The website, Deadline, is reporting that Tyler Perry and Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson are teaming up to star in the film, "Take My Wife." Perry plays a newly-divorced man who is looking for a new husband for his ex-wife so that he doesn't have to pay alimony. The plan works, but then Perry's character falls in love with his wife again.
Lionsgate is apparently in the lead to buy the film which currently is without a distributor. Perry will co-produce the film through his 34th Street Films production banner. Johnson will be one of the film's executive producers.
Saturday, October 9, 2010
Review: "Seabiscuit" is an Uplifting Tale of a Horse and His Boys
TRASH IN MY EYE No. 21 (of 2004) by Leroy Douresseaux
Seabiscuit (2003)
Running time: 140 minutes (2 hours, 20 minutes)
MPAA – PG-13 for some sexual situations and violent sports-related images
DIRECTOR: Gary Ross
WRITER: Gary Ross (from the novel by Laura Hillenbrand)
PRODUCERS: Kathleen Kennedy, Frank Marshall, Gary Ross, and Jane Sindell
CINEMATOGRAPHER: John Schwartzman (D.o.P.)
EDITOR: William Goldenberg
COMPOSER: Randy Newman
Academy Award nominee
DRAMA
Starring: Tobey Maguire, Jeff Bridges, Chris Cooper, William H. Macy, Kingston DuCoeur, Elizabeth Banks, Gary Stevens, Eddie Jones, and David McCullough, and Michael Angarano
Seabiscuit is the story of three men who are broken by misfortune in their lives and how one unlikely horse becomes a champion and changes their lives. The film is based upon the true story of Seabiscuit, an undersized, Depression-era horse whose story lifted the spirits of a nation and the three-man team behind it.
Charles Howard (Jeff Bridges) was a bicycle salesman who made his fortune in automobiles, but saw his only son die in a tragic mishap. Tom Smith (Chris Cooper) was a horseman who ended up a drifter after the stock market crash that precipitated the Depression. Red Pollard (Michael Angarano) lived with his well-to-do middle, class family, residing in a lovely home. All the family members loved to read, but Red’s love of horses and his rapport with them was obvious to anyone who saw him with a horse. After the Depression causes the Pollards to lose their home, Red’s parents leave him with a track owner, thinking Red would be better off as a jockey. It is, however, a rough life, and the adult Red (Tobey Maguire) is a wreck of a man and an alcoholic. Gradually fate brings the three hurt men together around one horse, as they try to help Seabiscuit reach the glory many thought would be his destiny by right of his lineage.
Seabiscuit is a curious film. It looks like a period piece and feels like a mini-epic, but the film is ultimately an emotional masterpiece. That simply means that the film brings forth the viewers’ emotions. You can feel the thrill of victory in your heart when the horse wins. When tragedy strikes or something bad happens to a character, you might also feel the sadness. You thrill, cheer, and cry, because you can feel along with the characters.
Director Gary Ross has written some very good films including Big (1988) and Dave, and he also directed the very charming Pleasantville. His best attribute is creating characters that breath, characters that make you care about them, so that you root for them, are happy for them, and are sad with them. When the viewer cares for the characters, they’re likely to buy into the movie.
Ross writes and directs a picture in which he makes nearly every moment riveting, both the quiet moments and the scenes of stadiums crowded with people anxious to see a horse race. It’s worth following the line of action because the drama is so entrancing. It’s enough to make you forget the times when the film feels too staged and its theatrics too over-the-top and posed.
The acting is all first rate. What else should we expect from a cast that includes such great character actors as Jeff Bridges, Chris Cooper, and William H. Macy, especially when they’re given a script with rich characters to perform? And Tobey Maguire seems to have impeccable tastes when it comes to choosing films (The Ice Storm, The Cider House Rules), so it’s a safe bet to see anything with him in it. Plus, his charming, boyishly good looks also have a kind of weary everyman quality, like a guy who has lived a varied and interesting life. Maguire just looks like he belongs in the films in which he stars.
In large measure, Seabiscuit is about redemption and about lives made whole again. It’s about people who feel abandoned and suddenly find other people who care about them or about the lonely finding groups to which they can belong. The film is less about feeling good and more about being able to get on your feet again. The film says that a person can overcome any obstacle, and Seabiscuit proclaims it so winningly.
8 of 10
A
NOTES:
2004 Academy Awards: 7 nominations: “Best Picture” (Kathleen Kennedy, Frank Marshall, and Gary Ross), “Best Art Direction-Set Decoration” (Jeannine Claudia Oppewall-art director and Leslie A. Pope-set decorator), “Best Cinematography” (John Schwartzman), “Best Costume Design” (Judianna Makovsky), “Best Editing” (William Goldenberg), “Best Sound Mixing” (Andy Nelson, Anna Behlmer, and Tod A. Maitland), and “Best Writing, Adapted Screenplay” (Gary Ross)
2004 Golden Globes: 2 nominations: “Best Motion Picture – Drama” and “Best Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role in a Motion Picture” (William H. Macy)
Seabiscuit (2003)
Running time: 140 minutes (2 hours, 20 minutes)
MPAA – PG-13 for some sexual situations and violent sports-related images
DIRECTOR: Gary Ross
WRITER: Gary Ross (from the novel by Laura Hillenbrand)
PRODUCERS: Kathleen Kennedy, Frank Marshall, Gary Ross, and Jane Sindell
CINEMATOGRAPHER: John Schwartzman (D.o.P.)
