MovieDriver - Hollywood Teamster

www.filmschoolrejects.com

Posted by Neil Miller (neil@filmschoolrejects.com) on December 2, 2009

 

The Sundance Institute announced today the first list of films that will play at the 2010 Sundance Film Festival, which I will once again be attending and covering for FSR. This announcement includes the U.S. and World Cinema Dramatic and Documentary Competitions for the fst. In addition to the four Competition Categories, the Festival presents films in five out-of-competition sections to be announced on December 3.

The 2010 Sundance Film Festival will also feature several category changes including a new section devoted to low- and no-budget filmmaking and Sundance Film Festival U.S.A.- a one-night only event when eight filmmakers from the Festival will visit eight cities nationwide. In addition, the Festival will break tradition by foregoing the conventions of one opening night film and instead focus on launching the total program: one narrative film, one documentary and one shorts program will play the first Thursday (January 21), beginning the roll out of the competitions.

“Being a seasoned programming team and having the support of a healthy organization afforded us the ability to take risks and re-think all programs this year so we chose to do some things a little bit differently,” said John Cooper, Director of the Sundance Film Festival. “We believe this makes for an exciting festival that responds to both artist and audience, one that will invigorate the independent film community.”

“One of the founding values of Sundance Institute is that artistic excellence should never be gauged in terms of marketability,” said Robert Redford, Sundance Institute President and Founder. “Our mandate is to support the independent artist and celebrate originality, creativity and compelling storytelling. It is not our place to decide what will be shown a year from now in theatres. Our place is to shine a light on the art of film. This year’s program shows integrity and a willingness to move beyond preconceived ideas about what our Festival should be.”

For the 2010 edition of the fest, 112 feature-length films were selected representing 38 countries by 43 first-time filmmakers, including 24 in competition. These films were selected from 3,724 feature-length film submissions composed of 1,920 U.S. and 1,804 international feature-length films. 79 films at the Festival will be world premieres.

Take a look at the entire list below. And stay tuned tomorrow, as we will bring you the second list once it is released. Also, stay tuned for previews and analysis in the next month and a half leading p to the fest.

U.S. DOCUMENTARY COMPETITION
This year’s 16 films were selected from 862 submissions. Each film is a world premiere.

Bhutto (Directors: Jessica Hernandez and Johnny O’Hara; Screenwriter: Johnny O’Hara)—A riveting journey through the life and work of  recently assassinated Benazir Bhutto, former Pakistani prime minister and a polarizing figure in the Muslim world. World Premiere

CASINO JACK & The United States of Money (Director: Alex Gibney)—A probing investigation into the lies, greed and corruption surrounding D.C. super-lobbyist Jack Abramoff and his cronies.  World Premiere

Family Affair (Director: Chico Colvard)—An uncompromising documentary that examines resilience, survival and the capacity to accommodate a parent’s past crimes in order to satisfy the longing for family. World Premiere

Freedom Riders (Director: Stanley Nelson)—The story behind a courageous band of civil rights activists called the Freedom Riders who in 1961 creatively challenged segregation in the American South. World Premiere

GasLand (Director: Josh Fox)—A cross-country odyssey uncovers toxic streams, dying livestock, flammable sinks and weakening health among rural citizens on the front lines of the natural gas drilling craze. World Premiere

I’m Pat _______ Tillman (Director: Amir Bar-Lev)—The story of professional football star and decorated U.S. soldier Pat Tillman, whose family takes on the U.S. government when their beloved son dies in a “friendly fire” incident in Afghanistan in 2004. World Premiere

Jean-Michel Basquiat: The Radiant Child (Director: Tamra Davis)—The story of artist Jean-Michel Basquiat, whose work defined, electrified and challenged an era, and whose untimely death at age 27 has made him a cultural icon.World Premiere

Joan Rivers: A Piece of Work (Directors: Ricki Stern and Annie Sundberg)—A rare, brutally honest glimpse into the comedic process and private dramas of legendary comedian and pop icon Joan Rivers as she fights tooth and nail to keep her American dream alive. World Premiere

Lucky (Director: Jeffrey Blitz)—The story of what happens when ordinary people hit the lottery jackpot. World Premiere

My Perestroika (Director:Robin Hessman)—Intimately tracking the lives of five Muscovites who came of age just as the USSR collapsed and are adjusting to their post-Soviet reality, My Perestroika maps the contours of a nation in profound transition. World Premiere

The Oath (Director: Laura Poitras)— Filmed in Yemen, The Oath tells the story of two men whose fateful encounter in 1996 set them on a course of events that led them to Afghanistan, Osama bin Laden, 9/11, Guantanamo, and the U.S. Supreme Court. World Premiere

Restrepo (Directors: Sebastian Junger and Tim Hetherington)—Sebastian Junger and Tim Hetherington’s year dug in with the Second Platoon in one of Afghanistan’s most strategically crucial valleys reveals extraordinary insight into the surreal combination of back breaking labor, deadly firefights, and camaraderie as the soldiers painfully push back the Taliban. World Premiere

A Small Act (Director:Jennifer Arnold)—A young Kenyan’s life changes dramatically when his education is sponsored by a Swedish stranger. Years later, he founds his own scholarship program to replicate the kindness he once received. World Premiere

Smash His Camera (Director: Leon Gast)—Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis sued him, and Marlon Brando broke his jaw. The story of notorious, reviled paparazzo Ron Galella opens a Pandora’s Box of issues from right to privacy, freedom of the press and the ever-growing vortex of celebrity worship. World Premiere

12th & Delaware (Directors: Rachel Grady and Heidi Ewing)—The abortion battle continues to rage in unexpected ways on an unassuming corner in America. World Premiere

WAITING FOR SUPERMAN (Director: Davis Guggenheim)—Waiting for Superman examines the crisis of public education in the United States through multiple interlocking stories—from a handful of students and their families whose futures hang in the balance, to the educators and reformers trying to find real and lasting solutions within a dysfunctional system. World Premiere

U.S. DRAMATIC COMPETITION
This year’s 16 films were selected from 1,058 submissions. Each film is a world premiere.

