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Cinematical Seven: Ways to Leave Your Employer
6 hours ago
The film Up in the Air opens in theaters on Friday, and a large part of the film is about people leaving their jobs, usually involuntarily. George Clooney's character makes a living from laying off people, and the reactions of the dismissed employees in the film are often amazing. I must say, I was laid off from a day job a few months ago (and miraculously found a better one a month later, so no need for sympathy), and after seeing Up in the Air, I wished it had been Clooney's character that did the deed. He really does have a knack.
Hollywood has given us so many examples of ways people are laid off, fired, and quit ... or do something spectacularly insane that they know will end their employment one way or another. There must be 50 ways to leave your employer, especially if Paul Simon is involved, but we have space for seven. »
- Jette Kernion
Review: Up in the Air
7 hours ago
By: Eugene Novikov, reprinted from the Toronto Film Festival '09
Sometimes it seems like one of Hollywood's main goals is to make people without spouses and children feel really bad about themselves. If that sort of thing bothers you, I would recommend passing on Up in the Air, which is as strident about the notion that a life without a family is worthless as any movie I've ever seen. Fortunately, it is also brisk, funny, and not enslaved to genre conventions. Parts of the film, in fact, approach comic brilliance. The reason that the film's message-mongering doesn't grate, I think, is that we really do feel sorry for the protagonist - an obsessive frequent flier who begins to realize that his life is an empty, lonely shell of rationalizations and self-delusions.
In some respects, Ryan Bingham (George Clooney) approaches caricature: not only is he wifeless, childless and practically homeless - »
- Cinematical staff
'The Birds' Remake May Take a Trip to the 'Last House on the Left'
8 hours ago
Platinum Dunes, the company behind the reboots of Texas Chainsaw Massacre, Friday the 13th, and the upcoming Nightmare on Elm Street, announced they were going to revisit Alfred Hitchcock's classic nature-run-amok film The Birds over two years ago. Though little progress has been tracked since then, the bulk of that time span found Casino Royale and Goldeneye director Martin Campbell the main name attached to the helm. And while one could have assumed the lack of visible progress meant the remake had idled at the studio, Pajiba is now reporting that's no longer the case.
According to their source, The Birds is once again looking to get off the ground, only without Campbell in the pilot's seat. They're told that Dennis Iliades is being courted to take over, a move that should divide fans of the original film. On the one hand, Campbell's experience with grand set pieces would »
- Peter Hall
Charles Shyer to Direct Chick Buddy Flick 'Bff'
9 hours ago
According to The Hollywood Reporter, Baby Boom and Alfie (2004) director Charles Shyer has signed on to direct a chick flick. Shyer will be behind the lens for the tale of two best friends (Bff, for the acronym-challenged, means best friends forever in girlspeak) who have reunited as adults, only to find one is a country mouse and one is a well-heeled city gal. The script was originally written by Vanessa Parise and Robin Dunne and is now being rewritten by Ellen Greenberg and Hallie Shyer, who is currently co-writing the screenplay for Eloise in Paris along with Charles Shyer, who will also direct. It's hard not to wonder why Greenberg and Shyer are rewriting an original script -- too many cooks in the kitchen, etc. -- but let's give them the benefit of the doubt.
As we all know, reuniting with old friends usually brings a host of problems with it -- especially old rivalries. »
- Jenni Miller
Leonardo DiCaprio Finally Voices an Animated Character: Jack Frost
9 hours ago
It's hard to believe that after so many years being one of Hollywood's biggest movie stars, Leonardo DiCaprio had never lent his voice for an animated film. Alas, in these times where studios still think A-list names sell tickets, even when you can't see their pretty faces, it was only a matter of time before Leo went before the microphone to speak for a cartoon character. He'll be heard as the voice of Jack Frost in DreamWorks Animation's The Guardians, based on the upcoming series of books by children's author William Joyce (A Day with Wilbur Robinson, source of Meet the Robinsons).
The computer-animated film will be directed by Peter Ramsey, whose only known credit is the recent Monsters vs. Aliens DVD spin-off Mutant Pumpkins from Outer Space. Interestingly enough, The Guardians is also somewhat holiday-related. In addition to Jack Frost, characters include Santa Claus and the Easter Bunny, as »
- Christopher Campbell
2009 to Set New All-Time Record at Box Office?
