Wow, I was headed into last night's American Idol completely set on rooting behind one person and one person only. By the end of the Top 3 show, I felt…
The last time Michael Haneke brought a film to Cannes he walked away with the Palme d'Or for his startling film The White Ribbon. He returns to the Croisette this…
I was recently given the assignment of assessing the Oscar chances for the new Daniel Barnz (Beastly) film, Won't Back Down, in our daily Awards Profile segment. It should post…
This year's Opening Night Film at the Cannes Film Festival was Wes Anderson's new movie 'Moonrise Kingdom'. I'm not a huge fan of his, but I'm intrigued about this flick.…
The story of the West Memphis Three is a truly fascinating one, inspiring no less than 3 documentaries from Joe Berlinger and Bruce Sinofsky (the 'Paradise Lost' trilogy), plus the…
June is poised to be a big month for SoCal residents and film lovers. Not only will the Hollywood Museum host an exhibit for, but the Los Angeles Film Festival…
“Imagine” by John Lennon
“My All” by Mariah Carey
“No More Drama” by Mary J. Blige
“We’ve Got Tonight” by Bob Seger
“I Don’t Want To Miss a Thing” by Aerosmith
“Beggin” by Madcon
“I’ll Be…
Directed By: Martin McDonagh
Written By: Martin McDonagh
Cast: Colin Farrell, Woody Harrelson, Abbie Cornish, Sam Rockwell, Christopher Walken, Olga Kurylenko, Gabourey Sidibe, Kevin Corrigan, Tom Waits, Zeljko Ivanek
Marilyn Monroe has always been a fascinating figure, but she's really been in the cultural zeitgeist the past few years. Michelle Williams was nominated for an Oscar for playing the icon, there's…
Amy Adams is gearing up to play the Baker's Wife in Into the Woods this summer in New York but when she returns to making movies, she'll be tackling a…
Wow, I was headed into last night’s American Idol completely set on rooting behind one person and one person only. By the end of the Top 3 show, I felt like that same person I had been behind should leave the competition. Yes, in a single night of American Idol, two performers managed to cement a deserving spot in the finale while the unsuccessful contestant of the evening all but shot themselves in the foot. I am well aware people are going to be upset that I am jumping ship so quickly, but last night held the highest stakes for the remaining three contestants. Only the best performers of the evening deserve to make it through, and I’m sorry to say that the contestant who underwhelmed me last night and deserves to leave the competition is… Read more on ‘American Idol’ Recap: Reviewing the Top 3…
The last time Michael Haneke brought a film to Cannes he walked away with the Palme d’Or for his startling film The White Ribbon. He returns to the Croisette this year with his new film Amour and the trailer for that film has just been released is is located after the jump. Synopsis: Georges and Anne are in their eighties. They are cultivated, retired music teachers. Their daughter, who is also a musician, lives abroad with her family. One day, Anne has an attack. The couple’s bond of love is severely tested.
I was recently given the assignment of assessing the Oscar chances for the new Daniel Barnz (Beastly) film, Won’t Back Down, in our daily Awards Profile segment. It should post sometime this week or next, but after seeing the initial trailer for the film I might need to reevaluate its chances. The storyline, which deals with failing inner-city schools and the parents and teachers who make a stand against the public education system, seemed baity enough. I even thought this might be the vehicle to earn star Viola Davis a belated Oscar win. However, after the initial trailer, my hopes on the film have slightly diminished.
My first thought after watching the trailer was: Could it be this year’s The Blind Side? It seems to have that family-centric, emotionally-driven, David-over-Goliath theme to it. But I don’t know, man. Something just reeks a bit of stale cheese to me on this. I think Ms. Davis may have to wait.
