Bit by bit, we get closer to the soon-to-be-sped-through biopic on George W. Bush, W-- remember, although it hasn't been completely cast, and is just one day into production, it will hit theaters this October. We've got Josh Brolin as Dubya, Elizabeth Banks as Laura, Rob Corddry as Ari Fleischer, James Cromwell as George Sr., Ellen Burstyn as Barbara, Thandie Newton as Condoleeza, Ioan Gruffudd as Tony Blair, and Jeffrey Wright as Colin Powell.
And now, Empire reports that Scott Glenn is going to play former Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld. It's a fair likeness, and not half as surprising as Brolin being Bush. It's also a fair casting move considering Glenn's previous work, from his CIA director in The Bourne Ultimatum, to his Jack Crawford in Silence of the Lambs, to his Lieutenant Richard M. Colby in Apocalypse Now.
But really, even with potential script issues and questionable likenesses, I'm completely charmed by this cast and hoping that it won't be one of those huge ensemble stinkers. I'm not even particularly interested in more Dubya, but I can't resist a film that has both Burstyn and Wright.
If I had one wish and one wish only, I think I'd like to be Javier Bardem throughout the duration of filming Vicky Cristina Barcelona, the latest film from writer-director Woody Allen. A new trailer for the flick has just debuted over at Moviefone, and while it's kinda hard to make out what's going on in the movie (there's no dialogue; just music), this definitely looks steamy, romantic, dramatic and, ahem, hot. Starring Javier Bardem, Scarlett Johansson, Penélope Cruz and Rebecca Hall, Vicky Cristina Barcelonamarks Allen's first film shot in Spain and it revolves around a painter (Bardem) who winds up "involved" with two American tourists (Johansson and Hall). Cruz plays Bardem's jealous ex-girlfriend, and if the final shot of the trailer is any indication, she definitely takes her jealousy to the next level.
Based on early buzz, there's apparently a sexy threesome scene between Bardem, Johansson and Cruz in the film, as well as a little back-and-forth kissing between Johansson and Cruz (which is teased in the preview). Needless to say, the 2008 Festival de Cannes is the perfect place to premiere such a film -- and our own James Rocchi and Kim Voynar are currently on the ground in France, itching to bring you tons of coverage later this week (including a review of this seductive-looking film).
Check out the trailer above (or over on Moviefone) and let us know what you think below. Vicky Cristina Barcelona arrives in theaters on August 29.
Finally! I know there's a ton of you waiting patiently for release dates on Street Fighterand Alvin and the Chipmunks II-- and after spending all night making phone calls, while watching the wire, Cinematical can confirm that the new live-action Street Fighter flick will debut on February 27, 2009. But that's not all! (I know, it was a busy night at headquarters; the boss had us all working double shifts.) 20th Century Fox has also scheduled Alvin and the Chipmunks II for release on March 19, 2010. There's no script yet, and Jason Lee is not signed on to star, but the first one took in a ridiculous $358.4 million worldwide -- so, I mean, they could have these little guys talking Yiddish for a couple hours in part two and the thing would still make over $100 million.
Other announcements in Release Date Land include Madagascar: Escape 2 Africagoing day-and-date on November 7, and Universal has taken Wild Child off its calendar. That film, starring Emma Roberts as a rebellious Malibu teenager who gets shipped off to a British boarding school and learns that afternoon tea is the answer to all of life's problems, was originally scheduled for August 22. No word on why it was yanked, but I'm sure you folks could come up with several positive reasons. To make up for the removal, however, Universal has moved Paul W.S. Anderson's Death Race up from September 26 to August 22. Good thing, too, because I like my death races at the end of summer and not at the beginning of fall.
We're just over a week and a half away from seeing Harrison Ford run around as Indiana Jones for the first time in almost twenty years in Kingdom of the Crystal Skull, and hopefully not collapse in an arthritic fit. Of course, that means putting out a collection for Indy buffs to buy -- just in time for a late-night triple feature before the big release. However, unlike the Die Hard re-do, which stripped tons of extras away, and other releases that just fill up landfill space, there is a perk in this whole money-grab: aside from getting them as a collection, you can pick them up for the first time separately.
