The Dumb Are Mostly Intrigued By The Drum

So we've made it clear into September (OMG, Halloween is right around the corner) and this year has been one of the best as far as the quality of films released so far. And we haven't even started Oscar season which will undoubtedly bring us some more good stuff. So to preempt the barrage of films surging this way, here are my top 5 films released so far this year:

5. Wall-E

I was expecting that this film was gonna be good but I didn't expect what it ended up being: A silent film with so much heart that it leaves you with a good feeling when you leave the theater. You know that age old movie quote "A feel good movie"? Wall-E is the manifestation of that very quote. Pixar has had a track record that rivals any and this one has to rank up there as one of the very best films they've ever done.

4. Iron Man

3. The Dark Knight

Some of you might be shocked that this isn't #1 on my list and I'm right there with you. It's really hard to describe what a "perfect film" is but this one came so close to living up to that title. There were a few kinks in there that kind of bothered me over all but overall The Dark Knight rocked. We'll see what happens with this film come Oscar season as I'd be surprised if Heath Ledger doesn't get some kind of nomination here.

2. The Wackness

I doubt that this film will make it onto most people's top list (especially here in Fresno since the film never opened up here; according to this the film is going to open in Visalia on Oct. 15th) but I was fortunate to see this awesome film and it touched a brother's heart. From the script to the music, it was an awesome experience and know that nostalgia played a big factor in The Wackness' position on my list. 1994 was a tremendous year in music and life in general for me so this flick really took me back. Awesome stuff.

1. The Fall

Like I've said in the past, storytelling is king in my book. And to see this story come to life through a little girl's imagination just exploded my head. Tarsem's surreal visuals really did a wonderful job of projecting this world in the film. Sure the script might not have been perfect but the acting (especially from Catinca Untaru, who deserves at least a nomination for her role of the young girl Alexandria) packaged along with the sheer awesomeness of the music, visuals & the creativity really made this the most enjoyable film I've seen this year. The film was just released on DVD & Blu Ray so I suggest you pick it up and check it out. Or at least throw it on your Netflix Queue.

And that's the list so far. We still have some heavyweights coming between now & January so who knows how this list will look like when I do my Top 10 of the year then. So let me know what you guys think. Did I miss anything? Let me know what your Top 5 films of 2008 are so far.

Once again our heroes return....what heroes do I speak of you ask? Well none other than myself, brodiemash, & our new co-host of The DUmb, Bryan Harley from AMF Productions. Back again for the first time, we talk about all kinds of stuff relating to film and some other things....not so much:

• We talk about films we saw over the Labor Day weekend including The Wackness, Pineapple Express, The Clone Wars, Babylon A.D., Tropic Thunder & more.

• Next weeks DVD releases and how nobody else loves Wings but me (and Quagmire).

• How we'd make an R-rated Star Wars film.

• We reenact the conversation between Sarah Palin and her pregnant daughter.

• My lunch at Livingstone's and their horrible customer service.

• The active film festivals going on in Fresno in the month of September, including the F.F.I.L.M.M and the Latino Film Festival

• The death of Don LaFontaine

• We overload on nerdiness as we discuss the awesome RED Camera.

All this and much, much more. All for free. Download it, listen and let us know what you think. Thanks to Late Update for hosting our podcast!

CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD THE DUMB #9

And it's that time again for another episode of The DUmb! This time (again) we welcome back some of the usual suspects from our Swede Festival entry as Adrian Rodriguez from Late Update, John Rios from Dead Days, Bryan Harley from AMF Productions and Jay Montes from....Sanger join us for the round table discussion, which includes:

• A wrap up from this past weekend's Swede Festival over at Corridor 2122 and we address some negative feedback over at The Beehive's comment section, some discussion on the actual swedes and some early details on the next festival.

• Talk about the new "Cheap-O Theater" format the Clovis Towne Center has adopted and probably bumping The Wackness out of playing here in town.

• The Tropic Thunder & Star Wars: The Clone Wars controversy.

• Bryan tells us how he met the stars & creators of the BBC series Spaced.

• How I tried to buy Henry Perea's support for the new Film Ordinance.

• John discusses his workflow with Dead Days.

