One more bit of casting news for The Hobbit has just popped online – Sylvester McCoy, who’s been rumored for quite some time to play the role of Radagast the Brown (but which I didn’t take too seriously, since I didn’t remember Radagast having more than a side notion on the novel). Radagast is one of the Istari, the wizards that were sent to Middle-Earth to set things right – or at least to make sure they don’t go too wrong – but some of them went astray (like Saruman for example), some decided to fight the evil (like Gandalf) and some became wandering old coots more interested in the world around them than the actual big picture they were supposed to look over.
At the same time, the makers of The Hobbit are trying to fight to keep The Hobbit in New Zealand, and are mustering a rally for shooting The Hobbit in New Zealand on Labor’s Day on Monday, 25th of October. Here’s a trailer:
For the first time since I saw the original Toy Story (1995), my faith on Pixar’s excellency is wavering. In a way, it’s not really fair, given they’ve done only awesome films without any exceptions, but still, looking at the new teaser for Cars 2, I can’t but say I’m not completely convinced. Cars hasn’t been the best Pixar film, and I know to many it’s even considered as a bad film, but I have to disagree on that. I’ve been watching Cars over and over again with my kid since it was out, and I know it inside out – and I think it’s a fine film. It may not be as unique as most of them, but still – it’s a good basic small story with a lot of character, a good story structure and all that stuff.
But let’s see. Cars 2 seems to be some kind of an … agent film? What? Have I missed something somewhere? I mean I know the franchise quite well, having been exposed to it quite much as a dad of a 5-year-old, but I never knew about this angle. The only real explanation to it that this is one of Mater’s (Larry the Cable Guy) fantasies they’ve been pushing out as Mater’s Tall Tales, but I don’t know. It doesn’t feel like it.
So, I’m concerned. But, nevertheless, here’s the new teaser, and a bunch of concept art. We’ll see, it’s coming out in the summer of 2011.
A bit of Zombie news, for a change. I happened to buy the copy of Pride and Prejudice and Zombies by Seth Grahame-Smith quite randomly from Brisbane, and haven’t read a page of it. More than a book I want to read, it’s a book I want to own. But nevertheless, a film of it is coming up, yet it’s still quite ambiguous what kind of a film – directed by who and starred by who – it’s going to be. But more than a film I want to see, it’s a film that I’m happy to see get made. It might be directed by David Slade, or Mike Newell, or Neil Marshall, or … well, it basically could be anybody who’s done some sort of a genre hit lately. Yet I’d be happiest to see it being directed by Finland’s own AJ Annila. That would bring an interesting angle to the film indeed.
In other news, there’s been obviously a lot of talk about The Walking Dead TV-series lately, and as far as I can gather, it’s premiering on Halloween somewhere in the states, and exactly 30 seconds after it’s out, also on Pirate Bay. Latest bit of goodies are the new behind the scenes shots from the makeup studio of The Walking Dead, available here. Oh, and here’s the trailer for the series, check it out.
I don’t usually talk too much about the projects that I’m involved with, but I thought Reindeerspotting- Escape from Santaland is just too special not to talk about. I have been working on the film as a production manager and if you know the subject matter, you will also know that it wasn’t the easiest project to do. Now that the movie is finished I feel great, the material feels unique and the message important. I have to say that I feel honored to be apart of this movie.
Reindeerspotting is a documentary film of a group of young guys living in Rovaniemi, Arctic Circle, dabbling in petty crime and hard drugs. One of them, Jani, has lost five years of his life and two fingers to his debotators. He wants to leave Lapland and his old life behind. Robbing a supermarket is a start for his getaway. A few years back a documentarist, Joonas Neuvonen, was a young man living on social welfare and using drugs on daily basis. He started to film his friends and their life.
Reindeerspotting is the first documentary I have ever been involved with, it is also done very untraditionally. Where as usually you come up with and idea, you get a production company to finance that idea and then you make that idea come to live. In Reindeerspotting there was no idea and no plans. The director/cinematographer Joonas Neuvonen just started shooting his friends more or less randomly with no plans what so ever what to do with the material. The bags full of numerous MiniDV tapes found their way to our offices long after they were shot.
