Trailers are an under-appreciated art form insofar that many times they’re seen as vehicles for showing footage, explaining films away, or showing their hand about what moviegoers can expect. Foreign, domestic, independent, big budget: I celebrate all levels of trailers and hopefully this column will satisfactorily give you a baseline of what beta wave I’m operating on, because what better way to hone your skills as a thoughtful moviegoer than by deconstructing these little pieces of advertising? Some of the best authors will tell you that writing a short story is a lot harder than writing a long one, that you have to weigh every sentence. What better medium to see how this theory plays itself out beyond that than with movie trailers?
Read More »
.
Please Recommend /Film on Facebook
In spoiler hunting, two things rarely lie: domain registration and upcoming toys. The domains come first and can reveal anything from the existence of a project to a rumored title. Toys, on the other hand, are less visible, more easily kept under wraps. They’re made by private companies that put them into development way in advance of a film’s release because they need to be mass produced. Unfortunately, toy security isn’t like movie security. Release a catalog here, attend a major toy convention there, and new products are revealed long before studios are ready to show their hand.
Recently, this happened with the reveal of The Lizard in The Amazing Spider-Man and it’s happened again with the villains of The Avengers. After the jump, check out a bunch of images that – if true – would be considered major spoilers for the film. Read More »
In an age of competing projects, we should expect to see this sort of thing happen a lot more often. Earlier today we talked about the fact that Warner Bros. might be looking to Russell Crowe to star in Harker, Jaume Collet-Serra’s revamped take on Dracula.
So what does Universal do? The studio, which really has a certain claim to Dracula given the 1931 version (or the two ’31 versions if you take the Spanish-language one into account) has taken the old project Dracula: Year Zero out of mothballs. The film has lain dormant since a version with Alex Proyas directing Sam Worthington was scrapped thanks to an escalating budget. Read More »
While most of my memories leading up to Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace were positive, the best one I have as a direct result of the movie was falling off a chair from laughing so hard at the video review by Red Letter Media. The 70-minute evisceration of the film is a work of unparalleled genius and turned the review persona of Mr. Plinkett into an internet legend.
With the film being released in theaters this weekend, Red Letter Media couldn’t pass up the chance to get a few more views by following George Lucas’ lead and converting the review to 3D. Check it out. Read More »
Over a decade since its release, Darren Aronofsky’s Requiem for a Dream remains a visceral and disturbing piece of modern cinema. The filmmaker’s gnawing portrayal of drug addiction coupled with a hyper stylized aesthetic can make even the most tough-stomached person squirm in their seat.
You’d think seeing the same images with puppets would soften the blow, but Brendan James Boyd‘s 60 -econd film for the 2012 Vancouver Fake Film Fest proves likewise. Hearing puppets say “tail to tail” in place of another famous line, watching a fuzzy arm get chopped off or puppet electroshock therapy is almost more disturbing when it’s non-humans. Check it out after the jump. Read More »
For quite some time, Disney has been developing a new live-action version of Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs in which the old story would get a fairly modern makeover. Michael Chabon wrote the initial version, but the film has been tweaked a few times over the past decade with directors as disparate as Yuen Wo-ping and Francis Lawrence attached at different times.
Then something happened. Or, really, two somethings happened, as Universal and Relativity Media beat Disney to the punch with Snow White and the Huntsman and Mirror, Mirror, both of which are set to open this year. Two live-action Snow White re-tellings is goofy enough, and adding a third would strain audience interest like crazy.
So the Disney movie, which has had various titles over the years (most commonly Snow and the Seven) has been reworked again to eliminate all overt Snow White ties. What’s left is The Order of the Seven, a martial arts action film centered around a young heroine. Saoirse Ronan (The Lovely Bones, Hanna) is in talks to take that lead role. Read More »
If you have any spare sympathy cards lying around, might want to address one to Nicholas Hoult. The actor had a good turn last year in X-Men: First Class, and had two films set to release in 2012: Jack the Giant Killer and Warm Bodies. But last month Jack was pushed to March 2013, and now Warm Bodies has been pushed from August 10 of this year to February 1 of 2013. Read More »
We all know that after The Dark Knight Rises on July 20, Christopher Nolan and Christian Bale will officially hang up the cowl. We also know Warner Bros. is going to continue making Batman movies without them. So what happens after Nolan’s trilogy ends? Who will be chosen to continue the legacy?
The Los Angeles Times Hero Complex had some fun with that idea, commissioning graphic artist Sean Hartter to design 15 different visions of a new Batman by some of the finest filmmakers in the world.
After the jump, check out posters for all kinds of different Batman films directed by Matthew Vaughn, Todd Phillips, Wes Anderson, Rob Marshall, Brad Bird, Guillermo del Toro, Ang Lee, Catherine Hardwicke, Guy Ritchie, Martin Scorsese, Hayao Miyazaki, Neill Blomkamp, Tim Burton, Zack Snyder and Ridley Scott. Read More »
