BLUE MAG

The American Film Institute has released its revised list of the 100 best American films. There have been some changes since they last posted, ten years ago. Most notably (to me anyway) Martin Scorsese’s “Raging Bull” now rests within the top 10. “Citizen Kane” still retains the top spot. Agree or disagree? The complete list after the jump. Continue reading AFI TOP 100 U.S. FILMS

Via AICN comes a casting rumor on from CHUD.com on Zak Snyder’s “The Watchmen,” which starts filming this fall. Looks like it’s very likely that BLUE MAG favorite Jackie Earle Haley will be cast as Rorshach, which if it is true is likely the casting choice of the decade, IMHO. I can’t believe they were talking to Keanue for Dr. Manhattan, and that nobody has mentioned Billy Zane for that role except me, as far as I can tell. I did it on the old incarnation of BLUE MAG so it’s pretty much lost. Still, I think it was a great call on my part. Moriarty from AICN wants Jason Patric in that role, and while I totally agree with his point about Patric’s disconnected aura being a great touch for that part, I still don’t see it. I think Dr. Manhattan has to be larger than life, doesn’t he?

Discover RiffTrax, a new project from Mike Nelson, Kevin Murphy and Bill Corbett (Tom Servo and Crow) featuring … wacky running commentary for bad movies! Only this time the target is a wide selection of more current movies rather than 60s-70s B movies, and it is served up on MP3 rather than in sillhouette. Sample the comedy.

It’s sad to say but most films in theaters today are nothing more than lead in press for an eventual DVD release and therefore play better on television in people’s homes. Gone is the spectacle and glory of going to the movies for the “big screen experience” replaced by mundane retreads of what was on television last week. Robert Rodriquez and Quentin Tarantino, however, have delivered a big screen experience with their new project “Grindhouse” but it’s more of a ride than a film. Continue reading Grindhouse

When you go to see a movie starring Will Ferrell and John Heder as the first male couples figure skaters all you really want to do is have a good time and laugh at silly people doing silly things. I’m not sure if there’s any deep or profound reason why we like to see people act foolish and dress up in weird costumes, all I know is we like it and it makes us feel good and “Blades of Glory” is full of people doing just that. Continue reading Blades of Glory

Remaking sequels is becoming a popular trend when it comes to horror films in the first decade of the twenty-first century. It’s 2007 and already you’ve had remakes of “Dawn of the Dead,” “The Ring 2,” “The Grudge 2” and now “The Hills Have Eyes II” (first made in 1985.) After seeing this latest exercise in re-sequeling the phrase “quit while you’re ahead” comes to mind. Continue reading The Hills Have Eyes II

Here’s a list of new and notable DVDs this week (3/27/07) that you might not of heard of or might of missed when they were in the theater.

Children of Men — Not nearly enough people saw this movie due to a massive publicity fuck up on the part of Universal. This is by far the best movie that came out last year which is saying a lot for a year that included “The Departed.” I urge everyone to check this film out and try to give it a second life on DVD (where most of the money is made anyway.) Extras include the featurette “The Possibility of Hope” with comments from several futurist scholars (27 min.), “‘Children of Men’ comments by Slavoj Zizek,” a philosopher and cultural critic (5 min.), “Under Attack” with a look at the film’s long takes (7 min.), “Theo and Julian” (4 min.), “Futuristic Design” (8 min.), “Visual Effects: Creating the Baby” (3 min.), and a deleted scenes reel (3 min.). Continue reading DVD Roundup

Via mp3 blog Yellow Stereo is this screen capture of a super quick shot of Rorshach from The Watchmen, the next scheduled project of 300 director Zak Snyder (read Fred’s review):

Awesomely awesome. This has been all over the net but it appears to be the real deal. IMDb doesn’t have casting listed but maybe somebody else has heard casting rumors? Alls I know is they better have Jude Law as Ozymandias…

UPDATE: Jackie Earle Haley?

“THIS IS SPARTA!” After watching the trailer to Zak Snyder’s adaptation of Frank Miller’s comic “300,” I wondered if everything in the movie was going to be said in all caps with exclamation points: “I AM EATING A SANDWICH!” “I AM GOING OVER THERE!” In many ways I hoped this would be the case, a movie that could sustain that level of intensity for two hours would be quite an achievement. Unfortunately, “300” is full of people speaking at a normal volume and after a while loses its intensity and this viewer’s attention. Continue reading 300!!!

Looks like Earl forgot to cross out “insulted the wife of Fox Pictures exec” from his list… via The House Next Door’s link of the day:

Jason Lee will play Dave Seville in the upcoming live action/GGI animated “Alvin and the Chipmunks” film.

reported by Times Herald-Record

Did they get the idea from Justin Timberlake’s monologue sketch, which I couldn’t find on YouTube? (Somehow the dick in a box sketch is the video you can’t not see on YouTube, but this cute funny one is gone due to NBC-Uni’s copyright people? Hmm)