Here is what the head administrator over at the official Killers message board just posted:
"I just spoke to the band's manager, and adding to the confusion was the fact that they did authorize a project months ago with this request:
Quote: 'The film is a satirical documentary with an estimated running time of 1 hour and 50 minutes, exploring academic freedom in public schools and government institutions with actor, comedian, economist, Ben Stein as the spokesperson.'
What they authorized was a documentary about 'academic freedom in schools', not the film that the producers produced.
They contacted the producers of the film to ask that the song be removed but it is too late. Unfortunately it was misrepresented to them when the request came through to use it. Add this band to a long line of people who were misled by the producers of this film."
She later added: "The band asked the producers to remove their song from the film when they became aware of the true nature of it. They were told it is too late. That's all there is."
We've been waiting for a statement from the Killers label for two full days, but we suspect a similar press-release will hit the web tomorrow. Also, an interesting addendum to this story. The Huffington Post blogger who started this brouhaha by calling out Yoko in the first place, has run a retraction in his story. We feel like we've done our job. He writes, "I apologize to Mrs. Lennon for my incorrect assumptions and statements in the article below which, of course, I retract completely. I will also find out more about the producers of the movie and what their motives are."
Lastly, Premise Media (the people behind "Expelled") have taken out a SLAPPlawsuit against XVIVO, the company that originally charged the film with copyright infringement. unauthorized use of their animation. Apparently all XVIVO animations have been taken out of "Expelled" and the lawsuit is Premise's counter measure and a way to clear their name.
During the shooting of the short-lived, but beloved Judd Apatow college sitcom, "Undeclared," the producer/writer/director gave co-star Jason Segel (who he originally wanted as the lead) some simple and plain advice. "You’re a really weird guy. The only way you’re going to make it is if you write your own material.”
And after starring in a few Apatow supporting roles (most notably in "Knocked-Up") Segel obviously did just that. Plus after both Seth Rogen and Jonah Hill made it big, it was time for the next big lovable schlub from the Apatow Family Players to take their shot at the lead spot.
Apatow also recently said, "I'm gonna get a penis in every movie I do from now on," and obviously from all the press it's getting the dangling wang, is receiving a lot of attention. But full-frontal flaccid penis nudity aside (Segel hangs out in all his limp glory twice for about 73 frames), the break-up comedy (or disaster romance film) "Forgetting Sarah Marshall" is much more than that (or at least some/most of the time). And if you can get past the semi-annoying and near-ubiquitous marketing of "Forgetting Sarah Marshall," – which rivals "Cloverfield" in omnipresence though 10x more fun and clever –, you'll be glad you came back to witness the return to form.
The dorky, awkward and endearing Jason Segel plays man-child struggling musician Peter Bretter who after five years of near lap-doggish adoration and slovenly idleness gets dumped by his more famous girlfriend Sarah Marshall (Kristen Bell from "Veronica Mars") – the star of the [fictitious] hit NBC crimeshow "Crime Scene " who's grown a little tired of his boyishly indolent antics (which include a stalled Dracula-themed rock opera). Distraught and heartbroken, Segel becomes more unhinged when he discovers, via tabloid TV, that Marshall has begun dating British music Lothario Aldous Snow (played by new troupe member Russell Brand; a good fake YouTube clip explains this below). After some trainwrecky attempts at womanizing himself, the lost at sea lead escapes to Hawaii at the behest of his step-brother (Bill Hader) only to discover much to his horror that his ex-girlfriend and her terminally hip jagweed rocker boyfriend are vacationing in the exact same spot.
Hilarity is supposed to ensue, and mostly does if you haven't spoiled half the movie and good parts with many of the Red-band rated trailers (like we unfortunately did), and while the first half is pleasant and amusing enough, it begins to feels familiar almost to the point of routine (though supporting players, Paul Rudd, Jonah Hill and "30 Rock" page Kenneth Parcell, do their best to keep the comedy flowing in their various and unique flavors).
