Who would you rather hear sing Etta James’ signature tunes, the real deal or Beyonce Knowles? If you prefer the latter, then you’ll want to see Cadillac Records and even buy the film’s soundtrack, both of which feature Beyonce performing a few of James’ songs, including a nearly spot-on copy of “At Last” (listen to it here). Other actors in the film (and on the soundtrack) who do their own singing while portraying legendary music artists include Jeffrey Wright (as Muddy Waters), Mos Def (Chuck Berry) and Columbus Short (Little Walter).
It’s a strange idea to pay tribute to a singer with a biopic or ensemble music historical and then replace that singer’s voice with another, more amateur vocalist. Yet Hollywood does it all the time and, surprisingly, the new performances usually turn out pretty good. Just listen to the following nine actors and actresses who managed to do justice to the artist they were portraying. …Read more
I should say first that I am about to wholeheartedly support the world viewing Be Kind Rewind in the face of what I believe will be a lot of poopooing over this movie (it’s currently “rotten” over at Rotten Tomatoes). I will also say I am not a Michel Gondry fanboy or, even, somebody who could pass for a hipster (that segment of the population making Wes Anderson, Michel Gondry, Spike Jonze and Puma economically viable). I saw Be Kind Rewind at Sundance 2008 thinking it would be a pallet cleanser from long nights of editing interviews and watching the really challenging stuff. But Be Kind Rewind was the most subversive movie at Sundance this year. So much so, I question the programmers even knew it.
The premise is straight from a sub-genre of comedy that has brought us such classics as Ski Patrol and One Crazy Summer (a perfect ball of ice cream for Gondry to hide his medicine in). Two slackers who while away their days in a hole-in-the-wall hangout–owned by a kindly old proprietor–have to raise more cash than they’ve ever seen or the hangout gets the wrecking ball. Antics ensue. The antics are brought to us by Jerry (Jack Black) and Mike (Mos Def) as they remake a library of hit Hollywood movies with a VHS camcorder when Jack Black inadvertently erases all the tapes at their neighborhood video shop (the hangout). The montages of their backyard productions are the stuff people will go to see this movie in droves for, and they are fall-down funny. However, these montages end partway through the story to make room for the proverbial “plot.”
In case you haven’t been following the promotions for Gondry’s latest post-modern surrealist fantasy film and have no idea what “sweded” is, it refers to the cheaply produced remakes of Hollywood movies that Jack Black and Mos Def’s video clerk characters create in Be Kind Rewind in order to restock their store’s rental library after they accidentally erase all the originals. OK, that was a long sentence, and is probably confusing if you’re not at all familiar with this movie. So, check out the real trailer here, and acquaint yourself. (Then check out Karina’s November clip-of-the-day post about “sweded” trailers and posters and her early January BlogNosh post about fan-made “sweded” trailers.)
There’s some cool new promo stuff up online for Michel Gondry’s Be Kind Rewind. The film is about two video clerks who accidentally demagnetize every VHS tape in their store while their boss is on vacation, and then proceed to produced no-budget camcorder “remakes” of the most rented titles. The studio is–smartly, I think–exploiting the DIY theme of the story in order to sell it to kids who live online as a user-participatory event.
First, go to the official website. Wade your way through the animation about the internet being erased, and tell it that you want to rebuld the internet. Eventually, you’ll get to a place where you can insert an image of yourself into a VHS box of a “classic” film, such as, um, Drop Dead Fred. I went with My Own Private Idaho, because I thought it would be funny. See above.
Then, there’s the obligatory “viral” video component. So far, there are three trailers on YouTube, representing three of the films remade within Be Kind Rewind. I’ve pasted my favorite, for Ghostbusters, after the jump; you’ll find the Robocop trailer here and the Rush Hour 2 trailer here. I know the guru of faux-viral movie marketing said that clips this this should be under 30 seconds, but honestly, I could have gone for a longer Ghostbusters trailer, if only to hear Jack Black and Mos Def argue over who’s going to be the Key Master and who’s going to be the Gate Keeper.
Remember that terrible camcorder leak of the Be Kind Rewindtrailer? It apparently prompted New Line to push an official version of the trailer on to the web. Check it out via YouTube above, and let us know what you think. I’m seeing a little too much Jack Black-doing-Jack Black for my tastes, but come on — it’s a movie about two guys who try to pull off a ten cent remake of Ghostbusters. How could I not fall in love? The studio has apparently pushed the opening up from early 2008 to late 2007 (ie: Oscar-bait season), so they’re probably assuming they’ve got something difficult to resist.
Also, if you haven’t yet, you should check out Michel Gondry’s channel on YouTube. The “Will it Deblend” clip is a thinly veiled advertisement for the Science of Sleep DVD, but it’s the most charming thinly-veiled advertisement I’ve ever seen.
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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I should say first that I am about to wholeheartedly support the world viewing Be Kind Rewind in the face of what I believe will be a lot of poopooing over this movie (it’s currently “rotten” over at Rotten Tomatoes). I will also say I am not a Michel Gondry fanboy or, even, somebody who could pass for a hipster (that segment of the population making Wes Anderson, Michel Gondry, Spike Jonze and Puma economically viable). I saw Be Kind Rewind at Sundance 2008 thinking it would be a pallet cleanser from long nights of editing interviews and watching the really challenging stuff. But Be Kind Rewind was the most subversive movie at Sundance this year. So much so, I question the programmers even knew it.
