There is no news about Star Wars Episode VII in this post. I’m sorry, but it’s true. However if you’re a Star Wars fan like me, ready to eat up any and all content related to J.J. Abrams and his highly anticipated movie, you’ll enjoy this.
Below is a short video featuring Abrams discussing the franchise, and his fandom, with fellow Star Wars nerd Simon Pegg. Pegg, of course, has worked with Abrams on several films including this month’s Star Trek Into Darkness. He’s also a massive Star Wars fan who was truly hurt when the prequels came out.
Check out the video below. Read More »
In the past, if you wanted to make some art based on your favorite filmmaker, you’d have to make the art, print it out, find the filmmaker’s representative’s address, go to the post office, and ship it. Then, you’d hope and pray to get some kind of acknowledgment. Today, though, things are so much easier. Just put some art online and the person it’s about is bound to find it themselves.
That’s the case with artist/musician Lloyd Stas. He created a beautiful set of posters based on the work of Edgar Wright and simply put them online. “I posted them up onto Flickr and woke up the next day to find that Edgar has posted them up on his twitter and his blog,” Stas said in an exclusive email interview. “I hadn’t told him about them and he was one of the first to find them. I was just hoping that he might see the posters, but the fact that he posted them on his blog and said such nice things about them was too awesome and very flattering.” Now, we can show them to you. Check then out after the jump and read what Stas had to say about the series, Wright’s work and more. Read More »
Posted on Tuesday, August 24th, 2010 by David Chen
This week, David Chen, Devindra Hardawar, and Adam Quigley reflect on the ethics of basing a film on a true story, share their thoughts on Johnnie To, and praise Bong Joon Ho’s directorial debut, Barking Dogs Never Bite (now out on DVD). Special guest Tasha Robinson from AV Club joins us for this episode.
You can always e-mail us at slashfilmcast(AT)gmail(DOT)com, or call and leave a voicemail at 781-583-1993. Join us next week on Sunday night at 10 PM EST on Slashfilm’s live page as we review The Kids Are All Right.
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Posted online as a showreel piece for the actor Federico Dordei, YouTube is currently hosting a clip reel from the ill-fated US attempt to remake Simon Pegg, Jessica Hynes and Edgar Wright‘s sitcom Spaced. You can see it embedded below the break in all of its… er… glory. In case you don’t recall, the creators of the original were none too impressed with this redux.
Fans of the British incarnation will probably agree that this clip is at once familiar and also almost unutterably alien. Now, I don’t believe a good American remake of Spaced would be impossible, but I sure as heck also believe that this isn’t it, disappearing tram or no disappearing tram.
The new cast includes Federico Dordei as Christian, formerly Brian; Josh Lawson as Ben, formally Tim; and Sara Rue as Apryl, formerly Daisy and, to be fair, none of what’s wrong is actually their fault. Indeed, I suspect they’re even more upset about how the show turned out than I am.
Read More »
This Week in DVD is a column that compiles all the latest info regarding new DVD releases, sales, and exclusive deals from stores including Target, Best Buy, Circuit City, and Fry’s.
SPACED (THE COMPLETE SERIES)
Finally being made available in the US, the 14-episode long UK sitcom Spaced proves what hilarious characters and writing can do with even the simplest of premises. The show comes from the minds of the hilarious star-director duo Simon Pegg and Edgar Wright (and let’s not forget Nick Frost, who has a supporting role here), who later went on to make the instant classic hits Shaun of the Dead and Hot Fuzz. If that isn’t enough to convince you this is a must buy, you must not have seen those films.
Blu-ray? No.
Notable Extras: New audio commentary By Quentin Tarantino, Kevin Smith, Bill Hader, Matt Stone, Patton Oswalt and Diablo Cody, the original commentaries included on the VCI release, deleted scenes, raw footage, a Spaced On Stage reunion Q&A, a feature length documentary, outtakes, and a Homage-O-Meter.
| BEST PRICE |
| Target |
Best Buy |
Circuit City |
Fry’s |
| $34.99 |
$39.99 |
$59.98 |
$44.99 |
ROBOT CHICKEN: STAR WARS
Beating out Family Guy’s Star Wars special (entitled “Blue Harvest”) to the punch by a few months, Robot Chicken’s special is just now getting the treatment it deserves. Some people may not find much incentive to pick this set up, being that it’s only one 23-minute episode and you can already watch it online for free at AdultSwim.com. More diehard fans of Robot Chicken/Star Wars, however, will find justification for the splurge courtesy of the extensive amount of special features and the very low price.
Blu-ray? No.
Notable Extras: Seven audio commentaries, video commentary, an animation meeting, a behind the scenes featurette, a production design featurette, deleted scenes, a panel presentation, time lapse sequences, alternate audio recordings, and on-air bumps.
| BEST PRICE |
| Target |
Best Buy |
Circuit City |
Fry’s |
| $8.99 |
$9.99 |
$8.99 |
$7.99 |
HIGH AND LOW (CRITERION COLLECTION)
From Japanese director Akira Kurosawa, this two-act 1963 police procedural (based on a detective novel by Ed McBain) insightfully explores and comments on Japanese society through the tale of a wealthy industrialist who learns his son has been kidnapped. High and Low may not be one of Kurosawa’s most popular works, but quality-wise it’s definitely up there.
Blu-ray? No.
