The first (real) trailer for the Twilight sequel New Moon debuted at the MTV Movie Awards last night, and while it appears to be receiving less attention and buzz than the Bruno/Eminem stunt, it is stirring a bit (just a bit) of noise on the Interweb today. Though I admit to not being very familiar with the franchise, I think it’s a well done spot considering the film is still shooting. I especially like the parallel action of the junkie-like lunging of the rude birthday party guest and the shapeshifting leap attack from Taylor Lautner’s werewolf character. Those in the Twilight world are apparently very quick to their feet when it comes to both cravings and savings.

Still, probably my least favorite thing ever is a CGI werewolf, whether its in Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban, Cursed, Van Helsing or any other lycanthropic films I purposefully avoided and forgot about. The one in the New Moon trailer, however, is relatively decent-looking. But could that just be because it looks adorable?

Obviously the majority of my bloggery peers are responding with ignorance and disinterest, but surely there are a few non-Twilight-obsessed movie sites excited about this sequel. Let’s take a look after the jump:

…Read more

I was super surprised when Giorgos Lanthimos’s Dogtooth, one of my favorite movies in Cannes, was selected as the winner of the Un Certain Regard sidebar. Before the prize was announced, very few members of the press had seen it, no one was talking about it, and it was competing against much higher profile films, including the Romanian favorites Police, Adjective and Tales of the Golden Age. The NSFW teaser trailer below the jump (from Twitch, via Living in Cinema) reinforces some of why the film is an unlikely prize winner — mainly, its sense of humor is brattily crude, its aesthetics are ugly-pretty, and though it’s no more bloody than main Competition entry Inglourious Basterds, its commanding melding of genre film and art film is much weirder and more unnerving.

…Read more

After yesterday’s look at misguided viral marketing, it’s actually refreshing to spotlight a teaser trailer, especially one that presents us with nothing of the movie its advertising. Really, this is all we could ever need as far as marketing goes for Toy Story 3. We’ve got an enjoyable skit featuring all the familiar characters, a release date and, most importantly, no spoilers. I’m guessing this teaser is being shown with screenings of Up, which means it might actually be 3D where applicable. And that makes me excited, knowing we finally get to see our favorite animated toys in this format. Can anyone verify, and tell us what it’s like to see Woody, Buzz and the rest in 3D?

Take a look at what the rest of the web is saying about the trailer (and watch the thing) after the jump:

…Read more

I’ve always been a fan of the kind of reflexivity employed in Hollywood-set films and TV series where we get a glimpse of a title, a poster or even a trailer for a fake movie existing only in the world of the characters on the screen. Often these mock productions are spoofs or otherwise parodic in some way, and they provide great humor to the entertainment we’re watching. I’m not always a fan of these gags being used for viral marketing purposes, however, especially if the clips we see on the web are the same we end up seeing in the movie. It kind of ruins them for when they’re put into the context of the whole story. The whole practice also seems to be overdone nowadays. Between last year’s overload of mock films in Tropic Thunder and the failed attempt at using such marketing for How to Lose Friends and Alienate People, I think Hollywood should take a break from the self-parody for awhile.

Judd Apatow, who often uses viral marketing for his films, dropped his latest fake production on us this week, though it’s not for a fake film; it’s a double-edged look at the fake NBC series Yo Teach! And besides coming along after the concept has been done to death, it also seems to miss the point. While seemingly trying to come off as a parody of sitcoms, it actually looks like something a lot of people want to watch. As a Head of the Class fan growing up, I’m one of these people. As lame as the show is in concept, it’s pretty decent in execution. And it makes us kinda wish Jason Schwartzman — and Apatow — were back doing TV work rather than the depressing comedy that Funny People, for which this fake TV show was invented, threatens to be. These viral videos are basically a bullseye, just on the wrong target.

A great many other film bloggers would also like Yo Teach! to really exist. See the responses after the jump:

…Read more

When the trailer for David Lynch’s new web series Interview Project premiered in early May, I was so skeptical that I mocked the repetitive banality of Lynch’s “drinking game-inspiring intro.” I’ve since had a chance to see five episodes of the series — which premieres publicly on June 1 and through which Lynch and Co. will unveil one short video each day for the rest of the year — and now I think I’ve found the method motivating the mundanity.

We’re to take that introduction as its producer’s statement of its thesis, but it also reveals something about its form. Addressing the camera in his rumpled shirt and jacket, firing off a deliberately prosaic monologue in sing-song, with the words “people”, “interview” and “different” pushed so many times as to completely lose meaning, Lynch appears to be using that banality as a smokescreen. And why not? This is, essentially, what he’s done for most of his working life.

