Harlan Ellison Rant: Hollywood Studios

This is a great rant about how Hollywood studios never want to pay writers.

Found via Dvorak.

ROBO☆ROCK

This film looks like fun! ROBO☆ROCK (formerly titled Long Armed Monkeys) will be coming out November 23rd in Japan. The film follows the adventures of Masaru, an odd-job-man who has given up his dream to become a rock singer and Nirasawa, a fanatic who is convinced that a giant robot will save the world. This will be the first live action film for GDH K.K. which is an anime studio in Japan which has worked on Afro Samurai, Pumpkin Scissors, and Full Metal Panic!

Background info found via Monster Island News.

Mystery Science Theater 3000 Returns Online

According to mst3kinfo.com it looks like Mystery Science Theater 3000 will use their website to put out new episodes of the show:

The ‘Bots are Back!

“Beginning November 5th, BBI will be launching its very own website at MST3K.com. The site will feature brand-new animated adventures of Crow, Tom Servo and Gypsy. We’re told the goal is to have one new adventure each week (though “some settling may occur with shipping,” they added). The Web site will also feature work from the original series (which BBI is now calling “the legacy series”), behind-the-scenes footage and other material culled from the BBI vault.”

Jan Harlan on the New Kubrick DVD Collection

Above: Stanley Kubrick on the set of 2001: A Space Odyssey

There’s a great interview with Jan Harlan who was a close associate of Stanley Kubrick on the new Stanley Kubrick DVD Collection at blogcritics.org. The collection sounds amazing, but it seems to be lacking Dr. Strangelove, Lolita, and Barry Lyndon. However I did get excited about this Napoleon book that will be coming out:

“On a side note, are there any other Kubrick-related projects in the works fans can look forward to? Back when it was briefly leaked on the Internet, I had heard rumors of the Napoleon screenplay being released as a book.

You are right. TASCHEN publishers will bring out a comprehensive book on Stanley Kubrick’s Napoleon. Not just the script and treatment, which is not really revealing his true interest in person of Napoleon anyway, but also many pre-production details, designs etc. Stanley had 17000 images carefully collected, re-photographed on 35mm film and mounted in IBM cards for later sorting by clumsy machines. This was the state of the art in 1969. His library on the topic was huge and so was his knowledge. ”

Toho Set to Destroy the Hidden Fortress

As if it’s not bad enough that Hollywood has to ruin every classic film by making a lame remake, now Toho is set to ruin the memory of Akira Kurosawa by doing “an update” of the Hidden Fortress:

Toho rebuilds Kurosawa ‘Fortress’

“Akira Kurosawa’s 1958 action comedy “The Hidden Fortress” (“Kakushi toride no san-akunin”) — said to be the inspiration for “Star Wars” — will be remade in Japan, producer and distrib Toho has announced. The pic will be helmed by Shinji Higuchi, an SFX whiz also responsible for the hits “Lorelei” (2005) and last year’s “The Sinking of Japan” (Nihon chinbotsu).”

An Interview with Leonard Maltin

There’s a great interview with author and film critic Leonard Maltin that’s worth checking out for anyone who loves cinema:

Tech Nation: Interview with Leonard Maltin

“Dr. Moira Gunn speaks with movie critic Leonard Maltin, who explains how movies have changed over the years, and how they’re changing today, all thanks to technology.”

…I’ve always admired Maltin as he’s very much an animation fanboy at heart, if you haven’t read it his book “Of Mice and Magic” is well worth checking out.

Catching Up With Logan’s Run!

It’s funny as a child of the 70s I remember the above cover of Dynamite magazine pretty well. Of course my favorite issue (which I left out in the rain by accident) was the one that featured a Space:1999 cover (but alas that’s a tale for another day).

This cover caught my eye as right now Hollywood is doing a remake of Logan’s Run. Now usually even the mention of the word “remake” would set me on edge as it would bring visions of some unoriginal Hollywood hack mining my childhood for ideas. However this cover made me take off my rose colored glasses and realize that how back in the day if a film that did well it might be followed up by a very bad TV show based upon on it. And the Logan’s Run TV show was about as bad as it got!

Just looking at those actors above and you can taste the cheesy flavor in your mouth. For starters they break the golden 70s rule that if you have one guy with black hair the other guy has to have blond hair. Every show from Starsky and Hutch to the Dukes of Hazzard followed this winning formula. And then you have the lady in the middle, it’s like they knew they couldn’t get Jessica Lang or Farrah Fawcett (who had a minor role in the film) so they figured “well let’s just give her a Farrah Fawcett haircut and maybe nobody will notice”. And what’s sad about the show is that while I can remember this magazine cover perfectly, I can’t recall even the slightest plot detail of a single episode — althought my bet is that I must have watched the entire series back in the day.

