 With no shortage of films to decide between, besides the ones that were being offered and he turned down, Ben Affleck is in a pretty enviable position. Not only is he courted for nearly every big project out there, especially from Warner Brothers, but he can more or less decide to make whatever he wants. Well, he’s decided on what movie is next for him, and it’s going to be another adaptation of a Dennis Lehane novel. It’s called Live By Night and pre production has officially begun. It’s another collaboration with WB, so I’m sure they’re getting their awards campaign going as I write this. After the jump you can learn a little more about the book, but I know I’m definitely looking forward to this one.
Read more on Ben Affleck Decides on ‘Live By Night’ for his Next Directorial Project!…
 There’s no two ways about it…What Maisie Knew is an often depressing film. Some of that certainly has to do with the source material, an adaptation of the Henry James novel of the same name, but the team of directors Scott McGehee and David Siegel, doing something very different from their last film, along with scribes Carroll Cartwright and Nancy Doyne definitely aren’t shying away from the tough nature. Read more on What Maisie Knew (***)…
Categories: Film Reviews Tags: 2013 releases, Alexander Skarsgard, book adaptation, Carroll Cartwright, David Siegel, Joanna Vanderham, Julianne Moore, Nancy Doyle, Onata Aprile, Scott McGehee, Steve Coogan, What Maisie Knew
 One of my very favorite authors currently working today is Jonathan Tropper, so I’ve been waiting with equal parts anticipation and dread for his books to begin getting the Hollywood treatment. So far, I’ve got mixed feelings on the development of his phenomenal “This Is Where I Leave You” and feel really good about Ed Burns tackling “The Book of Joe.” Apparently, now I have one more of his books to look forward to seeing on the silver screen, as none other than Mike Nichols is apparently in negotiations to direct Tropper’s newest novel “One Last Thing Before I Go.” It’s a dramedy that would be perfect for someone like Paul Giamatti, and after the jump you can read a little more about the book. Personally, this is now a project I’m anticipating as much as anything else in development. Read on for more.
Read more on Mike Nichols is in talks to direct ‘One Last Thing Before I Go’…
 For a while, I really doubted that Martin Scorsese was ever going to get around to making Silence, a longtime dream project of his that’s always seemed to be the “next” film that he wants to do, only to have one more movie jump to the head of the line (he’s even had casting somewhat set up, notably including Daniel Day-Lewis, Benecio Del Toro, and Gael Garcia Bernal headlining).
Most recently, that happened to the flick with The Wolf of Wall Street, even leading to lawsuits, but in the last few days Scorsese himself has actually declared this to really be his next film. He plans to shoot it next year, which means it most likely will be a 2015 awards contender, but you never know there. For those who don’t remember or know, Silence is an adaptation of a novel by Shusaku Endo that deals with 17th century Jesuits who risk their lives to try to bring Christianity to Japan. Scorsese himself penned the adaptation with Jay Cocks, so this is one that could really be something special. After the jump you can see what the book is about in slightly more detail, but stay tuned for more on this one as Marty might be at Cannes to talk more about it. Fingers crossed that he can get his original cast of Day-Lewis, Del Toro, and Bernal back together for it.
Read more on Martin Scorsese finally making his long passion project ‘Silence’…
 Directed by: Jason Reitman
Written by: Jason Reitman, based on the novel by Joyce Maynard
Cast: Kate Winslet, Josh Brolin, Gattlin Griffith, Tobey Maguire, Clark Gregg, Tom Lipinski, James Van Der Beek, Alexie Gilmore, Lucas Hedges, Brighid Fleming, Maika Monroe, Brooke Smith, Micah Fowler, and Dylan Minnette
Read more on Awards Profile: Labor Day…
Categories: Award Profile Tags: 2013 releases, Awards Profile, book adaptation, Clark Gregg, Dylan Minnette, Gattlin Griffith, James Van Der Beek, Jason Reitman, Josh Brolin, Kate Winslet, Labor Day, Oscar hopeful, tobey maguire
 If you’re anything like me, you enjoy watching Jon Stewart on “The Daily Show” at least from time to time. A nearly perfect hybrid of comedy, news, and politics, Stewart has gone from a comedian and sometimes actor to a political satirist, and now he’s making the jump to filmmaker. He’ll be taking a break from the show (supporting cast member John Oliver will be filling in during the eight weeks or so of shows that Stewart is gone) in order to make a movie called Rosewater. It’s an adaptation of the Maziar Bahari memoir “Then They Came for Me: A Family’s Story of Love, Captivity, and Survival“ and has Scott Rudin behind the scenes. Budgeted at about $30 million or so, this apparently seems like serious stuff. After the jump you can read the plot synopsis and why I think this could be an actual awards contender if done properly. Read below.
