comment #1

DeeZee says ...

I can buy Cusack being passable. After all, Will Smith wasn't the worst part of ID4, either. But I just hope this flick doesn't have a hack, feel-good ending attached to it like WOTW.

Anyway, http://www.thedigitalbits.com/ has info on the home video release of Moon and confirms African Queen on DVD and BD.
Wiseman's next gig.
http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/hr/content_display/film/news/e3i1239cf1a1e13f6234ad65f38ee280df4
Woody Harrelson interview.
http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/hr/content_display/features/interviews_profiles/e3ia4b706c7ade5c20125ae89b4b284b968
Aronofsky shoots his own "Dancer in the Dark"-like flick, but with bigger names.
http://www.variety.com/article/VR1118011077.html?categoryid=13&cs=1&ref=vertfilm
FOX shoots itself in the foot.
http://www.variety.com/article/VR1118011078.html?categoryid=13&cs=1
High Tension actress in Clint's next project with Damon.
http://www.variety.com/article/VR1118011080.html?categoryid=13&cs=1
Comcast is ready to overpay for Uni.
http://www.variety.com/article/VR1118011054.html?categoryid=13&cs=1
Heckerling rides the Twilight band-wagon.
http://www.darkhorizons.com/news/15623/-clueless-director-tries-vamp-rom-com
Speaking of which, there's a lame SNL parody near the bottom of http://www.darkhorizons.com/news/15632/-twilight-press-junket-updates
This one's better. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=41OixAKZQWQ
The UK's already come up with its "best of the decade" lists.
http://entertainment.timesonline.co.uk/tol/arts_and_entertainment/film/article6902642.ece
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/film/6501160/Top-100-movies-defining-the-noughties-00s-in-film.html
Plus some mag I've never heard of.
http://www.pastemagazine.com/blogs/lists/2009/11/50-best-movies-of-the-decade-2000-2009.html
Oh, and a new Ninja Assassin spot.
http://www.themoviebox.net/movies/2009/NOPQR/Ninja-Assassin/trailer.php

comment #2

Gabe@ThePlaylist says ...

What fucking movie were you watching? This shit was exactly the sort of crap we've seen before ten times over. Only bigger and less self-conscious. It's still crappy porno. The strongest praise I can give this movie is that you will totally watch it on cable a few times, but this holds no novelty by seeing it on the big screen. Also, Cusack was alright, but Chiwetel Ejiofor deserves an Oscar for not cracking up during all of his lines.

comment #3

moviemaniac2002 says ...

Emmerich, like Michael Bay, is nothing less(or more) than Ed Wood armed with 200 million and 500 CGI guys.....their tumbling freeways and
up-ended aircraft carriers are ultimately no different than Ed's rubber octopus...just the budget and technology have been upgraded.....

comment #4

btwnproductions says ...

Variety agrees...158 minutes?

http://www.variety.com/review/VE1117941576.html?categoryid=31&cs=1

comment #5

DeeZee says ...

btwn: It'd be hilarious if this ended up being an Oscar contender.

comment #6

iamjoe says ...

DeeZee: It would be hilarious if you stopped taking Mall Cop style shits over the comments here. Just. Joyful. Laughter.

comment #7

lazarus says ...

The only way Cusack could redeem himself in my eyes with this film is if he exclaims "No reward is worth this!" in mid-scene, Han Solo style, and storm out of the frame, never returning to the story.

I'm guessing that doesn't happen.

Also, go fuck yourself, D.Z.

comment #8

Rothchild says ...

And this is the beginning of the petition to get D.Z. banned. If you're like minded, let the world/Jeff know.

comment #9

THE MovieBob says ...

It's not even the "best" version of this particular genre that Emmerich has made, but it's still a testament to how much BETTER these types of films can be when the director "gets" basic things like scope, editing and visual-narrative - next to Michael Bay, Emmerich looks like John fucking Ford. If David Lean's technical talent were to somehow reincarnate within the mind of a six year-old boy, his crayon-drawings would be the storyboards for THIS movie.

comment #10

scooterzz says ...

emmerich has pretty much killed the goose that laid the golden eggs.....after this, there is absolutely no reason for another disaster movie...ever...period....and, for that, he's to be congratulated.....
i had a good time with '2012' and enjoyed the progressive silliness of it.....really...

comment #11

Travis Crabtree says ...

....And Emmerich is also afraid of offending "the religion of peace".

http://www.dailygut.com/

(scroll down)

comment #12

Travis Crabtree says ...

BTW..... I'd pay large dollars to see this movie if it were made using scale models and cheesy rear-projection.
CG sucks.

comment #13

Pynchon8 says ...

This gets a pass from the Eloi/Morlocks diatribe? C'mon, Wells.

comment #14

DeeZee says ...

