Interesting site about movies with topics like "Nietzsche and the Meaning of Noir"

Moonshine is the new sensation at the Sundance Festival this year. Not because it's such a great vampire-movie (maybe it is...), but because it was made for 9200$, including the costs for an Apple G4 and a Panasonic camera for $3495.00. The site has some useful links for "Ultra-Low Budget Filmmaking".

Seit diesem Wochenende gibt es wieder Hoffnung für die Welt. Die 5. Staffel von "24" ist am Start und da wird es zwischendurch Zeit für einen kalorienreduzierten Energieriegel. Sehen Sie den besten Folterknecht und Terroristenjäger der Welt in drei japanischen Werbespots 24-Style: Eins, zwei oder drei.

Based on the novel by Christopher Priest, starring Christopher Nolan, Christian Bale, David Bowie, Michael Caine, Hugh Jackman plus Scarlett Johansson. Yiha!

"The Ministry of Unknown Science -- or MOUS, as it is acronymically known -- is widely believed to be an underground comedy cadre located in Los Angeles, California who mix live performances with digital video sketches, and in the process blow their audiences' freaking heads wide open with fun.

In actuality, MOUS is a top-secret consortium of scientific geniuses backed with all the funding, nuclear technology, bad ideas and pure will necessary to control the entire world."

Watch Detective Elephant Man

Transbuddha posted links for some of the funniest Star Wars-parodies. Don't miss DJ Darth, Store Wars or "The parade of unfortunate Star Wars costumes"

"Bender Films was founded by Jason Lockyer a multi-media artist from Media Pa, and is still owned and operated by him. There is a new film every month." This one is pretty cool!

I mean, it would be cool!

->Moviehole.net.

Ang Lee hat nach dem "Hulk" immer noch nicht genug. Obwohl er für die schwulen Cowboys in "Brokeback Mountain" sicher im Oscar-Rennen sitzt, dürfte sein nächstes Projekt vor allem Hohngelächter auslösen: He-Man and the Masters of the Universe. Genau, diese hässlichen Plastik-Hooligans, die einst den Siegeszug der Action Figuren einleiteten...

Frat boys in a warzone! Another war movie disguised as an anti-war movie. I really wanted to see all these dickheads die like in a real anti-war movie. Burn, motherfuckers, burn! All that! But, no, in the end you have to follow them "back in their real lives" and all that. Why don't you read the lyrics of "Die Jugend marschiert!" instead?

"Ingagi arrived in 1930 to satisfy a hunger for jungle pictures piqued by Theodore Roosevelt's African safari and fueled by the success of such nickelodeon hits as "Heart of Africa," documenting a 1915 Kenyan safari by Lady Grace Mackenzie, and "Hunting Big Game in Africa," a phony account of the Roosevelt trip. (...) As only a handful of zoos and circuses exhibited apes during the early 20th century, movies featuring all forms of monkeys emerged as a popular genre, and some filmmakers, such as William S. Campbell, seemed to specialize in monkey-themed films.(...) Capitalizing on the craze, Congo Pictures Ltd. released "Ingagi." All advertisements for the film explained that "ingagi" means "gorilla." And every ad and article stated that the movie documented an authentic, scientific two-year expedition in the Belgian Congo, produced by Sir Hubert Winstead of the Royal Geological Society, who appeared in the film along with American sportsman Capt. Daniel Swayne.(...) "Ingagi" was an unabashed exploitation film, almost immediately running afoul of the Hollywood code of ethics created by the Motion Picture Producers and Distributors Assn. (MPPDA), a consortium of the major motion picture studios popularly known as the Hays Office. A week after "Ingagi's" Chicago debut, the Hays Code was modified to state that: "Sex perversion or any inference of it is forbidden" and "Complete nudity is never permitted."

Very interesting piece of film-history! Read the full story at calendarlive

Geeks galore: Tarantino, Rodriguez and Smith talk about Clerks 2

The trailer for that 9/11-movie by Paul Greengrass is here! It "looks" (well, there is almost nothing to see...) frightening. Ordinary people become heroes... Heroes, heroes, heroes! America, would you please wake up!

Interview with Paul Greengrass in the New York Times

„There are over 550 million firearms in worldwide circulation. That's one firearm for every twelve people on the planet. The only question is: How do we arm the other 11?“

Herausragender Film des neuen New Hollywood, der es sich alles andere als einfach macht und einen schwierigen Balanceakt gemeistert hat. Nicholas Cage spielt den legendären Waffenhändler Yuri Orlov und Ethan Hawke ist sein Verfolger bei Interpol. Klassischer Plot, klingt ganz klar nach "Heat" und reichlich Action, aber Autor und Regisseur Andrew Niccol marschiert in eine andere Richtung und begeistert mit einem Ende wie ein Schlag in die Magengrube für alle amerikanischen Gutmenschen vom Schlage Ethan Hawke.

