Well, this is the hardest article I’ll ever have to write, but it has to be done. Next month, Gordon and the Whale will be closing its digital doors as a daily website. You will be able to access our archived articles, but come August 31st, there will no longer be fresh content.

I know this may come as a shock, so let’s take a look back and celebrate how far GATW has come and discuss the future. I’m going to give you the abridged version because, well, hopefully most of you reading this have been following us for a long time. (more...)

The FRIGHT NIGHT fun continues! I sat down with Marti Noxon, made famous (infamous?) from her time with Buffy the Vampire Slayer, and Christopher Mintz-Plasse to talk about the vampire technicalities and makeup and more that went into to creating FRIGHT NIGHT.

Read the full interview after the break. (more...)

While at Comic-Con, the stars of FRIGHT NIGHT sat down with journalists to talk about their horror remake, which opens in 3D and 2D theaters on August 19. FRIGHT NIGHT follows a high school senior, Charlie (Anton Yelchin), as his new neighbor turns out to be more than just your average ladykiller.

Keep reading after the break to learn more about how the remake differs from the original, how this is no TWILIGHT vampire flick, and more from the two young leads. (more...)

First-time co-writers Brit Marling and Mike Cahill have been getting a lot of buzz recently for their new film ANOTHER EARTH. A story of a young girl, played by Marling, whose life changes the night a duplicate earth is discovered in the night skies. What follows is a year of sadness and self-awareness as Rhoda attempts to atone for her past. Marling and Cahill sat down with me to talk about the anticipation of meeting oneself, creating a strong yet flawed heroine, and why they chose to make ANOTHER EARTH themselves.

ANOTHER EARTH is out in select theaters Friday, August 5th. Check out the video interview after the break. (more...)

Plenty of people wish that they had another person's life, preferably one who's ridiculously rich, but you know that it's nothing more than a wish. It's not like you're going to wake up one day and have it come true. Unfortunately for a couple of guys the phrase "Be careful what you wished for" holds more weight on them than they ever imagined as they swap bodies in the new raunchy comedy THE CHANGE-UP.

The story follows the lives of two best friends that get turned upside down thanks to a magical pissing fountain. Mitch (played by Ryan Reynolds) is a carefree single man who's semi-unemployed and plenty of women at his disposal while his friend Dave (played by Jason Bateman) is a high-strung father of three who's inches away from achieving his dream job at a law firm. Hilarity ensues once the two unknowingly make the switch but both learn lessons in the process.

Recently we were able to score the opportunity to converse with the stars and director of the latest summer comedy. Despite the crackle of jokes Ryan Reynolds and Jason Bateman kept spitting out through the press conference, we were able to condense it all past the jump. (more...)

Hans Zimmer is one of the definitive composers of the past four decades having composed the scores for such films as CRIMSON TIDE, THE LION KING, GLADIATOR and more recently THE DARK KNIGHT, INCEPTION and PIRATES OF THE CARIBBEAN: ON STRANGER TIDES. Zimmer’s name is practically synonymous with film scoring having also created his own company, Remote Control Productions, in which he works with a variety of composers from Steve Jablonsky (TRANSFORMERS: DARK SIDE OF THE MOON) to Harry Gregson-Williams (COWBOYS & ALIENS) and John Powell (KUNG FU PANDA 2). Zimmer’s ability to infuse electronic elements into the more traditional orchestrations expected of film scores has given him a distinct sound and made his music an integral part of the films he has been a part of. Even out of context, one only needs to hear the “bong” sound Zimmer created for INCEPTION to know what film it belongs or the string elements of SHERLOCK HOLMES let audiences know that those two madcap detectives are at it again. (more...)

Editor's note: this review was originally published on January, 2011 as a Sundance Film Festival review.

