Filmadelphia

Is Sam Raimi trying to make me look like an idiot?

filmadelphiablog@gmail.com (filmadelphia) — Fri, 27 Mar 2009 17:41:00 +0000

Late last year I had the oppertunity to interview Bruce Campbell (which you can listen to here, or read right over here). During the interview, I asked Bruce if there had been any development on the Evil Dead 4 front, since Sam Raimi, the initial trilogy's creator, had announced he and Bruce had been talking about a fourth film. Bruce told me he and Sam were both so busy on upcoming projects (a new directing gig for Campbell, and the Spider-man sequels for Raimi) that it most likely wouldn't happen, at least not for a while. So after I interviewed Bruce, I immidiately posted an update on Evil Dead 4 claiming it wouldn't be happening.

Well goddamn you Sam Raimi, stop trying to make me look like a fool! Cinematical reported today that Raimi, talking to Empire Magazine, revealed that he and his brother Ivan are already at work on a script for Evil Dead 4! This is exciting news, but don't get too excited. So far there are seven pages, and it sounds like they're just notes about what they'd like to do with Ash this time around, where they'd like the story to go. But either way, thanks for breakin my balls Sam.

Where the Wild Things Are gets a Fantastic Trailer!

filmadelphiablog@gmail.com (filmadelphia) — Wed, 25 Mar 2009 17:34:00 +0000

It's here folks! (and it was enough to bring me back to the blogs!) I've been waiting for the trailer for Where the Wild Things Are, Spike Jonze's return to film and adaptation of one of my favorite children's books by Maurice Sendak, for months now. Based on what I see here, this movie is somehow going to exceed my expectations. And the Arcade Fire! What a perfect choice! The only thing that could make this better for me would be a theater full of children crying their eyes out (oh wait, that's right, Jonze had to recut the movie a whole bunch just to prevent this from happening). Regardless of whatever problems Jonze might've had getting this just right, it looks like he did indeed get it just right. Thanks to cinematical for finding this!

Arranging Your DVDs/Picking Your Favorites...

filmadelphiablog@gmail.com (filmadelphia) — Fri, 09 Jan 2009 22:20:00 +0000

So in the past 6 months since I moved to Philly my DVD collection has become a bit scattered throughout the livingroom. I am thinking tonight that I will try to arrange them and get them back into a managable order. Back when I was living with my parents I had a somewhat unique way of filing my DVDs that really only I understood. It was arranged based upon genres and directors or stars. There was a couple movie streak in the comedy section for Ben Stiller which morphed into Will Ferrell and then Jack Black with all such interrelated comedies. While I thought it to be quite efficient it left some stuff up for interpretation. I liked seeing all my Wes Anderson and Charlie Kaufman films together. However tonight I think for the first time I may alphabetize my collection.

There are still a few problems I face and may have to wait to rectify until I move out around June sometime and get a smaller place with my best friend Carl (nothing gay, I'm sure we'll both be trying our hardest to sex up the ladies... which is sure to end in failure). I have a small dvd rack for which I have recently only used for my single dvds and not my box sets. Should I encorperate the box sets into the over collection or should I make a seperate section to alphabetize? Also there the problem of what to do when I purchase more! Not everything fits on that tiny rack, and as soon as I get another movie that starts with "A" I have to move everything one over! All this headache on the top of the fact that now I'm getting blu rays so should they have their own section too? My heart tells me yes, but my head tells me no. I think it's best to follow your heart, so they will get their own section.

Ever since I worked all summer and saved up to get my first dvd player I have worked diligently to expand my collection of dvds. Since that time I have become a sort of Netflix to my friends. I still have a handful of DVDs I have not seen in months, not to mention whoever the little bastard was who took my Lolita dvd from my Stanly Kubrick Collection before I ever got to watch it! One day I will have my vengence... It's difficult being the man with the dvds, the human IMDB. Yeah, life is real tough.

This leads me to my next major life crisis, how the heck do I finally narrow down my top 10 favorite movies of all time!? Since 2008 ended all I see is top ten lists for the year, which mnaturally makes me think to myself, "Tommy, what are your favorite movies, not just of this year, but every year as far as years go back?" I know I have always said Star Wars was my favorite movie, but then where do I rank Jurassic Park, the movie that made me first fall in love with movies? And where do all these other films I have claimed to be my top favorites rank? Garden State? The Graduate? Eternal Sunshine? Clockwork Orange? Rushmore? There are still so many more I love so much. I feel as though the only way for me to rank my favorites is to put them into genres, my top favorite blockbusters, indies, sci fi, romantic comedies... errrr... action movies... You feel me?

Okay, that's enough ranting today. What do you think? How do you rank your favorite movies or set up your collections?

I Love You Phillip Morris Trailer

filmadelphiablog@gmail.com (filmadelphia) — Sun, 07 Dec 2008 21:43:00 +0000

I'm not sure if this is supposed to be online yet, but here is the French trailer for Jim Carey and Ewen Mcgreggor in "I Love You Phillip Morris."

Weakends Episode 3: Growing Weaker

filmadelphiablog@gmail.com (filmadelphia) — Sun, 23 Nov 2008 23:16:00 +0000

Sorry for all the freakin delays with this. I had a shit ton of technical difficulties* when making this. It was actually recorded Wednesday, the 19th. This week Tom gets down and dirty with some upcoming Summer releases before he and G.Rett (myself) get to

The Top 5 Stories for the Weak of 11.14.08 - 11.19.08

5. Little Fockers is in the works

4. Seth Rogen is making porno for Showtime

3. War Monkey's is going to be Crazy!

2. Spike Jonze dishes out some Where The Wild Things Are tidbits

1. New Star Trek Trailer!

As always, you can check out the podcast here, or head direct to the episode in the sidebar. Let us know what you think of the show in the comments. If you have any suggestions or would like to e-mail us some comments, do so at filmadelphiablog [at] gmail.com and we'll be glad to read em on the air!

