All posts by Josef Rodriguez

Hey, I'm Joey and I'm a (usually) film and pop culture blogger, but I'll write about pretty much anything.

New Movie ‘Spring Breakers’ with Selena Gomez & Vanessa Hudgens [Updated]

I don’t mean to come off as misogynist or anything like that, but even if Harmony Korine’s new film Spring Breakers sucks royally (which it won’t), no one will dare hate the scantily clad former Disney chicks who carry the film. In these new, steamy pictures from the upcoming film, we get a look at what our heroines will hopefully be wearing for the duration of the film (AKA as little as possible).

My wife, Selena Gomez, stars in the film alongside Vanessa Hudgens. James Franco stars in the film as well, playing a drug dealer. I’m actually really interested in the content of this movie, but tossing in some scantily clad ladies won’t hurt either.

According to IMDb, the film follows:

“Brit, Candy, Cotty, and Faith have been best friends since grade school. They live together in a boring college dorm and are hungry for adventure. All they have to do is save enough money for spring break to get their shot at having some real fun. A serendipitous encounter with rapper “Alien” promises to provide the girls with all the thrill and excitement they could hope for. With the encouragement of their new friend, it soon becomes unclear how far the girls are willing to go to experience a spring break they will never forget.”

Pretty much sounds like the Harmony Korine we all know and love.

Check out the pictures below!

Spring Breakers

Spring Breakers

Spring Breakers

Spring Breakers

Spring Breakers

Spring Breakers
[EDITORS NOTE: Unlike my (obviously) young colleague, this movie does almost nothing for me. I don’t know these ‘Disney Chicks’, they all look like little kids to me. And as much as I love James Franco, this is not a movie that I would’ve even considered watching until about a minute ago, when I saw who else was in it. Heather Morris, who next to all the little girls in this movie, is a woman. Booyah.]

Spring Breakers

Louis CK and the Diceman to Star in Woody Allen Film

Woody Allen has always been known for his somewhat offbeat casting, as well as working with pretty much every actor in Hollywood, but today’s casting news regarding Allen’s next film is both long overdue, and completely surprising. Comedians Louis CK and Andrew Dice Clay are both set to star in Woody Allen’s next film. With no title or any plot details released, the only thing we know is that the cast will also include Alec Baldwin, Cate Blanchett, and Peter Sarsgaard.

According to Film Drunk, Louis CK hired story editor, Susan E. Morse, a woman who used to work for Woody Allen. In an interview regarding the film, she had this to say:

“I think it would be absolutely great for those two guys to work together and to collaborate on some level. I think they would appreciate each other. They have different and similar personalities; it would be interesting to see them together. I think one of the things Woody would love about Louis would be the fact that there’s no way in hell Louis would be trying to “do Woody,” if he were to take on the “Woody Allen role” in a film. That was always an exasperating thing that would happen when people were trying to carry that lead role, they would often try to mimic Woody’s delivery, whereas he encouraged them to be themselves. He was always happier if they took whatever he wrote and put it in a vocabulary that was natural to them, rather than to say things literally, the way he had written them. Nothing was to be taken as though it was etched in stone.”

The casting of notoriously foul-mouthed Dice Clay is still a surprising turn of events, but considering Allen has worked with everyone from Owen Wilson to Alan Alda to Will Ferrell to even Leonardo DiCaprio, I’m sure he can make it work. Fresh off of winning an Oscar for his 2011 film Midnight In Paris, Allen’s next film, To Rome With Love, is set to be released on June 22nd of this year, but that hasn’t stopped Allen from getting right back to work on his 2013 film.

As for Louis CK, well, there’s no doubt that it’s going to spark comedic gold. Although 2009’s Whatever Works wasn’t Allen’s best film, there’s no question that Larry David’s committed performance wasn’t a near-perfect meeting of the minds. With that being said, I wish Allen would use CK for a more dramatic role, something I know he’s capable of. The 2000s gave fans of Allen two great dramas, Match Point and Cassandra’s Dream. I think it’d be pretty cool if Allen went against expectations and, instead of bringing a bunch of funny people together to do a comedy, he did a drama instead. Still, this probably won’t be the case and I’m excited for any collaboration between Allen and CK.

Christina Applegate Confirmed for “Anchorman 2”

This is possibly the best news I’ve heard all week. Christina Applegate, who so famously portrayed ‘Veronica Corningstone’ in the first Anchorman film, has now been confirmed for the film’s sequel, which is still in its writing stages. The Up All Night star was confirmed to appear in the 2nd film by co-star David Koechner who’s been heavily pushing the film since the release of the teaser trailer.

