally shared any of his clients films online then Dunlap, a founder of the law firm Dunlap, Grubb & Weaver may have collected your Internet Protocol address. He may, at this minute, be requesting a subpoena that compels your Internet service provider to turn over your identity.

Poster for 'The Next Three Days'

Probably a step backwards from the first poster:

Opening Sequence 'Freakonomics'

To sell or not to sell...

Fanmade Title Sequence for 'The Walking Dead'

THE WALKING DEAD "Opening Titles" from Daniel Kanemoto on Vimeo.

Love it. (Via Wired)

'13'

Russian trailer for '13' with Jason Statham making its way around. Remake of '13 Tzameti'.

'Get Him to the Greek'

Get Him To The Greek - Uncensored Party Scene - watch more funny videos

Poster for 'Unstoppable'

 

Pretty over-the-top but I kinda like it.

 

 

 

 

Clip from 'Waiting for Superman'

Another great looking doc. Hard to watch, as is most of what I've seen.

'True Grit'

One of my all time favorites.

Client 9: The Rise and Fall of Eliot Spitzer

Another great looking doc.

The Poetry Corner

Drop Dead Legs
by Van Halen


 
Drop dead legs, pretty smile
Hurts my head, gets me wild
Dig that steam, giant butt
Makes me scream, I get nothing
But the shakes over you
And nothing else could ever do

You know that you want it
I know what it is
You know that you want it, baby
When the night is through, will I still be loving you

Dig those moves. Vampire.
Set me loose. Get it higher.
Throw my rope. Loop-de-loop.
Nice white teeth. Betty Boop.
Set it cool. Real heavy.
I ain't fooled. Getting ready.

Baby, you know that you want it
I know what it is
You know that you want it, baby
When the night is through, will I still be loving you

'Secretariat' Clip

This race sequence doesn't grab me. Seems mechanical. The 'under the horse' POV is comical. So far, not a lot of forward motion on this movie.

Traileraddict has more clips, B-rolls, interviews

Let Me Jack Your Internet Strat!

What Is A Bajillion Hits? (A Viral Vidifesto) - watch more funny videos

A short from Funny or Die

'The Social Network' Inception

Someone gets a bright idea.

'Paranormal Activity 2'

'Paranormal Activity 2' rolls out.

'Jackboots on Whitehall' Poster

'Jackboots on Whitehall'. Epic, Legendary...Tiny.

Trailer

Mater: Private Eye

Image from Mater: Private Eye, a Pixar short.

The Brain Eater Part I

Author's note: The Brain Eater is in three parts. Part I contains extremely graphic depictions that many would find offensive. Parts II and III are more conventional, what you might call literary fiction. Part I, though...it's a gorific doozy.

Do not continue if that will offend you.  (Previously published online. Posted here to get it into this blog's database and searchable.)

The Brain Eater
Alan Green

Part I

He always enjoyed this part best. The screaming was finished and he could eat the brain in peace. He enjoyed the rest too (but, not to the point of creepiness. He wasn't one of those sickos you read about in the paper). It was, simply, an enjoyable thing. But, not all that noise--he didn't like that so much. 'Oh, please, please!  I'll do anything you want!'  Shut up, shut up!  They wouldn't stop. He had considered gagging them, but, as much of a nuisance their chattering was, and though their agonized screams did make him feel a bit guilty, he was able to put that aside and enjoy the snippets of conversation -- the back and forth. After all, he didn't have any friends and companionship was rare.

Once he had them here, restrained and under his control, he did like to think of them as companions, if not, admittedly, friends. Artificially brought together, true, but no more so, it seemed to him, than people who make each other's acquaintance in everyday life, like at a bus stop or in line at the grocery store. This was their last chance for contact with another person, and often it made them more open, more real, more apt to an honest exchange, which he took full advantage of. He was closer to these people than he had been with anyone else. So, he didn't gag them and, sometimes, he would stop sawing to ask a random friendly question.

They were eager to talk. He figured it was to buy time, or maybe, if they established a bond he would let them go. In fact, often they even suggested this. They'd say, 'You know, we're friends now, don't you think?  Why don't you let me go'?  He knew it was a trick. He knew what they were and why there were here. So, he would decline and within a few minutes when his captives saw their sleight of hand wouldn't work and they couldn't hold back another second, invariably, they would start with the names. 'Crazy, insane, bastard',et cetera . There was never much variation. Sometimes, they would use the F-word. That was embarrassing. To him, it was such an ugly word and a pretty rude thing to say. Plus, what it meant was just so graphic. It always caught him off guard, the crudeness. Using language like that made it pretty clear they weren't going to be friends. He thought they would want to make an emotional connection with him. At least try. He was always wrong. They never did. When they reached this point -- this lack of civility -- it made him hate them again, even more than before, so he figured he might as well get back to work.

