Check out this interesting video, it’s an interview with Al Pacino and Robert DeNiro from NBC’s today show this morning.

I love Oliver Stone, he’s gone off the deep end in the last few years, but I’m really curious about his George Bush bio, W.  Here’s a new clip from the movie.

Everyone’s favorite Director - Bret Ratner is shopping around a movie based on the video game Guitar Hero. The premise is a kid who is great at the game, somehow wins a competition and becomes a real life Rockstar. How low and desperate is Hollywood to even consider this idea? Not only consider it, but then hire this no-talent hack to Produce it? But then they did let him ruin the X-Men franchise.

How to explain Babylon A.D. … Okay, how about this: Babylon A.D. is the movie Children of Men would have been had it been directed by Ridley Pearson and edited by Ed Wood. Vin Diesel’s Toorop is the Clive Owens character; Michelle Yeoh’s Sister Rebecca is the Julianne Moore character, and Melanie Thierry’s Aurora is the girl whom Toorop must deliver from Russia to the United States – and for a similar reason.

Director Matthieu Kassovitz is on record as saying that Babylon A.D. is not the film he made – that it’s been re-edited by the studio and is vastly inferior to the film he created. Judging from the mangled editing of the many fight sequences [and you thought Batman Begins’ fight sequences were hard to figure out] and the drastic changes in overall tone from epic and sweeping to grungy and claustrophobic, I’d have to say that it’s entirely possibly that he’s right.

Diesel is energetic and hard as Toorop, but we probably were expecting that. Yeoh is enigmatic and wise as Sister Rebecca, but that’s not asking much of her. The surprise comes from Melanie Thierry who is quite possibly too ethereally beautiful to be believed – either that or the camera just really, really loves her.

It’s hard to tell if Eric Besnard’s script is any good because of the editing. God knows, there are enough signs of intelligence and, possibly, wit here to suggest that it might well be very good. The only problem is that whatever there might have been to add surprise and freshness to this unexpected hybrid of Blade Runner and Children of Men has been excised – leaving us with something that neither involves nor satisfies.

I hope Kassovitz gets a Director’s Cut when the DVD comes out. I’d love to see why he’s so adamant that the theatrical release is not the movie he made.

Final Grade: D+

He sees dead people... and they annoy him.

Ghost Town is one of those rare romantic type comedies that doesn’t fall prey to the over use of clichés or sappy sweetness. It remains smart, funny and sometimes bitingly sarcastic.

The premise of Ghost Town falls somewhere between the elements of the recent ‘Over My Dead Body’ and the older ‘Heart and Souls’ and this movie manages to capture the comedy aspects that ‘Over My Dead Body’ failed to live up to and yet match the reaffirming warmth found in ‘Heart and Souls’. For this reviewer it made for a funny and winning combination. (more…)

Tom Cruise

Fresh off of his highly praised and succesful turn as sleazy movie producer Les Grossman in the hit comedy of the summer TROPIC THUNDER, megastar Tom Cruise is now in talks with Warner Brothers Studios to star in their upcoming feature film SLEEPER.

SLEEPER, which is being produced by Warner Bros in conjuction with Stars Road Entertainment and DC Comics, Inc. centers around the adaption to screen of the Sci-fi comic book of the same name in which a covert operative becomes genetic fused with an alien artifact that renders him imprevious to feeling physical pain.

SLEEPER is being adapted to screen by Ed Brubaker who also writes for the comic book and is being produced by Sam Raimi and Josh Donen. No production date has been set for the feature film which will most likely have either a mid to late 2009 or early 2010 premiere.

When straight arrow FBI agent Roy Clayton (Guy Pearce) heads up the investigation into a dangerous international conspiracy, all clues seem to lead back to former U.S. Special Operations officer, Samir Horn (Don Cheadle).  Obsessed with discovering the truth, Clayton tracks Horn across the globe as the elusive ex-soldier burrows deeper and deeper into a world of shadows and intrigue. Traitor, a taut international thriller set against a jigsaw puzzle of covert counter-espionage operations hits theaters this Summer, August 27, 2008.  For more information visit: http://www.traitor-themovie.com/  I think Cheadle is one of the most underrated actors in Hollywood, if I wasn’t going to London this weekend, this would be the movie I see.

The original, Roger Corman production of Death Race 2000 was a high energy, in your face film that [sadly] predicted the reality TV thing. In its highly campy way, though, DR2K mixed in social commentary through the race’s rules [Hit a pedestrian? Add points. The pedestrian is an old lady? Bonus Points!]. The remake is a grittier, nastier piece of work that pits prison lifers against one another – and the last driver left alive wins [win five races and go free – in theory].

