AnythingMovie

Ray Winstone Replaces De Niro in 'Edge of Darkness'

2008-09-17T21:35:00.001+07:00

About a week ago, word spread that Robert De Niro had walked off the set of Martin Campbell's Edge of Darkness. A spokesman for De Niro explained it to us like idiots: "Sometimes things don't work out; it's called creative differences." De Niro would have co-starred with Mel Gibson as an agent tasked with cleaning up evidence of a murder Gibson's homicide detective is trying to investigate.

It seems that Campbell has found his replacement: the great Ray Winstone, who is currently in negotiations to step into the role. Winstone obviously doesn't have De Niro's profile, which is a loss for a film that's benefited from a considerable amount of hype before even starting principal photography (most of it having to do with Mel Gibson's return to acting after six years). But he certainly has the chops.

De Niro, meanwhile, faces a test of his drawing power this weekend with the release of Righteous Kill. The marketing campaign has concentrated exclusively on the presence of De Niro and Al Pacino, so the question will be how many people the two of them can get into the theaters. Not that De Niro has anything to prove, as evidenced by his walking off the set of a major film two days into shooting.

Geek Daily: 'Spidey 4, 5', 'Hulk' Sequels and More!

2008-09-17T21:17:00.003+07:00

The Geek Beat is taking a late-September vacation to Middle Earth -- but it will be back next month and those of you suffering withdrawels can always check the archives. In the meantime, you can relax with a daily round-up of nerdy news bites. (They taste like coconut!) This is relaxing for me, too -- I get to catch up on my reading, my Halloween shopping, and my yoga. I can stay up all night re-reading Preacher (you know I will) and not waiting for an X-Men Origins: Wolverine story. A good way to end summer!

Now, onto today's news ...

According to The Hollywood Reporter, Jeffery Erb and Robert Robinson Jr. have launched Framelight Productions with an eye to producing edgy comic and graphic novel adaptations. They already have options on Larry Hama's Dr. Death with Kip and Muffy, Gary Reed's Deadworld, Ralph Tedesco and Joe Tyler's Sins of the Fallen, as well as their 1001 Arabian Nights. (Clicking on any of those links will take you to previews of the books.) All of their productions aim to do one thing in particular -- involve the creator in all aspects of movie making. "We weren't the only producers wanting to make movies based on these creators' babies, but we were the only ones inviting them in as co-producers," says Erb.
Edward Norton told MTV News that he's uncertain about the future of The Incredible Hulk and his role in it. There's been no word on whether they will be a solo sequel, or if Norton will be playing the Hulk in The Avengers. "The minds of Marvel are sometimes opaque. I won't say [they're] obtuse, but I don't have any idea what they want to do." Perhaps they're considering Matthew McConaughey, who had no idea he was rumored for Captain America -- but revealed to MTV that Hulk is really the only Marvel character he would like to play. (They could save on the budget -- all they have to do is dye that muscled dude green.)
According to The Sunday Times, Tobey Maguire has been granted an unprecedented "working father" deal for Spider-Man 4 and 5. He's willing to shoot them back to back, a six month shoot starting next year, but only if he's allowed early mornings and evenings off to spend with his young daughter. Awwww. He really is Peter Parker!
According to Access Hollywood, Clark Duke is the latest to join Matthew Vaughn's Kick-Ass. He'll be playing Marty, best friend of Dave Lizewski, the main character. This film could be subtitled Kick-Ass: The Superbad Reunion.
And speaking of Mark Millar -- /film has a scoop on a behind the scenes battle centered on the rights to his upcoming series War Heroes. A big-screen adaptation has been making its way around Hollywood, which has upset those who have been developing Shannon Eric Denton and Keith Giffen's series Grunts. Grunts came out first, has a similar concept of superpowered soldiers, and reportedly garnered the interest of Steve Buscemi. Comics2Film caught up with Denton, who confirms Grunts is making the rounds, but denies any knowledge of bickering or Buscemi.

The Diving Bell and the Butterfly

2008-09-10T02:06:00.001+07:00

Director Julian Schnabel and screenwriter Ronald Harwood have performed a small miracle in adapting for the screen Jean-Dominique Bauby's autobiography "The Diving Bell and the Butterfly." Not, of course, as much as the one it took for the former "Elle" editor to write the book when he was paralyzed from head to toe and could communicate only by blinking his left eye.

But their film does justice to the enormous courage and determination of the man and the caring patience of those who helped him. Taking a very different approach to the award-winning 2004 Spanish film "The Sea Inside," in which Javier Bardem played a suicidal quadriplegic, the movie boasts an equally fine lead performance, by Mathieu Amalric, and matches that film's broad appeal.

A vivacious and charismatic magazine editor, Bauby is stricken at 43 with the cerebro-vascular incident that first plunges him into a coma and then leaves him with what is called "locked-in syndrome." His brain works perfectly but his body doesn't, save the left eye. It is from that eye's point-of-view that the film is almost entirely told and Janusz Kaminski's cinematography does marvels in suggesting the suffocating horror of Bauby's predicament and the wide variety of images that bring him joy and hope.

