Chronicle was a nice little surprise early this year, and the film is hitting Blu-ray and DVD this week. I’d recommend checking out Josh Trank‘s found-footage ‘kids with powers’ movie, as it is one of the better superhero films out there, packed with the spirit of early Marvel comics and Katsuhiro Otomo’s Akira, to boot. Plus, it has a good performance from Dane DeHaan as a kid who can’t quite handle his new power.

One of the bonus clips on the Blu-ray is a bit of test footage introduced by Trank. The director explains how Fox head honcho Tom Rothman wanted a test scene from the movie as a proof of concept, and goes on to show the scene interspersed with some commentary on how the effects were done. It’s a good compliment to an earlier video showing the origin of the film’s effects. Read More »

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Even before Chronicle became a hit for Fox, rumors proliferated that the studio was looking to director Josh Trank to reboot The Fantastic Four. Trank denied knowing anything about it, and has mostly brushed aside questions of his involvement with the stalled superhero team in the months since.

But at CinemaCon, Fox CEO Tom Rothman said that Trank is indeed developing a new take on the Fantastic Four. Whether or not he’ll direct the film, however, is still open to question. Read More »

Why was Shia LaBeouf at Chicago Comic and Entertainment Expo last weekend? What are Robert Downey Jr. and Nathan Fillion doing together? Which Marvel movie credit scene almost ruined The Avengers? How does Christopher Nolan describe the IMAX scenes in The Dark Knight Rises? Did Joss Whedon reveal how much deleted footage would be on The Avengers Blu-ray? Want to watch a featurette of all the global fan screening of Marvel’s film? Which Avenger is now getting his own comic? Read about all this and more in today’s Superhero Bits. Read More »

Have you ever wondered how they accomplished some of the effects in Josh Trank‘s Chronicle? Hit the jump to watch two videos — one which takes us behind the scenes to reveal how the flying sequences were created, and a second video which was fan-made which shows how you can recreate some of the effects at home.

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Chronicle, the ‘teens with powers’ movie that hit two weeks ago, almost instantly established director Josh Trank and screenwriter Max Landis as talents to watch. Trank has a deal with Fox, and is in the midst of developing new projects, even as rumors fly that the studio has an eye on him to reboot the Fantastic Four. Trank has denied that he knows anything about that, and continues to hold that position, which leads to the obvious question: what’s next?

According to the most commonly-used map that charts a path for this particular scenario, Chronicle 2 would be next. But Trank doesn’t seem to be very interested in a sequel to his debut feature. Instead, he’s developing other original projects at Fox. Read More »

/Filmcast Ep. 175 – Chronicle

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This week, David, Devindra, and Adam chat about the perils of marathoning Mad Men, dissect the pleasures of marathoning Skins, lament the nonsense of Ultraviolet, and assess this year’s Super Bowl ads.

You can always e-mail us at slashfilmcast(AT)gmail(DOT)com, or call and leave a voicemail at 781-583-1993. Join us for our next live broadcast at 10 PM EST / 7 PM PST at slashfilm.com/live.

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‘Chronicle’ Review: A Superpowered Teenage Riot

Chronicle is not a superhero movie. It is a film about three young guys who, after exposure to a mysterious energy source, develop strong telekinetic powers. More to the point, Chronicle is about how having that empowerment in common forges a strong friendship between them, and the ways they deal with the unexpected power surge.

In the sort of telling which has become so familiar thanks to comic books and the TV shows and movies that follow them, those kids should quickly learn that their powers come with an obligation to help society. Then they foil some small-time crime and forge identities through which they can become virtuous examples of humanity, evolved.

That’s not how Chronicle works. I’m not sure these characters would know how to help humanity if they wanted to. There is nothing truly ‘realistic’ in this film, but there is something intimately recognizable in the ways in which these guys deal with their new powers. They’re kids. They play around with pranks and fun. They realize they can fly, and talk about destination vacations for the telekinetically-enhanced. Then — and this is what makes Chronicle stand out, and what really makes it worth seeing — their powers become lenses that magnify their true natures, to destructive and tragic effect. Read More »

Beware the Final ‘Chronicle’ Teaser Trailer

The low-budget ‘teens with powers’ movie Chronicle opens this week, I’m finding that a lot of people still don’t know too much about it. That’s too bad, because Chronicle is a lot of fun. It is a film that explores its premise well, while also proving that it doesn’t take $150m to make a successful movie along these lines.

In short, I hope people see the picture. Chronicle deserves an audience.

Here is one last teaser for the movie, but I have to say that it might not be the best one to watch. Just by the nature of having to advertise the film, some of Chronicle‘s secrets and better scenes have been glimpsed in the full trailer and other teasers that follow. But this one, to me, seems to give up just a bit more of the last act than I’d like. Read More »

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