skip to main |
skip to sidebar
Home > All posts
The thinly-populated genre of ice hockey comedies has produced exactly one classic: George Roy Hill's gloriously profane "Slap Shot." The likes of "The Mighty Ducks" trilogy and the underrated Russell Crowe vehicle "Mystery, Alaska" have tried valiantly, but nothing's ever quite come close to the joy of seeing Paul Newman and the Hanson Brothers kick the living shit out of people on an ice rink.
For whatever reason, the sport seems to be back in vogue, with hockey obsessive Kevin Smith still planning to shoot "Hit Somebody" next year, after he finishes horror comedy "Red State." But more imminent is "Goon," the Canadian comedy written by Apatow staples Jay Baruchel and Evan Goldberg (the latter co-wrote "Superbad" and "Pineapple Express"). Seann William Scott joined the project in the summer, with Baruchel also appearing, while Alison Pill and Marc-Andre Grondin joined the project last week, and now another terrific actor has joined the increasingly promising ensemble.
The Wrap reports that Liev Schreiber has come on board the project in an unknown role (hopefully not a villain — *spoiler* as soon as he popped up in "Salt," it was thunderingly obvious who the bad guy would turn out to be). Production Weekly tweeted last week that Schreiber was circling both this and a thriller called "Jack" with Samuel L. Jackson, and, while there's no word on the latter, The Wrap confirmed Mr. Naomi Watts' presence in "Goon."
The site also have the first log-line we've seen for the project: supposedly, Scott will star 'as a bouncer who joins a rag-tag hockey team and inspires them to greatness.' Baruchel plays his best friend, Grondin will be a French-Canadian hockey star, and Pill will be the female lead. Even though the shadow of "Slap Shot" looms over this, the level of talent involved (particularly with the new presence of Schreiber, who doesn't get to do comedy as much as we'd like) has us extremely excited about this one. Shooting starts in Winnipeg next month, under the eye of "FUBAR" director Michael Dowse.
Amy Adams is a wanted woman and we can't say we blame the filmmakers and producers who covet her talents. After taking off almost a year to have a baby, the actress is ready to get back to work and now has to weigh some serious offers.
The first one, and perhaps the most enticing as it could endlessly enjoyable, is one from Jason Segel and Disney regarding his 'Untitled Muppets Movie' (sometimes known as simply, "The Muppets," formerly known as "The Greatest Muppet Movie Of All Time") which is due Christmas 2011. Segel want Adams to co-star next to him in the picture which needs to start shooting soon if it wants to make its targeted release date. Having already worked in the realm of animation — "Enchanted" — she more than demonstrated that she could carry a tune (the 'Muppets' film will surely have songs in it and Segel is a songwriter as well), Adams seems like a perfect fit for the material, but she does have other gigs to consider.
Cameron Crowe — who is getting divorced from his wife of 22 years, Nancy Wilson, bummer — wants Adams to play the zookeeper role alongside Matt Damon in the adaptation of "We Bought A Zoo" which is also scheduled for a Christmas release in 2011 which essentially means it too is vying for her attention. Damon plays a widowed man who buys a dilapidated zoo as a condition of purchasing a beautiful country estate.
Lastly there's Dreamworks' "Welcome To People," which is the directorial debut of Alex Kurtzman, one half of the writing duo (along with Roberto Orci) responsible for the "Star Trek" and "Transformers" films thus far. The Dreamworks family drama recently picked up Chris Pine for the lead — a man who loses his father to cancer and then must deliver the $150,000 inheritance to his half-sister — and they're eying Adams for this sibling role; a struggling mother and recovering alcoholic. EW reports that her participation in 'The Muppets' movie seems optimistic, but nothing has been set in stone yet. Adams is apparently on a short list of women who are also contenders for the "We Bought A Zoo" gig.
