Posts

Movie Trailer #2: ‘Faster’ By Russ Fischer/Oct. 11, 2010 8:48 pm EST We’ve seen two trailers for Faster, the action/revenge film starring Dwayne Johnson. One was a teaser and the other a red-band that many people complained showed way too much. (I didn’t watch it, but since I haven’t yet seen the film I couldn’t vouch for that accusation.) This is the first proper theatrical trailer, however, so it gives up more of the story that sees Dwayne Johnson trying to avenge the killing of his brother, which puts him in opposition to a cop played by Billy Bob Thornton and a mysterious woman, played by Maggie Grace....

Movie Trailer: Joe Dante’s The Hole By Peter Sciretta/April 30, 2010 12:00 pm EST If you don’t recognize director Joe Dante’s name, than chances are you didn’t grow up watching movies in the 1980’s. His filmography includes Gremlins, Small Soldiers, The Howling, a segment of Twilight Zone: The Movie, Explorers, Innerspace, and The Burbs. The Hole is Dante’s first feature directing gig since Looney Toons: Back in Action. In fact, you may have read about this project long ago as it was completed in early 2009, and even screened at the 2009 Toronto Film Festival....

New Poster And Images: Julie Taymor’s ‘The Tempest’ By Russ Fischer/Aug. 11, 2010 11:46 am EST One of the films that was in danger of being orphaned when Disney shuttered Miramax was Julie Taymor’s adaptation of the William Shakespeare play The Tempest. But the film, which stars Helen Mirren, David Strathairn, Djimon Hounsou and more, will be released by Disney offshoot Touchstone Pictures this fall, and will appear at both the Venice and New York Film Festivals....

Producer Jim Lemley Talks ‘Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter’ And ‘Wanted 2’ By Peter Sciretta/Feb. 8, 2011 8:00 am EST Producer Jim Lemley spoke at the University of Idaho on Monday, to students in the College of Business as part of the 2011 Spring Executive Speaker Series. Lemley is alumni, a 1988 marketing graduate. /Film reader Dustin sent in a report from Lemley’s presentation (I have confirmed his appearance with the college), where the producer revealed some details about his current project, Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter, and talked about the possibility of Wanted 2....

Rhys Ifans Transforms Into The Lizard In ‘The Amazing Spider-Man’ Viral Clip By Russ Fischer/May 14, 2012 11:00 am EST The viral ad campaign for Marc Webb’s The Amazing Spider-Man has debuted two new video clips, and one of them has some significant new footage. The first clip is a video from Oscorp featuring Rhys Ifans in character as Dr. Curt Connors, pitching the scientific value of his work to aspiring Oscorp interns....

Ryan Gosling Makes His Directorial Debut With ‘How To Catch A Monster,’ Starring Christina Hendricks By Russ Fischer/Aug. 29, 2012 11:49 am EST Drive has proven to be a fruitful career move for Ryan Gosling in many different ways. It led to a serious partnership with director Nicolas Winding Refn, for one, which generated their follow-up movie Only God Forgives, and should also bring us their remake of Logan’s Run....

Sony Wants To Release The Twenty-Fourth James Bond Film In 2014 By Russ Fischer/April 26, 2012 3:00 pm EST When I was in London recently to visit the set of Skyfall, the twenty-third James Bond film, there was a good bit of talk about how the long break between Quantum of Solace and Skyfall turned out to be a positive thing for this film. Daniel Craig told me, for example, “the enforced break before this movie gave us the chance to go away, think about things and put together a script very early, and get the best director for the job....

Superhero Bits: Iron Man 3, The Dark Knight Rises, The Dark Knight Returns, The Avengers, Amazing Spider-Man By Germain Lussier/May 23, 2012 12:00 pm EST We may receive a commission on purchases made from links. IGN has premiered the first trailer and images for the upcoming MMO Marvel Heroes.Iron Man 3 begins production today in North Carolina and Latino Review reports they’ve upped the budget by $60 million, hoping to make it the biggest Marvel movie yet....

Tarsem Singh Offered ‘The Brothers Grimm: Snow White’ By Germain Lussier/Oct. 12, 2010 3:30 pm EST It doesn’t take a magic mirror to figure out the huge box office success of Tim Burton’s Alice in Wonderland is to blame for the three different Snow White projects currently in development. There’s one by Relativity, one by Universal and one by Disney. The Relativity project, called The Brothers Grimm: Snow White was reportedly just offered to Tarsem Singh, the director of the visually intense Jennifer Lopez film The Cell....

VOTD: ‘Everything Is A Remix’ By Russ Fischer/Feb. 3, 2011 7:00 pm EST Take the Everything is a Remix project, by editor Kirby Ferguson. The second installment was released this week, and it is a slick, well-written and edited piece of work that points out how much of the entertainment we consume is related to other entertainment. Specifically, it breaks down parts of Star Wars and Kill Bill into component elements, presenting scenes from those films alongside the original images re-purposed by George Lucas and Quentin Tarantino....

