Welcome to The Extras! A daily dose of all the smaller movie related news, clips and just plain cool stuff that you might have missed!
We kick off today’s proceedings with a new poster for Oliver Stone’s upcoming crime thriller Savages. It stars Taylor Kitsch who apparently is in every single movie in 2012.
Three-time Oscar®-winning filmmaker Oliver Stone returns to the screen with the ferocious thriller Savages, featuring the all-star ensemble cast of Taylor Kitsch, Blake Lively, Aaron Johnson, John Travolta, Uma Thurman, Benicio Del Toro, Salma Hayek, Emile Hirsch and Demian Bichir. The film is based on Don Winslow’s best-selling crime novel that was named one of The New York Times’ Top 10 Books of 2010.
Laguna Beach entrepreneurs Ben (Johnson), a peaceful and charitable Buddhist, and his closest friend Chon (Kitsch), a former Navy SEAL and ex-mercenary, run a lucrative, homegrown industry—raising some of the best marijuana ever developed. They also share a one-of-a-kind love with the extraordinary beauty Ophelia (Lively). Life is idyllic in their Southern California town…until the Mexican Baja Cartel decides to move in and demands that the trio partners with them.
When the merciless head of the BC, Elena (Hayek), and her brutal enforcer, Lado (Del Toro), underestimate the unbreakable bond among these three friends, Ben and Chon—with the reluctant, slippery assistance of a dirty DEA agent (Travolta)—wage a seemingly unwinnable war against the cartel. And so begins a series of increasingly vicious ploys and maneuvers in a high stakes, savage battle of wills.
The Unpopular Opinion is a regular piece over on JoBlo where the writers looks at movies about which he/she felt the complete opposite reaction to the established norm. This week Allejandro takes a look at Speed Racer, a movie that got slated critically but which he loved nonetheless.
And you know what? I agree with every damn thing he says. After hearing about how the film got lambasted, I was preparing myself for the worst when I first watched it, but instead walked out thinking that I couldn’t remember when last I had that much fun and/or seizures in the cinema.
There’s a new Amazing Spider-Man pic swinging into town. I have to admit, the new suit has really grown on me since I first saw it.
Well, except for those boots. Those are Power Rangers levels of fugly.
According to an article by Guardian, it seems that James Bond will be swapping out his trademark martini for an ice cold Heineken in his next cinematic outing. The move is part of a $45 million advertising deal with the Dutch beer manufacturer, that will also see director Sam Mendez directing an ad featuring the British spy.
So Bond really wasn’t kidding in Casino Royale when he said that he really didn’t give a damn how to take his martini.
Hipsters. I don’t know about you guys, but I just can’t stand the fake horn-rimmed glasses, fedora wearing, ironic, underground douchebags. I wish there was some way to round then up, lock them in a forested arena and make them fight each other to the death for our entertainment.
Oh wait…
ShortOfTheWeek is usually responsible for a number of the amazing short films that I post around here, but occasionally they do more than just showcase amazing videos. Like this highly insightful article, titled “Has Hollywood Lost It’s Way?“, which looks at whether or not the creativity wells have run dry over in Tinsel Town.
For those of you who fear those dreaded “word things”, here’s a nice handy infographic that summarizes their argument nicely:
As pretty as that infographic is, I still recommend that you go read the article though.
If you just cannot wait for Tim Burton’s kooky vampire comedy horror, Dark Shadows, then here’s a little something to keep you occupied until release day. Warner Bros has made Danny Elfman’s entire score for the film available online, all for your listening pleasure. How very kind of them.
This is without a doubt the cutest thing I’ve seen all day, and that includes my reflection. It’s an Avengers themed ad for American retail chain Target and features a group of youngsters dressed up like the superhero group, trying to take down Loki.
Just watch it, it’s awesome. And adorable. Adoresome!
Ok, ok… I don’t think Adoresome is going to catch on either.
As recently announced, Arnold Schwarzenegger and Danny Devito will be teaming up again for a sequel to the 80’s hit comedy, Twins, called Triplets. The new film would see the mismatched test tube baby siblings discovering that they had another brother in Eddie Murphy. It turns out that ComingSoon.net had learned about this development in an interview with the Governator last year already, but due to press embargoes was unable to report on it. Well now that the black skinned, foul mouthed cat is out of the bag, they can finally reveal Ahnuld’s statements about the film, which at the time was still in the development stage:
“I would love to do another ‘Twins’. As a matter of fact, we’ve been talking about doing one and it’s called ‘Triplets.’ I’d find somebody like Eddie Murphy or someone that people would say, ‘How does that happen, medically speaking?’ and, ‘Physically, there’s no way!’ Then, somehow, we would explain it. That would be hilarious with what we know about someone like him.
I can see a poster. A billboard with us three. ‘They found another one!’ ‘Triplets!’ ‘Only their mother can tell them apart!’ I would do that in two seconds, because that’s real entertainment. You come out with that movie for Christmas, like December 5th or something like that, and you’re home free.”
And then finally we end today on a piece of video magic. Using After Effects to splice together footage from Alfred Hitchcock’s classic Rear Window, Jeff Desdom has created this amazing two and a half minute long time lapse video of the entire film. It’s a staggering achievement and just mesmerizing to watch.
And that’s all from me today. And for those of you wondering, (because I know that your life revolves around mine) I indeed finished my long overdue viewing of The Princess Bride yesterday. How do I feel about it? Well to be, I probably overhyped it a bit for myself and thus was a little disappointed in some aspects. It’s still hugely entertaining though, especially whenever Inigo is on-screen.
In fact, I am pretty sure that if I should ever meet a 6 fingered man in my life, he will receive zero sympathy from me for his unfortunate malady. No, there is only one thing I would say to him.
Last Updated: April 4, 2012
James Francis
April 4, 2012 at 17:59
The bond Beer thing isn’t much of a big deal. The Martini thing hardly features in the books and more than one Bond (Moore and Dalton, I think) never ordered them. A few years ago someone tallied all the drinking in the books and movies – whiskey won by a mile. Martinis were third or fourth.