GhostTown Tagged Articles at Cinematical

You may have noticed there was no release list this past Tuesday, as the big releases are all hitting shelves today (or yesterday or tomorrow -- it' seriously varies depending on store), and we're fully in the Christmas lull. Read on for today's handful of Hollywood films and 12/23 releases.

The Duchess
Ah, another film with Keira Knightley in period clothing. This time around, she's Georgiana, the Duchess of Devonshire, and she's a powerful woman reduced to love in secret under the reign of a rigid and mean husband (Ralph Fiennes). However, while Mr. Fiennes pulls off a chilling performance as the Duke of Devonshire, this period offers little of Georgiana's triumphs, much of her romantic turmoil, and not enough compelling cohesiveness to give her story a chance. Skip it.

Eagle Eye
First, DJ Caruso brought us Shia LaBeouf under house arrest in Disturbia. Now he's let Shia run around maniacally with Michelle Monaghan for Eagle Eye, as two innocent strangers become at the whim of a powerful phone caller who turns them into fugitives. This is one of those action flicks that did well in the box office, but didn't get a lot of critical love. Nevertheless, it's action to break up the holiday monotony, so Rent it.

Last December, Cinematical was the only movie blog invited to visit the set of Ghost Town over at the beautiful Steiner Studios in Brooklyn, New York. Directed by David Koepp, Ghost Town stars Ricky Gervais, Greg Kinnear, Téa Leoni, Billy Campbell and Kristen Wiig, and it arrives in theaters on September 19. Check out our report below ...

I always get nervous whenever visiting a film set. In the past, I've been a part of a larger group, which meant I could simply follow behind three other people and hopefully fade into the pack. I never want to stand out. I never want be the guy who's standing in the wrong place, on the wrong wire, or the guy who accidentally coughs during a three-minute period where everyone is silent. Sometimes a film set can be an intimidating place to visit if you're not working there, slaving away for hours upon hours -- there's a sort of team mentality and closeness that's shared amongst the crew that you're not a part of. You're the outsider, the blogger -- the guy who's there to criticize and report back on a project that's not yet complete. In some cases, you're the enemy.

But when you're part of the pack, it's easier to digest the experience. It's easier to not be that guy. However, when I showed up to the set of Ghost Town on a very cold day in December, I suddenly realized I was the only web outlet invited ... and knowing I'd be all by myself on this one, my Neurotic Jew Meter (Thanks Mom!) went through the roof.

Death is ever present at the Toronto International Film Festival, both in the movies and in the eyes of the patrons dragging themselves to 9 a.m. screenings after a night of partying. Plenty of films treat the subject seriously -- you are never far from an indie drama in which someone mourns someone else's death -- but it's played for laughs quite a bit, too.

Ghost Town does the best job of it so far, neatly toying with the Sixth Sense model and finding plenty of comedy in people who see dead people. It stars Ricky Gervais as Bertram Pincus, a curmudgeonly dentist who, after a near-death experience, finds that he can see and hear the many ghosts who wander Manhattan. The comic twist: He hates people, dead or alive, and has no interest in helping anyone finish their unfinished business.

His most persistent dead acquaintance is Frank (Greg Kinnear), an adulterous jerk who wants to prevent his widow, Gwen (Tea Leoni), from remarrying. Pincus agrees to interrupt her new relationship solely because he has a crush on her himself, and that's good enough for Frank.

There's an awful lot going on here -- fulfilling dead people's requests, breaking up a romance, and learning to love humanity comprises a busy agenda for one character, and Ghost Town could stand some trimming and toning. But it's often hilarious, too, primarily because of Gervais' fine-tuned snark and misanthropy. If the film is little more than his attempt to break out of the "cult following" category and find mainstream American success, more power to him. He deserves it, and Ghost Town is an auspicious start.

Ghost Town's premise is supernatural but reasonably familiar to filmgoers. Somewhat more bizarre is Dean Spanley, a wonderfully charming and whimsical comedy about an Anglican priest who believes he is the reincarnation of a dog.

This week, the eyes have it. We're looking at films for which vision is key.

Knowing
Nicolas Cage has the only new film going into wide release this week with Bangkok Dangerous, but frankly this tale of prophetic doom better grabs my attention. Cage plays a school teacher who digs up a time capsule and finds several pages of hand written numbers. He finds dates within those numbers, each of which corresponds to a major disaster that has occurred since the capsule was buried. More importantly the numbers apparently list disasters which have yet to occur. I'd be a little more enthusiastic if Cage's record hadn't been so hit and miss lately. (Ghost Rider? Puh-leeze.) Still the premise sounds kind of cool, despite reminding me of the lackluster The Number 23, and there's a disaster in the trailer that's pretty chilling, especially if you've ever been to Logan Airport in Boston. The preview is pushing the fact that director Alex Proyas helmed I, Robot, but I'm more impressed that he was the man behind the excellent Dark City.

Milk
This one isn't so much about visions of the future as visions for the future. Gus Van Sant directs and Sean Penn stars in this true story about Harvey Milk, who in 1977 became the first openly gay man to hold public office in the United States. Penn is engaging in the role, and we see him struggle against bigotry and death threats to give a voice to the gay community. I wasn't familiar with Milk's story, but now I'm curious. Here's William's take on the trailer.

For every hero, heroine, and sidekick, there's a nuisance -- that person who's there to mess things up and foil the plan. This week, we've got a bunch of men who make trouble and quickly become the thorn in someone, or someTHING's side.