EDITOR: William Goldenberg
COMPOSER: Randy Newman
Academy Award nominee
DRAMA
Starring: Tobey Maguire, Jeff Bridges, Chris Cooper, William H. Macy, Kingston DuCoeur, Elizabeth Banks, Gary Stevens, Eddie Jones, and David McCullough, and Michael Angarano
Seabiscuit is the story of three men who are broken by misfortune in their lives and how one unlikely horse becomes a champion and changes their lives. The film is based upon the true story of Seabiscuit, an undersized, Depression-era horse whose story lifted the spirits of a nation and the three-man team behind it.
Charles Howard (Jeff Bridges) was a bicycle salesman who made his fortune in automobiles, but saw his only son die in a tragic mishap. Tom Smith (Chris Cooper) was a horseman who ended up a drifter after the stock market crash that precipitated the Depression. Red Pollard (Michael Angarano) lived with his well-to-do middle, class family, residing in a lovely home. All the family members loved to read, but Red’s love of horses and his rapport with them was obvious to anyone who saw him with a horse. After the Depression causes the Pollards to lose their home, Red’s parents leave him with a track owner, thinking Red would be better off as a jockey. It is, however, a rough life, and the adult Red (Tobey Maguire) is a wreck of a man and an alcoholic. Gradually fate brings the three hurt men together around one horse, as they try to help Seabiscuit reach the glory many thought would be his destiny by right of his lineage.
Seabiscuit is a curious film. It looks like a period piece and feels like a mini-epic, but the film is ultimately an emotional masterpiece. That simply means that the film brings forth the viewers’ emotions. You can feel the thrill of victory in your heart when the horse wins. When tragedy strikes or something bad happens to a character, you might also feel the sadness. You thrill, cheer, and cry, because you can feel along with the characters.
Director Gary Ross has written some very good films including Big (1988) and Dave, and he also directed the very charming Pleasantville. His best attribute is creating characters that breath, characters that make you care about them, so that you root for them, are happy for them, and are sad with them. When the viewer cares for the characters, they’re likely to buy into the movie.
Ross writes and directs a picture in which he makes nearly every moment riveting, both the quiet moments and the scenes of stadiums crowded with people anxious to see a horse race. It’s worth following the line of action because the drama is so entrancing. It’s enough to make you forget the times when the film feels too staged and its theatrics too over-the-top and posed.
The acting is all first rate. What else should we expect from a cast that includes such great character actors as Jeff Bridges, Chris Cooper, and William H. Macy, especially when they’re given a script with rich characters to perform? And Tobey Maguire seems to have impeccable tastes when it comes to choosing films (The Ice Storm, The Cider House Rules), so it’s a safe bet to see anything with him in it. Plus, his charming, boyishly good looks also have a kind of weary everyman quality, like a guy who has lived a varied and interesting life. Maguire just looks like he belongs in the films in which he stars.
In large measure, Seabiscuit is about redemption and about lives made whole again. It’s about people who feel abandoned and suddenly find other people who care about them or about the lonely finding groups to which they can belong. The film is less about feeling good and more about being able to get on your feet again. The film says that a person can overcome any obstacle, and Seabiscuit proclaims it so winningly.
8 of 10
A
NOTES:
2004 Academy Awards: 7 nominations: “Best Picture” (Kathleen Kennedy, Frank Marshall, and Gary Ross), “Best Art Direction-Set Decoration” (Jeannine Claudia Oppewall-art director and Leslie A. Pope-set decorator), “Best Cinematography” (John Schwartzman), “Best Costume Design” (Judianna Makovsky), “Best Editing” (William Goldenberg), “Best Sound Mixing” (Andy Nelson, Anna Behlmer, and Tod A. Maitland), and “Best Writing, Adapted Screenplay” (Gary Ross)
2004 Golden Globes: 2 nominations: “Best Motion Picture – Drama” and “Best Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role in a Motion Picture” (William H. Macy)
---------------------------
Friday, October 8, 2010
Juno's Jason Reitman and Diablo Cody Reteam on "Young Adult"
Press release:
PARAMOUNT ACQUIRES WORLDWIDE RIGHTS TO REITMAN AND CODY’S “YOUNG ADULT”
The film begins principal photography in NY this month
HOLLYWOOD, CA (October 7, 2010) – Paramount Pictures has acquired worldwide distribution rights to Mandate Pictures’ YOUNG ADULT from Academy Award®-nominated director Jason Reitman and Academy Award®-winning writer Diablo Cody. Academy-Award® winning actress Charlize Theron (“Monster,” “The Road”) stars alongside Golden Globe nominee Patrick Wilson (Angels in America, the upcoming “Morning Glory”) and Patton Oswalt (“Ratatouille”).
The movie will be produced by Academy-Award® nominated producers Lianne Halfon and Russell Smith of Mr. Mudd Productions, Mason Novick, Diablo Cody, Jason Reitman through his film banner Right of Way Films and Denver & Delilah Films. Nathan Kahane, John Malkovich, Helen Estabrook and Steven Rales will executive produce. Mary Lee, Kelli Konop, Brian Bell and Beth Kono will co-produce. Paramount’s David Beaubaire, will run point for the studio.