*if anyone knows where I can get a free GarageBand upgrade for OSX I would much appreciate it. Right now it only lets me edit up to 30 minutes of sound.

The /filmcast listens to Weakends!

filmadelphiablog@gmail.com (filmadelphia) — Wed, 19 Nov 2008 21:28:00 +0000

It's true. Don't believe me? Check out their latest episode and listen up for their discussion of the recent announcement that Ridley Scott will be directing Monopoly. That's right a movie based on the board game. So this is a board movie? Or shall we say a bored movie? Cause that's what I imagine.

Anyhow, we're obviously big fans of the /filmcast. (We even tried to steal their podcast format like a couple of Silicone Valley pirates!) Some of you might remember that over the summer I would post a weekly request to be on their show right here, but I doubt we were on their radar at that point. That being said, we'd like to give a big thank you and huge shout out to Dave, Devindra, and Adam for throwin some publicity our way. Every little bit counts. And we'd still love to be on the show!

Check out the /filmcast, broadcasting live every Monday at 9pm eastern!

Weakends Episode 2: A New Format

filmadelphiablog@gmail.com (filmadelphia) — Fri, 14 Nov 2008 22:05:00 +0000

Filmadelphia is finally trying to get on the ball! Since we've found ourselves far too busy to update the ol blog throughout the week, we've changed the format of Weakends a little bit. Instead of blatantly ripping off the /filmcast, we've decided to do our Top 5 Stories of the Weak. We round up all the news for the week and pick our top five and talk about em! Sounds exciting right? It gets even better, G.Rett and Tom have finally decided on a schedule and should actually be updating every Friday! (Maybe Thursday, any opinions on that?)

Also, we haven't given up on the blog. Although Tom is far too lazy, G.Rett is still going to try and make an effort to put some posts up throughout the week. Have no fear, filmadelphia is going to return in a big way with Weakends.

Check out the new episode right now!

Let us know what you think of the new format in the comments!

Show Notes:

Top 5 News Stories for the Weak of 11.7.08 - 11.13.08

5. Baz Luhrmann on the ending of Australia
4. Joe Johnston is directing The First Avenger: Captain America
3. Jeffrey Tambor says the Arrested Development movie is a go
2. Ridley Scott is directing Monopoly
1. The new Watchmen trailer

The Kevin Bacon Movie Club!

filmadelphiablog@gmail.com (filmadelphia) — Thu, 13 Nov 2008 22:00:00 +0000

Please watch this. If you thought playing 6 degrees of Kevin Bacon with your friends made for some hilarity (as well as odd movie connections), then your head is about explode. Dig it.

See more Kevin Bacon videos at Funny or Die

Kevin Smith @ Batman: Cacophony Signing

filmadelphiablog@gmail.com (filmadelphia) — Mon, 10 Nov 2008 21:51:00 +0000

On Saturday, November 8, I drove out to Jay and Silent Bob's Secret Stash in Red Bank, NJ for the Batman: Cacophony signing with writer Kevin Smith and artist Walt Flanagan. First of all, I had a blast despite the fact that it rained most of the afternoon. Many of the other attendees were members of Smith's infamous message board (shout outs to the guys I stood in line with!) and had attended his Q&A the night before.

The line extended around the block, although the people I was standing with told me it seemed like a pretty short line compared to the previous signings they'd been to at the Stash. I got to meet a bunch of really cool people from Smith's board, including two dudes who take the Askewniverse very seriously:

Apparently at the Q&A the night before, Kevin tried to convince a couple in the audience to head to the hotel after the night was over and get to fuckin'. They arrived at the signing late in the afternoon, pulling up as if they were celebrities. I'm telling you right now that goofy lookin dude didn't get laid the night before, but the two of them ate up the attention. Here's the supposed seductress competing with our devoted duo:

While in line I also had the chance to meet Cohee Lundin, the fingercuffs guy himself, John Willyung who was running the door all afternoon. In a somewhat hilarious turn of events, I also got to witness John try and turn the VP of DC Comics away from the store.

Smith was extremely gracious to his fans who waited all day in line, giving each person a few minutes of his time for conversation and book signings. He seemed quite disappointed with the Zack and Miri box office, but hopeful that it would have a strong life in theaters.

It was a great day all in all. I recommend you take the time to head out to his store as Red Bank is a beautiful little town, and the store really is quite awesome. Leave some comments!

Bruce Campbell Interview: Full Text

filmadelphiablog@gmail.com (filmadelphia) — Mon, 03 Nov 2008 20:57:00 +0000

Few B-movie actors have been able to acheive mainstream recognition like Bruce Campbell has. Beginning with his starring role as Ash in the The Evil Dead series, Campbell has made a career out of sticking to his guns. His cheesy, low-budget guns. When he wasn't directing and acting in episodes of Hercules: The Legendary Journeys and Xena: Warrior Princess, Campbell was accepting his fate as a B-movie action star and taking parts both big and small in B-classics like Congo and Bubba Ho-Tep.

In preperation for the release of his upcoming film My Name is Bruce which he both directed and starred in, Campbell will be coming to The Ritz Theaters on Nov. 5 to screen the movie and participate in a Q&A session with the audience.

I chatted with Bruce via cell phone about brining his new movie to the big screen, his life long relationship with Evil Dead and Spider-Man director Sam Raimi, and what it was like trying to get a part in a big budget action flick.

G: Bruce, thank you for being here with us and congratulations on the upcoming release of your new film "My Name is Bruce."

B: It was a long time coming.

G: How long have you been working on this film?

B: Two years. That's what happens when you have a television show that you're doing at the same time.

G: Right, you're working on "Burn Notice" right now, correct?

