A really strong trailer has just come out on what looks like a fairly loose remake of the 1941 Universal monster/horror classic which originally starred Claude Reins and, in the title role, Lon Chaney, Jr. The new version has Benecio del Toro as the unfortunate Lawrence Talbot and Anthony Hopkins as his concerned pop, as well as Emily Blunt and Hugo Weaving.
All I can say is that this version looks top notch. I thought director Joe Johnston’s “The Rocketeer” was very fun and pretty underrated, and this looks to have the potential to be even better. One thing’s for sure, considering the best known movie wolf men so far have been ex-Dr. Pepper song-and-dance guy David Naughton (“An American Werewolf in London”) and Chaney, Jr., who had some moments but was not nearly the actor his legendary dad was, it’s safe to say that del Toro will be by far the best actor to inhabit’s the wolf man’s hairy skin. Check it out.
And remember….
Even a man who is pure in heart and says his prayers by night, May become a wolf when the wolfbane blooms and the autumn moon is bright.
By the time you read this, it may be too late, but just in case it isn’t, the guys from RiffTrax.com – Mike Nelson, Kevin Murphy, and Bill Corbett, all late of “Mystery Science Theater 3000” fame – will be doing a live event in a theater near you this evening: riffing on the Ed Wood classic, “Plan 9 from Outer Space.” The evening will be hosted by Veronica Belmont, the host of “Tekzilla” on Revision3 and “Qore” on the PlayStation Network, with musical guest Jonathan Coulton and a special segment by Rich “Lowtax” Kyanka of Something Awful. In addition, the night will also feature the world premiere of a brand new, never-before-seen short.
If you’d like to attend, just head over to the Fathom website and see if the live theatrical simulcast will be offered in your area. And if you’re not familiar with the film in question…well, geez, have you been living under a rock, or what?
Here’s the trailer for your viewing enjoyment, and I can assure you from personal experience that it’s every bit as bad as it looks…though, of course, I mean that in the best possible way.
There’s no doubt about it: “Plan 9 from Outer Space” definitely transcends badness to become a legitimate classic.
Bobcat Goldthwait is currently basking in the critical acclaim he’s been receiving for his latest directorial effort, “World’s Greatest Dad,” which he also wrote. So what project does he have his eye on as a follow-up?
Would you believe a musical version of the Kinks’ 1975 album, Schoolboys in Disgrace?
True story. And this isn’t just an idle rumor, either: the Kinks’ main man, Ray Davies, has already taken a meeting with Goldthwait about the concept.
“Oh, man, it was totally ‘The Chris Farley Show,’” Goldthwait said of the conversation. “I was sweating, and I was, like, ‘Remember when you did that album? That was cool.’ And in the middle of it, I even told him that. I said, ‘Did you ever see that sketch with Chris Farley when he meets Paul McCartney?’ And he goes, ‘Yeah.’ ‘Well, that’s what I’m doing right now!’ And he goes, ‘Don’t worry, it’s gonna be okay.’”
It still took Davies a bit of time to warm up to Goldthwait’s pitch, however.
“I think he was confused,” said Goldthwait. “He was asking, ‘Well, who do you think would go see this as a movie?’ And I was, like, ‘All the kids who fucking hate ‘High School Musical.’ And he smiled and kind of went, ‘Okay.’ And then he went and watched ‘World’s Greatest Dad,’ and I got the thumbs up. He said, ‘Tell Bobcat to go ahead and write the script.’”
Which is where the project stands at the moment. In fact, it’s in such early stages that it hasn’t even been added to Goldthwait’s IMDb page…and given how even the slightest rumor of a project generally ends up with its own listing, that’s early. But, of course, that doesn’t mean that we can’t start throwing out casting ideas for “Schoolboys.”
I guess Alan Rickman’s probably too overused in stern authoritarian roles these days to suggest that he play The Headmaster, so I’m putting out left-field requests for Richard Ayoade, of “The I.T. Crowd” or Julian Barratt of “The Mighty Boosh.” As for the various schoolboys, perhaps Skandar Keynes (the “Narnia” films), Mike Bailey (“Skins”), and Simon Bird (“The InBetweeners”)…? And for the female student who’ll make our naughty little schoolboy swoon, I’m throwing my vote to Karen Gillan, otherwise known as the upcoming companion for the new Doctor Who.
Am I wrong…? Feel free to offer up your own suggestions below, and be sure to check out our interview with the illustrious Mr. Goldthwait in full next week on Bullz-Eye.com!
I just woke up and realized that there’s more to life than our talented and ever controversial lantern-jawed friend. For example…
* I’ve made it clear too many times that I’m not innately hostile to remakes. But in the annals of apparent bad ideas, Robert Zemeckis using his invariably uninspiring/unconvincing style of motion-capture to remake the Beatles psychedlic animation “Yellow Submarine” is a real contender. I don’t consider the original a great film but it is what it is and remaking it with two of the original Beatles now long passed on seems bizarre to me. I truly don’t see a point here, but maybe I’m missing something.
* I’ve been remiss in not mentioning the whole mishegas going on between Redbox and Warner Brothers. If Warners doesn’t want to sell them the titles prior to 28 days after their release on home video, I’m not sure if there’s any legal justification for forcing them too, but then I’m not a lawyer. On the other hand, as Patrick Goldstein points out in the article from Monday I linked to above, business models like Redbox are going to be unavoidable as the home entertainment market becomes ever more important.
I get more DVDs than I have time to watch for free as part of my critic gig, but I honestly have never understood why anyone would purchase a DVD of a movie that isn’t a huge favorite, much less a movie they’ve never seen before. It’s not like a CD where you can pop it into your car stereo or put it on for background music while you make dinner and, of course, people are figuring out ways to not buy those as well. Seems to me that the economy is forcing people to be a little more discriminating.
* Executive Tom Sherak is the new head of the Academy of Motion Pictures Arts & Sciences (AMPAS to its friends), stepping in for the term-limited Sid Ganis. Anne Thompson has no problem with it. Stepping right into character, Nikki Finke has a huge problem with it, and so do many of her commenters, while the rest are pro-Sherak. Why is it that every time I read the comments at Ms. Finke’s, I get the feeling I’m watching the road company version of “All About Eve”?
* The guy has “movie star” written all over him — he’s a little bit Gregory Peck, a little bit Cary Grant (including Grant’s gift for comedy), with a touch of young Montgomery Clift — so especially with the widely touted ratings success of “Mad Men” on Sunday night, it’s no surprise Jon Hamm is getting movie work. The latest addition to his resume is Zack Snyder’s “Sucker Punch”. Anne Thompson prefers “The Town,” however. One thing’s for sure, if anyone ever decides to do “The James Mason Story,” he’s the guy.
The week of Tarantino continues with some left over material from last night. First, I implore you to watch the terrific video below from cinephile critic turned cinephile critic/filmmaker Matt Zoeller Seitz on the verbiage of Tarantino. (You can read more about his thinking at his link above.) (H/t Jeffrey Wells.)
Actually, there’s even more because Matt and the very cool Keith Uhlich of the very cool blog, The House Next Door, had a very lengthy and in-depth discussion about Tarantino back in 2007 that’s well worth your time if you care about the state of this sort of movie making. It’s funny that I agree more with Keith on Tarantino (well, I’m not at all sure about the spirituality), but I certainly wouldn’t choose the same list of favorite critics, which makes it even more intriguing to me. I guess I should finish reading it, then?
On a somewhat related topic, Anne Thompson considers this moment in the career of Tarantino’s mogul benefactor, Harvey W.