This year’s Opening Night Film at the Cannes Film Festival was Wes Anderson’s new movie ‘Moonrise Kingdom’. I’m not a huge fan of his, but I’m intrigued about this flick. So far, the early word from the fest has been somewhat expected…this is Wes Anderson doing exactly what Wes Anderson specializes in. Criticwire has a piece here that collects the immediate reactions to the film, and those who have seen it seem to all thing about the same of it. After the jump I’ll share some of those quick responses that Matt Singer kindly compiled in his article, but for now we now seem to more or less know what we’re getting with ‘Moonrise Kingdom’ when it opens in theaters stateside next week…
The story of the West Memphis Three is a truly fascinating one, inspiring no less than 3 documentaries from Joe Berlinger and Bruce Sinofsky (the ‘Paradise Lost’ trilogy), plus the Peter Jackson produced one ‘West of Memphis’. Now, the biopic route is being taken for the tale, with Atom Egoyan getting an official greenlight for his film ‘Devil’s Knot’, according to The Hollywood Reporterhere. The film will star Colin Firth and Reese Witherspoon, and should be one to watch. For those unfamiliar with the story, I’ll give a quick crash course after the jump, but this film could be a real Oscar player if done right…
June is poised to be a big month for SoCal residents and film lovers. Not only will the Hollywood Museum host an exhibit for, but the Los Angeles Film Festival will be underway with some pretty impressive special guests. William Friedkin, whose film Killer Joe will screen at the festival, has been chosen to serve as the guest director of the film festival. The Hollywood Reporter has also learned that Danny Elfman, recording artist Raphael Saadiq, amd Michael Voltaggio will participate in the festival as artists in residence.
“Imagine” by John Lennon
“My All” by Mariah Carey
“No More Drama” by Mary J. Blige
“We’ve Got Tonight” by Bob Seger
“I Don’t Want To Miss a Thing” by Aerosmith
“Beggin” by Madcon
“I’ll Be There – By the Jackson 5
“Disease” by Matchbox 20
“I’d Rather Go Blind” by Etta James Read more on American Idol Top 3 Song Spoilers…
Directed By: Martin McDonagh Written By: Martin McDonagh
Cast: Colin Farrell, Woody Harrelson, Abbie Cornish, Sam Rockwell, Christopher Walken, Olga Kurylenko, Gabourey Sidibe, Kevin Corrigan, Tom Waits, Zeljko Ivanek
Synopsis(Courtesy of IMDB): A struggling screenwriter inadvertently becomes entangled in the Los Angeles criminal underworld after his oddball friends kidnap a gangster’s beloved Shih Tzu. Read more on Awards Profile: Seven Psychopaths…
Marilyn Monroe has always been a fascinating figure, but she’s really been in the cultural zeitgeist the past few years. Michelle Williams was nominated for an Oscar for playing the icon, there’s a tv show about a musical about her life, and she’s featured on the Cannes Film Festival poster. This being the 50th anniversary of her death, the Hollywood Museum is opening an exhibit on June 1 about the icon. There will be lots of artifacts from her life as well as special portions of the exhibit dedicated to the Marilyn costumes in Smash, the new NBC TV show which fictionalizes a team trying to mount a musical about Marilyn. The press release after the jump also highlights other great surprises to be unveiled.
Amy Adams is gearing up to play the Baker’s Wife in Into the Woods this summer in New York but when she returns to making movies, she’ll be tackling a darker piece of material. Deadline is reporting that Adams is negotiating to star in the adaptation of New York Times best seller Dark Places. The script, penned by writer/director Gilles Paquet-Brenner, will see Adams play Libby Day, a woman who, at seven-years old, survived the brutal massacre of her family and testified against her brother as the murderer. Twenty-five years later, the Kill Club, a secret-society obsessed with solving notorious crimes, bring her to question and confront the truth of what took place that day.
Next week is the final round of Dancing with the Stars!!! It feels like the season has flown by but what an amazing season it’s been. Tonight after outstanding semi-final round one star must go home.
