Posted May 9th 2008 8:02PM by Monika Bartyzel
Filed under: Comedy, Fandom, Home Entertainment, Friday Night Double Feature
Oh,
David O. Russell. The man is completely imbalanced: physical confrontations with George Clooney on set, putting Christopher Nolan in a headlock, going on a tirade towards Lily Tomlin, and arguing with James Caan about whether it's possible to choke and cough at the same time. But say what you will about his stability, he puts out some pretty damn good films.
This week's double feature is all about his deliciously talented imbalance. If you're not up for wildly colorful car racing or crappy-looking weddings in Vegas, maybe some Iraq-set comedy and over-the-top existential intervention is more up your alley. Oh yes, I'm talking about the wildly fun
Three Kings and one of my favorite giggle-inducing comedies of all time --
I Heart Huckabees.
Continue reading Cinematical's Friday Night Double Feature: The Mania of David O. Russell
Posted May 8th 2008 1:32PM by Erik Davis
Filed under: Drama, Fandom, Home Entertainment, Movie Marketing, Trailers and Clips
Cinematical was just sent this exclusive clip from the upcoming
Youth Without Youth DVD, starring Tim Roth, Alexandra Maria Lara, Bruno Ganz and Andre M. Hennicke. Produced, written and directed by the legendary
Francis Ford Coppola,
Youth Without Youth follows linguistics professor Dominic Matei (Roth) who, in 1938, gets struck by a bolt of lightning and starts aging backwards, from 70 to 40. There's seemingly no limit to the wonder and love he can find in his new youth. He pursues lost dreams, endless knowledge and the secrets of life until his secret is discovered. Now he must use his increased intelligence to keep his powerful secret safe from the wicked powers that would use it for evil. The above behind-the-scenes clips shows how the filmmakers went about aging Tim Roth through make-up and other wacky techniques. (And, personally, I just love Tim Roth in anything -- so I'd watch something like this a bunch of times.) Here's a question: What's the first thing you'd do if you started aging backwards?
Youth Without Youth arrives on DVD and Blu-ray High-Def on May 13th.
Posted May 7th 2008 9:45PM by Eric Kohn
Filed under: Comedy, Independent, Casting, Deals, New Releases, Cannes, Slamdance, Sony, Distribution, DIY/Filmmaking, Home Entertainment, Movie Marketing
With five nominations, it looks like
Superbad will be the star of
the 2008 MTV Movie Awards, and its three jubilant male leads --
Michael Cera,
Jonah Hill, and
Christopher Mintz-Plasse -- deserve the kudos. But one major talent behind the whole affair has stayed relatively anonymous while these young up-and-comers bathe in the spotlight: Director
Greg Mottola. The erstwhile independent filmmaker, responsible for some of the best installments of
Arrested Developed and
Undeclared, launched his career a solid decade before the rise of
Judd Apatow with a charming little low budget comedy called
The Daytrippers. Starring
Stanley Tucci,
Hope Davis,
Liev Schreiber, Parker Posey and a host of other fantastic character actors, the film follows a wildly dysfunctional family over the course of a single day, as Davis, playing a worrisome housewife, tries to track down her unfaithful husband (Tucci).
Mixing warm humanity with pitch-perfect screwball timing,
Daytrippers marked the sort of debut that told you a filmmaker had a big career ahead of him. After a modest premiere at the Slamdance Film Festival, it landed at Cannes, barely got a theatrical release and promptly vanished thereafter. Mottola turned to TV work, and slipped out of the film scene for a good ten years. These days, it's no easy task to track down
Daytrippers on DVD --
you can nab second-hand copies on Amazon for decent rates, but not a single retail outlet carries it. Aside from the occasionally airings on cable, the movie has vanished.
Continue reading Sony Hopes to Release Greg Mottola's 'Daytrippers'
Posted May 7th 2008 7:32PM by Monika Bartyzel
Filed under: Celebrities and Controversy, Home Entertainment, Images
I just had to share this picture with you guys, which was nabbed from a collect of orange-tee pics up over at
Just Jared. Doesn't it seem like we just went back in time? If
Lindsay Lohan wasn't sporting the blonde locks in the picture above, it almost looks like this was taken during the good old days of Lohan, when she was a popular, upcoming actress, rather than a girl struggling with personal problems and tabloid frenzies.
As
I told you the other day, Lindsay will have a short stint on the show, starting with the season finale this year. She's playing an old classmate of Betty's who was bitchy to Betty back in the day, but is now down on her luck.
I think this might just be the way for LiLo to work on her career -- not something that regresses her back to kid fare, but something that merges her pre-struggle past with the hopes of her present. I could be fooling myself, but it'd be nice to see the tide change for the troubled ex child stars we hear about so much these days.
