 You remember way back when in 2002 when Femme Fatale filmmaker Brian De Palma cut a trailer with the entire film in it? But it was so stylish and super fast that everyone loved it? Well if you did something similar, the results were less stylistic and just all around underwhelming you’d have the trailer for the Kimberly Peirce directed Carrie remake. Starring Julianne Moore and Chloe Grace Moretz, Carrie centers around a sheltered high school girl (Moretz) who unleashes her newly developed telekinetic powers after she is pushed too far by her peers. Check out the trailer after the jump!
Read more on New ‘Carrie’ trailer lets you see the entire movie for free!…
 In trying to decide how best to review the new Netflix original series ‘House of Cards’, I had a few options to toy with. The most obvious was to simply review the pilot of this remake of a well-regarded BBC program, but that seemed short-sighted considering how the service was putting all 13 episodes of the show online at the same time. There was the option of reviewing each individual episode, but ultimately I decided to wait and look at the first season in my write up. Essentially, I’m reviewing it as a 13 hour movie. Luckily for me, this is a terrific show, and one in which Kevin Spacey absolutely owns the screen as a ruthless Congressman playing everyone around him. The entire cast is superb, but this is undoubtedly his show. Possibly too bleak or smug for some, I was addicted from the first scene on. Though the latter third of the season has some lesser moments and the show wraps up with a finale that’s a clear set up for next season, the first two episodes are genius. Those alone are enough to recommend the show, but the whole package is still great. I don’t watch a lot of television, but in my book this is an absolute must watch.
Read more on House of Cards (***½)…
Categories: Film Reviews, TV/Music Tags: Beau Willimon, Constance Zimmer, Corey Stoll, David Fincher, House of Cards, James Foley, Joel Schumacher, Kate Mara, Kevin Spacey, Kristen Connolly, Mahershala Ali, Michael Gill, Michael Kelly, netflix, remake, Robin Wright, Sakina Jaffrey, Sebastian Arcelus, tv, tv reviews
 Prince Avalanche is the film I wish David Gordon Green had made after Pineapple Express hit theaters a few years back. I’ve been a long time fan of Green’s, especially his early work, All The Real Girls, which is an underrated masterpiece in my eyes. I’ve even found things of interest in his recent studio-comedy “misfires.” Here, he’s teamed up with Paul Rudd and Emile Hirsch for an easy-going, warm, and overtly character driven comedy that really fits in with his first independent films. With Rudd and Hirsch both doing fine work, Green is able to focus on the distinct visual stylings that once made him known in some circles as a poor man’s Terrence Malick. Honestly, if Malick ever wanted to make a buddy comedy, this might resemble that project, if only in some small way. Read more on SUNDANCE: Prince Avalanche (***)…
 Well you certainly can’t accuse them of just blindly remaking the original. The red band teaser trailer for Evil Dead has arrived online and it’s some sick stuff. Shedding the camp of the original film (and #22 horror film of all time) The Evil Dead, this film seems to focus on uber-violence and a Saw-like green aesthetic to derive it’s scares. Following the same story as the original, five twenty-something friends become holed up in a remote cabin. When they discover a Book of the Dead, they unwittingly summon up dormant demons living in the nearby woods, which possess the youngsters in succession until only one is left intact to fight for survival. Check out the bloody trailer after the jump! Read more on Tongue splitting, boils, tree rape and chainsaws…the Evil Dead teaser trailer is here!…
 There’s really nothing essential about the English language remake of ‘Pusher’. It pretty much only exists because filmmaker Nicolas Winding Refn made the original ‘Pusher’ trilogy and is a more well known director now that he’s made ‘Drive’. That being said, this version is a mostly entertaining if pretty standard London set crime thriller. There are a surprise or two to be had, but mostly this is a by the numbers flick that will likely get easily lost in the shuffle when it opens on Friday, but represents a decent enough time at the movies. It didn’t completely win me over, as parts of it are better than others, but there’s no denying a kinetic energy that exits within the film. The acting isn’t bad at all, the writing and direction are a bit stylized but not overtly annoying, and on the whole it’s a mixed bag that’s good for a remake but perhaps only average for a standalone film. Those who enjoy the original trilogy won’t really find too much here, but it’s hard to imagine any overt hatred for this movie. It knows what it is and achieves more of its goals than not.
