Best of '09

As 2009 winds down, it's only natural for people to look back on the year that was. In a lot of ways, pop culture wise, I think 2009 will be remembered as a bad year. Not because of the quality of the music, movies, video games, etc, but rather because of all of the tremendous loss. We said goodbye to icons like Michael Jackson, Farrah Fawcett and John Hughes, people that not only were part of pop culture, but literally shaped and defined it. But I'd rather remember the good stuff from this year, so without further adieu, here's my list of "Best of '09."

Best Album In a year where U2 releases a new record, it's usually a safe bet that I will select that as my album of the year, and their effort, No Line on the Horizon, didn't disappoint. (It was actually just selected by Rolling Stone as their record of the year.) But a band that was barely on my radar before this year snuck up on me and snatched the title away from Bono and the boys. I first discovered Phoenix when their track 'If I Ever Feel Better' appeared in an episode of Entourage so I was intrigued when my co-worker Johnny Hockin had a link to the new Phoenix single on his blog. That track was '1901,' which quickly became one of my most played songs on iTunes and set me up for their excellent album Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix. The band masterfully blend pop hooks, guitar rock and glorious synthesizers for an electronic 80's pop sound that I'm so pleased to see making a comeback. With apologies to U2, this year belonged to Phoenix.

Best Movie Spike Jonze's Where the Wild Things Are was my most anticipated film of the year and it did not disappoint. (My initial thoughts can be found here) Many people questioned how a movie could be drawn from that source material (there are only nine lines in the original book) but Jonze made a movie that's more about childhood and the magical things we leave behind as we grow up then it is about the Wild Things. However, that being said, it was a flick I saw at the Toronto International Film Festival that really struck me and earns the title of movie of the year. Jason Reitman's Up in the Air, (original thoughts here) which tells an incredibly (almost eerily) timely story of a corporate bag man that travels from city to city laying people off while living an increasingly disconnected life before he meets a woman who makes him reconsider his path. The film is anchored by fantastic performance from George Clooney, Vera Farmigia and Anna Kendrick. I absolutely loved this movie and highly recommend it.

Best Video Game This was a great year for video games with titles like Batman: Arkham Asylum, inFamous and NHL 10 providing me with hours and hours of gameplay, but one title stood above all of them. Uncharted 2: Among Thieves was a game I was eagerly anticipating literally since the moment I completed the previous installment and the game delivered on every front. Several months ago, I was fortunate enough to travel to LA to check out the game in progress, and I also got a chance to play the Beta before the game was released thanks to my buddy at Sony PlayStation (thanks Kyle!) but nothing prepared me for how good this game was when I finally got my hands on it. Here's a bold statement: this isn't just the best video game of '09... it's the best video game ever. (My original post on the game can be found here)

Best Concert I got a chance to see Phoenix live twice this year. Once was a truly epic concert in Toronto at the appropriately named Phoenix Concert Hall and the second show was in New York at an MTV Video Awards pre-party. Both were fantastic (especially the Toronto show) but the U2 360 tour, which touched down in Toronto in September was literally unlike anything I'd ever seen before in my life. I actually saw Bono and The Edge perform the night before the concert at a taping of the Elvis Costello show Spectacle which was an incredible musical experience (thoughts here) but the full show - and the incredible stage they performed on and the jaw-dropping production values of the tour - left me literally in awe. I've seen U2 live fifteen times and I was amazed that at this stage in their career they are still able to deliver a show that knocks you on your ass like this one did. The band are returning to Toronto next September. I'll be there.

Spike Lee's New Michael Jackson video

Here's the new video for Michael Jackson's posthumous single This Is It. The video was directed by Spike Lee (something you will be reminded of repeatedly by an annoying scroll throughout the video) and fuses performance viz with stills from Michael's career and footage of his hometown of Gary, Indiana. Lee, who previously directed Jackson's They Don't Care About Us video (check it out here) seems like a fitting choice for this spot, which is essentially just a tribute to Jackson.