B: Exactly.

G: How did you get hooked up with that show? In research for this, I actually watched the first episode of the first season last night and it was really good. I was really impressed.

B: It's a cool spy show. It came outta nowhere, like a lot of good things do. It just came down the pike, and I hadn't done television in about eight years -- for a reason: TV's kind of a pain in the ass. And I read it, and I liked what it wasn't. It wasn't a cop show, a doctor show, or a lawyer show.

G: Yeah, it's got a really unique feel to it.

B: Yeah, so that's what appealed to me. And we're gonna go back in March for our third season.

G: Yeah that was just recently announced I think, that you guys would be on for another sixteen episodes or so.

B: Correct.

G: Excellent. You sit really well in that TV format. You were really good. So I just watched "My Name is Bruce," and I thought the film was a lot of fun. I especially liked the script, which I believe was written by Mark Verheiden. And he wrote the story for "The Mask" and he's worked on "Battlestar Galactica." It's a really witty script, full of a lot of references to your previous work as well as other genre movies, and I was wondering if you were involved at all with the writing of the script.

B: I was very involved. I was involved in the original story, to make sure we wanted to tell the same story. And then, after Mark did a couple of drafts, as a filmmaker I took over and then went "Alright, I'm doing one draft just to adjust for the production needs." The reality from going from someones concept to actually shooting it, fitting it and changing it to the locations around it and stuff. Then I did another pass of, just stuff that I wanted to do or say. It was my chance -- you know in a low budget arena, if we don't have money, I want creativity. So it was a nice situation because then I could take it and make it my own from there, and shoot it.

G: Was it always your intention for it to be a low budget film?

B: Well, ya know, here's the reality: Every filmmaker will accept as much as they can get. We can get a low amount of money without any hassle. So, I was happy to take it. You never obviously go "Oh, we can't spend more than this much money."

G: Right. So this is your second feature film, technically. You've done two documentaries before, and some TV. But as far as feature film goes, this is your second. How is this different at all from "The Man with the Screaming Brain?" (Campbell's first film, a Sci-Fi Channel made-for-tv movie I'm not sure if I found the right numbers, but I read somewhere that the budget for "Screaming Brain" was about two mil, and you had 1.5 for "My Name is Bruce?"

B: I actually don't know what the budget for "Screaming Brain" was, because they would never tell me. This is a completely different situation. Like 180 degrees. First of all, I refused to make it out of the country. I went "I'm not gonna shoot in goddamn Bulgaria ever again."

G: You had a lot of great Bulgaria references in the movie too.

B: Look I made something way down in Bulgaria because the Sci-Fi Channel said "You're shooting in Bulgaria." So, you know, I didn't have a whole lot of choice. On this one, Mike Richardson, my producing partner, the guy who put the deal together -- basically he's from Oregon as well. I live in Oregon. Mark Verheiden's from Oregon. We went "Let's make this an Oregon production." And so we did everything in our power to make sure that it happened in the state. And so we got a rebate from the state; they got a production deal going there. Not a great one, but they gave us a little rebate for shooting there. Production wise, it worked out very well. Because for the first time in ten years I could finally sleep in my own bed while making a movie. So I built that town on our property.

G: Yeah, I read in the production notes that you actually used trees from your own back yard to build the town.

B: Yeah, I mean we shot it literally in my backyard. So it was pretty convenient as well.

G: I actually, and maybe it was only because I read those production notes, but I was really impressed with the set design. I thought it looked really good, really real. It was really nice.

B: Well we had to build it big enough, you know? If you built it too small, there were gonna be problems. We got this guy who was a former, kind of back lot guy, and he helped us get the scale right. The trick was finding all the materials. So that was its own kind of joy ride.

G: So getting back to the writing a little bit, you play yourself as a self-absorbed version of yourself. Was that something that was in the script from the beginning, or something you kind of chose to do as you were developing it?

B: Well basically, I'm a big fan of redemptive stories. And in order to have someone -- you know, the character Bruce Campbell is hopefully, by the end of the movie, a little bit less of an asshole. And so, that's the trick, is to give him somewhere to go. If you make him a moron at the beginning, at least you got a journey there. So yeah it was pretty clear to make him almost an unbearable character.

G: Yeah, absolutely. My roommate was actually laughing; he was having trouble watching you. He was like "Is this guy really this much of a dick?" And I was like "I don't think so. I read his book; he seems nice."

B: [chuckles] Well see that's the beauty of it: What this movie's gonna do is it's gonna completely confuse fans, which is part of the fun as far as I'm concerned. You know, there will be people who will think that I do live in a trailer and I feed my dog whiskey. I can't help that.

G: [laughing] Absolutely. So in the film, a teenager requests your help because to him, you embody this heroic persona that fighting off an evil demon requires. And I was just wondering, you've played some really heroic characters throughout your career: Ash in "The Evil Dead," obviously, even the Daring Dragoon in "Jack of All Trades," have you ever been offered a role in a big budget action flick?

B: I tried once. I tried to get in the movie "The Phantom," years ago. Like, whenever, fifteen years ago. And I realized that -- the pursuit of that role had so little to do with acting. It was all about politics, and meeting producers, and casting people, and choosing Joe Dante, the director. It was, I thought it was kind of a disappointing and depressing process. So I went, "No, this isn't really my bag. I just wanna do what I wanna do. I don't wanna fit in somebody else's idea of what my career trajectory should be. So I decided just to keep doing my thing and not get into that world. Cause you know what? If I really -- if I took myself seriously, I'd be doing soap operas.

G: [laughing] Right.

B: So I dunno, I like playing the anti-hero rather than the hero. Cause I think more viewers can relate to an anti-hero, someone who's sort of like them.