Niccol gestaltet die Verfolgungsjagd des Interpol-Agenten ausgesprochen sparsam und verfängt sich nie in unrealistischen Action-Sequenzen. Dem Regisseur geht es um die Moral und er zeigt den Waffenhandel von seiner schmutzigsten Seite ohne sich dabei im Blut zu wälzen. Es gelingen ihm sogar genug ironische Seitenhiebe um den Film teilweise als "schwarze Komödie" durchgehen zu lassen. So erinnert sich der Waffenhändler gern an gute Kunden: „Back then, I didn't sell to Osama Bin Laden. Not because of moral reasons, but because he was always bouncing checks.“

Dieser Polit-Thriller geht seinen politischen Inhalten nicht aus dem Weg und zeigt nur dann Schwächen, wenn nebenbei noch zusätzliche Informationen über die diversen Bürgerkriege ausgeschüttet werden, aber dem durchschnittlichen Zuschauer ist bisher vermutlich entgangen, was sich so in Liberia oder Sierra Leone abgespielt hat. Ein zynischer Film, der keinen Hehl daraus macht, dass es keine Guten gibt und Geld die Welt auch weiterhin regieren wird. Von der grandiosen Eröffnung, die dem Weg einer Patrone aus der Munitionsfabrik bis in den Kopf seines Opfers folgt, hin zum finalen Verhör geht der Film keine Kompromiße ein. Soviel Zynismus hatte man dem Ami-Kino kaum noch zugetraut und die ausgezeichnete Besetzung rundet den Film erst richtig ab.

Verständlicherweise war das Projekt ausgesprochen schwierig zu finanzieren und die Amerikaner dürften "Lord of War" richtig doll gehasst haben, aber in Europa dürfte der Film ab Februar für viel Aufmerksamkeit sorgen.

„You know who's going to inherit the world? Arms dealers. Because everyone else is too busy killing each other.“

Official Site

Trailer

Yuri Orlov - The real story

"US box office takings for 2005 were 4% lower than 2004 (and that’s a lot of money), and the lowest since 1982, supposedly.(...) Frankly, summer movies have always been shit, so there’s not an incredibly compelling argument to make for The Creative Death Of Hollywood. No more compelling than usual, anyway. It’d be easy, probably too easy, to make the case for Hollywood having forgotten how to make movies. FUN WITH DICK AND JANE is not a $100 million dollar movie. I mean, come on. STEALTH should have been direct to DVD, as should DOOM. The creative and financial crisis is obvious."

<A target=_blank HREF="Warren Ellis on the crisis in Hollywood

Wow, another remake!

The trailer with "Age Of Consent" by New Order and that Sex Pistols-logo in the end... Sophie Coppola really rocks!

"Public domain Torrents has links to more than 500 movies in the public domain available for download via BitTorrent. Most are compatible with the video iPod." Via Wired

"This is the rare UK Channel 4 documentary about Blade Runner, giving insights into it's history with interviews of Ridley Scott, the writers and nearly all the cast. (...) There is also a tour of some locations, most notably the Bradbury Building and the Warner Brothers backlot that was the LA 2019 streets, which look very different from Ridley's dark version.

The documentary then details the test screenings postproduction editing/changes (voice over and happy ending, deleted Holden hospital scene), special effects, soundtrack by Vangelis, and the unhappy relationship between the filmmakers and the investors; which culminated in Deeley and Ridley being fired but still working on the film. The question of whether or not is a replicant surfaces. After being a "disaster" in the box office (a financial loss initially) Blade Runner was reborn in the video rental market, and a great reception of a chance screening of Ridley's workprint at the Fairfax Theater, Los Angeles, in May 1990 led to Warner Bros. having the 'Director's Cut' done by film archivist Michael Arick."

IMDB

Torrent: On the Edge of Blade Runner

What happened to the Blade Runner Special Edition DVD?

