Zodiac Director's Cut Coming

This press ad for Zodiac's imminent DVD release has announced a 2008 double dip for the film, next time offering a Director's Cut. Really a Director's Cut? Fincher was forced to fiddle with this first version?

I have no idea what the differences will be but - sheesh - it can't be any longer, can it?

[EDIT: This appears to have first popped up at DavisDVD. Thanks for those of you who sent it to me. They're reporting an audio commentary from Fincher, Jake Gyllenhaal, Robert Downey Jr., James Vanderbilt, Brad Fischer and James Ellroy. Yeah - Ellroy. Go figure. We can also expect 'extensive featurettes' as well as plenty of other business about the real events and murders - which should appeal to fans of all those sleazy 'True Crime' shows]

Movie Minesweeper - The Dance X Versus Sing It Back Edition

- Sergio Leone's Dollars Trilogy Man with No Name is comics courtesy of Dynamite. How apt.

- As previously discussed, Andrew Davies has adapted Fanny Hill for the BBC. It will star Samantha Bond, Hugo Speer and Alison Steadman, the greatest of which is undoubtedly Steadman. She's a genius.

- A clip from I'm Not There is knocking around the wonderful world of YouTube. I saw the link at AintItCool.

- Aaron Eckhart is no fun.

- Nayo Wallace is now one of the Speed Racer crowd, playing Minx, Racer X's girlfriend.

- The Guardian have slammed AintItCool. Personally, I think Knowles' site has a lot of really strong points - and a whole lot of great contacts. So many people submit news bits to them first, how can they help but get the Lion's share of genuine scoops? Obviously, I think I'm doing a pretty good job here at film ick - why else would I bother? I'm getting about 1 hit for every 100,000 at AintItCool however. And to be honest, I'm not sure why I'm not doing a fair bit better.

- Naomi Watts and Clive Owen are the set leads for Tom Tykwer's The International. Oh, Tom Tykwer, Tom Tykwer. Sigh. What can I say about Tom Tykwer? The nearly-Nearly Man? I'm always, always disappointed by his films.

- Baz Luhrmann has answered public questions about Australia (the film, not the country).

- Ray Wise, Bru Muller and Brooke Nevin (I can vouch for one of them) have joined the cast of Infestation.

- Mandy Lane has been pulled from all American release schedules just a week before the expected bow because the theatrical rights have been flogged off by Dimension to Senator. While it shifts over to a new theatrical distributor, we'll be left waiting in confusion for the new date to be set.

- Josh Flitter is Ace Ventura Jr.

- Tartan are going Blu-Ray in the UK with Black Book, Oldboy and The Seventh Seal. It's the worldwide Blu-Ray debut for each.

- My Name is Bruce has proven unfeasibly popular.

- Angelica Huston will be popping up in Choke, as Sam Rockwell's character's mum.

And now I want my dinner. Yep - I eat.

Two-Lane Blacktop From Criterion?

The latest Criterion newsletter seems to indicate an upcoming release of Monte Hellman's Two Lane Blacktop. At least I think so. What do you think?

I have a very nice version from Anchor Bay and it doesn't need to be replaced desperately, but I'm still keen to see what Criterion offer.

Movie Minesweeper - The Nervous Exhaustion Edition

- See Scarlett and Woody, BFF.

- Spielberg's as blinded by the anti-Wii propoganda as every other fool. Why do so many developers only target their Wii games at pensioners and housewives?

- Hatchet 2 may start rolling in February. And a second Behind the Mask might be coming too.

- Mark Verheiden's Aliens comics have been repackaged, but only in a their compromised versions where the character names were changed to not clash with canon. Yet another reason to despise Alien 3.

- Masters of Horror seems to be ahead of The Dresden Files in the race to Alberta.

- A stage version of Desperately Seeking Susan is coming and it's set to feature a number of Blondie songs. Interesting.

- Britons prefer R2-D2 to C3-PO.

- The Twin Peaks Gold Box DVD set is now officially scheduled for October 30th.

- Homer Simpson is starring in a new ident for Channel 4 from this weekend.

Pixar Shorts DVD Revealed

A French Disney site have been the first to unveil the cover of the Pixar Shorts DVD. It's coming on Blu-Ray and standard ol' DVD too.

The Princess And The Frog Scene Set For - BLIMEY - The Song Of The South DVD

Jim Hill knows Disney. He knows Disney up, down, left to right and inside out. If he says something Disney, I believe it.

