I know I'm not the first person to come to this conclusion, but Matthew McConaughey really does seem to have a charmed existence. Sure, he makes some crappy movies, but they keep paying him to star and we keep paying to see them in theaters. Coming Soon reports that the perpetually shirtless actor (I'm not complaining, mind you) has struck a deal with Anchor Bay Entertainment to release Surfer Dude, a comedy that he produced.
McConaughey stars as Steve Addington, a surf bum who returns home to Malibu after a world tour. The good times don't last long, and when the waves disappear for the whole season, Addington starts to go off the rails. In true stoner fashion, producer Mark Gustawes was quoted as saying, "Matthew plays a character who's a throwback to the '70s: Peace, love, and a righteous wave is what 'Surfer, Dude' is all about. Anchor Bay dug it -- and we decided to surf it, together." Classic, brah. McConaughey scored some (kinda) big names for the film including Woody Harrelson and Willie Nelson -- I can only imagine the dust clouds of smoke coming out of those trailers.
Anchor Bay will release the film in theaters this summer, but they're also planning to release the film onto DVD shortly after. Back in the old days, when a studio jumped on the home video release it meant the movie was no good. Luckily, these days a studio can spin it into a bright shining example of the new face of film distribution.
Surfer Dude will coast into theaters in late summer.
Foster will play an army dude who is assigned to one of the crappiest jobs out there, aside from cannon fodder. He gets teamed up with someone he doesn't like and has to inform families when their loved ones have died in combat. Somehow, he ends up falling for a soldier's widow, which I imagine complicates matters. THR goes on to state that this is being billed as "a poignant, life-affirming road movie." As a "road movie," it could be that Foster drives around to tell these families. However, he needs enough time to fall for a widow, so maybe we're going to get some military Three for the Road type action? Whatever the case, the film starts production on May 20, so maybe we'll hear more soon.
Who would you rather be on the road with: Ben Foster or Woody Harrelson?
Upon first hearing Josh Hartnett mention his starring role in the fantasy action flick Bunraku, I had a hard time believing the film was ever going to happen. It's not every day a movie has paper mache puppets, origami, comic books, video games AND German expressionism. Plus, Hartnett was comparing the look of the film to everything from Hitchcock to Michel Gondry. To be honest, the whole thing sounded like a mess. But, I guess it was all sorted out because The Hollywood Reporterannounced that Demi Moore has just signed to star in the role of a captive courtesan to an evil warlord.
Guy Moshe (who also wrote the script) will direct the story of a lone drifter (Hartnett) who blows into town with revenge on his mind, but is soon faced with even bigger problems than he started with. Woody Harrelson also signed to play 'The Bartender' (in a bar where everyone knows your name?) and Japanese actor Shun Sugata (Kill Bill) has been cast in the role of 'Uncle'.
With the news that Battle in Seattlewill open the Seattle International Film Festival, and coverage of the recent Olympic protests on every channel, it couldn't be a better time to release the trailer for the protest drama. Movieset is currently hosting the full trailer for the film set during the infamous World Trade Organization riots in Seattle in 1999.
In 1999, the World Trade Organization (WTO) convened in Seattle, Washington for a global trade negotiation conference. Before anyone knew what had happened, over 40,000 protesters had amassed outside the conference buildings and the anti-globalization group, Direct Action Network, had total control over downtown intersections. Unfortunately, the protests erupted into violence and a state of emergency pitted demonstrators against the National Guard and local police.
Stuart Townsend's directorial debut has a huge cast including Ray Liotta, Charlize Theron, Michelle Rodriguez, Martin Henderson, Channing Tatum, André Benjamin, and Woody Harrelson. Judging by Eric's SXSW review it doesn't look like all that star power has helped the film all that much. Battle was originally scheduled to be released in March, but has been moved back to September. It makes much more sense to release this kind of 'earnest' political drama when everyone is finished with summer popcorn flicks and are ready for something with just a little substance, however heavy-handed it might be.
Part of me is really itching to see the upcoming film, Transsiberian, which I blogged about all the way back in December of 2006, while the other part of me is trying to prepare myself for disappointment. You hear about a murder mystery -- one that involves traveling couples on a train, whose trip becomes a murderous adventure with a foreign man hot on their trails -- there's one thing that should come to mind.
