Fan Rant: Entertainment Weekly’s Baffling Assertions
November 20, 2008
Filed under: Drama, New Releases, Family Films, Oscar Watch, Fan Rant
On page 11 of the current issue of Entertainment Weekly, next to an article about the Oscar race, there’s this brief item:
“Earning some of the harshest reviews of the year, The Boy in the Striped Pajamas is officially the first Holocaust motion picture that won’t have a shot at winning an Oscar.”
Christopher McQuarrie Lands ‘The Champions’ and ‘The Monster of Florence’
November 20, 2008
Filed under: Action, Drama, Sci-Fi & Fantasy, Thrillers, Deals, Mystery & Suspense, United Artists, Scripts, Newsstand, Remakes and Sequels
As William Goss noted yesterday, Guillermo Del Toro must be allergic to sleep. He’s moving forward with another producing project on his insanely busy slate — The Champions, a huge screen version of the British TV series of the 60s. Variety reports that Christopher McQuarrie will be penning the script for United Artists, and acting as a producer alongside Del Toro, Tom Cruise, and Paula Wagner. Del Toro optioned the project last November, and seemingly mindful of the anniversary, has brought on McQuarrie.
Frankly, I’m surprised The Champions hasn’t been grabbed long before now, since everyone is dying to have a franchise of superheroes. The series (which ran for a single year) followed a team of government agents who were rescued from a plane crash in the Himalayas by an advanced civilization. As if rescue wasn’t nice enough, the super civilization gave them superpowers. Yeah, this is absolutely going to end up a franchise.
Luc Besson Has Some Sort of Sci-Fi Trilogy in the Works
November 19, 2008
Filed under: Action, Animation, Sci-Fi & Fantasy, Thrillers, RumorMonger, Remakes and Sequels
Supposedly retired action maverick* Luc Besson, currently making the rounds on behalf of Transporter 3 (which he produced), told Collider that not only was 1997’s The Fifth Element supposed to be the first in a trilogy, but that he also has vague plans for another sci-fi trilogy after finishing up the two sequels that no one asked for to Arthur and the Invisibles (see a pattern here?).
I must say: more power to the man if he just keeps coming up with ideas and happens to be good at executing them. As flimsy as his promise of retirement has been, if it brings us a sequel to District B13 and the reportedly entertaining Liam Neeson car Taken (which doesn’t open in the States until next January), then I can live with watching him keep on keepin’ on, as it were.
Cinematical (Double-O) Seven: The 007 Best Bond Flicks
November 19, 2008
Filed under: Action, Fandom, Cinematical Seven, James Bond, Lists
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(In anticipation of Quantum of Solace, we’re rerunning some of our favorite Bond posts alongside a few new ones. Enjoy!)
By: James Rocchi
Now that there’s been a matter of, you know, 24 hours since the release of Quantum of Solace, enough time has passed for an assessment of the canon — out of the James Bond films, which are the ideal? Well, it’s simple to name the best seven — and in doing so, draw our week of Bond pop-culture coverage here at Cinematical to an end. Bear in mind that this list is only worth noting as a source of minor-scale arguments — which is exactly why it’s fun. And now that my inner Rob Gordon is ready, let’s speak about the best Bond films of all time … In no particular order, except for number one.
Review: A Christmas Tale
November 18, 2008
Filed under: Drama, Foreign Language, Theatrical Reviews
By Kim Voynar (reprinted from 05/16/2008 — Cannes Film Festival)
First Look: Judd Apatow’s ‘Funny People’
November 18, 2008
Filed under: Comedy, Drama, Fandom, Movie Marketing, Posters
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This isn’t the first official poster for Funny People, but it is our first official look at the marketing campaign for Judd Apatow’s third directorial effort. Along with this image, Universal has announced a partnership with MySpace where you can win a walk-on role in the film. What you do is head on over to the flick’s official MySpace page, become their friend, and then in 100 words or less leave a comment explaining why you should win the role (maybe you’re, like, completely the biggest Apatow junkie on the planet!). Additionally, Judd prepared a special message on YouTube announcing the contest, which you can view after the jump.
‘Red Sonja’ Draws Her Spoiler-Filled Sword
November 17, 2008
Filed under: Action, Sci-Fi & Fantasy, RumorMonger, Scripts, Movie Marketing, Comic/Superhero/Geek, Remakes and Sequels, Images
The Rock Races to ‘Witch Mountain’ in New Trailer
November 17, 2008
Filed under: Action, Sci-Fi & Fantasy, Disney, Family Films, Remakes and Sequels, Trailers and Clips
From the star, director and studio behind The Game Plan comes… another motion picture pairing up Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson with kids! Okay, this one — Race to Witch Mountain, a remake of Disney’s own Escape to Witch Mountain from 1975 — seems a fair bit more tolerable than that one was, as cab driver Johnson is forced to team up with UFO expert Carla Gugino on an unexpected mission to get two very special children (AnnaSophia Robb and Alexander Ludwig) to the above-mentioned location of their spaceship.
A couple of things should be said for the trailer, which we’ve included after the jump.
Read more
Ratner Switch: ‘Bev Cop 4′, Then Maybe ‘Conan’
November 17, 2008
Filed under: Action, Casting, Deals, Fandom, DIY/Filmmaking, Newsstand, Remakes and Sequels
Seems our site, along with practically everyone else on the web, was a bit premature in declaring Brett Ratner director of the new Conan reboot. The original Hollywood Reporter article is what first threw folks off, since it claimed Ratner was committed to Conan, then changed their tune to state he’s simply in “final negotiations.” But even so, there’s still a long way to go on the project, which, right now, is in the early stages of development. On whether or not Ratner will actually sign on, producer Avi Lerner (who sent out the original press release announcing Ratner’s involvement) told The Los Angeles Times that they “still have a few obstacles. Brett is only committed if we agree on a budget, on how to do the special effects and exactly where we’d shoot the film.”
Ratner, on the other hand, is pretty peeved news leaked out this early in the game. He states, “Let me make this very clear: I’m not doing Conan now. This is totally premature. For now, Conan is only a development deal. I’ve a deal at Paramount and I’m doing Beverly Hills Cop first, no matter what. Avi shouldn’t be telling you or anyone else in the press what I’m doing.” Talk about getting off on the right foot.
‘Dark Knight’ Score Disqualified From Academy Awards Consideration
November 16, 2008
Filed under: Action, Thrillers, Awards, Warner Brothers, RumorMonger, Comic/Superhero/Geek, Remakes and Sequels
The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, in their continued efforts to avoid awarding Oscars to deserving efforts in film scores, has apparently disqualified Hans Zimmer and James Newton Howard’s work on The Dark Knight. According to Variety (by way of In Contention), the same stipulation as to how many composers are technically listed on the cue sheet similarly screwed over their Batman Begins score — the stipulation being that listing multiple names helps to award royalties to music editors and designers as well.
I’d argue that the film — which is bound to crack a billion bucks worldwide any day now, and apt to rack up considerable awards nominations regardless — owes a great deal of its sustained visceral thrills to this rousing score, and in an ideal world, the December 9th release of the DVD would be enough for the Academy to whip around and shape up their bureaucratic brouhaha. To them, I simply ask this: why so serious? Read more
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