Thursday, January 22, 2009

The Man who KIlled Don Quixote

Fans of Terry Gilliam will no doubt be aware of the saga of The Man who Killed Don Quixote.  The film was abandoned part way through after a multitude of misfortunes beset the crew.  The story is told in the excellent documentary Lost in La Mancha.


NOw Empire reports that Gilliam has started rewriting the script for the film, after finally getting the rights back following protracted discussions with the rights holders. 

Writing partner Tony Grisoni stated: "I re-read the greatest script ever written and realize we gotta get rewriting! I really wanna knock that one out in the next month or so." B

Gilliam says that he has "some very different ideas" for the film from the original incarnation, and that "[I'm] starting to think I was lucky, because maybe the film will be better seven years later. It will have matured a bit longer."

Wednesday, January 14, 2009

RIP Patrick McGahoon



Patrick McGahoon, best known for his roles in TV series The Prisoner and Danger Man has died aged 80. McGoohan also co-starred in numerous films, including a memorable turn in David Cronenerg's Scanners.

Karate Kid

Variety reports that Jackie Chan will take over from Pat Morita as Mr Miyagi in the Karate Kid remake.

The remake stars Jaden 'son of Will' Smith and in a change from the original will be set in Asia.

Whoopee.

Golden Globe Winners

Best Supporting Actress: Kate Winslet, “The Reader”
Best Original Song: Bruce Springsteen, “The Wrestler”
Best Supporting Actor in a Series, Miniseries or Movie: Tom Wilkinson, “John Adams”
Best Supporting Actress in a Series, Miniseries or Movie: Laura Dern, “Recount”
Best Performance by an Actor in a Television Series, Drama: Gabriel Byrne, “In Treatment”
Best Actress in a TV Series, Drama: Anna Paquin, “True Blood”
Outstanding Animated Feature: “WALL-E”
Best Performance by an Actress in a Motion Picture - Musical or Comedy: Sally Hawkins, “Happy-Go-Lucky”
Best Mini-Series or Motion Picture Made for Television: “John Adams”
Best Supporting Actor in a Motion Picture: Heath Ledger, “The Dark Knight”
Best Foreign Language Film: “Waltz With Bashir”
Best Performance by an Actress in a Mini-Series or Motion Picture Made for Television: Laura Linney, “John Adams”
Best Screenplay: Simon Beaufoy, “Slumdog Millionaire”
Best Performance by an Actor in a Television Series - Musical or Comedy: Alec Baldwin, “30 Rock”
Best Performance by an Actor in a Mini-Series or Motion Picture Made for Television: Paul Giamatti, “John Adams”
Best Television Series - Musical or Comedy: “30 Rock”
Best Original Score, A.R. Rahman: “Slumdog Millionaire”
Best Performance by an Actress in a Television Series - Musical or Comedy: Tina Fey, “30 Rock”
Cecil B. DeMille Award: Steven Spielberg
Best Director - Motion Picture: Danny Boyle “Slumdog Millionaire”
Best Performance by an Actor in a Motion Picture - Musical or Comedy: Colin Farrell, “In Bruges”
Best Motion Picture - Musical or Comedy: “Vicky Cristina Barcelona”
Best Performance by an Actress in a Motion Picture -Drama: Kate Winslet, “Revolutionary Road”
Best Television Series - Drama: “Mad Men”
Best Actor in a Motion Picture - Drama: Mickey Rourke, “The Wrestler”
Best Motion Picture - Drama: “Slumdog Millionaire”

Saturday, January 10, 2009

Watchmen

This Japanese trailer contains quite a bit of new footage.


The Expendables

Mickey Rourke has signed on as the latest member of Sylvester Stallone’s The Expendables. 

Rourke will join Stallone, Jason Statham, Jet Li, Randy Couture, Dolph Lundgren, Forest Whitaker and Ben Kingsley in a story about an “expendable” team, hired to do jobs that no one else can or will.  Sounds like as cross between the Dirty Dozen and the A Team.

The team is sent to infiltrate a South American country to overthrow the ruthless dictator and liberate the country and is set to begin filming in Brazil and Louisiana in March.

Source - Variety

Street Fighter - The Legend of Chun Li

Official American trailer, courtesy of IGN.com




A Christmas Carol


First pic of Jim Carrey as Ebenezer Scrooge in Robert Zemeckis' performance captured Christmas Carol.

Source - Slashfilm.com


Valkyrie

Slashfilm has the first five minutes of Tom Cruise's Nazi flick Valkyrie, in which he plots to assassinate Hitler.

The Slammin' Salmon

The Broken Lizard comedy troupe can be hit or miss to say the least, but this trailer for their latest effort 'The Slammin' Salmon', indicates at least a partial return to form after the execrable 'Beerfest'








Source - Collider.com

Transformers 2

Teaser poster for the giant robot sequel, which pissed off fans of eighties cartoons everywhere.

Source - Aint It Cool News

Last House on The Left

As the original finally gets an uncut release in the UK, Apple have the trailer for the forthcoming remake of Wes Craven's 1974 horror film.  The film looks reasonably close to the original (with one major exception), and the trailer pretty much gives away the entire plot, so those who don't want their viewing spoiled should exercise caution before clicking on the play button.





