Public Enemies - What Did You Think?
Who Will Replace Sean Penn as Larry in The Three Stooges? How About Paul Giamatti?
Posted on Monday, June 22nd, 2009 by Peter Sciretta
Last week Sean Penn announced that he would be backing out of the Farrelly Brothers comedy The Three Stooges and another project to deal with family issues. So who will replace Penn as Larry in redo of the famous comedy trio? How about Paul Giamatti?
Did the notion of Sean Penn playing Larry in a new Three Stooges movie directed by the Farrelly Brothers seem too crazy/good/ridiculous/awful to be true? Now it is, as THR reports Penn has pulled out of both that movie and Cartel, the film in which he would have played a man out to protect his son after Mexican drug cartels kill his wife. Read More »
Sean Penn, Jim Carrey and Benicio Del Toro are The Three Stooges
Posted on Wednesday, March 25th, 2009 by Peter Sciretta
Casting is finally being announced for the Farrelly Brothers‘ The Three Stooges, and the only real surprise is that Jim Carrey is in talks to play Curly. Carrey is planning to gain 40 pounds for the role so that he can more closely match the physical look of Jerome “Curly” Howard. Sean Penn is set to play Larry, and Benicio Del Toro is currently in talks to play Moe, but both of those names have been reported on the site previously. Even Jim Carrey had been rumored to be involved at some previous point of time. The movie is not a biopic, but a comedy that follows the antics of the trio. I’ve heard the script is split into four chapters and is kinda episodic, with the trio breaking up and going their own separate ways.
I use to be such a huge fan of the Farrelly Brothers. I mean, these are the same guys who directed Dumb and Dumber, There’s Something About Mary and Kingpin. But they haven’t helmed a really good film in at least 8 years (Osmosis Jones, Shallow Hal, Stuck on You, Fever Pitch, The Heartbreak Kid). The fact that the film didn’t get off the ground at Warner Bros doesn’t exactly instill faith in the project. And honestly, a Three Stooges movie just sounds like a horrible idea, even with the level of talent attached.
Discuss: What do you think of the casting choices for The Three Stooges?
source: Variety
Terrence Malick Working on Two Separate Films: The Tree of Life and “The Voyage of Time”
Posted on Monday, March 23rd, 2009 by Hunter Stephenson
Earlier this month, it surfaced that dinosaurs were being rendered for a new epic presented in IMAX from director Terrence Malick (Badlands, Days of Heaven). The visual effects artist directly attributed the dinos to The Tree of Life, a meditative, time-spanning drama starring Sean Penn and Brad Pitt, and that remains the case. However, it emerged in the proceeding weeks that Malick was also at work in Austin, Texas on an entirely seperate film, yet another IMAX effort, that seemed to share only a thematic link and scope.
The Playlist reports today that this second film was, at one point, entitled The Voyage of Time, and was also originally set for release in the last quarter of ‘09. It’s now believed that both will see screens in 2010. Other sites have pegged the second film, which seems to fall under “highly ambitious documentary,” as considerably shorter in run-time. There’s no listing for Voyage by this title et al. on IMDB. Due to a lot of understandable overlap and confusion online regarding these two projects, it seemed as good a time as any to clarify, and more reason for cineastes to perk up. For more info on The Tree of Life, including a pretty wild plot synopsis, see our original post.
Did you miss any of the important Oscar speeches from last night’s Academy Awards? Well you have a second chance to catch them now on YouTube. After the jump we’ve embedded the speeches from Danny Boyle (Best Director), Kate Winslet (Best Actress), Penelope Cruz (Best Supporting Actress), AR Rahman (Best Sound, Best Score), Heath Ledger’s Family (Best Supporting Actor), and Sean Penn (Best Actor).
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Johnny Depp as Moe, Sean Penn as Larry in the Farrelly Bros’ Three Stooges Movie?
Posted on Wednesday, February 4th, 2009 by Brendon Connelly
Here’s one heck of an odd story for me to make my comeback with. It comes to us from In Touch Magazine (well, at least according to Just Jared - I can’t find the story anywhere on the In Touch site, so I’m not sure if a) it was pulled b) it was only in a print version of the magazine or c) it was never there in the first place at all).
According to the gossip site, the Farrelly Bros. want Johnny Depp for the role of Moe, alongside Sean Penn as Larry in their upcoming Three Stooges movie.
Update: FilmDrunk has a source who says “Billy West (famous voice actor from Futurama and Ren & Stimpy, among other things) is meeting with Sean Penn today and tomorrow to help him prep his Larry impression - so that part of the rumor is at least partially true.”
