It’s Wednesday so it’s time for our weekly open discussion, but as it happens this one is hitting on the last day of 2008! Can you believe this year is over already?

And what an incredible year it’s been for movies… 2008 was a banner year for superhero movie fans with the likes of The Dark Knight, The Incredible Hulk, Iron Man, Hellboy 2, and yes – even Hancock and Punisher: War Zone.

Other great genre films included Rambo, Cloverfield (do you even remember that opened this year?!), Tropic Thunder, Forgetting Sarah Marshall, Kung Fu Panda and more.

Of course we’ve had our share of not so hot movies this year like The Happening, The Day the Earth Stood Still, Meet Dave, Meet the Spartans, X-Files, etc. Then there those we were looking forward to that left some of us disappointed like Indy 4 and Quantum of Solace.

I think this would be a great place to post your comments regarding your faves and not so favorite movies of this year… Hits, misses, surprises – whatever floats your boat (within our usual guidelines of course).

All of us here at Screen Rant wish you a very Happy New Year and here’s hoping that 2009 turns out to be as great a year for movie fans as 2008 was!

• Open Discussion – August 12, 2009
• First Day Of Shooting On Iron Man 2
• District 9 Spoilers Discussion
• Quantum Of Solace Blu-ray Review
• David Duchovny Talks X-Files 3
• Daniel Craig Says Bond 23 To Start Shooting Late 2010

The 2009 Golden Globe Nominations have been officially announced and it looks like The Dark Knight has been almost totally snubbed by the Hollywood Foreign Press Association.

That’s right folks, The Dark Knight received just one nomination: a Best Supporting Actor nod for Heath Ledger’s groundbreaking (and freaky) turn as The Joker. No Best Director nomination for Chris Nolan; no Best Screenplay nomination for Chris and Jonathan Nolan; no Best Original Score nomination (although Dark Knight composers Hans Zimmer and James Newton Howard are both nominated in that category for work on two other films).

So, want to see which films stole the slots that rightfully belong to TDK? Check out the  list of the 2009 Golden Globe Nominees in film:

BEST DRAMA
The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
Frost/Nixon
Revolutionary Road
The Reader
Slumdog Millionaire

ACTOR (DRAMA)
Leonardo DiCaprio – Revolutionary Road
Frank Langella – Frost/Nixon
Sean Penn – Milk
Brad Pitt – The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
Mickey Rourke – The Wrestler

ACTRESS (DRAMA)
Angelina Jolie – Changeling
Anne Hathaway – Rachel Getting Married
Meryl Streep – Doubt
Kristin Scott Thomas – I’ve Loved You So Long
Kate Winslet – Revolutionary Road

BEST MUSICAL OR COMEDY
Mamma Mia!
Vicky Cristina Barcelona
Burn After Reading
Happy-Go-Lucky
In Bruges

ACTOR (MUSICAL OR COMEDY)
Javier Bardem – Vicky Cristina Barcelona
Colin Farrell – In Bruges
James Franco – Pineapple Express
Dustin Hoffman – Last Chance Harvey
Brendan Gleeson – In Bruges

ACTRESS (MUSICAL OR COMEDY)
Sally Hawkins – Happy-Go-Lucky
Frances McDormand – Burn After Reading
Meryl Streep – Mamma Mia!
Emma Thompson – Last Chance Harvey
Rebecca Hall – Vicky Cristina Barcelona

FOREIGN-LANGUAGE FILM
Gomorrah
I’ve Loved You So Long
Waltz with Bashir
The Baader Meinhof Complex
Everlasting Moments

ANIMATED FILM
Wall-E
Bolt
Kung Fu Panda

SUPPORTING ACTOR
Tom Cruise – Tropic Thunder
Robert Downey Jr. – Tropic Thunder
Philip Seymour Hoffman – Doubt
Heath Ledger – The Dark Knight
Ralph Fiennes – The Duchess

SUPPORTING ACTRESS
Amy Adams – Doubt
Penelope Cruz – Vicky Cristina Barcelona
Viola Davis – Doubt
Marisa Tomei – The Wrestler
Kate Winslet – The Reader

DIRECTOR
David Fincher – The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
Danny Boyle – Slumdog Millionaire
Stephen Daldry – The Reader
Ron Howard – Frost/Nixon
Sam Mendes – Revolutionary Road

SCREENPLAY
Simon Beaufoy – Slumdog Millionaire
David Hare – The Reader
Peter Morgan – Frost/Nixon
Eric Roth – The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
John Patrick Shanley – Doubt

