A handful of new Star Trek Into Darkness photos have hit the web, and they’re nothing to write home about, but the image of space-suited Spock ( Zachary Quinto ) did catch my attention. Judging from the steam rising up off the Vulcan’s protective gear, I’m guessing that this image could serve as an “After” shot to the “Before” image below of Spock hanging out in what’s been reported as a volcano. (Or is that vulcan-o? Ba-dum-bump!) The best part? Spock’s expression remains virtually the same no matter what temperature he’s at. Follow Frank DiGiacomo on Twitter . Follow Movieline on Twitter .
Harmony Korine is passionate about making films his way. “I just want to be the greatest of all time — the greatest that ever did it,” said Spring Breakers director, who described his latest work as “beach noir.” I sat down with Korine at Movieline’s New York office for an in-depth discussion about Spring Breakers in-depth. Korine talked about how society is still shocked by violent female criminals, his liberal use of nudity in the movie, and the way he likes to work with his actors. “Once (they’re) in character, and understand the story and the world, it all becomes perfect,” he said. “There’s nothing they can do wrong.” Spring Breakers features current Disney star James Franco and former Disney stars Vanessa Hudgens and Selena Gomez in a story about a trip to Florida that takes a dark turn. The film has striking visuals and I asked Korine if that quality is what makes his films so high-concept. “Yeah, I think they’re completely high-concept. I think they’re also like the lowest concept,” he said. “It’s like where retardation and transcendence intersect.” Check out my full interview below: Follow Grace Randolph on Twitter . Follow Movieline on Twitter .
With a turn as the sinister Billy Crash in Quentin Tarantino ‘s Django Unchained , Walton Goggins nails his second supporting appearance in a period Oscar contender this season. (His other 2012 prestige performance? Playing the meek Clay Hutchins in Steven Spielberg ‘s Lincoln .) Goggins sat down with Movieline/Behind the Trailer’s Grace Randolph to talk the necessary difficulties of depicting the brutality of slavery, why the need for retribution is utterly human, and how he feels about the path his career has taken during his two decades as a rising character actor. Get more on Django Unchained , in theaters Christmas Day. Follow Grace Randolph on Twitter . Follow Movieline on Twitter .
You’re done gorging on turkey, which means only one thing: ‘Tis the season to be stuffed with Oscar punditry. Movieline ‘s Institute For the Advanced Study of Kudos Forensics has awoken from its L-Tryptophan slumber to provide you with our latest Oscar Index , which evaluates the contenders for Best Director. The latest Index on Best Picture can be found here , and over the course of the long weekend, we’ll be weighing in on the Best Actor, Actress and Support Actor and Actress races. How The Oscar Index Works With each award category that we track, we’ll present four different rankings. Movieline Executive Editor Jen Yamato , Managing Editor Brian Brooks and myself will each provide our personal weekly rankings of the movies and actors in the running, and then those results will be weighted and averaged to determine an official Movieline ranking for each category. Let’s begin: Best Director In terms of perception, the Best Director category has been fairly static for a while now, but that should change next week as Les Misérables and Zero Dark Thirty screen for critics and reaction to them begins to flow through the blogosphere. Up to this point, the strong standings of the directors of those films, respectively, Tom Hooper and Kathryn Bigelow , has been almost pure buzz, so their positions could rise or fall sharply once actual scenes and performances can be scrutinized. Until then, Steven Spielberg remains the auteur to beat despite Lincoln ‘s at-times sloggy pace, and Ben Affleck is holding strong as his Argo continues to do well at the box office and on the word-of-mouth exchange. The Master director Paul Thomas Anderson could use a Harvey Weinstein-style reheating, and Ang Lee may need a different kind of PR campaign after he annoyed critics, including Movieline’s Alison Willmore and the New York Times’ A.O. Scott ,, by undercutting the often-breathtaking visual narrative of Life of Pi with a cliched journalist-interviews-story-subject framing device. That could result in Lee falling in favor harder than the zebra hits the lifeboat in his film. Frank DiGiacomo’s Picks Jen Yamato’s Picks Brian Brooks’ Picks 1. Steven Spielberg 1. Tom Hooper 1. Steven Spielberg 2. David O. Russell 2. Steven Spielberg 2. Ben Affleck 3. Kathryn Bigelow 3. Ben Affleck 3. Ang Lee 4. Ben Affleck 4. Kathryn Bigelow 4. Michael Hanecke 5. Tom Hooper 5. David O. Russell 5. Benh Zeitlin And the leaders are… Movieline’s Top 5 Best Director Contenders: 1. Steven Spielberg ( Lincoln ) 2. Ben Affleck ( Argo ) 3. Tom Hooper ( Les Misérables) 4. Ang Lee ( Life of Pi ) 5. David O. Russell ( Silver Linings Playbook ) Follow Frank DiGiacomo on Twitter. Follow Movieline on Twitter.
If you are a previously godless East coaster who’s found himself prostrate and praying for electricity in the wake of Hurricane Sandy , here’s a suggestion: Visualize Denzel Washington when you say those Lord’s Prayers. If God makes his will known through the people, then it turns out that the Flight star would be the top choice to portray Jesus Christ in a movie about the New Testament. By the way, this does not rule out God being a woman, since we all know that Denzel is so handsome and talented that the female God would want him to play her son so she could get closer to all that hotness. (Memo to God: Do not underestimate the power of Pauletta !) Washington is far and away the top choice, with 21 percent of the vote, seven points higher than Daniel Day-Lewis , who is the actor of choice when it comes to portraying god-like historical figures. Al Pacino finishes third, which suggests that Jesus says “Hoo-ah!” a lot, while Ryan Gosling , who evokes the most “OMGs” among the young female crowd would be fourth. (Come to think of it, if Baby Goose grew his hair out, he would look a bit like the Son of God). The biggest surprise of the poll: Woody Allen , who, cinematically speaking, was the King of the Jews back in the 1970s, beats out Philip Seymour Hoffman , who is generating Oscar buzz for portraying a man who appoints himself the god of a self-invented religion in The Master . Apparently, Americans do not want their big-screen Jesus on the beefy side. Follow Frank DiGiacomo on Twitter. Follow Movieline on Twitter.
It’s Hitchcock in the morning, Hitchcock in the evening, Hitchcock at supper time given the upcoming Hitchcock movie, the recently-aired HBO flick The Girl , Blu-Ray releases of Dial “M” for Murder (in 3D!) and Strangers on a Train , and now a sumptuous new collection of the Master of Suspense’s work. On the other end of the spectrum is a kids’ holiday movie that never got the acclaim it deserved — but now that director Paul Feig has gone on to make a little film called Bridesmaids , maybe it has a shot at cult status. HIGH: Alfred Hitchcock: The Masterpiece Collection (Universal Studios Home Entertainment; Blu-Ray $299.98) WHO’S RESPONSIBLE: This impressive set features 15 films directed by the Master of Suspense. WHAT’S IT ALL ABOUT: Hitchcock plied his trade at a number of movie studios over the years, so this is hardly a complete retrospective of his legendary career. That said, Universal offers a sumptuous array of some of his best movies (and a few that aren’t the greatest). Recent Sight & Sound magazine chart-topper Vertigo pops up, alongside such cherished classics as Psycho , North by Northwest and The Birds . The box set also includes such lesser-known but equally unforgettable films Shadow of a Doubt , Frenzy , Rope , Marnie and Saboteur . WHY IT’S SCHMANCY: Hitchcock’s career is notable for more than his directorial talent. After David O. Selznick brought him to the U.S., Hitchcock became one of the most successful Hollywood filmmakers of his time. Then the French film critics who later started the New Wave, made the case that Hitch wasn’t merely a genre director but rather an artist and auteur . He scored a trifecta of sorts when the Alfred Hitchcock Presents TV show, featuring his droll wrap-arounds, made him a household name in this country in a way few directors ever accomplish. All three Hitchcocks — the journeyman, the visionary and the self-promoter — are on display here. WHY YOU SHOULD BUY IT (AGAIN): Only a few of these titles have been previously available on Blu-Ray, and there are enough extras here to stun an ox, from audio excerpts of the famous Hitchcock/Truffaut interviews to trailers and documentaries. Leonard Maltin even pops up to provide a defense for one of my least-favorite Hitchcock movies, Topaz. If anyone’s going to make me rethink a film, it’s Maltin. LOW: Unaccompanied Minors (Warner Home Video; DVD Double Feature with Dennis the Menace Christmas $12.97) WHO’S RESPONSIBLE: Written by Jacob Meszaros and Mya Stark, based on the story by Susan Burton; directed by Paul Feig; starring Dyllan Christopher, Gina Mantegna, Lewis Black, Wilmer Valderrama. WHAT’S IT ALL ABOUT: Spencer (Christopher) and his younger sister Katie (Dominique Saldaña) are flying on their own — “unaccompanied minors,” in airline-speak — to spend the holidays with their father when they get snowed in at a Midwestern airport. Big brother and a bunch of other solo-traveling youngsters must outsmart the airport’s Christmas-hating manager (Black) to make sure Katie gets her present from Santa. WHY IT’S FUN: OK, yes, it sounds like your typical Home Alone rip-off, but Unaccompanied Minors deftly mixes youthful angst (they’re all the children of divorce) and hilarious hijinks in a way you’d expect from Feig, the creator of Freaks and Geeks . As with his critically-acclaimed NBC series, Feig has a great eye for casting the kids (the juvenile cast includes Brett Kelly from Bad Santa and Everybody Hates Chris ’ Tyler James Williams). He also loads the cast with a team of comedic all-stars that includes Teri Garr (as a woman whose holiday decorations are so aggressive that they scare passers-by), Rob Corddry, Sandra Tsing Loh, Mindy Kaling, B.J. Novak, Jessica Walter, Tony Hale, Dave “Gruber” Allen and three of The Kids in the Hall. WHY YOU SHOULD BUY IT: If you’ve got kids you need to keep entertained this holiday season, or if you want to check out a comic gem that was mostly ignored at the time of its release, this one’s absolutely worth picking up. Alonso Duralde has written about film for The Wrap , Salon and MSNBC.com. He also co-hosts the Linoleum Knife podcast and regularly appears on What the Flick?! (The Young Turks Network) . He is a senior programmer for the Outfest Film Festival in Los Angeles and a pre-screener for the Sundance Film Festival. He also the author of two books: Have Yourself a Movie Little Christmas (Limelight Editions) and 101 Must-See Movies for Gay Men (Advocate Books). Follow Alonso Duralde on Twitter. Follow Movieline on Twitter.
Your worst Halloween nightmare has come true. You’ve been invited last-minute to a costume party by your boss, who just loves letting his freak flag fly for the occasion. It’s a command performance, and your year-end bonus could damn well depend on what you throw together in the next hour. The thing is, you hate costume parties. Well, wipe that flop sweat off your brow, fire up your color printer and follow me to the next page. If your boss likes Halloween, then chances are he loved The Hunger Games and may even be channeling Katniss for the night. You can join him in rebelling against the Capitol with Movieline’s very own Mockingjay pun costume. 1.) Print this baby out, and 2.) pin or tape it to your shirt. For extra credit, do something weird with your hair and you, my friend, will be dressed to impress. Happy Halloween! Follow Frank DiGiacomo on Twitter. Follow Movieline on Twitter.
” I consider myself the Bo Jackson of entertainment .” Martial arts cinema and actual mixed martial arts collide in the form of pro fighter/actor Cung Le, who continues his rising Hollywood action career with a furious turn as Bronze Lion in RZA ‘s The Man With The Iron Fists . But his wild-maned, lethal work as the Lion clan henchman (who finds his toughest opponent in Lucy Liu’s Madam Blossom) is just Le’s “part time” job, of course; on November 10, a week after Iron Fists debuts in theaters, Le will face off against UFC fighter Rich Franklin in one of the biggest fights of his career. The kickboxing and sanshou champion, now fighting in the UFC, built up his Hollywood resume in recent years with supporting appearances in Fighting , Pandorum , Bodyguards and Assassins , Tekken , and True Legend . He’s also increasingly in-demand as an actor who can ably, and believably, fight; while filming RZA’s Iron Fists on location in China, Le was simultaneously filming Wong Kar-Wai’s Yip Man biopic under the tutelage of legendary choreographer Yuen Woo-Ping and shooting Dragon Eyes with Jean-Claude Van Damme, which he also choreographed. Le stopped by the Movieline/ENTV studio for a new recurring Movieline video series to discuss RZA’s martial arts epic, his childhood Bruce Lee obsession (and the unfortunate homemade nunchucks mishap that set him on the course to non-weapons based fighting), and his burgeoning second career as a martial arts action star and fight choreographer. As for his Franklin fight, broadcast by Fuel TV 6 on Nov. 10 from Macau, Le hints that his Iron Fists persona may make it into the octagon, and vice versa: “You will see a Bronze Lion with a Cung Le flair in action. Watch the Movieline interview on YouTube! You had multiple choreographies in your head at the same time while shooting Iron Fists , Dragon Eyes , and Grandmasters pretty much at the same time – how hard was that to keep straight? And does your fight training help somehow? Because I’m a professional fighter and I train all year round, I was probably the most in-shape on set, endurance-wise. The only thing that was tough was the weather, it was so cold. But I was excited to come to set and I was ready to put in extra hours – I did whatever it took. But martial arts, fight-wise, going from one movie to another didn’t really bother me. I felt like the transition was so natural and it came so easy to me, so everything was smooth, from one character to another, from one style to another – no problem. I think it’s so easy because my real job is stepping inside the octagon, looking up at my opponent pacing back and forth, who’s looking to take me out. That’s probably more nerve-wracking and more dangerous than what I’m doing in the movies part time. When I’m on a movie set it’s like, let’s do this ! When I’m inside the octagon, oh, man – he’s got the look and he wants to kill me . Doing both actual fighting and movie fighting, does it ever get confusing? Do your fight instincts ever take over during a fake fight, or do blows accidentally land here and there as you’re performing rather than fighting? Of course my natural instinct is to connect with my punch or my kick or my knee, but I’ve been doing martial arts so long that it’s natural for me. I can pull the punch at the last minute, I can make it look big or small, I can shorten my punch – it’s just years of training. So that part, I don’t need to think about it. On The Man With The Iron Fists , when Corey Yuen broke down a fight scene I could almost see what was going to come next. With Dragon Eyes I choreographed all the fight scenes, and I knew working with Van Damme was going to be a bit limiting because he wants to do so many of his own kicks and punches. So I let him do all his stuff, but of course he didn’t want to take any punches or kicks – but in the movie we came real close, and sometimes we did connect, just to make it more realistic. We wrapped Jean-Claude and brought in my trainer and Jean-Claude’s stunt double and I unleashed on him, so it looks like a great fight inside the jail cell, but before then it was all him trying to throw hook kicks and he was really trying to knock me out. For some reason I see the whole fight scene, then I write it on paper. Most people will write it on paper then try to piece it together, but I see not just fight scenes but action, how it plays out, before I can write it. Bronze Lion, like all the characters in Iron Fists , has a distinct martial arts style – what sort of discussions did you and RZA have about his form and how much additional research did you have to do? Bronze Lion’s is not as popular as the Tiger Style, so we were open to using things like the claw from Tiger to Lion, but there were also the weapons. They didn’t just want Bronze Lion to use Lion technique because my specialties are my kicks and scissor kicks. Corey Yuen wanted to incorporate all my strengths into the movie so he let me do a lot of kicks – I did the jumping side kick back kick without landing, the spin-around wheel kick, the running up the wall and grabbing someone by the head, scissor kicking the other guy’s neck and flipping him… so I got to do not just the Lion technique, I also got to put the Cung Le flair in there. So Bronze Lion got a chance to use Cung Le’s technique! Working with Corey Yuen and acting as Bronze Lion, did you pick up anything you think will help you in your actual fighting career? Working with high level martial artists, you see how they work and put things together, how things are planned out and how things come naturally. It gives me my own flavor and variety and the more variety I have, the more I can pull from. When I’m in a fight and I need to use a different technique, the transition is much quicker. But I can’t say that it does or it doesn’t, I can just say that with the years of being a student and a teacher and a fan I feel I can adapt to any situation with the training that I’ve had. Who’s your favorite martial artist of all time, the one you grew up watching? I grew up watching Bruce Lee. Enter the Dragon , Game of Death , Chinese Connection . I think hands down now, since I got a chance to work with Donnie Yen he’s one of my favorites now because he’s so open to doing different things. Not just the same kung fu, but he’s open to doing MMA in his movies and a lot of other things. I kind of look at what he does to mold my own style. Were you one of those kids growing up doing Bruce Lee moves in the mirror? When I was growing up I was really into nun chucks, and since my mom didn’t buy me any, this old broom that broke, I cut it in half and cut that half piece in half and drilled a hole through it with one of those hand drills. I tied it with some rope and I was working and doing pretty good, but I must have not tied it good enough so when I flipped it, it came around and hit me in the head. I had this big knot – and after that I just figured I’d do things with my hands and legs. [Laughs] Continued on next page…
The Evil Dead Red Band trailer has arrived, and it turns out to be the same one that had audiences at NY Comic-Con screaming in their seats (and, apparently, leaking it on the web) . If you can stomach it, make sure to hang tight for the tongue-slicing scene at the end. It will make you talk funny for hours. I’ve also posted the trailer to Sam Raimi’s original 1981 film, The Evil Dead , so that you can compare elements of the first film with Uruguayan director Fede Alvarez’s remake . As with most contemporary reboots, Alvarez’s moves a lot faster. (He’s even lost the ‘The’ in the title for a more streamlined effect.) That said, the new trailer suggests that his Evil Dead will borrow some of Raimi’s filmmaking flourishes, particularly the way in which the camera would take the perspective of the evil spirit that infects the unfortunate cabin dwellers. Like the original, Alvarez’s version also has scenes involving evil vines and dismemberment by power tools, including what looks like a chain saw. Despite these similarities, when I interviewed Bruce Campbell at NY Comic-Con , he told me that the new Evil Dead, which opens early next year, will actually be quite different. For one thing, Campbell — who starred in the original trilogy and is a producer of the remake — said Alvarez’s version will be “dead serious” and won’t feature an Ash, the character he played. “There are no similar characters whatsoever. And we wanted that. That was intentional,” Campbell explained. “We didn’t want anything compared to anything. We didn’t want to put any burden on any actor to act like Ash or to imitate him.” Related Story: Read Movieline’s interview with Bruce Campbell. Read More at: http://movieline.com/2012/10/14/bruce-campbell-interview-evil-dead-remake-fede-alvarez-jane-levy-sam-raimi/#utm_source=copypaste&utm_campaign=referral Follow Frank DiGiacomo on Twitter. Follow Movieline on Twitter.
More good news from Movieline’s parent company, Penske Media Corp. (PMC): FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE BGR Website Launches THE NEW BGR, With Complete Redesign. Leading mobile and gadget brand redefines the category with new look and remarkable user experience. Today marks BGR’s third redesign since the site’s initial launch six years ago, though this redesign is noticeably its most thorough. Markedly apparent is the site’s sharp rebranding, with new logos, colors, and what Jonathan calls, “a new personality.” Jonathan and his team created a new logo to better reflect this site’s growth and evolution, with what Jonathan describes as, “Clean-cut, strong and powerful, but still with an edge and personality.” Founder, Chairman, and CEO of Penske Media Corporation (PMC) Jay Penske said, “Jonathan has once again raised the bar in technology and gadget publishing—not only answering his users’ requests, but significantly enhancing BGR.com’s design and presentation layer on all platforms. The new BGR homepage design is second to none in one of the most exciting categories online.” Jonathan and his team have created the new BGR to better reflect today’s internet experience, making its content clear and easy to navigate from a desktop, tablet and or mobile phone, with no redirects to a subdomain. Users will also find greater ease clicking through the site’s galleries, hubs, review pages, tip us box, search area, integrated Twitter feeds, mini hubs, featured section pages, and more. The new BGR clarifies its verticals and categories with its new hubs layout, making it easier for users to navigate to the categories they most like to read about. Sidebars have been eliminated and each page is full with, allowing content to flow as users read – from left to right. Real-time information is an aspect of the site that will continue to be enhanced over the next few weeks, with comments continually updating as well as new posts appearing if they go up while a user browses the homepage. BGR is pleased to have partnered with Motorola on its re-launch and rebranding. Motorola has also stepped in to partner on a BGR app for Android, set to launch in the next couple weeks. About BGR: Jonathan Geller is the founder of Boy Genius Report, now known as BGR. What began as a column on popular gadget blog Engadget quickly grew into one of the site’s biggest draws, and Jonathan soon detached the wildly popular column to create what has since become the biggest mobile news destination in the world. BGR was acquired by leading digital media company PMC in April 2010 and Jonathan currently acts as President and General Manager of the newly formed BGR Media, Inc., and Editor-in-chief of the BGR website. About Penske Media Corporation (PMC): PMC is a leading digital media and publishing company founded by Jay Penske in 2004. Today, PMC engages with audiences across the web, television, mobile, print and social media—reaching more than 83 million consumers monthly according to Comscore. PMC owns a unique and growing portfolio of lifestyle brands that provide the web’s best original content in categories including entertainment, sports, breaking news, media, finance, tech, health, shopping, fashion, beauty, and automotive. BGR, PMC Studios, Deadline.com, Variety, OnCars, HollywoodLife, ENTV, India.com, Movieline, TVLine, AwardsLine, Young Hollywood Awards, The Style Awards, and Breakthrough of the Year Awards are all part of the expanding PMC portfolio. For more information on PMC and its brands, please visit: www.PMC.com or its digital properties directly. PRESS CONTACT: Lauren Gullion Press@PMC.com Follow Movieline on Twitter.
