Film Junk

Undefeated Trailer: Real-Life Friday Night Lights

Sean — Mon, 06 Feb 2012 19:01:34 +0000

Since everyone here in North America still has football on the mind, it seems like as good a time as any to post the official trailer for the upcoming high school football documentary Undefeated (not to be confused with the similarly-titled Sarah Palin film The Undefeated). The movie generated a lot of strong buzz at TIFF last year and has since managed to drum up an Academy Award nomination. Although sports docs usually tend to get overlooked at the Oscars (Hoop Dreams, anyone?), this one is distributed by The Weinstein Company, which means it might actually have a shot at winning. The movie follows The Manassas Tigers, an inner-city high school football team in Memphis, Tennessee that has been consistently destroyed by its opponents, partially because most of its star players either end up dead or in jail. However, coach Bill Courtney took over the team in 2004 and slowly started to turn things around, with the goal of winning the first playoff game in the school’s 110-year history. Underdog sports stories may be a dime a dozen, but they are slightly less common in non-fiction form and I've heard that this one packs an emotional wallop. I have to admit, the trailer alone gave me chills. Undefeated hits select theatres on Feb. 17th; check out the trailer after the jump and see what you think.

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Rango Takes Top Prize at 2012 Annie Awards

Sean — Mon, 06 Feb 2012 18:27:03 +0000

As we all know, a year without a strong Pixar movie is a year where other studios have a rare opportunity to get some recognition for their own animated features. Since Cars 2 was not even nominated for an Academy Award this year, we've now got DreamWorks and Paramount battling it out against a couple of smaller foreign productions. However, while the Academy Awards are what most of the world uses to judge the best animated film of the year, industry insiders typically look to the Annie Awards instead. In the past, DreamWorks has had their fair share of success at the Annies (How to Train Your Dragon won out over Toy Story 3 last year, while Kung Fu Panda upset Wall-E in 2008), but this year, newcomers Paramount and ILM have taken the title for Rango. Go figure! It's probably not a huge surprise that Rango won Best Animated Feature, especially you when you consider that these awards are generally a little more technical and Rango's tech was pretty damn impressive. However, the question remains: is Rango is now more likely to win the Oscar as well? Not necessarily. Many of the other Annie Awards were spread out to other films, and Jennifer Yuh Nelson took home the directing award for Kung Fu Panda 2. Heck, even The Adventures of Tintin picked up a couple of awards. Check out the full list of winners after the jump.

Best Animated Feature: “Rango”
Best Animated Special Production: “Kung Fu Panda: Secrets of the Masters”
Best Animated Short Subject: “Adam and Dog”
Animated Effects in an Animated Production: “The Adventures of Tintin”
Animated Effects in a Live Action Production: “Transformers: Dark of the Moon”
Character Animation in a Feature Production: “Rio”
Character Animation in a Live Action Production: “Rise of the Planet of the Apes”
Character Design in a Feature Production: “Rango”
Directing in a Feature Production: Jennifer Yuh Nelson, “Kung Fu Panda 2”
Music in a Feature Production: John Williams, “The Adventures of Tintin”
Production Design in a Feature Production: “Kung Fu Panda 2”
Storyboarding in a Feature Production: “Winnie the Pooh”
Voice Acting in a Feature Production: Bill Nighy, “Arthur Christmas”
Writing in a Feature Production: “Rango”
Editing in a Feature Production: “Rango”
Winsor McCay Award: Walt Peregoy, Borge Ring, Robert Searle
June Foray Award: Art Leonardi
Special Achievement Award: Depth Analysis

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Harrison Ford to Return for Blade Runner Sequel?

