Needcoffee.com» Movies http://www.needcoffee.com The Official Website of the Sleep Deprivation Institute Tue, 14 Feb 2012 07:27:03 +0000 en hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.1.1 RIP: Patrick Swayze http://www.needcoffee.com/2009/09/15/patrick-swayze-rip/ http://www.needcoffee.com/2009/09/15/patrick-swayze-rip/#comments Tue, 15 Sep 2009 06:16:56 +0000 Widge http://www.needcoffee.com/?p=13037 Patrick Swayze gave us a bunch of kickass performances: among them Ghost, Dirty Dancing, Red Dawn, and yes, Michael J. Nelson, we know...Road House. No lie. I dig the hell out of Road House. He returned to television last year, having hopefully smacked down his pancreatic cancer...but alas, it finally got the better of him. Swayze died yesterday at age 57, with his family at his side.

I think everybody's going to be using clips of a glowing Swayze from Ghost, so let's just go in the opposite direction:

Direct link for the feedreaders.

Thanks for everything, Patrick.

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RIP: Patrick Swayze

]]> http://www.needcoffee.com/2009/09/15/patrick-swayze-rip/feed/ 1 Papa Romero Already Back in the Saddle http://www.needcoffee.com/2008/10/03/george-romero-new-zombie-film/ http://www.needcoffee.com/2008/10/03/george-romero-new-zombie-film/#comments Fri, 03 Oct 2008 07:31:43 +0000 Widge http://www.needcoffee.com/?p=7981 George Romero

You kids these days. You have no appreciation for what hardships we, the old bastards among you, had to endure. Why, there was a time when we waited twenty goddamn years for a new Romero zombie flick. Then after the Last Great Zombie Year of 1985, we got Land of the Dead in 2005. And then you got Diary of the Dead just last year. Now there's a sixth Romero zombie flick happening already. As in the thing's written and George is already shooting. That's three Romero zombie flicks in five years, if we take it that the untitled sixth film will hit cinemas next year. So in just five years we've doubled the amount of Romero zombie films. I hope you kids appreciate this.

Anyway, the film is zombies vs. people on an island. So Island of the Living Dead is as good a pull-it-out-of-my-ass title as any. The cast announced is Alan Van Sprang (Diary), Kenneth Walsh (Exorcism of Emily Rose), Devon Bostick (Land), Richard Fitzpatrick, Stefano Colacitti and Athena Karkanis.

And get offa my lawn!!

Source: Variety.

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Papa Romero Already Back in the Saddle

]]> http://www.needcoffee.com/2008/10/03/george-romero-new-zombie-film/feed/ 1 Neuromancer Finally Getting Made? http://www.needcoffee.com/2008/01/09/neuromancer-with-hayden-christensen/ http://www.needcoffee.com/2008/01/09/neuromancer-with-hayden-christensen/#comments Wed, 09 Jan 2008 17:13:07 +0000 Widge http://www.needcoffee.com/2008/01/09/neuromancer-with-hayden-christensen/ Neuromancer cover art

Well, io9 is passing along the word that Neuromancer has gone back into active development now that Hayden Christensen is reportedly attached.

Now first of all, let's not get overly excitable about this. Films go in and out of development all the time. If I had a dime for every time the Interwebs went apeshit because of the latest Superman 5 news, I would already be able to quit my day job. And how long did that film take to hit cinemas so it could fail? Years and years. Neuromancer has been in development for the last ten years at least. And people get attached to films all the time, for various and sundry reasons I won't get into here. So let's all stay as calm as we can, caffeinated as we are.

As for who we think should be cast, I would still think a great deal of our old DreamCast (still in the archive, we'll get to it eventually) would be valid. I don't have a problem with Christensen personally, although I think Jumper will prove him one way or the other to sci-fi geeks, now that he's got a real director working with him. I mean, let's face it: if all you knew about Natalie Portman was the prequel trilogy, you'd think she sucked too.

For the way not to do Neuromancer, we'd point you to our previous post about the comic book adaptation.



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Neuromancer Finally Getting Made?

]]> http://www.needcoffee.com/2008/01/09/neuromancer-with-hayden-christensen/feed/ 2 Your Monday Morning Mental Sorbet: Wait, I Thought You Played the Cheerleader http://www.needcoffee.com/2007/12/31/john-cusack-american-beauty/ http://www.needcoffee.com/2007/12/31/john-cusack-american-beauty/#comments Mon, 31 Dec 2007 12:00:45 +0000 Widge http://www.needcoffee.com/2007/12/31/john-cusack-in-american-beauty/ Just a brief note that no matter how bad off you are in your career, at least you're not this young lady.

Direct link for the feedreaders.

Found via VideoSift.

What can I say? It made me laugh.