Halfway through the picture however, 'Marshall's sadsack and dejected tone starts to feel genuinely heavy-hearted and melancholy. While it's not quite "Annie Hall," by any stretch of the imagination, there are some surprisingly vulnerable and touching moments and these scenes separate the film from the regular boys club school of Apatow films that many (ladies?) peoples have complained about. Segel is the sensitive one of the pack, or at least he knows how to write that way and his flair for writing some painfully honest come-to-jesus relationship moments in the film are downright disarming (Mila Kunis who we never cared for before is also incredibly adorable and charming as the girl that gets Segel on the road to recovery). It's the Apatow school of dickjokes with heart with a few all-too-real heartaching tears rolling down your face and it's a nice change of pace for these dudes. Keep in mind, there's plenty of doofus bro-down humor to satisfy those specifically there for the lolz, but with mangina fully on display, 'Sarah Marshall' can't help but be a mix of feelings both bittersweet and hilarious.
Let's also not forget about the amazing knack for mixing the embarrassing and awkward with the hurt, winsomeness and naive joyfulness. Wisely, any scene that threatens to get too mushy with emotion is quickly undercut with the comedic equivalent of a fast lovetap flick of the nuts.
Near the end and on the comeback trail to happiness, or at least a comfort with uncertainty, Belle & Sebastian's fey classic, "Get Me Away From Here I'm Dying," plays while Segel happily watches a wedding and we only mention it because the lyrics and sprightly mood might capture the final tone better than anything we could ever say. "And then, with a winning smile, the boy, with naivety succeeds. At the final moment, I cried I always cry at endings." And every dude can relate to that moment in life when they are forced to escape adultlescence and grow the fuck up already. 'Sarah Marshall' first half certainly hits all familiar notes of the Apatow heart n' balls comedy wheelhouse, but dares to dig slightly deeper into the awkwardly wonderfully nether regions of a dude's ability to cry while his schlong is left dangling in the wind. Call us a wuss, but we kinda loved this sweet little film. [B+]
Watch: Sarah Marshall Breaks Up With Peter Bretter on "Hollywood Spotlight"
Sick of Uwe Boll, the near-pathetic German B-movie director that movie geeks loathe so much they're calling for his permanent banning from filmmaking?
Too bad, Boll has more to say and more people to slam. This time filmmakers Gus Van Sant, fellow German Tom Twyker ("Run Lola Run"), Austrian neighbor Michael Haneke ("Funny Games") and Michael Bay (a second diss).
To recap (again), movie fans of crappy video-game adaptations started a petition asking Boll to quit filmmaking. He said he'd quit if a million people signed up. People obliged him and the petition numbers skyrocketed (2o0,000-plus and counting). Then Boll fought back, slammed Michael Bay and Eli Roth for no particular reason in a YouTube clip (other than using the lame defense, "hey, they're at least as shitty a director as I am!, why not pick on them!?"). Michael Bay dismissed him, and then Boll encouraged his "fans," to start a petition in favor of him sticking around (a meagre 4,ooo have signed it, there's also another poll with 9 signatures) and dismissed the anti-poll, claiming that people were juking the stats by writing in 10 or 20 times each (Suuuuuure, they are; PetitionOnline captures the IP addresses of those who sign the petition, so it's easy to see if there are indeed duplicate entries. ).
Well, anywhooo, MTV caught up with the easy-to-find German director and he randomly went off again with his whole, "hey, these filmmakers did shitty work too! Fire them!" thin-as-paper argument. Too many filmmakers get a free pass apparently.
On Tom Twyker: " ‘Perfume’ is a piece of sh-t, let’s face it, yeah? So... he has a free [pass]after ‘Lola’ because people liked the movie. There are a lot of directors like this — they’re getting hype [but] everything [they do] is boring and nobody wants to admit it.”
On Gus Van Sant: "How many good movies did [he] do? A few good movies but also a few bad movies. But if you have this kind of reputation you get invitations to film festivals or whatever."
On Micheal Haneke: "‘Funny Games’ was a good movie original, but to reshoot that here, was stupid. And everybody thinks the movies are kind of important or something. So, that’s the thing.”
On Michael Bay (again): “I think he’s really bad. And I think the point is, if you get $250 million for every movie you do, how you gonna make a bad looking movie, with bad sound, bad special effects, whatever? But everything dependent on directing is bad in his movies. And so I think it’s kind of absurd, how some people are getting counted like they are geniuses or whatever. But the reality is that in a lot of these $150 million movies, the real credit deserves to the special effects people. Or the second unit crew.”
