SNL Video: I Drink Your Milkshake

This "There Will Be Blood"/"No Country for Old Men" (and "Juno") spoof is admittedly pretty amusing and "Superbad"s Bill Hader has got the Daniel Day-Lewis/Daniel Plainview voice down pat. The parody features Plainview hosting a Food TV program called “I Drink Your Milkshake." Amy Poehler does a funny job as they wide-eyed and silent H.W. Plainview, Fred Armisen plays 'Country's Anton Chigurh and Tina Fey does a brief Juno cameo.

You know they had this one banked since the writer's strike three months ago.

Watch: SNL Skit, "I Drink Your Milkshake"

Is The 'X-Men Wolverine' Movie Turning Into The C-List 'G.I.Joe' Film? Your Guide To Not Giving A Flying Fuck

1. We sort of stole our title from Vulture, but all this lame C-list casting news had us thinking the exact same thing. 2. Yeah, we don't really care about these movies, but 2.1. it's fun to make these graphics. 2.2. It's like shooting fish in a barrel.

Ok, so there it is. "X-Men Origins: Wolverine" has been fully (mostly?) cast and sure most of you (including us) are scratching your heads asking who these characters are, but more importantly asking who in the hell these acting cast-off, Dlisters are.

Apparently the studio's trying to nickel and dime on the casting (maybe you'll see it in the effects?). Sure, actors alwaysaren't cheap, but hiring Will. I. Am? Have you ever seen this guy's videos let alone heard his godawful music??

So who are these characters outside of Wolverine and Sabretooth? (If you were born in the '70s like us). Most of them come from the Team X era, that pre-dates Wolvie's involvement in the X-Men and was based around a lot of scientific experiments on mutants (or something like that).

The new editions to the cast are the hobbit Dominic Monaghan who will play Barnell (aka Beak aka Blackwing depending on how much of a nerd you are), "a mysterious character from Wolverine's past who has the ability to manipulate energy and electricity," according to Variety (never heard of him). Nobody Daniel Henney has been cast as Agent Zero, apparently a good tracker [ed. most half-assed post ever?]

The rest of the cast: Ryan Reynolds as the villian Deadpool, "Friday Night Lights" cast-member Taylor Kitsch will play the card-throwing Cajun hero Gambit and rounding out the cast is Liev Schreiber (Victor Creed/Sabretooth), Danny Huston (Col. William Stryker) and Lynn Collins (Kayla Silver Fox). No clue who this girl is, but she's super cute.

Continuity nerds will moan and complain that Sabretooth was already featured in the original "X-Men" as played by professional wrestler Tyler Mane, but obviously has been recast by a greater actor in Liev Schreiber. And while, we do take issue with replacing actors in any film, Mane had nothing to do in the original film aside from grunt and smash shit. We're assuming Schreiber has been cast so he can chew some scenery. Or something. See you in 2009 (but we're sure we'll wait for DVD unless someone floats us an early screening.

Jackman is reportedly signed on for 3 of these things. Best of luck. There's also talk about some fat guy being cast as the villan the Blob. We're sure someone else will report it first [ed. you've really outdone yourself here].

Another Kurt Cobain Documentary On Its Way From 'Kid Stays In The Picture' Director

What? Another Kurt Cobain documentary? Didn't "Kurt Cobain: About A Son" just come out? Yes, but this one seems vastly different (it won't have very-pleased with himself AJ Schnack as the director for one)

Collider.com has an interview with "The Kid Stays In The Picture" director Brett Morgan who says he's been given "sort of" approval to make a mixed-media/ animation documentary on Cobain (sounds like it won't be that disimilar to the way 'Kid' was made and that doc was fantastic).

"Courtney Love sort of sanctioned me to do. And we’ll probably start that sometime this year. The Kurt Cobain film I want to start in the next few months, but I think it’s going to take 3 or 4 years to make," he told the website.

A big coup is the fact, Morgan says he'll rights to Nirvana music and rare Cobain home movies.

"Yeah. It’s more than that. It’s all of Kurt’s artifacts and archives and journals and yeah we’ll have the music of course but the…his home movies. He did stop action animation, which I don’t know if anyone’s ever seen but I saw it and it’s fucking great. I mean it was crude and I’m gonna probably refine it, you know, in a way, I mean some of his stuff was out of focus or whatever—like unintentionally out of focus but we’re going to make a film as if Kurt Cobain was making his autobiography."

Morgan says he'll basically use every animation trick in the book and Cobain's crude home-made footage to tell his story.

"Ultimately I think the goal for that film is to make sort of a 'Catcher on the Rye' for the next decade. The reason Kurt still resonates all over the world - he was able to articulate his experiences as an alienated, disenfranchised kid and that’s why I think his music is still relevant... I think what this film will do is really get inside Kurt’s head and sort of see the world from the inside out. It’s going to be like this 3 dimensional visceral sort of sublime movie."