Blue Valentine (Director: Derek Cianfrance; Screenwriters: Derek Cianfrance, Cami Delavigne and Joey Curtis) —A complex portrait of an American marriage, Blue Valentine charts the evolution of a relationship over time. Cast: Ryan Gosling, Michelle Williams, Mike Vogel, John Doman. World Premiere

Douchebag (Director: Drake Doremus; Screenwriters: Lindsay Stidham, Drake Doremus, Jonathan Schwartz and Andrew Dickler) —On the verge of getting married, Sam Nussbaum insists he escort his younger brother, Tom, on a wild goose chase of a journey to find Tom’s fifth grade girlfriend. Cast: Andrew Dickler, Ben York Jones, Marguerite Moreau, Nicole Vicius, Amy Ferguson, Wendi McClendon-Covey. World Premiere

The Dry Land (Director and screenwriter: Ryan Piers Williams)—A U.S. soldier returning home from war struggles to reconcile his experiences abroad with the life and family he left in Texas. Cast: America Ferrera, Wilmer Valderrama, Ethan Suplee, June Diane Raphael, Melissa Leo. World Premiere

happythankyoumoreplease (Director and screenwriter: Josh Radnor)—Six New Yorkers negotiate love, friendship, and gratitude at a time when they’re too old to be precocious and not ready to be adults. Cast: Malin Akerman, Josh Radnor, Kate Mara, Zoe Kazan, Tony Hale, Pablo Schreiber, Michael Algieri. World Premiere

Hesher(Director: Spencer Susser; Screenwriters: Spencer Susser and David Michod; Story by Brian Charles Frank)—A mysterious, anarchical trickster descends on the lives of a family struggling to deal with a painful loss. Cast: Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Natalie Portman, Rainn Wilson, Devin Brochu, Piper Laurie, John Carroll Lynch. World Premiere

Holy Rollers (Director: Kevin Tyler Asch; Screenwriter: Antonio Macia)—A young Hasidic man, seduced by money, power and opportunity, becomes an international Ecstasy smuggler. Cast: Jesse Eisenberg, Justin Bartha, Danny A. Abeckaser, Ari Graynor, Jason Fuchs. World Premiere

Howl (Directors and screenwriters: Rob Epstein and Jeffrey Friedman)—A nonfiction drama about the young Allen Ginsberg finding his voice, the creation of his groundbreaking poem HOWL, and the landmark obscenity trial that followed. Cast: James Franco, David Strathairn, Jon Hamm, Mary-Louise Parker, Jeff Daniels. World Premiere

The Imperialists are still Alive! (Director and screenwriter: Zeina Durra)—Juggling the sudden abduction of her childhood sweetheart as well as a blooming love affair, a French Manhattanite makes her way as an artist in an indifferent, sometimes hostile world. Cast: Élodie Bouchez, José María de Tavira, Karim Saleh Karolina Muller, Marianna Kulukundis, Rita Ackerman. World Premiere

Lovers of Hate (Director and screenwriter: Bryan Poyser)—The shaky reunion of estranged brothers takes a turn for the worse when the woman they both love chooses one over the other. Cast: Chris Doubek, Heather Kafka, Alex Karpovsky, Zach Green. World Premiere

Night Catches Us (Director and screenwriter: Tanya Hamilton)—In 1978, complex political and emotional forces are set in motion when a young man returns to the race-torn Philadelphia neighborhood where he came of age during the Black Power movement. Cast: Anthony Mackie, Kerry Washington, Jamie Hector, Wendell Pierce, Jamara Griffin. World Premiere

Obselidia (Director and screenwriter: Diane Bell)—A lonely librarian believes love is obsolete until a road trip to Death Valley with a beguiling cinema projectionist teaches him otherwise. Cast: Gaynor Howe, Michael Piccirilli, Frank Hoyt Taylor. World Premiere

Skateland (Director: Anthony Burns; Screenwriters: Anthony Burns, Brandon Freeman, Heath Freeman)—In the early 1980s, in small-town Texas, dramatic events force a 19-year-old skating rink manager to look at his life in a very new way. Cast: Shiloh Fernandez, A.J. Buckley, Ashley Greene, Brett Cullen, Ellen Hollman, Heath Freeman. World Premiere

Sympathy for Delicious (Director: Mark Ruffalo; Screenwriter: Christopher Thornton)—A newly paralyzed DJ gets more than he bargained for when he seeks out the world of faith healing. Cast: Orlando Bloom, Mark Ruffalo, Juliette Lewis, Laura Linney, John Carroll Lynch. World Premiere

3 Backyards (Director and screenwriter: Eric Mendelsohn)—A quiet suburban town becomes an intense emotional terrain for three residents over the course of one curious autumn day. Cast: Embeth Davidtz, Edie Falco, Elias Koteas, Rachel Resheff, Kathryn Erbe, Danai Gurira. World Premiere

Welcome to the Rileys (Director: Jake Scott)—On a business trip to New Orleans, a damaged man seeks salvation by caring for a wayward young woman. Cast: James Gandolfini, Kristen Stewart, Melissa Leo. World Premiere

Winter’s Bone (Director: Debra Granik; Screenwriters: Debra Granik and Anne Rosellini)—An unflinching Ozark Mountain girl hacks through dangerous social terrain as she hunts down her drug-dealing father while trying to keep her family intact. Cast: Jennifer Lawrence, John Hawkes, Dale Dickey, Garret Dillahunt, Kevin Breznahan. World Premiere

WORLD CINEMA DOCUMENTARY COMPETITION
This year’s 12 films were selected from 782 international documentary submissions.