The End

Check out this amazing set of classic film “the end” titles at Flickr.

Found via Neatorama and SwissMiss.

Dragon Wars

I don’t know if the film will be as good as the promotional artwork shown above (sort of reminds me of a cross between King Kong and the Towering Inferno) but Dragon Wars will be hitting theaters today. The trailer below looks cute, although I have to admit that the Korean subtitles may make the film seem more interesting than it may actually be:

Read more…

Tarantino Slags Casino Royale

Not only is Tarantino correct that he was talking up Casino Royale before it was made, but also his vision of setting the film in the 60s was much more creative:

Tarantino hits out at Bond remake

“Director Quentin Tarantino has slammed the Casino Royale producers for making the movie without his input, according to the UK movie magazine, Total Film. Tarantino, 44, best known for hit cult films like Pulp Fiction, said remaking the Bond movie was originally his idea.

“I never saw Casino Royale because I was so mad at those guys,” he said. “They said publicly that Casino Royale was un-filmable. The minute I said I would do Casino Royale, it’s on all the websites and it is the film that people want to see. They should have said thank you, ” added Tarantino.”

Logan’s Run Is Running

The interesting thing to me about Logan’s Run is that when it came out it was a very adult science fiction film, in fact I read the book eons ago and I think it was more racey than the film as I recall. Also the theme of ‘only being allowed to live until 21’ seemed to be an indirect reference to the generation gap of the Vietnam War era. It will be interesting to see if director Joseph Kosinski can tap into these themes by going with a low tech approach:

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Aliens vs. Predator: Requiem

Shown above the trailer for the sequal for Aliens vs. Predator, yawn! Why can’t Hollywood come up with something more interesting like ‘MechaAliens vs. Godzilla’ or ‘Aliens vs. the Klingon Empire’?

Eye in the Sky

I’ve been hearing a great deal about the Hong Kong film Eye in the Sky which just came out in June:

Is EYE IN THE SKY A New Hong Kong Masterpiece?!

“Eye in the Sky is an eye-catching masterpiece which urgently reminds us that the Hong Kong Cinema is not dead yet. This vibrant crime thriller casts a ray of hope onto the struggling film industry over there, telling us there are still some new, daring filmmakers working with passion and creative ideas in Hong Kong.

The movie is about an inconspicuous yet important unit of Police Force — the Surveillance Unit. The officers working in this unit mostly spend their time on endlessly waiting for their targets, following the suspects, setting up eavesdropping bugs and preparing tracking devices. They usually don’t need to participate in any action or use their guns. So how can a movie about people doing these boring jobs be so interesting? It’s because we have ignored the very nature of their job — they can only do things in secret and cannot afford any minor mistake. Once their covers are blown, so is the whole operation. To spice up the dramatic elements, the villains in the movie are not stupid at all — they also counter-surveillance to get away from the police. It’s a deadly cat-and-mouse game that is not only about physical strength but also about quick wit, patience and focus.”

Read more…

Conan Cinema Comeback

I wonder who will be the next Arnold:

Millennium wins rights to ‘Conan’

“In a seven-figure deal, Millennium Films has acquired the rights to make a new series of pics based on Robert E. Howard’s mythical conqueror Conan the Barbarian. Company’s aim is to start production by next spring.

Malmberg declined to renew another option with Warners when the rights lapsed in spring. He was frustrated that seven years’ worth of development at WB had not yielded a production start on the franchise that launched the film career of Arnold Schwarzenegger in its first bigscreen go-round.

The recent summer success of branded properties like “Spider-Man,” “The Simpsons” and “Transformers” led to a receptive marketplace for Conan. The property already is a globally established brand that has 40 licenses including a top-selling Dark Horse comicbook, an upcoming vidgame for Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3, and the Funcom/Eidos massively multiplayer online role-playing game “Age of Conan: Hyborian Adventures”.”

Be Kind Rewind

I have to admit that I’m already pre-sold on this film! Be Kind Rewind is directed by Michel Gondry which makes it promising to me, but it’s the references to 2001: A Space Odyssey, Back to the Future, and Robocop wins over this fanboy. The film will hit theaters in late December this year.

Five Versions of Blade Runner?