Jensen Ames [Jason Statham] is framed for the murder of his wife and finds himself on Terminal Island [think Alcatraz, 2015]. The warden [an exceptionally elegant Joan Allen] asks him if he will take over for a driver known only as Frankenstein. Poor Frankie died in the last race and she needs to keep the myth alive to keep up the ratings on the race’s internet subscription pay-per-view. Ames is given Frank’s pit crew, an oddball lot that includes Coach [Ian McShane], the pit chief who stayed on after his sentence was completed; Gunner [Jacob Vargas], a master mechanic, and Lists [Frederic Koehler], who seems to know more about everything than anyone else in the film.

Arrayed against Ames’ version of Frankenstein are nasties like Machine Gun Joe [Tyrese Gibson], Pachenko [Max Ryan] and Travis Colt [Justin Mader] – killers who treat their vehicles as weapons. Furthering the goonage is Jason Clarke as Warden Hennessy’s head guard, Ulrich. To balance the villains, Frank’s navigator is a gorgeous female convict named Case [Natalie Martinez], and she even gets to take part in the action a couple of times.

The big surprise about Death Race is that it is infinitely better than anything else director Paul W.S. Anderson has ever done. The writing [again by Anderson] is tight – though his attention to detail still needs a bit of work – and he stages some pretty impressive races. Even more impressive is that practically all the stunts and driving were done… well… practically.

True, the cast isn’t required to do much more than hit one or two notes apiece, but they hit those notes with the kind of enthusiasm that communicates itself onscreen. Although darker than the colorfully camp original, Anderson’s Death Race is not without its humor – some of it telegraphed but done with panache, and some of it sneakier than you might expect from the guy who gave us the Resident Evil and the Alien vs. Predator movies. And you won’t find many who can out cuss the elegant Warden Hennessy when things start to go wrong…

With a big budget and marketing plan, Death Race could, finally, vault Statham to actual action star status [and well past time]. It’s not the greatest action movie ever, but it does hit just the right spot in terms of vicious action, ham-fisted social commentary and general mayhem.

Final Grade: B-

Stars of THE SCORPION KING 2: RISE OF A WARRIOR, Karen David and Michael Copon are true rising performers in the entertainment business, with lucrative careers in TV, film and music. Filmed entirely on location in South Africa, this made for DVD (which debuts August 19, 2008) sequel was directed by renowned film and music video director Russell Mulcahy.

The story concerns a young warrior named Mathayus (Copon) and his love interest Layla (David) as they try to reclaim their kingdom from the black magic warlord Sargon (Randy Couture). During their adventures, they encounter a menacing Minotaur – half-man half-bull, travel across many lands — including Egypt, and are trapped in a cryptic underworld, presided over by the sinister vixen Astarte (Natalie Becker).

Both set to emerge as major stars, David and Copon worked tirelessly through the short intense production schedule for THE SCORPION KING 2. Here they reflect on their roles, their careers, shooting and training on location, and working with acclaimed director Mulcahy.

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Hey, the folks behind Al Pacino’s thriller Righteous Kill have put together a tasty, blood thirsty DVD Collection to give away.  The collection includes a copy of The Godfather, Heat, Scarface and a RigheousKill poster. How cool is that?

Kill is about a pair of veteran New York City police detectives are on the trail of a vigilante serial killer. After 30 years as partners in the pressure cooker environment of the NYPD, highly decorated Detectives David Fisk and Thomas Cowan should be ready for retirement, but aren’t. Before they can hang up their badges, they are called in to investigate the murder of a notorious pimp, which appears to have ties to a case they solved years before. Like the original murder, the victim is a suspected criminal whose body is found accompanied by a four line poem justifying the killing. When additional crimes take place, it becomes clear the detectives are looking for a serial killer, one who targets criminals that have fallen through the cracks of the judicial system. His mission is to do what the cops can’t do on their own–take the culprits off the streets for good. The similarities between the recent killings and their earlier case raise a nagging question: Did they put the wrong man behind bars?

The movie opens September 12. We have one copy of this set to give away.  To win, leave a comment about your favorite Pacino or De Niro movie.  This contest will run August 14th to Monday August 25th.  On the 25th, send your User ID, Full Name, Contact info and in the Subject “RIGHTEOUS KILL CONTEST” to contests@eclipsemagazine.com. Your entry MUST be complete and done CORRECTLY.

UPDATE

While I appreciate everyone’s enthusiam. PLEASE READ THE INSTRUCTIONS! Do not email your comments, post it HERE. And don’t send your email until the contest close and INCLUDE YOUR FULL CONTACT INFORMATION. What do you expect me to do with just your email adress? Beem your prize to you?