Film School Rejects » Officially Cool

Watch This: Everyone Poops, Spike Jonze Style

Neil Miller — Thu, 08 Oct 2009 18:37:30 +0000

This morning while recording the latest episode of Fat Guys at the Movies, I was alerted by my colleague Kevin Carr of a video — a video of the internet variety — that I had not yet seen. This is odd, as Kevin is usually the last person to know about awesome videos such as this. But hey, I can’t complain, as we here at Reject HQ have been on Fantastic Flu watch all week, so we’re a bit disconnected. So if you’ve seen this video already, I apologize. This one goes out to the folks who have been as out of the loop as myself the past few days…

The folks at Landline TV have put together a spoof of the Where the Wild Things Are trailer called “Everyone Poops.” It is based on the popular children’s book “Everyone Poops,” by Taro Gomi. It follows the story of a young girl who is discovering something special about herself…

Where the Wild Things Are opens on October 16th.

31 Days of Horror: Nerdcore Goes Horror

Robert Fure — Sat, 03 Oct 2009 14:00:17 +0000

As a red blooded male who loves seeing red blood spilled, there’s nothing quite so awesome as a bunch of hot naked girls posing in classic horror situations. So imagine my delight when checking my email I’m notified that Nerdcore, the popular merging of Nerd culture and Hot chicks, has got their 2010 poster ready to be ordered and the them is horror! Now, you have may have clicked into this article today thinking “Hey, what movie are you recommending?” But today I’m recommending this calendar instead of a movie. We’ve got 28 more movies coming your way soon. 31 Days of Horror is about everything horror, not just movies. Last year we talked about comics and this year I’m talking about nudie girls. We’re moving in the right direction.

Take a look at these hot preview images and give a read to what the fine folks over at Nerdcore have to say about the year 2010:

No genre has been more synonymous with nerds and nudity than the horror, which is why Nerdcore got a little bit bloody for 2010. From the classics to the controversial, this 4th Annual calendar features pinups of all varieties: cover model Jana Jordan getting paranormal with a TV set, sultry scream queen Justine Joli in the most vintage of psychotic shower scenes, Bobbi Starr sewn together (literally) in a more naked version of Frankenstein, as well as Aria Giovanni, Kayla Jane Danger, Karlie Montana, Mosh, and Zoli Suicide getting their scream on.

Sexy, not scary. Nerdcore 2010.

If you’re not interested in this Calendar, I’m not interested in you. (I’m kidding I still love you. I love you less than I did 45 seconds ago. But that’s your fault.) Anyway, these giant oversized calendars are printed on heavy, glossy paper feature more than just hot, nerdy girls, like important dates – both for lame things like Holidays and for cool things like movie release dates and nerd trivia. You can get yours for $25. I’ve hung Nerdcore on my wall before and I can say these are pretty awesome calendars. Definitely better than 12 months of kittens. But barely. I love kittens. But not as much as I love boobs. So buy one. Or five. You know, in case “something happens” to one.

Check out some handy preview photos below. Click below to see the UNCENSORED versions. WARNING: If you click the images below, you will see the versions that CONTAIN NUDITY. These images are not suitable for anyone under the age of 18.

Pick up your copy of the 2010 Nerdcore Calendar by clicking here

Officially Cool: Unused Inglourious Basterds Poster

Neil Miller — Wed, 26 Aug 2009 14:05:43 +0000

The folks over at PosterWire have published something very, very cool this week — an unused illustration for Quentin Tarantino’s Inglourious Basterds by James Goodridge. He created it as a proposal and it was passed on by The Weinstein Company. Personally, I am in favor of this one.

Along with the poster, PosterWire also published a short interview with Goodridge, who talked about how this poster came to be:

The movie studio had already produced some teaser posters but wanted a fresh take, truer to the director’s vision and influences and the story. The creative director had only a few requests from the studio but this was to be an occasion where I had considerable creative input.

Check out the poster below. Then if you can, try to convince us why you wouldn’t want one of these “basterds” on your wall in the comment section below.

