Imagine, on this Earth Day, that solving the problem of global warming and other environmental concerns was as easy as defeating one main villain. Unfortunately, there are and have been millions of bad guys in the story of our planet’s health, so there’s no easy solution involving the killing or imprisonment of a single threat, as is often the case in the movies. Some films, such as WALL-E, do point the finger at the human race in general, but for purposes of narrative closure, environmentalist plots typically close the door on their specific issues by punishing an individual character responsible for that issue.
In our list of the worst of these environmental offenders, we decided to stick to films of the last twenty years, because they were made in more environmentally conscious times yet they still represent threats as being caused primarily by singular villains. We also excluded all non-fiction films, both documentaries and dramas based on true stories, because no real-life characters are/were as terrible as these ten baddies: …Read more
Through one of the smartest film promotions I’ve seen in awhile, Disney has already sold 500,000 advance tickets to its little nature doc-for-kids, Earth, by promising to plant a tree for each audience member who pays to see the film during its first week (starting tomorrow and ending Tuesday, April 28). Never mind that all those people could just plant a tree themselves, and that families may ultimately be disappointed to find the movie is less focused than the ads would have them believe (the “three animal families” narrative is often abandoned for a broader look at the planet’s ecosystems) –– the fact that Disney managed to come up with such a successful marketing gimmick, and incentive, that has no necessary web-related elements is extremely commendable in these mostly viral-campaign-obsessed times.
Of course, there’s nothing at all wrong with online movie marketing, and it’s worth pointing to another new film opening this week, Obsessed, which has a fun little gimmick utilizing personalizing technology we’ve seen in plenty of prior viral promotional tools. It may not help save the planet, but we actually had more fun making this video, in which we made Ali Larter seem to be obsessed with SpoutBlog editor Karina Longworth, than we did watching Disney’s Earth. Then again, we at least saw the documentary, primarily because of its promotion, yet we probably won’t be seeing the very banal-looking Obsessed.
Ignoring whether or not they were successful, we picked ten other favorite viral gimmicks, many of which were more enjoyable than the movies they promoted: …Read more
Is it that odd to imagine a Waterworldmusical on Broadway? After all, Xanadumade it to the big stage, so anything is possible for infamous turkeys like this one. Sure, it looks rather silly in the video below, the way Patrick Warburton and company have made it, but with the right creative team Waterworld could really work as a kitchy cult attraction. Maybe team up two randoms, the way Marvel has with the upcoming Spider-Manshow directed by Julie Taymor and featuring music by Bono. Honestly, there seems to be nothing that Broadway producers could announce that’s any more ridiculous than what’s already been done there.
So, terrible movie-turned-musical ideas may continue to be easy gags, and they’re possibly even going to make me laugh, but ultimately I would like to go see Con Air: The Musical (from 30 Rock) and Planet of the Apes: The Musical (from The Simpsons) and musicals made out of Waterworld, The Postman, Battlefield Earthand especially Ishtar. Who would love you, Mariner? I would.
Check out the commercial for Waterworld: The Musical after the jump.
The leaves are turning, the air is crisp, it could only mean one thing: the time is now for the best Simpsons episode of the year, The Treehouse of Horror Halloween Special. They’ve done a good job this year of building buzz, especially around the portion of the episode that spoofs Mad Men. The episode airs Sunday, November 2, and 8 pm on Fox.
In the above video we get a glimpse of the segment’s title, How to Get Ahead in Dead-Vertising. This is fantastic news: it means that the piece will be properly ghoulish, and it also means that it may not be only an homage to Mad Men, but also to the classic 1989 advertising satire How to Get Ahead in Advertising. In that film, a successful ad executive suffers from a horrible boil on his neck. One day he wakes to find that the boil has developed into a face, which becomes his evil alter-ego. I would love to see that scenario played out with Homer on the Madison Avenue of the 1960’s.
This also gets to the point of why The Simpsons Halloween episodes are always the best: there are way more movie references than usual. I was an obsessive Simpsons fan as a kid, and the Halloween episodes alone upped my pop culture literacy by several notches. The segment based on The Shining is a favorite of mine, and the Frankenstein spoof where Mr. Burns’ head ends up grafted on Homer’s shoulder gave me nightmares for weeks.
When I first saw the trailer for Wanted, I figured it was just another Matrixripoff. And I’m sure there are many other people who thought the same thing. Of course, some Matrix ripoffs aren’t bad — I absolutely love Kurt Wimmer’s Equilibrium, for example — but most are. Even worse, though, are the parodies of the Matrix’s “bullet time” sequences. Do we really need to see another movie character bend over backwards to avoid a bullet (or milk)? Or another movie character suspended in motion while the camera tracks around him or her?
