Posts

Sales: Sony Classics Takes Animated Film The Illusionist; LionsGate Picks Up The Lincoln Lawyer By Russ Fischer/April 26, 2010 10:34 pm EST I didn’t have much doubt that a distributor would quickly move on Sylvain Chomet’s The Illusionist. (Refer back to our previous articles detailing the film, which has origins in an unproduced screenplay by the great Jacques Tati and features a character very much designed after Tati.) In fact, I didn’t have much doubt that it would be anyone other than Sony Pictures Classics, which also released Chomet’s film The Triplets of Belleville....

Seventh ‘Saw’ Film Now Titled…Wait For It… ‘Saw 3D: The Traps Come Alive’ By Russ Fischer/July 8, 2010 8:51 pm EST UPDATE: Today STYD spoke to Saw producers Mark Burg and Oren Koules, and Burg clarifies, “The title of the movie is Saw 3D.” According to Koules, “The Traps Come Alive…[is] a tagline that was added in and misinterpreted. Most of our movies have taglines. One of the things we talked about during the campaign – especially with shooting in the 3D process, the traps really do come alive and we wanted that clear in the campaign....

Spike Jonze And Charlie Kaufman Reportedly Pitching New Film By Russ Fischer/Dec. 16, 2010 2:15 pm EST If you’re among the rather rabid audience for which the mere combination of the names Spike Jonze and Charlie Kaufman causes excited palpitations, then you’d better lie down before reading any further. The two filmmakers, who teamed for Being John Malkovich and Adaptation, are reportedly circulating a new film pitch to financiers. There is no plot outline available, or any info at all....

The Alamo Drafthouse Celebrates The Summer Of ‘82, And /Film Co-Hosts A Screening Of ‘E.T.: The Extra-Terrestrial’ By Russ Fischer/March 2, 2012 10:00 am EST After giving the matter much thought, folks at the Alamo Drafthouse in Austin, TX have decided that the summer of 1982 is perhaps the best summer in history for big, fun movies. That’s a difficult point to argue, given that the summer saw the release of Conan the Barbarian, The Thing, Poltergeist, The Road Warrior, Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan, and more....

The Real Reason Why Sharlto Copley Dropped Out Of I Am Number Four By Peter Sciretta/May 12, 2010 10:51 am EST We may receive a commission on purchases made from links. As we all know, “scheduling conflicts” is more often then not public relations coverup for some sort of behind the scenes problem, and this might be no exception. According to FilmDrunk (who has been two for two on the I Am Number Four scoops thus far), the real reason is a lot funnier....

VOTD: ‘Moon’ Director Duncan Jones Goes Back To Space With Virgin Banking Commercial By Russ Fischer/Jan. 10, 2012 11:00 am EST Duncan Jones got our attention in a big way with Moon, and kept it with Source Code. We’re waiting to see what his next feature will be, but in the meantime he’s paying the rent with some commercial work. Here’s an ad spot directed by Jones, meant to promote Richard Branson’s new Virgin Money venture....

VOTD: Chaos Cinema – The Decline And Fall Of Action Filmmaking By Germain Lussier/Aug. 31, 2011 8:30 am EST We’re all familiar with it. Some call it MTV editing. Others blame it on ADD. It’s the fast cutting, fast moving camera aesthetic that’s become prevalent in Hollywood blockbusters over the past decade and change. In a new video essay published on Indiewire’s Press Play page, Los Angeles scholar and filmmaker Matthias Stork gives it another name: Chaos Cinema....

‘Brave’ May Be Set In The Past, But It Still Contains Pixar Easter Eggs By Russ Fischer/April 5, 2012 6:00 am EST Pixar’s Brave is set in what appears to be some part of Scotland, many years ago. Well before the existence of pickup trucks, at least. So while we knew that actor John Ratzenberger was cast — he being a member of every Pixar voice cast to date — there was reason to wonder whether or not the practice of animating easter eggs from previous Pixar films had continued....

/Film HQ Receives Mysterious ‘Super 8’ Package By Peter Sciretta/April 13, 2011 12:30 pm EST Today /Film HQ received a small unmarked envelope containing an old box of for a Kodak Super 8 cartridge (Type A). Must be some creepy viral for the Steven Spielberg-produced JJ Abrams-directed film Super 8. Makes sense, right? So…. inside the box was, as expected, a reel of Super 8 film. And… The 8mm film on the reel had been developed/printed....

‘Jason Goes To Hell’ Director Co-Writing New ‘Texas Chainsaw Massacre’ Film By Russ Fischer/Oct. 29, 2010 6:30 pm EST Here’s a not-so tasty little tidbit that I’ll drop on your desk before scurrying off for the beginning of the Halloween weekend. Twisted Pictures, aka the folks behind Saw, haven’t forgotten that they were trying to make a new Texas Chainsaw Massacre film. I’d hoped they might forget but alas, someone wrote it on a post-it at the office....

