So is Peter Jackson going to direct The Hobbit? Or will it be his protege Neill Bolmkamp, who directed District 9? Who knows — I just hope this mess with MGM gets sorted out soon. I’m still getting over my enormous disappointment that MGM’s financial situation resulted in Guillermo del Toro’s departure from The Hobbit films. But boy would it be great to see PJ take the helm once again…
Great new trailer is up for The Social Network, the new film about facebook directed by David Fincher and scripted by Aaron Sorkin.
So, we finally got out first glimpse at The Green Hornet and… I’m still not quite sure what to think. This film is either going to be awesome or a total catastrophe…
CHUD’s list of the Worst CGI in Film History continues, and it’s well worth your time.
Will we ever get another decent X-Men film? I loved X-Men and X2, but X3 was a crushing disappointment and the less spoken of the abominable X-Men Origins: Wolverine, the better. I hate prequels, as a rule, so when word came out last year that the next X-film would be a prequel entitled X-Men: First Class, I thought that was a big mis-step. So what now gives me hope? Director Matthew Vaughn (Layer Cake, Stardust, Kick Ass) and stars James McAvoy (Children of Dune, Atonement, Wanter) as Professor X and Michael Fassbender (Inglourious Basterds) as Magneto. An ember of hope is fanned…
Are we about to finally get another decent Predator film? The first Predator is awesome — one on my favorite movies ever. But the second one (set in the future with Danny Glover as the lead) is weak, and the less spoken of the two Alien Vs. Predator films the better. But Robert Rodriguez and Nimrod Antal’s Predators is set for release in just a few short weeks, and damn if this new trailer isn’t pretty awesome. An ember of hope is fanned…
It’s hard for me to believe that a new Planet of the Apes film is really happening. And now I read that John Lithgow and Freida Pinto (Slumdog Millionaire) have joined the cast? Um, okay… An ember of hope is… well… we’ll see…
Before seeing his latest film, The Lovely Bones, I thought it fitting to seek out a gaping hole in my Peter Jackson viewing filmography: his 1994 film, Heavenly Creatures. I’ve been hearing/reading about this film since the lengthy pre-release build-up to The Fellowship of the Ring. (By the way: Wow! It’s hard to believe it’s been almost a decade since Fellowship, which was released in 2001!!) Heavenly Creatures seems to be rather well thought-of, and since the Lord of the Rings films have made me a life-long Pater Jackson fan, it seemed crazy that I had never seen this movie. It’s a situation I was happy to remedy last month.
Heavenly Creatures tells the true-life story of the friendship between two young New Zealand girls in 1953/4. Melanie Lynskey plays Pauline. An artistic, shy introvert, she is friendless and miserable at the Catholic school which she attends. Her world changes, though, when Juliet Hulme, played by Kate Winslet, arrives at her school. Juliet is from a wealthy family, and her travels with (and without) her parents make her seem extraordinarily worldly to Pauline. Like Pauline, she is artistic and bucks authority, but Juliet more outgoing and brazen. The two bond almost instantly. Deep friendships like these happen between schoolgirls all the time across the globe, with less tragic outcomes. But here, the increasingly unhappy home lives of each of the girls pushes them to become more dependent upon one another’s company, and they begin to withdraw more and more deeply into their shared fantasies. Feeding off one another, those escapist fantasies soon take a terrible turn.
Heavenly Creatures is the first screen role of both Melanie Lynskey and Kate Winslet. It’s no surprise that this proved to be a star-making turn for Ms. Winslet, as she displays terrific abilities and assurance for such a young actress (not to mention great beauty). As for Ms. Lynskey, I was delighted to realize that this was her first screen role as well. She’s nowhere near as well-known as Kate Winslet, but if you were an avid movie-goer in 2009 then I’d wager you’ve enjoyed her work. (She had key roles in Away We Go, The Informant!, and Up in the Air.)
