White Dog Samuel Fuller's follow-up to The Big Red One was shelved by Paramount Pictures before its scheduled release in 1982 because of fears that its premise -- a white dog has been trained to attack black people -- would stir up more controversy than box office. Fuller was understandably outraged; in his autobiography, A Third Face, he wrote: "The studio has used me as a scapegoat for their lack of determination and courage." The film, co-written by Curtis Hanson (LA Confidential), with a score by the legendary Ennio Morricone, later received acclaim when it was released in Europe but never received a home video release in the US and has rarely been seen here. Kristy McNichol plays an actress who adopts the dog; Paul Winfield is as an anthropologist who tries to reverse the training. The Criterion Collection DVD includes a featurette with Hanson, producer Jon Davison, and Fuller's widow, plus a print interview with the dog trainer and essays by J. Hoberman and Armond White. I'm buying, but even if you're not a huge fan of Samuel Fuller, you'd want to check it out. Rent it.
Step Brothers Combining Will Farrell, John C. Reilly, Richard Jenkins, and Mary Steenburgen under one roof, Step Brothers mines familiar territory with sharp timing and plenty of belly laughs. Mine is, admittedly, a distinctly minority opinion. Available on DVD (single-disc rated, single-disc unrated, two-disc unrated) and Blu-ray, with an audio commentary by Farrell, Reilly, director Adam McKay, and a score by Jon Brion. Other features include deleted scenes and alternate takes, a gag reel, 'making of,' and a couple of gag featurettes. Rent it.
Much more on Wanted, The X-Files: I Want to Believe, and The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian after the jump, plus Indies on DVD, Blu-ray Picks, and Collector's Corner.
A few years ago, I wrote a Cinematical Seven on my favorite dysfunctional families in films. Everyone has a crazy messed-up movie family they love, whether it's the Hoovers in Little Miss Sunshine or the Bullocks in My Man Godfrey or the Corleones in the Godfather saga. I thought that this year, it would be fun to make a list of families that got along, worked together, and supported one another. You know, happy families ... but not dull, one-dimensional bundles of endless cheer.
It's a lot more difficult to find seven movies with happy-but-not-sappy families than it is to find the screwed-up kind, especially if you are looking for something more interesting than the Cleavers. Since I'm visiting my relatives for the Thanksgiving holidays, I asked them for suggestions. They were all very helpful, and I'm sorry I couldn't include all the suggestions, which ranged from The Thin Man to The Sound of Music to The Hills Have Eyes. Let me know what else we missed in the comments.
Have you ever seen an animated film called Arabian Knight? Or The Princess and the Cobbler? If so then you witnessed the final resting place of one man's life work. His name is Richard Williams, he's a brilliant animator, and the story of how it took over twenty years for his labor of love to be completed, released, and mangled is pretty fascinating. Not to mention heart-wrenching. You can read the full history of the ill-fated project right here, but the short version is this: After more than two decades of development, sweat, and stress, Williams lost the rights to his baby and they eventually ended up in the hands of the Weinsteins. The result was Arabian Knight, which came and went with little fanfare.
BUT! Through the magic of Google Video and the passionate efforts of one fan, you can now see a fairly close approximation to the film that Mr. Williams intended. Yep, it's feature-length, unfinished in some parts, but pretty damn cool overall. Especially if you're a big animtion nut, but those folks have seen this "recobbled" cut by now, I'm sure. (And I hope I'm not getting this guy in trouble, but he's also posted full-length versions of two other animated obscurities: Raggedy Ann and Andy: A Musical Adventure (1977) and Twice Upon a Time (1983)!)
And yep, this is "old news" to some ... but it wasn't to me.
Trailers? Oh yeah, we got your trailers here. Star Trek Like a lot of people, I got my first glimpse of this one when it played with Quantam of Solace last weekend. While this will obviously play hell with Star Trek continuity, I am one Trek geek who is looking forward to the J.J. Abrams take on the franchise. It opens on May 8.
Astro Boy Here's a teaser for the CGI animated adaptation of the classic anime about a robot boy built by a scientist to replace the son he lost. The trailer doesn't give us much to go on, but the impressive voice cast includes Freddie Highmore, Nicolas Cage, Kristen Bell, Donald Sutherland, Eugene Levy, and Nathan Lane. Things get cosmic on October 23.
