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Bazmann’s Christmas Address

25 December 2009 7:00 AM, PST | HeyUGuys.co.uk | See recent HeyUGuys news »

It’s been a great year for the British film industry. It kicked off with the British invasion of the Oscars, with notable wins for Kate Winslet, and Danny Boyle’s Slumdog Millionaire. The huge amount of British Actors plying their trade successfully in Hollywood continued to grow, with Scot Gerard Butler particularly in demand with parts in Gamer, The Ugly Truth and Law Abiding Citizen.

British filmmakers have been responsible for some of the more interesting films this year. Duncan Jone’s Moon was a brilliant yet under appreciated sci-fi drama. Fish Tank and Harry Brown lead the way for low budget drama. Terry Gilliam’s The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus finally found a distributor. Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince became the highest grossing British movie of all time.

British film festivals Raindance and the BFI London Film Festival saw record attendances, and showcased some great films from home, »

- Barry Steele

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Films Of The Decade – Ed’s List

23 December 2009 5:17 PM, PST | FilmShaft.com | See recent FilmShaft.com news »

Each decade of celluloid is defined by its psychological preoccupations. Oh yes it is, don’t look at me like that. The 9/11 terror attacks on New York and Washington cast a long shadow over the first decade of the 21st century. The Nineties had been a relatively stable and optimistic era by comparison and was all the more moribund for it. Tom Sizemore’s speech in Katherine Bigelow’s Strange Days (1995) summed up the emerging consensus – “everything’s been done, every kind of music’s been tried, every government’s been tried, every fuckin’ hairstyle. How you gonna make it another thousand years, for Chrissake?”

But it wasn’t quite the end of history after all. After 9/11 the zeitgeist became politically-charged once more as it had been in more polarised times. Entertainment was not immune from this effect, nor could it afford to be. With rare exceptions such as Paul Greengrass »

- Ed Whitfield

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Multiple Personality Disorder Report

23 December 2009 2:15 PM, PST | QuietEarth.us | See recent QuietEarth news »

#1 James Cameron to redo “The Fantastic Voyage”

Now don’t be getting too excited because there’s no news that Cameron will direct the project but Variety does report that Cameron is producing the film and from what I can gather, the project (and a few more to follow) is an effort to make use and money from the expensive technology he spent years prepping for Avatar. It’s a great opportunity to remake this sci-fi classic but with “Aliens vs. Predator: Requiem” writer Shane Salerno on board to adapt the original story, I can’t say I’m all that excited.

#2 Natalie Portman starring in “Pride Prejudice and Zombies”

This seems like an odd pairing but Portman does have the looks for period drama though I’m not sure what possessed her to agree to a period piece about a man searching for love amidst a zombie outbreak. Portman »

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Shaggy Dog Movies of the '00s

15 December 2009 1:07 PM, PST | GreenCine Daily | See recent GreenCine Daily news »

by Simon Abrams

Amongst other things, December is the magic time of the year when lists of the "Best/Most Important/Least Degrading/Most Thoughtful/Most Transgressive/Most Crowd-Pleasing Films of the Year" are compiled by critics and other buffs; once in a blue moon, you also find lists championing the "Best/Greatest/Most Entertaining/Artfulliest Films of the Decade." While there's certainly an argument to be made in favor of these self-important necessary evils, one of the many problems with these lists is that they exclude so many good, sometimes troubled films just because they don't end up where they start out.

These are the cinematic equivalent of "shaggy dog" jokes—stories that build and build only to leave the viewer with a preposterous anticlimax of an ending. Sometimes they drag the viewer along and build up the expectation that some central burning question will be solved when, in fact, »

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Pride, Prejudice, Portman & Zombies

12 December 2009 8:50 AM, PST | ScreenRant.com | See recent Screen Rant news »

Since I’ve been at Screen Rant I’ve written about some odd films in many, many different genres. Sometimes I’ve written about films that tick the boxes in multiple genres and that on the surface at least appear to be quite odd. Well, it’s time to add another film to that list: Pride and Prejudice and Zombies.

Natalie Portman will take the lead role as love-longing zombie-eradicator Elizabeth Bennet in this big-screen adaptation of the bestselling novel by Jane Austen and Seth Grahame-Smith.

 

The plot of the film is pretty much what it says on the tin – it’s Jane Austin’s classic novel with a new zombie element grafted onto to it.

