movie Tagged Articles at Cinematical
Cinematical Seven: What Not to Watch on Holiday Visits
Filed under: Horror », Music & Musicals », Family Films », Home Entertainment », Cinematical Seven »
It's Christmas Eve, and you're visiting your family. You've just finished wrapping gifts, or going to early church, or entertaining dozens of relatives. Or perhaps it's Christmas Day and you've just enjoyed an enormous dinner. What do you do next? Many of you film geeks are probably thinking that this is a great time to see what holiday movies are on TV, or whip out a new DVD for the whole family to watch.
You better watch out.
My little brother the film geek and I have had trouble for years with watching movies around the holiday on our parents' big TV in the middle of their living room. We flip through the channels, we find something interesting ... and then Something Bad Happens. You would not believe the problems that can crop up when you pick the wrong movie or TV show to watch at a relative's house during the holiday season.
This Cinematical Seven provides a handy guide of the types of movies you should avoid watching with your family during the holiday season. And at the end, I'll tell you what's left. Football is going to sound like a much better option when we're through.
Interview: Zac Efron, Richard Linklater, Christian McKay, 'Me and Orson Welles'
Filed under: Comedy », Independent », New Releases », Interviews »
Interviewing one actor or filmmaker can have its challenges, even though the interview is enjoyable. Interviewing three people at once ... there's definitely a juggling aspect involved, especially if they've been working together, doing a lot of interviews together, and aren't afraid to step on one another's answers. I wish I'd brought a video camera to record my time with Me and Orson Welles director Richard Linklater and co-stars Zac Efron and Christian McKay, because they were such an entertaining trio. (They're not bad looking, either.) McKay stars in his film debut as Welles, whom he has also portrayed on stage, and Efron plays a teenager who finds himself on the fringes of the Mercury Players as they stage Julius Caesar in 1937 New York.
Cinematical was able to grab only five minutes or so with the three gentlemen from Me and Orson Welles during a recent press day in Austin -- in that limited amount of time, all my in-depth, probing questions were thrown by the wayside in favor of a few general queries all three could answer. Someday I would love to spend an hour with these guys. But even a short interview was a great deal of fun, and my only regret is that the rapport between the filmmaker and actors does not quite translate to text. Check out Cinematical's review from last year's premiere in Toronto for more details about the film, which also stars Claire Danes. If we can't spend more time with the trio in person, we can at least watch two of them onscreen in this charming comedy.
Cinematical Seven: Ways to Leave Your Employer
Filed under: Cinematical Seven »
The film Up in the Air opens in theaters on Friday, and a large part of the film is about people leaving their jobs, usually involuntarily. George Clooney's character makes a living from laying off people, and the reactions of the dismissed employees in the film are often amazing. I must say, I was laid off from a day job a few months ago (and miraculously found a better one a month later, so no need for sympathy), and after seeing Up in the Air, I wished it had been Clooney's character that did the deed. He really does have a knack.
Hollywood has given us so many examples of ways people are laid off, fired, and quit ... or do something spectacularly insane that they know will end their employment one way or another. There must be 50 ways to leave your employer, especially if Paul Simon is involved, but we have space for seven. I know I've left out some excellent scenes -- my original list had 14 films on it -- so don't hesitate to let us know which ones I forgot or was crazy not to include. Warning: There may be a few spoilers below.
Interview: Jason Reitman, 'Up in the Air'
Filed under: Comedy », Austin », Interviews », George Clooney »
My interview with Up in the Air director Jason Reitman in October was one of the most meta interviews I've ever done. Before the interview started, Reitman took my photo with his iPhone. He told me only "I'm not sure if that's going to work, what I'm doing with that, but if it does, you'll be thrilled with the results." I'm still in suspense.
