It’s been eighteen years since Hollywood lost River Phoenix and there was one film he made, Dark Blood, which never got released. Now, even though it took almost two decades, the promising young actor’s final film will be released.
Dark Blood director George Sluizer has reportedly summoned the inspiration to finish the film and get it released. He has re-edited it and has high hopes of exposing the world to the final work of Phoenix, one of his generation’s biggest talents.
Sluizer has supposedly talked to Joaquin Phoenix to add his voice to parts of the film that were unfinished. The filmmaker was working on the film when River died of an overdose and chose to hide it, believing that producers might want to destroy the work or bury it.
The film follows a character named Boy (Phoenix), a man whose abode is next to a nuclear testing site. Boy believes the end of the world is coming.
It has been a mystery worthy of Sherlock Holmes whether Rachel McAdams and her Adler character would return in the sequel to Sherlock Holmes. Now that a second trailer for Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows has arrived, the mystery has been solved: McAdams is indeed back. As a certain someone would say, “Elementary!”
Robert Downey Jr. is back as Holmes and of course Jude Law returns as his sidekick Watson. What has us most excited about Game of Shadows is the debut of the notorious nemesis of Holmes, Moriarty, played by Jared Harris.
Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows hits theaters December 16.
Whether he meant to or not, Russell Crowe has let something slip from the set of Man of Steel. The Superman reboot features Crowe starring as Superman’s father Jor-El. His tweet from the set today was interesting to say the least.
“15km bike ride, umpteen hours fighting Michael Shannon. He’s very hard to put down,” Crowe said on his Twitter account.
Let’s analyze that “fighting Michael Shannon” part. That clearly means that Crowe’s Jor-El will be doing some sort of battle with Shannon’s General Zod. No such fight took place in the Christopher Reeve Superman series, so this is some news!
We can only guess that the action between Jor-El and Zod will take place on Krypton, long before the planet explodes and baby Superman is sent to Earth.
That makes us wonder: What else does director Zack Snyder have up his sleeve?
The trailer for 20th Century Fox’s film Chronicle has debuted online. Found footage films sometimes work (Paranormal Activity) and sometimes don’t (too many to mention). So, it is with great anticipation actually that we present the trailer for Chronicle in that it looks like this film could cook.
Chronicle hits theaters February 3 and follows three high school teens that awake to the unthinkable: They have superpowers. As is famously said, with great power comes great responsibility. In that vein, the three must learn to develop and, most importantly, control their powers.
The vision of the picture is top notch, so let’s put Chronicle on the list of films of early 2012 that Movie Fanatic is getting excited about.
Paranormal Activity 3 is about to scare audiences anew by going back to the beginning to discover how the lives of its characters went from the normal to the Paranormal. Paranormal Activity writer and director Oren Peli took a few moments prior to a fan screening in Hollywood last night to talk exclusively to Movie Fanatic about the next chapter in what is shaping up to be a new horror series classic.
Peli wrote and directed the first one, then handed the directing reins over to Tod Williams for the second and now Henry Joost and Ariel Schulman for the third. He is still the creative master behind the franchise and judging by the pandemonium outside the theater and the buzz that has generated virally as it did for the first film, it looks like Paranormal 3 will not be the end of a trilogy, but the continuation of a whole series.
Don’t miss Movie Fanatic’s review of Paranormal Activity 3 on October 20!
Movie Fanatic: We spoke after the first one came out, could you have ever imaged you’d be here today premiering a third film with thousands of people waiting to get a glimpse of your movie?
Oren Peli: This is almost surreal. When I made the first one, I couldn’t have dreamt about even having the first one released. I never thought there would be a second one. Then the second one came out and the fans responded really well to it and now we’re doing a third one and we’re getting good reviews and good buzz, it’s really amazing. It’s all thanks to the fans that come back year after year.
Movie Fanatic: This scene tonight really embodies that fan support. The line here at the Arclight Hollywood is around the block twice! What do you want to tell the fans of your franchise?
Oren Peli: We are so grateful to them. The first movie wouldn’t have even been what it was without their overwhelming support. Without them on the first movie, we would not have even gotten wide distribution by the studio. It’s really the fans’ movie. They told their friends about it, then Paramount got behind it and the rest is history.
Movie Fanatic: What made you want to go back to the beginning for Paranormal Activity 3?