Watchmen

Fox and Warner may be getting closer to settling the legal dispute which threatened to delay the March release of Zack Snyder's superhero movie.

A court had previously ruled that Fox owned distribution rights to the movie as a result of a previous development deal.  Now  Variety report that -

"Attorneys for the studios agreed Friday to delay a federal court hearing until Monday in order to continue settlement talks.

The hearing had been set to take place Friday before the US District Court to rule on Warner's request for an expedited hearing on the key issue -- whether to grant Fox's demand to block Warner's plans to release "Watchmen" on March 6."


We're back!

Following an extended christmas break, we are back and raring to go with all the latest film news for 2009.

As always, if anyone has any stories to contribute, please do so using our usual contact details.


Saturday, December 20, 2008

Denis leary reviews Denis Leary Movies

Judge Dredd

DNA films hope to erase memories of the Sylvester Stallone flop with a new film version of 2000 AD's Judge Dredd. The official press release is below:


Rebellion and 2000 AD are proud to announce that Judge Dredd is coming to a cinema near you soon!

Together with DNA Films, the movie production company behind such great sci-fi movies such as Sunshine and 28 Weeks Later, Judge Dredd will go into production in 2009.

Jason Kingsley, CEO and Creative Director said, ‘We can’t give away too many details at this point, but we’re looking forward to working with DNA Films to bring Judge Dredd back to the big screen.’

We’ll keep you up to date with breaking news as it happens!

Saturday, December 13, 2008

Golden Globe Nominations

Little love for The Dark Knight, with only one nomination for Heath Ledger. Entertaining as Tom Cruise's brief Tropic Thunder cameo was, I would also question whether it was award worthy. Anyhow, here's the full list


Best Motion Picture (Drama)

The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
Frost/Nixon
The Reader
Revolutionary Road
Slumdog Millionaire

Best Motion Picture - Musical or Comedy

Burn After Reading
In Bruges
Happy-Go-Lucky
Mamma Mia
Vicky Cristina Barcelona

Best Supporting Actor
Tom Cruise - Tropic Thunder
Robert Downey Jr. - Tropic Thunder
Ralph Fiennes - The Duchess
Philip Seymour Hoffman - Doubt
Heath Ledger - The Dark Knight

Best Director

Danny Boyle - Slumdog Millionaire
Steven Daldry - The Reader
David Fincher - The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
Ron Howard - Frost/Nixon
Sam Mendes - Revolutionary Road

Best Actor (Drama)

Leonardo DiCaprio - Revolutionary Road
Frank Langella - Frost/Nixon
Sean Penn - Milk
Brad Pitt - The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
Mickey Rourke - The Wrestler

Best Actress (Drama)

Anne Hathaway - Rachel Getting Married
Angelina Jolie - Changeling
Meryl Streep - Doubt
Kristin Scott Thomas - I've Loved You So Long
Kate Winslet - Revolutionary Road

Best Original Song

"Down to Earth" -- WALL-E
"Gran Torino" - Gran Torino
"I Thought I Lost You" -- Bolt
"Once in a Lifetime" -- Cadillac Records
"The Wrestler" -- The Wrestler

Best Original Score

Defiance
The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
Slumdog Millionaire
Frost/Nixon
Changeling

Best Animated Film

Bolt
Kung Fu Panda
Wall-E

Best Foreign Language Film

The Baader Meinhof Complex
Gomorrah
I've Loved You So Long
Waltz with Bashir


Best Actor - Musical or Comedy

Javier Bardem -- Vicki Cristina Barcelona
Colin Farrell - In Bruges
James Franco -- Pineapple Express
Brendan Gleeson - In Bruges
Dustin Hoffman - Last Chance Harvey

Best Actress - Musical or Comedy

Rebecca Hall - Vicki Cristina Barcelona
Sally Hawkins - Happy-Go-Lucky
Frances McDormand - Burn After Reading
Meryl Streep - Mamma Mia
Emma Thompson - Last Chance Harvey

Best Supporting Actress

Amy Adams - Doubt
Penelope Cruz - Vicky Cristina Barcelona
Viola Davis - Doubt
Marisa Tomei - The Wrestler
Kate Winslet - The Reader

Best Screenplay

Simon Beaufoy - Slumdog Millionaire
David Hare - The Reader
Peter Morgan - Frost/Nixon
Eric Roth - The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
John Patrick Shanley - Doubt


Watchmen

Un francois traileur pur le Watchmen

or something like that. Here's the international Watchmen trailer, currently turning up on French screens and offering new footage not found in previous versions.

Inglourious basterds

New image of Brad Pitt in Tarantino's next.

Source: Cinematical

Terminator Salvation




New image from McG's Terminator sequel, which slowly appears to be winning people around.

Readers in the UK can also pick up this months Total Film, which features articles on both this film and the original Terminator, together with a special 'flashing eyes' Terminator cover, which scared my cat.

Source: Cinematical