Posted Dec 1st 2009 12:02PM by Peter Martin
Filed under: Drama, New Releases, Warner Brothers, Fandom
The holiday season usually issues forth an avalanche of award-contending dramas, feel-good family films, and oddball counter programming. Last weekend was no exception, with the debuting Old Dogs, Ninja Assassin, and The Road jostling for attention with New Moon and The Blind Side. Of all those movies, the one that jumps out at me is The Blind Side, which actually increased its audience in its second week of release.
That's a pretty rare feat, especially for a wide release, and speaks to the broad appeal of the film. "Yes, Virginia, Sandra Bullock is the biggest female star in the world... again," in the words of David Poland at The Hot Blog, and there's no doubt that Bullock's celebrity, even more than her compelling, measured performance, is a big draw. Yet with big stars like Will Farrell and Jim Carrey failing to bring in the expected box office this year, Bullock is not the whole story. Nor is it only a matter of the movie being "generically acceptable [for families] to watch together over the holiday weekend," as our own Eugene Novikov suggested, although, to be fair, it's likely that 'the Sandie Bullock football movie' would be an easier sell to more families to watch together than 'the bare-chested boy vampire romance' or 'the violent ninja flick.'
No, I think it's clear that positive word of mouth has spread. What have people told their friends? Maybe that the first, widely-seen and frequently-mocked (by me) trailer was not representative of the movie as a whole, which comes by its emotions honestly.
Continue reading This Week's Comfort Movie: 'The Blind Side'
Posted Nov 30th 2009 9:48AM by Elisabeth Rappe
Filed under: Action, Classics, Warner Brothers, Distribution, Newsstand, Home Entertainment
If you're lucky enough to be graced with cash or gift cards this Christmas, and you have a big hole on your DVD shelf where
Clint Eastwood ought to be, Warner Bros will be happy to help you out. On February 16 they're releasing a massive, 19-disc collection
Clint Eastwood: 35 Films, 35 Years at Warner Bros that celebrates the actor / director / producer. Included will be a booklet and a feature length documentary by
Richard Schickel. The retail price will be a hefty $179.98.
Warners didn't release a complete list of those 35 films, but it spans the tender years of
Where Eagles Dare all the way to 2008's
Gran Torino. I imagine there will be some crossover with what you already own, like the entire
Dirty Harry collection and
The Outlaw Josey Wales. But most of his output from the late 1970s onward was done at Warner Bros, so all those films you've forgotten he ever made --
The Gauntlet,
Bronco Billy,
Honkytonk Man,
Tightrope,
Firefox,
Heartbreak Ridge,
A Perfect World,
Pink Cadillac -- and can't find on DVD will make this a must have for the fan who needs everything.
Or almost everything. If you're looking for his directorial debut
Play Misty For Me, or forgotten gems like
Thunderbolt and Lightfoot or
The Beguiled, you'll have to wait until Universal or MGM decides to put out a boxed set of their own. On that day, you better reinforce your bookshelf with steel frames to support the other 30 odd films he's done, even without
Francis in the Navy.
Posted Nov 28th 2009 7:02PM by Todd Gilchrist
Filed under: Warner Brothers, Interviews
Read part one of our interview over here.
By his own admission,
James McTeigue seems to be fast-becoming Hollywood's go-to guy for revenge stories. After beginning his career as an assistant director for the Wachowski brothers, he made his directorial debut with the graphic novel adaptation
V for Vendetta, and is now set to release
Ninja Assassin, about a martial arts master squaring off against his master and his former clan. Ironically, McTeigue is himself a generous, thoughtful and positively mellow guy, which makes his aptitude for bloody showdowns even more surprising.
Cinematical recently sat down with McTeigue at the Los Angeles press day for
Ninja Assassin, where he talked about tackling his latest revenge tome. In addition to discussing the physical and philosophical origins of ninjas (and the movies that love them), he talked about protecting the cultural and ethnic integrity of his characters and story, and ruminated on the challenges of keeping a constant balance between brain-busting ideas and balletic bloodletting.
