Posted Aug 27th 2008 11:03AM by Elisabeth Rappe
Filed under: Classics, Family Films, Newsstand, Dreamworks, Steven Spielberg, Peter Jackson, Comic/Superhero/Geek
With all the publicity surrounding
Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull, I thought we would certainly have some definitive Tintin news. Confirmation that Thomas Sangster
was taking the lead? Cast members that would join
Andy Serkis? Any indication, at all, that the film was going to start
shooting next month? Nope.
But a tiny update comes courtesy of
The Hollywood Reporter, although it's more like a baby controversy. Herge Studios, holders of Tintin's rights, claimed today that Peter Jackson was moving into the director's chair for the first film, replacing Steven Spielberg. Both Spielberg and Jackson have denied that this is the case, and that Spielberg is still attached to direct the first
Tintin installment, Jackson the second. Not even Abraham Lincoln will get in the way, it
is the next film on his agenda. No start date has been announced, though.
THR is also reporting that
Thomas Sangster is starring as the motion captured Tintin, so at least that's official now.
Perhaps the most interesting news in all of this official spokesperson stuff is the blurb about which books are being adapted for the big screen. The first film (scripted by
Doctor Who's Steven Moffat) will be based on
The Secret of the Unicorn and
Red Rackham's Treasure. Now that's worthy of discussion! What do you
Tintin fans think about that -- and which books ought to be adapted for film two and three?
Posted Aug 26th 2008 9:03PM by Jette Kernion
Filed under: Action, Classics, Comedy, Cinematical Seven
Can everyone guess where I am right now, and what I'm doing? I'm very thankful that the New Orleans airport has free wireless available while I wait for an airplane crew to show up for my flight, so I can return to sunny Austin. In the meantime, I have a laptop and Internet access and a stack of DVDs to watch. I am prepared. I can watch movies indefinitely if necessary, especially if I can get Hulu or Netflix's Watch Instantly cranked up.
I have a few suggestions for packing / purchasing / (legally) downloading movies to watch on your laptop or other device in an airport or on a plane. Pick at least one or two movies that are old familiar favorites. Sometimes when you're stuck in a terminal with poor food choices, a "comfort movie" can be your very best friend. In addition, I find it difficult to listen clearly to movies on an airplane or even in a noisy terminal (you don't want the sound too loud, so you can hear updates on your flight's delay), so it's best to pick something where you already know what's going on and don't need to catch every last nuance of dialogue. Big goofy action films and physical comedies have an advantage over talkier films where you have to pay attention.
In compiling this list of specific recommendations, I tried to avoid the overwhelmingly obvious choices for watching movies in airports -- personally, I don't want to watch disaster films at times like this, or even spoofs of disaster films like that timeless comedy
Airplane.
The Terminal and
Snakes on a Plane also a little too close for comfort. I thought instead of lighter fare, with scenes that emphasized the fantasy world of airline travel, good or bad, and the magic of escapism. Next time, I'm tucking a few of these in my laptop bag myself.
Continue reading Cinematical Seven: Movies to Watch While Stuck in an Airport
Posted Aug 26th 2008 1:03PM by Elisabeth Rappe
Filed under: Classics, Sci-Fi & Fantasy, Warner Brothers, Fandom, Family Films, Movie Marketing, Harry Potter, Remakes and Sequels, Images
Alejandro Martínez over at
BlogHogwarts has sent us a bunch of images from the just-released
Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince calender. I know, it's hard to get excited about anything associated with a movie we won't see until July, but a calender can help alleviate your pain by giving you a little dose of Harry Potter all through 2009. Right? Ok, maybe not. You have to hand it to Warner Bros -- of all the franchises to be delayed, none works so well as Harry Potter. It doesn't matter that we don't know the film incarnations of the characters, because we've been living with the
Half Blood cast for years on the page. When you think of it that way, all this badly timed merchandise doesn't seem so ridiculous. There's some very cool stills here that I wish was bigger, particularly the troubled Draco Malfoy you can glimpse below. I've enlarged it, but at the cost of the quality -- if someone shells the bucks out for this (I'm looking at you, Emma Watson fans), feel free to send big scans along for your
Cinematical friends.
Continue reading New Calendar Images from 'Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince'
Posted Aug 25th 2008 12:03PM by Elisabeth Rappe
Filed under: Classics, Comedy, Sci-Fi & Fantasy, Universal, Family Films, Movie Marketing, Remakes and Sequels, Images
The gang over at
Collider got their hands on a new picture from
Land of the Lost -- and as I'd like them to keep their scoop (particularly since the trades like ripping them off), you'll have to click on the bug-eyed lizard to see the whole photo. Devin Faraci has confirmed the photo is the real deal, and that it's the first look at Enik. If you adored the show (which I didn't, the Sleestaks scared the crap out of me), you might remember this kind fellow as the guard of a time portal. He's played by
John Boylan, who's really quite handsome under that make-up.
