Earlier this month, Sarah Ball at Newsweek’s Pop Vox blog took to dispelling the idea that zombies are the new vampires, arguing that they’ll never be as popular — basically because they’re not as sexually appealing. Jessica Barnes at Cinematical later responded with favor towards the living dead over the undead. But zombies are not a trend; they’ll always be around, at least in the background via low-budget horror cinema. The real question lately should be whether or not werewolves are the new vampires.
Werewolves do have some level of sex appeal, at least to those people who like hairy men (and/or women). And the fact that Twilight fans are divided over preference for bloodsucker Edward Cullen (Robert Pattinson) or lupine Jacob Black (Taylor Lautner) proves there’s a debate to be had about which creature is better. More importantly, though, is the presence of cinematic werewolves on the web this week, first with a much-derided clip from the Twilight installment New Moon, followed by a new trailer for Universal’s new version of The Wolfman (which features part of Marilyn Manson’s “If I Was Your Vampire,” interestingly enough) — Ryan Adams at Awards Daily posts them side by side for comparison.
I’d even like to somehow qualify the trailer for Serious Moonlight, which in addition to having a werewolf-friendly title features Meg Ryan displaying plastic surgery that looks like something applied by make-up artist Rick Baker (An American Werewolf in London; Wolf; Cursed; The Wolfman) for the transition effects used in werewolf movies.
S.T. VanAirsdale at Movieline has already claimed this “Werewolf Week” as a result of all the lycanthropy. But here’s hoping the trend appropriately lasts at least a full lunar cycle. So come on MTV, you’ve got a month to get us at least some set photos ffrom your upcoming Teen Wolf TV series.
Check out what the other film blogs are saying about the werewolf invasion after the jump:
…Read more
A few days ago, Erik Davis of Cinematical Tweeted that he was watching Rambo: First Blood Part II, and he made a comment about how if Robert Rodriguez’s Predators doesn’t work out, he’d get behind a Rambo vs. Predator film. I thought the idea was a little silly since that’s basically what the original Predator was, only with Arnold Schwarzenegger instead of Sylvester Stallone. Little did either of us know that Rambo V: The Savage Hunt would end up involving a half-human, half-beast adversary that does seem to be like what Davis had in mind.
One thing appears to be different, though. Apparently Rambo (Stallone) is going to the Arctic Circle to battle the creature, which aligns it more with the first Alien vs. Predator movie. Sure, it’s the wrong Pole but the same climate and terrain — superficially anyway. Oh, and here’s another thing that’s slightly different: the creature isn’t an alien; it’s a secret governement genetic experiment gone wrong. In the poster, made before the official synopsis was even revealed, it looks like a werewolf.
The only thing more ridiculous would be for Rambo to fight teenage vampires, though I think werewolves may actually be the hip new thing as dictated by Twilight, so that might not be any more silly or popular. Hey, going sci-fi worked for Indiana Jones, right? And Rambo is even getting a young “hunting partner” in this installment. Maybe it’s actually his son?
Check out what the other film blogs are saying about this crazy Rambo V scenario after the jump:
…Read more
The first (real) trailer for the Twilight sequel New Moon debuted at the MTV Movie Awards last night, and while it appears to be receiving less attention and buzz than the Bruno/Eminem stunt, it is stirring a bit (just a bit) of noise on the Interweb today. Though I admit to not being very familiar with the franchise, I think it’s a well done spot considering the film is still shooting. I especially like the parallel action of the junkie-like lunging of the rude birthday party guest and the shapeshifting leap attack from Taylor Lautner’s werewolf character. Those in the Twilight world are apparently very quick to their feet when it comes to both cravings and savings.
Still, probably my least favorite thing ever is a CGI werewolf, whether its in Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban, Cursed, Van Helsing or any other lycanthropic films I purposefully avoided and forgot about. The one in the New Moon trailer, however, is relatively decent-looking. But could that just be because it looks adorable?
Obviously the majority of my bloggery peers are responding with ignorance and disinterest, but surely there are a few non-Twilight-obsessed movie sites excited about this sequel. Let’s take a look after the jump:
…Read more
Should special effects only be used to service a film’s story, or is it perfectly fine for movies to feature extraneous spectacle? That’s a debate that comes up often among cineastes, but ultimately there’s room for both functions. Sometimes, in cases like Jurassic Park and The Matrix, both categories of effects may even faultlessly coexist in the same film. Yet there is one kind of effects employment that’s intolerable to all film-loving parties: the gratuitous exploitation for the sole purpose of brazen gimmickry. It’s this kind of effects work that goes beyond spectacle. It’s not so much a show as a show off.
For one example of this cinematic sin check out Karina’s review of The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, in which she references a scene featuring an inessential and irrelevant rocket launch in the background of an otherwise intimate moment between two lovers on a sailboat. Actually, that’s apparently only a minor citation in a “a film about the feat of its own whiz-bang, Frankensteinian digital imagery, drunk on its own accomplishment to an extent that feels quasi-ethical.” Hardly the first movie to commit such a crime, sure, but Benjamin Button seems to be the most thoroughly guilty exploiter since Forrest Gump (both films, incidentally, were scripted by Eric Roth).
So, in (dis)honor of Roth’s repeat offense, let’s take a short look at the worst exploitations of special effects in the last 15 years:
…Read more
Legendary six-time-Oscar-winning make-up artist Rick Baker joined stars Benicio Del Toro and Emily Blunt to bring us the first footage of Universal’s new version of The Wolfman. And it’s a period piece.
Highlights:
- The origins of the remake stem from Del Toro’s Lon Chaney Jr. fandom.
- It looks like “Francis Ford Coppola’s The Wolfman”
- Of course, Anthony Hopkins would be more welcome as Van Helsing again
- At least it will likely be R-rated, as it looks quite bloody
- Baker honors Stan Winston by labeling his death “the end of an era”
- Blunt is apparently into two-headed dudes
Check out the full liveblog transcript after the jump.
…Read more
News of a number of can’t-miss events has flown into my inbox over the past 24 hours. In chronological order:
- This Saturday, The Pioneer Theater in New York is presenting a six-film, 584 minute werewolf movie marathon. $25 buys tickets to the whole affair, or if you really just want to show up at 4 AM to catch Teen Wolf (and who could resist, after seeing the poster to the right?), individual shows are $5 each. For more information, visit The Pioneer’s website.
- The Denver Film Festival runs November 8-18. There are many reasons to be excited about this festival (and Mark Rabinowitz has and will continue to list many of them on his blog), but here’s a new one: I’m going to be speaking on a panel about film blogging, alongside Mark, James Israel from indieWIRE, and director AJ Schnack. For more info and tickets, go here.
- Alas, because I’ll be in Denver that weekend, I won’t be able to head up to Cambridge for the Futures of Entertainment conference, which is happening November 16-17 at MIT. Organized by the Convergence Culture Consortium of the school’s Comparative Media Studies program, the conference will bring together academics and industry experts to discuss a variety of new frontiers of form and content, from mobile distribution to fan labor and the “architecture of participation.” There are only 200 seats available, so if this sounds good to you, register now.
