Posts

First Footage From Sylvain Chomet’s The Illusionist By Brendon Connelly/Feb. 21, 2010 5:04 pm EST A new YouTube video gives us the first online look at moving footage from Sylvain Chomet’s The Illusionist, and what we see is simply stunning. The film has premiered this week at the Berlin Film Festival to some wonderfully positive reviews, the most encouraging of which come from those who had doubts about Chomet’s previous feature, Belleville Rendezvous....

Is Michael Moore’s Next Film About The Bailout? By Peter Sciretta/Feb. 11, 2009 11:10 am EST Michael Moore’s next film started off as a rumored quasi-sequel to Fahrenheit 9/11, but over the last year the film has been developing into something much different. In November it was reported that the yet-to-be-titled film will now have a “end-of-the-empire tone”, with a focus on the United State’s recent economic problems and the global financial crisis....

Joaquin Phoenix To Play Edgar Allan Poe In The Beautiful Cigar Girl? By Russ Fischer/March 12, 2010 8:58 am EST Joaquin Phoenix famously ‘retired’ from acting a year ago (after finishing Two Lovers) to start some sort of career as a rap MC which may or may not be fodder for a documentary or other film product of sorts involving Casey Affleck. It’s all a bit murky, really, but I don’t think anyone has ever been convinced that Phoenix is really retired....

John Woo To Direct International War Epic About The Flying Tigers By Brendon Connelly/July 6, 2009 5:01 am EST A press conference has been held in China to announce the production of John Woo’s next film, claimed to be the most expensive Chinese production to date. Half of the £100 million funds will allegedly be coming from the US, however, though I haven’t actually seen it confirmed who the American backers are....

Joshua Jackson Sticking With The Supernatural, Starring In Adaptation Of British TV Series UFO By Devindra Hardawar/Nov. 22, 2009 11:46 pm EST It took me a while to get used to seeing Dawson Creek star Joshua Jackson in Fringe, but like the series itself, Jackson eventually found a groove that I enjoyed revisiting. Now it seems he’s sticking with the supernatural themes from Fringe with his next project. Jackson has signed on for the lead in UFO, an adaptation of the cult-hit British TV series....

Mary Elizabeth Winstead And Joel Edgerton To Star In The Thing By Peter Sciretta/Feb. 7, 2010 8:45 pm EST Universal Pictures’ prequel to John Carpenter’s cult classic thriller The Thing is gearing up to begin shooing in Toronto in mid-March, and the studio has begun to announce the cast line-up. Heat Vision has learned that Mary Elizabeth Winstead (Grindhouse, Scott Pilgrim) and Joel Edgerton (The Secret Life of Us, Kinky Boots) have been cast as the leads....

Michael Moore Takes Sicko 9/11 Responders To Cuba By Peter Sciretta/April 17, 2007 12:16 am EST Details about Michael Moore’s next film have started to leak out, a month before the film is set to debut at the Cannes Film Festival. As you already know, Sicko is Moore’s attack on the faulty U.S. healthcare system, HMOs, American drug companies and the corruption in the Food and Drug Administration. Michael Moore has said, “If people ask, we tell them ‘Sicko’ is a comedy about 45 million people with no health care in the richest country on Earth....

New Photo: Gerard Butler In Game By Peter Sciretta/June 20, 2008 4:59 pm EST I opened my inbox to discover another new photo of Gerard Butler in Game, the new movie from Mark Neveldine and Brian Taylor – the madmen that brought us Crank. The story takes place “in the not too distant future.” Kabel (Gerard Butler), a death row inmate, has unwittingly become a pop culture hero. Every week, millions worldwide tune in online to watch him and hundreds of other convicts battle in Slayers, an ultra-violent multi-player online game invented by technological genius Ken Castle (Michael C....

Peter Laird Talks About Using “Hybrid” Turtles In Live-Action TMNT Reboot By Peter Sciretta/April 23, 2009 11:49 am EST Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Co-creator Peter Laird posted a blog post talking about the big announcement last night regarding Mirage Studios making a new live-action TMNT movie. Laird confirms that the inital discussions involve using “hybrid” ninja turtles: As you may recall from some of my previous comments, our initial discussions regarding the next film had to do with what we were calling a “hybrid” — live action with realistic Turtles rendered in CGI and blended in....

Quentin Tarantino Joins The Cast Of Smurfs? By Peter Sciretta/March 11, 2010 3:55 pm EST A couple days back, Alan Cumming told MTV News that director Quentin Tarantino would be playing Papa Smurf’s right-hand man, Brainy, in Columbia Pictures’ big screen adaptation of The Smurfs. But a publicist for the Inglourious Basterds director has denied the filmmaker’s involvement. But you would assume Cumming would know what he’s talking about considering he’s voicing Gutsy in the film....