A brief period of self-pity is overcome by the painstaking attention of his therapists, Henriette (Marie-Josee Croze) and Marie (Olatz Lopez Garmendia), who develop the pattern whereby he blinks at letters of the alphabet in order to form words and then sentences. Celine (Emmanuelle Seigner), the mother of his three children, whom he had abandoned shortly before he had his stroke, also nurses him devotedly. Among many scenes of tender mercy, she translates when Bauby's new lover calls to speak to him only to say that she cannot bear to see him in his current state. Celine must translate his blinking reply: "Each day I wait for you."
There are also heartbreaking scenes between Bauby and his aged father, played with great compassion by Max von Sydow. Father and son are friends, and in flashbacks and a phone call made difficult by Bauby's condition and his dad's forgetfulness, their affection is beautifully conveyed.

There is much humor in the film as the stricken man never loses his wry sense of what fate brings. He realizes that two essentials in his makeup are not paralyzed: his imagination and his memory. He uses both to escape from the deep-sea diving bell that he pictures himself trapped in so he may soar like a butterfly.

Guilt plagues him over his inattention to his children and such things as failing to return a phone call to a man named Roussin (Niels Arestrup), to whom he gave his seat on a plane that was hijacked. The man spent four years as a hostage but he visits Bauby not to chide him for his negligence but to tell how he survived his own locked-in hell.

It's a theme that Schnabel develops throughout the film and renders with remarkable subtlety. He is aided greatly by a fine cast, especially Almaric, Seigner and von Sydow, and by Paul Cantelon's delicate piano score. The soundtrack also features great music by such artists as Tom Waits, Nino Rota and Lou Reed. It begins and ends with the song "La Mer" and that much-heard melody becomes haunting all over again.

Film Review: The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor

2008-09-10T02:00:00.001+07:00

You might not be able to kill a mummy but as "The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor" demonstrates, you can kill a franchise.

The third entry in the series starring Brendan Fraser ups the ante in terms of special effects and action, but there's an undeniably tired air to the enterprise.

Arriving seven years after the last installment, "The Mummy Returns" (assuming you don't count the "Scorpion King" spinoff), its timing is particularly unfortunate coming right on the heels of the recent "Indiana Jones" reboot.

The China setting -- both ancient and 1946 -- might prove beneficial thanks to the publicity generated by the Summer Olympics, and the presence of Asian superstars Jet Li and Michelle Yeoh certainly won't hurt.
Strangely enough, in this installment there isn't a mummy in sight. Instead, intrepid adventurers Rick (Fraser) and wife Evelyn (Maria Bello, replacing Rachel Weisz, whose absence might be explained by her winning an Oscar since the last one) are battling a massive army of terra cotta soldiers led by the reanimated evil Dragon Emperor (a wasted Li), who was cursed into suspended animation centuries ago by a beautiful sorceress (a similarly wasted Yeoh) whom he made the mistake of trying to kill.

Also figuring prominently in the rudimentary story line are the couple's now-grown-up son Alex (played in vapid fashion by Luke Ford), an archaeologist following in his parents' footsteps; a tomb guardian (Isabella Leong) who tries to prevent the emperor and his minions from being disturbed; and Jonathan (John Hannah), the loyal sidekick assigned with the task of making sardonic wisecracks: "I hate mummies, they never play fair," he whines.

There are some undeniably cool CGI effects -- the terra cotta soldiers are impressive, even if their stiff gait unfortunately brings to mind Laurel and Hardy's "The March of the Wooden Soldiers" -- and target audiences are not likely to complain about any paucity of frantically paced action sequences. But too much of the proceedings are silly rather than horrifying, with the nadir being the appearance of some particularly athletic Yetis who briefly pitch in to lend a hand.

Fraser still looks athletically youthful and displays the same engaging presence he exhibited in the recent "Journey to the Center of the Earth," but he can't entirely hide the fact that he's cashing a paycheck. Coming off far worse is a newly brunet Bello, who appears distinctly uncomfortable in the action sequences and who sports an unfortunate British accent to boot.

First Trailer for Sean Penn's 'Milk'

2008-09-04T19:46:00.000+07:00

To paraphrase an IM conversation I just had with a friend regarding the trailer for Gus van Sant's forthcoming biopic, Milk: he thought the trailer was "incredible", whereas I felt it painted openly gay elected official Harvey Milk in a bit too saintly a light, at least within those two-and-a-half minutes, much to his chagrin.

I'm not saying that the real-life Milk wasn't a key figure in the fight for gay rights; I'm not saying that he deserved to be assassinated by Dan White (Josh Brolin); I'm not saying that Sean Penn doesn't look or sound just like the guy (that, I cannot speak for) and won't turn in an impressive performance. All I can speak for is the trailer itself and how I felt towards it.

So, as I go to put the 1984 Oscar-winning doc The Trials of Harvey Milk in my Netflix Queue, in the name of knowing better, would any of you care to attest for both the accuracy and anticipation behind this project?