As the cutting progressed they would promise any imaginable favor if he'd let them go. When it became clear this would not happen, they would promise the same favors if he would just stop for a moment, just a couple minutes so they could get their strength back, catch their breath before. Even the men. A couple times he considered the propositions, but they were so, well, real. Such things. How could they even say those things?  Itcreeped him out to consider doing those things with them or any person, or letting them, or any person, do that kind of stuff to him. So he wouldn't listen. Besides, the pleads and promises were the same every time, so once he was used to hearing them -- after, say, the hundredth time -- he would just ignore it. And he had done the hundredth one such a long time ago the screaming now fell on deaf ears.

Toward the end they all promised the same thing -- 'I won't tell anyone'. But, that didn't hold water. Of course they would tell. They'd have to see a doctor, right?  With that big-ass gash in the side of their head?  Besides, walking around like that somebody was bound to ask if they were okay. Do you need help?  What happened to you? They'd tell. He couldn't let them go. They knew it. They were just desperate. You say anything when you're getting the top of your head sawed off. He could respect that. He figured he'd ask too if he was in their place. However, he didn't care. He just wanted it quiet. He just wanted them to shut up. That was all he wanted. Shut their God damned stupid mouths. He just wanted to eat.

It would get quiet. The screaming would stop. The buzz of the saw would stop. Even if they kept talking, they usually shut up about the time the top of their skull came off. Those who talked after that point tended not to make much sense. Nobody said anything after the brain was removed.

He had become adept. In the beginning he needed a knife and fork. He would cut the tissue carefully with the knife, impale it with the fork, and eat. But, because his hands were occupied with utensils, the top of the skull, which he inverted and used as a bowl, would roll around and things got sloppy. Sometimes, as he raised the fork to his mouth, the flesh would slip off and fall onto the floor, splattering the carpet. What a mess; warm, fresh raw human brain soaking into the carpet. He would have to stop eating, wipe it up with a napkin if he had one, or a nearby tee-shirt, sock, or whatever was around if a napkin wasn't handy. This would mean missing a few seconds of the TV show, and he hated that.

For the most part, that was the reason he learned to eat without dropping any; he didn't want to miss any TV. Now, after so much practice, he managed quite well. He would hold the top of the skull (inverted in his left hand like a bowl) and scoop with the right hand. The bloody hair between his fingers served as a grip of sorts, especially once the blood congealed and got sticky. (Bald men's heads were more slippery, of course, but women's heads with long hair presented their own problems, and so, medium-length hair [men's or women's] was preferred as it offerred the best grip).

The brain would swim around a little in the encephalic fluid, but he was still able to scoop the goo up with his right hand using just a spoon, and get it to his mouth without spilling any. That way he never had to stop to wipe a spill off the carpet, and he never missed any of the TV show.

In fact, he never had to take his eyes off the screen at all.


Part II

More About 'Waiting for Superman'

Andrew O'Hehir on 'Waiting for Superman':

There's a great deal that's appealing about "Waiting for 'Superman,'" an ambitious blend of hope and scathing criticism that frames the education debate with heart-wrenching case histories of five different families across the country struggling with substandard schools. These range from inner-city Washington, where a parentless fifth-grader named Anthony applies to a rigorous college-prep boarding school in hopes of escaping his failing middle school, to suburban Redwood City, Calif., where an eighth-grader named Emily worries about the academic "tracking" that may set her up for failure even at an attractive and well-appointed high school. Here Guggenheim clearly makes a point that many commentators on education miss: While the system's failings may hit poor kids of color much harder, schools in affluent suburbs aren't necessarily providing a great education to all their children either.

and

But there's almost as much in this movie that is downright baffling, beginning with the quotation marks in the title (to differentiate the DC Comics Man of Steel from the Nietzschean Übermensch? Or what?) and moving on to Guggenheim's blithe certainty that he has all the answers, and his apparent lack of awareness that virtually every frame of his film is likely to piss somebody off.

