We are mighty big fans of Nimrod Antal‘s 2003 Hungarian subway drama, Kontroll, which at the time, due to its sense of style, humour and intensity, besides being a breath of fresh air in the stuffier Hungarian Cinema circles, also seemed like a Hollywood calling card of sorts.  That proved true and resulted in the enjoyable thriller Vacancy and the decidedly more generic-looking Armoured which is on its way to the multiplex presently.  But here is the blockbuster big-time moment for Antal, as he is being handed the keys to the Predator franchise.  Hmmm, I find this to be pretty exciting.  Antal had to beat out some tough competition, namely Neil Marshall, for the gig.

The 1987 original is practically canonized as one of the great 1980s beef-cake action pictures with great action and macho humour and sensibility.  And the awesomeness of Predator 2 is often overlooked?  I mean that quite seriously, Predator 2 rocks.  Can Nimrod Antal and producer Robert Rodriguez stuff lightning in a bottle for a third go-around?

Either way, Robert Rodriguez‘s Troublemaker Studios is aiming for a fall start on Predators with elements of his 1994 screenplay draft and the KNB group practical special effects philosophy.  Excited?  Ready to wash the bile of the AVP films out of your craw?

Way back in November 2008, we mentioned that Richard Kelly‘s follow up film to Southland Tales (I film I quite like thank you very much - yet I’ll acknowledge I am in the minority), a science fiction thriller titled The Box was done shooting, but would not be released until November 2009.  It seems that things are on schedule towards that date, with the release of the first trailer for the film.  And from watching the trailer, Kelly has reigned in the excesses seen in Southland Tales, but still, down under the multiplex genre-surface is the pop-literary kernels displayed in his films to date:  Faust’s bargain with a twist.  I wonder if this will capture the humanity and fragility and confusion on display in Donnie Darko, or if it will be a little easier to digest.  Either way, I remain interested, as Richard Matheson adaptations go, chances of improving on the recent blockbuster I Am Legend are damn near certainty; and this despite the severe liability of Cameron Diaz as the leading lady.  The supporting cast is pretty fab though: James Marsden, Frank Langella, Holmes “Daddy Darko” Osborne and James Rebhorn. 

Norma and Arthur Lewis, a suburban couple with a young child, receive a simple wooden box as a gift, which bears fatal and irrevocable consequences. A mysterious stranger, delivers the message that the box promises to bestow upon its owner $1 million with the press of a button. But, pressing this button will simultaneously cause the death of another human being somewhere in the world; someone they don’t know. With just 24 hours to have the box in their possession, Norma and Arthur find themselves in the cross-hairs of a startling moral dilemma and must face the true nature of their humanity.

To the folks at Warners:  TIFF Playdate, please.

Continue Reading "Trailer for Richard Kelly’s THE BOX"...

Well, I think my head is pleasantly buzzing like I had pop-rocks and coca-cola.  Normally everyone complains about remakes, but I am putting myself squarely in the optimism camp upon the news out of Hong Kong that iconic director Zhang Yimou is currently in the midst of shooting a remake of the Coen Brothers’ debut film, neo-noir Blood Simple.

Titled San Qiang Pai An Jing Qi (basic translation: “The Stunning Case of the Three Gun Shots”), it is great to see Zhang Yimou making films again instead of doing weddings, Olympic Ceremonies and other in-the-moment work for hire jobs.  And a noir-picture to boot (although arguments could be made that several of the directors films are noir-ish, despite his gorgeous colour palettes). 

As a Twitch-O-Meter, this post will remain up on top of the page for most of the day (or, being a “Mr. DeMille” article, until it gets fully guessed).  Gaze upon the lovely visage Ms. Cheung, but do not forget to scroll down for additional news and articles!
 

“No matter where I’m going, I feel like I’m leaving something behind. Every time I get on a plane, I cry. The flight attendants on Cathay Pacific must think I’m mad.”