Officially Cool: The Making of The Goonies

Neil Miller — Tue, 25 Aug 2009 14:59:15 +0000

The folks over at UniqueDaily never say die, and neither do we. So it seems fitting that they posted this very cool behind the scenes video from the set of The Goonies. It begins with a young Steven Spielberg claiming that “nothing extraordinary happens in this film,” and moves quickly to director Richard Donner talking about how working with kids makes him want to commit suicide. I’m sure neither of them are serious. At least, we do know that (a) extraordinary things happen in The Goonies and (b) Richard Donner is still alive, so I call bullshit.

Alas, you should really check out the video below — especially if you’re a total nerd like me who has a Goonies poster mere feet from your desk, where you work daily. It’s a great video, providing insight behind a classic film. Why would you miss that?

Avatar Day: 3D Roadshow, Awesome A.M.P Suit Maquette

Neil Miller — Sat, 22 Aug 2009 02:04:53 +0000

I guess today isn’t just about seeing 16-minutes of footage from Avatar, the latest from James Cameron. First a word from the folks at Panasonic:

Panasonic Corporation today announced collaboration with Twentieth Century Fox Film Corporation and Lightstorm Entertainment on the global promotion of James Cameron’s Avatar. As the film’s exclusive audio visual partner, Panasonic has provided some of its latest AV technology products to help create the eagerly awaited film which will debut in theaters worldwide on December 18 in both 2D and 3D. Through this collaboration, Panasonic will add momentum to its ongoing efforts to promote its industry-leading Full HD 3D technology to consumers.

In the epic action adventure Avatar, James Cameron, the director of Titanic, takes us to a spectacular new world beyond our imagination. On the distant moon Pandora, a reluctant hero embarks on a journey of redemption and discovery as he leads a heroic battle to save a civilization.

As part of the collaboration agreement, Panasonic will launch a global advertising campaign tied to Avatar and promoting numerous Panasonic AV products, including 3D. It will mark the first time for the company to run a worldwide advertising campaign which is focused on a single film. Panasonic will show dazzling Full HD 3D assets related to Avatar at numerous events to prove the power of 3D technology to consumers around the world.

Sounds like fun, right? Also today, the folks at Sideshow Collectibles have released the first of many Avatar collectibles. It is the A.M.P Suit Maquette, otherwise known as that wicked cool power suit seen in the first trailer:

Launching the Sideshow Collectibles line of Avatar collectibles is the AMP Suit Maquette, created in conjunction with the film’s special effects studio Legacy Effects. Created directly from 3D scans of the 14-foot suit used by Legacy during filming, the AMP Suit is a truly authentic scaled representation. Each piece is individually painted and finished, each with its own unique quality and detail that is the trademark of a handcrafted Sideshow Collectibles product. The AMP Suite Maquette is the perfect addition to any display.

Check out some pictures for yourself below. You can get more information over at SideshowToy.com. This new maquette ships in early 2010 and costs only $1199.99. That may sound like a lot, but it’s 21″ high and weighs 12 lbs. — this thing is no small prize.

Officially Cool: The Sumo Sultan – Not Just a Bean Bag Chair

Neil Miller — Tue, 11 Aug 2009 20:58:26 +0000

There comes a time in every movie blogger’s life when he must get that fateful email. It goes something like this: “Hey, you’re fat and lazy. Want to try our product that is perfect for fat and lazy people such as yourself?” It is, as Aaron Sorkin might famously say via one of his Sports Night teleplays, the equivalent to getting “the call.”

Of course, when the folks over at Sumo reached out to me a little while back to solicit a review for one of their bean bag chairs, they were far more cordial. But I heard their message. I’m chubby. I work in a job that requires me to sit around and watch movies, then sit around and blog about them. Both of these tasks can easily be done from the comfort of a bean bag chair. Thus, I am the target audience for such a product. And even though I’m obviously their guy and it should have just been a lackadaisical movie-watching experience, I found the Sumo Sultan to be much more than just a bean bag chair for a movie geek and/or gamer — it is a classy, cool piece of furniture that transcends the traditional idea of a bean bag chair.