Salon

'Howl'

Slate writes up 'Howl' with James Franco:

The poem is Allen Ginsberg's "Howl"—written in 1955, published in '57—and it's probably hard for anyone born long after those years to grasp just what a cataclysmic impact that poem made (or perhaps any poem could make) not just on the literary world but on the broader society and culture.

Even many of those who have never read the whole poem know its white-heat opening lines: "I saw the best minds of my generation destroyed by madness, starving hysterical naked,/ dragging themselves through the negro streets at dawn looking for an angry fix. …"

'Waiting for Superman'

CNN reviews 'Waiting for Superman':

In the powerful, passionate, and potentially revolution-inducing documentary Waiting for 'Superman' filmmaker Davis Guggenheim ("An Inconvenient Truth") argues that every American child deserves a good public-school education; that, in fact, providing every child with the opportunity for a good public-school education is vital to our nation's welfare; and that if the current educational system is flawed, it's up to us -- you, me, parents, teachers, taxpayers, registered voters -- to fix it, right now.

The first two statements aren't likely to ruffle feathers. (Show of hands: Who's against literacy?) But the heartbreaking difficulty of achieving the third goal --along with Guggenheim's expert storytelling skills in the service of advocacy -- is what buoys us through Waiting for 'Superman' on waves of despair, hope, outrage, and finally, constructive, motivating anger.

Read the rest.

Trailer

Clip from 'RED'

Fucking funny as hell.

'Alone Together'

Alone Together from Home de Caramel on Vimeo.

Animated jazzy meditation. Probably best at home, at night, with a stiff drink.

The Flip Side

Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg (right) poses with (from left) N.J. Gov. Chris Christie, Oprah Winfrey and Newark Mayor Cory Booker after announcing the $100 million donation to Newark public schools.

NPR looks at the timing of Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg's $100 million donation to Newark schools.

Truth or Cheap Shots

How much of 'The Social Network' is truth and how much is sensationalist fiction? Do we have the right to pump up the details of a living person's life, without their endorsement, in order to boost the entertainment (and box office) value of a movie? Should we cash in on anyone's life if the story we're telling isn't true? If a person becomes a billionaire does that mean he or she forfeits their basic rights against slander?

Guardian looks at the issue:

No doubt, the movie, by West Wing scriptwriter Aaron Sorkin, is great entertainment. In one scene, Zuckerberg's associates attend a party in which teenage girls offer lines of cocaine off their ample bosoms. But its relationship to the truth is dubious – Facebook's corporate spokespeople describe it as "fiction". The cocaine scene, film researchers told the New York Times, was one of several sequences that were "mostly made up". Zuckerberg has flatly denied other elements, including his supposed efforts to gain entry to elite Harvard social clubs.

and

There's something insidious about this genre of scriptwriting, which has plenty of precedents of one sort or another. Think of the 1998 movie Primary Colours, in which John Travolta played a morally dubious governor of a southern US state who philandered his way to the White House, in a thinly disguised, yet sensationalised, account of Bill Clinton's rise. Or even this year's Roman Polanski movie, The Ghost Writer, in which a former British prime minister and his wife, bearing startling similarities to Tony and Cherie Blair, are accused not only of complicity in torture and war crimes but of secretly acting on behalf of the CIA.

'Company Men' Poster

Says 'Cerebral Ensemble Piece'. Great cast, but this is a tough sell. Don't think this poster helps.

Taking Count

In a bank account far, far away... Via /film, from Personalloans.org

Affleck on 'The Town'

Ben Affleck re: teamwork in the making of 'The Town':

"We had a great stunt team, a great second unit and a magnificent cast," he declares. "When Jeremy [Renner] runs across the street, those cars were stopping inches from him. I would never have had the balls to do what he did. I thought he was going to get hit every single time he did it. But it just illustrates that people give too much credit to the director. I always feel uncomfortable showing up and going, 'Yes, I did that.'"

'Buried'

Jeannette Catsoulis reviews 'Buried':

Sure to become a staple in film-school classes titled "How to Make a Blockbuster With Only An Actor, A Box, and a Blackberry," Buried may be the first thriller where the sole stunt is the film’s mise-en-scène.

and

A slowly sinking title sequence leads us into 12 seconds of pitch-black screen — an eternity of movie silence — followed by anxious gasps and a feeble sputter of light.

I like this person's writing.

Poster for 'The Dead'

Excellent graphic, great trailer.

'The Dead'

A cut above. A redefining of the zombie genre. One of the best trailers I've seen in a while.

