Posted Dec 3rd 2008 6:15PM by Monika Bartyzel
Filed under: Action, Drama, Independent, Thrillers, Casting, Deals, Scripts
This first bit might be a bit off the cinematic path, but it's something strange enough to rival those stories of a frozen Walt Disney. You might have heard that
David Tennant (our latest Doctor Who) is starring in a stage version of
Hamlet over in the UK. Well, it seems that he wasn't using a fake skull -- in fact, it was the skull of a Shakespeare enthusiast, concert pianist and Holocaust survivor Andrew Tchaikowsky. Tennant leaked the information, and now the
BBC reports that it will no longer be used so that the audience wouldn't be distracted. Bummer for Tchaikowsky's dying wish, but imagine the possibilities. Is bone donation the next wave in creative appreciation?
In other dark news,
Variety reports that the classically creepy
Michael Wincott (Top Dollar from
The Crow) is teaming up with Swedish actor/director
Rafael Edholm for an untitled Sweden-set drama. According to Wincott: "Three people meet, something may have happened in their teenage years, and this will now result ín one death. It is drama, thriller and dark comedy." Unfortunately, we won't learn what that all means for a while -- production isn't slated to start until February 2010.
Finally, we've got a scribe for the upcoming remake of
Captain Blood.
The Hollywood Reporter posts that
John Brownlow, writer of 2003's
Sylvia, has grabbed the gig. If you're not familiar with the Oscar-nominated original, Errol Flynn starred as a doctor convicted of treason who is sold into slavery only to escape and become a pirate. This whole thing makes me itch for Cary Elwes to return to his escaped prisoner-turned-pirate roots. Who's with me?
Posted Dec 3rd 2008 5:39PM by Matt Bradshaw
Filed under: Drama, Comic/Superhero/Geek, Box Office Predictions
Holiday humor proved to be what the public was looking for over Thanksgiving weekend as
Four Christmases led the pack. Hugh Jackman and Nicole Kidman's historical epic
Australia took fifth, while last week's third newbie
Transporter 3 finished way down in seventh place. Here's the top five:
1. Four Christmases: $31 million
2. Bolt: $26.5 million
3. Twilight: $26.3 million
4. Quantum of Solace: $18.8 million
5. Australia: $14.8 million
We've got three new releases this week:
Cadillac Records
What's It All About: Set in the 1950s,
Cadillac Records follows the lives of several music legends including Muddy Waters, Leonard Chess, Little Walter and Howlin' Wolf and Elvis Presley.
Why It Might Do Well: A 60% fresh rating at
Rottentomatoes.com.
Why It Might Not Do Well: The relatively small release will keep it out of the top five.
Number of Theaters: 600
Prediction: $5 million
Punisher: War Zone
What's It All About: Ray Stevenson takes over the title role of the skull-wearing, gun-toting anti-hero and this time he's taking on a mobster called Jigsaw.
Why It Might Do Well: Who doesn't like to watch things blow up?
Why It Might Not Do Well: The Punisher is kind of the ugly stepchild of Marvel Superheroes. Despite two previous films he's not particularly well known outside of comic book circles and this film lacks the star power of
Iron Man and
The Incredible Hulk.
Number of Theaters: 2,400
Prediction: $9 million
Continue reading Box Office: Punish This
Posted Dec 3rd 2008 9:03AM by Monika Bartyzel
Filed under: Drama, Deals
If you were itching for
Johnny Depp to get into some more normal fare (rather than Mad Hatters and slaying barbers), this should be the ticket.
Variety reports that Depp's production company (Infinitum Nihil) has grabbed the rights to Nick Tosches' novel
In the Hand of Dante -- to be a potential starring vehicle for Depp.
Bred out of Dante's
The Divine Comedy, the novel deals with parallel stories -- a 14th-century Italy where Dante tries to complete the text, alongside a modern story of Tosches being asked to authenticate a manuscript that might be Dante's original. But Depp wouldn't be tackling the part of Dante (which I find a bit surprising considering all the iconic roles he takes on), but rather Tosches. I have to say -- it'd be nice to see him normalize himself a bit.
