(In honor of Mother's Day, we're launching a series of posts today written, in part, by our mothers after we asked them one simple (yet very complex) question: What's your favorite movie and why?)
I don't quite understand how I knew, when I asked my mom about her favorite film, that she was going to pick Doctor Zhivago. But I guessed it immediately. She's never mentioned it as a favorite. Maybe it's because when she talks about Omar Sharif in that film, she gets this faraway look that you see when someone's reminiscing about a movie they've loved for a long time. Maybe someday we can watch it together, preferably in a theater. Here's what Mom replied when I asked her about her favorites.
"The first movies that popped into my mind were Great Expectations (1946), Citizen Kane, and Jane Eyre (1944). I must really be living in the past! I just thought they were great movies. But the sentimental me settled on Doctor Zhivago. That was a great epic, had fantastic panoramic scenes, great scenery, and was a wonderful love story. The music was very good and it didn't hurt that I had fallen in love with Omar Sharif in Lawrence of Arabia and loved him in this too. In fact, I thought this was well cast and the acting was great!"
(In honor of Mother's Day, we're launching a series of posts today written, in part, by our mothers after we asked them one simple (yet very complex) question: What's your favorite movie and why?)
The first film I ever watched with my parents was Annie Hall. I was three. I'd go on to watch bits and pieces of it throughout the years (my mother always had it on), but it wasn't until later in life that I came to really appreciate everything this film represents and all that it means for my eccentric Jewish family from New York. So when I asked my mother for her favorite movie, I already knew this would be the first one out of her mouth ...
"At that time, I related to Annie Hall. I always dressed differently; was always trying to better myself. We were hip, your Dad and I; we lived in the city and I even had a Bloomingdale's card that Daddy was always trying to take away from me. I just saw myself in this film. I went to school, but never finished -- not only was Woody Allen at his best when he made this film, but he also captured this time in New York City perfectly. A close second after Annie Hall would be The Big Chill-- because I never graduated college and I never had a group of friends like that, so I was always drawn to that movie. And the soundtrack ... how do you beat that soundtrack?"
According to early estimates from Box Office Mojo, this summer's second big-budgeted extravaganza failed to pick up more than $20 million at the box office this weekend, with the poorly-reviewed comedy What Happens in Vegasfinishing right behind in third. Of course,Iron Man took the top spot for a second week in a row with roughly $50 million, while Speed Racer -- which some projected to take home at least $30-40 million -- came in second with $20.2 million, as What Happens in Vegas slid into third with $20 million. Rounding out the top five were Made of Honor ($7.6 million) and Baby Mama ($5.7 million).
So what happened to Speed Racer? Part of the reason had to do with its targeted audience, which, supposedly, was kids, though kids weren't very familiar with the cartoon the film was based on. That, and the flick clocked in at over two hours -- a running time that's been mentioned a lot this weekend, as well as one that's way too long for a PG-rated kiddie adventure. That said, its PG-rating scared away those adults who grew up with the cartoon; people who, most likely, were looking for something a bit more skewed toward adults (especially when Iron Man came out the weekend before and kicked a whole lot of ass). Nevertheless, I'm pretty sure we can rule out that Speed Racer franchise at this point.
Coupla questions for ya: Why do you think Speed Racer failed to power across the finish line in spectacular fashion? Also, what happens to the Wachowski Brothers now? Will folks think twice before giving them $150 million and free reign?
Most of the time, our earliest memories of film have something to do with our parents. Personally, I wouldn't be half the movie nerd I am today if it weren't for my mother and father. My mother took me to see my first film in an actual theater (E.T.), as well as my first drive-in movie (Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom). While my father was off at work, she sat through the Star Wars films (even though she never got them) and never complained a bit when I'd insist on watching the live-action Popeye for 8-10 hours in a row, six days a week, when I was a small boy. (I was addicted to Popeye, by the way.)