I’ve always been fascinated by the original 3 hour cut of ‘Margaret’, even going back to when Clayton first told me about how much he hated it after seeing an early cut about 3 or 4 years ago. After seeing the trimmed version last year and falling in love with it, my curiosity was only piqued more. Now, it seems that I’ll finally be able to see something close to what Clay did (and he can presumably see the shorter version that I did…I wonder if he’ll like it any more?), as news came out today from The New Yorkerhere that an extended 3 hour cut of the film is headed to Blu-Ray and DVD in July. After the jump I’ll speculate a bit about what we might see more of (and then go ask the boss man what he remembers), but for now, members of Team Margaret like myself are positively jumping for joy right now (I would have included it in my DVD Column here at the site earlier yesterday but I wanted it to get its own post) and counting the days until we can own this new cut…
How do you follow up your second Oscar win for screenwriting? Well if your name is Alexander Payne you focus on a black and white road trip movie and cast an SNL alum and a great character actor. According to Deadline, Will Forte and Bruce Dern have been cast as the father-son duo in Nebraska, Payne’s follow up to his Oscar winning film The Descendants. Dern would play a crotchety alcoholic dad on the downside of his life, who gets a sweepstakes letter in the mail and thinks he’s struck it rich. He gets in a car to head down to claim his fortune, accompanied by his underachieving son (Forte).
It was news right around the time that Steve Jobs had passed away that Sony wanted Aaron Sorkin to write the screenplay for their in development biopic of the man, but news comes now that Sorkin is officially on board. After the jump you can read the full press release announcing this, but now this project is officially much more interesting. Sorkin is, for my money, the best screenwriter in the business right now (with Charlie Kaufman a close second), so anything he attaches himself to has my full attention. By the way, don’t confuse this high profile biopic with the Ashton Kutcher starring flick in the works right now…they’re two very different animals, though who knows, that one could turn out to be a surprisingly good film. Anyway, check out the press release below and get ready to start speculating about the cast…
I make no secret about my affinity for the J.J. Abrams television series, LOST. In fact, I still pretty much talk about it in one way or another on an almost-daily basis. It is singularly my favorite show of all time. For me, LOST was one of those magical combinations where the technical side – excellent writing, acting, direction, and score - merged with the pure entertainment side – characters that just about anyone could find a connection to, themes of redemption and friendship and relativity, and that wildly mysterious and unending riddle that was asked in the pilot – Where Are We? It never felt like watching a television show to me. It was something beyond TV. LOST was a show that spoke to me like nothing I had ever seen before, and sadly nothing I have seen after.
Since the show reached its epic conclusion in 2009, I – and many others – have been searching for the nextLOST. We’ve seen nothing but misfires since. Whether in the form of FlashForward and The Event, or most recently, The River and Awake – all of which failed to reach the conclusion of their first season before being cancelled – we have had nothing but disappointment after disappointment.
And so that brings us to the next contender in line to fill the gaping hole that LOST left in the world of television – Revolution.
Terrence Malick is as much an enigma as he is an auteur. Famous for going 30 years between films, the titles of his movies are often evocative of more than just the plot therein. Since we are poised to get back to back years of Malick films, it was only a matter of time before his newest one got a title. Filmratings.com broke the news that Malick has decided to name his latest film To the Wonder. The movie starring Ben Affleck, Rachel McAdams, Javier Bardem, and Rachel Weisz, will center on “a man who reconnects with a woman from his hometown after his marriage to a European woman falls apart.” Read more on Malick’s latest film gets a new title and plot summary!…
I’ve always wanted Tom Cruise to play a President one day (and he came close at least once), and while I won’t be getting that anytime soon, Vulture is reporting here that Cruise might be protecting the POTUS in an upcoming comedy playing a member of the Secret Service, and the politician could be played by none other than Robert Downey, Jr. If that doesn’t sound like a film with lots of potential, I don’t know what is. After the jump I’ll talk a bit more about the project and my obsession with Cruise as a head of state, but just that casting alone has me incredibly interested…
Directed by: James Ponsoldt Written by: James Ponsoldt and Susan Burke
Cast: Mary Elizabeth Winstead, Aaron Paul, Octavia Spencer, Kyle Gallner, Nick Offerman, Megan Mullally, Mary Kay Place, Patti Allison, Bree Turner, Richmond Arquette, Carol Avery, and Mackenzie Davis
Synopsis (courtesy of IMDb): A married couple whose bond is built on a mutual love of alcohol gets their relationship put to the test when the wife decides to get sober.
