- Must Watch: Destructive Trailer for Roland Emmerich's 2012 (169 Comments)
- First Grueling Trailer for The Twilight Saga: New Moon (150 Comments)
- Does This Final New G.I. Joe Trailer Convince You to See It? (109 Comments)
- Profile on Marvel Studios with Big Updates from Kevin Feige (80 Comments)
- Must Watch: First Trailer for Martin Scorsese's Shutter Island (79 Comments)
- Visual Effects Supervisor Charles Gibson Directing The Goblin (Jun 21, 2009)
- Sony Dumps Steven Soderbergh's Moneyball Movie Last Minute! (Jun 21, 2009)
- Producer Joe Gatta Updates Rodriguez' Red Sonja Movie (Jun 20, 2009)
- Latest Updates from David S. Goyer on The Invisible Man (Jun 19, 2009)
- Sly Stallone's The Expendables Could End Up Being PG-13? (Jun 19, 2009)
| Inglourious Basterds | 8.5/10 |
| Star Trek | 9/10 |
| Monsters vs Aliens | 5/10 |
| Sin Nombre | 8.5/10 |
| Duplicity | 7.5/10 |
Writers Play Coy on Early Venom Spin-Off Details - Updated!
This isn't much of an update on the highly anticipated Venom spin-off, which was spurred by Spidey's dark nemesis appearing in Spider-Man 3; but being that I got to spend some time with screenwriters Rhett Reese and Paul Wernick during a recent visit to the set of Sony's Zombieland, which they wrote, the topic was assured to come up. If you recall, word got out last July that the pair, who have been friends since high school, were signed on to script the Venom film. When asked about the project, both had the dissatisfying yet expected response: "We can't really talk about it. It's super secret. We're under strict orders."
Interview: Alien Trespass Director R.W. Goodwin
One of the more unique films in theaters this weekend is a small, flavorful one called Alien Trespass, directed by R.W. Goodwin. Goodwin is readily associated with "The X-Files," considering he brought audiences more than 100 of TV series' early episodes (as producer and occasional director). Now, however, Goodwin may be better known for achieving the lofty goal of making an authentic 1957 in 2009. Unlike what you might read from the poster, Alien Trespass isn't a spoof or homage to sci-fi films of old. By all accounts, the film is a product of that time, and according to Goodwin he "just happened to make it a little bit later."
Kevin's Review: Sin Nombre - Anything But Nameless
The topic of illegal immigration from Mexico can be a pretty heated one at times. But if you put politics aside, it's hard to deny the intrinsic hope and optimism that is often lost in the debate - that these people are simply striving and struggling for a better life. And by "these people," I'm not just talking about immigrants directly from Mexico, but also those that come from deeper parts of Central America. When newcomer director Cary Fukunaga worked on his short film Victoria para chino in 2004, he learned that for many immigrants, crossing the border into the United States was in a lot of ways the least of their worries.
Interview: Sin Nombre Writer and Director Cary Fukunaga
With no feature films under his belt, I wasn't sure what to expect when I scheduled an interview with newcomer Cary Fukunaga. But after seeing the writer/director's debut film, Sin Nombre, I knew I'd be talking to one of the industry's next great artists. When I entered the empty bar at the Ritz in Georgetown, Fukunaga was on the phone explaining the difficulty of translating the title of his feature film into English. While "sin nombre" does actually mean "without name" or "nameless," you can't exactly re-title the film without losing some of the intrinsic cultural nuance of the phrase. And this was only the beginning…
Script Details Emerge on Nightmare on Elm Street Reboot
Platinum Dunes' recent reboot of the Friday the 13th franchise wasn't a completely horrible trip back to one of the genre's classic scares. But what's in store for the studio's similar attempt at a modern A Nightmare on Elm Street? Well, Latino Review has a wonderful wrap-up of El Mayimbe's recent look at the script-in-progress (authored by Wesley Strick of Cape Fear, and, um, Doom), which appears to suggest a similar glossy, blockbuster makeover as with Friday the 13th. It sounds like a decent enough approach, but I'd obviously prefer something a bit more humble and disturbing than this. Read on for the early plot details.
