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Villains We Love: John Doe in 'Se7en'
Filed under: Drama, Mystery & Suspense, Fandom, Brad Pitt, Trailers and Clips
I'll always remember David Fincher's Se7en for a few different reasons (I even had to write an essay once about the opening credits) but the number one reason this film sticks in my brain is John Doe. Now usually when it comes to on-screen villains, you tend to remember the big personalities. In the words of Buffy, "strait up, black hat, tied to the train tracks, soon my electro-ray will destroy Metropolis," types. But as scary as the big bad wolf can be, sometimes the evil you never see coming is the one that becomes the stuff of nightmares.
In Fincher's thriller about a serial killer with a penchant for Dante and the wrath of god, we don't even get to see the bad guy until about half way through the movie. But when Doe (played to perfection by Kevin Spacey) calmly walks into the police station to hand himself over, you know that this is not your run of the mill psycho. Recently I took a look at some movie villains that manage to win you over with a little charm and charisma, and Doe definitely isn't one of those guys. He's the kind of guy you would cross the street to avoid, but only if you got to know him -- and that's what makes him scary, he is completely average. Instead of letting the audience get used to the idea of him, we only see his handiwork (as gruesome as it may be), and just like Mills (Brad Pitt) and Somerset (Morgan Freeman), we are just witnesses to the aftermath.
After the jump; Why Doe still scares the crap out of me, and his horrible plan is made complete...
Terrence Malick's 'Tree of Life' Won't Make 2009
Filed under: Drama, Independent, RumorMonger, Distribution, DIY/Filmmaking, Newsstand, Brad Pitt
Adjust your calenders, and don't hold your breath for Terrence Malick. (If you ever hold your breath for Malick, that is. His latest opus, The Tree of Life, starring Brad Pitt and Sean Penn,was given a tentative release date of December 25, 2009. But it won't be making that date, according to Apparition Films' Bob Berney. Thompson on Hollywood caught up with Berney, who said the date was "wishful" thinking, and that the film will not be released in 2009.Why the delay? If you know Malick at all, you know the answer to that. The film is not yet finished. The Tree of Life has already been a 30-year journey for Malick, and another year (or two, or three) won't make any difference to the notoriously meticulous director. No one has even seen the film, or knows what form its final cut will take. All that's really known about the movie is that it's a family drama that spans the 1950s and deals with the loss of innocence.
Apparition Films remains optimistic that you'll see the film in 2010. It won't make Sundance, but it's likely to make Cannes. (That is the film festival that belongs to Pitt and Angelina Jolie, so fate would dictate that's where it would premiere!) But even that is up in the air, as Berney admits he has no idea when the film will be finished, or when it will be released.
Real-Life Romances On The Big Screen
Filed under: Thrillers, Deals, Mystery & Suspense, Tom Cruise, Angelina Jolie, Brad Pitt, Lists, Nicole Kidman, Trailers and Clips
It's not that strange for two people who work together to fall in love, but it does seem to happen an awful lot in Hollywood (although to be fair, most of us don't spend our days rolling around half-naked with our co-workers). So even though it might be easy to fall in love at work, it isn't as easy for a couple to stay in love once they're spending every waking moment together -- and the latest celebrity couple who will put my theory to the test is Anna Paquin and Stephen Moyer (better known as Sookie and Vampire Bill) from HBO's True Blood. The two fell in love (and got engaged) while working on the vampire soap, and now they're heading back to work together in the thriller, Open House.
According to IMDB, the story will center on a couple whose marriage is on the rocks, and are trying to offload their palatial home during a weekend 'open house'. But, things start to get a little weird when it turns out one of the potential buyers never left. The film was written by Paquin's brother Andrew (who will be making his directorial debut), and the cast will include Tricia Helfer (BSG), Rachel Blanchard (Spread), and Brian Geraghty (The Hurt Locker) in unspecified roles while the True Blood stars will play the married couple.
