Remembering Dennis Hopper

When news hit yesterday of Dennis Hopper's passing after a long battle with prostate cancer, it seemed a little unbelievable, and unreal, to me. He was that kind of icon. An actor, an artist, a man with so much history - equal parts notoriety and admiration - in the film world that he seemed indestructible, destined to live life to the fullest until a ripe old age. Here's a look back at some great Hopper scenes [warning: contains spoilers and stuff that might offend some people]:

The Texas Chainsaw Massacre 2 (1986)


True Romance (1993)


Apocalypse Now (1979)


Blue Velvet (1986)


River's Edge (1987)


These are lesser known and not available on DVD here, but worth looking out for:

Paris Trout (1991) - he's freaking amazing in this.


Night Tide (1961) - one of his earliest films, and one of my favourite films full stop.


Good night Mr. Hopper, thanks for all the way-out times.

And You Call Yourself a Back to the Future Fan

Here's another cool Back to the Future subtlety that I never noticed at all, reminiscent of that Creepy Kid from Part III. Read more about the scene in question here.

For the Star Wars Fan with Everything... #7

How about a 1950s version of The Empire Strikes Back? I'd love to see this....



(via Escapist Magazine)

And for you non-hardcore Star Wars fans, if you've ever wondered how they did the opening credits crawl, check this out:

Random Stuff #1

Occasionally I'll post pics which I find interesting/strange/funny/beautiful with little to no comment. This is one of those times.

George Costanza: The Movie

I know the Shining trailer mash-up formula has been done to death by now, but here's a little clip Seinfeld fans might find amusing. Imagine an entire dramatic movie of George Costanza (the mind boggles) - it might look something like this:

Up in the Air

Could this be the most adorable movie-themed engagement photo shoot ever? Probably. Click here to see of more pictures of this Up-inspired shoot...

On the other hand, this one makes me want to vomit...

GET OUT OF THERE!

I have to say I love these compilations of cliched movie lines; the patience, the time, the perseverance required to put these together... they separate the fan from the super-fans. This one's a goodie (via Timpson):



My favourite bit: Isabella Rossellini discovering Kyle McLachlan in the closet in Blue Velvet. So good.

And while we're at it, how about a couple more:





See also: No Signal, Let's Enhance

Coming to a Film Festival Near You

The New Zealand International Film Festival (twitter) is just around the corner, so here's a sneak peek at one of the films that's been announced, Exit Through the Gift Shop. This documentary by legendary mystery UK street artist Banksy (or is it?) is destined to be among the the year's most talked-about films... jot this one down in your diary and don't miss out on getting a ticket!

Attention Lost Fans...

If you consider yourself a Lost fan at all, I can highly recommend picking up Entertainment Weekly's special Lost issue which hit the stands at Borders this week. There's a spoiler-free preview of the series finale (in two weeks, gasp!) and a number of articles, including a season-by-season recap and a map that sorts out all the convoluted relationships in the show, that'll make you realise that, sadly, there will never be another wacky, mind-bending show like this again (*SOB*). 

R.I.P. Round-up

There have been a lot of deaths in the film world recently, here's a round-up of some notable names if you missed them (click on their names for obits):

Lena Horne - American jazz singer, actress and prominent Civil Rights icon who broke many racial barriers in Tinseltown. Here's her legendary performance of her signature tune 'Stormy Weather' from the 1943 film of the same name (which alas we don't stock; we do have The Wiz though):

Frank Frazetta - if you are a sci-fi or fantasy fan chances are you'll have come across Frazetta's instantly recognisable artwork for comic books, paintings and book covers. He also produced some great movie posters, like this one below for Clint Eastwood's The Gauntlet.



Lynn Redgrave - younger sister of Vanessa Redgrave, best known for her Oscar-nominated role in the 1966 film Georgy Girl:

Joe Sarno - one of the best sexploitation directors of the '60s. Trailer for his most famous film, Inga:

David E. Durston - not a well-known name but the guy left us with an incredible '70s drive-in classic called I Drink Your Blood. My review here. Trailer:

William Lubtchansky - cinematographer who's worked with many top European directors like Francois Truffaut and Jacques Rivette. A shot from Claude Lanzmann's 1985 holocaust doco Shoah:

Trailer: Machete + Lego Version

I see the future of movies - and it's all fake trailers being turned into real movies. Here's another one of them in the pipeline: Machete, Rob Rodriguez's Mexploitation actioner which originally appeared on his and Tarantino's ill-fated Grindhouse project. 

A few things of interest to note: 

• it's the first lead role for Danny Trejo, the Mexican-American character who's appeared in hundreds of films in heavy/tough guy/henchmen-type parts (he's 66!) 
• Jeff Fahey (for Lost fans like myself who can't get enough of Lapidus)! 
• Steven Seagal, back on the big screen - now how did Rodriguez rope Seagal in for this? The guy turned down The Expendables!
• Michelle Rodriguez - same role she's played in every movie she's ever been in...
• Jessica Alba/Linsday Lohan - weak
• Don Johnson - love the tufts of grey hair showing under the hat

Everything in the trailer looks a bit too self-consciously tongue-in-cheek, but it'll be a treat to see those old-timers getting some theatrical action.



And now the LEGO VERSION by some dedicated fanboy:

Trailer: Inception

First off apologies for the lack of posts recently. It's been a busy madhouse here in the past few weeks and workload has prevented me from posting as much as I'd like. But this stunning trailer for the new Christopher Nolan film Inception is worth taking the time out to blog about. I'm not completely sure of the plot - and I'm going to avoid details as much as I can from herein - but what we can glean from this trailer is that it looks like a rollercoaster sci-fi brain-melt that seems to take place a lot in people's minds and dreams. Maybe Paprika-style? And we can probably expect a DiCaprio performance dialed up to 10 a la Shutter Island. He plays an agent specialising in "subconscious security". Sounds ridiculous but I'm intrigued.



PS: Anyone feel like this movie looks a lot like Batman Begins? Something about the colour schemes - Nolan loves his browns, blacks, whites...