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Senin, 24 Januari 2011

NBC Picks Up David E. Kelley’s ‘Wonder Woman’

Briefly: Last night the new leadership of NBC kicked things off by picking up, among a couple other projects, a pilot for a musical drama produced by Steven Spielberg. As expected, the network is making more moves and one of them is grabbing the new Wonder Woman show being developed by David E. Kelley. Ironically the network, under prior leadership, was one of the last to pass on Wonder Woman not long ago. But even when all networks passed we knew the show wasn’t totally dead, and that it might go out to try again.

EW says that Mr. Kelley’s take features “the superhero’s signature lasso, cuffs, and plane in the script, and insiders said it was a serious, non-campy take on the DC Comics character.” That’s the script circa two weeks ago; we don’t know if any changes have been made since that script went out and met with dismissal. Much of that dismissal seemed to be based in concern over the potential cost and licensing fees, rather than story issues. With the show finding a home at NBC, we should hear a lot more soon, including crucial cast decisions.

‘I Saw The Devil:’ Revenge Is A Dish Best Served Bloody [Sundance Review]

Violent revenge flicks are pretty much heroin for most film fans. We inject the works of Park Chan-Wook and Takashi Miike directly into our veins, swooning in the delights of violence and hyperkinetic cinema. In comparison, Kim Jee-woon is relatively new to the scene. His film, The Good The Bad and the Weird, certainly made a significant blip on film fan’s radar and now with his latest film, I Saw the Devil, Jee-woon has crafted an even more visceral experience. After getting rave reviews as a secret screening at Fantastic Fest 2010, I Saw the Devil has taken the Sundance Film Festival and in turn it’s taken the revenge film, turned it on its head and drenched it with blood. Read more after the break.

I Saw The Devil begins with the brutal murder of a young woman whose father just happens to be a former police chief and fiance is a secret service agent. Once they discover that she’s been killed, the pair focus only on one thing: finding the person responsible and making them pay. Of course we, the audience, already know who the killer is. His name is Kyung-chul and he’s played by Old Boy‘s Choi Min-sik. It’s a performance that’s even more chilling than that one.

To the film’s credit, it gets moving extremely quickly and doesn’t stop for two hours and twenty minutes. But each time the it reaches some sort of logical conclusion, it presses on. It’s as if Jee-woon, along with screenwriter Park Hoon Jung, were both so full of fantastic ideas featuring brutal and violent revenge, they wanted to fit them all in.

But if you like brutal, violence revenge, I Saw The Devil is for you. It revels in showing metal pierce flesh, rock crush bone and various body parts removed. To its credit, the film never feels gratuitous because at each and every turn, you understand the motivations of the characters. And it’s those motivations that separate I Saw The Devil from the run of the mill revenge flick.

The film is never about Character A simply getting revenge on Character B. It deconstructs the entire conceit of revenge by flipping it upside down and spinning it around. At different times during the film, you might sympathize with the murderer, other times, no one is in the right and by the time it’s over, I Saw The Devil leaves the question of right vs. wrong solely in the mind of its audience.

I hesitate to speculate on the place I Saw the Devil might eventually hold among the pantheon of top notch revenge flicks, but, despite its flaws, it certainly makes a strong case for consideration.

Best Movies of 2010 That You Probably Haven’t Heard Of

As the year comes to an end, anybody and everybody are posting their best of the year lists. Most of these lists contain variations of the same 15 or 20 films. To break the mold, some are even posting lists of the best films of the year that you probably haven’t seen. I find that even these lists are filled with the same movies. And if you’re a film geek reading a site like /Film, chances are you know about most of the movies on these lists.

I wanted to do something different and compile a list of the best films of the year that you’ve never heard of. The selections should be movies that (for the most part) none of your family or friends have heard of, and you might even have to do some extra legwork to get your hands on.

It is not an easy task. Even though we see tons of small indie films on our journeys to film festivals like Sundance, Cannes, Toronto, Telluride and Fantastic Fest, we still miss quite a few movies. The concept alone means that a lot of the movies on this list should be films that even vigilant movie geeks and film critics probably have missed during their limited theatrical, video or film fest stints.

So I decided to crowd-source this list. I’ve compiled a list of the highest rated films released in 2010 on the largest sources of user submitted ratings and reviews on the internet — the Internet Movie Database and Flixter. I’ve created an algorithm which narrows the list to films with less votes than a normal wide theatrical release, but enough votes to weed out a lot of the super duper independent productions that probably have their family and friends fixing the numbers).

