World of Warcraft... the movie?

It was just announced within the past day that there is to be a World of Warcraft movie coming out in the coming couple years. Sam Raimi has signed on as director (for now) and that means that:

1. It will probably be humorous
2. There is a good chance Bruce Campbell will be involved

The main worry I have about this movie is that it is a WoW movie. It's existence validates the millions (yes the numbers are in the millions) of people who don't go outside because they are too busy playing the game. I fear for our culture. If Bruce Campbell is in the movie I HAVE to see it though.

Transformers 2: Revenge of the Fallen

I went to see Transformers 2: Revenge of the Fallen tonight and was so enthusiastic about it I had to write this post.

Transformers 2 sucks.
not just regular sucks, it sucks in the kind of way that you feel ill afterward. It sucks in a way that makes me wish Michael Bay would lose his eyes and therefore his ability to direct.
It takes hard work to really get me going about a movie, I'm pretty easy going and I have a sick fascination with really bad movies (Snakes on a Plane, The Scary Movie Series, The Final Destination series, anything by the guys who did the Thumb movies and Kung Pow!, and anything from Tromaville, etc.)
Where Snakes on a Plane acknowledged its badness, T2:ROTF was unclear. Could anyone actually create something so bad and not recognize how awful it is?
Rotten Tomatoes said: "Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen is a noisy, underplotted, and overlong special effects extravaganza that lacks a human touch." I am honestly surprised that this movie is TOPPING THE BOX OFFICE.
Fair, but that is missing a few points. The cinematography is insane AND inane. There is a whole sequence of the camera going through holes in walls and doors in a circle. The camera moved even when a simple stationary shot would have done fine, or even better.
I also found myself getting bored as I was watching the movie. (This IS a blockbuster, right?) My friend Charlie started nodding off and his roommate Derek straight up fell asleep.
I honestly expected better after the first movie, a half self-aware comedy, half fun-guns-action flick. For those of you who didn't know, Michael Bay is a hack, and T2:ROTF is a steaming pile. Happy Independence Day Weekend!

DiG?

Can You dig it?
and

Well?

My Bloody Valentine....... 3D?

I've been seeing lots of ads for a movie called "My Bloody Valentine 3D." Talking to many of my shoegazing friends, they were all very upset by this. For those of you who are unaware, there was a band called "My Bloody Valentine" that became extremely famous. They led the shoegazing movement and so has become widely known. After the shoegazer in me became offended, I decided to do some research. These are my findings.

First, we'll talk about the new movie.

MY BLOODY VALENTINE 3D LOOKS TERRIBLE

The plot according to Wikipedia:
"Ten years ago, a tragedy changed the town of Harmony forever. Tom Hanniger (Jensen Ackles), an inexperienced coal miner, caused an accident in the tunnels that trapped and killed five men and sent the only survivor, Harry Warden (Richard John Walters), into a coma. But Harry Warden wanted revenge. Exactly one year later, on Valentine's Day, he woke up and brutally murdered twenty-two people with a pickax before being killed.
Ten years later, Tom Hanniger returns to Harmony on Valentine's Day, still haunted by the deaths he caused. Struggling to make amends with his past, he grapples with unresolved feelings for his ex-girlfriend, Sarah (Jaime King), who is now married to his best friend, Axel (Kerr Smith), the town sheriff. But tonight, after years of peace, something from Harmony's dark past has returned. Wearing a miner's mask and armed with a pickax, an unstoppable killer is on the loose. And as his footsteps come ever closer, Tom, Sarah and Axel realize in terror that it just might be Harry Warden who's come back to claim them..."

Typical slasher flick. Lots of blood and tense moments, maybe some metal during the opening and ending sequences. Since its in 3D is it therefore more terrifying? Other than the draw of a possible 3D soft-core scene, (maybe the first ever in the history of film?) I don't think I could pay money to see it.

Now, the movie shares its name with "My Bloody Valentine(Band)." They were the biggest thing to ever happen to shoegaze. Their music (directly or indirectly) influenced many bands that I feel are pretty important right now: Film School, Darker My Love, The Dandy Warhols, Black Rebel Motorcycle Club, and most notably The Brian Jonestown Massacre. In fact, the BJM's latest album was titled "My Bloody Underground" an homage to MBV and The Velvet Underground. That should help you understand the shock seeing this movie trailer caused in Shoegazers.

Here is some MBV if you haven't heard them before.


After digging a bit deeper, I found out that My Bloody Valentine 3D is actually a remake of a Canadian slasher flick from the '80s. The movie came out in 1981 while the band started in 1984. The name connection is not a coincidence either. According to this fansite they named themselves after the movie.

What a strange thing to name your band after.
BTW Emo kids, listen to this instead of your Dashboard Confessional. I'll hate you less.

Synecdoche, New York

I was watching the Colbert Report tonight and the guest was Charlie Kaufman. He is the writer and director of a movie, Synecdoche, New York.

I am excited to see this movie. It stars Philip Seymour Hoffman. From what I gathered from the trailer, he plays a director who thinks he's going to die and so begins a big work that everyone should remember him for. He creates a replica of New York City inside a warehouse and hires actors to inhabit it. His life starts falling apart outside the warehouse and the actor that plays him in the warehouse is too good. That's all I know. It's already out, but I'd never heard of it before. It won a Robert Altman award at the Independent Spirit Awards. It was also nominated for a golden palm at Cannes, but did not win.

Seeing as a I know nothing about indie movie awards, I have no idea what that means, but I HAD heard of the Cannes Film Festival before. Maybe I should learn a bit about them, I think I'll be changing directions (from animation to film) yet again for my final year of college.

Its also interesting that I'd never heard of this film before tonight and it has been out for little more than a month. Not long enough to have faded completely from the public eye and not short enough for word not to have gotten out yet. This makes me wonder about advertising for art/indie work. Advertising makes or breaks a lot of movies and indie films are no exception. Is it from lack of trying or something else. Is there an open niche there?