Writer/Director: Evan Glodell
Cast: Evan Glodell, Jessie Wiseman, Tyler Dawson

When I first walked out of BELLFLOWER, I was transformed into that cranky film critic you've once read about. A Sundance film about a young hipster who gets his heart broken over a girl? I saw that last year when it was called BLUE VALENTINE, and I even saw it the year before that when it was called (500) DAYS OF SUMMER. I've even seen it on VHS, because I wasn't born when ANNIE HALL was released in theaters. But what hit me over my big, stubborn head is this: BELLFLOWER is a visual spectacle of real independent cinema. Sure, the story isn't original, but my job is to report if I like what I saw, and dear reader, I'm here to tell you this: BELLFLOWER has blossomed into one of my favorite flicks of Sundance 2011. (more...)

With the death of Gordon and the Whale, it is only proper that we have one final advance screening before we put the last nail in the coffin. And how fitting that it be a FINAL DESTINATION marathon, concluding with a special advance screening of the latest installment of the murderous movie franchise, FINAL DESTINATION 5! But that's not all folks...we understand that watching seemingly innocent victims get stalked and offed by Death (in ways that would make the creators of Mousetrap shudder) gives you a thirst and a hunger for more. Watching people cheat death makes you wanna eat! So that's why we're also hooking the winners up with a $25 credit for nommage and beverages of your choosing! One lucky attendee who knows their FD trivia will even win a DVD box set, featuring FINAL DESTINATION 1-4!

Think you have the guts to survive five FINAL DESTINATION films in one day? Hopefully you don't end up like these poor movie goers!

The marathon will take place Thursday, August 11th in Dallas, Texas, beginning with 2000's FINAL DESTINATION at 1:00 pm and concluding with 2011's FINAL DESTINATION 5 at 9:00 pm. To attend, all you have to do click on the *ENTER* button below, register for a ticket, and cross your bones that you're one of the lucky 130 that get in! Want to bring your friends or family? Pass along this link and have them register for a ticket too! Good luck, movie lovers! MUHAHAHA! (more...)

Jason Momoa is definitely a force to be reckoned with. Not only is in the hottest new show of this past year, Game of Thrones, he’ll soon be the quintessential manliest man around as CONAN THE BARBARIAN. On top of these larger than life roles, he’s just a huge presence in the flesh. At Comic-Con, I had the chance to sit with him and Rachel Nichols for a CONAN roundtable and he just commanded the room’s attention. Coming in the room, he immediately walked around, opened all the windows, turned down the air conditioner, and took up two whole seats at the table. No other interview had such a loud entrance and while physically he didn’t need the space, his personality and presence did.

Read all about the roundtable with Jason Momoa and Rachel Nichols after the break. (more...)

Trailers are a fantastic way to get an audience excited or intrigued about an upcoming film release. I used to love watching trailers and would frequently go online to view them in handfuls at the beginning of each month. This led me to some movies that I ended up enjoying as much as I thought I would, but it also tricked me into seeing some movies that I did not end up liking at all.

Obviously the goal of a trailer is to paint the film in the best light possible – whether that means pulling together only the funniest clips, most heartfelt speeches and charming moments, or picking a certain song that will grab people’s attention upon hearing it alone. This latter move is what irks me the most about film trailers and its manipulative use of music. Time and time again a song that people fall in love with as it relates to the film’s trailer does not end up in the film (see: Arcade Fire’s “Wake Up” from the WHERE THE WILD THINGS ARE trailer or Keane’s “Somewhere Only We Know” from the WINNIE THE POOH trailer). In instances such as the Keane song, its use gives a very distinct impression of the tone of the film and had audiences going to see WINNIE with tissues boxes clutched firmly in hand only to find that it was simply a joyful trip to the Hundred Acre Wood. (more...)

So I was thinking about my parents. Thinking, more specifically, about the era they grew up. Both my mom and dad were born in the early 1960s, a time I often think would tragically appeal to some hipster tendencies I wear proudly today. Everyone's got to have a clique to call their own, right? Well, the thing that really messes with my mind is that for upwards of 40 years, my parents lived in an age without the Internet. I know this makes me sound juvenile, but it's really fucking hard for me to imagine living without the Internet. The only memories I have of non-Internet life involve sandboxes and Ahh! Real Monsters. I tend to get overwhelmed by this; by how integral the Internet and social networking are in my understand of day-to-day life. Though recently, I wonder if it's not such a terrible thing after all.