Kevin's Review: Sunshine Cleaning - Not as Bright as You Might Think
Back in 2007, Samuel L. Jackson starred in a movie called Cleaner, where he played the owner of a business that tidied up the biological mess of crime scenes. He was duped into helping cover up a murder, which kicked into gear the active and interesting plot. While Sunshine Cleaning leverages that same odd-but-curious career track, it's an altogether different film. Not nearly as bright and fresh as the title would leave you to believe, Sunshine Cleaning is an overcast and melancholy film. Despite its grey tones, the film contains a spectrum of color thanks to the performances of Amy Adams, Emily Blunt and Alan Arkin.
Ronald D. Moore's Script for The Thing Prequel is Finished!
John Carpenter's original The Thing first scared audiences back in 1982, and now 27 years later an extension of that story has finally been written and is being readied for the big screen. "Battlestar Galactica" scribe Ronald D. Moore (who was announced back in January) told IGN this week, "I did my drafts. They were happy. They have a director and, you know, it's the feature world and I'm not the key player so we just wait and see if they're going to greenlight it or not. I'm not the chef. I'm the short-order cook who comes in and does my thing and we'll see what they want to serve." Well put. Now we just hope it's a good script.
SXSW: We Saw the First Footage Ever for Bruno!
Those of us attending SXSW in Austin were treated to 22 minutes of raw footage of the new Sacha Baron Cohen movie Bruno, the funny man's follow up to Borat, where he plays a gay Austrian fashion reporter for youth TV. The footage spanned three scenes, each of which included a personal SXSW greeting from Cohen. To the say the material was funny is a laughable insult itself. This brief look at Bruno quite possibly promises a more raucous laugh than Borat, which is no small feat. But how, you might ask? Take the first scene, which has Bruno interviewing parents in an attempt to find the right baby for a video production.
SXSW: Early Reaction to Sam Raimi's Drag Me to Hell
I think we all need to have a moment of silence and welcome back the Sam Raimi of old. Lump the man in with Cher and Madonna, because Raimi has returned to his particular recipe for horror, shaped during his days of Army of Darkness and Evil Dead, with a vigor that deserves an applause. And that's just what he got at the historic Paramount theater in Austin during the first ever public screening of Drag Me to Hell last night as part of SXSW. I will confidently say that it's an experience unlike few other and vintage Raimi through-and-through. The camp, the scares, the art, the gross-outs - it's all there, and then some.
Fast and the Furious Franchise Will Shift to Fifth?
The fourth installment to the double-clutching Fast and the Furious franchise isn't even out yet and folks are already talking about taking the story another step further with a fifth movie. I, like many, felt the street racing film line blew a head gasket with third film, The Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift, back in 2006. That film shed any association to the original storyline and brought in roughly half of what each of the first two grossed. Now that the fourth reunites most of the original crew and has decent buzz for its April 3rd release, can we believe lead Paul Walker when he says a fifth film is "beyond rumors at this point"?
Clive Barker Responds to Pascal Laugier's Hellraiser Reboot
Yep, that headline is right. When Pinhead graces the big screen again with the help of French filmmaker Pascal Laugier, it will be in the form of a reboot to the original Hellraiser and not a remake, per se. At least that's what ShockTillYouDrop tells us came out of a recent interview FilmsActu had with the Martyrs director. Personally, I'm becoming blind to the dividing lines between remakes, reboots, re-imaginings, and so on. But on the subject of the Cenobites' return, Bloody Disgusting caught up with Clive Barker, also, and discussed the new project, specifically about it being in Laugier's demented little hands.
Kevin's Review: Watchmen - Who Watches the Watchmen?
There's a poignant phrase that shows up often in Watchmen, simply, "Who watches the Watchmen?" The question has a clear purpose in the story, which is to call attention to the authority enjoyed by the 6-person superhero team. But the same query is surely on the minds of studio execs now that the heralded comic book series has finally made it to the big screen. Who will flock to the theater to watch a two-and-a-half hour journey into an altered '80s reality? And does Watchmen truly deliver? While the film's quality has incited debate, the short answer to this question is that, truly, everyone should watch the Watchmen.
Check These Out: Creepy, Awesome Photos from Splice
Director Vincenzo Natali might not be a familiar name to you yet, but just wait. The man behind the small, mind-bending films like Cube and Nothing is set to release his next, called Splice, for which none other than Guillermo del Toro is an executive producer. One look at these remarkable new photos courtesy of Bloody Disgusting and you'll see that Splice may be the next cult fave of the sci-fi genre. The film surrounds a creature named Dren, a "beautiful but dangerous winged human-chimera" who is created by two rogue scientists through combining human and animal DNA. Check out these photos below!
