New Choke trailer!

Man, I love red-band trailers. Especially this one: Clark Gregg's Chuck Palahniuk adaptation, Choke, has a new, restricted trailer here. I was a bit worried from the looks of the first trailer that they had sanitized the book to make it your run of the mill indie comedy, but this one has a lot more that reminds me of the novel. It looks dirty and hilarious, and although there's still no real mention of the weird second half plot of the book, I'm not worried, because of how hard that would be to show in a 2 minute trailer. And I, of course, love Sam Rockwell so much, and he looks just perfect as Victor Mancini. I can't wait for Choke's late-September limited release.

Stumble It!

A few short ones

The Promotion is in limited release right now -- I was lucky enough to catch it, and can't recommend enough that you do the same. Seann William Scott plays Doug Stauber, an all-around nice, normal guy who is an assistant manager at a Chicago grocery store. He works hard, busts his ass, and has a wife with whom he's hoping to buy a house and start a real life with. Doug is finally in line for a promotion to manager at a store that's opening up across town. Enter Richard Wellner (John C. Reilly), a manager from a Canadian sister store who is up for the job as well. Richard is a good guy as well, with a kid and a wife and a troubled Canadian past. Both men need this job in order for their lives to get out of their respective ruts, so, they begin competing more and more ruthlessly. This film, more than probably any other I've ever seen, shows what happens when good people do bad things. There are moral consequences, but they're both hilarious and not overdone. Doug and Richard are completely people we all know; their flaws are both very funny and very sad. The second half of the film, especially the scene where Richard tapdances to unliscensed 80s rock on a motivational tape. You have to see it to understand. Do see it. Extra fun fact: the movie was filmed very near the apartment in Chicago where i lived for 6 months! 8.5/10 Beware: Children at Play would have been just another mediocre-to-bad-yet-enjoyable Troma film if not for its plot. It's probably the only B-horror movie of all time to have a main plot point be based on the plot of a classic of English-language literature. Yes, this film is about a gang on children who are kidnapped (sort of) from a small Bible-thumping town and are taking revenge on the adults, but these kids are also abducted and kept in line through the Beowulf myth. Seriously. The main evil child, Glenn Randall, has fashioned himself as Grendel to a group of outcasts who have turned into cannibals. Is this all too ridiculous to believe? It almost is, but the incredible weirdness of the plot makes it a little smarter than your average bad movie, and more worth checking out. 7/10 A feminist classic? Maybe. Interesting to watch? Definitely, up to a point. I'll explain the film like this: once, a friend compared herself and I to Czech and French New Waves. She has adventures, can talk/write at length about almost anything, and has a sometimes bizarre or surreal sense of humor. I like to brood, smoke, and talk about how bad I feel. She's the Czech New Wave, and I'm the French. Czech filmmaker Vera Chytilova's movie doesn't make much sense, but it's not supposed to. Two girls named Marie (although I could have sworn one was named Julie?) decide to be bad, because society is bad. So they go on dates with old men, march around looking for attention, and finally trash a banquet hall (with a food fight that made me a little squeamish). They're both incredibly gorgeous (with amazing clothes, if that matters to anyone but me), and Chytilova's direction can be really remarkable, especially when she experiments with colors. But other times, I got the feeling it was surreal to be surreal, with no real point or redeeming value. This is grating. The film should be seen by those who are interested in the progression of global feminism in film, but don't expect, uh, a plot. Or characters. Or any traditional moviemaking techniques. 7/10

Stumble It!

Wanted (Timur Bekmambetov, 2008)

My summary review of Wanted (which managed to pull in over $50 million at the box office this weekend -- pretty darn good for a hard R-rated action movie): the first half is truly awesome. Woah! pretty much sums it up. Shootings! Angelina Jolie's butt! Car chases! Way more shootings! The second half greatly loses momentum when it starts taking itself seriously -- the kiss of death for any over-the-top action movie about killing. It starts to drag, gets a conscience (of sorts), and becomes a little too ridiculous, in a boring way (RAT BOMBS?!). But altogether, definitely worth seeing. It just reminded me how much I loved Shoot Em Up. Oh, and if this movie does a lot to raise James McAvoy's profile in this country, I wouldn't be mad -- he does a really great job. 7/10

Stumble It!