Boll insists if he had that kind of mega-budget for his films he could easily make movies just as banal and subpar as Bay's uber-spectacles. "Absolutely, yeah, that’s the point." Boll's next film, "Postal," comes out on May 23 and he thinks that release date is genius counter-programming against 'Indy 4.' Best of luck with that.
So after a little digging around on the whole imbroglio involving Ben Stein's dubious pro-creationist film, "Expelled: No Intelligence Allowed," and the fact that two tracks by The Killers and John Lennon ("Imagine," no less) may have been licensed for the film - which as many have pointed out would be an odd association for Yoko Ono, Lennon and the Killers to be a part of - we've found some answers.
Publicists for Ono, her lawyers and people have told us the the track was not licensed for the film and a statement on the matter would be forthcoming (see below). Will be interesting on Friday to see this film and John Lennon's "Imagine," playing "over B&W scenes of what looked like communist China, with a parade of soldiers."
Thanks to the Swarm, we found another update over at the Wall Street Journal. They talked to Ono's lawyers and it looks like the filmmakers are using the Lennon track anyhow even though they do not have permission to use the song, "for any amount of money."
Ms. Ono's lawyer, Jonas Herbsman, of Shukat, Arrow, Hafer, Weber & Herbsman, said in an interview Wednesday: "It was not licensed." With respect to the filmmakers, he says: "We are exploring all options." It is not clear what remedies if any may be available to Ms. Ono.
Lawsuit in, 2, 3, 4... Check this: the producers are trying to justify the usage of the track under the first amendment.
The film's three producers -- Walt Ruloff, John Sullivan and Logan Craft -- acknowledged that they did not seek permission, but they called the use "momentary." "After seeking the opinion of legal counsel it was seen as a First Amendment issue and protected under the fair use doctrine of free speech," the statement said. A spokeswoman said under 25 seconds of the song are used in the movie.
Yeah, someone is soon to be sued into the grave.
However, a statement at the end of the article concludes that the Killers, did give their permission to use the song (or at least their label or publishers did, but we can assume, these matters are passed by management at least?)
A spokesman for Vivendi SA's Universal Music Group, which owns the band's record label and music publisher, said licenses had been issued.
As we mentioned yesterday, this new track, "Horses," is a cover of the Patti Smith classic by Broken Social Scene (or a condensed version of the every-changing band) featuringBrendan Canning, Charles Spearin , Damon Richardson[formerly ofDanko Jones] and Liz Powell from Montreal indie trio Land of Talk on vox.
Very probaby, but it's a slow day and Beastie Boy fansite Mic-To-Mic reminds us of an interesting movie related story we had totally forgotten about.
Back in May, 1997, Entertainment Weekly dropped a news item about the Beastie Boys starring in a Spike Jonze-directed comedy, called "We Can Do This," which was supposed to be a cross between "Zelig" and their wacky video for "Sabotage" (also visualized by Jonze). "Zelig," for those that forget was about a human chameleon Leonard Zelig, who becomes a celebrity in the 1920s due to his ability to look and act exactly like whoever is around him (sounds C. Kaufman-esque, no?)
The piece is here. Entertainment Weekly (May 2, 1997) stated the following: "Nascent matinee idols the Beastie Boys (Adam Yauch, Michael Diamond, Adam Horovitz) have teamed with director Spike Jonze and are set to star in their first feature film, a comedy tentatively titled "We Can Do This." Scripted by the group and Jonze, the film is set to begin production this summer (1997). A source close to the project describes the movie as a lot like Woody Allen's "Zelig" crossed with the parodic '70s cop-show spirit of "Sabotage," and says there will be a number of surprise guest stars."
The project never came to fruition (though their first attempt at a movie, the 1987-era'd "Scared Stupid," did go as far as a script stage, but then got cockblocked by Rick Rubin who owned the rights to all the music at the time.)
But Mic To Mic recently noticed some strange activity revolving around the film (that they also think could possibly be a leftover April Fool's joke?).
The film project has resurfaced as an announced/in development project. Both the New York Times and Hollywood.com have recently listed the films in their databases. Is this a mistake or has the dust really been blown off the project? In either case, it's interesting that this news has resurfaced so close to the premiere of Adam Yauch's film "Gunnin' for That #1 Spot."