YOUNG ADULT marks the second collaboration for these filmmakers. Reitman, Mr. Mudd, Mandate, Novick and Cody had an enormously successful partnership on JUNO. The film, directed by Reitman and written by Cody, garnered a host of accolades, including an Academy Award® for Best Original Screenplay and three Academy Award® nominations for Best Motion Picture (Lianne Halfon, Mason Novick and Russell Smith, Producers), Best Actress, and Best Director. The $227 million box-office and critical sensation was released by Fox Searchlight in late 2007.
The film also marks the third collaboration for Reitman and Paramount. The studio released his Academy-Award® nominated “Up in the Air” last year. Earning over $160 million world-wide, the movie earned six Academy-Award® nominations, and five Golden Globe nominations, with Reitman taking home the Golden Globe for Best Adapted Screenplay. Reitman next produces the upcoming Paramount Pictures film “Jeff Who Lives At Home,” starring Jason Segel and Ed Helms, and directed by Jay and Mark Duplass, to be released in 2011.
“We immediately jumped at the chance to work with Jason again,” said Paramount Film Group President Adam Goodman. “He’s one of the most talented filmmakers working today and look forward to this next collaboration.”
Dan Freedman, SVP of Business and Legal Affairs, negotiated all deals for Mandate Pictures.
ABOUT PARAMOUNT PICTURES CORPORATION
Paramount Pictures Corporation (PPC), a global producer and distributor of filmed entertainment, is a unit of Viacom (NYSE: VIA, VIA.B), a leading content company with prominent and respected film, television and digital entertainment brands. The company's labels include Paramount Pictures, Paramount Vantage, Paramount Classics, Insurge Pictures, MTV Films, and Nickelodeon Movies. PPC operations also include Paramount Digital Entertainment, Paramount Famous Productions, Paramount Home Entertainment, Paramount Pictures International, Paramount Licensing Inc., Paramount Studio Group, and Worldwide Television Distribution.
ABOUT MANDATE PICTURES
Mandate Pictures is a multifaceted film production and financing company with a distinguished reputation and proven track record of success and profitability. Acquired by Lionsgate (NYSE: LGF) in 2007, Mandate continues to operate as an independent brand delivering acclaimed commercial and independent films worldwide. Under President Nathan Kahane, Mandate has carved out a unique position in the film industry, having the creative autonomy and capital to finance, develop, package and produce theatrical films such as the Academy Award®-nominated film, JUNO, directed by Jason Reitman, written by Diablo Cody and starring Ellen Page, Michael Cera, Jennifer Garner and Jason Bateman. Mandate’s most recent film THE SWITCH, starring Jennifer Aniston and Jason Bateman, was released by Miramax Films on August 20, 2010; upcoming films include an untitled comedy starring Joseph Gordon-Levitt and Seth Rogen, which will be distributed by Summit Entertainment in 2011.
PARAMOUNT ACQUIRES WORLDWIDE RIGHTS TO REITMAN AND CODY’S “YOUNG ADULT”
The film begins principal photography in NY this month
HOLLYWOOD, CA (October 7, 2010) – Paramount Pictures has acquired worldwide distribution rights to Mandate Pictures’ YOUNG ADULT from Academy Award®-nominated director Jason Reitman and Academy Award®-winning writer Diablo Cody. Academy-Award® winning actress Charlize Theron (“Monster,” “The Road”) stars alongside Golden Globe nominee Patrick Wilson (Angels in America, the upcoming “Morning Glory”) and Patton Oswalt (“Ratatouille”).
The movie will be produced by Academy-Award® nominated producers Lianne Halfon and Russell Smith of Mr. Mudd Productions, Mason Novick, Diablo Cody, Jason Reitman through his film banner Right of Way Films and Denver & Delilah Films. Nathan Kahane, John Malkovich, Helen Estabrook and Steven Rales will executive produce. Mary Lee, Kelli Konop, Brian Bell and Beth Kono will co-produce. Paramount’s David Beaubaire, will run point for the studio.
YOUNG ADULT marks the second collaboration for these filmmakers. Reitman, Mr. Mudd, Mandate, Novick and Cody had an enormously successful partnership on JUNO. The film, directed by Reitman and written by Cody, garnered a host of accolades, including an Academy Award® for Best Original Screenplay and three Academy Award® nominations for Best Motion Picture (Lianne Halfon, Mason Novick and Russell Smith, Producers), Best Actress, and Best Director. The $227 million box-office and critical sensation was released by Fox Searchlight in late 2007.
The film also marks the third collaboration for Reitman and Paramount. The studio released his Academy-Award® nominated “Up in the Air” last year. Earning over $160 million world-wide, the movie earned six Academy-Award® nominations, and five Golden Globe nominations, with Reitman taking home the Golden Globe for Best Adapted Screenplay. Reitman next produces the upcoming Paramount Pictures film “Jeff Who Lives At Home,” starring Jason Segel and Ed Helms, and directed by Jay and Mark Duplass, to be released in 2011.
“We immediately jumped at the chance to work with Jason again,” said Paramount Film Group President Adam Goodman. “He’s one of the most talented filmmakers working today and look forward to this next collaboration.”
Dan Freedman, SVP of Business and Legal Affairs, negotiated all deals for Mandate Pictures.
ABOUT PARAMOUNT PICTURES CORPORATION
Paramount Pictures Corporation (PPC), a global producer and distributor of filmed entertainment, is a unit of Viacom (NYSE: VIA, VIA.B), a leading content company with prominent and respected film, television and digital entertainment brands. The company's labels include Paramount Pictures, Paramount Vantage, Paramount Classics, Insurge Pictures, MTV Films, and Nickelodeon Movies. PPC operations also include Paramount Digital Entertainment, Paramount Famous Productions, Paramount Home Entertainment, Paramount Pictures International, Paramount Licensing Inc., Paramount Studio Group, and Worldwide Television Distribution.
