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New Captain America: The Winter Soldier Spot Here

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NewsDen Of Geek2/21/2014 at 2:46PM
Captain America Winter Soldier Poster

Check out the latest TV spot for Marvel Studios' Captain America: The Winter Soldier right here.

Captain America: The Winter Soldier is closer than you think. Scheduled to hit theaters on April 4, 2014, the marketing machine appears to be in full-swing for the Captain America sequel. And with good reason. Based on one of the most acclaimed Captain America stories of all time, Captain America: The Winter Soldier reportedly will lead directly into Avengers: Age of Ultron and has already seen strong votes of confidence from Marvel, who are planning on bringing directors Joe and Anthony Russo back for Captain America 3. This latest action-packed TV spot is a good indicator of why they might be so confident in the film!

Captain America: The Winter Soldier stars Chris Evans, Anthony Mackie, Scarlett Johansson, Sebastian Stan, Robert Redford, and Samuel L. Jackson.

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The Sacrament Red Band Trailer

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TrailerDen Of Geek2/21/2014 at 3:11PM

Check out the red band trailer for the new Ti West horror movie with Eli Roth producing: The Sacrament.

Always a big believer in going old school for his creepiness, director Ti West has found the oldest horror of all: devout small town worshippers.

In the new film from the director of House of the Devil and producer Eli Roth (Hostel, Cabin Fever), TheSacrament follows several Vice Media correspondents who have seen it all in the world’s most war-torn regions…but who still find themselves in over their heads when they try to document a friend’s search for a missing sister.

They travel outside of the United States to an undisclosed location where they are welcomed into the world of "Eden Parish," a self-sustained rural utopia, comprised of nearly two hundred members. At the center of this small, religious, socialist community is a mysterious leader known only as "Father." As their friend reunites with his sister, it becomes apparent to the newcomers that this paradise may not be as it seems. What started as just another documentary shoot soon becomes a race to escape with their lives. Enjoy the red band trailer (released via IGN) below.

The Sacrament will be available on iTunes and On Demand on May 1, 2014 and in theaters on June 6, 2014.

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The Grand Budapest Hotel Gets New Featurette

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NewsDen Of Geek2/21/2014 at 3:33PM

Check out a new behind-the-scenes featurette video about the impeccable making of the stately Grand Budapest Hotel!

If only life could be like a Wes Anderson movie. Besides the relative tranquility of everyone’s pulse, even when discussing matters of murder and torture, the mere way every person stands or dresses is cause for a knowing chuckle and a sheepish grin. And few may be more sheepish than M. Gustave (Ralph Fiennes), The Grand Budapest Hotel'scaddish concierge who must be accompanied by his trusty lobby boy Zero Moustafa (Tony Revolori) when he flees the mere sight of the local police in the upcoming film. Below is a delightful truffle of a featurette about the making of the movie and how Zero witnesses his roguish employer handle life as the last concierge of the Grand Hotel of Budapest during the outset of this war.

The Grand Budapest Hotel also features Jude Law, Bill Murray, Jason Schwartzman, Saoirse Ronan, Jeff Goldblum, Adrian Brody, Willem Dafoe, Owen Willson, Harvey Keitel, F. Murray Abraham, and Mathieu Amalric. It opens March 7, 2014.

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The Lego Movie Sequel Gets Official Release Date

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NewsDen Of Geek2/21/2014 at 3:55PM
LEGO Movie cast

Warner Brothers has slated the summer release date for The Lego Movie sequel, which is pressing ahead with a new writing team.

From the dreariness of February to the heat of summer, The Lego Movie’s franchise prospects have exploded with staggering potential following its stunning weekend debut two weeks ago. Hence, Warner Brothers proudly moving the series’ next entry into the center of blockbuster competition.

WB has announced that The Lego Movie sequel will open on May 26, 2017 with few details, save that Jared Stern and Michelle Morgan will provide the screenplay.

This of course is not a surprise for anyone who has seen the movie, as the picture is getting near universal acclaim, including from our own glowing review. Having already earned $200 million worldwide, a follow-up seems inevitable. Albeit, we truly hope Phil Lord and Christopher Miller return in some capacity (preferably as screenwriters and directors again) to give the material that unexpectedly special touch it received in its 2014 debut.

Of course the return of vocal talents like Chris Pratt, Will Arnett, Elizabeth Banks, Alison Brie, Liam Neeson, and Will Ferrell would also be nicely welcomed too.

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Space Jam 2 Will Team LeBron James With the Looney Tunes Crew

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NewsJason Tabrys2/21/2014 at 11:12PM

Space Jam 2 is on the way, with LeBron James stepping in to fill Michael Jordan's hi-tops for this next installment...

Despite the lack of a press release on the official Space Jamwebsite, Deadline is reporting that the inexplicably 18 year old live-action/animated film Space Jamis on course for a sequel from brothers Charlie and Willie Ebersol. The catch? So far, Michael Jordan’s name is nowhere to be seen with present-day NBA superstar LeBron James set to take on the starring role beside a collection of Looney Tunes, but probably not the Animaniacs because we’re not allowed to have nice things.

For James, this marks just the latest in a string of Hollywoodland ventures, with the four time NBA MVP previously appearing on-screen as the villain in ESPN’s The Decision and as himself in an episode of Entourage. James’ highest profile work in the entertainment industry has come behind the scenes with The LeBrons, a CG-animated web series for the little ones that James created, and Survivor’s Remorse, a live-action basketball half hour series from Mike O’Malley that James is co-producing for Starz. With the recently announced film Ballers, James will serve as both an executive producer and co-star beside comedian Kevin Hart.

Might Hart make an appearance in Space Jam 2 beside his new BFF, perhaps offering up a bit of comedy relief ala Bill Murray in the original? Anything is possible, but if we’re really goona speculate about who or what could be in this film, let ask the big question: will Michael Jordan return in a supporting capacity to pass on the torch or to even get in on the action? Presently, his Airness is the owner of the Charlotte Bobcats, but while that all sounds very stuffy, the NBA Hall of Famer actually had to shoot down rumors that he was mulling a comeback at age 50 last year, so it’s not like MJ couldn’t pull-up for a fadeaway or two against the Monstars if called to service.

Without Jordan, a lot of pressure really does fall on James’ shoulders. A mega-star and quite possibly the most recognizable athlete in the world right now, James is still nowhere near the global icon that Jordan was when he made the first Space Jam, and for that matter, neither are the Looney Tunes.

Don’t get me wrong, people still have a soft spot for Bugs Bunny and Porky Pig, but in the time since Space Jam pulled in $230 million, Looney Tunes: Back in Action bombed horrifically and the brand endured criticism for its switch to CG animation and the character re-designs that came with that switch (changes that will hopefully be reversed for this film).

The Looney Tunes Show, a CG half hour show on Cartoon Network that ended last year generated good ratings in its 3 seasons, but in a sector dominated by countless other animated shows, Daffy Duck is just another cartoon character to a lot of kids.

The decision to do a soft-reintroduction of these characters by resurrecting a project that can appeal to both children and their nostalgia drunk parents seems smart on the outside, but as is always the case, the devil is in the details and the results are the only thing that matters.

We’ll keep an eye out for more info on this project, but until then, let us know if you’re excited to see another Space Jam film in the comments section.

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50 Genuinely Creepy Horror Movies

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The ListsSarah Dobbs2/22/2014 at 9:30AM

Here are 50 genuinely creepy horror movies that will surely frighten the hell out of you without cheap scares...

Creepy isn’t the same as scary. Horror movies can be scary simply by using loud noises and sudden movements to make their audiences jump; they can play on primal fears and physical reactions to give you a thrill. But creepy is harder to pull off.

To be one of the good horror movies, a film needs to establish a certain atmosphere; it needs to draw you in and make you care. It needs to give you something to think about when you’re trying to drop off to sleep at night; to make you wonder whether that creaking noise down the hallway was just the house settling, or something lurking in the shadows. Creepy stays with you. It gives you goosebumps.

I love most kinds of horror movies, but creepy films are probably my favourite. Or rather, my least favourite, because they give me nightmares and make me paranoid and afraid to look into mirrors in the dark. But I love ‘em. Here are 50 genuinely creepy movies (in no particular order). Enjoy the nightmares.

Cat People (1942)

Serbian immigrant Irena doesn’t have a friend in the world when she meets Oliver. He’s kind and attentive and they soon fall in love, despite Irena’s lack of physical affection. She’s convinced she’s living under a curse that will mean she’ll transform into a panther and kill any man she kisses, and despite seeing a (deeply inappropriate) psychiatrist, she can’t shake her beliefs. Oliver is initially patient but eventually finds himself falling for his much more reasonable colleague, Alice. There’s no way this love triangle can end happily and, well, it doesn’t. Cat People is sad as well as eerie, with an increasingly paranoid atmosphere enhanced by skillful shadow play.

The Nameless (1999)

Five years after her daughter Angela went missing, presumed dead, Claudia starts getting weird phone calls. A female voice claims to be Angela, and begs her mother to save her. A series of weird clues leads Claudia to investigate a weird cult… but when things slot into place too easily, it seems like someone might be luring her into a trap. Thematically, The Nameless is similar to Jaume Balaguero’s later film Darkness; there’s a similar feeling of hopelessness and despair, a creeping horror that doesn’t let up, topped off with a horribly downbeat ending. Brrrr.

Dead End (2003)

The Harrington family are driving home for Christmas when they decide to take a shortcut. Obviously, that turns out to be a bad idea. Picking up a mysterious hitchhiker is an even worse idea. Dead End isn’t a particularly original movie, and it does have a truly awful ending, but there’s something about its characters, its atmosphere, and the way it tells the well-worn story that’s really effective. And creepy, of course.

Night Of The Living Dead (1968)

“It is happening, and no one is safe.” Night Of The Living Dead features some of the most brilliantly ominous radio broadcasts in all horror. When a group of strangers end up trapped in an isolated farmhouse together after the dead begin to rise, no one is in the mood for making friends, and it’s their own prejudices and stubbornness that leads to their downfall. (Well, that, and the fact that no one realised getting bitten by a ghoul would lead to death and reincarnation. Oops.) The zombie imagery is some of the most haunting ever committed to film, as vacant-eyed ghouls wander in and out of the shadows, chewing on dismembered body parts as they lurch around, constantly in search of fresh meat…

Candyman (1992)

Say his name five times into a mirror and the Candyman appears. Despite his sweet-sounding name, that’s not something you really want to do: Daniel Robitaille was a murdered artist, stung to death by bees in a racist attack, and so he tends not to be in a good mood when he shows up. Set in an urban tower block, this film demonstrates that horror can strike anywhere, not just in spooky old mansions in the middle of the countryside. It’s gory, grimy, and really quite disturbing.

M (1931)

A child murderer is stalking the streets of Berlin and, as the police seem unable to catch him, tensions run high. In an attempt to stop the nightly police raids, the town’s criminals decide to catch the killer themselves, and a frantic chase begins. Though there’s no actual onscreen violence, Peter Lorre is amazingly creepy as the whistling killer, and there’s a sense of corruption pervading the whole film. (Since both Lorre and Fritz Lang, the director, fled the country in fear of the Nazis soon after the film was made, it’s tempting to speculate on what M might be saying about Germany at the time, which only makes it all the creepier.)

