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Planetarium found this trailer hiding over at IGN/Filmforce.com's site. It appears to be the next Jet Li flick, Unleashed- aka Danny the Dog, as it was originally called- and is getting some darn good reviews from folks in the know. So check out the trailer, because at the very least, a Jet Li movie is always worth seeing, and since it looks like they might actually let him act in this one, well, see for yourself.
Hey all-
We managed to do a little searching and unearth the trailer for Mr. and Mrs. Smith, the new action thriller remake with Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt. Something about this one has us intrigued, take a look for yourself...
Perhaps you've noticed them, perhaps not. But on tons of news and political sites, up to and including the venerable New york Times, there's this ad that keeps popping up. It pictures Bush on one end of it, and Kerry on the other, and then, next to Bush, the word "Retro" appears in red. Moments later, alongside Kerry's face, the word "Metro" appears. Then the ad sponsor, "The Great Divide (Which Side Are YOU On?)" pops up dead center. Retro Vs. Metro? That's just, well, kind of odd, isn't it? And accurate? What do you think, folks?
If you're anything like us here at Planetarium, even an affection for Katie Holmes and Marc Blucas isn't going to get you to go out and see "First Daughter", the PG-rated tween-fest released nationally today. BUT- that said, after reading this review of it by the New York Times' Manohla Dargis, the film sounds so deeply weird and unsettling, we just might see it after all. Here's some excerpts from said review- and damned if it isn't just bizarre.
"It takes a little over an hour for "First Daughter," a wish-fulfillment fantasy about the only child of an American president, to go from deeply weird to full-blown subversive. At that point, the title character, a blank slate named Samantha Mackenzie (Katie Holmes), has moved from the White House to college, where she has encountered the typical freshman dissonance, or at least its PG-rated manifestation, including a sassy roommate and the dreamboat down the hall. So far, so formulaic, even despite the occasional ripple, like the cute guy in the Amnesty International T-shirt spiritedly delivering a speech against Sam's dad (Michael Keaton).....Despite the overblown music, fairy-tale trappings and sugarplum narration that bookends the story (read by the film's director, Forest Whitaker), "First Daughter" plays more like a nightmare than a dream, and an exceedingly unnerving one at that. Sam isn't just a prisoner of her parents' ambitions; like nearly everyone else in this film, she's a zombie, sleepwalking through life while Rome burns.
...As Sam steps out of a limousine, wearing a long white gown and an Audrey Hepburn upsweep, she begins walking in slow motion, afloat on a cloud of happiness and perhaps antidepressants. Behind her, protesters are angrily waving signs — "Free H.I.V. Drugs for Africa," reads one, "Protect Medicare," reads another — but the first daughter is too busy drifting toward her happy ending to notice. "
At first it was funny, then it was disturbing, then it was scary, and finally it all became clear. There's something so delightfully obvious in the administration's need to falsify everything they do in the public eye. What seemed like pathology in the beginning ("Clear Skies Initiative", "Healthy Forests") has developed into a clear sign that the administration has an unwavering belief in Machiavelli 101, that all politics should be cloaked in the guise of doing the opposite. Literally, whatever they call something, you know it's the exact opposite. No exceptions. What's interesting is the fact that people who seem to understand this develop a blind spot when it comes to the so-called "War On Terror". Peoplle who are otherwise clear-headed go fuzzy and start saying "well, at least he's going after people who need going after." Except that if you look at the obvious, the was on terror is making all of us a LOT less safe. By definition. It's at the point where you can hear the name of something, or hear the intentions they state, and know that what they're really doing is the exact opposite. So come on, war people, get a clue.
Jeanene Garafalo perhaps put is best: "At this point, voting for Bush can only be considered a major character flaw."
This delightful piece of news about Alan Keyes' game plan to win the Illinois Senate seat by beating new hotshot Barack Obama comes courtesy of our informant Wickedfingers (go support Claire for Governor in Missouri).
Declaring that his campaign strategy is "dependent on controversy," Senate candidate Alan Keyes (R) "told the state's top GOP donors at a recent closed-door meeting" that he plans to make "inflammatory" comments "every day, every week" until the election, according to several sources at the session. "The sources said Keyes explained that his campaign has been unfolding according to plan and likened it to a war in which lighting the 'match' of controversy was needed to ignite grass-roots voters." Keyes: "This is a war we're in. The way you win wars is that you start fires that will consume the enemy" (Pearson, Chicago Tribune, Sept. 14).
