Good Tagged Articles at Cinematical

Terminator: Salvation
Yes, we were teased with a few seconds of footage last week but at last we have the full length trailer for the new Terminator flick, and in a nutshell: it rocks. The movie opens on May 22.

Dragonball: Evolution
This new trailer isn't impressing me any more than the last one. There's plenty of sci-fi fantasy kung foolery here if that's your kind of thing. Fans of the anime don't seem too thrilled with this adaptation, so I don't see a bright future for it. If you're so inclined, watch for this one on April 8.

Powder Blue
Jessica Biel stripping and Forrest Whitaker committing suicide dressed like Santa are just two of interesting visuals on display here. Aside from a few words spoken at the end there is no dialogue and very little to go on as far as what the movie is about. Still the imagery is pretty gripping. No release date for this one just yet.

Good
Viggo Mortensen stars as a college professor in Germany during the rise of the Nazi regime. Essentially a good man, he finds himself compromising his principals and accepting membership in the Nazi party. Watch for this one in limited release on December 31.

The Proposal
A retread of the getting-married-to-stay-in-the-country premise with Ryan Reynolds being coerced to marry his Canadian boss played by Sandra Bullock. The leads have appeal but I can't get past the cookie cutter plot that reminds me of countless TV episodes. Look for this one on June 12.

Interviews with Viggo Mortensen are a rather rare and wonderful thing -- or at least ones that don't get all coy and snarky over his remarkable intelligence and publishing company. So, when I saw Capone's interview with Mortensen over at Ain't It Cool News, I had to share it with you all.

His thoughts on the upcoming Good are too long and interesting to crop and paste here -- but what I will post is his disappointment over The Road being delayed. Despite starring in the film, he is unsure what's going on with it. "My understanding is that they know that they've got a story that a lot of people want to see, because of the book. And, the people that read the book, which are many, were very moved by it and by this relationship between this boy and this man, in particular, in that setting. And, I think that they are really aware of the fact that they've got one chance to do it, and if there's any little things that they still want to work on a little more, to get it just right, whether it's the music --I don't know what it is -- a variety of things, they want to do it right. And, if you rush it out before you feel in good conscience it's there ... So, I am disappointed. I wanted to see it. I want to see how it is."

He's also concerned that the film might be released at the wrong time of year, and is hoping for a fall release. "What I hope they don't do is then just put it out in February or something. I hope they wait and do it at the right time. I don't know." (Yes, Weinstein Co. Release The Road in the fall, please. No February or March dump!)

It's not as if Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby did much to dispel some of the more stereotypical images of NASCAR fans, but you can always count on a documentary to provide a slightly more informed approach. Movieweb reports that GOOD (a socially minded collective that includes a print and online magazine and a documentary film production unit called Reason Pictures) have announced that they are putting a doc into production about the kids who dream of making it to prime time racing and the culture of NASCAR racing in the U.S.

The film is being directed by Marshall Curry, who was nominated for an Academy Award in 2005 for his political doc Street Fight, about an election in Newark that turned into an all-out brawl between the candidates. Racing Dreams will be about kids who race in the World Karting Association's National Pavement Series -- which by the sounds of it are not your average go-karts, since they travel at speeds in excess of 60-70MPH. The series has been a training ground for future NASCAR racers. The film is going to follow three boys age 10-13 as the work their way through the highly competitive circuit -- and if Sports Moms and Dads has taught me anything, it's that when competition and family mix, it can get pretty ugly.

Odds and ends from Monday:

• Billy Burke (Ladder 49) has signed on to star in Jennifer Chambers Lynch's (Yes, that's daughter to director David Lynch) Surveillance, her second directorial effort following 1993's Boxing Helena (Yes, that's fifteen years since her last film). Pic follows an FBI agent who gets help tracking a serial killer from the lunatic's would-be-victims. Production is set to begin in or around October.
• Newbie Jodie Whittaker and Viggo Mortenson will take lead roles in Good, an adaptation from the award-winning play. Directed by Vincente Amorin, story revolves around a German professor who, during the 1930s, is seduced (I take it flowers and a goodnight kiss weren't involved) by the Nazi party. Yeah, it's safe to say things didn't go well there from then on out.
• Shortly after the death of animal lover Steve "The Crocodile Hunter" Irwin, the rumor mill jumped all over Russell Crowe saying the actor was interested in playing Irwin in a possible biopic. However, Crowe shot down the reports (in a rather absurd Crowe-like way) by saying, "That's one of those appalling pieces of sh*t that's come out of the press. While my friend's body is still warm, I'm being accused of doing commerce over his grave, and it absolutely disgusts me." He then picked up Irwin's coffin and chucked it at the reporter. I mean, so they say ...

Odds and ends from Wednesday:

• When I first heard that Ben Affleck was directing a film in which he also wrote the screenplay, my first thought (without knowing anything about the project) was, "Okay, who's ghost writing it for him?" Regardless of whether or not you got that one, Affleck is currently shooting Gone, Baby, Gone in Boston. Man, talk about guys that can't leave their hometown, now I know why he and Kevin Smith are so close. Anyway, though it's been rumored for awhile, Morgan Freeman has now officially signed on to star in the film alongside Casey Affleck, Ed Harris and Michelle Monaghan. I should note that Gone, Baby, Gone is based on a novel written by Dennis Lehane and has to set some sort of record for commas in a movie title.
• To all those Lord of the Rings fanatics out there, you may want to shut your ears for this one. Okay, well, here's the thing: I'm not so crazy about Viggo Mortenson. Honestly, the guy is so wooden up on that screen, I half expect women who kiss him to pull away with splinters all over their lips. But what can you do -- chicks dig him. Viggo is now attached to star in the screen-adaptation of the award-winning stage play, Good. Story is set in Nazi era Germany and centers around a professor who gets seduced by the dark side.
• Let me ask you this: Your good friend makes you a character in one his novels. Some time goes by and this novel becomes one of the most successful in recent memory, so much so that a film is made and Tom Hanks signs on to play you. I'm sure the last thing you would do in a time like this is complain, right? Well, tell that to symbology expert John Langdon (Geez, you'd think Dan Brown would get a bit more creative with the name change) who, according to reports, thought the film version was not as good as the novel. In fact, he claimed it was a bit "over the top." Over the top? You're making a film about one of the greatest secrets ever held in the history of great secrets, what do you expect -- a quiet, silent film featuring an assortment of hand puppets? Look, not many people get to say Tom Hanks played them in a movie. Be grateful. Now, if Ron Howard were playing you, that's a completely different story.