:: The Playlist ::: 01/27/2008

2/01/2008

Steve Holt! 'Arrested Development' Movie Becoming A Reality?!?

Attention all never-nudes, banana stand employees, 'Poof!' magician subscribers and those who may or may not have committed light treason, the Bluth family might be returning for a big-screen version of the much-beloved and prematurely cancelled TV sitcom "Arrested Development."

Talk about a feature-film adaptation of the show have been going on since the last episode when in a meta, inside-joke moment, cousin Maeby sold the Bluthe family rights to Ron Howard - the real life producer of the show and uncredited narrator (and a pretty good one at that, above average of most shoddy narrators).

Leading the charge for the big-screen reunion was lead actor Jason Bateman (Michael Bluthe) who confirmed to E!Online today that talks are indeed moving forward. "I can confirm that a round of sniffing has started," Bateman said. "Any talk is targeting a poststrike situation, of course. I think, as always, that it's a question of whether the people with the money are willing to give our leader, [series creator] Mitch Hurwitz, what he deserves for his participation. And I can speak for the cast when I say our fingers are crossed."

Jeffrey Tambor who played the bumbling patriarch, George Bluth, also told XM Radio's the Ron and Fez Show that he had been approached by Ron Howard to see whether he was willing to do an "Arrested Development" film. "I think we have good news, I think we're going to make a movie," Tambor said. "There's a real push to get movie made."

Bateman recently stoked the 'Arrested' embers in December of last year telling MTV News that creator Mitchell Hurwitz, bored during the writer's strike was getting an itchy creative urge. “This writers strike, it’s a devil’s playground,” grinned Bateman. “The guy doesn’t have anything to do. [During the strike] you’re allowed to write things you’re not being paid to do. I’m trying to talk [Hurwitz] into writing the ‘Arrested Development’ movie. And he could be coming around.”

E! claims sources tell them that other cast members (who include among Michael Cera, Will Arnett, Portia de Rossi, and David Cross) have also been contacted about their interest in participating and that everyone seems to be excited and onboard.

Fingers crossed everyone. Now if you don't mind, we're going to do our version of the chicken dance in cautious celebration. Oh, C'mon! [cue "The Final Countdown"] Just remember: just because there's a writer's strike doesn't mean you can't write a script for the hell of it. AM I RITE!? AM I RITE!?

Watch: "The Arrested Development" Variations on the Chicken Dance

Todd Haynes Creates "Special Abbreviated Version" Of 'I'm Not There' To Highlight Cate Blanchett For Oscar Consideration; Watch Her Entire Performance

So we're doing our late day blog reading about Rudy Dee's surprise SAG Best Supporting Actress win on the L.A Time's Envelope - accurately described as the only suprise move so far of awards season, we called it a curveball ourselves - and we came across this strange nugget about Todd Haynes, "I'm Not There" and Cate Blanchett.

Blanchett obviously won the Best Supporting Actress Golden Globe and was therefore seen as the early-season Oscar favorite, but apparently some Academy members watching "I'm Not There" screeners on DVD had reportedly been turning the fractured film off before she appears (about an hour into the 2-hour, 15- minute movie). Writes the Envelope:

In an unprecedented move, director Todd Haynes agreed to create a special abbreviated version of "I'm Not There" that spotlights only Blanchett's work.

Huh? This really seems like an odd and almost desperate move. Todd say it ain't so.

Academy rules would of course never permit it to be sent to voting members, but it is scheduled to show up on TV, the Internet and other places where academy members might happen to see it. It's an innovative gambit that could give new life to double nominee Blanchett's bid for a second supporting Oscar (she won in 2004 for portraying Katharine Hepburn in "The Aviator").

Pretty interesting. Anyone have a copy? We'd love to see this. Sell out move? Harvey Weinstein put a gun to his head? Bueller?
Update: Looks like the Weinstein co. has uploaded these greatest hits, highlight reels onto YouTube and in higher quality over at the official "I'm Not There" website. But hold the phone, didn't voting for the Oscars already close a long time ago? Perhaps we're misinformed...

Watch: "I'm Not There" Abriged Cate Blanchett highlights
Pt 1 of 5.

Pt 2 of 5

Pts 3, 4 and 5.

The Playlist Is Looking For A Few Good People

The Playlist can't do everything by ourselves. Well, we basically do - it's essentially a one-man operation 95% of the time, but we could use some co-mates and come allies.