"The Kid Stays In The Picture" was great, so we're actually looking forward to seeing this one actually happen, but like he said, it'll be a few years off. bruary Morgan's newest film “Chicago 10,” another animated/mixed-media documentary about the Chicago Democratic Convention in 1968 hits theaters on February 29.

The Playlist's Oscars Predictions For The 80th Annual Academy Awards

Our 2008 Oscar picks (for the films 0f 2007) are probably boring and safe to many some. That's totally fine. We're not here to get cute or creative. We pick with our heads, not with our hearts and we're here to win Oscar pools (like we have 6 of the last 7 years). Weighing that factor, cross-checking this aspect, taking the temperature, charting the momentum, ugh. It all gets a little much after a while. Thankfully, we've mostly tuned a lot of it out this year (or relatively anyhow). In past years we've second guessed ourselves by reading too much, but this year we're admittedly not as clued into the smaller catergories as we have been in the past. It'll work for us and against us. Whateves, we're due to lose soon [ed. nice preemptive strike].

Without further ado, here's the Playlist's official picks for the 80th annual Academy Awards (be forewarned, we reserve the right to change these posts up until the Oscars start, but we won't lie about our ballot if we change it last minute and we'll make a note if we do. Also, where's the Oscar party, *hint, hint* Brooklyn friends?).

Best Picture
Atonement
Juno
Michael Clayton
No Country For Old Men
There Will Be Blood

Best Director
Paul Thomas Anderson, There Will Be Blood
Joel And Ethan Coen, No Country For Old Men
Tony Gilroy, Michael Clayton
Jason Reitman, Juno
Julian Schnabel, The Diving Bell and the Butterfly

Best Actor
George Clooney, Michael Clayton
Daniel Day-Lewis, There Will Be Blood
Johnny Depp, Sweeney Todd
Tommy Lee Jones, In the Valley of Elah
Viggo Mortensen, Eastern Promises

Best Actress
Cate Blanchett, Elizabeth: The Golden Age
Julie Christie, Away From Her
Marion Cotillard, La Vie en Rose
Laura Linney, The Savages
Ellen Page, Juno

Yes, Marion Cotillard is the dark horse (no, not Ellen Page, dummies). But she's french, the movie's in french, she's too new, and almost as many people didn't see 'Rose' as they didn't see "Away From Her."

Best Supporting Actress
Cate Blanchett, I'm Not There
Ruby Dee, American Gangster
Saoirse Ronan, Atonement
Amy Ryan, Gone Baby Gone
Tilda Swinton, Michael Clayton

God, this one is a toss up. We feel like no one saw "I'm Not There," but yet everyone loves Cate Blanchett. It's between her and Amy Ryan we think (though last time we charted this category we said it was a race between Blanchett and Ruby Dee, but the latters extremely limited screen time is something that will work against her we think)

Best Supporting Actor
Casey Affleck, The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford
Javier Bardem, No Country For Old Men
Philip Seymour Hoffman, Charlie Wilson's War
Hal Holbrook, Into the Wild
Tom Wilkinson, Michael Clayton

Best Original Screenplay
Diablo Cody, Juno
Nancy Oliver, Lars and the Real Girl
Tony Gilroy, Michael Clayton
Brad Bird et al, Ratatouille
Tamara Jenkins, The Savages

There's a lot of last minute chatter and support for Michael Clayton, actually much more in the Best Picture and Best Categories, but those won't penetrate. If Clayton can peek through at all, it's here. That said, there's no fucking way (we just wanted to acknowledge the Clayton supporters). There's rarely ever a celebrity screenwriters. When their is, they win.

Best Adapted Screenplay
Christopher Hampton, Atonement
Sarah Polley, Away From Her
Ronald Harwood, The Diving Bell and the Butterfly
Joel And Ethan Coen, No Country For Old Men
Paul Thomas Anderson, There Will Be Blood

Best Animated Feature
Persepolis
Ratatouille
Surf's Up

Duh. Would love to see "Persepolis" win. Hell will freeze over first.

Best Art Direction
American Gangster
Atonement
The Golden Compass
Sweeney Todd
There Will Be Blood

Best Cinematography
The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford
Atonement
The Diving Bell and the Butterfly
No Country for Old Men
There Will Be Blood

Anyone winning but "Atonement" is fine by us, but 'Assassination' and 'Diving Bell' are our personal faves.

Best Costume Design
Across the Universe
Atonement
Elizabeth: The Golden Age
La Vie en Rose
Sweeney Todd

Huh, why not Atonement or Elizabeth? Cause Todd won the Costume Guild award.

