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.

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.

Cinematical has just received this creepy (but oddly adorable) exclusive teaser poster for Igor (click on the image to enlarge), an animated film coming to us via The Weinstein Co. this September. Igor features the voice talent of John Cusack, Steve Buscemi, John Cleese, Eddie Izzard, Jennifer Coolidge, Molly Shannon, Jay Leno, Arsenio Hall ... it gets better ... and James Lipton -- playing himself! Talk about a voice cast sent from the comedy Gods! Igor is the story of a mad scientist's hunchbacked lab assistant whose greatest dream is to win the coveted first place award at the annual Evil Science Fair. This one looks like all kinds of fun -- I mean, look at that poster. Look at that face. How do you not love that face? How do you not want to take Igor home with you, cuddle up on the couch, watch a monster movie marathon and -- if time allows -- destroy the world? I know I do ...

Igor arrives in theaters on September 19.

The pounding beat of a headache, or the sear of a migraine, is something I rarely have to face. That makes me lucky, for the most part, but it also means that when one hits, like today, all I can think of is heads and brains like a zombie in training. Naturally, this has me thinking of movies that focus on the stories of the noggin. Should I go for The Man with Two Brains or other similar brainy fare? Nah.

Instead, I'm going to focus on a man behind the camera, one who brought us two of the best stories of the mind to date: Mr. Charlie Kaufman. It all started with a little Malkovich Malkovich, and then continued with the overwhelming urge to erase love from the mind -- two stories that make a little headache seem like nothing. On this warm Friday, I give you: Being John Malkovich and Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind ...

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.

As I reported in December, Danny and Oxide Pang (Bangkok Dangerous, The Messengers) were hired to direct the sequel to action fantasy The Storm Riders. More details have surfaced at the Hong Kong Filmart, according to Variety. Filming begins next month with original stars Aaron Kwok and Ekin Cheng set to return; Simon Yam, Nicholas Tse, and Charlene Choi will also star. The picture will be the first Hong Kong movie filmed exclusively on blue screen, a la 300, though the budget is just $12 million, compared to 300's estimated cost of $65 million. The Storm Riders II is due for release at the end of 2009.

Variety is also reporting that the wonderfully versatile Gary Oldman is in "advanced negotiations" to star in Rain Fall, the "story of a hit man who is forced to protect the daughter of one of his victims against assassination by the C.I.A." If the deal goes through, Oldman would join Shiina Kippei (Shinobi) and actress Akiho Hasegawa. Max Mannix will direct the Japan-set thriller; veteran producer Satoru Iseki is employing "sophisticated Western financing techniques" to get the picture made.

We've been tracking World War II action epic Shanghai since last summer. Production was expected to start this spring in Shanghai, but the Chinese authorities denied the shooting permit after the Weinstein Co. had spent nearly three million dollars building sets. Variety says that production has now been shifted to Thailand and England, though there's no word on a new start date. The film will be directed by Mikael Håfström and stars John Cusack, Chow Yun-Fat, Gong Li and Ken Watanabe.

At first, I mistakenly thought that War, Inc. was a re-named version of Talking to Dog, that Children of Men rip-off I wrote about last year. (It's actually a re-named version of Brand Hauser: Stuff Happens.) War stars John Cusack and Hilary Duff, just like the other one was supposed to. Now Talking to Dog seems to have fallen off the face of the earth, so did the movie studios consider the rip-off angle and go in a new direction? Or did Hilary just follow John to this new endeavor? Or, did my attempts at weird mental mojo* work and make that other project die for good?

Whatever the case, Hilary and John are starring in War, Inc. with sister Joan, Marisa Tomei, and Ben Kingsley, and Rope of Silicon has your first look at the action, and John Cusack's furrowed brow (which you can see a bit of to the upper right). This should be tons better than the other option for a number of reasons, but mainly because the unique, surreal voice of Mark Leyner wrote this puppy. (He's written great novels like The Tetherballs of Bougainville and Et Tu, Babe?)

The film once again puts John in the assassin role, and this time he's contracted to kill an oil minister from the Middle East (Ben Kingsley). Instead of high school reunions, however, his cover is "producing a big trade show that includes a wedding between a local pop star and a politico, but complications ensue." The pics don't show too much, but it is strange to see Hilary Duff looking like a cross between a pop star and tough-ass scorpion tamer in one of them. The film is set for a limited release this May.

*I was so against this project, that I figured if I can make new DVDs pop up by buying the old VHS or bare-bones disc version, or off-handedly talk about celebrity deaths right before they happen, maybe I could will Dog into cinematic death.

We first caught wind of Shanghai this past summer, as part of the announcement that The Weinstein Co. had landed $285 million to make Asian-themed films. At the time it was described simply as "an action epic set during World War II." A few months later, James Rocchi told us that John Cusack was in negotiations to star as "an American expat who returns to Shanghai in the months before Pearl Harbor due to the death of his friend." James noted that the beautiful Gong Li had already been cast, and that director Mikael Håfström was on board. Cusack and Håfström previously worked together on 1408.