Read more on Pusher (**½)…
 In a very minor way, filmmaker Tim Burton has recaptured some of the magic of ‘Ed Wood’ and ‘The Nightmare Before Christmas’ with his latest film ‘Frankenweenie’, an homage to old school horror as well as a feature length remake of his short of the same name. This black and white stop-motion animation feature is certainly an offbeat and sometimes even strange work, distinctly fitting into the oeuvre of Burton, but there’s a charm and likability on display here that I haven’t seen from the director in some time. It’s often amusing and sometimes even manages to be heartwarming, another welcome departure from the recent Burton outings. This horror/comedy hybrid isn’t on the level of what Pixar is doing at their best, to be sure, but it certainly is better than ‘Corpse Bride’ and is one of the better animated films of 2012 so far. I could easily see the Academy taking a shine to this black and white kids flick and giving it a Best Animated Feature nomination. I don’t know that it can win, but it’s certainly in the hunt. There are a few missteps here to be sure, but overall the product is rather satisfying. It opens this weekend and even if you haven’t liked Burton of late, I think this is worth checking out.
Read more on Frankenweenie (***)…
Categories: Film Reviews Tags: American film directors, Animation, Catherine O'Hara, Charlie Tahan, Entertainment/Culture, Film, Frankenweenie, John August, Martin Landau, Martin Short, Oscar hopeful, remake, the nightmare before christmas, Tim Burton, Victor Frankenstein, winona ryder
 I’m hardly someone who puts the original ‘Total Recall’ from 1990 up on a pedestal or considers it to be a classic (a cult classic maybe), though compared to the new remake that’s hitting theaters this Friday, it comes close. 2012′s edition of ‘Total Recall’ is completely uninspired and manages to commit a cardinal sin when it comes to remaking movies…it manages to make all the changes to the original changes for the worse. Worse still, the remake then decides to follow the same yet now watered down plot. Paul Verhoeven’s original had its tongue firmly planted in cheek and dove into excess at every turn, but Len Wiseman’s new take just goes through the motions. There’s no humor, no sense of fun, and no Mars. Wiseman actually doesn’t do anything especially terrible behind the camera, but the script by Mark Bomback and Kurt Wimmer is pretty sub par, so the trend of Wiseman working with less than ideal screenplays continue. Colin Farrell is adequate in the lead role, but he’s about as far from Arnold Schwarzenegger as it gets. Every which way that you turn, there’s something mediocre or even disappointing to feast your eyes on. Perhaps the only thing the flick succeeds at is showing off some strong visuals, but that’s a hollow victory for the film. Consider this Early Review a warning…
Read more on Total Recall (**)…
 It wouldn’t surprise me one bit to find out that I’m about the only critic out there who thinks that Kimberly Peirce is 2 for 2 as a filmmaker. ‘Boys Don’t Cry’ is obviously a tremendous film, but I actually quite like ‘Stop Loss’ as well. She’s now tackling a remake of ‘Carrie’, and despite it not seeming like the most necessary thing in the world, she’s got a great cast assembled and there’s reason for optimism there. So what’s next? Well, Variety is reporting here that it’s a remake of the French film ‘With a Friend like Harry’, and after the jump you can see what it’s about. Actor and ‘Stoker’ scribe Wentworth Miller wrote the adaptation, so that could be an asset. Read on below for more…
Read more on Kimberly Peirce has another remake in mind?…
 While I liked ‘The Intouchables’ when I saw it earlier this year (and reviewed it here), I easily saw rough edges that suggested a remake wasn’t the worst idea in the world. The combination of Paul Feig in the director’s chair and Colin Firth in the co-lead role of a rich quadriplegic is very promising, and now The New York Post is reporting here that the other leading part could come down to either Idris Elba, Jaime Foxx, or Chris Rock, with Jessica Chastain circling the female lead as well. After the jump you can see a plot summary from my original review, but this could be one to look forward to in the next year or so. It’s now going to be called ‘Untouchable’, but the story should still be the same, and you can see it below…
Read more on Who could star opposite Colin Firth in the remake of ‘The Intouchables’?…
 As one of the few remaining fans of the Mumblecore movement in indie cinema, I have a fond appreciation of filmmakers Jay and Mark Duplass. They’ve given us some very interesting films in the past decade or so, and of late they seem to slowly be dipping their feet in the waters of Hollywood. In fact, the last two films from the Duplass Brothers (‘Cyrus’ and this year’s ‘Jeff, Who Lives at Home’) had studio backing to a degree. Well, Deadline is reporting here that one of their upcoming projects will actually be for Universal Studios, and they’ll be writing and directing a remake of ‘Same Time, Next Year’. After the jump I’ll remind you what that film is about, but consider this the rare time that I’m excited for a remake. Read on below…
Read more on The Duplass Brothers have their first mainstream project lined up…
 In this day and age, it’s almost impossible for a project to work under any sort of secrecy. Even announcements of upcoming films are covered (here as well as other outlets) with as much fervor as anything else, so you can imagine my surprise when Variety had this report here on filmmaker David Gordon Green having already finished a previously unknown project. It’s an indie comedy with Emile Hirsch and Paul Rudd starring. Apparently it’s also a remake of the Icelandic film ‘Either Way’. After the jump you can see what that film is about, but it seems that Green’s flick will be called ‘Prince Avalanche’. With this group involved, count me in!
