The Japanese are still in the 'gift giving' spirit of things, apparently. First came the trailers for John Carter and Battleship and now I have a new Japanese poster for Ralph Fiennes’ directorial debut, Coriolanus to share.  (There’s also a Russian poster that I’ve been hoarding for awhile that I decided to share, as well as some stills from the film that don’t revolve around Gerard Butler. No, really.)

Coriolanus, based on the play by William Shakespeare, is about “a banished hero of Rome {who} allies with a sworn enemy to take his revenge on the city.” Of course it’s so much more than that. That brief storyline doesn’t do justice to the play and it certainly doesn’t do justice to the film.

Ralph is so proud of the film that he’s actually making the rounds of the chat shows and sitting for press interviews. (When was the last time that happened? I certainly don’t remember it, if it has.) While Coriolanus is out in NY and LA so that it’s eligible for awards contention, it doesn’t come out to the rest of the country until January 20^th. Ralph isn’t content for just the right and left coasters to see his film. He wants the 'great flyover' to go out and see a movie based on an obscure bit of Shakespeare as well.  This is a tough sell and he knows it. Part of him doesn’t care, I think. Part of him just really really wants to show off his ‘baby’.

Having had the opportunity to see Coriolanus in New York (on opening day to a gratifyingly full house), I can’t recommend it highly enough. Yes, the Elizabethan language is intact, but the play itself has been pared down to its leanest and meanest. There are no spare words or gestures. Everything on screen is there for a reason. Fiennes the director guided Fiennes the actor through a fiercely agonizing, thunderous performance. I’d like to see him get an Academy nomination for it, but considering that not even Michael Fassbender’s fearless performance in Shame is a lock, I won’t be holding my breath. (Only Clooney and Pitt are locks for a nomination IMHO. And I’m not discussing the merits of those choices in this post.)

Vanessa Redgrave also deserves a nomination for her portrayal of Coriolanus’ militaristic mother, Volumnia. Redgrave is at once ethereal and hard as nails. Much has been said about her performance by people more eloquent than I am, but the problem is that she makes it looks so effortless that it may be easily overlooked. (As opposed to more in-your-face performances that people can pat themselves on the back for appreciating and recognizing. *coughTheHelpcough*)

I say all this now because the ballots for the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences 84^th Oscars went out today to its 6000 members….just in case any of them are reading this…I figured I should point them in the right direction.

Coriolanus opens wide January 20 in the US and the UK, 26^th January in Russia and 25^th February in Japan. Wherever you are in the world, you should see it.

Okay, now somehow this makes sense. There’s a new Japanese trailer for Peter Berg’s  film adaptation of the Hasbro board game Battleship. The film itself is not something I’ve been looking forward to, as I think I’ve made clear, but somehow the Japanese subtitles as well as the voice-over at the beginning of the trailer fit. The giant mecha alien “monsters” rising out of the sea and wreaking havoc on the human populace would seem to follow in the footsteps of classic Japanese monster/disaster pics of yore. Now the whole thing makes sense and can be enjoyed in the corny spirit of those films. We don’t have to take it as seriously as Berg, Taylor Kitsch and Liam Neeson seemed to expect us to.  

Berg’s involvement, despite how silly the premise is (and how little it has to do with the titular boardgame), does lead me to believe we’ll be a great big rousing blockbuster to sit in the dark and watch while munching popcorn. I fully expect to check my brain at the door. Looking for the metaphorical zippers up the backs of the “monsters” here will not serve anyone, any more than they did when watching Godzilla, Rodan or Mothra.  

The new Japanese trailer, via Comingsoon, features a lot of new footage of buildings collapsing, giant ships flying out of the water, and much more, all on an epic scale. If nothing else, it will be visually impressive.

“Peter Berg (Hancock) produces and directs the May 18, 2012 release, an epic action-adventure that unfolds across the seas, in the skies and over land as our planet fights for survival against a superior force. Based on Hasbro’s classic naval combat game, Battleship stars Taylor Kitsch as Hopper, a Naval officer assigned to the USS John Paul Jones; Brooklyn Decker as Sam, a physical therapist and Hopper’s fiancée; Alexander Skarsgård as Hopper’s older brother, Commanding Officer Stone of the USS Samson; Rihanna as Lt. Raikes, Hopper’s crewmate and a weapons specialist on the USS John Paul Jones; and Liam Neeson as Hopper and Stone’s superior (and Sam’s father), Admiral Shane.”

Kitsch of course, will next be seen in John Carter. If that film is a hit (and it damn well better be considering what it cost), then I’m sure Battleship will only benefit. Battleship sets sail  20^th April in the UK and docks on May 18 in the US. More to follow I’m sure.

