Anne Hathaway's Oscar Dresses: Which Outfit Was Your Favorite?

http://www.blogsmithmedia.com/blog.moviefone.com/include/ke-awards-gallery-config.html.php

http://blog.moviefone.com/gallery.xml?galleryslug=anne-hathaway-oscar-dresses

http://www.aolcdn.com/ke/media_gallery/v1/ke_media_gallery_wrapper.swf

Though the verdict is still out on James Franco,Anne Hathawayis killing it as tonight'sOscarco-host, especially in the fashion department.

We've created a gallery of her many wardrobe changes, ranging from her shimmying fringe dress to her gender-bending tuxedo.

Check it out after the jump, then vote in our poll.

Which Anne Hathaway Oscar outfit was your favorite?

Red carpetOpening monologueEvening gown with updoTuxedoFringeRed evening gownPurpleBlack end-of-ceremony dress

Source

Razzie Winners 2011: 'The Last Airbender,' 'Sex and the City 2' Sweep

International sex, vampires or airbenders ... who came out ontopbottom? For its 31st year, theRazzies were gunningfor'Sex and the City 2,''The Last Airbender'and'The Twilight Saga: Eclipse,'and M. Night Shyamalan turned out to be the biggestwinnerloser.

'Airbender' won the Razzie for Worst Picture, Director, Screenplay, Supporting Actor for Jackson Rathbone (which also puts a"win"in the 'Eclipse' column) and worst eye-gouging misuse of 3-D -- the last winning over the much-maligned 'Clash of the Titans.'

Coming second with three wins is 'Sex and the City 2,' which nabbed Worst Actress for all four stars, (Sarah Jessica Parker, Kim Cattrall, Cynthia Nixon and Kristin Davis) Worst Ensemble and Worst Sequel.

Ashton Kutcher and Jessica Alba cleaned up the remaining two Razzies, for Worst Actor and Worst Supporting Actress, respectively, which means that the vampires would have run free and clear this year, if 'Twilight's' Jasper, aka Jackson Rathbone, hadn't decided to mix airbending with sparkling bloodsucking.

These awards were created to be the"logical antidote to Tinsel Town's annual glut of self-congratulatory awards."Did logic prevail? See all the winners/losers below.

Worst Picture

• 'The Last Airbender'

Worst Actor

• Ashton Kutcher, 'Killers' and 'Valentine's Day'

Worst Actress

• The Four Gal Pals, 'Sex and the City 2'

Worst Supporting Actor

• Jackson Rathbone, 'The Last Airbender' and 'The Twilight Saga: Eclipse'

Worst Supporting Actress

• Jessica Alba, 'The Killer Inside Me,' 'Little Fockers,' 'Machete' and 'Valentine's Day'

"Worst Eye-Gouging Mis-Use of 3-D"

• 'The Last Airbender'

Worst Screen Couple / Ensemble

• The Entire Cast, 'Sex and the City 2'

Worst Director

• 'The Last Airbender,' M. Night Shyamalan

Worst Screenplay

• 'The Last Airbender,' M. Night Shyamalan

Worst Prequel, Remake, Rip-Off or Sequel

• 'Sex and the City 2'

Source

Alan Rickman's Greatest Insults, from Hans Gruber to Severus Snape

Veteran actor Alan Rickman's birthday was Feb. 21-- he turned 65, which means he now qualifies for that coveted senior citizen discount.

But no matter how many films he's been in, Rickman will always be one thing to us: evil. Purely, deliciously evil. Not the actor himself, of course, but the villains he's played, from Hans Gruber in 'Die Hard' to Severus Snape in the 'Harry Potter' movies to the sheriff of Nottingham in 'Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves.'

No one can hurl an insult, curl a lip, or shoot a withering stare like Alan Rickman. And therefore, it is with great admiration (and not a little fear) that we have assembled the man's greatest moments in insultitude. Call off Christmas!

Alan Rickman's Best Movie Insults

Source

Framed: Last Tango in Paris

It's almost intimidating to write anything about Bernardo Bertolucci's'Last Tango in Paris.'Pauline Kael's analysis of the 1972 film starring Marlon Brando andMaria Schneiderhas been described by Roger Ebert as"the most famous movie review ever published."Herpraiseover Bertolucci's film is not to be missed. You can practically feel the rush of her excitement over a movie that many viewers today might not blink at -- a time where graphic sexuality is available at the click of a button.

While 'Last Tango's' eroticism is a powerful and primitive force -- and often parodied in conversation for it's famous scene involving a certain dairy product (let's just get that out of the way immediately) -- one of the more fascinating aspects that Kael focuses on is 'Last Tango's' ability to conjure an"emotional violence"that supersedes the basest of the movie's crude acts. As Kael puts it, 'Last Tango' brings into sharp focus"realism with the terror of actual experience."

Indeed, the film's depravity becomes the plot about an American man wandering Paris, so deeply distraught over his wife's suicide that he hides his grief in a no holds barred affair with a young French woman named Jeanne (Schneider). She's about to be married, but escapes her buffoonish fiancée and a cloistered past in the arms of the brutish man more than 20 years her senior. They begin to meet in a ramshackle apartment, which becomes the silent witness for the loneliness they both rut through and the turmoil in Paul's life he can only seem to express through semen and tears.

{spoilers ahead}

The apartment is 'Last Tango's' centerpiece -- personifying everything we come to learn about the characters who frequent it -- and a paradox on every level. Paul's bed is too large for the grand dwelling, which seems neverending in scale through cinematographerVittorio Storaro'slong, slow tracking shots. This idea is also emphasized through the unlimited number of split shots with foreground focus, underlining the isolation and disorientation of emotion. Mirrors echo this sentiment still, as Paul and Jeanne often communicate through them, except these looking glasses are broken shards and the filthy reflections of antique furniture. Large, sunny windows and the exquisite golden palette that dominates nearly every inch of the film betrays the apartment's morose atmosphere. It's an intimate, but incongruous composition, which Kael aptly describes as"romance and rot"becoming one.

