Saturday, August 12, 2006
Apocalypto
Update!
According to BBC, Disney has issued a rebuttal and has said that they have not dropped Apocalypto, and will still distribute it when it comes out later this year.
Original article follows
Looks like Disney has decided to cut Mel loose after he went a little mad. Apocalypto is up for auction.
FoxNews thinks it might go to Lions Gate, the indie label "with a history of rescuing distressed projects. In the past they've picked up Kevin Smith's "Dogma" and Michael Moore's "Fahrenheit 9/11" when Miramax was prevented from putting them out by their own agreements with Disney."
Ever since I was a young'un I've loved reading about ancient Central and South American cultures. Their art, religion, and architecture is definitely worth a movie or twelve. I'm kinda meh on the whole language thing, but that didn't kill it for me. Looks like a drunken Aussie ruined it for the Mouse house though.
Maybe it'll come out in December as originally planned, maybe it won't. Stay tuned here for further updates!
Source: Dark Horizons, Fox News Continue reading Apocalypto
Hott Fuzz!
I wasn't at Comic-Con, so I have no idea whether this was part of the presentation there, but I was sitting in the cinema this afternoon waiting for Miami Vice to come on, and after an inordinate amount of stupid adverts and lame trailers - most of which seemed to star Eva Longoria - we got our special crackerjack prize, something I was certainly not expecting: the teaser for Hot Fuzz, the new comedy from the folks behind the amazing Shaun of the Dead!
The story of a hot London cop who is transferred to a sleepy English town, the flick is apparently an affectionate spoof of all things actiony, and while I wish I could actually link to the trailer, it's not online, so you'll have to put up with my description.
It starts with star Simon Pegg (Shaun, from, um, Shaun) in a classroom addressing a bunch of schoolkids, and after he asks if there are any questions, we reveal Nick Frost (Ed from Shaun) with his hand up, who pipes up with:
"Is there really part of a man's brain that you can shoot that'll make his head explode?"
Cut to a frantically-edited sequence of action scenes, with lots of Woo/Melville inspired twin-gunplay, following with the crashing title card "HOT FUZZ: FROM THE PEOPLE WHO BROUGHT YOU SHAUN OF THE DEAD."
It's dead short, but awesome stuff. According to IMDB, the film comes out in February in the UK and March in the States, so it's probable this'll be appearing in American theaters soon, if it isn't already. Continue reading Hott Fuzz!
Friday, August 11, 2006
Mark Dindal To Direct People
Director Mark Dindal who up till now has dealt with llamas (Emperor's New Groove) and chickens (Chicken Little) will get a chance at doing it with live actors in Sherlock's Secretary.
The film will follow the current resident of 221B Baker Street, curator of the Sherlock Holmes Museum. Apparently people actually send letters to this address asking for help and he decides to take up a case.
The museum is legit, and if the letters are too, hopefully most of them are like this one from a five year old.
Source: Hollywood Reporter Continue reading Mark Dindal To Direct People
Prince Caspian
The sequel to The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe will start filming in January according to producer Mark Johnson. And they're shooting in Europe instead if in New Zealand.
The film will be out sometime in the summer of 2008. Time has passed since the Pevensie siblings left Narnia and things have gotten bad again for its inhabitants. The rightful king is being prevented from taking his throne by a power hungry uncle who hates all things not of man. This is actually one of my favorite books in the series.
All we know about casting at this point is that the children from the first movie will be returning. The age difference shouldn't be a problem as the characters should have aged a few years themselves. Voyage of the Dawn Treader will be the next to hit film.
Source: ComingSoon Continue reading Prince Caspian
"Bond" Responds
Much has been said about Daniel Craig, the new man in Moneypenny's life. He'll be playing 007 in Casino Royale. Well in yesterday's Forbes he responds to some of it.
Of the fans who're bashing him he says, "They hate me. They don't think I'm right for the role. It's as simple as that. They're passionate about it, which I understand, but I do wish they'd reserve judgment."
He goes on to talk about preparation.
"People kept asking, `Have you done the line yet?'" Craig tells the magazine.
"But honestly, I didn't rehearse it at all. I didn't practice it in the mirror every morning or anything like that. I didn't want to even think about saying it because I didn't want it to be this weight around my neck. I just wanted to get on with it and not blow it."
Craig decided to take Bond in a new direction.
"I watched every single Bond movie three or four times, taking in everything I could about how the character had been portrayed in the past, then threw all that away once I started doing the role," Craig says.
"There's no point in making this movie unless it's different. It'd be a waste of time unless we took Bond to a place he'd never been before."
Craig has been in movies like Munich and Layer Cake so he's not new to acting. No he doesn't look like the past Bonds, but outside of hair color it's not like the others have looked so much the same. So I'll echo "Give the man a chance." Worse case scenario his performance stinks and this is his last Bond (Lazenby). He's not going to sink a franchise that's some twenty movies deep.
I'm glad that he's at least watched all of the movies several times (though what red-blooded male hasn't), but I'm even more glad that he's chucked all that and wants to put his own stamp on the superspy. I can't imagine the pressure that he probably feels to do otherwise.
Everyone has their own favorite Bond (Mine in order: Connery, Brosnan, Moore, Dalton, Lazenby) and no matter where Craig will fall on this list over the next few years it sounds like he counts himself lucky to be on it.
Source: Forbes Continue reading "Bond" Responds
Nolan Is Number 1!
I have news about Christopher Nolan's post Batman career! Read more now!
The Prisoner was a British television series from the 60's where Patrick McGoohan's secret agent quits his job, drives Austin Powers' car, and then wakes up in 'The Village' - which is a cross between a gulag and Disneyworld seen through the filter of Alice In Wonderland and a lot of the 60's finest acid. McGoohan's became a star on his earlier work, Danger Man, which was a more straight-laced secret agent show, and gave him enough power to make a show on his own terms. The Prisoner was, as such, a giant piss-take on secret agent shows like Danger Man. It was also a study in paranoia, a possible allegory on the loss of individuality in an emerging information-state and a Kafka-esque rumination on the meaninglessness of human struggle. And it had giant balloons as guards. Strangely enough, it only ran for 17 episodes and, equally strangely, it has become a huge cult favourite with a particular type of dope-smoking intellectual hipsters.And now Christopher Nolan is rumoured to be lining up an adaptation of this series to be made after he's done with Batman sequel: The Dark Knight. There's little detail about this project at the moment, other than it will be contemporised and that it is being written by Janet and David Peoples (responsible for 12 Monkeys and Blade Runner). We will have to see if Nolan is too sick of Christian Bale to cast him in a forth movie in a row.
