Tag Archives: Black Swan

Robocop: Coming Back from the 80s in a Strong Way

In 1987 Paul Verhoeven released one of the most awesomely violent movies ever made, so violent in fact that it initially received and ‘X Rating’ for it’s graphic nature. It told the story of Detroit cop Alex Murphy being brutally murdered by Red Foreman, before OCP (the company that owned the police) stole his body and using state of the art 80s technology, brought Murphy back to life. Kinda. Robocop was born, more machine than man, at least early on. The movie was incredibly dark as some of Murphy’s memories surfaced and Robocop was forced to deal with the fact that he was once a man with a family and he struggled with his own existence. He did not however let this struggle interfere too much with the downpour of justice he rained onto New Detroit.

In the years to follow Robocop inspired 2 horrible sequels and a slew of crappy TV episodes. In addition though, he did also star in some pretty legit comics and video games. Then a couple of years back rumors surfaced that Darren Aronofsky, who has a penchant for making some pretty dark shit, was tapped to helm a series reboot and bring the iconic 80s hero back to the spotlight. Well delay after delay, including the production of Black Swan, for which he would receive an Oscar nomination, eventually took him out of the running and it was believed that the project was dead.

So while in ‘New Movie Limbo’, the old tin can cop went and got himself nominated to into statue-hood. What started as a joke on Twitter, directed at Detroit Mayor (and NBA Hall of Famer) Dave Bing was a suggestion to build a statue of Robocop downtown to bring in some tourism. Mayor Bing quickly shot this down, and by simply acknowledging it, the interwebs took it and ran. Internet geeks everywhere started pledging money towards the erection of the statue, but it was one geek in particular, Pete Hottelet, threw in $25,000. Who is Pete Hottelet you might ask. Well he is the owner of OCP, his company, named after the corrupt company that ran New Detroit in the movies, makes movie related memorabilia. His donation, combined with the rest of the internet patrons resulted in $67,436 being raised through Kickstarter. That statue is currently in the production stages.While we’re waiting to see the monument built, interest in the movie spiked back up. This time with Brazilian director José Padilha (Elite Squad) helming the project, and our favorite fictional Cyborg cop is set to be played by The Killing star Joel Kinnaman (below).

Well that had been the extent of what we’d heard for a while. Until just the other day when it was announced that Gary Oldman would also be joining the cast…

Oldman will be playing a new character named Norton, “the scientist who creates RoboCop and finds himself torn between the ideals of the machine trying to rediscover its humanity and the callous needs of a corporation.”

 Gary Oldman is fricking awesome. I’m pretty excited for this movie, which is believed to start shooting something this fall, possibly in Toronto. I was really hoping they’d shoot it here in Detroit. I have to say if this time around, it’s set somewhere other than Detroit, I’ll be upset. Anyway, Oldman makes everything better, so that good.

Ok, that’s all I got.

Fade Out: 25 of Hollywood’s Greatest ‘Closing Lines’ – THE SEQUEL

I have always found it fascinating how the last line in a movie usually helps me decide how I felt about it. For example, on my last list of the top 25 closing lines, Casablanca: “Louis, I think this is the beginning of a beautiful friendship”. After a sad moment in the movie, that line gave me a chuckle, and I took the DVD out of my player with a smile on my face. How a movie ends can either ruin the entire film, or make it ten times better. Since July 6th of 2011 when our last closing lines list was published, many readers have left comments about movies that were not mentioned, so we’ve decided to expand a bit. This is part deux of the list. Enjoy!

WARNING: MAY CONTAIN SPOILERS!

Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1956)

“Look, you fools. You’re in danger. Can’t you see? They’re after you. They’re after all of us. Our wives, our children, everyone. They’re here already. YOU’RE NEXT!”

Army of Darkness

“Hail to the King baby!”

Inglorious Basterds

“You know somethin’, Utivich? I think this just might be my masterpiece.”

A Clockwork Orange

“I was cured all right.”

Apocalypse Now

“The horror. The horror.”