…Read more

If you were a movie producer looking to make a lot of money, and you had the chance to do this with a Buffy the Vampire Slayer movie, would you put the project in the hands of the people who made the first film, which was not successful in any way, shape or form, or would you put it in the hands of the guy who wrote the first, crappy film but who later redeemed himself with an enormously popular, long-running TV series adapated from that film?

Obviously, most of us would choose the latter, but then I guess we just don’t know something Roy Lee and Doug Davison (of the Asian-horror-remake factory Vertigo Entertainment) know. The duo is teaming up with Fran Rubel Kuzui, who hasn’t directed a film since Buffy but who “served” as an exec producer on the TV show, and her husband, Kaz Kuzui (producer of the original movie), to relaunch the franchise with a new, darker, event-sized Vampire Slayer movie, which will have nothing to do with the show, and which, as of yet, has no involvement from Joss Whedon.

Due to the success of Twilight and True Blood, I can see why someone would want to kick start another vampire franchise, especially one with name recognition, but is there anyone who would look forward to anything Buffy without Whedon? And even with him, would anyone accept a new actress in the title role after Sarah Michelle Gellar made it iconically her own? Let’s check out the film blog reactions to this ridiculous announcement after the jump:
…Read more

If these Bloggery roundup posts were truly meant to represent the hottest film news of the day, they’d always be about Twilight, or at least its star, Robert Pattinson. As I’ve learned from regularly monitoring movie sites, there’s something relative to the franchise to report on at least once every 24 hours (today we somehow got double news, with Pattinson announcing he’s committed to a fourth installment). And it will continue to be this way for the next few years. So forgive me this one time for caving in, like others, to turn the spotlight on an advertisement for a movie I know little about and likely will not see.

At least I do have an appreciation for posters, as an artform. And at least a lot of the commentary coming from the blogs regarding this new The Twilight Saga: New Moon one-sheet is humorous. Otherwise, I wouldn’t bother with it. Everyone knows we’re going to see another hundred or so marketing images for the sequel before its November release (this wasn’t even the first), so why bother talking about just one? Here’s why: to point out that between this and the official teaser poster for Where the Wild Things Are, movie marketers are really into forestry shots with background light sources.

Okay, that wasn’t very funny (honestly, it wasn’t really supposed to be, anyway), so I’ll just leave it to the film bloggers with more wit to make us laugh at this heavily airbrushed poster. Check out the Twilight jokes after the jump:

…Read more

JJ Abrams is getting a lot of shit for the way he lit and shot his Star Trek movie, particularly the scenes in the interior of the Enterprise, in which virtually every close-up is marred by lens flares. It was only a matter of time before some intrepid YouTube user asked and answered the question, “What if the original Star Trek TV series looked like that?” See above.

Azazel Jacobs has made a short film for the Museum of Modern Art in New York. The 90 minute film, called I See, is the first in a series that MoMA plans to commission, at the rate of one per year, from filmmakers who screen work in their spring New Directors/New Films series.  I See is screening before programs in MoMA’s Titus screening rooms, and is also posted on the Museum’s YouTube channel. See it embedded below the jump.

…Read more

Footage of next summer’s video game adaptation Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time has popped up online, and with it has popped up some minor controversy. Apparently, viewers are speculating that Jake Gyllenhaal’s abdominal muscles, seen prominently in at least one shot, are not actually his own. Because this footage is from the set and not from some post-production house, it can’t be an airbrush job, but it might be a prosthetic plate covering up his own less-toned abs. The “conspiracy” theory originates with commenters at Towleroad and was brought to most people’s attention via Kyle Buchanan at Movieline. But is it worthy of discussion?

I just recently watched Chris Bell’s steroid documentary Bigger Stronger Faster*, so I’m concerned with the allegations, and whether or not they’re of importance. Shouldn’t we be glad that Gyllenhaal may not have needed to get juiced? Or, should we instead demand that the actor, if not so ripped, show off his own body, so as not to fool young men who might grow up thinking they need a body type that isn’t in fact real? We know, thanks to Bell’s film, that such image issues are as harmful to men as skinny model types are damaging to women, so perhaps this is indeed a necessary discussion.

