RocknRolla Tagged Articles at Cinematical

Tattoos in the movies have a storied history, from the simple, classic LOVE/HATE knuckle tattoos in The Night of the Hunter to the slick and sexy additions to Angelina Jolie's existing body art in last summer's Wanted. Recent movies like The Curious Case of Benjamin Button and Eastern Promises have used tattoos to great effect; in Button, Captain Mike's homemade tattoos both referred to his life on the sea as a sailor, which in that era was the most visible tattoo population, and his own father's discouragement of his hopes of becoming an artist. Instead, he brings his art with him everywhere he goes. And Eastern Promises based its tattoos (hello, Viggo in his undies sipping a shot of vodka getting tattooed) on the heavily researched Russian tattoos and their different signifiers in the gangster underworld.

Unfortunately, most recent movies have the tendency to slap some crappy tribal on a character to make him or her seem more bad-ass, which, given the context of tattoos in the movies, is kind of understandable. But what's not is just how freaking terrible they are! Here are my personal picks of the worst ink spilled onscreen, plus a bonus mention for the most gorgeous tattoos in a movie, both in design and story use.

Pictured (clockwise from upper left): Pride and Glory, Vicky Cristina Barcelona, RockNRolla, Hulk Vs.

I'm shocked -- shocked!! -- that I can recommend a rental on all four featured titles. I'll search more diligently for titles to skip in coming weeks.

Vicky Cristina Barcelona
Woody Allen's sojourn across Europe continues in this critically-praised comedy / drama / romance, featuring the Academy Award-nominated Penélope Cruz, plus Javier Bardem, Scarlett Johansson, and Rebecca Hall. James Rocchi called it "a bright, cool comedy of manners and mores, as refreshing and subtly intoxicating as a tall drink of sangria." Also on Blu-ray. Rent it.

Pride and Glory
Though some unfavorably compared it with We Own the Night, I much preferred Gavin O'Connor's striking, stirring New York City police 'brothers and father at odds' drama. Sure, it's familiar territory, but it struck me as piercing and emotionally authentic. With Colin Farrell, Edward Norton, Jon Voight, and Noah Emmerich. Also on Blu-ray. Rent it.

RocknRolla
As a friend surmised, Guy Ritchie returns to form with another fast-paced criminal misandventure. Ritchie at top form is still not my favorite cup of tea -- this movie slid out of my memory as painlessly as it went in -- but Ritchie die-hards and fans of Gerard Butler, Tom Wilkinson, Thandie Newton, and incomprehensible slang can satisfy their curiosity. Also on Blu-ray. Rent it.

Hulk Vs.
Two new animated features: Hulk vs. Wolverine and Hulk vs. Thor. Let me repeat: Hulk vs. Wolverine! Hulk vs. Thor! Hulk vs. Wolverine! Hulk vs. Thor! Total running time: 78 minutes. Also on Blu-ray. Rent it.

Also out: Closing the Ring (the one with Mischa Barton naked), College, Lakeview Terrace, The Lucky Ones, Open Season 2, The Rocker, and Sharks in Venice.

After the jump: Indies on DVD, New on Blu-ray (Bourne!), and Collector's Corner.

I thought it would be an easy task to write about this year's best examples of on-screen chemistry. It's my favorite part of the cinematic experience, and one of the most important pieces of the puzzle. Without chemistry, any film is destined to fall quickly and be forgotten. Remember The Mexican? Brad and Julia might have been stars, but it takes a lot more than a big name to make a movie.

But who to choose? While I loathed the big-screen adaptation of Sex and the City, Carrie and Big have always held that certain something. Happy-Go-Lucky contained a wonderful romance, but it wasn't the thing of legend. I could certainly cite Maggie Gyllenhaal in The Dark Knight, and how she was a refreshing breath of charismatic air after the bland coupling of Christian Bale and Katie Holmes. (Heck, I can't even add in female ensembles, because the ladies from Sex and the City were too busy with romantic drama, and the Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants 2 could have been called Sisterhood of the We're too Old for This Crap.)

But none of these, nor the many other couples that graced our screens in 2008, came close to the halls of bromance. The only duos that contained palpable, memorable chemistry over the last year have been men. (Funny for a nation where Proposition 8 can get passed, but I digress...) Bromance isn't usually the theme to lead chemistry lists, but when a year brings us awesome blockbusters, but barely a whiff of spine-tingling sexual tension, we have to take what we can get.

While in London last week visiting the set of Sherlock Holmes, Cinematical had a chance to sit down with producers Joel Silver and Susan Downey and chat up a bunch of projects that may or may not still be in the works. There's been a whole bunch of chatter recently surrounding Lethal Weapon 5, and how Mel Gibson didn't want to do it, but Shane Black did ... blah blah blah. Well Cinematical asked Silver flat out whether a Lethal sequel was in the cards, and here's what he had to say: "No, I tried and we talked about it, but it was something that Mel didn't want to do now. It doesn't mean that he wants to do it ever, but as of right now, he didn't, and if we can do it, it would be fun to do. Shane (Black) had a great take on it, a great idea, great feeling about it. He did a really complex kind of treatment/outline, very complicated and very good, but we can do it one day. The idea that they wanted to get it up right away, we couldn't do that, but we'll see what happens."