10 hours ago
It's news like this that casts doubt on Hollywood's soapbox crusade against piracy: Variety is reporting that even with a few key weeks still to go, the cumulative box office haul for 2009 has been a gobsmacking $9.48 billion, a number I'd also like to write in full so as to appreciate how many zeroes are involved: $9,480,000,000.00. That figure is only $175 million below the historical high, too, which means that come the release of Sherlock Holmes, Alvin and the Chipmunks: the Squekuell, and a certain movie called Avatar that absolutely no one is paying attention to, 2009 should be resetting the record.
Say what you will about the languishing lack of creativity in Hollywood, but that number is impressive; particularly so considering the rest of the world is suffering the crushing effects of the dreaded recession. Appropriate enough, though, it is this very same suffering that has, most likely, been the fuel »
- Peter Hall
Discuss: Should Gay Actors Stay in the Closet?
11 hours ago
A few days before Meredith Baxter (the mom from Family Ties) came out of the closet, the always-outspoken Rupert Everett had some choice words for gay actors: get comfy in the closet. Coincidentally, Everett's new movie St. Trinian's 2: The Legend of Fritton's Gold, has him playing Camilla Fritton, an eccentric headmistress who looks like a cross between the Queen Mum and Madame the puppet. In the previous St. Trinians, which I couldn't sit through, he also played her brother, Carnaby.
The openly gay actor blames coming out of the closet for the state of his career, telling The Guardian, "The fact is that you could not be, and still cannot be, a 25-year-old homosexual trying to make it in the British film business or the American film business or even the Italian film business. It just doesn't work and you're going to hit a brick wall at some point. »
- Jenni Miller
Sundance '10 Announces Non-Competing Film Premieres
12 hours ago
Sundance is a celebration of independent filmmaking, but half the fun is seeing the premieres of larger films that might not come out for months, or years in some cases. In fact, the non-industry people who attend Sundance every year might not be able to tell you what documentary won the Grand Jury prize last year (it was Ondi Timoner's We Live In Public), but they're always able to tell you when they saw "that new George Clooney movie."
With that in mind, Sundance has announced the premieres that are screening out of competition. You can see a full list, complete with synopsis and cast listing for each film, just beyond the break. There's a few standouts so far, and I'd have to say my most eagerly anticipated is The Company Men, where Ben Affleck, Kevin Costner, Tommy Lee Jones, Chris Cooper and others have to survive corporate downsizing. »
- Kevin Kelly
Is Warren Beatty Working on a 'Dick Tracy' Documentary?
12 hours ago
Actor/director Warren Beatty's long legal battle with Tribune Company over the rights to the character Dick Tracy revealed an interesting kernel of information on what might be Beatty's next film project -- a documentary on the comic strip detective. Tribune Co. tried to claim the Dick Tracy rights as an asset in a recent bankruptcy hearing, but Beatty holds the rights to the character as long as he makes "productive use" of the property. It's a sweet deal for Beatty and an absolute nightmare for Tribune Co., as the wording of the agreement doesn't seem to put any time table on when the agreement expires.
This isn't the first time Tribune has tried to wrest control of their character from Beatty. in 2005, Beatty announced that he was interested in pursuing a Dick Tracy sequel/reboot/remake/cash grab with the apparent intention of getting Tribune off his back over the rights. »
- John Gholson
'The 40 Year Old Virgin Who Knocked Up Sarah Marshall and Felt Superbad About It' is Sadly Real and Has a Trailer
13 hours ago
When I came across the title The 40 Year Old Virgin Who Knocked Up Sarah Marshall and Felt Superbad About It on IMDb my brain shut down and went into an automated fear response of rapid Googling to confirm whether or not it was some kind of hoax. It is not. This is a full-on, feature length, distributed by 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment, motion picture (thank the comedy Gods it isn't getting a theatrical release).
