Noah Buschel’s recent flick, THE MISSING PERSON, opens this Friday in Los Angeles (but if you’re in New York, you can catch it now). I spoke with Noah last week about the film, which follows a private detective (played by the eerie and awesome Michael Shannon) trailing a man who’s been missing since the real life unfortunate events of 9/11.

The other day I uploaded my interview with Michael Shannon, and now you can check out Noah’s after the jump. Be sure to catch THE MISSING PERSON if it’s playing in your area. If it isn’t, bug the hell out of your local indie cinema! (more…)

Lots of people are excited about THE ADVENTURES OF TINTIN: THE SECRET OF THE UNICORN. It’s an adaptation of the wildly popular comic-strip, it’s starring the brilliant and funny duo Simon Pegg and Nick Frost, and, if you needed any more reason to be excited about all of this, two of Hollywood’s heaviest hitters, Steven Spielberg and Peter Jackson, are attached.

Peter Jackson has been busy promoting his latest film, THE LOVELY BONES. Amidst other things, Jackson spilled some information on the progress of his work-in-progress, TINTIN. According to Jackson, filming for TINTIN has absolutely and completely wrapped. Post-production is now under way. (more…)

The picture above shows us our first glimpse at SHREK FOREVER AFTER, the fourth and final movie in the SHREK series. Not surprisingly, the image shows us more of the same. There is Shrek the ogre, along with Rumpelstiltskin, who up until now has only been an incredibly minor character, but now has a major role to play.

In the film, Shrek is beginning to feel the pressures of domestic life and in order to get his mojo, or “roar,” back he makes a deal with Rumpelstiltskin. In classic Shrek fashion, “the pact goes awry and Shrek must confront what life would be like in Far Far Away if he had never existed. That translates into Donkey being forced into cart-pulling duty, fat and lazy Puss in Boots trading his sword for a pink bow and the underhanded Rumpelstiltskin ruling the kingdom.” (more…)

Marvel made the announcement yesterday that Kat Denning is officially a part of the cast of THOR. We told you about Natalie Portman leaking the news to MTV yesterday, but we like to back up all rumor and speculation about casting with hard facts.

Variety is confirming that the actress who has made a name for herself in films such as THE 40 YEAR OLD VIRGIN, NICK & NORAH’S INFINITE PLAYLIST, and CHARLIE BARTLETT, is in fact a part of the impressive lineup for THOR, which includes Sir Anthony Hopkins (Odin), Natalie Portman (Jane Foster), Stellan Skarsgard, Stuart Townsend (Fandral), Ray Stevenson (Volstagg), Todd Hiddleston (Loki), and Chris Hemsworth (Thor).

Dennings will play Darcy, who works with Natalie Portman’s character, Jane Foster. (more…)

In perhaps the most exciting news of the day (at least for fans of bromantic comedies), it was announced that Judd Apatow and Universal Pictures have picked up three films from Aziz Ansari and Jason Woliner.  The two worked together on the MTV show “Human Giant.”

Ansari will star in at least one of the films and the duo is set to write at least one of the films as well.

The first film, titled LET’S DO THIS, is a road comedy that follows two friends who work for a motivational speaking company as they travel together. The second film is an untitled comedy about a disgraced astronaut who has to return to space to clear his name. The third film, which is also untitled, is inspired by Ansari’s character Raaaaaaaandy from the Apatow directed film FUNNY PEOPLE.  The news comes fast on the heels of the release of FUNNY PEOPLE on DVD.  Woliner is set to direct all three of the films, but it is unclear if the duo will write all three films. (more…)

On Halloween night I made the mistake of going to see PARANORMAL ACTIVITY by myself. I can honestly say, as silly as it may sound, that it’s the most scared a movie has made me since I was five. For those of you who didn’t get to experience it in theaters, the film is being fast-tracked onto Blu-ray and DVD in time for the new year.