Moyer and Paquin aren't the first real-life couple who like to work together, and over the years plenty of Hollywood power couples have tried and failed to translate that relationship onto the big screen. After the jump: some other famous real-life couples on the big screen...
Brad Pitt Might Be Villainous Moriarty in 'Sherlock' Sequel
Filed under: Action, Classics, Casting, Mystery & Suspense, Warner Brothers, RumorMonger, Scripts, DIY/Filmmaking, Newsstand, Brad Pitt, Remakes and Sequels
Earlier this summer, reshoot rumors were thick around Guy Ritchie's Sherlock Holmes. One of the more believable ones was that Brad Pitt was stepping in to make an appearance as Moriarty, though it was clouded in so much "Pitt must save Ritchie!" hyperbole that it was almost impossible to believe. As always, there seems to have been some truth to the tabloid rumors, because The Hollywood Reporter says Warner Bros is already prepping more Holmes, and Pitt is in talks to play the detective's legendary adversary, Moriarty.While neither Ritchie, Pitt, or producer Joel Silver will comment on whether Pitt already makes a shadowy appearance in the upcoming film. Those who have read the script say that Moriarty does appear, but is all mysterious and silhouetted, and it's impossible to see who he really is.
As Pitt debates whether or not he wants to pit brainpower and martial arts against the elementary Robert Downey Jr., the studio has brought on Kieran and Michele Mulroney, the team behind their Justice League: Mortal project to pen the script. Though nothing is official yet, THR notes "much of the talent," notably Downey, Jude Law, Rachel McAdams, and Ritchie are expected to return. (Mark Strong isn't mentioned. Spoiler or no surprise?) It's worth noting that if Pitt signs on and the line-up remains as is, there's only one native Brit in the entire cast of this very English classic.
'Inglourious Basterds' is Tarantino's Top Earner - Because of Twitter?
Filed under: Box Office, Exhibition, The Weinstein Co., Brad Pitt, Quentin Tarantino, Movie Marketing
In what could be read as a big "nyah, told you so" press release, The Weinstein Company would like you all to know that Inglourious Basterds has not only grossed over $108M* in North America but has now out-earned Pulp Fiction, which was previously Tarantino's biggest money-maker to date.
But what's strange is that TWC is giving some of the credit to "an innovative marketing plan. The film was the first to make use of Twitter and other social networking sites in such a direct fashion, even involving Twitter in the film's LA premiere," according to the press release.
Harvey Weinstein is even quoted as saying, "It was great working with Biz Stone at Twitter on Inglourious. It took the campaign to another level."
Okay, what have I missed? How was the Inglourious campaign different from any other of the studios' use of Twitter or Facebook to promote movies through links, contests, and meet-ups? I don't even recall seeing anything on Twitter about it, other than the normal studios using Twitter to cross-pollinate coverage.
Dying to Know All the 'Basterds' Movie-Geek References?
Filed under: Action, Thrillers, Fandom, Brad Pitt, Quentin Tarantino, Lists, War
I always trust that there are far more references crammed into a Tarantino film than I could ever acknowledge, and the extra wink-wink workings of Inglourious Basterds made that all but a guarantee. Luckily, the "video store nerds" (their words) over at Seattle's Scarecrow Video not only have their own extensive and ongoing catalog of films that are either referenced or given homage in Basterds, or are just fitting companions, but they've all been placed in their own section in the store, which just really makes me more jealous of the locals than anything, seeing as all the independent video joints in my own neck of the woods have either gone belly-up or have scaled back their selections.(Really, it's a shame. Netflix may be convenient, but it will never have that personal touch -- a note that Scarecrow's lengthy list happens to conclude on.)
Do you guys and girls agree with like-minded recommendations like Black Book? (I do.) Is there anything you think is missing? (Comment away, here or there.) And more than anything, what one film do you have a hankering to see, or see again, in the wake of QT's latest?