Box Office

2008-09-04T19:41:00.002+07:00

Movie tickets were a tough sell for labor day weekend, as Babylon A.D and Traitor were the only two of last week's four new releases to finish in the top five. Disaster Movie took seventh place and College took fifteenth, allowing Tropic Thunder to hold the number one spot for a third week. Here's the top five:

Tropic Thunder: $11.5 million
Babylon A.D.: $9.4 million
The Dark Knight: $8.6 million
The House Bunny: $8.3 million
Traitor: $7.8 million

The summer movie season is over and Hollywood is pausing to breath before moving on. We've only got one wide release this weekend.

Bangkok Dangerous:

What's It All About: Directors Oxide Pang Chun and Danny Pang remake their own 1999 Thai film. Nicolas Cage stars as a hitman who travels to Bangkok for four assassinations.
Why It Might Do Well: If you're jonesing for a new release, this is the only act in town.
Why It Might Not Do Well: One might assume that dumping a movie on the weekend after Labor Day represents a vote of no confidence from the studio.
Number of Theaters: 2,500
Prediction: $14 million.

New Calendar Images from 'Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince'

2008-08-30T22:07:00.001+07:00

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.

400 Screens, 400 Blows - Disease of the Week Movie

2008-08-30T22:03:00.003+07:00

Isabel Coixet's Elegy (92 screens) is a "disease-of-the-week" movie. I hate "disease-of-the-week" movies, but I really liked Elegy. I also liked Coixet's previous film, My Life Without Me, which was also a "disease-of-the-week" movie. Sarah Polley's beautiful Away from Her from last year was another excellent example. This begs three questions: What is a "disease-of-the-week" movie? Why do I hate them? And what makes Elegy so good? The phrase "disease-of-the-week" was coined to describe a certain type of TV movie some decades ago, which had addicted housewives sniveling and crumbling up tissues at their TV tubes for two hours every seven days. But filmmakers quickly snatched upon the formula as a quick and easy way to weasel their way into film critics' hearts, and probably win an Oscar or two.

Disease is an unfortunate part of life, but it's a part of life that no one likes to think about. What usually happens when we get sick? We avoid going to the doctor! We hope it'll go away. So why do people like these kinds of movies, movies that acknowledge our own mortality and frailty? I think the secret is that the most successful of these movies play up the disease angle, but the real subject is the heroism of the others, the people who are not sick. That way, the disease gets center stage, and some "courageous" actor gets to show off, while the audience gets to identify with the other characters, the ones who stand by their friends and family. The ones who don't give up.

These days the Academy likes "disease-of-the-week" movies slightly less than they like biopics, literary adaptations, epics, costume dramas and war films. Conversely, they hate comedies, horror films, sci-fi films and action movies. But a quick look over the list of Oscar winners reveals a long list of "disease-of-the-week" entries. Ray Milland -- not the world's most interesting actor, Lord knows -- won in 1945 for playing an alcoholic. So did Nicolas Cage in 1995. Cliff Robertson (who?) won in 1968 for playing the "developmentally disabled" Charly. (See Tropic Thunder for further notes). Jon Voight was paralyzed in Coming Home. Dustin Hoffman was autistic, Daniel Day-Lewis had cerebral palsy, Al Pacino was blind (so was Jamie Foxx), Tom Hanks had AIDS, Geoffrey Rush had a mental breakdown, Jack Nicholson was obsessive-compulsive and Russell Crowe was a paranoid schizophrenic. Marlee Matlin was deaf, Holly Hunter was mute and Patty Duke was blind, deaf and dumb.

Perhaps not ironically, many of the co-stars who showed patience for these patients won Oscars as well, and the list is just as long, if not longer. Jim Broadbent won for Iris, while his co-star Judi Dench -- who had Alzheimer's -- did not. Jennifer Connelly won for supporting her husband in A Beautiful Mind. Anne Bancroft won for supporting Helen Keller. Brenda Fricker won for supporting her son in My Left Foot. Tom Cruise should have won for supporting his brother in Rain Man. These are the characters that we actually think about. We may come away with praise for the gimmicky, centerpiece performance ("wasn't it amazing how he actually looked sick?") but secretly hope that we can be as brave as the regular folks.

Moreover, these movies have a kind of built in importance that earns one a badge of honor. We recommend them to our friends, but what we're really doing is boasting of our own endurance and prowess; we sat through it and emerged intact. If you're as good as me, you should do the same. Long movies have the same effect. I was perfectly happy to brag that I sat through all seven hours of Bela Tarr's Satantango, but I make sure to mention the "seven hours" part. That's precisely how movies win awards. But what makes a really good "disease-of-the-week" movie? I guess it's one that develops a character, rather than a vehicle for the disease. You can analyze and argue all you want about how Daniel Day-Lewis gave a great performance in My Left Foot, but in the end, it was a gimmick that sold the movie, as opposed to a more genuine performance like -- to take some examples from the same year -- Matt Dillon in Drugstore Cowboy, James Spader in sex, lies & videotape, Chow Yun-fat in The Killer, or even Michael Douglas in The War of the Roses.

