Walt Disney's Sin City

I like a clever fake trailer and post these mashups from time to time.  This one is particularly well done.
Walt Disney's Sin City:



hat tip to Neatorama

Stop me if you've heard this one...

Here's the trailer for The Change-Up starring Jason 'Silver Spoons' Bateman and Ryan 'Waiting' Reynolds:



Seem familiar?

Apparently this is the go-to concept when the well runs dry for a Hollywood screenwriter.















Did I miss any?

Memories and Thoughts as the VHS Format Turns 33!

Today the VHS format turned 33! I was only four years old when VHS was introduced to the world in 1977. We wouldn't have one for about five more years, but I remember when we first got a VHS VCR in my house, we hooked it up and one of my sisters had rented an American Werewolf in London.

It must have been 1982,  I was only 9 at the time, but I remember watching that movie with my family, all the nudity, and violence intact from the theatrical release.  I was used to watching movies that had been cut to pieces, edited for content and length and appearing on network television.  We did not have cable so we had to drive 20 miles from Selden to Oberlin, Kansas to rent movies.  I don't remember too many of the films we rented, but I recall seeing Trading Places, one or two of the Friday the 13th films, and 16 Candles.  I specifically remember watching the George Romero/Stephen King comedy-horror masterpiece, Creepshow while a friend was over for a sleepover, and that we stayed up pretty much most of the night scared out of our young minds!

We didn't rent a whole lot in those days due to the distance involved in obtaining and returning videos, but mostly used the VCR for it's most revolutionary aspect, time shifting television, and allowing us to record one channel while watching another.  It's sometimes difficult to remember what a life-changing concept this was in the 1980s given the current age of DVRs and streaming web video.

As the youngest child of four it became very apparent that this was a tool designed for me.  I was often low man on the totem pole when it came to choosing viewing material, so the VCR guaranteed I'd never miss Automan, Misfits of Science, or Manimal, shows that my Knots Landing, Dallas loving sisters despised.

Once we moved to Oberlin in 1986 I had my first crack at Cable TV, and the VHS once again proved to be a world changer for me.  For whatever reason when we got cable we were not given a cable box for the channels beyond 13, but I quickly discovered the tuner in our VCR went up to 188, so all those upper tier channels became available.  I found the Discovery Channel (16) and Nickelodeon (33, I think).  Nickelodeon at the time featured the awesome, You Can't Do That on Television (check out the Pythonesque intro), Mr. Wizards World, and the surreal animated French adventure show Spartakus and the Sun Beneath the Sea. I wish they'd release that one in an English language DVD set, but alas, no.  Check out the awesome opening credits:

Check out some Spartakus episodes HERE!

I also remember using the VCR to record NBC's Friday Night Videos, and Night Flight on USA Network. We didn't have MTV in my home town (not even on the upper channels) so those two shows were my only real outlet to view music videos. Here's some Night Flight video about the movie Krull if you've forgotten this awesome 80s show:



Night Flight featured all kinds of video weirdness aside from music, and was my first exposure to the Church of the Subgenius.

I used the VCR to sample and save all kinds of shows and movies and I still have a collection of movies on tape, as well as three working VHS players (one is a DVD combo).  Somewhere in my stacks of old tapes I still have the pilot episode of Twin Peaks from the night it premiered, commercials and all.

VHS tape is truly a buyers market these days.  Thrift stores often have movies on videocassette for as little as $1 each, not just junk either, but major releases.  There is also a lot of stuff that was released on VHS that hasn't made the jump to DVD, so visit those thrift stores.  You can probably pick up a standard definition TV and VCR while you're there.

Last year the awesome website/podcast The Retroist did a great show on the VCR. You can listen to that show HERE.

Happy Birthday VHS, I'll never forget you!

Cafe Press Fan Portal: Hot Tub Time Machine

Cafe Press has also partnered with MGM allowing fan created products for the much anticipated Hot Tub Time Machine:



Here's my t-shirt design inspired by the greatest movie of 2010:

Get yours here!

Save Free TV!

