This is going to be one of the greatest films of the year. I know becuase I have already seen a rough cut of it, and that rough cut was one of the most satisfying movie going experiences I have had in the past couple of years. Also, Cate Blanchett proves once again, even in this 3 minute clip, that she is one of the greatest actresses of our time, if not the greatest!
Check it out!
I can think of no greater actress working in Hollywood these days, accept for maybe Meryl Streep, than Cate Blanchett. She has a rawness and a vitality about every performance that beckons the audience's attention even through the blandest of stories. She was shrewd and electrifying as Kathryn Hepburn in THE AVIATOR, defiant and strong in VERONICA GUERIN, beautiful and terrifying as Galadriel in THE LORD OF THE RINGS, and in notably her greatest role to date, her portrayal of Queen Elizabeth in ELIZABETH and the upcoming ELIZABETH: THE GOLDEN AGE, she is haunting, powerful, yet riddled with fear of failure and vulnerability. She fills the screen with so much veracity that even the real Kathryn Hepburn, who many consider the greatest film actress of all time, might take some notice.
It seems as if Scott Derickson is about to have his hands very full for the next few years as he takes on a cinematic version of PARADISE LOST. PARADISE LOST is the 500 page epic poem written by John Milton in the 1700 which tells of the angelic rebellion in Heaven led by the arch angel Lucifer, his impending fall along with 1/3 of God's own angels, as well as the inevitable fall of Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden. Milton's poem is based on the story of the fall of man, which can be found in the Bible's Old Testament book of Genesis, along with stories of the angelic rebellion being found in the Old Testament book of Ezekiel, and the New Testament book of Revelations among other places. Both Derickson and his producers feel determined to do the story justice as it is part of the most pivotal beliefs in 3 of the worlds largest belief systems: CHRISTIANITY, JUDAISM, and ISLAM. The fall represents the exact point in history in which man lost its perfect communion with God through the entrance of sin into the very nature of humanity, necessitating that God himself would have to redeem mankind through the sending of the messiah. The producers already feel like the film has the potential to be equal or greater in scale to that of LORD OF THE RINGS. Let's all keep are fingers crossed on this one!
It looks like M. Night Shayamalan will be returning to the director's chair once more on the Fox released THE HAPPENING, opening June 2008. Word of this comes even after Night's first commercial failure with LADY IN THE WATER, and his messy parting from Disney. I did not think LADY deserved the immense beating that it got from critics, but I definately felt that it was his weekest film thus far. Too much of the film felt like a commentary on how Night had been wronged by his critics on his past films, especially THE VILLAGE. For me, LADY came off more as ego driven melodrama than the lighthearted bedtime fantasy story that it yearned to be. Don't get me wrong, I am a HUGE M. Night fan. I believe that he is one of the most original and inventive directors to date. His use of sound, score, and camera set-ups only add to his indistinguishable style of filmmaking, besides the fact that he has one of the greatest senses for casting in the business, you might even call it his sixth sense.
The Hollywood Reporter has just annouced that JJ Abrams, director of last years Mission Impossible 3 and the producer of ABC's LOST and ALIAS will officially helm the next film in the STAR TREK franchise. The film will be a sequel to the orginal Star Trek T.V. show, and will center around the meeting of James T. Kirk and Mr. Spock at Star Fleet Academy. The film will begin pre-production in the coming months!
Narnia Web has posted a list of all the cast members that have been officially released. Principal photography on the film is already underway in NEW ZEALAND (shooting location for such films as... Lord of the Rings, Last Samari, etc...).
You can view the cast list at the following website:
http://www.narniaweb.com/cast.asp
It seems that the only cast member yet to be announced is that of King Miraz, the tyrranical leader of the Telemarines, a nation from the North who has invaded the land of Narnia and taken it from its rightfull ruler, Prince Caspian, the nephew if Miraz.
It has long been rumored that one of Spielberg's next projects was going to be a bipoic on Abraham Lincoln. We now get official word from actor Liam Neeson (Schindler's List, Batman Begins, Kingdom of Heaven) that he is indeed preping for the role. This is exciting to hear because I can think of no better choice than Neeson. Not only does Neeson exude masculinity and gravitas in a world where male leads have been watered down by the feminization of our culture, but he is also one heck of an actor. Great choice Mr. Speilberg, I can't wait!
Here is a recent interview Neeson did with COMINGSOON.NET:
(http://www.comingsoon.net/news/movienews.php?id=18545)
ComingSoon.net sat down in New York on Tuesday with Liam Neeson to talk about his role in the new western Seraphim Falls. During the discussion he let spill some details of his preparation for Steven Spielberg's planned biopic Lincoln, in which Neeson will play the famously tall and doomed 16th President.
ComingSoon.net: Did what you learned about the Civil War era for "Seraphim Falls" inform your preparation for "Lincoln"?
Neeson: Oh absolutely, yeah because when they asked me to do "Seraphim Falls" I was already a year into research for "Lincoln." Very very heavily into the Civil War and that whole period. That's still an ongoing process.
CS: What sort of things are you doing to portray this person who was certainly never captured on film and whose physical mannerisms and voice are basically hearsay?
Neeson: We know a lot about him, it's not hearsay. There's over two-thousand books written on this man. Two-thousand. Some of them are great books, I've read about twenty-two maybe.
CS: Have you visited his home?
