On hiatus

I've been running this blog for eight months. It's helped me with my writing, especially with writer's block, but sadly, it has become sort of a distraction from my other work. Between the novel, three short stories, a few screenplays, a short film, two blogs and scraping money together for either film school or a literature degree, something has to give. Unfortunately I'm making the difficult decision to put Come Back Shane! on hold. It's been a fun eight months and hopefully I will be able to return to this eventually. Thanks to all those who supported the blog.

New Women in Trouble trailer

The trailer for Women in Trouble (via The Movie Blog) looks like the film has just as much tragedy as it does comedy. Which I didn't expect. I think it's worth it just for Josh Brolin's hilarious accent:

A serpentine day in the life of ten seemingly disparate women: a porn star, a flight attendant, a psychiatrist, a masseuse, a bartender, a pair of call girls, etc. All of them with one crucial thing in common. Trouble.

Beyonce nowhere close to being cast as Wonder Woman

I don't usually like being fooled, but this is the exception. That whole Beyonce as Wonder Woman story? Total crap. Why do I never believe the real stories, but always fall for the BS? Anyway, the whole thing was a hoax. Which is mildly amusing, and brings me a sense of relief. Carry on.

Toy Story 3 trailer

I admit, I haven't been paying much attention to this film. Mostly because the second Toy Story was a major disappointment for me. I hated it. Toy Story 3 is set to open in June of 2010 in 3-D, and the trailer looks surprisingly good.

Trailer courtesy Movie List (via Get the Big Picture)

Nine moved to December

It was bound to happen. According to RopeofSilicon The Weinstein Company has officially pushed Nine from November 25 to a limited release on December 18 in New York and LA. The film goes into wide release on Christmas Day. Earlier rumors that the film would get pushed to next year were obviously off, but the move isn't surprising.

I don't think the move helps Nine's chances. It would originally have had to deal with The Road (another Weinstein Oscar hopeful), The Princess and the Frog (limited release), Fantastic Mr. Fox, and Me and Orson Welles. New Moon, which is a guaranteed hit is set to open on November 20, so perhaps Nine is being moved to be saved from that.

Now Nine has to contend with A Single Man, which has now been set to open wide on Christmas Day, Avatar (December 18), Sherlock Holmes, The Young Victoria, It's Complicated, Alvin and the Chipmunks: The Squeakuel, and The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus. I haven't even mentioned the opening of Invictus or The Lovely Bones which open a week before Nine's new limited release. On paper this looks like a terrible idea, but I'm not really great at predicting box office and its effect on awards season.

Along with this news Nine - the Movie (via ONTD!) points us to the November cover of Vogue with the women of Nine.

Adrien Brody signs on to Predators

I don't know if Adrien Brody should fire his agent. Or maybe he should kiss his agent - I've posted about the guy twice in one week. Or maybe the casting people should be fired. Or maybe this is a genius bit of casting. As in maybe somebody is trying their hand at irony. Some folks are not exactly pleased, but whatever, I'll be on the side of liking the casting. Maybe because I've never watched a single Predator film and now Adrien Brody has given me a reason to care about this crappy looking franchise. This description of the odd casting made me lol:

Schwarzenegger he ain't, and I don't know if that had anything to do with the decision, but...wow...I don't want to say Brody's thin or anything, but I understand to get him on location in Hawaii to begin shooting the film, producers are just going to fax him to the islands. [Get the Big Picture]

My being a Brody fangirl aside, I would seriously consider writing the dude an open letter. His film choices have been fucking all over the place since he won that well deserved Oscar for The Pianist. Some have been decent to good even though they've crashed and burned at the box office (The Darjeeling Limited, Cadillac Records, The Brothers Bloom, and The Fantastic Mr. Fox looks decent), but some of the choices have been pretty bad. The Village made me want to gouge my eyes out and WTF was King Kong? Yes, I know it's good to have a huge film on your filmography especially with all the smaller pictures, but that shit was nearly unforgivable. Why do I get the feeling that this Predators business is going to be like Kong all over again?

Beyonce could be Wonder Woman?

Well, this is disappointing. According to Comic Book Movie Beyonce might be considered to play Wonder Woman. I suppose it would be "bold" to cast a black Wonder Woman (something Get the Big Picture points out Beyonce has said). But now that I think of it, should anyone be surprised that Wonder Woman might not be white? The TV version of Wonder Woman, Lynda Carter, is Hispanic - her mother was Mexican-American.

Anyway, I wish I was making the Beyonce part up:

Just got back from a press conference tonight with Beyonce and she spoke of a few upcoming movie projects. The last on her list was Wonder Woman!

Yes, Wonder Woman! She said she has to meet up with the writers and directors in a couple months and things will start to pick up by mid-2010 for a late 2011 release. She said the writers were Stuart Beatti and David Elliot, the guys that wrote GI Joe: Rise of Cobra and the director was John Moore, the guy that directed Max Payne.

