Posted May 30th 2008 9:02AM by Eugene Novikov
Filed under: Horror, New Releases, Theatrical Reviews, Focus Features
It is not immediately obvious why
The Strangers is rated R. The horror film, about a young couple (
Scott Speedman and
Liv Tyler) terrorized in their home by a group of sadistic masked assailants, is reasonably violent, but not very graphic: aside from a brief glimpse of a pretty nasty gunshot wound and some stabbings that are either obscured or off-screen, there's not much here that would ordinarily raise rating board eyebrows. (The elaboration states that
The Strangers is rated R for language in addition to violence, but there are, at the most, one or two muttered F-bombs.) In terms of content, PG-13 films have gotten away with worse. Hell, the PG-rated
Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian featured a decapitation, which is more than we see here. What, then, explains the MPAA's harsh (and no doubt economically damaging) treatment of
The Strangers?
I am convinced that the film broke the R threshold in the eyes of the MPAA for one reason: it's pretty good. Tight, intense, often legitimately frightening, and committed to its suburban-nightmare premise,
The Strangers may not be gory, but I wouldn't wish it on too many kids under fifteen. It's a classical, no-frills, 85-minute blast of cold air, a refreshing bit of professionalism in a genre whose mainstream, at least, has been plagued of late by lazy pandering and general shoddiness.
Continue reading Review: The Strangers
Posted May 29th 2008 11:02PM by Eugene Novikov
Filed under: Comedy, Focus Features, Trailers and Clips
After a brief detour through the more substantial, it looks like the Coen brothers are back in full-on madcap comedy mode with this fall's
Burn After Reading. The first trailer has made an appearance
here, though since it's red-band, the site requires you to go through a cumbersome process involving iTunes. Among other things, it affords the rare treat of seeing
John Malkovich punch
Brad Pitt in the nose.
It's always hard to predict how Coen movies are going to come together, but although Pitt might deserve an Oscar for the little dance he does at 1:36, I don't think
Burn After Reading will be making an awards run -- it looks very, very strange, sort of in the vein of
Raising Arizona. (On the other hand, the fact that the utterly insane
O Brother, Where Art Thou? managed a screenplay nomination might mean all bets are off.) I cherish the Coens' comic sensibilities --
Intolerable Cruelty and
The Ladykillers were trifles, but they made me laugh, really hard. This looks similarly anarchic and over-the-top.
Burn After Reading premieres at the Venice Film Festival in August and hits theaters September 12th.
Posted May 22nd 2008 7:02PM by Jessica Barnes
Filed under: Comedy, Romance, Focus Features, Movie Marketing
Update: Cinematical was informed that the film still does not have a title, though we imagine one will be announced soon. See full (and accurate) press release after the jump. Since
news first broke about
Sam Mendes making the leap to comedy with
John Krasinski and Maya Rudolph, I've become awfully curious to see if the man famous for heavy subject matter can pull off a straight rom-com. Coming Soon has received a
press announcement from the JW Marriott Starr Pass Resort & Spa in Tuscon, Arizona, and according to them, the spa has been chosen as one of the locations for the road flick.
More importantly, we now know that the film is going by the slightly awkward title of Farlanders.McSweeney's founder
Dave Eggers co-wrote the script with his wife, Vendela Vida, and the story centers on an expectant couple played by Krasinski (sporting some
much-maligned facial hair) and Rudolph as they travel the US looking for the perfect place to start their family. The film has a
big ensemble cast to play the various 'characters' our couple will meet along the way -- including some very funny women like
Catherine O'Hara,
Cheryl Hines, and
Allison Janney.
Production began back in April, and according to the release, the Arizona shoot will begin in June. Some of the other locations include Colorado, Connecticut, and Florida. There is no official release date, so I guess I'll have plenty of time to get used to that title.
Farlanders The Untitled Sam Mendes Comedy is due to arrive in theaters in 2009.
Continue reading Sam Mendes' Comedy Has a Title and John Krasinski Has a Beard!
Posted May 22nd 2008 8:02AM by Peter Martin
Filed under: Drama, Deals, Focus Features, Cinematical Indie
An Academy Award-winning filmmaker has chosen his next project.