King Kong (1933)

“Oh no. It wasn’t the airplanes. It was beauty killed the beast.”

Some Like it Hot

“Nobody’s Perfect.”

Chinatown

OH… WAIT…

“Forget it, Jake. It’s Chinatown.”

What Dreams May Come

“When I was young, I met this beautiful girl by a lake.”

Gangs of New York

“My father once told me we was all born of blood and tribulation; so then, too, was our great city. But for those of us who had lived and died in them furious days… it was like everything we knew was mightily swept away. And no matter what they did to build this city back up again — for the rest of time — it would be like nobody even knew we was ever here.”

Black Swan

“I was perfect.”

Of Mice and Men

“And I get to tend the rabbits.”

American Beauty

“You have no idea what I’m talking about, I’m sure. But don’t worry: you will someday.”

The Big Lebowski

“Say, friend – you got any more of that good sarsaparilla?”

Gandhi

“When I despair, I remember that all through history the way of truth and love has always won. There have been tyrants and murderers and for a time they can seem invincible, but in the end they always fall. Think of it. Always.”

The Lost Boys

One thing about living in Santa Carla I never could stomach, all the damn vampires.”

Nightmare on Elm Street 3: Dream Warriors

“Oh my God. You were his mother.”

The Hunchback of Notre Dame (1939)

“Why was I not made of stone like thee?”

Red Dragon

“What is her name?”

Sunset Boulevard

“All right Mr. DeMille, I’m ready for my closeup.”

Magnum Force

“A man’s got to know his limitations.”

Soylent Green

“You’ve got to tell them soylent green is people. We’ve got to stop them somehow.”

Alien / Alien 3

“This is Ripley, last survivor of the Nostromo, signing off.”

Caddyshack

“Hey, everybody, we’re all gonna get laid.”

Full Metal Jacket

“I’m in a world of shit, yes. But I am alive. And I am not afraid.”

Natalie Portman VS Her Body Double

Ahhhh, there’s nothing like a fresh dose of controversy to start your Monday off right. It’s even better when you can’t figure out why so many people or news outlets care enough to make it a controversy, and I can’t decide whether I’m helping or hindering it right now.

So here it is: Natalie Portman is being accused by her body double Sarah Lane, of not doing hardly any of the actual dancing in the ballet scenes of the movie Black Swan. According to an article on OTRC, Lane claims that Portman only did five percent of her dancing parts in the movie, while Portman’s fiancée Benjamin Milliepied said it was her 85 percent of the time. Darren Aronofsky and Mila Kunis both also back up Portman.

The biggest question that I pose however is; Who gives a crap?

As everyone probably knows by now, Natalie Portman won the ‘Best Actress Oscar’ this year for her performance in Black Swan. I thought the movie was okay, but critics everywhere have praised it as a masterpiece of cinema. And now it all comes down to this? She didn’t do her fair share of ballet dancing? I would hope Darren Aronofsky focused more on the story itself, and bringing out the best acting in his cast than on ballet dancing. Is everyone supposed to be surprised she had a body double for the dancing part? I was more interested in other parts of the film, you know, the parts where Natalie Portman is losing her mind and morphing into a f–king Swan. After watching the “scene” with Natalie Portman and Mila Kunis my first reaction is: what ballet?

Until they add in a best ballet dancer category at the Academy Awards maybe Sarah Lane should switch her face to the off position.

“I’m sorry? Did you say a Ballet? I wasn’t paying attention.”

I may be a bit biased because I’m a dude and think Natalie Portman is one of the best things to happen to geeks since the Star Wars prequels were announced. (Which sounded good at the time but turned out not so good.) After the Serena Williams controversy a couple of days ago (click her name for link.) it seems like highly successful women are coming under fire from some of the most ridiculous nonsense.

I for one could care less about Natalie’s dancing prowess at this point because I’m eagerly awaiting the upcoming comedy starring herself, James Franco and Danny McBride titled Your Highness, which comes out next Friday – April 8th. Swords, Sorcery and Natalie Portman in a thong anyone?

Our review of Your Highness will soon follow its release.