DROP IT! Joel Kinnaman is ROBOCOP!

So my good friends, nay, my BEST friends over at Deadline (I can make up friendships if I want to don’t judge me. I’m friends with Snookie too, and that guy from the Old Spice commercials, I like to diversify my friendships) bring us the news that Alex J. Murphy will be played by actor Joel Kinnaman, best known currently for his role in the AMC series The Killing. And while he did have a pretty awesome performance in Safe House, I am not quite sure what to think about this. I am hesitantly excited as I like to say. I think there is a fine line with the character of Alex Murphy and Robocop and it could easily go from serious to cheesy real quick.

Paul and I recently discussed the news that Gran Torino scribe Nick Schenk was brought on board to write the script, and I think that is a great move for the film. Gran Torino had straightforward, visceral, non-apologetic, tell it like it is dialogue which caused some controversy and offended a lot of people (not me, I loved it!). With sharp writing, and director José Padilha bringing in some of that Elite Squad action I definitely think the building blocks are there to stay true to the feel and tone of the Robocop series, I just hope a somewhat younger actor can keep up and not drag down the film.

But what we are all forgetting is the fact that Joel Kinnaman played the giant douche-bag role of Skyler in the CGI nightmare and all around horrible movie The Darkest Hour!!! You can check out our review of that piece of crap here. But maybe if he can make me hate a character that much, he can turn it around and make me love a character too. We will definitely be keeping an eye on this movie and on you Joel… don’t screw up my movie!

OMG seriously!? The dude behind us is going to be Robocop!?


Roll 4 Deep with this Neighborhood Watch Teaser!

Stiller.  Vaughn.  Skinny Jonah.  And…um…that other guy.  Just the cast alone looks great (aside from that other guy, who at first glance I thought was Jemaine Clement.  Had that been true, this movie’s cast would have made my head explode).  As Jake commented to me today, and I quote, “Stiller and Hill might make the perfect comedic match,” and I tend to agree.  Jake also went on to say, “Paul is way cooler than me” and “I regret having never seen Cats live.”

Check out the teaser trailer for Neighborhood Watch below:

Not mentioned anywhere in this trailer, mind you, is the true plot of the film:

Suburban dads form a neighborhood watch group to get time away from their families, only to discover a plot to destroy Earth. -IMDb

That’s right: Earth.  As in alien invaders.  Probably not Nazi-Alien invaders, but aliens all the while.  Hmmmmm…As excited I am to see this comedic trio in one movie, this has the potential to get awfully zany awfully quick.


New Trailer for a little film called The Avengers!

Hey, do you remember when you were a little kid, playing in your backyard? You’d be in your sandbox, or what have you, and have all your GI Joes fighting Cobra Command. Then, alongside your GI Joes, you have your Batman action figure jumping into the fray, only to have Skeletor inexplicably confront him on battlefield. But wait…what’s this!? Optimus Prime arrives to save the day! (and he’s also three times the size of all the other figures).

That doesn’t ring a bell? Oh…well that’s what I think of when I watch this new trailer for The Avengers. It’s a mishmash of superheroes/celebrities that really have no business sharing the same screen with one another, yet there they are! It really is a display unlike anything we have ever seen since emptying our old toy boxes.

Now I know the hype machine is on overdrive for this movie (seriously, just try to go through your normal day without hearing/seeing one morsel of Avengers). But still yet, one cannot deny the awesomeness of this trailer and the sheer amount of shit that is getting ‘splodeded (sic).

The Avengers opens in every crevice of America on May 4, 2012.


If you only watch ONE trailer this year…

…Then watch Iron Sky with those batshit-crazy Nazis on the goddamn moon!

BUT, if you watch TWO trailers this year, make sure the other is this one:

After four months of preparation, Jimmy Kimmel released his epic Movie: The Movie upon the masses last night following the Academy Awards.  This star-studded behemoth really is something to behold.  I found myself “el oh elling” more than a few times.  You can also check out the website for the “film” here.


2012 Oscar Winners Cheatsheet

A quick and dirty recap of all the winners from last night’s Academy Awards.  How many did you get right?