Yeah, It’s Comfortable

As you might expect from a giant chunk of shredded furniture grade urethane foam wrapped in a micro-suede cover, it is quite comfortable. And I put it to the test. I watched movies on it. Played a few video games on it. Ended a very successful date with a very attractive lady on it. Got kicked out of my own bed by said lady and slept on it for a night. Heck, I’m currently writing this article from it. If the Sultan were a person, I would have an unnecessarily clingy relationship with it. I’d probably be pushing it away with my overt clinginess. It has become, without a doubt, the best seat in the house here at Reject HQ. Many a friend and or acquaintance has entered our living room, plopped down on the fashionable brown lump in the corner and been sucked in to the glorious realm of the Sultan. So yes, it is comfortable.

In addition to being comfortable and large enough for one or two good sized people, the Sultan is quite durable. It comes with a promise of never going flat, which for the most part appears to be true. Though I will say that in the few weeks that I’ve been testing it — and avoiding writing my review because it’s just so comfy — I have left quite a dent. This problem was solved, however, with a simple fluffing. It’s similar to a really good pillow in that it returns to its original puffed state with ease. This is, of course, only based on a few weeks worth of “heavy testing” — there’s no telling how it holds up over very long periods of time. And sadly, the only downside to the Sumo is that it comes with a one-week satisfaction guarantee, whereas other competitors offer longer warranties. Not sure why you’d need a 2-year warranty on a damn bean bag chair, but you might think you need it.

The Quality is in the Details

One of the best little things about the Sultan is that you can unzip the cover and machine wash it. The micro-suede cover comes out the other end clean and just as soft as it did when you first unwrapped your Sultan. And with a solid assortment of classy, traditional colors (Pitch Black, Khaki, Funky Brown and Fiery Red), it’s the kind of man-furniture that your girlfriend might actually let you keep it in the common areas of the house, next to the big TV. It is a simple product, but one that fits perfectly into the life of anyone who likes to “chill” and take in a multimedia experience, whether that be movies, gaming or blogging. Or, if you’re really awesome, a little bit of “quality time” with your lady.

But enough of the standard pitch — what I know is that this damn thing is uber-comfortable. I’ve had my moments in the past with the $700+ Lovesac Supersac, the previous champion of the big guy bean bags. And like the Lovesac, the Sumo Sultan feels like a $700 bean bag chair. The only difference is that the Sumo sells for $250 and ships to you at no cost. That’s enough to buy a badass bean bag chair and continue building your collection of Region 2 Italian horror Blu-ray discs.

For more information or to get your own Sumo Sultan (or any of the various other models, including the very cool and affordable Gamer), point your browser at SumoLounge.com.

Photos courtesy of Icontric.com

Officially Cool: Flickchart Will Ruin Your Life and You Will Love It

Dr. Cole Abaius — Tue, 30 Jun 2009 18:57:45 +0000

Since I got inexplicably kicked out as President of the Jeff Goldblum fan club last week, I needed to find a new obsession. Luckily, the folks over at Flickchart were happy to oblige. Now, I can head over there for hours at a time, have their engine pop out two movies, and be forced to choose which one I like best. It’s kind of like the Hot or Not for film buffs. Except it’s brutal in making you choose, and ranks all of your choices as they come in – giving you a Top 20 of all time that’s publicly viewable.

Their website is achingly simple, which is probably what makes it so effective. Two movies are displayed. You choose which one you like better. For movie fans, it is a must. I can’t stress enough how much your inner movie-geek will love this damned website.

So why will it ruin your life?

Because it’s going to take up all of your time, and all you’ll be doing is tearing your hair out and clicking. There are essentially three basic set ups that you’ll encounter with Flickchart:

The Easy – When one film is clearly far superior to another. Let’s say The Godfather goes head-to-head against I, Robot. It’s a simple click and onto the next challenge.
The Crappy – This is an impossible situation because two equally crappy films come up. It’s not so hard to choose, but actually preferring one seems dirty. Seriously – if Teen Wolf 2 came up against Jurassic Park 3, would you feel comfortable choosing either?
The Impossible – This is where Flickchart gets diabolical. From time to time, it’ll put up something like The Goonies vs. E.T. How the hell do you choose?