Enik represents what the Sleestaks once were -- a proud civilization called the Altrusians, a race that could talk and wear clothes, and who eventually devolved into the mean and naked Sleestaks. (Humanity, take note.) I'm not sure how they managed to make Enik look friendlier and less soul-destroying than
the other Sleestaks, but his black eyes don't scare me nearly as much.
Land of the Lost opens July 17th, 2009.
Posted Aug 22nd 2008 11:03AM by Elisabeth Rappe
Filed under: Action, Classics, Romance, Mystery & Suspense, Warner Brothers, Newsstand, Comic/Superhero/Geek, Remakes and Sequels
No one seems to know how to feel about Guy Ritchie's
Sherlock Holmes -- it has
Robert Downey Jr. in the lead, and yet the buzz is curiously off. Of course, it's difficult to get
too excited about a movie that dodges its source material in favor of a comic book that has yet to be released. It puts discussion in a bit of a nowhere land.
But, I'm going to try anyway. Ritchie talked a bit about the Victorian reboot to
USA Today. "It will be a very big production, visceral and intellectual,"
Ritchie said. "His brilliance will percolate into the action. His intellect was as much of a curse as it was a blessing. He was a deeply layered character." And he's not particularly concerned about Sasha Baron Cohen's comedic version. "They don't even have a script yet. We are way ahead."
And how did they snag the Iron Man-of-the-Moment? Downey Jr. became involved due to his wife, Susan, who is one of
RocknRolla's producers, and an early fan of the film. His English accent, Ritchie insists "is flawless." I hope it's improved since his
Restoration days.
While
USA Today says there's no word on the casting of the villain,
Digital Spy was reporting (via Ritchie at Empire's BFI Movie-Con) that the honor was going to
Mark Strong. But there has been no official confirmation of that, and Warner Bros refused to even comment. Casting is expected to be finished in six weeks. But what characters from the Conan Doyle canon will appear is a mystery. Ritchie hasn't confirmed the appearance of Professor Moriarty, but he has said there will be a love interest based on Irene Adler, who appeared in the original Holmes story
A Scandal in Bohemia. Holmes' admiration for Adler is legendary -- and it speaks well to Ritchie and Lionel Wigram's take that they are including such well known characters.
Join me in being cautiously optimistic about this project. After all, the film world is always harping on Ritchie to break his gangster mold, so let's support him when he does.
Posted Aug 20th 2008 4:02PM by Christopher Campbell
Filed under: Classics, Drama, Paramount, Tech Stuff, Exhibition, Home Entertainment
New York City's
Film Forum will be screening both
The Godfather and
The Godfather Part II during a special three week engagement beginning September 12. And yes, it's a big deal. The first two installments of Francis Ford Coppola's trilogy are often featured in repertory houses, sure, but Film Forum's presentation is of newly restored 35mm prints, which were produced under the direction of Coppola and cinematographer Gordon Willis and the supervision of film historian and master preservationist Robert A. Harris.
The Godfather will run solo from September 12 through September 18, then
The Goffather Part II will run solo from September 19 through September 25, and finally, back-to-back screenings will be featured from September 26 through October 2 (the double feature does, unfortunately, require separate admissions). As far as I can tell, neither of these digitally restored classics includes new computer-generated characters or backgrounds, and obviously the guns are likely to still be guns rather than walkie talkies.
If you can't make it to NYC for any of these shows, Paramount is apparently also releasing the restored films in other select cities, including Los Angeles and San Francisco. Or, you can check out the new versions as part of "
The Godfather, the Coppola Restoration collection," which also includes a remastered
Godfather Part III, on DVD or Blu-Ray beginning September
26 23 (the DVDs may be purchased in a 5-disc box set, which includes two discs of special features, or separately, in case you like to forget about
Part III; the Blu-Ray versions seem to be only offered together in a 4-disc set).