Read more on David Gordon Green shot a secret film with Emile Hirsch and Paul Rudd?…
 A few weeks ago I selected ‘Mother’s Day’ as my PICK OF THE WEEK for the Weekly DVD Column here at The Awards Circuit (the link to that column is here). I had meant to publish this review beforehand, but here’s the thing…this movie is so mediocre it’s hard to come up with anything to write about it. Director Darren Lynn Bousman (he who directed 3 installments of the ‘SAW’ franchise and the rock opera ‘Repo: The Genetic Opera’) is a filmmaker well suited for this sort of grimy B movie, but his actual direction leaves something to be desired here. The film has been on the shelf for over 2 years, and it’s not hard to see why. Bousman tries a lot of things, but rarely is successful, partially due to a lazy script by Scott Milam and the mostly indifferent acting of the cast (though his pacing is terrible here). Everyone is over the top without really putting the effort in, except that is for Rebecca De Mornay. She gives an effectively chilling performance that’s deserving of a better movie than this one. We have a mostly boring slasher flick with one really good performance in it. That’s not nearly enough to lead to a recommendation, but it does save the film from falling into the crevice of being one of the worst films of the year. It’s just one of the most forgettable.
Read more on Mother’s Day (**)…
And so, in what seemed like an impossible dream to just about every comic book geek in the world, the first-ever major superhero crossover film finally opens in America today. There’s really no point in pretending that this won’t absolutely kill at the box office this weekend, it’s just a matter of how high it can soar at this point:
Read more on Weekend Openings (May 4-6)…
Categories: Weekend Openings Tags: Bill Nighy, Captain America: The First Avenger, Chris Evans, Chris Hemsworth, comic book films, Demi Moore, Dev Patel, fanboyism, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows - Part 2, iron man, Jeremy Renner, Joss Whedon, judi dench, Maggie Smith, Mark Ruffalo, middlebrow art films, Mother's Day, popcorn movies, Rebecca De Mornay, remake, robert downey jr, Samuel L. Jackson, Scarlett Johansson, superhero movie, the avengers, The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel, Thor, Tom Hiddleston, Tom Wilkinson, Weekend Openings
 Was anyone especially clamoring for a remake of ‘Red Dawn’? I didn’t think so, but hey…here we have one nonetheless. It doesn’t come out until November, so this is a VERY early review of the film (I was lucky enough to be invited to take a look, along with a rather small audience), but the flick has been done for quite some time (it got caught up in the MGM bankruptcy after going before cameras in 2009, just like ‘The Cabin in the Woods’ did…you can see by the expected release date on the poster to the left just how long this has been shelved) now, so what I saw should be the same thing that you wind up seeing later this year. Now, is this new ‘Red Dawn’ any good? It’s actually a surprisingly entertaining, if clearly flawed, action movie with an interesting enough take on the original 1984 film. The basic story is the same, but a lot of details have been tinkered with, making for a similar yet different flick. This is the type of movie where you can sort of decide if it’s going to be for you before you even see it. Do you like action? Are you a fan of the original movie? Does incredibly shaky camerawork bother you? Are you a stickler for character development? Can you root for characters who essentially are terrorists? As long as those questions don’t immediately turn you off, you’re likely in for a good enough time here. For my part, I found parts of it to be rather good, with other parts annoying enough to keep me from fully embracing and completely recommending it with no caveats. It’s an above average action flick, but that’s somewhat damning the film with faint praise, now isn’t it?