The Impossible Wildcard - A subsection of The Impossible, the Wildcard is when both movies are incredible but are in completely different genres. By what criteria do you decide whether The Big Lebowski is better or worse than The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly? Spartacus vs. Fight Club? Amadeus vs. Airplane!?

Right now the website is in Beta, so it’s a great time to go sign up. You can request a username and all that jazz from them, and they’ll email you back within 3 or 4 days.

Or…if you’re one of the first 4 to email me and request it, I can send you one of my invitations.

Officially Cool: Spoiler Alert: The Movie

Neil Miller — Mon, 22 Jun 2009 21:28:53 +0000

If you read about movies online, then you know exactly what it means when someone says ’spoiler alert.’ Aside from how terrible Uwe Boll’s movies are to how much Michael Bay sucks (which is total bullshit, by the way), the spoiler alert is probably one of the most heated topics in the whole of the movie blogosphere. Websites are castrated by commenters for revealing them, commenters turn on kind and country in their presence and movie studios shudder every time they hear the sounds of keystrokes because of them.

But now, thanks to the folks at College Humor, there is a new film that could send spoiler-lovers running for the hills. Check it out below, it is awesome.

Officially Cool: Futuristic Movie Timeline by Dan Meth

Neil Miller — Tue, 16 Jun 2009 18:54:30 +0000

It’s possible that you’ve seen this around the web, as a number of our friends and neighbors in the movie blogosphere have also picked it up (I grabbed it via Gizmodo). But just in case you missed it, I would like to direct your attention to the image below — a futuristic movie timeline put together by artist Dan Meth. It is a very cool look at the times in which many of our favorite sci-fi films of all time are set, including my personal favorites Back to the Future II, 2001: A Space Odyssey, Alien and Planet of the Apes.

Personally, I’ve taken note of a few things based on this. One, I’d forgotten that Dune took place so much further in the future than other films. As well, I love that Idiocracy (aka Mike Judge’s probably accurate prediction of how American pop culture will destroy our capacity for productivity) is included. Well played, Mr. Meth.

You can check out more of Dan Meth’s work over at DanMeth.com

Officially Cool: Action-Packed Trailer for ‘The Waldo Ultimatum’

Dr. Cole Abaius — Sat, 06 Jun 2009 20:00:25 +0000

You could say that I’ve slowly been losing my mind since I heard the news that a Where’s Waldo? film was going to happen. Of course, you could also say that I’ve slowly been losing my mind ever since I mixed Shrooms and Carpet Fresh back in sophomore year of college. And you’d be right either way, somehow. Maybe I’m growing obsessed with the absurdity of adapting Waldo into a movie, or maybe I’m just pissed that no one is considering a Magic Eye adaptation despite the growing 3D trend.

Whatever the case, I believe this trailer highlights exactly how ridiculous the idea is:

“That’s a giant candy cane!”

My thoughts, exactly.

What do you think? Should I stop talking about Where’s Waldo? For your sake or for my own?

Officially Cool: Wicked Fan-Made ‘Green Lantern’ Trailer

Neil Miller — Tue, 26 May 2009 05:34:22 +0000

There has been all kinds of talk about Green Lantern lately as the film production itself rolls out of the station and toward reality. And with it, just as with any major comic book franchise, comes quite a bit of fan expectation — expectations that sometime manifest in odd and exciting ways.

In this instance we have this very cool fan-made trailer for a Green Lantern movie that was posted up to YouTube by a user named JaronPitts. According to the description, this is his vision of a live-action Green Lantern with fanboy hero Nathan Fillion in the lead role. And the trailer works, mostly because it is so outside the box for a fan trailer — very rarely does someone go so far as to cut in an actor’s face, etc. To be completely honest, even though it isn’t perfect, I am very impressed. Even more impressive is the choice of music — which you may remember from the final Star Trek trailer — and the sheer amount of movies from which clips were taken. See if you can pick them out in the trailer below, then compare them to the list that the author published (found below).

