Archive for the ‘Mystery & Suspense’ Category
Filed under: Independent, SXSW, Mystery & Suspense, Newsstand, Movie Marketing, Images
Roy’s Motel is not what it seems. In writer/director Chad Feehan’s debut film Wake, a young couple on the road, played by Josh Stewart and Jamie-Lynn Sigler, stop for the night at Roy’s on the road to California, hoping for a warm bed and hot coffee, and end up in a strange psycho-drama where all of their darkest secrets are laid bare. It’s a movie that defies easy categorization, a corkscrew morality play that rivals the very best episodes of The Twilight Zone, and we’ve got four exclusive pics from the new film.
Wake makes its debut at SXSW on Saturday, March 14th with Feehan and his stars on-hand for the premiere. If you like your movies a little more unpredictable than the average flick, you’ll definitely want to keep Wake on your radar. Check out the gallery for our exclusive stills.
Filed under: Action, Deals, Noir, Mystery & Suspense, Sony, Celebrities and Controversy, Scripts, 20th Century Fox, DIY/Filmmaking, Newsstand, Politics, Comic/Superhero/Geek, Remakes and Sequels
Once Sam Raimi was unceremoniously booted from Spider-Man 4 along with the cast and crew, speculation was rampant as to what he would direct next. World of Warcraft? What about The Shadow? He’s wanted to do that for a long, long time and as of last January, it was chugging along quite nicely. Whatever he picked, we were rooting for him. But now The Shadow has vanished into the darkness, as Variety reports that Sony has let the rights lapse. It’s hard not to read into this and see it as evidence of bad blood between Sony and Raimi. I don’t want to jump to gossipy conclusions, but if things were good, wouldn’t you at least agree to be friends and make The Shadow together?
Raimi’s reps at CAA are now shopping The Shadow rights around town, and Raimi is still attached as a producer. So at least he gets to keep his pet pulp, even if it’s standing on shaky ground. Not only does it delay a possible film, but it could all land in some uncompromising hands. One of the interested parties is 20th Century Fox. Latino Review says they’ve already purchased The Shadow and may have set David Slade to direct, while Variety is merely reporting Fox as “interested.”
Slade and Raimi go way back (30 Days of Night) so it makes sense that Raimi would offer the chair to an old friend. But I was hoping he’d step into the director’s chair for a little noir before heading into Warcraft. At least we know that’s likely to be his next director’s outing by sheer default. Start casting your Night Elves now!
Filed under: Foreign Language, Independent, New Releases, Mystery & Suspense, Theatrical Reviews, Festival Reports, Other Festivals
Is there a sweeter word than “mother”? It (or a simplified version of it) is usually one of the first words a baby learns to say. In every language it suggests love and nurturing, as well as fierce protection. You do not get between a mother and her young. You do not threaten a mother’s children, nor do you threaten a child’s mother. You have no problem identifying your dad as something of a bastard if that’s the case, but your mom — she is revered and honored, no matter what faults she may have.
This natural respect for motherhood is at the root of Mother (Madeo), a fantastically unsettling mystery-thriller by Korean filmmaker Bong Joon-ho (whose The Host, from 2006, was one of the more entertaining monster movies of the decade). Bong starts with the basic premise that a mother will do anything to protect her child, then takes that premise to its logical — yet somehow also completely insane — conclusion.
The mother in question is Yoon Hye-ja (Kim Hye-ja), an herbalist and unlicensed acupuncturist who lives in a small South Korean town with her son, Do-joon (Won Bin), as her only companion. Do-joon, in his mid 20s, is somewhat developmentally disabled, probably about 7 years old in terms of emotional maturity. He’s able to get along OK, though, requiring just a little extra attention from his vigilant mother.
Mrs. Yoon is only too happy to provide it, too. Protective by nature, she has a worried, Meryl Streep-y face, and expresses concern about Do-joon’s friend, Jin-tae (Jin Goo), whom she considers a bad influence. Do-joon and Jin-tae get into a bit of trouble with some local rich dudes at the town’s country club after a minor hit-and-run accident … and then the movie kicks in to high gear.
Filed under: Horror, Mystery & Suspense, New Line, Warner Brothers, Remakes and Sequels
Several journalists were invited to the Chicago-based set of Platinum Dunes’ remake of A Nightmare on Elm Street last June, and at this point, we’re all standing in the trailer where an uncomfortable Jackie Earle Haley has been sitting for the better part of what will take more than three hours.