The material was so unnerving and disturbing that there was just no way we could have passed the opportunity to give people a glimpse of the dark reality of drug addicts. Reindeerspotting got the highest possible rating and is prohibited from under 18 year olds. Keep in mind that this doesn’t happen in Finland every day. And actually Reindeerspotting might even be the only documentary that has ever gotten a rating that high.
The film had it’s first screening and is competing in Tampere Film Festival on thursday and the official Finnish premiere is April 9th 2010. Check out the brand new trailer for the movie below. Unfortunately there are no english subs, but I think the images speak quite loudly anyway.
Hello everyone! Night Visions Maximum Halloween 3009 starts today and it’s time for our first official diary entry from the festival! Let’s have a look at what movies to see and what events to attend during the rest of the week. The Zombies will be attending the festival every day (28.10-1.11) and we will be reporting from the scene in a form of a daily blog. So let’s get started.
The opening night of the festival is very cool. First up is the screening of our favorite Nazi-zombie movie, Dead Snow. Some of you might also know that we have been busy organizing a Dead Snow Zombie Walk to take place just before the screening in which the zombies will drag themselves across town to see the movie. Also as a special treat, Dead Snow screenwriter/actor Stig Frode Henriksen will be attending the screening and he will also be the judge of the zombie costume competition. Keep in mind that there is also another screening of the movie on saturday 31st and Henriksen will attend that one too (but there will be no zombies).
There are still a few tickets left, buy them here.
And here is the trailer.
Right after Dead Snow we will be hurrying to another movie, the Finnsploitation gangster flick, Yön Saalistajat. Actor Matti Mäntylä, who plays “Reuna” in the movie, will be attending the screening. After the movie the Zombies will be going to the anniversary/opening party at Maxim.
Get your tickets to the classic Yön Saalistajat here.
If you are not convinced yet, just check out the trailer.
Definitely one of the coolest events at Night Visions is THE CRISPIN GLOVER EXPERIENCE! The eccentric American actor and filmmaker has been an idol of mine for a long time and I can’t wait to see his “one man live-performance”. The Crispin Glover Experience contains a screening of his film It Is Fine. Everything Is Fine! (2007), Glover’s Big Slide Show, Q & A and a book signing.
You can only buy tickets to this event from Finnkino theaters (not from the website for some reason), so go get yours. This is one show you don’t wanna miss!
Also join us after the show for the official Night Visions after party at Piano 23:00 (Rauhankatu 15). You never know who will show up
I would also like to mention two very interesting films that you can see at the festival. Richard “Donnie Darko” Kelly’sThe Box and John Hillcoat’s post-apocalyptic tale The Road. I have been dying to see The Road for a while now and at one point it was unclear if they would ever get the movie finished. But they did and on Saturday I can see if it will live up to my (very high) expectation. Both of these movies are being distributed in Finland theatrically, so if you miss them on saturday, you can still see them later. This rule doesn’t apply to most off the movies, so Night Visions could be your only change.
A complete list of movies, schedules and more info can be found from the official site.
Allright, stay tuned because tomorrow we will be posting photos from the Zombie Walk and the anniversary screening of Yön Saalistajat.
Night Visions Film Festival is less than a week away and we have good news for all you Yön Saalistajat fans. On the opening night Wednesday 28th of October actor Matti Mäntylä will be coming to the 25th anniversary screening of Yön Saalistajat. Other confirmed guests at the festival are Crispin Glover And Stig Frode Henriksen. Matti Mäntylä will visit Helsinki 28.-29.10.2009.
In Yön Saalistajat Mäntylä plays a ganster called “Reuna”, who is one of the most legendary tough guy characters in Finnish cinema history. Matti Mäntylä (born 1945) is a professional actor, and he has performed in several Finnish theaters (e.g. in Pori, Jyväskylä, Kotka, Helsinki, Finland), films and TV series. Mäntylä graduated as an actor from the University of Tampere. Mäntylä has also appeared in Visa Mäkinen’s films such as Agentti 000 ja kuoleman kurvit (1983) and Pirtua, pirtua (1992). More recently, he has appeared in many Timo Koivusalo’s movies such as Kaksipäisen kotkan varjossa (2005) and Sibelius (2003), and he has also appeared twice in the role of Toivo Kärki in Kulkuri ja joutsen (1999) and in Rentun ruusu (2001).