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Here’s your first look at the poster for The Baytown Disco. “Never heard of it” you say? Well, neither had I. Now that I have, I’m of two minds about the whole thing. Look at the poster and read the synopsis and it would seem that this could be a load of great grindhouse-hixploitation fun in the tradition of great cheeseball 70’s classics like Two-Lane Blacktop or  non-great cult oddities like Moonshine War.  Or it could just be a big gooey cheesey mess.  The cast is all over the place. Andre Braugher is always excellent. Always. Billy Bob Thornton has the capacity for excellence, but rarely chooses to use it. Eva Longoria…sigh. Well, she’s pretty.  The only other name I know anything about is Thomas Brodie-Sangster (who was so adorable in Love, Actually as Liam Neeson’s son, Sam).  Anyway, take a look at the poster (thanks to Comingsoon). As far as these things go, it’s pretty well done.

The rousing rebel spirit of a family of Southern thugs takes off at breakneck speed in "The Baytown Disco" — a wickedly playful, high-velocity action-comedy in which three infamously ruthless Alabama brothers find themselves on the wrong side of crooked cops, relentless Feds, mad mobsters, road pirates, tomahawk-wielding bikers, tricky femme fatales and an unforgettable cast of characters as colorful as they are lethal when they finally try to do a single good deed.

Academy Award® winner Billy Bob Thornton and Golden Globe winner Eva Longoria headline this wildly explosive, yet ultimately moving, tale of honor breaking out among thieves with madcap results. It all starts when the fetching Celeste (Longoria) has a falling out with her nefarious ex-husband Carlos (Thornton) who kidnaps her beloved son, Rob (Thomas Brodie Sangster). Knowing her ex can be a maniacal psychopath, not to mention a bit trigger-happy, she turns for help to the most bad-ass, lawless hit-man trio in Alabama: the Oodie Brothers.

Ringleader Brick (Clayne Crawford, “24,” “The Glades”), mute wrestling phenom Lincoln (Daniel Cudmore, "The Twilight Saga"), and the baby of the brothers, the kick-ass G.I. McQueen (Travis Fimmel, “The Beast”) are known for being mean as a bag of rattlesnakes –and measly kidnap rescues are not on their menu of services. But when Brick is unexpectedly moved by Celeste’s plight, what he thinks is going to be an easy smash-and-grab job turns out to be the most hair-raising and hilariously intense adventure of his and his brothers’ harrowing careers.

Suddenly the Oodies have their hometown Sheriff (Andre Braugher, “Men of a Certain Age,” "Salt"), in a tangle; a pesky DEA Agent (Paul Wesley, “Vampire Diaries”) on their trail, and Carlos and his heinous assortment of henchman out for their hides. With no one quite who or what they seem, they are headed for a showdown — and a shot at redemption — they never saw coming.

Written and directed by first timer Barry Battles, The Baytown Disco was on the 2009 "Black List" of Hollywood's best unproduced movie projects, which gives me reason to hope. Lleju Productions and State Street Pictures are producing but no release dates have been announced. The movie also stars Zoe Bell, Michael Rapaport, Agnes Bruckner and Natalie Martinez. We'll keep you posted.

Below, you can watch the German version of the new The Dark Knight Rises trailer that’s been all the rage since last week. Some of the rage has been literal since a lot of people are upset that the villainous Bane (Tom Hardy) is difficult to understand behind his mask. The big deal about this German trailer (courtesy of Movieweb) is that his voice can be clearly heard, despite the fact that it’s dubbed into another language. My take? Big deal. As I’ve said, I don’t have a problem with the fact that Bane’s words are a bit muffled. That mask is ever present. He needs it to survive since it supplies him with an aerosol version of the snake venom which is the source of his power and vitality. I’m pretty sure that his words are usually unintelligible behind it. That, imho, makes him even more sinister. Whatever he actually says, his intent is clear.

I’m not a fan of dubbing to begin with and this trailer is a prime example of why. One of the things I liked best about the original English language version of the clip is Michael Caine’s Alfred and the heartbreak in his voice as he tells Bruce Wayne (Christian Bale) that he feels he’s failed in his appointed task to protect him. There’s practically no inflection whatsoever in the German version.  Unless you’re watching The Artist, then an actor’s vocals are at least 50% of his performance. If you’re watching a dubbed version, then you’re getting whatever the dubbing actor puts into it (or doesn’t put into it). Just my humble opinion. (For the record, Selena Kyle/Catwoman still sounds appropriately kittenish.)

The Dark Knight Rises opens July 20 almost everywhere on the planet. We’ll have much more to follow until then, I’ve no doubt.

