film news: june 2009

• Cinematical has this to say about the upcoming Cold Souls, which has perhaps one of the creepier posters I've seen in a while: "Paul Giamatti [stars] as an actor (appropriately named Paul Giamatti) who decides he wants to put some of his soul in storage in order to help better tackle a new role. [...] Cold Souls is a beautifully shot film, and it also becomes more than a little bit moving, as Giamatti struggles with a question we've all asked ourselves: Is it possible to remove the burden of our soul without taking away the benefit of it? Is it the very weight we struggle under that makes us strong? Deep questions, but Cold Souls is also funny; there are fast, laugh-out-loud gags like Giamatti's compensation anxiety over the small size of his extracted soul ("It looks like a chickpea!") or the Russian trophy wife obsessed with getting an American actor's extracted soul so she can implant it and do better Soap Opera work."

• Tim Burton's artwork will be featured at MoMA. The show will include more than 700 pieces: paintings, drawings, storyboards, maquettes, puppets and other work created or designed by Burton.

• I Watch Stuff has the poster for Ice Age 3 and makes a notable observation: the squirrel character's face is very phallic (twig and berries and all) as he ogles the eyelash-batting female squirrel. Now if only this poster were in 3D...

• Via The Movie Blog, Natalie Portman has joined Darren Aronofsky's film Black Swan, about "a veteran ballerina (Portman) who finds herself locked in a competitive situation with a rival dancer, with the stakes and twists increasing as the dancers approach a big performance. But it’s unclear whether the rival is a supernatural apparition or if the protagonist is simply having delusions."

• Cinematical's James Rocchi has a positive Sundance review of Moon, the "smart science fiction" thriller starring Sam Rockwell.

• While we're on the topic of science fiction, here's an awesome timeline by Dan Meth detailing when the movies were made (to the left of the vertical line) and how far into the future they take place (to the right of the vertical line). Click to enlarge.

• Surprise, surprise. The Hangover is getting a sequel. Why should Hollywood have any original ideas when they can capitalize off a previous success? It seems like any box office success will automatically get a sequel.

• Speaking of remakes, Film School Rejects lists 20 films from the 80s that aren't being remade. Hallelujah.

• Here's a current debate regarding female protagonists in films: Cinematical responds to Linda Holmes' request for better female leads. Holmes begs Pixar to have a female lead that isn't a princess, and Monika Bartyzel at Cinematical begs people to realize that this isn't a political issue. Holmes makes the case that "little Russell, in Up, is Asian-American, right? And that's not a big plot point; presumably, he just is because there's no particular reason he shouldn't be. You don't need him to be, but you don't need him not to be, either. It's not politics; it's just seeing the whole big world." Bartyzel agrees: "Look, women aren't flukes. We love, we hate, we learn, we fight. We go to movies. We want diversity in our interests just like everyone else. We want to see films with females in the lead roles where the characterization isn't seeped in cliche. [...] And we'd like to express our desires without having it fall into a political discussion, without our reasonable desire thrown off as a feminist rant or bit of political correctness."

• Ian McKellen, Andy Serkis, and Hugo Weaving are all confirmed for Guillermo del Toro's The Hobbit.

• Filmoculous sent me to Hunch.com with the question, "Which sci-fi movie should I watch?" The method of finding a suggestion is quite entertaining.

• And lastly, URLesque has a list of the 10 best recut movie trailers, including When Harry Met Sally and Amelie as horror films, the latter of which is really fantastic ("You can run. She doesn't have to."). Of course, they've included my favorite recut trailer: Sleepless in Seattle as a thriller about an obsessive stalker -- which actually isn't too far from the truth.

film news: march 2009

• The Movie Blog gives us a look at the new Spike Jonze Where the Wild Things Are movie poster. I can't remember the last time I've been so excited about a movie. (And no, Watchmen was never a site for geekiness for me.)

• Via Film School Rejects: Watchmen Legos!

• The Movie Blog reports Linda Hamilton will offer her voice for Terminator Salvation. Hopefully it's as mind-bendy as her classic voiceover in the first movie.

• According to Cinematical, Time Traveler's Wife will be released August 14th. It's about time. (Ha!)

• I Watch Stuff reports: "Natalie Portman and Brad Pitt have signed on to star in an adaptation of the Leanne Shapton lengthy-titled book Important Artifacts and Personal Property from the Collection of Lenore Doolan and Harold Morris, Including Books, Street Fashion, and Jewelry. Romantic comedy just got incredibly pretentious." As much as I love long titles, this one's not doing much for me, and I think the mock suggestion for Bidding on the Heart as a title is both hilarious and appropriate.

