While Jeff Cohen, who played Chunk in The Goonies, is no longer a husky child star likely to lift his shirt and do the Truffle Shuffle, it's still pretty cool that The Loft is making it possible to see the movie with someone who was in it and make a little money to fight cancer in the meantime:

Saturday, September 24th at 12:00 p.m.
Movie at 12:00 p.m. / Q&A with star Jeff Cohen ("Chunk") from 2:00 p.m. - 3:00 p.m.
Admission: $8.00 all tickets
**Autographed photos will be available at the show for an additional $10.00 each**

PLUS:
VIP Meet and Greet with Jeff Cohen at 10:30 a.m.
Early bird VIP ticket price: $25.00 / VIP tickets purchased after Sept. 17th: $35.00
VIP tickets include a free drink, an autograph and a chance to mingle with Jeff before the screening.

Presented by The Loft Cinema, friends of cancer survivors, The Arizona Cancer Center and Irwin M. Berlat and Associates, Inc.

"Hey, You Guys!" Come see THE GOONIES, one of the all-time greatest '80s action/adventure flicks, and meet actor JEFF COHEN (who played everyone's favorite Truffle Shuffler, CHUNK) live in person!
All proceeds benefit cancer care/treatment, so don't miss your chance to support a great cause by seeing all your favorite Goonies up on the big screen AND the one-and-only Chunk live and in the flesh! And tell 'em One-Eyed Willie sent ya ...

In his review of the instantly-forgettable 30 Minutes or Less, Weekly reviewer Bob Grimm mentioned his first impression of Bucky Larson: Born to Be a Star:

A trailer for an upcoming movie that [Nick] Swardson headlines, Bucky Larson: Born to Be a Star, previewed before the movie. I don't like to prejudge a movie by its trailer, but it sure does look like pure dog shit.

Turns out, most of the movie-going public agrees with Grimm, since the film averaged EIGHT people per screening this weekend, making $1.45 million, good enough for fifteenth place in the box office rankings. Maybe it was the universal panning of the film by critics (Colin Boyd reviews it this Thursday; SPOILER ALERT: he's not going to shift the score off zero), but it seems people believe a movie about a killer virus sounds like a better time at the local megaplex. Are we getting closer to the day where Adam Sandler is forbidden from making movies? Looks like it, and not a moment too soon.

Yes, the shoes exist, but they don't actually powerlace. Regardless, 150 pairs of the shoes are on eBay now, raising money for the Michael J. Fox Foundation fighting Parkinson's Disease, which is a very good thing.

I personally enjoy my job, but I know there are some of you out there who aren't so lucky. Lucky enough to have a job, sure, but crushed by the inequity of giving up your time for a paycheck. Have I got the short animated film for you! Argentinan animator Santiago Grasso's El Empleo manages to beautiful in a gloomy way, which isn't an easy task. Good luck out there, workers of the city!

[Laughing Squid]

I don't know exactly what's going on with the new Pedro Almodovar film, The Skin I Live In, which stars Antonio Banderas and is set to be released in America on October 14 (although one can only guess when it will show here in Tucson), although I think I might have nightmares starring the guy licking the screen in the middle somewhere. Even if I generally prefer Almodovar's emotionally tender work to his creepy psychosexual stuff, it's good to see Banderas back making movies that seem worth seeing.

[NYMag]

Although, for me, watching this movie with my wife might be mildly uncomfortable due to her shameless, undying crush on Johnny Depp, it's still an adaptation of a Hunter S. Thompson novel with a great cast. Something for both of us, I guess.

I've been meaning to see this movie for weeks now. So I was happy to hear that The Loft is screening it until this Thursday (with a possibility of further extending its showing there). But let me backtrack. This movie's called The Trip, starring British comedian Steve Coogan and Rob Brydon, fellow comedian and impressionist. Coogan's on assignment, reviewing a bunch of restaurants in England, Brydon tags along, and an epic road-trip ensues.

Here's what the critics have to say:

"THE FUNNIEST, laugh-out-loud film of the summer." - James Verniere, BOSTON HERALD

"WARNING: Do not bring a beverage into the theatre. You may laugh so hard that liquid will come out of your nose." - Richard Corliss, TIME MAGAZINE

"HYSTERICAL! I had some of the biggest laughs I've had in a movie all year." - Mick LaSalle, SAN FRANCISCO CHRONICLE

"HILARIOUS! The dueling impersonations of Michael Caine is the funniest scene of the year." - Owen Gleiberman, ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY

For more, click here.

No particular reason for embedding this particular video, other than I enjoy crosswords and get excited when I see people on TV filling them out. It makes me feel like a cool kid for a moment.

[NYMag]

Jimmy Valiant: Scions of Danger Full-Length Trailer 1 from NDFilmmaker on Vimeo.

Introducing Jimmy Valiant, the hero of a TV pilot bringing some of the ideas from the Bourne series of films, but shoehorning the PG parts into a Christian-friendly theme. Are you tired of seeing James Bond have so much fun, drinking, gambling, and all the sex? Jimmy Valiant is here to save the day!

After a tragedy in the family business, young Jimmy Valiant (Brant Harris Disharoon) seeks independence as an international soldier-for-hire. An anonymous client recruits Jimmy to shadow a controversial Texas State Senator trying to rescue a group of children who have been kidnapped from their Christian parents. Jimmy must overcome his myopia as he initiates an investigation that unconvers some startling truths, and brings him face-to-face with the last man in the wold that he ever wanted to meet again. Soon he finds himself caught up in a conspiracy that threatens to undermine everything that he has come to trust.

Other than George Lucas and his constant work-in-progress tinkering with the Star Wars films, has there been a movie presented in as many versions than Blade Runner? Wikipedia lists seven, but it seems like there have been hundreds.

Well, guess what? While there isn't a lot of information out there yet, it looks like Scott is revisiting the story again in some fashion:

After revisiting his classic Alien with the upcoming 3D Fox film Prometheus, Ridley Scott is committing to direct and produce a film that advances his other seminal and groundbreaking science fiction film. Scott has signed on to direct and produce a new installment of Blade Runner....

I’m not getting a clear sense at this point whether Scott intends to do a sequel or a prequel to the 1982 film that was loosely based on the Philip K. Dick novel Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? Also unclear is whether they start fresh or reach out to Harrison Ford. The original took place in dystopian Los Angeles in 2019, in which organic superhuman robots called replicants escaped and are hiding somewhere on earth. Ford played Richard Deckard, a burnt out blade runner assigned to hunt them down. His tired life gets altered when he himself falls for one of the replicants and struggles to keep her from being destroyed.

The film was not a blockbuster when first released—it grossed $32 million in its original run—but the film has gained esteem over time. From the bleak but breathtaking visuals to the complex storyline and themes of mortality, Blade Runner became a classic. There has periodically been talks of doing a sequel but those never really went anywhere. After injecting state of the art 3D in reviving Alien, imagine what Scott can do with Blade Runner? Now, the filmmaker is ready to engage.

Scott is already working on a new take on the Alien saga, Prometheus, that apparently not part of the direct narrative, but related somehow, and that might be a better way to go with Blade Runner, as well. Maybe someone wants to see a straight remake, jazzed up with 3D, CGI, and all the other new filmmaking tricks, but I certainly don't.