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Apatow’s ‘This Is 40’ Is ‘Scenes From A Marriage’ With Laughs − And Viagra

Posted on December 20, 2012 by Benny Hollywood| Leave a comment

Movieline would like to welcome Pete Hammond to the pages of this site with a new column that we’re calling Hammond on Film. If you love movies, then you’re probably familiar with Pete’s byline. He’s the Awards columnist for our sister site, Deadline Hollywood, as well as a veteran movie critic who has written more than 600 reviews for the best-selling Leonard Maltin’s Movie Guide and, most recently, was the film critic for Boxoffice Magazine and Boxoffice.com. He has also reviewed features for CNN. For his first column, Pete takes a close look at Judd Apatow ‘s This Is 40 , which opens Dec. 21. ‘This is 40’: The Sort-of-Sequel to ‘Knocked Up’ Revisiting the married supporting characters Pete and Debbie of his 2007 comedy hit, Knocked Up , writer/director Judd Apatow has crafted his most personal and affecting film to date. In some respects, This Is 40 is an Apatow home movie with Paul Rudd , returning as Pete, subbing for the director. Real-life wife Leslie Mann and daughters Iris and Maude Apatow taking on the same roles here, and it isn’t a stretch to think we’re watching the filmmaker’s life unfold onscreen. Smart, funny and truthful in too many ways to count, Apatow, who’s actually 45, picks up the story of Pete and Debbie’s marriage five years after we first met them. Both are facing 40th birthdays — although Debbie is fudging the truth — and Apatow uses this conceit to build an episodic look at their marital and familial ups and downs over the course of a month. This Is 40 is the most sharply observed and cutting edge of all four Apatow-directed efforts to date, and I suspect that’s because he’s really writing what he knows here. Yes, there is still plenty of Apatow’s trademark raunch, including an opening shower sex scene in which Pete reveals he has taken Viagra, much to Debbie’s chagrin. There’s also a self-inflicted prostate exam and a wild weekend in a hotel room, but these scenes add up to more than just a collection of outlandish comic moments: This is 40 is such an honest, piercing look at middle-aged marriage that it recalls Ingmar Bergman’s Scenes From A Marriage in unexpected ways. Comparing the commercially successful Apatow to the critically revered Bergman is not something I’d ever thought possible but it is to the credit of a wise , if overlong , screenplay that his film enters that arena. Rather than heavy plotting we meet the family: There’s the overbearing older daughter Sadie, who’s embarrassed by her parents and married to everything wired , and her sweet younger sister Charlotte. There’s also Pete’s needy father ( Albert Brooks ) ,who is dependent on his son for money infusions, as well as Debbie’s aloof dad (John Lithgow), who reluctantly attends a family party that turns extremely awkward in terms of his attempts to renew his relationship with his daughter. Debbie also has a know-it-all trainer ( Jason Segel ) and co-workers in her clothing store business ( Megan Fox , Charlyne Yi) that she suspects of stealing from the cash register. From Pete’s fledgling business — he’s the owner of an indie record label that specializes in reviving moribund musical artists (like the proto-punk god Graham Parker, who plays himself) — we meet his associates. Chief among them is Ronnie, who’s nicely played by Chris O’Dowd ( Bridesmaids ). There’s also a very funny, if over-the-top encounter with a mother at the kids’ school that Melissa McCarthy plays to the hilt with her combustible comic style. But at the heart of This Is 40 is Pete and Debbie’s struggle to keep alive the family unit and the spark in a marriage that’s faded a bit. It’s this very relatable pair that makes the movie work so well. Just as Apatow does with his pungent script , Mann and Rudd manage to hit the exact right tone, walking a narrow line between comedy and drama and nailing it. Special kudos go to Mann, in her first genuine leading role, who has never been this appealing or real.She proves she not only has great comic instincts but real dramatic chops. Yes, these are scenes from the marriage of an upper, upper middle-class Brentwood family, but anyone in the delicate game of ongoing relationships should find plenty amusing, revealing and familiar in this movie. Apatow and family have provided a comedy for adults that is welcome relief this holiday season. Related: Review: Apatow Grows Up, Takes A Step Back With Messy ‘This Is 40’ Follow Pete Hammond on Twitter. Follow Movieline on Twitter.

