The lovely Lena Headey is a favorite with just about everyone here at Cinematical -- click on her tag and you'll see many love letters devoted to her films both past and upcoming. Now she's adding a new credit to her resume, as Headey will be taking the director's chair for her film Kill Drug.
Formerly titled Retribution, it's a project Headey has been attached to for some time ... and when you want to get a movie done, you tackle it yourself. Starring Headey, the formidable Charlotte Rampling, and Jason Flemyng, it centers on an underground group of Longon vigilantes. Headey will star as Sally, a woman recruited into by its founder ... who just happens to be her mother, Sue, who murdered her abusive husband back in the 1970s. However, Sally discovers that all is not as it seems, and that absolute power corrupts absolutely ... and probably that working with your mother is a really bad idea.
"My ambition to direct has been fuelled over the last fifteen years, by working alongside great directors. It has also been my film education," Headey told Empire. "Kill Drug is smart, articulate, compelling, sexy, fun, dark, deeply poignant and not afraid to laugh at itself. Above all it is a gripping and compelling journey, a study of humanity's darkest flaws and purest innocence."
Headey has been slowly making her mark as one kickass chick in films and television -- and it's pretty darn cool that she's going to join the rare, elusive breed of female directors. Hopefully Kill Drug will be the first of many on her resume.
There's just something so gratifying about a vigilante flick isn't there? Sure, they might be a little silly, but you're usually guaranteed a very satisfying night at the movies. Now that F. Gary Gray's Law Abiding Citizen is back gearing up for production, The Hollywood Reporter has announced that four new cast members have just signed to star alongside Gerard Butler and Oscar winner Jamie Foxx in the thriller; they are: Michael Gambon, Leslie Bibb (Iron Man), Colm Meaney and Theresa Randle (Bad Boys II).
In Citizen, Butler plays a successful assistant D.A., who finds himself at the center of a plot for revenge hatched by Foxx after he's been screwed by the legal system. When Foxx discovers that one of the men responsible for the death of his wife and daughter is about to go free, he targets everyone who had either something to do with the murder, or the impending legal deal.
Citizen is the first film to come out of Butler's Evil Twins shingle, and it's had some high-powered help along the way -- including a rewrite by Frank Darabont, who was also set to direct at one time, but there were some personnel changes and now Gray, a former music video director, is at the helm. Not to mention the script is still scheduled for a polish by Sheldon Turner (The Longest Yard) before the film starts production on January 21st.
Law Abiding Citizen will arrive in theaters later this year.
So Erik-with-a-k covered the coming comedies of 2009, Scott was all over the horror picks (though his inclusion of Race to Witch Mountain still boggles my mind), Eric-with-a-c nabbed the family-friendly fare, and Elisabeth went over the geek fodder that awaits. But while I respect their calendar years and made-up math alike, I've opted to divide my list of 2009's action and adventure flicks into four categories: Action Flicks I Couldn't Care More About, Action Flicks I Couldn't Care Less About, Action Flicks That I Hope Surprise Me, and Those Which Fell In Between. Enjoy!
Action Flicks I Couldn't Care More About: First and foremost -- Watchmen (March 6th). It's one hell of a graphic novel and looks to be one hell of an adaptation (with or without the Giant Blank), and come Fox or high water, it'll see the light of day soon enough. Then there's Public Enemies (July 1st), which has me sold on not the subject matter, but sheer pedigree: Michael Mann directs Johnny Depp and Christian Bale as '30s gangsters. (It doesn't hurt that the earliest word ranges from damn good to great.) On the skimpier side, I can only hope that Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince (July 17th) streamlines its source material as the previous one had, and I can only hope that Crank 2: High Voltage (April 17th) lives up/down to the depravity of its predecessor. There's one last action movie that I couldn't care more about because, well, I've already seen a version of it. The international cut of Taken (January 30th, though reportedly opening with some R-dodging trims) is about as brisk and butt-kicking as one might hope out of a man-on-a-mission kidnapping thriller, and if you disagree, I'll send Liam Neeson to change your mind.
Check out a preview of the merchandising terror that awaits us this summer when Terminator: Salvation hits theaters. While I would like to think they're rough prototypes, they look pretty darn finished ... and wow -- these remind me of the action figures we had back in the 80s, the ones that looked absolutely nothing like Harrison Ford or Mark Hamill. I thought today's children were going to be safe from that kind of disappointment.
