Posted on Thursday, May 31st, 2012 by Angie Han
We’ve already got the villainess (Angelina Jolie), the young princess (Elle Fanning), her father (Sharlto Copley), and the three fairies (Imelda Staunton, Lesley Manville, and Juno Temple), and now, at long last, we have the prince. Young Aussie actor Brenton Thwaites has just boarded Robert Stromberg‘s Maleficent, a Sleeping Beauty retelling seen from the perspective of its big bad.
Thwaites is almost totally unknown in the U.S., though he’s a little more famous in his native country. He first broke out with a starring role in the Australian drama series SLiDE, and has since done a stint on the long-running soap Home and Away. (As have the likes of Guy Pearce, Heath Ledger, Naomi Watts, and Chris Hemsworth before him.) He’ll next appear in the Lifetime Channel’s Blue Lagoon: The Awakening, but I’m betting that the Maleficent casting means this kid will be attracting some much higher-caliber projects soon. [Deadline]
After the jump, Olivia Wilde teams up with Spike Jonze.
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The first teaser trailer for David Cronenberg‘s Cosmopolis was a delirious ode to the filmmaker’s middle period — a chapter in his career that we’d begun to think was closed for good. But in that teaser for the adaptation of Don DeLillo‘s novel about a young billionaire who pulls strings from within a high-tech limo, we’re flashed with wild images of Robert Pattinson engaging in illicit sex, watching what seemed to be a dinosaur-sized rat, putting a bullet through his own hand, and musing about boundaries and desire. In short: vintage Cronenberg in all its glory.
Now the full trailer for Cosmopolis is available, and it expands on that teaser very nicely. We get a lot more of the story, including a good introduction to Pattinson’s character’s wife and possible voice of conscience (played by Sarah Gadon) as well as a motley crew of personalities including Juliette Binoche, Paul Giamatti, Mathieu Almaric, and Jay Baruchel.
The tone looks even more old-school Cronenberg than what we saw in the teaser — his affinity for a very particular dialogue cadence and isolated shot staging is very much on display. This one looks entertaining as hell, frankly. Read More »
It’s the big weekend for Disney, and Pixar director Andrew Stanton, as Stanton’s live-action adaptation of the Edgar Rice Burroughs novel A Princess of Mars finally hits theaters. John Carter is a film that has been many, many years in development, and finally sees life thanks to Stanton’s interest in the story. Taylor Kitsch, Lynn Collins, Willem Dafoe, Mark Strong and more make up the cast of the film, which follows a Civil War vet (Kitsch) who is transported to Mars, where he meets a smokin’ hot princess (Collins) and is drawn into an alien civil strife.
In our review of the film, Angie praised the loving care devoted to realizing the film’s world, even as she was less than impressed with the overall narrative structure and central character. But enough about our thoughts, and enough about Disney’s marketing of the movie, plans for sequels, or past versions that never came to be. Let’s talk about the John Carter that we have here and now — hit the jump to voice your thoughts on the film, and go into the discussion knowing that spoilers lie ahead. Read More »
Posted on Thursday, March 8th, 2012 by Angie Han
On a surface level, there’s much that Andrew Stanton‘s John Carter gets right — much more than you’d expect, given Disney’s exasperatingly incompetent marketing campaign. The visual effects are imaginative and seamless, the action is appropriately flashy, and the source material by Edgar Rice Burroughs seems rich enough in mythology to make even the most jaded sci-fi and fantasy geek drool. All of that, however, can’t make up for the fact that beyond its intricate trappings, John Carter feels oddly hollow. Somehow, the director who once brought us Finding Nemo and Wall-E fails to evoke emotion in his first live-action outing.
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Disney aired a new commercial for Andrew Stanton‘s live action debut John Carter during the big game. After the jump you can watch the super bowl spot, and a 60 second extended spot.
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Posted on Thursday, February 2nd, 2012 by Angie Han
Spike Jonze has been plenty busy cranking out short films over the past few years, but he hasn’t directed a full-length feature since 2009′s Where the Wild Things Are. That’s about to change, though, and he’s already lining up quite an exciting cast for his return to feature filmmaking. Samantha Morton, Amy Adams, and Carey Mulligan are reportedly in talks to star with Joaquin Phoenix in the untitled romance, which was also written by Jonze. Read more after the jump.
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Posted on Wednesday, November 30th, 2011 by Angie Han
We got our first glimpse of the new trailer for Disney’s John Carter on Good Morning America several hours ago, but as promised, we now have a much better version to show you. And by “better,” I don’t just mean higher-quality, but also longer, somewhat more interesting, and a little more promising. Check it out after the jump.
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Posted on Thursday, November 3rd, 2011 by Angie Han
Emma Stone has been moving into more dramatic territory lately with parts in The Help and Gangster Squad, but she may be returning to her comedy roots soon. The actress has entered talks to star in He’s Fuckin’ Perfect, a comedy by first time feature writer Lauryn Kahn. The film is being produced by Will Ferrell and Adam McKay‘s Gary Sanchez Productions, where Kahn has worked for the past several years as McKay’s assistant.
He’s Fuckin’ Perfect revolves around a pessimistic woman who uses her social media know-how to research her friends’ dates and help them weed out the losers. But when she stumbles across the ideal man, she convinces her friend to dump him so that she can claim him for herself, using her Internet savvy to turn herself into his perfect match. [Deadline]
After the jump, Michelle Monaghan is a sex-addicted FBI agent, Alice Eve is a homewrecker, and Brian Cox gives Zach Galifianakis some serious daddy issues.
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