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What were the breakout films at this year's Fantastic Fest? Which French horror film had audiences squirming and arguing at Fantastic Fest and Toronto's Midnight Madness? What question couldn't James shake during Zack and Miri Make a Porno -- and what, according to Scott, is that film's secret weapon? And which October films are waiting to be your new fave film of the fall? Joining James this week to talk about all of the above -- and more -- is Cinematical's Managing Editor Scott Weinberg. ... Cinematical's podcast is now available through iTunes; you can subscribe at this link. Also, you can listen directly here at Cinematical by clicking below: As ever, you can download the entire podcast right here -- and those of you with RSS Podcast readers can find all of Cinematical's podcast content at this link.Filed under: Festival Reports, Podcasts, Fantastic Fest, Toronto International Film Festival, The Rocchi Review: Online Film Community Podcast Permalink | Email this | Comments

Above: Jasper Sharp, author of Behind the Pink Curtain; the Alamo Drafthouse; Sean Donnelly (blue shirt), director of doc I Think We're Alone Now; Rian Johnson (glasses), director of The Brothers Bloom; Devin Faraci (glasses and beard), writer, CHUD.com, in the midst of debate; Jay Slater, English writer, ready to resolve a debate by boxing. What qualifies a mainstream comedy like The Brothers Bloom to screen at Fantastic Fest, a festival reknowned for its horror, science fiction, fantasy, and other hard-core genre entries? One answer might be: 'Because co-founder Harry Knowles said so,' but even Knowles wondered if the film belonged in the program. The better answer might be: 'Why the heck not?' The best film festivals in the world are programmed by knowledgeable people who are passionate about presenting films they love to audiences who are eager to discover great new work. In his introduction to the film, which was presented as the first "secret screening" of the festival (titles not revealed in advance; the shows always sell out anyway) on Tuesday evening, Knowles expressed his conviction that writer/director Rian Johnson "creates his own worlds." Certainly there are fairy-tale aspects to Johnson's featherweight con man tale, but I doubt anyone present really cared if the film "belonged" at the festival or not. The steady stream of visual gags drew near constant laughter, though I agree with James Rocchi that the film drags too long and, for me, edged too far into sentimental obscurity. The Brothers Bloom opens wide in January. My screening day began with horror thriller Donkey Punch, a conventional yet refreshingly hard-edged dive into depravity that could be summed up as "threesomes never end well for anybody," a modern updating of the 80s slasher film notion that sexually active teens must pay for their sins by dying in repulsive ways. It's due for limited release in January. Filed under: Comedy, Horror, Independent, Thrillers, Festival Reports, Fantastic FestContinue reading Live from Fantastic Fest: Blooming Excess, Adult Sexuality, and Fantastic Debates Permalink | Email this | Comments

Based on journalist Mark Boal's real experiences following bomb disposal experts in Iraq, The Hurt Locker isn't just a welcome return to big-screen action from director Kathryn Bigelow (who has wrung both fame and infamy with Near Dark, Strange Days and Point Break). It's an assured, confident, swaggering piece of moviemaking that manages to not only evoke every war of the 20th century but also, despite the claims by makers and some reviewers that it's an 'apolitical' film, speaks very specifically to the Iraq war. Even so, plunging us into the thick of things alongside the highly-trained men (and they're all men here) who defuse bombs for the Army, Bigelow and Boal avoid the speeches and postures and long, contemplative talks of home front films like Stop-Loss and In the Valley of Elah by staying in Iraq, and they shun the loopy, loony formal experiments of Brian De Palma's Redacted. Boal and Bigelow stay laser-focused on one group of men with a singular mission, and make us live in the constant possibility of death. Viewed from half a world away, a bomb is a political concern; viewed from less than a foot away, a bomb's just a high-stakes exercise in problem-solving, where making a mistake means a final, terminal education in the physics of expanding gases. The Hurt Locker follows three soldiers -- bomb tech James (Jeremy Renner) and his subordinates Sanborn (Anthony Mackie) and Eldrige (Brian Geraghty) into the jaws of death; it's all last names in The Hurt Locker, as seen on patches and heard in urgent radio dispatches. Early on, Bigleow establishes that people will be killed in this film -- with a bravura sequence that depicts a bomb's detonation on the macro and micro level, billowing bursts of smoke and pressure and flame intercut with gravel and dust leaping choreographed in lockstep by the pressure wave, as if God had slammed his fist on reality hard to make a point -- and while Renner, Mackie and Geraghty are fine actors, they're also unknown enough to subconsciously let us know that they aren't safe from what may happen.Filed under: Action, Drama, Theatrical Reviews, Festival Reports, Toronto International Film Festival, WarContinue reading TIFF Review: The Hurt Locker Permalink | Email this | Comments

