Movie News: Thursday, October 19

300 Make Up Effects Video
   

Al gave me the heads up on the nice little video from the 300 video journals. This entry is focused on the make up and effects for a couple of the key supporting characters in the movie. Click the image to check it out!

Borat on Night of Too Many Stars
   

Good grief... this was funny... especially the part about Khazak censors objections to anti-semitism:

Resident Evil: Extinction Production Diaries
   

The Resident Evil series has all but one quality that makes me want to watch it. Milla Jovovich kicking ass. Yeah, that's about it. Sure the games were fun, and you had to wear depends if you played it alone at night in a dark basement with the lights off and surround sound.... er.. so I hear.

Arrow In The Head offers:

As far as story line is concerned I seem to be finding some inconsistencies. There have been several times where I have read that the story revolves around Alice (Milla Jovovich) leading a group of survivors through the desert to get revenge on the Umbrella corporation for what they've done, yet in the interview below Jovovich says that her character is traveling through the desert alone until she stumbles across some survivors that make her fight zombie dogs.

Anyways, I can't say I am overly excited about another Resident Evil. Sure, Milla is hot. Im just not sure thats enough anymore.

The links to the journal Diaries are Here and Here. They are in German, but the parts where the actors talk is in English. You pretty much get the gist of what is going on for the rest of it.

Have fun!

Borat Offends Gypsies
   

The Borat character is something of a phenomenon. Yeah, he says the wrong thing but really, thats the point. So I thought it was strange when I read this from Yahoo News:

"We are accusing him of defamation and inciting violence against Sinti and Roma (gypsies)," Marko Knudsen, head of the European Center of Antiziganism Research, told Reuters. Antiziganism refers to hostility to gypsies.

The group said it had filed a complaint to prosecutors over the film, "Borat: Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan," saying it treated violence and discrimination against Roma peoples as acceptable behavior.

State prosecutors in Hamburg will investigate the allegations before deciding whether to take action.

In the satirical film, which is due to open in Germany on November 2, Cohen, creator of the comic character Ali G, plays Borat Sagdiyev, a fictional Kazakh television journalist who travels to the United States to report back on the American way of life.

The film's comic barbs also target gypsies, Jews, women and many other groups.

The complaint adds to a series of protests against Cohen's creation, whose views are not only racist and anti-Semitic but also misogynist and homophobic.

Some of the most prominent criticism has come from Kazakhstan, Borat's central Asian homeland.

My favourite part of the Yahoo Report was this quote:

Knudsen's group has asked for an injunction to stop the film from being shown in Germany. "We called the distributors, but they laughed at us," he said.

What do you think?

Unconventional path for Eastwood's "Flags" (Reuters)
   Reuters - With its moody depiction of the iconic flag-raising atop Iwo Jima, the poster for Clint Eastwood's "Flags of our Fathers," opening Friday, promises a conventional exercise in wartime heroics. But as moviegoers are about to discover, when Eastwood hits the beach, the path he takes is anything but conventional.

Aronofsky's "Fountain" had slow flow to screen (Reuters)
   Reuters - The long and winding road that Darren Aronofsky's "The Fountain" took on the way to the big screen, where it opens November 22, reveals the challenge an independent filmmaker faces when he encounters a big studio's moviemaking process.

Around The Web - October 19th 2006
   

Wow... slow news day today... but here are some things you MIGHT be interested in:

- Click #1 in DVD
Too bad the movie was such a let down. Just under $10 million in it's first week. Nothing compared to the X-Men 3 total of about $50 million, but still not bad.

- "If I Did It" By O.J. Simpson
"The former football great, who was acquitted in criminal court 11 years ago of killing his ex-wife, Nicole Brown Simpson, and her friend, Ron Goldman, reportedly has been paid a whopping $3.5 million to write about the double murder that shocked and riveted the nation in 1994, according to a detailed report in the new National Enquirer. But Simpson is not actually confessing to the murder — rather, he’s writing a “hypothetical” book — which the Enquirer reports is tentatively being called “If I Did It.” Yeah, this one will be a movie in about 10 minutes.

- Roger Bard To Star In Hostel 2 and American Gangster

- Quentin Tarantino Getting Pissed off
Found this via slashfilm. QT getting right pissed off on the Oscar Red Carpet and going after an MTV host. Wow.

