In 2007, Quentin Tarantino and Robert Rodriguez brought us Grindhouse, a gritty, blood-soaked double feature that tipped its hat to the low budget exploitation movies that played during the 1970′s. The film featured some really fun trailers for fake movies.  Rob Zombie, Eli Roth, Edgar Wright, and Rodriquez were each responsible for one of the trailers.

The trailers were such a huge hit with fans that one of them has been turned into a movie. Machete (directed by Robert Rodriguez) hits theaters on September 3rd.

Now comes word that Eli Roth’s trailer for Thanksgiving will be made into a full length feature film.  Roth confirmed the news with Cinema Blend, and said that the movie is in the beginning stages.

The Thanksgiving trailer features the town of Plymouth, Massachusetts  celebrating the holiday while a serial killer dressed as a Pilgrim goes on a decapitation spree.  It is deliciously gruesome and the voice over narration is to die for (pun intended.)  This year, there will be no leftovers!

Roth has recruited friend Jeff Rendell to help pen the movie. Rendell appears in the trailer as the deranged Pilgrim. The two hope to write the story as soon as Roth finishes doing publicity for The Last Exorcism, which he produced.  That film will be released this Friday, August 27.

Check out the trailer for Thanksgiving after the jump. Warning: very NSFW.

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This week’s pick goes behind the lines of World War II France with the 1967 release of Robert Aldrich’s The Dirty Dozen. The film stars the legendary Lee Marvin as Major John Reisman, an American OSS (pre C.I.A.) operative chosen by Allied command to recruit, train, and drop twelve convicted American military prisoners into France before the Normandy invasion to wipe out a chateau full of German brass. Aldrich adapts E.M. Nathanson’s novel to bring one of the 1960s most successful war movies to the screen.

The cast is a who’s who of some of Hollywood’s best talent. Ernest Borgnine (Maj. Gen. Worden), Charles Bronson (Joseph Wladislaw), Jim Brown (Robert T. Jefferson), John Cassavetes (Victor R. Franko), Richard Jaeckel (Sgt. Clyde Bowren), George Kennedy (Maj. Max Armbruster), Ralph Meeker (Capt. Stuart Kinder), Robert Ryan (Col. Everett Dasher Breed), Telly Savalas (Archer J. Maggott), Donald Sutherland (Vernon L. Pinkley), Clint Walker (Samson Posey), and Robert Webber (Brig. Gen. Denton).

Major Reisman is selected for this mission due to his illustrious reputation for behind the lines action, but he is also well known for exceeding his orders and showing borderline insubordination for his superiors. Both General Worden and Denton tell Reisman that the twelve men have a temporary stay of their sentences for the mission.

Reisman knows fully well that it’s a suicide mission and asks the Generals to reconsider and that the only way for these men to go along with such a deal, is to pardon them for their crimes and that they be returned to active duty at their former ranks. It’s a tough sell, but Gen. Worden agrees and Reisman has just a few short months to train these convicts and turn them into an elite commando unit.

Most of the twelve men are serving long prison sentences, but five (Franko, Jefferson, Maggott, Posey and Wladislaw) are to be hung for murder. Reisman sells the promise of amnesty to these five, because they are the ones with the most to lose. Reisman tells them all that they are dependent of one another and that if any try to escape, fail to add up, or quit, they will all be sent back to prison.

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There’s something a bit sad in seeing a grimy spaghetti western after Quentin Tarantino has already had his way with it. This is a film I would have liked to have discovered at 1am on a cable channel, the better to marvel at its split-screen flashbacks and Morricone score.  But that was not to be. Instead, I saw this film by way of Kill Bill, which lifts best parts, and runs with them.

The plot of Death Rides a Horse is exceedingly simple and familiar.  Bill Meceita (John Phillip Law) watches his family butchered by a gang of outlaws, and grows up vowing to avenge them.  A few dusty canyons away, Ryan (Lee Van Cleef) has just been let out of prison, and is hunting the gang with dreams of extortion dancing in his angel eyes. Ryan refuses to work with Bill, but they end up crossing and recrossing paths anyway.  Sometimes they help the other out, sometimes they double cross, but it always ends with one of them being stranded in the desert.

Death Rides A Horse is not a great spaghetti western.   It wears its Leone homages heavy on its sleeve — the relationship between Ryan (Lee Van Cleef) and Bill Meceita (John Phillip Law) is a pale imitation between Manco and Col. Mortimer in A Few Dollars More, with lots of “old man!” and “boy!” thrown around.

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For the longest time, the world of rap music and Kung Fu cinema were as separate as one would think they could be. A bridge was then formed by the popular group Wu-Tang Clan, and more specifically, The RZA.