Best Documentary Feature
No End In Sight
Operation Homecoming: Writing the Wartime Experience
Sicko
Taxi to the Dark Side
War/Dance

Best Documentary Short*
Freeheld
La Corona (The Crown)
Salim Baba
Sari's Mother
*We had Sari's Mother inititally, but we changed it to Freeheld. Let's hope this doesn't come back to haunt us.

Best Editing
The Bourne Ultimatum
The Diving Bell and the Butterfly
Into the Wild
No Country For Old Men
There Will Be Blood

Best Foreign Language Film
Beaufort (Israel)
The Counterfeiters (Austria)
Katyn (Poland)
Mongol (Kazakhstan)
12 (Russia)

Best Makeup
La Vie en Rose
Norbit
Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End

Best Score
Dario Marianelli, Atonement
Alberto Iglesias, The Kite Runner
James Newton Howard, Michael Clayton
Michael Giacchino, Ratatouille
Marco Beltrami, 3:10 to Yuma

Personally we'd love to see Marco Beltrami win this and we were pleased as punch to see him earn a nomination over many of the larger Oscar Best Picture favorites. There's some convincing talk that "Ratatouille" will upset, but we're going to stick with what we got.

Best Original Song
"Falling Slowly" (Once)
"Happy Working Song" (Enchanted)
"Raise It Up" (August Rush)
"So Close" (Enchanted)
"That's How You Know" (Enchanted)

Only because three Enchanted songs semi-logically split the votes between themselves, but we wouldn't be surprised if any one of the three wins.

Best Animated Short*
I Met The Walrus
Madame Tutli-Putli
Even Pigeons Go to Heaven
My Love
Peter and the Wolf
*We have a feeling we might keep changing our minds here up until night of, but maybe not.
Always a crap shoot, but 'Walrus' is about a Canadian teenager meeting John Lennon. Everyone loves the Beatles, no? Our second guessingness is telling us to go with Peter and the Wolf, though Canadians do well in this category which also gives a leg up to Madame Tutli Putli (which we changed our pick to from 'Walrus' on Friday night).

Best Live Action Short*
At Night
The Substitute
The Mozart of Pickpockets
Tanghi Argentini
The Tonto Woman
*We had Tanghi on Friday morning, but switch to Mozart, Friday evening, we will not be changing these all weekend.

Best Sound Editing
The Bourne Ultimatum
No Country For Old Men
Ratatouille
There Will Be Blood
Transformers

Hmm, never thought that we had Transformers twice, that may not happen. Maybe we should leave it as is, but uh, we're going to lose this category.

Best Sound Mixing
The Bourne Ultimatum
No Country For Old Men
Ratatouille
3:10 to Yuma
Transformers

Best Visual Effects
The Golden Compass
Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End
Transformers

Only you'll really know the truth, but if by following our picks directly leads you to winning your respective Oscar pool, you are morally obligated to post in our comments section and say so. Conversely, if closely following our Oscar predictions directly leads to you losing your Oscar pool (because you know you second-guessed yourselves because of us) you are morally obligated to either post in our comments section or track us down in New York and punch us in the mouth (at least give a head's up by yelling, "incoming"). For more of our general feelings on the matter, things we felt were overlooked this past year, our 2007 breakthrough performances piece, and our Oscar nominations predictions, before the nominations were announced.

Postscript: Wow, we shit the bed. Only got 13 correct. A poor showing for us, indeed. We did at least come in 2nd in both of the money pools we entered. Also, we entered a fun online pool with our friends ThePunkGuy and the First Order Historians. The rules were easy. The loser had to watch the worst picks the winner and those that didn't lose chose. All we know is we didn't lose (we seem to have tied for the win).

'Body of War' Soundtrack Features Eddie Vedder, Neil Young, Public Enemy, Bright Eyes, Lupe Fiasco, Tom Morello & More

The tracklist for the 2-disc set of songs for the "Body of War" soundtrack, titled Body of War: Songs That Inspired an Iraq War Veteran has been revealed via the album's website. Due March 18 via Sire, the songs were picked by the film's subject, paralyzed American Iraqi-vet Tomas Young - songs “that inspired, motivated, and at times, literally saved me over the past few years,” Young told Rolling Stone.

As previously reported, the soundtrack features songs by Neil Young, Bright Eyes, Serj Tankian, Tom Morello and Pearl Jam singer Eddie Vedder who is featured in the "Body Of War" documentary directed by former talk show host Phil Donahue and partner Ellen Spiro.

Additions to the soundtrack include Public Enemy, Lupe Fiasco, Bad Religion, John Lennon, Bruce Springsteen, Tom Waits and Ben Harper. You can preview Eddie Vedder's live version of "No More" (sung with Ben Harper) over at the film's website.