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Apatow’s ‘This Is 40’ Is ‘Scenes From A Marriage’ With Laughs − And Viagra

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First Look: Still From ‘Mad Max: Fury Road’ Confirms Tom Hardy Is Handsome Even After Nuclear War

Posted on December 20, 2012 by Benny Hollywood| Leave a comment

After several hours during which it was assumed to be a very competent fake, Warner Bros . has confirmed that the autographed photo originally posted this morning on Ain’t It Cool News is indeed our first glimpse of Tom Hardy as Max Rockatansky in Mad Max: Fury Road . The photo, part of a signed set given to the crew by Hardy on the last day of filming — Fury Road wrapped on Monday — reveals little about the movie, aside from the slightly more modern look of Hardy’s take on the character, and the fact that Hardy is extremely handsome even when you factor for the post-apocalyptic wastes of Australia. Gone is Max’s trademark police-issue black leather jacket with a single oversized spaulder on the right shoulder. In its place is what appears to be a rough-cut leather jacket with a more contemporary military look. Obviously, it should be assumed that years have passed since we last saw Max and that he’s long since run out of black polish, but it gives Max a subtle update that suggests the apocalypse happened more recently than the later years of the cold war. It’s unwise to make predictions based on a single image, but to my eyes the most interesting thing about the picture is that you can kind of see a hint of the original plan for Mad Max 4. First conceived as an animated 3D film to be co-written and co-designed by cartoonist Brendan McCarthy, who’s known for his long run on Judge Dredd in the anthology comic 2000AD , Max’s uniform as seen here is definitely reminiscent of the kind of post-civilized militarism you see dripping from the pages of that book. As McCarthy is still credited as cowriter of the live-action Fury Road s cript, I look forward to seeing how much of his aesthetic vision made it into the finished film. Considering Fury Road is packed with Characters like Charlize Theron’s Imperator Furiosa and Nathan Jones’ Rictus Erectus, my guess is ‘a lot. [ Ain’t It Cool News ] Follow Ross Lincoln on Twitter. Follow Movieline on Twitter.

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First Look: Still From ‘Mad Max: Fury Road’ Confirms Tom Hardy Is Handsome Even After Nuclear War

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Samantha Barks On ‘Les Miserables,’ Eponine’s Dark Side, And Spitting In Ali G’s Face