Filed under: Comedy, Drama, Theatrical Reviews, Festival Reports, Toronto International Film Festival At any large film festival, it's easy to get caught up in the buzz and the biz of it - most of the time, the press screenings are really press and industry screenings, which means that the person sitting next to you is not some fellow ink-stained wretch who will watch the film and have to write a review but, rather, an acquisitions person who will watch the film and, perhaps, write a check. This doesn't just lead to seat-hopping and movie-jumping as the acquisitions people shrug No, not for us and leave so they can continue their quest; it also leads to getting caught up in an atmosphere where questions of commerce can come more readily to mind than questions of art. So it was with the Toronto screening of Me and Orson Welles, where my feeling warmed and charmed by Richard Linklater's recreation of 1930's literary New York came on the heels of a much more pointed question -- namely, who the hell is going to see it? Starring Zac Efron as a young would-be actor who's recruited for a bit part in Orson Welles' 1937 Mercury Theater production of Julius Caesar, the film skews young in energy and execution, but unless teens are lured into caring about old-timey theater by Efron's name, it's unlikely they'll go; older audience members, who have the advantage of actually knowing, and caring, who Orson Welles is might be put off by the presence of Mr. Efron, who they know solely from their childrens' repeated viewing of High School Musical.Continue reading TIFF Review: Me and Orson Welles Permalink | Email this | Comments

Filed under: Drama, Theatrical Reviews, Festival Reports, Family Films, Toronto International Film Festival, Cinematical Indie, Bondcast The Secret Life of Bees, adapted and directed by Gina Prince-Bythewood from the best-selling book by Sue Monk Kidd, weaves racism and the civil rights movement around the story of Lily (Dakota Fanning), a young white girl taken in by three African-American sisters when she runs away from her controlling, emotionless father. It's a role that's in some ways reminiscent of the character Fanning played in Hounddog, a film that was critically panned and rather controversial for having a scene in which Fanning's character was raped. This time around, there's no such awkward controversy; The Secret Life of Bees is a sweet, mostly charming coming-of-age tale that, while it doesn't particularly break any new ground with regards to the filmmaking, does an able enough job of adapting a bestselling book of the "women's bookclub" variety for the screen. Here's the basic story: Lily is haunted by the death of her mother; now, on the eve of her fourteenth birthday, she's had enough of her father, T-Ray (Paul Bettany), and starts to fight back against him. When their maid, Rosaleen (Jennifer Hudson), is accosted by a pack of angry white men on the way to registering to vote -- and ends up arrested herself for her trouble -- Lily decides that it's time for both her and Rosaleen to escape. She has a vague idea about where to go -- Tiburon, South Carolina -- based only on the name of a town written on one of the few possessions she has of her mother's, and a label from a honey jar. Continue reading TIFF Review: The Secret Life of Bees Permalink | Email this | Comments

After a massive, all-night bidding war, Variety's Anne Thompson reports that Fox Searchlight has snagged The Wrestler for roughly $4 million, marking the first big purchase of the 2008 Toronto International Film Festival. Following its Golden Lion win in Venice and a Toronto premiere that left folks buzzing up a storm, Searchlight, along with Overture, Lionsgate, Weinstein Co. and Sony, began bidding on the flick, which some say solidifies a sure-fire Oscar nod for Mickey Rourke. In the end, it would appear that Searchlight won out ... and after a very successful marketing campaign last year for Juno (which landed all sorts of recognition), it should be interesting to see what Searchlight does with this. So far all the talk has surrounded Mickey Rourke, with folks calling him the comeback kid, what have you -- but not for nothing, I think we have a nice little comeback story for director Darren Aronofsky as well. Great vibes with this one; I look forward to seeing it. Remember when Nic Cage was signed on to this? Heh. Bangkok Dangerous. Double heh. Check out this preview video from Venice, and look for much more on The Wrestler from Cinematical in the next couple of days. Gallery: The Wrestler Filed under: Drama, Sports, Deals, Festival Reports, Distribution, Fox Searchlight, Newsstand, Toronto International Film Festival Permalink | Email this | Comments

