This is AWESOME news. OK, so he probably won't be directing, but those who were worried that there'd be little "visual continuity" between the Lord of the Rings flicks and the two Hobbit movies can now rest a lot easier.
Thanks very much to EddieJ for snagging this snapshot. Here's a few more.
Tonight a documentary called Heckler played at the Tribeca Film Festival. How do I know this? Because I've just received a handful of emails from my NY-based colleagues, all of whom found it very amusing that Jamie Kennedy trashes one of my reviews in the film. (Apparently the movie is about how comics deal with hecklers, but is also about how comic actors deal with online film critics.) I've not yet seen the movie, but from what I've been told Mr. Kennedy reads through my entire review of a lame-ass movie called Stricken, mentions me by name, and then says "eFilmCritic ... whatever that is." (Keep in mind the movie he's talking about is called Stricken ... whatever that is.)
From my (positive) review of Malibu's Most Wanted: "Jamie Kennedy has proven he can be a damn funny guy. Somehow wresting the Scream spotlight from the frothing lunatic that is Matthew Lillard and capably presenting a consistently amusing TV series, it's clear that Jamie has some solid comedy chops."
Somehow I doubt any of these things are mentioned in Heckler, because criticizing your critics is good juicy fun, but acknowledging a compliment, well, that's just boring. I'm wondering what sort of insight will be attached to the dissection of my Stricken review, but my advice to Mr. Kennedy or anyone who is very sensitive to stinging criticisms is this: Stop making movies this awful. I'd love to sit down and watch Kickin' It Old Skool with Jamie Kennedy, a bong, and a pizza. He seems like a pretty smart guy, so there's literally no way he could look me in the eye and say it's a good movie. Even on a "guilty pleasure" level, the thing's about as base and amateurish as a movie can possibly be.
Despite the fact that I'm criticized in the film for daring to share my own opinion about a bad movie, I hold no ill will towards Heckler. (I'm told it's a pretty fun movie.) I'm just hoping it offers more insights than the generally-offered retorts, both of which are specious at best and insipid at worst. One is "I'm right and you're wrong because I'm rich and semi-famous while you are poor and anonymous." The other is "Oh, you dorky movie critics are nothing but failed filmmakers." I've had both of these responses thrown at me from several actors and filmmakers over the years, and both statements pretty much signal the end of the conversation. For the record, 1. "Yes, you're rich and semi-famous and I am poor and anonymous, so why do you even care what I have to say?," and 2. "I know a lot of film critics, and as far as I can tell, none of them are failed filmmakers. They're professional writers who have an insatiable appetite for movies." Which explains why they walk into Kickin' It Old Skool hoping to say nice things and walk out both disappointed and nauseous.
Been a while since I posted, but last week was pretty darn hectic, work-wise, and I can prove it right here. The Philadelphia Film Festival was the first fest to invite me in as "official" press and therefore I like to give it some coverage every year. Obviously I focus mainly on the genre stuff, which is great because this year's "Danger After Dark" line-up was the best it's ever been. My Cinematical editors allowed me to write ten Philly Fest reviews, and here's what I covered:
Wow, I just now realized it, but the ten movies I reviewed come from America, France, Russia, Canada, Japan, Spain, Britain, Hungary, and China. How very international of me. But back to the Danger After Dark slate again. Programmer Travis Crawford has exceedingly good taste, but some years (2006, for example) our preferences just don't seem to mesh. Not so this year! In addition to some of the titles mention above, this year's D.A.D. line-up offered some great stuff: Christopher Smith's very fun Severance, the fascinatingly bizarre Danish import Princess, JT Petty's borderline-brilliant S&Man, the brief French chiller Ils, and Ti West's slow-but-watch-worthy Trigger Man. (They also had the anthology flick Trapped Ashes, of which I am not a fan, and that remake of Sisters that I've now managed to miss at three separate film festivals.)
Other (non-genre) Philly Fest selections that I saw (and reviewed) elsewhere include Diggers, The King of Kong, Eagle vs. Shark, Rocket Science, Suffering Man's Charity, The Ten, and the stunningly sweet Waitress, which just may be the very best "chick flick" I've ever seen. Philly flicks I saw and liked elsewhere, but did not review due to busyness or laziness, include Cashback, Fay Grim, Broken English, and Who Loves the Sun, which stars Molly Parker and would therefore be worthy of an automatic visit except it's also a pretty damn good movie. (Seriously: I have a huge crush on Molly Parker.)