Interview: Quentin Tarantino
Filed under: Brad Pitt, Quentin Tarantino, Interviews
Like the rest of the entries in Quentin Tarantino's eclectic filmography, Inglourious Basterds is a pastiche of different influences combined in some kind of cinematic bouillebaise, and somehow made original in that unholy union. Appropriately, the film also came together in disparate parts over several years, which is why Basterds is as much a deconstruction of genre conventions as it is a rousing tale right out of the same war-torn landscape as classics past and present. According to Tarantino, however, making the film wasn't merely an assembly of ideas, but a bit of movie mountain-climbing that was essential for him to see what's on the other side.
Cinematical recently sat down with Tarantino for a roundtable interview at the film's press day, where he discussed the process of giving birth to Basterds. In addition to discussing the general dynamics of his creative process, Tarantino talked about what war movie moments he did and didn't want in the film, and examined the way in which even doing interviews allows him to look at his own work differently. Cinematical's questions are noted.
Was this movie worth the wait for you, taking the time over so many years to develop it into what it became?
Review: Inglourious Basterds
Filed under: Foreign Language, The Weinstein Co., Brad Pitt, Quentin Tarantino, War
Starting with a gobsmacked VHS screening of Reservoir Dogs way back in '92, I've seen every Quentin Tarantino movie dozens upon dozens of times, but Inglourious Basterds is the first I will have seen only once before writing about it. Like the absolute best entries cinema history has to offer, his work demands repeat viewing, as much to catch all the in-jokes, references and homages as to see their cumulative, strikingly original impact. All of which is why I can only try to sufficiently deconstruct, classify and characterize Tarantino's latest, a wartime opus whose shortcomings upon first viewing are as immediately recognizable as the fact they will after many more of them prove to be virtues, ultimately creating a singular tribute to WWII movies done in the writer-director's signature, genre-bending style.
While the star of the film is really the story, there are three characters who cement together Inglourious Basterds' unwieldy but surprisingly even-weighted chapters. First, there's Colonel Landa (Christoph Waltz), a Nazi officer who earned the nickname "the Jew hunter" thanks to his indefatigable, shoe-leather-and-shark's-grin persistence. Next, there's Shoshanna (Melanie Laurent), one of Landa's few targets who escaped, who lives under an assumed name and manages a French cinema. And then there's Aldo Raine (Brad Pitt), an American soldier who recruits a rabid team of Jews to hunt down Nazis and strike fear with their exploits.
Surprise! 'Basterds' Has Kick-Ass Chicks
Filed under: New Releases, Brad Pitt, Quentin Tarantino, Trailers and Clips
I was on Twitter the other day -- my favorite time waster -- and noticed an interesting question from Matt Dentler of Cinetic Media: "Will women pay to see Inglourious Basterds this weekend? No, seriously, I'm asking: are you, or do you know, a woman who will?" I replied that I'd paid to watch the movie at Cinemapocalypse, and would probably pay again to see it with my husband. Matt then told me the Alamo event didn't count -- he didn't quite explain why, but I think the point is that women who go to all-night movie marathons probably do not fit the traditional female moviegoer stereotype. Anyway, my reply to Matt generated some retweets and a short, interesting discussion: "I wish the ads conveyed that it [Basterds] has strong female characters." "You nailed it," he replied, and I understood what he meant. He found the trailers misleading -- rightfully so.
Blank Walls Begone! New Posters A-Go-Go From Alamo & Mondo
Filed under: Action, Fandom, Brad Pitt, Quentin Tarantino, War, Posters
In the midst of some domestic re-shuffling, I'm finally looking to adorn the walls of my humble abode with the posters that I've stock-piled in the corners of my closet for far too long. The arrival of Mondo Tees' own Royal Tenenbaums print has been partially responsible for this renewed interest, and now that they have some new posters for sale, well... my wallet rues the day that I stumbled across their site.First up is a series of Inglourious Basterds prints to tie in to last weekend's Cinemapocalypse event (which I'll let Jette fill you in on), with one design from Mondo staple Tyler Stout --
Capping things off would be the Silent Giants' take on The Dirty Dozen, and you can find all of those right about here. Just make sure that you have the space for 'em. And the poster frames.
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