The 1997 hip-hop documentary directed by Peter Spirer

Spike Lee’s Do The Right Thing character immortalized in wood by Rico Deniro.

The premiere of this documentary is this Friday, August 3rd in NYC, followed by the LA premiere on August 10th.

“After an earthquake devastates his beloved country, a Haitian Princeton janitor seeks the support of the privileged community he serves everyday and sacrifices everything to revive his lifelong dream to bring what is most fundamental to his village’s survival; clean water.”

Lil Wayne, the documentary. Watch it in full.

Ruby Sparks—the latest film from husband-and-wife directors Jonathan Dayton and Valerie Faris—is about Calvin (Paul Dano), a twenty-something writer struggling to produce a follow-up to his first novel, which he wrote in his teens and became a bestseller.

In an attempt to overcome his writer’s block, Calvin sees a therapist (Elliot Gould), who gives him an assignment to write about his ideal woman. Calvin dreams up a 26-year-old artist named Ruby (Zoe Kazan), who is redheaded, bright and outspoken. The more Calvin writes about her, the more real she becomes, until one morning, when he wakes up and finds a very real Ruby, half-dressed and nonchalantly eating cereal, in his kitchen.

The film’s storyline is reminiscent of the Greek myth Pygmalion, or even Weird Science (one of our favorite movies, for all the wrong reasons). But comparisons to the 1980s science-fiction flick stop there—where Wyatt and Gary create Lisa, a supervixen willing to fulfill their every fantasy, Calvin’s Ruby is a quirky and fully realized character, which means she is not perfect. And when Calvin vows to never write about her again, she becomes individualistic and temperamental, and it’s these aspects of her personality, the parts he did not write, which allow him to understand what it really means to love someone else.

Overall, Ruby Sparks is funny and smart—a rarity in the romantic-comedy subgenre—and despite its imaginative concept, the film succeeds in feeling genuine and delivering an important message about relationships and independence.

You can make Ruby real here. (Just try not to give her knee shooters, you little maniacs.)

This 1985 Japanese comedy directed by Juzo Itami was billed as the ‘first ramen Western.’

via, grubstreet

The Beatles Were Terrifying with Fred Willard

“a powerful insight into the tragedy and scandal of Haiti’s Cholera epidemic through the eyes of a young baseball player.”

“The inside story on the collapse of one of the most influential bands of the 77 UK explosion.”

(thanks Rog!)

Over the next week we’ll be pulling some interesting pages from The Worst of While You Were Sleeping in an effort to encourage you to go out and buy the book.

This accompanied a revealing interview with the film director in WYWS #14

The Hobbit San Diego Comic-Con Poster.

via, laughingsquid

Skrillex, James Franco, Harmony Korine and Gucci Mane

Eddie Murphy as Grandma Klump

Set designer Sir Ken Adam reminisces about the unique film sets he created for Bond over the years.

Made in tandem with Designing 007, an exhibition at The Barbican celebrating 50 years of Bond Style.

[Read more]

A 13-minute featurette for you this morning.

Yes.

The kickstarter could use some help too.

via, tdw

I was going to write a review about the Wes Anderson movie I saw the other night. But after I watched Savage Streets and I cant even remember what it was called. Savage Streets has it all – deaf chicks getting gang raped by a punk drug dealing gang, a high school girls shower scene that goes on FOR EVER – like 100 extras NAKED, cross bows, cheerleaders, cool shots of Hollywood in the early 80s and like a zillion other awesome things I don’t want to mention and ruin for you. Go to your NETFLIX and get this now. SHIT IS HOTTT!

—Roger

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In a remote part of the Louisiana delta, cut off from civilization by a levee is a Bayou community known solely as ‘The Bathtub.’ A place where the only luxury is living, and where death is celebrated as joyously as birth. Making something out of nothing is the spirit of both this fictitious community, and the filmmakers who brought this story to life.

Beasts of the Southern Wild is the debut feature from New Orleans filmmaker Benh Zeitlin. A magical, emotional tale centering on a wise little girl named Hushpuppy (Quvenzhané Wallis) and the obstacles she faces existing inside a community in constant struggle to retain its independence. Raised by a strong-handed single father named Wink (Dwight Henry) in a two trailer compound on stilts, Hushpuppy is taught everything she knows in order to survive on her own in a world full of uncertainty. Presented with a string of catastrophes—from a Katrina-type storm surge to her father’s mysterious illness—Hushpuppy navigates between childhood fantasy with an innate connection to nature, and the reality of her surroundings in a place whose future is unclear.

Created on a minimal budget, Beasts of the Southern Wild delivers raw, exemplary performances from its cast—both father and daughter are first time actors, plucked from the state of Louisiana, itself—and cinematic beauty with a mixture of still and handheld shots. These feats have not gone unnoticed, as the film received the Grand Jury Prize for dramatic feature at Sundance, and the coveted Caméra d’Or for best first film at Cannes.

Beasts of the Southern Wild is a film you take your mother to if you want her to end up in tears, and your girlfriend to if you want to see how long she can keep it together. A test that unsurprisingly you’ll be challenged with as well.

Opening in select theaters this Wednesday, July 27th.

Resurrecting a clip from Pootie Tang due to today’s warmth.