G: Do you think maybe that's part of your appeal? I mean in a sense you might be considered an A-list B-movie star, if that makes sense?

B: There ya go. Yeah that's a good term. I haven't heard that one before.

G: Do you think that kind of success has stemmed from playing anti-heroes and accepting the fact that you may be a B-movie star?

B: Uh, yeah. Because I don't really have a problem with it, because I feel that B-movies are kind of where it's at as far as creativity goes. And let's not kid ourselves, all the A-movies are freakin B-movies now. I mean c'mon, if you dress around like a bat and fly around in a place called Gotham City, I got news for ya: That's a B-movie. You get bitten by a radioactive spider, that's a B-movie.

G: Even things like the "Death Race" remake that just came out I feel like is really schlocky.

B: Oh they're all B-movies. But those idiots are making a mistake because they're spending too much money. It's fine to come up with a dumb idea, but don't spend 200 million on it.

G: Right, cause you're just wasting somebodies money.

B: And time, in my opinion. So I dunno, that's why I don't fight the B-movie label. In fact, even in television I do B-television cause I'm on cable. I'm not on, even a network. So I'm just a B-guy all around.

G: That was something that I really liked about your first book, the autobiography "If Chins Kill." I read that when I was really young and it kind of turned me on to the idea of DIY film-making and things like that -- turned me on to the "Evil Dead" movies and stuff. The one story that always sticks with me there is you guys going door to door, asking for money to make your movie. I feel like that is just a really excellent work ethos that could only come out of B-movies.

B: Well you know, I think the trick to success is basically rooted in hard work. Sam Raimi's a very inspired filmmaker, but basically we all just worked really hard on those movies. And it shows.

G: Absolutely. Speaking of the Raimi's, one of my favorite parts of "My Name is Bruce" was Ted Raimi's multiple performances.

B: Oh yeah, I put Ted in my movies to make me look like a better actor.

G: [laughs] He's great. He's so funny. And you know when he first came on screen I knew I recognized him, but I wasn't sure from where. And when I hit the IMDB I realized it was from his performance in the Spider-Man movies as Jameson's lackey.

B: Yeah, Tim and I realized that we've been in about 11 movies together.

G: Just in various roles, not even intentionally, necessarily?

B: Right, and not even in the same scene, but in the same movie.

G: So I was wondering, is the character of the agent that he plays based on a real agent at all?

B: Yes it is. His name Mills Toddner is an abortion of two other names. So yeah, he's based on a real idiot.

G: [laughing] A real idiot? Was he an agent you were forced to work with at some point?

B: No. Mike Richardson and Mark Verheiden that they both had that they thought was just a jerk and an idiot. So they tweaked his name a little bit and put it in there. And you know, that's the beauty of making a movie that is a little close to the truth. That you can do things like: I have a whole sequence outside the sound stage where I talk to those dudes, and I kick the guy in the wheelchair. There are some lines of dialogue in that sequence that are verbatim from real conversations. So what matters is -- in the movie, I get to react to fans how I want to, not like in real life.

G: Yeah, I thought it was hilarious when someone asked you if being on Ellen turned you gay. That was a really big moment for me.

B: Good, you did. I'll tell the guy, I know the actor.

G: [chuckles] Excellent. So, another one of the things that was great about this movie was the cast, which if I understand correctly was a lot of locals from Oregon?

B: They sure were. We did the whole home-spun kinda deal. Because you know, on a low-budget money you don't have a lot of money to bring people in. And I thought, "Doggone it, lets just try and find somebody locally." And Grace Thorson who's in it, she's babealicious in my opinion.

G: Oh absolutely. She was fantastic too.

B: When she showed to audition, I'm like, "Man, where did you come from?" And the kid I thought was good too, Taylor Sharpe. These are people from Medford and Ashland Oregon. You know, they drove their car to work everyday. That was a lot of fun, to be able to find people locally. Cause the local people never had a bad day. They were happy to be on that set all day long.

G: That's great. I thought, especially Dan Hicks and Tim Quill were really funny as "The Couple," as we can call them I suppose.

B: Yeah well that happened on the first day of shooting. They were just sitting next to each other, and I just saw their two grizzled faces of these two kind of rough and tumble guys. It just seemed logical to have them hands at one point. [laughs] We did it as a gag and then we realized then, since that was the first day of shooting, that we officially just made them gay on the spot. And they kinda were like, "Huh?" We're like, "Hey, don't worry about it. It's fine. It'll give your characters identity."

G: I thought the reference to "Broke Back Mountain" was just fantastic.

B: [chuckles]

G: So one of the other things I wanted to talk about is a little aside from your new movie. I really love your cameo at the end of "Darkman."

B: [chuckles]

G: I just bought the trilogy for like $9 the other day, having never seen it before.

B: Nice.

G: I didn't even know there were sequels. But when you showed up at the end, my friends and I -- you know, we were watching the movie and kind of going, "Man, this seems like somethings a little off here." And then you showed up at the end and it was just a total turn around for us on the movie. It was great.

B: [laughs] That I am Darkman.

G: Exactly, the whole time it's been you. One of the things that had me do though was I went back into your book, cause I remembered there was talk about "Darkman" in the book. You talk about how there was a little bit too much studio control with the film, and that was kind of, maybe what turned it into what it became.

B: Oh yeah. I saw a three hour version of that movie; I saw a revenge version of that movie; I saw a love story version of that movie.

G: What do you think was Raimi's initial intention with the movie? Was it the three hour cut? Was it the love story? Where do you think his actual cut would've lie?

B: I think there were a lot of issues throughout. Their original script was something like 150 or 60 pages.

G: Wow, that's long.

