Report: Eminem to return to movies with, gulp, 'Shady Talez'
See update below.
Eminem is set to return to the big screen for the first time since 2002's "8 Mile" with "Shady Talez," according to various reports.
The film is planned to be a 3D horror anthology, Slashfilm reports, with Em taking on multiple roles.
The horror genre isn't much of a stretch for Eminem -- "3 a.m.," anyone? -- and Em wouldn't be the first rapper to star in a horror anthology (let us not forget "Snoop Dogg's Hood of Horror," from 2006). Let's just hope between now and the release date, the title gets reworked (or at least the "Z" gets dropped).
The film is in the very early stages of development and no director is attached, though we'd be surprised if Curtis Hanson took the helm on this one.
In other Eminem news (non-news?), there's still no word on if "Relapse 2" will see the light of day before the end of the year.
Photo from allhiphop.com.
UPDATE: Hearing this totally isn't true and the story is completely premature. Except the "Relapse 2" part, which, it's true, there's still no date for.
How to open a bottle of wine without a corkscrew
Hint: It involves a shoe, a concrete wall, and several vageuly drunken (or just European) Europeans.
Movie titles as lines of dialogue within the movie: A celebration
Sly, stellar work by Videogum on this video which exposes the ham-handedness of movies whose titles appear as lines of dialogue within the movie.
Let's hope Jake Gyllenhaal mentions he's the Prince of Persia at least once in his upcoming movie (what's the title of it, again?).
V: Let's hope the special effects have improved
So, a rather impressive 14 million viewers tuned in to watch the kickoff of the new-and-improved "V" Tuesday night, making it the second highest debut of the new TV season (behind that show with LL Cool J and Chris O'Donnell, a pairing which I can barely remember living without).
Viewers got to see a lot during the show -- including the hovering alien ships, which are outfitted with gigantic hi-def TVs on the bottom! Can you imagine watching the new LL Cool J/ Chris O'Donnell series on those things? -- but what we didn't get to see is the aliens EATING RATS. Because that's what the aliens do, they EAT RATS. They're RAT-EATING ALIENS!
Or maybe they're not? Since we didn't get to see them dine during the premiere, we don't know what kind of meal plan they're on these days (maybe they eat Cinnamon Toast Crunch, who knows?). But let's just hope if they do indeed snack on rats, the show's FX team makes use of the vast improvements in technology since the original "V" hit the air in the Regan years. Witness:
Also, if they go with some sort of robotic overlord voice like in the above clip, let's hope they hire T-Pain (or at least get someone to use the T-Pain iPhone app).
Clip via Vulture.
Prince of Persia trailer: CG sand, vague sexual tension, etc.
When this country was founded, if you would have told our nation's forefathers that in the year 2010 a movie would come out that contained the dialogue, "Only the dagger can unlock the sands of time, and there are those who would use this power to destroy the world," they probably would have punched you in the face with the Constitution.
But here we are, and here's "Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time," with Jake Gyllenhaal in full-on action hero mode, carrying on like the Persian Jack Sparrow. Based on the popular video game franchise, this looks like an effects-driven cacophony of passable CGI, convoluted storytelling, and non-descript sexual tension between the leads. Oh yeah, and shirtlessness.
Thanks for nothing, forefathers.
The Weezer Snuggie: Finally, a Snuggie with Raditude
Had I not just ordered two -- two! -- Detroit News-branded Snuggies (I've gotta rep my squad, yo), well, I would still probably not order this Weezer Snuggie. But I would contemplate it, and possibly even log onto Weezer's Web site while strongly considering ordering one. I still probably wouldn't pull the trigger, though, and I'd probably regret it later. That's just the way these things go.
Anyway, at first I thought the Internet afficianados had somehow reassembled the cast from the original Snuggie informercial to appear in this video, but a second viewing reveals digital trickery is at play. Drats! And here I thought the old guy in the burgundy Snuggie was a "Pinkerton" fan.
Rihanna's "Wait Your Turn" video debuts
You know how music videos always have teaser trailers before they debut these days? Which is hilarious, because there's really not that much footage in music videos to begin with, so it's hard not to give away the whole thing in a trailer. Still, you know how that exists? Well, Rihanna's new video for "Wait Your Turn" feels more like a trailer for a music video than an actual music video.