So Entertainement Weekly has published its list of the "25 most-anticipated albums of the fall" list, and frankly, Planetarium is more than a little embarrassed by the large number of records from the list that we're interested in. Our indie cred took a big hit after reading this list. But by the same token, most of these artists are actually good, not just a guilty pleasure-type thing. We thought we'd share a few of the more promising ones:
- Eminem- Encore: Come on, even your Mom is probably curious to hear what this is gonna be like. Hmmmm, let's see, if history teaches us anything, it's that if all your work so far has been awesome, then this will be, too. No, wait- history tells us you'e due for a misstep.
- U2 - Not yet titled: Give them their props. okay? "Beautiful Day" is an amazing song, and if the new album has even one song that good on it, then Planetarium is damn glad they're still making music.
- Handsome Boy Modeling School - White People: We're gonna go out on a limb here: there is NO WAY this will not be good. You heard it here first- when Dan the Automator and Prince Paul get together, the result is more gorgeous than a barrel of snot dumped on Donald Rumsfeld's head.
- Tom Waits - Real Gone: Admittedly, you either love him or hate him; but since Planetarium falls squarely in the former camp, we could really give a rat's ass what you think.
- De La Soul - The Grind Date: If you're a regular here, you know that one of our favorite pastimes has been speculating about the next De La Soul record, and understandably so: it's like Nirvana coming out with a new record, or possibly the Beatles. When you've reinvented a genre consistently and simultaneously managed to stay not only relevant but in the top echelons of the field, especially in hip-hop, well, you're doing something right.
And that short list doesn't even include new Destiny's Child, new Talib Kweli, new Superchunk, and many more. Damn, that's some money.
Via babelogue, we offer for your consumption: Jaws in 30 Seconds, performed by bunnies.
Well, there's a new trailer online for Blade:Trinity, and it's significantly less impressive than the previous one. Here's hoping there's an awful lot of Jessica Biel kicking vampire ass in this film. Judging by this new trailer, however, Planetarium has come up for the tagline for the film: "This December, no glass windows will be safe....FROM VAMPIRES!"
...we'll say it again. Steve Perry is one of the most astute political analysts we have in this country. You absolutely have to go check out his new column, where he captures the current zeitgeist with a zeal and insight that you don't see much these days, especially not from the apologists-for-Kerry crowd, and certainly not from any major media outlet. It becomes that much more insightful if you know ahead of time that he's committed himself to voting for Kerry. God bless you, Steve.
Although we have to point out one theory he misses: Isn't it quite possible all this unreliable polling data is also being released to confuse us, so that when Bush and Co. steal the election again, it won't be quite as easy to see where and how?
Pat Buchanan: The reason I'm still voting for Bush, and the American people seem to support this, is that he exudes confidence, certitude, strength...
Stewart (interrupting): Yeah, so does Mr. T! I mean, that argument is like saying 'well, he drove us off a cliff, but he didn't blink!' It's crazy.
(later)
Buchanan: Look, Kerry came out and said that knowing what he knew now, no weapons of mass destruction, no tie to 9/11, no threat, nothing, he STILL would've voted to authorize war. He blew it right there. He could've sewn up the election if he had just come out and said 'The President blew it. Give a new gang the chance, we'll go in there, see what we can salvage, and get out.
Stewart: Um......yes. I agree. Huh.
That's the thing. Buchanan may be a nutty xenbophobe, but he's a populist with a brain, and he's got more sense than he gets credit for.
From over at Eschaton. Somewhere the coiner of the phrase "irony" is rolling over in his grave.
(And for those of you who need a quick refresher, Bob Novak is the reporter who leaked the name of an undercover CIA agent for purely right-wing partisan political ends, and then refused to say who from the administration gave him the name.)
On the CNN panel show, "Capital Gang," Bob Novak expressed grave doubts about the CBS documents, then said: "I'd like CBS, at this point, to say where they got these documents from. They didn't get them from a CIA agent. I don't believe there was any laws involved. I don't think we'll have a special prosecutor, if they tell. I think they should say where they got these documents because I thought it was a very poor job of reporting by CBS...."Fellow panelist, Al Hunt, from the Wall Street Journal, then replied: "Robert Novak, you're saying CBS should reveal its source?"
