Posts Tagged ‘movie’

Primal Fear is one of the best courtroom dramas in the history of cinema. Not only does it feature great performances by Richard Gere and Laura Linney, but it also marks the debut of a talented young man named Edward Norton – some of you may know him. His startling performance earned him an Oscar nomination as the stuttering murder defendant and put him on the map as one of the best actors on the scene. Even better, Primal Fear features one of the best twist endings to ever grace the silver screen.

Needless to say, I like this movie. I like this movie a lot. And since Paramount Pictures just sent me the all-new Hard Evidence Edition, I now have two versions of the DVD.

This latest release of the 1996 thriller doesn’t offer enough bonus features to warrant repurchasing the picture, but Paramount has packaged a couple of short featurettes to accompany this amazing film:

• The Final Verdict – this 17-minute featurette examines the making of the film, with a focus on the challenges the crew went through to get it made. Though Richard Gere was signed on to star, he almost backed out due to a lack of a convincing script. Once the script was rectified, the director and producer faced the challenge of selling a $30-million film with only one recognizable name to the studio. Furthermore, setting up the story in a way that the twist ending would remain hidden required the right mixture of acting, writing and directing. The featurette is short, but does offer some sincere interviews with everyone involved, save Gere.
• Star Witness – Casting Edward Norton – the other 17-minute featurette on the DVD focuses on how Norton came to be casted in this role. This interesting segment of interviews has Norton talking about his experience of going into the initial audition with no expectation of landing the role through his wide-eyed realization that he’s been offered the part. This featurette offers some insights I wasn’t aware of and also offers more sincere interviews with Norton, the director and the casting director.
• The Psychology of Guilt – this 13-minute featurette explores the legal ramifications of multiple personality disorder and whether it actually exists or not. While short, the featurette is smartly put together and tackles a lot of different aspects of the alleged disorder. It was good enough to compel me to look up the Hillside Strangler(s) and a few other serial killers who all seem to have crossed paths with my alma mater’s town, Bellingham, WA.
• The original theatrical trailer and a commentary with the director, writer, producer and casting director are also included.

In all, there are only 47 minutes worth of raw bonus features – hardly enough to warrant an all-new edition. Yet, those 47 minutes are packed full of insightful interviews with most of the big names involved in the picture. My only real fault with the DVD is the DVD cover… the cheesy crime scene layout makes the picture look like some B-grade action flick rather a quality drama. Still, if you don’t own Primal Fear, this would be a good time to buy. The Hard Evidence Edition comes to stores on March 10, 2009, available in both DVD and Blu-Ray formats.

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:

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.

Loyal readers should know that I’m an atheist. And as an atheist, I’m a big fan of Bill Maher’s documentary Religulous. It’s not that I think the movie is an incredible documentary that will convert believers – after all, believers wouldn’t come within ten feet of this movie – but it makes some pretty valid points…  Most importantly, it makes the point that religion doesn’t make any sense. It never did, and it never will.

Religulous (read my Religulous movie review here) arrives on DVD next Tuesday, February 17, and with it a few bonus features including an audio commentary and a slew of deleted scenes. I haven’t listened to the audio commentary, but plan to: after all, Bill Maher should make for a good commentary. The deleted scenes are actually several deleted segments, each of which focus on a different set of people that were entirely removed from the movie. There are some funny moments found in these segments, though it’s understandable why they were removed from the final picture; some of them aren’t that entertaining, and the others are redundant when placed against existing scenes.

Unfortunately, the polygamist wives segment is surprisingly short; I would have liked to see more of them.

Complementing the deleted scenes are several “Bill Maher rants,” which feature the comedian speaking to the camera about why certain religious facets don’t make sense. Some variations are included in the movie itself, but there are several new segments that raise some good points.

All in all, I was a little disappointed to not find more deleted scenes on the disc; I would have imagined that a lot of good material was cut from existing segments (most notably at Jesus Land or whatever that place was called). Nevertheless, the Religulous DVD offers a decent set of features given the type of movie it is – I wouldn’t have expected much more.