Studio Guidelines "In order to become an official movie poster suitable for all audiences the poster must follow the guidelines listed below:

No nudity or sexual activity No gun to camera/no shooting to camera No gun to victim/no shooting to victim No more than 2 guns may appear No reference to drugs/drug paraphernalia No offensive language or gestures No blood No violence towards women No cruelty to animals No mutations/mutilations/cadavers No excessive violence or brutality No rape/molestations No people on fire No people in explosion/people blown out of explosion No exploiting/capitalizing on rating (i.e., "R has never gone this far", "Banned in Boston") No demeaning of religion, race or national origin"

Maybe you still wanna join the Silent Hill Poster Contest

Beast is talking to the president! Snikt!

Another fanfilm from Finnland. This looks much better than the fanfilms I've seen so far. The trailer (starring Hitler and George W. Bush!) is worthwhile checking out. Impressive CGI for a bunch of amateurs.

Sigh...!

"Homecoming is a full-frontal assault on the Bush administration, and about as subtle -- and bracing -- as a punch to the jaw. Adapted by Sam Hamm from Dale Bailey's short story "Death and Suffrage" -- but also vaguely reminiscent of Irwin Shaw's 1936 anti-war play "Bury the Dead" -- Dante's hour darkly satirizes zombie movie conventions, as dead soldiers arise to vote against the politicians who shipped them off to war. (Variety)"

Sounds like Masters of Horror is a fun show in general. Check the roster of directors! Episode 2 was "Dreams in the Witch House" by H.P. Lovecraft with Stuart Gordon as a director.

Cool picture and full story at boingboing.net

Have a Torrent

Wired hat heuer eine schöne Geschichte über Menschen, die es nicht ertragen können, dass die vierte und fünfte Staffel der ersten "Star Tek"-Serie nie gedreht wurden. So haben sich allerhand Nerds The New Voyages ausgedacht und viel mehr kann man dazu nicht sagen, aber eine genauere Untersuchung des Phänomen "Fanfilme" steht noch aus. Auch bei fanfilms.com gibt es wieder massig neue Filme wie Robin's Big Date oder die Doom Raiders(von den Leuten, die Ihnen The Empire Strikes Backyard brachten.)

"In 1971, producer Nate Waschberger asked Jerry to direct and star in "The Day the Clown Cried", based on Joan O’Brien’s book by the same name, about a German clown who was arrested by the Gestapo, interred in a concentration camp, and used to march Jewish children into the ovens. Jerry lost close to 40 pounds to play the role. The shooting began in Stockholm, but Waschberger not only ran out of money to complete the film, but he failed to pay Joan O’Brien the money she was owed for the rights to the story. Jerry was forced to finish the picture with his own money. The film has been tied up in litigation ever since, and all of the parties involved have never been able to reach an agreeable settlement. Jerry hopes to someday complete the film, which remains to this day, a significant expression of cinematic art, suspended in the abyss of international litigation." Quoted from over here.

Jerry Lewis' never completed political statement painstakingly recreated for radio (scroll down) and much more.

THE DAY THE CLOWN CRIED - THE FINAL DRAFT PLUS ACTUAL FILM CLIPS

Spreeblick found this.

Da wollte ich auch schon ganz lange mal was zu schreiben... Noch ist Jerry Lewis am Leben und vielleicht muss man doch nicht bis tausend Jahre nach seinem Tod warten um diesen Film zu sehen, der sehr viel besser sein soll als "Das Leben ist schön", der ähnlich aufgebaut ist. Sehr interessantes Stück Filmgeschichte jedenfalls...

Und das Genie Jerry Lewis wird sowieso viel zu wenig gefeiert. "Funny Bones" und "King of Comedy", ganz klar Lieblingsfilme in meinem Regal!

More about the worst kind of science fiction out there at Slate

"Twenty-six years after being shunned by the mainstream, the cult classic rises again (and again, and again). It all started with the battle of Cunaxa near Babylon in 401 B.C. If Prince Cyrus hadn't challenged his brother, Artaxerxes II, for the Persian throne and hired 10,000 Greek mercenaries, the most intriguing new special edition DVD and the most hyped video game of 2005 and one of the most eagerly anticipated remakes of 2006 would never have happened.

'The Warriors,' Walter Hill's 1979 fantasy about street gangs, has just been released on DVD with special commentary from Hill and the cast and crew. At the same time, Rockstar Games has issued 'The Warriors' video game in PlayStation 2 and Xbox formats. And Grove Press is now shipping its reissue of Sol Yurick's 1965 novel, 'The Warriors," which, as the cover says, is "The Basis of the Cult Classic Film."

Full story at salon.com

The first movie from Pixar I really don't want to see. The new Trailer is another big disappointment. Must have something to do with Disney....