What is most interesting about this is that it shows a continuing trend of independent film-makers not only making blockbusters, but continuing to make them even after they get enough of the Hollywood money to buy silk toilet paper for a lifetime. There remains an idea that directors are split into those who want to make real films and those who want to make Hollywood entertainment. Those 'real' film-makers get the kudos and respect, the Hollywood guys get the shit loads of cash. The idea is that it is a deliberate choice you make.
While this distinction still holds a lot of cultural weight, the reality is the line is very blurred. The setting up of 'prestige' mini-studios (like Fox Searchlight and Sony Classics) to make 'independent' films within the studio system was done in response to the rise of The Sundance Film Festival, and the all conquering might of wacky Miramax in the '90's. Film-makers like Singer and Nolan, who came to prominance making fiercely intelligent independent films, were brought on to major blockbusters to lend the films a bit of their 'coolness' and authenticity. But these film-makers subsequent projects (ie. more blockbusters) suggests that they were not making independent films out of choice or passion, but because this was the only way they could move towards the mainstream. It is 'independent movies' as career development, which rather destroys the basis of the cool-points directors get for doing them.
Now, this is a co-opting of the independents by the system, which, as a rule, stifles creativity and progress. Equally, the recognition by the studios that they need independent-film endorsed cool-points, even if they get them by shifty means, means the films they will make will shift slightly to the left, away from the Superman 4s and Batman and Robins and further towards Superman Returns and Batman Begins. Whatever those films' faults, this feels like a good thing.
It is also the case that this apparent 'split' between independent and mainstream film ties in to the very adolescent notions of 'us vs them', 'sticking it to the man' and of the word 'cool' actually meaning something. This split, and the polarising sense of identity that goes with it has led to just as many ego-stroking, navel-gazing, willfully opaque, portentious chunks of art-wank as it has bottom feeding Hollywood dreck.
Perhaps it is better that, however messy things get, these boundaries continue to blur. Perhaps it is better that we have people like Singer and Nolan or, even better, Raimi and Jackson making our blockbusters. Perhaps, but you should probably come to your own conclusions on this. Personally the thing I think mainstream movies are missing most right now is muff.
If The Prisoner does go ahead, look towards it probably coming out in 2009, by which time we will all have personal jetpacks and be dead.
Source: Variety Continue reading Nolan Is Number 1!
Thursday, August 10, 2006
Zak Penn Will Avenge Thee!
You might have noticed our post a couple of days ago on the upcoming slate of Marvel movies, and if so, you might have caught that we forgot to mention The Avengers, Black Panther, Cloak & Dagger, Doctor Strange, Hawkeye, Power Pack and Shang-Chi are all to be developed. Well, it seems The Avengers is now entering the writing phase, and the guy who's going to write it: Zak Penn.
Yes, the same Zak Penn who helped pen the great X2, and the pretty bad X3, Elektra and Inspector Gadget, and who is also writing Marvel's Hulk redux. Marvel describes The Avengers as "Earth's mightiest heroes, formed to fight the foes no single hero could withstand. The Avengers are the most prestigious and powerful super-hero team in the world."
Comic fans will know that the Avengers line-up currently includes Spider-Man and Wolverine, the rights of which both belong to different studios (Fox with X-Men, Sony with Spidey), and curiously, there's also Iron Man, who has been an Avenger from the book's beginning in 1963, who is also being developed as a separate feature, and the team has also featured the Hulk, Thor and Ant-Man, all of which are in varying degrees of big screen development. I guess "watch this space" is the appropriate cliche to use.
Source: Coming Soon
Continue reading Zak Penn Will Avenge Thee!
The Hitcher
Neal McDonough will be playing a cop in the remake of the 1986 horror film The Hitcher. Sophia Bush (One Tree Hill) and Zach Knighton (pretty face) will be playing the college students that he strives to protect from a psychotic hitchhiker played by Sean Bean.
This is one of those remakes that just doesn't need to be made. The original, while by no means a classic, had Rutger Hauer playing the psycho hiker. I have no doubt that Sean Bean, who played Boromir in Fellowship of the Ring, could do just as well in that role. Unfortunately, my gut tells me that this is going to be a lukewarm thriller at best. Especially considering the fact that the screenwriter, Jake Wade Wall, gave us the When a Stranger Calls remake. It's a shame that there are apparently so few good horror ideas floating around.
Source: Hollywood Reporter Continue reading The Hitcher
Will Ferrell's Goofy Everyman
Looks like Will and writing partner/director Adam McKay (Ron Burgundy and Talladega Nights) are looking to make a third picture about "People who think they are great and are not, and are far from it."
They haven't finished pitching the idea to the studios so neither will say which character will follow sexist San Diego news anchor Ron Burgundy and Talladega Nights' racing legend Ricky Bobby. One thing is for sure: Only Ferrell can play him.
"Will playing prideful, mediocre guys is a joke we never get tired of," McKay says. "Will plays unearned hubris better than anyone."
The wacky duo say their bizarre brand of comedy is born from pure imagination -- McKay on a couch, Ferrell typing at a computer. (For example, McKay thought it would be funny to see a cougar attacking Ferrell; alas, in the movie, one does).
Whatever makes them laugh goes on to pal and arbiter of reason Judd Apatow, the Talladega Nights producer who also wrote and directed The 40-Year Old Virgin.
Their challenge is to keep some of the funny stuff that has nothing to do with the story in the movie.
"We often have this debate about when you walk out of a comedy, do you walk out going, 'That was an amazing story. It changed my life, that story,' " Ferrell says with mock amazement. "Or do you say, 'That was a funny line. Do you remember when this happened?' "
The battle comes when the script goes to the studio, he says.
"You always run into that thing where it's like, 'I would just cut this because it doesn't make sense,' " Ferrell says. "And we're like, 'We know it doesn't make sense. It's just a funny thing that happens, a speed bump in the movie.' You do not say, 'That does not make sense! Stop the movie!'"
It's cool to know what the writing process is for these movies. I loved Anchorman in spite of myself and I'm sure I'll enjoy Talladega.