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Your Monday Morning Mental Sorbet: Wait, I Thought You Played the Cheerleader

]]> http://www.needcoffee.com/2007/12/31/john-cusack-american-beauty/feed/ 0 Hellboy and His Big Baby http://www.needcoffee.com/2007/12/18/hellboy-big-baby/ http://www.needcoffee.com/2007/12/18/hellboy-big-baby/#comments Tue, 18 Dec 2007 14:59:48 +0000 Widge http://www.needcoffee.com/2007/12/18/hellboy-big-baby/ Ron Perlman as Hellboy From Hellboy 2: The Golden Army

Just thought I'd share. For Hellboy 2: The Golden Army, Papa's got a brand new gun: The Big Baby. Click on the pic for the full deal.

For more info, like eCards, photos, news, and other eSwag, check out the official site.

The movie hits July 11th of next year. Bring that noise.


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Hellboy II: The Golden Army - Big Baby Life-Size Replica

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Hellboy and His Big Baby

]]> http://www.needcoffee.com/2007/12/18/hellboy-big-baby/feed/ 0 Three Decades of Lucasfilm Christmas Cards http://www.needcoffee.com/2007/12/15/lucasfilm-christmas-cards/ http://www.needcoffee.com/2007/12/15/lucasfilm-christmas-cards/#comments Sat, 15 Dec 2007 17:26:19 +0000 Widge http://www.needcoffee.com/2007/12/15/lucasfilm-christmas-cards/
Yoda Claus!

If there's one thing Lucasfilm has been able to do consistently for thirty years straight, it's...well, it's certainly not release badass movies. No, instead it's give out nifty Christmas cards. From pop-up stormtroopers to R2 the red-droid reindeer to...well, Yoda Claus (who uses the power of Force to deliver all the gifts in one night, hmmm?), they're all pretty cool in one way or another.

Thanks to Bailey for the headsup.


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Three Decades of Lucasfilm Christmas Cards

]]> http://www.needcoffee.com/2007/12/15/lucasfilm-christmas-cards/feed/ 0 Chico Marx Slays With the Keys http://www.needcoffee.com/2007/12/09/chico-marx-on-piano/ http://www.needcoffee.com/2007/12/09/chico-marx-on-piano/#comments Sun, 09 Dec 2007 23:21:42 +0000 Widge http://www.needcoffee.com/2007/12/09/chico-marx-on-piano/ Chico Marx is a great pianist who just seems to bang out brilliant bits without effort, as we've mentioned before. For your Sunday evening entertainment, a couple of sublime performances by the man himself. First up is from A Night in Casablanca from 1946.

This and the clip to follow can be found on the Marx Brothers Collection from Warner Brothers. You can click and buy it from Amazon here. You won't regret that purchase.

Direct link for the feedreaders.

Found via VideoSift.

And if you thought that was cool, check out this bit from 1940's Go West after the break:


Direct link for the feedreaders.

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Chico Marx Slays With the Keys

]]> http://www.needcoffee.com/2007/12/09/chico-marx-on-piano/feed/ 0 Edgar Wright on Raw Meat http://www.needcoffee.com/2007/11/30/edgar-wright-raw-meat/ http://www.needcoffee.com/2007/11/30/edgar-wright-raw-meat/#comments Fri, 30 Nov 2007 07:44:56 +0000 Widge http://www.needcoffee.com/2007/11/30/edgar-wright-on-raw-meat/ Chazzie-award winner Edgar Wright provides commentary for the trailer of Raw Meat, which honestly I had never heard of before and which looks so good I wish I had known about it before my Halloween film fest. It could have taken the slot which had this piece of crap in it.

Wait, is it--yes! It is! It's in print!

Direct link for the feedreaders.

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Edgar Wright on Raw Meat

]]> http://www.needcoffee.com/2007/11/30/edgar-wright-raw-meat/feed/ 0 Laurel and Hardy in German http://www.needcoffee.com/2007/11/26/laurel-and-hardy-in-german/ http://www.needcoffee.com/2007/11/26/laurel-and-hardy-in-german/#comments Mon, 26 Nov 2007 07:40:34 +0000 Widge http://www.needcoffee.com/2007/11/26/laurel-and-hardy-in-german/ As mentioned previously (and indeed, that one was pointed out by Mark Evanier as well), Laurel and Hardy shot their films in English, then would go back and re-shoot them reading their lines, now in a foreign language, phonetically written on blackboards off-camera.

Here's some shots of them from Pardon Us, now in German:

Direct link for the feedreaders.

Found via Mark Evanier.


