“Everyone knows amnesia is bollocks,” snarls one of the thugs in Trance . Hypnotism, on the other hand, is fair game in this brash, beyond-belief psychothriller from director Danny Boyle , who seizes on a script co-written by Joe Ahearne and longtime Boyle collaborator John Hodge as a chance to play elaborate mind games with fans of his early work. A trippy variation on the dream-within-a-dream movie, Boyle’s return-to-form crimer constantly challenges what auds think they know, but neglects to establish why they should care. The pic’s flashy style, plus its stark violence and nudity, ought to transfix male genre auds. More of a conceptual exercise than a conventional film noir, Trance demonstrates Boyle’s determination to continue to overcome seemingly impossible filmmaking challenges. After painting himself out of a physical corner with 127 Hours , the director now confronts a psychic obstacle in attempting to tell a complex genre movie from within the confines of one person’s consciousness — even as others noodle with the same character’s subconscious. A charismatic, yet miscast James McAvoy plays the mark, a clean-scrubbed auction-house employee named Simon who snaps into action during the attempted theft of a Goya painting. Back in the day, all it took was a bit of muscle and some nerve to rob art from auction, Simon explains in a stretch of Scottish-lilted, direct-address narration that not only recalls Hodge’s earlier scripts ( Shallow Grave , Trainspotting ), but suggests a younger, softer-edged Ewan McGregor . To whom is Simon speaking: The audience? A hypnotist? The cops? Doesn’t matter. The film takes place mostly in Simon’s head, so it’s his experience auds see unfolding. After establishing how staff have been trained to protect the auction-house assets in the prologue, Simon springs the pic’s first twist: He was the caper’s inside man. Problem is, after removing the Goya from its frame, he sustained a blow to the head, and the crucial memory of where he stashed the painting is beyond his reach. Torture doesn’t work to bring it back, so underworld tough guy Franck ( Vincent Cassel , terrifically unpredictable) suggests hypnotism, allowing Simon to pick his own mesmerist. He opts for Elizabeth Lamb, played by Rosario Dawson , whose sultry power over men makes plausible how easily her character manages to put Simon under. While neither the film nor its goons puts any stock in amnesia, both encourage a willing suspension of disbelief when it comes to far more elaborate feats of mind-control. In that respect, Boyle seems to be asking whether he too can play the hypnotist. Using dynamic, visual storytelling, slick cutting and a propulsive electronic score, can he successfully convince rational auds to buy into an increasingly far-fetched story? The stunt works for a time. On Simon’s second session with Elizabeth, she pounces, demanding to see the men who put him up to this — and offering her services for a share in the prize, should they find the painting. It’s at this point in the film that things start to get really weird, as the narrative starts to fold back on itself, blurring the lines between reality and the hypothetical. Each time Elizabeth puts Simon in trance, she takes him to a new location in his mind, making it increasingly difficult for auds to tell fantasy from memory from lived experience. As Simon’s sense of danger grows, these scenes become more fragmented and violent, which allows the pic to introduce and instantly erase shocking homicidal behavior, but puts a strain on McAvoy, who seems too nice to harbor such demons. Boyle has cited Nicolas Roeg as an influence on the film’s disorienting style, and sure enough, Trance shares the jagged subjectivity of Performance and Don’t Look Now , along with the director’s raw treatment of anger and arousal. The deeper things go, the kinkier they get, as Elizabeth finds herself seducing both Franck and Simon — but are these fantasies real or projections of their jealous imaginations? They’re certainly real enough for audiences, who won’t soon forget the sight of a denuded Dawson, or the erotic art history lesson that explains her carefully sculpted appearance. Superficial pleasures aside, however, the convoluted script jumps and dodges so often, it soon loses the thread of its own story. This isn’t Inception , where layers of experience are nested neatly one inside the next, but rather a frittata, its ingredients distinguishable only by the various hyper-saturated colors that seem to define each scene. The lost painting is just the first of multiple MacGuffins, after which Simon’s missing memory becomes the thing they all so desperately need to recover. And then, quite abruptly, Simon finds himself on the margins, and Elizabeth takes centerstage — an opportunity for which Dawson proves more than ready — leading to a succession of reversals that seem a bit too dependent on enormous gaps in logic only half-excused by the pic’s record-skip storytelling style. With all its trickery, the film presents a sexy distraction, but proves a mind is a terrible thing to waste. More on Trance : Train In Vain Spotting: Danny Boyle Picks His Favorite Clash Albums − And Disses Phish
Here’s a shout-out for Naomi Watts , and I am afraid she’ll need it. She’s the sole Oscar nominee from director J.A. Bayona’s The Impossible, and that means she has a real uphill climb for a win. Watts is up against four other nominees in the Best Actress category — Jennifer Lawrence ( Silver Linings Playbook ), Jessica Chastain ( Zero Dark Thirty ), Emmanuelle Riva ( Amour) and 9-year old Quvenzhane Wallis ( Beasts Of The Southern Wild ) — whose movies have the additional momentum of a Best Picture nomination. It’s a huge disadvantage now that the Academy at large is voting, not just the actors branch. Although a big hit in Bayona’s native Spain, The Impossible — which tells the story of a family fighting to survive the catastrophic Thailand tsunami of 2004 — underperformed in its U.S. run. The movie’s mid-December opening, which took place the same week that Academy balloting began, didn’t help its Oscar chances either. That Watts made the Best Actress short list at all is a testament to her gritty, visceral performance, which she has described as the most physically challenging movie of her career. And she’d have a real shot at a statuette if Academy members actually took the time to watch the movie. (Voting begins Feb. 8 and ends Feb. 19.) The one advantage Watts does have over her fellow nominees is that she is playing a real life person: Maria Belon, a Spanish wife and mother who lived to tell the tale and has enthusiastically endorsed Watts’ performance at various events this season. Chastain’s character, Maya, is also said to be based on an actual CIA operative, but the actress claims to have never met the woman who inspired her Zero Dark Thirt y role. Although the Thailand tsunami took more than 200,000 lives, The Impossible is not about dying. Bayona and his screenwriter Sergio Sanchez have crafted a powerful, harrowing film about living and, more importantly, family. Particularly during its grueling first half, The Impossible is, at times, almost unbearable to watch as the injured and frightened Maria (Watts) and her older son Lucas ( Tom Holland ) attempt to find what’s left of civilization after being swept away and nearly killed by the tsunami. Gravely injured, Maria clings to life while her son leads them on, looking for medical attention and holding out hope that his father Henry ( Ewan McGregor ) and two younger brothers, who were separated from them by the cataclysmic event, are still alive. Once the pair finally make it to a makeshift hospital, Maria is not given much hope to survive, and Watt’s plays these scenes brilliantly, acting largely with her eyes. Meanwhile, Henry and his two other sons are desperately seeking to determine if Maria and Lucas are okay, and in one devastating scene that will resonate with any father, McGregor breaks down during a phone call home, no longer able to bear the emotional toll of what has happened to his family. It’s a sterling moment for McGregor, who should have joined Watts on the Oscar honor roll this year. He has never been more effective on screen as he is in those moments (surrounded, by the way, by many of the actual survivors of the 2004 Tsunami who were cast as extras). For those who know the true story of Maria, the decision to change the nationality of her and her family may seem jarring at first, but quickly becomes inconsequential thanks to the performances of Watts and McGregor in roles that would test the mettle of the best actors. As for the tsunami itself, it has been exquisitely re-created the old fashioned way using a water tank and models. Although it comprises only a few minutes of the film — in the beginning and in brief flashbacks near the conclusion — it is stunningly realistic and a chilling reminder of how fragile life can be. Bayona understands that the best way to accomplish this is not through special effects but through the extraordinary performances of his actors. The Impossible is impossible to shake off, and Academy members should not miss Watts’ incredible performance in this movie. Follow Pete Hammond on Twitter. Follow Movieline on Twitter.
Also in Friday morning’s wrap of news briefs: Variety appoints its new publisher. Shirley MacLaine eyes her next gig. And, take a look at the new Specialty newcomers for the weekend. Robert Rodriguez’s Machete Kills Heads to Open Road The new movie sees Danny Trejo reprising his role as ex-Federale agent Machete and adds Michelle Rodriguez, Sofia Vergara, Amber Heard, Charlie Sheen, Lady Gaga, Antonio Banderas, Jessica Alba, Demian Bichir, Alexa Vega, Vanessa Hudgens, Cuba Gooding Jr., William Sadler, Marko Zaror and Mel Gibson. Here’s what is known about the pic: “Machete “recruited by the president of the United States for a mission which would be impossible for any mortal man: He must take down a madman revolutionary and an eccentric billionaire arms dealer who has hatched a plan to spread war and anarchy across the planet,” THR reports . Ewan McGregor and Kate Hudson Eye Born to Be King McGregor will play dual roles as an extra who resembles a major movie star. Hudson, who is still in talks to join the project, would play a Hollywood starlet who has issues with the star but likes the extra, THR reports . Variety Names Michelle Sobrino-Stearns Publisher Its associate publisher Sobrino-Stearns was named publisher, the first big move at the Hollywood trade publication since Penske Media Corp. acquired it earlier this month. She is Variety’s first female lead in its century-plus history, Deadline reports . [ PMC is the parent company of Movieline ] Shirley MacLaine Eyes Tammy MacLaine is in talks to star opposite Melissa McCarthy in road trip comedy Tammy . The story centers on a woman who is laid off from her job at Hardee’s, discovers her husband is having an affair and decides to go on a road trip with her alcoholic, foul-mouthed, diabetic grandmother, THR reports . Specialty Box Office: The Sessions , All Together , Holy Motors , Tai Chi Zero Jane Fonda, Kylie Minogue, Helen Hunt, William H. Macy and more have debuts in the Specialty realm this weekend. Fox Searchlight hosted a series of word-of-mouthers for The Sessions which it nabbed at Sundance. NYC distributor Kino Lorber is teaming with Tribeca Film for its first title going out via theatrical day and date with French-language All Together . Cannes favorite Holy Motors will head out in theaters via Indomina, opening in New York this weekend, followed by releases in various U.S. cities Deadline reports .
The Cannes jury is now complete. The Descendants director Alexander Payne and actor Ewan McGregor have joined the festival’s competition jury, which will judge the 65th annual event’s 22 films in competition . They join previously announced jury president Italian director Nanni Moretti ( We Have a Pope ) who will announce the Cannes winners on stage at the closing ceremonies on May 27th. And it’s not just filmmakers and actors taking on this year’s festival competition in the hallowed maze that is the Palais des Festivals in Cannes. French designer Jean Paul Gaultier – forever famous for designing Madonna’s external lingerie way back in the Blonde Ambition days – is on the jury. Joining him are Haitian director Raoul Peck ( Moloch Tropical ), actor Diane Kruger ( The Host ), actor Emmanuelle Devos ( In the Beginning ), British writer-director Andrea Arnold ( Fish Tank ) and Palestinian actress Hiam Abbass ( Miral ).
The re-release of The Phantom Menace opens with that exhilarating blast of John Williams’s famous theme, the Star Wars title zooming off into the distance in 3-D before the familiar text crawl creeps across the starry backdrop, revealing the words we’ve all been longing to see back on the big screen: “Turmoil has engulfed the Galactic Republic. The taxation of trade routes to outlying star systems is in dispute.” Ah, yes. Rewatching this film (for me, the first time since it opened in theaters over a dozen years ago) really makes you admire the gutsiness of returning to one of the most beloved franchises of all time only to open with stalled galactic taxation negotiations. It takes you back, like some three dimensional Proustian sci-fi madeleine, to that feeling of slow deflation shared by so many back in 1999 as they fought to keep up their levels of enthusiasm as Episode I herked and jerked along. As an admirer of select Star Wars films but no serious devotee of the series, I don’t have quite the complicated relationship with George Lucas experienced by some fans, the emotional complexity of which is generally only otherwise seen in memoirists writing lyric essays about their loving but abusive fathers. And from a business perspective, the Star Wars films are a great candidate for the callous but surely profitable enterprise of transferring classics to 3-D and dumping them back into theaters with pricier tickets. But The Phantom Menace , in any number of dimensions, is an exercise in disappointment, a film filled with enough callbacks to the first trilogy to remind you about what you loved about them without adding much of note in all the new material. The 3-D looks fine, if subdued enough that you forget about it for long stretches. A few sequences do get a boost — the fraught journey through a planet’s sea monster-heavy core, for instance, and even more so the podracing sequence, which look particularly great in the Anakin’s-eye-view shots as camera darts through the rock formations. But 3-D tends to highlight spectacle, and much of The Phantom Menace is anything but: Senate or Jedi council debates, wooden exchanges between Jake Lloyd and Natalie Portman that are meant to indicate some deep (and future romantic) connection, and the parade of bizarrely racialized aliens, including freakin’ Jar Jar Binks. The film features some greatly imaginative worlds and scenarios, from watery Naboo’s hidden bubble-encased Gungan cities to the insectile droidekas to Tatooine’s ludicrously dangerous sport of choice (“Looks like a few Tusken Raiders have camped out on the canyon dune turn!” as the crowd cheers). Darth Maul (played by Ray Park and voiced by Peter Serafinowicz) still makes a major impression, pacing like a caged tiger during a force field-mandated pause in his duel with Liam Neeson’s Qui-Gon Jinn and Ewan McGregor’s Obi-Wan Kenobi. Queen Amidala’s outfits are still ridiculous and awesome, and Portman’s trade-offs with Keira Knightley as the royal bodyguard/stand-in are easier to spot now that the latter’s face has become just as familiar. The rest of The Phantom Menace tends toward the dull — not always the terrible (though early in the film a lot of the dialogue sounds like a badly dubbed Google translation of something originally written in a language other than English), but the legitimately wan and colorless. The film serves as a feature-length extrusion of exposition for what’s to come in later installments, with a few livelier sequences inserted as payoff for sticking around this space opera. It’s both a shame and unavoidable that Episode I was re-released first in this planned 3-D roll-out of the entire series, but if you’re going to splurge on the extra for a 3-D ticket you might as well wait for A New Hope in 2015. Even if the conversion doesn’t add all that much overall to the experience, as is the case here, that one’s going to be much more fun to see on the big screen and with a crowd. Follow Alison Willmore on Twitter . Follow Movieline on Twitter .
She can put “Bond girl extraordinaire” on her resume and describes her character in the forthcoming Dark Shadows as a “bawdy Barbie,” but between those two roles Eva Green is a woman holding on for dear life during a global pandemic in Perfect Sense . In David Mackenzie’s romantic drama, Green plays an epidemiologist struggling to track and contain a series of mass-scale maladies. Acute emotional states like unexplained sadness cause the human race to gradually lose the ability to taste, smell, hear and see, leading to more than a few mood swings. Amid catastrophe, though, the pieces are finally falling into place for Green’s Susan: She’s found love and a rock to lean on in Michael (Ewan McGregor), a chef with just a splash of bad-boy. It’s this love story that Green is most in touch with, and what drew her to the film in the first place. The emotional and, it must be said, super-steamy scenes between Green and McGregor halt the chaos and serve as a reminder that we should always stop to smell the roses, even if we technically can’t. Movieline talked to Green about her career path, love vs. calamity and Tim Burton fostering collaboration on Dark Shadows . How have you gone about choosing roles since being a Bond girl? You know, I’ve always liked characters that are complex, and even the Bond girl that I played was a complicated character, and intelligent. And you know, I always like complicated, interesting characters. Yeah, Vesper was the ultimate Bond girl. Yeah, I think so. But it was nice because there was a love story in [Casino Royale]. Not like a cliche, but a real human being. What made you connect with the Perfect Sense script? I really enjoyed the love story when I read it. I thought it was kind of a brave, unusual story. Thought-provoking, but also very romantic. But with a public panic angle. A few years ago, Blindness was adapted to film, and I don’t know if you read about this but there was recently a documented case of mass hysteria among a group of girls. What is it about stories like this that we find so compelling? I would say that, in this film, people come together. There’s an urgency. It’s very dramatic. Everybody has to become hungry for each other. You know, you have to seize the moment, seize the day and tackle the enemy, like we say, and what matters in life is love. Sounds very cheesy, but it’s true. People come together and still cling to each other after the loss of everything. The character you play suffers grief and heartache so deeply, and that’s even before the world goes haywire. Did you find it exhausting to portray this woman? Oh, no. I kind of identify with her. She’s quite normal. She was unlucky, and a bit damaged, and came out of a hard relationship. And the character that Ewan played was also damaged, but little by little she opens up to him and allows herself to be vulnerable and honest with him, and falls in love with him. I don’t see this film as something dark or dramatic because there’s a catastrophe. It’s also that she’s kind of awakened, weirdly. It’s a bit late because the senses are disappearing, but she is becoming, I don’t know how you would say it, but more human. Yeah, I think the opposite is true, too. She experiences happiness pretty deeply, and there were also some moments of levity, like the bathtub scene with Ewan. Yeah, that was fun to shoot, eating soap. And the flowers. I had to eat flowers in another scene. And toothpaste and lipstick. Lovely. Then you moved to Dark Shadows , playing another woman who’s had her heart ripped out. Oh, it’s a very different character. She’s an extreme character, completely obsessed with a man [laughs], and will do absolutely anything to get him, to own him. She looks like Barbie, but a bawdy Barbie. She’s a big character, and lots of fun to play, that’s for sure. Did you feel like you were coming in to an already formed family? Tim Burton and some of the other cast collaborate all the time. How did you mesh? Tim is very normal, and he is extremely open to suggestions, which is a luxury. He wanted me to feel as comfortable as possible. It was a real collaboration, which is very rare, and he was very kind, very creative, very supportive and we really got on. Is it true you almost took the role in Antichrist that went to Charlotte Gainsbourg? Yeah. Why did you decide against it? Oh, it’s hard to say. I didn’t agree with everything the director wanted me to do. Do you think you’ll work with Lars Von Trier eventually? I don’t know. I think he’s a genius, and Melancholia is a beautiful movie. I hope so, but we’ll see. Perfect Sense opens Feb. 10 in limited release.
Watching mixed martial artist Gina Carano fight on television, director Steven Soderbergh was struck by inspiration: Why not build an action movie around the lethal (and yes, gorgeous) athlete to show audiences what a real action heroine could look like? Forget Angelina Jolie in Salt , or any number of actresses who’ve unconvincingly flitted their way through the genre. Carano was the real deal, a woman who can dole out punches with bone-shattering believability, leap between buildings, and battle Hollywood’s best leading men with aplomb, as evidenced in this week’s Haywire . For Carano, Soderbergh’s offer of film stardom was an opportunity. Written around the first-time actress’s physical strengths, Haywire keeps its premise simple: A betrayed black ops agent (Carano) tries to uncover a plot against her as she battles a stream of spies, muscle, and former associates. Paired with actors like Ewan McGregor, Michael Fassbender, and Channing Tatum, who keep the dramatic scenes charging alone, Carano explodes in her action scenes with a ferocity even her castmates can’t match. Movieline spoke with the MMA veteran and neophyte actress about the challenges of her work on Haywire, the encouragement she takes from female moviegoers, her future acting aspirations, the possibility of a sequel, and what she thought of 2010’s MMA drama Warrior . It’s such a pleasure to see you beat up men like Channing Tatum and Michael Fassbender on the big screen. How fun was it for you, doing it yourself? It was incredible, because they are such wonderful, genuine guys who brought no ego. There were no problems – they wanted to do everything themselves, they wanted to be as physical as possible, and I think we all walked away enjoying the bumps and bruises we walked away with on set. Instead of there being any competition it was more about creating something beautiful. And honestly, it’s just one of the coolest things to hear from a female’s mouth that they got excited about the fight scenes, you know? It’s like one of the best compliments I’ve gotten so far, hearing that females got excited and that they were rooting for me. Part of the appeal of Haywire for me was that most of the action heroines we’ve seen throughout film history have felt somewhat unrealistic, but your physicality was part of the reason Steven Soderbergh built this film around you. Look at Angelina Jolie; at AFI Fest Soderbergh described you as Angelina Jolie-meets-Steven Seagal , but I think there’s more of the badass Seagal in you. How important do you think realism is when it comes to action and female performers? Well you know, I have the utmost respect for people like Angelina Jolie and Zoe Saldana in Colombiana . But here you have beautiful women and they’re taking on these rougher roles that they don’t necessarily have to take, but have chosen to take. So I have the utmost respect for them. But what I’m bringing to it is hopefully…I know that the whole reason I got the job is that I’m bringing a physicality that maybe people haven’t seen yet. So anything I can do and could have done for Haywire to be believable in these fight scenes, of course I did. I like being a little bit different in that way, and I have a lot to learn from these women as far as everything else goes, but I’m definitely comfortable saying that I felt good bringing my form of physicality for my sport and for other females to see, because I know there’s a lot of them out there that know what it’s like, that get a rush. And a man came up to me the other day and said, “I had to drag my wife to the premiere, and she was like, ‘Oh, great – another action film.'” But after the premiere, she was so happy that she’d gone, she was so pumped! I think she was more enthusiastic than I was about this film! [Laughs] It was awesome. It was really cool for me to just offer up something people haven’t seen. So the physicality came naturally to you, but what about the dramatic work? You had appeared in film and TV before… Well, I hadn’t really done [film] – I consider Haywire my first acting experience. The other stuff that is listed was not acting. I have one fight scene in a movie called Blood and Bone , and it was kind of that thing where you just show up that day and it’s all improv. So Haywire was my first experience. Steven Soderbergh, first of all, he had the vision and he had in mind what he wanted to portray, and it’s always refreshing to me to meet a man who knows exactly what he wants – or a boss, or whoever. It’s nice when somebody wants to take on a project and they know exactly what they want out of it. Then he surrounded me with some beautiful people who opened up their arms, these genuinely talented human beings who had no egos and wanted to help. The actors were helping me with the dramatic side and I was helping them with the physicality of it, so it was really a beautiful trade-off with everybody being open-minded and wanting to make the most beautiful product we could. Which scene did you find most challenging to pull off? Well, I was extremely afraid of heights, and I had to jump from one building to the next and there were no wires. [Laughs] I had a serious mental block when it came to this one jump, and I was like, “Gina, this is the whole reason you got the job. Come on, suck it up!” And then I would think of my family, what if they hear I got killed on set? So I think that was one of the scarier moments of the film, but each day was new for me. Each acting experience was new, and every day I woke up just kind of blessed, but at the same time almost terrified of what that day held — just adrenaline pumping through my body. But because of all that, now a couple of years later looking back it’s nice to know I got through something like that, and that I was able to keep my head cool and really enjoy the experience of it. Are there many ways in which you see the worlds of fighting and acting overlap? I know you worked with Randy Couture as a fighter, and he’s someone who’s also made this transition over to acting. Did you ever compare notes with him, or with other athletes-turned-actors, about making that leap? No, actually! Randy is a man of very few words, and he was just like, “You’re going to do great, Gina. Just have fun.” [Laughs] Just like he said to me the first time I met him and asked him to be my coach: “Just go out there and have fun, be yourself.” I didn’t know that many people – Randy had done it, a couple of other people in the sport have done it, but really not very many of the people who were around me had done anything like this. It was just kind of an all-new first-time experience, and the people I worked with were the people that showed me the ropes. Are you having fun with all of this? I’ve seen you do interviews in which you say you’re looking forward to getting “on the other side” of January 20, and you’ve been described as a shy person. Yeah. [Laughs] Are you feeling more and more comfortable with having this media spotlight on you, the increased focus that acting adds to your already established MMA profile? I feel really, really positive right now. I feel like I got to experience something that nobody around me has gotten to experience, and the people and the reviews and the comments that I’m getting back from those who have seen the film are also incredibly positive. I’ve just had a really blessed life until now, and to be negative or fearful of what comes next would be a shame, because then I wouldn’t be enjoying this moment right now, sitting on patio in L.A. talking about this beautiful experience. I’m looking forward to getting on the other side of it because I absolutely want to go back to work, you know? I want to figure out what’s next. I’m eager to do this again, and I want to raise the bar and keep going forward, but a lot of people have been waiting for this film to come out – it took a while to come out, two years now – so I’m just really excited that it’s finally coming out and I’m going to be able to get on the other side of it and kind of close it, land somewhere. I’m super excited about that. In terms of your acting future, has there been any discussion of doing a sequel to Haywire with Steven? Well Ewan McGregor… It’s funny because we were doing the press conference the other day and he was like, [SPOILERS] ‘Gina, you know my character doesn’t die…’ [Laughs] He was like, it’s kind of blessed that you left me there stuck on the rocks and he doesn’t necessarily die. [END SPOILERS] He keeps on talking to Soderbergh, and he’s such a lovely person – he’s talking about what could happen. He’s really pumped to go into a training camp with me for two months to do a Haywire sequel. And of course it would be another dream come true for me because I absolutely adore the film and I adore Ewan and Soderbergh, so to have another opportunity would be incredible. But we’ll see. We’ll have to see after January 20 and see if people really do enjoy the film and consider me believable. Do you want to stay in this action niche, or perhaps take on roles that require no physicality, are more dramatic? It’s such a good question. Regarding the physicality, I would love to explore different characters and I feel like you can still do that, but I know that right now my niche is definitely bringing something physical to the table, and I enjoy that and welcome that completely. I’m not going to say that I would never want to do something different, but I feel like I would love to represent my sport and represent women, and that reaction was so positive off of the fight scenes that I’m like, “Really? I can do more!” Lastly, I was curious to hear your thoughts on Warrior , which was the most prominent MMA-themed film to hit screens. Did you see it, and if so how well do you think it represents what it’s like to be in that world? Well, it was interesting; the day that I was watching it I was watching with a guy friend of mine, and I was doing laundry and coming in and out so I can’t say I necessarily got the whole vibe of the film completely, but I did notice and was impressed that it’s extremely hard to make a fight film look realistic, and I think that film to date has done the best job doing that. I always wonder, because all of my friends just beat the hell out of each other in practice every day, and they should just put these guys in the film! It’s not like they’re not doing it anyways, they’re doing it every single day so you might as well film it to make it more realistic in these fight films, you know? But the guy I was watching it with, at one point I walked back in, and I remember looking over at him and he was just in tears. [Laughs] Then I just settled down and started watching it a little bit and I’m like, “Well, geez, this film really had an impact on this person!” There was a guy just crying and bawling on my bed after watching Warrior ! So I feel like I have to go back in the right mindframe when I’m not so busy, but I was impressed with how believable it was. Follow Jen Yamato on Twitter . Follow Movieline on Twitter .
I’m a little late to this, but it’s not as if anything else is happening beyond the fecal tsunami that is the Iowa caucuses: Find herewith the childhood home videos of comic John Ramsey and his filmmaker brother Richard, with both siblings contributing commentary over the searing indie drama. Aspiring directors, take note! [via Andrew Sullivan , The Daily What ]
MMA star Gina Carano makes her action heroine debut this month in Steven Soderbergh ‘s spy revenge pic Haywire , which bone-crunched its way into moviegoer hearts during AFI Fest . Can’t wait to see Carano put a beat down on just about every leading man (Channing Tatum, Ewan McGregor, Michael Fassbender) whose path she crosses? Submit a 10-word review of any Soderbergh film to enter to win a pair of tickets to Thursday’s Los Angeles premiere. Your faithful Movieline editors will select the 10-word review that moves, tickles, or pummels us the most, in true Haywire fashion. The best part? The premiere ticket prize includes entry to the after party, where you can worship Carano in person. Just, y’know. Keep your distance. The rules for Movieline’s Haywire premiere giveaway: – Submit a 10-word review of any Soderbergh movie in the comments below. Entries must be exactly 10 words, no more, no less! – Enter with your full name and an email address where you may be reached. – Eligible entrants must be at least 18 years of age and able to attend the premiere in Los Angeles on Thursday, January 5 at 7:30pm. One (1) winner will be selected and notified the morning of Thursday, January 5. Tickets must be picked up at will call at the Los Angeles premiere and are not transferable. Contest ends Thursday, January 5 at 9 a.m. PT/12 p.m. ET. — so get to reviewing!
The fairytale action subgenre gets another entry next summer when Bryan Singer’s CG-fantasy take on the Jack and the Beanstalk tale hits screens, with fresh-scrubbed Nicholas Hoult in the lead. That officially makes it “from the director of X-Men ,” starring that one kid who was in that other X-Men movie — no, not X2 . Or X3 . The other one . Get your flaming tree catapults and Jurassic Park moment after the jump in the new trailer for Jack the Giant Killer .