Terminator Salvation
As if Christian Bale taking on Batman wasn't enough, now he's taking the shoes once filled by ol' Eddie Furlong and becoming John Connor in Terminator Salvation. That's right -- it's the future and Bale wants to bring those metallic jerks down. It's 2018, and John's understanding of the future has been changed by the appearance of a stranger named Marcus Wright. Connor and Wright head for the heart of Skynet and discover "the terrible secret behind the possible annihilation of mankind." Bale's being all breathy, there's lots of flashes and demolition, and Connor gets a bit of a surprise from one Hulk-sized machine. Erik thinks it's the perfect teaser trailer. Me, I'm not sold, but I'm not disappointed yet either.

Whoopi Goldberg sort of had it coming in Ghost. She was a hack of a psychic, so it was poetic justice to get haunted by Patrick Swayze.This time around, it's still justice, but not the kind you would expect. Up above, you can check out the trailer for Ghost Town, which popped up on YouTube over the weekend.

Ricky Gervais stars as a jerky dentist who can't be bothered to do the simplest thing for another person -- like, say, hold the elevator. But then he goes in for a colonoscopy and dies for a little less than seven minutes. Upon leaving the hospital, he discovers he can see dead people. Lots and lots of dead people. Of course, in a predicament like this, he has to face his jerkish past, but he also has to do something else -- help the ghost of Greg Kinnear keep his widowed wife from shacking up with the wrong guy. The comedy looks cute -- if a bit too familiar. It'll hit theaters this September.

Okay... Before I get to the wonder that is Bruce Campbell, I've got to take a second and complain. If you remember anything about our previous coverage of Ghost Town, such as David Koepp signing on to direct Greg Kinnear and Ricky Gervais, Tea Leoni signing on, and then Kristen Wiig, you probably remember the premise. A dentist (Gervais) heads in for a colonoscopy under the knife of Wiig, and he dies for seven minutes. When he comes back to life, he can see the dead -- especially a ghostly businessman (Kinnear) who wants him to break up his widow's (Leoni) upcoming marriage.

Anal surgery is no longer the culprit. According to The Hollywood Reporter, the dentist temporarily kicks the bucket during a "routine dental surgery." Now that is a really boring and lame change. What's wrong with a colonoscopy? Gah. At least we've got Campbell to soften the news. He has signed on to play Leoni's character's fiance -- the one that the dentist really isn't into. Since this ghostly apparition isn't through Whoopi, I keep wondering if it'll end up with Kinnear taking over Gervais' body to have a second chance with his wife. Or maybe Campbell will go Ash on his ass and take him out of the picture. He could always just say Deadites possessed the dude. Shooting has already begun in New York, and hopefully they haven't vanilla-ed anything else.

Post edited as the original THR post now says "Billy Campbell" is the other man, and not Bruce. Thanks to ***Lance*** for spotting that. What a shame.

For a while, I kept running into people who were all sorts of gaga for Kristen Wiig. I'd seen her on Saturday Night Live, and while I didn't dislike her, I didn't love her either. But she seems to sort of grow on you. At least, she did for me. She was one of the best parts of her latest film, Knocked Up, perfectly playing the queen of acidic, passive-aggressive comments. Now it's no wonder that her to-do list is overflowing with new work. As I told you in February, she's got a part in the musical comedy Walk Hard; she's co-starring in The Brothers Solomon (check out the trailer here); and she's even a part of Bill, which boasts the likes of Jessica Alba, Aaron Eckhart and Timothy Olyphant.

Now she's got two more roles to bite into, according to The Hollywood Reporter. Back in June, we brought word of Ghost Town -- the ultra-dramatic (I kid) flick about a guy who gets brought back to life after kicking the bucket during a colonoscopy. After his surgery, he can see dead people. Wiig is going to play the surgeon. Yes, an anal surgeon. The flick stars Ricky Gervais, Tea Leoni and Greg Kinnear, and sounds wonderfully ridiculous to me. Topping that off, she's also got an indie lead in Paul Giamatti's Pretty Bird, which Erik Davis blogged about here, co-starring Billy Crudup and written/helmed by Paul Schneider. Giamatti plays a loser trying to get famous with a rocket belt invention, and the troubles that erupt when he gets help from his friends. There's no word on Wiig's role yet, but really, after an anal surgeon who almost kills Ricky Gervais, what could compete?!

Did you know that if you die during a colonoscopy and are brought back, that you are able to communicate with the dead? No, no, it's not true, but it is the premise for Ghost Town starring Tea Leoni and Ricky Gervais. I'm not sure if anyone has ever died due to complications during a colonoscopy -- the synopsis on paper just made me laugh -- but I think that if anyone can pull it off, its Ricky Gervais (The Office, the BBC version.) Gervais is the unlucky patient in the film, and once he regains his life he is presented with a unique predicament -- he's haunted by the ghost of a businessman played by Greg Kinnear -- now I'm not sure if the cast can get any better. Gervais has some kind of tasks that he must fulfill -- he's kind of like Whoopi Goldberg in Ghost, apparently. The character played by Kinnear uses Gervais as a vehicle to stop the marriage of his still living wife, Leoni.

David Koepp wrote Ghost Town and is set to also direct the film. Koepp has a thing for dark spiritualism, having brought us Secret Window (the one where Johnny Depp plays an author stalked by a psychopath accusing him of plagiarism), War of the Worlds (Tom Cruise, underground aliens and lots of red veiny stuff) among other projects. We'll have to wait until at least 2008 to catch Leoni's ruined marriage plans, Gervais' near death experience and Kinnear's ability to control the living, since Ghost Town doesn't start filming until October of this year.