Posts

Rant: Michael Bay Is NOT A Hack By Peter Sciretta/Feb. 26, 2008 4:57 pm EST While waiting for a screening of footage from Journey from the Center of the Earth 3D at WonderCon, I was in a discussion with a couple people about Transformers. Someone called Michael Bay a hack and I had an adverse reaction. I snapped, and for almost no reason. I’m not a huge fan of Michael Bay, or his films, but at the same time, I appreciate his cinematic efforts more than most educated movie fanatics....

Rumor: Director And Studio Head Battle Over Wolverine? By Peter Sciretta/Aug. 20, 2008 3:20 am EST

Secret Star Wars Production Shooting In Hollywood By Peter Sciretta/May 1, 2009 6:00 am EST Yesterday was the third day of a secret LucasFilm film shoot in West Hollywood. If you were allowed to enter the “LODESTAR” production stage, you would’ve seen Boba Fett, Admiral Ackbar, a Tusken Raider, and even some Jawas. C3PO himself Anthony Daniels will be filming later this week. So what is LucasFilm shooting? The good news is that George Lucas isn’t making a another Star Wars movie (not yet anyways) or additional scenes for some super duper special edition....

Semi-Pro’s “Love Me Sexy” Music Video By Hunter Stephenson/Jan. 26, 2008 9:00 am EST Yes, it’s already not cool to be looking forward to Semi-Pro, the latest sports romp starring Will Ferrell set for release on February 28th. The film’s trailers and marketing unfortunately haven’t done enough to prove that it’s different from recent and arguably lame Ferrell cash-ins like Blades of Glory, even though it’s rated R and focuses on the ABA....

Sonnenfeld And Grabinski Reteam For Swift By Peter Sciretta/May 31, 2009 7:30 pm EST Last year it was announced that Barry Sonnenfeld (Men in Black, Get Shorty, Pushing Daisies) had signed on to direct The How-To Guide for Saving the World, a much buzzed about sci-fi action comedy screenplay which appeared on the 2008 Black List. I’m not sure the status of the project, but Sonnenfeld has again teamed up with Saving the World scribe BenDavid Grabinski to develop Swift, a big screen reimagining of the Tom Swift adventure novels....

Sony Classics To Distribute Woody Allen’s You Will Meet A Tall Dark Stranger By Russ Fischer/March 3, 2010 12:46 pm EST Briefly: I just talked about this film yesterday, when Marion Cotillard was announced as a member of the cast for Woody Allen’s upcoming film to be shot in Paris later this year. You Will Meet a Tall Dark Stranger is the film Allen shot in 2009, and has been planned for release in various markets this September....

Sundance: On The Road With Judas By Peter Sciretta/Jan. 26, 2007 6:24 am EST On The Road With Judas is a movie based on a book (of the same name) which stars actors playing characters playing characters from the book and actors playing actors playing characters from the book. Not only does the film timeshift, jumping through the years but it also jumps back and fourth between scenes and a talk show set where the actors and characters are being interviewed about the book which is being filmed as a movie....

Sundance Blog: Flying To Park City By Peter Sciretta/Jan. 16, 2008 4:10 pm EST I’m at the airport waiting for a plane to Park City, Utah. January is usually considered a horrible time for new movie releases, but it’s my favorite time of the year. For the last five years I’ve been making the trip to the Sundance Film Festival. For a film fanatic, Sundance is the greatest place on earth....

The Scorpion King Prequel To Film In October By Peter Sciretta/Aug. 15, 2007 11:38 pm EST In June, we told you that Universal was planning a prequel to The Mummy Returns spin-off The Scorpion King with Resident Evil: Extinction director Russell Mulcahy attached to helm the project. Now according to moviehole, Dwayne Johnson has decided not to return (surprise, surprise – and who can blame him). Considering that The Rock was largely to thank for the first film’s success, I don’t understand how Universal plans to dupe the public into seeing a Rock-less film....

The Spirit Movie Poster. Sick! By Hunter Stephenson/April 18, 2008 4:19 pm EST Update: Watch The Spirit Teaser Trailer Here. Lionsgate just released the new one-sheet for Frank Miller’s The Spirit featuring the film’s signature catchphrase, “My City Screams,” spelled out in noir-ish sooted city brick. Really well executed, don’t cha think, and this is merely the early lead-up to the movie’s January 2009 release. I’m sure the marketing department won’t like to hear this, but I’m getting a slight Darkman vibe from the materials so far....

