Cinematical

Self-serious superstar Tom Cruise pops up (nearly unrecognizably) in a supporting role in Ben Stiller's new comedy Tropic Thunder. Not much has been made of the performance in the press, but I for one think it represents a brilliant new land of opportunity for Mr. Cruise. Nothing makes a guy 'accessible' like a foul-mouthed and very funny performance in a surprisingly good comedy -- and all of those things apply here. I've always been pretty ambivalent about Tom Cruise -- I think he's an underrated actor and an overrated movie star -- but this is the first time he really "amazed" me since his shockingly raunchy (and quite excellent) performance in Paul Thomas Anderson's Magnolia.

At first I didn't even recognize Cruise in the film. I'd heard it mentioned that the actor had a supporting part in the flick, but I suppose I'd forgotten about it. When Cruise's character (a sleazy studio head called Les Grossman) first appeared on-screen, I was just sure it was a character actor named Enrico Colantoni. Not only because of the shocking resemblance -- but mainly because the guy playing the studio chief is drop-dead freakin' hilarious. The fact that I mistook Tom Cruise for Enrico Colantoni is a rather large compliment -- to Tom Cruise.

Coated with a bald-cap, a fat suit, and a thicket of wiry arm hair, Cruise powers through his scenes (mostly with Bill Hader and Matthew McConaughey) with tons of vulgarity, strangeness, and dancing. Yes, dancing. Frankly we've never seen Tom Cruise let his hair down in this wacky a fashion, and I'd like to thank Ben Stiller for making it happen. (When he's just an actor, Stiller's output can be distressingly inconsistent, but as a writer / director he's simply a lot more reliable. And infinitely funnier.)

So that's the discussion point for today: What did you think of Tom Cruise's work in Tropic Thunder? I'd see the flick again just for his X-rated telephone tirades. Bonus Topic: As amusing is he is, Cruise isn't even the funniest guy in the flick. That honor would go to Robert Downey Jr., who has earned himself one stellar summer of redemption. Good for you, Rob!

Ah yes, Charles Kaufman's Mother's Day. A fine vintage of 1980 sleazoid cheese that was absolutely one of the "dare you to watch it" horror flicks from my childhood. (My friends had such an aversion to explicit gore. What kind of twelve-year-olds was I pals with?) The Drano scene. The TV smash. The filthy mess, the incessant slobbering, the omnipresent threat of grungy rape. Such fun. It was actually one of Troma's earlier efforts, back when they made bad flicks by accident instead of on purpose. But there's no denying that Mother's Day is a sick and twisted little puppy, and a flick that any serious horror fan should definitely check out...

Especially because Brett Ratner wants to do a remake!! Whaaaaat? Yes. According to Shock, Ratner will produce and Saw-maker Darren Lynn Bousman is quite interested in the director's chair. And feel free to toss writer / producer Franck Khalfoun into this crazy mix. (He did that P2 flick with Alex Aja last year, and apparently has a remake of Silent Night Deadly Night in the works.) Details are slim at this early stage, but to be honest ... my opinion of Brett Ratner just raised a few points. Who knew he was a fan of such awesome crap?

A few weeks back we learned that flicks such as Jack Brooks: Monster Slayer, Let the Right One In, The Tingler and Eagle Eye would be playing at the fourth annual Fantastic Fest in Austin -- and now we have batch number two! (And if you're wondering why I give a little genre fest so much blog-love, all I'll say is "I guess you had to be there." But that phrase could easily translate into the present-tense "I guess you have to go there," if you catch my meaning.)

If you attend this year's event, you'll not only get to mock me -- to my face! -- at the infamous Fantastic Feud, but you'll also be able to catch movies like Acolytes, Wicked Lake, JCVD, Surveillance, Deadgirl, Santos, and Feast 2: Sloppy Seconds! Plus one of this year's themes is a very fun one: That of indie Australian cinema, especially stuff from the '70s and '80s. Of particular note in this department is the new doco Not Quite Hollywood, which looks to be sixteen flavors of Aussie insanity. Full press release on the newly-added features is available after the jump, but for a lot more information (including all the short films!), check out the Fantastic Fest website.