It’s no wonder that until yesterday, I had pretty much dismissed Wanted, because of that Matrix-like bullet time sequence in which Morgan Freeman shoots around a slab of meat to hit an unseen target. Yet as of yesterday, the movie’s Rotten Tomatoes rating was 100% (Anthony Lane’s New Yorker review, posted today, is the first “rotten” one, taking it down to 92%). Now I’m more intrigued. Still, it doesn’t change the fact that that bullet time sequence is there, reminding me of the worst that The Matrix has inspired in the past decade. To remind you, too, I’ve compiled a bunch of clips that should provide you with similar doubt.
I haven’t watched The Simpsons regularly in years, but I got a couple of text messages alerting me that last night’s episode, which follows Lisa (whose talent President Skinner assesses equates to “as if Ingmar Bergman and Penny Marshall had a baby), as she makes a documentary called Capturing the Simpsons, and then takes the film to Sundance.
Matt Dentler points out that the entire episode is already up on my beloved Hulu, via which it’s now embedded above. It’s full of some pretty great festival-centric jokes. My favorite: Lisa’s film is chosen during a scene in which a character who looks a little something like Geoff Gilmore throws a can of film into what looks suspiciously like the fireplace in the lobby at The Yarrow, AKA Sundance press and industry homebase. Also good: Marge walks into a theater playing a film called Candyland under the assumption that “a great family game is now a great family movie”, only to find junkies on screen getting ready to shoot up. “Oh, I get it,” Marge says. “Every title means the opposite of what it means!”
Another bit of exciting news from Jason Bateman [again via MTV Movies Blog] regarding the Arrested Development movie: “the ball has started rolling down the hill again.” Okay, so it’s not too exciting, nor is it revelatory in the least, but at least he says all the creatives are on board. Meanwhile, the actor also commented on his role in the American movie adaptation of the British TV mini-series State of Play, which, combined with MTV’s other post about the American TV series remake/adaptation of the British TV series Spaced, has me putting a little thought into the subject of theatrical spin-offs versus movie adaptations.
Certainly those of us who are fans of a series would rather see it continued with all original talent on board (even if we arecynically fearing the result) than see it adapted into a movie version many years down the line, whether the approach be faithful or parody or an attempt at both. Try to imagine another cast playing the Arrested Developmentand Sex and the Citycharacters. Imagine the pointlessness a future X-Filesremake/adaptation compared with the immediate cinematic extension we received. Or live-action versions of The Simpsonsor South Parksomewhere down the line rather than the big-screen supplements.
With the New Hampshire primary upon us, and in response to the results of last week’s Iowa Caucus, I’ve been thinking about the possible influence of pop culture on Democratic voters. Is it possible that Obama performed better than Clinton because 24 is a more popular TV show than was the short-lived Commander in Chief? The former has so far featured two African American Presidents, played by Dennis Haysbert and D.B. Woodside, while the latter was about a female President, portrayed by Geena Davis. The next season of 24, which is set to premiere once the WGA strike is finished, will actually feature a female President, played by Cherry Jones, but it may be too late. Americans could already be set on nominating a black man, because they’re more familiar with seeing such a President on both the big and small screen.
And what a crop of African American actors we’ve seen as the leader of the United States: Morgan Freeman (Deep Impact); James Earl Jones (1972’s The Man); Tommy ‘Tiny’ Lister (The Fifth Element); Chris Rock (Head of State); Terry Crews (not so well known, but extra points for playing a porn star-President in Idiocracy); and of course Haysbert and Woodside. Now, let’s see who we’ve got for white female Presidents: Polly Bergen (1964’s Kisses for My President); Lisa Simpson (in a flash-forward episode of The Simpsons); Dulcie Smart (a TV movie called Post Impact); Ernestine Barrier (1953’s Project Moon Base) and of course Davis. Which group has more star power? Exactly. Even Robert Zemeckis chose to exclude the female President featured in Carl Sagan’s novel Contact when the director made his film version. Anyway, Clinton at least has a better chance than an African American woman. The only black female Presidents I can find in TV and film include one played by Melanie Henderson on an episode of The Electric Company and reference to one in a deleted scene from Star Trek V: The Final Frontier, which features the woman as an added fifth face on Mount Rushmore.
The WGA has refused to grant waivers to allow guild members to script the Golden Globe and Academy Awards during the strike. Unless the strike miraculously ends by the end of January–or the producers of the shows manage to negotiate with the WGA as independent contractors–this will effectively make any star who attends either award show a picket-line crossing rat. The guild has also denied the Academy the right to use clips involving the work of their writers during the telecast.
