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Showing posts from November, 2009

Hillcoat to Direct The Promised Land

UPDATE: Tom Hardy, Guy Pearce, Gary Oldman, and Mia Wasikowska have joined the film, again titled, The Wettest County in the World. Glad to hear a project directed by John Hillcoat and penned by Nick Cave will see the light of day. UPDATE: Gosling and Adams have dropped out of production. It looks like the project might be dead. John Hillcoat is soon to be at work adapting another piece of literature: The Wettest County in the World, written by Matt Bondurant, and scripted by ' Proposition ' writer Nick Cave. I was initially skeptical after hearing about the casting of Shia LaBeouf, but with Ryan Gosling and Amy Adams onboard this seems like a much more rounded out cast. If this turns out to be half as good as The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford I will be in line opening night.

FYC: The Hurt Locker

It's still early but with Avatar yet to be seen and Up in the Air , and Precious all leading voting blocs The Hurt Locker will need to make its push early. (Courtesy: Awards Daily)

Geek Stuff Roundup: Zombieland Rules to Live By

All solid advice. I just hope I never have to implement any of it.

Fight Club Midnight Screenings

If you a resident of New York or Los Angeles, you can celebrate the film’s 10th anniversary and its debut on Blu-ray by seeing seeing a free midnight screening on Nov. 17th. New Yorkers here Los Angelinos here

5 Animation Films Up for Oscar

With 20 films being submitted to the Academy for Best Animated Film for the first time since 2001 there will be five contenders for the Oscar (it's not hard to guess which film I believe should win). Of course some of the films submitted are laughable does anyone believe that Alvin and the Chipmunks 2 will really contend? Or Astro Boy for that matter? My predictions for the nominees in orange. Alvin and the Chipmunks: The Squeakquel (Fox 2000) Astro Boy (Summit) Battle for Terra (Lionsgate) Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs (Sony Animation) Coraline (Focus) “Disney’s A Christmas Carol” The Dolphin — Story of a Dreamer (20th Century Fox) Fantastic Mr. Fox (20th Century Fox) Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs (20th Century Fox) Mary & Max (IFC) The Missing Lynx (Kandor Graphics, YaYa! Films) Monsters vs. Aliens (DreamWorks Animation) 9(Focus) Planet 51 (Sony) Ponyo (Disney and Studio Ghibli) The Princess and the Frog (Disney) The Secret of Kells (Les Armateurs, Vi

Review: The Men Who Stare At Goats

The title suggests exactly what it is, this is a film about men, who stare at goats. Grant Heslov's film is more than ample proof that life is truly stranger than fiction. Bob Wilton (Ewan McGregor) is a journalist quite happy with his lot in life. He doesn't report big stories in dangerous lands and doesn't foresee that happening for him, that is until he learns of his wife's affair. Then the decision to cover the frontlines of the Iraq War becomes a much more attractive option. Once in Kuwait, Bob learns that this isn't like covering Vietnam. Things are pretty quiet around the camp. In search of a story Bob comes across Lyn Cassidy (George Clooney) a former special psych-ops solider in the New Earth Army. Bob offers to cover Lyn's story, but is cast off until Lyn decides that people need to know the story of the men who stare at goats. Through flashbacks we are also presented the creation of the New Earth Army through the eyes of Bill Django (Jeff Bri

Review: The Box

Before I get started, let me get this out of the way. I hate when period pieces use the Benadryl haze to make it appear in the past.  Public Enemies and No Country for Old Men both worked as period films without using the crutch of cinematography tricks. There, it had to be said. Norma (Cameron Diaz) and Arthur Lewis (James Marsden) are a teacher and NASA employee in Richmond, VA. They don't make a lot of money, but they do what they can with what they have. They are awoken one morning to find a box sitting on their front stoop. Once it is opened, the box informs them Arlington Steward (Frank Langella) will meet them at 5 p.m. the following evening. Arlington Steward arrives and his appearance initially frightens Norma because of the massive burns that have erased almost half his face. Steward presents the deal: press the button and two things will happen 1) you will receive a cash sum of $1,000,000 and 2) someone they do not know will die. The deal is only avai

The Vault: Working Girl (1988)

Juxtaposed against the cynicism of Wall Street , which was released the year before, Working Girl is an American dream, rags-to-riches Wall Street story. This movie is a real treat to watch; the writing is superb and the star-studded cast fires on all cylinders. I give the film 5 out of 5 ungainly shoulder pads.

The Vault: See No Evil, Hear No Evil (1989)

See No Evil, Hear No Evil is an excellent film. The premise is that a blind person and a deaf person get into trouble and need to use each other's strengths to work out their problems. It's classic comedic stuff that you don't really see anymore. In fact, they didn't make much like this in the 80s; this kind of comedy hasn't been very popular since the 20s and 30s. Richard Pryor and Gene Wilder kill it on every level. I give the film 5/5 senses.