The article goes on to say that Nascar was very supportive, only asking them to cut a scene involving a fat driver having a heart attack at the wheel. Given the money that they've made so far I can imagine that their next effort will allow them to pull out what few stops they have.
For his next part I would think a lower level politician or maybe a look at someone in the movie making process would be a good target.
Source: London Free Press Continue reading Will Ferrell's Goofy Everyman
Ratner Says His Work Is 'Total Crap'
Gerald Ratner is an English business man who owned the largest high street Jewellry store in the country during the 80's, getting rich on selling tacky crap on the cheap. Things were great until he made a speech actually admitting all his products were 'crap' and the company went bust inside of two years (read about it here), so giving an explanation as to why no-one in Hollywood tells the truth. With this in mind, self-proclaimed good film-maker Brett Ratner is attached to a re-make of 1978 film, The Boys From Brazil.
The Boys From Brazil tells the story of a plot to clone lots of copies of Hitler. It is highly daft but does have excellent performances from Gregory Peck as Dr Mengele and especially Laurence Olivier as a nazi hunter. It's kind of like the plot to Van Helsing. The plot is utterly unfeasible, involving farming the little kid Hitlers to foster families and then giving them the same life experiences (like losing his father young) as the original one and it is not helped by having some of the actors playing nazis also having played comedy nazis in British WW2 sitcom Allo Allo. I defy any Brit to watch the film now without thinking about 'Ze Fallen Madonna With Ze Big Boobies'.
So the original is high concept and, at best, only half good, which makes it prime material for remaking. In a time of political upheaval, empire building, violence and totalitarian leaderships, the idea of shoving Hitler in to the mix might have interesting thematic possibilites. As Ratner is currently attached, look for hot nazi women, the sort of attention to detail that will show the cloning being made possible by 'advanced science', and some mostly competent action scenes.
Here's hoping Brett Ratner, just as his namesake did, forgets himself for a moment and actually tells the truth.
Source: Variety
Continue reading Ratner Says His Work Is 'Total Crap'
Hello Halo
Peter Jackson (who made the Lord of the Rings films (which are good)) is producing the movie version of computer game Halo (in which you shoot things (which is quite good fun)). He has chosen a man named Neill Blomkamp to be the director. Neill hasn't made any feature films, but he did make that transforming car commercial that someone e-mails to you every other day pretending it is leaked footage from Transformers. The film is now, after some wobbles last month when the original Alex Garland script was thrown out, surely but slowly moving towards its summer 2008 release. What is not so sure is whether any of us should give a monkey's.
Peter Jackson is great - even if King Kong was a bit 'broad' at times it remains one of few actually fun vanity projects ever made - but it is unclear how involved he is in the project. He could just be a famous, geek friendly, figurehead there to give the project some kudos. Equally he could be really involved, what with him saying he really loves computer games (kind of in the same way as Speilberg - producer of Transformers - said he loved The Transformers). Now while that might be good for the quality of Halo, it means he's not spending time making his own movies. Much as I want to pretend to be Peter's special buddy, the only reason I care about him is that he directs films I like. Go and direct The Lovely Bones, Peter! Go and make your zombie WW1 film! You. Have. Enough. Money.
Neill Blomkamp is something of an unknown. He recieved an Emmy for directing an episode of Dark Angel, but making the best episode of Dark Angel isn't saying very much. He has come from a background of commercials, just as Ridley Scott did, just as Michael Bay did and, to be honest, just as almost every genre director working today did. All these things tell us is that he's capable of some very slick visuals, he's told Jessica Alba what to do and that he's got a surname it's easy to make fun of. Just because he's not well known is not a good reason to hate on Mr Blomkamp, and watching his short films suggests he was some real 'chops' (as I think they are called). Nevertheless, he has never had to deal with a really big budget on a mainstream Hollywood studio backed special effects heavy film.
So, what we definitely can expect from the Halo movie are some very whizzy LOTR-eque flying camera shots that will introduce the Halo (a huge ring-like structure in space that you spend most of your time fighting on) which will impress for a few minutes. The scenes of The Flood (a plague of unstoppable alien thingies that look a bit like tics) finally being released in the dark corridors inside the Halo are capable of actually being quite tense. There will be some big explosions (This is a SPOILER but come on - its a computer game - of course the Halo explodes) and there are aliens and gunfights.
Those are the good bits and, if we are lucky, they'll take up about 30 minutes. We also have a total non-character as 'Masterchief' (the main shooty dude) we have slightly comical, brightly coloured aliens that will make any epic battle scenes closer to Narnia than Saving Private Ryan, we have a horribly annoying floating droid that protects the Flood (I think. My brain is a little sketchy on the details and the idea of reading a site that will tell me the game's story in detail kind of scares me) and we have endlessly repetitive shooting in corridors broken up by a few sequences on an alien hover-cycle thing.The game's length was stretched out by repeating sequences and levels over and over again. The film is going to have serious problems filling its running time as well. The Alex Garland script was reportedly thrown out for exactly this kind of thin plotting.
Add to this the problems faced with all computer game-to-movie adaptations (take away the interactivity and you are left with a really sucky b-movie) and you don't have much reason to look forwards to Halo: The Movie.
That said, if you are reading this you are probably a: male, b: a giant nerd and c: old enough to remember when Star Wars was good, so the idea of an epic space action type film always sets our hearts going. We should feel free to hope for a really cool sci-fi film come Summer 2008, just as long as we remember that that's not quite the same thing as hoping for an adaptation of Halo.
Source: Team Xbox Continue reading Hello Halo
Wednesday, August 09, 2006
DVD Releases - Week of 8/8/06
This week's DVD offerings. Your money. A perfect match? Let the romance begin...
Inside ManDenzel Washington stars, along with Clive Owen, Jodie Foster, Christopher Plummer and Willem Dafoe, in this "bank heist turned hostage crisis" thriller from Director Spike Lee. The usual roles in movies such as this are aligned in the most boring order possible, with Washington playing the cop, Owen the robber, Foster the bureaucratic foil, Plummer the oily banker and Dafoe the Jesus. I mean the S.W.A.T. leader. I would prefer to see Denzel as the S.W.A.T. guy, Owen as the banker, Plummer as the cop and Foster as the crook. Dafoe could still be Godboy, just for a bit of flavor. But, like the average movie lover, I have no control over the way movies are made. We have to take what we can get. After 25th Hour, I guess I'm willing to trust Lee's casting decisions on this one, but my arrangement is still better.
