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Pitch of the Day: 'Superman Returns 2'
Filed under: Classics, Comedy, Sci-Fi & Fantasy, Comic/Superhero/Geek, Remakes and Sequels
Today's pitch is sort of a last chance grab at any possibility of Warner Bros. not rebooting the Superman franchise yet again and instead letting Bryan Singer, or someone else, simply move forward from the underrated Superman Returns. I'm sure to be in my own boat here, especially since all the geeks are celebrating Christopher Nolan's reported involvement with version 3.0 of the superhero on film (if we're talking theatrical releases, isn't this version 5.0? And if we're talking all adaptations it's like version 10.6.2). Still, I'm going to once again make the case for...Superman Returns 2
Of course it wouldn't be titled that. What an awkward title. But my point is that I'd like to see Singer's installment get a follow-up rather than another reboot. As I noted in my take on the pseudo Mr. & Mrs. Smith reboot yesterday, and as some commenters agreed, sequels are usually more desirable than reboots. I know, go on about Nolan's Batman franchise reboot. Well, a sequel can go in a new direction, too, without the lame connotations of a reboot. Or, it can be a combo like Singer's movie was. Superman Returns continued the original Superman series while also rebooting it. I'll admit I'm a wee bit torn on the idea, as I'd like to see Brandon Routh return but I could certainly do without Kate Bosworth -- though, if Nolan can switch it up with the female lead in his Batman films, they can do it with this, as well.
Spin-ematical: New on DVD and Blu-ray for 2/9
Filed under: Classics, Drama, Foreign Language, Independent, Romance, New on DVD, Home Entertainment, Cinematical Indie
A Serious Man
Coen Brothers. Academy Award-nominated. Need more? "The culmination of their lives, reminiscent both of their own suburban childhoods in the '60s, and of their cinematic successes over the last twenty-five years." Michael Stuhbarg stars as "a man utterly at a loss to explain his life's severe turn for the worse; he is a man desperate for answers." (Monika Bartyzel, Cinematical.) Buy it.
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Couples Retreat
Shameless it may be, but "you end up laughing more than expected," I wrote in my review. Vince Vaughan, Jon Favreau, Jason Bateman, Faizon Love, Malin Akerman, Kristin Davis, Kristen Bell and Kali Hawk star. The comedy is broad and silly, but harsher truths occasionally emerge. Rent it.
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The Time Traveler's Wife
Eric Bana and Rachel McAdams star in an adaptation of the novel by Audrey Niffenegger. "Adds up to a mildly successful time-passer, though one too concerned with trying to target its audience rather than with trying to figure out where it's actually coming from." (Jeffrey M. Anderson, Cinematical.) Rent it.
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The Stepfather
"The most intense Lifetime Channel Original Movie that the Lifetime Channel never made. ... [It] just isn't enough." (Peter Hall, Horror Squad.) Skip it.
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Also out: Serious Moonlight, Free Style, Emma, Dante's Inferno: An Animated Epic.
After the jump: Indies on DVD, library titles on Blu-ray, and Collector's Corner!
Free Flick of the Day: Thunderbolt and Lightfoot
Filed under: Action, Classics, Comedy, Home Entertainment
In honor of Jeff Bridges' Oscar nomination for Crazy Heart, I was going to write up a favorite scene from one of his first nominations, Thunderbolt and Lightfoot. But thanks to SlashControl, I've got something even better -- the entire movie! Thunderbolt and Lightfoot is currently available, and I'm thrilled for us all. Don't let Michael Cimino's name fool you. Thunderbolt is one of the funniest slices of 1970s cinema you will ever come across. It really doesn't get any better (or sexier) than Bridges and Clint Eastwood in one movie, but throw George Kennedy and Geoffrey Lewis into the mix and you have a classic that needs to be dusted off and rediscovered. It's best enjoyed cold, but if I promise you unlucky redheads, awkward sex, bromance, leather pants, crossdressing, car chases, rabbits, nudity, and a young Gary Busey, can you resist? Not if you're a film fan.
The DVD is currently out of print in the U.S. (you can get it in the UK for some odd reason), so this is the easiest and cheapest way to watch it unless you have a local theater that regularly airs out this classic. I keep hoping that enough online clamor will cause it to be re-released properly. Until then, you can watch it right here. It'll make your week. I promise.
Discuss: Isn't Ferris Bueller a Bigger Geek Than Cameron Frye?