So yes, we need some contributors. So if you're seriously interested - and only seriously - please email us. Beggars can't be choosers, but we don't enjoy wasting our time on flakes and we've had many a flake contributor stick around for two posts and then disappear entirely. We'd like to avoid that whenever possible.

Now that that's out of the way, what are we looking for? Someone to cover the comic-book beat, someone to write a weekly Monday box-office report, someone to do trailer reviews and or someone to try and tackle all of the above plus the regular movie/music news and stories we do. Whatever area of expertise yours is, is what you should be writing about.

We'd also love anyone who wants to do more feature-y type pieces where one looks back on a certain director's history with music or a certain old film that had many affiliations to music or genres, etc., etc. (we've done some stuff like that in the past, but never as often as we want).

Before you right us though, please keep in mind: The Playlist is first and foremost a movies site with - obviously - a strong connection to music - but we don't just cover music stuff that has no tie-in to movies (and yes, we'll do movie stories that aren't really tethered to music because that's where our focus is primarily).

Also, if you'd like to be a copy-editor for the Playlist, lord knows our "sense of grammar," excessive typos and spelling mistakes could use some assistance. We'd love you more than anything, really.

If you'd like to recommend suggestions for further installments of the Playlist Soundtrack series, we'd be down with that too. Read more...

'Penelope' Soundtrack Features Stars, Devotchka & Sigur Rós Piano Interpolation; Due Feb 19

Perhaps you've had the misfortune of hearing about "Penelope," a IFC/Weinstein production that debuted in 2006 at the Toronto International Film Festival. Yeah, exactly 2006. It gets better.

It's about a girl, Penelope Wilhern (Christina Ricci), born to wealthy socialites afflicted by a secret family curse (a fug pig nose, like real snout schnozz). To be protected by cruel children and unaccpeting society, she is hidden away inthe family’s majestic home for basically all her life until her parent’s carry out several futile attempt to marry her off (the film also stars James McAvoy and Reese Witherspoon in roles they probably now wish they never auditioned for),

Sounds fucking terrible and yes, it's been pushed off and delayed more times than Chinese Democracy (ok, not as bad as that, but you get the picture). Well, it's finally limping into theaters February 29. And naturally we have the soundtrack information which is suprisingly is not bad.

Due February 19, the disc features tracks by Stars (the very excellent, shoulda-been-a-hit, "Ageless Beauty"), fellow-Canadian indie-pop act, Papermoon, Devotchka and a piano/instrumental version of Sigur Rós "Hoppipolla" by Wenzel Templeton & Robert Pegg for indie enthusiasts and more feel-good adult contemporary fare by James Greenspun ("Your Disguise" appears to be the big single from this thing) and Meiko (who probably straddles that line between indie and AC, stereogum will loooove her). If all goes according to plan, people will be posting in the comments section of this article about the Greenspun track for at least the next six months (sample scrawl: "does anyone know the song featured in the moment when they kiss that's all beautiful and made me and my boyfriend cry?")

The Band of Horses track "Funeral" can be heard in the trailer, but is not featured on the soundtrack nor presumably, the movie. Whateves.

"Penelope" soundtrack tracklist
1. Joby Talbot - "The Story Of the Curse Pt 1"
2. Joby Talbot - "The Story Of the Curse Pt 2"
3. Schuyler Fisk & David Bassett - "Waking Life"
4. Meiko - "The Piano Song"
5. Joby Talbot - "Penelope Breaks Free"
6. Joby Talbot - "Fairground"
7. The Secret 6 - "Give In"
8. Devotchka - "Queen Of Surface Strings"
9. Paper Moon - "String Of Blinking Lights"
10. Joby Talbot - "The Wedding"
11. Stars - "Ageless Beauty"
12. Joby Talbot - "The Kiss"
13. Wenzel Templeton & Robert Pegg "Hoppipolla"
14. James Greenspun - "Your Disguise"

Watch: "Penelope" trailer

Roots, TVOTR Recording Civil Rights Song For 'Soundtrack For A Revolution' Documentary

OkPlayer reports that The Roots and TV on the Radio's Tunde Adebimpe and Kyp Malone have recorded a " Civil Rights era freedom" song for" Soundtrack For A Revolution," a new documentary by Blacksmith Corp founder Corey Smyth (also the music supervisor on "Dave Chappelle's Block Party" and "The Chapelle Show").