Nail-biting features include a commentary track with director Spike Lee, a conversation with Lee and Denzel Washington discussing their shared projects, "The Making of Inside Man" featurette and over 25 minutes of deleted scenes.
BrickHigh school is stressful enough with the negative influences of peer pressure, forceful parents, a lousy educational system and zits. How much worse would it be if your girlfriend, the one person you connect with on a basic human level, was killed? That setup leads the main character Brendan, played by Joseph Gordon-Levitt (Tommy on 3rd Rock from the Sun and star of the recent, acclaimed drama Mysterious Skin) to search for the murderer among his classmates, some of whom have more serious problems than just lousy grades. Some capsule reviews mention that the movie parrots The Maltese Falcon and other classic noir thrillers in its plotting and dialogue. Homages can be good, especially when they lead the viewer to those older gems, but the proper amount of restraint must be used to avoid heavy-handedness. I'm a sucker for retro-noir, so this one is a shoe-in for me.
Inappropriate erection features include commentary by the filmmakers and cast, "The Inside Track: Casting the Roles" featurette and deleted and extended scenes.
ManderlayBryce Dallas Howard (the ravishing blind girl from M. Night Shyamalan's The Village) stars in this stripped-down portrayal of perpetual slavery in a 1930's Alabama town. Howard's character Grace, an idealistic outsider, attempts to free the oppressed plantation workers she comes in contact with, unaware that her actions will produce harmful consequences for those she is trying to help. How could freedom possibly be worse than bondage? It's an intriguing question, and director Lars von Trier (Breaking the Waves, Dancer in the Dark) uses closed stages and minimal props to tell his affecting story, as he did with his previous look at the cold realities of American life, Dogville, of which this film is a continuation. As with any good stage play, the confines of the set can be made to expand, or disappear entirely, if the narrative is powerful enough to push them out of the viewers' minds. Von Trier's previous efforts have not been short on pathos or raw emotions. Hopefully this one carries on that tradition.
Sadly, there are no special features listed for this release.
Toshiro Mifune: The Ultimate CollectionFrom the title of this collection, you may be expecting to get some of Mifune's famous collaborations with Akira Kurosawa (Seven Samurai, The Hidden Fortress, Throne of Blood, etc.), but none of those movies are included here. Mifune had a long, storied career, of which his association with Kurosawa was only a part (after Kurosawa's Red Beard premiered in 1965, the two never worked together again). These five films, including Samurai (also known as Samurai Assassin), The Ambush: Incident at Blood Pass, Zatoichi Meets Yojimbo (his pairing with fellow Japanese film legend Shintaro Katsu), Akage and Under the Banner of Samurai, range in quality from good to great, but they all benefit from the puffed chest of Mifune in the type of role he was born to play. It's nearly impossible to think of a samurai warrior without envisioning Mifune's chiseled mug in full scowl.
All of these films have been digitally restored and rendered anamorphically for your widescreen HD viewing pleasure. Sword-wielding features include cast and crew filmographies, character bios, image galleries, interactive program notes, trailers and more.
Bring It On - All or NothingFrom brutal samurai masters to bouncy teenage dick teases, this is the kind of movie that brings out that little cheerleader in all of us. Or maybe in all of YOU. In this third installment of the epic competitive pom-pom saga, spoiled caucasian princess Britney (teen beauty Hayden Panettiere of Remembering the Titans, Joe Somebody and the soap opera Guiding Light) is taken away from her sheltered life at an upper-crust high school and the leadership of her cheerleading squad to a tough, inner-city school. Britney must learn to get along in an unfamiliar setting and help her new squad of poor but proud kids win an appearance in a television special, if she can just earn the respect of her new school's cheerleading captain, Camille (Solange Knowles Smith, younger sister of Beyonce). Can Britney rise above her hard-wired elitism and unrepentantly racist tendencies to help her team win the big competition? You bet she can! Ready? Okay! Blah! Blah! Yada yada yada! So on and so forth! Go [sports team name], go!
I am amazed by my own shamelessness sometimes. Kicky features include a gag reel, a "Behind The Cheers" featurette, a "Cheer Camp: From Wannabe To Cheerleader" featurette, a "Break it Down" dance tutorial, and a "From The Street To The Set" featurette with Lil "C" and Richmond, whoever they are.
Other steamy courtships:
Continue reading DVD Releases - Week of 8/8/06
Key Largo 2: Key Largoest?
One of the more regrettable quirks that many film aficionados possess is an reflexive, automatic and oft illogical response to remakes of classic films, or at least films that they can remember seeing. The “Grrrr, remake” sentiment is based on emotion rather than objective criticism, which is understandable; people become invested in a certain title and don’t want it sullied by a shoddy reinterpretation. This is often stronger for geek-loved flicks, which is why we get most posts like “FUCK THOSE FUCKING-ASS RUNNING-ASS ZOMBIE FUCKS” and less “FUCK THOSE FUCKING NEW MINI-COOPERS IN THE ITALIAN FUCKING JOB.”
We’ve seen less of this knee-jerk response in recent years, as many remakes have turned out quite good (the afore-to-alluded Dawn of the Dead, The Hills Have Eyes, etc.) and those that aren’t (Planet of the Apes, Psycho, Planet of the Apes, etc.) fail to tarnish the originals as feared and are more often quickly relegated to Best Buy’s “2 for $14.99 sale.” Or in the case of APES, the nearest dumpster.
Bottom line, no film is so “off limits” that a remake CAN’T be made of it. Some shouldn’t, like the rumored Benjalopezfleck Casablanca retread, but that’s due to the talent rather than the actual concept. However, any remake of a really great film needs to say something NEW, to reflect something about OUR world rather than simply “reinventing” or porting the old ideas to the present. Superman Returns is a good example of this, because, while not a remake, it fails to make Superman apply to the modern world, portraying very much the Supes of the 1970s with only a graphical update. It’s doomed to fail because it doesn’t speak directly to the immediate audience.
Indeed, I would suggest that there are a number of great films that almost NEED remakes because they’ve become dated. Films that, these days just don’t really click for any other than their place in film history. I may be in the minority here, but one film I think is due for a solid update is the Bogart/Bacall picture Key Largo. For the uninitiated, the last film that couple made together is set on the titular island in a aging hotel run by Lionel Barrymore, grand-uncle of bell-shaped Drew. Into the picture walks Rocco, a sneering gangster played by, who else, Edward G. Robinson. Bogart’s character Frank McCloud is initially unconcerned about Rocco and his planned escape to Cuba, but throughout the course of a hurricane-battered evening becomes determined not to let him flee.
