If there’s one thing I love about Arabic folklore, it’s all of those hunky adventurers running around in wife-beaters while unloading an endless series of machine gun clips into the resident cyclops. Say what you will about the ancient Arabs and their lack of ability to invent the refrigerator, but those jerks knew how to write a damn good yarn.
Writer/director Shane Acker might not be packing the longest of resumes, but his upcoming feature 9 is attention-grabbing enough as it is. Suffice it to say, 9 looks like the rare sort of high-profile animated movie that is more than comfortable with scaring the crap out of a kid or three, and the list of talent attached to the project (which includes names that range from Tim Burton to Martin Landau) is noteworthy to say the least.
According to a little teaser image (the very same one you see right there) that was included in the latest Criterion newsletter, the acclaimed distributor will be adding Guillermo del Toro’s Cronos to its ranks this fall! Cronos is one of del Toro’s earliest works (marking the beginning of his love affair with Ron Perlman), but it remains a very imaginative, very worthy inclusion to his resumé that also happens to be one of the most interesting takes on the vampire mythos ever put on film.
It was announced today that Universal Studios has snatched up the film rights to Image Comics’ The Strange Adventures of H.P. Lovecraft. I have a major soft spot for the work of Lovecraft (mixing horror and genius is a good way to tug at my heartstrings), and wasn’t even aware this comic book existed, so this is big news on all fronts. What’s more, the studio is targeting Ron Howard to direct, which makes for one hell of an interesting combination, even if he’s still in in the maybe column.
It seems like forever ago that the Where The Wild Things Are live-action adaptation was announced, and considering that it was almost a decade back, it’s not hard to understand why. Many film fans have been following the story of this production pretty closely throughout the years, and when rumors began to circle in early 2008 that Warner Bros. was getting ready to butcher the film, due to poor reception by children at test screenings, things began to look bleak (as if the opinions of half-people should actually amount to anything).
Life is full of tragedies, and I just stumbled upon another one today. Somehow, despite having a longtime affection for (and being fairly obsessive about) certain elements of Scandinavian media (not to mention having a direct line of contact to that part of the globe, thanks to my roommate and Automaton cohort Lars), I have remained completely unaware of the glory that is Kenny motherfucking Starfighter.
The Sci Fi Channel and its parent company NBC Universal announced this week that they’ll be re-branding the network as SyFy beginning on July 7, in what appears to be a ill-conceived attempt to create a hipper, more broadly appealing image. Apparently, the network, working in conjunction with branding consultancy Landor Associates, went through 300 (!!) other possibilities before landing on this dubious new moniker, leading me to assume that most of the competing options were ideas like Hitler TV, or The Dumbass Show Explosion.
‘ve been waiting for the right opportunity to mention a little animated movie from Ireland called Brendan and the Secret of Kells, and now seemed like as good a time as any. This 2D work of art is the feature debut from animator Tomm Moore, and my eyes are so supremely fond of it, I plan on getting through this entire article without making one single off-color remark! Honestly, this movie doesn’t require a lot of set up, because anyone with a working pair of peepers should be fully on board once they glimpse the images and trailer below.
Damn, I miss the eighties. Back then, you could get almost any terrible idea made into a motion picture, mostly because the majority of Hollywood was doing far too much blow to even notice. They tell us drugs are bad, but I say they gave the world The Garbage Pail Kids Movie and Howard The Duck, so how bad can they really be? Exactly.
A decidedly heartfelt fable helmed by the guy who crafted a number of the bleakest films to ever hit mainstream cinema.
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