Movies

• 
  Roger Ebert

• Disney's A Christmas Carol / **** (PG)

  "A Christmas Carol" (PG, 95 minutes) An exhilarating visual experience that proves for the third time Robert Zemeckis is one of the few directors who knows what he's doing with 3-D. The story that Dickens wrote in 1838 remains timeless, and if it's supercharged here with Scrooge swooping the London streets as freely as Superman, well, once you let ghosts into a movie there's room for anything. In motion-capture animation, Jim Carrey does the movements and voice of Ebenezer Scrooge, never thinner, never more stooped, never more bitter. The A-list cast also includes Gary Oldman, Colin Firth,…

• Precious / **** (R)

  "Precious" (R, 109 minutes). School is an ordeal of mocking cruelty for a fat teenager, and home is worse. Precious avoids looking at people, hardly ever speaks, is nearly illiterate, is pregnant. One of her teachers (Paula Patton) and a postal worker (Mariah Carey) see something in her, or simply react to her obvious pain. They try to coax her out of her shell. She's not stupid, but feels defeated. Gabourey "Gabby" Sidibe gives a powerful performance in the title role, and Mo'Nique is frighteningly effective as her abusive mother. Directed by Lee Daniels, based on the novel "Push" by…

• The Men Who Stare at Goats / ***1/2 (R)

  "The Men Who Stare at Goats" (R, 93 minutes). A weirdly funny comedy that seriously claims to be based on an actual U.S. Army interest in using paranormal soldiers as a weapon. Ewan McGregor plays a reporter who encounters George Clooney, a "Jedi Warrior" graduate of these secret program; flashbacks show Jeff Bridges as an officer who seems very much like The Big Lebowski. Could they kill goats by staring? Well, if you can bend a spoon with your mind, why not a rifle? Three and a half stars

• The Box / *** (PG-13)

  "The Box" (114 minutes, PG-13). A preposterous but never boring sci-fi movie where a mysterious stranger (Frank Langella) gives a couple (Cameron Diaz and James Marston) a box with a button on top, and tells them if they oust out they'll get $1 million in cash -- but someone unknown to them will die. Well, what would you do? And then the plot really gets wild. Stay way if you expect it to add up and make sense. You're entering…the Twilight Zone. Three stars.

• (Untitled) / ***1/2 (R)

  "(Untitled") (R, 96 minutes). A good, smart comedy about the fringes of the New York art world, starring Adam Goldberg as an impossible experimental musician and Marley Shelton as a chic Soho gallery owner. The art on display is good enough to be plausible, and weird enough to be funny. It's worthy of the best Woody Allen, and Adrian is not unlike Woody's persona: A sincere, intense, insecure nebbish, hopeless with women, aiming for greatness. Directed by Jonathan Parker. Three and a half stars

• 
  Film.com Movie Blog

• Review: The Box is Uber Creepy Yet Interesting

  6 Nov 2009 | 11:23 am

  "Not an easy film to talk about, but one worth seeing." The Box is not an easy film to talk about. Almost every description of the film will end up as a spoiler, it's fairly high concept, and it has a few glaring problems. However, The Box also presents huge moral dilemmas and is a genuine candidate for "cult-classic" status. I'm not sure exactly how I feel about it, perhaps some amalgamation of confused and captivated. Yes, The Box confustivated me.Borrowing from the synopsis:…

• Review: The Men Who Stare at Goats is Good, Not Great

  6 Nov 2009 | 10:20 am

  "For those looking for something off the beaten path ..." Almost 20 years ago director Roger Spottiswoode put to the screen an adaptation of an incredible book chronicling some of the crazy, unbelievable things our government, through the CIA, did during the Vietnam War. It was about a group of wild, unruly but brilliant pilots who flew stripped down civilian planes on military missions that NEVER HAPPENED. Drugs, money, weapons -- all to people we weren't supposed to be giving…

• Review: A Christmas Carol Not Merry Enough

  6 Nov 2009 | 10:07 am

  "This version of A Christmas Carol has very little story and even less Christmas cheer." The old aphorism goes "don't throw out the baby with the bathwater," but the makers of the latest iteration of A Christmas Carol have flipped the script; they've created a film that looks amazing and combined it with an appalling lack of story. In essence they've provided a lovely, piping hot bath, all the while forgetting to actually place the dirty baby into it. We're left with only a…

• Review: Don't Bother Having an Encounter with The Fourth Kind

  6 Nov 2009 | 10:03 am

  "Not good, for sure, but at least it appears to have been attempting something intriguing." When so many films are bad in lazy and ordinary ways, it's refreshing to occasionally see one that fails interestingly. The Fourth Kind is that sort of movie: not good, for sure, but at least it appears to have been attempting something intriguing.Thanks to Close Encounters of the Third Kind (which it's strange no one in this film ever mentions), the common man knows about the degrees of…

• Hey, Academy, How's About Nominating In The Loop?

  5 Nov 2009 | 8:29 am

  I'm not entirely sure what to expect with this year's Oscar race. Throw everything you know out the window, because for the first time in a long time the nominees are too long a list to predict. It's just a feeling game at this stage. And here's what I feel so far:Up in the Air An Education Precious Nine Up InvictusAll the above movies are looking pretty strong right now. A Serious Man, Bright Star, and The Hurt Locker are all movies the Academy may or may not love as much as their strongest…

• 
  New York Times

• Film: A New Attack on the Iraq War Film

  By DEBORAH SONTAG

  6 Nov 2009 | 9:36 pm

  “The Messenger” portrays conflict on the home front: the struggles of those who tell the next of kin their loved ones are dead.

• Movie Review | 'Precious': Howls of a Life, Buried Deep Within

  By A. O. SCOTT

  6 Nov 2009 | 2:48 pm

  “Precious” is a hybrid, a mash-up that might have been ungainly, but that manages to be graceful instead.

• Film: Unleashing Life’s Wild Things

  By A. O. SCOTT

  6 Nov 2009 | 12:28 pm

  A new breed of children’s movies play a kind of reverse dress-up, disguising adult anxieties in the costumes of innocent make-believe and fanciful spectacle.

• Movie Review | 'Disney’s A Christmas Carol': Ghosts of Technology Present

  By A. O. SCOTT

  6 Nov 2009 | 12:24 pm

  “Disney’s A Christmas Carol,” written and directed by Robert Zemeckis, is a branded piece of shiny seasonal entertainment.

• Movie Review | 'The Box': Simplifying One Life, Complicating Another

  By MANOHLA DARGIS

  6 Nov 2009 | 12:13 pm

  “The Box” is sincere and sinister and inevitably ambitious.

• 
  Hulu Popular Videos

• The Daily Show with Jon Stewart - The 11/3 Project

  6 Nov 2009 | 6:08 am

  Jon just loves Glenn Beck's digestive and immune system so much, and he fears for it.Add this to your queueAdded: Fri Nov 06 14:08:02 UTC 2009Air date: Thu Nov 05 00:00:00 UTC 2009Duration: 08:31Rating: 4.3 / 5.0

• The Daily Show with Jon Stewart - s14 | e142 - Thu, Nov 5, 2009

  5 Nov 2009 | 10:55 pm

  UN Ambassador, Susan Rice visits The Daily Show to talk about the Obama administration's foreign policy.Add this to your queueAdded: Fri Nov 06 06:55:01 UTC 2009Air date: Thu Nov 05 00:00:00 UTC 2009Duration: 21:40Rating: 4.0 / 5.0Closed captions available.

• The Colbert Report - s5 | e142 - Thu, Nov 5, 2009

  5 Nov 2009 | 10:55 pm

  Olympic Speed Skating Medalist, Joey Cheek and former LAPD Chief, William Bratton joins Stephen for what is to be expected as a life changing conversation.Add this to your queueAdded: Fri Nov 06 06:55:01 UTC 2009Air date: Thu Nov 05 00:00:00 UTC 2009Duration: 21:43Rating: 3.8 / 5.0Closed captions available.

• Stargate Universe - s1 | e7 - Earth

  5 Nov 2009 | 5:38 pm

  A dangerous operation could return everyone to Earth...but not without risking their lives.Add this to your queueAdded: Fri Nov 06 01:38:09 UTC 2009Air date: Fri Nov 06 00:00:00 UTC 2009Duration: 43:04Rating: 4.0 / 5.0

• It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia - s5 | e7 - The Gang Wrestles for the Troops

  5 Nov 2009 | 9:51 am

  There’s nothing more American than wrestling. That’s why the gang has decided to put on a wrestling show for the returning troops.Add this to your queueAdded: Thu Nov 05 17:51:10 UTC 2009Air date: Thu Oct 29 00:00:00 UTC 2009Duration: 21:12Rating: 4.3 / 5.0Closed captions available.

• 
  MSN Video: What's Hot > Most Watched > Movies

• 'Dear John' Trailer

  30 Oct 2009 | 5:32 pm

  Director Lasse Hallström adapts author Nicolas Sparks' novel about a young soldier (Channing Tatum) who falls for an idealistic college girl (Amandy Seyfried). The two exchange love letters over the course of seven years, and those correspondences ultimately yield consequences that neither could have foreseen.

• 'The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus' Trailer

  27 Oct 2009 | 10:19 pm

  Director Terry Gilliam's fantastical morality tale follows the traveling show of the mysterious Dr. Parnassus (Christopher Plummer) -- a man who once won a bet with the Devil himself, and possesses the unique ability to guide the imagination of others. Heath Ledger, Johnny Depp, Jude Law and Colin Farrell co-star.

• 'A Christmas Carol' Trailer

  26 Oct 2009 | 10:25 pm

  Writer/director Robert Zemeckis adapts Charles Dickens' classic holiday tale as a star vehicle for Jim Carrey in this performance capture/Disney Digital 3-D animated family film. Carrey takes on the role of Ebenezer Scrooge, along with all of the three ghosts who come to haunt him.

• 'Paranormal Activity' Trailer

  15 Oct 2009 | 9:26 pm

  A haunted house makes no secret of the fact it's not pleased with its new tenants in this independent tale of supernatural horror.

• 'Planet 51' Exclusive Clip: "You Speak My Language"

  5 Oct 2009 | 10:50 pm

  In this family flim, an alien planet, stuck in the culture of the 1950's, finds its barely-repressed paranoia kick-started into high gear when Chuck, a NASA astronaut, arrives without warning and turns their world upside down. Vocal stars include Seann William Scott, John Cleese, Jessica Biel and Dwayne Johnson.

• 
  On Location Vacations

• Filming Locations for Saturday 11.7 & Sunday 11.8

  Christine

  6 Nov 2009 | 9:13 pm

  Unstoppable: Filming in Bellaire, OH. (Sat & Sun) Inception: 215 Grand Av S, Pasadena, CA (Sat & Sun) The Conspirator: Filming at The Owens-Thomas House in Savannah, GA (Sat & Sun) Wall Street 2: Around Wall St and William St, NYC (Sat) The Other Guys: Near 46th St and Bass Ave, Brooklyn (Thanks Sara!) The Adjustment Bureau: Signs [...]

• Fringe Set Report: November 4th, Season 2 Episode 12

  Pandora

  6 Nov 2009 | 7:38 pm

  Wed Nov, 4th – filming for S02E12 of FRINGE Hey OLV peeps – Pandora here again. Got a chance to visit the Fringe set this week – they were shooting near the VCC-Clark skytrain station. This week’s visit was a little different from my usual encounters. The show was set up at an office building site [...]

• All TV and Movie Filming Locations for 11.6.09

  Christine

  5 Nov 2009 | 9:41 pm

  NYC: Anonymous Project: 58th between 5th and Madison, NYC. (yesterday there was an anonymous project filming that turned out to be an Old Navy commercial.) Nurse Jackie:Baruch College, NYC (24th & Lex), 5AM-11PM The Beaver: In studio, Brooklyn Boardwalk Empire: 2nd Ave and 52nd St, Brooklyn The Other Guys: E 80th and Madison Ave, NYC. Also spotted signs near Centre [...]

• Taylor Momsen on the set of Gossip Girl yesterday

  Christine

  5 Nov 2009 | 6:11 pm

  Here are two new pictures of Taylor Momsen on the set of Gossip Girl yesterday. Is it just me or did Little J get some serious hair extensions? Whatever she did, she looks great! Thanks to Toma for the pics!!

• Movie Locations: In Films Then and Now – Part 3

  Brando

  5 Nov 2009 | 5:53 pm

  Hi Movie Location Lovers. Brando here for a brand new installment of On Location Vacations’ Movie Locations: In Films Then and Now. Let’s open with a boom. First, we’re in downtown NYC, where the Brooklyn-Battery Tunnel Ventilator Building on Battery Place, north of Battery Park (close to Wall St), works as the HQ of the MIB [...]

• Photostream from Daylife
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 

• 
  MSN Movies: News

• Madonna wanted 'Precious'

  6 Nov 2009 | 9:40 am

• James Woods sues RI hospital in brother's death

  6 Nov 2009 | 8:17 am

  Actor James Woods sues hospital in RI over brother's 2006 death, case to go to trial Monday

• Records: Morgan Freeman settles suit on car wreck

  5 Nov 2009 | 4:21 am

  Court records show Morgan Freeman has settled lawsuit from woman injured in 2008 car wreck

• 'This Is It' dancers open up about Michael Jackson

  5 Nov 2009 | 1:48 am

• Best Reviewed Vampire Movies of All-Time

  4 Nov 2009 | 9:37 am

• 
  Rotten Tomatoes

• Weekly Ketchup: Abrams eyes Micronauts, Aykroyd as Yogi Bear

  6 Nov 2009 | 5:01 pm

  This Week's Ketchup includes news about movies based upon Micronauts, Arabian Nights and The Berenstain Bears, as well as casting news for Sir Anthony Hopkins, Johnny Depp, George Clooney and Owen Wilson; and a new movie for the director of Slumdog Millionaire. FRESH DEVELOPMENTS #1 J.J. ABRAMS WANTS TO PLAY WITH YOUR OLD MICRONAUTS TOYS Hot off the success of his reimagining of Star Trek, J.J. Abrams is in negotiations to produce a movie based upon the popular 1970s-1980s Japanese toy franchise Micronauts, which was also a long-running Marvel Comics series. Micronauts was a series of…

• Friday Harvest: Prince of Persia, The Road, and more!

  6 Nov 2009 | 2:21 pm

  Happy Friday Harvest, a weekly round-up of the best pictures, posters, and videos that have become available for viewing/download on Rotten Tomatoes. Each section features the favorite or most interesting item we've added for the week, along with several other new highlights. Enjoy! The Road is finally nearing its end. Countless delays hasn't hurt The Road's considerable buzz, and right now it's pulling a strong mid-80s Tomatometer. This new batch shows off the incredible scenes of decay and destruction, along with images of peace before the world ended. I feel like I'm pretty burnt out on…

• Evil Dead to Rise Again in 2010

  6 Nov 2009 | 10:22 am

  The cult classic that made Sam Raimi the object of horror fans' affections is being resurrected and brought back to theaters next year. The director has agreed to hold midnight screenings of the original Evil Dead film in select Landmark theaters across the US. Read the article for more details.

• J.J. Abrams Producing Micronauts Movie?

  5 Nov 2009 | 8:04 pm

  Will Hasbro bring its "Micronauts" toys to the big screen...with J.J. Abrams producing? According to the Wall Street Journal, that's but one of the many toy-themed projects in development.

• Faris, Aykroyd, and Timberlake Headed for Jellystone Park

  5 Nov 2009 | 8:01 pm

  Warner Bros.' "Yogi Bear" adaptation has started to build its cast, with Anna Faris, Dan Aykroyd, and Justin Timberlake in talks to lend their voices to the live-action/CGI hybrid.

• 
  Hollwood.com

• Michael Lohan: 'God Is Punishing Lindsay'

  Michael Lohan has blamed his daughter Lindsay's reported drug addiction for making her delusional.

• Exclusive Clip: Planet 51

  Get an exclusive peak at Sony Animation's new family adventure comedy, featuring the voices of Dwayne 'The Rock' Johnson, Jessica Biel and Gary Oldman.

• The things they say:

  "We met when we both starred in the film Beloved. She still calls me Baby Girl." THANDIE NEWTON maintains a close friendship with TV mogul OPRAH WINFREY.

• The things they say:

  "He's an incredible talent, sings all the time and all the girls just swoon." HILARY SWANK enjoyed working with EWAN MCGREGOR on their movie AMELIA.

• The things they say:

  "I grew up in L.A., but I was the only one in my family born there. I have a tight-knit Southern family, so whenever I tell people I'm from L.A., they say, 'Yeah, but you don't count' - I guess because of the way I eat: The more sugary and cheesy and fried, the better!" GOSSIP GIRL star BLAKE LIVELY's Southern roots are reflected in her favourite foods.

• 
  Film School Rejects

• Ladies and Gentlemen, A Word from Werner Herzog

  Dr. Cole Abaius

  6 Nov 2009 | 11:31 pm

  Werner Herzog is crazy and brilliant and German. He’s had a random and illustrious career which has taken him to South America, Bear Country, The End of the World and now lands him squarely in New Orleans. The Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call New Orleans – a remake that’s not a remake with a title that looks like it should either involve Martin Lawrence and John Cusack as buddy cops or be stamped on the front of a DVD in the dollar bin – already has buzz surrounding it because 1) Herzog has never seen the film his title borrows from and 2) there is some crazy shit in the…

• A Christmas Carol: ‘Twas a Spiritless Affair, Indeed

  Brian Salisbury

  6 Nov 2009 | 11:03 pm

  Movies have supremely warped my conception of time. No longer do I judge the fragments of the year in terms of trite notions of spring, summer, fall and winter. Instead my calendar is notated with marketing strategies of major studios. For example, the beginning of the year is award season, followed by a dumping ground, followed by the blockbusters, another dumping ground, horrorween, and finally holiday season. Having just hurdled horrorween relatively unscathed, we find ourselves staring down the barrel of a number of films ready to bank on the inescapable jubilance of the next two months.

• Daily Diversion: Titular Lines

  Dr. Cole Abaius

  6 Nov 2009 | 10:13 pm

  Not a bad little showing here, but I’m missing where someone tells me to, “Forget it Jake, it’s Chinatown.” What do you think? How many of these flicks have you seen? What’s your favorite? Related Reading:Couch or Curb: Cinematically Test Your Girlfriend’s LoveBoiling Point: The End GameFantastic Fest Review: Under the MountainLaura Dern Gets FockedMovies We Love: Jurassic ParkCulture Warrior: Digital CreaturesTurned On, Tuned In: When Fetish Goes MainstreamWeekend Discussion: The Great DVD Organization Debate

• The Slammin’ Salmon Trailer: The Movie is Better, We Promise

  Neil Miller

  6 Nov 2009 | 7:34 pm

  Anchor Bay Entertainment has released the first official trailer for the upcoming Broken Lizard comedy The Slammin’ Salmon, which they will release in limited fashion in December. I caught this film when it made a stop here in Austin for the SXSW Film Festival in the spring. And for reasons unknown, this trailer does not in any way do it justice. The film is a bit dark, full of laughs and all of the inappropriate and meticulously random humor that we’ve come to love from the Broken Lizard crew (a la Supertroopers). This trailer however, seems to cheapen the film’s effect and…

• Exclusive Video: Gentlemen Broncos Orders Turkey Testicles

  Neil Miller

  6 Nov 2009 | 7:14 pm

  This is probably the single strangest exclusive we’ve ever received (and for that matter, posted), but what the heck. It’s late on a Friday and we don’t have much else to talk about — we might as well give you a look behind the scenes of Gentlemen Broncos in which their props man orders very specific kinds of turkey testes for director Jared Hess. Yep, that pretty much sums it up. Spend a few moments of your life in cruise control below. Gentlemen Broncos stars Sam Rockwell, Jemaine Clement and is directed by Napoleon Dynamite’s Jared Hess. It is in limited…

• 
  Variety.com

• Jennifer Stone set for 'Harriet the Spy'

  6 Nov 2009 | 7:00 pm

  TV News: 'Waverly' actress to star in Disney Channel telepic -- ``Wizards of Waverly Place'' thesp Jennifer Stone has been cast in the lead role of Harriet Welsch in the Disney Channel's ``Harriet the Spy'' telepic, set to air next year.

• Sony eyes 'Agora' for U.S. distribution

  6 Nov 2009 | 5:56 pm

  AFM News 2009: Interest growing after strong box office in Spain -- Sony Pictures Worldwide Acquisitions Group is considering a bid for U.S. distribution rights to Alejandro Amenabar's ancient historical epic "Agora," starring Rachel Weisz.

• 20th Century Fox picks up Peruvian pic

  6 Nov 2009 | 5:29 pm

  Animation: North American rights nabbed for 'The Dolphin' -- 20th Century Fox has picked up the North American rights to Peruvian CGI animated pic "The Dolphin, Story of a dreamer."

• Thessaloniki focuses on revitalization

  6 Nov 2009 | 5:05 pm

  Film Festivals: Topper sees creative answers in global crises -- At a time when the world is going through a historic fiscal crisis, cinema has a key role to play, Thessaloniki fest director Despina Mouzaki says.

• Thessaloniki mart boosts Balkan biz

  6 Nov 2009 | 4:58 pm

  Film Festivals: Economic crisis benefits region's smaller-budget films -- There's an upside to the global economic downturn for small, independent films from the Balkans region, according to Thessaloniki's Crossroads Co-production Forum coordinator Angeliki Vergou.

• 
  Film.com Movie Reviews

• Review: The Box is Uber Creepy Yet Interesting

  6 Nov 2009 | 11:23 am

  "Not an easy film to talk about, but one worth seeing." The Box is not an easy film to talk about. Almost every description of the film will end up as a spoiler, it's fairly high concept, and it has a few glaring problems. However, The Box also presents huge moral dilemmas and is a genuine candidate for "cult-classic" status. I'm not sure exactly how I feel about it, perhaps some amalgamation of confused and captivated. Yes, The Box confustivated me.Borrowing from the synopsis:…

• Review: The Men Who Stare at Goats is Good, Not Great

  6 Nov 2009 | 10:20 am

  "For those looking for something off the beaten path ..." Almost 20 years ago director Roger Spottiswoode put to the screen an adaptation of an incredible book chronicling some of the crazy, unbelievable things our government, through the CIA, did during the Vietnam War. It was about a group of wild, unruly but brilliant pilots who flew stripped down civilian planes on military missions that NEVER HAPPENED. Drugs, money, weapons -- all to people we weren't supposed to be giving…

• Review: A Christmas Carol Not Merry Enough

  6 Nov 2009 | 10:07 am

  "This version of A Christmas Carol has very little story and even less Christmas cheer." The old aphorism goes "don't throw out the baby with the bathwater," but the makers of the latest iteration of A Christmas Carol have flipped the script; they've created a film that looks amazing and combined it with an appalling lack of story. In essence they've provided a lovely, piping hot bath, all the while forgetting to actually place the dirty baby into it. We're left with only a…

• Review: Don't Bother Having an Encounter with The Fourth Kind

  6 Nov 2009 | 10:03 am

  "Not good, for sure, but at least it appears to have been attempting something intriguing." When so many films are bad in lazy and ordinary ways, it's refreshing to occasionally see one that fails interestingly. The Fourth Kind is that sort of movie: not good, for sure, but at least it appears to have been attempting something intriguing.Thanks to Close Encounters of the Third Kind (which it's strange no one in this film ever mentions), the common man knows about the degrees of…

• Review: Black Dynamite Works

  4 Nov 2009 | 7:36 am

  "A genuinely good time at the movies." Tired of the Man bringing you down? Tired of the government corruption bringing malt liquor, crime, and drugs into your neighborhood? Had enough of little orphan children becoming addicted to smack? OK, so maybe these issues were more relevant in the 1970s than they are today, but if they were still problems you'd look for a hero to clean up the streets with his fists, crazy nunchuck skills, flying side-kicks of fury, and classic…

• 
  ETonline - Movies

• Rob Pattinson, Taylor Lautner and Kristen Stewart Talk 'New Moon'

  6 Nov 2009 | 5:09 pm

  With only days left until 'The Twilight Saga: New Moon' rises in theaters, ET is sitting down with the cast for a series of revealing interviews! Today, we have a sneak peek of our interviews with Robert Pattinson, Kristen Stewart and Taylor Lautner. Then, come back starting on Monday for new extended interviews with everyone from Rob, Kristen and Taylor, to the Cullen clan, to the Volturi, and even the Wolf Pack! Come back every weekday until 'New Moon' premieres in theaters on Friday November 20 to see a new ET video with the cast!

• 'A Single Man' is Singular Sensation at Screening in LA

  6 Nov 2009 | 7:21 am

  'A Single Man' was screened Thursday night during the Closing Night Gala of the American Film Institute Festival. The movie, based on Christopher Isherwood’s novel, marks fashion designer Tom Ford’s directorial debut. Tom told ET, "It's the kind of thing that you dream about. You're not sure if it'll ever really happen and then when it does, it's absolutely surreal." New to the process of movie-making, he admitted, "Editing surprised me. It wasn't hard, I loved it, but I really...didn't understand what could happen in an editing room." Colin Firth, who plays the lead…

• Stars Collide at BAFTA Awards

  6 Nov 2009 | 4:46 am

  The British Academy of Film and Television swam to the other side of the pond to honor some of Hollywood's leading talents at the BAFTFA/LA Britannia Awards on Thursday night. Governor Arnold Schwarzennegger had the honor of presenting the legendary Kirk Douglas with the Britannia Award for Worldwide Contribution to Filmed Entertainment. Douglas offered advice to aspiring actors, saying, "Stay out of acting. It's too difficult. But, if you must be an actor, give it your all." Actor Colin Firth, who was honored for his humanitarian efforts, had such a busy night, rushing from a…

• Kevin Bacon and Jonathan Rhys Meyers to Star in Fishy New Comedy

  5 Nov 2009 | 4:22 pm

  Kevin Bacon and Jonathan Rhys Meyers are teaming up for a new comedy, 'Whole Lotta Sole,' which is set to film in Belfast, Ireland in 2010. 'Sole' finds Rhys Meyers playing a thief whose attempt to plunder a fish market leads him to take Bacon's character hostage. Rhys Meyers has to stay one step ahead of both the police and a local gangster. Jay Russell ('My Dog Skip') has signed on to direct a script written by Terry George ('Hotel Rwanda') and Thomas Gallagher. Russell said of the project, in part, "This is a great comedy project, not like Terry's usual political fare. It's very…

• Girl Fight! Eva Mendes & Costar Get Gritty in 'Bad Lieutenant'

  5 Nov 2009 | 7:25 am

  ET is with Eva Mendes at the Hollywood premiere of her new film 'The Bad Lieutenant: Port Of Call New Orleans' and the actress describes this film as ironically funny and her character as flawed and layered. Directed by film great Werner Herzog, 'The Bad Lieutenant' follows the drug and gambling riddled detective Terence McDonagh (Nicolas Cage) as he investigates the killing of five Senegalese immigrants in post-Katrina New Orleans. Actress Jennifer Coolidge plays what she calls a "bloated alcoholic" in the movie and reveals to ET that her costar Eva is one tough woman. "I was…

• 
  Movies Reviews

• Review for Michael Jackson's This Is It - Go - Micheal Jackson "This is it"

  4 Nov 2009 | 12:00 am

  I really enjoyed this movie. I took my little nephew and daughter to see this movie and all of us enjoyed it. The sound quality and music were outstanding.

