Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck’s first film, the claustrophobic The Lives of Others, won the Oscar® for Best Foreign Language Film. For only his second full-length feature, he’s chosen to do a big budget Hollywood film. Not just any old Hollywood caper/thriller/romance. No, he has taken on The Tourist, based on the French film, Anthony Zimmer. […]
Tag: Columbia Pictures
Battle: Los Angeles Trailer Better Than Entire Skyline Film!
With the launch of this weekend’s Skyline [okay cast, horrid script, brilliant CG effects – Final Grade: D] and wide open for Monsters [excellent cast, limited but brilliant CG effects: Final Grade: B+], we are at the beginning of a new wave of alien invasion movies. The first trailer for Battle: Los Angeles has just […]
The Social Network – Internet Innovation as a High-Tech Thriller!
It’s a tale of sound and fury; friendship betrayed; money and the internet. The social Network may be the story of how Mark Zuckerberg created Facebook, but it has Shakespearean range and moves like a Jason Bourne movie.
Easy A Earns an Easy A!
Easy A is a witty, literate [witerate?] movie that belongs to that class of teen comedies that includes Clueless and Mean Girls. Unlike Clueless and Mean Girls, it’s not, strictly-speaking, an adaptation/update of a book. Instead, it’s a funny, smart, slightly more of a smartass/wiseacre of a film that depends on aligning events in […]
Columbia Pictures Finds Its Girl with the Dragon Tattoo!
After the incredible success of Stieg Larsson’s Millennium Trilogy – and three international hit films starring Noomi Rapace – David Fincher’s The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo has found its Lisbeth Salander. Rooney Mara [The Social Network] has been signed to play the brilliant, intensely antisocial hacker, Lisbeth Salander, joining Daniel Craig, as crusading journalist, […]
Eat Pray Love – She’s Selfish But Honest!
Eat Pray Love is a breezy, leisurely travelogue that is held together by one woman’s search for enlightenment. Directed and co-written [with Jennifer Salt] by Ryan Murphy [Glee, Nip/Tuck], this is a movie that looks great – check out the panoramic looks at Italy, India and Bali – has a mostly easy to take script, […]
The Other Guys: There’s a New Accountant in Town!
It’s taken all of a week for Dinner for Schmucks to be replaced as the funniest movie of the summer, so far – especially because The Other Guys is the unlikeliest of movies – a funny parody of cop/buddy movies. Unlikely because there have been so many in the genre that more than a few […]
Salt Does Not Suffer Fools – Or Betrayals – At All!
From the opening moments of Salt, a couple of things become crystal clear: a) Tom Cruise was a fool to have walked away from this one, and b) Angelina Jolie is now the world’s premiere action star.
Grown Ups Sucks Bad!
Thirty years after they won a basketball championship, five friends reunite for the funeral of their coach. That, in essence, is the story being told in Grown Ups, the year’s first legitimate multiple Razzie contender.
The Smurfs – First Photo!
While I was never a fan of the Smurfs, the film, which doesn’t open until August of next year, has put together a terrific cast that includes Neil Patrick Harris, Hank Azaria [as Gargamel, no less], Jayma Mays, Katy Perry, Alan Cumming, Anton Yelchin and Sofia Vergara – to name but a few. I’m intrigued […]
Crank Up the Flaming Cycle: Neveldine and Taylor to Direct Ghost Rider: Spirit of Vengeance!
If you loved the manic energy and subversive style of the Crank movies – and the dark satire of Gamer, for that matter – then you’ll love this: according to The Hollywood Reporter’s Heat Vision blog, the co-directors of those films, Mark Neveldine and Brian Taylor, are in talks to direct Ghost Rider: Spirit of […]