Antoine Fuqua’s Brooklyn’s Finest has become the first sale to make news during Sundance (yeah, let’s forget the deals that happened before the festival had even kicked off - where’s the marketable hype value in those?). Senator have reportedly paid $5 million for the film, so you’d imagine they’re very happy with it. Or, on the other hand, maybe not…
“It strikes me that the ending will be different” said their president Mark Urman. He does add that Antoine Fuqua “must be happy” with the new ending, but what if Fuqua is happy with the one he’s got? I suppose the suggestion is that the director is feeling flexible - he did sign the deal after all. Or maybe Senator’s commitment to an 8-figure fund for prints and advertising balanced the issue. Or perhaps - just perhaps - Fuqua doesn’t like the ending he’s given his own film and wants to “fix” it.
While promoting the film, Fuqua talked about his plans for future projects, including the movie he’s negotiating with Sean Penn for.
Critically acclaimed Mexican director Alejandro González Iñárritu’s second collaboration with Guillermo Arriaga, 21 Grams, is now available for free on Hulu. The film tells three stories starring Sean Penn, Naomi Watts, Benicio Del Toro, Danny Huston, and Charlotte Gainsbourg. Not nearly as great as his debut feature Amores Perros, 21 Grams is still worth checking out. Leave your comments about the movie in the comments.
AFI’s Top 10 Movies of 2008; Boston Critics Name WALL-E and SlumDog Best Picture
Posted on Sunday, December 14th, 2008 by Peter Sciretta
The American Film Institute has packed their Top 10 films of the year. Like any AFI list, the films are all over the map from indies to big Hollywood blockbusters, and I find myself a little bit angry after reading through the selections (although, not as much as I usually am). Why was Danny Boyle’s Slumdog Millionaire snubbed? I thought it was considered to be partly an American production? I am also surprised that they included two comic book films in the results (not that I disagree).
The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
The Dark Knight
Frost/Nixon
Frozen River
Gran Torino
Iron Man
Milk
WALL-E
Wendy and Lucy
The Wrestler
Also, the Boston Society of Film Critics have voted and declared WALL-E and Slumdog Millionaire both the Best Movies of the Year. And for those of you counting, this is the second critic association to give the Best Picture Award to WALL-E. Could this be a foreshadowing of what might be to come with the Academy Awards?
The Best Picture category was not the only tie, the BSFC awarded both Sean Penn (Milk) and Mickey Rourke (The Wrestler) Best Actor of the Year honors. The rest of the list follow:
Best Actress: Sally Hawkins for Happy-Go-Lucky
Best Supporting Actor: Heath Ledger for The Dark Knight
Best Supporting Actress: Penélope Cruz for Vicky Cristina Barcelona
Best Director: Gus Van Sant for Milk and Paranoid Park
Best Screenplay: Dustin Lance Black for Milk
Best Cinematography: Christopher Doyle and Rain Kathy Li for Paranoid Park
Best Documentary: Man on Wire
Best Foreign-Language Film: Let the Right One In
Best Animated Film: WALL•E
Best Film Editing: Chris Dickens for Slumdog Millionaire
Best New Filmmaker: Martin McDonagh for In Bruges
Best Ensemble Cast: Tropic Thunder
via: In Contention
The Los Angeles Film Critics Association has named Pixar’s WALL-E as the Best Picture of the Year. This is the first time in the 33-year history of the LAFCA that an animated film has won the top prize. Disney has been pushing the film for both Best Animated feature and Best Picture for the upcoming Academy Awards and Golden Globes. Critic Association awards like this are a stepping stone to the big stage, and are often looked at as a prognosticator of sorts. The Dark Knight was awarded the runners up prize.
Other notable winners include Danny Boyle being awarded the Directing Award for Slumdog Millionaire, and Christopher Nolan being named the runner up. Heath Ledger was named Best Supporting Actor, and Sean Penn (Milk) ousted Mickey Rourke (The Wrestler) for Best Actor. Slumdog’s AR Rahman was awarded best Music/Score.
But as I said, the real story is WALL-E - the little robot that could…
But the question is — Will the Academy award an animated film with a Best Picture Nomination?
When watching a movie with an overt political message at its core, it’s sometimes difficult to divorce the movie from the cause. The film Milk espouses a lot of messages that I believe in, including equal rights for everyone and a belief in the transformative power of community organizing. But does the film succeed at creating a nuanced and fascinating portrait of its subject? Or does it rely too heavily on the conventions that are characteristic of the biopic genre?
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The Weinstein Co has released a movie trailer for Crossing Over, a “multi-character drama about immigrants of different nationalities struggling to achieve legal status in Los Angeles. The film addresses the issue from the point of view of the immigrants, as well as the immigration authorities tasked with enforcing the nation’s immigration laws.”
Looks a bit too preachy heavy handed or obvious, even for me. A bit like Paul Haggis’ Crash on crack. Harrison Ford is looking a bit old, and is it just me or is Ford starting to sound like Clint Eastwood? The film also stars Ashley Judd, Sean Penn, and Ray Liotta. It’s also worth mentioning that the film is directed by South African filmmaker Wayne Kramer (The Cooler), who also happens to be a naturalized US citizen. Watch the trailer below and tell me your thoughts in the comments.
Watch the trailer in High Definition on Yahoo. Crossing Over hits theaters in 2009.
