And on the third day…
The project to put the “Daily” back into “Daily Grindhouse” continues! Here’s a collection of movie news and trailers I saw today and thought you might be interested in, along with some other good stuff.
But first:
RIP WINGS HAUSER
Condolences to the family and fellow fans of the awesome character actor Wings Hauser, who leaves behind a super-cool filmography.
I first saw him as the villain in BEASTMASTER 2, and he was impossible to forget, whatever else you want to say about BEASTMASTER 2.
In VICE SQUAD and TALES FROM THE HOOD, he was astonishing and terrifying, a force of awful nature. For VICE SQUAD, Hauser wrote and performed the song “Neon Slime.” Everything about that previous sentence is glorious. Bond films have fancy pop stars singing their theme songs. That’s easy enough to do. Rarest of all pleasures are films where the story’s villain gets to sing the theme song.
Here is what Wings Hauser looks like in Richard Pryor’s JO JO DANCER, your life is calling:
We could (and should) celebrate this man and his work in film all day. By all accounts, he was as likable offscreen as he was compelling when he was on it. His son is Cole Hauser, known to you youngsters from GOOD WILL HUNTING and to your parents from Yellowstone.
It’s a sad occasion, but we have some incredible movies to remember him by. Maybe the best of them is THE INSIDER. Wings Hauser has exactly one scene, and he’s definitely the bad guy. He’s the lawyer from the tobacco company threatening Russell Crowe’s character with infinite levels of legal hells if he speaks truth to power, who is promptly shut down with fire and fury from the great Bruce McGill, who also isn’t in the movie for long. This is brilliant because the movie needed a heavy-duty threat and Wings Hauser does that just by being there. His own brilliance is in then dialing down his own star power just as quickly as he’d grabbed hold of the movie with it, just so McGill can shine. It’s generous and noble, in service of a story well told. It’s a fine way to remember a great actor, in one short scene!
And now, on with some happier things.
ONE BATTLE AFTER ANOTHER!
This is Paul Thomas Anderson’s new movie. Be forewarned: It’s only what they call a “teaser.” Next week will bring a full trailer. That’s right: It’s a trailer for a trailer. Some call this technique “edging.”
But let’s not get into that right now. Let’s look at this teaser trailer. Because it looks goooooood!
TODD SOLONDZ SPEAKS!
Interview Magazine has an… interview (makes sense!) with filmmaker Todd Solondz. A little bit of a downer, which might not be a surprise if you’ve seen his films, but the reason is that the main takeaway is that a filmmaker this unique and critically revered has such trouble getting a movie made. That’s real depressing, although at least he sounds like he’s finding validation in teaching.
ROSARIO!
Not the biopic you might be expecting. This promising horror film is the feature debut of Felipe Vargas, starring Emeraude Toubia and featuring character-actor vets David Dastmalchian, José Zúñiga, and Paul Ben-Victor, whose faces you know even if their names don’t immediately ring bells. I am intrigued, since the premise feels a little different than what we usually get, although with love, I have to admit the trailer makes it look over-directed as hell. I haven’t seen this many Dutch angles since 2011’s THOR.
BALLERINA!
I have not been too jazzed about this one, despite liking Ana De Armas a lot. I will have to be convinced that a JOHN WICK movie could really work without Keanu Reeves. Then again, he’s in this trailer a lot more than I expected. While I still have just about no confidence in this film’s director, I have to admit I am liking what I see, and I would love to be proven wrong. Behold:
COYOTE VS. ACME!
The idea of COYOTE VS. ACME finally getting released is truly exciting. This is a movie with a fun premise (Wile E. Coyote finally sues the Acme Company for years of defective products, from an old New Yorker piece by Ian Frazier) and two frequently brilliant comic performers in the leads with Will Forte and John Cena. The movie is complete, but for reasons almost too frustrating to mention, it’s been sitting unreleased for the past two years.
Ketchup Entertainment, who brought us FERRARI, among other films, is reportedly in talks to bring COYOTE VS. ACME to theaters. It’s easy to feel powerless nowadays, but one thing we can definitely do is to show up for THE DAY THE EARTH BLEW UP, which is currently in theaters right this minute, to show there’s an audience for new takes on our beloved Looney Tunes characters.
PATTERSON HOOD!
Patterson Hood is best known for his role at the front of the American band Drive-By Truckers, whose music I’ve enjoyed for years. This is his fourth solo album. This song, “A Werewolf And A Girl,” is a duet between him and the super-talented Lydia Loveless.
Let’s play a game: See if you can guess what movie is being referenced in this song, although this song is about more than a movie. (Okay, maybe you might guess it pretty quickly from the title. Click here for the answer.)
Th-th-th-th-th-that’s all (for today), folks!
- [THE BIG QUESTION] WHAT’S YOUR FAVORITE FEMALE ENSEMBLE IN MOVIES? - July 22, 2016
- [IN THEATERS NOW] THE BOY (2016) - January 24, 2016
- Cult Movie Mania Releases Lucio Fulci Limited Edition VHS Sets - January 5, 2016
Tags: Ana de Armas, Columns, Daffy Duck, David Dastmalchian, Emeraude Taubia, Girls, Ian MacShane, Interview Magazine, Jon Abrams, Jose Zuniga, keanu reeves, Ketchup Entertainment, Lance Reddick, Leonardo DiCaprio, Looney Tunes, Lydia Loveless, music, Patterson Hood, Paul Ben-Victor, Paul Thomas Anderson, Porky Pig, Teyana Taylor, Thomas Pynchon, Todd Solondz, Werewolves, Wings Hauser
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