Author: dpugh007

Awesome Mix Volume 1 did quite well for the Guardians of the Galaxy. Not only did it inspire the team on screen, it inspired tons of sales off screen, becoming the first soundtrack filled only with catalog songs to hit #1 on the Billboard charts. Volume 2 popped on quickly at the end of the film, too. But what is the Awesome Mix Volume 0? Director James Gunn revealed the playlist on his Facebook. It’s an eclectic mix of high-energy songs that were used in the Boot of Jemiah bar scenes on Nowhere to keep the extras hyped up.

Below, listen to all the songs from the Guardians of the Galaxy Awesome Mix Volume 0.

The Awesome Mix Volume 0 playlist came from James Gunn’s Facebook. Here is it.

1. Never Wanted to Dance – Mindless Self Indulgence
2. Party Hard – Andrew W.K.
3. The Way It Was – Aceyalone (feat Bionik)
4. I Like It, I Love It – Lyrics Born
5. Let’s Dance to Joy Division – The Wombats
6. Start Wearing Purple – Gogol Bordello
7. Ben Vereen – Pigeon John
8. Teenagers – My Chemical Romance
9. Black Fist – Juskwam and Lyrikill
10. Timebomb – The Old 97′s

And the explanation:

As many of you know, music is an extremely important part of Guardians of the Galaxy. I chose the songs on Awesome Mix ahead of time, and even included them in the script. Where possible, the songs were played live on set – when you see the gang walking down the hall to Cherry Bomb, they were actually walking down the hall to Cherry Bomb. Likewise, the score byTyler Bates was written largely before we started shooting, and we blared that sucker on set so the actors and cameras would all move in unison.

On lighter days, our master soundman Simon Hayes would also play music on set between takes to keep people’s energy up. He did this while shooting the credit sequence in the Temple of Morag, and he also did it for the Boot of Jemiah, so we could keep the extras hyped and alive and feeling like they were in a bar atmosphere. Being that these were night shoots, it helped to keep people awake as well! Simon took requests for the credit scene, but for the Boot of Jemiah he asked me to put together an AWESOME playlist of high energy party tunes. So I did, featuring some of my favorite tunes. My assistant Simon Hatt (50% of British people are named Simon) just found this list and sent it to me. So I thought I’d share it with you in case you wanted to make your own BOOT OF JEMIAH PLAYLIST – or, as known from now on, Awesome Mix Volume Zero.

Head to the next page to listen to all the songs on the Awesome Mix Volume 0

Listen to the Guardians of the Galaxy Awesome Mix Volume 0 >>

The post Listen: James Gunn Reveals ‘Awesome Mix Volume 0′ From ‘Guardians of the Galaxy’ appeared first on /Film.

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Update: NBC has released a full length Peter Pan Live trailer. Watch it now embedded after the jump.

NBC’s Sound of Music Live! was a bit of a disaster as an actual musical production. Lead Carrie Underwood couldn’t act to save her life, and as a result the whole thing kind of fell flat. But Sound of Music Live! was an unambiguous success in terms of ratings, with 18.62 million viewers tuning in.

So NBC is trying the live musical thing again this winter with Peter Pan Live!, starring Allison Williams as the boy who never grew up and Christopher Walken as his embittered pirate nemesis. Watch the Peter Pan Live trailer after the jump.

Update: Here is the new full Peter Pan Live trailer:

19

NBC unveiled the new Peter Pan Live trailer.

While we’ve seen pics of Williams and Walken in costume before, the new Peter Pan Live! promo offers a better taste of what they’ll look like in action. Walken looks much more like himself than he did on the poster, and he definitely brings his own spin to the character. As exec producer Neil Meron commented in a behind-the-scenes video, “The Christopher Walken way of playing Hook is the Christopher Walken way of playing Hook.”

As for Williams, she looks like she’s having a grand old time in what she’s called “the absolute dream job.” And that’s not just idle chatter. When she won the gig, her father Brian Williams got to make the announcement on his program, NBC Nightly News. “Family members confirm she’s been rehearsing for this role since the age of three, and they look forward to seeing her fly,” he said.

Brian Williams’ report is worth seeing if only for the adorable photo of a 3-year-old Allison in full Pan regalia. It starts around 0:25 below:

Peter Pan Live! airs Thursday, December 4 at 8/7c. Also starring are Minnie Driver as the adult Wendy Darling, Christian Borle as Mr. Smee and Mr. Darling, Kelli O’Hara as Mrs. Darling, Taylor Louderman as the young Wendy, and Alanna Saunders as Tiger Lily.

The post NBC Releases Full ‘Peter Pan Live!’ Trailer: Watch Captain Hook Sing appeared first on /Film.

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2014 has been an amazing year for movies, but it’s easy to be overwhelmed by the number of films being released. With VOD and digital viewing options starting to gain ground on traditional theatrical distribution, there’s more to watch than ever before. When compiling the list, Peter, Angie, Germain and I easily came up with a raw list of about 100 movies, and that’s while feeling there’s still a lot we have to see.