Both Sgt. Rock (based on the popular comic) and a remake of The Dirty Dozen are in similar situations. Both projects had been circling Guy Ritchie, but following RockNRolla, the writer-director wanted to go back to work right away and not only was Sherlock Holmes "different and unique," but it was also the farthest along in development.

It's Halloween weekend, and while you can certainly take in a new spooky flick (The Haunting of Molly Hartley) or two (Saw V), it seems the weekend's biggest film is a comedy. Kevin Smith's hilariously raunchy Zack and Miri Make a Porno finally arrives on the big screen today, for those who'd rather spend this ghoulish holiday laughing at two fools from Pittsburgh who desperately try to create a DIY porno for money to pay the bills. I've seen the film and if you dig a lot of potty mouth in your comedy, then you won't walk away disappointed.

You're on your own for the other two, though word is RockNRolla is very similar to Guy Ritchie's other Brit gangster flicks, only the faces in the cast have changed. Look for several badass characters with and without accents all vying for some sort of whatever that's worth a lot of money. I'm sure it's entertaining, if you don't mind Ritchie's repetitiveness. I know nothing of The Haunting of Molly Hartley, except that practically no one has seen it (typical for a Hollywood horror film). That said, it probably brings the creep factor and if you're itching for some spoonfuls of spooky on Halloween, this might be the way to go.

Of course, if you live in and around New York City, I will instead urge you to go see my favorite documentary of the year (which goes into limited release today), Dear Zachary, which is currently sporting a whopping 100% at Rotten Tomatoes. Yay!

So, what will you be watching?



Note: We've left off the Changeling, "all of the above" or "none of the above" options, so feel free to write those in the comments if that's your choice.

The sequels were king this past weekend with High School Musical 3 and Saw V pulling in large groups from wildly different demographics (or at least one hopes so). Last week's other new release Pride and Glory came in with a less than stellar fifth place. Here's the top five:

1. High School Musical 3: Senior Year: $42 million
2. Saw V: $30 million
3. Max Payne: $7.6 million
4. Beverly Hills Chihuahua: $6.8 million
5. Pride & Glory: $6.2 million

We've got two new releases this week hoping to pull in both laughs and shrieks. We've also got a couple expanding into wider release.

The Haunting of Molly Hartley
What's It All About: After surviving a murder attempt committed by her psychotic mother, Molly Hartley tries for a new lease on life at a new private school, but she learns that something truly evil is in store for her on her 18th birthday.
Why It Might Do Well: Hellooo! Halloween?
Why It Might Not Do Well: Star power is limited to veterans of teen fair like 90210 and Gossip Girl which doesn't give the film broad appeal.
Number of Theaters: 2,250
Prediction: $12 million

Zack and Miri Make a Porno
What's It All About: Kevin Smith wrote and directed this comedy about two down on their luck platonic friends (Seth Rogen and Elizabeth Banks) who decide the answer to their money problems is to make a porn film together.
Why It Might Do Well: Smith is the guy behind the Clerks movies, Chasing Amy and Dogma, and Rogen has Knocked Up, Superbad and The 40 Year Old Virgin on his resume.
Why It Might Not Do Well: The last time Smith did a film without Jay and Silent Bob we got Jersey Girl.
Number of Theaters: 3,000
Prediction: $22 million

And Expanding into Wider Release:
Changeling
What's It All About: Clint Eastwood directs and Angelina Jolie stars in this story based on true events. Jolie plays a mother in 1928 Los Angeles who confronts corrupt police after her son is kidnapped and another child is returned in his place.
Why It Might Do Well: High powered people on both sides of the camera and a plot that will tug at the heart strings. Also, when it went into limited release last week it had the highest per screen average of the week.
Why It Might Not Do Well: 52% at Rottentomatoes.com is nothing to brag about.
Number of Theaters: 1,800
Prediction: $9 million

RockNRolla
What's It All About: Guy Ritchie directs this comedy/crime drama about a London real estate scam and the various felons mixed up in it.
Why It Might Do Well: The trailer pleases and 60% at Rottentomatoes.com is within the Fresh range.
Why It Might Not Do Well: Still a pretty small release.
Number of Theaters: 800
Prediction: $6 million

As a Kevin Smith fan I was hoping Zack and Miri would get a number one release, but I think High School Musical 3 has got the legs to hold the top spot for another week. Also, this being Halloween weekend, we can probably expect the horror flicks to have an edge. Here's my prediction.