Here we get Rihanna saying "The Wait is Ova" -- ova and ova -- with grainy black and white footage of her walking around an urban setting, sometimes while wearing an eye patch and sometimes while in a church. That's about it. What to take away from it, you ask? Only this: Rihanna looks really cool in black and white.
Mariah Carey keeps it classy
Mariah Carey appeared on "The Jay Leno Show" on Monday to promote her role in "Precious," and made headlines when she nearly stumbled on her way to the set.
That wouldn't have been her only spill of the night: During the whole interview, it looked like she was going to fall out of her dress at any moment.
The appearance hit its most bizarre point when Mimi got up to demonstrate how she puts on her perfume, and nearly exposed herself to Jay in the process. Leno's face during this segment is priceless, and he even follows it up with a funny:
More moments like these, and people might actually watch Leno! "Precious" is due to open in Metro Detroit Nov. 20.
Review: Lil Wayne, 'No Ceilings'
Right around the time everyone agreed that Lil Wayne was the best rapper alive, Lil Wayne ceased being the best rapper alive. After capping an incredible 2-year run of mixtapes and cameos with the release of last June's "Tha Carter III," Wayne's output didn't slow down, but his quality control bottomed out. The low point came with last year's aimless, guest-cluttered "Dedication 3" mixtape, and the leaked material from his endlessly delayed, alt-rock leaning "Rebirth" album sounded like he had lost his way. It's as if attaining the success he craved for so long suffocated his creativity, but he gets his mojo back in a big way with "No Ceilings," which is packed with the intoxicating flows, bizarro imagery and blatant beat-jacking that made Wayne hip-hop's golden child in the first place. Maybe it's the threat of jail hanging over his head -- "prison in February, and I ain't in no rush," he raps on "Oh Let's Do It" -- but Wayne has rediscovered the unadulterated joy of being Lil Wayne, and is bound by nothing but his own creativity. On "No Ceilings" he spins free association rhymes about topics from Jalen Rose to Adam Sandler's character in "The Waterboy," with stops at vegetable zucchini, grandma's cookies and everywhere in-between. "Mickey Mouse cheese, hip hop, Walt Disney," he raps during "Watch My Shoes," part of a breathless flow that feels like an unfiltered tour of his thoughts. That's how the whole mixtape feels, really, and the no-pressure nature of the release lets him really cut loose, while cannibalizing beats from Jay-Z ("Run This Town"), Black Eyed Peas ("I Gotta Feeling" becomes "I Got No Ceilings"), Kid Cudi ("Make Her Say") and more. His long-gestating album of the same name aside, "No Ceilings" feels like a rebirth, as once again Wayne's punchlines have zing and his ad libs have punch. No ceilings, no limits.
GRADE: A-
"No Ceilings" is available as a free download from weareyoungmoney.com.
OK, let's talk about this Chris Brown album cover
Chris Brown has a new album coming out in December, which for a multitude of reasons is probably not a good idea.
Today, he posted the album art on his Twitter, and a bad idea just managed to get worse. Go ahead, take a minute to soak it in:
Excuse me if I sound like Mr. Belding for a minute, but hey hey hey hey, what is going ON here?
For starters, why is he wearing Rihanna's clothes? And what's with the robotic hand -- we've already been there with Beyonce and Adam Lambert, haven't we? And the guitar slung over the shoulder like he's the Bear Jew of R&B: Should Chris Brown be holding anything that can even be vaguely interpreted as a weapon? He also appears to be in outer space, which I'm pretty sure is a violation of his probation, and it's unclear why a guy with a felony assault rap against him is acting like graffiti is dangerous. He also looks more like Bow Wow than he does Chris Brown. With all that, it's almost not even worth bringing up the heroin fiend cartoon characters he's hanging out with down there in the lower right hand corner. Are those the voices in his head? And does he silence them with spraypaint?
All of a sudden, this is starting to look good. "Graffiti" is due out Dec. 15.