With that said, today is Mother's Day, and all across internet movieland you'll see lists of the best movie moms, the worst movie moms, the best films to watch with your mother, the hottest celebrity moms, and so on and so forth. We here at Cinematical decided to do things a bit differently this year, and instead of shoveling out another list based on one of the above topics, we've gone ahead and given the site over to our moms for the day. Oh yes, we're nutty like that. Basically, we asked our moms to tell us, in their own words, what their favorite movie is and why. So, throughout the day, you'll see posts from a number of our writers ... with one noticeable difference: the majority of said post will be written by that writer's mother.
So this one is for all our moms (and all the hard-working moms out there who read Cinematical on a daily basis). Thanks for being there, and thanks for being you. Love ya!
Above you will find the latest Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull trailer. While it looks kinda like the last one, it's easy to spot a whole bunch of new scenes and dialogue. Anyone else notice how all these trailers and TV spots have been very light on Marion Ravenwood's scenes? They've included her in this jungle car chase scene, and she's had a line or two, but that's it. Part of me wonders how much she's in the actually movie? Then again, perhaps they'd rather play up the Shia LeBeouf and Cate Blanchett roles over Karen Allen, who, while very well known to all of us movie buffs, isn't exactly a household name across the globe. Kinda diggin' LaBeouf's character more and more each day; he's a fun guy to watch on screen and my fingers are crossed he does a good job here. Reviews thus far have been iffy ... but I'd rather wait to see for myself.
Kidding? Yes, that's right, as in kids, young 'uns, rug rats. This week on Trailer Park, we're scoping out previews of movies that are for or about the kiddies. The Rocker Kid is a relative term, but the teens populating this comedy are kids from where I'm sitting. Probably best known for playing Dwight on NBC's The Office, Rainn Wilson stars as a washed up 80s rocker who was booted out of a succesful band right before they hit it big. Kind of like Pete Best but with spandex and big hair. His teenage nephew's band is playing at the prom and they need him to fill in. The gig goes well and Wilson's character ends up touring with the band. There's a definite hint of School of Rock, but Wilson is so appealing in the role that I've chosen to overlook that and the groin injury joke (a hokey device that is often a deal breaker for me). Here's what Erik thought of the trailer.
We've got about a million comedies out there where the mother-in-law makes trouble -- those sinister, trouble-making older women -- especially the moms of the grooms, who go on to terrorize the brides to be. It's pretty much a cinematic wedding staple by this point. However, it looks like things are switching up a bit for the new comedy I Hate You, Dad.
Variety reports that Columbia Pictures has picked up David Caspe's comic pitch, which focuses on a couple who are about to get married when the dad of the groom moves in, for whatever reason. As soon as he does, he "promptly begins feuding with the bride-to-be." Super fun!
There's lots of way this project can go, but I'm not too optimistic considering the fact that Happy Madison is producing it. I'm going to go out on a limb and guess that Kevin James, Adam Sandler, or both of them will be in it, considering the last handful of HM movies to hit the screen. If not, there's sure to be at least a few other Sandler buddies in the mix somehow.
Welcome back to another edition of Insert Caption -- the game where, in order to play, you need to really hate snakes. Hate 'em! Last week we asked you to write funny captions for a photo from Speed Racer, which hits theaters with a whole lotta color this weekend. Congrats to Anthony M. for painting a very bizarre, yet hilarious picture in our heads. (We still love ya BK!)
1. "Reasons To Burn Rubber (#5): Family-operated Burger King drive through. Fast. Hot. Creepy." -- Anthony M.
3. "Just keep your hands at 10 and 2, buckle your seatbelt, and are you sure you don't want to put some clothes on?" -- Nathan T. See full image and all captions
This week, well, you may know this guy from somewhere. Can't place the face? Here, we'll help -- it starts with an 'Indiana' and ends with a 'Jones'. Put it together and you have one of this summer's most anticipated films -- not to mention we've been looking forward to this sequel for the past 20 years. But before Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull hits theaters on May 22, you're going to want to get reacquainted with an old friend -- and that's where we come in: The winners of our three favorite captions will take home one Indiana Jones The Adventure Collection DVD boxed set, which includes: Raiders of the Lost Ark,The Temple of Doom & The Last Crusade. That's it to the right; ain't it purty? (Click to enlarge.) In honor of our friend Indy, it's now time for you to start whippin' out those captions! Sound off below ...
