Heavy Metal

Watch this space…

Mach GoGoGo

Trying to find time to write something about Forgetting Sarah Marshall (Quick review: Go see it for “I wonder if the carpet matches her pubes” and the Dracula muppet musical) is proving difficult. Even now I’m posting here while in a ‘meeting’ on Skype.

In the meantime it looks like I’m seeing Speed Racer next week - not being too familiar with the cartoon (but kinda itchin’ to see the original Japanese version as opposed to the American one because Mach GoGoGo is a fantastically better name) I have no idea what to expect. I am kinda intrigued.

That said, the Sponge version of the theme tune would have really kicked the trailer up a notch:

Thundercats… erm… Ho?

Never got the Thundercats thing, but I guess enough people did for the DVDs to sell so well.

Season two was released today hence some girls in Cheetara costumes getting on all fours in Trafalgar Square:

This is exactly why Jess recently divorced herself from our shared Twitter stream.

“You know… for kids!”

I was wondering how the kids were taking to Iron Man. Guess I have my answer:

Also got an email from a friend:

My son is TOTALLY into the trailer…

Is it just me or is Tony Stark gonna knock the crap out of Bruce Wayne this summer? I now know people who have read the final Dark Knight script (”It kicks ass”), but have actually seen Iron Man (”Best movie of the year…”)

Not too long to go.

PS James got to see him up close:

Bonus points for snapping that part of the trailer

Old Shell Head may just pull this off

I have to admit that as a kid I was never that big a fan of Iron Man. Growing up with 2000AD from a very early age meant Dredd and co. always won out over the super hero types, but I did dip in from time to time and got a kick out of some of the stuff that suit could do.

For some reason I was a much bigger fan of King of the Rocketmen… go figure.

Then again, when I was a kid I didn’t get treated to stuff like this:

From an all-growed-up perspective, everything so far is telling me that the upcoming Iron Man movie is something special.

I’m gonna put my neck out and say Old Shell Head may even give the freak in the bat costume a good run for his money…

Chocolate

Been a while since I was excited by a Thai movie, but this little bout of girl power has me chomping at the bit:

“Chocolate” tells the story of an autistic girl who learns how to fight both by absorbing the martial arts she sees on TV and from the muay thai boxing camp next to her home. When she discovers a list of debtors in her sick mother’s diary, she decides to go collecting. Her quest leads her to confrontations with criminal gangs and also her father, a member of the Japanese mafia.

It’s directed by Prachya Pinkaew who I like a lot. You can read more about the production here. And check out the trailer. It has a slow start, but then kicks off big time complete with a snippet of injured stuntmen, classic Jackie Chan style:

Twitter Meets Juno

A few months back I was asked to pitch some ideas with my friend Gia at some movie bods for something fun to do with bloggers as a pre-release event for a movie. One of the ideas was a little shindig based on the earlier Twitter event that I ran. With that particular movie it didn’t quite work out and we just ran with a screening.

Since the first London Tweetup I get asked a lot if there’s going to be a second one. The plan was to do one in November, but I was too busy to sort it out. Now with December filling up fast I wanted to get something nailed down. Not just another little drink and nibble session, but something that we could build into a regular series of events in 2008.

Then I took my favourite video blogger on a Tuk Tuk ride through London. Then I got word that the blogger event was back on, but for a different movie. Then said Tuk Tuk partner, suggested we try and merge the two…

So we did just that.

I’m happy to invite any London Twitter users to a preview screening of Jason Reitman’s Juno on the 4th of December. The movie will be followed by an (also free) pre-Christmas party at the Union Bar.

Because this is a combined event the places I have are limited. Right now I have 25 seats for the movie, but if we go through those quickly there’s a chance I’ll get more. This is a FREE event just as long as you’re already on Twitter and are able to get to London on the 4th of December. This is strictly a first come first served basis so please leave a comment below along with your Twitter name so I can shove you on the list.

I saw Juno at the London Film Festival this year and it’s hilarious.

This year’s critically acclaimed film, Juno stars Ellen Page as MacGuff, a confident teenage girl who faces an unplanned pregnancy. She calls the shots with a nonchalant cool and an effortless attitude as she journeys through an emotional nine-month adventure into adulthood. Juno and best friend Leah (Olivia Thirlby) hatch a plan to find Juno’s unborn baby the perfect set of parents, Mark and Vanessa Loring (Jason Bateman and Jennifer Garner), who are longing to adopt their first child. Luckily, Juno has the support of her dad and stepmother (J.K. Simmons and Allison Janney). Juno conquers her problems head-on, displaying a youthful exuberance both smart and unexpected

I’m really excited to invite friends to see it. This works well for Twitter users as we get a free movie and a little get-together and it works great for the film company as people on Twitter just can’t shut up

Some of you may have already been invited to the screening as ‘prominent bloggers’ in your own right. If that’s the case there’s no need to ask for another place as you’re already in.

Thanks to Rupert for suggesting the merge and Sheena and Fox Searchlight for being open to the idea of a social media gatecrash.

If this proves to be a fun night out (and I’m guessing we’ll have a great night) what I’d like to do is set up a maybe-monthly Twitter event based on the model. A bunch of us go to see a movie early, or perhaps an art show preview or anything else I can throw a group of us together for. Then we use Twitter to talk about it. But I also want to pepper the calendar with simple - let’s all go to the pub - events. And if I can wrangle someone to pay for a bar I will.

Let’s get December out of the way first though. Let me know who’s coming in the comments below…

UPDATE: The screening itself will take place in Soho Square at 6pm for a 6.30 start. The bash afterwards will kick off at 8pm at The Union, Soho in nearby Greek Street which is booked until midnight.

Never bring a sausage to a gun fight

One of my favourite lines in Reservoir Dogs is when Mr Blonde is sizing up Mr white:

Boy that was really exciting. I bet you’re a big Lee Marvin fan aren’t ya. Yeah me too. I love that guy.

Last night I watched Prime Cut and now I’m pretty sure that Garth Ennis is a Lee Marvin fan too. This is pretty much a must for Preacher and Punisher fans. At one point a meat obsessed bad guy becomes so enraged with Marvin that he tries to stab him with a sausage:

Marvin plays a Chicago mob enforcer sent to sort out Gene Hackman, a Kansas rancher and mob affiliate who has decided to go solo. Five things that you need to know about Hackman’s character:

He also gets lines like this:

You and Jake, you think you’re big men. Walk in anywhere, you take down your pants I’ll take down mine, we’ll see who’s the biggest man.

Lee Marvin gets a machine gun, a bunch of Irish American sidekicks (Shay, Delaney, Shaughnessy & O’Brien) and Sissy Spacek:

They really don’t make ‘em like this anymore. I first saw this when I was a kid and apparently young enough to have blanked out all memory of the naked girls, but I distinctly remembered the scene where a combine harvester eats Marvin’s Cadilac.

Go figure.

PS

This is how good it was in season one:

Back to Baltimore

I still think the writer’s strike is just a cover so that the hacks who produce run-of-the-mill shit can get drunk and sob into the afternoon at the prospect of The Wire returning and OWNING them.