Even though it wasn't necessarily my kind of movie, I can't deny that Enchanted was a huge hit -- and not just for the kiddies either. Looking to capitalize on some of that magic, Varietyreports that Warner Bros. has hired Enchanted director Kevin Lima to helm the adaptation of the children's fantasy novel, The Spook's Apprentice (aka, The Last Apprentice: Revenge of the Witch). Note: Thankfully, Donald Trump is not involved.
The story will be based on the first book from Joseph Delaney's The Wardstone Chronicles, and it's centered on a young farm boy named Tom in a fictionalized Ireland known as The County. Tom is the seventh son of a seventh son, which in the world of The County means he is privy to all sorts of info about ghosts and goblins. Most of the story focuses on Tom's introduction to a mysterious sorcerer known as The Spook, and his time as his apprentice.
Originally conceived as a project for Tim Burton and Johnny Depp, WB already has a script courtesy of Matt Greenberg. Now that Lima has signed to direct, his team of producers will be in charge of re-working the whole thing. In fact, the group has already flown to London to work on the script with Delaney. Lima made his name as an animator for Disney, but has proven that he is just as capable with flesh and blood actors. There is no word on a release date for Apprentice, but judging from the box office returns Lima has been earning for Disney, I doubt WB is going to waste much time.
The Montana madness continues! Now that the writer's strike is resolved, Variety reports that Disney is the latest studio to revamp their schedule and stake out some prime release dates.
Among their 2009 and 2010 releases will be The Hannah Montana Movie, to be released on May 1st, 2009 and pitted against 20th Century Fox's X-Men Origins: Wolverine.
Wolverine versus Hannah Montana. I'm laughing just thinking about it. I want someone to make a comic book cover of this right now. (Seriously. I will frame it.) My money is on Wolverine to actually win that battle, but who knows what incredible powers Montana may possess.
All sarcasm aside, I imagine this will actually be a very good move by Disney. Moms and daughters can go watch Hannah Montana, while their fathers and brothers go see Wolverine. The whole family wins!
The New York Post's Joe Neumaier claims that Jack Nicholson told London reporters that he "warned" Heath Ledger: but about what, exactly? Burning the candle at both ends? Playing a gay cowboy in a homophobic country? "Well, I warned him," is the full and exact quote. Still, under the caption of Nicholson in full purple regalia in the Post, it claims Nicholson "warned Ledger about the part [of The Joker]." Neumaier notes other reports that Ledger had slept two hours a night during the filming of The Dark Knight, and that Ledger had told the press "prescription drugs didn't help."
This might just be a ghoulish attempt to capitalize on Ledger's death by linking him to a celebrated screen and comic book villain, so I thought I'd check Burton on Burton (edited by Mark Salisbury) to see if Tim Burton recalled Nicholson going through similar angst when making the 1989 Batman, giving him grounds for worrying about the stress on another actor playing the role. Not quite. On Nicholson, Burton commented, "He was very cool...he was very calming and helpful and would just say, `Get what you need, get what you want, and just keep going.'" (Thanks to Moviefone for this tipoff.)
Gone are the days when movie clips that are barely longer than a blink of an eye take eons to download. With the wonders of streaming media, you can check out the interview above, with director Tim Burton, which is a whopping 40 minutes long and part of MCN's ongoing Lunch with David (Poland) interview series. He talks about the time that needs to pass before he can enjoy watching his movie (3-7 years), his distaste of becoming a "thing" instead of remaining a person, the struggles of getting his film made, and much much more. Much of it delves into his views on creating the cinematic version of Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street -- casting, changes from the stage production, capturing eyes and moments...
It's a good interview if you can find the time to sit down and watch it. It makes me wonder how much better DVD special features would be these days if they were personal interviews rather than impersonal video clips. There's just something about the reaction to the question, and a conversation, that's a heck of a lot more interesting than something one-sided.
No Country for Old Men could go on to win Best Director at the Oscars, but unlike the Academy, the Hollywood Foreign Press will actually recognize both of the Coen Brothers. Everyone knows that Ethan and Joel co-direct their films, but due to Director's Guild and Academy rules, only Joel is allowed credit for them. Therefore their win of the Golden Globe for Best Director will be the better honor. And boy do they deserve it! With No Country, they've delivered a stunning film that exemplifies the two major dimensions of the craft: visual storytelling and management of the acting performances.
