Dark Knight Movie Poster

Aw, shucky ducky!

Coming Soon

Check out the trailer for the new movie Beats, Rhymes and Life, about one of the greatest rap groups of all-time, A Tribe Called Quest. It hits theatres in New York and LA on July 8th, then gradually hits other cities over the summer. I haven't wanted to see a movie this bad since Showgirls came out.

The Oscars

God only knows why, but I decided to give the Oscars a chance last night. I regretted it a mere ten minutes later. I saw Kirk Douglas rambling, the lady who won Best Supporting Actress spacing out, and Justin Timberlake painfully reciting some awkward dialogue. Needless to say, I was knee deep in NBA action after fifteen minutes. I checked back periodically and the only highlights were appearances by Jennifer Hudson, Halle Berry, and Marisa Tomei (who should win a retroactive Oscar for her stripper scenes in The Wrestler a couple of years ago). The "Gwenyth Paltrow can SING" gimmick has run its course. Why was Corey Haim skipped over in the deaths segment? They were showing legendary key grips for Pete's sake, but not one half of The Coreys? What is wrong with these people? I should have gotten an award for sitting through this thing.

The Next Superman

According to a report at moviefone.com, The Rock and current WWE Superstar John Cena are under consideration to play the lead role in the upcoming Superman movie. The Rock would do okay, but I don't know if America is ready for that. Cena would bring the franchise to a screeching halt. Maybe if they are planning to release the movie straight to VHS, but otherwise I can't see it.

Precious

Here is the trailer for the movie Precious. This looks deep. Mo'nique seems to really deliver in a dramatic role and even Mariah comes across well. I'll be sure to check this out. I'm depressed already!

The Wrestler on DVD

The acclaimed movie The Wrestler is now available on DVD and Blu-Ray in stores and at online outlets. I picked it up on Tuesday.

Number of times I watched the entire movie: 0

Number of times I watched the DVD extras: 0

Number of times I watched every scene involving Marisa Tomei: approx. 18

Royal Kill Trailer

The movie Royal Kill, starring WWE Diva and Hollywood Nation favorite Gail Kim, hits theatres in select cities in the U.S. on Friday. Check out the trailer below:

WWE Film Bombs

Will WWE finally stop making films? Their heavily hyped latest offering, 12 Rounds starring John Cena, escaped on Friday and finished 7th for the week, earning $5.8 million dollars. Ironically, it finished one spot behind The Rock's latest movie, Race To Witch Mountain, which was in its third week of release (which should be good for at least two more years of Cena's whining about The Rock). It's a bonafide flop. WWE, please no more films, no more football leagues, no more bodybuilding federations. Just stick to what you do best-- shitty wrestling!

Box Office News

Dwayne Johnson's "Race to Witch Mountain" earned twenty-five million dollars over the weekend to finish at number one on the box office charts. This was Johnson's second biggest opening weekend, right behind the "Scorpion King". Anyone remember back when Triple H and Shawn Michaels tried everything in their power behind the scenes to keep The Rock down? How did that turn out?

The Oscars

I usually don't watch the Oscars because the show is too long, it always has a cheesy musical number, and I hate seeing the same "Oscar's Greatest Moments!" montage every year (Halle Berry crying, Jack Palance doing push-ups and that dipshit climbing over the seats to get his Best Actor award). But since this year's awards had influence over current wrestling storylines, I decided to tune in. And The Wrestler was promptly shut out! Marisa Tomei got beat for Best Supporting Actress by some broad that didn't even speak English in her movie and then Mickey Rourke got beat for Best Actor by "Spicolli" from Fast Times at Ridgemont High. It's a damn shame. At least Marisa did win for Best Oscar Nominated Nudity in Mr. Skin's yearly awards, so that's a nice consolation prize.

(Photo available at allposters.com)

The Wrestler Wins!

Last night at the Golden Globe Awards ceremony, the movie The Wrestler took home two major awards: Mickey Rourke won for Best Actor/Drama and Bruce Springsteen won for Best Song, which was on the soundtrack for the movie. Congratulations-- you're already ahead of Hulk Hogan in No Holds Barred. I'm hoping to catch the movie this weekend, when it finally comes to my town.

Cena's New Movie

Here's the movie poster for the new John Cena movie coming this Spring to a nearly empty theatre near you.



(Photo from impawards.com)

Mr. Kennedy Movie Now Available

Behind Enemy Lines: Columbia, the new straight-to-DVD movie starring WWE's Mr. Kennedy, is now available at the usual outlets. According to a review at wrestlingobserver.com, Kennedy isn't even the star of the movie and most fans will be disappointed at his lack of screen time. The best quote however was this:

"His acting here doesn’t hold a candle to his performance on Greta Von Susteren when he claimed he’d never taken steroids, but all-in-all, he’s perfectly acceptable in the role of a B-movie action clunkhead.”

How's that for an endorsement?