The latest balls-out (literally) comedy from Kevin Smith, titled Zack and Miri Make a Porno, has premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival and buzz so far has been pretty damn positive. We'll have a review for you soon, but I will say (after having seen it) that the flick does not disappoint -- it's filthy, raunchy and foul-mouthed, but it packs a ton of heart and more than a few hilarious moments. Definitely an audience film, so see it in the theater and have fun. (p.s. Craig Robinson steals this mofo hands down!) In the meantime, here's what some folks are saying: "Call this one definitely better (and certainly more smoothly shot and cut) than Clerks II, heads and shoulders above Jersey Girl, a bit funnier than Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back, livelier and more entertaining that Dogma, almost as intimate and touching as Chasing Amy, much better than Mallrats and not as good as the original Clerks." -- Jeffrey Wells, Hollywood Elsewhere "Seth Rogen and Elizabeth Banks are enormously appealing as longtime roommates who have no idea they love each other. Yes, it's all hearts and flowers if you just remember to take those anal sex jokes in stride." The Hollywood Reporter "Chemistry between Rogen and Banks is excellent; he bangs out the crude talk with well-practiced, nonchalant expertise, and she�s totally game, throwing it right back at him. Robinson�s deadpan outrage and acceptance of insanity see him neatly underplaying everyone else, and everyone else pitches in to create a nutty group portrait of try-anything common folk." VarietyFiled under: Comedy, Festival Reports, Fandom, Toronto International Film Festival Permalink | Email this | Comments

After years of turning down any and all parties who inquired after the film rights for his novel Blindness, Nobel Prize-winning novelist Jose Saramago finally relented to the director-writer team of Fernando Meirelles and Don McKellar after years of cajoling and convincing. McKellar also has a part in the final film, a sprawling story of ruin and redemption that spanned the globe in its production that's been significantly re-cut -- and significiantly improved -- from the version first unveilled in Cannes in May. McKellar spoke with Cinematical in Toronto about the re-cut version of the film, the secret thread between his brilliant directorial debut Last Night and Blindness (" ... my paranoia about the apocalypse hadn't been resolved yet ..."), how Hurricaine Katrina influenced the look of Blindness, the need for humor at the end of the world and much more. ... Cinematical's podcast content is now available through iTunes; you can subscribe at this link. Also, you can listen directly here at Cinematical by clicking below: As ever, you can download the entire podcast right here -- and those of you with RSS Podcast readers can find all of Cinematical's podcast content at this link.Filed under: Drama, Festival Reports, Podcasts, Interviews, Toronto International Film Festival, Miramax, Cinematical Indie Permalink | Email this | Comments

All the world's a stage, Shakespeare tells us, but just imagine what kind of nightmare it would be if that were actually true. Jean-Claude Van Damme, played by Jean-Claude Van Damme in Mabrouk El-Mechri's JCVD, doesn't have to imagine if it were true, because for him it is; worse, he doesn't even get to pick the kind of stage he's on or the part he's playing. ... JCVD fakes you out from the jump and doesn't stop, opening with a one-cut action sequence set to the pulse and pound of Baby Huey's 8-track soul-funk version of Curtis Mayfield's "Hard Times: "So I play the part I feel they want of me/ And I'II pull the shades so I won't see them seein' me ..." And during the opening, Van Damme, older and slower but still possessed of the skills to pay the bills, kicks and punches and shoots his way through a legion of stuntmen until everything goes wrong. And it's been going wrong for a while, and it's a good thing Van Damme still has the skills to pay the bills because Van Damme has bills to pay: IRS arrears, child support, court costs. On-set, he's getting no support from his director, a truculent young Hong Kong hotshot who doesn't want to hear Van Damme's complaints, insulting him in untranslated rants: "Just because he brought John Woo to America, he thinks he can rub my dick with sandpaper?" Van Damme needs this job; he needs every job. And so, the weary and aching Muscles from Brussels endures, bearing the heavy load of life like a '80s Atlas on unsteady ground in the new millennium.Filed under: Action, Comedy, Theatrical Reviews, Festival ReportsContinue reading TIFF Review: JCVD Permalink | Email this | Comments