Throughout the duration of Paul and Jeanne's long tryst, this sentiment is literalized and slowly transformed. The couple's playful banter of animal noises and the dirty dishes on the floor of an empty apartment, eventually becomes the heated demands spewed to humiliate Jeanne (butter, pig, etc.) and a dead rat in the lovers' bed. In this scene, Jeanne has pushed and pulled with Paul multiple times before she finally runs away from her finacée to be with Paul once more, wearing a vintage wedding dress worthy of the thirties cinema the film insinuates. At first, Jeanne doesn't realize the rat is in bed with her, and when she discovers it, she's terrified. Paul taunts her with its limp body, making the crass jokes we've come to expect from him.

Everything these characters have stood for is embodied in this one scene: Jeanne the fresh-faced innocent/damsel in waiting and Paul's nasty, animal menace. Nothing is what it seems, though. Jeanne's voluptuous youth hides an inner femme fatale we meet at the movie's end. Paul's brutish ways and veiled grief dissipate long enough for a moment of clarity and truth when he finally reveals his identity to Jeanne and confesses his love for her. It's too late though, because to Jeanne, Paul will always be the rat. Outside of the mythical apartment, he's just a middle-aged man with"a prostate like an Idaho potato."

While we may not be able to view 'Last Tango' through the eyes of someone like Kael -- before the movie's best and most memorable scenes were probed and plundered, and when the pulse of the film's controversy beat fast and hard -- the movie's visuals are nothing short of intoxicating. Everything that happened in that dim Paris apartment on a hazy afternoon couldn't look better, even as its inhabitants' anxieties and dramas manifest as rats and killers.

'Last Tango in Paris' is now available onBlu-ray.

Source

Fatboy Roberts Interview: Funky New Magic in Great Old Movie Scores

Normally I approach"fan-made"remixes (be they audio, textual, or visual) with a grain of salt, a little charity, and a general sense of disinterest. But it took me less than ten minutes ofFatboy Robert'srecent release --Geek: Remixed III-- before I realized how impressive this stuff was. My first exposure to his music was via the excellent Portland cartoonist / film critic / bon vivantMike Russell. My reaction?"I love this Mario Bros. track because it's not ironic."

Mr. Roberts was truly enjoying the goofy little Mario ditty, and he wanted to make it sound a little, well, funkier. But then he approached movie music masters like John Williams, Ennio Morricone, and Jerry Goldsmith with the same amount of respect; Fatboy's additions actively complement the already-excellent music that we know and love. This is not an over-caffeinated kid who is blaring noises over the 'Jaws' theme, but a sincere movie-lover who also has a real gift for bad-ass beats.

So I told the guy we should chat. And we did. (Be sure to play some of the YouTube (audio only) tracks as you read the interview! Like this one right here!)



Harsh critics call this stuff plagiarism. Loyal fans call it a new angle on some great music. What's your take?

It's a nostalgia bath, really. Auditory comfort food. At least, that's how I always looked at it. Both from the perspective of the stuff I'm sampling and the way I'm interpreting it: I'm taking the music of my nerdy formative years, and combining it with the sort of hip-hop production they stopped doing right around 1997, right before sample laws got really harsh and people started making beats that sounded like they were learning on a Casio made out of Tupperware. I can see the plagiarism argument: I'm essentially taking some genius from John Williams / Jerry Goldsmith / Danny Elfman, taking a razor blade to it and then throwing a sack of breakbeats at it. It's not entirely original. But"originality"and"pop music"don't necessarily go hand in hand anyway. Ask Robert Johnson and Muddy Waters what they think about Led Zeppelin's existence, you'd probably get a different answer than the one Robert Plant would give you.


Every track (from all three albums) contains a theme from a film, a TV show, or a video game. Why is popular culture more fun to sample from than the more traditional DJ resources?

I started doing it because I was a nerd, and I thought there were hidden nuggets of unrecognized funk in some of these movie scores, and especially in the TV themes, and as I was learning how to make beats in the mid-'90s, I realized that you can't just keep going to the same James Brown/Zapp samples. (That said, I think there's a Zapp/JB/Parliament sample on everyGeek: Remixedalbum.) And honestly, it was fun to play back a tape for my friends, have them nod their heads, and then spring the sample on 'em like"Oh yeah, you were just dancing to the theme from Barney Miller.""WHAAAAA?""Yeah, and then for my next trick, you're going to start wilding out to Unicron's Theme from Transformers: The Movie""SHUT UP."



When you hear a musical score you admire, do you start remixing it in your head right away, or does it take a while before you love something enough to"monkey"with it?

It typically takes a while. I think I make note of the moments when a cue feels like it can be flipped and re-arranged to fit a more typical song structure, but they don't really make themselves apparent to me until I sit down and start deconstructing the cues into their component parts: 4-bar string rhythm here, big orchestral hit there, melody, bass line. From there, I can start stacking parts of cues like funky Lego blocks, adding and subtracting things until I get something nice and chunky sounding to play with.

For example, the 'Doctor Who' remix I did on the third album; I knew it'd been remixed before, to wide acclaim, both by the KLF and by Orbital. But I didn't know until I sat down for a couple hours separating out the bass and the melodies that my version was gonna end up sounding like someone stuck the TARDIS on 20"rims and gave it hydraulics. Same thing happened with the Cobra Theme from 'GI JOE: The Movie.' But sometimes, like with"Why So Serious"from 'The Dark Knight' - I know exactly how it's gonna work on first listen.



