The latest Muppets movie is scheduled to premiere at the Tribeca film festival in New York next month. It was produced as a telefilm for ABC, and it is a another classic Muppets re-imagining/spoof, this time of The Wizard Of Oz. In typical Muppets fashion, there are a whole bunch of cool guest stars in this movie. Dorothy is played by Ashanti, with Queen Latifah as Auntie Em and David Alan Grier as Uncle Henry. Jeffrey Tambor (Arrested Development) is The Wizard, and Quentin Tarantino makes a cameo appearance as himself. The movie will also be shown on ABC’s “The Wonderful World Of Disney” sometime in mid to late May, followed by a DVD release soon afterwards. I did a little digging and found a link to a teaser promo that was shown on ABC a couple of months ago. Click below to check it out.

Animation World News is reporting that another Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles feature-length computer animated film is on the way. For years John Woo was rumoured to be working on a similar project, but it was shelved due to lack of investor interest. This one is going to be written and directed by Kevin Munroe (Freaky Flyers, Donner Christmas special), with the intended release coming sometime in spring 2007. The movie will be produced by Tom Gray, who also produced the original TMNT movies. For those interested, there is a sample CGI pilot online over at NinjaTurtles.com. It was rumoured to be footage from John Woo’s feature film, but according to the website it is actually a pilot produced by Rainbow Studios as a potential TV show and not a full length movie. Despite the half-baked animation, it shows some potential for what could be done with a computer-generated Ninja Turtles flick.

Here’s some more great publicity for video games coming out of China this week. In Shanghai, 41 year old Qiu Chengwei recently killed a friend after he sold his “dragon sabre” sword in the online game Legend Of Mir 3. He had lent the sword to his friend in game, who then proceeded to sell it online for the equivalent of $870 (that’s real life money, not virtual money). An interesting debate has been sparked as a result. Apparently Chengwei approached police and asked for help, but was told that since the weapon did not exist in real life it could not be protected by law. As these video games bleed over into real life (pun intended), you have to wonder if the laws may need to change at some point. For now though, this guy is just another pscyho gamer who took things a little too seriously.

Hard to believe that this show is still on the air, but I guess as long as they keep digging up the washed up celebrities, people will keep on watching! The Surreal Life started its life on the WB network before moving to VH1 in its 3rd season and it basically forces a bunch of weird, minor celebs to live together in a house. Hilarity ensues. VH1 just announced the cast for their fifth season of the show, which will premiere on September 4th. The participants are as follows: Bronson Pinchot (aka Balki Bartokomous from Perfect Strangers), Sandi Denton (aka Pepa from Salt-n-Pepa), extreme motocross star Carey Hart, supermodel and Next Top Model judge Janice Dickinson, U.K. model Caprice, former Apprentice participant Omarosa, and of course, former baseball slugger and ‘roid user Jose Canseco. A Jose Canseco bat? Tell me you didn’t pay money for this. Click below for a photo gallery of the Surreal Life 5 cast members.

Ben Folds has a new album due out in April called “Songs For Silverman”. The disappointing news is that there doesn’t seem to be any William Shatner collaborations on it! Right now the official Ben Folds site is offering a sampler of 4 tracks from the upcoming album: “Landed”, “Trusted”, “Give Judy My Notice” and “Late”. Landed is currently available for purchase on iTunes as well, along with his cover of Dr. Dre’s “Bitches Ain’t Shit”. The album will come with a DVD on the flip side that includes a 5.1 Surround Sound mix and a 25-minute behind-the-scenes featurette. There is also a deluxe edition of the album that will come with a 40-page booklet plus a 40-minute DVD, “The Making Of Songs For Silverman”, that will contain live performances, interviews and other stuff. But wait that’s not all! Anyone who pre-orders the album through attackedbyplastic.com can also get a limited edition CD entitled “Songs For Goldfish” that contains 10 previously unreleased Ben Folds tracks. BONUS. Songs For Silverman hits stores on April 26th.

Here’s a look at what comes out this week on DVD. There are a few I missed in the release calendar…


Apollo 13: Anniversary Edition (2-disc)

The Twilight Zone: The Definitive Edition Season 2

The Lone Gunmen: The Complete Series (3-disc)

America’s Next Top Model: Cycle One

Astro Boy: The Complete Series (5-disc)

Closer

After The Sunset

Murder, She Wrote: Complete First Season

Morrissey: Who Put the M in Manchester

Orgazmo: Unrated Special Edition

Toxic Avenger (21st Anniversary Edition)

Vera Drake

You’ve really gotta feel bad for director Timothy Hines. Over 5 years ago, he and his production company Pendragon Pictures began securing the rights to do a remake of the sci-fi classic War Of The Worlds. They also approached Paramount Pictures with the idea, but were turned away after the terrorist attacks happened on 9/11. Then, a few years later, all of a sudden Dreamworks Pictures are doing their own War Of The Worlds remake with Steven Spielberg directing and Tom Cruise starring. What a coincidence! Somehow, through it all Hines has retained the rights to make his own movie, but you can bet it will be hard to compete for attention with the Hollywood juggernaut. Hines’ War Of The Worlds remake is still on track, and they plan to release it in theatres in April followed by a DVD release on June 15th right before the Dreamworks version hits theatres. Pendragon Pictures are also differentiating it by marketing it as the “first authentic movie adaptation” of the H.G. Wells novel, as their version of the film will remain true to the book, taking place in Victorian England as opposed to Spielberg’s modern day setting. Check out a theatrical trailer for this alternate War Of The Worlds movie at the link below.