Burn After Reading, the latest from the Coen Brothers, makes its North American debut this year, following last year's rapturous Toronto reception for the Oscar-winning success of the tense, terse No Country for Old Men. After making No Country for Old Men, in perverse Coen-logic, the timing is clearly right for a messy, mean-spirited, profane punchy comedy. Burn After Reading is built around a classic Coen plot -- there's a valuable something out there, and various ill-equipped, dimwitted people see it as the answer to all their problems -- and the pleasure of seeing the big ensemble cast bite down hard on small parts until the juice drips down their chin is dry, funny and rich. (Brad Pitt's work alone as a fitness trainer whose I.Q. is as immeasurably low as his body-fat percentage is, bluntly, inanely great -- full of verve and conviction, and deeply funny.) The Coens make movies about desire -- the stuff of drama -- but they often choose to make them about idiocy -- the stuff of comedy -- as well; as various characters around Washington, D.C. pursue, posses or hope to profit from a lost CD of data that an ex-CIA man (John Malkovich, fussy and hilarious) has misplaced, the plot's in part just a canvas for Coen-syle, carefully-timed punchlines and comedy so dry it'll leave your lips chapped. There's also some great inside-baseball movie-joke stuff about the cliches of every techno-thriller -- the Taiko-drum scores, the lower-left-of-the-screen-type establishing place and time, the moody shots of shadowy figures who may or may not be following our heroes -- that work in a smart, sideways fashion, too. And every actor in Burn After Reading is playing someone having some kind of mid-to-late-life freakout, grabbing at chances to be happy, and failing while flailing and spitting out four-letter words as they go down; Kim will have her full review up later, but we laughed. A lot.Filed under: Comedy, Festival Reports, George Clooney, Toronto International Film FestivalContinue reading Live from TIFF: Burn After Reading, Burn Out After Watching Permalink | Email this | Comments

Rachel Getting Married is a terse, smart, funny and tough family drama about forgiveness and failure written by Jenny Lumet; it's also a loose, smart, broad and bright film about family and love directed by Jonathan Demme. When these two things are in sync, the end result is something truly impressive - a moving story that appeals to your heart and soul without insulting your intelligence, a film full of big scenes that never stoops to the most obvious possible iteration of those big scenes, a movie loaded with great and sincere performances from the top down. When the two parts of Rachel Getting Married fall out of synch - as they do, most notably, in the last third of the film during Demme's raucous, joyous post-wedding reception - it's less catastrophic than it is curious, and the final film is still very much worth watching. Rachel (Rosemarie DeWitt) is getting married; her little sister Kym (Anne Hathaway) is coming for the big event ... which involves getting picked up from her most recent stay at a rehab clinic. A cynic could look at Hathaway's part in Rachel Getting Married and paraphrase Robert Downey Jr. in Tropic Thunder: Always go full rehab. And while it's true that the Academy and critics tend to reward gritty, hyperbolic portraits of drug-addiction's misery, the fact is that Hathaway's Kym is not quite as simple as that. Kym knows all the things she's done wrong; she also knows she'll keep doing some of them. Immediately, in the car, the lines of battle are drawn, with Kym going on the offense as part of her defense mechanisms, asking her dad (Bill Irwin) and step-mother (Anna Deavere Smith) about how Rachel's holding up: "Are all of her latent food issues coming up? Is she still hoarding Snickers and Cool Whip under the bed?" Soon, Kym's plunged into the thick of the preparations for Rachel's wedding, responding to the chaos by adding to it. ...Filed under: Comedy, Drama, Theatrical Reviews, Festival Reports, Toronto International Film FestivalContinue reading TIFF Review: Rachel Getting Married Permalink | Email this | Comments

Adam Resurrected, adapted by Noah Stollum Stollman from the book of the same name by Yoram Kaniuk and directed by Paul Schrader, is a darkly abstract and haunting film featuring Jeff Goldblum in his finest, most layered performance ever. Goldblum portrays Adam Steiner, a tragic clown shattered by the horrors of the Holocaust. A clown and ringleader of his own highly successful circus act in pre-War Berlin, Adam finds himself, his wife, and their two young daughters caught in the roundup of Jews. Ironically, his audience was once full of soldiers in Nazi uniforms; now the very people Adam spent his life making happy are just as happy to see him and his family exterminated. Adam in the present is a prisoner of his memories of those terrible years, and now resident ringleader of a fictional asylum for Holocaust survivors in the Israeli desert. He's a man with a fractured soul, and as a result of his unrelenting anguish and guilt, he astounds the doctors in charge of the asylum by the ability of his mind to make his body bleed and even grow malignant tumors as he repeatedly dies and is reborn. Filed under: Drama, Independent, Telluride, Theatrical Reviews, Festival Reports, Oscar Watch, Toronto International Film Festival, Cinematical IndieContinue reading Telluride Review: Adam Resurrected Permalink | Email this | Comments

