After a long stint out of acting, having been, well… “recovering”… she has now confirmed signing on for a role in Robert Rodriguez’s new film MACHETE. Rodriguez recently told MTV that he has “a cool part in the movie for her — if she takes it.” The casting news allegedly came from Lohan herself via Twitter.
Assuming this news is 100% legit, Lohan would be joining Danny Trejo along with a rumored cast that includes Robert De Niro, Jonah Hill, Michelle Rodriguez, Steven Seagal and Tom Savini. MACHETE is an extension of the fake trailer that played with GRINDHOUSE and is being co-directed by Robert Rodriguez and Ethan Maniquis.
Check out the faux trailer from GRINDHOUSE below… (WARNING: NSFW !!!)
Caitlin McIntosh, lead actress in the vampire thriller SHADOWLAND will appear at St. Louis’ Tivoli Theatre on Sunday, August 2nd from 4pm to 7pm. She will be signing and giving out photos to promote the film’s recent release through Landmark Theatres.
Caitlin McIntosh is an actress, beauty queen, and fitness competitor from the St. Louis area. She recently won the Mrs. Missouri Pageant and the Mrs. United States Swimsuit Fitness Competition, and was also featured as both a Hooters Corporate Rep and calendar girl. She has won two acting awards for SHADOWLAND, a locally-produced feature in which she portrays a vampire suffering from amnesia.
SHADOWLAND, a Pirate Pictures Production, debuted July 24th on only one screen but still placed #17 on Variety’s Box Office Listings for per-screen average. The film has since been held over and will continue to play at the Tivoli through August 6th.
SHADOWLAND was written and directed by Wyatt Weed, produced by Gayle Gallagher, and executive produced by Robert A. Clark. The film also stars Carlos Antonio León and Jason Contini. The Tivoli Theatre is located at 6350 Delmar Blvd. in University City, St. Louis.
Suggesting that funnyman filmmaker Judd Apatow is a comic genius is like suggesting the world is round… it’s old news. It’s well-established that the man behind so many of today’s most hilarious and successfully crafted cinematic comedies can practically do no wrong. Well, he’s produced a couple of stinkers, but as a writer and director he’s nearly unbeatable. Shall I say he’s this generation’s Mel Brooks? No, his films are nothing like Mel’s. I’m merely suggesting he is that kind of comedic powerhouse.
FUNNY PEOPLE is, believe it or not, only the third feature film with Apatow as director. Having both written and directed this newest project, the film clearly has the feel of being a very personal project. How much of the inspiration from this story comes from his own life is unknown, but any good writer or artist will tell you that there’s always a bit of themselves in their work, whether they like it or not.
Adam Sandler plays George Simmons, an absurdly wealthy and successful comedian turned movie star, having made a fortune from making crappy kid’s movies and big studio comedies. Seriously, this guy’s house is nuts, so think of Simmons on the level of Jim Carrey, for example. We quickly learn that George has a rare form of leukemia and the news of his chances for recovering rock his world. At first, George opts to play it cool and not tell anyone his bad news. But as the burden of keeping this knowledge to himself begins to wear on him, he seeks solace from fellow comedians.
George happens to meet Ira Wright, played by Seth Rogen, an aspiring yet not well-hones stand-up comedian that somehow sparks George’s curiosity. In an effort to make the best of his remaining time, George hires Ira as an assistant and asks him to write jokes for him to start performing stand-up again. Ira lives with his two roommates Leo (Jonah Hill) a slightly more successful stand-up comedian and Mark (Jason Schwartzman) an ego-driven, less talented semi-star of a WB-style teen sitcom called YO TEACH. Ira also works at a local grocery store to make ends meet while struggling at his comedy, so being asked to write for George Simmons in a windfall.
Ira and George develop an awkward implied friendship. They’re an odd couple, but it works and they feed off each other, personally and professionally. The humor in FUNNY PEOPLE is smart, real and filled with substance, while not ignoring the type of writing and dialogue that has made past Apatow films so great. This is really more of a dramedy than any of his other films. FUNNY PEOPLE deals with some fairly sensitive human emotions and experiences, including that of realizing the one George let get away was his own fault. Leslie Mann plays Laura, George ex-girlfriend from 12 years past that nearly became his wife, but is now married to an Australian rugby-obsessed businessman played by Eric Bana.