• Review for The Twilight Saga: New Moon - Must Go! - Five Word Review

  2 Nov 2009 | 12:00 am

  NEW MOON WILL BE AWESOME

• Review for Paranormal Activity - Must Go! - TRULY CREEPY...

  2 Nov 2009 | 12:00 am

  This movies scared me and my other half down to the core! I believe it's because they used "real" people (not some overpaid Hollywood star) which added much more realism. 'Simple' things that the girlfriend in the movie did like standing there, creeped the hell out of us! The guy who made the film hit the lottery with this low budget/high return film! I highly recommend it!

• 
  BV on Movies

• Watch Teaser Trailer to 'Why Did I Get Married Too?'

  Wilson Morales

  31 Dec 1969 | 4:00 pm

  Filed under: Previews, News Entertainment Tonight recently debuted the teaser trailer to Tyler Perry's 'Why Did I Get Married Too?' Returning for the sequel are Janet Jackson, Tyler Perry, Jill Scott, Malik Yoba, Sharon Leal, Tasha Smith, Michael Jai White, Lamman Rucker and Richard T. Jones. Gathered together in the Bahamas for their annual one-week reunion, four close couples eagerly reconnect, sharing news about their lives and relationships. But their intimate week in paradise is disrupted by the unexpected arrival of Mike (Jones), who has crashed the vacation in hopes of winning back his…

• 'Precious: Based on the Novel 'Push' by Sapphire' Film Review

  Wilson Morales

  31 Dec 1969 | 4:00 pm

  Filed under: Reviews, DramaFinally, after months of applause, festivals awards, and early Oscar buzz, director Lee Daniels' most bodacious film, 'Precious: Based on the Novel 'Push' by Sapphire,' is being released in limited theaters before expanding nationwide in the weeks to come. Featuring amazing performances from an ensemble that includes comedian/ actress Mo'Nique, Paula Patton, Mariah Carey, Sherri Shepherd, and newcomer Gabourey "Gabby" Sidibe, 'Precious,' is a gritty and disturbing drama, but becomes more and more an uplifting, educational and powerful tale that folks will discuss…

• INTERVIEW: Tyler Perry Talks About 'Precious,' 'For Colored Girls' & 'Married' Sequel

  Wilson Morales

  31 Dec 1969 | 4:00 pm

  Filed under: Interviews, Drama In a matter of days, the film that has captivated festival-goers from Sundance to Cannes will be released in theaters here in the states. With the backing of Tyler Perry and Oprah Winfrey, 'Precious: Based on the Novel 'Push' will bring out a subject matter rarely confronted in films: incest and illiteracy within the black community. Perry and Winfrey will support Lionsgate's distribution of the movie through their respective motion picture companies, Harpo Films and 34th Street Films. It will be the first film affiliated with Perry's 34th Street banner.

• What To Watch: 'Disney's A Christmas Carol,' 'Taking Of Pelham 123,' 'Never Can Say Goodbye'

  Wilson Morales

  31 Dec 1969 | 4:00 pm

  Filed under: Reviews, What To Watch, Previews, Drama, Documentaries, Thriller/Suspense December is still a month away, but 'Disney's A Christmas Carol' is a multi-sensory thrill ride re-envisioned by Academy Award-winning filmmaker Robert Zemeckis, and captures the fantastical essence of the classic Charles Dickens tale in a groundbreaking 3D motion picture event. Ebenezer Scrooge (Jim Carrey) begins the Christmas holiday with his usual miserly contempt, barking at his faithful clerk (Gary Oldman) and his cheery nephew (Colin Firth). But when the ghosts of Christmas Past, Present and Yet to…

• Collins Pennie And Pooch Hall Added To 'Stomp The Yard' Sequel

  Wilson Morales

  31 Dec 1969 | 4:00 pm

  Filed under: News While casting is still under way, Black Voices has learned that Collins Pennie and Pooch Hall have been cast in the sequel 'Stomp the Yard 2: Homecoming.' Pennie will play Chance, an aspiring dancer from the rough side of Tallahassee, Florida. After running away from gangsters, he goes to Truth University in Atlanta, where he hopes to put his problems behind him. At college, he joins the Theta Nu Theta fraternity. The Brooklyn native was recently seen opposite Naturi Naughton in the remake of 'Fame,' and in the remake of 'Prom Night.' Hall plays Dane, Step Master of the…

• 
  Real Movie News

• Salford Film Festival

  26 Oct 2009 | 10:15 am

  SALFORD HITS THE SILVERSCREEN Move over Sundance, step...

• 
  MTV

• 'Twilight' Actors Without Clothes, The 'New Moon' Premiere And Dog Accounts In Today's Twitter-Wood

  Brian Warmoth

  6 Nov 2009 | 4:30 pm

  The Twitter-Wood feed started following its first canine today, as recent hacking victim and "Eclipse" actress Jodelle Ferland tweeted a pic referencing her dog "Genevieve Ferland." According to @gena_fur's Twitter account, Genevieve recently turned five, hates nail clippers and dressed as a princess last year for Halloween. Lack of clothing was on the minds of two other "Twilight" series actors, though, as Tinsel Korey seems to have not yet found a dress for the "New Moon" premiere, and Charlie Bewley reported on his love of not wearing anything. Remarkably, I made none of this up. Check it…

• Joss Whedon Can't Wait To Climb Into The 'Glee' Director's Chair

  Adam Rosenberg

  6 Nov 2009 | 4:00 pm

  FROM HOLLYWOOD CRUSH: Greetings Gleeks and members of the Whedonverse! We're betting that since the news broke that Joss Whedon would be heading over to McKinley High School to direct an episode of "Glee," you haven't been able to contain your sci-fi/musical excitement. Apparently, neither has the man himself. "I talked to him a bunch [at a party], he's really excited," noted Cory Monteith (who plays heartthrob Finn) during a "Glee" club fieldtrip to the MTV offices. "He's a big fan of the show — and [we spoke] before it actually came out that he was going to direct. He spoke to us, the…

• 'New Moon' -- Stripping Away The Magic Of The Volturi Fight Scene

  Adam Rosenberg

  6 Nov 2009 | 3:30 pm

  By now, you Twilighters have all seen the footage in which Edward Cullen (Robert Pattinson) throws down for some fisticuffs with the Volturi vampires in "New Moon." What you haven't seen -- and what we have here for you right now -- is multiple angles of behind-the-scenes footage showing how the violence came together. Check it out: Cool, right? For a look at the finished scene as it appears in the movie, hit the jump right... here!

• Eminem's Follow-Up To '8 Mile' Is 3-D Horror Anthology 'Shady Talez'

  Adam Rosenberg

  6 Nov 2009 | 3:00 pm

  In 2002, hip hop star Eminem impressed a helluva lot of people with his work in the sort-of-biographical drama, "8 Mile." He's been relatively quiet on the Hollywood front since then, other than a few publicity stunts. All that is about to change however, as Eminem is preparing to return to the silver screen. Next up for Slim Shady is "Shady Talez," a 3-D horror anthology described as "'Twilight Zone' meets 'Creepshow'" by ScreenDaily, which broke the news. The project is a collaboration between "I, Robot" producer John Davis and writer/producer Dallas Jackson, under the D.J. Classicz/Davis…

• EXCLUSIVE: Robert Pattinson Audition Tapes For 'How To Be'

  Adam Rosenberg

  6 Nov 2009 | 2:30 pm

  All this week over on Hollywood Crush we've been featuring exclusive footage from Robert Pattinson's audition tape for the 2008 comedy, "How To Be." I figured that since some of you might have missed it, I'd round them all up here for easy access. Isn't that nice? Here's the first of the clips: You can read the write-up for that first part right here. You can also find part two right here and part three right here. Stay tuned too, because we'll soon have two exclusive clips from the actual movie for you to check out. Enjoy!

• 
  NPR

• 'Men Who Stare At Goats': GIs Use Their Third Eyes

  6 Nov 2009 | 2:00 pm

  A quirky comedy based on the true story of "psychic warriors" in the '70s and '80s, Goats stars George Clooney and Kevin Spacey as offbeat officers turned fearsome foes when their hippie leader (Jeff Bridges) goes missing. Critic Kenneth Turan says watching these practiced farceurs at work can't help but provide some laughs.» E-Mail This     » Add to Del.icio.us

• Sapphire's Story: How 'Push' Became 'Precious'

  6 Nov 2009 | 9:47 am

  The gritty realism of the film Precious is even more intense in the novel Push, upon which the film is based. Author Sapphire discusses the inspiration for her work — and her initial reluctance to allow her work to become a film.» E-Mail This     » Add to Del.icio.us

• Wal-Mart, Amazon Price War Extends To DVDs

  6 Nov 2009 | 7:18 am

  Wal-Mart Stores Inc. is trimming the online preorder prices of some upcoming DVDs following last month's price cut on books. The move led rivals Amazon.com Inc. and Target Corp. to reduce some DVD prices, which pushed Wal-Mart to take a few more cents off its offerings.» E-Mail This     » Add to Del.icio.us

• Michael Ruppert, Explaining The Coming 'Collapse'

  5 Nov 2009 | 2:00 pm

  In Collapse, former Los Angeles Police Department officer and noted conspiracy theorist Michael Ruppert states things that are clearly true, makes claims that are fairly plausible and delivers predictions that no viewer without a time machine can adequately evaluate.» E-Mail This     » Add to Del.icio.us

• When Life Is This Hard, Stubbornness Is A Virtue

  5 Nov 2009 | 2:00 pm

  Claireece "Precious" Jones is living a nightmare: she's morbidly obese, twice impregnated by her father, mentally and physically abused by her mother. But just as her life seems entirely untenable, fate offers a way out — and slowly, with a mulish persistence, Precious starts to come into her own. (Recommended)» E-Mail This     » Add to Del.icio.us

• 
  AOL

• Poseidon (2006)

  AOL LLC

  Rating: PG-13

• The Holiday (2006)

  AOL LLC

  Rating: PG-13

• Doomsday

  AOL LLC

  Rating: R

• Garbo Talks

  AOL LLC

  Rating: PG13

• The Hip Hop Project

  AOL LLC

  Rating: PG-13

• 
  IMDb News

• Marsden Too Scared To Perform On Broadway

  6 Nov 2009 | 11:11 am

• Michael Lohan: 'God Is Punishing Lindsay'

  6 Nov 2009 | 11:11 am

• Lautner Despised Constant Eating To Bulk Up For Twilight

  6 Nov 2009 | 11:11 am

• Hargitay Wins Springsteen Guitar Auction

  6 Nov 2009 | 11:11 am

• Midler To Close Vegas Residency In January

  6 Nov 2009 | 11:11 am

• 
  MSN

• Disney's A Christmas Carol: An IMAX 3D Experience

  6 Nov 2009 | 7:45 pm

  "Disney's A Christmas Carol: An IMAX 3D Experience" will be digitally re-mastered into the unparalleled image and sound quality of The IMAX Experience(R) through proprietary IMAX DMR(R) technology. With crystal clear images, laser-aligned digital sound and maximized field of view, IMAX provides the world's most immersive movie experience. Ebenezer Scrooge begins the Christmas holiday with his usual miserly contempt, barking at his faithful clerk and his cheery nephew. But, when the ghosts of Christmas Past,... [more]

• The Metropolitan Opera: Turandot

  6 Nov 2009 | 7:45 pm

  NCM Fathom brings the ultimate stage spectacle - The Met: Live in HD - to movie theatre screens nationwide. The broadcast of Puccini's opera Turandot will be presented live for only one day on Saturday, November 7, 2009 at 1 PM ET / 10 AM PT in select movie theatres. Director Franco Zeffirelli's breathtaking production of Puccini's last opera is a favorite of the Met repertoire. [more]

• Thomas & Friends: Splish, Splash, Splosh!

  6 Nov 2009 | 7:45 pm

  Grab your galoshes and join the whole engine team as they prepare for a rainy day visit from famous opera singer Alicia Botti. Then watch the fun bubble up after Thomas' special delivery turns into a sudsy spill. And, help Gordon get back on track after he's stuck in a snowy situation in this fun collection of stories from the Island of Sodor. [more]

• The Box

  6 Nov 2009 | 7:45 pm

  Screen siren Cameron Diaz and former X-Man James Marsden star in the supernatural horror picture The Box (2008), directed by Donnie Darko cult fave Richard Kelly. The film's premise involves a strange and ominous box granted to a young couple by a mysterious stranger (Frank Langella). They are informed that pressing various buttons on the box will grant them riches while killing a person unknown to them in the process. Executive produced by Ted Hamm, the film was adapted by Kelly from Richard Matheson's 1970... [more]

• Ajab Prem Ki Ghazab Kahani

  6 Nov 2009 | 7:45 pm

  Prem is an ajab kind of a guy. As life president of Happy Club, he's always trying to make everybody happy, but somehow it always ends in disaster! He kidnaps Jenny by mistake. Big mistake!! Because now Jenny thinks he's the worst form on earth. Ouch!! But he thinks she's Beautiful...she's Vanilla ice cream… Yummy!! Love can make you do the strangest things, and if Prem is ajab, his love is ghazab too! He's never worked in his life now he's spending hours and hours churning out ladoos and frying jalebis in a... [more]

• 
  Coming Soon

• Joe Johnston Talks Jurassic Park 4

  6 Nov 2009 | 12:00 am

  Ain't It Cool News got a chance to talk to The Wolfman director Joe Johnston and the interview briefly turned to the possibility of a Jurassic Park 4 . Johnston directed the third film in the franchise, which was released in 2001. "There is a great story for the fourth one that I would be interested in getting involved with and it's nothing like the first three," Johnston told the site, "It sort of takes the franchise off in a completely different direction, which is the only way I would want to get involved." He added that it likely won't be another storyline about a group of people…

• J.J. Abrams to Direct NBC's Undercovers

  6 Nov 2009 | 12:00 am

  J.J. Abrams is executive producing and will direct the first episode for "Undercovers," his Warner Bros. pilot at NBC. Abrams would make "Undercovers" the first TV pilot he has directed since 2004's "Lost" opener. NBC's "Undercovers" has been described as a mix between Mr. & Mrs. Smith and The Bourne Identity .

• Twisted Pictures Takes Sorrow Screen Rights

  6 Nov 2009 | 12:00 am

  ShockTillYouDrop.com has learned exclusively that Twisted Pictures ("Saw" franchise) is developing the horror graphic novel "Sorrow" for the big screen. The company has secured the rights to Rick Remender, Seth Peck and Francesco Francavilla's tale which was published through Image Comics. Michael Hidalgo, who penned upcoming The Butcherhouse Chronicles , will write the script. Click here for more on the story!

• Ashley Greene to Star in The Apparition

  6 Nov 2009 | 12:00 am

  "Twilight" franchise star Ashley Greene is in talks to star in Dark Castle's The Apparition . The story, inspired by true events, centers on a young couple haunted by a supernatural presence unleashed during a college experiment. The film starts shooting on February 1st. Joel Silver is producing with Andrew Rona and Alex Heineman. Steve Richards, Sue Baden Powell and Daniel Alter executive produce. Todd Lincoln is writing and directing.

• Paltrow is Joining Kidman in The Danish Girl

  6 Nov 2009 | 12:00 am

  Gwyneth Paltrow is joining Nicole Kidman in The Danish Girl , reports Variety . Thomas Alfredson ( Let the Right One In ) is directing a script by Lucinda Coxon. Gail Mutrux, Anne Harrison and Linda Reisman are producing, along with Kidman and Per Saari. The film is based on the true story of Danish artists Einar (Kidman) and Greta Wegener (Paltrow). Their marriage took a sharp left turn after Einar stood in for an female model that Greta was set to paint. When their portraits became wildly popular in 1920s Copenhagen, Greta encouraged her husband to adopt the female guise. What began as a…

• 
  Reel Movie News

• New Moon Behind the Scenes Video!

  6 Nov 2009 | 6:44 pm

  Just when you thought you saw every last bit of the Volturi fight scene, MTV posts this behind-the-scenes video showing nothing but the nitty gritty of how the New Moon crew brought it to the screen! Movie Trailers - Movies Blog New Moon Behind the Scenes: The Volturi Fight   New Moon opens in theaters November 20.

• Donne Darko Director Considers Twilight Movie

  6 Nov 2009 | 6:33 pm

  Richard Kelly's The Box hit theaters today, and already there is speculation on his next project. Would the man who brought us Donnie Darko and Southland Tales be up to the task of Breaking Dawn, the fourth chapter in the Twilight saga? "I don't even know if [Summit Entertainment] would ever be interested in someone like me. I'm certainly keeping an open mind," Kelly said. There is no official word on who will be directing Breaking Dawn, and certainly no formal offer to Kelly to direct it, but the auteur is looking to collaborate on projects that are not of his own creation. "Now, more than…

• Bradley Cooper Goes Dark

  6 Nov 2009 | 6:15 pm

  As if he didn't have enough to do, between playing Templeton "Faceman" Peck in Joe Carnahan's A-Team or reprising his role as Phil Wenneck in The Hangover sequel, Bradley Cooper has signed on to do Dark Fields. Dark Fields reportedly centers around a designer drug that can make its user rich and powerful. Cooper will play Eddie, a down on his luck writer who takes a pill which gives him the full use of his brain. Of course, "he soon realizes that his newfound intelligence and success come at a hefty price as mysterious forces begin to pursue him." Shooting is set to begin Spring 2010.  

• Edward Norton Unsure About Avengers

  6 Nov 2009 | 5:50 pm

  Sometimes it's hard to tell whether Edward Norton is a realist or a pessimist. Just as he expressed doubt over the Incredible Hulk sequel, he sounds completely unenthusiastic about The Avengers. "I'm not even sure deep inside the minds of Marvel how they are planning to string that stuff out, but I don't think any of it is imminent, I don't know," said the Fight Club star about The Avengers, which is supposed to sport a slew of Marvel characters from various different films, some yet to be shot. Norton also went on to elaborate what it would take from Marvel for him to be on board the film:…

• JJ Abrams hints at Khan for Next Trek

  6 Nov 2009 | 3:44 pm

  "KHAAAAAAAAANN!" Who could forget hearing William Shatner's voice echoing through deep space? Nicholas Meyer's 1982 sequel Star Trek 2: The Wrath of Khan is hailed as being the pinnacle of what the Star Trek franchise has to offer. With such a stout reputation, it's only natural for JJ Abrams to want to update the character. Abram's reinvention of Star Trek relies on taking the audience to an alternate universe, allowing virtually every adventure in Trek history to be rediscovered. JJ himself opened up about what may be in store for the Star Trek sequel. "Now that we are in a parallel…

• 
  DVD Spin Doctor

• Top horror DVDs, Blu-rays of 2009

  Glenn Abel

  27 Oct 2009 | 4:50 pm

  The year's best horror movies on Blu-ray and DVD, straight from the digital dungeons deep beneath L.A. This being DVD Spin Doctor, artistic merit counts: Every decapitation a thing of beauty; every zombie lost in thoughts of Dante and Bosch... Please read the full post at dvdspindoctor.com

• Blu-ray review: 'The Complete Monterey Pop'

  Glenn Abel

  29 Sep 2009 | 12:01 am

  Monterey the rock festival still stands in the shadows of the bigger and gaudier Woodstock, but "Monterey Pop" the film has no rival as a time capsule of late-'60s rock." D.A. Pennebaker's documentary was smarter, hipper and more musical than... Please read the full post at dvdspindoctor.com

• Massive Kurosawa set due from Criterion

  Glenn Abel

  18 Sep 2009 | 11:00 am

  Criterion will cheer fans of Japanese cinema with its December release of "AK 100: 25 Films by Akira Kurosawa." The $400 set includes a swarm of previously released Criterion Kurosawa releases, bolstered by four new-to-region 1 titles, all made during... Please read the full post at dvdspindoctor.com

• 'The Prisoner' captured in Blu-ray format

  Glenn Abel

  11 Sep 2009 | 8:34 am

  "The Prisoner" is making a break for Blu-ray, after several years of rumor and speculation about the cult British TV show going high-def. A&E Home Video has just confirmed it will release "The Prisoner: The Complete Series [Blu-ray] " on... Please read the full post at dvdspindoctor.com

• New DVDs: 'Adventureland,' 'Duplicity'

  Glenn Abel

  31 Aug 2009 | 4:03 am

  A trio of good smart movies hit the DVD shelves in recent weeks, competing for best in show in these dog days: "Adventureland," "Duplicity" and "Tyson." "Adventureland" comes from the same guy who busted out with "Superbad," but don't hold... Please read the full post at dvdspindoctor.com

• 
  notcoming.com | Recent Updates

• The Twilight Zone

  Rumsey Taylor

  6 Nov 2009 | 2:55 pm

  This weekend, the Brattle’s screening some of the more notable episodes of The Twilight Zone on occasion of the program’s 50th anniversary. Refer to this page for remarks on other episodes as the weekend progresses. Relatedly, entire episodes are available for free at CBS.com: cbs.com/classics/the_twilight_zone The Sixteen-Millimeter Shrine October 1959 Barbara Jean Trenton, a former Hollywood starlet, resorts her mornings, afternoons, and evenings to watching the films in which she starred, years before. She’s seated just beside the projector, a drink in hand, and the…

• Half Nelson

  Katherine Follett

  2 Nov 2009 | 8:35 am

  Movies have a hard time with drugs. Anyone who has seen “Wet Hot American Summer” knows that the descent-into-sweating-madness story arc of your typical “drug movie” is played out to the point of self-parody. Most writers end up closer to “Reefer Madness” than they do to anything like a realistic depiction of drugs and drug users. So the stubbornly (if self-consciously) dualistic and subdued writing and performances of “Half Nelson” are refreshing almost to the point of being startling. When you say “crackhead,” most movies give you…

• Dead of Night

  Sam Bett, David Carter, Katherine Follett, Leo Goldsmith, Thomas Scalzo, and Rumsey Taylor

  31 Oct 2009 | 12:00 am

  31 Days of Horror – After another month of delving into horror flicks old and new, gruesome and historic, terrifying and thought-provoking, we have come at last to the day of days in every horror lovers heart—Halloween. Having spent many of the preceding All Hallows’ Eves covering slasher staples and many other modern horror efforts, we decided to turn our collective attention this year to a genre classic from the past, 1945 to be exact, and to a format we had not previously covered: the horror anthology. Obviously, the structure of an anthology film lends itself nicely to…

• Hausu

  Evan Kindley

  30 Oct 2009 | 12:00 am

  31 Days of Horror – Nobukhi Obayashi’s debut feature incorporates a kitchen sink’s worth of visual and optical effects – matte paintings, chroma key, hand-drawn animation, puppetry, collage, stop-motion, slow-motion, dissolves, irising, and quite a few techniques I’m not sure they have a name for yet – in the service of one of the most bizarre and unpredictable horror movies of all time.

• The Uninvited

  Jenny Jediny

  29 Oct 2009 | 12:00 am

  31 Days of Horror – There’s a scene in Lewis Allen’s The Uninvited where young Stella, the bright-eyed young thing at the crux of this ghost story, comments to beau Roderick Fitzgerald on a reckless car ride that being scared is, in fact, quite fun. This is completely analogous to the tone of this much-loved, and unavailable classic (one of the most demanded titles on TCM’s yet-to-be released on DVD list), a movie that gently reveals its spirits, and prefers buttoned-up chills to décolletage and spilled guts.

• 
  MovieSet Behind the Scenes blog

• “I’m a Democrat” ~ Sandra Bullock and Kathy Bates in ‘The Blind Side’

  Dave

  6 Nov 2009 | 4:47 pm

  ‘The Blind Side‘ arrives in theaters November 20th, 2009 and MovieSet.com has a collection of clips to whet your appetite for this story of redemption, understanding and football in the US South. First off, in “I appreciate your honesty Miss Sue” Leigh Anne (Sandra Bullock) talks with Miss Sue (Kathy Bates) about tutoring Michael - the man-child who needs to step up his grades in order to qualify for a football scholarship. ‘The Blind Side‘ depicts the remarkable true story of Michael Oher, a homeless African-American youngster from a broken home, taken in…

• “I’ve got a Vampire to Kill” - ‘The Twilight Saga: New Moon’ TV Trailer

  Dave

  6 Nov 2009 | 4:28 pm

  When forever ends, a new legion begins. Check out the new TV trailer for THE TWILIGHT SAGA: NEW MOON and catch Bella (Kristen Stewart) and Jacob (Taylor Lautner) kiss!  Via The Twilight Saga: New Moon - TV Trailer More ‘The Twilight saga: New Moon’ videos, stills and news

• Oprah Winfrey talks ‘Precious’ + videos with Mariah Carey, Tyler Perry + Mo-Nique

  Dave

  6 Nov 2009 | 4:09 pm

  ‘Precious,’ also know as ‘Push - Based on the Novel by Sapphire’ comes out this month and is backed by a talented group of actors and executives hoping to spread this movie about perseverance and hope to a wide audience … and possibly to the Oscars. Mrs. Weiss (Mariah Carey) and Prescious (Gabourey Sidibe) in PRECIOUS: BASED ON THE NOVEL 'PUSH' BY SAPPHIRE. MovieSet has followed this film since Cannes (see Precious coverage from Cannes) and posted a round up of interviews: Mariah Carey talks ‘Precious’ Tyler Perry talks ‘Precious’…

• Say hello to the Volturi - The Vampire Cartel in Twilight New Moon

  Dave

  6 Nov 2009 | 3:56 pm

  You’ve met the Werewolves in a featurette from Twilight ~ New Moon, now learn more about the Volturi from the cast and crew of THE TWILIGHT SAGA: NEW MOON. Hear from Robert Pattinson, Dakota Fanning, Kristen Stewart, Michael Sheen, author Stephenie Meyer, director Chris Weitz and more. They point out that the Volturi: are the vampire royalty; the oldest coven in the Twilight universe; they enforce the law; they are a very powerful group; they keep order within their kind. Kristen Stewart as Bella rushes into the Volturi's palace The stunt coordinator, director, producer and writer…

• MovieSet First Look: ‘How to Train Your Dragon’ - An animated comedy with Vikings

  Dave

  6 Nov 2009 | 3:46 pm

  Coming to theaters in March 2010 from Dreamworks came, this animated feature is based on the book by Cressida Cowell. ‘How to Train your Dragon‘ centers around a Viking teenager named Hiccup, who lives on the island of Berk, where fighting dragons is a way of life. The teen’s smarts and offbeat sense of humor don’t sit too well with his tribe or its chief…who just happens to be Hiccup’s father. However, when Hiccup is included in Dragon Training with the other Viking teens, he sees his chance to prove he has what it takes to be a fighter. But when he encounters (and…

• 
  CNN

• Jackson's father seeks allowance

  6 Nov 2009 | 4:00 pm

  Michael Jackson's father wants a judge to order the pop star's estate to pay him a monthly allowance, according to papers filed in court Friday.

• Gellar loves being a mother

  6 Nov 2009 | 3:24 pm

  Sarah Michelle Gellar and her husband, Freddie Prinze Jr., know what everyone has been thinking: What took so long?

• Burruss is still flying above

  6 Nov 2009 | 3:21 pm

  Not many people have had to grieve as publicly as Kandi Burruss, but the Atlanta "Housewife" has been strong.

