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Michael Jackson: Rating the Filmmaker Collaborations

By Christopher Campbell posted 5 months ago

We feel really bad about spotlighting Michael Jackson in three spots on our “Creepiest Kids’ Movies List” yesterday. If we had known he was going to die of cardiac arrest within hours of that post’s publication, we would have maybe limited his presence to one included film, if any at all.

To make up for the dishonor, we now would like to spotlight the connection he had to cinema through his collaborations with great filmmakers. Due to his talent, success and financial status, he was able to work with a number of important directors, both in movies and in music videos. Some were already prominent when MJ hired them; others were strictly music videomakers who would go on to significant feature filmmaking careers. Some collaborations were also better than others, so we’ve ranked them in order from worst to best.
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Classics, Lists

FilmCouch #107: Slumdog Millionaire, Watchmen Mania, He’s Just Not That Into You

By Kevin Buist posted 9 months ago

We’ve already talked about the sickly-sweet little movie that could, Slumdog Millionaire, but it’s looming Oscar domination convinced us to revisit it. This time Paul weighs in with his opinion, and draws a parallel to John Singleton’s Boyz ‘N the Hood.

Watchmen is still a month away, but the buzz is already reaching a crescendo. It’s gotten to the point where the thing to talk about is how much people are talking about Watchmen. We play a clip from an interview with director Zach Snyder, who tries, somewhat unsuccessfully, to convince us he’s the man for the job.

A movie based an a self-help book based on a Sex In The City episode? Karina couldn’t resist. He’s Just Not That Into You isn’t very funny, but it does provide some insight into the inner workings of romantic comedies.

FilmCouch 107 [41:49m]: Play Now | Download

(Subscribe to FilmCouch–Spout’s weekly movie podcast–in the iTunes store or to our RSS feed and an episode will download each Friday)

0:00 - Intro

2:10 - Listener e-mail

6:44 - Paul’s take on Slumdog Millionaire

17:33 - Watching the Watchmen hype machine

30:24 - Karina on He’s Just Not That Into You

filmcouch-107

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FilmCouch, Hollywood, Podcasts

Trade Roughage 11/20/07

By Christopher Campbell posted 2 years ago

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.