In Yön Saalistajat a small gang of criminals is planning to commit a gold heist not knowing that the new member of their gang is actually a police detective. But when his true identity is revealed to the gang they act like they wouldn’t know about it and decide to use the detective to accomplish their plans about the heist.
The winter is coming. Here in Finland it means crappy weather all the way up to December-January, when the snow comes up, and then it’s just effin’ cold. We mainly try to stay in and spend our time not thinking of the ever-existent darkness and cold outside. Not surprisingly, the suicide rate of Finland goes up during the winter (don’t know how they managed to tuck the word “WIN” in that word), and I have to admit that somewhere during Jan-Feb you stop thinking if the depressing era ever passes – and for the next 2 months, it just doesn’t. Where’s the damn climate change when we actually need it…
Luckily, we have games. This sunday, Zombie Room is happy to present you with two games of completey different scale: Plants vs. Zombies and Left 4 Dead 2.
Plants vs. Zombies is one highy addictive tower-defence -type game where you play a happy homeowner who’s lawn is being attacked by zombies. Instead of going for the blood and the gore, you defend your house by planting pea-shooter -plants that nail the slowly crawling zombie hordes. To get the plants growing faster, you need sunlight – thus, you pick the suns falling from the sky, and plant sunflowers (of course) that provide even more of sunlight. Yes, it’s addictive, small, nice game that’s just taking way too much of my time nowadays…
The game ain’t free, but you can get a free shareware versions of it here.
On the other end of the spectrum, there’s the film-like Left 4 Dead, a co-op zombie smashin’ PC/X360 -adventure that really looks great – and there’s a new episode coming up. The teaser was just “leaked” to the Internet few days ago, and I gotta say it really looks good!
The idea for this blog came to my head when I was reading an article in Geek Tyrant demanding James Huth’sLucky Luke to be distributed theatrically in the United States. I also realized that Twitch, CHUD, and Cinematical were also supporting the same cause. I decided to join these guys and also demand Lucky Luke to America. But I won’t stop there; I also DEMAND it to Finland (where I live)! On top of this I would like to ask everyone who wants to see this film, to take a stand and demand it to your country, where ever you might live. You can do this by writing about it in your blog or by sharing the blog articles mentioned above. But what if there was another way to do it, an easier and more effective way?
This seemed like the perfect opportunity to talk about the DEMAND phenomenon. I have been following Paranormal Activity’s marketing campaign very closely and I’m really impressed on just how fresh and effective it has been. The marketing team has really taken advantage of the internet and asked people to take a stand and make themselves heard. This is something we here in Zombie Room believe in very strongly.
Here’s what they did. You go to the official site and the page looks like this.
In the right upper corner you can see this little button that says “Demand it!”.
You press that button and the site re-directs you to a site where you can DEMAND the movie to your city. I of course demanded to see the movie in Helsinki, but you can easily change the country and city to your liking (you can also see the number of people who are demanding to see the movie and where). Like so.
Also it is very clear that it works! People have been demanding and their demands are being heard!
After this you get a confirmation e-mail where you can easily share this information to your friends by using Facebook, Twitter etc.
It’s easy and effective! Now, what if you could do this with Lucky Luke? Or with every movie for that matter! There are a number of movies I would love to see in a theatre screen in Finland, Lucky Luke is just one of them. The great thing about this service is that one demand equals one to-be-bought movie ticket. The service gives power to the actual audience to make a difference, to give them what they want! Lucky Luke has gotten a lot of attention in the internet lately, and why not, it looks amazing! If the movie would have this service, I’m sure the demand-rate would be very high all over the world.
Here’s the trailer (thank you Twitch for sharing it).
If you liked what you saw, make yourself heard and DEMAND it!!!
Püha Tõnu kiusamine (The Temptation of St. Tony) is an Estonian/Swedish/Finnish co-production directed by Veiko Õunpuu. The Estonian production company is Homeless Bob Production. The Swedish company is ATMO, that also produced Metropia (you can read my review of the movie here). And last but not least the Finnish production company is Bronson Club, where I work, and I was the production manager of the film in Finland. The Estonian premiere was on saturday and I travelled to Tallinn to see the film.