Portman will produce through her “HandsomeCharlie” production shingle along with Annette Savitch. In relation to the project, Savitch said:

“Natalie and I are longtime passionate fans of Jane Austen’s books and this a fresh, »

- Niall Browne

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Push the Button – What’s in the Box?

9 December 2009 6:58 AM, PST | t5m.com | See recent t5m.com news »

Richard Kelly’s debut,  Donnie Darko was one of the most original films of the decade. Featuring a time travel storyline wrapped up in a high school comedy drama, it stood up to repeated viewings. He came thudding down to earth with his follow up Southland Tales. The three hour cut featuring the cream of acting talent (!) Sean William Scott, The Rock and Justin Timberlake received a vitriolic reception at the Cannes Film Festival and was re-cut for its British release. With his new film The Box, fans hoped that he could reign in his some of his more outlandish ideas and prove he was more than a one trick pony. So it is hugely disappointing to report that this box should have stayed closed. Like Darren Aronovsky’s The Fountain, it’s a film that looks fantastic, but has got a little too concerned with its own importance.  The »

- Michael Shelton

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A Paranormal number of flops

8 December 2009 9:02 AM, PST | The Guardian - Film News | See recent The Guardian - Film News news »

New releases Me and Orson Welles, The Descent: Part 2 and The Box fail to offer much opposition as Paranormal Activity leapfrogs into top spot in its second week

For distributors with a new release this weekend, the only solace to be grasped at was that their movie hadn't done as badly as someone else's. As executives gathered at the annual British independent film awards in London on Sunday night, the talk was of how all the new films targeting adult audiences had flopped – the only differences were the degrees of failure.

Flop #1

Bottom of the pile of wide releases was Me and Orson Welles, which failed to crack a £1,000 screen average on 187 prints. Comparisons with Zac Efron's recent hits 17 Again (£2.56m debut) and High School Musical 3 (£8.41m including previews) are hardly fair, but his latest film's £166,000 opening confirms widely held suspicions that his many young fans wouldn't show »

- Charles Gant

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Spotlight on Dubai as Festival kicks off

7 December 2009 11:59 PM, PST | Filmicafe | See recent Filmicafe news »

Be ready to be star-struck! Celebrity spotting enters a new realm as A-list stars from around the world descend on Dubai for the sixth edition of the Dubai International Film Festival (Diff) from December 9 to 16.Diff Chairman Abdulhamid Juma said the celebrity attendance at Diff 2009 reflects the increasing global appeal of the festival. .These celebrities are not making a nominal appearance but most of them are integral part of movies that are being screened at Diff, making their presence even more relevant..Headlining the celebrity list from Hollywood is Gerald Butler, the Ps, I Love You and The Ugly Truth star, who will receive the Variety International Star of the Year at Diff.He joins a power-pack including Matt Dillon, Oscar-nominated for his performance in Crash; Christina Ricci (Penelope); Mandy Moore (Licence to Wed); Christopher Lambert (Southland Tales) and Jason Flemying (The Curious Case of Benjamin Button). Broken Embraces star »

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You review: The Box | Ben Child

7 December 2009 5:51 AM, PST | The Guardian - Film News | See recent The Guardian - Film News news »

Only one critic seems to have thought outside the box when it comes to reviewing The Box: Roger Ebert, who didn't completely trash Richard (Donnie Darko) Kelly's moral choice thriller. Would you take a lucky dip?

The critics are as confused by Richard Kelly's new thriller as its central protagonists are by the MacGuffin of the title. Some reckon this is a flawed but entertaining fantasy that defies its roots in cheapo 1970s sci-fi to present an intriguing moral dilemma. Others are bamboozled by the far-from-seamless shift into preposterous M Night Shyamalan territory about an hour in: with all those nosebleeds, mysterious figures and hints of the presence of powers from beyond this Earth, the movie is like an extended episode of Lost without the verdant Pacific island vegetation and taut torsos to sugar the perplexing pill.

Kelly loves his period settings - remember Donnie Darko's John Hughes 80s teen movie chic? »

- Ben Child

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Film review: The Box

3 December 2009 4:05 PM, PST | The Guardian - Film News | See recent The Guardian - Film News news »

An intriguing premise turns in to 115 minutes of codswallop. Peter Bradshaw squirms away

There are some films that confront the viewer with profound ethical dilemmas, agonising moral choices. In this one, an ageing man with a horrible face approaches a happily married woman with a proposition that could earn her $1m. Oh, heavens to Betsy, you are probably thinking, it's that Robert Redford back again, the incorrigible old goat, making another of his indecent proposals: a sackful of cash in exchange for the chance to let his expensive trousers and pants pool round his ankles while he puts you on the receiving end of a one-off rogering. How absolutely loathsome. And yet it is a lot of money, so gosh, would I? Would I?

