No Country for Old men Tagged Articles at Cinematical
Fan Made: The Improbable Movie Trading Cards
Filed under: Fandom », Images », Fan Made »
I wasn't much of a collector when I was a kid. I could never keep a toy in it's package perched high on a shelf. In fact, usually the packaging would last about as long as it could take me to wrench my new She-Ra, Jem, or Barbie from their cardboard cage. But the one thing I did collect were trading cards, E.T. trading cards to be exact. But that was a long time ago, and those cards have long been misplaced (and I won't even dwell on the fact I had the complete set), so you can imagine the overload of nostalgia I experienced when I saw The Improbably Movie Cards over at Automatic Lifestyle Dispenser. Because, what these fine folks have done is made movie collector cards in that classic 80's style, but the catch is that these cards are for films that no person in their right mind would want to collect, and the results are pretty funny -- if not a little bizarre.
So how bad it could it be? Well, if you thought a Silkwood card might be in 'dubious' taste, wait till you get a look at the Schindler's List "Nazi's on The Move" card. Dispenser also made collector cards for good old Alvy and Annie, Sara Goldfarb, and even Charlie Meadows. But no trading card pack would be complete without the stickers, and luckily they have thought of that too, and we get collectible stickers of Colonel "The Horror" Kurtz, and Anton "Friendo" Chigurh. Unfortunately, these cards only exist online, but I don't think I would be the only one out there who would kill for their very own set of Annie Hall trading cards.
Fan Made: Art at Reelizer
Filed under: Fan Made »
Anyone can buy an official movie poster or a t-shirt, but what happens when an artist re-interprets the official movie artwork and filters it through his or her own unique imagination? You get a whole collection of amazingly cool, crazy, sometimes downright twisted stuff, as showcased on the young blog reelizer.com. The blog started this past April and nothing new has been posted since May, but there are currently 7 pages of amazing artwork that I have gone back to look at several times now. (Many items are for sale if you follow the links.)
Some of my favorites include a series of re-designed, re-interpreted movie posters, done using only red, black and white (by Olly Mos). There's a striking print of the three main characters in No Country for Old Men by Blake Loosli, and a original, unused, potentially eye-straining movie poster for Moon. There's an ad for a complete Travis Bickle wardrobe, some gorgeous Star Wars hoodies, and some official Gremlins Reeboks. Dave Macdowell has done a mind-blowing Wizard of Oz/Pulp Fiction mashup fan poster. You can even see the unblemished artwork for the Criterion Collection's Monsters and Madmen DVD box set. Above is a tribute to Léon (The Professional) by Ruben Martinez that I would be proud to hang on my walls.
Admittedly, most of this stuff is done by professional artists, and some of it is official movie artwork, but there's some amateur stuff here too. Overall, it's a museum-quality exhibition of amazing cinema-stuff, and up-and-coming artists can submit their own work. Check out some of the images below.
I Reckon Westerns Are Coming Back ...
Filed under: Fandom », Newsstand », Quentin Tarantino », Western »
Of course I'm leaving a few of them out (apologies to the Texas Rangers fans out there), and it's also worth noting that not all of them were successful or popular. Some of them were downright disastrous. But they were made when Unforgiven supposedly shot them down, and they were clearly popular or interesting enough to warrant a few more remakes and revivals. The Lone Ranger is set to call on Silver, the Coen Bros are re-hiring Rooster Cogburn, and Gerard Butler will reportedly try to duck the noose in The Hanging Tale. On the graphic novel end, you'll have Jonah Hex wrecking bloody havoc, and Preacher may finally go to Texas. Today, Variety is reporting that Roy Rogers may rise from the dead for a new film trilogy. It won't be a biopic, nor a traditional Western, but be some kind of "family-fantasy adventure" that will use the characters of Rogers, Dale Evans, and Trigger, capitalizing (their words, not mine) on their iconic status, and introducing them to a new generation.
Spin-ematical: New on DVD for 4/7
Filed under: Action », Animation », Classics », Comedy », Drama », Horror », Independent », Sci-Fi & Fantasy », New on DVD », Family Films », Home Entertainment », Remakes and Sequels »
Doubt
Philip Seymour Hoffman is thrilling to watch as a priest accused of abuse by god-like nun Meryl Streep. Streep's highly-studied Bronx accent cracks me up, but this is a crackerjack stage play by John Patrick Shanley that he adopted for the screen and directed. Viola Davis makes a deep impression, and Amy Adams is a cute nun. Buy it.
