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Hum Along: Sigur Ros' "Hoppípolla" and Slumdog Millionaire

My friends know that one of my "endearing" (aka borderline annoying) traits is my fascination (aka obsession) with songs and soundtrack music that spreads, virus-like throughout TV shows, commercials, promos, films, and movie trailers. I could list dozens of examples, but instead maybe one of these days I'll whip up a Hall of Fame article.

For now, I want to ennoble this Sunday (and wash the wretched taste out of my mouth from Death Racers) with Sigur Rós' "Hoppípolla," one of my favorite spirits-lifting songs of recent years. It feels like pure, distilled hope and joy, and lately it's been heard in the second half of the Slumdog Millionaire trailer:

Slumdog Millionaire Trailer

               

For more on the group, the song, and other places it's popped up, follow me over the jump.

Saturday Night Drive-In: Death Racers

This was supposed to be part of Friday Night Drive-In, but things were delayed a day this week by the holiday. I tried to get my family to watch Death Racers on Thanksgiving, but they weren't going for it.

"But it's stars the Insane Clown Posse!" I protested. "Imagine a posse, but it's made up entirely of clowns. Now--and this is the important part--imagine the clowns are insane!"

The idea behind Drive-In movie nights is to gather friends, snacks, and beverages and enjoy making fun of some really cheesy bad D-movies. But let's be very clear up front: Death Racers is definitely going to test you and your friends' boundaries of what is funny bad and what is just awful bad. The only people who are not going to be offended, disgusted, or mostly just bored by this film are fans of ICP, horrorcore acid rap, Juggalo Championship Wrestling, and the Rob Zombie retro school of '70s-style gore-splattered exploitation films.

If none of the above made any sense to you, then please, please trust me: Do NOT watch Death Racers. It will only result in unnecessary therapy and carpet-cleaning bills.

For those brave (or chemically altered) souls still determined to watch Death Racers, here's what you can  look forward to.

Fred Claus

Let's be honest. I did not see Fred Claus in the theaters last year for the same reason most of you right-thinking people didn't either. It reeked of big-budget holiday bloat, and as much as I love Vince Vaughn, we've seen this performance in half a dozen other Vaughn comedies, from Swingers and Made, through Old School and Dodgeball, right up to Wedding Crashers and The Break-Up.

But as James noted in his Four Christmases review the other day, there's a reason Vaughn keeps taking these roles and we eventually show up to watch them: He's found his niche and he's really, really terrific in it. (One of the great things about Vaughn is that no amount of make-up can hide when he's obviously hungover, which appears to be much of the time. I wouldn't be surprised if the bags under his eyes have their own representation.)

For the record, two of my favorite Vaughn performances are not actually in films. One is the outtakes from the hotel room scene in Made, where director Jon Favreau simply lets Vaughn riff, cranking that Swingers Thing up to "puree" for a good ten minutes. Made is interesting not just because it's Fav's directorial debut--before Elf, before Iron Man--but it's also Vaughn returning to the character type that made him famous: Trent from Swingers. You might not recall, but after Swingers, Vaughn tried to play it straight, taking mostly non-comedic roles in films like The Lost World: Jurassic Park, Clay Pigeons, Return to Paradise, The Cell, and most infamously, Gus Van Sant's shot-for-shot remake of Psycho. None of that really worked out all that well, and Made is him letting out a sigh and saying "Okay, you want Trent, I'll give you Trent." And so he has for the past seven years. (A couple rare and commendable exceptions were supporting roles in Thumbsucker and Into the Wild.)

My second favorite Vaughn performance was his guest-hosting stint on the Late Show when Letterman had the shingles.That's where Vaughn showed the real appeal behind his shtick: It's not just the get-with-the-program speed-jabber, but that behind the full-court-press verbal assault is a charming regular guy who wants everyone involved, on-board, and down with him. The hook for Vaughn's "Trent" character is that he's not elitist, not weird, and doesn't want to get you in trouble or ruin your life--he just wants you to join his party.

Which brings us, finally, back to Fred Claus, directed by David Dobkins, who previously worked with Vaughn in Clay Pigeons and Wedding Crashers. As the n'er-do-well older brother of Nick "Santa" Claus (a wonderful, achingly sincere Paul Giamatti), Vaughn's character is still Trent, with a bit more con-man cynicism layered on.