Ah yes, Sleepaway Camp. That ending still packs one wacky punch, doesn't it? Yeah. So here's a quick history lesson:

1983 -- Robert Hiltzik unleashes Sleepaway Camp unto the world. Ten of thousands of creeped-out teenagers can't stop talking about the ending.

1988 & 1989 -- One Michael A. Simpson delivered a pair of back-to-back video sequels: Sleepaway Camp 2: Unhappy Campers and Sleepaway Camp 3: Teenage Wasteland. Both are notable for their vicious violence, their goofy gore, and their lead actress, who happens to be Bruce Springsteen's little sister. I forget which movie had the "outhouse leeches" murder, but good lord was that scene disgusting.

2002 -- Anchor Bay releases the trilogy in a box set that ends up censored by the Red Cross. Included in the set is footage from an unfinished sequel called Sleepaway Camp 4: The Survivor.

Which bring us up to speed. We've been been hearing word for quite some time now that Hiltzik was working on a Part 4, and now we not only have a release date, but (courtesy of Shock) we also have a DVD cover (and a trailer) to look at. Vincent Pastore and Isaac Hayes star in the inevitably sticky slasher sequel, and the DVD will hit the shelves (on October 14) by way of Magnolia's new Magnet genre division. And you just gotta love that tag-line: "Kids can be so mean!"

(No, I'm not stoned. It's just that Pineapple Express opens today (8/6), but my review was published over a week ago. This reprint is brought to you by Cinematical's Recycling Division. We care about wasted bandwidth.)

I won't get into the precise reasons, but my friends always seem to think I'm going to LOVE the next big "pot comedy." They chuckle and assume such silly things despite the fact that the only real pothead comedies that I truly enjoy are Up in Smoke, Next Movie, and a large portion of the Harold & Kumar misadventures. Frankly I'm of the opinion that most pot comedies feel like they were written by someone very stoned, and let's just say that writers don't always do their best work when they're extra-baked. (They might THINK their stuff is hilarious, but usually it's not. That's just the weed talking.) Oh, you'll definitely find a few cannabis-caked giggles in Half-Baked, Grandma's Boy, and Smiley Face -- just not enough to sustain a whole movie, if it's me you're asking.

So it is with much pleasure, enthusiasm, and recently-applied Visine that I offer you Pineapple Express, which just may be the Casablanca of Pot Comedies. Or perhaps it's more like When Ultra-High Harry Met Super-Stoned Sally, but either way Pineapple Express showcases some of the funniest "weed culture" insights since the arrival of Richard Linklater's fantastic Dazed & Confused -- which I wouldn't call a full-bore "pot comedy," but it sure isn't shy about passing those joints around. Best of all, while Pineapple Express will absolutely appeal to both the casual and committed pot-smokers, it's also just a very funny buddy comedy / action flick parody that comes bearing the very unique stamp of director David Gordon Green.

First, the obvious news: There will soon be a third live-action Scooby-Doo movie.

Now, three additional pieces of bad news:

1. It will be a direct-to-video production from Warner Premiere, which means we can probably expect it to be the kids' version of Lost Boys: The Tribe -- and I don't know any kids who deserve that sort of punishment.

2. It will be a prequel called Scooby Doo: The Beginning. Because the world just has to know how a normal dog becomes a pot-smoking food addict who can solve crimes and TALK.

3. The film will be directed by Brian Levant, who I'm sure is a very decent person, but just look at the films he's directed: Jingle All the Way, Problem Child 2, Snow Dogs, The Flintstones 2, and Are We There Yet? So ... yeah, I guess if WB is intent on going forward with this flick, they've found the right man for the job. The screenplay comes from a pair of brothers who are also turning the video game Spyro into a movie -- plus they just penned a film called Gym Teacher: The Movie.