Best Picture
“The Artist”
“The Descendants”
“Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close”
“Hugo”
“Midnight in Paris”
“The Help”
“Moneyball”
“War Horse”
“The Tree of Life”

Best Actor
Demian Bichir, “A Better Life”
George Clooney, “The Descendants”
Jean Dujardin, “The Artist”
Gary Oldman, “Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy”
Brad Pitt, “Moneyball”

Best Actress
Glenn Close, “Albert Nobbs”
Viola Davis, “The Help”
Rooney Mara, “The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo”
Meryl Streep, “The Iron Lady”
Michelle Williams, “My Week With Marilyn”

Best Supporting Actor
Kenneth Branagh, “My Week With Marilyn”
Jonah Hill, “Moneyball”
Nick Nolte, “Warrior”
Christopher Plummer, “Beginners”
Max Von Sydow, “Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close”

Best Supporting Actress
Berenice Bejo, “The Artist”
Jessica Chastain, “The Help”
Melissa McCarthy, “Bridesmaids”
Janet McTeer, “Albert Nobbs”
Octavia Spencer, “The Help”

Best Director
Woody Allen, “Midnight in Paris”
Michel Hazanavicius, “The Artist”
Terrence Malick, “The Tree of Life”
Alexander Payne, “The Descendants”
Martin Scorsese, “Hugo”

Best Original Screenplay
Woody Allen, “Midnight in Paris”
JC Chandor, “Margin Call”
Asghar Farhadi, “A Separation”
Michel Hazanavicius, “The Artist”
Kristen Wiig and Annie Mumolo, “Bridesmaids”

Best Adapted Screenplay
Alexander Payne, Nat Faxton, Jim Rash, “The Descendants”
John Logan, “Hugo”
George Clooney, Grant Heslov, Beau Willimon, “The Ides of March”
Aaron Sorkin, Steven Zaillian, “Moneyball”
Bridget O’Connor, Peter Straughn, “Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy”

Best Animated Feature
“A Cat In Paris”
“Chico & Rita”
“Kung Fu Panda 2”
“Puss in Boots”
“Rango”

Best Foreign Language Film of the Year
Bullhead (Belgium)
Footnote (Israel)
In Darkness (Poland)
Monsieur Lazhar (Canada)
A Separation (Iran)

Original Score
“The Adventures of Tintin,” John Williams
“The Artist,” Ludovic Bource
“Hugo,” Howard Shore
“Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy,” Alberto Iglesias
“War Horse,” John Williams

Best Original Song
“Man or Muppet,” The Muppets; Music and Lyric by Bret McKenzie
“Real in Rio,” Rio; Music by Sergio Mendes and Carlinhos Brown, Lyric by Siedah Garrett

Best Achievement in Art Direction
“The Artist”
“Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2”
“Hugo”
“Midnight in Paris”
“War Horse”

Best Achievement in Cinematography
“The Artist”
“The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo”
“Hugo”
“The Tree of Life”
“War Horse”

Best Achievement in Costume Design
“Anonymous”
“The Artist”
“Hugo”
“Jane Eyre”
“W.E.”

Best Documentary Feature
“Hell and Back Again”
“If a Tree Falls: A Story of the Earth Liberation Front”
“Paradise Lost 3: Purgatory”
“Pina”
“Undefeated”

Best Documentary Short Subject
“The Barber of Birmingham: Foot Soldier of the Civil Rights Movement?”
“God Is the Bigger Elvis”
“Incident in New Baghdad”
“Saving Face”
“The Tsunami and the Cherry Blossom”

Best Achievement in Film Editing
“The Artist”
“The Descendants”
“The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo”
“Hugo”
“Moneyball”

Best Achievement in Makeup
“Albert Nobbs”
“Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2”
“The Iron Lady”

Best Animated Short Film
Dimanche/Sunday
The Fantastic Flying Books of Mr. Morris Lessmore
La Luna
A Morning Stroll
Wild Life

Best Live Action Short Film
“Pentecost”
“Raju”
“The Shore”
“Time Freak”
“Tuba Atlantic”

Best Achievement in Sound Editing
“Drive”
“The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo”
“Hugo”
“Transformers: Dark of the Moon”
“War Horse”

Best Achievement in Sound Mixing
“The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo”
“Hugo”
“Moneyball”
“Transformers: Dark of the Moon”
“War Horse”

Best Achievement in Visual Effects
“Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2”
“Hugo”
“Real Steel”
“Rise of the Planet of the Apes”
“Transformers: Dark of the Moon”


Replay of Cinema Recon LIVE!