For moderates or the downright non-believers, Religulous is a must-see. As entertaining as it is, it’s not worth purchasing – unless you plan to show it to a bunch of children to spread the truth.

One of my most anticipated movies of 2008, Blindness is directed by Fernando Meirelles, the man behind such visually stimulating films as The Constant Gardener and City of God. Given his stunning resume, Blindness looked like a sure lock for one of the best movies of the year. Starring Mark Ruffalo and Julianne Moore, the movie is about a horrifying virus that spreads throughout the country, causing everyone – except for Moore’s character – to go blind. That’s pretty bad ass.

Unfortunately, Blindness isn’t nearly as good as I was expecting. Decent, yes, but the film never fully clicks. Some of the character reactions and plot points don’t make sense. Most shockingly, the film is visually dull. Maybe all of those protesters outside the theater stating, “Blindness is not bad,” or something could have saved their breath. While I’d still recommend the movie to people who want something different, it’s not nearly as good as it could have been.

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It’s funny: of all the successful comedies of the year, one of the funniest, which combined the likes of Seth Rogen with the director who made his kind of comedy possible in the first place – Kevin Smith – flopped. One shouldn’t have been surprised, given that Kevin Smith has hardly been a box office phenom and that The Weinstein Company wasn’t even allowed to market its film title in many venues, but given that Seth Rogen has been in one hit after another – the sudden failure of Zack and Miri Make a Porno struck me by surprise.

And, given that it is one of the most hilarious movies of 2008, I was disappointed. Nevertheless, the movie should make plenty of money this week as it spins its way onto DVD. Those who haven’t seen this movie should, and those who have already seen it should definitely consider buying the 2-Disc Edition, as it is packed with bonus features.

Most notably, Zack and Miri Make a Porno includes over an hour and a half of deleted scenes. Some of them are alternates, but these deleted scenes give you a sense of just how much improv was conducted by the cast. There are plenty of hilarious lines (“what do scrotums taste like?”) and exchanges, especially between Rogen and Justin Long. An entire movie could be made just around Justin Long’s character – if you liked his brief involvement in Zack and Miri, you’ll definitely get a kick out of the deleted scenes.

Beyond those, there’s a pretty strong making-of featurette, which goes through every stage of filming, from casting to filming to getting the film past the MPAA. The making-of documentary is impressively in-depth and honest, and well worth watching.

A series of webisodes are included, some of which are better than others. One with Kevin Smith and Seth Rogen exchanging barbs is pretty good (“What’s Jersey Girl?” “Let’s not talk about it.”).

Some footage from Comic-Con 2008 puts the cast altogether in an audience-driven interview setting. There are no major takeaways here, but it’s not worthless, either.

The outtakes and bloopers are surprisingly disappointing.

Lastly, Seth Rogen and Justin Long face off in an improvisation battle. Most of this can be found in the deleted scenes, but it’s still pretty disappointing.

Between the hours of deleted scenes and the making-of featurette, Zack and Miri Make a Porno 2-Disc Edition is well worth buying. The movie itself is hilarious and surprisingly sweet, so the combination of the film and bonus features make for one of the first great packages of 2009.

Back in 2006, when A Guide to Recognizing Your Saints was first released, the movie was a surprisingly decent flick with a recognizable but not-staggering cast. Flash forward three years and the movie has changed significantly: it’s a surprisingly decent flick with an A-list cast.

Back in 2006, the movie starred Robert Downey, Jr., who was still was looking for his comeback role, and Shia LaBeouf, whose biggest film to date was a role in Bobby. Channing Tatum was a force to be reckoned with, but the only place you would have seen him was a dance movie called Step Up. Iron Man, Tropic Thunder, Transformers, Indiana Jones, Disturbia and Eagle Eye later, however, and you suddenly have two A-list actors who have strung together a series of massive hits. Tatum still hasn’t broken out, but most people know who he is.

In other words, given the quality of A Guide to Recognizing Your Saints, this movie may actually have received some promotional backing had it been released more recently. It’s amazing what a few years make.