Thomas Balmes’ Documentary Babies Movie Trailer By Peter Sciretta/Nov. 26, 2009 11:00 am EST Focus Features has released the trailer for Thomas Balmes’ documentary Babies online. Based on an original idea by Alain Chabat, Babies simultaneously follows four babies around the world – from birth to first steps. The children are, respectively, in order of on-screen introduction: Ponijao, who lives with her family near Opuwo, Namibia; Bayarjargal, who resides with his family in Mongolia, near Bayanchandmani; Mari, who lives with her family in Tokyo, Japan; and Hattie, who resides with her family in the United States, in San Francisco....

TIFF Review: Spike Lee’s Miracle At St. Anna By Peter Sciretta/Sept. 7, 2008 11:59 pm EST Spike Lee’s Miracle At St. Anna is definitely not the type of movie you want to see tired, in the early morning hours. But that was my experience. I’ve seen many World War II films over the years, and Anna is distinctly a Spike Lee Joint. It has the obvious race perspective war story you expect, mix one part combined murder mystery (which is used as a framing device), and the obtrusive bass-y grandiose score (ala Inside Man)....

VOTD: Batman Garage Sale By Peter Sciretta/April 29, 2009 12:11 am EST Batman has succumb to the evil perils of Bernie Madoff, and is a little strapped for cash. So Adam West holds a yard sale outside of the Batcave so that he can buy a big beef and cheddar at Arbys. Check out the new Eric Appel-directed Funny of Die short after the jump. VOTD: Batman Garage Sale By Peter Sciretta/April 29, 2009 12:11 am EST...

VOTD: Henry Thomas E.T. Audition By Peter Sciretta/March 31, 2010 3:02 pm EST I just saw this video on my twitter feed, tweeted by Mike Gaines (who some of you know as the mastermind behind the scenes of the Totally Rad Show), of Henry Thomas’ audition for E.T.. I know I must have seen this clip before on the DVD release, but I wanted to share it with you guys. For me the best part is what director Steven Spielberg says following Henry’s moving audition (something you just don’t get from many child actors these days)....

Wanted Movie Trailer By Peter Sciretta/Oct. 30, 2007 6:51 pm EST Universal has released the movie trailer for the big screen adaptation of Mark Millar’s graphic novel Wanted. Aside from the terrible dialogue, Angelina Jolie’s overuse of eye makeup, and easily comparisons to The Matrix (read: many consumers will call this a Matrix ripoff), the trailer features a few interesting action moments. But all in all, I was expecting more for acclaimed visual director Timur Bekmambetov, who is best known as the creator of the Night Watch series....

Where Exactly Will The Last Two Harry Potter Movies Be Split? By Russ Fischer/June 23, 2009 11:00 am EST Not long ago, Brendon teased you with where in the storyline of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows the narrative would be split to create a cliffhanger between the seventh and eighth films. In case that wasn’t enough for you, an LA Times interview with director David Yates reveals where exactly he plans to leave audiences hanging....

William Shatner Responds To JJ Abrams By Peter Sciretta/Sept. 18, 2008 11:25 pm EST JJ Abrams made a comment earlier this month that Captain Kirk was originally written into Star Trek, but that William Shatner’s unwillingness to do a cameo nixed the scene from being shot. And of course, William Shatner has responded to JJ Abrams in his latest video blog, claiming that nobody ever offered him a cameo. “Maybe you wrote it, but it never presented itself to me,” snaps Shatner, before totally destroying his point by concluding that he “wouldn’t have wanted to do a cameo, because that you would have clipped that out....

Witherspoon Refuses Sex Scene With Vaughn In Four Christmases By Hunter Stephenson/Jan. 7, 2008 2:07 am EST Barrack and Hillary, Kayne and Fiddy, Finke and Poland: Shall we now offer Vince Vaughn and Reese Witherspoon memberships to the make-up-and-make-out-already club? It appears we shall, as yet another report from the set of December’s Four Christmases has the bright-and-grizzled stars clashing and disrupting the set, this time over (not) filming a sex scene....

Worst Movie Trailer Ever: Slumdog Millionaire’s International Trailer By Peter Sciretta/Nov. 23, 2008 7:00 pm EST Danny Boyle’s Slumdog Millionaire just might be the best film of the year, it’s certainly in my top 10 (you can read David Chen’s review here). That said, there is absolutely NOTHING good about the latest Slumdog Millionaire international movie trailer. It feels like a 1980’s film advertisement, complete with cheesy voice over, an upbeat song, and the best moments from the film edited into the worst possible order....

/Film Featured On VH1’s Best Week Ever By Peter Sciretta/July 16, 2007 1:43 pm EST This week on “Best Week Ever” on VH1, they did a segment on Cloverfield. The show is basically an offshoot of I Love the 80s, where they bring celebrities and comedians together to narrate and attempt to make jokes about some of the hot topics of the week. As it turns out, /Film was featured briefly about 2 minutes into the segment, while the topic of conversation becomes the internet obsession with the project....