Oren Peli: We thought it would be really fun to have the movie take place in the 1980s -- especially a cinema verite movie. It’s our homage to Poltergeist. It’s also the decade of decadence that we all grew up in. We thought there was something disarming about going back to that period for this movie. I also thought it would be a perfect opportunity to have very, very terrifying scares if we went back and visited the childhood of Katie and Kristie, where it all began.
Movie Fanatic: Any chance we will see more Paranormal Activity movies?
Oren Peli: As long as we have the fans with us, we’ll keep making more Paranormal Activity.
Battlestar Galactica first charmed audiences as a cheesy but fun TV show, then again as a TV show in the 2000s with a fantastic reboot… and now it’s heading to the big screen.
Universal Pictures announced that it has hired screenwriter John Orloff to draft a screenplay for director Bryan Singer (X-Men, Superman Returns).
Movie Fanatic got to know Orloff really well, having an exclusive interview with the screenwriter who has his Anonymous (check out the trailer) coming out soon. Check back with Movie Fanatic next week for the premiere of that exclusive Q&A.
In the meantime, let’s think about this for a minute. Orloff is a fantastic screenwriter, and Singer has had his great moments on screen, so this new Battlestar could be good. When a new Battlestar will get shooting is anyone’s guess as Singer is currently busy filming Jack the Giant Killer.
When reviewing Johnny English Reborn, one thing must be stated at the beginning: This reviewer is a huge fan of its star Rowan Atkinson (check out our Rowan Atkinson interview!). You don’t have to enjoy Atkinson’s comedic work to appreciate Johnny English Reborn, but the film is directed squarely at his international fan base that has followed him for decades.
Johnny English is the newest of the comedian’s character creations and landed first in theaters in the original film in 2003. It’s been years since his British secret agent was in action and the film’s first moments let audiences in on what he has been doing.
After a disastrous mission, English escaped to the Far East to learn martial arts and Zen living while residing among like-minded individuals. After years of training, a case emerges at MI7 (the British spy agency in the film) that can only be handled by English. Summoned back to London, he meets with Pamela Thornton (Gillian Anderson) who informs him that the Chinese premier’s life has been threatened by a terrorist group called Vortex. It seems English has some experience with Vortex and that is what pulled him out of his semi-retirement.
The story returns to Asia as English and his sidekick (the affable Daniel Kaluuya who plays Agent Tucker) pursue the mystery. Immediately filmmaker Oliver Parker shows what it is that makes Atkinson’s English and the franchise so charming to the UK actor’s fans. There’s a chase scene where English never loses his cool and meanwhile the man he pursues is expending all sorts of energy. Johnny English may be a fool most of the time, but he always gets his man -- largely due to comedic luck.
What we also enjoyed about Johnny English Reborn is how the supporting cast knows to play their roles seriously. That fact only infuses the film with more humor. Anderson, Rosamund Pike and Dominic West all play fellow agents and from their performances, the audience would think they were in a James Bond picture. This is the Atkinson show, from beginning to end, and he relishes and excels in every minute of it. Because those actors "act" as if Bond was about to enter the room, when Atkinson does, it provides an immediate chuckle factor that is off the charts.
Parody films often take the serious aspects of what they are lampooning and turn them inside out and upside down to extract the humor. What Atkinson does, both with his character and this film series (he also aided in the writing of the film), is to play it straight. It doesn’t always work to have the funnyman be straight. Agent Tucker is technically the straight man in Johnny English Reborn, but Atkinson's English plays it straight as well while he foibles about. That is what makes him so hilarious. In Atkinson’s mind, this is a James Bond film… with laughs.
Johnny English Reborn isn’t for anyone who doesn't appreciate advertised-a-mile-away humor. Sure, many of the jokes' arrival are telegraphed ahead of time. Yet, there is something in the delivery -- specifically the face -- of Rowan Atkinson that for his fans, there is no better brander of that type of humor on the planet.
Oh, and if you are a fan of Mr. Bean, stay around through the credits for a delightful and delicious treat!
Another first time writer-director releases his film this weekend, and we are two for two in recommending their films. Sean Durkin scored with our Martha Marcy May Marlene review and now Robert Kirbyson has done it with Snowmen.
Where Martha Marcy May Marlene is dark in its tale of a young person lost, Snowmen is uplifting in its ability to bring light to a dark subject matter. Billy is 10 years old and has recently fought back cancer that he thinks will still kill him. Determined to make his mark on the world before his time expires, he sets out to break the world record for number of snowmen built during a 24-hour period.
Kirbyson tells his tale in the most unconventional of ways and it adds up to something original and honest.