Cosmopolitan, gorgeous, multi-lingual, and one of cinemas great ladies, Maggie Cheung went from Hong Kong model to European festival juror with many accolades and prizes in between.  Whether she is posing beside Jackie Chan or for Wong Kar Wai she has a presence on the screen.  She can can be icy cold and distant or warm and generous.  Sometimes, as in the case of several films with her ex-Husband, director Olivier Assayas, both extremes in the same picture.  At her prime, she worked with a great many of the top HK directors, Tsui Hark, Johnnie To, wkw, Zhang Yimou, Stanley Kwan and Ching Siu-Tung.  With her British upbringing and cultural fluency, she has worked for a number of directors in Europe and America.  Over the past half-decade, she has slowed down her voluminous output, doing only two nearly-cropped-entirely-from-the-film cameos (That would be Inglorious Basterds and 2046).  They say always keep ‘em wanting more, but please Maggie, a few more films would make us happy, happy folks.
 
How well do you know the faces of Maggie Cheung?  This is not a competition, there are no prizes, bragging rights in the comment section.  Friends don’t let friends use the IMDB as a crutch.
I will post the answers just before this post drops off the main page, that is, if all you smart folks out there do not get them first!  Extra points for the cropped ‘cover-image at the top of the post.
 
Good luck!

Continue Reading "Maggie Cheung is ready for her close-up, Mr. DeMille!"...

I seem to recall a blurry snapped photo of Johnny Depp in this colourful get-up for Tim Burton‘s Alice in Wonderland production over at Disney from some time ago, but I cannot seem to locate them in our archives (probably those lawyers a-ceasin’ and a-desistin’!).  The twist on this version (besides the hefty budget and 3D presentation) is the jump in Alice’s age to about 17 years old (*Update, I’ve since read that Alice is actually making a second trip back to Wonderland as an older girl).  The mouse-house (trades-slang alert!) has some buffed-up and gloriously air-brushed promo shots from the upcoming 3D film of Johnny Depp, Helena Bonham Carter Anne Hathaway and Mia Waskiwska (as The Mad Hatter, The Queen of Hearts, The White Queen, and Alice respectively).  You can check them out in the gallery (after the Jump). 

Worth noting is that the list of supporting actors in this beast has real depth:  Alan Rickman, Timothy Spall, Crispin Glover, Marton Csokas, Stephen Fry, Christopher Lee, Michael Sheen, Tim Pigott-Smith, and Lindsay Duncan.  Oh My!

Continue Reading "Tim Burton’s ALICE IN WONDERLAND"...

So this one has been sitting patiently on the shelf for some time now, and Kate Beckinsale is not the strongest in straight-up genre pictures.  Yet, a peppy modern trailer with a halfway decent retro-styled voice over and nary a vampire in sight (yet the casting of Alex “Moonlight” O’Loughlin combined with the ‘threat’ of the sun setting for 6 months may suggest otherwise) promise a tidy little thriller along the lines of Nimrod Antal‘s underrated Vacancy (you know where Beckinsale got to act and stuff, instead of simply pose in her pretty make-up).  There is a bit of gore in the trailer suggesting that punches may not be pulled.  Finally, the director is Dominic Sena, so naturally here is hoping more for Kalifornia than Swordfish.

“A U.S. marshal, the only one assigned to Antarctica, must investigate a murder on the frozen continent within three days before the arctic winter begins. She crosses paths with a U.N. operative, also investigating the murder.  An adaptation of the comic book of the same name which details just how harsh Antarctica can be: The frozen continent is all white, not paradise, more like hell!”

Trailer is after the jump.

Continue Reading "Antarctica Thriller:  WHITEOUT TRAILER"...

With all the recent posts on the upcoming World Wide Short Film Festival, I will label this a happy co-incidence.  Dennis Heaton, the screenwriter of the charming Canadian Zombie picture Fido, directed this short in 2006, and it toured around on the festival circuit for a while, but he recently popped it up publicly online for all to enjoy.  It is certainly a fine piece of comedy in which an enthusiastic actor auditions unbeknownst for a snuff film, only to have the filmmakers decide that, well, he is not a good enough actor.  Hilarity ensues.  Take that, Saw franchise.  Full short is after the Jump.

Continue Reading "HEADSHOT:  Is there anything funnier than a Snuff Film?"...

