Previews and Reviews that are Z's Views
Quint over at Ain’t It Cool News found a couple of cool Russian posters for Peter Jackson’s King Kong. It’s kind of amazing how Kong‘s popularity has spanned not only the ages, but the planet as well. You can see the posters by clicking HERE.
The news about a new Wild Bunch movie is making its way around the net and I’m really surprised about the anger some folks have about it being made.Sure, I expected the usual, “Hollywood has run out of ideas” and the simple “this sucks” posts from those that are inclined to negative coments. What really gets me is the genuine anger some people seem to work up about a movie that has yet to start filming.
I don’t know. Maybe it’s an act… a rant to get people to read his posts… maybe it’s genuine. Either way, he’s not alone.
Some people always get offended when “classic” movies are remade. But what’s the fuss? I mean, really, what’s the fuss?
Sure, maybe the remake will suck. Some, maybe even most do. But sometimes they don’t and then we end up with a gem. I know it’s sacrilege, but I like the Dawn of the Dead remake better than the original… and I liked the original.
How many of you love these classics: The Wizard of Oz with Judy Garland or The Maltese Falcon? Anyone here looking forward to “King Kong”? Remake, remake and yep, re-make.
I could understand the anger if doing a remake somehow erased the original movie. Heck, I’d be upset myself, if it even changed the original. But a remake doesn’t. If anything, it may even bring a new audience to the original.
So if you want to get mad about something, why not get mad about terrorism, or pollution, or ineffective politicians or something that can make the world a better place.
All this anger about movies that haven’t even been made yet is enough to… well… to make a guy angry.
It looks like David Ayer [screenwriter for “Training Day,” “Dark Blue“] will direct an update of “The Wild Bunch” based on his own script. The original “Wild Bunch,” directed by Sam Peckinpah is considered a classic. The violent tale followed “an aging group of outlaws looking for a last score in the fading American West.”
Ayer‘s “Wild Bunch” will be set in modern day Mexico and deal with “heists, drug cartels and the CIA.”
While most folks seem upset that a “classic” is again being remade, I like the idea. Look at how good the “Dawn of the Dead“ remake turned out. What about Spielberg’s “War of the Worlds“? And we all know that Peter Jackson‘s remake of “King Kong”is going to rule.
Think of the possibilities of an aging group of rouges down in modern day Mexico for one last score. Let’s work up a dream cast… say Stallone, Danny Trejo, Michael Madsen, Mickey Rourke, Denzel Washington and maybe even DeNiro.
I’ve really liked all of Ayer‘s screenplays [“U-571,” “The Fast and the Furious,” “Training Day,” “Dark Blue“, “S.WA.T.“]. “Harsh Times”, is getting great advance reviews and “Training Day” is one of my favorite movies of the last few years. Ayers has a proven track record, so I say, let’s see what he can pull together. This is one movie I’m going to keep an eye on.
Especially if he can get a dream cast.
What are you waiting for? It’s awesome!
For those of you who may have tuned in late, I love Frank Miller’s Sin City stories. I thought the movie that he did with Robert Rodriguez was the BEST comic to film adaptation yet. The fact that Miller, Rodriguez and their perfectly chosen cast are returning for another Sin City movie excites me to no end.So you’d probably think that talk of a weekly Sin City tv series would have me doing cartwheels.
Well, you’d be wrong.
Even though the discussion of a Sin City weekly tv series is just in the very first stages [and most tv show ideas never make it to the small screen]; my vote, unless Miller is going to be directly involved with a weekly series, is to pass. Even on HBO, FX or a channel that was willing to let Sin City be Sin City, a weekly series, by it’s very nature would water down the concept.
I first discovered Mickey Rourke in Body Heat. Rourke was this skinny little guy who absolutely stole every scene he was in… and although there weren’t that many, Rourke made an impact. He was an actor to watch.Mickey Rourke appeared in a few other films [getting excellent reviews] before I saw him again. This time the film was Rumble Fish. Rourke was again impressive as the ultra cool Motorcycle Boy.