'The King's Speech'

Love this trailer. Love any movie about England and WWII. Waiting.

'Zenith' Trailer

Has lots of potential.

Zuckerberg Applies Spin

Mark Zuckerberg, co-founder and chief executive of Facebook, has arranged a $100 million donation to the Newark school system.

I'm Chevy Chase...and You're Not

And now, some thoughts from Chevy Chase:

Marge is a terrible name for a mistress.

You could knock my teeth out and break my nose and there'd be something funny about it to me.

I never shot things up or freebased. I was pretty low-level when it came to drug abuse. I checked myself into the Betty Ford Clinic after my nose started to hurt.

I went to college with every intention of being a doctor. I was redirected by my grades. That, and a fake radio show that I improvised with some friends. Wasn't even on the air.

Esquire for more

'Unstoppable' Poster

Puppet Movie Trailer

Trailer for 'Jackboots on Whitehall'.

'Hereafter'

 

Mock up poster for 'Hereafter'. Not quite there. This won't work.

 

 

 

 

 

Rapid Fire 'The Social Network' Clip

'Do I have your full attention'?

International Trailer for 'Never Let Me Go'

Haven't seen this one. By far the best yet. Creepy and moving.

'The Social Network'

Wired writes up 'The Social Network'. With some very cool graphics by Martin Ansin.

'Waiting for Superman'

I put a trailer up yesterday. Here's a poster. Looks like a pretty sharp indictment of a failing school system.

NPR talks with the director, David Guggenheim.

Audio and a clip.

'Morning Glory'

I usually hate this kind of product. Hate. Love this trailer for 'Morning Glory'. Can't wait to see this.

'Waiting for Superman'

Trailer for 'Waiting for Superman'.

This is actually very hard to watch. The lottery sequence is pretty sad.

Poster for 'The Walking Dead'

 

I'm loving everything about 'The Walking Dead'.

 

 

 

 

Fantastic Fest 2010 Posters

These are my favorite posters from Fantastic Fest 2010. 'Let Me In' and 'Nevermore'. (The dashes and dots in the 'Let Me In' poster are Morse code for the letters KISS).

  

Clip from 'Never Let Me Go'

'Heartless'

Trailer for 'Heartless'. Lot of potential here.

'Red White and Blue'

I saw a trailer for this a while back, didn't do anything for me. Came across as a run of the mill relationship movie about people helping each other put their lives back together (as much as possible). Danced around some off kilter violence and was a turn off.

This trailer doesn't hint, it serves it up. (Made my day). Now I want to see 'Red White and Blue'. A brutal love story.

Another Look at 'Primal'

This trailer is far better than the first.

'The Unseen Sea'

The Unseen Sea from Simon Christen on Vimeo.

'The Unseen Sea'. A short film by Simon Christen. Beautiful.

'Extraterrestrial'

'

 

Poster for 'Extraterrestrial'. No details on the plot yet...kidding. Another entry in the growing Invasion/Aliens Among Us genre.

  

 

 

 

Trailer for (Space Battleship) 'Yamato'

This is so over-the-top. (Space Battleship) 'Yamato'. Okay, so why is it shaped like a WWII battleship? That makes no sense. Looks like fun.

'Primal'

Trailer for 'Primal'. Old stuff but seems fresh here.

'Rabbit Hole'

Clips from 'Rabbit Hole' (I snagged from Anne Thompson's site). Nicole Kidman is looking good. Different, more internalized, spontaneous.

Night of the Living Trekkies: Book Trailer

Night of the Living Trekkies: Book Trailer - watch more funny videos

'Due Date'

This gets funnier and dumber with each new trailer. I like it as much as I dislike it. Hmm.

'The Social Network' From Another Angle

The Social Network International Trailer from Kellvin Chavez on Vimeo.

Here's another look at 'The Social Network'. My fave so far.

Trailer for 'The Dilemma'

'The Dilemma'. Good to see Winona Ryder again.

Poster for 'Picture Me'

Here's another doc that looks interesting. (At first I thought it was a feature, which would [probably] be a bit tough to watch).

IMDb says:

A documentary filmmaker follows a model for several years, chronicling her rise from a fresh face to one that adorns billboards and magazines around the world. Go behind the scenes and chronicle the glitzy world of high fashion modeling, from photo shoots with celebrated photographers to runway shows in New York, Milan, and Paris.

