gabriel macht Tagged Articles at Cinematical

The most telling component of how misguided and laboriously mediocre Whiteout, the latest film from Gone in 60 Seconds director Dominic Sena, is can be found within the manner in which its heroine, United States Marshal Carrie Stetko, is introduced. The camera tracks the back of Stetko, played by the aesthetically immaculate Kate Beckinsale, through the winding corridors of her station at a research lab on Antarctica before she arrives at her personal quarters. Beckinsale then begins to slowly remove every layer of her clothing in preparation for a remarkably unnecessary shower sequence.

Now, before that begins to sound like a prospect that may make Whiteout worth your time or money, keep in mind how unabashedly pointless this extended scene is. It's not showing us how savage the conditions in Antarctica are, as Beckinsale looks like she just emerged from a week at a health spa. It's not showing us how mundane her job is, as the camera spends a fraction of the time on her badge as it does her dwindling layers of clothing. No, the only purpose of this sequence is to show off the sole allure this film has: Kate Beckinsale. And Sena is brazen in treating her like a commodity.

This shouldn't come as a surprise from the man who captained the film that paid Halle Berry a bonus $500,000 for her bare bosom (note: Beckinsale does not actually go the Berry/Swordfish route), but it is the first sign of how tonally incongruous the entirety of Whiteout is. Preceding this strip-down is an opening flashback to fifty-years prior in which a poorly rendered CGI Soviet plane crashes under mysterious circumstances during a poorly rendered CGI snow storm. Following the shower sequence is the establishment of a murder mystery so convoluted it comes as no surprise that four different people share a screenwriting credit on top of the author of the graphic novel upon which the 'first murderer in Antarctica premise' is based.

Cinematical has received three (count 'em three!) exclusive Christmas-related TV spots for The Spirit, directed by Frank Miller (300, Sin City), and starring a whole crop of pretty faces like Gabriel Macht, Eva Mendes, Scarlett Johansson, Sarah Paulson, Jaime King and Samuel L. Jackson. Each of these TV spots look the same, except a different character is featured. One puts Sand Sarif (Mendes) front and center, one focuses more on The Octopus (Jackson), and one teases us with a little Ellen Doran (Paulson). Check out the first spot below, and the other two after the jump.

The Spirit slides its way down your chimney on Christmas Day.

Cinematical has just received this exclusive final poster for The Spirit, which sports Frank Miller's (300, Sin City) solo directorial debut and stars Gabriel Macht, Samuel L. Jackson, Eva Mendes, Scarlett Johansson, Sarah Paulson and our favorite fangirl, Jaime King. Based on Will Eisner's famed comic book series. The Spirit tells of a rookie cop who returns from the dead to fight crime in the shadows of Central City and square off against the villainous Octopus (Jackson), who kills anyone unlucky enough to see his face ... all the while facing a bevy of beautiful women who either want to seduce, love or kill our masked crusader. Check out a larger version of this poster in the gallery below.



The Spirit is due in theaters on Christmas Day.

Gallery: The Spirit

If you think back to the warmer days of summer, you might remember that Jessica posted about an upcoming Internet porn flick called Middle Men. Set to be a comedy, the film was said to follow some normal dude who ends up in the center of that biz we call adult entertainment during the early days of Internet porn (mid-90s, I guess?).

And now we have our men of porn. Variety reports that James Caan, Gabriel Macht, Peter Stormare, and Rachael Taylor have signed on for the film, which will star Luke Wilson and Giovanni Ribisi -- all in yet-to-be-disclosed parts. The film is also sounding a wee bit different these days. Yes, it's still about some regular guy -- a "straight-and-narrow businessman who builds the first online billing company dealing exclusively with adult entertainment." But then there's a bit of an insane twist. He finds "himseld in the middle of a whirlwind filled with starlets, conmen, Russian mobsters, federal agents, and international terrorists."

