I've been hankering for a good crime flick with a women in the lead for a long time (I can't be the only one who thinks that Catherine Zeta Jones' pregnant drug runner deserved way more screen time in Traffic). But, in the grand tradition of most crime movies, women are relegated to the sidelines as either 'the downfall of the anti-hero', or, 'sexy punching bag' -- neither of which is very flattering, but hopefully that will change with Queen of the South. Variety reports that Eva Mendes has signed to star in the big screen adaptation of Arturo Perez Reverte's crime novel, La reina del sur (Queen of the South).
The story is being touted as a "female Scarface," and centers on a woman who flees to Spain when her drug-dealing boyfriend is murdered. Once she arrives, she starts her own narcotics operation to finance revenge against her lover's murderers -- and quickly becomes top dog. Joining Mendes in the cast are Josh Hartnett and Ben Kingsley in as-yet unnamed roles.
News of the flick first surfaced last year, with Mendes, Jennifer Lopez, and Penelope Cruz on the short list for the role, but in the end Mendes won out. Personally I would have liked to see Lopez take on the role (it's been too long since we had the chance to see her be a bad ass), but I guess in a pinch Mendes will do.
Do you think Warners made the right choice with Mendes? Or is there anyone else out there who would have liked to watch Lopez 'tussle' just one more time?
Cinematical is absolutely stoked to have received this exclusive poster for The Wackness (click on the image to enlarge), which just enjoyed its New Yawk premiere at the 2008 Tribeca Film Festival earlier this week. Directed by the very talented Jonathan Levine (All the Boys Love Mandy Lane), The Wackness centers on the relationship between a pot dealer with no friends (Josh Peck) and a therapist (Ben Kingsley) on the verge of a mid-life crisis. And did I mention that neither one is getting laid? Set in 1994 New York City, the film just oozes mid-nineties and definitely captures every ounce of what it was like to grow up during that particular time period. Olivia Thirlby, Famke Janssen and Mary-Kate Olsen also star (as the three lovely ladies our two heroes really want to get with).
I managed to catch The Wacknessat a screening a few days ago with a young, hip New York crowd who absolutely devoured the flick. It's dope, it's mad funny and it brings just enough nostalgia to help you remember what it was like when you were unlucky and in love with not a clue what to do. Seriously, go see this one with a group of friends and have a blast. The Wackness arrives in theaters on July 3.
Give Joshua Seftel some credit; he didn't pull any punches on War, Inc.In his first feature film, written by star/producer John Cusack, Jeremy Pisker, and Mark Leyner, Seftel attempts to make a scathing commentary on the War on Terror, the privatization of the military, the commercialization of societies all over the world, and other shenanigans. In a former life, Seftel was a former network news producer, and became known around Hollywood circles for directing documentaries like Breaking the Mold: The Kee Malesky Story.
He was nice enough to speak to me about the experience from a very blue room at the Tribeca Film Festival press office. Text and video are after the jump.
This is a hard review to write because it feels as if The Wackness was tailor-made for people like me: a male who grew up in New York City and graduated high school in 1994; the year this film was set. (Actually, I graduated in 1995, but it doesn't matter much: same kids, same lingo, same music, same surroundings). How do you review your childhood? These were all kids I hung out with, this was the music we listened to, these were the mix tapes we made and these were the girls we tried to hook up with ... but didn't. And, to some extent, it actually surprises me that so many people have loved The Wackness -- not because it's a terrible movie, mind you, but because kids who grew up in New York City during the '90s were annoying as all hell, with their "Yo, that was mad good" and their "He's got da skillz, kid!" Trust me, I know -- I was one of them.
It's 1994, New York City. Luke (Josh Peck) just graduated high school, and now he's perfectly content with spending his summer fantasizing about girls on the subway, staying away from his parents constant bickering and selling pot out of an ices cart to a wide range of characters, including a free-spirited hippie chick (Mary-Kate Olsen) and his own therapist. Dr. Squires (Ben Kingsley), or as Luke calls him, Mr. Dr. Squires, has his own problems: His much younger wife (Famke Janssen) emotionally checked out of their marriage years ago, and a mid-life crisis is slowly creeping up from around the corner. Luke's the pot dealer with no friends, and Squires is the therapist with more issues than most of his patients. Together, they're a perfect match.
What do you say when a film is so bad that you actually feel physical pain for everyone involved? You literally sit there for an hour-and-a-half and feel sorry for everyone who put such a hard effort into the making of the film, only to see it lay there like a lox when it's finally projected on the big screen. As a reviewer, there's not much more you can do than just endure it and hope to see a fleeting moment or two of quality, just so you don't think you've completely wasted your time.
