And just like that, awards season is upon us! The quality of new releases is already starting to increase this weekend with Steven Soderbergh’s Contagion and Gavin O’Connor’s Warrior hitting theatres, two movies that have been building strong buzz for a while now. Also in wide release, we have a comedy that seems more like a late summer holdover (Bucky Larson: Born to Be a Star) and a movie I hadn’t even heard of up until now: killer alligator flick Creature. In select theatres, keep an eye out for martial arts epic Shaolin, Tanner Hall starring Rooney Mara, acclaimed documentary The Black Power Mix Tape: 1967-1975, Main Street starring Colin Firth, and John Landis’ first feature film in over a decade, Burke and Hare starring Simon Pegg and Andy Serkis. What will you be checking out this weekend and what are your box office predictions?

• Contagion
• Warrior
• Creature
• Bucky Larson: Born to Be a Star
• Shaolin (limited)
• Tanner Hall (limited)
• Main Street (limited)
• The Black Power Mix Tape: 1967-1975 (limited)
• Burke and Hare (limited)
• The Whale (limited)
• Where Soldiers Come From (limited)
• Kevin Hart: Laugh at my Pain (limited)

Contagion
Directed by: Steven Soderbergh
Written by: Scott Z. Burns
Starring: Kate Winslet, Jennifer Ehle, Jude Law, Marion Cotillard, Laurence Fishburne, John Hawkes, Matt Damon, Demetri Martin, Bryan Cranston, Elliott Gould

I watch a lot of horror movies. I’m a bit of an addict, actually. I’m always able to brush them off as entertainment and sleep peacefully. Until now, that is. Contagion is the stuff of nightmares. While it’s not all that different from any zombie apocalypse movie, it’s a lot more terrifying, because this could really happen, and there is not a damn thing anyone could do about it. I’ll be approaching cold and flu season this year with a new sense of dread.

Director Steven Soderbergh (Ocean’s Eleven, Traffic) tackles the complications that emerge when a worldwide pandemic spreads fear, misinformation and death in a short period of time. A new virus is contracted by an American woman (Gwyneth Paltrow) who is traveling for business in Hong Kong. She flies back to the United States, infects everyone she comes in contact with, and so the epidemic begins. Unwitting travellers quickly spread the virus to other countries, and representatives from the World Health Organization and the Center for Disease Control race to contain the virus.

Read more »

Yes, you read that headline correctly. Mel Gibson is currently preparing to direct another film after settling his latest bout of personal problems, and it will be based on the life of Judah Maccabee, a Jewish warrior from the 2nd century B.C. Collaborating with screenwriter Joe Eszterhas (Basic Instinct, Flash Dance) on the script, Gibson will have the first option to direct the untitled film, which is set up at Warner Bros. For those unfamiliar, Judah Maccabee’s life revolved around the “triumph and struggle against tyranny and oppression where people gave their lives so that others would be free to worship.” This project has apparently been on his wish list to make for quite a while now, even dating back to his drunken arrest when he caused controversy with some anti-Semitic remarks.

Read more »

While most of the Film Junk crew is heading off to Toronto for TIFF, I’m counting down the days until I head down to Austin, Texas to cover Fantastic Fest. For those not in the know, Fantastic Fest is one of the world’s largest genre film festivals, featuring the best in horror, sci-fi, fantasy, martial arts, and the downright bizarre. (Tagline: A film festival with all the boring parts cut out.) Past films have included 13 Assassins, Antichrist, House of the Devil, Rubber, I Saw the Devil, Paranormal Activity, Hatchet, The Host, and Trick R Treat. That should give you a good idea what sorts of films are featured at the fest.

Fantastic Fest 2011 has announced that it will feature The Human Centipede 2: Full Sequence as the opening night film. This will be the world premiere of the sequel to The Human Centipede, which won awards for best horror film and best actor at the 2009 festival.  Closing out the festivities will be Morgan Spurlock’s Comic-Con Episode IV: A Fan’s Hope, presented by Harry Knowles, Stan Lee, and Joss Whedon. The documentary follows a handful of people as they attend San Diego’s Comic-Con. Other notable films include Lars Von Trier’s Melancholia, Ti West’s The Innkeepers, and the eagerly anticipated Take Shelter, starring Jessica Chastain and Michael Shannon.

Screenings are held at the Alamo Drafthouse cinemas (you might remember their viral video of a customer bitching about being thrown out a few months ago). Shorts and a yearly bumper contest are popular features as well. For a complete list of films, visit the Fantastic Fest homepage. Fantastic Fest 2011 runs September 22-29, 2011; check out the first teaser trailer for The Human Centipede 2 after the jump.

Read more »

Update: It looks like the shoes aren’t self-lacing after all, they just light up. More to come…

Update #2: The shoes will be auctioned off on eBay for charity, 150 per day over 10 days for a total of 1500. Check out nikemag.ebay.com to try and win yourself a pair. Hit the jump for a new video that reveals the shoe and a quote from the press release.

When Frank Marshall hinted at a big Back to the Future announcement on Twitter yesterday, I don’t think too many people expected this. It would appear that Nike is finally going to release the actual shoes that Marty McFly wears in Back to the Future II! Fans and collectors have been clamoring for these things for years, and although a special edition version was released in limited quantities a few years ago, this time there’s one big difference: the shoes will actually have self-lacing technology.