That's music to my ears, since I detest Temple of Doom, and would be happy not to see it again. Pick up one, pick up a few, or pick them all up in the Adventure Collection, which is just the three special editions in a fancy cardboard box. Each disc has a bunch of extras -- intros, interviews, special effects, storyboards, and more. Some is old footage, but there's lots of new bits as well -- including a look at Skull on the Last Crusade DVD. Buy the Collection | Buy Raiders | Buy Doom | Buy Crusade
Back in January, I alerted you to writer/director Rupert Wyatt's latest film called The Trail, which was set to start shooting this spring in New Mexico. Written by Wyatt, Trail is about a few soldiers on a base in New Mexico who get led on a trail by a Native American woman to help her brother, "who has been badly hurt in mysterious circumstances." Now the film is heading into production this September, and Variety reports that two other films are getting added to the mix.
Through Paramount Vantage, he will adapt Samuel Logan's book, This Is for the Mara Salvatrucha. The book is about a girl named Brenda Paz, who was a teen member of the MS-13 gang. When she became an informant for the FBI, she was killed by fellow gang members. This should be a pretty personal account, as it's getting made with the cooperation of her court-appointed guardian, Greg Hunter, who was not only her defense attorney, but her friend.
Also up for filming is a flick at Warner Bros. called Slipping Into Darkness, which Blake Masters is adapting from Peter Blauner's novel. This one is a "cat-and-mouse thriller about a cop who, 20 years after sending a teenage to jail for life, watches him freed on a technicality."
Between informants and friendships, freed-killer thrillers, and soldiers heading into mystery, Wyatt has his hands full. In the meantime, we can wait for Think Film to release his film The Escapist, which debuted at Sundance this year.
It looks like Natascha McElhone is now getting her chance to shine. For the most part, the actress has had co-starring gigs in films like Laurel Canyon, FeardotCom, and Solaris, but has been overshadowed by her bigger-name co-stars. Heck, even in Californication, David Duchovny steals the show. But now the tide might be turning as she's getting a headlining gig.
Variety reports that she's going to star with James Purefoy in Marleen Gorris'Heaven & Earth for Focus Films. The film, which was written by Malcolm Kohll and Marsha Levin, will focus on "Britain's first female doctor, James Miranda Barry (McElhone), who was forced to disguise herself as a man in order to practice medicine." But of course, it can't just be about the medicine. Set in the early 19th century, the film will focus on her love affair with the governor of Cape Town, Lord Charles Somerset (Purefoy).
It's disappointing that they're focusing on the romance rather than her achievements, but at the very least, it should be an opportunity for McElhone to show off her acting chops. Production is currently scheduled to begin on December 10 in the UK, and will shoot in Cape Town, South Africa in January.
Steven Soderbergh's two-part Che Guevara biopic has been shrouded in mystery and controversy for so long, it's hard to believe the world is finally going to see it. It's like pulling teeth to get some biopics to the theatre, isn't it? In case you were beginning to doubt its existence again, two new photos of Benicio del Toro have surfaced online. Once again, the likeness is downright eerie.
At this point, as Eric Kohn reported, it is still set to screen at Cannes. However, only one half (The Argentine) has a U.S. distributor in Focus Features. Guerilla does not. Neither have release dates. (I'm going on basis of IMDB; quite possibly no one has updated info on Guerilla, or they are being combined and no one said anything.) That could all change after Cannes, and I hope it does. I want to see the whole thing, controversy or not. Don't you?
Cinematical was just handed this exclusive clip from the film Mongol, which finally arrives in theaters in limited release on June 6 after being nominated for a Best Foreign Language Oscar. Mongol comes from the award-winning Russian filmmaker Sergei Bodrov (Prisoner of the Mountains), and it follows the early years of Genghis Khan -- before he took on that name, through his perilous childhood to the battle that sealed his destiny. Cinematical's Eric D. Snider reviewed the film when it played the Portland Film Festival, and said: "The battle scenes, in particular, are thrilling and visceral without being too nauseating, and Japanese actor Tadanobu Asano's performance as Temudjin has the stoicism and dedication you need for an effective biopic hero." I think it goes without saying that we all love a film with a few good battles in it, and Mongol looks to give us just that ... and then some. Check out the clip above, then the poster, then get your asses to the theater when it arrives on June 6.