That's all the thoughts that were going through my head as I watched War, Inc., an ambitious film that fails miserably at everything it attempts to be. As a comedy, it's not funny. As a satire, it's as subtle as a sledgehammer. And as a treatise on war, the corporatization of the military, and the horrors of pop stardom, it doesn't tell you anything that you don't already know if you just watch the 24-hour news channels or read the news online even a little bit.
Known in some circles as "that movie where Sir Ben Kingsley hooks up with Mary-Kate Olsen," The Wackness premiered at this year's Sundance Film Festival where it was met with an unbelievable online reception. Just about everyone I spoke to fell in love with this quirky drug-related dramedy from director Jonathan Levine (All the Boys Love Mandy Lane). While I didn't get the chance to see it (our own Scott Weinberg did), these good vibes have me all antsy to check out The Wackness when it hits the Tribeca Film Festival later this month.
Here's a bit from the synopsis: "... Luke (Josh Peck) is a socially uncomfortable teenage pot dealer with no friends, issues with his parents, and a whopping lack of confidence with girls. He trades weed for sessions with his therapist, Dr. Squires (Sir Ben Kingsley), whose much-younger wife (Famke Janssen) is slipping away from him. Squires, a drug-addled shrink with a hairline retreating to the back of his neck and a state of mind slouching back to adolescence, is an unlikely role model-but the two of them forge a friendship based on a mutual need: neither one is getting laid."
Check out both exclusive photos (including a larger version of the image above) from the film in the gallery below. The Wacknessarrives in theaters on July 3rd. (And is it me, or does Kingsley have a little Keitel going on in that pic?)
Cinematical was just handed this exclusive poster for the film War, Inc.(click on the image to enlarge), starring John Cusack, Hilary Duff, Marisa Tomei, Joan Cusack, Dan Aykroyd and Ben Kingsley. Now is that one helluva cast, or is that one helluva cast? Word has it this one is in the vein of Grosse Point Blank, which was another fun little flick starring the male Cusack. From the synopsis: "War, Inc. is a a political satire set in Turaqistan, a country occupied by an American private corporation run by a former US Vice-President (Dan Akroyd). In an effort to monopolize the opportunities the war-torn nation offers, the corporation's CEO hires a troubled hit man, played by John Cusack, to kill a Middle East oil minister. Now, struggling with his own growing demons, the assassin must pose as the corporation's Trade Show Producer in order to pull off this latest hit, while maintaining his cover by organizing the high-profile wedding of Yonica Babyyeah (Hilary Duff) an outrageous Middle Eastern pop star, and keeping a sexy left wing reporter (Marisa Tomei) in check."
War, Inc. arrives in theaters (in limited release) on May 23.
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.
Like most people, I'll go see a Martin Scorsese movie no matter what they call it. Empire reports (via The Boston Herald) that Scorsese's latest, Shutter Island, will now be known as Ashecliffe -- and while I wasn't all that attached to the first title, it's not like this one is a vast improvement. The film is based on Dennis Lehane's novel about an investigation at an asylum for the criminally insane. The new title is taken from the name of the mental institution.
DiCaprio stars as Teddy Daniels, a US Marshall sent to investigate the disappearance of a multiple murderer on the remote and fictional location of Shutter Island. Michelle Williams also stars as Dolores Chanal, the wife of DiCaprio's character who is communing with him from beyond the grave (it sounds weird, I know, but the book was pretty 'Gothic' to begin with). Williams has recently halted production on her latest film Blue Valentine due to Heath Ledger's sudden and tragic death. However, there was no mention of whether she is still planning on staying on for Ashecliffe.
Shutter ... I mean Ashcliffe, also stars Mark Ruffalo as DiCaprio's partner, Ben Kingsley, and Patricia Clarkson. Clarkson has always had the uncanny knack of portraying either the kindest or most hateful person you have ever met, so my money is on her portraying the murderess, Rachel Solando. Production is set to begin this March, and Scorsese has already been scouting locations in Nova Scotia, Massachusetts, and Connecticut as the stand in for the island. Ashecliffe is scheduled for release in 2009.
Bloggers are up in arms that Sony Pictures Classics has acquired Sundance buzz title The Wackness. The film has been pursued since its debut on the opening weekend of the festival. Among other things, The Wackness gained notoriety as "the one where Ben Kingsley kisses Mary-Kate Olsen," as well as "the one our own Scott Weinberg didn't like as much as everyone else did."
indieWIRE posted a news item on Saturday evening that Sony Classics was in the process of closing a deal for North American rights to the film. Anne Thompson at Varietyconfirmed that the deal closed, and also pointed to three sites that had issues with Sony Classics: Neil Miller (Film School Rejects), Peter Sciretta (Slashfilm) and Alex Billington (First Showing). Other writers have also weighed in: Edward Douglas (ComingSoon.net) and Josh Tyler (Cinema Blend). The complaint is that Sony Classics has had a poor track record over the past couple of years and someone like Fox Searchlight would do a better job with marketing a film that critics think needs to be seen.
