Preview Angelina Jolie in Changeling
Posted by Veronica Santiago Categories: Universal, Drama, Trailers, Upcoming Releases,
In honor of Angelina Jolie’s newest babes, I thought we should preview the Wanted star’s next motherly role.
In Changeling, Angelina plays Christine Collins, a woman who believes the boy brought back to her is not her originally kidnapped son. When previewed at Cannes, the Clint Eastwood film earned critical praise and Oscar buzz for Jolie.
Changeling will debut on this side of the water on October 24.
Advertisement
Five Great You and Your Dad Movies
Posted by K.C. Morgan Categories: Action, Classics, Family, Sequels, Home Entertainment,
Tired of neckties, engraved key chains and the obligatory new wallet as Dad Day gifts? Give your dad the best gift of all this Father’s Day - a little bit of your time. Instead of stuffing him with dinner or dropping off a quick card, treat your dad to one of the best you-and-your-dad movies from film days gone by. One trip to the rental store, and you can give him one memorable Sunday.
Back to the Future
Enjoy family fun for two generations with this 1980s hit. You can both remember your childhood at the same time while poking fun at decades-old fashion and music.
Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan
Even non-Trekkies can delight in this memorable film from the Star Trek franchise. Don’t know the back story? No problem - just remember that Klingons are the bad guys and James T. Kirk has to carry the day.
Click to continue reading Five Great You and Your Dad Movies
American Film Institute
The 61st Cannes Film Festival Awards
Posted by Veronica Santiago Categories: Universal, Documentary, Drama, Period, Political, Awards, Lists, Upcoming Releases,
At yesterday’s closing of the Cannes Film Festival, a French film - the first since 1987 - walked away with this season’s Palme d’Or (Best Movie). The Class, a true story about a group of Parisian teachers and students, rose to the top of what has been widely-considered a disappointing crop of films. A pair of Italian films - Gomorra and Il Divo - nabbed the Grand Prix and Jury Prize respectively.
Two names well known to American audiences were also honored at the 61st annual event. Actor Benicio Del Toro was deemed Best Actor by the nine-member jury for his work in Che, another project with Traffic‘s Steven Soderbergh. (The movie about Latin American revolutionary Che Guevara rang in at a whopping four hours.) Meanwhile, Clint Eastwood received a ‘Special Prize’ for his body of work (one of two handed out this year). Although his latest film, Changeling, received a heaping of praise, it was unfortunately left out of the major prizes.
A full list of the winners can be found here.
Hollywood Reporter
Spike Lee Criticizes the Coens, Eastwood
Posted by Veronica Santiago Categories: Drama, Period, Celebrity Gossip, Upcoming Releases,
While working to promote his own movie, director Spike Lee recently spent a little time making jabs at some of his fellow comrades.
Lee was at the Cannes Film Festival to talk about his upcoming project, Miracle at St. Anna. The Italian-set war film - currently in post-production - focuses on four black American soldiers during WWII.
While discussing the film, Spike chose to compare his artistic choices to those of three Academy Award winners. When the topic of violence came up, Lee told the press that unlike Joel and Ethan Coen, he treats death respectfully:
“I always treat life and death with respect, but most people don’t. Look, I love the Coen brothers; we all studied at NYU. But they treat life like a joke. Ha ha ha. A joke. It’s like, ‘Look how they killed that guy! Look how blood squirts out the side of his head!’ I see things different than that.”
Click to continue reading Spike Lee Criticizes the Coens, Eastwood
Hollywood Reporter
2008 Golden Globe Nominations (Film)
Posted by Veronica Santiago Categories: Action, Adaptation, Animation, Drama, Family, Foreign, Foreign Language, Independent, Music, Musicals, Period, Political, Romance, Comedy, Thrillers, Awards, Lists,
Assuming the ongoing writers’ strike doesn’t put a wrench into everyone’s plans, the 65th Annual Golden Globes ceremony is scheduled to air on Sunday, Jan. 13th. (The NBC telecast will come just 9 days prior to the Academy Award nominations.)
Here are the most notable omissions/additions in this year’s list of film honorees:
- Atonement led the nominations with seven; Charlie Wilson’s War came in second with five.
- Musicals (Sweeney Todd, Across the Universe, Hairspray) dominated the Comedy/Musical category.
- Cate Blanchett received two acting nominations (Elizabeth: The Golden Age, I’m Not There).
- Philip Seymour Hoffman was also a double-nominee (The Savages, Charlie Wilson’s War)
- Hoffman’s Savages co-star, Laura Linney, was not nominated for her performance.
- The Kite Runner was nominated in the Foreign Film category.
- Javier Bardem was the only actor nominated from No Country for Old Men.
- Into the Wild was left out of all major categories.
(Click below for the full list of film nominees; click here for the TV nominations.)
Click to continue reading 2008 Golden Globe Nominations (Film)
Hollywood Foreign Press Association
This Week on HD DVD and Blu-ray: October 2, 2007
Posted by Johnny Mercedes Categories: 20th Century Fox, Paramount, Sony, Warner Bros, Action, Adaptation, Animation, Classics, Documentary, Drama, Family, Horror, Independent, Musicals, Romance, Science Fiction, Sequels, Comedy, Thrillers, Distribution, Home Entertainment, Lists, New Releases,
This Tuesday brings the release of some great titles, new and old. As expected, the studios are rolling out some Halloween-inspired classics, filled with zombies, vampires and serial killers; though sadly, only Blu-ray supporters seem to be taking advantage of the upcoming holiday.