The Blair Witch Project (1999)

An early example of the found footage genre, The Blair Witch Project has been aped and parodied by everyone and their grandma, but there’s something unsettling about it that hasn’t quite gone away. Most of the film is improvised; the actors are really filming the scenes themselves, working from a loose outline of the plot, but without prior knowledge of what half the scares were going to be. That ambiguous ending lets you make up whatever explanation you like for the events of the film, which means whatever the scariest thing you can think of is, that’s what the film is about.

Ring (1998)

Ring isn’t a perfect film. It’s a bit too long and ponderous and there’s a bit too much irrelevant mysticism in there. But in terms of pure creepiness, it’s pretty damned effective. The idea of a cursed videotape was brilliant – who didn’t have zillions of unmarked VHS tapes lying around the house at the time? – and that climactic scene where the image on the screen crossed over into reality is bloodcurdling. Sneaky, too, since it managed to suggest that no one was safe. Especially not you, gentle viewer, because didn’t you just watch that cursed tape, too? An awful lot of people must have breathed a sigh of relief once their own personal seven-day window was over.

The Innocents (1961)

Based on Henry James’ The Turn Of The Screw, this film sees a young governess heading out to an isolated old house to take care of two young children who appear to be keeping secrets from her. Their previous governess died, along with another of the house’s servants, but their influence still seems to be lingering about. Or is it? Just like in the original story, it’s possible to read the ghosts either as genuine spectres or as the fevered imaginings of an over-stressed and under-sexed young woman. Either way, though, the film is terrifying.

The Skeleton Key (2005)

In a decaying house on an old plantation, an old man is dying. Caroline is hired as his carer, but although her job should be simple enough, she begins to suspect that something weird is going on - especially when she finds a secret room in the house’s attic filled with spell books and other arcane bits and bobs. Is the old man actually under a spell? Why does he seem so terrified of his wife? And might Caroline herself be in danger? The Skeleton Key is one of those films that’s far better than it has any right to be; it slowly ratchets up the tension to a crazy finale and ends on an incredibly creepy note.

Insidious (2010)

Insidious uses just about every trick in the book to creep out its audience, and for some people, that might seem like overkill. There are lurking monsters around every corner; there’s a child in peril; there are wrong-faced nasties; and there are screeching violins every five minutes. On repeat viewings, the plot doesn’t quite hold up (halfway through, the film switches protagonists, which is baffling) and the comedy relief seems grating rather than funny. But the carnival atmosphere, the nods to silent German Expressionist films, the demon’s bizarre appearance, that dancing ghost... there’s something brilliant about it, nonetheless.

Dark Water (2002)

Part of the initial wave of soggy dead girl movies, Dark Water is occasionally very daft, but still effectively creepy. Yoshimi Matsubara is a divorcee, forced by circumstances to move into a crumbling apartment block with her young daughter, Ikuko. Their new home isn’t in the nicest of areas, but it might be alright if it weren’t for the leaky ceiling – and, um, that creepy little girl lurking in the shadows, the one who’s never there when you take a second look. Directed by Hideo Nakata and based on a book by Koji Suzuki, Dark Water might not be as terrifying as Ring, but it’s still pretty eerie.

A Nightmare On Elm Street (1984)

The effects are dated, and the sequels utterly killed Freddy Krueger’s menace, but the first film is still creepy, in its way. The premise is amazingly disturbing – a dead child molester is attacking children in their dreams – and, combined with some of the deeply weird nightmare imagery in this film, it’s more than enough to give anyone a few sleepless nights. All together now: one, two, Freddy’s coming for you…

Uzumaki (2000)

Slowly, inexplicably, a small town is taken over by spirals. Some people become obsessed; others are killed, their bodies twisted into impossible positions. Uzumaki is a live action adaptation of the manga of the same name, and it’s incredibly weird. Unspeakably weird. Visually, it’s incredible, although the green filters look less interesting than they used to due to overuse by every horror and sci-fi movie since. Still, most films don’t go to the extremes that Uzumaki does.

The Devil’s Backbone (2001)

Yup, it’s another soggy dead kid movie, but this time the kid is a boy and the action is set in civil war-era Spain. A young boy is sent to a creepy orphanage, where the other boys scare one another by telling stories about the resident ghost, Santi, who was killed when the orphanage was bombed. Written and directed by Guillermo del Toro, this isn’t your average ghost story – it’s a companion piece to Pan’s Labyrinth, but it’s much more of a horror movie than its better known counterpart.

The Vanishing/Spoorloos (1988)

Saskia and Rex are on holiday when Saskia suddenly, inexplicably, disappears. Rex dedicates his time to trying to find her, but to no avail. He can’t move on, can’t live with the uncertainty, so when Saskia’s kidnapper reveals himself and offers to show Rex what happened to her, his curiosity wins out. It’s a simple yet eerie story with an utterly devastating ending.

Audition (1999)

Takashi Miike’s Audition is more often described as extremely disturbing rather than creepy, but if you can get over that ending (which, let’s be honest, most of us watched through our fingers or from behind a cushion while shouting “NO NO NO NO NO” at the screen), the rest of the film may well creep you out. It starts off slow: a middle-aged man is thinking about dating again, but rather than trying to meet women via traditional methods, he holds a series of fake auditions for a non-existent movie. He meets Asami, a shy dancer, and starts wooing her – but Asami isn’t as sweet and innocent as she seems. Pretty much every character in this movie is an awful person, and the way they treat one another is disturbing on many, many levels.

One Missed Call (2004)

Also directed by Takashi Miike, One Missed Call is a parody of the endless string of soggy dead girl movies made in Japan at the time. But somehow it’s still really creepy. The premise is that, as the title suggests, teenagers are receiving missed calls on their mobile phones. The mystery caller leaves a horrifying voicemail: the sound of the phone’s owner screaming in agony. And since the call came from the person’s own phone, and appears to come from a few days in the future, it’s clearly a sign of impending doom. Sure enough, the kids all die just as the missed call predicted. There’s a nasty little backstory about evil little girls, and a bonkers televised exorcism, and generally, it’s a great film whether you love or loathe stories about scary dead kids.

The Last Man On Earth (1964)

You might’ve thought about how you’d survive the apocalypse, but have you ever stopped to consider whether it’s actually worth doing? In The Last Man On Earth, Vincent Price is the only survivor of a mysterious plague that’s turned the rest of humanity into walking corpses, hungry for his blood. Every day, he tools up and goes out to kill the bloodsuckers; every night, they surround his house and try to kill him. It’s a dismal way to live, and a depressingly eerie film. It’s based on Richard Matheson’s novel I Am Legend – so skip the Will Smith adaptation and watch this instead.

A Tale Of Two Sisters (2003)

Part melodramatic family drama, part psychological horror, A Tale Of Two Sisters is all scary all the time. When a pair of sisters return from a mental hospital, having been traumatised by their mother’s death, they find their new stepmother difficult to adjust to. The nightly visitations from a blood-dripping ghost don’t help, either. But as always in these kinds of films, nothing is what it seems – you might need a second viewing to get your head round the ending.

Night Of The Hunter (1955)

Robert Mitchum might have claimed not to be interested in movies or acting, but he’s great in this. As Harry Powell, a bizarrely religious conman, he’s terrifying, whether he’s preaching about the evils of fornication or chasing the children of his latest victim across the country in an attempt to steal a stash of money he knows they’re hiding. The use of light and shadow in this movie is just stunning; the first time Powell arrives at the Harper house is a particular highlight. Robert Mitchum’s singing voice isn’t half bad, either.

Peeping Tom (1960)

Peeping Tom was so controversial when it was released that it effectively ended director Michael Powell’s career. It’s violent, voyeuristic, and since it tells a story from the villain’s point of view; it’s entirely unsavoury. And it’s wonderful. It looks great, it has an amazingly twisted (and tragic) plot, and Carl Boehm is brilliant as Mark, the awkward, mild-mannered psychopath who feels compelled to murder as a result of his father’s deranged experiments. (That’s not a spoiler, by the way – but if I told you how he killed his victims, that might be.)

Psycho (1960)

Happily, 1960’s other movie about a disturbed serial killer was less of a career-killer. Alfred Hitchcock’s Psycho is wonderful, sodden with guilt and tension right from the opening scene. It’s a shame that so many of its twists are so well-known now, because watching this without knowing what was going to happen must have been brilliant. It’s still great – beautiful to watch, genuinely tense and frequently unnerving – but it has lost some of its shock value over the years. (Also, the bit at the end where the psychiatrist explains everything in great detail is utterly superfluous.) Anthony Perkins’ final twitchy, smirky scene is seriously creepy, though.

City Of The Dead / Horror Hotel (1960)

Getting the timing of a holiday wrong can have disastrous consequences, as City Of The Deadillustrates. Nan Barlow is a history student who, under the tutelage of Christopher Lee’s Professor Driscoll, becomes fascinated with the history of witchcraft, and decides to visit the site of a famous witch trial… but she arrives in town on Candlemas Eve, probably the most important date in the witches’ calendar. Um, oops.

City Of The Dead is often compared to Psycho, and there are enough similarities between the films that you could assume it was a cheap rip-off – but though the campy US retitling supports that assumption, this was actually made before Hitchcock’s motel-based chiller. It’s definitely creepy enough to be worth watching on its own merits. 

Village Of The Damned (1960)

For no apparent reason, one day every living being in the English village of Midwich falls unconscious. For hours, no one can get near Midwich without passing out. When they wake up, every woman in the village finds herself mysteriously pregnant. Obviously, their children aren’t normal, and something has to be done about them… Based on John Wyndham’s novel The Midwich CuckoosVillage Of The Damned is more of a sci-fi movie than a horror movie – but it’s super creepy nonetheless.

Dolls (1987)

Re-Animator director Stuart Gordon toned things down a bit for this creepy fairy tale, but not much. When a group of awful human beings are forced to spend the night in the home of a couple of ancient toymakers, they soon get their comeuppance at the hands of – well, the title gives that away, doesn’t it? You’ll never look at Toys R Us in the same way again.

The Woman In Black (1989)

When a reclusive old lady dies in an isolated house out in the marshes, a young lawyer is sent to sort out her estate. But there’s something weird about her house, and the townspeople aren’t keen on helping sort things out, either. The TV version of this movie is far, far creepier than the Daniel Radcliffe version; there’s one moment in particular that will etch itself on your brain and continue to creep you out for years after you see it…

The Perfume Of The Lady In Black (1974)

Beautifully shot with a great score, The Perfume Of The Lady In Black is a dreamy, unsettling film where nothing is ever as it seems. The wonderfully named Mimsy Farmer plays Sylvia, a scientist haunted by melancholy and hallucinations. She’s never quite recovered from her mother’s suicide, and when she goes to a party where talk turns to witchcraft and human sacrifice, her sanity starts to unravel. But are her problems really all in her head, or is there something else going on? The film doesn’t reveal its secrets until the very end, when all that creepiness pays off spectacularly.

