Wednesday, October 31, 2007

The Savages (Movie Watch)

An irreverent, hilarious & heartbreaking story revolving around a modern American family, that portrays an all-too-common dilemma: after drifting apart emotionally & geographically over the years, two siblings Wendy & Jon must band together to care for an elderly parent.

Trailer HERE

Charlie Wilson's War (Movie Watch)

This is the story of how a drunken womanizer, Charlie Wilson, from east Texas, changed the world. Wilson was a junior representative in Congress who, through his tireless work in the 1980's, managed to divert billions of tax payer's dollars to fund the insurgency in Afghanistan against Soviet occupation. When he first started in the early 80's only a few million dollars went to Afghanistan, however by 1989 when the Russians finally withdrew, Wilson had raised that number to close to a billion. Wilson used the money to buy weapons and, with the help of a rogue CIA agent, smuggled them to the Mujahideen. When the Soviets withdrew in 1989, their military was thoroughly defeated & the USSR was almost bankrupt. However, those same insurgents who were armed & trained through Wilson's programs came to form the backbone of Al-Qaeda & the Taliban and are now sworn enemies of the US.

Trailer HERE

Wanted (Movie Watch)

A young man finds out his long lost father is an assassin... And when his father is murdered, the son is recruited into his father's old organization & trained by a man named Sloan to follow in his dad's footsteps to be WANTED.


Grade: C 
Trailer HERE
Teaser HERE

Monday, October 29, 2007

Control (Movie Watch)

Ian Curtis had aspirations beyond the trappings of small town life in 1970’s England. Wanting to emulate his musical heroes, David Bowie & Iggy Pop, he joins a band, & his musical ambition begins to thrive. Soon though, the everyday fears & emotions, that fuel his music, slowly begin to eat away at him. Married young, with a daughter, he is distracted from his family commitments by a new love & the growing expectations of his band, Joy Division. The strain manifests itself in his health. With epilepsy adding to his guilt & depression, desperation takes hold. Surrendering to the weight on his shoulders, Ian’s tortured soul consumes him.

Trailer HERE

Black Irish (Movie Watch)

16-yr-old Cole McKay’s struggle for independence is put to the test as his South Boston Irish-Catholic family implodes around him. Older brother Terry is descending into a life of drugs & crime, pregnant sister Kathleen is being sent away to cover the shame of unwed motherhood & Cole’s father, Desmond, spends his days in a fog of alcohol & self-pity, silently torturing himself over what might have been. The one thing keeping young Cole’s head above water is his love of baseball. A talented pitcher, Cole overcomes self-doubt & family indifference to fight his way into the state championships. To get there however, he must make a life & death decision, a decision that will change the McKay family forever.

Trailer HERE

Burn After Reading (Movie Watch)

Ozzie Cox is CIA vet who is fired because he is an alcoholic. In taking revenge, he writes some inflammatory memoirs. Cox's soon-to-be ex-wife Katie steals the disc containing his memoirs, accidentally leaving it at the gym where it is found by a trainer Chad Feldheimer & the gym's owner Linda Litzke who believes they can use the info to blackmail Cox.
Harry Pfarrer is an oversexed, fanatically fit, lactose-intolerant federal marshall, who is sleeping with Cox's wife. He meets Linda via an online dating service & gets entangled in the blackmail scheme, when he stumbles across Chad breaking into his & Katie's house. In the end truth is relative.

Grade: B +
Trailer HERE

Friday, October 26, 2007

Wes Anderson (Director Spotlight)

Argued to be a major artistic voice in American cinema, Wes Anderson (Born: Wesley Wales Anderson) has created a body of work that showcases a distinctive, will full & quirky vibe infused with an independent sensibility. Anderson, with collaborator Owen Wilson, attained a status in the late 1990s with his break out film, Bottle Rocket. Known for corky dramedies; with his best thus far being the critical darling Rushmore, a dazzling sophomore effort with equal parts coming-of-age story, French New Wave homage, and screwball comedy, Anderson has proven the ability to manage releasing films with his unique sense in the major studio system. With his break out indie hit Bottle Rocket, critical success of Rushmore to his acclaimed film The Royal Tenenbaums, Anderson stepped into his first big budget production of The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou, his first critical & commercial failure. Anderson's recent release The Darjeeling Limited brings the director back to a level of maturity that was expected of his work. The future project, The Fantastic Mr. Fox, will be his first attempt at animation.

