Posts

Patrick Swayze Has Died By Devindra Hardawar/Sept. 14, 2009 5:46 pm EST Sad news to report tonight: Actor Patrick Swayze, famous for countless roles, has passed away at age 57. In March 2008 it was revealed that Swayze was suffering from pancreatic cancer, and today we’ve learned that he passed away peacefully while surrounded by family. Swayze was famous for his romantic roles (Dirty Dancing and Ghost, among others), but I’m more of a fan of his work in Red Dawn, Road House, and Point Break (though you could probably argue about the romantic aspect of that latter role)....

Peter Segal In Talks To Direct Little Fockers By Peter Sciretta/March 19, 2009 9:30 pm EST Little Fockers, the third film in the Meet The Parents trilogy is finally entering the casting stages — Ben Stiller, Robert De Niro and Owen Wilson are in talks with Universal to return. Meet the Parents and Meet The Fockers director Jay Roach will not helm the third film as he’s too busy prepping Dinner For Schmucks,which leaves an opening for a new director....

Shazam Is Dead By Peter Sciretta/Jan. 6, 2009 1:33 pm EST You won’t be seeing a big screen adaptation of Shazam hitting theaters anytime soon, as the project is now officially dead. Screenwriter John August has posted an in depth article on his blog explaining how the writer’s strike, New Line being merged into Warner Bros, and the back and fourth between various studio execs eventually killed the project. If you have a few minutes it’s well worth the read, and it’s very typical of the hilarity and frustration of the Hollywood studio system....

Spielberg’s Lincoln Not Dead; Robert Downey, Jr. A Possible Lead For Harvey By Russ Fischer/Sept. 15, 2009 10:00 am EST Here’s a novel approach to a potential film rivalry: view the other party as marketing for your own project. Steven Spielberg has wanted to make a biopic of Abraham Lincoln for quite some time, but various roadblocks have been put in the project’s path. The film, currently planned to be based on a script by Tony Kushner, would focus primarily on the Civil War, and Lincoln’s unhappy appraisal of the war’s effect....

Sundance Buys: Newmarket Takes Hesher; Weinsteins Pick Up Blue Valentine; The Kids Are Alright And Twelve Picked Up As Well By Russ Fischer/Jan. 29, 2010 10:24 am EST UPDATE: Just after I published this, The Weinstein Company was announced as the distributor for Blue Valentine, the drama starring Ryan Gosling and Michelle Williams. The film has been one of the critical hits of the fest, but I’ve got to wonder what TWC will be able to do with it....

Sundance Movie Trailer: Taking Chance By Peter Sciretta/Dec. 25, 2008 8:11 pm EST As January nears, we begin to focus on the 2009 Sundance Film Festival. A new trailer has hit the web for Ross Katz’s Taking Chance. Katz, who started in Hollywood as a grip on Reservoir Dogs, served as producer on films like In The Bedroom and Lost in Translation, both of which earned him Academy Award nominations. Chance is his directorial debut....

The Man Behind Guy Ritchie’s Sherlock Holmes Will Reboot The Three Musketeers By Peter Sciretta/Feb. 12, 2010 1:08 am EST Producer Lionel Wigram, a former Warner Bros creative executive who oversaw the first three Harry Potter films and went out to create/pitch/write Guy Ritchie’s Sherlock Holmes, has hired screenwriter Peter Straughan (The Men Who Stare at Goats) to adapt Alexandre Dumas’ classic 17th-century adventure novel The Three Musketeers. The plan is to update the story to appeal to young, contemporary audiences, playing up the action/sexier elements....

The Possibly True Story Behind The Hangover By Russ Fischer/June 9, 2009 10:17 pm EST After it took the top spot at the box office this weekend and enjoyed relatively good reviews to boot, everyone wants to talk about The Hangover. (The reviews are justified. We didn’t run one, for which I blame E3, but it’s a great comedy.) Some folks are persistently calling it a sleeper hit, which is absurd; as Jeff Wells points, out, it’s just a hit....

The Real 3D Battle Will Be Fought On Your Face By Russ Fischer/Dec. 30, 2009 1:03 pm EST For more than a year the 3D movie industry has been ramping up, but there was a broad perception that James Cameron’s Avatar could be the make or break movie for the tech. A massive flop might have set 3D adoption back slightly while success could be a shot in the arm for the theatre-only display technology....

The Wachowski Brothers To Direct Superman Reboot? By Peter Sciretta/Feb. 11, 2009 3:58 pm EST Could The Wachowski Brothers be in line to direct a reboot of Superman for Warner Bros? A scooper over at AICN caught an interview with V For Vendetta director James McTeigue on Berlin television where the filmmaker admitted that Plastic Man was originally scheduled to be the brothers’ next project, but the film has been delayed indefinitely due to a major shake-up of projects at Warner Bros....