May (2002)

May was always a weird child, and unfortunately she’s grown into a weird adult, too. Unable to form any meaningful relationships with the people around her – not even a class of blind children she thinks might be kinder to her than the people who can see how strange and awkward she is – May decides she’ll need to take this “making a friend” business into her own hands. Dark and twisted and incredibly gory, May is as sad and sweet as it is creepy. A lot of that is attributable to Angela Bettis, whose performance is adorably unnerving.

Nosferatu (1922)

In this unauthorised take on Dracula, the evil Count is depicted not as a tragic or romantic anti-hero, but as a horrifying embodiment of the plague – complete with an entourage of rats. Max Schreck makes a brilliantly weird-looking vampire, all teeth, ears and fingernails; his shadow is especially unnerving. Although the ending as presented seems a little abrupt, it’s conceptually horrifying – as is the fact that, due to a copyright claim filed by Bram Stoker’s estate, all but one copy of this movie was destroyed back in the 1920s.

Vampyr (1932)

In a spooky old inn, Allan Grey is visited in the night by an old man who leaves him a gift-wrapped book, with instructions to open it only on the occasion of the man’s death. Which turns out to be soon. The book explains that the town is plagued by vampires – and, helpfully, gives instructions on how to kill them. Vampyr is an early sound film, so while there is some sound and a little dialogue, most of the silent film conventions are still in place. It has a fairly straightforward, Dracula-esque story, but the plot’s not the point. It’s a deliberately strange film, full of disembodied dancing shadows and weird dream sequences; there’s something almost otherworldly about it.

Dracula (1931)

Bela Lugosi is the definitive Dracula. With his eerie eyes and wonderful accent, he’s brilliantly threatening as the charming Count, but despite his iconic performance here, he’s not the creepiest thing about this film. Nope, that honour goes to Dwight Frye’s portrayal of Renfield, the lunatic spider-eater under Dracula’s control. He’s amazing, all awkward body language and hysterical laughter. Lugosi’s oddly cadenced speech has been emulated and parodied a zillion times, which takes away some of its power; Frye’s performance, on the other hand, is just downright disturbing.

White Zombie (1932)

A year after Dracula, Lugosi starred as Murder Legendre, an evil voodoo master, in one of the first ever zombie movies. The zombies here aren’t flesh-eating ghouls but obedient slaves, working tirelessly in Legendre’s mill. Even when one of them tumbles into a grinder, work doesn’t stop. When the plantation owner goes to Legendre for help winning the heart of the girl he loves, he’s handed a dose of the zombie potion – and now the only way to break Legendre’s spell over the innocent girl is to kill him. Lugosi is suitably menacing, and the drone-like zombies are properly eerie.

The Cursed Medallion/The Night Child (1975)

For a few years, in 1970s Italy, Nicoletta Elmi was the go-to creepy kid. She pops up in Mario Bava’s Bay Of Blood and Baron Blood, and in Dario Argento’s Deep Red, among others, but she’s never more creepy than she is in The Cursed Medallion. Here, she plays Emily, the daughter of an art historian who’s making a documentary on demons in paintings. She’s given a medallion but, as the title suggests, it’s cursed, and she ends up possessed by the spirit of a murderess. It’s atmospheric, lovingly photographed and, of course, Elmi is awesome in the lead role.

The Descent (2005)

A group of friends go off on a spelunking holiday, but get more than they bargained for when it turns out that the caves they’re exploring are dangerous in more ways than one. There’s enough time spent on character development that you really feel it when the group starts to get thinned out; there’s some incredibly painful-looking gore; and there are some amazingly freaky monsters. Watch it in a darkened room to make the most of its wonderfully claustrophobic atmosphere.

Paranormal Activity (2007)

The shine might’ve come off this movie because the Paranormal Activity franchise has become Lionsgate’s new one-every-Halloween cash cow, but there’s something deliciously creepy about this movie. Rewatching it now, even knowing when all the scares are coming, it’s still chilling. In a neat twist on the traditional haunted house story, Paranormal Activity’s entity haunts a person, not a house – so its victim can’t just pack up and move. The found footage conceit is used to great effect, making you stare intently at grainy nighttime footage of an empty room, straining your ears for distant footsteps, before making you jump out of your skin with a loud bang. (Pro tip: the movie has three different endings, so if you think you’re bored of it, try one of the others.)

Ju-on: The Grudge (2002)

So much of the effectiveness of a horror movie comes down to its sound design. A well-placed creak, groan, echo, or jangle can make the difference between something completely normal and something terrifying. New scary noises don’t come along very often, but Ju-on: The Grudge managed to come up with something unlike any other scary noise you’ve heard before. Its ghost makes a weird rattling, burping groan as she approaches; it’s kind of like a death rattle, kind of like a throttled scream, and it’s creepier than anything you’ve ever heard before. The film is relentless, light on plot and heavy on jump scares, but it’s that noise that’ll stay with you.

Julia’s Eyes (2010)

Julia and her twin sister, Sara, both suffer from the same degenerative disease – one that causes them to go blind. When Sara undergoes experimental surgery and subsequently kills herself, Julia suspects foul play – and, indeed, something weird seems to be going on, with whisperings about an invisible man lurking in the shadows. But as Julia gets closer to the truth, her own eyesight suffers more and more…The film restricts our vision almost as much as Julia’s; it’s almost unbearably claustrophobic, and ultimately heartbreaking.

The Eye (2002)

Another film about eyes and the horrors of going blind, The Eye follows Mun, a classical violinist from Hong Kong, as she undergoes an eye transplant. Although the transplant seems to be successful – Mun can see again – something isn’t right, because now she can see dead people. And most of them are terrifying. The ending is vaguely preposterous, but the rest of the film is creepy enough that it’s forgivable. 

 

Zombie Flesh Eaters (1979)

Lucio Fulci’s unofficial sequel to Dawn Of The Dead features perhaps the creepiest zombies ever committed to film. When a boat turns up in New York harbour with only a zombie on board, investigative reporter Peter West sets out to find out where the boat came from and what’s going on. He ends up on the island of Matool, where the dead are returning to life to eat the flesh of the living… and they’re really, really gross. Zombie Flesh Eaters was initially classified as a video nasty in the UK, and it’s not difficult to see why. Its atmosphere elevates it above your average exploitation movie, though; there’s something really melancholy about it.

 

[REC] (2007)

When a local news crew decided to tag along with the fire brigade for an evening, they probably didn’t realise they’d end up fighting from their lives in a zombie-infested tower block. Co-written and co-directed by Paco Plaza and Jaume Balaguero (yup, him again), [REC] is a decent enough zombie movie, until the final reel, when it reveals an even more terrifying ace up its sleeve.

 

Let Me In (2010)

Although remakes are usually terrible, Matt Reeves’ take on this unusual vampire story was both respectful of and different from the original and, for my money, it’s creepier. Lonely tween Owen doesn’t have any friends until the equally strange Abby moves in next door. They embark on an odd friendship/proto-romance, but Abby has a secret: she’s a vampire. The use of a candy jingle is, against all odds, really eerie, and by paring the story down to its most essential elements (and getting rid of that daft cat scene) Let Me In makes for a scarier watch than Let The Right One In.

 

Carnival Of Souls (1962)

After a traumatic accident, weird things start happening to Mary. A strange man seems to be stalking her, though no one else can see him, and she feels irresistibly drawn to an abandoned pavilion out in the middle of nowhere. Once upon a time, the pavilion housed a carnival, but now it’s just an empty building… or is it? There’s nothing surprising about the plot of this movie to a modern audience – you’ll have the whole film worked out within about five minutes – but it is gloriously creepy. The climactic scenes at the carnival are pure nightmare fuel.

 

The Shining (1980)

Probably the most effective of all the Stephen King adaptations, The Shining plonks Jack Nicholson down in the middle of a creepy hotel and lets him do his thing. Nicholson plays Jack Torrance, a struggling writer who gets a winter job as caretaker of The Overlook Hotel, where the isolation and/or ghosts send him out of his mind. There are so many creepy images in this film: the twin girls who just want to play, the woman in room 237, the lift full of blood, and, oh, lots more.

 

The Cabinet Of Doctor Caligari (1920)

Appropriately, watching The Cabinet Of Doctor Caligari feels like slipping into a nightmare. Caligari’s cabinet holds Cesare, the sleepwalker – a catatonic oracle able to answer questions of life and death with eerie accuracy. Is Caligari a hypnotist, a murderer, or both? It’s a strange story, made stranger with a twist ending, and rendered impossibly creepy by the Expressionist production design. The weird, distorted hand-painted sets give the film a crude, unreal beauty and, if anything, the passage of time has increased the film’s creepiness, because it’s so utterly unlike modern films.

 

The Exorcist (1973)

An obvious choice, but The Exorcist is genuinely creepy. It’s deceptively simple: the filming style is realistic, the locations are ordinary-looking and, by comparison to more modern horror movies, there aren’t many elaborate effects or stunts. But the film makes every scary moment count. It’s atmosphere is oppressive, claustrophobic – there’s an ever-present sense of dread throughout. It ought to feel more dated than it does, but even now, the demonic makeup and scratchy voice of the possessed Regan gives me goosebumps.

 

The Omen (1976)

Damien is probably the ultimate creepy child. Adopted by the Thorns when their own newborn dies, it doesn’t take long for his dark side to emerge: Damien is the Antichrist. There are so many iconic moments in this film, so many things that have shaped both the horror genre and our culture’s idea of evil; something about this film really struck a chord, and even now it’s pretty effective. Every death scene in this movie is memorable, but the suicide of Damien’s nanny at his birthday party particularly stands out. 

 

Ghostwatch (1992)

Originally shown on UK TV at Halloween, Ghostwatch scared a whole generation shitless. It’s presented as a live broadcast, starring familiar BBC faces: Michael Parkinson plays host, while Sarah Green and Craig Charles report from the scene as a normal family recount their experiences with the terrifying ghost they’ve dubbed “Pipes”. The shadowy figure of a man is glimpsed several times throughout the show, some appearances more obvious than others, and as viewers call in to share their own stories, things get weirder and weirder…Okay, this isn’t technically a film, but it is so amazingly creepy and brilliant that it couldn’t be left off the list.

 

The Wicker Man (1973)

The Wicker Man is a wonderful mishmash of genres: it’s got humour, horror, singing and sex. It frequently teeters on the edge of absurdity. But at heart, it’s deeply creepy. When devout Christian Sgt Howie visits the isolated community of Summerisle, he thinks he’s investigating the abduction of a little girl – and the villagers certainly do seem to be acting suspiciously. But as his investigation continues, it becomes clear that something entirely different is going on. Howie runs headlong to his doom, and its final scene is downright spine-chilling.