While Julie Taymor's getting geeks' panties in a bunch for her gestating "Spider-Man" Broadway show, her latest endeavor in cinema is an adaptation of William Shakespeare's "The Tempest," with an estimable cast that includes Helen Mirren, Alfred Molina, Chris Cooper, Alan Cumming, Russel Brand, and Ben Wishaw to name a few. Taymor's no stranger to Shakespeare's work, as her last cinematic foray into his oeuvre was her adaptation of "Titus Andronicus," shortened simply to "Titus" way back in 1999 with Anthony Hopkins in the title role. Adding to her experience is the fact that she had already done "The Tempest" on three difference occasions, so suffice to say, she probably knows the piece like the back of her hand.
This time, however, the director wasn't interested in completely sticking to the script, which called for what is essentially the main character of Prospero to be played by a male actor. Instead, Helen Mirren expressed interest, and the two were careful with the decision to gender swap. "We did a reading a year in advance, it was extremely critical to both Helen and myself that this not be a gimmick, that putting a woman into this role had validity for the Shakespeare play," said Taymor at the New York Film Festival press conference. Would she really turn down a performance by great thespian Mirren? It's doubtful, but the concern is understood and shows that the female filmmaker's head was in the right place during pre-production, recognizing that the change would call attention, and so it would be necessary to avoid it being a mere contrivance. The swap, in fact, gave certain scenes a different and deeper layer. She spoke of one of the final scenes, where Prospera relinquished her magic and shed her island dwelling appearance for a more regal one. "When you watch her go from these androgynous free clothes that you'd wear on an island to be comfortable, back into that severe female corset, she's not just giving up her magic, she's giving up her freedom for her daughter's."
These visual moments were sought out by Taymor, who said, "I wanted to have certain moments of breathers from the language." And indeed, while the film version has been whittled down from a play that's roughly 4 hours in its entirety, there's still a plethora of dialogue to be digested — which she acknowledges as hard to break up because of its specific rhythm. Instead, she expounded on the newly opened doors that the film medium had presented her, such as the previously mentioned scene and the focus on the costume design. And also the environment the characters inhabit, which directly represented their feelings or the theme of a particular scene:"When the king falls asleep," she explains, "we're in this incredible iron wood forest that we would get lost in. We're doing a conspiracy here, so we need to find a place for these actors to hide, for these actors to go. When the clowns get drunk, they're in what we call the 'Ramble Forest' and it's all gnarled and it looks like 'Hansel and Gretel' and it's like what's going inside of them."
In particular, Taymor found inspiration in the 1964 near-perfect Hiroshi Teshigahara film "Woman in the Dunes," in which an unwilling couple live in a sand-dune with no way out. "I never lost the love for this film, where the two lovers were down in a pit and everyone was watching from above. They couldn't get out because it forced them into that incredible sexual moment. It pushes the two together, every piece of scenery was used to represent inner landscape."
Those especially familiar with the play also know that it's very musical, with the spirit Ariel, played by Ben Wishaw, performing many songs. No stranger to contemporary musicals, having directed the Beatles-inspired "Across the Universe," Taymor and her constant collaborative composer Elliot Goldenthal opted for something a little different from the norm. Goldenthal still used many instruments of the time, such as didgeridoos and wood flutes, but they spoke of blending in current styles while still keeping the atmosphere of what they would've used around the birth of the play. "We talked about this combination of contemporary sensibility and electric guitar. 'The Tempest' does have orchestral elements, but a lot of those elements are electric guitar. He uses (these) as an orchestra. I wanted to bridge time."
Bridge time she did, as the conclucsion features the final monologue by Prospera as sung by Beth Gibbons, lead singer of the band Portishead. The closing speech was originally scrapped by Taymor, but when it came down to it, she realized it was incomplete without it. With no money left, she and her producers tried to come up with clever ideas to fit it back in, and a song by Gibbons just happened to be the idea that won. "Beth came to mind because she feels like Helen to me. She has the vulnerability and the power simultaneously." The finale song puts a proper close on things, and amusingly enough, some even thought that it actually was Mirren's voice over the music. "Some people think that it's Helen singing, but Helen will tell you that she doesn't sing."