Heavenly Creatures is an interesting film. I found it to be a bit hard to get into, at first. There was something about the first 45 minutes that kept me, as a viewer, from being sucked in to the story. I wasn’t sure if it was the script, the acting, or the directing, but everything seemed a bit “stagey” and over-wrought (filled with dramatic zooms and music that didn’t seem to quite fit the proceedings). With a based-on-a-true-story like this one, I… [continued]
How many really great sci-fi films have there been in the last decade? It’s pretty slim, right? OK, J. J. Abrams’ Star Trek movie was pretty good… but before that? I can think of Cloverfield (2008), Children of Men (2006), Serenity (2005), The Matrix (1999), Galaxy Quest (1999)… what else? Signs (2002) and Vanilla Sky (2001) have a sci-fi twist to them so maybe they count. That’s eight films. Not a pretty substantial list, huh?
Well, here’s one to add: Neil Blomkamp’s District 9.
You’re best off entering the film armed only with what little was revealed in the intriguing trailers: twenty years ago an enormous alien craft came to a halt in the sky over Johannesburg. Almost one million aliens (derogatively called “prawns” by the locals) are rescued from the powerless craft. These homeless creatures quickly develop into a new underclass in the city, dwelling in an enormous slum designated District 9.
That’s just the set-up. I went into the film completely clueless about the actual plot of the film (and what a delight that was, by the way, in this age of movie spoilers!) and I won’t spoil it for you either. I will tell you only that actor Sharlto Copley (a fresh face who I had never seen in a film before) does a tremendous job in the central role of Wikus van der Merwe. Mr. Copley takes Wikus (and the audience) along on a staggering emotional journey over the course of the film. When first we meet MNU (Multinational United) agent Wikus, he’s something of an affable buffoon, but his responses to the extraordinary events that follow are the meat and potatoes of the story , and when we leave him at the film’s end it’s hard to believe we’re leaving the same character. It’s a tremendous performance, and one the success of the film really hangs on.
Well, that and the film’s astounding visual energy. Mr. Blomkamp demonstrates terrific visual flair at the helm of this film. District 9 was famously made after the film version of Halo (which would have been produced by Peter Jackson and directed by Mr. Blomkamp, as District 9 wound up being) fell apart. District 9 was made on a very small budget (reportedly 30 million dollars) and shot in South Africa. I have no idea how Mr. Blomkamp and his team possibly pulled this film off on that tiny budget, but my hat is off to them. The film is a visual feast. I have no idea how they brought all the “prawns” to life — CGI? Make-up and prosthetics? Some combination? – but they are a phenomenal achievement. The aliens are completely believable — and they’re also, by the… [continued]
Some great new trailers have hit the web in recent days, and they have quite a lot in common with one another in some fascinating ways.
First up, we’ve finally been given our first substantial glimpse into what Terry Gilliam has cooked up in his new film The Imaginarium of Dr. Parnassus, and, as one might expect, it is spectacularly bizarre. I cannot wait to see Heath Ledger’s final performance. Click here for the trailer.
Is that not enough cinematic weirdness for you? Then check out the trailer for Tim Burton’s version of Alice in Wonderland. That man was born to make this movie. I just hope it has a little more life to it than Burton’s version of Charlie and the Chocolate Factory did.
Are we on a roll yet? Continuing the theme of visionary directors adapting famous books, take a peak at the newly-released second trailer for Spike Jonze’s adaptation of Where the Wild Things Are. That looks absolutely marvelous, doesn’t it?
Finally, speaking of visionary directors adapting famous books, here‘s a long-anticipated (by me, at least) look at Peter Jackson’s adaptation of Alice Sebold’s The Lovely Bones that is absolutely haunting. Can’t wait.
Big dumb summer movie trailer alert! It’s the new trailer for Transformers 2, filled with lots of robot smashing action, and the new trailer for G.I. Joe, filled with Ninjas and, um, Eiffel Tower smashing action! Sigh. Hard to believe these two iconic and beloved cartoons of my youth are both now big-budget blockbuster movies coming out this summer. Wouldn’t it be amazing if there were both really awesome? Isn’t it sort of sad to know that they definitely won’t be?
