Posts with tag Wachowski
Rick Yune Joins The Wachowskis' 'Ninja Assassin'
Filed under: Action », Casting », Warner Brothers »
Can it be? Is Hollywood finally making a big-budget film about martial arts and casting honest to goodness Asian actors? Well wonders never cease because the Wachowskis seem to be making all the right casting decisions for their top secret action flick, Ninja Assassin. The Hollywood Reporter announced that Rick Yune (Die Another Day) has joined the martial arts thriller, and he'll star alongside Naomi Harris and Korean pop star Rain).The news first broke on the martial arts flick when a casting notice appeared for the film that had some similarities to the much-beloved anime, Ninja Scroll. So far, all we know about Ninja Assassin is that it will revolve around an orphanage that operates as a 'ninja factory'. When one of their star pupils (Rain) decides to leave the old world behind, he is put into conflict with the other ninjas who have stayed a little closer to their 'roots'.
Considering how most of the details were being kept under wraps, it was a bit of a surprise to see Yune giving up info on his character. He told THR, "Not to give too much away, (but) my character stays within what he was brought up with, and they go up against each other, I'm not a heavy. The characters are ninjas, they are assassins, and there's this mix of morality the Wachowskis are exploring." Ninja Assassin re-unites the brothers with V for Vendetta director James McTeigue in a Joel Silver production and filming has just begun. McTeigue is expected to be on location in Berlin until at least June, and Ninja Assassin is scheduled to arrive in theaters in 2010.
Discuss: 'Speed Racer' -- Hot or Not?
Filed under: Fandom », Movie Marketing », Polls »
While I'm personally much more excited about Iron Man and Indy 4, there's certainly been lots of buzzing amongst the internet bees about the Wachowski's adaptation of Speed Racer. In case you haven't seen the millions of trailers, the film looks ... well, it looks pretty damn trippy. Like they took the old cartoon and dosed it up with acid. It looks visually intense, with lots of brought, swirly colors, speedy-fast cars, and fairly simplistic dialog. Jeff Wells over at Hollywood Elsewhere put up a post noting that the tracking for Speed Racer looks a bit concerning, with not as many people as the studio might like saying they plan to see it opening weekend.
As commenters on Hollywood Elsewhere have noted, Speed Racer's target demographic looks to be A) fanboys who will pay to see anything about the cartoon they loved in their youth, especially if it's made with groovy CGI and shiny, pretty colors; and B) four-year-old boys. I can't really see a lot of chicks begging their boyfriends to see Speed Racer on date night, though there may be more than a few guys bargaining and sitting through Baby Mama or Made of Honor in exchange for a Speed Racer date.
Cinematical's James Rocchi caught Speed Racer last night at a sneak screening. I caught him on his cell at the Speed Racer junket this morning to ask his initial impressions of the film; here's what he had to say about it: "It's pure, pop family fun, a bold, bright kids' movie that's visually exciting and keeps the tone right." James noted that his overall impression of the film was "generally very favorable -- as a kids' movie." If any Cinematical readers have been to a preview screening of Speed Racer, let us know what you think of how the full movie plays. And the rest of you movie fans -- does Speed Racer look hot, or not? And are you planning to see it in the theater?
Scott Porter is the Young Rex in 'Speed Racer'
Filed under: Action », Casting », Remakes and Sequels »
Here comes Speed Racer, he's a demon on wheels. He's a demon, and he's gonna be chasin' after someone. He's gainin' on you so you better look alive. He's busy revvin' up a powerful Mach 5... Go Speed Racer, Go! Okay, although I never got too into the whole Speed Racer thing, as I was more of a He-Man hero fan, this is one of those adaptations I'd go to just to hear the song. And one I will probably be very ticked off about if they relegate the song to the end credits like they did with Spider-Man. But maybe, just maybe Sponge will get some time in the film.Anyhow, there's one more person to add to the pretty interesting cast of Andy and Larry Wachowski's upcoming live-action remake of Speed Racer. We've already got Emile Hirsch as Speed, Matthew Fox as Racer X, Christina Ricci as Trixie and Susan Sarandon and John Goodman as Ma and Pop Racer. The latest name to add to the parade -- Music and Lyrics' Scott Porter as Rex. Now you Racer fans might be confused since Rex is actually Racer X. It seems that Porter will be the young Rex, before he fakes his death and miraculously becomes the Fox-y X. Assuming that the character has an approximate 13-year span between Rex and X, like the actors' actual ages, that's quite the physical transformation. I'm a bit surprised that they didn't find someone who could pull off the older and younger roles. I just don't see enough of a resemblance between the two -- unless there's something that changed the character's look?! What say you about the two Rex-X'ers? I'll stomach it for that cast and the sweeet, new Mach 5.