As bad as they are (are those happy cyborgs?), there's actually a little Sam Worthington spoiler involved in the next set, which I'm including after the jump. As Slashfilm notes, it's not technically a spoiler if you were watching the trailer and putting two and two together, and the marketing will probably let it slip anyway. But just in case, I'm putting the next photos after the jump -- and then including our Terminator: Salvation gallery so you can remember what Christian Bale actually looks like. That is supposed to be Bale, right?
It isn't just superhero stories that do brisk business in Hollywood these days -- horror comics are popular too. Variety reports that the latest to be optioned is The Night Projectionist, an upcoming miniseries published by Studio 407, which will be brought to the big screen by Myriad Pictures. The two have also teamed up for Hybrid, which will begin production later this year.
Penned by Bob Heske, it's a story more along the lines of 30 Days of Night than the bloodsuckers of Twilight or Underworld. The story kicks off in 18th century Romania (as all vampire stories must) as a village prepares to lynch a village girl for launching a vampire plague that is destroying their humble townsfolk.
Fast forward to present day and Halloween's Eve, where an all night Dracula-thon film festival is taking place in a decrepit theater. Unluckily for the attendees, the projectionist is a vampire -- and with his help, the human audience is trapped inside, ready to be feasted upon. (This could happen to any one of us -- carry a crucifix to your next all-night film festival, readers.) It all connects back to that unlucky Romanian village, and the man who betrayed it all those years ago.
You can catch a preview of the comic over on Studio 407's website -- the art is fantastic and there is actually a pretty cool twist in just 8 pages of story. (For the artistically inclined, there's also a behind-the-scenes look at the artwork on Horror Comic Book News.) Heske's first issue isn't due on shelves until February, but it's gotten good reviews from Ain't It Cool News, Comics Bulletin, and the Rundown already. Definitely one to look out for.
When we were kicking around ideas for year-end superlative Cinematical Sevens, I was proudly tasked with chronicling the year's finest in big-screen mayhem, violence, destruction and other such shenanigans. When I was kicking around ideas for said feature between me, myself, and I, there were too many titles to leave off the list, so instead of highlighting only a mere couple of movies, I've opted to sort these puppies out by specific manner of cinematic excess.
So there.
1.Most pervasive destruction - The Joker may have terrorized Gotham to the tune of a destroyed hospital, a wrecked helicopter, a sunken SWAT truck, a toasty fire engine, and a golden district attorney, but even he can't top the Cloverfield monster's swath of destruction across the real-life Gotham. Statue of Liberty? Gone. Brooklyn Bridge? History. Central Park? Adios. And that's not including all the Hollister stores that our protagonists might've fled to. (On a smaller scale, though, Inside's lady in black terrorizes a pregnant woman on Christmas Eve to the point of all but painting every last wall in her house with the blood of her victims. Gotta love the French!)
Seemingly needless to say, spoilers for the Shia LaBeouf techno-thriller Eagle Eye will soon follow.
Seriously, I don't want to hear any complaints. I done warned ya.
Alright then. So, as much as the film tested my suspension of disbelief in theaters -- which it did, in no small frequency -- I pretty much went with it and enjoyed it, though nothing says studio ex machina like the rah-rah happy ending in which Shia takes several bullets while thwarting an evil computer's elaborate assassination attempt on the President of the United States and his entire Cabinet, but magically manages to make it to Michelle Monaghan's son's birthday party after all, Guitar Hero make that Rock Band in hand (hey, now that bit rhymes!).
Well, according to the video after the jump, bootlegged borrowed from the recent DVD release, another ending was actually considered... and then written... and then filmed where the kids are playing the game before it freezes up and indicates that (duh-duh-DUH!) said evil computer is back online and coming after him, them, and maybe even YOU!
Last Monday, yours truly was invited to help a friend of a friend out by offering to review Frost/Nixon on their podcast. As it turns out, it was the /Filmcast we were talking about, and it happened to be the same night that head honcho here Erik Davis was due to join in. Small world, eh?
So we tag-teamed our film chatter with the cool guys over at /Film -- David Chen, Adam Quigley, and Devindra Hardawar, to be specific -- and you can listen to that episode right about here. When Erik isn't twirling his hair around his finger and gushing about MTV's episodes of True Life, he and the gang manage to get around to discussing all the latest film news from Terminator: Salvation to the potential Suck Rogers with Frank Miller at the wheel.
I also took part in the /Film After Dark podcast and a recent year-end horror wrap-up extravaganza with just about everyone over at Bloody Disgusting, so with any luck and nearly no shame, we hope to share those as well. For those of you wishing to listen to David, Devindra and Adam record their next /Filmcast live, they'll be looking back on 2008 in film this coming Monday at 9 PM EST/6 PM PST.
