What is Movie News After Dark? If you don’t know already, then it might not be for you. Wait.. wait… wait… Don’t leave. Trust us, it’s for you.
We begin tonight with a shot of Mark Wahlberg in Michael Bay’s Pain and Gain, the small movie that Bayhem will direct in between the last and the next Transformers movies. It’s being called a sort of “Pulp Fiction meets Fargo” story about a bodybuilder turned kidnapper. Wahlberg is beefy. There’s a 712% forecast of explosions, despite the promised sense of reality. Say hello to your mother for me, and carry on for more news…
I’m not much of a podcast guy — I love me some Reject Radio, but that’s mostly because someday it’s going to be huge and I like being able to say that I’ve been listening since the beginning. That said, I’m strongly considering becoming a follower of /Film’s new show, A Cast of Kings. Perhaps its the show’s topic (Game of Thrones) or its lovely co-host Joanna Robinson, but there’s something about it that makes me want to get all up on.
The Grindstone has a list of 7 Movies We Would Like to See Made About Female Leaders, including one about Google’s surprisingly cute Vice President of Location and Local Services Marissa Mayer, who would be played by Naomi Watts. I’d see that one. Meryl Streep as Hilary Clinton, not so much. Must Meryl play everyone?!
Paul Shipper, an artist from New Zealand, has entered a poster/t-shirt design for The Dark Knight Rises into a contest on DesignByHumans that I think you should see. You may even want to click the link I just laid down and vote for it.
Superman supernerd Jeffrey Taylor writes over at Movies.com about What Happened to the Superman Returns sequel as part of his countdown to Man of Steel. Like all things behind the scenes on a Superman movie, it’s a fascinating little tale.
Over at IndieWire, Alex Ross Perry writes about What We Lose When We Lose Video Stores, a subject very near and dear to the hearts of many of the packrats on the staff and among the readership of this very site. It’s a part of the evolution of distribution, sure. But that doesn’t mean it isn’t sad to see good, hard-working Americans closing the doors to the last bastions of great, untapped caches of format-spanning goodness.
The folks at Cracked, ever smart in their quest for humor, have published a list of 6 Common Movie Arguments That Are Always Wrong. Chief among them is “You can’t pick out plot holes – it’s a fantasy movie.” Because every movie has to at least make sense, right?
Do you play Draw Something, the game that’s sweeping the nation? It’s quite addictive, even if you’re like me and you can’t draw. If you’re like my good friend Lauren, however, then you’ve got (a) time and (b) talent coming out of your nether region. She’s got a little Tumblr called DrawSomethingForMe and it’s becoming filled with some delightful nerd art. Including the following gem. You should check it out and submit your best stuff.
Gizmodo has a nice profile on Marvel’s new Infinite Comics format and how it’s adding a new dimension to the way comics will be produced and consumed on devices like the iPad. The shift in the industry from print to digital may come with its downsides — and they are great — but its not without its potential upsides. It’s hard to refute that.
The unending debate over piracy has reached critical levels, quite literally. Last week, film critic Mike D’Angelo published an article called Is It Wrong to Download Pirated Movies? Not Quite, Says One Critic, in which he defends his own plans for piracy and refutes some of the big arguments against the practice. Today, CriticWire’s Matt Singer wrote Is It Okay For Critics to Pirate Movies?, to which Roger Ebert and a number of others tweeted a resounding “no way, Jose.” As well, Jonathan Poritsky has responded with The Piracy Conversation at the candler blog. My response? It’s between you and your God, friend. But calling it anything other than stealing is misguided. If you’re going to do it, at least call it what it is. Personally, I don’t feel the need to pirate movies. Even the worst of them were worked on by gaffers who deserve to get paid.
We close tonight with a parody of The Hunger Games, in which “Hipsters from the five districts, Portland, Austin, Brooklyn, Oakland, and Silverlake must fight to the death… to save their district.” From director Christopher Guerrero, it’s The Hipster Games…