Read more on Red Dawn (**½)…
 Even with Joseph Gordon-Levitt being unable to appear in ‘Django Unchained’, it’s not unreasonable to assume that this could be the year of JGL (just like we spoke of last year being the year of Brad Pitt and/or Ryan Gosling, though honestly that could be this year too in Gosling’s case). In addition to notable supporting roles in hotly anticipated titles like ‘The Dark Knight Rises’ for Christopher Nolan and ‘Lincoln’ for Steven Spielberg, he’s also starring in Rian Johnson’s sci-fi action flick ‘Looper’ and the thriller ‘Premium Rush’ as well. Throw in his upcoming directorial debut (a Don Juan style tale) and there’s lots to be excited about if you’re a fan of his. Well, it looks like you can put another project on your anticipated slate. The Hollywood Reporter is reporting here that Gordon-Levitt is eyeing a remake of ‘Little Shop of Horrors’ and could very well star in it. I’ll discuss this a little more after the jump, but in short…count me in!
Read more on Joseph Gordon-Levitt to star in ‘Little Shop of Horrors’…
 In an exhausting search that has seen Christian Bale, Clive Owen and Colin Firth all turn down the part, Spike Lee has finally found the villain for his Oldboy remake. Deadline has learned that Sharlto Copley has signed on to play billionaire Adrian Pryce who organizes the entire plot. Josh Brolin stars as the vengeance seeking man and Elizabeth Olsen will be playing a possible love interest.
Read more on Sharlto Copley to be ‘Oldboy’ Villain…
 This dropped a few days ago on various websites, but it got lost in the shuffle here, so we’re a few days behind on this one. Hey, it’s still worth displaying, so here it is regardless of time. This image is our first actual look at what the characters in Tom Hooper’s take on ‘Les Miserables’ could look like. This one is of course of Hugh Jackman (who will be essaying the role of Jean Valjean), but I’d imagine we’ll be seeing more from everyone else in the coming months. As for the image itself, I don’t think it’s particularly good or bad, but after the jump is something from a very different film that it reminds me a lot of and I thought I’d compare it to. You can judge for yourself below…
Read more on First Look at Hugh Jackman in Les Miserables!…
 Directed By: Tim Burton
Written By: John August
Cast: Winona Ryder, Christopher Lee, Martin Short, Catherine O’Hara, Atticus Shaffer, Martin Landau, Charlie Tahan, Robert Capron, Tom Kenny, James Hiroyuki Liao
Synopsis: Tim Burton’s 1984 Short Film, Frankenweenie, is being brought back to life on the big screen.
Read more on Awards Profile: Frankenweenie…
Categories: Award Profile Tags: Awards Profile, batman, Best Animated Feature, big fish, danny elfman, Dark Shadows, Frankenweenie, Helena Bonham Carter, Johnny Depp, Oscar hopeful, planet of the apes, remake, sweeney todd, the nightmare before christmas, Tim Burton, Walt Disney Pictures, winona ryder
 I really don’t expect much these days from Tim Burton/Johnny Depp collaborations. Honestly, aside from ‘Ed Wood’ and ‘Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street’, I’ve never been big on their work together. So you can see why I wasn’t exactly anticipating the big screen adaptation of the vampire soap opera ‘Dark Shadows’. Well, the Trailer has hit, and go figure…it’s not bad at all, and far more of a comedy than I was expecting. Behold!
Read more on Trailer for Tim Burton’s Dark Shadows!…
We got a real short preview of the new releases this weekend. Only one film is making its wide premiere today, making it the guaranteed box office victor in the wake of John Carter’s failure (God! Who would’ve thought that film would be a flop?). But the arthouse circuit has its own share of interesting arrivals. Let’s check them out:
Read more on Weekend Openings (March 16-18)…
 Schizophrenia can be a helluva thing and the latest cinematic version of a film that cannot control its mood swings, temperament, or demeanor is Contraband. Essentially, Contraband looks like a gritty action suspense/thriller. And a heist film. And a family drama. And a wife-and-kids-in-peril horror film. And a rooting for the anti-hero film. In short, Contraband wants to be everything to everyone and mostly fails in being anything to anyone.
