Meet Bo Burnham, YouTube sensation (not of the Chris Crocker variety) and the latest member of the Judd Apatow family. This kid just turned 18 and he's already been tapped to write the music for — and star in — a new Apatow comedy that is being billed as "the anti-High School Musical." Sounds awesome already.
Why buy the cow when its way of life is so reliant upon you that it can't leave, despite the fact that you rob it blind? That's apparently the abusive husband-like thinking of the city of Los Angeles, which continues to watch shows formerly filmed in its borders – Ugly Betty, In Treatment – head east after failing to offer film and television productions tax breaks comparable to those of New York City.
LA has always sucked, but it's going to suck even more if visitors driving around and looking at it can't every 20 minutes go, "Hey, that's that building from that one movie." According to the numbers, that's happening quite frequently these days. The mayor's office estimates that in just five months since the city of New York enacted their massive tax breaks, city-based shoots have contributed $505 million more in spending than they did during the same time last year.
And New York's not the only city wising up to how profitable playing nice with the movie stars is:
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A Rome priest is fighting for his life after being stabbed in the neck and stomach by a deranged man who had just watched the film The Da Vinci Code on television:
If movies and television are rated to warn potential viewers they contain foul language, drug use and/or boobs, why can't they be rated to warn potential viewers they contain not so subtle ads for crap like Old Spice, also? This is the central question of a new piece in today's Slate. A piece in which Alissa Quart slowly unravels an argument, asks a lot of questions and then never really approaches a conclusion, as writers at Slate are wont to do.
Here's the story in a nutshell: The FCC has said that it would like a way to make sure the public is "informed of the sources of program while concurrently balancing the First Amendment and artistic rights of programmers." Quart proposes a rating of B for "branding." The problem is that the FCC currently has no control over cable and film and to get control would take an act of Congress. The end (surprisingly without any discussion of the concerns a rational person would have about the FCC having control over film and cable). Time for Quart to ponder:
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On Monday, pallid shredder Jack White released a statement complaining that the theme song he composed with Alicia Keys for upcoming Bond film Quantum of Solace, "Another Way to Die," had no business in the hands of Coca Cola.
Coke is currently using "Another Way" in its Coke Zero Zero 7 commercials, and White, obviously completely ignorant to the way modern mega-corporations pimp each other's creativity, feels slighted by this. He went so far as to say he was "disappointed."
Of course, we were desperate to hear the song White holds so dear. Take a listen after the jump.
Black, white and red all over musician Jack White is reportedly upset that "Another Way to Die," the Bond theme he recorded with songstress Alicia Keys, was co-opted by Coca Cola for use in a series of Coke Zero commercials. Coke is temporarily rebranding Coke Zero as Coke Zero Zero 7 in order to promote Quantum of Solace, which premieres October 29, and White just can't stand this deception!
In a statement released Monday, White says he is "disappointed," adding that "Another Way" was "not for Coca Cola." Coke spokespeople have yet to respond, as they're having difficulty hearing Jack from their golden lounge chairs on top of their Scrooge McDuck piles of money.
No word yet on what sort of moral dance White did to arrive at the idea that it's OK to sell out to MGM but not Coke.
In the meantime, laugh at White getting a taste of his own, bitter medicine, as Oasis rocker Noel Gallagher is currently telling any British press person who will listen that it's a "pisstake" that a movie about a great British spy is being soundtracked by "a bunch of fucking Americans."
So last night I was invited to the premiere of Hounddog, the film that caused a lot of controversy a while back because it features a Dakota Fanning rape scene. After watching the movie, I can safely say that the fuss was overblown, but that's probably obvious at this point.
On to the good stuff: The red carpet! Where my spot along the velvet ropes was labeled "Whittle Little, Jossip.com." Awesome.
As if Times Square wasn't already enough of a glowing, shimmering paragon of excess, with its corporate sponsorships and cheesy chain restaurants, for six days in October (2nd-7th), it's going to become an outsized rec room for eight saddies out to break the record for most consecutive hours spent watching movies.
Yes, the sin of sloth is an actual goal for eight very lonely, very talentless people, all of whom will be subjected to weird testing throughout the 56 movie marathon (titles TBD) to ensure they are in fact watching the films and not just staring at the screen.
Ashish Sharma, who holds the current, shameful record of 120 hours and 23 minutes of movie watching, will be flying over from India in an attempt to maintain his title and win the grand prize: $10,000 and a lifetime subscription to Netflix.
That's good news for the rest of us, as a never ending supply of movies is sure to keep whoever is crowned King Lazy Rat Bastard out of the gene pool for good.
This movie poster, for Kevin Smith's October release Zack and Miri Make a Porno, was deemed inappropriate by the MPAA, which doesn't just hate BitTorrent users but also regulates all movie advertising in exchange for slapping letters like "PG" and "R" on movies to keep kids safe. Because the poster, like those fake Puma ads, insinuated oral sex, they were not cleared for use by Hollywood's regulatory body. (This, after the MPAA agreed to downgrade the movie's rating from NC-17 to R.) So Kevin Smith went back to the drawing board, and came up with this safer, family-friendly version: CONTINUED »
The strangest thing about George Clooney is that everyone loves him until he does his job. Women and men, straights and gays, Democrats and liberals—all of them claim to adore the dark-eyed consummate bachelor. And yet, despite all the accolades, it seems that every time George releases a movie, it tanks. Yes, his films are very often heralded by critics – save for a misstep in 1997's Batman and Robin, his oeuvre is solid as far as the intellectuals are concerned – but the box office tallies never seem to match the critiques. CONTINUED »
Have you noticed a trend in children movies lately, where traditional conceits such as "plot" and "dialogue" are thrown out in favor of a more art house approach? Sure, cinema for tots generally airs on the side of the absurd and fantastical, but just by examining how Disney moved from Snow White to the recent post-apocalyptic Chaplin recreation WALL·E you can see a trend that heavily favors nonlinear storytelling.