VOTD: Gritty Superhero Reboot By Peter Sciretta/May 18, 2010 12:00 am EST Your superhero movie franchise is dying, what is a Hollywood movie producer to do? Try a giving the property a gritty-style reboot… of course! College Humor takes on the new Spider-Man reboot and this growing Hollywood trend in a new short film, embedded after the jump. VOTD: Gritty Superhero Reboot By Peter Sciretta/May 18, 2010 12:00 am EST...

VOTD: The 25 Greatest Unscripted Scenes In Films By Russ Fischer/Aug. 15, 2011 5:00 pm EST There’s a lot of lore and misunderstanding with respect to what ‘improvising’ means with respect to filmmaking. I think there are some who take ‘improvised’ to mean that there is no script, or that actors go completely off-book when shooting a scene. And while there are a few directors who do shoot films like that — very few — most of the time improvisation on film means that an actor comes up with a new line or action in the context of a scripted scene....

Wayne Wang Directing Albert Einstein Biopic By Russ Fischer/Feb. 10, 2011 3:30 pm EST There is a new biopic of Albert Einstein coming along, and Wayne Wang (The Joy Luck Club) is now set to direct from a script by Ron Bass (Rain Man, My Best Friend’s Wedding). No casting has been decided at this point, so actors, it’s time to break out your wild white fright wigs. Deadline has the press release for Einstein, which announces that the film will be shot in Germany and Europe, and that casting will be undertaken in the next few weeks....

‘Boardwalk Empire’ Renewed For Second Season, Sets HBO Ratings Record By Germain Lussier/Sept. 21, 2010 10:39 am EST After only one episode, HBO has seen to it that Prohibition era Atlantic City is going to see a second season. Boardwalk Empire, executive produced by Martin Scorsese, Mark Wahlberg, Terence Winter and Tim Van Patten premiered Sunday night with 4.8 million viewers (and up to 7.1 million after two repeats). That was the network’s most-watch premiere since Deadwood in 2004, and HBO quickly announced they renewed the show for season two....

‘Killer Elite’ Trailer: Statham Like A Hurricane By Russ Fischer/June 23, 2011 11:26 am EST Here’s the trailer for Killer Elite, which is the Jason Statham-iest Jason Statham movie yet. The muscular star plays a killer (elite) whose mentor (Robert De Niro) is kidnapped by another killer (Clive Owen). Cue a rescue attempt and a great many instances of people talking about just what a badass Jason Statham is. Gary McKendry directs this one, which should be an instant ticket purchase for anyone who loved The Mechanic....

‘Wreck-It Ralph’ Characters Coming To Disneyland By Germain Lussier/Sept. 20, 2012 4:06 pm EST Briefly: While there will likely be quite a wait for rides based on the games in Disney’s video game film, Wreck-It Ralph, the characters themselves will start appearing in the parks in November. In Disney’s Hollywood Studios in Florida, Ralph (voiced by John C. Reilly) and Vanellope (voiced by Sarah Silverman) will be at the Magic of Disney Animation attraction to greet fans who walk through a making of exhibit....

Beard Fetishists Rejoice: Two More ‘Hobbit’ Dwarves Revealed In New Photo By Russ Fischer/July 15, 2011 1:32 pm EST At this point what more is there to say about yet another dwarf reveal from The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey? (Other than, perhaps, “uh, where’s Thorin?”) Here is the latest image dispatch from Peter Jackson’s version of Middle-Earth, featuring Ken Stott as Balin (on the left) and Graham McTavish as Dwalin....

By Germain Lussier/Aug. 23, 2011 1:00 pm EST Unless Star Wars fans have a VHS or laserdisc player handy, there’s no way to legally watch the films we all grew up and loved as a kid. What we’re left with are the memories of how those movies made us feel. Images that are burned on our brain. Ways we’ve integrated those feelings into our adult lives. For some, Star Wars inspired them to make movies or television....

Danny Boyle’s ‘Frankenstein’ Stage Play To Be Broadcast In Cinemas By Russ Fischer/Feb. 9, 2011 6:30 am EST Director Danny Boyle won’t be making a new film for the next year, because he’s got a National Theatre stage version of Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein to direct in the UK, and then he’s got to work on pageantry for the London Olympics. The first ten weeks of Frankenstein are already sold out, but due to that success the production has been given a longer life, and tickets for performances into May will be on sale soon....

Eddie Murphy Agrees To Host 84th Academy Awards By Russ Fischer/Sept. 6, 2011 11:45 am EST Briefly: The big Oscar news over the weekend was that telecast producer Brett Ratner wants his Tower Heist co-star Eddie Murphy to host the 84th Academy Awards ceremony when it takes place on Sunday February 26, 2012. There may be some small deal points to work out, but this is now looking like a done deal, as Murphy has agreed to host....