War documentary Restrepo: An early but strong Oscar contender for Best Documentary, Restrepo follows the men of an US Army Airborne Brigade Combat Team platoon in the Korangal Valley, Afghanistan. Winner of the Grand Jury Prize for best documentary at the 2010 Sundance Festival.
What’s Next on AM
Movie Review: The Road (2009)
Movie Review: The Thin Red Line (1997)
Movie Review: Trolls 2 (1990)
Round I of The Greatest Comedy Tournament will kick off soon so stay plugged!
Links
Heather finishes her top 50 movie villains list with the top 10 (Movie Mobsters)
Peter continues his list of the top 25 comedies of the decade, part two (Magic Lantern)
Ruth asks who is your dream on-screen duo? (Flix Chatter)
Nicholas laments the dilemma and potential downfall of our girl Rachel McAdams (Cinema Romantico)
Craig takes a look at Ben Foster’s work through three of his most notable films (Film Experience Blog)
Thanks for the shout-out Castor, always appreciate it!
And yeah, those Coriolanus pics rock!!
I’m so excited for the X-Men prequel, James McAvoy would be great as Xavier! Hope this will back the glory of the first one. Vaughn is a good choice to direct, and glad Singer is involved as producer.
Agreed on the Foster link. I think he is probably the most underrated American actor today. The Messenger was a top notch movie. I love the comparisons that he is today’s Marlon Brando, cept that nobody has heard of him. It’s almost as if “method acting” is punished nowadays and completely ignored.
Yep, I think he needs a “breakout” performance to really put him on the mainstream map. Which is odd, because he’s given so many damn fascinating supporting ones. I’m holding out on the “Brando” comparison, though. Let’s give it a few years.
Yeah, I’ll give the Brando comparison awhile longer, but I see where you are coming from with it. When I read it the first thing that popped into my head was “The Wild One”, so I see your point. I definitely agree that he is widely widely unacknowledged by mainstream Hollywood and that just blows goats.
You would think all the terrific performances he has given in supporting turn would land him a lead role somewhere. I do agree that he needs that one star-making performance to put him over the hump.
Yeah, not saying he is on the level of Brando or anything…Nobody has been since Brando retired, and it might be a while until somebody does. Bale looked like he could be that guy at the beginning of the century, but has fallen off the past few years, although I didn’t hate him in TDK as most people did. But Foster is the closest thing to Brando that we have nowadays as far as acting style and delivery.
I thought The Crow had a slew of poorly conceived sequels and such (or was that in my head)? It does seem an odd choice for a big budget remake – you’d imagine there would be a stigma around the original film given the unfortunate incident which occurred on set.
Is it wrong that no matter how many times I read Donald Glover to play Peter Parker I keep on wishing it said Danny Glover. Oh, that would be epic! Perhaps they can get him to play an old him, or even the father. Is my getting excited over this too much?
Oh that would be just so epic, wouldn’t it? By the way Castor if you haven’t seen it, check out Blindness. A painfully hard viewing, but Glover is incredible in it.
The X-Men are kinda boned if you’re looking for a realistic adversary – Singer hit most of the bases with the terrorism angle.
At their heart, most X-men comics are pulpy sci-fi with wacky evolutionary subthemes. I can’t really think of a non-terrorist threat that would fit well with the onscreen universe. Though I would love to see Apocalypse or Sinister, I think Kai is right – too out there for mainstream audiences.
Oh gosh – that whole Xerxes thing just irks me a little. In 300 (which I thought was only okay) it was highly disturbing to realize that it was the same guy who wooed Laura Linney in Love Actually. Quite the transformation…
Another X-Men movie…oh no! But boy, isn’t McAvoy seeing the big pay cheques now! Paul Rudd to star in another rubbish comedy – c’mon Paul, you’re better than that! Here’s hoping My Brother is better than it sounds.
Love checking the new links and seeing what other writers are doing here. Thanks so much for the listing again! Not an X-Men fan myself, but yes, McAvoy should be pretty damn good in it…he’s done nothing but give solid performances each and every time.
