My top-10 of 2009

Unlike many years past, 2009 was overwrought with a tremendous amount of great cinema. Not as good as 1999, but I’d argue the best we’ve seen in at least three years. That said, there were plenty of films I missed I wish I wouldn’t have as I’m sure they would have had a lot of bearing on this list. At the very least, it would have made for a good top-15 list. Unfortunately, my views of films like The Fantastic Mr. Fox, The Hurt Locker and Moon weren’t in time for this list. As it stands, submitted is a fully-realized list of my favorites films of 2009.

10. Harry Potter and The Half-Blood Prince

What the latest film may have done the best this time around is make it feel most like the book. It’s rare in film series where seven films in, the production is still improving on the last film. In a series of great films, it’s saying something when the latest outdoes the last. Such is Harry Potter and The Half-Blood Prince.

Though the movie does lack some of the source material I would have liked to see included, the film manages to deliver strong performances out of its actors and really delivers on that development the series needed to continue thriving. In fact, it may have actually done a BETTER job than the book did. I love the little love triangles and brooding director David Yates creates with great sweeping pans across the castle. And just like the characters Yates really captures what makes Hogwarts so enchanting.

I’m stoked to see what Yates is going to do with two two-hour epic parts for the Deathly Hallows. It’s fitting he should have the reign on the final chapter. In my opinion he’s three-for-four right now.

Reasons to see it: Inside Yates’ film is a lean script screenwriter Steve Kloves gets from the source. I must admit, Kloves could have spared on the Lavender/Ron/Hermione love triangle and given more focus to some of the lacking background provided by the book. Voldemort is all but nonexistent in this film. However, there’s still plenty to enjoy and some of the best performances this set of actors have given so far. At this point, does anyone even remember Richard Harris playing Dumbledore? I’m not sure Harris could’ve given Dumbledore the necessary nuances Michael Gambon brings to the character. The film also is great at revealing new parts of the castlle. Bruno Delbonnel’s sweeps and pans reveal familiar landmarks while still breathing life into them in new ways.

On a personal note: Jim Broadbent’s Slughorn is hilarious. I’ve seen this film three times now and every time I catch a new vexation or eye brow twitch that cracks me up. It’ll be great seeing him in the last two.

9. Drag Me To Hell

God bless Sam Raimi.

The man’s still got it. Raimi is still improving on the genre he helped define better than the imitators. I’m not even going to try to hide my bias on the subject. Also the timeliness on this subject has me respecting the man more than ever. In a town full of empty shells and bottom lines, Raimi shows that he still has artistic creativity and integrity.

Drag Me To Hell returns to where Raimi is most at home: In the world of horror and dark gross-out humor he pioneered back with his Evil Dead trilogy. The amount of slime and mucus flying and gagging is cringe-worthy comedic grosness. The barf scene is simply breathtaking to behold. Drag Me To Hell also returns the patented  Deadite dance.

Despite the comedy, Raimi delivers on the scares. In fact, he’s downright unforgiving about taking characters out in pretty amazing ways. I won’t give away too many details, but there’s not even a height and age requirement on who’s getting taken out here. It just makes for some great scenes and great replay points.

Raimi’s not reinventing the horror picture here, but he reminds us all why he’s the master of the scary, gross, horror flick. I for one welcome him back with excitement for what he’ll do in a  post-Spider-Man world. Talk has him jumping on the world creation band wagon ala Avatar with a big-screen version of Warcraft. I’m not sure how certain this is with the bad taste Sony’s mismanagement of Raimi’s last franchise. I’d love to see him innovate more on passion projects like Drag Me To Hell and bring us a prestige gross-out great than a foray into another fantasy epic.

Reasons to see it: This movie showed it’ll appeal to a certain demographic with its poor showing in the theaters. WHICH IS TRAGIC. Because this is great cinema. You’re going to love this stuff or not. I say if you’re unfamiliar with Raimi’s kind of horror, give this or the original Evil Dead a try.

8. World’s Greatest Dad

Describing World’s Greatest Dad as a dark comedy wouldn’t be right. There’s dark and then there’s black. This one should be firmly placed in the latter category. The basic premise alone of this film could be enough to turn most viewers completely off to it. In my opinion, said viewer would be depriving itself of two great talents, both bringing a welcome return to great comedy. Director Bobcat Goldwait manages to channel one of the best Robin Williams performances since The Fisher King. It’s been 19 years, Robin, welcome back. Now some are going to make a worthy argument for Miss Doubtfire. World’s Greatest returns Williams to the comic mind made famous in the 80’s while he was still a cocaine-fueled hurricane of a comedic force, not the studio-watered-down PG version. Now, I’m not going to call Doubtfire a bad film. It’s just a completely different breed of comedian on display here. Williams uses a more understated mind here. Williams’ performance is nuanced and layered. On first watch it’s going to make you laugh and cheer by the end. I hope the turns Williams makes given a good script and a comedy-focused director like Goldwait inspires him again back to these kinds of roles.

