The Objective Tagged Articles at Cinematical

A horror flick that takes place in Afghanistan in November of 2001? Intriguing, to be sure, but I'll admit to being more than a little skeptical as I walked in to check out Daniel Myrick's The Objective. I was half-expecting some sort of run-of-the-mill occult thriller that got mixed with modern warfare ... just because it's a topical thing to do. Happily, those assumptions turned out to be completely wrong. Since it works much better as a bleak adventure flick and a very sweaty psychological thriller, it'd probably be inaccurate to label The Objective as an out-and-out horror flick -- but I enjoyed it anyway, which means that most of the other genre fans probably will too. Heck, how often do you get to check out a movie described as a wartime horror thriller sci-fi adventure drama?

Without spoiling anything, here's the gist: On the hunt for a contact who will direct him toward some "WMDs," CIA agent Ben Keynes has returned to Afghanistain after a ten-year absence, and it's there that he takes charge of a gung-ho, no-nonsense, bad-ass military unit. Keynes has a very shady assignment, but his new charges are on a need-to-know basis ... and suffice it to say that the CIA guy's secret assignment is, well, it's pretty frickin' weird. On the surface, though, Keynes and his new troop must head out into the staggeringly unforgiving desert, and it's there that their mission goes from mysterious to bad to a whole hell of a lot worse. Suffice to say that something not human is definitely involved, but our heroes will have to make it through some perfectly mortal enemies before discovering any secrets.

Remember those lines in your high school yearbook that claimed so and so was most likely to do such and such? You know, like most likely to succeed, most likely to be famous, most likely to be the target of a senatorial investigation. That's the angle were going with today as we look at five recent trailers with an eye for what they're most likely to accomplish.

The Spirit
This one is the movie most likely to have people saying "who the hell is The Spirit." This is a character with a long and illustrious history in the world of comics (check out his Wikipedia entry for the full story) who was created by one of the acknowledged masters of the form, but outside of the comics niche, most people have never heard of him. To the best of my knowledge, the only time the character appeared in another medium was when Sam Jones of Flash Gordon fame played the him in a failed TV pilot in 1987. This film version is directed by Frank Miller and his Sin City style is very much in evidence. I like the look, and I like the fact that Miller has The Spirit leaping off the title logo as he often did in the comics. Here's what Elisabeth thought of it.

Sea of Dust
This is the film most likely to give people Grindhouse flashbacks, as long as you see the version of the trailer that's up on Youtube or the one at upcominghorrormovies.com. The preview has the intentionally worn and scratched look consistent with what Robert Rodriguez and Quentin Tarantino did with Grindhouse. Not exactly an original idea, but it looks cool and it certainly got my attention. Oddly, the version shown on the film's official site doesn't have the weathered look. This period horror flick is an homage to both the classic Hammer horror films and the works of Italian scare maestro Mario Bava (there's a scene with a dank dungeon hallway lit with multi-colored lights that's pure Bava). The film stars Tom Savini as the villainous Prester John whose evil threatens the residents of a small village, with Hammer films alumnus Ingrid Pitt (The Vampire Lovers, Countess Dracula) also starring. I'm still a bit hazy on the plot even after reading the synopsis at the official site, but I love Hammer and Bava, so I have to see this one.

Continuing along with our pre-coverage of the 2008 Tribeca Film Festival, above is the trailer for The Objective; directed by Daniel Myrick (co-director of The Blair Witch Project). This one has a very strange vibe to it; it's set in Afghanistan three days after 9/11 and it revolves around a group of Special-Ops soldiers and one reporter on a mission for Al Qaeda weapons when they "find themselves lost in a Middle Eastern 'Bermuda Triangle' of Ancient Evil," so says the synopsis on YouTube. From the looks of the trailer, it has a Predator meets Blair Witch Project in Afghanistan feel -- which, honestly, is pretty damn cool. Karina over at Spout says, "... it looks like Myrick has dropped the shaky-cam, subjects-as-spectactors-as-hunted faux-documentary thing in favor of stable cameras and polished HD." No snot or motion sickness? We're SO there!

For more on The Objective, check out the film's official Tribeca Fest page.

Sure, you'd like to audition for a movie. Heck, you watch lots of movies, and you know you could act better than half those losers they cast in them anyhow. But you don't live in New York or Los Angeles. Maybe you live in Duluth, or Oklahoma City, or Juneau, or Addis Ababa, and it's not so easy for you to get to an audition. Now's your big chance.

Daniel Myrick, one of the creators of the hugely successful The Blair Witch Project (which, I swear, still creeps me out even to this day), is casting for his new film, a supernatural thriller called The Objective -- and he's doing his casting online, all the better to find "real people," hopefully with real talent. They're casting for the following roles:

• Warrant Office Wallace "Wally" Hamer (age 45)
• Captain Matt McCarthy (age 34)
• Peter Sadler (age 36)
• Corporal Timothy Cole (age 25)
• Master Sergeant Ben Kitch (age 33)

Interested? Go check out the official casting site for the film. Sounds like the parts they're casting are all for men but hey, if you're a woman and you want to give it a shot, it's no skin off our nose. And hey, if you end up getting cast in the film, drop us a line and let us know.