ORIGINAL SCORE
James Newton Howard – Defiance
Alexandre Desplat – The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
A.R. Rahman – Slumdog Millionaire
Hans Zimmer – Frost/Nixon
Clint Eastwood – Changeling

ORIGINAL SONG
“Down to Earth” by Peter Gabriel / Thomas Newman – Wall-E
“Gran Torino” by Clint Eastwood / Kyle Eastwood – Gran Torino
“I Thought I’d Lost You” by Miley Cyrus – Bolt
“Once in a Lifetime” by Beyoncé Knowles – Cadillac Records
“The Wrestler” by Bruce Springsteen – The Wrestler

So there’s a lot on this list I’m OK with (like Robert Downey Jr. and Tom Cruise receiving Supporting Actor Comedy nominations for Tropic Thunder, or Kung-Fu Panda getting a nod for Best Animated Film); there are some things on this list I couldn’t care less about (Best Musical or Comedy, anyone?); and there definitely some things on this list that make my head just want to explode.

Forgetting my obvious (and aforementioned) problem with the fact that The Dark Knight has been shut out of nearly every relevant category, I think that a film as wonderful as Let The Right One In was should have earned a Best Foreign Language Film nomination. And how Colin Farrell got a Best Comedy Actor Nod for In Bruges (which also got a Best Picture Comedy nod) will forever be beyond me.

On the flip side, James Franco getting a Best Comedy Actor nod for Pineapple Express is just plain awesome; it’s also good to see Mickey Rourke back on the rise, earning a nomination for his apparently soul-wrenching turn  as a washed up athlete in The Wrestler (which I have yet to see). However it’s strange as hell that after so much early buzz Clint Eastwood’s old-man-turned-vigilante drama Gran Torino only got one nomination… for Best Original Song.

Other than that, it seems to be award season as usual. No surprise that The Curious Case of Benjamin Button is leading the pack in nominations (after all the tremendous buzz), or that a Sam Mendes domestic life drama (Revolutionary Road) is also raking in the nominations. I haven’t seen Frost/Nixon, but it seems to have impressed the right people, because it’s coming out of left field to grab up a handful of nominations. Might have to get out and see that before Oscar season rolls around.

Speaking of the little gold guy, what do you think about The Dark Knight’s chances at the 2009 Academy Awards, now that you’ve seen the Golden Globe nominations? Do you agree with the list of nominees, or do you feel some great films didn’t get the recognition they deserve? Sound off and let us know.

(You can read the full list of Golden Globe Nominees (Film and Television) by clicking here)

Source: First Showing

• Oscar Winners/Nominees Coming To Video On Demand
• Twilight Sweeps The 2009 MTV Movie Awards
• Clint Eastwood’s ‘Invictus’ Snags Awards Season Opening
• 2009 Scream Award Nominations
• The Curious Case Of DiCaprio’s Button Man
• Eastwood And Damon Re-Teaming For ‘Hereafter’ [Updated]

Here we are again with another Weekend Movie News Wrap Up where we look at the weekend box office and furnish you with any film news that may have slipped through the cracks.

This week:

We see who 20th Century Fox lined up to replace Gavin Hood during the shoot of Wolverine; Paul Verhoeven returns to the world of erotic thrillers; it looks like Akira may be a while off; Michael Douglas is Libarace; Ray Winstone is the new Robert DeNiro and there’s more money ahoy for Gore Verbinski and Johnny Depp.

Box Office

This weekend it’s a close battle between Tyler Perry’s The Family that Preys and the Clooney-Pitt combo Burn After Reading. Both films grossed around $6 million on Friday and they should be on course for $18-20 million over the weekend. The Al Pacino/Robert DeNiro thriller Righteous Kill should manage around $16 million, while chick-flick The Women should bank around $11 million by Monday morning – not bad for a film that was going to be dumped before Warner Bros. saw dollar signs following the success of Sex and The City.

This weekend saw Tropic Thunder cross the magic $100 million mark and The Dark Knight banked another few million.

Movie News

1. Word came in this week via Variety that X-Men Origins: Wolverine director Gavin Hood was almost given the boot by Fox during the movies troubled shoot. Apparently, Superman and Lethal Weapon director (as well as husband of the film’s producer Lauren Shuler Donner) Richard Donner was flown out to Australia as a replacement.

It sounds like Inglorious Bastards might be a Fox board biopic.

Source: Variety

2.RoboCop and Starship Troopers director Paul Verhoeven is in talks to direct an untitled Wendy Williams scripted erotic thriller about a college intern who has an affair with the wife of his boss. The film is apparently a cross between Risky Business and Fatal Attraction – man, I’d love to have been a fly on the wall during that pitch. When did it take place… 1988?