I think everything about this news is horrible. Yes, Beyonce was surprisingly not bad in a movie like Cadillac Records, but she was in her comfort zone in that film. In films where she's out of her musical element she just sort of dawdles in front of the camera. And this thing is going to be written by the GI Joe guys, and directed by the guy who made Max Payne? That's even worse than the Beyonce news.

Now just because Warner Bros., hasn't reported Beyonce's involvement doesn't mean she isn't involved. We were dangerously close to a Justin Timberlake as the Green Lantern so anything is possible.

To be fair to Beyonce, I can't think of a really good Wonder Woman. Marion Cotillard is the only actress I can think of, but she'd be rejected by most. Some of the other suggested actresses like Megan Fox, Angelina Jolie, and Jessica Biel are either equally horrible or even worse.

The Princess and the Frog: new billboards + the first five minutes

I thought I would be taking a break from discussing this movie since I've been doing a lot of it lately. But, I couldn't pass up on sharing five minutes of the film. The billboards from ComingSoon are just a bonus.

The opening five minutes of The Princess and the Frog were unveiled late yesterday and you get a feel for where the movie is headed. The first few minutes are the completed 2D animation in gorgeous color, but after that some of it is the pencil drawn stuff that isn't finished. I wish we could have gotten a completed five minutes, but I suppose it's interesting to get a look at the different stages the animation goes through before it's totally finished.

First clip from Splice

Sarah Polley and Adrien Brody play a husband and wife research team who achieve fame by splicing human DNA with the DNA of different animals to create a new creature. In the process they ignore their society's ethical and legal boundaries. The scientists name their creature "Dren", which is initially a deformed female infant, however, rapidly develops into a beautiful but deadly winged human-chimera. [Wiki]

According to /Film Splice may be re-titled Hybrid and may not get a theatrical release at all, which is disappointing because I love sci-fi and Adrien Brody. Guess we'll have to look out for the DVD. Movie clip and cast interviews below:



Via ONTD!:

Second trailer for Shutter Island

Paramout unveiled the new Shutter Island trailer today over at Apple. I wish they hadn't moved the release date to February because it looks really amazing.

Trailer via FirstShowing:

Kristen Stewart, Floria Sigismondi, and Joan Jett on the set of The Runaways

In this week's issue of Entertainment Weekly (via MTV), reporters were on the set of 36 movies and TV shows, including the set of Floria Sigismondi's The Runaways. Kristen Stewart is pictured with director Floria Sigismondi above in a photo from the EW issue.

Joan Jett is reportedly always on the set scaring the heck out of Stewart:

...watching Kristen and her fellow "New Moon" costar Dakota Fanning channel her and her '70s girl group was an unusual experience for the music legend. "It's really hard to put exact words on it beyond saying it’s surreal,” Joan explained.

To help Kristen with her portrayal, Joan gave her tapes of herself talking and singing at the age of 14, which Kristen spent weeks listening to.

“I’m sure it was a strange pressure [on Kristen],” Joan said of her constant presence on set. “She was kind of intimidated by it, but by the same token she wanted me there.”

There are also some kick ass photos of Kristen Stewart from Interview magazine. Some are posted below, but you can check out the rest courtesy of ONTD!

Emily Blunt talks The Adjustment Bureau and The Young Victoria

The Adjustment Bureau which co-stars Matt Damon is loosely based on Philip K. Dick's science fiction short story, Adjustment Team. The film is written and directed by George Nolfi who also wrote The Bourne Ultimatum and Ocean's Twelve. Damon plays David Norris, a congressman who falls fo a ballet dancer named Elise Sellas (Blunt). Their affair is affected by mysterious forces keeping the lovers apart. Emily Blunt talked to MTV during a break from shooting in New York City:

"It's like a modern love story, but it's got an ominous sci-fi backdrop to it...It's going to be exciting and disconcerting and strange, which is what I like about [Dick's] work. It's very cool and clever. It's got a really tight script."

"The term soulmates is used so casually, but in this case, in this film, it is true," Blunt explained. "They are sort of destined to be together and they fight fate to be together."

"Matt's thrilled because this time it's me who's been thrust into the month of training, because I play a dancer in it, which is kind of arduous training seeing as I've never bloody danced before. And Matt is actually thrilled that for the first time it's me who has to do that kind of thing and he's got off scot free."

"I really would love to do a movie where I kick ass!" she laughed. "I'm not doing any wire work or anything [in 'Adjustment Bureau'], so I'm bitterly disappointed!"

Blunt also discussed her role as Queen Victoria. She pointed out what we've known for years. All British actresses have to do a period piece:

"You have to don the bonnet at some point, otherwise you're simply not a British actress," she declared to MTV News.

Across the pond, Victoria as a historical figure is known as something of a downer. After all, she spent a decade in self-imposed exile, mourning the death of her hubby Albert. "That was my impression of her – that she was repressed and in mourning and never smiled and waddled around with that dour-faced expression and a hanky on her head," laughed Blunt.

"I loved that no one had seen that side to her – that young, passionate, fiery side," Blunt explained. "I was very surprised by the love story, which really did happen. When I read her diaries, I realized this wasn't just Hollywood sensationalizing this woman's life. It really was a meeting of souls when she met Albert."