I was looking for some retro audio at the Internet Archive and stumbled across this amusing gem from the early days of Cable Television:

Peter Sarsgaard is Hector Hammond

Actor Peter Sarsgaard has  been cast as Hector Hammond in the Ryan Reynolds Green Lantern movie. I've always liked Hammond's freakishly large skull, so I mocked up a Sarsgaard-Hammond in Photoshop:

A-Team Trailer and an Alternate

Well, the A-Team Trailer has been available here and there today:

If that one gets taken down, which seems likely, check out this fake trailer from 2007.  I kind of like the idea of them keeping the team as Vietnam veterans, acting as aging Soldiers of Fortune.  Morgan Freeman as B.A. seems oddly inspired:

The A-Team trailer | Movies & TV | SPIKE.com

Review: Watchmen the Movie

Watchmen the Graphic Novel has been called unfilmable, but I saw Watchmen the Movie on Saturday night, so the statement is at least partially untrue. What makes Watchmen the Graphic Novel so great boils down to three things: the plot, the characters, and the way the story is told.

The movie does a decent job adapting the first two, but the third is simply impossible. Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons utilize the unique elements of comic story telling to elevate a good plot and great characters to a masterpiece of the comics medium. Watchmen the Movie is akin to Citizen Kane the Graphic Novel. Orson Welles used the unique elements of film to tell his story in a way that sets it apart from any other medium. A good writer and artist could adapt Kane, tell the story with all the necessary elements intact, but it wouldn’t be a comics masterpiece, just as Watchmen the Movie is not a cinematic masterpiece.

I think the movie looks great, the effects are good (especially Dr. Manhattan, and Rorshach’s mask), and the set pieces are great, creating the alternative world of 1985 in a believable way.

I think the movie is well cast, at least in terms of the major characters. Robert Wisdon as President Nixon is a little jarring and sometimes unintentionally comedic with the nose appliance, but as a secondary character this doesn’t bother me too much. I think Patrick Wilson as Dan Dreiberg/Nite Owl II gives the best perfomance in the movie. He certainly captures the characterization of Dan from the Graphic Novel as I always imagine it. Jackie Earle Haley as Roshach also gives a good performance, although he plays the character far more intensely, than the oddly detached, but grim character I always see in my head. Everyone else is good to passable, with no real complaints.

The movie makes a major change to the ending as presented in the graphic novel, but it is so faithful to the spirit of the Graphic Novel, that I can’t say I’m anything but impressed. The decision to make Dr. Manhattan the threat from beyond that drives the world to peace is a beautiful solution to a problem that might have sunk the entire movie had it stayed true to the printed page. The decision to do this also streamlines the plot for the sake of a bearable run time, and allows the creators of the movie to do away with numerous subplots that would have been necessary to set up the original ending. I liked it, and it worked.

The only real complaint I have about the movie is the tendency to use dialogue verbatim from the comic. There are numerous examples of this, and it was always very apparent to me when it was happening. A friend who attended with me (who hasn’t read the book) noted that sometimes the dialog seemed off somehow, and I explained that some of the conversations were word for word out of the comic. Sometimes what reads well on the page, sounds odd when spoken aloud.

Good effects, a few fun action sequences and some really disturbing violence coupled with really good characters make for a good movie. I think fans of the Graphic Novel will enjoy it for what it is, which is a good adaptation of a story told in print. Unfortunately for the movie, the story is not what makes Watchmen the Graphic Novel great, but the manner in which that story is told, and that could simply never be adapted to film.

Otter Disaster #16: Not So Great Minds

Based loosely on a recurring conversation I used to have with my buddy Kris.

I'm kinda proud of the motion in this one, with the characters swapping positions over the course of the strip.

Good News: Spaced on DVD

14 episodes (the complete series) of the totally awesome British comedy Spaced, are finally going to be released on DVD.

Speculation is that this is being done in advance an (ill-advised, in my opinion) American remake ala The Office.

If you liked Shaun of the Dead or Hot Fuzz, then Spaced will be right up your alley.

I can't wait.

Charlton Heston: Dead at 84

Charlton Heston died last night. I always liked him as an actor, and his role as George Taylor in Planet of the Apes is one of my favorite perfomances in one of my favorite movies.