Seems like a pretty odd way to market a new film. There's no info on it over at Yauch's Oscilloscope Pictures, nor is there anything on IMDB or Wikipedia. And as many as their comments section suggests, this is probably old news mistaken as new news and or wishful thinking, but either way, remember when?
Unless you're living under a rock or a self-imposed media blackout, you know by now that Jason Segel reveals his flaccid wang in the upcoming Judd Apatow-produced disaster romance comedy, "Forgetting Sarah Marshall."
The young Segel has talked up a storm about how the key nude scene in the film - his girlfriend breaks up with him while he's stark naked - came from real life a incident.
“I was trying to experience [the situation] viscerally, as a person,” Mr. Segel told the New York Times. “But all I could think was: ‘This is hilarious. I cannot wait for her to leave so I can write this down.’ ”
“I had a naked breakup,” he told Heeb, “and while it was happening, I was so aware it was ridiculous and I was telling myself, ‘This is going to be hilarious at some point.’ [Filming the scene was] terrifying. It’s the worst thing you could ever do.”
"It was horrible." he told Coming Soon of the incident. "My girlfriend came over and I assumed it was to have sex. She didn't even give me a chance to put a towel on and this breakup commences, I knew at the moment I should feel upset, but instead I knew I just had experienced the funniest thing that would ever happen to anybody."
"[When] women...see a naked, out-of-shape man crying and it's funny — something weird, disturbing and disgusting we can all laugh at," Segel told the L.A. Times of mining the semi-painful experience for twisted comedy.
What he's not telling people is the incident (likely) happened with his ex-"Freaks & Geeks" first love, Linda Cardellini. The two went out for a whopping five years and many scenes in 'Sarah Marshall' are based on specific events in that relationship — especially when walking press lines with his more famous girlfriend (at least at the time), Segel would get yelled at by the paparazzi to step out of the frame so they could photograph her without him (there's a scene in 'Marshall' exactly like this).
So did Cardellini, now an "E.R." star break-up with Jason Segel when he was naked and dangling in the wind? ("E.R." isn't that far off from the spoof medical crime drama, "Crime Scene", that Segel's love interest in the film Kristen Bell stars in) Now that Segel is about to become the adored It-boy for 20-30-something girls across America, is Cardellini about to endure some wrath?
We're surprised none of the press has asked her yet. How could you break poor, cute Jason Segel's heart? Update: Entertainment Weekly says that particular nude break-up wasn't with Cardellini, but maybe Segel was lying to spare her? There is after all moments from the relationship in the film, but then again, who doesn't write what they know?
So the new poster for "The Incredible Hulk" Marvel reboot film finally leaked online and it's rather morose, blue and doesn't exactly scream, "exciting action film for comic-book enthusiasts!" now does it?
Apparently Norton and Leterrier wanted a more character-studied and nuanced film and Marvel wanted a leaner, more-action-y film. Guess who one? (think lowest common denominator).
After weeks of keeping silent on the matter for fear of looking like a difficult pain in the ass, Norton finally responded to EW in an email statement where he basically says the press made all the fuss, the drama is overblown and the quality of the film will speak for itself.
"Regrettably, our healthy process, which is and should be a private matter, was misrepresented publicly as a 'dispute,' seized on by people looking for a good story, and has been distorted to such a degree that it risks distracting from the film itself, which Marvel, Universal and I refuse to let happen. It has always been my firm conviction that films should speak for themselves. All of us believe The Incredible Hulk will excite old fans and create new ones and be a huge hit.'' (the full statement is here)
So is Norton the big, pushy difficult asshole he's made out to be? The director says he was initially wary, but the rumors turned out to be false. "The stories I heard about Edward — they scared the bejesus out of me,'' he said. ''I was scared the guy would come in and say, 'All right, you're a little French director who's just done action movies, so you stick to the action and I'll do the drama.' Did that happen? ''Not at all!' 'I love the guy. He has a voice; he just wants to be heard. And he hates lip service.''
Whatever, we still think this movie about the Green Giant is fucked.
This is one of the funnier scenes in "Forgetting Sarah Marshall" or at least its male vs. female logic battle made us laugh. Something to start the day with. Remember the 'Sarah Marshall' soundtrack features Belle & Sebastian, Frank Black, Os Mutantesand came out yesterday.