In Elegy, Penelope Cruz has cancer, but this is not revealed until well past the first hour. Up until that time, we get to know her as "Consuela Castillo" and not as "cancer lady." She also gives an astonishing performance, not based on shrieking in pain and wearing sick-lady makeup, but because she shows how her character quietly thinks. You can see her rolling her dialogue around in her head, weighing it before she speaks it. It's true that the movie is really "about" David Kepesh (Ben Kingsley) and that he eventually takes care of her, but we see him as a damaged human being rather than as a brave caregiver; he can't even offer comfort to his own son. To put it plainly, a good "disease-of-the-week" movie is not about the disease. It doesn't show off the disease. The disease is only part of the movie, a function of the movie, and a means to some other end.
By the way, none of this has anything to do with "movie cough," about which I'll write more some other day.

Cinematical's Friday Night Double Feature: Buddy Cops

2008-08-30T21:55:00.002+07:00

Buddy films. They're an interesting breed of cinema. Instead of finding success in a niche, they appeal to the masses. With buddy flicks, you're served a variety of time periods, races, genres, laughs, and scenarios. If one doesn't appeal, the next is sure to come -- all tapping into the goodness of friendship and camaraderie.

And snuggled nicely into that sector of cinema are the buddy cops. They've made the careers of a few big stars, like Mel Gibson and Eddie Murphy. But I don't want to give you something quite so obvious as Beverly Hills Cop or Leathal Weapon. Since this is all due to my recent purchase of Hot Fuzz, I give you that plus an ol' '80s classic -- Running Scared.

Hot Fuzz

While I liked Shaun of the Dead, it was Hot Fuzz that gave Simon Pegg and Nick Frost little checks in the "love" category. As Nicholas Angel, Pegg stars as a hot-shot London cop -- but not in the beloved, media-friendly way. He's so good that his arrest record cripples that of the other officers on the force. Interested more in self-preservation than city safety, Angel gets a new assignment -- a supposedly crime-free little town -- one that coincidentally is greeted with a series of suspicious and horrific accidents. With his bumbling cop partner (Frost), he sets out to continue his a-mazing record.

Pegg and Frost together are good enough that the rest of the cast could be full of amateur, crappy actors and there would still be something good to say about it. But in this case, Hot Fuzz is the exact opposite, with names like Jim Broadbent, Steve Coogan, Timothy Dalton, Bill Nighy, and Paddy Considine. Mix that all in with great laughs, mystery, quirks, and classic movie cop mainstays, and you've got one of the best buddy cop, and buddy film movies in a long time.

TRIVIA

Did you know that Peter Jackson is the Santa Clause who stabs Angel, and Cate Blanchett is the masked, SOCO ex-girlfriend of Angel?

Ben Stiller and Robert Downey Jr. to Reteam for Animated Movie

2008-08-28T17:48:00.001+07:00

Ben Stiller and his Tropic Thunder co-star Robert Downey Jr. are to reteam for a new animated action movie called Master Mind.

The project began life as a regular action film, but Stiller chose to turn it into a cartoon when he took it to the bosses at DreamWorks.

He says, "It's a script that my company Red Hour got that was written as a live-action movie, but we thought it would work as an animated movie so we brought it to Jeffrey Katzenberg and now we're in pre-production.

"I'm in it and Robert Downey Jr. plays an evil superhero villain. Basically it's about a bad guy who loses to the good guy that he's fighting all the time, so he has to create another good guy for him to fight."

Los Angeles Move for Gisele Bundchen and Tom Brady

2008-08-28T17:42:00.002+07:00

Supermodel Gisele Bundchen's lover Tom Brady has reportedly bought an empty plot of land in Los Angeles for $11million.

Football star Brady is said to have paid out the huge sum just months after he and Brazilian Bundchen put their apartments in Manhattan, New York up for sale.

According to TMZ.com, Brady has taken out a five-year mortgage for the three-acre plot of land in L.A.'s Brentwood area, on the same street where Terminator star Arnold Schwarzenegger lives.

A source tells the website Brady plans to build a home on the land so he can be closer to his son by actress Bridget Moynahan.

Lindsay Lohan's Dad Slams Samantha Ronson Over Book

2008-08-28T17:31:00.003+07:00

Lindsay Lohan's father Michael has slammed his daughter's rumored girlfriend Samantha Ronson, over reports she is to write a tell-all book about her life with the actress.

Lohan and Ronson have been close friends for several years and are now said to be in a relationship.

And Ronson is reportedly set to reveal intimate details of her life in a new memoir.

A source tells UK Eonline, "She's certainly telling friends she's planning to write a book. It's supposed to be about her, allegedly. But come on, you know
Lindsay will be all over that book. She's the only one people want to read about."

And the rumors have infuriated Lohan's father, who claims the DJ is just using his daughter to get her own slice of fame.

He says, "I've shut up about this long enough. She's using my daughter. People never even knew who Samantha Ronson was until she met Lindsay. She was
just some Los Angeles DJ. And now she's writing a book? I am at (my) wit's end with this stuff. This is not in Lindsay Lohan's best interest. Let's just say I hope Lindsay starts opening her eyes and realizes who the people using her are."

Brad Pitt just 'shot' his wife and kids!

2008-08-28T17:26:00.001+07:00

Washington, Aug 26: Brad Pitt turned photographer for a day when he captured his partner Angelina Jolie and their kids for a new magazine spread.

