The Jim Henson Company has picked up a script for The Happytown Murders, a “comedic film noir murder mystery” to be directed by Brian Henson.  File this under “Things that give me a nerd boner.”

Written by Todd Berger from a story by Dee Austin Robertson and Berger, the story takes place in a world where humans and puppets co-exist, with the puppets viewed as second-class citizens. When the puppet cast of an ’80s children’s TV show called “The Happytime Gang” begins to get murdered one by one, a disgraced LAPD detective-turned-private eye puppet — with a drinking problem, no less — takes on the case. [THR - Thanks, Michelle]

I don’t know why puppets aren’t used more.  Seriously, try to think of a situation in which former child actors are preferable to puppets.  Can’t do it, can you?  In these tough economic times, puppets are just what the studios need.  They cost a fraction of the money and you don’t have to worry about them making lame political PSAs.

Writer/director Mabrouk El Mechri’s JCVD premiered to rave reviews at the Cannes Film Festival (you know it’s good when the none of the quotes in the trailer are from Pete Hammond, Ben Lyons, or AICN). It finally roundhouse kicks American theaters in the face Novermber 7th.  If you haven’t heard anything about it, JCVD is what happens when a guy imagines what Jean Claude Van Damme’s life must be like, writes a movie about it, and then gets the actual Jean Claude Van Damme to star in it.  In short, pure brilliance.  It’s so meta I could eat my own shit.

I also think it’s no coincidence that he shares his initials with “Jesus Christ Venereal Disease”.

Oh God this gives me a massive hard on. Funtown Auto is one of my favorite internet videos of all time. Apparently the guys behind that masterpiece are back with Cars III, premiering at the New Beverly Cinema in L.A. on October 8th and 9th with an introduction by comedian/God-king Patton Oswalt (or so the video would have us believe).  I know I gush, but if this doesn’t get you at least a little sexually excited I’m not sure we can be friends. Unless you have a puppy!

[Thanks to Burnsy for the tip] Read the rest of this entry »

The headline really speaks for itself here. The clip comes from Lucio Fulci’s Zombi 2, released in 1979, and indeed features a zombie fighting a shark. Did they use a toothless shark for this? What the hell. First they fail to give him lasers, next they stick him in with a zombie, and then they pull out his teeth? Shark actors should demand better. It’s time to unionize.

[via QuietEarth, thanks to Robo for the tip]

Ben Kingsley is in pretty much every movie this year. He gets it on with Penelope Cruz in Elegy. He was in the Love Guru, but we don’t talk about that. Just this morning I posted a picture of him and his hot amazon wife at the premiere of Fifty Dead Men Walking. It’s easy to see why Special K pulls hot tail. And just this afternoon, FilmDrunkard Brooklyn drew my attention to the above clip, in which Ben Kingsley stars as Ian McKaye, the similarly bald frontman of seminal DC hardcore band Minor Threat. It comes from Mean Magazine, where many of the commenters wondered “What’s the point of this?”

Clearly, the point is that it’s f*cking awesome. But then, I’m not one to look a gift horse in the mouth, especially after it made me orgasm.