Recent reviews, theatrical division: 300 (Cinematical), The Abandoned (Cinematical), Blades of Glory (eFilmCritic), Dead Silence (Cinematical), Epic Movie (Cinematical), Ghost Rider (Cinematical), Grindhouse (FEARnet), Hannibal Rising (FEARnet), The Hills Have Eyes 2 (FEARnet), Meet the Robinsons (Cinematical), 
The Messengers (Cinematical), Norbit (eFilmCritic), Primeval (Cinematical), The Reaping (Cinematical), Reno 911!: Miami (Cinematical), Shooter (Cinematical), The Texas Chainsaw Massacre: The Beginning (FEARnet), TMNT (Cinematical), Zodiac (FEARnet)
Recent reviews, DVD division: Beneath Still Waters (DVDTalk), Beerfest (DVD Clinic), Blood Trails (DVDTalk), Conversations with Other Women (DVD Clinic), Danika (DVDTalk), The Darkroom (DVDTalk), A Dead Calling (DVDTalk), Dead and Deader (DVDTalk), Death Row (DVDTalk), Decoys 2: The Second Seduction (DVDTalk), Dust Devil (DVDTalk), The Eden Formula (DVDTalk), Final Fantasy 7: Advent Children (DVD Clinic), The Gathering (DVDTalk), The Hamiltons (Cinematical), The Hunt (DVDTalk), Kraken: Tentacles of the Deep (DVDTalk), Living Death (DVDTalk), Man About Town (DVD Clinic),
Night Skies (DVDTalk), Prey (DVDTalk), Pumpkinhead 3: Ashes to Ashes (Cinematical), The Return (FEARnet), Saw 3 (FEARnet), A Scanner Darkly (DVD Clinic), The Silence of the Lambs (FEARnet), Spirit Trap (DVDTalk), Tideland (DVD Clinic), Wicked Little Things (Cinematical)
SXSW reviews: Borderland, The Devil Dared Me To, Diggers, Disturbia, Flakes, Grimm Love, The King of Kong, Knocked Up, The Lather Effect, Murder Party, Severance, Suffering Man's Charity, Them, and Trigger Man.
Random stuff: Rotten Tomatoes Newsday, Fearfest Report (FEARnet), Rotten Tomatoes' Spring Movie Preview, My 7 Favorite Stephen King Flicks (Cinematical), Grindhouse Austin Premiere Report (Cinematical), My 7 Favorite Director Commentaries (Cinematical), Random Cinematical babblings
First off we have Dark Castle, a WB partner that was kick-started by filmmakers like Joel Silver and Robert Zemeckis. Their initial claim was that they wanted to make "William Castle"-style horror movies, and now with six movies under the belt, we're beginning to see what they meant by "William Castle"-style: They meant "bad movies." How bad? House on Haunted Hill (1999), Thirteen Ghosts (2001), Ghost Ship (2002), Gothika (2003), House of Wax (2005), and The Reaping (2007). Next up are Return to House on Haunted Hill (as if "house" is a verb) and something "original" called Whiteout. Now, I'm sure one or two of those titles fall firmly within your Guilty Pleasure umbrella -- but not mine. If you took the very best moments from all six movies, you just might be able to cobble something watchable together. Watchable and brief.
Then we have Platinum Dunes, a genre-centric production shingle that was initiated by a filmmaker who [heavy sarcasm] really knows his horror [/heavy sarcasm] -- Michael Bay. PD's first flick, 2003's The Texas Chainsaw Massacre, was one I quite enjoyed, despite walking into the flick with my geek-phaser firmly set on "hate." I still dig the TCM remake more than I probably ought to, and I remember thinking "Hey cool, maybe these Platinum Dunes movies will actually deliver the goods!" Then they went and churned out The Amityville Horror (2005), The Texas Chainsaw Massacre: The Beginning (2006), and The Hitcher (2007), none of which could be described as "good horror flicks" by anyone with even a passing knowledge of the genre. Up next from this company are a remake of The Birds and an "all-new" permutation of Friday the 13th. Wonderful.
