If you were wondering whether the lives of crack-addicted rent boys were a barrel of laughs, then Men For Sale is here to say that they aren’t. Well, that doesn’t exactly come as a big surprise, but does this documentary have anything new to say about the subject? [Read more…]
All Boys (DVD)
All Boys promises a lot to a range of interests but delivers very little. Those expecting this documentary look at the Czech gay porn industry to offer some titillation won’t find much, despite a fair amount of nudity (although most of the stronger nudity is blurred). Those hoping to learn more about the world of porn and those involved in it won’t be particularly edified either.
The problem comes from the documentary’s narrow focus, which seems to want to explore whether the rise of the gay porn industry in the Czech republic is a good thing or if it has just led to the exploitation of young men. However it feels as if it’s so keen to say that it has exploited people that it fails to actually argue the point. [Read more…]
Hunger Games Character Posters Revealed
It’s only a few months now until The Hunger Games hits cinemas (March 23rd, 2012), which Lionsgate is certainly hoping will be the new Twilight, as they’ve been hyping it up to the max. The latest part of that campaign is the release of eight character posters featuring Katniss (Jennifer Lawrence), Peeta (Josh Hutcherson), Gale (Liam Hemsworth), Haymitch (Woody Harrelson), Effie (Elizabeth Banks), Cinna (Lenny Kravitz), Rue (Amandla Stenberg), and Cato (Alexander Ludwig).
Here’s the official synopsis: ‘Every year in the ruins of what was once North America, the nation of Panem forces each of its twelve districts to send a teenage boy and girl to compete in the Hunger Games. Part twisted entertainment, part government intimidation tactic, the Hunger Games are a nationally televised event in which “Tributes” must fight with one another until one survivor remains.
‘Pitted against highly-trained Tributes who have prepared for these Games their entire lives, Katniss is forced to rely upon her sharp instincts as well as the mentorship of drunken former victor Haymitch Abernathy. If she’s ever to return home to District 12, Katniss must make impossible choices in the arena that weigh survival against humanity and life against love.’
Take a look at the character posters above and below.
General movie news courtesy of Movie Muser
First Look At The Three Stooges
The first pics from both the Farrelly brothers’ The Three Stooges and Tim Burton’s Frankenweenie had popped up online. You can see the Stooges one above, via USA Today, which is the first image we’ve had of Chris Diamantopoulos as Moe, Sean Hayes as Larry, and Will Sasso as Curly that we’ve had where they aren’t in silhouette. The guys certainly look the part, and we’ll be able to see if they can pull off the Stooge magic next April.
Below you can see the first shots and a behind-the-scene image from Frankenweenie, Tim Burton’s feature length stop-motion version of his 1984 short. It’s been in the works for year, and as stop-motion takes so long still won’t be in cinemas until October 2012, but you can see the first official pics here (via EW).
General movie news courtesy of Movie Muser
Evil Dead Remake Synopsis Revealed
Although fans of the original are still grumlbing about it, an The Evil Dead remake is moving forward at Ghost House Pictures, with Fede Alvarez directing from a screenplay by Diablo Cody. With the American Film Market coming up very soon (and the film looking for potential distributors), they’ve released new information about the plot.
The official synopsis sounds pretty much like the original film, “Five twenty-something friends become holed up in a remote cabin where they discover a Book Of The Dead and unwittingly summon up dormant demons living in the nearby woods, which possess the youngsters in succession until only one is left intact to fight for survival.”
However, Bloody Disgusting has discovered that the trip to the cabin is motivated by something quite different than what was seen in the original.They say “The ‘new spin’ is the motivation behind the trip, with the lead character taking his younger sister to the family’s cabin to help her kick her drug addiction. Without her drugs she becomes insane and difficult to control, which makes it impossible to see that she’s actually possessed.”
Sounds like they’re not changing things too much, and with both Sam Raimi and Bruce Campbell producing, hopefully they’ll make something as simple and effective as the original.
General movie news courtesy of Movie Muser
Sylvester Stallone Enters The Tomb
The Tomb really, really wants an action veteran, as it’s already attempted to get Bruce Willis and Arnold Schwarzenegger aboard, but while both were interested they eventually moved on. Now it’s trying to complete the trifecta of 80s action luminaries as Sylvester Stallone is now attached to the film.
The film follows Ray Breslin, the world’s foremost authority on structural security, specifically prisons. His skills are put to the test when he is framed and put away in a high-security prison of his own design and must then escape the supposedly impenetrable jail and find the person who put him there.
Antoine Fuqua was formerly attached to direct, but he’s since departed, so the search is one for a replacement. (Source: Variety)
General movie news courtesy of Movie Muser
Butler,Worthington and McConaughey Take Thunder Run
You can understand why motion-capture is a great technology to use in sci-fi and fantasy movies, but could it also be the future of war films? It appears Freedom Films thinks so, as THR reports they’re putting together Thunder Run, an all CG 3D action thriller, using their proprietary facial capture technology and the motion capture technology utilised in Avatar.
It appears they’ve also got a good cast together who’ve agreed to get in the morion capture suits, as it’s been announced Gerard Butler, Sam Worthington (who, of course, is a mo-cap veteran thanks to Avatar) and Matthew McConaughey will star, while Simon West will direct.