Like all of you, I've been following our Geek-Off Tournament with great zeal. But through the whole competition I've been doubting the inclusion of Cameron Frye (Alan Ruck), who to my surprise made it all the way to the penultimate fifth round before finally being knocked out -- in a landslide victory -- by Egon from Ghostbusters. I guess the success he did have throughout the tournament means most of you have not been doubting his qualifications for geekdom. But is he really a geek? Or is he just a nebbish?
Maybe it's been too long since I last watched Ferris Bueller's Day Off, but I honestly can't recall any moment that gives direct evidence or even implies that Cameron is particularly smart or over-indulgently interested in any kind of geeky hobby. He's certainly no more intelligent than Ferris is when he comes up with the idea of running the Ferrari in reverse. I think a geek would have immediately known and pointed out why that wouldn't work.
Scenes We Love: This Gun For Hire
Filed under: Classics, Noir, Mystery & Suspense, Trailers and Clips, Scenes We Love
My obsession with all things L.A. Confidential has extended to the real life Veronica Lake. I think she may have been the epitome of the 1940s -- the hair, the sassy line delivery, the glamor. She's also the epitome of Hollywood's dark side too, as she went from great success to a penniless and tragic end.
Over the weekend, Netflix finally delivered me a copy of This Gun For Hire, which is a pretty cool noir. (Trivia nerds probably know it's the film Lynn Bracken and one of her clients are "reenacting" when Bud White shows up.) If you've never seen it, it's worth a watch for Alan Ladd's icy assassin, who makes many of our modern killers seem weak in comparison. It also features one of the quirkiest heroines ever in Ellen Graham. Graham is a spy for the U.S. government, a nightclub singer (did down-on-their-luck singers ever look better than they did in the 1940s?), and a magician. I'm not kidding! Lake even gets two song-and-dance numbers where she performs a string of illusions that Gob Bluth would kill to know the secrets to, and her magic tricks end up saving her life later on.
Nowadays, a spy-singer-magician would be laughed off the screen. But in the good old days, it not only worked, but it reeked of cool sexiness thanks to Lake. Check out the scene below.
Exclusive: 'Alice in Wonderland' Knave of Hearts Sketch
Filed under: Classics, Sci-Fi & Fantasy, Remakes and Sequels, Images
We've seen a lot of bits for Tim Burton's upcoming Alice in Wonderland -- Queens and Alices and Dees and Dums abound. But do you remember that Crispin Glover has a role? He's playing Ilosovic Stayne, The Knave of Hearts and head of the Red Queen's Army. An image of the character hasn't been released yet, but Cinematical has just received this exclusive Tim Burton sketch detailing what he will look like. You can see the full-size image in the gallery below.
Seven feet, six-inches tall, with a scarred face and a heart-shaped patch covering his left eye, Stayne is an arrogant, tricky character who follows the Red Queen's every order. He's the only one capable of pacifying her and calming her dramatic mood swings. "I am the martial element for the Red Queen," says Glover. "The Red Queen has a fair amount of short-tempered reactions to things that people do, and so my character has to be quite diplomatic." His darker side emerges in the shadows of the castle hallways.
Be still my Glover fan heart! You know he'll be just perfect in this role. It would be great to get a picture of the real Knave before the film hits, and that's still a definite possibility as Disney is holding a content rollout called "Wonderland Wednesdays." Every Wednesday, a series of websites will get new glimpses of the film. Unless they want to terrorize us with anticipation until the March 5 release, we should see him soon.
*Edited thanks to reader Kerry.
The Real Frank Serpico Looks Back
Filed under: Classics, Drama, Celebrities and Controversy, Newsstand, Politics
Film retrospectives seem to be in scarce supply these days unless they're tied to a new release, a remake, or an untimely death. Thankfully, The New York Times' piece on Frank Serpico was inspired by none of the above; it's just an intriguing look back at Sidney Lumet's film Serpico and the man who inspired it. Neither the film nor the real Frank Serpico have exactly disappeared from the radar (Serpico has an official website and a blog), but Corey Kilgannon's profile is a particularly haunting piece because it confronts its subject with his own movie biopic. It's a timely one too, as there's at least one generation (if not two) that know more about Spider-Man's heroism than Serpico's, and favor Michael Bay over Sidney Lumet. In the 1970s and 1980s, Frank Serpico's name was shorthand for bravery, honesty, and standing up against your so-called friends and allies. Everyone knew his story. He was the son of Italian immigrants, a Brooklyn native who had such pride in his country that he fought in Korea and joined the NYPD. But once he joined the police force, he found that corruption and extortion was rampant. Anyone unwilling to participate in bribery was shunned, and anyone willing to speak against it risked his life. Serpico bravely stepped forward to testify, and was shot during a routine drug bust in 1971. It was clear his fellow officers had set him up to be executed. It was a shocking act of violence and betrayal that still haunts Serpico to this day. "I still have nightmares," he told the New York Times. "I open a door a little bit and it just explodes in my face. Or I'm in a jam and I call the police, and guess who shows up? My old cop buddies who hated me."