Michael, because of his undeniable sway in the industry was able to line up a lot of top notch directing talent over the years, so it's only fitting that this video was helmed by an experienced filmmaker in Spike Lee. Previously Jackson worked with John Landis, who was one of the top directors in Hollywood with Animal House, The Blues Brothers, An American Werewolf in London and Trading Places to his credit when he agreed to direct Thriller (more on that here) and in the process completely changed the medium of music videos forever. Landis and Jackson would collaborate again on the Black or White video years later. Perhaps the greatest living American director, Martin Scorsese directed the video for the lead single off the eagerly anticipated follow up to Thriller, Bad. Scorsese seemed like a surprise choice for the gig, but he's had a long love affair with music, and carefully selects the soundtracks for his films. He's made some excellent choices too; the scene in Goodfellas where all the bodies are being discovered while Derek & the Dominos piano outro from Layla plays is iconic and he used the Dropkick Murphy's I'm Shipping Up To Boston to great effect in The Departed to name just a few. Scorsese also had directed a legendary concert film The Last Waltz and subsequently did a documentary on Bob Dylan (No Direction Home) and directed the Rolling Stones concert film Shine A Light John Singleton, fresh off his impressive feature film debut Boyz N The Hood was tapped to direct the video for Remember the Time as well so Spike Lee is simply continuing a long line of excellent directors that have worked on an MJ video.

What's the Best Christmas Movie Ever?

The "Christmas" movie sub-genre is a particularly cheesy side of the Hollywood machine. There are hundreds and hundreds of Christmas movies with precious few even half-way decent entries. On top of the usual crap that the major studios churn out - like the abysmal Fred Claus, a Christmas clunker starring Vince Vaughn as Santa's big brother and the ineptly casted Paul Giamatti as Claus himself - there's also and endless stream of made for TV Christmas stuff that takes terrible to the next level. I just saw a promo for something called Santa Baby that stars Jenny McCarthy as Santa's daughter, a successful executive who wants to take over the family business. Or how about Snow 2: Brain Freeze which stars Tom Kavanaugh (wow!) and follows up the classic tale from the original Snow! Who could forget the 1985 classic Santa Claus: The Movie (imagine what kind of asshole you'd have to be to think adding "The Movie!" to the title was a good call) that is the amazingly bad combination of a Santa Claus origin story, where an old man is offered immortality and chooses to spend it delivering toys to children and a strange, completely disconnected second story, set in the modern era of an evil toy conglomerate that hires a disgruntled former North Pole elf played by Dudley Moore and even manages to incorporate some pointless Santa sleigh stunt driving and magic candy canes that make children float. I'm not making that up; that's really the plot of Santa Claus: the Movie.

Mixed in with the endless stream of crap, there are some truly classic Christmas movies like Miracle on 34th Street and It's a Wonderful Life. Those movies never really connected with me. As a child, the black and white turned me off and the films never really became a part of my Christmas tradition. But films like A Christmas Story, which does a nice job of capturing the excitement and anxiety of Christmas for children - and features the world's sexiest lamp - and Scrooged, Bill Murray's take on A Christmas Carol, where he plays a heartless television executive hit my sweet spot much better. National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation (which I'm watching as I type this while wearing a Wally World Marty Moose Santa hat; I kid you not, it comes in the new Blu-Ray Ultimate Collector's Edition tin) usually gets watched annually, even if it is sometimes just part of the Christmas blur in the background between wrapping presents, slugging back eggnogs or whatever other seasonal activities I get up to. Jon Favreau's Elf, in recent years, was a Christmas movie worthy of repeated viewings. I think that's a big part of a successful Christmas movie is re-watchability because the holiday itself is all about tradition. You do the same things, listen to the same songs, eat the same meals and, by extension, watch the same films. Nobody wants to watch a Christmas movie in July so if a movie's going to weasel it's way into your personal or family tradition, it better be something you can watch multiple times. And Tim Allen as Santa Claus(e) just isn't gonna cut it.

So what is the best Christmas film of all time? And, really I guess the real question is, does it even matter? Is the title of Best Christmas film of all time essentially on the same level as being named valedictorian of summer school?