Lots of new trailers!

Three brand new trailers for three movies I can't wait to see. The Coen brothers' follow up to No Country For Old Men is, of course, something completely different: Burn After Reading, the story of a former CIA agent (John Malkovitch) who leaves a digital copy of his tell-all memoirs in a gym run by Frances McDormand and a hilarious-looking Brad Pitt (guys, he actually used to look like this). It looks like a return to teh balls-out funny Coens of The Big Lebowski -- this red band trailer really delivers. The final shot of Pitt dancing on the treadmill sold me. An embeddable one for Choke: MTV Music Videos MTV Shows Entertainment News Now, from reading about the movie, it seems pretty faithful to Chuck Palahniuk's book, but you wouldn't know that from the trailer. It looks like a romantic comedy, albeit one with a dark edge. The trailer hardly goes into Victor's choking or his mother situation, much less the weirder stuff that goes on in the book. This is probably a case of a studio not knowing how to market a movie, which is almost always disastrous, business-wise. Not that I figured it would be a box-office smash, but still. The trailer does show that Sam Rockwell was the perfect choice for Victor, despite being a little old; he has the look and the sensibility that I pictured reading the novel. Finally, what is probably my most anticipated movie of the summer has just released a red band trailer (these things are everywhere now). Step Brothers stars Will Ferrell and John C. Reilly as the titular siblings, and I shouldn't have to say anymore to make you watch it. The gratuitous swearing, the attempted live burial, the bunk bed collapse. All these things make for a movie that I will love.

Stumble It!

The Curious Case of Benjamin Button trailer!

A first preview of David Fincher's upcoming film The Curious Case of Benjamin Button has popped up on Twitchfilm.net (I wish I could embed it here, but no dice). Despite the fact that it's in Spanish, I think you get a pretty good idea of what's going on. Fincher, as always, seems to be on top of his game aesthetically; plus, Brad Pitt and Cate Blanchett are infinitely more likeable (and, in my view better actors) than almost anyone in Zodiac (Robert Downey Jr excluded). Pitt-Fincher collaborations have always been solid, and I'm sure this will be the case as well. Enjoy! (More/better reviews coming soon, I promise!)

Stumble It!

Leatherheads (George Clooney, 2008)

If there are two actors who can charm the hell out of me, they are John Krasinski and George Clooney. I'm a huge fan of The Office, and Clooney is pretty much the suavest actor out there. But he also is a pretty talented director, as we've seen with Confessions of a Dangerous Mind (a really underrated film in my eyes) and Good Night and Good Luck. But if he has one problem with directing, its editing himself. All of his films have been just a tad too long, and that's Leatherheads' problem as well. The story of the legitimization of professional football in the mid 1920s, via an aging playboy with a good mind for cheating (Clooney) and a young World War I hero who's also a dynamite football player (Krasinski, playing a little young but who cares). Renee Zellweger plays Lexie Littleton, Chicago Tribune reporter who's sent to follow Krasinski, because something about his war story stinks a bit. The good: Leatherheads really swings along on the charm of the two leading men. It's funny, it's cute, and, at times, it succeeds at being more than it really is. This movie has something to say about what it means to believe in something, and what professional sports were like before commercialization. But more than that, the witty 20s repartee is more than enough to see the movie. Zellweger and Clooney have lots of snappy back-and-forth, and you even forget that she's squinty and annoying. The bad: yes, Leatherheads is about 20 minutes too long, and drags a bit in the last third. Also, there's been a lot of talk about how much Clooney revised the 17-year-old script (so much so that he resigned from the WGA proper because he wasn't acknowledged as screenwriter for the film), and it really shows. Krasinski's character Carter is a totally likeable, all-American boy in the first half of the film, but when Lexie gets too close to his story, something in him changes. In a great interview this week with the AV Club, Krasinski comments on how he and Clooney changed the character of Carter from an unlikeable guy to just a misunderstood one. While I think that was a good call, the last third seems to have slipped Clooney's mind, and when Carter changes, it's never really explained. The same goes for the relationship between Lexie and Carter; it's laid out in the first half, and then just dissolves in the second. So while there are a few inconsistencies in the movie, they're nothing that take away from enjoying the movie in the moment. Two charming men, a quick, funny script, and a love triangle is enough to spend 2 hours with this movie. 7/10

Stumble It!

