Donald Sutherland Tagged Articles at Cinematical

A feature-length adaptation of the classic Japanese manga, Astro Boy now comes equipped with a recycling message, both in its story and with its screenplay. Parts feel pieced together here and there from other, better, sometimes darker films, aligning the film itself less with our young protagonist and his knack for salvaging old robots and more with the villain's ability to simply assimilate other devices until it becomes one ungainly mass. That said, there's plenty of color and spunk to keep the kids interested; they'll just have to wade through some atonal waters in order to get to the fun.

So you might have heard of a little project on the pike called The Love Child of Andy Warhol and Yoko Ono. Back in March, word hit that Rebecca Romijn and Donald Sutherland were starring in the film, and no, it wasn't going to be another wackily cast film like I'm Not There. It would tell the story of a man on parole 5 years after a heist gone wrong. Rather than moving forward on the straight and narrow, he is sucked back in by his former boss to make up for the botched heist. In his spare time, he makes these scrap sculptures that set the art world on fire, and he's caught between the crime and the art glory. In other words -- it has very little to link it to Andy and Yoko.

Now the confusing Warhol/Ono title has been dropped (it's now called The Love Child), and the project is turning into a family affair. The Hollywood Reporter posts that Sutherland's son, Rossif Sutherland (Timeline ... and Keifer's little half-brother) is joining the cast, along with Sarah Roemer (Disturbia). And it isn't Donald who's playing the thief. Rossif will play the ex-con-turned-artist, pops is playing the loan shark boss, and there's no word on who the actresses are playing.

We should find out soon enough, however, as the film is currently in production in Toronto. Could the Sheens and Baldwins be given a run for their money? Either way, it's nice to see Donald in something a bit more palatable than Fool's Gold.

Click image to enlarge

Cinematical has been given an exclusive look at the first official still for Astro Boy (see above), while our very good looking cohorts over at Moviefone have just debuted the first teaser (see below or over on Moviefone in glorious HD). Based on the popular Japanese manga and television series, this computer-animated 3-D version of Astro Boy is being produced by those wizards over at Imagi Animation Studios, and stars the voices of Freddy Highmore, Kristen Bell, Nicolas Cage, Bill Nighy, Donald Sutherland, Nathan Lane and Eugene Levy.

From the synopsis: "Set in futuristic Metro City, Astro Boy is about a young robot with incredible powers. Powered by pure positive "blue" energy, Astro Boy (Freddie Highmore) is endowed with super strength, x-ray vision, unbelievable speed and the ability to fly-not to mention the purest spirit on the planet. Embarking on a journey across the planet to discover his powers, Astro Boy encounters a netherworld of robot gladiators and other comic characters, and learns the joys and emotions of being human. When he learns his friends and family are in danger, Astro Boy marshals all his awesome super powers and returns to Metro City, in a valiant effort to save everything he cares about and to embrace his place in the world."

Astro Boy will soar into theaters on October 23, 2009.

By the time this review is over, I will have spent more time thinking about Fool's Gold than the writers of its script. This...thing...is one of the sloppiest pictures released by a major studio in recent memory. What can you say about a "romance" with no romance, a "comedy" with no laughs, an "adventure" with no excitement? Though I certainly wasn't rubbing my hands together in anticipation walking in to the theater, I thought this would at least succeed at being an enjoyable time waster. "Attractive people wearing few clothes in exotic locales -- I can handle watching that for a few hours," I thought to myself. But I was wrong. So very wrong. The whole affair is about as compelling as a two-hour fart.

I don't ask a great deal from romantic comedies. I don't need every one to be Annie Hall or When Harry Met Sally or Love, Actually. I don't even need them to be particularly good -- I kinda enjoyed The Holiday, for God's sake! Give me a few laughs, appealing leads, a warm squishy feeling, and you've done your job. Plainly, the makers of Fool's Gold did not do their job. Listen, I know Valentine's Day is coming up, so heed this warning -- if you see this crashing bore of a movie on a first date, your relationship is doomed, cursed even. Do not speak on the way home, avoid eye contact, just go your separate ways and don't speak of the evening again.

I must admit -- I was not a fan of Kate Hudson and Matthew McConaughey's How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days. That being said, I like Hudson and McConaughey, and I like good romcoms, so I'm pretty curious about their next flick, Fool's Gold. The film stars McConaughey as Ben, a treasure hunter obsessed with a specific exotic treasure lost at sea in the 1700s. Hudson plays his estranged wife, Tess, who goes to work on Nigel Honeycutt's (Donald Sutherland) fancy yacht. When Ben finds a big clue about the treasure, he convinces Honeycutt to join him on the search, and rekindles things with Tess.

If a gorgeous locale and two alluring people aren't enough to whet your appetites, how about Sutherland, or heck, Ewen Bremner! Seeing that picture above, all I want to do is sit back, see what Sutherland made of this role, and drink a mojito. How about you?

Only a few short days ago, Cinematical brought you the exclusive poster premiere for Fool's Gold (which showed off a very bronze and airbrushed -- but still hot -- Kate Hudson), and now we have the first trailer for the film (which you can check out above, or watch in glorious HD over at Moviefone). Matthew McConaughey and Kate Hudson reunite on the big screen for the first time since How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days, and in Fool's Gold they'll be playing treasure hunters (and former life partners) who re-kindle their sense for romance and adventure when given another chance to go after the treasure of their dreams. Donald Sutherland and the very awesome Ray Winstone co-star in the flick, which sort of reminds me of Romancing the Stone or The Jewel of the Nile in that it stars a hot on-screen couple who can't decide whether to kiss or dig for gold. There's a touch of corny in the trailer (which you may or may not like), but keep in mind this is coming from the guy who'd gladly watch Kate Hudson stare at a wall for two hours. So in love with that girl, I am. Fool's Gold shall arrive in theaters on February 8.