...the actress approached Victoria as a woman first and a monarch second. She hopes viewers will do the same. "There are not that many people who know what's it like to be a queen, but I think everyone knows about falling in love for the first time," she said. "Everyone knows about a dysfunctional family. It's a really intimate portrait of her private life and what's it like for a girl who has a job and she feels in way over her head."

The Young Victoria focuses on Victoria's years as a princess, her romance with Albert, and her struggle with royal life after becoming queen at 18. The film though, is more love story than royal thriller. It breezes along from Victoria's pampered beginning to a happily-ever-after ending.

It's a fluffy costume drama, but some of the performances are quite good, including the one from Rupert Friend, whose Prince Albert is the real star of the whole show. Blunt carries the film quite well with a lot of grace and innocence. It difficult to make an audience feel sorry for a princess who has everything, but Blunt pulls it off. It's in her eyes, I think. Mark Strong, who plays the villain, is great as well, but he hovers in the background for too long to be a real threat to anybody.

I suppose it makes more historical sense for the film to be lighter fare - by the time Victoria became queen, monarchs had almost no political power. When the film treads into dark territory, most of that scene is pure fantasy that never took place.

The Young Victoria opens in limited release in the US on December 18 and goes wide a week later.

The 100 most memorable characters of the decade - part 5

The list was narrowed down from over 600 to 100 characters and I tried to incorporate as much criteria as I possibly could - box office, critical acclaim, some of the characters readers voted for, and my own personal tastes. I'll be posting the rest of this list over the course of several weeks. Here's part 5 for you:

60 - Tracy Turnblad (Nikki Blonsky) Hairspray - Tracy Turnblad is one of those characters you genuinely root for. She's a kid with passion - she's completely dance obsessed; she's sunny and optimistic, but not annoyingly so. Like so many teenagers she is an idealist, and unlike most of the adults around her completely ahead of her time ("People who are different, their time is coming!").


On the character of Tracy:

Tracy Turnblad (Nikki Blonsky), the heroine of Hairspray, is a sweetly perky high school girl with a pasty coif that flips up on each side, a grin as bright as an electric billboard, and a mood so bubblicious she's like the teenybopper Shirley Temple of 1962 Baltimore. When Tracy, who can barely focus in class, goes to audition for The Corny Collins Show, the local afternoon TV bandstand around which her life revolves, she swings, twitches, and rocks her body with jubilant abandon. This makes for a rather startling image, given Tracy's undeniably bounteous physique. Yet when she does the twist, the frug, or the mashed potato, flinging her arms back and forth, her butt twitching furiously in a tight plaid skirt, she's not just a great hoofer — she's dirty-dancing on air. In her very heftiness, she makes you feel the mad, cool acrobatic joy of each unhinged gyration.

59 - Elle Woods (Reese Witherspoon) Legally Blonde, Legally Blonde 2: Red, White & Blonde - How do you get the audience on your side if you play a character who literally has it all? It probably helps if you're a charming, lovable actress, like Reese Witherspoon. Elle Woods is the gorgeous, popular, blond president of a sorority, who decides, after being dumped by her boyfriend, to enroll into Harvard Law School to win him back.

At first glance, it's supposed to sound insultingly hilarious - a sexy blonde with a fashion merchandising major goes to Harvard. While Elle's attempt to win acceptance at law school is hilarious, she doesn't turn into a stereotype. Yes, she likes pink, but Elle is smarter and more determined than she initially lets on, which is the beauty of the character - she plays on everybody's prejudices. We go through all this again in the sequel, which really wasn't necessary because we learned the lesson the first time around.



Reese Witherspoon on overcoming stereotypes with her role:

I wanted there to be some kind of positive message for women. Too much of our focus in society is devoted to superficial impressions about people. Appearances come first, and we don't often go beyond that in judging people which is a terrible thing.

Look at Elle. At the beginning, she works hard to get into Harvard Law School so she can impress her boyfriend and win him back. Then she becomes much more conscious of her own identity and begins asserting herself under very competitive conditions with her fellow law students. She fights for the respect of her peers and her teachers. At the beginning of the film, she has no goals other than to get married and lead a pampered, privileged life. But she evolves into a determined young woman eager to pursue her ambitions. She overcomes the stereotypes associated with being an attractive blonde.

I think that's a pretty good message that the film sends out. That you can be the way you are, look the way you want, and still achieve your goals if you work at them.

58 - Legolas (Orlando Bloom) The Lord of the Rings trilogy - Legolas is a lot cooler in the film trilogy than he is in the books. He arguably gets the best fight scenes and the best stunts. He does however, retain some of the ancient wisdom in the film adaptation. You can see it in Orlando Bloom's knowing smile and in his eyes. Legolas is older than the trees.