• Bryan reveals another word in the title of his upcoming secret project.

All this and and more! Download it, listen and let us know what yout hink. If your interested in coming on as a guest, please drop us an email at thedumbdrum@gmail.com. Thanks to Late Update for hosting our podcast!

CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD THE DUMB #8

So the past weekend was a three-day one. What did I do during those free days? Mostly sleep (a bloggers life is one of constant inaction don't you know?) but I did watch movies and the whatnot so rather than do individual posts of all the stuff that went down, I've created this: the UberPost! A recap of all the cool stuff that went down these last couple of days so sit back and enjoy the info overload:

• Trailer Addict has released The Dark Knight trailer that was first previewed about a year ago at Wizard World. A lot of footage in this one so if you want to avoid seeing half the film before the release, steer clear.

• Wu-Tang Clan's abbot The RZA is finally moving ahead with very first film titled The Man With The Iron Fist, which will be directed by the man himself & produced by Eli Roth (director of Hostel) reports Aintitcoolnews. Huge fan of RZA, but lately his music been off point. Maybe he's been focusing on writing the script which Roth describes as "amazing". Fingers crossed Bobby Digital comes through ont his one!

• The Wackness was released this weekend in limited release and the numbers are good! What does that mean? Well, it's going to expand to more theaters pretty soon and you know what that means: Fresno. And it's happened! Slash Film (via FirstShowing) has the list of the cities in which the film will open up this month and we're on the list! The film will tentatively open here in town on July 25th! No word on which theaters will carry it but as soon as I find out, I will post it here!

• Were you hoping for a Superbad sequel? Well keep dreaming as Seth Rogen has recently shot down any hope of that ever happening, reports Slash Film. But Rogen does say that a Pineapple Express sequel is possible. Crazy Hollywood....

People who have seen this film have been waiting and waiting for this trailer to be released as they say that the current ones do not do the film justice. Well here it is. If this doesn't sell you on the film then maybe it just isn't for you. For me, the premise & setting itself has already got me hyped. Check it out over at IGN here for Quicktime and see if it gets your jollies going.

More overkill, but yeah, we're gonna continue with the hype on this film. Have I seen it? Nope, so it might be the shittiest film of the year for all I know. By I have high hopes and everything points to it being a good one (hey, The Fall came through for me last time). Check out the trailer here over at Yahoo!

And if you head over to Mixwit you can create your own mixtape and post it on your blog! Pretty cool site....

Hmmm...I hope this is going somewhere but here it is for your consumption.

Full steam ahead with promotion of The Wackness as yet another trailer has dropped, which you can check out here. And as if I haven't felt so good about watching a non-nerd film in a long time (kinda hard to rival the Iron Man hype) I went over to the updates web site this morning and saw the catalog of music that they have displayed there: So many classics! Oh my God, if they released a soundtrack with all these songs, I would have to double check and make sure the producers hadn't downloaded one of my playlists and slapped their logo on it. It's uncanny how many of those songs are on my everyday rotation (yeah, I'm an old school nut and I live in the past so sue me). Click here to head on over to the Official Site and be sure to check out all the links they have (in the Links & Reviews section, duh!) to You Tube videos of some classic hip-hop videos!

UPDATE: Slashfilm.com has posted 6 clips from the film. I'd rather wait to see the whole film (it's just that type of film for me) but if your adventurous, by all means go check them out right here. Thanks to Barrazie for the links

My day started off on a downer, but then I saw this new trailer for The Wackness. Lookit that pic up there. Any film portraying the ancient art of "Making the fucken Nintendo work" has to be a winner. We had posted the teaser not to long ago and now comes this longer, better trailer courtesy of Myspace Trailer Park, which you can download here in HD. Sit back and enjoy the ride, sirs! KEEN!

This film has got some good rumblings going through the net ever since it debuted at Sundance and the trailer has finally dropped....at least the first one that I know of on the internet. Described as a "love letter to the early 90's" by Ainitcoolnews.com, I look forward to seeing this hit the mainstream pretty soon with a better version of the trailer. I've been waiting for a film to come along and explore those hey-days of mine; the music, the clothes, the women....or lack thereof. Visit the official site here & comment away on what you thought of the trailer.