Sony Classics has long followed the traditional, platform method of releasing arthouse films, a strategy that has paid off big time in the past and that tends to minimize losses if a particular title doesn't catch on. It can be frustrating if you don't live in New York or Los Angeles (it took Persepolis seven weeks before it reached my area). Fox Searchlight also platforms, but is usually quicker to take a release wide. They also seem more willing to spend more money on TV and Internet advertising. Juno is a huge success, but that's a once-a-year (if you're lucky) phenomenon. We'll see how Sony Classics does with The Wackness.
The casting news just keeps piling up for Shutter Island, Martin Scorsese's upcoming adaptation of the Dennis Lehane novel. (Films of Lehane's books have a pretty damn good track record -- see Mystic River and Gone Baby Gone.) Scott told you that Scorsese will be teaming (yet again) with Leonardo DiCaprio, who will play the lead role of U.S. Marshall Teddy Daniels. I told you that Mark Ruffalo signed on to play DiCaprio's partner, U.S. Marshall Chuck Aule. Christopher told you that Ben Kingsley is on board as Dr. Cawley, "the chief physician at a Massachusetts hospital for the criminally insane." And now I shall tell you that Michelle Williams is playing DiCaprio's wife in the film.
Variety reports that the drama "revolves around the trip made by Daniels to a remote New England island in 1954 to figure out how a multiple murderess escaped from a hospital for the criminally insane. He is grieving over the recent death of his wife, who was killed in a fire by one of the inhabitants of the facility." I'm about a hundred pages into Shutter Island, and have not yet been made aware of this wife/patient connection, but I do wonder how large a role Williams will have in the film. The only involvement her character has had in the novel so far has been brief flashbacks. I realize I'm setting myself up for meanie readers to spoil the book's secrets in the comments, but please don't! I'm just speculating. Regardless, I'm loving the novel and can't wait for the film...
He's always a great actor, but Ben Kingsley has a habit lately of working with undeserving directors (e.g. Uwe Boll) and appearing in undeserving movies (e.g. A Sound of Thunder). Give him a great director (Spielberg, Glazer) or even a good one (Attenborough, Levinson) and he shines. So, it's an enormous treat to learn he's finally working with Martin Scorsese, appearing in the newly Oscar-winning director's next film, Shutter Island. According to the Hollywood Reporter, Kingsley (or Sir Ben, as he's typically referred to on set) will play Dr. Cawley, the chief physician at a Massachusetts hospital for the criminally insane who must play host to two U.S. marshals played by Leonardo DiCaprio and Mark Ruffalo. Based on the novel by Dennis Lehane (Mystic River, Gone Baby Gone), the plot follows the marshals as they investigate the disappearance of a mental patient/inmate. While on the case, they experience a hurricane, get stuck on the eponymous island thanks to a riot and of course, "encounter a web of deceit."
Best known for being the fourth collaboration between Scorsese and DiCaprio, Shutter Island will also hopefully be known as the movie in which Sir Ben has a Massachusetts accent. As a cranky "enigmatic" doctor, though, he could be from anywhere (and with Kingsley, I truly mean that literally). Actually, this could be a rare Lehane adaptation where none of the main characters have that Boston-area intonation. Regardless, it should be entertaining to watch Kingsley as a slightly villainous physician who performs illegal brain surgery. Picture a cross between Don Logan, his character from Sexy Beast, Cosmo, his character from Sneakers, and Xavier Fitch, from Species. I would add in his loony psychiatrist character from the upcoming The Wackness, but I've only seen one scene and you likely aren't familiar with any of it. Of course, under the masterful direction of Scorsese, Kingsley will probably give us something fresh, like no character of his we've encountered before. I see a fifth Oscar nomination on the horizon.
So you're Sir Ben Kingsley. You've been knighted. You've won an Oscar. You're a pretty big deal actor who recently married a relatively-unknown, younger, attractive actress like the ol' devil you are. So you decide to go out on a night on the town with your wife. Of course, being any sort of notable actor or celebrity, you get stopped by the paparazzi. What do you imagine they'll ask you? Something about your work? Something about your new wife? How about super-important current events?
