We're back from Coachella and still alive! So apparently Michael "AWESOME and EXTREME" Bay just "leaked" some new footage from "Transformers 2: Revenge of the Fallen" on his blog... enjoy!:
"Where the Wild Things Are" by Maurice Sendak is a classic children's picture book and a very iconic piece of American literature (even though it has a total of 10 sentences of text within it). The story tells the tale of Max, a boy who's sent to his room without supper for causing some mischief. Max ends up going on an imaginary adventure where he encounters some fantastic characters, known as "The Wild Things."
Valentino Garavani is a legend in the fashion world, and quite possibly the last of a great generation of Italian haute couture designers. "Valentino: The Last Emperor" is a documentary profiling the man in a unique and intimate manner. Matt Tyrnauer of Vanity Fair directed the film, and it's been getting a ton of buzz on the festival circuit. Film AND Fashion fans out there, kick back and enjoy:
Director Michael Mann's "Public Enemies" tells the tale of American gangsters such as John Dillinger, Baby Face Nelson and Pretty Boy Floyd during a major crime wave in the 1930s, and the Feds' attempt to take them down. This film looks like it's going to deliver on several levels and hopefully it will be a return to form for Mann after the craptastic "Miami Vice." You can't really go wrong with Johnny Depp (Dillinger) and Christian Bale (Federal Agent Purvis) in the same flick. In fact I can't really imagine two bigger male leads (with acting chops) in a film together in recent film history. The trailer seems to show that the film will follow in Mann's unique style of gritty action balanced with great storytelling. Top that off with a great supporting cast including Billy Crudup (currently seen in Watchmen), the gorgeous Marion Cotillard and Giovanni Ribisi and it seems like a sure-fire formula for success. Kick back and enjoy:
One week to go until Watchmen hits theaters and I hear it's tracking really well. We were lucky enough to checkout a press screening of it last week and the movie is a pretty kickass interpretation of the classic graphic novel (Looks like the consensus on Rotten Tomatoes is similar as well...). My favorite part of the film was the use of music to represent the various decades that the film takes place in (the story spans the 1940s-1980s). Not only is the music supervision in the film great, but the TV spots and Trailers have been on-point as well. While you're counting down the days until next Friday, checkout this spot featuring one of my favorite songs of all time, Massive Attack's "Angel":
Was driving by Melrose and Fairfax to meet my Brooklyn buddies Jamie (aka DJ BFF) and Missy (aka Garden Designer Extraordinaire) when I saw this dope new billboard for Watchmen. The movie debuts in less than a month and looks to be a banger, albeit a dark one. Checkout these two new spots to manage your cravings until March 6th:
Tatanka (the voice on the intros to our seasonal music collections) sent me this earlier, and it's one of the coolest trailers I've seen in a while. In fact it looks so cool that I really have no idea what to make of it. "Franklyn" by director and writer Gerald McMorrow is a film noir style tale set in what looks to be a dystopian future. I'm not even going to begin to try and explain the synopsis, so here's the bizzarly obscure official one:
Ryan Phillippe as Preest
Slumdog Millionaire is one the best films I've seen in the last year and I've been wanting to cover it for a while now. The whole film is great and the visuals and music supervision are especially cool in a very modern way- I believe that along with "Defiance" and "The Dark Knight" that it should be a top contender for best cinematography (and it's also already well known as a top contender for Best Picture). There's a good chance that a lot of you might have already seen the official trailer or the actual film by now, so I decided to feature this video instead. Addictive TV (who we featured a few months ago with their "Iron Man" remix) is back in action this time applying there signature remixed visuals and audio of "Trainspotting" director Danny Boyle's excellent new film, Slumdog Millionaire:
So 2008 is coming to an end, and it's been an interesting year in film to say the least. While some say the volume of "high quality" movies was lacking, I beg to differ. I actually think it's been a really cool year in that there were quite a number of big budget films that had real substance to them AND we got several smaller pictures like "Man on Wire" and "The Wrestler." This year we've seen the biggest box office in history since Titanic in the way of "The Dark Knight", AND the comebacks of badass actors such as Robert Downey Jr and Mickey Rourke. Since I figure there are a million sites out there that will be sharing their favorite movies of the year, I figure I'd share my favorite TRAILERS of the year in no particular order. Keep in mind that a few of these trailers came out in '08 but the films they represent won't be out until next year.
DJ KnewJack was nice enough to give the Bedtime for Toys gang and myself a little Serato lesson last night, so unfortunately I totally bailed on "Movie Trailer Mondays." To make up for it, here's a popcorn movie double feature for you. First up is the badass trailer to Terminator: Salvation, starring Christian Bale as the grown up main character, John Connor.