B: Which, I have to say, for something that's supposed to be kind of a... kind of like a B-movie, it's supposed to move quickly, and this and that. And what happened is, you know Sam shoots a lot of footage, I think when they finally put it together it literally was three hours. That -- I saw a three hour version. It was pretty cool because it's an intricate plot line. So this guys goes here, Darkman goes here, he takes this guy out, you know -- a lot of it was tied together. And what happened is, when they started to cut the movie down, whole chunks, whole scenes would pop out. You'd watch it again and go, "Where'd that bald guy go?" You know, the characters were sort-of disappearing cause they had to take their death sequences out, for whatever reason. And then they had to go back and re-shoot stuff to make sense out of what no longer made sense. So it was a big, it was a big Mulligan pretty much throughout. But it wound up being a pretty successful movie for Universal, so they were pretty happy.

G: Absolutely. I feel like that movie has taken on a certain cult status as well.

B: It has. It was fun to watch it like a fly on the wall, so I could just watch all the goings on. My favorite scene got cut out by an executive. There were some really interesting things that got cut out.

G: That's sad. I mean, I guess that's what happens when you try to put too much money into a B-movie, as you were saying before.

B: I'll give you a quick example, real quick. The guy who plays the slick developer, Colin Friels. Well after Darkman got blown up at the lab, Julie starts to date him. Cause he's very suave and sophisticated, very nice guy. Which, so she thinks, you know. But the issue is, what happened is then, they didn't cut to an apartment and the developer comes out, just by himself, he's alone at night in his apartment. He comes out, he's just taken a shower, he's just wearing a robe around his waste. He grabs a box and he opens the lid of it and you see a shimmer of gold on his face. He empties the box contents out onto his bed and its gold coins. And then, you cut behind him, and he drops his towel, and he is completely naked, and he dives onto the bed, and he's writhing in the coins. He's making love to money. And then they cut to the next day and she shows up to see him, and now the audience members in their heads are going, "Oh wait, don't go for him. He's a creep. This guys a weirdo." And what happened was, the audience found it to be an uncomfortable scene to watch. And so in the early testing, you know that's one of the things they ask, "Which scene did you like the most or not like?" And that one got mentioned as on that they didn't like because it made them feel uncomfortable. So the executive, instead of heralding the fact that the filmmaker succeeded in making people feel uncomfortable and not like that character, they just made him take it out.

G: Yeah, that's ridiculous.

B: That's the kind of -- that's studio management, and that's why I make low-budget movies because I don't have to deal with any of that crap.

G: Yeah you'll never have to worry. So as we're winding down here, I feel like I have to ask this question: It's been about fifteen years since you guys completed work on "Army of Darkness," and at Comic Con this summer, if I'm reading things correctly, Raimi announced that he had been talking to you about work on a 4th "Evil Dead." Is there anything you can tell me about that?

B: Sam's a funny guy. Yes, I think he did say that. And he does wanna do it. But, you know, he just signed up for another Spider-Man, and those things take two to three years each.

G: Yeah and I hear they might do the next two back-to-back. Which is really gonna hold up his schedule I'm sure.

B: Yeah, so it's kind of like, "Forget it." Look, everybody's well interested in doing it. But it's an attention span. Those movies really take a long time to make, and they're very difficult to make. We're willing to do it when we're sittin around twiddling our thumbs. But, you know, contractually I gotta finish my TV show, and Sam's busy. So that's really just it. We're just busy guys.

G: Right. I had one question about it: If you guys were to make a 4th one, would you stick with the low budgets of the first three or would you maybe go bigger budget now that Sam's a bigger name?

B: Well, because Sam's involved all bets are off. I dunno, I mean try and take his toys away now.

G: [chuckles] Yeah, true.

B: I mean me, personally? I would do hand-held, 16mm with an absolutely no-name cast.

G: Right. Go right back to the original set-up.

B: I would go -- right. And I would just tweak the FX so that you can't see garden hoses and things like that.

G: Right. Just do some post-production.

B: But I would do low-budget FX. As well I would do physical FX. I wouldn't do as much digital stuff.

G: Yeah, absolutely. You know, I think that's what's missing from a lot of modern film-making, is the physical effects. That tends to ruin movies. So real quick, before you have to go, what can we -- what's next for Bruce Campbell?

B: I'm gonna tour for two months. That'll keep my busy for a while. And then I'm gonna take a little break before "Burn Notice," then I'm just going back to "Burn Notice." So I'm hoping to make another movie in the fall of next year.

G: Another movie that you direct?

B: Yeah.

G: Excellent sir. Well we look forward to that. Thanks for your time. We really appreciate talking to you.

B: Thank you, I appreciate it as well.

G: Yeah, it's been great. Good luck with the movie. I hope it gets a good reaction cause I thought it was fantastic.

B: Alright, thank you. I appreciate it.

G: No problem. Have a good one Bruce.

B: Thank you. Bye-bye.

Weakends Has Finally Arrived! Episode 1: An Interview with Bruce Campbell

filmadelphiablog@gmail.com (filmadelphia) — Fri, 31 Oct 2008 02:27:00 +0000

It's finally arrived folks, and just in time for your weekend. The first episode of Weakends! Weakends is filmadelphia's (supposedly) weekendly podcast, that features me and my friend Tom discussing the week in film news.

We're kicking things off with an in-depth interview with Bruce Campbell, star of the Evil Dead series, and director/star of the upcoming My Name is Bruce. His new movie will be here in Philly on Nov. 5, followed by a Q&A with the man himself. The movie is hilarious, and I would absolutely recommend everyone get out and try to get to this screen. The man's a blast to talk to.

Over the course of the interview, we talk about the process of making My Name is Bruce, as well as some of the key players on screen and behind the scenes. We get into a discussion about Darkman, making and starring in B-movies, his television career, and what the deal is with Evil Dead 4.

You can check out the episode here, or over in the side bar. I've also posted the true first episode of the show, that Tom and I recorded back in the summer, after Pineapple Express came out, here, as well as in the side bar. UPDATE: If you'd like to read the text version, click here!