So yesterday, a blog from the Huffington Post reported that a Killers song and a John Lennon song ("Imagine" no less) were licensed for the what they called, "creationist propaganda" film "Expelled: No Intelligence Allowed." The article was called, "Yoko Ono Sells Out John Lennon To Creationist Manufactroversy," and the author was duly outraged over the fact both Ono and the Sin-City mormons had given their musical consent.
Members of the blogosphere, including us, reported it as fact, or at least reported that "according to the Huffington Post, ..." etc., etc. None of us really stopped to think about how implausible it might be for a second though (one of the drawbacks of quantity over quality in the blogging world, aren't we glad we had the foresight to file it under "random bullshit").
The film comes out this Friday which means it could be a little too late to change anything, but over at the Killers forum (you'll have to be logged in), the moderators of the official site and official messageboards insist the Killers know nothing about this film and were never officially approached to license the song. Are these just kids defending their fave pals or do they have official word from the band? It appears more than one thread has started on the message board on the subject and each one has been met with "they've never been officially approached" comments from senior mods.
Over at RichardDawkins.net (a well-known science writer and prominent critic of creationists and intelligent design), one reviewer (not Dawkins himself, he saw it, but his colleague apparently PZ Meyers was expelled from "Expelled," in fact when first interviewed for the film, Dawkins, Eugenie Scott, PZ Myers, and others were allegedly misled; interviewed under false pretenses and told they were being interviewed for a film called "Crossroads," about where science and religion met) Josh Timonen suggests neither Killer song ("All These Things I've Done") or Lennon song are being officially used or cleared.
"Either 'Expelled' has a disproportionately-large music budget (for how bad of a film it is), or they are using songs they haven't paid for in their Director's Cut private screenings (that may be changed before the official nationwide release). John Lennon's "Imagine" is played (original version) over B&W scenes of what looked like communist China, with a parade of soldiers. I remember a shot of Stalin saluting somewhere in here as well. The part of the song played was of course "...and no religion too...", implying that no religion equals communist China. Does Yoko know about this? I doubt she'd be pleased."
The Huffington Post never questioned the above graph/'Expelled' review and in fact used it as their blog thesis, but knowing how notoriously picky Ono is about Lennon/Beatles clearances and with the film having an apparently very-low budget, it stands to reason this writer is very-much on to something salient. The Dawkins writer continued his musical review.
"The Killers' song "All These Things That I've Done" was used at the end of the film. The part of the song used was the bridge with the lyrics "I've got soul but I'm not a soldier". I'm guessing that wasn't cheap, and I'm surprised that a fairly popular band like The Killers would want their reputation tarnished by being in a Creationist film - especially since this is THE song that the film ends with, very prominently. Maybe The Killers don't know about this, and someone should tell them?"
Cue the Killers' messageboard moderators who have been saying this all along. So were the songs just used in the director's cut private screenings (not unheard of, songs will change before their theatrical release)? Are the songs unauthorized and still being used and or did the Killers and Yoko actually license the songs? OR, just like Dawkins, Scott and Meyers, were Yoko and The Killer's people mislead about the films intentions? (Man, if so, we smell a huuuuge lawsuit). Wikipedia says the film's budget is $3.5 million,and though that sounds about right, that's Wiki and we shouldn't cite it as anything official, but keep in mind Wes Anderson's "The Royal Tenenbaums" had a budget in excess of $25 million and they couldn't clear Beatles songs for usage at the time.
The plot thickens, but wethinks the answer will now come out sometime tomorrow.
In related news, the Gawker science site I09 is treading the very thin line between clever and stupid by facetiously concluding (in a very straight-faced, dry manner) that, "the makers of Expelled are engaged in a massive conspiracy to bring down Intelligent Design movement by pretending to advocate for it," because the film is that bad and poorly made. Additionally, XVIVO, the animation company which produced the award-winning animation "The Inner Life of the Cell," have charged producers of "Expelled" with copyright infringement. The "Expelled" blog also claims their film, evidently debuting on 1,000 screens, will boast the "largest U.S. opening of any documentary film ever," more than "Fahrenheit 9/11" which they claim only opened on 868 screens (the latter figure the New York Times corroborates).