The next few years saw him in Year of the Dragon, [playing an older cop fighting Chinese gangs], the controversial Nine 1/2 Weeks, and the even more controversial Angel Heart. Rourke was starring in big movies and earning rave reviews. Barfly with Frank Stallone was another well received role.
But then things seemed to go downhill… Johnny Handsome directed by Walter Hill didn’t really work… and neither did Harley Davidson and the Marlboro Man, Wild Orchid or White Sands. Rourke‘s personal life seemed to be out of control as well. Reports of drug and alcohol abuse as well as abuse of his love, Carrie Otis began to make more headlines than his movies.
And almost as quickly as Rourke‘s star had risen, it sank. Sure, he still worked, but usually in straight to video features. Most people counted Rourke out. He’d had his shot and blew it.
Then in 2000, Rourke co-starred in Get Carter with Sly Stallone. Sly wanted Rourke for the role and Rourke brought his “A” game. The following year, Sean Penn was directing The Pledge and he had a role for his friend Mickey, who again turned in an excellent job. Reports began to come out that Rourke had given up his bad boy ways. High profile parts in both Once Upon A Time in Mexico and Man on Fire paved the way for his starring role in Sin City.
Man, Rourke was perfect for the part of Marv. Fans and critics alike sat up and took notice. He received some of the best reviews of his career. Suddenly Rourke began to get better scripts and the opportunity to work with A list actors and directors again. Rourke was back and getting a second chance at stardom.
Next week marks the release of the latest [and possibly last] zombie film by George Romero. Land of the Dead lived up to my expectations as a fun zombie movie and I look forward to adding it to my dvd collection.
But of course things are never simple.
You see, Land of the Dead is being released in two versions… rated and unrated.
I was leaning toward the rated version since it was the film that I saw at the theater. Still… the idea of more bang for the buck was appealing. Then I read THIS INTERVIEW with George Romero where he comments on the unrated version:
| I think it’s only about five minutes longer. I don’t remember exactly. But half of that is made up by a scene that I didn’t think worked as well as it might have. |
So my mind is now made up. It’s the rated version for me. Why go for a few minutes more gore and a scene that Romero cut because it didn’t work?
While surfing the net, I came across the short film Prey Alone. Shot entirely on a green screen a la Sin City, it features no name actors or directors, but is as good as most of what you’ll find in your local multiplex. Stephen St Leger and James Mather teamed to write and direct Prey Alone. Amazingly, it took only 4 days to shoot the actors’ scenes and just 3 months in post-production.
So what are you waiting for? Click HERE to see it yourself… and let me know when you figured out the twist.
YES! The news that we’ve been waiting for…The deluxe dvd edition of Sin City [Recut & Extended] will be available starting December 13th at about $39.99. The dvd will include the 124 minute theatrical release and a new 147 minute extended cut with both presented in 1.85:1 anamorphic widescreen, along with English DTS 5.1 and Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround tracks.
Extras will include three commentary tracks: 1] with directors Robert Rodriguez and Frank Miller; 2] Rodriguez and Quentin Tarantino; and 3] the Austin Premiere crowd reaction!
Additional extras include a 15 minute film school with Rodriguez, 17 uninterrupted minutes of Tarantino’s segment, footage of a Sin City cast/crew party, featurettes on the cars, special effects, make-up, costumes, props, how they convinced Miller to assist with the film; casting, Tarantino, plus trailers, bloopers, and an interactive game. Topping it all off will be the complete Sin City graphic novel The Hard Goodbye.
Whew!
Yep, you’re looking at the first pic from Mission Impossible 3 to show up on the web. The Hollywood News has the honor of the scoop and a slightly bigger version of the pic as well.
That’s Kerri Russell alongside Tom Cruise… they look like a pretty good team and with JJ Abrahams [Alias and Lost] directing, it can’t fail!
And speaking of things that can’t fail, does anyone here remember when Coca Cola released New Coke? Talk about a big time mistake.