The truth is, I only noticed all this a few years after I first watched The Fellowship of the Ring mostly because like a lot of girls and boys at the time I had a huge crush on Orlando Bloom. Or was it Legolas we all had a crush on? Yes the reaction to him like most other heartthrobs was manic, and admittedly a little sad, but I think it's a testament to how good Bloom was in the role. Most of us had never heard of him before and through a mix of the good fortune of not being a celebrity (and therefore totally unrecognizable), and being so great at balancing the role's physical demands with a nuanced performance, most people just bought him in the role. We just believed he was Legolas; we would have laughed at the blond wig otherwise.


Orlando Bloom explains what it took to create his famous elephant scene in The Return of the King:

They built like... a mound of sand bags that was shaped like the back end of that elephant, and they had... the arrows in it. So I actually climbed up the arrows, did that sequence and then they had wires and ropes to swing along the side of it. And then, you know, I slashed the thing, so I did the slash, and then there was like... a winch with a rope to pull me up, up and then I fall on top of the sand bags with all the guys. So they put in the elephant afterwards basically.

57 - Tony Blair (Michael Sheen) The Queen & Mr. Tumnus (James McAvoy) The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe - There was one reason why I just couldn't separate the two characters. Both have to deal with queens - Blair having to feign deference to a powerless figurehead, while Tumnus is at the mercy of a wicked and powerful queen.


Tony Blair - Blair is just beginning his time as prime minister and he faces his first crisis of sorts. Princess Diana has just died, and while Queen Elizabeth remains adamantly and publicly silent on the tragedy, Blair speaks to the nation's grief. Elizabeth responds the way only those from her era can respond. She does her best to stay out of the matter - Diana is divorced and no longer royalty. There is no official statement. No acknowledgment. But Blair knows the era he lives in. He understands the people who have just elected him. It is an era where grief will not and shall not be private. The public needs someone recognizable to grieve with and tell them that someday it will be better.

Mr. Tumnus - At once sweet and friendly, it doesn't take much to understand why Lucy Pevensie would be so willing to trust someone she's just met in an uncharted new world. Being a faun probably doesn't hurt either. He invites her to tea, but he because at heart, he is genuinely good, he cannot go through with his sinister plan of handing Lucy over to the White Witch.

56 - William Costigan Jr. (Leonardo DiCaprio) The Departed - Billy Costigan is a trapped man. He's a cop who goes undercover as a gangster, but for most of the film you get the feeling that he's in over his head. There's nobody he can trust, and only a few people on the outside know what he's really up to. If the people who know are killed, nobody will be able to reveal that Billy isn't really a criminal, but an undercover cop.


On DiCaprio's performance:

This is a good role for DiCaprio: Since he's playing a wily punk on the right side of the law, it's fitting that his boyishness hasn't yet quite jelled into manhood. And as he's forced to wade deeper and deeper into his secret life, we can see how much it takes out of him: His heart is so heavy it seems to weigh down even his narrow, wiry body.

More on DiCaprio:

...DiCaprio is outstanding as the audience's main point of emotional contact, a man gravely at risk every moment of his life (one minor issue is an uncertainty over how much time the main action encompasses). In his third collaboration with Scorsese, DiCaprio has rarely been this vital, energized or passionate.

55 - Jamal Malik (Dev Patel, Tanay Chheda, Ayush Mahesh Khedekar) Slumdog Millionaire - Jamal is such an unlikely character, it's hard to see his story as anything other than Dickensonian fantasy. He's transformed from street kid into a contestant one question away from winning 20 million rupees on Who Wants To Be a Millionaire. Amazingly, it isn't money he's after, but a chance to be with Latika - the girl of his dreams.



Dev Patel on his audition:

It's really nerve wracking, for one. Because obviously Danny Boyle's in the room, and things like that. I really wanted it. It was the first time in my life I had wanted something so bad. I remember doing one audition, and at the end of it Danny gave me this kind of talk, it was one of those talks like he was letting you down. Then after that I went with my mom to have a pizza, and it was the most sour-tasting pizza in the world. I felt like crying. Then I got a call two weeks later like something like, and it was Gail Stevens, the casting director, going 'They want you to go to India for a week, to join everyone on locations.'

54 - Queen Elizabeth II (Helen Mirren) The Queen - She's a bit of a ridiculous character both in real life and in film. She's a celebrity who makes all the money she has because of her bloodline. She's a monarch, but a head of state with no real power. She's the Paris Hilton of royalty. She's handled with satire in the first two acts ("Will someone please save these people from themselves!") but underneath that crown there is a human being. Helen Mirren is scarily good as Queen Elizabeth II and she is unexpectedly very moving in the film.


On Helen Mirren and Queen Elizabeth:

All hail Helen Mirren, who delivers a master class in acting in The Queen. Having just won an Emmy for playing Elizabeth I, who ruled England from 1558 to 1603, Mirren is in line for a curtsy from Oscar for digging deep into the role of Elizabeth II, the queen since 1952.