Cinematical: When you came on board this film, what was your cultural mandate for the film especially since you were featuring an Asian actor in the main role? Continue reading Interview: 'Ninja Assassin' Director James McTeigue (Part 2)
Posted Nov 27th 2009 7:15PM by Jette Kernion
Filed under: Action, Warner Brothers, Interviews
Director
James McTeigue has been working on films since the late 1980s, back in his native Australia. He was second assistant director on
Dark City and first assistant director on
Star Wars: Attack of the Clones. He started working with Andy and Larry Wachowski as an assistant director on
The Matrix, and they've been collaborating on projects together ever since. The Wachowskis wrote the first feature film helmed by McTeigue,
V for Vendetta, and he provided second-unit direction on their most recent film,
Speed Racer.
Ninja Assassin, which opened this week, is the latest movie McTeigue has directed, with the Wachowskis on board as producers. You can read William Goss's
review for more details about the action/fantasy film.
Cinematical sat down with the director in late September during Fantastic Fest, just after the movie played the festival. He was very pleased with the fest screening and happy to talk about the film.
Continue reading Interview: James McTeigue, 'Ninja Assassin' (Part 1)
Posted Nov 26th 2009 12:02PM by Todd Gilchrist
Filed under: Warner Brothers, Fandom, Home Entertainment
Initially I planned to make
North by Northwest a title revisited in my "Shelf Life" column, but I decided against it when I realized that most folks just love that movie to death, including myself, so seeing whether it's still good would be purely redundant. But the new Blu-ray released by Warner Brothers also didn't seem like it warranted a question of whether or not it was superior to its predecessors thanks to a wealth of bonus content – that is, until I discovered that in fact some of it was on previous versions, no doubt leaving longtime fans with a quandary whether or not to shell out a few more shekels to see one of their favorite
Alfred Hitchcock films in high-definition.
As such,
North by Northwest is the overdue subject of this week's "Making The (Up) Grade," and I spare no effort examining the past, present and future of this film's home video incarnations.
What's Already Available: Continue reading Making The (Up) Grade: North By Northwest
Posted Nov 26th 2009 10:32AM by Elisabeth Rappe
Filed under: Action, Warner Brothers, Fandom, Newsstand, Movie Marketing, Comic/Superhero/Geek, Images, Western
At last, some comic book news that isn't centered around Batman or Spider-Man!
Omelete got their hands on some official images from two of Warner Bros' upcoming comic flicks,
Jonah Hex and
The Losers.
We've seen paparazzi glimpses from the
Hex set of Megan Fox and Josh Brolin, but there's nothing like a well-lit and spooky shot, especially when your actor looks good enough to have walked off the page. If you're a fan of the haunted gunslinger and are unconvinced, you might be comforted by the sight of his Confederate gray and mangled lip. I can't say how excited I am for this film. Jonah Hex is a character who has more in common with
High Plains Drifter than the capes and superpower crowd, and I think that will surprise and delight a lot of "newbies" who still equate DC Comics with Batman.
Next up, we have our first official look at
The Losers! Aren't they a handsome bunch? This is based not on the DC war squad from the 1970s, but on the Vertigo spinoff by Andy Diggle. The Losers are a Special Forces team abandoned and left to die by their mysterious commander, Max. They regroup, vow revenge, and let the bullets fly. I have hopes that this one will be a solid action flick, the kind we all long for from the 1980s. The cast is certainly a lovely one: Jeffrey Dean Morgan, Zoe Saldana, Chris Evans, Columbus Short, Idris Elba, and Oscar Jaenada are our fine Losers, and Jason Patric will be the villainous Max. You can see the whole line-up of them here, along a very sexy shot of Saldana. Even I can appreciate a lovely lady when she's packing guns. Now, if they'll just release a photo of Morgan to match ...
The photos are below in our gallery. Spend your Turkey Day geeking out.
Posted Nov 20th 2009 9:03AM by Jette Kernion
Filed under: Sports, New Releases, Warner Brothers, Theatrical Reviews, Family Films
The trailers for
The Blind Side triggered my "oh geez, another sports-related Triumph of the Human Spirit" cynicism, and I might not have seen the film at all if I hadn't been assigned to review it. That would have been my loss, and I experienced the lovely surprise of having a movie turn out far more enjoyable than I expected.
The Blind Side has no twists or gimmicks other than being a very good example of a sports-related family film, with quality performances and writing.