Posted May 7th 2008 2:32PM by Monika Bartyzel
Filed under: Comedy, Music & Musicals, Shorts, Exhibition, Home Entertainment
Since I posted
back in March that we're getting a web short from
Joss Whedon, one that stars
Neil Patrick Harris,
Nathon Fillion, and
Felicia Day no less, I've been trying to keep an eye on news about
Dr. Horrible's Sing-a-Long Blog. There have been little blips like this over at
EW, where NPH mentions that there are plans for a DVD with extras, but the pressing piece of info everyone wants to know is: When in the hell will we get to see it!?
Whedonesque linked to a new interview with Day yesterday, and if she's right, we shouldn't have to wait very much longer. While talking
with Patrick Rothfuss, she said: "I believe he said it will be released on the internet before Comicon." Bring. It. On! Oh, it better be on a site that doesn't block Canada, or I'm going to go on a rampage.
If you need a refresher: The short series was created by Joss during that whole writers strike, and it follows a wannabe villain, Dr. Horrible (Harris), who has fallen for a cute girl at the laundromat (Day), but keeps getting beaten up by superhero Captain Hammer (Fillion).
This should be an awesome taste of Whedon before
Dollhouse hits the boob tube. (Unfortunately, Joss' new show isn't planning to hit TV
until mid-season.)
Posted May 6th 2008 2:02PM by Monika Bartyzel
Filed under: Comedy, Romance, New Releases, DVD Reviews, New on DVD, Home Entertainment
I'm doing things a little different this week. Peter has covered this week's great releases in his column, noting flicks like Teeth and I'm Not There. For you Hilary Swank lovers, there's some post-death love after the jump, but below is a collection of film spoofs, rather than a plain ol' film.
The Passion of Greg the Bunny, Best of the Film Parodies Volume 2After Fox canceled the Seth Green-starring
Greg the Bunny, it seemed like that was the end of the show. But like some other Fox victims, that wasn't the end. There was a bit of a hiatus, and then IFC jumped on board and allowed Greg to get cinematic and merge television land with movie land. The result -- a whole bunch of puppet movie spoofs. Click
here to get an idea of what you'd be in for. It's not every day that you get to see a puppet embodying Frank Booth.
This release includes spoofs of movies like
Monster and
American Movie, plus the 2005 reunion special that takes on
Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas,
Rain Man, and more. As for guests, this batch includes Seth Green, Sarah Silverman, and Adam Goldberg.
Buy the DVD Continue reading New DVD Picks of the Week: 'Greg the Bunny' and 'P.S. I Love You'
Posted May 6th 2008 11:02AM by Peter Martin
Filed under: Documentary, Drama, Horror, New on DVD, Home Entertainment, Cinematical Indie
The titles that will probably get the biggest play this week are Todd Haynes'
I'm Not There, the indie auteur's take on Bob Dylan that inspired spirited critical debate, and Alejandro Monteverde's romantic drama
Bella, which seemed to come out of nowhere to become an audience favorite, playing in theaters for months. Both hit DVD today;
I'm Not There is packed with an audio commentary with Haynes, deleted scenes, featurettes, audition tapes, gag reel and more, while
Bella has an audio commentary by the director, two featurettes and a music video.
Jess Weixler stars in Mitchell Lichtenstein's
Teeth, which inspired no fewer than three reviews here at
Cinematical:
Scott Weinberg,
Kim Voynar and
Nick Schager. If that's not enough to lure you in, it's about vagina dentata! Read the reviews to learn more -- each of our reviewers focused on something different that appealed or repelled. The DVD includes an audio commentary by the director, deleted scenes, outtakes and behind the scenes footage.
As a mother of five, Kim Voynar presented a very personal perspective on Abby Ebstein's doc,
The Business of Being Born, featuring Ricki Lake. Kim
wrote in part: "Epstein does a thorough job of dissecting the cold, hard facts about the history of modern childbirth." Two featurettes are included on the DVD: one takes the viewer behind the scenes, and the other follows up with what happened to the participants.
Continue reading Indies on DVD: 'I'm Not There,' 'Bella,' 'Teeth,' 'Born,' 'Tre,' 'Delirious,' 'Nominated Shorts'
Posted May 6th 2008 9:02AM by Eugene Novikov
Filed under: Newsstand, Home Entertainment
If someone were to get caught illegally recording a movie in New York City today, he would get charged with a violation (like a speeding ticket) and hit with, at most, a $250 fine. Not much of a deterrent, I daresay, for folks who make a criminal enterprise out of making and selling bootlegs. Furthermore, only the folks actually in the theater with the camcorder would get in trouble -- everyone else, like the people doing the selling, get off scot-free, assuming they're not breaking any other laws.
