- Sam Raimi Wants to 'Get Back to the Basics' on Spider-Man 4 (111 Comments)
- Must Watch: Teaser Trailer for A Nightmare on Elm Street! (109 Comments)
- Must Watch: Intense Trailer for Mel Gibson's Edge of Darkness (81 Comments)
- Must Watch: Second Official Trailer for Lee Daniels' Precious (78 Comments)
- Check These Out: High Res New Na'vi Photos from Avatar! (77 Comments)
- Paul Blart Director Steve Carr Hired for the Short Circuit Remake (Oct 27, 2009)
- Hitman's Xavier Gens Set to Direct Action Thriller 'The Fallout' (Oct 27, 2009)
- Bruckheimer & Straczynski Adapting 2K's Shattered Union (Oct 27, 2009)
- Steve Carell on Par for Rick Reilly Golf Comedy 'Missing Links' (Oct 26, 2009)
- Jason Reitman Calls Edgar Wright's Scott Pilgrim 'Matrix for Love' (Oct 26, 2009)
- Matt Damon & Josh Brolin Joining the Coen Brothers' True Grit (Oct 26, 2009)
- Ricky Gervais to Host the 67th Annual Golden Globe Awards (Oct 26, 2009)
- Woody Allen's New Film Titled 'You Will Meet A Tall Dark Stranger' (Oct 26, 2009)
| Inglourious Basterds | 10/10 |
| It Might Get Loud | 9/10 |
| Inglourious Basterds | 8.5/10 |
| Star Trek | 9/10 |
| Monsters vs Aliens | 5/10 |
Academy Selects 15 Documentary Hopefuls to its Shortlist
The AMPAS has chosen 15 films from the qualifying 89 documentaries to its shortlist. The hopefuls, vying for a final spot in the Documentary Feature category of the 82nd Academy Awards, are listed below, but the list is not without a bit of controversy. Some prominent omissions include the acclaimed smash Anvil! The Story of Anvil, James Toback's Tyson, and, most notably, Michael Moore's Capitalism: A Love Story. Moore's previous film Sicko was nominated in 2008 and his documentary Bowling for Columbine won an Oscar in 2003. However, the 15 documentaries listed below are still all more than deserving of a selection.
Interview: Werner Herzog's Bad Lieutenant Producer Alan Polsky
If you go see Werner Herzog's Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call New Orleans this weekend and walk out of it thinking, how the hell did this movie get made and come together this way, well, here's the story. A few weeks ago I met up with producer Alan Polsky (seen to the left with Herzog) at a lunch joint in Beverly Hills to talk about how he got into the business (Alan and his brother Gabe recently started producing) and how this version of Bad Lieutenant got made with such heavyweights as Nicolas Cage and Werner Herzog. Not only is the Bad Lieutenant story great to hear, but he's got big aspirations for the future. So read on!
Check This Out: Badass Photos from Thai Film Bang Rajan 2
I don't know what this is, but it looks frickin' awesome! Twitch has found a handful of new photos from an upcoming Thai film called Bang Rajan 2 that's actually the sequel to a little-known film from 2000 called Bang Rajan. The original is a period epic about a group of outnumbered villagers standing up to a stronger military force. It was apparently pretty damn good, despite not getting too far outside of Thailand. However, nine years later and they're back with a sequel which, this time, is being produced by Phranakorn Film, one of Thailand's biggest production companies and distributors. With that said, you need to see these photos!
Alejandro Amenábar's Agora Finally Bought for US Distribution
After first debuting at the Cannes Film Festival some six months ago, Alejandro Amenábar's Agora has finally been picked up for distribution in the US by Newmarket Films (who has released other indies like Death of a President and Passion of the Christ). Agora is an ambitious $60 million film that tells the story of religious conflict in Roman-governed Alexandria as the Christian and pagans battle, often violently, for religious and intellectual supremacy. The period story centers on he enlightened thinker Hypatia as well as both her philosophical and romantic conflicts. Rachel Weisz stars as does Max Minghella and Oscar Isaac.
Watch This: Official Trailer for Jeff Bridges Film Crazy Heart
Fox Searchlight has debuted the trailer for Scott Cooper's Crazy Heart starring Jeff Bridges and Maggie Gyllenhaal as well as Colin Farrell and Robert Duvall. This is the indie film that a month ago no one even knew about. Then they screened it for Oscar bloggers, who loved it and proclaimed that Bridges has a shot at winning Oscar, and then Searchlight set it for release on December 11th just in time for the Oscars. Here's the official trailer for the film which, to be quite frank, looks amazing. From this trailer alone, I'd say it looks like Jeff Bridges will win. I haven't seen it yet, but I'm already sold, it looks like the next Wrestler or Once.
Watch This: First Trailer for Edward Norton's Leaves of Grass
Although I just called this Edward Norton's Leaves of Grass, it's actually Tim Blake Nelson's Leaves of Grass, because Tim Blake Nelson wrote and directed it and even has a starring role in it. This stars Edward Norton in twin roles as two brothers, one an Ivy League philosophy professor, the other a small-time pot grower in Oklahoma. This is just an early promo trailer, since the film still hasn't sold yet, but it gives you a very good feel for the film and what to expect. I saw this up in Toronto (read my review) and really enjoyed it. Norton's accent is great, and as you can see from this trailer, it provides plenty of good humor. Enjoy!
