Kevin's Korner

Ladies, gentleman and movie geeks, Kevin’s Korner is back, and better than ever. This week, I wrap up some great news that was found floating around the Interwebs, along with some box office news *cough Zombieland cough* what’s out on DVD, along with a mild rant and the trailer of the week. So, let’s get going with the good stuff, shall we?

Movie News

A Pryor Engagement – You see what I did there? Cause the story is about a Richard Pryor biopic…ok, fine, enough of the puns. So, it was announced that Eddie Murphy was going to portray Richard Pryor in a biopic entitled Richard Pryor: Is It Something I Said? for Paramount. Now, unfortunately, Paramount and Eddie Murphy have backed out because they don’t like each other. So, the show must go on, but now Happy Madison (Adam Sandler’s production company) is now backing the film with Marlon Wayans as the star. Despite Wayans doing a good job in G.I. Joe, I simply don’t see him as a lead in a movie like this, but, I guess we’ll see.

Lost in La Mancha no more - Recently, director Terry Gilliam told Empire the famed flop Man of La Mancha is back up and running, with a reworked script that is finally theirs again, along with a possible lead, although Gilliam is mum on who it is. You’ll remember the last time Gilliam tried to tackle this project; his subsequent failure and loss of the rights and scripts were turned into a documentary that was absolutely tragic. Hopefully, Gilliam will have more success this time around.

Venom gets legs – Variety is reporting Gary Ross (Pleasantville) will be writing and directing a Venom spin-off after helping with the Spiderman 4 script. There are some rumors going around about a possible crossover between the two characters, which Marvel seems really keen on lately. There is no word on Topher Grace coming back as Eddie Brock, but I would think it would be someone else inside the black ooze.

On Stranger Tides IS based off a book – When Disney announced the title to the fourth Pirates of the Caribbean movie, somewhere, there was someone saying “timeout, there is a book with the same name.” The book, now confirmed as the source material for the story was written by Tim Powers and features a pirate on a quest for the fountain of youth. The books main character hardly resembles Johnny Depp’s Jack Sparrow, uhh, sorry, Captain Jack Sparrow, but the quest is probably what Disney was after.

The Griswalds are back – Yes, you heard me correctly. It was announced this week that National Lampoon, now owned by WB is hiring David Dobkin to head a new Vacation movie. This time, the adventures will center around Rusty Griswald, Chevy Chase’s son, who is now head of his own family as they … well, they go on vacation. I know what you’re thinking; National Lampoon hasn’t put out anything good in twenty years, and your right!

Predators remake got some actors – Adrian Brody and Topher Grace have joined Danny Trejo and Oleg Taktarov in a Predator reboot helmed by Robert Rodriguez. Apparently, the idea is that predators capture some of the most skilled hunters and assassins on earth and take them to their crib from a duel to the death. I just really don’t see Topher Grace or Adrian Brody lasting that long against a predator.


Box Office Report

1. Zombieland: $24,733,155
2. Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs: $15,809,039
3. Toy Story & Toy Story 2 (3D): $12,491,789
4. Surrogates: $7,241,054
5. The Invention of Lying: $7,027,472
6. Whip It: $4,650,812
7. Fame: $4,626,952
8. Capitalism: A Love Story: $4,447,378
9. The Informant!: $3,689,235
10. Love Happens: $2,749,025

Opening This Week

Couples Retreat
Good Hair
An Education
St. Trinian's
Trucker

New DVDs This Week

Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs
Year One
My Life in Ruins
Trick 'r Treat
Bones: Season 4

My Rant –

Well, I was scratching my head as to what topic to choose; I mean, there are so many, the Roman Polanski topic came to mind, but I decided to go in a different direction. So, this week, I chose Torture Porn, and why it should die.

Torture Porn is a term for a style of a movie, in my opinion, made popular by Saw, where it graphically shows someone getting mutilated in some fashion, generally the more grotesque, the better. This technique generally pushes the limits of the R rating to the extreme and seems to drive crazy amounts of teenagers into theaters.

I have never been a fan of torture porn, not because of a week stomach, or because it looks like they use General Tsao’s chicken for some guys leg, but because it just feels like a cheap way to get a reaction. Movies like Blair Witch, The Ring, Paranormal Activity, Jaws, and Alien all made great movies without pushing the gross factor. The idea is that what is not seen is generally made more terrifying by the persons imagination, far better than some cheesy special effects and sheep’s blood. With Paranormal Activity, there was almost nothing of a scary monster actually seen, and no blood, and it was incredibly terrifying.

So, remember, filmmakers, next time you think about trying to remake Saw or Hostile, remember less is more.

Trailer of the week –
This week, is a bit of tribute to Woody Harrelson after his amazingly entertaining performance in Zombieland. This week’s trailer is for The Messenger, a complete switch from Harrelson’s last performance. The movie also stars Ben Foster who is one of the more underrated stars in Hollywood. So, check it out!




HERE is the link to the Creative Loafing article. I always appreciate the clicks!