Scratch

Here you will find older scratches, musings and other detritus that once were located on the front pages, but have now faded.

Filed away here to collect dust and cobwwwebs in perpetuity, links may break, facts may change and data may corrupt.

On occasion I may come down here to tidy, but for the most, I prefer to leave the past where it lies.

Monthly Archives

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Genre Mix N Match

Chris Ryall (written) and Ashley Wood (Art)'s Eisner nominated Zombies vs Robots and its sequel Zombies vs Robots vs Amazons was, IMHO, a perfect melding off sterotypically distinct genres which actually worked and was a pleasure to, in that instance, read.

Then I saw the trailer for Zombie Strippers (NSFW). On first look it does have a couple of plus points but Jenna Jameson* and her acting aside, it also has Robert Englund of Freddy fame.

I think I should probably reserve judgement I until I have sat down and watched it from credits to trailer, but I am confident its either going to be good, or so bad its good. Win win situation all round.

Film News

In the category of news of films that should never be, It would seem that Richard Matheson, author of I am Legend has signed off the off the sequel rights. Also, although the execs are happy with it, so much so they are contemplating a third, Lost Boys 2 is straight to DVD.

Dark Knight

A veritable deluge of Dark Knight promo materials including a trailer, a couple of joker posters and the international teaser poster.

'Slooking good.

Joker

Not sure if its legit, as it doesn't redirect to the WB site like the main site The Dark Knight or I believe in Harvey Dent, but if it is, it appears we have a promo image of the Joker at I believe in Harvey Dent Too.

Whether or not it proves to be genuine, I am not sure what I make of it. Not saying I don't like it, just not what I expected. I can see why its moved away from the comics, to something more realistic, grittier, scarier and certainly more believable that Nicholson's permafix grin. I am just a bit worried that it might be a bit too horror around the mouth and this will detract from his pschopathic nature usually emphasised by the eyes, if that is indeed what they are going for.

Unfortunately when I looked at it, I was immeadiately reminded of, and have a think before you carry on reading, (spoiler text) [link]Jame Gumb [/link] from Silence of the Lambs. As such I keep having images of the Joker torturing Batman uttering "It rubs the lotion on its skin, or else it gets the hose again", and for no apparent reason I keep thinking of the awefulness of Batman and Robin, although this is probably something to do with Joel Schumacher and the wonder of the Bat Nipples. Bastard. That film will haunt me to my grave, and I will be really peeved if its horribleness impinges on a potentially awesome fim. But I digress. Do you agree?

Guess we will have to wait and see.

Edit: 24 May 2007: The image has been removed and replaced by the words 'See you in December'. You can see the original image in this popup.

The Thing From Another World

As 1950s black and white Sci-fi/horror flicks go, this one stands the test of time. Yes, ok, the 'Thing' being a vegetable based alien life form is remiscent of an early Frankenstein, but the characterisation of the army men, scientists and token women (who seems to be there primarily for the sexual innuendo) is all good.

One thing I have learnt from all these movies, is never investigate unidentified objects that crash to earth just prior to a snow storm, when you are based in a small secluded base at the end of the earth with little help of escape, support and a serious lack of firearms.

Oooh, Pretty Things

Following my earlier post concerning the London Film and Comic Con, I did go in the end. Whilst there I took a few minutes to chat with Sarah Clarke and Elvira, who were both very nice. Unfortunately, as was suggested previously, I was unable to speak to Val Kilmer as he was a bit tardy (in the traditional sense of the word). Most of the other guests were kicking about and getting through their queues, although Charisma Carpenter had a neverending stream of slightly overweight, PFYs wearing an assortment of black t-shirts with varying logos emblazoned upon them. Other than that it was the usual. Looked at lots of memorabilia. Bought some original artwork. Saw some people dressed up as cartoon characters. Spent far too much on a coffee and sandwich.

All in all, was very enjoyable.

