Click to continue reading Open Discussion – June 30, 2010

The first trailer for Paranormal Activity 2 has been released and it emulates all the suspense of the first movie by showing next to nothing and raising questions.

The minimalist focus of the trailer is exactly what works for it. But when you extend this quiet suspense to 90 minutes (especially after it’s been done once already), the gag can wear off quite fast. It will be interesting to see how the minds behind the sequel keep audiences on their toes – since the gimmick/surprise of the original shouldn’t work again. If it becomes just about the money, we may have a new Saw franchise on our hands.

Paranormal Activity was the micro-budget sensation that turned a $15,000 project into a $193 million (worldwide) hit. Word of mouth spread rapidly through the Internet, leading to unprecedented buzz….

Click to continue reading ‘Paranormal Activity 2′ Trailer as Mysterious as the First

Warning: this contains major spoilers for another movie. Can they pull off another hit or was the first one just a fluke? Paramount has debuted the first official trailer for Paranormal Activity 2 tonight (via Ain’t It Cool News) which gives us our very first look at the concept of this sequel, the setting, and who might be returning in it. The only bad news is that if you haven’t seen the first movie, well, this trailer (let me repeat: trailer) spoils the last two shots of the ending of that movie. Yea, I’m not down with that, but what else can you do to market this? I don’t think I need to say much else – just fire it up and let us know what you think?

Watch the first trailer for Tod Williams’s Paranormal Activity 2:

Paranormal Activity 2 is directed by American filmmaker Tod Williams, otherwise known as Kip Williams, who previously directed indie flicks The Adventures of Sebastian Cole and The Door in the Floor. The script was written by producer/writer Michael R. Perry, who has mostly worked in TV writing for shows like “The Guardian”, “Stephen King’s Dead Zone”, and “Law & Order: SVU.” This is a sequel to 2009′s Paranormal Activity, shot by Oren Peli at his own house for a budget of $15,000. Paramount is bringing Paranormal Activity 2 to theaters on October 22nd this fall, the same day as Saw VII 3D is released. Will you see it?

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Paramount has debuted the first teaser trailer for Gore Verbinski’s Rango on Apple today. Yesterday we unveiled the first poster and reveal of the chameleon Rango, as voiced by Johnny Depp. The voice cast also includes Abigail Breslin, Bill Nighy, Isla Fisher, Alfred Molina and Ray Winstone. Those mariacha owls actually show up all the time and sometimes break the fourth wall and look like they’ll be a lot of fun. I’m really looking forward to this, it actually looks pretty good, and it’s ILM’s first ever full-length animated feature. Check out the first teaser trailer below and stick around for an alternate version a bit later. Enjoy!

Watch the first teaser for Gore Verbinski’s Rango:

You can also watch the teaser trailer for Rango in High Definition on Apple

Update: Paramount has also provided us with a second slightly different version of the same teaser trailer as a participant in the press event yesterday. I’ve added that other teaser below for your viewing pleasure!

Watch the second slightly diff teaser for Gore Verbinski’s Rango:

Rango is being directed by filmmaker Gore Verbinski, of The Mexican, The Ring, The Weather Man, and all three Pirates of the Caribbean movies. The script was written by John Logan (Gladiator, The Last Samurai, The Aviator, Sweeney Todd) based on a story by Verbinski and James Ward Byrkit. ILM is animating using “cutting edge techniques” that “allow [them] to capture and translate every aspect of Johnny’s performance, using it to drive the computer-generated character in a way that has yet to be seen.” Paramount is bringing Rango to theaters on March 4th, 2011 next spring. Visit the official website as well: RangoMovie.com.

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It looks like there’s quite the resurgence of crime thrillers/gangster based features gaining steam in the film industry lately. Just last week we heard in the same day that films following iconic mobsters like John Gotti and Pretty Boy Floyd were in the works, and now 24 Frames reports “momentum” on a Warner Bros action ensemble project called Tales from the Gangster Squad. The 1940′s set story follows an LAPD unit set up to fend off the growing influence of the East Coast Mafia in the city. The true story is based on a series of LA Times articles from Paul Lieberman which chronicle the mayhem, deception and, of course, the action.

Apparently Will Beall, a rising star in the screenwriting world was recently been brought in to write Tales from the Gangster Squad and actually just finished the first draft of the script. Beall just had his novel L.A. Rex get optioned by Scott Rudin and, in turn, adapted the script himself. Warner Bros idea is to make this a vehicle for quite an impressive ensemble cast much like its Best Picture winning crime movie The Departed, but right now no talent is yet attached in front of or behind the camera. Since I wasn’t thoroughly impressed by Public Enemies last year, I’d say we’re due for a really good gangster flick. What do you guys think?