- The Good German trailer
George Clooney, Cate Blanchett, Tobey Maguire, directed by Steven Soderbergh.

Blair Witch Director's New Movie "Altered"
   

Ed Sanchez, creator and director of the crazy successful "Blair Witch Project" (and no, he didn't have anything to do with the horrible Blair Witch 2: Book of Shadows), has a new flick finally coming out called "Altered"... and it's going straight to DVD. To bad, because it sounds like it could be amazing! Our friends over at FIlm Junk give us the following:

Altered is another low budget horror movie, this time about an alien abduction, but there’s a twist: it’s also a revenge flick. Fifteen years ago, five friends were abducted and only four returned. Now they’ve managed to capture one of the creatures responsible for taking their friend… payback is a bitch, right?

I think Altered sounds fantastic... can't wait to see it. Comes out December 19th

Terminator 4 Writer says "No Arnie"
   

A lot of people are still holding on to the idea that some how... some way... Arnold Schwarzenegger will appear in Terminator 4 despite all of the reports that seemed to suggest otherwise. Well... there's another strike against the idea... the writer of Terminator 4 says he's not in it.

The good folks over at Coming Soon had this to say:

Terminator 4 co-writer Michael Ferris has given Entertainment Weekly a hint about what we can expect from the next installment. First, however, he addressed the questions on whether Arnold Schwarzenegger will be back. "'Terminator 3' kind of closed the book on Schwarzenegger, as did his gubernatorial career," said Ferris, who wrote the fourth film with John Brancato.

I love Arnie... always have and I always will... but him getting all buffed up one last time for Terminator 3 (which was over 4 years ago when he filmed it) was just that, ONE LAST TIME. Arnold is turning 60 in a few months, and while he could still kick the living crap outta me... the fact of the matter is his action movie days are over... at least as a huge unstoppable power droid... he just can't be believed in that role anymore.

Sure, put him in another Conan movie where you can at least make Conan an older, aging King who is called to glory one last time, or is training another to take his place... but the Terminator doesn't age. He can't play the same guy he did 20 years ago. It just won't work. Some argue that it didn't work for #3... but I thought they did it ok.

Record 61 films compete for foreign language Oscar (Reuters)
   

Reuters - A record 61 films will compete for this year's foreign language film Oscar, including the first entry from Kazakhstan. But the list may be reduced if a reluctant Finnish director withdraws his work.

Soldiers, magicians compete at box office (Reuters)
   Reuters - Clint Eastwood's World War Two heroes will vie for supremacy at the weekend box office with a pair of vindictive magicians.

For Your Consideration - Trailer
   Christopher Guest turns the camera on Hollywood for his next film, “For Your Consideration.” The film focuses on the making of an independent movie and its cast who become victims of the dreaded awards buzz. This latest project will feature performances from his regular ensemble, including co-writer Eugene Levy.

Marie Antoinette Reviews
   

The early Marie Antoinette reviews are coming in, and they don't look too bad. Not fantastic, but pretty solid. I've got to admit I haven't had one shred of interest in this film ever since I saw the first trailer for it a few months ago. The fact that Sofia Coppola is directing it gets my attention, but nothing I've seen so far has solidified that. Looks like it might be worth watching after all.

Here is what some of the critics are saying about Marie Antoinette reviews:

Highly theatrical and yet also intimate and informal, Marie Antoinette lets its story slink almost casually through its lovingly composed and rendered images.
A.O. Scott - New York Times

The work of a mature filmmaker who has identified and developed a new cinematic vocabulary to describe a new breed of post-postpostfeminist woman.
Lisa Schwarzbaum - Entertainment Weekly

Let them have eye candy pretty much sums up Sofia Coppola's approach to her revisionist and modernist take on the famous royal airhead who in the end lost her head.
Todd McCarthy - Variety

If Sofia Coppola isn't the queen of slow, she's the princess of bore. Despite its sumptuous production design and cinematography, this is grotesquely superficial, slow, and boring.
Tony Medley - tonymedley.com

Flags Of Our Fathers Reviews
   

The early Flags of our Fathers reviews are coming out... and althought they're pretty good, they're not as good as I (or a lot of other people) were expecting. Certainly not Oscar type reviews anyway. I really like Clint Eastwood as a director. He's not affraid to make a point, or say something with his films, even if that something isn't popular at times... and I like that... even if I don't always agree with him.