Goldwait shows a lot of talent as a director with this one. He manages to bring a solid comedic performance out of just about every character he builds from in his script. Hopefully it’s the sign of more great things to come.

Reasons to see it: Like I said, there is a tremendous amount of great talent on display here, but a stand out is Williams’ character’s son, Kyle, played by Spy Kids‘ kid Daryl Sabara. This character has absolutely no redeeming qualities whatsoever. Hilarious, but I’ll be damned if it made me second guess ever making children in fear of producing this little piece of shit.

7. Avatar

Hear me out.

Before everyone leaves, it needs to be said: James Cameron can still make a blockbuster film. All cockblockery aside, this is still a film that works and nearly delivers on just about what it sets forth to do. It deserves credit for about 90 percent of what it really gets right.

James Cameron is a world wide household name. $1.God-only-knows-how many billions worldwide at this point?

I read something in the news about psychiatrists prescribing more medications for depression-related patient diagnoses after seeing Avatar. Their reason? They didn’t want to live on an Earth they knew they’d never get to experience Pandora in real life.

Cameron has created a living, breathing world. He’ inhabited it with creatures, that although may be derivative or exaggerated versions of Earthly ones and  may not necessarily break new ground, are still  improvements through sheer attention to detail. For me, that’s what will set this film aside and make people like George Lucas chomp at the bit for another go-round at the Star Wars universe. The story is fraught with familiarities (Dances With Wolves and Pocahontas obviously come to mind). Let’s face it, though, the precedent was set and I’d rather see this than another remake or reboot. All allegory and white man’s guilt symbolism aside, there are socially relevant issues at the heart of this film that kids will get. Kids, who like myself once viewed Star Wars with a similar kind of reverence, WILL understand.  At least there’s still a level of creativity on display here. In the end, Avatar is a lot of fun and worth a view. It’s replay value, however, will be greatly diminished by home viewing as the same affect found in the theater just really can’t be replaced.

Reasons to see it: The effects. Plain and simple. You’re not going for the story and you know it.

6. Star Trek

I’m really fine with lens flares. Really, it’s not that big of a deal.

The year of 2009 will be known as the year fans finally stopped giving a shit about Star Wars and embraced the rebirth of Star Trek. As the new Star Wars.

Here’s a film I had pretty low expectations for, and I’ll be damned if I wasn’t more than just pleasantly surprised with what a directing J.J. Abrams managed to get up on screen. Abrams takes a sub-par script and really makes it fire. The guy recruited a pretty decent roster of talent to fill the iconic shoes the movie requires. By the end of the film when Chris Pine dawns the yellow tunic for the first time, he IS Kirk. Everyone fits and in the cases of roles like Simon Pegg’s Scotty and John Cho’s Sulu, I feel have been improved upon. The dark horse for me here was Zachary Quinto’s take on Spock. Quinto takes the Leonard Nimoy zen-like Spock and turns him into a borderline sociopath.

Everything in Star Trek feels larger than any of the shows or movies could ever achieve. The worlds are more fully realized as is the Enterprise. For once, I don’t feel like I’m just watching a bunch of characters on a stage. Abrams breathes life into his characters as he does his star ship and it’s great.

The movie is not without its faults, though. This script is maybe one of the worst I’ve seen put to film in some time (Indiana Jones and The Kingdom of The Crystal Skull comes to mind), but unlike Spielberg, Abrams manages to fill it with enough energy to make even the worst aspects of this script serviceable. Much of that lies in the choice casting and Abrams’ ability to really go big with his film.

Personal note: I was never a fan of anything Star Trek, but my father was. As a kid, he’d take us to all the films and there were those days where no amount of coercing could make him change the channel, so in many ways I’ve been a Trekkie by default my whole life. I’ll also admit that it was because of this film that I can admit that now. And I’m okay with that.

Reasons to see it: This film has a lot of replay value. There’s just too many things to take in on the first viewing and you’ll be really want to go back and revisit these worlds and characters just to take it all in.

5. The Hangover

This may be one of the most complete comedy ensemble casts ever assembled.

I said it.

Director Todd Phillips fills his latest film with characters that all get a chance to grab at least one good laugh and I’m not just talking about a chuckle. You will laugh and you will laugh hard.

There’s  just so much going on in this film. Phillips layers his film jokes upon jokes; a new one that emerges after nearly each viewing. You’ll be quoting this film for months. Then you’ll want to see it again just to quote them along with the movie and chuckle to yourself.

It starts with Zach Galifianakis. This film has put the great comic on Hollywood’s A-list and it’s well-deserved. Finally the man is getting the attention he deserves and I hope he doesn’t squander it.

Phillips also makes leading men out of both Ed Helms and Bradley Cooper. Their contributions I fear could be overshadowed by Galifianakis and it would be a shame. For me Cooper really sells it with his character Phil. On the surface Phil is a real douchebag (something I can’t help but think Phillips had to have wanted back from Cooper’s Wedding Crashers role), but the guy shows he’s more than just a couple quick quips and gives him a lot of class amongst Galifianakis’ man-child Allan and Helms’ about-to-explode Stu when it gets tense or bizarre. It will be Cooper that brings you back for multiple viewings.