His lead is played by Bobby Coleman, who emits a power much older than his age. He may be bald from chemo, but he is full of heart and that is what makes Snowmen not a “cancer” movie, but a film about a triumph of the human soul.
Snowmen is also timely. Even though he is battling back death, Billy still has to deal with bullies, something that is dominating headlines this fall. The supporting cast is stellar, especially the under-appreciated talents of Ray Liotta as Billy's dad. We want a highlight reel of his car salesman’s television commercials for the DVD! His relationship with his son is touching as when he senses his efforts to build more snowmen than anyone’s ever seen -- Liotta’s fierce sensitivity shines through in his support of his son.
Snowmen is a dramedy in the purest sense of the word. It is truly equally as funny as it is dramatic. Even with a lead who is all of 10 years old, the film’s humor is mature and smart.
Liotta isn’t the only actor that shines. The onscreen apple doesn’t fall far from the tree as Coleman is a discovery in his role as Billy. The kid acts well beyond his decade of living.
“It begins with an invitation to a wedding,” said The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn Part 1 star Elizabeth Reaser in the latest trailer from the franchise's closing first chapter.
Movie Fanatic’s favorite new scene in the above clip is Bella’s father’s one word response to her saying, “Don’t let me fall.” It just tugs at your heartstrings.
As Halloween approaches, it is only fitting that the weekend’s leading contender for taking the box office crown is Paranormal Activity 3. Five new films hit screens including the third chapter in the Paranormal Activity series, The Three Musketeers, Johnny English Reborn, Martha Marcy May Marlene and the super star cast-led Margin Call.
Paranormal Activity 3: Three times proves to not only be a charm, but proof that some things get better with age. Paranormal Activity is proving to be a Halloween box office titan. The first film took everyone by surprise and became the highest grossing movie of its kind in history. Paranormal Activity 2 sold more than $40 million in tickets its first weekend. So, count on the found footage film series to snarl audiences in droves as the series heads back to the 1980s to discover how the horror happened to be. Don’t miss our Paranormal Activity 3 review.
The Three Musketeers: The couple behind the Resident Evil series, director Paul W.S. Anderson and his wife Milla Jovovich, put their stamp on a classic tale. Orlando Bloom plays against type as a man in cahoots with the story’s classic villain, Richelieu. And as embodied by Christoph Waltz, count this Richelieu to be among movie history’s most vicious. Check out the first five minutes of The Three Musketeers.
Johnny English Reborn: Rowan Atkinson (don’t miss our interview with Atkinson) returns to the role of Johnny English that has found incredible success overseas so far in its release. This Friday brings Johnny English Reborn to the U.S. market and it features Atkinson as his James Bond parody alter ego who attempts to foil an assassination plot in London. Be sure to read our Johnny English Reborn review.
Martha Marcy May Marlene: One of the best films of 2011, Martha Marcy May Marlene is a mesmerizing piece of work. From the young writer-director Sean Durkin’s impeccable vision of a girl who escapes an upstate New York cult to her sister’s wavering arms comes the announcement to the world that the film’s lead, Elizabeth Olsen, is one astounding actress.
Margin Call: Margin Call sports one of the best casts of 2011 in its tale of Wall Street, circa 2008. Oscar winners Kevin Spacey and Jeremy Irons join forces with Stanley Tucci, Paul Bettany, Demi Moore, Zachary Quinto, Penn Badgley, Simon Baker and Mary McDonnell in a film that takes audiences inside the financial collapse with an incredible sense of power and profoundness.
Jolie clearly has a firm grasp on the art of filmmaking from the above trailer. There are battle scenes and heartfelt story movement both equally handled with grace and power.
In the Land of Blood and Honey now has a release date as well and it looks as if its distributor sees something in the trailer too. FilmDistrict is releasing the Jolie directorial debut on December 23 -- guaranteeing it consideration for the Academy Awards.
Puss in Boots may have met his match in Lady Gaga. The singer’s Americano is at the center of the film’s newest trailer and let's just say this: It is a match made in heaven. Movie Fanatic saw the film last night and we have to hold our review, but we can emit only one word and that is: Purrfect!
Puss in Boots lands in theaters October 28 and takes the Shrek sidekick and gives him his own spotlight. The adventure possesses all the brilliance created by the Shrek team, without the big green Ogre. Puss in Boots (Antonio Banderas) is a beloved character and witnessing him over a full 90 minutes is a stroke of genius. Even Puss in Boots commercials that parodied famous advertisements were smart.
