Oldboy Remake with Josh Brolin, not sure how I feel about this.

Oldboy is a cult Korean film about a man who is imprisoned for 15 years and doesn't know why or by who. When he gets out he goes looking for revenge. It's one of the coolest and most violent films I've seen. Now word comes that Hollywood is remaking it with Josh Brolin in the lead. I don't see how that could possibly turn out well, maybe for people who haven't seen the original. The Korean version is very violent in a way that's probably too much even for American audiences. It's also got a couple twists that deal with subjects Americans are very touchy about.

Do yourself a favour and watch the original , even if you do have to read it. It's got one of the neatest fight scenes ever, all in one hallway, shot from outside, and all one shot if I remember correctly.
I might even play it for the Midnight Series.

Trailer for Korean version.



The Fight scene, although you may not want to view if you plan to see the film. Hard to imagine Hollywood could improve on this.

Next Week's Film Sep 2 - 8

There wasn't much to chose from this week. Final Destination 5 is available but we don't play horror films. The only other new film available was Captain America which I booked in. Disney said we could have Fright Night as of the 16th but I don't think I'll play it. It wasn't a bad movie and shouldn't have bombed the way it did but I don't think anyone will come see it at Western Film.

I was hoping Horrible Bosses would come off as it would make a good Frosh Week movie but it didn't, maybe the following week.

For a late show I decided to bring back Bridesmaids. It did quite well even the second week we played it before and it's a good Frosh Week comedy.

Frosh week is quite crazy with regular customers plus the Frosh, if the weather is bad or they don't want to go to whatever event is planned for the night we can get as many as 200 Frosh show up.

Early Plug for upcoming film. Attack The Block

Sony contacted me about whether we wanted to play a film called Attack the Block. We would be the only place in London to play it. It's a British film about kids in a poor neighborhood in England who fight off an alien invasion. Looks like a horror / comedy hybrid. It's played at festivals and gotten a lot of good reviews. I saw the trailer months ago and wanted to see it.

I'm a little nervous as no one I have asked about has heard of it. Hopefully I can change that over the next couple moths. It's currently scheduled to start Oct 21, playing as a late show. There's only 4 prints for all of Canada which is why we have to wait so long.

Trailer is below. Let me know if you think it looks good.

Next Week Movies Aug 26 - Sep 1

This is a bit of an experimental week. The Tree Of Life was already booked in which I'm nervous about. It doesn't have the highest profile and the Hyland played it for weeks which will have cut down on the number of people who can come see it here. At least if it bombs I'll have something to point to next time someone says we should play more art product. It's a long movie as well so the late show would have had to be at 9:45. There wasn't anything available I thought would work that late at night.

I'm trying something I haven't done in years, bringing in a movie for matinees only. Cars 2 will play Sat and Sun afternoon only.

The new movies available were Captain America and Cowboys and Aliens. I'm not sure about playing Cowboys. Captain may play the following week depending on what is available. That week is Frosh Week which is one of our busiest weeks of the year. I try to have suitable movies available. I'm hoping Horrible Bosses comes available.

Midnight in Paris is tentatively scheduled for Sept 16th. The two weeks before that cover Frosh Week which would be a bad time to play it. The students who are here won't be interested in seeing it and off-campus people avoid the campus because of the chaos that week.

Next Week's movie Aug 19 -25.

I booked in Transformers which was available last week. It's so long it needs to play by itself which worked out because the only other film available this week was Cowboys and Aliens which I haven't decided whether to play or not.

The Hyland is dropping Tree Of Life finally but the print is going to another city so we couldn't have it for next week. It is booked in to start Aug 26th though.

I was told I could have Cars 2 as of Aug 26th. Disney puts two weeks between when it finishes at other theatres and when we can have it. I've been unsure what to do about this one. I wanted to play it but not once school starts up again. Disney wants a higher percentage again but unlike Pirates 4 I expect it will do at least good business and it isn't three hours long. I decided to try something I haven't done in years. I'm going to play Cars 2 for just weekend matinees with no evening shows. I don't normally do it because the minimum fee now has to paid for by just 4 matinees instead of a whole week of evening shows. If it tanks it'll suck but based on how Kung Fu Panda 2 did for matinees it should work.

I'm going to wait and see if anything is available the following week to play with Tree Of Life. Tree of Life is fairly long so the late show would be at 9:45. Only something like Horrible Bosses would work that late during the summer.

Funniest trailer I've seen in a while.

The title says it all. I'll definetley see this one in 3D. One of the few other films I've seen that was really worth the 3D was Jackass 3D. It really used the 3D in interesting ways.

The new Harold and Kumar film looks to be getting somewhat self-reflexive. ( acknowleding that the charaters know they are in a movie such as when a charater talks to the audience.) If done right that can be really funny.

Why Western Film may not play Pirates of the Caribbean On Stranger Tide

There's three reasons why we may not play Pirates 4 even though I had stated on my coming soon page that I would be playing it. They all kinda interact.