Kevin Macdonald has signed on to direct Roman epic
The Eagle of the Ninth, according to an announcement in Cannes by Focus Features. Macdonald won an Oscar for his superb documentary
One Day in September and guided
Forest Whitaker to his Academy Award for Best Actor in
The Last King of Scotland.
Scotland co-writer Jeremy Brock adapted the screenplay for
Eagle from the novel of the same name by Rosemary Sutcliff, the first in a series, originally published in 1954. The book is set in the second century in Roman-ruled Britain, telling the tale of a young Roman's search for "the truth about the disappearance of his father's legion," according to
Wikipedia. Focus emphasizes the danger involved, with its hero off "to confront ... savage tribes, make peace with his father's memory, and retrieve the lost legion's golden emblem, the Eagle of the Ninth."
Continue reading Roman Epic 'Eagle of the Ninth' Coming From 'Last King of Scotland' Director
Posted May 12th 2008 4:32PM by Elisabeth Rappe
Filed under: Drama, Independent, Celebrities and Controversy, Distribution, Focus Features, Images, War
Steven Soderbergh's two-part Che Guevara biopic has been shrouded in mystery and controversy for so long, it's hard to believe the world is finally going to see it. It's like pulling teeth to get some biopics to the theatre, isn't it? In case you were beginning to doubt its existence again, two new photos of Benicio del Toro have surfaced online.
Once again, the likeness is downright eerie.
At this point, as Eric Kohn reported, it is still set to screen at Cannes. However, only one half (
The Argentine) has a U.S. distributor in Focus Features.
Guerilla does not. Neither have release dates. (I'm going on basis of IMDB; quite possibly no one has updated info on
Guerilla, or they are being combined and no one said anything.) That could all change after Cannes, and I hope it does. I want to see the whole thing, controversy or not. Don't you?
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Continue reading New Pictures From Steven Soderbergh's Che Guevara Biopics
Posted May 5th 2008 6:32PM by Jessica Barnes
Filed under: Comedy, Sundance, Focus Features, Movie Marketing, Posters
While I'm still not convinced that North American audiences are ready for the strange genius that is
Steve Coogan, at least they will get the chance to have a little taste. The first poster for Andy Fleming's comedy
Hamlet 2 has arrived in our inbox (see to the right, and click to enlarge). So in case anyone was confused, the poster (and
R-rated trailer) makes it clear that this movie is going to be packed to the brim with poop jokes.
Coogan stars as a hapless drama teacher in danger of losing his job. In an attempt to drum up some interest in his drama class, he writes the sequel to Hamlet. Now, as any good English student knows, everyone dies at the end of
Hamlet (oops, 400-year- old spoiler alert), so where can you go from there? It turns out you make a politically incorrect musical with numbers like Rock Me, Sexy Jesus.
Joining Coogan in the cast are
Catherine Keener,
David Arquette, and
Amy Poehler. With comedy talent like that, how can you go wrong? A cut of the film screened at Sundance back in January, and earned the film
the highest bidding price since
Little Miss Sunshine. But unlike
Sunshine, something tells me
Hamlet 2 won't be grabbing an Oscar nod.
Hamlet 2 is scheduled for wide release on August 28th.
Posted May 2nd 2008 1:40PM by Jessica Barnes
Filed under: Comedy, Mystery & Suspense, Focus Features, Brad Pitt, Movie Marketing, George Clooney, Images
After the gut-wrenching terror of
No Country for Old Men (I haven't been that tense in a movie theater since, well, ever), I can safely say that I am incredibly relieved that the Coens' next film,
Burn After Reading, looks like it is going to be a lot more fun. First Showing now has some
stills from the Coens' black comedy, and it would appear that the brothers are returning to what I like to call their '
Raising Arizona roots.'
Burn is the story of a CIA agent (played by
George Clooney) who is assigned to investigate the case of a former agent named Ozzie Cox (
John Malkovich) who has taken his revenge on the agency by writing a tell-all memoir. When Cox's ex-wife (played by
Tilda Swinton) steals the only copy and leaves it behind at her gym, the gym's owner (
Frances McDormand) and star personal trainer (
Brad Pitt) see an opportunity to engage in a little blackmail.