Indie Trailer Sunday: Shake Hands with the Devil Trailer
Today's trailer is for an indie that has been on hold for quite a few years. Shake Hands with the Devil first premiered at the Toronto Film Festival way back in 2007. In fact, director Roger Spottiswoode actually directed another film (The Children of Huang Shi) while waiting for this to be released. Regent Releasing is finally bringing Shake Hands with the Devil to theaters in 2010 and has debuted a trailer for it on Apple. I'm featuring it for a few reasons. First, while some of the dialogue looks rough, the story looks incredible. Second, the cinematography and locations look gorgeous as well. It stars Roy Dupuis and Deborah Unger.
Check This Out: Official Poster for Jeff Bridges' Crazy Heart
Seen below is Fox Searchlight's official poster for Crazy Heart from the LA Times. The trailer arrives on Monday, but I thought I'd feature this anyway. If you haven't heard yet, Crazy Heart is the latest big Oscar contender, and it already has a lot of support. Jeff Bridges plays a broken-down, hard-living country music singer in a kind of Wrestler-like story. Apparently it's a "performance of a lifetime" from Bridges with critics like Kris Tapley of In Contention and Jeffrey Wells supporting him. "Jeff Bridges is definitely in the Best Actor derby… [His] best since The Big Lebowski but tonally opposite and much harder hitting, of course."
Interview: Fantastic Mr. Fox Writer & Director Wes Anderson
A few weeks back I traveled to London, England and the small town of Buckinghamshire to be immersed in the world of Roald Dahl for Fantastic Mr. Fox. After touring the museum and his estate (more to come on that next week), I sat down for a very brief interview with Wes Anderson, the visionary director behind Fantastic Mr. Fox. My focus in this interview was on his creative process and development of the film, since Anderson was involved in writing the script (with Noah Baumbach) and directing the stop-motion animated film. I've been a fan of Anderson for a long time and it was a delight to chat with him. Enjoy the interview!
Watch This: Real Trailer for Mid-Air Monster Movie Altitude
If you can remember back to April, we featured a poster and promo trailer for an indie film called Altitude, about a small plane full of teenagers that encounters a Lovecraftian creature up in some storm clouds. As we quickly found out, that promo trailer didn't actually have any real footage in it, so all the bad acting and CGI was actually bad because it was only temp footage. Now that it's actually shot and in post-production, we now have a finished trailer to show you (via ShockTillYouDrop) that includes real footage this time, and it's a huge improvement. Plus the final shot at the end with the monster is a true "holy sh*t" shot. Check it out!
Fantastic Mr. Fox Has Universal Acclaim from Critics So Far!
Inspired by this amusing post on Awards Daily titled "How to Build a Sturdy Foxhole", I thought I'd point out that Wes Anderson's Fantastic Mr. Fox, which hits limited theaters (in New York and Los Angeles) this weekend before expanding on Thanksgiving, is getting positive reviews. Over on Metacritic, Fantastic Mr. Fox currently has a score of 87, which earns it the "universal acclaim" tag. Ryan points out that 7 of the 9 reviews tracked have a score of 80 or above, which is pretty damn impressive. In comparison, Where the Wild Things Are only has a score of 71 on Metacritic, but it also has quite a few perfect 100 reviews, too.
World's Longest Film Will Screen All 150 Hours of Running Time
So what exactly happens in a film that runs almost as long as an entire week. Well, it looks like anything really since the film itself, titled Cinematon, is comprised of over 2000 segments, each 3½ minutes long, of footage from celebrities, artists, philosophers and journalists, as well as children who were allowed to do exactly as they please in front of the camera. So basically it's YouTube: The Movie. I jest, but the film should offer much more than just skateboarding dogs with subjects like film director Ken Loach, actors Roberto Benigni and Samuel Fuller, chess grandmaster Joel Lautier and the infamous Terry Gilliam.
New Photos: Eagle of the Ninth, Sorcerer's Apprentice & More!
A huge batch of new photos from all kinds of different movies arrived on Collider earlier tonight. And just before that, our friends at Fanboyz found the first few photos from Disney's The Sorcerer's Apprentice. So on top of those, we've got some brand new shots from Anton Corbijn's The American, Sofia Coppola's Somewhere, Kevin Macdonald's The Eagle of the Ninth, and Yuen Woo-ping's True Legend. There are plenty more on Collider, but I pulled the best to feature below. There are also some really cool posters for The Job with Harvey Keitel, Let the Bullets Fly, and Blue Valentine, that Collider got snaps of at AFM.
New Extended TV Trailer for Jason Reitman's Up in the Air
Paramount played this new extended TV trailer for Jason Reitman's Up in the Air during the "Mad Men" season finale yesterday, so you might've already seen it, but if not, here's your chance. It's a short 'n sweet new trailer with most of the footage we've seen before in either of the first two trailers. But since Up in the Air deserves some more love and since this trailer has great quotes from various critics, it's worth featuring anyway. I hope everyone is planning to see this when it hits theaters in December, it's easily one of the best films of the year. And if all goes well, it might end up winning some Oscars, too. Anyway, check it out!
Brazilian Director Heitor Dhalia Attached to Direct April 23
I think I'm one of the few people who actually knows who Heitor Dhalia is, but I'm going to make sure everyone is familiar with him soon enough. Dhalia is a Brazilian director with three features under his belt, the latest of which debuted at the Cannes Film Festival (where I saw it). I knew nothing about him before seeing Adrift, but walked out of it amazed, it's such a beautiful film (read my review). Anyway, Variety says Lakeshore has hired Dhalia to direct their espionage thriller April 23, based on Erje Ayden's book "Sadness at Leaving: An Espionage Romance" that's being adapted by Hanna Weg (The Beautiful and the Damned).