Yahoo has the first trailer up now for the movie “Domino”, which stars Keira Knightley, Edgar Ramirez, and Mickey Rourke as bounty hunters. Come on, this has to be inspired by Dog The Bounty Hunter! Mickey Rourke even looks like him… kind of. The movie is being directed by Tony Scott (Top Gun, True Romance, Enemy Of The State), thus the overdone greeny-yellowish music video look to the whole thing, but the real interesting thing is that the script was written by Richard Kelly (Donnie Darko). So even before we get to see Kelly’s next movie Southland Tales, we’ll get a taste of whether or not he can write other kinds of stories. I am curious to see how this one turns out. Besides, I can’t say anything bad about a movie that somehow involves Jerry Springer. Domino hits theatres sometime this summer.

The Final Cut (DVD)
Written and Directed by: Omar Naim
Starring: Robin Williams, Mira Sorvino, James Caviezel

It still surprises me that beneath the psychotic, in your face, rapid-fire comedy of Robin Williams lies a serious actor with the ability to turn in subtle performances. I was never a huge fan of his work, as the overload of manic energy often repulsed me, but I’ve since learned to appreciate his darker side in recent movies such as One Hour Photo and Insomnia. Now we can add to his filmography another nuanced role as the tortured Alan Hakman in Omar Naim’s thriller, The Final Cut.

The movie takes place in a future that is not very far off from today. A company called Eye-Tech has created the Zoe Chip, a device that can be surgically implanted into children while they are still in the womb, that will record and store every second of their lives as seen through their eyes. In essence, this implant allows the lives of its recipients to endure forever, granting their family the ability to remember everything exactly as it happened long after they have passed on. When someone dies, a special memorial ceremony known as a “Re-memory” is arranged, with an editing professional known as a “cutter” being hired to tastefully arrange the person’s lifetime of footage into a short film that can be watched and celebrated.

Alan Hakman is a cutter who often specializes in re-memories for people who have led questionable lives, glazing over the truth by removing the bad memories but leaving in the good. He is disliked by others in his profession, but he also understands what it is like to want something removed from your past. He carries around with him tremendous guilt from something that happened to him as a child. You can imagine that the a cutter’s job would really consume him, and when combined with his own secrets Hakman is forced to suppress many horrible thoughts and filter out intimate knowledge of other people’s lives on a daily basis. Occasionally Robin Williams seems to be trying too hard to be soft-spoken and despondent, but as the film progresses he once again shows an impressive ability to convey internal anguish.

It is surprising to note that The Final Cut is the first feature film for director Omar Naim, and it shows a lot of promise for his future as a filmmaker — especially considering that he wrote the script too. I am hard pressed to understand why this movie was essentially a direct to video release (it received only a very limited theatrical run in L.A. and New York). It’s not like The Final Cut is an overly challenging art house flick, and it does star Robin Williams and Mira Sorvino. To me, that warrants at least a minor theatrical release. It’s not like the movie feels like a low budget b-movie either. Cinematographer Tak Fujimoto raises the production quality of this film a lot (he previously worked on such movies as The Silence of the Lambs, Gladiator and The Sixth Sense). Perhaps it is the bleak ending that decided the movie’s fate, or perhaps it is just that the movie is lacking in action and a driving plot. Ultimately the movie is more about ideas than story, though it does offer some unpredictable plot twists.

The Final Cut does not smash you over the head with its message (a nice change of pace, to be sure), but it raises a lot of interesting questions. It explores the nature of memories, both how powerful they are and how valuable they are. It also deals with issues of privacy and media intrusion. You could definitely say the film inhabits the same headspace (pun intended) as Total Recall, Minority Report and Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, among others. It did seem a little short (90 minutes exactly) and maybe the movie does not live up to its full potential as a result. Still, as a fan of this kind of smart, realistic sci-fi, The Final Cut was a pleasant surprise and I enjoyed it immensely.

The DVD also comes with a reasonable amount of special features including a Making Of featurette, and shorter specialized featurettes covering production design and special effects. There is also a full length audio commentary track with writer/director Omar Naim, 3 deleted scenes (nothing really noteworthy among them) and a Storyboard to Screen comparison using Naim’s original storyboards. — Sean

M.I.A. - Arular
(XL/Beggars)

M.I.A., aka Maya Arulpragasam, is awesome. I’m sure you’ve read all the hype in one magazine or another over the last couple months since Arular was originally scheduled to be released, or maybe you came across the rare mixtape she made with boyfriend Diplo of last year, but I wonder how many people who would read this site have given the thought of checking her out more than 10 seconds. You should.

M.I.A.’s debut is an album full of music without a home. Raised in London, born in Sri Lanka, and influenced by everything from UK grime, dancepop, electro, world music and more, it’s a unique blend you don’t expect anyone else but maybe Beck to come up with. The backing music of “Bucky Done Gone” in fact, reminds me of Beck’s “Get Real Paid”.

Much has been made of M.I.A.’s politics, being the daughter of a Tamil Tiger, a freedom fighter group considered terrorists by the United States. However, other than a few references here and there, there isn’t much message to be found. “Arular” is really just a great party record, its lyrics more often thankfully just jibber jabber such as “Galang” rather than dumb sex songs about boyfriends who aren’t ready for your jelly.

The album flies by, every song energetic, catchy, memorable and a possible single. There hasn’t been an album so fresh, so tight, so all-killer-no-filler in a long long time. Even with the year only a quarter way through, “Arular” is sure bet to be among the top 10 of many. — Goon