Inc. Tagged Articles at Cinematical

On November 10, 2009, Walt Disney Home Entertainment is releasing a 4-disc Blu-ray set for Monsters, Inc., Pete Docter's feature directorial debut. Much like Finding Nemo set the stage for what Andrew Stanton eventually did on Wall-E, the 2001 Pixar film offers a glimpse of what was yet to come from Docter – who went on to direct this summer's Up, also out next week – but it also reiterates some of the themes that run throughout all of the studio's best work, including the concept of an alternate perspective on a place or idea that seems obvious, and the idea of families that are both familiar and unconventional. But how effectively does it examine and explore those things, particularly in light of what the studio has done since?

Suffice it to say that the Blu-ray set offers not only the best presentation of the film imaginable, but a bounty of extra content that expands the film's universe in new and interesting ways. As for the movie itself?

Indie Roundup looks back at the past seven (or, sometimes, eight) days of news in the indie film community, along with a peak ahead to what's coming soon.

Opening. The highest-profile "indie" is Woody Allen's Whatever Works, wiith Tatia Rosenthal's stop-motion animation feature $9.99, Francois Velle's NYC drama The Narrows, Andy Abrahams Wilson's Lyme disease doc Under Our Skin, and Tommy Wirkola's Nazi zombie flick Dead Snow vying for attention on a limited number of screens. On the festival circuit, CineVegas drew to a close on Monday (Eric D. Snider covered it for us), the same night that Silverdocs opened in Silver Spring, Maryland. The Los Angeles Film Festival starts tonight and the New York Asian Film Festival kicks off tomorrow.

Box Office. Last weekend saw several strong openings, with Robert Kenner's doc Food, Inc. leading the way ($20,171 per-screen), followed by Duncan Jones' sci-fi drama Moon ($17,006 per screen), and Francis Coppola's family drama Tetro ($15,252). The doc Youssou N'Dour: I Bring What I Love ($10,866) and Le combat dans l'ile ($10,217) also debuted nicely, while the expansion of Sam Mendes' Away We Go brought in good business ($12,463). Daryl Wein's very informative AIDS activist doc Sex Positive drew $3,408 at one theater.

Online Viewing. How about a doc about a doc? Keir Moreano's documentary As the Call So the Echo follows an American doctor who unexpectedly finds himself in Vetnam after he decides to donate unused medical equipment. The film is available for free streaming at Babelgum, courtesy of the good folks at Cinetic.

After the jump: How will AFI Dallas the Dallas International Film Festival fare without AFI?

Cinematical was just handed this exclusive poster for the film War, Inc. (click on the image to enlarge), starring John Cusack, Hilary Duff, Marisa Tomei, Joan Cusack, Dan Aykroyd and Ben Kingsley. Now is that one helluva cast, or is that one helluva cast? Word has it this one is in the vein of Grosse Point Blank, which was another fun little flick starring the male Cusack. From the synopsis: "War, Inc. is a a political satire set in Turaqistan, a country occupied by an American private corporation run by a former US Vice-President (Dan Akroyd). In an effort to monopolize the opportunities the war-torn nation offers, the corporation's CEO hires a troubled hit man, played by John Cusack, to kill a Middle East oil minister. Now, struggling with his own growing demons, the assassin must pose as the corporation's Trade Show Producer in order to pull off this latest hit, while maintaining his cover by organizing the high-profile wedding of Yonica Babyyeah (Hilary Duff) an outrageous Middle Eastern pop star, and keeping a sexy left wing reporter (Marisa Tomei) in check."

War, Inc. arrives in theaters (in limited release) on May 23.

At first, I mistakenly thought that War, Inc. was a re-named version of Talking to Dog, that Children of Men rip-off I wrote about last year. (It's actually a re-named version of Brand Hauser: Stuff Happens.) War stars John Cusack and Hilary Duff, just like the other one was supposed to. Now Talking to Dog seems to have fallen off the face of the earth, so did the movie studios consider the rip-off angle and go in a new direction? Or did Hilary just follow John to this new endeavor? Or, did my attempts at weird mental mojo* work and make that other project die for good?

Whatever the case, Hilary and John are starring in War, Inc. with sister Joan, Marisa Tomei, and Ben Kingsley, and Rope of Silicon has your first look at the action, and John Cusack's furrowed brow (which you can see a bit of to the upper right). This should be tons better than the other option for a number of reasons, but mainly because the unique, surreal voice of Mark Leyner wrote this puppy. (He's written great novels like The Tetherballs of Bougainville and Et Tu, Babe?)

The film once again puts John in the assassin role, and this time he's contracted to kill an oil minister from the Middle East (Ben Kingsley). Instead of high school reunions, however, his cover is "producing a big trade show that includes a wedding between a local pop star and a politico, but complications ensue." The pics don't show too much, but it is strange to see Hilary Duff looking like a cross between a pop star and tough-ass scorpion tamer in one of them. The film is set for a limited release this May.

*I was so against this project, that I figured if I can make new DVDs pop up by buying the old VHS or bare-bones disc version, or off-handedly talk about celebrity deaths right before they happen, maybe I could will Dog into cinematic death.