Why?
Because you can never have too much Anne Hathaway, that’s why. (Via Vulture)
She also spends some time talking about her role as Catwoman in “The Dark Knight Rises.” But seeing her rap (quite convincingly) is worth the price of admission alone. Girl does a mean Li’l Wayne impression.
The Sci-Fi Site IO9 is just chock-a-block with new set photos from ‘The Dark Knight Rises.”
Seeing this so totally makes me wish I lived in Pittsburgh right now. Might have to arrange a site visit when I’m on vacation.
Here’s one of the cooler shots (courtesy of the Oakmont Patch):
See the full gallery here.
Additional photos and news here. Also, there are some really neat set photos, including one of Anne Hathaway (or her double) in full Catwoman regalia.
Movieline reports this morning that “the Oscar bandwagon for Rachel Weisz leaves now.” And if that’s the case, 
not only will I pony up for gas and snacks, I’ll also drive the first leg.
I’ve been a fan of the Brit actress for years now and have long considered one of the film industry’s more underrated talents. So if Weisz is in Oscar contention, then I’ll only say that — even though she has a Best Supporting Actress gong under her belt — it’s about time for top honors.
Here’s the germane bit from the story:
“Weisz delivers the performance of her career in The Whistleblower. Not bad, considering she already possesses a Supporting Actress Oscar for her work in Gardener and excellence in last year’s sadly underseen Agora. And again, any number of her three films this fall may in fact surpass all of these. But there’s something uniquely captivating about her turn as Kathryn Bolkovac, the real-life Nebraska police officer whose stint as a UN peacekeeper in Bosnia exposed the organization’s connection to an international human-trafficking and sex-slavery ring. Weisz cites the story’s spiritual antecedents like Silkwood and Erin Brockovich, and indeed, as co-written and directed by Larysa Kondracki, The Whistleblower confers both the first film’s dark middle-class intrigue and the second film’s spunk and charisma, showing off two distinct sides of the underdog genre’s heroic coin.”
Read the full story here.
Here’s the most intriguing movie rumor we’ve heard all day (via Think McFly Think):
“Sources tell TMT WB is keen on getting a Justice League movie going and still high on The Flash despite Green Lantern being neither the critical or commercial success they’d hoped for nor was it embraced by fans. But the studio is also quietly developing a Batman/Superman team-up movie.
Similar to Justice League, the Brothers Warner has wanted to get their two biggest superheroes on the same screen together for years. The closest it came to fruition was Batman vs. Superman with Wolfgang Peterson-directing from a script by Andrew Kevin Walker. That fell apart as we all know, but executives loved that script.”
According to the story, two script ideas are being floated: A veteran Batman (Christian Bale) mentors the new Superman (Henry Cavil). Or, if Bale is out of the picture after “The Dark Knight Rises” next year, then Warners might recruit an entirely new man for the mask.
Read the full story here.
A parable about the dangers of genetic engineering and a film that’s getting derided for its historical inaccuracies ruled the box office this weekend.
“Rise of the Planet of the Apes” stayed atop the box office heap for the second week running, while the box office debut 
for “The Help” came amid complaints that it glossed over the challenges and adversity facing African-American women living in the Civil Rights-era south.
Here’s the weekend, by the numbers:
Name: Weekend: Total:
1. Rise of the Planet of the Apes $27.5m $104.9m
2. The Help $25.5m $35.4m
3. Final Destination 5 $18.4m $18.4m
4. The Smurfs $13.5m $101.5m
5. 30 Minutes or Less $13m $13m
6. Cowboys & Aliens $7.6m $81.5m
7. Captain America: The First Avenger $7.1m $157m
8. Crazy, Stupid, Love. $6.9m $55.4m
9. Harry Potter … $6.9m $357m
10. The Change-Up $6.2m $25.6m
Writing in the pages of The New York Times recently, film critic Nelson George takes a look at “The Help” and examines its place in cinematic portrayals of race relations in the 1960s.
Here’s the key part of the story:
“In this breach all manner of documentary and feature films, from earnest biographies to goofy musicals, have tried to illuminate, not just this period of American history, but also the myriad ways in which humans react when faced with profound moral choices. The latest cinematic endeavor is a feature adaptation of “The Help,” a 2009 novel by Kathryn Stockett that has been on the best-seller list pretty much since its release and has been published in 35 countries.