 

Suspiria (1977)

Suspiria is Dario Argento’s finest hour. It’s eyeball-meltingly beautiful to look at, all unnatural neon lighting and ridiculously lavish set design; the music is cacophonous, a never-ending wall of sound that doesn’t let up; and the plot is, well, it’s functional enough. Suzy, an American ballet dancer, flies to an exclusive dance school in Germany only to find herself in the midst of a murder investigation – and something weird is definitely going on with the teachers. If you haven’t seenSuspiria in a while, treat yourself to the Blu-ray. There’s nothing restrained about this movie, nothing ordinary; it sneaks up on you and worms its way into your brain. It’s brilliant.

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"Audition?" Really? This whole list lost its validity once I got to that point.

Good list. But Dracula? I never found it that creepy. Campy, yes.

Dolly Dearest should be on here

Sony developing Sega vs Nintendo movie

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NewsSimon Brew2/24/2014 at 8:11AM

Console Wars tells the story of Sega taking on Nintendo in the 80s and 90s. Now, Sony has picked up the movie rights...

Blake J Harris' book, Console Wars, is a piece of work that charts how Sega was transformed to become the company that went toe to toe with Nintendo across the 80s and early 90s. It's due for publication in the UK in May.

Already though, the film rights to the book have been snapped up. And they've been picked up, of all companies, by Sony. According to Booktrade (via Gamespot), Console Wars is already being developed as a feature film, with Scott Rudin producing.

Seth Rogen and Evan Goldberg - who delivered a solid hit for Sony with This Is The End last year - are writing the screenplay. They also penned the foreword for the book. Harris himself will serve as executive producer, and is also co-directing a documentary on the Sega and Nintendo battle.

More on Console Wars as we hear it...

Bookinfo.
Gamespot.

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New Farscape movie in development

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NewsSimon Brew2/24/2014 at 8:15AM

Justin Monjo is working on the script for a new Farscape movie, apparently with Brian Henson directing...

Monday morning rarely brings good news stories. But in this case, we're making a rather sizeable exception. It seems as though a new sequel to Farscape is on the way, and is being developed as a movie spin-off to the television series. Furthermore, Brian Henson is involved, and is set to direct. We don't know whether it's a cinema or (more likely) TV movie that's being talked about, mind.

The news broke over at If.com, where it reported that writer Justin Monjo is working on a screenplay for the new Farscape project, having worked on the show when it originally ran. No further details are available at this stage, but you can bet we'll be monitoring this closely.

Monjo has also penned a pilot for HBO series that has Peter Dinklage currently linked to it. The series, The Beasts Of Valhalla, would see Dinklage as a dwarf detective, based on the books from Georce C Chesbro.

More news as we get it.

If.com.au

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I would love it if this was true.


Peter Dinklage Interview: X-Men: Days Of Future Past, Game Of Thrones fandom and more

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InterviewRyan Lambie2/24/2014 at 8:24AM

We chat to the great Peter Dinklage about his role in X-Men: Days Of Future Past, meeting Game Of Thrones fans, and much more...

When we caught up with Peter Dinklage for a group interview during last June's visit to the set of X-Men: Days Of Future Past, he was dressed impeccably in a crisply-pressed 70s suit. With large shades, a handsomely curved moustache and voluminous hair parted to one side, he'd fit right into the cast of Anchorman. Instead, Dinklage is playing Bolivar Trask, who comic book readers will know is one of the key players in the Days Of Future Past story.

As the shoot of Bryan Singer's forthcoming X-Men movie rumbled on not far from where we were sitting, Dinklage talked enthusiastically about his role in the story - while keeping specifics of the plot firmly under wraps - meeting the fans of Game Of Thrones, and lots more. Before that, though, there was a brief mention of Peter Dinklage's birthday, which the cast and crew were celebrating between takes that day...

Happy birthday, by the way.

You guys have some cake? I want a big cake. With a big creamy filling. That sounds wrong. [Laughs] Taken out of context, that sounds very wrong.

How did you end up in the new X-Men movie?

Bryan Singer called my people and blah, blah, blah, and set up a phone call between myself and Bryan.

Were you into the movies before [you were cast]?

Yeah, I loved them. These and the Batman movies are, for me, top of the heap. It's the complex storytelling. Great characters.

Did you ever read the X-Men comics?

I didn't. I never was a big comic book fan. Obviously I'd heard them growing up from my friends who did read them, but I never was a big comic book reader. I've been reading Days Of Future Past, and it's wonderful. Simon [Kinberg], the producer-slash-writer, gave me a copy of the original comic. It's great.

Can you tell us more about who you play?

Yeah. I play [sings, dramatically] dum-dum-dum! Wolverine. [Laughs] You may have heard of him. We just have Hugh around for show. No, I play Bolivar Trask, who is very smart. I don't know why they asked me to play him, but he's a great character.

What's his mission?

Well, his mission is... He takes issue with the mutants. The world is a very complicated place at the time of the movie - it's Vietnam. He sees the good he can do at the expense of some other things. Is that vague enough?

How does he fit into this story thematically? Is he a mirror for another character in the movie or the modern era?

That's a good question. It's set at the time of Watergate, and Richard Nixon is a character in the movie, who I share several scenes with. So that sets the tone for nefarious doings, politically. Trask's agenda... he's very good at what he does. How can I be more vague? He sees humanity threatened, and he has the ability to protect it, so that's what he chooses to do.

You're well known for your part in one ensemble [Game Of Thrones] but you're coming into an ensemble that's made up from the old X-Men movie and X-Men: First Class...

I'm the new kid on the block. The new kid in school.

Yeah. So how does that feel?

Oh, you know. There are wedgies. Threats in the bathroom. No, they've been great. This is the seventh time Hugh's done it, including an appearance in Iron Man, was it, that appearance? Avengers or something? What was it, the one-line thing?

X-Men: First Class.

Yeah. So this is the sixth or seventh time he's done it. It's a thrill to be part of a scene where he knows exactly what he's doing, and I've just got to keep up. Everybody, including the crew, has worked together before on these movies. I'm on Game Of Thrones, and every time we have someone new coming on our show, we welcome them with open arms and get revitalised by this new presence. Then we kill them off very quickly. I'm hoping that doesn't happen here. 

Your character in the comic book invents the Sentinels. Does that happen in this movie, and what happens when he meets Charles Xavier?

To answer your first question, we might be changing some things from the comic book to the film, so to anyone who read the comic book, Trask is the one who created the Sentinels. But we're going to keep that one a mystery. What happens is really exciting. I don't want to reveal too much because it's really a spoiler.

Does Trask meet Xavier?

I haven't met him yet. They'll have to give me new pages if I do meet him. I've met James McAvoy, but I haven't met Charles Xavier.

Does Trask have a presence in the future timeline?

Well, Trask's presence is felt all over because of what he does, so sure. But can I travel in time? I'm going to pass on that one. It's so hard to talk about this movie. I still have yet to get into costume, by the way [Laughs].

I was born in 1969, believe it or not, so I was a child in the 70s. But it was an incredible decade for cinema and music, and it would have been nice experienced that Dog Day Afternoon era of adult filmmaking.

What's your approach to getting into a role, and this one specifically?

My character likes to talk, so he's very Shakespearean. He likes a platform and an audience, so I have to learn a lot of lines. One tricky part, because the film takes a while to shoot, is finding the continuity of the character. You jump all over, so that's something that's really important to me. In a play, you're in the moment, but here, you don't know where you're at. It's a bit confusing.

Who's your favourite X-Men character, and did you have a favourite superhero growing up?

I kinda dig Magneto, I've got to say. I understand his anger, and that's a very original idea. My favourite superhero? I have a soft spot for Batman, because he doesn't have any super powers - he's just a person. And he's pretty dark. But I probably shouldn't say that because he's not an X-Man. [Laughs]. My hero growing up was Toad! Don't ask me why. Moving on! 

Given that you were a child of the 70s, and Star Wars was the birth of the blockbuster era, is there excitement that comes with being a part of a film like this?

Yeah. Especially with Bryan. I said yes without even having read the script. That was partly because I wasn't allowed to read the script until I said yes [laughs], so there was that. But yeah, I was very excited.

Did they tell you what role they wanted you to play?

Yes. Wolverine [Laughs]. He [Bryan] told me the story - enough to get me interested.

How did he describe the character?

Bryan's really interesting, because he doesn't approach heroes as heroes or villains as villains. He doesn't describe them in a judgemental  way - I think that's partly because he has a hand in writing them, and writers don't judge their characters, and that's true of actors as well. He was very fair about my character, who's got up to some things that are a little dicey, morally, if you've read the comics. He described him as a very smart man who has a very clear mission.

You mentioned about being a fan of 70s movies. I wondered if you spoke to Bryan about movies and whether this movie will be steeped in the sensibilities of those dramas you described.

I think it's happened a lot with the casting. I think during the 80s - and no offence to Stallone and all those guys - but they were big, heroic types of actors. Now they're casting people like Robert Downey Jr as Iron Man. That was a really off-the-map way to go, but it really worked. Now people want actors like Robert Downey Jr for their hero movies.

It's unusual casting when you think about it [on this movie], but they're such great actors: McAvoy, Fassbender, Hugh - maybe not guys that would have been cast in the 80s type of hero movies, but are now people are thinking outside the box. But they're brilliant actors, and these roles should be filled with brilliant actors. Not just movie stars, you know?

Following on from the 70s movie question earlier, is there a conspiracy thriller element to this film? Because a lot of the films around the Nixon era were conspiracy films - Parallax View, Capricorn One, that kind of thing.

Oh yeah. Well, that's a great question. It's hard to have a conspiracy when there's people controlling metal [with their minds], so it's hard to go 'Is that really happening?' [Laughs] So conspiracy not so much, but there are different points of view in the script. Lots of different agendas, and conflict amongst the heroes. Which we've seen before in these movies, but I find that really fascinating.

Is there any element of comedy in this film? Do you get to twirl your moustache at all?

Bryan won't let me do that. But I can't help but bring a certain amount of levity to things, even when I shouldn't. I think it gets a little dry if you can't have a smile and a wink now and again. So yes, definitely. He's very egotistical, I can say that much about my character. And he amuses himself, you know? All my clever friends are like that. My genius friends are all like, "I'm so clever." They never stop smiling. 

What's your connection to Bill, who may become Stryker? Are you a mentor to him? Are you friends in this movie? How does that work?

He's definitely my military right-hand man. Josh Helman plays the role very well. But it's not clear, what you just said.

Do you have a sense of why your character does what he does? Do you have a back story for him in your head?

He has a chip on his shoulder, definitely. They do address they my size a little bit - no pun intended - there's a 'need to prove myself' element to Trask that's really a good, complicated thing to play. Not too much, though - he's always the smartest man in the room, so he doesn't have to prove himself too much.

But they've crafted the character for you in a way.

Right. Well, thank you Bryan. I mean, he was thinking outside the box. And I think people need to take more risks in our profession, and they don't, unfortunately. Not that I consider myself a risk, I just think of myself as an actor.

You'll be familiar with the voraciousness of Game Of Thrones fans. Have you had much contact with X-Men fans since you've been cast in the role?

