Video: Pulp Fiction scene redone with kids

From the Oxford Film Festival

Shameless Plug: My other blog

Hey to my small band of readers, I just wanted add a little plug for my design blog, which I've finally started using.

IN BED WITH LEADING

KTHX
-Carrie

Video: Benjamin Button=Forrest Gump

I'm so sorry I didn't post this sooner. I just got around to watching it today.

The Curious Case of Forrest Gump - watch more funny videos

Something Amazing! Star Wars retold by someone who's never seen it

Star Wars: Retold (by someone who hasn't seen it) from Joe Nicolosi on Vimeo.

Thoughts on the Golden Globes

Hm, I love Kate Winslet. She's a spectacularly talented actress. BUT... I didn't like her in Revolutionary Road. I feel like her win for that spoiled her win for The Reader, which she was actually great in.

Slumdog MIllionaire was the Globes darling (I shouldn't be surprised)... I really did like that movie, but I also really loved Milk, and that wasn't nominated for hardly anything, so, come Oscar time, I'm going to have a tough time with predictions. I'm thinking I should put my money down on Slumdog.

I was all about the awards for The Wrestler (Best Song, Best Actor in a Drama). Very well deserved. And for some reason seeing Darren Aronofsky with that mustache made me have a huge crush on him.

And there's Heath Ledger--but who thought he wasn't going to win, right?

My present sadness...

I still have a few movies to see before the official movie year is over (this being, in little minneapolis, sometime in january), and I know I'm going to break 80 for the year, but won't reach 100. Maybe that's not something to get bent out of shape about, but next year might not be as plentiful. I haven't been employed at a movie theater since September, and in the dead months of February, March and April, the only reason I saw most of the movies I did is because they were free and convenient.

Well for the love of Christ.

Current Total: 77
Projected Total: 88-90

I can live with that. I GUESS.

DVD: The Dark Knight Exclusives

HERE.

Why aren't they advertised more ahead of time? I mean, I'm glad I didn't go ahead and pre-order this time around , but I have to say, I'm baffled by this trend.

For Your Consideration: Heath Ledger

From /film:
Warner Bros has publicly begun its push with this Variety advertisement for Heath Ledger in The Dark Knight for a Best Supporting Actor nomination. Academy Award ballots are mailed on December 26th, polls close on January 12th, and the nominations are announced on January 22nd.

He will have to contend with Michael Shannon in Revolutionary Road, Philip Seymour Hoffman in Doubt, John Malkovich in Changeling, Ralph Fiennes in Duchess, John Malkovich and Brad Pitt in Burn After Reading and Robert Downey, Jr. in Tropic Thunder. Will the Academy recognize an outstanding performance in a “comic book movie”?

Video: The Kevin Bacon Movie Club!

See more Kevin Bacon videos at Funny or Die

Random News: Joaquin Phoenix is done for reals.

From Yahoo:

LOS ANGELES – The writing on Joaquin Phoenix's fists said it all.

The words "Good Bye" were penned on the actor's knuckles at a premiere Saturday night for his latest film, "Two Lovers," and Phoenix confirmed a surprise announcement he made last week: He's giving up movies.

"I think it's just moving on. It's rediscovering something else," said Phoenix, 34, said in an interview with Associated Press Television News before Saturday's American Film Institute festival, which also premiered "Che," starring Benicio Del Toro.

"Two Lovers" is his last film, he said. His publicist had disclosed Friday that the actor intended to focus on music.
Phoenix first mentioned his decision to "Extra" early last week at a fundraiser in San Francisco. He abruptly ended that interview after the reporter wondered whether he was joking about giving up acting for music.

Phoenix learned to play guitar and did his own singing to play country legend Johnny Cash in "Walk the Line," which earned him an Academy Award nomination. His publicist also said Phoenix has been directing music videos in recent years.

"It's like greener pastures, you know what I mean?" Phoenix said Saturday. "And so, I'm just going to try and like, I'll just be doing the other thing. ... Hopefully, I will emotionally impact you with that, as well."

DVD: Eight Iron Man DVD Exclusives

From Slash Film

Man, I really got screwed over here. Every one of those looks amazing, and I HAD to go and pre-order my copy weeks ago, when I could've waited instead to get one of these awesome deals. That just goes to show, kids, you never win by pre-ordering.

