SmokinAces Tagged Articles at Cinematical

So it's with great anticipation that his supporters look toward 2010, when Carnahan directs again for the first time in four years. His summer studio flick, an update of the television show The A-Team, has earned buzz with a newly unveiled teaser trailer and, he assured Cinematical, will not disappoint fans of the original series. But first, Carnahan offers a more immediate treat for his fans: Smokin' Aces 2: Assassin's Ball, a prequel to Smokin' Aces on DVD this week that stars Tom Berenger, Clayne Crawford, Michael Parks, Vinnie Jones, and Autumn Reeser as the Tremor sister we never knew existed (in a cackling, guns-blazing performance that will eradicate the memory of her goody-two-shoes role on The O.C.).

Full interview after the jump.

Cinematical spoke with "Smokin'" Joe Carnahan today as he hit the press for next week's Smokin' Aces 2, a prequel to his 2006 shoot 'em up bonanza that he lovingly executive produced. (Check back for our full interview next week.) His next film, this summer's adaptation of the gloriously cheesy '80s series The A-Team, will be his biggest film to date - but after having a number of projects start and stop over the past few years (including a remake of Otto Preminger's Bunny Lake is Missing, an adaptation of James Ellroy's White Jazz, and Killing Pablo, the development of which was infamously parodied on HBO's Entourage), what will Carnahan tackle next?

Keeping mum on whether or not The A-Team could yield sequels if it opens big this June, Carnahan clarified what he'd like to put on his upcoming slate. "There's a film that I wrote that I want to do called The Grey," he shared, "which is about a group of pipeline workers in Alaska flying back into civilization after being remote for a number of months. The 737 they're on goes down, and they begin to be hunted by a pack of rogue wolves. It's very much a man vs. nature adventure, existentialist kind of drama that I want to do. We're very, very close to it now."

Continued: Joe Carnahan on Killing Pablo, White Jazz, and Bunny Lake is Missing

Anticipation for some films burns like a white hot ember, while others inspire a resounding "meh!". Empire Movie News has posted that the prequel to 2006's Smokin' Aces -- which was written and directed by Joe Carnahan -- is moving forward. As Carnahan posted on his official site, "Finally, some actual Smokin' Aces news. Universal has officially greenlit the prequel and we are underway. Cameos will abound. Trust me."

Smokin' Aces told the story of Buddy Israel, (Jeremy Piven) a coked up Vegas performer who is about to testify against the mob. Once the news of the one million dollar contract on Buddy's head hits the streets, pretty much everyone in the western hemisphere who knows how to use a gun is out to blow him away. Since the original film took an "everybody dies" approach, the prequel seems like the smart way to go, though it remains to be seen how many members of the original (and pretty damn impressive) cast will be coming back. The Empire article suggests that the prequel might go straight to DVD, but time will tell.

Personally I find myself in the "meh" category. The original was a staccato barrage of violence that tried to be Pulp Fiction for people with short attention spans. Given the facts that the original currently has a 27% rotten rating at Rottentomatoes.com and that it pulled in a mere $35 million during its theatrical run, I can't imagine too many folks are salivating in anticipation of the further adventures of Buddy Israel and the many people who want him dead. What do we think, people? Does the world need a Smokin' Aces prequel?

Joe Carnahan has written a letter to his fans on his personal website -- smokinjoecarnahan.com -- regarding the upcoming direct-to-DVD prequel to this year's Smokin' Aces. Ryan alerted you to the prequel here. I thought Smokin' Aces was a pretty cool flick. I completely forgot it five minutes after I saw it, but I had a blast at the time, and I appreciated how different in tone it was from Narc -- Carnahan's previous film. Carnahan has a full plate right now -- with White Jazz, Killing Pablo, and Bunny Lake is Missing in various stages of pre-production -- and will not write or direct the new Aces film. But he does seem determined to make sure that it's a quality project. Says Carnahan: "The Nigerians and I came up with a fairly simple story that is, I think, about as politically topical as you can get, under the guise of a balls-out barnburner of an action flick." As for 'the Nigerians,' Carnahan promises you'll soon know who they are, and fear not, fans of the original -- Carnahan "can say, with some certainty, that the Tremor Brothers will be returning."