Insane Tokyo Gore Police trailer

Without one word of dialogue in the trailer, I know Tokyo Gore Police is going to be awesome. In this five minutes of ridiculous footage, there is more blood than culd possibly be measured, plucked eyeballs, a woman with a crocodile head as her bottom half (??!), awesome fighting school girls with sword arms, and more gore than you can shake a stick at. It's so awesome, it makes me use phrases like "shake a stick at." All I can say is check it out. (Thanks to Twitch for hosting the video.)

Stumble It!

Towelhead clips!

Having just finished Alicia Erian's novel Towelhead (and loved it), I came to search out any news on Alan Ball's (American Beauty, Six Feet Under) adaptation. No trailer or release date as of yet, but IESB has some clips of the film that get me more excited for the movie. But will it be called Towelhead, as the novel is and the working title was, or Nothing Is Private, the name under which it premiered at last year's Toronto Film Festival? If I had to guess, even though right now it's being called Towelhead, I'd put my money on Nothing is Private, because the original title is just too controversial. If you thought the outrage by conservative radio/tv hosts over movies like Stop-Loss and Rendition was ridiculous (and I do), then just wait until this movie comes out, non-offensive title or not. Yikes.

Stumble It!

Breaking: Anthony Minghella, dead at 54

Sad news today: director Anthony Minghella died today, at the age of 54. Apparently, he had tonsil surgery last week, with no apparent ill effects, but had a brain hemmorhage and died this morning. Minghella, who won an Oscar for The English Patient, had just finished work on an adaptation of the Number 1 Ladies' Detective Agency which is to run on HBO. Jude Law, who worked with the director on three films, has a touching comment in the Guardian article linked above. A truly talented individual, and a shocking loss for film.

Stumble It!

Why I'm not going to see Funny Games U.S. this weekend (or ever).

Apparently, director Michael Haneke recently thought about his 1997 film Funny Games and thought that it was even more applicable to American culture in the 21st century than it was to German society right before the milennium. For most directors, the answer would have been a sigh and an "Oh well." But not for Haneke. 10 years after the fact, he decided to remake his revered (in certain circles) film for American audiences, in English, with stars like Naomi Watts, Tim Roth, and Michael Pitt, and it's opening this weekend. But this is no ordinary remake. No, it's a shot-for-shot remake. Literally nothing is different about the film except the actors and the fact that the dialogue is in English. Let's ignore the fact that I hated the original for a second; this is the height of self-promotion for an artist. If Haneke could just admit that he's looking to break through past just the American art-house audience into a wider one, that he's looking for some sort of notoriety with his brutal remake, I could respect that and move on. But Haneke apologists on IMDB are insisting that he remade it because it's so meaningful for today's American culture, what with the Iraq war and the political climate. Really. Really? I highly doubt it. Now let's go back to the fact that this is a shitty, pretentious movie in the first place. I (obviously) have no problem with unlikable characters, or brutality, or violence in movies -- much of the criticism I've read focuses on the brutal, "I want to take a shower after" nature of the movie, but I don't mind that. My problem is that some of the tactics used (and if you've seen the movie, you know exactly what I'm talking about) are the height of directorial ridiculousness. When said moment happened, I literally yelled at my TV screen. I wanted to throw the DVD across the room. It's not post-modern, it's utterly lazy and a big wink to the audience. I almost always hate when movies are self-aware, and this is the most self aware of them all. That moment defines why I just don't like Haneke as a filmmaker. So screw you, Michael Haneke. I'm not paying a second time to see a movie I hated the first time through, and even if I had liked the movie (which I have been assailed by almost every film fan I know for hating, by the way), why in God's name would I want to see the exact same fucking thing again? It didn't work for Gus van Sant, and I hope to high heavens it doesn't work for Haneke, although it appears that critics are already eating out of his hands.

Stumble It!

