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Our Golden Globes Picks Feature a Big Upset
9 January 2009 6:24 AM, PST
With the Golden Globes on the way this weekend, we thought we'd take a crack at predicting the winners. We're normally pretty good in that regard, but that doesn't take much or mean much.
So here are our picks, with a little commentary:
Best Picture (Drama):
The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
Frost/Nixon
The Reader
Should Win: Slumdog Millionaire
Will Win: Slumdog Millionaire
The momentum is not artificial. People genuinely seem affected by the film, and it's exceedingly well-made. In terms of its production, only Benjamin Button is more adventurous among the nominees, but despite being a great love story conceptually, it's not nearly the love story Slumdog is in practice, nor is anything at all in 2008 as life-affirming.
Best Picture (Musical or Comedy):
Happy-Go-Lucky
Mamma Mia!
Should Win: In Bruges
Will Win: In Bruges?
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Colin Boyd
Week in Review - The Best and the Worst, and Loads of 'Watchmen'
9 January 2009 4:02 AM, PST
The first full week of the year got things back on the front burner - we had tons of news this week. Now, Watchmen alone counted four about 10% of it; there were multiple updates at least three days this week about that flick. But we're also christening a new year and saying goodbye to an old one, so some of those headlines made our week in review as well.
Don't forget: The Golden Globes are Sunday night. I'm so glad the Hfpa has put all the Pia Zadora ugliness behind them.
Roundtable Interview with Best Director hopefuls
Writer John August says the Captain Marvel movie is dunzo
Mickey Rourke, Sam Rockwell to villainize Iron Man 2
The Razzies nominate Paris, Stallone, and The Love Guru
20,000 Leagues Under the Sea, 55 years laters
Five minutes of Taken with Liam Neeson
The Dark Knight is one People's Choice. 27 Dresses is another.
Watching the
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Colin Boyd
Critics Choice: Hathaway, Streep, and 'Slumdog'
9 January 2009 2:04 AM, PST
The Golden Globes are Sunday night, but it's far from being the only awards show in town. On Thursday night, the Critics Choice Awards were handed out, voted on by members of the Broadcast Film Critics Association.
The big night featured a tie for Best Actress between Anne Hathaway and Meryl Streep. When you think about it, that's the best of both worlds for the industry. Streep, the unbeatable veteran giving her best performance in a long time, and Hathaway, one of Hollywood's most cherished younger leading ladies who uglied up this time around. Hell, they should have a tie every year!
Ok, maybe not.
But that dead heat obscured the five wins by Slumdog Millionaire, taking home the big two awards, plus screenplay, musical score, and best young actor. Is this part of a clean sweep for Slumdog this awards season?
Colin Boyd
Trailer - The Horror Remake 'The Last House on the Left'
9 January 2009 1:04 AM, PST
Wow, I had forgotten all about this. They're making a remake to The Last House on the Left, a Wes Craven flick from the early 1970s that has to be one of the most profitable movies ever made.
In 1972, Craven made his debut with a $90,000 film that made upwards of $10 million worldwide, before DVD sales. Pure gold, this one is, and it's hard to wrap your head around a debut film made on that budget achieving any kind of success at all.
It's even harder to come to grips with the notion that the sequel will achieve great success, but I certainly don't knock Wes Craven for pushing all these remakes. He's gone about things the right way, so if he wants to cash in, cash in. I submit he's the only man who will ever direct Freddy Krueger and Meryl Streep, so there you go.
Here's the trailer for
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Colin Boyd
Movie Review - 'The Wrestler'
9 January 2009 12:23 AM, PST
Starring Mickey Rourke, Marisa Tomei, and Evan Rachel Wood
Directed by Darren Aronofsky
Rated R
Darren Aronofsky's The Wrestler is a movie about loneliness, desperation, and missed opportunities. It is not about the big time wrestling of Vince McMahon and "Stone Cold" Steve Austin, and there are no Hulkamaniacs running wild.
The movie that kept popping into my head watching The Wrestler was Bull Durham. That movie, one of the great sports films of all time, has a far different perspective than The Wrestler, but they both take place in the minor leagues.