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Laurel and Hardy in German

]]> http://www.needcoffee.com/2007/11/26/laurel-and-hardy-in-german/feed/ 0 Top 7 Moments in Cinema Horror History I Wish I Had Been There to See http://www.needcoffee.com/2007/10/31/top-7-moments-cinema-horror-history/ http://www.needcoffee.com/2007/10/31/top-7-moments-cinema-horror-history/#comments Wed, 31 Oct 2007 20:40:25 +0000 Widge http://www.needcoffee.com/2007/10/31/top-7-moments-in-cinema-horror-history/ Okay, so what does that mean? "Been there to see?" It means that I wish I could have been there, in a cinema, to see it when it first was shown. Because we soon forget why these moments are significant. If we look at Lon Chaney Sr.'s makeup stylings today...we don't react like we would have almost a century ago. We're used to this kind of stuff. But back then, remember, cinema was new. No one had ever seen anything like it before. To have witnessed the birth and adolescent years of cinema horror first hand, that would be something.

I would almost want to be there twice. Once to see the thing with virgin eyes like the audiences then were, and once with what I know now, just for academic purposes. It's like when I saw The Exorcist in a cinema full of college kids a few years back. I was able to be detached enough from the picture to appreciate how they had been talkative up until the two priests started ascending the stairs...then you could hear a freakin' pin drop.

I really, really wish I had been there for these.

7. Mad Renfield Revealed (1931).

Direct link for the feedreaders.


I've said this before, but Lugosi's Dracula doesn't creep me out. Oh sure, I love the character a lot, and can recite most of his dialogue when I watch the film, but he just doesn't frighten me. I don't know how audiences back then would have reacted, because he looked fairly normal and didn't, you know, transform on screen. He lacked the shock value in his appearance. But what I think would have been creepy as shit then, because it's still creepy as shit now, is Dwight Frye's Renfield. That shot of him looking up from the ship's hold at his "rescuers." That is freaking creepy. The scene where the maid faints and he crawls over to her like a predatory beast...you know, that's never really addressed again, is it? But he was magnificent.

My favorite DVD release of the original Dracula is the Legacy Collection. It's missing the second commentary, but it does have all the other Dracula films as well as the first one. So it's a great buy. You can snag it here.

6. Karloff's Mummy Wakes Up (1932).

Direct link for the feedreaders.

It was this moment that really got me started thinking about what it must have been like to sit in the cinema and watch the Mummy open its eyes. Karloff is there, full-on makeup, dead. You know he's going to be creepy because you've recently seen him as Frankenstein's Monster (see below). But when he comes back to life and opens his eyes, begins to move...I would think most 1931 moviegoers would have pissed themselves.

Again, for my favorite release of this on home video: it's the Legacy Collection. You can snag it for yourself here.

5. Karloff's Monster Revealed (1931).

Direct link for the feedreaders.

When watching the commentary from Universal's Legacy Collection, they mentioned how Karloff's makeup had been kept a secret until the film's release. And mention is made by the film historian, something to the effect of, "Remember, for us it's old hat--we think of Frankenstein's Monster, we think of Karloff in makeup, but in 1931...this was all new." And remember, this before Karloff was a known quantity, too. So you don't even get the "Boris Karloff is the monster, so he's going to freak us out" thing. No, the Monster is heard shuffling down the corridor, then he opens the door, backs into the room, and is then revealed. Would have been amazing.

The aforementioned Legacy Collection release is still the best release of this. You can snag it here.

4. Psycho (1960).

Direct link for the feedreaders.

I've said this countless times as well: people don't understand how groundbreaking this film was when it hit. Not just because of the shower scene but, not just because of the twist ending, but to my knowledge (which is not vast, I'm sad to say), this is the first major film in which a known star was given top billing, then killed off very quickly and very surprisingly, leaving us with the killer as the main character. That's the problem with a lot of Hitchcock--he paved the way for so much, that people watch his stuff and say, "Huh. I've seen that done already." Yes, but Hitch did it first.

Update: The Blu-Ray release is due on October 19, 2010 (in the future as I write this), and it's actually cheaper than the Legacy Collection release and appears to share features. So here you go.

3. A William Castle Production (1959).

Direct link for the feedreaders.

This ranks so high because, while we can watch the films on DVD, we can't get the full-on in-the-cinema show that Castle put on. While any of his films would be cool, I'm thinking specifically of the original House on Haunted Hill with the skeleton in the cinema or more importantly, The Tingler, where some of the seats were wired up to deliver "buzzing" type shocks to audience member when the creature is supposedly loose in the cinema. I understand somebody staged a "revival" of the The Tingler included the gizmos under the seats. That would have been awesome to get in on.

The Tingler is available on DVD from Amazon.

2. The Phantom Revealed (1925).

Direct link for the feedreaders.

As mentioned, Chaney specialized in creating makeup effects that--well, let's face it, his Phantom is still today quite grotesque. And a response of "grotesque" in 2007 equals "OMGWTF" in 1925 terms. So when Christine goes up and removes his mask, it must have scared the crap out of the audience. This is an audience who would have probably known Chaney as Quasimodo, but Quasimodo certainly doesn't prepare you for that.

