AICN points to a flurry of new trailers, most notably The Missing, a Blair Witch western with Cate Blanchett and Tommy Lee Jones (no, he’s not playing the pollution Indian), and Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, the new Charlie Kaufman script starring Jim Carrey, Kate Winslet, Kirsten Dunst, Elijah Wood, and Tom Wilkinson (and directed by Michel Gondry)…looks like Kaufmanesque fun.
Category: Directors
Weapons of Choice.
By way of Do You Feel Loved, how cool are these? Spike Jonze, Chris Cunningham, and Michel Gondry will each be coming out with tricked-up retrospective DVDs this fall. Here’s one way I can repay Cunningham for unauthorized use of his Bjorkbots in the GitM title image.
Alphabet City.
So the big TV story in Blog Nation and elsewhere today is K Street. With this and Carnivale, I now really wish I had HBO, but ah well. At any rate, I for one am rooting for K St., not only ’cause I’m big fans of all involved, but also because there’re many politicians out there (Orrin Hatch, for example) who only recognize the worth of a given position if they hear themselves saying it. (Take, for example, the debate wrought by Soderbergh’s own Traffic.) I do think, however, that the quick turnaround time between episodes will cause problems in the later going…not only is it often hard to get pols to commit their schedules so quickly, but the show is one controversial moment away from being on the butt-end of a freeze-out sponsored by some touchy soul like Tom DeLay. Nevertheless, it sounds like a fascinating show well worth watching, even if the life it depicts is considerably less glamorous and frenetic than it lets on.
Empire of the Knight.
The word has come down from director Chris Nolan: Christian Bale will be Batman. Of the possible contenders, I’d say that’s definitely the right choice. Now for everyone else…I’ve been hearing Aaron Eckhart as Commissioner Gordon for years, and still think that’s spot-on Year One casting. As for the villain(s)…it sounds like they’re leaning toward Ras Al Ghul and the Scarecrow. (Cillian Murphy, Raz?) Those are two of the creepier denizens of Batman’s Rogue’s Gallery, and if done right this film could be great fanboy fun, a la X2. I think they could just have easily used a young, whip-thin, and terminally insane Joker, particularly if they are trying to reboot the Batman mythos as intended, but oh well. If nothing else, it’ll be interesting to see what the director of Memento does with Arkham Asylum.
Silly Rabbit.
The full-on trailer for QT’s Kill Bill is now online and…um, well, it looks better than the teaser, at any rate. I expect to see this in a double feature with the Coen’s Intolerable Cruelty on October 10, but I must say I still have pretty big reservations about this project (and I like mace-wielding Japanese schoolgirls as much as the next guy.) I guess we’ll see. Also in the trailer pipe, Halle Berry’s Gothika (due out October 24)…ho-hum.
Elessar Awakens.
For those of you who didn’t buy the theatrical version of LOTR:TTT and haven’t watched a friend’s copy to see the juice, this new fan-made RotK trailer (from the people who created the “Smaug Awakens” Hobbit trailer) contains much of the best footage from the DVD extras. Enjoy.
Of Fouettes and Frodo.
As part of their fall preview, the NY Times takes in Robert Altman and Neve Campbell’s Company (the Joffrey Ballet), and Elvis Mitchell sings the praises of Peter Jackson.
Four-Color Casting Call.
Eager to catch up with Marvel in the summer blockbuster dept., Warner Brothers and DC plan to screentest a bevy of young stars for Christopher (Memento) Nolan’s new Batman film. (Of these choices, I’d go with Christian Bale.) Also is comic casting news, it turns out cut-rate chanteuse/Newlywed Jessica Simpson will be playing the lead in Mort the Dead Teenager. Normally, this’d be a non-story, but she had been rumored to play Sue Storm (Invisible Girl) in the upcoming Fantastic Four flick, which — if true — would have instantly erased any interest I might have in the project. Now, Naomi Watts, on the other hand…
Slingin’ in the Rain.
Rainy days and Mondays always get Neo down…Coming Soon gets a handful of new Matrix: Revolutions images. Mild spoilers, although there’s not much here that you didn’t see in the trailer.
Lost in Translation.
Thrill to the adventures of Arogon, Gandlof Foorgray, Gibley, and the Hoberts. My friend Giovanni sends along these Engrish TTT bootleg captions. The strength of the ring barrel is fading…