Music or movies: you have to choose one. What do you do?

I think I go movies. But it's kind of a cheat, since some of the most powerful and compelling moments in film are only achieved because of the score behind them. The first 15 minutes of"Up,"for example. But I think the opportunities for storytelling are richer in film, ultimately. Especially if you throw in television -- some of the finest storytelling ever captured on camera has spilled out over the course of 10 episode story arcs on shows like 'The Wire' and 'Battlestar Galactica.'

What are some of your favorite film scores and/or composers?

John Williams during his golden period: '77 - '85. I know others will say that should probably extend out to around '92 or '93. Recently, Bear McCreary's work on 'Battlestar' is just awe-inspiring, and Michael Giacchino is some kind of phenom. Lalo Schifrin and John Barry are two of my bigger inspirations as well."On Her Majesty's Secret Service"is probably the best piece of Bond music ever written, and even if the Propellerheads hadn't perfectly reinterpreted that on their own, I think I'd STILL be too scared to attempt touching it. It took me three albums before I finally decided to try remixing"The Asteroid Field"from 'The Empire Strikes Back.' I mean, I know that I'm not REALLY ruining these songs with these remixes. The originals are still there, and if anything, a crappy remix just makes the original look that much better by comparison. But there are some cues that I just won't touch. There's not gonna be some 'Schindler's List' scratch tracks on anyGeek: Remixedalbum.



The majority of your albums consists of music that belongs to other people, so (obviously) you cannot sell them. So all of this is just for the fun of it?

Yeah. I started doing them as a creative outlet for myself when my dreams of being a hip-hop producer were sputtering out and dying in my post-high school years in Salem, OR. So I'd make some beats for my aspiring rapper friends, and then they'd leave, and I'd watch 'Aliens,' and then I'd go back over to my set-up, and I'd go"I wonder if I can make an actual percussion section out of just the motion-tracker beep and an Alien hissing?"Just to see if I could do it. You can hear me learning how to structure and arrange on the first album, which was compiled out of about a decade's worth of squirreling away these nerdy oddities. And it goes back to that whole"You're never gonna believe what I just turned into a hip-hop instrumental"thing. It's just fun to watch people reinterpreting / rediscovering the music they had relegated to the background of their memories. As in"You did NOT just make a beat out of Yub-Nub, did you?"



Who are your peers? Any other movie-score-remixers we should know about?

Peers is a strange word for me to use, because I consider what I do VERY basic in comparison to the people who've trod the same ground. The Eclectic Method is ridiculously good, on a much higher level than I'll ever attain, both musically and visually: They don't just remix songs, they remix the videos those artists produced. From what I understand, Daft Punk's 'TRON: Legacy' score is essentially their film-score remix album that became a legitimate film score. Danger Mouse made The Beatles/Jay Z sound like a film soundtrack, and now he's like, 21st Century Quincy Jones. Girl Talk doesn't really do film scores, but it often sounds like the soundtrack to the greatest teen movie never made. DJ Shadow's"Endtroducing,"of course. The first real"Film Score Remix"album I remember being made aware of was"Star Wars Breakbeats"by Supergenius. I heard that after I'd done"Don't Make Me Destroy You"in 1997 and got MAD, but it's hard to stay mad when the mixes were so good.



There's been a lot of examples in regular hip-hop, too: I took my basic idea for"Meatlocker,"my 'Rocky' remix from the first album, from a horn loop Brand Nubian used in"Punks Jump Up To Get Beatdown."I remember wanting that song to go in a completely different direction than where it went when I first heard it, which is a ballsy thing to say considering what a classic it is. Same with"Lothos' Prom,"which uses a sample of violin as played by Rutger Hauer in the 'Buffy' movie. Blockhead, a NY producer, used that sample once, extraordinarily well, and I wanted to take a run at it too. And OCRemix is a site that's been the hub for all video-game remixing for a very long time now. In fact, part of"Pickin Veggies,"from the 3rd album, is built off a re-imagining of the Mario 2 theme done by a group called Estradasphere. There are some serious minds picking through video game scores for sonic gold over there.

There are lots of others, but we all sort of run into the same"anonymous dude"on the internet. I've had mixes of mine assigned to other DJs out there. There's stuff that's been put on mix tapes with no attribution, or wrong attribution, but I can't get mad at that. 1) I'm essentially stealing the music in the first place to remix it, so any claims of ownership I might have are pretty negligible (and arrogant, really) and 2) Half the stuff online is incorrectly named anyway. There are probably lots of people who think if it's a soundtrack, John Williams wrote it, period. The 'Alien' score is John Williams, right? He's the guy who did the theme to 'Battlestar Galactica' and 'Forrest Gump'! That kinda thing.

My remix of"Made You Look"by Nas, with the music from the 'Kill Bill' trailer? I've seen that credited to at least four different DJs. Same with"The Requiem Overture,"which was my attempt at turning that 'Two Towers' trailer music into a coherent orchestral piece. I uploaded that thing to a couple fileshare sites in October or November of 2002, and I think currently about 2/3rds of all Anime supertrailers are using that mix. Also: I apologize to everyone who's had that cue ruined for them due to its overuse by eager YouTube addicts (and Danny Boyle's 'Sunshine'). I'm really sorry about that. I didn't know.



Can you think of any films that are virtually ruined by a bad score? (I call dibs on 'Ladyhawke'!)