The Coen flick just got the nod to
open the Venice Film Festival this year, but
Burn will not be making an appearance at Cannes this year (which is a little strange considering the luck they had at the French festival
last year). This makes it zero for two for Pitt now that his other high-profile film,
The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, also failed to make the list for Cannes.
Burn After Reading is
scheduled for wide release on September 12th, 2008.
Posted Apr 21st 2008 9:32PM by Eugene Novikov
Filed under: Comedy, Casting, Focus Features
Great day in the morning! Two of my favorite actors on the planet are joining the cast of
Sam Mendes' increasingly promising 2009 comedy, which has yet to find a title. According to a Focus Features press release that landed in my inbox,
Jeff Daniels and
Catherine O'Hara will round out an ensemble that already includes John Krasinski, Maya Rudolph, Toni Colette, Cheryl Hines and Allison Janney. The screenplay was co-written by
McSweeney's founder and
Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius author Dave Eggers and novelist Vendela Vida. The film "follows the journey of an expectant couple as they travel the U.S. in search of a place to put down roots and raise a family."
O'Hara is probably the funniest woman on the planet, and Daniels can bring heart and humanity to any film, so this is good news indeed. With
Christopher Guest taking a break from making the movies that have been her bread and butter over the years, O'Hara can use the high-profile work; her only screen appearance this year or last has been in the underrated
Penelope.
Mendes also has the DiCaprio-Winslet reunion movie
Revolutionary Road in the works -- it will headline the 2008 Oscar season -- but this new project will be his first stab at comedy. Eggers co-wrote the adaptation of
Where the Wild Things Are with
Spike Jonze, which should finally see the light of day next year as well.
Posted Apr 9th 2008 9:02AM by Eugene Novikov
Filed under: Comedy, Horror, Focus Features, Comic/Superhero/Geek
We haven't had much luck with female comic book heroes, perhaps because the only ones that have made it to the screen have been halfhearted spin-offs from male-led franchises. Audiences quite justifiably said "no, thank you" to
Elektra and
Catwoman. Rogue wants to change that by
adapting Hack/Slash, a female-led comic book that's actually distinctive, with a protagonist who is no one's sidekick, thank you very much.
Justin Marks, who is also writing the upcoming
Street Fighter: The Legend of Chun Li for Fox, will take a pass at the screenplay, and music video and commercial director
Todd Lincoln will make the film his feature debut.
Hack/Slash tells the story of Cassie Hack, a cute goth girl who survives an attack by a brutal slasher villain named the Lunch Lady, recruits an enormous sidekick named Vlad, and travels the country taking out slashers and serial killers wherever she finds them. As you might expect, the comic book has horror and comedy elements, and the movie is expected to have the same. If nothing else, this sounds like it might please the legions of
Buffy fans who have been waiting for someone to take the Vampire Slayer's place. And horror geeks might be pleased to have something that toys with their genre's conventions, though I would as soon not witness the return of
Kevin Williamson.
If you're familiar with the source material, please weigh in below.
Posted Apr 7th 2008 6:32PM by Elisabeth Rappe
Filed under: Comedy, Independent, Casting, Focus Features, Newsstand
Toni Collette has joined the cast of the
still-untitled Sam Mendes relationship film -- you know, the one starring John Krasinski and Maya Rudolph, and being penned by Dave Eggers and Vendela Vida.
According to
The Hollywood Reporter, Collette will be playing a college professor and close friend of the young couple -- two folks who are scouring the country for a place to settle and raise their child, and Collette's character feels that it'll be dysfunctional no matter where they end up. Smart lady!
The movie pairs
Collette up again with Big Beach producers Marc Turtletaub and Peter Saraf, who produced
Little Miss Sunshine. Focus is hoping to capture a bit of that magic, since they gave up their claim on that enormous indie hit.
