Meet In The Lobby

You know the last time we had positive reviews across the board for a weekend? I don’t either, but it’s been a while. So let the following viewers rejoice: Stoners, Seth Rogen fans, young adult women, and anyone that’s ever pined for Penelope Cruz. That covers just about everyone on the planet.

:: PINEAPPLE EXPRESS
Rotten Tomatoes: 69 / 100
Metacritic: 64 / 100
filmcritic.com: 2.5 / 5

It seems Pineapple Express — named after a particular strain of cool cannabis — is just what a stoner comedy should be. Funny. Seth Rogen and James Franco stay baked while on the run after one of ‘em witnesses a murder. There’s a good deal of action in the film, and that’s being criticized by some who feel it’s too much or gets in the way. Dude, just light up and chill. (The now-infamous red band trailer is above, and you can see our previous Pineapple Express coverage here.)

:: THE SISTERHOOD OF THE TRAVELING PANTS 2
Rotten Tomatoes: 66 / 100
Metacritic: 63 / 100
filmcritic.com: 3 / 5

How many films that make $39 million at the box office see a sequel? Here’s one. Chalk it up to the popularity of the Sisterhood book series, and the newfound popularity of star America Ferrera (Ugly Betty). This second film is, well, nice. You don’t hear that too often about a movie. As for the plot, the girls stay tight while separated for college. Enjoy it now ladies, cause it’ll be a pipe dream after you’ve all grown apart by graduation.

:: ELEGY
Rotten Tomatoes: 69 / 100
Metacritic: 62 / 100

Talk about great pedigree. Sir Ben Kingsley, Penelope Cruz, Dennis Hopper, Patricia Clarkson and Peter Sarsgaard in an adaptation of a Philip Roth story. In the film, Cruz drives Kingsley to nutty levels of passion and possessiveness. Tell me about it. Many are calling Elegy intelligent and absorbing. And one critic in particular respectfully mentioned the honor with which Cruz’s bare body is treated and exposed. Carefully and often, I would hope.

By the way, this is Kingsley’s seventh film with a 2008 release date, including a new animated Noah’s Ark movie. He must have a very comfortable beach house somewhere. (See our previous Elegy coverage.)

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August 8th, 2008
Categories: Drama, Movie Review Roundup, Comedies, Movie Previews . Author: Norm Schrager . Comments: No Comments

Francis Ford Coppola directed four historic films in the 1970s, and three of them enjoy remarkable adoration and recognition: The Godfather, The Godfather Part II and Apocalypse Now. In between those first two, Coppola made an “overlooked” classic, the tantalizing, paranoid drama The Conversation. Now, more than 30 years after the film’s release, AMC is developing a TV series based on the movie. (click the poster for a large version)

Boy, Mad Men hits and AMC goes crazy for a series…

This isn’t the first attempt to make this happen. Producer Tony Krantz (24, Felicity), and screenwriters Christopher McQuarrie (The Usual Suspects) and Erik Jendresen (Krantz’s wild Otis, Band of Brothers) worked on a TV version of The Conversation for ABC, but it never came to fruition.

With AMC, the series will be set during the film’s period (early 1970s), and will follow the character Gene Hackman played in the movie, complex surveillance expert Harry Caul. The updates, according to Jendresen, will come in the way themes are presented, especially in light of recent American debates over privacy rights and wiretapping.

On a personal note, The Conversation was the first film I saw as a Film Design student in Boston in the late 1980s. First thought: I’m never gonna pass this class. Further thoughts: It’s a slyly artistic work, right down to the “did she really say that?” audio design that redefines the movie in its final sequence. Watch it again and consider its Coppola bookends (The Godfather movies) — The Conversation takes on quite an exciting context.

Final note: Before the ABC deal, according to Variety, Krantz even sold the idea to NBC in 1995 while he was an agent. Kyle MacLachlan was to star.

