joe mantegna Tagged Articles at Cinematical

In honor of Memorial Day, our friends at SnagFilms are hosting a special section of films with the intention "to honor the fallen, and to reflect on our own duties of remembrance and action." The eleven documentaries cover a good range of subjects; the one that first caught my eye is Vietnam, Long Time Coming.

Directed by Jerry Blumenthal, Peter Gilbert, and Gordon Quinn, and narrated by Joe Mantegna, the film chronicles "a gathering of American and Vietnamese veterans, many of them disabled, who collectively travel on bicycles and hand cycles [on a] 1,200 mile, 16-day journey" through Vietnam, wrote Jonathan Rosenbaum of the Chicago Reader when naming the movie among his 10 best of 1998. Rosenbaum felt that "all sorts of issues -- from the corporate sponsorship to the music on the sound track to the status of the undertaking as a sporting event -- get in the way, despite the intelligent and purposeful narration delivered by Joe Mantegna. But I can't deny that certain moments in Vietnam: Long Time Coming brought me to tears -- especially the vets' statements as they struggle to make sense of the Vietnam war and their experience of it. As an act of witness to those struggles, the film is irreplaceable."

Blumenthal and Gilbert are long-time documentarians; Gilbert worked on Hoop Dreams and has continued to make documentaries, including last year's excellent At the Death House Door with Steve James. We've embedded the movie below for your viewing convenience. More information is available at Kartemquin Films and at SnagFilms.

Here it is. Just as it was gratifying to see all the hallmarks of the X-Files franchise in the X-Files 2 trailer we linked to yesterday (it's since been pulled, but will no doubt reappear in studio-sanctioned form soon), it's great to see all the David Mamet staples pop up here. Hey, there's Ricky Jay, and Joe Mantegna, and Rebecca Pidgeon! Magic tricks! Macho posturing! Hints of cons, and cons within cons! Best of all, we get to hear a little bit of that unmistakable clipped Mamet-speak:

"Excuse me. Uh, who's the...?"
"It's alright. Come in."
"I believe I..."
"Hey Joe, take the lady's coat!"

Music to my ears. And far from straying from his usual milieu with the mixed martial arts angle, Mamet seems to have used it to create another of his shady underworlds where nothing is as it seems. For fans of the man's work, watching this trailer is like settling into a comfy old recliner.

Sometimes it's the all-star casts that get curiosity brewing. And sometimes, it's just an interesting collection that you might not have thought of. The Hollywood Reporter has posted that Eric Balfour, Joe Mantegna, and Armand Assante have signed on, and James Van Der Beek is in final negotions, for an indie feature called The Fifth Mafia.

The flick is being directed by Vito J. Giambalvo. His name might not sound familiar, although he's directed episodes of Girlfriends, and helmed the indie flick Let Me Count the Ways in 2006, but you're definitely familiar with some of his older-school work -- he was a cameraman for All in the Family, The Facts of Life, and One Day at a Time. Okay -- you're familiar with the work if you were born before 1980, or watch a lot of old-school reruns.

The drama will focus on the "son (Balfour) of a murdered Mafioso. The son, who never had any involvement in the family business, seeks revenge on his corrupt Uncle Dominic (Assante) for the murder of his parents. Eventually, his quest sends him on a collision course with the FBI after he ruins the life of one of the bureau's agents (Van Der Beek)." This is why revenge doesn't work -- it's never clean and often, you can become what you're fighting against. Mantegna, meanwhile, will play a guy named Mario, who is part of Assante's crime family.

Man, Jesse and Dawson have come a long way.

OK, so these are three things I bet you never thought you would see in the same sentence; Tim Allen, David Mamet, and Jiu-jitsu. ComingSoon.net has the exclusive first image from Mamet's Redbelt, and it might not tell you much about the movie, but despite the lack of information, its still a pretty dynamic-looking photo. It was back in May when Patrick had first reported that "family-man" Tim Allen had joined the cast of Mamet's "martial arts drama." Unlikely casting aside, the thought of a Mamet film set in the world of ultimate fighting is a little strange to begin with. I mean, this is the man responsible for Glengarry Glen Ross, and The Verdict. But it still makes way more sense than his upcoming family film, Joan of Bark: The Dog that Saved France -- I'm still holding out for the remote possibility that that whole thing is just a bizarre rumor.

