Month: June 2010 (Page 12 of 17)

It’s time for midweek movie news

June 10, 2010 / Bob Westal

I used to be disgusted, now I try to stay bemused…

* Yes, they weren’t kidding. Ben Stiller and Tom Cruise are teaming up to make a Les Grossman movie, declares Nikki Finke. I try never to prejudge films, and I really did think Cruise was hilarious in “Tropic Thunder.” However, I think writer Michael Bacall, Ben Stiller, and whoever winds up directing really have their work cut out for them in terms of this not turning into some kind of inverted ego-fest (“look at me — I’m willing to act all crazy!”) like what we saw on MTV a few nights back.

* A new James L. Brooks romantic comedy by any name will probably be worth a look, and maybe better than that.

* It’s always seemed to me that the best part of the guilty pleasure appeal of “Entourage” — aside from Ari, Lloyd, and Johnny Drama, anyway — is the lightning fast pacing that nearly always leaves fans wanting more. Now, producer Mark Wahlberg is determined to give us more in the form of a movie to follow up from the conclusion of the television show. I’m concerned about whether he gets the concept of why you want to always leave an audience wanting more. If not, “Entourage” could become the male equivalent of “Sex and the City” in theaters as well as the small screen.

Action Movies, Actors, Actresses, Entourage, External Entertainment, External Movies, Horror Movies, Movie Comedies, Movie Dramas, Movies, News, Sci-Fi Movies, TV, TV Comedies

Andy Tennant Archie Hickox Arnold Schwarzenegger Ben Stiller Bobby Sands Christopher Mintz-Plasse Cinemascore Dr. Who Fright Night Get Him to the Greek Gulliver's Travels Headlines Hunger Inglourious Basterds Jack Black James Bobin James L. Brooks James McAvoy Jason Segel Jonah Hill Jonathan Swift Joseph Gordon-Levitt Les Grossman Marc Webb Mark Wahlberg McLovin Michael Fassbender MTV Muppets Nicholas Stoller Patrick Goldstein Professor Xavier Robert Redford Salma Hayek Sex and the City Spiderman Splice Steven Rivers Sundance Institute The Cove Tom Cruise Tropic Thunder X-Men: First Class Zombieland

“Rango” promo is not for the literal minded (updated 2x)

June 9, 2010 / Bob Westal

Tired of trailers that give everything away? Well, below is the teaser trailer — or whatever it’s supposed to be — that’s been mystifying bloggers like Drew McWeeney all day. The movie is called “Rango.” [UPDATE: The trailer has since been deleted. I guess someone decided it was just too surreal. ANOTHER UPDATE, MUCH LATER: And now it’s back.]

Reminds me of a joke:

Q: How many surrealists does it take to change a lightbulb?

A: The fish.

Or, in this case, the mechanical fish, I guess.

As per McWeeney and YouTube, the movie is performance-capture heavy animated piece about a “chameleon with an identity crisis” and stars Johnny Depp, Isla Fisher, Abigail Breslin, and a truly impressive collection of venerable character actors including Bill Nighy, Stephen Root, Ray Winstone, Beth Grant, Ned Beatty, Harry Dean Stanton and Alfred Molina. It’s being directed by Gore Verbinski and co-written by the very busy scribe John Logan. I am anything but a fan of Verbinski’s “Pirates” movies, but the marketing has worked. They’ve got my attention.

Animation, External Entertainment, External Movies, Movie Comedies, Movies, News

Abigail Breslin Alfred Molina Beth Grant Bill Nighy Gore Verbinski Harry Dean Stanton Isla Fisher John Logan Johnny Depp Ned Beatty Rango Ray Winstone Stephen Root

Hell’s Kitchen: weeding out the riff raff

June 9, 2010 / Mike Farley

In the early part of the season on reality shows such as “Hell’s Kitchen,” there are usually a few fringe contestants who really don’t belong there in the first place. And these are usually the first ones to go home. Last night two went home, one by choice and one by Gordon Ramsay. Here is how it all went down….

They began with a 5am wake up call, as chefs Scott and Andrea attached an amplifying device to a standard alarm clock. Yikes. Ramsay met them in the kitchen where he asked them to cook eggs for him four ways–soft boiled, poached, scrambled and sunny side up. They would work in groups of two except for Siobhan, who for some reason was singled out to work alone.

External TV, Hell's Kitchen, Reality TV, TV

Andrea Andrew Autumn Ben dessert egg challenge eggs Fran Gordon Ramsay Hell's Kitchen Hell's Kitchen 2010 Hell's Kitchen 2010 blog Hell's Kitchen 2010 recap Hell's Kitchen blog Hell's Kitchen recap Hell's Kitchen Season 7 Hell's Kitchen Season 7 blog Hell's Kitchen Season 7 recap Jamie Jason JP Los Angeles Mikey risotto Sal Scott Siobhan tuna tuna tartare

Don’t tell me what’s in this trailer

June 8, 2010 / Bob Westal

Yes, I’m a bit late, and a lot of you saw this on Sunday night when it premiered as part of the MTV Movie Awards, but even though I’m posting it, I’m not actually watching the trailer for “Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows.” Not yet.

You see, although I’m quite fond of the Potter series as well as a terrible procrastinator, I haven’t read the book yet. (I’ll get to it before November. Really.) Since trailers for film adaptations often give away in the first minute things that happen 100 or so pages into the book, there’s no freaking way I’m watching this teaser trailer. But here it is, anyway. Actually, right now I’m pretty sure that all the characters will die horribly by the end of the book anyway, except Voldemort, of course.

External Entertainment, External Movies, Movies, News

Draco Malfoy Harry Potter 6 Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Voldemort

Guillermo del Toro, hobbit-heads hardly knew ye

June 8, 2010 / Bob Westal

I’ve never made it a secret that I’m a fan of Guillermo del Toro, the person, almost as much as I appreciate the outstanding work of Guillermo del Toro the filmmaker. He’s a guy who, among other distinctions, is the only auteur I know of to get his start largely as a special effects creator. It’s impressive even if, as del Toro explains in one the clips below, it was a matter of necessity for a burgeoning horror-fantasy director, as there weren’t any efx houses to speak of in his native Mexico. He’s also the most openly sensitive, soulful public geek I know of. What can you say about a man who’d address the denizens of the Tolkien fan community and expand on his initial farewell to directing “The Hobbit” on a fan message board like this:

I have to thank those of you that have supported me from the start as well as those that converted along the way. And even say farewell to those that never did convert or believed.
I will miss Mr. Crere, the faith of Compa and Sir DennisC, the wisdom of Voronwe, the joy of Grammaboodawg, the support of Kangi Ska and so many, many other.

He says this, addressing himself to a fan, Pasi, who I gather was upset by del Toro’s departure from “The Hobbit.” This is not the usual approach of a major Hollywood filmmaker and, there is no doubt, del Toro is not your typical major Hollywood filmmaker. He says that leaving “The Hobbit” was “the toughest situation of my life.” That’s a rather extraordinary statement considering that del Toro’s personal biography has an almost Dickensian flavor, including having to negotiate the release of his kidnapped father with brutal gangsters, some of whom may still threaten his safety and are the reason he no longer works in Mexico.

In other words, this is a man who loves movies with absolute devotion and it’s hard not to mourn the movie he might have been allowed to make if we lived in a slightly more logical universe. Another director may well do an extraordinary job but it cannot really be the same and it’s hard to imagine it’ll be any richer than the movie del Toro might have made. That includes every other director out there, including Peter Jackson.

If you watch the video interviews below and after the flip, I think you’ll see what I mean.