ABOUT MANDATE PICTURES
Mandate Pictures is a multifaceted film production and financing company with a distinguished reputation and proven track record of success and profitability. Acquired by Lionsgate (NYSE: LGF) in 2007, Mandate continues to operate as an independent brand delivering acclaimed commercial and independent films worldwide. Under President Nathan Kahane, Mandate has carved out a unique position in the film industry, having the creative autonomy and capital to finance, develop, package and produce theatrical films such as the Academy Award®-nominated film, JUNO, directed by Jason Reitman, written by Diablo Cody and starring Ellen Page, Michael Cera, Jennifer Garner and Jason Bateman. Mandate’s most recent film THE SWITCH, starring Jennifer Aniston and Jason Bateman, was released by Miramax Films on August 20, 2010; upcoming films include an untitled comedy starring Joseph Gordon-Levitt and Seth Rogen, which will be distributed by Summit Entertainment in 2011.
Wes Craven Brings Terror to the Sky in "Red Eye"
TRASH IN MY EYE No. 134 (of 2005) by Leroy Douresseaux
Red Eye (2005)
Running time: 85 minutes (1 hour, 25 minutes)
MPAA – PG-13 for some intense sequences of violence, and language
DIRECTOR: Wes Craven
WRITER: Carl Ellsworth, from a story by Dan Foos and Carl Ellsworth
PRODUCERS: Chris Bender and Marianne Maddalena
CINEMATOGRAPHER: Robert Yeoman
EDITORS: Patrick Lussier and Stuart Levy
THRILLER
Starring: Rachel McAdams, Cillian Murphy, Brian Cox, Jayma Mays, and Jack Scalia
Wes Craven wants you to know that his new film, Red Eye, is not a horror film. I even saw him on a cable entertainment talk show where he emphatically stated that Red Eye was not a horror flick.
In the film, Lisa Reisert (Rachel McAdams), who hates to fly, has to take a plane, Fresh Air Flight 1019, from Texas (where she attended her grandmother’s funeral) back to Miami. Upon boarding her plane, Lisa is shocked to find that she’s seated next to Jackson Ripner (Cillian Murphy), a seemingly charming man with whom she earlier shared a drink. Once the plane is in the air, Jackson drops his flirtatious and charming façade and reveals to Lisa why he’s really on board the same plane with her. Jackson needs Lisa to use her pull as the desk manager of the popular Miami hotel, the Lux Atlantic, to move the Deputy Secretary of Homeland Security, Charles Keefe (Jack Scalia), to a room in the Lux where it will be easier to assassinate him (and his family). If Lisa doesn’t cooperate, Jackson’s comrade is waiting in car parked by her father’s home, waiting to kill dear old dad, Joe Reisert (Brian Cox). Trapped at 30,000 feet in air in the confines of the airplane and unable to summon help without endangering her father, Lisa has to figure away to thwart the ruthless Jackson, who never lets her out of his sight for very long.
While not a horror film, Red Eye is just more proof that Wes Craven knows how to give people chills and thrills. Red Eye is a nifty thriller that’s part Hitchcock (the first half) and part slasher film (the second half as Jackson pursues Lisa). The film is especially taut and tense during the plane sequences; those who don’t like flying will especially feel the shivers on the back on their necks and running down their spines. The wonderful camera work by Robert Yeoman (who has photographed all of Wes Anderson’s films) and Craven’s direction ably creates a sense of panic, doom, and claustrophobia. While Red Eye wears its B-movie credentials on its proverbial sleeves, Craven executes a premise into a suspense film that simply works – making a by-the-book plot a highly engaging cat-and-mouse drama – if only the story stayed on the plane.
Earlier in Summer 2005, Steven Spielberg turned sci-fi B-movie tropes into a grisly disaster film of high pedigree with War of the Worlds. Craven falls just short of making his own thriller into a rare breed suspense flick, and he shares the blame with the script. Neither he nor his screenwriter, Carl Ellsworth, do anything novel to keep Red Eye’s last act from becoming a video fare crime thriller. Red Eye is by no means a failure; it just fails at being great although the first half of the movie had the movie on the path to excellence. Ellsworth (who wrote Red Eye’s original story with former college classmate Dan Foos) was reportedly the only screenwriter to work on Red Eye’s script, a rarity in Hollywood, but in this case, perhaps it would have been best if at least one more writer put in his two cents worth.
Red Eye’s lightening pace can’t quite hide the ugly truth that the script turns what is an engaging adversary, Jackson Ripner, into nothing more than just another killer who in the film’s closing act overestimates himself. Cillian Murphy, sure to be a good character actor for some time to come, chews up the scenery as long as Jackson is on the airplane. When Red Eye’s script turns the story from a button-pushing psychological thriller into a killer-on-the-loose cheapie in the second half, Cillian Murphy’s Jackson looses his wicked charm and becomes a tiresome (and not too bright) ordinary home-invading assailant. It doesn’t help that the co-star Rachel McAdams is just another pretty face, and her acting, which has won her a prestigious Genie Award in her native country of Canada, delivers a functional performance here. In Red Eye, she lacks the tasty menace that made her such a sweet adversary for Lindsay Lohan in Mean Girls. Here, she’s just another spunky white girl running from a bad man with a knife – no better or worse than all the other white chicks who have run from monsters and killers for Craven since he first started making scary movies over three decades ago.
