Movie Clerks

Filed under: Action, New Releases, Fandom, Newsstand, Remakes and Sequels
Responding to Harvey Weinstein’s comments last week that he would like to see more Rambo movies, since all that killing and grunting plays well internationally, Sylvester Stallone has come out and put the kibosh on that talk. The Guardian reports that Stallone has told reporters that there will be no more Rambo films after this one. “This is the last Rambo just as Rocky Balboa is the last Rocky,” Sly said. “I can’t go any further. It was a miracle that it even got done.” Considering the dozen or so producers listed on the film’s credits, that’s probably true. Who knows how many people will have to get paid before this movie turns a profit. And without giving too much away, Stallone clearly went further than was necessary to put a stamp of finality onto this film, and there’s really no […]

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Filed under: Documentary, Independent, Sundance, Theatrical Reviews, Cinematical Indie

Nerakhoon (The Betrayal), the feature directorial debut of cinematographer Ellen Kuras, took 23 years to make. The film, about a family caught in the tides of war, is as much a history lesson about a part of the Vietnam War that is little known as it is a story of how co-director Thavisouk Phrasavath came to America at the age of 14 with his mother and nine siblings after his homeland, Laos fell to the Communists.
Thavi’s father, a former commander with the Royal Laotian army, was recruited by the CIA to work intelligence along the Ho Chi Minh trail during the Vietnam War, as a part of the United States goverment’s clandestine operations from Laos during the war. When the United States withdrew from Laos, Pathet Lao gained power and Thavi’s father was declared an enemy of the state and sent […]

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Filed under: Action, Drama, Sci-Fi & Fantasy, Casting, Deals, DIY/Filmmaking
I’m all for actors who try and break out of a preconceived idea about themselves, but sometimes I think there are those who take it all just a little too seriously. Enter Josh Hartnett. In an interview with VH1, Hartnett spoke up his next film Bunraku. The name comes from a traditional form of Japanese puppet theater, and Hartnett told VH1 that the film, “It’s a story of revenge…My character is called ‘The Drifter,’ and he comes into this world that doesn’t look like anything like you’ve ever seen before. It’s in the vein of ‘Sin City’ or something like that, where the world doesn’t look like reality at all.” So I guess that is where the paper mâché puppets would come in. Luckily this is not a kids movie, and Hartnett told VH1, “[The script] has a lot of fight […]

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Filed under: Comedy, Sci-Fi & Fantasy, Disney, Family Films, DIY/Filmmaking, Movie Marketing
Most Adam Sandler fans are probably more than a little relieved that he has left some of the ‘earnest’ comedy behind and is now headed back to a sillier state of mind with You Don’t Mess with the Zohan. But don’t get too comfortable; it looks like there’s more family-friendly fare on the horizon. ComingSoon.net recently got the chance to speak with Adam Shankman on the set of his latest flick, Seventeen (starring the ‘dreamy’ Zac Efron) to talk about his upcoming directing gig with Sandler in Bedtime Stories.
Shankman told Coming Soon that the release date of December 25th is foremost in his mind and that production is going to have to work, “Unbelievably fast, because I’m going till mid-June; it’s a long schedule. Then, I have to be out in theaters December 25th. And there’s a ton of […]

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Filed under: Horror, Independent, Deals, Slamdance, Distribution, Dreamworks
I have a big “Park City genre report” on the way, but here’s some good news that has forced me to jump the gun just a little bit. One of the coolest surprises I saw last week was a Slamdance entry called Paranormal Activity. Now, being that I’m a ravenous horror nerd, I’d already heard (and read) a little bit about the flick — and I was aware that there was strongly positive buzz from the hardcore horror hounds — but I wasn’t really prepared for how quietly, confidently creepy the flick would be.
I won’t spoil anything, but I will say that Paranormal Activity is a great little horror flick, and it sure looks like the people at DreamWorks agree with the horror press. According to Variety, DW has acquired all domestic and remake rights to Paranormal Activity, which basically means we’ll see […]