We’ve also taken Rotten Tomatoes ratings into account as well (but not metacritic due to the extremely low sample numbers). The only rule is that the film was released in 2010 theatrical, television, video, film festivals, internationally or domestically. This means that some of these movies might even be available on VOD or DVD right now, while other films have yet to be released theatrically or be available on video in the US. Also, because of the nature of this experiment, this list is heavy on foreign language films, documentary movies and mad-for-television features.

It should be noted that with any type of poll, results get better with larger samples of participants. We’re including films which sometimes have low sample rates, so the results may vary from movie to movie (and more specifically, the ones with lower voter samples).

Senna

Notes: This sports documentary claims to tell “the legend of the greatest driver who ever lived.”

IMDB User Rating: 9.1 (176 votes)

Rotten Tomatoes: no reviews yet

Release: Premiered in Suzuka, Mie Japan in October 2010, will play at the 2011 Sundance Film Festival in January. The film is being distributed by Universal Pictures, and has an announced UK release in June 2011, with no word yet on a US theatrical or dvd release.

Official Synopsis:

The story of the monumental life and tragic death of legendary Brazilian motor-racing Champion, Ayrton Senna. Spanning the decade from his arrival in Formula One in the mid 80′s, the film follows Senna’s struggles both on track against his nemesis, French World Champion Alain Prost, and off it, against the politics which infest the sport. Sublime, spiritual yet, on occasion, ruthless – Senna conquers and transcends Formula One to become a global superstar. Privately, he is humble, almost shy, and fiercely patriotic, donating millions to his native Brasil and contemplating a life beyond motor-racing. Yet he is struck down in his prime on the blackest weekend in the history of the sport, watched live on television by 300 million people. Years on he is revered in Formula One as the greatest motor racing driver of all time – and in Brasil as a Saint.

Trailer:

Never Sleep Again: The Elm Street Legacy

Notes: A documentary about the legacy of the Nightmare on Elm Street horror film franchise.

IMDB User Rating: 9.0 (479 votes)

Rotten Tomatoes: no score yet (3 out of 3 positive reviews)

Release: Available on DVD

Official Synopsis:

Child murderer. Dream demon. The bastard son of a hundred maniacs. Any way you slice it, there can only be one man, one monster, who epitomizes those words: Freddy Krueger. For decades, Freddy has slashed his way through the dreams of countless youngsters, scaring up over half a billion dollars at the box office across eight terrifying, spectacular films. What’s more, it has become evident that Freddy may never rest in peace. In this thrilling retrospective, fans will enter the world of Freddy Krueger and A Nightmare On Elm Street like never before: exploring what spurred mastermind Wes Craven to craft the first groundbreaking film; delving deep behind the scenes of the original and all of its sequels; learning how the cast and crew brought their worst nightmares to life; and finally, understanding the impact the series and its mythos have had on modern pop culture and the horror genre. Narrated by and starring Heather Langenkamp, featuring interviews with the cast and crew spanning every film, and loaded with clips, photographs, storyboards, conceptual art, publicity materials, archival documents and behind-the-scenes footage, Never Sleep Again: The Elm Street Legacy is the definitive account of what many have called the best, most frightening and imaginative horror franchise in motion picture history.

Trailer:

Elite Squad 2

Genre: This violent action crime thriller is a sequel to the acclaimed 2007 movie Elite Squad (available on DVD).

IMDB User Rating: 8.9 (2,046 votes)

Rotten Tomatoes: no reviews yet

Flixster User Rating: 100% (48 user ratings)

Release: Released in Brazil on October 8th, the movie now holds the record for the all-time highest-grossing movie in Brazil, ahead of Dona Flor and Her Two Husbands and Avatar. No word on when the film will see US Release.

Official Synopsis:

Directed and produced by José Padilha, starring Wagner Moura. It is a sequel to the 2007 film The Elite Squad. The film is a continuation of the semi-fictional account of the BOPE (Portuguese: Batalhão de Operações Policiais Especiais), the Special Police Operations Battalion of the Rio de Janeiro Military Police. The Elite Squad 2 plot resolves around the maturing Lt Col. Nascimento, who, after a disastrous BOPE operation on a prison riot, gets caught in a bloody political dispute that involves not only the Public Safety Departament, the State governor and State Military Police, but also paramilitary groups known as milícias. The movie also shows the family issues of Nascimento, with his now adolescent son gradually moving away from him due to his job and the influence of his stepfather. The story is set 13 years after the first movie. Elite Squad 2 focuses more on Nascimento’s family relations than Squad 1. In Wagner Moura’s words: “Nascimento matures in this movie, which has to do with his concept of conscience and his age.