New York State Attorney General Andrew Cuomo was joined Monday by
Tina Fey and a couple of other movie types for the
unveiling of the "Piracy Protection Act," which would make piracy either a misdemeanor or a felony, depending on whether you're a first-time or repeat offender, and punish it with actual, y'know, jail time (up to a year for first-timers). They're hoping to have the law in place within the month. So, uh, if you're in New York City and you're planning to bootleg something, I'd recommend doing it now.
This law is obviously a result of movie industry lobbying, as evidenced by MPAA president Dan Glickman standing by Cuomo's side at the press conference. Does the new punishment fit the crime? Will harsher punishments make a difference? (I'm not so sure -- especially not if New York law enforcement doesn't dedicate more effort to actually ferreting out the bootleggers.) And are you surprised to hear that up until now people could record movies with virtual impunity, even if they got caught?
ed note: Corrected Attorney General's namePosted May 6th 2008 8:02AM by Scott Weinberg
Filed under: Comedy, Home Entertainment
I have a really cheap DVD player that I was able to convert to "region free" by entering one of those
1-2-up-down-3-4 codes, which means this news is only slightly less awesome for me -- but it's freakin'
GREAT news for anyone who loves
Shaun of the Dead /
Hot Fuzz and has yet to experience the very first experiment from sirs
Simon Pegg,
Edgar Wright, and
Nick Frost. Now, in most cases I wouldn't cover TV shows (mainly because
TV Squad does such a kick-ass job of covering TV shows), but seeing as how most of America "met" these guys through the movies, I figure it's news worth doing at Cinematical.
I'll keep it brief: The two-season
Spaced set will be released on Region 1 DVD by BBC Video. Release date is July 22. (One certainly hopes that none of the music has been altered. Allegedly, "music rights" is the reason it took so long for
Spaced to make its North American debut.) For those who have yet to experience the blissful magic of
Spaced, here's a recap that makes it sound like a moronically conventional sitcom. (It's not.) "Two young 'grown-ups' pose as a married couple in order to rent a very attractive flat." (Yep, that's it.) Mr. Pegg's fantastic co-star is Ms.
Jessica Stevenson (now Jessica Hynes), and the supporting cast features
Julia Deakin,
Mark Heap,
Katy Carmichael, and (of course)
Nick Frost -- all of whom you'll love after about six episodes.
Continue reading The Brilliant 'Spaced' Finally Hits Region 1 DVD!
Posted May 5th 2008 1:32PM by Monika Bartyzel
Filed under: Casting, Celebrities and Controversy, Home Entertainment
Watch out, TV land -- there's another tabloid princess on the horizon. Britney Spears' stint
on How I Met Your Mother brought in a ton of viewers, and now
Lindsay Lohan is getting her shot. After rumors broke last fall,
Variety reports that the actress will have a guest spot on ABC's
Ugly Betty. Unlike Spears, who started off with brief role, and is now reprising it, Lohan has signed on to do an extended gig. LiLo will pop up in Betty's May 22 season finale, plus another 5 episodes next season, and she's already begun filming her first stint.
It seems that LiLo will play an old schoolmate of Betty Suarez (America Ferrera). "Lohan's character was not particularly nice to Betty back then, but when the two bump into each other in the finale, Lohan's character is down on her luck, in sharp contrast to Betty's glamorous and promising career at Gotham fashion mag, Mode." Hmm... That sounds a bit familiar!
I must say -- I prefer this to the strippage, and this could be good for the actress -- re-proving her acting chops in something simple, to an already established audience, rather than mis-guided movie choices. (Although
Ye Olde Times is a good pick.) Now we'll have to see if she can bring in the same audiences that Britney scored.
Posted May 5th 2008 8:02AM by Eugene Novikov
Filed under: Action, Home Entertainment, Trailers and Clips
We wouldn't have it any other way: just a few weeks after the Wachowskis'
Speed Racer hits theaters, the Asylum will unleash its knock-off-of-the-month:
Street Racer! (To read up on what Asylum is all about, take a look at my
post about
Allan Quatermain and the Temple of Skulls from a month or so back.) The plot: "After serving time for a tragic accident, in which a young boy is crippled, an illegal street racer finds himself dragged back into the world of high speed competition on the side streets and highways of Los Angeles."
If you thought that the company's efforts to make spartan, homemade versions of studio blockbusters were lovable, or in some other way admirable, take a look at their
Street Racer trailer and you may change your mind. Obviously unable to come up with anything resembling the Wachowskis' blue-screen fireworks, the Asylum opted to essentially make
The Cheap and the Furious and cynically tie it in to
Speed Racer. Of course whether it's actually any more cynical than
I Am Omega or
Transmorphers is an open question. And the film's tagline, which the Asylum is clearly proud of -- "You're never more alive... Or closer to dead!" -- is kind of awesome, in a horrible way.
