Niki N. Phaser » movie

“Almost Alice” Goodies

Niki N. Phaser — Wed, 13 Jan 2010 13:51:53 +0000

The full tracklisting of Alice in Wonderland‘s soundtrack has been revealed and it seems it will not be just one song and the compulsory Danny Elfman score. Almost Alice will feature an impressive array of indie/alternative goodies and will be out in stores in March. The first confirmed track was the Pete Wentz/Mark Hoppus collaboration, In Transit, but now, it’s obvious that the selection range has widened.

Avril Lavigne’s Alice (Underground) will be the first single from the album, with a video coming in February. Tim Burton’s lifeline in his early days, Robert Smith, is also an interesting surprise — he will be covering the classic Very Good Advice, with Franz Ferdinand adding to the Brit procent with The Lobster Quadrille. Interesting newcomer, Kerli will contribute with two pieces, one alone, one with Tokio Hotel. Owl City will pour some of his electro innocence in the mix, while harder sounds will most likely be provided by Wolfmother and Shinedown. All Time Low, Motion City Soundtrack, Metro Station and The All-American Rejects will also feature. Full tracklisting HERE.

Lemmy Gets His Own Movie

Niki N. Phaser — Thu, 07 Jan 2010 15:48:06 +0000

Heavy-metal icon, Lemmy Kilmister, the frontman of Motorhead and the genuine poster boy of true rock’n'roll living is the subject of a new documentary, hitting the festival circuit soon. The movie is titled Lemmy and it is directed by Wes Orshoski and Greg Olliver, who spent a period of roughly three years with the legendary rocker, following him through numerous gigs with Motorhead, as well as in more peaceful and intimate moments.

Important names, like Dave Grohl, Alice Cooper, Slash, Ozzy Osbourne and plenty more (actor Billy Bob Thorton, wrestler Triple H), make appearances in the film, confessing their admiration for the ‘ace of spades’ of heavy metal and sharing funny stories, as expected. Hopefully, there’ll be more to the documentary than a dithyrambic portrait of the bassist, but also a bit of an analysis of the true consequences of a compromise-free rock’n'roll life, Lemmy’s being one for sure.

TRAILER

A Cute Smile Has Faded

Niki N. Phaser — Mon, 21 Dec 2009 14:48:52 +0000

It’s always a shock when someone young dies and it was an even greater one yesterday, when it was announced that young actress Brittany Murphy has passed away. She was 32. If you wonder why this ‘preferential treatment’ shock-wise, it’s because whenever I would hear her name, her big childish smile would flash before my eyes. And now, if I think about, that probably woun’t change. Girl, Interrupted is the first movie that I remember her from because, though a supporting character, she really made you believe that her character had a story even more interesting than that of the main character. The last movie I saw her in was The Ramen Girl, a unique kind of a cooking movie, where she was this lost American in Japan, who finds a brand new way of giving meaning to her life… We can only say ‘thank you, Brittany’ for adding something to our lives.

The Ramen Girl Interrupted

‘When You’re Strange’ New Documentary About The Doors

Niki N. Phaser — Sun, 06 Dec 2009 13:34:40 +0000

A new documentary about The Doors is about to hatch out of its festival-circuit shell. When You’re Strange was written and directed by indie veteran Tom DiCillo and has been seen at some of the major festivals, but is still awaiting general release. Contracts for France, Britain, Australia, Canada, Japan and Germany have been completed, so if you live there… lucky you. The movie documents the period between 1965 and 1971 and uses ONLY real footage (no reenactments), including never seen before material. There’s stuff from the studio, from gigs, a lot from their personal lives (for example, I’d never have imagined Jim Morrisson driving). When You’re Strange has the endorsement of the remaining members of The Doors, who weren’t too happy with Oliver Stone’s version. But bands never are, so don’t give too much thought to it.

Trailer

Say Anything turns 20

Niki N. Phaser — Fri, 30 Oct 2009 12:26:19 +0000

Cameron Crowe’s teen classic, Say Anything… is turning 20 this year (to continue our string of anniversaries). To mark the occasion, the film is being (re)released on Blu-Ray and DVD, of course and we all know that it’s not Cameron’s style to offer us something without any bonuses. This new edition will come with all the extra material you would want and some of it, available for the first time. For those of you who are not familiar with the movie (do you still exist?) it will be a good chance to get acquainted with the quintessential teen romantic comedy of the 80′s. For those of us who are already hooked on lines like “Bitches, man!” or “I gave her my heart and she gave me a pen”, this will be an opportunity to go even deeper in the genesis of this feel-good classic, that even inspired the name of the band Say Anything, as well as creating some of the most circulated clichés in the world of romantic comedy — the boombox pose is a pop icon, no doubt about it. But, then again, Cameron Crowe’s movies were always sources of pop culture iconography, whether is visual or just verbal. And to paraphrase (again) the film’s tagline, “To know Cameron Crowe is to love Cameron Crowe’s movies”.

Say Anything… TRAILER

Happy Birthday, Fight Club !

Niki N. Phaser — Thu, 15 Oct 2009 20:25:57 +0000

Well, believe it or not, it is ten years since Fight Club had its official premiere. Yes, October the 15th, 1999 A.D., the day when this odd thriller and dark “should I laugh” comedy has been unleashed upon us, naive victims. Since then, it had a good life, with no downs, just ups. It became the most likely movie to be called this/that generation’s manifesto. It also garnered an army of fans, some of them so ridiculously obsessed with this movie, that they know when it had its premiere and they write “Happy Birthday, Fight Club!” articles on their sites.