First there was Josh Hartnett as a drifter. Then came Demi Moore as a captive courtesan, while Woody Harrelson sign on to be a bartender (once again) and Shun Sugata grabbed an uncle role. Now, we've got a bad guy. The Hollywood Reporter posts that the big bad of Bunraku will be played by HellboyRon Perlman, just days after he signed on for The Job.
Guy Moshe's film will be set in a Sin City sort of hyperstylized universe, and as Jessica originally shared, it's got a whole bunch of weird artistic genres that it's pulling from -- puppets, video games, origami, comic books, and even German expressionism. Hartnett's Drifter teams up with a samurai played by Japanese actor Gackt, and they go after Perlman's Eastern European gang lord. I ... have absolutely no idea what to expect from this. The story is simple enough, but I can't imagine how origami, puppets, and other mish-mashed styles will fit into this martial arts story. Oh yeah, and if that wasn't enough, Hartnett originally compared it to Alfred Hitchcock's Rope.
Will we really be getting a film that's one long take of CGI, puppets, martial arts, and fights between good guys and bad guys? It sounds more like one of those weird dreams that wakes you up and wonder what your dream mind was thinking.
I'm not supposed to be working right now (took the day off to celebrate getting older), but I just had to pop on and show you folks this hysterical video from Funny or Die. It's called I'm a Marvel .. and I'm a DC, and for anyone who thought those Mac/PC spoofs were getting old and tired ... definitely check this one out. In the video above, Iron Man and Batman square off in a fight ... of words ... to determine who's the better superhero. Stick with it, because they really get into it after awhile -- when Iron Man goes off on the Batman viral stuff, I just about lost it; same goes for the "at least kids can go see my movie" rant. Best part of the whole thing: they use action figures ... and the voice work ain't that bad. Who do you think has the better argument?
If you're still trying to decide whether you want to go to see Speed Racer tonight, maybe this will help your decision. Yahoo has posted the first seven minutes of the film, which you can check out above. Man, if car races looked half that cool, I'd be a total fan.
I know, some of you aren't getting the whole appeal of this flick, and frankly, I've never been interested in the story until this movie. There's just something about a real-life cartoon that looks all sorts of cool. (I've always wondered what a cartoon-turned-live action film would look like if it was created in a more cartoonish manner.) And major props for making the theme song front and center. I remember how ticked I was when I left during the credits of Spider-Man and missed the theme song I had waited the whole film for.
Check out James' review of the film here, and stay tuned for Scott's review at 11:30AM.
There's a really neat-sounding small-scale sci-fi project in development at Overture Films called Pandorum. But for the news that Paul W.S. Anderson is involved, I'd be really excited. Pandorum will be about two spaceship crewmen who wake up on their ship with no idea who they are or what they're supposed to be doing. Soon, they "make a discovery that threatens the survival of mankind."
Anderson didn't write and won't be directing the film -- those tasks both fall to relative unknowns -- but he is reteaming with his Resident Evil cohorts to produce it. He's not exactly on my must list these days, since the Resident Evil franchise has pretty much died under his supervision and AvP isn't exactly a venerable addition to the list of ongoing big-name series. Pandorum's premise sounds cool, but then so did Event Horizon's until you actually learned what was going on. In any case, Dennis Quaid and Ben Foster (in a possible rare non-psychopathic role?) have signed on to star as our heroes, which is good news. I guess the big question is what exactly the two of them "discover" on that spaceship.
Pandorum is supposed to start production in August in Berlin, according to the Variety piece; no word on a release date. Sci-fi fans, make a note of it.
