Obviously the big news this morning is the death of Osama Bin Laden. And people are likely still making movie-related jokes that I could round up and recap, such as references to Morgan Spurlock’s “Where in the World is Osama Bin Laden” and “The Wizard of Oz” as well as “Armageddon” and “Deep Impact,” neither of which were in fact relevant (thank goodness) to what President Obama‘s long-delayed announcement was about (either way, Bruce Willis gets the job done, right?).
About that delay, the official word came long after a certain leak on Twitter. Most news outlets will mention Keith Urbahn, but it’s worth noting, via Badass Digest, that “Fast Five” star Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson tweeted at exactly the same time (10:24 pm EST) a more cryptic message pertaining to the news. I’d think he simply got it off Urbahn’s tweet with immediate turnaround, but The Rock doesn’t technically follow anyone. So here’s Devin Faraci’s explanation:
Obviously The Rock has contacts in intelligence or the military, and he found out before the rest of us. As of this writing I’m not sure HOW bin Laden was killed, but if it was a wetworks operation with human operatives, I hope The Rock gets cast in the lead.
Coincidentally (or is it?), last week TMZ posted a video featuring TNA’s Rob Van Dam with the headline “When Wrestlers Attack … Osama Bin Laden.” And who was mentioned as one of the preferred trio of wrestlers to get the job done? That’s right: The Rock.
Also, almost coincidentally, Deadline’s Mike Fleming reports an exclusive that Kathryn Bigelow has already been working on a film titled “Kill Bin Laden,” which is now quite a timely project. He wonders if Paramount’s stalled adaptation of Gary Berntsen’s book on an early attempt at Bin Laden’s life, “Jawbreaker,” will suddenly get fast tracked. Drew McWeeny at HitFix, in a post on how Hollywood will react to Bin Laden’s death, expects another project will be added to those about Sohaib Athar, the guy who unknowingly live-tweeted the raid/death: “he just stumbled into a sort of instant celebrity that pretty much guarantees someone ends up making a movie about him.”
More notes, links and things up for discussion after the jump.
– President Obama was already hot with cinephiles over the weekend, having jokingly shared a clip from “The Lion King” as his official birth video [watch the bit here] and been involved in a “King’s Speech” parody/sequel trailer for “The President’s Speech” [see that one here]. That latter is not to be confused with the George W. Bush/Mike Tyson version with the same title.
– This “Thor” parody song set to the tune of Usher‘s “More” is fine, but it sort of fails for two reasons: it’s specifically about the Paramount/Marvel film and not at all about The Asylum’s knock-off; and where I thought it referenced a parallel to the “Beastmaster” movies, it actually says “that real bastard from Asgard.” I guess it’s fine since I was going to correct it by clarifying that it’s “Beastmaster 2” that shares the plot (as does “Masters of the Universe”). Anyway, for the fanboys [via BuzzFeed]:
– Max Urai at Anomalous Material continues his series on 20th Century in Film with a post on depictions of events from 1910 to 1919. This decade includes such the sinking of the Titanic, the start of Prohibition and World War I, which he will tackle next time. The notable part of the post is what it says about the lack of films about the women’s suffrage movement:
Although the conclusion to this political movement happened in 1920 (in the US, at least) when the Nineteenth Amendment was introduced, the battle for women’s rights mostly took place during the teens. It is often dismissed as something that naturally happened as people became more civilized, but history often forgets the many women (and men!) who had the balls to stand up for their rights and their fellow human beings.
Movie: None.
Feminism is all about putting things that history forgot on the map, which makes it all the more surprising that I honestly can’t find any movie about the movement. I know I promised to deliver you the history of the 20th century in movies, but it’s the lack of movies here that is most telling.
There was in fact a 2004 HBO film titled “Iron Jawed Angels,” starring Hilary Swank as Alice Paul. But otherwise, it seems we have to go back to the 1910s for silent shorts in support of or parodying the movement, including “A Busy Day,” in which Charlie Chaplin acted in drag as a suffragette.
– Videos celebrating the careers of auteurs include this nicely designed motion graphics piece on the filmography of Stanley Kubrick [via Have You Seen This?!] and this montage of Wes Anderson clips [via Live for Film].
– Steve at The Film Cynics (no relation) comes through for me with a minor commentary on the depiction/use of Rio in his review of “Fast Five.” It’s not so much regarding its representation so much as its potential appropriateness to the plot and characters:
They opted for a Brazillian backdrop for this outing, and they managed to exploit every last angle available out of it. I never get tired of footchase scenes across the rooftops of Rio’s slums, although I might be growing weary of the heavy handed use of the Christ the Redeemer statue as a theme for the supposed redemption that I don’t think ever manifested. It seemed like Diesel’s Dom wanted to make up for the things he’d done – sort of – but I don’t think he transformed himself at all. With no transformation, how can he be redeemed?
– The Film Doctor also notes an interesting significance to the “Fast Five” destination location, likening it to Hitchcock’s “Notorious” (and also likens it to “Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid,” as well):
Which Hitchcock film has uncanny parallels with Fast Five? Notorious (1946). Both films start in the States and move quickly to Rio de Janeiro for the remainder of the storyline. While there’s no real equivalent to Ingrid Bergman’s Alicia Huberman as she juggles Nazis, Cary Grant, and the CIA, Dom and Brian do have to walk a fine line between an underworld kingpin named Reyes and an American super-cop named Luke Hobbs (Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson). At any rate, both movies feature nice talismanic shots of the Christ the Redeemer sculpture that spreads its arms over the city. Given that Dom loses a gaudy cross on a necklace and then breaks into a policewoman’s flat to steal it back (thereby setting up a romance between them), one figures that director Justin Lin enjoys throwing in some Catholic imagery whenever possible.
– Apparently we are still doing “Inception” parodies/explanations, now geekier and simpler than ever. Behold, the plot structure in the form of computer file folders [via BuzzFeed]:
INCEPTION FOLDER from chris baker on Vimeo.
I guess it makes sense then that there are also still “Scott Pilgrim vs. the World” mash-ups, such as one employing “My Little Pony” footage [via The Mary Sue].
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