My parents didn't have DMs and "pokes," they didn't send thousands of text messages to communicate with each other when apart. I like to think that romance, in its purest sense, can be found just about anywhere regardless of the era you grow up in. However, there is something much more romantic about falling in love in a time when privacy existed. It's hard not to believe there was a lot more romance in society before the internet came into existence. People knew their neighbors and in-person conversation was less antiquated. My parents fell in love this way, face-to-face.The world was a place for them to share together, the real world and not AOL. I often wonder if I could handle that kind of pressure nowadays. (more...)

Editor's note: this review was originally published on March 16, 2011 as a SXSW Film Festival review.

Writer: Joe Cornish
Director: Joe Cornish
Cast: Jodie Whittaker, John Boyega, Nick Frost, Luke Treadaway

Making a good creature feature is similar to baking a cake - the absence or excess of a few key ingredients can lead to a decidedly unpleasant experience. Necessities include good creature design, characters that an audience cares about (until they get eaten, of course), a deliberate pace (including exciting chases in addition to well-timed moments of suspense), and a good story. I was hoping that ATTACK THE BLOCK would be a good creature feature, but was instead treated to a great one.

The film takes place in South London and the story begins when a nurse named Sam (Jodie Whittaker) is jumped by a hooded gang of youths and their leader Moses (John Boyega). An alien invasion interrupts the mugging, and from this point forward, ATTACK THE BLOCK keeps its foot on the throttle, letting up only for laughs and character development. One of the film's many strengths is how sure of itself it is; ATTACK never waits for the audience to catch up with it. It's refreshing to see ideas and thrills explode from the screen at such a furious pace, with barely enough time to catch a breath. The film utilizes practical creature effects (as opposed to the rampant use of CGI found in most recent works), which work well with the old school feel that the film wears proudly on its sleeve. (more...)

While the line for the Game of Thrones panel was wrapping around the entirety of San Diego, a select number of journalists were sequested away in the Hard Rock Hotel. What were we all doing in this room? The team behind THE DARKEST HOUR had gathered us all to see the world premiere of the trailer and learn more about the film. While this film wasn’t officially a part of Comic-Con, it was definitely the best thing I saw all weekend.

Inside the small suite, we saw exclusive production stills, the world premiere of the trailer, and heard about the creation of the film. Keep reading to learn what THE DARKEST HOUR is all about and why it outshined even THE AMAZING SPIDER-MAN. (more...)

After talking about it endlessly, and praying to the gods of Asgard for the CAPTAIN AMERICA movie to come out, it has finally hit the big screen. This may not be Marvel's first attempt at bringing THE FIRST AVENGER to the big screen, but this is easily the quintessential version. We've all seen it, and we were very happy to dig right in.

We also dig into the AMAZING SPIDER-MAN trailer, and Captain Planet even showed up for a bit.

You can check out the episode after the break! (more...)

Thanks to its selection as the opening film of the Venice Film Festival, later showing at the Toronto International Film Festival, and impressive lineup of actors, George Clooney’s political thriller THE IDES OF MARCH might just be one of the year’s most acclaimed features.

Over the past few weeks, we’ve been introduced to official stills from the film, and now we have a poster for the film thanks to RopeofSilicon that you can check out after the break. (more...)

After starting in Washington D.C. nine years ago, Horror Movie Night has expanded to include chapters in Austin, Dallas, and Chicago. GATW’s own Brian Kelley is the originator and programmer of this illustrious weekly Wednesday night tradition which features a “classic” horror film. Each week I will be reviewing/commenting on the past week’s selection so do your best to find the film, most of which have not made it past VHS, and follow along. Better yet, start your own chapter!