No, because the season of Game Of Thrones was happening when it was announced I was playing a part in X-Men. And the Game Of Thrones fans that I've run into don't give a shit about anything but Game Of Thrones [Laughs]. They don't even know who I'm playing in this. It's all about Game Of Thrones. They're fun. They like it.

Have you had any weird experiences with fans?

Weird? Sure. Yes. I ran into this woman who had her two little daughters with her, and she named them Arya and Sansa. That's always a little different. But they dig it. It's a great job.

Now you get to find out how weird the X-Men fans are as well. It'll be a whole new world of weird for you.

I wouldn't have a job if it wasn't for the fans, so I'm going to Comic-Con with Game Of Thrones in July. So into the mouth of madness there! It's a lot of fun though. They're so great. Really, really lovely. And so much more knowledgeable than I am about my character. They're a resource. They'll be the same with Trask - they'll know more than I know. They'll be a great resource.

You're going there for research purposes.

Yeah! I'm taking a notebook.

Peter Dinklage, thank you very much.

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New trailer for The Amazing Spider-Man 2: more new footage

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TrailerDen Of Geek2/24/2014 at 8:34AM

A new three minute promo for The Amazing Spider-Man 2, with even more new footage...

With the release of Amazing Spider-Man 2 less than two months away, it's likely that more and more of the film will be revealed in increasingly rapid succession. This latest trailer has loads of footage we haven't seen before, and focuses a little more on Harry Osborn...and we know how that's going to turn out. The trailer continues to tease what comic fans know about Gwen Stacy, but whether or not that's all misdirection remains to be seen. Enjoy this action-packed trailer for Amazing Spider-Man 2 right here!

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It pisses me off to no end that we live in a world where we have to say, "Did you see Spider-Man 2?.... No, the OTHER one."

So by the time the movie comes out, will we have already seen the whole thing piece by piece through these trailers?

That is the weirdest looking Electro.

9 Embarrassing Credits From This Year's Oscar Nominees

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The ListsGabe Toro2/24/2014 at 8:49AM

An Oscar nomination is truly a career achievement, but every career has to start (or stall) somewhere. Here are 9 of the most embarrassing.

One of the most amusing moments in recent history of the Oscars was the year when the ceremony eschewed showing clips of the nominated actors, instead inviting peers to come onstage and discuss their craft. There were some wonderfully apt memories from that year: hearing Christopher Walken wax rhapsodically about the talents of Best Supporting Actor nominee Michael Shannon was both a delight and a genius stroke by the producers. But there was an even more delightful moment when Colin Farrell took the stage, and regaled the crowds with a tale of when he worked with Best Actor nominee Jeremy Renner on the forgotten action picture S.W.A.T.

That moment served as a reminder that, no matter how far some of these talents have gone, they leave behind a legacy of work. And, as much as they tried, some of that work was just that: punching a clock and showing up on time, hitting their marks, and getting that paycheck. And sometimes that paycheck would come from a fairly ridiculous career decisions.

Here are nine examples of this year’s Oscar nominees, and the silly career decisions they’ve put behind them.


Christian Bale Equilibrium

Before Christian Bale Was In AmericanHustle, He Was In Equilibrium

Bale has been a professional since childhood, leading the cast of cult Disney hit Newsies. His resume boasts a long list of formidable credits, and one can see that the three-time Batman takes his craft seriously. So what was he doing starring in Kurt Wimmer’s Equilibrium? This laughable mishmash of sci-fi tropes takes place in a dystopian future where paintings are burned and emotion is outlawed, and Bale’s heroic cop must fight corruption from within when he starts to question the order of things. Most laughable is the film’s dead-serious “innovation” of gunkata, a method of self-defense that assumes with handfuls of guns and the proper “badass” poses, one is invincible. Given he still had his American Psycho physique, Bale, to his credit, is the only one that could have made that concept work.


Get Rich or Die Trying

Before Terence Winter Wrote The Wolf of Wall Street, He Wrote Get Rich Or Die Tryin’

Winter came up in television where writers have to be a jack of all trades. So, while he’s earned his reputation by scripting prestige stuff like Boardwalk Empire, his early career is loaded with episodes from Xena: Warrior Princess, The Cosby Mysteries and Sister, Sister. Winter rose to prominence in his field on the strength of The Sopranos, and when he earned recognition as one of that show’s prominent creative voices, his next big step was to… write a 50 Cent biopic? You have to remember that 50 Cent was a massive multimedia star at the time, and Get Rich Or Die Tryin’ teamed him with Oscar-nominated filmmaker Jim Sheridan. And while the film has its moments, it’s definitely a veiled version of Fiddy’s otherwise-unremarkable rise to prominence that leans both on his questionable on-screen charisma, as well as tried and true gangster formula clichés.


Tiptoes

Before Matthew McConuaghey Was In Dallas Buyer’s Club, He Was In Tiptoes

McConaughey seemed like he was leading man material right out of the box. As the years went on, however, he coasted, mixing half-interesting movies with terrible commercial ones. Ultimately, his films would make money, but they were so iffy that it damaged his credibility as an A-List talent. He’s likely to win an Oscar this year as AIDS-afflicted trailblazer Ron Woodruff, though this isn’t the first time he’s given voice to the oppressed and neglected: in the oddity Tiptoes, McConaughey plays an average-sized guy who falls for the gorgeous Kate Beckinsale, but tries to hide his family’s history of dwarfism from her. Ultimately, McConaughey’s not terrible in the role: playing his dwarf brother, Gary Oldman acts up a storm. But the film’s odd mix of comedy and drama, mockery and compassion, makes this perhaps the strangest and most questionable entry in McConaughey’s filmography.


Jessica Alba Meet Bill

Before Melisa Wallack Wrote Dallas Buyers Club, She Wrote And Directed Meet Bill

Credit where credit is due in the industry:  it’s no mere feat to get your rookie script on the industry’s Black List, attract major talent to the picture, and then direct it yourself. But Wallack (who wrote Dallas Buyers Club with Craig Borten) has surely come a long way, because the interminable Meet Bill, a sitcommy midlife crisis film with Aaron Eckhart, Elizabeth Banks, Jessica Alba, Jason Sudeikis, and plenty of other overqualified names, didn’t even merit a meager theatrical release. This Cinderella story was quickly dumped to DVD after a middling festival life, an early warning to anyone who ended up on the Black List. Wallack also carries a writing credit on Mirror Mirror, but we won’t hold that against her because it seems hard to believe someone wrote that movie.


Sandra Bullock Love Potion No. 9

Before Starring In Gravity, Sandra Bullock Was In Love Potion No. 9

Oh Sandy, we love you and your often dubious choices in movies. As if it wasn’t hard enough being in an industry where no one writes any good parts for women, Bullock has never been able to select the best collaborators, resulting in career decisions like Speed 2: Cruise Control and All About Steve. But even before her breakout role in Speed, Bullock was already snapping up dopey projects that should be beneath any actress with her talent level. Case in point: 1994’s Love Potion No. 9, a thick trifle where a mild-mannered scientist takes an unstable concoction that turns him into a voracious ladies’ man. Bullock actually has the thankless role of being his mousy assistant, a stereotypical nerd girl who also drinks the potion, suddenly removes her glasses and becomes a sexpot. Bullock actually steals the movie, both with her conventional good looks and slapstick acumen, but it’s not even worth a curious lazy afternoon watch.


Million Dollar Hotel

Before U2 Performed An Original Song For Mandela: Long Walk To Freedom, They Collaborated On Million Dollar Hotel

U2 received the only nomination awarded to Mandela: Long Walk To Freedom with their Keane-like anthem “Ordinary Love,” which will probably go on the stack of U2 b-sides that only hardcore fans remember in a decade’s time. U2 hasn’t just been around for a long time, they’ve also contributed music to many films, penning original material for hits as diverse as Batman Forever and Short Cuts. But in 2000, U2 frontman Bono co-wrote Wim Wenders’ Million Dollar Hotel, an existential mystery where Mel Gibson plays a one-armed detective. The film is dull, inscrutable, and features several original, and forgettable, U2 compositions. But even the kindest Wenders fan has to acknowledge it’s a pretentious disaster, including the film’s star. when quizzed about the movie at the premiere, Gibson claimed the film was “as boring as a dog’s ass.”


Bruce Willis Color of Night

Before Billy Ray Wrote Captain Phillips, He Wrote Color of Night

Screenwriters shouldn’t necessarily be blamed for the quality of a movie. Many times, a screenplay passes through several hands after its completion. And even when it does reach the screen, the director likely has left his fingerprints on the material. That hasn’t stopped writer Billy Ray from rising up the ranks to become one of the industry’s most in-demand scribes, even after stuff like Volcano and Flight Plan dots his resume. Looking at the films he’s penned (including an excellent one, Breach, which he also directed), the one that stands out is the Bruce Willis vehicle Color of Night. And if you’ve seen this movie, you know it is NUTS.  The story finds the decidedly not-brainy Willis as a famous psychologist who ends up taking over his dead colleague’s therapy group, only to find them being picked off one-by-one by an unknown killer, just as he’s entering into an affair with a mysterious femme fatale. Everything in Color of Night, one of the final films in the gonzo career of director Richard Rush, is pitched to eleven, including one of the most elaborate and ridiculous twists you’ll ever see.


Amy Adams shower cruel intentions

Before Amy Adams Was In American Hustle, She Was In Cruel Intentions 2

There is no shortage of goofy early Amy Adams performances, as she long bounced around on the periphery of Hollywood in thankless one-line girlfriend roles. One of her early standout parts, however, was in the failed pilot to Manchester Prep, an intended TV spinoff of the surprise hit Cruel Intentions. Reportedly the material that was shot was a little too bawdy, so the producers merely tacked on extra naughty footage (not too much involving Adams, in case you were wondering) and released it as a cheeseball direct-to-DVD sequel instead. Adams would soon find herself once again relegated to girlfriend roles until her breakout years later in the indie Junebug.


Jurassic Park 3

Before Writing Nebraska, Alexander Payne Wrote Jurassic Park 3

Payne, who received a Best Director nomination this year for Nebraska, relinquished writing duties on his latest film solely to fellow nominee Bob Nelson. But he’s written several screenplays with writing partner Jim Taylor, and the two were nominated together for Best Adapted Screenplay for Election and won Best Adapted Screenplay for Sideways. Yet, Payne and Taylor apparently weren’t above earning some cash on the side, which meant taking a crack at the third Jurassic Park film. Given that the picture headed into production around the time of a writer’s strike, the two couldn’t make any further alterations on a screenplay they had co-written with Peter Buchman, resulting in a movie that makes little sense and feels like a K-Mart version of the previous two pictures. Considering these two are Oscar-winning scribes, you hate to think that it’s their fault for whipping up a blockbuster script that literally has no ending: Jurassic Park 3 closes on a pretty convenient deus ex machina that wouldn’t pass muster in a freshman writing course. You’ll have to chalk that one up to too many other cooks getting their hands in that broth. Payne and Taylor’s credited work on Adam Sandler’s tone-deaf I Now Pronounce You Chuck And Larry, however?  Well, that one remains inexplicable to this day.