Add to Netflix queue | Buy at Amazon | Read Jeffrey M. Anderson's review.
The Tale of Despereaux
Quoting myself: "A slapdash character study of two rodents ... a gentle and nurturing children's story, imparting lessons without being too condescending to its audience." This could become a family perennial. With the voices of Matthew Broderick, Dustin Hoffman, and Emma Watson. Buy it.
Add to Netflix queue | Buy at Amazon | Read my review.
The Day the Earth Stood Still
You've already seen the best bits in the trailer. Seriously. Even allowing for Keanu Reeves' intentionally blank slate and the prototypical "annoying kid," and crushing on Jennifer Connelly, this was a deadly bore that didn't come close to the far superior original. Skip it.
Add to Netflix queue | Buy at Amazon | Read William Goss' review.
Yes Man
Jim Carrey stars in what our man Will Goss described as "a minor lark in the Canadian comedian's career ... familiar and funny in about equal measure." Still, Carrey familiarity + Zooey Deschanel makes me want to check it out. Rent it.
Add to Netflix queue | Buy at Amazon | Read William Goss' review.
Adam Sandler has always seemed child-like, but Jette Kernion said: "Watching Bedtime Stories is about as delightful as peeking into your Christmas stocking and finding it empty except for a few lint-covered peppermints." (Note: Released this past Sunday.) Skip it.
Add to Netflix queue | Buy at Amazon | Read Jette Kernion's review.
Fan Made: When Peeps Play Hollywood
Filed under: Fandom », Images », Fan Made »
Most fan-made projects can't hold a torch to the impressive world of Easter Peeps and dioramas. There's something about those marshmallow chicks and bunnies that were just made for the world of Hollywood. For the second year in a row, The Washington Post has held their Peeps contest, and once again, the world of film is heavily, wonderfully, and comically represented. The people that send in these recreated scenes -- they've got some serious talent ... and time on their hands.
Would Ghostbusters have been as eerie if the gigantic Stay Puft monster was actually an enormous Peep with no mouth? And I think the Coens were missing out when they made No Country for Old Men with humans instead of Peeps. There's just something about marshmallow and bloody gore that goes together. But these are only the tip of the iceberg -- other movies that got the Peeps treatment this year: The Wizard of Oz, Full Metal Jacket, Mars Attacks, The Birds, A Christmas Story, Amadeus, Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon, and Casablanca.
After a few years of these killer recreations, I'm thinking that Hollywood should dump those competing Easter bunny projects and direct their attention to the Peeps. Check out some of our favorite movie-related Peep creations in the gallery below, then view the rest over at The Washington Post.
Watch This: Coen Bros. Direct 'Clean Coal Air Freshener'
Filed under: Politics », Trailers and Clips »
Last year about this time, Joel and Ethan Coen were basking in the glow of winning multiple Academy Awards for No Country for Old Men. This year, they're hard at work finishing their black comedy follow-up, A Serious Man, which is due out this fall.
While they're in that black comedy mood, the Coen Brothers took time out to direct a 30-second TV ad in support of the Reality Coalition. You can watch the video, which is embedded below, thanks to the folks at Funny or Die. The Reality Coalition wants to "expose the coal industry's misleading marketing campaign for so-called 'clean coal,'" according to a prepared statement.
The Coens have always laced their work with sly, subversive messages, but the video is the first time they've been so straightforward in making a contribution to a, gulp, somewhat political campaign. (Don't worry, the ad itself won't knock you over the head with its message.) The press release says they "were excited to be part of this important project."
I love the line, "Clean Coal Clean harnesses the awesome power of the word 'clean' to make it sound like the cleanest there is." Beyond the concept and the ad copy, what makes the spot work is the deadpan comic timing of the Coen Brothers; the 'suburban family trying a new product' is a tried-and-true advertising gambit, but they give it a good, choking spin. Check it out:
What's a Best Picture Nomination Worth?
