Filed under: Action, Animation, Comedy, Foreign Language, Horror, Independent, Sci-Fi & Fantasy, Trailer Trash

Bonjour! Buenos dias! Whassup! It’s diversity week here at the Trailer Park and we’re looking at previews for films from our about different cultures.

Dragonball
I’ve seen only a a few episodes of the Japanese cartoon on which this live action film is based, but I’m not seeing a whole lot here that reminds me of the anime. Frankly it reminds me more of Mortal Combat Kombat. Like the original, this is a martial arts fantasy with prophecies, super powers, lots of action and a hero with preposterously spiked hair. Chow Yun Fat is in there to add some action movie cred, but will that be enough? From what I’ve read the anime fans are not thrilled with this one, and it’s not doing a lot for me either. I don’t think this one if for me.

Amexicano
Here’s a charming looking indie about a friendship between and Italian American and an illegal immigrant from Mexico. Bruno (Carmine Famiglietti) is behind on his rent and reluctantly goes into the construction business, hiring Mexican day laborers to help him. When he hires Ignacio (Raúl Castillo) the two forge a bond despite the fact that Ignacio does not speak English. I’m looking forward to this one.

Continue reading Trailer Park: Diversity Edition

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Filed under: Action, Fandom, James Bond, Remakes and Sequels, Images, Daniel Craig

Click Erik Davis’ beautiful face above to head straight to our Aston Martin hi-res gallery

“Now this is a fun one — when you get to 100mph, just slowly take your hands off the wheel and watch what the car does …” — Aston Martin Instructor #1

You may remember how last month Cinematical was invited to travel to London for something called “The James Bond Experience.” Part of this “experience” included a chat with Bond himself, Daniel Craig, and Quantum of Solace director Marc Forster. (You can read all about that over here.) Now, however, we’re finally allowed to tell you about some of the activities that took place during our four days across the pond — and how do I not start with the awesomeness that was driving an Aston Martin — a car, mind you, that’s worth more than my life — at well over 100mph. But let me back up.

Never sit at the back of a bus for more than an hour and a half. By the time our small group of online writers arrived at the Millbrook test track, I felt like I was ready to puke. Millbrook is literally in the middle of the English countryside — an hour or so out of London, in Bedfordshire, England — and it’s the sort of place that calls for an escort to be with you at all times. See, Millbrook is where they test all sorts of cars and military vehicles before they’re called into action. Thus, cameras are everywhere, the public is not allowed in and security is tighter than a seat belt around Santa.

Continue reading Cinematical’s James Bond Adventure: Driving the Aston Martin

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Filed under: Action, Deals, Warner Brothers, Scripts, Family Films

Sometimes I oooh over talk of re-energizing an old franchise; sometimes I cringe and sometimes, like today, my brow is so damned furrowed that I probably have about 20 new wrinkles. The Hollywood Reporter posts that Warner Bros. is going back to Yogi Bear and YellowJellystone Park.

Oh yes, the Hanna-Barbera classic is getting developed into a big-screen feature by the pens of Joshua Sternin and Jeffrey Ventimilia, with Ash Brannon attached to direct. That means a mixture of That 70’s Show exec producers and the co-writer and director of Surf’s Up. It will be live-action with a CG Yogi and Boo Boo.

Now sure, the chipmunks made a comeback, but at least they have an uber popular Christmas song that keeps them in the memory banks. Something like Speed Racer had the effects going for it. Will kids go wild for a character from the ’50s that gets into good-natured fun at a park? And who would voice them? Better yet, simply: WHY? Maybe I’m in the minority, but this doesn’t seem like the best idea.

What do you think? Weigh in below …

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Filed under: Action, Drama, New Releases, New Line, Theatrical Reviews, Western

There’s no question Appaloosa is a Western. It’s set in 1882 in the New Mexico Territory, it has tin-star-wearing city marshals getting into gunfights with ornery cusses, it includes some scenes involving problems with Indians — the whole nine yards. But underneath all that, it’s really just a buddy movie, a rough-and-tumble, no-girls-allowed, steak-and-potatoes romp that happens to be set in the Old West. It’s as much Don Quixote and Sancho Panza as it is Butch and Sundance.

The buddies are Virgil Cole (Ed Harris, who also directed) and his sidekick, Everett Hitch (Viggo Mortensen), an inseparable pair of freelance peacekeepers and expert gunmen. At the film’s outset, they are hired by the dusty frontier town of the title to protect it from Randall Bragg (Jeremy Irons), a devious rancher whose band of ne’er-do-wells occasionally murders local citizens, including the previous city marshal. With Cole as the new marshal and Hitch as his deputy, the two set about enforcing law and order.

One of the town’s new ordinances, under Cole’s direction, is that you can’t bring guns inside the city boundaries. He informs a couple of Bragg’s men of this when they show up at the saloon one day.

