It may be early, but the summer movie season is underway!
Friday, May 9, 2008
posted by Jonathan Mumm at 5:03 PM |
The start of the summer blockbuster movie season used to be Memorial Day weekend. But over the years, it has gradually slipped back earlier and earlier until this year we had "Ironman" start the season off the very first weekend in May. And it has certainly started the season off in a big way, setting the bar pretty high for the movies to come!
This weekend the Wachowski brothers of "Matrix" fame return with their live action version of the 1960's anime sensation "Speed Racer." And while the movie may be too long and complicated for a lot of the audience its trying to reach, young kids may end up enjoying it just fine, thank you very much, because of the wild and colorful computerized cartoon world in which all the racing action takes place.
The next big movie will be "The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian" that hits theatres May 16th. It's the sequel to the 2005 hit "The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe," with the Penvensie children returning to the magical world they visited in the first movie, only to discover that 1300 years have gone by.
But the most anticipated movie of the summer, perhaps the entire year, opens the following week: "Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull" hitting theatres some 19 years after the last installment: "Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade." That 19 years is recognized in the movie as well, with the events taking place in the 1950's and with Indy (as is Harrison Ford in real life) 19 years older. Since the earlier movies mimicked the serials of the 1930's, the original idea with part four was to reflect the genre films of that period, namely those films about threats from outer space. Whether aliens stayed part of the story line, though, has not been revealed.
And finally, May will end with the big screen version of the TV show "Sex and the City" opening May 30. And yes, the fact that time has gone by is acknowledged here as well. Our heroines are in their early 40's this time around.
June kicks off with another superhero: "The Incredible Hulk," which, considering how Ang Lee's version of "The Hulk" did at the box office in 2003 may seem a bit of a surprise. Still, "The Hulk" is a popular comic book and with this movie staying truer to the comic and with Robert Downey, Jr making a cameo as the currently extremely popular "Ironman," the second time here may turn out to be the charm.
Hit and miss director M. Night Shyamalan ("Sixth Sense," "Lady in the Water") tries again with a movie called "The Happening" opening June 13. It stars Mark Wahlberg and Zooey Deschanel. It's a thriller (surprise, surprise), that Entertainment Weekly quotes Shyamalan as describing as "an environmental nightmare."
"Get Smart," the big screen version of the 1960's comedy spy series with Don Adams puts Steve Carell in the role of Maxwell Smart and Anne Hathaway as his trusty sidekick Agent 99. It opens June 20th, while Mike Myers returns to the screen as "The Love Guru," June 20th.
Then the animation studio Pixar closes out June with its newest offering, a tale of a robot called "Wall-E."
The new X Files movie: "X Files: I want to believe" opens the July 4th weekend and yes, both David Duchovny and Gillian Anderson are back in a story directed by Chris Carter. We're also back to superheroes that weekend even if "Hancock" is not your stereotypical superhero. This is a guy with flaws, big time, and the idea of the story is that he tries to fix his image by turning to a marketing expert, whose wife he then makes a play for.
We then get back on the regular superhero track with the new Batman movie opening July 18th. "The Dark Knight" is the sequel to 2005's "Batman Begins," and stars Heath Ledger in what turned out to be his last role playing Batman's nemesis, the Joker.
July also sees the return of Hellboy in "Hellboy 2: the Golden Army," and the musical "Mama Mia."
August brings us "Pineapple Express," the latest Judd Apatow produced comedy, and then Ben Stiller and Jack Black in "Tropic Thunder," a comedy about a bunch of actors trying to make a Vietnam war movie.
The Mummy franchise gets its third installment with "The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emporer" August 1st and another "Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants" movie hits theatres the following week.
The summer ends with Woody Allen's latest: "Vicky Cristina Barcelona" starring Javier Bardem, Scarlet Johansson and Penelope Cruz opening August 29th.
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More on the ghost story beat
Friday, April 25, 2008
posted by Jonathan Mumm at 6:24 PM |
I'm always looking for a good ghost story, and I've been a big fan of the Asian ghost stories and even their American remakes. However, after "Shutter," I wonder if its time to retire that girl ghost with the long hair and haunted look who crawls along floors and ceilings after her victims. "Shutter" hardly raises a shudder (at least the American version), with most of the scares the "jump-out-at-you" kind, and a very disappointing ending.