The most recent example I can think of would be Darabont's 'The Mist.' I love that movie to death, but the moment where the jeep is pulling out of the parking lot, and Dead Can Dance just starts warbling up out of nowhere? I remember thinking"This is some ridiculous Zack Snyder '300' shit right here."It just did not fit the tone the movie had worked so hard to build. And then the film shrugs off that misstep with THE scene (you know the scene) and then, in the aftermath - the music comes back, and its even WORSE than before. That's the most vivid example in my mind right now.



What's the finest compliment you could receive from a recent fan of your albums?

That they want to keep listening to it, that it's not a one-and-done sort of experience. Of course, the fact they even gave it a shot in the first place is really satisfying to me. I appreciate that people even want to attempt putting this music in their heads. But the best compliment I've gotten is from people who tell me that they hear the original versions of the songs, and get thrown off for a moment because they're waiting for the drums and the bass to kick in.



What would movies be without music?

A hell of a lot more boring and dry. Not to say there aren't movies out there that aren't successful keeping the music to a minimum. It took Kurosawa like 70 years before he would let a composer really breathe on his pictures. But so much of what makes movies such a pop-culture drug comes from the music in them. Whether we're conscious of it or not, I think we, as people, want our life to be scored. Headphones and an iPod can turn a a basic train ride -- a boring citywide commute -- into a pretty little montage sequence. I know some of my best memories have music attached to them, whether there was music playing at the time or not. The cliche goes"The Art is in the Artifice."

There's nothing more artificial than having a pop song start playing in the middle of a key moment of your life -- but there's no way the end of"The Breakfast Club"works without Simple Minds singing in the background, right?

------



We strongly, vehemently, and most ardently recommend that you download all three volumes of Fatboy Roberts'Geek: Remixedalbumsright here. Totally free, of course, and be sure to use the mp3 tags as"cheat sheets"if you need them. (Track /sample lists also included below, just so you'll know what you're getting into!) Or just click around on theGeek Remixed YouTube channel. You'll want to grab a pair of headphones first.

Big thanks to Fatboy for the great chat, and for playing around with music we love without"ruining"anything in the process. (And thanks also toMike RussellandBill Mudronfor their cute-yet-funky-awesome artwork!)


Geek: Remixed (1997-2007)

1. Don't Make Me Destroy You:All samples taken from"The Imperial March"from"The Empire Strikes Back"by John Williams and the London Symphony Orchestra. Turntables by Fatboy Roberts
2. Sneak Previews:Samples"Funky Fanfare"by Keith Mansfield and"More Bounce to the Ounce"by Zapp
3. Nas– Made You Look (Kill Bill Remix):Samples"Battle Without Honor or Humanity"by Tomoyasu Hotei
4. Utini:All samples from"The Dune Sea of Tatooine"from"Star Wars"by John Williams and the London Symphony Orchestra.
5. Fezzik's Interlude:Samples"Princess Buttercup's Theme"by Mark Knopfler from"The Princess Bride."
6. Spaceslug Lullabye:Samples from"The Asteroid Field"and"The Imperial March"from"The Empire Strikes Back"by John Williams and the London Symphony Orchestra
7. Puddy-Tat:Samples"Powerhouse"by Raymond Scott and"Swing Set"by Jurassic 5
8. One Minus Two:Samples"Underworld Theme"by Koji Kondo from"Super Mario Bros"
9. Fish's Interlude:Samples"Theme to Barney Miller"by Jack Elliot
10. The Public Defender:Samples"Theme to Night Court"by Jack Elliott
11. Fozzie's Interlude:Samples"Opening Theme"from"The Muppet Show"by Jim Henson, and"Superstition"by Stevie Wonder
12. The Cut-Off:Samples"Love Theme"from"Love Story"by Francis Lai
13. Destruction and Mayhem:Samples"Theme to the Untouchables"by Ennio Morricone, and"Mama Said Knock You Out"by LL Cool J. Turntables by Fatboy Roberts
14. Planetary Hunger:Samples"Unicron's Theme"by Vince DiCola from"The Transformers: The Movie"
15. Acheron Windstorm:All samples from James Horner's performance of"Ripley's Theme"by Jerry Goldsmith and sound effects from James Cameron's Aliens.
16. Brutality:All samples taken from"The Duel of the Fates"from"The Phantom Menace"by John Williams and the London Symphony Orchestra
17. The Requiem Overture:Written by Clint Mansell, originally performed by Clint Mansell and the Kronos Quartet, re-orchestrated by Dan Nielsen for"The Two Towers"trailer, re-edited by Fatboy Roberts
18. Meatlocker:Samples"Going the Distance"and"Fanfare for Rocky"by Bill Conti from the movie"Rocky"
19. Bonus Track– Kobayashi Maru:Samples"End Credits"from"Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan"composed by James Horner

Geek: Remixed II (2008-2009)