Heston also appeared as 'Mike' Vargas in Orson Welles' 1958 noir classic, A Touch of Evil. Another great role in another one of my all-time favorite movies.

When I was very young (and Catholic) I remember watching The Ten Commandments with my family every Easter.

1980's The Mountain Men was one of the first 'R' rated movies I ever saw. My neighbors had a giant KU band satellite dish, and I saw the film on HBO. I don't remember much about the movie save for lots of course languange and a fight scene that (if I remember correctly) had Heston's character taking a bite out of the man with whom he was fighting. I remember loving it, but haven't seen it since.

Since announcing his affliction with Alzheimer's, he hadn't really worked much, but his impact was great, and he leaves a legacy of great films.

I Dune Know If This is Such a Great Idea

Conservative film-blog Libertas pointed me to this article on the C.H.U.D. movie site that reports that a new film version of Dune might be forthcoming.

Having seen the David Lynch version and the recent Sci-Fi Channel version, I have come to the conclusion that the book is unfilmable. Both versions have good points, but I consider both of these adaptations to be failures. For a new film, the effects will be there, but Dune has so much stuff going on, and Herbert created a very complex world with very complex politics, that adaptation for a 2-3 hour movie seems an insurmountable task.

If the new film is an attempt to launch a franchise with sequels, ala Lord of the Rings, I think the first film will have to be perfect. I think Dune Messiah and Children of Dune(I haven't seen the Sci-Fi version of that one) are more conventional stories(and shorter) and therefore adaptable, but without hitting Dune out of the park those films won't be made.


I have similar feelings about the often mentioned film adaptation of Orson Scott Card's Ender's Game. Ender's Game is populated with dozens of characters, many of whom are children.

Finding enough quality child actors to fill those roles will be impossible. One solution would be to age the characters to rectify that problem, but it would greatly diminish the impact such young characters, and the things they are asked to do, within the story.

I have heard it suggested the characters could maintain their youth if the film were animated, and that is probably the best solution I've heard for Ender's Game. My prediction is that if Ender's Game is made as a live action film, it will be a huge disappointment (especially to fans of the books).

Some books are probably better off without being adapted to film. So often the magic of a book falls flat on film, simply because of the time constraints involved.

On another side of the adaptation coin, I like the Harry Potter films quite a bit, but they aren't without problems. So many little character things have to be discarded, character roles combined, subplots abandoned etc. The Potter books are each, on the surface at least, mystery stories and they lend themselves to reasonably successful adaptation because the mystery is at the heart of each story.

As an aside, the first Potter film is a great example of the child actor problem of Ender's Game. The Ender characters are even younger than Harry and company in Sorcerer's Stone.

Ender Wiggin and Paul Atreides, in their respective stories, have so much internalized conflict, lots of inner dialogue, and more philosophical struggle going on that doesn't translate to film as readily as the mystery plots of Harry Potter. Harry does have a fascinating and complex philosophical and internal struggle over the course of the seven novels, but each episode stands on it's own as a complex, but filmable, mystery plot.

If Dune and Ender's Game do make it to film, I hope I'm wrong about the adaptability of the material. I really like both of those books. I once thought the Lord of the Rings was an unfilmable property as well, but Peter Jackson understood the material and managed to make some of my favorite movies of all time. Maybe that will be the case once (or twice) again.

Brilliant Mashup: Goonies of the Caribbean

This is utterly brilliant. Simply the best movie mashup trailer I've seen yet.
Goonies of the Caribbean:



HERE is the creator's site.

The well known Shining, a romantic comedy can be found HERE. This is the one that started it all.

In the same vein as Shining, Travis Bickel finds love at the corner of Hope and Destiny in Taxi Driver.

Top Gun was WAY better than Brokeback Mountain.

Horror seems to be a recurring theme in these mashups. I think these are easier for editors because reaction takes occur so frequently in movies. Plus it is amazing the mood that can be set by a few sound effects and the right music:

Mary Poppins invades your nightmares HERE.

When Harry Stalked Sally HERE.

The Lion King as horror epic HERE.

Milton really likes his red Swingline in Office Space.

