[ current selection | the pillows – we have a theme song ]
[ feelin’ | swoo ]

yay friday! have i ever publicly professed my love of fridays? actually, fridays thru sundays. yea, im getting to that point, right? anyhoo, i thought id direct people to the plethora…awful word…surfeit of reviews coming in from an early screening of sky captain and the world of tomorrow. four reviews came in yesterday on aicn…one that hated it, one that loved it, and two that wanted to see a few tweaks. so thats coo. two more reviews came in today from people that clearly liked the whole concept of the movie. so theres still three more months til sky captain comes out…poot. in the meantime, be sure to check out the official website…woo.

> sky captain reviews set 1 (via aicn)
> sky captain reviews set 2 (via aicn)
> sky captain and the world of tomorrow

word hit today on cinescape that most of the roles in tim burtons upcoming charlie and the chocolate factory remake have been filled. the older news (that i neglected to bring up) was that charlie would be played by one freddie highmore, grandpa joe would be played by david kelly, and of course johnny depp as willy wonka. the new casting news is that violet beauregard will be played by anna sophia robb, augustus gloop by philip wiegratz, mike teavee by jordan fry, and veruca salt by julia winter…whew. rock on little kiddies.

SMALLVILLE
and in a bit of woohoo news, cinescape had also posted about the next season of smallville. cinescape reports that a casting call for the role of lois lane has been sent out, and theyre looking for a “caucasian, smart, beautiful, urban, headstrong, and no-nonsense” blah blah blah. they forgot to add “must be somewhat implausibly but not impossibly cuter than lana lang“…a big feat in and of itself. they also quipped that lois lane was in fact the cousin of chloe sullivan, which is a big sigh of relief because an old rumor had been circulating that chloe’s middle name in fact was “lois”…eek. no offense to the actress allison mack, but lois lane must be cuter than lana, else clark kent is getting a vicious kryptonite-laced bitchslap.

oh, and theres another new guy too…jason teague, a footballer at metropolis university. whatever.

> charlie and the chocolate factory casting (via cinescape)
> smallville news (via cinescape)

[ current selection | the pillows – ride on shooting star ]
[ feelin’ | woozy ]

so woozy. i really should stop waking up in the middle of the nite…its killer. i think for tooo-day, i will just hit on a few random movie bits. cinescape reported today that in a brief dialogue with george lucas, lucas made it known that the new title of star wars episode 3 had already been guessed by fans. he even explicitly stated that it wasnt rise of the empire. so while everyones cheering happily that its most likely revenge of the sith, im silently freaking that it might actually turn out to be the creeping fear. if that were the case, the box of dogshits already on its way to lucas’ front door.

AVP REDUX
a second new avp trailer just popped up today. this ones more toned down than the one posted last friday, but still rockin’. the new trailer features the human characters more prominently, and is pretty coo in establishing the context and how theyre just caught in the wrong place at the wrong time. the predators and aliens are still shown liberally tho, and theres even a quick shot of the queen alien…very coo.

> episode 3 title guessed already (via cinescape)
> new avp preview trailer
> older avp preview trailer

theres a coo read today on msnbc about batman begins, its director chris nolan, and its star christian bale. it tracks the rise and fall of the batman franchise, from its inception by tim burton to its spiralling plummet by joel schumacher. the article goes on to describe the evolution of some of the sets and props, such as the kowloon, hong kong-inspired gotham city, the muscle-car suv batmobile, and even batmans own suit, which is a military body armor that begins translucent. coo shit. i have plenty of faith in chris nolan, and the cast rocks…so ill be looking forward to this batman revival.

> batman begins set report (via shh)

two rockin’ preview/trailer thingies today. first up is an internet exclusive preview trailer for avp…which i have to admit looks pretty badass. i mean honestly…if one were to take predators, take aliens, make them kick each others asses, and still manage to somehow not make them look badass, that would actually take some exemplary skills. so its reassuring to know that paul ws andersen has no such skills, therefore we can only expect them to look badass. dig the double-extension blades on that one predator. its like a pig roaster.

another preview posted up today is the clip from blade 3: trinity that was shown at the 2004 mtv movie awards. we get to see blade in action, as well as van wilder and jessica biel taking down some guards. van wilder as an action star…wow. its pretty coo to watch, so check it out.

