Sundance Film Festival director Geoff Gilmore announced the lineup of films that will be screening at the 2007 festival today, and said that choosing the 64 films that will appear in the four competition categories (dramatic, documentary, world cinema dramatic and world cinema documentary) was harder this year than ever before. While that's a bit like someone saying "You guys are the best crowd ever!" they definitely did have more films to choose from for the same number of slots, so who can blame him? They received 3,287 films for consideration this year, the most in the festival's 39-year history.
122 total films were chosen (not all of them screen in competition), and 82 of them will be world premieres. That's a heck of a lot of movies over two weeks. If you've ever attended Sundance in the past, then you know how difficult it is to get tickets. Passes are expensive and sell out quickly (in fact, only one level of pass is currently left, the $2500 Express Pass-B), however individual tickets will go on sale the week of January 9. You can pre-register right now through January 4 on the Sundance FIlm Festival website to receive a random, lottery-style time that will allow you to log in and purchase tickets that week.
Sundance is one of my favorite film festivals because of the sheer volume and variety of films that you are able to pick and choose from. Plus it's a chance to meet the filmmakers, other film lovers, and to experience it in beautiful Park City, Utah. The last two years that I've gone it was with minimum preparation and usually as a last-minute decision, but I've still managed to see at least 15 films in about five days each time. It's well worth the trip and enduring the cold to step out of your own world and into a creative environment, if just for a little while.
You can download a PDF file of all the 2007 Sundance Film Festival selections here. The festival runs from January 18th through the 28th -- time to start picking and choosing!
The internet is truly an amazing thing. Without it this DVD would have never seen the light of day -- a true tribute to the steadfast voice of fans. While some reports claim that Margot Kidder said in an interview in 2004 that enough Richard Donner footage existed in a vault somewhere that he could make his own cut of Superman II, others say that rabid fans had asked Warner Bros. for years to release a cut of Superman II that was more faithful to Donner's vision (a fan film version had been circulating online, utilizing footage from the broadcast TV versions of the movie that had footage not in the theatrical release). Whichever version is true, internet fans seized on the concept and began pestering Warners with emails and online petitions, and it finally paid off. Superman II: The Richard Donner Cut was released today on DVD, and is also a part of Warners massive The Ultimate Superman Collection DVD set.
Why all the hubbub over a film that's 28 years old? Well, I'm glad you asked. I'll do my best to give you a capsulized version of the sordid history of Superman II, but for much a much more in-depth explanation of the entire affair, check out the Wikipedia page for the new version of the film. Basically, Richard Donner shot most of the footage for Superman II while filming the original Superman: The Movie because the two films were supposed to be closely related to each other, two halves of one story. This included huge scenes that featured Marlon Brando which were never seen in the released film, all of Gene Hackman and Ned Beatty's scenes, and much more. After going over budget and over schedule on the original Superman film, the Salkinds (the producers on the Superman films) halted production on the sequel so that everyone could focus on completing Superman: the Movie. With me so far? Okay, let's press on ...
Were you lucky enough to catch The Fountain over the weekend? It seems like everyone else was shuffling their Happy Feet or playing at the Casino Royale, but I slipped into a half empty (what a shame) theater and caught this beautiful film. I was pretty glad I missed Tenacious D in the Pick of Destiny, because I was in the mood for something a little more somber. But don't worry, later this week after a couple of beers, I'll be getting my fill of Jack Black and Kyle Gass. Darren Aronofsky's 1998 film Pi was one of those movies that hit me in the stomach and made me actually think about the world, and stayed with me for years afterwards. Movies like that are extremely rare these days, and when one comes along you want to latch onto it and encourage everyone to go see it. Unfortunately, when I told my friends that I was going to see The Fountain this weekend, they all responded with a collective: "Huh?" Most of them hadn't heard about the film, and after I mentioned that Hugh Jackman was in it, others said, "Oh right, is that the movie about magic?"
This is what happens when advertising for quality films are choked out of the public eye by zillions of previews for Van Wilder 2: The Rise of Taj and posters reminding you that American Idol will be back on the airwaves soon. Chances are that you never saw the poster for The Fountain as a result. Thanks to FirstShowing.net, you can actually own one to frame and hang on your wall. They are giving away 15 copies of the poster, and all you have to do is answer three very simple questions about the film. Enter now, and then rush off to see this movie before it vanishes from the theaters forever. This one needs to be seen on a big screen with a great sound system.
Food has been an important part of films ever since Charlie Chaplin made his dinner rolls into dancing shoes in The Gold Rush (and don't forget the Thanksgiving shoe dinner from that same flick). Since then we've had scenes ranging from the classic turkey scene in A Christmas Story ("Sons of bitches! Bumpuses!"), to the extremely erotic (and messy) kitchen scene with Mickey Rourke and Kim Basinger in 9 1/2 Weeks.