Read more on Jon Stewart is writing and directing a political drama…could Oscar come calling?…
 The very best film at the Sundance Film Festival, The Spectacular Now is one of the strongest coming of age stories that we’ve had this decade. Fueled by a revelatory performance by Miles Teller and one by Shailene Woodley that deserves to be remembered at the Oscars next year, this is an incredible little flick. Smashed (2012) director James Ponsoldt has teamed up with Scott Neustadter and Michael H. Weber, the scribes of (500) Days of Summer (2009), and the end result is something truly special. I’ve seen many a movie take the broad strokes of this film and craft an inferior product out of it, but this team hit a home run. Perhaps some of the magic was there in the young adult novel upon which this film is based on, but a lot of it has to have come from this cast and crew. All are at the top of their games and they completely won me over. I’d love for this to become the awards contender from Park City for 2013, but regardless of if it does or not, it’s already got a special place in my heart. Expect to hear a lot more about this flick from me as the year goes on.
Read more on SUNDANCE: The Spectacular Now (***½)…
 It’s only the beginning of January, but I feel confident in saying that writer/director Don Coscarelli’s new film ‘John Dies at the End’ will wind up one of the most unique movies of the year. Now, that doesn’t mean it’s an especially good flick, but it’s got some major balls, and I do give partial credit for that. Parts of the film are genuinely inspired and recall the near brilliance of Coscarelli’s prior work, the cult classic ‘Bubba Ho-Tep’. On the other hand, however, there’s far too many moments where things feel half baked or hamstrung by either the bizarre source material or the small scale budget. I have no doubt that Coscarelli stretched those few dollars in creative ways, but the sometimes dodgy CGI does him no favors. Aside from a fun supporting turn by Paul Giamatti, the acting isn’t anything to write home about either. Read more on John Dies at the End (**½)…
 Much like the title character, the film ‘Jack Reacher’ gets in, does its job, and gets out. Tom Cruise’s potential new franchise is a decidedly low tech detective story that offers audiences some old school entertainment. It’s hardly original, but I’m pretty sure that’s intentional on the part of Cruise and writer/director Christopher McQuarrie. They know the kind of movie this is, and in adapting Lee Child’s popular series of books about the title character, they seem to have effectively achieved their goals. Cruise is sufficiently charismatic and carries the movie from an acting standpoint, while McQuarrie plays around with the tone a little more than you’d expect. Paramount seems to be confident in this as a new franchise for Cruise (despite having a review embargo in place until opening day, normally the sign of a film with something to hide), and I think they’ve got a winning formula in place. I can see this flick playing on TV for the next decade, and I mean that as a compliment. It’s never revolutionary and does have its problems, but for pure entertainment this is a solid holiday outing at the movies. If you like action movies starring Cruise, this is another one to check out…
Read more on Jack Reacher (***)…
 The fantasy epic. Full of beautiful vistas, big sequences involving CGI, and usually a large than life score to emphasize how grand the proceedings are. Today’s Spotlight on Scores will focus on two adapted epics, The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey and Cloud Atlas. If this is your first time reading this series, I’ve tried grouping each score with another one similar to it and there will also be links (if available) to Youtube playlists so you can peruse the score on your own, and links to iTunes and Amazon if you want to purchase it. Let’s take a closer look! Read more on Spotlight on Scores: ‘The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey’ and ‘Cloud Atlas’…
