Wednesday, October 29, 2008

Mr. and Mrs. Smith Must Be Proud

Well, Kevin Smith has finally crossed the line. By putting his characters' endless discussions of pornography right in the title of his new movie, he has caused himself no end of censorship and free publicity. Speaking of free publicity, I wrote an article explaining how Smith has embraced his new, "Porno"-less title by rewriting the entire film to remove any references to pornography. Check it out at MoviesWithoutPity.com!

Zack and Miri: Porno Not Included

Friday, October 24, 2008

Fly the Unfriendly Skies

That Passengers movie looks pretty interesting. Not because of the plot, which seems like a fairly straightforward "there's more here than meets the eye" conspiracy tale, but because of the cast. Besides Anne Hathaway's Oscar buzz-slash-romantic woes and Patrick Wilson's impending Watchmenization, the supporting cast is a veritable who's who of journeyman actors from both the big and small screens. Check out the earliest and most embarrassing roles on everyone's resume at MoviesWithoutPity.com!

Passengers: The Cast's Rockiest Flights

Wednesday, October 22, 2008

Changeling: Creature from Beyond!

So you've heard about this movie Changeling, right? No, not the George C. Scott movie from 1980 -- the one starring Angelina Jolie as a mother who loses her son. This one totally isn't a horror film in the traditional sense, but it is written by Babylon 5 creator and He-Man writer J. Michael Straczynski, so I rewrote the movie as if it was one of his science-fiction stories, about a shape-shifting alien on the loose. Check it out at MoviesWithoutPity.com!

Who Changes the Changeling?

Raargh! Hulk DVD Smash Expectations!

After seeing Iron Man, my already-low expectations for The Incredible Hulk dropped a little bit more. How could anything possibly be as good as Iron Man? Well, the commercials don't lie -- the new Hulk is every bit as good as Iron Man, and the DVD set ain't bad either. Read about the Captain America cameo, the deleted scenes, and the Tim Roth commentary at MoviesWithoutPity.com!

My Incredible Hulk DVD Review

Thursday, October 16, 2008

Alan Moore of 20 Years Ago is Okay With Watchmen Movie

So, you know how Alan Moore hates the fact that there's a Watchmen movie? Or any movie based on any comic he's ever done? Well, apparently, back when Watchmen had just come out, he was not only totally down with a movie version, he didn't seem to mind if the writer took a few liberties. Hmm... what could have possibly happened that would have changed his mind? Read all about it at MoviesWithoutPity.com!

Alan Moore Endorsed Watchmen Movie... in 1987

Papa Was a Rollin' Stone

I'm not a very political guy, nor am I an Oliver Stone fan. But some part of me wants to see his new movie, W., when it comes out this weekend. Another part of me feels bad that I poke fun at him a little with my new gallery, the supposed "conspiracy diary" of Stone as he worked on the film. I tried to paint a humorous picture of a man descending into paranoid madness. When that happens, can Noah Wyle survive?

W.: Oliver Stone's Conspiracy Notebook

What We Talk About When We Talk About the Watchmen Movie

So I told you what happened in the 25 minutes of Watchmen footage I saw, but I didn't tell you how I felt about it. My boss at Movies Without Pity, Dan Manu, and I sat down and talked about our feelings, and then we talked about Watchmen. This is the Watchmen part.

What We Talk About When We Talk About Watchmen

Saturday, October 11, 2008

Why My Wife is Awesome

...Okay, she's awesome for a lot of reasons. She makes me laugh, she's incredibly crafty, and she's having my baby. But today she made me pretty happy with what she considers a pretty small thing, but what an obsessive toy collector and Hellboy fan would call a pretty big thing. She said I could have the top of the two bookshelves to display my Hellboy collection. It's not even a very big collection, but it's there on display in the living room, and it's the first time I've been able to display all of my HB pieces together (including my Hellboy and Lobster Johnson statues, sculpted by my good friend Ruben Procopio for the fine folks at Electric Tiki). It means a lot to me, since I've loved Hellboy since before his first issue came out, and once dressed up like him for a Wizard magazine costume contest. I even have two Hellboy pieces that nobody (or few, anyway) will ever own: A Playmobil Hellboy made by my good friend Robert "Tothiro" Martin, and a Hellboy head sculpted years ago by my brother, Ash Oat. A third piece, a Mego-style Hellboy also by Robert, is locked away with all of my Megos, along with an Abe Sapien head that is patiently waiting for me to buy and decapitate a Talosian Keeper for parts. Someday they'll join the ranks, and until then I plan to do lots of nice things for my very pregnant wife, because she's been so good to me. Also, so she doesn't change her mind.

Thursday, October 9, 2008

Sex Talk With Quentin Tarantino

Did you know that Sex Drive was written by Kill Bill and Pulp Fiction director Quentin Tarantino? It's true! Except they took his awesome script, full of violent shootouts, vehicular homicides and intercourse with tigers, and turned it into your standard teen sex romp. Is it any wonder he had his name taken off of it? Well, I was lucky enough to interview Mr. Tarantino and get all the details about his original script and how it was driven into the ground. [Okay, not really, but play along.] Read all about it at MoviesWithoutPity.com!

Sex Drive: The Quentin Tarantino Commentary Track

Wednesday, October 8, 2008

I Watches the Watchmen Movie

I don't know how this happened, or what I did to deserve it, but on Monday night, I got to go see 25 minutes of the upcoming Watchmen movie in New York. Director Zack Snyder and original comic artist Dave Gibbons were both in attendance, and the footage they dropped on us was unbelievable. I've spoken to people who were less-than-thrilled with it, but as long as you accept the differences of the mediums, I don't see how anyone could really be disappointed. Check out my detailed (seriously) description of all 25 minutes at MoviesWithoutPity.com!

We Watches Some of the Watchmen

Friday, October 3, 2008

Stereophonic Soul Manure

I have a confession to make. I really want to see Nick and Norah's Infinite Playlist. It looks fun and silly, and Michael Cera is a funny guy, and Kat Dennings was good in 40 Year Old Virgin, and I'm totally not the target audience, which means I'm not allowed to go see it. Of course, if this movie had been made in the 1970s, I could watch it all day long and buy the 30th Anniversary Special Edition, and everything would be fine, but no, it had to be made now. Well, I've got news for you -- the movie could very well have been made in the 1970s, because that's when it was written! I've recently discovered that the screenplay was lost for three decades, and it was only updated this year to be a precious look at today's youth culture. Or, I could be making this all up. Read my story at MoviesWithoutPity.com!

Nick & Norah's Infinite Playlist: 1970s Edition