The movie is a flashback/flashforward story of three friends who grew up in a tough neighborhood in Queens. All troublemakers as teenagers, they diverged at adulthood – one was able to escape the neighborhood, while the others fell victim to it. Chazz Palminteri, Dianne Wiest and Rosario Dawson also star.

You can read my original A Guide to Recognizing Your Saints movie review here (in which I say, it “offer[s] some fine performances from some up-and-coming stars”).

This Tuesday, February 3, 2009, A Guide to Recognizing Your Saints is re-released in an all-new Limited Edition DVD set. By set, I mean one disc, but it sounds better that way. Usually I criticize studios for re-releasing films for the umpteenth time just to make a buck, but given the suddenly changed star power of many of its stars, it makes sense to try to get this picture in front of a larger audience – after all, most people haven’t heard of this film, let alone seen it.

The Limited Edition includes these bonus features:

• Commentary with director Dito Montiel and editor Jake Pushinsky
• The Making-Of Documentary
  The making-of featurette primarily revolves around writer/director Dito Montiel (who is played by LaBeouf and Downey, Jr.) and how he came to make this movie. It also involves several interviews with the casting director, and their determination to cast on acting ability rather than star power. There are some interesting moments, and the featurette feels authentic (not promotional), but there’s nothing spellbinding her. The featurette just moves along without providing us an “a-ha” moment or even any stimulating interviews.
• Alternate Endings and Openings
  There are about ten alternate endings and openings provided here, all of them of considerable quality. This is an impressive collection.
• Deleted Scenes
  There are also several very good deleted scenes; I haven’t seen this many well-done deleted scenes packaged together in a long time. They were apparently cut for pacing and storytelling reasons, and not due to lack of quality.
• Rooftop Scene
  Dito Montiel directs and acts in this alternate scene with actress Helen Dallas; it’s a riveting little piece of stagework, and well worth watching.
• Full Monty Interview
  Well worth your time. Just kidding. 30 seconds with an old guy. Stimulating.
• Young Laurie Audition played by Diana Carcamo
  A pretty good screen test further exemplifies the raw talent that can be found in this film.
• Trailers and Previews

A Guide to Recognizing Your Saints is a pretty good movie with intense performances and a worthwhile, gritty story. Certainly recommended.

The long-delayed Fanboys finally comes to theaters next Friday, and here are a few video clips recently provided by the studio. The first one features Kristin Bell taking her shirt off… sort of.

Take Your Shirt Off

OK, I’ll admit it: I’d never seen Mary Poppins. In fact, I didn’t even know what it was about. I knew that some lady named Julie Andrews was the star – and of course I know who Dick Van Dyke is – but other than that, I heard something about it being a cheesy combination of live-action musical and cartoons. It sounded pretty damn stupid, and when I actually watched this so-called classic Disney film, it confirmed my beliefs: completely – and I mean completely – overrated. I don’t get what people like about this film, and will never watch it again. When I will have children, I will ensure they never, ever see Mary Poppins.

OK, I’ll admit it: that first paragraph is a complete lie. Mary Poppins is one of the biggest family classics of all time, and it deserves to be. It stands the test of time incredibly well, thanks to the enjoyable songs and overall goofiness picture, combined with authentic performances from everyone involved – including the child actors.

To go on raving about Mary Poppins is rather wasteful, so I’ll shift my attention to the 45th Anniversary 2-Disc set that came to DVD earlier this week. The DVD contains a variety of bonus features, and I’ll admit it (for real this time): it’s a pretty good collection of items.

The quantity is good, and the quality is good, and both kids and adults should find something to enjoy here. The one that stands out the most to me is a “musical reunion with Julie Andrews, Dick Van Dyke and Richard Sherman.” While there’s nothing remarkable here, it’s nice to see Van Dyke and Andrews back together again, singing songs and talking about their experiences.