Disc One
“Hero’s Song” - Brendan James
“American Terrorist” - Lupe Fiasco
“Light Up Ya Lighter” - Michael Franti & Spearhead
“Guerilla Radio” - Rage Against The Machine
“Son Of A Bush” - Public Enemy
“Empty Walls” - Serj Tankian
“Let Them Eat War” - Bad Religion
“White People For Peace” - Against Me!
“Letter From Iraq” - Bouncing Souls
“War” - Dilated Peoples
“Overcome (The Recapitulation)” - RX Bandits
“Fields Of Agony” - No Use For A Name
“Bushonomics” - Talib Kweli & Cornel West
“The 4th Branch” - Immortal Technique
“B.Y.O.B.” - System Of A Down
“No More” (Live) - Eddie Vedder & Ben Harper

Disc Two
“Devils & Dust” - Bruce Springsteen
“Masters Of War” (Live) - Pearl Jam
“When The President Talks To God” - Bright Eyes
“Gimme Some Truth” - John Lennon
“The Restless Consumer” - Neil Young
“Battle Hymns” - The Nightwatchman
“Anthrax” - Kimya Dawson
“WMD” - Blow Up Hollywood
“State Of The Union” - David Ford
“Yo George” - Tori Amos
“Love Vigilantes” - Laura Cantrell
“Black Rain” - Ben Harper
“To Kill The Child” - Roger Waters
“Day After Tomorrow” - Tom Waits

Watch: Eddie Vedder - "No More" (at the 2007 Toronto Film Festival)


Eddie Vedder Interviewed in "Body Of War"


Watch: "Body of War" Trailer

Back To The Gondry: The Films That Michel Didn't Kindly Swede

For a film we kind of disliked, we're sure blogging about this a lot! [ed. nice preemptive strike].

So "Be Kind Rewind," the Michel Gondry movie that opens up this weekend and isn't very good, but it marginally charming, right?

In the film Mos Def and Jack Black "swede" (cheaply remake) a bunch of pre-existing "classic" films because they accidentally erase them. They remake "Ghostbusters," "Robocop," "Boyz N' The Hood," "Driving Miss Daisy" and many more (all the sweded trailers for them are here).

But Gondry really wanted to swede "Back To The Future" but couldn't secure the rights to do so.

"We really wanted to do 'Back to the Future'," Gondry told Vulture in a recent interview. "In fact it’s secretly one of my favorite movies ever. It’s a really good example of a broad comedy with a smart franchise. But I always got really offended when they had a little white guy explaining to a black dude how to play rock and roll. I wanted to reverse that. I wanted to have Mos Def explaining it to Jack Black!" [ed. smart franchise? BTTF II and III are dreadful. Yes, the original is a stone-cold classic]

Gondry also wanted to send up/celebrate Jean-Luc Godard and the French New Wave, but ran out of time. "I also thought about Sweding a French New Wave movie in black and white, and having Mos Def and Jack Black pretend to speak French, you know— [mumbling] huhbuhdubudieu — with the subtitles painted on a piece of glass in front of them. I had many ideas, but we didn’t have time to use them all."

Some will remember that a pseudo-"Superman" swede was shot, but we can attest that it was cut out of the film having seen it. " We did ‘Superman.’ I probably shouldn’t say that … we had to change the name of it to something else — ‘Incredible Flying Man,’ I think," Jack Black told MTV in the fall of 2006.

Maybe we'll see it on the DVD? Very likely, not to mention the tons and tons of fan sweded films that have been made in the film's wake.

Justin Timberlake To Star In Baseball Film, 'The Open Road'

Justin Timberlake has signed on to play a fictional Minor League baseball player in the upcoming movie "The Open Road."

Timberlake will play Carlton Garrett, a member of the real minor league team the Corpus Christi Hooks and the superstar musician recently attempted to meet with players of the Houston Astros' Double-A team in Austin recently, but schedules didn't align.

"Justin wants to portray what it's like playing for the Hooks, playing for an Astros minor league team and playing at Whataburger Field," Hooks President J.J. Gottsch said in a useless statement meant to pad a filler Ap story and then regurgitated to pad an ever thinner blog post. The film is about young baseball player trying to reconnect with his father — a legendary athlete played by Jeff Bridges. Shooting began on Tuesday.

Meanwhile, "The Love Guru," starring Timberlake, Jessica Alba and Mike Myers is currently filming and yet is still set for a June 20, 2008 release date.

Sean Lennon To Score Vampire Flick Starring Steve Aoki's Sister

Sean Lennon has been tapped to score the rich-brat-replete indie vampire film, "Rosencrantz & Guildenstern Are Undead," according to the Hollywood Reporter.