Darjeeling Interview with Jason Schwartzman & Wes Anderson

Click Below for...
Filmography List
List Info:
Bottle Rockets
Rushmore
The Royal Tenenbaums
The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou
The Darjeeling Limited
The Fantastic Mr. Fox

Wednesday, October 24, 2007

Slipstream (Movie Watch)

Felix Bonhoeffer, actor & would-be screenwriter, is at the very moment of his meeting with Fate, comes to discover that life is random & fortune is sightless as he is thrown into a vortex where time, dreams & reality collide in an increasingly whirling slipstream. His journey will be a complex, surreal dreamlike tale of one man's journey.

Trailer HERE

I Am Legend (Vertigo Comic Trailers) UPDATED

A deadly virus has taken hold of the world - rejected by a few (the immune), killing many (the dead), and leaving the rest (the infected) - who live on to hunt the living, after dark. The following are voices paying homage to Richard Matheson’s classic novel. This is the experience of a dying mankind and the foretelling of a new world before we meet the legend, Robert Neville.

The Awakening: HERE
Isolation: HERE

I Am Legend (Graded)

From out of the night came the living dead with one purpose: destroy Robert Neville, the last man on earth. A mysterious plague has swept the planet leaving in its wake this one survivor. But there is still life of a sort--vampires, the strengthless half-dead who press on Neville from every side. He is almost tempted to join them in I AM LEGEND.

NOTE: Full trailer has two versions, enjoy.

Grade: B -
Trailer 1 HERE
Trailer 2 V.1 HERE
Trailer 2 V.2 HERE

Sunday, October 21, 2007

Sweeny Todd (Trailer 2 Release)

A wrongfully imprisoned barber in Victorian England sets out to seek revenge on the judge who imprisoned him. The plot is foreshadowed in the first lines of the opening number: "Attend the tale of Sweeney Todd./His skin was pale and his eye was odd./He shaved the faces of gentlemen/Who never thereafter were heard of again."

Grade: C -
Trailer HERE
Teaser HERE

The Mist (Graded)

Three-time Oscar-nominee Frank Darabont ("The Green Mile," "The Shawshank Redemption") reunites with horror-master Stephen King from his original short story "The Mist". Following a violent thunderstorm, David Drayton & a small town community come under vicious attack from creatures prowling in a thick & unnatural mist. Local rumors point to an experiment called the 'The Arrowhead Project' conducted at a nearby top-secret military base, but questions as to the origins of the deadly vapor are secondary to the group's overall chances for survival.

Grade: B
Trailer HERE
Teaser HERE

There Will be Blood (Graded)

Based on Upton Sinclair's novel OIL. There Will Be Blood sees bribery of public officials, class warfare, & international rivalry over oil production. A story of a genial independent oil developer & his son, whose sympathy with the oilfield workers & socialist organizers fuels a running debate with his father. Senators, small investors, oil magnates, a Hollywood film star, & a crusading evangelist are the people that populate the pages. The story then turns into a tale of greed & faith, as the prospector realizes the American dream & is destroyed by it.

Grade: A +
Teaser HERE
Trailer HERE

Tracey Berkowitz (Movie Watch)

15-year-old Tracey Berkowitz is naked under a shower curtain at the back of a bus, looking for her little brother Sonny, who thinks he's a dog. Welcome to the 21st century "Catcher in the Rye", told in a dazzling pop-art fashion.

Trailer HERE

Thursday, October 18, 2007

Stop-Loss (Movie Watch)

Decorated Iraq war hero Sgt. Brandon King makes a celebrated return to his small Texas hometown following his tour of duty. Brandon tries to resume the life he left behind with the help and support of his family and his best friend, Steve Shriver, who served with him in Iraq. Alongside their war-time buddies, Brandon and Steve try to make peace with civilian life. Then, against Brandon's will, the Army orders him back to duty in Iraq, Stop Loss. This upends Brandon's entire world. The conflict into which he is thrown tests everything he believes in: the bond of family, the loyalty of friendship, the limits of love, and the value of honor.