Crucial to the novel’s success, just as it was in “Eyes,” was the narrative point of view. Hampton’s documentary slides powerfully from one witness to another, giving little-known organizers equal weight with the Dr. Kings and Rosa Parkses of the movement. Ms. Stockett, a white woman who toiled for five years on “The Help,” uses the voices of three women (Skeeter, an emerging white liberal writer, and Minny and Aibileen, two black maids she persuades to tell their stories) to telescope a wide range of emotions and experiences in the Jim Crow Mississippi of 1962. If Skeeter is Ms. Stockett’s stand-in, then she makes a bold stretch by using local dialect to voice the experiences of the black women, creating a false sense of authenticity that’s vital to the novel.”
Read the full story here.
Name: Never Let Me Go.
Release Date: 2010
Writers: Kazuo Ishiguro (novel), Alex Garland (screenplay)
Director: Mark Romanek
Cast:
Carey Mulligan: Kathy
Andrew Garfield: Tommy
Keira Knightley: Ruth
Charlotte Rampling: Miss Emily
Sally Hawkins: Miss Lucy
Kate Bowes Renna: Miss Geraldine
Hannah Sharp: Amanda
Christina Carrafiell: Laurs
Run-Time: 103 mins.
Studio: Fox Searchlight
What does it mean to live? What does it mean to love? What evidence do we 
have that we have a soul?
It’s not saying too much to say that those are the questions that have plagued mankind for millennia. And it’s not saying too much to say that we’re not much closer to an answer than when Socrates asked them over a cup of hemlock over all those years ago.
But credit “Never Let Me Go” for asking.
Director Mark Romanek’s (One-Hour Photo) version of Kazuo Ishiguro’s 2005 novel of the same name never really answers those questions either. But this dystopian sci-fi romance asks the viewer to think about them in the most painful way imaginable.
Shot in washed out and muted tones, all the better to suggest a postwar Britain world that is just like — but not entirely — our own, the film follows the story of three English young people — Kathy (Mulligan), Tommy (Garfield) and Ruth (Knightley).
Recounted through the eyes of an adult Kathy, the story follows the trio from their time as children at a remote boarding school in the English countryside called Hailsham (where they learn of their agonizing fate) through their 20s (as they try to understand and live with it) and to their ultimately tragic end.
An inspection of reviews from the time of the film’s theatrical release pretty well explains why these three children are doomed. But if you haven’t seen the movie or read Ishiguro’s masterful book, be warned: Serious spoilers ahead.
Kathy, Ruth and Tommy — along with all the other children at Hailsham — are “donors,” clones bred in a laboratory to serve as spare parts for their “originals” who live somewhere out in the wider world. They exist for one reason only: to someday give up their organs so that someone else can live. They’re less humans than kind of walking, talking consumer products. And at the end, they’ll die, or, in a horrifying euphemism “reach completion.”
The scene where the children learn of their fate — courtesy of a young teacher named Miss Lucy (Hawkins) is absolutely gut-wrenching. But she tells the children they need to know if they’re going to have “decent lives.” The stoicness with which the youngsters accept — even embrace — their fate is one of the most moving of the film. And it hits like a ton of bricks.
As they grow together, Kathy, Tommy and Ruth live lives that, again, are almost, but not entirely like our own.
At Hailsham, the students play act at ordering tea in a restaurant. There’s a schoolkids’ love-triangle between Ruth, Tommy and Kathy that has devastating consequences later on. And, as they move out into the wider world to begin their lives as donors, they inevitably grow apart, just like so many of us do with the childhood friends we once imagined we could never live without. And like so many of us, they rediscover each other later in life, when, for all practical purposes, it’s too late.
Mulligan brings a quiet strength to the dowdy Kathy, who spends her time before her inevitable end as a “carer” looking after donors going about their life’s work. There’s a haunted look that never leaves her eyes, suggesting the horror that she knows she will ultimately have to undergo herself.
Garfield’s Tommy never really shrugs off his adolescent awkwardness. He also owns one of the most harrowing scenes of the film, when the door to what he hopes will be an escape is slammed shut in front of him.