Coraline I find it odd that Neil Gaiman's name isn't mentioned in the trailer, since the film is based on his novella. Gaiman isn't a household name but I would have figured he was well enough known to catch a few people's attention. Nevertheless, this stop-motion animated feature from Henry Selick, the director of A Nightmare Before Christmas and James and the Giant Peach, deals with a young girl who finds a pathway to a parallel world in which duplicates of her parents sport buttons for eyes. This deliciously creepy looking film will be in theaters on February 6. Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs All of our favorite characters return for this third installment of the series, and this time it's in 3-D. The only one we see in this new trailer is Scrat, on the trail of not just another acorn but apparently romance as well. The one hits on July 1.
I'm trying to muster up some enthusiasm for Disney's latest animated film, Bolt. It's cute. It has funny pigeons. My eight-year-old niece is going to like it, especially since Miley Cyrus is involved. It's the first non-Pixar Disney feature produced by John Lasseter, who directed the Toy Story movies and Cars. It's got Hollywood jokes in it, including a director voiced by James Lipton, and a comically pushy agent. And yet I never thrilled to the story or the characters; I wasn't half as amused as I'd been by Kung Fu Panda, a film for kids I saw earlier this year.
The story should sound familiar to anyone who grew up with Lassie movies or other animal-road-trip films, but with a Hollywood twist. The title character, a cute dog called Bolt (John Travolta), is fiercely attached to "his person," teenage Penny (Miley Cyrus). Bolt saves Penny's life on a regular basis as she and her dad are pursued by the evil Dr. Calico and his nasty cats ... or so he thinks. The truth is that Bolt is the star of a TV series, but the cast and crew are very careful not to let him know that he's not in real-life situations. So he believes he's a genetically engineered dog with laser eyes and amazing strength and a supersonic bark. When Bolt is separated from Penny and ends up halfway across the country on his own, for the first time he's in a world that isn't a soundstage or his trailer. Now, how will he get back to Penny?
The film focuses on crayons who try and save Color City from an "evil tyrant," whilst living between two worlds -- the magical city itself and the "real world" preschool where they work. Now, I could understand markers, but how exactly do these crayons get used and still live? If there's one thing I remember from my preschool days was that crayons got massacred and it was close to impossible to find one with a point. Most were worn into nothing.
But I guess if crayons are already talking and saving their world and facing a tyrant, little tykes won't kill 'em. Magnola plans to release this color-filled feature in 2010.
Cinematical has been given an exclusive look at the first official still for Astro Boy (see above), while our very good looking cohorts over at Moviefone have just debuted the first teaser (see below or over on Moviefone in glorious HD). Based on the popular Japanese manga and television series, this computer-animated 3-D version of Astro Boy is being produced by those wizards over at Imagi Animation Studios, and stars the voices of Freddy Highmore, Kristen Bell, Nicolas Cage, Bill Nighy, Donald Sutherland, Nathan Lane and Eugene Levy.
From the synopsis: "Set in futuristic Metro City, Astro Boy is about a young robot with incredible powers. Powered by pure positive "blue" energy, Astro Boy (Freddie Highmore) is endowed with super strength, x-ray vision, unbelievable speed and the ability to fly-not to mention the purest spirit on the planet. Embarking on a journey across the planet to discover his powers, Astro Boy encounters a netherworld of robot gladiators and other comic characters, and learns the joys and emotions of being human. When he learns his friends and family are in danger, Astro Boy marshals all his awesome super powers and returns to Metro City, in a valiant effort to save everything he cares about and to embrace his place in the world."
Astro Boywill soar into theaters on October 23, 2009.
Those of you who caught last night's South Park episode would have noticed a pretty familiar and topical theme: vampires. We're not sure whether the boys intentionally made sure this episode aired the week Twilight was to arrive in theaters or if they just got lucky, but it was all pretty funny nonetheless. And while they didn't reference Twilight (the one thing the episode was missing)*, they did take a few jabs at Hot Topic and the difference between goth kids and vampire kids. In the episode, the character Butters mistakes some vampire-themed kids at school for real vampires, and when his friends and parents all reject him, he turns to this new group for acceptance. Check out the scene below which shows Butters' transformation into a vampire, and you can catch the rest of the episode over at South Park Studios.