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So you are saying that starting a career on Xena was embarassing? Well think about Lucy Lawless who became famous with Xena, not to speak about Karl Urban who was Ceasar on Xena and now he is famous in Hollywood, and Marton Csokas as well. Come on!

Equilibrium is a pretty good movie.

Equilibrium was a very good movie, with some original concepts. Should not be considered embarassing, actually is one of my favourite Christian Bale movies.

Equilibrium is a great, underrated movie, one that Bale should be proud of, definitely not embarrassed.

Agree with the general sentiment, Equilibrium was good, and no one has anything to be embarrassed about. Plus Sean Bean dies . Sure it looked a bit too Matrixy but then a lot of films did back then.

Equilibrium is embarrassing?!!! U mad bro??

Godzilla Revealed on Empire Magazine Cover

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NewsDen Of Geek2/24/2014 at 11:45AM

Our best look yet at the title character from Gareth Edwards' Godzilla reboot is on the cover of Empire Magazine...

The folks at Empire Magazine have gone and revealed Godzilla for all curious fans. With the release of the new poster the other day, which helped confirm to skeptical fans that yes, not to worry, this Godzilla does indeed look like you would expect Godzilla to look. But that was just a rear view of everyone's favorite lizard. The cover of Empire Magazine has unveiled Godzilla in all of his scaly glory...and he looks pretty glorious! Check it out!

Empire Godzilla Cover

Godzillais directed by Gareth Edwards. It stars Aaron Taylor-Johnson, Elizabeth Olsen, Bryan Cranston, and Ken Watanabe. Godzillawill be destroying a theater near you on May 16th.

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Star Wars: The Clone Wars The Lost Missions Trailer

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NewsDen Of Geek2/24/2014 at 12:54PM

Check out the new Netflix trailer for Star Wars: The Clone Wars The Lost Missions, which bridges the gap with Revenge of the Sith.

There is a great disturbance in the Force online this day for Netflix tv shows, for we have been glimpsed our first images of Star Wars: The Clone Wars The Lost Missions (the final episodes of Star Wars: The Clone Wars’ sixth season). As previously revealed, these final episodes, as well as the previous seasons of the series, on Netflix, soon they will be.

Set in the earliest sliver of time prior to Star Wars: Episode 3 – Revenge of the Sith, the final episodes finish bridging the link from the rest of the animated epic Star Wars series with the third prequel film, spelling dark days ahead for our heroes, including Anakin Skywalker, Obi-Wan Kenobi, Senator Padme Amidala, and of course, Master Yoda. An intrepid clone learns the truth about Order 66, and Yoda ventures to the home planet of the Sith. Strange days to come, there are.

Star Wars: the Clone Wars The Lost Missions, along with the rest of the series, will be made available via Netflix streaming on March 7, 2014.

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Harold Ramis Dead at 69

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NewsDavid Crow2/24/2014 at 1:15PM

Respected writer, director, and comedic actor Harold Ramis, known for Stripes and Ghostbusters, died Monday in his Chicago home.

The beloved actor, writer, and director of many great comedies died today at age 69.

According to Ramis’ attorney, Fred Toczek, Ramis passed away in his Chicago home Monday morning due to complications with autoimmune inflammatory vasculitis, a disease that he had battled for the past four years. The illness took away his ability to walk, though through physical therapy, he relearned the process.

Ramis is beloved by fans of comedy the world over for a lifetime of achievement both in front of the camera and behind of it. Besides starring in Stripes and the Ghostbusters films, which he’s also credited with co-writing, he also co-wrote National Lampoon’s Animal House and Caddyshack, the latter of which he directed. Other beloved credits include directing Groundhog Day and Bedazzled.

Born on November 21, 1944, Ramis was a native Chicagoan who would eventually graduate into the city’s hallowed sketch comedy and improv troupe, The Second City. Having developed a reputation as a writer by freelancing for The Chicago Daily News after graduation from the University of Missouri, Ramis had worked his way up to be the joke editor at Playboy, making a name for himself as a comedy writer. As a writer at Second City, Ramis also became a reliable sketch actor where he worked with the likes of John Belushi and other comedy greats in the early 1970s. This connection allowed Ramis to eventually star in The National Lampoon Show revue, as well as become the head writer and a comedy performer in the Canadian-based comedy television series, SCTV (Second City TV) from 1976 to 1977. Like its chief competitor, Saturday Night Live, it was littered with Second City talent including Rick Moranis, John Candy, and Eugene Levy, all of whom would appear in Ramis’ later films.

Ramis left SCTV to write a screenplay with National Lampoon Magazine’s Douglas Kenney and, eventually, Chris Miller, for the film that would become National Lampoon’s Animal House (1978). Ramis himself was a member of the Alpha Xi chapter of Zeta Beta Tau during his college days, and much like how his short stint as a substitute teacher in Chicago played a role in his script for Stripes, there are likely some personal touches in this backwards-looking ‘60s set nostalgia piece.

While John Landis directed Animal House, Ramis soon graduated to that seat after the raunchy fraternity laugher proved to pave the way for edgier comedic fare in Hollywood with its $141 million box office gross. Ramis followed up Animal House by being one of the four credited writers on Meatballs, where he cemented what would be a long, tumultuous friendship with star Bill Murray. Murray starred in Ramis’ directorial debut, Caddyshack (1980), which did for country clubs what Animal House did for fraternity prestige. A comedy that quickly ditched the titular caddies in favor of the star wattage coming from Ted Knight, Rodney Dangerfield, Chevy Chase, and Bill Murray as the demented gopher-hunting greenskeeper, the film was a big hit for the collaborators who would later star together in the Ramis-scripted and Ivan Reitman-directed military spoof, Stripes (1981).

The two highlights of Ramis’ acting career, Pvt. Russell Zisky in Stripes and Dr. Egon Spengler in Ghostbusters (1984), were both created in part by Ramis on the page. On a personal note, this writer grew up his entire childhood watching both movies as terrific products of sarcasm and irony (before I knew what those words meant) that featured Ramis feeding both his slacker comedy impulses in a lark at the U.S. military’s expense, as well as his more subversive witticisms through the most deadly dry deadpan on a screen that also featured a giant marshmallow god. Ramis and Aykroyd’s exceedingly smart script on Ghostbusters, allowing Murray to be at his most sardonic, paved the way for the less admired, child-friendly Ghostbusters II (1989). Yet, even that film should hold a special place in the heart of anyone who has ever visited New York: Manhattan-ites need to start being nice to each other to save the world? Might as well start paying homage to Lord Vigo the Carpathian right now!

The final film of the Ramis and Murray partnership was the fantastic Murray vehicle that Ramis co-wrote and directed, Groundhog Day(1993). In the picture, Murray plays a narcissistic schmuck who through some case of cosmic punishment must be forced to relive the same day over and over again in a sickeningly sweet small town during the coldest day of February. For at least 40 years. The picture was hailed as Ramis’ masterpiece by The New Yorker, but marked the end of the famed collaboration when Ramis and Murray had a professional and personal falling out that never was fully resolved. It was not until for over a decade that they attempted to bridge the gap, but they never worked together on a set again.

Ramis would go on to direct several more well-received comedies, including the Michael Keaton cloning laugher Multiplicity, the mobster ‘n shrinks Robert De Niro/Billy Crystal comedy duo Analyze This (1999) and Analyze That (2002), as well as the red hot temptress she-devil comedy remake, Bedazzled (2000), starring Elizabeth Hurley and Brendan Fraser. Ramis also would appear in small acting roles, such as in As Good As It Gets (1997) and Knocked Up (2007). However, he never quite achieved the level of success that he did with his Murray collaborations in the 1980s and 1990s. Ramis’ final directorial effort was the slight Year One (2009), where he featured in a cameo appearance, and his final performance was, somewhat fittingly, in the vocal reprisal of Egon Spengler for Ghostbusters: The Video Game (2009). It was the closest we will ever likely come to the always-forthcoming “Ghostbusters 3.”

Ramis won the BAFTA for his Groundhog Day screenplay in 1994, as well as was nominated for the same text and Best Director at the Saturn Awards that year. Ramis was also inducted into the St. Louis Hall of Fame, where he attended university, in 2004.

Ramis is survived by his second wife Erica Mann Ramis, their two sons Julian Arthur Ramis and Daniel Hayes Ramis, and by daughter Violet Stiel from his first marriage.

Ramis will be missed by Delta Tau Chi pledges and Gozer enthusiasts the world over.

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holy crap!!!!

Harold Ramis Changed Movie Comedy

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RetroTony Sokol2/24/2014 at 3:38PM

Harold Ramis died this morning at the age of 69. Ramis started a comic revolution with Animal House that ushered in a new era of comedy.

Harold Ramis died at his home in Chicago this morning from complications of autoimmune inflammatory vasculitis. He was 69. Harold Ramis is most recognized for his roles in Ghostbusters and Stripes, and as the guy who made Robert De Niro funny in Analyze This. Yes, De Niro had been funny before, but in the hands of Harold Ramis, it changed the trajectory of his career.

Harold Ramis changed the trajectory of comedy. Everyone remembers the first time they saw Animal House, whether they went to college or not. I’d already read the National Lampoon college booklet, when Animal House first came out, so I was already primed. The rest of the world immediately called it their own. It hit the funny bone, but it also pulled up something from the collective consciousness. People took Animal House very personally, they quoted lines like it was a new comic Bible. Students emulated these kids. Directors emulated this style. It changed colleges forever. Food fights became commonplace. It changed film forever. Gross-out and insanely fast paced jokes became commonplace. Harold Ramis was also one of three writers on Animal House.

I read a Playboy interview with Blake Edwards, the renowned director of The Pink Panther, S.O.B. and Victor/Victoria, where he said Animal House was the beginning of the end of American comedy films. At the time, I thought Blake Edwards was just being jealous. Without Animal House there would be no Meatballs, Porky’sThe Hangover or Deuce Bigelow. That might have been what scared Blake Edwards, but it didn’t explain Harold Ramis.

Harold Allen Ramis was born in Chicago on November 21, 1944. He wore glasses like Groucho and had curly hair like Harpo and took his inspiration from the classic comedy of The Marx Brothers, who flew in the face of polite society. Ramis would add to the vocabulary of comedy. Giving the voice back to the underdog, the underfunded and the undereducated; the overindulgent and the overfed. He wrote socially satiric plays in college and then jumped headfirst into guerilla television. After being declared unfit to die in Vietnam by taking enough speed before his physical to keep him awake for months, that is. Just like his turn as ESL teacher Russell Ziskey in Stripes, Ramis paid the bills in his early days as a substitute teacher. Ramis worked for a while at a mental institution, which he later said taught him how to deal with actors.

