Movie Blogs - The Spill Crew
Movie blogs by The Spill crew cover topics as important as who will play Wonder Woman and theories as to why Robert De Niro is no longer hard (stop sniggering). You might even like to write your own movie blog and share your opinions with all the other Spill users. That would be great - just make sure it's not some ol' bullsh*t - there's enough of that on here already.
You can also find featured posts from our Movie Community, plus respected movie blogs from around web including blogs from John Maguire and Denerstein Unleashed.
Latest Movie Blog posts by
Cyrus from Spill
Cyrus Presents a Review From Desire for the "Pete Kelly's Blues" DVD
Warner Brothers has been unloading a lot of their back titles lately on DVD in generally nice fixed-up, if not elaborate, re-releases. As a fan of movie history from the beginning till the moment that film hit it's high mark with "The Dark Knight" (I couldn't resist) I love finally getting a chance to see some of these forgotten classics. Just coming out is the "Eastwood Jazz Collection" so called, I assume, because the only film out of all of them I had heard of was one directed by Clint Eastwood. For the first review of the four re-releases I must now turn you over to Desire, another addition to my collection of mind-bogglingly hot female friends of Cyrus who wouldn't sleep with him if it meant saving the entire human race. Let's see what she's got to say about this 1955 jazz movie, "Pete Kelly's Blues."
The movie is so typical; you got these high waist pants wearing, weak looking musicians and the smallest one of all can beat up everybody else in the movie… including the mafia.
The reason Pete Kelly (Jack Webb) has got the blues is because his poor little jazz band is being shaken down by the mafia. The guys can’t afford to pay “commissions” to the mafia and they expect Pete to do something about it. Of course there’s the hot headed drummer Joey Firestone (Martin Milner) who starts the trouble in the first place. He drunkenly mouths off to the mob boss Fran McCarg (Edmond O'Brien) and brings the heat down on ‘em.
The movie is billed as having… “Gats, Gams, and Gangsters”. Yeah, well, I did see a couple of guns. I guess that’s as hardcore for those days as it gets. Gams? There’s two girls in the WHOLE movie (except Ella FItzgerald in a cameo as blues singer Maggie Jackson) and they only talk to Kelly! There’s Ivy (Janet Leigh), his girl, who he treats like crap and the more he ignores her the harder she comes on. You just know that she’s the one who is going to get him in trouble at the end. Then there’s the gangster’s girl named Rose (Peggy Lee). This broad can sing her butt off. The gangster treats her bad, as gangsters tend to do, so Kelly’s nice to her cause he feels bad for her and we’ve already seen what a sweetheart he is. I'm sure it has nothing to do with her aforementioned...gams.
Ok, so maybe there are some gangsters.
Some of the dialogue in Pete Kelly’s Blues is so subtle that you have to really be paying attention to pick up on what they’re saying. Unless you grew up in the 20’s (and I’ll just bet none of the readers of Spill did), you’re gonna need a 20’s to 2000’s translator to figure out what some of the hip lingo of the times was supposed to mean. Don’t get me wrong, the lines are smooth… too smooth. They don’t ever say what’s actually going on, yet somehow everybody understands the plan. When Peggy Lee’s character says she “got sick for a little while and had to go away” what they actually mean is that she went to the mental institution! Great stuff!
The music is awesome, the singer’s voices are crisp and smooth, the band sounds are pure. There’s drama, intrigue, deception, and stories about the type of friends that have your back no matter what; that’s something hard to find nowadays and it feels good to see it here.
Pete Kelly’s Blues is certainly not a must see, but it is pleasantly gentle and entertaining and an amusing picture of a hipster time long since gone by.
CLICK HERE TO BUY PETE KELLY'S BLUES...
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Tue, 22 Jul 2008
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Latest Movie Blog posts by
Leon from Spill
Leon's Goodbye
I just wanted to take this time to tell you all what great time I’ve had being a part of Spill and getting to interact with you all. I’m very confident in you as the stewards of this site and I know you’ll make it big someday.
As you may have heard, I am leaving and this will be my last post…*sigh* …for the rest of the week, that is! Tomorrow Korey and I are heading to sunny San Diego, California for Comic Con 2008, baby!
We’ll be there all five days so if you’re gonna be at the show please come up and say ‘hi.” Trust me, you’ll know Korey as soon as you see him. You’ll find me hanging out with him or at the Too Much Coffee Man booth
with my ex-studio mate Shannon Wheeler. There won’t be an official Spill booth this year but look for the Spill Girls handing out condoms and t-shirts.
