The Hype Train: "The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo"

David Fincher's "The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo" is my most anticipated film of the end of the year. I mean let's be honest here there are a lot of great films coming out in the Fall, a couple of highlights include "War Horse," and sequels to "Sherlock Holmes" and "Mission Impossible," but nothing compares to "Dragon Tattoo." Alright, I know what you're thinking, TPG,  you're just missing James Bond and wanna see D. Craig back in ass-kicking mode. Sure that's part of it, but the main reason here is the director called David Fincher.


Before he was getting robbed of the Oscar for "The Social Network," Fincher was making some pretty dark ass movies. "Seven," "Zodiac," and "Fight Club" all come to mind when thinking about his menacing work. Don't get me wrong, I love "Benjamin Button" but having Fincher back in the menacing zone is a good thing for everybody. Hell, D. Craig in a recent interview disclosed about what to expect from the director's vision of the popular Stieg Larson bestseller

And this is a $100 million R-rated movie. Nobody makes those anymore. And Fincher, he’s not holding back. They’ve given him free rein. He showed me some scenes recently, and my hand was over my mouth, going, Are you fucking serious?.

So wow, Daniel Craig has quite the mouth on him huh? But you get the vibe here right, anyone who has read the book knows that the original Swedish film held back a little bit when it came to the super intense torture, rape,violence etc.  To top it off, the cast is also on point. Daniel Craig is a beast, but the supporting cast including Robin Wright, Stellan Skarsgard,  Christopher Plummer, and Joel Kinnaman (who audiences will recognize from "The Killing") is on point as well.

 Fincher is gonna bring it like a director scorned and it's going to be dark, intense, and an incredible cinematic experience from one of the world's best storytellers.

Defiance: A Movie About Surviving

Man, way back in the day, I posted the trailer for "Defiance" and proclaimed that it was going to be fresher than ripe tomatoes. Well, I watched it yesterday and man, was I wrong, this is a movie that is only about survival. It's not about badass jews killing nazis. It's not about Daniel Craig being a badass and bringing the pain. And it's definitely not the epic film that Ed Zwick, the director of "Blood Diamond" and "The Last Samurai"(CLICK THAT LINK FOR NINJAS!! BADASS NINJAS) promised in the trailer. So if it is not all those things, then, simply put, what is it?

It's a movie about a whole bunch of people living in the woods for a long time. There's characters, but they're a little hard to figure out cause they switch up their accents more often than D. Craig switches jackets in the film which is a lot. If anything the movie got me psyched up for Liev Schrieber in "Wolverine" and Daniel Craig in "James Bond Kills Everything That Moves" or whatever crazy title the next bond film is.

Stay tuned for 24 tomorrow.

Clint Eastwood: The Badass Remains

"Gran Torino" opened at the top of box office this weekend with 29 million dollars. Considering that Clint is 78 years old, this display of box office power is astounding. But I don't think that many 78 year old folks are flocking to the movies these days. I think people wanted to see Gran Torino because they wanted to see one of the only American badasses do his thing on the silver screen.

The badass is a beast struggling for survival. Arnold turned to politics, Van Damme turned meta, Seagal went off the deep end, and Stallone exists in his own hyper violent world. Yet in thislalife, Eastwood alone remains the classic badass both in his roles on film and in real life.

I had the pleasure of meeting the guy while working in LA, and he only spoke four words to me ("what's up kid" & "Thanks kid). In real life and in the movies he's always taking names and meaning business. And one can deny that there are no real badass American actors to take his place*. Christian Bale, he's welsh. Daniel Craig, he's not American. Hugh Jackman, he's an Aussie. I guess all we have is Will Smith, but he's busy selling of his body parts.

So Clint, keep doing what you do.

*Keifer Sutherland is approaching badass status.

Sunday Trailers: Defiance

Here is the trailer for "Defiance", the new WWII flick from director Ed Zwick. Zwick has made some great action dramas in his time including "Glory" and "The Last Samurai." The film is about three brothers (Daniel Craig, Liev Schreiber, and Jamie Bell) who hide out in the woods and fight the Nazis. It should be noted that theme of badass jews killing nazis is hot in Hollywood right now. Quentin Tarantino's next film is "Inglorious Bastards" and it's the same thing, badass jews killing tons and tons of nazis. I'm into this new theme, nazis are the best villians of all time. "Defiance" will get the ball rolling, just wait.