Thunder Run is based on the novel ‘Thunder Run – The Armored Strike to Capture Baghdad’, by Pulitzer Prize-winning correspondent David Zucchino, with the screenplay being handled by Academy Award-winner Robert David Port and Ken Nolan, screenwriter of Black Hawk Down.
It tells the story of the dangerous and bloody capture of Baghdad by American Forces at the onset of the Iraq War. In April 2003, three battalions and fewer than a thousand men launched a violent thrust of tanks and Bradley Fighting Vehicles into the heart of a city of five million, igniting a three-day blitzkrieg, which military professionals often refer to as a lightning strike, or “thunder run.”
It’s certainly an intriguing idea, although it’s very uncertain whether audiences with buy into a war movie where everything is CG. The idea is to be able to tell the story on a huge scale (without it being prohibitively expensive to make) and to capture the feel of Call Of Duty on film, but we’ll have to wait and see if it actually works.
General movie news courtesy of Movie Muser
Witherspoon & Segel Making A Sex Tape!
It seems that nowadays every famous person has a sex tape, and it appears Reese Witherspoon and Jason Segel don’t want to be the only ones without one! According to Deadline, Sony is eyeing Reese Witherspoon and Jason Segel to star a comedy called Sex Tape, with Nick Stoller (Get Him to the Greek, Forgetting Sarah Marshall) in talks to direct.
The movie centres on a married couple who decide to spice things up in the bedroom by making a sex tape. However, when they wake up the next morning, the tape is gone, and the couple launches a desperate search to find it. Offers are going out to Reese Witherspoon and Jason Segel, although it isn’t known if they will accept.
Would you want to see a Segel and Witherspoon Sex Tape? Well if you do, you’ll have to hope they sign on.
General movie news courtesy of Movie Muser
De Niro & Wiig Up For The Comedian
A movie with Kristen Wiig and Robert De Niro, directed by Sean Penn, is certainly an interesting prospect, and it looks like it’s probably going to happen and they’re teaming up for The Comedian, which is slated to start shooting in the spring. Written by Art Linson with Jeffrey Ross, the movie will be produced by Art Linson (Into the Wild), John Linson, Jon Kilik and Robert De Niro. Shannon Costello will be associate producing.
The film follows Jackie Burke (De Niro) is a raging comic who is past his prime. A once loved TV character in his hey day, he clings to any recognition of his former fame in the hope of reviving his now stagnant career. After being sentenced to community service for hitting an audience member in the head with his microphone, Jackie meets Harmony (Wiig), a dazzling and defiant redhead who turns his life sideways.
It’s not De Niro’s first brush with playing a comedian, as he was a wannabe stand-up in Scorsese’s King Of Comedy, although it appears in this one he’ll be more channelling Jerry Lewis’ character from that movie.
General movie news courtesy of Movie Muser
Oliver Stone To Be The Power Broker
HBO has been attracting great actors and the best in TV business for years, but more recently it’s been making a bid for the top behind-the-scenes film talent as well. They had Todd Haynes directing the acclaimed Mildred Pierce mini-series, recently announced they’d be funding Steven Soderbergh’s Liberace biopic, and now THR reports that director Oliver Stone is teaming with HBO for a film based on Robert Caro’s Pulitzer Prize-winning non-fiction book, The Power Broker.
The film is about Robert Moses, who reshaped the face of New York and at one time was dubbed the city’s ‘master builder.’ He was among the most powerful men in 20th century urban planning and politics, having influenced New York’s infrastructure as much as any other individual.
The director will also produce with Peter Guber and James Gandolfini (and that last name may be a hint as to who will star). Nicholas Meyer (Collaterol Damange) is on scripting duties.
General movie news courtesy of Movie Muser
Darren Aronofsky Producing XOXO
Mark Heyman scored much praise and a BAFTA nomination for his Black Swan screenplay, and now he’s teaming up with Darren Aronofsky again, as Variety reports that Lionsgate has acquired Heyman’s spec screenplay XOXO, with Aronofsky attached to produce.
This script puts a new spin on Facebook, centring on an engaged man who strikes up an online relationship with a beautiful woman he meets on the social networking site. The relationship soon spirals out of control, consuming the man’s personal life, possibly with deadly consequences. The project is being compared to Lionsgate’s Hard Candy – so pretty intense – and will make use of streaming video and other technological advances in the online world.
No director is attached to XOXO at the moment and it isn’t known when it might shoot.
General movie news courtesy of Movie Muser
Scorsese Circles Snowman Thriller
Martin Scorsese wants to make The Snowman, but sadly this has nothing to do with Raymond Briggs’ classic that been part of Channel 4’s Christmas schedule for the past 29 years. Indeed it’s about as far away as you can get, as it’s an adaptation of a Norwegian novel, with the only thing linking these very different Snowmen being the cold.
The Snowman will be based on the seventh in Jo Nesbø’s series about a detective called Harry Hole, which revolves around a missing woman whose pink scarf is found wrapped around an ominous-looking snowman. As Hole begins his investigation, he discovers that the crime appears to be the work of a serial killer. Matthew Michael Carnahan (State of Play, World War Z, The Kingdom) is scripting.
Scorsese hasn’t signed on the dotted line to make The Snowman, but Variety says he is now seriously considering helming it as his next project. However as he also has everything from a film about Elizabeth Taylor & Richard Burton to the gangster movie The Irishman percolating, there are no guarantees he’ll make The Snowman next.
General movie news courtesy of Movie Muser