The Big Hello Welcome to the third week of CHUD.com newsletter girl on girl action. Dave and Devin have returned safe and sound from the sizzling Mecca known as Comic Con, where fanboys sweat and celebrities realize they should have stricter contracts allowing them to avoid such events. They spoke to a bunch of famous folks and the results are starting to trickle onto the web. I'm sure they'll be mentioning them below. I have it on good authority that Devin has a gangbusters exclusive interview with Guillermo del Toro on the way. Best Labyrinth Ever Speaking of that filmmaking giant, I ran my super early review on the film this week and even though I'm biased on all things Guillermo, I truly believe he's got something truly transcendent on his hands with this one. You may agree when you see it in December or you may think I've sunk to a new low. Either way, it's great. Also, if you consider yourself a true Chewer and love Mr. del Toro's work you *might* want to keep a few days in October free, especially if you live in the Atlanta area. That's all I'm saying. http://www.chud.com/reviews/7043 Reaching Out I'm thinking about bringing back some of our dormant sections on the site, like Master Control Program (Video Games), Videodrome (Obscure and Recommended), Media Reports, The Prognosticator (Monthly Previews), and more. If you fancy yourself one of the sharper knives in the drawer, well then you probably don't want to write for us... but we'll need magazine reviewers and contributors. If you're interested contact me at nunzichud@yahoo.com Retro Active The CHUD Rerun section is killing three birds: One, it's allowing me to piece by piece integrate old material into the new chassis. Two, it's showing the new readers some of the stuff that got the site to the rickety and crotchety way it is today. Three, it creates massive discussion. 23 posts, most of them from me! It's a juggernaut I tell you! Here's the latest: I interview Paul Rudd and Neil Labute back in Ought-Three. http://www.chud.com/interviews/7231 The first wave of Chewer comments at the beginning of the Lord of the Rings saga. http://www.chud.com/news/7219 -Nick Nunziata Devin and I are back and recovering from our venture to Vegas and then San Diego for Comic Con, which has grown to a size that is inversely proportional to the value of information and enjoyment the show now has to offer (or perhaps after nine years crossing the country for that gargantuan geek weekend, I've simply become a bit disenchanted with it). The brief glimpse of early teaser footage from Spider-Man 3 was certainly a highlight, though director Sam Raimi and the cast members present were more evasive than the titular webslinger when it came to providing any details of the movie whatsoever. The Grind House presentation was also fantastic, between the always enthusiastic Quentin Tarantino's announcement of casting Kurt Russell as the villain in his "slasher" movie Death Proof, and the extended look at Robert Rodriguez's blood-spattered zombie flick Planet Terror, which should make for an extremely (oxymoron alert) original homage to classically bad 70s movies. After the Brit gangster flick Layer Cake, director Matthew Vaughn opted out of X-Men 3 to focus on an adaptation of author Neil Gaiman's fairy tale Stardust, which looks to be a promising blend of fantasy and whimsical comedy in the vein of The Princess Bride. It's still early days on the production, but the rough footage shown (featuring Robert DeNiro, Ricky Gervais and Michelle Pfeiffer) looked, appropriately, pretty fantastic. But it was really the clip from 300 that glazed my donuts. Dawn of the Dead director Zack Snyder's literal translation of Frank Miller's violent historical graphic novel about Spartan warriors has an appearance that's simply staggering, and the finished product should be exceptionally satisfying both visually and viscerally. Our visit to the set of The Grand in Vegas was a jackpot (and will possibly feature the strikingly handsome face of yours truly!), but we didn't get to do a fraction of the extracurricular activities Vegas has to offer - we only strolled through a handful of the colossal casino/hotels before exhaustion overwhelmed us, I'd promised Devin we'd take advantage of the city's relaxed firearm laws and shoot machineguns at a nearby public firing range, and I somehow didn't see a single naked female breast, let alone any pairs of them. As for our man Devin. he may be incorrigible, idiosyncratic and occasionally inflammatory, but he's also tireless when it comes to gathering material for all you CHUD readers. With his audio recorder fused to his fist, he was a veritable work machine during our trip, tracking down talent like a ravenous cybernetic hunter. And all the meaty interviews that'll soon be served on the site will prove more than filling. -Dave Davis Comic Con was so exhausting this year that I passed out on Saturday night and missed all the big parties. That's OK - I still had a great time, and managed to snag some amazing one on one interviews. It turns out that maybe the best interview I would get on the West Coast didn't happen in Vegas or San Diego, but rather in a pizzeria around the corner from Meltdown Comics in Los Angeles - I sat down for over an hour with Guillermo Del Toro for a wide-ranging talk that covered everything from his early days in Mexican cinema to the upcoming Pan's Labyrinth (which I am DYING to see). I had never met Guillermo before, and it was a blast just walking around the comic store with him as he shopped. How the guy finds the time to read everything he picks up I don't know, but he must, because he was incredibly knowledgeable about half the books and the artists in the store. He recommended an excellent book about the EC Comics artists to me, while I recommended the new comic Mouse Guard to him. Look for that interview as soon as I can get around to transcribing it, which would be sooner if I didn't have so many other Comic Con interviews to get done! If I were a betting man (and my experience of losing 60 bucks at the blackjack tables in Vegas tells me I shouldn't be), I would