...the real triumph of the film is the dignity it finally allows the queen. Bred to serve since girlhood, she has dedicated herself to a life Diana rejected. And yet as the queen walks past the mountain of flowers the people have left at the palace and reads the notes of love to Diana - and the insults to Her Majesty - Mirren lets us see the confusion and hurt in Elizabeth's eyes. It's Blair who has forced her back to London to mourn Diana publicly, much against her private nature. In a tart reference to Blair's current career reversals, the script has the queen tell him that "one day, quite suddenly, the same thing will happen to you."

53 - Ray Charles (Jamie Foxx) Ray - There are hundreds of articles praising Jamie Foxx's performance as Ray Charles. There are so many, it's easy to think of all the praise as being hyperbolic. But I don't think it is. Most people, even the casual Oscar watcher, knew Foxx was destined to win the Oscar just from watching him in the teaser trailer months before the Oscar campaign even started. Foxx's performance really is that good and it's a fitting tribute to a supremely talented artist.



On Jamie Foxx as Ray Charles:

Ray Charles' music didn't depend on dope, and in an odd way Jamie Foxx's performance reminds us that we knew that all along. Those strange bodily movements of Charles', the way his right leg dusted the floor by the side of his piano bench as if looking for purchase, the way he embraced himself in response to applause as if he were hugging the audience to him, the way he held his head back and moved his torso from side to side as if he were about to levitate, are less drug-induced than the body language of a man to whom sound was the most concrete thing: Foxx's Ray undulates to caress the currents of sound rising around him, like musical notes in a cartoon.

"Ray" is the movie that finally allows Foxx the full flower of his talent. His Ray Charles is such a fully lived-in performance that any questions of imitation vanish. You don't watch him thinking, "I can't believe how close he is to Ray Charles." You watch him as if you're watching Ray Charles. It's Charles' own recordings we hear in the musical numbers, but Foxx's imitation of Charles' speaking voice is uncanny. It begins as a sort of stutter, then words start to come out in little husks, almost without breath. The words gather speed and bubble out -- higher than you'd expect but gently, as if he were half speaking to himself -- before slowing to the insinuating honey drip with which he draws sentences to a close.

52 - Patrick Bateman (Christian Bale) American Psycho - I felt guilty for laughing at Patrick Bateman's antics when I first saw American Psycho. I was 13. I had no idea it was satire. The opposite happened with my mother after I raved about it and got her to watch. I told her Bateman was hilarious, but she sat in stone faced silent disgust the entire time. Apparently only sick people find a greedy, Huey Lewis obsessed, psychotic serial killer, funny. A few years later, and my mother is Dexter obsessed - if only Bateman killed people who deserved it.



On the duality of Patrick Bateman:

Mr. Bale's portrayal of 27-year-old Patrick Bateman, a budding master of the universe by day (he works in mergers and acquisitions, which he facetiously refers to as "murders and executions") and homicidal maniac by night, is alternately funny, blood-curdling and pathetic.

As this character metamorphoses from preening, wolfish yuppie to chain-saw wielding maniac to whimpering crybaby, Mr. Bale makes us feel the underlying connections between these multiple personalities. One minute Mr. Bale's Patrick is a cowering corporate geek and self-described empty shell, the next an arrogant, name-dropping smoothie, the next a hysterical wimp unable to distinguish reality from fantasy.

Some of the funniest speeches are Patrick's pompous lectures -- each a prelude to homicide -- on the 80's pop stalwarts Phil Collins, Whitney Houston, and Huey Lewis and the News.

51 - Miranda Priestly (Meryl Streep) The Devil Wears Prada - Miranda Priestly is the most respected magazine editor in the fashion industry - and the most feared. She is shockingly cruel, but that's to be expected in such a cruel industry. She coldly makes impossible demands of her staff (including getting an unpublished Harry Potter novel for her children) and forces her employees to work, even during their time off. She's a character that's been done before in film and on television, but many actresses are tempted to go over the top. Not Streep. She lets the icy stares and frosty one-liners do it all.



Here's an explanation on why Miranda Priestly is so damn scary:

Thanks to Meryl Streep, whose performance as the editor in chief of the world's most influential fashion magazine is eerie perfection, "The Devil Wears Prada" is often quite funny.

The stage is set for Streep's entrance as the dreaded boss, Miranda. Word gets out that she has arrived in the building early, which creates pandemonium in the office as desks are cleared, hair and clothing are primped and comfortable shoes are replaced with high heels. We're led to expect a screaming harpy, but Streep is too smart an actress for that. She's the boss, and the boss doesn't have to raise her voice. Instead, she speaks in a quiet monotone, complaining and giving orders with an air of mildly pained bewilderment. Her most vicious comments begin in seemingly innocuous ways, with "Why is it impossible that ..." or "I really don't understand why ..." Miranda is much scarier than a demanding, screaming boss. She takes pleasure in slipping inside her employees' minds and torturing them.

Beneath Streep's coldness, there's more coldness, and beneath that coldness is something worse. She makes you feel that the devil really does wear Prada.

Well, the first half is now complete. There will be 50 more characters over the coming weeks so if you haven't seen your choices yet, maybe they'll be listed higher. Who would you like to see on the list?

