Trailer: White House Down

Ready to see the White House go boom again? Trailer for Roland Emmerich's Channing Tatum-starring actioner White House Down has arrived, and it looks almost exactly like the same movie as Olympus Has Fallen, but with different actors and possibly more polished CGI. This will be the THIRD time Emmerich has destroyed the White House: the first was in Independence Day, and then again in 2012.

Friday Clips #1

Welcome to the first edition of Friday Clips, a compilation - or more precisely, a dumping ground - of interesting/funny/weird clips and trailers that I didn't get around to posting about during the week and presented in a more concise fashion. So basically my tribute to the fact that on Friday our brains seem to slow down and have no time nor power to process large blocks of text - it's Random Stuff, but solely with video.

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The Scared is Scared - cute little short film made from a six-year-old's story:


Life of Pi Screening... in a swimming pool... in Paris:

Biting Elbows music video - wild, violent first-person action, not for kids, the squeamish and easily offended:

 Lil Bubs and Friendz - cat memes taken to the next inevitable level:

Game of Thrones Season 3 trailer - I realise Season 2 just came out on DVD, but for the hardcore fans...:

Trailer: Despicable Me 2

Steve Carell and his cast of button-cute orphans and mischievous minions are back in the sequel to the 2010 animated hit. The plot has Gru (Carell) being hired by the Anti-Villain League to stop a new - unseen - baddie from destroying the world. This bubbly trailer promises more silly Bondian gadgets, and once again those adorable minions appear to be stealing the show:

The Return of Brent

For those who have missed David Brent, Ricky Gervais has reprised his iconic role from the original UK series of The Office in the 10-minute online short The Office Revisited. It's a bit of tease that leaves you wanting more, but I guess this will be as close as we'll come seeing more of the show, which wrapped up over a decade ago. Catch up with Brent below and see what he's been up to:

Cult Classic Trailer: No Retreat, No Surrender

Junkies of cheesy '80s action movies will be pleased to know that Corey Yuen's 1986 martial arts flick No Retreat, No Surrender is getting re-released on DVD and Blu-ray from Vendetta Films on April 17. The film is probably best known for featuring the first big feature-starring role for Jean-Claude Van Damme (who plays a Russian baddie named Ivan Kraschinsky), and maybe more infamously, as the one where the main character, young karate champ wannabe Jason Swillwell (Kurt McKinney), trains from the ghost of Bruce Lee. Click on the youtube trailer below to soak up some '80s karate goodness:

Veronica Mars Movie Gets a Kickstart... How About a 24 Movie?

Ever since high school detective show Veronica Mars went off air in 2007, its ardent fans have been clamouring for a movie. Now it's likely their wish may come true with a Kickstarter campaign launched by creator Rob Thomas to raise $2 million to get the project off the ground. Within four hours, it has raised $1 million, and the number is climbing as I write this. Check out this interview with the guy who pledged $10K for a speaking part in the film.

Great to see it doing well - and so quickly - and it makes me wonder if other similar TV projects could do the same. More specifically... 24!

The movie's been on the back-burner since the show was cancelled 3 years ago, with plenty of negotiation setbacks between star Kiefer Sutherland and Fox delaying progress (not to mention a certain lame show he's committed to). But recent word from Antoine Fuqua, who was in talks to do the movie, has all but confirmed the worst: it's dead. Strangely enough, Fuqua's new film, Olympus Has Fallen, has a very 24-feel to it, and pretty much swipes the White House siege subplot from the seventh season of the show. Anywho if anyone does end up doing a 24 Kickstarter, I'd definitely chuck in $20 towards it...

Short Film: Iron Man vs. Bruce Lee

The talented guy behind that cute Dragon Baby short last year returns with a similarly fun action short pitting Bruce Lee against Iron Man. Why not? This will be the most entertaining 1 minute you'll have today.

Breaking Bad as a '90s Family Drama

Through the powers of shrewd song-and-font selection, the great Breaking Bad is transformed into something that looks more like um, Party of Five. Awesome. Prefer this one to the previous sitcom remix of the show.
Reminder: Season 4 is out in April on DVD and Blu-ray!

Listen: Petra Haden - "Psycho"

Have a couple of minutes to spare this arvo? Have a listen to this fantastic acapella rendition of Bernard Herrmann's theme to Psycho from Petra Haden. It's one of many acapella reworkings of famous film themes and songs you can find on her new album Petra Goes to the Movies. Very cool.

"Peter & Gwen" - A Bad Lip Reading of The Amazing Spider-Man

Another fantastic job from Bad Lip Reading crew, this one somehow finds a way of adding menstrual cramps, wooden legs and free-style rapping into the dialogue of The Amazing Spider-Man. And for you Spider-Man fans with a filthier, darker - perhaps more "adventurous" - sense of humour, watch this new animated clip from the team who brought you the brilliant Louis C.K./Charlie Brown mash-up. It's a brutally honest look at what an actual Spider-Man might be like... warning: not for the easily offended!

Trailer: The Conjuring

Horror trailers don't come any creepier than this one for James Wan's The Conjuring, a supernatural chiller based on real-life ghostbusters Ed and Lorraine Warren. It starts off chirpily enough with The Zombies' "Time of the Season" playing in the background, but then slowly builds into one terrific little scare that makes me hopeful this will one of the better horror pics to be released this year. Wan (Saw) also has the sequel to Insidious on the way, and if you haven't already seen that film, I recommend you get the DVD out, sit down with a bucket of popcorn late at night and be prepared to soil your pants...

A Brief Note to Future Movie Prisons