Carnahan also addresses the bad rap that a lot of straight-to-DVD titles get, but he insists this will be different. "I think the only reason to ever do something that goes straight-to-DVD (which has this malodorous vibe for some reason) is that it gives you the ability to really push it. And I don't mean pushing the obvious sex/violence tandem but pushing CONTENT and doing things from a straight storytelling angle that they (the studio) would never allow in a 'mainstream' theatrical release." He adds "That's what's exciting. Going out and sneaking up on an unsuspecting audience and doing something smart and timely and somewhat radical in tone." I think in most cases, the bad rap DVD-only flicks get is totally deserved, but it's always exciting to find an abandoned gem (Anyone have a favorite?). If this thing really turns out "smart," "timely," OR "radical," as Carnahan promises, it'd be head and shoulders above most of the DVD stuff out there.

I was fortunate enough to attend a special screening of Smokin' Aces a few months back, and after the movie ended I (and a bunch of other writers) got to sit down and shoot the breeze with writer/director Joe Carnahan. First off, say what you will about the guy, but he sure does know his movies. I've met filmmakers whose eyes got all glassy when I mentioned Walter Hill or Michael Ritchie, but Carnahan can movie-geek with the best of 'em. But when one of the journalists raised the topic of Quentin Tarantino, well, Joe had a lot to say about that.

According to this juicy article at the Sydney Morning Herald, Joe Carnahan will bite your head off if you compare his latest movie to Reservoir Dogs or Pulp Fiction ... but I think this writer may have misrepresented Joey's tone of voice. When we sat down and discussed the exact same things that are covered in that article, Carnahan spoke quite respectfully of QT. He did, however, make it a point to say something like "Hey, Quentin didn't invent guns and hitmen and rapid-fire dialogue, you know!" -- but I never once got the impression that he was knocking Tarantino at all.

Is Smokin' Aces, in your opinion, too reminiscent of Quentin's flicks? Is it unfair to call one filmmaker a copycat of Tarantino if QT spent his entire career copycatting other filmmakers? (Don't get me wrong; I adore Tarantino's movies, but to label his subject matter as "original" is kind of a joke.) Frankly I don't think Carnahan deserves the copycat label, although I can plainly see where the comparisons are coming from. Smokin' Aces actually reminded me more of Running Scared than Pulp Fiction, but if a director wants to do a hard-R, tongue-in-cheek action flick, it seems he's bound to get painted with the Quentin brush. Kinda unfair, if you ask me.

OK, so you made it through last week (with nothing more than The Hitcher) without your weekly review roundup, but I'm back from Sundance and just itchin' to get through this newest batch of ... January ... releases. Ugh, I can't even feign excitement with movies this lame. But wait ... is one of 'em actually good? Let's sift through those pros and cons.

Blood and Chocolate (2 positive / 21 negative reviews at RottenTomatoes.com)

Pro: "There's something refreshingly low-tech about (this) werewolf romance." -- John Larsen, LarsenOnFilm.com

Con: "The dialogue ranges from cliches to lines that are so impossibly ridiculous that it must be intentional." -- Peter Hartlaub, San Francisco Chronicle

Pro: "Better than it has any right to be." -- Josh Tyler, CinemaBlend.com

Con: "A neutered Underworld without the vampires, action, and heavy CGI." -- Staci Layne Wilson, Horror.com

Bonus! "At least it's not yet another remake filled with the same old tricks." -- Jeffrey M. Anderson, Cinematical

Catch and Release (17 positive / 60 negative at RT.com)

Pro: "A romantic dramedy that gets it exactly right, gives us people who live and breathe and are as absolutely convincingly real as people you know." -- MaryAnn Johanson, The Flick Filosopher

Con: "The story is essentially ridiculous, and the directing debut of Erin Brockovich screenwriter Susannah Grant is a crashing failure." -- Bill Muller, The Arizona Republic

Pro: "You laugh and you cry, as the cliche goes. You get involved." -- Bruce Kirkland, Toronto Sun

Con: "The dull script is mostly to blame. We just never get a sense of who these people are." -- Jennie Punter, Globe and Mail

Bonus! "The best thing Catch and Release has going for it is a dialogue-heavy script that Grant obviously labored over." -- Jette Kernion, Cinematical

Epic Movie (Did not screen for press: 0 positive / 8 negative at RT.com)

Pro: NONE!

Con: "Almost nothing sticks. There's barely a laugh in this thing." -- Roger Moore, Orlando Sentinel

Pro: NADA!