This can’t be good news for Pierce Brosnan’s The Topkapi Affair.

Source: Variety

3. Those of you holding your breath for a film version of Akira starring Leonardo DiCaprio and Joseph Gordon Levitt  better exhale quick. Levitt says that his rumored involvement in the film is pure fiction and as far as he is aware here isn’t even a script yet.

Ruairi Robinson has his name on the director’s chair.

Source: MTV via Joblo

4. I love a good casting choice, but I really love left field casting choices. When news broke this week that Steven Soderbergh was developing a Liberace biopic with Michael Douglas in the frame as the flamboyant entertainer I almost choked on my cornflakes. The film will follow the palimony suit launched by Liberace’s younger lover (rumored to be Matt Damon) for $113 million. Richard LaGravanese is writing the script.

There’s a million and one “pianist” jokes that I could make, but I’ll wait until the film is released before I do that.

Source: Variety

5. When Robert DeNiro departed Edge of Darkness citing “creative differences” I wondered who they would call to replace such a high caliber actor. I didn’t have to wait long – as Ray Winstone is in negotiations to replace DeNiro as a CIA operative in the Mel Gibson film.

Source: Variety

6. Following the billions they made for Disney with the Pirates of the Caribbean franchise Johnny Depp and Gore Verbinski are set to reunite for animated film Rango.

Does anybody else remember the time when Hollywood wouldn’t even touch Depp with a barge pole?

Source: Variety

That’s it for this week. See you at the movies!

• Movie News Wrap Up: May 25, 2009
• Gore Verbinski Trades Pirates For ‘Bioshock’
• Weekend Movie News Wrap Up: July 12, 2009
• Bioshock Movie May Have A New Director
• Weekend Movie News Wrap Up: May 17, 2009
• Weekend Movie News Wrap Up: September 27, 2009

I can’t believe that it’s now the end of August! Soon the winter blockbusters will be knocking at our door and the next thing you know it’ll be Oscar time again. Where does time go? Is it playing like a re-run somewhere, can you just flick to another dimension to a time where you are still awaiting a fourth Indiana Jones movie? Who knows, but I do know that it’s another Weekend Movie News Wrap up featuring a new aspect: a weekend box office update.

This week:

After our box office round-up we see what George Clooney and Jason Reitman are doing Up in the Air, we find out what former superhero is joining the Toy Story franchise, we look at who might be helming the Poltergeist movie and the Voltron film and what is new on the Inglorious Bastards casting front.

Weekend Box Office

It looks like Tropic Thunder will retain its box office crown and gross another $14-16 million over the Labor day weekend. Fox’s tinkering with Babylon A.D. didn’t do any good as the film will only bank $11-13 million this weekend. Ouch – what a summer Fox has had!

Don Cheadle’s Traitor did a modest $2.2 million on Friday and it should bank $10 million when all is said and done over the weekend. Meanwhile Disaster Movie was a disaster coining only $2 million on Friday – look for an $8 million weekend.

Death Race crashed an burned on its second weekend dropping a mighty 63% grossing just $1.7 million on Friday. Look for a little over $8 million by the end of Labor Day weekend.

Art house hit The Dark Knight will have crossed the $500 million barrier and the Caped Crusader epic should bank about another $11.5 million. Holy legs, Batman!

Movie News

1. Speaking of Batman, former Dark Knight George Clooney has signed on to Jason Reitman’s Up in the Air. The comedy film follows a business man who is addicted to collecting air miles. Sounds strange and quirky so it should be up Clooney’s street. I imagine it’ll fly high in awards season!

Source: Variety

2. Another former Batman, Michael Keaton has signed on to Toy Story 3. Keaton will play Ken (of Ken and Barbie fame). His other half will be voiced by Jodi Benson. Benson was also the voice of Ariel in The Little Mermaid. I didn’t know that already. Seriously.

Source: IESB

3. It looks like the Poltergeist remake has snagged itself a director. Vadim Perelman director of House of Sand and Fog is in talks to direct the horror film. Nothing is set in stone yet, so this could change. Heck, they could even give Brett Ratner a call.

Source: Bloody Disgusting

4. More Bastards have landed (that’s a Peter Jackson reference for you). Christoph Waltz has joined Quentin Tarantino’s Inglorious Bastards as the main evil-doer of the film, Colonel Hans Landa. Meanwhile National Treasure star Diane Kruger has also come on-board the film, in the role first intended for the much older Nastassja Kinski.