August 7th, 2008
Categories: Drama, On TV, Movie Posters . Author: Norm Schrager . Comments: No Comments

You may have seen director Adam Shankman as a judge on the TV show “So You Think You Can Dance?” but don’t hold it against him. Shankman’s vision for the latest film version of Hairspray was both a critical and box-office hit last summer (nearly $119 million in North America). Phoenix Pictures is hoping for more of the same — today, they announced Shankman will direct the adaptation of Playing for Pizza, John Grisham’s novel about about an NFL has-been playing out his days in Italy. (Remember when Grisham adaptations were hard-boiled legal thrillers?)

What do you think? A Good Year meets The Replacements? Here’s what Shankman told Variety:

“… a cross between North Dallas Forty and Jerry Maguire, about a character who fails in the public eye, goes into survival mode as a result.”  

Man, that’s aiming high. Regardless, Shankman first returns to his tried-and-true family formula this Christmas, having just directed Adam Sandler in Bedtime Stories. Shankman has directed the weak Cheaper by the Dozen 2 (see review) and the odd Vin Diesel vehicle, The Pacifier.

Production may begin this spring on location in Italy.

August 6th, 2008
Categories: Musicals, Movie Previews . Author: Norm Schrager . Comments: No Comments

We premiered the first Elegy trailer back in June, and here’s a second one worth your consideration since it has a completely different tone. An interesting, but certainly not unprecedented, marketing strategy.

The first trailer (see it here) has that meaningful life-is-about-to-change comedy vibe, with a refreshingly honest view of relationships. This one sells Elegy as a dramatic, intrigue-filled thriller with that something-bad-is-about-to-happen music. They are the same movie.

I’m not spoiling anything by referring to Elegy as a thriller and a comedy — I think both are inaccurate boxes the marketing team stuffed this film into. But I do think the “comedy” trailer is the better setup.

So which Elegy is the true Elegy? We’ll find out when the movie’s released this Friday, August 8. Until then, we can enjoy Ben Kingsley, Penelope Cruz, Dennis Hopper and Patricia Clarkson, all in one trailer. That’s pretty rare. (Although Cruz and Clarkson do co-star in Woody Allen’s upcoming Vicky Cristina Barcelona, and Kingsley and Clarkson both appear in Martin Scorsese’s Shutter Island for 2009).

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August 5th, 2008
Categories: Drama, Trailers, Movie Previews . Author: Allison . Comments: 1 Comment

Well sort of. Sci-fi site io9 turned us onto an interview with McG, the single nicknamed director of Terminator Salvation (also occasionally known as Terminator 4), and McG reveals the following: The Terminator Salvation ending is, well, open-ended.

Another episodic cliffhanger for the Terminator series, appropriate to both the timeline (it’s 2018) and the eerie conclusion to T4’s immediate predecessor, Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines.

Thankfully, io9 also digested the comprehensive interview and sifted the following information about the film, which may be vital or useless for all we know:

:: The character Blair Williams gets shot in the leg (actress Moon Bloodgood had to determine just the right amount of limp)

:: Kate Connor is a doctor (actress Bryce Dallas Howard had to do her homework)

:: This action should all be taking place before the creation of the T-800 machines like the one Arnold Schwarzenegger has played… but we already know bodybuilder / actor Roland Kickinger will take over the origin story of said robots, so there’s trouble brewing for the revolutionaries for sure…

Last note: We previously referred to the film as Terminator Salvation: The Future Begins but that’s been identified as just a working title.

Thanks to moviesonline.ca for the interview.

Share your opinions on this reported Terminator Salvation cliffhanger.

August 4th, 2008
Categories: Action Movies, Interviews, Science Fiction, Movie Previews . Author: Norm Schrager . Comments: No Comments

Following our “For Dummies” preview of Star Wars: The Clone Wars, here are two German posters for the animated film’s August 15 release. They certainly convey a distinct style for the series, especially for a character like Yoda, who’s been a part of the fantasy world consciousness since 1980. The characters look heroic, sure, but a little weird, a little kiddie-targeted.

Thanks to our friend Colin at Get the Big Picture for bringing these to our attention…

Share your comments on The Clone Wars posters

August 4th, 2008
Categories: Movie Posters, Action Movies, Movie Previews . Author: Norm Schrager . Comments: 2 Comments