"Karate Kid" Remake Trailer Lacks Cobra Kai

Here's the trailer for the upcoming The Karate Kid remake (thankfully no longer using the rumored Kung-Fu Kid title.) This doesn't work for me for a lot of reasons. FIrst of all, the title character, played by Will Smith's son Jaden, seems to have way too much swagger. In the original, the awkward nerdiness of Ralph Macchio - and the confidence he found through karate - played a major role in the story. But more importantly, the evil Cobra Kai, the rival dojo that wanted nothing more then to humiliate and destroy the "Karate Kid" seem to be totally absent in this story. The Cobra Kai are a massive part of the appeal of the original film particularly the over-the-top acting of the amazingly coifed Martin Kove, who played their Sensei and the arch enemy of Pat Morita's Mr. Miyagi. The fact that this was a movie about high school kids in a karate tournament and he played his character like a Rambo villain was an essential part of the 80's cheese factor that give this movie it's re-watchability. And it wasn't just him, the mindless drones that made up his army of karate students/soliders of death were classic. At one point, during the big finale of the film, right before the epic crane kick, one of them yells out "Get him a body bag!" which is my favorite unintentionally comedic moment in 80's cinema. This flick, without the Cobra Kai, is like remaking Porky's and leaving out the shower scene. I get the feeling there won't even be a "sweep the leg" order in this version. I'm gonna pass.

Terry Gilliam's Doomed 'Don Quixote'

The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus is Terry Gilliam's new film, and while I haven't seen it yet, it's a miracle that anyone has an opportunity see the movie at all. In the middle of production Heath Ledger suddenly passed away leaving Gilliam with a film without a star. With only half of the movie complete he found himself with too much movie left to shoot to salvage anything and conversely too much required to re-shoot in order to re-cast the role and continue. It appeared he would have no choice but to shut down the production but his daughter urged him to find away to go on and he ultimately decided to cast three new actors to continue Ledger's role. At the center of the film is a magic mirror and he revamped his script to have Ledger's character enter the mirror and emerge as different personas played by Johnny Depp, Jude Law and Colin Farrell; all friends of Ledger. (Each actor also donated their fee from the film to Matilda, Ledger's daughter with actress Michelle Williams.) The results, reportedly, are mixed at best, but I'm just glad he finished the movie. Had he not, it wouldn't have surprised me if Gilliam had retreated from filmmaking altogether, which would have been quite a loss.

Back in 2000, Gilliam was working on a project called The Man Who Killed Don Quixote when the wheels started to fall off. First, a flash flood damaged a lot of equipment and destroyed continuity making previously shot footage useless then his 70-year old star Jean Rochefort suffered a herniated disc in his back; which is problematic at any time, but it's catastrophic if you're required to ride a horse and act in a movie. Rochefort, who had spent seven months learning English in order to play Don Quixote, went home to rest while Gilliam and his crew tried to shoot the scenes he wasn't appearing in. It quickly became clear that Rochefort would not be returning and Gilliam had no choice but to shut his $32 million production down after just one week of shooting. The entire chaotic affair was captured in the documentary Lost in La Mancha; which is definitely worth checking out. Gilliam and his creative team give the documentary crew full access so you see this multi-million production disintergrate into dust in front of your eyes. Gilliam, who's had issues with run away budgets in the past, particularly on Brazil (a brilliant film) and The Adventures of Baron Munchausen (a massive bomb,) would then have two projects shut down during production as well had he not finished Parnassus and that would likely have been the knock-out blow in terms of him being able to find financing for future projects.

I had a chance to chat with Gilliam last week, which was a quite a thrill because his 1981 film Time Bandits was one of the first movies I ever really fell in love with. The movie, which explodes with imagination and creativity, literally blew my tiny mind and opened my eyes to what a unique medium for story telling filmmaking could be. To have a chance to actually tell the man who created that movie how special it was to me as a child was one of the cooler perks I've had working at MTV. We were there to talk with Terry about the difficult tasking of finishing Parnassus after Ledger's passing (you can check our chat with him here) but we also got a chance to ask him a few questions about Quixote as well, because he is now, almost a decade later, gearing up to try and make the movie again. His new take will star Robert Duvall as Don Quixote and Gilliam, who's now trying to scrape up the cash to make the project (a task that will me much easier if The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus performs well) said he hopes to be shooting the film next year. A recent piece at /Film is passing on a report that Johnny Depp - who was cast in the doomed original attempt to film the project - is confirmed to return, but I find this impossible to believe because Gilliam made it quite clear to us that there is no financing in place for the project at the 2010 start date is speculative at best. An actor as busy as Depp, who's essentially booked for the next few years already, couldn't possibly be committed to a project that is slated to shoot in the next year, not to mention that Gilliam himself only listed Robert Duvall as being attached. Here's hoping the pieces fall into place and he's able to make this project and exorcise the demon.