A New Pop Icon ?

Niki N. Phaser — Fri, 31 Jul 2009 17:09:51 +0000

Even before the release of The Dark Knight and, if I remember correctly, even before the death of Heath Ledger, there was a lot of buzz about his performance as Batman’s nemesis, The Joker. The shock of his untimely death, mixed with that buzz, created a suited environment for the birth of something… well, mythical, Hollywood style. When the movie came out, there was no disappointment, Ledger’s performance was as cool as everyone expected, even more. He received the entire package of acting awards and a new movie legend was born.

But since then, The Joker’s Glasgow grin has become a bit of a pop culture icon, finding itself on plenty of pop art items. I am not talking about Heath Ledger, who might or might not become the James Dean of our generation, but solely about his Joker, who makes Jack’s Joker a Joke… (some pun intended). Not only do we see his face on T-shirts and other clothing, but it actually became a hip thing to wear Joker-type make-up, on special occasions, like weddings and funerals… just kidding, but you do see plenty of Joker faces at concerts or clubs or whatnot. Youtube is filled with “Joker make-up tutorials”.

This face of evil might just become the next big thing in iconic pop images. Take down your Don Corleone and Scarface posters, replace them with the “Why so serious ?” series. Tatoo artists, start practicing Heath Ledger’s face lines. Pretty soon, it will become one of those images that few will remember where it came from, but they’ll know it’s cool to sport it. And the truth is, it is cool. I’m hesitant in claiming that it will equal the Che mania, but there will be a few bands in the future that will reference some of Joker’s lines, some parodies very soon, Halloween masks, the make-up craze will hit the mainstream and you’ll see a buch of pop stars all looking like pretty sexy versions of The Joker doing machine-gun moves and wetting their lips after every word. Just keep an eye on the process to see it unfolding step by step in front of us… And if I’m wrong I’ll probably delete this post, so no one will know…

SEE THE SIGN OF THE COMING

Strike One, Joseph Gordon-Levitt

Niki N. Phaser — Mon, 20 Jul 2009 21:36:31 +0000

Sometimes, actors are just cast in the wrong role. It’s not all their fault, it’s also their agents, the director, the producer, whatever. We, as audience, shouldn’t care about these things, but if the final product is affected, then we start blaming the actor. And that’s pretty much what I’m doing here. Killshot, the John Madden (Shakespeare in Love) take on an Elmore Leonard novel, was an ok movie, despite being criticized for more than one thing. What was a real turn off with this one is Joseph Gordon-Levitt’s performance as a psycho hillbilly criminal. The constantly raised eyebrow, the unconvincing diabolical grin, the loudness and his lines (not his fault) made Gordon-Levitt seem more like a Jim Carrey SNL parody of the Billy Joe’s and Bobby Ray’s from Chuck Norris movies from the 80′s. It just didn’t work, it was fake — acting that you see is acting. Sorry, Joseph. The point of this article is not to diss this actor. I wouldn’t have written this, if I hadn’t been impressed by some of the other work done by Joseph Gordon-Levitt, like The Lookout, Brick (an interesting movie that needed a bit more South Park humour) or, what I consider his best so far, Mysterious Skin. The new (500) Days of Summer also seems promising.

WATCH THE TRAILER FOR Killshot WATCH THE TRAILER FOR (500) Days of Summer

That’s Enough, Michael !

Niki N. Phaser — Sun, 12 Jul 2009 14:48:37 +0000

Everyone is buzzing about the new Johnny Depp movie, Public Enemies, either because it’s “the new Johnny Depp movie” or because it’s about bank robbers in a time when banks are not too popular , but we have to remember that this is also the new Michael Mann movie and, what some of us feared, happened. He went all the way with his experimental digital shooting and filmed Public Enemies in high-definition video. There were signs predicting this, like the exteriors from Collateral and also a lot of Miami Vice. Maybe he thinks this method adds to the movie’s realism or whatever and it didn’t hurt that much with the two films, previously mentioned, but Public Enemies is a period piece and this kind of photography makes it look some wannabe documentary from Discovery. With all the great actors and French beauties in it, you expect at any moment some male voice with a British accent to come in saying “John Herbert Dillinger was born… “. It’s just a shame. This kind of photography goes for indie movies about disfunctional families and whatnot and for documentaries, cases where you don’t have the money, but I doubt Mann couldn’t afford some 35 mm. What’s next: Braveheart on DV?

RZA’s obsession with kung-fu reaches new level

Niki N. Phaser — Fri, 26 Jun 2009 17:06:23 +0000

Hip-hop master RZA, the brain behind Wu-Tang Clan’s beats, is going one step further with his by-now legendary obsession with old martial arts movies. He plans to make his directorial debut with a movie entitled The Man with the Iron Fist, which has been on his mind for years. The screenplay is written by the rapper himself, but not to worry, Sonny Chiba fans, if there is anyone with his homework done in the field of kung-fu movies, it’s RZA. More experienced help will be offered by Eli Roth, author of the Hostel movies, who will be producing and is very siked about the project. RZA is also said to have been studying the art of film directing while working with Quentin Tarantino. The rapper provided some of the score of Kill Bill, but if you are really interested in what this man is able to create, I recommend the Ghost Dog soundtrack. It’s a classic. The film promises to be really bloody, but we musn’t expect something tarantinesque, since the debutant director is a strongly-visioned artist, who, no doubt, has his own ideas about how a neo-kung-fu movie should look like. This might just become the next cult classic (at least, soundtrack-wise), whose poster will hang on every cool kid’s wall. OS !