After last week’s double elimination sending Michelle Gilbert and Roshon Fegan home, we’re in the semi-finals. All four stars will dance two routines to try and beat elimination tomorrow to make it to next week’s final event. Which stars work has paid off and will make it through to next week? Let’s review. Read more on Dancing with the Stars: The Semi-finals…
This week, along with my 9 month anniversary (yes, my girlfriend has put up with me for that long), we have a very good slate of Blu-Ray/DVD releases to share with you. I always love doing this column, but the past few weeks have been a bit on the rough side, so this is a welcome change of pace at the moment. No less than 3 titles are fighting it out for my top honors today (with more to recommend), and I love when there’s competition for the slot. Speaking of which, let’s get down to the nitty gritty. For the coveted honor of being my PICK OF THE WEEK, I had to narrow it down from a top 3, though in all honesty it wasn’t that hard of a choice. The two runners-up are fine selections, but my top pick is a cut above. Curious what I picked? Well, it’s: Read more on Joey’s DVD Picks of the Week (5/15/2012)…
What a difference having a couple of $100 million hits in your back pocket can make. With two more films due out this year and three films either filming or in pre-production, Channing Tatum is well on his way to becoming the male Jessica Chastain. The Hollywood Reporter is reporting that Tatum is in final negotiations to star in the action thriller White House Down. The script, which was bought by Columbia for $3 million, is set to be directed by Roland Emmerich and would see Tatum play a Secret Service agent who happens to be a single dad and must save the president when 1600 Pennsylvania Ave. is take over by a paramilitary group.
Alfonso Cuarón’s ‘Gravity’ is one of the most anticipated releases not involving a franchise right now, and many people (myself included) have written of it being a potential Oscar contender. Starring Sandra Bullock and George Clooney, it’s a high profile project and November 21st couldn’t come soon enough for us. Well, Deadline reported here (and I confirmed via Box Office Mojo) that the film has been pushed out of 2012 entirely to an as of now unspecified 2013 release date, so the wait has just gotten longer. This is all likely due to making sure the visual effects are up to snuff, but after the jump I’ll get into whether or not this is reason to panic. Essentially, mostly this is bad in the sense that we’d wanted to see Cuarón’s latest film sooner, rather than later…
Ever since ‘Argo’ took over the release date that ‘Gangster Squad’ originally had, speculation has been running wild on when it would open. Some had thought it might wind up as a summer release, or even be bumped to next year. Well, the recent trailer put the bump spec to rest, but a summer date isn’t in the cards either. Box Office Mojo is reporting here that it’s coming out on September 7th, not too far off from its original date. After the jump I’ll do some more speculation, this time on what the date means for the film and its potential aspirations, but for now it’s just good to know when it’s coming out…
After charming audiences at the Sundance and South by Southwest Film Festivals, Safety Not Guaranteed will be unleashed on the general public on June 8. Starring Mark Duplass, New Girl‘s Jake Johnson and Parks and Recreation‘s Aubrey Plaza, the movie tells the story of “three magazine employees head out on an assignment to interview a guy who placed a classified ad seeking a companion for time travel.” The newly released trailer does a good job of showing off the sly wit and humor that enabled the film to win the Waldo Salt Screenwriting Award. Aubrey and Jake have been doing good comedic work on their respective TV shows and it’s great to see that translate here. Take a look at the trailer after the jump.
The last time Michael Haneke brought a film to Cannes he walked away with the Palme d’Or for his startling film The White Ribbon. He returns to the Croisette this year with his new film Amour and the trailer for that film has just been released is is located after the jump. Synopsis: Georges and Anne are in their eighties. They are cultivated, retired music […]
Wow, I was headed into last night’s American Idol completely set on rooting behind one person and one person only. By the end of the Top 3 show, I felt like that same person I had been behind should leave the competition. Yes, in a single night of American Idol, two performers managed to cement a deserving spot in the finale while the unsuccessful contestant of the evening all but shot themselves in the foot. I am well aware people are going to be upset that I am jumping ship so quickly, but last night held the highest stakes for the remaining three contestants. Only the best performers of the evening deserve to make it through, and I’m sorry to say that the contestant who underwhelmed me last night and deserves to leave the competition is…