Variety Asia Online is reporting that another piece of the puzzle has been added: Ken Watanabe has joined the cast. No details are offered about the role he will play, though the article fleshes out the plot a little. Referring to the character that will be played by Cusack (now confirmed to star), the article states: "While trying to solve the murder [of his friend], he falls in love and discovers a much larger secret that his own government is hiding." Hossein Amini wrote the script; he was nominated for an Academy Award for his work on The Wings of the Dove, and also adapted Jude as well as the more recent Killshot.

Watanabe has great presence; he shot to prominence opposite Tom Cruise in The Last Samurai and was memorable in both Batman Begins and Letters from Iwo Jima; he also received kudos for his work as a businessman beset by Alzheimer's Disease in Memories of Tomorrow. During the time period covered in the upcoming film, Shanghai was occupied by Japan, but, as noted above, we'll have to wait and see which part the Japanese-born Watanabe will play. Production is expected to start this spring in Shanghai. Watanabe was also recently cast in Cirque du Freak, which rolls this month, but I presume the filming schedules are compatible.

When I started at Cinematical, I had never conducted an interview before. I bought my first digital recorder with trembling hands, and in my first interview I stuttered more than Michael Palin in A Fish Called Wanda. But I pulled through it, didn't embarrass myself, and got smoother with practice. What I've learned is that no matter how intimidating the interviewee may be, as long as you are reasonably pleasant, professional, and well-prepared, the discussion won't go totally off the rails.

For an example of an interviewer not being well prepared and a discussion that does go totally off the rails, I direct you to this hilarious clip of a young woman (judging by the youtube comments, she's a communications student at USC) starting an interview with John Cusack. I won't spoil it for you, I'll just say it's safe for work, it's brief, and it's as cringe-inducing and awkward as anything on The Office. You will be screaming at this reporter to just...stop...talking. Enjoy! And friends, please, do your research!

Surprise! Jason Reitman's Juno, the most buzzed about teen pregnancy comedy of the fall, hauled in an overwhelming take of $60,000 per screen at seven theaters in New York and Los Angeles, according to estimates compiled by Box Office Mojo, easily topping the indie box office chart. It got a head start by opening on Wednesday, but it actually began building momentum when it screened at Telluride more than three months ago. Critical response has been nearly unanimous (93% positive per Rotten Tomatoes), with our own Kim Voynar leading the hosannas. Juno will be opening wide soon, so it will be interesting to see if it can cross over to mainstream acceptance.

Also widely praised since its debut at Venice, Atonement scored very well with a per-screen average of $25,531 at 32 theaters in major markets. Keira Knightley and James McAvoy star in director Joe Wright's adaptation of the Ian McEwan novel. Christopher Hampton scripted the screen version of an epic period romance. Cinematical's James Rocchi participated in a roundtable interview with McAvoy; you can read McAvoy's thoughts on Atonement and much more.

Other indies struggled to find audiences. Grace is Gone, starring John Cusack as a father having trouble telling his daughters that their mother has been killed, had the highest profile, but earned just $3,500 per screen at four theaters. Long on the shelf, The Amateurs may be heading quickly to DVD; despite the presence of Jeff Bridges and Ted Danson, it managed to earn only $4,000 per screen at three theaters in Los Angeles and Dallas. Bridges did all he could to publicize the film; he and Danson participated in a junket, which our own Patrick Walsh just wrote about, and was present for a post-screening Q&A on Friday night in Dallas.

Also debuting over the weekend: Maurice Jamal's comedy Dirty Laundry ($7,700 per-screen at two theaters), Paul Schrader's Washington drama The Walker ($5,533 per screen at three theaters), Guy Ritchie's crime drama Revolver ($2,316 per screen at 18 theaters) and David Wall's religious drama Noelle ($802 per screen at 203 theaters).

(Since Grace is Gone is now screening in limited release, we're re-publishing James' review from the 2007 Sundance Film Festival.)

Dulce et decorum est pro patria mori.
(It is sweet and decorous to die for one's country.)

-- Horace

Sure, but try explaining that to someone who's lost a loved one in war; it may be sweet and decorous to die for one's country, but how is that consolation to the people left behind? How do you explain that kind of loss to yourself? How do you explain that kind of loss to children? And moving from the abstract to the concrete, as Stanley Phillips (John Cusack) has to ask himself, how can he explain to his daughters Heidi (Shélan O'Keefe) and Dawn (Gracie Bednarczyk) that their mom -- wife, mother, friend, U.S. Army staff sergeant -- isn't coming back to them because she's died in Iraq?

Well, for Stanley, the answer to that is simple: You don't. At least not right away. You stall for a few minutes. And then you stall for an hour. And then you stall a little more and ask the kids what they'd like to do while driving around Minnesota's chain restaurants and strip malls, trying desperately to think of how to tell them. And when Dawn says she wants to go to Enchanted Gardens -- a Florida fun park -- Stanley puts the family on the highway and heads South, because doing something stupid is invariably easier than doing something right.

