JesseEisenberg Tagged Articles at Cinematical

I was surprised at the number of people who proved willing to venture out to the limited-run Toy Story 3-D double feature. The attraction raked in $12.5 million on under 2,000 screens, a feat made even more impressive by the double feature aspect, which obviously reduced the number of available showtimes. Whether the success of the rerelease was due to the love for the films or the current obsession with 3-D isn't clear -- though of course the most likely answer is "some combination of the two." (Certainly a plain vanilla double feature rerelease wouldn't have put up these numbers, but would it have flopped?)

The weekend's top spot, though, went to Zombieland, the un-star-studded but well-marketed and well-reviewed horror comedy. If it does not sink in the coming weeks, it could turn into one of the fall's biggest success stories. I wonder, too, what it will do for the cachet of Jesse Eisenberg; unless you count his very minor turn in The Village, Zombieland is by far the biggest box office triumph in which he's taken part. The busy, hyperintelligent actor hasn't seemed too celebrity-minded, but his stock seems to be steadily rising.

More and the full top 10 after the jump.

By William Goss, reprinted from Fantastic Fest 9/29/09

The world as we know it has come to an end, and that's not much more of an inconvenience for Columbus (Jesse Eisenberg) than he was already used to. He's a Mountain Dew-chugging loser whose introverted ways have turned him into an ideal loner for the post-apocalyptic realm -- as paranoid, vigilante and neurotic as they come, beholden only to his own strict set of rules (cardio good, bathrooms bad, always shoot zombies twice, etc.).

And so, while he doesn't want to become attached to the scruffy likes of Tallahassee (Woody Harrelson), their chance meeting provides as good an excuse as any for Columbus to try and recover whatever's left of his family in... well, Columbus. Oh, the names? Again, no one wants to get too attached once the infection hits the fan. That's just how one tends to roll as a resident of Zombieland.

On Friday night, I headed over to the Paramount Theatre in Austin for the Fantastic Fest premiere of the horror/comedy (mostly comedy) film Zombieland. I arrived on the scene to wonder if I wasn't in a zombieland myself -- the area around the front of the theater was swarmed with the undead. A trailer was set up near the theater where anyone could get made up to look like a zombie, and lots of people volunteered. I saw a zombie bridal couple, a zombie nun and fittingly for this movie, a zombie clown. Some of the more professionally made-up zombies even lurched onto the red carpet briefly.
Before the zombies could be shooed away entirely, Zombieland co-star Woody Harrelson showed up. You can see his reaction to his red carpet-mates in the above photo. The zombies headed elsewhere and Harrelson was joined by other stars from the film, Jesse Eisenberg and Emma Stone, as well as director Ruben Fleischer. The 1200-seat theater was packed with a lively audience, who applauded nearly every reference to Texas and seemed to enjoy the film very much.

Check out our Zombieland photo gallery from the evening for more photos of the red-carpet celebrities as well as the undead.

The world as we know it has come to an end, and that's not much more of an inconvenience for Columbus (Jesse Eisenberg) than he was already used to. He's a Mountain Dew-chugging loser whose introverted ways have turned him into an ideal loner for the post-apocalyptic realm -- as paranoid, vigilante and neurotic as they come, beholden only to his own strict set of rules (cardio good, bathrooms bad, always shoot zombies twice, etc.).

And so, while he doesn't want to become attached to the scruffy likes of Tallahassee (Woody Harrelson), their chance meeting provides as good an excuse as any for Columbus to try and recover whatever's left of his family in... well, Columbus. Oh, the names? Again, no one wants to get too attached once the infection hits the fan. That's just how one tends to roll as a resident of Zombieland.

And before I make things out to sound so serious, director Ruben Fleischer and writers Rhett Reese and Paul Wernick make their tone perfectly evident from the start. A groom is tackled by his zombie bride; a mother is chased down by her undead honor student daughters. So on, so forth, and so long, status quo. For the survivors, though, there's a little fun to be had here and there. Any man, woman or child can nab themselves the title of Zombie Kill of the Week. A store-smashing spree can help let off a little steam. And who's to stop a young girl (Abigail Breslin) and her older sis (Emma Stone) from heading off to California in order to make the most of a deserted theme park?

Read the rest over at Horror Squad

It's time to give props to Cinematical reader RMM, who defied Peter Martin's question in June, "Would you rather: Cera or LaBeouf as Facebook Founder?" and responded with: "Jesse Eisenberg." Variety reports that the main players have now been cast in David Fincher's Facebook flick The Social Network, and they are -- Eisenberg, Justin Timberlake, and Andrew Garfield.

Eisenberg has zoomed beyond Cera and LaBeouf to play Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg, while Timberlake will take on Sean Parker -- the guy who co-founded Napster before becoming the Facecrack's founding president, and finally Andrew Garfield will play Eduardo Saverin the other co-founder of Facebook "who fell out with Zuckerberg over money." If you're not familiar with that last name, you'll soon see him as one of the leads in Terry Gilliam's The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus.

