Nathan Fillion-related stories
News Bites: Beethoven, 90210, and PG Porn
Filed under: Action », Comedy », Deals », Shorts », Distribution », Family Films », Home Entertainment »
Sixteen years ago, we got Beethoven -- not Ludwig, but rather the big ol' St. Bernard. Just in case four sequels and a stint on television wasn't enough for you, The Hollywood Reporter posts that Universal is releasing yet another direct-to-DVD sequel on December 30 -- Beethoven's Big Break. I guess they gave up punning on Ludwig with their titles. But just because it's not going to the big screen doesn't mean you can't see the pup in huge glory -- it seems that a giant Beethoven balloon will be part of the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade this year. I bet it'll be cuter than the movie.In other DVD news: Have you ever scoured the DVD shelves, discovered some strange, old film with current stars, and comment on how someone unearthed the crappy flick to make money on the actor's newfound fame? Well, this next bit is something like that. THR also reports that ex 90210 gals Tori Spelling and Shannen Doherty are hitting DVD shelves with Kiss the Bride and Kiss Me Deadly (respectively, and I don't think connected) to tap into some of that spotlight currently shining once again on Beverly Hills High. Ever watch either flick? Thumbs up ... down?
Finally, James Gunn's PG Porn has debuted. You can check it out after the jump. Remember -- just because Aria Giovanni is in it doesn't mean that it's going to be explicit. So, check out Nathan Fillion acting like a porn star who doesn't get the goods -- it's not quite Funny or Die funny, but I'll definitely keep watching.
New 'Wonder Woman' Trailer Lacks Voice(s)
Filed under: Animation », Casting », Movie Marketing », Comic/Superhero/Geek », Trailers and Clips »
Have you seen the recently-released trailer for the animated Wonder Woman? If not, you can check it out above.
Firstly, I must admit that they certainly did a great job portraying Wonder Woman's toughness, although it's a bit tainted by the lone piece of dialogue in the trailer: "It's not polite to hit a lady." There's nothing to weaken the muscles of toughness like references to ladies and impoliteness. If they changed "lady" to "goddess," then I'd be good -- it would be a nice play on words.
Anyway, what really surprises me is that there's no dialogue, save for the above quote. Sure, it's important to show the action, but considering the voice talent connected to this project, I see no better way to get people interested. Keri Russell is Wonder Woman, Virginia Madsen is Hypolyta, Nathan Fillion is Steve Trevor, Alfred Molina is Ares, Oliver Platt is Hades, Rosario Dawson is Artemis, and David McCallum is Zeus.
Now that's the sales kicker for me. The feature will hit shelves in February of 2009.
Elisabeth's Favorite Moments of SDCC 08
Filed under: Festival Reports », Fandom », ComicCon »
-- The Watchmen panel. Maybe the Q&A wasn't all that great (no fault of those onstage), but the footage was just so cool. There is a lot of film footage trotted out at SDCC, and while much of it is cool, very little is jaw-dropping. 300 was probably the last time I was truly impressed with what I saw in Hall H, Watchmen may have topped it. (It's even convinced my mom to read the graphic novel! Let's all cheer!)
-- The Owl Ship. The floor displays this year were pretty tame, but this would take the cake in any given year. Whenever I doubt that anyone at SDCC has read a comic book, something like the Owl Ship lands and sends everyone into a nerdy tizzy. At any given time, you could find a crowd exclaiming over it, not because it was from a movie, but because it was from a comic book. Amazing.
Dr. Horrible is Here! Catch it Before It's Gone!
Filed under: Music & Musicals », Fandom », Home Entertainment », Comic/Superhero/Geek »
If you're an iTunes subscriber and a Joss Whedon fiend, you were probably giggling yesterday as most fans (like me) kept desperately refreshing and going back to drhorrible.com all day to see Act I of Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog. Now it's up on the new server with no problems and a lot of singing goodness. Free! Some days I really, really love the Internet!Having just watched Act I for myself, I can tell you that it is so worth the 13 minutes and 49 seconds. It starts off mellow (but still funny), and soon enough -- there are simple, yet ridiculously catchy songs, evil schemes and deeds, and that charming Captain Hammer.
Think Venture Brothers done Whedon style, and the only critique I can come up with right now is that "The Evil League of Evil" doesn't sound as cool as "The Guild of Calamitous Intent." Still, I'm happy. Neil Patrick Harris. Nathan Fillion. Felicia Day. Pure, musical awesome.
Oh yeah, and the MySpace page even has a comic!
Finally! A Trailer for 'Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog'!
Filed under: Fandom », Home Entertainment », Comic/Superhero/Geek », Trailers and Clips »
Teaser from Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog on Vimeo.
