April 12, 2010

2010 Lollapalooza Lineup revealed

The 2010 Lolla lineup was revealed last week, check it out below:

April 4, 2010

New Iron Man 2 clip

The newest footage form Iron Man 2 has hit the web thanks to a joint release with the Apple iPad. Supposedly this club was released on each iPad sold today in order to provide some content up front (you would think for $500 you'd get more than 2 minutes).

Anyway, the movie is set to open on May 7th, catch 2 minutes of the film and reinforce your decision to go see it, and be particularly happy that they haven't ruined this movie by making it 3D.

April 2, 2010

New Black Keys and Hold Steady

As if this were a repeat of last weeks blog entries, there are more new tracks out from both The Black Keys ("Next Girl") and The Hold Steady ("The Weekenders"), streams below:

The Black Keys - "Next Girl"

  The Black Keys - Next Girl by Hypetrak

The Hold Steady - "The Weekenders"


Ryan Reynolds cast as lead in 'R.I.P.D.'

Ryan Reynolds has been cast to play the role of lead detective Nick Cruz in this adaptation of the comic (short for Rest In Peace Department). Though there has been a director, David Dobkin, attached the project for years, it seemed like this movie was never going to be made.

However, as of today, production has been hinted as early as January 2011, according to Collider. Scripted by Matt Manfredi and Phil Hay, the movie is the underworld buddy comedy. Apparently, Reynolds' character is part of a pair of dead "cops" tasked with keeping dead people from disturbing the living.

I'm not sure how this is all going to work out, because I've never really been a comic book fan, but Reynolds has great comedic timing, and whoever they end up casting to play his cynical long-dead partner will probably be able to play off of that, unless it's Tracy Morgan, who would just steal the show. With any luck, production will go forward faster now that they're actually attaching front-of-camera talent, and we'll see some information about how things are progressing a little sooner.

April 1, 2010

Funny video of the day: The Muppets "Stand By Me"

As far as viral marketing goes, very few really catch on in my book. I mean, there has been some really bad viral marketing campaign, like the Dorito's one from a few years back when you had to go to the website to figure out what they were actually advertising... I never actually made it to the website to find out.

Anyway, with that behind me, the new viral marketing that they've been doing for the upcoming Jason Segal muppet movie has been hysterical. If you haven't seen them, you should check out the videos of the muppet characters singing. The first one released was "Bohemian Rhapsody", then Beaker did a version, if you can call it that, of "Dust In The Wind". Now, just in time for Easter, Big Mean Carl is eating bunnies while singing "Stand By Me."

The last muppet movie that I watched, and have watched multiple times for god knows what reason, was Muppet Treasure Island, and while that may have been the best recent pirate movie to have been released, nothing good has come out of the muppet camp in awhile, so I'm glad to see a renewed interest in good stuff from my childhood (we'll see about that Smurfs thing).

March 31, 2010

Lollapalooza's Wheel of Fortune Challenge

With the lineup announcement days away, Lollapalooza has followed in the footsteps of last years VooDoo Music Festival and released a wheel of fortune style puzzle to get everyone interested in this years lineup. Who is going to be there?

On Day 1, we got the O's. For Day 2, We got all the R's.

Here's what we got so far:

Line 1: Soundgarden, Green Day, Lady Gaga, Arcade Fire, The Strokes, Phoenix
Line 2: Social Distortion, MGMT, Jimmy Cliff, Hot Chip, The Black Keys
Line 3: The National, Spoon, Devo, Cypress Hill, Cut Copy, The New Pornographers
Line 4: Slightly Stoopid, Grizzly Bear, Gogol Bordello, Chromeo, Wolfmother
Line 5: Yeasayer, X Japan, Metric, Dirty Projectors AFI
Line 6: Mavis Staples, Matt & Kim, The XX, Drive-By Truckers, Blues Traveler
Line 7: Edward Sharpe & The Magnetic Zeros, The Temper Trap, Jamie Lidell
Line 8: Frightened Rabbit, Fuck Buttons, Deer Tick, Blitzen Trapper
Line 9: Raphael Saadiq, The Cribs, Minus the Bear, Switchfoot
Line 10: Mumford & Sons, Wild Beasts, Rogue Wave, Los Amigos Invisibles
Line 11: The Big Pink, The Dodos, Hockey, Cymbals Eat Guitars
Line 12: Warpaint, The Antlers, The Soft Pack, Rebelution
Line 13: American Bang, The Ike Reilly Assassination, Company of Thieves
Line 14: The Constellations, Miniature Tigers, Mimicking Birds
Line 15: The Kissaway Trail, The Morning Benders
Line 16: Violent Soho, Royal Bangs, Neon Trees, Freelance Whales
Line 17: Semi-Precious Weapons, The Band of Heathens, Dragonette
Line 18: My Dear Disco, Jukebox the Ghost
Line 19: these united states, mynameisjohnmichael

Perry's Stage:

Line 1: Empire of the Sun, Digitalism, Perry Farrell, Tiga
Line 2: Felix da Housecat, Rusko, Erol Aiken, Flosstradamus
Line 3: Wolfgang Gartner, Joachim Garraud, Mexican Institute of Sound
Line 4: Peanut Butter Wolf, Dirty South, Cut Copy (DJ Set)
Line 5: Beats Antique, Steve Porter, Didi Gutman of Brazilian Girls
Line 6: Team Bayside High, Dani Deahl
Line 7: Only Children

March 30, 2010

Rumor Has It... The Hangover 2 is on, in Thailand?