U.S. fashion magazine W commissioned the movie hunk to show off his lensman skills for the publication's upcoming November (08) issue.

And one of the vintage cameras collector Pitt used for the candid family photos was a Littman 45 Jolie gave him as a birthday gift.

This will be the couple's second photo spread in W, reports Showbiz Spy.

In July 2005, Jolie and Pitt shot the controversial spread 'Domestic Bliss' in which they pretended to be married.

The photo shoot was meant to promote their movie Mr. and Mrs. Smith but caused problems instead. The pictures came just before Pitt's divorce from then wife Jennifer Aniston. He is accused of leaving Aniston for Jolie.

Check Out the New 'Max Payne' Posters

2008-08-23T22:22:00.002+07:00

It's funny how little things can make a big difference. When the first poster was released from the big-screen version of Max Payne, I have to tell you; I was pretty underwhelmed. But my opinion of the design has improved now that I've gotten a gander at the two new posters for the flick (see larger versions of both in the gallery below). Although, I have to ask, who knew that Mr. Payne was such a 'shoe-gazer'? The original Max seemed a bit more thick-skinned than his feature film version; Wahlberg makes the man look downright depressed at times.

Mark Wahlberg stars as Payne, a cop who has lost his family and partner at the hands of a powerful crime syndicate. When he is left to his own devices, our hero sets out on a mission of revenge for his loved ones, and discovering some unnatural secrets along the way. Starring alongside Wahlberg are Mila Kunis (Forgetting Sarah Marshall) as Mona Sax, Beau Bridges as Payne's friend and mentor, and Chris 'Ludacris' Bridges as an IA agent.

We finally got a look at the trailer back in July, and if you are fan of the series, you probably noticed that the film has taken it's look from the original game. Payne was directed by John Moore, who has the dubious credit of being behind the remake of The Omen back in 2006. But, to be fair, the flick seems like an easy sell. Wahlberg seems suited to the more 'violent' strain of moviemaking. Plus, once you throw in the pre-existing fan base, and competition-free release date, Fox should be able to rake in some serious dough.

Max Payne will arrive in theaters on October 17th.

Latest James Bond Flick Bumped Back a Week

2008-08-23T22:06:00.003+07:00

In what appears to be part of a most thorough campaign to botch Entertainment Weekly's Fall Movie Preview, a recent press release wholly admits that the North American opening of the 22nd James Bond film, Quantum of Solace, back from November 7th to the 14th marks an effort to capitalize on last week's sudden Harry Potter shift.

Although the removal of the 007th from any coming marketing blitz sure is a shame, it does place this film closer to the release of its predecessor, Casino Royale, which opened on November 17, 2006 to the tune of almost $600 million worldwide. Solace will still premiere in the United Kingdom on October 31.

For those keeping track at home, this now leaves Madagascar: Escape 2 Africa and the just now shifted Paul Rudd comedy Role Models on November 7th, and the 14th is now between Bond, Baz Luhrmann's epic drama Australia, and Bernie Mac's final film, Soul Men.

Now, think fast! When does Something of Boris open again?!

Third 'Transporter' Trailer Totally Teases

2008-08-23T22:01:00.002+07:00

"Rules Remain The Same, Except Some Changes."

I recall first seeing that tagline attached to a billboard touting The Transporter 3 at Cannes last May (whether or not I actually saw the picture at JoBlo.com then, all that matters is they still have it now) and dismissed it as a clumsy phrase with something perhaps lost in the translation from the European investors into big, fat, shiny English.

And yet IGN has the first domestic teaser up for the film, and that tagline appears nearly verbatim. I probably shouldn't care, and you probably don't, but it's just a further indication that even the filmmakers -- well, their marketing team -- have barely half a heart in this puppy.

I enjoyed the modest marathon of butt-kicking that was the first film in 2002, but it was that film that has since then propelled star Jason Statham to carry on with more of the same, and while the outright outlandish nature of Crank has me down for an equally warped sequel, this particular franchise jumped the shark for me three years ago, right about when our lead proceeded to ramp a car up and dismount a bomb from its undercarriage by way of a nearby crane.

Call me picky, but I know just which degree of ridiculous I can stomach, and that moment was both too much and yet not nearly enough, it seems. The plot of this three-quel even appears to mimic the living time-bomb element of that one, but really, I'm not sure that seeing his Frank Martin punch and pummel through baddies can carry the same giddy appeal after having seen Chev Chelios push himself to more remarkable extremes.

Again, I probably shouldn't care this much, and you probably don't. Either way, The Transporter 3 (which may or may not drop that article) skids into theaters this Thanksgiving. Ah, the smell of turkey...

Review: Mirrors

2008-08-20T02:38:00.003+07:00

When a film called Mirrors opens with a man fleeing desperately from said objects, it doesn't bode all that well. When that individual soon falls victim to a grisly demise at the sight of them, well, there's something to be said for the fact that there is ultimately nothing to see in Mirrors that is worth grabbing something sharp over. Unfortunately, there is also nothing that you probably haven't seen before in The Ring, The Grudge, or any number of exhaustingly similar American remakes of Asian spook stories.

