If I were Guy Ritchie, I’d want to be Matthew Vaughn right now. It’s not enough that the Brit filmmaker’s longtime producer has gone on to out-direct and out-marry him (Layer Cake and Claudia Schiffer respectively); now, Vaughn’s MARV Films has just struck a three-year first-look deal with Sony Pictures that could allow him to … Continue reading
What’s with all the non-Judd Apatow comedies being announced tonight? I didn’t know you were allowed to make a comedy in Hollywood without winning the kingpin’s approval. Thankfully, this one sounds much, much better than Man-Witch. Truth be told, I think it sounds downright hilarious. Written by Jonathan Goldstein and John Francis Daley (Freaks and … Continue reading
Disclaimer: Judd Apatow has nothing to do with this comedy. Todd Phillips has had a rough go of it since breaking through with 2003’s Old School. His follow-up, Starsky and Hutch, was extremely light on laughs, while his last film, School for Scoundrels, was seen by few and liked by even fewer. Oh, and then … Continue reading
I take it back. All that stuff I said about enjoying the sight of vital organs being ripped out of living human beings? Well, I meant it at the time. And, as a rule of thumb, I’m still pretty into it. It’s not like I went retarded overnight. But I’m really, truly, madly, irrevocably, insanely, … Continue reading
January of ’07 was a bummer of a month in a stream of bummers for Aardman Animation: their once-promising relationship with Dreamworks was summarily executed thanks to the wimpy BO performance of Flushed Away (CHUD coverage here). In the months since, however, things have begun to look up, as the house that Gromit built easily … Continue reading
Save for a few die-hard collectors, Indiana Jones merchandising (what little of it there was) never lent itself well to much of anything but collecting dust. At its most fervent popularity in the 80’s, I remember seeing Indiana Jones play sets and action figures sitting quietly in clearance bins at Kay-Bee toys– and, ironically, this … Continue reading
The documentary Visions of Light, about the process of cinematography, was a revelation for me. It arrived just as I was becoming more deeply interested in the intricacies of filmmaking, and perfectly articulated core concepts about how to intertwine visuals and narrative. It’s got brilliant tales like William Fraker’s story about Roman Polanski telling him … Continue reading
In case the other Warner Bros comic book movie news the last few days hasn’t been enough for you, now FilmIck is claiming that they know what role Anthony Michael Hall is playing in The Dark Knight: Edward Nygma. That silly name is the civilian ID of none other than The Riddler. Could this mean … Continue reading
How will Batman wreak massive structural damage on the city he’s sworn to protect in The Dark Knight? What will he ride in when he puts the lives of innocent civilians in immediate danger during a poorly thought-out chase? A weird motorcycle, it seems. Called The Batpod, the bike has two massive wheels which have … Continue reading
It’s not right to enjoy the first two Highlander films as much as I do. It might not even be legal. But I’m powerless before the combined might of Christopher Lambert, Sean Connery, and the somehow simultaneously bombastic and pedestrian direction of one Russell Mulcahy. Russ made his mark as a big shot video director … Continue reading