Daily Loaf

Fantastic Mr. Fox certainly looks the part of a kids’ movie. It’s based on a children’s book (by the beloved Roald Dahl, no less), and tells a vivid and entertaining story about a cast of wild critters brought to life through a combination of stop-motion animation and computer wizardry. There’s no profanity or heavy on-screen violence, and the film is briskly paced (under 90 minutes long), very funny and sports a killer soundtrack. Still, no one will ever confuse Mr. Fox with a Disney production, and that’s because every frame is dripping with the sensibility of its creator, writer/director Wes Anderson.

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And now, the article you’ve waited all month … err, all week … err, all day … well, you’ve waited long enough, it’s Kevin’s Korner (Insert applause here). This week we have all kinds of fun movie news, a trailer and a bit of a rant. So buckle up, it’s gonna be a bumpy ride; well, not really, but you get the idea.

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Famed movie buff and A-list director Quentin Tarantino recently released a video listing his 20 favorite movies released since he became a director 17 years ago. When the list hit the Net, some movie geeks heralded the films as the 20 greatest movies ever — but this is a list by a movie guy for other movie guys. Tarantino famously worked at a video store and his appreciation of movies is legendary, so as a movie fan, I decided to take a close look at the list and delve deeper into the Tarantino 20. I was familiar with most of the titles, but I told a friend that I hadn’t heard of some of the movies on the list. After they asked me to return my movie-buff card, I quickly went to Netflix and looked up the more obscure titles.

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Remember 1989? Remember the disappointment? How exciting the mere prospect was, the idea that we’d get more of that magical, hilarious madness. Another two hours worth of memorable quotes – what would replace “When someone asks you if you’re a God, you say yes!” or “Listen; Do you smell something?”

But then we got Ghostbusters 2 in all it’s lifeless, tepid, walking Statue of Liberty forgettableness. Who would want another sequel after that mess? And how could we get it two decades after the fact? Of course you’ve guessed the answer – Ghostbusters: The Video Game, which really is the sequel I’ve been waiting for.

All the original busters are back, Murray, Aykroyd, Ramis, and Hudson playing digital, young versions of their now aged and expanded selves. Dan Aykroyd and Harold Ramis are even credited as writers of the game, and I can believe it. The story has the same sensibilities as the original movie, the same over the top mythology and paranormal gobbledygook, and I found it a lot more interesting and entertaining than the Ghostbusters 2 plot. Of course it’s spread out over 7 hours of game play, but that works fine. It’s the transition to digital actors and recorded voice overs that’s less satisfying.

More review and video after the jump: Read the rest of this entry »

News from Ain’t It Cool via MTV is that Ghostbusters 3 is a go, with the original cast on board! Per Harry K.’s site:

Ramis promised that all the old core players will take part in the updated version, including Bill Murray (Dr. Peter Venkman) and Dan Aykroyd (Dr. Raymond Stantz), who co-wrote the original films. “We’re all going to be in it in different kinds of roles,” Ramis said. “We’re going to be the sage mentors. There are going to be young Ghostbusters.”
At the moment, Ramis is waiting on a first draft of the script, which is being penned by Lee Eisenberg and Gene Stupnitsky, two writer/producers on “The Office,” who also wrote “Year One.” “Gene and Lee, both of whom I mentored, are now writing the new ‘Ghostbusters,’ ” Ramis said. “I’m consulting with them, as is Dan Aykroyd and [original director] Ivan Reitman.

Best part was Ramis’s kicker at the end:

“Bill Murray is just waiting for the truckload of money to arrive to get him out of his office,” Ramis joked.

Tough to say whether or not Ghostbusters 3 will be worthy of the hype. The original is a classic, but Ghostbusters 2 sucked slimer’s green gonads. Injecting young blood into the franchise is certainly a decent — if tired — way of resurrecting the franchise.

Now, if only Ramis and Murray would get to work on Caddyshack 3, maybe we’d have something here.

I had a dream the other night that I was on a transatlantic flight on its way to Africa. I was sitting next to a man in a brown jacket, clown pants and Jesus sandals who kept repeating, “Down we go.” That should have given me a clue to the unfortunate end to my dream, or nightmare, but it didn’t. Suddenly, the no-smoking sign started flashing a blood-red color and the pilot got on the intercom and said something along the lines of, “We are going down, hold on to your fucking hats.” I couldn’t really make out what he said, but I’ve always thought that would be the best way to break the news to the passengers. If we’re going to die, I don’t want to hear, “Ladies and gentlemen, I’d like to bring an unfortunate situation to your attention. Blah, blah, blah.” Cut to the chase, man! Anyway, to make a long story short, we plummeted thousands of feet into an island and, magically, I was the only survivor. That is the point when I woke up. And for some batshit crazy reason, the first thing I thought of was an episode of The Office when the employees play Desert Island. This taught me something about myself: Apparently, if I were the sole survivor of a plane crash on a deserted island, the most important thing to me would be what movies I was carrying on me and how I could watch them. So, if that were to happen, and if there were a television and DVD player on this said island, these are the movies I would take… Read the rest of this entry »