Whether Taymor succeeds in attracting audiences to her mix of past and present elements remains to be seen, as regular joe moviegoers (and honestly, even those into the art of cinema) often find the density and general wordiness of Shakespeare films to be a bit exasperating. The director seemed to be confident with her film and very adamant about her choice, simply stating "I didn't want to update it. Shakespeare is all-time."
"The Tempest" opens December 10, 2010.
Reports peg “The Social Network” costing Sony $40-$60 million, which means this number one opening should be more than solid. But then you have to consider prints and advertising - a movie about angry nerds staring at computer screens and occasionally yelling at each other with maximum verbosity doesn’t sell itself. The picture might count as “relevant” and “important” but with a likely costly Oscar campaign coming, Sony’s going to pray this has enough legs to get to $100 million and not settle for $60m. In Facebook terms, this isn’t an Eduardo Saverin opening, but it is a Mark Zuckerberg opening. Sony was probably banking on a Sean Parker-type weekend.The numbers suggest the film did extremely well on the coasts and weak in the Midwest, South, and various flyover regions*. There could be the nugget of a possibility that “The Social Network” is something more cerebral, even esoteric. Perhaps it’s the notion that this is a story where no one is really worth rooting for, and at heart, the film explores the complexities of truly godless individuals. Or maybe it’s the very real possibility that “Network” was snobbishly pushed harder on the coasts, while the rest of the nation was left to tune out from this movie about people tapping on their keyboards to create a waste of time website that serves no real, practical purpose. Let us not forget that sometimes, being a “good” movie isn’t enough of a hook for some viewers.
Conventional wisdom says that kiddie flicks have legs, even when they aren’t heavily attended, and “Legend of the Guardians” won't buck that trend. Still, this thing has flop written all over it, whether it’s a $100 or $150 million expenditure, even if it was a Legendary Films/Warner Bros. co-production, and even if they paid the voice cast in trinkets and tchotchkes. Even though there's no relation between the projects, WB didn't gain any promotional traction by pushing this film a week after their own Ben Affleck bank robbing caper, something most studios usually know to avoid. It looked more nature-film than action picture, and those early ads, with laughably terrible guitar rock over the cuddly CGI images, probably turned off parents hoping they could take their kids to something a bit less somber-looking.
“Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps” had a hearty fall from its perch, losing about half its audience. An expected fall for this type of film, this sequel is still projected to perform right at expectations, landing at $50-$60 million easily. You could have argued that all parties involved needed this to be bigger, but that case is dubious now - failing to become a zeitgeist grabber and, likely, an awards contender keeps Shia LeBeouf in the Brand Name sweepstakes, but not in the Real Actor department. And Oliver Stone likely buys himself some time and a chance to be director-for-hire yet again despite a serious declining Q rating based on diminished skill and reliance on hefty budgets. Of course, this sadly might be the last time we see Michael Douglas strutting his stuff on the big screen, and for a former box office lion like him, that likely carries weight for the people who have added to “Wall Street 2” tallies.
At the WB, they reward success not with fruit baskets or gift certificates but with a chance to helm “Superman.” However, all reports suggest Ben Affleck would rather have the fruit basket, free massage and chaise longue that come with the success for “The Town,” which held remarkably well in week three and looks poised to challenge $90 million domestic. A movie that makes $100 million in the September-October time period has a serious effect on your cred, but it’s oodles better if the film has legs and benefits from what appears to be word-of-mouth. “The Social Network” and “Wall Street” may have topped the box office recently, but “The Town” still carries a lot of “I’ve gotta see that” heat from the general public.