'The Town'

Jeannette Catsoulis starts her review of Ben Affleck's latest:

The trick to enjoying The Town, Ben Affleck’s follow-up to his impressive 2007 directing debut, Gone, Baby, Gone, is to expect nothing but pulpy entertainment. A tightly constructed package containing three armed robberies, two hair-raising car chases and one magnificently unlikely romance, the movie coasts on atmosphere, accents and unlimited aggression. Harnessed to a narrative that’s only marginally more plausible than Pete Postlethwaite playing a romantic lead, the movie’s characters follow fates that permit no surprises.

But while their destinations are plainly telegraphed, their journeys remain engaging, mostly because Affleck is an efficient choreographer of movement and a knowing wrangler of actors.

Nice. Looking forward to 'The Town'.

'Ghetto Physics'

Poster for 'Ghetto Physics: Will the Real Pimps and Hos Please Stand Up'. IMDb has this info:

Based on E. Raymond Brown’s novel Will the Real Pimps and Hos Please Stand Up: Peeping the Multi-leveled Global Game, the film uses interviews, staged scenes, and satire to shed light on how the interplay between pimps and prostitutes is simply a variation of the power dynamic that exists in broader social, political and corporate relationships we all experience.

As the synopsis reads: “From the street to the boardroom, from the Hood to the Oval Office, its the same. The only difference is that while the street Pimps wear colorful clothes, and the streets Ho’s wear little at all.

and

...which features "Dr. Cornel West, Ice-t, Krs-One, Too Short, John Perkins and Norman Lear on the interplay between pimps and prostitutes, and how that power dynamic explains wider political and corporate relationships in the U.S. and abroad." Which is what I've been saying all along. It's set for an October release. [THR]

Could be interesting.

Poster for 'Client 9'

'Client 9: The Rise and Fall of Eliot Spitzer'. One of the best I've seen in a while and it's for a documentary. Docs are walking all over features lately.

Rocketboom Reports

Rocketboom's intro: Nollywood, or Nigerian Cinema, has become the second largest flim industry in the world. Famous for putting out thousands of new films each year, they have recently started to focus on improving the quality of their storytelling and production. Humanwire correspondent Dianna Dilworth reports from New York City.

'As Good As Dead'

Torture porn or exploration of morality?

'Casino Jack'

Nicely cut, but does anybody care about this kind of story anymore?

'The Fighter'

Looks very good.

'The Tempest'

 

Here's Helen Mirren in 'The Tempest'.

 

 

 

 

 

Featurette 'Never Let Me Go'

'Monsters'

Wired talks with Gareth Edwards, director of 'Monsters'.

'Doing visual effects is kind of like polishing turds for a living, Edwards says. When something’s broke in a TV show, you’ve got to come in to add spectacle so it becomes interesting. I’m not interested in special effects for their own sake.'

'The Fighter'

A new class of graphic? Call it the 'Generic Release Announcement Poster' or GRAP.

Where's the sense of layout? Above-the-title names too low. Title too close to center and 'December' way too high. Would look better like this:

Eyehole Paintings with Adam West

Eyehole Paintings with Adam West from Adam West

Today's Funny or Die video. Good, but the ending brings the whole thing to life.

Interactive Trailer for 'The Social Network'

'The Social Network'

Clip from 'Insidious'

'The Tourist'

Trailer for 'The Tourist'. Johnny Depp and Angelina Jolie.

'When you upgrade it from room service, it's quite serious'. Nice.

'Skyline' Poster

 

Here's a new banner poster for 'Skyline'.

 

 

 

 

'How to Lose Weight in 60 Seconds'

How to lose weight in 60 seconds - watch more funny videos

With the voice of Stephen Hawking

'Pink Wine'

Pink Wine - Official Commercial - watch more funny videos

Everything is fine! Really!

B-Roll from 'Let Me In'

One of two. Trailer Addict has another.

First 10 Minutes of 'Easy A'

'Easy A' First 10 Minutes Sneak Peek

Trailer Park Movies | MySpace Video

If you like. I haven't watched but I'm sure it's okay.

Movie Posters for Dummys

Funny or Die wrangles posters that treated us like morons.

'Welcome Freshman' with Fred Willard

Welcome Freshmen from Fred Willard

Morgan and Destiny’s Eleventeeth Date – The Zeppelin Zoo

On this fine Earth-spin, I'm pride-blooming to offer this less-long moviefication of motiontronic imaginarianisms with a high measure of excellentude and more than some inventionation. So, focusify your vision balls and stretch open your hearing holes to their widest setting and preparify for maximatized enjoyification.