Personal note: My Halloween costume this year was Allan Garner complete with sunglasses, baby carrier and baby with sunglasses.

Reasons to see it: And you will want to again, and again. There’s just so much to enjoy here. Go for Galifianakis, stay for Cooper. And elevator oral.

4. Up

Yeah, I cried.

I cried the first time I saw it and I’ve cried on each subsequent viewing. I’ll probably cry the next time I watch it, too. It’s cool.

I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again: Pixar and director Pete Docter have captured more emotional depth and character development in the first 10 minutes of this film than many films get in their entire run-time.

I can now say after multiple viewings Up is the very best film in the Pixar library. And that is really saying something.

This film’s greatest element is its understated depiction of the very best in people. The film relies very little on spectacle and undersells the emotional weight with some unbelievably captured performances by its actors.

Docter captures so much beauty in this film it’s easy to get emotional watching it. It’s rare a film continues to inspire after multiple viewings, but it holds its emotional value well with that understated brilliance.

The film explores some very adult themes for a children film. And make no mistake this is no kids movie, this is film at its finest. Disney gets credit here, too. They showed a lot of balls letting this film go the directions it steers and show children the very real challenges that may await them later in life.

Reasons to see it: The standout performance for me is Dug the dog voiced by Bob Peterson. Never before have I had such an emotional reaction to a cartoon character, let alone a cartoon character dog, but Dug is that character. He’s selfless even for a dog.

3. District 9

This is high-art Sci-Fi, make no mistake. Director Neill Blomkamp takes us to his native South Africa and creates a powerful allegorical Sci-Fi masterpiece.

This movie hit me in a similar way that the original Matrix film did years ago. Like that film, D9 is that breath of fresh air with social resonance that not only works.

I’d like to be confident enough to say that Blomkamp and his fellow South African director-turned-actor friend Sharlto Copley are going to be able to follow up on this supercharged film, I think the bar is set too high. Copley will be seen next in Joe Carnahan’s (Smokin’ Aces) A-Team and it looks okay. Blomkamp rumors swirl about what he’ll do next with many speculating either a sequel or prequel to D9. Hopefully he’ll continue to move forward in the story than having to backtrack into an unnecessary prequel. I’m ready to return to this world  any time soon.

I wasn’t sure this film wold hold up on subsequent viewings and it surprises me how much more I find each time I watch it. There’s a lot going on here and it’s hard to catch it all the first time. Trent Opaloch’s cinematography is dense. Opaloch captures Johannesburg, a city swarming and bursting with life. He captures the filth in a way that’s virtually gag inducing.

Reasons to see it: Christopher Johnson. I don’t know if I’ve ever seen a more alien…..alien. Avatar garnered a lot of praise for its CGI when I think not enough is given to the creature effects on display in D9. Christopher Johnson is just as alive if not more so as the creatures in Avatar. What Gollum did for Lord of The Rings, Johnson will become the new standard by which CGI characters are based.

2. Where The Wild Things Are

I think it’s funny that three of the films on this list were geared toward children and really weren’t all that children-oriented.

It might as well be cliché at this point, but like many of us, Maurice Sendak’s children’s book came into my life at a very turbulent time in my childhood. I think my mom gave me my first copy of the book when I was five or six.The book functions like a children’s book and it does it well. For me it captured a child’s desire to want to be a child and be imaginative. As a kid I understood that.

Spike Jonze does something incredibly brave, honest and reflective of an artist with what is surely his masterpiece. Where The Wild Things Are made me remember what it was to be a child. It makes sense why Warner Bros. was scared to release this film. Many children really weren’t ready to understand many of the themes the film explores. They’re still growing and won’t have hindsight to see that this film for what it is.

As much as WTWTA is about being a child it’s about remembering one’s childhood.  And as much as I wanted to related with Max as a child, it’s more than clear now that I unconsciously was Max through my childhood – a shy, imaginative and awkward kid that didn’t quite know how to handle the realities of childhood.

The film explores many of the anxieties and fears all of do as children and are represented to Max by each of the wild things. Jonze takes the nine sentences Sendak penned and goes beyond them fully exploring the simple ideas as Max now an adult.

Reasons to see it: There are many iconic moments in WTWTA, and right up there at the top of the list is James Gandolfini’s portrayal of Carol. Gandolfini gives a heavy breathing, heavy hearted dose of shy, angry love to his wild thing and it’s the most honestly heart wrenching and heart warming role of the year.

1. Inglourious Basterds

I’m not sure it could have been anything other than Basterds.

I may have known this would be my favorite film of 2009 before I even saw it. I remember reading Tarantino’s script for Basterds months before it came out and I knew this was going to be the movie of the year. After I saw it I didn’t have any doubts. I’ve seen this film at least six times now and it just keeps getting better. I’m not sure what I like most, because I’m not sure there’s something I dislike about it, either.

