Public Enemies - What Did You Think?
Page 2 is the name we give to all of the news, rumors, and randomness that fall in between the cushions of Slashfilm’s couch (not the one in mom’s basement). Tonight’s edition was approved by Dave and Chainsaw.
The final poster for November’s Repo! The Genetic Opera has touched down. Expect an opinion on the film from Peter in the coming days, as the musical is scheduled to play Fantastic Fest in Austin. Seems like we’ve been hearing about this movie for years. Are you over it? Click to make it pop.
Michael Douglas will star as a former car salesman/sex addict whose life and marriage falls apart in Solitary Man from writing team David Levien and Brian Koppelman (Rounders, Ocean’s 13). The duo will also helm the project; they previously directed the Vin Diesel vehicle Knockaround Guys. Susan Sarandon, Jenna Fischer (The Office), and Danny DeVito (who’s starred in at least two comedic gems with Douglas) are close to signing on, so this could turn out stellar. Steven Soderbergh is producing. I wonder if Douglas will get his much-desired fast food breakfast this time? (First Showing)
While on a British radio station Al Pacino mentioned an idea floating around that would re-team him and Robert DeNiro for a drag comedy. The legends would pretend to be sisters. [Blush] DeNiro chimed in with, “That could happen, who knows?” Hopefully not the director of Righteous Kill and 88 Minutes. Zing. (SS)
Latino Review have slapped an early draft of the Green Lantern script with an enthusiastic, spoiler-filled B+. Along with the buzzing script for Green Arrow (formerly Supermax), they profess that Warner Bros. will once again be a worthy competitor of Marvel Studios. And the site confidently deadens those David Boreanaz-as-Hal Jordan rumors. Evidently, the final script is currently out to other, younger actors.
TV: To a moderate amount of surprise, HBO has picked up their ratings-challenged vampire series, True Blood, for a second season. The second episode on Sunday, which saw a promising uptick in viewers, was not as problematic and irritating as the pilot, but I’m not sure I’ll stick with it. What about you? In other TV news, what did you guys think about the season finale of Weeds? I thought the ending was a weak twist that once again exploits the series’ on-again-off-again flirtation with reality and believable consequences. Someone should have caught a bullet instead of a roofie. Nice breasts, though. Entourage is still reaching into its designer fannypack of ho’s and cameos. Bring back Anna Faris, not the Britney-knockoff. C’mon. And tack on another 30 minutes. With its great yet eerily uneventful second season halfway over, Mad Men raised the stakes on Sunday. One of the best eps ever. Joan’s ass was even bigger, notice that? Female figure foreshadowing. And brilliant bra-strap stigmata. Judging from reactions, Fringe is still disappointing fanboys. Feel free to discuss these shows below.
Spout reports that a script for Infinite Jest, the maddening, new-classic tome by the late David Foster Wallace, does exist after all. There’s been much speculation online ever since the author committed suicide, but Wallace’s agent, Bonnie Nadell, parlayed via email that Keith Bunin wrote an IF screenplay sans Wallace’s involvement and, at one point, Sam Jones was indeed attached to direct. Jones previously directed the Wilco doc I Am Trying to Break Your Heart. The project is no longer in development, but Nadell purportedly gave the screenplay an endorsement. Got all that? I’m curious to see if the ball starts rolling again. And RIP DFW, sympathies to the wife. via Vulture
Unsurprisingly, Edward Norton sounds out of the loop regarding plans for the new Hulk (franchise?). He calls Marvel “opaque but not obtuse” when it comes to keeping him informed and adds that he hasn’t heard how they’ll approach The Avengers. However, the actor doesn’t sound adverse to reprising the role. Norton acting opposite RDJ, Samuel L. Jackson, and whoever ends up playing Thor and Captain America would be a trip, man—quite an understatement. Hail Mary. (Splash)
Viggo still wants to do The Hobbit, hasn’t heard anything. No bigs, tho. Early stages. (MTV)
Bruce Willis will make his debut as a director on Three Stories About Joan, an eccentric-sounding indie project and yeah, there’s a ghost in it. The logline via CHUD: the film “interweaves the three phases of a young womans struggle to retain her faith in a love borne out of need, destroyed by a madness, and restored by a ghost.” The film will be shot quickly on a “$10-25 million budget”—October 3rd to November 10th—in Louisiana. Willis will star in the film, as will Owen Wilson and Kieran Culkin. Go Bruce go.
