Thoughts on Popular Celluloid

Since the death of Christopher Wallace in 1997, people all around the world have been hailing him to be amongst, if not the greatest rapper of all time. In the first biopic-feature of his we have a fellow Brooklyn native by the name of Jamal Woolard portraying Biggie. I hope this film conjures up some of the images I had whilst listening to Ready to Die and being introduced to Hip-Hop, whilst skating and doing dumb shit in my childhood. However, it seems as though too much bullshit is interfering with me seeing this movie and/or liking it. This is a personal problem, since I have a hard time accepting the reality of these strange people portraying Biggie, Tupac, etc. I’m sure I can easily get past this silly problem once I watch the film, yet it seems like I’ll be waiting for DVD or so.

Anyway, have a look at the teaser. It is filled with the usual fast cuts and flashiness, and culminates with a big show at the end. Enjoy.

Notorious will be released on January 16th of next year, and stars Derek Luke and Angela Bassett.

According to a press release posted on their site, the International Movie Database, or in short, IMDb, is now offering select feature films and episodes of old and new TV shows (such as the incredible It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia) that stream off their site, through Hulu.

IMDb. Always a reminder that I am not in the movie industry.

This is not really anything special to internet savvy people, since Hulu themselves have been legally doing this for months, and most of us illegally download things anyway, right? I don’t, since my college blocks my freedom. Anyway, this is just very unexpected of IMDb, to me at least, and brings up questions such as,”Will this stay free? Will this expand? Will it end up costing us, and if so, how much?” The words “premium-IMDb user” ring a loud bell inside my head, warning me of future segregation between the two forms of user. Anyway, it matters not. Long live Hulu.

It certainly is awesome. I’m gonna go catch up on some It’s Always Sunny, to be fully prepared for the next season, airing September 18th, on FX, at 10 PM.

Darren Aronofsky, legendary director of Pi, Requiem For a Dream, and The Fountain, will have his new film The Wrestler starring Micky Rourke released by December 19th, according to Fox Searchlight Studios. Part of the plan is to have it in circulation in time for the Academy Award season for it to garner some momentum.

Mickey Rourke getting kicked while He's down

Mickey Rourke plays an old wrestler who longs for the glory days to return. I think. I can’t wait for anything Aronofsky announces, which makes this news very special to me. Mickey Rourke is the man, as is Mr. Aronofsky. I think he is a genius. And yes, I am one of those people who really really loved The Fountain. I’m excited. It’s exciting to see if Aronofsky actually gets an Oscar this time around. Keep you posted as we move closer toward December.

Thank God Clint Mansell is doing the Soundtrack for this one too.

Park Chan-Wook, for those of you not very adept of the modern Korean film boom in the past couple of years, is the director of films such as the incredibly epic Action/Dramas Oldboy, Sympathy for Mr. and Lady Vengeance. It’s actually a shame that it is only now, in late 2008, that some United States Distributors finally recognize the potential of his films and bring them over here. He is an incredible visual AND story focused director.

What a focused and elite guy. Want to meet.

The film being picked up by Focus Features is called Thirst, and deals with a Priest who becomes a Vampire after a (very bizarre) experiment gone horribly wrong. The then Vampire priest, played by Song Kang-ho (Mr. Vengeance himself), falls in love with the wife of his friend. Should be an interesting storyline. I guess his friend will be shown how much of a pain in the neck he really is. [Not funny, I know]
In a production notice obtained from Slashfilm, Park explains, “This film was originally called “The Bat” to convey a sense of horror – after all, it is about vampires.  But it is also more than that.  It is about passion and a love triangle.  I feel that it is unique because it is not just a thriller, and not merely a horror film, but an illicit love story as well.”

Even though this love triangle business strikes an odd tone in my head, I trust Park and will probably be strangely inspired once more.

Thirst is filming right now and will probably drain into the theatres within a year. Keep checking back.

Kevin Smith has been hard at work on his new film about friends, being broke, and porno, starring  Seth Rogen and Elisabeth Banks. The film is pretty much completed, and was slapped around by the MPAA a little, regarding a select few scenes, and the movie’s original poster. The poster is now officially banned to be hung up in and around movie theatres across the United States, but good old Canada gladly snatched it up and accepted it.

In an awesome Kevin Smith sort of finesse, the American poster now looks like this:

Very funny. Am I wrong?

How cool is that?! I’m glad that this is actually the official poster of the film, because its not only original, but kind of spits in the MPAAs face a little. Come on. He has to retreat all the way back to using fucking stick figures? To all the MPAA members: SEX is the reason humanity is alive.  I still wish it said something more along the lines of, “…since the nice folks at the MPAA didn’t let us…” or something more direct like that. But of course THAT wouldn’t have been allowed either, I guess.

Zack & Miri Make a Porno massages your local Cinema on October 31st, head to head (ass to ass?) with Guy Ritchie’s Rocknrolla.

No this is NOT news regarding a film, but since Mark Hamill will be using (part of) his acting chops again, I thought I’d report this: According to the glorious videogame related news site, Kotaku, Mark Hamill will voice the Joker in the upcoming Batman video game adaptation, Arkham Asylum.

Part of a panel of the very dark Arkham Asylum graphic novel written by Grant Morrison and illustrated by Dave McKean

Personally, I can’t wait for this game, which sounds serious and dark, a very welcome result of The Dark Knight’s morbid tone. Mark Hamill is my second favourite Joker portrayed on screen,  even though it was just his voice that the actor used to shape his character. In case you’ve been living on a rock for the past couple of years, the greatest portrayal of the Joker is clearly the work of Jack Nicholson. I am kidding. Please don’t kill me. Rest in Peace Heath Ledger.