The director,
Teo Konuralp, made a no-budget sci-fi thriller called
Feedback a few years ago that actually got some good reviews. If
Street Racer represents "selling out," then he's sure found an odd way of doing it.
Posted May 2nd 2008 9:02PM by Monika Bartyzel
Filed under: Comedy, Home Entertainment, Friday Night Double Feature
This weekend I get to cat sit the two cutest bengals on earth, but the perks of this gig are much more than sitting around, indulging in cable television, and playing with the furry little beasts. It also means I have a huge selection of liquor, wine and beer at my disposal to cook with and imbibe. So, while my mind is scheming up what sort of exotic drink I will make tonight, it's also thinking of alcohol-laden movies.
For this double feature, I'm giving you two of my favorite movies that are completely intertwined with the love of alcohol. One is quirky, but fairly straight-laced, while the other is just insanity, but in the immensely fun sort of way. I give you: Alexander Payne's
Sideways and Guy Maddin's
The Saddest Music in the World. (If you're looking for even more choices, check out
Christopher Campbell's Cinematical Seven from last December.)
Continue reading Cinematical's Friday Night Double Feature: Big Screens and Booze
Posted May 1st 2008 11:32AM by Eugene Novikov
Filed under: Deals, Tech Stuff, Home Entertainment
Well, okay: maybe that's hyperbole about the death of DVD. On the other hand, maybe it's not. In what has to be seen as a major vote of confidence in online content delivery, almost all of the major studios (including Fox, Disney, Paramount, Warner Bros., Universal, Lionsgate, and what's left of New Line)
have signed with Apple to offer many of their movies on the iTunes Store's download-to-own service -- simultaneously with the release of the DVDs. This seems to show that they're not squeamish about losing DVD sales -- or at least not squeamish enough to turn down the attractive deal Apple no doubt offered.
Most new movies currently offered for sale on iTunes cost 10 to 15 bucks and about 1 GB in hard drive space (depending on the length). AppleTV, the device that Apple hoped would make the iTunes Store even more prevalent by making content purchased there watchable on users' television sets, has been beset by problems, and free advertising-supported content providers like
Hulu.com also present a challenge. But whether or not iTunes wins, we're getting inexorably closer to the day of physical media obsolescence. The studios have now shown they're willing to go there (this announcement comes on the heels of
Time Warner's decision to offer all of its movies via On-Demand cable day-and-date with DVD releases).
Of course, videophiles will still want their Blu-Ray, and it's hard to blame them. But it's only a matter of hard drive space. Tick-tock.
Posted Apr 29th 2008 6:32PM by Eugene Novikov
Filed under: Sci-Fi & Fantasy, Home Entertainment
Before going to see
Cloverfield, I read someone mention Michael Giacchino's fantastic musical score for the film. As it dawned on me that the movie proper
had no musical score, I started to think that the writer had been making a sarcastic joke, and I hadn't read carefully enough to pick up on it. Of course, I was just being impatient: the music -- which is fantastic indeed -- shows up at the end. "Roar!", the beautiful 12-minute composition that played during
Cloverfield's credits, is now available for a buck-ninety-nine, exclusively from the iTunes Music Store. Operatic and grand, it's a classical piece of movie music in the best
John Williams/
Jerry Goldsmith tradition.
iTunes has "Roar!" in its vastly superior "iTunes Plus" format, with a higher bit rate and no DRM -- so if, like me, you boycott anything with copy protection, it won't be off-limits. The movie itself is available for iTunes download starting today, as well.
Giacchino, one of Hollywood's genius composers of the moment, also scored this summer's
Speed Racer, which makes me all the more excited for that film (though I seem increasingly to be the only one). He also has J.J. Abrams'
Star Trek and
Land of the Lost coming up.
[hat tip:
Comingsoon.net]
Posted Apr 29th 2008 6:02PM by Monika Bartyzel
Filed under: Comedy, Drama, Independent, DVD Reviews, New on DVD, Home Entertainment, Cinematical Indie
It's hard to review
Todd Rohal's The Guatemalan Handshake. It doesn't follow a set narrative structure; there is no complete story. Take Richard Linklater, Harmony Korine, and David Lynch, combine them into one man, shackle them to strange, small-town America, and inject them with thoughts of short shorts, strange characters, and lots of atomic buzzing -- then, just maybe, you can begin to imagine what's in store for you with this film.
At its vaguest, the film follows what happens after one man disappears one strange afternoon in a rural town near Three Mile island. Musician and actor Will Oldham, who has worked with indie names from John Sayles to Harmony Korine, begins the tale as Donald Turnupseed -- a young man who walks off and vanishes during a big power outage. No one seems especially concerned about his disappearance, except the young Turkeylegs (Katy Haywood), who tries to get the police involved before getting distracted by the crazy people who surround her.
Continue reading DVD Review: The Guatemalan Handshake
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