Source: CHUD

5. The Voltron movie has nabbed a director in the form of Max Makowski. The film is a Transformers-esque giant robot movie.  Makowski has in the past brought us One Last Dance (a film that I have sitting on DVD but have never watched), as well as episodes of Queer Eye for the Straight Guy.

No, seriously, he did. I have nothing to say about this. Nothing at all.

I will say that there’s probably a joke in there somewhere.

Source: Latino Review

That’s it for another week. See you at the movies!

• Poltergeist Remake Gets A Release Date
• Poltergeist Remake Delayed
• Movie News Wrap Up: May 25, 2009
• Movie News Wrap Up – July 27, 2009
• Weekend Movie News Wrap Up: March 22, 2009
• Bale Will Do Next Batman Movie Without Nolan

Seriously, I’m asking: will Tropic Thunder, the much-hyped comedy starring Ben Stiller, Jack Black, and Robert Downey Jr. (in black face, no less,) really have enough, well, thunder, to knock The Dark Knight out of its top spot at the box office on its one-month anniversary?

If you think about it, Tropic Thunder has a lot of the same things going for it that Dark Knight did:

A) Controversy. Dark Knight had the morose intrigue of Heath Ledger’s final cinematic turn as THE Joker of our time. Tropic Thunder has two major controversies surrounding it: Robert Downey Jr.’s stereotypical portrayal of an African-American, complete with black-face, and, what some “activists” are alleging is the film’s overly-cruel mockery of mentally challenged people. (Regarding Downey in black-face: as a part of that club, I have to say I’m fine with it. Tropic Thunder is a satire, not a spoof, meaning that it’s actually trying to say something right, by way of showing something wrong. And besides, I’m not a hypocrite: if it’s okay for Downey to do a role in iron-face, how can I complain when he does one in black-face?)

But will controversy be enough to fill theater seats? One can never be sure.

B) Buzz. You could probably file it alongside “controversy,” but the reality is that whether dependent on controversy, or independent of it, Tropic Thunder HAS been on people’s mouths for some months now. Combine that fact with the usual media blitz to promote a film–factor in Robert Downey Jr., whose star has gone supernova since Iron Man, and it all adds up to some pretty good momentum going into opening weekend.

C) A good film. Buzz can get a flick through opening night, but soon after, if the finished product isn’t up to snuff, people are going to start talking and word is going to get around. As it stands now, Tropic Thunder has a score of 72 on Metacritic (after 34 reviews), and an impressive 83% on Rotten Tomatoes (after 128 reviews)! (And Screen Rant’s own Vic Holtreman liked it too!)

If audience reactions end up matching critical praise, the quality of Tropic Thunder will likely bring in a large quantity of this week’s movie-going public.

But again: enough of an audience to dethrone The Dark Knight after four weeks on top? If I have to make that call, I gotta go with the Joker’s philosophy: “Everything burns.” Dark Knight has proven to be a juggernaut, but with only the old and infeeble left to see it (a first time), the lure of newer, more light-hearted fare will prove too much for ticket-buyers to resist. C’est la vie.

What do you think: does The Dark Knight have enough box office muscle to hold Tropic Thunder down? Let us know what you think.

• Regarding Lousy Movies & ‘Snob’ Critics
• HBO’s Awesome TV Spot For The Dark Knight Premiere
• Terminator Salvation Desperate To Fill Seats
• [Update] First Look at Scarlett Johansson’s Black Widow!
• Why Watchmen Will $ucceed
• 2009 Comic-Con Preview: Iron Man 2

Man, I didn’t see this one coming.

Back in March when the photo of Robert Downey Jr as a black man appeared online, I figured the big outcry against Tropic Thunder would revolve around racism. While there has been some talk of “blackface” and how offensive it is in the trailers, by far the most attention has been focused on the use of the word “retard” in the film and the character “Simple Jack” from the fictional film of the same name.

While there have been a lot of posts online slamming any boycott of the film, Cole over at Film School Rejects wrote a post that while not pro-boycott, at least made an attempt at showing the point of view of folks who are offended by the trailers and marketing. There was more than one post on the same site taking the opposite point of view, that people should basically just “get over it.”

The argument on the side of those who want to defend the mentally handicapped via their outrage at Tropic Thunder is that those who are afflicted are not in a position to defend themselves, and are much more susceptible to the meanness of those who would taunt them. Of course, I agree completely that those who cannot defend themselves need defenders and anyone who would pick on someone who is mentally handicapped is basically a dirtbag.