No problem Peter, keep up the good work! Also love to see McAvoy take on the role, he has that great mix of big blockbuster art-house type movies and period piece going
I want to read these all thoroughly but I gotta say I think I might write a post about the whole Donald Glover thing… are you a racist if you think making Spiderman black is distracting?
I think in certain casesw, like Nick Fury for instance, it is Kick Ass but with main Iconic characters, I think it’s distracting… just like a white guy playing Blade, Luke Cage or War Machine would bug me too!
I don’t think the race of a character matters one way or another, unless the ethnicity of the character is fundamental to the character. So I don’t mind a black James Bond or Captain America, but would probably mind a black Daredevil.
I do get a bit more tetchy when it’s the other way round – making ethnic characters white – if only because many of the pulp legacy characters come from a time before equality, so there isn’t a lot of ethnicity in the base to begin with (think of Victorian heroes like Allan Quartermain or even Golden Age superheroes) and “whitewashing” the cast even more has negative connotations.
I’m not sure I said that right and probably sound like a racist or reverse racist.
Well, if you would be picky about, and simply because I like to cause frustration, Cappy being white makes more sense than any other heroes. From the World War 2 era, how likely would it have been that anybody but a white male would’ve been selected for such a program? As much as I like Will Smith, I really didn’t agree with the concept of him being Cappy.
Moviegoers ARE tired of watching sequels!! I get so tired of Hollywood trying to make every box-office hit a sequel and franchise. Shrek, Pirates, Transformers, are all movies that were good to begin with but were really murdered with 2nd and 3rd installments. Often, nothing will be as good as the first one. I heard a rumor about a Cars sequel and I was livid. Give us something new Pixar! O, and a Hangover sequel, worried about that one too.
Yep, but people are still going to pay to see them and they’ll still seem a less risky venture than actual original films (it’s the same reason almost everything which isn’t a sequel is adapted – that means it has worked before in another medium). I reckon the sequel is here to stay, alas.
I have an article coming next week about how the blockbuster era has stunted creativity in Hollywood. Darren hits it on the nail that churning out sequels is a much safer investment for studios as people will still pay to see them based on the success on the first or second movie in the franchise. Let’s face it, even a bad sequel still racks in more money than most good-to-great movies that don’t have blockbuster written all over them.
Looking forward to it – I think it’s a fascinating subject (but then I’m that sort of movie nerd, who is as interested in the sociological aspect as the films themselves). Maybe I’ll draft my own and we can have some sort of tandem blogging thing going on.
Apparently there’s a pretty huge fan backlash to the idea of Peter Parker being played by Glover, on the basis that Peter Parker isn’t black. Given that there’s nothing about Parker that rests on his whiteness, the response is pretty shocking, and I’ll admit even at the risk of sounding naive that I didn’t expect it at all.
I was really surprised by the Glover thing at all, to be honest. It’s kinda sad when you’re so old that all the ‘stars’ lobbying to play a teenage Peter Parker are unknown to you.
Ang Lee’s Life of Pi on hold over budget concerns (24 Frames)
More pictures of Ralph Fiennes’ Coriolanus (Kino Gallery)
Casting News
Trailers
52 Comments
Thanks for the shout-out Castor, always appreciate it!
And yeah, those Coriolanus pics rock!!
I’m so excited for the X-Men prequel, James McAvoy would be great as Xavier! Hope this will back the glory of the first one. Vaughn is a good choice to direct, and glad Singer is involved as producer.
You welcome Ruth! Never was a huge fan of X-Men but glad to see they got someone worthy of playing Dr. X
I’m also excited by the rumours that Aaron Johnson is on board – possibly to play Magneto. The two of them are a bloody dream team.
Leave my campy Ninja Turtles alone Michael Bay!!!!!!!!!!!!
Thanks for the shout out to my site again, and of course for your awesome collaboration of links and updates.