Fan Rant: Where Is Rossellini?
Filed under: Classics, Foreign Language, New on DVD
This week the Criterion Collection releases the Roberto Rossellini War Trilogy on DVD, filling an important gap in DVD libraries everywhere. The first and third movies in the trilogy, Open City (1945) and Germany Year Zero (1948), were available in shoddy editions that did not do justice to the films, and the second, Paisan (1946), has been on the hard-to-find list for some time. These movies are notable for establishing the "Italian Neorealism" movement that cropped up just after WWII. Italy was devastated, and several young filmmakers realized that making glossy entertainments felt false under the circumstances. So they grabbed some cameras, some short ends and some inexperienced actors and hit the streets.
The odd thing about Open City is how much of it takes place indoors, and how much it resembles a standard-issue melodrama. But it still contains moments of genuine invention and power -- especially the performance of Anna Magnani -- and it's hard to deny the dangerous and challenging spirit in which it was made. Open City is generally considered one of the greatest films ever made, and Criterion adds it and the other two to an impressive list of Rossellini titles they have released: The Flowers of St. Francis (1950), Il generale della Rovere (1959), The Taking of Power by Louis XIV (1966), and the "History Films" box set, including Blaise Pascal (1972), The Age of the Medici (1973) and Cartesius (1974). Additionally, Lionsgate released a two-disc set not too long ago that included Where is Freedom? (1954) and Escape By Night (1960).
Jean Simmons Passes Away
Filed under: Classics, Newsstand, Obits
Cinema lost another lovely and classic face over the weekend, as actress Jean Simmons passed away, according to the New York Times. She was 80.Simmons' career often reads like a lesson in what might have been. She rose to early success in films such as David Lean's Great Expectations and Laurence Olivier's Hamlet (which earned her an Oscar nomination) before running afoul of her contract holder, Howard Hughes. After rejecting his advances, he attempted to ruin her career and cost her the lead in Roman Holiday. Simmons held out, and managed success with roles in Young Bess, Footsteps in the Fog, Guys and Dolls, and The Actress.
Due to financial strain, she quietly accepted any role offered, and Simmons became known as the quiet lady who supported great men in films like The Robe, The Egyptian, Desiree, Elmer Gantry, and Spartacus. She always rose above the material, and was an actress the formidable Pauline Kael championed. Kael called her "one of the most quietly commanding actresses Hollywood has ever trashed" and always hailed her performances as better than the films she was given. I think she was certainly right, as evidenced by her haunting turn in Spartacus. She's undoubtedly one of the most memorable things about the film. Even if she was not a screen legend like her Roman Holiday replacement was, she certainly made an impact.
Rest in peace, Ms. Simmons. You'll be missed.
Danny Boyle? Frankenstein? Tell Us More!
Filed under: Classics, Drama, Horror
Everyone is very excited about Danny Boyle's follow-up to his Oscar-winning Slumdog Millionaire. The director is reportedly set to begin filming the true mountaineering story 127 Hours this March with James Franco in the lead as a man forced to saw off his own arm after being pinned by a boulder. You should be able to see that movie in theaters sometime this fall. After that, the next work of Boyle's you might be able to see is a production of Frankenstein. According to Variety, he's returning to the stage next winter for an adaptation of the Mary Shelley classic to be performed at the National Theater in London. Screenwriter Nick Pear (Persuasion) has penned the play, which will be filmed for a television airing for those who can't make out to the South Bank for the real deal.
For those unaware, the man who gave us such diverse films as Trainspotting, Sunshine, 28 Days Later, Millions and The Beach started out in theater, directing for the Royal Court Theatre and the Royal Shakespeare Company for many, many years before making his first film, Shallow Grave, in 1995. He joked about his time away from the stage, being "distracted for 15 years by the movies."
Tom Cruise and J.J. Abrams Reunite for 'Mission Impossible 4'
'Big Top Pee-Wee': The Original Benicio Del Toro Wolfman
Spin-ematical: New on DVD and Blu-ray for 2/9
Watch This: Brilliant Oscar-Nominated Short 'Logorama'
Chris Nolan to Lead 'Superman' Reboot!?
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