R.I.P. Dan O'Bannon

Filmmaker Dan O'Bannon, best known as the screenwriter of Alien, died yesteday after a short illness. O'Bannon, who wrote scripts for genre heavyweights John Carpenter and Tobe Hooper, as well as co-writing the script for the sci-fi hit Total Recall, is b screenplay for Alien gave cinema a kick-ass female action star in Sigourney Weaver's Ripley, but I'll remember him best for his more low-brow contributions to the movies. In 1985, O'Bannon made his directorial debut with a low budget zombie flick called Return of the Living Dead; which quickly became a sleazy cult classic. The film, which borrowed from and built upon the canon of the George Romero zombie series was the first horror film I ever saw that winked at the audience and the movie wasn't afraid to be scary and funny at the same time. The original story came from Night of the Living Dead co-writer John A. Russo, who retained the rights to the 'Living Dead' name and wanted to expand the series. After Texas Chainsaw Massacre director Tobe Hooper dropped out of project, O'Bannon came on board to make his directorial debut and did an extensive re-write of the script to fuse it with more comedy, nudity (seeing scream queen Linnea Quigley strip completely naked and grind on a tombstone just about melted my 13-year old brain) and a punk rock sensibility.

The result was a very fun, very 80's "splatstick" comedy horror flick. Sam Raimi often gets credited with being the first guy to fuse horror, over the top gore and comedy with his excellent 1987 effort Evil Dead 2: Dead By Dawn, but O'Bannon did it first. It also became the first horror film where the music on the soundtrack played such an important role in the style of the movie. In 1985, on the heels of Footloose and The Breakfast Club, suddenly movie soundtracks became an important aspect of moviemaking. The Return of the Living Dead boasted a soundtrack with bands like The Cramps, The Damned and other punk bands. The films poster even included a "featuring music by..." something that was unheard of at the time. Surprisingly, despite the films success, O'Bannon would only direct one other feature, 1992's Resurrected, which is a shame because his debut showed a lot of promise and he seemed to be a very interesting, unique voice in horror and sci-fi. (It should be noted that O'Bannon wasn't involved with any of the Return of the Living Dead sequels, which are increasingly awful and should be avoided at all costs.)

O'Bannon was working on a prequel to his most famous work, Alien, at the time of his death. It's not known how far along he was and how much of his work will end up in Ridley Scott's film. Dan O'Bannon was 63 years old.

Christmas Comes Early

Wild Hogs was an incredibly shitty, formulaic Disney turd that somehow managed to make enough money that the mouse house pretty quickly greenlit a sequel. The movie told the story of a group of middle-aged men that went on a bonding road trip on their Harely's and ended up getting into all sorts of family friendly shenanigans. While the script for the film was truly awful, it was taken to new lows by the awful cast which included two men I've never found remotely funny, Martin Lawrence and Tim Allen, and one man who hasn't made a good movie in over a decade, John Travolta, and finally, it included William H. Macy, a great actor who must have needed to make a mortgage payment around the time this script got sent to him. I attempted to watch this movie on a flight from LA with precious little options, but ultimately abandoned it.

Today, over at /Film I read that Disney has officially killed the previously announced sequel. Wild Hogs II: Bachelor Ride; which was supposed to take the biker gang to Europe for what would no doubt have been ninety minutes of more reasons for Europeans to hate Americans has been shitcanned in large part because of the utter failure of the similarly titled Old Dogs, another Disney disaster directed by the man behind Wild Hogs and starring head Hog John Travolta and the loathsome Robin Williams who last good movie was Good Will Hunting back in 1997. Old Dogs, which was DOA upon release has given Disney cause for concern and the results were Williams next film, Wedding Banned, was cancelled last week and now Travolta's Hogs sequel has also been scrapped.

Christmas has come early. Thanks Disney!

Christmas Light Hero

'Tis the season. I don't know how this works. In fact, I'm pretty certain it doesn't work at all. But it's still pretty fucking amazing. I treat Christmas like a Las Vegas holiday rather then a Christian one. I'm interested in the over-the-top kitschy-cheesy side of it. This would certainly qualify. All that is missing is Clark Griswold getting electrocuted at the end.