“Easy A” continues to stick around, a stellar hold getting the film over the likely $40 million domestic target, with more ground to cover. $60 million isn’t out of the question, a number that can turn a bit player into a star. Emma Stone, this is your moment: don’t work with CGI owls. Screen Gems had a rocking summer, and with this sub-$10 million film generating significant theatrical profit (providing p&a wasn’t out of control - always a possibility), all parties involved could pull in serious dough by association. More than likely, director Will Gluck has now atoned in the eyes of studios for “Fired Up,” one of last year’s biggest flops.
When a film sits on the shelf for more than a couple of years, it’s a terrible sign for everyone. But Paramount knows when God gives you lemons, you make applesauce, and was able to get Paramount Vantage's leftover “Case 39” into a couple thousand theaters years after that boutique label closed. Most studios would treat a film like this as radioactive and it would go straight-to-DVD, but Paramount rolled the dice on a likely cheap ad campaign (and no press screenings) and will get the film to a potential $15 million gross. Overture have to be smarting that “Let Me In” was taken out by the knees partly because the horror dollar was being squeezed by not only “Case 39” and “Devil” but also “Hatchet II” and “Chain Letter.” The last two were quiet indie releases though, so Paramount, who could have shat out “Case 39” on any weekend to similar results, comes out looking like a dick. Viewers, meanwhile, had to be confused by the fact that Bradley Cooper no longer looked so buff and Renee Zellweger didn’t resemble a Shoggoth.
We don’t wish to hate on this decision, but what kind of Tranya does one have to sip to think that they would make serious money by remaking “Let The Right One In”? Overture somehow saw dollar signs in remaking a “beloved” recent horror classic that made $2 million domestically on the art house circuit, imagining they got brownie points for staying close to the source material. “Let Me In” is as alienating as major releases get, a dark, snowy, somber adult film starring kids and ostensibly featuring horrific violence. “Let Me In” had no recognizable faces, a hard-R rating and ads that (appropriately?) showcased vampirism as a disease, when audiences have already declared that they prefer their vamps with guns (“Underworld”), smoking hot (“Twilight”) and generally sans real tragedy. No matter how strong Matt Reeves’ vision for this remake was (and it's an excellent effort), it was DOA as soon as it was announced, and most of us are just stunned they got it into 2000 theaters. Of course, more people will have seen “Let Me In” than “Let The Right One In” by the time the dust settles, but this material just isn’t for everyone. Which is our condescending way of saying that lots of people have terrible taste.
In indie theaters, "Catfish" and "Waiting For Superman" remained the top attractions, with "Catfish" expanding to the tune of $607k on 34 screens and the Davis Guggenheim doc pulling in $407k with the week's best per-screen average ($11k per). While "Catfish" isn't showing the kind of breakout potential people expected, "Superman" could play pretty strongly if this expansion is managed the right way, and potentially it could be a rarity, the $1 million doc. "It Might Get Loud" and "An Inconvenient Truth," Guggenheim's previous, crossed that barrier with ease (particularly the latter), but "Superman" is a noticeably tougher sell. Still, the impetus behind a film like this is, as long as one person sees it, it has made a difference. Also, the people who made "Waiting For Superman" are already millionaires.
In a crowded indie marketplace, Woody Allen's "You Will Meet A Tall Dark Stranger" averaged $8k per-screen, with $232k on 29 screens. "Get Low" continues to bring in audiences, bringing its total to $8.6 million with a strong $204k in its tenth weekend, while super-doc "Freakanomics" barely made a dent with $33k on seventeen screens. The big loser for this weekend? The horror genre. In addition to "Case 39" and "Let Me In" bellyflopping, two smaller releases had debuts on the frail end of the spectrum. "Hatchet II" pulled in only $62k on 68 screens, while "Chain Letter" was one of the year's biggest tanks at 406 venues, pulling in $143k, a meager average of $352 per-screen. Pass this on - support your local indie theaters, folks.