Filed under: Awards », New Releases », Box Office », Oscar Watch »
You hear a lot of talk by pointy-headed box office types about the coveted "Oscar bump" -- the extra bit of staying power provided by a slew of Oscar nominations. The theory is simple: people want to see good movies, and take Oscar recognition -- Best Picture in particular -- as a surefire signal that a movie is worth seeing. (Not everyone is as cynical as the rest of us.) Going on this assumption, theaters keep nominated films playing longer (or even bring them back), people are inspired to go see them, and everybody wins. But what impact does a Best Picture nomination actually have on a movie's bottom line? In an article they ran a couple days ago, Slate thinks it has the answer: $6,663,508.The way they came up with that number is mildly eyebrow-raising. They looked at box office numbers for the four weeks before and after the Oscar nominations were announced each year, tracking both the Best Picture-nominated films and other "movies that mattered" -- movies they deemed to be "in the running," or otherwise significant. The nominees made, on average, just over $1 million more in the four weeks after the announcement than before, and the other films made, on average, just over $5 million less. Combining those numbers gave Slate their magic figure.
More Like 'No Money for Old Men': Tommy Lee Jones Sues Paramount
Filed under: Drama », Thrillers », Deals », Mystery & Suspense », Paramount », RumorMonger », Celebrities and Controversy », Miramax », Paramount Vantage »
In last year's Best Picture winner, No Country for Old Men, Tommy Lee Jones played a weary sheriff chasing after a man who was chasing after some money. Well, according to the San Antonio Express-News, Jones is now himself a weary man chasing after some money, specifically from the pockets of Paramount.
It appears that a contract signed by Jones between Paramount and its subsidiary, N.M. Classics, Inc. contained two "mistakes" that may have prevented him from garnering up to, and perhaps upwards of, $10 million in the wake of the film's success. What's worse is that he was still deducted for any number of expenses, despite alleged awareness of the errors on the part of Paramount. As such, Jones wants an auditor to go through their books and figure out just how much he is owed.
Naturally, neither side of the case has made much in terms of formal comment. As his character might say, if this ain't a mess, it'll do 'til the mess gets here.
[Thanks to Movie City News for the tip.]
Coen Bros Cast 'A Serious Man'
Filed under: Comedy », Independent », Casting », Focus Features », Oscar Watch », Cinematical Indie »
How do you follow-up a broad comedy starring the biggest names in Hollywood, George Clooney and Brad Pitt? If you're the Coen brothers, you apparently hit the car in reverse and make your next effort a darker story and cast relative unknowns. Variety reports that the newly minted Oscar winning directors Joel and Ethan Coen have cast Tony-nominated stage actor Michael Stuhlbarg (The Pillowman) and TV's Richard Kind (Mad About You; Spin City) for the two lead roles in A Serious Man, their next film after this fall's Burn After Reading. The actors will play brothers in the 1967-set black comedy, which returns the Coens to Fargo territory by placing the story in their home turf of Minneapolis. In fact, when we first learned of A Serious Man, more than a year ago (and almost a year before the Coens each won 3 Academy Awards, for writing, directing and producing No Country for Old Men), the script was described as being "in the vein of Fargo." Now we get a little inkling more about the plot of Serious: Stuhlberg will play a professor named Larry Gopnik, whose wife is leaving him and whose "socially inept" brother (Kind) won't leave the house. Hopefully, to further repeat the analogy to their double-Oscar-winning 1996 film, the Coens can cast Frances McDormand as the wife, she can then win another Academy Award and Kind (pictured above) can, like William H. Macy before him, finally go from near-obscurity to well-known, well-respected supporting actor within the next decade.
EXCLUSIVE: 'Burn After Reading' Poster Premiere!
Filed under: Comedy », Drama », Mystery & Suspense », Fandom », Brad Pitt », Images », Posters »
Cinematical is absolutely stoked to be premiering this exclusive poster for Burn After Reading (click to enlarge), written and directed by Joel and Ethan Coen -- whose last film, No Country for Old Men, caused quite the stir last year online, in theaters and at the Academy Awards. Not sure if you heard of it ... something about a cowboy and a weird haircut? Yes? Maybe? Anyway, one thing the Coen boys are known for are their casts, and Burn After Reading is no exception; this flick boasts appearances from, well, read the poster. You've got Brad Pitt, George Clooney, Frances McDormand, John Malkovich and Tilda Swinton. Need I say more? Or less? (Will this post self-destruct in sixty seconds?)
What's being touted as a "dark, spy-comedy," Burn After Reading looks to return the brothers to the kind of humor that was found in films like Raising Arizona or The Big Lebowski (two of my personal favs). The synopsis goes a little something like this: An ousted CIA official's (Academy Award nominee John Malkovich) memoir accidentally falls into the hands of two unwise gym employees intent on exploiting their find.
Burn After Reading will premiere at the 2008 Venice International Film Festival before arriving in theaters on September 12th.
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Discuss: The Movies That Haunt You