Sean — Mon, 06 Feb 2012 14:46:38 +0000

When it was first announced last year that some sort of Blade Runner sequel or prequel was in development at Alcon Entertainment, it seemed like a pretty questionable idea. Without anyone from the original creative team involved, the project lacked legitimacy... that is, until Ridley Scott signed on to direct. Many of the naysayers started to change their tune once they heard that he would be involved, but it was still unclear what kind of story he wanted to tell. The only thing we knew was that Harrison Ford would not be involved, and that it would be a "total reinvention" of the original film. Well, actually you can scratch that, because we have recently received word that Harrison Ford may be involved in this new Blade Runner project after all. Of course, just how extensive that involvement will be remains to be seen. According to Twitch, Harrison Ford has "entered into early talks to join the new Blade Runner." They didn't have any other details to offer at this time, but they hinted that this would mean the film was a direct sequel to Blade Runner as opposed to a reboot or spin-off. If it is true, this is very intriguing news indeed. Assuming that the plan is to once again focus on Rick Deckard as the protagonist, this brings up a few questions. If Deckard is actually a replicant (which Scott has insinuated in the past), there would be a lot of make-up or CG required to make Ford look like he did in the original film. Also, at 69 years old, Harrison Ford is not really up for much in the way of action scenes anymore (Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull might dispute that a little bit, I suppose). On the other hand, maybe they're planning a completely computer-generated Deckard like Arnold Schwarzenegger's appearance in Terminator: Salvation. What do you think? Could Harrison Ford's involvement be a good thing or is this a sign that we're about to get yet another regrettable sequel to an iconic film?

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Monday Morning Box Office Report: Chronicle Fends Off The Woman in Black

Sean — Mon, 06 Feb 2012 13:56:37 +0000

The Super Bowl didn't seem to have much of an effect on the box office this past weekend as both Chronicle and The Woman in Black exceeded expectations with over $20 million a piece. Chronicle came out on top but only just barely; the final numbers could still go either way. This seems like a good sign for Daniel Radcliffe, found footage movies and the horror genre in general, all of which continue to bring out teen audiences in droves. The weekend's other major new release, Big Miracle, did not do quite as well, opening at #4 although the Drew Barrymore rom-com will be hoping for a slight boost around Valentine's Day. The Grey dropped 52% to take third place, while Underworld: Awakening managed to hang out to a spot in the top 5. Elsewhere, The Descendants and Extremly Loud & Incredibly Close are benefiting from their Oscar exposure a little more than The Artist, although the latter is still playing on 1,000 screens less. Next week another 3D re-release enters theatres to challenge these films... how much will George Lucas add to his coffers? 1. Chronicle -- $22M 2. The Woman in Black -- $21M 3. The Grey -- $9.5M 4. Big Miracle -- $8.48M 5. Underworld: Awakening -- $5.6M 6. One for the Money -- $5.25M 7. Red Tails -- $5M 8. The Descendants -- $4.6M 9. Man on a Ledge -- $4.46M 10. Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close -- $3.92M

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More Super Bowl Trailers: The Avengers, John Carter, Transformers: The Ride and More (UPDATED)

Sean — Mon, 06 Feb 2012 03:45:22 +0000

Update: Added the extended version of The Avengers trailer with 30 seconds of additional footage. In addition to the trailers that were released online early for G.I. Joe: Retaliation, The Dictator, and The Hunger Games, we now have access to the rest of the new trailers that aired during Super Bowl XLVI, and they have all been collected right here for your convenience. The most anticipated one of the bunch is obviously The Avengers, and although it's fairly short, it does seem to have the highest ratio of previously unseen footage. In particular, a couple of quick action shots including one of the Hulk punching a plane are sure to make fanboys giggle with delight. Other new trailers include John Carter, Battleship and Act of Valor, all of which did their best to impress their target audience with an overload of explosions and special effects. There is also a new ad for Transformers: The Ride, opening soon at Universal Studios Hollywood, plus a couple of other movie-related commercials including the Ferris Bueller Honda ad that everyone has been talking about. Did we miss any other good ones? Which Super Bowl ad was your favourite? Check out the trailers after the jump.