The best presentation of this is the Milestone Edition from Image. You can get it on DVD here.

1. Night of the Living Dead (1968). I just want to sit in an audience back then and watch this with them for the first time. Look at how we've escalated zombies now, where they have to be goddamn Olympic sprinters to be scary. But back then, this film (is still amazing), but it would have been amazing to see. I've written before about how Romero builds the shocks on top of each other until the climax, sort of lowering you into the warm water slowly to get you used to it. I would just want to see how the first audiences to see this film, because this was the equivalent of a cinematic grenade going off. There had been horror movies, but nothing quite like it on the level of gore and terror. Daughter eats her dead father, daughter kills her mother, brother drags sister to her death, you name it.

Of course what concerns me (and maybe this just means I'm getting old) is that I look at stuff like Hostel and I think it's, well, torture porn. Garbage. But of course, that's what some critics thought of Night when it first opened. Hell, the scene where Frankenstein's monster throws the girl in the lake was censored for its re-release and not restored until Universal restored the films most recently. Notice I didn't say "Frankenstein's Monster holds the girl kicking and screaming underwater until she stops moving." He just throws her in the lake. And that was considered too much.

I wonder what people are going to think thirty, forty years from now when the look back on 28 Days Later. Will they say, "Huh. Boring." And if so, what the hell are they going to find terrifying?

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Top 7 Moments in Cinema Horror History I Wish I Had Been There to See

]]> http://www.needcoffee.com/2007/10/31/top-7-moments-cinema-horror-history/feed/ 2 32 Days of Halloween: The Movies http://www.needcoffee.com/2007/10/31/32-days-of-halloween-the-movies/ http://www.needcoffee.com/2007/10/31/32-days-of-halloween-the-movies/#comments Wed, 31 Oct 2007 16:00:18 +0000 Widge http://www.needcoffee.com/2007/10/31/32-days-of-halloween-the-movies/ Vincent by Tim Burton

Miss some of our little film festival? Here you go, then. A full list of the feature films we've posted for your dancing and dining pleasure.

Update: Thanks to Yes But No But Yes for the link love. Greetings, folks. If you like what you found when you kicked over our particular rock, subscribe to our feed. Or if you hate it, tell your enemies to subscribe to our feed. We're good either way.

1. The Killer Shrews (1959)

2. Nosferatu (1922)

3. The Thing From Another World (1951)

4. Freaks (1932)

5. The Deadly Mantis (1957)

6. House on Haunted Hill (1959)

7. The Devil Bat (1940)

8. Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde (1920)


9. IT! The Terror From Beyond Space (1958)

10. The Screaming Skull (1958)

11. Tarantula (1955)

12. White Zombie (1932)

13. Them! (1954)

14. House of Wax (1953)

15. The Atomic Brain (1964)

16. The Wasp Woman (1960)

17. Horror Express (1973)

18. Revolt of the Zombies (1936)

19-20. Days 19 & 20 were eaten by Zoltan, Hound of Dracula.

21. Werewolf in a Girls' Dormitory (1961); The Werewolf of Washington (1973)

22. Satanic Rites of Dracula (1974)

23. King of the Zombies (1941)

24. The Mummy (1959)

25. The Phantom of the Opera (1925)

26. Frankenstein Must Be Destroyed (1969); Lady Frankenstein (1971)

27. Dementia 13 (1963); Attack of the Giant Leeches (1959)

28. The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari (1919)

29. Plan 9 From Outer Space (1959)

30. The Atom Age Vampire (1963); Mark of the Vampire (1935); The Vampire Bat (1933)

31. The Hunchback of Notre Dame (1923)

32. Three guesses. Check back at 7pm EST.

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32 Days of Halloween: The Movies

]]> http://www.needcoffee.com/2007/10/31/32-days-of-halloween-the-movies/feed/ 0 Halloween Movie Night No. 28: The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari (1919) http://www.needcoffee.com/2007/10/27/cabinet-dr-caligari-1919/ http://www.needcoffee.com/2007/10/27/cabinet-dr-caligari-1919/#comments Sat, 27 Oct 2007 23:00:02 +0000 Widge http://www.needcoffee.com/2007/10/27/halloween-movie-night-no-28-the-cabinet-of-dr-caligari-1919/ For tonight's pick, we go back...waaay back to 1919 and the silent film The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari. Arguably the first horror film, you'll see bits in here that have been used as an inspiration for a crapload of other films.

And yes, that's Conrad Veidt, who played The Man Who Laughs, which served as inspiration for The Joker.