Gifts for the Movie Buff

Retailers refer to today -- the day after Thanksgiving -- as Black Friday.  They hope to end up "in the black" -- bad economy notwithstanding -- as a result of the shopping frenzy that takes over the country year after year when people wake up from their turkey stupors, credit cards in hand, raring to spend some dough. 

For those of you who have movie-lovers on your shopping lists, let me offer a few gift suggestions.  Yes, some of these are strange -- or maybe a better word is "unique" -- but, let's be honest... chances are that anyone who's a hard-core film fanatic is already a little bit goofy. 

- Movie-inspired t-shirts: You might have to do a little digging, but a good place to start is here on Café Press. Or here.  Or if they're like our dear writer Locke and are a sucker for puns and word-twists (and also happen to be vegetarian), then one of these tees is a must! Finally, any child of the '80s would surely love to don a retro movie shirt, no?

- Any drama queens or kings in the family?  Perhaps they deserve an "Oscer"!

- What Bond fan wouldn't appreciate a spy gadget or two?

- At Sideshow Collectibles, there are tons of replicas and figurines to win the hearts of any comic book geek. I'm talking $200 Iron Man busts - awwww, yeah!

- Anyone who's ever looked through a SkyMall catalog while traveling knows that they offer awesome Harry Potter, Lord of the Rings and Star Wars memorabilia, in addition to a wide array of other unusual movie-related gifts.  An Indiana Jones bullwhip?  Check! A Batman Begins cane-sword?  Check!

If all else fails, you can always enable your favorite movie fan to "take the show on the road," literally, with a portable DVD player.

Now get to shopping!

Thursday (Wednesday) Threes: The Answer

Well, the special Wednesday edition of the Thursday Threes did garner several correct answers, so I guess it wasn't too tough.

First across the ol' posting board was Anonymous! (The name seems familiar, but I just can't place the face...) Anony has won the right to make him or herself a lovely construction-paper Threes Winner Medal! (I recommend the creative use of dried, painted macaroni when adding bling to your medallion.)

To see the correct answer, wrap your arms around your friend, Inviso-Text!

As many guessed, it was Vince Vaughn. After all, this seems to be Vince Vaughn Week at Redblog, with James' review of Four Christmases up Wednesday and my review of Fred Claus on its way.

I thought I'd offset Mr. Vaughn's current ubiquitousness by picking some pretty obscure performances. His cameo in Zoolander was silent and in coal-face: He was one of Derek Zoolander's mute coal-mining brothers. Early in their careers (pre-Swingers), both he and Jon Favreau had small parts in Rudy, that ode to can-do Domer attitude. And frankly, I didn't think anyone would remember The Cell, Tarsem Singh's super-stylized (and creepy lovely) serial-killer fantasia.

But several of you obviously did! Congrats!

Feeling Full?

Regretting that extra plate of turkey and mashed potatoes?  Realizing you shouldn't have gone back for seconds of pumpkin pie?  Feeling not so light on your feet after spending all day yesterday in a food coma in front of the television?

Take solace.  At least it's not your job to pack on the pounds, right?

Each year when the holiday season kicks off and I inevitably notice that the ol' pants are feeling a bit snug, I make myself feel better by thinking about all of the celebrities that suffer for their craft by way of gaining a ton of weight for certain roles.  Sure, they're getting paid millions to do so, but I don't like to get bogged down with those details.  I just want the guilt of my sugar cookie binge to subside. 

So who helps to ease my mind?

- Reneé Zellweger, who infamously gained, lost, gained and then lost weight before and after the two Bridget Jones films

- George Clooney, who put on 40 pounds for Syriana and then suffered a back injury during filming, to boot

- Matt Damon, who got all pudgy for his role as a whistle-blower in March 2009's The Informant

- Jared Leto, who looked completely unrecognizable after his 65-pound weight gain for Chapter 27

- Fergie, who has already added 13 pounds to her Fergalicious frame for her stint in Nine

- Hilary Swank, who is being asked to gain 20 to 30 pounds for the adaptation of French Women Don't Get Fat

I could go on and on, but there's no need.  Surely I'm much better off than everyone on that list, right? 

In fact, I think I'm deserving of some left-overs...