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The Woman in Black Review

Colin — Fri, 03 Feb 2012 22:15:28 +0000

The Woman in Black Directed by: James Watkins Written by: Jane Goldman (screenplay), Susan Hill (novel) Starring: Daniel Radcliffe, Janet McTeer, Ciarán Hinds Recipe for a Hollywood horror flick: pick a screenplay with a vaguely creepy-sounding title like The Woman in Black. Be sure the writer included one or all of the following: portraits with the eyes scratched out, little kids' drawings, antique toys, etc. Next, shoot everything at half exposure. Then pick a quiet weekend to release and collect your fifty million dollars. Repeat. It's a racket that works like a charm, and isn't going away until the audience does. The Woman in Black stars 'Arry Potter 'imself — Daniel Radcliffe — as Arthur Kipps, an adolescent English estate lawyer bound unluckily for a haunted house in the boondocks. Kipps' job is on the line, which accounts for his eager beaver attitude upon arrival, and dogged insistence on seeing the property, even against the behest of, oh, everyone in town. You know where this is going. Once inside the isolated island manor, Kipps can’t seem to get any work done. A typical sequence of scenes plays out with the protagonist sitting down to study a stack of documents and being immediately distracted by some foreign sound or supernatural happening. And then the investigation's afoot; jump scares abound, though they fall too formulaically to conjure much anxiety or subsequent shock. After all, scares by appointment aren't very scary. The screenplay is particularly disappointing given its author, Jane Goldman, who spun genre into gold with Kick-Ass and X-Men: First Class. Too dour to pass as a throwback haunted house flick, and too clichéd to surprise anyone, The Woman in Black is caught in the nebulous nowhere between fun and frightening. Even if her writing were stronger, however, there's no guarantee it would be spared the blunt hand of James Watkins, a director with the finesse of a steamroller. He brings not an ounce of aesthetic originality to the table, imbuing the movie with the same ugly, washed-out palette of six dozen other studio horror failures. The technique is intended to foster a mood, but it's a cheap substitute for good old-fashioned filmmaking. Mood isn't achieved in camera — it's an aggregate of art direction, camera placement, performance, music, etc. The obvious digital look of the film also hampers the believability of its period setting — the turn of the century never looked so bland. Performances add little life to the landscape. Daniel Radcliffe manages not to embarrass himself, and that's being generous. Frankly, it's tough to buy the Hogwarts alum as a dad when he's been playing a teenager for ten years. It's equally tough to imagine him a widower, as he broods with all the emotional turmoil of an Olsen twin. Ciarán Hinds plays Kipps' sole confidant in the haunted hamlet, and fittingly enough, delivers the film's sole compelling performance. Still, his character never goes anywhere, a waste of Hinds' talent. Effective horror is contingent upon a willingness to take the audience outside its comfort zone, and The Woman in Black is too creakily formulaic to creep us out. Because Hollywood is a business, it's more desirable to greenlight a derivative script and hire a yes-man director than to risk something edgier that might not pay off. The cycle continues. The Woman in Black follows that recipe to a T, but there's something lost in translation. Maybe the recipe wasn't all that good to begin with. Maybe the whole cookbook needs to go. — Colin

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Insidious Sequel in the Works

Sean — Fri, 03 Feb 2012 21:39:30 +0000

It doesn't seem like Hollywood's fascination with micro-budget horror films will be fading anytime soon. After the success of The Devil Inside last month, and the recently announced sequels to Paranormal Activity 3 and The Last Exorcism, we now have yet another horror sequel on the way. According to Heat Vision, James Wan's Insidious will also be getting a follow-up of its own. The news should come as no surprise since Insidious was easily one of the most profitable films of 2011. It made $97 million on a $1.5 million budget. Director James Wan and writer Leigh Whannell (who also did Saw and Dead Silence together) are both currently in talks to return for Insidious 2. Producer Jason Blum is also on board, while Paranormal Activity director Oren Peli will take an executive producer role this time around along with Steven Schneider and Brian Kavanaugh Jones. There's been no word on whether or not stars Patrick Wilson and Rose Byrne will be involved. In the first movie, Wilson and Byrne played a young couple whose son falls into a coma. After calling in a paranormal investigator, they learn that he has the ability to astral project and has become lost in a dark realm known as The Further. It's unclear where they might take the story for a sequel, but hey, as long as Ray Park reprises his role as Darth Maul, I'll be happy. What do you think? Were you a fan of Insidious and are you interested in a sequel?

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The Hunger Games Super Bowl Trailer

Sean — Fri, 03 Feb 2012 19:05:25 +0000

The new Super Bowl commercial for The Hunger Games has gone online over at Yahoo!, and well... if this is all we can expect from this year's Super Bowl trailers, it could end up being a pretty boring game! Once again it consists primarily of footage we've seen before in other trailers, however, I will say that has a little more energy and urgency than the previous promos. It also has a little more Stanley Tucci, which is obviously a good thing. Lionsgate recently announced that The Hunger Games will be getting released in IMAX but for one week only. Will you pay a little extra to watch it on a really big screen? The movie hits theatres on March 23rd; check out the Super Bowl spot after the jump and see what you think.

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Brad Bird to Go Swimming with Sea Monsters?