It also sounds like a funky project -- sort of like
Adaptation meets 14th-century icons and historical authentication. And hey, I'm up for any literature-centric films that don't focus on the overused tendency to make it all romance.
Posted Dec 2nd 2008 7:15PM by Elisabeth Rappe
Filed under: Action, Drama, Romance, Universal, RumorMonger, Scripts, Newsstand, Remakes and Sequels
When
we last heard from Sherwood Forest, there was a bit of confusion as to who exactly
Russell Crowe was playing in
Nottingham. Was he Robin Hood? Was he the Sheriff of Nottingham? Were they the same guy? Did they change it up, halfway through? Those who had read the initial script reported they
were two different characters -- something that was suggested by hints of a
"love triangle" between Robin, Nottingham, and Maid Marian.
Well,
MTV caught up with
Brian Grazer, who set the record straight on all the character confusion ... well, kind of. "The two role confusion is that what Robin Hood does is he sees Nottingham in battle very early in the movie and Nottingham dies. And Robin Hood takes over the identity of Nottingham. That's how it plays out." Grazer also described the film as an "origin story" of the characters.
I'm really curious if "origin story" means the film is setting itself up as the "real story" behind the legends, or if this is an origin reinvention / franchise in the vein of Guy Ritchie's
Sherlock Holmes? If it's the former (and it probably is), meh. I'm throughly sick of that trend, especially as the "true" stories end up even more inaccurate than the fantasy versions. But if it's the latter, and it meant a few medieval outings with Russell Crowe, well, that's would be pretty exciting. Dreamy, even.
All reports of "endlessly delayed" may also have been exaggerated -- Grazer also reports that they're waiting on a final rewrite from
Brian Helgeland, and that he fully expects that the film will start shooting in March 2009. Huzzah!
Posted Dec 2nd 2008 2:32PM by William Goss
Filed under: Documentary, Drama, Independent, Awards, IFC, Sony Classics, Oscar Watch
Sure enough, the first week of December brings the first formal slew of awards nominations, today's coming from Film Independent's Spirit Awards.
The Hollywood Reporter bring us the list of nominees, with dramas
Ballast,
Frozen River and
Rachel Getting Married each tied for the most nominations (six a piece, including Best Feature; the other two nominees there are
Wendy and Lucy and
The Wrestler).
Now, these awards aren't necessarily Oscar precursors or anything -- some of these films are just too small -- but it's difficult to deny that the likes of
Milk,
The Visitor,
The Wrestler,
Rachel,
River and documentary contender
Man on Wire are all looking at the first of many nominations in the coming weeks, most of which I can safely say are or will be deserving. I can't speak for
Ballast, but it's been earning attention in the indie world for months and months, so do as I do and keep an eye out for it.
The greatest assurance can only be taken once the Spirit Awards are awarded on February 21. See the full list of nominees after the jump.
Continue reading 'Ballast,' 'Frozen River,' 'Rachel Getting Married' Lead in Indie Spirit Noms
Posted Dec 2nd 2008 12:15PM by Peter Martin
Filed under: Action, Animation, Classics, Comedy, Drama, Sci-Fi & Fantasy, New on DVD, Family Films, Home Entertainment, Cinematical Indie
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.
Continue reading Spin-ematical: New on DVD for 12/02
Posted Dec 2nd 2008 11:30AM by Erik Davis
Filed under: Action, Drama, RumorMonger, Fandom, DIY/Filmmaking
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When
Cinematical visited the
set of Sherlock Holmes last month, we certainly wanted to learn a lot more about this much-anticipated film (which we did), but we also wanted to find out once and for all whether the classic Holmes villain Moriarty would make an appearance. Up until this point, Lord Blackwood (
Mark Strong) was the only villain on record, and so far folks behind the scenes have managed to
successfully dodge the big Moriarty question. That is, until now.