Con: "A miserably scattershot, heavy-wheezing, comedically-challenged waste of time." -- Brian Orndorf, eFilmCritic.com

Bonus! "If all a movie can give you is a small handful of stray and listless chuckles, well, I don't really think that's a movie worthy of your eight dollars." -- Scott Weinberg, Cinematical

It's been crazy this past week, what with Sundance (where I chatted with Ginnifer Goodwin about high school reunions and salad on a stick) and Oscar nominations (I wasn't shocked at the Dreamgirls snub, but the exclusion of Guillermo del Toro for Best Director broke my heart). On top of all that, there are a few medium-size movies opening this weekend, making for one of the toughest box office predictions yet.

Epic Movie: From the writers of the Scary Movie series and Date Movie comes another spoof, this one tackling such sacred cows as Pirates of the Caribbean and The Chronicles of Narnia. Let's see, the Scary Movie films have made a gazillion dollars (yes, that's a real number), and Date Movie earned $19 million over last year's three-day President's Day weekend, finishing second to Disney's Eight Below. Clearly audiences have a taste for this kind of movie, and it should do pretty well. Hey, mindless entertainment makes the world go 'round. I've logged countless hours slack-jawed in front of my TV to prove it.
Watch the trailer | Get showtimes & tix | Read synopsis | See photos

Catch and Release: Jennifer Garner stars as a woman whose fiancé dies on the eve of their wedding; Timothy Olyphant (Seth Bullock on HBO's Deadwood) is the hottie who heals her pain. All hail the chick flick! This marks the solo directorial debut of Susannah Grant, who co-directed Charlotte's Web and wrote Erin Brockovich and In Her Shoes. Reviews are middling (49 out of 100 is pretty much exactly in the middle, no?), but this sort of film, like Epic Movie, is review-proof. I still want to see it, and I'll probably wind up watching it 15 times on cable, just like I get sucked in whenever Garner's 13 Going on 30 airs. Hmm, I may be revealing a bit too much about my TV-watching habits in this post ...
Watch the trailer | Get showtimes & tix | See photos | See rising TV stars

Smokin' Aces: Forget what I said about hailing the chick flick. All hail The Piven is what I really meant. That would be Jeremy Piven, aka Ari Gold on HBO's (again with the HB and O!) Entourage. Piven stars as a two-bit hustler in Vegas who pisses off the wrong mobster and finds himself on the run when the kingpin takes out a contract on his life. We've got violence, we've got yooge stars (Ben Affleck, Andy Garcia, Ray Liotta, Common, and Alicia Keys in her big-screen debut), we've got a flick that appeals to young men and has little competition. Could go either way, but never forget the appeal of violence and Vegas, baby! Vegas!
Watch the trailer | Get showtimes & tix | See Piven & Common chat

Also opening wide: Werewolf flick Blood and Chocolate, The Departed (studio is re-releasing)

Anything could happen this week, folks; may as well post the movies up on a wall and throw a dart at it. Go on and take your best shot -- by noon Saturday, please. My picks:

1. Epic Movie
2. Smokin' Aces
3. Dreamgirls
4. Catch and Release
5. Night at the Museum

POST: What's your weekend top five prediction?

POST: What do you think of these movies?

I wasn't a big fan of Joe Carnahan's Blood, Guts, Bullets and Octane, but the low-low-budget crime thriller was successful enough to land the guy a big-time studio gig. That project was Narc, which I dug quite a bit, to my pleasant surprise. (Hey, I'm a sucker for Ray Liotta's tough guy routine.) For a while there it looked like Carnahan was going to direct Mission: Impossible 3 for Paramount, but obviously that plan fell through.

The good news is that his latest flick, entitled Smokin' Aces, looks pretty darn wild. The teaser trailer kicks off with an amusing misdirection before settling into a mega-kinetic typhoon of mayhem, so why not check it out? (Frankly the flick looks a lot like last February's Running Scared, and that's just fine by me.)

Featuring the likes of Jeremy Piven, Ben Affleck, Ray Liotta (cool!), Ryan Reynolds, Andy Garcia, Peter Berg, Alicia Keys, Jason Bateman and the underrated Nestor Carbonell, Universal's Smokin' Aces is scheduled for a February 2007 release. Ack, February?