Here’s the list of films from which Jaron Pitts took footage:

Planet of the Apes
Serenity Trailer
Fantastic 4: Rise of the Silver Surfer
Stardust Trailer
The Lord of the Rings – The Fellowship of the Ring
Firefly
Dragonball Evolution Trailer
Galaxy Quest
The Fountain Trailer
Superman Returns Trailer
The Day the Earth Stood Still
Smallville
Justice League TAS
GI Joe Trailer
Contact
Star Trek Enterprise
Star Wars Episode III
The Mutant Chronicles Trailer
Iron Man
Star Trek Trailer
Mortal Kombat vs DC Universe Cutscene
The Chronicles of Riddick
Kamen Rider
Bedtime Stories
MIB 2
Escape from Witch Mountain Trailer
The Matrix Revolutions
The Chronicles of Narnia – Prince Caspian
White Noise 2

I’m impressed.

What do you think?

Officially Cool: Watchmen Legos

Neil Miller — Wed, 11 Mar 2009 16:58:56 +0000

As you may have noticed, our attention has turned quickly from the Watchmen situation to the upcoming SXSW Film Festival. That was until I caught a glimpse of these awesome Watchmen legos over on Gizmodo, who allegedly got them from MOC Pages. There isn’t much else to say about these beauties, other than the fact that they are a custom job and its likely that you’ll never be able to buy them. Instead, you can drool over them right now, right here.

For more things that are cool, check out our Officially Cool archive.

Officially Cool: Phil Saunders’ John Carter of Mars, Superman Concept Art

Neil Miller — Fri, 27 Feb 2009 19:43:43 +0000

This may or may not be new to all of you, but as of this morning when reader Christopher M. sent it over it was new to me — so it wins the Officially Cool stamp of approval. It is a slew of additional concept drawings for John Carter of Mars by Phil Saunders, whose credits include being an illustrator on Iron Man, Spider-Man 3 and Zathura. They were posted over on Saunders’ personal blog the other day and they are certainly worth checking out.

John Carter of Mars is currently under the careful eye of WALL-E directed Andrew Stanton and is being developed by Stanton and friends over at Pixar as a half animation, half live-action adventure. It tells the story of Civil War vet John Carter, who is transplanted to Mars, where he discovers a lush, wildly diverse planet whose main inhabitants are 12-foot tall green barbarians. Finding himself a prisoner of these creatures, he escapes, only to encounter Dejah Thoris, Princess of Helium, who is in desperate need of a savior.

Check out the John Carter concept art below.

As an added bonus, Saunders also posted some concept art for the Brett Ratner directed, J.J. Abrams written Superman movie that never was. As Saunders explains, “This is about as un-dynamic a composition as you can come up with, but Production Designer Owen Patterson wanted a straight one-point perspective view of Superman facing off against the Rouser (a Japa… er, Kryptonian Battle Pod, don’t ask) so you could compare scale. I had fun designing the Rouser, though.”

Check out more of Saunders’ awesome work over at Phil Saunders’ Random Stuff.

Is This the Real Crystal Lake?

Robert Fure — Fri, 13 Feb 2009 04:56:47 +0000

In keeping with our embracing of everything Friday the 13th this week, I decided to play a fun little game. Using only information that is gleaned from the watching of the first three films, I attempted to pinpoint the real Camp Crystal Lake. Sure, you could just read Crystal Lake Memories or visit some pretty dedicated fan sites or research filming locations to find where it was filmed, but where is the fun in that? I wanted to find out if I could use the clues in the movie to pinpoint an actual, physical body of water that would line up with what we’re told about in the movies. After all, Camp Crystal Lake was renamed several times in the films, so maybe, just maybe…

Clue 1. Hope, New Jersey Cemetery. In the first installment of this famed series, hitchhiker Annie is looking for a ride to Camp Crystal Lake. She’s told that it’s about 20 miles away and a trucker agrees to drive her half the distance. She’s dropped off infront of the Hope, New Jersey Cemetery, meaning the camp is within 10 miles of this location. The circle below represents 10 miles in every direction. Bonus: The Cemetery in question is the Moravian Cemetery in near Hope, NJ.