On the other hand, these protests are based on the marketing materials including posters and a website for a fake movie (which has been taken offline) instead of basing it on the actual film in which the “slurs” take place. If one actually goes to see the film (my Tropic Thunder review is here) it’s plainly evident that the butt of the jokes are the actors themselves and not either the mentally handicapped or black people.

Robert Downey Jr plays an actor within the film who is playing a character that is black. He undergoes surgery to make him look African-American and completely immerses himself in the role to the point where he believes he is in fact a black man, complete with righteous indignation when Ben Stiller refers to the group of actors trapped in the jungle as “you people.” Downey says “What do you mean, ‘you people?’,” whereas the actual black actor in the movie says to Downey “What do you mean, ‘you people?’”

Ben Stiller plays an action star that took a stab at an Oscar-bait dramatic role in the fake film within the film Simple Jack, and he plays a mentally handicapped man so outrageously on the fringes of the stereotype that it brings him ridicule. Not the handicapped, but him, the actor.

Of course all the actors in the movie are basically not intelligent and extremely full of themselves, so anything they say actually looks bad on them and not on the subjects they are addressing.

When it comes to how all this will affect the box office, it may put a bit of a dent in it but it looks like it won’t be much. Tropic Thunder was projected to bring in $45 million over it’s 5 day opening extended weekend, but now it’s looking like it will be between $38-41 million.

While any boycott is not having much effect on the box office, online it’s had an impact. The website for Simple Jack now displays a blank page.

But what I find really interesting is that you can’t find any images of Ben Stiller in character as Jack on Google or Yahoo!, although you can still find a handful on MSN. It’s like any trace of the character is being wiped from the internet.

No doubt, there will be a catch phrase coming out of the film that teens and college kids will grab on to (“Never go full retard”), but I’m betting it will be short-lived as the vast majority of people will grasp how insensitive that is.

Yes, Tropic Thunder is rude, crass and gross – but it’s not poking fun at black people or the mentally handicapped.

Box office numbers courtesy of Fantasy Moguls.

• Writer Found For ‘Men In Black 3′
• Action-Packed Fourth Sherlock Holmes Trailer
• G.I. Joe Mystery Confirmed: Cobra Commander’s New Look
• New 3.5 Minute Avatar Trailer Coming This Friday
• First Teaser Trailer For Christopher Nolan’s Inception
• ‘Machete’ Casting: Rodriguez Confirmed, Role For Lohan?

Short version: Tropic Thunder is crass, gross and rude – but it’s also funny as hell.

Screen Rant reviews Tropic Thunder

Can i make this any more clear?

Leave. The kids. At Home.

Ok, got it? Let’s move on.

For adults, and for further clarification: Adults that don’t mind rude, crass humor – Tropic Thunder is a VERY funny movie.

One of the few problems with Tropic Thunder is that it starts out so damned funny that the rest of the movie has a hard time living up to those opening scenes. The film opens with a montage of clips that introduce the audience to the actors in the film. When I say “actors” I don’t mean Ben Stiller, Jack Black and Robert Downey Jr. – I mean the actors they portray in the film (in matching order to the previous list): Tugg Speedman, Jeff Portnoy and Kirk Lazarus.

The film opens with a combination of fake trailers, Entertainment Tonight-type clips and a commercial for an energy drink called “Booty Sweat” (promoted by Alpa Cino, who is played by Brandon T. Jackson). We see that Tugg Speedman is an action star who made a play at winning an Oscar by playing a mentally handicapped character in the movie “Simple Jack.” Kirk Lazarus is the guy who actually gets the Oscars (shown in a trailer that cameos Tobey Macguire and was quite hysterical), and Jeff Portnoy is an out-of-control comedy actor that does the sort of films that Eddie Murphy has done of late.

All of the actors involved are spoiled beyond belief and the director of the film within the film, “Tropic Thunder”, is at his wit’s end as to how to get the movie made which although it only started filming days ago is already somehow months behind schedule.

In comes Vietnam vet Nick Nolte, upon whose life experience the film is based. His suggestion is to drop the cast in the jungle – no entourage, no lattes, no Tivo and have them experience what it would really be like. What no one knows is that the cast has been dropped in the midst of an area controlled by a drug lord who doesn’t take kindly to outsiders.

The film shifts gears for the characters as they eventually realize the predicament they’re in and have to “man-up” to deal with the situation.

Now anyone who reads Screen Rant regularly knows that I’m not a big fan of “stupid-funny” comedies. While Tropic Thunder is certainly silly, it doesn’t descend to the level of stupidity as so many other recent comedies have done. What’s funny about the film is the fact that the actors (the real actors, not the characters in the film) are all pretty much poking fun at themselves. The only exception (as Harry Knowles pointed out in his review) is Ben Stiller, who is parodying an action star when he isn’t one.

There is some serious gore in this movie, but it’s played for laughs (there’s one scene with Ben Stiller holding a head that will really gross you out if you’re not accustomed to this sort of thing). Stiller was OK, and Jack Black starts out super-annoying but you’ll warm up to him by the end of the film. However without a doubt the man who steals the movie is Robert Downey Jr. as the white actor who undergoes surgery to play a black man in the film – and utterly immerses himself in the role.

Watching Downey play a white actor playing a black man who convinces himself he really IS black is too funny for words. And the juxtaposition of placing him in a scene with a real black actor who is vexed at Downey Jr’s attitude just adds to the mix.

When another character in the film refers to “you people” (meaning everyone present) Downey’s indignation when he says “what do you mean: ‘you people’”… well, it makes me laugh right now just thinking about it.

With the crappy comedies that we’ve seen this year like The Love Guru and Don’t Mess with the Zohan, it was a pleasure to watch a movie that actually managed to make me laugh. A lot.

• The Hangover Review
• Writer Found For ‘Men In Black 3′
• Comic-Con: Solomon Kane is Surprisingly Very Awesome
• New Star Trek Clips: Meet Dr. McCoy
• District 9’s Sharlto Copley as The A-Team’s Murdock?
• [Updated] Robert Downey Jr. To Play The Vampire Lestat?

We get busy, we miss stuff. Here are some of the items of note that didn’t get individual posts today…

- Seth Rogen won’t be a fat Green Hornet. (Super Hero Hype)

- Maybe Goonies 2 isn’t on track after all. (Cinematical)

- Kevin Smith’s Porno gets an R rating. (AP)

- Natalie Portman feels bad she hasn’t been in a remake, remedies situation. (Bloody Disgusting)

- Paramount caves in to political correctness on Tropic Thunder. (Movies Online)

- Castle Wolfenstein is not dead. (Sci Fi Wire)

- Lexi Alexander says “Now, if I would have real balls a picture of me mooning the vicious cyber world would follow, but unfortunately I haven’t had time to workout, so it wouldn’t be a pretty sight.” after movie sites rise up saying that it was terrible that she was supposedly fired from Punisher: War Zone. (Lexi Alexander) [If that's really how she feels I hope her damned Punisher movie tanks. Hard. - Vic]

• Cameron Diaz To Star In The Green Hornet?
• First Look: The New A-Team & Green Hornet’s Costume [Updated]
• Seth Rogen Updates Us On ‘Green Hornet’
• Seth Rogen Talks Green Hornet & ‘Paul’
• Nicolas Cage vs. The Green Hornet?
• Seth Rogen Explains The Green Hornet Villain

Doug Nagy from TheMovieBlog.com, Alex Billington from Firstshowing.net and me with the three stars of Bitch Slap at the Wrath of Con party

Another day at Comic-Con, another sore rear end from the uncomfortable seats in Hall H…

Today’s events included watching the Season 3 premiere episode of Heroes, which was a huge unexpected bonus. It looks like the show is getting its mojo back and if you’re a fan you’re really going to like it when it returns this Fall.

The Lost panel was attended by the executive producers (who revealed next to nothing) and Matthew Fox (who said almost nothing). They did manage to entertain the crowd, but overall it was cotton candy: a lot of fluff but not very nourishing.

One of the big surprises was how awesome the new Terminator Salvation trailer turned out to be. It was really very impressive and I think it’s going to be right up there with the first two in terms of quality and being a fan favorite when all is said and done.

Another pleasant surprise was Disney showing 20 minutes from their upcoming animated CGI film Bolt. I wouldn’t call it awesome, but I have to say it made me laugh quite a few times and was very cute. It’s certainly not Pixar-great but I think it’s going to be a very good family flick.

After that Pixar director Pete Docter gave a similar presentation for next year’s movie Up, that was given last year for Wall-E. There were a few character renderings and explanations of who they were and there were a couple of extended clips that were right up there with the usual level of story-telling quality. It looks like they’re getting back to issues of the heart instead of continuing down the “message-y” path of Wall-E.

I was going to sit through Universal’s panel and write it up, but I couldn’t bear to watch or hear any more about the awful looking Mummy 3: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor. There was a scene where Abominable Snowmen (aks Yetis) were brought in to fight and they had such human mannerisms that it was just plain retarded. Don’t believe me? How about one Yeti kicking a bad guy hard enough to send him flying a very long way and another yet sticking his arms in the air and doing the football touchdown sign?