Continue reading Christina Applegate Confirmed for “Anchorman 2”

DC Comics’ Green Lantern (Not Hal Jordan) Is Gay

That’s right, folks. The original Green Lantern, Mr. Alan Scott, is coming out of his superhero closet. The original Green Lantern from the 1940s, Scott was revealed to be gay after kissing his boyfriend despite formerly being a husband and father of two children. He will be revealed as a gay man in next week’s issue of “Earth 2”, a reboot of the Alan Scott character that was ordered by DC comics as a part of their “New 52” initiative, which is “aimed at rejuvenating their characters”.

This is not the first time that James Robinson, the writer of “Earth 2”, has created a gay superhero. Back in the 1990s, he wrote the “Starman” comics for DC. Starman was an openly gay superhero that Robinson hoped would teach tolerance and acceptance to children who read his comics. Regarding the Alan Scott character, Robinson has this to say:

“I hope he’s a positive figure. If there’s some kind of kid out there who’s reading the comic and who’s worried about the person he is, maybe it will give him a positive sense of who he is. Or maybe a different kid will read it and decide I don’t need to bully some kind of kid in school…We should be preaching love and tolerance…that kind of negativity is stupid and outmoded.”

According to the New York Post:

“The character is different than the more modern Green Lantern, ladies’ man Hal Jordan, who stars in his own comics and is a member of an extraterrestrial police force called the Green Lantern Corps. Jordan’s also part of DC’s Justice League with Wonder Woman, Batman, Superman, the Flash and Aquaman.”

The newest issue of “Earth 2” is set to hit stands next Wednesday.

The REAL Reason “GI Joe: Retaliation” Was Delayed

Claiming that they needed to spend nine months to add 3D, a lot of people called BS on Paramount, and for good reason, too. I mean, come on, give me a break. Nine months to add 3D? Really? That’s a two or three month job at the most. I understand that most of the summer release spots were taken, but why not just release it in the fall?

CinemaBlend has the entire scoop, and instead of just rewriting it less eloquently for fear of committing plagiarism (and a general lack of motivation on my part), I’ll post what they had on their article regarding GI Joe: Retaliation:

“Paramount decided to shift G.I. Joe: Retaliation to next winter and the reason is because the studio wasn’t confident that the movie could compete with Marc Webb’s The Amazing Spider-Man. Set to be released on July 3rd, webhead would have only given G.I. Joe five days, at most. at the top of the box office, and many anticipate that the success of The Avengers will translate to greater success for all superhero movies, including our friendly neighborhood webslinger. Also helping out box office numbers next year will be the added 3D, which should pad Paramount’s international numbers quite nicely.

But the other reason for the move is Mr. Channing Tatum. Watching the trailers for G.I. Joe: Retaliation, it’s pretty clear that Tatum, who played Duke in G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra, bites the big one early in the film. With 21 Jump Street and The Vow performing as well as they did, however, the studio is thinking that killing Tatum off wasn’t the best idea in the world. It’s expected that in the next nine months Tatum will be brought in for re-shoots so that they can expand his part – which is a clean way of saying that he could be resurrected.”

This is both interesting and disappointing. Initially I loved the bold choice to kill of Tatum in the first act. Then again, considering both Bruce Willis AND The Rock are in this movie, bringing Channing Tatum back for a third act showdown might not be such a bad idea, but it’s just too predictable. I understand the attempt to make as much money as possible, but if you’re going to make a move as ballsy as that, at least have the nerve to stick through with it until the end.

And just because…

Grizzly Review: Chernobyl Diaries

In a horror film, setting and atmosphere is 90% of what can make a great horror film. The other 10% is made up of a combination of a well-written script and good scares. It’s often easy to have one or the other, but combining both and making the film seem natural is a feat on its own. So, for the sake of this review, if we’re going to go by this rational, I guess I could say that Chernobyl Diaries is about 92% of a movie, with the other 8% off somewhere on the cutting room floor, never to be seen again.

It seems that with the end of the Saw series, the torch held by the filmmaker who releases a decent horror film in a series every year has been passed on to Oren Peli, the mind behind Paranormal Activity. Releasing another installment in the Paranormal Activity series every year around Halloween-time, Oren Peli has secured a spot as one of the top writers and producers in the business right now, a title once held by the team of geniuses horror buffs know as Leigh Whannell and James Wan.

In fact, Oren Peli, Leigh Whannell, and James Wan, who I like to call The Trifecta, collaborated on last year’s Insidious, a film that, to this day, holds up as one of the scariest and most interesting horror films I’ve ever seen. I’ve always considered this film to represent the official passing of the torch from Wan and Whannell to Peli. It was released in the midst of the last Saw film and it marked something of a farewell for fans of the series until Whannell and Wan were able to return with another project to scare audiences.