Last and almost definitely least we have Ghost House, a company with Sam Raimi's name on its front door, which makes their output all the more disappointing. How could the man responsible for Evil Dead 2 put his name on listless PG-13 chaff like The Grudge (2004), Boogeyman (2005), The Grudge 2 (2006), and The Messengers (2007)? The answer, I guess, rhymes with "honey," because, hey, perpetually giggling pre-teens like to pretend they dig horror movies, too. All I know is that the Ghost House is in a pretty sad state of disrepair, especially with Boogeyman 2 already in production. One does hold out some hope, however, for GH's rendition of Steve Niles' 30 Days of Night, which should be hitting theaters later this year. Perhaps it'll be Ghost House's first horror flick for, y'know, grown-ups.
"Why'd you move to Austin??" is a question I've fielded a bunch of times over the past 3.5 months, and tonight was a perfect example of why. The Alamo Drafthouse ran a "Fuzz-tival" that consisted of five cop-centric movies: Electra Glide in Blue, Police Story 2, Sudden Impact, Freebie and the Bean, and (of course) Hot Fuzz, which is the new comedy action horror mystery flick from the lunatics who delivered the sublime Shaun of the Dead.
In attendance were director Edgar Wright and leading men Simon Pegg & Nick Frost. Mr. Frost and I met while smoking a cig in front of the Drafthouse, and then I got to shoot the shit with Mr. Wright and Mr. Pegg as the night went on. Since they're British movie nerds, they were as gracious as they were cinematically geeky. Big thrill to meet the guys behind Spaced and Shaun, plus the Hot Fuzz screening was absolutely jazzed. To say the audience enjoyed the flick is kinda like saying I mildly enjoy watching horror movies with a bong in my hand.
From the owners and the managers to the kitchen staff and the waiters, these establishments are over-fuckin'-stuffed with awesome people. I'm now back in Philly for about a little while, and already I miss these folks.
99.92% of the time, my theatrical reviews go out on opening day. But my editor at FEARnet got all excited and posted my Grindhouse review a week early. I don't mind, really, and I'm not 'worried' about it because the thing's an absolute rave (4.5 out of 5 stars, and I almost NEVER give out five stars after only one viewing), save for one prickly QT speed-bump (that seems to get mentioned in ALL the other reviews I've read). You'll also find some week-early reviews from Dread Central (4 / 5), Filmjerk (A-), EmanuelLevy.com (B-), and (my favorite) IGN Movies (4 / 5).
I knew that there was a big swanky Grindhouse premiere scheduled for Austin (seeing as how 85% of the movie was shot here), but I wasn't sure I'd be able to attend said event. And by "not able" I mean "uninvited." But then the illustrious Matt Dentler asked me to come along as his +1, which only bolstered my opinion that Dentler is a god among men. (He could have brought his flawless fiancee to the flick, but she don't dig on the splattery stuff, god bless 'er.)
The front of the Paramount theater was coated with people: photographers, ticket-holders, autograph seekers, random movie nerds, etc. Matt and I ran into Tim & Karrie League, and since they're two of my very favoritest Austineers, the night seemed to be starting off swimmingly. We had great seats, QT & RR took the stage for a few brief (and entertaining) comments, and then we were OFF! Grindhouse, finally! And it's really a huge sweaty ball of gore-caked fun. I preferred Rodriguez's Planet Terror over Tarantino's Death Proof, but that's not a knock on QT. I just prefer zombies, gore, and a colorful cast of characters over stories about highway mayhem ... but not by a whole heck of a lot. (A considerably more thorough review of Grindhouse will soon appear on FEARnet, so consider yourself warned.)