Filmed for a DVD/CD package showcasing contemporary musicians performing old spirituals and slave chants from the labor movement and from prison songs, other artists who have recorded new renditions of these songs include the Blind Boys of Alabama and Soulive with Anthony Hamilton. The documentary was directed by Bill Guttentag and Dan Sturman, the filmmakers behind "Nanking," the documentary about the Japanese invasion of Nanking, China, that so moved tai-chi enthusiast Lou Reed, he was compelled to write songs about it. (via Pitchfork) Read more...

Josh Hartnett Thankfully Won't Play Chet Baker In Planned Biopic

Beady-eyed mushmouth Josh Harnett won't be playing tragic jazz trumpeter Chet Baker in the passion-project biopic the star had been planning.

Who knew that Harnett had a thing for sweet, somnambulist cool jazz? “It’s not gonna happen,” the “30 Days of Night” star recently told MTV News. “We’ve been working on this for years, and the producers and I just couldn’t see eye-to-eye.”

Titled, "The Prince of Cool," (another flashbulb of 'thank god this isn't happening!'), Harnett had hoped to start shooting this year, but has officially put the kibosh on the whole thing putting the blame on the producers that wanted to apparently rush the thing out the front door.

"They just wanted to bang something out," he said of producers Julie Allen (”Night of the Demons III”), Pieter Kroonenburg (”My 5 Wives”), and Jonathan Vanger (”The Last Sign”). "There were a lot of biopics coming out at the time, and they just wanted to be a part of that."

The young hearthrob, evidently also a fan of jazz greatst like Miles Davis, Charles Mingus and John Coltrane, was also disappointed in the producer lack of creativity. "They didn’t want to make something that was new,” he frowned. “And the story was just too spectacular.”

Baker's tragic rise and fall and struggles with heroin addiction were chronicled in the very excellent 1988 documentary "Let's Get Lost." Baker died falling out of an Amsterdam window, conveniently the same year the film was released.

One Of These Things Doesn't Belong: David Bowie, Vaness Hudgens, Lisa Kurdrow

David Bowie is in negotiations to to star in the musical coming-of-age film, "Will."

Musical? Check. Bowie once sang good tunes, makes sense. However, the rest of the cast? Hasbeen Lisa Kudrow and teen nudist, Vanessa Hudgens. The film also stars that little imp kid, Liam Aiken and nobodies, Aly Michalka and Scott Porter.

The script focuses on a high school nerdlinger (Aiken) and a popular girl (Hudgens) who form an unlikely bond through their shared love of music [ed. groan]. They assemble a like-minded crew of rag-tage misfits and form a rock group to perform in a battle-of-the-bands competition at their school.

Far out.

Becky Stark & Kim Gordon To Star In Short Written By Miranda July

If you're thinking this sounds like an art world project thing you would be correct. It starts out with a lot of air-blown kisses, mutual admiration society compliments about each other's designer handbags and "let's do lunch!" platitudes - only this time, lunch really happened.

So it starts like this: Miranda July directed a rather excellent movie called, "Me You & Everyone We Know, profesional fashionista Alia Raza met one of the film's producers (presumably at a fashion show, maybe a Matthew Barney art show?) who suggested she try and adapt one of July's short stories (presumably from her book "No One Belongs Here More Than You").

So out of that little meet comes Raza directing the short film, "Pure White Light," which will feature fashion-world sattelite figures Lavender Diamond's kooky Becky Stark and Sonic Youth doyenne Kim Gordon. Stark will star in the short playing a "lonely ingenue," and Gordon will apparently play a "sadistic doctor." OK Go's Damian Kulash and fashionplate Liz Goldwyn also have roles in the short that started shooting in January. The short story is evidently about "self-identity in the age of aesthetics and consumerism. It tells the story of a woman's journey from insecure, lonely ingenue to jaded sophisticate." Neither actress is new to the film world. Gordon has made tons of cameos in movies over the years including Gus Van Sant's sort-of Kurt Cobain biopic "Last Days" and more recently, "I'm Not There" and the TV show "Gilmore Girls."

Stark has already shot her role in "City Of Ember," a film about an underground world of people whose world of glittering lights is being forever threatened. Stark is playing a member of a singing troupe that gives hope to the subterranean dwellers and she's also composing songs for the film.

As previously mentioned, the fruitcake neo-hippies in Lavender Diamond last appeared and performed on screen in the indie science fiction film, "One Day Like Rain." Stark is also apparently writing a "green" movie musical about"finding true love - and about the weather." Ok then.

She is also collaborating on a musical comedy variety show with Miranda July who is way overdue for a new movie (hint, hint).