Back in 2009, Nike did actually file a patent for self-lacing shoes, and now we know why. Although there hasn’t been an official announcement from Nike as of yet, they are holding a launch event in L.A. today for the new shoes, known as “Air Mags”. Now if we could just get Mattel to keep up their end of the bargain and officially release a hoverboard. We’ll have more info as it becomes available, but until then check out a short teaser trailer for Marty’s kicks after the jump.

Read more »

Much like The Dark Knight Rises, Zack Snyder’s upcoming Superman film Man of Steel is being plagued by paparazzi with all kinds of set photos leaking online and fans immediately jumping to conclusions over them. A couple of weeks ago, a spy photo appeared to show Michael Shannon on set wearing a motion capture suit, which led to speculation over whether or not the new General Zod would be at least partially CG-generated. Of course, at the time no one was even sure if it was Michael Shannon in the photo, but this week Shannon himself has spoken up on the matter. As it turns out, he was indeed wearing a motion capture suit and Zod will be, to some extent, a CG creation. This is what he had to say on the matter:

Read more »

Ever since Judd Apatow’s upcoming Knocked Up spin-off (tentatively titled This Is Forty) was announced, many people were wondering whether Seth Rogen would make an appearance as his character from the earlier film. Well, now we’re hearing from the man himself that he will not show up in the movie. While talking with Movies.com, Rogen said that while he has visited the set, his character was omitted – and that the film is probably better for it. He’s quoted as saying his appearance might have “confused people.” Instead of working on another Apatow-helmed film, Rogen and long-time writing partner Evan Goldberg are busy preparing for their next collaboration, Jay and Seth vs. the Apocalypse, which shoots in February.

Read more »

With the exception of Peter Berg’s Battleship, it has been starting to look like cooler heads might prevail when it comes to the recent board game and retro toy craze in Hollywood. Most of the announced movies based on playthings have been slow to materialize, with some studios choosing to wait and see how Battleship does before they spend more money on their own board game blockbuster. Even Universal, which entered a partnership with Hasbro to produce a number of these films, has decided to drop a few of their projects (including the Ouija movie) due to budgetary concerns. But still the madness continues! According to Heat Vision, Hasbro is moving forward on their Monopoly movie without Universal, and yes Ridley Scott is still attached to direct.

Read more »

Here’s a slightly unexpected news story that’s sure to get some people up in arms: it seems that some 23 years after the release of Tim Burton’s Beetlejuice, a sequel is taking shape over at Warner Brothers. What’s more, Tim Burton does not appear to be involved. According to Deadline, the man who may end up bringing Beetlejuice back from the dead is Seth Grahame-Smith, the writer of such popular mash-up novels Pride and Prejudice and Zombies and Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter. He and his producing partner David Katzenberg (son of DreamWorks Animation head Jeffrey Katzenberg) recently set up a two-year deal with Warner Brothers, and one of their first projects is expected to be a Beetlejuice sequel. Supposedly their plan is not to remake it but “to reboot it by advancing the storyline of the original.”

Read more »

Steve Martin, Jack Black and Owen Wilson starring in a comedy about bird watchers who compete with each other to spot the rarest bird? I was sold before I even watched the first trailer for The Big Year. Then I watched the trailer… and now, not so much. If you’re wondering how a funny cast and quirky premise could be watered down to such boring, bland humour, just take a look at the director’s previous credits: David Frankel is the man who gave us The Devil Wears Prada and Marley & Me.

The Big Year is clearly being aimed at an older crowd, but a part of me still hopes that this trailer is not a true indication of what the movie has to offer. It’s based on a book by Mark Obmascik and the screenplay was written by Howard Franklin (The Man Who Knew Too Little, Quick Change). With a supporting cast that includes Joel McHale, Anjelica Huston, Rashida Jones, Jim Parsons, Rosamund Pike, Kevin Pollak, and Anthony Anderson, surely it can’t be all bad… can it? The Big Year hits theatres on October 14th; check out the trailer after the jump and see what you think.

Read more »

0:00 – Intro
6:00 – Headlines: Star Wars Blu-ray Changes, Josh Brolin to Star in Oldboy Remake, HBO Picks Up Mike Tyson Boxing Drama Da Brick, Steven Seagal Drives Tank into House, Killing Puppy
30:25 – Review: Red State
56:35 – Feature: Fall TV Preview
1:37:45 – Other Stuff We Watched: Penn & Teller: Fool Us, Exporting Raymond, BKO: Bangkok Knockout, If…., Dumb & Dumber, Paradise Lost, The Franchise: A Season with the San Francisco Giants, The Beaver, Buffalo Wingfest, Aladdin, Man on Fire
2:08:42 – Junk Mail: Current TV Top 50 Docs, Home Theatre Setups, DVD and Blu-ray Region Codes, Rumoured Arrested Development Movie Plot
2:23:45 – This Week’s DVD Releases
2:26:10 – Outro
2:28:54 – Spoiler Discussion: Red State

» Download the MP3 (79 MB)
» View the show notes
» Vote for us on Podcast Alley!
» Rate us on iTunes!

Subscribe to the podcast feed:

Alas, another summer movie season has come and gone, and now a cool breeze is moving in as we await the arrival of the first wave of awards contenders in theatres. The New York Times is saying that summer box office attendance was down for the fourth year in a row, and while that could be because of the weak economy and high ticket prices, I also wonder if it has something to do with the frequent failure for these big summer blockbusters to live up to expectations. This summer did have some pleasant surprises that were both critical and commercial hits (X-Men: First Class, Rise of the Planet of the Apes), but it also had a lot of pretty huge letdowns. But which one was the biggest disappointment of them all? Cast your vote in this week’s poll and feel free to discuss further in the comments below!