The difference is, in Durham, the Bulls are the major league team, and on the East Coast wrestling circuit - a collection of barely-used National Guard armories and church recreation centers - it's a one-night stand. The people of Durham rally around their team and embrace them, but after the lights go down, nobody considers these wrestlers,
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Colin Boyd
Movie Review - 'Not Easily Broken'
9 January 2009 12:00 AM, PST
Starring Morris Chestnut, Taraji P. Henson and Jennifer Lewis
Directed by Bill Duke
Rated PG-13
As I watched Not Easily Broken, I wondered what it all meant. There was drama, there was conflict, there was even resolution, but in the service of what? What's your story, morning glory?
As near as I can tell, it's roughly a year in a man's life. It's a turbulent year, but he never strays that far from being the man he is at the beginning of the movie. Through narration, David Johnson (Morris Chestnut) tells us that he and his wife Clarice (Taraji P. Henson) had big plans on their wedding day.
She was going to be a real estate mogul and he was going to be a Major League Baseball player. A leg injury ruined his shot at the big time, although Clarice worked very hard and achieved great things in real estate.
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Colin Boyd
Movie Review - 'The Unborn'
8 January 2009 11:25 PM, PST
Starring Odette Yustman, Meagan Good, and Gary Oldman
Directed by David S. Goyer
Rated PG-13
Hitting all the usual buttons for a modern PG-13 horror flick, The Unborn never gets your heart racing and never challenges your mind. The scares are predictable - Don't look in the mirror! Don't think everything's Ok in that maintenance closet! - and the story is a real drag.
The basics (and that's all there really are here) involve a pretty college student named Casey (Odette Yustman) who has recently been haunted by a very strange dream. There's a boy with piercing blue eyes, a fetus in a jar, a bulldog wearing a mask. What does it mean? What does it mean?
She consults her friend Romy (Meagan Good), who has a book on dream interpretation, so that's nice. But while she's babysitting for neighbors one night, Casey is attacked by the four-year-old son,
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Colin Boyd
Movie Review - 'Bride Wars'
8 January 2009 11:01 PM, PST
Starring Kate Hudson and Anne Hathaway
Directed by Gary Winnick
Rated PG
And so it begins, another year of romantic comedies, and you'd think that there'd be a learning curve at some point, so that instead of treading the same ground time after time, this genre of movies would learn from previous mistakes. But it doesn't. The Romantic Comedy only learns from what makes money, because that is, indeed, the great deodorant.
And one thing that continues to work for the RomCom is Kate Hudson. Last year when Fool's Gold was released, I lamented over Hudson and Matthew McConaughey settling for the scripts with the best locations.
They're a good on-screen team, and have consistently shown workable chemistry, even though their movies are bad. Why do they have to be lousy? I have no idea. But that's not a question the RomCom concerns itself with, seeing instead that Hudson makes money.
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Colin Boyd
'Transformers' Poster, Plus Super Bowl Details
8 January 2009 9:05 PM, PST
My hunch is that Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen will be the box office king of 2009. I know - what a risky position. But it's probably one of the few instant $250 million movies of the year. By that, I mean the opening weekend will be in the $100 million range, if not more than that, and then you look at 40% drops for about three weeks and you're already well over $200 million.
But just because it's going to be huge doesn't mean Paramount is letting it find its own way. As we predicted almost two months ago, Transformers will have an ad in the Super Bowl, according to Variety. It will join a throng of movie ads in the most watched program of the year; Star Trek, Angels & Demons, Monsters and Aliens, G.I. Joe, Land of the Lost, Fast and Furious, and possibly Up! and Wolverine. So far there's been no
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Colin Boyd
'Watchmen' Producer Sounds Off
8 January 2009 5:20 PM, PST
Here's a perpsective on this whole Watchmen imbroglio we haven't heard until now. HitFix (via Ain't It Cool) received an "open letter" from producer Lloyd Levin regarding the lawsuit and the future of the film, now locked up in legal proceedings between Warner Bros. and Fox.
Levin takes us back a few years, to what he calls "the flashpoint" of all of this, in the spring of 2005. "Both Fox and Warner Brothers were offered the chance to make Watchmen. They were submitted the same package, at the same time," remembers Levin. "It included a cover letter describing the project and its history, budget information, a screenplay, the graphic novel, and it made mention that a top director was involved."