Redbelt stars Chiwetel Ejiofor (American Gangster) as "Mike Terry, the chief instructor at the Southside Jiu-jitsu Academy." ComingSoon's description of the plot: "Although a talented fighter, he refuses to compete in professional bouts: 'Competition weakens the fighter.' Instead he trains dedicated students in the art of self-defense: bodyguards, cops. soldiers. At his brother-in-law's club one evening, Mike saves a famous action star (Allen) from a severe beating. His defense of Frank leads to a job in the film industry, but other events conspire to force Mike to participate in a prize fight." The cast includes martial arts master Randy Couture alongside Joe Mantegna, Rodrigo Santoro, and Emily Mortimer. There has yet to be any word of a release date -- all we do know is that Redbelt is expected to arrive sometime in '08.

When David Mamet is on, he is one of our finest writers. His script for Glengarry Glen Ross should be required reading for anyone aspiring to write for stage or screen. Mamet has put words in the mouths of some of the greatest actors in film history: Jack Lemmon, Al Pacino, Robert DeNiro, Jack Nicholson, and now ... Tim Allen? It's true, Allen will star in Mamet's Redbelt. And it gets stranger -- the film is a "martial arts drama." I'm quite serious. Mamet wrote and will direct the film, which co-stars Children of Men's Chiwetel Ejiofor. Rounding out the cast are Emily "Brittle Bones" Mortimer, City of God's Alice Braga, 300's Rodrigo Santoro, Crank's Jose Pablo Cantillo, and Mamet regulars Ricky Jay, David Paymer, Joe "Fat Tony" Mantegna and Rebecca "Mrs. Mamet" Pidgeon. If that cast isn't crowded enough for you, the film also stars "martial artists and fighters" Randy Couture, John Machado, Danny Inosanto, Enson Inoue, and Ray Mancini.

According to imdb, Redbelt is "the story of Mike Terry (Ejiofor), a Jiu-jitsu master who has avoided the prize fighting circuit, choosing to instead pursue a life of honor and education by operating a self-defense studio in Los Angeles. Terry's life is dramatically changed, however, when he is conned by a cabal of movie stars and promoters. In order to pay off his debts and regain his honor Terry must step into the ring for the first time in his life." Allen will play "a troubled action star with marital problems who meets the master when he is getting pummeled in a street fight." I'm sorry, doesn't this sound like something Jean-Claude Van Damme and Gary Busey would have starred in back in 1988? And, you know, I was just about to close this article with a line about how I'm not worried because you can usually trust Mamet to deliver the goods, but then I noticed his next project is something called Joan of Bark: The Dog that Saved France! If this is an Air Bud sequel, we'll know the guy has officially lost his mind.

Has there ever been such a case of 'too little, too late' as The Simpsons Movie? Don't get me started. Anyway, a number of photos from the film have been turning up at various places, some of which appear taken from previously avaliable clips, some not. In this latest batch, we see Homer mushing some huskies up a vertical incline, Ned Flanders being watched by Bart Simpson in a tree outside of his house, an angry mob of torch burners assembled for some purpose, and the baby Simpson confronting a monkey with what looks like a broken baby bottle.

Little is known about the official plot, but the numerous celebrity voices will include Minnie Driver, Erin Brockovich and regular guest stars Kelsey Grammer and Joe Mantegna. In other sort-of Simpsons news, testy actor Harry Shearer, who voices Simpsons characters including Montgomery Burns and Ned Flanders, recently performed a theater piece called 'This Is So Not About The Simpsons' as part of the annual Association of Performing Arts Presenters Members Conference.

The poor Easter Bunny only seems to hold onto the smallest bit of cred, and probably only that because he buys kids off with chocolates. Although stores become awash in pastels after February 14, cinemas don't get much at all. We've got a bunch of biblical films to entertain us, yet we don't give much cinematic love to the bunnies -- definitely not on-par with Santa Clause and Christmas. While the landscape of family Easter films will still be sparse, we're actually getting an Easter bunny-themed adult movie that seems to mix elements of Bad Santa and Office Space.

Of course, any adult film of childrens' figures must add smoking, booze and other lascivious activities, and Hank and Mike is no exception. The gist of the film -- two foul-mouthed Easter bunnies lose their job and must find alternate employment. As acerbic as they are, the duo realize that their lives are coming apart because their lives are their jobs. Writers and producers Thomas Michael and Paolo Mancini have been honing the characters for years on stage and television, and star as the gritty rabbits. The Hollywood Reporter has now released additional cast for the film -- Joe Mantegna and Wes Bentley. The former is the owner of Easter Enterprises and obviously Hank and Mike's boss. Bentley comes in as an efficiency consultant. The film was shot last fall in Toronto, so I assume Bentley jumped on board after his stint in P2.
Although no official release date has been set, the movie has a website and trailer online. Beware: they are bad bunnies, so the trailer is full of adult language and some sexual content.