“That’s the law,” Cole says.

“Your law,” replies one of the men, scoffing.

“Same thing,” Cole says. OH SNAP!

Continue reading Review: Appaloosa

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Filed under: Action, Drama, Thrillers, Deals, Paramount, Scripts, Newsstand

I already smell Oscar nominations for this one. According to Variety, Martin Scorsese and Robert De Niro are re-teaming for I Heard You Paint Houses, based on Charles Brandt’s book. And another Scorsese alumni is writing the script — Steve Zaillian, who not only scripted Gangs of New York, but won an Oscar for Schindler’s List. See what I mean? A contender for Best Picture, and it isn’t even filmed yet.

The topic is familiar stomping ground for Scorsese and De Niro — organized crime. De Niro will play the main man of Houses, Frank ‘the Irishman’ Sheeran, who reportedly committed more than 25 mob murders. One of these was supposedly Jimmy Hoffa, who he confessed to killing and dismembering on the orders of mob boss Russell Bufalino. And if you’re wondering about the title, it has a wonderfully gruesome origin: it’s mob slang for a contract killing, due to the mess left behind on walls and floors when you carry one out.

Sheeran confessed all to Brandt, who befriended him before his death in 2003. While this seemed to clear up the mystery surrounding Hoffa’s disappearance, controversy still reigns. Other hitman have confessed to the crime since Sheeran, and lacking conclusive DNA evidence or a body, nothing can be proved or denied. The FBI stopped looking for Hoffa’s body in 2006. But Hoffa’s fate is like the identity of Jack the Ripper — no one will ever stop confessing, wondering, or looking.

As I said at the start, this movie has a perfect pedigree. But for the sake of argument, do you think it’s just too safe? We all realize Scorsese knows a mob thriller like the back of his hand, and we know De Niro can play a guy who, well, paints houses to chilling perfection. I’d love to see Scorsese court some of that Last Temptation of Christ controversy again, but perhaps that’s just too cocky of me to question.

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Filed under: Action, Comic/Superhero/Geek, Remakes and Sequels

July 16th became the new Christmas this year, when Eugene revealed the scribe for the Iron Man sequel — Justin Theroux. Really, the actor’s inclusion is a nice metaphor for why I like the first Iron Man to begin with — it’s a wonderful mixture of sexiness, smarts, and charm. (I mean, heck, I accepted him as my personal saviour.) So now we’re getting more, in capable hands, and one Mr. Jon Favreau shared some details during a live web chat with LA Times readers.

First off, Favreau says that he’s currently working with Theroux on the first draft, and they’re playing with who the villain of the next pic will be. I imagine that this decision might be influenced by visual possibilities, as Favreau is also presently working with a storyboard artist and costumers. From there, Jon has a take on Mandarin, “that allows us to incorporate the whole pantheon of villains. The whole 10 Rings thing in IM 1 was a good tease for it,” muses over the possibility of a female villain, and confirms that #2 will focus on the aftermath of Tony’s “I am Iron Man,” statement.

Best of all, Favreau says that things are coming together smoothly with “fewer casting issues” than the first round, so I imagine we will start getting casting notices soon, and with that, an idea of what villains ol’ Tony will face.

Oh wait. Here’s one last piece of food for thought from Favs: “Sam Rockwell could’ve been a cool Tony if not RDJ.” What say you, Cinematical readers, could Rockwell have pulled it off? And of course — who do you want Iron Man to face this time around?

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Filed under: Action, Warner Brothers, RumorMonger, Newsstand, Comic/Superhero/Geek, Remakes and Sequels, War

I know, I know — “sequelized” isn’t a word, but it’s the most fitting label I can come up with. Ever since 300 hit theaters in March 2007, there has been talk of creating some kind of spin off. Would it be a prequel? Would it be a sequel? Would it be some demented fever dream invented by one Cinematical blogger on a late Colorado night?

Well, someone finally asked a 300 alumni other than poor Gerard Butler. IESB.net caught up with director Zack Snyder, who revealed that 300 would receive the sequel treatment. Snyder did the impossible, and actually spoke to Frank Miller about it, and learned he’s writing a graphic novel that takes place between Thermopylae and the Battle of Plataea which is seen at the end of the film. There’s a mere year in between waiting to be populated with new Spartan heroes (though David Wenham’s lone survivor, Dilios, could return) by way of Miller’s pen. Snyder promises to direct the adaptation when Miller finishes the book.

There’s certainly historical material to draw from — the time between Thermopylae and Plataea was marked by several battles — the naval Battle of Artemisium, which occurred alongside Thermopylae, and the Battle of Salamis. Both were victories for the Greek states (although Artemisium could be argued to be a draw), but not without cost. Several Greek cities, including Athens, suffered severe Persian attacks.

