This week, thanks to The Rocker, we can add another fictional band to the long list of music groups created solely for the movies. They’re called Vesuvius, and they’re an ‘80s hair band with a hit song titled “Promised Land.” As part of the film’s marketing, the track was offered as a free download for play on Rock Band (see the clip above). But if you ask me, the wrong tune was used in the promotion. Another song from the soundtrack, also credited to Vesuvius, is called “Pompeii Nights,” and it’s definitely the better of the two.
I’m not surprised, though. While most people favor the songs of Spinal Tap, a once-fictional band that has become popular enough to evolve into a “semi-fictional” performing act, I’ve preferred such gems as “The Whites of Their Eyes” by PEZ® People, from The Big Picture. Also co-written by This is Spinal Tap’s Christopher Guest and Michael McKean, and sung by McKean, this song is apparently so underrated that I can’t even find an audio sample, let along a YouTube clip of the fake band’s music video, which was directed by fictional filmmaker Lydia Johnson (Jennifer Jason Leigh).
Fortunately, for the benefit of this list, the rest of these under-appreciated tracks have a few fellow fans.
Even though some of last year’s Comic-Con secrets were leaked to the web ahead of time, the 2007 SDCC was a huge deal as far as revelations go. Whether it was the unveiling of Karen Allen’s involvement in Indiana Jones and the Then-Still-Not-Subtitled Fourth Installmentor cast updates for Watchmenand Star Trek or a bit of clarification on what the hell that Cloverfieldmovie was, Comic-Con 2007 left us super excited and highly anticipatory for the next year of movie releases.
But after a quick glance, the 2008 convention doesn’t seem like it will have as many big announcements. There should be plenty of new footage shown from movies like Watchmen (making its second Comic-Con round) and The Spirit(hopefully there’s some better looking stuff than the most recent trailer gave us), but what secrets are set to be let out of the bag?
Here’s 10 things I hope they reveal over the next few days:
Arnold Schwarzenegger is back in Terminator Salvation- If this really happens, I’ll be flabbergasted. But a guy can hope, at least for official word on a cameo. And there’s no better place than Comic-Con for a confirmation to happen. Well, I guess if Warner Bros. could keep it a secret until the movie opens next May, then that would actually be better. But that’s impossible nowadays. …Read more
The last clip I posted, before taking a week off, was Muppet-related. And now, rather than digging through all the viral marketing and other cine-centric videos I’ve missed during my vacation, here is yet another clip that is Muppet-related. The video presents a year-old performance of “Count’s First Day of School” by The Dead Hensons, a Muppet cover band from the Bay Area. Unfortunately the group doesn’t appear to play too often (according to their website, after this May 2007 set, they only played twice again, in August 2007 and May 2008).
So why share this clip? Well, besides the obvious, that it’s important to note that a Muppet cover band is no less necessary or serious than any other cover band (IMHO, Paul Williams is one of the greatest songwriters alive), this is also a chance for me to recommend that Jason Segal and Nicholas Stoller consider giving The Dead Hensons at least a cameo in their upcoming Muppet movie. If you’ve seen Segal and Stoller’s Forgetting Sarah Marshall, you might agree with me that this song is like a bridge between that film and the new Muppet movie, because Dead Hensons frontman Ryan Beebe is very Segal-esque (at least he appears so in this poor-quality clip) and this performance is kind of like the Dracula musical song from Forgetting Sarah Marshall.
BUT tomorrow is Independence Day, aka the 4th of July, and that means it’s time for MUPPETS. Specifically the most patriotic Muppet of all: Sam the Eagle, who presents us with a rendition of “Stars and Stripes Forever” performed by Beaker, Animal, the Swedish Chef, Bobo the Bear, a penguin and some chickens. Sam also recites part of the Declaration of Independence, Crazy Harry provides the fireworks and Statler and Waldorf show up for some criticism. Forget the hot dogs and the red, white and blue boxer shorts; this is all you need to make your holiday complete.
Here is a film from 1965 of a young Jim Henson and friends lampooning their process of making commercials for Wilson’s Meats. It only goes to show how far downhill the Muppets have come. And how much more mature they were in the beginning.
I present it to you now, because in anticipation of the next project from Jason Segal and Nicholas Stoller (respectively thewriter and director of this week’s new release Forgetting Sarah Marshall), which happens to be a Muppets feature, I hope there is some pre-Muppet Moviestuff taken into consideration as possible inspiration.
This particular film is a sort of sequel to this other one, which features more actual Muppets on screen, but I kind of prefer the Monty Pythonesque feel of the one I’ve featured above. But definitely watch both.
Mick LaSalle asked us last week what movie we would like to be inside (instead of Beowulf, which we can sort of feel like we’re in). Personally, I think being inside The Wizard of Ozwould be awful. I might even prefer The Wiz, and I’d hate to be in The Wiz. I’d even prefer to hang out with Fred Savage in The Wizard, and I don’t play video games. My answers: anything Capra (well, almost anything — no Why We Fight docs); anything Marx Brothers; anything Muppets; anything Miyazaki; Amelie; Close Encounters of the Third Kind; The Goonies (why not?); and What Dreams May Come (the movie was bad; the setting was beautiful).
In honor of me writing more about Enchantedthan Karina ever would dream of, I present Rob’s review from his I don’t like Renee Zellweger blog, to show I’m not the only blogger addressing such mainstream fare. Like me, Rob found the movie to be “uninspired,” though he was apparently “disappointed” (I had a low expectation to begin with) and even notes that Amy Adams might have another chance at an Oscar (she’s cute, but ultimately annoying — though differently than she was in Junebug). Anyway, shockingly, the movie currently has a 100% approval on Rotten Tomatoes. We’ll see if that lasts. If only more of us bloggers were writing about it …
Apparently if you have a video clip of yourself negatively reviewing a 20th Century Fox release, the studio will have it removed, despite it being neither illegal nor their place to do so.
Are long movie titles bad for box office? Only when they’re abbreviated as diseases. “Cholera” = bad. “Pirates”; “Narnia”; “Harry Potter” = good.
iTunes seems to have screwed up its exclusive release of Ed Burns’ Purple Violets. It seems available now, though, so I can’t verify the blunder. Scott at CinemaTech shares his experience, at least.
I love t-shirts, and I love this design, but weren’t there movie adaptations before 1920?
Some movies are violent, some are disturbing, and others are just plain wrong. Paul W. S. Anderson’s Death Race is a fun ride with some gnarly crashes, but it can’t hold a candle to its demented predecessor, Roger Corman’s Death Race 2000 (1975).
Cinema’s favorite weirdo, Cripsin Glover, is taking his film across the country, personally [...]
Mick LaSalle asked us