Sean — Fri, 03 Feb 2012 18:48:54 +0000

Now that Brad Bird has proven that he can handle a live action film just as well as an animated one, everyone is on the edge of their seat waiting to find out what he will choose for his next project. We've been hearing for years about 1906, a disaster movie he's been wanting to direct about the massive earthquake that hit the city of San Francisco, but as of last year he was still rewriting the script and trying to reduce the scope of the film. However, now this week we are hearing reports that he may be circling another project that was once supposed to be a Robert Zemeckis gig. The movie is called Here There Be Monsters, and it is a historic epic about John Paul Jones, a naval commander during the American Revolutionary War. There is a twist, however... the story also involves giant sea monsters! According to Vulture, Brad Bird has recently been holding meetings with Legendary Pictures, who are producing the film. They seem to have a thing for monster movies lately, what with Pacific Rim and the Godzilla reboot also in development. Brian Helgeland (Robin Hood, Mystic River) wrote the script for Here There Be Monsters based on an original idea by Legendary founder Thomas Tull, and it involves Jones being hired to investigate the disappearance of merchant ships in the North Atlantic, only to find that a giant sea monster is responsible. So... Master and Commander meets Clash of the Titans? I'm game. While this could be just another mash-up of historical fact and genre fiction, the thought of Bird bringing his action set pieces to a naval battle definitely has me intrigued. Still, I can't help but wonder what other tantalizing projects he might be getting offered right now. Mission: Impossible - Ghost Protocol is definitely opening even more doors for Brad Bird, I just hope he doesn't give up on writing his own material as well. What do you think of this premise? Would you like to see him direct more live action stuff or would you prefer to see him stick to animation?

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Sony Buys The Raid Sequel Before The Raid is Even Released

Sean — Fri, 03 Feb 2012 14:58:00 +0000

When a studio buys the sequel to a movie before the first one even hits theatres, that's generally a pretty good sign. In case you haven't heard all the buzz surrounding Gareth Evans' The Raid, the insane Indonesian action movie was a big hit at TIFF and Sundance, and now Sony is building even more hype by picking up the rights to its proposed follow-up, Berandal ("thug" in Indonesian), without even waiting to see how the first one will be received by the general public. They also already have an English-language remake in the works. The Raid star Iko Uwais will reteam with Evans for Berandal, which will supposedly have a bigger budget, although that's not necessarily saying much (the original was shot for just $1 million). The story is currently being kept under wraps, but in a recent interview with Collider, Evans explained how the idea for the sequel came about:

"I told you earlier about a film that we tried to get up off the ground and couldn’t get done. While I was developing The Raid, I was looking at ways to kind of link those two scripts together because we had done all this choreography on that first film, we were like ready to go we just needed the finance to pull the trigger on it. Because I didn’t want to just abandon that project, I started to look at ways we could link the two together. So the one problem I had with that original script was that the lead role didn’t have an interesting enough backstory... As I was thinking about it, I thought 'Well if I make this a continuation of the story from The Raid, it'll work much better, and it'll kind of add more ideas and add more different elements to it,' so it's actually gonna be the sequel to The Raid."

He also hinted that the movie would have some car chase elements, including "a cool fight scene where you go inside a car, fighting against four people as it's speeding along a one-way." Whoa. He says that these films will likely form the first two parts of a trilogy, with the third installment still a ways off. Either way, it sounds like he's learning to build on the success of The Raid without having to sacrifice his creativity, which is a great way to go. I still have yet to see The Raid, but based on what I saw in his first film Merantau, I can only imagine how crazy it is. The Raid will hit select theatres on March 23rd... can it possibly live up to the hype?

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New to Theatres This Weekend: Chronicle, The Woman in Black, Big Miracle

Sean — Fri, 03 Feb 2012 14:03:02 +0000

For the few people out there who won't be completely consumed by Super Bowl weekend, here's a quick rundown of what's happening in theatres: a bunch of punk-ass kids get superpowers in Chronicle, Drew Barrymore and John Krasinski save the whales in Big Miracle, and Daniel Radcliffe takes on his first post-Harry Potter starring role in the horror flick The Woman in Black. It should be interesting to see who comes away victorious at the box office, especially since The Grey's primarily male audience will probably be busy elsewhere. Magnolia will also release both The Innkeepers and Kill List in select theatres after giving them a month of video-on-demand, and Madonna's historical romantic drama W.E. also gets a limited release. What will you be watching this weekend?

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