MichaelAngarano Tagged Articles at Cinematical

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.

Although it doesn't open until next year, it appears that the viral marketing machine is already cranking away in the name of Gentlemen Broncos, with the appearance of this thorough website for the film's antagonist, Cluster Award-winning author Dr. Ronald Chevalier (Jemaine Clement, perhaps better known as one-half of New Zealand's fourth most popular folk parody duo, Flight of the Conchords).

In the provided videos and audio snippets, Clement portrays Chevalier as a third-rate Orson Scott Card with the voice of Orson Welles, and I've little trouble believing that he would both fit into the eccentric world of filmmaker Jared Hess (Napoleon Dynamite, Nacho Libre) and lift a story from a young fan (Michael Angarano) out of desperation.

Also starring Sam Rockwell and Jennifer Coolidge, Broncos is currently in post-production, but given the rough timetable and unique pedigree at play, I wouldn't be the least bit surprised if we finally find out what the title means come Sundance next January ...

[Thanks to Matt Dentler for the heads-up.]

As you're already aware, talk of a new Spider-Man film has heated up lately. First came the news that Spider-Man 4 and 5 might be filmed at the same time (based on a new story arc introduced by current screenwriter James Vanderbilt), which you heard first right here on Cinematical. Then came word that Sony re-upped their deal with Marvel to make Spider-Man 4. Now, Latino Review reports on who the studio might be looking at to replace Tobey Maguire as Spidey ... and it's definitely NOT who everyone thought it could've been (does that sentence make sense?).

They're saying Patrick Fugit, who first broke out as little William Miller in Almost Famous (and recently starred in the indie hit Wristcutters), is at the top of the "potential Spidey list," alongside Michael Angarano (who just starred in The Forbidden Kingdom). Coincidentally (or not), Angarano played the younger version of William Miller in Almost Famous before they leaped ahead a few years and Fugit took over.

Just the fact that such a wish-list exists means chances are not good that Maguire and crew will return for a fourth installment. For more, head on over to LR -- in the meantime, whaddya think about this one?

The good news? Two of Asia's biggest action superstars have teamed up for the first time. The bad news? It's 15 years too late. And what's with the white kid?

The Forbidden Kingdom is yet another picture in which we are meant to experience an exotic locale peopled entirely by "others" through the eyes of a Caucasian character. In this case, it's a fantasy world cobbled together from classic Chinese literature and period martial arts movies. As the latest entry in the category of "low expectation, Asian-themed, English-language movies written and directed by respectful American creative talent," the film is slightly above average entertainment. But I grow tired of having to lower my expectations in exchange for the pleasure of seeing talented Asian performers make an appearance on the big screen in America.

Writer John Fusco and director Rob Minkoff make fun of some of the stereotypes inherent in period martial arts pictures, while also sprinkling shout-outs into the material to demonstrate their love and knowledge of the various source materials that inspired them. Jackie Chan and Jet Li are cheerfully engaging as a drunken beggar and monk on a mission, respectively, providing most of the film's comic and action highlights in supporting roles. That's right -- Chan and Li have both achieved Hollywood stardom, are top-billed, are no doubt top-paid, but play second fiddle to "the white kid," Michael Angarano. We waited years for this?

With each picture since his 2000 debut George Washington, David Gordon Green has taken at least a small step backward. That gradual regression becomes a full-fledged precipitous decline with Snow Angels, a film in which the director (working from a novel by Stewart O'Nan) flails about in search of poetry, and comes up with only trivial stylistic flourishes that compound his story's overwrought faux-naturalism. Considering the lyrical grace of his heralded first feature, Green's devolution from one of American cinema's most promising talents to his current status as just another middling indie lightweight is tough to fathom. Yet with his latest, Green misses the mark in so many respects -- from a multi-strand plot devoid of insight, to performances that are generally overcooked, to a mise-en-scène that comes up largely empty in the department of inspired grace and beauty -- that it makes one wonder if his upcoming foray into director-for-hire work (with this summer's raunchy stoner comedy The Pineapple Express) isn't a shrewd attempt to escape his own increasingly faulty auteurist instincts.

Things certainly seem to be moving quickly for Gentlemen Broncos. Five days ago, Patrick had first broke the news on the follow-up project for Napoleon Dynamite and Nacho Libre creator Jared Hess. Now, The Hollywood Reporter has already announced that Sam Rockwell has signed to star along side Flight of the Conchords creator Jermaine Clement for the teen comedy. The story centers on a teen fantasy novelist who has his story ripped off by his idol at a writer's camp. Michael Angarano (Lords of Dogtown) will play the teen that comes up with the fantasy story with the unfortunate title of Yeast Lords.