I emphasize that while the trailer got me pumped up, I'm still a little phased by the last Terminator Movie (Rise of the Machines) which was pretty horrendous, and it's yet to be seen if Director McG (of "Charlie's Angels" fame) will be able to deliver. I for one do think this one will be rad in the end- It looks like a proper reboot of the franchise and I like that the trailer has a real gritty feel to it. By the way, Common costars, so maybe his futuristic robotic music video to "Universal Mind Control" was his way of prepping for the role?. Kick back and enjoy:
Next up is the much anticipated trailer to the next X-Men film, "X-Men Orginins: Wolverine", once again starring Hugh Jackman (soon to play host at the 2009 Oscars) as everyone's favorite badass hairy razor sharp clawed Canadian dude, Logan. The film looks to be following the "Batman Begins/Dark Knight" & "Casino Royale/Quantum of Solace" popular formula of returning to a character's roots. The film is directed by Gavin Hood who also directed the brilliant "Tsotsi" which took home the 2006 Best Foreign Language Film Oscar. For all the comic book geeks out there, the film features many superhero cameos, including one by Gambit (played by actor Taylor Kitsch), who's basically this crazy Cajun dude that can turn anything he touches into an explosive (including his weapon of choice- playing cards):
So here's the trailer... For the most part it looks pretty awesome- Liev Schreiber (who soon stars in the fantastic looking "Defiance") looks like he does a good job (as always) as Wolverine's nemesis Sabretooth. One little thing though... does anyone else get a plasticy feeling from this?... I was hoping the cinematography would have a real dirty look to it. Decide for yourself, and enjoy:
"Duplicity" by "Michael Clayton" director Tony Gilroy tells the tale of two ex-intelligence agents (Clive Owen and Julia Roberts) that move into the world of corporate espionage. The two work for rival companies that are racing to patent a new product- this is all well and good, except for the fact that they're falling in love and having an affair. Distrust and sneakiness start to get in the way of romance, thus leading to all sorts of fun hijinks. The film costars the always fantastic Tom Wilkinson (seen recently in the very cheeky "RockNRolla") and this definitely sweetens the deal in my eyes. Owen and Roberts' last film together "Closer" is one of my all time favorites in terms of writing, so hopefully this one will come close:
A few weeks ago, Nass and I were fortunate enough to catch the AFI Film Fest premiere of "The Wrestler" - a film that has been getting a TON of hype since it's world premiere at the Toronto Film Fest earlier in the year (and started a multi-studio bidding war). While the film signals the successful return of director Darron Aronofsky (of "Requiem for a Dream" fame), the real story here is the so-called "resurrection" of actor Mickey Rourke. In the film, Rourke plays a pro wrestler who is 20 years past the peak of his career- once being at the top of the wrestling world, and now forced to perform for small groups of die hard fans at community centers and conventions. A heart attack forces him out of the ring and more importantly, forces him to reevaluate his life, his relationship with his estranged daughter (Evan Rachel Wood who puts in a great performance), and a blossoming romance with an exotic dancer (Marisa Tomei in a role all the guys are sure to dig...).
Paramount has just released the much anticipated trailer to the new "Star Trek" film this past weekend attached to the record breaking 007 film, "Quantum of Solace." The studio's goal with this new film was to take an aging franchise and spice it up for a new and more importantly, wide audience. How would they set about taking the nerdiest of all franchises and make it cool you ask? Well the first step would be to hire a "hip" director- enter J.J. Abrams of "Lost" fame. Next hire a a cast of young and once again "hip" actors- think Zachary "Sylar from Heroes" Quinto, Simon "Shaun of the Dead" Pegg, and the always awesome Eric Bana. Last step- Modernize the story and effects, and do this all with a reasonably high budget.
Star Trek 90210... Hey look in the background! "Harold and Kumar Go to Space!"
So just a couple days ago we featured a new Watchmen poster and the original teaser trailer from a few months ago. Look like I was a bit preemptive on that post- Warner Brothers has just released 6 new posters to the film by Zack Snyder, and even better, the full theatrical trailer. I'm liking the graphic design on these posters and the bold statements. The trailer definitely gets deeper into the actual story of the film- looks like it's staying pretty true to the novel. Kick back and enjoy:
"Nobel Son" is a crazy story about a recent Nobel Prize winner (played by Alan Rickman) who also turns out to be a real schmuck- His son is kidnapped the night of his prize acceptance and he refuses to pay the ransom. Rickman's character soon learns a thing or two about revenge as his son teams up with his kidnapper to get back at him. The film seems to be crazy dark and filled with disfunction yet totally funny at the same time. Randall Miller of "Bottle Shock" directed the piece and it definitely looks like a wild ride filled with zany crackpots and characters:
Since we skipped Movie Trailer Mondays last week, here's a double feature for you guys- one serious one and one good ol' popcorn flick. The first clip we're going to feature is the new trailer to "Defiance" a film we previously posted the first trailer to. The film stars Daniel Craig and Liev Schreiber and tells the the tale of Russian Jewish refugees during WWII that band together into a brigade which hides in the forest and protects their own, while also ambushing Nazi soldiers. The brigade start with three rebellious brothers and eventually grows to a group 1200 strong- A group that ultimately survives until war’s end. Defiance is directed by Ed Zwick of "Last Samurai" and "Blood Diamond" fame, and looks to be pretty fantastic. Daniel "James Bond 007" Craig seems to deliver an amazing performance as always:
Now that we've gotten our street cred with the definitely Oscar worthy film above, here's a little popcorn treat - the latest in the "Underworld" franchise, entitled "Rise of the Lycans." The film is a prequel to the first two films and looks to follow the same dark and stylized action formula. While Kate Beckinsale is no longer in the picture, equally gorgeous British brunette actress Rhona Mitra seems to step in nicely as a new lead female character. Kick back with a bag of pop secret and enjoy:
"Towards Darkness," is the debut film by FoundTrack Friend, Director and Screenwriter Jose Antonio Negret . The film's conceptualization began as a final project for the Director while attending the University of Southern California's prestigious School of Cinema Arts. "Towards Darkness," is a dark and gritty (think "24") depiction of the kidnapping crisis that plagues the country of Colombia (and various other Latin American countries)- An issue that Antonio Negret knows all too well. "The film is a very personal film, which strives to open people's eyes to what is going on in Colombia," says Colombian-born Director Antonio.
"Towards Darkness" or "Hacia La Oscuridad," is currently on HBO and Showtime this month and is a definite must see. You can watch it anytime through HBO's and Showtime's On Demand Service. Check out the trailer!
