werner herzog Tagged Articles at Cinematical

We already learned that Keanu Reeves is ready to tap into his foodie side for David Fincher's Chef, but could this culinary fan take it a step further? Contact Music reports that Reeves has become enamored with Herve This and his book Molecular Gastronomy: Exploring the Science of Flavour. The actor said: "I'm dabbling in it and looking at becoming a chef. He is fantastic. I didn't really cook before but this book may be changing my life." Jesus... Talk about jumping right in. For those unfamiliar, molecular gastronomy is cooking by means of science -- not exactly the ease of a fried egg.

I can't help but wonder if this is all just part of his prep for Chef, and if it is, that makes me a bit more interested in the whole production. The thought of Reeves taking on a food-loving comedy was hurting my foodie heart, but if he is actually learning the subtle and intricate science of food? My interest is piqued.

Meanwhile, you can head through the jump to see a spoof video about what it might look like if Werner Herzog hosted a cooking show, and got a little help from Jim Jarmusch. The infamous shoe is present, but this time he's whipping up something more palatable.

Bon appetit!

It's almost too obvious that this so-called Bad Lieutenant remake from Werner Herzog and Nicolas Cage is destined to become the crack junkie of Netflix a year from now; an instant guilty pleasure -- the sort of film some folks will hate, but some will adore. The original 1992 Bad Lieutenant from Abel Ferrara (and starring Harvey Keitel in the lead) was like a shock to the heart; a gritty, nasty, foul-mouthed dirty cop flick that made you immediately want to take a shower once the end credits began to scroll.

This new version, which carries its own original story and isn't a remake (according to Herzog), definitely looks to keep a lot of the nastiness, but injects it with that odd Cagian humor as well. How can you not laugh at Cage when he spits out sentences like, "What, you don't have a lucky crack pipe?" Eva Mendes (reteaming with her Ghost Rider co-star), Val Kilmer and rapper-actor Xzibit also star. If anything, this looks like a fun film for those old school Nicolas Cage fans desperate to see the guy take on non-commercial fare for a change. Herzog fans? I don't know what to tell you; this looks nothing like a Herzog film -- though this "trailer" does look like a promotional tool used to help sell the film (at Cannes?) and not an official, finished (and polished) piece of marketing.

But you be the judge -- we've included the trailer after the jump because it's definitely NSFW. Be warned.

400 Screens, 400 Blows is a weekly column that takes an in-depth look at the films playing below the radar, beneath the top ten, and on 400 screens or less.

I suppose everyone's tired of hearing about the Oscars, and so am I, but in my heart of hearts, I'm secretly hoping for three particular wins. The first, Anne Hathaway for Best Actress for Rachel Getting Married (95 screens), will never happen. The second, Penelope Cruz for Best Supporting Actress, may happen (she's currently leading in the IMDB Oscar poll). Cruz represents the one and only nomination for the year's best film, Vicky Cristina Barcelona (15 screens). The third is Werner Herzog's Encounters at the End of the World for Best Documentary, which probably won't happen, especially given the awards-friendly Trouble the Water (4 screens) and the hit Man on Wire. The reason I'm excited about this last one is that Herzog has been making films for a full 40 years, is generally regarded as one of the world's great living filmmakers, and has received one and only one Oscar nomination: this one.

Last year, it seemed too strange to be true that Werner Herzog and David Lynch were teaming up for a film together -- My Son, My Son, What Have Ye Done. Almost any other directorial combo I could see, but the minds of Herzog (director) and Lynch (producer)? Merging directorial quirks is one thing, but when two men have distinct visions and artistic sense, that isn't the most stable situation. Who wins out when grizzlies face backward-talking little people?

Surprisingly enough, the project is still in motion, and it's definitely not featuring any common Lynch players. The Hollywood Reporter posts that Michael Peña (Lions for Lambs), Brad Dourif (Humboldt County), and Bill Cobbs (Night at the Museum) have joined a cast that already includes Michael Shannon, Willem Dafoe, and Chloe Sevigny.