Note: Watch for spoilers below ...While we received a number of shady answers (followed by evil smirks) from the cast and crew regarding Moriarty during our set visit,
IGN managed to get someone to talk: Mr. Mark Strong. At the British Independent Film Awards over the weekend, Strong said this about Moriarty's involvement: "Moriarty's in it ... but you don't really see him. I think he's there because if the franchise carries on, there's a possibility that he will appear in a larger guise. But for the purposes of this one and the detective narrative, I'm the guy that Sherlock's after, Lord Blackwood. And he's a cultist/Satanist lord who is the ultimate cad." So he's there, but you don't see him? Hmmm. I guess we'll take that as solid confirmation ... until we find out who's playing him (ahem, Russell Crowe?).
Posted Dec 1st 2008 8:02PM by Elisabeth Rappe
Filed under: Drama, Horror, Thrillers, Deals, Mystery & Suspense, Newsstand
Michael Marshall is one lucky writer -- he published a well-received trilogy, which was adapted into a comic series by Zenescope, and now
The Straw Men are coming to the big screen. According to
Variety, Benderspink has snatched the rights to the to the novels and the comic books, presumably in order to adapt some combination of them.
Unfortunately, I can't rustle up a preview of the comic -- but you can check out the gorgeously creepy covers on
Zenoscope. I'm not sure I could have these laying beside my bed, they're pretty nightmarish.
It sounds like the book is, too. The story begins with two men calmly opening fire at a McDonald's in Palmerston, Pennsylvania before jumping ahead ten years to meet up with Ward Hopkins, who is convinced the death of his parents was no accident. Elsewhere, a 14 year old girl is kidnapped by a serial killer, and two FBI Agents are on the manhunt to find him. These events are no coincidence, they're the first clues to the nightmarish individuals known as The Straw Men. Marshall's thriller has received nothing but praise -- Publisher's Weekly squeamishly noted its "dismemberment scenes," Stephen King praised it, and
Newsarama is calling it "one of the best horror thrillers ever written."
There's no director or screenwriter attached yet -- and Benderspink is adapting every other graphic novel known to man, so this could sit in pre-production for awhile, which gives us all time to read the book. Has anyone out there read it or the comic? Tell us everything (well, not
everything, but give us a good review) in the comments below.
Posted Dec 1st 2008 3:20PM by Peter Martin
Filed under: Drama, Independent, Box Office, Focus Features, Fox Searchlight, Cinematical Indie
After a couple of weeks off (I had a bad case of Twilight fever), Indie Winners returns with a look at the best-performing independent films at the box office this weekend. As Indie Spotlighter Eric D. Snider noted before the long holiday weekend began, precious few new releases have entered the marketplace recently, so let's focus on two that distinguished themselves financially.
1. Milk (Focus Features)
2. Slumdog Millionaire (Fox Searchlight)
Avoiding the fall festival circuit, and even drawing some criticism for not opening in time to possibly influence California's vote on Proposition 8, Gus Van Sant's Milk finally debuted to very strong numbers, earning $38,361 per screen (36) in 19 cities, according to estimates compiled by Box Office Mojo. Milk opened last Wednesday and has been riding a wave of critical acclaim (93% positive, per Rotten Tomatoes, including our own James Rocchi). It will expand its theater count over the next couple of weeks.
In contrast, Danny Boyle's Slumdog Millionaire followed the fall festival circuit, generated glowing early word, and continues to perform well in (slightly) expanded release in its third week, scoring a per-screen average of $27,898 at 49 locations. Slumdog Millionaire also has received extremely positive reviews (92% at Rotten Tomatoes) and is likewise inspiring good word of mouth.
The old, if not profound, lesson? Specialty audiences have been responding to intelligent films that resonate emotionally, ones that sound different from the usual art house fare. Stars like Sean Penn and Josh Brolin may snare some viewers, but I'd bet it's the rousing treatment of important (and pertinent) subjects that drives Milk to a solid success as it expands. Lacking recognizable stars, Slumdog Millionaire definitely is building momentum because of its underdog tale and looks primed to be a crossover success.