The movie's title is a football reference, which the voiceover of Leigh Anne Touhy (
Sandra Bullock) explains at the beginning. Michael Oher (
Quenton Aaron) is sweating out a tough but unspecified situation in an office, when we flash back a few years and meet him as Big Mike. An African-American staff member at a mostly white Christian private school is trying to get his athletic son into the school, and the school's coach also spots some athletic potential in Big Mike, granting him a scholarship. Big Mike has terrible trouble keeping up in school, and when his friend's family stops helping him out, he is virtually homeless -- sleeping in the school gym, eating popcorn left there after events, wearing the same thin clothes daily.
Continue reading Review: The Blind Side
Posted Nov 16th 2009 9:45AM by Elisabeth Rappe
Filed under: Deals, Executive shifts, Lionsgate Films, MGM, Warner Brothers, RumorMonger, Distribution, DIY/Filmmaking, Newsstand, James Bond
MGM Studios' financial troubles will soon be coming to a sad end. Back in September, it was reported that MGM was in such poor shape that they might be forced to
auction off their assets, including James Bond and
The Hobbit. That day has come to pass.
Variety reports that MGM Studios is officially on the auction block.
MGM has been given a month of breathing space from their interest payments, time they plan on using to begin "a process to explore various strategic alternatives including operating as a standalone entity, forming strategic partnerships and evaluating a potential sale of the company."
But all hopes of survival may rest on what they sell off from their glorious history, including a library of 4,000 titles, the logo, the United Artists company, James Bond, and half ownership in
The Hobbit. Time Warner, News Corp, and Lionsgate are said to be interested in all of the above.
As their library scatters to the four winds, it'll be really interesting to see what remakes and reboots it spawns. Remember,
Robocop was on the MGM remake slate, and surely some hungry studio will snap that up. The Cannon Films and ITV Global Entertainment collections are just ripe for harvesting. Perhaps you'll finally see a
Lifeforce movie, or a remake of
Capricorn One, or an aspiring Tarantino type will buy up all those American International Picture rights and revive motorcycle gang movies. Sure, we all want to know who will wind up with James Bond, but it'll be far more fascinating if someone tries to remake
Psych-Out. *
*It's possible this is considered one of AIP's "early" films, though it's unclear where that cut off date is.
Posted Nov 10th 2009 7:30PM by Peter Hall
Filed under: Sci-Fi & Fantasy, Warner Brothers, Movie Marketing, Comic/Superhero/Geek, Trailers and Clips
In a scant twelve years,
Louis Leterrier has gone from being a production assistant on
Alien: Resurrection to directing what has just, with a single trailer, become one of my most anticipated films of 2010: Warner Brothers' remake of
Clash of the Titans. Sure, he has progressively proven himself a champion of the fantastic, evolving from
The Transporter series to last year's
The Incredible Hulk, but as much as I've been impressed by his eye for spectacle thus far, I wasn't ready for how fun his take on
Titans looks. It's just our first look, but I couldn't stop smiling by the end of this teaser.
And yet, I don't know why I should be so surprised.
The original is, after all, a landmark fantasy film packed with Ray Harryhausen's indelible stop-motion imagery. Add on Leterrier commanding a great cast ranging from
Liam Neeson to
Ralph Fiennes to
Sam Worthington, and a script whose bones were written by
Raiders of the Lost Ark screenwriter Lawrence Kasdan before WB brought in the duo of Phil Hay and Matt Manfredi to flesh things out. Perhaps the shock of seeing this trailer came from just how indelible Harryhausen's Titans actually were. I knew it would undergo an extreme visual overhaul, but in the back of my mind I was still expecting stop-motion giants, not
Troy by way of
God of War.
There's nothing stop-motion about this new re-envisioning of the wars between Gods and men. Purists will not be on board with the amount of digital wizardry, but any fan of seeing mythological worlds brought to life should be in love with the energy Leterrier has infused in his
Clash of the Titans. You can see for yourself after the jump, then click over to
Moviefone to grab it in a variety of HD flavors. Additionally, we've got some fantastic screenshots in the gallery below.
Continue reading 'Clash of the Titans' Trailer Now Online!
