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The First Poster for 'Be Kind Rewind'

When it comes to Michel Gondry films, I guess the wackiness just never stops. Cinemablend is now hosting the first poster for the comedy fantasy Be Kind Rewind and it's everything you would expect from the director who seems to have 'whimsy' as a middle name. Starring Jack Black and Mos Def, the film centers on two local video store employees who have to re-create an entire video store worth of films when Black accidentally erases all the tapes after a bout of 'personal magnetization'. Rounding out the cast is Mia Farrow as one of the store's most dedicated customers and Danny Glover as the owner of the struggling shop.

The first trailer for the flick arrived in August, and so far most of the marketing for the film has been stressing that same message of a fantastical 'DIY culture'. I guess in the end that is what I've always thought Gondry's movies were about; if you aren't happy with the way things are then create your own reality until you are. The official site for the film even gives you the opportunity to cut and paste your own face into some famous movie art. Ever wanted to be on the cover of Die Hard? Well, here is your chance. There is even a pretty elaborate gag involving a "homemade Internet". The poster for the film seems to keep the same feel as the website and even looks like it was made on the cheap with markers and pencil crayons -- but as anyone in the design business knows, sometimes it's the 'cheap' look that costs you the most. Be Kind Rewind opens in theaters on January 25th, 2008.

Check out the full-sized poster after the jump ...

Continue reading The First Poster for 'Be Kind Rewind'

Retro Cinema: Rosemary's Baby



Boy, you think YOUR kids are a handful. Roman Polanski's 1968 feature adaptation of Ira Levin's novel Rosemary's Baby has aged remarkably well, particularly because of its emphasis on character and human drama and minimal use of traditional horror elements. One of the most shocking moments of the film comes right at the beginning when you see William Castle's producer credit. I'm still surprised when I'm reminded that he had a hand in this picture. Castle was best known for directing charmingly gimmicky B horror flicks like Mr. Sardonicus (audiences were given thumbs up/thumbs down cards to vote on the villain's fate), the Psycho influenced Homicidal (the film featured a "Fright Break" right before the climax that allowed audience members to retreat to the "Coward's Corner" if they weren't feeling brave enough to sit through the rest of the movie), and the original 13 Ghosts (for which the audience was given special glasses to view the ghosts in the film). Had Castle followed through on his original plan to direct Rosemary's Baby himself, I'm sure we would be talking about a very different film.

Rosemary (Mia Farrow) and Guy Woodhouse (John Cassavetes) are a young couple who move into a new apartment in New York. The place seems a bit extravagant, particularly since their income consists of what Guy makes as a struggling actor. The elderly couple living next door, Minnie (Ruth Gordon, who won an Oscar for the role) and Roman Castevet (Sidney Blackmer) are friendly enough, but too clingy for Rosemary's taste. There's also some strange chanting coming from the Catevets' apartment, and a girl who was living with them is found dead in the street of an apparent suicide. Rosemary and Guy's old friend Hutch (Maurice Evans, who will always be Dr. Zaius from Planet of the Apes to me) let's them in on their new building's sordid past, telling them of witchcraft, cannibalism and infanticide being performed by previous tenants.

Continue reading Retro Cinema: Rosemary's Baby

Mia Farrow Accuses Steven Spielberg of Turning Blind Eye To Genocide

Actress Mia Farrow is back in the news, accusing a high-profile film director of moral turpitude -- only this time it's not Woody Allen. In the Wednesday Wall Street Journal, Farrow slammed director Steven Spielberg and various corporate sponsors for supporting the 2008 Beijing Olympics, despite China's reluctance to pressure Sudan over the Darfur issue. Spielberg, of course, is a consultant to the games and Farrow feels that as an artist, he has a responsibility to voice concerns about China's horrendous human rights record. "That so many corporate sponsors want the world to look away from that atrocity is bad enough," she wrote, "but equally disappointing is the decision of artists like director Steven Spielberg -- who quietly visited China this month as he prepares to help stage the Olympic ceremonies -- to sanitize Beijing's image."

Farrow went further, asking the question: "Is Mr. Spielberg, who in 1994 founded the Shoah Foundation, to record the testimony of survivors of the Holocaust, aware that China is bankrolling Darfur's genocide?" And here's the kicker quote: "Does Mr. Spielberg really want to go down in history as the Leni Riefenstahl of the Beijing Games?" The piece was co-signed by Farrow's son, Ronan, but it seems safe to say that the sentiment belongs to Farrow. Is China's human rights record really comparable to Nazi Germany's? That's obviously hyperbole on her part, but Farrow is also obviously correct that China is a monstrous abuser of human rights, and I personally want nothing to do with the inevitable wave of corporate-media hooey we'll be subjected to during the Olympics about how China and its vomit values are the future. I can see the Time Magazine cover already, can't you?

So I say kudos, Mia. It's nice to hear someone actually call Spielberg out on his hypocrisy in supporting the games. This is a director who has repeatedly put his name onto films with a very strong pro-freedom point of view, like Schindler's List, The Color Purple, and Amistad. He clearly wants to be viewed as an artist with a social conscience, and that is contradicted by his support of the games.

Scarlett and Woody Together Again? Yep

I'm not a complete Woody Allen snob, but I am picky and I haven't been satisfied with any of his films since Sweet and Lowdown. For me to have liked even Match Point I would have had to lower my standards and expectations, and in the end I decided it didn't work for me. One of my problems with it is Scarlett Johansson, who I may never be able to enjoy as an actress. As a handbag model she's great, sure, but as someone who has to portray any feelings on the big screen she can't get my attention. I don't avoid her work, though, because some of her films are good despite her. I couldn't bother with Allen's Scoop, but now the filmmaker has cast the actress in another film, his untitled Spanish project, which I'm at least intrigued about.

So far we had learned that Allen would be shooting in Barcelona and Asturias this summer with the great Spanish actors Javier Bardem and Penélope Cruz. His new additions include Johansson and her co-star from The Prestige, Rebecca Hall. This will now be Johansson's third film for Allen, putting her closer to the level of collaboration as Louise Lasser, Diane Keaton and Mia Farrow, all of whom Allen had been involved with romantically. I'm not saying that Soon-Yi should be worried, at least if she doesn't mind Allen simply looking, but it is a bit strange. Following this film, Allen will return to England for his next film, which will go into production in 2008, hopefully without Johansson.

Even More Names Start Rewinding

Man, I am so totally stoked about Be Kind Rewind. Everything about the movie -- yes, including the fact that Kirsten "I'm Adorable Even Though the Internets Hate Me" Dunst might be in it -- sounds completely fantastic, and I refuse to let my customary pessimism harsh my buzz about this one. For those of you who have somehow overlooked our previous posts on the subject, the movie is about a guy with a Magnetic Brain (of course he'll be played by Jack Black) who accidentally erases all the tapes in the video store at which his best friend (Mos Freaking Def) works. You know, with his big ol' head. So, in order to not disappoint the store's only regular customer -- an old lady whose mind is going -- the friends do the logical thing, and set out to recreate the movies she liked to rent. Yes, that's right: Jack Black and Mos Def shoot their own versions of Rush Hour, Lion King, and Robocop. And the movie was written and will be directed by Michel Gondry. Have you wet yourselves with joy yet?

The latest update on the film* is that, in addition to Danny Glover (who we already knew would appear), Melonie Diaz and Mia Farrow have also joined the cast, with Diaz as Mos Def's coworker, and Farrow, one assumes/hopes, as the shop's customer. Honestly. The only way this movie can get better is if Tommy Lee Jones joins the cast. If he does, the fact that shooting doesn't being until next month will not stop me from camping out for tickets. Like, now.

*Disturbingly, Dunst's name is not mentioned in the most recent
Variety article, so make of that what you will. For the moment, I'm choosing to believe it was an oversight, rather than evidence that her talks to appear didn't work out.

Vintage Image of the Day: Rosemary's Baby


It was on this day in 1966 that Frank Sinatra, then in his early 50s, married Mia Farrow, then in her early 20s. Two years later, Farrow had her hair chopped into a pixie cut by Vidal Sassoon for her role in Rosemary's Baby, causing an uproar in women's fashion trends. In fact, one could argue that Farrow's biggest and best-known act in her public life was to have her hair cut off. Certainly her waiflike role in the 1968 Roman Polanski horror film is the performance for which she is most often remembered (well, that and the whole thing with Woody Allen).

It wasn't long after Farrow's notable haircut that Sinatra had her served with divorce papers on the set of Rosemary's Baby. Not because of the pixie 'do, but because she wouldn't quit the film to costar in The Detective with him. Since most of us have heard of or seen Rosemary's Baby, and The Detective has fallen into obscurity, do you think she made the right decision?

Cinematical's SmartGossip for June 5, 2006

Yippee!  We can finally add, "The Naked Gun ... Literally" to O.J. Simpson's IMDB website.  Rumors are swirling around the acquitted homicidal maniac and his alleged appearance in a 25 minute sex romp with two female "co-stars" (that O.J., he just loves doing things in twos).  Simpson's lawyer, Yale Galanter (Harvard Galanter was unavailable) claims that, "while my client may appear fully clothed in portions of the tape, the man having sex is an imposter."  Mark Fuhrman strikes again!  That man will stop at NOTHING to besmirch O.J.'s good name. The man selling the video insists that it is 100% O.J. and urges people to make up their own mind.  Amen!  And let's not forget, "if it don't fit, you must acquit".

 

Mia Farrow is behind Angelina Jolie 100%.  Farrow has ten adopted children of her own and commends Jolie for her dedication to charity work . The Rosemary's Baby star said: "I don't know if Angelina even knows my name, but I do think she's absolutely lovely and her good heart is there for all to see." Oh yeah, and John Hinckley Jr. has never heard of Jodie Foster. Come ON, Mia!  Lose the false modesty – you are probably her do-gooding role model. Let's just hope that Brad Pitt turns out to be a little more fatherly and a little less husbandly than Woody Allen.

 

 

Continue reading Cinematical's SmartGossip for June 5, 2006

News on Besson's Arthur and the Minimoys

In addition to his directing career, Luc Besson has made a bit of a name for himself as a writer of children's books. His four-volume series about Arthur and the Minimoys has been a big hit in his native France, and Besson has been working for years on a movie about the characters. Though very few details had been available until recently, new information about the film has been showing up every 10 minutes over the past couple of days.

The film, which is a mix of animation and live-action, will feature the voices of Madonna, David Bowie, and Snoop Dogg (already, I'm hooked), as well as the real-life acting talents of Charlie and the Chocolate Factory's Freddie Highmore as Arthur and Mia Farrow, who will play his grandmother. The fantasy plot is a little confusing in summary, but essentially, Arthur's grandparents' house is being threatened by developers, and he decides the only way to save it is to track down his grandfather's mysterious treasure, which he's been told is "hidden somewhere on the 'other side' in the land of the Minimoys" (who are a single centimeter tall, by the way). Arthur somehow reaches the other side, and madcap adventures no doubt ensue.

Besson hopes to have his film ready to premiere at Cannes in May; it has been acquired for American distribution by The Weinstein Company, and will open in here on Christmas.

[via JoBlo]

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