The forthcoming Disney movie for Alice in Wonderland is based on Lewis Carroll’s beloved series of books that were first published in 1865.

It will surface worldwide on March 5th, 2010 and is directed by visionary director Tim Burton. Now, just in case you don’t know who he is, he’s directed and is responsible for the following films:-

Pee-Wee’s Big Adventure
Beetlejuice
Batman
Edward Scissorhands
Mars Attacks
Sleepy Hollow
Charlie and the Chocolate Factory
Sweeney Todd

The screenplay was written by Disney’s own Linda Woolverton, of Beauty and the Beast, Homeward Bound, and The Lion King previously. Meanwhile, the cast includes Mia Wasikowska, Johnny Depp, Helena Bonham Carter, Anne Hathaway, Stephen Fry, Alan Rickman, Michael Sheen, Matt Lucas, Christopher Lee with music by
Danny Elfman.

In the meantime, whilst you hold your breath, brand new promotional shots & the official trailer have been released, check out the visually stunning eye-candy below

Official trailer for Alice In Wonderland, watch it below!

Alice In Wonderland – In Cinemas March 2010

Vist the official: Alice In Wonderland site

I cannot wait!

Alex

In a purely commercial sense, music, books and films, which are based around the more sinister elements of human nature (and as a result, are often surrounded in a wave of controversy) are often largely sucessful. They are after all, catering to an audience, who craves them just as much, as those who bankroll this genre, crave the revenue.

Look at how successful the movies of Tim Burton have been (Nightmare Before Christmas, Edward Scissor Hands, Sleepy Hollow, Beetlejuice, The Corpses Bride). Listen to some of the most popular alternative bands, The Cure, Marilyn Manson, Nine Inch Nails, Lamb Of God, Dimmu Borger, Interpol & My Chemical Romance.

Experience some of the most successful movie and book franchises in recent times, Friday 13th, Nightmare On Elm Street, Requiem For A Dream, The Terminator movies, Batman series, the Harry Potter sensation, SAW series, The Watchmen, Sin City, Stephen King adaptations and more recently Twilight – the list goes on.

All vastly removed from the clean, vanilla, inoffensive-by-the-numbers fare which we’re usually subjected to.

All those examples, are designed to appeal to that little deviant in us all, especially if you’re an impressionable teenager. But in reality, very little of it is TRULY rebellious, evil or worthy of outcry. I’m not saying their motivates are any less genuine than anyone else’s, but you can’t be truly subversive and be seen at Greater Union cinemas or available “from all good retailers” without compromising somewhere along the line.

I realize this is an extreme example, but Hitler’s Mein Kampf , a book that is not only harrowing, sinister and down right evil, and which is available commercially, has never been edited, compromised or dumb down.

I think if you really wanted to get a reaction, rather than reading your FHM magazine in high school with pictures of girls in underwear or using whiteout to write down the latest band your parents hate on your bag, go to school with a copy of Mein Kampf, under your arm, I’m sure you’d get a far different reaction.

And you know why? Because Mein Kampf, for all its misguided and waywardness, is a real form of expression from someone who constantly sought new ways to control the world (whilst instigating genocide). You can’t get much more hardcore than that.

I think it’s a great shame that a lot of true art is sanitized these days because we all have to be politically correct. Roal Dahl has written some truly macabre stories for adults, yet few are aware of that aspect of his work. Most think he’s merely a children’s writer, and for a while I did too. But his adult novels are genuinely twisted and often thrilling reads.

To find material and media, which is both dark in tone and without the shackles of commercialism attached to it, you have to delve back into the past – before corporations approved budgets and final drafts….

When you go back in time, incidents, which now seem quite unspectacular, caused tremendous outcry during certain periods. A girl in stockings is not particularly offensive to anyone these days and yet in the Victorian Era they had trousers on piano legs because they were deemed to “salacious”. During his early years, Elvis wasn’t allowed to be filmed below the waist, as he was alledgedly the “work of Satan”. To everyone these days, he’s simply known as the King Of Rock N Roll.

A writer such as Lewis Carroll (Alice In Wonderland) was both artistic and uncompromising, yet equally subversive. Those traits, I think, are rare qualities amongst the current generation of writers, artists and musicians.

I’ve been reading the works of Edgar Allen Poe, now for those of you who aren’t familiar, he was an American poet, short story writer, editor and critic and one of the leaders of the American Romantics. Best known for his tales of unbridled horror and his intoxicating poetry, he was also one of the early practitioners of the short story, not to mention a progenitor of Gothic fiction in the United States during the 1800’s. Even his death, is shrouded in mysterious and strange circumstances…

I’m quite inspired by people such as Poe and I think Carroll has created some wonderful imagery for the world to continue to enjoy. But you have to really make an attempt to seek out these characters and I think its about time we did, as the world becomes more and more sanitised, homogenised and politically correct, the more and more relevant our history becomes.

It’s a way of reminding ourselves and giving hope that there was a time, when creativity and imagination wasn’t frowned upon, but rather encouraged and given an avenue to seep into the mainstream, however minor it was.

Nowadays, you can’t even peacefully protest outside The White House. I have a friend, who runs a club called “Rock N Roll Motherfucker”. Recently they had to change their name, because the cops complained that their flyers and artwork contain profanities.