New Coke was promoted as being THE, well, new Coke. The idea was that New Coke would replace the traditional Coke. The powers that be thought that the hype and “new” taste would bring in more Coke drinkers without losing the faithful millions already drinking Coke.
Guess what? New Coke tanked. It was a long time before the Coca Cola Company tried “new” recipes. But things have changed. Now you can get Coke, Diet Coke, Cherry Coke, Vanilla Coke, Coke with Lime…
Last month Coke Zero was introduced. It’s a diet cola with no caleries and no after taste. It’s really good. For me, it’s my new Coke.
From the title of this post, you might think that I’m going to talk about the success of “The 40 Year Old Virgin,” but I’m not.
Instead, I’m here to talk down the “bare bones” dvd release of “Sin CIty.” As most of you know, I’m a huge fan of Robert Rodriguez, Frank Miller and especially the Sin City series of graphic novels. The mix of Rodriguez and Miller with one of the best casts in recent memory made Sin City a must have for my dvd collection.
I thought long and hard about whether or not to get the current “bare bones” edition and finally decided to wait. I figured that the deluxe edition would be out maybe as soon as Christmas, I’d already seen Sin City twice and would be taking a stand against this kind
of marketing.
Beatty bought his copy and really tempted me to break down and get one as well.
But ultimately I didn’t. And in a weird way I felt like I wasn’t supporting Rodriguez, Miller and Sin City.
Yeah, I felt that way until I read that Rodriguez “openly loathes” the “bare bones” edition. Rodriguez even goes on to say, “I hate it when they do double-dip stuff, so I don’t put any extra **** on there at all so people will hopefully go, ‘Ah, I’ll just wait.’
So how long will we have to wait? “December [or] not too far afterwards” is the word from the man himself.
Now you know why I’m glad that I decided to wait… and four months compared to 40 years is a piece of cake.
Robert Rodriguez talks about his favorite films, why we’ll never see another Spy Kids movie, why Stallone would make a great Batman, the role that he had planned for Mickey Rourke in From Dusk Till Dawnand a whole lot more an interview HERE.
And in the Robert Rodriguez interview HERE you’ll learn about the casting and storyline for Sin City 2 [and maybe 3], the double feature that he’s doing with Quentin Tarantino, and the part he had planned for Quentin in Once Upon a Time in Mexico, and even more!
That should hold you over until next time!
A few weeks ago, Chris Mills listed some movies that aren’t on dvd, but should be. I, the Jury starring Armand Assante as Mickey Spillane’s Mike Hammer was one of them. I couldn’t agree more. I saw the movie when it was first released and loved it. I wish I was writing to say that Assante’s Hammer has finally made it to dvd, but I’m not.
Instead I’m writing to say that you can see it on the FOX Movie Channel this month. I, the Jury isn’t a classic or for everyone. But if you’re a fan of Spillane, Assante, or Barbara Carrera then… you might want to give it a go.
2005 has NOT been the greatest year for movies.
A History of Violence could be THAT movie.
Maybe 2005 just got a little better.
Without a doubt,this fall Kong will be King
Pretty much every movie fan in the world knows that Peter Jackson’s King Kong will be released on December 14th. What many of us didn’t know until just recently was that Warner Brothers had finally decided to release the orginal King Kong to dvd on November 22nd.
What makes this release even cooler is that Peter Jackson is also contributing to the dvd release. Jackson has created a two hour, seven part documentary titled: “RKO Production 601: The Making of Kong, the Eighth Wonder of the World.” What will really get Kong fans going is that “part of the documentary focuses on the mysterious ‘spider pit’ sequence deleted from the film before its theatrical premiere.” The dvd will also contain a recreation of it as well as features on director Merian C. Cooper, and commentary tracks by legendary stop-motion animator Ray Harryhausen and others.
Of course to maximize their profits, Warners is releasing Kong in not one, not two, but THREE, that’s right – THREE editions.
I don’t know which version, I’m going to get, but you can be sure that one will find it’s way into my collection!