Knightley, as Ruth, brings the same glamourous detachment she brings to many of her roles. Emotions flit darkly across her finely boned face. And as she looks for one last shot of redemption, there’s echoes there of the purpose that all of us hope our lives will ultimately have.
Like the best science-fiction, “Never Let Me Go” forces the viewer to confront the big issues: What value does a life have, when, God knows, history is replete with examples of cultures valuing some lives above others? Can you transcend your circumstances or is your fate already etched on the wall of the universe?
Ultimately, the movie works best as a reminder that life — all life — is fleeting. And that life — all life — is precious and how we sometimes don’t realize that until it’s too late.
But right now, they don’t even have that.
English movie mag Empire reports this morning that director Justin Lin has jumped off 
the Summit Pictures’ reboot of the adventures of the ageless Scottish warrior who keeps his immortality as long as he keeps his head attached to his shoulders.
Here’s the skinny:
“Lin, who last brought the world the shining majesty of abs, sweat, cars, blood, guns and Rock that was Fast Five, has decided that he simply won’t have the time to bring the McCloud clan back to the big screen, since he’s busy with not only a sixth Fast & Furious outing, but a plan to craft a new Terminator. Talking of, he told The Playlist yesterday that he’s already had an informal sit down with both James Cameron and Arnold Schwarzenegger about that particular project…
Summit is looking to get Highlander moving as quickly as possibly, likely so it can have another potential fantasy franchise up and running for when the Twilight cash cow stops pumping out its milky vampire dollars.”
Read the full story here.
The original 1986 “Highlander” directed by Russell Mulcahy and starring French actor Christopher Lambert, who improbably had to strap his Gallic chops around a Scottish accent, remains a sentimental favorite around Cineaste World HQ.
This has less to do with Lambert’s performance as 16th century immortal Highlander Connor Macleod and more to do with the scenery-chewing done by Clancy Brown, who played the ageless baddie out to take Macleod’s head. Bonus points also for Sean Connery, who made no attempt to ditch his Scottish brogue as he played the ancient Egyptian-turned-Spaniard who mentors Macleod in the way of the immortals. It also featured a cheesetastic soundtrack from Queen, which lent the proceedings exactly the right amount of bombast.
The movie was a hyperviolent glorious mess that also happened to be insane fun to watch. It spawned four sequels, each with diminishing box office returns and increasing amounts of stupidity, as well as a syndicated television show with Adrian Paul playing Lambert’s immortal cousin Duncan (a family of immortals? Thanksgiving must have take forrreeeverr ….).
I can’t imagine what good can come out of a reboot, since the sequels were a tangled mess that only served to dilute the franchise. But hey, one must find the cash cows where one can.
From The “Just Because You Can Do Something” File:
The Wrap reports this morning that comedian Eddie Murphy will lend his voice talents to a reboot of the 1970s Hanna Barbera cartoon “Hong Kong Phooey” which chronicled the adventures of the famed masked crime-fighting pup. The original show featured the late Scatman Crothers in the title role.
To wit:
“Tooth Fairy 2′ director Alex Zamm will be taking on the story about a mild-mannered dog-turned-crime-fighter who finds himself granted the power to walk on his hind legs, talk, and do kung fu.
Voiced by Scatman Crothers in the ’70s television classic, the new “Phooey” will be part live-action, part animation feature.
“We could not be happier that Eddie Murphy will star as Phooey,” producers Andrew Kosove and Broderick Johnson said in a statement. “There is no overstating his contributions to cinema, and to such enduring stars of family entertainments such as ‘Shrek’ and ‘Dr. Doolittle.’”
In case you’d forgotten:
Read the full story here.
Because I have friends in England, lived there for a time, and am generally an Anglophile, I’ve been pretty much glued to the news 
coverage of the riots currently rocking the U.K. I’ve been sickened and saddened by what I’ve seen. And I’ve been hoping and praying for a quick end to the violence.
There’s been plenty of talk about the end times of late, what with all the economic uncertainty and instability across the globe. So that got me to thinking: What movies best capture that sense of unease? What movies most vividly create the sort of fin-de-siecle wasteland where the final showdown between good and evil takes place?