Categories: Article Tags: Best Original Score, book adaptation, Cloud Atlas, howard shore, Johnny Klimek, Oscar hopeful, Oscar hopefuls, Reinhold Heil, Spotlight on Scores, The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey, The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey soundtrack, Tom Tykwer
 Press junkets are a strange animal, to say the least. Sometimes they’re a lot of fun, but sometimes they can frankly be a mess. Luckily, late last week I was privy to one of the good ones, a morning in New York City spent in an upscale hotel interview just about everyone involved with the new film ‘Hitchcock’. I gave the film my thumbs up in a recent review (found here), but I freely admit that it’s not perfect, so I was interested in seeing why some of the talent made the choices that they did. The day consisted of several 1 on 1 interviews as well as a live press conference with a number of people, plus a video press conference with Anthony Hopkins. The interviews I conducted were with director Sacha Gervasi, stars James D’Arcy, Michael Stuhlbarg, Toni Collette, and Danny Huston, along with writer John McLaughlin, costume designer Julie Weiss, and production designer Judy Becker. Gervasi, D’Arcy, Stuhlbarg, Collette, and Huston were joined for the press conference by Helen Mirren and Jessica Biel, with Hopkins coming last. I didn’t get the chance to talk personally with Biel or Mirren, but I did wind up having Hopkins talk with me. That’s a funny story, and I’ll get to it momentarily, but for now sit back and enjoy the highlights of my ‘Hitchcock’ press junket coverage! I may wind up posting the entire interviews at a later date, but at the moment I’ve got a collection of the choice remarks from each individual. The time was very short with each one, but I’ll try and give a sense of what we talked about in those brief periods. Here we go.
Read more on Morning spent with the cast and crew of ‘Hitchcock’…
Categories: Article, Interview Tags: Alfred Hitchcock, Anthony Hopkins, Biopic, book adaptation, Danny Huston, Helen Mirren, hitchcock, James D'Arcy, Jessica Biel, John McLaughlin, Judy Becker, Julie Weiss, Junket, late press, Michael Stuhlbarg, Oscar hopefuls, Sacha Gervasi, Toni Collette
 As angry as any film you’ll see this year, but also probably as entertaining at the same time, ‘Killing Them Softly’ is a movie that works on multiple levels. Some might only see an effective and enjoyable mob tale, and some filmmakers might have been content to stop there, but others will no doubt notice and likely appreciate the political commentary on display here by writer/director Andrew Dominik. Already with a growing following as a filmmaker, Dominik has made a much smaller flick in scale than his prior work ‘The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford’, but like that movie he’s crafted a visually stimulating and unique film. He’s also working again with Brad Pitt and makes the case that they should continue working together for the foreseeable future. Pitt is captivating in one of the crucial roles of what almost is an ensemble film. Dominik is doing a lot of things here, trying to get you to be angry, to be amused, and maybe even shocked, sometimes in the same scene, so it was essential to ground the work with solid acting, and he has that in spades. ‘Killing Them Softly’ doesn’t just want to take on mob warfare and justice, it wants to take on capitalism and politics in America. As Pitt’s character says at one point “I’m living in America, and in America you’re on your own. America’s not a country. It’s just a business”. That quote pretty much sums the movie up, and when the film opens, you’ll just how successful it is and hammering that point home.
