Movies

Keira Knightley continues to impress me. Not only does she continue to challenge herself as an actress, but she has said “no” to the planned Pirates of the Caribbean 4, which will bring back Johnny Depp as Captain Jack Sparrow. The original Pirates put Keira on the map as the sexy love interest in a corsette, and resulted in major success for the actress.

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Summit Entertainment is going the Harry Potter route by selecting a different director for every sequel to their hit movie Twilight. This is a risky but necessary move considering that Summit is taking an oddly aggressive approach to distributing these films: New Moon comes out only a year after the original, and Eclipse only eight months after that.

Eclipse, by far the best book of the four-part series, will be directed by Spanish director Juan Antonio Bayona. Who the f**k is Bayona, you ask? Well, he directed the shockingly scary horror picture The Orphanage and is set to helm Hater for Universal Pictures. Bayona is, apparently, a protege of Guillermo Del Toro, who as everyone knows is directing the upcoming Hobbit films.

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Marvel Comics, a Walt Disney company, continues to churn out movie adaptations of its most popular comic book series at a staggering rate – here is a list of upcoming movies based on comic books like X-Men, Spider-Man, The Avengers, Thor, Captain America and more.

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Real-life couple Scarlett Johansson and Mickey Rourke have signed onto star in Iron Man 2, the tentpole release set for 2010. Johansson will play Black Widow and Rourke will don the role of Whiplash.

Johansson and Rourke, who are by no means a couple, fill out an already impressive cast that now includes six Oscar winners or nominees and a Golden Globe nominee. In fact, practically everyone in the cast has been recognized for their acting talent at some point or another.

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The latest Star Trek movie trailer is online, and you can watch it right here. This reimagining of the franchise definitely looks more serious and dramatic than past incarnations, but also looks to up the ante on the action as well. This movie trailer didn’t completely blow me away, but Star Trek remains one of my most anticipated movies of 2009.

Watch the Star Trek movie trailer now:

They make out with some cash, that is. The Hollywood Reporter is saying that sexy starlets Odette Yustman and Amber Heard will star in the remake of a 1970 British thriller. The film, And Soon the Darkness, is set in Argentina – where it will be filmed – and follows “two girls from America who take a bike-riding trip in a far off part of the country. Eventually one of them goes missing and the other must find her before it gets dark.”

I don’t have anything beyond that to report – I just wanted to do some researching on Odette Yustman and Amber Heard pictures. From the sounds of it, they will not be making out in the film.

Amber Heard will soon be featured – rather naked, I might add – in the upcoming film The Informers.

Here’s a disturbing new marketing trend: the motion poster. Started by the smart folks in charge of marketing Terminator Salvation, the motion poster fad has expanded to the upcoming horror film The Haunting in Connecticut. The movie stars Virginia Madsen and looks pretty much like The Amityville Horror, but more like the creepy original than the lame remake.

While I have to ask the question whether the world needs yet another marketing tool beyond images, static posters and movie trailers, I have to admit: this motion poster is pretty cool. Just make sure you don’t have your volume turned on too high.

The movie trailer for Pandorum is now online. The Dennis Quaid-starring movie comes to theaters on September 4 (you know it must be good!), and is described as:

From the creators of the Resident Evil film franchise comes Pandorum, a terrifying thriller in which two crew members wake up on an abandoned spacecraft with no idea who they are, how long they’ve been asleep, or what their mission is.  The two soon discover they’re actually not alone — and the reality of their situation is more horrifying than they could have imagined.

Watch the Pandorum movie trailer:

Every year, plenty of movies come and go with audiences ignoring them and/or critics bashing them. Many of these films deserve the fate bequeathed upon them, but there are others that leave the filmmakers scratching their heads or drinking away their sorrows in some lonely tavern only to wake up the next morning to find their clothes and money missing and a lingering memory of a sexy woman who wasn’t as sexy as she first appeared – or as womanly.

Below are 23 overlooked movies released in 2008. Some of these are box office duds and others are ones that the critics sunk their teeth into for no good reason. And there are even some blockbusters on this list that some people have refused to watch out of some sad, misguided preconception of the picture, franchise or actor involved.

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I’ve been on a reading tear. Since the beginning of the year, I’ve read at least five books, three of them from the hugely successful Stephenie Meyer Twilight franchise. Not having a huge respect for the Mormon religion, I was impressed with the relative depth of the first book. Having already seen the movie, it was well-written and entertaining – if not lacking just a bit in the suspense department.

