The release of this past weekend’s fourth entry in the Final Destination series not only thrilled gore-loving audiences with body parts exploding in their faces, but also once again brought up the curious categorization of none other than the MPAA, who rightfully graced the film with an R-rating for “strong violent/gruesome accidents, language and a scene of sexuality.” The accidents part was especially interesting given their rating of The Knowing earlier this year, wherein some far less cartoonish, but equally as horrific accident scenes garnered the film a more family-friendly PG-13 for “disaster sequences, disturbing images and brief strong language.” Sensing as good a time as any to take some time to delve deeper into the MPAA rabbit hole, All Movie has decided to republish Jeremy Wheeler and Perry Seibert’s analysis of the group’s uneven work over the last few years. Read on to find out how the MPAA has described the work of directors as diverse as Tim Burton, David Cronenberg, and action-meister Jan de Bont.

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Earlier this morning, the fine folks over at Twitch reported on a rumor that director Dave Green would follow up his refrigerator-horror film Meltdown with a short about vengeful roadkill to be produced by Sam Raimi.

And while that tidbit is juicy enough for horror hounds in itself, fans of Mary Harron’s American Psycho will want to take a look at this music video tribute to the film that Green directed for Miles Fisher’s cover of the Talking Heads‘ “This Must be the Place.”

There’s no nudity in the clip and the violence is stylized to the point where it’s more humorous than offensive, though it may still be considered NSFW due to some fairly explicit sexuality.

Click the still to link to the video on the director’s website.

Late last month, The New York Times posted an interesting article on the sudden career resurgence of French screen icon Jean-Paul Belmondo – mainstay of Breathless, The Thief of Paris, Mississippi Mermaid and dozens of additional Euro classics, and one of the top international sex symbols for years.

For those who aren’t aware of how he spent the past decade: Belmondo suffered from a massive, well-publicized stroke in 2001 that left him partially incapacitated and robbed him of speech for six months. For a time it looked as though he would never work again. But this was not to be: the iconic Jean-Paul enjoyed a comeback of sorts in last month’s Un Homme et son chien (A Man and His Dog) – not original material per se, but a big screen remake of Vittorio de Sica’s neorealist masterpiece Umberto D. The twist? It seems as though Belmondo has experienced only a partial recovery. NY Times correspondent Elaine Sciolino writes:

“Belmondo uses a metal crutch and drags his right leg when he walks. His upper body tilts to the left when he moves. He speaks in short sentences, sometimes slurring his words. His right arm sits lifeless by his side… He agreed to do A Man and His Dog… only if it showed him as the old, disabled man that he is. ‘It’s me,’ he said, ‘without any special effects.’”

The French press did not take kindly to this realism – and that’s putting it mildly. As referenced in the Times article, François-Guillaume Lorrain writes in a Le Point assessment of the film, “the movie is, in effect, a documentary of a man who suffered a stroke in 2001… One can only be staggered by this portrayal of decrepitude and this disillusioned universe where the only point of interest is … a dog.’”

Let me be perfectly clear: I can’t begrudge Belmondo the desire to work again. I also genuinely empathize with his physical plight, and regard the Le Point comment as stunningly tasteless and insensitive. But the whole scenario does raise an interesting question - regarding when, and if, an actor should bow out of the limelight after suffering from a debilitating illness. It’s the same question, more or less, that the ailing Dick Clark’s presence on the Rockin’ New Year’s Eve raised last December 31st, or that the Chris Reeve inevitably raised when he when he made several feature appearances following his equestrian accident that left him quadriplegic and dramatically shortened his life span. Given the demands of public image that attach themselves to celebrity, is it ill-advised for a superstar to go on taking on-camera roles as if nothing has transpired, following a devastating physiological crisis (as several French periodicals boldly suggested about Jean-Paul)? Or does the nobility in this, and the importance of our respect for the victim, far outweigh any artistic compromises that may result in the finished product?

According to The Independent, mercurial actor Val Kilmer is mulling a run for public office. Current New Mexico Governor Bill Richardson, one of the four serious candidates for the Democatic party’s presidential ticket in 2008, said that he liked the idea of the Real Genius star taking over the job in 2010. Personally speaking, I will move to the state and cast a vote for him if, on the campaign trail, he makes stump speeches as different characters he’s played. Who wouldn’t want to hear Jim Morrison discuss the hot button topic of immigration? How great would it be to see the CIA agent in Top Secret take the stage in a debate? I’d expect Gay Perry from Kiss Kiss, Bang Bang to offer up some genuine insight into the gay marriage issue.

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Anyone who’s been keeping tabs on the indie horror scene has no doubt heard the name Adam Wingard being bandied about by now. Not only has Wingard’s innovative experimental horror film Pop Skull managed to generate quite a buzz on the festival circuit over the course of the last year, but his freshman feature Home Sick - an ambitious little shocker featuring appearance by genre veterans Bill Moseley and Tom Towles - is set to be released on DVD from Synapse Films later this month as well. For horror fans who have grown tired of the typical slasher film formula and constant onslaught of remakes, Wingard may be just the director we’ve been waiting for to give our beloved genre a much-needed goose. As evidenced by his quote singling out Pop Skull as “the film to watch while you’re robotripping” it’s obvious that Wingard isn’t the sort to play it safe, and his interview with Colin Armstrong over at Twitch Film details how he’s currently getting primed for bigger and better things.

Full interview here.

I may not look forward to the next Potter film with the same pee-your-pants intensity I held for the final novel, but it doesn’t mean I’m not excited for the release of Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince. Judging from the trailer – which fellow AMG-er Perry described as “Omen-y” – there is a lot to get excited about, including but not limited to Voldemort in his formative years, badass Dumbledore, and if we’re lucky, the reanimated corpses of some very unfortunate wizards. After all, evil just isn’t evil without a zombie army.

Fanboys and girls everywhere perked up their ears when talk of a live action adaptation of the hit anime series Cowboy Bebop began brewing in the nerd community at large. Oh the joy. Oh the horror. This will be awesome until it becomes terrible.

We fans are fickle, irrational creatures when it comes to the furthering of our favorite franchises. For the cult surrounding some particular novel or comic or video game, there are few diversions as engrossing as speculating about how the masterpiece could be adapted to film — fantasizing about dream casts, bickering about worthy directors, and bitching about the inevitable ways that the precious material would be most unavoidably and completely f*cked up.

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In March of this year, Wellesnet.com published an extraordinary article on the long-rumored completion of Orson Welles’s “lost” penultimate film, The Other Side of the Wind, partially produced and then all but abandoned in the early seventies. The article in question, which features two extensive and fascinating interviews that Lawrence French conducts with Other Side star Peter Bogdanovich, can be read here:

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