According to his latest roundup, a Song of the South DVD is finally imminent. The thinking is that such much-desired titles will be necessary on the release schedule to make up for the countless direct-to-DVD-sequels that have now been nixed.

Jim even goes so far as to say that when the Song DVD does launch - late next year seems to be a realistic timeframe - that it will contain a scene from The Princess and the Frog.

It might seem cynical, but The Princess and the Frog, being the first African-American-centric Disney toon, is being positioned as an answer to Song of the South's critics.

Of which I am not really one, but, yes, I do see the controversy.

Well, it's all good news if you ask me. Song of the South can come out and be understood and appreciated for what it is; we all get an early look at the Princess and the Frog; Disney moves on and starts dealing with a wider scope, more varied range of settings, characters and stories.

Maybe they'll start shaking the demographic of their creative leads up a little too, eh?

Edward Yang Has Died

Edward Yang - simply put, one of the very few greatest film directors of all time - has died, aged 59. He died on Friday, from 'complications from colon cancer'.

Yang's last film is perhaps his best known, Yi Yi or A One and a Two, at least in the UK and US. So far, it is the only film in his catalogue to be available through Criterion, though several prior DVD releases of the title featured a commentary track from Yang and if you don't want to stretch to Criterion prices, pick any of them up. His greatest film, I'm sure, was A Brighter Summer Day - I'm sure because it's definitely one of the five best films of all time.

I've never been able to find A Brighter Summer Day on DVD but I caught a TV screening years ago and, in one of my favourite trips to the cinema, saw it at the ICA shortly after the release of Yi Yi in England (me and about twelve other people - which has always annoyed me; where were you all?). If you ever have a chance to see this film - even if you'll have to drive a few hours to get to it - then do so.

Incredibly, over a hundred 'amateur' actors take on significant roles in Day across the four-hour running time. Yang managed to attain an almost entirely consistent, not to mention consistently compelling, convincing and fresh bank of performances.

Yang's grasp of mise en scene and montage were exemplary, his ambition and scope genuinely awe inspiring and the depth and sophistication of his characterisations and narrative and thematic construction belie only brilliance of cinematic thinking and understanding.

This came out in lumps, and was clunky, because I only found out the news seconds before writing the first words of the post. But I love Yangs films - love them - and I had to say something now, so that you know.

300palooza

Have you entered the Join the 300 contest yet? Perhaps you'll rush off and do it as soon as you know what you stand to win - a trip to Comic-Con and a Watchmen set visit. Some sites have reported you'll get a part in Watchmen - well, maybe, if being a background artiste counts as having a part. That's irrelevant though: you'll get on the set of Watchmen, the most anticipated genre film of next year. You might even see a naked man covered in blue body paint.

The contest works as a points game, with points earned by taking on a number of challenges. Two finalists will be chosen from those who score 300 points (exactly how isn't clear - names in a Spartan helmet, maybe?) and those will be given a special task to complete during Comic-Con. Winning that will send you to the Watchmen set.

I'm guessing there'll be plenty of extra prizes for the runners-up too.

All of these jolly japes are in aid of promoting 300 on DVD, HD-DVD and Blu-Ray. Looking at the various disc specs, it's looking like 300 is going to be one of the first titles to really put a gulf between standard def DVD releases and those for the next-gen formats.

Both Blu-Ray and HD-DVD will feature all of the standard def set's features but in high def plus Who Were the Spartans, about the cast, and the production podcasts. HD-DVD comes with some exclusives, however: a picture-in-picture comparison between the raw greenscreen footage and final film; the Vengeance and Valor game; the Pick Your Favourite Scenes montage maker.

The sooner Blu-Ray just wins the format war and puts HD-DVD to bed, the better for all of us. That will stop the division of quality and content between releases in the only definite way - by making sure there's only one version in the first place.

Score one for HD-DVD in the meantime, I suppose.

Pixar Shorts DVD Edging Closer

The Disney Enquirer has discovered the recently registered domain names PixarShorts and DisneyPixarShorts (both dot com). These are about the only film ick relevant entries in an unusally quiet Disney Domains update.

A DVD of Pixar shorts has been a long time coming, Will it make the shelves in time for Christmas? I certainly hope so, and I hope there's some new material on there too. At the very least it will be good to see some of the more rarely screened bits and pieces (Red's Dream, The Adventures of Andre and Wally B) all over again. And again. And again.