Continue reading Toni Collette Joins Sam Mendes Film
Posted Mar 18th 2008 8:02AM by Peter Martin
Filed under: Drama, Independent, Sci-Fi & Fantasy, Sports, New Line, Sony, Sony Classics, New on DVD, Focus Features, Cinematical Indie
Despite all the awards attention it received, Joe Wright's
Atonement still sounds too much like a lushly romantic period melodrama for my personal taste. Still, it's one of those movies you probably need to experience yourself before deciding if the praise was too lavish (
Ryan Stewart thought it was a "stunning achievement") or the criticism too harsh. The DVD from Universal Studios includes deleted scenes, two "making of" features, and an audio commentary by the director.
From all that I've read,
Southland Tales sounds like an astonishing train wreck.
Nick Schager began his review for
Cinematical by writing: "Let me present Exhibit A in the case against granting talented young filmmakers extensive creative autonomy." Given my perverse nature, that makes me want to see
Richard Kelly's futuristic epic even more. The DVD from Sony Pictures includes a "featurette" and an animated short.
Steep presents thrilling footage of big mountain skiers who swoosh down incredibly steep slopes. As I noted
in my review, though, I felt it raised more questions than it wanted to answer. The DVD from Sony Pictures includes an audio commentary by director Mark Obenhaus with some of the skiers, photo montages, and an additional interview with one of the sport's masters.
Though it was ignored during last fall's awards season, Mike Newell's
Love in the Time of Cholera might be ripe for discovery. (On the other hand,
Jeffrey M. Anderson really didn't like it.) Javier Bardem and Benjamin Bratt star in an adaptation of the novel by Gabriel García Márquez. The DVD from New Line includes an audio commentary by Newell, a "making of" feature, and deleted scenes.
Posted Mar 7th 2008 10:32AM by Jessica Barnes
Filed under: Comedy, Romance, Casting, Scripts, Focus Features
John Krasinski has had a bit of a rough start transitioning his TV career into a movie career. For starters, have you seen
License to Wed? Luckily for my favorite office drone, his upcoming projects look a lot more promising. Variety
reports that Krasinski, SNL's
Maya Rudolph, and
Cheryl Hines have signed to star in
Sam Mendes' new untitled comedy. News of the film first
appeared back in January, and just over a month later, three top-notch comedians have signed on for the film. That has got to be a good sign, right?
Celebrity novelist
Dave Eggers and
Vendela Vida (author of
Girls of the Verge and Egger's wife) wrote the script for the romantic comedy. Eggers made his name with his memoir,
Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius, but is still relatively new to the screenwriting trade. In the film, Krasinski and Rudolph will play an expectant couple traveling around the country looking for a place to settle down and start a family.
If you have ever read anything written by Eggers or the
McSweeney's 'brand' then you know that this slight premise is just the kind of story you would expect. Knowing Egger's penchant for personal touches, I'm sure some of the details of his life with his own family found their way into the script. The production is expected to start shooting this April in Connecticut, and the film is set for release in 2009.
Posted Mar 7th 2008 10:02AM by James Rocchi
Filed under: Comedy, Romance, New Releases, Theatrical Reviews, Focus Features
Early in
Miss Pettigrew Lives for a Day, the title heroine played by
Frances McDormand, a down-on-her luck "governess of last resort" who keeps getting dismissed by huffy high-class London employers, strolls the streets, dejected and down. On the soundtrack? A jazzy, swinging version of the Depression-era song "Brother, Can You Spare a Dime?" And that sweet-sour mix of bright horns and sad sentiments, swinging tempos and bleak prospects, in many ways sets the tone for the film. Adapting Winifred Watson's 1939 novel,
Miss Pettigrew Lives for a Day is a nearly perfect piece of entertainment for grownups, as Miss Pettigrew's desperation inspires her to fake, fib and flail her way into a job as the social secretary to American actress/singer Delysia Lafosse (
Amy Adams), a young woman in severe need of professional assistance and adult supervision. It's fairly easy to predict the rough curves of
Miss Pettigrew's plot within moments of meeting the leads -- Miss Pettigrew will gain joy and confidence from her exposure to Ms. Lafosse, while Ms. Lafosse will acquire wisdom and character from Miss Pettigrew's example -- but the delights of this film are in the details, and everyone involved shapes this seemingly-featherweight entertainment with expert, steady hands.