Marvin Gaye Biopic Set To Shoot In April; 'Law & Order' Cop To Play Lead, James Gandolfini To Co-Star & Produce

The long-awaited Marvin Gaye biopic starring "Law & Order" star Jesse L. Martin will begin shooting in April according to the Hollywood Reporter.

Titled "Sexual Healing," the film will focus on the last year of the soul singer's life and will co-star "Sopranos" actor James Gandolfini as Belgian promoter Freddy Cousaert and he's also the producer of the film. Relatively untested director Lauren Goodman will helm the project.

Goodman wrote the script and loosely based it on the book, "Trouble Man." The $15 million dollar production is set for principal photography in April. In 1981, Gaye took refuge in the small, tranquil town of Ostend, Belgium. There he met Cousaert who convinced Gaye to continue living abroad - an exile that lasted almost two years. Coursaret guided the singer through the recording of his biggest-selling album, Midnight Love.

In 1983, exhausted after his Love tour, the singer moved in with his parents in Los Angeles. Gaye's father Marvin Sr. shot his son to death after a business argument on April 1, 1984, one day before his forty-fifth birthday.

1/31/2008

Blur's 'Last Night At Marienbad' Homage

So last night we finally saw the legendary surrealist classic, "Last Year At Marienbad," at New York's Film Forum. The glacially-paced, chilly, and hypnotically opaque (not to mention lavishly stylish) abstraction is not for the impatient at heart. We dragged our roommate to the film and she was so peeved (and praying-for-death) by its slow-moving ellipticalness and absence of narrative, she demanded we at least get some sort of blog post out of it. So here we are. All this reminded us that Blur's "To The End" video from 1994's very-excellent Park Life was a direct pastiche homage to the film by Alain Resnais.

Village Voice critic J. Hoberman called the film, "hopelessly retro, eternally avant-garde, and one of the most influential movies ever made (as well as one of the most reviled), 'Marienbad' is both utterly lucid and provocatively opaque… It eludes tense. The movie is what it is—a sustained mood, an empty allegory, a choreographed moment outside of time, and a shocking intimation of perfection."

New Yorkers have one more night to catch this film (tonight) as the print will be moving on to other repetory theaters around the country, but knowing Rialto Films' close relationship with the Criterion Collection, if we're lucky we might see this one on DVD later in the year (speaking of that, guys can we finally see "Two or Three Things I Know About Her" and "Le Doulos" on DVD?). Blur's video for "The Universal," directed by Jonathan Glazer ("Birth") was also a cinematic homage, blending Stanley Kubrick's "Clockwork Orange" and the minimalism of "2001: A Space Odyssey."

Watch: Blur - "To The End"

Watch Scene: "Last Year At Marienbad"

Belated: Lackluster Sundance '08 Closes; 'Frozen River' Wins Top Award, We Try & Contain Our Enthusiasm

So the Sundance '08 Film Festival ended like what, 4 weeks ago? Ok, just this past weekend, but you'll notice we weren't really moved to write about it much and from all accounts, Sundance seemed rather lackluster and we're glad we stayed home (using those vacation days in Mexico was well worth it).

Due to all the millions of dollars poured out last year on films that totally tanked, buyers were tentative and cagey for the first couple days. (“Grace Is Gone" - and other likeminded Iraq films - were the big buzz last year. Bought for $4 million 'Grace,' then earned a pathetic $50,000.)

“A lot of people got burned last year,” said Tom Bernard, co-president of Sony Pictures Classics told the New York Times. “You never lose money on a movie you don’t buy.”

Eventually people started opening their wallets, but only until the last minute - film companies were cautious with a wait and see attitude. The biggest winner financially was Steve Coogan's "Hamlet 2" which was bought for a whopping $10 million dollars by Focus Features (just shy of the Sundance record for most expensive movie ever bought - "Little Miss Sunshine" for $10.5 million).

Fox Searchlight - the company that turned little "Juno" into Oscar nominated financial powerhouse - scooped up "Choke," Clark Gregg’s adaptation of the Chuck Palahniuk novel, for a reported $5 million and are apparently so enthusiastic about it they've already set an August 1, 2008 release date (Like, "Juno," Fox Searchlight must love films with a strong music tie-in. "Choke"s soundtrack features Radiohead, Clap Your Hands Say Yeah! and the Fiery Furnaces among others).