In the end, Red Eye works much more often than not. An edge-of-your-seat thriller with enough wit to make you laugh out loud, it’s a guaranteed winner for people who actually want to go to the theatre to see a movie, and it’ll also be a winning choice for those who are always looking for something good to rent from the video store.
6 of 10
B
Monday, August 22, 2005
Red Eye (2005)
Running time: 85 minutes (1 hour, 25 minutes)
MPAA – PG-13 for some intense sequences of violence, and language
DIRECTOR: Wes Craven
WRITER: Carl Ellsworth, from a story by Dan Foos and Carl Ellsworth
PRODUCERS: Chris Bender and Marianne Maddalena
CINEMATOGRAPHER: Robert Yeoman
EDITORS: Patrick Lussier and Stuart Levy
THRILLER
Starring: Rachel McAdams, Cillian Murphy, Brian Cox, Jayma Mays, and Jack Scalia
Wes Craven wants you to know that his new film, Red Eye, is not a horror film. I even saw him on a cable entertainment talk show where he emphatically stated that Red Eye was not a horror flick.
In the film, Lisa Reisert (Rachel McAdams), who hates to fly, has to take a plane, Fresh Air Flight 1019, from Texas (where she attended her grandmother’s funeral) back to Miami. Upon boarding her plane, Lisa is shocked to find that she’s seated next to Jackson Ripner (Cillian Murphy), a seemingly charming man with whom she earlier shared a drink. Once the plane is in the air, Jackson drops his flirtatious and charming façade and reveals to Lisa why he’s really on board the same plane with her. Jackson needs Lisa to use her pull as the desk manager of the popular Miami hotel, the Lux Atlantic, to move the Deputy Secretary of Homeland Security, Charles Keefe (Jack Scalia), to a room in the Lux where it will be easier to assassinate him (and his family). If Lisa doesn’t cooperate, Jackson’s comrade is waiting in car parked by her father’s home, waiting to kill dear old dad, Joe Reisert (Brian Cox). Trapped at 30,000 feet in air in the confines of the airplane and unable to summon help without endangering her father, Lisa has to figure away to thwart the ruthless Jackson, who never lets her out of his sight for very long.
While not a horror film, Red Eye is just more proof that Wes Craven knows how to give people chills and thrills. Red Eye is a nifty thriller that’s part Hitchcock (the first half) and part slasher film (the second half as Jackson pursues Lisa). The film is especially taut and tense during the plane sequences; those who don’t like flying will especially feel the shivers on the back on their necks and running down their spines. The wonderful camera work by Robert Yeoman (who has photographed all of Wes Anderson’s films) and Craven’s direction ably creates a sense of panic, doom, and claustrophobia. While Red Eye wears its B-movie credentials on its proverbial sleeves, Craven executes a premise into a suspense film that simply works – making a by-the-book plot a highly engaging cat-and-mouse drama – if only the story stayed on the plane.
Earlier in Summer 2005, Steven Spielberg turned sci-fi B-movie tropes into a grisly disaster film of high pedigree with War of the Worlds. Craven falls just short of making his own thriller into a rare breed suspense flick, and he shares the blame with the script. Neither he nor his screenwriter, Carl Ellsworth, do anything novel to keep Red Eye’s last act from becoming a video fare crime thriller. Red Eye is by no means a failure; it just fails at being great although the first half of the movie had the movie on the path to excellence. Ellsworth (who wrote Red Eye’s original story with former college classmate Dan Foos) was reportedly the only screenwriter to work on Red Eye’s script, a rarity in Hollywood, but in this case, perhaps it would have been best if at least one more writer put in his two cents worth.
Red Eye’s lightening pace can’t quite hide the ugly truth that the script turns what is an engaging adversary, Jackson Ripner, into nothing more than just another killer who in the film’s closing act overestimates himself. Cillian Murphy, sure to be a good character actor for some time to come, chews up the scenery as long as Jackson is on the airplane. When Red Eye’s script turns the story from a button-pushing psychological thriller into a killer-on-the-loose cheapie in the second half, Cillian Murphy’s Jackson looses his wicked charm and becomes a tiresome (and not too bright) ordinary home-invading assailant. It doesn’t help that the co-star Rachel McAdams is just another pretty face, and her acting, which has won her a prestigious Genie Award in her native country of Canada, delivers a functional performance here. In Red Eye, she lacks the tasty menace that made her such a sweet adversary for Lindsay Lohan in Mean Girls. Here, she’s just another spunky white girl running from a bad man with a knife – no better or worse than all the other white chicks who have run from monsters and killers for Craven since he first started making scary movies over three decades ago.
In the end, Red Eye works much more often than not. An edge-of-your-seat thriller with enough wit to make you laugh out loud, it’s a guaranteed winner for people who actually want to go to the theatre to see a movie, and it’ll also be a winning choice for those who are always looking for something good to rent from the video store.