> avp preview trailer (via shh)
> blade 3: trinity clip (via shh)

cinema roundup…yeeha! ill make this post brief…ill hold back the plethora of adjectives i otherwise wouldve used if given the opportunity. the aeon flux movie with charlize theron officially signed on frances mcdormand to play the handler…the leader of a rebel group. hmm, sounds swish. in a past report, it was mentioned that mcdormand would be playing aeons sis, so dunno which is correct. filming is supposed to commence in august.

BATMAN STUFF
ign had a post today that pointed to new images of the batmobile from the upcoming batman begins. the site the pictures are on requires some registration if youre a real media client…so i dont think its meant for the public. bugger. you can still see the thumbnails however…just not the enlargements.

HOUSE OF ALOT OF DAGGERS
and last but not least, aicn posted up a number of links for zhang yimous house of flying daggers. they have a link to the japanese trailer for the movie and two featurettes from the cannes film festival. the first featurette is actually of three movies…so you’ll have to sit thru the first two before getting to see some sword-fighting action. the movie looks coo, but seems more aligned with the methodologies of crouching tiger, hidden dragon than zhang yimous previous film hero. and while cthd was coo, i actually preferred the streamlined hero.

> frances mcdormand cast in aeon flux (via cinescape)
> new batmobile images (via ign)
> more batmobile images (update)
> house of flying daggers trailer and featurettes (via aicn)

thumbs up to the new trailer for the directors cut of donnie darko. set to be re-released into the theaters in the summer, the directors cut features 20 minutes of new footage as well as some polished effects…woo. so check out the new trailer. that echo and the bunnymen track still creeps me out.

> donnie darko directors cut trailer (via ign)

[ current selection | shuntaro otino – cloud age symphony ]
[ feelin’ | swell ]

hmm…internet seems a wee poot this morning. aw well. the us release of harry potter and the prisoner of azkaban is tomorrow, and ign has a coo interview posted today with its director alfonso cuaron. well, im sure its coo anyway, because i can only seem to get thru half of it. pages 3 and 4 seem to be poo, so up til page 2, you get to read what it was like for cuaron to take on the potter films and how he was able run wild with the movie with the blessings of jk rowling. sadly, cuaron also mentions that the sex scenes will not be making it to the directors cut.

FAHRENHEIT 9/11
and looky looky…the new trailer for michael moore’s incendiary movie fahrenheit 9/11 was just released. while i admit that im not as big a conspiracy theorist as moore is, i do think bush is a complete idiot. he is seriously not too bright, and its hard for me to respect someone thats as dumb as dogshit. so this movie will most likely be receiving my patronage when it comes out june 25th (its new release date). besides, you have to admit that moore has a certain joie de vivre when it comes to trashing bush…its contagious and fun to watch. “i call upon all nations, to do everything they can to stop these terrorists. now watch this drive…“

> interview with alfonso cuaron (via ign)
> fahrenheit 9/11 trailer

onwards to random bits of movie news floating around. its the summertime yo, and the “big blockbuster movies” of the summer have already started hitting the theaters. except oddly enough, besides azkaban, im not particularly looking forward to any of the big blockbusters. blockbusters…i never did like that word. its odd to think that a specific bomb used to demolish large tracts of land was somehow incorporated into movie terminology. or maybe they were referring to the term “blockbusting“, which is nicely defined as, “the practice of persuading white homeowners to sell quickly and usually at a loss by appealing to the fear that minority groups and especially black people will move into the neighborhood, causing property values to decline. the property is then resold at inflated prices.” hmm…

POLAR EXPRESS
there are two new trailers up today. the first one is for tom hanks polar express…which is visually similar to the trailer i posted back in november. or is it the same trailer? i dont really feel like re-downloading the…*checks web link*…well bugger me, they both link to the same address. ah well, i suppose theyre the same trailer then. as cinescape nicely points out, apple “quietly posted the new trailer for THE POLAR EXPRESS on their website…” right, seven months ago. wanks.

GARDEN STATE
ok, this second ones definitely new…the second trailer for zach braffs garden state. where the first garden state trailer floated along dialogue-less with the frou frou track “let go”, the second trailer features actual dialogue and thumps along with the postal service’s “such great heights.” word…so check out the quirky trailer.

> polar express trailer…its actually quite old (via cinescape)
> new garden state trailer (via ign)