#Patrick Cooper

Is DUNE Even Filmable?

After four years of struggling with the worm, Paramount’s rights to option the novel “Dune” have run out. Seasoned producer Richard P. Rubinstein, who owns the rights to the novel, stated that he could not reach an agreement with Paramount and he would now be deciding whether to move forward with the project or not.

Since it was optioned by Paramount four years ago, some interesting names have been attached to the project including Peter Berg and Taken director Pierre Morel – who supposedly came into a production meeting clutching his personal, weathered copy of “Dune.” Morel and collaborator Chase Palmer penned a compact script that “cut the mammoth subject matter down to a compelling story that could be told at feature length.” I call bullshit.

Before David Lynch’s 1984 Dune adaptation, several directors tried to bring Frank Herbert’s tremendous feat of sci-fi literature to the big screen. Throughout the ’70s visionaries like Ridley Scott, Alejandro Jodorowsky, and producer Arthur P. Jacobs all tried to get their own adaptations off the desert floor to no avail. Jodorowsky’s (Holy Mountain) ambitious ideas for Dune involved Orson Welles, Salvador Dali, H.R. Giger, and Pink Floyd. Slow down, you kook. Lynch himself once stated that to in order to attempt a film version of Dune “You’ve got to be either stupid or crazy…”

Keep Reading »

Flipping Off Eternia: The Craig Elmore Interview

If you’re reading this, chances are that New Jersey’s Craig Elmore has a better He-Man collection than you. I first met Elmore about 10 years ago at community college in a speech class. It was a requirement, we weren’t retarded or anything like that. The first “speech” I remember Elmore giving was on how super saiyan levels from Dragonball Z work. About halfway through his speech, Elmore paused and apologized. He said he had just smoked a bowl before class and was having trouble delivering his speech. I knew then that this kid had stones.

What I didn’t know about until a little later was Elmore’s possessed a massive MOTU collection. Like, really big. I thought I was cool with Hordak and Trap-Jaw on my desk, but Elmore puts my collecting heart to shame. 10 years burning plastic torsos down the road and Elmore is still He-Man hoarding strong.

Why collect He-Man? Why not Ninja Turtles or GI Joe?
The main figures I collect are He-Man, Thundercats, and Silverhawks. I have some Turtles, Transformers, and other toys, but growin’ up He-Man, Tcats, and Silverhawks were my fave.

Do you call them “He-Man figures” or “Masters of the Universe figures?”
Definitely He-Man figures.

Are most of your vintage figures the ones you owned when you were a kid? Or did you go back and re-buy them?
I’d say a 1/4 of em were mine from when I was a kid. When I was in high school and started looking on internet I saw some sites people made for 80s cartoons. It made me go in the attic and pull out what I had. Then with eBay and some toy shows it just got bigger and bigger and I started asking my friends if they had any.

Above: Elmore

Keep Reading »

OLOST – Bear McCreary’s Passacaglia

Sorry about the delay, folks. Meditate to this and embrace your inner Luddite.

OLOST – “Join the Professionals” From The Fabulous Stains

Because it’s Friday and I can do whatever I want. And because Ray Winstone is the shit.

OLOST – “We Can Do Anything” From Garbage Pail Kids

The Garbage Pail Kids are a bunch of non-union scabs.

I Saw the Devil: Capture, Torture, Release, Repeat

Korea knows how to do revenge movies right, but before being edited to death, I Saw the Devil was banned from public theaters in Korea for scenes that “severely damage the dignity of human values.” Yeah whatever Korea. This is America and my red-blooded values weren’t severely damaged by this epic revenge thriller from Korean cult director Jee-woon Kim. Jee-woon has already proven himself to be a master craftsman with his previous films A Bittersweet Life, A Tale of Two Sisters and The Good, The Bad, The Weird (the latter two currently available on Netflix Watch Instantly, btw) and with I Saw the Devil he cements his greatness even further – alongside a bit of the old ultraviolence.

Choi Min-sik (Oldboy) plays Kyung-chul, a serial killer who is the most terrifying evil force since Anton in No Country. The film opens with him abducting a woman stranded while she waits for a tow truck. He beats her with a tire iron, throws her in his mini-school bus (even killers need a day job), and brings her back to his hovel where he rapes and dismembers her. Unbeknownst to Choi, the woman was the fiancé of government special agent Kim Soo-hyeon (Lee Byung-hyun from The Good, The Bad, The Weird) and the daughter of Seoul’s chief of police. After some light mourning, Kim leaves his government job to hunt down his girl’s killer inflict “10,0000” times more pain on him than she experienced.

Keep Reading »

OLOST – Monster Squad Rap

Performed by the Monster Squad and written/produced by DICK RUDOLPH. Seriously, everything from the late ’80s to mid ’90s was a rap.

The Adjustment Bureau: Theological SciFi for Romantics

In Philip K. Dick’s 1954 short story “The Adjustment Team,” a dog barks one minute too late, causing a ripple effect that changes the course of the universe. In George Nolfi‘s The Adjustment Bureau, a loose adaptation of Dick’s story, Matt Damon catches a bus he’s supposed to miss and sets off a chain of events that force the men of the bureau to step in. Nolfi’s film is much more a romance than a scifi thriller. It’s exposition-heavy with more conversations than chases and addresses the philosophical catch-22 of predestination versus free will in an attractive little package.

David Norris (Damon) is a charming frontrunner for the New York Senate but while his devil-may-care attitude attracts young voters, it also causes controversy along the campaign trail. While practicing a speech in the men’s room, Norris encounters Elise (Emily Blunt), who got caught crashing a wedding and is hiding out in the bathroom. Sparks fly all over the bathroom and Elise inspires Norris to deliver an overly Blunt speech about how campaigns transform candidates into retarded children who can’t dress themselves. But according to “the plan,” Norris and Elise are never supposed to meet again.

Keep Reading »

OLOST – John Carpenter’s “Coup de Ville”

John Carpenter’s scored most of his own films. He’s a talented dude like that. But when it comes to singing in a music video for one of his films, he should just chill. Regardless, Big Trouble in Little China fucking rules.

OLOST – “Big Guns” From Last Action Hero

Arnold is cooler than the other side of the pillow in this one.

Side note: Last Action Hero was written by Shane Black, the man helming Iron Man 3. There’s nothing he can’t do.