Ramis freelanced as writer for the Chicago Daily News and a joke writer for Playboy while he honed his comic chops at Chicago's Second City improvisational comedy troupe. When he took a break from SCTV, he was replaced by John Belushi, who was instrumental in bringing Ramis back into the fold and unleashing him on New York in The National Lampoon Radio Hour, created by the darkly hilarious Michael O'Donoghue. Performers on The National Lampoon Radio Hour reads like a who’s who of comedy, besides Belushi, it featured Chevy Chase, Bill Murray, Gilda Radner, Anne Beatts, Richard Belzer (as a DJ, the “best looking man you’ll never see”), Brian Doyle-Murray, Joe Flaherty and Christopher Guest, who left after O’Donoghue blasted his windows with a shotgun, according to comedy legend. The show lowered the bar on what could be acceptable in a world where that had changed because of Vietnam. Everything was becoming fair game.

Ramis was the original head writer of the television series Second City Television. He also performed. Logically, he did his impression of Mr. Spock along with introducing the characters Maurice "Moe" Green, amiable cop Officer Friendly, exercise guru Swami Bananananda, board chairman Allan "Crazy Legs" Hirschman, and home dentist Mort Finkel. 

When John Belushi brought the cast of the National Lampoon Radio Hour to New York, much of the cast, like Gilda Radner and Bill Murray moved on to Saturday Night Live. Ramis wrote screenplays. First he teamed up with National Lampoon magazine's Douglas Kenney and Chris Miller to write National Lampoon's Animal House. He co-wrote the Bill Murray comedy Meatballs and then wrote Caddyshack with Douglas Kenney and Brian Doyle-Murray and directed it. Caddyshack teamed Chevy Chase and Bill Murray with comic veterans Rodney Dangerfield and Ted Knight and became a cult hit that people watch over and over to this day.

Ramis was slated to direct a movie based on the Pulitzer Prize-winning book A Confederacy of Dunces by John Kennedy Toole which was supposed to team John Belushi and Richard Pryor, but it was never finished. He did get to give Dianne Keaton a nervous breakdown in the 1987 comedy Baby Boom.

In 1984, Ramis and Dan Aykroyd wrote Ghostbusters, one of the biggest blockbusting comedies of forever, a very big Twinkie. Ramis played the scientist Dr. Egon Spengler. It was the third movie Ramis did with Murray, but their later collaboration, Groundhog Day has been called "Ramis' masterpiece.”

Ramis moved on to be one of the premiere American comedy directors. He led the Griswolds west in National Lampoon's Vacation. He teamed Billy Crystal with Robert De Niro in Analyze This and Analyze That. I was always hoping for an Analyze The Other Thing. Ramis directed the remake of the funny Faust tale Bedazzled starring Brendan Fraser and Liz Hurley and the comic noir The Ice Harvest.

Harold Ramis made his last film, the caveman comedy Year One starring Jack Black, Michael Cera and Hank Azaria, in 2009. The same year he started teasing about a third Ghostbusters film.

Ramis was an influence and an inspiration. He gave hope to funny guys with glasses and curly hair. Ramis is survived by his wife Erica, his sons Julian and Daniel, his daughter Violet, two grandchildren and generations of comedians, fans and movie lovers. He didn’t destroy movies, like Blake Edwards predicted, he heralded in a new era of comedy. It was a newer, ruder era of comedy, but it had a tender heart and never lost its sense of funny.

 

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Amanda Seyfried Cast To Replace Mila Kunis In Ted 2

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NewsDen Of Geek2/24/2014 at 4:18PM

Actress Amanda Seyfried is replacing Mila Kunis for the female lead role in Ted 2. Apparently, it's Seth MacFarlane's creative choice.

In a surprising cast announcement, it was reported in Deadline that Amanda Seyfried will be replacing Mila Kunis as the female lead in Ted 2, a sequel to the 2012 R-rated comedy hit.

According to Deadline, this does not reflect at all on the positive working relationship between writer-director Seth MacFarlane, who voices the foul-mouthed Bostonian teddy bear, and Kunis. It is said to stem from a creative decision on MacFarlane’s part, but the two still work regularly on the TV series Family Guy where Kunis voices the character of Meg. Kunis is expected to appear, if at all, in a very small part for Ted 2.

Amanda Seyfried recently wrapped working with MacFarlane on this May’s upcoming western themed R-rated comedy, A Million Ways to Die in the West. And if you have seen the red band trailer, then you know laughing may be one of the titular ways.

The previous Ted picture is the most successful R-rated comedy to date, earning $549 million worldwide. Mark Wahlberg will return for the sequel.

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"And if you have seen the red band trailer, then you know laughing may be one of them."- errr one of what?

Latest trailer lands for Muppets Most Wanted

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TrailerSimon Brew2/25/2014 at 8:18AM

The return of the Muppets gets closer, and here's the latest trailer for Muppets Most Wanted...

Heading into cinemas at the end of next month is the eagerly-awaited (most certainly by us) Muppets Most Wanted. The film reunites the gang after 2011's The Muppets, and adds Tina Fey, Ricky Gervais and Ty Burrell to the line-up.

This latest trailer focuses a little more on the human cast, and gives you a flavour of some of the cameos that you can expect in the new film too.

James Bobin has returned to direct this one, and he's co-written the script with Nicholas Stoller. And here's that trailer...

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Hugh Jackman interview: X-Men: Days Of Future Past and playing Wolverine

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InterviewRyan Lambie2/25/2014 at 8:25AM

As part of our visit to the set of X-Men: Days Of Future Past last year, we sat down for a chat with Wolverine himself, Hugh Jackman...

Sitting down opposite Hugh Jackman is an occasion enough in itself, yet when the Australian actor took the time to speak to Den Of Geek and a number of other film writers for a group interview last June, he happened to be dressed as the Wolverine. Having ducked out between takes to speak to us, he still had his hair sculpted into its distinctive shape, with the horn-like bits sticking up on either side of his head, and those luxuriant mutton chops growing down his jaws.

Thankfully, Wolverine's Adamantium claws are nowhere to be seen, and we found Mr Jackman in friendly, cheerful, self-effacing humour. Here he is talking about playing his signature character for the seventh time, and what we can expect from the forthcoming X-Men: Days Of Future Past.

We were trying to speculate earlier about how you keep track of what's going on. We're struggling.

Of all the bouncing around I do, the Wolverine role's the easiest to bounce back into. People might assume that I'm getting tired of it, but I don't - it's getting more engaging. I'm having more fun with the character than ever before.

This particular film is one that brings up a lot of feelings of gratitude for me. First of all, to walk on set in the first few weeks was like a reunion. I owe a lot to Bryan. He cast me as this character, and that was the first thing I ever did. The first film I did in America had this incredible cast, I was playing this unbelievable role. Even if it was bad, I'd have said yes - I had no other options [Laughs]. But he was a great character.

Then, from there, to have everyone we've worked with in the last 10 years, and also Jennifer [Lawrence] and Michael [Fassbender] and James [McAvoy] and Nick [Hoult] - it's an incredible cast. It really is, every day, a treat. To play a character I love... this story is pretty epic, pretty extraordinary. At the time I heard about it, I was doing Wolverine. And I thought, let me just hear what it's about. The moment I heard the pitch for this, I thought, there's no way I'm missing out.

I've answered about 18 different questions in one there.

What are Logan's stakes, personally, in this film?

Ha, everything. For all the X-Men, including my character, everything's at stake. I'd say the danger levels are the highest they've ever been in this movie. It's certainly the greatest threat or villain they've faced. So for everyone involved, the stakes couldn't be higher. It's as dangerous as it gets for all of them.

This is a continuation of the franchise, so in a way we're combining two X-Men worlds. I don't know how much you've been told... I don't know how much there's been mentioned of the timeline... So when it starts, Wolverine's very much part of the group, and I know that's not always been the case.

How do you compare the physicality of this role to The Wolverine?

There were different elements in The Wolverine. There was the samurai element. So there was the martial arts that I wanted to incorporate into that. Not that he is a martial artist, but that he'd learned some of that. I was learning that style. Here, I think because of my physical preparation for Wolverine, I'm even better for [Days Of Future Past].

Because I really haven't stopped for almost two years. I spent a year preparing for [The Wolverine], we shot it in six months, and six months later, here we are. So physically, I'd say I'm in better shape than even Wolverine, which is surprising. But all the action in this is... we've done a little bit of it, but most of it's yet to come. So I'm feeling pretty good, but I'm sure my body's going to be beaten up pretty soon.

I've read you're the only character who appears in all the X-Men movies, is that right? I mean played by the same actor. Was there ever a discussion about X-Men: First Class featuring a young Logan?

I'm sure there was a discussion. They never mentioned it to me, obviously. But look, that's inevitable, man. Anyone who thinks they're indispensible is fooling themselves. I feel blessed to have this part. I never thought in a million years I'd get to play him seven times. I get to walk on set with the claws and the hair, and I thank my lucky stars. I don't take anything for granted.

To think that the seventh movie has this cast and this director, and I would say the best script of all of them, it's pretty amazing. That's why I'm still here. I'm sure, by the way, that it won't always be my decision to be here. At some point someone will close the door on me. That will happen. But for now I'm very happy. 

How was it working with Bryan [Singer] again?

It's been fantastic. [The first X-Men] wasn't his first movie by any stretch of the imagination - it was my first movie. And it was a massive learning experience for me, I learned a lot from Bryan. It's fair to say that I was scared out of my mind when I began - it was massive. I'd come from Aussie movies, and the whole thing was huge. So 13, 14 years later, to be able to come back to work with such a great director - and we've stayed friends ever since - it's all the sweeter. We know each other so well. From day one we were straight into it. I think he's as turned on and grateful as I am to have this opportunity, and he's loving it.

I keep thinking, not only did Bryan create this universe, the comic book movie was pretty much dead when he started. You can credit Bryan, I think, with really igniting the whole genre. So he rightly deserves an iconic status in this world, and for him to come back in such an epic way, with such a big movie, such a big cast, I think is exciting not only for us, but also for fans everywhere.

When Logan goes back in time, do we see a 1973 version of Logan?

Can you tell the grey hairs have been slightly taken out of my beard? He does. There's a misconception that Wolverine doesn't age at all, but obviously he does - it's just at a much, much slower rate because he heals. So for the makeup artist, it takes a little more work for her in the morning [Laughs].

Logan's relationship with Charles was really important in the earlier films, and I'm sure working with Patrick [Stewart] was important to you as an actor. Can you talk about meeting the young Charles, and how McAvoy changes that for you?

Such a great question. Because Wolverine really went under a massive change by missing Professor Xavier. He was pretty lost. He was on his own, and pretty rudderless, really. He was wandering around with a lot of unanswered questions, a lot of anger. That guidance really changes him and helps him grow. So it's such a great concept, this idea that you can send your mind back to your younger body, the idea that you can go back not only for yourself, but with the benefit of wisdom, knowing what a person's going to become. 

You go back and find a younger Charles Xavier, perhaps, in a more vulnerable place, a slightly less wise place, a difficult place where I can play the role for him that he would later play for me. It's poignant, and beautifully brought out in the script. 

Building from that, what is your dynamic with Ian McKellen? Because before you were opposed, but in the future world Magneto is essentially one of the X-Men.

