Archive for the ‘Genres’ Category
Filed under: Action, Drama, Thrillers, New Releases, Universal, War
Delivering big entertainment value has become a hallmark of the collaboration between Matt Damon and Paul Greengrass. The Bourne Supremacy and The Bourne Ultimatum were intelligent, high-flying thrillers that were grounded in reality. That reality came about, in part, thanks to Greengrass’ docu-drama touches, notably the jittery, nervous, sometimes out of focus photographic technique known as “shaky cam.” Green Zone, the latest team-up between star and director, stretches beyond pure popcorn in its ambition, becoming as much an unambiguous message movie as an action drama.
The blurry-eyed shaky-cam, however, remains, to the point that some folks might become a little nauseous from watching the action scenes. Admittedly, I haven’t always been the biggest fan of shaky-cam; over the past 10 years, it’s become a crutch for directors who don’t know how else to imply a sense of “reality” (hello, Cloverfield! See image above, at right.) Used judiciously and skillfully, however, as a technique that fits the story, it can be terrific. Really, it’s no more artificial than other methods and techniques that lend verisimilitude to a narrative feature, similar to the use of non-professional (or little-known) actors side by side with well-known stars like Damon, Greg Kinnear (as a self-righteous government official), and Amy Ryan (as a reporter forced to search her soul for the truth).
The shaky-cam reminds us of documentaries and reality TV shows, yes, but that’s not really cheating, is it?
Filed under: Action, Casting, Paramount, RumorMonger, Newsstand, Comic/Superhero/Geek, War
I suspect Marvel may actually be Big Brother. Yesterday afternoon, Fox 411 and their anonymous source confirmed that John Krasinski was Captain America, as we had reported earlier, and Twitter exploded in righteous debate and indignation. (I was one of them, yes.) Fanboys and girls only enjoyed about an hour of that before Deadline Hollywood Daily suddenly had a Captain America scoop: Krasinski was out of the running, as are Chace Crawford, Scott Porter, Michael Cassidy, and Patrick Flueger.
But there’s two new possibilities in the mix. THR’s Heat Vision says that one is Wilson Bethel of HBO’s Generation Kill, a series still sitting in my queue, so I’m not familiar with him yet. Another exciting possibility being called up for a screen test is Chris Evans. He already has quite a few comic roles under his belt, most notably as the Human Torch in Fantastic Four. Going purely off Twitter, the geek community immediately perked up when his name came into play. Evans has clocked in some fine performances, but he never cracks that glass ceiling. Cap would be the role to do it in. He’d be a better pick than Krasinski. I can see Evans as a soldier struggling against his costume and USO restraints. In fact, I can see that really, really well.
Evans and Bethel face competition from Mike Vogel and Garrett Hedlund, who are still in the running. DHD and Heat Vision both note that Marvel they really like Hedlund (and you caught a glimpse of him in that Tron: Legacy trailer), but he hasn’t tested yet. His reps reportedly balked at the 9 film contract and the low paycheck, but apparently not enough to take him out of talks.
Continue reading Captain America Still Not Cast? New Actors Auditioning?
Filed under: Classics, Romance, Sci-Fi & Fantasy, Deals, Scripts, DIY/Filmmaking, Newsstand, War
Just two days ago, I brought you the rundown of what filmmakers were dusting off their Tennyson, Le Morte d’Arthur, T.H. White and John Boorman and heading back to that spot that was once known as Camelot. One of them is now officially official, as Variety reports that Guy Ritchie is attached to direct a new King Arthur film for Warner Bros. But instead of the Warren Ellis script that was being bandied around, Variety says it’ll be scripted by Ritchie and John Hodge.
Beyond that, there’s as little to go on as there was in the scraps of my previous Arthurian article. Variety notes that it will be a “re-imagining” of the Arthur myth, but that it’s drawing on Sir Thomas Malory’s Le Morte d’ Arthur. This 15th century collection of tales has been the basis of just about every Arthur story to date, including John Boorman’s Excalibur. You can get a little rundown of all the tales on good old Wikipedia, although I recommend buying a copy sometime if you really dig going to the source. They’ve survived from the 15th century for a reason.
So, the big question will be how this version will re-imagine Malory, and how it’s going to contrast with Bryan Singer’s Excalibur remake that’s also at Warner Bros. I like Ritchie for the job, though. He loves England, and I thought Sherlock Holmes really showed a knowledge of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, and a love of London extended beyond Ritchie gangsters and into a fantasy Victoriana. If he could bring that to the Middle Ages, keep the magic and bromance, and make it look like the sweeping, Pre-Raphaelite vision that many of us cherish, it would be the perfect King Arthur movie.
What do you think?