After the movie we moseyed over to the after-party, and it's always nice to be allowed to wear a badge with the words "VIP" emblazoned on the front, because if you've ever met me, you know I'm neither "V" nor "I." Still it was nice to be invited. I chilled with the Leagues and the awesome horror nerd Zack Carlson for a bit, and then we looked around the party and decided "Yeah, let's go over to the Alamo for Weird Wednesday." It was a 1974 pimpsploitation flick called Willie Dynamite, and it's got the funniest costume design ever committed to celluloid. (Was there ever a time when we were NOT supposed to giggle at pimps' fashions?) Plus I had a big basket of Alamo cheese fries, and it might have been my last one for a month or two. :-(
I was going to take a cab home but it turned out that one of my roommates was around the corner at a bar, drunk, which worked out perfectly. He was unable to drive and I was unable to drink (it being 2am by this point), so I drove the car and everyone got home safely. Another of my roommates was propped up on the couch, stoned on wacky weed and watching An Inconvenient Truth. Weird. A very fun night, and one I couldn't have participated in were it not for a few great Austinites. Thanks to all.
I just spent two days at Texas Fearfest hanging out with some old friends and some new ones. I stuck mainly with Ryan "Abominable" Schifrin, Adam "Hatchet" Green, and my long-lost brother Joe "Wrong Turn 2" Lynch, but I also got to meet a whole bunch of horror con regulars, several of whom I know very well ... from my childhood. Those I met* include Ken Kirzinger, Kane Hodder, Richard Brooker, Stu Charno, Tony Todd, Barbara Crampton, John Gulager, Marcus Dunston, James Duval, and a whole bunch of the very cool geeks who run Dread Central.
Anyway, I don't "do" horror cons very often, mainly because A) I don't collect much movie stuff, B) I've never cared about autographs, and C) I'd definitely end up going by myself because none of my friends dig the geeky stuff enough to accompany me. But seeing as I already knew Adam and Ryan and John (and my buddy Lawrence was in from Philly!) I jumped at the chance to do some work and play at the same time. I got the impression that Fearfest was a bit smaller than your more popular horror cons, but hey, it was only their first year. Based on what I saw, everyone seemed to be having a damn good time. Plus, holy crap, I got to shake hands with Joe Dante. (Thanks, Ryan!) And that kinda shit doesn't happen every day. And how often can I tell people I had drinks with three different Jason Voorheeses?
As some of you know, last year I was invited (along with four other online writers) to visit the sets of Fox Atomic's 28 Weeks Later (in London) and The Hills Have Eyes 2 (in Morocco). Needless to say, this trip was a great adventure. I made some new friends, saw two great countries, and got to watch a pair of horror sequels being made. I came back enthused, eventually wrote up a few "set report" articles for JoBlo.com, and sat back to look forward to the flicks.
Now, this is a new one for me. I know that lots of entertainment journalists spend time on movie sets, but I don't really consider myself an "entertainment journalist." Sure, I do a lot of flick-blathering on Cinematical, but my job title (as far as I'm concerned) is that of "film critic." (I hate the phrase "film critic," because it kind of implies that one WANTS to criticize. Perhaps I'm more of a "movie advocate" or "flick consultant.") And now I see, as clear as day, why film critics should NOT participate in publicity events. Set visits, pre-release interviews, junkets ... they all exist as a form of movie marketing, and while I have no problem at all with movie marketing, I just don't think that film critics -- folks asked to provide their totally honest (and informed) opinion of a finished film -- should spend time on these activities. Or maybe some of 'em can. But I sure hope I don't get asked back to future "set visits." The passionate movie geek in me will want to jump at the opportunity, but the professional guy, the guy who sincerely needs his opinions to be trusted, respected, and valued, will have to pass on those offers.
"Too graphic, too shocking, too disturbing" to warrant a normal theatrical release? Oh my god, puh-leeze. Any three random minutes from Saw 2 is more disturbing than what's on display in these AD titles. Talk about an aggressively misleading advertising campaign. The only reason these movies don't get a traditional (even limited) theatrical release is because no one, aside from a few small genre freaks, is liable to look at the newspaper and say "Hey, yyyyeah, let's all pile into the car and see Penny Dreadful, starring Rachel Miner and Mimi Rogers." I've seen five of the eight AD flicks, and I think the reason they can't get even a limited release is ... they kinda stink. (And yet, somehow, the mega-snoozer The Abandoned, DID get released! It opened in 1,000 theaters, grossed less than $1.5 million, and vanished in less than a week. Lesson learned.)