I may be wrong in calling Key Largo a classic. It isn’t usually as fondly or as well remembered as Bogart’s other films like Casablanca, The Treasure of the Sierra Madre, and The Maltese Falcon, and rightfully so because it isn’t as good. The film is mostly famous for pairing Robinson and Bogart, which I imagine in 1948 was probably akin to the pairing De Niro and Pacino in Heat. They had been in films together before, but that was back when Bogart was relegated to playing second-billed mobsters or heavies (including the surreal scene in The Roaring Twenties when an absolutely craven and callow Bogart is gunned down by Captain Badass James Cagney.) Now, Bogart was the star and Robinson was on his way out, with gangster pictures decreasing greatly in number. In a way, the film is about the demise of the American gangster. Rocco is not lording over a vast criminal empire in Little Caesar. Here he’s fresh out of jail, fleeing the country and forced to stay in a crummy hotel where’s he challenged by a disaffected veteran. Robinson gives his now-stereotypical comedic/menacing performance here, and we’re first introduced to Rocco smoking cigars while playing with soap bubbles in the bathtub.
The film’s interesting in the place of both men’s careers, but the film honestly isn’t that engaging. The idea of Bogart intimidation-wrestling with a gangster during a hurricane seems like it’s be awesome and super tense, but it fails to generate real suspense. Rocco’s almost a little too comical, easily becoming weak-kneed hearing a story about how destructive hurricanes are while offering up little real violence other than roughing up his boozing girlfriend. He’s complicit in the deaths of two Indians, but doesn’t actually kill them so he’s a fairly inactive villain.
I chalk these short-comings up to a change audience expectations for films where suspense is the primary theme. The thriller as we know it hadn’t really been invented in 1948; of course, audiences seemed easier to scare back in the late 40s, so the need of non-off screen violence and startling jumps didn’t exist. Sure, there are plenty of tense scenes in old movies, but very few I know of were able to take that tension and string it along through the entire plot.
But the concept of Key Largo remains pretty cool, and the claustrophobic setting brings to mind effective thrillers like Wait Until Dark and Panic Room. Toughen up the mobsters, ratchet up the violence a bit and hire some great actors and I think you could have a remake that wouldn’t make Edward G. Robinson “Nyah!” in his grave. Continue reading Key Largo 2: Key Largoest?
New Transformers DVD To Roll Out
While there's no actual connection to the forthcoming movie, we at TFL thought we'd bring you the latest on what's happening with the older film, specifically the 20th anniversary edition DVD of Transformers: The Movie, which is coming in the fall from Sony BMG.
The always great DavisDVD have the full skinny on the specs for the disc, including a truck-trailer full of content, and have also uploaded several videos which give a sneak preview of what we can expect come November 7th. Here's the deal:
- 2-Disc Limited Edition
- Transforming Lenticular Cover Art
- 1.78:1 Anamorphic Widescreen
- 1.33:1 Full Screen
Additional Release Material:
- Audio Commentary Tracks
- Autobot Matrix of Knowledge Trivia Pop-Ups
- Deleted Scenes
- Behind the Scenes
- Production Interviews:
Nelson Shin - Direcor (TRANSFORMERS - 1986)
Flint Dille - Story Consultant (TRANSFORMERS - 1986)
Susan Blu - Voice Actor (Arcee)
Michael Bay - Director (TRANSFORMERS - 2007)
Steven Spielberg - Producer (TRANSFORMERS - 2007)
- Original Theatrical Trailer
- TV Spots
- Toy Commercials
- Original Theatrical Trailer: TRANSFORMERS (2007)
- DVD-ROM Interactive Game
Click here for the full press release and videos.
Source: DavisDVD Continue reading New Transformers DVD To Roll Out
Family Films
Walden Media (Chronicles of Narnia) and Fox Filmed Entertainment will be merging to form a new label. There's no name for it yet, but they think it'll make serious bank.
Fox Filmed Entertainment chairmen and CEOs Jim Gianopulos and Tom Rothman, apparently joined at the neck say:
"G- and PG-rated pictures make up 10% of films released, but they dominate the marketplace with almost 30% of the gross. It's a great business to be in, and this venture is a great fit between our two companies."
Their first project will be Mr. Magorium's Wonder Emporium starring Dustin Hoffman, Natalie Portman, and Jason Bateman. They are also working on The Dark Is Rising and City of Ember.
I gotta say as a Dad I think that more kid/family friendly films would be a great thing. Hopefully they'll be at least as good as Narnia, if not a good site better. Personally, I'd like to see more G rated movies. I was going to take my daughter to a movie this weekend but there wasn't one to be found.
Source: Hollywood Reporter Continue reading Family Films
Hot For 2008: Potter, Legend, And More Annoying CG Animals
According to reports, it looks like we'll be seeing Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince for Thanksgiving in 2008, with Warner Bros setting the date at November 21st.
The Sorcerer's Stone, The Chamber of Secrets, and The Goblet of Fire (the first, second, and fourth Potter films respectively) were all released at about the same time. The Prisoner of Azkaban (number three) came out in June 2004 and the next one, The Order of Phoenix, will open July 13th, 2007. At this point they could release these just about any time and they'd do fine. Of course Prisoner "only" made 249 mil so maybe they have a point. I am a recent Potter convert having watched the first four on DVD just this year. I may actually try and watch the next two on the big screen.
In semi-related news Dreamworks' Madagascar II, the cartoon sequel, will be coming out two weeks earlier (Nov. 7) giving it a little time before it gets completely buried. The incredibly funny Ben Stiller (Meet the Parents), comedian Chris Rock, her hawtness Jada Pinkett-Smith (The Matrix Reloaded), and Friends star David Schwimmer will all be returning.
I Am Legend starring Will Smith (<3) and dread pirate Johnny Depp is slated to screen on Nov. 21, 2007. A remake of The Last Man on Earth starring Vincent Price, I'm not too psyched about this, but I loved Constantine and the presence of Smith and Depp keep it on my radar.
