Category: Action Movies (Page 42 of 165)

It’s your just barely pre-holiday weekend movie news dump

July 3, 2010 /

I was going to try and avoid doing this this week and meant to gripe about the Los Angeles Film Festival’s rather serious problems in terms of how they treat the human beings who attend, but there was simply too much interesting news stuff going on to ignore, even if some of it is outside of what I usually cover.  So, LAFF, you get another reprieve…

* I don’t do gossip and the content of an argument between a director/star and his ex-mistress certainly qualifies. On the other hand, when that star is Mel Gibson and he has the history he does and he says something as noxious as this, you just can’t ignore it. People say terrible stuff when they’re in the thrall of extreme anger, but Gibson keeps going back to the racist and misogynist well when he becomes unhinged. It’s not nothing.

Also, I hope he avoids anything that looks like preaching ever again. I’m no theologian, but as I understand it,  a devout fundamentalist anti-Vatican II Catholic who openly cheats on and leaves his wife is not exactly walking the walk, but it’s only anyone’s business because of the way he’s made religion part of his career and it’s hard not to think of him as complete hypocrite, on top of everything else. I truly don’t believe that people should decide not to see movies based on a particular actor’s behavior, not matter how bad, but this comment is so repulsive, and the man is so clearly out of control, that I’ll understand if people would just prefer not to look at him anymore.

On the other hand, for those in the talking and making fun of people business, it can be a good thing, and it’s already started, largely via Twitter. Jeff Schneider of the Wrap has compiled some of it.

* I usually also try to avoid stories that are vague and unconfirmed, but this one is a bit too interesting and potentially big to ignore. There’s also a various obvious Gibson connection to the biggest unconfirmed glorified rumor of the day. It’s that it’s just barely possible that two back-to-back “Mad Max” sequels are being directed down-under even as we speak by the Max man himself, George Miller. Certain aspects of the story, especially the putative titles, are hinky, but I guess we’ll just have to wait and see.  If it’s true, I’m guessing Miller is a bit relieved that Gibson isn’t involved this time. (Though can they really be sequels in the usual sense without him, or at least his character?)

mel_madmax2-600x400

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Action Movies, Actors, External Entertainment, External Movies, Movie Comedies, Movie Dramas, Movies, News, Sci-Fi Movies

Meet your new Spider-Man

July 1, 2010 /

I was just about to start get down to business on this week’s already quite late box office preview — which you’ll now be seeing here tomorrow morning — when I saw the bombshell, though not really surprising, press release posted over at Deadline.  26-year-old Andrew Garfield has already been mentioned several times as a possible choice for the Marc Webb Spider-Man reboot (remember when you had to wait at least a decade for those?), and I think it’s probably a good, perhaps better than good, choice, though he’s slightly grown-up if they really do intend to make him a high school kid.

As per Wikipedia, Garfield was born in my hometown of L.A., but raised mostly in Surrey, England, which I imagine is a somewhat different atmosphere. On the other hand, I guess you can take the boy out of Hollywood but you can’t entirely take Hollywood out of this boy. He has one of the two lead roles, alongside Jesse Eisenberg in David Fincher and Aaron Sorkin’s upcoming “The Social Network,” not to mention the science fiction drama/love story “Never Let Me Go.”  He’s also appeared in “Lions for Lambs,” and “The Other Boleyn Girl.” In less mainstream fare, he’s also had in the lead role of the first film in the “Red Riding” trilogy of made-for-British-TV thrillers, a huge critical smash last year which had a limited theatrical release stateside. He’s also done more than his share of stage work and has won a BAFTA (British Oscar) for the low-budget British drama, “Boy A.” In other words, he’s doesn’t seem to be a lightweight.

As far as his box office potential goes, who knows? However, the dual-passport holding American-English-Jewish Garfield, who despite his cosmopolitan background made his success without any apparent industry or artistic connections, is just geeky enough to be relatable for boys and believable as a bit of an outcast, but, I’m guessing, also quite handsome enough to make girls swoon a bit. (He’s already been an MTV “hump day hottie,” so I guess there’s my proof.) The only aspect I’m unsure of is the whole vague “star power” thing. I’ll get back to you on that one.