I say that it is being rushed because of the surprising lack of features. About the only thing worth checking out an alternate ending, which you may have seen floating around YouTube a few weeks ago before it got taken down. The movie will be available for purchase on December 29th. Keep reading to see Paramount’s press release. (more…)

Rating: 6/10

Writers: Cormac McCarthy (novel) and Joe Penhall (screenplay adaptation)
Director: John Hillcoat
Starring: Viggo Mortensen, Charlize Theron, Kodi Smit-McPhee, Robert Duvall
Studio: Dimension

Originally posted on Oct. 13th

Heading into John Hillcoat’s film adaptation of Cormac McCarthy’s dreary epic “The Road,” I made a promise to myself to judge the film based on its own merits rather than those of the book. Let me be clear, I am a big, big fan of the book. But it’s always seemed silly to me to compare two disparate art forms and lets be honest, rarely (if ever) does the movie stack up to the book. Yet as Hillcoat’s film unspooled before me, it became basically impossible to separate his vision from that of McCarthy’s and as a result, the film left me kind of cold. (more…)

Rating: 9/10

Writers: Roald Dahl (novel), Wes Anderson and Noah Baumbach (screenplay)
Director: Wes Anderson
Cast: George Clooney, Meryl Streep, Jason Schwartzman, Bill Murray, Michael Gambon, Willem Dafoe, Owen Wilson (all voice)
Studio: Twentieth Century Fox

Originally posted on November 6th, 2009

Let’s get the obvious pun out of the way, and then we can all pretend it didn’t happen and that I am significantly cleverer than such a simple sentence would imply. FANTASTIC MR. FOX is fantastic! I feel better now that I’ve said that.

Like the other recent based-on-a-classic-kids’-book film adaptation WHERE THE WILD THINGS ARE, FANTASTIC MR. FOX is not necessarily meant for the little kiddies. But unlike WILD THINGS, its audience (adults and kids alike) will not walk of the film under a dark cloud of existential sadness (that wasn’t just me, right?). This is not to say that the film does not tackle some big issues, because it certainly does. Our fantastic Mr. Fox brings destruction and almost imminent death to those nearest and dearest to him. And he does it all out of a misguided desire to appear cool and hip, to court the danger he thinks that, as a fox, he should always be embroiled in. But, along the way, there is no shortage of belly laughs, dance numbers, plucky music, and real heart. (more…)

Rating: 8/10

Writer: Holly Gent Palmo & Vincent Palmo Jr. (screenplay), Robert Kaplow (novel)
Director: Richard Linklater
Cast: Zac Efron, Christian McKay, Claire Danes, Ben Chaplin
Studio: Freestyle

Richard Linklater’s directing resume includes the stoner coming of age comedy DAZED AND CONFUSED, a pointed attack at the practices of the fast food industry in FAST FOOD NATION, as well as BEFORE SUNRISE, a film about two people that spend a short but very romantic time together. You also get the based-on-a-true-story bank robber movie, THE NEWTON BOYS, and a pretty funny remake of BAD NEWS BEARS. These are not all of Linklater’s films, but I think you get the idea – the guy likes to jump genres and mood, and tends to have success at it. Of course, he has had few misfires in his career, but overall, a respectable resume.

Linklater continues his admirable diversity with ME AND ORSON WELLES, a nicely-executed period piece that works as a glimpse into the highs and lows of being around greatness. In this case, Orson Welles himself, while also giving an appreciative nod to the theatre way of life. (more…)

Rating: 4/10

Writers: Matthew Sand (screenplay) & J. Michael Straczynski (screenplay), Matthew Sand (story)
Director: James McTeigue
Cast: Rain, Naomie Harris, Rick Yune, Ben Miles
Studio: Warner Bros. Pictures

You do not expect a movie called NINJA ASSASSIN to be boring. What you do expect is high amounts of entertaining and stylized action from a film with this title and its trailers, especially when you consider the film is from V FOR VENDETTA director and Wachowski brothers protégé, James McTeigue. Translation = not boring; unfortunately, this is not what you will get.