The transcript continues:
NOVAK: Yes.
HUNT: You do? You think reporters ought to reveal sources?
NOVAK: No, no. Wait a minute.
HUNT: I'm just asking.
NOVAK: I'm just saying in that case.
HUNT: Oh.
NOVAK: I think -- I think it's very important. If this is a phony document, the American -- the people should know about it.
HUNT: So in some cases, reporters ought to reveal sources.
NOVAK: Yes.
HUNT: But not in all cases.
NOVAK: That's right.
HUNT: OK. Mark Shields, what's the relevance of all this?
SHIELDS: A point well taken, Al.
In honor of the fact that there's been remarkably little 9/11 memorial hoopla crapola this year (a welcome change of pace if ever there was one), Planetarium decided to post the songs that have been rocking our offices during this most politicized of days. Some were chosen for tackiness, some were chosen for obvious reasons, but all of the following tunes rule, and all are 9/11-themed today. In fact, someone out there should make a mix tape (or CD) of these songs, that'd be a damn good collection. If you do, please let Planetarium know, we'd love a copy. Ooh, or maybe a DJ mix of them: the 9/11 remix.
1. !!! - "Shit Scheisse Merde Pt. 1"
2. Hockey Night - "Sunny Day"
3. Rank Strangers - "President, We Say Go"
4. Mark Lanegan Band - "When Your Number Isn't up"
5. T.Rex - "Bang a Gong (Get it On)"
6. P.J. Harvey - "Who the Fuck?"
7. Shudder To Think - "Survival"
8. Jean Grae - "Hater's Anthem"
9. The Hold Steady - "Positive Jam"
10. Askeleton - "The Future"
So, Planetarium just returned from seeing Resident Evil: Apocalypse. While we certainly didn't expect it to live up to the standards of gleeful B-movie ridiculousness set by the first film, we can say that, while satisfied by it, it left a little to be desired. Don't get us wrong: when, in the first five minutes, a guy bungee-jumps out of a helicopter while unloading both guns, we knew that this was going to be worth our while. And Milla Jovovich has certainly proven herself to be one of the best action heroes in America. In fact, anytime she WASN'T on-screen, you were left wondering where the star was. So, in conclusion: more Milla, less anything non-Milla. But entertaining, overall. We usually don't do the "star" system, because it's such a failure, but really, this is a "worth seeing it" - starred movie. So there you go. Enjoy your weekend.
Planetarium, it should be noted, deserves kudos for managing somehow to come up with a way to make a play on "Krug" nearly twice a week.
Wow, you know how every once in a while, especially when you were a kid, you'd sit around going "Wouldn't it be cool if (famous cool person X) got together with (Famous Cool Cultural Item Y) and did (Brand-New EXTREMELY Cool Thing That Would Likely Never Happen)"? Come on, you know you still do that today. It's just that you feel sillier saying it out loud now that you're...ahem....respectable.
Well, this news, if it turns out to be true, will be one of those things. Too good to be true. Unreal. We at Planetarium will walk around in a dazed state for, um...days. See, we get tongue-tied even thinking about it. Wow...
Well, for those of us who are going to be seeing "Resident Evil:Apocalypse" this weekend, the New York Times says that we're going to have a good time:
"If you are in the mood for leggy heroines blasting down zombie armies with absurdly large automatic weapons, the film gives very good value for the money."
Huzzah for the B-movie Rennaissance!
The Globe finally comes out and starts (hopefully) the ball rolling on what we all already knew anyways. Seriously, this has been ridiculous. Where are the "Air National Guard Veterans for Truth" whose ads the DNC can plaster all over the swing states?
We at Planetarium have yet to see Michael Mann's newest flick, though we keep hearing very good things about it. It seems once again, all you haters misjudged not only Mann but Cruise, a guy who slams it out of the park once every three movies or so. So go check it out, and we will too. In the meantime, there was a great little exchange today on Ain't It Cool where a guy was raving about how great Collateral is, and mentions the fact that Will Smith's real-life wife is one of the people that makes the film great. The first response to this: "So when did Will Smith and Jamie Foxx get married, anyways?"