If it doesn't, you need to brush up on both your classic murder mystery reading and Agatha Christie* films. This project just screams Agatha Christie and Murder on the Orient Express, although I imagine that Ben Kingsley's Russian police officer won't be as quirky as Hercule Poirot.
The film has wrapped, and Variety reports that First Look Studios has picked it up, with plans to release it late this summer. (Finally!) To recap -- the movie is about an American couple played by Emily Mortimer and Woody Harrelson who find themselves "in a chase of deception and murder on the Siberian train journey from China to Moscow." Kate Mara and Eduardo Noriega co-star as a younger couple on the train, and as I noted above, Kingsley is an officer hot on their trail. In the meantime, you can check out an early review for the film here. *And I should make sure I'm not confusing Orient with Appointment with Death when I write that! Thanks, Saavik.
Finally Josh Brolin received an award for his excellent performance in No Country for Old Men. He and the rest of the film's actors won the Screen Actors Guild Award for best ensemble cast Sunday night, giving No Country its second big win of the weekend (Joel and Ethan Coen received the top Directors Guild of America award Saturday). Along with Brolin, trophies went to cast-mates Tommy Lee Jones, Woody Harrelson, Garret Dilahunt, Tess Harper and Javier Bardem, who also won the SAG award for best supporting actor. While I'm not sure how many of No Country's performers actually received their own trophy, I'm hoping that both Kelly Macdonald and Barry Corbin were also included. No Country is one of those movies that wouldn't be the same without all of its main and supporting actors, and it is certainly fitting for it to have picked up this honor.
Other film winners from Sunday night include Daniel Day-Lewis, who surprised no one by being honored with the leading actor trophy. Even I'm getting a little bored with all of his awards, despite my agreement that his is the best performance of the year. I didn't even notice if any of the other nominees (George, Emile, Viggo and Ryan) showed up to the ceremony, which was one of the first red carpet awards events of the season. Picking up the award for leading actress was Julie Christie, further cementing the fact that I really need to see Away From Her already. The supporting actress honor went to Ruby Dee, who deserves it just for being the cutest old lady on screen last year, let alone for going up strong against both Denzel and Brolin in American Gangster. Finally, The Bourne Ultimatumwon the new SAG award for best stunt ensemble and Charles Durning -- one of Cinematical's favorite character actors ever -- received a lifetime achievement award. Be sure to check out Moviefone's coverage of the awards for plenty of red carpet and ceremony photos.
Some say that Will Ferrell movies are just the same flick over and over again, but since I always get a giggle from them, I really can't complain. Movieweb is now hosting 10 new photos from Ferrell's latest sports-comedy, Semi-Pro. Farrell plays Jackie Moon, the owner and coach of the American Basketball Association's Flint Michigan Tropics. In hopes of getting the team status in a little organization called the NBA, he must turn his team into winners.
Semi-Pro was written by Scot Armstrong, who was also behind Road Trip, Old School, and The Heartbreak Kid. Armstrong is also hard at work on the sequel to Old School, but this time it will be without *Hank 'The Tank' by the looks of things. Even if you are not a big fan of Ferrell's particular style of comedy, you have to admit he does manage to put together some pretty great comedy casts. Joining Ferrell on Semi-Pro are Woody Harrelson, Will Arnett, Rob Corddry, and the criminally underused Andy Richter. Also joining in on the fun are Outkast's Andre Benjamin and Maura Tierney.
So while some of these pictures have already been released back in November, this latest set has a few new images plus your chance to get a look at Ferrell's 'fro in hi-res. So far, there have already been a few poster releases, a teaser, and the ever-popular "red band" trailer. But, let's be truthful here, if you are a Ferrell fan you are going to want to jump straight to the 'R' trailer for all the good jokes. Semi-Pro opens in theaters on February 29th.
*Correction: Ferrell will forever by haunted by the nickname Frank "the Tank", not Hank.