Filed under: Action, Documentary, Independent, Sci-Fi & Fantasy, Casting, RumorMonger, DIY/Filmmaking, Newsstand, War
Last year, Slashfilm reported that blogger extraordinaire Ariana Huffington was claiming she was shooting scenes for a secret sci-fi film directed by the Wachowskis. (We’re not calling them brothers here!) Huffington said it was a movie about the Iraq War but filmed from the perspective of the future. She had photos of herself with Andy and Lana, backed by green screen, and it was all very odd. At the time, our Erik Davis speculated it could be Tom Tykwer’s adaptation of Cloud Atlas, which the Wachowskis are producing. But Slashfilm is now reporting that Jesse Ventura has also filmed a role in the secret movie, and what he says just adds to the mystery.
Ventura appeared on the Howard Stern show yesterday, and when asked if he’d ever return to the big screen, he revealed he had filmed some sci-fi weirdness with the Wachowskis. He doesn’t know what the film is, he was shown no script, and he was merely told to improv.
“They brought me [in], and they brought Arianna Huffington in after me. Arianna was there, and they had her looking like Cleopatra … Do you remember what John Travolta looked like in that horrible film Battlefield Earth? They put multicolored dreadlocks on me all the way to here. They gave me this crazy beard that was hanging down pointed, looked like Travolta, right? And they put a third eye in the middle of my forehead. Because what this is, is this is a hundred years in the future, and they wanted me to talk about the current war in Iraq and how I felt about it. And so I got to vent, looking like this maniac in this whole outfit.”
Continue reading Jesse Ventura Also Involved In Secret Wachowski Project
Filed under: Action, Drama, Romance, Universal, Newsstand, Movie Marketing, War, Trailers and Clips
Scott seems to be returning the story into that of Saxons versus Normans. (Richard the Lionheart and John were as French as can be. England wasn’t that thrilled that the House of Anjou had showed up to take over.) But it also seems to be the story of the barons standing up against King John and demanding their rights. Will we see him sign the Magna Carta? Should that be a spoiler alert? Oh well.
Anyway, I’m excited and a lot more impressed by the scope of this trailer, which has a lot of action, a lot of eye-catching actors, and a lot of heart. I’m in love with Cate Blanchett’s sword-swinging Marion. An anachronism? Maybe. But this is the era in which women were still causing marital havoc (Empress Matilda, Eleanor of Aquitaine) so perhaps she’s the last of a fierce breed. Besides, who can resist seeing Russell Crowe cowed by a girl?
The trailer is below, thanks to Yahoo! What do you think? Does it interest you now? Does it give too much away?
Continue reading New ‘Robin Hood’ Trailer Looks Less Like ‘Gladiator’!
Filed under: Action, Drama, Thrillers, New Releases, Universal, War
Delivering big entertainment value has become a hallmark of the collaboration between Matt Damon and Paul Greengrass. The Bourne Supremacy and The Bourne Ultimatum were intelligent, high-flying thrillers that were grounded in reality. That reality came about, in part, thanks to Greengrass’ docu-drama touches, notably the jittery, nervous, sometimes out of focus photographic technique known as “shaky cam.” Green Zone, the latest team-up between star and director, stretches beyond pure popcorn in its ambition, becoming as much an unambiguous message movie as an action drama.
The blurry-eyed shaky-cam, however, remains, to the point that some folks might become a little nauseous from watching the action scenes. Admittedly, I haven’t always been the biggest fan of shaky-cam; over the past 10 years, it’s become a crutch for directors who don’t know how else to imply a sense of “reality” (hello, Cloverfield! See image above, at right.) Used judiciously and skillfully, however, as a technique that fits the story, it can be terrific. Really, it’s no more artificial than other methods and techniques that lend verisimilitude to a narrative feature, similar to the use of non-professional (or little-known) actors side by side with well-known stars like Damon, Greg Kinnear (as a self-righteous government official), and Amy Ryan (as a reporter forced to search her soul for the truth).
The shaky-cam reminds us of documentaries and reality TV shows, yes, but that’s not really cheating, is it?
Filed under: Classics, Romance, Sci-Fi & Fantasy, Deals, Scripts, DIY/Filmmaking, Newsstand, War
Just two days ago, I brought you the rundown of what filmmakers were dusting off their Tennyson, Le Morte d’Arthur, T.H. White and John Boorman and heading back to that spot that was once known as Camelot. One of them is now officially official, as Variety reports that Guy Ritchie is attached to direct a new King Arthur film for Warner Bros. But instead of the Warren Ellis script that was being bandied around, Variety says it’ll be scripted by Ritchie and John Hodge.