A Film Unfinished / Germany, Israel (Director: Yael Hersonski)—Film reels uncovered in Nazi archives reveal the mechanisms used to stage Warsaw Ghetto life–images which have shaped our view of history. World Premiere

Enemies of the People / Cambodia, United Kingdom(Directors: Rob Lemkin and Thet Sambath)—A young journalist whose family was killed by the Khmer Rouge befriends the perpetrators of the Killing Fields genocide, evoking shocking revelations. U.S. Premiere

Fix ME / France, Palestinian Territories, Switzerland(Director: Raed Andoni)—When Palestinian filmmaker Raed Andoni gets a headache that won’t quit, he seeks out help and insight in different forms in his hometown of Ramallah. International Premiere

His & Hers / Ireland (Director: Ken Wardrop)—Seventy Irish women offer moving insights into the relationships between women and men. North American Premiere

Kick in Iran / Gemany (Director: Fatima Geza Abdollahyan)—The first female professional Taekwondo fighter from Iran to qualify for the Olympic Games struggles for recognition in a society where women still play a subordinate role. World Premiere

Last Train Home / Canada (Director: Lixin Fan)—Getting a train ticket in China proves a towering ordeal as a migrant worker family embarks on a journey, along with 200 million other peasants, to reunite with their distant family. U.S. Premiere

The Red Chapel (Det Røde Kapel) / Denmark (Director: Mads Brügger)—A journalist with no scruples, a self-proclaimed spastic, and a comedian travel to North Korea under the guise of a cultural exchange visit to challenge one of the world’s most notorious regimes. U.S. Premiere

Russian Lessons / Georgia, Germany, Norway (Directors: Olga Konskaya and Andrei Nekrasov)—An investigation into Russian actions during the 2008 war in Georgia, revealing the little known story of the ethnic cleansing in the region since the dissolution of the Soviet Union. World Premiere

Secrets of the Tribe / Brazil (Director: José Padilha)—Is the academic Anthropology community capable of generating real knowledge about mankind? The scandals and the infighting regarding the representation of indigenous Indians in the Amazon Basin seems to indicate that the answer may be a resounding no. World Premiere

Sins of My Father / Argentina, Colombia (Director: Nicolas Entel)—The life and times of notorious Colombian drug lord Pablo Escobar are recounted through the eyes of his son, who fled Colombia to move beyond his father’s legacy. North American Premiere

Space Tourists / Switzerland (Director: Christian Frei)—A humorous and laconic view of the way billionaires depart our planet earth to travel into outer space for fun. North American Premiere

Waste Land / United Kingdom (Director: Lucy Walker)—Lives are transformed when international art star Vik Muniz collaborates with garbage pickers in the world’s largest landfill in Rio de Janeiro. World Premiere

WORLD CINEMA NARRATIVE COMPETITION
This year’s 14 films were selected from 1,022 international narrative feature submissions.

All that I Love / Poland (Director and screenwriter: Jacek Borcuch)—In 1981, during the growing Polish Solidarity movement, four small-town teenagers form a punk rock band with the hope of playing at a local festival. Cast: Mateusz Ko?ciukiewicz, Jakub Giersza?, Mateusz Banasiuk, Olga Frycz, Igor Ob?oza. North American Premiere

Animal Kingdom / Australia (Director and screenwriter: David Michôd)—After the death of his mother, a seventeen year-old boy is thrust precariously between an explosive criminal family and a detective who thinks he can save him. Cast: Guy Pearce, Ben Mendelsohn, Joel Edgerton, Luke Ford, Jacki Weaver,  James Frecheville. World Premiere

Boy / New Zealand (Director and screenwriter: Taika Waititi)—When his father returns home after many years away, 11-year-old Boy and his little brother Rocky must reconcile reality with the fantasy dad they created in their imagination. Cast: Taika Waititi, James Rolleston, Te Aho Eketone. World Premiere

Contracorriente (Undertow) / Colombia, France, Germany, Peru (Director and screenwriter: Javier Fuentes-Leon)—An unusual ghost story set on the Peruvian seaside, a married fisherman struggles to reconcile his devotion to his male lover within his town’s rigid traditions. Cast: Cristian Mercado, Manolo Cardona, Tatiana Astengo. North American Premiere

Four Lions / UK (Director: Chris Morris and screenwriters: Chris Morris, Jesse Armstrong and Sam Bain)—A comedy tour de force about a bunch of self styled British jihadis. Cast: Riz Ahmed, Arsher Ali, Nigel Lindsay, Kayvan Novak. World Premiere

Grown Up Movie Star / Canada (Director and screenwriter: Adriana Maggs)—After her mother runs away, a teenage girl, determined to grow up fast, is left to care for her hopelessly rural father. Cast: Shawn Doyle, Tatiana Maslany, Jonny Harris, Mark O’Brien, Andy Jones, Julia Kennedy. U.S. Premiere

The Man Next Door (El Hombre de al Lado) / Argentina (Directors and screenwriters: Mariano Cohn and Gastón; Screenwriter: Andres Duprat)—  A small incident over two neighbors common wall sparks a conflict which affects the intimacy of the view over the chimney; the protagonist sparks a conflict and with paranoiac obsession destroys everyday life. Cast: Rafael Spregelburd, Daniel Aráoz, Eugenia Alonso, Inés Budassi, Lorenza Acuña. International Premiere

Me Too (Yo, También) / Spain(Directors and screenwriters: Álvaro Pastor and Antonio Naharro)—A 34-year-old college-educated man with Down syndrome and his free-spirited co-worker forge an unconventional relationship. Cast: Pablo Pineda, Lola Dueñas, Antonio Naharro, Isabel Garcia Lorca, Pedro Alvarez Ossorio. International Premiere