Posted Dec 1st 2008 2:02PM by Erik Davis
Filed under: Comedy, Drama, Independent, Fandom, Home Entertainment, Trailers and Clips
Cinematical has received this exclusive clip from the film
Let Them Chirp Awhile, directed by Jonathan Blitstein, and starring a pretty impressive cast of indie talent like Justin Rice (
Mutual Appreciation), Brendan Sexton III (
Welcome to the Dollhouse), Zach Galligan (
Gremlins) and Anthony Rapp (
Dazed and Confused).
From the synopsis:
"Let Them Chirp Awhile follows three twentysomething artists as they juggle their careers, relationships and emotions in New York City. Bobby (Rice) is a struggling screenwriter who tries to get romantically involved with a woman by agreeing to take care of her dog. His friend Scott (Sexton III) is a depressed, womanizing musician with a sweet and innocent girlfriend while Hart, (Galligan) Bobby's nemesis, is a successful playwright whose campy play about 9/11 has won awards and a run at an off-Broadway theater. What begins as a quirky comedy about relationships and writer's block becomes a coming-of-age tale about competition and self-reliance among the "me-generation."
Let Them Chirp Awhile opens in New York on December 5 (Cinema Village), Chicago on December 12 (AMC Loews Pipers Alley) and Los Angeles on January 2 (Laemmle Sunset 5).
Posted Dec 1st 2008 12:40PM by Elisabeth Rappe
Filed under: Action, Drama, Deals, RumorMonger, Scripts, Newsstand, Religious, War
Maybe all roads
do lead to Rome. According to
The Hollywood Reporter and creator
Bruno Heller, there's actually talk of continuing the brilliant HBO series on the big screen to wrap up all the historical loose ends caused by the series' abrupt cancellation. (Something which HBO now thinks was a big mistake. Between that and
passing over Preacher, they're rather low in my esteem right now.)
Heller admits the talk is, at the moment, just talk. "It's moving along. It's not there until it is there. I would love to round that show off." Heller wouldn't discuss movie plot plans, but the next step for
Rome was Augustus Caesar having to deal with a certain carpenter from Judea -- with a twist typical of the series.
Fans of the show will probably weep a little at Heller's unrealized plans -- Lucius Vorenus' off-camera fate wasn't as definite as we might have thought, and we would have gotten a whole season of Egyptian debauchery. "I discovered halfway through writing the second season the show was going to end," Heller said. "The second was going to end with death of Brutus. Third and fourth season would be set in Egypt. Fifth was going to be the rise of the messiah in Palestine. But because we got the heads-up that the second season would be it, I telescoped the third and fourth season into the second one, which accounts for the blazing speed we go through history near the end. There's certainly more than enough history to go around."
A
Rome movie is probably nothing but a dream -- anything more than a whisper, and it will vanish, it is so fragile. But cancellation is no longer a death knell, and while they can't give me back the lost season of Antony and Cleopatra, I'm
always up for more bread and circuses.
Posted Nov 30th 2008 12:32PM by Erik Davis
Filed under: Drama, Sci-Fi & Fantasy, Fandom, DIY/Filmmaking, Remakes and Sequels
Looks like Summit Entertainment isn't wasting any time with the next
Twilight movie,
New Moon, based on the second book in Stephenie Meyers' ultra popular series. Not only has it been reported that both
Kristen Stewart and
Robert Pattinson are receiving a giant pay raise for the sequel (somewhere around $12 million each), but while appearing on Ryan Seacrest's radio show, Stewart said
New Moon would start shooting in March, 2009. Is Summit trying to turn the next flick around in time for Christmas, 2010 ... or do you think they're eying a major Summer 2010 spot?
As far as budget is concerned, according to Stewart the production value should be going up. She says, "A lot of the book takes place in Italy, and I think we're going to get to go to Italy, which is so cool. For a while there, they were like, Oh, we don't know if we have the money, but now I think we may have the money!" Um, yeah, I think they have the money.
For those who saw
Twilight, what would you like to see the sequel do differently?