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Though an adaptation of James Thurber’s classic story story has been talked about intermittently over the years, there hasn’t been any solids news on The Secret Life of Walter Mitty in awhile. Back in April we heard that Sacha Baron Cohen had been offered the lead role in the film, but that rumor isn’t mentioned in this new report from Risky Biz which says Gore Verbinski (whose animated film Rango just had its teaser debut today) has started negotiating with Fox to direct the film. Apparently a screenplay from Peter Conrad (Pursuit of Happyness) is the driving force behind the new energy in this film’s long gestating development.

The last we heard about the script (from Frost/Nixon writer Peter Morgan) had Mitty as a timid mega-store owner who daydreams of being a swashbuckling hero, but when his reputation is actually put to the test, he must prove his ability to save the day. However, it’s unclear if this new script from Conrad sticks to the same elements. Of course tons of talent have been attached to this project previously (including bigger names like Jim Carrey and Steven Spielberg), so this could end up being another failed attempt, however if Verbinski could get Pirates of the Caribbean and Rango collaborator and star Johnny Depp to step into the role, then I bet plenty of people in the industry and the audience would be excited for it. What do you guys think?

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Sony Pictures Classics has finally debuted the official US trailer for Samuel Maoz’s Lebanon, the film set entirely inside a tank set during the First Lebanon War in 1982. We’ve been talking about this film since it premiered at the Toronto Film Festival last year but I still haven’t had a chance to see it. This trailer makes me highly regret, as it looks incredible, like a taut, intense war thriller with a unique spin that looks like isn’t just used a gimmick. They throw a lot of quotes around to try and sell this even more, but I was already sold on the concept. What a perfect way to end the trailer, too. Looking forward to seeing this! Watch it below.

Watch the official US trailer for Samuel Maoz’s Lebanon:

You can watch the Lebanon trailer in High Definition on Yahoo

Lebanon, both written and directed by Israeli filmmaker Samuel Maoz, is about a lone tank and a platoon of paratroopers that are dispatched to search a hostile town during the Lebanon War in 1982 (the same war seen in Beaufort and Waltz With Bashir). The script was based solely on Maoz’s personal experiences in the war. As described by TIFF: “Lebanon is a sensual film in the dictionary sense of the word. The majority of the action takes place inside the tank, and a hot, sweaty, rusted-out place it is, rank with the odours of men and fear.” Sony Pictures Classics will be bringing Lebanon to limited theaters on August 13th this summer.

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Now that you’ve seen it, what did you think? It didn’t take too long for this sci-fi creature feature to head from the Sundance Film Festival to movie theaters nationwide, but Vincenzo Natali’s Splice is now playing in theaters everywhere (see it!). This is one film I’m anxious to hear the feedback on! If you haven’t seen the trailer, check it out, then read Brandon’s review as well. So what did you think of this crazy horror flick? Did anyone walk out in your theater? Did you see any of the big twists coming? What did you think of the creature and the story? If you’ve seen it, leave a comment and let us know what you thought of Splice!

Spoilers ahead! To fuel the fire, I love Splice! I haven’t had the chance to see it again since Sundance, but I can tell you it was one of my favorite films of that festival and one I will not soon be forgetting, especially because it’s so wild. I absolutely love that Vincenzo Natali (of Cube!) takes us on a crazy journey and down different paths that I never thought I’d never go, but that’s one reason I love this movie. Yes, it gets crazy at the end with all the steamy stuff involving Dren and Adrien Brody/Sarah Polley, but it’s a beautifully crafted film, an original, unique, thought-provoking well-made monster movie, one of the best of the last few years.

What did you think of Vincenzo Natali’s Splice? A fantastic monster movie or a stylistic mess?

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Once upon a time, there was a fisherman, and he caught a woman in his nets, and it was a good day.

And, so, begins Ondine, Neil Jordan’s lyrical and beautiful fairy tale-esque story about such a fisherman, played here by Colin Farrell, and the turn of events that changes his life and that of his family forever.  Deeply enchanting yet oddly grounded, the film tells a story of love, the power of belief in something, whatever that may be, and the shattering that can take place when that faith is taken away from you.