But while the Greco-Persian Wars are ripe for many stories and movies, I don’t see any of them fitting the hyper-stylized mold of the original graphic novel or the film. The insanity of it all worked because it had a legendary story and king to anchor it down, and shine through the blood-splatters and giant rhinos. Why water that down? As fond as I am of Snyder, Miller and violent boys in leather pants, I wish they would just let the Spartans lie.

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Filed under: Action, Independent, Thrillers, Deals, Scripts, Newsstand, War

Liam Neeson’s thriller Taken hasn’t hit stateside yet — but it looks like its director, Pierre Morel, already has another job. Relativity Media acquired the rights to Arne Schmidt’s screenplay Hunter-Killer, based on Don Keith and Commander George Wallace’s novel Firing Point.

Hunter-Killer fills a giant gap in today’s cinema — there just aren’t enough movies set on submarines. (Have you ever toured one? If you can stop yourself from imitating Sean Connery or Das Boot, they really are terrifying places to be.) The story follows an American submarine commander and a team of Navy SEALS who must avert all-out war, rescue the Russian President in the midst of a coup, and defeat a renegade Admiral. No word on casting yet, but it will be fun to see what up-and-coming action stars land the macho parts — particularly since American cinema is reportedly quite short of them.

It sounds a bit like The Hunt for Red October, which isn’t a bad thing — and it’s a pretty timely choice for Relativity in light of recent geopolitical events. After Eastern Promises, I thought we were going to see Russian mafia dramas replace the Italian and Irish ones … but instead, the Russians are making a huge comeback as the villains of action cinema. Coincidence, or savvy optioning on the part of Hollywood? Who knows? It definitely feels like 1980 again … and I’m okay with that. Are you?

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Filed under: Action, Comedy, Foreign Language, Horror, Independent, Sci-Fi & Fantasy, Thrillers, Magnolia, Comic/Superhero/Geek

I’ve done reports on the After Dark horror series, the Asylum assembly line, and the monumentally moronic Maneater collection — so I see nothing all that strange about throwing a little genre love towards Magnet’s new Six-Shooter Series. (The only difference this time around is that we’re going to be talking about GOOD genre films.)

To those who demand to know what the hell phrases like “Magnet Six-Shooter” mean, here’s an explanation: Magnolia Films recently kick-started a genre-intensive division (called Magnet Releasing), and the guys are pretty psyched about their next six flicks. There, I’ve just demystified the phrase “Magnet Six-Shooter.” You all owe me three dollars. And here’s what’s coolest about a six-flick genre series that’s run by Magnolia Pictures: You’ll actually get something EXOTIC out of the mix.

To use the finest example imaginable, it is Magnet Releasing that was lucky enough to land U.S. distribution rights for the stunningly awesome Let the Right One In, which is dazzling people all over the festival circuit. (And that was a great roll of the dice, as Magnolia grabbed it well before it was earning 5-star reviews across the board.) The film will open in limited release on October 24, but be sure to keep an eye out for the DVD as well. This flick is a keeper for sure.

Continue reading Set Your Sights on Magnet’s Six-Shooter Series!

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Filed under: Action, Drama, Music & Musicals, Sci-Fi & Fantasy, Casting, Remakes and Sequels

Is Jack Black replacing Matt Damon in the Bourne franchise? Thankfully, no, however The Hollywood Reporter tells us the funnyman has teamed back up with Kung Fu Panda writers Jonathan Aibel and Glenn Berger for a live-action comedic take on The Bourne Identity. In the film, Black will play some dude who washes up on the shores of Cuba with no memory of who he is or how he got there. Of course, he automatically believes he’s a superspy (thanks Hollywood!), though nothing could be further from the truth. Sounds like a funny premise — but is Black the right one for the role?

Meanwhile, Sky High’s plant-loving sidekick, Danielle Panabaker, is going back to school. According to The Hollywood Reporter, she’ll star in Chuck Russell’s upcoming sci-fi action film called Prodigy. Based on Dave Kalstein’s book, the film focuses on an elite prep school that takes teaching to the extreme — they make students into geniuses with a “drug-and-diet regimen.” Panabaker will play the smartie daughter of a senator who questions the powers that be. This might be particularly bad for those powers since, as Publisher’s Weekly describes it, the conditioning makes these kids “ninja-assassin geniuses.”

Last but not least, there’s the talented Michael Sheen. Putting aside retro politics and The Music Within, Variety reports that the actor has picked up two new gigs. First, there’s Sam Jackson’s Unthinkable, which dips into the ethics of torture and terrorism, and then comes a little Alice in Wonderland. Unfortunately, there’s zip-all on who he’s playing in these films. At least that leaves us free to speculate — who on Earth will Sheen be in the world of Mad Hatters and White Rabbits?! Not Tweedledee and Tweedledum — that’s Matt Lucas, it seems.

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