Hot dudes and with asses in air… A few thongs and strippers galore. A party in Miami, Key West or Palm Springs? Nahh… It’s Magic Mike of course and the latest trailer shows off a bit of skin courtesy of Channing Tatum, Alex Pettyfer, Matthew McConaughey — the resident hotties who will hold court in their sexiest in Steven Soderbergh’s latest film. There was a time in the not too distant past that Soderbergh said he was ” retiring ” from filmmaking, but things clearly changed and he found inspiration to continue. Good for him, since most ladies (and some gentlemen) will likely enjoy the show. By the way, there are more ass and skin scenes with Matthew McConaughey — and even a little bondage — to be had in Lee Daniels’ new film, The Paperboy , which premiered in Cannes last month . But back to Magic Mike … the story revolves around a male stripper who teaches a younger performer how to party, pick up women, and make easy money. “They also had to be able to do what we needed them to do and willing to do what we needed them to do,” Soderbergh told Indiewire back in January about making the film. “But I mean, we got really lucky. All these guys were great and have brought something specific to the movie. There’s nothing like shared potential humiliation to bond.” We can’t agree more… And what do you think of the fleshy teases? Check it out… Magic Mike hits theaters on June 29.
I went to see Prometheus over the weekend, and like many of you, I was disappointed (to put it lightly). Although a technical achievement in every way, the narrative and characters left much to be desired. The mystery I wanted solved was not the black goo or the Engineers — it was how the creative team of Ridley Scott , Damon Lindelof , and Jon Spaihts could produce a movie with such rudimentary mistakes . There have been casts of Scream movies with more intelligence than this lineup of characters. The connective tissue between the film’s big set pieces felt as if plucked from a Random Idea Generator program online; even the mythology was mucked up as the film dissolved into a by-the-book sci-fi thriller by the end. Baffled, I thought about the simple brilliance of 1979’s Alien . The 1970s were a fertile time for Hollywood. What we consider to be some of the greatest movies ever came from the “New Hollywood” era, including Scott’s Alien and works by the likes of Coppola, Kubrick, Altman, and more; these were directors who were the first wave of “film buffs” who emerged from university film programs having studied and loved the medium for years. They were awed and inspired by cinema, and introduced fresh technologies and darker and more subversive subject matter to wider audiences for the first time under a creative freedom Hollywood hasn’t allowed since. But all eras come to an end, and not every great director has a perfect score (except maybe Scorsese and Hitchcock). Even if Prometheus didn’t disappoint you, chances are one of these movies from nine New Hollywood filmmakers did. 9. Ridley Scott’s Hannibal (2001), Robin Hood (2010), and Prometheus (2012) There are two kinds of Ridley Scott camps: Those who think Scott is a middlebrow director with mediocre titles that appeal to AMPAS voters only, and those who believe Alien and Blade Runner constitute a lifetime pass. That’s not to say Scott isn’t an accomplished and respectable director even today. Prometheus is his most technically beautiful film in ages, and Matchstick Men and Kingdom of Heaven are underrated achievements. But let’s face it: Prometheus is a narrative mess, his Robin Hood was a bafflingly bland Russell Crowe vehicle that famously massacred a fabulous spec script that was intended to tell the Sheriff of Nottingham’s story, and… well, just watch Scott talk up Hannibal in this commentary track clip. — 8. Robert Altman’s Dr. T. and the Women (2000) Not inherently a bad movie, Altman’s Dr. T. and the Women is often delightful, but a bit too broad and soapy for the man behind MASH and Nashville . As an unconventional rom-com, Altman’s film retains much of the director’s trademark style, with charm and emphasis on character relationships over plot — obviously, since a magical tornado comes out of nowhere at the end to wipe slates clean. — 7. Roman Polanski’s The Ninth Gate (1999) From the director who brought you Rosemary’s Baby and Chinatown comes The Ninth Gate , starring a subdued Johnny Depp, who seems perpetually in danger of getting hit by cars, and Emmanuelle Seigner, delivering roundhouse kicks to baddies and floating down staircases. Like Altman’s Dr. T. , this isn’t Polanski hitting an extreme low — he’s just not hitting any highs, either. The film’s production values go a long way to delivering an elegant yet creepy atmosphere, but the business of the horror-fantasy plot falls deeper and deeper into absurdity with generic thriller frights. — 6. Brian De Palma’s Mission to Mars (2000) and The Black Dahlia (2006) You could also probably slide 1998’s Snake Eyes into this lineup to prove a point that, like Prometheus , no matter how technically capable you are as a visual director, sometimes the narratives just don’t measure up. Black Dahlia also carried the negative weight of bizarre miscasting (Hilary Swank, I’m looking at you), while Mission to Mars succumbs to shallow writing and absence of thrills. Snake Eyes , for what it’s worth, tries to cover up mediocrity and frustratingly silly webs of intrigue under an abundance of style and visual prowess. Movies are a sensory experience, and if what you’re hearing doesn’t work, it doesn’t matter if what you’re seeing is the most beautiful image ever shot. — 5. John Schlesinger’s The Next Best Thing (2000) This is the man who directed Midnight Cowboy , Sunday Bloody Sunday , and Marathon Man . Obviously we can chalk this one up to the Madonna poison she obviously secretes onto every set she steps foot on. Right? — Continued on page 2…
So there’s good news and bad news about what David Lynch has been up to since directing that Duran Duran concert video last spring. Bad news first: It’s not a new feature! (At least not beyond the development phase, anyway.) The good news: It is a new short! Kind of.
When Oscar-winner Francis Ford Coppola took to Comic-Con to present his new horror project Twixt , he blew minds in Hall H by live-editing footage from his iPad. Now you can watch the first trailer for Twixt to get a taste of what Coppola’s got cooking with his Gothic murder-mystery tale about a hack novelist named Hall Baltimore (Val Kilmer) who befriends a ghostly girl named V ( Elle Fanning ) while searching for his next story in a small California town.
The hilariously massive schedule for day three of Comic-Con has been released, and while it doesn’t offer as many geek-bait treats as days one and two did, it does have Francis Ford Coppola front and center. The Oscar-winning director brings TWIXT to San Diego later this month, where he’ll be joined by Kevin Smith, Snow White and the Huntsman , Immortals , and plenty of your favorite television shows. Click through for the day three lineup.
Things have been a wee bit quiet where Jonathan English’s 13th century siege pic Ironclad is concerned, but with the indie action pic’s July release right around the corner Movieline’s got just the uber-gory clip reel to set your pulse racing. (And, perhaps, your stomach turning.) Watch out, Paul Giamatti ! The Knights Templar are coming for you.
Take note, nerds: Francis Ford Coppola is about to invade your favorite geek event of the year. The director will bring his latest film, Twixt , to showcase at the July convention, where he’ll integrate live music by Dan Deacon to demonstrate the project’s boundary-pushing interactive presentation. What treats are in store for lucky Con-goers?
An air of mystery (and, understandably, confusion) has surrounded the awesome-in-theory directorial debut of Wu-Tang Clan rapper-turned-actor RZA, who began filming his period kung fu epic The Man with the Iron Fists last month in China. With the plot largely under wraps — it involves a weapons-forging blacksmith in feudal China to be played by RZA himself, because of course! — production details from the period film have been kept largely on the hush, aside from co-producer / co-writer Eli Roth’s colorful tweets from the set. That is, until a few cast members began posting (non-spoilery) reports from the set describing how things are going.
It’s getting to be late in the day on Friday — at least here on the frigid East Coast — and that means silliness. So, Talia Shire, will there be a fourth Godfather film coming to theaters in the near future? “I doubt it,” she said on Thursday night at The New York Times ‘ Film Club event in Los Angeles. “It makes me sad; we are not making great movies anymore.” Dammit! That movie that isn’t real that no one even imagined would happen isn’t going to happen? Way to put a black cloud on my weekend. Nino Rota, take us out . [ THR ]