The version I have here is the longer version, clocking in at around 71 minutes. A lot of versions of this online are only 51 minutes long, which the IMDB lists as the U.S. video version. But the version on the Kino restored edition is 75 minutes. No idea. But enjoy.

Direct link for the feedreaders.

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Halloween Movie Night No. 28: The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari (1919)

]]> http://www.needcoffee.com/2007/10/27/cabinet-dr-caligari-1919/feed/ 0 Halloween Day 19: The Hitcher (1986) http://www.needcoffee.com/2007/10/18/hitcher-1986-trailer/ http://www.needcoffee.com/2007/10/18/hitcher-1986-trailer/#comments Thu, 18 Oct 2007 06:18:59 +0000 Widge http://www.needcoffee.com/2007/10/18/hitcher-1986-trailer/ Remake? What remake? How could you possibly remake this? Rutger Hauer is a sacred national treasure and the sooner someone rescues him from B-Movie Hell then the sooner the world will know peace at last.

Direct link for the feedreaders.

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Halloween Day 19: The Hitcher (1986)

]]> http://www.needcoffee.com/2007/10/18/hitcher-1986-trailer/feed/ 0 Joe Dante vs. From Hell It Came http://www.needcoffee.com/2007/10/13/from-hell-it-came-trailer/ http://www.needcoffee.com/2007/10/13/from-hell-it-came-trailer/#comments Sat, 13 Oct 2007 10:48:02 +0000 Widge http://www.needcoffee.com/2007/10/13/from-hell-it-came-trailer/ If I could embed this one without commentary, it would make a great trailer bit for 32 Days of Halloween. But even though it seems it must play with commentary, that's still worthy: Joe Dante's take on this killer anthropomorphic tree flick is well worth hearing.

Sadly, this terrible gem does not appear to be available on DVD. Alas.

Update: Thomas below points out that Monsters in Motion has it for sale in a Region 0 NTSC version. Thanks for the headsup!

Direct link for the feedreaders.

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Joe Dante vs. From Hell It Came

]]> http://www.needcoffee.com/2007/10/13/from-hell-it-came-trailer/feed/ 1 Ash Williams, Captain Supermarket http://www.needcoffee.com/2007/10/09/japanese-army-darkness/ http://www.needcoffee.com/2007/10/09/japanese-army-darkness/#comments Wed, 10 Oct 2007 03:09:16 +0000 Widge http://www.needcoffee.com/2007/10/09/japanese-army-of-darkness/ Captain Supermarket poster snippet

Okay, I can believe that Army of Darkness is known in Japan as Captain Supermarket. That I can buy.

But check out the full poster up on The Manchester Morgue. Are you serious? Massive cans of Bruce Campbell soup being menaced by a skeleton arm? Is that a giant neon twizzler in the background? What's up with the dolphins? And the army of multi-colored toothbrushes and (what seem to be, anyway) bits of plasticware?

No, really. Are you serious? This might just be the gaudiest poster I have ever wanted in my life. And yes, that includes my stint during the 80s where I actually enjoyed colors.

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Ash Williams, Captain Supermarket

]]> http://www.needcoffee.com/2007/10/09/japanese-army-darkness/feed/ 0 32 Days of Halloween, Movie Night No. 3: The Thing From Another World http://www.needcoffee.com/2007/10/02/thing-from-another-world/ http://www.needcoffee.com/2007/10/02/thing-from-another-world/#comments Tue, 02 Oct 2007 23:00:13 +0000 Widge http://www.needcoffee.com/2007/10/02/thing-from-another-world/
Thing From Another World

Day 3 of our 32 Days of Halloween celebration. Hard to believe we're three days down as we move towards the big day.

Here we offer up a killer intellectual carrot trying to feed on the blood of humans trapped in a frozen wasteland. What more can you ask for from a classic sci-fi horror flick?

And, of course, John Carpenter remade the hell out of this before he was kidnapped by space aliens.

Direct link for the feedreaders.

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32 Days of Halloween, Movie Night No. 3: The Thing From Another World

]]> http://www.needcoffee.com/2007/10/02/thing-from-another-world/feed/ 0 Allan Arkush vs. Bucket of Blood http://www.needcoffee.com/2007/10/01/allan-arkush-vs-bucket-blood/ http://www.needcoffee.com/2007/10/01/allan-arkush-vs-bucket-blood/#comments Mon, 01 Oct 2007 07:50:06 +0000 Widge http://www.needcoffee.com/2007/10/01/allan-arkush-vs-bucket-of-blood/ Commentary on a Roger Corman film starring Dick Miller as a guy who kills people and covers them with clay like a low-rent beatnik House of Wax? Sold.

Direct link for the feedreaders.