Read more on Killing Them Softly (***½)…
Categories: Film Reviews Tags: Andrew Dominik, Ben Mendelsohn, book adaptation, Brad Pitt, Cogan's Trade, James Gandolfini, Killing Them Softly, Oscar hopeful, Ray Liotta, Richard Jenkins, Sam Shepard, Scoot McNairy, Slaine, The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford, Vincent Curatola
 There’s a lot of different ways that one could approach a biopic of legendary filmmaker Alfred Hitchcock, but director Sacha Gervasi has certainly found a unique one here. ‘Hitchcock’ is a surprisingly whimsical and amusing tale of the director struggling to make ‘Psycho’ as he goes through a rough patch with his wife. That’s going to come as a surprise for a lot of viewers, and while it possibly hurts the flick in terms of its Oscar chances, it doesn’t keep the film from being enjoyable. I definitely wish that the focus had been different for ‘Hitchcock’, but a combination of good acting and solid direction keep this completely watchable. Much like ‘Hyde Park on Hudson’, this is another would be Oscar player that’s likely not going to be much of a contender and compares to ‘My Week with Marilyn’, but it’s another one that I liked a bit more than the average critic. I laughed much more than I expected, and while I’m aware of its flaws, this is still a pleasing work that will have an appeal to older viewers especially. Anthony Hopkins is amusing as Hitchcock and Helen Mirren is very good as his wife, but both, along with the entire supporting cast (which are all solid), could have been better.
Read more on Hitchcock (***)…
Categories: Film Reviews Tags: Anthony Hopkins, book adaptation, Danny Huston, Early Review, Helen Mirren, hitchcock, James D'Arcy, Jessica Biel, John J. McLaughlin, Kurtwood Smith, Michael Stuhlbarg, Oscar hopeful, Ralph Macchio, Sacha Gervasi, Scarlett Johansson, Toni Collette
 How many of your favourite movies began their lives in the mind of a novelist? I daresay more than you might imagine. A quick glance through the Academy’s Best Picture nominees from years gone by will bring up a plethora of films based on books. From last year’s The Help, to epics like Lord of the Rings, and back further still to the likes of One Flew Over The Cuckoo’s Nest and Oliver!, literary adaptations have been an integral part of Hollywood’s output for decades.
This trend shows no signs of letting up any time soon. In 2012 we’ve already seen literary classics like Anna Karenina and Great Expectations reborn on the big screen, alongside reimagined fairytales Snow White and the Huntsman and Mirror Mirror, and cult teen flicks The Hunger Games and soon the final edition of The Twilight Saga. But what I want to know is which books do you feel Hollywood needs to take note of? Moreover are there any movie adaptations that you thought were such a discredit to the original novels that they should be made again? Who should star in them, and which directors can be trusted to bring your favourites to life?
Read more on 5 Books that Hollywood Needs to Read…
Categories: Article Tags: book adaptation, Danny Wallace, Enid Blyton, JK Rowling, Literature, The Bible, The Casual Vacancy, The Wizard of Oz, Wicked, Wicked: The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West, Wizard of Oz, Yes Man
 Three Oscar nominees and Guy Pearce walk onto a set…sounds like a setup of an interesting joke, but is instead a reality for the makers of the film Hateship, Friendship. Kristen Wiig, Hailee Steinfeld, Nick Nolte, and the aforementioned Guy Pearce have all signed on to star in the film about a nanny (Wiig) hired to care for a rather wild teenage girl (Steinfled). Using email, the girl orchestrates a romance between the nanny and the father (Pearce), a recovering addict living in a different town. Nolte would play the girl’s grandfather who blames the father for the death of his daughter.