My main (and only big) problem with Bryan Singer's Valkyrie is the same problem I have with "movie stars" in general. For example, I believe that Tom Cruise is a very fine actor, or at least a generally underrated one, but since he's a Movie Star before he's an Actor (and yes, he is), I find it almost impossible to LOSE him in a role. Sean Penn gets lost in a role. He just vanishes! Johnny Depp does it a lot, too. (Or at least he used to before the Pirate flicks came along.) Julia Roberts as a Victorian Queen is still Julia Roberts to me, which is why I prefer those chameleon-ish character players like Gary Oldman and John Malkovich.
In other words, I never once (for a second) "bought" Tom Cruise as a grizzled, burnt-out, one-armed German army officer in the new wartime thriller Valkyrie -- but because he's a movie star who knows how to carry a flick, he still anchors the tale with a strong and crisp screen presence. And while, yeah, it is a little distracting to hear high-ranking German soldiers speaking with American, British and Irish accents, the simple fact is that Valkyrie is a very slick old-school-style adventure movie. In some ways it feels like a perfectly enjoyable mid-'50s war movie that's been re-made with only the finest in modern cinematic technology. The plot is pure potboiler, but the look is grade-A Hollywood.
Best known as the writer of The Usual Suspects, Christopher McQuarrie has an impressive number of films on his resume (including his criminally overlooked directorial debut, The Way of the Gun), but Valkyrie -- opening nationwide this week -- saw him also serve as a producer alongside director Bryan Singer and star Tom Cruise. A thriller about the 1944 plot inside the German military to try and assassinate Adolph Hitler, Valkyrie turns one of history's nightmares into a taut modern thriller -- a tricky balancing act that the film pulls off: "What we tried to do was to always maintain the focus that this was a movie about an event, that this was a movie about the events of July 20th (1944), and remain focused on that. We weren't making a bio-pic, we weren't making a film about the Holocaust -- all of those things were happening ... (but) this movie is about this incredible event that happened. ... And at the same time, maintaining a sense of responsibility."
McQuarrie spoke with Cinematical from New York about working alongside the German government, how producing a mega-million war film was like "drinking from a firehose," forgoing German accents, his possible future take on superheroic franchise The Champions and much more. You can listen to the podcast here at Cinematical by clicking below:
You can also download the interview in full right here -- and those of you with RSS Podcast readers can find all of Cinematical's podcast content at this link.
I have the sneaking suspicion that Seth Rogen'sThe Green Hornet remake may go the way of its failed predecessors. Over the weekend, Monika reported that Stephen Chow was no longer directing the film -- now comes the news that Chow may not remain as Kato, either.
Chow told the AP that he had abandoned directing the film in order to make a superhero comedy starring Jack Black. "If I direct The Green Hornet, the superhero comedy will have to be delayed for two years," Chow said. "The timing might not be right for a superhero comedy in two years. And I want to make a movie based on an original idea."
Presumably, directing Black might also interfere with his Kato-playing duties -- something Chow confirms by saying that continuing in the role depends on his schedule. If you're a conspiracy theorist, you can speculate away about whether Chow's really passionate about Black and original superhero comedy, or whether it's those vague "creative differences" reported earlier.
Judging from the comments, Rogen's Hornet isn't too popular anyway. I was unsure about the comedic angle the project was taking, but Chow's casting was something to hang your hopes on, particularly if they reined in his slapstick style. But maybe that's precisely what the "differences" are. Maybe they just need to quit forcing this one, and let the Hornet sit for the unforeseeable future?
Here's a glimpse of the post-apocalyptic to send you off to holiday cheer. Two new Terminator: Salvation photos have leaked online and landed at /film and Film School Rejects from the mysterious Christopher M., but reportedly hail from Total Film Magazine. If you've been paying close attention to the concept art that has popped online, you'll know that John Connor is examining one of the hydrobots. Let's hope it's well and truly dead, and that Connor doesn't come away with a minced hand seconds later -- these things can supposedly attack via air or water. I'm not sure how humanity can win this one either, John.
The second photo is just a nice atmospheric one, featuring one of humanity's lone warriors facing the wreckage of a downed plane. The post-Judgment Day landscape still manages to produce lovely sunsets, at least. I was expecting this movie to take place in the perpetual darkness of the first Terminator, so it's reassuring to see nuclear winter hasn't actually set in. Both pictures (as well as the brand new poster) have been added to the gallery below, along with the concept art of the hydrobots.
Warning: This post contains spoilers for The Da Vinci Code.