About this being my “last post”…um, well…while I’m there my Internet access (and sobriety) will be very limited, so I guarantee you a day-to-day report from the convention, but you can bet I’ll give you a full account when we record the next L.E.O.G on the following week.
And now to answer a few last persistent questions before I go. Let’s get all of the Bat-Guano out the way first:
Leon, don’t you agree that The Dark Knight is the best movie of the year and Heath Ledger deserves an Oscar?
I absolutely agree 100% that The Dark Knight is the best movie of the year…SO FAR. Remember that all the real Oscar contenders aren’t released until right after Thanksgiving.
Just settle down.
What villains do you think will be in the next Batman movie?
Personally, I’d like to see Catwoman and Robin, but--- WTF? The last movie just came out a week ago, people! How in the hell would I know what--- oh wait. Duh. Why don’t I just consult the all-knowing Mystical Movie Orb of Agamotto you think I have?
Yeah, that’s what I figured.
Dude, I found that Batmobile and Batpod your were looking for at target for $30.00. What will you give me for it?
Thanks for looking out for me. Luckily I also found it at Toys ‘R Us for $27.88 and I had a $5.00 off coupon.
Leon, what makes you so cool?
Ha-ha. I get that all the time. Well, it’s like I was telling George Clooney the other day, there is no one thing. It’s like a random combination of elements or other people that come together like a perfect formula. Thus:
Superman
Batman
You feel me?
Leon, did you see all the new episodes and the series finale of ‘Avatar: The Last Airbender’?
I delayed watching it because I wasn’t ready for it to be over, but because so many of you asked I broke down and watched them all in one sitting last weekend.
Yep, I cried. Best…animated…series…ever.
What did you think of the trailer(s) for The Watchmen, Twilight, The Day the earth Stood Still, etc., etc. blah,blah?
How many times do I have to say it? I don’t watch trailers. Trailers lie.
That said, I think Watchmen looks WAY too much like 300.
“Cool” my ass, Leon! That was a real dick move making it seem like you were quitting Spill when all you were doing is going on “vacation”. How can you lie like that?
Actually, the last time Korey and I went on a trip together we almost died…
So, technically it’s not a lie until I make it back again.
Okay, that’s all for now kids. Don’t stay up past your bedtime and Chig Champa’s in charge till I get back.
...
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Tue, 22 Jul 2008
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Latest Movie Blog posts by
Co-Host 3000 from Spill
EDGAR WRIGHT TALKS 'ANT-MAN'!
YoYoYo! Check out what I found over at Superherohype.com. Edgar Wright is doing a mini tour for the DVD release of "Spaced: The Complete Series" and chatted up a storm about his upcoming Marvel film "Ant-Man" and some other project I have no clue about.
I was wondering what the hell happened to this project since it's no longer on Marvels upcoming release slate. Check out the interview folks and read what he had to say.
Director Edgar Wright is doing a mini-tour of the United States along with Simon Pegg and Jessica Stevenson in support of their new DVD Spaced: The Complete Series, released Tuesday on DVD in the United States for the first time. ComingSoon.net had a chance to sit down and talk with him, an interview which you can read here, but they also had a chance to talk with him a bit about Marvel Studios' Ant-Man and Bryan Lee O'Malley's Scott Pilgrim vs. the World, both of which Wright is adapting as movies.
CS: What's been going on since you finished promoting "Hot Fuzz" last year? I know you've been always juggling a couple different projects including "Ant-Man" and "Scott Pilgrim."
Wright: We're in between two different strikes. I don't think anybody really knows what's happening with the (actors strike). Yeah, I've just been writing. I wrote the first draft of "Ant-Man." I wrote two drafts of "Scott Pilgrim." I started to work on a solo project and also me and Simon are… (starts to pause as not to reveal too much.)
CS: It already leaked what you two were doing together.
Wright: Oh, no, there's two. There's one that's me and there's one that's me and Simon. Yeah, that one there was a trade announcement about it and that's sort of the third in this trilogy but we need to start writing that in between everything else that's going on .
CS: The interesting thing about "Ant-Man" is that after "Iron Man" opened so big, there was this huge Marvel Studios bells and whistles announcement of their movies for the next three years and "Ant-Man" wasn't mentioned.
Wright: I think having spoken to Kevin Feige, the "Ant-Man" film I have in mind is a bit more stand-alone, and that's kind of what I wanted to do in a way. I think my take on it is something that may or may not fit into what "The Avengers" would eventually do, but they're very keen on it and they've even talked a release date with me in very vague terms. It looks likely that I will do "Scott Pilgrim" next and then "Ant-Man" straight afterwards.