• Celebs pay big bucks for security

  6 Nov 2009 | 3:03 pm

  Celebrities are always trying to build walls around themselves -- and those walls cost money.

• Britney show angers fans

  6 Nov 2009 | 11:11 am

  After only one show Down Under, Britney Spears' Australian tour is already turning into quite the "Circus."

• 
  FirstShowing.net

• Woops, Here is the Actual Badass Poster for The Wolfman!

  Alex Billington

  6 Nov 2009 | 3:56 pm

  Just barely two hours ago we ran what we thought was the first, and only, teaser poster for The Wolfman. It only had Emily Blunt on it, so we thought Universal didn't know what they were doing. However, Ain't It Cool News has just exclusively debuted yet another teaser poster for The Wolfman and it is quite badass. I thought about just updating that old post, but when I actually got a glimpse of this, I thought it deserved its own entire post. Sure it looks a bit noir, but this poster is truly impressive, I love it. It's simple, it's dark, it's sinister, it's pretty much perfect. Hell, throw…

• Watch This: New Trailer for Broken Lizard's Slammin' Salmon

  Alex Billington

  6 Nov 2009 | 3:44 pm

  I don't know how, but in the last few years, the Broken Lizard guys have lost all their Hollywood support. No studio will make their movies anymore so they've gone the independent route. Their newest feature, Slammin' Salmon, premiered at Slamdance earlier this year, but didn't get a distributor until much later. Now it's finally hitting theaters in December, but probably not near where you live. Either way, Apple has released a new trailer for Slammin' Salmon and it still looks good. I love these guys for exactly who they are - a group of funny guys who love making funny movies. It's not for…

• Eminem Starring in Shady Talez, a 3D Anthology Horror Movie

  Alex Billington

  6 Nov 2009 | 3:04 pm

  Aww shit dawg! Eminem, aka Marshall Mathers, will star in Shady Talez, his first feature film in seven years (though he did appear briefly in Judd Apatow's Funny People earlier this year). The project, with a style described as "The Twilight Zone meets Creepshow," is a new 3D anthology horror film. Marvel will be publishing a four-issue comic book series based on Shady Talez in 2010 as well. Mathers will produce and star in multiple roles in the film, which will give an "urban wink" to genre classics such as Christine, Aliens, and The Lost Boys. The film is being produced by the newly formed…

• Unexpected 'Howling Reborn' Project Comes Out of Nowhere

  Alex Billington

  6 Nov 2009 | 2:39 pm

  While perusing the halls at AFM this week, ShockTillYouDrop came across a rather interesting new poster for a sequel that we've never heard of until today. It's called The Howling Reborn and is, supposedly, a sequel or remake or reboot of The Howling, the classic werewolf movie from 1981 that was directed by Joe Dante. That original film spawned some six sequels and created the Howling legacy. The last one, titled Howling: New Moon Rising, arrived on DVD in 1995. This is the first time we've heard of this, though that poster looks quite a bit like the original poster. Is this some…

• First Poster for The Wolfman Without Any Wolfman On It!

  Alex Billington

  6 Nov 2009 | 1:54 pm

  So who or what is on it, if it's not the Wolfman himself? Just Emily Blunt, who plays Gwen Conliffe, that's all. Cinematical has debuted the first teaser poster for Joe Johnston's The Wolfman, which we've seen two trailers for so far. I think this is a clear sign that Universal does not know how to market this movie. Its been plagued with production problems, even reshoots, and they release two very different trailers. The decision to release a poster without even Benicio Del Toro or Anthony Hopkins on it just shows that they really don't know what they're doing. I'm sure we'll see more…

• 
  /Film

• The /Filmcast: After Dark - Ep. 74 - Interpreting Donnie Darko, Responding to S. Darko, and the Southland Tales Saga (GUEST: Richard Kelly, Director of The Box)

  orfilms@gmail.com (slashfilm.com)

  6 Nov 2009 | 4:51 pm

  In this special episode of the /Filmcast: After Dark, Dave Chen, Devindra Hardawar, and Adam Quigley chat with writer/director Richard Kelly about his reaction to S. Darko, and about the necessity of reading the graphic novel prequel to Southland Tales. They also discuss everything you ever wanted to know about Donnie Darko but were afraid to ask. Richard’s newest film, The Box, is out in theaters today. You can always e-mail us at slashfilmcast(AT)gmail(DOT)com, or call and leave a voicemail at 781-583-1993. Join us next Monday at 9 PM EST / 6 PM PST at Slashfilm’s live page as…

• Page 3

  orfilms@gmail.com (slashfilm.com)

  6 Nov 2009 | 3:32 pm

  Vulture have been given a preview of Tim Burton’s MoMA retrospective exhibition. Two of their 33 gallery images are above. Page 3 is the eccentric little brother of Page 2 and compiles even more stories which, for whatever reason, didn’t make the front page of /Film. There’s a whole heap of different items after the break - video clips, posters, pictures, odd snippets of news. Below is the poster for Tom Ford’s directorial debut A Single Man. Take a good look at Colin Firth here, on his way to an Oscar and Julianne Moore, already arrived at being reason enough to see a film…

• John Cusack Wants a Role in the Preacher Movie, Idris Elba Fancies a Part in 100 Bullets

  orfilms@gmail.com (slashfilm.com)

  6 Nov 2009 | 3:09 pm

  John Cusack says “I don’t know if there are any more superheroes left”, but he knows as well as we do that there’s plenty more, cape-free comic books ripe for big screen adaptation, and that a great number of them seem fit to make for rather good movies. One project in particular has caught his eye, and that’s the movie adaptation of Preacher that Sam Mendes is still attached to and that John August has been screenwriting. Meanwhile, Idris Elba - The Wire’s Stringer Bell and Roque in The Losers - would really like a role in any 100 Bullets movie that might…

• This Week In Trailers: Mammoth, The White Ribbon, Love The Beast, Love, Starsuckers

  orfilms@gmail.com (slashfilm.com)

  6 Nov 2009 | 12:00 pm

  Trailers are an under-appreciated art form insofar that many times they’re seen as vehicles for showing footage, explaining films away, or showing their hand about what moviegoers can expect. Foreign, domestic, independent, big budget: I celebrate all levels of trailers and hopefully this column will satisfactorily give you a baseline of what beta wave I’m operating on, because what better way to hone your skills as a thoughtful moviegoer than by deconstructing these little pieces of advertising? Some of the best authors will tell you that writing a short story is a lot harder than…

• Avatar: New TV Spot, Coke Commercial and Japanese Trailer

  orfilms@gmail.com (slashfilm.com)

  6 Nov 2009 | 12:00 pm

  During the World Series a new ad spot for Avatar popped up on television, and I think if this had been the first thing people saw for the film they would have been all over it. Because this is a spot cut to look like an ad for Terminator 2 or Aliens. It’s all killer, no filler — power suits, alien beasts, combat, angry men and plenty of big blue cats, but none of their feelings. Check it out after the break. This comes on the heels of a report that says the full-length theatrical trailer boosted Avatar’s online views by 418%. Which is a confusing number, as reported by…

• 
  IGN Movies

• Salt Trailer

  6 Nov 2009 | 5:57 pm

  Angelina Jolie gets ready to unload next summer.

• Exclusive: Tekken Trailer Impressions

  6 Nov 2009 | 5:45 pm

  IGN Movies is at this week's AFM (American Film Market) in L.A., where the film with the most dominant presence is undoubtedly Tekken, Crystal Sky's live-action adaptation of the Namco videogame franchise. Promotional art work for the film is plastered throughout the trade show's venue at the Santa Monica Loews Hotel, as well as on shuttle buses servicing AFM attendees. (Photos of this art work can be found below.)

• IGN's Ultimate Games-to-Film Guide

  6 Nov 2009 | 4:30 pm

  Movie studios have been mining the videogame industry for creative ideas since the early 1990s. Given 15 years to crack the formula, you'd think that Hollywood would have a better track record. Sadly, many game-to-film adaptations haven't lived up to expectations -- Super Mario Bros, Street Fighter, and Wing Commander are some of the worst offenders. But there is a bright side... We've seen more than a few successes -- Mortal Kombat, and the Resident Evil and Tomb Raider movies all worked fairly well.

• Nowhere Boy

  6 Nov 2009 | 4:11 pm

  John Lennon as you've never seen him before.

• Precious Trailers

  6 Nov 2009 | 3:45 pm

  The ability to overcome the odds makes life all the more precious.

• 
  Bollywood Mantra

• Amitabh poses with Preity

  7 Nov 2009 | 2:51 am

  Amitabh Bachchan poses with Preity Zinta during the grand finale of the 11th Mumbai Film Festival organized by the Mumbai Academy of Moving Images (MAMI) on Thursday after he received the Lifetime ...

• [Pictures] De Dhana Dhan

  7 Nov 2009 | 1:07 am

• [Pictures] Ajab Prem Ki Ghazab Kahani Movie Premiere

  7 Nov 2009 | 1:05 am

• [Pictures] Neena Singh Art Show

  7 Nov 2009 | 1:05 am

• [Pictures] Brinda Parekh

  7 Nov 2009 | 1:00 am

• 
  Bollywood Buzz

• Happy Birthday, Aishwarya Rai!

  Ravi

  1 Nov 2009 | 3:52 am

  Fifteen years after she won the Miss World beauty pageant, Aishwarya Rai Bachchan continues to be the most celebrated Bollywood brand ever. Aishwarya enters her 37th birthday today, and if astrologers are to be believed, she is in for a good time in the coming days. Here’s the latest interview she gave to the media: # How’s it feel to be the most beautiful face in Bollywood 15 years after you won your crown? I’m not very good at handling compliments but I accept it with grace. I’m grateful to God, my audiences and my filmmakers – be it Mani Ratnam (Iruvar, Guru, Raavan),…

• Trailer: 3 Idiots (Aamir Khan, Kareena Kapoor, R. Madhavan, Sharman Joshi)

  Ravi

  31 Oct 2009 | 3:37 am

  Trailer: 3 Idiots (Aamir Khan, Kareena Kapoor, R. Madhavan, Sharman Joshi) is a post from: Bollywood Buzz Related posts:Poster: 3 Idiots (Aamir Khan, R. Madhavan, Sharman Joshi)Snapshots: Aamir Khan-Kareena Kapoor on the sets of 3 Idiots in New DelhiKareena Kapoor gives up her birthday plans for Aamir Khan’s 3 IdiotsSnapshots: Aamir Khan on the set of 3 IdiotsAamir Khan, Kareena Kapoor to buy ICL teams?Kareena Kapoor to act with Aamir Khan in Rajkumar Hirani’s next film

• Preity Zinta is on Twitter

  Ravi

  31 Oct 2009 | 2:27 am

  The latest entrant on the social networking site Twitter is Preity Zinta. The fake Preity Zinta on Twitter with 1,40,000 followers shocked the real Preity Zinta into making an appearance online. Preity, who was informed by a friend about her fake profile on the social networking site, said on Twitter, “The fake was using various quotes of mine from old interviews. Ask her or him to show the dimple then we shall see!” She plans to get her account verified. While her pal director Karan Johar gave her a thumping welcome online, actor Riteish Deshmukh sent her a kiss. Happy Twittering,…

• Video: John Abraham in Garnier Men PowerLight Ad (October 2009)

  Ravi

  29 Oct 2009 | 12:47 pm

  Video: John Abraham in Garnier Men PowerLight Ad (October 2009) is a post from: Bollywood Buzz Related posts:Spotted! John Abraham & Zayed Khan in LondonJohn Abraham fractures his leg while shooting for Hook Ya CrookJohn Abraham plays himself in Deven Khote’s Fillum CityVideo: Chitrangada Singh in Garnier AgeLift Ad (October 2009)Snapshots: John Abraham in Hook Ya CrookPhoto Shoots: John Abraham for ESPN Star Sports

• Video: Chitrangada Singh in Aliva Crackers Ad (October 2009)

  Ravi

  29 Oct 2009 | 12:45 pm

  Aliva Crackers Video: Chitrangada Singh in Aliva Crackers Ad (October 2009) is a post from: Bollywood Buzz Related posts:Photo Shoots: Chitrangada Singh for Good Housekeeping Magazine (October 2009)Snapshots: Chitrangada Singh@GQ Men Of The Year 2009Photo Shoots: Chitrangada Singh for Bride & Style Magazine (Oct-Dec 2009)Snapshots: Chitrangada Singh@Kolkata Fashion Week 2009Video: Chitrangada Singh in Garnier AgeLift Ad (October 2009)Photo Shoots: Chitrangada Singh for Harper’s Bazaar magazine

• 
  Filming In Brooklyn

• “Boardwalk Empire” in Sunset Park

  Amy/FIB

  6 Nov 2009 | 10:06 am

  Please note: location listings are based on on tips, permits, and no parking signs, and are generally unconfirmed. Weather, schedule changes, and many other factors could affect the timing and locations of the shoots listed. If you can confirm any of the info listed below, please leave a comment on this post. View What’s Filming 11/6/09 in a larger map Filming In Brooklyn reader Jillian reports that Boardwalk Empire is in Brooklyn again today, this time in the vicinity of 53rd Street and 2nd Avenue, where they’ve turned a warehouse into a horse stable and saloon.  Thanks,…

• “Boardwalk Empire” filming in Prospect Park South

  Amy/FIB

  5 Nov 2009 | 9:46 am

  Please note: location listings are based on on tips, permits, and no parking signs, and are generally unconfirmed. Weather, schedule changes, and many other factors could affect the timing and locations of the shoots listed. If you can confirm any of the info listed below, please leave a comment on this post. View What’s Filming 11/5/09 in a larger map According to On Location Vacations, the new Martin Scorsese/HBO series Boardwalk Empire is filming in the vicinity of Flatbush and Church.  Based on a true story, Boardwalk Empire is about the rise of Atlantic City. Originally posted on…

• Gossip Girl “crash” pic

  Amy/FIB

  2 Nov 2009 | 1:54 pm

  SPOILER ALERT! SPOILER ALERT! Someone sent in this cell phone picture of one of the vehicles used in last Friday’s Gossip Girl shoot in Prospect Park.  If it was you, please email me so that I can give you credit! The photographer was probably this commenter (”Sarah”) or her friend: My friend and I went and stalked this in Prospect Park this afternoon. They were setting up along the service road next to the nethermead. There was a silver Range Rover with the front crunched in (for the above mentioned crash scene) and a fancier car in front of it. There was a bike parked…

• “Law & Order: SVU” filming in Williamsburg

  Amy/FIB

  2 Nov 2009 | 10:31 am

  Please note: location listings are based on on tips, permits, and no parking signs, and are generally unconfirmed. Weather, schedule changes, and many other factors could affect the timing and locations of the shoots listed. If you can confirm any of the info listed below, please leave a comment on this post. View What’s Filming 11/2/09 in a larger map According to On Location Vacations, Law & Order: SVU will be filming in the vicinity of Berry and Metropolitan.  Starring Christopher Meloni and Mariska Hargitay, SVU has been filming in the NYC area for more than ten years.

• “Gossip Girl” crashes in Crown Heights

  Amy/FIB

  30 Oct 2009 | 7:26 am

  Please note: location listings are based on on tips, permits, and no parking signs, and are generally unconfirmed. Weather, schedule changes, and many other factors could affect the timing and locations of the shoots listed. If you can confirm any of the info listed below, please leave a comment on this post. View What’s Filming 10/30/09 in a larger map According to On Location Vacations, Gossip Girl is filming a crash scene in the vicinity of Parkside and Ocean Avenues. Originally posted on Filming In Brooklyn. Have a location shooting tip or some on location pictures? Please email…

• 
  Wise Kwai's Thai Film Journal

• WFFBKK '09 review: Mundane History

  WiseKwai

  6 Nov 2009 | 9:00 pm

  Directed by Anocha SuwichakornpongStarring Phakpoom Surapongsanurak, Arkaney Cherkham, Paramej NoieamOpening film of the 7th World Film Festival of Bangkok, November 6, 2009Wise Kwai's rating: 5/5Like a jazz saxophone solo, Mundane History wails. It circles around, repeats patterns and doubles back on itself. It starts and stops yet also flows. It reaches highs that zoom into outer space, all the way to the moon, and comes crashing back down to Earth with a big splat.Taking the idea of non-linear storytelling to new heights, Mundane History begins in the middle and ends with a beginning.It's…

• BKKIFF '09: The Southeast Asian selection

  WiseKwai

  6 Nov 2009 | 6:07 pm

  Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines and Singapore are represented at the 7th World Film Festival of Bangkok.Among the highlights is Malaysian-Canadian director Chris Chong's Karaoke, which premiered earlier this year in the Director's Fortnight at Cannes, which was shot on a Malaysian palm plantation Tropical Malady lensman Jarin Pengpanitch and cut in Bangkok by Lee Chatametikool. Hmm, maybe that's why people are saying it's so much like Apichatpong Weerasethakul's films. It also has one of my favorite actresses, Mislina Mustapha. The 35mm print is playing at 9 tonight and 11am on…

• WFFBKK '09: Despite censors, there are still Thai films to see

  WiseKwai

  5 Nov 2009 | 9:21 pm

  Censors have banned one of the Thai entries in this year’s World Film Festival of Bangkok, but there remains an exceptionally strong selection of experimental homegrown shorts and features.The short explanation is that Thunska Pansittivorakul’s controversial This Area is Under Quarantine went unrated by the Culture Ministry, meaning it would have been illegal to show the politically and sexually charged film.Meanwhile, the opening film, Anocha Suwichakornpong's Mundane History, has received the first 20+ restricted rating for a Thai film. It's not censored, nor is it banned, but you'll…

• The shocking reality of the American Film Market

  WiseKwai

  3 Nov 2009 | 9:00 am

  The American Film Market gets under way today in Santa Monica, California, and several Thai films are scheduled for screening.Among them is a horror feature that I've never heard of, Reality Shock. According to 24 Frames per Second, it is directed by Kapol Thongplub (The Letters of Death) and is based on the ghost-hunting reality-TV series Shock, which I am also unfamiliar with. This is the first I've heard of this movie, and I don't know if it has a release date for Thailand, but it's screening at AFM on Sunday.Update: Deknang informs me via Twitter messages that the movie went straight to…

• Frequently asked questions about going to the movies in Thailand

  WiseKwai

  2 Nov 2009 | 3:00 pm

  Do Thai films in cinemas in Thailand have English subtitles?By all means, if you are in Thailand, you should see a Thai film and find out what all the excitement is about.Most always in central Bangkok the Thai films will have English subtitles, especially if they are from a major studio like Sahamongkol, GTH, Phranakorn, Five Star or RS Film. Some small studio and independent releases won't have the subs. If you're not sure, ask at the box office.Often, seeing a Thai film in the cinema will be the only way you can see it with subtitles, because when they are released on DVD in Thailand,…

• 
  The Hollywood Reporter

• 'Woochi' inks deals across Asia

  6 Nov 2009 | 8:00 am

  The Korean action fantasy flick "Woochi" is casting a spell across Asia in a deal struck by United Pictures and M-Line Distribution with Viscom Suraya for Singapore, Malaysia, Indonesia and Brunei.

• AMPTP chief Nick Counter dies

  6 Nov 2009 | 6:25 am

  Nick Counter, who retired on March 31 as president of the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers, died on Friday at West Hills Hospital. He was 69.

• F&ME game for 'Street Kids United'

  6 Nov 2009 | 4:18 am

  U.K. sales, finance and production house F&ME is looking tokick up a different set of dancing heels with "Street Kids United," a feature documentary about Street Child World Cup soccer tournament in 2010.

• Gough to direct fast-tracked 'Drought'

  6 Nov 2009 | 4:02 am

  Plans for another ecological action horror set in a terrifying post-apocalyptic world are being fast-tracked in the wake of the John Hillcoat-directed adaptation of Cormac McCarthy novel "The Road" and "2012," from Roland Emmerich.

• AFM pics grab some of 'New Moon's' spotlight

  6 Nov 2009 | 3:54 am

  "Twilight" fever, with its sequel due Nov. 20, has regripped the nation as well as the American Film Market.

• 
  Tim Ryan's Reel Hawaii

• CLINT’S “HEREAFTER” CONSIDERING MAUI FOR JAN. TIDAL WAVE

  Tim Ryan

  4 Nov 2009 | 8:29 pm

  FOX SEARCHLIGHTS’ PREDATORS SPENDS MILLION$ DURING JUST COMPLETED BIG ISLAND FILMING Hawaii-bound productions are riding the Aloha State wave in droves that is likely to make 2010 a banner year for production revenues, crew employment, and publicity. Clint Eastwood’s film Hereafter could do its three-day filming on Maui instead of Oahu though [...]

• “BATTLESHIP” SCOUTING OAHU; EASTWOOD’S “HEREAFTER” FILMS SET FOR JAN.; CLOONEY STARS IN “DESCENDANTS”

  Tim Ryan

  21 Oct 2009 | 7:47 pm

  George Clooney to star in The Descendants filming on Oahu and Kauai in March Despite news about the Hawaii Film Office possibly facing staff reductions next month, several major productions are still planning to shoot in Hawaii… Clint Eastwood’s (above right) film Hereafter - now shooting in Paris and the French Alps – [...]

• PREDATORS HITS THE BIG ISLAND JUNGLE

  Tim Ryan

  17 Oct 2009 | 12:39 pm

  Filming of 20th Century Fox’s $40-million creature feature Predators started last week along the Hamakua Coast and continues for another two weeks. As previously noted in Reel Hawaii, Oscar winner Adrien Brody (above) stars as the film’s central character, Royce, who hunts the bad guys that aliens kidnap and take back to their homeworld to [...]

• UNIVERSAL’S $100-MILLION BATTLESHIP FEATURE TO SET SAIL FOR HAWAII FILMING IN APRIL

  Tim Ryan

  13 Oct 2009 | 2:22 am

  DIRECTOR PETER BERG (LEFT) RETURNS TO HAWAII TO DIRECT BATTLESHIP In what would be Hawaii’s biggest budget film since Tropic Thunder, Universal Studios Battleship – directed by Peter Berg – is expected to begin filming on Oahu in April…Battleship has a planned release for July 1, 2011. The live-action film is based on Hasbro’s naval combat [...]

• BOOK ‘EM DANNO (AGAIN)

  Tim Ryan

  9 Oct 2009 | 8:16 am

  Reporting from the Sedona Film Festival in Arizona: Rumors have been circulating for months that CBS was close to finally reviving the iconic police drama Hawaii Five-0 after an announcement more than a year ago…Now it’s official… CBS made the announcement yesterday saying that writers Alex Kurtzman and Roberto Orci (Transformer: Revenge of the Fallen) will [...]

• 
  Twitch

• Thousands visit set of THE REEF

  6 Nov 2009 | 7:00 pm

  In what was billed as a world first, Australian shark thriller The Reef opened up its set to the world this week with a compelling live stream that gave audiences a chance to see what happens on a film set. Over the six hour live stream - and via at least four separate cameras - viewers were shown around the set, watched live interviews with everyone from director Andrew Traucki, the cast and crew, and were able to submit their own questions via a live comment feed.There was also some pre-recorded footage and interviews from the ocean-based shoots earlier this month, and a good deal of…

• Four posters for 'Kick-Ass' really... um... er... you know!

  6 Nov 2009 | 5:45 pm

  A little bit of spit and polish go a long way. Four posters for Matthew Vaughan's graphic novel adaptation Kick-Ass have been released. On their own they're nifty but unless you saw them all together you would think something was amiss. Line them up and you get an even bigger Kick-Ass. Neato!!! You'll find all four posters and their joint coolness after the break!

• Kick-Ass

  6 Nov 2009 | 5:40 pm

• Two scenes from VIY 2 in anaglyph 3D

  6 Nov 2009 | 1:36 pm

  Viy: The Return (Вий: Возвращение) was 5 years in production, it had changed its genre from horror to mystical adventure, producers promised that it will be Pirates of Caribbean set in quasi Ukraine of 18th century, they also said that they filmed 2 continuations, even thought the first one was not released yet. And when the news came that it will be in 3D, i didn't even know should I believe it or not. And now they published 2 scenes for sequel Viy 2: Cursed Place (Вий 2: Проклятое место) in anaglyph 3D. Viy: The Return will be probably the first stereoscopic…

• Reel Asian 09: Win Tickets To WHEN THE FULL MOON RISES

  6 Nov 2009 | 8:48 am

  When does the full moon rise?  On Friday, November 13th - that's when Toronto's Reel Asian International Film Festival will screen Mamat Khalid's cult horror comedy and you could be there for free.  We've got a pair of tickets to give away and they can be yours if you simply email me here with the title of Khalid's previous zombie comedy.  The winner will be drawn on Sunday.

• 
  Are You Screening?

