Archive for August, 2008

Guitar Hero: The Movie….no serious.

Director extraordinaire Bret Ratner was recently interviewed by MTV and talked about the possibility of bringing the phenomenon of Guitar Hero to the big screen. Ratner, you fucken hack! I really hope that Mr. Ratner can get this project off the ground and see what kind of artistic angle he can come up with as far as translating the video game experience over to the big screen and not turn it into a 2-hour long commercial for the product. Check out the story over here at Aintitcool for the details. Would you go see a Guitar Hero movie?

Transformers 2 explosion from filming in Long Beach; Chevy Volt makes it’s first public appearance during filming

So Shia got his hand smashed and they decided to write that into the script so the production is moving along and Transformers Live Action Movie Blog has been keeping track of everything. This week, the production has been filming some scenes in downtown Long Beach including the awesome action scene you can check out in the video embedded up there. Pretty cool, huh? It’s always cool to see shit blowing up. And although I couldn’t find embeddable video to post, you can click here to check out some more footage of the cars driving down the street in the LBC, including a surprise: it seems Chevy has let Mr. Bay use the upcoming, top secret, game changing Volt in the feature. The final production car is supposed to be revealed in November at the LA Auto Show but it’s shown up on the internets a couple of months early. If Chevy can live up to the projects lofty promises, I think I’m looking at my next car. Sure, it’s super good for the environment, gets 40 miles on a single charge, hardly uses any gas. But the coolest part? It was in Transformers 2! Be sure to hit up TFLAMB for a crapload more pics and info on the film!

ABC reporter arrested at DNC for shooting video on public property

I wonder how much of a furor this is gonna spark. After I attempted multiple times to write an entry to go with this post, I’ve decided to give up and merely go and listen to N.W.A.’s Straight Outta Compton (track #2) to calm down and try to figure out why shit like this is happening on U.S. soil. Breathe….Wait, the dude was just chilling in front of a hotel for like 2 hours and the owner filed a complaint? Maybe he should of moved his shit if he was causing a disruption with the business’ flow. Hmmm…. Still, it’s a weird image to see a proper looking, white man arrested and man handled the way he was. Social commentary? Perhaps. Check out the full story over here at ABC & let us know what you guys think.

Rain Of Madness documentary available for free on iTunes

A while back we posted the trailer for the faux-documentary Rain Of Madness for the film Tropic Thunder. Well the full, 30-minute film is available right now for free over at iTunes here. So if you were a fan of the film or just can’t get enough of Robert Downey Jr. as a black man, download it now and let us know what you think of the film.

This week’s Flashback Feature: Goldfinger

Well this week marks the beginning of Edwards’ Flashback Features theatrical series of screening some classic films and it begins this Thursday evening with Sean Connery’s James Bond film Goldfinger. Unfortunately, I probably won’t be able to make it out there for the screening but I hope to go to a lot of these this year. You can’t go wrong with this people: Classic films, $5 movie ticket, 10pm showtime….awesome! Maybe down the road we can arrange a pre-movie meeting up at an area watering hole to get a few drinks with some fellow movie fans. If you guys head out there, let us know how it went and give us a report!

Zero Puncuation: Braid Review

Earth vs. Asteroid: Armageddon got it wrong

So back in 1998 when the Michael Bay classic Armageddon was released, I wonder if Australian Mary D’Souza was watching the film thinking “I will prove this movie wrong.” You see, Mary isn’t just a normal human being. Nope she’s a PhD student with the University of Queensland’s School of Engineering and she apparently knows her astro physics since she recently won an international contest for solutions to avoid a giant asteroid to impact our giant rock we call home. And what was the technique she came up with? The very one deemed stupid in the film by grand master Billy Bob: using solar sails to disrupt the path of the evil asteroid. In yer face, Slingblade! Swear if the earth is saved by going against something a Bay film has taught us to be stoopid, I sense no better poetic justice. A special shout out to Mary for saving (potentially) our home planet and our blog! Check out the full story over here at Slash Film.