Colour me intrigued with Martin Scorsese‘s actor-studded, gothic horror-thriller-mystery Shutter Island.  The trailer popped up on Apple.com today and begs the question:  Where else could the assemblage of Michelle Williams, Max Von Sydow, Leonardo DiCarprio and John Carroll Lynch occur in the same film other than a huge directorial draw like Scorsese? (Oh, did I mention Mark Ruffalo, Jackie Earle Haley, Emily Mortimer, Ted Levine, Elias Koteas, Patricia Clarkson and Ben Kingsley?  Yea, they’re in here too.  It’s a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad Asylum!)  The film is genre-y and classy at the same time, and I must say, I am digging it.  A lot.  This is simply handsome craftsmanship.  Come fall we’ll find out if Scorcese has something more than just a spooky story up his sleeve.  But for now, that will do.

Two U.S. marshals are summoned to a remote and barren island off the coast of Massachusetts to investigate the mysterious disappearance of a murderess from the island’s fortress-like hospital for the criminally insane.

The trailer is in the Twitch Player after the Jump.

Continue Reading "SHUTTER ISLAND Trailer Promises a Straight Up Genre Film from Scorsese"...

Ignore the sensational headline written in admittedly poor taste.  The fact is that David “Kung Fu” Carradine was found hanged in his hotel room in Thailand.  He was scheduled to shoot a film in Bangkok.  He was discovered yesterday by the local police, dead at 72.

Just a quick heads up that DavidLynch.com is hosting episode #1 (of 121) as of yesterday, with a new episode up every three days for, well, quite some time.

This is going to sound strange.  I, like many, enjoyed Pixar’s tenth feature length film, Up,  a lot, but I am going to spend most of the following review being critical of its shortcomings.  The bay area companys particular brand of magic is in full effect, and it is most definitely so in the opening moments involving a silent montage of Carl Fredricksen’s life (from 5 to 75) with his soul-mate Ellie, nothing that follows ever reaches that high water-mark.  Pixar has a found a real knack for graceful silent story telling giving the bulk of a lifetime in a few simple moments that say so much and Up managed to squeeze more than a tear out of me (even as the significance and details of a life in miniature went way over the heads of my own young children sitting next to me).  Nevertheless, that grace is somewhat at odds, tonally, with the indulgences of the filmmakers who slap piecemeal a lot of images and story ideas without managing to rope everything together (they dangle like the stray balloon’s moving Carl from location to location).  The remaining story is not without its charms and thrills, and it is a daring daring to put a 75 year old man as the hero and centerpiece of the story, but it feels more than a little incomplete.  Less polished than Pete Doctor’s previous Monster’s Inc., and well behind Ratatouille, Wall-E or The Incredibles.  If anything, it resembles Hayao Miyazaki’s Howl’s Moving Castle more than the previous Pixar entries.

Continue Reading "Review:  UP *Mild Spoilers*"...

So, you made it through Who Can Kill a Child?, Dumplings and À l’intérieur?  You can take female body horror centered around pregnancy?  Well, Paul Solet’s Grace aims to take the Little Shop of Horrors (or the more recent Blood Car) concept very seriously, viscerally, and bloody.  You can take the positive word from where the film debuted at Sundance, or you can watch the redband trailer after the jump to prove it.  Not quite NSFW, but you will get funny looks from the person in the next cubicle.

Eight months pregnant, and preoccupied with both a natural childbirth and a pure-body lifestyle, Madeline Matheson, played with merciless compassion by Jordan Ladd, deflects her demanding mother-in-law’s insistent pressure for standard hospital treatment, instead opting for the peaceful companionship of a trusted midwife. Though reluctantly compliant, her husband remains supportive of her choices until a sudden tragic accident leaves her unborn baby lifeless inside of her. Madeline remains determined to carry the stillborn baby to term, where she miraculously wills the delivered corpse into life. But it is not too long before the increasingly isolated mother realizes that something is not right with baby Grace, and she must make horrible sacrifices to keep her living.

Continue Reading "Putting the Red into Redband - Bloody trailer for GRACE"...

It never really found its audience up in Canada during its theatrical run; a case of no marketing or opening against Watchmen, or simply baffling audiences?  And things look tough in the US, as it is only opening on a single lonesome screen against the audience friendly, ad-blitzed and marquee Drag Me To Hell.  Yet we love Bruce McDonald‘s semiotic zombie (er, conversationalist!) headscratcher Pontypool a lot, and wish to see it finds its audience at the Box Office, or in the case of IFCs day-and-date release, with VOD. 