And though you'd rightfully expect that this is a stepchild of the same team who put together cash-in spoofs like Meet the Spartans and both Epic and Disaster Movies, The 40 Year Old Virgin Who Knocked Up Sarah Marshall and Felt Superbad About It has nothing to do with either Jason Friedberg and Aaron Seltzer, which means that we can now add a third name to the list of the horsemen of the apocalypse: Craig Moss. »
- Peter Hall
'Up in the Air' Named Best Film of the Year by Nbr
14 hours ago
For the past two years in a row, the National Board of Review (aka Nbr) and the Academy Awards have each honored the same film as their top pick of the year. Will that streak now continue with Jason Reitman's Up in the Air? Paramount couldn't have picked a better release date for Up in the Air because 24 hours after the film was named best of the year by Nbr, it will arrive in theaters in limited release. Aside from taking top honors, Reitman's film about a corporate downsizer who can't seem to connect with anything (or anyone) also won Best Adapted Screenplay (Jason Reitman, Sheldon Turner) and Best Supporting Actress (Anna Kendrick).
Other big winners include Clint Eastwood for Best Director (Invictus), Morgan Freeman for Best Actor (Invictus), Carey Mulligan for Best Actress (An Education) and Woody Harrelson for Best Supporting Actor (The Messenger). The Cove, which is »
- Erik Davis
MovieClips.com Launches
14 hours ago
Tired of searching YouTube for your favorite movie scenes, only to come up empty handed? Yesterday saw the launch of a new site called MovieClips.com, which boasts a collection of over 12,000 film clips, most of them around two minutes in length, in order for fans to call up their favorite movie moments and quotes easily and quickly. Six of the major studios are on board with licensed clips -- Disney is notably absent at the moment -- that can be viewed on MovieClips' site or shared through social networking sites like Facebook and Twitter.
The new site is still in the beta stage, so it's not totally perfect at the moment. And you may at first be frustrated with the number of big titles currently missing from the collection. For example, I used AFI's list of 100 greatest movie quotes to see just how thorough MovieClips is, and I was »
- Christopher Campbell
'The Piper' Plays a Tune to the Big Screen
15 hours ago
Dark and gritty have become the keywords for comic-based movies, but it's not a trend that's confined to the big screen. A lot of comics are saving studios the trouble, and spinning their own gloomy version of a popular tale, and Hollywood is responding by optioning them all up. According to The Hollywood Reporter, the latest to sign on the dotted line is Zenescope, who will be helping to bring The Piper to the big screen.
The Piper is a four-issue series by Joe Brusha and Ralph Tedesco, and is part of Zenescope's Grimm Fairy Tales line that puts a lot of emphasis on the grim. (That's not hard given most original fairy tales.) Piper takes the story of the Pied Piper of Hamlin, and turns him into a bogeyman that is revived by high school student Sean. Tormented by bullies, Sean seeks someone to help him exact revenge. But »
- Elisabeth Rappe
Johnny Depp to Play Pancho Villa?
16 hours ago
If there's one actor working today who is worth waiting for, it's Johnny Depp. Unfortunately, not all filmmakers have the luxury of being able to postpone a project long enough to fit the busy star in. His many commitments may, for instance, force Terry Gilliam to replace the actor in his second attempt to make The Man Who Killed Don Quixote (Robert Duvall claims to be Depp's Jean Rochefort's substitute on that one, though no word yet on Depp's role).
Yet Serbian director Emir Kusturica, who last collaborated with Depp on the underrated and under-seen Arizona Dream 16 years ago, is holding off production of his latest, titled Seven Friends of Pancho Villa and the Woman With Six Fingers, until 2011 in order for Depp to play the title role. According to Variety, the actor is still merely in negotiations to play the Mexican Revolution hero, whom he would reportedly portray entirely with Spanish dialogue. »
- Christopher Campbell
Interview: Jason Reitman, 'Up in the Air'
16 hours ago
My interview with Up in the Air director Jason Reitman in October was one of the most meta interviews I've ever done. Before the interview started, Reitman took my photo with his iPhone. He told me only "I'm not sure if that's going to work, what I'm doing with that, but if it does, you'll be thrilled with the results." I'm still in suspense.