Beyond that, there’s as little to go on as there was in the scraps of my previous Arthurian article. Variety notes that it will be a “re-imagining” of the Arthur myth, but that it’s drawing on Sir Thomas Malory’s Le Morte d’ Arthur. This 15th century collection of tales has been the basis of just about every Arthur story to date, including John Boorman’s Excalibur. You can get a little rundown of all the tales on good old Wikipedia, although I recommend buying a copy sometime if you really dig going to the source. They’ve survived from the 15th century for a reason.
So, the big question will be how this version will re-imagine Malory, and how it’s going to contrast with Bryan Singer’s Excalibur remake that’s also at Warner Bros. I like Ritchie for the job, though. He loves England, and I thought Sherlock Holmes really showed a knowledge of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, and a love of London extended beyond Ritchie gangsters and into a fantasy Victoriana. If he could bring that to the Middle Ages, keep the magic and bromance, and make it look like the sweeping, Pre-Raphaelite vision that many of us cherish, it would be the perfect King Arthur movie.
What do you think?
Filed under: Comedy, Romance, Casting, Remakes and Sequels
I’m apparently in the minority, but I was really looking forward to John Krasinski playing Steve Rogers in the Captain America movie. Well, so much for that. On the bright side, though, The Hollywood Reporter brings news of another potential franchise for the TV star. And it’s in a genre that more of you are likely to accept Krasinski in than that of superhero movies. Yes, the genre is romantic comedy, which more and more is being deemed by Hollywood as franchise material.
Krasinski is in talks to co-star alongside Ginnifer Goodwin in an adaptation of Emily Giffin’s chick lit best seller SomethingBorrowed , about a woman who steals her best friend’s fiancee. As we learned two years ago, the film was set up by Hilary Swank and her producing partner Molly Smith. Since that initial announcement, a script has been turned in by 90210 writer/producer Jennie Snyder and The Girl Next Door director Luke Greenfield is set to begin shooting this spring.
Continue reading John Krasinski Ain’t Cap, But He May Have a New Franchise
Filed under: Comedy, Drama, Romance, Box Office Predictions
I knew Alice in Wonderland was going to do well but I seriously underestimated just how well. Alice had the biggest March opening ever, as well as the strongest opening for a 3D movie and had the best opening in history for a non-sequel. Here’s the top five:
1. Alice in Wonderland: $116.1 million
2. Brooklyn’s Finest: $13.4 million
3. Shutter Island: $13.2 million
4. Cop Out: $9.2 million
5. Avatar: $8.1 million
We’ve got a whopping four new releases this week:
The Green Zone
What’s It All About: Based on a novel by Rajiv Chandrasekaran, this one is about a U.S. soldier’s hunt for weapon’s of mass destruction in Iraq during which he learns that factions on both sides of the issue are spinning the truth for their own ends.
Why It Might Do Well: Matt Damon stars, United 93’s Paul Greengrass is directing and the film is getting a 71% Fresh rating over at Rottentomatoes.com.
Why It Might Not Do Well: There are still enough strong movies in release to keep this one from climbing too high.
Number of Theaters: 2,900
Prediction: $16 million
Our Family Wedding
What’s It All About: When a young couple announces their plans to wed, their respective fathers (Forest Whitaker and Carlos Mencia) immediately lock horns.
Why It Might Do Well: America Ferrera stars as the bride and despite Ugly Betty’s recent cancellation I always liked her.
Why It Might Not Do Well: WIth or without the ethnic spin, the “families-butt-heads-before-the-wedding” story has been done to death. Also, I so can’t stand Carlos Mencia.
Number of Theaters: 1,500
Prediction: $6 million
Continue reading Box Office: The Green League Remembers Our Wedding
Filed under: Action, Drama, Romance, Universal, Newsstand, Movie Marketing, War, Trailers and Clips
Scott seems to be returning the story into that of Saxons versus Normans. (Richard the Lionheart and John were as French as can be. England wasn’t that thrilled that the House of Anjou had showed up to take over.) But it also seems to be the story of the barons standing up against King John and demanding their rights. Will we see him sign the Magna Carta? Should that be a spoiler alert? Oh well.
Anyway, I’m excited and a lot more impressed by the scope of this trailer, which has a lot of action, a lot of eye-catching actors, and a lot of heart. I’m in love with Cate Blanchett’s sword-swinging Marion. An anachronism? Maybe. But this is the era in which women were still causing marital havoc (Empress Matilda, Eleanor of Aquitaine) so perhaps she’s the last of a fierce breed. Besides, who can resist seeing Russell Crowe cowed by a girl?
The trailer is below, thanks to Yahoo! What do you think? Does it interest you now? Does it give too much away?
Continue reading New ‘Robin Hood’ Trailer Looks Less Like ‘Gladiator’!