The great news is that many of these films are excellent. The bad news is that the biggest films can drown out everything else. Most movies don’t have a Marvel Studios ad budget; many come and go in a matter of weeks. Sure, they end up on disc, VOD and Netflix soon, but there they join thousands of other options. So here’s a list of 50 great films you should see in 2014, drawn from the independent circuit and from foreign releases with independent US release.

Twenty Essentials

Let’s start off twenty essentials — these are films that are exemplary in some way. Some cross boundaries between typical audiences and genres; others provide a unique look at a subject we’d previously assumed was all but exhausted. Some give us something we’ve simply never seen before. These films aren’t ranked, but the films on this page are (as far as I’m concerned) among the best of 2014.

Other films could easily be represented here, but some are essentially “tentpole indies” such as Grand Budapest Hotel and Birdman — films that you probably already know about, with budgets that dwarf most of the other films on this list, and a marketing push to match. And there are a few that I’d love to feature, but which have release dates far into 2015, or no release date at all, such as The Look of Silence and Kumiko the Treasure Hunter. Then there’s Godard’s Goodbye to Language 3D, which has a very limited US run.

***

20000 Days on Earth (Iain Forsyth and Jane Pollard, Drafthouse Films)

Not merely a look back at the career of singer/songwriter/band leader Nick Cave, but an look into the process of creativity and the ways in which we make sense of the important events in our lives.

***

The Babadook (Jennifer Kent, IFC Midnight)

A horror film that is almost more of a family drama than a hardcore horror picture — it’s as much driven by the spirit of Polanski as it is by the supernatural — but that’s why The Babadook is so effective. It puts character over concept, and finds a way to create visceral spectacle out of fears and problems that are common to us all.

***

Jodorowksy’s Dune (Frank Pavich, Sony Pictures Classics)

Pure ambition and the moviemaking process are both torn open and examined in this strangely thrilling documentary. Jodorowsky’s Dune revels in those ideas that are grand enough to band together talented people in a quest to bring a concept to life — even if that concept is almost certainly crazy, and far out of reach.

***

Nightcrawler (Dan Gilroy, Open Road)

A character nightmare that follows the unbounded ambitions of a man who, conveniently, is bound by few moral qualms. Not a media satire but a modern horror movie about the drive to succeed, and the warping effect it can have on the world.

***

Only Lovers Left Alive (Jim Jarmusch, Sony Pictures Classics)

A lovingly textured and wryly funny vision of the process by which some outsiders find their place in the world — our on the fringes of what constitutes “the world” for most of us. Forget the fact that these characters are vampires and embrace the look into a world where most of us don’t belong.

***

Under the Skin (Jonathan Glazer, A24)

The year’s most unusual science-fiction film isn’t afraid to take chances in its pursuit of a singular vision of the interaction between species — or is it between the sexes? Bold and almost experimental at times, Under the Skin is like a smaller realization of the same impulses explored in Jodorowsky’s Dune.

***

We Are the Best! (Lukas Moodysson, Magnolia)

Most of the so-called great teen movies don’t understand kids like this one does. Outsiders make their own music and find their voices in this vibrant and raucously funny story of three young teen girls who form their own punk band.

***

The Tale of the Princess Kaguya (Isao Takahata, GKids)

Grave of the Fireflies director expands an old Japanese folk tale into a truly epic family story in which a father’s ambitions for his daughter’s future are very much at odds with her own nature. Breathtakingly visualized and intuitively emotional, this is one a singular effort from Studio Ghibli.

***

Whiplash (Damien Chazelle, Sony Pictures Classics)

It’s been a year of great performances, and we’ve seen many films in which actors have notable opportunities to bounce off one another. But the sparks that fly between J.K. Simmons and Miles Teller, as a music teacher and an ambitious young drummer, are unlike anything else we’ve seen this year. The two are mesmerizing on screen together.

***

Ida (Pawel Pawlikowski, Music Box Films)

There’s a particular quality to the performances and black and white photography in this road movie that make it feel like an artifact that has been unearthed from the ’60s. The story of an intimate nun who has to face the secrets of her family’s past before she moves on to the next step in her own life is unusally beautiful and effective.

***

After the break, read the remaining list of ten essential indie and foreign films from 2014.

Continue Reading 50 Indie and Foreign Films You Should See in 2014 >>

The post 50 Great Films You Should See From 2014 appeared first on /Film.

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Thought the Guardians of the Galaxy were an odd bunch? Chris Pratt‘s next comic book adaptation could be even weirder. He’s reportedly attached to lead Universal’s Cowboy Ninja Viking, about an assassin whose multiple personality disorder gives him the attributes of three warrior archetypes: the cowboy, the ninja, and the viking.

Hit the jump for more on the possible Chris Pratt Cowboy Ninja Viking casting.

Collider reports Pratt would be playing Duncan, the protagonist of Cowboy Viking Ninja. Duncan is part of an experimental government program that transforms multiple personality disorder patients into “triplets” — lethal operatives with three distinct personas, each with his or her own set of skills. He eventually escapes and tries to track down the billionaire behind the program.

According to Collider, the latest draft of the script has the Cowboy, the Ninja, and the Viking played by three different people, though all of them look like Duncan (that is, Pratt) to onlookers. But that’s the kind of detail that could still change as the film continues to develop.