Posted Nov 10th 2009 9:45AM by Elisabeth Rappe
Filed under: Action, Sci-Fi & Fantasy, Deals, Warner Brothers, Scripts, DIY/Filmmaking, Newsstand, Comic/Superhero/Geek, War
Once upon a time,
Sgt. Rock was
in the hands of Guy Ritchie, and many an Easy Company fan was upset. But you'll undoubtedly wish that Ritchie and Joel Silver had made it to the finish line, because
Sgt. Rock will not make it to the big screen in a form you'll recognize. According to
The Hollywood Reporter, he has a new director in
Francis Lawrence and a whole new space-time continuum.
Joel Silver is still on board as producer, and he's bringing
Akiva Goldsman on board to help. They've hired newcomer
Chad St. John to pen the script.
As you may or may not know, Sgt. Rock is a WWII soldier. He's always fought in WWII. The poor guy has never even gotten to leave the European theater. (It was rumored in
Swamp Thing that he was transferred to the Pacific, but never confirmed.) Any attempt at a movie adaptation has always gone forward with this central idea of keeping him in his element. But budget, politics, and popularity has always been an issue, and no one believes you can make
The Dirty Dozen in this day and age unless you're Quentin Tarantino. So Warner Bros has decided to bypass the drama, and put Sgt. Rock in the future. CG is cheaper than Nazis, and a nondescript soldier of the future is less problematic than an American fighting a good fight. (While no war is a good war, I do think we can all agree that fighting Nazis
was a good thing.)
Nothing else is known about this storyline, so I hate to jump to a knee-jerk conclusion as to who or what Sgt. Rock will face there, or whether he will be transported to the future from WWII. But I think this is an unfortunate thing to do to a character who resides in WWII for a very specific and honorable reason. The last thing he should become is a
Universal Soldier or
Terminator ripoff.
Posted Nov 6th 2009 12:30PM by William Goss
Filed under: Sci-Fi & Fantasy, Thrillers, Mystery & Suspense, Warner Brothers, Theatrical Reviews
Richard Matheson's original short story, "Button, Button," was a nifty little morality tale about a couple faced with a peculiar opportunity -- if they push a button in a box, they'll get a sum of money but kill a stranger in doing so. That version of the story ended with the wife pushing the button and killing her husband, a man she didn't really know. As an episode of
"The Twilight Zone" in 1986, the story ended with the couple paid off and assured that the device would then go to another couple to whom they qualify as strangers. Now, Richard Kelly's
The Box takes that same basic premise and spins it into a mind-bender of the most baffling degree, starting out as another "Twilight Zone"-worthy variant but eventually reaching the outer limits of both patience and reason.
Continue reading Review: The Box
Posted Nov 6th 2009 9:03AM by Elisabeth Rappe
Filed under: Animation, Comedy, Casting, Warner Brothers, Family Films, Newsstand, Remakes and Sequels
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Yogi Bear and Boo Boo are bringing sexy back -- and that image should make you ripe for nightmares tonight. If you doubt me, look to
Variety, who reports that
Dan Aykroyd,
Anna Faris, and
Justin Timberlake are set to go to Jellystone in
Yogi Bear, which
Eric Brevig is directing for Warner Bros.
Aykroyd will be voicing Yogi, and he really is the most obvious choice to play the picnic basket thief. He's funny, he sounds gruff, and if it was live-action it would be a very terrifying thing to see. So thank goodness this is being done as a CG / live-action hybrid.
Timberlake will be voicing Boo Boo. Yep. The man who wants to love your mother, put his d*ck in a box, and who will cry you a river will lend his vocal talents to playing Yogi's diminutive sidekick. In this update of the Hanna-Barbera cartoon, expect Boo Boo to be a lot more of a smart aleck. (I was going to say "sassy," but I think that would be a far different Boo Boo.)
Though Faris has done voice work before, it sounds as though she might be one of the live action elements to this unholy hybrid. Variety says she's set to play a documentary filmmaker. Presumably she discovers the tourist robbing bears, and makes a film of them. Or she has to help them preserve Jellystone against evil developers. Either way, she'll have to talk to big rubbery CG bears, and it might be kind of weird. What would be even weirder is if one or both bears fell in love with her, so let's hope she falls into the arms of whoever plays Ranger Smith. Shooting is expected to start in New Zealand next month.