According to IMDB, "Preview screenings for the movie were held for churches and other Christian groups months in advance, and by invitation only. After a movie critic was inadvertently allowed to view the film early, resulting in a negative review, a policy of requiring viewers to sign nondisclosure agreements was implemented at these screenings." Even FoxNews is frowning upon 'Expelled,' calling it "sloppy, all-over-the-place, poorly made (and not just a little boring) 'expose' of the scientific community," and possibly the end of Stein's career.
The trailer features George Thorogood's "Bad To the Bone." Was that cleared?
Ellen Page's latest film, the Canadian production, "The Tracey Fragments," is finally coming out in the U.S. on May 9 via ThinkFilm and the movie has a soundtrack hitting shelves April 29 May 13 (Lakeshore goofed on their date).
As we previously reported months ago and reminded just again recently when the U.S. release was announced, Broken Social Scene composed the score for their friend, director Bruce McDonald(director of the classic pseudo rockumentary"Hard Core Logo"; the filmmaker also recently shot a documentary for Brendan Canning's self-titled Broken Social Scene series solo album that comes out June 22 on Arts & Crafts) . Though BSS have done multiple scores before ("Snow Cake," "Half Nelson," MacDonald's "The Love Crimes of Gillian Guess,") none of them have ever been released until now (*the exception being, 'Nelson' but that was primarily previously released material). We were hoping a full-on score disc would finally happen come out and our wishes have been answered. The Social Scene contribute four new pieces of music to the disc including a cover of Patti Smiths "Horses" featuring Land of Talk's Liz Powell on vocals (or at least it's sort ofBSS, it's Brendan Canning, Charles Spearin and Damon Richardson [formerly ofDanko Jones] is the backing band on that track with Powell; the fifth BSS song "hHallmark" is from Bee Hives).
Just like her musical influence over "Juno" (it was she who hipped director Jason Reitman to the Moldy Peaches) Page’s enthusiasm for Patti Smith's Horses turned the title song into one of the film’s major metaphors (Powell and BSS covered the track because Smith’s original was too cost-prohibitive.)
“There’s that genre of teenage angst film, and this is kind of an explosion of that genre,” McDonald told the CBC last October describing what makes the film unique. “Maybe the genre makes people feel slightly at home. They say: ‘I know this, it’s sort of familiar.’ But the dream is very different this time.” Page shot 'Fragments', after "X-Men 3" and before she became the indie in-demand indie IT girl she is today, but McDonald sees that as fortuitous. "I’m thrilled because it’s going to lead people to our film. She’s going to be on the cover of magazines and talk shows, and then there’s this other thing she did, our crazy art film," he said.
“Getting Broken Social Scene to do the score, getting Ellen Page to be in it — these are very calculated decisions to say: We know this is kind of crazy experimental, but at the same time, we don’t want anyone to feel stupid.”
There's also an ad-hoc"The Tracey Fragments" myspace page up which has the aforementioned cover of "Horses," one track by Drugstore and another uncredited track called, "17" which sounds like another Social song, but both tracks aren't on the CD (the real myspace page is here). Additionally, we're told that the Land of Talk singer Powell guests on two tracks of Canning's aforementioned Social Scene solo album including the first single, "Hit The Wall."
Watch: "Snow Cake" Trailer (scored by Broken Social Scene) PS, Jeffery Wells says much of the film is displayed in "Mondrian-like split screens" and McDonald said he shot it in a way which returns to his film school roots, so it could really be something semi-experimental. Dying to see this, someone shoot us a press contact, we can't seem to find.
Ok, this is supposed to be a tongue in cheek, self-aware joke, but it sort of hits too close to home doesn't it? Sure, Christopher Mintz-Plasse (aka "Superbad"s McLovin) is now part of the extended Judd Apatow-crew family players and will star in "Year One," with Michael Cera and Jack Black, but does his career have legs after that? Will he be a crystal meth addict by the time he reaches 25? Kristen Bell and the family players obviously don't think so (though you can detect nervous laughter within), but why tempt fate so brazenly? This is sort of akin to standing in a barren field in the middle of a raging thunderstorm and screaming at the sky in irreverently mocking tones, "Oooooh, you're going to strike me with lightning are you? Wooo! I'm scared!" It's not necessarily the stupidest thing you can do, but it's not really advised either.