Source: E! Online Continue reading Hot For 2008: Potter, Legend, And More Annoying CG Animals
Tuesday, August 08, 2006
TCM2 Anniversary SE: Final Specs
In Bill's little bundle of DVD horror love last weekend, he mentioned the great news that Tobe Hooper's underrated sequel The Texas Chainsaw Massacre 2 was up for a release, and while we didn't have all the specs to hand, Fangoria have gone and done brilliantly by revealing them for all to see. Get em, pa!'
Here they are, folks:
- All-new high-defintion anamorphic 1.85:1 transfer, color-timed and color-corrected
by cinematographer Richard Kooris.
- Audio commentary by director Tobe Hooper
- Audio commentary by actors Bill Moseley and Caroline Williams and makeup FX artist
Tom Savini
- It Runs in the Family, an all-new 90-minute documentary in six parts:
- Texas Screenplay Massacre, with scriptwriter L.M. Kit Carson
- The Art of Mayhem, covering the set design and photography, with Kooris, production
designer Cary White and prop master Michael Sullivan
- Cast of Characters, with Moseley, Williams, Bill Johnson (Leatherface) and Lou
Perryman discussing their casting and making the film
- Prime Meat, on set with Savini, including his never-before-seen home movies
- Father of the Saw, cast and crew memories of working with Hooper
- Requiem for a Sequel, a look back at the film’s impact with cast and crew comments
- Deleted scenes, including the parking-garage slaughter with Joe Bob Briggs cameo
- Original theatrical trailer
- Poster and still gallery
Now that's some great meat to chew on, especially the Hooper commentary, where - along with the documentary - maybe we can finally get some details on what really happened behind the scenes to make this movie crash and burn. But for now, it's just a matter of sitting down and waiting in anticipation for October 10. Just make sure you make some proper Texas-style chili to mark the occasion.
Source: Fangoria
Continue reading TCM2 Anniversary SE: Final Specs
Do Electric Sheep Dream Of Paul Giamatti?
Paul Giamatti is one of America's greatest natural resources. He's played dozens of different characters, from wine obsessives to sleazy radio execs to offbeat comic artists to orangutans. But now he's taking on a different role, as he attempts to capture the personality and spirit of great sf novelist Philip K. Dick.
According to Variety, the biopic - which is being written by Tony Grisoni, who wrote Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas and the upcoming Gilliam flick Tideland - will weave aspects of the reality and the fictional, particularly his last and unfinished novel, The Owl In Daylight.
Recognized now as a genius in the literary world, Dick was never hugely appreciated during his time, and had a pretty strange life, having many strange visions and going through periods of paranoia, eventually passing away from heart failure in 1982, just before the release of the most famous adaptation of his work, Blade Runner, a film Dick thoroughly loved and appreciated. Giamatti definitely has the chops to pull off all the facets of Dick's personality, so this will absolutely be a project to keep your eye on.
Source: Variety Continue reading Do Electric Sheep Dream Of Paul Giamatti?
Super Hero Movie Blitz
Marvel has released their list of upcoming projects and SuperheroHype has given it to us.
Licensed Marvel Character Feature Film Line-Up For 2007
Ghost Rider, Sony - In post-production, February 16, 2007 release - I think I may be in the minority around these parts, but the latest trailer makes me think this will be at least as fun as The Fantastic Four.
Spider-Man 3, Sony - In production, May 4, 2007 release - What kind of geek would I be if I wasn't ready to see this tomorrow? Early pics of Venom and Sandman in addition to the way they treated Doc Ock make me desperately hope that this can disprove the tendency for third films to decline in quality.
Fantastic Four 2, Fox - In early pre-production, June 15, 2007 release - I enjoyed the first one when I saw it on DVD. If they embrace the cheese and do a good job with Galactus and the Surfer then I'll try hard to catch this in the theater.
Film Projects Being Developed by Marvel (Partial List)
The first two films are anticipated for release in 2008.
Ant-Man, Marvel - Writer and director engaged - I can't get too excited about Ant-Man outside of an Avengers movie (although the fact that it's being directed by Edgar Wright means it'll be awesome - Charlie).
Captain America, Marvel - Writer engaged - I really hope that they embrace his WWII beginnings and show him kicking German ass. Whether they fast forward to today or not in the first one doesn't much matter to me. Give this the same feel as SPR.
The Incredible Hulk, Marvel - Writer and director engaged - It doesn't look like this will be as pop-psych as the first one as long as Hulk smashes, I'm there.
Iron Man, Marvel - Writer and director engaged, slated for May 2, 2008 - I know Jon Favreau and his crew are sweating bullets about the whole alcoholism thing and if they aren't they should be, but they shouldn't avoid it. Don't let it consume the movie, but don't shy away from it.
Nick Fury, Marvel - Writer engaged - I really like the Ultimate version of Nick. They need to get a really strong, relatively unknown black actor for this. Give Samuel Jackson a rest. And no mention of the Hoff.
Thor, Marvel - Writer engaged - How much excitement this gets from me depends largely on which way they go with this. I like the Viking Zombies that he fought. That would put my butt in a seat.
Source: SuperheroHype Continue reading Super Hero Movie Blitz
Hellboy II: The Golden Army
More Hellboy II news and this comes to our attention from Quint over at AICN. But be warned: here be spoilers, none of which seem to contradict what little has been on deltorofilms.com. Hit the link for the details.
This is kind of spoiler-heavy as far as plot elements, but I'm not going to give away any big details. Mostly background stuff:
Hellboy and and Liz have moved in together, albeit at the Paranormal Lab. John Myers is no longer a part of the team, and actually they don't even mention his name in the draft I read - everyone else is back. Instead, Hellboy is chasing down some monsters and comes right across a news crew; the secret is out and the FBI has to eat crow and go public with their secret unit. This puts a lot of pressure on Hell and Liz, who were already expriencing serious problems. When Hell doesn't do much of a good job coming off for the public, a suave character named Johann is brought it. He's dressed like an old detective and has a glass bubble for a head that's filled with what looks like gas. In some weird manifestation, Johann is actually free energy, more or less, contained in a suit (I have no idea if he's a character in the comic or not).