6 of 10
B
Monday, August 22, 2005
Thursday, October 7, 2010
Will Ferrell Leads Record-Breaking "Megamind" Gathering
Press release:
Will Ferrell and 1,580 Caped Crusaders Capture World Record for Largest Gathering of Superheroes during DreamWorks MEGAMIND Event
New Guinness World Records Achievement Awarded to Heroic Crowd on Saturday, October 2nd
Los Angeles, CA (Oct 2, 2010) – Will Ferrell and 1,580 of his closest costumed superhero friends united on Saturday, October 2nd and made heroic history as they smashed the current Guinness World Records title for Largest Gathering of Superheroes. The Mega-event was open to caped crusaders everywhere and was hosted by DreamWorks Animation to celebrate the November 5th release of MEGAMIND.
“We just broke the record for the biggest gathering of super heroes to kick off Megamonth. If everyone would just stay in their costumes for all of October, we could break another one.” - Will Ferrell on Saturday, after breaking the Guinness World Record
The attempt commenced promptly at 10:00 a.m. as superheroes swooped into L.A. LIVE in downtown Los Angeles. To qualify for the record attempt, participants had to arrive dressed as an easily recognizable superhero that has appeared in a published book, comic, television program or film, as stipulated by the record guidelines. A minimum of 1,501 superheroes were needed to break the previous world record.
Will Ferrell, alongside Megamind, took to the stage at L.A. LIVE to lead his band of superhero supporters into the record books. The feat was witnessed by official Guinness World Records Adjudicator and Spokesperson, Stuart Claxton, who judged and verified the attempt adhered to the strict guidelines of the record category before he announcement that the record had been successful broken.
The world record setting event marked the kickoff of MegaMonth, an official month dedicated to Mega-events across the country in celebration of the upcoming DreamWorks Animation release of MEGAMIND, starring the voices of Will Ferrell and Brad Pitt.
About “MEGAMONTH”
Events scheduled across the country, which include Mega regional contests, Mega marathon weekend races and Mega food festivals. MegaMonth is DreamWorks Animation’s month of Mega events. These events are Mega-big, Mega-bold and Mega-Mega!
About “MEGAMIND”
Megamind is the most brilliant super-villain the world has ever known…and the least successful. Over the years, he has tried to conquer Metro City in every imaginable way - Each attempt, a colossal failure thanks to the caped superhero known as “Metro Man,” until the day Megamind actually defeats him in the throes of one of his botched evil plans. Suddenly, the fate of Metro City is threatened when a new villain arrives and chaos runs rampant, leaving everyone to wonder: Can the world’s biggest “mind” actually be the one to save the day?
Michael Jai White Kicks "Blood and Bone" into High Gear
TRASH IN MY EYE No. 83 (of 2010) by Leroy Douresseaux
Blood and Bone (2009)
Running time: 93 minutes (1 hour, 43 minutes)
MPAA – R for violence, pervasive language and brief drug use
DIRECTOR: Ben Ramsey
WRITER: Michael Andrews
PRODUCERS: Matthew Binns, Michael Mailer, and Nick Simunek
CINEMATOGRAPHER: Roy H. Wagner
EDITOR: Dean Goodhill
DRAMA/CRIME/MARTIAL ARTS
Starring: Michael Jai White, Julian Sands, Eammon Walker, Dante Basco, Nona Gaye, Michele Belegrin, Bob Sapp, Ron Yuan, Kimbo Slice, Stuart Wilson, and Kevin Phillips
For all intents and purposes, the martial arts movie, Blood and Bone is a straight-to-video action movie. According to the website, IMDb, Blood and Bone only received a theatrical release in Lebanon. Some may think that this says something negative about the movie’s quality, but Blood and Bone is absolutely thrilling. The movie also says that Michael Jai White should be a big time action movie star.
When he gets out of prison, Bone (Michael Jai White) heads for Los Angeles with a plan for revenge. He enters LA’s underground fight scene with the help of a scrappy manager named Pinball (Dante Basco). Bone made a promise to Danny (Kevin Phillips), his prison cellmate who was murdered, that he would take care of Danny’s girlfriend and son. This promise brings him into conflict with James (Eammon Walker), an ambitious gangster, who has the most feared fighter in LA’s underground scene, the massive Hammerman (Bob Sapp).
In Blood and Bone, Michael Jai White reveals himself as a charismatic action star who is as cool and stoic as he is an ass-kickin’ superhero. Bone is similar to one of those characters that Clint Eastwood plays in Westerns – the mysterious stranger who suddenly appears on the scene specifically to deliver justice/revenge. Mix that with some Bruce Lee, and we have Isaiah Bone. White as Bone, however, is better as a martial arts hero than either Steven Seagal or Jean-Claude Van Damme. Over the course of his career, White’s acting has also improved, and he is much less stiff than he was in his first leading role in a movie, as the title character in Spawn (1997).
In Blood and Bone, White is smooth, funny, and occasionally, even droll and witty. He really comes alive as a martial artist in the film’s numerous fight scenes, and White is so exciting to watch that it may seem to some (like me) that there aren’t enough fight scenes and duels in Blood and Bone. White is electric when he is going up against prison thugs, street fighters, gangsters, and the film’s lead villain, James.
By the way, Eammon Walker is excellent as James, full of pathos and urgent ambition. This is one of several quality performances from actors who make the best of the awkward sounding dialogue given to them. Director Ben Ramsey not only gets the best out of many of his actors; he also paces the film so that it is always making the viewer anticipate something good.
It would be good to see the character Bone come back for a sequel. If he doesn’t bring him back, Michael Jai White has certainly given him a memorable one-shot at stardom in the surprisingly exciting, low-budget fight movie, Blood and Bone.