We just wrapped our live Cinema Recon broadcast of the 84th Annual Academy Awards! We started right on time at 4:00pst and powered all the way through until nearly 5 hours later, when The Artist was announced as the 2011 Best Picture!

Thank you so much to everyone who tuned in and participated in our first big live event! We had such a great time putting on the live show, we’d love to do another as soon as possible. It will course always comes down to what the listeners (now viewers!) want, so if you liked this show, please drop us a line and tell us what you thought!

Didn’t catch the show? Wanna listen again? You can view the epic Cinema Recon 2012 Oscar commentary below!

Vodpod videos no longer available.

The Oscars 2012 part 1

Vodpod videos no longer available.


Act of Valor – a movie and a necessity

It’s funny how a few words can spark so much emotion isn’t it? How they can really get you going? But lets not put the cart before the horse just yet… I’ll get back to that… oh trust me I’ll get back to that. I just got back from my local theater where I entertained myself with a little film you might have heard of called Act of Valor, about “an elite team of Navy SEALs who embark on a covert mission to recover a kidnapped CIA agent.” This movie was definitely entertaining, but I have more to say about its social implications than its entertainment value.

The movie Act of Valor was filmed using active-duty Navy SEALs as its main actors. The story centers around a group of Navy SEALs who must protect the interests of America from a terrorist attack. The script is noting new or unique, it was written by Kurt Johnstad who wrote 300, but the action is what makes this movie. The film actually began as a training/recruit video which evolved into something much more once they realized what they actually had on their hands. First-time feature film directors and former stuntmen Mike (Mouse) McCoy and Scott Waugh were able to capture amazing action sequences and tactics because the majority of the action scenes in this movie were filmed as part of actual training exercises. What does that mean? It means that this movie contained REAL machine gun battles, REAL submarines, REAL high speed boats with mini-guns, REAL aircraft carriers, and REAL helicopters, all while using LIVE FUCKING AMMUNITION… oh and it was done on a budget of about $12 million dollars… eat your heart out Hollywood big budget films, maybe you should start taking some lessons from doing things with military like precision and efficiency.

The action in this movie was decent at its worst, and cheer-inspiring at its best (what do you expect when you capture training exercises with live ammunition), and it really puts the viewer in the “first person shooter” position. This is almost the Call Of Duty movie some people have been waiting for. Since the main actors are not actors at all, the acting is stale (with the exception of the character “Senior.” His acting throughout the entire film is beyond awesome for a non-actor. He is likable, convincing, and entertaining… not to mention that he is the real shit. His interrogation scene… so very awesome its unspeakable), as so is the story. But this movie accomplishes what it was set out to do; to portray real life acts of valor and show what our military is made of. And you know what… what is wrong with that?

A couple days ago I came across a Twitter comment, a Tweet if you will, and I really wish I remembered who it was from, but recently I started to notice a lot of other comments along the same lines. I can’t recall it verbatim but it read something like this, “CAUTION! Act of Valor is nothing more than a recruiting tool for the U.S. Navy!!! Dont Be Fooled!!!” And I thought at first.. well, duh. The movie has “Ooh-rah!” written all over it. And then as I was sitting in the movie, it all came full circle. So what if it is? What the hell is so wrong with that?

Why can’t the U.S. Navy whose men and women serve to protect us, have a film which shows how fucking bad ass they are? What is so wrong with that? Why should we be ashamed of this, why should it be shunned, why is this something we should keep hidden like a dirty little secret!? I say show it! I could see a hundred more films like this before I see some other bullshit Hollywood movie trying to mask its left leaning message inside of some romantic comedy. I’m not talking politics here, I’m talking facts. With how far left Hollywood leans, the way they feign tolerance and acceptance, with the well known fact that actors who publicly lean right are shunned if not blacklisted completely, its amazing this movie even got made – it is absolutely amazing.