According to Deadline today, the entire cast of The Hangover will be back for a second go. That's right everybody, Bradley Cooper, Ed Helms, and Zach Gilifanakis will be reuniting with Todd Phillips, in an attempt to outdo the funniest movie of 2009. It's possible that filming might take place in Thailand, according to unconfirmed sources.

In fact, not only will everyone be back for another go around, but they'll all be making significantly more money to do it. The three starts will each be paid a reported 5% plus a portion of the take on the back-end, while Todd Phillips can plan on taking home 10% plus a heft percentage on the back-end. The truth is he was far better off with the deal he got on the first movie, which amounted to more than 15% of gross receipts (the original has made almost $500 Million internationally).

Whatever the plot/location of the new movie, if they add another part in that's as awkwardly funny as this, we're in:


The Hangover - One Man Wolf Pack Speech
Uploaded by BruceFan. - See more comedy videos.

Rumor has it that 'Independence Day' is coming back!

IESB.net is reporting that Will Smith has signed on for two new installments of what would now be called the Independence Day franchise. Director Roland Emmerich and Dean Devlin were hesitant to come back to this movie, especially since it would have been hard for Fox to pony up Smith's quote, however now it seems like it might be a good idea to get the crew together (did anyone even thank James Cameron?).

Apparently, it's possible that the movies may shoot back to back so they can have a release schedule like Lord of the Rings rather than every two years, which would be good if the movies are decent, and terrible if they turn out to be like The Day After Tomorrow.

Anyway, everyone knows that getting Will Smith on board is a start, but without Judd Hirsh and Bill Pullman back, that movie is going to struggle.

March 29, 2010

Rachel Weisz to play Bond Villain; Godzilla Back? Oh no...

It seems that the two big rumors floating around the film industry are just bad. First things first, Rachel Weisz is, according to Cinema Blend, in consideration for the role of the next James Bond villain. While I'm okay with Rachel Weisz in pretty much anything 90% of the time, I'm not so on board with her as a villain, never mind in a movie series like James Bond.

While I'm excited to see how this plays out because it means we're taking another step towards a new Bond film, and CB was quick to point out that this is just a rumor, I'm not so sure about this casting decision, even if it is just the beginning.

Next, Legnedary Pictures, in a press release, announced that they will be filming a new installment of the once thought to be dead forever Godzilla series. One, I didn't know that this was actually a series. Two, I didn't know that anyone in their right minds would consider making a new installment of it. It seems that Legendary, who were behind 300, the Batman reboot, and other notable films from the past few years, are going to team with Warner Bros. to try and turn Godzilla into a brand again.

If they're true to form with this type of film, we'll see a much darker version this time, as opposed to something that could just as easily be animated. Also, though the thought of seeing the big green monster may scare American moviegoers a bit, the Japanese market might just be primed for a quality remake.

Release date is speculated to be sometime in 2012, and the production team stretches across two continents, so that should be an interesting working environment. All joking aside though, let's hope they leave the Wallflowers out of this one.

March 26, 2010

April Concerts Around Chicago

I'll update these as necessary, but here are the concerts coming up around Chicago this month.

April

1 - Spoon @ Aragon Tickets
2 - Passion Pit @ Congress Tickets
2 - Ingrid Michaelson @ Riviera Tickets
4-5 - Miike Snow @ Metro Tickets
6 - Dashboard Confessional @ House of Blues Tickets
7 - Motion City Soundtrack @ House of Blues Tickets
8 - The xx @ Lincoln Hall Tickets
10 - John Mayer @ United Center Tickets
10-11 - Atoms for Peace @ Aragon Tickets
11 - K'Naan @ Metro Tickets
12 - Florence and the Machine @ House of Blues Tickets
16 - 30 Seconds to Mars @ Aragon Tickets
16 - Dr. Dog @ Metro Tickets
16 - Three 6 Mafia @ Congress Tickets
17 - Rogue Wave @ Lincoln Hall Tickets
17 - OK Go @ Metro Tickets
19-21 - Ben Folds @ The Vic Tickets
21 - Charlotte Gainsbourg @ Park West Tickets
20 - Red Jumpsuit Apparatus @ Reggie's Tickets
22 - Passion Pit @ Congress Tickets
23 - Gogol Bordello @ Congress Tickets
24 - Angels and Airwaves @ Aragon (w/ Say AnythingTickets
26 - Amos Lee @ Lincoln Hall Tickets
26 - Jakob Dylan @ Park West (w/ Neko CaseTickets
27-28 - Jonsi (Of Sigur Ros) @ The Vic Tickets
29 - Yeasayer @ Metro Tickets
30 - Owl City @ Aragon Tickets


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