A lot of people have been greatly anticipating a first-look at the upcoming coming-of-age film, "The Wackness." MTV got their hands on the exclusive trailer (you can see it below). You can't really talk about the film without discussing it's hip-hop heavy soundtrack and earlier this year, we exclusively revealed all the songs used in the film, including classic 1994-era tracks by Nas, Notorious B.I.G., Wu-Tang Clan and Raewkon, A Tribe Called Quest and Biz Markie to name a few.
As we mentioned previously, the film also features an amazing Brian Eno-like score by ambient composer, guitarist / texturalistDavid Torn (aka splattercell), who composed the recent excellent score to "Lars & The Real Girl," and whose impressive resume includes guitar work for Spike Jonze, the Coen Brothers, and original music scores for "Friday Night Lights," and the upcoming Canadian metal documentary, "Anvil! The Story of Anvil."
The film stars Josh Peck as pot-dealing angsty teen in New York who strikes up an unlikely friendship with his therapist played by Sir Ben Kingsley, (who is also is one of his weed clients). Things get complicated when Peck falls for Kingsley's daughter, 2008-It-Girl-to-be Olivia Thirlby. In lieu of a real full-blown review (it doesn't come out until July 3), we liked it, but didn't go ape-shit for it like some of the easily-impressed movie bloggers at Sundance did. It sometimes can't decide whether it's a comedy or a serious drama and the tones are sometimes jarring, but that's sort of a minor quibble and it is a pretty decent film.
The while not heard in the film, the trailer does feature L.A. hip-hop trio, Move.meant's "What Goes Around" (as we mentioned before, this songs was featured in the closing credits of "The Wackness" screening we saw, but apparently Def Jam took it out in favor of a cut by one of their own artists. Ahh, big label money and muscle, gotta love it).We've been told for that that have been inquiring that the song is currently unreleased but may surface on "The Wackness" soundtrack later this year. Stay tuned.
INeedthat record blogspot says, " 'I Need That Record The Death (or Possible Survival) of The Independent Record Store,' is a documentary feature examining why over 3000 independent record stores have closed across the U.S. in the past decade. Are they going to die off? Will they survive?
The documentary features music luminaries and voices such as Thurston Moore (Sonic Youth), Mike Watt (the Minutemen, fireHose), Ian Mackaye (Fugazi), theorist Noam Chomsky, punk authority Legs McNeil, crotchety New York noisenik Glenn Branca, Lenny Kaye (Patti Smith Group), Chris Frantz (Talking Heads, Tom Tom Club), Pat Carney (Black Keys), BP Helium (Of Montreal), and Patterson Hood (Drive-By Truckers) lamenting the fact that their industry - and the record buying one - is going straight down the tubes (if it isn't already in the bowels of the toilet as we speak).
Legs McNeil, the author of Please Kill Me: The Uncensored Oral History of Punk says, "We're at war with most of the muslim world, we have the dumbest President in the history of the United States and you're worried about record stores? That's a danger?"
Sometimes you just can't find something to blog about cause every story out there is as dull as a butter knife. Welcome to this morning. We still haven't found anything super great, but in lieu of something...
The "Juno" DVD features the "Juno-cabulary," basically a compendium of all the cringe-worthy parts of the movie with the hip, teen-lingo in the film that made you want to walk out of the theater in the first 15 minutes (of course lots of it is delivered by the insufferably unfunny Rainn Wilson. [Videogum]
Yoko Ono has apparently licensed the John Lennon song "Imagine" to the what the Huffington Post calls the 'creationist propaganda' film, "Expelled: No Intelligence Allowed," (starring Ben Stein, a big creationist/ "intelligent design" advocate in recent years). The Killers' "All These Things That I've Done" has also been sold to the film. The film's blog synopsis is a little different (naturally and hilariously):
“Expelled” calls attention to the plight of highly credentialed scholars who have been forced out of prestigious academic positions because they proposed Intelligent Design as a possible alternative to Charles Darwin’s 150-year-old theories about the origins of life. Instead of entertaining a debate on the merits of competing theories, the scientific establishment has moved to suppress the ID movement in a “systematic and ruthless” way at odds with America’s founding principles, the film asserts.