Flash of Genius is a conventional crowdpleaser but not, I'm pleased to report, a shameless one. Chronicling the true story of a college professor's fight to reclaim his invention - the intermittent windshield wiper - from the car company that stole it, the film does many of the things you'd expect, but it may also surprise you. Don't let its Telluride placement fool you: this is a staunchly mainstream, unchallenging film, the sort of underdog-vs.-corporate-behemoth story you've seen time and again. But it's a decent rendition, hitting the right notes without insulting our intelligence. Now, the intermittent windshield wiper is not exactly the light bulb. If you're not familiar with the term, the wiper is "intermittent" in the sense that it can pause between wipes - a problem that apparently puzzled engineers at all the major car companies until Kearns cracked it the late 60s. But part of what's nifty about the film is its ability to create suspense and curiosity around something so seemingly mundane. Kearns' first demo of his device to Ford is exciting in a very goofy way, but exciting nonetheless. Filed under: New Releases, Telluride, Universal, Theatrical Reviews, Festival Reports, Cinematical IndieContinue reading Telluride Review: Flash of Genius Permalink | Email this | Comments

Filed under: Comedy, Independent, Telluride, Theatrical Reviews, Festival Reports, Toronto International Film Festival, Miramax, Cinematical Indie With his latest effort, Happy-Go-Lucky, director Mike Leigh takes a departure from the dark mood evoked by most of his films with a charming little tale about an eternally optimistic school teacher, Poppy (Sally Hawkins, previously seen in smaller roles in Leigh's films Vera Drake and All or Nothing), who breezes through life, always seeing the glass half full. Poppy is one of those people who never seems to get down about anything. She smiles at surly strangers, strikes up conversations with people who'd clearly prefer to be left alone, and puts a positive spin on everything. When her bike is stolen, Poppy shrugs it off and decides to take driving lessons; her driving instructor, Scott (Eddie Marsan, also a Leigh alum from Vera Drake) is Poppy's polar opposite. Some of the film's best moments are when she's interacting with Scott and we have the dramatic tension of his simmering anger to contrast with Poppy's perkiness. Scott is intensely uptight, seems to hate everyone and everything, and adheres firmly to the belief that if only everyone in life would follow a strict set of rules (his rules, of course), all would be well. Naturally, the two clash. Continue reading Telluride Review: Happy-Go-Lucky Permalink | Email this | Comments

Filed under: Telluride, Festival Reports Every year at Telluride, they do three tributes; this year's honorees are directors David Fincher and Jan Troell and veteran actress Jean Simmons. Last year at Telluride, as you may recall, they showed a 20-minute sneak of the hotly anticipated There Will Be Blood at the end of the Daniel Day-Lewis tribute. This year, with Fincher being honored, buzz abounded that we'd get a sneak peek at his newest film, The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, starring Brad Pitt and Cate Blanchett. There's been a lot of, well, curiousity about this film, which is based on a 1922 F. Scott Fitzgerald short story about a man who ages backwards, and anytime a short story is adapted into a full length film, there's always the question of whether the storyline will stretch to fill the length of a feature film. But having a director like Fincher at the helm and talent like Pitt and Blanchett in the lead roles has been enough to make the project sound interesting. Continue reading Live from Telluride: Sneaking a Peek at 'The Curious Case of Benjamin Button' Permalink | Email this | Comments

Filed under: Documentary, Festival Reports, DIY/Filmmaking, Interviews, Cinematical Indie, Paramount Vantage By: James Rocchi (With American Teen opening nationwide this week, we at Cinematical are re-running our Sundance 2008 interview with director Nanette Burstein.) One of the biggest word-of-mouth buzz hits of the 2008 Sundance Film Festival, Nanette Burstein's American Teen follows a handful of high school students in Indiana for 10 months; the resulting documentary somehow has the look and feel of a Hollywood-manufactured piece of teen fiction, with stylish and surreal animated sequences -- and still offers a touching, bold, you-are-there window into the state of adolescence in America. Paramount Vantage purchased the documentary's rights only a few days ago, but when the director met Cinematical, it looked as if her schedule hadn't gotten any less harried. Asked if she has a future project in mind, Burstein laughs ruefully: "The next thing I'd like to do is sleep for a really long time." Burstein spoke with Cinematical about how she came to be in Indiana, the media-savvy minds of today's kids, the sequences she had to lose from her original "8 hour cut," and much more. This interview, like all of Cinematical's podcast offerings, is now available through iTunes; if you'd like, you can subscribe at this link. Also, you can listen directly here at Cinematical by clicking below: Permalink | Email this | Comments