With Joseph Gordon-Levitt and Lexy Hulme

'Orange Crush'

Orange Crush from Rebecca Yasick on Vimeo.

And now, a short film.

Trailer for 'Tron Legacy'

Not bad.

'Beautiful Boy'

Trailer for 'Beautiful Boy'.

Sour Grapes, Bad Writing, Cheap Shots

In his review of Clint Eastwood's 'Hereafter', Lou Lumenick describes Bryce Dallas Howard simply as 'terrible', and says Matt Damon 'manages to keep a straight face as a San Francisco psychic who considers his ability to communicate with the dead a curse rather than a gift...'

Is there a limit to online rudeness? This falls in the category of 'it was bad (or good)' non-review. Angry, cheap. However, he gets points for the fairly objective '...I have to sadly report it's painfully clear that Clint Eastwood is waaaay outside his comfort zone from the CGI-heavy opening sequence of "Hereafter,'' which features a tsunami flattening a tropical resort.'

Very sadly-y reported. I especially like the 'waaaay'. There's plenty that's painfully clear here, Lou.

Poster for 'Fair Game'

 

Naomi Watts in 'Fair Game'. Much better than the first attempt. That grinning Sean Penn was too much.

 

 

 

 

 

Poster for 'Fair Game'

 

Naomi Watts in 'Fair Game'. Much better than the first attempt. That grinning Sean Penn was too much.

 

 

 

 

 

'Make Out' aka 'Fly Porn'

Animated short.

'Hereafter'

If it's as good as the trailer looks we'll be asking how Clint Eastwood does it. I'm impressed by how quickly disbelief is suspended, or in this case tossed out the window. Matt Damon looks good in this role.

Compelling, excellent.

Turn Cadavers Into Cash!

No Job Too Small. No Body Too Big. No Questions Asked.

Simon Pegg and Andy Serkis in 'Burke and Hare'. Directed by John Landis, a very good thing. Based on the true story of William Burke and William Hare who killed people and sold their bodies to the Edinburgh Medical College.

'Mutual Degradation'

At Slate, Dana Stevens and Culture Editor John Swartzberg (I'm not sure of the spelling) have an audio review (14:57) of the 'mutual degradation' they suffered watching 'I'm Still Here':

The worst thing about I'm Still Here (Magnolia Pictures) is the fact that it exists.

Articulate, well-versed, and totally damning. As for the question of whether the project is real (and Joaquin Phoenix is going down in flames) or an art experiment (and JP, and to a lesser extent Casey Affleck, is an acting/directing genius), they split. It's good listening.

On the general quality and watchability of the experiment/documentary -- 'Feels incredibly long'.

Featurette for 'Devil'

Featurette for 'Devil'. "One of those people (dramatic pause) might be the devil."

No snickering allowed.

Image from 'Let Me In'

Here's a new image from 'Let Me In'. They're managing to keep it character-centered and not pull any punches.

The Sounds of 'Star Wars'

Wired on an interactive 'Star Wars' book which plays sounds from the movie when you push buttons. $60. Haven't they made enough on this property?

'Secretariat'

Extended trailer for 'Secretariat'. Doesn't quite gel, but it's early still.

Clip from 'Let Me In'

Clip from 'Let Me In'. Is that a harp and violin soundtrack? More and more anti-Hollywood all the time. Keeping my fingers crossed.

Looks to have been shot digitally.

'The Cold Light of Day'

(Poster removed at the request of the producers).

This poster doesn't grab me. Neither does the title. But 'The Cold Light of Day' has Bruce Willis and Sigourney Weaver -- that pretty much grabs me.

'World of Motion'

World Of Motion from Colin Hesterly on Vimeo.

Here's a cool animated little ditty. 'World of Motion'.

Another Great Trailer for 'Let Me In'

How do these get better each time? Getting the strong impression this will not be a tinsel Hollywood remake. Seems true to the original's tone -- character-driven suspense psych horror (yes, that's a genre).

Chinese Movie Patron Sues

A woman in China is suing an exhibitor and the distributors of 'Aftershocks', a Chinese movie directed by Feng Xiaogang about the 1976 Tangshan earthquake. Chen Xiaomei is claiming twenty minutes of commercials before the movie bored her and was a waste of her time and violation of her rights.

She seeks a refund and one yuan for emotional damages (a ticket costs 35 yuan).