Disney princesses: Mandy Moore on Rapunzel and an extended look at The Princess and the Frog

Mandy Moore recently talked to Empire about voicing Rapunzel in the upcoming animated Disney film. Disney is set to release its 50th animated feature, Rapunzel sometime in December of 2010. The project is 3D animation but even though it's 3D animation, the images are designed to look like a traditional 2D film. The visual style is said to be based on Jean-Honoré Fragonard's painting The Swing.

Kristin Chenoweth had been cast as the voice of Rapunzel but was replaced by Mandy Moore after the entire project was overhauled. Moore discusses Rapunzel's personality and her favorite Disney princess:

"She's sort of the quintessential sassy, feisty Disney heroine. She's quite modern, quite a curious girl as well," says Moore of the once-entowered princess. "She's just coming into her own and is anxious to figure out a way to see the world around her that she's been kept away from for so many years."

"I just feel honoured to be in such good company. Being a Disney Princess is kind of every girl's ultimate dream."

"I was always really fond of the Little Mermaid growing up, so I would probably have to go with Ariel."

As pathetic as Ariel is, she's my favorite Disney princess as well. Sounds like this modern incarnation of Rapunzel is the opposite of Ariel.

Awards Daily shares an extended clip from The Princess and the Frog with us:

Todd McFarlane talks The Twisted Land Of Oz

Slow news day people, but I figured I'd post about this movie because it has frustrated and intrigued me since I first heard about it. Todd McFarlane revealed some new details on story elements to MTV about the screen adaptation of his The Twisted Land of Oz toy line. This film is set to be darker and scarier than The Wizard of Oz.

McFarlane's chief concern is delivering an Oz that is darker than what people know. As he told execs during pitch meetings, "Number one: you have to turn off the switch to the [1939] MGM movie. If you don't turn off that switch, almost everything I'm about to say will not make sense to you."

"Basically," McFarlane reasoned, "what do I have to do to sell a 22 year old kid going to college [to come] see something called 'Oz'?"

"In mine, [Dorothy is] up in the Antarctic, and there's bad weather," McFarlane said. "The point is that when you're in bad weather in a s--tty place up north, it is completely gray. That would be our 'black & white [sequence].' Then she falls into her Shangri-La, called Oz, where suddenly everything's in color."

"There's still a thing called Toto, except its the biggest thing in the movie and not the smallest thing. [The beast called Toto] basically ate the first dog, and it's this big thing that [the inhabitants of Oz] ride. They've given this generic word... so instead of horses, [people] ride Totos."

"My understanding is that [the studio] thought we went a little too conservative, so somebody else is taking a crack at [the script] now. We're never going to get as crazy as I wanted, so I have to accept that. My pitch is fairly radical, if you will. If you're 22 years old, it's not radical. If you're an executive, it's radical."

"I think the first script was just a little soft for them," McFarlane explained. "I've always been a believer that the reason remakes don't work is that they stay too true to the source material. Hopefully we'll have a new script in the next month or two, and then we'll be a lot closer to seeing whether it will grab some true momentum or whether we're heading into development hell here."

Antarctica? People riding Totos? Do the 22 year olds have to be high off their asses to understand this? Oh right. We have to pretend The Wizard of Oz never happened, which is evidently easier said than done. Though now that I think of it, maybe you'd have to be pretty high to accept singing tin men and a melting witch. I'm so used to The Wizard of Oz I'd forgotten my original WTF reaction to it. I'm thinking if this adaptation is a disaster, at least it will be an inventive one.

Megan Fox's SNL promos

Megan Fox will be hosting the season premier of Saturday Night Live tomorrow. I haven't really seen NBC promote the season opening, but hey, maybe they don't need to with Megan Fox and all. Anyway, you can check out all the promos in the video below.

Via: Get the Big Picture

Barbie headed to the big screen

Yes, I know there is a ridiculous toy craze in Hollywood, that I've mocked, but I'm not totally opposed to the idea. Variety reported that Universal will be adding a live-action, family-friendly Barbie movie to its lineup. Apparently studios need a sure thing. I had no idea a movie based on a disproportionate doll was a sure thing. Universal, please see Bratz: The Movie.

“Barbie is the most famous doll in history, a unique cultural icon in the world of brands,” said Universal Pictures chairman Marc Shmuger. “So many representations of Barbie frequent pop culture, but never before has she been brought to life in a motion picture. We’re grateful to Mattel for entrusting us with this extraordinary opportunity.” [Variety]

Anyway, this isn't the first time Barbie has been brought to some screen. There was a Barbie animated TV miniseries. There are the horrid straight-to-DVD movies, which usually involve Barbie being some sort of princess. I will not admit to watching these. There were also Barbie novels that involved Barbie attending high school. I didn't even know these existed. I will now purchase them.