The fact that NINJA ASSASSIN turned out as boring as it did is stunning. How could this happen with a story that centers on one of world’s coolest creations, ninjas, as well as a director that proved his action and visual chops with V FOR VENDETTA? Well, the film does deal with a tale of a rogue ninja taking revenge on his former clan, but the problem is this that story is intertwined with a plot line that amounts to that of a bad international thriller. (more…)

When the trailer for the new NIGHTMARE ON ELM STREET premiered a few months back, we were left wondering just how gruesome the new Freddy Krueger would look. The trailer teased us with a few shadowy shots, but nothing really to confirm what I’d read about the redesign being much more realistic.

Now, Shock Till You Drop has for us our first good look at Jackie Earle Haley’s Krueger. The picture comes to us courtesy of a collectible figurine, so we still don’t know what it will look like on film, but it’s still exactly what I was expecting: disgusting and awesome. (more…)

You may not know the name James McTeigue but you should. To his credit, the Australian-born filmmaker has worked on The Matrix Trilogy, Star Wars: Episode II – Attack of the Clones and Speed Racer. Those are just to name a few. McTeigue has served as Assistant Director and Second Unit Director on some pretty high profile projects for two decades, often collaborating with the visionary Wachowski Brothers (The Matrix Trilogy). It was the brothers who gave McTiegue his first gig as a director in 2005, when he helmed the film adaptation of the popular Alan Moore (“Watchmen”) graphic novel, V for Vendetta. Now McTeigue is back with his next film, the action-packed NINJA ASSASSIN. We sat down with the director at this past year’s Fantastic Fest to discuss NINJA ASSASSIN, in all its bloody glory.

Check out the interview after the jump! (more…)

Good scripts are not always essential to a successful film, assuming, like Hollywood, you measure success by box-office dollars. I wouldn’t exactly say that the recent TRANSFORMERS sequel had a strong story-line, but I guess it made up for it in the visuals. But, aside from those types of blockbusters, scripts play an important role in making a good movie. This is why I am very pleased to bring you some news on three big project’s screenplays. (more…)

The horror-comedy ZOMBIELAND did well at the box office when it was released earlier this year, and it also had success with the critics, getting mostly favorable reviews. So it’s not surprising that, in a recent chat with Moviehole, ZOMBIELAND director Ruben Fleischer confirmed that Sony is very interested in making a ZOMBIELAND sequel. And according to the same article Fleischer, and all of the film’s main actors (Woody Harrelson, Jesse Eisenberg, Abigail Breslin, and Emma Stone) would be willing to do that sequel.

However, there is even more ZOMBIELAND sequel-related news from the same interview. Fleischer also mentioned that it is likely that the sequel, if it happens, would be in 3D. Fleischer is excited by this possibility, saying “the genre really lends itself to 3D.”

So a ZOMBIELAND sequel sounds like a strong possibility going on the information revealed by Fleischer, and in 3D no less. As one of the many people that loved ZOMBIELAND, I would be very pumped for a sequel, 3D or not.

The rebel with a mustache comedy YOUTH IN REVOLT gives you two Michael Ceras for the price of one. First, you have the standard awkward and amusing Michael Cera as Nick Twisp, a young man in love with a girl that just doesn’t see him that way. So to become the man his beloved desires, Cera’s Nick creates an alternate personality in Francois Dillinger, a confident badass. This reminds of when the great Steve Urkel, with the help of science, transformed himself into the cool Stefan in order to get Laura Winslow. Urkel still has so much to teach us, we just need to listen.

This latest trailer is set up similarly to the previous one, but there is a fair amount of new footage, including scenes with some of the film’s famous faces that weren’t in the first trailer, like Steve Buscemi and Justin Long. Check out the new trailer after the jump. (more…)