Personally, I’d prefer the cops to be out doing their job arresting rapists and violent criminals – but that’s just me. What is the world coming to?

I’m sure Poe and Carroll would have approved…

Alex

Sasha Baron Cohen is back! And if you thought Borat was hilarious, cringe-tastic and off the ritcher, wait until you see his latest incarnation – Bruno the gay fashion designer! You can watch the official UNCENSORED trailer below (or if you can’t see it click here)

Bruno Official Trailer (R-rated!)

Enjoy
Alex

Occasionally, it’s nice to do lots of things over the weekend. For one, it makes it feel longer and secondly, allows you to really occupy your mind with something else, rather than the pressures of work Monday-Friday. Some weekends, especially after an intense week, I just want to be as lazy as possible – but this weekend was a little different. I actually got out of the house for starters

Yummy Yasmin, out of the kindness of her heart, took me to see The  Alchemist, a play by the Bell Shakespeare group, performed live at the Playhouse within the Sydney Opera House. I have to say, I really did enjoy it, some of the actors were fantastically larger-than-life, but 135 minutes, with no interval made it a bit hard going at times.

The dialogue, scenes and story were all so fast paced, that there were times when I wasn’t able to keep up or quite make sense of what was happening to who, why and when! That aside, it certainly had it’s moments and I’m really glad I got the opportunity to go, as I’d been wanting to for some while. You can read more about it and book tickets here

I also went and saw Swedish horror film, “Let The Right One In” a movie which scored 97% on Rotten Tomatoes (113 postivie reviews out of 116) David Statton of At The Movies fame even said…

“Transcending its grim theme, this is an astonishingly beautiful and visually inventive film that explores the cliches of the vampire genre with a deft, everyday approach.”

I thought it was beautifully shot and acted and it made Twilight look like the cheap, dumbed down, crass, Americanised version of a similar story.

I really recommended you take some time out to go see it. I’m not the biggest fan of horror, but it’s done in such as way in “Let The Right One In” that it isn’t overly terrifying, in fact, you almost agree with it at times. Below is a preview for you. 

And finally, what weekend would be complete, without spending some time with your friends eh?

You can see more photos from the Friday night shenaningans here.

Enjoy,
Alex

36 CRAZYFISTS & DEVILDRIVER // THE FORUM SYD // 25 FEB 09

My ears are still ringing, having just seen one of the most epic line-up in recent times, All That Remains, 36 Crazyfists, Lacuna Coil & the mighty Devildriver!

I don’t want to bore you with all the tracks and setlist information, lets just say all the bands went off. Personally I wasn’t a huge fan of Lacuna Coil (European metal has more than a hint of campness and pantomime about it I find) but respect to the lead singer, who crowd surfed in nothing more than a bra and skirt during Devildrivers’ blistering set! I’m sure the 18 year olds though Christmas had some early haha. Oh by the way, this is her….

Exactly!

What I really liked about the show was the real sense of community and camaraderie between all the bands, 36 Crazyfists came and did shots with everyone in the crowd after their set, there was no egos, everyone was there to just have a killer time. At one point during 36CF’s set, the crowd parted right down the middle, like a rugby match prior to kick off. And when the drums hit – BOOM everyone ran into each other, wall of death style. Bad to be in it, awesome to watch haha.

I ended up going by myself, but it was great, I forgot a little bit what live music is about (sitting in an office with a stack of CD’s next to you will do that), but this show reminded me why I love gigs, it’s real people connecting with each other, loosing their minds and being totally passionate about their favorite artists.

To see two of my favorite bands (36 Crazyfists & Devildriver) on the same bill on the same night was amazing and it sure as hell didn’t disappoint.

You can see photos from the show right here

Watch the latest single from 36 Crazyfists below (can’t see it? clicky click)

Enjoy!
Alex

ANGELS & DEMONS – MOVIE TEASER

Written by Dan Brown BEFORE he wrote The Da Vinci Code, Angels & Demons is a vastly more gripping, mesmerising and powerful, yet equally as addictiveand sure-fire page turner. He’s by no means the greatest writer ever born, but Dan Brown has a genuine gift for writing books which you simply can’t put down.

And now, just like The Da Vinci Code, Angels & Demons is set to become a motion movie, again starring Tom Hanks, but also Ewan McGregor this time around.

Here’s a sneaky peak, release date is May 2009 worldwide

Enjoy,
Alex

ICE AGE 3

The sub-zero heroes from the worldwide blockbusters “Ice Age” and “Ice Age: The Meldown” are back, on an incredible adventure…for the ages.

Scrat is still trying to nab the ever-elusive nut (while, maybe, finding true love); Manny and Ellie await the birth of their mini-mammoth, Sid the sloth gets into trouble when he creates his own makeshift family by hijacking some dinosaur eggs; and Diego the saber-toothed tiger wonders if he’s growing too “soft” hanging with his pals.

You can see the hilarious official trailer here, or just view it below

Ice Age 3 – Kinostart am 2.7.2009

Isn’t that clip awesome!! Poor little chap. Haha, I love the Ice Age films, out of all the kids movies, they are often some of the most amusing, and the animation is at times simply stunning. Now if you liked Kung-Fu Panda for example, you’ll be a fan of Ice Age 3, so make sure you go see it when it hits screening in July this year – I will be

Alex

Alex