Filed under: Festival Reports, Comic/Superhero/Geek, ComicCon I'm sorry Frank Miller. I dig you, I do. But I'm officially off The Spirit bandwagon now. We saw the trailer, we saw three scenes, we heard the same pitches that have been all over the Internet, and I am just not feeling it anymore. Let's go into a description of the footage first. We saw three scenes throughout the course of the panel. One of Eva Mendes swimming, having just pulled off some jewel heist. Technically, it was lovely, as it looked like she was underwater when she wasn't (one of the first uses of a "phantom camera" in film, apparently) -- but the scene made little sense. The Octopus was shooting, there were close-ups of his mouth, her accomplice is shot, and it ends with her "Shut up and bleed" line from the trailer. The second was a "love scene" between Ellen Dolan and the Spirit. Again, we get a glimpse of this in the trailer, when he slams her against the blinds. Their consummation is thwarted by the Commissioner, accompanied by a painfully overacted Morgenstern, who the Spirit promptly seduces. The last scene was a one on one fight between the Octopus and the Spirit. They wrestle in the mud, they hit each other with giant wrenches, they punch each other hundreds of times, and Octopus hits the Spirit with a toliet, exclaiming "Toliets are always funny!" It was like 300 (smoky red lighting, weird filming speed) by way of Looney Toons. Continue reading SDCC 2008: 'The Spirit' Panel Permalink | Email this | Comments

Filed under: Festival Reports, ComicCon Watchmen was, hands down, the best panel I've seen at con this year. (It also had the best swag -- a "Who Watches the Watchmen?" t-shirt!) I don't think I have been as stunned by preview film footage since Zack Snyder brought 300 two years ago. I don't think even Snyder's detractors can deny that he can turn out some cool footage. And let's just cut to my paltry description of it, as I know all many of you out there would have killed to be in my place. If you haven't read the book, here be spoilers. The Watchmen scenes were literally goosebump inducing, and so much more than an extended trailer. It was set to a really eerie choir piece (any attendees know the name of that?) and began with a close-up of a certain smiley-face button dripping with blood. We saw a more gruesome version of Vietnam, with Dr. Manhattan's incineration being just a little more vicious somehow, and an extended version of his being stripped away, intercut with Osterman assembling clock pieces, and knocking down milk bottles at a state fair. Rorschach was the center of an especially chilling scene of his examination of the Comedian's apartment, and we saw his mask in action. It looks fantastic and very organic, not CGI at all. Continue reading SDCC 08: Elisabeth Watches the 'Watchmen' Panel Permalink | Email this | Comments

Filed under: Action, Festival Reports, Fandom, Exhibition, DIY/Filmmaking, Comic/Superhero/Geek, ComicCon Above: Rose McGowan licking blood off a sword The room was packed for the Red Sonja panel today featuring Robert Rodriguez, Rose McGowan and director Doug Aaroniokoski, and images of Rose McGowan in that skimpy metal bikini were everywhere (what you see above was one of around 2,000 t-shirts handed out. Below are easy-to-read notes on this particular panel: -- Red Sonja will hit theaters in the fourth quarter of 2009 (one imagines for Christmas) -- Robert Rodriguez is acting as a "hands on" producer, and will co-direct a good chunk of the flick. Not only is he doing this for Red Sonja, but he's also negotiating to produce a new Conan film. It seems as if they would eventually (if both are popular enough) cross promote between films. -- The tone will be darker, like the book, and when asked if it would be R rated, Rodriguez said, "My name is double 'R'!" --Also on tone and scope, McGowan (who's quite lively and quick-witted in person) said it's "hard, cold, dirty and bloody." And that she's looking forward to "taking a big giant sword and killing a lot of people." -- Training is already underway, and McGowan is working with the same swords experts who helped out on Matrix and Ninja Assassin. -- Rodriguez also admitted that Barbarella is officially off, and that Red Sonja has taken its place. He said financing of $70 million did come through from Germany for a shoot next year, but he's obligated to shoot something else for Miramax. He's negotiating right now to direct a "huge summer movie" -- but he wouldn't say which. -- On the character, Rose McGowan said: "I will not have a mullet!" The crowd cheered. -- Red Sonja will be shot on location (scouting now) and will use some green screen. -- Asked who should star in the new Conan, RR shouted: "Danny Trejo!" -- On Machete becoming a film, RR said they have plans to turn it into a Mexploitation triple feature disc (and somewhere on that disc will be a trailer for a sequel to Planet Terror.) -- On Sin City 2, Frank Miller has finished writing the script, but no one knows whether or not that's going to happen with each working on different projects. P.S. For those who think Rodriguez and McGowan aren't a couple anymore, check out this candid snapshot (taken right before RR kissed RM on the forehead). Gallery from the panel below. My opinion: It looks pretty hot, and while I've bashed McGowan in the past, I'm willing to give her a chance to kick some ass here. This will be her time to shine. Gallery: Red Sonja Comic Con Panel Permalink | Email this | Comments