We've also had films where the focus is on food exclusively, or the cooking. It's a bit strange watching a movie that features food as a central part of the plot, because you'll eventually find yourself wondering when the film will finally end so you can go chow. The day that a filmmaker shoots a movie that focuses on popcorn and sodas, watch out concession stands. It'll be on onslaught of ravenous people, marching like zombies towards the smell of fresh butter and the hiss of carbonation rushing through plastic tubes. They'll sell one hundred times more snacks than they will tickets -- a theater owner's delight.
These are my seven favorite movies that are either about food, or feature them in a way that is integral to the plot. In fact, if I can get through this entire post without my stomach growling, I'll be impressed. With Thanksgiving upon us, and everyone focused on eating, you might consider renting one of these movies to watch before your turkey dinner in order to get the juices flowing. By the time everything comes out of the oven, you should be well-prepared and ready to wolf down the goods.
I posted earlier today on Joystiq that a new TV commercial for the role-playing game World of Warcrafthit the airwaves on Monday, which of course means it hit YouTube about .0815 seconds later. I'm waiting for the day that things come out on YouTube before they reach TV or the big screen. YouTube will become self-aware and telepathic and rule the world one day. You think Terminator was just a movie? SkyNet is YouTube, silly rabbit.
Oh, look ... we've veered back on-topic. This commercial features footage from Office Space with everyone's favorite cubicle-slacker Peter Gibbons (Ron Livingston) playing WoW while Bill Lundbergh (Gary Cole) tries to talk to him about TPS reports. Originally in the scene, Peter was playing Tetris, but they've stuck this footage in pretty seamlessly. Look how they've even littered his desk with the Warcraft box and game discs.
The ad works here because Office Space isn't generally considered a "classic", but how long until companies really screw up something that Cinemaniacs will cry sacrilege over? Come to think of it, it's already happened several times. We've had Gene Kelly selling Volkswagens, Steve McQueen pushing Mustangs, and Elton John plugging Diet Coke with Humphrey Bogart, James Cagney, and Louis Armstrong. The recent Gap commercial starring Audrey Hepburn was funky and fun, but I found myself wondering what she'd think about it. It's hard to imagine that she would be thrilled. Will Apple use Citizen Kane to sell iPods? Matthew Broderick hawking new computers in WarGames? Okay, that last one probably wouldn't really bother me, but when does it end? At what point is too much just too much?
Check out these ads after the jump and let us know what you think.
It's Casino Royale weekend! Sadly, it also means our (00)7 Days of James Bond will be drawing to a close as well. For your enjoyment and consideration, we've consolidated all of the opening gun barrel sequences to the James Bond films here.
I used to think this was a camera shutter when I was younger. It was only later that I finally realized it was a rifled gun barrel. Imagine my chagrin at all those years of wondering, "Why does James Bond not like photographers?"
Some trivia:
The first three films didn't even have a Bond actor in this sequence. They were all filmed using stuntman Bob Simmons.
Sean Connery made his debut as Bond the in the gun barrel sequence with Thunderball.
Lazenby was the only Bond to drop to one knee while firing.
Bond wore a hat and fired one-handed until 1973's Live And Let Die.
Since The Spy Who Loved Me, Bond only wears a tuxedo in the opening, although that appears to change in the new film.
1985's A View To A Kill features a text card just before the sequence stating that the Max Zorin character does not reflect any person or company in real life.
Die Another Day has Bond's gun firing a bullet that you actually see passing through the assassin's gun barrel. Nice shot, Mr. Bond. This was done to commemorate the 20th Bond film, and to celebrate more than 40 years of Bond.
In the teaser trailer for Casino Royale, Daniel Craig is actually in a tiled restroom when he turns and fires, not the normal white background.
The sequence was shot through a pinhole camera in an actual rifle barrel until GoldenEye. It has been CG-animated ever since.
Now get out there and check out the new Bond flick -- after first checking for snipers, of course. ...
Casino Royale will achieve what no other Bond film has done before, as it will be officially allowed to screen on Chinese movie screens. Since Dr. No in 1963, China's board of censors has denied entry to every single Bond movie. For those of you keeping count, that's nineteen films. It's the first time the film will be seen in Chinese cinemas, but definitely not the first time a Bond film has been seen on Chinese DVD players since they have such a brisk black market for pirated DVD copies.
This is a massive score for Sony, as it means a lot more box office take for this film (China expects it to be one of their highest-grossing films of the year), and that translates to more revenue. It also allows them to establish a more important foothold in the Chinese market. Sony is probably crossing their fingers that this will make it that much easier to release the next Bond film there. If they want to keep this relationship working well, then hopefully they will keep films like Bewitched out of the pipeline to keep the Chinese government happy. We wouldn't wish that film on any foreign power.
