Clive Barker’s The Midnight Meat Train has had a rough time.
The original director left the production early on, and the setting was changed from NYC’s eerie underground to the decidedly less spooky subways of LA. But since I last wrote about it, the release date has been shifted a couple of times.
Things may not be looking good for the movie itself, but I did enjoy this trailer, which is almost a short film in its own right.
According to Wikipedia:
First, The Midnight Meat Train was set for a May 16, 2008 release but since The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian was coming out on the same day it was delayed. Next it was set for an August 1, 2008 release date but since The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor was releasing on the same day, it is currently unknown whether it will be limited or wide.
It’s interesting that the only trailer I found was in Korean. Perhaps it won’t show here at all?
[Via The Movie Blog]
Someone please explain this to me:
Is it gay? A parody of gay? A parody of ladies’ nights and other ladies-only things? I’ve rarely been so confused.
[Via Destructoid]
It was the best of times.
It was the worst of times.
The Watchmen trailer looks great. There are so many ways that this could go wrong (The League of Extraordinary Gentleman, anyone?), but so far, so good. Several of the scenes seem taken straight from the comic’s panels, and they managed to get the cheesy costumes just cheesy enough without offending modern sensibilities too much. And “The End Is the Beginning Is the End” is a nice touch. Take that, Batman & Robin.
I only have a couple of concerns, which is a good thing.
- I do wish that the trailer showed us a more out-of-shape [read: chubby] Nite Owl, but that might be asking too much of Hollywood, even if that aspect is essential to the character and story.
- “From the visionary director of 300“. Maybe they’ll add in some gay Persians for The Comedian to bash just for the hell of it.
The Caprica trailer is not good. It’s not bad. It’s just there. It looks like it would be an interesting movie in and of itself, but I don’t get a BSG-vibe from it, other than the music. In all fairness to the show, think back to some of the old BSG promos that the Sci Fi Channel put out. I love you guys for giving me hours of Saturday morning entertainment (e.g. Rock Monster), but BSG is not a Tom Cruise movie from the 80s.
Hey, campers!
Start this sunny weekend the Angry Puppy way…with some disturbing and/or nihilistic claymation!
Exhibit A: [Possibly NSFW: Video contains clay-nudity]
I took some Czech courses in grad school. While I’ve never had an opportunity to actually use it in real life, those classes did introduce me to Jan Švankmajer. So, um, good job, that.
His 2000 film Otesánek (Little Otik) which you can Netflix, is one of my favorites, so if I can come up with an excuse, we’ll talk about it in the vlog sometime. Or rather, I’ll talk about it. Marc finds Švankmajer’s obsession with food and eating too disturbing to discuss.
Exhibit B:
I’m irrationally creeped out by claymation in general, so The Adventures of Mark Twain is indeed nightmare-inducing. Director Will Vinton was also responsible for the singing California Raisins from the 1980s, a fact which justifies my repulsion/fascination with those things.
- For the curious: I can tell you that this particular scene is based on The Mysterious Stranger, an unfinished story by Twain, but Wikipedia knows all.
- For those who’ve read the book: Join our LibraryThing group and review it.
- For the illiterate: The DVD was released in 2006 and is now available from Netflix.
Just in time to ease you through the summer TV doldrums!
Act One (”Wheee!”) of Joss Whedon’s musical web-series, Doctor Horrible’s Sing-Along Blog, starring Neil Patrick Harris, Felicia Day and Nathan Fillion is now available online. Act Two (”OMG!”) is coming on Thursday and Act Three (”Denouement!”) on Saturday.
Don’t dawdle, since the episodes will only be available for free until Sunday, July 20. Read Whedon’s Master Plan for more details on what to do then and how you can support the Doctor Horrible crew.
[Extremely Mild Spoilers Below.]
[OK, barely spoilers at all, but go watch it first just in case.]
We’ll be talking about this in the vlog, but, for now, I’ll share a few notes I took while watching. (Yes, I do have conversations with myself in my notes.)
- The first scene, straight from Doctor Horrible’s personal vlog, reminds me of the opening scene of The Guild. Or is that just because both star Felicia Day? Both scenes share a certain quirkiness, but Harris’s Horrible doesn’t have the same punch as Day’s Codex. Whatever I mean by that.
- Laundromat. Bored now. It’s only the first song, but I have “Once More with Feeling”-sized expectations! OK, that’s totally unfair. You can’t compare your emotional attachment to characters from the sixth season of your favorite show to the characters in Act One of a 45-minute web series.
- Hey! They got to re-use some of the old Firefly costumes. Nice reaction from Doctor Horrible after the threat “or he’ll make you his mare”.
- Wonderflonium! Ha!
- OK, I like that little song of Penny’s. Is that really Felicia Day singing?
- Doctor Horrible has a Horrible Van Remote iPhone app! I was hoping I’d find it in the iTunes store as part of a viral marketing scheme or something, but no such luck.
- The dialogue between Penny and Horrible is a lot more fun than Horrible’s monologue in the first scene. Maybe that’s what I meant by “punch”.
- And starring Nathan Fillion as Zapp Brannigan as Captain Hammer. I like it.
- Balls.
Nutshell: weak start, wonderflonium, Horrible Van Remote, Zapp Brannigan, balls.