From its surprisingly well-received sneak preview at Telluride to its box-office blowout, Ellen Page's spot-on performance as Juno, the smart, cynical teenager who gets pregnant after having sex with her best friend, struck a chord across demographics. Juno might get shut out of a Best Picture Oscar (don't count it out completely, yet, though -- it's still sitting pretty high on the roundup of critics' polls over on Movie City News); the Globes are still the film's best chance to pick up some awards' season gold.
One thing that has always impressed me about the work of Neil Gaiman -- even though the man writes fairy tales, he never sugar-coats it for the kids. Case in point: the author is now hosting a clip from the upcoming adaptation of Coraline on his personal web site, and it can probably be summed up in one word -- creepy. Based on Gaiman's Hugo award winning novella, the story focuses on a young girl who discovers an alternate world with very twisted versions of her home and family -- for starters they all have buttons sewn over their eyes. The young heroine is then charged with rescuing her family and freeing the souls of trapped children from the clutches of the "other mother."
Coraline stars the voice talents of Dakota Fanning, Jennifer Saunders and Dawn French (or as I like to call them: one of the funniest comedy duos of all time), and Teri Hatcher (Desperate Housewives) as the "other mother." The film was directed by Henry Selick, who is a stop-motion animation vet and is probably best known for directing Tim Burton's A Nightmare Before Christmas and James and the Giant Peach. Stop-motion animation is probably one of the most painstaking processes around, so I can only imagine how long it took to create the clip on Gaiman's site. Not to mention the fact that this film will be the first to use stop-motion animation in a 3D format. It almost makes you forgive the fact that it's going to a full year before Coraline finally hits theaters on January 16th, 2009.
As everyone's been saying for months now, there are going to be two basic camps of people seeing (and talking about) Tim Burton's screen adaptation of Sweeney Todd: those who've seen and love the musical on stage (and/or those who generally go into orgasms of ecstasy for Stephen Sondheim in general), and those who've never seen the stage version, but who generally go into orgasms of ecstasy for all things Burton. There are, no doubt, those who loathe Burton, but if you loathe Burton, why would you go out of your way to see one of his films anyhow?
At any rate, I fall into the second camp -- love Burton, never seen Sweeney Todd on stage. I went into the film knowing only the basic storyline, and that it was gory, and that it was directed by Burton and stars Johnny Depp. That was enough for me to want to see the film, and I wanted to see it not knowing more than that, so I've been avoiding as much as possible all the buzzing about the film on other sites. I even set aside the cool hardcover Sweeney Todd production book that arrived in the mail last week to savor after the screening, so I'd go into the film with as fresh an eye as possible.
The film opens with rivers of bright red blood flowing through the cobblestone cracks of a London nearly as dismal as the Paris we met in the opening of Tom Tykwer's Perfume: The Story of a Murderer(one of my favorite films of last year). Much as Sweeney Todd is going to be compared to Burton's Charlie and the Chocolate Factory and Edward Scissorhands, for me, right from the opening credits, it evoked Perfume more. After zooming us through a cramped, filthy, dismal London, Burton takes us onto a ship arriving in London, where we meet the beautiful and aptly named young sailer Anthony Hope (Jamie Campbell Bower, who's almost -- but not quite -- prettier than Depp), singing "No Place Like London," in which he's joined by his friend Benjamin Barker (Depp), freshly escaped from an Australian prison and returning home to a London he views with a far darker and cynical eye than the fresh-faced sailor. From the first words Barker sings -- and more, from the way Depp acts the part -- we get a sense of just how dark his story is going to be.
I've loved the musical Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street ever since my college days, when a then-boyfriend introduced me to the original Broadway soundtrack with Len Cariou and Angela Lansbury. I've never had the chance to see a live stage version, only tapes of productions: the 1982 show with George Hearn and Lansbury, and a 2001 concert of the musical numbers with Hearn and Patti LuPone (and Neil Patrick Harris as Toby, although I didn't realize it at the time). When I heard about the play being adapted for film, I was pessimistic, especially when the big-name, small-singing-voice cast was announced. Helena Bonham Carter as Mrs. Lovett? Hmpf. Although I usually am attracted to movies starring Johnny Depp, I was skeptical that he would make a believable Demon Barber.
Fortunately for me and any other fans of the musical, it turns out that the movie version of Sweeney Todd is quite charming in its dark and twisted way, although not without some flaws and odd choices. The overall look of the film is quite Burton-esque, occasionally to excess (Sweeney's outfit in the "By the Sea" number is unpleasantly jarring), but for the most part this serves the old story of the vengeful barber very well. The tone seems darker than the stage musical, perhaps because we're seeing actors and violent scenes up close.