What would really be nice is if this would open up the possibility of a Bond film shooting in China. Imagine Bond being sent deep into the Orient on assignment to track down the source of pirated DVDs. Come on, that sucker just writes itself. As long as Daniel Craig doesn't try to wear an Asian disguise like Sean Connery did in You Only Live Twice, we should be okay.
One more day until Casino Royale hits the theaters. Are you excited about it yet? Have you been following all of the Bond coverage and pretending that you're a superspy? I've personally had the Goldfinger theme song stuck in my head for days. At first, it made small errands (like going to the post office) fun and exciting. I'd pretend I was on a secret mission, and that the stamp on my letter contained a secret microdot that had to get to New York by Saturday. After that was another death-defying mission at the grocery store (plans for the enemy's HQ hidden in the canned vegetables). However, at this point I'm going a bit mental. Get out of my head, Shirley Bassey!
Hopefully my mental slippage won't be too obvious as we immerse ourselves in Part Two of the History of Bond Films. If you missed the first part, you can catch up quickly and be ready for Casino Royale by Friday. Make it your mission, in fact. "Gooollllldifing ... " er, sorry.
Onwards through the doors of MI6 and into Bond history we go -- just don't call me Moneypenny.
Zach Braff's next film Open Hearts may be currently on hold, but he plans to shoot in New Jersey again once everything comes together. On a conference call yesterday, he told Cinematical that he remains involved in New Jersey, where he currently serves on the board of the South Orange Performing Arts Center.
He plans to lens Open Hearts in Northern New Jersey, and enjoys working in the area where he can utilize actors and crews from New York. Braff was born and raised in Jersey, and filmed his directorial debut Garden State there three years ago.
While I wouldn't say Braff's filmmaking sensibilities are diametrically opposed to Kevin Smith's, they do target similar young audiences, but when you watch Garden State you'll come away with a much different view of Jersey than you get from Smith's films. At least no one was getting it on with a donkey in the version I saw.
It's great when a director can work outside of the Hollywood environment and manage to capture the essence of where they come from. Richard Linklater did a great job of it with Slacker, and Braff seems to have done equally as well with Garden State. Although it's hard for me to know for sure since I spent several years in college living in Austin, and have never been to New Jersey, but it feels more real than the Jersey you get from The Sopranos or Clerks II.
If you try your hand at writing, you'll hear the phrase, "write what you know" many times. Whoever coined this phrase probably had no idea how much it applied to directing as well.
James Bond films are always known for their action, sex appeal, explosions, guns, vehicles, Bond girls ... and the opening credit sequences. I still remember being about twelve years old and seeing Octopussy (I'm really dating myself here). My friend and I were like, "Holy crud. You can almost see naked women!" Yes, when you're twelve years-old and living in Texas, that's some pretty exciting stuff. Although these were the days before the Internet was invented, so that's probably all changed now. Believe me, it was hard enough convincing my mom to let us go see a movie called Octopussy.
The point is that the Bond film openings are meant to ooze sex and mystique. They all do an extremely good job of that, except Dr. No which is all wacky flashing lights until about halfway through, and then it morphs into a semi-sexy "Samba Lessons for Adults" sequence, and then jumps the shark into bizarro-land with a Jamaican version of "Three Blind Mice" ... we kid you not. They figured it out by From Russia With Love, and every Bond movie has had a similar opening sequence ever since.
Since we brought you every Bond movie trailer imaginable on Monday, you can find every Bond opening title sequence after the jump. YouTube user jmkaos, if you're out there reading this, thanks for all your hard work. The first martini is on us. (We can expense those, right?)
Nostalgia Central has posted a list of 40 things that only happen in the movies, and boy do they have it right on the nose. These are movie truisms like, "It is always possible to find a parking spot directly outside or opposite the building you are visiting." This is most laughably true in Swingers when all of the leads drive to the Dresden Room, a popular bar in Los Angeles, and immediately get parking spaces all next to each other right outside. If you've ever been around that area, it's not the easiest place to park.
"If you are heavily outnumbered in a fight involving martial arts, your opponents will wait patiently to attack you one by one by dancing around you in a threatening manner until you have defeated their predecessor. " I just recently watched both Kill Bill Vol. 1 and Kung Fu Hustle, and this is the most spot on fact in martial arts films. I've never understood why they don't just bum rush the hero and take him out. Maybe they all use the honorable "take a number" system.
Ever wonder why the hero in a film has no trouble picking people off with his gun, but seems to be bulletproof himself? "One man shooting at 20 men has a better chance of killing them all than 20 men firing at once (it's called Stallone's Law)." I knew there had to be science behind it. This explains Lethal Weapon and Die Hard pretty well, finally.