• North By Northwest 50th Anniversary Blu-Ray

  Marc Eastman

  6 Nov 2009 | 1:28 pm

  When it comes to classic movies, there aren’t many around with a shot at topping North by Northwest. The treasure of cinema fans and frequent bane of film students is now available in a wonderful Blu-Ray treatment, fully remastered, and with great bonuses. Cary Grant (as the ultimate man-on-the-run in his fourth Hitchcock teaming) gives a superlative performance while Eva Marie Saint (perfect Hitchcock heroine Eve Kendall) is at her sultry and sexy best in this heart-pounding thriller.  Grant plays Manhattan adman Roger Thornhill, who is at once plunged into the world of spies and…

• Say Anything – Blu-Ray DVD 20th Anniversary Edition Review

  Marc Eastman

  5 Nov 2009 | 7:22 pm

  “To know Lloyd Dobler is to love Lloyd Dobler. Diane Court is about to know Lloyd Dobler.” So goes the tagline for one of the most iconic, beloved movies in history, and as the special features on this release will suggest repeatedly – To know Say Anything… is to love Say Anything…. Revisiting a film on its 20th Anniversary, and one that everyone already loves anyway, is probably an exercise in futility, but if the cast and director can do it, I suppose I can as well. In the simplest terms, a High School movie about: first love, entering the odd and confusing…

• Subtle Sexuality Single Hits – Fans Of The Office Roar – Special Prize Giveaway

  Marc Eastman

  5 Nov 2009 | 9:21 am

  Fans of The Office are getting one amazing treat after another, and the show seems determined not to let up for a second. The wedding had fans itching for a while, and just when you thought you’d seen it all, here comes Subtle Sexuality. The Office’s Erin Hannon and Kelly Kapoor working it in and out of… well, the office, and not only are they adding their own brand of brilliance to the show, but they’ve blasted onto iTunes as well. Their single Male Prima Donna is a clever offshoot of the show’s general sensibilities and humor, and it’s tearing up the…

• Zorro – The Complete First And Second Season – Disney Treasures DVD Sets

  Marc Eastman

  4 Nov 2009 | 6:21 pm

  From the Disney vault of treasures comes one of television’s most brilliant classics, Zorro. Starring Guy Williams, Zorro now gets the deluxe treatment in two sets coming to you from the Walt Disney Treasures collection. Coming to you in separate 6-disc sets, the first and second seasons of the show are given the star treatment. The latest addition to the celebrated Walt Disney Treasures, Zorro, makes its fully restored black & white DVD debut. All 78 episodes of the timeless classic will be included on two new six-disc sets–making up the ninth installment of the popular…

• Mickey’s Magical Christmas: Snowed In At The House Of Mouse DVD

  Marc Eastman

  4 Nov 2009 | 8:07 am

  Now available on DVD, Mickey’s Magical Christmas: Snowed in at the House of Mouse has managed to become a favorite since it first hit the scene almost ten years ago. I’m actually a tough sell when it comes to animated holiday efforts (my plate is full), but this one is a great combination of stories, and it’s put together in a way that’s great fun for the kids. Mine, for example, are huge fans of all the moments that come between the main courses. Tis the season at the House of Mouse, and a huge crew of Disney characters find themselves snowed in. To take…

• 
  Daily Film Dose

• Fantastic Mr. Fox

  Blair Stewart

  6 Nov 2009 | 4:45 am

  Fantastic Mr. Fox (2009) dir. Wes AndersonStarring George Clooney, Meryl Streep and Bill Murray****By Blair StewartJoining Tim Burton and Spike Jonze on their forays into youthful material, Wes Anderson raids the farm with Roald Dahl's "The Fantastic Mr. Fox". Featuring a knock-out cast of George Clooney, Meryl Streep, Bill Murray and Michael Gambon, Anderson takes liberties with the classic

• Anna Karenina - 2009 Version

  Greg Klymkiw

  5 Nov 2009 | 2:12 pm

  Anna Karenina (2009) dir. Sergei SolovyovStarring: Tatyana Drubich, Oleg Yankovskiy and Yaroslav Boyko**1/2By Greg KlymkiwHailed as one of the great novels of all-time, Lev Tolstoy’s “Anna Karenina” has been adapted into so many film and television versions, one wonders if we will ever get the ultimate cinematic rendering of this great story. It has not happened yet, and this new Russian

• Taras Bulba - 2009 version

  Greg Klymkiw

  5 Nov 2009 | 5:42 am

  Taras Bulba (2009) dir. Wolodymyr BortkoStarring: Bohdan Stupka, Ihor Petrenko, Vladimir Vdovichenkov, Magdalena Mielcarz and Sergei Dryden**By Greg KlymkiwVia the Kino/Art Film Festival in Toronto this weekend, audiences will be subjected to one of the vilest displays of cinematic propaganda I have seen in a long time and oddly, the charge is not levelled against Hollywood, but Russia – not the

• Taking of Pelham 123

  Alan Bacchus

  4 Nov 2009 | 4:54 am

  Taking of Pelham 123 (2009) dir. Tony ScottStarring: Denzel Washington, John Travolta, John Turturro**1/2The original film is left untarnished and unscathed from competition from this pseudo remake. Just about the only aspect which remains from the original other than the name and the subway locale is the core relationship of hero and villain. So what. I have no problems with films getting

• Prince of Darkness

  Alan Bacchus

  3 Nov 2009 | 4:10 am

  Prince of Darkness (1987) dir. John CarpenterStarring: Jameson Parker, Dennis Dun, Victor Wong, Lisa Blount, Donald Pleasance****By Alan Bacchus“Say goodbye to classical reality, because our logic collapses on the subatomic level... into ghosts and shadows”That's a great line from one of the great underrated horror pictures...“Prince of Darkness”, according to John Carpenter, was born in part

• 
  Filmstalker

• Jean Reno's immortel in 22 Bullets

  6 Nov 2009 | 5:32 am

  Jean Reno is set to return as cold blooded killer, a much nastier character than you might remember from Léon, Ronin, The Crimson Rivers or his money making Hollywood roles since. While it isn't his only role coming up - we're even set to see him in Hollywood's Armored - it's certainly one of the most interesting. L'immortel, or 22 Bullets, will see him take the lead of an ex-mafia member who has been living the straight and clean life for years now as a wife and husband. However one morning he is shot twenty-two times and left for dead,...Visit Filmstalker for the full story. Restricted…

• Eminem following Snoop Dogg

  6 Nov 2009 | 5:26 am

  Eminem is going to be starring in a 3D film, and more than that he'll be leading a film that sounds very much like Creepshow, or rather Snoop Dogg's Hood of Horror, a series of connected stories that will also end up being turned into a comic book series. That does sound just like Snoop Dogg's film. Shadey Talez, what a cool title that is, has few details out about it, but there's plenty to tell us what it will end up like, although the talent behind the scenes might suggest something a little deeper, even if the 3D medium...Visit Filmstalker for the full story. Restricted feeds to protect…

• Nakata directing Voice From the Stone

  6 Nov 2009 | 5:23 am

  News has finally arrived of what will be Hideo Nakata's next film, and disappointingly it's not his adaptation of Out or the remake of The Entity, instead it's news of a film called Voice From the Stone from a novel of the same name and adapted by Mark Wheaton. The story does soung an interesting one though, a female child psychologist takes on the case of a young boy who made a promise to his dying mother that he will remain quiet until her spirit returns. Expect scares when the boy says anything!...Visit Filmstalker for the full story. Restricted feeds to protect content.

• British film Whole Lotta Sole gets Bacon

  6 Nov 2009 | 5:20 am

  Thankfully there's some good, big British production news, this isn't a small budget horror film, oh no, this is a film starring Kevin Bacon, Jonathan Rhys-Meyers, Sophie Okonedo and James Nesbitt, the film is a comedy about a failed heist in a fish market. What's the title? Whole Lotta Sole. Yes, there's a big groan there, but the idea of grabbing Bacon next to the excellent home grown talent is a good one and promises much for the film which comes with some strong names behind the scenes too....Visit Filmstalker for the full story. Restricted feeds to protect content.

• What is J.J. Abrams' 500 Rads?

  5 Nov 2009 | 11:58 pm

  Now I shan't over-hype this by shouting about J.J. Abrams' latest secret project, but what I will do is a little research into what exactly 500 Rads is, and there are two interesting things that pop up, one which is very interesting indeed and makes me think of the machine in Watchmen that creates Dr. Manhattan. Let's start at the beginning. A story has appeared that J.J. Abrams and his production house are "secretly" developing a project called 500 Rads, which probably isn't secret at all and definitely isn't secret since the entire film Internet world is talking about it...Visit Filmstalker…

• 
  Movie Poster Addict

• Invictus Poster

  Larking

  29 Oct 2009 | 6:51 pm

  Yes it is a tired design, one we have seen many times. But so are most poster designs this days. This has the merit of being a particularly good execution of a well known design. Harmonious, good balance of colors and the choice of the images that are used of the main characters strikes me as close to perfect. The result is a poster that exudes class and that is, despite the unoriginal design, nice to look at. I would never call this a great poster. I need more creativity to call something great. In fact, I might need some more creativity to even unambiguously call it good. But it still a…

• No Kidding Sherlock

  Larking

  27 Oct 2009 | 6:51 pm

  The Sherlock Holmes posters so far have been pretty consistent visually, always sporting some fog, and blue tinge (a little more pronounced here) and backgrounds that scream period. Not earth shattering stuff, but distinctive enough to to be remembered and essentially ok for a movie which will be sold as “Robert Downey Jr. IS Sherlock Holmes!” anyway. Just get Downey out there looking like Sherlock and make a poster that isn’t completely boring to look at. The humor is throwing me off a little bit though, especially as portrayed by the tagline. “Holmes for the…

• Second Daybreakers Poster

  Larking

  15 Oct 2009 | 7:50 pm

  This is not exactly the poster one would expect from a vampire movie. Especially not after the first, much more genre standard, poster. But it does make sense once you take into account that the film takes place in the near future and that an important plot point is that vampires are now harvesting humans in blood farms. Which I guess is what is being depicted in here. Considering the glut of vampire themed movies, tv series and books I imagine this was an attempt to differentiate Daybreakers by focusing more on it’s sci-fi elements. Understandable, and the image itself is pretty great.

• The Title That Changed

  Larking

  14 Oct 2009 | 7:47 pm

  In the transition from the UK to America The Boat that Rocked got a new title and a slightly different poster. I guess they thought the original just wasn’t zany and fun enough, so we get more people walking the plank (including a girl!), a second, more party-centric boat, and some stuff in the title. Oh yeah, and curiously enough a different angle of the main boat. I like the cleaner UK poster better, from a purely aesthetic perspective, but I understand what they are trying to do with the American one. I’m not sure they haven’t gone too much into Animal House territory but…

• Capitalism: A Love Story Posters

  Larking

  6 Oct 2009 | 7:34 pm

  Michael Moore last few movie’s have had some striking, funny and sometimes polemic posters. They always caught your attention and often presented a clever visual linked to the theme of the movie. All of that only made me more disappointed at this latest one. It tries to be funny, but the joke is terminally lame. Moore doesn’t have his usual mischievous grin, instead having a very earnest serious expression, which isn’t nearly as effective. And the colors and drawings are just dull. This second poster that surfaced last week has much more style and visual flair. So better in…

• 
  Best Movies by Farr

• The Alarming Decline of Expressive Language in Life and On Film

  John Farr

  3 Nov 2009 | 4:47 am

  A month ago I attended a Parents' Day conference at one of our kids' private high schools. A history teacher set to retire after 45 years of service was musing on reading the old student literary journals from the forties and fifties. Asked whether by comparison he noticed an erosion in writing skills in the history papers he grades today, he answered “Yes”- vehemently and without hesitation- while also mentioning a decline in expressive language skills in the classroom. There seems little doubt that even as today’s high school and college students are pushed harder in a highly…

• Our Morally Superior Nation: Movies that Reflect the Corrosive Influence of Religious Extremism

  John Farr

  26 Oct 2009 | 5:00 am

  With a couple of recent celebrity scandals, a troubling aspect of the American character has reared its head once again: a moral absolutism and extremism fostered largely by the fanatical religious right- be they fundamentalist, evangelical, or the more orthodox wing of the Catholic Church. Their vocal and powerful presence in the social discourse of America marks ours as a country populated by a more than a few intolerant, unforgiving prudes and, worse, hypocrites. Just consider the Letterman case: the prevailing attitude seems to be that he got off pretty easy. Still, let’s not forget the…

• Divine Inspirations: Our Finest Art Documentaries

  John Farr

  19 Oct 2009 | 3:11 pm

  Even for a jaded movie hound like myself, it’s been a revelation to experience both the quality and range of feature-length documentaries now available for home viewing. At their best, these kinds of films provide an immediacy and intimacy that narrative films rarely match. Not surprisingly, I’ve always been partial to documentaries relating to the arts. Happily, there is no shortage of excellent titles that celebrate human creativity -specifically, those directors, actors, painters, musicians, and dancers whose efforts infuse our lives with drama, color and meaning. Here are ten personal…

• Leo and Kate: They Didn't Go Down with the Ship

  John Farr

  12 Oct 2009 | 3:22 pm

  Earlier this month Kate Winslet celebrated her birthday. To this aging fan, she still seems astonishingly young, but of course, success came fairly early for her. Who can forget her disarming freshness and exuberance in Ang Lee's "Sense and Sensibility" (1995)? Her close friend and co-star Leonardo di Caprio shares much with her beyond two high-profile motion pictures: they are virtually the same age, and both started acting in their childhood, a significant shared connection. In their early twenties, they were brought together to star in James Cameron’s “Titanic” (1997), the movie that…

• The Man Who Made the Best Movie Ever

  John Farr

  5 Oct 2009 | 5:08 am

  Those who hold to the American Film Institute’s view will assume the subject of this piece is Orson Welles, who, at the tender age of 25, made Citizen Kane (1941), a film that both cursed and immortalized the young man. This admittedly brilliant feature heads their much scrutinized list of the top 100 movies ever made. Personally, I think the A.F.I’s number two pick, Casablanca (1942) should have won top honors. Though it’s almost absurd to compare them, Kane today feels more self-conscious, more eager to show off its virtuosity and originality than Casablanca, a film that, viewed once…

• 
  MovieJuice

• Halloween II

  1 Nov 2009 | 12:39 pm

  This past Halloween weekend the powers-that-be at Dimension Films re-released Halloween II into theaters nationwide because, evidently, we didn't ignore it resoundingly enough when it nose-dived and crash-landed into theaters the first time. Scout Taylor-Compton returns as Laurie, and I can honestly say I don't know which of her three names I'm least interested in. Director Rob Zombie's wife, Sheri Moon Zombie, returns from the other side of Rob's bed and from the dead as a Holy spectre, a willowy white spirit with a big white horse meant to symbolize all manner of symbolized white symbols.

• Couples Retreat

  15 Oct 2009 | 7:27 am

  It has been 13 years since Jon Favreau and Vince Vaughn first exploded onto the scene in Swingers, and if any proof were needed, 13 is no lucky number. Now, "look at all the beautiful babies" has become "Who wants to go to Applebees by themselves?" Over the years Fav and Vaughn have bedded more Twinkies than beautiful babies, and the expression "you're so money" has been replaced by "you're so beyond your body's natural set point!" Judging by his appearance on the red carpet, Vaughn's next role is as a pig in a python. When it comes to Couples Retreat, Vince brings his patented satirical…

• Zombieland

  5 Oct 2009 | 8:53 am

  I think we have 28 Days Later to thank for the idea that zombies are no longer undead, now they're just unwell. Isn't it scarier to think of some bloodthirsty creature emerging from the grave than to imagine your friend with the temperament of a British soccer fan and the skin of Jessica Simpson pre-Proactiv? If it's a comedy about bad skin, it's only appropriate that Zombieland features a wonderful cameo from the King of satirical comedy and bad skin himself, Mr. Bill Murray. Murray's hilarious segment is worth the price of admission, but beyond that, Zombieland is no Shaun of the Dead.

• Mahmoud Ahmadinejad reviews Jennifer's Body

  2 Oct 2009 | 9:41 am

  Look who's a movie critic! It's Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, and he's no fan of the new Megan Fox movie Jennifer's Body. You'll have to forgive Mr. Ahmadinejad's shaky grasp of who the co-stars really are. Plus, his translator seems to have learned English from Chico Marx.

• Sorority Row

  14 Sep 2009 | 7:43 am

  What a cast! Audrina Partridge from TV's "The Hills" - she who created and patented the "Frankly my dear, I don't give a damn" of vacant stares. Yes, I've had to pay to see her before, but until now the toll was strictly emotional. While I fully expected Audrina to one day break into movies, I expected it to be on some dirtbag's flipcam in a hotel room. There's the remarkable Leah Pipes, whose name is six degrees of separation from every double-entendre you've ever heard. Lovely Briana Evigan, daughter of Greg Evigan, star of the fabled TV series B.J. and the Bear, where a trucker and his…

• 
  Stephanie Zacharek

• "Surrogates": Accept no substitutes

  By Stephanie Zacharek

  5 Nov 2009 | 5:11 pm

  Bruce Willis -- with hair! -- channels his inner John Tesh in this loopy sci-fi thriller

• "The Men Who Stare at Goats": Quick, look away

  By Stephanie Zacharek

  5 Nov 2009 | 5:11 pm

  Not even George Clooney's "sparkly eyes" can ignite this wispy satirical comedy

• Mike Judge's triumphant return to the office

  By Stephanie Zacharek

  5 Nov 2009 | 5:11 pm

  "Extract," the director's smart, openhearted comedy about work frustration, is like a gift at the end of summer

• "The House of the Devil": Creepy, stylish fun

  By Stephanie Zacharek

  5 Nov 2009 | 5:11 pm

  Director Ti West's horror homage looks to the '80s, without irony

• "Love Happens" -- and it stinks

  By Stephanie Zacharek

  5 Nov 2009 | 5:11 pm

  Aaron Eckhart and Jennifer Aniston stumble through this claustrophobic grief-fest masquerading as a romance

• 
  Box Office Mojo - Top Stories

• 'Michael Jackson' Strikes Top Spot

  2 Nov 2009 | 1:32 pm

  Michael Jackson's This Is It was all there was as far as new nationwide releases went this Halloween weekend, but it was sufficient to help propel overall business four percent higher than the same timeframe last year. Though it may not be commensurate with the raft of pre-release hype surrounding the movie and Michael Jackson's death, This Is It performed exceptionally well for a concert picture or music documentary, charting second only to the opening of the Hannah Montana concer...

• 'Paranormal' Rages, 'Saw' Dulls

  26 Oct 2009 | 2:57 pm

  As a new horror sensation rose, another fell over the weekend. Paranormal Activity rolled out into more theaters and claimed the top spot, in part because the new releases were non-starters, including the latest movie in the usually reliable Saw franchise. Overall business was down 14 percent from last year, which featured the one-two punch of High School Musical 3: Senior Year and Saw V, but was still solid for the timeframe. Jumping to approximately 2,500 screens at 1,945 sites (more...

• 'Wild Things' Roars, 'Citizen,' 'Activity' Thrill

  19 Oct 2009 | 1:47 pm

  Between the openings of Where the Wild Things Are and Law Abiding Citizen and the nationwide expansion of Paranormal Activity, overall weekend business was booming by October standards, leaping 38 percent ahead of last year and posting a record gross for the timeframe. Where the Wild Things Are emitted a $32.7 million howl on approximately 5,000 screens at 3,735 sites, including around $3.1 million at 145 IMAX sites. The picture's daily box office pattern suggested that i...

• 'Couples Retreat' Advances, 'Paranormal Activity' Spikes

  12 Oct 2009 | 11:48 am

  While weekend business as a whole was relatively modest for the time of year (albeit up seven percent from last year), the sole new nationwide release Couples Retreat, the spreading Paranormal Activity and holdovers Zombieland and Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs all boasted impressive showings. Landing smack dab in the middle of the debut weekends for star Vince Vaughn's previous relationship comedies Four Christmases and The Break-Up, Couples Retreat attracted $34.3 m...

• 'Zombieland' Livens Up Horror Comedy Genre

  5 Oct 2009 | 2:14 pm

  The moribund horror comedy sub-genre showed a glimmer of vitality with the ripsnorting debut of Zombieland, which yanked $24.7 million out of around 3,900 screens at 3,036 sites. Despite Zombieland and the continued strength of Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs and the Toy Story franchise, though, overall weekend business was off six percent from the same period last year, when Beverly Hills Chihuahua ruled, and on the low end for the timeframe. In the realm of zombie mov...

• 
  SF Gate

• Review: 'The Men Who Stare at Goats'

  6 Nov 2009 | 12:00 am

  The Men Who Stare at Goats RATING: (ALERT VIEWER)Comedy-drama. Starring Ewan McGregor, George Clooney, Jeff Bridges and Kevin Spacey. Directed by Grant Heslov. (R. 93 minutes. At Bay Area theaters.) There's a lot of energy in "The Men Who Stare at Goats." It...

• Review: 'Skin' reveals more layers of apartheid

  6 Nov 2009 | 12:00 am

  Skin RATING: (POLITE APPLAUSE)Drama. Directed by Anthony Fabian. With Sophie Okonedo, Sam Neill, Alice Krige, Ella Ramangwane and Tony Kgoroge. (PG-13. 107 minutes. At the Clay in San Francisco and Shattuck Cinemas in Berkeley.) It isn't just the inhumanity...

• Review: '(Untitled)' won't take the easy road

  6 Nov 2009 | 12:00 am

  (Untitled) RATING: (WILD APPLAUSE)Comedy. Starring Adam Goldberg, Marley Shelton and Eion Bailey. Directed by Jonathan Parker. (R. 96 minutes. At Bay Area theaters.) Director Jonathan Parker and co-writer Catherine Di Napoli have made a film of such...

• Review: 'Visual Acoustics' a tribute to Shulman

  6 Nov 2009 | 12:00 am

  Visual Acoustics RATING: (POLITE APPLAUSE) Documentary. Directed by Eric Bricker. (Not rated. 84 minutes. At the Lumiere in San Francisco and Shattuck Cinemas in Berkeley.) If you admire the modernist architecture of Southern California, you've almost...

• Review: 'Gentlemen Broncos' plodding, unfunny

  6 Nov 2009 | 12:00 am

  Gentlemen Broncos RATING: (SNOOZING VIEWER) Comedy. Starring Michael Angarano, Sam Rockwell and Jennifer Coolidge. Directed by Jared Hess. (PG-13. 90 minutes. At Bay Area theaters.) Setting out to make a cult movie is almost as strange as setting out to make...

• 
  Cinematical

• Robert Pattinson Talks 'Breaking Dawn' & 'Unbound Captives'

  Elisabeth Rappe

  6 Nov 2009 | 9:50 pm

  Good news, Twilight fans. You have the first official news for the third Twilight installment, courtesy of our own Jen Yamato, FearNet and the New Moon junket.* The magically-coiffed Robert Pattinson has confirmed that Breaking Dawn will begin filming in Fall 2010, and that it's penciled into his schedule for next year. Of course, Dawn remains unconfirmed by Summit. The most controversial installment of the Twilight series, rumors swirl that the studio is hesitant to take it to the big screen. If it is made, it seems likely that it could be split into two films a'la Harry Potter and the…

• The Worst Movie Biopics and Five That Are Pretty Darn Good

  Jessica Barnes

  6 Nov 2009 | 6:15 pm

  Watch enough movies and you learn pretty fast that they aren't about reality, they're about entertaining us. Which sometimes makes the world of the biopic a little tricky, because not only do you have to work in the truth, but you still have to keep those butts in the seats -- and the results are not always good. Over at Moviefone they've compiled some of the worst movie biopics, and no one was safe -- with films earning a spot for mixing up their facts, ridiculous casting, or just downright lazy filmmaking. So who made the list? Well, you've got your usual suspects like Oliver Stone's…

• Hello, My Name is Scott and I Love the 'G.I. Joe' Blu-ray

  Scott Weinberg

  6 Nov 2009 | 5:32 pm

  Back in August was when G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra hit the screens, and while I had no reason to expect anything but a merciless brain-pummeling from the experience, I walked out suitably impressed with the flick's popcorn-tastic mentality. I even ended my review with this: "Truth be told, the flick's action centerpiece, a crazy chase through Paris, will soon be on heavy blu-ray rotation around my house." Yes, the director who slapped me with The Mummy Returns and pummeled me with Van Helsing is now back in my good graces. (The awesomely amusing Deep Rising is always the tie-breaker for…

• Check Out The Real-Life Men Who Stare at Goats

  Cinematical staff

  6 Nov 2009 | 4:45 pm

  By: John Gholson I'm not sure why, but Overture Films has chosen to downplay the "based on a true story" aspects of their high-profile new satirical film The Men Who Stare at Goats. The film finds Ewan McGregor as a journalist looking for a story in Iraq who stumbles across a former member (George Clooney) of a special platoon of psychics employed by the U.S. military. While many moments in the film seem outlandish and ridiculous, they become even more jaw-dropping with the knowledge that the film is based on fact. Author Jon Ronson first explored the topic of remote viewers and psychic…

• Roland Emmerich May or May Not Blow Up the World Again

  Jenni Miller

  6 Nov 2009 | 4:02 pm

  At a press junket earlier this summer for 2012, Roland Emmerich told reporters he's not doing any more blow-'em-up flicks. "I would not know how to top this... It's just one of these things, you know. I had a hard time deciding to do another disaster movie, but... you cannot make a disaster movie if there's not something --- an idea in this disaster which elevates it to something more than a disaster. And so it was this idea, you know, that there will be a global flood and it's a retelling of Noah's Arc." Later he added, "It's not my last film, it's my last disaster film. And that's because I…

• 
  Supehero Hype

• Carney Lands Spider-Man Turn Off the Dark Lead

  7 Nov 2009 | 12:00 am

  Reeve Carney, of rock band Carney, will play Peter Parker/Spider-Man in Julie Taymor's Broadway show "Spider-Man Turn Off the Dark," producer Michael Cohl announced Friday. Carney has a role in Taymor's upcoming drama, The Tempest . The singer is joining a cast that includes Evan Rachel Wood as Mary Jane Watson and Alan Cumming in the role of Norman Osborn/Green Goblin. The lavish musical is scheduled to open sometime in 2010 at the Hilton Theatre. The show will feature a score by Bono and The Edge of U2.

• Official Kick-Ass Site Launched, Trailer Coming!

  6 Nov 2009 | 12:00 am

  Lionsgate has brought online the official website for the Matthew Vaughn-directed comic book adaptation Kick-Ass at IAmKick-Ass.com . The site features a Flash intro and then gives you a peek at the new character posters combined. There you will also notice that the site is counting down to the trailer debut on MySpace in just a little over eight days! Opening April 16th, Kick-Ass tells the story of average teenager Dave Lizewski (Aaron Johnson), a comic-book fanboy who decides to take his obsession as inspiration to become a real-life superhero. As any good superhero would, he chooses a new…

• Reilly and Parker are Seeing Red

  5 Nov 2009 | 12:00 am

  Heat Vision reports that John C. Reilly and Mary-Louise Parker are in talks to join the cast of Red , Summit Entertainment's adaptation of the Wildstorm/DC Comics miniseries being directed by Robert Schwentke. The film is about former black-ops agent (Bruce Willis), now in retirement, who has to contend with younger, more high-tech assassins who show up to kill him. Reilly would play a retired CIA agent who is paranoid that everyone is out to kill him. Parker would play the romantic interest, a federal pension worker who becomes embroiled in the Willis character's struggle to stay alive.

• J.J. Abrams in Talks to Produce Micronauts

  5 Nov 2009 | 12:00 am

  The Wall Street Journal is reporting that J.J. Abrams ( Star Trek , "Lost," "Alias") is in talks to produce a movie about the Japanese interchangeable toys Micronauts, which Hasbro just acquired. First released in Japan in 1974 (under the name Microman), the toys were imported to the U.S. by the Mego Corporation in 1976. The line consisted of 3.75-inch tall toys which used a universal, five millimeter inter-connective design. Mego cancelled the Micronauts line in 1980. In 2002, Palisades Toys bought the rights to reproduce Micronauts. The Micronauts comic books were published by Marvel…

• Kick-Ass Character Posters Revealed

  5 Nov 2009 | 12:00 am

  IGN has debuted four character posters for the Matthew Vaughn-directed comic book adaptation Kick-Ass , opening in theaters on April 16. The action-adventure, based on the Mark Millar and John Romita Jr. comic, tells the story of average teenager Dave Lizewski (Aaron Johnson), a comic-book fanboy who decides to take his obsession as inspiration to become a real-life superhero. As any good superhero would, he chooses a new name -- Kick-Ass -- assembles a suit and mask to wear, and gets to work fighting crime. There's only one problem standing in his way: Kick-Ass has absolutely no superpowers.