What is the difference between Act of Valor, and a movie whose motives and messages are hidden!? I say the latter of the two is the more evil! Why should we be ashamed of what we are!? Of what we have! This movie makes our military look bad ass, and you know what… IT FUCKING IS! I’m sorry if I am letting the cat out of the bag for anyone who didn’t know it, but like it or not America is the most powerful nation on this planet and our Military is all sorts of awesome! Is everyone so naive as to think that other countries don’t have something similar to this out there!? Maybe it isn’t as polished and as mainstream as Act of Valor but you better believe they have something like this which serves as their recruiting tool. And why is that a bad thing? Everyone deserves the right to brag every now and then. Every country and every man begs for the opportunity to pound their chest, to beat their own drum, to show what they are truely made of. We all need something to believe in. I’m not going to sit here and apologize for this film. It did was it was supposed to do. It showed the strength, intelligence, bravery, and the power of our fighting forces and I will not be ashamed of this. Was this a great movie? By no means. Was it entertaining as hell? You better believe it. Everyone deserves the right to show their sense of pride. And every country and every man, every now and then, wants to see the size of their dog in the fight.

Pssst... Hey, over here... it's America.


The Rock as Hercules?

MGM is seeking a lead for Bret Ratner’s Hercules, and they may have found him in The People’s Champion.

Don't touch my Powerbar

Variety tells us today that Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson (no matter how many times I hear that full name, I laugh) is in discussions with MGM to be the titular (I laugh when I hear that too…don’t judge me) half man, half god.

I know what you’re thinking, and it’s true: this would be a first in the portrayal of Hercules in cinema.  What a bold move for the studio!  I hope you’ll join me in commending them for hiring an actor who, for the first time ever in the role of  Hercules,  was also the Tooth Fairy.

Hey, my kids gotta eat too!

Bravo, MGM.  You’ve given inspiration for millions of other freakishly strong guys out there who have sold out for boatloads of cash.

In all honesty, I like The Rock (just not enough to see Journey 2).  Remember his cameo in the Reno: 911 film?  Hilarious.  And I would be excited to see a new Hercules film.  Is it wrong, though, if I really, really want it to look something like this?…


New Wrath of the Titans Trailer!

The new trailer for Wrath of the Titans may as well have Sam Worthington running around in front of a green screened cartoon.  Nearly every frame of this thing has some kind of CGI monster spewing/wielding some kind of fire/weapon.  Translation = it sure looks bad ass:

Ah, but looks can be deceiving!  Remember the initial trailer for Clash of the Titans?  That looked bad ass too!  The crazy special effects, the pulsating power cords…Liam Neesan belching “Release the Kraken!!”  And, well, we all know how THAT turned out (Translation = it was not bad ass).

Man…but that giant fire-monster-guy sure looks cool!  Arrrgh, what am I saying??  Fool me once, Titans…


Cinema Recon’s LIVE Oscar Event!

It will be a red carpet affair this February 26th (This Sunday!) @ 4:00 PST at the Cinema Recon Studios in San Ramon!  Join us for a special episode where we will bring you our commentary of the 84th Annual Academy Awards LIVE and uninterrupted!

Watching us is easier than you can possibly imagine!  Do you have a computer?  Do you have a TV?  Then you’re ready to invite Cinema Recon into your living room for Oscar night! (Disclaimer: If you do not have a computer OR a TV, we are sorry, but we don’t want poor people listening to our show)

Here’s everything you need to know:

  • You can watch us LIVE on CinemaRecon.com by going here during the event
  • Or, you can watch LIVE on our Ustream channel by going here during the event
  • Paul, Jake, Cassie and Billy will be ranting and raving continuously through the entire event, even during the commercials!
  • There is about a 3 second delay between our broadcast and what you will hear/see, so we recommend pausing your DVR for a couple of seconds to sync up our banter with the Awards
  • Don’t wanna watch us all by your lonesome??  Come on over to the Cinema Recon Studios: San Ramon!  We will trade hilarity for beer!

See you this Sunday!!