Just in time for our upcoming High & Low (Brow) podcast that will focus on two HP Lovecraft film adaptations, there is a new documentary devoted to him being released this week. While I am a fan of Lovecraft I’ve always felt he never has seemed to have received the amount of mainstream popularity he deserves, especially compared to other horror writers. He’s always seemed to be a bit more respected by horror nerds then general audiences, which is a shame.
Part of the reason might be that his stories tend to be a bit cumbersome to the uninitiated, with their flowery prose that is not often seen, especially from more modern authors like himself. His stories have also become rather notorious in Hollywood for how difficult they are to adapt, resulting in people being less impressed with his work by proxy and with a general reluctance from the studios to adapt his works.
Lovecraft: Spreading the Madness looks to correct these oversights and misconceptions on the man and his mythos, and they do so by rolling out an impressive group purveyors of the weird and wonderous like Neil Gaiman, John Carpenter, Guillermo del Toro, Peter Straub, Stuart Gordon, Ramsey Campbell, S.T. Joshi, Caitlin R. Kiernan, Andrew Migliore and Robert M. Price to talk about Lovecraft and his influence on horror as well as their own lives. Its an impressive group, to be sure, and I can barely contain my excitement at getting a chance to watch this film. While I won’t have time to watch this before James and I record, you can be sure within the next few weeks I will make sure to get my hands on a copy of this potentially fabulous documentary.
Neil Gaiman has been kind enough to post a link to this incredible, detailed interview about the writing the now legendary Sandman, its influence on modern comics, his fans, people he’s worked with and some fascinating tales about following around Guillermo del Toro on the set of Hellboy II in order to learn how to direct a movie. If you haven’t ever heard Neil speak you are in for a real treat.
Going to keep it short this week. I’ve been pretty busy and I am trying to keep pace with all the reviews I need to write. Quick site announcement, be on the lookout for 2, yes 2, giveaways next week. Only one of the movies is outright horrible, the other is just plain odd. And in a blatantly shameless plug, please check out my review of Tropic Thunder over at Cinema Fusion. As far as I know it is a scoop, so I’m sure I will be asked to take it down by the end of the weekend.
As for new releases this week the only one I care about is Hellboy II. I don’t care if the greatest independent film of all-time is being released, I’m going to Guillermo del Toro’s latest masterpiece.
On DVD next Tuesday comes Penelope, which wasn’t half bad. Certainly worth a rental. I also heard that The Year My Parents Went On Vacation is pretty good. Then their is … good grief that might be it. Yikes.
It seems as if the moratorium on good movies might finally be ending. This week has multiple movies being released both in mainstream theaters and arthouses that might actually be worth seeing. Sure, none of them will be great, but the fact that their is an actual selection of semi-decent movies is a big step up from the trickle of quality films we have had to deal with so far this year. And as an added bonus the DVD releases are quite good themselves.
As far as the multiplexes go the buzz on the street is all about Jason Segel’s penis. Me? I’ve had my fill of gratuitous male nudity, but what I haven’t had my fill of is Jackie Chan and Jet Li. But as much as I want to see the two of them in a movie together The Forbidden Kingdom isn’t my pick for this week. Neither is Audrey Tatou’s newest film, the French farce Priceless. My choice this week is a movie I have already seen, and while not a great movie, I still think it is a movie worth taking the time to go see. That movie is Morgan Spurlock’s new documentary Where in the World is Osama Bin Laden?
As for DVD releases the big name this week is Cloverfield, but the two movies I am recommending are two of my favorite films from last year. The first is the Spanish horror film The Orphanage. Produced by Guillermo del Toro and directed by Juan Antonio Bayona it is a slow moving tale high on atmospherics and low on jump scares. If you go into this movie expecting a lot of shocks, scares, and gore you will be very disappointed as The Orphanage takes its sweet time telling its unsettingly creepy tale of a mother who has lost her son.
The other film is one I can’t recommend enough, even though it is bound to bore a good portion of those who watch it, is Daft Punk’s Electroma. Foregoing their own music in favor of those who influenced them, Daft Punk’s Electroma is a film that uses extended shots, bizarre imagery, and a complete lack of dialogue to tell the tale of two robots who are desperately searching for their own humanity. It is an outstanding film, though definitely one you should watch first before you buy it.
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