I read about fifty pages of The Da Vinci Code before hurling it across the room. I sat through the stupid movie – the whole thing – and hated every miserable moment. It now faces some stiff competition from Twilight, but before this year I would have been hard-pressed to come up with a less interesting pop culture phenomenon. At least for a non-Christian like me, who has no reason to be stunned by the notion of Jesus Christ having procreated, The Da Vinci Code simply had nothing to offer.
I don't consider myself a masochist, but I don't mind being a guinea pig. So I thought doing Angels & Demonsin this column would be fun, in a way.
It would have been great to be able to say that Angels & Demons was some sort of revelation (no pun intended); it certainly would have made this post easier to write. Alas, it ranks among the dumbest things I've ever read: an adventure book for fourth-graders, seemingly written by a sixth-grader. In an effort to make itself "accessible" to absolutely everyone, it makes its characters into nitwits – which is problematic since its characters are Harvard professors and world-class particle physicists. Dr. Robert Langdon, played by Tom Hanks in both films, has never heard of a particle accelerator – or maybe he has, and is just astounded to learn that it's an enormous underground structure. Antimatter is a new concept as well. At one point, the novel helpfully explains who Galileo was. You get the idea.
Coming up on the new year, it's interesting to see which films we had thought would've been released by this point. In the summer of 2007, I recall myself and several colleagues showing up for a press screening of Jonathan Levine's lauded slasher, All the Boys Love Mandy Lane, only to discover it was canceled just that morning and the film had been sold from the Weinstein Company to Senator that afternoon. (The film has since landed at Sony, whose indie arm, Sony Classics, already saw Levine's follow-up, The Wackness, to a proper theatrical reception.)
At least the Weinsteins gave something up for a change. The oft-shuffled Killshot and Fanboys are tentative January and February releases at the moment, respectively, and I just want to see for myself if The Poughkeepsie Tapes has been worthy of its modest reputation following a BNAT '07 screening -- the same BNAT that featured the reportedly sweet Trick 'r Treat that WB continues to hoard.
A perhaps more morbid curiosity has me keeping an eye on Paramount's Case 39, just to see if it's really that bad, and who knows what similar straits Assassination of a High School President, The Accidental Husband (originally last March), and Possession (originally last February) are in following Yari Film Group's bankruptcy -- not that I have much invested in the last two, but Assassination is a perfectly release-worthy noir take-off that deserves a home.
So what do you guys and girls think? Which of these are you most dying to see? What was the longest you ever waited to catch something, and were you ultimately disappointed or satisfied by the time it came your way?
Jack Ryan will live again, if Paramount gets their way. According to The Hollywood Reporter, they've hired Hossein Amini to pen a brand new Jack Ryan picture for the studio.
Amini is best known for his classic literature adaptations like Jude, The Four Feathers, and The Wings of the Dove (for which he was nominated for an Oscar). But he seems to be moving into action films these days, like the upcoming Elmore Leonard adaptation Killshot, and he's currently working on James Sallis' Drive for Hugh Jackman. So, Tom Clancy should be a relative breeze in comparison to Leonard, Sallis, and Thomas Hardy.
However, he won't actually be adapting a Clancy book -- Amini will be penning an origin story that reboots the character into a young man, and puts him at the center of an original story. Paramount is hoping that Ryan can become a new franchise, just like they're aiming for with Star Trek, G.I. Joe, Transformers, and Avatar: The Last Airbender, among others.
But really ... is Jack Ryan really worth franchising? I enjoyed The Hunt for Red October and Patriot Games like most of the civilized world, but am hard pressed to name anything very memorable about Ryan. He's not James Bond, with cars, women, and martinis, or Bourne with his amnesia, lethal skills, and boxes of passports. What is he, other than a smart guy who thwarts international plots? I've never read the books, so I could be missing something important. But from what I can see, he just has a cool name, and that translates to a brand these days?
The lovely Lena Headey is a favorite with just about everyone here at Cinematical -- click on her tag and you'll see many love letters devoted to her films both past and upcoming. Now she's adding a new credit to her resume, as Headey will be taking the director's chair for her film Kill Drug. 
There's just something so gratifying about a vigilante flick isn't there? Sure, they might be a little silly, but you're usually guaranteed a very satisfying night at the movies. Now that F. Gary Gray's 
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It isn't just superhero stories that do brisk business in Hollywood these days -- horror comics are popular too. 
Seemingly needless to say, spoilers for the Shia LaBeouf techno-thriller 
Last Monday, yours truly was invited to help a friend of a friend out by offering to review 
I have the sneaking suspicion that 
Jack Ryan will live again, if Paramount gets their way. According to 