7 of 10
B+
Thursday, October 07, 2010
Blood and Bone (2009)
Running time: 93 minutes (1 hour, 43 minutes)
MPAA – R for violence, pervasive language and brief drug use
DIRECTOR: Ben Ramsey
WRITER: Michael Andrews
PRODUCERS: Matthew Binns, Michael Mailer, and Nick Simunek
CINEMATOGRAPHER: Roy H. Wagner
EDITOR: Dean Goodhill
DRAMA/CRIME/MARTIAL ARTS
Starring: Michael Jai White, Julian Sands, Eammon Walker, Dante Basco, Nona Gaye, Michele Belegrin, Bob Sapp, Ron Yuan, Kimbo Slice, Stuart Wilson, and Kevin Phillips
For all intents and purposes, the martial arts movie, Blood and Bone is a straight-to-video action movie. According to the website, IMDb, Blood and Bone only received a theatrical release in Lebanon. Some may think that this says something negative about the movie’s quality, but Blood and Bone is absolutely thrilling. The movie also says that Michael Jai White should be a big time action movie star.
When he gets out of prison, Bone (Michael Jai White) heads for Los Angeles with a plan for revenge. He enters LA’s underground fight scene with the help of a scrappy manager named Pinball (Dante Basco). Bone made a promise to Danny (Kevin Phillips), his prison cellmate who was murdered, that he would take care of Danny’s girlfriend and son. This promise brings him into conflict with James (Eammon Walker), an ambitious gangster, who has the most feared fighter in LA’s underground scene, the massive Hammerman (Bob Sapp).
In Blood and Bone, Michael Jai White reveals himself as a charismatic action star who is as cool and stoic as he is an ass-kickin’ superhero. Bone is similar to one of those characters that Clint Eastwood plays in Westerns – the mysterious stranger who suddenly appears on the scene specifically to deliver justice/revenge. Mix that with some Bruce Lee, and we have Isaiah Bone. White as Bone, however, is better as a martial arts hero than either Steven Seagal or Jean-Claude Van Damme. Over the course of his career, White’s acting has also improved, and he is much less stiff than he was in his first leading role in a movie, as the title character in Spawn (1997).
In Blood and Bone, White is smooth, funny, and occasionally, even droll and witty. He really comes alive as a martial artist in the film’s numerous fight scenes, and White is so exciting to watch that it may seem to some (like me) that there aren’t enough fight scenes and duels in Blood and Bone. White is electric when he is going up against prison thugs, street fighters, gangsters, and the film’s lead villain, James.
By the way, Eammon Walker is excellent as James, full of pathos and urgent ambition. This is one of several quality performances from actors who make the best of the awkward sounding dialogue given to them. Director Ben Ramsey not only gets the best out of many of his actors; he also paces the film so that it is always making the viewer anticipate something good.
It would be good to see the character Bone come back for a sequel. If he doesn’t bring him back, Michael Jai White has certainly given him a memorable one-shot at stardom in the surprisingly exciting, low-budget fight movie, Blood and Bone.
7 of 10
B+
Thursday, October 07, 2010
Wednesday, October 6, 2010
Waiting for "Superman" Inspires New Huffington Post Section
Press release:
The Huffington Post Launches Education Section Inspired By “Waiting For ‘Superman’” Documentary
"HuffPost Education" Covers Broad-Range Of Issues Impacting Students, Parents, Teachers, Administrators, and the Nation
-- “Waiting for ‘Superman’” Signs on As Inaugural Sponsor --
New York, NY, October 4 – The Huffington Post (“HuffPost”) a leading social news and opinion site, today announces the launch of "HuffPost Education http://www.huffingtonpost.com/education/," a new education section inspired by the issues raised in WAITING FOR “SUPERMAN,” the documentary by Academy Award®-winning director Davis Guggenheim. HuffPost Education serves as a one-stop-shop education “hub,” featuring up-to-the-minute news and features, blog posts, video, and community engagement around America's troubled education system. The section is produced in partnership with Causecast, a leading cause marketing and technology solutions provider, and is the latest content "vertical" to be added to The Huffington Post, which continues its expansion as "The Internet Newspaper." Arianna Huffington, co-founder and editor-in-chief of The Huffington Post, made the announcement.
"The Huffington Post is thrilled to launch HuffPost Education -- a new section that highlights and builds on the issues raised in WAITING FOR ‘SUPERMAN,’”said Arianna Huffington. “Education has always been the great equalizer in America: the chance for each succeeding generation to improve their minds -- and their lives. But something has gone terribly wrong with our education system, and this failure has profound consequences for America’s future. Our nation’s education crisis demands ‘the fierce urgency of now,’ and that’s why HuffPost Education looks at the problems plaguing our schools but also focuses on the innovative solutions being proposed and implemented all across the country. Last but not least, it’s an opportunity to celebrate and support the many teachers who, despite a broken system, are doing heroic work.”
HuffPost Education serves as a hub for education news and trends -- from school success stories and teacher profiles to tips for parents and the latest research and expert analysis. The section features broad-ranging coverage of what’s happening at schools across the country, and around the world, including curricula, testing, resource allocation, teacher training, and more. HuffPost Education highlights the important work that teachers are doing as well as provides them with a real-time forum to discuss the issues impacting them. As part of this, the section will highlight great teachers from around the country, and feature the innovative ways they are getting children to learn. It is also home to a spirited ongoing conversation about what’s gone wrong with America’s educational system -- and what needs to be done to fix it -- featuring topical takes from an eclectic mix of stakeholders in the education debate.