[via
Shock]
Posted Nov 29th 2008 3:02PM by Matt Bradshaw
Filed under: Action, Comedy, Drama, Romance, Trailer Trash
Time to kick back, have a turkey sandwich and dig into some post-Thanksgiving movie trailer goodness.
The Ugly Truth
Katherine Heigl and Gerard Butler star in this romantic comedy. Butler is an abrasive, chauvinistic TV personality and Heigl is his romantically challenged producer. The story looks fairly predictable and this one is going to have to rely heavily on the charisma of the cast. The release date is April 3.
What Doesn't Kill YouCrime drama starring
Mark Ruffalo and
Ethan Hawke as childhood friends from Boston whose life of crime puts a strain on their personal lives. This looks reminiscent of other Boston-based crime flicks like
The Departed and
Gone Baby Gone, but looks like it has a passion all its own. This will be one to watch for and it goes into limited release on December 12.
New in Town
A fish-out-of-water comedy starring
Renee Zellweger as a Miami businesswoman who relocates to Minnesota in the middle of the Winter. Having witnessed a Minnesota Winter firsthand, I can sympathize.
Harry Connick Jr. plays the flannel-garbed, rough-around-the-edges hunk she falls for. This could be fun, and it comes out sometime in 2009.
Continue reading Trailer Park: Things Get Ugly
Posted Nov 29th 2008 1:03PM by Elisabeth Rappe
Filed under: Drama, Universal, Fandom, Movie Marketing, Trailers and Clips
Hollywood, please. Leave
The Fountain's soundtrack alone!
Somehow, in the course of my writing, I neglected to ever watch
the Frost/Nixon trailer, something now rectified thanks to it being attached to
Australia. I was into it right up until a familiar theme started playing ... and then I just felt an inexplicable disgust. I wondered what, exactly, Ron Howard (or whoever at Universal put together the trailer) was thinking. Why on earth would you use
The Fountain for that movie? What about the music is appropriate for the mood and story you're trying to convey? (A similar problem plagues Mansell's
Lux Aeterna piece from
Requiem for a Dream -- for every trailer that uses it beautifully, like
The Two Towers, there's one that just cheeses it up, like
Babylon A.D.)
I confess, I have a weird, protective feeling towards this soundtrack. It's one of my favorite films and scores, one I listen to constantly. I'm convinced that even if you didn't see the film, or hated it, Clint Mansell's score is music enough to stand on its own -- something few soundtracks really are. Honestly, if you don't own it, put it on your Christmas list -- you won't regret it.
Continue reading Fan Rant: Wrong Soundtrack for the Wrong Trailer
Posted Nov 27th 2008 6:02PM by Jessica Barnes
Filed under: Drama, Music & Musicals, Fox Searchlight, Images, Posters
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It really was about time that Christopher 'Notorious B.I.G.' Wallace received his own biopic. Unfortunately, judging by what I've seen so far, Notorious has been flirting with being one step up from a movie of the week -- and for someone so influential in music history, that's a shame. The latest poster for the biopic has just been released, and like most of the marketing for this film, it leaves you feeling a tad underwhelmed.
Before being crowned "the savior of East Coast hip-hop", Christopher Wallace could have been just another statistic. But, during his short career, he created some of the most influential sounds in hip-hop -- along with launching his producer, Sean 'Diddy' Combs into the spotlight. Notorious was directed by George Tillman Jr. (Barber Shop) and stars Jamal Woolard as Wallace, Angela Basset as his mother, Violetta, and Antonique Smith (RENT) as his ex-wife, Faith Evans.
A few posters have already been released, but in most cases they looked like rejected covers from Source magazine (if you don't believe me, take a gander at some of the previous one-sheets). By the looks of it, this latest poster is going for a decidedly more 'dignified' look -- and in this case, dignified seems to mean ripping off of the Ray poster. Luckily, no matter what the posters or the trailers may look like, at least this movie is going to have one hell of a soundtrack. Check out the full version of this poster after the jump.
Notorious arrives in theaters on January 16, 2009.
Continue reading Another 'Notorious' Poster for Biggie Smalls Biopic
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