David Fincher is pulling together this remake of the oft-filmed Jules Verne tale of a mad scientist/sub captain who rages at mankind’s capacity for and love of war from beneath the waves. No, the sub probably won’t look like the wonderfully baroque Disney design of the 1950s. And more’s the pity, especially since this will be a Disney project.
It will be filmed in Australia, thanks to generous incentives offered Down Under.
Love the beat, the upbeat vibe of Steven Soderbergh’s “Behind the Candelabra,” with Michael Douglas vamping Lee Liberace and Matt Damon eye-popping as the gold digger. May 29, HBO.
Redford teaches us one last lesson about the ’60s. When he was just coming into his own as a movie star. He plays a long on the lam ’60s radical pursued by reporter Shia LaBeouf.
There’s Terrence Howard, Brit Marling, Brendan Gleeson and Chris Cooper along for the ride. “The Company You Keep” opens April 12.
Yeah, she was Sharpay in “High School Musical,” and was good at it. She’s in “Scary Movie 5,” because, well, eventually everyone ends up in a “Scary Movie.”
Ashley Tisdale will be 28 this summer, and I’m curious about what the future holds, her hopes and fears.
How about you? I’m looking for suggestions — lines of questioning that might yield paydirt.
Post any questions for Ashley as comments and I’ll ask them. And thanks for the help.
A big cast, texting and talking their way to an understanding of our cell phone addiction and the barriers to communication facing us all? That’s how “Disconnect” looks, based on the trailer, a “Crash” with cell phones. It opens next week, offers the rare chance for Jason Baseman to play something dramatic. So fingers crossed.
The heist picture gets a few Danny Boyle head-game twists with “Trance,” a movie about memory, the mind and manipulating both to find some “lost” stolen art.
James McAvoy is Simon, trusted employee of a London auction house. On the day they put Goya’s “Witches in the Air” under the gavel, thieves attack, but Simon is on the case – following company protocol as he safeguards the priceless ($25-50 million) painting.
Only he didn’t. And when he took a conk to the head as the robbery went down, he lost his memory of where he stashed it.
That has the gang led by Franck (Vincent Cassel) in a tizzy. They’re tearing up his apartment, tracking him down. And when enhanced interrogation methods don’t help, they turn to a hypno-therapist.
“Whatever’s in his head, she can find it,” they say. “She” is Elizabeth, who usually helps people forgot to smoke or remember where they put their car keys. Here, without knowing Simon’s real purpose, she sets to work – quietly, mesmerizingly putting him in a trance.
The toughest secrets we keep, she purrs, are those “we’re keeping from ourselves.”
“Trance” has a pulsing energy to it during the heist and its aftermath, switching to something more serene and meditative as Elizabeth tries to unlock Simon’s secrets, and figure out what those secrets really are, for herself.
Boyle, working from a script by “Doctor Who” vet Joe Ahearne and regular Boyle collaborate John Hodge (“Trainspotting,” “The Beach”), teases out the mystery and stages vivid flashbacks which we have to reason out because some are clues, are some aren’t – how Simon came to be involved in the caper, connections between the various characters, shifting motives and allegiances.
Cassell, a villain’s villain in the French films about the bank robber Mesrine, turns up the menace and the charm, making Franck a not-unreasonable guy who can be the very height of unreasonable when he’s crossed.
McAvoy is not at his best here. I had a hard time believing anything he did or said, mainly because of his blasé reactions to the finger-nail pulling torture the character endures early on. Seriously, that smarts and you get little sense of that from him.
But Dawson (“Sin City,” “Unstoppable”) has her best role in years as Elizabeth, despite having the water-carrying job of explaining hypnosis, the mind and her methods to the mobsters (and the audience), adds an exotic mystery to this plainly damaged woman caught up in a dangerous game.
For all its plot trickery, mind science and relationship square dancing, “Trance” doesn’t have the emotional tug or technical pizzaz of Boyle’s best films – “Slumdog Millionaire,” “Trainspotting” or “127 Hours.” It feels more like a technical stunt, but one he pulls off with his usual panache, if not his usual heart.
(Roger Moore’s revealing interview with Danny Boyle and Rosario Dawson is here.)
MPAA Rating: R for sexual content, graphic nudity, violence, some grisly images, and language
Cast: James McAvoy, Rosario Dawson, Vincent Cassell
Credits: Directed by Danny Boyle, written by Joe Aherne and John Hodge. A Fox Searchlight release.
Running time: 1:41
Crowd sourcing pushed for this, a shortened version of the trailer linked here that will run before showings of “Star Trek Into Darkness.” Private funds were raised — crowd-funding, actually.
A suggestion? Get Nimoy to narrate. Or Takei. Somebody American with some “Trek” connection. Even Frakes or Bakula or Mulgrew.
I’m serious. Go bold or go home. “Star Trek” inspires people to get into fields that will get them into space. Complete the circle, drive the point home.
A large, extended family gathering in a remote home interrupted by a lone, murderous attacker. Crossbow, ax, an alarming mask, and motived. “You’re Next” has what I like in a horror picture — terror based in reality, a life-or-death dilemma that doesn’t involve Jigsaw. Look for this in August.
The universally poor reviews didn’t help Stephenie Meyer’s “The Host.” Word of mouth must have been weak, the novel wasn’t nearly as popular as “Twilight” and the cast lacked that pre-release K-Stew/R. Patts sizzle.
So “The Host” will be lucky to clear $10 million this weekend, picking up a little more than that by the time Monday night is paid off.
“Tyler Perry’s Temptation” was irresistable to his fans. Terrible reviews for this one, but it’s pulling in over $22 million this weekend, mid-20s by Monday night. That exceeds the high-teens expectations built into this non-Madea sermonette.
But “G.I. Joe: Retaliation” is truly review-proof, pulling in $41 million+ over the weekend, a bracing payback for Paramount pulling it from last summer’s schedule and re-shooting it. Not a bomb, though whether it will break even after US/and International numbers (over $100 million abroad) are tallied isstill up in the air.
“The Croods” lost 40% of its opening weekend audience and did over $26, though Easter Sunday tallies could improve that.
We had a hint of what might come in “Tropic Thunder.” But Matthew McConaughey’s “run” didn’t kick off until “The Lincoln Lawyer.”
Since then, there was “Bernie,” solid work in support of Jack Black, and “Killer Joe,” an under-appreciated performance that could have found an Oscar nomination.
And “Magic Mike,” where he took all his shirt-doffing baggage and made it pay off, another scene-stealing supporting turn that should have delivered an Oscar nomination.
You can’t even hold “The Paperboy” against him, as he was the least embarrassing thing in it.
Now, there’s “Mud,” about a man on the run, the woman he’s running to and the river-wise country boys who give him a helping hand. He’s dangerous, needy, lovelorn and a down home philosopher, to boot. A great part and he’s great in it.
Got questions for Matthew M.? Post them as comments below, please. I have a few in mind, but I could always use the help.