• 
  Film.com Movie Blog

• Review: The Box is Uber Creepy Yet Interesting

  6 Nov 2009 | 11:23 am

  "Not an easy film to talk about, but one worth seeing." The Box is not an easy film to talk about. Almost every description of the film will end up as a spoiler, it's fairly high concept, and it has a few glaring problems. However, The Box also presents huge moral dilemmas and is a genuine candidate for "cult-classic" status. I'm not sure exactly how I feel about it, perhaps some amalgamation of confused and captivated. Yes, The Box confustivated me.Borrowing from the synopsis:…

• Review: The Men Who Stare at Goats is Good, Not Great

  6 Nov 2009 | 10:20 am

  "For those looking for something off the beaten path ..." Almost 20 years ago director Roger Spottiswoode put to the screen an adaptation of an incredible book chronicling some of the crazy, unbelievable things our government, through the CIA, did during the Vietnam War. It was about a group of wild, unruly but brilliant pilots who flew stripped down civilian planes on military missions that NEVER HAPPENED. Drugs, money, weapons -- all to people we weren't supposed to be giving…

• Review: A Christmas Carol Not Merry Enough

  6 Nov 2009 | 10:07 am

  "This version of A Christmas Carol has very little story and even less Christmas cheer." The old aphorism goes "don't throw out the baby with the bathwater," but the makers of the latest iteration of A Christmas Carol have flipped the script; they've created a film that looks amazing and combined it with an appalling lack of story. In essence they've provided a lovely, piping hot bath, all the while forgetting to actually place the dirty baby into it. We're left with only a…

• Review: Don't Bother Having an Encounter with The Fourth Kind

  6 Nov 2009 | 10:03 am

  "Not good, for sure, but at least it appears to have been attempting something intriguing." When so many films are bad in lazy and ordinary ways, it's refreshing to occasionally see one that fails interestingly. The Fourth Kind is that sort of movie: not good, for sure, but at least it appears to have been attempting something intriguing.Thanks to Close Encounters of the Third Kind (which it's strange no one in this film ever mentions), the common man knows about the degrees of…

• Hey, Academy, How's About Nominating In The Loop?

  5 Nov 2009 | 8:29 am

  I'm not entirely sure what to expect with this year's Oscar race. Throw everything you know out the window, because for the first time in a long time the nominees are too long a list to predict. It's just a feeling game at this stage. And here's what I feel so far:Up in the Air An Education Precious Nine Up InvictusAll the above movies are looking pretty strong right now. A Serious Man, Bright Star, and The Hurt Locker are all movies the Academy may or may not love as much as their strongest…

• 
  Movie Marketing Madness

• Links for 2009-11-06 [del.icio.us]

  7 Nov 2009 | 12:00 am

  Why Are Marketers So Bad At Measuring Social Media? (And How Can They Get Better?) Companies Continue to Fund Social Media Initiatives (Even Though Many Really Don't Get It) - mediabistro.com: WebNewser Social Media ROI: Digging for Traffic - Newspaper Association of America: Advancing Newspaper Media for the 21st Century

• There’s a fight coming

  Chris

  6 Nov 2009 | 2:00 pm

  The MPAA and theater owners are about to come to blows over the former’s desire to have the government lift a ban on technology that would allow them to deliver movies to consumer’s set-top boxes or whatever “close to or during” the theatrical release of said movie. No specific plans have been made public for using that technology, but they wouldn’t be pushing for it if there weren’t a PowerPoint deck on someone’s hard drive for doing just that. Partly fueling this push is the continued (perceived or real, depending on the report you’re reading)…

• More reading recommendations

  Chris

  6 Nov 2009 | 8:00 am

  I’ve chatted with Jon Reiss occasionally and have definitely been in tune to the stuff he’s written for Ted Hope’s Truly Free Film blog and such, finding him to be one of the more interesting thinkers when it comes to revamping movie marketing and distribution. So I’m very much going to be checking out Think Outside The Box Office, his new book. You can read the introduction and view the table of contents for Think Outside the Box Office at IndieWire. Here’s an excerpt: The independent film world is abuzz about the collapse of the traditional independent film…

• Ramping up toward Oscar

  Chris

  6 Nov 2009 | 6:00 am

  Now that it’s November the preparations for the next Academy Awards have begun in earnest, both at the show production and industry campaigning levels. Most notable is, of course, the announcement that next year’s event would be co-hosted by Steve Martin and Alec Baldwin. Martin has hosted the Oscars before (and I think did a great job) while Baldwin is a newcomer and, as Patrick Goldstein points out in that story, is one of those evil Hollywood liberals the Conservative media loves to rail against. So that should make for an interesting evening. The two are also co-starring in…

• Links for 2009-11-05 [del.icio.us]

  6 Nov 2009 | 12:00 am

  Study Finds Social Media is Actually Social

• 
  MarketSaw

• Amazing Avatar TV Spot Has Lots of New Stuff!

  6 Nov 2009 | 6:30 pm

  Michael here. Thanks to Simong126 for pointing me to this awesome new Avatar TV spot, which aired today on Cartoon Network. It's geared more towards a younger audience, but it gets me super excited... [[ This is a content summary only. Visit my website for full links, other content, and more! ]]

• Eminem Starring And Producing SHADY TALEZ In 3D

  6 Nov 2009 | 1:15 pm

  Jim here. Rapper Eminem will be stepping up to 3D with a new horror film entitled SHADY TALEZ which appears to have a great deal of forward momentum. Booked as a CREEPSHOW meets THE TWILIGHT ZONE,... [[ This is a content summary only. Visit my website for full links, other content, and more! ]]

• YABBA DABBA DAN! Aykroyd, Faris and Timberlake Circling S3D Jellystone Project

  6 Nov 2009 | 12:48 pm

  Jim here. Looks like Dan Aykroyd, Anna Faris and Justin Timberlake all have something in common - YOGI BEAR. Nothing is confirmed yet, but that didn't stop THR from reporting it so it looks fairly... [[ This is a content summary only. Visit my website for full links, other content, and more! ]]

• Milla Jovovich Twittering While Killing Zombies In 3D!

  5 Nov 2009 | 4:24 pm

  Jim here. Ryan Rotten of STYD happened to notice Milla Jovovich is twittering from the set of RESIDENT EVIL: AFTERLIFE, which of course is being shot in 3D. "Wow, just finished a scene with Ali... [[ This is a content summary only. Visit my website for full links, other content, and more! ]]

• 3D Producer’s New Video: Shooting 3D is as Easy as 1, 2, 3

  5 Nov 2009 | 1:59 pm

  Jim here. San Diego-based 3D producer PassmoreLab is announcing exclusively today on MarketSaw the release of a new self-produced short film entitled SHOOTING 3D: INTRODUCTION TO STEREOSCOPIC... [[ This is a content summary only. Visit my website for full links, other content, and more! ]]

• 
  OUP Blog

• From Jolson to Mariah: The Ten Worst Musical Films Ever Made

  Rebecca

  5 Nov 2009 | 9:18 am

  Richard Barrios has lectured extensively on film, served as a commentator on numerous DVDs, and co-hosted a series on Turner Classic Movies. He currently lives outside Philadelphia. His book, A Song in the Dark: The Birth of the Musical Film, 2nd edition, illuminates the origins of the movie musical from the smash hits of The Singing Fool and Sunny Side Up to bizarre flops like Golden Dawn and Cecil B. DeMille’s Madam Satan. In the original post below, Barrios looks at the 10 worst musical films ever made. Musical films, as most of us are aware, are among the greatest mixed blessings in…

• Monsters and Wild Things

  Rebecca

  15 Oct 2009 | 8:04 am

  Stephen T. Asma is Professor of Philosophy at Columbia College Chicago, where he holds the title of Distinguished Scholar.  His newest book, On Monsters: An Unnatural History of Our Worst Fears, is a wide-ranging cultural and conceptual history of monsters-how they have evolved over time, what functions they serve, and what shapes they are likely to take in the future.  It is with this monstrous perspective (sorry I know it is an awful pun) that Asma looks at Where the Wild Things Are in honor of its release this weekend. With hindsight it seems fitting that Maurice Sendak’s Where the…

• Did Director Steven Soderbergh Get The Chemistry Right…Again?

  Rebecca

  7 Oct 2009 | 5:23 am

  Mark Griep is a chemistry professor at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln who is searching for new antibiotics and who recently received a College Distinguished Teaching Award.  Along with Marjorie Mikasen he wrote ReAction!: Chemistry in the Movies, which focuses on chemistry’s role in the narrative of films.  The focus is on contemporary Hollywood feature films, but also include a sampling of documentaries, shorts, silents and international films.  In the original article below, Griep looks at the new film, The Informant!. The Informant! was directed by Steven Soderbergh, who…

• John Muir and the National Parks

  Rebecca

  23 Sep 2009 | 5:06 am

  In honor of the new Ken Burns series starting on PBS next Sunday we asked Donald Worster, Hall Distinguished Professor of American History, University of Kansas and the author of A Passion For Nature: The Life of John Muir, to take a look at the series and let us know what he thought. His response is below. Tune in on Sunday and let us know what you think in the comments. I have been watching the new Ken Burns series for PBS, “The National Parks: America’s Best Idea,” and it is a gorgeous and inspiring achievement. The hero of the series, and of our long history of creating national…

• Riddle Me Now, Riddle Me Then…:The Answer

  Megan

  4 Aug 2009 | 8:32 am

  Gordon Thompson is Professor of Music at Skidmore College. His book, Please Please Me: Sixties British Pop, Inside Out, offers an insider’s view of the British pop-music recording industry. Yesterday he puzzled us all with this month’s masterful riddle, below he explains the answer. Were you able to solve it? Riddle me now, riddle me then, Can you tell me what again? Brothers rage against the right, But this song came before the night. Not quite crooked, and not perverse; Replace with “girl,” improve the verse. Proto-punk, a random slice, A wild guitar, a roll of the dice.

• 
  The Envelope - Ultimate Awards Site

• Meryl Streep wasn't asked to join costars as Oscars co-hosts

  6 Nov 2009 | 5:17 pm

  It's not so complicated.

• Rihanna, Green Day added to American Music Awards lineup

  6 Nov 2009 | 5:04 pm

  The singer takes a break from the interview circuit to promote her upcoming album.

• AFI Fest 2009 announces New Lights Competition winners

  6 Nov 2009 | 12:44 pm

  The award was given jointly to Andrea Arnold's "Fish Tank" and Javier Rebollo's "Woman Without Piano."

• Oscars predix: Who's ahead in the best actor derby

  6 Nov 2009 | 12:41 pm

  George Clooney, Jeff Bridges and Colin Firth are all in the running.

• Gold Derby nuggets: Beyonce big winner at MTV Euro kudos

  6 Nov 2009 | 12:40 pm

  Calle 13 sweeps Latin Grammys and "Crazy Heart" shakes up Oscars. Calle 13 sweeps Latin Grammys and "Crazy Heart" shakes up Oscars.

• 
  scanners

• Jon Stewart channels Glenn Beck's intestines

  Jim Emerson

  6 Nov 2009 | 2:49 pm

  The Daily Show With Jon StewartMon - Thurs 11p / 10c

• Reviewing Altman

  Jim Emerson

  4 Nov 2009 | 7:45 pm

  Richard Schickel wrote a book review of Robert Altman: The Oral Biography by Mitchell Zuckoff. Except that, rather than review the book, he chose to review Robert Altman's capacity for drinking and dope-smoking: It appears that from the beginning of his career until almost its end (when illness slowed him), Robert Altman never passed an entirely sober day in his life. When he was not drinking heavily, he was smoking dope -- often doing both simultaneously. When he screened dailies on location, he insisted the cast and crew gather to view them in a party atmosphere, with the merriment rolling…

• "That's funny...That plane's dustin' crops where there ain't no crops."

  Jim Emerson

  4 Nov 2009 | 12:12 pm

  Alfred Hitchcock's "North By Northwest" is just about my favorite movie. No film has ever been more entertaining. (See Glenn Kenny's personal paen to the picture, "Obviously, they've mistaken me for a much shorter man.") And a piece of it is still alive and well in Lake Forest, IL. From The Lake Forester: "I bought it about five years ago," Knauz, 81, said of the fully restored Navy N3N that he keeps in his hangar at the Kenosha Regional Airport. The appeal of owning the plane used in the film -- named by the American Film Institute as the 7th greatest American mystery movie in history --…

• Endings

  Jim Emerson

  3 Nov 2009 | 10:07 pm

  Excellent op-ed piece by philosophy prof Tom Dodd Todd May in the New York Times ("Happy Ending") about the ending of "No Country For Old Men": The harm of death goes to the heart of who we are as human beings. We are, in essence, forward-looking creatures. We create our lives prospectively. We build relationships, careers, and projects that are not solely of the moment but that have a future in our vision of them. One of the reasons Eastern philosophies have developed techniques to train us to be in the moment is that that is not our natural state. We are pulled toward the future, and see…

• Speaking of framing...

  Jim Emerson

  3 Nov 2009 | 8:43 pm

  I'm in the process of tracking down, rescuing and reposting all my video essays that disappeared along with iKlipz when the latter died unexpectedly earlier this year. This one, about M. Night Shyamalan's "Unbreakable," came to mind when posting Richard T. Jameson's comments on framing and John Carpenter's "Halloween."

• 
  Observations on film art

• Things we like of late

  bordwellblog

  4 Nov 2009 | 8:52 am

  One of several posters the Stenberg brothers designed for Miss Mend. We’ve been quite busy in the tail end of October. David sweated over a Bresson essay, started on his online version of Planet Hong Kong, and continued to help out in Lea Jacobs’ seminar on film stylistics. Kristin has started organizing a book about the statuary from the site in Egypt where she works for three weeks each year. And both of us have been steering the ninth edition of Film Art: An Introduction through the final phase of production. So instead of a blog essay this week, we offer some items from recent…

• Between you, me, and the bedpost

  bordwellblog

  28 Oct 2009 | 3:21 pm

  Imitation of Life. DB here: I do not like finding phallic symbols in movies. I grant you that there are some films that deliberately evoke the love wand: Tex Avery cartoons, Frank Tashlin and Jerry Lewis movies. Surely the Wolf in Avery’s Red Hot Riding Hood (1943) has more than a Platonic interest in Red’s stage show. But some critics/ academics look way too hard. For them, as a literature professor of mine put it back in the mid-1960s, phallic symbols are everywhere in art. And I learned fast that he meant everywhere, from the Odyssey to Emily Dickinson. I changed sections. Films, of…

• Don’t knock the blockbusters

  bordwellblog

  22 Oct 2009 | 6:48 am

  Promoting Pirates of the Caribbean in Japan (By tralala.online) Kristin here: When was the last time you heard someone complaining about the high cost of the latest Toyota prototype? Probably not recently, since car manufacturers don’t tend to boast about how much it costs them to design a new model. In fact, I couldn’t find any information on how much the development of automobile prototypes costs. Some new models catch on, some don’t. Presumably some don’t make a profit for their makers. The same tends to be true for other big-ticket items. In a way, a film’s negative is like a…

• Wrapping up the ROW

  bordwellblog

  15 Oct 2009 | 9:05 pm

  Paparazzi swarm over the nominees for the Dragons and Tigers Award at the Vancouver International Film Festival. Kristin here: Some final films from VIFF So far Central American countries have produced fewer films than their neighbors to the north and south. So I couldn’t pass up The Wind and the Water, the first fiction feature made in Panama. Made by a collective of fifteen young indigenous people from the Kuna Yala archipelego under the leadership of MIT graduate and first-time director Vero Bollow, it’s a tale of threats to the paradisiacal island by developers who want to build a…

• Wantons and wontons

  bordwellblog

  12 Oct 2009 | 8:36 am

  Oxhide II. DB here, with more from the Vancouver film fest: Two of the more innovative films I saw evoked film history—one explicitly, the other obliquely. Raya Martin’s Independencia is part of a planned series devoted to the history of the Philippines, told from the bottom up. In this first installment, villagers flee into the jungle to hide from the American “liberation” of their islands. The film centers on a mother and son who, joined by a woman the son finds, create a new family. After years, the son and the woman have a child, but their new life is threatened by the…

• 
  John Locker : Latest Documentaries

• War Made Easy

  War Made Easy reaches into the Orwellian memory hole to expose a 50-year pattern of government deception and media spin that has dragged the United States into one war after another from Vietnam to Iraq. Narrated by actor and activist Sean Penn, the film exhumes remarkable archival footage of official distortion and exaggeration from LBJ to George W. Bush, revealing in stunning detail how the American news media have uncritically disseminated the pro-war messages of successive presidential administrations.

• The Revolution Will Not Be Televised - Chavez: Inside the Coup

  2002 documentary about the April 2002 Venezuelan coup attempt which briefly deposed Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez. A television crew from Ireland\\\'s national broadcaster, RTÉ happened to be recording a documentary about Chávez during the events of April 11, 2002. Shifting focus, they followed the events as they occurred. During their filming, the crew recorded images of the events that they say contradict explanations given by Chávez\\\'s opposition, the private media, the US State Department, and then White House Press Secretary Ari Fleischer. The documentary says that the…

• Infinite Secrets

  Before his death in 212 B.C., Archimedes pens some of his most important treatises and equations onto a collection of papyrus scrolls in Greek. These include some of the most profound and cutting edge Mechanical Theorems to date. Thought to be lost but never forgotten the battered manuscript of parchment leaves was found hidden under the writings of an ancient prayer book. It is said that if the manuscript had been found sooner, the world would be a very different place.

• John Carpenter: Fear Is Just the Beginning

  Filmmaker John Carpenter helped redefine the American horror film in 1978 with Halloween, a low-budget thriller which became a major box office success. Since then, Carpenter has devoted his career to bringing a fresh perspective to genre filmmaking, striving to maintain the freedom of an independent while working within the studio system. (Carpenter not only writes and directs his own projects, but often also serves as producer and composer as well.) John Carpenter: Fear Is Just the Beginning...The Man and His Movies is a documentary about this two-fisted maverick auteur, which offers a look…

• The Fall of the Republic

  Alex Jones highly anticipated upcoming documentary Fall of the Republic: The Presidency of Barack Obama boldly lifts the lid and unveils the fraud behind Brand Obama and how the globalists are using their newest, and slickest ever puppet to destroy the last vestiges of Americas freedom, Constitution and economy, all while helping the bankers loot the country clean. The film exposes the agenda that Obama was put in place to accomplish, a world government allied with a bank of the world run by globalist eugenicists hell-bent on destroying Americas first world status and replacing it with a…

• 
  Floort - Movies

• Entertainment: Paranormal activity scariest movie of our time.

  13 Oct 2009 | 3:34 pm

  Has anyone watched paranormal activity. I. Am frightened to see it. They said that after watching it you would not be able to sleep for a while. When they showed it the first half hour almost everyone...

• Entertainment: Michael Moore - "Capitalism never helped me"

  2 Oct 2009 | 10:20 am

  Hee hee... see link. Like all Michael Moore films he starts out with an idea, it sounds like it may be good, then he runs it into the ground. But this isn't about the film, it's a...

• Entertainment: If only Hollywood weren't so liberal

  24 Sep 2009 | 8:57 am

  Did you ever wonder what movies would be like if Republicans ran Hollywood? Let's see. The party of no. No innovation. Everything is a sequel to the same orig...

• Entertainment: Another cluster FOX by Fixed news...

  15 Sep 2009 | 6:45 pm

  The small gathering of hate-filled anti-obama protestors on September 12 has been grossly over estimated by the usual suspects. Glen Beck, (who didn't even attend the event he pro...

• Entertainment: District 9 was a big diasappointment

  5 Sep 2009 | 5:18 pm

  I was expecting something really good, but it was silly and absurd. I guess it appeals to the younger generation. The storyline was interesting, but execution was pathetic. It assumed the audience was...

• 
  Ain't It Cool News - The best in movie, TV, DVD, and comic book news.

• Learn Which MAD MEN Star Hosts SNL After The Amazing Swifty!! Hint: Not John Hamm!!

  Hercules

  7 Nov 2009 | 12:07 am

• AICN Exclusive: WOLFMAN poster!!! It's very Film Noir...

  HEADGEEK

  6 Nov 2009 | 3:26 pm

• Harry claws to learn from Joe Johnston on WOLFMAN set!!!

  HEADGEEK

  6 Nov 2009 | 3:09 pm

• ScoreKeeper Gives Away Copies of Film Composer Interview Book: KEEPING SCORE by Tom Hoover!

  ScoreKeeper

  6 Nov 2009 | 1:50 pm

• TWILIGHT Actress To Go From Broody Vamps To An APPARITION??

  Merrick

  6 Nov 2009 | 8:35 am

• 
  Bloody-Disgusting Horror News

• First Image From '30 Days of Night: Dark Days'

  6 Nov 2009 | 6:53 pm

  To go along with our casting news from set, beyond the break you'll find the first ever image of Kiele Sanchez from the set of Sony Stage 6's 30 Days of Night: Dark Days, which is currently lensing in Vancouver, Canada under the direction of Ben Ketai. Rhys Coiro, Mia Kirshner, Harold Perrineau, Kiele Sanchez, Diora Baird, Rhys Coiro, Monique Ganderton, Marco Sorian, Katherine Isabelle all star in the sequel to the adaptation from Steve Niles.

• AFM '09: First Stills from 'Stake Land' and 'Bitter Feast'!

  6 Nov 2009 | 5:32 pm

  Hands down, one of the coolest clips I saw at this week's AFM was for Jim Mickle's (Mulberry Street) epic vampire movie Stake Land. This afternoon we got our hands on the first two (one pretty amazing) still from the flick starring Danielle Harris, Kelly McGillis and Conor Paolo. In addition, we also got the first ever still from Joe Maggio's Bitter Feast.

• '30 Days of Night' Set Visit: 'Ginger Snaps' Star Katherine Isabelle Joins Cast!

  6 Nov 2009 | 5:24 pm

  This past week Bloody Disgusting's Evan Katz headed up north to Vancouver to check out the set of Sony Stage 6's 30 Days of Night: Dark Days, which is currently being directed by Ben Ketai. Beyond the break you'll find a little teaser from set, which reveals some brand new casting including Ginger Snaps star Katherine Isabelle!

• AFM '09: Tons of Images from 'Chain Letter'

  6 Nov 2009 | 5:19 pm

  While you guys continue to wait for Deon Taylor's long, long, long delayed Chain Letter, below you'll find a scan of some new images from the slasher starring Michael Bailey Smith, Nikki Reed, Noah Segan, Keith David, Betsy Russell, Matthew Cohen, Cody Kasch, Michael J. Pagan, Cherilyn Wilson and Clifton Powell. The film is a tale of a maniac who targets teens when they fail to forward chain mail.

• AFM '09: Long Synopsis and Art for 'Burke and Hare'

  6 Nov 2009 | 5:16 pm

  To go along with the major casting of Dan Aykroyd, Simon Pegg, David Tennant and Bill Nighy, beyond the break you'll find some AFM sales art and a long synopsis for John Landis' (American Werewolf in London) next horror project, Burke and Hare. Based on a true story, Burke And Hare is about two 19th century graverobbers who find a lucrative business providing cadavers for an Edinburgh medical school.

• 
  Rick's Flicks Picks

• Getting Buzzed - Summer 2010 Heats Up

  ricksflickspicks

  6 Nov 2009 | 5:16 pm

  Prince of Persia - One of the Most Buzzed About Summer Films of 2010 This week sees new looks at some hot 2009 fall releases and the first looks at some big summer 2010 releases. What films for fall 2009 and summer 2010 are you excited about seeing? Getting Buzzed 8) How to Train Your Dragon (March 26, 2010) Trailer On paper this one looks so promising, but the first trailer has dampened my excitement. I don’t like Jay Baruchel as the voice of the lead character. It’s distracting casting of a hot young star. I’m also not a fan of the salamander-looking dragon design.

• THE MEN WHO STARE AT GOATS (2009) (***1/2)

  ricksflickspicks

  6 Nov 2009 | 12:20 am

  Check Out the TrailerBased on Jon Ronson’s nonfiction book, this fictional account starts with a note that more of this is true than you would believe. In the hands of director Grant Heslov and writer Peter Straughan, the film tells the mind boggling history of the Army’s history with training psychic spies. Reporter Bob Wilton (Ewan McGregor, STAR WARS prequels) stumbles into the story of the military’s psychic spies. Following the break up of his marriage, he goes to Iraq to prove himself. There he meets Lyn Cassady (George Clooney, CONFESSIONS OF A DANGEROUS MIND), the…

• THE BOX (2009) (**)

  ricksflickspicks

  6 Nov 2009 | 12:01 am

  Check Out the TrailerA stranger comes to your door. He makes you an offer. You have 24 hours to decide whether to push a button inside a box. If you push the button, someone you do not know will die and you will receive one million dollars. What would you do? What would you think or feel? What would you feel if you pushed the button? Too bad this film isn’t interested in these moral dilemmas. Norma and Arthur Lewis (Cameron Diaz, BEING JOHN MALKOVICH, & James Marsden, X-MEN) are given this proposition from Arlington Steward (Frank Langella, FROST/NIXON), a mysterious man with a…

• This Weekend’s Film Festival – The Power of Education 200

  ricksflickspicks

  4 Nov 2009 | 12:01 am

  This Weekend’s Film Festival is a follow-up to the July 30, 2008 edition — The Power of Education. In this second course, we get another look at the power of language. There’s a story of a white teacher trying to teach inner city kids. Then there’s one where one of those kids plays a black teacher trying to teach inner city kids. Then a French teacher tries to teach inner city kids from various ethnic backgrounds. And finally a drug-addicted white teacher tries to inspire inner city kids. While there are similar plot lines to many of this week’s films, the films…

• SOUTH PARK: BIGGER, LONGER & UNCUT (1999) (***1/2)

  ricksflickspicks

  3 Nov 2009 | 9:39 pm

  Check Out the TrailerThe death of so many TV to film adaptations is that what works as a half hour on TV feels padded and drawn out as a feature film. Trey Parker and Matt Stone took the essence of their button pushing television series and expanded on it. Filled with hilarious songs, the film allowed Parker and Stone to be even more outrageous than they could be on TV. And they get to stick it to their critics real good. Stan, Kyle, Cartman and Kenny are dying to see the big screen debut of their favorite Canadian comedy duo, Terrance and Phillip. Titled “Asses of Fire,” the…

• 
  Film.com The Big Hitter

• Review: The Box is Uber Creepy Yet Interesting

  6 Nov 2009 | 11:23 am

  "Not an easy film to talk about, but one worth seeing." The Box is not an easy film to talk about. Almost every description of the film will end up as a spoiler, it's fairly high concept, and it has a few glaring problems. However, The Box also presents huge moral dilemmas and is a genuine candidate for "cult-classic" status. I'm not sure exactly how I feel about it, perhaps some amalgamation of confused and captivated. Yes, The Box confustivated me.Borrowing from the synopsis:…

• Review: A Christmas Carol Not Merry Enough

  6 Nov 2009 | 10:07 am

  "This version of A Christmas Carol has very little story and even less Christmas cheer." The old aphorism goes "don't throw out the baby with the bathwater," but the makers of the latest iteration of A Christmas Carol have flipped the script; they've created a film that looks amazing and combined it with an appalling lack of story. In essence they've provided a lovely, piping hot bath, all the while forgetting to actually place the dirty baby into it. We're left with only a…

• Pixar: By The Numbers

  3 Nov 2009 | 3:28 pm

  We get into arguments about Pixar all the time around the office. Why? When your average film garners approval from 95 percent of the critics there's plenty of room for disagreement. It becomes a bit like choosing your favorite spice. Can you really find the exact difference between red and white pepper?So we decided to strip out all the emotion and focus on four crucial categories we could measure objectively. They are, in no particular order:1. Fan reaction 2. Critical reaction 3. Box office…

• Big Hitter: A Christmas Carol, Christopher Walken, and New DVD Release Dates

  2 Nov 2009 | 12:08 pm

  What I'm Seeing This WeekA Christmas Carol, Pirate Radio, and The Box. My quick thoughts on each: I don't quite get why Jim Carrey had to play eight parts in Christmas Carol; Pirate Radio evidently had huge problems before finally getting a new title and release date; and Cameron Diaz threw out a major spoiler for The Box when I was at The San Diego Comic-Con. If merely one of these films turns out to be worth raving about I'll be most pleased. As I tweeted last week, the writers' strike has…