Michael Cera Officially On Board for Arrested Development Movie?
Since Jeffrey Tambor (aka George Bluth Sr.) said without equivocation last November that an "Arrested Development" feature film "is a go," we've been hesitant to report on details surrounding the project. Despite Tambor's confidence, there has been wave after wave of rumor surrounding the Bluth family's big screen debut. The latest news is centered on Michael Cera, who reportedly has been the lone holdout from the series' original cast. The prospect of an "Arrested Development" film with no George-Michael Bluth is enough to cast doubt on the entire project. So should we believe E!'s inside source claiming that Cera has finally signed on? And if we do, does that mean all this speculation can finally be put to rest?
Twilight's New Moon Get's an Official Logo Treatment
News about the upcoming sequel to last year's Twilight continues to trickle in as the studio creeps towards a November 2009 release. Today, we have a look at the official title and logo treatment for the follow up, thanks to MTV. Leveraging the $360+ million draw from the original movie and ambitions for tween domination - it is, after all, "one of the most anticipated movies… a worldwide phenomenon" - New Moon gets a commercial-savvy prefix: The Twilight Saga's New Moon. Author Stephanie Meyer often used "Twilight Series" to describe the four-book series, but "saga" sounds so much more important, right?
Werc Werk Works to Bring Us Howl with James Franco
Back in July amidst a storm of pre-Milk James Franco news, we reported that the current graduate student was set to star as the lead in Howl, an Allen Ginsberg biopic named after the late poet's best known work and focusing on his trial after its publication. According to Variety, that project is a now further along with production and financing being handled by indie studio Werc Werk Works. The studio just launched this past August and has two other small projects in the "werks" (pun intended), The Turin Horse and Forgiveness. Shooting will start on March 16 in New York for Howl, which sounds pretty interesting.
Wes Craven Talks More Remakes, Including Shocker
A few outlets caught up with Wes Craven recently at a showcase for the his upcoming remake of The Last House on the Left. Craven directed the original back in 1972 and opted for a redo after the studio's 30-year license expired. A similar situation arose with 2006's Hills Have Eyes, which was a solid trip back the 1977 original. It's yet to be seen if the latest remake of a Craven original - Dennis Iliadis is directing this time around - will perform at the same level of Hills, but the father of Freddy Krueger did talk with JoBlo's AITH about other horror remakes in the works, including Shocker and People Under the Stairs.
Sam Raimi's Ghost House Remaking Anguish and Room 205
Sam Raimi might finally return to his campy Army of Darkness days of old with Drag Me to Hell, as our friend Nick claims, but don't expect that influence to carry over to two new films that Raimi's Ghost House Pictures has acquired. They are remaking two European horror films - Anguish from Spain and Room 205 from Denmark. Ghost House has been behind some decent additions to the genre (30 Days of Night and The Grudge), but they've also brought to the screen duds like Rise and Boogeyman 3. The attached names also don't lead us to believe that either of these two will ascend out of C-grade territory.
Horror Film The Home Gets Producers and Artwork
Back in August we reported that Peter Jackson's special effects shop WETA had become attached to a small horror project called The Home. While writer/director Kristoffer Aaron Morgan is set to start shooting in New Zealand come spring, Bloody Disgusting tells us today that the project has secured a trio of new producers. The first two are the duo behind the French scare Inside, Franck Ribiere and Verane Frediani, which brings another horror/thriller element to the project. The third to join the team is none other than Elijah Wood, whose involvement is a bit quizzical, but acceptable. BD also nabbed some pretty outstanding early art for the film, which definitely gives me the impression The Home is on the right foundation.
Kevin's Review: Taken - Not Bourne or Bond, But Still Badass
Proving he's not a one-hit badass, Liam Neeson leverages the fisticuffs he picked up as Ra's al Ghul in Batman Begins to beat the sense out of some Algerian thugs who have kidnapped his daughter in Pierre Morel's Taken. Clean-cut and unassuming, Neeson's Bryan Mills is inescapably reminiscent of Matt Damon's Jason Bourne. But anyone hoping for the next sensible spy tale to follow that ground-breaking trilogy should probably continue to hold their breath. Taken is admirably in-your-face, satisfyingly (if not surprisingly) blunt and lensed like the best of them, but it lacks in the nuance and depth that might turn it into a genre mainstay. Nevertheless, Neeson has clearly broken the mold for ass-kicking fathers.