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Filed under: Horror, Independent, Sundance, Slamdance, Theatrical Reviews, Cinematical Indie

When it comes to mockumentary type films, there are basically two kinds: good and bad; there’s just not a lot of middle-ground with this particular type of filmmaking. Paranormal Activity, which showed at Slamdance, the wild and crazy drunk cousin to the Sundance Film Festival, falls squarely into the “good” camp — particularly if your definition of “good” includes “will scare the pants off you” and “I had to sleep with the lights on after watching it.”
The central idea of the film is that it purports to show actual footage of, well, paranormal activity, in the home of the two protagonists, Katie and Micah, who are living their normal lives until weird things begin happening in their home. Katie, who believes she’s been haunted by an invisible, malevolent being since childhood, fears it’s followed her to her new home. Micah […]

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Filed under: Drama, Deals, Universal
I guess now that the great Chess master Bobby Fischer has passed into the great chessboard in the sky earlier this month, it’s open season on biopics. Variety reports that Last King of Scotland director, Kevin MacDonald, has signed to direct Bobby Fischer Goes to War. The film will be a drama based around Fischer’s famous match against Boris Spassky in the 1972 World Chess Championship. Spassky was a seven time Champion and was ranked as one of the top ten players in the world from the 1950’s to the 1980’s.
Fischer was born in 1943, and by the time he was 15, he was one of the most celebrated players of chess and a Grandmaster. He remains the only American born player to ever win the World Chess Championship. Perhaps, he is most famous for the mystery surrounding his life. As the years passed, Fischer bounced […]

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Filed under: Celebrities and Controversy, Fandom, Fan Rant
Long story short: A two-year-old video featuring Heath Ledger at a party where drugs were being consumed was purchased by Entertainment Tonight for a large sum of money (some are saying $200,000), and the show, as well as The Insider, planned to air the video in an attempt to “understand why Ledger died.” Ledger’s former PR firm sent out a mass email protesting the video, folks everywhere cried “poor taste” and ET ultimately decided not to air it. One imagines said video will arrive on YouTube within 24 hours, and at that time it will be everywhere; the secret video everyone will pretend they didn’t watch.
Here’s my question: Where do you draw the line? Almost everything these shows put on the air is in poor taste. So, instead of the Ledger video, they’ll do 15 minutes on Britney Spears — what she […]

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Filed under: Movie Marketing, Trailers and Clips

Warning: Foul language can be heard in the video above.
Earlier this month, I shared David Lynch’s thoughts about watching movies on cell phones — something he’s such an uber, super fan of. This, however, wasn’t the first mini Lynchian rant about technology and media. Cinema Blend has thrown up the above clip, which was filmed last year during the AFI Dallas Film Festival. After a ridiculously long delivery of the question — how does Lynch feel about product placement? — the filmmaker shortly, and succinctly answers. Ah, he makes me smile.
I can only hope more of these come out of the woodwork, or that Lynch makes some more himself. He could weigh in on sexuality, special effects, boozing celebs, Oscar nominations and winners, blowing budgets…
What would you like to hear him rant about?

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Filed under: Drama, Horror, Deals, Distribution, The Weinstein Co.
What’s better for a Thursday than super-exciting money news?!?! Enjoy:

Cassandra’s weak box office Dream hasn’t tarnished Woody Allen’s relationship with the Weinstein Company. According to Variety, they have decided to distribute his next film, Vicky Cristina Barcelona. TWC has got the North American rights, and will release the film later this year (right now, it is still in post). Allen’s latest film stars Scarlett Johansson and Rebecca Hall as American girls who visit Spain “and become amorously entangled with a couple” — Javier Bardem and Penelope Cruz. The likes of Ewan McGregor and Colin Farrell weren’t enough to bring the audiences in last time around, but can this cast do the trick?
On the more indie side of things, Variety reports that Jada Pinkett Smith’s directorial debut, The Human Contract, will be sold internationally by Lightning Entertainment, who will debut footage at […]

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