"Jersey Shore" Meet the Cast

My latest guilty pleasure is the new MTV series Jersey Shore. Less than a minute into the first episode a self proclaimed "Guido," who, by the way owns his own tanning bed, is packing for his summer at "The Shore" when he looks into the camera and says "I'm not going anywhere without my gel," then grabs two armfuls of gel tubes and stuffs them into his bag. It was clear right then: this is totally my show. Jersey Shore is causing lots of controversy - and shedding advertisers - because of the complaints of many Italian American organizations protesting the sterotypical Italian cast. (It didn't help at all when another controversy flared up over a clip of one of the female cast members being punched in the face by a male bar patron aired in a teaser for future episodes. The assualt, entirely caught on camera, quickly became a popular viral video and MTV just as quickly went into damage protection and have subsequently edited the punch out of the episode - which hasn't even aired yet - and have announced they will run an anti-violence PSA following the show.) Ah yes, the show. Jersey Shore focuses on proud "Guidos & Guidettes" - think Growing Up Gotti if it was scripted as a comedy - with casting so incredibly good that it almost feels like it's an eloborate prank because the people living in the beach house are so hilariously over-the-top that they are walking talking parodies of themselves. The above YouTube video not only gives you a good idea of what the cast is like, it also does a pretty decent job of summarizing the two-hour series premiere.

Canadian White Stripes Boxset Coming

During this years Toronto International Film Festival I got a chance to check out the interesting tour doc The White Stripes: Under Great White Northern Lights. The film documents the bands' 2007 Canadian Tour that saw them perform in every province and territory while also doing a series of surprise gigs in unlikely locations that included on board a small fishing vessel, in a bus shelter and inside a bowling alley. The film showed a fun, mischievous side of Jack White and also gave some access to the incredibly strange relationship between White and his sister/ex-wife Meg. I got the uncomfortable feeling that Meg White, the bands mopey drummer, faux-sister and ex-wife of Jack was hopelessly in love with him and pining for him throughout. She seems to exist in depressive state just bordering on crying most of the time, but on stage, she summons strength never seen in her off-stage moments. It was very enlightening to get a glimpse at their strange creative dynamic because the band has taken such strides to be private and mysterious by creating and presenting a false history and fictional family tree. But ultimately, the move leaves you with more questions then answers, because the more you see of their real dynamic the stranger and more puzzling it becomes. But it's certainly fascinating to watch and large part of what I liked about the movie.

Of course, the other part was the music. I expected to the movie to be a documentary about this unique tour, and of course it is, but it's much more of a concert movie than I had anticipated. The performance stuff is really well shot, and very much in the aesthetic of the band itself. It's rough and raw and dirty around the edges, just like the music. The kinetic, spontaneous raw energy of their live performance is captured with the immediacy of actually watching The White Stripes perform live. So in light of that, I was pleased to read at Rolling Stone.com that the band has decided to release a limited edition box set of the tour. The set sounds really cool and a lot of care has been put into making a really unique and extensive package. It's got their first ever live album, a ton of DVDs of what I assume will be many other performances that weren't used in the final film; some limited edition vinyl and 7"s and a book that isn't some shitty pamphlet, but rather a 208-page document of the tour. Rolling Stone feels the price is very steep, and it should be pointed out that the $179 figure s only until New Year's Eve. In 2010, the box set will retail for $229. But I think with the state of the music industry as it is today, exhaustive packages like this or the way to go. There's no question that this box set gives fans a lot of incentive to purchase the set rather then download the music on the live disc. In the end, at that price tag, the set is clearly only for serious fans, but really, most box sets are and considerable efforts have been made to make this set worth shelling out for.

Natalie Portman vs. Zombies

The Jane Austen novel Pride and Prejudice, which is now public domain, was re-invented this past year as Pride and Prejudice and Zombies. The mash-up, which took the story line and characters of the classic novel and added, well, zombies, was a surprising success after its release in April. The book, which climbed as high as third on the New York Times Best Seller list and earned overwhelmingly positive reviews is now heading the big screen. Variety is reporting that Natalie Portman has signed on to star in and produce a movie version. Some online sources are suggesting that Donnie Darko director Richard Kelly will helm the film, but the Variety article indicates he's on board as a producer, not the director.

The success of the book coupled with a resurgence of the zombie genre (Zombieland did big business and a 3D sequel is already in the works) meant a movie version was essentially inevitable. I like Portman for the lead, she seems to exude the class, elegance and grace one would expect from a 19th Century leading lady and she's certainly displayed the sense of humor required for a piece like this. That being said, I'm not convinced this concept will translate to the screen. A large part of the success of the novel is taking the style of a novel written in the early 1800's and fusing it with a decidedly modern - and pulpy - sensibility. It seems to me that much of that will be lost in the transition from page to screen.

Bill Murray A Ghost in "Ghostbusters III?"

Sigourney Weaver, while doing press for the upcoming James Cameron flick Avatar let some details slip about the long gestating Ghostbusters III and among those details is this bomb: Bill Murray, Dr. Venkman in the first two films, will return in the sequel as a ghost. Weaver, who played Murray's love interest in the first two flicks, revealed that the new film would see her son Oscar return. "I know that my little son Oscar - who was kidnapped from me (in Ghostbusters II) - I think he has grown up to be a Ghostbuster." Weaver, who said that she's got a few calls asking her if she would read the new script, which has been written by Office scribes Lee Eisenberg and Gene Stupnitsky wasn't certain if she would return for Part III. "I might be in it, I see nothing wrong with being in it, although I don't think I will have a big part." She then revealed a script secret that I'm sure she wasn't supposed to: "I think Bill Murray has a little more to do with it - he's a ghost."

Wow. I really don't know how I feel about Bill Murray being... well, dead in Ghostbusters III.

Zoolander 2?

Ben Stiller appeared on the Tonight Show with Conan O'Brien on December 10th and during a fairly weak - and awkwardly long - bit spoofing the Lance Amrstrong LIVESTRONG bracelets (how timely!) he morphed; for a brief, wonderful moment; into Derek Zoolander. The bit had Stiller schilling for STILLERSTRONG; which was a yellow handband; and the second he put his on, it was impossible not think of Zoolander. I'm very hit and miss with Ben Stiller. Some of his films I really enjoy, but there's a large chunk of his resumé that defintely leaves me cold. (Yes, I'm looking at you Along Came Polly.) However, the films he's directed in his career are definitely among his best. Stiller helmed Reality Bites as well as the grossly underrated Cable Guy. He was also behind the camera for Zoolander and the excellent Tropic Thunder. I'm a fan of all of those flicks, but with Zoolander, that affection grew slowly. When I first saw the film, I thought it was just decent, but eventually I stumbed upon it on cable, then again during the many airings it enjoyed on TBS, and soon the movie - and Stiller's brilliant performance - had totally won me over.

Moving back to the Tonight Show, it almost felt like Stiller was testing the waters; gauging the pop culture pull the character of Derek Zoolander has. And when he struck the pose and stared down the barrel of the camera flirting with dropping the deveastating Blue Steel gaze on the audience, the crowd erupted. Maybe this little throw away moment on a talk show (Conan, after putting on his headband, also did a Derek Zoolander stare at the camera) is all the studio needed to greenlight the sequel. There's been discussions about a Zoolander follow up for a few years now, and the buzz grew back in May when Stiller revealed that work had been done already on a script for a potential sequel during the junket for Night at the Museum: Battle for the Smithsonian.

BEN STILLER TALKS ABOUT 'ZOOLANDER 2'

'Vacation' Reunion... Sort of.

I just recently posted about a re-boot of the Vacation series that would focus on Rusty Griswold, the son in the original series, and his family. Unfortunately, there's been no discussion of Anthony Michael Hall, the original Rusty returning to play the role, and it's a damn shame because his scenes with Chevy Chase in the original were hilarious.

But if you are pining to see the two of them on screen together nonetheless, check out Community tonight on NBC. Chase appears on the series as a regular - and is hard on the come back trail delivering consistently funny performances - and tonight the guest star is none other then Anthony Michael Hall. Community is easily the best new comedy series of the year in my opinion, and is part of a revitalized Thursday night lineup for NBC, joining The Office, 30 Rock and Parks & Recreation (which after a disappointing first season is absolutely killing it this season.) Chase and Hall haven't shared the screen together since 1982 when they shot Vacation, but here's hoping that tonight's show sparks the chance for Hall to return to the series in the new proposed Rusty-centric re-boot.