*Yes, they do reference Twilight once early on. Thanks for pointing it out.
Thank you, Henry Selick. I now feel like one of the wimpiest women on Earth. An awesome, new, full-length trailer for Coralinehas popped up online. You can see it above, or head over to Yahoo to see it crisp, bigger, and HD (which is so totally worth it). Anyway, why do I feel so wimpy?
After starting out just like an episode of Pushing Daisies, the trailer shows the cute blue-headed girl named Coraline walking into a bathroom, getting annoyed by a frickin' colony of millipede-like things (large silverfish, seamonkeys?!) and ... crushes them with her hand. The things are the size of her pinky. I once called for mallet reinforcements when I found a slithering millipede the size of my pinkie. Her hand work is very impressive (and gory -- they do show the gelled remains smushed against the tiles ... yum!). I think she just might be the toughest kid, or woman, to grace the movies. At the very least, she could out-tough Willie Scott with both arms tied behind her back!
If Coraline is right up your alley (and it should, because the film looks amazing), head through the jump for some featurettes about the girl who finds herself in the land of button-eyes.
Two new releases this week, including an animated comedy and a teen romance with a hint of horror.
Bolt What's It All About: Animated family feature from Disney about a canine actor who doesn't realize the amazing feats he performs on television are really just special effects. Featuring the voices of John Travolta, Miley Cyrus, and Malcom McDowell. Why It Might Do Well: The trailer is appealing and slapping Miley Cyrus's name on anything geared at kids is like having a license to print money. Combine that with an 85% fresh rating at Rottentomatoes.com, and this one should open to impressive numbers. Why It Might Not Do Well: The Madagascar sequel is still out, so it may siphon off some of the audience Bolt is shooting for. Number of Theaters: 3,500 Prediction: $42 million Twilight What's It All About: A teenage girl moves to Washington state to live with her father and soon falls in love with a local boy. Her new heartthrob, however, has no heart beat as he and his family are vampires. Why It Might Do Well: Twilight is based on a best-selling series of novels with an ardent fan following ensuring that come this Friday theaters will be filled with goth-tinged teen angst both on an off screen. Why It Might Not Do Well: I don't see that happening. In fact I think this will be the number one flick. Number of Theaters: 3,200 Prediction: $44 million
The big question is how well Quantam of Solace is going to do in its second week. I'm betting that both of the new releases will outdo Mr. Bond, leaving him shaken but not stirred. Here's my prediction. 1. Twilight 2. Bolt 3. Quantum of Solace 4. Madagascar: Escape 2 Africa 5. Role Models
Here are some stuff and things for your Tuesday (or shall we call it Almost But Not Quite Twilight Friday Yet Day):
Just Added: We don't have a Captain America just yet, but the film has two writers: The Hollywood Reporter tells us that Christopher Markus and Stephen McFeely (Chronicles of Narnia, Prince Caspian) are in negotiations to write The First Avenger: Captain America. The film is currently due in theaters on May 6, 2011.
-- Screw Heath Ledger and The Dark Knight getting nods come Oscar time, we've got one better: How about Miley Cyrus? Yup, The Envelope's Gold Derby shows us how Hannah Montana herself could be up for an Oscar for Best Song due to her writing and singing I Thought I Lost You in Disney's Bolt. Since Disney always owns this category, there's a pretty good chance Cyrus will nab at least a nod -- though, if you want my opinion, Peter Gabriel's Down to Earth (from WALL-E) should take it.
-- The Los Angeles Times spoke to South Park co-creator Trey Parker recently, and found out that the boys might be looking to end the series with another film. While they're contracted until 2011, Parker claims a big-screen finale could be the way to go: "We talked about maybe some day doing a movie to sort of end it all, and that seems like the best idea. That's been a big thought to do the last show as a movie." During the same interview, Parker also says that what eventually became the three-part Imaginationland episode was originally supposed to be their second feature film ... until the guys realized they needed more content for the season. The Imaginationland episode eventually went on to win an Emmy.