Now, with Dave Eggers/Spike Jonze adaptation of Where the Wild Things Are taffy-pulling a 20-page book into a full-length film dealing with a child's existential crisis, the room for creative dalliances is balloons as producers realize "nonsensical" sells. With that in mind, Paramount's Nickelodeon Movies family label purchased the rights to an unnamed project based off the creatures sold in Kidrobot, the bicoastal hipster toy store: CONTINUED »
According to Forbes.com, where rich businessmen gather to discuss how good lying feels, Nicole Kidman was the most overpaid actress in Hollywood last year. On average, Kidman's films earned just one dollar for every dollar she was paid; The Invasion actually lost almost $3 for every dollar in Kidman's salary.
A reminder: a schoolteacher, police officer or AIDS researcher would probably find it difficult to get work if they failed so majorly so consistently.
After the jump, the rest of the top 10.
Nicholas Cage, you need to stop swigging whatever suckerade you've gotten your hands on, because lately you are box office poison. You managed to deal Neil LaBute a raw hand when you two did The Wicker Man and turned it into an unintentional comedy, no one saw your Indiana Jones rip-off National Treasure series, and now your newest star vehicle, Bangkok Dangerous, placed number one in the box office with a dismal $7.9 million this weekend, making it officially the worst fall season opening since 2001. And by 2001, we mean the weekend immediately following 9/11, when nobody felt like being entertained or trapped in a building with the lights off.
Do you know what that means, Nicholas Cage?
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Advertising regulations exist to keep the consumer safe. This is why tobacco companies can't advertise near churches or schools, why hardcore sex is not appropriate for subway station billboard, and why MySpace should be kept away from public parks where hateful children might congregate. But sometimes advertising rules are a bit too strict and are less about protecting the consumer than punishing the advertiser. That's basically the case with Wanted, the Angelina Jolie/James McAvoy assassin flick that already stormed through the U.S. But it's just hitting in Britain, and ads like this one have been yanked — because they glorify Dick Cheney's favorite hobby sport: violence.
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'Disaster Movie has been voted the worst movie of all time by the users of the Internet Movie Database. The film is currently getting a 1.3 out of 10 rating with 4,066 votes. Earlier this year, Paris Hilton’s The Hottie and the Nottie hit the dreaded #1 spot after only one week of release (the film currently sits at #14).' [Slashfilm]
The accolades for Tom Cruise's brief cameo in Tropic Thunder last week were followed by even louder backlash against the once-admired-now-ridiculed star. Mr. Scientology's last big number was Lion for Lambs, the dismal think-piece propped up by Cruise's own company United Artists. The fact that his partner at UA, Paula Wagner, just quit five days ago isn't helping matters. So you would think Cruise would finally, mercifully, vanish into the background noise like so many other mediocre celebrities, at least until his lost his back fat. Mais non, quel dommage:
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'Worldwide Entertainment Group, the company behind [National Lampoon's Pledge This! ], is suing [Paris Hilton]for $75,000 because they claim she did not fulfill the "reasonable promotion and publicity" part of her agreement.' [OK!]
We've come to the conclusion that Dane Cook is a genius, because one simple MySpace (yes, we're still trolling that site this afternoon) rant has gotten more people talking about his upcoming movie than should be allowed.
Apparently Dane has an issue with the movie's poster and has decided to point out every little thing that's wrong with it ("My left side looks like Brittany Spears' vagina"), much like a teenage girl who feels the urge to criticize every acceptable picture of herself in a quest for gratification.
Welp, with Prince of Persia, you’ve done it again, Hollywood! You’ve toyed with history in order to cast a very white person in a heroic role probably more suited for a person of color, just so that other white people will be comfortable spending their money to see it.
Salim Hamdan was just sentenced to five and half years for chauffeuring Osama bin Laden through McDonald's drive-thrus, or whatever the Afghani equivalent is, while he plotted the 9/11 attacks. Hamdan has been holed up in Guantanamo Bay for over five years without a trial, so he's actually eligible for release in five months, although Bush & Co. have threatened to hold him indefinitely after he has served him time. The media has been all over the story because 1) Not every programming minute can be filled by the Olympics; and 2) It potentially sets a precedent for suspected terrorists to receive something looking like a fair trial.
ANYWAY, this story has been blasted to death, but is not dead yet! Much like Oliver Stone's treatment of the Bush dynasty in W, Hamden's story has been optioned for film a little too soon for comfort. Like, jeez, this story has been around for five years but has only gained momentum in the last month or so, which is right around the time that hunky leading man and bad motorcyclist George Clooney bought the rights to The Challenge, journalist Jonathan Mahler's tale of the indicted Yemenite. Can't we let the headline cool, and its effects settle in, before ripping it into a feature? CONTINUED »
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