Speaking of Van Dyke and Andrews, it’s nice to see actors not completely consumed with themselves, even after all these years. These days, if an actor does a big film and is asked to do a reunion interview some years later, I would expect that 50% of the time they would turn it down. In this collection, both Van Dyke and Andrews show up in a variety of special features in their modern-day forms (still looking surprisingly good) – whether it be a new Mary Poppins short (yes, Julie Andrews is back as Mary Poppins!) or a making-of featurette.

Extending from my complaint about modern actors, it’s also impressive to see footage from the original premiere. The interviews seem like something straight out of a Disney movie, and yet they’re sincere. Van Dyke especially just seems happy to be there, and he waves at his baby girl like a goofball. Compare this to modern day premiere or red carpet events and… well, it’s hard to see the similarities.

Less interesting to me were the featurettes about the Broadway version. I didn’t find these all that stimulating, though people with more interest in theater should find something to enjoy. The Broadway elements are extensive – they just didn’t do it for me.

The Mary Poppins: 45th Anniversary DVD has a variety of other features, including the original theatrical trailer, makeup tests with Dick Van Dyke, some additional music numbers, among other things.  All in all, it’s an impressive set of bonus features – and while I have a pile of other movies sitting around waiting to be reviewed, I couldn’t help but stick this movie in. The music is great, the visuals stand up surprisingly well and it’s just an all-around entertaining movie.

To be honest, I just had a single glass of wine and for some reason it’s hitting me harder than I would expect… so I’m going to glaze over the rest of the features. In all fairness, big fans of the movie -

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 Mutant Chronicles movie trailer, and all I can say is wow. And by “wow,” I mean… meh.

The Thomas Jane/Ron Perlman sci-fi action flick looks a lot like the Vin Diesel film The Chronicles of Riddick, and we all know how that worked out. I wonder how many people are going to make the same comparison, given the similar plots and titles.

The Mutant Chronicles looks like it could be fun… if you can get past the B-grade visuals, acting and actors. Neither Jane nor Perlman scream great casting, and while John Malkovich is a great actor, he does have a tendency to show up in some pretty bad movies when playing characters like this. In other words, you can tell which movies he’s chosen simply to finance that fifth house.

As far as movie trailers go, the Red Band movie trailer leaves little to be desired. For one, I didn’t see anything “restricted” about this trailer – studios, having already abused the marketing pretenses of “unrated” DVDs, are now starting to take advantage of “Red Band” trailers, tricking people into thinking that they’re going to get to see something naughty or off-limits. Don’t expect a ton of gore or nudity. Beyond those issues, though, the movie trailer doesn’t try to make us want to see this film. The setup to the action is terrible, and it creates no sense of dread or suspense. I’m actually not quite sure what the movie is about or who the mutants are.

Let me know what you think – here’s the Mutant Chronicles movie trailer:

You can learn more about the movie by going to the Mutant Chronicles movie details page.

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.

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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Jurassic Park 4 is dead, long live Jurassic Park. With the death of popular author Michael Crichton a few weeks back, producers Frank Marshall and Kathleen Kennedy announced that the movie, which has been in development hell for years, is officially dead. So said Kennedy:

“No… I don’t know. You know, when Crichton passed away, I sorta felt maybe that’s it. Maybe that’s a sign that we don’t mess with it.”

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I just watched the movie trailer for Dragonball, the live-action adaptation of whatever Dragonball is (a cartoon series, I believe), and as expected, it looks pretty stupid. Despite the presence of Chow Yun-Fat, Dragonball looks like nothing more than a B-grade kung fu action film fused with cheesy special effects.

I know there are some people who are rabidly anticipating this picture, but for the regular moviegoer, I see this one crashing and burning. The best kung fu movies are the ones that feel realistic and use minimal special effects, whereas Dragonball, out of necessity, has to go to the other extreme. Furthermore, the glossy, bright colors just make it look like a second-tier film, and I don’t think there’s anything the marketing department will be able to do to hide that fact.

By the way, Justin Chatwin’s hair absolutely drives me crazy.

You can watch the Dragonball movie trailer here. What are your thoughts?