Trailer:

El infierno

Notes: This organized crime black comedy has been described as “the most intense, realistic and utterly depressing portrait” of Mexico’s current social situation.

IMDB User Rating: 8.7 (567 votes)

Rotten Tomatoes: no reviews yet

Release: Released in Mexico on September 3rd, no word yet on US release.

Official Synopsis:

Benjamin Garcia, Benny, is deported from the United States. Back home and against a bleak picture, Benny gets involved in the narco business, in which has for the first time in his life, an spectacular rise surrounded by money, women, violence and fun. But very soon he’ll discovers that criminal life does not always keeps his promises. Epic black comedy about the world of Mafia and organized crime, HELL helps us to understand what everybody is asking: What is happening in Mexico today?

Trailer:

Rush: Beyond the Lighted Stage

Notes: An in-depth look at the Canadian rock band Rush, “chronicling the band’s musical evolution from their progressive rock sound of the ’70s to their current heavy rock style.” The film is produced and directed by the team behind ‘Iron Maiden: Flight 666′, and won the audience award at the Tribeca Film Festival. The doc features appearances from Matt Stone, Jack Black, Gene Simmons, Trent Reznor, Billy Corgan, Kirk Hammett, and many more.

IMDB User Rating: 8.5 (778 votes)

Rotten Tomatoes: 100% (7 reviews)

Flixster User Rating: 94% (856 user ratings)

Release: The film was released in limited theaters on June 10th 2010, and is now available on Blu-Ray and DVD.

Official Synopsis:

Rush is one of rock’s most influential bands, ranking third for most gold and platinum albums behind The Beatles and Rolling Stones. But despite having legions of devoted fans and being revered by generations of musicians, they have been ignored by critics and continually overlooked by the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. Featuring never-before-seen archival footage and interviews with some of today’s most respected rock artists, ‘Rush: Beyond the Lighted Stage’ explores the forty year career and phenomenon behind what could be the world’s biggest cult band.

Trailer:

Incendies

Notes: This Canadian produced French-language multidimensional Lebanese drama has been called both wonderful and devastating.

IMDB User Rating: 8.5 (386 votes)

Rotten Tomatoes: no score yet (4 out of 4 positive reviews)

Release: Premiered at the 2010 Telluride/Toronto Film Festivals, set to screen at the 2011 Sundance Film Festival. Will be released in limited theaters on April 1 2011.

Official Synopsis:

A mother’s last wishes send twins Jeanne and Simon on a journey to Middle East in search of their tangled roots. Adapted from Wajdi Mouawad’s acclaimed play, Incendies tells the powerful and moving tale of two young adults’ voyage to the core of deep-rooted hatred, never-ending wars and enduring love.

Trailer:

Vedham

Notes: This Indian Telugu-language drama is directed by Radhakrishna Jagarlamudi,whose debut film Gamyam (2008) won several awards, including the Best Picture and Best Director prizes at the 2009 South Filmfare Awards. Vedam was the first-multistarrer movie in Telugu films after more than a decade, and featured a cast which includes Allu Arjun, Manoj Kumar Manchu, Anushka Shetty, Manoj Bajpai,Lekha Washington, Siya Gautham, Diksha Seth, Saranya Ponvannan, Brahmanandam, Posani Krishna Murali, Raghu Babu, Ravi Prakash, Satyam Rajesh and others.

IMDB User Rating: 8.5 (352 votes)

Rotten Tomatoes: no reviews yet

Flixster User Rating: 100% (3 user ratings)

Release: Released in June 2010 in India.

Official Synopsis:

Cable Raju is a slum dweller who works as a cable operator; Saroja is a prostitute; Ramulu is a debt-ridden weaver from Sircilla; Vivek Chakravarthy is an upcoming rock star; Raheemuddin Qureshi is a Muslim from Old Basti in Hyderabad. The stories of these five characters are interwoven into one.

Trailer:

Louis C.K.: Hilarious

Notes: The first stand-up documentary to ever be accepted into the Sundance Film Festival.

IMDB User Rating: 8.5 (290 votes)

Rotten Tomatoes: no reviews yet

Release: Premiered at the 2010 Sundance Film Festival, and was released in limited theaters on September 8th 2010. Available on DVD or Epix HD is now streaming Hilarious online for FREE.

Official Synopsis:

Sharp-tongued comedian Louis C.K. pulls no punches in this visceral concert experience.

Clip:

Continue Reading “Best Movies of 2010 That You Probably Haven’t Heard Of” >>

Due to the amount of graphics and images included in this post, we have to split this post over a few pages.