It’s definitely Tarantino’s finest film to date. Yes, I think it bests Pulp Fiction. I don’t even think Pulp Fiction is Tarantino’s second-best film, but that’s a story for another day. It’s Tarantino’s most fully-realized film utilizing every one of his talents. His ability to structure dialogue should have never been disputed, but if it existed it should be put to rest hereafter. He’s always been known for his knack to construct a well said sentence, but here he puts it to excruciatingly tense greatness.

There are many spaghetti western elements going on here that I can’t believe weren’t intentional. I swear the opening of the film is paying homage to The Good, The Bad and The Ugly. It was a shame Tarantino couldn’t get Ennio Morricone to write new music for this. At least he managed to get some of the great composer’s existing work in there anyway.

Basterds is a masterpiece, a film I will return to over and over again. Every time I watch it, I see a new nuance in Christoph Waltz’s charismatic bad guy Colonel Hans Landa that I find devilishly hilarious; or a perfectly cast Brad Pitt delivering his lines with a snide charm that is just plain badass. Tarantino’s World War II fantasy epic roars with tense bloody glory.

Reasons to see it: Landa’s facial tick when asked about his uniform.

“That’s what I thought.”

Remember: There’s only one way to get to Carnegie Hall.

Here are a few films I love that just barely missed the list.

Where The Wild Things Are

There’s going to be a lot of hyperbole surrounding this one as it gets closer to release, and it appears with good reason too. This movie looks gorgeous. When I first heard Spike Jonze was onboard to direct this, I knew we’d be in for a treat. It looks like he isn’t going to disappoint, either. Maurince Sendak’s beloved children’s book classic is full of honest, sometimes sad and heartfelt observations about being young, and staying  young at heart. It looks like Warners is really giving Jonze the freedom to bring that to the big screen. And considering the time it’s taken, it looks like Warners knew giving Jonze the project, he’d deliver on a uniquely faithful adaptation. I can’t wait for this one. I’ll probably cry for joy when I finally get to see this. Until then, I’ll just sing along with this great trailer and its inspired choice of soundtrack. Arcade Fire’s “Wake Up” is now forever tied to this movie for me.

It’s also available here
in QuickTime.

Red-band trailer for Chuck Palahniuk book-to-movie, Choke debuts!!

Check out the trailer for
Choke
the latest Chuck Palahniuk (Fight Club) novel to make it to the big screen. This one stars Sam Rockwell (Confessions of a Dangerous Mind) as Victor Mancini, a sex-crazed con man who feigns choking to gain favor from women and their valuables.

Jason Statham wants to be a Daredevil

Makes more sense than Ben Affleck's existence.

File this one firmly under rumor. Apparently writer Geoff Boucher caught up with Frank Miller and Jason Statham and interviewed the two together. Eventually talk of Daredevil came up and apparently that led the trio toward talks of a possible reboot movie ala Louis Leterrier’s The Incredible Hulk. Statham spoke up quickly by saying, “absolutely, just give me the chance, I would love to be Daredevil.” To which Miller responded, “”I think he should be Daredevil too.” So, there you have it. I wont be dwelling on this much, but the idea isn’t bad. Miller fleshed out the Daredevil character back in the ’70s, and while I’m not very up on my DD lore, I can safely say that there was no worse superhero movie ever made than Ben Affleck’s attempt at the 2003 atrocity Daredevil. So who knows? It could work. I could see it.

What do you guys think? Should we even care about this??

Potter takes long summer vacation

Cool poster, sucks they have the date wrong.

Harry Potter and The Half-Blood Prince has been pushed from its November 2008 release to July 17, 2009 effectively leaving a huge hole in the holiday movie season. For reason listed below, Warner Bros. has made this decision much to the dismay of fans everywhere. Admittedly I’m a little bummed by the news too. Anyways, here’s what WB suit, Alan Horn says:

“Our reasons for shifting ‘Half-Blood Prince’ to summer are twofold: we know the summer season is an ideal window for a family tent pole release, as proven by the success of our last Harry Potter film, which is the second-highest grossing film in the franchise, behind only the first installment. Additionally, like every other studio, we are still feeling the repercussions of the writers’ strike, which impacted the readiness of scripts for other films–changing the competitive landscape for 2009 and offering new windows of opportunity that we wanted to take advantage of. We agreed the best strategy was to move ‘Half-Blood Prince’ to July, where it perfectly fills the gap for a major tent pole release for mid-summer.”

This doesn’t seem to have any effect on the release of seventh films, Harry Potter and The Deathly Hallows. Here’s WB production president Jeff Robinov dropping science:

“The release date change does not alter the production schedule for this or future Harry Potter films. Post-production on ‘Half-Blood Prince’ was completed on time, and the studio’s release plans for the two-part ‘Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows’ will not be affected by this change. We know Harry Potter fans are eagerly anticipating seeing the final chapters unfold onscreen. In fact, the good news for them is that the gap will now be shortened between ‘Half-Blood Prince’ and the first part of ‘Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows.’”