Up In The Air Full Theatrical Trailer By Russ Fischer/Oct. 1, 2009 7:03 pm EST I have not seen Jason Reitman’s new film Up in the Air. I know it is getting raves left and right; it went over like gangbusters at Telluride (Peter’s review) and Toronto. Each bit of footage we’ve been given has shaped my understanding of the film, and each clip makes me a bit more interested to see what is really inside what Reitman has called perhaps the most personal film he’ll ever make....

Video Interview With Moon Director Duncan Jones By Brendon Connelly/July 16, 2009 3:00 am EST Following after the break is a nice, meaty interview with Duncan Jones, conducted in his ‘bijou’ office in central London. Despite it being quite an unorthodox request, he agreed to meet me there, let me set up the camera and chat casually to him for around an hour about whatever took my fancy, Moon-related or otherwise....

VOTD: Dial Hard - Die Hard As A 1960’s Style French Film By Peter Sciretta/May 25, 2009 10:55 pm EST What would Die Hard with a Vengeance look like if it was a 1960’s style French film? Inspector MeQlain plays a deadly game of Simon Says in ‘Dial Hard’, a short film created for Stella Artois’ Smooth Original campaign. Watch the short film after the jump. VOTD: Dial Hard - Die Hard As A 1960’s Style French Film...

Who Will Direct Paranormal Activity 2? Here Are Paramount’s Picks By Brendon Connelly/Feb. 25, 2010 6:00 am EST The quick-turnaround required to get another Paranormal Activity into cinemas this Halloween, and possibly kill the Saw franchise once and for all, will mean that Paramount will have to get production up and running very soon indeed. You probably recall that Saw almuni Kevin Greutert was given the helm before a little contractual black magic from Lionsgate saw those plans dashed....

Avatar: A Positive Early Review, More Budget Speculation, Creature Design, Two New Featurettes And More By Peter Sciretta/Dec. 7, 2009 9:14 am EST Jeff Wells has spoken to someone who has seen the film, and here is what they said: Meanwhile, creature designer Neville Page, best known for creating the Cloverfield monster, talks to Hero Complex about designing the creatures of Pandora: “It will pick you up and shake you like a little rag doll....

Black Friday Geek Deals By Peter Sciretta/Nov. 28, 2008 1:49 am EST We may receive a commission on purchases made from links. BLU-RAY $6.95Artie Lange’s Beer League$8.99 Aeon Flux Flags of our FathersShort CircuitThe Untouchables Special Collector’s EditionTrading Places$9.99 Black Snake Moan Hustle and FlowMarch of the Penguins$10.99 A Clockwork Orange The AviatorUnder Siege 2 – Dark Territory$11.99American PsychoDawn of the DeadEvil Dead II: Dead by DawnHalloweenReservoir Dogs (15th Anniversary)SawStargate (Extended Cut)The Devil’s RejectsThe ShiningTermiantor 2: Judgement DayTotal Recall$12....

By Steve Mason/Dec. 25, 2008 11:28 pm EST Christmas Day moviegoers have opted for a lovable lab and the Oscar bona fides of David Fincher’s epic fantasy yarn The Curious Case of Benjamin Button (Paramount) have been bolstered by a strong opening day. Meanwhile, Adam Sandler’s storytelling and a Hitler-chasing, eye patch-wearing Tom Cruise both connected with moviegoers while the dark graphic comic noir of Frank Miller is a dud....

Casting Rumor: Who Is Alice In Tim Burton’s Wonderland? By Peter Sciretta/July 7, 2008 3:19 pm EST Rumor has it that the lead role of Alice has been cast in Tim Burton’s Alice in Wonderland. The latest name to enter the rumor mill is Ryan Nikole Parker (pictured right), a virtual unknown with only a few television credits (One Life to Live, Kids Incorporated and American Idol). Other names circling the rumor mill have included Amanda Seyfried, Lindsay Lohan, Evan Rachel Wood and even Johnny Depp....

Fantastic Fest Reviews: Zombie Girl And The Chaser By Peter Sciretta/Sept. 22, 2008 8:17 am EST Zombie Girl: The Movie is a fun documentary about Emily Hagins, a 12-year-old girl from Austin Texas who spent two years directing a feature-length zombie movie titled Pathogen. Encouraged by her mother Megan, who produced, created the special effects and held the boom mike, Emily filmed the movie on weekends and school holidays. Emily is what you would expect from a director of her age: highly unorganized, unfocused and unable to communicate clearly....

First Look: Jim Carrey And Zooey Deschanel In Yes Man By Peter Sciretta/Jan. 3, 2008 3:47 pm EST Warner Bros has released the first two photos from the upcoming Jim Carrey comedy Yes Man. The story follows Carl Allen (Carrey), “a man who signs up for a self-help program based on one simple principle: say yes to everything… and anything. At first, unleashing the power of “yes” transforms Carl’s life in amazing and unexpected ways, but he soon discovers that opening up his life to endless possibilities can have its drawbacks....