‘The Expendables 2’ Theatrical Trailer By Russ Fischer/May 3, 2012 10:00 am EST We’ve seen two teaser trailers for Simon West’s sequel to The Expendables — well, one teaser, and one trailer for this trailer. But now we’ve got an actual trailer, with actual footage showing some of what happens when you put Sylvester Stallone, Jason Statham, Jet Li, Dolph Lundgren, Terry Crews, Randy Couture, Jean-Claude Van Damme, Chuck Norris, Liam Hemsworth, Bruce Willis, and Arnold Schwarzenegger in the same movie....

‘The Lone Ranger’ Gets A Holiday 2012 Release Date By Germain Lussier/June 8, 2011 9:45 am EST Next Christmas, get your “Hi-yoo Silver!” on as Disney has now set a holiday release date for The Lone Ranger. Directed by Gore Verbinski, produced by Jerry Bruckheimer and starring Armie Hammer as the title character and Johnny Depp as Tonto, the film is scheduled to hit the big screen on December 21, 2012....

‘Toy Story 3’ Writer Michael Arndt In Talks To Rewrite ‘Hunger Games’ Sequel ‘Catching Fire’ By Russ Fischer/May 4, 2012 4:50 pm EST With a change in director, it isn’t surprising to see a new writer come on to The Hunger Games sequel Catching Fire, and now Michael Arndt, who won an Oscar for scripting Little Miss Sunshine, is in talks to work on the film with director Francis Lawrence....

‘X-Men: First Class’ Trailer Will Not Debut With ‘The Green Hornet’ (UPDATED) By Germain Lussier/Jan. 12, 2011 11:15 am EST We haven’t even seen an official frame from Matthew Vaughn’s June 3 release, X-Men: First Class but now, almost out of nowhere, the trailer is mere days away. According to the Los Angeles Times, the trailer for X-Men: First Class, starring James McAvoy, Michael Fassbender, Rose Byrne, January Jones, and Kevin Bacon will premiere this Friday on prints of Michel Gondry’s The Green Hornet....

A Conversation With Errol Morris On The Nature Of Truth, Photography, And Documentary By David Chen/Jan. 20, 2012 3:00 pm EST We may receive a commission on purchases made from links. In his book, Believing is Seeing, Morris turns his attention to the art of photography. In a series of photographic whodunnits, Morris explores the truth-telling capacity of photos. His conclusion? “Photographs don’t have truth value.” Download or Play Now in your Browser:...

Burlesque Clip: Christina Aguilera Sings “Something’s Got A Hold On Me” By Peter Sciretta/Aug. 11, 2010 12:00 pm EST Last week, Screen Gems released the first movie trailer from Steven Antin’s contemporary musical Burlesque. We now have a three and a half minute clip featuring Christina Aguilera in her live-action big screen film debut, singing “Something’s Got A Hold On Me.” I’ve never been a huge fan of movie musicals, only the ones that employ a more cinematic style....

Can Watching The Same Movies Repeatedly Be Considered Torture? By Germain Lussier/Dec. 7, 2010 10:30 am EST “I hear those little kids screaming through my brain. All night long I can hear them. I can close my eyes, but I’m still going to hear them over and over and over.” It’s a quote that could come from a war veteran or prisoner of war when asked to describe the horrors of their experience....

By Angie Han/July 26, 2011 1:30 pm EST Jason Bateman has won the lead role in We’re the Millers, a stoner comedy to be directed by Rawson Thurber. The two worked together previously on 2004’s Dodgeball, which featured Bateman as spacey color commentator Pepper Brooks. Bateman and Thurber are just the latest names to board the film, which has been in development for nearly a decade — John Morris, Sean Anders, Steve Buscemi and Bateman’s Arrested Development co-star Will Arnett have all been attached to the project at various points....

Cool Stuff: Dan McCarthy’s ‘Star Trek’ Poster ‘The City On The Edge Of Forever’ By Germain Lussier/March 1, 2011 4:00 pm EST Holy crap, Dan McCarthy is amazing. The artist who did some of the best Star Wars and Lost posters to date now tackles yet another huge property, Star Trek. Mondo is proud to present The City on the Edge of Forever, which dramatizes the 28th episode of the original Star Trek television series which saw the crew finding a portal that can change time and space....

Discuss: Would Subtitles Help Or Hurt A Heavily-Accented Movie Like ‘Attack The Block’? By Russ Fischer/March 18, 2011 7:30 pm EST There has been a minor argument going on today over the film Attack the Block, which showed at SXSW and drew raves from a great many critics and audience members. The argument is minor because relatively few people have seen the film, but it could have some impact on how you see it....