Filed under: Festival Reports, Fandom, Movie Marketing, Comic/Superhero/Geek, ComicCon In less than 24 hours, myself, Scott Weinberg and Elisabeth Rappe will be in San Diego, overdosing on all things geek for the next five days. That's because the 2008 San Diego Comic Con is upon us, and there are literally hundreds of different things to do. We'll be sitting on panels (catch yours truly on the Masters of the Web panel), attending panels, interviewing stars, hanging with Storm Troopers, playing with cool toys, going to screenings (Fanboys, Tropic Thunder, Mutant Chronicles, etc ...) and, well, getting our dance on at some of the coolest parties this side of the galaxy. It's intense. We're excited. And if you're not able to attend, then you best be checking out Cinematical all day long later this week as we'll be shoveling out tons and tons of content. And speaking of content, here's a taste of what you can expect from your pals at Cinematical: Panel Coverage: Masters of the Web When: Thursday, July 24th -- 10am. Who: Robert Sanchez (IESB.net), Garth Franklin (Darkhorizons.com), Mike Sampson (Joblo.com), Erik Davis (Cinematical.com), John Campea (TheMovieBlog.com), Brad Miska (Bloody-Disgusting.com), Eric "Quint" Vespe (Aintitcool.com), Devin Faraci (CHUD.com), Paul Christensen (Movieweb.com), and Kellvin Chavez (Latinoreview.com). Moderated by directors Mark Neveldine and Brian Taylor (Crank 2, The Game). Room 32AB Watchmen When: Friday, July 25th -- 11:55am Who: Zack Snyder, Malin Akerman, Billy Crudup, Matthew Goode, Carla Gugino, Jackie Earle Haley, Jeffrey Dean Morgan, Patrick Wilson Gallery: Watchmen Much, much more after the jump ...Continue reading Cinematical's Comic-Con Preview! Permalink | Email this | Comments

Filed under: Action, Universal, Theatrical Reviews, Festival Reports, Comic/Superhero/Geek I stumbled out of Hellboy II: The Golden Army feeling as if my imagination had eaten too much. In terms of sheer spectacle and visual invention, Hellboy II is an absolute knockout, frames stuffed with bizarre creatures and mystic runes and arcane weaponry and wondrous design. And yet, Hellboy II has more than a little heart to it; it's scrappy and self-aware, and never out of touch with what it is. Adapting Mike Mignola's post-superhero retro-styled comic series Hellboy for the second time, writer-director Guillermo del Toro corrects some of the mistakes of the first Hellboy, makes a few mistakes of its own, picks itself up, keeps going. And, on the way, knocks the back of your eyeballs for a loop. As our British friends say, Hellboy II: The Golden Army does what it says on the tin: It is a sequel about a character named Hellboy (Ron Perlman), and yes, an army of golden warrior-robots is involved, the mystical weapon of mass destruction that the elf-prince Nuada (Luke Goss) hopes to seize control of so as to wage war against humanity ... I know I'm getting ahead of myself. Then again, so does Hellboy II, right from the jump, and it doesn't slow down.Continue reading LAFF Review: Hellboy II: The Golden Army Permalink | Email this | Comments

Filed under: Documentary, Music Jackson Browne's dropped in to sing a few songs. John C. Reilly has hosted casual, extemporaneous chat shows there; composer Jon Brion (best known for his work on Paul Thomas Anderson's Magnolia and Punch-Drunk Love) has held shows where he alternates constructing songs out of intricately arranged loops of instrumental figures he records live and composes and conducts on-stage with spirited cover versions of requests shouted out from the audience. Co-directed by Largo manager and co-owner Mark Flanagan and Andrew van Baal, Largo recreates the Largo experience; loose, smart, random and unique. Mixing concert musical performances with snippets of comedy, the final film makes you feel like you've been to Largo, even as the more elegant notes in the black-and-white composition and the vignettes of the club's rhythm and tempo between the acts make it abundantly clear you're watching a film that was constructed and not just a tape that was turned on.Continue reading LAFF Review: Largo Permalink | Email this | Comments

