The Drifter and The Bartender

But, first thing’s first. Every once in a while, movie news comes around that gets me all riled simply because it describes a movie that I can’t possibly imagine. Enter director Guy Moshe and his new movie: Bunraku. Moshe has directed something called Holly (starring Ron Livingston, Chris Penn (that’s how old it is) and Udo Kier … weird) which I’ve never seen. And now this. Starring Josh Hartnett, Demi Moore, Woody Harrelson and Ron Perlman. Equally weird. Genre? Western/Action/Comic/Kung-Fu/Noir/Post-Apocalypic/Musical. Yeah … soak that up before we move on.

Bunraku takes its name from the ancient Japanese art of puppet theater. Ask me why after I‚Äôve seen it. So Hartnett stars as “The Drifter” and Woody is “The Bartender,” which I admit is a little ‚Ķ not pretentious. What‚Äôs the word? I dunno, but it sounds like it might be trying too hard. Add to that reports that while much of the film‚Äôs audience at the Toronto Film Festival was all in with it and cheering in their seats, others left them completely, walking out of the theater. And if a movie is a kung-fu/musical (see also A Kung Fu Tale, Kung-Fu Hustle, Chandni Chowk to China and the forthcoming Jackie Chan auto-bio-pic) has split audiences, I‚ÄôM FREAKING IN. Here‚Äôs a 2 year old q&a with Lucky Slevin himself.

Other News Bits:

Hubble and that rhymes with trouble - with a capital T and that rhymes with P and that stands for Pool!

* Alfonso Cuaron (Children of Men, The Little Princess) is directing a future stranded in space movie called Gravity. It may or may not feature Natalie Portman in a role that was possibly, maybe offered to Angelina Jolie, who probably turned it down if it was ever actually offered to her. All’s I know is that I’m fairly sure Cuaron is directing a movie about getting stuck in space while fixing Hubble.  And that it’s starring Robert Downey, Jr. and maybe probably Sandra Bullock in the role that Natalie Portman is probably not filling.

Kate. ...with a blade

* Kate Bosworth is in a movie. Strange right? Is it odd that I think of her from Blue Crush before Superman Returns?¬†I haven’t even seen Blue Crush? It‚Äôs a period piece set in the early 1900s called The Warrior‚Äôs Way and co-stars Geoffrey Rush and the star of the ultra-beautiful South Korean epic The Promise, Dong-Gun Jang.¬† I don‚Äôt know much, except that Bosworth does her own stunts, fight scenes and knife-throwing.
* And a question: if I told you that they were sequelizing Brendan Fraser‚Äôs¬†3-D nightmare, Journey to the Center of the Earth, replacing Fraser with Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson and calling it Journey 2: The Mysterious Island (see what they did there?) and were no-doubt shooting it in digital 3-D would you care? Should you care? After you‚Äôve obviously said “No” just then, would it make a difference if I threw Sir Michael Caine in the mix? How ‚Äòbout if it seemed as though it will be based on the other classic Jules Verne novel about an island filled with giant animals, and it only made sense for Sir Caine to play the famous Captain Nemo? Would that make a difference? ‚Ķ Didn‚Äôt think so.
* And finally – it seems as though Robert Rodriguez won’t be directing Ryan Reynolds in the Deadpool movie (even though he reportedly likes the script) because of a scheduling conflict. Which isn’t the worst news in the world. He’d be good for Deadpool, but so would others. But the conflict is because of Spy Kids 4. Screw you Robert Rodriguez. Screw you right in the brain.

And let me rep Total Film magazine (the bestest ever) for a minute. Check out these mini-bonuses:

23 ways for Joss Whedon to booby up the sausage-fest that is The Avengers.
www.tinyurl.com/23girlsavengers

And the polls are open! Vote on your favorites of 2010. It’s been an off year, but a few standouts have made it a good one. Check the results in a month or so…
www.totalfilm.com/hotlist2010

And finally, because I can…

I’m going to be 100% honest with you right now: ¬†I have officially lost my shit. ¬†As if all of the news surrounding the Avengers movie wasn’t cool enough (Joss Whedon writing/directing, Cap is Evans, etc) things just got a whole lot cooler. ¬†Mark Ruffalo was officially revealed at Comic-Con as Bruce Banner/The Hulk and Jeremy Renner was also officially unveiled as Hawkeye.

I was already pretty jazzed for this movie, but this just sealed the deal. ¬†Nevermind that we broke the ‘RUFFALO IS FOR SURE THE HULK’ story on Breachcast 47, we’re not going to give ourselves props for that. ¬†Seriously, we don’t want you all to come in here and credit us with confirming that Ruffalo is The Hulk. ¬†We’re just doing our job reporting on things and confirming them with no thought of reward, really.

So there you have it.  A cast of awesome people with an equally awesome director helming the project.  My ass will be in the seat for the midnight showing on this one, folks.  Do yourself a favor and click the link below to see the full Avengers rundown as well as pics of them together on stage.

Source: Ain’t It Cool News

Breachcast 47

Breachcast XXXV

[via Youtube and Grant Imahara's Twitter]

Breachcast XXV

The premise puts a new spin on the whole “memory implants” plot line we’ve been accustomed to since Total Recall.  Attractive men and women are rented to the rich and powerful for whatever need they may have.  Say you want to throw a good bone dance at a broad- they’ll implant said lady with the desire for your same fantasies and before you know it, she suggests you find a donkey.  And the best part? She’ll get her mind erased and archived later and won’t remember how disgusted she was with you while you were plowing away.

For the purposes of this episode, Echo (Eliza Dushku) has been outfitted with the ability to help a man retrieve his kidnapped daughter.  Unfortunately, due to a combination of all the memories she has been implanted with to perform her task, she is reminded of a horrific childhood memory and it impairs her ability.  We’re also introduced to her handler, Boyd, who appears to be slightly conflicted with the line of work he’s found for himself.

My favorite aspect of this premise is that they can do almost anything with the 12 episodes they’ll shoot for the series.  I hate be an asshole, but I feel like Whedon is the spurned lover, hellbent on making a show work on a network notorious for ending a series unless it has astronomical ratings.  He continues to go back and tries to find a way to make the relationship work.  But in the end, even though Dollhouse shows promise, it may never be enough.