Movies
Video: Seth Rogen and Will Ferrell Cross Paths at Comic-Con
Posted 07/29/2010 530 PM by Matt Singer
Red carpets are weird under optimal circumstances, but they're especially bizarre at Comic-Con. Instead of just covering one movie and interviewing its stars as they walk down the carpet from one end to the other, most Comic-Con carpets are organized -- like the presentations in Hall H -- by film studio. So all the Marvel films might be on one red carpet, and all the Universal films on another, and so on. So a whole mess of stars from a bunch of movies will walk the carpet simultaneously, all promoting different projects. And because time is a precious commodity, they'll READ MORE »
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Games
Konami Brings Back the Cold War with "Rush'N Attack"
Posted 07/29/2010 431 PM by Evan Narcisse
Video games were capturing the public consciousness right at the peak of U.S.A./U.S.S.R. tensions and, as a result, you saw lots of 1980s-era action titles featured espionage as their mise-en-scene and used the evil Russkies as the bad guys. The most heavy-handed of those was Konami's obscenely difficult "Rush'N Attack". The arcade game threw never-ending waves of soldiers at your lone Green Beret as he tried save American POWs from a Russian military base. As was "War Games "and "Rambo" were to the movies, so were "Super Strike Eagle" and "Rolling Thunder" to games. Now, Konami's remaking the one-man army READ MORE »
Movies
Seven Lessons To Take From Comic-Con 2010
Posted 07/29/2010 330 PM by Stephen Saito
During one of Comic-Con's most extravagant displays for the "Scott Pilgrim Vs. the World" panel, each of the film's cast members received their own video introduction (with the notable exception of Chris Evans), pins were given away to every member in the audience and Michael Cera filled in for Evans by walking out in a Captain America costume and repeatedly referring to his newfound muscles. "Thirteen guests coming out and I'm not sure all of them can match one Lundgren," said Edgar Wright, still in awe that he would be following up a panel of Sylvester Stallone's "The Expendables." There READ MORE »
Music
Jiminy Cricket! Nick Cave scores "Pinocchio"
Posted 07/29/2010 247 PM by Brandon Kim
There are only a few people who could possibly make a "Pinocchio" remake worth while -- one of them being, Guillermo del Toro, who is producing such a film tentatively slated for 2011. Even more encouragingly, he and director Gris Grimley brought Nick Cave in on it. "I will be co-directing with a stop motion veteran," Grimley told Dread Central. "And Nick Cave is on board to compose the original score." Cave seems a perfectly natural choice, almost obvious once you know about it. Just set aside the big number "When You Wish Upon A Star," which is so archetypal READ MORE »
Games
Semi Secret's "Gravity Hook HD" Makes You Upwardly Mobile
Posted 07/29/2010 145 PM by Evan Narcisse
You know, the great thing about the speed and breadth of the iPhone development ecosystem is being able to watch creators grow and refine their ideas. The gentlemen at Semi-Secret Games made one of my favorite iDevice titles in "Canabalt", where players ran and jumped through dynamically generated levels of a post-apocalyptic cityscape. "Gravity Hook HD" is their latest release, which actually revisits an older game that they iterated on with the permission of original creator Arne Niklas Jansson. This new HD version shows off a much-improved look and feel, along with significant gameplay tweaks. You control a robot grappling READ MORE »
Music
Justin Timberlake's Ridiculous Tequila Ad
Posted 07/29/2010 1230 PM by Brandon Kim
Justin Timberlake's going to nail his role in "The Social Network" as Sean Parker, Facebook's first president who was pushed out of the company after a cocaine debacle. And after watching his directorial debut for this 901 Tequila ad, I think he should stay in front of the cameras for a while longer. Preying on the male inclination to liken a woman's privates with remote provinces to quell is a bit 18th century if you ask me, but not a bad stab. Unfortunately, none of this makes any sense. Why are stockings going on at the beginning if she's getting READ MORE »
Movies
Venice Lines Up With Samurais, Dissolute Actors and Midlife Threesomes
Posted 07/29/2010 940 AM by Alison Willmore
The stars at night are big and bright, deep in the heart of... festival season. Two days ago Toronto announced a big chunk of its line-up, and now the Venice Film Festival has unveiled its own. Joining Darren Aronofsky ballerina drama "Black Swan," announced earlier as the opening night film, are Sofia Coppola's Hollywood saga "Somewhere" (trailer); Takashi Miike's samurai tale "13 Assassins" (trailer); "Meek's Cutoff," Kelly Reichardt's new film, once again starring Michelle Williams; Vincent Gallo's long-awaited follow-up to "The Brown Bunny" "Promises Made In Water," reportedly a 16-millimeter black-and-white tale of a girl with a terminal illness; "Road READ MORE »
Music
Lil Wayne + "(500) Days of Summer" Soundtrack = Weezy Summer Mashup Mix
Posted 07/29/2010 933 AM by Brandon Kim
It's called "(500) Days Of Weezy," and I almost find this difficult to say, but it's kind of good. I'm not sold on rapping over Hall & Oates, I can't go for that (No Can Do). But some of these other insane tracks are dope -- like "Please hustler, Please" prominently featuring Morrissey and a sample of The Smiths' lament, "Please, Please, Please, Let Me Get What I Want." Lil Wayne barking hard and fast over The Temper Trap's "Sweet Disposition," here titled "Sweet Stunt Positions" is killer too, an improvement on the source material for sure. Dude says "This READ MORE »
Movies
"Smash His Camera": The Sweet Life of a Paparazzi Superstar
Posted 07/29/2010 900 AM by Matt Singer
Can a paparazzo be an artist? Ron Galella, self-proclaimed "paparazzi superstar" certainly thinks so. And Galella has some evidence to back up his claim: after decades in the celebrity photojournalism racket, his prints now hang in museums around the world, and private collectors pay serious money for prints of his work. He's taken millions of photographs; one featured prominently in the film, "Windblown Jackie" from 1971, is one of the most beautiful pictures ever taken of Jackie Kennedy Onassis. Of course, Onassis also sued Galella for invading her privacy and had a restraining order placed on him to keep him READ MORE »
Movies
Trailering: Sylvain Chomet's "The Illusionist"
Posted 07/28/2010 600 PM by Matt Singer
There's a lot of good movies to look forward to at this year's Toronto Film Festival but if I had to pick just one that I'm most excited to see it would be "The Illusionist" from "Triplets of Belleville" director Sylvain Chomet. The £10 million budgeted film, based on a screenplay by Jacques Tati, is (according to the official Toronto Film Festival synopsis), "the story of a magician pushed aside by rock and roll who finds one young girl who appreciates his magic." Though a Russian trailer for the film has been floating around the Interwebs for a while, the READ MORE »
INTERVIEWS
Paul Dano is Sitting Pretty
Paul Dano on bad roomies, dressing in drag and working with Kevin Kline in his new film "The Extra Man."
VIDEOS
Exclusive: Dawes Perform "Give Me Time"
Dawes perform "Give Me Time" live, from their record, "North Hills."
PHOTOS
Kristen Stewart and Dakota Fanning rock SXSW with "The Runaways"
Kristen Stewart and Dakota Fanning crank up the volume in Austin with the premiere of their new film "The Runaways."
Patrick Wilson and Chloë Sevigny expose "Barry Munday" to SXSW
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