And what a shame that we find ourselves having to associate the likes of Alexandre Aja with lackluster horror. Well, to be more accurate, luster is just about all he has to offer here, a slick sheen on a stale story. It's nice to have a legitimately menacing score in between shameless jolts!, and if we're to be treated to the same 'gotcha!' shots with depressing frequency, at least the lighting and lensing bring an equal amount of polish to the proceedings. Who knows: With enough technical prowess at play, maybe Aja can get someone to mistake this film for Shinola after all.

It's been five years since a disastrous fire killed a great deal of customers at Mayflower's Department Store in Manhattan, and a year since former NYPD detective Ben Carson (Kiefer Sutherland) left the line of duty after accidentally killing a fellow officer. He's a recovering alcoholic with an estranged wife (Paula Patton) and two kids, staying with his sister (Amy Smart) and starting his new job at night watchman of the Mayflower's property. The man is just begging for a Movie Cop Redemption, but that'll just have to wait (or will it?) as Carson begins to investigate the curious occurrences involving the store's pristine mirrored halls and walls.

Since we're informed early on that the store was formerly a mental hospital... the mystery becomes a matter not of suspense, but rather of patience to see if Carson can put the pieces together as he addresses all manner of loud noises, curious reflections, and physically-manifested threats that are only nearing in proximity to him and his. Following a comeback on TV's "24," it's curious to see gruff guy Sutherland flinch at a fair number of freaky sights (and by curious, I mean: It looks to him like he's burning while it looks to us like he's break-dancing), but soon enough, he's burdened with plenty of procedural exposition and a narrow range of expressions with which to respond to the inevitable skepticism of loved ones.

In all fairness, Sutherland's natural stoicism does make the more risible developments and dialogue a bit easier to stomach (a moment when he goes all Jack Bauer on a nun comes to mind), but at the end of the day, he only takes a film that could've been a joke and raises it to the level of a mere bore. There's nothing particularly tense when it comes to waiting for all the pieces to fall into place, no matter how many spirits pop up in how many reflective surfaces, and when Aja comes to rely on his more gruesome tactics, only one dispatch stands out as being jaw-dropping in any every sense. (It doesn't hurt that this memorable sequence seems to incorporate more practical effects than any other scene in the film.) High Tension and the remake of The Hills Have Eyes each showcased a more potent blend of the unexpected, the unbearable, the unbelievable; Mirrors can barely boast a third of that combination.

I remain confident that Aja is a capable and competent horror filmmaker in an age when they seem so far and few between, but the man can only do so much with so little. If you'd never seen another ghost story along these lines, Mirrors might actually startle and surprise, but if that's really the case... why start here?

Another Poster for Vin Diesel's 'Babylon A.D.'

2008-08-20T02:33:00.002+07:00

I'll admit it; I have a soft spot for Vin Diesel. Feel free to laugh at me, but I can't help myself, it's something about that voice. So you might want to keep my personal bias in mind when I say that Babylon A.D. really doesn't look all that bad. Silly? Yes, but entertaining none the less. Ropes of Silicon found the latest poster for the sci-fi flick from Gothika director Mathieu Kassovitz and if nothing else, it's a step up from the first one-sheet/Oakley ad we saw a few months ago.

Diesel stars as Toorop, a mercenary who takes the job of escorting a woman from Eastern Europe to New York. But if you have seen the trailer, you know that there is a lot more to this lady than meets the eye. Say what you will about the film, but you have to admit, some of those 'Bladerunneresque' shots of the city were pretty impressive. Starring alongside Diesel is the criminally underused Michelle Yeoh as an a**-kicking nun, as well as, Gerard Depardieu, and Charlotte Rampling.

Babylon has had rough time throughout production. The project started back in 2005, when Kassovitz was hired to adapt the novel, Babylon Babies. Originally the French actor Vincent Cassel was expected to take the lead, but Diesel decided to drop out of Hitman (probably not a bad idea all things considered) to lobby for the role. It was even speculated that the move caused bad blood between Cassel and Kassovitz, and ruined a long standing friendship. As if that wasn't enough stress; there were also delays from weather and talk about the film running over budget.

Hopefully all these problems won't be showing up on the screen when Babylon A.D. opens in theaters on August 29th.

Laurence Fishburne joining 'CSI'

2008-08-20T02:31:00.002+07:00

Laurence Fishburne has officially come on board "CSI: Crime Scene Investigation," succeeding William Petersen on the CBS crime drama.

Fishburne, who will first appear in the ninth episode of the show's upcoming ninth season, will play a former pathologist who is now working as an itinerant college lecturer, teaching a course in criminalistics. His focus is on understanding criminal behavior, how and why people commit acts of violence -- which happen to be tendencies he disturbingly sees within himself.

In the course of a murder investigation, he comes into contact with the CSI team and ultimately joins the Las Vegas Crime Lab as a Level-1 CSI.

"This has been months in the making," said "CSI" executive producer Carol Mendelsohn. "We have been talking about the character we wanted to create and pursuing our dream casting, which is Laurence Fishburne."

Exec producer Naren Shankar added that Fishburne and Petersen will appear together in two episodes. Their characters "will be involved in a case together in Episodes 9 and 10," he said. "(Petersen's character, Gil) will definitely have an opinion on who this guy is. The idea is to see a lot of Billy and Laurence together."

Fishburne's character does not yet have a name but is being referred to simply as "the professor." Asked how Petersen's character will depart the series, Mendelsohn said only: "We're not going to tell you how he's leaving."

Fishburne, an Oscar nominee for "What's Love Got to Do With It," most recently co-starred in "21." His new role is a departure from his last gig as a series regular, playing Cowboy Curtis on CBS' 1986-91 series "Pee-wee's Playhouse."

While the actor had been mentioned as one of the "CSI" producers' top choices for the role, along with John Malkovich and Kurt Russell, Fishburne said he hadn't seen "CSI" before being approached about the role, but "the episodes they sent to me were really engaging and wonderful and kind of dark and moody. It was like a lot of work that I had actually been involved in, so I thought, 'Wow, that's cool. This'll work.'"

The producers and Fishburne added that they intend to have a "collaborative" partnership on the series, which is produced by CBS Paramount Network TV and Jerry Bruckheimer TV. Fishburne does not have a producer credit, though, while Petersen is an executive producer. CBS does not yet have an airdate for Fishburne's first episode, but a rep said it may air in 2009.

Fishburne is repped by Paradigm and manager Helen Sugland.

NYFF Nabs 'Changeling', 'Wrestler' and 'Che'

2008-08-20T02:26:00.002+07:00

Some people may consider the New York Film Festival a simple "Best Of" sort of event, but the fact that it compiles selections from earlier film fests and merely showcases them in a competition-free program is what I love about it. For those of us New Yorkers who can't always make it to the highlands of Utah and Colorado or the exotic seaside locales of Italy and Southern France, it's nice to know that major festival highlights will likely make their way to Lincoln Center in late September, early October.

This year, the lineup for the 46th NYFF is being noted for its inclusion of films that previously screened at Cannes back in May. Even Steven Soderbergh's four-hour Che (aka The Argentine and Guerilla), which played to mixed reactions in France, even while picking up a best actor prize for star Benicio Del Toro, has been given a spot. Also featured are Cannes leftovers Waltz With Bashir, Wendy and Lucy, Grand Prix-winner Gomorrah and Clint Eastwood's Changeling, which stars Angelina Jolie and has the honor of being NYFF's centerpiece film. Opening the festival is the Palm d'Or winner The Class, while the closing film is Darren Aronofsky's The Wrestler, which premieres a few weeks prior at the Venice Film Festival.

Other exciting big name films include Mike Leigh's Happy-Go-Lucky, Wong Kar-Wai's Ashes of Time: Redux, Lucretia Martel's The Headless Woman and Olivier Assayas' Summer Hours. Surprisingly, Charlie Kaufman's Synechdoche, New York, which screened at Cannes, is New York appropriate and is scheduled to open in October, is missing from the lineup.

Poll: Who Wants Angelina Jolie to Play Catwoman?

2008-08-20T02:22:00.002+07:00

It has begun.

Not even two full weeks after The Dark Knight arrived in theaters, we officially have our first Batman 3 rumor! (Speaking of, we have to decide what to call Nolan's next Batman movie. Dark Knight 2? Batman 3? NolanMan 3? Lets get on that ...) But anyway, the rumor actually comes from another Catwoman: Julie Newmar. Speaking to the New York Daily News, Newmar says, "Angelina would own the part. My industry friends tell me [she] has made inquiries about the role." She went on to add, "I can understand how it would pique her interest. Catwoman is Batman's one true love. She's tremendously popular with women because she's both a heroine and a villainess. When you look at the staggering box office of this current film, which actress wouldn't want to jump in?"

So is Jolie really looking to play Catwoman in a third (and possible final) Batman film from Christopher Nolan? No doubt Bale and Jolie would look good together on screen, and the woman definitely knows how to hold her own when it comes to action. What do you think? Do you Bat-fans want Brad Pitt's gal in Gotham City?

Robert Downey Jr. Tunes Into Sherlock Holmes

2008-08-20T02:20:00.003+07:00

At this point it seems ridiculous to call any role a stretch for Robert Downey, Jr., given that he's just pulled off a role in blackface. But the gifted actor himself seems to be wondering what he'll be able to do as Sherlock Holmes in Guy Ritchie's adaptation of Arthur Conan Doyle's classic stories. At a junket for Tropic Thunder, Downey Jr. told journalists "I feel like Sherlock Holmes is out there somewhere, and I got my little ham radio on to find his frequency, but I've got nothing yet."

And before you start thinking you'll see Downey Jr. wearing a quilted plaid hat and walking around with a magnifying glass, how about adding martial arts to that picture? "We're both [Downey Jr. and Ritchie] martial arts enthusiasts and historically, in the real origin stories of Sherlock Holmes, he's kind of a bad-ass and a bare-knuckle boxer and studies the rare art of baritsu." Yeah, believe it. The historical record sure has been leaving out the juicy stuff, hasn't it?