So here is what the critics are saying in their Flags of our Fathers reviews:

In Flags of Our Fathers, the story behind that Iwo Jima image, Clint Eastwood has crafted a bold and meticulous epic.
Richard Corliss - TIME Magazine

In Flags of Our Fathers, Eastwood is here to tell us that the reality of World War II was scarier and darker than any inspirational photograph.
Owen Gleiberman - Entertainment Weekly

A rambling mess of random war images mixed with sentimental recollections ... delivers a generic retelling of events, sampling liberally from other sources without offering anything new.
Edward Douglas - ComingSoon.net

The good news is that Flags is a stately, sober picture that boasts excellent production values. The bad news is that it's not particularly interesting or involving.
Ethan Alter - Premiere Magazine

The Prestige Reviews
   

Early The Prestige reviews are coming out, and they don't look great. As a matter of fact, I'm really disappointed in what I'm reading. The Prestige has been one of the films I've most been looking forward to seeing ever since watching the trailer a few months back... but so far no one I've talked to who has seen it is raving about it. A bunch of people like it... but didn't love it. Damn!!

Here is what some of the critics are saying in their "The Prestige" reviews:

>"Pic insists on a depth of human emotion that isn't developed -- protags emerge as one-dimensional, despite the efforts of two of our best leading actors -- amid increasingly elaborate, uninvolving plot mechanizations."
Dennis Harvey - Variety

The Prestige isn't art, but it reaps a lot of fun out of the question, How did they do that?
Owen Gleiberman - Entertainment Weekly

A dazzlingly complicated narrative; indeed, it might prove a little too complicated for many viewers.
Andy Klein - Los Angeles CityBeat

Audiences might enjoy this cinematic sleight of hand, but the key characters are such single-minded, calculating individuals that the real magic would be to find any heart in this tale.
Kirk Honeycutt - Hollywood Reporter

Ok, let me use a sports analogy here. Sometimes, when a GREAT football team is playing a crap team this week, but a GOOD team next week, they'll be so focused on next week that they forget to give their full attention to the team they're playing NOW and get beat... my question is... COULD THAT BE THE CASE HERE? Could Nolan have been too preoccupied with Batman 2 stuff that he didn't have enough focus on The Prestige??? Just a thought. Tell me what you think after you see the film.

The Lack of Art in Entertainment
   

Art and entertainment are curious things. Sometimes they can be the same thing. Art can be entertaining... and sometimes Art isn't. Sometimes entertainment is art... but often it's not. Both "art" and "entertainment" are subjective ideas. They're not black or white or numbers that can be quantified. What one person sees as "art" can be viewed as trash by another. What one person finds entertaining, another can find boring... so they really are hard concepts to nail down.

Having said that, let me talk about art for a moment in my own subjective way. To me, "ART" isn't just something pretty to look at, or watch or listen too. Art isn't JUST a visual or audio manifestation of someone's talent. To me, that's just a craft...

To me, "ART" is what happens what an artist uses their gifts to EXPRESS something through their particular medium. ART is when an artist has something to say, a thought to express or a feeling to emote through their talent. ART then elicits a response from us, a reaction to the message, thought or feeling it conveys. Maybe joy or anger or fear... perhaps we approve or disapprove... but either way it is what art does.

Entertainment needs no message or feeling to accomplish it's goals. A guy prancing like he's on a horse with another guy running behind him slapping coconut shells together to sound like galloping hoofs isn't art... but it is entertaining (depending on who you ask). Entertainment without art has value in and of itself.

However, I find it a little sad that for the most part, we, the movie going audience, seem to have lost much of our appreciation for art. Fewer and fewer films get made these days that actually have something to say. Films like Crash, Million Dollar Baby or even Little Miss Sunshine (these are just examples) struggle to gain an audience, while the majority of us flock (and I'm one of them) to see Jackass 2.

THERE IS NOTHING WRONG WITH FILMS THAT ARE JUST ENTERTAINING. Hell, I don't even WANT any art in The Transformers next summer. Just give me giant robots throwing each other through buildings and I'm as happy as a kid on Christmas. But I think it's sad when we lean too far one way or the other. When we become so easily satiated with art in film that we no longer seek it out and actually seek to avoid it, i think it becomes a lugubrious commentary on us as a people.