The last three aren't big surprises (but very welcome and excellent choices) since each has had their share of alternative feature work, but the first three definitely suggest that this won't be your typical film from either filmmaker. And man, it's nice to see Pena getting busy with a meaty project that isn't about war. This time around, the film is a loose adaptation of a story of "a San Diego man who experiences a series of mystifying events that lead him to brutally murder his own mother with a sword."

Here's to hoping at least some of the wacky events are helmed by Lynch, or, at the very least, we get a Angelo Badalmenti score.

Here's a round-up of some stuff (and things) currently making waves online ...

-- The latest issue of Entertainment Weekly features the pretty faces of Zachary Quinto (as Spock) and Chris Pine (as Kirk) in J.J. Abrams' upcoming Star Trek (due out this winter May). When the mag hits stands on Friday, look for enough behind the scenes photos to make any Trekker blush. [via Just Jared] Also, JoBlo has debuted the first image of the film's main villain, Nero. Check it out below, then larger over at The Blo.



And then there's this one of Spock choking the sh*t out of some poor soul from AICN ...



And from UGO, here's the entire cast ...



More Trek at TrekMovie.com and IGN and MTV.

-- Variety reviews the buzzed-about Frost/Nixon from London: "Although it all pays off in a potent and revelatory final act rife with insights into the psychology and calculations of power players, the initial stretch is rather dry and prosaic." InContention gives it two stars. Perhaps this Oscar lock just came undone, home-skillet.

-- On Werner Herzog remaking his Bad Lieutenant, director Abel Ferrara tells Filmmaker Magazine, "He can die in hell. I hate these people – they suck. A, he don't know me, couldn't pick me out of a line-up. B, I'm chasing windmills. Well, I'd rather chase windmills than steal other people's ideas. It's lame. I can't believe Nic Cage is trying to play that part. I mean, if the kid needed the money..."

-- Steven Soderbergh has cast porn star Sasha Grey in the lead role of his new film, The Girlfriend Experience. First Kevin Smith, now Soderbergh -- porn has gone mainstream, baby! The film is said to follow the life of a high-priced call girl and was written by Brian Koppelman and David Levien (Ocean's 13). [via Variety]

With all due respect to my esteemed colleague Elisabeth Rappe, geeks are not the only ones who learned important lessons from watching movies this summer. Herewith is my personal, arthouse summer school summary.

Werner Herzog cast a disapproving eye on the ugliness he discovered at Antarctica's McMurdo Station ("they even have a yoga studio and an ATM!") and was skeptical about the sanity of some of the real-life characters he met, which is partly why Encounters at the End of the World was so entrancing. What I learned: Evidence for gay penguins is skimpy, but they have been known to have threesomes.

The Wackness (pictured) didn't became the breakout hit that some had hoped for, but it did showcase the talents of rising star Olivia Thirlby and director Jonathan Levine. What I learned: Never kiss Ben Kingsley in a telephone booth.

Nanette Burstein's filmmaking techniques were much more off-putting than her ultimately winning subjects in American Teen, another would-be smash that didn't live up to box office expectations. What I learned: Never break up with your girlfriend via text message, especially when a documentary filmmaker is interviewing her.

Unexpectedly, Tell No One became the breakout limited-release mystery thrill ride of the summer, and Man on Wire proved that impassioned high wire walkers can make dreams come true and enthrall audiences to boot. What I learned: It's good to be French.

Now it's your turn, all you indie-loving, doc-devoted, world cinema aficionados: what did you learn from the movies this summer?

Out of all the specialty releases that have appeared in theaters -- including American indies, docs, and world cinema -- why is one standing out this summer as a "word-of-mouth" hit? That's how Steven Zeitchik in The Hollywood Reporter descibes Guillaume Canet's terrific French thriller Tell No One, which has grossed nearly $1.7 million since opening in New York and Los Angeles at the beginning of July.

Zeitchik provides background on distributor Music Box Films and its founder William Schopf and then says that strong reviews in the New York Times, Los Angeles Times, and The New Yorker "certainly helped, particularly with the film's older demo." (Hmm, did someone take a poll?) He also speculates that press days for director Canet, its mystery/thriller genre, and timing -- an indie slipping between the cracks of the big summer movies -- may have been factors.

