FILM by Shane “Rip Van Winkle” Hnetka
I’m already hearing people say they’re getting sick of Star Wars: The Force Awakens, even though the movie hasn’t opened yet. Between the hype, the massive amount of marketing and merchandising and even, um, local newspapers doing special coverage, it’s a bit much.
Still, as a fan of the original trilogy (and a nerd) I’m looking forward to it. I just hope it doesn’t suck. Fingers crossed.
The Waiting Is The Hardest Part
In just-plain-strange news, John Malkovich and Robert Rodriguez shot a movie we won’t ever get to see. Written by Malkovich, 100 Years was made to promote Louis XIII Cognac, which won’t be ready to drink for one hundred years. The film — which apparently imagines different hypothetical futures — is sealed in a safe in Louis XIII’s house in Cognac, France. The safe’s timer is set to pop open on Nov. 18, 2115.
It’s a pretty weird marketing gimmick to make a movie that (almost?) no one alive today will ever get to see, to promote a cognac they’ll never get to drink. And will people care about John Malkovich, or even movies, a century from now?
I suppose I care about 100-year-old movies. Maybe the 22nd century’s version of Shane Hnetka will be excited by this. At least we have trailers for 100 Years here in ancient 2015. You can see them online.
Also the film has a great hashtag: #NotComingSoon
The Best Of The Best
We’re almost at the end of another year and everybody’s started putting out their best-of-2015 lists.
It’s a little surprising to see some of the year’s more commercial movies make the cut.
The National Board of Review, an independent U.S. organization comprised of critics, historians, teachers and other professionals, has picked Mad Max: Fury Road as the year’s best movie. Meanwhile, the British Film Institute’s Sight & Sound list (which compiled 168 critics’ votes from around the world) chose the Chinese kung fu epic The Assassin as best film (Mad Max: Fury Road came in third on the BFI list).
Metacritic has Spotlight ranked number one (with Fury Road on the list). And the Internet Movie Database? It’s got Inside Out on top, with Mad Max: Fury Road number two.
You may notice there’s one movie I’m not shutting up about. Yeah, I really, really liked Mad Max: Fury Road. Is it the best film of the year? I have quite a few movies left to watch before I can say that. But what the hell, sure, what other crazy, wild ride of a movie has hit the screens in 2015?
Plus, I still want my own “Last Of The V-8 Interceptors”.
Shane Hnetka is a Regina film and comic book nerd. He also writes Dog Blog’s weekly “Sunday Matinee” column at prairiedogmag.com.