The second book, New Moon, I did not like so much. It pretty much was a rehash of the first one, only with even less excitement. The development of Jacob’s character was good, but the book just fizzled in the end.

Much excitement has been made, however, for the casting of Jane in New Moon. Jane, who did not appear in the first book or movie, is a part of the royal vampire family in Italy. She is described as petite, blonde and angelic; she also tends to do the family’s dirty work and has a special power: inflicting torture. In Eclipse (which is excellent, by the way), Jane shows up at the end, and I’m guessing that she may play a bigger part in the finale, which I’m just beginning to read.

Director Chris Weitz has stated that Dakota Fanning is in the running for the role, and apparently offered her the part, no audition required. Fanning, a petite, blonde and angelic 14-year old, could certainly play the part. She has shied away from kiddie parts even as a little girl, and is known for acting older than her age – almost to a creepy degree. Thus, her general acting approach would work perfectly for the character of Jane.

As Fanning said herself, “It’s definitely possible. I really hope it works out. It would be a really fantastic experience I’m sure.”

I just watched the teaser trailer for the upcoming movie Planet 51, assuming it was a comedy but not knowing that it was an animated flick. The CGI – and movie in general – looks somewhat generic, though not bad by any means. While the teaser trailer didn’t blow me away, I did love two things about the movie trailer:

1. The final scene, where an alien mom is telling her kid to take the cough syrup, otherwise the boogie man will come and get him. Cue the NASA astronaut who jumps through the window – the kid grabs the bottle and starts downing it.
2. The alien dog. Yes, all but one of the characters is an alien, but this alien dog looks very similar to a certain alien that Signourey Weaver spent the better part of her career battling. It pees acid (making for a lot of crooked light poles and mailboxes) and has a tongue with another tongue inside it. Great creature design!

That’s all I had to say. You can watch the Planet 51 teaser trailer here.

Fox and Warner Brothers have settled their dispute over Watchmen distribution rights, with Fox getting $10 million and a 5-8% revenue share for the highly anticipated Warner Brothers release. The studios released this joint statement today:

“Warner Bros. and Twentieth Century Fox have resolved their dispute regarding the rights to the upcoming motion picture “Watchmen” in a confidential settlement. Warner Bros. acknowledges that Fox acted in good faith in bringing its claims, which were asserted prior to the start of principal photography.

Fox acknowledges that Warner Brothers acted in good faith in defending against those claims. Warner Bros. and Fox, like all “Watchmen” fans, look forward with great anticipation to this film’s March 6 release in theatres.”

Frankly, this isn’t a surprise at all. I know a lot of fans were worried about the prospects of Watchmen, with rumors swirling that it wouldn’t be released until next year – or not at all. There was certainly the possibility of the release date being pushed back, but even that was a little farfetched. Why? The Invisible Hand.

People who have taken an economic class know the Invisible Hand well, and the use of this term here may be loose as it generally applies to businesses, working in their own interest, to, as a by-product, serve greater society. The release of the movie hardly benefits greater society, but the concept is the same. To be more precise, here’s a bit from economist Adam Smith’s writings:

…every individual necessarily labours to render the annual revenue of the society as great as he can. He generally, indeed, neither intends to promote the public interest, nor knows how much he is promoting it. By preferring the support of domestic to that of foreign industry, he intends only his own security; and by directing that industry in such a manner as its produce may be of the greatest value, he intends only his own gain, and he is in this, as in many other cases, led by an invisible hand to promote an end which was no part of his intention. Nor is it always the worse for the society that it was no part of it. By pursuing his own interest he frequently promotes that of the society more effectually than when he really intends to promote it. I have never known much good done by those who affected to trade for the public good. 

The thing is, it didn’t make sense for Fox or Warner Brothers to delay Watchmen or take it off the calendar completely. Warner Brothers carefully selected the March release date for a variety of reasons: it was when 300, made by the same director, was released and made a boatload of money; it’s a good month for niche blockbusters to be released, too. Sure, Watchmen could have come to theaters in the summer, but its box office potential would be hindred for any number of reasons.

So, to maximize revenues, Warner Brothers needed to release Watchmen in March. Fox had a legitimate claim, but to maximize their revenues, the movie needed to come out when Warner Brothers planned and marketed it. Both Warner Brothers and Fox had their own vested, individual interests, and those interests played to a common tune: money. And with their interests in sync, an invisible hand guided them to do the right thing: get the movie released on the day that has been marketed for months.