Wall-E As with all great movies, I quickly forgot about everything except the characters and the story. Wall-E sparked some surprising political and sociological debates, but no one can deny the sense of wonder that the boxy robot and his adventures engender. Erik's already run down the special features; the toughest decision is which editon to get. Buy it.
Tropic Thunder I skipped this one theatrically because I'm worn out on Hollywood self-mockery -- has any other industry ever found itself so simultaneously fascinating yet repulsive? Still, reviews were generally strong, and this is the best bet this week for a broad, R-rated comedy, as long as you haven't overdosed on Ben Stiller and Jack Black. Does Robert Downey, Jr. make it all worthwhile? Rent it.
Encounters at the End of the World Speaking of something simultaneously fascinating yet repulsive, Werner Herzog traveled to the Antarctic to make a personal essay assailing the ugliness of the man-made town from which all journeys Seriously Down Under begin, and questions the sanity of some of the people who work there. Then the beauty of the place overwhelms everything, before Werner starts asking about the sex life of penguins to liven up an interview. Oh, Werner! Rent it.
The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants 2 Girl power got a kick in the, er, pants, with this sequel, which takes place in a fantasy land of upper class privilege masquerading as lower middle class struggles. No doubt some will take me to task for missing the moral message which is rolled up somewhere inside the pretty scenery and prettier tears; I admit I dozed off a couple of times. In a weird way, this could be a good contrasting double-bill with Twilight. Under 18? Rent it.
Either writer/director/producer/caterer Guillermo del Toro came across a gap in his schedule for the next five decades, he's allergic to rest, or he's afraid that Luc Besson might beat him to it, but the man has decide to act as executive producer on a stop-motion version of Pinocchio that he's developing with the Jim Henson Company.
Mind you, this is already in addition to his coming duties on The Hobbit, Frankenstein, Drood, next week's Rosenberg bar mitzvah over in Glendale, Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, and a couple of other projects as well (with any luck, a third Hellboy film is among them).
According to Variety, del Toro is currently working on the screenplay with Gris Grimly, whose strikingly illustrated children's books I've only very recently been introduced to, and Grimly will then co-direct with Adam Parrish King, he of much sound editing background (which really ought to be just as convincing as the animation, no?). Tentatively speaking, del Toro's Pinocchio will be out by 2011.
Supposedly retired action maverick* Luc Besson, currently making the rounds on behalf of Transporter 3 (which he produced), told Collider that not only was 1997's The Fifth Element supposed to be the first in a trilogy, but that he also has vague plans for another sci-fi trilogy after finishing up the two sequels that no one asked for to Arthur and the Invisibles (see a pattern here?).
I must say: more power to the man if he just keeps coming up with ideas and happens to be good at executing them. As flimsy as his promise of retirement has been, if it brings us a sequel to District B13 and the reportedly entertaining Liam Neeson vehicle Taken (which doesn't open in the States until next January), then I can live with watching him keep on keepin' on, as it were.
(Well, except for those Arthur flicks, but perhaps that's a finger of blame better pointed towards the Weinsteins...)
*Us film bloggers are taking this word back, damn it.
Well, I'm obviously all over this. The more I've thought about John Boorman's plans for a non-musical, CGI-animated Wizard of Oz -- The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, to be more precise -- the more intriguing it has seemed. After all, it's a pretty damn good story, right? The 1939 musical is fine and all, but there's room in the world for a rendition of this story that does not involve anyone singing "Over the Rainbow" -- one that we can take a bit more seriously. Maybe one that's a little bit scary.
In that respect, this update from Ain't It Cool News is heartening. Apparently, according to their tipster, Boorman really does have a vision that's serious and that sticks to the novel -- down to the little-known fact that Tin Man is diminutive in stature. They also have some fantastic-looking concept art, with a scarecrow that looks like a scarecrow and a witch's castle that's just a wonderful, timeless image.
So now this is making a bit more sense to me: The Wizard of Oz as straightforward, classic fairy tale. I've put a couple of the images below the fold here, but you're going to have to visit Ain't It Cool News for the rest.
I might be dating myself with this title, but I couldn't help it. (The Arsenio Hall Show, get it!?).jpg)
Bolt
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Either writer/director/producer/caterer 
Supposedly retired action maverick* 
Well, I'm obviously all over 
