Those French. They may look down their collective noses at fat Americans, but they sure do love the way we get s**t done. Luc Besson– cinema’s most prolific Frenchman— has unleashed another action drenched story template (ala Taken, The Transporter) and cozied up with his “Besson School of Filmmaking” graduate Pierre Morel (Taken and the upcoming Dune remake) to offer up the guiltily pleasurable From Paris With Love. Together, Besson and Morel massage French-American relations like it’s nobody’s business. If …
Author: Dan
Some of cinemas most satisfying experiences can be found in small, quiet movies. The kind that don’t bowl you over with strength of their story, but rather the subtle unwrapping of their soul. Films whose strengths expand on the accessibility of its characters thanks in large part to actors who lose themselves in their roles. Crazy Heart is one of those films and Jeff Bridges is one of those actors. If you’ve seen the trailer for Crazy Heart, you’ve sampled …
Damn this 3D frenzy. Dammitall! Warner Brothers recently held a screening to test how the 2D filmed Clash of the Titans would play with a trendy new 3D upgrade. Apparently, the test worked like peanut butter and ladies. Warner has just announced they’ll release the rockin’ monster-heavy Grecian revival in both old-school/nerdy 2D and new-school/the hotness 3D. Thanks for ruining everything, Avatar! So depending on which side of the 3D camp you’re living on, there’s good and bad news. First, …
You’ve got to hand it to a filmmaker so tenacious, focused and crazy that after Sundance ’09 rejects him, he shows up anyway and drags the strip shouting “See my movie!”… which ends up selling in spite of it all. Meet James Nguyen, an ultra-low-budget auteur who, over the course of four long years, wrote, directed, shot and… well, everything’d Birdemic. Like Alfred Hitcock’s The Birds, but infinitely crappier “awesomer”, Birdemic is best described by the film’s official synopsis: A …
Wall Street was the cinematic exclamation point to the slick “Me,me,me” greed of the ’80s. An Oliver Stone film that’s as accessibly mainstream as they come, Wall Street famously introduced “Greed is Good” to the American lexicon. It also gave us a Michael Douglas performance (as the charming douchebag Gordon Gecko) that didn’t show flabby ass cheeks or the Douglas O-face. 20+ years later, Wall Street lands a sequel courtesy of Oliver Stone– one that perfectly coincides with greed’s 2008-2010 …
As a parent, there’s no prospect worse than that of losing your child. To have the soul you’ve nurtured from innocence to independence stolen– even worse, violently– is the stuff that inspires the inkiest thoughts of revenge in the most law abiding of citizens. How much closer to darkness would an individual be if they had the means and wherewithal to do something about it? Edge of Darkness wants to explore that grief-born fulcrum and a host of other potentially …
If an independent movie plays in an independent cinema and no one goes to see it, did it really exist? On last Friday’s KVNU Movie Show, we were asked why a community like Logan, Utah couldn’t have a successful independent cinema. Moving away from Logan, the heart of the question was really: “Why don’t mass audiences support independent film”? I gave some quick answer about how it’s marketing and awareness and word of mouth and when independent films have almost …
Sundance is lame. And I don’t mean that in a general sense– I mean that in the specific way people use attendance to the film festival as a fabricated measuring stick for their own coolness. The “look-at-me-I’m-at-Sundance-and-you’re-not!” types who use their presence among famous film folk as an empty ego boost. Fact is, in the end, unless they’re buying a movie or making a movie that can be purchased and turn a dollar, nobody else cares. In all other aspects, …
I’m a sucker for visual/art/production design. Which explains why Andy’s correctly dubbed me a Bluray whore and why on Tuesday Pandorum (review here) made off with $20 of my hard-earned stripping dollars, why I periodically revisit the vile Alien: Resurrection and why The Spirit is shaming Spider-Man 3 and Starship Troopers on my Bluray shelf. It’s also why, whether Tron Legacy will be good or bad, I get all slobbery when I think forward (way, way off in the distance …
With Raimi having hit the road and a sooner-than-you-think 2012 summer release date looming, Sony hasn’t wasted any time nabbing a new director for the money-shoveling franchise Spider-Man. Sony has confirmed a three picture deal Spider-Man deal with (500) Days of Summer (review here) director Marc “the new hotness” Webb. Marc Webb!? Yes, Marc Webb. Apparently, Columbia (owned by Sony) head honcho Amy Pascal wants to have Marc Webb’s cinematic baby and has had his name in her pocket for …