New Krugman. Go!
The San Francisco Bay Guardian has released its list of the 10 Big Stories That the Media Ignore. And almost all of them point out two things: that this is indeed the scariest administration ever, and that it might not matter if we "vote" them out of office- they'll find a way to win no matter what.
Here's the excerpt from Chris Matthews interviewing Zell Miller on Hardball on Sept. 1:
MILLER: If you‘re going to ask a question...MATTHEWS: Well, it‘s a tough question. It takes a few words.
MILLER: Get out of my face.
MILLER: If you are going to ask me a question, step back and let me answer.
(LAUGHTER)
MATTHEWS: Senator, please.
MILLER: You know, I wish we... I wish we lived in the day where you could challenge a person to a duel. Now, that would be pretty good.
City Pages has an interesting little story about the Vote For Change Tour, and how it's discovering some of the fascinating facts about the world of 527s. Whether or not, for example, corporations can buy tickets to the concerts by the Boss and Co., or whether that'd be, you know, illegal.
Planetarium's here, watching the Bush speech so that you don't have to. The thing is, you can only play the "what's that really mean?" game for so long. (Admittedly, for a few minutes, it's fun: Bush says "I will see to it that every doctor can practice without fear of reprisal from bureaucrats or lawsuits." Translation: Eliminate government-sponsored healthcare, and take away the right to sue a doctor who accidentally takes out your kidney during an appendectomy.) After that, it just gets scary. It would look an awful lot like a meeting of the Third Reich if the network cameramen weren't tripping over themselves trying to find the few dark faces in a sea of whitey. As he gets closer to the end, he's invoking "God" a lot more, and sounding remarkably like someone determined to fight a holy war. Unfortunately, fighting a holy war is easily spun as being "resolute" and "brave". Now he's making jokes about how people say he can't speak well, and how he swaggers and acts like a cowboy. It's really creepy, especially when he is just blatantly lying, talking about how much he's tried to do to help the 9/11 victims, or how what he says is always what he does. Invoking a lot of exploitative victim-imagery, which is bold when you're spitting on veterans' benefits. Or, rather, it WOULD be bold if he didn't know that nobody in the press is going to call him on it. Oh, God. He just said that, years from now, a plaque in New York City will say "Here, buildings fell. Here, a nation rose."
The Democrats have already released their response sheet. No mention of North Korea, or any foreign policy, essentially. No real discussion of health care. Apparently, just trying to remind people that some jobs have been lost.
Here's the thing. We at Planetarium have a lot of respect for people on the left who continue, year after year, to believe in the innate intelligence and goodness of people. People who think that no matter what, Americans will, in the end, stand up for what is good and decent and right. That Americans know what's up. This election, we fear, will be quite the test of this. It's so important for so many reasons that George W. Bush lose this election. And yet, the Republican Convention has come out with all the subtlety of the movie Armageddon. And people, by and large, seem to be buying it. The media, for their part, have been quite open in their reporting about the fact that this convention is bull. That the Republicans are putting on their "moderate" face, just like they did four years ago. And people, again, seem to be buying it. So we ask you: How much faith do you have? If the answer is a lot, then Planetarium salutes you. Frankly, we're a little worried.
A bit of fun passed along to us from a Planetarium associate working heavy on a campaign:
Kerrey-ing no illusionsNew School president Bob Kerrey - a former Democratic senator from Nebraska and a Medal of Honor recipient in Vietnam - had choice words for the Swifties accusing Sen. John Kerry of volunteering for Vietnam combat duty to pad his political résumé.
"Oh, f-- them," he told the Daily News' James Gordon Meek. "Quote me on that. The idea that you'd volunteer for [Swift boat duty] because you're thinking about a political career. ... That's what you think about doing if you want a posthumous political career."
Meanwhile, Creative Coalition co-president and "Dr. Vegas" star Joe Pantoliano wonders if FDR would fare better than Kerry if he were alive today.
"You'd have wheelchair veterans for truth coming out of the woodwork screaming, 'He's not really a cripple!'" the former "Sopranos" star told us at the coalition's party for former First Son Ron Reagan's collection of essays, "If You Had Five Minutes with the President."
Fans of such tidbits can make a donation to the Claire McCaskill for Governor campaign. Come on, Missouri, prove your love.