Here’s my picks for the Top Five Movies Where Things Fall Apart. Feel free to share your picks in the comments section.
1. A Clockwork Orange (1971).
This almost seems like a cliche. But I saw this at a film festival at Yale University when I was still quite young and impressionable. And, for my money, no one has ever quite captured that post-apocalyptic mood quite like Kubrick did in this flick. And I don’t care what you say, even after all these years, Malcolm McDowell still exudes an air of menace that forces me back in my seat.
2. Akira (1988).
I have lost count of the times that me and my buddies from freshman year in college watched this Japanese import on a well-worn and well-loved VHS tape. We had the lines memorized and would recite them to each other the way some film geeks recite lines from “Star Wars” or “Monty Python and the Holy Grail” at each other.
3. Mad Max (1979).
More fast cars. More ultraviolence. Anyone else besides me ever notice that the future is rarely a Utopia? I still remember being shocked by the fact that the filmmakers felt it necessary to dub in American English for guys who were already speaking English in the U.S. release. And … sigh … we didn’t know then what we know now about Mel Gibson.
4. Robocop (1987).
Not long ago, I was watching a documentary on the History Channel and was shocked to find that star Peter Weller is an adjunct history professor at Syracuse University. Wonder how many times the kids have gotten him to say, in his best monotone, “Dead or alive, you’re coming with me?”
5. Red Dawn (1984).
Wolverriiiiinneessssss!!!!
If you were a teenager in the 1980s, as I was, there was absolutely no way to avoid this cheesetastic movie about a bunch of high school kids-turned-resistance fighters. Looking back, it’s easy to laugh at the corny dialogue and easier still to cringe at the clearly jingoistic overtones. But at the time, when Americans were still genuinely afraid of nuclear annihilation either at the hands of the Soviets or through a mistake by our civilian leaders, this movie captured the unease of the time.
5. Deep Impact (1998).
A truly awful movie. And it’s only included here because this was the only film I’ve ever seen where I was rooting for the comet to destroy the Earth. That way, the movie would be over and I could go home.
Someday, historians will look back on the benighted day of August 9, 2011 and record that it was the day that Hollywood officially 
ran out of ideas.
From Access Hollywood:
“Dirty Dancing” is getting the reboot treatment, Lionsgate announced on Monday.
Kenny Ortega, the film’s original choreographer, and director of Michael Jackson’s “This Is It,” will direct the new film.
“The opportunity to direct ‘Dirty Dancing’ is like returning home for me,” Ortega said in a statement. “Growing up in the 60’s, on the dance floor helped define me as a person and as an artist. I am looking forward to assembling a great creative team and an exciting cast to bring ‘Dirty Dancing’ to the screen for a new generation. Patrick Swayze set the bar for men dancing in the movies as Gene Kelly and Fred Astaire did before him. I believe everywhere you look there is evidence that the talent is out there and I can’t wait to begin the process of discovering the next breakout triple-threats.”
Ortega is set to produce the film with Debra Martin Chase, whose credits include “The Princess Diaries” and “The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants.”
I’m not even sure I count high enough to enumerate the reasons this is a bad idea.
For one, it’s not like “Dirty Dancing” is some seldom-seen gem that needs to be reinterpreted for a new generation. The film is a constant fixture on cable and there’s a whole generation (or two) that’s grown up with Jennifer Grey’s “Baby” and the late Patrick Swayze’s “Johnny.”
And that’s another thing: For most of us, “Dirty Dancing” is the essential Swayze role. And it almost seems like an insult to his memory to recast another actor in the part. Is someone really going to bring something new to the table? It’s hard to imagine that the filmmakers will be able to duplicate the chemistry between Grey and Swayze, let alone recapture the machismo Swayze brought to the part.
Finally, I’ll just ask this:
Has Hollywood become so creatively bankrupt or so risk-averse that it’s now going to simply retread and resurface the same films for countless generations of filmgoers? There are literally hundreds of talented people writing screenplays and coming up with fresh ideas. The problem is now that films are so massively expensive that studios are — with few exceptions — going with can’t-miss properties that are custom-tailored to appeal to the broadest possible audience.
And that way, dreck lies.
The Crunchable Net/Work
The Cineaste's Lament. 