An entirely different kind of ghost story, the Spanish language film "The Orphanage" succeeds in creating the type of atmosphere that made me a fan of ghost stories in the first place. It was well reviewed at the time of its release and is just out now on DVD. This one will certainly raise goose bumps on your arms, although I have to admit I wasn't too keen on how it all winds up. Still, it's very interesting getting there and the acting is first rate.
If you like that kind of ghost story, I highly recommend "The Others" with Nicole Kidman and another Spanish language film: "The Devil's Backbone."
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Some tidbits from Hollywood
Wednesday, April 9, 2008
posted by Jonathan Mumm at 4:35 PM |
Credit Tiff
After learning of Director/Star George Clooney's contributions to the script of his new movie "Leatherheads," I was a bit surprised not to see his name listed in the credits as one of the writers.
Turns out Clooney was surprised, too. Or maybe "surprised" isn't quite the right word.
According to Daily Variety, Clooney was none too happy when the Writers Guild decided in a 2-1 credit arbitration vote that only Duncan Brantley and Rick Reilly who wrote the original version of the script were entitled to any credit.
But, Variety reports, Clooney rewrote the script after it sat unloved for some 17 years, changing it into a screwball comedy. In fact, the actor/writer/director apparently feels that, except for two scenes, the filmed script was pretty much all his.
Not that he wanted to deny Brantley and Reilly their credit. They could be first; he just wanted to be somewhere.
Also from Variety:
Can you imagine Jane Austen's Emma as a hip hop musical? It could soon be coming to a theatre near you, complete with some 15 songs and dances. The movie will be set in a modern day inner city high school.
The story has already been on movie screens as a teen vehicle with "Clueless," set in a suburban Southern California high school with Alicia Silverstone.
And on the animation front, Pixar and Disney have released the names of some of their upcoming projects. Among them: "Toy Story 3" and "Cars 2," as well as the non-computer animated "Princess and the Frog."
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Oscar Scorecard
Monday, February 25, 2008
posted by Jonathan Mumm at 4:43 PM |
The day after the Oscars, we have to tally up and own up. My best year is still 2006 when I picked "Crash" to win over "Brokeback Mountain." I think I only missed one category that year. This year, my batting average wasn't quite so high.
Yes, I got Best Picture ("No Country for Old Men") and Best Director (Joel Coen and Ethan Coen), Best Actor (Daniel Day Lewis, but everybody knew that was coming), and Best Supporting Actor (Javier Bardem).
But I missed Best Actress (Marion Cotillard for "La Vie en Rose"). I went with Julie Christie for "Away From Her." I also missed Best Supporting Actress, picking Ruby Dee ("American Gangster") over actual winner Tilda Swinton ("Michael Clayton").
I was also fifty-fifty in the writing categories, correctly giving the nod to Diablo Cody for "Juno" for Best Original Screenplay (that's usually where the Academy likes to honor the smaller, more quirky films), but choosing Christopher Hampton ("Atonement") instead of actual winners Joel and Ethan Coen for their "No Country for Old Men" adaptation in the Best Adapted Screenplay category.
I was right about the rat, though, as "Ratatouille" won for Best Animated Feature. I knew that little character wouldn't let me down!
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Sacramento's 48 Hour Film Festival
Friday, February 15, 2008
posted by Jonathan Mumm at 11:43 PM |
They're off and running. Sacramento's 48 Hour Film Festival ("48 Hours Sacramento") is officially underway. We were at the Studio Center on Fee Drive Friday night (February 15th) as this year's crop of hopeful filmmakers listened to the rules, picked the genre of film they would make out of a hat, and then headed off into the night with 48 hours to write, shoot, edit and submit a four to seven minute short.
24 teams tried it last year, in the end, 16 made it to the finish line. And, said event organizer Marty Anaya, the films they turned out exceeded expectations.
"To our surprise, we found that these films are really fantastic. Some of the best short films that I've seen in Sacramento by local filmmakers all being made in under 2 days."