Posted on December 20, 2012 by Benny Hollywood| Leave a comment

Twenty-two-year-old Samantha Bark s may have been destined to play Eponine in Tom Hooper ‘s ambitious Les Miserables film adaptation, given that she’d warble the iconic character’s songs into the mirror at age six and, years later, would go on to earn acclaim playing the tragic innkeepers’ daughter in London’s West End and in Les Miz ‘s 25th Anniversary concert. But Barks really knew she’d made it when she found herself sparring with onscreen dad Sacha Baron Cohen on the Les Miserables set: “I can’t believe I actually spat in Ali G’s face!” Barks’s Eponine is a standout among Hooper’s cast of known triple-threats and familiar faces, but the production required her to undertake perhaps the most difficult transition of all – adjusting from playing Eponine onstage in front of thousands to translating the character’s heartbreaking devotion to rebellious student Marius ( Eddie Redmayne ) for the intimacy of the screen. Her version of ” On My Own ,” filmed in a long, rainy shot per the film’s more virtuoso numbers, might be the umpteenth time Barks has sung the iconic ballad in her career to date, but as the Isle of Man native told Movieline , “every time I hear that song, or perform that song, it just sets my heart on fire.” I love Eponine — she’s one of the best roles in Les Miserables , the one I identify with most. How does it feel right now to be at this point in your journey with her, this being your first film and a character you’ve lived with for so long? I feel ecstatic because I played this role on the West End for a year, took it to the O2 Arena for the 25th anniversary, and now to the film — it kind of feels surreal to have had three different experiences of this wonderfully iconic role. Each one has been different, but I’ve spent over four years of my life making her really the most consistent thing that’s been in my life for the last couple of years, and I feel so proud just to be a part of her. I happened to be on Twitter the night Cameron Mackintosh made the surprise announcement, onstage after your show in front of an entire theater, that you had landed Eponine in the film . There were Tweets left and right and it sounded like quite a magical way to learn that you’d won the role. Take me back to that moment. How do you remember it? Oh, gosh. It was the most shocking, amazing piece of news I could receive, but done in the most unique way I think you could ever find out you’ve got a role, you know? It was very unheard of to find out like that! I was in a state of shock. He walked onstage as I was taking my bow and he made a speech about Oliver Twist and Charles Dickens, and he managed to segue onto the fact that I’d won the role of Eponine in the Les Miserables film! And that reaction of mine — I was just completely speechless. It’s also exciting for me to actually be able to watch that clip; I’ve seen that clip on the internet, and it’s kind of proof that the moment actually happened. If you had to guesstimate, how many times do you think you’ve sung “On My Own” in your life? [Laughs] It’s hard because I’m rubbish at math, but basically… eight shows a week for a year, and then the O2 performance, and then some rehearsals on top of that, plus another definite 15 takes for the film, and rehearsals — so there’s a lot of singing that song! [ Ed. note: That puts Barks’ number at 400+. ] And it’s funny because every time I hear that song, or perform that song, it just sets my heart on fire. It’s such a tragic tale. It’s a role I relate to so much that getting to perform that song every single time makes me feel so alive. I feel so lucky to get to sing it. You’ve played Eponine opposite Eddie Redmayne ’s Marius — not to mention Nick Jonas’s Marius — but what do you see at the core of these two characters’ relationship that makes it so compelling no matter who’s playing the role? Girls can relate to unrequited love and that’s one thing, but what not a lot of people can relate to is exactly how dark Eponine’s life is. She has a line in a song where she says, ‘Without a home, without a friend, without a face to say hello to,’ and that’s her life — Marius is really Eponine’s everything and it’s not just about falling in love with somebody on a teenage level, it’s also about somebody being your only piece of light in a very dark life, and that’s heartbreaking about Eponine. Was Eponine always the character you loved and identified with most? When I was six I would sing ‘On My Own’ into a hairbrush in front of a mirror and wanted to be Eponine, which is crazy because she’s got such a tragic life! It doesn’t make any sense that I’d want that for myself but it’s one of those things where you’re a young girl, ‘I want to be Eponine! Or Cosette, or Fantine, or whatever. This is your first film, and there’s a significant difference between how performers modulate their performances for the stage versus for the camera. Did film acting come naturally to you, or did it feel alien? Having never done a film before it was definitely something I had to learn, how to play it. I’d done the stage version of Les Miz , but for me when you come to the screen so many details shine through on camera, so you need to be a lot more detailed with it — you can’t have loose ends like you can in a theatrical piece because it’s heightened. With this you need to be more specific, you need to be detailed, and we’re so lucky to have Victor Hugo’s fantastic novel there to add those details and depth to these characters. You know in the book, Eponine spends a couple of months in prison. That gives you more of an insight into the background she comes from, and that’s why it’s more miraculous when she does eventually do a good deed. How helpful or challenging was it to be immersed in those environments filming musical scenes in long takes, as you did with ‘On My Own,’ literally in the rain, 15 times?I imagine it’s quite a different experience than performing it on a stage without cold water and elements being thrown at you. It was hard. The challenges were physically very difficult. Singing under a rain machine, you’re shivering all day. Someone on set was like, ‘What’s that sound?’ ‘Oh, it’s Sam’s teeth — they’re chattering!’ I can’t help it! These long takes were really fantastic because it meant that you could really build that musical arc throughout the song organically. The hard thing was sometimes Tom would say, ‘Ok guys, build a barricade — Action!’ And you’d have to build a barricade from pianos that were flying out of the windows. The adrenaline that goes through you is intense. They actually dressed up cameramen as students and sent them out amongst us. And what [Tom] does is he captures these real moments of fear that are so fantastic to be a part of, because when he yells ‘Cut!’ the adrenaline flowing through you is just like no other. It’s incredible. What was it like to have Sacha Baron Cohen and Helena Bonham Carter as parents? When I first found out that I was going to be playing their daughter I thought, that’s a pretty cool claim to fame! They are the coolest onscreen parents I could ever wish for. And working with Helena — she’s so quirky and the most unique person I’ve ever met. The things she says are so fascinating and wise, it’s incredible. And Sacha is a comic genius — I grew up so obsessed with his work. Did you watch Ali G? Oh yeah, I used to watch Ali G in da U.S.A. ! He was phenomenal. And actually, the scene we had wasn’t very comedic at all, because in the scene he slaps me and I spit in his face. And he actually slapped you? Yeah! We went for realism. I was like, ‘Bring it on!’ So I can blame no one but myself. I left the day with a very sore, red cheek, and he left feeling extremely gross because I’d spat at him all day. And I was like, ‘I can only apologize for that.’ I can’t believe I actually spat in Ali G’s face! READ MORE ON LES MISERABLES : Eddie Redmayne On ‘Unlearning’ ‘Les Miserables’ & Prince William’s Singing REVIEW: ‘Les Misérables’ Hits High Notes, But Also Skitters Early Reaction: Oscar Race Heats Up As NYC Screening Of ‘Les Miserables’ Prompts Cheers & Tears Follow Jen Yamato on Twitter . Follow Movieline on Twitter .