Rockwell will play the fictional character in the story and there will be some "book-come-to-life sequences under two guises: one in the teen's story and one in the author's story". Well, if anybody can pull it off, it would be Rockwell -- the man has a knack for playing some of the most diverse characters without breaking a sweat. If you don't believe me, take an afternoon and watch The Green Mile and then Confessions of a Dangerous Mind and tell me those are two pretty impressive ends of the spectrum.

The script was written by the husband and wife team of Jared and Jerusha Hess, and will be produced Mike White and Ben LeClair. Both White and LeClair worked with Hess before on Nacho Libre. So it looks like Patrick's prediction came true and the cast is going to be an 'indie' affair, but with the addition of Rockwell and Clement there's just a smidgen more of 'hipster' cred. Gentlemen Broncos is scheduled to start production this March and arrive in theaters some time in 2009.

After screening at Sundance last year, a trailer for Snow Angels has finally hit the net, which you can check out above. The latest from indie filmmaker David Gordon Green, Angels follows his small-town formula, but this time, with dueling stories of happiness and darkness. On the one hand, there's the burgeoning love story between Michael Angarano (the cutie from flicks like Almost Famous and Sky High) and Olivia Thirlby (who you might recognize as Juno's helpful best friend). On the other, there's a complicated familial story focusing on Kate Beckinsale, her estranged husband Sam Rockwell, and their young daughter. Making the whole deal even more tasty -- there's also the likes of Griffin Dunne, Amy Sedaris, and Nicky Katt.

If the trailer is any indication of the film, it should be a great cinematic experience. (But be warned: it does give a lot of detail into the film, as many trailers love to do.) However, if you need more of a reason to go see it, you can check out James Rocchi's glowing review from Sundance, as well as his interview with Green. On the flipside, you can check out Kevin Kelly's review, which was a bit less praising.

[via Empire]

I know I'm not the only one who was impressed with Michael Angarano when he appeared as Young William in Almost Famous. Since then, he's also picked some pretty killer roles, dipping his toes in both art-house and mainstream movies. He played Freddie in my favorite Lars von Trier-related flick, Dear Wendy, and then soared as Will Stronghold in Sky High -- one of my top family film picks in recent years. The kid knows how to pick roles, so I was pretty stoked when Peter Martin posted that his latest, Black Irish, found a distributor. What you might not realize is that it also has a trailer.

The first written-and-directed feature by Brad Gann, Irish is about a 15-year-old named Cole McKay -- yes, played by the 19-year-old-with-baby-cheeks Angarano -- who is itching for independence in his South-Boston Irish-Catholic family . His older brother (Tom Guiry) is being romanced by drugs and crime, his sister is about to become an unwed mother and his father is a self-pitying drunk. Cole's saving grace is baseball, and as he fights through his family's turmoil to make the state championships, "he must make a life and death decision, a decision that will change the McKay family forever."

Over at the film's website, you can see the trailer, which looks pretty good, save the cheesy wrap-up it has. It seems that Cole is also fighting against being drawn into his brother's ways, although Tom is also shown as fiercely protective -- in one clip from the trailer, he punches Francis Capra, who you might remember as Weevil from Veronica Mars. Any bets on that "life and death" decision being something about his troubled brother? Black Irish will get released some time this fall -- hopefully sooner rather than later.

Is there anyone out there who wasn't completely bowled over by the cuteness of Michael Angarano in Almost Famous? Between his desperate wish for adolescent hair to what happens when "feck" takes on a "u," I was hooked. Since then, he's done a variety of films, but ones that seem natural for the actor. He lovingly caressed guns in Dear Wendy, he became a teen superhero in Sky High and then he faced death in One Last Thing. Yet in all of these roles as he moves toward his last days as a teenager, I never would have imagined that he'd take on kung fu.

Last year, Scott Weinberg first posted that Jet Li and Jackie Chan were going to star in a movie that had no writer, producer, director or company. It seemed like a rumor that would never go anywhere. Then, in November, Chris Ullrich started to fill in the blanks, which have really been filled in now. Angarano is in final negotiations to star with Chan and Li in the untitled project that will be headed by Stuart Little director Rob Minkoff. Angarano will play a 17-year-old wanna-be warrior who has some problems. When he loses to a street gang, his humiliation doesn't send him home, crying, but rather back in time. Somehow, he finds himself in ancient China with an impossible mission. He has to set free Li's Monkey King, who is currently imprisoned, and bring him some sort of powerful staff. As previously discussed, Chan will play a monk whose plans clash with the king's.

I can't imagine the wee-warrior getting anywhere without some help, so I wonder if the silent monk that Li will also play is some sort of guide. The script was written by John Fusco, who wrote Hidalgo, but he's also the man responsible for both Young Guns films. I'm hooked, how about you?