Sam Raimi and the principals from Drag Me to Hell were at the Universal panel and a clip was shown. While it’s a horror movie, it looks like it has the flavor of the Evil Dead films because it was also very funny in Raimi’s horror movie kind of way. If you’re a fan of those movies, this one looks fantastic and brings Raimi back to his roots. He also said he’s very interested in doing another Evil Dead film.

The unrated trailer for Quarantine, the American version of the Spanish horror film [Rec] actually looks pretty damned good.

Although the Wrath of Con party was great, we didn’t get to meet any real celebs since part of it was roped off as a VIP setion. Oh well… got to hang with my move site buds and the babes from Bitch Slap, a grindhouse type movie due to come out later this year.

• New ‘Evil Dead’: Slightly Better Than Snowball’s Chance In Hell
• Sam Raimi Producing Yeti Horror Movie ‘Refuge’
• Raimi Insists He AND Campbell Will Be Back For ‘Evil Dead 4′
• World of Warcraft To Be Directed By Sam Raimi?
• Sam Raimi’s New Trailer Will Drag You To Hell
• Sam Raimi Talks Spider-Man 4 & Evil Dead 4

Gotta tell you guys, we’re having a blast. Somehow this year I’m relaxing more yet getting more posts out about the goings-on here at Comic-Con. Here’s a bit of a wrap up of yesterday (since it’s 3AM and no longer Friday).

I’ve enjoyed seeing some of my online movie buds in person again. Nice to actually hang out instead of just exchanging emails, Twitters and IMs.

• The biggie: Attended the Watchmen panel and got to see new footage. Awesome.
• Saw a bunch of trailers, most of which I’d seen. One I hadn’t seen was for Hamlet 2 and while I’ve heard the movie is great (it premiered at Sundance but I missed it), I thought the trailer made the movie look absolutely stupid.
• Saw the first footage from The Wolfman and was (along with the audience) very impressed.
• Attended the very sad panel for The Spirit and saw new footage which did not inspire confidence in the final product. Peter at /Film thinks it will be “The Dick Tracy of our generation.”
• Went to dinner with Bruce Simmons at Dick’s Last Resort on 4th Ave – a crazy/fun restaurant.
• Attended the Tropic Thunder screening which was WAY crude, but fantastically funny.
• Went out for a nightcap with the crew from FirstShowing and ran into Jen from RottenTomatoes.

As a bonus, David Chen from /Film recorded a short post-Spirit panel interview consisting of himself, Pete from /Film, and a couple of the boys from LatinoReview. Check it out and let me know how you think I did!

[See post to watch Flash video]

• Comic-Con is On
• Missed Something? Our 2009 San Diego Comic-Con Wrap-Up
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The campaign is ramping up big time for the big summer comedy (that might actually turn out to be funny) Tropic Thunder. A week ago we told you about the Rain of Madness website which promotes a fake documentary about the film (it’s very funny and well worth checking out, BTW), and now we have a slew of additional ones for you.

• TuggSpeedman.com
• SimpleJackMovie.com
• ScorcherMovie.com

This gets a bit confusing. The websites are dedicated to actor that Ben Stiller plays in the film and his other (fictional) projects. So Tugg Speedman is the name of the actor Ben Stiller plays in Tropic Thunder, but not the name of the character that “Tugg Speedman” is playing in the movie within the movie.

Got it? Good.

It’s really worth digging through the sites for a few laughs. On his biography page, it states:

“…his chiseled good looks and 24-pack abs got him bigger and better parts…”

Then there’s the Simple Jack movie where Stiller as Speedman plays a mentally handicapped man that can “talk to animals”

Finally we have a Rambo-type movie: Scorcher VI: Global Meltdown (yes, number 6), and you MUST go read the synopsis for the film (“If you can’t stand the heat, get outta my face!”)

Again, all this is no guarantee the actual Tropic Thunder movie will be funny (Ben Stiller has been very hit or miss IMHO) but at least the marketing is worth a giggle or two.

And before I forget, the release date has been brought closer by two days: Tropic Thunder will now open on Wednesday, August 13th.

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It looks like The Dark Knight isn’t the only movie production that knows how to go viral: Tropic Thunder is trying it’s hand as well with a website touting a documentary about the making of Tropic Thunder. The kicker is that the “documentary” Rain of Madness treats what happens in Tropic Thunder as actual, real events.