Trailer HERE

The Dark Knight (What to Know)

We've all been hearing about "The Dark Knight" trailer that is planned to appear in front of "I Am Legend" on December 14th. Similar to when Warner Bros. Pictures released the teaser for the film, we are all expecting for the studio to play games with us before finally unleashing the trailer.

Today, The Joker's whysoserious.com website has been updated with an animated jack-o-lantern, whose carved mouth is in the shape of the Batman symbol. Whether this is the beginning of a campaign that will eventually lead to a trailer is anyone's guess, but for now, all we have is the pumpkin.

The same jack-o-lantern has appeared in the Batman comics, including on the cover of "The Long Halloween," which delved into the origins of Two-Face. Could it mean that the treat we have been waiting for will reveal itself during Halloween? Stay tuned Batfans.

Youth Without Youth (Trailer Release)

A full Trailer for Francis Ford Coppola's new film "Youth Without Youth" has now been released hot on the heels of its Teaser. The story centers on a professor whose life changes after a cataclysmic incident during the dark years before WWII. Becoming a fugitive, he is pursued through far-flung locations including Romania, Switzerland, Malta & India.

Grade: A -
Teaser HERE
Trailer HERE

Rambo (Graded)

Vietnam veteran John Rambo has survived many harrowing ordeals in his lifetime & has since withdrawn into a simple & secluded existence in Bangkok, where he spends his time salvaging old PT boats & tanks for scrap metal. Even though he is looking to avoid trouble, trouble has a way of finding him. A group of Christian human rights missionaries, approach Rambo with the desire to rent his boat to travel up the river to Burma. For over fifty years, Burma has been like a war zone. After some consideration, & due to insistence from his mentor, former military man Ed Baumgartner, Rambo accepts the offer and takes the missionaries up the river. When the missionaries finally arrive at the Karen village, they are ambushed by the sadistic Major Pa Tee Tint and a slew of Burmese army men. A portion of the villagers and missionaries are tortured and viciously murdered. News soon reaches the minister in charge of the mission & with the help of Ed Baumgartner he employs Rambo to lead a rescue effort. With five, young, and highly diverse mercenaries at his disposal, Rambo has to travel back up the river & liberate the survivors from the clutches of Major Tint in what may be one of his deadliest missions ever.

Grade: B
Teaser HERE
Trailer HERE

Monday, October 15, 2007

Death Defying Acts (Teaser & Poster 2 Release)

Based on true events during the escape artist Harry Houdini's 1926 tour of Britain, Death Defying Acts will follow Houdini's passionate relationship with a woman he encounters in Scotland.

Trailer HERE

Friday, October 12, 2007

The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey (What to Know)



After the big feud between New Line CEO Bob Shaye & "Lord of the Rings" director Peter Jackson, things have quieted down and are actually headed in the direction of reconcilement. So what does this mean for the long-rumored "The Hobbit" film?

According to Entertainment Weekly, Jackson might return for the prequel, but solely as an executive producer, with another person taking over helming duties.

MTV News attempted to confirm the rumor, but did not receive a reply from Jackson or New Line. Fortunately, Shaye & his co-CEO, Michael Lynne, gave up a few hints. "One film at a time!" Shaye laughed. "'The Hobbit' is in the future," Lynne added.

Does this mean that there's hope for the film? "There's more than hope," Lynne said with a wink.

Coming: 2009

Che: El Argentino & Guerilla (What to Know)

Here is a shot of Benicio Del Toro as Ernesto (Che) Guevara on the set of "Guerilla" in Spain, which was chosen to substitute for Bolivia. The image is courtesy of Hollywood-Elsewhere.

"Guerilla" is actually the second film that Del Toro is making with director Steven Soderbergh (Traffic) about Che Guevara. The first one is called "The Argentine," which is being shot in the mountains of Puerto and follows Che during his days with Fidel Castro in the Sierra Maestra and ends with the Cuban leader's ascension to power.

Del Toro spoke briefly about portraying such an icon, saying that it's a "huge" undertaking. "You have nightmares everyday," he added. "It's very difficult, but you just do it. You know it's never going to be perfect; it can't be. We're just trying to stay true to the historical period, showing what he tried to accomplish."