United Artists has pushed the release of Valkyrie, the controversial WWII drama directed by Bryan Singer and starring Tom Cruise, from July 4th weekend to October 2008. Such a move from a normal studio might indicate plans to push the film as an awards contender rather than as a summer blockbuster; in this case, it appears that Singer just hasn’t finished shooting.
Fox is “Simpsonizing” Manhattan today, as part of a marketing blitz to promote the DVD release ofThe Simpsons Movie. There will be a Simpsons on Ice show at Bryant Park today, the Empire State Building will be illuminated in yellow tonight, and “giant inflatable Homers” will be sprinkled through out the city.
Nicole Holofcener will once again team with Catherine Keener for a still-untitled dramedy about “life, death and real estate” in New York City.
While trying unsuccessfully to get over the whole Amy Adams kudos debacle (did you see she’s just been nominated for best actress by the Broadcast Film Critics Association?), I began wondering about year end lists and how many of them feature at least one obligatory mainstream movie. Typically its a funny but highly overrated comedy, like Borat, The 40-Year-Old Virginor Little Miss Sunshine, sometimes its an action movie, rarely it’s a thriller or well-made horror flick.
So, I’m wondering what will be the most mainstream best movie of 2007, the one that features on the most year-end top ten lists. I’m so far discounting Juno, because it’s still in its little indie darling stage, and not yet a wide-release hit. Instead, I’m counting on either Knocked Upor even Superbadto take the honor. Already I’ve seen, thanks to Movie City News, both movies featured on a list made by a publication called the Georgetown Voice. But while I figured the former had more cred with critics, it’s the latter that has shown up on more lists by itself, including those of Victoria Times‘ Michael D. Reid and Artforum’s T.J. Wilcox.
John Landis gossips about Alfred Hitchchock, Don Ameche and the “shitty” Universal Studios cafeteria
On our weekly podcast FilmCouch, Kevin and Paul covered A.J. Schnack’s Kurt Cobain: About a Son, and Karina ranted about one of the few documentary selections at NYFF, The Axe in the Attic.
Above: a still from a Simpsons episode, side-by-side with the shot from Alfred Hitchcock’s North by Northwest that inspired it. For 65 additional comparisons between Simpsons images and their cinematic forebears, click here. [via Laughing Squid]
Reuters ran a story yesterday on “adlets”, also known as “blinks”, also known as extremely brief audio commercials that radio programmers can sprinkle into blocks of content. It’s a format that seems to be catching on with the studios–Fox has apparently bought a lot of adlet space to promote The Simpsons (ostensibly, these short bursts of brand identification would work equally well to promote both the series and the movie), and Paramount went the blink route in promoting Stardust (perhaps that’s why we blinked and missed it at the box office? Ha ha.) I only listen to NPR (yeah, I know) so I haven’t heard these, but apparently the prototypical example is the voice of Homer Simpson saying “Doh!” popping up in between songs.
Idolator connects this “advance” in marketing techology to Blipverts — ie: the micro-commercials that somehow caused an aggressive local news man to get trapped in the machine, resulting in virtual media sage/Coke spokesman Max Headroom. I was a big fan of Max Headroom as a teenager (thanks to Sci-Fi Channel reruns), but I couldn’t remember exactly why Blipverts were so dangerous. So I went looking for clips from the show, and stumbled across the entire 48-minute pilot, which I’ve embedded above. And for my paranoid rantings on the insidious connection between Clear Channel and Max Headroom, click the “Read More” link.
The big movie/little movie dichotomy at extremes. Kevin calls in the biggest Simpsons fan he knows–his big brother–to talk about The Simpsons movie. We interview Ronald Bronstein about his movie, Frownland, a super low budget movie that completely polarizes audiences wherever it has the fortune to be screened.
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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Is it that odd to imagine a 
With the New Hampshire primary upon us, and in response to the results of last week’s Iowa Caucus, I’ve been thinking about the possible influence of pop culture on Democratic voters. Is it possible that Obama performed better than Clinton because 24 is a more popular TV show than was the short-lived Commander in Chief? The former has so far featured two African American Presidents, played by Dennis Haysbert and D.B. Woodside, while the latter was about a female President, portrayed by Geena Davis. The next season of 24, which is set to premiere once the WGA strike is finished, will actually feature a female President, played by Cherry Jones, but it may be too late. Americans could already be set on nominating a black man, because they’re more familiar with seeing such a President on both the big and small screen.
The WGA has 
While trying unsuccessfully to get over the whole 
The big movie/little movie dichotomy at extremes. Kevin calls in the biggest Simpsons fan he knows–his big brother–to talk about 