Hall will play a campus bully during his guest spot, and while much of the nostalgia of his appearance will obviously be linked to his on-screen reunion with Chase, it sounds like he will be sending up another one of his famous flicks, The Breakfast Club. Community, about a rag-tag group of mismatched friends that often hang out in a study hall, already often echoes that classic high school flick, but the fact that Hall's bully character wears fingerless gloves - like Breakfast Club bully Bender, played by Judd Nelson - seems like an obvious wink.

NERDY NOTE: I'm not sure what the original source is for the black & white picture at the top of this post, but I've never seen it before. It's the cast of the original film photographed in a plane. This is strange because they never appeared in an airplane in the first film (which was about a road trip) but the fact that they are all wearing Wally World hats suggests this might have taken place at the end of the movie, after their visit to the theme park. Perhaps it's take from a deleted scene that hasn't appeared on any of the DVD releases.

Mr. Krueger's Neighbourhood

This photograph is amazing (originally from here.) The fact that Freddy Krueger, in the canon of the A Nightmare on Elm Street films was, in fact a child killer, makes this photo even better. Let's face it, Mr. Rogers is an incredilby creepy show. There's little doubt in my mind there's something horrible in the freezer down in Mr. Rogers basement.

Speaking of Elm Street, the remake, slated for an April 30th release, is currently shooting "additional photography" for the film following some test-screenings. These aren't re-shoots to fix something previously shot, this is a new scene that has been added to the script. This is not a good sign. Something in the test screenings left audiences displeased or confused; either way, it doesn't bode well for the film. While I'm intrigued by Jacke Earle Hayley's take on the iconic Freddy character, this is a movie that got it right the first time and really doesn't need to be remade.

However, if they were to remake the film where Freddy, instead of being a janitor was actually the host of a children's show, like Mr. Rogers Neighborhood, well, then maybe we'd have something.

Michael Bay Directs a Victoria's Secret Commercial

Uber-hack filmmaker Michael Bay (photographed above looking incredibly douchey) has directed a television commercial, for, what else, Victoria's Secret. Will likely have to wait several years, but someone will write an unauthrorized biography of Bay somewhere down the road, and I'm sure there will be plenty of sleazy stories abut the Bay on the set of this absurd commercial. Commercials are the perfect medium for Bay because they are all about flash, sizzle and don't require things like a good script or character development. Essentially, exactly like Bay's shitty films. The commercial, of course, is amazing. It's everything you'd expect from a Michael Bay film. Tons of scantily clad women that are only there for eye-candy; a throbbing, shitty musical score; a gratuitous, non-sensical helicopter shot; balls of fire shooting in the air for no good reason; everyone that appears in the commercial seems to be standing next to a wind machine; there are knives being thrown at the ladies and, of course, a massive explosion, because Michael Bay doesn't direct anything without a huge explosion in it. This honestly looks like Michael Bay parodying himself. Check out his masterpiece below:

Congrats to Anvil!

The documentary Anvil! The Story of Anvil, which recently got totally shafted by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences got a measure of revenge yesterday when the film won the top feature award from the International Documentary Association. The band were on hand, along with director Sacha Gervasi, to receive the honor.

For those that have seen the film (and if you haven't, I really urge you to check it out; it's now on DVD) the movie getting totally snubbed by the Academy is a bitter piece of irony. The documentary is about a Toronto-based heavy metal band that while incredibly influetial to a slew of famous and successful bands, somehow failed to have their own moment in the sun. Despite the repeated kicks in the teeth from the music industry the two men at the heart of the band continued, for decades, to do what they loved best: making metal music. The success of the documentary has won them new fans and perhaps more importantly, many new oppoturnies. The band have appeared on The Tonight Show with Conan O'Brien, landed gigs opening for AC/DC and Saxon and will appear in the upcoming Michel Gondry film The Green Hornet as themselves.

But despite all of this hard fought success and respect, somehow the Academy managed to completely overlook the fantastic film that brought their story - and their music - back into the public eye. If you're wondering how it's possible that a film could win the best feature award from the International Documentary Association and yet not even make the 15-film short list for nominations for the Best Documentary Academy Award, you're not alone.

Bon Anniversaire Canadiens!

Outside of my family, there's really nothing in the world I'm more passionate about then the Montreal Canadiens. That's really saying something considering my nerdy obsessive ways but the Canadiens have held a special place in my heart for literally as far back as my memory goes.