Oooh

I was just perusing the list of attendees at the London Film and Comic Con, and Elvira is still looking as good as ever. IMHO, it'd be worth attending just to chat with her, although meeting Jeff Wayne would be pretty awesome, as would Doug Bradley, Ron Perlman, and in fact most of guests. I could also take this opportunity to ask Val Kilmer what drives him as an artiste. No really, I want to know.

Directors

IMHO, at the end of the day even with a plethora of talented artistes, shedloads of money, snazzy special effects and media hype, a film comes down to two things: the script and the director. Not having the studio interfere and arse it up from day 1 helps, Alien3 being case in point.

Take Superman Returns and Bryan Singer. Given his previous work, Usual Suspects and X Men 1 & 2 he obviously can work with a good script and turn it into a good movie. In the latter case, staying true to the spirit of the comics, perhaps tinkering some details just to make the transition to film, and keep fan boys happy whilst getting new people into the franchise. Most importantly he has an eye for detail, specifically casting, and this helps make a good film. Take Brandon Routh as Superman. A relatively unknown but good actor, who happens to look like the a morph of Christopher Reeves and the traditional comic image both as Clark Kent and Superman himself (albeit the latter with a hint of Brendan Fraser who did audition for the part, but I digress).

Contrast this then with Matthew Vaughn who is taking over the helm at X Men 3. With a history of producing British gangster films, and only Layer Cake as a directorial debut he doesn't, IMHO, have the long or acclaimed history of someone I would be confident of taking over the franchise. Take his recent comments over at Comingsoon.net

I thought maybe it would be good to do it because there's a lot for me to learn if I do it.

I'm not liking the "if" although I presume, and dear God hope, he means if he gets he job, rather than if he doesn't turn it into Batman and Robin (No hyperlink as no-one needs that movie in their collection). And so it continues...

The irony is that I haven't got the luxury of casting most of these guys, which is going to be odd, especially if I don't like what they're doing, cause I'm going to have to pull them aside and tell them to ignore everything they did in the last film

Hmmm. I like the casting. I'm aware certain people have certain gripes, but I think the cast as a whole works. Change can be good. Irreverance is usually bad.

I'm all for fans being wary of me; they've got the right to be," he explained. "I'm just going to make the film as good as I can, and hopefully, they'll like it.

Plateauing..

Vaughn is hoping that his long-time pal Vinnie Jones would be in the movie, more than likely as Juggernaut, but he hasn't signed anything yet.

Hmm, nepotism, always a good basis for casting someone.

He said that he had been looking into the [spoiler]Dark Phoenix[/spoiler] story, but admitted that he thought "bits of it are great but other bits are a mess."

Crashing and burning.

I'm not sure what the point of this post is. I think I just hope that someone reads it and doesn't kill what I consider to be a good franchise, just because he wants to play with the big boys. I hope to God I'm proved wrong. If not a plague on Fox for their handling of the whole situation with Singer.

Nuts

I sometimes wonder what goes on in Tim Burton's mind.

Gordons Alive!?

So it would appear Mr Gordon has only got fourteen hours to save the Earth. Again.

Now Playing Magazine chatted with director Stephen Sommers' partner, Bob Ducsay, about their upcoming Flash Gordon adaptation. It is their intention to steer clear of the 1980s film and head back to source materials, their justification being as "tonally, as sort of broad entertainments as the films we make are, clearly we haven't ever worked at that level of camp."

I don't know, take Frankenstein's monster in Van Helsing. Or Dracula in Van Helsing. Perhaps even Kate Beckinsale's voice in Van Helsing, or heavens above, Hugh Jackman as Van Helsing in Van Helsing... and don't get me started on wise cracking George of the Jungle in The Mummy, The Mummy Returns, The Mummy has Tea round Aunt Petunia's...

Tickets Please?

For those of you who have seen Collateral, you will remember a story that Tom Cruise relays to Jamie Foxx concerning the metro and a guy travelling on it. If you haven't seen this story and want no spoilers, don't click on the link. For those who have seen it, this has to be one of the more bizarre cases of life immitating art.