Post-Oscar thoughts

Well, my predictions were wrong. Even though I was off-base on a lot of the categories, I still didn't find the ceremony very suprising at all. Marion Cotillard was a good win, and makes me a little more likely to see La Vie En Rose, but overall, it went how I thought. I really, really wish there had been a few more wins for There Will be Blood, though -- No Country took screenplay, direction, and picture, and I was hoping TWBB would get one of those. I would pay obscene amounts of money to see the inevitable hissy fit Paul Thomas Anderson threw after the awards, but at least it would have been well-deserved. Overall: meh (although it was funnier than most years).

Stumble It!

Happy Oscar Day!

Stumble It!

Be Kind Rewind (Michel Gondry, 2008)

I've always admired Michel Gondry's childlike sense of imagination and wonder. The Science of Sleep's dream/fantasy sequences were the best part of that wonderful movie; stepping into Stephane's mind was clearly stepping into Gondry's, and it was wonderful what you found there. Be Kind Rewind takes all of the wonderful, sweet aspects of Gondry's filmmaking and distills them into the real world. Mos Def plays Mike, who works at Mr. Fletcher's (Danny Glover) Be Kind Rewind video store -- "1 Video, 1 Night, 1 Dollar, Every Night." Jerry (Jack Black, in surprisingly non-annoying mode) is Mike's best friend who accidentally becomes magnetized after trying to sabotage the power plant he thinks is controlling his mind. His newfound magnetization erases all the tapes in Be Kind Rewind's all-VHS stock, so when customers come in asking for movies, they decide to remake them themselves. That's a plot that could get old quickly, but Black and especially Mos Def are so darn likeable that it doesn't. They remake Ghostbusters first, then Robocop, The Lion King, Rush Hour 2, and more. It's knee-slappingly hilarious at times, and sweetly touching at others. The Onion's AV Club described it as completely apolitical, but I think that it's subersively, personally political in its message that your own entertainment and happiness should come from yourself, not what you have or can get. Plus, there's that stuff about the New Jersey town the video store is in kicking the black-owned store out to the projects, but it's not made an issue. The AV Club also described Mos Def as Danny Glover's son in everything but name, and once I thought about it, I realized it's definitely true -- both men are incredibly talented in both comedy and drama and are so darn likeable. Be Kind Rewind is a great, sweet movie about the importance of creativity and friendship. It's nothing earth-moving, but there's no better time at the movie theater right now. 8.5/10

Stumble It!

Official Oscar predictions

So, since I know you've been waiting for it, here are my official picks for tomorrow's awards. Best Picture No Country For Old Men (although, as I have discussed with several people, I wouldn't be suprised if any of these movies won, really.) Best Actor Daniel Day-Lewis, There Will Be Blood -- Clearly the winner. The performance of a lifetime. Best Actress Julie Christie, Away From Her -- A really tight race, I could see either Ellen Page or Marion Cotillard winning as well, but I really think it'll go to Christie for her gentle, exquisite performance in Sarah Polley's wonderful film. Best Supporting Actor Javier Bardem, No Country For Old Men -- Clearly. Best Supporting Actress Ruby Dee, American Gangster -- A surprise nominee, but I think she'll win because of how AG got the shaft in every other category, especially best actor. Best Director Joel & Ethan Coen, No Country For Old Men -- I would love, LOVE to see PT Anderson or even Julien Schnabel win this one, but I don't see it happening. Best Original Screenplay Diablo Cody, Juno -- Clearly the winner, although I will cringe when they have to read that stupid fucking pseudonym on the podium. Best Adapted Screenplay PT Anderson, There Will Be Blood -- I think the Coens might win this, but I'm guessing Anderson because TWBB won't win picture or director and PT has to get something. So there you have it! I may or may not liveblog the damn thing, but probably not, because the ceremony is always interminably boring.

Stumble It!