(Behind Enemy Lines: Columbia is available at amazon.com)

The Wrestler

The movie The Wrestler is finally out in some areas of the country (it's not coming to Hollywood Nation's homebase of St. Louis until January). In addition to all of the other great buzz, it also got two more positive reviews this week: Howard Stern liked it and said Marisa Tomei was hot and ESPN.com's Bill Simmons raved about it also. Doesn't get better than that. I'm still amazed that a movie got made about wrestling that didn't have Hulk Hogan in a tutu.

Interview with Rena Riffel

As I've mentioned a couple of times in previous posts, I'm a huge fan of the movie Showgirls (if you've never seen the 10th Anniversary version with audio commentary, it will have you rolling on the floor). One of the stars of the movie was actress Rena Riffel, who played the role of "Penny"/"Hope". Recently she made her own independent film called Trasharella. She was gracious enough to answer the following questions for Hollywood Nation:

1. Can you tell us a little about your movie Trasharella?

I have always wanted to make my own movie. I have been writing scripts and stories for a long time. But, I didn't know how to go about raising money to make them. So, finally I just set out to make a movie and not let anything hold me back from doing it and completing it. I made a very unconventional film and used all my resources to do it. It is about a starlet who becomes a recycling trash bag wearing super hero, Trasharella, in the process of trying to kill the evil Hollywood Vampire (played by the brilliant accordion wizard and vaudevillian comedian, Count Smokula) who destroys starlets. It's a dark comedy, musical, horror, B-movie satire. I tried to make it so bad that it is good. Cuz when I'm good, I'm good.. but when I'm bad, I'm better. A quote from May West. I pay tribute to the bombshells of the past and present, like Marilyn Monroe, Betty Page, May West, Lolita/Sue Lyon, Jane Russell, Pamela Anderson, Anna Nicole Smith, ect. I want to bring back the musicals and the glittering dance numbers of the past.

2. I understand you do some singing in this film. On a scale of William Hung to Mariah Carey, where do you rate yourself?

I have been getting feedback about the songs and once you hear the songs, you go around singing them all day, they get stuck in your head because they are very catchy. There is magic in a voice and some are more likable than others. People have always liked my voice, since I was 7 years old, singing in the church choir. I was signed to Polygram/Mercury Records as a teenager by the famous Ed Eckstine. I would say I rate myself at a Gwen Stefani or a Britney.

3. Former gubernatorial candidate Mary Carey has a role in your movie. Did she talk your ear off about politics during the filming?

No, she is more into having fun and drinking champagne. I think this is Mary Carey's best performance in a film.

4. During your cameo on last season's Celebrity Rehab on VH-1 (while you were visiting Mary), it seemed that Jeff Conaway's spirits picked up when you arrived. Any other interesting stories from that show?

I grew up listening to and watching the movie Grease, so I am a big fan of Jeff Conaway. I was so sad to see him in a wheelchair. He told me he hurt his back while filming the dance number Greased Lightning. But, I think he is an amazing talented actor and I think someone needs to star him in a big movie and get him off the rehab show. When I asked him if he is still acting, he whispered, "of course, that is why I am doing this show".

5. One Showgirls question: Do you think James and your character Penny remained a couple after all these years?

I am actually working on making a follow up movie about Penny and James. But, I bet they had some ups and downs and still both want to be star dancers.. maybe James has his own T-Shirt line by now with the sayings on it like, Life Sucks or something...since he was a student of T-Shirts. But, ya, I think they are still together and they have a child to raise.

6. Any plugs or closing comments?

Trasharella is available on Amazon.com and on Createspace.com. It is truly a gem and the performances in the movie are so funny and amazing. People are loving Trasharella. It is punk rock and raw and homemade. It is sexy and entertaining. It's got these catchy phrases that are now becoming part of an underground culture, people write me and use all th e sayings in the movie. Count Smokula's sayings are so far out and hilarious. Even my Mom is quoting him and Mary and the others. And then when ever you see a trash bag or recycled trash turned into fashion, you will think of Trasharella. I know it sounds crazy, but it's a wild movie.

(Photo from renariffel.com/Trasharella is available at amazon.com)

"The Wrestler" Trailer

I'm really looking forward to seeing this movie. In case you haven't heard of it, it's a movie called The Wrestler and it has been receiving Oscar buzz. It is being touted as Mickey Rourke's big comeback role. It won awards at the Venice and Toronto Film Festivals. Bruce Springsteen has contributed to the soundtrack. Some of it was shot at Ring of Honor events. This will be my "Batman" movie for 2009. Should be good:

Number One!

Is my boy The Rock, errr, Dwayne Johnson on a roll or what? Get Smart (also starring that guy from The Office and one of those actress broads) finished at number one at the box office with a total of $39.2 million bones. Damn, it almost feels like I'm the number one movie star in the country!

On the flip side, the heavily promoted Mike Myers movie The Love Guru was a bonafide flop, finishing fourth with a take of $14 million dollars. Justin Timberlake in a box office failure? I'm shocked.