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Allan Arkush vs. Bucket of Blood

]]> http://www.needcoffee.com/2007/10/01/allan-arkush-vs-bucket-blood/feed/ 0 How to Improve The Mist Trailer http://www.needcoffee.com/2007/09/11/the-mist-trailer-improved/ http://www.needcoffee.com/2007/09/11/the-mist-trailer-improved/#comments Tue, 11 Sep 2007 05:53:48 +0000 Widge http://www.needcoffee.com/2007/09/11/the-mist-trailer-improved/ Stephen King's novella, "The Mist" (which appeared in Skeleton Crew), is finally hitting the big screen thanks to Frank Darabont. The good news is that the cast looks great. The bad news is that the trailer isn't going to do jack crap as far as getting butts in seats. And it gives way too much about the movie away.

Take a look, then I'll give you my version of a teaser trailer after the jump.

Direct link for the feedreaders.


Okay, here's how I would have done the trailer. I really liked the Dawn of the Dead remake trailer where a zombie horde shuffles up to the back of the screen, as though they were about to come through it and feast on your entrails. It was nicely unnerving. So this is a play on that same "screwing with the audience" theme.

(Screen begins in blackness. The mist rolls in, and the screen becomes a ghostly grey white.)

SOUND FX: A fly buzzing.

(One of the big Fly Things HITS the upper left hand corner of the screen as though landing hard onto the glass of a window. It's seen only in silhouette, a black monstrous thing. This happens suddenly, designed specifically to scare the living shit out of the audience.)

ON SCREEN: FROM THE MIND OF STEPHEN KING

(Something Even Larger Than the Fly Thing POUNCES on the fly, then bounds away. Even though it's all black shapes, we can tell the large Fly Thing has been attacked by a Predator. We hear the Fly Thing shriek as it dies. Maybe the Predator Thing tears at its catch as it leaves. This is, again, designed to scare the crap out of the audience.)

ON SCREEN: THE MIST

ON SCREEN: NOVEMBER

Now...which do you think would get your attention more?

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How to Improve The Mist Trailer

]]> http://www.needcoffee.com/2007/09/11/the-mist-trailer-improved/feed/ 0 Mary Lambert on Village of the Damned http://www.needcoffee.com/2007/08/18/mary-lambert-on-village-of-the-damned/ http://www.needcoffee.com/2007/08/18/mary-lambert-on-village-of-the-damned/#comments Sat, 18 Aug 2007 06:02:55 +0000 Widge http://www.needcoffee.com/2007/08/18/mary-lambert-on-village-of-the-damned/ Pet Sematary, delivers commentary on today's Trailer From Hell, for Village of the Damned. This is especially worth listening to because it gives you insight into how Mary turned out the way she did, what with her choice of childhood role model and all...]]> Mary Lambert, director of things such as Pet Sematary, delivers commentary on today's Trailer From Hell, for Village of the Damned. This is especially worth listening to because it gives you insight into how Mary turned out the way she did, what with her choice of childhood role model and all...

Direct link for the feedreaders.


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Mary Lambert on Village of the Damned

]]> http://www.needcoffee.com/2007/08/18/mary-lambert-on-village-of-the-damned/feed/ 0 Laurel and Hardy in Spanish http://www.needcoffee.com/2007/08/16/laurel-and-hardy-in-spanish/ http://www.needcoffee.com/2007/08/16/laurel-and-hardy-in-spanish/#comments Thu, 16 Aug 2007 08:06:04 +0000 Widge http://www.needcoffee.com/2007/08/16/laurel-and-hardy-in-spanish/ Mark Evanier points out something we hadn't known previously: Laurel and Hardy would reshoot films in different languages, reading the words phonetically. And sometimes foreign versions of the films had scenes which weren't in the domestic American releases. Case in point, this little ditty from Blotto, which was released in Spain as La Vida Nocturna:

Direct link for the feedreaders.

Spanish version of their trip to the dentist after the break...


Direct link for the feedreaders.

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Laurel and Hardy in Spanish

]]> http://www.needcoffee.com/2007/08/16/laurel-and-hardy-in-spanish/feed/ 0 Marx Brothers Funny Both Backwards and Forwards http://www.needcoffee.com/2007/08/15/marx-brothers-funny-both-backwards-and-forwards/ http://www.needcoffee.com/2007/08/15/marx-brothers-funny-both-backwards-and-forwards/#comments Wed, 15 Aug 2007 05:55:01 +0000 Widge http://www.needcoffee.com/2007/08/15/marx-brothers-funny-both-backwards-and-forwards/ Gotta love the internet. Mark Evanier posted the clip below on his blog, where the boys have their words reversed so it can sound like a foreign language. He was wondering what in the world they actually said.

Less than nine hours later, somebody not only reversed the speech bits but then put them back in the right places so they could be truly played forwards. Then it was up on YouTube.

Update: The original clip is gone, but somebody's combined the two, so that's what you've got coming up...here:

Nothing earth shattering like "Paul is Dead" or anything, but still. Gotta love it.