Mark Wahlberg is a fine actor and as a friend pointed out to me, and this comment is completely true in analyzing his career, he is most often great when he is in an ensemble. When asked to be the sole name-above-the-title, situations typically found in his lackluster attempts to be a big-time action movie star, Wahlberg and, in turn, the films suffer. For every The Fighter, The Other Guys, The Basketball Diaries, Boogie Nights and The Departed, there is The Happening, Shooter, Max Payne, and Rock Star. And now there’s Contraband.
 Read more on Contraband (**)…
 I should disclose right off the top that I am no fan of Takashi Miike. While I know of several very intelligent, legitimate movie buffs who respect him as a director, and there is a grudging admiration I have for his defiantly individualistic style of filmmaking, I have always found his excessively cruel and gruesome horror films lacking in anything redeemable…to me at least. So it was with serious reluctance that I finally brought myself to watch his newest work, the samurai thriller 13 Assassins on Netflix, supposedly the Miike film for people who don’t like Miike. I am mostly relieved with some reservations to announce that this is indeed the most palatable and possibly best film of his career.
The story is simple (very simple) enough, but is apparently based on actual historical events: 19th Century Japan’s peace is being threatened by the young Lord Naritsugu Matsudaira, who may very well qualify as the year’s most loathsome movie villain. He rapes, massacres and degrades his subjects with a sense of vain entitlement, and desires to bring back the age of war for the sheer thrill of it. Read more on 13 Assassins (***½)…
 Maybe it was impossible to actually justify the talent and resources involved in this project. Maybe there was just no way that any faithful adaptation of Stieg Larsson’s depressingly overrated novel would ever be anything more than, shall we say, problematic to me. Still, I come to you with what might be the most positive review I will ever write for a two-star film, as David Fincher’s adaptation/remake of The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo is far better than I had anticipated, and I must take back some of what I originally predicted would become of it. Its connection to the source material is still an albatross, make no mistake, but some smart filmmaking craftsmanship and humor elevate it to at least the level of passable lurid pulp.
The premise is by now well-known: Mikael Blomkvist (aka Stieg Larsson’s own Tyler Durden), fresh off of a libel conviction that will most likely bankrupt his polemical magazine Millennium, receives a mysterious offer from former Vanger Corporation CEO Henrik Vanger to investigate the disappearance and likely murder of his niece Harriet. Despite not having seen her for forty years, he still receives one framed flower every year on his birthday (once again he doesn’t track down where the packages are coming from, though at least Steven Zaillian’s script tries to give that a semi-credible explanation this time). Henrik firmly believes that they are being sent not only by the killer, but that her murderer is a member of his own rotten family, who all – a little too conveniently – live on a single snowbound island. After making a breakthrough, Mikael requests a research assistant. Read more on The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo (**)…
 David Fincher takes a well known property and easily makes it his own with the remake (or second book adaptation if you will) of ‘The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo’. We all knew that this flick was right up his alley, so it’s no surprise that he knocks it out of the park in terms of direction and style, but all eyes were on his casting decisions, namely that of Rooney Mara in the title role. Well, let me say it front and center…Fincher picked a winner here. Mara is, for my money, even better than Noomi Rapace was as Lisbeth Salander. This is a slightly different interpretation of the character, and a stronger one in my opinion. For that matter, pretty much everything in this version of the story is better than in the original Swedish one (I haven’t read the book so I can’t comment on that part of it). I wasn’t a fan of that last incarnation by Niels Arden Oplev, but this one is a contender for my Top 10 of 2011 list. It’s incredible what the right filmmaker can do for a movie. The story hasn’t changed much (besides the ending, but I’ll get to that in a bit), but it’s just done so much better here. While this isn’t on the level of ‘The Social Network’ or ‘Fight Club’ in terms of Fincher flicks, this is definitely one of his best directed works. One can make the case that there are “better” projects for him to be focusing on (something I actually said on my than one occasion during this past year), but he gives this 110% and it shows. He’s relentless in keeping your interest going and making sure that you’re on the edge of your seat, even if you know what’s about to happen. In just about every way, Fincher and Mara beat Oplev and Rapace.
Read more on The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo (***½)…
Categories: Film Reviews Tags: book adaptation, Christopher Plummer, Daniel Craig, David Fincher, Joely Richardson, Oscar hopeful, remake, Robin Wright, Rooney Mara, Stellan Skarsgard, Steven Zaillian, the girl with the dragon tattoo
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