I'm just wondering whether or not Jeff saw it in 3-d.

comment #15

Rothchild says ...

It's not in 3-D you giant retard. Neither was Watchmen. I know you have mental problems and think you can see every movie in 3-D, but you can't.

comment #16

DeeZee says ...

Roth: Oh, well. It'll probably be in that format, eventually.

comment #17

Jonathan Spuij says ...

I'll have a shot at being destroyed tomorrow. Not that excited as of yet.

comment #18

citizenmilton says ...

Wow. I never would've seen this flick but now I'm actually intrigued.

And as to DZ... if the guy or gal could actually learn to use a URL-shortener on their digital pollution, I could tolerate it... but I'm not expecting it, therefore I agree w/ those calling for a ban.

comment #19

lazarus says ...

You can add my name to the list, and make up a few more fake user names on my behalf to pad it.

comment #20

Terry McCarty says ...

Presuming someone at Fox will get a pitch for VOLCANO II by Monday morning.

comment #21

HarryMoseby says ...

It might well be released in a yet-to-be developed, immersive holographic format, too, but that doesn't add much to the conversation.

comment #22

TheGK says ...

I don't think Roland Emmerich could write decent plot or dialogue to save himself. Or direct actors.
But he can wreak extreme imaginary destruction.
So I'll go to the theatre, switch my brain off and watch the sweet devastation unfold. Not everything has to be a tortuous dissection of the human condition.

Also, the DZ links are very annoying.

comment #23

econeywaaa says ...

Look, it may not be art, but I'm gonna smoke a fatty and go see some shit get destroyed. It's crap, you know it, I know it, Wells knows it and Emmerich surely knows it.

comment #24

COCO says ...

What is more ending than the end of life on the planet?.....can you spell pay day?....and now a word from our sponsor.

comment #25

Eloi Manning says ...

Can you just stop complaining about DeeZee? It disrupts the threads far more when there are 5-6 people asking him to be banned every time he posts links. He's going to do it no matter what - just ignore them if you don't want to read them.

comment #26

actionman says ...

roland emmerich is the poor man's michael bay

comment #27

pchu says ...

I am kind of looking forward to seeing this like watching a trainwreck. I did find The Day After Tomorrow to be quite entertaining and very funny (though unintentional).

comment #28

Ryansi51 says ...

Eloi is 100% correct. Give it a REST already with the ban D.Z. crap. it ain't gonna happen and you all come off as whining little bitches- just scroll past his links.

also, i think d.z.'s actually made an effort to be more involved in the posts and not just post links (like many of you asked him to) and you're still giving him shit.

comment #29

HarveyLime says ...

If you want a real estimation of Emmerich's skill in this genre, the best comparison is to Spielberg's War of the Worlds.

Cheesy and nonsensical as it is, ID4 is fucking Magnolia compared to WOTW. The former coherently handles s 4 or 5 different story threads; War can barely manage one.

In reality, Emmerich's hit/miss ratio is no worse than Bay's. Stargate and Universal Soldier are simple yet solid pleasures. I loathe Godzilla and The Patriot. 10,000 BC is one of the most gloriously idiotic films I've ever seen.

comment #30

alan says ...

Why does the face of the child in the picture on the Variety review crack me up? It looks too small for the body or something. Reminds me of the dwarf from Don't Look Now.

comment #31

Jason says ...

Sorry to talk about DZ and not 2012, but does anybody else find his persistence kind of, I don't know, endearing? Everybody hurls obscenities at him for his irrelevant links and daft commentary, but he never really flames back. He's like an autistic troll.

Shut the fuck up, DZ.

comment #32

Travis Crabtree says ...

ID4 vs. War of the Worlds?
Forget about it. ID4 was awful. WOTW, (for its faults) is at least scary. No comparison. WOTO is way, way better of the two.

And rock on, DeeZee!

comment #33

thevisceral says ...

Someone paid Wells off.

comment #34

DarthCorleone says ...

DZ greatly annoys me at times, particularly with his ability to link ANY topic to a seemingly pathological rant against Tarantino, but, yeah, you can just ignore him. I honestly feel like what goes on with reference to him here frequently borders on cyber-bullying. He seems to be able to take it, but occasionally I have flashes of his snapping, tracking us down, and killing all of us. You're not violent, D.Z., right?

comment #35

TheGK says ...

It's Jason for the win.
I'm still laughing.

comment #36

Sams says ...

From the trailers it looks like I would be basically sitting through 2 hours of CGI wizardry. Not much different from Transformers. But Jeff seems to like this while he was apoplectic over Transformers. We shall see.

comment #37

Chase Kahn says ...