Anyway, keeping this brief, Johann delights Liz, who's tired of Hell's brash behavior (shades of the previous film), but the gang has to team up to fight a rogue Prince. He's the son of the King of the woodland ghouls, a group of "monsters" that include gnomes, trolls, fairies, tooth fairies, and all other minor imps that roam through the forest. A long time ago there was peace between the humans and the woodland creatures, but then there was a war. To win the war the King conjured the Golden Army, a group of metallic soldiers that were invincible. Sadly, he couldn't control them, and the Army ended up killing innocent human women and children. The King split the key that controlled the Army into three pieces and buried them across the globe. Now the Prince wants the war renewed and has captured two of the pieces of the key. The last piece is held by his sister, the Princess, and the Prince is out to capture her. Unfortunately for him, Abe has fallen in love with her...so Helboy and the crew have to protect her and stop him.
So, basically, the plot revolves around Hellboy fighting off characters from fairy tales.
For the record Johann is indeed in the comic. Since he doesn't have a "face" per se it'll be interesting to see how they do the suit and if they change that aspect of his character. I have high hopes for this one. No Nazis is okay by me as GDT promises a return to kraut bashing in a big way in the third movie.
Source: AICN Continue reading Hellboy II: The Golden Army
Trailer: The Nativity Story
Looks like Hollywood is going to take another stab at the life of Christ. Hopefully this one will be a little less gory.
I found out at the ultra-conservative movie site Libertas that New Line has this coming out at Christmas this year. Keisha Castle-Hughes, from Whale Rider and Star Wars - Episode III and will be playing the mother of God. I think having a sixteen year old playing Mary is a good choice. Shohreh Aghdashloo will be playing Elizabeth mommy to John the Baptist. Dr. Bashi... sorry Alexander Siddig will be playing Gabriel.
Libertas' Govindini Murty had this to say:
I spoke to a senior executive associated with the project recently who says The Nativity Story will be noteworthy for its realism and faithfulness to the Bible, but will also expand upon the Biblical story to fill out the narrative framework of a two-hour movie. The film will recount the story of Mary and Joseph as they travel to Bethlehem, and will culminate in Mary giving birth.
The film’s director, Catherine Hardwicke, is a believing Christian and according to this executive is “a passionate and emotional director who wants to show the blood, sweat, and tears of Mary and Joseph’s journey.” This executive promised this would be a gritty and realistic Nativity, but one imbued with faith and beauty as well. This executive believes there’s a tremendous market for films in America and around the world that appeal to the spiritual needs of the public.
Solid casting and a December release date probably means BIG money from the Christian/Passion crowd.
Source: Libertas Continue reading Trailer: The Nativity Story
Trailer: The Last King of Scotland
I'm a sucker for historical dramas (probably only a second to my love of swashbuckler flicks. Yes, seriously) and whenever there seems to be a good one coming around I pour all my attention on to it. Bloody Sunday, Munich, Good Night, and Good Luck, these are films whose development I just stared at until release. I think The Last King of Scotland will be the same way, and the trailer has arrived so you can take a look for yourself.
This came out of nowhere, actually, and I was surprised to see Forest Whitaker of all people getting some attention. I haven't seen The Shield so my last memory of him was in Panic Room, which wasn't exactly significant, so it’s nice to seem him in a meaty role for a change. The film itself follows the exploits of Idi Amin, the president of Uganda during the mid to late 1970s, and is told from the perspective of his young Scottish physician. I've only read a bit about Amin, but from what I recall he was a rather wacky character and at one point claimed God talked to him, and we always know how that goes.
The trailer itself is an odd one and changes tone from "young man in a new world" to "crazy fun time!" to "OMG people are slaughtered psycho-Whitaker attack!1!!!1" All the same I'm interested, and though I've never heard of the director Kevin MacDonald, his filmography seems compelling enough for me to take a look at his other works before this comes out. The movie doesn't have a release date yet and also features Kerry Washington, who if you didn't know is incredibly hot.
Told you so.
Source: Apple Continue reading Trailer: The Last King of Scotland
As Close To A Knight Rider FIlm As I Hope We Ever Get
Production Weekly are reporting that the Vince Vaughan starring, Wachowski Brothers' adaptation of wacky 60's Japanese cartoon Speed Racer is now ready to film and is only waiting for the greenlight from the studio. When I reported on this project two months ago (read for Matrix gags) I genuinely thought it was a joke.
Bizarrely, with the current success of racey-type-films Cars and Talladega Nights, along with Hollywood thinking Vince Vaughan is a star, there is a chance Speed Racer will actually be made.
The production has just moved into the offices previously being used by Bryan Singer's Logan's Run, which has just got to burn Bryan so bad. Don't worry Bryan: in five years maybe you'll be allowed to do an adaptation of Wacky Races.
Despite now having written two articles on this film (and read the wikipedia page here), I still have no idea what Speed Racer was about. I know that there's some racing, that there's a car that can do cool stuff, a mysterious character called Racer X (who I think Vaughan is looking to play) and a monkey. If the Wachowski Brother's adaptation goes ahead, I guess we can look forward to the monkey spouting Neitzsche.
Source: Production Weekly Continue reading As Close To A Knight Rider FIlm As I Hope We Ever Get
Monday, August 07, 2006
Timewarp Review: Tetris (2010)
Video game movies are never a good idea. Even the supposed good ones, like Silent Hill and Mortal Kombat, are really piles of shit when you actually subject them to basic cinematic rules like coherent plots and dimensional characters. Some may say that’s what we should expect for trying to adapt a video game, but I’m an optimist, and thankfully, that optimism has paid off with Brett Ratner’s Tetris.
Detective Aragones (Patrick Swayze, fresh from his role in the clunker Son of Dumber) is having a bad day. He’s on his fourth bottle of tequila, his wife has left him and his daughter is pregnant with triplets. But this doesn’t compare to what he has to fact downtown, when he is called to a grisly crime scene in a New York alley where a seemingly innocent pedestrian has been crushed by a steel girder, which itself was bent into an L-shape. The NYPD are baffled, as there appears to be no fingerprints on the girder, nor any clue to how it got from a construction site in Albany to the streets of Manhattan.