Wow, it's been almost nine whole months since a Will Ferrell movie was released. Fortunately, Access Hollywood has just given us the first look (not counting this one) at his next comedy, Semi-Pro, and the trailer should be enough to tide us over until the movie actually hits theaters at the end of February (just in time to get some kind of promotion at the Oscars, I'm sure). Semi-Pro is another sports comedy, completing a nice quartet following Kicking & Screaming(soccer) Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby(NASCAR) and this year's Blades of Glory (figure skating). This one is about a basketball player named Jackie Moon, who also coaches and owns the Flint Tropics, an American Basketball Association team hoping to be brought into the NBA. Like way too many comedies, it takes place in the '70s, giving it a sort of recycled feel if you've ever seen Ferrell's Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgandyor enjoyed an afro-ed Chevy Chase in Fletch (which I know was from the '80s).
But some of the trailer shows promise, and there's no doubt that Ferrell will make you laugh with this movie, at least if you typically find him funny. Many of the lines uttered in the promo even sound made up on the spot, rather than scripted by the movie's writer, Scot Armstrong (Old School). So, if you like that weird, random humor stuff, you'll probably enjoy this. Oh, and fans of bear wrestling, parodies of Evel Knievel (r.i.p.) stunts, jokes about using your child as a shield, long-tired disco gags and funny hairdos -- in addition to Ferrell's afro, Woody Harrelson has a 'do that gives his No Country for Old Menco-star Javier Bardem a run for his money -- will certainly enjoy the movie, too.
With the latest casting announcement for Seven Pounds, there might not be a lot of fat added, but definitely a lot of weight. Variety reports that Rosario Dawson and Woody Harrelson are in final negotiations to co-star in the film with Will Smith. You might remember from the news of Smith's involvement that this project is once again teaming the actor with Pursuit of Happyness director Gabriele Muccino. Or, you might remember that this isn't about Weight Watchers meetings, but rather a man who finds love while trying to end his life.
Written by Grant Nieporte , the film focuses on Smith, a "guilt-ridden man who inadvertently falls in love while attempting to kill himself." Usually suicide is a private endeavor, so I don't see how he could fall in love during the process, unless he keeps someone prisoner to watch, or calls a hotline. Things get more interesting when you figure Dawson and Harrelson into the equation. She's playing "a love interest who suffers from a serious heart condition." Due to the use of "a," I guess she's not the suicide-laden interest. Harrelson, meanwhile, will be "a motel attendent who becomes intrigued by his suicidal new tenant."
It would be great if Woody could be the love interest, since he's supposed to be intrigued by Smith, but I imagine they'll find someone famous, beautiful, and female to cast in the role. If, of course, it isn't Dawson. But that would just be a million-hanky mess -- Smith is about to kill himself, but falls for this great women -- only to find out that she has a serious health condition and dies or something. That sounds beyond depressing. Production begins in January, so we'll find out who's lucky enough to get a suicidal love soon enough. As an aside: assuming they got married and had a family, what do they say when their kids asked them how they met?
Hey, it's good enough for Spinal Tap, Hannah Montana and The Monkees. Now Dewey Cox, of Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox Story, is the latest fictional music artist to go on a real-life tour. Yes, according to Variety, John C. Reilly is suiting up to perform in character for the "Cox Across America Tour." Joined by his band, the Hard Walkers, Reilly/Cox is making appearances in seven cities: Cleveland; Chicago; Austin; Nashville; San Francisco; Los Angeles and New York City. The first gig is this Wednesday at Cleveland's Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, and all shows include a screening of the movie, a music biopic spoof from the smartest man in Hollywood, Judd Apatow, and director Jake Kasdan (The TV Set).
Unfortunately, at the time of this writing, only the Chicago date is not sold out. My guess is that by the time of posting, even that show will be unavailable, but feel free to check Sony's RSVP page to find out. Otherwise, you can at least hear Cox's music on the Walk Hard soundtrack, which hits stores today.
I certainly wouldn't mind seeing Reilly as Cox. I also wish I could have seen Reilly tour the nation as Lefty, his character from A Prairie Home Companion -- accompanied by Woody Harrelson as Dusty, of course. If I could see any fictional artist in concert, though, I'd pick The Venus in Furs, or maybe Jesse and the Rippers. How about you? What fictional band or artist would you most like to see go on tour?
Anyway, stay tuned to Cinematical because we're working on something special to coincide with the "Cox Across America Tour."