For a peek at a movie that might actually be good, click here to check out District 9, the new sci-fi flick directed by Neill Blomkamp and executive produced by Peter Jackson (The Lord of The Rings). Color me intrigued.
Keeping up with the trailers, here‘s a glimpse at the new film from Francis Ford Coppola, Tetro. I never saw his last film, the critically-demolished Youth Without Youth, but this looks really interesting. It’s a new film from Francis Ford Coppola! Of course it looks interesting!
Did you know that Robert Rodriguez is working on a new Predator film?? If it happens, it’ll be called Predators (in a clever nod to James Cameron’s sequel to Alien, entitled Aliens). Check out the tantalizing details here. I need to see this movie RIGHT NOW.
So it’s been ten years since The Phantom Menace, huh? Here’s an interesting look back. I agree with this fellow’s thoughts about the two Phantom Menace trailers (among the finest trailers ever crafted), but I certainly don’t think anywhere nearly as highly of that dreadful turd of a movie as he does. (You can read my memories of first seeing Episode I in theatres here, and my thoughts on the movie looking back almost a decade later here.)
Did you not have enough Star Trek content here on the site for the past two weeks? Then check out this great piece from the Onion A.V. Club: “Space Racism is Bad and 17 Other Not-So-Subtle Lessons Learned From Star Trek.” If you’ve never seen it before, you MUST scroll down to the clip of William Shatner’s Kirk reading the Preamble to U.S. Constitution in selection #12, from the absurd Trek episode The Omega Glory. ”WE… the… PEOPLE… not written for thekingsorthechiefsortherichorthepowerful but for ALLTHEPEOPLE!” Classic Shatnerian magnificence.
Since seeing J.J. Abrams’ Star Trek film, I’ve been enjoying reading all the different reactions on-line and in the press. I always enjoy Alexandra DuPont’s film reviews when they appear (not often enough to suit me) on aintitcoolnews.com, and her take on the new film is well worth your time. (I remember well — and agree with entirely — her spot-on… [continued]
Among my very favorite DVD sets are Peter Jackson’s extended versions of the Lord of the Rings trilogy. Being a fanatical LOTR fan, it is a delight to have longer versions of the films that incorporate action, character moments, and lots of other fun details drawn from the books. The LOTR extended DVDs also boast some of the most comprehensive and enjoyable extras I have ever seen – detailed, feature-length documentaries that cover every aspect of the making of the films, from the casting to the production to the music to the editing to the guys who made the chain mail for all the elvish armor. Just fantastic stuff, and it gives us a wonderful peek into the experiences of all the talented craftsmen and women who toiled on the LOTR films for over half a decade.
Because of that, and because I enjoyed Peter Jackson’s King Kong more than most, when the extended DVD set of King Kong was released over two years ago (in November, 2006), I of course picked it up right away. However, for some reason, it subsequently sat unopened on my DVD shelf. I’m not sure why that is. Maybe it’s because the thought that a longer version of Kong was rather daunting? As I wrote above, I really loved Jackson’s remake of Kong, but even I must admit that the film (clocking in at 187 minutes) was longer than it needed to be. Even from the comfort of my own couch, the idea of pressing play on the 201 minute version was, I suppose, not something I was in a terrible hurry to do.
But I did finally sit down to watch the extended version of King Kong this weekend, and let me say I was delighted. Unlike the Lord of the Rings extended editions, this is not a complete re-working of the film. The changes are actually rather minimal, mostly consisting of a couple of additional hideous encounters on Skull Island. If you didn’t like King Kong in its theatrical form, this new version isn’t going to change your mind. But for me, watching Kong I right away remembered every reason why I had enjoyed the film so much when I saw it in theatres.
Anyone who knows anything about this Kong remake knows that it was Peter Jackson’s dream since he was 9 years old, and that love pores off of every frame of this film. The movie is a fantasy, a fairy-tale of the best kind, and the terrific score and the sumptuous visuals right away sucked me in to the world of 1933 New York and the story being told.
There is… [continued]