• Review: This is It a Nice Homage

  28 Oct 2009 | 9:52 am

  "This is It is, at its core, an homage to Michael's art." It's generally pointless to discuss marketing where films are concerned. Too many marketers are trying to hit too many demographics with too many advertisements, and thus it becomes a bit like unscrambling an egg. But in the case of Michael Jackson's This is It there truly are only two main crowds: 1) Fans who want to see it and could care less about anything besides the music and 2) Non-fans who won't be seeing it…

• 
  Film.com DVD Blog

• Criterion Review: Howards End A Timely Triumph

  6 Nov 2009 | 1:38 pm

  "Live in fragments no longer," proclaims the heroine Margaret Schlegel in the E. M. Forster novel Howards End. Pure artistry defines this 1992 film from director James Ivory, which is as beautiful and timely 17 years later as the day it was released. Dealing with the problems of emotional connectivity in modern life, as well as the damaging effects of lies long lain dormant and the certainty of fate, Howards End is long overdue for a revival. Two families seem inescapably interconnected as…

• DVD Alternatives to This Weekend's Theatrical Offerings

  6 Nov 2009 | 1:33 pm

  We know how it is: You'd like to go to the movies this weekend, but you're gonna be busy staring at a big button, arguing with yourself about whether or not to push it. But you can have a multiplex-like experience at home with a collection of the right DVDs. And when someone asks you on Monday, "Hey, did you see The Box this weekend?" you can reply, "No, I contemplated cinematic moral conundrums of a different order." INSTEAD OF: The Box, Richard Kelly's mysterious thriller about a moral…

• DVD Review: Orphan Abandoned on Single Feature DVD

  6 Nov 2009 | 1:27 pm

  If there is one terrible legacy left to us by filmmaking in the '90s, it is the notion of the twist-dependent thriller. After the critical (and box office) success of such films as The Usual Suspects, Lone Star, The Crying Game, and especially The Sixth Sense, films that were constructed entirely around a single, mind-bending, story-changing twist became a hip and interesting way to tell a story. The big GOTCHA! of it, however, left classic storytelling to fall by the wayside, and films often…

• Blu-Ray Review: Heat Looks Great, but There's Nothing New to See

  5 Nov 2009 | 8:12 am

  Fourteen years after Heat brought Al Pacino and Robert De Niro together onscreen for the first time, a new edition comes to Blu-ray. But do you need it? De Niro plays McCauley, the head of a paramilitary-style robbery crew, with Val Kilmer and Tom Sizemore as his backup and Pacino as Hanna, the cop tracking them down. As the police try to keep up with the crew's intricate schemes, a classic game of hunter and hunted turns back on itself, with a double-crossing sideman and a victim out for…

• DVD Alternatives to This Weekend's Theatrical Offerings

  30 Oct 2009 | 8:54 am

  We know how it is: You'd like to go to the movies this weekend, but you're still working on putting together your Michael Jackson costume for Halloween; sewing all those sequins onto that glove is taking forever. But you can have a multiplex-like experience at home with a collection of the right DVDs. And when someone asks you on Monday, "Hey, did you see This Is It this weekend?" you can reply, "No, I eased on, eased on down the road instead." INSTEAD OF: Michael Jackson's This Is It, the…

• 
  ScreenCrave.com - Passionate about movies

• First Twilght Eclipse Teaser Poster

  Krystal Clark

  6 Nov 2009 | 7:32 pm

  Isn’t this convenient? The teaser poster for The Twilight Saga: Eclipse has just been released by our friends over at BloodyDisgusting, with less than two weeks before the theatrical debut of New Moon. The third film is supposed to once again highlight the struggle between Bella, Jacob and Edward along with the drama of her pending high school graduation. What’s a girl to do?! Check out the teaser poster for Eclipse… The theme for Twilight was blue and gray, New Moon was all about orange and brown, and here we have red and silver. The third movie in the vampire franchise…

• Benicio del Toro’s Wolf Man Poster

  Krystal Clark

  6 Nov 2009 | 7:14 pm

  Earlier today we brought you the lovely Emily Blunt in a teaser poster for the upcoming Universal feature, The Wolf Man, now we’ve got another one courtesy of AICN. This time we stare into the eye of the beast himself, (Benicio del Toro) and it’s not pretty. If you think he looks hairy here, take a look at the rest of it. Check out the full size poster… Even though this poster is a blatant close up of the wolf himself, there’s still a lot left up to the imagination. Logically we know that Benicio del Toro is behind those eyes and underneath the make up, yet they choose…

• Ashley Greene To Star in The Apparition

  Laura Aguirre

  6 Nov 2009 | 6:34 pm

  Ashley Greene might not be the star of the whole Twilight phenomenon, but the young actress is determined to make a name for herself. According to Variety, Greene is in talks to star in The Apparition, a thriller for Joel Silver’s production company, Dark Castle. With a franchise of good-looking vampires under her belt, Greene is making the leap into something a little less fictitious. The Apparition is a story inspired by actual events in which a young couple is haunted by a supernatural presence unleashed during a college experiment. Greene, who plays Robert Pattison’s sister…

• Robert Pattinson Goes Native for Unbound Captives

  Krystal Clark

  6 Nov 2009 | 6:10 pm

  While out promoting The Twilight Saga: New Moon, Edward Cullen himself Robert Pattinson spoke about his future film plans that go beyond the popular vampire series. Former Twilght star Cam Gigandet gave up his fangs for a pair of stirrups with his next film and Pattinson plans on doing the same. Get ready to see your precious Edward go all Dances with Wolves in a Western! Pattinson told inquiring minds about his upcoming feature entitled, Unbound Captives. It’s a film that’s completely different from anything else you’ve seen him in so take your visions of Cedric Diggory and…

• Poll: What Will Your Family See On Thanksgiving?

  Krystal Clark

  6 Nov 2009 | 3:27 pm

  The films being served up for the 2009 holiday season really are a mixed bag. They include everything from a heavy CGI based Christmas classic to a drama about the casualties of the Iraq war. Either way, there’s something for everyone, dark subject matter included. The big question here is whether or not you want to take your families to see what the studios and theaters are offering this year. Do you think the PG films will beat out the bad guys or are you down for some darker material to make you aware of how thankful you should really be? Take our poll and let us know, what movie you…

• 
  Illiterary Fiction

• Filmmaker Local Acting Resources You Overlook

  Len Esten

  26 Oct 2009 | 5:11 am

  Filmmakers not situated in major filmmaking areas are at a disadvantage in certain ways. Camera and lighting rental places will not be as plentiful, skilled crew members will be hard to come by, and screen actors fill not be waiting tables at every restaurant. There are realities of regional filmmaking and one of them is that most things cannot be done like they would be in New York or Los Angeles. Even though you may not have a ready pool of waiting actors for your project it does not mean you cannot make one. Image by sazztastical Community College, Universities Most medium-sized cities are…

• Why Filmmakers Use Makeup on Actors

  Len Esten

  30 Jul 2009 | 5:41 pm

  Many beginning filmmakers overlook makeup and get by for a long time without it. Thought makeup is not a requisite for fine filmmaking, it is a tool you should be familiar with. In real life we are used to makeup being use for one purpose and mostly by women: to look more attractive. In filmmaking the focus of makeup is to help an actor come across on camera the way looking like the character they are playing, which often has nothing to do with looking "good". Image by back to menu Change Age Or Type If your pool of available actors is small, you will find yourself using makeup to turn them…

• Low Budget Film Sound Recorders

  Len Esten

  28 Apr 2009 | 1:38 pm

  Films can be ruined with unintentionally poor sound. If dialogue is unintelligible, so will the film be. We all know recording good sound is important, but the confluence of lack of experience and the variety of devices compounds the situation. Often we hear about expensive, difficult to obtain machinery that is "a must have" to get good sound, but this is not the case. Image by Lee Gumienny Good sound is not a binary situation. In fact two people using the same equipment can get widely different results. Instead of buying some equipment and hoping it will save your production, use something…

• Why Movie Directors Avoid Overcast Filmmaking

  Len Esten

  30 Mar 2009 | 6:33 am

  Image by Jobe Cinematography can be a confusing subject for a non-technical director. There are f-stops, shutter speeds, ISO ratings, and foot candles involved, so it can get overwhelming. Often a director has a trusted cinematographer that handles this part of the filmmaking for them. This person knows the gear and techniques and the director goes along with their opinions. Early on a movie director will learn from this person to avoid cloud cover when shooting on-location. As much as I feel you should just trust a cinematographer's advice, it is important to know the reasons why you should…

• Signs Of A Bad Film Director

  Len Esten

  25 Feb 2009 | 5:00 am

  Image by absoblogginlutely Every movie director will have a specialty. Some directors pay more attention to the performances, some to production design, some put all the emphasis on the camera work. No matter what the differences may be amongst film directors, the one thing that will ultimately lead to their downfall is lack of people skills. Nothing is more indicative of the possibility of a filmmaker failing in the future as not knowing how to treat people. Yelling, Poor Manners Raising your voice without even knowing it and without provocation is a good way to alienate people. It is one…

• 
  Consolidated Films

• Filmmaking Legal Issues To Ignore

  Price Jaccobi

  26 Oct 2009 | 4:15 am

  Filmmakers often make the mistake of doing too much planning and not enough doing. A certain amount of studying can help make a filmmaker better, but knowing too much can sometimes become a hindrance. With no knowledge of how other people make films, an ambitious filmmaker would just grab the closest camera, shoot footage, and edit it together. This film might end up being virtually unwatchable, but it would be an experience they can learn from and would put them miles ahead of those with their head still in filmmaking books. Image by Sir Nube Negra Once a filmmaker has done a fair amount of…

• Free Indie Film Promotion In Media Tips

  Julian Perrera

  30 Jul 2009 | 3:29 pm

  Most filmmakers do not have money to throw at advertising their film. Even if they did, they would soon find ads are not that effective. Many look at media relations (aka press relations, PR) as free advertising, but it is more complex than that idea implies. The media will mention you in articles, columns, radio stories, or videos but only if you have a story or information that interests them. Image by CIVICO13 If you want media people to cover you, you must think like one. Learn how to spot and mold stories from the real life people that help you make films. Not only that but it is as…

• Film Producing Changes In The Digital Age

  Price Jaccobi

  27 Apr 2009 | 2:38 pm

  Films have been made the same way for a long time. Since 1926 the combination of sight, sound, and general running time have become a de facto for feature films that most aspiring filmmakers aim for. The days of movie theaters being the only place to see films are over, as are the days of television as the only way to watch episodic and serial stories. The internet has taken over and with this change in distribution comes a corresponding need to change or expand the concept of filmmaking. Image by chris.bryant Upon reading Scott Kirsner's new book Fans, Friends and Followers (amazon) it…

• More Movie Versions, Easier Film Marketing

  Julian Perrera

  31 Mar 2009 | 6:14 am

  Filmmakers have often been afforded the luxury of only having one version of their film released. There are the anomalous films like Star Wars that have had multiple versions released long after the original and sometimes there are the movies with both a studio and director version, like Blade Runner, but for the most part films have a single definitive version set in stone. As an independent filmmaker you are wise to be wary of any Hollywood tradition, the idea of a single version of a film being best is no exception. Just because it has always been done that way does not mean it is the…

• Short Films Are Not Small Movies

  Price Jaccobi

  24 Feb 2009 | 5:30 am

  A common way for filmmakers to get into the movie game is with a short film. Many figure they can make a short film and then make it into a feature-length film, but a short film is not like a feature film only not as long. Image by rpongsaj Not to suggest making a short and making a feature film do not have overlapping skill sets, but rather the conception of short films is different than features. They will both be made with the camera in the same way, but they are not going to be of the same creative material. Less Scrutiny A short film is shorter and much easier to make a entertaining.

• 
  Valerie Athertons Playground and Intellectual Department

• World, Meet 3D

  Valerie Athertons Playground and Intellectual Department

  15 Oct 2009 | 6:26 pm

  Earlier this year, I went to see an animated cartoon at the movie theater and when I got there, there was a hugantic line for it. I asked the ticket person why there were so many people and he said because the movie was in 3D. The theater already had something like 14 screens, so [...]

• Movie Review: Avatar (plus Petition)

  Valerie Athertons Playground and Intellectual Department

  22 Sep 2009 | 4:37 pm

  Before movies come out, Hollywood people do what is called a test screening or a sneak preview to gauge audience reactions and whatever. This way, if a bunch of people are all, “Oh, I wish there were less boobs in that one scene” or “That one actor was awful in that part he played in [...]

• Movie Review: Inglorious Bastards

  Valerie Athertons Playground and Intellectual Department

  24 Aug 2009 | 4:22 pm

  Bang, Bang, Ouch!, Awww Typically, this is my reaction to historical war movies. I am a fan of yummy Brad Pitt, though, so it was a toss up whether to see this war movie. Seeing people shooting guns and other people getting shot or stabbed with bullets has never been my favorite things to [...]

• Movie Review: Transformers 2

  Valerie Athertons Playground and Intellectual Department

  23 Jun 2009 | 5:11 pm

  Everyone knows, summer wouldn’t be summer without an action-packed blockbuster that kicks butt. Well, you don’t have to worry anymore because this summer is now officially a real summer thanks to Shia LaBeouf’s new movie blockbuster, Transformers 2.  Transformers 2 is actually a trilogy to the movie Transformers that came out in 2007. What I like [...]

• Best Romantic Movie Couples of All Time

  Valerie Athertons Playground and Intellectual Department

  9 Jun 2009 | 11:52 pm

  Summer is fast approaching and I, for one, am super excited. No matter where you live, summer means one thing: going to the beach. Some of my friends (hi, Dianne B!) actually go to the beach and surf, but I’m not that bold or that cool. I prefer to lie in the sun, read a [...]

• 
  SpoutBlog

• SpoutBlog, Now Available in Book Form

  Karina Longworth

  30 Oct 2009 | 10:03 pm

  The long-promised SpoutBlog book is finally here! An anthology of the posts that various SpoutBlog readers, trusted advisors and I consider to be my “greatest hits” as editor of this blog, The Portable SpoutBlog contains 41 previously published pieces, a new introductory essay (intended as a recap and a look forward; you can consider this a substitute for a sentimental final post by me on this blog), and notes and addendums contextualizing the included blog posts — dated and ephemeral by their very nature — for their new life in print. The content is divided into four sections:…

• Happy Halloween Links. Today in Film Bloggery 10/30/09

  Christopher Campbell

  30 Oct 2009 | 3:27 pm

  Still one more day til Halloween (Silver Shamrock!), but as this will be the final Today in Film Bloggery post ever on SpoutBlog, it’s my only opportunity to do a roundup of what the blogs are posting this week related to the holiday of candy and costumes. I’ll actually be dressing up as something non-film-related tomorrow (”Moss” from UK series The IT Crowd), but I do plan on watching some horror flicks (including Paranormal Activity), which I rarely do, on Halloween or any other day. Maybe if I’m feeling academic — and since my present job situation has…

• Random Answers

  Karina Longworth

  30 Oct 2009 | 7:28 am

  I apologize — I have run out of time to answer many of questions you’ve sent me via the Ask Karina thread. So, here is another batch of quick answers. Feel free to follow up in the comments on this post; you can also contact me directly through my personal website. First, a whole bunch from Mike Maguire: 1) Do you find yourself living an adequate/satisfied lifestyle with film criticism as your sole career (if it is) and source of income? A bit of a sore question at the moment, of course, but I’m confident you’ll find a new outlet. I should have specified that I wouldn’t…

• 10 Sex Scenes Involving Costumes

  Christopher Campbell

  29 Oct 2009 | 2:42 pm

  The most popular lists on SpoutBlog have involved sex scenes or Halloween costumes. So, to give the people what they want we’ve decided to combine both topics for our final list ever. It makes sense anyway, seeing as how Halloween is this weekend and seeing as how the holiday has pretty much turned into a sex-based festivity — for adults, at least. Surprisingly, with all the cosplay fans and other fetishists out there, sex scenes involving costumes aren’t too common. We’ve tried to exclude anything considered a uniform or transvestism, as neither of these is about masquerading.

• Avatar Trailer #2 Changes Some Minds. Today in Film Bloggery 10/29/09

  Christopher Campbell

  29 Oct 2009 | 2:15 pm

  Okay, okay. It looks better. But that only makes me want to comment less on the latest Avatar trailer. Because there’s still no point in pre-critiquing the thing. If it does end up really good, I’ll believe Fox should have released this trailer from the start. However, seeing one weak trailer and one great one means it could really go either way. How about we just wait and see if it’s any good when it comes out? To fill some space, though, let me just say, “Giovanni Ribisi is in this????” And his little interaction with Sigourney Weaver makes me think he’s…

• 
  BSGCAST

• TWILIGHT: NEW MOON Sneak Peek

  3 Nov 2009 | 4:58 pm

  After Nat got us both hooked on Bella and Edward's story in 2008, we've been looking forward to a high-octane director's take on the Werewolf curveball in New Moon, so check out what Kristen, Taylor and director Chris Weitz say we're in store for! ~Matt + Nat

• BSGcast: "The Plan" Review

  2 Nov 2009 | 5:28 am

  Jane Espenson and Edward James Olmos were the people in charge on this one: Olmos was there for every episode that went into making The Plan happen in Season 2, and Jane was there for none of them and it shows.

• BSGcast: Season 4.5 DVD Box Set Review

  31 Oct 2009 | 8:16 am

  It's taken quite a while to pour over the hours and hours of featurettes, commentaries, videoBlogs, deleted scenes and of course, Extended Episodes on this, the final DVD Box-Set we'll ever see for Battlestar Galactica. Not to mention getting it signed by President Laura Roslin herself. And at last, we announce the winner of the Mary McDonnell signed Season 4.5 set, along with our thoughts on the DVDs themselves. Hot on the heels of this baby is our review of The Plan, along with details on how you can win dinner with Admiral Adama!~Matt + Nat

• 2012 PREVIEW: Mayhem and Carnage Straight Up

  29 Oct 2009 | 9:38 pm

  When Roland Emmerich destroys the world, he does it with a certain panache. Independence Day, Godzilla, Day After Tomorrow are some of his previous epic disaster movies and 2012 looks to be kicking it up yet again. With an off-beat cast including genre favourites like John Cusack, Chiwetel Ejiofor and Woody Harrelson, the Mayan doomsday is compounded by a government conspiracy and some of the biggest scale earth-ending images we've ever seen!~Matt + Nat

• ASTRO BOY REVIEW: Onward and Upward

  27 Oct 2009 | 11:28 am

  http://YourGeekNews.com for more! After having our hopes for a good Japanese cartoon adaptation dashed by the Wachowski’s Speed Racer, our hopes were high for Imagi Studios to bring us some good old-fashioned CGI manga true to the original. And bring it they did. In the form of a very well made kids movie that brought us both back to the early 80’s. And treated us like we had the same brainpower we had in the 80’s. A childrens’ movie 100%, Astro Boy fires on all cylinders for kids, and gives parents a good excuse to watch a cartoon inspired by their own childhood. So…

• 
  WHAT WOULD TOTO WATCH?

• ‘Disney’s A Christmas Carol’ - All Scrooged out

  cftoto

  6 Nov 2009 | 12:30 pm

  What the world needs now is … well, one thing we sure don’t need now is another variation of  “A Christmas Carol.” Yet every other year we get a re-imagining/remake/reboot/retelling of the Charles Dickens’ story, and darned if the template doesn’t hold up under the most torturous of circumstances. Like casting Matthew McConaughey as the Scrooge character. The latest, “Disney’s A Christmas Carol,” offers a duel-edged distinction. It’s in 3-D and told via motion capture technology. That’s the same approach “Carol”…

• ‘The Fourth Kind’ - Is it live, Memorex or gobbledygook?

  cftoto

  6 Nov 2009 | 6:26 am

  Milla Jovovich finally talks to me … me! in the new thriller “The Fourth Kind.” The lovely actress speaks to everyone in the audience when the movie opens, letting us know parts of what we’re about to see are absolutely true. Our relationship is so new, so vulnerable, and she’s lying already. “The Fourth Kind” tries a Frankenstein mashup of found footage cinema and standard horror movie shocks. As novelties go, it’s hardly the worst we’ve seen in recent memory. The “Psycho” shot-by-shot remake captures that honor. But a gimmick…

• ‘Paranormal’ shows off real curves

  cftoto

  5 Nov 2009 | 7:19 am

  The no-budget smash “Paranormal Activity” wants to trick audiences into believing the footage in the film is real, not fiction. Even the most gullible among us don’t buy it, but the presentation is realistic enough to set up the film’s meaty scares. Frankly, “Paranormal” feels convincing, from the gentle bickering between the leads to the less than glossy shocks that multiply as the movie heads toward its creepy conclusion. One critical way the film conveys that sense of realism is the casting of Katie Featherston. Or at least her curves. Featherston is a…

• Do you watch the DVD/Blu-ray extras?

  cftoto

  4 Nov 2009 | 12:12 pm

  It’s rare for a film to hit the video market these days without a cornucopia of DVD extras. Gag reels. Deleted scenes. Director commentaries. But are people actually watching them? I typically have a stack of DVDs I need to watch in any given week, so I try to screen as many as possible while sampling the extras. Typically, that means suffering through scenes that deserved to be deleted, hearing commentary that’s more buttocks smooching than informative and seeing other information that doesn’t add to my enjoyment of the film. There are, of course, exceptions. Sometimes,…

• Not all critics belong on the web

  cftoto

  4 Nov 2009 | 8:32 am

  Suffice to say some movie critics and industry reporters don’t make stellar film bloggers. For reasons of courtesy I’m not going to name names, but you know who you are. That’s why Roger Moore’s film blog is such a treat. The Orlando Sentinel critic with the Bondian name serves up a near constant flow of movie-related posts that expand on what you find in your local paper. It’s precisely the approach I’m trying to take with WWTW, so allow me to toast Moore for doing it so well. Related posts:‘Carol’ keeps critics at arm’s lengthWhat movies…

• 
  ZDONK

• The Success of Paranormal Activity: What Does it All Mean?!

  ZackRoth

  15 Oct 2009 | 5:37 pm

  At some point in time in the last two weeks, every studio executive jealously watched the box office per screen average of the seemingly indie movie Paranormal Activity. To date, it’s made almost $10 million, and only recently has Paramount upped the number of screens to 200 (they plan to go wider this weekend to [...]

• Survey: Moviegoers 2010

  Dennis Stratton

  30 Sep 2009 | 12:14 pm

  If you haven’t read the survey released by Stradella Road about the internet, and how it influences film audiences, definitely take a look. I’ve attached the link to Variety’s analysis, as well as a link to David Poland’s “Hot Blog”, where it’s broken down well: Variety Article The Hot Blog Love this quote: “So perhaps it is time [...]

• Zombieland: Not Only for Men 18-34

  Dennis Stratton

  29 Sep 2009 | 10:33 am

  Went to the premier of Zombieland last week with Ally and thought it’d be interesting to compare our thoughts…it’s a post-apocalyptic Zombie comedy about a plain-vanilla, scared-of-life dude who never appreciated human-to-human interaction until all the humans were gone, and he, by following a strict set of rules, managed to be one of the only [...]

• Paranormal Activity

  ZackRoth

  11 Sep 2009 | 11:52 am

  I read on Bloody-Disgusting.com that Oren Peli finally managed to get a theatrical release for his low budget horror movie Paranormal Activity. The movie originally premiered two years ago at Screamfest in Los Angeles, and has since screened at film festivals across the country, scaring the crap out of audiences. The film’s buzz didn’t go [...]

• Disney Acquires Marvel

  Dennis Stratton

  4 Sep 2009 | 11:59 am

  Despite the backlash from some fans, Disney’s acquisition of Marvel and its 5,000 characters for $4bn makes a lot of sense for a company renowned for its ability to exploit content through multiple channels including film, web sites, video games, live shows, theme parks and merchandising. Disney is adding to their vast library and essentially [...]

• 
  Film Gecko

• Amy Adams, Emily Blunt and Minnie Driver at the 18th Annual BAFTA/LA Britannia Awards

  Jane Boursaw

  6 Nov 2009 | 8:58 pm

  The 18th Annual BAFTA/LA Britannia Awards took place at the Hyatt Regency Century Plaza in Century City, California on Nov. 5, 2009. The British Academy of Film and Television Arts celebrates the best of TV and film, and is often known as the British Oscars. The BAFTA/LA Britannia Awards honors individuals and companies who’ve dedicated their careers to advancing the entertainment arts. Got all that? Here are photos of three gorgeous and classy ladies who attended the event this week – Amy Adams, Emily Blunt and Minnie Driver. They just keep getting better and better, don’t they? It’s…

• Bruno on DVD: Watch the deleted scene with LaToya Jackson

  Jane Boursaw

  6 Nov 2009 | 8:36 pm

  Right before “Bruno” was released in theaters, the scene with LaToya Jackson was deleted out of respect for the death of Michael Jackson. But, of course, it’s included in the special features on the DVD and Blu-ray, hitting shelves Nov. 17, 2009 from Universal Home Entertainment. The movie stars Sacha Baron Cohen as an Austrian TV host searching for fame and fortune in America. During the process, he pranks any and everyone who crosses his path. Really, though, you’ve gotta believe that celebrities can see him coming a mile away. It’s not like Cohen hasn’t been on TV and in movies…

• John Cusack, Thandie Newton, and Adam Lambert shine at the 2012 Premiere

  Jane Boursaw

  5 Nov 2009 | 8:56 pm

  It may have been a disaster on the screen, but the stars shone brightly at the premiere of 2012  Roland Emmerich’s tragi-film centers on a global cataclysm that brings an end to the world as we know it — seriously, check out the trailer. I also have a great 5-minute clip withJohn Cusack front and center. Until the Nov. 13 release date, here are a few premiere pictures of Cusack, Thandie NewtonWoody HarrelsonDanny GloverGilmore GirlsLauren Graham, and Chin Han (read my “Dark Knight” interview with him). Also present was Adam Lambert, who sang one of the movie’s tunes,…

• Up’s Jordan Nagai talks Mr. Fredrickson, wilderness, and Africa!

  Jane Boursaw

  5 Nov 2009 | 4:29 pm

  The delightful family movie “Up” hits DVD and Blu-ray on Nov. 10, 2009. I thought it was a really well done movie; a little sad in spots (ok, downright weepy!), but a great movie with lots to say. Read my review of “Up” here. I caught up with Jordan Nagai, who voices the part of Russell the Wilderness Explorer in the film. He’s enthusiastic and energetic – not unlike his on-screen counterpart – and they even look alike, don’t they? Read on for Jordan’s thoughts on making “Up” and running an obstacle course before his recording sessions. Tell us about your new movie,…

• The Twilight Saga: New Moon: Volturi Primer (watch a featurette)

  Jane Boursaw

  5 Nov 2009 | 3:29 pm

  Here’s a new featurette for The Twilight Saga: New Moon,” in theaters Nov. 20, 2009 (check out our Twilight Groupie blog!). For those who haven’t read the books by Stephenie Meyer, it tells a little more about the mysterious Volturi. They’re the oldest coven in the “Twilight” universe, and they’re the closest thing the vampires have to royalty. They also enforce the law and keep things in order. A few more bites: Aro (Michael Sheen) is the most dangerous and deadly vampire. Marcus (Christopher Heyerdahl) can sniff out treason. Caius (Jamie Campbell Bower) is perpetually angry.