Continue reading Restored 'Godfather' and 'Godfather Part II' Screen in NYC
Posted Aug 20th 2008 2:02PM by Monika Bartyzel
Filed under: Animation, Classics, Music & Musicals, Casting
Romeo, Romeo, wherefore art thou Romeo? First you become Tromeo, and now -- Gnomeo. Well, people have been trying to rename you to Gnomeo for a while now. Heck, last time
Cinematical wrote about the upcoming CGI feature
Gnomeo and Juliet,
it was 2006 and Kate Winslet and professional voice actor Greg Ellis were attached to voice the film. Almost two years later, the garden gnome romance is still hiking its way to the big screen, and
The Hollywood Reporter posts that
James McAvoy and
Emily Blunt are in negotiations to voice the leads.
While I'm bummed to see another voice actor lose his work, there are some quirks to look forward to with this feature -- namely Elton John classics. At first, a whole new set of romantic songs were going to be penned by Tim Rice and John, but that didn't work out so we get the good ol' classics. Will Gnomeo fall off Juliet's balcony and sing: "I'm Still Standing"? Will the two dance, canoodle, and sing: "Tiny Dancer"? Will "Candle in the Wind" be adapted once again for the tragic finale? Oh, the possibilities.
Now, it's also said to be a "loose and edgy" adaptation, so perhaps these gnomes will get their happy ending -- although I'd hope it wouldn't stray too far from the original. Whatever the case, it'll be a long wait. The project is currently in the storyboard stage, with plans to wrap up production by 2010.
Posted Aug 15th 2008 2:03PM by Elisabeth Rappe
Filed under: Action, Classics, Sci-Fi & Fantasy, Paramount, Fandom, Newsstand, Comic/Superhero/Geek, Remakes and Sequels
In the absence of anything official from the land of
J.J. Abrams'
Star Trek, we must report on the tiniest tidbit we can. The latest "scoop" comes from
E! Online and the mouth of
Clifton Collins Jr., who plays Ayel the Romulan.
"Me and
Eric [Bana] are the new Romulans," Collins said. "They had a linguist come in and invent Romulan!" Does that mean that Bana's Nero
is a Romulan? There was much Trekkie buzz over Nero's funky ears on the
first character posters, as well as writer
Alex Kurtzman's explanation of them to
UGO: "Nero isn't necessarily a Romulan ... It's all part of the plot." Perhaps "new" Romulans fall into that "not necessarily" category?
You will ponder more than that, thanks to Collins' description of what these new Romulans look like -- they may actually be inspired by
Pirates of the Caribbean. "We're space pirates," Collins explained. "Think of Johnny Depp as a Romulan." That means eyeliner, doesn't it? Gobs and gobs of black eyeliner, the key accessory of all swashbucklers. No, in all fairness, E! is probably just stretching the quote a bit -- but it does explain the wicked tattoo Nero is sporting.
There will also be some surprise cameos in
Trek, Collins wouldn't say who, but he dropped a hint. "There are certain things that as kids growing up, whether it's
Star Trek or other shows at the time, all you got to do is really just hear their voice and your heart warms." Will the heart-warming voices belong to characters or actors from the original series? "Maybe." And that's all the news from the land of
Trek, readers. Now it's time to amuse yourselves by trying to guess who the thrilling cameos could be! By the time we narrow it down, we may have an actual still or (gasp!) a trailer to discuss. Hey, a girl can hope.
Star Trek opens May 8th, 2009. Many, many, tiny stories from now.
Posted Aug 13th 2008 7:32PM by Elisabeth Rappe
Filed under: Action, Classics, Drama, Sci-Fi & Fantasy, Casting, Mystery & Suspense, Warner Brothers, Fandom, Newsstand, Movie Marketing, Comic/Superhero/Geek, Images
One of the trickiest aspects of a
Watchmen movie is Rorschach's secret identity. In the book, you're kept guessing as to who is under that shifting mask -- and when you find out who's really under it halfway through, it's a nice little shocker. He's not the badass you expect, for one, nor is he a stranger. The real Rorschach has been there all along.
In a fantasy world, the casting could have remained secret, making it one hell of a surprise when his mask is taken away. But this is the real world of movie casting and marketing, and so a name and face has to be attached ... and really, it's just another reminder you should read the book so you can enjoy the surprises firsthand.
Even so, a glimpse of the man under the mask has surfaced on
JoBlo, who snagged a screencap from G4. Apparently, G4 was busy showing the people at home all the coolness of
Watchmen while the rest of us were camped out at ComicCon -- and one of the things they revealed was
Jackie Earle Haley without his face. For devotees of the book, it should be reassuring, especially as I heard people wondering aloud how
Zack Snyder planned to "fix" the bald Haley. (Count me impressed on the greasy detail of his clothes.) For those new to the story, steer clear, especially if you're in the middle of the book. (This means you, Mom. I know you haven't even read past
Under the Hood.) The photo appears after the jump.
