Because it’s always good to remember that when you’re judging famous people on Twitter , they sometimes read it (and weep), Jimmy Kimmel corralled a gaggle of comedians and comic actors to read some of the meanest Tweet-critiques they’ve received for the camera. I think we can all take a few universal lessons from this video: Namely, that celebrities like Jason Bateman , Presidential candidate Roseanne , and Andy Dick really are like the rest of us little Tweeters — well okay, maybe not Andy Dick. Also: Will Ferrell reads his @ messages while on the can, too! If that can’t bring us together as a Tweeple, what will? [via Jimmy Kimmel ]
Move over, Prometheus : David Cronenberg and Robert Pattinson are here with a 30-second foreign teaser for Cosmopolis , their adaptation of the Don DeLillo novel about a young billionaire’s dark, demented and all-around catastrophic 24-hour Manhattan odyssey. And it looks amazing. In fairness, it’s basically only 30 NSFW seconds of hyper-edited visuals, but what visuals: Times Square overrun with dinosaurs, Pattinson’s Eric Packer shooting a hole through his hand, limousine trysts and pee breaks, and all the quintessentially Cronenbergian glimpses of the perverse in the quotidian. Niftier still is the dialogue introducing the teaser, clipped in DeLillo’s own trademark staccato, hinting at a spiritual fidelity to the flawed but sui generis source material. It just looks and feels right . We’ll see how the other 100 minutes or so can compare later this spring, when Cosmopolis presumably debuts (and lands an American distributor) at Cannes. [via Movies.com ] Follow S.T. VanAirsdale on Twitter . Follow Movieline on Twitter .
There’s no script, no budget and no confirmed Charles Grodin to complement the “buddy” part of the “buddy comedy” formula that worked so well 24 years ago, but that’s not stopping the zeitgeist from panicking over the current state of Midnight Run 2 . To wit, Brett Ratner is now linked up as the director. Like we’ve never heard that before . Everybody calm down! Not that it doesn’t get somewhat worse, as Mike Fleming reports at Deadline: The studio and [De Niro’s production company] Tribeca put the wheels in motion on the sequel early last year, when they hired Tim Dowling to write a draft. [David] Elliot & [Paul] Lovett, who were writers on G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra , and are working on the sequel to Four Brothers (which they also scripted) will continue the storyline of Walsh, the ex-Chicago cop who, when last seen, set free the turncoat mob accountant The Duke at LAX and walked away with a wad of cash he’d use to open a coffee shop. So, yeah: Still early. Anyway, to recap, De Niro played bounty hunter Walsh and Grodin played Jonathan “The Duke” Mardukas in the 1988 film, which was written with such profane, caustic fervor by George Gallo and directed by Martin Brest in his follow-up to Beverly Hills Cop . All of which raises a few questions: Would the retired Grodin reprise his role? (He’s said he’s open to it, but he’s also 77 next month and doesn’t exactly need the paycheck.) What is it with Ratner wanting sequels to Brest classics? (If it’s not Beverly Hills Cop 4 , then it’s Midnight Run 2 . Just give him Son of Gigli already and let’s be done with it!) And can Elliot and Lovett find a place for Yaphet Kotto to return as well? Because there is no Midnight Run 2 without perpetually vexed FBI agent Alonso Mosley delivering some serious comeuppance. [ Deadline ] Follow S.T. VanAirsdale on Twitter . Follow Movieline on Twitter .
Heads up, romantic drama die-hards: Movie theaters will be awash with tears in the next couple of weeks. Three epic — well, two epics and one epic-lite — love stories are being re-released for various questionable reasons, and in these challenging economic times it might not make sense to rush out and see all three. Here, then, are some points to consider before buying a ticket and travel-size tissues for Casablanca , The Bodyguard or Titanic . Casablanca , in which we fall in love with Ingrid Bergman’s twinkly eyes while she falls for Humphrey Bogart all over again, turns 70 this year. To celebrate, TCM is screening the film in select cities for one night only — today! — March 21 . The beloved classic has been re-mastered, so if you’ve gone a long stretch since seeing the film in a theater, it might be worth catching a newly polished version. TCM host Robert Osborne will introduce Casablanca along with a presentation on the making of the film and behind-the-scenes material. That’s not exactly a huge draw. The $12.50 might be better spent toward the special-edition DVD/Blu-ray release, due March 27, because despite being officially septuagenarian, the movie simply never gets old, and will always demand repeated viewing. Verdict: See it in theaters AND buy the Blu-ray. Hey, it’s a classic . Honoring both the legacy of sublime vocalist Whitney Houston and the 20th anniversary (in November) of her first film, Warner Bros. is bringing The Bodyguard back to theaters for a one-night stand March 28 . Is it opportunistic in the wake of her death last month? Sure. But the nostalgia wave for Houston’s body of work is still going strong, and the real opportunity is for fans to hear one of the most beautiful voices of modern pop music in a prime audio environment. It’s a chance to come close to seeing her onstage again. On the other hand, it would be much more appropriate to snark on the movie, as unconvincing lovebirds Houston and Kevin Costner build up tepid passion for one another, in the comfort of your own home. The Bodyguard is on Amazon and YouTube for the cost of a cup of coffee, and there are no fancy visual effects besides Houston’s gleaming smile to make it worth the big-screen treatment. [Note: Both the Casablanca and the Bodyguard events will be broadcast through Fathom Events , which projects simultaneously into networked theaters via satellite, so it’s hard to say what sort of picture quality you’ll be getting.] Verdict: Unless you’re a Bodyguard /Houston fanatic, skip it in theaters. You’re better off weeping over the Bodyguard soundtrack on repeat. Which brings us to Titanic 3-D , out April 6 . James Cameron considers the younger generation the target audience for the 3-D version of his 1997 masterpiece. Although watching Rose find her inner badass is thrilling, she’s competing with Katniss Everdeen for the moviegoers Cameron hopes to lure in, as The Hunger Games will be in its third weekend of pop culture and box office domination when Titanic hits. Not that Kate Winslet ’s moxie, or even her chemistry with Leonardo DiCaprio , is the main draw, of course. The real reasons to jump at the chance to see Titanic on the big screen are those hyper-real and well-paced ship-sinking scenes. Cameron went to great lengths and expense to produce a 3-D version for our viewing pleasure — though it turns out that the resulting darkness of the screen makes it a less-than-enjoyable experience , according to some critics who caught an early glimpse. It’s troubling that first-timers might watch this first-class love story unfold through a haze just so a couple chunks of iceberg shoot out at them, so it’s a good thing Paramount is also screening it in regular 2-D. It’s hard to justify giving Cameron more money at this point (two Avatar sequels is two too many), so a less costly 2-D option feels like a decent happy medium, one that also would introduce the film’s grandeur to a new audience in the best possible way. Verdict: See it in theaters if you’ve never let go. Follow Movieline on Twitter .
Finally, Dr. Uwe Boll is making a movie America actually wants to see! According to The Hollywood Reporter, Boll will start filming in April on Bailout , his 27th film — a feature-length thriller that follows an everyman New Yorker “who loses everything in the wake of the 2008 Wall Street financial crisis, and who strikes back by killing investment bankers.” I don’t know about you, but I think this one’s got a shot at gaining the cultural foothold that Ollie Stone missed with Wall Street 2: Money Never Sleeps , nein ? [ THR ]
Let’s talk Turkey! Ahem. Literally: The country’s CNN outpost brings viewers worldwide this heartwarming story of a teenager in Adana who reportedly sneaked into a railyard where the cast and crew of Skyfall had taken up production of a fight sequence. The young man was caught, queried and removed from the set — but not before smuggling out footage of James Bond slugging it out atop a train. Yaşasın! Honestly, from Ain’t it Cool News’s ” discovery ” of the wholly Turkish-language video to the more professional B-roll footage backing up İbrahim Ali Özden’s well-placed amateur camerawork to a major news network’s earnest interest in some 17-year-old who crashed a movie shoot, I’m not ready to believe this leak wasn’t entirely contrived by Sony’s super-savvy marketing team as the latest crumb in the Skyfall viral campaign. Still! James Bond fighting on a train, etc. etc. Perhaps needless to say, spoilers follow — as does a 30-second ad just ahead of the news story. I can only hope you are fortunate enough to get the Turkish Head and Shoulders spot that I was subjected to, which is roughly 100 times more entertaining than Skyfall will ever be. Bu video Adobe Flash Player’ın son sürümünü gerektirmektedir. [ CNN Turkey via AICN ] Follow S.T. VanAirsdale on Twitter . Follow Movieline on Twitter .
With Lionsgate’s big screen adaptation of Suzanne Collins’ teen-centric sci-fi survival-adventure The Hunger Games hitting screens this week, it’s kind of impossible not to draw comparisons to that other YA juggernaut series, which concludes its billion-dollar run on pop culture this fall. So how does The Hunger Games measure up to Twilight ? Some spoilers follow. THE BOOKS Stephenie Meyer’s Twilight , first published in 2005, spawned a total of four books (and one spin-off novella) that were adapted into five movies ( Breaking Dawn Part 2 hits screens this November), with over 116 million copies in print. Suzanne Collins’ The Hunger Games , first published in 2008, spawned a total of three books set to be adapted into four movies, with over 26 million copies in print. Advantage: Twilight THE HEROINE Twilight : Bella Swan is a 17-year-old girl who moves to gloomy Forks, Washington and falls in love with a vampire. Unassuming and average, she finds her inner strength after four novels’ worth of being imperiled by embracing her destiny and starting a family. Hunger Games : Katniss Everdeen is a 16-year-old girl who lives in gloomy District 12 in the fascist future world of Panem and must fight for her life in a televised battle royale. A skilled huntress, she finds her inner heroine after three novels’ worth of being a pawn in the Capitol’s games by embracing her destiny and becoming a symbol of the resistance. Advantage: Hunger Games SUPER POWERS (AND SUPER WEAKNESSES) Twilight : Left at the mercies of other people’s protection, Bella’s the lame duck for most of the saga, until she discovers that her secret power is, literally, the ability to protect her loved ones. Seriously. Meanwhile, her love for Edward keeps threatening to ruin everything – prom, her sex life, the future of all vampirekind. Hunger Games : Empowered at an early age thanks to her father’s untimely death, Katniss is the provider in her family for most of her life, until she enters the Games and discovers that compassion for others, and the newfound ability to trust in Peeta, is the key to survival. Her only weakness, it could be said, is that her personal drive to survive is so strong she has trouble seeing the big picture, and her place in it. Advantage: Hunger Games THE LOVE TRIANGLE Twilight : Bella must choose between two suitors – Edward Cullen, the sparkly vampire, and Jacob Black, her werewolf BFF. Heated tent scenes, make-out sessions, and torrid glances ensue. Hunger Games : Katniss must choose between two suitors – Peeta, the golden baker’s son (and her fellow Tribute in the Hunger Games), and Gale, her earthy BFF. Play-acted cave scenes, tender kisses, and internal struggles ensue – that is, when Katniss isn’t busy, you know, fighting for her life. Advantage: Twilight THE THEMES Twilight : Love, lust, abstinence, teen pregnancy, motherhood, sexuality vs. sin. Hunger Games : Fighting injustice, taking a stand, trusting others, personal responsibility. Advantage: Hunger Games. THE ONSCREEN PG-13 ACTION Twilight : Speed-ramped vampire running, bad wirework, CG werewolf-vampire melees, non-gory limb-shattering/ripping/beheadings, and one vivid, suggestive C-section by vampire scene. Hunger Games : Training exercises, arrow-shooting, hand-to-hand combat, bladed weapons, Tracker Jacker (i.e. hallucination-inducing poison bee) attacks, and one vivid, suggestive shaky-cam Cornucopia melee. Advantage: Hunger Games FILM PEDIGREE Twilight : Installments directed by Catherine Hardwicke ( Twilight ), Chris Weitz ( New Moon ), David Slade ( Eclipse ), and Oscar-winner Bill Condon ( Breaking Dawn Parts 1 & 2 ). Top Rotten Tomatoes score: Eclipse , at 49%. Hunger Games : The Hunger Games directed by Oscar-nominee Gary Ross, who is set to direct the next sequel, Catching Fire . Current Rotten Tomatoes score: 100% (with 17 reviews in). Advantage: Hunger Games — Seems like The Hunger Games has the edge over Twilight by most of the above criteria, stemming from its more complex and stirring lead character, story, and themes. That said, Twilight fandom outpaces Hunger Games fandom by the millions, circulation-wise. Will solid critical reviews and stellar pre-release ticket sales help bump The Hunger Games to Twilight -level box office returns — and convince non-fans to give it a shot? Sound off below, Movieliners!
Despite the stiff competition of the NCAA tournament and the local bar, the multiplex fared all right over St. Patrick’s Day weekend: The single new wide release 21 Jump Street was a hit, and The Lorax retained its blockbuster status in its third week of release. Not bad! Your Weekend Receipts are here. 1. 21 Jump Street Gross: $35,000,000 (new) Screens: 3,121 (PSA $11,214) Weeks: 1 Despite (or because of?) its R-rating, the TV reboot/adaptation scored in a terrific per-screen average and stands to come in a sturdy (if distant) second next weekend to The Hunger Games . Great job, Sony! Next up: T.J. Hooker , starring Danny McBride. OK, never mind. 2. Dr. Seuss’s The Lorax Gross: $22,800,000 ($158,400,000) Screens: 3,769 (PSA: $6,049) Weeks: 3 (Change: -41.3%) The domestic total is extraordinary, but factor in the 30 or so foreign markets where The Lorax has yet to open (or at least be reported), and we might be on the cusp of a half-billion dollar phenomenon. In which case, how do we sequelize Seuss? Do we sequelize Seuss? 3. John Carter Gross: $13,515,000 ($53,172,000) Screens: 3,749 (PSA $3,605) Weeks: 2 (Change: -55.2%) Decent overseas numbers notwithstanding, you can cry for John Carter now. 4. Project X Gross: $4,005,000 ($48,131,000) Screens: 2,922 (PSA $1,371) Weeks: 3 (Change: -64.1%) It’s not too often that you see a film averaging less than $1,400 per screen coming in fourth overall, especially after a 64 percent drop. It’s even rarer to… 5. A Thousand Words Gross: $3,750,000 ($12,103,000) Screens: 2,952 (PSA $1,979) Weeks: 2 (Change: -39.3%) …surpass a fifth-place finisher with a higher average on virtually the same number of screens. And a mere 39 percent drop. Fluke of the Irish, etc. etc. [Figures via Box Office Mojo ] Follow S.T. VanAirsdale on Twitter . Follow Movieline on Twitter .
Ridley Scott ’s Alien prequel Prometheus made the biggest impression on the geek faithful Saturday at WonderCon , where glimpses into the film’s set-up and ensuing space shenanigans were revealed in a new two-and-a-half minute trailer for the sci-fi action film. The trailer (not to be confused with the more truncated one-minute teaser that leaked yesterday ) offered more hints at spoilers and narrative threads for fans to try to piece together, not to mention some very interesting new imagery – but how much do Prometheus -watchers really want to know? [Spoiler alert, obviously.] That’s the intriguing question ahead as Fox carefully disseminates more and more information about Prometheus and the mysterious story it contains. On the one hand, Friday’s teaser and Saturday’s WonderCon trailer still only comprise a series of (admittedly awesome) shots and snippets of scenes, seemingly key dialogue, and ominous soundscapes, leaving most of the plot and potential reveals up to a viewer to piece together. But the more we see of Prometheus , the more these sparse rations of information add up into a jumble that almost feels like too much information. After presenting the new trailer, which you can watch below, Scott, co-writer Damon Lindelof, and stars Charlize Theron and Michael Fassbender answered a handful of Twitter questions before making their way backstage, where the group (minus Theron, who stayed behind to attend her Snow White and the Huntsman panel) fueled even more Prometheus speculation. Here are the nine most provocative, intriguing, maybe-spoilery and potentially revealing clues the Prometheus filmmakers spilled at WonderCon. [Trailer screengrabs via 20th Century Fox] 1. New trailer, new clues Prometheus ’s setup is revealed in the new trailer, which shows Noomi Rapace ’s scientist-heroine Elizabeth Shaw and Logan Marshall-Green’s Holloway presenting evidence of a startling new discovery: Multiple ancient civilizations have been found which all use the same mysterious pictograms – and Shaw believes those symbols are an invitation sent by an unknown entity to seek out their makers, prompting the crew of the Prometheus to depart into space on their journey. That seemingly leads our heroes to a planet where their probes discover life forms. Which somehow leads to this: Is that… a baby facehugger being extracted from close quarters with Shaw, prior to the hallway-stumbling in LeeLoo-style skivvies glimpsed in the trailers? — 2. The devil is in the dialogue Consider two key quotes that bookend the trailer. The first, spoken by Theron as the icy corporate tool Meredith Vickers: “A king has his reign and then he dies… it’s inevitable.” And the last, uttered by Fassbender as David, the ship’s android servant: “Big things have small beginnings.” Now also consider Theron’s response to the last fan question of the day: What does Michael Fassbender smell like? “Musk and chilies… sometimes mixed in with a little mint.” — 3. Speaking of the trailer, WTF?? — 4. Fassbender rumors: True or false? Selecting a few questions sent in via Twitter to answer onstage, Lindelof picked one burning question that fans have been dying to know. “There are rumors on the net that Fassbender gives birth to mankind in the movie,” he read. “Are these rumors true? “Absolutely,” answered Fassbender with a coy Mona Lisa smile. Was he serious? Hard to say. Did Lindelof just randomly pick that one Twitter question out of many to address onstage with a non-answer? Another mystery to add to the list. — 5. Is Prometheus really just a story about a guy looking for love? During the panel, Lindelof joked with Theron and Fassbender. Given the film’s mysterious nature, how do they explain to friends and family what Prometheus is? “I told them it was a romantic comedy, so they’re going to be shocked,” quipped Theron. Fassbender agreed, describing his character David – an android with lifelike human qualities, a la Bishop – as “just a guy trying to find love in all the wrong places.” —
Everyone is familiar with that special breed of screen performer whose names are associated with not only longevity, but also ubiquity. Gene Hackman reigned among this class for much of the last few decades, his title soon overtaken by Michael Caine, Samuel L. Jackson, Nicolas Cage and others who’ve shown a willingness to earn paychecks in everything from Oscar bait to glorified grindhouse fare. Yet another thespian exceeds them all in output, not only with an impressive slate of completed work but also a calendar-busting array of upcoming projects. Just who is the most in-demand player in Hollywood? It might come as a surprise, but by all appearances Danny Trejo holds that title. The character actor has achieved something close to omnipresence in recent years; so saturated are movies with Trejo’s image that you can almost overlook his appearance while watching one of his many films. Much of this has to do with the fact that, despite the former boxer and ex-con’s dependable ruffian visage, he has assembled an impressively varied resume relying on both gritty roles in direct-to-rental genre pulp and such diverse mainstream titles as The Muppets , A Very Harold and Kumar Christmas , and Spy Kids 4D — to say nothing of his frequent television work. And with news this week of Trejo and director Robert Rodriguez’s Machete Kills shooting next month, the actor’s profile will only broaden from here. Using the comprehensive (if admittedly unreliable) IMDB Pro as a launching pad, I went about separating the real Trejo wheat from the development chaff for one of the most robust slates anyone has achieved in a generation: COMPLETED Sushi Girl (the role of Schlomo): A man is released from jail after six years and has a celebratory sushi dinner with the rest of crew, eating sushi off of a naked girl who is supposed to be oblivious as they try to reclaim their loot. Haunted High (The Janitor): A New England private academy finds itself with a demonic headmaster, while the janitor is also the enforcement guardian of the school. (SyFy original movie) Counterpunch (Manny Navarro): A bipolar boxer from Miami tries to win the Golden Gloves championship, with the help of his counselor. Amelia’s 25th (Don Javier): A young actress has a midlife crisis the day she turns twenty five in Los Angeles. IN THE CAN/POST-PRODUCTION Bro’ (Gilbert): A college student gets involved in the wild partying lifestyle of a professional motocross racer. Skinny Dip (El Tigre): A grindhouse offering about a young woman (played by Sasha Grey) who, following the death of her boyfriend, dresses as a cop and takes on the role of a vigilante. The Cloth (Father Connely): Centering on a secret order of the Catholic Church formed to deal with a rise in demonic possessions. Pendejo (Pedro): A rich playboy is forced by his father into the lowest position of a company he technically owns. Alcatraz Prison Escape: Deathbed Confession (Narrator): The true story of what happened to the only escapees from Alcatraz prison. Strike One (Manny Garcia): A young boy in a gang-infested neighborhood has a former-gang-member uncle as a role model. The Insomniac (Jairo Torres): Following a break-in at his home a man develops insomnia and comes to learn the people he knows cannot be trusted. Death Race: Inferno (Goldberg): Trejo reprises his role from the first sequel of the remake. And that’s not all: Add to this glut an array of other “announced” projects in various stages of development, and Trejo may ultimately be involved with nearly two dozen titles over the next 12 months. Among those titles with the actor attached — but which remain unconfirmed and/or unproduced as of this writing — include Five Thirteen , Dead in Tombstone , Left Turn , Human Factor , Badass , Vengeance , Tarantula and Raggedy Anne . And of course there’s Machete Kills , shooting in April. At that rate Trejo could turn down half his roles and Burbank would experience a barista shortage from the bulk of actors who finally are able to find work. Brad Slager has written about movies and entertainment for Film Threat, Mediaite, and is a columnist at CHUD.com . His less insightful impressions on entertainment can be found on Twitter .