Another week was all set to go and I got the word from Horror Movie Night’s daddy, Brian Kelley, saying that the Austin clan would not be meeting. What to do? I had options. We could just skip a week or I could say “fuck it,” and watch DEADLINE as planned. Instead I chose option C. Since I my last BYE week pick was so much fun I had been salivating over the thought of getting to its sequel, so that’s what we did. Could VIDEO VIOLENCE 2 live up to the hype and low-budget pressures of its predecessor? Would there be some great shot-on-video gore? How many hats would Eli wear? All questions would be answered in a very quick 75 minutes. (more...)

During Comic-Con weekend, Dominic Cooper took some time away from all the geekery to talk about his latest project, THE DEVIL’S DOUBLE. It was definitely quite the change of pace from all the superheros, science-fiction, and fantasy tales that got their moment in the spotlight at Comic-Con.

THE DEVIL’S DOUBLE follows a young Iraqi as he gets swept into the Hussein family, as the son’s look-a-like. How do you keep hold of who you are when playing someone else in public? How do you keep your family safe when any false move could bring down the wrath of one of the most unstable and dangerous men in the Middle East?

Dominic Cooper explored these questions and more in a chat he had we me and a few other journalists. Find out his thoughts on Comic-Con, the true story of THE DEVIL’S DOUBLE, and more in the full transcript after the break. (more...)

For the past several years, Emma Stone worked her way up through Hollywood, but just last year, she turned heads with her star-making performance in EASY A. That performance led to a highly deserved Golden Globe nomination and a spot on the A-list. With three features out this year – including FRIENDS WITH BENEFITS, which hit theaters this past weekend – she isn’t slowing down any time soon.

On that note, Variety relays that Stone is currently negotiating for a part in Ruben Fleischer’s THE GANGSTER SQUAD. If negotiations to reunite with the director behind ZOMBIELAND go as planned, she’ll play Jean, a witty siren who gets stuck in a love triangle with Mickey Cohen, as played by Sean Penn, and Ryan Gosling’s character. (more...)

When it comes to directors that one would assume would be well represented in the Criterion Collection, Todd Solondz is one of those filmmakers. However, despite Solondz being a highly influential auteur within the indie film world, it’s taken over 570 releases for the director to finally hit the collection. And it’s a sequel no less (well, kind of a sequel, at least).

A neo-sequel to his beloved masterpiece HAPPINESS, LIFE DURING WARTIME is Solondz’s first entry in the Criterion Collection, and finds a new cast taking on characters introduced over a decade prior. Starring Shirley Henderson, Allison Janney, Ally Sheedy, and Ciaran Hinds, the film follows a collection of stories of people with major existential issues. A recently released pedophile, a woman dealing with the return of a true blue ghost out of her past, a mother trying to deal with her son, and a burgeoning relationship are just some of the characters one meets during the film. (more...)

The horror comedy seems to be back in a big way this year. Some of the best highlights of the convention for me were KNIGHTS OF BADASSDOM and TUCKER & DALE VS. THE EVIL, two films that are bringing the blood and guts and gore, but also the laughs.

During the panel, the director Eli Craig and stars Alan Tudyk and Tyler Labine, along with writer-producer Morgan Jurgenson, were on hand to talk about the film and premiere three clips that had the audience cracking up.

Keep reading for the premiered footage and my exclusive interview with TUCKER & DALE VS. EVIL stars Alan Tudyk and Tyler Labine after the break. (more...)

It’s no surprise that director Tobe Hooper is most well known for a small indie horror flick from 1974 called THE TEXAS CHAIN SAW MASSACRE. This film shocked audiences the world over and became one of the most influential and frightening films of the genre. But before he would strike box office gold with Steven Spielberg on POLTERGEIST in 1982 he made a few more films with varying degrees of success and cult status. One such film is a creepy carnival centric picture from 1981 called THE FUNHOUSE and now Arrow Video has decided to honor this overshadowed film with a fantastic Blu-ray release.

The film sees a group of four teens on a double date making way to a traveling carnival for the evening. Once there, they see all of the great sideshow attractions, spend time playing games on the midway and riding an assortment of rides with questionable safety regulations. After a while, Amy Harper (Elizabeth Berridge) calls home to say she’ll be spending the night with a girlfriend – in actuality the quartet is going to stay behind after hours in the carnival’s funhouse for the purposes of dirty, dirty teen sexual interaction. As you would imagine, things go very wrong with their plan as they witness a murder, see a severely deformed boy, and have to fight to make it out alive. (more...)

LEON MORIN, PRIEST is not the first film that pops into one’s mind when discussing the life and career of iconic auteur Jean-Pierre Melville. Best known for films like LE CERCLE ROUGE, ARMY OF SHADOWS, and LE SAMOURAI, Melville is one of cinema’s most beloved directors, and also one of its most influential. Thirteen features to his name (as well as one short), Melville was quite prolific over his career which spanned from the 1946 release of his short, VINGT-QUATRE HEURES DE LA VIE D’UN CLOWN until 1972 with the release of UN FLIC. LEON MORIN, PRIEST is one film that has seemed to have been forgotten when having discussions of Melville’s career. However, thanks to The Criterion Collection, we now have a crisp and beautiful Blu-ray of this absolute masterpiece.

Set during WWII, LEON MORIN follows a young widow, Barny, who must deal with her new ound love for her gorgeous boss, Sabine. Just one of a handful of conflicts the atheist Barny must deal with, she begins to spark a relationship with an attractive young priest, Leon Morin, and begins to converse with both faith (she feels as though baptizing her daughter will save her) as well as God almighty himself.

Led by Jean-Paul Belmondo in a role seemingly birthed for him, the film may not be as strong or as iconic as Melville’s crime pictures, but it’s no less affecting, and no less intriguing. (more...)

We’ve teamed up with MSN FilmFan to discuss the films opening this weekend. We’d love to hear your input on what you’re most interested in seeing and why.

In this week's MSN FilmFan video, host Sami Jarroush discusses last week's FilmFan poll in which readers pick their favorite HARRY POTTER movie, what he thinks is the best superhero film of the summer (spoiler: it's CAPTAIN AMERICA: THE FIRST AVENGER), and why FRIENDS WITH BENEFITS is much better than NO STRINGS ATTACHED. Jarroush also talks the history of Captain America, and the so-bad-it's-bad 1990 first feature of the superhero. (more...)

While Gordon and the Whale has sadly reached the end of its journey, a new one begins. Many of you who looked to this site as your source for giveaways and advance screenings in Dallas and Austin are probably wondering where you can now look to in order to fill your cinematic needs. Well, look no further...

I Heart Cinema.net, founded by Gordon and the Whale Senior Editor James Wallace (that's me!), will offer the same wonderful opportunities that Gordon and the Whale did, including advance screenings in both Dallas and Austin, online giveaways, filmmaker-attended screenings featuring Q&As, exclusive screenings, sponsored film series, awards show watching parties, movie-themed bar nights and satellite events, etc. etc. etc. But that's not all folks, I Heart Cinema.net aims to connect the reel with the real people in your own community! If it's cinematic in nature and it's a live event in the DFW or ATX area, you can count on I Heart Cinema.net to be your ticket to the movies!

I Heart Cinema.net is coming soon to a theater near you. Check out the site now and sign up to be notified as soon as it goes live in September. For your immediate contest needs, follow I Heart Cinema.net"> on Twitter @IHeartCinemaNet and Like us on Facebook where advance screenings will be posted starting today until full site launch.

UPDATE: We've been notified by the studio that this is just signed by Weisz.

Gordon and the Whale has teamed up with Samuel Goldwyn Film to give our readers the chance to win a poster from their new film THE WHISTLEBLOWER, signed by star Rachel Weisz, director Larysa Kondracki, and the film's real life inspiration Kathy Bolkovac.