Where's The New Footage In The Blade Runner: Final Cut Commercial?

As far as I'm aware - and I'm spectacularly unsure of my detail-based recall of Blade Runner, if I'm being honest - there are three pieces of new footage in the Blade Runner: Final Cut ad.

The first is a still image from the Esper. You can see it around 27 seconds in. Here's a screencap.


The second one, I previously mentioned: the infamous shot of the two go-go girls in hockey masks. Again, here's a screencap.

And then, at 51 seconds in, we see the fruits of the recent reshoots for the very first time. There's a brief shot of Zhora just as she's about to tumble through glass, right at the camera. Either the entire shot is new, or a CG blend has been done to put Joanna Cassidy's head on a stuntwoman's shoulders... or both. Here's a sequence of screencaps for you to scrutinise.





And the rest of the trailer is apparently old footage given a bit of spit and polish - the Blade Runner we already know and love. If it ain't broke...

At my previous post on this subject, I've included a screencap of an old continuity error that has remained intact - at least in the trailer, if not the finished film - despite reshoots to the scene. Curious.

All AFI Rejects

Just for fun, here's my list of films from the current AFI Top 100 list that I don't believe deserve a slot in the top one thousand let alone one hundred.

Raging Bull
Schindler’s List
City Lights
Star Wars
The Grapes of Wrath
E.T. — The Extra-Terrestrial
Apocalypse Now
The Sound of Music
Shane
Intolerance
Taxi Driver
M*A*S*H
Jaws
Rocky
The Gold Rush
Nashville
American Graffiti
Raiders of the Lost Ark
Unforgiven
Saving Private Ryan
Modern Times
Titanic
Easy Rider
Platoon
Sophie’s Choice
Goodfellas
The French Connection
Do the Right Thing
Ben-Hur

And I actually really quite like a few of those. Well, nine of them, I suppose: there's four of them already in my DVD collection, and five more I'd like to pick up. But amongst the best 100 films of all time? Not. Even. Close.

TV Spot For Blade Runner: The Final Cut - UPDATED

A TV spot advertising the Blade Runner: Final Cut premiered during the AFI Top 100 show on US TV last night, and brilliantly, it's now up on YouTube. If anybody knows where a better quality version can be seen, please direct me.

You might want to download the YouTube file, just on the off-chance it gets pulled.

[EDIT: And thanks to 'Affenheimtheaterbesitzer', there's a much better version on Rapidshare]

[EDIT: Also available from Speedyshare, hourly bandwidth limit allowing]

[EDIT: Here are some screencaps, which you might find interesting. The official title, first of all; then the go-go Hockey Mask girls which represent what some messageboard users believe is the only new footage in the trailer; a look at Joanna Cassidy's stunt double taking a dive - still in flat shoes, not the heels from the previous scene, maintaining a controversial continuity error; an announcement of the formats which not only means we'll have all three disc options to select from, it also suggests that a theatrical release of any size isn't likely to happen, even though I'm still betting a small one will]

Movie Minesweeper - The Mr. Sheen Edition

- Christian Tramitz is to play FBI Agent Jerry Cotton, fictional hero of German pulp fiction in a new film series.

- Daniel Waters has won a best director award. That's very encouraging. The gong was for his film Sex and Death 101 which played at the Seattle Film Festival. If I could blow glass I'd make him a nice bauble too - for his Heathers screenplay which is, I'd say, the best script. Ever. How do I get to see Sex and Death 101?

- The IESB have a heap of License to Wed clips and a behind the scenes featurette too.

- No link for this one, I'm afraid, but John Travolta has been speaking to the UK tabloids and he's revealed that the Dallas movie isn't dead after all. He's meeting a new director soon and is very keen to get the wheels moving again, with a possible shoot start in January.

- Matthew Vaughn's MARV films, in which he is a partner with Kris Thykier, have signed a three-year first-look deal with Sony. The projects currently in development? A World War I drama, a Spaghetti Western and two comedies. The MARV men see themselves as a reply to Working Title, and I think they've every chance of similar success.

- A 21 disc set of John Ford films is coming in December. Yes - 21 discs. Suddenly the Blade Runner special edition has competition for pole position on my Christmas list.

- Richard Linklater has earned himself a ten-year supply of wine.