Who would believe that Lady Gaga and Puss in Boots would be a perfect mix? Well, the above video proves that strange bedfellows can create pure magic.
The Three Musketeers, as envisioned by director Paul W.S. Anderson, feels like a period piece drama meets Resident Evil action. Considering Anderson is the helmer for those Resident Evil films, that should hardly surprise. But it is the 19th century intrigue he paints that is the overriding pleasantry of his film.
Anderson also effectively uses his real life wife Milla Jovovich as Milady de Winter, a character that is playing both sides. Teenage King Louis XIII has taken the throne and is being counseled by the nefarious Cardinal Richelieu (the always good at being bad Christoph Waltz). Across the English Chanel in the U.K. Orlando Bloom’s Duke of Buckingham is trying to start a war with France with its weak and inexperienced King new to the crown. As an audience, you can never really tell who Jovovich is playing, and throughout it is even possible that she is entirely focused on herself and cares for no sides.
The actual The Three Musketeers (check out the film's first five minutes!) are expertly played. Matthew Macfadyen (Robin Hood) is the leader, Luke Evans (the upcoming The Hobbit) is the former man of religion who now fights evil with his sword and the hulking Ray Stevenson commands as Porthos.
Elements of Alexandre Dumas’ original story are here including the arrival of the upstart wannabe Musketeer D’Artagnan (Logan Lerman, who only really comes into his own on screen in the third act). But Anderson takes his Musketeer story and brings a bit of Michelangelo science to the story with the development of airborne warships. Over the top is a phrase that comes to mind with the introduction of pseudo technology into an already classic story. We welcome the use of such things, but in Anderson’s The Three Musketeers, that aspect of the plot muddles the adventure.
The action sequences, as is expected from the Resident Evil mastermind, are mind-blazingly beautiful. When the titular trio, with Jovovich, break into a Venice building (that holds Michelangelo’s sketches and the like), watching the actress run through a hallway of bullets flying, arrows piercing and explosives exploding, it is violence as ballet.
Unfortunately, The Three Musketeers gets buried by its own weight. The plot skids off the rails too often for its own good. We love Waltz, but he brings nothing new to this villain arsenal with his portrayal of Richelieu. And overall, when a story is made as often as The Three Musketeers, an audience member has to ask oneself: Was it worth revisiting that tale? Unfortunately in Anderson’s Musketeers, that answer cannot be yes. But if you love well-choreographed action sequences and the historical splendor that is 19th century France, Italy and England as its backdrop, the film is just fine.
As has been widely reported and admitted in our exclusive interview with John Hawkes, Elizabeth Olsen makes an announcement in Martha Marcy May Marlene. As Jennifer Lawrence did in Winter’s Bone (also starring Hawkes), audiences are witness to the emergence of a talent that has all the trajectory power of a meteor of movie magic.
Olsen is the title character, one two-worded name for when she’s in a cult, and the other her birth name. Her character is a lost and confused young woman who is taken in by the charismatic, but creepy Patrick (Hawkes). He oversees a cult where abuse is rampant and fear constant. Yet, there is something uniquely charming about this man that keeps his minions from running away.
That is until one day when Olsen makes a run for it. She heads to a payphone and calls her sister (Sarah Paulson), whom she has not spoken to in two years. Worried about her, Paulson’s Lucy takes her in, no questions asked. Who is curious as to where she has been is Lucy’s husband Ted (the always astounding Hugh Dancy).
It is at this point that the film simultaneously shows how Olsen is adjusting to life outside of the cult (not well) and how she lived while in the cult through flashbacks. Writer and director Sean Durkin weaves this web with a mastery that is all the more astounding given the fact that Martha Marcy May Marlene is his first film. There is a shadow that hangs over even the brightest scenes that cannot be shaken. Durkin has created a world, both in the cult and at Lucy’s lakeside home, where one feels that we as an audience are sitting on a powder keg of emotion, violence and disdain that could destroy everyone.
He has a steady hand with his actors as well, producing performances from his four leads that are Oscar-nominee worthy, particularly with Olsen. Hawkes manages to take the role of a cult leader and not make it a cardboard cut-out. There are layers to his menacing that are downright scary and sensitive all at once. Even though he rules with an iron fist, that is never fully exposed in the film. Through his eyes and his vocal inflection, Hawkes conveys that power that could easily ruin your day without ever lifting a hand or emitting a stern remark.