Premiere.com has the rest of Downey Jr.'s chatter about Holmes, including some fretting about wasting his time promoting Tropic Thunder when maybe he should be working on putting Sherlock together. Something tells me that, come October 6, when the movie starts shooting, Downey Jr. will have somehow pulled it off again.

Film Review: Fly Me to the Moon

2008-08-20T02:16:00.001+07:00

Presenting an insect's-eye-view of the historic Apollo 11 space mission, "Fly Me to the Moon" is an awkward mix of proficient 3-D animation, detailed technical recreation and strained storytelling that stalls on takeoff.

With his extensive background in 3-D production, director Ben Stassen delivers on the technology, but the flyweight narrative and characterizations are awfully flat, despite a voice cast that includes Christopher Lloyd, Kelly Ripa, Tim Curry, Nicollette Sheridan, Ed Begley Jr. and Adrienne Barbeau.

While the Summit Entertainment release is hoping to hitch a ride on the 3-D success of "Journey to the Center of the Earth," it could find itself in for a bumpy landing, following closely on the heels of Fox's underperforming "Space Chimps."

The fly-on-the-wall perspective is the only real novelty in Domonic Paris' otherwise generically uninspired screenplay, which follows a trio of common tween houseflies (voiced by Trevor Gagnon, Philip Daniel Bolden and David Gore) who manage to stow away aboard Apollo 11 and witness history in the making.

That is, if they're able to stop a conniving Soviet fly-spy (Curry channeling "Bullwinkle's" Boris Badenov, while Sheridan summons Natasha) from sabotaging the operation.

But although Stassen demonstrates a painstaking attention to detail when it comes to reconstructing those iconic Apollo images, he all but trips over the rushed lead-in and swarm of nondescript characters in his eagerness to get there.

By the time the real-life Buzz (get it?) Aldrin pops up to deliver what is in essence a disclaimer regarding the possibility of there being flies on the actual Apollo 11 flight, "Fly Me to the Moon" has already found its own place in history -- as an oddball curiosity that failed to get the bugs out.
Production: nWave Entertainment, Illuminata Pictures. Voices: Christopher Lloyd, Kelly Ripa, Nicollette Sheridan, Tim Curry, Trevor Gagnon, Philip Daniel Bolden, David Gore. Director: Ben Stassen; Screenwriters: Domonic Paris; Producers: Charlotte Clay Huggins, Caroline Van Iseghem, Gina Gallo Paris, Mimi Maynard; Executive producers: Eric Dillens, Domonic Paris, Ben Stassen. Music: Ramin Djawadi.

Debunking the Myths Surrounding the Harry Potter Date Change

2008-08-20T02:10:00.003+07:00

When Warner Bros. announced last Thursday that Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince had been pushed back from Nov. 21 to next July, hardcore fans immediately entered the five stages of nerd grief. So far we've worked our way through denial, anger, semi-literate Internet ranting, and conspiracy-theorizing. All that's left is acceptance, where we go ahead and watch the movie when it comes out next summer and forget any of this ever happened.

In the meantime, several myths about the date change have popped up, and we'd like to help separate fact from fiction.

MYTH #1: Half-Blood Prince was moved because WB was scared of Twilight.

According to some people who are fans of the Twilight novel and pre-fans of the Twilight movie, WB got nervous about Harry Potter coming out just three weeks before the teen-vampire chick flick, fearing it would siphon off too much of Harry's audience.

Most observers believe Twilight will indeed be a hit, but come on. The Harry Potter franchise the most lucrative in film history, with a total worldwide box-office gross so far of $4.5 billion. There's no reason for WB to fear any competition, no matter how formidable. Also, most of Harry Potter's income is from overseas, where Twilight, still largely a U.S. phenomenon, cannot hope to compete.

Plus, if Half-Blood Prince came out Nov. 21 and followed the usual pattern, it would have already made most of its projected income by the time Twilight showed up on Dec. 12 anyway. Three weeks is a huge gap in our modern, front-loaded, it's-all-about-opening-weekend movie culture. If there had only been one week between them, then maybe you'd have something.

Check Out This 'Monsters vs. Aliens' Trailer, While You Can

2008-08-20T02:08:00.001+07:00

It may be bootlegged -- and therefore a limited-time offering -- but from very early on, this trailer for next spring's 3-D animated bonanza Monsters vs. Aliens had me sold and only worked its way up from there.

I like that all of the human characters appear to be related to the Parr family, and that the monsters and aliens on display promise to look even cooler in three dimensions. I dig Stephen Colbert as the President and Keifer Sutherland as General W.R. Monger, not to mention other voices by Will Arnett, Seth Rogen, Rainn Wilson, Hugh Laurie, and Paul Rudd. (Oh, and Reese Witherspoon never did anyone any harm either.) Most importantly, the project gives off a saavy sense of humor without relying as heavily on pop culture riffs as Dreamworks used to. A '50-styled sci-fi send-up should hold my attention as much as the little ones, if done right.

Between this, Kung Fu Panda, and Over the Hedge, I think that it's fair to say that Dreamworks Animation has found a reliable niche as Pixar's hipper cousin. With any luck, I won't be proven wrong come March 27, 2009.