Thursday, October 11, 2007

Gears of War (What to Know)


Stuart Beattie, who has written scripts for "Pirates of the Caribbean," "Collateral," "Derailed" & the upcoming "30 Days of Night," spoke to GamePro about the big screen adaptation of the "Gears of War" video game. According to him, the new film will be similar to Zack Snyder's "300".

"That film was shot completely on green screen, which is amazing when you actually see the film," said Beattie. "It's probably how we're going to do 'Gears of War.'"

"There's no way to build that world any other way, really," he continued. "That's a huge world. It's a planet and it's a bubble and it's a building. It's an epic sci-fi war and an enormous film. To get it made at all, the only way to make it for a price is to be on a soundstage. But the game also has that look, which is really interesting, so I think it will dovetail really nicely."

Beattie said he's working closely with Epic Games & Cliff Bleszinski, lead designer of the game. He will be visiting the studio multiple times as he writes the script, asking for feedback from everyone who works in the building.

I hope it can be pulled off & not be cheesy because Stuart Beattie's work is 50/50 .

Coming: 2010

I Am legend (Poster 2 Release)

From out of the night came the living dead with one purpose: destroy Robert Neville, the last man on earth. A mysterious plague has swept the planet leaving in its wake this one survivor. But there is still life of a sort--vampires, the strengthless half-dead who press on Neville from every side. He is almost tempted to join them in I AM LEGEND.

Grade: B
Trailer HERE

Wednesday, October 10, 2007

The Imaginarium of Dr. Parnassus (What to Know)

The Imaginarium of Dr Parnassusis is a fantastical morality tale, set in the present day.

It tells the story of Dr Parnassus and his extraordinary 'Imaginarium', a traveling show where members of the audience get an irresistible opportunity to choose between light and joy or darkness and gloom. Blessed with the extraordinary gift of guiding the imaginations of others, Dr Parnassus is cursed with a dark secret. Long ago he made a bet with the devil, Mr Nick, in which he won immortality.

Many centuries later, on meeting his one true love, Dr Parnassus made another deal with the devil, trading his immortality for youth, on condition that when his first-born reached its 16th birthday he or she would become the property of Mr Nick. Valentina is now rapidly approaching this 'coming of age' milestone & Dr Parnassus is desperate to protect her from her impending fate. Mr Nick arrives to collect but, always keen to make a bet, renegotiates the wager. Now the winner of Valentina will be determined by whoever seduces the first five souls.

Enlisting a series of wild, comical and compelling characters in his journey, Dr Parnassus promises his daughter's hand in marriage to the man that helps him win. In this captivating, explosive and wonderfully imaginative race against time, Dr Parnassus must fight to save his daughter in a never-ending landscape of surreal obstacles - and undo the mistakes of his past once and for all...

Dylan Dog (What to Know)

Brandon Routh, the actor who played Superman in "Superman Returns," will play the lead role in "Dead of Night," which is based on SAF Comics' best selling horror comic book series "Dylan Dog." The movie will be directed by David R. Ellis (Snakes on a Place). Created by Tiziano Sclavi, "Dylan Dog" was first published in Italy by Sergio Bonelli Editore & was later released stateside by Dark Horse Comics. The series followed Dylan Dog, a nightmare investigator who lives in London. He always wears the same clothes & is riddled with phobias. The movie, which is being produced by Arclight Films in Los Angeles, has a budget of $35 million. The principal photography is planned to start soon on locations in Connecticut.

Jumper (Graded)

Based on the Steven Gould novel, "Jumper" follows a young man from a broken home who discovers that he has the ability to teleport. In his quest for the man he believes is responsible for the death of his mother, the kid draws the attention of the National Security Agency & another youth with the same abilities.

Grade: B -
Trailer HERE

Monday, October 8, 2007

Fierce People (Movie Watch)

Finn Earl has an opportunity to visit his anthropologist Dad, during the summer, helping with his study and observations of a primitive South American tribe called Ishkanani, or “Fierce People.” After a series of events prevent this trip from happening, Finn & his Mom, Liz Earl, end up spending the summer staying with Ogden C. Osborne & observing his very wealthy family on their sprawling estate in the ‘wilds’ of New Jersey. The summer turns out to be a life-altering experience for everyone, especially Finn, who learns more about fierce people in New Jersey than he might have if he had joined his father in South America.