I have seen this film almost half a dozen times now, yes folks, it is that good.  It takes the overstuffed zombie sub-genre and turns it on its ear (literally).  Yes, ladies and gents, this is the first ‘talk radio’ zombie picture, a film in which so little is actually shown on screen, the viewer is left questioning (for much of the films runtime) whether or not the attacks are even real.  Violence and intestine pulling gore are replaced with a plethora of science fiction and social ideas which are very much to the pictures benefit.  Like Vincenzo Natali‘s single room sci-fi/horror picture Cube, keeping the visuals to a minimum lets the minds eye soar with the strange questions and possibilities raised here.  What communication mechanisms cause raving mobs to spontaneously form?  What is the difference between hearing and understanding?  Is language itself a virus?  Can talk radio save the world or is it really the pestilence?  That the titular Pontypool (besides being a small Ontario town, is itself an interesting linguistic confection) wears its brains on its sleeve, in no way makes it less of a thriller, or for that matter, a great actor showcase (McHattie tears up the screen). Bruce McDonald and screenwriter Tony Burgess (from his own novel) inject a surprising amount of playfulness along the way without diminishing the pictures full impact.  As genre flicks go, Pontypool is the full package deal.”

Here is Todd’s initial thoughts on the film mixed with his own personal experience ” It was at a big frosh week event at university.  Pretty much hating all things frosh I was lurking about the outer edges of a large open quad packed full with hundreds more drunken, teenage students than it could reasonably asked to hold when someone at the far end of the quad - for reasons I’ll never know - started waving his hands over his head and chanting out “Fuck you!” over and over again.  From my vantage point I watched as the chant took hold and spread out from that one point, rolling out like a wave, sweeping up everybody in its path, washing away hundreds of individuals as those two simple words fused the lot of them into a single minded mob.  I would later study a bit of language theory - at one point I considered doing grad work on how language physically alters the brain - but nothing has ever wiped away my shock at the overwhelming power of plain, simple words when applied in the right context.  This is the horror of Pontypool.”

Well, here is a combination of things.  One, Werner Herzog is in a playful mood.  Two, Nicholas Cage is attempting to outdo his recent Wicker Man remake role in over-the-topitude.  And three, Abel Ferrara‘s fabulous Bad Lieutenant does take itself deadly serious with its earnest violence, aggressive sex and extreme drug use, flirting with parody in the first place.  This culminates in one of these ‘O My God, they are actually getting paid to make this’ moments (and not only the eccentric director, but also Val Kilmer, Eva Mendez, Jennifer Coolidge and Fairuza Balk.  I am not sure how funny the joke or the Freddy Got Fingered stunt is going to play out in the end, but give the trailer a gander after the jump and weigh in.  Who knows, maybe this is not even real but a strange You Tube mash-up or an hallucination.

“You don’t have a lucky crack-pipe?”

Apparently Herzog has been puffing away, and get that iguana of his fucking coffee table. 

(This will make almost sense after a viewing.  See you on the other side.)

Continue Reading "Shoot Abel Ferrara Again.  His Soul is Still Dancing."...

After Sony Pictures Classics (embarrassingly) modest theatrical release of Mamoru Oshii‘s The Sky Crawlers in late 2008 which only allowed for people on big Coastal cities to have a look at the film as it should be seen - A massive screen with state of the art sound - it finally gets a R1 DVD and Blu-Ray (which is apparently coded for all regions).  This is not the extravagant package of the super expensive, but tragically subtitle-less Japanese Box, the image even is vaguely reminiscent of the Top Gun One Sheet (of which Oshii’s film is clearly the anti-thesis!), yet this is a far cry better than the Ghost In The Shell:  Innocence release debacle (here and here) back in the day.  Quibbles aside, what is most important is the quality of the actual film on the shiny disc; and the good news is that it is sumptuously reproduced in this release.

On this day of The Sky Crawlers home video release in North America, it is worth re-capping some of the love for it in these parts. In fact, it is one of the most reviewed movies at Twitch with no less than 4 of the regular writing staff chiming in on it.  It is worth noting that love for this exotic and delicate piece of animation was unanimous.

Continue Reading "THE SKY CRAWLERS is out on R1 DVD and BluRay"...