Notable Extras: An audio commentary by Kurosawa scholar Stephen Prince, a retrospective documentary with Akira Kurosawa, two interviews, a trailer gallery, and a booklet featuring an essay by critic Geoffrey O’Brien and an on-set account by Japanese film scholar Donald Richie.
| BEST PRICE |
| Target |
Best Buy |
Circuit City |
Fry’s |
| $27.99 |
$34.99 |
$34.99 |
$29.99 |
VAMPYR (CRITERION COLLECTION)
An excellent movie for art-lovers and those interested in filmmaking, Vampyr is a 1932 French-German picture that tells a nightmarish tale about a young student of the occult who visits a strange castle and starts to experience haunting dreams and supernatural visions. It doesn’t have much dialogue or plot, but is heavily admired for its innovative use of light and shadows.
Blu-ray? No.
Notable Extras: An audio commentary by film historian Tony Rayns, a documentary about the director’s life and work, a ‘visual essay’ featurette, a 46-page booklet which features essays about the film and director Carl Theodor Dreyer, and a 200+ page book which features Dreyer’s script and the story Carmilla.
| BEST PRICE |
| Target |
Best Buy |
Circuit City |
Fry’s |
| $27.99 |
$34.99 |
$34.99 |
$29.99 |
21
(Available as single-disc and 2-Disc Deluxe Editions)
While not exactly terrible, the wholly generic Hollywood fluff flick 21 falls flat due to its incessant need to remove anything that could’ve made the film even remotely original or interesting. This includes, among other things, getting rid of the important cultural aspects from the true story on which the film is inspired (they were primarily Asian males), focusing far too much energy on making everything look flashy and cool instead of actually informing the audience what it is that’s happening on the blackjack table (I still have no idea what the hell counting cards entails), and spending so little time developing the lead character’s transformation that it barely even registers as an arc (there goes any hope for a compelling character study). In the end, the only thing that resonates in the slightest is the kickass soundtrack.
Blu-ray? Yes.
Notable Extras: A filmmaker commentary and 3 featurettes. In addition, the 2-disc set includes a digital copy of the film.
| BEST PRICE* |
| Target |
Best Buy |
Circuit City |
Fry’s |
| $16.99 |
$15.99 |
*Does not include 2-Disc Edition, which costs $22.99 at each of the listed stores.
EXCLUSIVE DEAL:
What? Deluxe Edition includes The Basics of Winning Blackjack book.
Where? Target
EXCLUSIVE DEAL:
What? Deck of 21-themed cards.
Where? Best Buy
Other noteworthy DVDs available this week…
Picture This! – The Last Winter – Bird (2-Disc Special Edition) – L.A. Ink (Season 1) – Las Vegas (Season 5) – Masters of Horror (Season 2 Box Set) – Kiss of the Spider Woman (2-Disc Collector’s Edition) [Amazon.com Exclusive]
Discuss: What are you planning to rent or buy this week?
NOTE: Some deals may be in-store only.
Exclusive: Free E-Movie Cash (up to $7.50) to see The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor, plus a Sneak Peek disc, with any of the following $5.99 DVDs.
$5.99 – Miami Vice, Children of Men, The Scorpion King, Serenity, Alpha Dog, Lock Stock and Two Smoking Barrels (Unrated Director’s Cut), Tremors, Land of the Dead, Cape Fear, Billy Madison, and more…
$14.99 – Robot Chicken (Season 1-2), Aqua Teen Hunger Force (Season 1-4), The Venture Bros. (Season 1-2), Metalocalypse (Season 1)
$19.99 – Dexter (Season 1), The Tudors (Season 1)
$24.99 – Jericho (Season 1), The L Word (Season 3-4)
$27.99 – Lost (Season 3), Dirt (Season 1), Desperate Housewives (Season 3)
$5.99 – Rounders, Swingers, Gangs of New York, Equilibrium, Good Will Hunting, Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back, Grosse Point Blank, From Dusk Till Dawn, and more…
Exclusive: Free movie money (up to $7.50) to see The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor with any of the following $9.99 and $6.99 DVDs.
$9.99 – The Mummy (2-Disc Deluxe Edition), The Mummy Returns (2-Disc Deluxe Edition), Fearless (Director’s Cut)
$6.99 – Miami Vice, Smokin’ Aces, Children of Men, The Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift, and more…
$4.99 – The Island, The Warriors (Ultimate Director’s Cut), Lucky Number Slevin, Minority Report, The Princess Bride (20th Anniversary Edition), and more…
I’ve decided to consolidate a bunch of tv updates down to one posting, because, after-all this is still a movie blog.
The writers strike caused LOST to lose two hours of it’s planned fourth season. The show’s producers have announced that they will reclaim those hours in the show’s fifth and six season. That means that the finial two seasons of the hit show will now be 17 episodes in length instead of the planned 16 episode arcs. [THR]
Nikki Finke is reporting that the American remake of Edgar Wright’s Spaced is a no-go. This should satisfy fans of the original British fanboy series starring Simon Pegg. For those of you who have never had a chance to watch the original Spaced, it finally comes to DVD in the states on July 22nd featuring new Exclusive Commentary By Quentin Tarantino, Kevin Smith, Bill Hader, Matt Stone, Patton Oswalt and Diablo Cody.
Fox has picked up JJ Abrams‘s Fringe, which follows a young female FBI agent who tackle cases involving unexplained medical and scientific phenomena. Abrams’ Bad Robot produced a two-hour pilot which was written by Alex Kurtzman and Roberto Orci (Transformers, Star Trek) and directed by Alex Graves (Journeyman). The series’ cast includes Anna Torv, Mark Valley and Joshua Jackson. [Variety]
And finally, NBC has started running a promo to promote Heroes Season 3. Watch it below.