A shitload (90%) of New Line's staff got axed in the Time Warner merger. Sucks for them and we mean that with empathy. [Variety]
We saw "Forgetting Sarah Marshall," last night and we really enjoyed it, surprisingly. A full-length review is upcoming. For the no people that care, we probably won't bother with a review of "Stop-Loss" at this point (a little late now), but we'd probably grade it a [B] and it's still better than most things out there. Oh, we saw, "Smart People," too which is amusing, but slight and ephemeral, but Thomas Hayden Church was strangely the best part of the film and we normally hate him. [B-]
The OnionTV made an amusing spoof of the upcoming Jon Favreau directed "Iron Man" film titled, "Popular 'Iron Man' Trailer to Become Full-Length Film," which pretty much speaks for itself. It's pretty funny and takes lots of great shots at the fans of comic-book films.
Coming off the grand and unexpected success of "Juno" what's director Jason Reitman's next self-penned move aside from blogging for the NHL (dude is Canadian, hockey is a prerequisite for most) and directing a Jim Carrey vehicle?
Well, we know what he's not doing. He's resisted the obvious temptation to work with Diablo Cody again. Or at least, not directing her work (Reitman is producing her follow-up script "Jennifer's Body").
How's the script? Reitman said "It's good, fine… You know, I mean. I had to sign something, they send me the script and it comes on this spy paper which cant be xeroxed. They have a time when I have to have the script back to them and the script is fine and I could be spending [time on something else]...”
Reitman knew immediately that the material wasn't for him. “What am I going to do with Justice League of America? So Basically I’ll make a movie that is not as good as 'X-Men,' then I’ll be the guy who made a movie not as good as X-Men. Where just like you talking about, going to smaller stations, if I make another small movie, and it’s really good, it performs well…Right now I’m thought of as a particular type of director. I’ve got an Oscar nomination. I’ve made two indie films that play film festivals that are considered thoughtful. I want to stay in that world, I like making those type of films."
Well, that's that. No Reitman film for a superher0 ensemble movie that's likely never going to get made anyhow and if it does, it's likely going to suck harder than even "Ghost Rider" or "Fantastic Four" if you can believe it (to make it even semi-decent effects-wise they have to hire budget actors so they can pay for the effects of 8-plus heroes and villains).
Last month Reitman revealed some details of his next project, a book he's adapting, but he wouldn't say what that novel was yet. He told MTV some small details. "It's a comedy and a drama [book adaptation]. Think ‘Thank You for Smoking,’ but instead of political it’s corporate.” A bunch of people over at /Film suggested that it could be "The Company" by Max Berry, but Reitman insists this is a book no one has read yet (so it hasn't been published yet?) Unlike "Juno," it star a man lead instead of female and “deals with the idea [that] life would be easier alone or life is easier when you have people clogging things up.”
Bueller? Is this a Red Herring or does Reitman have his hands on some manuscript that's not hit shelves yet? Does anyone even care that much? Do we even care? (halfway through this post, we just wanted to delete, but we were halfway there, oh well...)
The question everyone wants to know is, can Scarlett Johansson sing? Can she make a decent album? Well, when you're surrounded by enough talent, enough reverb, spacey-effects and and funereal instrumentation anyone can sound like Julee Cruise backed by the Cocteau Twins on ambien.
Not that Scarjo, can't sing, she can, she's fine, but her singing voice sounds an awful like her speaking voice which isn't always the sign of the world's greatest singer. We prefer her higher-ranged soft vocals on "I Wish I Was In New Orleans," which sounds like a lullaby out of a David Lynch movie or a Guy Maddin winterstorm.
Early reports have some critics pleasanly surprised with the record, while we're feeling slightly overwhelmed. Maybe we just need to give a few more spins, or not, we'll see. Oh well, check out a few tracks below. The album comes out via Rhino on May 20. Update: Looks like the man has yanked them off Imeem, thanks for playing and hope you enjoyed the short preview. Update: Looks like a track has leaked. We're linking to that one.
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It's nothing new to hear about dubious-sounding dealings from the producers of the "Expelled: No Intelligence Allowed" documentary, their misrepresentations about the film and their interviews allegedly done under false pretenses have been well-documented (there's a whole website dedicated to debunking all their apparently "outrageous claims"). John Lennon's music was used without Yoko's permission and now it appears The Killers have been had as well.
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