Director of Babylon A.D. says Babylon A.D. sucks, blasts studio for interfering

Even though Clint Mansell’s Requiem score can make any film look ten times better than it actually is, it wasn’t enough to save this little abomination. It seems like Fox came in and took over for the director Mathieu Kassovitz when he couldn’t deliver a PG-13 rating and edited the crap out of the film and essentially turned into a turd (although who knows if it was already a shit film before). So continues the tyranny of Fox Studios and their reign of terror (unless they’re looking to hire me, then they’re all good in my book!). Check out the full details over here at Slash Film, including the secret connection between Vin Desiel and Osama Bin Laden. Interesting stuff….

Soderbergh’s Che gets a cool poster; no set date for release

(click to enbiggen)
Have to say, pretty cool poster. The film itself is quite a question mark as it has yet to get picked up officially by any film studio. The independently funded 2-part epic is a hard sell to movie studios mainly due to it’s length (reported to be around 6 hours) and because it’s predominantly in Spanish. Yup, so that means we may never see it theatrically. Another little tidbit, the film was shot entirely in digital using the über-cool Red camera. This comes from the homies over at Film School Rejects.

Dumb Drum welcomes Bryan Harley to the camp

Yes, we have other people who occasionally blog here but people are busy and really don’t have the time to dedicate to a crappy film blog. But yet today we welcome another member to our team: Bryan Harley! Yup, the local filmmaker will be blessing us with his gift of gab and enlightening us with his vast knowledge. Bryan will also become my official co-host on The DUmb for the foreseeable future. You can check out Bryan other works at his official site, AMF Productions. Lets all give him a hug when you see this guy in person. He loves hugs. LOVES THEM! Welcome, sir!

Fast & Furious teaser trailer drifts onto the web

(click Michelle’s teeth for the Quicktime trailer)
Fast & Furious

UPDATE: If you can’t wait for the Quicktime, here it is for you streaming!

Here it is. The trailer I’ve been waiting for all my life. Well, at least since the original TFATF in 2001. A continuation of those characters’ story. Will it suck? Probably. Will I enjoy watching it? Yup, pretty much going to love it. The stunts look pretty cool, actually. Overall a dope trailer. Hopefully the craptacular dialogue and acting will be held over enough to give us all a reason to go check this out when it drops next year. If only I could watch this at the drive-in like the last one. Check out the trailer here and more some exclusive pics here at IGN.

Cineculture releases fall line-up

Cineculture is a student club (and 3 unit class) at Fresno State that strives to provide culture awareness through film screenings and discussions. The club released their new fall line-up today, plus details about their first screening which will take place this Friday, August 29 at 5:30pm in McLane Hall Room 121 on the Fresno State campus. Best of all, entry is free!

Iron-Jawed Angels. Dir: Katja von Garnier, 2004. 123 min.
This film recounts for a contemporary audience a key chapter in U.S. history: in this case, the struggle of suffragists who fought for the passage of the 19th Amendment. Focusing on the two defiant women, Alice Paul (Hilary Swank) and Lucy Burns (Frances O’Connor), the film shows how these activists broke from the mainstream women’s-rights movement and created a more radical wing, daring to push the boundaries of political protest to secure women’s voting rights in 1920. (www.hbo.com). Post-screening discussion by Jenny Whyte (Women’s Resource Center Coordinator).

I’m gonna try to make it out there myself. Sounds like an interesting film, eh? Scope out the trailer below.

New York, I Love You teaser trailer drops

I still have yet to throw on my copy of Paris, Je T’amie but the concept of a love letter-film is something that has been running around my head for the last couple of years. Of course, it’s kinda hard for people to compare Fresno to New York but the stories exist. Anyways, the second installment (can you consider is a sequel?) of the “…I Love You” series is getting ready for it big unveiling and here is the first trailer for New York, I Love You. The cast is ridiculous. The directors…well, it’s kinda cool. I would of liked to involve Woody Allen, maybe DeNiro some more of the New York peeps. But still, looks interesting (I’m always down for Qi Shu). I think I’ll throw Paris… on right after this. So what do you guys think? Can we collaborate and do a Fresno, I Love You?