I'll always give the nod to something that at least has the decency to take itself seriously. "Independence Day" can be summed up by watching Bill Pullman's pre-game speech. It has all the integrity of a fourth-grade recital.

I always felt like it was a shame that "War of the Worlds' didn't end after the 30-minute mark.

comment #38

THE MovieBob says ...

actionman-
"roland emmerich is the poor man's michael bay"

Except that Emmerich can actually compose a shot, direct actors, progressively build suspense, tell a coherent story visually... y'know, all that filmmaking stuff ;)

comment #39

thehumanear says ...

If this movie has any other ending outside of "the world ends," I will be two kinds of pissed off. Oh! Look at that! They're developing a 2012 tv show....

comment #40

Chase Kahn says ...

"direct actors"

what?

comment #41

Terry McCarty says ...

Seconding Eloi's post:
Can you just stop complaining about DeeZee? It disrupts the threads far more when there are 5-6 people asking him to be banned every time he posts links. He's going to do it no matter what - just ignore them if you don't want to read them.

comment #42

Stringer Bell says ...

DZ will never be banned because, in fact, he's Dr. Jekyl to Jeff's Mr. Hyde.

DZ also loves fat people and noisy upstairs neighbors.

comment #43

M. Hulot says ...

I'm not one that typically buys into or formulates conspiracy theories of my own *unlike most of the right-wing asshats who post here on a somewhat regular basis, but...)

Has anyone considered that Wells and DeeZee are one and the same?

Think about it. How many emails and postings have addressed the issue of him continually hijacking these threads? How many times has Wells (just in the last month alone) chastised others for changing the topic, yet he continues to ignore the request of the many throngs who detest DeeZee's posting of links?

Why is that, do you think? Why would Wells criticize others for making even the slightest off-topic comment, then ignore an overwhelming majority of his readership when they complain that what DeeZee does is far worse---and he often does it two or three times a day?

Because maybe, just maybe they are one and the same.
Or, if not, they have some sort of deal in place.

This would not be the first time a blogger has struck a deal with other outlets to post links on their site to drum up pageviews, elsewhere. These kind of deals are commonplace, now more than ever. In fact, Reuters just got caught making payouts to that cro-magnon slug, Andrew Breitbart. How do we know Wells isn't doing the exact same thing?

Perhaps you should rename the site, Jeffrey? Maybe you should call it, "Links Elsewhere"? Or maybe you should at least do the courtesy of explaining your hypocrisy regarding your chastising of other commentators and your silence over the cockstain known as the fake DeeZee?

If you continue to remain silent about this, I think it's quite fair to assume that my theory is correct. You hear that noise, Jeffrey? That's my conspiracy starting to gain traction.

comment #44

DeeZee says ...

Darth: Yep. But then I've dealt with worse, so...

Harvey: Speakin' of Godzilla INO, it's currently on Crackle.

Sams: If Shia was replaced by Cusack, I'd probably like TF, too.

Bell: Actually, I hate noisy fucks. But I'm ok with link-whores.

Hulot: Nope. If we were the same, then I'd actually be doing this for a living, and not 'cus the economy sucks. Plus, I can't afford any pets.

comment #45

Travis Crabtree says ...

I find M.Hulot's babbling rant, (as well as most of the other whiners') far more tedious than your typical DeeZee link-a-thon.

This pretty much sums up where I stand....

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HU2ftCitvyQ

comment #46

Ryansi51 says ...

M. Hulot-

You can almost hear the desperation in your words, begging to be noticed from your basement.

comment #47

dkaye says ...

I'd rather watch 10 Emmerich epics than one Bay turd. Seriously. I fell asleep during "Transformers 2" because I think my brain just shut down rather than have a seizure from the constant insults to my senses and intellect. Emmerich insults your intellect as well, but not in conjunction with a nonstop 150-minute series of incoherent shots. You do get a sense of spectacle in his better moments, and you almost always can see what's going on. That's all that's required from this kind of cheese, and even Bay can't deliver that.

comment #48

M. Hulot says ...

I know homeless guys who have pets, DeeZee Wells. Cats are cheap. You should know that, though, shouldn't you?

comment #49

Fortunesfool says ...

This is just gonna be another 'second unit' movie where the only memorable scenes are gonna be those put together by second unit groups. Emmerich doesn't shoot and edit that stuff - he approves it. Stick someone else's impressive work into your amateur first unit stuff and watch the money roll in.

Also see: George Lucas, Michael Bay, Len Wiseman, JJ Abrams, Peter berg et al.

This is why James Cameron has been sorely missed for the last decade, and (fingers crossed), why Avatar will be mind blowing.

comment #50

DeeZee says ...

Hulot: Cats are only cheap until you have to take 'em to a vet.

comment #51

Bob Violence says ...

You never have to take anything to a vet