3 items of note

Is Spike Jonze's Where the Wild Things Are in trouble? If the film is actually as it seems to be -- a dark, art-house film about a child on a monster's island -- I'm not surprised at all. It definitely sounds like an amazing movie, but if they have to reshoot the entire thing, including recasting the young lead, I doubt it will ever get off the ground again. But in better news, David Fincher is in line to direct a film version of Charles Burns' graphic novel Black Hole. The graphic novel is really beautiful, but never completely captured me story-wise. While I'm surprised that Fincher is taking this movie on -- it really doesn't seem like his style -- I'm really glad he is, and am definitely looking forward to the final product (although with Fincher's perfectionism, it might be years still). And I'm not sure how I missed this a month ago, but here are some clips from the upcoming Chuck Palahniuk adaptation Choke, starring Sam Rockwell. Rockwell is one of those actors I'll see in just about anything, and I'm reading Palahniuk's book right now and am liking (but not loving) it. The cast seems pretty well chosen, except that Vincent Mancini is supposed to be about 25 (but at least they raised the age of everyone, then), and much of the dialogue is taken straight from the novel, a good sign. In fact, I laughed at the scene with the woman who wants him to rape her, while the comedy was not laugh-out-loud in the book. Palahniuk's work is great for film adaptation, and this is one of my most anticipated 2008 films.

Stumble It!

Behind the scenes footage from Step Brothers!

Courtesy of Movieweb comes this hilarious video of b-roll footage from Step Brothers. Starring my two favorite actors, Will Ferrell and John C. Reilly, as two rivals whose parents get married, but then split up because of their sons' constant bickering. The two then obviously have to hatch a plan to get them back together. With Semi Pro and then this, I'm so excited for the return of R-rated Will Ferrell in 2008. And seeing John C. Reilly attack him in skinny jeans, calling him a fucker, made me laugh big time. Step Brothers is the movie I'm probably looking most forward to this summer.

Stumble It!

RIP Heath Ledger

Heath Ledger dead at 28, from an apparent drug overdose. I've spoken several times about how Ledger, with his performances in Brokeback Mountain, Candy (now I could never watch that movie again), and most recently, I'm Not There, was one of the best actors of this generation. What a waste of talent, what a deep loss for the film community. Rest in peace.

Stumble It!

2008 Oscar nominations

As you've inevitably heard by now, the Oscar nominations were announced this morning. A few not-surprise surprises, mostly they're either boring or just kind of silly. My thoughts: Best Picture: Obviously the not-surprise surprise is Juno, which is most certainly this year's Little Miss Sunshine in case we start to take ourselves too seriously with the other nominees. My personal feelings aside, if it does win over two of the best movies in years (There Will Be Blood and No Country for Old Men), I might faint. My pick: There Will Be Blood Likely winner: Atonement (to make up for the lack of Joe Wright nomination) Best Actor: Does Daniel-Day Lewis have this thing wrapped up? I hope so. But Tommy Lee Jones, not for No Country but In the Valley of Elah?! Jesus, Academy voters have a Haggis fetish. My pick and likely winner: Daniel Day-Lewis Best Actress: I really, really think Julie Christie should win this business. Her performance in Away from Her was so powerful and painful and true that, being the grandaughter of an Alzheimer's patient, I almost couldn't watch. As much as Day-Lewis's performance is a loud, brash tour-de-force, this is a quiet, painful one. I'm predicting Christie (My pick and likely winner), but I wouldn't be shocked at an Ellen Page upset (making her, in the words of a Defamer commenter, "this year's Marisa Tomei"). Best Supporting Actor: Again, an actor (Javier Bardem) with a rightful near-lock on this award -- he's my pick and likely winner. But another upset could happen; I could see Casey Affleck getting it, both for his nominated work in The Assassination of Jesse James... and for the almost criminally neglected (so I've heard) Gone Baby Gone. Best Supporting Actress: Let's just make it another one where my pick and likely winner are the same: Cate Blanchett for I'm Not There. I'm so mad that Haynes wasn't even nominated in original screenplay, at least. There was so much great writing and imagination in that movie, most of which came from the script. Best Director: Jason Reitman?! Again, personal feelings aside, everyone's said that the movie's power is in its script and performances, not direction. Another feel-good pick, I suppose. I didn't like Thank You For Smoking (the few minutes I saw), either, so I'm not thrilled by this pick. My pick: Paul Thomas Anderson, likely winner: It's a toss-up in my mind between the Coens and Julian Schnabel. I'll narrow it down closer to awards time. Best Original Screenplay: No real surprises here, except maybe Brad Bird (Ratatouille). My pick: I haven't seen any of them, so I can't really choose. I am interested in The Savages, though. Likely winner: Diablo Cody, Juno. Best Adapted Screenplay: Again, no real surprises, except Sarah Polley, who I am ecstatic for. My pick: Paul Thomas Anderson, likely winner: the Coens. And those are the major categories! It makes me want to vomit that Norbit was nominated, even if only for makeup, and that three songs from Enchanted were nominated and not one from Walk Hard (yes, the movie is a comedy, but those are seriously good songs). And even though I have strong feelings toward Diablo Cody/Juno, it truly warms my heart that four of the ten nominated screenwriters are women. We're getting somewhere! But all in all, Radar is right: boring.