In addition, my interview took place right after a Film School Rejects interview (check it out, Reitman name-checks Cinematical) in which Cole Abaius spent 10 minutes discussing the pie charts the Juno and Thank You for Smoking director had been posting to Twitter. Reitman kept track of which questions interviewers asked him most -- I caught him tallying things in a little notebook during our interview -- and posted the stats online frequently. Roger Ebert has also written about the pie charts. Cole and I had been reading Reitman's Twitter feed before our interviews, and not only knew about the pie chart but found out that he had just been enjoying lunch at the Salt Lick, one of the best known BBQ joints in Central Texas.
So that may explain why Twitter, pie charts and barbecue keep creeping into the following Cinematical interview with Jason Reitman. I hope it's as fun to read as it was to be there in person. The above photo is from the red carpet the evening after the interview, when Up in the Air was the closing-night film for Austin Film Festival.
Discuss: How Long Should You Keep Netflix DVDs?
Filed under: Home Entertainment »
Over at Hacking Netflix, Peter Nelhaus started a lively discussion about how long Netflix subscribers should get to keep DVDs without penalty. Peter feels that Netflix needs to establish some limits -- after you've hung on to a disc for, say, two months, you should be charged the purchase price for the DVD. His problem is that Netflix just doesn't have large quantities of more obscure foreign/indie titles, and if I'm procrastinating on watching one of those "smaller" titles, the rest of you are waiting on me. The two pages of comments offer a range of suggestions: Netflix sending a "nudge" email to subscribers every month, waiting until six months to charge a fee for holding a DVD, or simply buying more copies of that title.The thread prompted me to look at our own Netflix account. It's not pretty. We've had one DVD for a month, and the other two for over two months. If you're in Austin and wondering why you can't get your hands on Brothers of the Head, it's totally our fault. A "nudge" email would probably help; threatening us with a fee might be overkill, although we'd sure send them back ASAP. Admittedly we tend to use the Watch Instantly feature more than the physical discs, so even hanging onto the discs, we get our money's worth. However, I think I'll physically nudge my husband to watch 'em or send 'em back soon, just to avoid the wrath of Peter and others like him.
Interview: James McTeigue, 'Ninja Assassin' (Part 1)
Filed under: Action », Warner Brothers », Interviews »
Director James McTeigue has been working on films since the late 1980s, back in his native Australia. He was second assistant director on Dark City and first assistant director on Star Wars: Attack of the Clones. He started working with Andy and Larry Wachowski as an assistant director on The Matrix, and they've been collaborating on projects together ever since. The Wachowskis wrote the first feature film helmed by McTeigue, V for Vendetta, and he provided second-unit direction on their most recent film, Speed Racer.
Ninja Assassin, which opened this week, is the latest movie McTeigue has directed, with the Wachowskis on board as producers. You can read William Goss's review for more details about the action/fantasy film. Cinematical sat down with the director in late September during Fantastic Fest, just after the movie played the festival. He was very pleased with the fest screening and happy to talk about the film.
Discuss: Performer of the Decade?
Like many critics I'm working on my list of the best films of the decade. I have been doing lots of shuffling around, swapping some of the films in the top 20 with films in the top ten, just to see how they look. But something occurred to me. A lot of the films had one thing in common: Scarlett Johansson. What does that mean? Does it mean that she's the greatest actor of the decade? Or is she just lucky? I'm not sure what to make of it. I have never interviewed her (I was once all set for a phone interview for Girl with a Pearl Earring that was canceled) so I can't claim to know what she's like in real life. Frankly, she's not the greatest actor in the world; in bad movies she can seem awkward, fumbling with troublesome dialogue. But there's definitely something about her, and it goes beyond her blonde-haired, full-lipped, smoky-voiced, voluptuous beauty. I might make an argument for her as "performer" of the decade.