• 
  Fandango.com Top 10 Box Office Movies

• 1. Michael Jackson's This Is It $21.3M

  1 Nov 2009 | 9:32 pm

• 2. Paranormal Activity $16.5M

  1 Nov 2009 | 9:32 pm

• 3. Law Abiding Citizen $7.3M

  1 Nov 2009 | 9:32 pm

• 4. Couples Retreat $6.0M

  1 Nov 2009 | 9:32 pm

• 5. Saw VI $5.5M

  1 Nov 2009 | 9:32 pm

• 
  MSN Entertainment: Gossip

• Mel's Russian Squeeze Wouldn’t Say Nyet to Becoming Mrs. Gibson

  6 Nov 2009 | 7:45 pm

  Mel's Russian Squeeze Wouldn’t Say Nyet to Becoming Mrs. Gibson

• Kevin Federline Once Again Being Fruitful and Multiplying?

  6 Nov 2009 | 7:45 pm

  Kevin Federline Once Again Being Fruitful and Multiplying?

• Miley Cyrus Does a Good Deed, Sort of Disses Jay-Z

  6 Nov 2009 | 7:45 pm

  Miley Cyrus Does a Good Deed, Sort of Disses Jay-Z

• Romance Report: Kim & Reggie, Madonna & Jesus and More ...

  6 Nov 2009 | 7:45 pm

  Romance Report: Kim & Reggie, Madonna & Jesus and More ...

• Kate Hudson's Words of Wisdom: Botox Is Great, Men Are Simple

  6 Nov 2009 | 7:45 pm

  Kate Hudson's Words of Wisdom: Botox Is Great, Men Are Simple

• 
  Jinni Blog

• 10 Movies I Wish Were Based on True Stories

  Barak

  5 Nov 2009 | 7:32 am

  The Men Who Stare at Goats, starring George Clooney, Kevin Spacey, Jeff Bridges and Ewan McGregor, is about a secret, psychic military unit. Just a few things this unit does: Attempt to kill goats by staring at them and examine the use of Barney the Dinosaur’s theme tune on Iraqi POWs. Oh, and it’s based on a true story. Wait, what? Yes, this is not a mistake, this movie is based on a true story. It does make you think: maybe other movies are also based on true stories. Here are ten movies and TV shows I wish were based on true stories - and maybe they are… 10. Joan of Arcadia…

• Making Search More Entertaining

  Phoebe

  30 Oct 2009 | 6:37 am

  An intriguing aspect of how Google presents their new music search in their blog is the premise that a search engine for music should include discovery: “a search engine should also be able to help you discover music you’ll like.” A crucial limitation of standard, keyword-based search is that people discover based on more nuanced, personal criteria. Google compensates by partnering with Pandora, imeem, and Rhapsody to link to their discovery services. (Ironically, as Rory Cellan-Jones puts it on BBC dot.life, this new service may also endanger the “fragile business…

• Ahmadinejad’s Jinni Profile

  Barak

  27 Oct 2009 | 7:03 am

  We’re honored to have President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad among Jinni’s early adopters. He’s been busy rating movies - based on which Jinni displays his Movie Personality Sketch. He’s also following some users whose taste in movies interests him, and several others are following him. Check out his example of how to make the most of Jinni. * Movie Ratings Movie Personality Sketch: Following: Follow people inviting them to Jinni, adding them from your Neighbors (people with compatible taste) , or via the link to their public user page. Followers: These are people who choose to follow your…

• The Future Is Search (The Remix)

  Phoebe

  26 Oct 2009 | 8:14 am

  After Microsoft announced deals last week with Twitter and Facebook to include real-time feeds from both social sites in Bing’s results, Wired published an article “The Future is Social, Not Search, Facebook COO Says.” COO Sheryl Sandberg is quoted at the Web 2.0 Summit in San Francisco: “We believe in the wisdom of friends.” Interestingly, the example Sandberg gave to support her point came from the world of movies. When trying to decide whether Where the Wild Things Are would be too scary for her children, she posted the question on Facebook and got the answers she was looking…

• When Women Take Typically Male Movie Roles

  May

  22 Oct 2009 | 6:44 am

  Amelia – the story of Amelia Earhart, the legendary American pilot – is opening this week. Why do we still find her story so appealing today, more than 70 years after her disappearance over the Pacific Ocean? I think it’s because she dared to do what was considered impossible and even outrageous for women at that time. Even today female pilots are quite uncommon. This made me wonder – what if we combine our “strong female role” gene on Jinni with other genes that are usually related to films about men? The results might surprise you. Further food for thought: Is Monika…

• 
  Late Film

• The Descent: Part 2 - Trailer 2

  Leigh

  6 Nov 2009 | 10:25 pm

  Second trailer for Jon Harris' sequel to Neil Marshall's 2005 horror hit The Descent, aptly titled The Descent: Part 2.Emerging from the cave system alone, distraught and covered in the blood of her missing companions, Sarah (Shauna Macdonald) is incoherent and half-wild with fear. Sceptical about her account of events and convinced Sarah's psychosis hides far darker secrets, Sheriff Vaines (Gavan O’Herlihy) doesn’t waste time. Along with his partner Rios (Krysten Cummings), and their cave rescue team Dan (Douglas Hodge), Greg (Joshua Dallas), and Cath (Anna Skellern),…

• Have your film broadcast on Sky Movies Indie HD

  Leigh

  6 Nov 2009 | 10:24 pm

  Sky Movies today launches an exciting competition in search of the nations's new rising star of UK film-making. The competition will give one lucky winner the unique opportunity to have their own HD film financed and broadcast on Sky Movies Indie HD.Sky Movies Indie HD, in association with The Independent and Skillset is inviting aspiring film makers to submit their own one-page treatment for a 10 minute HD short film. A panel of industry experts will consider these treatments including Sky Movies’ Movie Geek presenter Josh Howie, before announcing the winner in December. The…

• A Bit On The Side (Short Film)

  Leigh

  6 Nov 2009 | 3:28 am

  "Tony is fixated with drills of all shapes and sizes. As we follow him on his search for drills to add to his ever-increasing collection, we slowly unwrap the logic behind this strange and amusing obsession." A Bit On The Side stars Dean Taylor and is directed by Swansea (that's in Wales) based filmaker Steve Sullivan. During 2007 and 2008 Steve produced Ken Russel's (The Devils, The Lair of the White Worm) Boudica Bites Back which you can read about over at timesonline.co.uk. You can check out more of Steve's shorts over at his website www.stevesullivan.co.uk Read More…

• The Voice Inside

  Leigh

  6 Nov 2009 | 1:16 am

  Biff Juggernaught productions presents The Voice Inside, a black and white short film for fans of the slightly more extreme. The Voice Inside is a kinetic short following one characters battle with and final decent into madness. The film opens with an unnamed man sat on a subway train, at first all seems normal, but soon we learn just why the film is called The Voice Inside.The main and only role is played by Elias who you can see in a very different role as the hapless reporter in LovecraCked! The Movie. This is a good turn from Elias as well, as we see him tormented by an inner voice. He at…

• The Box - Trailer

  Leigh

  6 Nov 2009 | 1:01 am

  Director Richard Kelly, The Box stars Cameron Diaz as Norma Lewis and James Marsden as Arthur Lewis, a suburban couple with a young child who receive a simple wooden box as a gift. However, this simple gift bears fatal and irrevocable consequences. A mysterious stranger (Frank Langella), delivers the message that the box promises to bestow upon its owner $1 million with the press of a button. But, pressing this button will simultaneously cause the death of another human being somewhere in the world.....someone they don't know. With just 24 hours to have the box in their possession, Norma…

• 
  HOLLYWOOD ACTOR PREP by Dana Kaminski

• DeNiro’s Speech Before The Screening Of ‘Everybody’s Fine’

  Dana Kaminski

  5 Nov 2009 | 12:23 am

  Actor Robert DeNiro said "What else can I say?" Then, with a shrug, "I hope everybody likes it." Related Articles, Auto-generated:Michelle Obama’s Speech :: Importance Of The Arts tweetmeme_url =... [[...Just a partial post. If interested in seeing the entire post, & media...CLICK on the TITLE.]]

• Morgan Freeman On The Acting Quality Of Matt Damon

  Dana Kaminski

  3 Nov 2009 | 3:24 pm

  Then, Morgan Freeman said, "He always gets the job done. There's no strain in his work." For me, that's huge. This simple sentence describes, in very few words, a very high level of quality, of acting. Why, do you think? Related Articles, Auto-generated:Discussion On Professional Acting, And... [[...Just a partial post. If interested in seeing the entire post, & media...CLICK on the TITLE.]]

• Discussion On Professional Acting, And Actor Artistry…And Matt Damon

  Dana Kaminski

  2 Nov 2009 | 3:00 pm

  ...Matt Damon's artistic sensibility, and integrity as an actor. Key points. How that plays out in terms of his professional career. This week, I am going to spend some time into discussing some of the key phrases with you...So many of these exemplify the standards and principals of Hollywood Actor... [[...Just a partial post. If interested in seeing the entire post, & media...CLICK on the TITLE.]]

• Acting Surprises In ‘Precious’

  Dana Kaminski

  31 Oct 2009 | 3:41 pm

  Gabourey Sidibe's acting in 'Precious' is so withheld, quiet, understated...it's gonna whiz right over most people's heads. It's so real, and so tear-wrenchingly silent. Precious is buried; a child whose real-self never saw the light of day. The audience cannot believe that what they are watching... [[...Just a partial post. If interested in seeing the entire post, & media...CLICK on the TITLE.]]

• ‘Precious’ Is A Work Of (Acting+Directing) Art :: No False Notes

  Dana Kaminski

  28 Oct 2009 | 3:33 pm

  But, during the very first meeting with Gabby Sidibe; a meeting that, by the way, she really wasn't interested in going to and was prodded by a friend who was also going...It was during that first meeting that he knew what she didn't even know. The director experienced it at a specific moment, that... [[...Just a partial post. If interested in seeing the entire post, & media...CLICK on the TITLE.]]

• 
  Film-Book dot Com

• Film Review: A Perfect Getaway

  filmbook

  7 Nov 2009 | 3:05 am

  A Perfect Getaway is a film that coyly thrills while winking both at itself, its genre, and, the viewer simultaneously. From inception, the viewer is being misled by well-orchestrated deceptions and purposely omitted narrative segments. The viewer is introduced to the traditional goodie-goods, Cliff (Steve Zahn) and Cydney (Milla Jovovich), off on their honeymoon, loving life. They are giddy and jubilant, what we expect for thriller protagonists. The viewer is then presented with the zinger: There have been recent murders in the island paradise of Hawaii where the two love birds are…

• TV Review: V (2009): Season 1, Ep.1: Pilot

  filmbook

  5 Nov 2009 | 10:25 am

  V (2009): Season 1, Ep.1: Pilot is the reboot or rebirth of the V television franchise. The first episode had The Vistiors showing up to earth and introducing themselves to its inhabitants. It turns out that The Visitors have been on Earth for decades and have infiltrated many facets of our society. Isn’t it strange that no Visitor, in the decades they have been on earth, has ever been in a accident or died suddenly and upon doctor’s examination or autopsy, was revealed to be non-human? The characters for V (2009), so far, are generic, with the exception of Erica Evans (Elizabeth…

• The Phantom (2010) Television Trailer

  filmbook

  4 Nov 2009 | 9:00 pm

  The Phantom (2010) Television Trailer has premiered. The Phantom (2010) Television mini-series is directed by Paolo Barzman and stars Ryan Carnes, Cas Anvar, Isabelli Rossellini, Sandrine Holt, and Cameron Goodmen. The Phantom (2010) Television mini-series synopsis:  a two-part TV mini-series about the recruitment, training, and unleashing of the 21st Phantom, Chris Moore (Ryan Carnes). “Chris Moore is a law student and parkour runner who learns that he was adopted. After his parents are murdered, he must don the famous Skull Ring and train in the jungles of Bengalla so that he can…

• SALT International Movie Trailer

  filmbook

  4 Nov 2009 | 12:11 pm

  Salt International Movie Trailer has premiered. Salt is directed by Philip Noyce and stars Angelina Jolie, Liev Schreiber, and Chiwetel Ejiofor. Salt’s plot synopsis: “Evelyn Salt (Angelina Jolie) is a CIA officer who swore an oath to duty, honor, and country. When she is accused by a defector of being a Russian sleeper spy, Salt goes on the run to clear her name and ultimately prove she is a patriot. Using all her skills and years of experience as a covert operative, she must elude capture and protect her husband or the worlds most powerful forces will erase any trace of her…

• Star Trek (2009) Casting Featurette Pictures

  filmbook

  3 Nov 2009 | 8:01 pm

  Star Trek (2009) Casting Featurette Pictures have found their way online and we have them for you below. With Star Trek (2009) or Star Trek XI about to be released on DVD and Blu-ray on Nov 17, 2009, more and more material from the special features are being released. First was Nero’s Interrogation by Klingons and now these Casting Featurette Pictures. Check them out below and leave your thoughts on them. If you enjoyed this article, subscribe to us by Email or Full RSS Feed to be informed when we post new ones.

• 
  Daily Actor

• Actorfest LA – Are you going?

  Lance Carter

  6 Nov 2009 | 1:44 pm

  I’ve never been to Actorfest but looking at the website it looks fantastic. Tons of things to do – workshops, exhibits – and I’m looking forward to it. Don’t forget to bring a bunch of headshots because there will be casting director drop boxes there. Click here to... If you'd like to read the rest, please visit: http://www.dailyactor.com

• Viggo Mortensen on why he took The Road

  Lance Carter

  6 Nov 2009 | 1:19 pm

  From Moviefone.com On his role in The Road: “To be honest, I was afraid of the role to start with. I thought, ‘Hmm, I don’t know if I am up to the task.’ But, that was the very reason I thought I should do it, try it. Because even if you screw up up, at least trying [...] If you'd like to read the rest, please visit: http://www.dailyactor.com

• Woody Harrelson on The Messenger, monologues and giving advice

  Lance Carter

  6 Nov 2009 | 12:49 pm

  From Movieline.com: What was the hardest scene to shoot? Technically, there was one scene where I had a monologue that I needed to get through while we’re walking this block. It’s my character talking to Ben’s about the do’s and don’ts, of notifying, you know, you don’t want to ring the doorbell,... If you'd like to read the rest, please visit: http://www.dailyactor.com

• Screenplay: “Funny People”

  Lance Carter

  5 Nov 2009 | 12:56 pm

  Want the screenplay to Funny People? Sure you do! Click here to download the script Related PostsScreenplay: “Where The Wild Things Are”Screenplay: “The Invention Of Lying”Screenplay: “Zombieland”Screenplay: The InformantWant the Screenplay for "The... If you'd like to read the rest, please visit: http://www.dailyactor.com

• Behind the Scenes: Recording the Voices on ‘The Fantastic Mr. Fox’

  Lance Carter

  4 Nov 2009 | 12:41 pm

  Related PostsMad Men’s Rich Sommer behind the scenes of his Emmy dayBehind the scenes of the Old Globe’s new musical, “Sammy”Trailer and Clip from “Up In The Air”George Clooney shows ER some loveGeorge Clooney has the urge to yell "F*CK!" If you'd like to read the rest, please visit: http://www.dailyactor.com

• 
  CinemaSpy

• Video: More from Daniel Craig About Bond 23

  6 Nov 2009 | 9:05 pm

  Last week, at the stage door of his Broadway plan, "A Steady Rain", Daniel Craig first revealed to fans that shooting on the 23rd James Bond film would kick off in late 2010.Now, speaking recently on Regis & Kelly, Craig confirmed that filming will start at the end of 2010, with a 2011 release date being scheduled."The plan is to start shooting the next one at the end of next year," Craig said on Regis & Kelly, "so it'll be ready for 2011. We've got a lot of work to do."Bond 23 is being written by returning Bond scribes Neal Purvis and Robert…

• Daniel Craig's 'Dream House' Resides in Toronto

  5 Nov 2009 | 9:35 pm

  Daniel Craig will soon arrive at Pinewood Studios Toronto to star in Jim Sheridan's psychological thriller Dream House, according to The Hollywood Reporter.In Dream House, Craig plays a man who moves his family to a quaint town, only to discover his house is haunted by former inhabitants who were murdered on the premises.The Morgan Creek feature is booked to shoot from January 25 to April 9, 2010 at the Toronto studio which is now managed by Pinewood Shepperton.The trade reports that John Dowdle's Devil, part of M. Night Shyamalan's three-film financing/production partnership with…

• Official Poster for 'The Wolfman' Debuts

  5 Nov 2009 | 9:30 pm

  The official poster for director Joe Johnston's The Wolfman hit the web today. It's a nice moody splash of high contrast black and white featuring Emily Blunt, which seems to be designed to suggest the presence of the wolfman, rather than show him outright. Check it out directly below.Based on the 1941 classic of the same name, The Wolfman tells of Lawrence Talbot (Benicio Del Toro), an actor who returns to the home of his estranged father (Anthony Hopkins) after the death of his brother. Familiar awkwardness becomes the least of his problems when he is attacked and bitten by a wolf…

• 'Kick-Ass' Character Posters Unveiled; Website Launched

  5 Nov 2009 | 9:20 pm

  IGN has debuted four character posters for the Matthew Vaughn-directed comic book adaptation Kick-Ass, opening in theaters on April 16. You can check out one of the posters directly below; clicking on it will take you to IGN for the others.Meanwhile, Lionsgate brought the official website for the film online at IAmKick-Ass.com.The action-adventure, based on the Mark Millar and John Romita Jr. comic, tells the story of average teenager Dave Lizewski (Aaron Johnson), a comic-book fanboy who decides to take his obsession as inspiration to become a real-life superhero. As any good superhero…

• Natalie Portman's Extreme Sex Scene in 'Black Swan'

  5 Nov 2009 | 9:15 pm

  By now most of you know that Natalie Portman will have an "ecstasy-induced hungry, aggressive, angry" sex scene with Mila Kunis in director Darren Aronofsky's forthcoming film Black Swan. In a new interview with V magazine Portman describes it thusly: "It's not raunchy—it's extreme."Commenting on why she was previously against getting nude on screen, Portman said: "Previously I was figuring out my own sexual identity, likes and dislikes and all that stuff, and it's weird to be doing stuff on film as you're figuring it out.""Also,…

• 
  Top Movies

• 12 Examples of Why Action Stars Shouldnt Sing

  admin

  3 Nov 2009 | 10:08 am

  When it comes to singing tough guys, not everyone can be Robert Mitchum … or even Patrick Swayze. At some point or another, nearly every macho action star has felt the urge to show off his pipes along with his pythons. Some got their start in song (Hugh Jackman, we’re looking at you), others have had at least kickass musical scene (Nicolas Cage’s Elvis impersonation in Wild at Heart) but most just cause even their biggest fans to grit their teeth and beg for the Ceti eels from Star Trek II. Here are the 12 worst offenders… 12. Bruce Willis Let’s get Bruno outta…

• Super Hero Photography from War

  admin

  29 Oct 2009 | 3:49 am

• Top Psychotic Characters in movies

  admin

  21 Oct 2009 | 2:36 pm

  5. Alex from A Clockwork Orange Alex is the narrator and anti-hero of the novel, in which he does not supply his surname. In the film, however, in addition to the surname “DeLarge”, we see several newspaper clippings (showing Alex returning to society following his subjection to the Ludovico treatment) where his name is printed as Alex Burgess, in a clear reference to the novel’s author, Anthony Burgess. Alex is portrayed as a psychopath who robs, rapes, and ultimately murders for his own amusement. Intellectually, he knows that this sort of behavior is wrong, saying that…

• Top 10 Movies where Pope Appears

  admin

  19 Oct 2009 | 5:29 am

  The following are some of the most entertaining and thrilling movies. These are some of the movies where the Pope has made his appearance either because the story needed it or just to make the plot more interesting. 10. Just the Ticket A 1999 film, Just the Ticket starred Andy Garcia and Andie MacDowell. The former was also the producer. The film’s original title was The Ticket Scalper. Gary Starke (Garcia) is a New York ticket scalper who works on the street and doesn’t make sales online. When his girlfriend Linda (MacDowell) gets tired of his lifestyle and leaves him, he makes one last…

• Top five horror movie remakes that shouldn’t offend even a purist

  admin

  12 Oct 2009 | 10:13 am

  1. “A Texas Chainsaw Massacre” (2003). 2. “Halloween” (2007). 3. “Friday the 13th” (2009). 4. “Psycho” (1998) 5. “Dawn of the Dead” (2004). Have more interesting stuff for list? Please leave your comment and tell us about it!

• 
  Dave On Film

• Review: "A Christmas Carol"

  Dave Taylor

  5 Nov 2009 | 11:00 pm

  Having three children helps me have a good sense of what kids can handle in a movie, both in terms of imagery, pacing, storyline and overall cinematic experience. And it's that background that lets me state unequivocally that Robert Zemeckis has completely missed the boat with this new animated A Christmas Carol and instead of creating a heartwarming film about how even the most unhappy person can be redeemed, he's created a terrifying vision that will prove far too intense for most of his target audience.The story of Ebenezer Scrooge is a classic Christmas tale, where he's the stingiest,…

• Review: "The Men Who Stare at Goats"

  Dave Taylor

  5 Nov 2009 | 11:00 pm

  "Is this really based on facts?" a fellow critic asked the studio rep at the screening I attended of this film. "Does it matter?" I asked in response, and I was right, it doesn't. Whether it's true or just a riff on the craziness of modern military and contemporary culture, it turns out that The Men Who Stare at Goats is a witty and engaging satire in the same vein as the classic war films M*A*S*H, Dr. Strangelove and Catch-22.The tone of the film also reminded me of Matt Damon's witty The Informant! where part of the fun is the astonishment we, the audience, have at how seriously…

• Review: "Astro Boy"

  Dave Taylor

  26 Oct 2009 | 8:49 am

  I like animation in just about any form, whether it's the stop motion brilliance of Coraline or the computer graphics gleam of Toy Story or Shrek. I'm not a huge fan of manga, however, Japanese comics,though I am a definite fan of graphic novels and probably buy a dozen or so every month (which my kids definitely appreciate).  Astro Boy was a mixed bag, therefore, because it's animated (good) but based on a very Japanese manga comic and story (not so good).What I hadn't realized until watching this animated feature was that the story of Astro Boy is really just a robotic retelling of the…

• Review: "Law Abiding Citizen"

  Dave Taylor

  24 Oct 2009 | 7:52 pm

  It's not hard to find someone with a cynical view of lawyers, especially trial lawyers, many of whom are more interested in their own careers and in winning cases than they are in seeing that justice is served. It's an old story that's been told again and again in the cinema.Law Abiding Citizen is the latest in the bad lawyer genre, with Jamie Foxx as career focused attorney Nick Rice who accepts a plea bargain from the killer of affable inventor Clyde Shelton (Gerard Butler)'s family. The film opens with Shelton and his daughter working together in the basement, while his wife…

• News: Redbox testing DVD sales from its kiosks

  Dave Taylor

  16 Oct 2009 | 4:21 pm

  There's a very interesting article published today in Video Business that shares that Redbox is testing what happens if it sells DVDs through end-user kiosks.Wow.Apparently they're tapping a new kiosk design that's black, not red, and have the Vidigo brand banner (though not for long as there's already a TV production company by that name at vidigo.tv), but they're not at the same price point as the $1/night Redbox rentals. Instead, they're going to be $19.96 and $20.95, depending on title.  At that price point I don't imagine that they'll find much business as it's cheaper to go to…

• 
  Filmcrave.com

• Escapist, The (2.5/4 Stars)

  A film that does not work really, it fails and I was liking it to a degree through most of the film. I did not think it was overly great but I thought was an okay escape movie. The characters were no...

• Star Trek (3.5/4 Stars)

  Star trek is very good and could easily be the best Star Trek film. Now I am not really a fan of Star Trek< i like the original series but not in a devotee type of way that apparently some people too...

• After the Thin Man (3/4 Stars)

  So far, I've only seen the first, the last, and this one in the series. And, I gotta say, this one is the best one I've seen. There's something about Jimmy Stewart playing a bad guy that I love! OOPS...

• Australia (2008) (2/4 Stars)

  This movie was a disappointed. The trailer misleads you into believing that you are going to witness an epic love story involving an English aristocrat and an Australian stock-man in WWII Australia. ...

• Wrongfully Accused (2.5/4 Stars)

  Solid parody. Pat is good at directing his own material, but he leaves little room to laugh at a joke before he throws another one at you. However, this could be the fault of the editor. The only ...

• 
  PetMoviestars

• Fantastic Mr. Fox

  admin

  18 Oct 2009 | 10:59 am

  With this animated adaptation of the Roald Dahl classic, director Wes Anderson moves from quirky films for adults, such as The Darjeeling Limited and The Royal Tenenbaums, to imaginative children’s fare. The Fantastic Mr. Fox reunites Anderson with previous collaborators Bill Murray and Cate Blanchett, and it marks his first work with Oscar winner George Clooney.

• Ponyo

  admin

  4 Sep 2009 | 1:03 am

  From the Academy Award®-winning director and world-renowned Japanese animation legend Hayao Miyazaki comes PONYO, a story inspired by Hans Christian Andersen’s fairy tale “The Little Mermaid.” Already a box-office success in Japan, the story of a young and overeager goldfish named Ponyo (voiced by NOAH CYRUS) and her quest to become human features an outstanding roster of voice talent, including CATE BLANCHETT, MATT DAMON, TINA FEY, CLORIS LEACHMAN, LIAM NEESON, LILY TOMLIN, BETTY WHITE and FRANKIE JONAS as Sosuke, a young boy who befriends Ponyo. –© Walt Disney Pictures

• Fantastic Mr. Fox Movie Coming Soon

  admin

  9 May 2009 | 2:30 am

  The new “Fantastic Mr. Fox” movie is due to be released on November 13th 2009.  The film is a stop motion animated film and is based on the book written by Roald Dahl.  George Clooney stars as the voice of  Mr. Fox and Cate Blanchett is the voice of Mrs. Fox.   It also stars the voices of Bill Murray, Jason Schwartzman and Owen Wilson as the three farmers, and Anjelica Huston and Meryl Steep. The film is being directed by Wes Anderson, and this will be his first animated film.