Two Bunuel Classics From Lionsgate

By my disreputable powers of recollection, neither Gran Casino or The Young One have been released on R1 DVD before, so Bunuel fans rejoice: Lionsgate are putting them together in the same 2-disc set and popping it out on August 7th.

Phillip Kemp has recorded a commentary for Gran Casino, Peter Evans and Isabel Santolalla will provide the same for The Young One. Seeing as the masters are coming from Studio Canal, expect a better quality than the shrugged-off Criterion Eclipse range at a directly comparable price point.

The Tarantino DVD Avalanche And The Weinstein Tug Of Love

There's buzzing going on. First of all, it seems that a date has been proposed for the release of Kill Bill: the Whole Bloody Affair, the much sought-after single-movie cut. Secondly, it seems that Death Proof and Planet Terror are being seperated from one another for the first-wave DVD release, if not for all time. Thirdly, that Bob and Harvey might be playing favourites between Quentin and Robert and that's leading to all kinds of discord.

Here's the rumours, one by one.

Whole Bloody Affair is finally due for release later this year. Quite soon, in fact: September 18th. It's going direct to DVD as a 4-disc set. The film will be split across two discs which, to some at least, will strongly dilute the promised 'single film' nature of the enterprise (there are already arguments that this effectively renders it two films, that the changing of the discs is going to cause a break in the flow, no matter that the cut is designed to work best for a single sitting). The other 2-discs are to be stuffed to the gills with behind the scenes materials, of course, but we can apparently also expect material on the film's many predecessors, including a selection of trailers for half-forgotten 'classics'.

Interestingly, September 18th seems to be the release date for Death Proof on DVD also. There's to be two discs - the original double feature edit on one, the extended cut on the other (though, apparently, not exactly the same as the Cannes version). That these two dates are the same either means a big Tarantino push is coming from the Weinsteins or, simply, somebody got confused somewhere along the line and some of this just isn't true. The rumour has come at me from more than one direction, however... so we'll see...

As for the love triangle (quadrangle?) between the Weinsteins, Tarantino and Rodriguez... I'm not entirely sure. It seems like a reasonable assumption. Rodriguez is going elsewhere for his next wave of projects, possibly his entire future career while Tarantino appears to be staying put. And there are an awful lot of people in my address book who insist Sin City sequels will never, ever happen, that the pieces of the puzzle simply won't fit together any more.

All rumours, as reputable as many of the mongers might be, but I definitely know what I believe.

Movie Minesweeper - The What's For Dinner? Edition

- Wade Shotter takes on Michel Gondry at his own game... and comes out ahead in several distinct ways.

- According to the LA Times, Kevin Smith's new comedy is to be called Zack and Miri Make a Porno. I Want More Candy, if you will. Or The Other Amateurs. Shooting will start in February and the film will feature nudity - "but funny nudity, not gratuitous nudity." Can you 'indulge' and laugh at the same time? I guess we'll find out late next year.

- Al Pacino might just possibly play Napoleon in a movie. But probably not.

- Spike Lee is looking to adapt James McBride's book Miracle at St. Anna. It's a story about black World War 2 soldiers, to be shot in Italy.

- DavisDVD have listed a whole slew of upcoming direct-to-DVD titles: Wrong Turn 2: Dead End, Bachelor Party 2, Garfield Gets Real, Lake Placid 2, Stargate: The Ark of Truth, Stargate: Continuum, Flight of the Living Dead: Outbreak On a Plane, Bring It On: In It To Win It, Curious George 2: Monkey On The Run, Return To House On Haunted Hill, A Dennis the Menace Christmas, The Lost Boys 2, Get Smarter: Bruce and Lloyd Out Of Control and sequels for 8 Seconds, Cellular, Friday, Havoc, The Players Club and Undisputed.

I'm too hungry to go on right now. What's for dinner?

Hostel Special Edition DVD Special Features

Here's a little about the video-based features on the Hostel special edition DVD - or at least the ones I know about so far.

The main attraction is probably the 30 minute retrospective called Hostel Dismembered, but another menu holds five further options: five minutes on set design; 11 minutes of KNB's FX; 3 minutes on a meal in Iceland (no, really); an almost 10 minute interview with Takashi Miike; and over 12 minutes on the film's music and sound effects. So that's around 70 minutes of new stuff so far.

Sounds good.

Robots In This Guise

Tha trailer for Transmorphers is online now. Stop sniggering.