Vince Vaughn and Owen Wilson learn their lessons as Wedding Crashers.

Jack Black as kidnapper can be found HERE.

There are literally dozens more, with some better than others. I included some of the best ones I've seen. I found recut trailers for Toy Story, Silence of the Lambs, the Matrix, Star Wars, Sleepless in Seattle, Back to the Future, ET, The Sound of Music and several others.

In the Beginning There Were. . . Opening Titles

Sometimes the best part of a movie is the first few minutes of opening titles, before the script kicks in and disappointment takes over.

These opening titles give you your first impression of a film and some of them feature wildy creative animation and motion graphics. Check out these great opening title sequences:

Forget the Film, Watch the Titles

Laboratory 101-10 Kick Ass Opening Credits

Movies You Should See has a discussion about the Best Opening Credit Sequences. From the discussion on that page comes Part 1 and Part 2 of a really nice video montage of some well known opening titles.

Find dozens of opening titles at Google Video Search including the opening of Bill Murray Classic Meatballs.

Main Title Heaven in a great blog that presents dozens of Main Titles from television series, including Automan and Hunter. Unfortunately many of the YouTube clips have been taken down due to terms of use violations, but many still remain for your enjoyment

More than Meets the Eye

Wired has a pretty cool overview of the toy/media phenomena that started with Star Wars and rears it's ugly head this summer with Transformers.

Favorite quote from the article concerning GI Joe:

Hasbro's product manager for the revamped G.I. Joe in 1982. The new figures — dozens of characters — were highly poseable, stood 3.75 inches tall, and had gear Darpa would shoot a puppy for.

A Transformers timeline, with lots of YouTube goodness can be found HERE.

I've seen 40% of AFI's 100 Best American Movies

The American Film Institute has a list of it's 100 Best American Movies. I counted 40 movies that I've seen in the top 100. Oddly I've only seen half of the top ten:

1. Citizen Kane
5. Singin' in the Rain
6. Gone with the Wind
7. Lawrence of Arabia
10. The Wizard of Oz

Citizen Kane is truly a great movie. I loved it, and I should watch it again soon. I like Orson Welles, and I currently have F for Fake on my DVR, but haven't had the opportunity to watch it.

I should really make an effort to see the remaining top ten, especially Casablanca, the Godfather, and Vertigo. I tried to borrow the Godfather trilogy from a co-worker a few months ago, but the box only contained parts II and III, so I'm waiting for her to remember to bring in Part I.

Manos: The Hands of Fate

Several weeks ago at work I was discussing Mystery Science Theater 3000 with my friend Carl. Carl is mostly familiar with the later, Mike Nelson episodes, and wanted some Netflix recommendations for the Joel years. There was only one episode I told him he must see. That episode features the 'film' Manos: The Hands of Fate, and is my favorite MST3K episode of all time. Manos has surpassed Ed Wood's Plan 9 from Outer Space in reputation as the 'worst movie ever made'.

When I recommended Manos, I told Carl about an article I'd read about the movie in issue of Entertainment Weekly. Imagine my surprise when Alex at Neatorama posted an entry about the movie, and had a link to the very same article on the EW Website.

It must be fate.

I've seen 9. . .

. . .of the 25 Best Movies You've Never Seen.

Mrs. Disaster has seen 8 (#3 is her favorite of all time, not just this list). 5 of these movies overlap between the two of us.

We even know a guy who is in 3 O'Clock High (#14) for about 4 seconds.

via Neatorama

Lists

I'm a big fan of lists. Show me 10 best this, 5 worst that and I'm a happy guy. Here is a list of lists I've been enjoying of late:

1. CHUD.com's 50 Biggest Disappoinments
A list of movies that could have been great, but ended up as letdowns.

2. The Onion's Inventory
A weekly list on numerous pop culture topics. A recent favorite was 13 Failed Attempts to Start Film Franchises.

3. TV Squad's TV Squad Lists
Various TV related lists, like Seven signs that it's time for your show to go, The top 10 TV pets, and The 10 biggest spin-off bombs in the history of the known universe.

I realize that items 2 and 3 are actually lists of lists, but I think that just underscores my love of lists...