Joining Willis’s daughter, Rumer Willis, and The Hills‘ Audrina Patridge in the Summit Entertainment remake of The House on Sorority Row will be Carrie Fisher. What can be easily overlooked with this casting tidbit (unless the script wildly differs, which is possible) is that Fischer will play the head of the sorority house in the film—this character was the cane-wielding undead murderer in the cheesy but watchable original. via STYD
Over at Collider, there’s a totes-geeked out article on the controversy surrounding the newspaper that Tony Stark holds up near the end of Iron Man. Lawsuits, “DVD censorship,” vengeful geek spies, the ever-complex influence of movie blogs on studios and vice versa, and the cute, shrinking corpse of journalism! Check it out if you like meta movie blog gossip. It’s only a matter of time before a blogger gets cast as Martian Manhunter, I can feel it in my Blackberry. Or is that the hand of First Showing’s Alex Billington!?
Discuss: All of it in depth.
De Niro Fever: What Just Happened and Righteous Kill Movie Posters
Posted on Tuesday, June 10th, 2008 by Hunter Stephenson
Somebody up there really likes us, because this glorious day brings not one, not eight, but two new posters for upcoming Robert De Niro flicks. First is Righteous Kill, the serial killer thriller starring Al Pacino and De Niro as no-nonsense cops who squat over crime scenes and directed by the guy who forever lives with directing Pacino’s worst film ever, 88 Minutes (and probably the worst De Niro/Pacino movie ever). Wow, this hot cake doesn’t open until September? Oy vey.
More promising is director Barry Levinson’s What Just Happened, which currently has an 8.0 on IMDB from 200+ votes, albeit probably from industry people who quote industry movies like The Player and Hurlyburly. Judging from the poster, you might think the film is about a suit’s wild getaway in Daytona Beach, but De Niro stars as a past-his-prime Hollywood producer struggling to get a new film in the can (bucket?). Nice cast: Bruce Willis, Stanley Tucci, John Turturro, Sean Penn, Catherine Keener, Robin Wright Penn and veteran Michael Wincott. If you like the sound of knowing guffaws, go see it in L.A. on October 3rd.
Discuss: Stay calm.
Overture Films has released the second movie trailer for Righteous Kill. Obviously the main selling point for this film is the fact that Al Pacino and Robert De Niro team-up for the first time in cinematic history (sure, they shared a scene together in Heat, but we don’t count that). I’m a big advocate of story. It’s almost impossible to make a great film with a lackluster story. But having these two guys in the lead would normally turn even a lackluster story into a must watch film. But one must remember that the same guy who made Righteous Kill, also made 88 Minutes, one of the worst films of the year (17% on metacritic), and which also starred Al Pacino. Check out the new trailer below and tell me what you think in the comments!
Official Plot Synopsis: Academy Award® winners Robert De Niro (Raging Bull) and Al Pacino (Scent of a Woman) star as a pair of veteran New York City police detectives on the trail of a vigilante serial killer in the adrenaline fueled psychological thriller Righteous Kill, directed by Jon Avnet (Red Corner, Fried Green Tomatoes) and written by Russell Gewirtz (Inside Man). After 30 years as partners in the pressure cooker environment of the NYPD, highly decorated Detectives David Fisk and Thomas Cowan should be ready for retirement, but aren’t. Before they can hang up their badges, they are called in to investigate the murder of a notorious pimp, which appears to have ties to a case they solved years before.
Like the original murder, the victim is a suspected criminal whose body is found accompanied by a four line poem justifying the killing. When additional crimes take place, it becomes clear the detectives are looking for a serial killer, one who targets criminals that have fallen through the cracks of the judicial system. His mission is to do what the cops can’t do on their own-take the culprits off the streets for good. The similarities between the recent killings and their earlier case raise a nagging question: Did they put the wrong man behind bars? The cast also features hip-hop superstar Curtis “50 Cent” Jackson (Get Rich or Die Tryin’).