We've already told you about Moviefone's excellent Unscripted video with director Tim Burton and his Sweeney Todd star Johnny Depp, but now Cinematical has an exclusive clip from their chat that was left on the cutting room floor. Ever wondered why Depp and Burton take on so many films together? How do they operate on set? Are they close enough to communicate with only their eyes? Interestingly enough, it appears the two men speak to each other in Vulcan -- which, of course, makes it that much easier to give and receive notes at a fast pace. Hmmm ... Vulcan? After watching the clip above, be sure to check out the full Unscripted interview over at Moviefone. It's extremely rare to watch Burton and Depp interview one another (using your questions, of which I believe we received roughly 1000 or more), so definitely take a few minutes and dive in. Use the video as a primer before heading out to see Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street when it hits theaters this weekend. Enjoy.
This week, we finally get to see what the ghoulish Sweeney Todd is made of; or, rather, what he's like in the mind of Tim Burton. Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street comes out this Friday, and Moviefone has unleashed its latest Unscripted interview between director Tim Burton and star Johnny Depp. If talk of shoes, touching moments, and letter-writing weren't up your alley with Gerard Butler and Hilary Swank in the P.S. I Love You installment, this should entertain you a little bit more.
They've both faced a mountain of scary things, from the eerie Legend of Sleepy Hollow to, well, a murderous barber, but this time around, they're both scared. I guess there's just something about unscripted reality that's a bit more daunting. There's talk of flatulent horses, how the two met, fans, reality, and Depp's inspiration for the film. Johnny talks about Steven Sondheim's music, and how that brought the character to him, but unfortunately, he doesn't mention his eerier actor practices, which came out last December -- him listening to creepy music and slicing through the air as if he was slicing throats.
But the best should come on Friday, when the film hits theaters. If you've never stepped onto Fleet Street before -- Todd is a bitter man who was wrongly imprisoned and is determined to have his vengeance. Instead of going Dexter, Todd decides to open up a barber shop to kill his victims, with the help of Mrs. Lovett (Helena Bonham Carter), a woman who knows what spices complement human flesh.
Do you like a little dark twist with your holiday movies? Maybe you're tired of always seeing Santa as the good guy, or watching some grouchy old holiday hater redeemed at the end of the movie. Perhaps you're a fan of cult movies with early appearances by unusual acting talent, bizarre and inappropriate music, or acting so amateurish you either have to laugh or run screaming from the room. In other words, you need cult films to get you through the holidays, not that contemporary Hollywood blockbuster stuff.
Originally this post was entitled "Cult Christmas Movies," but I got lucky and remembered a certain Hanukkah-related cult favorite from a few years ago. Once I started, there were so many movies to choose from. I had to decide whether Kiss Kiss Bang Bang counted as a holiday cult film (not yet), whether it was worth including Santa Claus: The Movie just because the title character is played by the actor who played the elder Jeffrey Lebowski in The Big Lebowski (David Huddleston), and whether I should include The Poseidon Adventure (or its remake) simply because I didn't have a New Year's Eve movie on the list.
Feel free to share any favorite holiday-themed cult movies that aren't on this list. 'Tis the season for some of us to enjoy some really good bad movies.
Tim Burton's The Nightmare Before Christmas is not technicallyTim Burton's. He produced the film and conceived it, but it was, in fact, written by Caroline Thompson (Edward Scissorhands) and directed by Henry Selick (who later helmed the bizarre but unjustly hated Monkeybone). Still, you feel Burton in every single frame. As audiences eagerly await Burton's Sweeney Todd, I thought this would be an ideal time to look back at his previous stab at the musical genre.
The story of Nightmare is a simple one. Jack Skellington (voiced by Prince Humperdinck himself -- Chris Sarandon, with composer Danny Elfman handling singing duties) is the "Pumpkin King" of Halloweentown, but he has become bored in the role. He literally stumbles into a place called Christmas Town, loves what he sees, and decides to hijack the holiday. Skellington even (in the film's funniest segment) takes over the gift delivery duties for Santa Claus ("Sandy Claws"). And of course, there's a not entirely necessary love interest -- Sally, voiced by an unrecognizable Catherine O'Hara.