There you have it.

Fan art further stirs Batman 3 rumors

???Addiction or dedication???

This was just too cool to pass up. First Showing posted this very convincing fan art of an upcoming “The Dark Knight Returns” movie poster. It’s a cool idea. I like the idea of the Riddler as a quasi-Zodiac killer. I even like the title. It stays in line with both the continuity of Nolan’s work and it evokes more of the Frank Miller/Alan Moore/Jeph Loeb source material that Nolan took as inspiration for his films.

Just for the record, the Nolan camp has made no official statements on anything related to a Batman sequel since The Dark Knight came out. It’s true that when Christopher Nolan and David Goyer discussed starting Batman Begins they had it conceived as a trilogy. That’s as far as the talks have gone.

Tarantino’s new bastard, Mike Meyers!?! Other rumors confirmed as new ones emerge…

Mike Meyers, yes, that’s right Wayne Campbell himself, has signed on in Quentin Tarantino’s upcoming World War Twosploitation film, Inglorious Bastards.

Meyers will be in the film for one scene playing the British commander who dispatches Archie Hicox played by Simon Pegg (Shaun of the Dead, Hot Fuzz) to join the rest of the Bastards along with Aldo Raine (Brad Pitt). According to IMDb director Eli Roth (Hostel, Cabin Fever) will star as Donnie Donowitz and B.J. Novak (The Office) as PFC Utivich to play other members of the savage Jew squadron of soldiers sent to destroy a Nazi propaganda film and take out the Nazi commander. Nastassja Kinski (Paris, Texas) is still attached to the of German Bridget Von Hammersmark.

Now add Adam Sandler (Don’t Mess With the Zohan) and David Krumholtz (Freaks and Geeks, Liberty Heights) to the list of new rumors. No characters have been attached to either, but I could see a fit.

Slow news week/writer

Hey folks,
I’ve hit a whole new plateau. I’m actively working at being completely lazy. It’s been great. Couple that fact with the also clear fact that the summer movie machine is slowing. Everyone’s getting back to their respective drawing boards while we wait on the fall movie season. However, the news comes trickling in sometimes we get the mind numbingly pointless, and sometimes we get rumors spiced with real news.

Soooo with that in mind I’ll be running some news that may not be timely, but then again it’s really not all that important. Rest assured when there is newsworthy news, you’ll get it here at least as quick as the slowest corporate website. Promise and cross my heart. Okay? Awesome.

And that brings me to my first bit of mind numbingly pointless movie news:

Gyllenhaal swears he’s straight, puts on wig

Just Jared has captured the first pics of the Jake Gyllenhaal movie to video game vehicle, Prince of Persia: Sands of Time.

I don't know why you should care either.

Expect the ambiguously gay Gyllenhaal joke quotient to shoot through the roof as this one gets closer to release. In all fairness, if this movie is half as good as Brokeback Mountain, he wont have too much to worry about. I guess. Until then, the ball’s in your court, Gyllenhaal. I’ll let you decide if I’m speaking figuratively.

The film hits theaters Summer 2010 and is directed by Mike Newell (Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, The Young Indiana Jones Chronicles) with Jerry Bruckheimer as an Executive Producer.

You can find the Just Jared article HERE

God, what else?

Inglorious gets more ingloriouser

Gloriously Inglorious

There was some cool news out of the Quentin Tarantino camp on his upcoming Inglorious Basterds. Brad Pitt has officially signed on to be Aldo Raines, the Tennessee hillbilly who leads a group of Jewish soldiers to disrupt the premiere of Goebbels’ latest propaganda film and collect a hundred Nazi scalps (each) on the way. Pitt will be paired with Simon Pegg (Shaun of the Dead, and the upcoming Star Trek reboot), director Eli Roth (Hostel, Cabin Fever) and B.J. Novak of The Office. Now Pegg has signed on to play a ‘British lieutenant’. The guy has been in everything lately and it will be cool to how Tarantino utilizes him in this film. Roth and Novak are rumored along with a slew of other names including Nastassja Kinski for the ‘German actress’ role. There are still Basterds to cast, and the big roles of Col. Hans Landa and the female lead Shoshanna are still up for grabs.

The Inglorious Basterds go into World War II France as part of Operation Kino, an effort to blow up a movie theater premiering a particular propaganda picture. Inglorious Basterds starts shooting – filming that is – in October in Germany.

More news for you guys tomorrow. I also have a couple reviews for Step Brothers and Pineapple Express I hope to have up by the week’s end.

Until then,

Keep it reel.

A Spanish trailer for Steven Soderbergh’s CHE is online!!!