The other night, TMZ caught up with Kingsley and asked him to comment on Britney Spears. (Because you're dying to know, right? And he's certainly the one to go to with such a question.) After the disbelief: "Britney?" He is thoughtful, telling the camera that everyone deserves to be happy. Then, he decides to make this whole encounter a little more interesting. He follows with: "She's my role model, really. An inspiration, should I say?" He then goes on about his own "morning mantra," which consists of him saying: "Give me, give me, give me, give me..." Before leaving, he says: "It starts my day, and my day gets better and better!" Classy! I'm usually not a big fan of the random questions, but if only all actors could come up with something on the spot like Kingsley did, they'd be a heck of a lot more fun, which would give these things some sort of point. Maybe this cleverness is why he always attracts those young, model-looking women.
But I should tie this a little more into film and less gossip. So, here's my proposal: someone needs to put together a new movie -- it will star Spears and Kingsley together. He's the experienced pro, she's the young, flighty mess. Heck, they could make it a reality film, where she had to follow the word of Sir Ben and turn her life around. I know that I would go see it. There would be the humor of Kingsley to keep things clever, and the struggling Spears to titillate those who love nothing more than to watch a celebrity crash and burn. And maybe throw in that crying Spears fan for good measure.
For those who were confused, irritated or just plain disappointed with the ridiculous Yahoo Serious comedy Young Einstein, you'll be happy to know that everyone's favorite physicist is getting a legitimate early-years biopic soon. According to Variety, Lionsgate has purchased the worldwide life rights to Albert Einstein, which kinda sounds like they now own the guy and could make a clone army (that probably wouldn't be so bad). Lionsgate has also bought the rights to Walter Isaacson's book Einstein: His Life and Universe, which was the first biography to dip into the genius' private archives. Isaacson will also serve as a consultant on the film, which also gained access to Einstein's correspondence and papers, which are currently owned by the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. The story will focus on Einstein's life from about 20 to 40, at which age he won the Nobel Prize in Physics. The film will apparently show the man as a rebel who challenged existing scientific theories but will also deal with personal and romantic plots.
All I can say is, it's about time. But this is me, a total geek who wears Einstein t-shirts. Of course, this is also me, the guy who is really bad at science and has never really read much on Einstein's actual work. I'm mostly interested in his personality, which is why I'm excited to see him get a decent biopic. As far as I can tell or remember, there hasn't ever been a good Einstein movie -- even if you have a guilty spot for Yahoo Serious, his movie was by no means about the real genius. Aside from Serious, we've seen Walter Matthau play the guy in I.Q. and Michael Emil sorta play him in Insignificance. According to the IMDb, there are at least three Einstein biopics in the works, one of which is probably Lionsgate's. One of them is about the friendship between Einstein and Paul Robeson, played by (last we heard) Ben Kingsley and Danny Glover, respectively, and another is being directed by Liliana Cavani with Vincenzo Amato (The Golden Door) playing the lead (I guess Giovanni Ribisi jumped the gun when he said he was cast in that film). There's also a British TV-movie in the works with Andy Serkis as Einstein.
Mike Myers' The Love Guru isn't the only film Ben Kingsley is cooking up, but this time around, it's a little more serious. Just a smidge. Reuters has reported that the actor talked with the Times of India about his new movie, and how he will star as the Mughal emperor Shah Jahan, who built the Taj Mahal. Little was said about the project, such as its name or director, but he does have his co-star -- Aishwarya Rai. The Bollywood actress, who is a former Miss World and the star of The Mistress of Spices, will play the Shah's wife, Mumtaz Mahal. Kingsley said: "I had spoken to Aishwarya last year while we were working on The Last Legion, and she very generously agreed to do the movie with me."
It's a pretty sad story. The emperor's third wife, Mumtaz, died during childbirth. Granted, it was their 14th child (no, that isn't a typo), so there's only so much one body can take. Soon after the loss, the Taj Mahal started construction, and it was completed in 1648. Some years after its completion, he fell ill. His son, Aurangzeb led a deathly rebellion, imprisoned him, and it's said that he spent the rest of his life looking at the Taj from his cell. Now we'll have to wait and see if his stint as this Indian figure can rival his work on Gandhi,* which nabbed 8 Oscars.
I've been hankering for a good crime flick with a women in the lead for a long time (I can't be the only one who thinks that Catherine Zeta Jones' pregnant drug runner deserved way more screen time in Traffic). But, in the grand tradition of most crime movies, women are relegated to the sidelines as either 'the downfall of the anti-hero', or, 'sexy punching bag' -- neither of which is very flattering, but hopefully that will change with Queen of the South. Variety reports that Eva Mendes has signed to star in the big screen adaptation of Arturo Perez Reverte's crime novel, La reina del sur (Queen of the South)..jpg)
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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