Stumble It!

Cloverfield (Matt Reeves, 2008)

By now, everyone (or at least $40 million worth of people) has seen this thing, so there are spoilers abound in my review. Be forwarned! By now, there's been over six months of buildup for this movie. Strange that people (including myself) got so excited about a movie from the director of The Pallbearer and a writer from Lost, which I've never gotten into. But the viral campaign was so great, and so successful (at least at first), that plenty of people were inevitably disappointed in the movie. There are plenty of people on the imdb boards complaining about how the movie has no plot, how you don't see the monster enough, how there needs to be more explosions, etc. But that's exactly what I like best about Cloverfield: it's a horror/monster movie from the first-person perspective. We see what people on the ground see, not what the scientists or heroes fighting the monster do. At first, the hand-held camera motions make you sick on the big screen, but you get used to it ], even when it obscures the action and makes this almost too intense to bear. The movie does actually have a plot, contrary to naysayers; Rob is leaving for Japan the next day, and his brother Jason, future sister-in-law Lily, best friend Hud, Hud's crush Marlena, and Rob's friend/lover/whatever Beth are all at a surprise party to say goodbye to Rob. Things start exploding in Manhattan -- at first, everyone thinks it's an earthquake, but when the Statue of Liberty's head comes flying at them on the street, it's pretty clear it's not. Rob becomes fixated on the task of finding Beth, who he fought with at the eginning of the night but got a phone call from saying she was really hurt in her apartment, and Hud, Lily, and Marlena end up going with him. It seems nonsensical, but I can completely understand why they would follow Rob instead of the military out of Manhattan. Rob has a plan, he's determined, and the rest of them are so confused and terrified that following Rob seems only natural. So their group wanders through the subway tunnels (rats! baby aliens! Both are terrifying), runs through the street, and generally just tries to avoid the monster in order to find Beth. The monster! I had read beforehand that you get disappointingly few looks at it, so I was actually surprised at the amount of close-ups of the monster we get from this supposedly hand-held camera. It's terrifying, worth the price of admission alone -- when you get the closeups of it right before it devours Hud, I almost couldn't look. Not only is the monster scary, but it drops lots of baby monsters, and their bite apparently makes you bleed from your eyes. Or something. (The imdb faq is very helpful on this account -- the monster's venom could cause the pressure in the body to become too much to bear, or it could be that the monster is like the alien from Alien, and tries to replicate through humans.) The entire movie, save the first 20 minutes, is so intense. It's the most intense experience I've had in the theater since Hostel. How was this thing not rated R? Many reviews have brought up the inevitable September 11 connections, and while I did think of that when the first shots of buildings on fire were shown, the movie does such a good job of wrapping you up in this monster attack that I didn't think about it again. There is quite a bit of character development, or at least introduction, in the first 20 minutes, but I was more impressed by the growth of Rob's character throughout the movie. It's a hard situation in which to have a character "learn something," but Rob does, and not in an unbelievable way. The actors are all very authentic, which might have had something to do with the fact that they were all relative unknowns. I'd definitely like to see it again, but I might wait for the second-run theater. It was almost too intense to take in again right away. And if you've seen the movie, but didn't catch the little surprise in the final scene with Rob and Beth on the ferris wheel (I did, I was too busy crying!), check out the imdb faqs. And apparently, after the credits, there's a whisper of "help me" that, played backwards, is this: boomp3.com Sounds like a sequel is likely. I'll be waiting. 8.5/10

Stumble It!

Cloverfield in brief

Awesome. Not surprising it was the highest-grossing January opening ever (but boo for beating out Hostel, which I think had the record beforehand). More soon!

Stumble It!