The only reason the film has that title is to ride the crest of somebody else's hard-worked-for and fairly-purchased hype. On the one hand it doesn't seem fair, on the other it just seems like cheeky, low-rent gusto.

When the robots appear in the trailer, its to mixed effect. There's a couple of well rendered shots - well rendered enough for the small screen at least - whereas some other bits and pieces don't look one half as good. The costumes are probably the single least satisfying component of the images however. Asbolutely none of the plot elements revealed show any imagination, however - here's hoping the full film isn't so pedestrian and predictable throughout.

Downloading and watching this trailer will probably have two effects:

a) make you appreciate the production values of the Transformers film all the more (Mitchell Amundsen, Jeff Mann, Deborah Lynn Scott and Dan Akers - to choose a few examples - end up looking like unparalelled geniuses).

b) make you wish these low-budget exploitation films were a little more ambitious, daring, witty.

I'd go over to Asylum and plot, script and direct a straight to DVD title for them in the blink of an eye - there's no reason to not take such a job as seriously as any other, of course. And no reason the next Asylum film couldn't be the greatest film ever made - commercial value and quality are in no way exclsuive. And if you make your budget your aesthetic, you'll be okay on an Asylum-sized spend too.

I'd love to see some of these bottom-shelf titles start punching a little harder.

Movie Minesweeper - The How Much Can I Get Done Before House Starts Edition

- Doug Jones is blogging the production of Hellboy 2. He reveals that one of his characters, the Angel of Death, is a she and that Anna Walton has been cast as Princess Nuala, seemingly a love interest for Abe Sapien.

- ComingSoon's SuperheroHype 'imprint' have run a very hi-res picture of The Joker as per the USA Today story of a few days back. [EDIT: Link changed. No idea what was wrong last time... worked for me]

- Talking of USA Today, they have a Speed Racer piece with interview quotes and a pic of the Mach 5. Looks fairly authentic to my disinterested eye.

- Apparently, Karen Allen is denying she's even been contacted about Indiana Jones and the Maguffin of Unsafe Stunt Work. Of course, Shia played the same game for a while.

- Similarly, Shwnee Smith is denying she's in Saw 4 but BloodyDisgusting are insisting she is. Is her very appearance a plot twist? Are BloodyDisgusting barking up the wrong tree? Does anybody care about the Saw films anymore? I'll place my chips on a) she is in the film and b) I know I don't care, I'm assuming you're over it all too.

- Barry Lyndon is being left out of the Hi-Def Kubrick box set. Why?

And now, House is on. So I'm off.

Movie Minesweeper - The Index Cards Are A Screenwriter's Best Friend Edition

- The So You Think You Can Dance version of the Fantastic Four/Silver Surfer trailer has been turned into a nice AVI and lodged at Sendspace, apparently.

- Simon Monjack has scripted the upcoming version of The White Hotel, which is possibly how Brittany Murphy got the lead role - they were married in April. Or maybe it worked the other way round, I don't know. All the same, US magazine have painted a not very pretty picture of the man which left me shaking and scratching my head more or less simultaneously.

- Some Harry Potter theme park concept art is up at Deadline Hollywood Daily, where the news first broke. Who thought this was a good idea?

- DVD Times have the cover and some details of the Secret of Nimh DVD. I was so ill on the day I was supposed to go see this as a child, and so disappointed that I never got to see it, that the film was blown up to massively epic, even mythic, proportions in my mind. Will it let me down, some 20-odd years later?

- SlashFilm have a very positive review of Hostel 2 (but still only give it 7 out of 10). Twitch have a similarly positive take but (in a way that troubles me at least) seemed to find it all just a fun romp.

- Dali/Disney's Destino starts playing this week at the Tate Modern.

- Just Jared have some shots of Felicity Huffman in Red Queen mode from Phoebe in Wonderland.

- IESB have a stuttery, lower-quality version of the Enchanted trailer I linked to a week or so ago. I'd stick with the higher quality versions.

- FEARnet are previewing their upcoming online serial Devil's Trade right now.

- The BBFC have recertificated Labyrinth for an upcoming DVD release that will include a commentary track. I'm assuming this is the track recorded by Brian Froud - who has also recorded a commentary for The Dark Crystal. Expect special editions of both in the not-so-distant future.

- The Veronica Mars in the FBI mini-episode/long trailer that failed to secure her a 4th series will be included on the Season 3 DVDs.