Wu-Tang showed appreciation for all-things Kung Fu in their music, their wardrobe, and even their name, which derives from a fictional martial arts sect, known as the Wudang. They even produced a few Kung Fu-style music videos.

Later, The RZA teamed up with Quentin Tarantino to score his epic homage to Asian cinema in Kill Bill Vol. 1. That’s when RZA first got his taste of big-budget films. Since then, he has gone on to compose for other action films such as War, Smokin’ Aces and composing just about everything to do with Afro Samurai.

Now, RZA is stepping behind the camera, with two brand new projects. His first, entitled The Man with the Iron Fist, is said to be a brand new martial arts-action, starring RZA, and is set to shoot later this year. The other film, is an impressive looking send-up to classic Shaw Bros. films in Wu-Tang Vs. The Golden Phoenix.

There are some parts of the trailer that may come across as campy to the untrained eye, but rest assured that they are most definitely RZA’s way of paying homage to some classic Kung Fu films. Check out the trailer after the jump, and be sure to keep an eye out for Wu-Tang Vs. The Golden Phoenix, as it’s planning to be released later this year, as celebration for RZA’s 20th Anniversary in the music business.

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This week on The Flickcast, Chris and Matt are once again joined by Elisabeth Rappe to discuss all things Oscar. With the Academy Awards airing this Sunday, the team discusses the nominees, argues about who might take home a statue, makes their predictions and generally has a great time.

So, fire up your iPod or browser, get your list of nominees ready, listen to the show and follow along and see if your picks match those of our team. Of course, be sure to catch the Oscars live on Sunday, March 7th at 8/5 Pacific on ABC.

As always, if you have comments, questions, critiques, offers of sponsorship or whatever, feel free to hit us up in the comments, on Twitter, at Facebook and MySpace or via email.

Never let it be said a violent film like Inglourious Basterds can’t also serve the public interest and give back a little something. What am I talking about?

Well, tomorrow at L.A.’s Upper Playground Gallery, in conjuction with The Weinstein Company, will be an exhibition of alternative poster art for the film from a variety of contemporary artists including David Choe, N8 Van Dyke, Morning Breath and Grotesk. The posters, all signed by director Quentin Tarantino, will be sold and the proceeds will benefit the Red Cross’ Haiti relief efforts.

Check out al the posters at the gallery’s website. Also, here’s more info from the official press release:

THE LOST ART OF THE FILM “INGLOURIOUS BASTERDS”

BENEFIT ART PROGRAM TO HELP RAISE MONEY FOR THE VICTIMS OF THE HAITI EARTHQUAKE

SA Studios Global’s Film Marketing Division has teamed up with Quentin Tarantino, Upper Playground and The Weinstein Company to present, THE LOST ART OF INGLOURIOUS BASTERDS.

On February 18th, 2010 from 6p – 9p the world will get to preview and purchase the “Lost Art of Inglorious Basterds” at The Upper Playground Art Gallery in Downtown Los Angeles. All proceeds from this program will be donated to The American Red Cross to help the victims of the Haiti Earthquake.

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The 82nd annual Academy Award nominations were announced this morning. This is the first year that the Best Picture category has been expanded to ten films. Here is a list of the major category nominees.

For a complete list of all nominees, visit the official site of the Oscars. The Awards take place on Sunday, March 7 at 8/5P on ABC.

Best Supporting Actress
Penelope Cruz, Nine
Vera Farmiga, Up in the Air
Maggie Gyllenhal, Crazy Heart
Anna Kendrick, Up in the Air
Mo’nique, Precious

Best Supporting Actor
Matt Damon, Invictus
Woody Harrelson, The Messenger
Christopher Plummer, The Last Station
Stanley Tucci, The Lovely Bones
Christoph Waltz, Inglourious Basterds

Best Actress
Sandra Bullock, The Blind Side
Helen Mirren, The Last Station
Carey Mulligan, An Education
Gabourey Sidibie, Precious
Meryl Streep, Julie and Julia

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When I set out on this long and dusty trail, one of my goals was to highlight the classic (or not so classic) films people could watch online. It’s never been my intention to restrict it to online selections, but I feel like the “Instant! Now! Yes!” can excite people to go watch a film like The Searchers immediately instead of putting it off yet again.

That said, we are talking about the wild wild west here. There are no rules! Guidelines are meant to be broken!  Especially when Django arrives in the mail.

Django exists in the murky world between “completely obscure” and “well known classic,” that world Quentin Tarantino, Robert Rodriguez, and Takashi Miike live in and gleefully borrow from.   Despite that it was the one of the most violent films of the 1960s (it was even banned in England and Sweden), type it into Google and the top results are websites for the Python web framework.