This makes me wonder what sort of storyline they'll use. The princess storyline is probably out, because who wants to purchase the rights to Barbie only to do a princess movie? Disney already does it best. Maybe they'll put her in high school to attract the young girls who are more likely to blow their parents' hard earned cash on frivolous things. Grown women will only show up in droves to watch a Barbie movie with their daughters. Or they could make her grown up and make her do some of the random stuff she's good at. She's been a pilot, a teacher, a flight attendant, a cop, an astronaut, a doctor, a firefighter, a Nascar driver, a soldier (hilariously, there was a Desert Storm edition), a U.S. President, and a ballerina (when is Barbie NOT a ballerina BTW?). For me Barbie was usually a high school kid by day and a superheroine by night. I blame the X-Men.


Barbie also has an assortment of token diverse friends, most of which I owned as a child because my mother wanted me to grow up knowing that I didn't have to be blond to be pretty, successful, etc. She neglected to tell me I didn't have to be a size 0 to be those things either. Are all of Barbie's friends, family, and boyfriends anorexic?

Despite my rambling mild tirade, I loved those dolls as a kid (I still want that Barbie dream house). And, all the toy movies have been geared towards the boys anyway. Who am I kidding, most of the movies in general have been geared towards the boys. So now, some of the boys are pissed. If we have to take a G.I. Joe movie seriously (well, we did before the trailer came out, and after the film made money at the box office), then why not take this seriously? Which is why even though I'm not a Diablo Cody fan, I'm not 100% against a Sweet Valley High movie either. I loved those books and I think it's about time girls had some nostalgia for themselves.

A behind the scenes look at The Fighter

This particular set of photos from David O. Russell's The Fighter have been online for a while, but nobody really noticed until /Film pointed them out. More than likely all the film festivals had our attention. There are also some video blogs as well.

The Fighter, which stars Mark Wahlberg, Christian Bale, Amy Adams, and Melissa Leo looks at the early years of real-life boxer "Irish" Micky Ward (Wahlberg) and his brother (Bale) who helped train him before going pro in the mid '80s.



There are way more photos at IAmRogue for you to get a look at. The Fighter opens in theaters in 2010.

A clip from A Single Man

This is the first time I've seen footage from the film (excluding the trailer). It's a black and white flashback scene with Matthew Goode and Colin Firth:

James Dean lives

Well, at least he does in this South African made TV commercial. It basically poses the what if question: what if James Dean didn't die at the age of 24? The commercial for South African investment film Allan Gray was filmed in Cape Town.

Imagining an alternative history in which Dean is now a Hollywood elder statesman, it shows the Rebel Without a Cause star on his family ranch, racing his own-brand sports car and receiving a lifetime achievement Oscar. Dean is also seen as film director, humanitarian ambassador and anti-Vietnam war agitator. In the final scene he has a car accident, just as in 1955, but when the smoke clears, he has survived.

Film critic Barry Ronge described the minute-long film as "the perfect blend of simple storytelling, superlative camera effects and the smartest use of a celebrity we have seen in a decade".

"Legend" was shot over 14 months with a cast of 300 and crew of 150. The producers carried out a worldwide search for a suitable actor, considering entrants in James Dean lookalike competitions in the American midwest. But they settled on Des Erasmus, a mechanic from Cape Town.

Keith Rose, director of the ad for Velocity Films, said: "Dean might have become a junkie and done a Marlon Brando, but we prefer to think he'd have lived a long and wholesome life." [The Guardian]

I'm half irked and half misty eyed over the whole thing. Using a long dead James Dean to hawk the services of an investment firm feels a bit wrong, especially considering what a mess the financial sector has gotten us into. It's manipulative, but all commercials are I suppose. Or maybe I'm just grouchy because they had to drag Brando into this as well. But it's a very effective ad - probably one of the best I've ever seen.

New posters from Women in Trouble

Carla Gugino plays adult entertainer, Elektra Luxx in Women in Trouble: "A serpentine day in the life of ten seemingly disparate women: a porn star, a flight attendant, a psychiatrist, a masseuse, a bartender, a pair of call girls, etc. All of them with one crucial thing in common. Trouble." Written and directed by Gugino's boyfriend, Sebastian Gutierrez (Snakes on a Plane), the film is the first in a trilogy that will include Elektra Luxx and Women in Ecstasy.


Women in Trouble has a pretty impressive cast (Josh Brolin, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Simon Baker), but, it's the women who get the best roles in the film (Marley Shelton, Adrianne Palicki, Cameron Richardson, Connie Britton, Garcelle Beauvais-Nilon, and Emmanuelle Chriqui):

"Women in Trouble is a fun addition to the current trend of revisiting and reworking exploitation-film themes in a lighthearted way...There's a certain pleasure in seeing a movie where the men are relegated to the Supportive Spouse and Lust Interest roles, after I've seen so many films where those are the only roles for women." [Cinematical]

Posters courtesy Get The Big Picture. Women in Trouble hits theaters in New York and Los Angeles on November 13.