Nuummioq / Greenland (Directors: Otto Rosing and Torben Bech; Screenwriter: Torben Bech)—A young man’s journey through the exquisite natural landscape of Greenland allows him to piece together elements of his past and move on with his life. Cast: Lars Rosing, Angunnguaq Larsen, Julie Berthelsen, Morten Rose, Makka Kleist, Mariu Olsen. World Premiere

Peepli Live / India (Director and screenwriter: Anusha Rizvi)—A satirical look at the predicament of a poor farmer who creates a media frenzy when, beset with debt, he announces that he will commits suicide so his family can receive government compensation. Cast: Omkar Das, Nawazuddin Siddiqui, Raghubir Yadav, Shalini Vatsa, Farukh Jaffer  World Premiere

Son of Babylon / Iraq (Director: Mohamed Al Daradji; Screenwriters: Mohamed Al-Daradji, Jennifer Norridge, Mithal Ghazi) In the days after the fall of Saddam Hussein, a young Kurdish boy and his grandmother venture through Iraq on a quest to find the remains of their missing father/son. Cast: Yasser Talib, Shazda Hussein, Bashir Al-Majid. International Premiere

Southern District (Zona Sur) / Bolivia (Director and screenwriter: Juan Carlos Valdivia)—In La Paz, Bolivia, in a villa surrounded by beautiful gardens, an upper-class family experiences final halcyon days of luxury as social change penetrates their bubble.  Cast: Ninón del Castillo, Pascual Loayza, Nicolás Fernández, Juan Pablo Koria, Mariana Vargas. North American Premiere

The Temptation of St. Tony / Estonia (Director and screenwriter: Veiko Õunpuu)—A mid-level manager who develops an aversion to being “good”  finds himself confronting the mysteries of middle-age and morality as he loses grasp of what was once his quiet life. Cast: Taavi Eelmaa, Rain Tolk, Tiina Tauraite, Katariina Lauk, Raivo E. Tamm. World Premiere

Vegetarian (Chaesikjueuija) / South Korea (Director and screenwriter: Lim Woo-seong)—A young housewife, finds herself having strange dreams that make her disgusted by meat, leading to trouble with her meat-loving husband and attention from her artist brother in law. Cast: CHEA Min-Seo, KIM Hyun-Sung, KIM Yeo-Jin, KIM Young-Jae. International Premiere

Read more articles by Neil Miller

 

Empire Magazine Photo Spread

Posted on Wednesday, December 2nd, 2009 by David Chen

 

[Update: Many of you have pointed out, correctly, that Empire ran these in their magazine for the 20th anniversary issue several months ago. However, this is the first time that they've been available online in this form, and many of you haven't seen them before. So, if you didn't catch them the first time around, enjoy.]

 

The always-awesome Empire magazine really pulled out the stops for their 20th anniversary. They asked 27 stars to participate in a photo shoot and recreate some of their most iconic performances from the previous two decades, but with a slight twist: Dress stylishly (with a few exceptions).

Most of these photos are pretty amazing, although I do question their designation of some of these roles as “iconic performances” (Is Jon Anderton really as iconic as Ethan Hunt or even Jerry Maguire? Either way, Anderton certainly makes for something more visually interesting). In any case, my feeling is that many of you will probably be hit with a wave of nostalgia as you view the gallery; seeing Mel Gibson with that facepaint really takes me back to pre-Passion, pre-arrest Gibson, when the man’s name with synonymous with badass. I’ve included some of my favorites after the break but you can head on over to Empire to see the whole gallery (hat tip to Cinematical)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Rating:

3.5 out of 5

Short Version: Fantastic Mr. Fox is a pleasantly surprising film that is odd, witty, and probably more fun for adults than kids.

Screen Rant Reviews Fantastic Mr. Fox

I am not a Wes Anderson fan. Rushmore didn’t make me swoon; The Royal Tenenbaums made me groan; The Life Aquatic was no “masterpiece” far as I could tell and I didn’t even bother with The Darjeeling Limited. In fact, everything Anderson has done after Bottle Rocket has ultimately fallen on my cinematic bad side. Hearing his name brought up in classrooms and discussed as if he is the Shakespeare of cinema has only compounded that antagonism. If we were to play the word association game and you said “Wes Anderson” my immediate response would likely be “Pretentious and overrated.”

I went to see Fantastic Mr. Fox because, frankly, somebody on the site needed to review it. I wasn’t expecting much. What I found, however, was a film that is odd, witty, clever, unique – basically all those words Wes Andersonites usually attribute to their beloved director’s work. And while I may not be one of the converted just yet,I’m starting to come around just a bit.

The film loosely (and with some winking irony) adapts the classic children’s novel The Fantastic Mr. Fox by Roald Dahl. The story of the novel was simple: Mr. Fox lives in a fox hole and every night he steals fowls and cider from three ruthless and wealthy farmers in order to feed his fox family. One day, the farmers get fed up and decide to lay siege to Mr. Fox’s hole, forcing Fox and family to literally go underground. There, the Fox family meets other animals driven from their homes because of the farmers’ swath of destruction and with a bit of crafty planning by Mr. Fox, the animals band together to outwit the cruel farmers.

Anderson takes that simple story and stamps it up and down with his trademark off-brand wit and humor. In this modern take, Mr. Fox (George Clooney) is a thrill-seeking master thief who enjoyed life by doing what he does best (stealing livestock from farmers) until his wife, Mrs. Fox (Meryl Streep), eventually got pregnant with their son, Ash (Jason Schwartzman). Once a baby started cooking in the oven, Mrs. Fox demanded that Mr. Fox give up the risky life and settle for a steady, danger-free, day job as a newspaper columnist.

Of course, Mr. Fox eventually has a mid-life (in fox years) crisis, and feels compelled to resume his nightly thrill-seeking by robbing the heavily-guarded farms of Boggis, Bunce and Bean (Michael Gambon), three rich and cruel local farmers/industrialists. With some help from his Opossum handyman/friend, Kylie (Wally Wolodarsky), Mr. Fox soon finds himself back in top thieving form – that is, until the farmers catch on to his schemes and launch a terrible siege against the Fox clan. The Foxes abscond underground, partner with the other animals and try to outwit the bad guys.