While we’re talking about Benicio Del Toro…

…Steven Soderbergh’s four-and-a-half hour epic biopic of Ernesto “Che” Guevara (Benicio Del Toro) has managed to surface on a Spanish movie site. The trailer is grainy and in total espanol. The problem is we may never get to see the film at all. Soderbergh has yet to find a distributor in Hollywood willing to pick it up. He’s not helping his cause by adamantly refusing the film be broken up for a limited release this December. Eventually the two parts – the first, The Argentine and the second, Guerrilla – would release separately, first in January and then the second in February. Confounding Soderbergh’s situation was the film’s less-than-stellar reception at Cannes earlier this year. I’ll say this, Soderbergh has taken an…interesting look at the rebel’s life, but if there’s one guy who can make any part worth seeing, it’s Benicio. You can find the trailer here

The Wolfman trailer is back online!!!!

Benicio's having a bad hair day.

It was gone, now it’s back. A brave soul provided this footage of the trailer of the upcoming Joe Johnston (The Rocketeer) remake of the classic Universal horror film, The Wolfman. The footage isn’t bad. It’s good enough to get a good idea of what to expect. The trailer shows this movie takes place in Victorian-era England setting up for all kinds of Gothic moodiness and macabre. Johnston has done well in keeping this one under wraps, and I like that he’s taken a very classic Universal monster-movie approach staying true to the source material. Enjoy!

Harry Potter and the brand new trailer

Harry and Dumbledore fall into a ring of fire...they go down down down and the paychecks got higher.

Potter fans rejoice! The trailer for the sixth installment in the young wizard series, Harry Potter and The Half-Blood Prince debuted at MTV.com

I am indeed a self admitting Potter fan and can’t help but really enjoy this. From the trailer shows, this one is setting up to be darker yet as the young wizard ages with his fans. There’s some really great stuff here. You get some great dialog between the young Tom Riddle (Hero Fiennes-Tiffin) – the nephew of Ralph Fiennes – who would later grow up to be Lord Voldemort (Ralph Fiennes) and Professor Dumbledore (Michael Gambon). It looks like director David Yates has really gone through the trouble of making a very impressive Potter film and I can’t help but be optimistic for the seventh and final installment. Check it out now. The movie is set for release November 21.

You can download the trailer here in QuickTime

Tim Burton is Mad for his Hatter

Johnny goes back to the sea of Disney.

It wouldn’t be a Tim Burton movie if Johnny Depp wasn’t being used at some capacity. Depp and Burton’s collaborations have had relative success over the years, so why not? However, this may be one of Burton’s best castings of Depp in a Burton film since Ed Wood. Of course, Depp will be taking on the role of Lewis Caroll’s iconic character, the Mad Hatter in Burton’s take on the trippy childhood classic, Alice in Wonderland. It is a Disney film, so don’t expect anything like Depp and Burton’s last collaboration, Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street, but given Disney’s success with Depp and Burton in the past with the Pirates of the Caribbean films and Burton’s animated fare in Corpse Bride and A Nightmare Before Christmas, not to mention the cult classic Frankenweenie, it’s fair to think this may be a sure bet. Depp is the second casting in Burton’s upcoming Wonderflick. Australian actress Mia Wasikowska will play Alice. Disney wants the film to be done in 3-D.

Any thoughts?

Wolverine Teaser leaked from Comic-Con

The teaser from X-Men Origins: Wolverine has leaked on YouTube and I must say it looks pretty marvelous. The teaser showcases most of the main characters including Wolverine (Hugh Jackman), Sabretooth (Liev Schreiber), Deadpool (Ryan Reynolds), Silver Fox (Lynn Collins) William Stryker (Danny Huston), Gambit (Taylor Kitsch) and The Blob (Kevin Durand). The teaser touches on Wolverine and Sabretooth’s history in Vietnam and their eventual involvement in the Weapon X project. I can’t wait to see some more on this one.

It may disappear at any moment.

UPDATED!!!!

The powers that be from Fox have taken down the trailer as expected. Hopefully you got a chance to check it out.

In all honesty, I’ve had mixed feelings about an X-Men spinoff especially in lieu of all the truly great spinoffs that have come before, and the fact that the third installment left me wanting to bash my head against a tree until I blacked out. What the hell was Beast doing, seriously? And who the hell is the Asian mutant in that? Porcupine man? In all seriousness, the trailer didn’t manage to put any real tone to the upcoming spinoff/prequel. However, it did give us a first look at the characters. I’ll say that I like the direction Gavin Hood is going, and Tsotsi was an amazing movie, so high hopes all around, I guess. Plus there’s some major facial hair attitude emanating from Liev and Hugh respectively.

New teaser poster for Friday the 13th remake unveiled at the Con

Here we go, again.

Kraken from Ain’t It Cool News clicked these shots of the new teaser poster for the upcoming Friday the 13th redo at Comic-Con today. This movie is still a ways off. I think the release date is sometime in February 2009. Whatever the case may be, I like the poster. It’s nothing all that spectacular, but then again, when was the last time anything Friday the 13th-related was? 1980? Okay, Part 2 was pretty cool too. That was still over 25 years ago. More details to follow on this once the panel finishes up. Stay tuned!

Aronofsky is officially building a new ROBOCOP

"Think it over, creep."

