I pity the poor actor who gets notes from Tony Jaa on set. I’ve seen directors yelling at the cast before, but I’ve never seen them get pummeled in a rain of fists, elbows and knees – Tony Jaa’s specialty. The diminutive Thai actor, recently the star of the nigh-upon-unwatchable The Protector, is moving to … Continue reading
I finally broke down and bought The Golden Compass, the first book in the His Dark Materials trilogy by Philip Pullman. First of all, this is a kid’s book series? I can’t imagine what kind of pale, boring, morose kids must dig this – these must be the kids who watched CSPAN instead of Teletubbies. … Continue reading
You might remember me talking about a low-budget, completely indie movie coming out of Seattle called June & July. It’s been described as “Jim Jarmusch does Unbreakable,” and I think that’s perfect – it’s about 20-something twins, brother and sister, who live in a nowhere town and have nowhere lives. Oh, and she’s got super … Continue reading
One of my favorite elements of Robert Heinlein’s Job: A Comedy of Justice, is the concept that creation is cyclical, and that a pantheon of deities vie to see who will make the next one. The current creation was overseen by a very crabby, puritanical Jehova – the next one, in Heinlein’s book, is overseen … Continue reading
Things get dark for Harry Potter and the other students of Hogwarts in Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, the fifth film in the series. After the events of the last film – which saw Lord Voldemort returned – the magical world is in an uproar. Fearing that Dumbledore is building an army … Continue reading
It’s hard to fault a movie marketing campaign that has people giving blood, always a worthy endeavor. I’m going to do my best to fault it, though, since it’s Saw III and I really dislike those movies. According to the folks at Posterwire, the first Saw blood drive collected 4,200 pints of blood. Saw II … Continue reading
Note from Devin: Thanks to Travis, a volunteer at this year’s Fantastic Fest, for taking some time to write up what he’s seen. Many films at Fantastic Fest don’t get wider releases, which means I won’t be seeing them at press screenings, so it’s great to have an early word on some interesting and weird … Continue reading
Polish movie posters are the best thing since the Earth was built by aliens and left cooking in the sun long enough so people thought they were civilized and followed the rules of a God. Let’s just say this… if there is a God, chances are good that he made his daily wage designing polish … Continue reading
The first official stills from the 5th Harry Potter film, Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, appeared in The Scotsman, and one picture has made its way online. The image has Harry on the floor, about to unleash a patronus on a Dementor coming after him on the Hogwarts school grounds. There’s a … Continue reading
Darren Aronofsky’s The Fountain – still the best film of the year in my eyes – has had a roller coaster reception at a couple of different festivals, and that reception probably foreshadows the critical and public reaction when this heady and emotional film is released in November. Some people get it and some people … Continue reading