Let's look at her first great film of the decade, Terry Zwigoff's Ghost World (2001). She plays Rebecca, the best friend of Enid (Thora Birch). They have just graduated high school, and face a long, boring summer. They have long-standing plans to get jobs and rent an apartment together. Rebecca holds to her end of the bargain, but Enid becomes sidetracked with a summer class and a friendship with a nerdy record collector (Steve Buscemi). When they are together, Rebecca and Enid have a funny, dark, cynical rapport. Rebecca is good at keeping up with her friend, but there's the tiniest hint that she's getting tired of it, that she wants to move on. Johansson was only 16 here, and two years younger than Birch, but she seems much older and perhaps wearier.
Review: The Blind Side
Filed under: Sports », New Releases », Warner Brothers », Theatrical Reviews », Family Films »
The trailers for The Blind Side triggered my "oh geez, another sports-related Triumph of the Human Spirit" cynicism, and I might not have seen the film at all if I hadn't been assigned to review it. That would have been my loss, and I experienced the lovely surprise of having a movie turn out far more enjoyable than I expected. The Blind Side has no twists or gimmicks other than being a very good example of a sports-related family film, with quality performances and writing.
The movie's title is a football reference, which the voiceover of Leigh Anne Touhy (Sandra Bullock) explains at the beginning. Michael Oher (Quenton Aaron) is sweating out a tough but unspecified situation in an office, when we flash back a few years and meet him as Big Mike. An African-American staff member at a mostly white Christian private school is trying to get his athletic son into the school, and the school's coach also spots some athletic potential in Big Mike, granting him a scholarship. Big Mike has terrible trouble keeping up in school, and when his friend's family stops helping him out, he is virtually homeless -- sleeping in the school gym, eating popcorn left there after events, wearing the same thin clothes daily.
Brad Pitt Prepares to Enter the 'Dark Void'
Filed under: Action », Horror », Sci-Fi & Fantasy », Games and Game Movies »
A guy like Brad Pitt can do anything he likes. He's handsome, he's talented, he's rich, he's funny and outspoken ... and apparently he gets to play sci-fi-action-type video games long before the rest of us. (Bastard!) Variety reports that Mr. Pitt and his Plan B production company have snagged the rights to an upcoming Capcom game called Dark Void. Their report indicates that the game is about "a pilot who crash lands in the Bermuda Triangle following a routine mission and wakes up to find himself in an alternate world."You can learn more about Dark Void at its Wikipedia page. For example, I just learned that the awesome Bear McCreary is doing the music for the game. (I say keep that guy around for the movie version.) You can also see a bunch of nifty Dark Void artwork over at Capcom's blog. Could this be the beginning of a swanky new action franchise for Brad Pitt? I say the guy has earned one by now.
More information on this project as it becomes available. At this point I just want to check this game out. It looks pretty cool. (Game trailer after the jump!)
Top 10 Annoyingly Ambiguous Movie Endings
Filed under: Fandom », Lists »
Yesterday, we posted a very funny video from College Humor that resolved some classic ambiguous endings in film: The Graduate, Lost in Translation, and so forth. But it reminded me that sometimes these vague endings can be truly irritating and frustrating. I hate sitting through what is shaping up into a good movie experience, then the end negates the whole film, makes no sense, or just plain ends without warning or closure.
Sometimes these ambiguous endings are great: I felt the ending of The Wrestler was just right, and I also liked the way the recently released A Serious Man concluded. Sometimes these unresolved endings are meant to pave the way for a sequel, which is great if you happen to have the sequel there with you, but when it's a new movie, you just want to throttle the filmmakers. Here are 10 movies with endings that make me want to throw a popcorn box at the screen, or find the filmmakers and demand an explanation. It goes without saying that I'm about to spoil the endings of 10 films, so you've been warned.
Tom Cruise and J.J. Abrams Reunite for 'Mission Impossible 4'
'Big Top Pee-Wee': The Original Benicio Del Toro Wolfman
Spin-ematical: New on DVD and Blu-ray for 2/9
Watch This: Brilliant Oscar-Nominated Short 'Logorama'
Chris Nolan to Lead 'Superman' Reboot!?
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