“We’ve gotten [the process] down to three hours and twenty [minutes],” said make-up artist Andrew Clement. “Every day, we shave a couple minutes off of it. It had started at six hours; we were working it all out, didn’t have the coloring and all of our choices done, so it was just seeing what it was all about.”
When asked if he ever wanted to just run around the neighborhood with the make-up on, the future Freddy Krueger said no. “There is a strong temptation to just rip it off my face, though.”
Filed under: Classics, Drama, Thrillers, Noir, Mystery & Suspense, Celebrities and Controversy
With news that Roman Polanski has won the best director award at the Berlin Film Festival for The Ghost Writer, a film he did post-production on while “in jail,” according to star Pierce Brosnan in an interview with CNN (whom I also interviewed for The Ghost Writer), my own mixed feelings about the director are coming to a head. I’ve seen The Ghost Writer and I liked the movie very much, especially the more I thought about it. I’d like to see it again. I like Polanski’s other movies quite a bit as well, especially as I’ve gotten older and revisited them.
But as a feminist, I have a hard time reconciling that someone I consider an extremely gifted writer and director also pleaded guilty to “unlawful sex with a minor.” (You can read the transcripts of the grand jury testimony on The Smoking Gun, if you have the stomach for it, because it’s not a matter of the girl simply being underage, but of him drugging and raping her despite her repeatedly telling him no and asking her to take him home.)
In fact, the real crime he’s wanted for is fleeing sentencing. It’s entirely possible that what seems like a slap on the wrist for such a crime these days was viewed as overly harsh in the ’70s, when no didn’t always mean no even when uttered by a drugged minor. And I’ve seen Roman Polanski: Wanted and Desired, and despite the SNAFU of his sentencing process, I still think, Christ, couldn’t he just have done the time? I’ve read Hollywood Babylon and its follow-up, and I am no naïf. I don’t excuse his behavior at all, but I also don’t think it’s uncommon, obviously. Not in Hollywood, and not among “real” people. I’m not an apologist, not for Polanski nor for others who commit similar crimes. His comment that “Everyone wants to f- young girls!” is disturbing, to say the least.
Filed under: Comedy, Documentary, Drama, Independent, Romance, Thrillers, SXSW, Mystery & Suspense
Just three weeks out, SXSW drops a few more titles on us, including their Closing Night Film — Four Lions, the acclaimed jihad comedy (!) that premiered at Sundance last month. (In his rave review, Scott described it as “certainly not for all tastes, but an absolutely unique treat for those who like a little danger in their comedy.”)
Also announced: the world premiere of doc American Grindhouse, the U.S. premiere of Swiss sci-fi Cargo, Slamdance thriller Tony, rock-and-roll vampire movie Suck, eco-minded doc Haynesville: The Hunt for an Energy Future, Spike Jonze’s short I’m Here and much more.
You can check out the full line-up on SXSW’s website or read more detailed descriptions of the new titles after the jump, and you can prepare yourself for all the coverage that Cinematical’s going to bring you from the heart of Texas next month (coverage of BBQ, mostly, and maybe some movies too).
Continue reading SXSW 2010: ‘Four Lions’ as Closing Night, Other Titles Revealed
Filed under: Action, Drama, Independent, Sci-Fi & Fantasy, Thrillers, Awards, Casting, Mystery & Suspense, Universal, RumorMonger, Newsstand
There’s been lots of buzz surrounding Oscar nominee Jeremy Renner. He’s been name-dropped for The Avengers and was in talks for Mad Max: Fury Road, but now those hungering to see more of The Hurt Locker star know where they can find him outside of The Town. According to The New York Times, Renner has officially joined The Raven, and may boast Ewan McGregor as his costar.
We haven’t heard much about The Raven since James McTeigue claimed the director’s chair last August, so having McGregor and Renner confirmed is pretty exciting. The film is a fictional account of poet Edgar Allan Poe’s final, mysterious days, and puts him in the middle of a gruesome murder investigation. Last summer, McTeigue told Slashfilm that it was “like the poem, The Raven, itself, crossed with Se7en. It should be pretty cool.” Renner is tight-lipped as to what role he will play. He actually resembles a healthy Poe, so I rather hope he’s playing the poet himself.
Renner is also in talks to command Peter Berg’s Battleship. But schedule conflicts may force him to choose between it and another project he declined to name, though Movieline and an anonymous Playlist commentator are speculating that it could be Paul Thomas Anderson’s The Master. (No First Avenger: Captain America rumors yet?) Renner seems unruffled by all the scripts pouring in, as he’s busy restoring Preston Sturges’ house for resale. By his own admission, he’s not hurting for money, so he can take the time to pick the good movies. Maybe more actors need to take up construction side jobs.