The Ben Foster link was awesome. Just reminded me how incredible 3:10 to Yuma was. Damn it. I need to go watch that again.
You welcome
3:10 to Yuma is goodness, I just re-watch it not too long ago and it holds up every time.
Agreed on the Foster link. I think he is probably the most underrated American actor today. The Messenger was a top notch movie. I love the comparisons that he is today’s Marlon Brando, cept that nobody has heard of him. It’s almost as if “method acting” is punished nowadays and completely ignored.
Yep, I think he needs a “breakout” performance to really put him on the mainstream map. Which is odd, because he’s given so many damn fascinating supporting ones. I’m holding out on the “Brando” comparison, though. Let’s give it a few years.
Yeah, I’ll give the Brando comparison awhile longer, but I see where you are coming from with it. When I read it the first thing that popped into my head was “The Wild One”, so I see your point. I definitely agree that he is widely widely unacknowledged by mainstream Hollywood and that just blows goats.
You would think all the terrific performances he has given in supporting turn would land him a lead role somewhere. I do agree that he needs that one star-making performance to put him over the hump.
Yeah, not saying he is on the level of Brando or anything…Nobody has been since Brando retired, and it might be a while until somebody does. Bale looked like he could be that guy at the beginning of the century, but has fallen off the past few years, although I didn’t hate him in TDK as most people did. But Foster is the closest thing to Brando that we have nowadays as far as acting style and delivery.
I think the Turtles will be fine. Bay more than likely won’t be directing it, just producing.
It still saddens me that The Crow is being remade.
If another guy dies on set, perhaps it’ll get everyone to stop remakes!
I thought The Crow had a slew of poorly conceived sequels and such (or was that in my head)? It does seem an odd choice for a big budget remake – you’d imagine there would be a stigma around the original film given the unfortunate incident which occurred on set.
Yeah David Boreanaz and Tito Ortiz was in one. That is just a mess period.
*were in one
I retort to you Darren with my own awful typos.
Don’t forget Eddie Furlong!
Is it wrong that no matter how many times I read Donald Glover to play Peter Parker I keep on wishing it said Danny Glover. Oh, that would be epic! Perhaps they can get him to play an old him, or even the father. Is my getting excited over this too much?
Yes, that would quite awesome. Last time I saw Danny Glover was in Shooter so it’s been a while…
I would love to see Spider-Man dispatch a villain with the line “I’m getting too old for this sh!t”.
Oh that would be just so epic, wouldn’t it? By the way Castor if you haven’t seen it, check out Blindness. A painfully hard viewing, but Glover is incredible in it.
Thanks for the suggestion. It will be added to “the list”
For the longest time, I kept typing Danny in place of Donald. They’re so similar (name) it’s exhausting.
Thanks for the link! Very kind. And James McAvoy in “X Men?” I think I like it.
You welcome sir
I wrote a whole thing on the Donald Glover thing last night.
James McAvoy would be rather awesome, if truth me told. But who will play Magneto? Will it turn into half a Holocaust movie?
Apparently McAvoy and whoever plays Magneto team up as a last resort against a much larger opponent (hoping Apocalypse).
No way to fit Apocalypse into one film… robably go with a more realistic foe!
Can it be zombie apocalypse? If so, I could totally write it.
The X-Men are kinda boned if you’re looking for a realistic adversary – Singer hit most of the bases with the terrorism angle.
At their heart, most X-men comics are pulpy sci-fi with wacky evolutionary subthemes. I can’t really think of a non-terrorist threat that would fit well with the onscreen universe. Though I would love to see Apocalypse or Sinister, I think Kai is right – too out there for mainstream audiences.
Sinister would be great, Darren… although still unlikely for an origin story going back this far… need Gambit to make that kick ass anyway!
Oh gosh – that whole Xerxes thing just irks me a little. In 300 (which I thought was only okay) it was highly disturbing to realize that it was the same guy who wooed Laura Linney in Love Actually. Quite the transformation…
What? Surely you josh!