Film Blog Group Hug: Salon, lounge, and lunch
Filed under: Gay & Lesbian », Film Blog Group Hug »
- Over at The House Next Door, Matt Zoller Seitz invites everyone to participate in a Robert Altman blog-a-thon on March 3 in anticipation of the director's honorary Oscar.
- Speaking of Oscars, Anne Thompson at Risky Biz Blog (aka the Hollywood Reporter blog) shares belated but fun details about the Oscar nominees' lunch she attended recently.
- Also on Seitz's site, guest blogger Jeremiah Kipp interviews film critic Charles Taylor about his experiences at Salon and why Taylor thinks he was fired from that publication. I was less interested in the firing story and more intrigued by Taylor's opinions about the purposes of film criticism.
- Cinema Strikes Back now has its own forum, The Movie
Lounge, where film geeks are discussing The Hills Have
Eyes, Shaw Brothers movies on DVD, and the ever-popular Daniel Craig.
- Susie Bright doesn't
write often about mainstream film; her blog focuses on sexual issues. However, she found video on the Web of the lesbian
sex scenes in Bound, on which she worked as technical advisor,
and dishes about her
involvement with the Wachowski brothers' film. (Susie's site is NSFW, by the way.)
Vendetta in IMAX
Filed under: Action », Drama », Thrillers », Warner Brothers », Distribution », Newsstand », Movie Marketing », Comic/Superhero/Geek »
In news that is bound to have fanboys across the
nation lying on the floor in a puddle of drool, it's been announced that V
for Vendetta will be simultaneously released in both IMAX and regular formats. That's right: a wildly
anticipated graphic novel adaptation starring a wildly desirably
woman will be appearing on really, really huge screens - and on opening night! Breathe, boys. Breathe.Though other films - including the Wachowski brothers' Matrix series - have been released to great success in IMAX, they have debuted in that format well after their release dates, which has until now been the pattern with major releases that go (extremely) large. The IMAXing of Vendetta from day one, then, is a major step in the mainstreaming of the format, and gives studios yet another potential source of increased income. So, it's safe to assume that Hollywood will be watching the movie's IMAX attendance very carefully indeed.
Vendetta hits screens of all sizes on March 17.
Wachowski sex scandal behind Matrix suckage?