Adds the producer, "And it's at this point, where the response from both parties could not have been more radically different."
Levin goes on to detail what Warner Bros. did right,
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Colin Boyd
Warner Bros. Puts DC Comics Movies on Hold
8 January 2009 4:21 PM, PST
Talking to IESB about his new film, The Unborn, writer-director David S. Goyer addressed the future of comic book movies, particularly the DC brand he's most known for right now.
"A lot of the DC movies at Warner Bros. are all on hold...they're going to come up with some new plan, methodology, things like that so everything has just been pressed pause on at the moment," said Goyer.
Don't take that the wrong way; this is actually a good thing, or could be. I've said for years that Marvel has the upper hand on DC, and barring one gigantic $530 million Batman movie, that's still true. But DC is as close to Marvel as it has been in a long time, so the thinking caps are going on in an effort to maximize what DC and Warner Bros. do.
Colin Boyd
I Am Not All About the 'All About Steve' Trailer
8 January 2009 2:45 PM, PST
For starters, pick another name. Don't impugn All About Eve with this Sandra Bullock nonsense. Secondly, when is she going to stop making romantic comedies? Enough already.
In All About Steve, Bullock will play a desperate chick who falls in love with her blind date, a TV cameraman named Steve ( Bradley Cooper). When he's called away on assignment, she follows him across the country. Yeah, I'd just get a new cell phone at that point.
Why do we waste time and money on movies that have such a low ceiling? Before you answer, keep in mind that it's not just chick flicks. I saw Hell Ride, so you know, there's plenty of derision to go around, no matter who you're targeting.
Trailer courtesy of Trailer Addict
Fox will release All About Steve on March 6th. Hey wait a minute...now this Watchmen delay makes so much more sense: Fox doesn't
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Colin Boyd
Directors Guild Remembers Christopher Nolan
8 January 2009 1:19 PM, PST
This is one list of nominees that doesn't surprise me at all. The Director's Guild of America has unveiled the candidates for its top prize, and generally, the winner here wins the Oscar.
David Fincher - The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
Danny Boyle - Slumdog Millionaire
Ron Howard - Frost/Nixon
Christopher Nolan - The Dark Knight
If it were me, I'd replace Van Sant with Andrew Stanton, who directed Wall-e. We chronicled the reasons why in our Top Ten Directors of 2008 article. There may be specific rules in place against animated films for the DGA, but I was more impressed with what Stanton did than what Van Sant did. Some people will argue for Darren Aronofsky, but if you keep Van Sant, there's no room.
Colin Boyd
Fearless Forecast - 'Bride Wars' Beats Up Clint
8 January 2009 9:16 AM, PST
After a very shaky 12 months, 20th Century Fox is poised to have a breakout couple of months. It all started with Marley & Me, the studio's biggest hit in quite a while, and it could be succeeded at number one this weekend by Bride Wars. That's the new Kate Hudson-Anne Hathaway comedy that, despite a 0% approval rating on Rotten Tomatoes, will still attract tons of female moviegoers.
I actually think it will do better than a lot of prognosticators, having sat through a screening of the film asking aloud what everyone was laughing at. $20 million seems to be the ballpark figure, but I'm going to go a little higher than that.
Fox could score the top two spots this weekend, with Marley finishing in second place, but I think Clint Eastwood's Gran Torino, which is finally expanding to a wide release, is going to be a huge player this weekend.
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Colin Boyd
Poster - Mickey Rourke in 'Killshot'
8 January 2009 6:10 AM, PST
Frankly, I'm a little damn tired of bringing up Mickey Rourke's name. Good for him and everything, because he's a great albeit misguided talent, and I'm happy producers and directors really want to work with him again. But wow, he's been in the news a lot since The Wrestler came out. The Expendables, Iron Man 2, allegedly calling Sean Penn a homophobe - that's a full dance card for anyone.
And that doesn't even count the other movies he's made over the past year or so. We had pictures from The Informers, which is playing Sundance this month, and now there's a poster for Killshot, which I hope is good. I love Elmore Leonard; he's my favorite contemporary crime novelist. I think the combo of Rourke and Diane Lane, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Rosario Dawson, and Thomas Jane is pretty interesting, too.
But Killshot has been delayed...oh, for a while.
