In response to the leaked promo trailer for Werner Herzog’s Bad Lieutenant remake, some people are claiming the film doesn’t look like a Herzog work at all. This is surprising, especially since the scene with the old ladies reminds us of the Aguirre act-at-gunpoint legend. Plus, ever since we heard the news of this “reimagining” we thought it was too befitting for Herzog to rework Abel Ferrara. However, that had more to do with the idea that both filmmakers are batshit crazy, not that their films are really that similar.
Still, wouldn’t it be more exciting to see Herzog take on something even less appropriate for his style and taste? Inspired by the Twitter meme #wernerherzogremake, which began yesterday in connection with the Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call New Orleans promo, we’ve selected ten films we’d love to see Herzog redo just to see what his warped perspective would bring to these stories. While most of them are slightly tied to something he’s made in the past, each is still a completely unlikely project for Herzog to take on. But hopefully he’ll only see such implausibility as a challenge and actually go with one of our suggestions. …Read more
As if the run-of-the-mill high school movie wasn’t scary enough (cough–High School Musical 3), Hollywood has been upping the ante for years by tossing unsuspecting teens into horrific situations. Audiences seem to enjoy watching vulnerable characters having the hormones scared out of them — or else they just enjoy seeing annoying teens get tortured.
Every high school teen horror flick has a stereotypical cast of characters straight out of cliche-ville: the jock/hot guy, the cheerleader/hot girl, the know-it-all nerd (male or female), the misunderstood girl, the new student, and a slew of others who normally end up as a victim for the killer/monster/plague at the heart of the movie. Maybe this is one of the reasons why the acclaimed Swedish preteen vampire film Let the Right One In (which comes out in limited release tomorrow) has been so successful at festivals: it finds ways to rework the nerd/bully/bad guy constructs that Hollywood has been regurgitating in teen movies for fifty years. After the jump, we take a look at the prototypical high school horror stories that make Right One feel so fresh.
When I was a kid, I assumed all third installments in a horror series had to capitalize on the ability to turn the “3″ in the title into “3-D.” Now, looking back, I only really remember (and can only find proof of) Jaws 3-D, Friday the 13th 3-Dand Amityville 3-D. But that isn’t stopping me from assuming Hollywood will once again abuse the gimmick. And judging by today’s news from Disney that the third installment of Step Up will be in 3D (and is tentatively titled simply, appropriately and marketably Step Up 3-D), the integrity of digital 3D — as the hope for the future of exhibition rather than as another passing fad — is on its way down.
Of course, we’re in a big 3D trend right now, whether it continues as something more than that or not, and it at least makes sense for Hollywood to make decisions like this, and obviously it’s more logical as far as the title is concerned. I know that Toy Story 3will be appropriately in 3D, too. Others will likely follow, and it’s better than the confusing mis-step that has been occurring lately with non-threequel sequels (and non-sequels).
Upcoming sequels Shrek 4 and Final Destination 4will also be released in digital 3D, but titularly that’s confusing (especially because of DreamWorks’ direct-to-video release Shrek 4-D, aka Shrek 3-D). Fortunately for the former, it currently has a less-confusing title of Shrek Goes Fourth. As for Final Destination, New Line had once intended for the third installment to be appropriately a 3D film and be titled Final Destination 3-D. So it is fair that the studio had previously had the idea. But what will it be called?
Suddenly, G.I. Joe became the Summer 2009 movie to avoid — not intentionally, of course, but we all know Sienna Miller, like her ex- Jude Law, is a bit of a box office kiss of death. Yet, Paramount has cast her as “the female lead” anyway. Don’t think she’ll be playing good-girl “Scarlett”, either; Miller’s character is apparently Baroness, the black-leather-clad femme fatale who works for COBRA.
Two more high-profile films have been delayed thanks to the WGA strike. This time it’s Mira Nair’s Shantaram, which is being produced by and is to star Johnny Depp, and the next Rob Marshall musical, Nine, which is partially based on Fellini’s 8 1/2. These films join previously postponed Angels & Demons and Pinkville. At least strike talks are set to take place next week.
John Singleton will never get another shot at Oscar with this kind of thinking, but at least he’ll have the honor of giving us yet another alien-invades-a-small-town movie.
I may be the only one, but I am indeed looking forward to Final Destination 4, which is a little late in being the 3-D installment. Typically, and obviously, they make more sense as the third in a series. Whatever, as long as they have cooler kills than #3, and not just because they look neat with the technology. Yeah, I’m probably thinking too highly of the franchise. I don’t care.
We’ve had a bit of trouble getting this episode to go through the iTunes feed, so we hope this re-post will fix the problem. The original post, with episode description and embedded player, is here.
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Suddenly, 