The press is abuzz about Elizabeth Olsen and her performance, collectively calling her the next big thing. There is not enough ink in the world to describe the resonance of her work on this film. If Lawrence’s Oscar-nominated turn in Winter’s Bone was an announcement of her talent, then Olsen’s role in Martha Marcy May Marlene is the equivalent of the Big Bang of creative excellence.
Martha Marcy May Marlene is one powerful film as a whole. Its parts are pristine and add up to a film that will stick with you long after the credits roll. In fact, the final 60 seconds of the film are so shocking, you won’t be able to move until the credits finish rolling and the theater lights come up.
What we adore about the new poster above is Scorsese, ever knowledgeable about film history, is paying homage to the 1926 silent film Safety First on the one-sheet for his first 3D film. It’s an iconic image of a man hanging off the hands of a clock on a tall clock tower.
Hugo is based on the wildly wonderful book The Invention of Hugo Cabret by Brian Selznick and arrives on screens November 23.
Paranormal Activity fans could not wait to see the third film in the series as Paranormal Activity 3 banked $54 million for its first weekend of release.
The $54 million it earned (don’t miss our Paranormal Activity 3 review) was good enough to break several records. It was the biggest premiere ever for a horror movie. Paranormal Activity 3 also scored the highest grossing weekend ever for an October release, beating out the previous winner, also from Paramount -- Jackass 3D.
Weekend box office:
1. Paranormal Activity 3, $54 million 2. Real Steel, $11.3 million 3. Footloose, $10.85 million 4. The Three Musketeers, $8.8 million 5. The Ides of March, $4.9 million 6. Dolphin Tale, $4.2 million 7. Moneyball, $4.05 million 8. Johnny English Reborn, $3.8 million 9. The Thing, $3.1 million 10. 50/50, $2.8 million
The Dark Knight Rises isn’t scheduled to be released until later in 2012. What Warner Bros. is hoping is that audiences who are willing to shell out a few extra dollars for the IMAX experience of Tom Cruise's return to the Mission Impossible franchise, will also check out Dark Knight Rises in IMAX.
Christopher Nolan, on his third in the Batman series, is filming several scenes for The Dark Knight Rises using IMAX cameras. Having a screening platform such as the Ghost Protocol one is a win-win for Paramount Pictures (who is releasing Mission Impossible: Ghost Protocol) and Warner Bros.
December 16 is a date to remember therefore. Not only do we get a full glimpse into Cruise’s Ghost Protocol, but a six minute preview -- if you will -- of The Dark Knight Rises.
Guy Ritchie is still putting the finishing touches on Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows and news arises that Warner Bros. has hired a screenwriter for the third in the series.
Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows' second trailer premiered last week and sent fans of the series into a fever pitch. Drew Pearce is the studio’s man to bring Sherlock Holmes into trilogy territory. Pearce is a scribe to be trusted it appears with franchises’ third chapter.
Another Robert Downey Jr. series, Iron Man, has Pearce writingIron Man 3. Pearce is best known currently for his work on the U.K. satire of superheroes, No Heroics.
This is not an unusual piece of news for the Ritchie-helmed Sherlock series. Screenwriters were hired for the sequel three months before the first film arrived in theaters in 2009.
George Lucas is releasing Star Wars Episode 1: The Phantom Menace in 3D (check out the new Phantom Menace poster) on February 10 and Lucasfilm has given fans a new trailer for the decade-old film.
The fourth film to be released, and the first of the series, Phantom Menace divided fans upon its premiere. Yet, there is a compelling power this trailer has over us to witness the film within the spectacle of 3D on the big screen. Imagine those fight scenes with Darth Maul coming at your face? We can!
Watch the trailer and tell us if you agree with an idea we’ve been floating around in our head. We know it’s impossible time-wise, but wouldn’t Dakota Goyo of Real Steel have made a great Anakin?
Editor's Update: Fox has asked us to remove the trailer. Stay tuned as one may be released soon. Sorry for the inconvenience.
While The Avengers (don't miss the astounding The Avengers trailer) is headed into post-production, news arises about its director and a secret project that was on no one’s radar.
It seems that the super director made a film that may or may not be based on Shakespeare’s Much Ado About Nothing. Well, it shares that play’s title, but little else is known about the film.
Bellwether Pictures took out an ad congratulating the team on finishing principal photography for Much Ado About Nothing and lists its cast, which includes Nathan Fillion, Amy Acker, Alexis Denisof, Clark Gregg and Spencer Treat Clark.
Stay tuned as more news about this project comes out.