1. The Friendster Lounge (Sony) - $23 million
2. Legend Of The Guardians: Owly! (WB) - $10.9 million ($30 mil.)
3. Wall Street: Money Takes A Knee (Fox) - $10.1 million ($36 mil.)
4. The Town (WB) - $10 million ($64 mil.)
5. Easy A (Sony) - $7 million ($42 mil.)
6. You Again (Disney) - $5.6 million ($16 mil.)
7. Case 39 (Paramount) - $5.4 million
8. Let Me In (Overture) - $5.3 million
9. Devil (Universal) - $3.7 million ($28 mil.)
10. Alpha And Omega - $3 million ($19 mil.)
*Bear with us; Hollywood considers anything that isn’t New York, Los Angeles, or Chicago “flyover regions.”
Here's our first look at Saoirse Ronan and Alexis Bledel from 'Precious' scribe Geoffrey Fletcher's currently-in-production teenage assassin flick "Violet & Daisy."
Also featured in the picture is Danny Trejo, in what seemingly serves as the first unveiling of the "Machete" actor as a cast member for this particular pic. James Gandolfini was previously revealed as a cast member for the self-described "Thelma & Louise" meets "Superbad" meets "Pulp Fiction" story of two teenage assassins who discover that their last job is not exactly what they expected.
Ronan and Bledel obviously play the leading duo with their 13 year age difference barely noticable, for the most part, on account of the age-defying Bledel. Shooting is taking place in and around New York with Fletcher, Bonnie Timmermann, John Penotti of Magic Violet/GreeneStreet Films and Steve Kempf producing.
Sounds like those rumors about Craig Gillespie's remake of 1985 horror-comedy "Fright Night" going meta might turn out to be true. Star of the original flick, Chris Sarandon, has reportedly filmed a cameo in the remake described as one that "links the original and the remake in a very appropriate way."
This seemingly confirms early word reporting that (obviously, somewhat spoiler-ish...) the new Charlie Brewster, to be played by Anton Yelchin, would be taking a meta approach to his neighboring vampiric problem by seeking out the stars of Tom Holland's original film for assistance.
At the same time, however, the original report did note that Brewster would be acquiring Sarandon's help instead of magician Peter Vincent. That role though has been cast with a name actor (David Tennant) and an early look at his character has already been unveiled — surely his role isn't that insignificant then? Either way, the potential for the meta approach and acknowledgment of the 1985 film's existence in the remake will provide an interesting turn to an already promising project.
The Vegas-set script comes courtesy of "Buffy" and "Mad Men" scribe Marti Noxon with a supporting cast boasting the likes of Toni Collette as Brewster's mother, Imogen Poots as his love interest, Christopher Mintz-Plasse as his friend Evil Ed, Colin Farrell as a "Jaws"-like vampire living next door and Dave Franco as a high school bully.
"Fright Night" is scheduled for a pre-Halloween October 7th release next year. [Mania/AICN]
New set photos from the English production of Matthew Vaughn's "X-Men: First Class" have unveiled our first look at "Winter's Bone" star Jennifer Lawrence and Rose Byrne as their respective characters; shape-shifting mutant Mystique and the Nobel Prize winning confidante of Professor X, Moira MacTaggert.
It's a much different, more grounded look for Lawrence's Mystique — especially compared to the blue comic book character and the Rebecca Romijn take in Bryan Singer's original films — but its also a bit too early to tell. We highly doubt Lawrence will replicate Romijn's body paint job, but there's plenty of time for CGI to show off her character's true talents in the film's retro, realistic take on the world of mutants set to the backdrop of '60s culture.
The thinly-populated genre of ice hockey comedies has produced exactly one classic: George Roy Hill's gloriously profane "Slap Shot." The likes of "The Mighty Ducks" trilogy and the underrated Russell Crowe vehicle "Mystery, Alaska" have tried valiantly, but nothing's ever quite come close to the joy of seeing Paul Newman and the Hanson Brothers kick the living shit out of people on an ice rink.