CS: You have a great cast that's been announced for "Scott Pilgrim" so far.
Wright: There's some more interesting people buzzing around as well. It's going to be a big ensemble, that film, and there's a lot of fun people we've already been talking to, so there's more to come with that.
CS: Brian O'Malley still has a couple more issues of the story to finish, so have you talked to him about where the story is going to go so you can include some of that in the movie?
Wright: The only book that isn't written is the sixth, but our film takes on a slightly different trajectory after the second book and it includes elements from books three, four and five. In some cases, Brian has used lines in his books from our first draft of the screenplay (chuckles) which is like strange performance-style transference, and it's been brilliant being able to pick his brains throughout this. On one hand, it's a very very faithful adaptation and on the other hand, it definitely molds events from those books into a three-act movie structure, so that's been interesting.
CS: And you know that Mike Cera has this insane fanbase of women, which you might have seen at Comic-Con last year, but it's gotten even bigger since "Superbad" came out. Essentially, every single woman wants him.
Wright: Michael Cera? Yeah. I know he's got a lot of growing up he can do if he wanted to.
CS: Once you figure out if the strike is happening, do you know where you'll shoot the movie? Would you go back to the U.K. for it or do it here?
Wright: No, it wouldn't be in the U.K. It'll either be here or Toronto. It would be really crucial to kind of shoot in Toronto, so that's what I'm aiming to do.
CS: I want to ask some more "Ant-Man" stuff because besides the release date, there's been a lot of chatter and speculation about what that movie might be like, whether it's a straight comedy or not. Did you look at any specific issues or stories to based the movie on?
Wright: It doesn't really have elements of an entire strand or series, because Ant-Man is a character that over forty years, he's kind of cropped up in various different guises, and it's always interesting to me what elements of the character people latch onto. Everyone seems to latch onto the wife-beater elements. I'm not even sure if I read that particular story. I maybe read parts of it. You know, the only thing is that parts of it touch upon is the whole mythos, and basically, it's the story about Hank Pym and Scott Lang. Our big spin on it is an origin tale for one of them and kind of like a swan song for the other.
CS: Are you going to be able to get the Wasp in there at all?
Wright: In a very roundabout way. We want to sort of leave some things for some future visions or spin-off things as well. It's difficult to tell forty years of Avengers history in one film, and I'd rather concentrate on two or three great characters.
CS: Ant-Man also had the worst villains in the Marvel Universe.
Wright: Living Eraser…
CS: Egghead…
Wright: Like The Protractor… it always seemed like for the first 12 issues of "Ant-Man," it was just the contents of a pencil case.
CS: You could probably make up a villain and it would be better than any of the villains in the comic books.
Wright: I don't think there's any villains from the original comics, I mean Ant-Man standalone, that are like famous enough to… I mean, in a way, one of the things that was sort of a high concept of characters so much is that you don't need to have a Marvel super-villain in the film. Ant-Man is enough in an otherwise kind of real world.
CS: The good thing is that the character doesn't have that many diehard fans, at least not that I know of, although maybe they'll come out of the woodwork when you're at Comic-Con talking about the movie.
Wright: "Hey, you didn't beat his wife enough!"
CS: (laughs) No, no, he really didn't beat his wife at all when he was Ant-Man. That was like later when he had five different personalities.
Wright: I think you got the sense with the original. I had lunch with Stan Lee and it was very interesting talking to him about Ant-Man because he said to me that he always felt like Ant-Man was a character that should have been bigger, and like they made mistakes, even just in the artwork, that sort of prevented him from doing that. It's kind of interesting. He said that he always felt that Ant-Man was a character that had more potential than it ever really delivered on. I like that Cold War stuff, it's great. Ant-Man taking on the Russkies single-handedly, it's funny.
Spaced: The Complete Series is out now on DVD which you can get in all the finer stores that sell cool cult TV show DVD collections, including Amazon. If you'll be in San Diego for Comic-Con International, try to stop by Room 6A on Friday at 12:30pm where Edgar, Simon Pegg and Jessica Stevenson will be doing a Q 'n' A panel about the show. (Yes, we know it's opposite the Watchmen panel, but you probably won't be able to get into it, so why bother even trying?) Then on Friday night at 10:15, same time, they'll screen three episodes of the show as chosen by you, the fans.
Well there you go people. Awww no Ant-Man for Avengers the motion picture, Awww.
Maybe they can recruit this dude.
He ain't doin' nothin' but battling beer and tomato stains off his wife beater. LOL...DAMN!
Source: Superherohype.com...
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Thu, 24 Jul 2008
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