Read more on Steinfeld, Wiig, Pearce and Nolte sign up for ‘Hateship, Friendship’…
 I don’t think anyone doubted that the new Martin Scorsese/Leonardo DiCaprio wouldn’t come out during the thick of the Oscar season next year, but we’ve got a bit more of a solid confirmation now with the announcement that Paramount will be distributing ‘The Wolf of Wall Street’ in 2013. What little we’ve got on it doesn’t necessary suggest that it’ll be a clear and easy sell for the Academy, but its folly to bet against this pairing now. After the jump you can get a quick refresher on what the flick is about, but stay tuned for lots more on this one, as it’s got over a year to prep us for its release. Read on below for a bit more on Marty’s latest collaboration with Leo…
Read more on Paramount to distribute Martin Scorsese’s ‘The Wolf of Wall Street’…
 ‘Argo’ is a hell of a movie. I really can’t say enough about it, but I’ll let my Review (found here) speak for itself instead waxing poetic about it here as well. For Ben Affleck, I have to imagine that he could pretty much make any film that he wants next, and it seems that he’s planning to adapt another Dennis Lehane novel before moving on to his long gestating Whitey Bulger project. This one is called ‘Live By Night’ and would be another period piece…one that strikes me as a very interesting flick to boot. You can read the plot synopsis of the book after the jump, but stay tuned for more on this potential adaptation. I’d personally like to see him push ahead and try and do the wife-swapping baseball movie ‘The Trade’ or his ambitious adaptation of ‘The Stand’, but this one sounds like a solid fit for him as well. Read on below for more…
Read more on Ben Affleck’s next project behind the cameras will be another Dennis Lehane adaptation?…
The Sapphires (** 1/2)
Dreamgirls. Hairspray. Sparkle. And now The Sapphires. All of these movie musicals essentially tell the same story: the plight for racial equality set against a backdrop of toe tapping show tunes and soul classics. Unfortunately The Sapphires, while approaching the subject from a more unique Australian Aborigine standpoint, can’t shake the comparisons to these glossier, more memorable movies.
More and more I find myself looking for films that bring something new to the table, as one of my biggest prerequisites for a movie has become whether it can show me something that I’ve never seen before. Sadly The Sapphires just doesn’t deliver on that front, but that’s not to say it doesn’t have its moments.
Read more on BFI London Film Festival – DAY 5…
Categories: Film Reviews Tags: Australian cinema, BFI, BFI London Film Festival, book adaptation, Chris O'Dowd, Deepa Mehta, film reviews, LFF, London Film Festival, Midnight's Children, musicals, Salman Rushdie, Satya Bhabha, The Sapphires
 A story of the pain and pleasure of the high school experience, there are a lot of things to like about the teen drama ‘The Perks of Being a Wallflower’. There are also a few issues as well, namely a tonal inconsistency and some odd choices on the part of writer/director (and author of the novel of the same name that was adapted here) Stephen Chbosky, but besides that this is mostly a very strong film. Featuring solid performances from Logan Lerman and Emma Watson alongside a scene stealing supporting turn from Ezra Miller, the movie succeeds due to its acting, emotional honestly, and nostalgia that it’s likely to bring out in both fans of the young adult novel and those who think back to their teenage years spent in the formative halls of a high school. Despite its flaws, I anticipate this being a popular film, if not in theaters than on DVD later this year/next year. I’m not sure that any Oscar love is headed the movie’s way, but it’s better than I was expecting and is the sort of flick that rarely gets made by a studio these days, so that’s certainly something to applaud. I’d be happy if Miller gets some precursor love, but I won’t hold my breath.
Read more on The Perks of Being a Wallflower (***)…
Categories: Film Reviews Tags: book adaptation, dylan mcdermott, Emma Watson, Ezra Miller, Joan Cusack, Johnny Simmons, Kate Walsh, Logan Lerman, Mae Whitman, Nicholas Braun, Oscar hopeful, paul rudd, Stephen Chbosky, The Perks of Being a Wallflower
 After wowing me a few years back with her intense and very solid film ‘Fish Tank’, filmmaker Andrea Arnold stumbles greatly here with her incredibly flawed take on ‘Wuthering Heights’. This adaptation is incredibly bleak, which isn’t a bad thing at all, but it winds up becoming just a completely unpleasant film to sit through. The movie unfurls at a snail’s pace, replaces dialogue with the sound of the wind blowing, and winds up just plain boring you. To be sure, Arnold is attempting a rather radical retelling of the classic Emily Brontë novel of the same name, but it’s all for naught. The acting is fine but hardly strong enough to make up for the problematic filmmaking, which suggests a Mumblecore approach (by way of a poor man’s Terrence Malick) more than anything. Factor in a running time that goes past 2 hours and multiple animal cruelty scenes and you have an incredibly trying flick to sit through. It looks sufficiently bleak and I’m sure that that’s the point, but this really is going to be a hard sell for people when it opens at the beginning of October. I’m not 100% steering you away from it, but if you’re a fan of the story this interpretation might annoy you for being so visually and emotionally different than you’re used to seeing in a big screen adaptation of this sort, and if you’re not a fan of the book then I can’t see this interesting you at all. There’s a curiosity factor at play here and some decent enough acting, but that’s about it.