There’s an introduction on the website from the “director” which starts this way:

“Hallö.
I am German born filmmaker Jan Jürgen. I am writing to you from Vietnam, after documenting the making of a Hollywood classic called, ‘Tropic Thunder.’ While the actors and filmmakers try to tell their story of heroism set in the chaos of the Vietnam War, I too will be telling a story. One that has never, until now, been told. A story that I have wanted to tell since I was a child.”

Here’s the trailer:

[See post to watch Flash video]

Aaaaand a poster for the pseudo-doc:

For more viral goodness head over to RainOfMadness.com.

Tropic Thunder opens on August 15th.

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From the MTV Movie Awards (which I never bother watching… way too “hip” for me, thanks) comes this “viral” promotional clip for Tropic Thunder. It starts out great with Ben Stiller, Robert Downey Jr and Jack Black. They manage to pull both Iron Man and Kung Fu Panda into a promo piece for Stiller’s film pretty creatively.

However, to me this is an example of one of the problems with comedy these days: Not knowing when to quit. I thought it was really quite funny for about the first minute and a half, but then it goes on for about another 2-3 full minutes and it literally beats the point of the skit into the ground. Overkill IMHO.

Plus watching Stiller kowtow to a stereotypical bored, disconnected teenager annoyed the heck out of me. On the other hand I really enjoyed Downey Jr in the skit.

Source: MTV

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We’ve got We had the restricted (aka red band) trailer for the upcoming R-rated comedy Tropic Thunder, but since we don’t have age verification here we were asked to pull the trailer. Be warned that the following trailer is most definitely not suited for all audiences.

We haven’t covered it much here, but for adults who don’t mind crass humor this looks like it could be pretty damned funny. Of course one of the dangers of judging a comedy based on a trailer is that sometimes all the funny bits are there and there isn’t anything new left for the movie itself.

You can still see it here:

One of the more interesting things about the movie is that Robert Downey Jr (now a “hot property” and bound to add box office to this flick) plays a white guy playing a black guy in the film. There’s been the expected bit of controversy over this, which I think is overblown and pretty dumb.

Anyway, I’d love to hear what you think about this based on the trailer (again, remember this is an R-rated trailer).

So what do you think? Over the top extreme humor or just crass and dumb? I’m hoping it’s the former and not the latter.

Tropic Thunder opens on August 15th

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There’s a movie that seems to be in the early stages of causing an uproar over a racial issue. Apparently in this movie, someone of one race will be wearing realistic makeup to make the character seem like he is of a completely different race.

Besides the obvious outcry that this is demeaning, is the accusation that work has been taken away from someone of the target race who could just as easily have been hired to play the part in the film.

If you’re curious about what I’m talking about, see below.

The African American Wayans Brothers play two white woman in White Chicks

I can totally see the outrage over this, I mean with all the white, young blonde actresses trying to get a break in Hollywood, how could these guys possibly be so racist as to take work away from who could be the next two big starlets of Tinseltown? I mean… um, what?… You mean this isn’t all about White Chicks? There was no outcry over the race reversal in that movie?

Oh… sorry. My bad.

I guess the worry is about a different movie. This summer another comedy movie using the cross-race gag will be coming out: Tropic Thunder. In this movie Robert Downey Jr will play a white man playing a black man in a movie within the movie (got that?).

Robert Downey Jr. plays a black man in Tropic Thunder

From what I’ve read, the comedic part of Downey Jr.’s role depends upon the fact that he is a white guy playing a black man, much as the humor in White Chicks was supposed to come from a couple of black men playing white blonde women.

According to Entertainment Weekly:

“Robert Downey Jr. plays Kirk Lazarus, a very serious Oscar-winning actor cast in the most expensive Vietnam War film ever. Problem is, Lazarus’s character, Sgt. Osiris, was originally written as black. So Lazarus decides to dye his skin and play Osiris, um, authentically.”

Here’s the picture that started the whole thing:

The movie has nothing to do with finding humor in racial stereotypes, rather the goal (which I’m 100% behind) was to poke fun at pampered Hollywood stars by having the director of the film within the film drop them into a live war zone in Vietnam so they could get a taste of real hardship.

I’ll fess up right here and tell you that before I knew that this was the plot of the film, I had been offended by the trailer. I thought that it was portraying a band of actual soldiers as “wacky guys” in the middle of the conflict. But now that I know the context, it does indeed look like it may be pretty damned funny.

If you want to see the “red band” trailer (for language), you’ll need to provide age verification information over at the official website.

Personally I think any racist accusations raised against this film in the media will be from the usual bunch of attention-hungry talking heads that pop up at every opportunity.

Tropic Thunder opens on August 15th and stars Ben Stiller, Jack Black & Robert Downey Jr.

Source: EW via First Showing

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