Well, this is nothing like I expected -- dudes spending late nights on Stile Project's old cam pages while girls contort themselves while basking in the glow of their monitors. Maybe writers George Gallo (who will direct) and Andy Weiss were hanging out with Guy Ritchie. How terrorists, conmen, and Russian mobsters all get involved is anyone's guess, but it's kind of hard not to be intrigued with that cast.

Lionsgate has now officially released the full-length trailer for The Spirit that Film School Rejects leaked last night. It's over on Yahoo! Movies in high definition, so even if you managed to catch the leaked version, it's worth checking out.

I have to say, this looks nothing like I thought it would. I wish I could say that was a good thing but ... wow. I am not feeling this at all. It's not the classic noir of Will Eisner's comics, it's not really a Sin City rip-off, it's just strange and creepy. The shots of the floating heads and the Spirit falling out of the woman's mouth remind me way too much of those eerie French safe sex ads.

I also have to complain about the emphasis placed on the femme fatales. I shrugged off the poster and the website; I accepted the excuse that to lure in the boys, you have to use the sexy girls. I also realize that just about all the actresses in the movie are bigger names than Gabriel Macht, who's the man behind the mask. But this is a full length trailer, and the Spirit himself is still persona non grata. When are we finally going to meet him?

I dig you Frank Miller, I really do, but I don't know if I can go down this road with you. I am hoping that this is just a really bad trailer, and the film is actually a nice visit to the land of neo-noir.

The Spirit opens December 25th, 2008.

Whiteout finally gets to come off my "Whatever happened to ... ?" list. According to ShockTillYouDrop.net, the Antarctic thriller finally has a release date of September 19th.
The movie stars Kate Beckinsale, Gabriel Macht, Tom Skerritt, Columbus Short and Alex O'Loughlin.

The film is based on the graphic novel by Greg Rucka (and I love that they mimicked Frank Miller's cover for the poster at right). It follows Carrie Stetko, a U.S. Marshall working at the McMurdo Station in Antarctica, and her investigation of a murder that takes place there. The location is what makes this murder mystery good and tense, as she has to investigate around the deadly climate of Antarctica, and find the killer before Antarctica is plunged into its six months of darkness.

I saw the teaser at last year's ComicCon and thought it looked like a good thrill ride -- and I actually managed to hold the opinion despite seeing it played twice in a row. It's a little odd that it has been delayed so long, as it was obviously finished as of last summer. I'll hold out hope, though, because Beckinsale is one of my favorite action chicks, and she was hilarious at the Whiteout panel, handling the sleazy comments with aplomb. Hopefully, we'll get to see that teaser on the Internet soon. I will probably watch it and wonder why I thought it looked good. Oh well.

Another new (and improved, in my opinion) image of Samuel L. Jackson as The Octopus in The Spirit has been revealed, courtesy of Comic Con Magazine (click image to enlarge). Directed by Frank Miller (Sin City, 300), and based on the graphic novel by Will Eisner, The Spirit follows rookie cop Denny Colt (Gabriel Macht) who returns from the dead to fight crime in Central City. Jackson plays The Octopus, The Spirit's main nemesis -- a villain who plans to wipe out all of Central City and kills anyone unlucky enough to see his face. (That said, I guess we're all doomed -- damn you Comic Con magazine for showing us this dude's face!)

Also starring in the flick are Scarlett Johansson (as the Octopus' secretary, Silken Floss), Eva Mendes (as Sand Saref), Jaime King (as Lorelei Rox) and Paz Vega (as Plaster of Paris). Gotta love the names in this one. If I may recommend myself for the sequel; I could play Dynamo Clorox III. Sweet! The first trailer for The Spirit was released during New York Comic Con, and I'm sure the cast and crew will have plenty of goodies for the folks attending San Diego Comic Con in July.

The Spirit arrives in theaters on December 25 (Happy Birthday Jesus, indeed!). Check out our gallery below.



[via Coming Soon]