Speaking of Elfman, the scores he has written for Tim Burton's films are some of the most memorable in modern film. Pee Wee's Big Adventure, Beetlejuice, Batman/Batman Returns, and Edward Scissorhands wouldn't have been nearly as wonderful without Elfman's glorious music. In The Nightmare Before Christmas, the music of Elfman is front and center, and his songs -- whose staccato rhythms and mixture of singing and speaking certainly owe a debt to Sweeney Todd composer Stephen Sondheim -- suit the film perfectly. The catchiest of Elfman's tunes is "What's This?" It's the kind of song you'll find yourself singing days later, during the most mundane of activities. Just this morning, I walked into the bathroom singing "What's this, what's this? My toothbrush on the sink! What's this, what's this? I'll brush my teeth I think!" Thank God I live alone.
It was over two years ago that word started to rumble that Paul Reubens, otherwise known as Pee-Wee Herman, was going to find his way to the big screen once again in two new features -- something for kids, and something a bit more adult-tantalizing. Most recently, there was word in April, when Ruebens said the one was in "pre-pre-pre-production." Making a tortoise look speedy, neither are in the works yet, but Pee-Wee talked with MTV recently and said that they're both ready to go, and gave some plot details.
The first, you might remember, is a kid-friendly spin-off of his Playhouse, featuring all the original characters. This time, however, the film would take him and his friends out of the house for the first time. "this [film] takes place out of the playhouse. I think there are one or two scenes in the playhouse in the beginning. Basically, it's all in a fantasy land. It's like a Wizard of Oz, H.R. Pufnstuf epic adventure story." The second, the "dark" Pee-Wee movie, won't be R, but it will be Herman as a famous singer: "He has a hit single and gets brought out to Hollywood to make musical movies. He does everything wrong and becomes a big jerk." He insists that it isn't biographical.
But there's the kicker. He feels confident that he can star in both, but if he doesn't... "My second option is to have Johnny Depp play Pee-Wee." He says that he has even approached Depp about it, and that Johnny told him: "Let me think about it." Could that mean Tim Burton could return to the Herman fold? Of course, Reubens also talked to him, and says: "I have talked to Tim about one of them about a year ago. But Tim is booked. I think he would be interested in it, but he's really busy."
Reubens wants to "switch into a higher gear" to get these films made in the New Year, so maybe we won't have to wait another two years before something actually happens with this production. Excited yet?
Most people consider the National Board of Review irrelevant, and yet they continue to write about the organization's annual film honors. Like the Oscars, though, it doesn't matter if the NBR is irrelevant or not. It's been around for nearly a century now, and it's been a significant part of awards season for many decades. Maybe the organization is made up of paid-entry film buffs rather than critics or "experts" but at the end of the day its members are simply movie lovers like you and me. And sometimes those members even champion and endorse movies that deserve that extra notice.
Sure, the 2007 mentions by the NBR seem so exhaustive that I almost can't even think of a movie that didn't get an award. Also, many of them seem like obvious and predictable decisions (doesn't this just mean the movies were noteworthy enough to receive the awards anyway?). Some of the winners, though, are pretty satisfying. Tim Burton probably won't win an Oscar for best director, so it's good to see him honored here. Also, I wouldn't have expected Lars and the Real Girlto get an original screenplay mention from anywhere. Nor did I expect for The Bucket Listto land on any top ten lists. Mostly, I'm delighted to see Casey Affleck recognized for his acting.
Even though it wasn't necessarily my kind of movie, I can't deny that Enchanted was a huge hit -- and not just for the kiddies either. Looking to capitalize on some of that magic, Variety reports that Warner Bros. has hired Enchanted director Kevin Lima to helm the adaptation of the children's fantasy novel, The Spook's Apprentice (aka, The Last Apprentice: Revenge of the Witch). Note: Thankfully, Donald Trump is not involved.
The Montana madness continues! Now that the writer's strike is resolved, 
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Best Director
Best Picture (Musical or Comedy) 
One thing that has always impressed me about the work of 
This week, we finally get to see what the ghoulish Sweeney Todd is made of; or, rather, what he's like in the mind of Tim Burton. 
It was over 
Most people consider the National Board of Review irrelevant, and yet they continue to write about the organization's annual film honors. Like the Oscars, though, it doesn't matter if the NBR is irrelevant or not. It's been around for nearly a century now, and it's been a significant part of awards season for many decades. Maybe the organization is made up of paid-entry film buffs rather than critics or "experts" but at the end of the day its members are simply movie lovers like you and me. And sometimes those members even champion and endorse movies that deserve that extra notice.
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SCOOP: Spider-Man 4 and 5 Might be Shot at the Same Time!
Cinematical Seven: Disney's Awesome Live-Action Kid Adventures