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Colin Boyd
'Watchmen' Court Case Takes Another Turn
8 January 2009 4:14 AM, PST
Do you think it's possible that the drama in Watchmen can possibly match the intensity of the drama surrounding it? I can't remember a more anticipated project that has had to deal with so much legal nonsense so close to its release date. I mean, Orson Welles always used to talk about how William Randolph Hearst wanted to burn the negative to Citizen Kane, but very often, Welles just liked to hear himself talk.
But with the March 6th release hanging in the balance, and with Judge Gary Allan Feess already determining that Fox has rights to the film that Warner Bros. doesn't want to hand over, The Los Angeles Times reports that Warners has taken the very curious step of putting the distribution rights to a potential blockbuster back in the hands of that very same judge. To me, that sounds like handing the executioner your favorite rope, but whatever.
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Colin Boyd
Check Out Jim Carrey in Zemeckis' 'Christmas Carol'
8 January 2009 2:24 AM, PST
You know who runs a good movie website? Jim Dorey at MarketSaw. His whole thing is 3-D technology, and very often it doesn't have to do with movies. For instance, he once sent me a story about a 3-D cellphone screen. Oh, the future's here all right.
But Jim doesn't waste your time when he talks about movies, you know, like I do. He's usually breaking a story about something bold and exciting. Take, for example, his article about Disney's A Christmas Carol. The film will be a combination of The Polar Express and Kind Hearts and Coronets, or if your tastes are more contemporary, Norbit. Jim Carrey will play seven roles in the new version of the Dickens classic, which will be directed by Robert Zemeckis, who of course, is obsessed with performance capture technology.
Here's a first look at Carrey as Scrooge, and MarketSaw will have more photos from this batch soon.
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Colin Boyd
More Engrossing Directors Roundtable Interviews
8 January 2009 1:09 AM, PST
A couple of days ago, we shared some video from The Hollywood Reporter from a roundtable interview with six directors who are in the running for awards n' stuff. Missing: David Fincher, Christopher Nolan, Sam Mendes, maybe Woody Allen would've added a few things. But we did get Clint, Danny Boyle, Ron Howard, Gus Van Sant, Ed Zwick, and Darren Aronofsky.
And now, those directors have been split into three groups of two to talk a little bit more about their individual projects. So we have Van Sant and Boyle, Aronofsky and Zwick, and two exchanges between Howard and Eastwood, which is only fair because in addition to directing Frost/Nixon, Howard produced Changeling.
Boyle, Van Sant
Aronofsky, Zwick
Colin Boyd
'Dark Knight' is the People's Choice, But So is '27 Dresses'
8 January 2009 12:00 AM, PST
Damn, I forgot the People's Choice Awards was last night. I missed the excitement as 27 Dresses was named the year's Favorite comedy. Not Tropic Thunder, mind you, or even In Bruges, Role Models, or Forgetting Sarah Marshall. No, that would've meant those films were nominated. And they weren't.
Mysteriously, even though Thunder outperformed 27 Dresses at the box office - the real people's choice - it wasn't even nominated over the very middling Katherine Heigl comedy. Its competition was Get Smart and Mamma Mia!, two other movies that significantly outworked it financially, which again, would be how people would normally vote for such a thing.
See, this is why the People's Choice Awards frustrates me. Well, this and Rascal Flatts being named Favorite Band. Ugh. Remind me not to let People's Choice voters make me a mix CD.
Colin Boyd
DiCaprio to Produce, Star in 'Beat the Reaper'
7 January 2009 10:58 PM, PST
Overall, I think you'd have to rate the past two years as below average for Leonardo DiCaprio. It's still better and more lucrative than almost any other actor alive, but for him, it's not exactly the salad days. Don't get me wrong; I think the movies are mostly still of a very high quality, but his star power hasn't been unquestionable.
Though he received an Oscar nomination for Blood Diamond, the film was not as commercially viable as it should have been, even in spite the serious undertones. His documentary, The 11th Hour, was both poorly executed and received. Body of Lies was flat, and Revolutionary Road won't get him that elusive Oscar. Yeah, outside of The Departed, it's been four years since Leo has been in synch with his audience. And The Departed was definitely a group effort.
He's been working behind the scenes as a producer lately, and
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Colin Boyd
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