With the end of this month comes final confirmation: Can Sex and the City make it as a feature film? To continue to whet our Sex appetites, a whole slew of clips popped up over on the net. Above you can check out the, erm, fleshed out waxing clip from the trailer, and after the jump there's a wedding announcement, that Cinderella clip, some "coloring," home shopping, and Carrie getting a little bit too "pat on the head," "I've been there" preachy with Jennifer Hudson.
As someone who enjoyed the show (whilst ignoring the idiotic fashions and some of the crappy men), this is looking to be the sort of film that will appeal to fans ... although it will be a little different than its skin-risque HBO roots. A few years passed and now it seems that we won't be getting the usual fleshy shocker from Samantha -- rumor has it that the only woman who celebrates full-flesh is Cynthia Nixon. It's too bad that age seems to be making the women cling to the clothing, but then again, that's SatC for you -- partially stereotype-breaking and partially stereotype-clutching.
It looks like Frank Sinatra's youngest daughter and film producer, Tina Sinatra, has let the cat out of the bag. While talking with Sun Media recently, she discussed a new biopic on the way, from Universal, that would focus on dear old Rat Pack Dad. She started by cryptically saying that the man who would take on the film was "the most prominent Italian-American filmmaker" in Hollywood. First, they guessed Coppola, and then Martin Scorsese. Later, she confirmed that it was, indeed, Marty.
But according to Sinatra, this won't be a big gangster picture. The movie will show him innocent of true involvement with the Mafia: "I don't want him to be driving the getaway car. That would not be fair. But I trust him (Scorsese) implicitly." It seems that Scorsese is in "a reflective period and is willing to present the truth about her father." From the way Sinatra is talking about Marty's involvement, it sounds like he is in final negotiations, but hasn't yet signed.
Should this all get squared away and signed, it will be at least the sixth celebrity name added to Scorsese's roster in the last 4-5 years. There was Bob Dylan in 2005, then the Rolling Stones with Shine a Light, plus the upcoming George Harrison and Bob Marley docs, and The Rise of Theodore Roosevelt.
But what say you? Are you ready for Scorsese to take on Sinatra?
While doing publicity rounds for a certain fedora-wearing adventurer, Steven Spielberg told German magazine FOCUS that he intends to return his focus to his long delayed biopic of Abraham Lincoln.
According to Variety, Spielberg is shelving the Aaron Sorkin-scripted Trial of the Chicago Seven because he is dissatisfied with the script, and could not get the rewrites he wanted due to the WGA strike. Though that is over, it apparently needs some development time not even Tintin will provide.
And yes -- Tintin is still scheduled to begin shooting in early fall, though we still are lacking any casting confirmations. Spielberg says the actor's strike will not delay it, because the film is motion capture.
But back to the Lincoln biopic! It has been kicked around so long that Spielberg's decision is almost a nonevent, but it is still all kinds of exciting because it could begin shooting early next year. Liam Neeson is still attached and has been for the past three years, reportedly amassing research all this time. It will still have that Tony Kushner script, and it is still based on The Uniter: The Genius of Abraham Lincoln, the brilliant biography by Doris Kearns Goodwin.
I really want this to finally come together. Neeson is due for another meaty role like Abraham Lincoln, and there has never been a proper movie made about such an iconic figure. Actually, I don't really think there has been a movie that truly dug into the Civil War, not in the way that can really attract and educate an audience. If anyone is up to the challenge, it's Spielberg.
I've been fortunate enough to have been able to go to Cannes for the past four years now, and I'm getting ready for my fifth. And, as I often say when explaining film festivals to people who've never been to one, it's not just an adventure; it's a job. Cannes is a "get-away" the same way running from a burning building is "a tour of the grounds"; there are plenty of movies, plenty of work, and the overall emotional tone of the event is a mix of exhaustion and exhilaration. The heady moments of pure movie magic come fast and furious with the muck-and-money reality of international financing and distribution happening all about you.
Going to Cannes means seeing at least 40, maybe 50 or more movies in 10 days, never mind actually thinking and writing about them; you'd think that that kind of pace would soon turn into a blur, and it does, but it's a glorious one. Here's some of my favorite movie going moments (highly subjective, of course -- I've not included last year's ridiculously strong quartet of Persepolis, No Country for Old Men,The Diving Bell and the Butterfly and 4 Months, 3 Weeks, 2 Days, as they're still so fresh in my mind) from the past four years of the Cannes Film Festival; think of these as the rushed recollections of a film critic who knows exactly how lucky he's been.