Watchmen opens March 6th, 2009.
Continue reading The Real Face of Rorschach
Posted Aug 12th 2008 2:03PM by Elisabeth Rappe
Filed under: Action, Classics, Sci-Fi & Fantasy, Deals, Scripts, 20th Century Fox, Newsstand, Remakes and Sequels
I'm digging the Greek revival in Hollywood -- I know I should sniff at it as an empty trend that cashes in on
300, but I'm just not hard hearted enough. (And I continuously hope that they'll forget about the dumb parts of
Troy and greenlight
The Odyssey with Sean Bean in the lead.)
According to
Variety, the latest Greek myth to be "remade" is
Jason and the Argonauts (shortened to the pithier
The Argonauts), though I'm skeptical in calling any story that's been around for thousands of years a remake. Jason hasn't sailed on the bigscreen since 1963, when he was assisted so famously by Ray Harryhausen. (There was a television miniseries in 2000 -- that was such a weird era for CGI mythology.) This time, he'll be doing his sailing for 20th Century Fox, and the movie will be written and produced by
Zak Penn.
As you likely remember from your school days, this is the story of Jason's quest for the Golden Fleece. Charged with its retrieval by the unpleasant king (and usurper) Pelias, Jason assembles a great group of heroes (including the legendary Heracles) known as the Argonauts. Naturally, they had all kinds of crazy adventures, encountered horrible monsters, and loved a lot of women.
Penn is writing an original take on the Greek epic -- but I imagine all the standbys like the Harpies, the Sirens, and the Symplegades will be present. And I fully expect that it will have a
300 flavor, at least in the costuming and the muscles sported by Jason and company. Just about every studio has a Greek movie they're shoving into production (including that much discussed
300 prequel/sequel/whatever), so they're all going to be vying to outdo each other. At this point, my money is on
Anabasis and this one, if only for Penn might bring a bit of
X2 goodness to it. What about you?
Posted Aug 10th 2008 11:02AM by Elisabeth Rappe
Filed under: Classics, Drama, Horror, Independent, Casting, Mystery & Suspense, Newsstand
Colin Firth and Ben Barnes alone do not
an Oscar Wilde adaptation make -- and with filming on
Dorian Gray having already started (more on that in a moment), it's a good thing they filled out the rest of the cast!
Variety reports that just about every British actor not working on
Harry Potter or
The Tudors has signed on.
Rebecca Hall is probably the most notable addition -- IMDB claims she's playing Emily Wooten, a character which doesn't seem to exist in the original book. But she's no stranger to gloomy Victorian stories, as she's probably best known to American audiences as Christian Bale's tormented wife in
The Prestige. The key female role appears to have gone to
Rachel Hurd-Wood, who will be playing Sibyl Vane, the actress Gray falls in love with.
Emilia Fox is playing Lady Victoria Wooten, wife of Firth's character.
Completing the cast are: Ben Chaplin, Fiona Shaw, Maryam D'Abo, Pip Torrens, Douglas Henshall, Caroline Goodall, Michael Culkin, Johnny Harris and newcomer Max Irons, son of Jeremy Irons. This is going to be a real film of young up and comers, isn't it? Barnes, Hall, Hurd-Wood, Irons ... it should be quite interesting to see who might take off from this.
And I wasn't wrong when I said a photo of Firth and Barnes in cravats would be forthcoming.
Variety has one accompanying their article -- and it's a nice official still, not a grainy one from the British paparazzi as I was expecting. You can already sense the debauchery, can't you?
Posted Aug 9th 2008 11:00AM by Christopher Campbell
Filed under: Classics, Drama, Casting, Paramount, Home Entertainment, Remakes and Sequels
Too much merchandising can saturate the classiness of a film, but I still think any actor who has played an iconic character should stick with that role through and through. Decades ago I was down for any movie star reprising a role for an animated spin-off (Mary Steenburgen, you're constantly giving me reasons to love you), and today I support anybody who follows his or her character to the world of video games. So, regardless of
whether or not Francis Ford Coppola approves, kudos to
Robert Duvall for being involved with Electronic Arts' upcoming game version of
The Godfather II.
While other actors from the
Godfather sequel have at least allowed their likenesses to be represented, just as they had with
The Godfather: The Game before, Duvall's role in the game is more significant.
Variety reports that his character, Tom Hagen, features prominently as an adviser to the player, and Duvall is recording new voiceover dialogue for this purpose. As with the first game,
Al Pacino has chosen to not be involved (he's obviously holding out for that
Scent of a Woman game to mark his video game voice work debut).
