The Dumb Are Mostly Intrigued By The Drum

It's not very often that I get excited over an appearance on a late night talk show but this one's different: it's Guillermo Del Toro. The guy is just a ray of light and I love to see him (and hear him cause his accent is great!) get out into the mainstream. In the interview, he talks Hellboy 2, The Hobbit, his sketchbook and also his rowdy Mexican family getting kicked out of a hotel during the Oscars. Viva Mexico, Cabrones! And once your done with that, head on over here to Apple and watch the third and final Hellboy 2 trailer (yes, I'm putting his TV appearance before a trailer! Go figure).

Yup, Del Toro will be directing both Hobbit films. Yeah, it's old news but I felt that we needed to close the chapter on this story and wait for the long silence between now and when the first info pops up on the films. Del Toro has stated that the whole process will take him around 5 years or so to do and is planning on moving to New Zealand to join Peter Jackson's team. 2011 or 2012 is the rough date they're giving for the release of the films. White Wizard extraordinaire Ian McKellan has confirmed in this interview with Empire Magazine that he will indeed be returning to the role of Gandalf in the films. Now we play the waiting game....Read the whole story over at Variety here.

New York Comic Con went on this past weekend and there has been a lot of news coming out of there regarding Hollywood and it's products. One that peaked my interested was this video of Guillermo Del Toro talking about him directing The Hobbit movies. Previously, we had reported that he was indeed going to helm the next installment of the Lord Of The Rings franchise but an official word has never been given. But watching this video, it seems like he's been putting in work to arrange everything to work for him and all we're waiting for is the green light. Lets keep our fingers crossed as we wait these next couple of days, as Del Toro explains that we'll be getting some answers within that time frame. I got him to respond to one of my questions now I wonder if I can get him on one of our podcasts? Nyup!

Hellboy 2
The full, theatrical trailer for this film has blessed the internetz today and it comes with a special message from the director Guillermo Del Toro himself. But it's what follows that had me enthralled. Shit looks good. Yeah, like I mentioned before, the original didn;t really get my shit flowing. It was cool, an origin story but it did introduce some cool characters and I'm hoping that those were just birthing pains and with this one, Del Toro will bring us pure bliss. Just be sure to not wake the baby! Check out the trailer here.

Shotgun Stories
When you click on the link for the trailer down there, be sure to read the synopsis before watching the trailer. This film intrigues me on many levels. Just watching it filled me with tension and I can't imagine how that theme of family sparring will play through and leaves me wanting to watch to see what the outcome will be. The description sprinkles some background on the characters and adds fuel to the fire that is my desire to check this film out. Check it out here for yourself.

My Blueberry Nights
I haven't see too many of Wong Kar Wai's films (actually, the only thing of his I've seen all the way through was his Six Days music video for DJ Shadow) but his use of color amazes me and kinda reminds me of Hype Williams' Belly sometimes. To finally see his American movie debut is good and hopefully his style of filmmaking will make a faithful transition over. Jude Law? Cool. Natalie Portman? Always cool. But the wild card is Norah Jones. Yup, that Norah Jones. We'll have to wait and see if this is gonna be something to keep or trash. Check out the trailer here.

Yup, although it's been rumored for a while now, IGN is reporting (via The Guardian) the the announcement has been made official during the French premier of "The Orphanage," of which Del Toro was Executive Producer. He sure love his monster movie's and it's good to see that he's sticking to what he loves and that Peter Jackson & company are handing over the reigns. Now, to see what Memo can come up with the power of WETA fueling his imagination..... Check out the original Guardian story here. Viva Mexico, Cabrones!

P.S.— Not planning on watching that little football game this Sunday? Your dumb. You should if only to see the new Iron Man trailer. Should be all kinds of nut-busting-ness in that one.

So a while back I noticed that an official Hellboy 2 web site had opened up and on that site, there were some forums where people could ask director Guillermo Del Toro questions. I asked, he answered. Check out the thread right here. Pretty cool, huh? I've met Del Toro when he was doing the press for the first Hellboy movie and he was a great guy and he even threw down a sketch of himself in my sketchbook. It's awesome that a director of his caliber is always cool with mingling with the fanboys like myself. And for those of you who don't know what the RED camera is, check it out here. Basically, it's a digital camera that shoots very close to film quality. How close? Nearly indistinguishable. The first feature that will be shot entirely using this camera is a little movie named "Wanted" based on the mind blowing graphic novel by Mark Millar. Check out the trailer or the samples you can find on the RED site (along with a short that Peter Jackson shot as a test for the camera). Very good stuff. And all for the low, low price of around $20,000. Truly a baragin, no joke. Soon enough, all video quality will be looking like Hollywood and not like someone ran it through a meat waffler. The future is here and with classy directors like Del Toro always willing to do fan service, cinema, as a whole, has a bright future ahead! VIVA MEXICO, CABRONES!