In addition, my interview took place right after a Film School Rejects interview (check it out, Reitman name-checks Cinematical) in which Cole Abaius spent 10 minutes discussing the pie charts the Juno and Thank You for Smoking director had been posting to Twitter. Reitman kept track of which questions interviewers asked him most -- I caught him tallying things in a little notebook during our interview -- and posted the stats online frequently. Roger Ebert has also written about the pie charts. Cole and I had been »
- Jette Kernion
'The Hobbit' May Be Pushed to 2012
17 hours ago
The journey back to Middle Earth is taking longer than anyone anticipated, even its filmmakers. Peter Jackson revealed in an interview with Movie Reporter * that they're hoping to complete the second draft of The Hobbit script by the beginning of next year. Once that's done, they can calculate budget and set a start date, but even the most enthusiastic estimates mean that filming would begin in middle to late 2010. That's not even factoring in the MGM money woes, and how that could affect budgeting, though signs point to Warner Bros picking up the entire tab.
Jackson was silent as to whether the original release dates would hold, but I think we're all familiar enough with the magic of movie making to know that we're unlikely to see The Hobbit in December 2011. Remember, that was the date given for the first half of the film. It's more likely you'll see Part »
- Elisabeth Rappe
Finally! A Peek at James Franco's Allen Ginsberg
18 hours ago
As we learned yesterday, Sundance has revealed the first chunk of its lineup, which included Rob Epstein and Jeffrey Friedman's Howl. In other words, the film that has James Franco starring as Allen Ginsberg -- when the iconic poet faced an obscenity trial for his poem "Howl." The above picture is one of the first images of the film, released by the Sundance Film Festival, showing Ginsberg and lifelong partner Peter Orlovsky (Aaron Tveit). (Here's a picture for reference.) Pretty darned good, eh? But wait. It's easy to think Omg Perfect! and rush over there with high expectations.
Unfortunately, the above image is definitely the best of the bunch, with the others (see below gallery) looking like Franco in glasses (plus one more image of Jon Hamm in his best court duds). That makes me half excited and half disappointed, but it will all come down to how it works in moving, »
- Monika Bartyzel
Watch: Will Arnett, David Cross and Spike Jonze Sell Energy Drinks
19 hours ago
Back in June, David Cross announced that he had written and shot a pilot for a Channel 4 UK television show called The Increasingly Poor Decisions of Todd Margaret, and that it starred Cross' Arrested Development mate Will Arnett and Spike Jonze (who hasn't really acted in anything since the film Three Kings). The show follows a lame temp (Cross) who bluffs his way into a giant job promotion that sends him to the UK to sell energy drinks. Only problem is he has to sell several thousand drinks before his maniac boss (Arnett) visits him in a week.
When Cross spoke about the project earlier this summer, he said the pilot would air sometime in December. Well, it aired on November 27th, the first unbelievably hilarious scene is now on YouTube (watch it after the jump) and you can watch the entire pilot over on the Channel 4 website. I don't »
- Erik Davis
The International 'Iron Man 2' Poster Subtracts a Suit
19 hours ago
Given the frenzy that surrounded the release of the first Iron Man 2 poster and the early stills, I thought it was fitting that we should end the week with a trilogy of marketing material. Empire has debuted the international version of the Iron Man 2 poster which you can see to the right in mini form. If you click on the link, it'll take you to a larger version.
While our poster gave you two Iron Man suits for the money, the international audience only gets one -- and Tony Stark isn't even wearing his helmet! We should pity the overseas people who will be denied that awesome look at War Machine. On the other hand, they get the soulful eyes of Robert Downey Jr. I feel like there's some kind of commentary on the difference between American audiences and international ones here. They're sold by an intense, human »
- Elisabeth Rappe
Robert Duvall as Don Quixote?
20 hours ago
At the beginning of the year, we heard what many thought was impossible: Terry Gilliam was able to get the rights back to The Man Who Killed Don Quixote, and he was going to do some rewrites and get the project back on track. Some Quixote nibbles hit here or there, but there wasn't a lot of buzz even with Gilliam back at the reigns.
But at least we now know who will (we hope!) star. While talking to Robert Duvall about Crazy Heart, Collider learned that the actor is set to play Don Quixote de la Mancha. Don't believe it? It's on video, with Duvall saying that it would be "totally amazing to work with Terry Gilliam. But, once again, the money. It's so difficult to get the money. He saw me play a Cuban barber one time with Richard Harris and that's what gave him the idea to cast me as Don Quixote. »
- Monika Bartyzel
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