Continue reading Duvall Returns to 'Godfather' Franchise
Posted Aug 7th 2008 9:03AM by Elisabeth Rappe
Filed under: Action, Classics, Comedy, Warner Brothers, RumorMonger, Scripts, Newsstand, Remakes and Sequels
The franchise reboots may never end. According to
ComingSoon.net (who spotted it on TrackingB.com),
Shane Black has written a spec script for
Lethal Weapon 5 without really telling anyone but Joel Silver.
The story would center around Riggs' impending retirement (and his, undoubtedly, being too old for ... well, you know). But before he leaves the force, he has to tackle one last case, and as there are no other police officers in Los Angeles, he hauls Murtaugh out of retirement to help him. Allegedly, both
Mel Gibson and
Danny Glover are interested, though no deals have been signed.
Now, I name drop
Lethal Weapon enough that you undoubtedly know that the series ranks much higher in my life than it probably should. Watching it in my pre-teens not only taught me a choice vocabulary, it rocked my world with glimpses at a naked Mel Gibson. My problems with men probably stem from the pedestal I have placed Martin Riggs upon.
But, that doesn't mean I want a fifth movie -- I already sat through the fourth installment, and it wasn't that good. Black has penned some fantastic scripts in his time -- and I firmly believe
A Long Kiss Goodnight is insanely underrated -- and I'd love to see him churning out action-comedies again. But not ones with Riggs and Murtaugh. Let
Lethal Weapon lie, and write a franchise that can give us a new badass or two. Check out the video below of Seth Rogen and James Franco discussing Shane Black's movies from Moviefone's latest
Unscripted chat...
Posted Aug 5th 2008 1:32PM by Monika Bartyzel
Filed under: Action, Classics, RumorMonger, Remakes and Sequels
Ugh. I should've known that with the release of
Lost Boys 2, nothing beloved was sacred. Sure, we've posted
Goonies 2 rumors before, when
Sean Astin called it an "absolute certainty," and when Data and Chunk
were approached, even though Josh Brolin had
heard nothing. Now, if
Moviehole's sources are to be believed, it's definitely on the way. And no, I'm not talking about a
Goonies 2 video game re-release. (Will the Wii ever get it!? I keep waiting...)
An unnamed source (one that we'd supposedly "
know straight away this was a solid bit of news") said that it is definitely happening -- not as a
Tribeish straight-to-video release, but as a full-scale feature film (which WB has confirmed). Writers are whipping it up now, and it'll feature
some of the original cast. That's a huge bummer, because the only way I could begin to get intrigued would be if all the surviving people signed on once again. It wasn't too long ago that the entire cast reunited for that DVD commentary, so I'll still hope for a full, or almost full, return.
But still, it's a crapshoot whether this will be worthy of the beloved original. What would they have to do to capture your interest in the sequel?
UPDATE: Corey Feldman tells
Moviefone a
Goonies sequel will most likely not happen: "Well, 'The Goonies' is one of those mythical sequels that will never happen [laughs]. I mean, it's something that Donner and Spielberg were behind for years and years, and again it's a Warner Bros. issue; they just feel they don't want to take the gamble on making the sequel."
Read more ...
Posted Aug 2nd 2008 3:33PM by Scott Weinberg
Filed under: Classics, Drama, Horror, Romance, Sci-Fi & Fantasy, Thrillers, Noir, Mystery & Suspense, Fandom, Home Entertainment, Comic/Superhero/Geek
What is the appropriate reaction to have when a movie you love, adore, and cherish is somehow ... improved? I know, it's a strange feeling. I happen to think my all-time favorite film (
A L I E N) is much better in its theatrical version than in its extended -- but where
Aliens is concerned, I much prefer the longer version! It's something you have to approach on a case-by-case basis, of course, and it's the sort of movie-nerd activity that should be attempted only by those with a lot of free time -- or someone who gets paid to write about this sort of stuff. (Fortunately I am both.)
So it was with MUCH enthusiasm that I sat down with the brand-new Director's Cut of
Dark City, a film that I absolutely love a whole lot -- and I know I'm not nearly alone when I say that. Like many of the finest sci-fi films,
Dark City was pretty much overlooked for a good long while -- put once it hit DVD and heavy rotation on the cable channels, the sci-fi freaks found a film worth watching and re-watching, to say nothing of analyzing, deconstructing, and debating. And so I happily continue that trend by explaining what the fans will find in New Line's very impressive new
Dark City package...
Continue reading What New Revelations Lie Within the 'Dark City' Director's Cut???
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