Neeson: I've been there. I've been to Washington, I've held his wallet, I've said a prayer on the Bible he was inaugurated on. Still ongoing… there's an extraordinary Lincoln bicentennial committee, a place I go to in Washington. I got to know this guy Michael Bishop who's the co-chair. He gave me access to all this Lincoln stuff. I read his personal letters and stood on the stage at Ford's Theater.
CS: Did they let you into the balcony?
Neeson: You can't go in there, no. It's sealed off. But I love the fact that he loved the theater. There's not too many presidents you see going to see plays every so often. Lincoln did, all the time! He supported live theater, which is terrific.
CS: He should have stayed away from "Our American Cousin."
Neeson: I know. (laughs)
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*Note: Neeson will also be returning as the voice of the Great Lion Aslan in the Chronicles of the Narnia: Prince Caspian, which arrives in theaters May, 2008!
Check out this incredibly funny YouTube video that just might change you mind about everything you remember about "Mary Poppins." This clip really shows you the power of editing and music when done correctly.
Here is the link: http://www.ropeofsilicon.com/news.php?id=4847
What, a Bond that bleeds, who gets bruised, whose doubts his own ability to be fulfilled with a life in the British Secret Service, and undoubtedly a Bond with a soul. Could this possibly be a real James Bond movie, it is, and it is unlike anything we have seen from the Bond universe before. There is no villain bent on world-domination, no cheesy catch-phrases or puns, no expendable women only filling the screen for the sole purpose of sex appeal and male ogling, and no gadgets to get Bond out of the exact situation they were meant to get him out of. He must fight and struggle to beat the odds, and boy does he have his successes and his failures. This is a bond that is real, a bond that is human, a bond that is hopefully here to stay.
The whole purpose of Casino Royale is to show how Bond becomes Bond. In fact, this is the Batman Begins of the Bond series. Bond didn't always drink a martini "shaken and not stirred," he did not always view women as dispensable pleasures, he was not always the bond we all know him to be, yet in Casino Royale we begin to understand why he becomes that way. In essence, this is very much an origins film about Bond being sent on his first mission to stop and international terrorist from garnishing millions in a secret poker tournament at famed Casino Royale. Bond is sent in to seek out the mastermind behind the tournament, who is trying to save his own hide from African militants. What we get with this plot of twist and turns is some of the most thrilling action scenes of recent years, one of if not the best scripts of the franchise, and a movie the takes you into the psyche of the man that has come to be regarded as one the greatest hero's in all of Hollywood History.
When news that Daniel Craig was stepping into the shoes of 007, and when Bond fans around the world said "Nay," I got excited. I was excited because Craig has come boldly upon the Hollywood scene in recent years with a sense of sheer veracity and pure masculinity, and he brings every ounce of it into his role as Bond. Just looking at his track record shows why he is such a great pick including rolls in such films as Lakercake, his exception performance as Tom Hanks nemesis in Road to Perdition, and his near Bond performance as a Mosad assassin in Steven Speilberg's Munich (The movie that sold me on Craig as Bond). There is no doubt that Craig was the best choice among others thought to be choice picks (i.e. Ewan McGreggor, Clive Owen).
Casino Royale is the most real and gritty bond of all them all. It may even rival Goldeneye and Goldfinger as one of the best Bond movies ever, and Daniel Craig may even rival Connery as one of the best actors to ever where the tux.
GRADE: A-
RECOMMEND: Enthusiastically with caution for some intense moments of violence!
Here is an article from ROPE OF SILICON that shows how not everyone is laughing outloud for the antics of Borat's Sasha Coen:
"If you have seen Borat already then you remember the Winnebago of University of South Carolina frat boys that picked up the hitch-hiking Kazakh journalist and then proceeded to make racist and sexist comments all while putting back a fair share of booze. Well, two of those frat boys have decided their major motion picture appearance wasn't too cool and have decided to sue 20th Century Fox and the producers of the film claiming they were drunk at the time they signed a release to appear in the film. Uh, so? I don't hear the racist fella from the rodeo complaining... at least not yet.
Here's the real kicker, "Plaintiffs seek unspecified damages and demand that Fox pull Borat from theaters," reports Variety. Hey fellas, why don't you ask for a cow to jump over a moon? Or perhaps see if you can get an anal-dwelling butt monkey to come out of your butt. Trust me, you will have a better chance with this one.
This isn't the only trouble Borat has run into of course. Once again, for those that have seen it, I hardly need to explain, but the other bit of news that broke in Variety yesterday was banned from playing in Russian theaters by the nation's Federal Agency for Culture and Cinematography. Why? Well the reason they claim is because, "The film contains material that some viewers may consider offensive to certain nationalities and religions." Talk about a boo hoo statement, perhaps those people could stay home? Just a thought.
Oddly enough the now super-sensitive U.S. has decided to bump Borat from last week's miniscule 800+ theaters it bowed in last week to 2,566 engagements. Man, talk about the little film that could. Borat has caused worldwide comotion, been banned, pokes fun at society and rakes in $26.4 million in one weekend with only 837 theaters. I even heard a rumor that someone thought Sacha Baron Cohen deserved an Oscar nomination for the role! While I don't really think that is going to happen I don't see the box-office dollars falling short this weekend. Fox has got to love all this free press!"
What if you woke up one day and suddenly heard the sound of a voice in your head? What if this voice started telling you the story of your very life as you lived it, acting as your own personal narrator? What if this very same voice which seemed to know every detail of your boring and inanimate life told you that you were going to die at the stories end? How would you react?
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