Righteous Kill hits theaters on September 12th 2008.
Movie Critics Rank 88 Minutes One of the Worst Films of All Time
Posted on Thursday, April 17th, 2008 by Peter Sciretta
We have a winner! Columbia Pictures’s 88 Minutes has been voted one of the worst films of all time by movie critics. Metacritic.com, which compiles reviews from movie critics around the world, has ranked the film at #3 on their All-Time lowest review scores - a 2 out of 100. Currently only Pauly Shore’s Bio-Dome and The Singing Forest have garnered worse overall review scores. It should be noted that Matacritic’s database consists of mainly of more recent releases (virtually every film since the beginning of 1999). 88 Minutes stars Al Pacino as Dr. Jack Gramm, an FBI forensic psychiatrist who has… wait for it… 88 minutes to solve his own murder. I know, sounds like one hell of a story…
On Rotten Tomatoes, the film is getting a 14% on the tomatoemeter. It should be noted that Rotten Tomatoes allows a larger amount of non-print critics into their tomatoemeter group of critics, and that Metacritic rates each review on a sliding 100 point scale, while RT uses a thumbs up or thumbs down approach. So if I understnad this correctly, the 2% on Metacritic is the overall average critic rating for the movie, and the 14% on Rotten Tomatoes is the percentage of critics that enjoyed the movie. And to be fair, both of these numbers will likely improve as more and more critics are tallied into both respective rating systems. Or at least the producers of 88 Minutes would hope…
 Discuss: Any chance 88 Minutes could be one of those movies which is so bad it’s good?
via: Defamer
Johnny Depp to Star in a Salvador Dali Biopic Entitled Dali?
Posted on Wednesday, March 12th, 2008 by Hunter Stephenson
“To grow a surreal ’stache or to not grow a surreal ’stache?”
According to The New Zealand Herald, Johnny Depp is currently holding auditions for screenwriters to pen an upcoming movie based on the life of the late, great surrealist painter and world renown eccentric Salvador Dali (at right). It’s said that Depp will star as Dali, which sounds like a role he’d gravitate to, though this is the first time I’ve heard of the film and moreover Depp’s involvement. The paper also quotes an unnamed source as saying, “[Depp]’s open to working with anyone - from housewives to pensioners - if the script is right.” Well now.
Still, it sounds as the film’s legit. Also quoted is producer Peter Rawley, who last produced a film called Spy Sorge in 2003 according to IMDB, and before that nothing I’d heard of before. In regards to numerous unrelated Dali projects currently in development, including Dali and I: The Surreal Story with Al Pacino and Goodbye Dali with Peter O’Toole, Rawley said, “”Filmmakers somehow pick up on the vibe. But three films [about Dali] is nothing, at one stage, we counted up to nine.”
Next up for Depp is Michael Mann’s historical mobster tale Public Enemies, due in 2009, opposite Christian Bale, and he’ll also pay tribute to the late Heath Ledger in Terry Gilliam’s The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus. Other projects still warm on the burner include the delayed India-set drug drama Shantaram, which producer Graham King (The Departed) recently said was definitely still happening, and the Hunter S. Thompson adaptation The Rum Diary (also being produced by King). So, where a Dali biopic fits in Depp’s dizzying puzzle is unknown. More on this project if and when it develops.
Discuss: Depp as Dali? Might this project break the general sentiment heard in the Slashfilm comments of “not another biopic”? Which of Depp’s future projects do you hope comes to fruition first?
“Thought you said this place had Pac Man.”