One film that earned unanimous critical consensus, but failed to chart come awards time was "Sugar," Ryan Fleck and Anna Boden’s follow-up to 2006’s "Half Nelson," chronicling a Dominican baseball rookie who gets upgraded and uprooted to a minor league team in Iowa. Similarly lauded, but also awarded, was "Ballast," a moody drama about three African-Americans in Mississippi trying to cope after a relative commits suicide (Time Out New York has a good feature on the two films they call the "highlights "of Sundance. The Village Voice seemed to love "Sugar" as well). "Henry Poole," Mark Pellington’s comedy-drama about loss and having holy visions was bought by Overture for $3.5 million and the intriguing Polanski doc, "Roman Polanski: Wanted and Desired," was bought by the Weinstein company for low 2 figures.

Other than that, things seemed to be fairly fun, but uneventful. U2 played their 3D movie and people seemed relatively awed, not much was said about "Be Kind Rewind," other than it was a fanciful film that while charming, wasn't exactly Michel Gondry's best work (nor his worst). The Anvil documentary, Anvil! The Story of Anvil," earned great word of mouth and reviews, the band jammed with Guns N' Roses' Slash onstage, but so far no one has purchased the film for distribution.

"The Wackness," a teenage drug dealer trades pot for therapy sessions with a drug-addled psychiatrist that stars Josh Peck, Ben Kingsley, Famke Janssen, Olivia Thirlby, Mary Kate Olsen and Method Man also scored good word of mouth winning the Dramatic Audience Award. The film was apparently bought by Sony Pictures Classics which pissed off Slashfilm because they liked the film so much and made a good case why SPC fucks up every release they ever dare put out. It's also known as the film where Mary Kate Olsen makes out with Ben Kingsley. Gross. Apparently it has a decent hip-hop soundtrack too.

The immigrant drama "Frozen River," by Michael Moore collaborators Tia Lessin and Carl Deal, won the top dramatic award and was sold to Sony Pictures Classics for $1 million. Post Heath Ledger's death, Michelle Williams' "Incendiary" apparently floored many people, while Michael Haneke's disturbing meta remake of "Funny Games," had people forwarding their therapy bill to the filmmakers address. There was also lots of buzz for the documentary, "American Teen" which was bought by Paramount Vantage.

Now we're not saying cause there wasn't rampant money thrown around the films weren't good. Lord knows dollar and quality are in two different stratospheres, but from all the various and many accounts we read, there was not an excited electricity in the air like there is most years.

Mostly it sesemed, as TONY put it, Sundance-goers experienced a "strong sensation of déjà vu [more] than the thrill of discovery. " With lots of "quirky tales," "angst-ridden hit men, overly earnest documentaries on ecological disasters and more that-was-the-summer-that-changed-my-life parables than you could count."

Awards Given Out At Sundance (apparently they give out award to everyone)
American Cinema:
Grand Jury Dramatic: Frozen River
Dramatic Audience Award: The Wackness
Dramatic Screenwriting Award: Sleep Dealer, Alex Rivera, David Riker
Dramatic Directing Award: Lance Hammer, Ballast
Dramatic Special Jury Prize for “the Spirit of Independent Cinema”: Chusy Haney-Jardine for Anywhere, USA
Dramatic Special Jury Prize for “Work by an Ensemble Cast”: Sam Rockwell, Anjelica Huston, Kelly MacDonald and Brad Henke for Choke
Dramatic Cinematography Award: Ballast, Lol Crawley

Documentary Grand Jury Prize: Trouble the Water
Documentary Audience Award: Fields of Fuel
Documentary Directing Award: Nanette Burnstein, American Teen
Documentary Special Jury Prize: The Greatest Silence: Rape in the Congo
Documentary Cinematography Award: Patti Smith: Dream of Life
Documentary Editing Award: Roman Polanski: Wanted and Desired, Joe Bini
World Cinema:

Documentary Jury Prize: Man on Wire
Documentary Audience Award: Man on Wire
Documentary Cinematography Award: Mahmoud al Massad, Recycle
Documentary Editing Award: Irena Dol, The Art Star and the Sudanese Twins
Documentary Directing Award: Nino Kirtadze for Durakovo: Village of Fools

Dramatic Jury Prize: The King of Ping Pong
Dramatic Cinematography Award: Askilld Vik Edvardsen, King of Ping Pong
Dramatic Screenwriting: Samuel Benchetrit, I Always Wanted to be a Gangster
Dramatic Directing: Anna Melikyan, Mermaid
Dramatic Audience Award: Captain abu Raed
Short Films:

International Jury Prize: Soft
Jury Prize: My Olympic Summer and Sikumi

'Cloverfield' Sequel In The Works; More Privileged & Abrasive New York Partygoers Left To Kill Apparently

Apparently?? Have you been to the Lower East Side on the weekend?? We digress... So despite the almost 70% drop is second week box-office sales, negotiations are underway for a "Cloverfield 2" sequel with director Matt Reeves (most well-known before this for directing episodes of long-form episodic tampon ad "Felicity") which should be no surprise to those who follow the bottom dollar.

Accordingto Variety, Reeves is in talks with Paramount to direct the sequel, and this time his paycut will surely be a lot meatier considering two weeks before the film opened no one had a clue who he was.

Drop or no second week drop, "Cloverfield's" $46 million opening week was a record for a Martin Luther King Jr. holiday weekend and Paramount made a shit-ton of money off the modestly budgeted horror. Sequel talk has been bandied about for weeks now.

Reeves has said that he and producer JJ Abrams had been kicking ideas around for a sequel and suggested part deux could take place on the same night of the event following a different group of similarly obnoxious twenty-somethings from the Upper East Side squatting in the East Village, and dropped hints about an open-ended moment that happened at the end of the film that was planted their specifically in case they wanted to run with it.

"Did you see the thing in the last shot?" Reeves told ComingSoon. "In the final shot there's a little something, and I don't wanna say what it is. The final shot before the titles. The stuff at Coney Island, there's a little something there and I don't want to give it away 'cause the fun is sort of to find it, but I will say this: there's a funny thing, you look at the shot and until you see it you don't see it and you really don't see it and obviously you don't 'cause none of you have seen it, but once you see it you'll never stop seeing it."

Of course those nerds spotted it instantly.
CS: It's the thing dropping in the water, right?
Reeves: Oh, you saw it.

While we're usually annoyed with the relentlessly cynical The Hater column in the Onion (as some probably get annoyed with our relentless cheeky pessimism), their "Things You Shouldn't Think About During Cloverfield," piece ("Basic Logic and The Will To Survive" being one of our favorites) was pretty damn funny and on-the-mark (there's actually a new Hater column on Blair Witch Eats Manhattan (aka Cloverfield) again onstands, but is not up online yet).

1/30/2008

Paging Captain Obvious: 'Who Killed Nancy?' Doc Centers On The Death Of Ill-Fated Sex Pistol's FUG Girlfriend

Jesus, a whole documentary on who killed Nancy Spungen? Really? Really? Uhh, here's a clue, that sad, pathetic fucking junkie Sid Vicious. I mean, didn't the filmmakers see "Sid & Nancy"? Duuuuuh.

Well, disregardless of the obvious, some "mysteries" need further investigation apparently. According to The Journal, a British-based production company has been given some scratch to make the upcoming documentary "Who Killed Nancy?"

The doc will apparently "explore the events that led to the death of Nancy Spungen, girlfriend of the notorious Sex Pistols’ bassist, Sid Vicious."

Ok, Captain Obvious, good luck with that.

You'll remember that Johnny Rotten fucking haaaaaated Alex Cox's dramatized "Sid & Nancy," but whatever, what has the twat ever liked? Revisiting his comments however, is always amusing (and likely more engaging then this doc can ever hope to be).

"To me this movie is the lowest form of life. I honestly believe that it celebrates heroin addiction. It definitely glorifies it at the end when that stupid taxi drives off into the sky. That’s such nonsense. The squalid New York hotel scenes were fine, except they needed to be even more squalid. All of the scenes in London with the Pistols were nonsense. None bore any sense of reality

The chap who played Sid, Gary Oldman, I thought was quite good. But even he only played the stage persona as opposed to the real person. I don’t consider that Gary Oldman’s fault because he’s a bloody good actor. If only he had the opportunity to speak to someone who knew the man. I don’t think they ever had the intent to research properly in order to make a seriously accurate movie. It was all just for money, wasn’t it? To humiliate somebody’s life like that - and very successfully - was very annoying to me."

'The Signal' Soundtrack Features Ola Podrida Joy Division Cover; Due Feb 19

Earthy indie-folk rockers Ola Podrida have contributed their warm cover of Joy Division's classic "Atmosphere," to the horror film, "The Signal."

Due February 19 on Lakeshore records, the soundtrack doesn't feature any other pop songs on the disc, but does include the score by composer Ben Lovett.