The reason that series’ like Saw and Paranormal Activity work is because of the continued story line that keep audiences asking for more. I respect what Oren Peli is doing with his films. He’s obviously fascinated with the fear of the unknown, and he successfully exploits that fear with millions of audience members every year. And it seems like he’s just been getting better at what he does. Insidious and Paranormal Activity 3 are two of his most accomplished projects, and I see nothing but more success for him in the near future.

Chernobyl Diaries is the first film that Peli’s produced that isn’t made with creative geniuses behind the camera. With Insidious, he had the reliable career of both James Wan and Leigh Whannell to at least ensure some kind of box office return, but with Chernobyl Diaries, it seems like the only thing guiding him was his experience and his faith in the film’s success.

Enlisting Shane and Carey Van Dyke, two writers known for their work over at mock-buster company “The Asylum”, as well as visual effects supervisor and designer Bradley Parker as director, Chernobyl Diaries was pretty much set to become a disaster. Plus, the casting of Jesse McCartney didn’t make much of a case for the movie either. But after seeing the movie, I have to admit that the biggest irony is that the script, which was written by two people who are known for their lack of talent and originality, features quite a bit of both of those things. On a side note, it’s hilarious to me that Oren Peli is working with the Van Dyke’s who, with The Asylum, made a mockbuster of Paranormal Activity called Paranormal Entity.

The story follows a group of tourists who decide to do something called “extreme tourism”. They decide to go out to Chernobyl, which was subject to a fatal amount of nuclear radiation exposure, forcing all of its residents to abandon the city as quickly as possible, leaving all the buildings and belongings behind. No form of government ever bothered to tear it down and it serves as nothing more than an attraction for tourists who dare visit there.

Leading the expedition is Uri (Dimitri Diatchenko), ex-military turned extreme tour guide. In tow are American tourists Natalie (Olivia Dudley), Amanda (Devin Kelley), and Chris (Jesse McCartney) who are all there to visit Chris’ brother Paul (Jonathan Sadowski) who has been living in Russia for a while now. Also coming along for the tour are Australian tourists Michael (Nathan Phillips), and Zoe (Ingird Bolso Berdal). After being denied entrance by two Russian soldiers, Uri is forced to take a detour that allows them enter the town from a different angle.

Once they get to Chernobyl, everyone is able to explore a lost city. Everything that was there during the radiation exposure is still there, and everyone in the group are fascinated by the city’s preservation even after all the tragedy that had been bestowed upon it. After the tour is over, the group makes its way back to Uri’s van. After unsuccessfully trying to start the van numerous times, Uri finds that the cables in his van have been cut up, leaving the group stranded in Chernobyl until they can go and get help.

I refuse to say what happens after that because that’s half the fun of this film. By slightly tweaking the horror formula a little bit, Chernobyl Diaries is a film that kept me guessing until the end twist, which is a gleefully horrifying tip of the hat to an unsuspecting audience. I’m already going to go ahead and say that Chernobyl Diaries is this year’s Red State. Sure to divide audiences and critics in every way that division is possible, what the film lacks in spine-tingling scares, it makes up for with a script that takes the time to set up and develop its characters as well as keep the audience guessing up until the final minute.

The unique setting of Chernobyl is used in every way possible, resulting in a series of truly genre-defining moments that will be hard to recreate in future, similar films. The direction by Bradley Parker is intimate and invading, almost to the point of resulting in a found-footage film. But fortunately, instead of going with that method, Chernobyl Diaries disregards recent trends and makes a much more effective film by not having people consistently stare into a camera lens and document their findings and surroundings.

Chernobyl Diaries suffers from a distinct lack of soul-crushing scares, but with a script that cares about the development of its characters and a deliberate pacing that leads up to a knockout ending, it seems as if the film is much more concerned with the raw emotional reaction of its characters’ situation. The performances are, for the most part, believable. Jesse McCartney delivers his lines awkwardly at some moments, but with two screenwriters that could have ruined this film beyond belief, they do a respectable job with the dialogue they write.

Above all, Chernobyl Diaries works because of the consistently unsettling atmosphere it gives its audience. While never taking the step toward scary, there’s no doubt that it’s at least creepy, and the film’s unique setting makes it all the more fascinating. I can already predict the sudden spike in Ukrainian tourism after the release of this film. By summer 2013, Chernobyl will be the hottest spot in town. Buildings will be restored to their former glory and five-star hotels will be created in memoriam of the victims of the radiation exposure!

3.5/5 Bears