Robert De Niro saying the word “respect” in a voice-over. Check. The Rolling Stones doing a retake of their “Sympathy for the Devil.” Check. Al Pacino squatting over a crime scene in sunglasses. Check. Rapper 50 Cent closing his cell phone. Check. Wait, what? The director behind Al Pacino’s first direct-to-DVD movie. Check. Wait, c’mon. Carla Gugino showing a little skin. Check. Wait, okay, free to go. Lots of guns being fired. Check. Shot of Al Pacino in the club. Check. The trailer for Righteous Kill. [Hunter is indifferent and went to get a Pabst Blue Ribbon.]
Righteous Kill, starring Al Pacino and Robert De Niro, hits theaters on September 12th, 2008.
Discuss: What do you think of the new Righteous Kill Movie Trailer?
Rumorville: Al Pacino to Star in Quantum of Solace
Posted on Wednesday, February 13th, 2008 by Hunter Stephenson
AICN received a tip today claiming that Al Pacino has already been cast as one of the villains in the next James Bond opus, Quantum of Solace. Now this info is not confirmed and is strictly rumor, but if true, Pacino certainly gives the new school Bond an old school kick. Here’s what the tipster says…
“But the big news that he leaked was that Al Pacino would be taking part in filming. I was a little shocked as the cast has been revealed aready, but he said Pacino would play the head of the terrorist group introduced in CASINO ROYALE and QUANTUM OF SOLACE. Al is said to come to Pinewood in April-May to film what is said to be a brief cameo.”Â
The tipster says the info comes from a friend who’s working on Bond 22’s sets. I have an opinion on this casting, but I’ll wait to see how the info develops first. What’s your take?
Ladies and gentlemen, what we have here is a robbery. I saw 88 Minutes on the new release shelf of a movie rental store last summer and it is, without question, a straight-to-DVD Al Pacino vehicle and already pinned as the worst film of his career. And now, today we have a new trailer because Columbia Pictures has reached the awesome decision to release it theatrically on April 18, 2008.
Watch it (the trailer, I’d boycott the movie) to see Pacino doing his Heat schtick in the dark while wearing the worst tie of his career and being threatened by a Scream-like killer who says “Tick, Tock, Tock” not once but twice, and the latter time it’s presented even deeper like it’s a legendary one liner. Pacino often gets lost, but Alicia Witt, what happened? Do not defend this trailer/movie in the comments.
You can also watch the trailer in High Definition on Yahoo! Movies. 88 Minutes hits movie theaters on April 18th 2008.
Earlier today we posted a batch of new photos from the Al Pacino/Robert De Niro collaboration Righteous Kill. The guys at cinemanotize sent over a promotional trailer for the film. Check it out below.
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First Look: Al Pacino and Robert De Niro in Righteous Kill
Posted on Wednesday, November 7th, 2007 by Peter Sciretta
Update: Click Here to watch the movie trailer for Righteous Kill.
Empire has the some new photos from Jon Avnet’s Righteous Kill, which stars Al Pacino and Robert De Niro (in their first team-up since Heat) as two Veteran New York City Detectives hunt a vigilante who may be one of their own. Donnie Wahlberg, Brian Dennehy, Carla Gugino, 50 Cent and John Leguizamo also star. It was originally rumored that directing legend Martin Scorsese would be in the film, but that is actually untrue (Dennehy plays the role that Scorsese likely would have played). If the photo above looks familuar, it might be that a simular image was seen in Heat (seen below).
The photo to the right was published in Time Magazine. Righteous Kill will hit theaters in 2008.
Cinemanotizie has sent us the poster for Righteous Kill. The new crime drama follows two cops who try to catch a serial killer, while resolving issues between themselves. The poster reads “The Most Acclaimed Actors of our time in the Film Event of the Year.” And the film stars Al Pacino, Robert DeNiro and… 50 Cent?
Director Jon Avnet once helmed Fried Green Tomatoes, but has been reduced to directing six episodes of Boomtown. Which makes me wonder, how did he land a film with Pacino and DeNiro? Click on the image to the right to see the poster in full resolution. The movie hits theaters sometime next year (2008).
Ocean’s Eleven was such a fun movie. And Ocean’s Twelve was the exact opposite. Judging from the new trailer for Ocean’s Thirteen, Soderbergh has rediscovered the series roots. But don’t take my word for it:
