AWESOME 'TRANSFORMINATORS' TRAILER

"Transformers" director Michael Bay -- being Michael Bay -- commented earlier in the year that he would like to see a war between Transformers and Terminators. Funny enough,this led to "Terminator Salvation" helmer McG to start up all sorts of fake bravado...

Obviously, we’ll never see a movie where Autobots fight T800s or even those huge Harvester bots. But Black20 did the next best thing, and created a faux movie trailer mash-up titled "Transforminators."

Read More

MICHAEL MOORE RETURNS WITH NEW FILM AIMED AT CORPORATE GREED

Overture Films and Paramount Vantage have announced that Oscar-winner Michael Moore’s new documentary feature will be released domestically on October 2, 2009. The as-yet-untitled film will explore the root causes of the global economic meltdown and take a comical look at the corporate and political shenanigans that culminated in what Moore has described as “the biggest robbery in the history of this country” – the massive transfer of U.S. taxpayer money to private financial institutions.

On this, the 20-year anniversary of his masterpiece Roger & Me, Moore returns to the issue that began his career: the disastrous impact that corporate dominance and out-of-control profit motives have on the lives of Americans and citizens of the world. But this time the culprit is much bigger than General Motors, and the crime scene far wider than Flint, Michigan.

Says Moore: "The wealthy, at some point, decided they didn't have enough wealth. They wanted more -- a lot more. So they systematically set about to fleece the American people out of their hard-earned money. Now, why would they do this? That is what I seek to discover in this movie."

Moore’s new documentary, his first since 2007’s widely-praised Sicko, was first announced by Overture and Paramount Vantage International in May 2008 at the Cannes Film Festival and production began shortly afterward.

Chris McGurk and Danny Rosett, Overture’s CEO and COO respectively, previously worked with Moore when they oversaw the release of Bowling for Columbine at MGM/United Artists.

“Everyone can relate to this subject matter and all have been affected,” said McGurk and Rosett. “We think there should be plenty of people interested in hearing Michael’s take on how exactly we got here and what we can do to move forward.”

John Lesher, President of Paramount Film Group, added, “Michael is a master at capturing the most timely and critical issues shaping our world today. His unique, thought-provoking method of filmmaking is sure to bring dynamic insights into the state of the global economy that will have mass appeal to audiences worldwide.”

The release date is a year and a day after the United States Senate voted to hand Wall Street a $700 billion bailout

Read More

WHY WHY WHY? 'CLIFFHANGER TO BE REMADE

Cover of Cliffhanger (Collector's Edition)

Proving yet again that Hollywood has all the creativity of a brain dead knat, Variety reports that StudioCanal and Original Films are planning a remake of the Sylvester Stallone-led 1993 mountain climbing action thriller "Cliffhanger."

We ask again? WHY???

In the Renny Harlin-directed original, Stallone played a park ranger who is forced help a group of terrorits recover three suitcases containing $100 million lost in the Rocky Mountains.

A huge hit for Sly, it grossed $255 million worldwide and scored generally positive reviews for its impressive action including a mid-air hijack sequence and the famous opening suspense set piece involving a woman whose equipment fails during a perilous climb across a deep chasm.

According to the trade, the new version will center on a group of young climbers and will "feature multiple cliff-face locations". A screenwriter is being sought with production aiming to kick off next year.

Neal Moritz, who is also producing the upcoming "Escape from New York" remake for Warners, will produce.

Enjot the kick ass trailer...



To watch the full movie, click HERE.

Read More

ACTION PIC OF SLY FROM 'THE EXPENDABLES' (awesome)

Check out this pretty amazing shot posted on the rather odd production blog from Sly Stallone's upcoming actioner "The Expendables."

Related articles by Zemanta

• Sly Stallone Gets Inked (perezhilton.com)
• Sly Does A Pull-Up In New Expendables Image (cinemablend.com)

Read More

TARANTINO PLANNING 'BASTERDS' PREQUEL?

Quentin Tarantino (via last.fm)

I might have just wept a little...

Ok, so Quentin Tarantino is just about to debut "Inglourious Basterds" at the Cannes Film Festival, and he is already planning another film in his potential WW II franchise.

The scoop is that Tarantino had put on the backburner a significant subplot involving African-American soldiers stuck behind enemy lines, which he hopes to make that part of a prequel.

"I have a half-written prequel ready to go if this movie’s a smash,” Tarantino tells the New York Times .

Of course, the famous director has a history of talking about projects and ideas that never come to fruition. You might recall a little Pulp Fiction / Reservoir Dogs prequel/sequel called The Vega Brothers??? And the potential sequels to Kill Bill??

Read More

'GAMER' TRAILER NOW ONLINE

Image by Getty Images via Daylife

A first? The trailer for "Gamer" had its recent debut on X Box Live. Lionsgate has premiered the official U.S. trailer. It comes to us from Crank madmen, Mark Neveldine and Brian Taylor.

Here's the official plot - a bit Tron-esque but cool nonetheless: "Gamer" is a high-concept action thriller set in the near future, a time when mind-control technology has taken society by storm. Humans control other humans in a mass-scale, multiplayer online game. Reclusive billionaire Ken Castle (Michael C. Hall) has created the controversial form of entertainment, “Slayers,” a hugely popular game that allows millions to act out their innermost fantasies and desires - online - in front of a global audience. Gaming has evolved into a terrifying new dimension… mind control… mind manipulation… people playing people!

At the center is Kable (Gerard Butler), the superstar and cult hero of “Slayers,” the savage, ultra-violent first-person shooter game. Kable is controlled by Simon, a young gamer with a rock star status who continues to defy all odds by guiding Kable to victory each week. Taken from his family, imprisoned and forced to fight against his will, the modern day gladiator must survive long enough to escape the game to free his family, regain his identity, and to save mankind from Castle’s ruthless technology.

Milo Ventimiglia, Alison Lohman, John Leguizama, Efren Ramirez, Terry Crews, Kyra Sedwick, Zoe Bell and Ludacris co-star.

Gamer is currently scheduled for a September 4th, 2009 release.

Related articles by Zemanta

• Exclusive Poster Premiere: Gamer (movieblips.dailyradar.com)

Read More

'INGLOURIOUS BASTERDS' CAST POSTERS

Just in case you missed it a few weeks back, here's the badass poster pic of Brad Pitt and Eli Roth in "Inglourious Basterds." Pitt stars as Aldo Raine complete with baddass neck scar.

As for Roth? he's playing a character the Nazis will refer to as The Bear Jew. A baseball-bat-swinging Boston-ite with an almost Mr Blonde-esque psychopatic twist to his personality.

Related articles by Zemanta

• Inglourious Basterds Coming To Cannes (cinemablend.com)
• Brad Pitt is Lieutenant Aldo Raine (justjared.buzznet.com)
• Eli Roth Wants To Make A Monster Movie (cinemablend.com)

Read More

QUENTIN TARANTINO MIXTAPE AND INTERVIEW

Get your own widget at Last.fm

In this past weekend's New York Times, there was an awesome interview with Quentin Tarantino in T Mag.

Whats it say? For starters, Tarantino is quick to admit that "Inglorious Basterds" is indeed the hardest film he’s ever made. From a director who says that he's croak to make his films perfect, this may not come as a big shock. Given that IB is a WWII epic, clocks in at over 2 hours and 30 minutes, and was cast and shot in time for this month’s Cannes, that statement may be true.

What else does Q say? Hold on to your hats...

"I wanted to have a masterpiece before the decade’s out."

Hmmmm, does he consider "Inglourious Basterds to be his only masterpiece this decade. In the Lounge's estimation, both volumes of Kill Bill reached those heights.

On a more curious note, Q also says that he’s working on a 20-page review of Bryan Singer’s Superman Returns, a film he’s quite passionate and protective over. Wonder why THAT is? And looking back as a member of the jury at Cannes in 2004, he remains pleased with awarding Michael Moore’s Fahrenheit 9/11 the Palm d’Or.

As a bonus, Webby Award nominated media artist Eclectic Method has thrown all of Quentin Tarantino’s movies in a blender and created “the TARANTINO mixtape.”

Eclectic Method - The Tarantino Mixtape from Eclectic Method on Vimeo.

Related articles by Zemanta

• 'Inglourious Basterds' Heading To Cannes (Plus New Images) (screenrant.com)
• New Inglourious Basterds Footage (cinemablend.com)
• Summer Movies: Ten Films I May or May Not Be Looking Forward To (popdose.com)

Read More

2008: THE YEAR IN MOVIES

/Film reader Matt Shapiro’s video “2007: A Year for Drama”, went viral last year. Matt once again, has compiled a retrospective music video for 2008, titled "2008: The Cinescape."

It's pretty cool, indeed. Check it out.

Read More

BIG WILLIE WEEKEND: WILL SMITH KING OF THE MOVIES

The always-awesome Slashfilm has a great collection of stats today. And being that this weekend brings us new flicks by Jim Carrey and Will Smith, there's no better time to share.

Below are the most successful movie stars in history (box-office wise). Keep your eye on Big Willie Smith who opens this weekend with "Seven Pounds." Why keep your eye on Smith? Only Tom Hanks, Tom Cruise and Eddie Murphy have more $100 million hits on their resume than Smith, who clocks in at 12. Carrey, who has "Yes Man" opening this weekend is only one behind at 11 blockbusters.

Here's the list of the most $100M+ in film history. It includes animated films and excludes cameos

1. Tom Hanks – 15
2. Tom Cruise - 14
3. Eddie Murphy - 13
4. Will Smith – 12
5. Harrison Ford – 12
6. Jim Carrey – 11
7. Robin Williams - 11
8. Mel Gibson – 10
9. Matt Damon - 9
10. Bruce Willis – 8
11. Jack Nicholson – 8

Here's the deal, though, Will Smith, has done something a bit unprecedented and achieved a feat never done by the Toms - Hanks and Cruise. Hancock was WILL SMITH'S eighth consecutive $100M+ grossing blockbuster. Hanks and Cruise both had career-best streaks of 7 films topping $100M.

2002 – Men in Black II - $52.1M opening - $190.4M cume
2003 – Bad Boys II - $46.5M opening - $138.6M cume
2004 – I, Robot - $52.1M opening - $144.8M cume
2004 – Shark Tale - $47.6M opening - $160.8M cume
2005 – Hitch - $43.1M opening - $179.4M cume
2006 – The Pursuit of Happyness - $26.5M opening - $163.5M cume
2007 – I Am Legend - $77.2M opening - $256.4M cume
2008 – Hancock - $62.6M opening - $227.9M cume

Read More

THE YEAR'S MOST RIDICULOUS PLOT

The Guardian gives us the year's most ridiculous plots and guess what landed on top of the list?? An itty-bitty comic book movie called "The Dark Knight."

"Wait, so the Joker really orchestrated that big truck chase just so that he could get caught and go to prison, then he could kidnap that guard and grab his phone to make the call to set off the bomb he'd previously sewn inside the henchman in the next cell? That would kill the guy who stole the mobsters' money, thus enabling him to … er, what? Heath Ledger's Joker may have been a psychopath, but he had a nerdish capacity for forward planning."

To read the entire list, click HERE.

Read More

ROGER EBERT'S TOP 20 FILMS of 2008

Check out the bare-bones list below, or head on over to RogerEbert.com to read his full column.

1. Ballast
2. The Band’s Visit
3. Che
4. Chop Shop
5. The Dark Knight
6. Doubt
7. The Fall
8. Frost/Nixon
9. Frozen Friver
10. Happy-Go-Lucky
11. Iron Man
12. Milk
14. Rachel Getting Married
15. The Reader
16. Revolutionary Road
17. Shotgun Stories
18. Slumdog Millionaire
19. Synecdoche, New York
20. W.
Wall-E

Read More

TIME MAGAZINE'S TOP 10 FLICKS

Time Magazine has released their Top 10 listing of the Best Movies of 2008. The barebones list below (check out No. 9!!!), check out the full thing on Time.com.

1. WALL-E
2. Synecdoche, New York
3. My Winnipeg
4. 4 Months, 3 Weeks & 2 Days
5. Milk
6. The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
7. Slumdog Millionaire
8. Iron Man
9. Speed Racer
10. Encounters at the End of the World.

Read More

A LIT CLASSIC HEADS FOR THE BIG SCREEN

... And not just any lit classic. Infinitum Nihil has acquired films rights to Nick Tosches 2002 novel "In the Hand of Dante" that will be developed as a potential star vehicle for Johnny Depp reports Variety.

The story revolves around Dante Aligheri's masterwork "The Divine Comedy," and tells parallel storylines involving Dante in 14th-century Italy as he tries to complete the work, and a contemporary storyline involving Tosches, who is asked to authenticate what might be Dante's original manuscript.

What's more, Depp also begins work in March on "The Rum Diary", an adaptation of gonzo journalist Hunter S. Thompson's work in which Depp will play the late cult figure (yet again). Bruce Robinson directs.

To read more, click HERE.

Read More

THE STORY BEHIND THE STUDIO LOGOS

We always see the trademark logos every time we're at the theater. Wouldn't it be cool to know just who in the hell the little boy fishing on the moon in the DreamWorks logo is? Or which mountain exactly inspired the Paramount logo? Or who was the Columbia Torch Lady?

Find out in this pretty cool blog post HERE.

Read More

EVA LONGORIA IN 'THE AVENGERS' ?

As a rabid comic fan, I'm not sure how I feel about this one.

FlawedHollywood (as well as /Slashfilm) have posted pics of "Desperate Housewife" hottie Eva Longoria leaving Marvel offices with a business card as well as a crapload of material, not to mention an Avengers comic book on the tippy top.

Those in the know tell the Flawed that the sudster "Desperate Housewives" wraps right around the time the Marvel comic book team-up is being adapted into a feature film.

Many are speculating that Longoria (or is that Longoria-Parker???) might be in the running to play Janet Van Dyne aka Wasp, a founding member of the super team and eventual wife of Ant-Man.