I think it's kind of funny that in Eugene's post about T4's start date, he says: "barring some Terry Gilliam-scale disaster." I wonder if the disaster could be a long and arduous SAG strike? The New Zealand Herald (Reuters) pointed out today that the production is moving on despite the distinct possibility that the movie industry could get hit with another strike very soon.
Right now, the SAG contract expires on June 30, which could very easily become the start of another strike. (Union leaders say they hope to reach an agreement, and of course they do -- but that doesn't mean they'll get one.) Nevertheless, Terminator Salvation: The Future Begins has started filming in New Mexico this week, throwing caution to the wind.
But this doesn't mean they'll speed through it. A source told Reuters there is no intention to finish production by June 30, and that legal precautions have been taken in case the strike happens. But still -- stopping for an undisclosed period of time right in the middle of production is very far from ideal.
It seems a bit cocky to me, to go forward now rather than waiting, but what do you think?
Should T4 be moving full steam ahead regardless of the strike? Or, is this just a careless or cocky move?
A few weeks ago a DVD of Laurent Cantet's 2000 film Human Resources arrived on my doorstep. I hadn't seen it, but it rung a bell for me, and it took me a little while to remember: the Shooting Gallery series! I couldn't believe I had forgotten about it. It was a huge event in less-than-400-screen lore, successful as well as artistically daring. I poked around and discovered that this brave little distributor had -- of course -- gone out of business. In 2000 and 2001, the Shooting Gallery lined up three series of six movies each, releasing each one for a two-week period, usually on a specific movie screen in selected cities, and then replaced it with the next in the series. If something took off and became a hit, it could play longer. I didn't see all the films, but there were some amazing entries, and certainly some films that otherwise would never have seen the light of day.
The first series unfolded in the spring of 2000. The quirky, dreamy, black-and-white comedy Judy Berlin, starring a then up-and-coming Edie Falco ("The Sopranos"), came first. It didn't exactly break any box office records, but I wouldn't be surprised if it has a small following today. Next up came Peter Mullan's Orphans, which I didn't see, followed by Such a Long Journey, which was yet another story from India about an old-fashioned father balking at the ways of his modern children, but beautifully realized. (The great character actor Om Puri was on hand for a supporting role.) Southpaw was a snappy little boxing documentary about promising Irish fighter Francis Barrett. The sixth film, from Japan, was Adrenaline Drive, a kind of crime story crossed with a drawing room comedy. It seemed ripe for an American remake, which never came.
I know that Ben Foster is a really talented actor and I'm quite sure that he will go really, really far in his career. I wouldn't even be surprised if he becomes a Robert Redford type -- hugely popular and long-lasting. But still ... whether he's got wings as a mutant, or helps some creepy vampires attack a small Alaskan town, to me he's always the cute, goofy kid from Disney's Flash Forward.
Although the show was after my time, I would always stop to watch it when flipping through the channels. It was tres cute and starred Foster as Tucker and Firefly's Jewel Staite as Becca -- two best friends and neighbors who have been close since birth and are now in middle school. Above you get to check out their nervous kiss and final moment of the show. Man, they were cute kidlets.
This one is even better to check out Foster as Tucker, but embedding was disabled.
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We've got about a million comedies out there where the mother-in-law makes trouble -- those sinister, trouble-making older women -- especially the moms of the grooms, who go on to terrorize the brides to be. It's pretty much a cinematic wedding staple by this point. However, it looks like things are switching up a bit for the new comedy I Hate You, Dad.
1. "Reasons To Burn Rubber (#5): Family-operated Burger King drive through. Fast. Hot. Creepy." -- Anthony M.
First there was Josh Hartnett as 
There's a really neat-sounding small-scale sci-fi project in development at Overture Films called Pandorum. But for the news that 
I think it's kind of funny that in 
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Cinematical Seven: When an Animated Series Goes Live Action ... and Gets it Right_thumbnail.jpg)
Full 'G.I. Joe' Cast Photos!