1. Red + Blue:Contains samples from"The Planet Krypton"and"Main Title"from"Superman"by John Williams and the London Symphony Orchestra
2. Three Panel Philosophies:Contains samples from"Linus and Lucy"by Vince Guaraldi Trio and Dave Koz
3. Firehouse Interlude: Contains samples from"Ghostbusters"by Elmer Bernstein
4. Jibba Jabba:Contains samples from"Theme to The A-Team"by Mike Post
5. Plastic Assassins: Samples taken from"Cobra Theme"by Johnny Douglas and Robert J. Walsh, from"GI Joe: The Movie."
6. Jungle Ugly:Samples taken from"Main Title"by Alan Silvestri, from"Predator."
7. Sonny's Interlude:Contains samples from"Main Title"by Nino Rota from"The Godfather."
8. Killing Many Men:Contains samples from"Landing in New York"by John Ottman from"The Usual Suspects"and"The Asteroid Field"by John Williams from"The Empire Strikes Back."
9. Lothos' Prom:Contains samples from"Piano Quintet Es-dur op. 44."by Schumann, as played by Rutger Hauer in"Buffy, The Vampire Slayer"inspired/stolen from Blockhead.
10. Four Blank Walls:Contains samples from"Requiem"by Mozart as used in"Platoon."
11. El Tango De Pegasus:Samples taken from"El Tango De Roxanne"by Craig Armstrong, from"Moulin Rouge,"and"Storming New Caprica"by Bear McCreary, from"Battlestar Galactica"
12. Hypnolude:Contains samples from"Futurama"created by Matt Groening and David X Cohen
13. Privileged Youth:Contains samples from"Oh Yeah"by Yello from"Ferris Bueller's Day Off."
14. Criminal Mischief:containins samples from"I Heard it Through The Grapevine"by Zapp, from the film"Friday,""She Caught the Katy"by the Blues Brothers, and"Disco to Go"by the Brides of Funkenstein
15. Pop-A-Shot:Contains samples from"We Will Rock You"by Queen,"Sirius"by the Alan Parsons Project, and"Freestyle"by Afrika Bambaataa
16. Saturday Mornin':contains samples from"mahna mahna"by Cake, and the themes to"The Smurfs,""Fraggle Rock,"and"Inspector Gadget."
17. Fanfare for Cubicles:Contains samples of"Handbags and Gladrags"by Stereophonics, London Symphony Orchestra and Big John Webley, from the BBC's"The Office"
18. Cover Your Heart:Contains samples from"The Temple of Doom"by John Williams and the London Symphony Orchestra
19. Knives and Lint:Samples taken from"Why So Serious"by James Newton Howard and Hans Zimmer, from"The Dark Knight"

Geek: Remixed III (2009-2010)

1. Five:Contains samples from"Kara Remembers"and"All Along the Watchtower"by Bear McCreary from"Battlestar Galactica"
2. The Long Con:Contains samples from"I'm Losing You"by Faces, as used in the opening credits of"The Brothers Bloom"
3. Thrice as Nice:Contains samples from"Main Titles"and"The Incantation"by Danny Elfman from"Beetlejuice"
4. Pickin Veggies (Interlude):Contains samples from"Overworld Theme"by Koji Kondo and"Super Buck Jazz"by Estradasphere from"Super Mario Bros 2"
5. 3720 to 1:Contains samples from"The Asteroid Field"and"Battle in the Snow"by John Williams, as performed by Charles Gerhardt and the National Philharmonic, from"The Empire Strikes Back"
6. Fistful of Rupees:Contains Samples of"Ecstasy of Gold"by Ennio Morricone from"The Good, The Bad, and the Ugly"and"Overworld Theme"by Koji Kondo from"The Legend of Zelda"
7. A Visit to Information Retrieval (Interlude) :Contains samples from"Brazil"by Michael Kamen
8. Crush Your Enemies:Contains samples from"Riddle of Steel"by Basil Pouledouris from"Conan the Barbarian"
9. Train Ride:Contains samples from"Mini-Manhunt"and"End Credits"by David Shire from"The Taking of Pelham 1-2-3"
10. Trailer Reel:Contains samples from the trailers for"Dark City,""Spider-Man 2"and"Inception,"and"Bishop's Countdown"by James Horner from"ALIENS"
11. Knock Knock:Contains samples from"Theme to Doctor Who"by Ron Grainier, and Murray Gold, with sfx from"The End of Time pts I and II"
12. Citysmasher:Contains samples from"Roar!"by Michael Giacchino from"Cloverfield"
13. A Visit to the Stationhouse (Interlude):Contains sample of"Theme to Hill Street Blues"by Mike Post
14. Fight Music:Contains Samples from"The Ritual"by Gerald Fried from"Star Trek: Amok Time"
15. White City:Contains Samples from"For Frodo,""The Lighting of the Beacons,"and"The Battle of Pellennor Fields"by Howard Shore from"The Return of the King"
16. Victory Celebration and End Credits:Contains samples of"Ewok Celebration,""The Duel of the Fates,""The Imperial March,""The Asteroid Field,"and"Rebel Fleet and End Credits"by John Williams from"The Empire Strikes Back"and"Return of the Jedi."

Source

The Week In Geek: 'Prometheus'; Too Little, Too Late to Help the 'Alien' Legacy?

{The Week in Geekis a weekly Tuesday column that plunges headfirst into a deep pool of genre geekiness without ever coming up for air.}

I'll never see'Alien'with the eyes of someone who saw it theatrically in 1979. I've seen beautiful repertory prints and flawless digital transfers, but I didn't see 'Alien' until'Aliens'was hitting home video. By the time I saw the film, sometime in early 1987, I'd already seen it imitated (and sometimes parodied) elsewhere. The film made an impact on me, because it's a great film, but I've always wondered how much more I might have loved it if I would've been a movie-goer in 1979 and not a four-year old.

In that way, movies can be"of-the-moment"just like live theater. Sure, they last and live on, but the fact that they do means that would-be imitators don't have to rely on their memories alone -- they can watch and re-watch until they're completely saturated with their"influence."It's been 32 years since 'Alien' was released, and we're still seeing films that riff (or rip-off) what directorRidley Scottaccomplished decades ago.

There's an argument that people like to use to defend remakes that says essentially that no one has taken the original version away. It's still out there ready to be watched, even if a remake exists. While that's basically true, it ignores a bigger problem with remakes which is the possible dilution of strong art. Every remake affects the impact of the original, almost regardless of quality. 2006's 'Wicker Man' is a terrible version of 1973's 'Wicker Man,' and it soils the title. For anyone watching the 2006 version first, it ruins the ending and almost all of the shock of the 1973 film. Even an excellent remake like Zack Snyder's 'Dawn of the Dead' finds footing with a new generation of movie-lovers by giving the film an exciting, modern coat of paint, reducing Romero's 'Dawn of the Dead' to an interesting, somewhat talky footnote.

Regarding 'Alien,' the 'Alien' franchise has something in common with remakes -- a reduction of power. 'Alien' doesn't become a better movie because 'AVP: Requiem' exists. Over the decades, 'Alien's' sequels have battered Ridley Scott's film to the point where its impact is now reduced to a no-contest discussion over which is better -- 'Alien' or 'Aliens.' 'Alien'isbetter, but it's also more imitated (because it's better), making it feel more creaky and old-fashioned than the shoot-em-up 'Aliens.' We're so far removed from the original now, after so many decades of crass merchandising and influence on other inferior films, and it always hurts me when someone watches the 1979 film for the first time and dismisses it as"okay."It's not 'Alien' that's not that great -- it's the 32 years worth of damage done.

I'm glad Fox and Ridley Scott aren'tjustmaking an 'Alien' prequel.'Prometheus'may or may not be about space jockeys or xenomorphs, but the mere fact that they'renotsaying"THIS IS THE SEVENTH ALIEN FILM"is a huge positive -- especially from Fox, a studio that never met a franchise it didn't like to un-creatively bleed to death. 'Alien' doesn't need any more 'Alien' films, but using that universe as a launching point for a whole new original movie is a very intriguing idea. It's your cake and eating it too. It won't undo the damage already done, but if we can get an exciting new sci-fi movie out of it, maybe we can beat 'Prometheus' to death for a while and leave 'Alien' alone.

Source

New on DVD& Blu-ray, Week of February 22: 'Megamind,' 'Due Date' and 'Mesrine: Killer Instinct'

It's a man's world on DVD this week. At the top of the list is'Megamind,'an animated adventure about a really mean villain who gets his way and then doesn't know how to deal with it.'Due Date'follows the misadventures of a pair of traveling companions who rub each other the wrong way on a transcontinental trip from Atlanta to L.A. And lastly there's'Mesrine: Killer Instinct,'the first of two films on France's most notorious and charismatic gangster of the 20th century. Read on.

'Megamind'
What It's About:This animated adventure centers on Megamind, the most brilliant supervillain the world has ever known. He's smart, crafty, sneaky and mean, but not bright enough to beat the clean, handsome caped superhero known as Metro Man ... until one day, quite by accident, he actually kills him during a botched evil plan. Now that he's won, Megamind finds that it's lonely at the top. Bored, he creates a new superhero to battle, who promptly turns evil and decides that it would be fun to rule the world -- after he kills Megamind.

It's Kinda Like:'Superman' meets 'The Road Runner'

What We Say:Last year was a banner one for animated adventures, and we were blessed with two films revolving around evil villains: 'Despicable Me' and 'Megamind.' While 'Despicable Me' veered toward the maudlin -- what with a trio of kids taking up with and transforming the villain -- 'Megamind' was a little grittier, casting a more jaundiced eye at superhero conventions. While in he past we always felt a bit guilty rooting for Lex Luthor over Superman, we had no such qualms jumping on the Megamind bandwagon. Let's hear it for the bad guy.

• Extras:Several behind-the-scenes featurettes and a new Megamind adventure, 'Doom.'
Rotten Tomatoes Reviews|Buy DVD|Save DVD to your Netflix queue

'Megamind' Stars Will Ferrell, Tina Fey and David Cross on Playing a Super Villain, a Plucky Reporter and a Fish in a Bowl on a Gorilla Robot

'Due Date'
What It's About:What if the losers from 'The Hangover' made a transcontinental trip from Atlanta to L.A. and got into a ton of trouble on the road? That's the gist of 'Due Date,' which has expectant father and royal uptight snob Peter Highman (Robert Downey Jr.) teaming with would-be actor and general misfit Ethan Tremblay (Zach Galifianakis) on a road trip from hell directed by 'The Hangover's' Todd Phillips. The premise: Highman has just a few days to get home to L.A. to be with his expectant wife, but his encounters with Tremblay -- kick-started when they're both kicked off their flight -- keep getting in the way of his ultimate goal.

It's Kinda Like:'Trains, Planes and Automobiles' meets 'Dinner for Schmucks'

What We Say:This is the 21st century version of 'Trains, Planes and Automobiles,' with two polar opposites forced to share company on a road trip that tests their collective mettle. Director Phillips gives this story a harder edge, however, with nastier encounters that push the boundaries of good taste (if there is such a thing left in male-oriented comedies like this). What keeps the film together more than anything else is the chemistry between the two leads; their interaction is brilliant. Expect a sequel to this one.

• Extras:Gag reel.
Rotten Tomatoes Reviews|Buy DVD|Save DVD to your Netflix queue
'Due Date' Takes Its Rightful Place in the Bromance Canon


'Mesrine: Killer Instinct'
What It's About:Jacques Mesrine was the last of the"great"French gangsters, his criminal career spanning more than 20 years of kidnappings, robberies, murders and prison escapes in some half-dozen countries ... until his death in a hail of police bullets in the middle of Paris in 1979. He was kind of a gallic Pretty Boy Floyd, capturing the imagination of the French public and the devotion of several French molls. Director Jean-François Richet takes his time telling Mesrine's story, splitting the narrative into two films;"Mesrine: Public Enemy #1,"the second part, will be released on DVD March 29.

