I’m just going to put this out there: if Cracked isn’t a part of your daily online routine, you’re not using the internet properly. In addition to serving as a home for my favorite internet writer as well as my favorite… whatever the hell this guy does, Cracked is one of the most entertaining places you can go with an internet connection. So when the site’s senior editor (And author of one of my favorite articles of all time), David Wong wrote a horror/fantasy book called John Dies at the End and it started getting huge praise, I was intrigued.
[Actually, full disclosure: I just remembered, literally as I was typing the last sentence, that I placed an order to have a copy shipped to my local Chapters store about a year ago, and promptly forgot about it entirely. I have a phone call to make.]
Anyway, the book is being adapted into a movie by Don Coscarelli, who previously did Bubba Ho-Tep and Phantasm. If you’ve seen either of them, you know that Coscarelli tends to lean towards the bizarre and fantastical. John Dies at the End, it seems, is right up his alley. Here’s a plot synopsis, straight from the book’s website:
“It’s a drug that promises an out-of-body experience with each hit. On the street they call it Soy Sauce, and users can drift across time and dimensions. But some who come back are no longer human.
Suddenly a silent, otherworldly invasion is underway, and mankind needs a hero. What it gets instead is John and David, a pair of college dropouts who can barely hold down jobs.
Can these two stop the oncoming horror in time to save humanity?
No. No, they can’t.“
The trailer for the movie, starring Paul Giamatti, is below:
I’m really excited to see how it turns out. From the trailer it looks like the movie will feature all kinds of horror tropes and crazy, off-the-wall moments. In the meantime, I have a book to pick up.
Will Ferrell’s Casa de mi Padre is coming out in mid-March, and I have to say; it looks awesome. In the film, Will Ferrell plays Armando Alvarez, who works on his family’s ranch. According to the summary on IMDb, he and his brothers “find themselves in a war with Mexico’s most feared drug lord.” There will be gun-slinging. Cowboys. Penelope Cruz look-alikes. Ron Effing Swanson. But the best part?
Will Ferrell plays the entire role speaking in Spanish.
The movie poster boasts that it’s the “funniest movie you’ll ever read.”
I know I’m not alone in the world thinking that Will Ferrell is a comic genius. His timing is impeccable, his delivery flawless, and his ability to push the envelope is inspiring. I love that he can buck the trend of something normal funny, and can take on a project like this that is so bizarre. This off-beat humor that not everyone gets is so up my alley.
Here is the trailer for those interested in watching:
Will Ferrell is due for a non-stinker. Let’s hope this is it. I have high hopes for this one.
Labeled an outcast by his brainy family, a bouncer overcomes long odds to lead a team of under performing misfits to semi-pro hockey glory, beating the crap out of everything that stands in his way
Not too long ago we took a look at Ridley Scott’s Prometheus, a sci-fi prequel to Alien that looks to be quite epic. Of course, looks isn’t exactly the right word as we haven’t seen anything besides a few Hi-Res images which you can check out here.
Perseus embarks on a treacherous quest into the underworld to rescue Zeus, who has been targeted for capture by his traitorous son, Ares, and his brother, Hades.
After hearing all of the worrying issues that caused Guillermo del Toro to leave the director’s chair in pursuit of other projects, and the long period of relative silence from production, it’s a relief to find some footage of Peter Jackson’s upcoming adaptation of The Hobbit today, in the form of a gorgeous trailer courtesy Collider.
Kind of nostalgic, isn’t it? It’s really nice to see that budget problems and creative changes don’t appear to have affected Peter Jackson’s interpretation of Middle Earth at all, and it’s a little embarrassing to admit how happy I am to be back in Bag End, and to see some old faces once again.
In addition to the trailer above, Collider also included a beautiful poster, along with the movie’s official synopsis:
“The Hobbit” follows the journey of title character Bilbo Baggins, who is swept into an epic quest to reclaim the lost Dwarf Kingdom of Erebor, which was long ago conquered by the dragon Smaug. Approached out of the blue by the wizard Gandalf the Grey, Bilbo finds himself joining a company of thirteen dwarves led by the legendary warrior, Thorin Oakensheild. Their journey will take them into the Wild; through treacherous lands swarming with Goblins and Orcs, deadly Wargs and Giant Spiders, Shapeshifters and Sorcerers.
Although their goal lies to the East and the wastelands of the Lonely Mountain first they must escape the goblin tunnels, where Bilbo meets the creature that will change his life forever … Gollum.
Here, alone with Gollum, on the shores of an underground lake, the unassuming Bilbo Baggins not only discovers depths of guile and courage that surprise even him, he also gains possession of Gollum’s “precious” ring that holds unexpected and useful qualities … A simple, gold ring that is tied to the fate of all Middle-earth in ways Bilbo cannot begin to know.
The trailer is vague, but if you’ve read the book you’ll know that things look as dedicated and faithful to the source material as all of the Lord of the Rings films before it. Of course, they’ve kept Smaug and the other creatures out of sight for the time being, which is a maddening tease, particularly after reading the massive feature on del Toro that was written in the New Yorker back in February. The interview, in addition to delving into the filmmaker’s fascinating story and older work, eventually went on to describe in detail some of the amazing designs del Toro has come up with for his fantastical creatures, including The Hobbit‘s iconic dragon:
“Smaug’s body, as del Toro had imagined it, was unusually long and thin. The bones of its wings were articulated on the dorsal side, giving the creature a slithery softness across its belly. “It’s a little bit more like a snake,” he said.
Smaug’s front legs looked disproportionately small, like those of a T. Rex. This would allow the dragon to assume a different aspect in closeup; the camera could capture ‘hand’ gestures and facial expressions in one tight frame, avoiding the quivery distractions of wins and tail […] Smaug’s eyes, del Toro added, were “going to be sculpturally very hidden.” This would create a sense of drama when the thieving Bilbo stirs the beast from slumber.”
There’s a lot more about Smaug’s description and concept in the full article, and all of it sounds awesome (The article is a must-read). Obviously the dragon might not feature at all in the upcoming movie, as An Unexpected Journey is only the first half of the story, but it’s a safe bet that del Toro would pour that same dedication and creativity into all of Middle Earth’s inhabitants, and I desperately hope that Peter Jackson is incorporating as much of his designs as possible into the final film.
I’m really excited for The Hobbit films, if you can’t tell. The trilogy is arguably the largest cinematic event of our generation, but even on top of that, I always felt the Hobbit was the best of the novels. The potential for these final Tolkien adaptations is paralleled only by our expectations of them – it’s a lot to overcome, but Jackson has proved before he doesn’t shy away from huge undertakings. 2012 can’t come fast enough.
Grizzly Bomb 