Pop Culture Will Eat Itself » Movies

Deleted Scene from Iron Man

Sean — Mon, 18 Aug 2008 07:15:15 +0000

From the upcoming DVD release of Iron Man, Access Hollywood brings us this deleted scene. It shows us how Tony got to the Middle East to take out the bad guys after he’d perfected the second version of his suit. Hot women and shit blowing up. What could be better?

Iron Man comes to DVD and Blu-Ray September 30th

via SlashFilm

A Slew of Featurettes from Burn After Reading

Sean — Sun, 17 Aug 2008 02:58:19 +0000

Burn After Reading, The Coen brothers’ followup to No Country for Old Men, comes out in under a month. The dark comedy stars Brad Pitt, George Clooney, John Malkovich, Tilda Swinton, and Frances McDormand. It seems to center around Pitt and McDormand, who work at a gym, finding some CIA files left behind by Malkovich, though there’s a lot going on in the trailers, so I’m sure that’s only a part of it.

With the September 12th release date coming up quickly the marketing machine is moving into full gear. Here are seven, count ‘em, seven featurettes that give us more of idea what Burn After Reading is all about:

“Chad”

“Harry”

“Osborne”

“Linda”

“Goat Cheese”

“Rear Entry Situation”

“Surgeries”

Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince Delayed

Sean — Sat, 16 Aug 2008 04:15:22 +0000

Bad news Harry Potter fans: the next installment of the franchise won’t be coming out this November like originally planned. Warner Bros has pushed the release of Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince back to July 17th of 2009. One of the reasons the studio cited was a gap in the summer schedule left by this winter’s writers strike. Don’t worry though, this doesn’t set back the next Potter flick.

Mini Movie Review - Tropic Thunder

Sean — Thu, 14 Aug 2008 05:33:08 +0000

Over the past few days Tropic Thunder has stirred up a fair amount of controversy. It’s offended a lot of people with its handling of race, mental handicaps, and obesity. Setting aside whether the criticisms are valid or the critics are missing the satire, the basic question for me is not how bad this movie is, but rather is it any good? Can Ben Stiller really play a parody of an action star? Can Robert Downey Jr. really pull off playing an Australian playing a black Army sergeant? And most of all, can it live up to the laughs and action that fill the trailers?

Short answer: Yes. It was funnier than I expected. And the action was better than I expected. Despite the huge marketing campaign, it still had a few big surprises. Downey did a great job with his challenging role, but there was a surprise guest who really stole the show (don’t worry, I won’t ruin it). I was expecting big things from the movie, and it exceeded expectations.

So what’s my take on the controversy? I can see what the various groups are getting offended by, and I can see why they see it as offensive, but in general I think they’re missing the point. The movie doesn’t make fun of the mentally handicapped, the fat, or any ethnic group. It’s intent seems to be to criticize Hollywood for its excesses and eccentricities, not to ridicule them. So let’s all just take a deep breath, have a good laugh, and enjoy some actors playing actors playing soldiers, who have to actually become soldiers so they can keep acting.

Rating: 4 out of 5 stars

Mini Movie Review - Pineapple Express

Sean — Tue, 12 Aug 2008 03:07:08 +0000

I’m a sucker for buddy movies. Especially buddy movies with lowbrow humor as their main focus. Two of my favorite comedies of all time are Dumb and Dumber and Tommy Boy, which both do a great job making you believe the relationship between the characters while simultaneously making you shoot the beverage of your choice out your nose. With that in mind, Pineapple Express should be right up my alley. Could the everyman heroics of Seth Rogan pair with the stoner antics of James Franco to elevate Pineapple Express beyond the typical limitations of stoner movie genre? Or would it sink into drug cliches and tired bong humor?

Pineapple Express is definitely a stoner movie. It’s about two stoners who spend much of the movie high. Much of the humor in the first half of the film comes from drug references. That being said, it’s not Up in Smoke or Half Baked. One reason why is its visual style. It looks like something that was shot in a different era. Another reason is the simple fact that the second half of the film has more in common with Gibson and Glover than Cheech and Chong. It’s a smooth blend of action and humor that brings to mind the Lethal Weapon franchise and the first Beverly Hills Cop. Rogan does a remarkable job at playing the average Joe action hero, making you think that if he can do it, so can you. Director David Gordon Green and writers Seth Rogan and Evan Goldberg should be commended for making a movie that embraces the strengths of a genre while simultaneously pushing it into new areas.