It begins early.  Before even a word of dialogue is spoken, the Irish fisherman at the heart of the story (his name is Syracuse, but everyone in the small, fishing community where he lives calls him Circus for his clown-ish behavior) finds the unconscious Ondine, played by Alicja Bachleda, in his fishing net.  He brings her on board, she awakens, and the two instantly have a connection. Ondine is frightful of the world.  She forces Syracuse not to tell anyone about her, but it isn’t long before his daughter, Annie, played by Alison Barry, discovers the mysterious, new girl in his life.  Annie believes Ondine to be a Selkie, a mythological, sea creature who can shed her seal-like coat and live with the humans for seven years. As her relationship with Syracuse and Annie builds, though, the past she had left in the sea begins to force its way back into her life.

Jordan has always been a director who moves his films at an even, determined pace, never forcing the action or worrying whether or not his audience is becoming too staled.  His screenplay builds the characters within the film immensely, giving us a grand sense of who these people are.  Syracuse is a recovering alcoholic.  His divorced wife, who Annie lives with, continues her own alcoholism.  Syracuse often visits a local, Catholic priest, played by Stephen Rea, to give his “confession”, which is more of a glorified, A.A. visit, since there is no chapter of A.A. in the town where they live.  Annie herself is dying of kidney failure, she is forced to travel long distances in a wheel-chair, and she, like Syracuse, is looking for something more in her life, something Ondine’s presence brings to her.

Everyone’s performance, from the incredibly cool yet wholly engaging Farrell to the sweet yet dominating performance from Barry, is top-notch.  Bachleda, though, is the star of the film.  She carries the tone of it, and there is an absorbing tonal shift her performance seems to have with the rest of the film, almost as if it is her role driving how the film feels.  A lot of this is Jordan and cinematographer Christopher Doyle working their own brand of magic, though.

Jordan’s usage of pace in Ondine is no exception from his previous films, but the film’s fairy tale sense and the exquisite gray-green Doyle brings to the tone both play a part in enrapturing your attention.  This is, truly, a fairy tale story, but make no bones about it, it is an Irish fairy tale, one that doesn’t always turn out quite the way you might expect.  It constantly questions the audience as to what they believe is going on.  Is Ondine truly a magical creature who can provide masses of fish and lobster to Syracuse simply by singing a song to the sea?  The film rides the edge of ambiguity for a long stretch.  The reality of who Ondine is and what her past is about hides itself from us and from Syracuse and Annie until there is no other choice but to reveal itself.

There is a dark force tracking Ondine throughout the film.  Jordan constantly reminds us of this by periodically cutting back to Emil Hostina as Vladic as the man seeking her out.  When we are first introduced to him, he is eating food off of a switchblade knife, so we know he must be evil.  The only setbacks Ondine has lie in Hostina’s presence.  While the reality of what is going on is not fully established until late in the story, it is still fairly predictable where it is all heading.  The less cynical of us hope for one thing, almost pray for it, but Jordan isn’t interested in that.  A little more ambiguity throughout the third act and the leaving of belief on the table would have done the film wonders.

Nonetheless, Ondine still succeeds in moving you, bubbling up your own sense of faith in something to the surface.  Even if that faith is not requited, we are still left with a ravishing work of fiction.  The more hopeful of us can even spin the outcome any way we want, a by-product of the ambiguity Jordan builds throughout the first half of the film.  And, in the end, isn’t that what all great fairy tales are about, the things we take away from the table?  With Ondine, the fairy tale at hand may be told and over, but the meanings continue to flow from the sea, always waiting for the next one of us to catch them in our own nets.

Jeremy’s Rating: 8 out of 10

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With MGM’s financial woes putting another installment of James Bond on indefinite hold, now there’s room for what The Daily Mail calls “the anti-James Bond” as they report director Tomas Alfredson (of Let the Right One In) will helm an adaptation of John Le Carre’s British spy novel Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy, the story of a Soviet mole at the heart of the secret intelligence service MI6. Peter Morgan (Frost/Nixon, The Queen) is penning the script and Gary Oldman is in negotiations to play the lead as George Smiley, who, unlike 007 is “breathtakingly ordinary.” There’s even more good news ahead for this project. Read on!

Colin Firth, Michael Fassbender and David Thewlis are in early discussions to play other roles in the film, like various intelligence chiefs and bureaucrats who are under suspicion of being the Soviet mole. Of course those discussions are on-going, but producers are looking to grab big names for all of those roles, so if those three don’t come through, you can expect more casting down the road. This will be the first venture to the big screen for Smiley, who was only previously seen in the 1979 TV series with the late Alec Guiness. This combination of talent is pretty epic, and we’ll need a great spy thriller to fill the lack of Jamess Bond.

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