As of right now, due to conflicting schedules, we will air random episodes as we randomly make them. So look forward to more Weakends in the future! (But probably not next weekend.)

Leave us some comments!

Evil Dead 4 Not Happening Any Time Soon

filmadelphiablog@gmail.com (filmadelphia) — Wed, 29 Oct 2008 13:43:00 +0000

By this evening, I will hopefully have posted my interview with Bruce Campbell. This is extremely exciting for me, as it was my first big interview. It went really well, and you guys can hear the whole thing later. But there's one piece of news that I wanted to bring to everyone's attention because I don't think anyone else has official confirmation of this yet, although most people probably assumed it.

Evil Dead 4 is not happening. Not anytime soon anyway. Campbell said that he and Sam Raimi did talk about it, but with Raimi signing on to do direct the Spider-Man sequals (and possibly back to back), there's no way they'll be getting to it any time soon. Campbell still has his commitments to Burn Notice, and is in the early stages of work on the next film he wants to direct. So consider Evil Dead 4 officially, evily, dead. At least for the time being.

As a side note, when I asked if they'd use a bigger budget for Evil Dead 4, now that Sam is a big-time director, he said if it were up to him they'd shoot on 16mm with all unknown actors. This sounds like the way to go to me, but I suppose that's an argument we don't need to have anymore.

I'm not particularly disapointed by this news, as I love the original Evil Dead series, and after-the-fact sequals often ruin their original counterparts. However, after seeing My Name is Bruce, it's obvious that Campbell knows his B movies well, and knows how to craft an interesting story without the luxury of a big budget. Thus, if there were to be another Evil Dead, I think I'd be on board with that. How does everyone else feel?

Great Movies for Under $1(million)!

filmadelphiablog@gmail.com (filmadelphia) — Mon, 27 Oct 2008 21:20:00 +0000

Earlier this month over at Always Watching (shout out to Adam Quigley and the /filmcast!) posted on hell of a list: 25 Fantastic Indie Gems made for less than $1 Million. Some famously cheap movies turn up like Clerks and Bad Taste, but there's quite a few that I didn't realize were so cheap, like Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels and Brick. Also, just about every movie on here is either a favorite of mine, or one of those "I can't believe I still haven't seen that yet!" type movies, so this list is going right in my favorites. Big ups to Eric over at Geekadelphia for knowing what I like and sending this my way.

More Watchmen News (Sorry for the Delay!)

filmadelphiablog@gmail.com (filmadelphia) — Tue, 21 Oct 2008 19:53:00 +0000

I know I had to apologize for this once before, and then I never got back on track like I said I would, but I'd like to apologize again for not updating regularly. I swear to you I'm doing my best, but Philadelphia is just crazy when you're a full-time student holding down your own blog, a position at another blog, a position with the school paper, and an actual part-time job. It barely leaves enough room for me to actually see movies!

Anyhow, I was listening to the (ever present on filmadelphia) /filmcast last night, and then discovered this article this morning. I did not read this article, and I also muted the /filmcast while they were talking about this because I don't want to know, but apparantly Zack Snyder DID change the ending to Watchmen. HOWEVER, whatever it was changed to does not actually change the theme of the book or the point made in the ending, simply the events by which it happens. IE, no squid. If you haven't read the book you probably don't know what I'm talking about (and you should go buy it right now!).

I didn't want to know what it was changed to, as I'd like to be surprised, but Dave Chen assured listeners on the /filmcast last night that it didn't actually change anything except the way in which the ending occurs. For me to continue on would be to reveal too many spoliers, so I'll leave you to /film's article about the ending change if you'd like to know more.

But rest assured Watchmen fans! This will still be excellent. From the preview screening last week came rave reviews, just a few dissenters who were die hard fans that simply don't want to see any element of the book changed at all. While I admit, it does suck that an artist can't adhere to another artists source work for whatever, but in this case it makes sense. The ending of the book is a very comic book ending that comments on the medium of comics. Film is a different medium as they pointed out on the /filmcast last night, and this ending wouldn't work in that medium. Hopefully whatever they changed it to will be a comment on film, and still adhere to the themes, which I'm assured it does.

So again, unless you're one of those whiney fan boys who MUST have everything complete and the same, it sounds like Watchmen is going to astound us. Is anyone truly upset by this news, or does it make sense to you as it does to me? (obviously, I've posted wayyyy too many Watchmen posts, as I'm reduced to pictures like the one you see above)

Buzz (The Dark) Knightyear

filmadelphiablog@gmail.com (filmadelphia) — Mon, 13 Oct 2008 15:22:00 +0000

Check out this awesome trailer mash-up that just turned up over at cinematical. Woody as Joker, Buzz as Batman, and everybody's favorite Potatoe Head as Fox. Oh and Rex is Alfred. Just wait'll you see the Semi scene. Tom was so entertained by this he actually looked over from Freddy's Dead: The Final Nightmare. Check it out above!

So Very Familiar...

filmadelphiablog@gmail.com (filmadelphia) — Fri, 10 Oct 2008 14:49:00 +0000

This happens to me all the time. Thanks to /film to pointing us this way!

Cinematical is watching the Watchmen

filmadelphiablog@gmail.com (filmadelphia) — Tue, 07 Oct 2008 16:38:00 +0000

Erik Davis over at cinematical got a chance to peep twelve minutes of Watchmen at a special screening set up by Snyder last night. Dave Gibbons, the artist on the book, was also in attendance. Check out the article to hear about the footage (which sounds amazing) and the Q&A that followed.