Read more on Wuthering Heights (**)…
 We’re literally only a week and change away from Paul Thomas Anderson unleashing ‘The Master’ on paying audiences (not to mention festival screenings already underway and press screenings to come very shortly). Of course, that can mean only one thing…it’s time to start talking about what Anderson could be making next. He’s had his eye on an adaptation of the Thomas Pynchon novel ‘Inherent Vice’ for a little bit now, with Robert Downey Jr. in the lead role. He’s also now looking to adapt ‘Gravity’s Rainbow’ as well, so there are options, which The Playlist has gone over here. After the jump you can see what PTA had to say, but I’m interested in both works. Hit the jump for more…
Read more on Two Big Adaptations Circle Paul Thomas Anderson’s Next Projects…
 There’s no such thing as a Cameron Crowe movie that I’m not highly interested in, and even if he doesn’t really step out of his comfort zone too often, I still look at those types of projects as just as interesting as his romantic comedy/dramedy ones. Over at The Wrap (here), they’re reporting that Crowe has a new project in mind to tackle after finishing the Emma Stone starring rom-com he’s previously been announced as gearing up to make, and this one is an adaptation of the memoir ‘Beautiful Boy’ (no, it’s not a remake of that melodrama from last year). After the jump you can see the details on the project, but I know that I’m in, since it’s Crowe and I’ve yet to dislike anything that he’s made to date…even ‘Elizabethtown’. Read on below for more on this intriguing new film that he’s looking to take on…
Read more on Cameron Crowe looking to adapt “Beautiful Boy”…
 I’m just about ready to declare filmmaker David Cronenberg in an official slump, at least in my eyes. After the underwhelming ‘A Dangerous Method’ last year, Cronenberg is back with an even bigger letdown with his adaptation of the novel ‘Cosmopolis’. Almost none of this film worked from me, and it was a total chore to sit through. Badly paced and written in such a way (and so unevenly acted, to boot…especially Robert Pattinson’s performance, but more on that later) that the characters are just expounding monologues at each other instead of talking, pretty much the only thing I didn’t dislike here are the visuals from Cronenberg. The film looks great, it just didn’t do a thing for me. It’s likely to split viewers right down the middle when it opens on Friday, and so far it’s managed to split my fellow critics as well. I was expecting to like it, but as this Early Review will show, it just fell short on almost every level possible for me. Somewhere along the line Don DeLillo’s novel was transformed from Oscar bait to an instantly forgettable and massively disappointing exercise in pointless oddity. The flick is weird enough to feel like a David Cronenberg work, but the normal quality is severely lacking. Those who like it will probably LOVE it, but those like me will just shake our heads and sigh.
Read more on Cosmopolis (**)…
Categories: Film Reviews Tags: book adaptation, Cosmopolis, david cronenberg, Early Review, Jay Baruchel, Juliette Binoche, Mathieu Amalric, Oscar, Oscar hopeful, Paul Giamatti, Robert Pattinson, Samantha Morton
 I always follow the New York Film Festival closely, but this year I’ve got an extra special eye on the slate. We already know that it will close with ‘Flight’, but now we also know what flick will kick off the fest late next month. It’s ‘Life of Pi’, and this is clearly a sign of confidence in Ang Lee’s upcoming movie. After the jump you can see the Press Release that the festival put out (found here), but it’s safe to say I’m really crossing my fingers for those press credentials to come through. Read on below for more…
Read more on ‘Life of Pi’ will open the New York Film Festival!…
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