Said Ryan Scott, CEO of Causecast: “We’re delighted to announce the expansion of our HuffPost partnership with the launch of HuffPost Education. Like HuffPost Impact, our award winning service and philanthropy vertical, HuffPost Education strives to move the needle forward by providing inspiring content combined with tools that let readers take action. The aim is to be the definitive online hub for addressing the education crisis, a forum for the best and most innovative minds in America to discuss the current and future state of our public education system, and a venue for everyday participation.”
About The Huffington Post
The Huffington Post (http://www.huffingtonpost.com/) is a leading social news and opinion site which in four and a half years has become an influential and oft-quoted media brand, "The Internet Newspaper." The site offers coverage of politics, media, business, entertainment, living, style, sustainable “green” living, world news, technology, nonprofits, college life, books, religion, food and comedy, and is a top destination for news, blogs and original content. The Huffington Post ("HuffPost") has over 40 million unique visitors per month (source: Google Analytics) and is the “most-linked-to blog” on the Internet, per Technorati. In 2008, the site launched its first local version, HuffPost Chicago; HuffPost New York, HuffPost Denver and HuffPost LA launched in 2009. The Huffington Post has an active community, with over three million comments made on the site each month. HuffPost Social News launched in partnership with Facebook in 2009 to leverage the power of social networking to allow readers to create their own personalized social networking-like news page on HuffPost itself. The Huffington Post Twitter Edition launched in 2010. HuffPost has 6,000 bloggers -- from politicians and celebrities to academics and policy experts -- who contribute in real-time on a wide-range of topics making news today. Among those who have blogged on HuffPost are Barack Obama, Hillary Clinton, Larry David, Nora Ephron, Larry Page, Madeleine Albright, Robert Redford, Neil Young, Rahm Emanuel, Albert Brooks, Mia Farrow, Russ Feingold, Al Franken, Ari Emanuel, Gary Hart, Harry Shearer, John Kerry, Bill Maher, Nancy Pelosi, Madonna, Jamie Lee Curtis, Ryan Reynolds, Craig Newmark, Alec Baldwin, Donna Karan, Kenneth Cole and Donatella Versace. A comprehensive list of the contributors to The Huffington Post can be found in its blogger index: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/theblog/index/.
About Causecast
Causecast is a full-service cause integration company that provides custom solutions to nonprofit and for-profit organizations. Causecast leverages media and technology platforms to develop cause marketing campaigns, provide fundraising and volunteer management tools to nonprofits, and support for-profit CSR with a patent pending employee engagement platform. Clients include AARP, The Huffington Post, Ben Stiller, Malaria No More, John Legend's Show Me Campaign, The National Forensics League, Charity: Water.
About WAITING FOR “SUPERMAN”
From AN INCONVENIENT TRUTH director Davis Guggenheim comes WAITING FOR “SUPERMAN,” a provocative and cogent examination of the crisis of public education in the United States told through multiple interlocking stories—from a handful of students and their families whose futures hang in the balance, to the educators and reformers trying to find real and lasting solutions within a dysfunctional system. Tackling such politically radioactive topics as the power of teachers’ unions and the entrenchment of school bureaucracies, Guggenheim reveals the invisible forces that have held true education reform back for decades.
The film is produced by Lesley Chilcott, with Participant Media’s Jeff Skoll and Diane Weyermann serving as executive producers. It is written by Davis Guggenheim & Billy Kimball.
About Paramount Pictures Corporation
Paramount Pictures Corporation (PPC), a global producer and distributor of filmed entertainment, is a unit of Viacom (NYSE: VIA, VIA.B), a leading content company with prominent and respected film, television and digital entertainment brands. The company's labels include Paramount Pictures, Paramount Vantage, Paramount Classics, Insurge Pictures, MTV Films, and Nickelodeon Movies. PPC operations also include Paramount Digital Entertainment, Paramount Famous Productions, Paramount Home Entertainment, Paramount Pictures International, Paramount Licensing Inc., Paramount Studio Group, and Worldwide Television Distribution.
About Participant Media
Participant Media is a Los Angeles-based entertainment company that focuses on socially relevant, commercially viable feature films, documentaries and television, as well as publishing and digital media. Participant Media is headed by CEO Jim Berk and was founded in 2004 by philanthropist Jeff Skoll, who serves as Chairman. Ricky Strauss is President.
Participant exists to tell compelling, entertaining stories that bring to the forefront real issues that shape our lives. For each of its projects, Participant creates extensive social action and advocacy programs, which provide ideas and tools to transform the impact of the media experience into individual and community action. Participant’s films include The Kite Runner, Charlie Wilson’s War, Darfur Now, An Inconvenient Truth, Good Night, and Good Luck, Syriana, Standard Operating Procedure, The Visitor, The Soloist, Food, Inc., The Informant!, The Cove, The Crazies, Oceans, Furry Vengeance, CASINO JACK and the United States of Money, Countdown to Zero and Waiting for “Superman.”
About Walden Media
Walden Media specializes in entertainment for the whole family. Past award-winning films include: “The Chronicles of Narnia” series, “Journey to the Center of the Earth,” “Nim’s Island” and “Charlotte’s Web.” Upcoming films include the third installment in the Narnia series “The Chronicles of Narnia: The Voyage of the Dawn Treader.”
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