Interesting to note: Kevin Smith was quoted as saying there were two changes in the film, one major and one minor. In the footage described there is an opening montage that gets the audience acquainted with the revised history of the US according to the events in the comic. There is also the scene where Nite Owl and Silk Spectre break Rorschach out of prison, and this has apparently been changed to include a fight scene, rather than just a horn that immobilizes the guards. Could these be the two changes that Smith was talking about? They both seem rather minor to me, so perhaps there's another one lurking within the film somewhere? I'm not opposed to these changes, in fact I think the idea behind both of these rather sound like improvements, or at least welcome adaptive changes. Only time will tell I suppose, but the more I hear about this the more excited I get. Here's hoping the film lives up to the footage Erik got to see last night!

New Watchmen Video Journal! Doc Manhattan!

filmadelphiablog@gmail.com (filmadelphia) — Mon, 06 Oct 2008 19:30:00 +0000

Its a doc about the Doc, and its exclusive over at sci-fi. I haven't had the time to watch it yet, but I'm so absurdly amped for this movie that I decided to post it right away. Check it out and let me know what you think. These video journals have gotten better with each one.

In other video journal news, it sounds like Kevin Smith is having trouble with the MPAA over the Money Shots making of shorts he was going to release in advance of Zack and Miri. Here's hoping they get through without much editing, and in time to be useful promotion for the film.

Review: Role Models

filmadelphiablog@gmail.com (filmadelphia) — Fri, 03 Oct 2008 15:25:00 +0000

Last night I had the oppurtunity to catch an advance screening of Role Models with Paul Rudd, Sean Williams Scott, Christopher Mintz-Plasse, Bobb'e J. Thompson, and Elizabeth Banks. I went into the movie with low expectations, and my first surprize was seeing Paul Rudd's name included in the writing credits. It seems every actor from Apatow clan secretly doubles as a screenwriter, most of which are pretty darn good.

The first act of the film lagged a little bit for me, although I see that it has a lot of purpose. In retrospect I think they were just trying a little to hard to set up themes for the movie. We see Rudd's character is happy and doesn't want to sing Kareoke with his girlfriend... Then by the end he's singing her a song in front of everyone. I get it, he has a character arc. I actually like that they took time to set up some of the jokes in the beginning, but like I said it wasn't exactly organic. The whole premise of the energy drink was a little weak for me too. Plus, how am I supposed to believe that these dudes were not fired on the spot for freaking out in front of an entire school and then driving the company car onto a statue? But apparently, as long as they aren't sentenced to jail time they can keep there jobs. The Manditore energy drink company is incredibly under developed. It's just a place you can work forever doing nothing with hot girls and stoner friends and get paid for it.

Sean Williams Scott, Sometimes I love him, usually he doesn't do anything for me. He just epitomizes that whole late 90's early 00's (?) teen flick dude in such a way that it seems he has never really broken away from it. And when he does it's usually with pretty mediocre results. I didn't hate his character in The Promotion, nor did I think he did an exceptional job. To me he could have been recast by any other 20 something actor and I would not have noticed. In this film, while he does not make a huge leap from the Stiffler character, it's enough of a balance between lovable idoit and horney frat boy to where the lovable part wins out. I understand his casting in this, and overall it was one of the better roles I've seen him in. But seriously, he was awesome in Evolution.

The second act is when the film really takes off, mostly because this is where we meet Rudd and Scott's "Littles," Mclovin and Thompson (who are the real stars of this movie). First Thompson was the ridiculous ofensive, vulgar child and it worked well for once. The kid was funny. Even though the "tough kid exterior with vulnerable interior" plot was a little thin, the kids obsession with boobs was a good gag.

Mintz-Plasse's first major role since Mclovin to me was probably the biggest draw to this film. He has already been type-casted as the awkward nerdy kid, and this film does absolutely nothing but further that image. The real question I had was, would it still be funny? Thank God, it is. The best jokes from the film were centered around Mclovin's character in the midevil role-playing world he is obsessed with. He plays a much more innocent character in this one which I also liked. That may be the only real change in characters from this and Superbad. I really don't want to give away any of the best jokes, but I will confirm that there are plenty that land well.

As for the ending, it was pretty cliche. It worked, but it was deffinately a feel-good ending. The fulfillment of the best gag also happens there. I was thoroughly impressed with it.

Over-all I'd go ahead and give it a B+. Another film populated with apatow regulars that delivers the goods. Much better than Drillbit Taylor, not quite on par with Forgetting Sarah Marshall, it falls somewhere in between.

Tommy

Interesting Trailer for Baz Luhrmann's Australia

filmadelphiablog@gmail.com (filmadelphia) — Wed, 01 Oct 2008 20:37:00 +0000

MSN just put up the trailer (thank you cinematical) for Baz Luhrmann's new movie Australia, but no embed code (argh!). It is... an interesting trailer. It's certainly beautiful (and I would expect nothing less from the director of Moulin Rouge! and Romeo + Juliet) and the performances (Hugh Jackman and Nicole Kidman) look pretty excellent. It's really skimpy on the plot details though. I have no clue what this movie is about at this point. Maybe even less of one than I did before I saw this trailer. But what's really bothering me is why Explosions in the Sky is playing over the first half of the trailer? More importantly, why that specific song (The Only Moment We Were Alone)? I can see how the title of the song might fit into the very vague storyline we're given in the trailer. But these are the last images I would've imagined being put over that song. I'm a huge Explosions in the Sky fan (go buy their records now, they're fantastic [you might recognize them as the band that did the soundtrack for Friday Night Lights]), and with the extremely visual imagination that I have, I always imagine what kind of scene I would shoot over songs. Explosions in the Sky are especially good for this exercise because they're an instrumental band. Maybe it's only because I'm so familiar with this song, but it does not seem to fit the images that are presented in this trailer at all. It was not only jarring for me, but completely distracting.

Did anyone else feel that way about the music? How about the movie, first impressions?