‘The Ledge’ – Religion, Romance and a Suicidal Ultimatum [Sundance Review]

Upon first reading about The Ledge, it felt like one of those classic Sundance Film Festival movies that could breakout and be a hit. It has a well-known cast, an experienced writer/director and a story that’s easily digestible. The story is about how and why a man on the ledge of a building is ready to kill himself, the cast includes Charlie Hunnam, Liv Tyler, Patrick Wilson and Terrence Howard and the writer/director is Matthew Chapman, who wrote Runaway Jury, Color of Night and Consenting Adults.

And while The Ledge is filled with interesting characters, solid performances and even some smart, thought-provoking dialogue, the story itself wanders around like leaf in the wind, at times totally unaware of the driving force of the movie: the Ledge of the title. Read more after the jump.

Hunnam, best known for roles on Sons of Anarchy and Undeclared, plays Gavin, a hotel manager who befriends his next door neighbors Joe and Shauna, a religious couple played by Wilson (Watchmen) and Tyler (Armageddon). But before all that, Gavin is just a mysterious guy with a suicidal ultimatum. Stand on this ledge until noon and then jump off. If you don’t, someone else is going to die. A police officer (Howard) is there to hear the whole story and he’s not having a good day either.

What then follows is an extremely long flashback attempting to explain how Gavin got on that ledge. It begins with his attraction towards Shauna as well as the riff Joe’s extreme religious beliefs have on both his wife and neighbor. All types of religious issues are debated at length and, add that to the budding romance, it’s easy to forget the mystery of the film’s opening. Once we finally get back to the ledge, though, it’s an after-thought. Thanks to the character development, we’re so invested in the flashback that the ledge itself isn’t as exciting or mysterious as it was. It’s just an illogical conclusion to a slew of other ideas. A post script to a whole other movie.

One gets the sense that Chapman is a much better writer than director and while he gets his actors to give very believable performances (Tyler and Wilson, in particular, shine) the direction feels somewhat flat and without urgency. The Ledge is a love story and a think piece. But what got the audience into the seats was the mystery of why Gavin is thinking of killing himself and it never feels like the movie cares about that.

‘Martha Marcy May Marlene’ – A Devastating Portrait of Cult Brainwashing [Sundance Review]

There are few movies that fill me with so much discomfort that I can’t wait to leave the theater, even while I’m watching them. Martha Marcy May Marlene, which premiered yesterday at the 2011 Sundance Film Festival, is one of those films, a portrait of cult brainwashing that is so discomfiting, I would have walked out if I wasn’t so transfixed by the tremendous filmmaking on display.

Hit the jump for some more thoughts on the film, including a video blog I recorded with over half a dozen movie writers.

Martha Marcy May Marlene tells the story of Martha (Elizabeth Olsen), a woman who escapes from a cult in rural New York and tries to reintegrate into a normal life with her sister, Lucy (Sarah Paulson). Lucy brings Martha to her Connecticut vacation home, where she and her husband Adam (Hugh Dancy) are trying to enjoy a few days away from their regular lives in the city. Martha constantly experiences chilling flashbacks and begins to lose her grip on reality. As the days pass and Martha’s behavior becomes more and more erratic, it becomes clear that her time away from home may have had far more effects on her than initially believed.

First-time director Sean Durkin eschews any fancy filmmaking tricks for his powerful directorial debut. Many of the scenes play out in long, tense takes and even much of the dialogue often takes place in a single shot. Durkin lets us dwell in those interstitial moments, those subtle communications that take place in between the words we say to each other. Scenes at the cult play out so matter-of-factly that their calmness becomes grotesque and uncomfortable. It is a terrible feeling to see fellow humans completely disconnected from the social norms that guide us all. Martha Marcy May Marlene gives us a window into what humanity is capable of when it subverts its built-in sense of right and wrong in pursuit of a supposed greater good.

John Hawkes turns in a subtle, terrifying performance as cult-leader Patrick. Rather than play him with any sort of grandiosity, Hawkes comes off as a gentle, charismatic, understanding soul, who Martha quickly falls for. Speaking of Martha, as far as I’m concerned, Olsen’s performance here is a tour de force, full of depth and complexity. Olsen’s Martha displays deep insecurity, painful ambivalence, and a stunning amorality that is haunting to see in a fellow human being.

Despite the ways the film plays with Martha’s sense of time, Durkin still manages to escalate the tension throughout, creating a palpable build-up that leads to a brilliant and unsettling conclusion. As the credits rolled, I was simultaneously floored by the power of the film, but also relieved that it was finally over. Martha Marcy May Marlene is an intense and unforgettable directorial debut. I just don’t know if I’ll ever want to see it again.