The nepotism friendly comedy features other celebrity spawn like Dustin Hoffman's son, Jake Hoffman and Devon Aoki, sister of L.A. superstar DJ Steve Aoki (and daughter of Benihana steakhouse king Rocky Aoki) and Lennon's involvement all starts to make sense.

Lennon has been known to consort with the hipster Hollywood trashbag scene and his 2006 album Friendly Fire and its accompanying film (10 music videos with dialogue) inexplicably featured appearances by Aoki, Asia Argento and Lindsay Lohan (he's also been known to date indie, go-to skank Bijou Phillips - naturally she has a cameo in 'Undead').

The film, directed by first-time feature filmmaker Jordan Galland (formerly of rock band Dope Yume who toured with Cibo Matto - Lennon was once a touring member), also features appearances by Ralpha Macchio, Johnny Ventimilgia, Kris Lemche, and Jeremy Sisto and is about an unemployed actor (Hoffman) whose first big break is directing a bizarre off-Broadway version of "Hamlet" written by a undead Romanian (Ventimiglia, best known as chef Artie Bucco on "The Sopranos," who also wrote the script).

As mentioned above, Galland is also a musician and his myspace page has one song that looks like it's part of the 'Undead' soundtrack.

In related news, the aforementioned DJ Aoki's latest mixtape has caused a minor stir over at URB magazine who have inexplicably rushed to the album's defense after it was trashed by the indie-rock enthusiasts over at Pitchforkmedia.

Dave Chappelle & 'Block Party' Heavily Inspired Michel Gondry's 'Be Kind Rewind' - Or Was It Amanda Bynes?

In our "Be Kind Rewind" review we discussed how the film was not only a celebration of cinema, but one of community and the DIY spirit. An interview that ran today in the A/V Club with director Michel Gondry emphasizes this point, but also sheds light on comedian Dave Chapelle's influence. We had honestly forgotten that at one point early on, it was Chapelle, not Mos Def that was attached to the role of the VHS store halfwit Mike.

In fact, Chapelle and the "Block Party" experience (the concert film that Gondry directed and Chapelle hosted) heavily influenced the "Be Kind Rewind" idea and script. Asked whether he has a large history with video-store culture, Gondry said, "No, not at all. In fact, it's more more about the life of a little town, and its different communities. I'm not a big movie buff. "

So, was the idea of community inspired by directing "Block Party"? "Yeah, completely. I had this concept for years, this kid who would remake these movies. And the thing about Dave Chappelle, [he] was intrigued, interested in this project for a while, and he mentioned a couple of films that we did remake: 'Driving Miss Daisy', 'Rush Hour 2,' that was his idea… 'Boyz N The Hood' as well. Which made me feel legitimate talking about some issues. I would be a little shy bringing up racial issues. But having worked with him and having him on my side made me feel, 'Okay, I could talk about that. It's fine.' "

Meanwhile, this YouTube clip making the rounds (via SlashFilm) claims that Gondry stole his 'Rewind' idea from Nickelodeon's "The Amanda Show" starring Amanda Bynes, made eight years ago. It's a waifer thin allegation, but there are amusing similarities.

Watch: Nickelodeon's "The Amanda Show" which Gondry allegedly ripped off

'Be Kind Rewind': Incredibly Silly, Heavily Flawed But Charming Paean To The DIY Spirit

Michel Gondry's "Be Kind Rewind" is a curious and strange film insofar that its greatest strengths - his fierce imagination - become its biggest weakness here. Let's start off with Emmanuel Levy's mostly-apt synopsis. "Arguably the weakest and silliest of Gondry's films, this one-note comedy is basically a short stretched to the limits of a feature-length movie that even reliable pros like Jack Black can't rescue."

This mostly nails it except that it's not "arguably" Gondry's weakest film, it's easily his weakest, Jack Black is certainly not a "reliable pro" (more like a tired, one trick pony) and yet 'Rewind's does skate by a little bit on its charms and sincerity.

There's a film line between inventive absurdism (ala the Charlie Kaufman, Spike Jonze, Gondry Bermuda triangle) and just nonsensical silliness, and from the getgo, 'Rewind' announces itself as born from the latter breed. Jack Black does his now-insufferable rubber-faced bufoon routine (whiteface?), clowning around as an unfunny mechanic who lives in a trailer nearby a power-plant and can't help but pester the shit out of his dim-witted (mildly retarded?) VHS store clerk friend Mos Def on a daily basis (these two 'heroes' are hapless to an infuriating level).

