It's a pretty controversial topic of conversation, as we all know. After all, Mace Windu's got that badass purple lightsaber, and Billy Elliott has those sweet dance moves, and Anakin Skywalker's all pouty and sad... The debate wages on as usual for an hour or so, and then my friend Jill says, "Wait. Guys. What if they had the power of teleportation? What then?"
And we are just like, "Whoa."
Here's the trailer for Jumper, directed by Doug Liman (The Bourne Identity) and starring Hayden Christensen, Samuel L. Jackson, and Jamie Bell. The debate wages on. There can be only one.
]]>What is surprising is that this network-quality show isn't on any network -- it's on MySpace.
Based on a Hershkovitz-Zwick pilot rejected by ABC, Quarterlife will "air" every Sunday and Thursday beginning Nov. 11. A day after hitting MySpace, segments will appear on www.quarterlife.com, and a week after that, they'll be available webwide.
But what's it about? Well, in the broader scheme, it's about a group of friends struggling to find their way out of college. Specifically it's about one woman, Dylan (Bitsie Tulloch), and how her relentlessly honest blogging RUINS PEOPLE'S LIVES.
And, going by the trailer, it also seems there will be a lot of hugging.
The key thing about Quarterlife is not its subject matter -- or even if it's good or not -- but the fact that it is the latest in a number of professional projects that are legitimizing the Web as a place for creative content. What do big money and big names hitting the scene mean for indie creators? That remains to be seen.
But when one of the stars of "Lonelygirl 15" has a lead in a show by the guys behind Blood Diamond and The Last Samurai, the times, they are a changin'.
]]>The new clip, which began making the rounds on the Net last week, is substantially more informative. It's also amazing. There's blood, there's oil, and there's Daniel Day-Lewis, who eats up every frame of screen time as a greedy prospector in early 20th Century California. There's also Little Miss Sunshine's Paul Dano as a fanatical preacher who locks horns with DD-L.
The clip may only be two and a half minutes long, but this has multiple Oscar nods written all over it. Paramount Vantage releases the film Dec. 26.
Stunt casting aside, this first full trailer for I’m Not There really goes out of its way to bow down and kiss Bob Dylan’s folksy ass. I have to confess that, unlike everyone else I know, I was not baptized at the First International Church of Dylan. I think Dylan is fine and all, but I can’t really get on board with the slavish Dylan worship that this trailer seems to be pushing. The fact that Haynes has taken such liberties with the casting gives me hope that maybe the film has a more irreverent approach to the subject than is let on here. After all, this is a movie from the same guy who made a biopic about Karen Carpenter and her battle with anorexia using stop-motion animation and Barbie dolls. It would be a real shame if he started taking himself, or Bob Dylan, too seriously.
]]>Co-starring a nearly unrecognizable Jenna Fischer, Walk Hard appears to have considerably more visual flair than producer Apatow's previous films (due, one assumes, to the direction of Jake Kasdan, who also co-wrote the script). Whether the world really needs a parody of music bio-pics isn't clear -- but with an original soundtrack of catchy tunes and Reilly singing them, it's suitable entertainment for all the Millers out there. Maybe even the Joneses, too. Not the Smiths, though. Screw those guys. ]]>
To begin with, Be Kind, Rewind is brought to us by Michael Gondry, director/co-writer of Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind. Second of all, Black's co-star is the immensely appealing Mos Def, who not only has Emmy-nominated dramatic chops, but has also pulled off comedy flawlessly in everything from Chapelle's Show to Hitchhiker's Guide. So there's that.
But the big thing is, it looks good. Instead of a simple farce about two guys bumbling around with a camcorder, we seem to be getting a funny, charming fairy tale about two guys who remind everyone how to fall in love with movies again. Which is a lot more exciting than just a movie with Jack Black getting earing a dress and getting smacked in the face a lot.
Although it also has that.
]]>But good god, how is he going to do it? He has one option, and one option only: he’s going to kidnap the President. Clearing the name of his long-dead great-great grandfather is obviously more important than whatever else the President has going on.
Ladies and Gentlemen, may I present National Treasure: Boooook of Secretsssss, coming to a theater near you this Christmas.
Focusing on the front-line drama of an intergalactic war, the special effects are tight and the actors engaging -- the perfect solution for all those Battlestar fans jonsing for a fix. In short, it looks like Starship Troopers, without painfully fascist -- and it was produced on a shoestring budget by Stage 9 Media. We'll have more about this when it premieres this fall, but in the meantime just start getting excited.
With the increasing dominance of CGI in the fantasy film genre, it's amazing no one's really run with this concept before. Mo-capping the actors gives them the same visual texture and intensity as the backgrounds and effects, making the whole world blend together seamlessly. It's really pretty gorgeous.
And to those who say mo-capped actors look plastic and creepy, I say puh-leeze. Like Angelina Jolie didn't already look like a goddess crafted from Sculpey anyway.
]]>I want to say that the trailer for his latest film, in which Owen Wilson, Jason Schwartzman and Adrian Brody play brothers attempting a spiritual journey through India, seems like a return to form. And there's certainly a lot to like about it -- funny dialogue, beautiful cinematography, and Adrian Brody (he can rescue me from a giant ape any day). But somehow I'm still left a bit cold. Maybe it's just because even in these two and a half minutes, I feel slapped in the face by how clever Anderson thinks he is being. Nothing wrong with letting your characters smile a little, Wes. Nothing wrong with it.
Why? Well, for one, six people are playing Bob Dylan, including Heath Ledger, Christian Bale, Richard Gere and, yes, Ms. Cate Blanchett. Last week, footage of the film was leaked on YouTube showing Blanchett in all her drag glory. An obvious nod to D.A Pennebaker's Don't Look Back, the clip also features the hilarious David Cross playing none other than Allen Ginsburg. I'm Not There comes out this fall.
]]>The film is known as both Cloverfield and Clover, but neither its IMDb page nor its official Web site gives any detailed information whatsoever, except for the fact that it's coming out next January. After a few cameraphone-captured versions of the trailer surfaced last week, Paramount finally posted an official version to the Apple trailer page.
At his always-excellent indieWIRE blog, Matt Dentler has been on top of the story, and so have his readers -- one comment mentions a page that lists the myriad theories surrounding the film. Stay tuned to find out if any of them turn out to be true.