You'll recall that Ola is the brainchild of David Wingo, the music composer on all of the David Gordon Green movies to date (sometimes with partners Michael Linnen or Jeff McIlwain), including the upcoming "Snow Angels" coming out March 7.

"The Signal" is apparently a horror "told in three parts from three perspectives, in which a mysterious transmission invades every cell phone, radio and TV, turing people into killers" and it comes out in limited release next month. Hmm, not so much, but the cover's pretty good!

"The Signal" tracklist
01. Don’t Look Back
02. Transmissions
03. Crash
04. Where Did She Go?
05. Escape From Terminus
06. Do You Have The Crazy?
07. Jealousy Monster
08. Signal Waltz, 1st Movement
09. Flashbacks
10. Infected
11. Signal Waltz, 2nd Movement
12. Past The Noise
13. Terminal 13
14. What Is The Signal?
15. Anything’s Possible
16. Atmosphere – Ola Podrida
(all unidentified tracks by Ben Lovett)
Read more...

How In Hell Is It That Christian Bale Has Never Been Nominated For An Oscar?

With the Oscar nominations out last week, we had this belated rant on our minds. How is that Christian Bale has never had an Oscar nomination in his career?

And now that Heath Ledger's dead he's the actor of his generation, right? [ed. Ooof, too soon]. Kidding, apples and oranges there.

But yes, it's true. He lost a whopping 63 lbs to play the skeletal insomniac of "The Machinist," bulked right back and ontop of that for "Batman Begins," (over 200lbs) dropped another 40 odd pounds for Werner Herzog's "Rescue Dawn," and then took on amazing performances in "The Prestige," "The New World," "I'm Not There," and "3:10 To Yuma," all within the span of three years.

This doesn't include his amazing turn as Patrick Bateman in "American Psycho," and strong performances in "Empire Of The Sun," "Velvet Goldmine" and "Laurel Canyon." Even when his luck is shit - the poor film choices period in between 'Psycho' in 2000 and the 'Machinist' in 2004, he's always doing solid work, even if it's in movies that aren't that great.

How is this right in any way? You can be sure the Academy is not going to right this wrong this year (and they didn't), but one supposes it never hurts to remind. Maybe his turn as in the new Terminator as John Connor will finally tip the scales in his favor? What the hell will it take? This is akin to Johnny Depp having to wait until 10 years past his finest work to get nominated in something like "Finding Neverland." Wait, that happened. Nevermind...

Generally we can't take much blog-whining about what shoulda, coulda, woulda been. So, consider this the angry-worded memo to the Academy to get their shit in gear [ed. wow, you fucking showed them].

Uber-Meta: Michel Gondry 'Swedes' His Own 'Be Kind Rewind' Trailer

This should be self-explanatory for anyone following this movie. To those that don't find that obvious, according to the Be Kind Rewind site, Sweding "is re-making something from scratch using whatever you can get your hands on," and describes the practice of re-creating something from scratch using commonly available, everyday materials and technology - exactly what the characters in Michel Gondry's new "Be Kind Rewind" film do when they accidentally erase an entire video store and then have to re-create them all from scratch using cheap actors, cheap film equipment and well, cheap everything.

The "Be Kind Rewind" soundtrack CD came out last week on January 22. The film, which just premiered at Sundance, hits theaters February 22.

Watch: Michel Gondry's Sweded "Be Kind Rewind" Trailer

Compare: Original "Be Kind Rewind" trailer
Read more...

Best Cinematography Doesn't Go To Our Boy Roger Deakins

How crestfallen are we? We were all about Roger Deakins this year - the twice-nominated cinematographer of the sumptuous-looking "The Assasination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford" and "No Country for Old Men" (we also had quite the visual boner for Janusz Kaminski's work on "The Diving Bell and the Butterfly").

But yesterday, Robert Elswit was awarded the year's top prize by the American Society of Cinematographers for his work on "There Will Be Blood." Elswit also shot "Michael Clayton" (though it was not Oscar nominated for its visuals). Granted, this is a tough category to bitch about. 3/4 of the nominees were basically amazing ("Atonement" eh? tracking shot-schmacking shot) and "There Will Be Blood," looks fantastic. But we were hoping Deakins' 'Assasination' work would take it (or Kaminski's 'Butterfly').

At least Elswit is humble. "[Deakins] is in a class all his own," Elswit recently told the AP. "There the rest of us, and there's Roger Deakins." Deakins' double cinematography nod was the first one in that category since 1971.

Not to be. Oh well, but yes, this basically means Robert Elswit is probably going home with an Academy Award. The other nominee was Seamus McGarvey for "Atonement." Read more...