HD DVD studios chose instead to use this week to re-release a bunch of titles that were previously only available in those obnoxious HD DVD/DVD Combo discs. You know, the $40 releases that were appealing to neither the HD owners nor the standard-definition owners? Those of you who rightly refused to make such a silly purchase can now have some great HD titles for a lower price, thanks to Warner Home Video coming to its senses. Any of the following films with an asterisk (*) in the title are the re-released versions.
Check out this Tuesday’s HD DVD and Blu-ray releases after the jump.
To see this week’s standard-definition DVD releases, click here.
To see this week’s TV-On-DVD releases, click here.
Click to continue reading This Week on HD DVD and Blu-ray: October 2, 2007
Letters from Iwo Jima DVD Review
Posted by Johnny Mercedes Categories: DreamWorks, Miramax, Action, Drama, Foreign Language, Thrillers, New Releases, DVD Reviews,
Clint Eastwood’s Oscar-nominated war epic was released on DVD last week; this is a review of the two-disc special edition. The film is a companion piece to Eastwood’s other war film from last year, Flags of Our Fathers, which depicts the same war from the American side.
Letters from Iwo Jima is the story of a pivotal battle between the United States and imperial Japan during WWII. The film portrays the war from the perspective of the Japanese soldiers as they desperately attempt to keep the US from taking their island and using it against the mainland. General Kuribayashi takes command and without proper infantry or supplies does his best to defend Iwo Jima from the country he once considered a close friend. Meanwhile, a young, homesick infantryman named Saigo endeavors to surrender to the opposing forces as they drive his comrades deep into the caves of the desolate island.
Letters from Iwo Jima is directed by Clint Eastwood, written by Iris Yamashita, and stars Ken Watanabe, Kazunari Ninomaya, and Tsuyoshi Ihara. Rated R
Click to continue reading Letters from Iwo Jima DVD Review
FilmCrunch 042: Ghost Rider, Half Nelson, Flags of our Fathers, The Queen
Posted by Andru Edwards Categories: Columbia Pictures, DreamWorks, Paramount, Sony, Warner Independant Films, Action, Adaptation, Documentary, Drama, Period, Political, Thrillers, DVD Reviews, Full Episodes, Theatrical Reviews, Videocasts,
Veronica Santiago and Neil Estep have another full episode of FilmCrunch for you. In this show we review Ghost Rider, Half Nelson, Flags of our Fathers, and The Queen.
Now we want to hear from you - hit the forums and let us know what you think, what you want us to watch next, and any other recommendations you have for the show.
FilmCrunch 038: Flags of our Fathers Review
Posted by Andru Edwards Categories: DreamWorks, Warner Bros, Adaptation, Period, Short FilmCrunch, Theatrical Reviews, Videocasts,
Veronica Santiago and Neil Estep review Flags of our Fathers in this episode of FilmCrunch:
It is the most memorable photograph of World War II, among the greatest pictures ever taken. The winner of the Pulitzer Prize for photography and one of the most-reproduced images in the history of photography, the picture has inspired postage stamps, posters, the covers of countless magazines and newspapers, and even the Marine Corps War Memorial in Arlington, Virginia. “Raising the Flag on Iwo Jima,” a picture taken by Associated Press photographer Joe Rosenthal on February 23, 1945 depicts five Marines and one Navy Corpsman raising the U.S. flag on Mount Suribachi. The image served as a counterpoint for one of the most vicious battles of the war: the fight to take Iwo Jima, a desolate island of black sand barely eight square miles that would prove a tipping point in the Pacific campaign. Lasting more than a month, the fight was a bloody, drawn-out conflict that might have turned the American public against the war entirely, had it not been for the photo, which was taken and published five days into the battle. The photograph made heroes of the men in the picture as the three surviving flag-raisers were returned to the U.S. and made into props in the government’s Seventh War Bond Tour. Uncomfortable with their new celebrity, the flag-raisers considered the real heroes to be the men who died on Iwo Jima; still, the American public held them up as the best America had to offer, the supermen who conquered the Japanese—and then, just as quickly as it had arrived, the glory faded. For two of the surviving flag-raisers, life became a series of compromises and disappointments; for the third, happiness came only by shutting off his war experiences and rarely speaking of them ever again.
Now we want to hear from you - hit the forums and let us know what you think, what you want us to watch next, and any other recommendations you have for the show.
FilmCrunch 034: Letters from Iwo Jima, This Film is Not Yet Rated, Movie Theater Etiquette
Posted by Andru Edwards Categories: DreamWorks, IFC Films, Warner Bros, Adaptation, Documentary, Independent, Period, Short FilmCrunch, Theatrical Reviews, Videocasts,
Veronica Santiago and Neil Estep are back with a full episode of FilmCrunch. In this show, expect a review of Clint Eastwood‘s Letters from Iwo Jima, along with a DVD review of This Film is Not Yet rated.
Now we want to hear from you - hit the forums and let us know what you think, what you want us to watch next, and any other recommendations you have for the show.
Advertisement
© Gear Live Media, LLC. 2007 – User-posted content, unless source is quoted, is licensed under a Creative Commons Public Domain License. Gear Live graphics, logos, designs, page headers, button icons, videos, articles, blogs, forums, scripts and other service names are the trademarks of Gear Live Inc.