Finally a Promo Video for "Breaking Bad" Season 4!....wait, didn't I already see that?

     After nearly a 12-month hiatus, fans of the brilliant AMC drama Breaking Bad are just about at the breaking point.  The fourth season needs to start, and it needs to start now.  People are ready to riot in the streets.  Shows about Hal from Malcolm in the Middle making meth labs will do that to people, I suppose.  Anyway, I was excited to see the release of a video promo for the highly-anticipated next season, which is probably nothing more than proof to the audience, saying, "See?  Now do you believe us that we really have been filming since January?  We promise!"

     If they really said that, I still wouldn't believe them.  Why?  Because this promo contains NO NEW FOOTAGE.  I know it's a "promo", and not a "sneak peek"....but technicalities aside this was a shitty thing to do, and hardly promotes anything.   Good job AMC.  Now you can stop showing this promo on your station, and fill that time slot with cat food commercials or something, because everything I just saw on that promo...I saw LAST YEAR.

 

    

"The Hobbit" is Blooming

     Peter Jackson announced yesterday via his Facebook page that Orlando Bloom will in fact reprise his role as the elf Legolas in Part I of the fiercely anticipated Hobbit movies.  Sweet!  Jackson stated earlier:

“Ten years ago, Orlando Bloom created an iconic character with his portrayal of Legolas. 

I’m excited to announce today that we’ll be revisiting Middle Earth with him once more. 

I’m thrilled to be working with Orlando again. Funny thing is, I look older—and he doesn’t! 

I guess that’s why he makes such a wonderful elf.”(chud.com)

    It's the conditioner he uses, Jackson.  I'm sure of it.  The trick is you have to leave it in for about 5 minutes, THEN wash it out.  It leaves the hair glowing.  I know Liv Tyler keeps brushing up on her Elvish, but hopefully Bloom has been too.  In any case, we're all glad the pretty-boy is back.

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Trailer for remake of "The Wave"

     A teacher creates an experiment in the classroom that mirrors Hitler's Third Reich, pitting students against each other.  The original in 1981 kicked ass, so I'm puzzled as to why it's being redone.  Will it be any better because it's in present-day Germany?  Will the ending be more powerful?  Ratings on imdb.com show it may become more popular than the original.  We'll just see about that, IMDB.

Useless Trivia of the Week

     Many people believe that Halle Berry was the first African American woman to win an Oscar.  Not true.  While she was the first to win "Best Actress", she was not the first black woman to be nominated for the award and win it; nor was Denzel Washington the first African American to earn a golden statue either.  The first African American ever to be nominated for and win an Academy Award was Hattie McDaniel for Gone with the Wind in 1940.  She won Supporting Actress for playing Mammy, the O'Hara family house servant and nanny.  It's been ten years since I have seen that movie, but she was one character I remembered the most.  That alone should tell you how wonderful her role was.

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Cool Movies I Watched Over the Weekend

     This weekend there was a little something for everyone.

1. Shower

      Some foreign films, particularly French films (go figure), do not translate well in American culture.  No pun intended.  But this Chinese film was warmer and funnier than I ever expected.  It's a story about a young, successful business man named Da Ming, who returns home to his small northern Chinese village suspecting that his father, the owner of a bathhouse, has passed away.  His father, in fact, is still alive and running his prized bathhouse as smoothly as ever, with the help of his other son and Da Ming's mentally handicapped brother, Er Ming.  Da Ming's impatience and urgency to catch the quickest flight back home is overshadowed by his father's sudden health decline, and the risk of losing the bathhouse to an ever-expansive industrial age, which would rather see neon signs and a shopping mall than half-naked Chinese men fighting crickets and lounging in steaming bath pools.  Nevertheless, Da Ming stays to help his family.  As cliche as this "I'm coming home and it's going to be tense" storyline can be at times (movies like Garden State and Elizabethtown come to mind), it has a wittiness and more pure simplicity about it, because it shows one small family exactly how it is - imperfect and rash to one another at times, but also caring, kind, and, whether they will admit it or not, close.  The relationship that Da Ming develops with his handicapped younger brother is well paced, natural, and aided with some superb acting and writing talents. 

2. The Host

     
     Ok, so I kind of lied.  I guess there's not as much diversity this weekend in my movie viewage as I previously stated.  Man, last time it was a bunch of Mormon films, and now it's foreign Asian films.  I just can't catch a break.  It's not like I'm doing this on purpose, people.
    The Host is a South Korean horror/monster flick that should not be overlooked.  After the government and other vaguely implied officials dump a bunch of chemical toxins into the Han River, BIG SHOCKER, a large, mutated, amphibious creature is discovered to be dwelling there ten years later. It leaps ashore one sunny afternoon and kills a bunch of picnickers, then dives back into the water with a small girl named Hyun-Seo.  Her family is devastated, until they receive a call from her somewhere in the sewer system, proving she is still alive.   It's now up to her pathetic and otherwise unmotivated father Gang-Du, her grandfather, and her uncle and archery-champion aunt to find where the monster has stowed away their youngest family member - and to bring every ounce of revenge they have.
    This movie is actually more of a black comedy than anything.  It's a more unique type of horror film that would appeal to any horror fan.  The humor is subtle, and finds its epitome in the anti-hero Gang-Du, who finds time to nap and be clumsy even in midst of running from the Korean CDC in the hopes of finding his little girl alive.  The monster itself is slightly cheap-looking in terms of CGI, which I believe was on purpose.  The writers, producers, and director didn't want you to pay the most attention to the special effects that made up this terrifying monster; they instead point the audience to focus on the lives this monster has disrupted, and the fate of all involved in the end.

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Documentary Wednesday - Trailer for "Gasland"

     So I'm pretty sure water isn't supposed to do that.

    Gasland is a winner at the Sundance Film Festival, and, like many politically motivated documentaries that are emerging today, is not likely to go away anytime soon.

"Curb Your Enthusiasm" Season 8 Promo Trailer!

     Our favorite neurotic Jew is back, this time in the Big Apple.  Season premiere is July 10th.

Link to promo trailer - 

http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/live-feed/watch-hbos-curb-your-enthusiasm-191338