The Sorcerer's Apprentice

Above is the trailer for The Sorcerer's Apprentice, the new live-action Disney production starring Nicolas Cage and Jay Baruchel, directed by National Treasure's Jon Turtletaub.

The only reason I posted it is because I find it very interesting and different from Disney's other live-action productions in that the trailer doesn't really have any big comedy moments in it. I think I'd like it if the final product was simply a straight-up Disney action movie without an undercurrent of (potentially awful) comic relief for the movie to lean on. Of course, I'm not sure I trust that the final product will be the same as the trailer (especially given Baruchel's inclusion, since he is traditionally a comic actor).

The other part worth mentioning is the scene where Baruchel is clearly in the middle of the events of the classic Fantasia short of the same name. It's a little weird. Hmmm...

I'd also like to make a plea for the internet, collectively, to learn how to spell Nicolas Cage's name properly. There is no H in it. It's not that hard to remember. Please take note. (Further courses on mistakes like "Seth Rogan" and "Tom Hank's" will be conducted at my irritation/discretion.)

Remake Watch 2009: Nothing!

That's right, nothing! After a slew of remake announcements, it's been all quiet on the new remake front for a few days. In order to satisfy your remake-news needs, however, I have dug up quite a bit of information on already-announced remakes, and attached an awesome, hot picture of Chloe Sevigny, just because I f--ing want to, and I totally f---ing can.

- The Karate Kid is now called The Kung-Fu Kid. Also, they changed the name of the mentor character to Mr. Han and made him a janitor, among other things. Whether or not it actually qualifies as a remake anymore is debatable. Source: The Associated Press.

- Speaking of not-remakes, some site called Mania has a blurb about how Stephen Norrington's Crow film is about an entirely new character and changes the story. Hmmm...

- Kate Bosworth signed on to the Straw Dogs remake, along with Alexander Skarsgård. Via Variety.

- Nicolas Cage tells MTV that the second Ghost Rider should be a whole new take on the character. Soon they'll be rebooting movies before they start!

Remake Watch 2009:
15 film remakes announced
4 film remakes released
2 tv remakes released
2 reboots announced
2 reboots released
1 remakes announced/released direct-to-DVD
1 TV remake

A "reboot" is defined by Remake Watch as a new attempt at a film series with new actors playing old characters (thus, X-Men Origins: Wolverine and Race to Witch Mountain are excluded). Sequels to remakes (The Pink Panther 2, Halloween 2) are ignored.

Bad Lieutenant and Nicolas Cage

I think people don't understand the Bad Lieutenant trailer.

Maybe I'm wrong, but to me it seems clear. I mean, Herzog is not a hack. I get the sense he got saddled with some awful shitty cop script and responded by just making the silliest, weirdo movie he could.

"Shoot him again. His soul is still dancing." Not the kind of line you see in some shitty Righteous Kill of the week. The soul is breakdancing. There's ridiculous harmonica music. It doesn't make sense to me that Herzog would go from making some of the strongest films in his career to suddenly forgetting everything about how to make a good movie. To me it looks like great fun.

Someone also made a good point: in this weird way, Nicolas Cage has never really sold out.

Bear with me.

As much as he keeps popping up in "WTF?" movies, he has this consistently tried to work with interesting directors: the Pang Brothers, Proyas, LaBute, and now Herzog. The final products may have sucked but he's picking films by guys who have made really interesting movies; maybe he is just incredibly unlucky and all of the projects just end up being bad.

I really hope Cage can get a good role. I am tired of people hating him. He's one of my favorite actors. He is fearless and interesting in a way few actors are. I think that's why his bad movies flop so much. He always puts it all out there. I don't think you could accuse him of phoning it in.

"What are these f---ing iguanas doing on my coffee table?"

I don't know what to say.



Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call New Orleans will be out in Belgium on December 2nd, 2009. Oh, you don't live in Belgium? Well, it opens the same day in France. No? On Argentina, it opens on December 10th. If you don't live in one of those three countries, no date has been set.