1. High School Musical 3
2. Zack and Miri Make a Porno
3. Saw V
4. The Haunting of Molly Hartley
5. Changeling

For the first time in awhile we've got not one but TWO perfect scores, so congrats to Pat Campbell and cough. This week was a bit easier to call so overall the scores were higher. Here's the rundown:
1. Pat Campbell: 16
1. cough: 16
2. NP: 13
2. dtzamaras: 13
2. lostinafog: 13
2. Ray: 13
2. VP: 13
2. Gregory Rubinstein: 13
3. Matt: 12
3. hitesh choudhary: 12
3. AJ Wiley: 12
4. Bradford Oman: 11
4. Alex Farquharson: 11
4. Herff: 11
4. Harless?: 11
4. I Eat Robots: 11
5. Vera: 9
5. Tristan: 9
6. Chris: 6
6. DarkAgair: 6
7. jeff romagnuolo: 4

Post your predictions for the top five movies in the comments section below before 5:00PM Eastern Time on Friday. One point for every top five movie correctly named, two points for every correct placement, and one extra point for the top movie.

Saw some movies last weekend. Some trailers, too. One was for a kidnapping thriller called Taken. A young woman is kidnapped, presumably for ransom, but little do the criminals know that their captive's father is some sort of secret agent badass who will stop at nothing to get his daughter back. Distressingly standard-issue stuff. Even worse, arguably, was The Uninvited -- just the title is so trite it practically begs you to forget it. I mean, this is at least the twelfth movie called The Uninvited. (For the record, there have only been seven Takens.) The plot concerns a teenager who returns home following the death of her mother to find that dad has shacked up with a new girlfriend who, it would appear, is a serial murderess. Also, there are ghosts, J-horror style.

This is not promising. Ordinarily I'd drag myself to these movies out of a sense of obligation, or skip them altogether. (Well, Luc Besson's involvement in Taken would probably ensure a viewing.) But wait -- who are those actors? What is Liam Neeson doing lending his gravitas to a Jason Bourne-style figure with a personal vendetta? And is that Elizabeth Banks, taking time out from being charming and hilarious to play an evil step mother/serial killer who threatens to choke Emily Browning with a pearl necklace?

You'd think that being married to Madonna, Guy Ritchie would have picked up on the value of occasionally reinventing oneself. But no, he keeps making the same movie, the same ultra-cool exercises in British gangster violence and stylish criminal shenanigans, and RockNRolla is the latest entry. Then again, the one time he did try something different, the result was Swept Away, so maybe he's wise to stay in his comfort zone.

At any rate, RockNRolla inspires strong feelings of "meh" in me. It's not nearly as clever, funny, or stylish as Snatch or Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels, though the accents are a lot less indecipherable this time around, so that's nice. It's also not as good as Gangster No. 1 or Sexy Beast or many of the other gritty British gangster capers that have come around in the last several years. It feels like a rerun -- which isn't necessarily a bad thing, after all. People watch reruns all the time.

Our narrator is Archie (Mark Strong), who works as the calm, suave right-hand man to Lenny (Tom Wilkinson), the most powerful money-lender and underworld boss in London. Half the city's councilors, judges, and cops are in Lenny's pocket, and he has leveraged this influence into a massive fortune in real estate.

Lenny is not a figure to be messed with, but the Russians don't know that. A new mover and shaker named Uri (Karel Roden) has come to town to strike a deal with Lenny -- it involves paying Lenny to bribe city officials to get a construction project underway -- and he's a formidable figure himself. Lenny is old school; Uri is dangerously modern.

Death is ever present at the Toronto International Film Festival, both in the movies and in the eyes of the patrons dragging themselves to 9 a.m. screenings after a night of partying. Plenty of films treat the subject seriously -- you are never far from an indie drama in which someone mourns someone else's death -- but it's played for laughs quite a bit, too.

Ghost Town does the best job of it so far, neatly toying with the Sixth Sense model and finding plenty of comedy in people who see dead people. It stars Ricky Gervais as Bertram Pincus, a curmudgeonly dentist who, after a near-death experience, finds that he can see and hear the many ghosts who wander Manhattan. The comic twist: He hates people, dead or alive, and has no interest in helping anyone finish their unfinished business.

His most persistent dead acquaintance is Frank (Greg Kinnear), an adulterous jerk who wants to prevent his widow, Gwen (Tea Leoni), from remarrying. Pincus agrees to interrupt her new relationship solely because he has a crush on her himself, and that's good enough for Frank.

There's an awful lot going on here -- fulfilling dead people's requests, breaking up a romance, and learning to love humanity comprises a busy agenda for one character, and Ghost Town could stand some trimming and toning. But it's often hilarious, too, primarily because of Gervais' fine-tuned snark and misanthropy. If the film is little more than his attempt to break out of the "cult following" category and find mainstream American success, more power to him. He deserves it, and Ghost Town is an auspicious start.

Ghost Town's premise is supernatural but reasonably familiar to filmgoers. Somewhat more bizarre is Dean Spanley, a wonderfully charming and whimsical comedy about an Anglican priest who believes he is the reincarnation of a dog.