Tell No One opened the same July 4th holiday weekend as Hancock, and the mixed reviews for the Will Smith picture may indeed have pushed some folks to try the French flick. But The Wackness also opened that weekend, and despite some very good reviews and a smashing opening weekend, its per-screen average has declined as it has expanded across the country. More than one million dollars at the box office is a decent return for a rather desultory stoner period comedy-drama, in my opinion, though it's far less than others thought it could achieve. Still, why did Tell No One -- with, evidently, a substantially smaller marketing budget -- catch on and not The Wackness?

Werner Herzog's Bad Lieutenant cast just became a whole lot crazier. Variety is reporting that Val Kilmer and Xzibit are joining Nicolas Cage and Eva Mendes in the much-maligned remake / re-imagining / re-something of Abel Ferrara's cult classic.

Kilmer will be playing Cage's police partner, presumably the straight arrow to complement Cage's cop-on-the-edge. This comes right on the heels of Kilmer being cast in Silver Cord, so I think it's safe to say someone's trying to make a comeback. (Am I the only one who laments the passing of years, and what it has done to one of my biggest crushes? Has it really been so long since The Saint?)

Xzibit, fresh off The X-Files: I Want to Believe, will be playing their nemesis, Big Fade.
Remember, folks, it's a re-imagining, which is why you don't remember any of these characters from the original.

If there aren't shockingly hilarious tales of egos and fistfights from the Lieutenant set, I'll be among the bitterly disappointed. While I suspect Kilmer has chilled with the passing of years, I'm thinking that combining him with Herzog is bound to be tempestuous. Is it too much to ask that Herzog just goes even further, and hires Sean Young and Gary Busey? Perhaps even Mike Myers? Throw the script out the window, and just film the production. I think it would be far more fun than any re-imagining.

Despite dropping more than 50% in its second week of release, Kit Kittredge: An American Girl (Picturehouse) outdrew all other specialty releases over the weekend, earning $21,200 per screen at five theaters, according to estimates compiled by Box Office Mojo.

Directed by Canadian indie veteran Patricia Rozema (I've Heard the Mermaids Singing, When Night is Falling), Kit Kittredge has clearly benefited from a devoted fan base that convinced thousands of their parental units to fork over $20 per ticket -- which, to be fair, includes a limited-edition t-shirt -- to see the movie in advance of its wide release tomorrow. That's a very good performance when you consider its main competition was not, actually, a French-language flick that skewed very adult, but actually a heavily-advertised animated film.

Catherine Breillat's The Last Mistress (IFC Films), starring Asia Argento, took in $17,600 per screen at two locations, which probably owes as much, if not more, to the name recognition of Argento as that of the often-confounding Breillat.

In describing today's best directors, three terms are generally used (and overused): Maverick, Genius and Auteur. A "maverick" is now used to describe virtually anyone who makes a movie without using Hollywood money. An "auteur" is used to describe anyone who writes as well as directs. And "genius" is used to describe anyone who makes a halfway decent film. I'm taking these words back. In reality, a "maverick" should be a button-pusher. It's a filmmaker who is so radical and daring that even high-minded, forward-thinking critics sneer at their work, people like Vincent Gallo or Catherine Breillat. These people are so dangerous that they have trouble making and distributing films. Harmony Korine, director of Mister Lonely (5 screens) is very much a maverick. Korine has pushed many buttons and many envelopes over the years and though I love his work, he's someone I wouldn't want to invite to my house. (He scares me.)

Werner Herzog, director of Encounters at the End of the World (1 screen), is also a maverick (and, incidentally, a buddy of Korine's). His physically dangerous films have probably had insurance companies slamming the door in his face, and his co-workers have included people who might not be fit for polite society. (At the very least, most of them would turn heads.) Some of his actors have reportedly threatened to kill him. It cracks me up that, because Herzog's documentary Grizzly Man was such a hit, Herzog was allowed to make his new film for the Discovery Channel. I'd really love to have been in on that board meeting. Did they really know who they were dealing with? At the same time, Herzog is also an auteur: all of his films have the same roaming curiosity, fearlessly exploring man's tenuous connection to nature, from Aguirre navigating the Amazon looking for El Dorado, to Timothy Treadwell seeking to befriend the bears.