'Once' Song Was Originally Made Oscar-Eligible At The '11th Hour'; Tracks Legitimacy Questioned & Was Reevaluated After Its Oscar Nomination

Remember how we went on about how the song, "Falling Slowly" from "Once" was not ineligible for an Oscar, despite the fact it was already released on two albums before the film came out and despite your grumblings that if that was eligible, why wasn't Jonny frickin' Greenwood eligible, remember?

Then we pointed out how the Glen Hansard and Marketa Iglova-penned song was written for "Once," waaaaay before the film found is proper U.S. release, but that director John Carney had to still write a firmly-worded letter to the Academy to convince them?

But we weren't the only ones doubting or questioning the authenticity of the "Once" songs. The New York Times and other media outlets also started making a fuss about it and kicking up similar questions on its eligibility claiming at one that the song would go under reinvestigation and reevaluation. Which it kind of did and prompted the following statement (could you imagine if after the Oscars were nominated they would have pulled the song from Oscar contention and picked a back up song?)'

“We needed to address whether the song was written specifically for the the film and the second issue was whether it had been played prior to the inclusion in the film — did this constitute a reason to ineligible-ize it,” Academy music branch executive committee chairman Charles Bernstein said. “The first issue was satisfied by a sworn statements attesting to the fact that it was written for the film along with a chronology, and the second issue was settled by the fact that it had only been performed in Europe and the Czech Republic and not in a way that would have given it advantage or influence here.”

The New York Times ran a separate piece that revealed that the original eligibilty for "Falling Slowly" came at the 11th hour (as they were questioning it themsevles to begin with).

According to the Times, members of the executive committee of the music branch of the Academy actually met at the zero hour before the ballots were shipped to potential Oscar voters to decide the song's fate as they had too had questions about the song's "validity." Basically at the very last minute (day before it sounds like?), the song was made eligible. According to the Academy's statement on the ruling:

The committee relied on written assurances and detailed chronologies provided by songwriter of “Falling Slowly,” the writer-director of “Once” and Fox Searchlight.

The genesis of the picture was unusually protracted, but director John Carney and songwriter Glen Hansard were working closely together in 2002 when the project that became ‘Once’ was discussed. ‘Falling Slowly’ began to be composed, but the actual script and financing for the picture was delayed for several years, during which time Mr. Hansard and his collaborator Marketa Irglova played the song in some venues that were deemed inconsequential enough to not change the song’s eligibility.

So yeah, people were almost actievly campaigning to get "Once" off the Oscar ballot they were so convinced it legitimacy shouldn't of flown. Fox Searchlight and Hansard's heart must have skipped a beat, but in the end they got in there by the skin of their teeth.
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Random YouTube Nerdlinger Kid Reviews 'Rambo,' Unintentional Hilarity Ensues

Oh man, amazing. Wait, how did this kid get into "Rambo," isn't there like 10 trillion killings in it? He don't look 18 to us. Man, his graphics are the hot shit. The best part? This budding, young Roger Ebert's YouTube handle is “Sexman.”

At the beginning of his review, The youngin' wisely give a warning about the violence in the film, "For some squeamish people you may have to close your eyes during some parts. There is some footage at the begining that's kind of graphic... well, the whole movie is graphic (pause) which I loved."

Unsurprisingly his trenchant critique and unique insight is not unlike many of the online movie bloggers with similar criteria based on "edge-of-your-seat entertainment" and lots of "kick-ass" moments. "Overall, about the film I liked most: it wasn't just a bunch of boring back and forth crap and talking. It was just straight forward action (pause). Which I liked." Amen, brother. Sexman also praises Sylvester Stallone's work in the film noting he doesn't believe the testosterone-fueled actor is too old to play the part.

He gives the action film 5/5 stars, a score he notes that he doesn't give out often. Someone give this kid a blog, stat.(via SlashFilm)

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Following Drunken DGA Outburst Sean Young Checks Into Rehab

You mighta heard about Sean Young's drunken outburst at the recent DGA (Director's Guild of America) award ceremony this past weekend.

Apparently when "The Diving Bell & The Butterfly" director Julian Schnabel went up to the podium to speak (he didn't win, but all the nominees got a chance to speak) he was slow to start and Young began heckling him urging him to "get on with it!"

Apparently Young had been loud, obnoxious and belligerent all night and when Schnabel finally realized it was he shot back dryly, "have another cocktail, honey" (yet a