Listmania: Empire's 500 Greatest Movies of All Time

Found Here

My Count: 155/500

I need to see more movies.

Random News: Kenneth Branagh to direct Thor

From Cinematical:

See, kids? Superhero movies are classy now! According to Variety, the man of many parts, Kenneth Branagh, is set to direct Thor for Marvel Studios. I am pretty confident no one saw this choice coming -- there has been nary a whisper on the project since Matthew Vaughn left, and I really thought he'd probably swing back to it after Kick-Ass.

But somehow, this actually seems like the right fit for Branagh, who's taste has often leaned towards the bombastic. After all, scriptwriter Mark Protosevich told the Daily Herald last year that he saw the story of Thor in Biblical terms: "It's going to be like a super hero origin story, but not one about a human gaining super powers, but of a god realizing his true potential. It's the story of a Old Testament god who becomes a new Testament god." That takes a Shakespearean sort of eye, and while Branagh's directorial resume is middling, his best (Henry V, Much Ado About Nothing, Hamlet) suggests he might just be able to deliver on the action and wit Thor calls for. Check out the embedded Much Ado clip after the jump (a bit NSFW) and see if that doesn't feel a bit like a comic book movie.

Recap: Summer Movie Edition

What do you know, there were some really good movies out this summer. Despite the tidal wave of bad ones, here were the ones that went above and beyond and lived to their hype, and then some:

1. The Dark Knight


2. Iron Man


3. Tropic Thunder


4. Hamlet 2


5. Vicky Christina Barcelona


6. Mamma Mia!


7. Kung Fu Panda


8. Surfwise


9. Man on Wire


10. Pineapple Express

Honorable Mention: The Promotion, The Foot Fist Way, Wanted, The Visitor, Jellyfish, Speed Racer

The Ones that got away: Wall-E, Indiana Jones

Random News: Twilight to replace HP on Nov. 21

From Cinematical:

For all you Harry Potter fans who are also devoted to a certain series of teen-vampire romance novels, here's something that should help you deal with Thursday's devastating news about Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince being pushed back to next summer. Summit Entertainment announced today that with Harry having vacated the November 21 spot, they're going to fill it with Twilight, bumping it up a full three weeks from its original date of December 12.

While some fans wondered, irrationally, if the Harry Potter move was to get away from Twilight, Summit's CEO says Twilight never had any delusions of being more powerful than the boy wizard at the box office. "With a giant franchise like Harry Potter in the market, we had to stay clear of it," Rob Friedman told Variety -- hence the original date well away from Half-Blood Prince. "Their move created an opportunity to bring the movie to fans three weeks earlier."

Once November 21 opened up, the move was really a no-brainer. As a press release from Summit points out, movie theaters get very crowded around the holidays, and Twilight will be able to open on far more screens on November 21 than it could have on December 12. Now it'll be opening the Friday before Thanksgiving, too, which is nearly always a plus. Its only competition will be Disney's animated Bolt. The only loser here is Entertainment Weekly, whose Fall Movie Preview is now wrong again, before most readers have even seen it. (Or, from another point of view, now that issue is even more of a collector's item.)

What do you say? Are you excited about getting Twilight sooner? To those of you who have been sending Warner Bros. wrathful messages about the Harry Potter move, does this quell your anger somewhat? Will you at least be able to live and function and carry on?

Posters: Dark Knight sequel?

Oh my oh my. This is a glorious, glorious poster. It's not real, just a fan made poster. But still, it's great without giving anything away. Lots of great hints, really clever. Love it.

Something Cool: Movie Poster Lettermarks

Empire Online Has created one of the most interesting games ever (in my humble opinion, being a huge fan of movies, and a huge graphic design geek). It's a ransom note spelled out with movie poster fonts. See how many you can get.

My Score: 23/46.

Something Awesome: The Dark Knight trailer, by kids!

Brill.

Character Study: The Joker

From NPR.org

When the movie The Dark Knight opens Thursday at midnight, thousands of people will be haunted by the late Heath Ledger's portrayal of The Joker.

Before he died, Ledger told reporters that it took a ton of energy to play the role, but that it was the most fun he ever had.

"It was one of those moments where I was asked if I'd be interested in playing The Joker, and I knew five seconds later exactly how to play it," he said.


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