He's Got Wood

According to Reuters, the last film directed by Ed Wood , "Necromania", has recently been found and is now available to buy on DVD. Described as "a work some say shows he was so bad that he was brilliant".

Described as "The 1971 movie is a porn film documenting the sexual enlightenment of a young couple at the hands of a coven of witches", it sounds like it could be his masterpiece.

Alien Vs. Predator

Just watching a new trailer clip entitled Face Off from the forthcoming movie and something struck me.

How, and perhaps more importantly why, does a honed killing machine such as the Alien produce so much saliva/mucus/drool. Without even thinking about the liquid intake required to sustain this, surely it must be counterproductive to hunting. Or even walking without slipping.

Must be a nightmare at dinner parties.

The Magic Roundabout

Ok, the trailer is out, and its certainly a bit different to what I remember...

Sin City

1993 saw Frank Miller's seminal work Sin City. In what is considered the masterwork of his career, Miller abandoned all colours except black and white, creating images of super-stylised film action and suspense that were heavily influenced by the blackest (both visually and thematically) of film noir movies, as well as traditional engraving arts. By keeping the art to a minimum, he created a gripping visual style where each panel could hang in a gallery.

Now, not only is Robert Rodriguez making a movie based on "Sin City," but he is doing in tandem with Frank Miller himself, who is sharing the directorial duties, in what one has to imagine is a cinematic attempt to replicate the starkness and imagination of Miller's art. If they can pull it off, we might be in for a movie like none ever seen before.

With comments by Clive Owen like "the most striking thing about that movie is how incredibly faithful to the books it is. Frame by frame he's recreating Miller's graphic novels and if there's bubbles on the panel, then we say the dialogue. It's that faithful.", a first look at Jessica Alba as Nancy, not to mention an ensemble cast including Mickey Rourke, Bruce Willis, Maria Bello, Kate Bosworth, Steve Buscemi, Benicio del Toro, Michael Douglas, Carla Gugino, Josh Hartnett, Jaime King, Brittany Murphy, Marley Shelton, Christopher Walken, Elijah Wood, Rick Gomez, Jessica Alba, Kate Bosworth, Jason Douglas, Nick Stahl, Makenzie Vega, Katherine Willis, Benicio Del Toro, Clive Owen, Rosario Dawson and Michael Clarke Duncan, it looks as though Mr Miller's vision is translating well.

I shall start counting the days.

For more info see here.

Transformers

"DreamWorks Pictures and Paramount Pictures, in association with Hasbro, Inc., will develop a live-action, motion picture based on the globally popular Transformers franchise. Steven Spielberg will executive produce. The film is slated for release in the summer of 2006. Lorenzo di Bonaventura (Constantine), Don Murphy (The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen) and Tom DeSanto (X-Men and X2: X-Men United) are attached to produce."

The full article is here.

Star Wars Ep3 Title

Well the final title is out. Last weekend at the ComicCon convention in San Diego, Lucasfilm put all speculation to rest with the announcement that the third chapter in the six-part series, will be Star Wars: Revenge of the Sith.

For more info see the official Star Wars site.

Movie News

For no particular reason than it interestes me, I thought I would just list some of the latest movie news.

Over at News Askew its again been reported that "Eliza Dushku, who read for the Mary Jane part in Spidey, might return in the third film as The Black Cat. Just a rumor, folks, but a neat one at that".

According to the Moviehole, Lachy Hulme is apparently on the rumour mill as the Joker in the sequel to Batman Begins.

According to Alan Cumming (on The Graham Norton Effect) and Rebecca Romijn-Stamos, X3 should start filming during spring of next year.

Shrek 3 & 4

As Shrek two becomes the biggest grossing animated film ever, Jeffrey Katzenberg, co-founder of dreamworks, has admitted that this was always going to be a four part series, and unlike Peter Jackson in Lord of the Rings, they didn't have the guts to say this at the start.
Given the investment in a four movie, 13 year project (Shrek 4 due out circa 2009), he must be glad he decided to do this with Shrek and not Sinbad. For the full article read here.