Filed under: Horror, Mystery & Suspense, Cinematical Seven, Lists
Sometimes you just need to get away from all that pesky sunshine and sanity, and when movies themselves just aren’t enough of an escape, Hollywood can point us all in the right direction when it comes to making the perfect wrong turn. In honor of this month’s Shutter Island and Frozen, we proudly present a list of seven places that filmdom has taught us to just stay the f**k away from already.
1. An asylum — Look, every once in a while, you have to work with you. I get it, the checks won’t earn themselves. But if your job takes you to an asylum, whether working and isolated on a cold, rocky island (as in Shutter Island) or abandoned and filled with asbestos on the mainland (as in Session 9), the general rule of them is simple: don’t go there. Give it up. Nothing good ever comes of these joints. I know that times are tough, but find yourself a new line of work, because there’s no way this is going to end well.
Filed under: Drama, Horror, Thrillers, Mystery & Suspense, Paramount, Theatrical Reviews
By John Gholson — review reprinted from 12/21/2009
We’ve come to expect Martin Scorsese to swing for the fences every single time he’s at bat, so when a movie comes along like Shutter Island, a pulpy, by-the-numbers thriller, it’s easy to feel a slight twinge of disappointment. Here, we’re dealing with a lesser work by a modern master, which is to say that Shutter Island is still a crackerjack mystery, executed with great artistic care, but it’s also Scorsese working about as close as he ever has to popcorn-munching cineplex fare. It’s a hard-boiled and unpretentious outing, but the individual parts of Shutter Island are greater than the whole — particularly the cinematography by Robert Richardson and outstanding work from a dream team ensemble cast.
Leading that dream team is Leonardo DiCaprio as U.S. Marshal Teddy Daniels, called in to a state-run mental institution on a storm-battered, rocky island on the East Coast, along with his new partner Chuck (Mark Ruffalo). The delusional murderess Rachel Solando has gone missing from her cell, leaving behind no evident clues, and with those in charge of the facility (Ben Kingsley, who needs to work with Scorsese more often, and Max Von Sydow) only forthcoming with information to the officers as it seems to suit them.
Daniels immerses himself in the investigation with unhealthy abandon, perhaps as a way to force back the memories of the recent death of his wife (Michelle Williams) at the hands of an arsonist, or, more troubling, to quiet the voices that constantly remind him of his own violent past, time spent serving out gruesome wartime justice to anonymous Nazi soldiers. Trapped on Shutter Island during a nasty storm, Daniels begins to let on to Chuck that he knows more about the hospital than anything they’ve learned while investigating Solando. There’s a connection with Daniel’s wife’s killer and the institution — a connection that Daniels is convinced leads to secret House Un-American Activities Committee-funded neurological experiments taking place in Shutter Island’s nigh-impenetrable lighthouse.
Filed under: Foreign Language, Thrillers, Mystery & Suspense, Home Entertainment
[Welcome to Duty Free Movies, a new little corner of Cinematical where we'll be highlighting quality import discs from around the world. Given my bend for horror, sci-fi, and Asian movies, a good number of imports on my shelf fall under that realm, but I'll do my best to spread the love around to other genres as well.]
Mother, the latest film from Joon-ho Bong (The Host, Memories of Murder), will get a limited theatrical run in the US starting March 12. That’s great news for fans of the South Korean filmmaker, for Mother is definitely worth seeing on the big screen; if you happen to live in a major city like New York, L.A. or Chicago, that is. For those who are normally left in the lurch on limited releases, however, your best bet is to go ahead and import the Korean Blu-ray.
As with The Good, the Bad, the Weird (and hopefully all entries in Duty Free Movies), CJ Entertainment’s disc is Region A, so it should play problem free in any US Blu-ray player. However, unlike TGBTW, this disc isn’t part of CJ Ent’s limited collector’s edition lineup, so the packaging isn’t quite as extravagant. There are no physical extras beyond the disc and its case (again made of nicer, firmer materials than most Criterion BDs here in the States), but that doesn’t matter much considering the disc has a number of supplements of its own. Plus the movie is just fantastic; easily the best thriller of 2009.
Continue reading Duty Free Movies: Joon-ho Bong’s ‘Mother’ on Blu-ray