Oh, and I can’t wait until March.

Kudos to Clint Eastwood: he is poised for his best opening weekend of his career. The grisly actor-director, who has suggested this may be his last performance in front of the camera, sure knows how to go out on top if that’s the case.

According to SlashFilm, Gran Torino made $10 million on Friday alone, setting it up for a $25-$30 million weekend. The movie has already made $11 million in limited release, so following its first big weekend (2,800 theaters, equivilant to a $10,684 per theater average), it will have around $40 million in the bank.

Considering that the usually reliable Box Office Prophets predicted that Gran Torino would make $11.3 million over the ENTIRE WEEKEND.

All I can say is that this is great news, since Gran Torino is one of the best movies of 2008. Though it’s a drama, it is absolutely hilarious – as long as you don’t mind a constant barrage of racial slurs and so on and so forth. Eastwood is at his best in the film, and the picture itself is utterly entertaining, whether it’s making you laugh, cry or clenching your fist for some good old retired-Dirty Harry action.

Beyond Gran Torino, the other new releases performed better than expected as well. Bride Wars, set for a $17 million opening based on Box Office Prophet‘s predictions, earned $7.6 million Friday, meaning it should surpass $20 million for the weekend. The Unborn‘s marketing efforts, which took advantage of creepy dead children, twisted monsters and Odette Yustman’s ass, made $7.5 million on Friday, setting itself up for what may just be under $20 million for the weekend. That’s pretty good box office for a horror movie.

OK, so it’s not as drastic as the title sounds, but what is the deal with Warner Brothers all of a sudden? There is some major mismanagement going on with this company.

The Dark Knight is a major success, basically heralding in a new era of darker, more compelling comic book movie adaptations. Not too long ago, the Brothers Of the Name Warner declared that all of their DC comic book adaptations moving forward would have a darker slant to them, including the next Superman. It sounded like they were going down the right path… But in the words of the Joker, “What happened?”

First, Harry Potter 6 was pushed back into 2009. Given that late November and early December were rather weak in 2008, the movie, which I realize is not a comic book adaptation (but it is a major tentpole release), would have thrived.

Then, a couple days ago, it was announced that Shazam! would not be making it to theaters at all. This is fine, as the Captain Marvel character is a bit too similar to Superman but also leans toward a goofier approach, which is not the direction DC wants to go.

Of course, there’s the whole Watchmen fiasco, which is pretty much unparalleled in terms of magnitude. I’m still confident the film will be released on its March release date, as it is in both Fox and Warner Brothers’ best interests to have that happen. Nevertheless, what a cluster. How did Warner Brothers not see this coming?

And now, The Dark Knight writer David Goyer mentioned that Warner Brothers has suspended all DC comic book adaptations for whatever reason. Obviously, Warner Brothers wants to get it right, but as soon as a certain Batman movie opened to $150 million half a year ago, shouldn’t they have sat down for a month, hired some quality directors and mapped out a two-film-per-year plan for its superheroes.

There seems to be some major mismanagement going on. The head of Warner Brothers may be making the right choices on the quality level, but one still needs to be decisive when in a leadership position. He should have made a decision over the summer as to which films were going to be released in which years for the next several films, just as Marvel has done. Wonder Woman? Green Lantern? Flash? Aquaman? Green Arrow? Justice League? Superman???

The properties are there. It takes leadership to turn those properties into cash cows.

2008 was a good year for comedies, and this coming from a guy who rates comedies as the least desirable genre. I actually do really enjoy comedies, but I like action flicks and depressing dramas much, much more. But in the absence of really great dramas, this genre rose up to truly deliver….

1. In Bruges
   Most people haven’t seen this movie, but it is certainly worth it. Unlike the four or five movies that follow on this list, In Bruges may not be the non-stop laughfest, but it comes pretty close. More importantly, it is a unique and surprisingly excellent drama-comedy that features Colin Farrell bashing the poor town of Bruges for two hours, getting overly excited about cracked-out midgets and telling fat Americans that they can’t climb up some steep stairs. OK, so that explanation does the comedy absolutely no justice, but this is a movie that blew me away in more ways than one.
2. Role Models
   Based on the previews, who could have seen this one coming? Role Models flew in under the radar, looking like a decent but generic comedy starring Paul Rudd and Seann William Scott. But from the first minute, Role Models is a consistently funny and vulgar picture that has a surprising amount of heart and more laughs than you’ll know what to do with.

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