Posted Nov 5th 2009 9:02PM by Todd Gilchrist
Filed under: Warner Brothers, Fandom, Home Entertainment
Every few years, it seems necessary in the course of critiquing home video releases to clarify and designate the difference between all of those terms that distributors and producers come up with to describe films that arrive in stores in a version other than their theatrical iteration. For example, "unrated" no longer simply means that a film is too bawdy or offensive to garner a proper MPAA rating; rather, in many cases it means that the studio re-inserted footage, and didn't bother to screen it for the ratings board at all. "Director's cuts," meanwhile, sometimes really reflect the original vision of a filmmaker for his movie, and sometimes just qualify as an alternate version that was supervised or approved by the director. And most importantly, none of these changes are an automatic indication that the film will be superior to the one that you saw in theaters, even if there's a little more gore or nudity or (God forbid) character development.
Ironically, the new Blu-ray for
Heat carries no such designation – to anyone buying it, this is the same film they saw in theaters and on standard-definition DVD. However, at the top of the list of the disc's special features, the topline attraction is "new content changes supervised by director
Michael Mann." Even for someone who's seen more than his share of extended, alternate, unrated and director's cuts, this was particularly intriguing, which is why Heat is the subject of this week's "Making The (Up) Grade."
Continue reading Making The (Up) Grade: Heat
Posted Nov 2nd 2009 12:48PM by Elisabeth Rappe
Filed under: Comedy, Romance, Deals, Warner Brothers, Scripts, Newsstand
While
Morgan Freeman has dabbled in comedy in his long and illustrious career, I don't think he's ever really gotten a chance to really cut loose. He certainly hasn't gotten to play in the raunchy end of the pool, but it sounds as though he's taking the leap in
Dirty Old Men.
The Hollywood Reporter says that he's attached to star as an aging playboy in the tentatively titled project, and we'll either be laughing or horribly traumatized by his efforts.
Men was penned by
Josh Cagan and
Greg Coolidge, and is said to be similar in tone to
The Wedding Crashers and
The 40 Year Old Virgin. It centers on two aging playboys who have been each other's wingmen for over 40 years. One of them meets the love of his life, leaving the other (played by Freeman) to chase skirts on his own. Well, that just won't do. The lonely playboy does everything he can to break up the new couple. I will bet money there's at least one I-hid-the-Viagra scenario. No, I don't like to think about it.
Peter Segal is in talks to direct, and the hunt is on for the playboy-husband-to-be. Warner Bros is hoping
Jack Nicholson will take the part and reteam with his Bucket List buddy. But if he turns it down, may I humbly suggest they look to Freeman's real life wingman,
Clint Eastwood? If Viagra jokes must be made, let them be the two that make them.
Posted Oct 30th 2009 12:02PM by Peter Martin
Filed under: Action, Sci-Fi & Fantasy, Warner Brothers, RumorMonger, Fandom, Home Entertainment, Remakes and Sequels
What's happened to all the great movie nudity lately? Billy Crudup started the year off with a bang, so to speak, with his big blue penis in Watchmen, and Marcus Nispel's Friday the 13th reboot featured sweaty sex and generous amounts of naked female flesh, but the summer and fall seasons have been curiosly bereft of talked-about sex scenes or body parts. Jessica Biel's bravely-bared breasts and backside in Powder Blue went direct to video, Hayden Panetierre nonchalantly limited her exposure to 'side boobage' in I Love You, Beth Cooper, and Megan Fox decided to keep her nipples to herself in the proudly feminist relationship drama ('cause it sure wasn't horror) Jennifer's Body.
In my youth, movies educated me about the wonderful diversity of naked bodies. Today, television and the Internet have stolen much of the thunder once claimed exclusively by the theatrical experience. (Case in point: Susan Sarandon's daughter, Eva Amurri, just made a big splash by going topless in Californication.) No wonder Terminator: Salvation director McG teased the audience at WonderCon earlier this year, bringing actress Moon Bloodgood up on stage and asking: "Who wants to see Moon's boobs in the picture?" She later said: "I'm a woman, I have boobs, it's a beautiful shot." As anyone who saw the movie in a theater knows, though, her toplessness was cut, reportedly as part of Warner Bros.' effort to secure a PG-13 rating.
The unrated director's cut is due out on DVD and Blu-ray on December 1, and the deleted scene has, apparently, hit the Internet (watch it after the jump). The verdict?
Continue reading Moon Bloodgood's Topless 'Terminator: Salvation' Scene: Worth the 'R' Rating?
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