• Via Cinematical: Seriously? Seats with synchronized motion? I understand the importance of "dreaming of a better tomorrow," but can't this tomorrow involve a cure for cancer instead of a needless toy intended to generate more money for the culture industry? (Thanks, Adorno!)

• Film School Rejects give Best Worst Movie, a documentary about the adoration of Troll 2, an A+. I have been waiting forever this documentary to come out, so hopefully it will find wide distribution after SXSW.

• Cinematical is irritated by Sci-Fi's switch to Syfy. I concur. It's a stupid name, and it's insulting to sci-fi fans. (Not to go all Adorno on you again, but the Sci-Fi channel can't really trademark a genre... it's always about money, isn't it?)

• Screen Rant has a look at David Fincher's new animated film, The Goon. My favorite part of the film's press release? "There is a heavy slant on the paranormal." The poster looks pretty awesome.


Away We Go trailer, starring John Krasinski and Maya Rudolph
• As if the sudden surge in remakes and sequels isn't frustrating enough, I Watch Stuff explains that Chris Rock will be remaking Death at a Funeral. You know, that movie that came out in 2007 (!!!).

• Speaking of remakes, will Rihanna and Channing Tatum fill the shoes of Whitney Houston and Kevin Costner is a remake of The Bodyguard? This is one of the few remakes I'm actually okay with. My main problem is that studios are remaking GOOD films simply because they're older (The Day the Earth Stood Still, ahem). I'm fine with them remaking bad movies. And let's be honest, guys, The Bodyguard is not a good movie. You know what other movies are bad? Pretty Woman (it's sexism masquerading as female empowerment!) and Ghost.

• Film Junk had a poll for Best Time Travel Movie, and Back to the Future came out on top with 45% of the votes, followed by 12 Monkeys (15.6%), Terminator 2 (11.8%), and Bill and Ted's Excellent Adventure is in 5th place with 4.3%. I think Bill and Ted's should higher, and as much as I love Back to the Future, 12 Monkeys is a perfect science-fiction film.

website: film in the blanks

At Film the Blanks, this artist, John Taylor, has created these abstract movie poster homages. I will post the film titles in a couple of days, but in the meantime, see if you can figure out which film they belong to. It's surprising how you can still recognize an image even as abstract as these are. Eventually, there will be a shop where you can purchase limited edition, signed screen prints of selected "blanks." My fingers are crossed for some of the Kubrick prints!

Thanks to Mattson Tomlin for the heads up!

posters: they sure don't make 'em like they used to

Update, 11:54pm: Actually, it looks like they DO make 'em like they used to... check out the trailer for the upcoming Alien Trespass below. Needless to say, I think it looks like a Mystery Science Theater reject and oh-so awesomely awful.

the face of brilliance

Ever wondered what brilliance looks like? Here's the trailer for directorial debut of Charlie Kaufman's Synecdoche, New York. I am beyond excited for this. The petal falling off the tattoo? Beautiful, inspired, and haunting. "When are we going to get an audience in here? It's been seventeen years." This looks like a mind-bending look at life as an art -- literally.


And here are two posters for the film:

appaloosa posters

Thanks to the ever-entertaining Row Three, I bring you four character posters for the new Ed Harris helmed Appaloosa. I don't know why, but I'm getting really excited about this movie... not in a high-expectation kind of way, but in a "now for something completely different" kind of way, like in the way that History of Violence surprised a lot of us. The sepia tones of the posters are beautiful and appropriate, but this coloration does extend beyond a generic Western motif. These images play off of dualities; the chiaroscuro around the profiles of the four main characters showcase both the soft tenderness and the dirty grittiness of the themes of the movie. We know it's about two loner cowboy types (presumably with trust issues) who fall in love with a woman in the West. At first, these posters seem to reduce the characters to these themes, but then you look closer and you notice the wrinkle lines of Ed Harris's mouth and eyes or the stitching in Zellwegger's dress, and this closer examination provokes questions about these characters as individuals beyond Western archetypes.

I think I'm excited about this movie because the trailer -- and the subsequent advertisements -- don't give a thing away. My curiosity drives me... drives me right to the theater.

he's just not that into cult films about bad shakespeare sequels

He's Just Not That Into You
This is really up in the air for me. I loved the line when it was simply Miranda's epiphany, but I hated the idea of the book and then the idea of a movie based on a book based on a line from a TV show. I most likely will not see this movie (until it comes to Netflix, and even then, the chances are low), but I do like the poster. It's appropriate, it's aesthetically interesting, and it certainly appeals to the target audience. With a cast this big, I'm glad they don't have pictures of everyone in the cast on the poster. As much I adore Love Actually, the poster is rather silly-looking.