We're brought together by a greater calamity than our own differences. But the animosity's still there, and we're certainly playing off of it - not between me and Ian at all, but between the characters. I think that's fun. Just because we're in the same family now, it doesn't mean we get on together. But when you have to unite against a greater foe, you're forced to come together.

What's always been great about X-Men is that it's not all happy endings or peace, love and understanding. Even when they're together, people are grumpy with each other, they fight, they bicker and disagree. They have faults and shortcomings. I think that's what Bryan always envisioned, and thought out really well.

How do you connect The Wolverine to Days Of Future Past?

It does actually come together very well. There is a link, and it has been thought through. All I can say is, The Wolverine follows X-Men 3, so imagine that as two years afterwards. So everything that happened there was fresh for Wolverine. Which is why at the beginning of that movie, he's very much at a loss and disillusioned. So I'll let you put two and two together over how he comes out at the end of that movie.

Every movie has its own identity in this series. They're their own thing.

Yeah. And hats off to the studio. The Wolverine was Darren Aronofsky's idea, which James Mangold and the studio both took on, that idea that we're telling another saga, very much like a comic book saga. There are different writers and different authors who take the same schematic and bring out their own vision of it, and The Wolverine is very different from those that came before it, and this movie is going to be completely different. It's different in scale and size and scope for sure. And for those who really liked Bryan's X-Men one and two, this is going to be like that on steroids.

This movie's escapism for a lot of kids as well as adults. As a kid, what was your form of escapism?

Indy! Indiana Jones. I loved Indy. That came out when I was 12, 13, and that was it.

Was that your Halloween costume?

Well, we didn't have Halloween in Australia, unfortunately. All I knew about Halloween was the horror movie, and that was it. But you know, I don't want to be too earnest about it, but I've always felt that X-Men has something thematically that is beyond just escapism, beyond superheroes saving the day. It's very much an allegory between Malcolm X and Martin Luther King. It's about alienation and discrimination. And of course there's that great wish fulfilment of the person being alienated having claws or can fly or being able to read minds, and having the ability to overcome those powers. It's particularly why teenagers connect to it, because teenagers feel like mutants most of the time. They feel misunderstood, they feel outnumbered, often, discriminated against, and they feel like they have very little control over their lives.

It's always had that aspiration, I think, and that's what Bryan connected to. That's what changed the genre, and allowed for The Dark Knight and things like that. 

In the 12 years that you've played Wolverine, how has filmmaking changed around you?

Well, technology's certainly changed, that's for sure. Aside from all the green screen elements you've seen today - and I've never seen anything of this size before - not that hugely. Yes, in the post-production area, massively. The cameras we're using now, massively. Right now, Bryan's looking at the White House in the monitor. He's not just looking at a green screen.

When I made Real Steel, the director actually had the robots in the monitor, so he knew where everything was. So technically, there's been advancements. But at the end of the day, movies are about story and characters, so all the other stuff is great, but unless you have those two elements, then you've got nothing.

Where does Wolverine go from here? You've got the Wolverine movies, the original trilogy and First Class - is it possible for all three of those franchises to continue?

Can I take at least a little vacation, please? [Laughs] I'll take the weekend, that's fine. Wolverine: The Musical? No. I don't know. This has been a surprise for me. The Japanese story and that samurai saga, I've been wanting to make that for 10 years. So from here I'm an open book. We'll see. I'll wait until I've been beaten up in some fight scenes which are coming up very soon, and maybe I'll want a longer vacation.

With the international market being so big now, how has that changed a movie like this?

I think it's fantastic. There's an economical imperative now, to appeal to audiences all around the world. I'm someone who's a foreigner making movies in America, so like many of you guys, I'm thrilled when stories go beyond an American sensibility. And why shouldn't they? I think it's great; it has changed the focus of storytelling. It means movies are getting made that wouldn't have been made before, just because they appeal to another market and not an American market. That's all great. For our business as actors, it means we get to work with great directors from overseas, and great actors from overseas. We have so many great international actors in this.

Never forget how amazing America is, that not only do they allow it, but they embrace it. They've always embraced actors like me coming in and putting on an American accent. People coming in and telling stories. It's a real sign of generosity and confidence in themselves that they'd do that.

I know there was a lot of schedule juggling to get this movie made. But it sounds like in the monastery scene, the whole gang's back together.

It was awesome. That's what I was saying. I was honestly waking up in the morning thinking, this is unbelievable. Who'd have thought that in this day and age that I'd have the opportunity to work with everyone again?

There I was with Anna Paquin. I remember, she stayed behind for 10 hours after she'd finished working to screen test with me. She said, "I'll stay and read with you". And she was literally a little girl in that first movie when we started. And here we are in [Days Of Future Past] talking about children and babies. Everyone had moved on. Patrick Stewart's getting married again [Laughs]. So it's amazing that the same friendship and camaraderie is still there. And to be doing it with Bryan on a really quality picture - all those things make you realise how lucky you are.

Hugh Jackman, thank you very much.

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George Harrison’s HandMade Films Was a Present to Himself

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FeatureTony Sokol2/25/2014 at 8:30AM

Ex-Beatle George Harrison wanted to see Life of Brian. Problem was, it hadn’t been made. He already had a home cinema.

Today is George Harrison’s birthday. Happy Birthday, George. I’m an unabashed Beatle fan since I was an infink and figured now was as good a time as any to talk about HandMade Films. Besides his world wide fame and fortune as part of the fab four, George and the other bandmates were natural comedians who looked pretty good on film. Spike Lee, to this day, proclaims his love of the Richard Lester classic Help and he’s a pretty good judge of comedy. And of indie films.

George created HandMade Films because he wanted to see a movie. The movie he wanted to see was Life of Brian, this thing the Monty Python crew was peddling all over London. George thought it would be funny. He knew funny. He liked to be amused. He figured, if it would amuse him, it would amuse other people. He’s an amusing guy. These Pythons were good for a chuckle too. So Hare Georgeson put out the cash for what might have been the most expensive home movie ever made.

Well, it lost that honor because it was too funny to be ignored. It was also a little too controversial to be ignored. All the kings’ horses and men stomped on it as blasphemous and irreverent. Of course it was irreverent. It was also one of the most historically correct Jesus movies ever made. That didn’t stop it from being silly. It didn’t stop it from being a hit. It didn’t stop HandMade Films from making more movies.

I like to think Harrison hand-picked the movies made by HandMade Films. He made movies I wanted to see, just like he made music I wanted to hear. HandMade Films made anarchic comedies and crime movies, disrespectful Jesus Movies and even played with time. Harrison didn’t do it all, of course, he had Denis O’Brien on to tell him how to spend his money.

George met O’Brien through Peter Sellers. Besides adopting Ringo Star in the film The Magic Christian, Peter Sellers was part of the seminal British comedy radio troupe The Goon Show, which was produced by George Martin, who produced the Beatles. Harrison played the Sue Me Sue You Blues for O’Brien in the mid-nineties for abusing that money trust.

Before Sean Penn and Madonna crippled HandMade Films with Shanghai Surprise, and drove George back to smoking (Harrison died of cancer in 2001, which he blamed on cigarettes. I’m not saying Madonna and Sean Penn killed him, but they’ve driven me to light up more than once), it produced some classic, albeit underground movies. The films shared a skewered and subversive approach that set them apart from other movies.

Nuns on the Run, for example, had nuns. They ran. There weren’t that many nuns on the run from the London mob on screen at the time. Eric Idle looked pretty good in a habit, which covered his legs. I guess that’s better than when they put John Cleese’s Privates on Parade.

Time Bandits launched the first of Terry Gilliam’s "Trilogy of Imagination" movies, which included the surrealistically hyperrealistic dystopia movie Brazil as well as The Adventures of Baron Von Munchausen, by proxy of other studios. Time Bandits is fun for all ages. What with those little people falling on top of Shelly Duvall and that map to everywhere and the funniest, and most logical, Satan in cinema. Sean Connery’s heroism shines through whether he’s wielding a sword or fighting fires. Gilliam’s subversive intensity breaking up into historical hysterics. It’s a kid film at heart. Sweet with a nihilistic center that’s full of compassion.

The darker than dark boozy comedy cult classic Whitnail and I launched a drinking game. It’s a fun game. Try and match, glass for glass and pint for pint, what’s going down the gullets of the lead actors playing actors in 1969 London, when they really knew how to drink. That’s a legacy. My guitar weeps at the thought of it.

The Long Good Friday is a good, solid British gangster film. I love gangster pictures and I like seeing Bob Hoskins in them. This was his breakthrough. Hoskins might have made me giggle with some of his New Yorkese in Cotton Club, which I watch over and over, and Who Fed Roger Ebert- I mean Who Framed Roger Rabbit, but he could be just as clever in his own tongue. The Long Good Friday is The British Connection, Hoskins wants to raise himself above his class by dealing with the American mob. Just like he’d raise his standing by playing American mobsters. Good on ya, Bob, for following the script.

Hoskins would get nominated for a best actor Oscar and win a Best Actor BAFTA for his role in HandMade Film’s noir Mona Lisa. Michel Caine is also a joy in his old stomping ground. Caine made some classic British underworld movies in the sixties where he could be suave and cockney.

HandMade Films felt very personal. They could be maddening. HandMade Films’ movies could set out to be that way. The company nurtured talent and took chances. They didn’t only do this with content, they did it with style.

Nicholas Roeg makes fascinating films that suspend the viewer into unreasonable cinematic realms. The Man Who Fell To Earth blew minds as David Bowie plucked more than his eyebrows as a visiting alien. What’s not to like? Track 29, made by HandMade Films in 1988, was made not to be liked. I’ve seen it a few times, mainly for the cast, which includes the always fine Theresa Russell, Taxi’s Christopher Lloyd, Sandra Bernhard and of course, Gary Oldman. It’s a trip, not a particularly good trip down south on the Chattanooga choo-choo line. Roeg is good at giving out bad acid. Performance, with Mick Jagger and Marianne Faithful in their prime, plumbed deep into depravity with a rock and roll soundtrack and raw performance and flesh. The acting in Track 29 is fully internal, muted and realistic amidst another skewing of reality in a stark verite style. The subversion is that, real as it may look, the worse bits might be only imagination.

After it was sold, HandMade Films made Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels, the Guy Richie mob movie, which floored me. Quentin Tarantino exploded into criminal cinema with the perfect debut Reservoir Dogs. Those shots were heard in England. Richie made crime look almost as much fun as Tarantino made it look, but with quick edits and fast pace to the point of whiplash. It was a gamble in a rigged game with a stacked deck and paid off in dividends that meant more than money. Influence. It knocked the London underworld down a notch.

Now, according to Wiki, the rights to HandMade Films sits in a garage in New Jersey. It’s been sitting there since the summer of 2010 just waiting for something to do. There’s a website that says it’s taking advantage of its IP address, but I don’t see them making films right now. And I want to.

George Harrison’s HandMade Films was very influential. It showed how a personal vision could make universal films that were slightly ajar. By the door. With the face.

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