Sometimes there's nothing scarier than a real location. It could be the dingy air of Detroit, or hop a little bit east for the so-called armpit of America -- Buffalo. There's all sorts of thrilling stories that could take place there. Thrills can be had amongst the fires of Cheektowaga, or the daily dumping of snow each winter. Unfortunately, "Whiteout" is being used for that Kate Beckinsale movie, so this upcoming Buffalo thriller will have to take place inside. The Hollywood Reporter has posted that John Cusack has signed on to star in The Factory -- a psychological thriller set in the good city of Buffalo.

Once again, like his thriller stint in 1408, Cusack will play the sad dad on a mission. But this time around, he's "an obsessed cop who, with his partner, is on the trail of a serial killer prowling the streets of Buffalo, NY. When his teenage daughter disappears, the cop drops any professional restraint and goes all out to get the killer." The script comes from Aussie Project Greenlight winner Morgan O'Neill, who will also direct, and reportedly he co-wrote the script with someone else, but they weren't named in the news piece. The film will begin shooting this January, which is pretty adventurous of the filmmakers, unless Buffalo will be built on a backlot somewhere in Hollywood. Hopefully it's the former. We don't get too many cop thrillers set in blizzards.

There are a few animated movies on the way that I've been dying to see. One is Jackboots on Whitehall, which is challenging every last bit of my anxious patience, and the other is Anthony Leondis' Igor. Luckily enough, at least for the latter film, a release date has finally been set. Unfortunately -- it's almost a year from now -- October 24, 2008. But still, the film is on its way, and we're sure to see much more about it soon since The Hollywood Reporter has posted that the Weinstein Co. and Exodus Film Group have teamed up with CKE Restaurants for some greasy movie marketing.

CKE owns Carl's Jr. and Hardee's, and over 3,000 locations are going to participate in the usual throng of movie/food linkage. Igor will take part in Cool Kids Combos and "four custom-designed Igor premiums," as well as displays and an online campaign. But that's just the first step. Soon we'll also see the throng of action figures and play sets, plus nine Igor books. Basically, the crazy helper should be everywhere. To refresh your memory, Igor is a feature film based on a short, where a mad scientist's (Dr. Schadenfreude) assistant, Igor, aims to win the Evil Science Fair. The idea on it's own is brilliance, but the film boasts one heck of a voice lineup that includes John Cusack as Igor, Steve Buscemi as a lab rat named Scamper, Jennifer Coolidge as the village vixen named Jaclyn, Eddie Izzard as Schadenfreude, and John Cleese as a doc named Glickenstein.

People has officially named Matt Damon 2007's Sexiest Man Alive -- and a whole bevy of hot guys as sexy runners-up (is that kind of like being part of the Homecoming Queen's Court?), and we've taken some time to ponder their selection. Not that we have any objection to Damon -- he's certainly deserving of the honor, after rocking the Bourne flicks as the mysterious and oh-so-sexy Jason Bourne, but with so many choices out there, it's so hard to choose just one as "Sexiest." What does that mean, anyhow, to be the "sexiest?" Sexy is so subjective, it's really impossible to say conclusively that this particular guy is truly THE sexiest man alive, isn't it? That's why we threw together this gallery for you, dear readers, of some of our picks for our own Sexy Man list.

Browse our selections, then chime in on our poll to tell us who you think is the sexiest man out there ...

Dang, there sure are a lot of hitman characters in the movies. And what's the difference between a hitman and an assassin, anyway? Does Jason Bourne count, or is he no longer a hitman/assassin by the time his cinematic story begins? Are Pulp Fiction's Vincent and Jules really hitmen or are they technically bagmen? Yeah, it's a difficult task to make a list of prominent hitmen in film. So, I'll let someone else make a "25 Greatest Hitmen" list; here, I present my seven favorites.

Feel free to mention your own preferences. With so many characters, whether easily falling within definition or not, I'm certainly leaving out a lot of good ones. But, as I said, these are my favorites. The cool, the funny, the interesting, they're the ones I enjoy watching over and over again, despite their lethal nature.


Martin Q. Blank in Grosse Pointe Blank (1997, George Armitage)

There is no better hitman than John Cusack's Martin Blank. He's good at his job, and he's funny, and he's willing to give it all up for love. Of course, he's bored enough by the occupation that he'd probably give it up for any good reason. It doesn't seem to matter to him that it's morally wrong; he's just another normal guy, dissatisfied with his job. And while it does seem to be a gag that's stretched thin, his issues do make him more entertaining than the usual silent-yet-conflicted hitmen. Plus, it's enjoyable to think that this is what really happened to Lloyd Dobbler, or Lane Meyer, or any other Cusack character from the '80s.

Signature line: "I was hired to kill you, but I'm not going to do it. It's either because I'm in love with your daughter or because I have a new found respect for life."