Garfield has came up on my radar, however, because of his surprisingly good work in a hugely problematic role in “The Imaginarium of Dr. Parnussus.” The uneven Terry Gilliam fantasy saddled him with a badly muddled character in which we were supposed to still kind of like him despite the fact that he was being persistently mean to adorable Lily Cole. Garfield wasn’t entirely successful in making his character work the way it should have in the film’s story, such as it was, but he impressed me by keeping things about as believable as I can imagine under the circumstances. Making Peter Parker come to life after that should be a comparative breeze.  Let’s just see how he handles the clear potential for A-list status here.

Anne Thompson has some more.

Action Movies, Actors, External Entertainment, External Movies, Movie Dramas, Movies, News, Sci-Fi Movies

Blu Tuesday: Hot Tub Time Machine, The White Ribbon and Predator

June 29, 2010 /

Now that the U.S. has been eliminated from the World Cup, most Americans will probably get back to their normal lives, but for diehard soccer fans like me, the quadrennial tournament remains the best form of entertainment around. Nevertheless, there are still several great titles being released this week, so if you are looking for something to pad out your daily soccer diet, you’ll have plenty of options to choose from.

“Hot Tub Time Machine” (20th Cent. Fox)

It won’t become a cult classic any time soon, and the title is probably the funniest thing about it, but “Hot Tub Time Machine” is still a solid comedy thanks to its great cast and a smart script by Sean Anders and John Morris – the same guys responsible for the equally funny “Sex Drive” and “She’s Out of My League.” From the inspired casting of John Cusack and Crispin Glover (who’s involved in a hilarious running gag involving his bellhop character losing his arm), to playful nods to “Red Dawn” and the King of Bullies himself, William Zabka, the film is a love letter to popular 80s cinema with the comic sensibility of today’s R-rated comedies. It’s just too bad that the Blu-ray’s special features are so tame, because this is a movie that would have benefited from hours of outtakes.

“The White Ribbon” (Sony Pictures)

Michael Haneke’s “The White Ribbon” – winner of the 2009 Palm D’Or and Globe Globe for Best Foreign Language Picture – features an intriguing story, solid acting, and some truly beautiful cinematography. And yet, it’s perhaps one of the most unsatisfying films that I’ve seen in the last few years. Set in 1913 Northern Germany on the eve of World War I, the film centers around a series of mysterious accidents involving the children of a small farming village. Like most of Haneke’s films, “The White Ribbon” is a slow-burn – building tension over the course of its lengthy 144-minute runtime – but when it arrives at its climactic ending, the only thing that the director has to show for it is an open-ended analogy to WWI that will likely confuse and frustrate a lot of people. Up until that point, however, Haneke delivers one helluva suspense film, and though you might not like the way it ends, it’s worth seeing for the craftsmanship alone.

“Predator” (MGM)

With Robert Rodriguez’s reboot of the sci-fi action franchise due out on July 9th, MGM has unsurprisingly re-released the original “Predator” on Blu-ray for the second time in two years. What makes this edition different than the first, however, is a new digital restoration that holds up remarkably well, despite some special effect shots that really show their age. I almost forgot how much fun this movie is, and although Arnold Schwarzenegger is without a doubt the star of the film, the supporting actors definitely leave their mark – from Carl Weather’s cocky CIA agent to Jesse Ventura’s minigun-carrying commando. The single-disc effort also boasts a sneak peek of “Predators” and a new featurette that takes a look at the legacy of the original movie with interviews by Rodriguez and Nimrod Antal. If nothing else, it will serve to get you excited for the new film when it rolls into theaters in a few weeks.

Also Out This Week:

“The Crazies” (Universal)
“The Warlords” (Magnolia)
“When You’re Strange” (Eagle Rock)
“Percy Jackson & the Olympians: The Lightning Thief” (20th Century Fox)

Action Movies, Documentaries, External Movie DVDs, Horror Movies, Movie Comedies, Movie Dramas, Movie DVDs, Movies

Hey, I’m back, sort of, with weekend box office results

June 27, 2010 /

I’m still keeping busy and enjoying the tail end of the Los Angeles Film Festival, which wraps in just a couple of hours, but I thought I’d see how quickly I can give you all at least some of this weekend’s genuinely fascinating box office results as gleaned from both Anne Thompson and Nikki Finke.

