Month: June 2011

 Have a look at two new posters for these upcoming films.  Cowboys and Aliens arrives July 29th.  Trailer here.  Warrior drops in to celebrate our two-year anniversary on September 9th.  Trailer here.

 Moneyball is based on the true story of Billy Beane – the man who changed baseball – and the Oakland Athletic’s baseball team. Director Bennett Miller (Capote) took over the film when Steven Soderbergh was kicked off the production.  The cast includes Brad Pitt (as Beane), Jonah Hill, Philip …

 Ryan Reynolds is Hal Jordan, a test pilot who becomes better known as The Green Lantern once a magical green ring falls into his possession.  It seems like we are getting a new comic-book based film every other week this Summer, and this week is no exception.  In The 

The film stars Ryan Reynolds, Blake Lively, Peter Sarsgaard, Mark Strong, Angela Bassett and Tim Robbins, with Martin Campbell directing a script by Greg Berlanti and comic book writers Michael Green and Marc Guggenheim, which was subsequently rewritten by Michael Goldenberg.^] The film tells the story of Hal Jordan, a test pilot who is selected to become the first human member of the Green Lantern Corps. Hal is given a ring that grants him superpowers, and must confront Parallax, who threatens to upset the balance of power in the universe.

The film first entered development in 1997; progress remained stalled until Greg Berlanti was hired to write and direct in October 2007. Martin Campbell was brought on board in February 2009 after Berlanti was forced to vacate the director’s position. Most of the live-action actors were cast between July 2009 and February 2010, and filming took place from March to August 2010 in Louisiana. The film was converted to 3D during its post-production stage.

Green Lantern was released on June 17, 2011, and received generally negative reviews; most criticized the film for its screenplay, inconsistent tone, choice and portrayal of villains, and its use of CGI, while some praised Reynolds’ performance. Reynolds would later voice his dissatisfaction with the film. The film underperformed at the box office, grossing $219 million against a production budget of $230 million. Due to the film’s negative reception and disappointing box office performance, Warner Bros. canceled any plans for a sequel, instead opting to reboot the character in the DC Extended Universe line with the film Green Lantern Corps.^[

  We saw the trailer for the Straw Dogs remake a little while ago, now you get a look at the poster.  It certainly pays homage to the original, with Dustin Hoffman and James Marsden having damaged their glasses.  See both versions below.  The remake of the Sam Peckinpah classic …

Holy shit.     I guess living on the East coast will have its disadvantages every now and again.  When I woke up this morning, I found that the Academy had steamrolled over a few of their guidelines in the nomination process.     First up (per Oscars.org) The Board voted to institute a 

 “God bless Mama, Papa, Captain Midnight, Veronica Lake, and the President of the United States” – little girl’s bedtime prayer in Alfred Hitchcock’s Shadow of a Doubt   It’s difficult to imagine that the cinematic teaming of Alan Ladd and Veronica Lake could have happened in any other decade .

  It’s an Entertainment Tonight presentation, but we still get a sneak peek at the upcoming film starring Brad Pitt, Philip Seymour Hoffman and Jonah Hill.  Moneyball tells the story of Oakland A’s GM Billy Beane, and how he was able to put out the lowest payrolled baseball team to have a winning record. 

The Tree of Life    Directed by Terrence Malick    (****)    Since 1974 Terence Malick has directed just five films.    Five folks, and the last three came after a twenty year absence behind the camera.    He is revered by some critics and historians as a genius, a reclusive intellect who once

 Check out this pretty cool featurette with David Fincher (The Social Network) and Christopher Nolan (Inception) speaking highly of Terrence Malick’s The Tree of Life.

  “There are two ways through life: the way of nature, and the way of Grace. You have to choose which one you’ll follow… Grace doesn’t try to please itself.  Accepts being slighted, forgotten, disliked.  Accepts insults and injuries…  Nature only wants to please itself. Get others to please it …