So much for all those casting updates for (and comments asking about how to get cast in) Pinkville, Oliver Stone's latest Vietnam war movie. Thanks to the writer's strike, the movie is now delayed indefinitely, according to Variety. United Artists put the stop on the production because both Stone and Pinkville screenwriter Mikko Alanne are members of the WGA, and more script-tuning is needed. Apparently the film is fully written, but there were expectations that things would be changed while filming is taking place -- something Stone is known for -- and that's not allowed to happen during the strike. The movie now joins Angels & Demons (aka The Da Vinci Code 2), which was the first major feature to be delayed because of the strike. Yet unlike that higher-profile film, Pinkville may not be easily started when the strike is over. There are now possibilities the cast will change or that United Artists will be less interested in doing such a serious picture right off the disappointment of Lions for Lambs.
The cast and crew was set to begin shooting in a few weeks in Thailand, so now obviously there are a lot of people out of work who are likely praying for the strike to end asap. Once given a new greenlight, Pinkville will be Stone's fourth feature film to deal directly with the Vietnam war, following Platoon, Born on the Fourth of Julyand Heaven and Earth (unless he somehow squeezes another in before this one -- who knows how long UA will keep this on hiatus?). This time Stone is focusing on the terrible My Lai Massacre and the trial of the U.S. soldiers involved.
Oddly enough, The Hollywood Reporter has two new casting announcements today, despite Friday's announcement from UA. Jason Behr (The Grudge) is set to play Lt. Stephen Brooks, commanding officer at My Lai, and Cam Gigandet (Who's Your Caddy?) is cast as guilt-ridden soldier Fred Widmar.
I've been waiting for Michael Pitt to break out big for years now -- ever since Murder By Numbers, I think(he was noteworthy a year earlier in both Bully and Hedwig and the Angry Inch, but not quite as promising). He still has a chance, especially if he takes the part of Lt. William Calley in Oliver Stone's Pinkville. According to The Hollywood Reporter, he's currently in talks for the role, and if he's smart he'll just go ahead and grab it. Calley is the central figure in the Vietnam war film, which deals with the investigation into the 1968 Mai Lai Massacre; the Army officer was the one found guilty of giving the orders that sparked the incident. Pitt would join an ensemble cast that already includes Bruce Willis (or as I like to call him, Bruce Billis), Channing Tatum (another young actor continually teetering on the verge of stardom), Michael Peña (previously seen in Stone's World Trade Center), Woody Harrelson and Xzibit, who just joined on this week. Also joining the film is Toby Jones (Infamous), who will portray Lt. Andre Feher, the chief warrant officer who tries to convince Willis' character, Gen. William Peers, that the U.S. Army is responsible for the massacre.
With Pinkville, Pitt would be sure to make up for the mediocre year he's had. Between starring in Tom DiCillo's embarrassingly awful Deliriousand the apparently abysmal Silk(it has an astonishingly sad 8% approval rating on Rotten Tomatoes), the actor has been really struggling to get his due notice. He does have other intriguing projects in the pipeline, however; next year he can be seen co-starring in Michael Haneke's Funny Games U.S., a remake of the filmmaker's own earlier work, and he's set to star as a young Christopher Walken (sorta) in Abel Ferrara's King of New Yorkprequel, Pericle il Nero. It seems that Pitt might prefer working outside of Hollywood, but the guy should at least do a good ensemble piece every now and then, and there's not many better Hollywood directors he could work with than Stone.
No Country for Old Men, the new film from Joel and Ethan Coen, is an unquestionable return to form. It is scary, funny, moving, violent, and meaningful, in pretty much equal measure. The Coens' take on the Cormac McCarthynovel of the same name is a pairing as successful, as seamless, as delicious as that of chocolate and peanut butter.
Josh Brolin gives the finest of his four excellent performances this year as Llewelyn Moss. Moss is a struggling everyman who stumbles upon a circle of trucks and dead Mexicans in the desert -- a heroin deal gone bad. Real bad. The lone survivor asks Moss for some agua, and Moss ignores the request. He surveys the scene and eventually comes upon a suitcase filled with $2 million dollars. Moss' response upon finding the money? A simple "Yeah." It's a perfect moment in a movie packed with them. Moss takes the money and returns home to his trailer and his wife Carla Jean (Kelly MacDonald). Soon, his conscience begins to nag at him, and he decides to head back to the scene of the crime to give the dying man a drink. A compassionate decision, but not, as you can probably imagine, an intelligent one.