The word from Toronto: Precious wins the people's choice award

Here's part of the press release from The Wrap (via Awards Daily):

The Cadillac People’s Choice Award is voted on by Festival audiences. This year’s award goes to Lee Daniels’s Precious: Based on the Novel “Push” by Sapphire. From director Lee Daniels comes a vibrant, honest and resoundingly hopeful film about the human capacity to grow and overcome. Set in 1987 Harlem, it is the story of Claireece “Precious” Jones, an illiterate African-American teenager who is pregnant for the second time by her absent father and abused by a poisonously angry mother. Despite her experiences, Precious has a dream that other possibilities exist for her and jumps at the chance to enroll in an alternative school. There she encounters Ms. Rain, a teacher who will start her on a journey from pain and powerlessness to self-respect and determination. The film stars Mo’Nique, Paula Patton, Mariah Carey, Sherri Shepherd, Lenny Kravitz and introduces Gabourey Sidibe. The award offers a $15,000 cash prize and custom award, sponsored by Cadillac.

indieWIRE'S Anne Thompson shares some of her impression of Precious from Toronto and how it might shake up the Oscar race:

Lionsgate made a starry splash for its Sundance pick-up Precious by importing not only star Mariah Carey and singer Mary J. Blige, but exec producers Tyler Perry and Oprah Winfrey who worked the fest like pros. Precious has Oscar momentum. And it has done what no other film has ever done before: won the best audience prize at both Sundance and Toronto.

She also has more on what was good, bad, and disappointing about Toronto. Some of it is surprising. It might help to a lot to keep the hype down.

A Single, Serious, Solitary Man

This year we have Tom Ford's A Single Man, the Coen's A Serious Man, and Michael Douglas in Solitary Man. Confused yet? A Single Man has the very attractive cast, A Serious Man has the unknown cast, and Solitary Man...well that has Michael Douglas. If things go well for all three come awards season there's going to be a hell of a lot of confusion on those voting ballots. And just imagine the confusion when they announce the winners - I can just see the embarrassing blunders.

Anyway, considering all the chatter, I figured I would add more confusion and share some interviews and reviews.



Director Tom Ford discusses A Single Man with Indiewire’s Peter Gnegt (via AD):

“No matter how much you love something, there are those moments where you think, ‘shit, maybe I’m just way out on a limb and other people aren’t going to feel this way’,” Tom Ford said yesterday regarding his film “A Single Man.” “But then after the screening in Venice, we had a standing ovation for ten minutes. And it was amazing. It was very emotional, and it was just like a great release of ‘yes, it spoke to other people.’”

Ford optioned the novel from Don Bachardy, the deceased Isherwood’s longtime lover. Barchardy was somewhat hesitant given that “A Single Man” was Isherwood’s favorite book, and something very personal to himself as well (the character of Jim is largely based on him). And even though Ford chose to take significant (and necessary) creative liberties with the original work, Barchardy is quite pleased with the final product.

“I know what I want to say in fashion,” Ford said, “and I have said it over the years but I had to really stop and think: Why does anybody want to see a Tom Ford movie? Who needs another movie? What do I have to say? So finding something that had a message that I felt was important was really the most imperative thing. I read a lot of scripts. I had optioned a couple books I was working on adapting. And still nothing felt quite right. Until one day I was driving to my office and I realized I was thinking about this character George in ‘A Single Man’ - which I had read in my early twenties when I was living in Los Angeles.”

Tom Ford and star Colin Firth also answered questions at the Single Man press conference in Toronto a few days ago.


I realized that I haven't discussed the Coen's A Serious Man nearly as much as I've wanted - Richard Corliss from Time ends his review with this (also via AD):

As Fate keeps stomping him, he embraces Heisenberg's Uncertainty Principle. What he tells his class about the theory — "Even if you can't figure it out, you're still responsible for it on the midterm" — applies, in spades, to his crumbling life. And yet for most of the movie he hangs in there, behaving honorably, seeking the wisdom of his ancestors, trying to observe the Jewish concept of Hashem. "Receive with simplicity everything that happens to you," says Elie Wiesel's Rashi. To absorb God's body blows, this disquieting, haunting movie says, is to be fully alive. To do otherwise could kill you.

Can't say I'm a huge Coen Bros. fan, and of the films they've crafted, I tend to like the ones nobody remembers or cares for. So, I'm naturally wary of the heaps of praise it's gotten so far.



And finally, John Foote from In Contention talks about Michael Douglas who he feels is the only good thing about Solitary Man:

He’s back this year with “Solitary Man” (*), and I am happy to report he is terrific in the film, playing the sort of role he is very good at, and that no doubt challenges him as an actor, because Douglas makes it very clear these days that he needs something very special to get him out of his house. However Douglas is the ONLY good thing in the film.

There is nothing particularly strong about the film visually, so it is left to Douglas to entertain us, and he manages to do that. It’s one of those films like “Street Smart,” a weak film with a brilliant Morgan Freeman performance. And the supporting cast has so little to do, one wonders why they even bothered to make the film? Only Danny DeVito seems to have a character that can really relate to Douglas, and that is stretching it.

Here we have a brilliant, daring performance from Douglas in a film that is a genuine chore to sit through. As much as I like him, I am not sure I could get through this one again. Pity.