The store is owned by the jazz-loving, Fats Waller devotee Mr. Fletcher (Danny Glover) who refuses to leave behind the anachronistic world of VHS tape for the modern world of DVDs and as a result sees his business hanging by a thread. Fletcher incidentally will tell anyone who will listen that the building that he lives in and houses his 'Be Kind Rewind' video store was once the home to his hero Waller.

A Waller convention precipitates Mr. Fletcher's absence from the store for a few days which lends itself perfectly for Black's bumbling character to fuck everything up. Some half-assed scheme drives him to plan a sabotage against the powerplant and during his hair brained raid he becomes magnetized, eventually ruining all the VHS tapes in the store Mos Def has been entrusted to run while the owner is away. It's rushed, bumbling elements like these that illustrate Gondry's desire to just get the show on the road and forgo any remotely plausible set-up. The premise is all but a paper-thin, ridiculous launching pad to get the story started.

Moreover, the hurried approach is also felt in the tone, editing and structure. The film's first half feels like it is haphazardly slapped together with construction tape, glue and pipe-cleaners - appropriate thematically perhaps, but as an experience it feels shoddy and strewn together.

So it begins idiotically absurd and tests the limits of suspending ones disbelief, even for a silly little comedy. When angry customers discover the movies they have rented are fucked, and widespread animosity towards the business begins to spread, the duo then hastily begin to "Swede" all the destroyed video tapes in the movie - sweding being the process of recreating something from scratch using common, everyday materials and technology.

These cheap-ass creations are cute and mildly amusing, but hardly the fantastically funny send-ups you might imagine and then the film prattles on like this, one silly remake after another with members of the Passaic, New Jersey town slowly joining the fold helping the pair act, shoot and create these pathetic, but winsome fabrications. The town impossibly catches on to these sweded remakes and they become a minor must-have hit around the neighborhood with the duo and their film partner (the ambrosial Melonie Diaz) taking 'sweded' requests at $20 a pop.

This is all threatened by Sigourney Weaver, who plays a bitch studio lawyer seeking to wipe out the business' existence if they don't destroy all these copyright infringing films.

And around this halfway mark of the film, something happens, and the film's handcrafted guilelessness starts to make some emotional headway darting dangerously close to heartwarming, mainstream film territory, but registering sincerity and emotion nonetheless.

What begins as a silly, ideally clever meta idea slowly evolves itself into being something deeper - a earnest love letter not only to movies, but Fats Waller, the community of Passaic, NJ - (community in general) and the Do It Yourself (DIY) spirit and aesthetic. The film starts to sprout a heartwarming underdog quality that's genuinely endearing and charming if not also very sentimental and saccharine. But it's something.

The homespun idea of making your own art, even with the most crude and limited means begins to feel heartfelt and perhaps a little cheesy, and the film finally moves beyond an excuse for a cinematic nostalgia jerkoff. It's almost like that part when watching the Special Olympics and all of sudden you're not laughing at them and cheering those little guys on. You have to be a strong cynic (and perhaps not a true lover of films, which is nicely conveyed near the end) to completely hate on the film's softer endgame tone.

Of course, by the time this part of the film rolls around, it's certainly a little too late to totally salvage it, but the unironic, scruffy, and winning can-do spirit is a sweet note to leave off on, even if yes, it's Gondry's most commercial, most MOR and weakest film to date. [B-]

Postscript: someone please throttle Jack Black, make sure Michel Gondry writes more than one draft of his next script and perhaps strongly encourage that he balance his ridiculous ideas with some anchor (preferably one by the name of Charlie Kaufman). If someone would grade this film a C+ or lower we wouldn't fight them on it. Also our hunch is despite the outward mainstream appeal of this film, it's neither going to draw in a larger base or please his hipster constituency and the film is going to be left out in the cold at the box-office.

Wild Speculation? Or Is Spike Jonze's 'Where The Wild Things Are' Being Reshot?

Say what? Chud.com is claiming that "we're on the verge of losing a movie here," maintaining that Spike Jonze's highly-anticipated "Where The Wild Things Are" adaptation might have to be completly reshot because studio execs are extremely unhappy with the results.

At this point, it's no secret that "Wild Things' has been having problems or at least it surely seems that way. Concretely, the film was pushed from a fall 2008 to an indefinite 2009 release which was the first sign, then internet chatter and rumors started flying around about the film testing poorly, the Max actor being miscast and other negative responses that you have to take with a grain of salt considering what a bathroom stall the interweb can be.

Chud claims that if and when a decision is made that the film must be reshot, the excuse will be "technical issues; specifically the animation of the Wild Things' mouths and facial features." Then they assert that perhaps some of the shot footage can be salvaged and not the entire film may need reshooting. This part seems to be the most damaging.