Cowboy Ninja Viking has been in the works for a few years already. The first issue of A.J. Lieberman and Riley Rossmo‘s comic was published in 2009, and Zombieland scribes Paul Wernick and Rhett Reese began working on the screenplay adaptation in 2010. Originally the project was set up at Disney, but the studio eventually deemed it too edgy so Universal scooped it up. Marc Forster was set to direct in 2012 but has since dropped out.

As of now, Cowboy Ninja Viking has no director. But getting a big star like Pratt on board is definitely a big step forward, and he does seem like the perfect fit for the job. He has the right kind of charisma to sell this bizarre premise, and he can move between comedy, drama, and action without missing a beat. Really, the very phrase “Cowboy Ninja Viking” sounds like Andy Dwyer’s dream job. Or maybe even Star-Lord’s.

Pratt had a huge 2014 thanks to the one-two punch of The Lego Movie and Guardians of the Galaxy, and is only slated to get bigger next year with Jurassic World. Additionally, he’ll reprise his role as Andy Dwyer for one last season of NBC’s Parks and Recreation, which premieres off early next year. But since Jurassic World is already done shooting and Parks and Recreation only has a few episodes left to film, Pratt’s schedule is actually pretty open right now.

The post Chris Pratt Could Be a ‘Cowboy Ninja Viking’ appeared first on /Film.

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What a long, strange trip it’s been for Batman on the big screen. There was the 1966 movie based on the TV show. Tim Burton’s 1989 hit, which lead us to the wild Joel Schumacher films. Christopher Nolan then took over and turned it into Oscar-bait and in a few years, not only will Batman fight Superman and join the Justice League, he’ll be the star of his own Lego movie.

That’s a whole lot of material to work with for writer Seth Grahame-Smith and director Chris McKay, who are making the Lego Batman Movie spinoff set for release in 2017. According to producers Chris Miller and Phil Lord, they will acknowledge it all. Read the quote below.

The Lego Batman movie info came from an interview with Empire Magazine. You can listen to the full thing in the below embed, but the Lego Batman movie quote is pulled below it.

Chris Miller said the following:

Rest assured that every era of Batman filmmaking will be acknowledged. There have been so many interpretations of Batman and there is so much to play with there. There are 40 versions of his origin story alone.

Does that mean the filmmakers have been in touch with Zack Snyder and his team to incorporate Batman v Superman since this movie will be out a year later? There’s no confirmation but “every era” will include that film by that point, so you can make an educated guess.

So how will the film work these things in, while still keeping Will Arnett the star? Well, Adam West, Michael Keaton, Val Kilmer, George Clooney, Christian Bale and Ben Affleck are all still around. Maybe they’ll voice characters in the movie? Or maybe it’ll be more meta than that, with Lego Batman encountering the other Batmen and realizing he’s not as unique as he thought. The possibilities are endless and very fun to think about.

Do you like this idea of the Lego Batman movie acknowledging the other Batmen?

The post ‘Lego Batman’ Movie Will Acknowledge “Every Era of Batman Filmmaking” appeared first on /Film.

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A director swap, a 18 month delay, what exactly when went down behind the scenes of Pixar’s The Good Dinosaur. In an alternate world, we’d have already seen the movie by now, as it was originally scheduled for release Summer 2014. However, story problems forced the film to get delayed a year and a half, change directors, and change a lot of what was happening in the movie.

In a revealing story in the Los Angeles Times, new director Peter Sohn explains why the film was delayed and what he’s done to change it for the better. Read about the Good Dinosaur delay, changes, and see a new image, below.

First up, here’s the new Good Dinosaur image from the Los Angeles Times.

As for the changes, the article states that original director Bob Peterson was “was creatively stuck on the film and was proving too slow to make important story decisions.” He was relived of his duties, but still works at the company, contributing to both Inside Out and Finding Dory.

Enter Sohn, who kept the core of the film the same, but tweaked a few things. The Good Dinosaur is still about a world where an astroid didn’t hit the Earth so the dinosaurs are still living and have remained the dominant species on the planet, even above humans. A young dinosaur named Arlo then befriends a young boy, Spot, who becomes his pet.

That’s all the same. What’s different is Sohn dropped “some of Peterson’s signature ideas, such as modeling the dinosaurs on Amish farmers” and made nature the main antagonist of the film. Here’s Sohn:

When Bob was taken off, I was supporting the film as best I could. t felt like, this child, this film still needs to be raised. It was just about how to take care of the thing at that time. … Trying to keep the original vision of this film intact and trying to plus it as well.

Jim Morris, the general manager of Pixar, said that under Petersen, the movie would have been fine. But “fine” isn’t enough for Pixar, especially since, under Sohn, it can be “great.”

When Disney presented The Good Dinosaur at the D23 Expo in 2013, much was made about all the dinosaurs being farmers. It seemed like a pretty major part of the film and to remove it is very indicative as how much has evolved since then.

As it stands, The Good Dinosaur is scheduled for release November 25, 2015.

The post How Pixar’s ‘The Good Dinosaur’ Has Been Changed; See a New Image appeared first on /Film.

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