My first - and really only - hero was Guy Lafleur, who was the Canadiens great star when I was a kid. A journeyman goalie named Steve Penney - think Eddie Lebecque from Cheers - made me want to become a goaltender. Cheering for the Canadiens is a bond I share with my father and my brother; my mother told me stories as a child about having a poster of the legendary Jacques Plante on her wall. My grandfather rooted for the Canadiens. Even my best friend is a converted - but rabid - fan. His son is a fan. My daughter, who often wears her pink Canadiens pj's and a Habs toque is also following in the footsteps; my nephews too. It's difficult to put into words what being a fan really is. All I can say is that it's a strange and powerful thing.

Today marked the 100th anniversary of the Montreal Canadiens and the team capped it off by demolishing their most bitter rival, the Boston Bruins on home ice. Above is a clip that looks at some of the many special memorable, magical moments in the teams first century. That the clip is set to U2's "Where the Streets Have No Name" just makes it more in my wheel house.

"Entourage" The Movie?

Mark Wahlberg, who moonlights as a television producer when not acting in films, spoke to The Hollywood Reporter about the future of his HBO series Entourage. The show, which just finished it's sixth season; and in my opinion worst season, isn't going anywhere just yet. Wahlberg, who will also be producing on the upcoming Boardwalk Empire, revealed that the Hollywood adventures of Vinnie Chase and friends will unfold on HBO for at least two more seasons. Creator/writer Doug Ellin better have some tricks up his sleeves, because it's becoming increasingly difficult to believe that these four men are still "roommates" and despite the trappings of money and fame, they're still willing, for the most part, to forsake realtionships with women to stay in a Peter Pan-esque brotherhood of hanging out and partying. Perhaps the two more seasons Wahlberg promises will address this and see the guys start to live more separate lives (somethings this past season dabbled in) and then what? Wahlberg added "We'll see; there could be more. But then, a movie."

A movie? Really? I don't really see the appeal of a movie version, unless it were to come along several years after the show was no longer on the air. Much like Sex and the City, because the show is on HBO, there are no limitations in terms of what they can say, show or do already. The series is already littered with foul language, nudity, drug use and other similar, wonderful things. Transitioning to the big screen doesn't free them up creatively in any way, so what exactly would the point of an Entourage movie be? Why not just tack an extra season on instead of making a feature film version? Also, it seems to me, that announcing this possibility so far in advance of the series actually ending means that whatever conclusion the series comes to when the television show goes off the air will feel patently phoney cause we know that they will soon be reuniting for the film version.

Season seven of Entourage is slated to air in the summer of 2010.

Wow. Just.... awful.

It's hard to believe, but once upon a time, "spoof" movies were actually really funny. The original Airplane!, and even it's much maligned (and Canadian scripted and directed) sequel were really funny flicks. The original Naked Gun film is also a classic. And for my money, Top Secret! a film that mixes Elvis flicks with spy movies and spoofs them both simultaneously, is one of the best comedies of the 1980s. In recent years, particularly after the success of Scary Movie, the genre has degenerated into the lowest of the low in cinema with a slew of shitty films titled something-Movie made up of a bunch of low-rent parodies that seem like MadTV out takes loosely strung together but a thread-bare plot masquarading as a film.

Above you'll find a trailer for what has to be the bottom of the barrel. The 40-Year Old Virgin Who Knocked Up Sarah Marshall And Felt Superbad About It is the latest piece of shit added to this steaming pile. In a desperate attempt to find new genres of movies to spoof, they've actually opted to spoof a filmmaker, rather then an actual genre. So we've got a movie that spoofs the films of Judd Apatow. This is so incredibly lame. Somebody should explain to them that "parodying" films that are already comedies are a recipe for disaster. The filmmakers - and I use that term very loosely - fail to realize that the movies that are successful in this sub-genre are spoofing serious films. Airplane! works cause its making fun of somber, serious airline disaster movies. Naked Gun worked cause it was parodying dead serious police procedurals and Scary Movie was effective cause it was mocking, well, scary movies which, for obvious reasons, take themselves seriously (and, in often cases, too seriously.) Mocking a comedy really doesn't make a lot of sense, and indicates that the clowns behind this movie don't even understand how the spoof movie even works. They actually managed to fail with the project right at the point of conception rather then after production.