Random Stuff #11

I love a good Kubrick-on-location snap...


And if anyone out there can tell me where I can find this LP, it would be greatly appreciated:

Trailer: Bangkok Knockout

I won't lie to you, I don't have high hopes for Bangkok Knockout as a model of cinematic storytelling, but this trailer for the new film directed by Ong Bak's action choreographer Panna Rittikrai is packed with enough wild, did-they-just-do-that? stunts and fight scenes to command my interest. If you've seen Rittikrai's Born to Fight you'll know what to expect, but if you haven't, I recommend it just to witness some of the most irresponsible stunts you'll see in any action flick from the last decade or so. Bangkok Knockout is out in Thailand on December 16, hopefully CineAsia will get it for Event Cinemas around the same time too!

Don Draper Says "What?"

Time to clean out your ears, Don!

Trailer: Sucker Punch

I'm in two minds about this one. Sucker Punch looks like an exercise for Zack Snyder (Watchmen) to cram all his adolescent fantasies (hot babes, robots, dragons, samurai warriors, and more hot babes) into one hyper-active R-rated action-fest. Although I can see myself sitting through this and scoffing at every video gamey aspect of the movie - which looks to be nearly all of it - there is also something undeniably irresistible about its go-for-broke, everything-but-the-kitchen-sink attitude. Sucker Punch is due for release on March 24 next year.

In Cinemas This Week

After The Waterfall - A New Zealand drama, based on the novel The Paraffin Child by UK author Stephen Blanchard. Set and shot in Piha, on Auckland's beautiful West Coast. Still grieving three years after the disappearance of his four-year-old daughter, forest ranger John (Antony Starr) has separated from his wife Ana (Sally Stockwell). When Ana becomes pregnant to John's best friend – the policeman in charge of his missing daughter's case – tensions boil to the surface in the isolated community. This is the debut feature from writer-director Simone Horrocks.

Jackass 3D - Johnny Knoxville and company return for the third installment of their TV show spin-off, where dangerous stunts and explicit public displays rule. Comin' at ya in 3D!

The Killer Inside Me - West Texas Deputy Sheriff Lou Ford (Casey Affleck) is harboring a deep dark secret -- while the small town's residents think him a bit dim, Lou is actually affected by a "sickness" that turns the mild-mannered peace officer into a brutal, psychotic killer. Set in the 1950s, Michael Winterbottom's adaptation of Jim Thompson's classic noir novel co-stars Kate Hudson as Lou's innocent girlfriend and Jessica Alba as Joyce, a local prostitute.

You Again - In this comedy, successful PR pro Marni (Kristen Bell) heads home for her older brother’s wedding and discovers that he’s marrying her college bully and arch nemesis Joanna (Odette Yustman). Then the bride’s jet-setting aunt (Sigourney Weaver) blusters in and Marni’s mum (Jamie Lee Curtis) comes face to face with her own college rival. The claws are out as mum and daughter set out to expose their true colours. Also stars the great Betty White.

Trailer: The Troll Hunter

We don't really need another faux-doco/verite horror movie. I think the format's getting more than a little tired: it's already been used for Bigfoot (The Legend of Boggy Creek), cannibals (Cannibal Holocaust), witches (The Blair Witch Project), ghosts (Paranormal Activity) and aliens (Cloverfield, Monsters). Now you can add trolls to the list. Thankfully, there's a lot of promise in this buzz-generating Norwegian flick - it looks like it may just breathe some new life into the genre. Check out this blast of a trailer and try not grinning for ear to ear:

First Impressions: Tron: Legacy Sneak Preview

Last night Event Cinemas and Disney treated the public to a free 20-minute sneak peek of TRON: Legacy, the upcoming update-cum-sequel to the influential 1982 cyber-reality cult classic that's due for release on December 16. I'm not usually one for short "sneak peeks" like these, but my curiosity got the better of me (plus I needed some sort of feel for the film for a feature I'm writing on it).

The screening took place at the IMAX, and if there's one place I'd rather not be watching 3D anymore, it's here. Those big plastic glasses are crapola, and for an effects-spectacle-driven thing such as this, it's going to be headache city staring at the IMAX screen for two hours (20 minutes was almost enough...). Anyway, so around 5 scenes from the first hour of the film were presented to us - I won't go into too much detail, but I'll give you a general idea of the vibe I'm getting.

The first scene was purely exposition (a lot of this appears in the trailer), a meeting between Tron's original programmer Alan Bradley (Bruce Boxleitner reprising his role), and Sam Flynn (Garrett Hedlund), son of Jeff Bridges' Kevin who has disappeared. Next Sam visits his father's now-old-and-dusty arcade shop, finds an underground office, and soon gets zapped into the cyber world. It was kinda cool seeing the old arcade, but I don't think I like Hedlund as a lead at all, too bland (stiff?).

The next few scenes showcase the effects and action a lot more, drawing us into the freshly rebooted Tron universe. The basic neon circuitry design - the suits, the buildings, the machinery - is still there but with noticeably added dimension, sleekness, and general Blade Runner-sized epicness. Visually, it's impressive and trippy as hell, especially in 3D - but I don't know if the film will be as striking in the acting and writing department. At worst it brings back bad memories of something like Spy Kids 3D or any other soulless video gamey/3D-oriented sci-fi flick, and in the scene where Sam and Kevin are reunited, you feel like the film's mythology and seriousness will eventually bog things down in turgid Matrix: Reloaded fashion.

Anywho, I don't doubt Tron: Legacy will deliver some snazzy action and visuals to satiate your eyeballs in some way, I'm just a little skeptical about everything else.....