Indian Paintbrush is the stop-motion animation company behind the visual effects of Fantastic Mr. Fox and they’ve done a wonderful job on that front. The stop-motion animals (aided by some CGI?) look great and Anderson practically revels in having the film acknowledge its stop-motion format. There are weird times where characters are stopped with spiral-eyed expressions to indicate confusion (Kylie), or other times where the frame-to-frame jumps are exaggerated into humorously choppy sequences of movement. Otherwise, the animation style creates a unique and wonderful (and often gorgeous) world with a distinct play-time atmosphere that only adds to the fun.

My favorite bit of self-referencing humor, however, had to be the ironic winks at the classic storytelling technique of having animal characters act human. Like every Wes Anderson film, the characters in Fantastic Mr. Fox are smart and sophisticated society types (speak that way, act that way) – but they’re also animals, and Anderson never lets us forget it. We watch characters sit down at fancy banquet tables only to ravage their food like feral, well, animals a second later.

In one particularly funny scene, Mr. Fox (Clooney) meets with his lawyer, Badger (Fall ‘09 cameo king Bill Murray), to discuss a property investment. When the gentlemanly discussion turns sour, things devolve into two wild animals circling one another, growling, hissing and swiping with their claws – only to regain their refined composure a second later and resume the discussion. It’s funny stuff.

The voice acting is pretty well done. Clooney is great as Mr. Fox, lending his trademark witty charm to a famously witty and charming character. Streep is a bit undervalued, but Schwartzman is pretty hilarious as the Fox family’s black sheep (no pun) weirdo Emo son, Ash. There’s a whole subplot in the film dealing with Ash’s teen angst over being a runt and high school outcast, jealous of his athletic yoga-loving cousin, Kristofferson (Anderson’s brother, Eric, popping up yet again). That subplot had no real relevance to the actual main story and it tacked on some unnecessary runtime to the film, but somehow it was still entertaining to watch (and really quirky weird) at the same time. Ash is a weird dude, and Schwartzman (the go-to actor for quirky weird dudes) really does help the character stand out. Micheal Gambon similarly shines as the evil (and perpetually drunk) Franklin Bean.

Fantastic Mr. Fox does lag a bit about halfway in, indulging just a bit too much in Anderson’s quirky delights (hence the 3.5 star rating), but it picks up steam again (eventually) and finishes off nicely. There are some great themes, some really great reoccurring lines (”Put this bandit mask on”) and some memorable characters to root for. There are also some nice surprise cameos that will make you smile (Owen Wilson as the coach of a ridiculously complicated sport, or Willem Dafoe as a villainous rat, for example).

In short: there are plenty of things in Fantastic Mr. Fox that are accessible and enjoyable by the average moviegoer. It’s still weird, still quirky and totally off-beat from what you think it will be – still totally Wes Anderson – but the fun is definitely there to be had.

Tags: 3 star movies, Fantastic Mr. Fox

www.firstshowing.net

December 1, 2009
Source: Latino Review
by Alex Billington

Universal is really moving at very high speed on this Battleship movie. Maybe because it's one of the few projects in-development that they think they can make money on? First things first, yep, the bad guys are still aliens. Nearly a month ago, it was reported that the bad guys in this Battleship movie would be aliens. And apparently these aliens will be sailing in black ships that look like giant water bugs with hydrofoil legs that race across the surface, kind of like water spiders you find on lakes. Latino Review got a huge update from director Peter Berg himself on what to expect and it sounds like it'll be pretty epic. Read on for more.

Universal took a small group of journalists (not including us) to visit an actual Navy battleship stationed in San Diego. Berg gave them a tour and it sounds like he's been working closely with the Navy on this movie already. ILM will be providing the visual effects (which is always good news, considering they're the best CGI company out there). The story, since up to this point has been very vague, will involve a fleet of five ships that comes across these aliens, called The Regents, that are out in the water building something that will be a "power source." Our hero is the Commanding Officer of a destroyer and he has a team of five guys.

Berg explains that these aliens have "a similar biological make-up to us" and that our "planet is of interest to [them] ecologically." We explained a bit of the story before, but Berg compares it to The Bridge on the River Kwai, explaining that "they're trying to build something because they're in trouble" and that "they're trying to get something completed, and they're not particularly concerned with any life that [gets in their way]. They don't have anything against you, but if you interfere with their agenda, they'll kill you." But guess what - their ships don't have any superior technology. In fact, they're quite similar to our own. Of course they are.

"Some of [the alien ships] are very violent. Some of them aren't, but some of them are the equivalent of our destroyers. They fire ballistics, explosive ballistics." So, just like the board game that this frickin' movie is based on, each group will have five different ships, and it will be a battle of whits. Speaking of which, during their tour of the battleship, they were shown what is called the Combat Information Center (or CIC for short). This room (seen the photo at the bottom) is one of the key set pieces in the film which Berg will use to re-imagine the board game playing field as a computer screen visually (if that makes sense). He explains:

"This is a key set in the film. You put this screen on, it's very easy to imagine this as a much more sophisticated Battleship screen from the board game. What they're doing with this screen is identifying threats or identifying objects whether it be in the air, on the sea or underwater. Much the same way you would try to identify or locate your enemy in the game."

Is anyone reading any of this and actually thinking that it sounds cool? Or am I the only one that is getting worried about how cheesy this all sounds? I think they're really stretching the Battleship concept way too far. Speaking of other quirks from the board game, Berg confirmed the "ships don't constantly show up on our radar; we can't find them. The ways we go about fighting them is a recurring theme throughout the film." And "some take more shots to sink and kill than do others. Just like our ships. But they're killable." Oh and someone will say "You sank my battleship!" in the movie at some point. Damn you, Peter Berg!