But it is not Robert Redford. This time it is Frank Langella, playing a man with an appalling wound to the side of his face, dressed »

- Peter Bradshaw

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Kelly: 'I want to do a direct film'

3 December 2009 4:35 AM, PST | digitalspy | See recent digitalspy news »

Richard Kelly has said that he would like to tell a more "straightforward" story with one of his future projects. The director of Donnie Darko, Southland Tales and The Box told The Guardian that his next movie could be more direct. Kelly said: "I'd love to be able to tell a much more straightforward story that doesn't require a sci-fi basis or a very elaborate structure. "There's a post-9/11, set-in-Manhattan project in the pipeline, but it's just one of many. In my 20s, I just wrote and wrote and wrote. I have, like, 20 screenplays in my drawer. I'll find something." Of the muted critical response to his last movie, he said: (more) »

- By Mayer Nissim

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Get Ready For The Piper

2 December 2009 10:03 PM, PST | EmpireOnline | See recent EmpireOnline news »

Comic book creators just love twisting old fables into new stories. And, in turn, like some creative food chain, movie producers like adapting comic books. So it's not entirely surprising that a title based on the Pied Piper is now in the process of becoming a film.Zenescope's comic The Piper is a dark retelling of the Hamelin-based fable that saw a mysterious man charm the local rats from the small town, then spirit away the populace's kids when they refused to pay for his service.But this new take instead has a bullied high school student channel the legend's charming powers to exact terrifying consequences on those who've wronged him. And, if the cover of the comic is to be believed, looking like the result of a one-night stand between Pirates Of The Caribbean's Davy Jones and Spider-Man's Venom.Persistent Entertainment and Zenescope are teaming up to plunge the »

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Latest Comic Book Adaptation Calls Upon 'The Piper'

2 December 2009 9:29 PM, PST | bloody-disgusting.com | See recent Bloody-Disgusting.com news »

Comic books continue to be snatched up for adaptations, yet the percentage that actual arrive in theaters is bleak. The Hollywood Reporter revealed tonight that Persistent Entertainment, Pantry Films and Zenescope Entertainment are teaming up to produce an adaptation of Zenescope's comic The Piper, which aims to take a dark look at the Pied Piper of Hamelin fable. The story will center on a much-bullied high school band student who unintentionally channels the spirit of the mysterious Pied Piper and triggers terrifying consequences of his actions beyond his control. The project -- brought to Persistent by exec Aaron Cruze, who will shepherd its development -- is out to writers. Headed by Matthew Rhodes, Persisent has produced more than 20 films in its 10 years. Those include Richard Kelly's "Southland Tales" and the upcoming Nailed," starring Jessica Biel and Jake Gyllenhaal. »

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Zenescope's The Piper headed for the big screen

2 December 2009 9:22 PM, PST | Fangoria | See recent Fangoria news »

The Hollywood Reporter states that Zenescope Entertainment has teamed up with Persistent Entertainment (Richard Kelly's Southland Tales, Nailed) to bring their comic The Piper to life as a feature film. According to the trade, "Piper" aims to take a dark look at the Pied Piper of Hamelin fable. The story will center on a much-bullied high school band student who unintentionally channels the spirit of the mysterious Pied Piper and triggers terrifying consequences of his actions beyond his control.

Released under their Grimm Fairy Tales line, Zenescope describes their story like this:

Seven hundred years ago he took a horrifying revenge and paid the ultimate price for his sins. Now he’s returned to forge a deal that will cost more than your life.

Present day Florida, a prestigious boarding academy where a musically gifted but misunderstood high school student named Sean stumbles upon a mysterious book that will »

- no-reply@fangoria.com (James Zahn)

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Richard Kelly's $1m question

2 December 2009 2:30 PM, PST | The Guardian - Film News | See recent The Guardian - Film News news »

He made one of the coolest debuts ever, Donnie Darko – then it all went wrong. Now Richard Kelly's back, with a film about a shocking dilemma

After making Donnie Darko, his phenomenally self-assured and very cheap debut, Richard Kelly went on to direct 2006's Southland Tales, a surreal epic set in a post-apocalyptic America. When a rough cut was screened at Cannes, it wasn't just booed – it was denounced.

