Can you believe this guy who lives in Austin and calls himself a blogger — a nerd blogger of all things — only just now got around to watching My Sucky Teen Romance?
It’s like, dude, everyone fucking watched that shit last year at SXSW. And they probably hung out with the director at an awesome cosplay party that you were not invited to afterward.
And the people who really matter probably saw it before it was ever screened in public because they were in the fucking movie! That one guy who blogs about stuff sometimes? He was in it. Those other guys who blog about other stuff all the time? Init.
Don’t be surprised if someone tells you they shed a few tears while watching The Dark Knight Rises. The final chapter of Christopher Nolan’s remarkable Batman trilogy ends with a strong emotional punch; it’s not an exaggeration to call the film’s climax an applause-worthy triumph.
TDKR is a bold, ambitious and engrossing epic. Nolan’s interpretation of the Batman myth and Batman’s relationship to the people of Gotham City is spectacularly deep and layered, and TDKR explores those depths and layers for all their worth. [Click to continue and comment]
Batman made a cameo at the MTV Movie Awards tonight. MTV aired some new The Dark Knight Rises footage at the end of the “awards” show. The ninety-second clip features Selina Kyle, aka Catwoman, aka a very dour Anne Hathaway (Why so glum, Princess?) chatting with Joseph Gordon-Levitt about Tom Hardy’s muzzled baddie, Bane.
Bobcat Goldthwait takes aim at the ugly and empty side of pop culture and pulls the trigger, a lot, in his new film God Bless America. Goldthwait’s latest indie feature, his first since the 2009 near-masterpiece World’s Greatest Dad, blends sharp and funny dark comedy with cutting social commentary and endless scenes of gleeful ultraviolence. This is a bright, colorful, whimsical road movie, and if you’ve seen the film’s provocative red band trailer, then you probably have a good idea for what you’re getting into with God Bless America. Read the rest of my review @ Austinist.
Joss Whedon has pulled off a mini miracle — Marvel’sThe Avengers is a fun, exciting and sometimes magical superhero flick packed to the gills with heart, humor and bad-assery.
I use the word “miracle” because that’s exactly what The Avengers is. There’s no way a two-and-a-half-hour-long action movie with this much baggage, starring four charismatic Hollywood leading men — plus five or six distinguished supporting players — should be this good. Or make this much sense. Or not feel like an uneven, drawn-out mess. Writer-director Whedon balances everything like a pro, giving each major character just enough depth, conflict and screen time to make us love them all and cheer for them in the end.
The Cabin in the Woods isn’t your typical hack-and-slash horror flick, but you probably already know that by now. There are twists and turns, surprising reveals and shocking moments, and horror tropes are applauded, audited, and turned inside out. It’s pretty damn clever, and I’m happy to learn that a movie this good (and this strange) is doing reasonably well at the box office. But here’s the thing I loved best about Cabin in the Woods: It kept me engaged from start to finish. I was never bored, I was never able to guess what would happen next, and I genuinely cared about the characters and their connection to the strange goings on at the heart of the movie.
There aren’t many movies like Cabin in the Woods. Actually, it’s probably more accurate to say there aren’t any movies like Cabin in the Woods. It’s a unique film with many layers and big, bold ideas, and it kept me intrigued right up to its shocking and hilarious conclusion. Not everything works, but most of it does. And even the few missteps are fun to watch. Director Drew Goddard and writer Joss Whedon (who collaborated on Whedon’s groundbreaking genre TV shows Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Angel) have made a fun, engrossing and suspenseful horror flick that dubs as a smart commentary and celebration of the horror genre (and the horror movie audience). The movie works on several levels, delivering almost everything you’d expect to see in a teen horror movie while subverting the expectations of both gore hounds and casual moviegoers.
The new Back to the Future posters from Mondo go on sale tomorrow. Three movies, three posters. They form one beautiful mega poster when framed together. This is heavy.See them all.
Welcome to The Glorious ’90s, in which I take a quick look at the music, movies, TV shows and pop culture that helped make the ’90s, well, glorious.