You can read the full report over on Latino Review or CHUD, as there's a lot more info that we haven't even mentioned yet. Last, but not least, I want to point out why I used that photo of the Battleship at the top of this post. That ship is the USS Missouri and the force of the guns is so powerful that it actually pushed them sideways. That same photo was apparently used on a mock-up poster for the Battleship movie with the tagline: "Fight the Ship" which is Navy lingo for "manning the ship in battle" and that will probably be the tagline for the movie. Shooting starts next spring on this. Sound like a movie you'll be interested in?

Discover More: Hype, Movie News, Opinions

•

Posted by Neil Miller (neil@filmschoolrejects.com) on December 2, 2009

Sometimes we like to let it all hang out there. And when 20th Century Fox released their final press kit for James Cameron’s Avatar this morning, we found something worth laying on the table. 21 images in all, some new and some old. All of them are pretty cool, even the ones with James Cameron standing in front of a green screen. And while you’d think that they’d be able to farm more than 21 stunning frames from a 3 hour movie, I’d argue that this is probably a good number — don’t want to give to much away, but you also want to give the people what they so desire. And with that in mind, I present for your inspection, the final Avatar photo gallery.

Click any of the images below to enlarge.

Release: December 18 (wide in 3-D)
Director: James Cameron
Written by: James Cameron
Producers: James Cameron, Jon Landau
Cast: Sam Worthington, Zoë Saldana, Michelle Rodriguez, and Sigourney Weaver

Synopsis: AVATAR takes us to a spectacular world beyond imagination, where a reluctant hero embarks on an epic adventure, ultimately fighting to save the alien world he has learned to call home. James Cameron, the Oscar-winning director of “Titanic,” first conceived the film 15 years ago, when the means to realize his vision did not exist yet. Now, after four years of production, AVATAR, a live action film with a new generation of special effects, delivers a fully immersive cinematic experience of a new kind, where the revolutionary technology invented to make the film disappears into the emotion of the characters and the sweep of the story.

Read more articles by Neil Miller

Posted on Tuesday, December 1st, 2009 by Hunter Stephenson

“Dad bet my NYU tuition on The Road and now we’re homeless.” The concept of organized box office betting is nothing new—see the simulated and long operating Hollywood Stock Exchange. But with the incorporation of real dollars, might the concept be new to the mafia? A start-up website and business called The Cantor Exchange is awaiting regulatory approval to open the floodgates on real time betting on Hollywood productions, beginning six months before a film’s release. The company behind the Cantor Exchange is Cantor Fitzgerald, a global finances firm that also operates the aforementioned HSX and will implement that site’s infrastructure with a capitalistic twist.

Information gathered by the HSX reportedly already informs legitimate box office betting in the UK, and foreseeably anyone of age in the U.S. will soon be able to participate. But what are the implications of online betting for Hollywood (Showbiz 411 wonders about insider trading), not to mention for the state of film? And c’mon, what geek or arm chair analyst isn’t channeling Gordon Scrooge McDuck Gekko IV right now with dreams of getting paid, bitch? Right? Or Wrong?

The CX is currently allowing anyone to register and play a simulated warm-up that offers the possibility of earning payouts in real, albeit not Porsche worthy, dollars…

Here’s how it works: everyone starts with 10,000 “virtual dollars” in a Cantor Exchange practice account, and at the end of the practice period we will convert each 1,000 virtual dollars of profit you earn into $10 cash and deposit it into your real-money trading account (maximum $100 per trader). So if you earn 10,000 virtual dollars in profit while practicing on Cantor Exchange, you get $100! There is no cost to participate in this program.

When the market officially opens, participants will need to complete an application process, the specifics of which I am not crystal on. This is an interesting development in how consumers and movie enthusiasts will further perceive films and show business; and combined with all the of the recent press surrounding producer Ryan Kavanaugh, who selects future projects using statistics and analytical factors a la Moneyball, no doubt a disheartening one to some. These business strategies are also part of a bigger debate over the role of box office reporting in movie news and in the eye of the moviegoer.

 

Earlier in the decade, I remember filmmakers like Martin Scorsese expressing their disgust at the impact that published-and-analyzed box office receipts have had on the modern moviegoer. If memory serves, Scorsese emphasized that viewing movies as a popularity contest is not only ridiculous but harmful to the art. And while I’m curious he thinks about betting on the financial success and failure of movies, I can imagine the gist and probably agree with 99 percent of it.

At the same time, however, there were nights when I got drunk with my roommate at university and nerded out on box off predictions for hours. In high school, I was probably the only person in my town who preferred playing intensive Summer Box Office prediction games online rather than hitting up a swimming pool. But in retrospect I sometimes wonder if this semi-obsession made me begin to view movies permanently through superficial binoculars. I’m not too worried though, because here I am today and the sight of Wolverine pushed to the fucking side by kids and waving at the closing bell of the New York Stock Exchange still irks me to no end.

 

If you have never contemplated this, do so: how would the cultural landscape surrounding modern films be different if we didn’t know the grosses for films like Iron Man, New Moon, and Fantastic Mr. Fox? Would we still generally come to perceive the last film as the odd kid out, as a risky gamble, weeks, hell months, before it was released? If we didn’t see and hear countless times over a weekend that a film failed to score a big blockbuster opening, would our perception of a film like Fox, no matter how much we liked it, improve? In the days since Fox opened, most of the praise I’ve heard has been mixed with a nearly eulogizing disappointment regarding its box office numbers.

And I’ve encountered several other discussions this year in which a film’s lack of financial success snowballed into a diatribe about the hopelessness of it all. So much so, that these discussions often seem to usurp ones about the power and ideas in a given film being mourned. At what point are we overly conditioned by box office reports and headlines to do this, and desensitized to no longer care?

