Film Junk » Internet

Lost Charlie Chaplin Footage Found on Ebay

Sean — Wed, 18 Nov 2009 14:17:36 +0000

If you can believe it, the never before seen film was discovered in a nitrate film can bought for just $5. (Thanks to Jackson for the heads up.)

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Joss Whedon to Animate Buffy Season 8

Sean — Wed, 18 Nov 2009 00:10:02 +0000

Don't get too excited though... it's just "motion comics" as opposed to a full on animated series.

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Mandalay Picks Up Max Barry’s Real-Time Novel Machine Man

Sean — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 18:04:25 +0000

There's a growing trend in Hollywood where studios buy the screen rights for books before they are even released (see the recent acquisition of Daniel H. Wilson's Robopocalypse for just one example). I suppose it makes sense that if you have a big name writer (ie. Dan Brown) or a property that will probably be a big hit, you should get on board before anyone else finds out about it (and before the price goes up). But in some cases, it strikes me as a little odd that a studio might option a book before it has even been fully written yet. This is definitely the case with Mandalay Pictures, who have just picked up the rights to Max Barry's sci-fi thriller Machine Man, a serianlized novel that is being written and posted online daily, page by page. It's a pretty interesting experiment in writing, and the premise is kind of cool (a tech engineer is replacing body parts with "titanium upgrades of his own design"). You can read the first 43 pages online here, but you have to pay to read further. Barry previously wrote Jennifer Government, an awesome action-packed satire of corporations in the future, which Steven Soderbergh currently owns the rights to. As a fan of his writing, I'm definitely intrigued, although I am curious as to why they felt this was worth buying before it was even finished. Then again, I guess if they don't like how it ends, they can always change it afterward! The book will officially be published by Vantage Books in 2011.

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Hulu to Start Charging for Content in 2010?

Sean — Wed, 28 Oct 2009 17:42:30 +0000

Aside from YouTube, Hulu has been the single biggest organization responsible for bringing TV into the digital age, by legally streaming all kinds of TV shows and movies over the internet absolutely free. The success has been astounding, and it has even allowed many people to cancel their cable subscriptions entirely (in the U.S., anyway). But not so fast, all you Hulu addicts out there... the free ride may soon be coming to an end! Over the past year or so there has been a lot of pressure for them to turn Hulu into a profitable business, and right now the short commercials just aren't cutting it. Recently, at the On Screen Media Summit in New York, News Corp. Deputy Chairman Chase Carey confirmed rumours about Hulu starting to charge for their content:

"It's time to start getting paid for broadcast content online... I think a free model is a very difficult way to capture the value of our content. I think what we need to do is deliver that content to consumers in a way where they will appreciate the value. Hulu concurs with that, it needs to evolve to have a meaningful subscription model as part of its business."

He also speculated that these changes would start taking effect in 2010. Now, at the moment it doesn't sound likely that the entire service will become subscription only. They've built up such a huge user base that it would be foolish to alienate them all at one fell swoop. However, they would need to have some pretty amazing exclusive content if they want to attract subscribers that way. Would you pay for Hulu? Is this the direction that television should be heading, or is there a better alternative out there? All I know is that here in Canada we have no Netflix and no Hulu, so this makes absolutely no difference to us whatsoever! Update: Hulu has now told Entertainment Weekly that this is all getting blown out of proportion, and that "any possible subscription or pay-per-view service has no set timeline and would only build upon what Hulu offers, not replace it". (via /Film)

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Klenginem: Eminem in Klingon

Jay C. — Mon, 19 Oct 2009 16:26:27 +0000

I'm going to need Reed Farrington to re-translate this shit back into English to assure accuracy. Until then, enjoy Klenginem: the Klingon Eminem. Thanks to Charlotte for the heads up on this one.

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Joe Dante to Direct Netflix Web Series Splatter Starring Corey Feldman

Sean — Fri, 09 Oct 2009 19:37:14 +0000

Good news Feldog fans! Not only is Lost Boys 3 officially gearing up to start production next month, but Corey Feldman is also going to be taking part in an intriguing team-up between two b-movie superstars: producer Roger Corman and director Joe Dante. He'll be playing the lead role in a horror web series that Netflix is putting together that will be streamed online absolutely free. I'm assuming it will be for Netflix subscribers only, but I haven't seen confirmation of this either way. The series is called Splatter and it will debut over the Halloween weekend. Although most of the details are still under wraps, Feldman recently revealed on his blog that his character's name is quite simply... Jonny Splatter! There is also a short teaser trailer featuring Feldman on the official website that delivers more than enough blood to live up to the series name. After enjoying Dante's The Hole at TIFF, I'm definitely curious to see what he'll come up with here, although it seems a little more hardcore than his usual fare. What do you think, will this web series be worth more than the low, low price of admission?

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Dexter: Early Cuts Animated Webisodes Trailer

Sean — Thu, 01 Oct 2009 17:40:47 +0000

When The Wachowski Brothers first announced plans for The Animatrix back in 2002/2003, I thought the idea of releasing short animated episodes online in order to promote an upcoming movie was pretty innovative. Since then, the idea has been hijacked and re-used by plenty of other movies and TV shows, but the quality seems to be slowly diminishing (although I'll admit Batman: Gotham Knight had its moments). Now the latest property to jump on the animated webisode bandwagon is Showtime's popular drama Dexter. Starting this month, Showtime will begin releasing a series of twelve short animated prequels online under the name Dexter: Early Cuts. The idea is to delve into Dexter's formative years, where his adoptive father Harry teaches him "The Code". Michael C. Hall will voice the main character, but I'm not sure if there are any big names studios or directors involved in the production. A teaser trailer has been released online this week, and if anything, it makes the animation look pretty minimal, more akin to the Watchmen motion comics. Have a look at the teaser trailer after the jump and see what you think.

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Star Wars: Uncut Fan Remake Trailer

Sean — Tue, 29 Sep 2009 20:42:30 +0000

If you have not yet heard about the "crowdsourcing" craze, you might want to familiarize yourself with it, because you're going to be hearing about it a lot more in the near future. Crowdsourcing involves focusing the skills and resources of a large group of people on a single task, usually via the internet, in order to create something potentially bigger and much more efficient than would otherwise be possible. Although it's an ideal way to amass knowledge and solve problems, the concept has spilled over into the creative realm as well, where people are collaborating on everything from books to music to movies. One of the biggest examples of collaboration in the realm of cinema thus far is the on-going fan remake Star Wars: Uncut, a project being cultivated by Vimeo employee Casey Pugh where the original Star Wars movie is recreated by hundreds of people in 15 second segment chunks. The resulting remake will obviously be a patchwork of conflicting styles and personalities, and while on the one hand it could turn out to be a complete mess, it could also be a charming and hilarious work of art with the same lo-fi feel as Michel Gondry's sweded remakes in Be Kind Rewind. I don't have much love for fan films, but I have to admit, this is a pretty unique concept. The newly released trailer (embedded after the jump) gives an idea of just how eclectic and unpredictable the final product will be. What do you think? For more info, or if you want to join in the fun, visit StarWarsUncut.com.

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Rotten Tomatoes Picks the Worst Movies of the Decade

Sean — Fri, 25 Sep 2009 19:27:06 +0000

When it comes to reviewing movies, I've always found that one of the most difficult things is not deciding whether a movie is good or bad, but rather, deciding whether a movie is bad or downright terrible. Make no mistake, there are many different levels of bad movies, but does anyone really care to get down to the nitty gritty of debating which ones are slightly better than others? It just seems like a colossal waste of energy. Fortunately, the good folks over at Rotten Tomatoes have recently decided to sift through their vast review archives to give us the definitive Worst of the Worst list for the past 10 years in film. I don't think there are too many surprises here, although the good news is that I think quite a few of these are movies that no one has seen. Maybe now they'll finally find the audience they deserve! Are there any major duds missing from the list? Check out the top 20 after the jump, or head over to Rotten Tomatoes to see if you agree with the full countdown. 20. Crossover 19. Half Past Dead 18. The Master of Disguise 17. Twisted 16. Daddy Day Camp 15. Alone in the Dark 14. Beyond a Reasonable Doubt 13. Constellation 12. Killing Me Softly 11. Merci Docteur Ray! 10. Witless Protection 9. Redline 8. 3 Strikes 7. Strange Wilderness 6. Superbabies: Baby Geniuses 2 5. National Lampoon's Gold Diggers 4. King's Ransom 3. Pinocchio 2. One Missed Call 1. Ballistic: Ecks vs Sever

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No Signal: A Montage of Hollywood Horror Cell Phone Cliches

Sean — Thu, 24 Sep 2009 16:25:19 +0000

The man behind the amazing I'm Not Here to Make Friends reality TV montage, is back with a brand new viral video that pokes fun at one of the most overused horror movie cliches of the past decade: the disabled cell phone. Technological advances have always been at odds with bad guys in horror flicks, continually making it more and more difficult for a character to be totally isolated and cut off from the world. Most screenwriters seem to handle this in the laziest way possible, by inserting a scene where the victims attempt to make a phone call, only to find that they don't have a signal. While in some cases I agree it is a plot element that needs to be addressed, you can see that after a while it gets to be pretty damn repetitive. Time to get creative! Massive props to Rich Four Four for another masterful editing job that must have taken quite a bit of work.

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Jesse Eisenberg and Justin Timberlake to Star in David Fincher’s Facebook Movie?

Sean — Fri, 04 Sep 2009 23:17:35 +0000

Ever since it was announced a few months back that David Fincher would be directing The Social Network, the much maligned biopic about the making of Facebook, my interest in the project has been steadily growing. Add to this the fact that the script, which was written by Aaron Sorkin (Charlie Wilson's War, The West Wing), has been getting rave reviews from insiders around the web, and it's looking like this could actually be something much more than a mere attempt to cash in on a brand name. The next step, of course, is the casting, and this week there is some pretty intriguing news to report on that front. I should stress that these are just rumours, although the source seems relatively reliable. According to Carson Reeves (aka ScriptShadow, one of the first people to get a hold of The Social Network script), there are three actors that are reportedly finalizing deals for the film. The first, and perhaps most interesting, is Justin Timberlake who will play Sean Parker, co-founder of Napster and an early investor in Facebook. Andrew Garfield (Boy A) has been tipped to play Eduardo Saverin, while Jesse Eisenberg (The Squid and the Whale, Adventureland) is supposedly a lock for Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg. I know Eisenberg was being suggested by some folks on the web simply based on looks alone, but I also think he would be perfect to capture Zuckerberg's socially awkward persona. Let me just say that if this does turn out to be true, I am pretty much sold. An amazing director, a brilliant script, and now some solid casting? It sounds too good to be true. What do you think about these potential casting choices? In the meantime, check out the book that the movie was partially based on called Accidental Billionaires: The Founding of Facebook.

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Hitler Hates Avatar!

Kasper — Fri, 28 Aug 2009 20:32:15 +0000

And so do I! What a coincidence? Der Fuhrer and I apparently see eye to eye on this subject, as he has published a video on YouTube discussing the new trailer and Avatar Day, with the man himself pretty clearly stating what he thinks about the footage shown so far, which isn't very flattering at all. Ok, ok, so it isn't actually Hitler who posted it (surprise!). It's a pretty commonly used piece of footage from Der Untergang, but even though it has been done to death already, I still found this take on it pretty funny and it really captured a lot of what I thought about Avatar too. So here you go: Hitler Hates Avatar. Watch it to believe it.

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