To ensure that the films actually are made in the ensuing 48 hours, at Friday night's meeting filmmakers also learned of three elements they need to include in the films: a specific prop (this year it's an umbrella), a line of dialogue ("When in Egypt, one must delve deeply into its treasures"), and a character name (Dr. Newlove Starlord).
Many of the filmmakers found their actors, gathered props and secured locations earlier this week. The first step is for the writer of the group to turn out the screenplay. Some teams planned to have the script written Friday night and to get the first shot off Saturday morning. Others don't plan to sleep at all.
Devon Chulick and Jon Ray headed out of the meeting to meet their crew at a coffee shop in El Dorado Hills. "We're going to get our crew and then we're just going to start and it's going to be awesome," Ray said, "drink lots of coffee and stay up all forty eight hours." "Exactly," Chulick agreed, "We're not sleeping. We decided that's not pro-active!"
Why would anybody want to put themselves through all this? Every film that makes it in on time is guaranteed a big screen showing at Sacramento's Crest Theatre during the March 29 to April 6 running of the Sacramento Film Festival.
And yes, all the filmmakers involved said they believed they could get their movie in by the deadline.
"Oh, absolutely!" said Kevin Ernst, "We can definitely pull this off." "Yes," agreed Rahel Matinfar, "It's going to be -- well, it'll be a little tight, but it'll be good. It'll be a lot of fun!"
Good luck, everybody!
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Horror Movie Show Tries the Internet
Wednesday, January 30, 2008
posted by Jonathan Mumm at 3:18 PM |
Horror hosts were once a staple of late night television, showing and making fun of old horror movies. Well, a few years ago, Sacramento's own Mr. Lobo decided to try and resurrect the idea and his "Cinema Insomnia" was born.
Since then, his show, featuring campy old movies, drive-in movie ads, trailers, celebrity interviews, skits and jokes has found a home on a number of TV stations across the country including KTEH PBS in the San Francisco area.
Well, now Mr. Lobo has moved his show into the technological age. His distributor, Roseville's Apprehensive Films has struck a deal with the website known as BitTorrent.com. On the tenth of every month, new episodes of "Cinema Insomnia" featuring such late night movie favorites as "Plan 9 from Outer Space," "The Giant Gila Monster," "The House on Haunted Hill," etc can be viewed on the web.
I'm told they can be viewed in either of two ways: if you don't mind an ad popping up at the bottom of the screen once in awhile during the show, you can watch for free. If you don't want the ads, you can download the show for a slight fee.
As for Mr. Lobo, he doesn't mind which way you view the program, he makes a few cents either way.
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First Thoughts on Oscar Nominations
Tuesday, January 22, 2008
posted by Jonathan Mumm at 4:57 PM |
So even as no one is sure what the Academy Awards Show is going to look like this year because of the ongoing writers' strike, here come the nominations!
A first going over of the list reveals a few surprises: Tommy Lee Jones getting a Best Actor nod for the father investigating the disappearance of his soldier son in the under performing "Valley of Elah," and Viggo Mortensen's nomination in the same category as a member of the Russian Mafia in "Eastern Promises."
"Atonement" got seven nominations all together, only one less than the top nomination getters ("No Country for Old Men" and "There Will Be Blood" tied with eight apiece), but they did not include Director or Lead Actor or Actress. They did, however, include a Best Supporting Actress nod for Saoirse Ronan as the 13 year old girl who starts the tragedy in motion.
Two veteran performers got their first ever Oscar nominations: Ruby Dee playing Denzel Washington's mother in "American Gangster" and Hal Holbrook in "Into the Wild."
And of course, Cate Blanchett got two nominations: as Best Actress for "Elizabeth: the Golden Age" and as Best Supporting Actress for her role as Bob Dylan in "I'm Not There."
I was particularly pleased to see Casey Affleck (Ben's brother) nominated for Best Supporting Actor for "The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford." As soon as I saw the movie I predicted he'd get a nomination.
Of course, the question on everyone's mind is just what kind of show is the Oscars going to be this year. Some of the nominated actors (including Viggo Mortensen, Tom Wilkinson) have said if the writers are still on strike, they will not cross picket lines.
The Academy says the show will go on with or without the stars, even if they have to dig into the archives to show clips from old shows to do it.
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