Filed under: Drama, Independent, Theatrical Reviews, Festival Reports, Cinematical Indie, Los Angeles Film Festival Frank (Shane Andrews) is coming back to L.A. after some time away. He looks into a job, where the supervisor Larry (Seymour Cassel) says he can have the position " ... on account of you came all this way and you ain't drunk." Frank goes to the apartment he shares with his girlfriend, Rita, but she isn't there. He leaves her a note every time he steps out, but she doesn't seem to be getting them. And as Frank gets from point a to point b riding the busses and walking the sunburnt streets of Los Angeles, we have to wonder where he's going and where he's coming from. ... Written and directed by Ben Rodkin, Big Heart City consciously evokes the 'beautiful loser' cinema of the 1970s, from the unrepentantly conflicted nature of Frank's character down to the presence of longtime John Cassavetes collaborator Cassel. Shot on 16 millimeter film -- a rarity in the digital video age -- Big Heart City not only has the grit and grain of old-school technology but the grit and grain of old-school storytelling. Frank goes to work; he goes to the track; he rehearses the stories he tells Larry, although we can't be sure if he's trying extra hard to convince Larry or convince himself. And the longer Frank waits for Rita, the more we see him bend and break under the strain of cruel hope.Continue reading LAFF Review: Big Heart City Permalink | Email this | Comments

Filed under: Action, Universal, Theatrical Reviews, Festival Reports, Angelina Jolie, Comic/Superhero/Geek, Los Angeles Film Festival When Wanted was announced as the opening night film for the Los Angeles Film Festival, there was a mild outbreak of head-scratching over the choice; why start a film festival loaded with independent and foreign film with a big-studio action movie? The fact is that the opening-night LAFF premiere of Wanted -- directed by a Kazakh director who made his name in Russia, loosely based on a series of comics by a Glasgwegian Scot, starring America's most notable movie starlet opposite a Glasgow-born lead actor and shot with Prague standing in for Chicago -- doesn't say much about the LAFF as a film festival and doesn't say a single thing about L.A. as a real city, but it says plenty about L.A. as a company town with a global span. Wanted's a corporate product, but, thankfully, it's an excellent one -- the two-fisted, double-barreled high-octane guilty pleasure summer action movie you've been waiting for. Wanted is speedy and spiffy and shiny as a bullet, and it's got about as much actual weight when it stops moving. Continue reading LAFF Review: Wanted Permalink | Email this | Comments

Filed under: Comedy, New Releases, Theatrical Reviews, Festival Reports, CineVegas The slick new version of the dusty 1960s television comedy Get Smart is one of the better TV adaptations to come along in recent years. It's faithful to the original without being overly reverential, it modernizes the premise without mocking it, and you can fully enjoy it even if you've never seen the TV series. Oh, and best of all -- it's funny. Steve Carell deserves much of the credit for that, easily rebounding from the dubious Evan Almighty (which I thought was OK, thanks to him) and reminding us of the 40-year-old virgin we fell in love with. Carell is a master with awkward, inept characters (as he demonstrates week after week on The Office), and Maxwell Smart proves to be a perfect fit for his skills. Or maybe he's just so good that he can make ANY character seem like it was tailor-made for him. Maxwell Smart, as you may know from the shticky old show created by Mel Brooks and Buck Henry, is an agent for CONTROL, a secret government organization that's even more under-the-radar than the CIA. The public was told that CONTROL was disbanded when the Cold War ended, but it continues to operate secretly in the customary underground facilities. (Washington D.C. would have to be completely hollow to house all the various fictional government groups whose headquarters are under its streets.)Continue reading CineVegas Review: Get Smart Permalink | Email this | Comments

Filed under: Documentary, Cannes, Festival Reports, Podcasts, Interviews James Toback's known for cult classics (Fingers, Black and White) and puzzling experiments (When Will I Be Loved); this year, he's at Cannes with his new documentary Tyson, focusing on the life and times of a curiously muted and repentant Mike Tyson -- which received a standing ovation when it opened the Un Certain Regard selection. James Toback spoke with Cinematical at Cannes about the genesis of the project, the challenges of dealing with Tyson as a subject instead of as a friend, and about the ongoing negotiations with his 8-year old son over a possible part in his next film. This interview, like all of Cinematical's podcast offerings, is now available through iTunes; if you'd like, you can subscribe at this link. Also, you can listen directly here at Cinematical by clicking below: Permalink | Email this | Comments

Filed under: Tribeca, Festival Reports, Podcasts, The Rocchi Review: Online Film Community Podcast What were the top films at this year's Tribeca Film Festival? What have been the breakout performances of this year's fest? What does Tribeca need to do to be even better next year? And finally, is the question of if Iron Man's box office will take a hit from Grand Theft Auto IV lazy journalism, or just plain stupid? Joining the Rocchi Review this week along with your regular host James Rocchi is Cinematical's Editor-in-Chief Erik Davis to talk about all these topics and much more. Cinematical's podcast is now available through iTunes; you can subscribe at this link. Also, you can listen directly here at Cinematical by clicking below: As ever, you can download the entire podcast right here -- and those of you with RSS Podcast readers can find all of Cinematical's podcast content at this link.Permalink | Email this | Comments