Last time Matthew McConaughey and Kate Hudson teamed up, they were trying to figure out How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days. Now, however, they're married ... and searching for treasure. Cinematical has just received this exclusive poster for Fool's Gold (click on the image for a larger version), directed by Andy Tennant (Sweet Home Alabama, Hitch). In the film, which reunites the smokin' hot pair for the first time since 2003, Hudson and McConaughey play a married couple and former treasure hunters whose relationship has all but sunk to the bottom of the ocean. But when a new clue to the whereabouts of an exotic treasure surfaces, the two re-kindle their love for lost gold -- and each other -- while they head off in search of the elusive prize. Problem is, they're not the only ones looking to strike it rich. Joining Hudson and McConaughey on their adventure are Donald Sutherland, Ray Winstone and Alexis Dziena. Oh Kate, when will you stop being a fool and realize I'm the man of your dreams? Fool's Gold arrives in theaters on February 8.

Trumbo, director Peter Askins' new documentary about the life and work of blacklisted screenwriter Dalton Trumbo, began life as a series of letters archived by Dalton Trumbo's son Christopher; it then became a two-person play. On-screen -- where it's become one of the breakout documentary surprises of this year's Toronto International Film Festival -- the story mixes archival footage and interviews with brand-new readings of Trumbo's letters by a cast of true talents -- Paul Giamatti, Joan Allen, Donald Sutherland, Michael Douglas, Josh Lucas, Liam Neeson, Nathan Lane, David Strathairn, Brian Dennehy and Donald Sutherland. Trumbo isn't just a misty look back at a long-past Hollywood -- the issues of free speech it raises are relevant today, as demonstrated at the public screening where an audience member asked if, in light of the actions of Stalin's Russia, the House Un-American Activities Committee was perhaps justified in their attack on 'The Hollywood Ten.' ... Cinematical spoke with Askin in Toronto about the transition between stage and screen, finding his film's impressive cast, his thoughts on the blacklist and much more. You can download the entire interview right here.

Industry attention is still focused on the Toronto festival, but most moviegoers just wanted something good to watch this weekend. Of the four new indie films released in limited engagements, Jeff Garlin's I Want Someone to Eat Cheese With topped the chart, earning $14,000 at its single screen, according to estimates by Box Office Mojo. Garlin is best known for his role as Larry David's long-suffering manager in the HBO improv series Curb Your Enthusiasm (which returned for a new season Sunday night). Karina Longworth interviewed him at Tribeca last year. He wrote, directed and stars in Cheese, "based on his one-man show on being a fat, gig-less, and lonely actor in search of someone to love," according to Ella Taylor's review in Village Voice. The film scored an 80% approval rating at Rotten Tomatoes.

The other three new releases were not far behind, each averaging about $10,000 per screen. Again taking a look at the Rotten Tomatoes approval ratings, In the Shadow of the Moon did best, at 91% positive (Cinematical's James Rocchi liked it too), with The Hunting Party and Fierce People trailing badly, at 41% and 33% positive, respectively. Shadow of the Moon is a doc about the surviving NASA astronauts, Hunting Pary features Richard Gere and Terence Howard as TV journalists chasing stories in war zones and Fierce People is Griffin Dunne's coming of age story, with Diane Lane and Donald Sutherland.

Among holdovers, Death at a Funeral ($2,183 average on 316 screens in its fourth week) and The King of Kong: A Fistful of Quarters ($1,717 per screen at 39 locations, also in its fourth week) continued to perform nicely. But everyone's favorite underdog, musical drama Once, is the real indie star of the summer. In its 17th week, Once made $1,595 per screen at 141 locations. Go, Once!

As if he didn't have too many comic book adaptations to write, Zak Penn (X-Men: The Last Stand) has been named as the new screenwriter of Joel Silver's remake of The Dirty Dozen, which we unfortunately heard about early last year. Originally it was reported that the movie was being scripted by three high-profile writers, André Nemec, Josh Appelbaum and Scott Rosenberg, but apparently their work isn't good enough and a rewrite is now necessary. Of course, one has to wonder why Silver needs to go through so many writers when there's already a perfectly good screenplay by Nunnally Johnson and Lukas Heller. It isn't like too much needs to be updated; the movie is set in World War II. I'm not familiar with E.M. Nathanson's original novel, though, and I guess the first movie may have omitted some things that the new adaptation could include. Anyway, I guess it just isn't common practice to reuse an old script when remaking an old movie.

For those who haven't seen The Dirty Dozen, it's about a group of military criminals sent on a suicide mission to assassinate Nazi officers. It features an iconic ensemble of actors, most of whom were reunited to voice characters in Small Soldiers as a sort of homage. To the faithful, it will be very, very difficult to see a new version without Lee Marvin, Charles Bronson, Jim Brown, Ernest Borgnine, Telly Savalas, Donald Sutherland, George Kennedy and the rest. I don't know what the time frame is for the production of the remake, but we may get to see it as early as next year. And if Silver can get the project going soon, maybe it can even go head to head with Penn's buddy Bryan Singer's Hitler assassination movie, Valkyrie. They might even make a good double feature -- or you can rent the original Dirty Dozen and then go see Valkyrie and more possibly experience a great double feature.