Sources tell us that the suits at Legendary and Warner Bros are not happy with Max Records, the actor playing Max, the mischievous boy who is crowned King of the Wild Things. Worse than that, they don't like the film's tone and want to go back to the script drawing board, possibly losing the Spike Jonze/Dave Eggers script when they do it.

While it could be a legitimate threat, we don't want to put too much stock into it at the moment. Or at least, we're somewhat skeptical. Sure, we've heard it's going through re-shoots too. Who hasn't at this point? It might just be a wait and see situation.

Apparently the film is too "wild" and "crazy," too out there for most audiences. Warner Bros. has reportedly invested $75 million dollars into the film and Chud speculates they might not be happy with a multi-million dollar "subversive" art film.

The piece then goes into a lot of speculation and what-ifs that we won't bother charting cause what's the point (and it is pure speculation).

The Internet meanwhile is responding to this news in the calm, orderly fashion you might expect."This is by far the worst news since Heath Ledger died!" one commenter shrieked over at SlashFilm, which made us fall out of our chair laughing.

This specious news follows on the heels of 'Wild Things' test footage leaking on the internet and creating enough of a stir to force Spike Jonze to make a statement about the footage, which many assumed was a leaked clip from the film (which it was not).

Oscar Homestretch Mildly Infuriating; Makes Us Want To Punch Someone In The Face

Oscar Week is upon us. Unless you're living under a rock, the circle-jerk awards ceremony takes place Sunday February 24 at 8 p.m. EST/5 p.m. PT. And if you haven't heard Jon Stewart is hosting via a script written very last minute (i.e. it's going to be shittier than usual this year, though Stew is pretty funny).

Voting for the Academy Awards officially closed on Tuesday (or Wed at 12:00 a.m.) so at least we'll get some respite to pundits thinking they can detect every fucking imperceptible shift in the wind over the collective conscious of Oscar voters, and lord hearing everyone chime in with their two cents gets to be rather infuriating after awhile.

While we might look like jackasses in the end, look, "Juno" is not winning anything besides Best Screenplay, everyone please shut the fuck up about this film somehow squeaking in and winning Best Picture [ed. Normally this is where we shame you, but we're with you here. Not a snowballs chance in hell]. We have nothing against it, in fact, we'll defend it to lardbags like Jim DeRogatis all day long, but it's just not going to win Best Picture, sorry.

Intangible, Abstract Concept Of 'Momentum' Charted By Soothsaying Writer Who Has Read Two Articles
What ends up happening is people tend to get bored and overthink things which tends to make them lose shit the bed in their Oscar pool. Take Jill Serjeant at Reuters for instance. She apparently has a "momentum" detector at her disposal that has informed (after reading one article at The Envelope and one by former Maxim critic Peter Hammond (named the worst film critic of the year in an online poll, btw), that Oscar voters were starting to feel sympathy towards George Clooney over Daniel Day-Lewis because he's handsome, charming and never won a Best Actor Oscar. We would love to invite her over to our Oscar pool, plow her with copious drinks and egg her on to make tons of side bets that would make her have to take out a second mortgage.

She basically claimed that the Oscar race for Best Actor and Best Actress (which are pretty well determined - at least to a certain level) was all of a sudden heating up the week before the Oscars. Really? Says who? Remembers, sometimes writers write articles for the same reason dogs like their balls (that and content deadlines).

Exceptional Year For Films Prompts Jackass Film Critic to Complain
Any year when there's nary a real studio film in the Best Picture category is damn fine year and 2007 was an exceptionally good year for movies, but not to all critics.

This year we have studio indies with smaller budgets, essentially aiming for smart films with modest budgets and modest aspirations (at least earning enough so you can make another). So the studio films being shut out of the Oscars is a good thing, it can only help the art of smart, well-executed films. Everyone really should be pleased as punch besides the studios and suits who favor their shareholders and the bottom line, yes?

Except for jackass movie writer Christy Lemire, who genuinely seems disappointed with this year's crop of films rounding out the five nominations for Best Picture despite it being one of the most respectable groups of nominees in years.

She writes about "No Country For Old Men" and "There Will Be Blood": "One film has an oblique ending that's left some viewers dissatisfied and others floored by its profundity. The other features a slowly developing plot and a brutal, operatically violent finale. But most moviegoers have seen neither of them — and they never will — even though they're the two leading contenders for best picture at the Academy Awards."

Jesus christ. So because they're too artfully made the Academy should pander to more populist fare? This above quote makes us want to take a trip to the AP offices and slap the stupid right out of her. She then complains that this year's crop of Oscar picks have received "little mainstream buzz." Who gives a flying fuck? God. She then dives into how little the nominated Best Picture films have made to prove her point and basically infuriates by intimating that Academy members are out of touch by not nominating bigger money-making films.

