Sad news for the mini-major world of independent Hollywood, as Warner Bros has decided to shut down Picturehouse, the art-house/indie/foreign arm of New Line. But the bigger news is that WB also decided to close Warner Independent Pictures. The real problem is that the two companies had yet to find out a way to make a profit. So not only was Funny Games one of the worst movies I’ve ever seen, but it’s also partly responsible for the death of a good mini-major. I’m not quite sure if this means that Warner Bros/New Line is out of the art-house/indie/foreign business, or if they will continue to distribute/produce those type of [...]

“Saw films are below par.”
Brooklynite actor Michael Pitt has come a long way from starring on Dawson’s Creek, and in the current issue of Giant magazine he delivers, in context, some particularly vapid-funny-traditionally-hipster quotes about the Saw franchise, U.S. soldiers and people who won’t/don’t “get” the March remake of Funny Games.
On his film preferences…

“I don’t even know what Saw or Hostel are. Are they like Texas Chainsaw Massacre? I guess I’m drawn to things like Lawrence of Arabia.”

And then he adds…

“[Audiences that don't like Funny Games] can kiss my ass. I hope they do [get angry with] Funny Games. It challenges you. If you’re not up to the challenge, [...]

Director Zack Snyder has posted the two storyboards viewed below for his 2009 tent pole, Watchmen, on the film’s official website. The storyboards, which map out scenes with Rorschach, can be seen as yet another gage of how faithful Snyder is staying to Alan Moore’s championed graphic novel. Snyder goes into considerable detail about this aspect of his films, but here’s a choice excerpt into his creative process regarding them…
In the past, once I had completed my sketches, I would have a clean up pass done by an artist. Lately, I have foregone that step. Instead, I opt to distribute my original boards. This speeds up the information dissemination process [...]

The movie trailer for filmmaker David Gordon Green’s (George Washington, All The Real Girls) adaptation of the Stewart O’Nan novel Snow Angels is now online.
Snow Angels is one of those movies you either love or you hate. I saw the film last January at the 2007 Sundance Film Festival, and really took to it. In the days that followed, while riding the shuttle buses that transport the festival-goers around Park City, I had conversations with a lot of different people about this movie. And it was fun to hear such a varied reaction. The new trailer hints at the dark nature at the film which some moviegoers may have found [...]

One of the coolest movies of last year came and went relatively fast, and was virtually unnoticed by mainstream audiences. I’m talking about The Science of Sleep, Michel Gondry’s quirky romantic dramedy about a young man, entranced by his dreams and imagination, who becomes lovestruck with a French woman and feels he can show her his world. If you haven’t yet seen it, I highly recommend you add it to your Netflix queue.
Anyway, in the film Gael García Bernal plays Stéphane Miroux, an aspiring artist who at one point pitches an idea for a “disasterology” calendar, where each month would feature an illustration of a famous disaster. I always wished [...]

The characters of Junior Stemmons and Glenda Bledsoe have been cast in Joe Carnahan’s upcoming adaptation of James Ellroy’s White Jazz. So who will be playing Stemmons and Bledsoe? Carnahan won’t say.
“I cant reveal their names but rest assured, the choices will shock and amaze: Pissing off some while pleasing many more,” says Carnahan. “I can tell you one of the actors I worked with in Smokin’ Aces will be playing whackjob deviant kid cop Junior Stemmons.”
So anyone willing to place some guesses on which Smokin’ Aces alumni will be joining George Clooney?
Set in late 1950s Los Angeles, White Jazz tells the story of vice cop Dave Klein (Clooney). When [...]

I must reluctantly admit that I have yet to see Funny Games, the home invasion horror/thriller from Austrian filmmaker Michael Haneke. The film got some great reviews and was nominated for the Palme d’Or at the Cannes film festival in 1997. Time Out described it as “a masterpiece that is at times barely watchable”.
Warner Independent hired Michael Haneke back to direct an American remake of the the film, starring Naomi Watts and Tim Roth as a wealthy couple who are trapped and tormented in their Hamptons vacation home by a pair of vicious psychopaths. Check out the trailer after the jump, and tell me what you think.

Warner Independent has released this new poster for Paul Haggis’ (Crash) In The Valley of Elah (movie trailer).
His new drama is inspired by the true-life case of a retired Army veteran (Tommy Lee Jones) who discovers his son was killed by his own platoon members after they returned stateside but failed to shake battlefield mentality. To be fair, this is director/screenwriter Paul Haggis’s eagerly anticipated follow up to the Oscar-winning 2004 indie-hit Crash. The other films I mentioned above he wrote but didn’t direct. The film is based on an article from Playboy Magazine (who knew they had articles?) written by Mark Boal. Haggis’ fictionalized version also stars Charlize Theron, [...]

Warner Independent has released 15 new photos from Paul Haggis new film In the Valley of Elah (movie trailer). For me Paul Haggis has been off and on. I thought Million Dollar Baby was okay if not overrated, I loved Crash, Casino Royale, and Letters From Iwo Jima. I liked The Last Kiss, and somewhat disliked Flags of our Fathers.
His new drama is inspired by the true-life case of a retired Army veteran (played here by Tommy Lee Jones) who discovers his son was killed by his own platoon members after they returned stateside but failed to shake battlefield mentality. To be fair, this is director/screenwriter Paul Haggis’s eagerly [...]

 
Warner Independent has released the movie trailer for Paul Haggis new film In the Valley of Elah. For me Paul Haggis has been off and on. I thought Million Dollar Baby was okay if not overrated, I loved Crash, Casino Royale, and Letters From Iwo Jima. I liked The Last Kiss, and hated Flags of our Fathers.
His new drama is inspired by the true-life case of a retired Army veteran (played here by Tommy Lee Jones) who discovers his son was killed by his own platoon members after they returned stateside but failed to shake battlefield mentality. To be fair, this is director/screenwriter Paul Haggis’s eagerly anticipated follow up to [...]

Yes, another climate crisis documentary. But this one is produced and narrated by Leonardo DiCaprio. While Al Gore’s An Inconvenient Truth was a powerful film, it was essentially a big screen adaptation of his slide presentation. And in effect, it sometimes lacked the cinematic qualities of a documentary (although they pulled it off well). The 11th Hour seems to focus more on that aspect of the production. And while Gore’s movie tried play up the enviorment as an unpartisan issue, The 11th Hour seems to get more political. But don’t take my word for it, watch the trailer below with a special introduction by Leonardo DiCaprio.

It’s not often that we get blind-sided by a foreign film remake that gets us excited. The Japanese horror movies we usually anticipate, but this new German comedy sounds like it has A LOT of potential.
Warner Independent Pictures plans to remake Night of the Living Dorks, which is being described as Revenge of the Nerds meets Shaun of the Dead.
The Horror Channel has this to say about the original:
“Night of the Living Dorks will satisfy your latent craving for 80’s teen comedy, and provide zombie gut munching to boot. It’s more American Pie than Breakfast Club, and the zombies are decidedly Night of the Creeps rather than Day of the [...]