What’s worse for Aragones is that his uptight boss, Chief Drucker (Michael Ironside, Police Academy: 2019) has asked for an expert from the FBI’s X-Files-ish extraordinary crimes unit to come down and assist the detective. A broken man with a history of partners killed in action, his fears are justified when he finds out his new partner is Moxie (Charisma Carpenter, from Japanese horror hit The Sponge), the girl whose heart he broke when he left Tijiuana to join the NYPD. However, they have to put aside their differences for the sake of the case, which takes a stranger turn when another dead body is found in an adjacent spot in the alley, crushed by another girder, this time in the shape of a square. The fact that this bizarre murder is so similar to the last tells them that this has to be the work of a serial killer, thus Aragones and Moxie must both fight their personal demons while solving the puzzle, and catching this ruthless killer. The hunt is on…
I wasn’t really sure what to think going into Tetris. I mean, it’s a game about putting different-shaped blocks together. That’s not exactly Oscar-winning material, so I didn’t expect much. However, I am glad to say that I was completely wrong. Tetris is not just a good film, not just a great film, but a masterpiece of contemporary cinema. I used to hate Brett Ratner, and indeed ripped his flicks a new ass many a time, but here he reaches, well, not to be hyperbolic, but Kubrickian standards. The framing in this film is exquisite, and it never once gets boring, despite its five-hour running time.
The heart of this movie is Tetris, and Ratner’s approach to the source material. A lesser movie would have placed the movie in some sort of fantasy setting a-la Super Mario Bros, where the concept of stacking blocks up wouldn’t seem so far fetched. But what Ratner does brilliantly is sew the Tetris concept right into the fabric of reality. The idea of murdering people with girders bent into the same shapes as the Tetris blocks is a concept so brilliant, only a madman or a genius could come up with it.
But Ratner knows that concept alone will not make the film, so he comes up with the thoroughly memorable characters of Aragones and Moxie, two very well-realized characters in their own right who, while somewhat predictably, reconcile their relationship and create the key to solving the entire case. The fishing scene in particular is an amazing piece of subtle writing. While it’s not really that realistic to see someone fishing in the Hudson river, the clear machinations of the characters who are so clearly still in love, yet are also so irreconcilable – a theme demonstrated so carefully by Ratner’s placing of the tackle box and bait knife between the two – that it’s painful to watch.
Swayze and Carpenter give career performances as the two – sometimes it’s like watching Leonard Whiting and Olivia Hussey from the great Zeffirelli’s Romeo and Juliet, or better still, Bud Cort and Ruth Gordon in Harold and Maude. The sheer chemistry between these actors, together with Swayze’s amazing emotional range (check out the scene in his ex-wife’s cabana house – oh boy!), makes this relationship so satisfying that, by the end, you’re crying out for their reconciliation.
Warning: the next paragraph contains major spoilers!
But what really got me was the final solving of the Tetris puzzle. To see the actual movements on the screen of the line disappearing was a joy to behold, and the execution was superb. But the crux of the scene was the revelation – I mean, to find out that the ghost of Alexey Pazhitnov, the man who designed Tetris, was behind it all was a shock not felt since that fateful moment when we found out Gwyneth Paltrow’s head was in the box. And casting Ian McKellen as Pazhitnov was a stroke of genius. His generous and warm performance really cemented Pazhitnov as a tragic character of the ages that wouldn’t seem out of place in an opera by Verdi.
And that really helped the film’s climax, where along with the adrenaline felt from the action sequence of Swayze scaling the Empire State Building, we also felt tears of sadness and joy, as Pazhitnov’s ghost was laid to rest. It’s amazing how much sympathy you can feel for a man who crushed people with girders. And the twist with Shigeru Miyamoto as one of the victims, well I never saw that coming, even after they explained Pazhitnov’s anger at Miyamoto for exploiting his game. But it was utterly heartwarming to see them forget their differences in the end, with an ending that not only references Sunrise, The Wizard of Oz and Return of the Jedi, but also has a sly homage to the rediscovered cult classic Van Helsing.
There were some things that I found disappointing about the film. Ratner’s decision to record the score on a Bontempi keyboard was a poor one, and while I commend his faithfulness to the source material, I felt he should have gone with a contemporary score. Also, I think Ironside was too much of a cliché, and at sixty, a bit too old for some of his scenes, particularly the nightclub scene with the Joan Collins cameo.
But I can forget those gripes because the rest of the film is so wonderful. I never foresaw myself ever saying these words, but if Tetris is not in the running at the award ceremonies in the spring, I’ll be hugely disappointed.
Continue reading Timewarp Review: Tetris (2010)
Review: Goal!
We spend so much of our movie discussions talking about clichés. You only have to sit in a pub and listen to the average conversation about films to see the amount of people who mercilessly attack flicks for being clichéd, and it’s usually true, as a inordinate amount of films seem to use them, a lot of the time because they feel the audience needs them. But some films work, even when they’re full of clichés. Even know you know exactly what’s going to happen, and can predict the whole movie from the first minute. Danny Cannon’s Goal! is such a film.
Young Santiago Munez (Kuno Becker) is cliché number one. He’s a young Mexican-American living in L.A. who dreams of the big life, but the closest he gets to it is cleaning pools for the rich folk. He plays football (soccer) whenever he’s not working, and is damn good at it, but is convinced that it’ll never lead anywhere, because his father (cliché #2), who has worked his fingers to the bone since his mother left the family, believes he’ll only become a man when he works to support his family, despite both Santiago’s younger brother and Supportive Grandmother™ knowing he has the skills to, well, pay the bills.
Along comes cliché number three. While Santiago is pretending to be Ronaldinho for the local side, he’s spotted by once-famous-player-turned-down-on-his-luck-mechanic Glen Foy (Stephen Dillane) who says he’ll get an agent to come and watch him play. While Santiago is apprehensive, Foy says he promises, which brings in cliché number four, i.e. stumbling block one. The agent – played by fun character actor Sean Pertwee – is a complete wanker more interested in sun and trim than watching Santiago play, so he doesn’t turn up, and Santi (as he’s called) is left cursing the English.
But Foy makes one last promise before he has to go back to England: if Santi gets to the UK, he’ll set him up for a trial with Newcastle United, a huge club in terms of fame and support, if not success. But of course, Daddy won’t let him go, hence stumbling block number two, which gets even more desperate when the prick of a dad steals the money Santi has been saving and hiding in his football boots to buy a new truck. But hold on, here comes Supportive Grandmother™, who cobbles up all the cash that she’s been saving up for a moment just like this, along with a plane ticket, and tells him to get to England. Thus begins Santi’s voyage into fame, fortune, girls and all the trappings that come with it, all wrapped in the mud, rain and odd accents that are standard in the North East of England.
Like I said before, Goal! is as predictable as they come. You know he’s going to start out badly, before winning our hearts and the club’s, have an argument with the girlfriend, have a family trag