She then begrudgingly admits "While [this year's crop of films] haven't exactly been boffo in terms of box office, this year's awards contenders are undeniably strong in terms of art." Yeah, no shit. This is something to bitch about? Send us your address. We will send people to kill you. She'd probably be happy to know however, that if pedestrian yobs had their way, "Juno" would win Best Picture this year according to an E-Poll/Reuters survey. God forbid a film is ambiguous, dark or not spoonfed into your mouth, huh?

We could probably go and find 10,000 more examples of this jackassery prognostication or ridiculous bitching that's putting a bee in our bonnet, but we figure we've made our point. Maybe we just need to tune it all out or we'll have an aneurysm.

Andre 3000 Explains Rock Biopic Hell, Says Don't Hold Breath Waiting For His Involvement In Jimi Hendrix & Sammy Davis Jr. Films

Thanks to Outkast's Andre 3000 who saves us from writing the "why do rock biopics get announced and then never happen," piece. You could call this the rock-biopic public service announcement that would kind of go like this:

Dear Audiences,
Generally there are 10,0000 too many cooks when it comes to typical rock-biopic (especially if they're dead). Too many people own to many pieces of the pie whether its song publishing, record labels, rights to ones story and family members (usually squabbling) that have to independently approve every little matter. This is why most rock biopics take forever to get made (see the floundering Janis Joplin biopic for one current example).

3000 puts it like this: "The funny thing with the biopics [is their uncertainty], I mean, it’s the same thing with ‘Hendrix’,” Andre told MTV. “It’s kinda like, until you are on set doing it you can’t say what’s going on, because everybody wants to do the movie, but there are so many things that go into a biopic.”

As for the state of the reported Sammy Davis Jr. biopic "Sammy & Kim" he was in talks to do? "The Sammy Davis Jr. movie, I think, is in re-writes right now,” he said, sounding not very optimistic about his involvement in the project. “That wasn’t, like, a done deal.”

Meanwhile, “Hairspray” star Elijah Kelly insists that his Sammy biopic is moving forward. We'll believe it when we see it.

Even More Ellen Page: Broken Social Scene Scored 'Tracey Fragments' Hitting U.S. In May

Remember how we said Ellen Page is going to be everywhere in the next couple months and years? Well, add one more film to the ongoing list, but this is and old one of sorts.

Canadian director Bruce MacDonald's (director of the classic pseudo rockumentary "Hard Core Logo ") newest film "The Tracey Fragments" had its debut at the Berlin Film Festival in February 2007 and finally saw release in Canada last November/early Christmas.

Now the film - which was scored by Canadian indie-collective Broken Social Scene - is finally coming to U.S. theaters May 9 via ThinkFilm. The film will actually have its U.S. debuts in the New York on March 14 at the Museum of Modern Art's fifth annual "Canadian Front" series (someone save us a ticket now)

"The Tracey Fragments" is up for six awards, including best actress for Page, at the upcoming Genies -- Canada's version of the Oscars -- on March 3.

Broken Social have had mixed results with scores or rather, the films themselves have had mixed results. In 2004, the Social Scene did their first score for McDonald's "The Love Crimes of Gillian Guess" and the film did so poorly it basically went straight to TV in Canada and received no U.S. theatrical release (and lead BSS Kevin Drew basically refused to talk about it interviews afterwards) We still haven't seen it, you can't get it on DVD in Canada or Stateside (someone have a copy for us?)

"[Movie scores are] the direction we're heading in. When you have kids and homes, you don't want to make your living touring. Plus, I came into all this trying to do music for films." - Kevin Drew from MTV

Then pre-existing Social material was successfully used in the indie-hit "Half Nelson," and they also wrote the score for 2006's mostly came-and-went flick, "Snow Cake" (which incidentally is at the top of our Netflix queue as we speak) starring Sigourney Weaver as a woman with autism (The U.K. trailer has some very beautiful, and Broken-sounding ethereal music in it). But no soundtracks for any of these films have ever been released aside from "Half Nelson." Here's to hoping some sort of 'Tracey Fragments' score is released as BSS do some lovely and evocative instrumental music. The Broken Social website says 'Fragments' central song is "Land" from Patti Smith's Horses (apparently their is a reoccuring horse motif in the film).

The version of the "Land" song used in the trailer (below) is a cover by Elizabeth Powell of Montreal indie trio, Land of Talk. The film also features songs by Peaches and Canadian indie-rockers The FemBots.

Download: Broken Social Scene "Da Da Dada" (from Feel Good Lost and the "Half Nelson" soundtrack)
Watch: "Tracey Fragments" trailer

Watch: "Snow Cake" Trailer