Gotta say -- the dry premise is sounding continually more appetizing as things play out. It's hard to beat a mix of Aaron Sorkin and David Fincher, Eisenberg picks some pretty sweet gigs (Roger Dodger!), and I think this trio will work quite well together. But how about you? Can Fincher's style and this cast make a movie about Internet networking a thrill of a big-screen experience?

Maybe it's a little early to canonize a scene from a movie that came out only a few months ago, but as fall responsibilities quietly encroach on our sweaty summer abandon, it feels right to point out a scene in Adventureland that particularly reminds us of freedom, unexpected fun, and most of all romance. Thankfully, Greg Mottola's film arrived on DVD and Blu-ray this week, so we were not only able to recall it as our favorite moment in a movie filled with many memorable ones, but make sure the details weren't lost in the intervening (three) months between now and its original release.

Saturday was another busy day at Comic Con, and two of the movies a lot of folks were chatting up on Twitter and around the convention floor were Zombieland and 2012. Zombieland, of course, is that awesome-looking zombie comedy starring Jesse Eisenberg, Emma Stone, Abigail Breslin and Woody Harrelson. We already shared a report from the set with you (read that over at Horror Squad), but only at Con did Cinematical's Kevin Kelly have a chance to chat up the film's director, Ruben Fleischer, along with its star Jesse Eisenberg. Zombieland hits theaters on October 9. Watch both of those videos after the jump.

Meanwhile, Roland Emmerich (Independence Day, The Day After Tomorrow) is back to destroy the world with epic amounts of special effects in his new movie 2012. Starring John Cusack, Chiwetel Ejiofor, Danny Glover, Amanda Peet, and Thandie Newton, word is this flick will be the mother of all disaster movies -- and while Emmerich has made a name for himself destroying cities using a number of creative ways, this movie looks to take that up a notch and then some. 2012 hits theaters on November 13. Check out what Emmerich had to say to Kevin Kelly about 2012 (he calls this his "flood movie") and the end of the world after the jump.

I always seem to start these pieces the same way: "I don't normally do set visits," given my general distaste for air travel and a frequent disinterest for movie sets, but once in a while ... something fun and easy comes along, and I go for the ride. The friendly folks at Sony invited me to visit the set of a flick called (wait for it) Zombieland! Come on! If you know anything about me, then you know "Zombieland" is a place I want to visit, even if it is just a movie set! (Oh, and the flight was from Philadelphia to Atlanta, and that really helped to seal the deal.)

So I arrive in the surprisingly quiet but very charming section of Atlanta (a city I'd love to revisit soon) and am greeted by several gracious colleagues -- and ... what's this? Mr. James Rocchi, an old friend to Cinematical and one of my very best buddies? He was here for the Zombieland set visit too? Toss in a quick beer with some of my Signal pals ... and this turned out to be a smart trip.

But here's where I'll let you in on a little secret. Gather 'round, movie geeks. Ready? Here it is: movie sets are really boring! No, it's true! It's like wandering through a stunningly orchestrated construction site that also has a tiny little stage play taking place in a corner somewhere. If you're interested in the crafts of photography, fashion, carpentry, or electrical engineering, then a movie set could be pretty fascinating. (But you'd keep getting bumped into, believe me.) Luckily for us, "set visits" are just a bit more elaborate than a normal day on the set...



(Much) more right here at HorrorSquad!

Just when it seemed that October might be super-serious with its horror and dramatic offerings -- Shutter Island to Sorority Row, The Stepfather to Saw VI -- we get our first look at the fun-looking Zombieland, an action-horror-comedy in which Woody Harrelson, Jesse Eisenberg, Emma Stone (!) and Abigail Breslin all team up in the post-apocalyptic wasteland and whoop some undead ass.

The tone of at least the trailer (I could see the narration carrying over to the film) strikes me as something like Shaun of the Dead crossed with The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, and I for one don't think that intersection's a bad place to be.

Read the rest over at Horror Squad ...

Two of my favorite indie youngin's are Michael Angarano and Jesse Eisenberg. What's not to like? Angarano stole our hearts as the young William in Almost Famous, and has since popped up in Dear Wendy, Lords of Dogtown, and One Last Thing. Eisenberg, meanwhile, he started things off with the ever-excellent Roger Dodger, and continued on to The Squid and the Whale, The Education of Charlie Banks, and Adventureland (with Angarano's main squeeze, Kristen Stewart). Now the dudes are combining for some sweet indie fare together.

The Hollywood Reporter posts that Angarano has signed on and Eisenberg is circling a new comedy called Ceremony. The film will follow a young guy (Eisenberg) who falls head over heels for an older woman (Elizabeth Berkeley again!?!?) who is getting ready to get hitched. His infatuation leads him to grab his friend (Angarano) and travel to a beat town to break up the nuptials ... only to realize that they're out of place amongst "the stately British groom-to-be and his guests." Poor guys.

But there's one more reason to keep an eye out for this project. It's being whipped up by the sons of two names that should sound quite familiar: Reitman and Winkler. Jason Reitman is one of the film's executive producers and Henry Winkler's son Max wrote the script and will make his directorial debut. (See him with Pops here.)

This sounds almost as good as the Fonz.