Direct link for the feedreaders.


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Marx Brothers Funny Both Backwards and Forwards

]]> http://www.needcoffee.com/2007/08/15/marx-brothers-funny-both-backwards-and-forwards/feed/ 0 Voltron Film News: But... They're Still Gonna Kill Sven, Right? http://www.needcoffee.com/2007/08/14/voltron-film-news/ http://www.needcoffee.com/2007/08/14/voltron-film-news/#comments Tue, 14 Aug 2007 21:22:46 +0000 JM Tuffley http://www.needcoffee.com/2007/08/14/voltron-film-news-but-theyre-still-gonna-kill-sven-right/ Voltron

Since Transformers was a hit, many more 1980s cartoons are getting Live Action retrofits drenched in CGI and just a bit of the explody.

According to Variety, the latest candidate for the treatment is Voltron: Defender of the Universe. New Regency appears to fancy the Lion Version (because it seems the prospect of bringing the vehicle team to a cinema near you may trigger unintended Wing Commander flashbacks).

The flick will move the action to (what else?) a post-apocalyptic Earth, where five survivors of said apocalypse will stumble upon the Lions, and attempt to use them to fend off an invading alien race. And yes--I'm sure someone will form the head.


The script's being handled by Justin Marks--who's also currently cut and pasting Green Arrow and Masters of the Universe for Warner Bros.

Voltron and He-Man join an already crowded array of 1980s toon ficks actively in the pipe. GI Joe, Thundercats, Street Fighter, Smurfs, AND Alvin and the Chipmunks are already under way.

The Go Bots, the Snorks, and the Gummi Bears could not be reached for comment.

And yes, we will probably bring this up at the Make the Bad Men Stop panel.

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Voltron Film News: But... They're Still Gonna Kill Sven, Right?

]]> http://www.needcoffee.com/2007/08/14/voltron-film-news/feed/ 0 Trailers From Hell: Directors vs. Classic Trailers http://www.needcoffee.com/2007/08/13/joe-dante-robot-monster/ http://www.needcoffee.com/2007/08/13/joe-dante-robot-monster/#comments Tue, 14 Aug 2007 02:33:42 +0000 Widge http://www.needcoffee.com/2007/08/13/trailers-from-hell-directors-vs-classic-trailers/ Oh my, this is genius. Joe Dante has apparently taken it upon himself to bring together classic movie trailers and get directors (mostly directors, Sam Hamm is in there too and I think he's a scribe/producer) to provide commentary over them. Sure, the length of the trailers make everything short but sweet but still--we love vintage movie trailers, so it's cool to have a site devoted to them.

Here's Dante discussing the joyously bad Robot Monster:

Direct link for the feedreaders.

Found via Boing Boing.

Where to Find Stuff

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Trailers From Hell: Directors vs. Classic Trailers

]]> http://www.needcoffee.com/2007/08/13/joe-dante-robot-monster/feed/ 0 Be Kind Rewind: Movies With Heart and Soul http://www.needcoffee.com/2007/08/11/be-kind-rewind-movies-with-heart-and-soul/ http://www.needcoffee.com/2007/08/11/be-kind-rewind-movies-with-heart-and-soul/#comments Sat, 11 Aug 2007 22:56:11 +0000 Widge http://www.needcoffee.com/2007/08/11/be-kind-rewind-movies-with-heart-and-soul/ Ken just sent me this. Jack Black + Mos Def not in Hitchhiker's Guide + Michel Gondry = gold.

The only other thing I'd like to say is that if Heat Vision and Jack had been greenlighted, we would have realized peace on Earth by now.

Direct link for the feedreaders.


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Be Kind Rewind: Movies With Heart and Soul

]]> http://www.needcoffee.com/2007/08/11/be-kind-rewind-movies-with-heart-and-soul/feed/ 0 Milka Duno: Meet Gearbox From the Speed Racer Movie http://www.needcoffee.com/2007/08/10/milka-duno-gearbox/ http://www.needcoffee.com/2007/08/10/milka-duno-gearbox/#comments Fri, 10 Aug 2007 20:47:02 +0000 Widge http://www.needcoffee.com/2007/08/10/milka-duno-meet-gearbox-from-the-speed-racer-movie/ Milka Duno

Milka Duno, who apparently is a real-life racer (but who drives the #23 CITGO Honda Dallara IndyCar instead of, say, something like the Mach 5), is headed to Berlin to play the role of Gearbox in the live action Speed Racer movie. The Brothers Wachowski are writing and directing, with Joel Silver producing.

It would be uncommonly cruel of me to remind all Speed fans that those three folks were the same people that crushed the hopes of a generation with The Matrix Revolutions, so I will refrain from mentioning that.