Director Darren Aronofsky (The Fountain, Pi, Requiem For A Dream) is teaming with writer David Self (The Road To Perdition and the upcoming redo The Wolfman) to bring back our favorite Motor City cyborg policeman. The announcement came amidst the chaos that is Comic Con 2008. I’m not sure how I feel about this one yet. The pairing of Aronofsky and Self is a pretty good move, no doubt about it. However, I have a funny feeling about this one. Frank Miller took two shots at co-writing both ROBOCOP sequels, and the authored the comic version, ROBOCOP vs. Terminator. Each sequel has been victim to harsh criticism, but ROBOCOP 2 wasn’t that bad in my opinion. We’ll see what Aronofsky has up his sleeve for the baby food eating gun slinging cyborg as the movie is being given a 2010 release date. According to The Hollywood Reporter, the fourth movie will take place 20 years later after the ROBOCOP project was scrapped in Motor City but will now be transported to L.A.

You can catch that report here

It remains to be seen if this movie will have the same feel as its predecessors managing to take shots at capitalism and corporate cheesedicks, but the idea is getting a whole lot more interesting with Aronofsky and Self on board.

Great Odin’s Raven!!!!!!!

"Why don't you go back to Whore Island?!"

If “Anchorman” director/writer Adam McKay can conjure half the magic into an Anchorman sequel, I’m on board. It’s been four years since that movie came out, and I still catch myself quoting it. Seriously, the movie is a milestone in comedy. Since then that entire cast has gone onto sometimes bigger and arguably better things. Hopefully Will Ferrell and company can bring back that same magic. McKay tells Entertainment Weekly the sequel will pick up 10 years later with Ron Burgundy and Vanessa Corningstone aka Tits Magee aka Christina Applegate as world anchors in the ’80s. McKay and Ferrell can be seen together with other Ferrell cohort John C. Reilly next in “Step Brothers.”

That EW article can be found here

Fashion or function: The Dark Knight reviewed

Batman completes The Joker, or is it the other way around?

Early on in The Dark Night, the sequel to writer/director Christopher Nolan’s 2005 Batman Begins, Bruce Wayne (Christian Bale) tells his associate Lucius Fox (Morgan Freeman) he needs a new suit. “The three-button look is a bit ’90s, but…,” says Fox. “I was thinking something a little less fashion and a little more function,” Wayne interjects. The exchange sets a perfect analogy for the rest of the film. In this Gotham City, our heroes can’t just look the part, they must be ready to fully commit to the responsibilities of their choices, and sometimes those choices require a function they hadn’t counted on.

Every aspect of The Dark Knight operates in a real world with real problems, real stakes and very real outcomes. There is no fantasy in this Gotham City. All the glamor and posh of the old Batman films is quickly forgotten in Nolan’s Gotham. And if you’re curious what I mean, look no further than George Clooney’s rubber nipples. The Dark Knight grips you from its opening bank heist scene and doesn’t let go till the final scene where all is understood and its title brings new understanding to a timeless character. Indeed, many elements of this may reshape the way we look at characters many of us have known or thought we knew since childhood.

The film looks to quickly ground the city of Gotham in a reality where the citizens are balancing precariously on the edge of a knife. A knife held by a terrorist called The Joker (Heath Ledger). It’s no surprise, then, when The Joker explains why he prefers knives over the kill a gun brings. He savors the kill. He relishes in the final moments of his victims’ last breaths. But more than anything, he explains, he finds that people show their real colors when all is lost. Rest assured, people will die in this film – many of whom aren’t minor characters. As a result, the film looks at the decisions one must make when faced with the death of a loved one or the preservation of a society so seeped in corruption one must ask is it really worth fighting for in the first place. Making that decision will determine what side of the line that person stands on. The Dark Knight shows even with a hero’s best intentions, outcomes can be construed to suit a madman’s whims. Even the white knights can turn dark, and in the dark we can find our only hope for salvation.

People will be talking for months of Ledger’s portrayal of The Joker and deservedly so. He wholly commits himself to the role. Not once in the movie do I see a semblance of Ledger at all. From the way he smacks his lips between sentences, to his hunched near-limp of a walk, to the way he annunciates and punctuates the everyman American accent he uses is a historic performance. Everyone’s going to tell you about his magic trick, but I loved every line Ledger delivers in this film. I couldn’t wait to see The Joker on screen next. D.C. may have to reinvent their own vision of The Joker as a result of this film. This is a man with no social values, no regard for the sentimental and definitely no redeeming value whatsoever. The Joker follows through with every threat. When it looks like he’s going to kill, he does. Yet, he’ll disappear periodically only to reappear to commit more destruction. I couldn’t wait to see what he’d do next, yet afraid at the same time. Ledger’s Joker is no joke at all, he believes in what he’s doing and he wants to be taken seriously. When he does joke he’s the only one laughing which I think is completely appropriate for The Joker. He doesn’t flinch to tell people how he got his scars, yet the story changes every time. This is the quintessential Joker. And if Ledger gets a posthumous Oscar, it would only be because he deserved the award regardless.

It would be unfair to say the performance worth seeing in this film is Ledger’s, but it is a big part of it.