We don't want to be challenged, we no longer want to be provoked in our thinking. People don't seem to want to engage their minds anymore when watching film (at least not en mass').

Sometimes a few of us will lament there aren't more films that "say something" or have more artistic value to them being made. But really... who is to blame? It's not the studios who make the films. It's not their fault. But rather it's us. We tell the studios what kinds of films we want to see by what we go to... and for the last few years the strong and clear message we've been sending them is "GIVE US ENTERTAINMENT WITHOUT MAKING US THINK". And they've obliged.

Entertainment for entertainment's sake is great. I love movies that just plain entertain me. They have their place and I'm grateful for them. But I think a lot of us (myself included) need to expand ourselves a bit and pay a little more attention to the films that have something to say, movies that will make us think... movies that we agree or don't agree with... movies that say something and elicit a response from us... movies that are art.

New tour spotlights Washington movie locations (Reuters)
   Reuters - There's more to Washington movie scenes than long shots of the Capitol dome or overhead views of the Pentagon -- the typical fare of political and spy thrillers.

Dreamgirls - Trailer 2
   Set in the turbulent early 1960s to mid-70s, Dreamgirls follows the rise of a trio of women - Effie, Deena and Lorrell - who have formed a promising girl group called The Dreamettes. At a talent competition, they are discovered by an ambitious manager named Curtis Taylor, Jr., who offers them the opportunity of a lifetime.

Italy cheers filmmaker Tornatore's comeback (Reuters)
   

Reuters - Oscar-winning Italian director Giuseppe Tornatore returns to the big screen after a six-year break with his new film "The Unknown," the harrowing story of an Ukrainian immigrant haunted by her dark secrets.

Eastwood examines nature of heroism in new movie (Reuters)
   

Reuters - In the twilight of his career, Clint Eastwood is in a bleak mood, and never more so than in his latest film in which he turns a symbol of American patriotism -- raising the flag at Iwo Jima -- into a story of human waste and manipulation.

Tim McGraw shed tears for movie "Flicka" (Reuters)
   

Reuters - He grew up riding horses and roping cows but when it came to playing a cowboy in the movies, country and western singer Tim McGraw wanted no part of it.

`Monsterfest" brings horror films to AMC (AP)
   AP - The toughest part about making a truly frightening film, according to director John Carpenter, is keeping a straight face.

Islamist to shoot movie on Brotherhood founder (Reuters)
   Reuters - A member of the Muslim Brotherhood who plans to make a movie about the Islamist movement's founder says he wants the film to tell the life story of his hero rather than spread propaganda for the group.

MTV newsman Yago sells Iraq war script (Reuters)
   Reuters - Veteran MTV News correspondent Gideon Yago has sold a movie script inspired partly by his work covering the Iraq war.

Lollobrigida to wed man 34 years younger (AP)
   

AP - Gina Lollobrigida, once dubbed "the most beautiful woman in the world" after the title of one of her movies, is getting married to a man 34 years her junior.

Kazakh official to Borat: Come visit (AP)
   

AP - A top Kazakh official has an invitation for the British comedian whose depiction of a homophobic, misogynistic, English-mangling Kazakh journalist has outraged the Central Asian nation: Come visit.

Ang Lee named China Olympics consultant (AP)
   

AP - Oscar-winning director Ang Lee has been recruited to the roster of star arts consultants for the 2008 Beijing Olympics. Lee joins a creative team that includes fellow directors Zhang Yimou, who is in charge of the Games' opening and closing ceremonies, and Steven Spielberg, also a consultant.

The story of the Iwo Jima photograph (AP)
   

AP - In Clint Eastwood's new film "Flags of Our Fathers," moments after the stars and stripes are raised atop Mount Suribachi during the battle of Iwo Jima, Associated Press photographer Joe Rosenthal is asked if he "got it."

Spielberg presents Holocaust documentary (AP)
   

AP - Steven Spielberg presented a documentary about the Nazi massacre of tens of thousands of Jews at the Babi Yar ravine in Ukraine, several weeks after Ukraine marked the 65th anniversary of the tragedy.

Sofia Coppola pregnant with baby girl (AP)
   

AP - Sofia Coppola is seven months pregnant with a baby girl, her spokesman, Robert Garlock, confirmed Thursday.