• The Princess and the Frog

  admin

  9 May 2009 | 2:00 am

  Walt Disney Animation Studios presents the musical THE PRINCESS AND THE FROG, an animated comedy set in the great city of New Orleans. From the creators of “The Little Mermaid” and “Aladdin” comes a modern twist on a classic tale, featuring a beautiful girl named Tiana (ANIKA NONI ROSE), a frog prince who desperately wants to be human again, and a fateful kiss that leads them both on a hilarious adventure through the mystical bayous of Louisiana. THE PRINCESS AND THE FROG marks the return to hand-drawn animation from the revered team of John Musker and Ron Clements, with music by…

• G-Force

  admin

  9 May 2009 | 1:00 am

  Producer Jerry Bruckheimer brings his first 3-D film to the big screen with G-FORCE, a comedy adventure about the latest evolution of a covert government program to train animals to work in espionage. Armed with the latest high-tech spy equipment, these highly trained guinea pigs discover that the fate of the world is in their paws. Tapped for the G-FORCE are guinea pigs Darwin (voice of SAM ROCKWELL), the squad leader determined to succeed at all costs; Blaster (voice of TRACY MORGAN), an outrageous weapons expert with tons of attitude and a love for all things extreme; and Juarez (voice of…

• 
  Dain's Movie Reviews

• The Transformation of Gerald Baumgartner Movie Review

  Dain Binder

  5 Nov 2009 | 1:00 pm

  The Transformation of Gerald Baumgartner (2009) is a tremendously quirky dark comedy wrapped up in the blanket of life (or better yet, an afgan with those annoying holes your toes poke out of). Gerald (Randall Malin) is an uptight man, seeminly with obsessive-compulsive disorder, that leads a very structured life as a Change Management Consultant for Smith Jakari.He meticulously washes his toupee with a toothbrush each morning while learning how to speak with an Indian accent to sound more powerful; he makes his side of the bed while his wife is still sleeping and lays out his clothes for the…

• Hidden Beauty Documentary Review

  Dain Binder

  4 Nov 2009 | 7:00 pm

  Hidden Beauty (خفية الجمال) is a short documentary by Olga Sapozhnikova that looks at the role of women in Arabian society. Four Arabic women living in the United Arab Emirates are profiled in this enlightening film that shows an often unseen side of their lives while dispelling conceptions the West may have. They are attaining power and respect while maintaining their family duties and continuing to regard men.Jamilya Al Zaabi is the only women working for an ambulance service saving many lives and has received a personal visit by His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum;…

• The Iron Boy Film Review

  Dain Binder

  2 Nov 2009 | 5:06 pm

  The Iron Boy (2006) is a gem of a short film from Australia. This eerie and dramatic film is wonderfully shot with dark undertones, and the spooky soundtrack compliments it perfectly. It stars Rebecca Cole and Peter Anderson and was created by Swingtime Creative.A grieving mother forages in a junk yard for scraps of metal that she carries home little by little in her basket. Her lover pushes her to let go of their son that passed away but she can not; especially with the neighbors new child. As he sleeps, she slips outside into the shed to put the pieces together she has retrieved. As her…

• What Became of Us Movie Review

  Dain Binder

  31 Oct 2009 | 9:26 pm

  What Became of Us/Mitä meistä tuli (2009) is a dramatically thrilling independent film from Finland. You will be immersed in this movie with its unique and multifaceted characters, amazing cinematography, and profoundly moving storyline.We are introduced to the main characters at around age 10 during one day at school that has lasting affects on their lives. While Jake and Toni walk to school, Pelle begins the arduous task of retrieving his backpack after bullies threw it into a locked stair case. Jake and Toni are best friends and chat about how they see the future; Toni to live a life of…

• Random Lunacy: Videos from the Road Less Traveled Documentary Review

  Dain Binder

  30 Oct 2009 | 7:43 pm

  Random Lunacy: Videos from the Road Less Traveled (2007) is a great documentary following the life of William David Pearlman (more commonly know as Poppa Neutrino) and his family. Seamlessly splicing many interviews with home videos draws you into his life and teachings in an amazing way.Poppa Neutrino chose a life of freedom by bucking the traditional lifestyle and goals of most. People with little knowledge of him could consider him a failure until they watch this film. You will learn how his life, however difficult (by choice), is extremely rich and fulfilling. The adventures he and his…

• 
  Valerie Atherton's Playground and Intellectual Department

• World, Meet 3D

  Valerie Athertons Playground and Intellectual Department

  15 Oct 2009 | 6:26 pm

  Earlier this year, I went to see an animated cartoon at the movie theater and when I got there, there was a hugantic line for it. I asked the ticket person why there were so many people and he said because the movie was in 3D. The theater already had something like 14 screens, so [...]

• Movie Review: Avatar (plus Petition)

  Valerie Athertons Playground and Intellectual Department

  22 Sep 2009 | 4:37 pm

  Before movies come out, Hollywood people do what is called a test screening or a sneak preview to gauge audience reactions and whatever. This way, if a bunch of people are all, “Oh, I wish there were less boobs in that one scene” or “That one actor was awful in that part he played in [...]

• Movie Review: Inglorious Bastards

  Valerie Athertons Playground and Intellectual Department

  24 Aug 2009 | 4:22 pm

  Bang, Bang, Ouch!, Awww Typically, this is my reaction to historical war movies. I am a fan of yummy Brad Pitt, though, so it was a toss up whether to see this war movie. Seeing people shooting guns and other people getting shot or stabbed with bullets has never been my favorite things to [...]

• Movie Review: Transformers 2

  Valerie Athertons Playground and Intellectual Department

  23 Jun 2009 | 5:11 pm

  Everyone knows, summer wouldn’t be summer without an action-packed blockbuster that kicks butt. Well, you don’t have to worry anymore because this summer is now officially a real summer thanks to Shia LaBeouf’s new movie blockbuster, Transformers 2.  Transformers 2 is actually a trilogy to the movie Transformers that came out in 2007. What I like [...]

• Best Romantic Movie Couples of All Time

  Valerie Athertons Playground and Intellectual Department

  9 Jun 2009 | 11:52 pm

  Summer is fast approaching and I, for one, am super excited. No matter where you live, summer means one thing: going to the beach. Some of my friends (hi, Dianne B!) actually go to the beach and surf, but I’m not that bold or that cool. I prefer to lie in the sun, read a [...]

• 
  Vinko's Thoughts On... » Movie Review

• Movie Review: Jennifer’s Body

  Vinko

  1 Nov 2009 | 7:26 am

  My Rating: This afternoon I saw the movie Jennifer’s Body at UA Cinema, Times Square, Causeway Bay, Hong Kong. Another one of the movies from my Must See Movies list. This is a comedy thriller staring the Transformers famed Megan Fox and Amanda Seyfried from Mamma Mia!. It is about a young girl living in a small town that [...]Movie Review: Jennifer’s Body is a post from: Vinko's Thoughts On... a blog of true technology Versatilist.

• Movie Review: 500 Days of Summer

  Vinko

  10 Oct 2009 | 8:20 am

  My Rating: This afternoon I saw the movie 500 Days of Summer at UA Cinema, Times Square, Causeway Bay, Hong Kong. Another one of the movies from my Must See Movies list. The movie starts off telling the audience it is not a movie about romance, which further emphasis it as being a movie about love, romance [...]Movie Review: 500 Days of Summer is a post from: Vinko's Thoughts On... a blog of true technology Versatilist.

• Movie Review: The Time Traveler’s Wife

  Vinko

  30 Sep 2009 | 8:06 am

  My Rating: This evening I saw the movie The Time Traveler’s Wife at UA Cinema, Times Square, Causeway Bay, Hong Kong. Another one of the movies from my Must See Movies list. The movie’s plot is different from what the title implies and not unlike the 2001 Kate & Leopold with Meg Ryan and Hugh Jackman, or [...]Movie Review: The Time Traveler’s Wife is a post from: Vinko's Thoughts On... a blog of true technology Versatilist.

• Movie Review: Surrogates

  Vinko

  26 Sep 2009 | 3:43 am

  My Rating: This afternoon I saw the movie Surrogates at UA Cinema, Times Square, Causeway Bay, Hong Kong. Another one of the movies from my Must See Movies list. Like the many other Bruce Willis movies in the past Surrogates also had a chase scene. The plot is a fairly typical, but the story had a future element [...]Movie Review: Surrogates is a post from: Vinko's Thoughts On... a blog of true technology Versatilist.

• Movie Review: The Taking of Pelham 1 2 3 (2009)

  Vinko

  6 Sep 2009 | 5:31 am

  My Rating: This afternoon I saw the movie The Taking of Pelham 1 2 3 at AMC Theater, Pacific Place, Admiralty, Hong Kong. Another one of the movies from my Must See Movies list. Denzel Washington gave a great performance. This time he played a more humble character compared to the roles in has past movies like: [...]Movie Review: The Taking of Pelham 1 2 3 (2009) is a post from: Vinko's Thoughts On... a blog of true technology Versatilist.

• 
  CINELATION | Film Reviews by Christopher Beaubien

• “An Education” Review

  Christopher Beaubien

  17 Oct 2009 | 3:50 pm

  No Free Passes One of the many things Lone Scherfig’s An Education gets right is show how wisdom comes suddenly. Take Jenny (Carey Mulligan, who is simply wonderful), a schoolgirl who at 16 is the brightest in her class, and fancies herself mature, sophisticated and wise. She actually does know a great deal and sometimes she is right on the money. Feeling restless and stuck in the straitlaced, lushly coloured town of Twickenham, London circa 1961, Jenny yearns for novelty and passion. This is two years before four guys from Liverpool would have turned her disillusionment on its head.

• The 28th Annual Vancouver International Film Festival 2009 Opens

  Christopher Beaubien

  1 Oct 2009 | 7:33 pm

  One of the many upsides to living in a beautiful city like Vancouver (besides the freshest tap water this side of the Pacific Ocean) is that it holds one of the five biggest film festivals in North America. The Vancouver International Film Festival opens today. About 640 screenings of the 360 films to come from eighty countries will be shown over the next sixteen days (October 1 – October 16). That means we Vancouverites and visiting film buffs can see movies as far as award-winners at Cannes, Telluride (TIFF), et al. to those that will never get distribution here. Without the interference…

• “Hardly Bear to Look at You” Review

  Christopher Beaubien

  4 Sep 2009 | 12:19 pm

  Here’s Looking At You, Kid. At first sight, the couple walking and dining throughout Paris appear to be lovers. We are mistaken. Daniel, a trim and fortyish intellectual with a voice like Patrick Bauchau (The Rapture, 1991), is played by Jeremy Herman, the writer of Hardly Bear to Look at You (2009). Stella is a pretty performance artist in her early twenties, played by Anna Neil. A few years ago, Neil starred in a short film called The Yacht (2006), which was written and co-directed by Herman. The other director who also starred in The Yacht was Huck Melnick, who directed his first…

• The Best Films of 2009’s First Half

  Christopher Beaubien

  19 Jul 2009 | 1:33 pm

  1. Moon (dir. Duncan Jones) 2. Goodbye Solo (dir. Ramin Bahrani) 3. (500) Days of Summer (dir. Marc Webb) 4. Nightwatching (dir. Peter Greenaway) 5. The Hurt Locker (dir. Kathryn Bigelow) 6. Coraline (dir. Henry Selick) 7. Tokyo Sonata (dir. Kiyoshi Kurosawa) 8. Polytechnique (dir. Denis Villeneuve) 9. Gomorrah (dir. Matteo Garrone) 10. Knowing (dir. Alex Proyas) 11. Lymelife (dir. Derick Martini) Continuance in Alphabetical Order: Drag Me To Hell (dir. Sam Raimi) O’ Horten (dir. Bent Hamer) Revanche (dir. Götz Spielmann) Up (dir. Pete Docter and Bob Peterson) Watchmen (dir. Zack…

• Obituary | Natasha Richardson (1963-2009)

  Christopher Beaubien

  18 May 2009 | 5:17 pm

  Renowned actress Natasha Richardson passed away this afternoon in Lenox Hill Hospital on Manhattan’s Upper East Side. Last Monday, she suffered a head injury in a skiing accident that took place at Quebec’s Mont Tremblant ski resort. She is survived by her husband Liam Neeson and their two children Michael and Daniel. After learning about the accident, Neeson left the set in Toronto filming Atom Egoyan’s Chloe (also starring Julianne Moore) to be with his wife. She was hospitalized Tuesday in Montreal’s Sacré-Coeur hospital and was flown privately to New York. Natasha…

• 
  Shockya.com

• New Moon Pics Bella and Edwards Evil Eyes

  Brian Corder

  7 Nov 2009 | 12:12 am

  Here’s a few wicked new photos of Bella in the forest and Edward’s evil eyes from the upcoming film “The Twilight Saga: New Moon” based on the novel by Stephenie Meyer. New Moon stars Robert Pattinson (Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix), Kristen Stewart (Adventureland, The Runaways), Nikki Reed (K-11), Ashley Greene (Skateland), Taylor Lautner, (My Own Worst Enemy), Jackson Rathbone (S. Darko) Dakota Fanning and Kellan Lutz. Click Here for more photos, news and videos from Twilight and New Moon. Movie Synopsis: After Bella recovers from the vampire attack that…

• 2012 Movie Clip Do I Look Scared

  Brian Corder

  6 Nov 2009 | 11:38 pm

  Sony Pictures just released this new clip “Do I Look Scared” featuring John Cusack in the upcoming film “2012″ by director Roland Emmerich (All Quiet on the Western Front, Fantastic Voyage) and starring Thandie Newton (W.), John Cusack (Stopping Power, 1408), Amanda Peet and Danny Glover as President Wilson. Click Here for more photos, news and videos from 2012. Synopsis: Disaster movie maven Roland Emmerich (Independence Day, The Day After Tomorrow) crafts this apocalyptic sci-fi thriller following an academic researcher who opens a portal into a parallel universe,…

• George Clooney as Fantastic Mr Fox Featurette

  Brian Corder

  6 Nov 2009 | 11:35 pm

  Here’s a brand new featurette with George Clooney as Mr. Fox in the upcoming animated film “The Fantastic Mr. Fox” by director Wes Anderson (Rushmore, The Royal Tenenbaums) is based on the book by Roald Dahl. The film featuring the voices of George Clooney, Meryl Streep, Bill Murray, Owen Wilson, and Jason Schwartzman. Click Here to get the iPhone App now. Synopsis: “Boggis and Bunce and Bean, One short, one fat, one lean. These horrible crooks, so different in looks, were nonetheless equally mean.” Mr. Fox, Mrs. Fox, and all their fox babies live under a hill…

• Richard Dreyfuss in Piranha 3-D

  Brian Corder

  6 Nov 2009 | 11:21 pm

  Check out a brand new photo featuring Richard Dreyfuss in the upcoming horror film “Piranha 3-D” by director Alexandre Aja (The Hills Have Eyes, High Tension) and starring Ving Rhames (The Wrath of Cain, Surrogates), Eli Roth (Inglourious Basterds, Thanksgiving), Steven R. McQueen (The Vampire Diaries), Christopher Lloyd and Richard Dreyfuss. Synopsis: In Lake Victoria Arizona, a tremor causes the lake’s floor to open, setting free scores of prehistoric piranhas… They’re back! Every year the population of sleepy Lake Victoria explodes from 5,000 to 50,000 for a…

• Clash of the Titans Medusa Poster

  Brian Corder

  6 Nov 2009 | 11:18 pm

  Here’s another awesome new poster for the upcoming film “Clash of the Titans” by director Louis Leterrier (The Incredible Hulk, Transporter 2) and starring Sam Worthington (Rogue, Avatar), Liam Neeson (The Red Circle, Five Minutes of Heaven), Ralph Fiennes (Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part II) and Gemma Arterton (Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time, Quantum of Solace). Synopsis: Mikkelsen is playing Draco, a skilled fighter and leader of the Praetorian Guard that accompanies Perseus. Davalos is Andromeda, the captured…

• 
  Before the Trailer

• Daily Movie and TV filming locations for Nov 6

  admin

  6 Nov 2009 | 3:01 am

  Listed below are filming locations for New York, Los Angeles, Michigan, Vancouver, and Boston for November 6. Los Angeles Filming Locations Dinner for Schmuck’s is filming at 1317 Willow St. from 6am til 6am Parks and Recreation is filming at 648 S. Broadway in Los Angeles from 7am til 9pm Will and the Ruins is filming at S. Santa and Broadway in Los Angeles from 5pm til 7am Inception (Oliver’s Arrow) is filming in Pasadena at 215 Grand Ave S. Fox Tv Show Bones is on location filming in Pasadena at 2632 Washington Blvd. E “What I hate about me” is filming at 112 S. De…

• Daily filming locations for movies and tv shows for November 5

  admin

  5 Nov 2009 | 2:00 am

  Filming Locations for Los Angeles Dinner for Schmuck’s is filming at 1317 through Nov 6 from 6am til 6am Parks and Recreation Tv show is filming in Los Angeles at 648 S. Broadway from 7am til 9pm Something called Will and the Ruins is filming on location in Los Angeles from 5pm til 7am at S Santa Fe AVe and 4th Street, and Sante Fe Ave and Mateo St. The Mission will be filming in Pasadena at 465 Arroyo Parkway S. Inception (Oliver’s Arrow) starring Leonardo DiCaprio will be at 215 Grand Ave. South   Filming Locations in New York Law and Order:Criminal Intenet has filming location…

• Daily filming locations for movies and tv show - Nov 4

  admin

  4 Nov 2009 | 5:56 am

  Listed below are Daily filming locations for movies and tv shows for films that are being shot in Los Angeles, Boston, New York, and Michigan.  As we get more locations in we will list them!! If you have any films that you know about that we havent listed, just write them below or send out an email to admin@beforethetrailer.com Filming locations in Michigan Cedar Rapids stars Anne Heche, John C. Reily and Ed Helms. Filming has started for Cedar Rapids in Ann Arbor.  Yesterday (November 3)  The sidewalk on the north side of Liberty Street between Main and Ashley is blocked off today for a…

• Cedar Rapids and Trust Movies filming in Ann Arbor

  admin

  3 Nov 2009 | 3:24 pm

  Two movies have started or will start filming in Ann Arbor.  We are looking for people in the area, that can keep track of filming locations and times.  If you have information you can write it below, or just email us and we will get the info listed at admin@beforethetrailer.com Cedar Rapids stars Anne Heche, John C. Reily and Ed Helms. Filming has started.  Today (November 3)  The sidewalk on the north side of Liberty Street between Main and Ashley is blocked off today for a film crew, and one of the storefronts in that block has been covered with black plastic sheeting. November 4th,…

• avatar movie trailer

  admin

  3 Nov 2009 | 12:10 pm

  AVATAR takes us to a spectacular world beyond imagination, where a reluctant hero embarks on an epic adventure, ultimately fighting to save the alien world he has learned to call home. James Cameron, the Oscar-winning director of “Titanic,” first conceived the film 15 years ago, when the means to realize his vision did not exist yet. Now, after four years of production, AVATAR, a live action film with a new generation of special effects, delivers a fully immersive cinematic experience of a new kind, where the revolutionary technology invented to make the film disappears into the…

• 
  RELEVANT Magazine

• From Utah With (Quirky) Genius

  2 Nov 2009 | 8:35 pm

  The creators of Napoleon Dynamite and Gentleman Broncos reveal the source of their moviemaking. Husband-wife duo Jared and Jerusha Hess literally came out of nowhere—well, the heart of Utah—in 2004 when they made their first feature film, Napoleon Dynamite and took the film world by storm with a wildly successful screening at the Sundance Film Festival. The film made a star out of Jon Heder and grossed more than $46 million worldwide on just a $400,000 budget. With their followup, 2006’s Nacho Libre, the Hesses scored a big-time movie star for the lead in Jack Black, and landed a solid…

• The Top 10 Zombie Movie Moments

  30 Oct 2009 | 11:13 am

  Taking a look at the "best" of the genre that's slowly limping into our culture. And biting us. Whether they are sprinting toward you or amassing just over the horizon, zombies only want one thing, BRAINS!!!! Or at least, an arm. And even though they’re not knocking down your door yet, we thought we’d give you a head start with our top ten zombie movie moments. And always remember, when it comes to zombies, you can never be too prepared. 10. Resident Evil – What would any zombie list be without one of the most famous, and most profitable zombie franchises in film history,…

• The Redemption of Horror

  29 Oct 2009 | 8:49 pm

  Facing our fears can be terrifying. Life beckons us to engage our deepest anxieties and offers a number of scenarios to do so, and yet every time, facing our fears can leave us feeling inadequate and out of control. Enter the horror genre. Strip away its guts, glory and intense sequel making abilities, and this genre is about fear. Namely, our fears. Culture’s fears. Fear of death. Fear of the dark. Fear of terrorism. Fear of war. Fear of being alone in a house with a serrated kitchen knife and a guy stumbling up the stairs behind you. This genre has fascinated me ever since I can remember,…

• This Is It

  29 Oct 2009 | 7:12 pm

  The new film captures the final footage of Michael Jackson and reaffirms his incredible talent as a performer. Michael Jackson was the epitome of a human Rorschach test. To his fans, he was a Messiah of entertainment, seemingly able to transcend the mere mortal abilities of nearly anyone in the history of show business. To his detractors, he was an eccentric who was also repeatedly accused of molesting children. To others, he was both. When he died of a drug overdose (being investigated as a homicide) just shy of his 50th birthday on June 25, while rehearsing for an intense 50-show engagement…

• Hilary Swank Acts Outside the Lines

  23 Oct 2009 | 2:17 pm

  We sit down down with the star of Oscar buzz film Amelia. Hilary Swank has carved out a unique niche for herself in Hollywood, as a glamorous beauty in real life who brings an almost masculine intensity to her best roles—her Oscar-winning turns as a female boxer in the 2004 Best Picture winner Million Dollar Baby and as a sexually confused Nebraska girl who dresses and acts like a boy with tragic results in 1999's Boys Don't Cry. In both cases, she stunned the industry to become one of very few actresses to ever win more than one Academy Award. Those accomplishments were all the more…

• 
  Dave On Film

• Review: "A Christmas Carol"

  Dave Taylor

  5 Nov 2009 | 11:00 pm

  Having three children helps me have a good sense of what kids can handle in a movie, both in terms of imagery, pacing, storyline and overall cinematic experience. And it's that background that lets me state unequivocally that Robert Zemeckis has completely missed the boat with this new animated A Christmas Carol and instead of creating a heartwarming film about how even the most unhappy person can be redeemed, he's created a terrifying vision that will prove far too intense for most of his target audience.The story of Ebenezer Scrooge is a classic Christmas tale, where he's the stingiest,…

• Review: "The Men Who Stare at Goats"

  Dave Taylor

  5 Nov 2009 | 11:00 pm

  "Is this really based on facts?" a fellow critic asked the studio rep at the screening I attended of this film. "Does it matter?" I asked in response, and I was right, it doesn't. Whether it's true or just a riff on the craziness of modern military and contemporary culture, it turns out that The Men Who Stare at Goats is a witty and engaging satire in the same vein as the classic war films M*A*S*H, Dr. Strangelove and Catch-22.The tone of the film also reminded me of Matt Damon's witty The Informant! where part of the fun is the astonishment we, the audience, have at how seriously…

• Review: "Astro Boy"

  Dave Taylor

  26 Oct 2009 | 8:49 am

  I like animation in just about any form, whether it's the stop motion brilliance of Coraline or the computer graphics gleam of Toy Story or Shrek. I'm not a huge fan of manga, however, Japanese comics,though I am a definite fan of graphic novels and probably buy a dozen or so every month (which my kids definitely appreciate).  Astro Boy was a mixed bag, therefore, because it's animated (good) but based on a very Japanese manga comic and story (not so good).What I hadn't realized until watching this animated feature was that the story of Astro Boy is really just a robotic retelling of the…

• Review: "Law Abiding Citizen"

  Dave Taylor

  24 Oct 2009 | 7:52 pm

  It's not hard to find someone with a cynical view of lawyers, especially trial lawyers, many of whom are more interested in their own careers and in winning cases than they are in seeing that justice is served. It's an old story that's been told again and again in the cinema.Law Abiding Citizen is the latest in the bad lawyer genre, with Jamie Foxx as career focused attorney Nick Rice who accepts a plea bargain from the killer of affable inventor Clyde Shelton (Gerard Butler)'s family. The film opens with Shelton and his daughter working together in the basement, while his wife…

• News: Redbox testing DVD sales from its kiosks

  Dave Taylor

  16 Oct 2009 | 4:21 pm

  There's a very interesting article published today in Video Business that shares that Redbox is testing what happens if it sells DVDs through end-user kiosks.Wow.Apparently they're tapping a new kiosk design that's black, not red, and have the Vidigo brand banner (though not for long as there's already a TV production company by that name at vidigo.tv), but they're not at the same price point as the $1/night Redbox rentals. Instead, they're going to be $19.96 and $20.95, depending on title.  At that price point I don't imagine that they'll find much business as it's cheaper to go to…

• 
  JWEwrite

• FRIDAY NIGHT ON TV

  7 Nov 2009 | 3:01 am

  Image via CrunchBase CW Smallville Kandor Seasons 9 : Episode 7  fastpass  8/7c NBC Law and Order 2 new episodes on tonight: Boy Gone Astray  Season 20 : Episode 7  (fastpass) Doped Season 20 : Episode 8  fastpass) 8/7c CBS Ghost Whisperer Haunting On Campus  Up Now on CBS CastTV has every season every episode (but not tonight’s show) 8/7c Medium New Terrain Up Now on CBS Season 6 : Episode 7  fastpass CastTV - every season, every episode except 5:13 watch-medium-online – every season, every episode (megavideo) 9/8c Numb3rs Shadow Markets  Season 6…

• THURSDAY NIGHT ON TV

  6 Nov 2009 | 12:48 am

  Image by Horrortaxi via FlickrThe Vampire DiariesAirs on CW Thurs. 8/7c162 Candles  Season 1 : Episode 8SupernaturalAirs on CW Thurs. 9/8cChanging Channels  Season 5 : Episode 8CommunityAirs on NBC Thurs. 8/7cHome Economics  Season 1 : Episode 8Parks and RecreationAirs on NBC Thurs. 8:30/7:30cRon and Tammy  Season 2 : Episode 8The OfficeAirs on NBC Thurs. 9/8cSeason 6 : Episode 830 RockAirs on NBC Thurs. 9:30/8:30cAudition Day  Season 4 : Episode 4Survivor: SamoaAirs on CBS Thurs. 8/7cSeason 19 : Episode 8CSI: Crime Scene InvestigationAirs on CBS Thurs. 9/8cDeath and…

• DEXTER Preview Season 4 : Episode 7

  4 Nov 2009 | 11:02 pm

  Image by guspim via FlickrWe know Dexter has taken relationship advice from Trinity that seems to have resolved his problems with Rita, but do you think Trinity is on to him? Trinity is smart. I'm thinking this is not going to go down as easy as some of Dexter's past kills.Watch these previews of the upcoming episode and see what you think. Dexter airs on Showtime Sundays 9/8c

• HANK

  4 Nov 2009 | 6:33 pm

  Tonight's HANK was doggone funny. It involves a cat and a turkey and a bath tub and a somewhat insane mother-in-law (Swoozie Kurtz). I know it's a little early for Thanksgiving shows, but this will get you in the mood to butcher your own T day.HANK is the new Kelsey Grammer half hour. I still watch Fraiser reruns and always que up to see what Grammer is up to.HANK airs on ABC Wednesdays at 8/7c Here is your link to tonight's show and you can catch all 5 of this season's episodes here at fastpass. But first, a preview:

• V

  3 Nov 2009 | 6:37 pm

  Promise made, promise kept.Your link to V, ABC's new Tuesday night scifi show. Airs at 8/7cI gotta say, I'm liking it. If you missed it, or just want to see it again (I do) here's the link to watch.zshare