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Samantha Barks On ‘Les Miserables,’ Eponine’s Dark Side, And Spitting In Ali G’s Face

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Screen Actors Guild Unveils 19th Annual Award Nominees

Posted on December 12, 2012 by Benny Hollywood| Leave a comment

The Screen Actors Guild unveiled its nominees for outstanding performances in 2012 in film and television Wednesday morning. Nominees were named in five film and eight primetime television categories in Los Angeles. Les Misérables , Lincoln and Silver Linings Playbook lead the theatrical motion picture nominations with four each, while Argo , The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel , The Sessions and Skyfall followed with two each. [ Related: ‘Lincoln’ And ‘Les Misérables’ Lead Critics Choice Award Nominees ] The Screen Actors Guild Awards styles themselves as the only ones “selected solely by actor’ peers in SAG-AFTRA.” Two nominating panels — one for television and one for film — each composed of 2,100 randomly selected union members from across the United States chose this year’s actor and stunt ensemble honors nominees. Final voting information will be mailed via postcard on Friday, Dec. 31, 2012. The eligible SAG-AFTRA membership across the country, numbering approximately 100,000 actors, may vote on all categories. [ Related: Oscar Index: ‘Zero Dark’ Domination & McConaughey’s ‘Magic’ Moves ] The following nominations include information provided by SAG-AFTRA. 19th Annual Screen Actors Guild Theatrical Motion Pictures Nominations: Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Leading Role  BRADLEY COOPER / Pat – “SILVER LININGS PLAYBOOK” (The Weinstein Company)  DANIEL DAY-LEWIS / Abraham Lincoln – “LINCOLN” (Touchstone Pictures)  JOHN HAWKES / Mark – “THE SESSIONS” (Fox Searchlight)  HUGH JACKMAN / Jean Valjean – “LES MISÉRABLES” (Universal Pictures)  DENZEL WASHINGTON / Whip Whitaker – “FLIGHT” (Paramount Pictures)   Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Leading Role  JESSICA CHASTAIN / Maya – “ZERO DARK THIRTY” (Columbia Pictures)  MARION COTILLARD / Stephanie – “RUST AND BONE” (Sony Pictures Classics)  JENNIFER LAWRENCE / Tiffany – “SILVER LININGS PLAYBOOK” (The Weinstein Company)  HELEN MIRREN / Alma Reville – “HITCHCOCK” (Fox Searchlight)  NAOMI WATTS / Maria – “THE IMPOSSIBLE” (Summit Entertainment) [ Related: ‘Zero Dark Thirty’ Takes Top National Board Of Review Honors ]   Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Supporting Role  ALAN ARKIN / Lester Siegel – “ARGO” (Warner Bros. Pictures)  JAVIER BARDEM / Silva – “SKYFALL” (Columbia Pictures)  ROBERT DE NIRO / Pat, Sr. – “SILVER LININGS PLAYBOOK” (The Weinstein Company)  PHILIP SEYMOUR HOFFMAN / Lancaster Dodd – “THE MASTER” (The Weinstein Company)  TOMMY LEE JONES / Thaddeus Stevens – “LINCOLN” (Touchstone Pictures)   Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Supporting Role  SALLY FIELD / Mary Todd Lincoln – “LINCOLN” (Touchstone Pictures)  ANNE HATHAWAY / Fantine – “LES MISÉRABLES” (Universal Pictures)  HELEN HUNT / Cheryl – “THE SESSIONS” (Fox Searchlight)  NICOLE KIDMAN / Charlotte Bless – “THE PAPERBOY” (Millennium Entertainment)  MAGGIE SMITH / Muriel Donnelly – “THE BEST EXOTIC MARIGOLD HOTEL” (Fox Searchlight)   Outstanding Performance by a Cast in a Motion Picture  ARGO (Warner Bros. Pictures)  BEN AFFLECK / Tony Mendez  ALAN ARKIN / Lester Siegel  KERRY BISHÉ / Kathy Stafford  KYLE CHANDLER / Hamilton Jordan  RORY COCHRANE / Lee Schatz  BRYAN CRANSTON / Jack O’Donnell  CHRISTOPHER DENHAM / Mark Lijek  TATE DONOVAN / Bob Anders  CLEA DUVALL / Cora Lijek  VICTOR GARBER / Ken Taylor  JOHN GOODMAN / John Chambers  SCOOT McNAIRY / Joe Stafford  CHRIS MESSINA / Malinov   [ Related: LA Film Critics Name ‘Amour’ Best Picture, Boost ‘The Master,’ Jazz Up Oscar Race ] THE BEST EXOTIC MARIGOLD HOTEL (Fox Searchlight)  JUDI DENCH / Evelyn Greenslade  CELIA IMRIE / Madge Hardcastle  BILL NIGHY / Douglas Ainslie  DEV PATEL / Sonny Kapoor  RONALD PICKUP / Norman Cousins  MAGGIE SMITH / Muriel Donnelly  TOM WILKINSON / Graham Dashwood  PENELOPE WILTON / Jean Ainslie   LES MISÉRABLES (Universal Pictures)  ISABELLE ALLEN / Young Cosette  SAMANTHA BARKS / Eponine  SACHA BARON COHEN / Thénardier  HELENA BONHAM CARTER / Madame Thénardier  RUSSELL CROWE / Javert  ANNE HATHAWAY / Fantine  DANIEL HUTTLESTONE / Gavroche  HUGH JACKMAN / Jean Valjean  EDDIE REDMAYNE / Marius  AMANDA SEYFRIED / Cosette  AARON TVEIT / Enjolras  COLM WILKINSON / Bishop   LINCOLN (Touchstone Pictures)  DANIEL DAY-LEWIS / Abraham Lincoln  SALLY FIELD / Mary Todd Lincoln  JOSEPH GORDON-LEVITT / Robert Todd Lincoln  HAL HOLBROOK / Preston Blair  TOMMY LEE JONES / Thaddeus Stevens  JAMES SPADER / W.N. Bilbo  DAVID STRATHAIRN / William Seward   SILVER LININGS PLAYBOOK (The Weinstein Company)  BRADLEY COOPER / Pat  ROBERT DE NIRO / Pat, Sr.  ANUPAM KHER / Dr. Cliff Patel  JENNIFER LAWRENCE / Tiffany  CHRIS TUCKER / Danny  JACKI WEAVER / Dolores [ Related: NY Film Critics Circle Spices Up Oscar Race With ‘Zero Dark Thirty’ Best Picture Pick ] SAG AWARDS HONORS FOR STUNT ENSEMBLES Outstanding Action Performance by a Stunt Ensemble in a Motion Picture  THE AMAZING SPIDER-MAN (Columbia Pictures)  THE BOURNE LEGACY (Universal Pictures)  THE DARK KNIGHT RISES (Warner Bros. Pictures)  LES MISÉRABLES (Universal Pictures)  SKYFALL (Columbia Pictures) LIFE ACHIEVEMENT AWARD  (Screen Actors Guild 49th Annual Life Achievement Award) DICK VAN DYKE  (Television nominees follow on the next page)

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Robert Pattinson Eyes Pic With Carey Mulligan; Beyoncé Set For Super Bowl Halftime Show: Biz Break

Posted on October 16, 2012 by Benny Hollywood| Leave a comment

Also in Tuesday afternoon’s round-up of news briefs: The New York Critics Circle sets its voting date for 2012’s best pics; Queen biopic moves forward after delay; And, John Leguizamo eyes Universal action comedy with Ice Cube . New York Film Critics Circle Set to Vote December 3rd The New York Film Critics will vote for their 2012 Film Critics Circle Awards on Monday, December 3rd. The awards will be handed out during their annual ceremony to be held on Monday, January 7, 2013 at Crimson. Additions to the group are new members Bilge Ebiri (New York Magazine), Nick Pinkerton (Village Voice) and Keith Uhlich (Time Out New York). Commented Chairman Rothkopf, “We’re always happy to see the group grow. Criticism is as vital as ever; our group celebrates the movies but also the art of response and interpretation. We’re looking forward to deliberating on the best of 2012 in the weeks to come.” Founded in 1935, the New York Film Critics Circle is the oldest such group in the U.S. Around the ‘net… Robert Pattinson Joins Hold On To Me Pattinson will star with Carey Mulligan in the film to be directed by James Marsh. Marsh’s Man On Wire won Best Documentary in 2009. Based on a true story, the project centers on a couple who kidnap and ransom the town’s richest man. They bury him in a box and things go wrong. Pattinson will play the flashy supporting role of the woman’s life love who isn’t involved in the crime, Deadline reports . Beyoncé Set for Super Bowl Halftime The singer/actress will perform the Halftime show at Super Bowl XLVII in New Orleans on February 3rd. Last year’s choice, Madonna, actually had more viewers than the overall game average, Deadline reports . Sacha Baron Cohen Shooting Freddie Mercury Biopic This Spring Despite a couple year delay, the project appears to be heading to production. Queen guitarist Brian May said that “the pieces are falling into place,” and that production will begin in Spring. He added that the film will hopefully have an early 2014 release. Cohen will play Queen frontman, Freddie Mercury, Cinema Blend reports . John Leguizamo Eyes Ride Along John Leguizamo is in negotiations to join Ride Along , Universal’s action comedy starring Ice Cube and Kevin Hart. The story centers on a risk-averse second grade teacher who plans to marry the woman he loves but first must go along with his over-protective future brother-in-law on a tough “ride from hell,” THR reports .

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REVIEW: Kitschy Taken 2 Ups The Xenophobia With Subpar Bad Dad Fantasy

Posted on October 4, 2012 by Benny Hollywood| Leave a comment

Taken 2 grabs everything that was surprisingly enjoyable about the original film and batters it into the ground like… Liam Neeson beating up an Albanian human trafficking ring. The brute charm that the 2008 Taken found in portraying the Irish Oscar-nominee as an ultra-competent badass has withered to kitsch, and what’s left is tinged with even more xenophobia and weird paternal wish-fulfillment. Worse, the directing reins have been handed from greater Luc Besson protégé Pierre Morel to the lesser (but, granted, more awesomely named) Olivier Megaton, of Transporter 3 and Columbiana , and he slashes the action sequences to such incoherent bits that half the fights could have been shot on a sound stage thousands of miles from any star and chopped in after the fact. Why are we watching this again? Ah, yes, novelty. It is still a kick, though with rapidly diminishing returns, to see Neeson as the tersely tough CIA operative turned security contractor Bryan Mills. Bryan’s relentless when it comes to destroying bad guys but pure pudding when it comes his apparently still teenage daughter Kim ( Maggie Grace , who at 29 isn’t entirely believable as a kid still working on getting her drivers license) and ex-wife Lenore (Famke Janssen). Bryan isn’t fazed by the prospect of facing down a gang of Balkan toughs, but learning that his little girl has a boyfriend and didn’t tell him about it leaves him stricken. Lenore and the man she remarried are separated, and Bryan gallantly offers to fly her and their daughter to Istanbul, where he’ll meet them after completing a short job, unknowingly making them all targets for the relatives of the men he killed in the last movie, led by Murad Krasniqi (Croatian Serb actor Rade Serbedzija, the go-to choice for playing sinister Eastern Europeans). Whatever the structure of this criminal ring, it’s a family business and they have great contacts, seeing as members of the local police force and staffers at the luxury hotel at which Bryan and his family are staying are in the mafiosos’ pockets. When the Albanians come to take our not-so-helpless Americans — twist! — it’s Bryan and Lenore who end up getting captured, with the former growling his “Listen to me carefully” instructions to Kim as she attempts to come to her parents’ rescue. Taken 2 is dumb and as discardable as a box of cheap tourist trinkets, and its fights go so disappointingly easy the film’s end arrives almost arbitrarily. Like its predecessor, it’s also colored with some ugly American panic — ironic, given the international cast and crew involved in making it. The world abroad is filled with foreigners who can’t wait to grab your virginal blonde daughters or take unwarranted revenge for what was an elaborately violent but, you know, totally justifiable act of familial defense. Even before Bryan cottons to the fact that people are out to get them, he sternly forbids his daughter from wandering out of the hotel while he and Lenore take a private car to the market for lunch. Later, Bryan has Kim set off grenades in the middle of the city in order to use the sound to figure out how far she is from where he’s being held. If you’re visiting a foreign city, it’s best to have as little contact with it as possible — but committing acts of sizable destruction is apparently fine in service of your fellow travelers. Taken 2, which packs in an improbable car chase through the narrow streets of an old neighborhood and a oddly anticlimactic fist fight sequence in a Turkish bath, is ultimately a simplistic bad dad fantasy about a guy getting to righteously defend his family against the masses who are eager to do them harm. Bryan may have let his old job take him away from his wife and daughter, but now he gets to make up for being an absentee father by defending them against all comers, guns a-blazing. Unruffled and an expert on everything, he guides the grateful, whimpering women in his life to safety and in exchange gets to lecture the tribal head of the gangsters about how he needs to just accept the fact that the son is dead and deserved his fate. The film doesn’t make too much of the detail that Murad and his men are Muslim, but does suggest, in moments like the one just described, that there’s no reasoning with them. Taken 2 has the unfortunate bad timing of choosing for its action movie explosion playground a country currently experiencing some serious real-world tensions with neighboring Syria. But its sense of Americans-in-a-foreign-land entitlement is nonspecific enough that this isn’t particularly uncomfortable — it’s so broad, in fact, that it approaches but never quite embraces self-parody. If this is what producer/writer Luc Besson thinks audiences are looking for these days, he has a low opinion of people indeed. God help us if he turns out to be right. Follow Alison Willmore on Twitter . Follow Movieline on Twitter .

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Sacha Baron Cohen Eyes Lesbian Comedy; Monopoly May Be Headed For The Big Screen: Biz Break

Posted on October 4, 2012 by Benny Hollywood| Leave a comment

Also in Thursday afternoon’s round-up of news briefs: Taken 2 is looking to lead another strong box office this weekend. Devin Ratray is joining Alexander Payne ‘s latest. And banned Iranian filmmaker Jafar Panahi has made another film, defying authorities. Sacha Baron Cohen Eyes ‘Fact-Based’ Comedy The Lesbian Paramount Pictures and Sacha Baron Cohen are developing a feature inspired by Hong Kong billionaire Cecil Chao’s offer of $65 million to any man who will succeed in marrying his lesbian daughter. Chao made the offer after reports his daughter had a French church bless her relationship with her longtime girlfriend, Deadline reports . Hasbro Gets Movie Partner for Monopoly Emmet/Furla Film will finance and co-produce three films based on Hasbro’s properties over the next two years. First on the list is Monopoly , which they’re aiming for production next year,” Deadline reports . Taken 2 Set to Lead Another Strong Weekend Liam Neeson stars in the feature, which has been getting strong pre-sale business. The domestic box office is expected to have a second strong box office this coming weekend, THR reports . Devin Ratray Joins Alexander Payne’s Nebraska Ratray will play the villain in the black-and-white film which stars Bruce Dern and Will Forte. The film stars a boozing father who heads to Nebraska from Montana to claim a Publishers Clearing House sweepstakes prize, THR reports . Iran’s Banned Filmmaker Jafar Panahi Made Another Movie Last year he made doc This is Not a Film from house-arrest in Tehran and it later made its way to Cannes. Although he’s facing a 20 year ban from making movies after offending the regime there, he’s apparently made another pic. So says fellow Iranian filmmaker Abbas Kiarostami whose Like Someone in Love premiered at the New York Film Festival, Indiewire reports .

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A View To A Killing: Why James Bond Video Games (With The Exception of Goldeneye) Are Such A Sorry Lot

Posted on October 1, 2012 by Benny Hollywood| Leave a comment

The Game’s Bond. James Bond. Which means that you will be Bored. Majorly Bored. Agent 007 should be perfect video game character. “Kicking ass with the latest fun gadgets” is his actual job description. So it’s a shame that almost every Bond game sucks. Not even Blofeld got to betray Bond this many times and come back to do it again. The funny thing is that Bond has even played video games himself. In Never Say Never Again, he plays Domination against villainous SPECTRE agent Maximillian Largo. Each round costs thousands of dollars and issues powerful electric shocks, making it a great analogy for the Bond video games that civillians get to play: expensive and painful. Domination is not nearly as much fun to play as it sounds. It has holographic 3D graphics and is based on satellite laser weapons and nuclear warheads, but Largo explains that it’s just a simple target game: shoot the things when they light up. That’s less gameplay than Minesweeper. It’s also badly designed, because it’s a crosshair shooting game controlled by a joystick. Which, if you’ve played twitch-shooters, is like trying to control a scalpel while riding a unicycle. And it’s still better than most real world Bond games. Why are they so bad? Because Bond might be perfect for great games, but he’s also so incredibly famous that he can sell shit ones. The Bond license has been shoved onto everything from text adventures to a side-scrolling “bouncing car getting blown up by spaceships and scuba divers” simulator. I’m not exaggerating. Rare Ltd finally realized Bond’s potential in 1997 when Eon Productions smartly licensed GoldenEye t o a studio that actually knew how to make good games. The resulting product wasn’t merely good — it was one of the most important console shooters of all time, because it proved that console shooters could actually be good, which they weren’t until GoldenEye . One of the most successful N64 games ever made, GoldenEye combined accurate shooting with an unbelievably faithful rendition of the movie. (The split-screen multiplayer mode remains one of the fondest gaming memories for an entire generation You didn’t just recognize parts of the movie in the video game, you recognized parts of the video game when you re-watched the movie. Rare understood that by printing “007” on the cover of a regular action game meant being smarter, sharper and simply better than everything else with guns in it. And it succeeded. The game was stuffed with love for the franchise. Not only was it an incredible recreation of the titular movie, but bonus levels brought in Moonraker lasers, Jaws, the Golden Gun and Baron Samedi. It was originally meant to be the best multiplayer ever made, with a mode where four players could each be a different Bond — Moore, Connery, Dalton, and Brosnan. But, as further proof that the lawyers of the world are sucking the fun out of life, this mode was removed from the final game. A wide range of cheat options extended playability. Unfortunately Rare really did understand the nature of James Bond — which is why they moved on to the next mission without looking back. It turned down the chance to make Tomorrow Never Dies , instead building the spiritual sequel of shooting excellence in 2000 with Perfect Dark . Stuffed with stylish shooting and cunning gadgetry, it would have made the perfect 007 game. But Rare was so good it didn’t need the license to succeed. From that point on, almost all Bond games were shooters, but they never mattered. Where Rare had been the elite double-oh agent, the others were an army of uniformed minions wildly spraying machine gun fire and missing the point. They took bog-standard gun games and put some Bond sprites on top. There was less passion and spark than a morgue during a power outage (except there are people who would actually enjoy that). As the games got more desperate they tried to replicate Goldeneye’ s success, the results were more disastrous than Dr. Frankenstein’s attempts to replicate life. GoldenEye: Rogue Agent literally put GoldenEye in the title of a totally unrelated shooter. The 2010 GoldenEye 007 remake rewrote the original with Daniel Craig, improved graphics, and blew more than that compressed air pellet Bond used to kill Dr Kananga. You just can’t re-skin something from 13 years ago and expect it to be impressive. The remake was aimed at exactly no one: retro fans were aghast at the altered level structure and models, while contemporary fans were turned off by the incredibly unimaginative level layout and zombie-grade enemy intelligence. Like all Bond technology, the original GoldenEye game was revolutionary at the time but almost unusable now. A true Bond game needs to be smarter, sharper, simply better at being Bond than everything else on the market, and we finally have the technology to make that happen. In the old days every shooter was the same game with different sprites. Now we can build entire game mechanics around the character. Batman’s Arkham City is the greatest character game ever made — everything from the graphics to the combat system flows perfectly from the character. Get it right and you’re unstoppable, but even one mistake and you’re in deep trouble. The Hitman series proves that we can build interesting worlds with multiple paths to reach our goal. Bond isn’t an Arnold Schwarzenegger shooting machine. Games which set him up against an endless wave of enemies don’t even know who he is. Bond is the elite. Bond is the best. The original GoldenEye understood that, offering amazing unlocks for not only completing the level, but doing it at maximum difficulty in record time. A Bond game should be a razor-sharp shooter in a sophisticated world. We don’t need another automatic-fire grinding chore like Gears of War . We don’t want another hallway shooter, where we run down pre-set pathways and the most amazing cut-scene — with helicopters crashing through skyways as we parachute to safety — are just glorified loading screens. All we did was “Press A to jump.” That’s less gameplay than an elevator and with the exact same function. Think Mirror’s Edge meets The Club with multiple paths and an upgrade system. Every level is a speed run with a score multiplier for combo shooting and avoiding damage, designed for replayability as you learn your trade. You can blast your way through a building of enemies for an “Agent” rating or rappel down the side snap-shotting guards as it collapses to earn “00”. Because you’re the one who worked out how to collapse it. Because you’re Bond. Improved scores earn “Q points”, unlocking new gadgets, each of which works on each level in different ways, and you have to choose which you bring on each mission. Think grappling hooks, glass-shattering sonics, vehicle remote control, each providing fun options in levels and new ones in old ones. Think of Hitman , where the very first mission can be completed in a few seconds if you return with later gear. Imagine replaying old levels to beat your high score (and earn more equipment), optimizing your strategies, trying out new things. Imagine working out how to beat your enemy in then fastest, coolest way possible, then realize that you’re not just controlling Bond: You’re playing as him. Luke McKinney loves the real world, but only because it has movies and video games in it. He responds to every tweet. Follow Luke McKinney on Twitter. Follow Movieline on Twitter.

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A View To A Killing: Why James Bond Video Games (With The Exception of Goldeneye) Are Such A Sorry Lot

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Fifty Shades of Grey Narrows Possible Writers; James Cameron Joins Chinese in 3-D Venture: Biz Break

Posted on August 8, 2012 by Benny Hollywood| Leave a comment

Also in Wednesday morning’s round-up of news briefs, Sacha Baron Cohen plans his next project. Jonathan Rhys Meyers in talks to take on a new role and a coming-of-age documentary is headed to theaters. James Cameron Forms 3-D Joint Tech Venture With Chinese Partners Cameron is attending a 3-D film forum at Tianjin Polytechnic University. His production services company Cameron Pace Group has set up a China-based division partnering with state-backed companies Tianjin North Film Group and Tianjin Hi-tech Holding Group in what he called a “huge” deal, Deadline reports . 4 Writers In the Running for Fifty Shades of Grey Karen Croner ( Admission ), Dan Fogelman ( Crazy, Stupid, Love ), Veena Sud (TV’s The Killing ) and Kelly Marcel ( Saving Mr. Banks ) are the contenders to write the screen adaptation of E.L. James’ best seller Fifty Shades of Grey , THR reports . Sacha Baron Cohen Plans James Bond Spoof The British actor has written the screenplay for the untitled film alongside Phil Johnston, who wrote the 2011 comedy Cedar Rapids, and may take a role if his schedule allows it. Paramount Pictures, which has a long-term arrangement with Baron Cohen, has bought the pitch for the new project, The Guardian reports via THR . Jonathan Rhys Meyers Eyes Mortal Instruments Meyers is in negotiations to board the cast of The Mortal Instruments: City of Bones , an adaptation of Cassandra Clare’s novel from Constantin Film and Unique Pictures. Lily Collins stars as a young woman who discovers she is the descendant of half-angel warriors called Shadow-hunters who are in an ancient battle to protect the world from demons, THR reports . Only The Young Heads to Theaters The coming-of-age documentary follows three teens in an economically downtrodden Southern California town. Directed by Jason Tippet and Elizabeth Mims, the film debuted at the True/False Film Festival and later won best U.S. feature at SilverDocs Documentary Festival, Deadline reports .