"All beds have special L-shaped sheets that reach to armpit level on a woman but only up to the waist of the man lying beside her." You know, I checked at Linens & Things for these sheets, and then Bed, Bath and Beyond. They all thought I was crazy. I should have brought this list with me as proof.
Check out their full list of things like these. It's good for a laugh, and you'll find yourself thinking about it the next time you watch a movie.
Unless you've been hiding under a rock or working on an off-world colony for the past several months, then you know that the 21st James Bond film, Casino Royale, will be hitting theaters this Friday. It promises all the explosions, car chases, fistfights and gunplay that you've come to expect from a Bond film, and an even more emotional Bond, which we might have to get used to.
In preparation for Friday, we're summing up all of the previous Bond movies by capsulizing the plots and picking out our key favorite moments. Oh, who am I kidding, these are my favorite Bond memories. I grew up on these films, reading the novels, playing the role-playing game, obsessively reading the Q Branch Manual to find out about Bond's gadgets. I also must have played GoldenEye on the Nintendo 64 a trillion times, so I like to consider myself somewhat of a Bond-o-phile. Roger Moore was the reigning 007 when I was growing up, but I watched the Sean Connery Bond films on tape, and was sold on his coolness vs. Moore's. This led to an enormous rift between me and my best friend, who idolized Moore (and his dad kind of looked like him). Although we both agree that the latest Bond films are a lot of fun, I think we still want to butt heads over who is the best Bond.
Luckily, you don't have to have seen any of the previous Bond films to "get" the next one, but this little history can help you appreciate all of the effort that has gone into the series. We're serving it up to you shaken, of course ... never stirred.
If you haven't seen any or all of the previous 20 Bond films, then you can catch yourself up by watching the trailers for all of the movies. Extremely enterprising YouTube user famouswillie (and other folks with an extraordinary amount of free time on their hands) have made us very happy Cinemites by doing the tedious uploading work for us.
After the jump check out the trailer for every Bond film up through Casino Royale, and some bonus video treats at the very bottom of the list.
These trailers also serve as a sort of visual history of film. It's especially eye-opening to contrast the Dr. No trailer with the one for Casino Royale. We certainly have come a long way, Mr. Bond.
Sometimes Thursday rolls around and you really have no idea what it will bring you. Could you have ever imagined watching Office Space cut to look like a slasher flick? God bless the wonders of modern-day technology and the internet. What the Maynard? has recut scenes from Office Space into a trailer that makes it look horrifically good as a fear-inducing movie starring Milton as the killer. Come on, he's creepy, he mumbles, is misunderstood and he carries a red Swingline stapler. What's not to fear? He's a horror film baddie just waiting to be unleashed on the unsuspecting masses.
In fact, I've watched this trailer several times now (that really says a lot about me and how I spend my time, but I don't want to take away from the quality of the people who worked on this edit, so do your best to now ignore this entire parenthetical) and it gets better each time. It makes me want to see this version of the movie. Although they could have just as easily made Michael Bolton the bad guy if they used the footage from when he goes to town on the printer. That's scary enough in the normal version of the movie, although not quite as scary as fat David Herman in Idiocracy. Yikes.
Check out the trailer after the jump, just be sure and keep your stapler nearby.
With the new James Bond film Casino Royale rushing toward us at turbo speed (it opens on November 17 in the States), Cinematical tackles the question: Which Bond is the Best?
Most people have their stock answers ready to go for this one. It's either a quick, "Roger Moore" or "Sean Connery." Does anyone actually pick George Lazenby? I always end up feeling sorry for him. He went from hunk-of-the-moment in a chocolate bar commercial to potentially being one of the biggest stars on the planet. But would you want to follow in Sean Connery's shoes? Go rent On Her Majesty's Secret Service if you haven't seen it, it's worth a look. Plus it's the only James Bond film with a metareference. In the opening scene, Lazenby saves a woman from drowning and she slaps him before running away. He looks directly at the camera and says, "This never happened to the other fellow." Ouch. So, by default in our books, after only being in one film and forced to try to follow up the original, he's out of the running for best Bond. That leaves us with Connery, Moore, Dalton and Brosnan ...
Sundance Film Festival director Geoff Gilmore announced the lineup of films that will be screening at the 2007 festival today, and said that choosing the 64 films that will appear in the four competition categories (dramatic, documentary, world cinema dramatic and world cinema documentary) was harder this year than ever before. While that's a bit like someone saying "You guys are the best crowd ever!" they definitely did have more films to choose from for the same number of slots, so who can blame him? They received 3,287 films for consideration this year, the most in the festival's 39-year history.
Food has been an important part of films ever since Charlie Chaplin made his dinner rolls into dancing shoes in 
I posted earlier today on 
Sometimes Thursday rolls around and you really have no idea what it will bring you. Could you have ever imagined watching 