I’ve heard some pundits stating Christian Bale’s performance is bland and too deadpan. I can’t agree. Bale is almost given too much to work with in this film. He has the daunting task of playing three roles: The role of Bruce Wayne, the man that only his closest friends know – Alfred (Michael Caine), Rachel Dawes and Lucius, Batman – the symbol the corrupt fear, and the Bruce Wayne the world at large knows – an egocentric playboy. In his private times with the people he trusts, Bale’s conflicted portrayal of Wayne shows a man who’s fed up with the decisions he’s made to protect the city, yet he knows he cannot concede. He will do what he must to ensure the tragedies of his past won’t be repeated however many sacrifices must be made. It’s no easy decision to make, and a decision that no one should have to make. Yet, Bale brings emotions to this role I haven’t seen him bring to roles he’s played in the past including his first go with Wayne. It’s heroic and heartbreaking all at once.

Yet the true heartbreak in this film is the inevitable downfall of Gotham’s proclaimed white knight, Harvey Dent (Aaron Eckhart). Eckhart has shown he deserves his spot among Hollywood’s A-lists. His role as Gotham’s District Attorney turned villain is nothing short of a Greek tragedy much like the one he talks about at a dinner party regarding Caesar and the fall of Rome (the one that’s making all the trailers) : “You either die a hero, or live long enough to see yourself become the villain.” In the past, most Batman films have worked on the gimmick of the new villain being introduced. Not to say we weren’t dying to see Ledger’s portrayal of The Joker, but in The Dark Knight you dread Dent’s eventual transformation into Two-Face. There’s a scene in the film when Eckhart is in a hospital bed and he’s having a conversation with the Commissioner that will truly give you a start. I actually heard a woman sitting next to me gasp in fright when the line was delivered. That’s when you know you’ve done something special. When every member of the audience is waiting on baited breath to hear what you have to say next and the line delivered literally makes you gasp in terror, you know this guy’s for real.

The moniker of supporting role has never been so true. It’s pretty impressive how Nolan assembled pretty much a dream team of seasoned actors to make up Batman’s right-hand men. Gordon, Alfred and Fox are all given pivotal roles in the story and it’s really interesting to see which direction Nolan went with their arches. When I first heard back in 2005, Nolan had chosen Gary Oldman for the role of Jim Gordon, I was sold on Bat Begins. In DK my admiration for Oldman was maintained. Nolan gives Oldman some very good material to work with in this film. There’s a great scene where having just come off a couple really long days, Gordon is talking with his son late one night. I noticed a Hans Zimmer melody from Begins that hadn’t been used until that moment in DK, and it was spot on perfect as it recollected a very similar scene from Begins that I had really enjoyed. I barely contained myself from bawling like a baby. We really get some great backstory from Caine’s Alfred this time which actually adds a lot of depth to the story, and reinforces the father-figure role to which he plays, always being there to offer advice if asked. Freeman’s role with Fox is probably the most interesting of dynamics in the film. Fox is given many tasks to accomplish, and I love how Nolan really uses Fox as kind of the ground for decrypting some of the biggest FAQs in Batman mythology like how Batman keeps his secret identity in the real world or what ethical questions a desperate superhero must address.

If there was any question whether casting Maggie Gyllenhaal in place of Katie Holmes for the role of Rachel Dawes was a bad choice, I’d like to be the first to say that person should be taken into an alleyway and silenced. Gyllenhaal is a terrific actress and deserves a spot on the A-list as well. Holmes is quickly forgotten as having ever had anything to do with the role. Gyllenhaal brings a pulse to her character and delivers each of her lines with a terrific amount of class and wit. Her scenes are fun and interesting to watch as her character’s role affects the other characters and the story overall.

The only thing that could’ve made this film better would’ve been if Batman extended his hand out of the screen and said, “I want you to come with me on this journey.” Outside of that, there are very few faults with this film. Some critics have said that Nolan doesn’t know how to film the brilliantly choreographed fight scenes in this film. They may be right, but the one’s I was looking forward to the most – the showdowns (and there are plenty) with The Joker – are filmed beautifully. The only fault I can give Nolan is writing a story so good, I can’t see how he can follow it up with something as good or where the hell he can possibly take this story. I’ve been wracking my head about it for the last couple of days, and I’m no better off thinking of a third chapter than I was when I was thinking how The Dark Knight could possibly top Batman Begins.

This isn’t only the best comic book movie – wait scratch that – this isn’t a comic book movie at all, this is a graphic novel movie. Okay, so not only is this the greatest graphic novel-to-film movie I’ve ever seen, this is the best film I’ve seen so far in 2008. Hands down. Mark my words, this movie will have multiple nominations for it, namely Best Supporting Actor – Ledger, Best Screenplay – Christoper and Jonathan Nolan, Best Cinematography – Wally Pfister and Best Picture of 2008.

Make no mistake, this is true cinema in its most artistic form.

Do I even need to give this one a grade?…..Okay: A+

There, I said it.