Also in Friday morning’s news round up, Universal is marketing an Alfred Hitchcock box set for its 100th anniversary. Pixar’s Brave looks ready to triumph at the weekend box office, and Marcia Gay Harden will play a librarian who finds life in Costa Rica. Hey Alfred Hitchcock Fans, Here’s the Box Set for You Packaged as a “Celebration of the 100th Anniversary of Universal,” the Alfred Hitchcock: The Masterpiece Collection . The collection includes Psycho, The Birds, Vertigo, Rear Window, North by Northwest, The Man Who Knew Too Much, Marnie, Saboteur, Shadow of a Doubt, Rope, The Trouble with Harry, Torn Curtain, Topaz, Frenzy and Family Plot . But there is a bit of a wait, the collection of 15 titles won’t be available until September 25th. Around the ‘net… Charlie Sheen Joins Robert Rodriguez’s Machete Kills Sheen has joined the cast in the sequel to the director’s Machete who will play the President of the United States. The two announced the news via Twitter, Deadline reports . Box Office Preview: Brave Set to Triumph Over Abraham Lincoln The animated film may hit $60 million, while Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter is projecting a $15 – 20M opening. Seeking a Friend for the End of the World is hitting around $5 – 7 million in weekend predictions, THR reports . Marcia Gay Harden Books The Librarian The actress will play lead in the film about a woman who finds “a new life path while touring Costa Rica. Produced by Classic Films along with Mano a Mano Films, Juan Feldman will direct from a script by Joel Silverman, Variety reports . Casey Affleck & Thunder Road Head to Pic on Baseball Superstar Josh Hamilton Hamilton went from crack addict to baseball star in the American league. The story is ripe for a feature and producer Basil Iwanyk and Thunder Road Pictures are on board with Casey Affleck set to write and direct, Deadline reports .
Also in Friday morning’s news round up, Universal is marketing an Alfred Hitchcock box set for its 100th anniversary. Pixar’s Brave looks ready to triumph at the weekend box office, and Marcia Gay Harden will play a librarian who finds life in Costa Rica. Hey Alfred Hitchcock Fans, Here’s the Box Set for You Packaged as a “Celebration of the 100th Anniversary of Universal,” the Alfred Hitchcock: The Masterpiece Collection . The collection includes Psycho, The Birds, Vertigo, Rear Window, North by Northwest, The Man Who Knew Too Much, Marnie, Saboteur, Shadow of a Doubt, Rope, The Trouble with Harry, Torn Curtain, Topaz, Frenzy and Family Plot . But there is a bit of a wait, the collection of 15 titles won’t be available until September 25th. Around the ‘net… Charlie Sheen Joins Robert Rodriguez’s Machete Kills Sheen has joined the cast in the sequel to the director’s Machete who will play the President of the United States. The two announced the news via Twitter, Deadline reports . Box Office Preview: Brave Set to Triumph Over Abraham Lincoln The animated film may hit $60 million, while Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter is projecting a $15 – 20M opening. Seeking a Friend for the End of the World is hitting around $5 – 7 million in weekend predictions, THR reports . Marcia Gay Harden Books The Librarian The actress will play lead in the film about a woman who finds “a new life path while touring Costa Rica. Produced by Classic Films along with Mano a Mano Films, Juan Feldman will direct from a script by Joel Silverman, Variety reports . Casey Affleck & Thunder Road Head to Pic on Baseball Superstar Josh Hamilton Hamilton went from crack addict to baseball star in the American league. The story is ripe for a feature and producer Basil Iwanyk and Thunder Road Pictures are on board with Casey Affleck set to write and direct, Deadline reports .
In 2008’s B-movie hit Taken , Liam Neeson cracked skulls across Europe in search of his kidnapped daughter. In October’s Taken 2 , director Olivier Megaton and producer/co-writer Luc Besson set out to achieve something rare — An actual continuation of story! Multi-film character development! Unexpected moral examinations! — a proper sequel, in other words, as evidenced by the first trailer viewable after the jump. The concept for Taken 2 was already promising on paper: The daughter Neeson saved in the first movie (Maggie Grace) must now help save her parents from the vengeance-seeking gangster father (Rade Šerbedžija) of the baddies Neeson murdered in his fatherly rage. The film’s new trailer delivers on this front, demonstrating what few sequels or reboots or re-jiggered whatchamacalits these days bother to do properly: Expand on their predecessors in new and interesting ways. Neeson’s ex-operative Bryan Mills seems to be the same guy he was in Taken , but the plot turns his righteous actions in the first film on their head; another father out there is mourning, and wants bloody revenge. Who’s to say Šerbedžija’s paternal pain doesn’t warrant its own reckoning? Is this a mindless action sequel or a meditation on the cycle of vengeance and a parent’s drive to protect their children at any moral cost? Meanwhile, Grace (whom Besson attempted to turn into an action star earlier this year in the Guy Pearce vehicle Lockout ) has the opportunity to morph her victimized daughter character into a heroine. Look at the way she leaps over rooftops like a lady Jason Bourne! Turning Kim into an action hero not only makes up for how wimpy and naive she seemed (a perception magnified by my residual resentment of Grace’s turn as the useless Shannon on LOST , I’ll admit), it could turn Taken into a bona fide franchise instead of, as too many hit films become, a series of diminishing, direct-to-DVD quality returns featuring declining marquee actors/C-listers/WWE stars. And we haven’t even seen the fighting potential of ex-wife (and now-kidnap victim) Lenore, though the lethal potential of Famke Janssen’s thighs is a historically documented cinematic fact. Taken 2 is set for release on October 5. Let’s hope it lives up to the potential. Thoughts?
In 2008’s B-movie hit Taken , Liam Neeson cracked skulls across Europe in search of his kidnapped daughter. In October’s Taken 2 , director Olivier Megaton and producer/co-writer Luc Besson set out to achieve something rare — An actual continuation of story! Multi-film character development! Unexpected moral examinations! — a proper sequel, in other words, as evidenced by the first trailer viewable after the jump. The concept for Taken 2 was already promising on paper: The daughter Neeson saved in the first movie (Maggie Grace) must now help save her parents from the vengeance-seeking gangster father (Rade Šerbedžija) of the baddies Neeson murdered in his fatherly rage. The film’s new trailer delivers on this front, demonstrating what few sequels or reboots or re-jiggered whatchamacalits these days bother to do properly: Expand on their predecessors in new and interesting ways. Neeson’s ex-operative Bryan Mills seems to be the same guy he was in Taken , but the plot turns his righteous actions in the first film on their head; another father out there is mourning, and wants bloody revenge. Who’s to say Šerbedžija’s paternal pain doesn’t warrant its own reckoning? Is this a mindless action sequel or a meditation on the cycle of vengeance and a parent’s drive to protect their children at any moral cost? Meanwhile, Grace (whom Besson attempted to turn into an action star earlier this year in the Guy Pearce vehicle Lockout ) has the opportunity to morph her victimized daughter character into a heroine. Look at the way she leaps over rooftops like a lady Jason Bourne! Turning Kim into an action hero not only makes up for how wimpy and naive she seemed (a perception magnified by my residual resentment of Grace’s turn as the useless Shannon on LOST , I’ll admit), it could turn Taken into a bona fide franchise instead of, as too many hit films become, a series of diminishing, direct-to-DVD quality returns featuring declining marquee actors/C-listers/WWE stars. And we haven’t even seen the fighting potential of ex-wife (and now-kidnap victim) Lenore, though the lethal potential of Famke Janssen’s thighs is a historically documented cinematic fact. Taken 2 is set for release on October 5. Let’s hope it lives up to the potential. Thoughts?
Over at the fantastic retro cinema celebration series that is Trailers From Hell! , Joe Dante is currently running a Kickstarter to back the next batch of webisodes, which feature Dante and his “Grindhouse Gurus” — Eli Roth, Guillermo Del Toro, and John Landis, among others — dissecting their favorite genre fare of olde. And while a top pledge will get you all sorts of one-of-a-kind rewards ranging from lunch with Dante to the arachnid jaw from Starship Troopers , one prize in particular offers an opportunity so rare, someone had better jump on it, fast: A script reading by screenwriter Josh Olson . For $5,000 or more , an enterprising Kickstarter backer will get their script read and receive feedback from the History of Violence scribe who famously declared in the Village Voice editorial ” I Will Not Read Your Fucking Script ” that he — well, you know. “For a better understanding as to why Josh reading your script is so remarkable, we refer you to his legendary rant in The Village Voice ‘I Will Not Read Your #@$! Script,’ adds the Kickstarter page. Only one such prize is available for claiming, so hop to it! The Kickstarter campaign has 26 days to go… and presumably if the goal is not met, the Olson offer is off the table. Below, watch Olson’s Trailers from Hell guest spot , in which he goes deep on The Conversation : [ Trailers from Hell Kickstarter ]
Over at the fantastic retro cinema celebration series that is Trailers From Hell! , Joe Dante is currently running a Kickstarter to back the next batch of webisodes, which feature Dante and his “Grindhouse Gurus” — Eli Roth, Guillermo Del Toro, and John Landis, among others — dissecting their favorite genre fare of olde. And while a top pledge will get you all sorts of one-of-a-kind rewards ranging from lunch with Dante to the arachnid jaw from Starship Troopers , one prize in particular offers an opportunity so rare, someone had better jump on it, fast: A script reading by screenwriter Josh Olson . For $5,000 or more , an enterprising Kickstarter backer will get their script read and receive feedback from the History of Violence scribe who famously declared in the Village Voice editorial ” I Will Not Read Your Fucking Script ” that he — well, you know. “For a better understanding as to why Josh reading your script is so remarkable, we refer you to his legendary rant in The Village Voice ‘I Will Not Read Your #@$! Script,’ adds the Kickstarter page. Only one such prize is available for claiming, so hop to it! The Kickstarter campaign has 26 days to go… and presumably if the goal is not met, the Olson offer is off the table. Below, watch Olson’s Trailers from Hell guest spot , in which he goes deep on The Conversation : [ Trailers from Hell Kickstarter ]
Kick-Ass star Aaron Johnson , 22, and artist Sam Taylor-Wood , 45, have married in England, reports the Mirror. The couple met while making 2009’s John Lennon biopic Nowhere Boy (he starred, she directed). Johnson next stars in Oliver Stone’s Savages ; Taylor-Wood most recently directed Daniel Craig as James Bond in drag for a gender equality PSA. They will both reportedly take the name Taylor-Johnson. [ Mirror ]
Kick-Ass star Aaron Johnson , 22, and artist Sam Taylor-Wood , 45, have married in England, reports the Mirror. The couple met while making 2009’s John Lennon biopic Nowhere Boy (he starred, she directed). Johnson next stars in Oliver Stone’s Savages ; Taylor-Wood most recently directed Daniel Craig as James Bond in drag for a gender equality PSA. They will both reportedly take the name Taylor-Johnson. [ Mirror ]
Woody Allen has cemented an historic onscreen legacy by managing to play a grand total of one single character for the last 47 years. (What versatility!) Needless to say, it’s been one hell of a character: Allen’s extreme version of himself, trading on some of the most base cultural stereotypes out there about New Yorkers, Jews and intellectuals, has, logically or not, repeatedly held mainstream America’s interest. Yet, in a halfhearted nod to the idea of variety, Allen hasn’t always played the character himself – due to the constraints of age, style, and physical type, he’s occasionally enlisted actors to come in and do their best Woody Allen imitation over the years. With a new addition to the coterie coming in To Rome With Love – Jesse Eisenberg is a neo-Woody if ever there was one – it’s worthwhile to take a look back at Allen’s nine most entertaining surrogates. Kenneth Branagh, Celebrity Could the staid, withdrawn nature of British mores and culture – or those of the Irish, for that matter – be any further from the traits needed to play the Woody character effectively? It seems like a counterintuitive choice, but going with Branagh for the Woody surrogate in Celebrity (one of Allen’s more underappreciated films) was a smart choice; Branagh’s natural composure collides in an interesting way with the foregone conclusion of the character’s neuroses and tics. The result is a performance where Branagh is restrained on the surface while seemingly jittery and anxious underneath – a more subtle and surprisingly effective way of making Allen’s comedy work. Jason Biggs, Anything Else One of Allen’s most maligned pictures, it’s this writer’s contention that Anything Else has received an undeservedly bad rap. Sure, the chemistry between Biggs and Christina Ricci is closer to producing liquid nitrogen than hot sparks, but there’s plenty of great one-liners, and Allen himself steals the show. Biggs, one of the least skilled actors to portray a Woody alter ego, is nevertheless entertaining in a performance that paints the character in even broader, more direct strokes than Woody’s on-the-nose performances normally do. It’s as far from subtle as can be, but the broadness and directness of Biggs’ choices sometimes serves to let the delivery of Allen’s bon mots swing for the fences. Larry David, Whatever Works Could there be a more appropriate Allen surrogate under the sun than uber-neurotic Larry David? The cultural connection between the two couldn’t be more apparent; Seinfeld and Curb Your Enthusiasm could never have been seen as potentially viable in mainstream America without Allen’s career success. Giving his performance far more vitriol than what Allen is capable of, David revels in the misanthropy that is present, but often more subtly disguised, in Allen’s films. John Cusack, Bullets Over Broadway This is what happens when a talented, popular actor really uses their likability to channel the Woody character well. As famous as Allen is, his character’s narcissism (as well as his personal transgressions later in life) can make him difficult for audiences to root for at times. Cusack blended the typical Woody persona with his own undeniable charm to create a character who, when in a tough spot, you can’t help but empathize with. That would be good if this was a simple relationship film, but when Cusack’s character is getting into danger by dealing with gangsters, it’s more than good – it’s great.
Pixar is at its best when it’s making movies about rats working in restaurants and families of superheroes with not-so-super powers; not so much when it’s spinning cautionary environmental tales with robots-in-love subplots and sentimental weepers about grumpy codgers “learning to love again.” Somewhere at the more golden end of that yardstick is Brave , in which a peppery redheaded Scottish princess from days of yore named Merida – her voice is provided by the wonderful Glasgow-born actress Kelly Macdonald – decides she doesn’t want to marry from the selection of gents her parents have chosen for her and would much prefer traipsing through the forest with her trusty bow-and-arrow. Note: This review includes spoilers. Except Brave doesn’t go where you’re probably expecting it to. (And if you’re sensitive to spoilers, you may not wish to read further.) There isn’t an ultimate prince, a swain of Merida’s choice who steps in to offer her everlasting happiness, while letting her be herself, of course. This is a story about mothers and daughters and the ways they clash over basic, seemingly simple things, only to find their ultimate connection in the very things they can’t change about each other. Even that oversimplifies Brave a little too much, but you get the idea. Brave has a marvelous secret weapon in Emma Thompson, who provides the voice for Merida’s mother, Elinor, a queen with a sense of propriety and a desire to keep her daughter from making bad decisions. But this is a queen who turns into a bear, a big growly girl with a pear-shaped body and a most unladylike manner when it comes to eating fish. The quivering, multi-hued strands of Merida’s curly mane notwithstanding — and they are a sight to behold – the character design of Bear Elinor, coupled with the personality Thompson gives her, steals the show. You might be wondering how a queen turns into a bear. Why, via a witch’s spell, of course. Merida is at the age where she hates her parents, Thompson’s Elinor and the scruffy, burly, affectionate Fergus (Billy Connolly), chiefly because they’re intent on marrying her off, and she wants none of it. She hurls hurtful words at her mother — if you’ve ever been either a teenage girl or the mother of one, the sting will be familiar — and stalks off into the forest on her trusty horse, only to stumble upon the cottage of a witch (Julie Walters), who sells Black Forest-style carved-wood gewgaws as a front for her real trade. Merida, frustrated by her mother’s directives to always behave like a proper lady, and by her insistence that she knows what’s best for her daughter, gives the witch vague, exasperated instructions to “change” her mother. The witch gives her a little magic cake to bring back to the kingdom, and Merida is off and gone before she receives instructions for its proper use. Merida gives the cake to her mother as a wily peace offering, only to watch in dismay as Elinor first falls ill and then awakens as a half-clumsy, half-dainty she bear: Elinor Bear, horrified when she discovers her changed form, reaches instinctively for the delicate crown she wore as a human — it perches on her enlarged, furry head like a lady’s cocktail hat, giving her an aura of ridiculous elegance. But aside from the fact that Elinor simply does not like her new shape, bears are simply not welcome in her kingdom: Years earlier, when Merida was just a sprout, Fergus lost his leg to a great warrior bear and has always hoped to avenge this wrong. What would he do if he found a girl-bear in his own castle, not realizing it was his own wife? Both Elinor and Merida know the scene wouldn’t be pretty. The best part of Brave is the section in which Merida and Bear Elinor head out into the wilderness, hoping to find the witch and learn how to break the spell. The grudging camaraderie that forms between them is more like what might happen on your stereotypical father-son camping trip: Elinor Bear scavenges for berries that she believes are edible, only to be told by her more knowledgeable daughter that they’re poisonous. Unable to speak, she points to Merida’s bow, suggesting her daughter will have to be the one to feed them. Later, Bear Elinor learns to catch her own fish in her paws, gulping the shiny wriggling things with unbridled glee. But Bear Elinor will also do anything to protect her child, and she has the physical strength to do so. The newfound symbiosis between Elinor and her daughter could be a metaphor for lots of things, among them the way we switch from child to caretaker when our parents get older. But Brave doesn’t get too hung up on deep meanings. The story is a simple one, told with agility and grace — a little surprising, considering the movie is credited to three directors (Mark Andrews, Brenda Chapman and, as co-director, Steve Purcell) and four writers (Andrews, Purcell, Chapman and Irene Mecchi, from a story by Chapman). Perhaps it’s a wonder that Brave hangs together at all, but the picture’s charms just keep mounting in its favor: Merida has three mischievous redheaded triplet brothers, who of course love cake, especially magic cake – their transformation into miniature Three Stooge-style cubs is one of the movie’s silliest delights. And Macdonald makes Merida a likable but not overbearing heroine: At one point she utters the line “It’s just my bow,” and it comes out “It’s just m’ boe,” an adorable and hilarious niblet of Scotspeak. But my heart belongs to Bear Elinor, whose movements and mannerisms are a tender echo of Human Elinor’s – her character is designed and drawn just that carefully. Bear Elinor becomes more and more bearlike as the spell wears on, and if she and Merida can’t reverse the witch’s handiwork, she will be a bear forever. You can see why she doesn’t want that fate: Bear Elinor is embarrassed by her furry clumsiness, by the way she devours whole fish – live ones, no less! – instead of nibbling away at them with a knife and fork, as her human self would do. Yet she’s a marvel of bearlike grace, almost ballerina-like even in her rotund ursine form. It’s inevitable that Elinor will have to return to human form at some point, but her bear form is so much more memorable. It’s the beast in her that’s really the beauty. Follow Stephanie Zacharek on Twitter . Follow Movieline on Twitter .