Bill Murray Talks Ghostbusters 3!

filmadelphiablog@gmail.com (filmadelphia) — Fri, 26 Sep 2008 14:07:00 +0000

The man behind one of my favorite characters in film history (Dr. Peter Venkman) just dropped an extremely juicy tidbit out at Fantastic Fest. Check the video to hear the man promote his new film, City of Ember, which premiered at Fantastic Fest, as well as answer a few questions. One of which was about his thoughts on Ghostbusters 3. It sounds like he not only likes the idea of the guys from The Office writing it, but also states that enough time has passed since the second movie (which he apparently is not too fond of) to make a third one really work. It sounds like doing the voice work for the video game got him really excited about the characters again.

This has me all giddy and excited, like I'm ten years old again. My one concern was that they wouldn't be able to get Murray to come back for another one. With that concern remedied, I hope they get the ball rolling and fast track this mofo. I want to see it on a 2010 release slate (which as it turns out, is exactly how IMDB lists it, although we all know how trustworthy that thing is).

Who else is pumped?

Polish Movie Posters! More awesome than ours!

filmadelphiablog@gmail.com (filmadelphia) — Wed, 24 Sep 2008 14:03:00 +0000

A good friend to filmadelphia, Eric Smith over at geekadelphia just posted some awesome posters from Poland. These things are freakin gorgeous. As I was explaining to Eric earlier, I find the Empire Strikes Back poster to be masturbatory, meaning worthy of my masturbation. That's my favorite movie and that poster is just awesome.

My only concern with these is that, while they may be far more interesting and beautiful than their American counterparts, they are only awesome in retrospect. If we didn't know who or what Indiana Jones was, I don't think that poster would garner much interest from an American audience. But then again, as Eric pointed out, the culture is different there, and perhaps these posters tell them all they need to know.

Who wants one!

I officially HATE Brett Ratner

filmadelphiablog@gmail.com (filmadelphia) — Wed, 24 Sep 2008 13:11:00 +0000

First, Ratner (the Rush Hour franchinse, X-Men: The Last Stand) wants to make a Guitar Hero movie (idiot) and now he wants to make... wait for it...

wait for it...

just a little longer so that the impact of this will be brutal...

A Joker spin-off! (and check out the link for equally stupid quotes from Ratner)

What the hell man! This is the worst idea I've heard in a long time. First of all, as much as I don't think the Joker should just never be considered for a villain again, I don't think he should be considered anytime soon. We need to let Ledger have that performance for a while. And second of all, I don't want to see more of this character! He's scary because he's batshit crazy and has no motives. If you give him his own movie, you have to explain motives, and thus the veil is lifted and the Wizard is revealed to be a crusty old man, and that would suck for The Joker. And god help Ratner if he tries to make him sympathetic. Argh! I hate that man!

By the way, he also mentioned doing a Halle Berry led Storm spin-off, which I'm neither here nor there about.

Anyone actually like this dude? Or think this is a good idea?

Spielberg Pegg(s) Frost for Tin Tin

filmadelphiablog@gmail.com (filmadelphia) — Tue, 23 Sep 2008 16:49:00 +0000

Apparantly Spielberg requested a meeting with Simon Pegg about whether he and frequent costar Nick Frost would be interested in playing characters called the Thompson Twins in Tin Tin. Here's how they're described on the Tin Tin wiki: "Thomson and Thompson (Dupont et Dupond) are two bumbling detectives who, although unrelated, look like twins with the only discernible difference being the shape of their moustaches. They provide much of the comic relief throughout the series, being afflicted with chronic spoonerism, and are shown to be mostly incompetent in their tasks." Now, while these sound like the perfect characters for Pegg and Frost to play, won't their extreme difference in appearance be a problem? It seems as though part of the humor is that they're exactly the same save for the stache. This news makes me scratch my beard a bit. I suppose since its a motion capture film, the can edit what the two look like, but I thought the point of motion capture was that the characters will actually look like their real life counterparts? Maybe not for this project though.

Stephen Chow(s) down Green Hornet

filmadelphiablog@gmail.com (filmadelphia) — Tue, 23 Sep 2008 16:44:00 +0000

This is just a quickie to keep this thing on the sort of kind of regularly updated side of things. Stephen Chow, writer/director of Kung Fu Hustle, Shaolin Soccer, and CJ7 (none of which I've seen... I know... all my geek credit is gone... I need to get on that... anyone wanna loan me some copies?) has signed on to co-star as Kato alongside Seth Rogen in the Seth Rogen/Evan Goldberg written Greent Hornet adaptation. Rogen mentioned long ago he'd love to have Chow play the part, and apparantly his wish has been granted.

But the news doesn't end there folks, he's also signed on to direct! This would seem to confirm that this will be a comedic version of The Green Hornet, although I don't know what anyone else would have expected from Rogen and Goldberg. Rogen was quoted a while back as saying they were toying with the idea of it being about Kato being more famous and recognizable than Green Hornet (Kato was originally played by Bruce Lee and is much better remembered by audiences); a story where the sidekick is more famous than the actual hero, which definitely seems like a premise ripe for comedy.

I'm gonna say I'm cautiously optomistic about this one, as I'm not familiar with the source material, or the director. But my yearning to see Seth Rogen don tights* ala Charlie in It's Always Sunny supercedes all of that. What do other people think about this choice?

*Our faithful (and possibly only) reader Dustin has informed me that Green Hornet doesn't wear tights, something I should have known based on all the pictures I've seen of the original show scattered about the net. As Dustin puts it, his costume is similar to The Spirits, just a suit and a mask over his eyes. Thus, my reason for being excited about this has been destroyed. However, Dustin assures me the source material is the kind of campy, fun stuff that Chow has made a career out of, so it sounds like a perfect fit. Consider me re-excited.