Unfortunately, the ab conspiracy/controversy has only been brought up by a few so far, while other blogs are merely taking the bait and talking about how amazing Gyllenhaal looks. Check out parts of both discussions after the jump:

…Read more

While everyone in the world is dreading the remake of The Karate Kid, I have learned new information today that has me at least a little excited: the redo will retain the original title, despite the fact that it will be set in China and involve kung fu, not karate. Why is this exciting? Because it reminds me of my favorite bad movie, Bob Clark’s The Karate Dog, of course (check out this clip for martial arts insanity featuring a talking pooch and Oscar-winning actor Jon Voight). Despite the title of that atrocious family film, the canine protagonist was a master of kung fu.

Okay, so the news that the remake won’t actually be titled Kung Fu Kid isn’t really that cool. In fact, it’s annoying and potentially racist. But if Will Smith, as producer, can slip in some sort of reference to that other mistakenly titled movie, either by casting Voight or (please, please, please) giving Jackie Chan’s Mr. Miyagi Mr. Han a pet named Cho-Cho (with or without the voice of Chevy Chase), I might actually decide to see it. At least on YouTube, anyway, which is the only place I’ve watched scenes from Karate Dog.

In case you’re interested in anything pertaining to this Karate Kid remake — instead of seeking out more Karate Dog clips, that is — Clint Morris at Moviehole shares the exclusive synopsis details today. And reactions (i.e. complaints) from the blogosphere can be found after the jump:

…Read more

The House Next Door points to David Lynch’s website, and the trailer for Interview Project. The filmmaker apparently traveled across the country and back again interviewing random Americans, and the footage will start appearing in web series format on his site next month.

If you can get through Lynch’s drinking game-inspiring intro to the trailer (take a shot every time David Lynch says “people”, and prepare to be on the floor for several days thereafter), you’ll find black-and-white, Dorothea Lange-esque footage of mostly middle aged people (drink), mostly with Southern-ish accents, asking (scripted, it would appear) questions like “What was my first experience of death?” whilst standing in front of shacks and railroad tracks, while brids chirp and jangly guitar plays on the soundtrack. In other words, stereotypes of Americana, which Lynch has shown interest in before, appear to be well represented, but how will these stereotypes be interrogated? We’ll have to wait until June 1 to find out.

I know what brings traffic to movie blogs: Megan Fox wearing as little as possible. Case in point: Movie Gab debuted some paparazzi pics of Fox on the set of Jonah Hex a few weeks ago, but she was wearing a robe, and not surprisingly I heard nothing of the photos. Today the same site presents more images, this time of Fox in an Old West Prostitute costume (i.e. corset, stockings, boots, gloves) and the internerds explode with posts. Sure, it’s also yet another slow news day in terms of stuff that excites the collective film bloggery, but I’m sure these shots would still have shown up on every movie and gossip site on a much busier day. Why? Because Megan Fox pays our bills, of course.

Not that I understand the attraction. I don’t mean to insult Fox, who is indeed an attractive woman. But I don’t get what she’s got that at least a thousand other hot young actresses don’t have. Aside from the fact that she’s sold on sex, be it through cleavage-exposing publicity photos or that recent Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen footage of her stripping, what is it about her that makes her the Clara Bow of the late 2000’s? (Confession: Bow never did “It” for me either, so maybe I’m just out of touch). Anyway, I am noticing that these new Fox photos are garnering some criticism for how skinny her corset makes her look, and I do appreciate that not everyone is positively spellbound by her.

Anyway, check out what other bloggers are saying about the images after the jump. Meanwhile, I’ll be checking out that sexier wet, tattooed back shot of Sandra Bullock that Mark Graham has posted over at Vulture.

…Read more

In the 1996 book Jihad vs. McWorld, political science braniac Benjamin Barber coined the term “infotainment telesector” to describe the conglomerates controlling print journalism, television, music, film and advertising.  He could have just said, “the media,” but noooo. Infotainment telesector sounds like something from ’50s sci-fi, but its weird, metallic ring is just about right for 2009. In a social climate where no one bats an eyelash at baseball stadiums named after rapacious banks, we are living out previous eras’ dystopian visions of the future. It’s just hard to tell because everybody’s so animated, far from dehumanized, and we have a participatory comfort toy Orwell and the others couldn’t predict, the Internet.

In the following video appreciation of the acclaimed art film Hunger, I don’t deal with Barber’s work at all but use his clanky term to evoke what British artist Steve McQueen’s film is up against: A metronome set by the infotainment telesector that nearly everybody, even those artists who proclaim themselves radical (or disengaged) outsiders, marches to. It’s a spectacular con, and so many of us are falling for it, but not McQueen. He’s in a minority of filmmakers worldwide who let their images and sounds move at a natural pace.

What the hell am I talking about? What’s a “natural” pace? I’ll let the video embedded below the jump take it from here.

…Read more