And then there’s the hypothetical of betting on Twilight. Will the desire to experience its tidal wave of success—once vicariously, and now literally—become that much stronger for fans and outsiders alike, and is the opposite also true for Fantastic Mr. Fox? With box office analysis showing no signs of slowing down in online media, I could definitely see over analysis of the CX’s numbers.

More so than ever, a movie’s perceived box office success seems intrinsic, unconsciously or not, to the interest many general audience members have in going to see it. A future might exist where producers like Ryan Kavanaugh bet on the ability of general audiences to make the best i.e. most profitable creative decisions, and audiences then bet on the outcome of those decisions. I can decide if I should bet on this hypothetical future, but I won’t drink a beer to it.

View commentsComments 

 

The news that Paul Greengrass is reportedly dropping out of the fourth installment in Universal's wildly successful "Bourne Identity" franchise is really bad news for Universal. In the midst of a prolonged commercial slump, with several problematic films (notably "The Wolfman" and Greengrass' own "The Green Zone") still clogging up the studio pipeline, the studio had been putting all of its focus on pushing ahead with sequels to its most valuable movie brands, in particular "Bourne," "The Fast and the Furious" and "Wanted."

It's a sign of Universal's desperation to jump-start its commercial projects that Greengrass' exit seems to have involved scheduling issues -- i.e., that Universal wanted the film in production far sooner than Greengrass did.

Greengrass' departure puts the "Bourne" series in jeopardy, since it's unlikely that Matt Damon, the star of the franchise, would commit to doing a fourth film unless the studio came up with a great script and a top director. (The most fascinating detail in The Wrap's account of Greengrass' departure is the news that Universal had two different screenwriters simultaneously at work on competing scripts for the project.)

Like most movie stars, Damon is happy to take a big-sequel payday, but only if he gets to work with a filmmaker who would bring some A-list cool to the proceedings.

So who could the studio recruit as a replacement filmmaker? I always like to be helpful, so I've prepared a quick list of possible directors who could offer some added value to another "Bourne" film. If any of you have other suggestions, please feel free to share:

Michael Mann: No one has a better feel for kinetic political thrillers. Sure, he's a handful, but Mann is an actor magnet and if Universal could survive two consecutive Mann adventures ("Miami Vice" and "Public Enemies"), maybe a third one would be the charm.

Tony Scott: He's always busy, so scheduling could be an issue, but as one of the best shooters in the business, he'd be a perfect fit for "Bourne." Another magnet for movie stars.

Neill Blomkamp: After the surprise success of "District 9," he's on everyone's "Hot Director" list. He's young, full of visual energy and would be a drawing card for Damon as a way to bring new energy to an aging film series.

Pierre Morel: He doesn't have the cachet of some of the other candidates, but after having a huge hit with the low-budget "Taken," he'd be the go-to guy for Universal if the studio wanted to rein in "Bourne" production costs this time around.

Len Wiseman: A bona fide action hit-maker after "Underworld" and "Live Free or Die Hard," he would also bring low-cost commercial chops to the series, though he might not have enough of the cool factor to pass muster with Damon.

John Moore: Something of an in-house director at Fox, he's delivered a series of solid but unspectacular actioners ("Behind Enemy Lines," "Max Payne"). He might not be enough of a drawing card to impress Damon, but on the other hand, you know that if he can work with Tom Rothman, he can work with anybody.

Timur Bekmambetov: He'd be the perfect choice, being a great visual stylist with tons of action credibility. Unfortunately, Universal already has him at work on a much-needed sequel for his hit, "Wanted."

Zack Snyder: "300" made him an instant star, but after the visual mess of "Watchmen," he might be willing to crank out a great genre sequel if it gave him the chance to work with a top movie star.

Steven Soderbergh: He keeps making crazy, inaccessible personal films, but if the studio needs to keep Damon on board, who would be better than the director who worked so well with the star on both "The Informant!" and the "Ocean's" series?

Doug Liman: He is, after all, the guy who launched the franchise, directing and producing "Bourne Identity." Sure, there were the well-reported contretemps between director and studio, but few know  "Bourne" better than Liman, who has received a producer credit on the last two movies.

Photo of Matt Damon in "The Bourne Ultimatum" by Jason Boland / Universal; Paul Greengrass by Francois Mori / Associated Press

 

Kathryn Bigelow’s gritty Iraq War drama “The Hurt Locker” was named best feature of 2009 at the 19th annual Gotham Independent Film Awards on Monday evening in New York.

Presented by the Independent Filmmaker Project, the country’s oldest and largest organization of independent filmmakers, the IFP also awarded best ensemble performance to the stars of “Hurt Locker” — Jeremy Renner, Anthony Mackie, Brian Geraghty, Ralph Fiennes, Guy Pearce, David Morse and Evangeline Lilly.

“Food, Inc.,” produced and directed by Robert Kenner, earned best documentary honors, and the breakthrough director award was given to Robert Siegel, the writer/director of “Big Fan.”

Chilean actress Catalina Saavedra was named best breakthrough actor for “The Maid.” “You Won’t Miss Me,” directed, produced and co-written by Ry Russo-Young, won in the category of best film not playing at a theater near you. Russo-Young also received a cash award of $5,000.

The ceremony was held at Cipriani Wall Street ballroom. In addition to the awards, career tributes were given to actors Natalie Portman and Stanley Tucci, director Bigelow and producer/executives Tim Bevan and Eric Fellner, co-chairman of Working Title Films. Comedian Kumail Nanjiani hosted the event.

The Gotham Independent Film Award heralds the unofficial arrival of the movie awards season, which culminates with the Academy Awards on March 7. Next up are the nominations Tuesday morning for the Film Independent Spirit Awards, then the winners of the National Board of Review of Motion Pictures, which will be announced Thursday afternoon.