Javier Bardem plays Anton Chigurh (start to say Chicago and then growl and you're close to the pronunciation). I'll leave his specific involvement in the proceedings up to you to figure out, but just know that he really wants that $2 million. Moss will come to refer to Chigurh as "the ultimate badass," and that's about right. Chigurh is a classic screen villain, the kind we haven't seen in far too long. Every time he appears on screen, cattle stunner in tow, it just makes your heart sink -- somebody is going down. Much like Hannibal Lecter, the guy is a vicious, remorseless killer, but he has a strangely sensible logic and one can't help but be seduced by him. Bardem, sporting a Prince Valiant haircut, gives a flawless performance here, one that will likely be noticed come Oscar time. He completely disappears into Chigurh.
Just this morning our wonderful Editor-in-Chief Erik Davis blogged about Woody Harrelson joining that upcoming fantasy adventure called The Other Side. He's going to play both the father and son who fund a scholarship for the character that Katie Holmes is in talks to play. (I imagine she'll take it -- with the Jason Lee Scientology camaraderie and all, Cruise has got to approve!) But that's not the only role(s) that Woody is adding to his diverse repertoire. Variety reports that he's joined Tape scribe Stephen Belber's upcoming romcom Management, which Steve Zahn and Jennifer Aniston already joined this past summer.
The pic is about a traveling art saleswoman (Aniston), who has a brief fling with an assistant motel manager (Zahn). This romantic interlude inspires the guy to follow her on her travels across the US. Now, if you're like me, you were thinking that the movie needed a yogurt mogul, right? Well have no fear -- Woody has signed on to make that happen. He's going to play Aniston's ex boyfriend, who is also, as I stated above, a yogurt mogul. How Belber came up with that profession, above all others, is beyond me, but I have this feeling Harrelson can pull it off. How he fits into the story, well, that's what confuses me. I could see if she was a traveling yogurt saleswoman, but she deals in art. I guess every great stalker just needs to be balanced by the man who gives you yogurt.
Like most folks who enjoy the art of screenwriting, I'm a pretty big Paul Schrader fan. So when I heard that the writer / director's latest film would be playing at the Toronto Film Festival, I drew a big, red circle around the title. "You know what it's about, don't you?" a friend of mine asked me, to which I responded "Kinda. Woody Harrelson plays a gay D.C. socialite who covers up a murder and lives to regret it, or something like that." OK, good point: Doesn't exactly sound like my cup of tea, plot-wise -- but hey, it's Paul Schrader.
I just figure after Taxi Driver, American Gigolo, Raging Bull, The Last Temptation of Christ and the highly-underrated Light Sleeper, Mr. Schrader has earned the benefit of the doubt. And yes, that's taking into account his lastfewscreenplays. But it turns out my friend was right: The Walker is about a gay rich guy who lives off his family's money and acts as a friend / companion / alibi to many of Washington D.C.'s most important housewives. Carter Page plays canasta with swanky gals played by Kristin Scott Thomas, Lily Tomlin and Lauren Bacall -- and they all seem to love their amusingly non-threatening companion. But when one of the ladies' lovers ends up dead, Carter starts lying to the police to protect his "friends" and quickly discovers his true place in the beltway hierarchy.
I know I'm not the first person to come to this conclusion, but Matthew McConaughey really does seem to have a charmed existence. Sure, he makes some crappy movies, but they keep paying him to star and we keep paying to see them in theaters. Coming Soon reports that the perpetually shirtless actor (I'm not complaining, mind you) has struck a deal with Anchor Bay Entertainment to release Surfer Dude, a comedy that he produced.
Oren Moverman's upcoming directorial debut, 
Upon first hearing 
With the news that 
Part of me is really itching to see the upcoming film, 
Finally 
Some say that 
With the latest casting announcement for 
Hey, it's good enough for Spinal Tap, Hannah Montana and The Monkees. Now Dewey Cox, of 
So much for all those casting updates for (and comments asking about how to get cast in) 
I've been waiting for 
Just this morning our wonderful Editor-in-Chief 
Insert Caption: The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian_thumbnail.jpg)
SCOOP: Spider-Man 4 and 5 Might be Shot at the Same Time!
Cinematical Seven: Disney's Awesome Live-Action Kid Adventures