Filed under: Sci-Fi & Fantasy », NSFW », Comic/Superhero/Geek », Remakes and Sequels »
Everyone's talking about the new,
loooong Rolling Stone expose of Larry Wachowski, one half of the creative duo behind
Bound, The Matrix, and V for Vendetta. Much of its many thousands of words are dedicated to Larry's
immersion, apparently ever-deeper since the first Matrix film made him a
zillionaire, into the world of sex clubs, transvestitism, and sadomasochism. The article goes into detail into Larry's
relationship with Mistress Ilsa Strix, a dominatrix who says her "greatest accomplishment" was "putting
333 needles into a single penis" (it is unclear if the penis in question belonged to the aforementioned
filmmaker). Through Ms. Strix, Wachowski has apparently found an outlet through which to experiment with various
fetishes, from cross-dressing to torture. None of which are inherently problematic – unless you're of the mind,
as some of RS' Peter Wilkenson's sources are, that the latter two Matrix films owe their general suckage to Ilsa's influence. Sources claim that the most garish and widely criticized elements of Reloaded and Revolutions – particularly the former's over-the-top rave scene – slipped through the Wachowskis' bullshit radar because Larry "was totally concentrating on Ilsa." What began as a professional master-slave relationship developed into more when Larry started flying Ilsa, first class, to Austrailia to "tend" to him on the set of the two sequels. "Larry would pick her up at the airport dressed as [Larry's female alter ego] 'Lana,'" says a source. "He would get depressed and moody when he had to go to the set dressed as a man." By the time the Cannes Film Festival rolled around, Ilsa and Larry were making appearances together as a couple, with Ilsa showing up on the red carpet looking movie-star beautiful – "perfect skin, blond hair falling to her shoulders, white teeth gleaming" – and Larry – "his eyebrows were plucked, he wore large teardrop earrings... his fingernails were manicured" – done up almost as glamourously. Rumors started to swirl that the 6-foot-3 working class boy from Chicago was preparing for sexual reassignment.
Was there any truth to the rumors? Wilkenson's investigation doesn't result in any clear-cut answers. The Wachowskis' friends are (probably smartly) not talking, and though the writer gets statements from many representatives from the LA BDSM community, one imagines at least a few of them have ulterior motives. In the years since the last Matrix sequel, the Wachowski camp has remained curiously silent, even as the brothers lurk behind the scenes of Vendetta, which they are said to be heavily involved in, although aren't directing. In bottom-line obsessed Hollywood, if and when Larry does emerge from exile and show his pretty face, will anyone let a little sex change stop them from letting him make them millions of dollars?
V for Vendetta: Will its politics hurt its box office?
Filed under: Action », Berlin », Box Office », Politics », Comic/Superhero/Geek »
V for Vendetta - produced by Joel Silver and the
Wachowskis; based on a graphic novel by Alan Moore (who has since disowned the film), and starring a bald Natalie
Portman – won't officially premiere until the Berlin Film Festival in February, but ever since its first public
screenings in Austin a couple of weeks ago, the film's been trapped in a bit of a tug of war between the left and right
corners of the web. The fan boy circles are, predictably, all about it, and even the Hollywood Reporter has
come out with a positive review. In contrast, Jason Apuzzo's leading one of the strongest marches against the picture
on Libertas. From what I can tell, neither Apuzzo, nor his commenters, have actually seen the film, but that's not
stopping them from proclaiming it a national tragedy. Partially in response to the Reporter review, Apuzzo
writes: "Those of you who’ve been claiming that this film is just an innocent little adaptation of an
80’s graphic novel series are, um, in for a surprise." His commenters take this opening and run with it. Calling V "a big slap in the face to “Jesusland”", Jim Rockford claims that "What makes this film junk as a film and as storytelling is that it’s explicit pro-Terrorist and anti-American, anti-Bush politics fly in the face of the reality: terrorists really DO want to kill us all; they’ve tried very hard." It will fail commercially, he continues, because "being explicitly opposed to what most of your paying customers hold dear is a good way to lose their business." Michael Hutchinson continues the ideological doomcasting: "Now, the Wachowski Brothers were REALLY lucky that they were able to sell The Matrix with its anti-social message because of its flash and style, but its messages were rather hidden and a huge part of the audience just went for the SFX. Here you have a movie that’s all about its message, even in the trailers. Do you really think this can find an audience?"
Of course, the film's success (or lack thereof) may very well rest on one entirely non-political factor: as Alexander "Bejamins" Hamilton puts it on Left Behinds: "...the problem isn't the directors, it's that Evey Hammond is played by fucking Natalie Portman. Because Natalie Portman can't fucking act."
Thoughts?
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Cinematical's Fourth Annual Halloween Costume Contest is Coming!
Netflix Unleashes Another Batch of "Forgotten" Flicks
Geek Daily: Wolverine, 'Batman 3', 'Punisher' and 'Kick-Ass'
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