I might adore Joss Whedon, but I don't think I'm biased when I say that the above trailer for Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog is the best thing since sliced bread. Check it out above. Aren't I right? Good lord, I could watch the trailer on repeat. It's further proof that with enough talent, you don't need a lot of money to make something great. Yeah, this isn't exactly a big-screen piece of cinema news, but we're talking Nathon Fillion, Neil Patrick Harris,
But to keep this on the movie track: I hereby declare that no one should make a crappy spoof movie unless Joss is involved. Watching the trailer, I kept thinking about Date Movie, Disaster Movie, and all the rest of the crap that has come out, and how Whedon could've made them monumentally better.
And one more thing: When is Nathan Fillion getting his own superhero or bad-guy role on the big screen? Look at him -- he's perfect for it!
*Unfortunately, the man with the goggle-like thing, that I mistook for Adam Baldwin, is actually (I think) Rob Reinis.
Rumor Patrol: Is Thomas Jane 'Jonah Hex'?
Filed under: Casting », Warner Brothers », RumorMonger », Comic/Superhero/Geek », Images », Western »
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So what do you think? Is former Punisher Thomas Jane the right man to bring gun-slinging Jonah Hex to the big screen? Film School Rejects is posting what they claim might be test shots of Jane as Hex in the adaptation of John Albano and Tony DeZuniga's western comic -- and if it's a fake, it's a darn good one. The photo might look legit, but there hasn't even been a casting announcement for the film, which leads me to believe that it could just be an overzealous fan with some time on their hands (and Photoshop on their computer). There had been some chatter that Firefly's Nathan Fillion was in talks for the lead, but nothing was ever confirmed.
Hex is the story of a former confederate solider turned bounty hunter with a drinking problem and an itchy trigger finger. In the original run of the comic, Hex stuck to traditional western story lines, but in a later incarnation, there was a touch of the supernatural thrown in; pitting Jonah against zombies and werewolves. Warners first announced the project last year, with Crank's Mark Neveldine and Brian Taylor to write and direct; the two had promised that they would be using the later 'supernatural' editions of Hex as a starting point for the story.
But for now, it's all rumor and speculation, so stay tuned to Cinematical for the official word.
UPDATE: Shock says it's a fake, straight from the mouth of Mark Neveldine. So there goes that ...
UPDATE 2: FSR spoke to Jane who says the photo is real, and it was part of his audition to play the character.
Tribeca Review: Trucker
Filed under: Drama », Tribeca », Theatrical Reviews »
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I was completely honest with actress Michelle Monaghan yesterday when I told her, right at the beginning of a one-on-one interview, that I'd been waiting a long time to watch her come alive in a role. In her relatively short career, Monaghan has already racked up quite the resume -- appearing in films like Mission Impossible III, Gone Baby Gone, The Bourne Supremacy, The Heartbreak Kid and the soon-to-be-released Made of Honor. She's got a great, girl-next-door quality about her, but is she memorable? The good news here is that Monaghan finally delivered the sort of performance I've known was trapped somewhere inside her, hidden behind a variety of big, flashy Hollywood films. Make no mistake, this is her film. She owns it. But is that enough to convince you to see it?
In Trucker, she plays Diane, a female truck driver with one helluva edge -- not to mention a knack for drinking lots of hard liquor and taking part in more than a few unhealthy one-night-stands. She's a selfish woman with not many friends; she knows just what she needs to keep on truckin', and she knows just how to get it. Thing is, you'll never see her give anything back. These personality traits become a problem when Diane's 11-year-old estranged son (Jimmy Bennett) shows up on her doorstep one day -- brought by his soon-to-be stepmother (Joey Lauren Adams) when colon cancer forces the kid's dad (Benjamin Bratt) into the hospital. These two, mother and son, don't care for one another, nor are they interested in getting better acquainted. He needs a place to crash for three weeks, and she needs to find a way to let that happen.
Joss Whedon Makes a Musical with Nathon Fillion and NPH!?
Filed under: Music & Musicals », Casting », RumorMonger », Home Entertainment »
So ... during a recent chat with AICN, Neil Patrick Harris said: "I'm doing a web short film that Joss Whedon is directing and wrote called DR. HORRIBLE'S SING-A-LONG BLOG. That's a musical about super villains and crossing my fingers for the next round of Dancing With The Stars. (long pause) No ..." This, of course, led to a flurry of comments over at Whedonesque, and Joss himself finally weighed in, giving us another reason to love the Internet.Joss says: "The bag is catless. During the strike I started writing a musical intended as a limited internet series, 3 episodes of approximately 10 minutes each." He managed to get interest in the project, and this week, they started shooting. As Whedon describes it: "It's the story of a low-rent super-villain, the hero who keeps beating him up, and the cute girl from the laundromat he's too shy to talk to." I'm getting flashbacks to The Venture Brothers and 40 Days and 40 Nights, but I don't care!
Just to make it even better -- NPH is Dr. Horrible, who I presume is the super-villain, Nathan Fillion is Captain Hammer (mean ol' superhero?), and Felicia Day is Penny. Day, by the way, was the young newbie slayer Vi on Buffy the Vampire Slayer.
