What is Movie News After Dark? It’s a nightly movie news column that doesn’t mess around. If it tells you to leave town or else it will shoot you on the spot, then you’d better believe that it will shoot you on the spot. Lucky for you, it would never ask you to leave town. All it asks is that you come back and read on a nightly basis. Or else.
We open tonight with a bit of news for your boob tube. FX has set dates for the return of Justified and Archer, two favorite shows of mine. Both are coming back in January. They’ve also given the green light to an animated comedy called Unsupervised, which features the likes of Justin Long, Kristen Bell, Fred Armisen, Romany Malco, Kaitlin Olson and Alexa Vega. It’s about teens who are forced to navigate through life without parental supervision. Either way, did I mention that Justified is coming back? Walton Goggins, man…
James Rocchi at MSN’s The Hitlist has a great interview with veteran actor Robert Forster about The Descendants and making your fake punches count. “I’m going to punch you,” his character says to a smart-alecky kid in the movie. You can probably figure out the rest.
Fully jazzed a week after seeing Martin Scorsese’s latest film, I’m more than excited to share a number of links to great pieces written about Hugo. First, over at io9, Meredith Woerner tells us What Martin Scorsese’s Hugo taught us about the Grandfather of Science Fiction film, George Méliès. And at The Film Stage, Jordan Raup offers up 10 Classic Films You Must Watch Before Seeing Martin Scorsese’s Hugo. I wound’t waste time, though, as you should probably just see Hugo. These films are worth your time, as well, but Hugo will knock you out with its brilliant old fashioned story told with modern technology.
Angela Watercutter at The UnderWire has written a really interesting and well-thought piece entitled TheTwilight Issue: Why Geeks Should Get Behind Breaking Dawn. She makes a few excellent points about the formula employed in bringing Twilight to the big screen and how well it serves its audience. Also, I’ve heard that it gets weird. And geeks love weird.
Speaking of movie geeks, there seems to be an entire culture on the internet that was born on a hatred for Joel Schumacher’s Batman films, Batman Forever and Batman and Robin. Which makes this Batman & Robin Fake Criterion entry by Doug Goodwin all the more entertaining. It comes complete with the nippled batsuit and a Director Approved sticker. It’s just too good.
Over at Hero Complex, J.J. Abrams tells us about the big lessons he’s learned from small budgets. In short, he’s doing more with less — in the case that “less” is the Hollywood version of less, a measly $55 million for Super 8. In the end, it’s making one hell of a profitable guy. And his movies are still pretty entertaining. Interesting…
Now that Community has been pulled from NBC’s midseason schedule, it’s uncertain as to whether we may ever see our friends at Greendale again after this week. If this makes you as sad as it makes me, you’ll find some comfort in Pajiba’s exploration of Community‘s Beetlejuice Easter Egg that was three years in the making. Only the good die young, as they say.
Also at Pajiba, my competitive crush Joanna Robinson delivers another really great, timely list with her countdown of Eight Cinematic Black Sheep to Make You Feel Better About Your Holiday. Because sure, you may have been pepper sprayed trying to buy a waffle iron, but at least you’re not related to Margot Tenenbaum.
Roger Ebert asks: where do you like to sit in a movie theater? Then he goes on, in his usual way, to tell a compelling story about why he always sits where he always sits, in various theaters. This is something that reminds me of my friends who frequent the Alamo Drafthouse. We all know which seats are the best in the house.
Have you guys and gals heard of this new website Moviegr.am yet? It aggregates info from IMDB, Rotten Tomatoes and Metacritic. It’s an aggregator aggregator. I dig the design. Needs to do something special, however, if it is to be useful.
We close tonight with the trailer for the Doctor Who 2011 Christmas special, The Doctor, The Widow and the Wardrobe. It looks like fun. And holiday spirity.