Below is an incredibly unwieldy video blog that I recorded with members of The Film Stage, as well as Erin McCarthy, Katey Rich, Eric D. Snider, and Matt Patches. Watch to hear us discuss our reactions to this film.

‘Tron 3′ Teaser Details Emerge

‘Tron 3′ Teaser Details Emerge: "

Yep, you read that right. For the last few weeks there has been a persistent rumor going around that the Tron Legacy DVD and Blu-ray release would feature a teaser for Tron 3. We haven’t run much because we couldn’t confirm it 100%, but someone else got some pretty detailed information that suggests the rumor was true. The info, which is obviously spoilerish if you don’t want to know anything at all, is after the break.

AICN got the scoop from someone reportedly on set for the shoot. He says there will be at least three scenes. One has Bruce Boxleitner playing Alan and Dan Shor playing Ram. Another scene shows Olivia Wilde as Quorra arriving at the ENCOM building, where she is mobbed by press as she claims to have just spoken to Kevin Flynn. Finally there were tests shot for some interaction between Ed Dillinger (played by David Warner in Tron) and his son (played by Cillian Murphy in a Tron Legacy cameo) “stating that everything is going as planned.” Harry said this “involved text screens,” so we may not see the actors, or even hear them.

But it’s that last bit that got me interested. Tron Legacy did a pretty good job of shutting down any interest I had in the series, but I know there are many who don’t feel the same way. And if there is a third film and David Warner is involved, especially with he and Cillian Murphy plotting some villainy, I’ll have to pay attention.

An April 11 release is reportedly scheduled for the UK version of Tron Legacy on DVD and Blu-ray, and there is no confirmed US release at this point. We’ll report more when info becomes available.

So does this mean Tron 3 is really happening? As Harry says in his piece, this stuff was shot last year before Tron Legacy was released — it’s not something done in the wake of the film’s reception. That’s important.

You’d think that greenlighting something like Tron 3 is a deal that Disney would announce to the world, so interpret the fact that there isn’t even yet an official blu-ray announcement of Tron Legacy, much less an official announcement of a third film, however you will. At a $330m worldwide gross Tron Legacy can’t even be close to being profitable, so wait and see what happens in the next few months.

The image below is one of two sent to AICN (check there for the other) that seems to show the set for the Bruce Boxleitner and Dan Shor scene.

Miranda July’s ‘The Future’ and ‘Bobby Fischer Against The World’ [Sundance Mini-Reviews]

With three sets of eyes darting all around Park City for the 2011 Sundance Film Festival, and several days of films still ahead, it’s almost physically impossible to write full reviews for everything we see. So, here’s the first Sundance Mini-Review post which will feature shorter capsule reviews of films and maybe even some video blogs.

After the jump, you’ll read short reviews of The Future by Peter Sciretta and Bobby Fischer Against The World by yours truly.

The Future – by Peter Sciretta

I kinda love Miranda July’s 2005 feature film debut Me and You and Everyone We Know. And like many other indie film geeks, I’ve been waiting six years for July to complete her follow-up, The Future.

While her first film was filled with a child-like wonder, a story of divorce and beginning again, The Future is a bit more serious in tone. Like Charlie Kaufman’s Synecdoche, New York, The Future is an artist’s deep meditations on growing old and all the scary possibilities an undefined future may hold. That isn’t to say that this meditation isn’t handled with July’s trademark quirky humor. For example, the thirty-something couple at the center of the story are planning to adopt a dying cat rescue in a month, and July brilliantly cuts back and fourth to monologues from the caged cat, waiting for his new home.

Jon Brion’s (who most probably know from the Paul Thomas Anderson films) beautiful score strangely feels connected to Michael Andrews’s composition for Me, You and Everyone We Know. This is a film that requires time to process, and possibly multiple viewings — a second viewing is most definitely in my future.

/Film Rating: 7.5 out of 10

Bobby Fischer Against the World – by Germain Lussier

If you’re one of these people who only know the name Bobby Fischer because he had a movie with his name in the title, then you are going to enjoy the HBO Documentary Film: Bobby Fischer Against the World, produced and directed by Liz Garbus. The film documents Fischer’s entire life, specifically highlighting his World Championship match in 1972.

It features rare archival footage and interviews all in an attempt to explain why the man who ended up becoming one of the most famous people in the world was the paranoid recluse he was. And if you didn’t know that about Fischer, the movie might be a shocker. But most everything about Fischer is common knowledge and while the film makes some interesting hypothesis into Fischer’s mental state, it never reaches any new or mind-blowing conclusions.

/Film Rating: 6 out of 10