Now if only Joss could give us more, regular, moving media work.
Indies on DVD: 'Waitress,' 'The Namesake,' 'Manufactured Landscapes'
Filed under: Comedy », Documentary », Drama », Foreign Language », Independent », New on DVD », Cinematical Indie »
Have you recovered from your holiday eating binge? Are you ready for some pie? Reviewing Waitress at Sundance earlier this year, Cinematical's James Rocchi described it as "a light, breezy romantic comedy with a crackerjack cast and a certain degree of faux-Southern charm that never descends to cornpone mawkishness, and also has a whip-smart comedic sensibility in every scene." The late Adrienne Shelly wrote, directed, and co-stars with Keri Russell, Nathan Fillion and Andy Griffith. The DVD includes several featurettes and an audio commentary with Russell and producer Michael Roiff. The Namesake very much impressed our own Kim Voynar, who called it "a deeply felt look at the ties of family and birthplace, the loneliness of living far from your home, and the connections that hold everything together, sometimes in ways we don't appreciate until much later." Mira Nair directed; the film stars Irfan Khan, Tabu, Kal Penn and Sahira Nair. The DVD features an audio commentary by director Nair and several featurettes, plus deleted scenes.
Critics gave high marks (83% positive, per Rotten Tomatoes) to documentary Manufactured Landscapes. It's said to be an "investigation of photographer Edward Burtynsky's legacy, with its aesthetic studies of industrial landscapes. ... It uses the topic of Burtynsky as a springboard." Jennifer Baichwal directed. The DVD includes additional scenes, a stills gallery and a discussion with Baichwal and Burtynsky.
We can never get too many rebellious child prodigy dramas, can we? Vitus fairly well divided critics: 34 positive and 21 negative, according to Rotten Tomatoes. The veteran and versatile Bruno Ganz is the most recognizable name in the cast. The DVD features an interview with Ganz, a "making of" feature and an audio commentary by director Fredi M. Murer.
DVD of the Week: 'Serenity' Collector's Edition
Filed under: DVD Reviews », New on DVD », Home Entertainment », Hold the 'Fone »
As Scott Weinberg has already noted elsewhere, Nathan Fillion just can't catch a break. His career is littered with cancelled TV series and movies few people have seen ... but that doesn't mean he doesn't have fans. Me, I love this guy and everything he does; in fact, when we named our celebrity crushes a while back, Nathan Fillion was mine. Who knows, maybe I like him because he hasn't hit it big yet -- and because his choices, while maybe not so commercial, are never less than interesting. (Also, I'm fascinated by his goofy hair.)
Serenity was the first thing I ever saw Fillion in. I went in knowing nothing about Firefly, the TV series on which it was based, except that it was the brainchild of Buffy creator Joss Whedon, upon whom many of my (straight) guy friends had developed crushes of their own. And I was delighted to discover a hidden gem of a film, a smart, funny, quirky sci-fi movie that sacrifices nothing to action, pace or intergalactic adventure. It's also a Western. Yes, just roll with it. Fillion plays Captain Malcolm "Mal" Reynolds, who leads a ragtag crew across the civil-wartorn universe as a freelance pilot and thief. (Sound like anyone else you know? Rhymes with "Dan Schmolo"?) Grand adventures ensue, which involve the crew's transport of brainwashed ninja chick River (Summer Glau), Mal's rescue of pseudo-girlfriend and courtesan Inara (Morena Baccarin), the discovery of a drug that wipes out civilizations, and some badass fight scenes. I was surprised to like a genre film quite so much, and I championed it as such ... that is, until six months later, when I found a new genre fave in Slither, which also starred Nathan Fillion. Coincidence? I don't think so.
Rent or buy the DVD | Watch the trailer
Bonus Points: This two-disc collector's edition isn't just some hastily glommed-together retread. There are over 60 minutes of new features (most of which were on an Australian edition of the DVD, now offered to U.S. fans in response to demand) including extended scenes; commentary by Whedon, Fillion, Glau, Adam Baldwin and Ron Glass; and various featurettes on the TV show, the ship and River's past. So you'll have plenty to occupy yourself -- if you're a sci-fan, until Battlestar Galactica starts, and if you're a fellow Fillion fanatic, until the Waitress DVD comes out (and don't get me started on how much I love that movie.)
Also Recommended:
The Lives of Others
Who says German spies aren't lovable? This drama justly won the 2007 Oscar for Best Foreign Film, despite how hard I was rooting for Pan's Labyrinth. (Check out the indie DVD post on Lives of Others.)
Harrison Ford Returning for 'Indiana Jones 5'?
A Trailer for Gyllenhaal and Maguire's 'Brothers'
Ron Weaseley Has Swine Flu
Quick List: Romance for Boys
Christian Bale's Rollercoaster Career
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