Anyway, I have no idea who Gearbox is in the whole pantheon of characters. Maybe a more savvy Speed fan can let me know. It must not be too big a part, though, because she'll be shooting for a week and then returning to the States.


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Milka Duno: Meet Gearbox From the Speed Racer Movie

]]> http://www.needcoffee.com/2007/08/10/milka-duno-gearbox/feed/ 0 Bert Lahr Sings! What, We Have No Idea... http://www.needcoffee.com/2007/07/22/bert-lahr-sings/ http://www.needcoffee.com/2007/07/22/bert-lahr-sings/#comments Sun, 22 Jul 2007 23:27:38 +0000 Widge http://www.needcoffee.com/2007/07/22/bert-lahr-sings-what-we-have-no-idea/ Bert Lahr, who we've mentioned recently, returns for a song that a YouTube commenter rightfully called "Rex Harrison on pot."

Actually, this is yet another example of what it's like to be inside my head. On a quiet day. Yes, including the trumpet solo.

Direct link for the feedreaders.

Found via Mark Evanier.

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Bert Lahr Sings! What, We Have No Idea...

]]> http://www.needcoffee.com/2007/07/22/bert-lahr-sings/feed/ 0 Stacy: A Story of Coming of Age and Then Promptly Becoming Undead http://www.needcoffee.com/2007/07/19/stacy-a-story-of-coming-of-age-and-then-promptly-becoming-undead/ http://www.needcoffee.com/2007/07/19/stacy-a-story-of-coming-of-age-and-then-promptly-becoming-undead/#comments Fri, 20 Jul 2007 01:16:17 +0000 Widge http://www.needcoffee.com/2007/07/19/stacy-a-story-of-coming-of-age-and-then-promptly-becoming-undead/ To quote the immortal philosopher John Hartigan, "There's wrong and there's wrong and there's this."

This is three steps away from being a live action version of Sailor Moon if it had been adapted by Robert Kirkman. You know this, don't you?

Direct link for the feedreaders.

Found via Ectoplasmosis.


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Stacy: A Story of Coming of Age and Then Promptly Becoming Undead

]]> http://www.needcoffee.com/2007/07/19/stacy-a-story-of-coming-of-age-and-then-promptly-becoming-undead/feed/ 0 Bela Lugosi's Dracula: He Bids You Welcome http://www.needcoffee.com/2007/07/14/bela-lugosi-dracula/ http://www.needcoffee.com/2007/07/14/bela-lugosi-dracula/#comments Sat, 14 Jul 2007 22:44:03 +0000 Widge http://www.needcoffee.com/2007/07/14/bela-lugosis-dracula-he-bids-you-welcome/ Yes, another full movie: but considering it's Dracula, how can I resist?

As great as Lugosi's Dracula is, for me I'm fascinated by Dwight Frye's Renfield. Having watched Frye and also Tom Waits in that deplorable Coppola version of the story, it seems like Renfield's got to be the most fun to play.

Direct link for the feedreaders.

Found via VideoSift.

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Bela Lugosi's Dracula: He Bids You Welcome

]]> http://www.needcoffee.com/2007/07/14/bela-lugosi-dracula/feed/ 0 10,000 B.C.: Dindrane Will Be Rooting For the Tigers http://www.needcoffee.com/2007/07/12/10000-bc-dindrane-will-be-rooting-for-the-tigers/ http://www.needcoffee.com/2007/07/12/10000-bc-dindrane-will-be-rooting-for-the-tigers/#comments Fri, 13 Jul 2007 03:45:54 +0000 Widge http://www.needcoffee.com/2007/07/12/10000-bc-dindrane-will-be-rooting-for-the-tigers/

Son of a BITCH. See what happens when Hollywood gets ahold of a comic strip? Johnny Hart is in the afterlife, totally pissed off. And that dude looks nothing like Thor! I mean...

Wait...what?

Oh. Sorry. Never mind.

Direct link for the feedreaders.

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10,000 B.C.: Dindrane Will Be Rooting For the Tigers

]]> http://www.needcoffee.com/2007/07/12/10000-bc-dindrane-will-be-rooting-for-the-tigers/feed/ 0 The Crossover We're Dying to See http://www.needcoffee.com/2007/07/10/harry-potter-vs-evil-dead/ http://www.needcoffee.com/2007/07/10/harry-potter-vs-evil-dead/#comments Tue, 10 Jul 2007 15:14:35 +0000 Widge http://www.needcoffee.com/2007/07/10/the-crossover-were-dying-to-see/
Harry Potter vs. The Evil Dead

SNAPE. Are all time-hopping muggles loud-mouthed braggarts?

ASH. Nope. Just me, baby. Just me.

Well, Ash has already crossed over with Marvel. You know you want it.

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The Crossover We're Dying to See

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