(In honor of Mother's Day, we're launching a series of posts today written, in part, by our mothers after we asked them one simple (yet very complex) question: What's your favorite movie and why?)
I take a lot of credit for my mom's burgeoning cinephilia. Used to be that she'd balk at anything remotely suspenseful, frightening or "unpleasant" (I think because she makes herself so emotionally available when she watches a movie that a nasty one can really wound), but I'm happy to report that last year, she voluntarily sat through No Country for Old Men, and even enjoyed it. When I asked her to name her favorite movie, she rattled off a list long enough that I had to stop her and tell her that this isn't the assignment. When I insisted she narrow it down to one, she regretfully cast off House of Games, You Can Count on Me and The Savages(Laura Linney is beloved in the Novikov household), and landed on The Godfather. By the end of the movie, she says, she feels like one of the family -- which is slightly terrifying, but I can see what she means. She tells me, "I can watch it every day and never get tired of it;" I believe her. And I'm awfully proud of her choice.
(In honor of Mother's Day, we're launching a series of posts today written, in part, by our mothers after we asked them one simple (yet very complex) question: What's your favorite movie and why?)
Momma Snider's preferred method of watching TV and movies is to sit on the couch with her laptop or her art projects and keep one eye on whatever my dad is watching. But sometimes a movie grabs her complete attention. She loves scary movies (nothing R-rated, please), and she has a weakness for Adam Sandler. We both loved Waitress and Hairspray last year, a somewhat rare convergence of our opinions. And Mom and I agree on another film, too....
"I love Remember the Titans. It's set in my senior year in high school, so the music reminds me of high school. I'd love to get the soundtrack. [I don't think she intended that as a hint, but I took it as one anyway.] It's such a warm story. I have trouble comprehending that in 1971 in some parts of the country there was still that kind of racial junk going on, but I guess it was like that in the South. It comes on TV a lot, and we have it on DVD -- and VHS -- so every time it comes on we start watching it, and then we get frustrated with the commercials and put on the DVD. And Denzel Washington! I love Denzel Washington."
(In honor of Mother's Day, we're launching a series of posts today written, in part, by our mothers after we asked them one simple (yet very complex) question: What's your favorite movie and why?)
My mom and I share such similar tastes that I expected her favorite movie to be one I also loved – but I was still surprised to find it was this one! It had a similar effect on us both, even with all the inaccuracies. When I visited Scotland last year, it broke both our hearts that she wasn't with me, visiting the places Wallace really lived, fought and died. Some Mother's Day, I will take her there!
"Asking someone who loves movies to pick one favorite is cruel to say the least. The story must touch my heart, and leave an indelible impression that changes my life. After great deliberation, I chose Braveheart. It gave me everything I could want in a film. A real life hero, an epic story, great performances, great cinematography (you couldn't ask for a more beautiful setting), great musical score, great costumes, drama, battle scenes, and romance. I never grow tired of watching it, and I never make it through the end without tears. I'm willing to forgive its historical transgressions because the film engulfs me, sucks me in and transports me to medieval Scotland. A costume drama of the very best kind. The heart wrenching tragedy of William Wallace left a permanent impression on me. Wanting to know the true story behind the film led me to dig deeper, not only into English and Scottish history, but into my own heritage in a way I never had before." – Julie Rappe
Bit by bit, we get closer to the soon-to-be-sped-through biopic on George W. Bush, W -- remember, although it hasn't been completely cast, and is just one day into production, it will hit theaters this October. We've got Josh Brolin as Dubya, Elizabeth Banks as Laura, Rob Corddry as Ari Fleischer, James Cromwell as George Sr., Ellen Burstyn as Barbara, Thandie Newton as Condoleeza, Ioan Gruffudd as Tony Blair, and Jeffrey Wright as Colin Powell.
Finally! I know there's a ton of you waiting patiently for release dates on 
Indiana Jones -- The Adventure Collection
Back in January, 
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While doing publicity rounds for a certain fedora-wearing adventurer, Steven Spielberg told German magazine FOCUS that he intends to return his focus to his long delayed biopic of Abraham Lincoln. 
The Geek Beat: How To Make a Fangirl (A Belated Mother's Day Card)
Cinematical's 2008 Cannes Preview
EXCLUSIVE: 'City of Ember' Poster Premiere!