For your chance to win, all you have to do is fill out the form after the break. Deadline ends at 11:59 PM on Friday, August 5th. On Saturday, August 6th we will select a winner via random drawing and notify them by email. Good luck, movie lovers!

ONE ENTRY PER HOUSEHOLD. NO PURCHASE NECESSARY. CONTESTANTS MUST LIVE INSIDE THE U.S. ITEMS CANNOT BE SHIPPED TO P.O. BOX. (more...)

Gordon and the Whale has teamed up with Sony Pictures Classics to give our readers the chance to win a poster from their new film THE GUARD, signed by stars Don Cheadle and Brendan Gleeson.

For your chance to win, all you have to do is fill out the form after the break. Deadline ends at 11:59 PM on Monday, August 1st. On Tuesday, August 2nd we will select a winner via random drawing and notify them by email. Good luck, movie lovers!

ONE ENTRY PER HOUSEHOLD. NO PURCHASE NECESSARY. CONTESTANTS MUST LIVE INSIDE THE U.S. ITEMS CANNOT BE SHIPPED TO P.O. BOX. (more...)

The Live Action Role Playing movie is ideal for a Comic-Con debut. Where else will you find so many real LARPers in one place? The cast and crew for the new film, KNIGHTS OF BADASSDOM, came out to Hall H to debut the trailer and talk about the film. This was one of the films no one really knew anything about before the 'con, so the panel was a happy surprise in terms of just how funny this film looks to be.

The panel was packed with some huge names in the genre world, including Ryan Kwanten (True Blood), Jimmi Simpson (It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia), Danny Pudi (Community), Michael Gladis (Mad Men), Margarita Lavieva (ADVENTURELAND) and the biggest names: Summer Glau (Firefly, Serenity) and Peter Dinklage (Game of Thrones). Also leading the show was Joe Lynch, the first-time director of the film.

Keep reading after the break for a full panel recap and the Comic-Con debuted trailer. (more...)

At Comic-Con today, I had the chance to sit down with two very new and promising filmmakers. The Vicious Brothers, aka Colin Minihan and Stuart Ortiz, started dreaming of making movies at the young age of 13. After writing scripts together and working on some ideas online, they finally got the ball rolling once they hit 18 and met in the flesh.

With any found footage film, the comparisions to BLAIR WITCH were rampant. But they actually drew mostly from the original Spanish film [REC]. It was a stripped-down and more realistic film that used their small budget to their advantage. Small budgets work well with horror because it’s all about what you don’t see and what could be in the darkness out there.

They decided to keep it kind of rooted in reality by having the camera’s the actors were holding running during the scenes. Some scenes had as many as 3 or 4 cameras running at once, and in editing they would decide which bits to take from each camera to complete the scenes. It worked out where roughly 75% of the film is the professional camera with them shooting, and the rest is from the actor’s cameras when shooting scenes and running through the old hospital.

Read the exclusive interview and catch the official trailer after the break. (more...)

This year’s Asian Film Festival of Dallas (AFFD) has a wonderful line-up of films representing all manner of countries in the East. Unfortunately there’s just not time enough to see them all. I am the lone GATWer covering this festival so instead of doing full reviews of all the films, which would take forever, I’ll be giving shorter critiques in a couple of recapping posts to give you a wide look at everything this ten-year-old fest has to offer. (more...)

THIS CONTEST IS NOW OVER. PLEASE CHECK YOUR EMAIL TO SEE IF YOU'VE WON!

Gordon and the Whale has teamed up with Millennium Entertainment to give our readers the chance to win a copy of TRUST on DVD (available on Tuesday, July 26th). For your chance to win, all you have to do is fill out the form after the break. Deadline ends at 11:59 PM on Thursday, July 28th. On Friday, July 29th we will select five winners via random drawing and notify them by email. Good luck, movie lovers!

ONE ENTRY PER HOUSEHOLD. NO PURCHASE NECESSARY. CONTESTANTS MUST LIVE INSIDE THE U.S. ITEMS CANNOT BE SHIPPED TO P.O. BOX. (more...)