The Rocchi Files: Twilight Dawning

Between 25 million books sold worldwide and a $70 million opening weekend, it's safe to say Stephenie Meyer's Twilight books are now more than just a cult phenomenon. Twilight's big box office week saw New Moon, the second book, announced as a done deal for the screen ... and yet that doesn't necessarily mean that the other books will be made into films -- or, for that matter, be made well. What are some of the challenges facing everyone's favorite star-crossed couple Edward (Robert Pattinson) and Bella (Kristen Stewart) in the drive to create the next three Twilight films?

1) Is the Movie Already Over?

Some show-business watchers are suggesting that Twilight's opening-weekend office is going to face a huge dropoff; every fan of the book came out to the theaters last weekend, they say, and the film simply isn't good enough to jump the gulf between Twi-hards and civilians.  But online ticket-sales company Fandango is telling us that this weekend, Twilight ticket sales make up 23% of their business this week -- far more than Four Christmases or Australia; of course, last weekend, 92% of Fandango's transactions were for the film. Twilight's also playing on a colossal 3,600-plus screens (contrast that with the 3,200 screens for Four Christmases and 36 screens for Milk, just for comparison's sake); with that kind of saturation, some industry experts suggest a steep dropoff's inevitable. The question is, how much will Twilight falter at the box office? And will fans going for a second, third and fourth time be enough to sustain the film if it doesn't cross over?

Meet Dave

Long gone are the days when Eddie Murphy would make me double over in laughter until tears streamed down my face.  Coming to America, Beverly Hills Cop and Trading Places are all but distant memories of this once "raw" comedian.  Granted, his voice work as "Donkey" in the Shrek franchise has been brilliant, but it doesn't require Eddie himself to be on-screen.  Thanks to The Nutty Professor films and Norbit, it's hard for me to even picture him without a fat suit on.

Therefore, understandably, I had the lowest of low expectations for Meet Dave.  In fact, I dreaded watching it and wasting ninety minutes of my life on the story of an alien spacecraft in the form of a man named "Dave Ming-Chang," who is actually powered by tiny human-looking aliens.

However, maybe it was because I was overly tired, or perhaps the surprise of seeing a lot of recognizable faces in the cast clouded my judgment, but Meet Dave wasn't half-bad.  Yes, it was silly and met its quota of lame jokes and tired Eddie Murphy expressions, but it's certainly not the worst family film I've seen over the last few months.  If you're intrigued by the fact that I'm perhaps the only person who hasn't lambasted this film in a review, read on...

He Said/She Said: My Take on Slumdog Millionaire

A few weeks ago, James sang the praises of Slumdog Millionaire and called it one of the best films of the year.  While I don't necessarily disagree that the latest from director Danny Boyle is a unique, action-packed love story, I urge you to lower your expectations before checking it out (it's continuing to expand into more theaters across the country over the next four weeks).  While I had read tons of press on the movie before seeing it, my husband knew absolutely nothing about its plot or the buzz it's been receiving, and he enjoyed the movie much more than I did.

I was most intrigued by Slumdog's central question: how did Jamal, a poor, uneducated young man from Mumbai's destitute shantytowns, end up on the brink of winning twenty million rupees as a contestant on India's hit game show, "Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?"  The flashback sequences recounting Jamal's epic journey in and out of the slums were both humbling and inspiring, and were far and away the best parts of the film.  The actors and actresses who played Jamal, his brother Salim and "third Musketeer" Latika at earlier stages of life were absolutely wonderful.  They were able to transform from high-spirited children into cynical, streetwise rascals at the drop of a hat.

What's Next for Bella and Edward?

OK, so anyone who's read the Twilight books already knows what's next for the teenage girl and her vampire beau.  But for the stars who play them on the big screen, Kristen Stewart and Robert Pattinson, the future holds... a lot more money.  The Chicago Sun-Times reported that the young celebs will get up to $12 million each, plus a bigger percentage of box office sales, for Twilight's confirmed sequel, New Moon.  (They were paid $2 million a piece for the first film.)

$12 million should be enough to help the duo buy lots of age-defying lotions and potions, because they'll need them -- the events in the four books happen in quick succession (and Edward's body is supposed to be frozen at 17 in the first place); if it takes one to two years to make each of the next three adaptations... well, I think the already-challenged makeup and effects crews are going to run into some issues (Stewart is currently 18 and Pattinson is 22).

But enough about Twilight -- what else have the newly crowned It Girl and Boy been up to?  More acting, it seems.  They both have movies coming out in the near future, and Pattinson in particular has wisely chosen roles that will showcase his range and prove that he's more than just an (extremely) pretty face.