Clue 2. Green Valley, New Jersey. Friday the 13th Part III features a sign in the background of a convenience store that indicates the words “Green Valley” and “New Jersey.” A significant portion of the sign is obscured. Searching, we find that the Green Valley Beach Campground is nearby, right about 10 miles away. We don’t know this is the solid direction of Camp Crystal Lake, so we need more information. Plus, no lake large enough is nearby. As you can see, we’re clearly in the right area.

Clue 3. Nearby Summer Camps? We’ve seen that Jason has killed those that attend Camp Crystal Lake and those that go to other camps that are nearby. In Friday the 13th Part II, the campers killed were near Crystal Lake, but not at the same Camp as in the first movie, so we must search for other standing camp grounds nearby. There just so happens to be a camp No-Be-Bo-Sco about 9 or so miles North of Hope, New Jersey. However, there are no Lakes large enough to be Crystal Lake, which has room enough for multiple camps, houses, and fairly large boats. The nearest body of waters are smaller ponds. Bonus: No-Be-Bo-Sco is actually the filming location of Friday the 13th. It is still in use to this day as a Boy Scout Camp.

Connecting The Dots. As we can see, these three areas are all very close together. Examining the map, we see that our trucker friend may have been slightly off in his calculations. There is a lake large enough just outside of our 10 mile search radius, but very close to both our nearby camp and our Green Valley convenience store. Could this be the real Crystal Lake? This is definitely an area of interest.

The Real Crystal Lake?

Here is the zoomed in area.

Paulins Kill? Paulins Kill Lake? Holy shnikes, we’ve found it! Swartswood Lake! That’s got to be it. There are multiple bodies of water that are all connected, explaining how the Lake appears to vary in size from film to film! It’s even named after death! Without a doubt, this is the Real Crystal Lake. Bonus: Swartswood Lake is connected by a waterway to Sand Pond, a body of water at Camp No-Be-Bo-Sco that served as the filming location for the water scenes in Friday the 13th.

Have your own fun with Google Maps and you’ll never know what you might find.

Also, check out FridayThe13thFilms.com for cool behind the scenes photos.

What do you think? Have we found the real Crystal Like, site of more than one hundred murders?

Officially Cool: Watchmen Arcade Game

Brian C. Gibson — Thu, 12 Feb 2009 05:24:27 +0000

Here is an awesome little piece of fan fun from one of the Watchmen viral marketing sites. Go to Minutemenarcade and you can play an NES style arcade game, featuring Night Owl, Silk Spectre and Molloch. The game is called MinuteMen and check out some of the screen shots below. Don’t let me keep you too long though, go check it out for yourself.

If you have any suggestions for our Officially Cool feature, please send an email over to Brian@filmschoolrejects.com.

Film School Rejects » Officially Cool

Watch This: Everyone Poops, Spike Jonze Style

Related Reading:

31 Days of Horror: Nerdcore Goes Horror

Related Reading:

Officially Cool: Unused Inglourious Basterds Poster

Related Reading:

Officially Cool: The Making of The Goonies

Related Reading:

Avatar Day: 3D Roadshow, Awesome A.M.P Suit Maquette

Related Reading:

Officially Cool: The Sumo Sultan – Not Just a Bean Bag Chair

Yeah, It’s Comfortable

The Quality is in the Details

Related Reading:

Officially Cool: Flickchart Will Ruin Your Life and You Will Love It

Related Reading:

Officially Cool: Spoiler Alert: The Movie

Related Reading:

Officially Cool: Futuristic Movie Timeline by Dan Meth

Related Reading:

Officially Cool: Action-Packed Trailer for ‘The Waldo Ultimatum’

Related Reading:

Officially Cool: Wicked Fan-Made ‘Green Lantern’ Trailer

Related Reading:

Officially Cool: Watchmen Legos

Related Reading:

Officially Cool: Phil Saunders’ John Carter of Mars, Superman Concept Art

Related Reading:

Is This the Real Crystal Lake?

Related Reading:

Officially Cool: Watchmen Arcade Game

Related Reading: