By the time the nominees are announced for the 81st Annual Academy Awards later this month, it will be under slightly different circumstances than in previous years. For as long as I can remember, the trend has always been for Oscar contenders to get a limited theatrical release in December, and then use their Academy Award nominations to build buzz and expand to more screens a few months later. The problem is that during the Oscar ceremony itself, the average moviegoer has probably not yet seen most of the nominated films (unless they happen to live in New York or Los Angeles). Sure, the Academy Awards are an industry event first and foremost, but the ceremony is televised and it’s frustrating for movie fans when they watch because they feel excluded and can’t fully participate in celebrating the year’s cinematic achievements.
That’s why I find it interesting that things are shaping up a bit differently this year. Thanks to the widespread use of file sharing software and BitTorrent sites, DVD-quality screeners of almost all of the major Oscar contenders are now available to pretty much anyone with a computer and an internet connection. From Frost/Nixon to The Wrestler, Slumdog Millionaire to Milk, Revolutionary Road to Che, all of these movies are now out there somewhere in cyberspace. Is this a good thing? Well, obviously since it is illegal and the studios make no money from these downloads, it’s not a good situation from a business standpoint. However, it does mean that a lot more people are getting to see some great films, and from what I’m sensing across the blogosphere, there’s a lot of hunger out there for good cinema. I’m not endorsing piracy, but I do hope that someone is taking notice. Heck, who knows… maybe these movies are being leaked on purpose. After all, weren’t studios supposed to be adding watermarks and sending out screeners on Blu-ray to prevent this from happening? What do you think, will this increased access to Oscar contenders inspire any sort of change? Is it good or bad for the industry?
A few years ago, there was a wave of movies coming out of the U.K. that focused on the football hooligan phenomenon (ie. organized gangs of soccer fans who beat the living crap out of rival supporters). I’ve seen two of these flicks: The Football Factory and Green Street Hooligans, the latter of which I preferred despite the fact that it is somewhat Americanized (it does star Elijah Wood after all). I know some people had problems with the authenticity of Green Street Hooligans, but something tells me that these people are going to have an even harder time accepting the sequel Green Street 2: Stand Your Ground.
Director Lexi Alexander is not involved, nor are Elijah Wood or most of the other cast members. I believe the only returning actor is Ross McCall, whose character Dave is among those thrown in jail after being caught in the first film. In prison, the rivalry between opposing clubs continues, and eventually leads to a brutal football match-up between prisoners to settle their differences. Richard at Filmstalker is dead on in comparing this to Death Race. It doesn’t seem to have anything to do with the reality of hooliganism, and the fact that it is focuses primarily on showing actual scenes of firm members playing soccer is further proof as to just how false this movie truly is! Check out the trailer for Green Street 2 below and see what you think.
Bollywood borrowing ideas from Hollywood is certainly nothing new, but if this next story turns out to be true, it could start a new trend in remakes. According to RealBollywood.com, Indian director Vipul Shah is developing a film called Action Replay that is based loosely on the classic 80’s film Back To The Future starring Michael J. Fox. Exactly how much of the original story would be retained is still unclear, but the movie is slated to star Akshay Kumar and Aishwarya Rai in the male and female lead roles respectively. What I want to know is, who’s going to play Doc Brown?
I’ve been trying to find a bit more information on this project, but it’s hard to nail down solid facts. Vipul Shah has been quoted as saying that the movie is actually not called Action Replay “because there’s absolutely no action in it”. He also seems reluctant to categorize the movie ahead of time, and hasn’t really mentioned Back to the Future in any interviews that I’ve found.
“I’ve just wrapped up the script and I’m at a loss as to how to categorize it. It’s something neither Akshay nor I have done before. When I directed my first film Aankhen, I had defined it, somewhat wrongly, as a fantasy thriller. I’m not getting into classification for my new film until I’m sure. Many films fail not because they’re bad but because they don’t tell the audience what to expect.”
Shooting on Action Replay is expected to commence in February and I doubt we’ll hear much about it in North America, but I wonder if it might remind some studio execs somewhere that Back to the Future is one of the few ’80s franchises that currently remains untapped for sequels or remakes. Surely Robert Zemeckis and Bob Gale can’t keep their integrity intact forever… can they?
Posted by Sean on January 5th, 2009 Filed under: Box Office Source: IMDb
In a virtual repeat of last weekend’s box office results, the Owen Wilson/Jennifer Aniston romantic comedy Marley & Me once again lead the pack with another $24 million, followed by the Adam Sandler family comedy Bedtime Stories and David Fincher’s The Curious Case of Benjamin Button. The only real difference this time around was the sudden disappearance of The Spirit, which slid right off the top 10, and instead was replaced by the re-emergence of Danny Boyle’s Slumdog Millionaire. Outside of the top 10, Gran Torino was way down at #15 but had a huge per-screen average, as did Revolutionary Road and The Wrestler. I wonder what will happen if and when some of these movies actually get decent releases.
1. Marley & Me — $24.1M
2. Bedtime Stories — $20.3M
3. The Curious Case of Benjamin Button — $18.4M
4. Valkyrie — $14M
5. Yes Man — $13.8M
6. Seven Pounds — $10M
7. The Tale of Despereaux — $7.02M
8. Doubt — $5.03M
9. The Day the Earth Stood Still — $4.85M
10. Slumdog Millionaire — $4.77M
0:00 - Intro / In-House Stuff
11:50 - What We Watched: The Spirit, Timecrimes, Dexter Season 3, Cubers, Kitchen Nightmares, The Third Man, Man on Fire, Wendy and Lucy, Entourage Season 4
47:20 - Junk Mail: Parents Influencing Taste in Movies, Benjamin Button, Rebuying Movies on Blu-ray, Murder in Small Town X
1:26:36 - Review: Doubt
1:33:40 - Trailer Trash: Pontypool, 9, G-Force
1:42:20 - This Week’s DVD Releases
1:43:40 - Outro
The Spirit
Written and Directed by: Frank Miller
Starring: Gabriel Macht, Samuel L. Jackson, Eva Mendes, Scarlett Johansson, Sarah Paulson, Louis Lombardi, Eric Balfour
How did Frank Miller manage to go from fanboy favourite to motion picture pariah in the span of three years? As one of the biggest comic book writer/artists out there today, his work on Sin City and graphic novels like The Dark Knight Returns helped build respect for the entire medium. Unfortunately, after experiencing the mess that is The Spirit, it’s pretty obvious that all of the man’s talent lies primarily on the page and not the big screen.
Well folks, 2008 is now nothing more than a memory in our minds, and while we’re all looking ahead to a brand new year, there’s still one very important “year in review” feature still left to tend to. We already talked about the best movies of 2008, but what about the most entertaining viral videos of 2008? Now that’s something everyone has an opinion on!
As you may know, every week we bring you a collection of the strangest and most degrading videos that the internet has to offer in our Weird Web Wednesdays feature. The following can probably be considered Weird Web Wednesday’s “greatest hits” — the videos that were the most frequently shared and discussed, and the ones that now serve to sum up 2008 in some odd way. Enjoy.
10. Tarantino Attacks at Sundance
Early on in the year, this video from the Sundance Film Festival in Utah hit the web and had a lot of people talking about how big of a jerk Quentin Tarantino was. But with so many people carrying cell phone cameras and mini-camcorders nowadays, celebrities now have a lot more to worry about than just the paparazzi. In the end, QT regains his composure and walks off smiling to himself, but by the way the cameraman is egging him on, we realize that he definitely got what he deserved.
Posted by Sean on January 2nd, 2009 Filed under: Contests
Congratulations to the following Film Junk Junkies who have won themselves a copy of the documentary American Teen on DVD:
Mikiyas M. of Snellville, GA
Nicole N. of Bakersfield, CA
Neil M. of Mississauga, ON
Drew N. of League City, TX
Alexander Z. of Lake Forest, CA
Thanks to all who entered, and thanks to Scott at Click Communications for making the contest possible. We’ll have more giveaways real soon, right here on Film Junk!
When you hear the name Jerry Bruckheimer, you generally think of guns and explosions rather than cuddly pets, but in Disney’s upcoming film G-Force, you get a good dose of both! Don’t get too excited, fanboys… the movie has nothing to do the Battle of the Planets anime series. In this case, “G” stands for “Guinea” — as in guinea pig. G-Force is a highly trained group of covert ops guinea pigs, and in case you hadn’t guessed, this is the latest movie in the “live action meets CG talking animal” craze, following up on the popularity of such hits as Underdog and Beverly Hills Chihuahua.
There seems to be a lot of disdain around the web for these kinds of movies, but to be honest, I’d rather watch something like this than most of the fully CG animated films coming out as of late. With a voice cast of Nicolas Cage, Penélope Cruz, Steve Buscemi, and Tracy Morgan, and a live action cast that includes Bill Nighy, Will Arnett and Zach Galifianakis, there’s a part of me that thinks this could be a lot of fun. The release date for G-Force is July 24th, 2009, which can mean only one thing: instant drive-in classic, baby! Check out the first trailer for G-Force below and see what you think.