-- Susan King

Photo: "The Hurt Locker." Credit: Summit Entertainment

www.slashfilm.com

Posted on Monday, November 30th, 2009 by Peter Sciretta

Ben Magid’s spec screenplay Invasion has sold to Summit Entertainment/Participant for low to mid six figures. The story, which is an alien invasion thriller in the same vein as Cloverfield, is being produced by Eli Roth and Eric Newman (Children of Men, Slither). According to Shock, “the film opens with a wicked subway accident in Los Angeles in which the survivors (the film’s protagonists) climb from the wreckage to find the, now “snowy,” city in ruins.” No further details are available at this time. Magid made a name for himself in 2006, selling a pitch to New Line for his script Pan, a spin on J.M. Barrie’s tale of Peter Pan, where Pan is a villain being hunted by a police captain named Hook. He has since taken a stab at an early draft for the live-action adaptation of Hack/Slash.

With the success of recent films like the Transformers movies and District 9 (and to a lesser extent, Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull, which is the 26th highest grossing film worldwide), it seems like Hollywood is going alien crazy, giving the green light and putting a lot of alien-based stories in development — more than ever before. In a couple years, will aliens be the new vampires? Here is a round up of the alien-related projects in development right now.

• Sam Raimi made news earlier in the week by snapping up Uruguayan filmmaker Federico Alvarez after his alien invasion sci-fi short film Panic Attack went viral on the web. The plan is to develop a feature film.
• James Cameron’s Avatar is set on the alien world of Pandora, with tall blue tiger-striped aliens named the Na’vi. Cameron hopes to shoot two sequels,
• Jonathan Liebsman’s Black Hawk Down-style alien invasion film Battle: Los Angeles, which is currently shooting for a 2011 release.
• The alien invasion television series V is currently in primetime.

23 more film projects listed after jump.

 

 

• 20th Century Fox is in preproduction on both a new Predators and new Alien films.
• Paramount just acquired Area 51, a found footage film about a group of teenagers stumble upon an area in the Nevada desert known for hosting an alien encounter, directed by Oren Peli, the filmmaker behind Paranormal Activity.
• Cloverfield 2 is always lurking around the rumor mill.
• The Jon Favreau-directed comic book adaptation Cowboys and Aliens , about  Apache Indians and Western settlers who must lay their differences aside when an alien spaceship crash lands in their city. Robert Downey Jr is in talks to star.
• Trick r Treat director Michael Dougherty is teaming with Disney Robert Zemeckis’ ImageMovers on Calling All Robots, an animated sci-fi adventure the screenwriter plans to direct using the same type of performance capture technology used in A Christmas Carol. The project is said to be a throwback to Godzilla films.
• Wolfgang Petersen is developing an alien invasion film called Uprising about a group of people organize a resistance movement after Earth is taken over by aliens.
• Also written by Fringe co-producer/writer Brad Caleb Kane is a Dreamworks movie produced by Orci/Kurtzman based on the stereoscopic Viewmaster toy, rumored to involve aliens.
• Andrew Stanton’s adaptation of John Carter of Mars follows a Civil War vet  who is transplanted to Mars and encounters the inhabitants of the planet.
• Bryan Singer’s big screen version of Battlestar Galactica.
• Peter Berg’s Battleship, which involves aliens attacking Earth. Production begins Spring 2010.
• Gattaca and Lord of War director Andrew Niccol is adapting Stephanie Meyer’s novel The Host, a love story set in the near future on Earth, which has been assimilated by an alien species of benevolent parasites that call themselves “Souls.
• Disturbia and Eagle Eye director D.J. Caruso is attached to direct a big screen adaptation of EA’s popular video game Dead Space, about an 26th century engineer who responds to a distress signal from a mining ship finds the vessel infested with monstrous alien creatures called Necromorphs.
• Michael Bay’s producing I Am Number Four, an adaptation of a planned six-volume series purportedly co-written by “A Million Little Pieces” author James Frey, about nine alien teens assimilating to high school on Earth after their planet is destroyed by an enemy species.
• Dark Castle Entertainment is developing an adaptation of Devil’s Due graphic novel The Nye Incidents, about a medical examiner on the hunt of a killer of alien abductees.
• Aliens vs. Ninjas
• Final Destination 2 and Snakes on a Plane director David R. Ellis is directing a high concept 3-D horror film called Humpy Dumpty, about a an alien mother is “abused” by two rednecks in the deep south, she gives birth to a a half-human, half-alien creature that eventually goes on a murderous rampage.
• Superbad/Adventureland director Greg Mottola’s sci-fi comedy Paul starring Simon Pegg and Nick Frost as two British comic-book geeks traveling across the U.S. encounter an alien outside Area 51.
• The rumored Independence Day sequels.
• Transformers 3
• Ice Age’s Chris Wedge is developing a big screen adaptation of Will Wright’s video game Spore.
• Sony is still developing a Spider-Man spin-off film for Venom.
• Guy Ritchie is signed on to direct a big screen adaptation of DC Comics series Lobo, about an alien who works as an interstellar mercenary and bounty hunter.
• Neil Blomkamp is still planning a District 9 sequel.

 

www.slashfilm.com

Posted on Tuesday, December 1st, 2009 by Russ Fischer

Hot on the heels of the new poster and those comments from Jeff Bridges about the first Iron Man, Paramount has dropped four new images from Iron Man 2. (I didn’t intend to do two Iron Man posts in a row, I swear.) These aren’t earth-shaking; we see only Mickey Rourke’s appearance from early in the film and the photo of Scarlett Johansson as Black Widow basically repeats what we saw of her in previous photos and the Comic Con footage. But since most of you haven’t seen the Comic Con footage, that’s not a bad thing. All the images after the break.

 

With these and the poster, you’d figure we’ll see a teaser or full trailer very soon. Hopefully before Sherlock Holmes when it hits, which Jon Favreau has mentioned as a possibility. That’ll be a good little Christmas gift for the fans. Here are the pics:

View commentsComments