Another X-Men movie…oh no! But boy, isn’t McAvoy seeing the big pay cheques now! Paul Rudd to star in another rubbish comedy – c’mon Paul, you’re better than that! Here’s hoping My Brother is better than it sounds.
To paraphrase Simon & Jo – does the McAvoy/X-MEN news mean we’re about to see James shave his head?
There was a recent of picture of him with a buzz cut so he is getting there!
Love checking the new links and seeing what other writers are doing here. Thanks so much for the listing again! Not an X-Men fan myself, but yes, McAvoy should be pretty damn good in it…he’s done nothing but give solid performances each and every time.
No problem Peter, keep up the good work! Also love to see McAvoy take on the role, he has that great mix of big blockbuster art-house type movies and period piece going
I want to read these all thoroughly but I gotta say I think I might write a post about the whole Donald Glover thing… are you a racist if you think making Spiderman black is distracting?
I think in certain casesw, like Nick Fury for instance, it is Kick Ass but with main Iconic characters, I think it’s distracting… just like a white guy playing Blade, Luke Cage or War Machine would bug me too!
I don’t think the race of a character matters one way or another, unless the ethnicity of the character is fundamental to the character. So I don’t mind a black James Bond or Captain America, but would probably mind a black Daredevil.
I do get a bit more tetchy when it’s the other way round – making ethnic characters white – if only because many of the pulp legacy characters come from a time before equality, so there isn’t a lot of ethnicity in the base to begin with (think of Victorian heroes like Allan Quartermain or even Golden Age superheroes) and “whitewashing” the cast even more has negative connotations.
I’m not sure I said that right and probably sound like a racist or reverse racist.
Well, if you would be picky about, and simply because I like to cause frustration, Cappy being white makes more sense than any other heroes. From the World War 2 era, how likely would it have been that anybody but a white male would’ve been selected for such a program? As much as I like Will Smith, I really didn’t agree with the concept of him being Cappy.
That’s it… I’m writing a post about this today!
Moviegoers ARE tired of watching sequels!! I get so tired of Hollywood trying to make every box-office hit a sequel and franchise. Shrek, Pirates, Transformers, are all movies that were good to begin with but were really murdered with 2nd and 3rd installments. Often, nothing will be as good as the first one. I heard a rumor about a Cars sequel and I was livid. Give us something new Pixar! O, and a Hangover sequel, worried about that one too.
Yep, but people are still going to pay to see them and they’ll still seem a less risky venture than actual original films (it’s the same reason almost everything which isn’t a sequel is adapted – that means it has worked before in another medium). I reckon the sequel is here to stay, alas.
I have an article coming next week about how the blockbuster era has stunted creativity in Hollywood. Darren hits it on the nail that churning out sequels is a much safer investment for studios as people will still pay to see them based on the success on the first or second movie in the franchise. Let’s face it, even a bad sequel still racks in more money than most good-to-great movies that don’t have blockbuster written all over them.
Looking forward to it – I think it’s a fascinating subject (but then I’m that sort of movie nerd, who is as interested in the sociological aspect as the films themselves). Maybe I’ll draft my own and we can have some sort of tandem blogging thing going on.
Yea sounds good chief
‘Shortlist’ to play Spiderman? is he a rapper?
lol good one Ross
The new Scott Pilgrim trailer is pretty cool, definitely looking forward to it in August.
Does The Crow really need a reboot?
Coriolanus looks pretty badass!
Apparently there’s a pretty huge fan backlash to the idea of Peter Parker being played by Glover, on the basis that Peter Parker isn’t black. Given that there’s nothing about Parker that rests on his whiteness, the response is pretty shocking, and I’ll admit even at the risk of sounding naive that I didn’t expect it at all.
Thanks for the shout-out Castor, really appreciate it.
I was also surprised by the Glover backlash.
I was really surprised by the Glover thing at all, to be honest. It’s kinda sad when you’re so old that all the ‘stars’ lobbying to play a teenage Peter Parker are unknown to you.
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