From Cinematical's 7 Good Ideas for Bad Shakespeare Sequels:

Girls Just Want to Have Fun

Ha ha, joke's on Petruchio! Kate the Shrew was never tamed, it was all a ruse to win that big wager. Once her husband is asleep, she takes the money, and pairs up with Bianca and Mrs. Hortensio. They run off to Greece, pursued by Petruchio, Lucentio, and Hortensio. The girls rob banks, hook up with handsome drifters, kill unpleasant fellows, and leave a trail of mayhem behind them. It all ends well, though, when the three girls hop on board a ship and make it to a mythical land called Mexico.

From The Movie Blog, David Cronenberg is turning his film The Fly into an opera. Umm... I would only be interested if Jeff Goldblum can sing.


Entertainment Weekly names the 25 Greatest Cult Movies Since '83, and I think it's a rather confusing list. (I always seem to have a problem with their lists, don't I?) Their definition of "cult movie" seems to range between "bad movies that are unexplainably enjoyable" and "movies that I love but aren't by any means a film." In the former category, I would put their choices of Repo Man, Showgirls, and They Live. In the latter category, I would put their choices of Scarface, Clerks, and Dazed and Confused. But true cult films -- remarkable philosophical cinematic pleasures masquerading as B-movie crap -- that they include are This is Spinal Tap, Heathers, Evil Dead 2, and The Big Lebowski. Why the heck is Shawshank Redemption #1? If it's Internet Movie Database's #1 movie, it can't be a cult film. And why make the list "since 1983"? Certainly there are 25 better cult films of the last 25 years.

The trailer for No Heroics, a Britcom about off-duty superheroes:


It seems like quite a clever parody. My favorite line? "I bet you're fun at the office party." Also, Timebomb's personality is hysterical.

Author Alicia Erian responds to the Los Angeles chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations' request that a movie based on her novel, Towelhead, should be changed:

"As an Arab-American woman, I am of course aware that the title of my book is an ethnic slur. Indeed, I selected the title to highlight one of the novel’s major themes: racism. In the tradition of Dick Gregory’s autobiography Nigger, the Jewish magazine Heeb, or the feminist magazine Bitch, the title is rude and shocking, but it is not gratuitous. Besides the fact that the main character must endure taunting about her ethnicity (including being called a towelhead), so much of the novel’s plot is fueled by the characters’ attitudes toward race."

Read the rest of her statement here. It really bothers me when people are up in arms over something they haven't seen or read (I'm guilty of being anti-Twilight, despite never having read it), but in this particular case, I sympathize with the Islamic council. I do not agree with them or think that the title of the film should be changed, but I can understand why they would want to prevent the perpetuating negative myth about their race and culture in America. Once they see the film, though, I think they'll understand that the positive strength and courage of their race will be presented.

day the earth stood still remake: poster

Above is the poster for The Day the Earth Stood Still (the remake). I'm just as annoyed as anyone else that Hollywood only manages to recycle ideas (and are now bringing this laziness to Broadway), but nothing aggravates me more than doing a remake of an already solid movie. I can understand Gus van Sant doing a remake of Psycho (the ending is outdated and, yes, comical), but it wasn't a remake. He recreated Psycho shot-for-shot. Isn't that THEFT? American remakes of foreign classics also irritate me because Americans should just rent the original anyway. Two things happen with these Americanized remakes. One, people have no need to see foreign films because Hollywood will just make a craptastic version of it eventually. And two, they're craptastic. Most remakes are mediocre. Can you think of a remake that surpasses the original? (Even Haneke's Funny Games, which is a shot-by-shot duplication of his original German film, isn't as interesting.)

So above remakes and sequels and foreign rip-offs, I hate remakes of already stellar movies. (If anyone does a direct remake of It's a Wonderful Life, blood will be spilled. Jimmy Stewart is George Bailey.) So why remake The Day the Earth Stood Still, which, if you've seen it, is more impressive in plot, character development, and special effects than most movies today. (Did you see their guns just disappear?) My prediction for Hollywood's latest remake is... the smartest person in the world will no longer be a scientist but Joel Osteen, and Klaatu (played this time by Keanu Reeves... seriously?) will be more futuristic-looking than the original Klaatu (who took on the guise of a contemporary human). I also imagine that the final message will not be about love and tolerance... but about violence and breasts.