It's Kinda Like:'Le cercle rouge' meets 'Bonnie& Clyde'

What We Say:Though released in France in 2008, 'Public Enemy only made it to the states last year -- but it was worth the wait. Vincent Cassel ('Brotherhood of the Wolf,' 'Black Swan') is alternately charming and menacing as Mesrine, an ex-soldier who lost his humanity during the Algerian War and learned how to wage his own battles against the French wealthy class upon his return home. It's a sweeping tale of violence, hatred, lust and power that totally mesmerizes the viewer in the way that 'Goodfellas' and 'Casino' keeps you glued to the screen.
Rotten Tomatoes Reviews|Buy DVD|Save DVD to your Netflix queue

French Criminal 'Mesrine' Makes an Impact (review)
Interview: 'Mesrine' Star Vincent Cassel

Other New February 22 DVD Releases:

'Birdemic: Shock and Terror':Midnight cult film homage to Alfred Hitchcock's"The Birds."
'Eyes of the Mothman':Documentary about the chilling 1966 paranormal phenomenon that terrorized a small town of 5,000 in West Virginia: A seven-foot tall bird-like man with large wings and red oval shaped eyes who haunted residents at night, glided after cars, bellowed uncanny shrills and feasted on animals.
'Get Low':A backwoods recluse arranges his wn funeral while he's alive to find out what people will say about him after he's not around.
'The Killing Jar':A mysterious stranger linked to a killing spree takes a waitress and the six customers of a remote diner hostage.
'Killshot':A pair of winesses to a hit man's botched murder attempt take the law into their on hands when the Witness Protection program doesn't protect them like it should.
'Kings of Pastry':D A Pennebaker and Chris Hegedus, distinguished filmmakers of"The War Room"and"Don't Look Back,"turn their sights on the competition for the Meilleurs Ouvriers de France, France's Nobel Prize for pastry. Sixteen chefs whip up the most gorgeous, delectable, gravity-defying concoctions and edge-of the seat drama as they deliver their fantastical, spun-sugar desserts to the display table.
'The Last Unicorn'(1982): Animated adventure about a lone unicorn who seeks out others like herself through a mystical land of talking cats and spellbinding magicians.
'Psych:9':Working alone at night in a recently closed hospital, an unstable woman witnesses events that may be connected to a string of murders.
'Stieg Larsson's Dragon Tattoo Trilogy':The three films ('The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo,' 'The Girl Who Played With Fire' and 'The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet's Nest') in the fabulous Dragon Tattoo Trilogy, here in one DVD or Blu-ray boxed set.


February 22 Blu-ray Debuts:

'Bambi'
'Fish Tank'
'Memento (10th Anniversary Edition)'
'Senso'
'Sweet Smell of Success '




Check out other new February 22 DVD releases at OnVideo.

More about movies on Blu-ray DVD

Source

Watch a Short Film Made by the"Real"Homer Simpson

Die-hard 'Simpsons' fans surely know that creatorMatt Groeningnamed his animated creations after members of his own family, but do they know that his father, Homer, was a humorist and filmmaker? Thanks to the blisteringly amazing power of the internet, they can learn that fact right now by watching his 1969 short film, 'Basic Brown, Basic Blue,' a funny pseudo-documentary that's more than a little bizarre:

"Ever wonder how Matt Groening of 'The Simpsons' got his quirky sense of humor? Probably from his filmmaker dad, Homer Groening, who passed away in 1996. Although known for his documentaries, Homer Groening directed and narrated this film, ostensibly about color, but filled with an ongoing series of bikini-clad bathing beauties. The film is perhaps best viewed as a graphic artifact that will interest media historians seeking additional insight into the elements that influenced the cartoonist."

'Basic Brown, Basic Blue' reeks of the '60s (and by"reeks,"we mean that you can practically smell the marijuana and LSD), but it's certainly not without its wacky, endearing charms. Although certainly a different style of comedy than the 'The Simpsons' (somewhat ironically, it's off-topic silliness feels more like an ancestor to 'Family Guy'), it's certainly interesting to note that Groening's sense of humor didn't just spring out of thin air. Now someone needs to track down the rest of Homer Groening'sfilmography-- titles like 'A Study in Wet' (which you can actually watch onYouTube) and 'Psychedelic Wet' sound like they demand our immediate attention.

Watch 'Basic Brown, Basic Blue' below.



(ViaBoing Boingbut available for downloading through the consistently miraculousInternet Archive.)

MORE:15 Great Movies, Free of Charge and Absolutely Worth Watching!

Source

A 'Dead Island' Movie is Happening Thanks to You

Three days ago the Internet became obsessed withthe announcement trailerfor the video game'Dead Island.'In a matter of hours the video, which stylishly glimpsed the story of one family's vacation to a zombie-infested tropical resort, went viral, racking up millions of views in the process. And when something goes viral that fast, naturally Hollywood is going to pay close attention to it. Enter the Sean Daniel Company and Union Entertainment.

In less than 72 hours after the trailer hit, producer Sean Daniel ('The Mummy,' 'Dazed and Confused,' 'The Wolfman') began option negotiations with the game's publisher, Deep Silver. Yesterday thosenegotiations closedfor an undisclosed amount of money going to Deep Silver and game developer Techland for the film rights to the movie. No time frame production or writing/directing talent have been announced thus far, but with a producer like Sean Daniel on board, it's likely this isn't just a case of a studio calling dibs on a hot topic and then sitting idly by while the frenzy for it goes cold.

The game - which isn't even about the particular family in the trailer - isn't expected to hit until this coming holiday season, though don't be surprised if that release window slips a bit in order to maximize awareness of both the film and the game. We'll keep an eye out for news between now and then, of course, but in the mean time here's the trailer once again.