The Velvet Goldmine soundtrack delivers a booming dose of fey-pop sweetness ready to candy-coat your earholes. The audio companion to director Todd Haynes’ strange and glittery 1998 indie drama features a string of classic ’70s glam rock standards from heroes of the era like Brian Eno, T. Rex, and Lou Reed. Glam giant David Bowie’s name is missing from the track list, but it’s clear the Starman’s spirit and swagger influenced almost every song choice here, including original compositions and covers by Shudder to Think, Teenage Fanclub, Pulp, and Placebo. The album is a love letter to the ’70s glam era, but it’s full of ’90s artists sounding all breathy and dramatic.
The film is loosely based on Bowie’s rise to fame in the ‘70s and his influence on the UK’s gender-bending glam kids. Jonathan Rhys Meyers plays Bowie clone Maxwell Demon as a talented, ambitious waif, and Ewan McGregor plays Kurt Wilde – a rabid but sentimental punk rocker who sounds like Iggy Pop and looks like Kurt Cobain. (McGregor even recorded vocals for a solid version of The Stooges’ “TV Eye,” track number five on the soundtrack.) Bruce Wayne himself, Christian Bale, is stoic and subtle as a journalist who grew up worshipping at the altar of his guitar-licking, bisexual rock gods. The movie – an uncompromising, visually electrifying and challenging work of cinema — received mixed reactions (I’ve seen it about 10 times, so it’s probably safe to say I like it), but most critics agreed – the best thing about Velvet Goldmine is the music.
Standout tracks performed by ’90s artists include the gorgeous, melancholy ballad “2HB” by Venus in Furs (aka Radiohead’s Thom Yorke and Johnny Greenwood with David Gray, Bernard Butler and Andy Mackay from Roxy Music) Grant Lee Buffalo’s rollicking “The Whole Shebang,” and “Hot One,” a slow-building, irresistible come-on from Shudder to Think. The newer tracks mix well with the old school, like Reed’s immortal “Satellite of Love,” T. Rex’s “Diamond Meadows,” and Eno’s “Needle in the Camel’s Eye.” Check out a few clips below.
I sincerely enjoyed G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra. People get angry when I say this. Like, really angry. Especially the nerds. I don’t get it. G.I. Joe‘s first live-action adventure was a fun, scrappy, and ridiculous spectacle with great people like Old New Doctor Who and Joseph Gordon-Levitt acting like crazy, gas-huffing cartoon characters for 90 minutes. And Marlon Wayans got shot like four times! What more do you want?
This trailer for G.I. Joe 2: Retaliation promises more stupid, mindless, Diet Coke-ish fun. I’d be happier if Levitt, The Doctor, and Not Baroness were back, but I’ll happily pay cash money to see The Tooth Fairy and Bruce Willis shooting at CGI ninjas any day of the week. What can I say, I don’t hate fun. (But I might hate myself … just a little bit.)
I was never a good student, but college offered me a few opportunities to express myself in front of other people at a time when it seemed like no one else was listening. I remember a speech class I took my sophomore year. The assignment was to write a persuasive speech – start out by stating your opinion on something that mattered to you and support that opinion with research and evidence. Some people did speeches on why Jesus was the one true God (this was Texas), or how a low carb diet was, like, the best diet ever (this was South Texas). I decided to do a persuasive speech about the thing that was blowing my mind at the time, which, of course, was how awesome Pearl Jam was.
This was my argument: Unlike many other bands on radio and MTV who followed a similar path to stardom and kept releasing the same dull, manufactured records over and over again, Pearl Jam refused to repeat itself. The band recognized the purity and soul of its music, and they never allowed their art to become superficial, forgettable product. Pearl Jam’s music evolved record after record as the band experimented and reached for new artistic heights. This was artistic integrity. Pearl Jam struggled to maintain its artistic credibility, and that mattered.
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Can you believe this guy who lives in Austin and calls himself a blogger — a nerd blogger of all things — only just now got around to watching My Sucky Teen Romance?