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Holy Schnikey! Don’t misunderstand, I still don’t think that The Devil Inside has anything new to share in terms of horror thrillers with an exorcism theme, but I think it has, just going by this trailer, some genuine scares in store. Ya know…this red band trailer for the movie was actually released a few days ago. On Christmas Eve no less. I couldn’t bring myself to post it then. Call me crazy but it just seemed wrong somehow, particularly with the use of “Silent Night” under the latter part of it.  Maybe I’m jaded (okay I know I am), but the first trailer did nothing for me. The subsequent posters just seemed hokey, especially the nun with the opaque eyes. It all really seemed like stuff we’ve seen a million times before in countless Exorcist rip-offs over the years.

Well after this, which genuinely creeped me out, I’m thinking that The Devil Inside might be some scary fun. The trailer, with its excruciatingly gruesome sound effects (not to mention an out of control priest that is every devout parents worst nightmare), certainly gives that impression.

The synopsis: In Italy, a woman becomes involved in a series of unauthorized exorcisms during her mission to discover what happened to her mother, who allegedly murdered three people during her own exorcism. 

The Devil Inside, starring no one you’ve ever heard of, directed by William Brent Bell (Stay Alive) opens on January 6 in the US and Canada and 2^nd March in the UK.

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Sinead O'Connor has beaten Kim Kardashian at the shortest marriage game and is ending her marriage after 16 days of non wedded bliss. On December 8, Sinead married Barry Herridge a man she found via the internet after she published her horny musings on her blog. 

But it was not to be and after 16 days of marriage she's ended the marriage. She wrote on her blog:

Dear friends,

I had for reasons u will all understand, wished to keep this private but have been told today it is to be leaked in the next few days despite my best efforts. So I must now leak it myself so as the record is straight. I won't under any circumstances ever have any further comments to make on this matter than those I write here this evening. Either privately or publicly.

From the moment myself and my husband got together not long ago, there was intense pressure placed upon him by certain people in his life, not to be involved with me. These were people who had never met me but had formed opinions of me based on what they read about 'Sinead 'O'Connor' in the media etc. Entitled as they are to their opinions about me many perhaps well deserved, there was no righteousness on anyone's part to put my husband through what he was put through as a result of his desire to be with me and to marry me and as a result of his actually marrying me.

Within 3 hours of the ceremony being over the marriage was kyboshed by the behaviour of certain people in my husband's life. And also by a bit of a wild ride i took us on looking for a bit of a smoke of weed for me wedding night as I don't drink. My husband was enormously wounded and very badly effected by that experience and also by the attitude of those close to him toward our marriage. It became apparent to me that if he were to stay with me he would be losing too much to bear. And that being with me was not going to serve him positively , career wise or any other wise. I saw his life leave him because of how people close to him reacted. And I can't take anyone's life. And a woman wants to be a joy to her husband. So.. U love someone? Set them free.

He is a wonderful man. I love him very much. I'm sorry I'm not a more regular woman. I truly believe though it is painful to admit, we made a mistake rushing into getting married, for altruistic reasons, and weren't aware or prepared for the consequences on my husband's life and the lives of those close to him. He has been terribly unhappy and I have therefore ended the marriage. I think he is too nice to do so. And too nice to trap.

He is as I said, a wonderful man. We part amicably. I wish him to be free and happy and loved and supported and for him to have privacy as that is utmost important for his job and for the children he treats as a therapist so I plead on theirs and his behalf for media to please leave him and his family alone. I really beg this. His family have health issues also and they not need the stress. Please do not doorstep them. Please be considerate of their feelings and leave them and my husband alone. I repeat this is of UTMOST importance to the wonderful children my husband helps every day. his work is his life. Publicity over all this could jeopardise his job. Please, don't do that to him. or I will have that on my conscience as well. he is a private person. I'm fair game. He or his family are not.

Meanwhile I intend to get on with being fully me. With never an apology for ANY part if being FULLY ME. No matter what. I am a 21st century full woman and proud of living it. I am in a very good and happy and strong place in life so I am doing fine. The marriage was 16 days. We lived together for 7 days only.. Until Xmas eve. And we haven't been awful to each other. So while I feel sad for my husband, and sad to be the cause of sorrow to yet another poor man, I'm also happy that I know we weren't horrible to each other and he is better off free. And that I can be me. And that's a freedom I can't give up for anyone or anything. Neither should my husband or anyone else.

Please pray for my lovely husband to be ok and do not worry about me as I have had plenty of practice in these matters. I am in a good place in life. And happy. I believe in and am committed wholeheartedly to happiness. Nothing knocks that. My only concern is that my husband be happy.

As my good friend said "well, at least you got married in Vegas in a pink Cadillac! Can't get more Rock n Roll than that".

so now u can all go ahead and have a great laugh, media wise, and be horrid if u desire to. But that's my record set straight.

Rock n Roll

Sinead

Based on the speed in which these two met and married it's not really all that surprising.  Looking for weed on your wedding night is  a different wedding night than I would personally envision but I'm not Sinead O'Connor, right?

Her respect for her husband is quite admirable and it's nice to see that there isn't any mud-slinging.

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