Disney wants a higher percentage than usual. Often if I wait they will drop the percentage but I've been told it won't drop.

Despite the fact it made a billion dollars I don't expect it to do well at Western Film. Basically because most of the people who wanted to see it already went out and did so. The word of mouth wasn't great so I'm not likely to get many that just didn't want to pay full price. word of mouth is key these days.

It's so long I can't play another film afterwards. During the summer we get a different crowd than in the school year and generally they won't go to a late show, especially if it gets to around 9:45 or so.

So basically I would have to play the movie by itself, don't expect it to do well and have to give most of the ticket sales to Disney...That's a recipe for not playing the film.

If I get a week soon where nothing else is available I'll play it then, otherwise it won't be playing.

Next Week's Movie Aug 5 - 11

We finally got Bridesmaids. It came out in May and did steady business at the first run theatres so we had to wait until now. As a contrast, I've already played some films that came out in July. I don't think I've had to wait this long for a Hollywood film in ages. I sometimes have to wait a while for small Art films but that's usually more because of a lack of prints.

The local Art theatre The Hyland is holding on Tree Of Life and Midnight in Paris so I can't play those yet.

The only other films close to coming off were Transformers and Zookeeper. I plan to play Transformers but do not plan to play Zookeeper.

Midnight Movies Return.

The Midnight Movies will return as of Sept 16th. The series last year did quite well and turned a profit. If anyone is actually reading this and has any suggestions please e-mail them to wfilm@uwo.ca . A lot of the films will be the same ones we played last year but I want to try some new ones, especially to replace the movies that bombed last year.

Want some Fight Club Soap?

Came across an interesting ad on kijiji. Not sure how legit it is but it's an interesting collectible to have. I should try to sell some at the snack bar when we play Fight Club for the midnight series next year. Although we probably wouldn't sell many as the guy wants $70?!

This is the text of the ad:

"This is a plastic resin FIGHT CLUB soap bar made from a cast of the ORIGINAL mould used to make the bar seen in movie posters. I am asking $70 for this bar since it is a blood relative of the one used to promote the film. Measuring at 3" 1/2 W by 2" 1/8 L by 1" 1/4 H THIS IS THE CLOSEST REPLICA POSSIBLE TO THE ORIGINAL MOVIE BAR!!
I am a hobbyist prop maker with an appreciation for this very clever film... and I'm not the only one. This bar was made 100% by me, is made from a very durable plastic resin which has been tinted the appropriate colour pink and will last forever! This bar comes WRAPPED as depicted in the film.
Also with the purchase of this soap you will get a FREE replica Tyler Durden business card. But shhh...! Don't tell anyone I told you all this. Cause the first rule is... I'm not supposed to talk about it.
(Real FC soap also available)."

Someone has seen a lot of movies...

An interesting video comparing Quentin Tarantino's Kill Bill to many of the movies that inspired it. Some would say Tarantino steals from other movies but I find he mixes things up and changes them enough to make then fresh. It's hard to do anything these days that can't be compared to something else before it.

Everything Is A Remix: KILL BILL from robgwilson.com on Vimeo.

Cool article about Easter Eggs hidden in movies and tv shows.

An interesting article about how various things are hidden in some movies and TV shows. A couple of these I knew about, such as how the Inception music was created, others I think they are trying a little to hard to read something that may not be there on purpose, such as the Indiana Jones poster entry.

Someone has a twisted imagination...

This picture reminds me of Ghostbusters.

Trailer for New version of Fright Night.

The original is a mini-classic 80's horror film. This one looks good, Colin Farrell should make a good vampire.

Is this a movie trailer?

Apparently this is on a new video game but at this point I'm not sure if it's a trailer for a video game or a fake trailer for a movie. It looks kinda interesting, maybe it will actually get made like Hobo With A Shotgun.

Trailer for The Devil's Double.

This looks like an interesting film. Dominic Cooper plays both Saddam Hussein's son and a man forced to be his double. Could get confusing if they don't figure out a way of differentiating the two.

It was picked up by LionsGate in the US so will be released by Maple here in Canada. Current release date is Aug 5th. Hopefully it doesn't just play the larger cities.

Interesting Trailer - Another Earth.

Never heard of this film before but trailer looks interesting. I wonder how much sci-fi content there is or if it's just a backdrop for the drama?
It's from Fox Searchlight so likely will never play at Western Film.

This looks Cool. 4 minute trailer for Green Lantern.

I'm a sucker for comic book movies, especially ones starting Ryan Reynolds. Comic Book movies always seem to either work really well or not very well at all. The first trailer didn't get too many people excited but this new footage looks pretty cool.

This looks cool. Attack The Block

A British film that's been picked up for distribution in the US. I haven't heard about Canada. I hope it plays around here.

Trailer for Crazy Stupid Love.

This movie looks like it has potential. I'm not sure Ryan Gosling pulls off his character but he's usually pretty good so I'll give him the benefit of the doubt. Pretty much everyone in it is good so hopefully the whole package will come together.