I have to admit that I’m sort of getting burned out on Blade Runner in my old age, but this DVD set does look like it would make even the most cynical fanboy quite happy around Christmas time:

‘Blade Runner’ gets final cut
DVD set will include five versions of Scott pic

“For a film that defined what it meant to be a “director’s cut” for the masses, “Blade Runner” has waited 25 years to receive a proper one. On Dec. 18, Warner will release “Blade Runner: The Final Cut,” the definitive version of director Ridley Scott’s fusion of film noir and science fiction, which has become a cult classic since its initial failure at the box office in 1982. One of Warner’s most popular titles today, the film will be available in both HD formats and in three different DVD editions, with the final cut also receiving select theatrical playdates in New York, Los Angeles and the Venice Film Fest.”

Two Word Reviews: Get Smart

And just in case you don’t belive me:

Was that suppose to be funny?

Happy Birthday Mr. Kubrick

78 years ago today Stanley Kubrick was born in New York City, and cinema would never be the same again. It sounds selfish but I remember that upon hearing that he had passed away in 1999 that my first emotion was of being cheated out of looking ahead to his next film. Kubrick was always cloaked in secrecy and waiting ten years between film always seemed to add to the anticipation of what was to come.

Here are a few of my recent random thoughts on Kubrick:

Barry Lyndon: I feel like this film has been over looked, yet it has so much to say about life. I’ll always channel surf and come across the Shining and Full Metal Jacket, but never Barry Lyndon. The blame on this one may go to fanboys who prefer science fiction and horror flicks, but as someone who loves cinema I have to say that this film is true gem.

Eyes Wide Shut: Now that I look back on it, the only problem with this film was Cruise and Kidman. Cruise did a great job acting in Magnolia and Kidman was A+ in the Hours, but their lack of chemistry seemed to ruin Eyes Wide Shut for me. Then again I also feel that Leonardo DiCaprio has ruined every recent Martin Scorsese fim.

A.I.: Artificial Intelligence: Looking back on it I think Steven Spielberg did a great job directing this film, I think his only sin was releasing it so soon after Kubrick passed away. I wonder of this film came out today if it wouldn’t get a bit more respect? Even though it looks like a Spielberg it does feel very produced by Kubrick. I think as time goes by this film will get more respect.

Japanese James Bond Poster

While looking around this cool poster website I came across this great print promoting the James Bond film Casino Royale in Japan. I love the wild look of the design, it’s quite playful for a cold war spy movie.

More Kill Bill?!

You know I loved Kill Bill, but I’m not sure we need more of it:

Producer Pledges Two More Kill Bill Installments

“According to E. Bennet Walsh, an Executive Producer of Kill Bill, Tarantino has formulated the plots for two sequels and may be heading back to China to film them. Part 3 would revolve around the revenge of two members of the Crazy 88s. Part 4 would focus on the daughters of Beatrix Kiddo and Vernita Green getting square, as was previously rumoured. Some even claim that the (previously unrevealed) daughters of Elle Driver and Gogo Yubari would also be featured.”

Found via ifitsmovies.com

Kill Bill in 5 Seconds

Speed Racer’s Car Revealed

I almost missed this story, I love that the Mach 5 still has that vintage 60s sports car look:

Speed Racer’s Car Revealed

“As you’re almost certainly aware, the Wachowski brothers are back back back with an adaptation of Speed Racer, the cult anime where all the characters mouths stopped moving several seconds after their dialogue stopped. And, as the title might have clued you into, the series was a little bit car-centric, following a wide-eyed boy racer as he seeks to become world champion with the help of his faithful monkey (because why wouldn’t a driver have a monkey?). And today USA, er, Today offer the first look at his car. And very faithful it is to the cartoon. They also have a few other snippets, like the fact that the monkey will be real and not CG and is actually a chimp.

Speed Racer is released next August and has a cracker of a cast, including Emile Hirsch, John Goodman, Christina Ricci, Susan Sarandon and Matthew Fox. And a monkey. Sorry, a chimp.”

2001: A Space Odyssey in 5 Seconds

Rodriguez to Direct Land of the Lost & the Jetsons

I have to admit that a live action Jetsons movie doesn’t get me excited, but on the other hand the idea of Rodriguez taking on Land of the Lost is a great idea! Of course I’d like to see them use the sort A+ writers like they had on the old 70s TV series:

Future or past for Rodriguez?

“Grindhouse might have taken a drubbing at the boxoffice, but director Robert Rodriguez is very much in demand. He is in talks to direct a live-action feature version of futuristic 1960s cartoon “The Jetsons” for Warner Bros. Pictures, being produced by Denise Di Novi and Donald De Line.

At the same time, the helmer has met with Will Ferrell and Universal execs for helming duties on “Land of the Lost,” based on the 1970s Sid and Marty Krofft fantasy TV series to which Ferrell is attached to star. While no offers have been made, sources say “Jetsons” has the edge because its script, whose latest draft is by Adam Goldberg (“Fanboys”), is further along.”