Release Dates: Buried, Smurfs, 21 Jump Street And Paul Haggis’ The Next Three Days By Peter Sciretta/March 11, 2010 1:58 am EST A bunch of new release dates were announced overnight, including the Ryan Reynolds one-man thriller Buried, the computer animated/live-action hybrid 3D film Smurfs, Jonah Hill’s big screen adaptation of the television series 21 Jump Street, and Crash writer/director Paul Haggis’ new film The Next Three Days. Details after the jump....

Rumor Killer: Spider-Man 4 Synopsis Leaked Online? Don’t Bet On It By Brendon Connelly/March 25, 2009 1:17 pm EST Here’s one of those ridiculous online rumours that are only worth reporting as an exercise in stemming their flow, or perhaps as a platform for some other, smaller bits of genuine info. The tale goes that a synopsis for Spider-Man 4 appeared on the website of Hoyts, an Australian cinema chain. This was spotted, and then reported to Mania....

Russell Brand Talks Sarah Marshall Spin-Off By Peter Sciretta/March 15, 2009 3:16 pm EST The other night on Late Night With Jimmy Fallon, Russell Brand appeared to promote his new book. During the appearance, he talked briefly about the announced Forgetting Sarah Marshall spin-off film Get Him to the Greek, where Russell reprises his role as British rock star Aidous Snow. “I’m playing that character, Aidous Snow again, in a movie that Judd Apatow is producing....

Splice Director Vincenzo Natali Eyes Swamp Thing And JG Ballard Adaptations By Russ Fischer/April 7, 2010 2:31 pm EST Vincenzo Natali is hardly a new talent. He’s been on the scene for years, starting out as a storyboard artist (primarily in animation) then moving into the director’s chair with films like Cube and Cypher. But Splice has brought him to a new level, in part because Joel Silver, Dark Castle and Warner Bros....

Terminator Salvation Makes $3 Million At Midnight By Peter Sciretta/May 21, 2009 1:10 pm EST Wednesday night midnight screenings of Terminator Salvation have made an estimated $3 million, an an unknown amount of screens. The film is playing today at 3,580 play-dates, and will be adding 50 more on Friday. It will be interesting to see if the negative critical reaction will hurt the film (I doubt it will). So far the reaction of general audiences has been pretty positive, showing one of the biggest divides in critic/audience reaction of the year so far....

Valkyrie Pushed Back To October 2008 By Peter Sciretta/Dec. 15, 2007 12:37 am EST United Artists have decided to push Bryan Singer’s Tom Cruise starrer Valkyrie back from it’s planned summer release. The film, which is based on actual events, and follows a plot to assassinate Adolph Hitler, was originally scheduled to hit theaters on June 27th of next year, up against Pixar’s WALL-E, the comic book adaptation of Wanted, and Larry Charles Borat follow-up Religulous....

VOTD: Danny DeVito Promotes The Blood Factory By Peter Sciretta/July 19, 2009 7:30 pm EST Danny DeVito will be appearing at Comic-Con to promote his latest project, a horror website called The Blood Factory which will apparently showcase horror short films. The Blood Factory panel takes place on Friday night at 9:30pm in room 7AB. To promote the appearance, DeVito has recorded this must watch 1-minute clip. Check it out after the jump, and trust me, watch the whole thing....

By Peter Sciretta/May 7, 2008 12:00 am EST Video of the Day is a daily feature of /Film showcasing geekarific video creations. Have a video we should be feature on VOTD? E-Mail us at orfilms@gmail.com.

Young Jason Voorhees Revealed By Peter Sciretta/May 15, 2008 12:17 am EST Platinum Dunes has revealed the first photo of Caleb Guss as Young Jason Voorhees in the upcoming Friday the 13th remake. “The make-up is awesome, freaky and true to the original,” writes producer Brad Fuller on the film’s official blog. “Though he only worked a few days – the imagery adds a very disturbing depth to the character.”...

Brett Ratner Confirmed To Direct God Of War? By Peter Sciretta/July 24, 2008 6:18 pm EST Back in May, rumors ran wild that Brett Ratner might be directing a big screen adaptation of the popular video game series God of War. Bad news for video game fans, today’s MGM press release for the Robocop reboot contained the following juicy tidbit: “David Self’s credits include 13 Days and Road To Perdition. He wrote God of War for Universal, to which Brett Ratner is attached to direct, and was a writer on Universal’s Wolfman currently in production....