Will the real Michael Cera please stand up in Paper Hearts?
When Nick and Norah's Infinite Playlist came out this October, TheMovieBlog posted a short lamentation: "Already Bored With Michael Cera." They were neither the first, nor the last, to voice such opinion—film and TV critics had long been noting the stark similarities among the roles of his career—but they did state the concern with a certain amount of pith:... read more
Independent Spirit Awards topped by tight budgets
The debate for what exactly constitutes an "independent" film is as old as the studio system itself and doesn't seem likely to end anytime soon. This year, the Spirit Award nominations seemed to honor films that seem a little bit more independent, with an emphasis on truly small films instead of the arguably studio-funded pictures by Quentin Tarantino or Ang Lee that have done well in the past. Not one of the best pictures nominees were above $8 million in budget, sending the message (intentionally or not) that what it takes to make a great movie is vision over financing.... read more
Atom Egoyan's Adoration to open in early May
Atom Egoyan is best-known for his non-linear films focused on alienation. He's perhaps equally well-known for being really Canadian, and is in fact one third of what I like to call The Canadian Contingent, which is a filmmaking/crime-fighting supergroup with fellow canucks David Cronenberg and Guy Maddin that I just made up. Together they travel to high-profile film festivals to fight against their arch-nemeiss, the evil master of cliches Dr. Commercial Success.... read more
Shopgirl director finds new muse in Amy Adams
Perhaps that project Anand Tucker announced recently—The Danish Girl with Nicole Kidman playing a transsexual—was a bit too heavy for his liking. While he's still attached to the project, Tucker's announced he's in talks to direct another picture that's, shall we say, a bit more commercial.... read more
Criterion offers streaming movies for $5
As streaming films became more commonplace online, the drive was to offer the highest-profile titles possible to entice consumers to the new format. But Netflix and other providers seem to have concluded that the titles themselves are only half the allure, and have also focused on new platforms—streaming video for TiVo users, in one instance.... read more
Noise Pop 2009 date, films and musical acts announced
Early announcements are being made for San Francisco's Noise Pop Festival for 2009. The 17th annual film and music festival is set for Feb. 24-March 1 at venues sprinkled throughout the city. ... read more
ABC Family casts 10 Things I Hate About You TV series
When it came out in 1999, 10 Things I Hate About You was a surprisingly good teenage comedy. A light adaptation of Shakespeare's The Taming of the Shrew, the film held the perfect balance of schmaltz and funny and had a great cast in Heath Ledger, Julia Stiles and Joseph Gordon-Levitt (among others), to boot. ... read more
Vera Farmiga, George Clooney confirmed for Up in the Air
A couple months back we mentioned that Jason Reitman was working on getting George Clooney on board (rimshot!) for his forthcoming dramedy, Up in the Air. Now, per Variety, comes news that The Departed's Vera Farmiga will star opposite Clooney in the film. ... read more
Napoleon Dynamite outed as culprit for bad Netflix picks
Netflix’s lifeblood comes from the movies it recommends, a gesture of exclusivity that supplies less-known titles based on user ratings. Through Cinematch, which analyzes viewers’ individual ratings and trends, Netflix generates new suggestions and uses them to keep queues full and customers committed. ... read more
Sundance Channel series aims to remake Newark, N.J.
In what sounds like a non-fiction answer to The Wire, the Sundance Channel will produce Brick City, a docu-series set to explore the issues facing Newark, N.J. through first-hand access to citizens, local officials and the city itself. ... read more
Spielberg's Will Smith collab not a remake of Oldboy
Just when we started to get worked up over Steven Spielberg’s supposed plans to remake the batshit Korean epic Oldboy with Will Smith—will he still eat a live octopus, rip out a dude’s teeth, cut out his own tongue?!?—it turns out the rumors were a little overcooked. The movie Spielberg has in mind for Smith is evidently a new interpretation of the Japanese manga Oldboy, not a remake of the actual movie. ... read more
Rashida Jones featured in new series starring Amy Poehler
OK, OK...so, its not an Office spin-off (like we previously believed). But it is still a new NBC comedy series starring Amy Poehler and Aziz Ansari, and it did just take one step closer to being like The Office by casting one of the its former stars, Rashida Jones.... read more
Eli Roth directs Nazi propaganda film for Tarantino
Quentin Tarantino’s Inglourious Basterds has become the object of daily blog obsession, but this is pretty cool news. We already knew that neo-genre royalty Eli Roth had signed on for a supporting bit in the new movie (as he did in Death Proof), but now he’s also taken a turn on the opposite side of the camera as the helmer of a Nazi propaganda short to be featured in the movie. ... read more
HBO announces Sam Kinison biopic
HBO helped launch late comedian Sam Kinison's career (he appeared on a Young Comedians special in 1984), and so it's only fitting that it would be the studio to air his new biopic, Brother Sam. The film will be directed by Tom Shadyac, and Kinison will be portrayed by Dan Fogler.... read more
Gore Verbinski to produce remake of The Host
Cue collective grumble from cult sectors: Universal has officially nabbed Gore Verbinski to produce a remake of The Host, the much-touted 2006 creature epic from South Korea. ... read more
Twilight movie sets pre-release records
Being a teenager sucks. Being a teenage vampire? Now that's the sort of misery worthy of an obtusely titled album. But if you just happen to be an adolescent bloodsucker on a Washington peninsula poised to cash in on the (lucrative) intersection of J.K. Rowling and Stephen King, life is actually pretty good right now.... read more
O.C. and Gossip Girl creator to pen X-Men reboot
Although it will doubtlessly inflame fans, Fox has hired Josh Schwartz, the man who brought us Gossip Girl and The O.C., to write the script for a youthful reboot of the X-Men franchise. ... read more
John Malkovich making a documentary on illegal migration
John Malkovich is known for a lot of things (good acting, his self-effacing sense of humor, baldness) but less so as an activist or film director. Still, he's done his fair share of both, being a longtime outspoken Libertarian and directing the 2002 feature The Dancer Upstairs. So the announcement in Variety that he plans to fim a documentary on the plight of migrant children wasn't totally out of the blue...but it was pretty close. ... read more
Philip Seymour Hoffman animated film to open Sundance
Despite recent controversies, preparations for the Sundance Film Festival are in full swing, prompting the announcement of the annual event's Jan. 15 opening night film: the Aussie animated import Mary and Max, featuring the voices of Philip Seymour Hoffman, Toni Collette and Eric Bana. The selection is a major coup for the film, considering the attention lavished on recent opening night films, like this year's rather slept-on tragicomedy In Bruges. ... read more
Update: Ron Howard confirms Arrested Development movie
During a press junket for Universal's upcoming Frost/Nixon, Ron Howard told Maxim that the much-ballyhooed Arrested Development movie was, in fact, on its way to the silver screen. ... read more
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