Trailer HERE

O’ Jerusalem (Movie Watch)

O' Jerusalem meticulously re-creates the historic struggle surrounding the creation of the State of Israel in 1948. At the center of these events are two young, American friends - one Jewish, the other Arab. The film is told from the alternating viewpoints of the Jews, Arabs and Brits, all of whom collide in their fight for the control of Jerusalem while bringing to the forefront themes of courage, terrorism, deprivation, politics and a strong sense of morality. Their involvement takes them from the streets of New York to The Holy Land, where they risk their lives - making incredible sacrifices along the way - to fight for what they believe in, as the city of their dreams teeters on the brink of destruction. The film, based on historical accounts from the best-selling novel O Jerusalem, written by Larry Collins and Dominique Lapierre, offers a rich background to an explosive conflict that echoes the situation in the Middle East today.

Trailer HERE

Sunday, October 7, 2007

Astro Boy (Movie Watch)

FirstShowing got their hands on the first look at the Imagi Animation Studios' upcoming CGI movie "Astroboy." The film is a big screen adaptation of the cult Japanese manga and the TV anime series that originated back in 1952."AstroBoy" tells the story of a powerful robot boy created by a brilliant scientist in the image of the son he lost. Our hero journeys to find acceptance in the human world and ultimately discovers true friendship as he uses his incredible powers to help others and save Metro City from destruction.

Trailers HERE

Friday, October 5, 2007

10,000 B.C. (Teaser Poster Release)

It was a time when man and beast were untamed and the mighty mammoth roamed the earth. A time when ideas and beliefs were born that forever shaped mankind. 10,000 B.C. follows a young hunter on his quest to lead an army across a vast desert, battling saber tooth tigers and prehistoric predators as he unearths a lost civilization and attempts to rescue the woman he loves from an evil warlord determined to possess her.

Grade: F
Teaser Trailer HERE

Iron Man (Graded)

Tony Stark is the enigmatic heir to the Stark Enterprises fortune. A driven inventor & executive who seems to have it all, Tony is haunted by his dark side. Though he commands his empire in public, in private he secretly becomes Stark Enterprises' Corporate Image known as "Iron Man," the living embodiment of decades of defense spending & innovation. Strapping on billions of dollars worth of state-of-the-art armor & weaponry each night to fight crime, terrorism & corporate espionage, Tony begins to crack under the strain of his fractured lifestyle& must ultimately confront the one enemy he has never beat... himself.


Grade: A -
Leaked Comic-Con Teaser HERE
Toned Down Official Teaser HERE

Thursday, October 4, 2007

Mr. Untouchable (Movie Watch)

Harlem's notorious Nicky Barnes, a junkie turned multimillionaire drug-lord, MR. UNTOUCHABLE takes its audience deep inside the heroin industry of the 70s. The most powerful black drug kingpin in New York history, Barnes came from humble beginnings to make himself & his comrades rich beyond their wildest dreams, ultimately reaching national infamy in 1977 when the NY Times put him on the front cover of their magazine with the headline "Mr. Untouchable". Soon after, it all came crumbling down, & facing a life sentence without parole, Barnes started naming names. With the first hand testimony from "The Black Godfather" himself, this documentary tells an epic story of business, excess, greed & revenge.

Trailer HERE

Redacted (Movie Watch)

Redacted is a docudrama based on the real-life Mahmudiyah killings, the real-life rape, murder & burning of Abeer Qasim Hamza al-Janabi, a 14-year-old Iraqi girl in March 2006 by U.S. soldiers, who also killed her parents & younger sister.

Trailer HERE

Monday, October 1, 2007

Vantage Point (Poster Release)

Thomas Barnes & Kent Taylor, two Secret Service agents assigned to protect the President at a landmark summit on the global war on terror. When the President is shot moments after his arrival in Spain, chaos ensues & disparate lives collide. In the crowd, Howard Lewis, an American tourist video taping the historic event to show his kids when he returns home. Also there is Rex, an American TV news producer who's reporting on the conference. It's only as we follow each person's perspective of the same 15 minutes prior to & immediately after the shooting that the terrifying truth behind the assassination attempt is revealed.

Trailer HERE