The memory still troubles him. "We did Southland for about $17m," he says. "A lot to me, but not much to some. We felt like we were making a bold satire of the Bush administration, and of celebrity and pop culture. Think Pynchon and Philip K Dick. We squeezed every penny out of the budget and worked like dogs. I'm so grateful for the experience, but it's the kind of thing you hope to get out of your system while you're still young. »

- John Patterson

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Gettin' Ass, Raisin' Hell: Here Comes The Piper

2 December 2009 | shocktillyoudrop.com | See recent shocktillyoudrop news »

If Hollywood made a film about an evil Rumpelstiltskin, why the hell not make one about the Pied Piper? Zenescope Entertainment, who brought us comic books based on Final Destination and Se7e , are bringing their original title "The Piper" to the screen. At their backs are Persistent Entertainment and Pantry Films to help them realize this. Persistent produced Southland Tales and the upcoming Nailed . Here's how Zenoscope describes "The Piper": Present day Florida, a prestigious boarding academy where a musically gifted but misunderstood high school student named Sean stumbles upon a mysterious book that will give him the ability to finally get back at those who have wronged him the last few years. But when Sean realizes exactly what he has »

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The Box

26 November 2009 11:11 PM, PST | Pure Movies | See recent Pure Movies news »

When the nicest thing that can be said about The Box is that it isn't quite as bad as Kelly's previous film; Southland Tales, things don't bode well. When the nicest thing that can be said about The Box is that it isn't quite as bad as Kelly's previous film; Southland Tales, things don't bode well. It is a tremendous and tragic fall from grace from the apparent visionary behind the cult-hit; Donnie Darko. In perhaps one of the most interesting unravelling-of-a-Hollywood-career stories, the consensus now seems to be that Donnie Darko was a fluke and Richard Kelly is a busted flush. »

- Mark Leach

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Zenescope's 'Piper' bound for cinema

25 November 2009 10:25 AM, PST | digitalspy | See recent digitalspy news »

Publisher Zenescope Entertainment has teamed up with Persistent Entertainment and Pantry Films to bring its popular graphic novel The Piper to the big screen. The book is a dark reimagining of Brothers Grimm fairy tale The Pied Piper Of Hamelin. It revolves around a down-trodden music student who unwittingly channels the spirit of the mysterious Piper, with terrifying consequences. Persistent Entertainment executive Aaron Cruze will spearhead the development of the project. The studio has produced over 20 films to date, including Palme d'Or nominee Southland Tales and the upcoming Nailed, (more) »

- By Mark Langshaw

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The apocalypse goes "1970s pop sci-fi" in The Arcadian

24 November 2009 11:38 AM, PST | QuietEarth.us | See recent QuietEarth news »

The Arcadian is an upcoming post-apocalyptic adventure that follows actor J. Larose (of Saw III, Saw IV, and Repo! The Genetic Opera fame) as an enigmatic warrior called "The Lighthouse Keeper" who goes on a quest for "revenge and redemption in a strange future world" we're told is "reminiscent of wild 1970s pop sci-fi."

Inspired in equal parts by samurai movies, rock operas, and underground comics, we're told that the visual world of The Arcadian will be an homage to the work of underground illustrators and be something quite unique due to the fact that it was shot entirely on a Canon 5D Mark II camera - chosen for its unparalleled low-light sensitivity.

The Arcadian has just wrapped principle photography and is heading into an intense round of post. It is due Q2, 2010.

To make up for the fact that we have no detailed plot synopsis yet, we've included a »

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Advert. Subvert. Gonzo (Fake) Commercials within Films

24 November 2009 7:50 AM, PST | Twitch | See recent Twitch news »

"Can't get enough, of the Stuff!"  From the mid-1920s whereupon the eventual Oscar winning film Wings featured a Hershey Chocolate Bar prominently in the story right on up to the use of M&Ms in Steven Spielberg's E.T. and beyond to the modern James Bond films or Castaway (FedEx) or The Great Yokai War (Kirin Beer) or perhaps the worst offender ever:  I, Robot, product placement is simply a large part of big expensive movies.  And many filmmakers have either parodied product placement (ahem, sorry:  Brand Integration) or even invented their own fictional consumer goods that only appear in their movies.  Unlike television, which (in large part) relies on advertising to fund the creation of shows, there are rarely full commercials used explicitly in a film (before the screening of the film is another story, unfortunately!).  But filmmakers love to offer ads for fake products or services or »

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2009 | 2008 | 2007 | 2006

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