Rating: 4 out of 5 stars

RIP Isaac Hayes

Sean — Sun, 10 Aug 2008 21:47:07 +0000

Isaac Hayes, singer, composer, and actor, died today at age 65 at his home in Memphis. Depending on your age you probably know Hayes for different reasons. If you’re in your 30s or older you probably think of him primarily as the man who gave us the theme from Shaft (shut your mouth!). If you’re younger his role as Chef in South Park probably comes to mind first. Either way you should realize that the entertainment world lost a bright star. Here’s something for both generations of Isaac Hayes fans to listen to:

“Theme from Shaft”

“Chocolate Salty Balls”

Snoop Dogg in a Bollywood Movie

Sean — Sun, 10 Aug 2008 02:36:27 +0000

This is just too bizarre to make up. Rapper, actor, and pee-wee football coach Snoop Dogg appears in a Bollywood movie released yesterday. Snoop raps and sings with star Akshay Kumar in Singh is Kinng, which follows the quest of Happy Singh to bring gangster back to his hometown to face justice. Though apparently it’s a comedy…

Check out the video for the title track from the film’s soundtrack:

RIP Bernie Mac

Sean — Sun, 10 Aug 2008 02:16:04 +0000

Actor and comedian Bernie Mac, who appeared in movies like the Ocean’s series, Bad Santa, and Charlie’s Angels: Full Throttle, and who had his own sitcom on Fox, is dead at age 50 from complications related to pneumonia.

I never really watched his TV show, but his portrayal of blackjack dealer Frank Catton in Ocean’s Eleven made me a fan. He held his own even among that all-star cast. Goodbye Bernie. Movie fans will miss you.

Kevin Smith Wins! Zack and Miri Make a Porno Gets “R” Rating

Sean — Wed, 06 Aug 2008 04:18:51 +0000

Kevin Smith is no stranger to the mysteries and frustrations of the MPAA rating process. He’s clashed with the anonymous ratings board on previous films. His experience with his latest film, Zack and Miri Make a Porno didn’t start off well. First the MPAA objected to an internet-only teaser trailer and made him take it down (though of course it’s here on PCWEI, and it never went down. Take THAT faceless film fascists!). Then they gave his first submission of the film an NC-17 rating. And his second submission. At that point he had cut the film to the bone. Unfortunately he’s contractually obligated to deliver an R rated movie, so his only remaining hope was an appeal of the rating.

So he appealed. And he won. This is actually the third time he’s won — he got Clerks from an NC-17 to an R and Jersey Girl form R to PG-13. For winning he gets to keep the two scenes that caused the original NC-17. One involving “thrusting” and another involving “unspeakable acts”. Yep, that sounds like a Kevin Smith movie. And we wouldn’t want it any other way…

Congrats Kevin on fighting the law and actually winning.

via Yahoo

Posters and Footage from Watchmen!

Sean — Tue, 05 Aug 2008 02:43:49 +0000

Now that The Dark Knight hoopla is winding down it’s time to start switching our attention to the next potentially great comic book movie: Watchmen. Despite the fact that the movie doesn’t come out for another 7 months, the Warner Brothers marketing machine is already gearing up. They started by showing the trailer in front of The Dark Knight, which means that countless millions of people have seen it. Not a bad way to start off a marketing blitz.

The next phase of the campaign took place at ComicCon, where the cast and crew answered questions, screened some footage, and showed off some posters. The posters are below, and the video is after the jump.

Here’s the footage that was shown at ComicCon, though I have to warn you, the quality is really bad:

Leaked footage from Watchmen at ComicCon

Stay tuned as the marketing machine really gets going. We’ll keep you posted each step of the way. Oh, and go buy a copy of Watchmen now so you can be up-to-speed when the movie comes out on March 3rd.

via SlashFilm, TrailerAddict and Omelete.