Here’s the trailer:
The Temptation of St. Tony is a film about a man who reached middle age, and finds himself in exactly the kind of darkening forest that Dante describes. An unusual problem intrudes upon his moderately prosperous and quiet life – morality. Is it possible to be a “good person”? What does that mean anyway? And what’s in it for you? On his journey towards a cleaner conscience but an increasingly complicated reality, Tony meets several typical specimens familiar from contemporary Estonian society and lives trough exciting adventures, not without diverting humor. And it starts to to seem that slowly, and quite inevitably, the man loses his job, his family, and finally reality, itself.
Taavi Eelmaa is Tõnu
The Temptation of St. Tony is more than a movie, it is a piece of abstract art and Veiko Õunpuu is the artist. It feels almost impossible to place this movie into a certain genre, it’s more of a combination of drama, art house and even thriller. Luis Buñuel was thanked in the end credits and I imagine that he has been a big influence in the directors life and especially in the making of St. Tony.
I went to Tallinn for the premiere and here are some pictures from the premiere and after party
And for more info about the movie you can visit the official site here.
I’m extremely proud of being a part of this production and I want to thank all the people involved in the making of this movie. And a special thanks to producer Katrin Kissa, whom without this movie wouldn’t exist.
I remember when I first came to contact with Metropia. It was trough our favorite movie site Twitch and I instantly fell in love with the cool visual style of the movie. Since then I have been eagerly anticipating to see it. Finally at Love & Anarchy film festival the Zombies got to see it.
First check out the trailers below.
Metropia takes place in a not-so-distant future. The world is running out of oil and the undergrounds have been connected into a gigantic subway network beneath Europe. Whenever Roger (Vincent Gallo) from Stockholm enters this system he hears a stranger’s voice in his head. He looks to the mysterious Nina (Juliette Lewis) to help him escape the disturbing web of the Metro, but the farther they travel, the deeper he’s involved in a dark conspiracy.
Director Tarik Saleh’s Metropia deals with themes of monitoring, surveillance and control. It’s a grim world where a popular shampoo can transforms your hair into little antennas so your thoughts can be heard and your mind can be manipulated to consume or worse.
Metropia’s true magic lies in it’s amazing and unique visual style. The weirdly realistic animation is a mixture of still photographs and 2D Animation, the kind I don’t ever recall seeing before. The photographs were edited in Photoshop, and animated in Adobe After Effects. Apparently ordinary people spotted on the streets were used as models for the characters. Director Tarik Saleh has a background both in animation and graphic design, which would explain his ability to create such a beautiful and absurd world as in Metropia.
An example of Metropia's beautiful color palette
Metropia also has quite the impressive voice cast. Vincent Gallo plays Roger, who accepted his part as the lead voice actor after having seen 30 seconds of finished animation as well as hearing that German actor Udo Kier, of whom Gallo was a fan, already was attached to the project. Juliette Lewis is the voice of the mysterious Nina and the voice in Roger’s head, Stefan, is portrayed by Alexander Skarsgård. Also Stellan Skarsgård gives his voice to Ralph.
The Skarsgårds
CONCLUSION
Metropia is a one of a kind animation. It is not without flaws, but it is still one of most original and captivating movies of 2009. I can’t wait to see what director Tarik Saleh will do next.
Ps. Once again I have no news on when this movie will be distributed in Finland, but when I do I will let you know. In the mean time you can check out more info from the official site.
One more bit of casting news for The Hobbit has just popped online – Sylvester McCoy, who’s been rumored for quite some time to play the role of Radagast the Brown (but which I didn’t take too seriously, since I didn’t remember Radagast having more than a side notion on the novel). Radagast is one of the Istari, the wizards that were sent to Middle-Earth to set things right – or at least to make sure they don’t go too wrong – but some of them went astray (like Saruman for example), some decided to fight the evil (like Gandalf) and some became wandering old coots more interested in the world around them than the actual big picture they were supposed to look over.