Toy Story 3

Well, it shouldn’t surprise anyone that the Pixar formula — i.e., dollops of laughter and heart (what a concept!) and now a dash of 3-D ticket prices — has once again worked wonders and “Toy Story 3” took on all comers, earning an estimated $59 million for Disney in its second weekend. Meanwhile, it was also a good weekend for the eternal appeal of low humor and, it seems Adam Sandler, at least when accompanied by four other comic known quantities of varying degrees of box office hotness. It was clear that the scatological-joke loving masses were only encouraged by, I’m guessing, entirely correct godawful reviews of Sony’s “Grown-Ups.”

Perhaps also reflecting a dearth of comedy right now, the film actually was a personal box office best — not adjusted for inflation — for Sandler, earning $41 million. Personally, though I like him in actual quality films like the, I think, severely underrated “Funny People” and the brilliant “Punch Drunk Love,” I’ve never gotten the comic appeal of Sandler, going back to his SNL days, and can’t even remember gong through a phase where I found farts inherently hysterical, so I can only throw up my hands here.

Tom Cruise and Cameron Diaz in On the other hand, there is little joy in the five or six buildings the Church of Scientology owns on Hollywood Blvd, as the Tom Cruise (and Cameron Diaz) action comedy vehicle, “Knight and Day” earned an estimated $27.7 million. Not bad, actually, except considering Cruise’s far better past performances back in the day when stars like him could routinely “open” a film and, according to Finke, the budget for the film was either roughly $117 or $107 million, depending on whether you calculate tax breaks. In other words, Cruise’s thetans might take longer to clear.

In other news, I’m happy to say, that things are hopping on the indie scene. The new wartime documentary “Restrepo” and the Duplass Brother’s enjoyable entry into the semi-mainstream, “Cyrus,” are both doing quite well, as are other newish films.

On the other hand, the controversially violent “The Killer Inside Me” appears to be suffering, perhaps, from an older indie audience that might be turned off by the fuss, which some say has been exaggerated to a certain degree and appears to have surprised its skilled, if highly uneven, director Michael Winterbottom. Interesting how an adaptation of a once obscure fifty-eight year old pulp novel can still raise hackles. Also shows that while a perception of too-little blood and guts can harm a horror film, a perception of too much can perhaps harm even a “hard R” thriller/drama. Advice to the suits: know your audience.

As usual, Indiewire has the indie scoop.

Action Movies, Actors, Actresses, Animation, Documentaries, External Entertainment, External Movies, Movie Comedies, Movie Dramas, Movies, News

You want a violent movie trailer? I’ve got two.

June 25, 2010 /

I’m still a bit busy and distracted by various matters including the ongoing Los Angeles Film Fest and last night’s L.A. premiere of “Animal Kingdom,” an ultra-neo-noir Aussie crime drama/suspense film that’s a bit dour for my taste but which boasts some outstanding performances and characterization, and a dynamite third act that my mind is still reeling from. Nevertheless, I’ve got a couple of trailers here that promise some fairly provocative manners of death dealing of the more frivolous and, perhaps, fun variety. We’ll start with the Red Band trailer for “Predators” for the wanton monster bloodshed and destruction you demand and the F-word you expect. H/t Den of Geek.

Via Cinemablend, and on a somewhat higher plane — because how can the sight of Dame Helen Mirren wielding a machine and blowing shit up not be on a very high plane indeed — comes the non-superhero comic book adaptation “RED,” as in “Retired, extremely dangerous.” Yep, it’s the action movie first-wave baby boomers have all been waiting for. It’s also got Morgan Freeman, the beautiful Mary Louise Parker, an excessively MK-Ultra‘d John Malkovich, and some other bald dude from the eighties.

Did you know that a quite young Helen Mirren might have been the first actress to appear nude in a mainstream studio film, 1969’s “Age of Consent,” directed by Michael Powell? I just felt like mentioning that.

Action Movies, Actors, Actresses, External Entertainment, External Movies, Horror Movies, Movie Dramas, Movies, News

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