wager that before the week is out you'll be reading an exclusive interview with the legendary Roger Corman (he wanted me to call him Roger, but I could only bring myself to call him Sir or Mr. Corman) and the mega-interview with Brett Ratner. And next week look for exclusive one on ones with the original cast of The Warriors as they get ready to relive the film at the Original Alamo Rolling Roadshow presentation of the film at Coney Island, sponsored by Netflix. -Devin Faraci CHUD.COM Devin and Dave are back from the Comic Con! THE FETAL FILM REPORT Updates, served cold! Fetal has some pages updated with items that might be of interest to some. Crank International Poster, Trailer, Official Site http://chud.com/movies/5510 Employee of The Month Trailer links http://chud.com/movies/6183 Fearless Official site http://chud.com/movies/7122 The Prestige New release date, trailer links http://www.chud.com/movies/4642 Scoop New page loaded with clips http://www.chud.com/movies/7235 GIVEAWAY Uncle Mitch has a nice contest this week in which one lucky person will win: A Little Miss Sunshine gift pack that includes: - Yellow T-Shirt (front says "I Hate Everyone" - back says "Little Miss Sunshine") - Notepad (written on every page is "I Hate Everyone") - Puzzle/Game - Mini Poster Same winner will also receive a DVD copy of The World's Fastest Indian that stars Anthony Hopkins Since this is a newsletter only contest all you have to do is send me an email at chudfilm@sbcglobal.net and put in the subject line "Miss Sunshine". Winner will be announced in next week's newsletter. WORK FOR FETAL Here's yet another shout out for help with Fetal and rest assured I won't be doing this every week but considering the wheelin' and dealin' ways of Hollywood, Fetal Films needs more than one person to make it effective. Please feel free to email me ( chudfilm@sbcglobal.net) for more information. -Eileen Bolender OPENING THIS WEEKEND 13 Tzameti (Ny) Scoop http://www.chud.com/movies/7235 The Ant Bully http://www.chud.com/movies/3741 John Tucker Must Die http://www.chud.com/movies/2507 Miami Vice http://www.chud.com/movies/2577 THE SPECIAL EDITION And around and around it goes. It's tough to discuss an issue that hasn't been expounded upon at length. Stuff like what constitutes a Special Edition (and here I'll tell you what doesn't: The Jerk, Big Lebowski, Smokey & The Bandit. See a pattern?), what side people are on in the ongoing HD-DVD Blu-Ray format war, why people can't get more than 3 angles in a conventional classical Vivid film, you know - stuff that has already been talked up ad infinitum. I figured there was nothing left, until I racked ye old brain and wondered for a very long time about something missing from a lot of today's releases. Flashback to a simpler time. Before the computers of the world failed to self-destruct. It's the dawn of a new era, of digital goodies. Inside the case there'd always be some sort of Insert, with a couple of floozy Press Kit photos and chapter stops. And while at the time, especially for movies I hadn't discovered yet, I found myself spouting "shit. They ruined the narrative progression again" - with such profound chapter stops like "loss" or "saves the day" or even "exposes self with Randy Savage in the room." I certainly harbored some ill-will. To offset the balance, there were those Inserts with more; photos, interviews, and cut & paste jobs from Press Kits helped create a more engrossing experience. Naturally, as one who always enjoys wiggling himself into as much movie knowledge as he can, I found it repetitive. However, you know that cliched saying? Something about never knowing how much you loved something until it is gone? The only thing my introverted life has lost is that Insert. Granted, while it still is reserved today for the more Extreme Ultimate Edition (along the lines of The Searchers, or any Criterion film), I miss those silly little stupid flimsy Inserts. Recently, I purchased a DVD that shall remain unnamed and unwrapping the ridiculously sticky theft deter stickers I suddenly found myself holding it like a Wonka Bar, wishing upon it like a golden ticket. Opening it up, there was no Insert inside, so I threw it in one the floor and urinated all over it. Maybe that was too harsh. There's still a price to pay for ruining my dreams. I know profit margins and cost-cutting ways are all the rage right now. I just gave a big hug and effortlessly stole three hundred dollars from a Disney employee last week. Sadly, they won't be paying rent this month. I will, though. I know that Studios threw that Insert right into their circular file (where The Core, Pluto Nash, and The Alamo reside) so we could look at a nice polished plastic nothing. I just wish that in some alternate universe, they might have kept it, so I could continue to pretend to dislike it with the fire of a thousand suns, but secretly harbor an intense lust. I miss it like I miss my frayed Ghostbusters sheets. There was something comforting about it. Unfortunately for many of us, this whole pouring out of my heart also makes me trudge up old memories of titles for a future Forgotten Spotlight. "Films" like Mac and Me, Invasion U.S.A. (if you're lucky), or maybe even Ninja III: Dominion. Let me sit on this for another week and then open the flood gates. In the meantime, enjoy your weekend and hopefully one of you out there will relive Cannibal Holocaust. On DVD, of course. -Newell Todd CREATURE CORNER SUBTITLE 11 COLONELS ATTACK! F/X Happens? Eden FX, the digital effects house who's done LOST, Surface, The Passion of the Christ, and Hellboy has delivered a great proposal to do the CGI in the first CHUD.com movie. Just about everything is in place, aside from us securing the sugar daddy to pay for the film. The project is in the hands of a few select entities who can make it happen and will be going out to more next week. If you happen to have an extra million bucks in the checking account, give us a call. Please visit the 11 Colonels MySpace page well as my brand new one at these locations: http://www.myspace.com/11colonels http://www.myspace.com/nicknunziata |