January 2009

The first teaser trailer for GI Joe: Rise of Cobra is set to premiere during tomorrow’s Super Bowl, but Super Hero Hype managed to track it down a day early. It’s quick, but it gives us a pretty good taste of what the movie should be. Lots of hyper-realistic action, a glossy look, and not a lot of substance. Check it out:

I, for one, am not overly impressed. Looks like another Transformers to me. But I’ll be happy to be proven wrong.

GI Joe: Rise of Cobra opens August 7th.

Welcome to a new feature here on Pop Culture Will Eat Itself, Rewind Reviews. Periodically we’ll take a look back at an album from the past, and take a look at what made it a classic, a dud, or something in between.

I was 17 years old in 1993. Musically I was just coming of age. I had just left behind the atrocities of Hammer’s 2 Legit 2 Quit and Another Bad Creation’s Coolin’ at the Playground Ya Know!, and had just gone through a Beatles and Zeppelin intervention. I was listening to a lot of grunge, diving heavily into Nirvana, Soundgarden, and especially Pearl Jam. Through high school band I was listening to and playing a lot of classical and jazz. With that mix of music stewing around in my head it’s amazing that I was able to understand and appreciate something that didn’t fit into any category I’d heard before: Björk’s Debut.
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Spike Jonze is a smart man: he realizes that you can’t go wrong making a music video combining a catchy song and Happy Days. In 1994 he took Weezer, their song “Buddy Holly”, and clips from the classic show, and made video that won 4 MTV Music Video Awards. And is instantly recognizable to anyone under 40. Way to go Spike!

We got to see a trailer for X-Men Origins: Wolverine a while back. Now we get a poster. A very simple poster. Simple, but kind of badass. A little like Wolvie himself if you think about it. He’s not flashy. Just tough. The poster even boils down his character to the basics: claws and mean. And, in a clever visual, his claws even make a “W”.

Click the small version over there on the left to see a big shiny version. And remember, it’s only a couple months before we find out if Wolvie can hold his own in a full movie, or if he’s best suited to team movies. I’m betting he can take care of himself.

X-Men Origins: Wolverine kicks off the summer movie season when it hits theaters May 1st.

via Super Hero Hype

It appears the He-Man and the Masters of the Universe movie is actually moving forward. Latino Review broke a story today that Kung Fu Panda director John Stevenson has been hired to direct the updated He-Man movie.

I’ve been very skeptical of this project from the first report. It seems like simply another attempt to cash in on 30-something nostalgia. Plus the first attempt at a movie was an absolute abomination (Dolph Lundgren anyone?). And in retrospect He-Man was a pretty stupid cartoon and toy line (why is he fighting guys who shoot lasers with a sword? And how did we miss the fact that the guy with the Mary Tyler Moore haircut goes from pink shirt and tights to bondage gear?). But…

I like Kung Fu Panda. Quite a bit actually. So can the man behind that movie actually make Masters of the Universe interesting? I guess we’ll just have to wait and see. Not sure how long we’ll have to wait though; no release date has been set.

via Latino Review

You’ve heard this story before. Company buys advertising time during the Super Bowl. Company makes commercial. Network rejects commercial for being too racy. What makes this one different is that it’s not for beer, condoms, or GoDaddy. It’s promoting vegetarianism, and it’s from PETA (People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, aka Whack Jobs). And what makes it racy is just how attached the women in it get to their veggies. Watch, and admit for just a second that you’re pondering giving up tasty, tasty meat…

Via The Live Feed

The idea of one artist recording a whole album of another artists’ songs as a tribute isn’t new. Willie Nelson did it in 1975 with To Lefty From Willie, a 10-song tribute to Lefty Frezell. Now Matthew Houck, aka Phosphorescent, is giving the Redheaded Stranger the same treatment with his upcoming album To Willie.

“Reasons to Quit”

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It doesn’t take much arranging to make a great song sound good. That’s why this cover of Willie’s “Reasons to Quit” is straightforward, simple, and very effective.

To Willie hits shelves (and whatever their digital equivalent is) on February 3rd. If you’re impatient you can listen to some more tracks on Phosphorescent’s MySpace page.

via StereoGum

I’m not sure how to put this delicately. Me likely Zooey Deschanel. Unfortunately she’s taken, since she got engaged to Death Cab for Cutie frontman Ben Gibbard a few weeks ago. So I guess I’ll have to stick to just watching her movies and listening to her music. Sigh.

Anyway, here’s the trailer for her upcoming movie 500 Days of Summer:

I like the kind of old-school trailer vibe here. If you watch trailers from the 70′s they often have a lot of narration telling you what the movie’s about. We don’t get that so much these days. It’s kind of cool. Ok, really she’s just hot, so I’m going to like the trailer no matter what. Sue me.

500 Days of Summer hits theaters July 24th.

Serial Thrillers aren’t just another band out of Boston. It’s two primary members, Paul Ortolano and Stephen Clements, are music industry veterans, as studio musicians, on tours in backing bands, and even hosting radio shows. In 2008 they got together and recorded an eponymous album full of intricate pop songs. They’re complex enough to be interesting, but catchy enough to be memorable.
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Looks like Lock, Stock, and Two Smoking Barrels, but in America, and with the Chocolate Bear from Scrubs, Avon from The Wire, and Mos Def. Looks like it could be funny AND have a little action in it. Right on!

Next Day Air gets delivered to a theater near you May 8th.