Longoria as a superhero?? Like I said, just don't know how I feel...

Read More

BAD BUZZ?? NO PROBLEM!

Spout takes a look at 10 movies that overcame Bad Buzz. While I don't agree with some of the entrants on author Christopher Campbell's list, it does prove screenwriter William Goldman's old adage: "In Hollywood, nobody knows anything..." As for the first film? Cameron's vanity project and the film that made Leo a household name - "Titanic" takes the top stop.

10 Movies That Overcame Bad Buzz

Two big movies arrive in theaters this week, The Incredible Hulk and The Happening, and each has had its share of bad buzz. From what I can tell, though, the former is recuperating quite nicely with mostly favorable early reviews. And it’s sure to gross in the hundreds of millions, just like its big brother, Ang Lee’s Hulk, did a few years back. The latter, however, is still struggling through the muck, with writer-director M. Night Shyamalan doing everything he can to assure us that his film is merely a B-movie and shouldn’t be the victim of high expectations.

Click HERE to read the rest of the piece.

Read More

HULU LIVES!! TWO FILMS ON THE BLOG

A present to all of Hemingway's Lounge groupies. This week, HULU launched.

So just what IS Hulu? It's an online video on demand service that offers video sharing that kicks the booty off of YouTube. According the President and Chief Operating Officer of NewsCorp, it's designed to be "a single source of free, on-demand programming from some of the most popular studios and online networks, helping viewers quickly and easily find and enjoy the premium content they are looking for." The service is a joint venture of NBC Universal and News Corp. Providence Equity Partners has also made a USD$100 million equity investment and holds a 10% stake in the company

So, as a test, I will post "The Big Lebowski" and "Sideways," two of my favorite films in their ENTIRETY.

Happy watching! AND TRY NOT TO SLACK TOO MUCH AT WORK! A few caveats, though... You have to endure more than a few ads and some (not all) of the films are the family-safe versions. Oddly, "The Big Lebowski" is the R-version and "Sideways" is not which is a shame because crucial lines of dialogue were altered.

Read More

PREDICTIONS FOR OSCAR NOMINATIONS

Being that tomorrow morning The Academy announce the 2008 Oscar nominees, I figure I would weigh in with my predictions. Seems like a pretty easy year...

Here goes:

BEST ACTOR
George Clooney, Michael Clayton
Daniel Day-Lewis, There Will Be Blood
Johnny Depp, Sweeney Todd
Ryan Gosling, Lars and the Real Girl
Viggo Mortensen, Eastern Promises

BEST ACTRESS
Julie Christie, Away From Her
Marion Cotillard, La Vie en Rose
Angelina Jolie, A Mighty Heart
Laura Linney, The Savages
Ellen Page, Juno

BEST SUPP ACTOR
Casey Affleck, The Assassination of Jesse James...
Javier Bardem, No Country for Old Men
Philip Seymour Hoffman, Charlie Wilson's War
Hal Holbrook, Into the Wild
Tom Wilkinson, Michael Clayton

BEST SUPP. ACTRESS
Cate Blanchett, I'm Not There
Ruby Dee, American Gangster
Catherine Keener, Into the Wild
Amy Ryan, Gone Baby Gone
Tilda Swinton, Michael Clayton

BEST PICTURE
"No Country for Old Men"
"Michael Clayton"
"There Will Be Blood"
"Diving Bell and the Butterfly"
"Atonement"
(Hmmm ... Will JUNO upset everyone and bump one of these others?)

BEST DIRECTOR
Paul Thomas Anderson, There Will Be Blood
Joel Coen and Ethan Coen, No Country for Old Men
Sean Penn, Into the Wild
Julian Schnabel, The Diving Bell and the Butterfly
Joe Wright, Atonement

Read More

FOURTH TIME'S A CHARM

Variety reports that Martin Scorsese and Leonardo DiCaprio will reteam yet again early next year on the flick "Shutter Island," a Laeta Kalogridis-scripted adaptation of the Dennis Lehane ("Mystic River," "Gone Baby Gone").

Set in 1954, the drama is set in 1954, with DiCaprio in final talks to play U.S. Marshal Teddy Daniels, who is investigating the disappearance of a murderess who escaped from a hospital for the criminally insane and is presumed to be hiding on the remote Shutter Island.

The Paramount and Sony Pictures co-production is being rushed forward for a March start of shooting. Filming will take place in Massachusetts, Connecticut or Nova Scotia.

The duo's first joint effort was "Gangs of New York," followed by "The Aviator," and then last year's "The Departed." All of the films were nominated for Oscars in one capacity or another with "The Departed" snagging a statuette for Best Picture.

Read More