How did Django fall so low?  I’m not sure, except there does seem to be a suspicion or a distaste for the spaghetti westerns that followed Sergio Leone. For moviegoers, and the bastions of film criticism, it seems to have  ended with Once Upon a Time in the West, and nothing else was worth watching.

Especially not a film that reportedly spawned 100 unofficial sequels, and a German following that was so desperate for more that they pretended every Franco Nero movie was a Django installment.  In Germany, Camelot was renamed Django Lancelot. (No, not really. At least, I don’t think so ….)

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Hot Toys, a company that makes life-like renditions of famous movie and pop culture figures, has released images of their newest creation. Brad Pitt’s Lieutenant Aldo Raine, from Quentin Tarantino’s Inglourious Basterds can (hopefully) soon by yours.

The 1/6th scale recreation covers the smallest detail from the Nazi scalping knife to the unexplained noose scars around his neck. The resemblance to the actual Brad Pitt (of which, this is his first officially licensed figure), is uncanny.

Check out some neat images and the specifications for the figure, courtesy of our pals at SlashFilm, after the jump.

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The Directors Guild of America announced the nominations for its 62nd annual awards today with Kathryn Bigelow for The Hurt Locker, James Cameron for Avatar, Lee Daniels for Precious, Jason Reitman for Up in the Air and Quentin Tarantino for Inglourious Basterds all as nominees for its top feature directing award.

The DGA will reveal the winner Jan. 30 at an awards gala at the Century Plaza Hotel based on voting by its 14,000 members. Cameron won the DGA trophy in 1997 for Titanic and Tarantino was nominated in 1994 for Pulp Fiction. Bigelow, Daniels and Reitman are first-time nominees.

The DGA’s Award for Outstanding Directorial Achievement in Feature Film has matched the Best Director Academy Award in all but six years since 1948 including last year when Danny Boyle won both trophies for Slumdog Millionaire.

2009 was a great year for films in general, particularly if you’re a fan of the sci-fi genre. The year also saw the return of a beloved franchise to the big screen as well as the latest film by one of our best modern directors. And even with the current condition of the country and the economy, audiences still managed to fill theaters and the movies enjoyed record breaking successes that hopefully will continue on into the new year.

Even with all the great movies in 2009, there were also some not so great ones. Sadly, there will always be some real bombs, but that’s to be expected. Fortunately, there were also quite a few standouts that helped keep us entertained, enthralled and excited about going to the movies in 2009.

As usual with lists of this type, I need to disclaim and say this is my list of what I felt were the best films of 2009. Nobody can see everything and opinions vary. Your list may be different.

Differing opinions and the freedom to express them are one of the things that make this country great. There’s always something new and different to see and do and we all get to choose what’s best for us. What movies we watch and enjoy is no exception.

That said, here then is my list, in no particular order, of the films I feel were the best of 2009.

Inglourious Basterds — 2009 saw the return of director Quentin Tarantino and the release of this amazing film. Some might consider it overlong or self-indulgent, but it showcases Tarantino’s filmmmaking skills at their finest and serves as an example of one filmmaker’s singular vision and immense storytelling craft.

This film provides the audience with something they never got from real life: closure. To finally see the Nazis, and in particular Hitler, get the ending they deserve is a testament to the power of this film and to its creator.

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Rather than tell you what I think I should, I decided to come clean on this list. For instance, I am aware that A Serious Man might technically and artistically be a cut above some of these, but I just didn’t enjoy it as much. I’ll also preface this by saying since I was covering most of the main-stream movies this year, there were a lot of independent movies I didn’t see, so they may not appear on the list. The film title links to a review when applicable.

Up In The Air – Buoyed by a trio of fantastic actors, I found this movie to be utterly charming. Directed by Jason Reitman (Thank You For Smoking, Juno), the movie is touching, prescient, original, and funny. Vera Farmiga, George Clooney and Anna Kendrick all received Golden Globe acting nominations.  George Clooney’s depiction of a traveling man who keeps any type of human interaction at arm’s length is effortless, and is a joy to watch.

A Single Man – This film is still in limited release, so many people have not seen it, but I was absolutely blown away by designer Tom Ford’s directorial debut. He brings an artistic eye to the story of a gay man in 1962 who has recently lost a live-in companion. Heavy stuff, and Colin Firth gives a truly amazing performance that will break your heart.

Julianne is a stunning aging beauty who longs to have a relationship with the emotionally unavailable George. Universally relatable to anyone who has ever been in love, or experienced unrequited love. Seamlessly shifting from sepia, black and white, and color, the film is gorgeous. Beautifully scored by Abel Korzeniowsky as well.

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