Source

Horror News: 'The Exorcist' in 60 Seconds; 'Hansel and Gretel' Go 3D; 'Radical' Tom Sizemore

-- Cameron Romero -- yes, zombie maestro George A. Romero's son -- has a new film on the horizon, 'Radical.' Three American press members are held captive by an arrogant, techno-savvy terrorist who is targeting the US government. Tom Sizemore stars. Romero toldDread Central,"when the uprising in Egypt started, a light bulb went off,"and the real horrors happening around the world became the inspiration for his new film. 'Radical' is set for a March release and has a brand new one-sheet.

-- Girly Korean pop stars battle a curse during the making of their newest single.Bloody-Disgustinghas all the latest images from 'White.'

-- Arrow Video always does a bang-up job on their DVD releases, and their first multi-film box set from Brian Yuzna's Fantastic Factory is loaded with a smorgasbord of zombies, demons, spiders, werewolves and other goodies. The movies included are: 'Beyond Re-Animator,' 'Faust: Love of the Dead,' 'Romasanta' and 'Arachnid.'Pay Jeffrey Combs and the gang another visit on April 18th.

-- If you've ever wondered what a claymation version of'The Exorcist'looked like -- done in 60 seconds and designed by a UK artist -- watch the clip below. It's like 'Wallace and Gromit' meets Satan.

-- If you loved the gory shenanigans of Tommy Wirkola's 'Dead Snow,' then be prepared for his next film,'Hansel and Gretel: Witch Hunters'to bring the red stuff in glorious 3D on March 2, 2012.MGM is co-financing the projectand wants to set the Grimm's fairy tale in a three-dimensional universe, which takes place 15 years after the siblings' adventures at the notorious gingerbread house. Brother and sister have grown up and regrouped as bounty hunters tracking supernatural entities. Jeremy Renner, Gemma Arterton and Famke Jannsen will star.

-- What do you get when you combineTyler Mane(Rob Zombie's Michael Myers), 'Sleepy Hollow' and a headless outlaw biker? Mane's latestproject, 'Chopper,' of course. A teaser trailer has arrived for the comic-inspired"online horror experience."Madness and gore await you below. Let's hope it's better than Nic Cage's 'Ghost Rider.'

Source

Framed: All About Eve

Welcome to Framed, a column at Cinematical that runs every Thursday and celebrates the artistry of cinema -- one frame at a time.

It's been called the"bitchiest"movie ever made, but'All About Eve'doesn't rely on a showgirl's timely push down the stairs, or a ballerina's self-loathing to make the cut. While it's easy to dismiss the tear-stained story of a girl down on her luck and the marvelous rantings of Bette Davis and George Sanders as a campy melodrama about wayward women, its smart set-up and sophisticated performances elevate it to the realm of classic Hollywood cinema.

Joseph Mankiewicz writes and directs this tale of aging theater starlet, Margo (Davis), whose competition arrives in the form of a dewy-eyed, young thing with a convincing sob story to tell. Eve (Anne Baxter) shows up on a theater house's backstage doorstep -- where she's apparently spent every night of the show's run -- hoping to catch a moment with her idol, Margo. When Eve is swept up by the actress and her circle, her entry into the grand dame's exciting world of designer ball gowns, cocktail parties and watchful critics eventually betrays that she's not the innocent she claims to be.

{spoilers ahead}

'All About Eve's' script often dominates the screen with its dry wit and fast quips, butMilton Krasner'ssubdued camerawork isn't trying to compete with it in the first place. The understated photography stands in stark contrast to the movie's theatrics, but still manages to capture the shifting boundaries of alliances and betrayals. Keen blocking and framing bring this notion to life, and multiple over the shoulder shots further reinforce 'Eve's' cutthroat dynamic -- the idea that there is always someone two steps behind you, looking to take your place.

This is also realized in the way that the real theater in 'Eve' always happens behind the closed doors of hotel suites and backstage, behind the curtain. Just as slyly as Eve insinuates herself into Margo's life, Krasner's lens quietly moves alongside the dramatic action.

Eve's manipulations come full circle -- much like the movie's narrative which begins and nearly ends with the same scene -- when her grasping ambition finally wins her the Sarah Siddons Award for Distinguished Achievement. Our frame shows Eve giving her acceptance speech at the gala event, while Margot and her comrades watch on with disdain.

In the scene prior, infamous theater critic Addison unleashes an razor-sharp verbal assault on the actress revealing that he's uncovered her true identity and has been onto her tricks."You're an improbable person ..."he tells her. After Eve's speech, Margot tells her to put her award trophy where her heart ought to be. No one in Margot's circle is convinced of Eve's false modesty, especially during the speech where she gives gushing thanks to those who have helped her career. Eve's real thanklessness is reaffirmed when she casually ditches an elaborate party being given in her honor, telling Addison to take her award to the event instead.

It seems more than appropriate that the wall behind Eve is decorated with two guns -- one inadvertently pointed toward her and the other toward the master of ceremonies. Addison calls Eve a"killer,"because her backstabbing, feigned seductions and phony friendship has revealed the ruthless person she truly is. The guns are also a nice bit of foreshadowing, as the gun to the MC's head symbolizes her claw to the top. Eve's moving on to Hollywood and the theater is the old guard -- something she no longer needs to get ahead. The gun to her own head foretells what happens in the next scene where we see that history repeats itself, and Eve's fame has earned her a"fan"of her own.

Even though 'All About Eve's' snappy dialogue and bitchy performances take center stage in Mankiewicz's 1950 drama, the movie's framing is finely-drawn -- staged in ways similar to Eve's deception. The film's themes about female roles, sexuality and dramatic rivalry are allowed to shine thanks to Krasner's restraint. It might be a"bumpy night,"but it's definitely easy on the eyes.

'All About Eve' is nowavailableon Blu-ray.

Source