Cool

Something about pre-production designs that makes my neck hair tingle.

*If you do look, they may contain spoilers for films you haven't seen.*

See here.

Springfield

For those occasions when, after drinking/dancing/etc in The Rusty Barnacle, you need a Krusty Burger stat.

Northern Exposure DVD

Yay, the collectable Season 1 DVD box set of Northern Exposure in "Collectible Parka Packaging" is out on 25th May 2004. Sadly only Region 1, and with no mention of a Region 2 release, it looks like postage and packaging might be slightly higher than anticipated.

Kate Beckinsale

Given Kate's dazzling performance at the London premier of Van Helsing, its probably an opportunity to revive this comment courtesy of the Daily Show in 2003.

She was asked whether her four-year-old daughter had discovered sarcasm. She had: "The other day she said she wanted to grow up to be a movie star in Hollywood," Beckinsale recalled, "and some nice person said, 'You mean like Mommy?' and she said, 'No - I said I want to be a movie star..."

Holy Filming (2)

Further to my earlier post, London Tonight had a segment concerning filming in the UK, the biggest films of which are currently Harry Potter 4 and the new Batman film. Needless to say I was wrong in my earlier guess. They were in fact filming Batman in the Rockerfeller nurses home as I walked by and not Silent Witness. Arse.

American Gothic Film?

Online rumours, particularly from Empire Online, that the prematurley canned American Gothic will be making a theatrical comeback. The film will see Gary Cole reprise his role of Sheriff Lucas Buck and it is thought that the series creator Sam Raimi will step up to direct the film before moving onto the third Spider-Man outing.

Already signed on are Brenda Bakke, Nick Searcy and Jake Weber, however as the film is expected to revisit the series story, Lucas Black will be too old to return as Caleb.

American Gothic is expected to go into production aiming for a late 2006 / early 2007 theatrical release.

Angel TV Movies

Well it would appear from news circulating, that the first Angel TV movie may hit TV as early as September. Apparently the WB is working on a new stand-alone series as a sequence of six films - different villain, different storyline, each one. These will be released bi-monthly for a year.

One view of this is that execs are backtracking over the decision to kill the series, and by consolidating the 990ish minutes a series last to 720, they cut costs whilst keeping the franchise ticking over and the money rolling in. Although each "movie" will be a stand alone, I cannot believe Joss won't have some arc through them. I wouldn't be suprised if the editors, to fit in with the WB scheduling, had to shoot it to enable it to be segmented into smaller chunks, a series if you like...

Holy Filming

It would appear that the Batman filming was closer to home than I first expected. Just down the road from where I work operon took some photos of vehicles made up for the new Batman movie. First, a GPD car and then with a close up of it's badge.
In the background of the first you can quite clearly see the RADA building, and given the location, I wouldn't be surprised if they were filming round UCL, Birbeck or more likely, Senate House. I did wander past some filming last Wednesday/Thursday not far from this, but presumed it was for Silent Witness as is often the case round here. I'll kick myself if it was for Batman. Saying that, I did wander through the backdrop of some filming the week before that. Whatever that was, I don't think any respected director would leave in a shot where in the distance, a man can be seen swearing as he tries and collects the contents of a box file hes just dropped.

There's realistic filming, and then there's Its All Right on the Night.

Shaun of the Dead

Shuffling into cinemas from April 9 is the RomZomCom, Shaun of the Dead co-written and starring Simon Pegg amongst others. From the small screen success of Spaced and Black Books it's good to see them making the transition to the big screen with something thats a bit different than what has graced cinema screens in the recent past.

Judging by the reviews its should be a good night out, and special appeal will be to anyone who has either commuted to or lived in London for a reasonable length of time as they will know exactly how he feels.

Check out the trailer here and the official site here.

Happy shuffling.

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