Dec 14 2006Golden Globes Nominations! Yay!
Once a year, the Hollywood Foreign Press gets together to publicly acknowledge the greatness and talent of celebrities over normal people, rank them with awards, and add unnecessary clutter to DVD cover art with said awards. This year's nominations have been announced, and the foreigners have decided Babel is the best thing, leading the pack with 7 nominations. Other nominations have gone out to Will Smith, Ben Affleck, Beyonce, Renee Zellweger, Happy Feet and The Devil Wears Prada, proving that the primary goal of the Foreign Press is to award idiots for shit.
Full nominations list under the cut.
Dec 14 2006Underdog is Underwhelming
When a live-action adaptation of the '60s cartoon Underdog was announced, I'd foolishly assumed this would be live-action to the degree that Rocky & Bullwinkle was, with live humans and cartoon animals. It now looks to be (and IMDB confirms) more of an Air Bud, with a standard dog putting on a little outfit and pulling off amazing feats.
What really annoys me about this isn't that it's breaking the sanctity of Underdog canon. It's that I imagine these changes are being made to somehow make it more feasible to the American public. Some studio guys were probably pitched the idea, they talked it over, and came back with a note something like this...
MEMO: Love the idea of remaking something--people love to remember things over having new thoughts--but have some changes. Not sure audiences will buy the concept of an anthropomorphized dog who shines shoes and rhymes. Superman Returns was hot this year, so what if it's just that with a dog? (Is that dog from Frasier available? Seen the show, seems like he may already have superpowers. Look into.) Instead of shining shoes, make dog's name Shoeshine, and the story is of his friendship with a young boy. Idea: could we just buy My Dog Skip and CGI a little costume for the dog, put out a new poster? Please make changes discussed here, making sure it's too dumbed-down for either adult or child to find absolutely anything redeeming in it outside of just seeing what a dog looks like in a costume. Add a baby. Another idea just came to me: he should have a puppy at the end so we can use a new dog for the sequel, in case this one starts making too many demands. Thanks!
Poster under the cut.
Dec 14 2006ELR Loses a Father
Peter Boyle, crotchety dad of Everybody Loves Raymond and Steven Wright-looking guy of Taxi Driver, has died at 71. The actor may have been best known for his monstrous role in Young Frankenstein, creating the definitive performance of Irving Berlin's Puttin' on the Ritz. Until 1982, that is, when Taco's version blew it right out of the water.
Dec 14 2006Hostel: Part II International Poster is Gross
The international poster for Hostel: Part II is taking gross-out advertising to a new level. Remember those anti-smoking ads that tried to deter new smokers with images of disgusting, blackened lungs? This would be a good one for something about gross vaginas.
Dec 12 2006The Brothers of Darjeeling Limited
From a tourist in India comes the first shot from Wes Anderson's in-production The Darjeeling Limited, which looks to continue the director's tradition of giving hipster shits easy Halloween costumes that are still convenient enough to get laid in. Own aviators? Regularly wear a suitcoat? Have an ironic mustache? Happy Halloween: you're in costume!
Dec 12 2006Inland Empire Trailer
The trailer to David Lynch's Inland Empire is a full minute long yet contains only one scene with giant rabbit-people and just two that made me cry in fear. Someone's selling out to the mainstream.
Dec 12 2006Bruce Campbell is Himself
AICN has presented an exclusive peek at Bruce Campbell in an oversized aloha shirt for his forthcoming My Name is Bruce. Portraying himself in the movie, Campbell is mistaken for his dead girlfriend-mutilating hero from the Evil Dead films and is called upon to fight a supernatural force in his home state of Oregon. Many will remember this concept first from Galaxy Quest, when aliens didn't understand our culture and believed science fiction characters were actual heroes. Here the same mistake will be used to imply Bruce Campbell fans are retarded.
Dec 12 2006Alec Baldwin Wants You to Watch 30 Rock
If you know a certain someone who would love to hear the soothing vocals of Alec Baldwin, provide their number and some information here to send them a personalized celebrity greeting (begging to watch 30 Rock) from the actor. It's the perfect gift to show you care enough to get someone's cell phone number on a solicitation list.
Also, if you write your name, address and phone number on a piece of paper and leave it a Quizno's bathroom, Mike O'Malley will call, remind you to watch Yes, Dear, and mail you a piece of the Guts Aggro Crag, asking in return only that you'll occasionally invite him to things.
Dec 11 2006Primeval Trailer
The trailer for the action-horror Primeval tried to get me interested in a movie starring Orlando Jones by loosely defining a crocodile as a serial killer. A crocodile isn't a serial killer for the same reason Michael Jackson isn't (legally) a serial molester: they're both acting entirely on savage instinct and neither are human.
Primeval Fact: Orlando Jones will respond to "Orlando Bloom" or "7-Up" if you seem like you might pay him something.
Dec 11 2006Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Trailer #2
In this latest adaptation of the comics, goofy cartoon characters are made to seem dark with the use of shadow, all the while sprinkled with dated teenage expressions, to create an unconvincing toy commercial. From the looks of this trailer, rather than battling their typical adversary, Shredder, the turtles will pit their nubile reptilian bodies against a race of alien monsters attacking Earth. I'd think it were stupid had I not already decided to forgo any rational thought when I accepted that a green ooze transformed pet turtles into a band of ninja teenagers.