According to Variety, Scooby Doo: The Beginning will premiere on DVD and Cartoon Network in late in 2009. (A live-action movie premiering on Cartoon Network? That's just crazy!) The IMDb has an early cast list up, but it could be erroneous at this early date -- but since I don't know who these actors are, I guess it doesn't really matter.

What is the appropriate reaction to have when a movie you love, adore, and cherish is somehow ... improved? I know, it's a strange feeling. I happen to think my all-time favorite film (A L I E N) is much better in its theatrical version than in its extended -- but where Aliens is concerned, I much prefer the longer version! It's something you have to approach on a case-by-case basis, of course, and it's the sort of movie-nerd activity that should be attempted only by those with a lot of free time -- or someone who gets paid to write about this sort of stuff. (Fortunately I am both.)

So it was with MUCH enthusiasm that I sat down with the brand-new Director's Cut of Dark City, a film that I absolutely love a whole lot -- and I know I'm not nearly alone when I say that. Like many of the finest sci-fi films, Dark City was pretty much overlooked for a good long while -- put once it hit DVD and heavy rotation on the cable channels, the sci-fi freaks found a film worth watching and re-watching, to say nothing of analyzing, deconstructing, and debating. And so I happily continue that trend by explaining what the fans will find in New Line's very impressive new Dark City package...

When the brilliant French horror flick Inside went straight to DVD, I thought "Well, yeah. It's hardcore horror and it's in French. It probably scared the arthouses and it would never play multiplexes. Bring on the DVD already." When I heard that the very awesome [REC] was going directly to home video, I thought "Yeah, Sony did an English-language remake, so no big shock there." But when I heard that Gregg Bishop's Dance of the Dead was not only going straight to video -- but it was also being released alongside seven other horror titles on the same damn day -- I got just a little bit irritated.

I mean no disrespect to the fine folks at Lionsgate, because they spend a lot more money on horror movies than I do (and I spend a lot), but Dance of the Dead is a whole lot better than just another "DVD drop" flick -- and it sure as hell doesn't deserve to be released buried next to seven other titles. The flick's all but guaranteed to earn a cult following in only a few years time (trust me, it will) -- so why shouldn't Lionsgate get the ball rolling now and give it some sort of miniature theatrical push? You market this movie to the teenagers well enough, and I'd bet it turns a tidy profit. You can thank me later.

You know how all the horror geeks get extra-nervous when someone starts talking about a remake of John Carpenter's The Thing -- despite the fact that (as awesome as it is, and boy is it awesome) it itself is a remake! Doesn't that create some sort of retroactive mega-paradox: That if a REMAKE is that damn good, doesn't it stand as final proof that remakes ARE good?? In theory, anyway. I'm not talking about freakin' Prom Night here.

Anyway, it looks like some loyal monster fans took the job into their own hands, and have thus created their own rendition of The Thing ... using only G.I. Joe action figures. It's really nifty, and the music is pretty cool too.



[ Thanks to CHUD.com for the heads-up. ]

Monster movie fans may remember Ryan Schifrin from that Abominable flick he made a few years back. (That's not me knocking the film. It's really called Abominable. And it's pretty good, actually.) But while the wheels continue to turn (fairly slowly) on a sequel to that movie, Schifrin has been busy (with collaborator Larry Hama) on a comic book series called Spooks.

Perhaps aptly described as "Hellboy vs. The Monster Squad meets G.I. Joe," Spooks deals with an elite squad of government soldiers who are called in to battle against the underworld's darkest foes. (And by underworld, I don't mean mafia. I mean hell.) The squad's toughness is put to the test when a super-nasty vampire teams up with a mega-powerful witch -- and they promptly unleash monumental mayhem on Washington D.C.

Producer Barry Josephson has taken a liking to the property, and it looks like he's about to head out and talk to a few screenwriters. Sounds like the Spooks flick might be a little ways off, so feel free to spend some of that free time perusing the source material. And check out Shock for a few more of the early details.