Miss Pettigrew is not, in fact, a social secretary; however, she's prepared to do whatever is required. And so, in her way, is Delysia; the luxurious flat where she receives Miss Pettigrew is, it turns out, not hers. Delysia is staying there as the lover of nightclub owner Nick (Mark Strong), which makes it all the more necessary that Miss Pettigrew help get Delysia's overnight guest Phil (Tom Payne) -- son of the producer of a show Delysia hopes to land the lead in -- out the door as swiftly as possible before Nick returns. Miss Pettigrew is mortified, but hardly paralyzed, and she swiftly takes charge of matters. And, in the tradition of British farce, as soon as that crisis is averted, another is ready to take its place. ...
Continue reading Review: Miss Pettigrew Lives for a Day
Posted Mar 4th 2008 1:32PM by Jessica Barnes
Filed under: Comedy, Mystery & Suspense, Distribution, Focus Features, Brad Pitt, Movie Marketing, George Clooney
Even though a lot of fans of The Coen Brothers haven't been all that happy with the
results of their collaborations with
George Clooney (I think I was one of the eight people in the world who actually enjoyed
Intolerable Cruelty.), I've still got a good feeling about their CIA comedy,
Burn After Reading.
The Hollywood Reporter has announced that Focus Features will release the dark comedy on September 12th of this year.
Burn has an all-star cast including Clooney,
John Malkovich,
Frances McDormand,
Brad Pitt, and
Tilda Swinton. I would guess that it's been like 'old home week' on set; we all know that Clooney and Pitt are buddies, and Swinton could be an honorary member of the boys club after her Oscar winning performance in
Michael Clayton (and judging by her acceptance speech, she seems comfortable with a little verbal rough-housing).
The comedy stars Malkovich as Ozzie Cox, a CIA vet who gets fired for being an alcoholic, and writes out his revenge in a memoir. His soon-to-be ex-wife (Swinton) accidentally leaves the memoir at a gym, where it falls into the hands of a trainer, Chad Feldheimer (Brad Pitt), and the gym's owner Linda Litzke (Frances McDormand), who want to exploit the discovery. It sounds like a pretty 'fluffy' flick, but I think we could all use a break from the Coens' more "intense" point of view, wouldn't you agree, friendo?
Posted Mar 3rd 2008 8:02AM by Peter Martin
Filed under: Drama, Foreign Language, Independent, IFC, Sony Classics, Box Office, Focus Features, Miramax, Cinematical Indie, Roadside Attractions
In a quiet post-Oscar week, Austria's
The Counterfeiters (Sony Pictures Classics), winner of the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film, kept its position at the top of the charts, earning $10,050 per screen at 18 locations, according to estimates compiled by
Leonard Klady at Movie City News. Klady noted that the film "doubled its playdates and box office but appears short of the commercial traction (or social vibrancy) of last year's triumphant
The Lives of Others."
Chop Shop (Koch Lorber) performed very nicely at its
single-theater engagement in New York City's Film Forum, grossing $8,900. Kim Voynar described it as one of her favorite films from last year's festival circuit; filmmaker
Ramin Bahrani (
Man Push Cart) follows a 12-year-old orphan struggling to survive on the mean streets of New York.
Chop Shop continues its run at Film Forum through March 11.
Other new indie releases struggled to find audiences.
Chicago 10 (Roadside Attractions), "appreciable as one of the most creative and entertaining documentary films in years," did the best, pulling in $3,030 per-screen at 14 locations. Playing on 75 screens,
City of Men (Miramax), "neither as stylistically fresh nor as powerfully raw as
City of God," scratched out $1,570 per engagement, while
Bonneville (SenArts), "a road trip movie for spunky older chicks" starring Kathy Bates, Joan Allen and Jessica Lange, and
Romulus, My Father (Magnolia Pictures), "an incredibly slow-paced film that relies on the strength of its actors to thrive" starring
Eric Bana, trailed behind, earning $1,410 and $1,070 per screen, respectively, in limited engagements.
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