FUNNY PEOPLE is a film about what’s truly important in life and what things like fame and fortune can do to us. It’s a film about how sometimes we need a serious wake-up call in life, an uncomfortable moment as we stare into the face of death to truly realize that the life we lead isn’t always the life we want. George isn’t perfect. Far from it as we witness him make many of the same mistakes over and over again in life, even after he faces it’s potential end and it’s that strange relationship he shares with Ira that will ultimately define how he pursues his second chance at life.
FUNNY PEOPLE is a real treat, laying out a wonderful story with great comedy both on and off the stage. Rogen’s performance has two stages, as he begins as a painfully struggling amateur that instills the need to cringe but develops over time into a more polished and promising comedian. The moments on stage from Sandler and Jonah Hill are near priceless. There’s an element of watching Lenny Bruce’s downward spiral from entertaining comical brilliance to over-bearing political indulgence as George Simmons takes his sickness on stage with him in one scene and a hush falls over the crowd and he slips into a very dark place. It’s an extremely powerful scene as George has some inner moment of harsh clarity.
The cast also includes Aubrey Plaza (Mystery Team) as a fellow amateur comedian and Ira’s love interest, The RZA as Ira’s co-worker in the grocery store deli, Aziz Ansari (Parks and Recreation) as another comedian as well as several surprise guest appearances playing themselves as friends and colleagues of George Simmons. Another element of the film that plays an unlikely but welcome role in the film is the music, featuring artists uncommonly heard in such big films like the brilliant Wilco.
Long story short, FUNNY PEOPLE is almost entirely a grand slam. The only real complaint I have about the film is the long segment at Laura’s house when George and Ira visit. This portion of the film does drag a bit and takes up precious screen time with non-essential plot elements that could have been effectively touched upon in a much shorter and refined approach. The total running time for FUNNY PEOPLE is 146 minutes, but a good 30 minutes or so could have been cut and the film would have been a that much better. Otherwise, FUNNY PEOPLE is a fun and light-hearted comedy with Apatow flair and a good, inspiring story that will have you leaving the theater feeling satisfied.
So, perhaps this week’s Fantasy Cast is more geared towards the ladies, but I’m not ashamed to admit that the original 1964 feature film MY FAIR LADY is among the very best of cinematic musicals. Then again, it doesn’t hurt that I find Audrey Hepburn nearly as fascinating as Marilyn Monroe, but not for all the same reasons. Then again, Eliza Doolittle is a character similar in some odd ways to the character of Marilyn Monroe that Norma Jeane Baker created to secure her own fame and success. Hang on, I’ve gone off on a tangent again.
The 1964 film has been a favorite with the genre fans for decades, starring the beautiful Audrey hepburn alongside Rex Harrison and directed by Geroge Cukor. The story follows a poor cockney flower girl (Hepburn) who happens upon an upper class phoenetics professor (Harrison) who wagers that he can turn her into a high class, proper English-speaking member of society in record time, but fails to recognize the effects it will have on the poor girl as she struggles to cope with her new self.
It’s recently been revealed that Columbia Pictures and Toledo Productions have optioned the rights to remake this beloved musical. Alan Jay Lerner and Geroge Bernard Shaw are currently writing wrote the script. Nothing has been confirmed yet, but plenty of rumors have been generated. One of such rumors involves the possibility of SLUMDOG MILLIONAIRE director Danny Boyle being considered to helm the remake. Of course, no remake of MY FAIR LADY could ever succeed without the perfect actress being cast for the role. Now, to suggest that anyone is more perfect than Audrey Hepburn for this role could be called blasphemous, so we’ll assume the best and work with what we have. Rumors have surfaced here as well with two top contenders being hyped. Some camps are vying for Claire Danes to wear the massive victorian hats, whereas other camps are inclined to go with Keira Knightley. Personally, I feel a third viable candidate to consider is Anne Hathaway. It’s certainly a tough call…
There you have it. Three choices for a role that many consider sacred. Of course, nothing says we have to stop there. Who would you like to see cast as Eliza Doolittle? Heck, should the film even be made? If you don’t like these casting options, go ahead and tell us who you see as the perfect “second” choice to Audrey Hepburn. Let us all know how you feel and what your vote is by leaving comments below. And, as always, if you have any ideas for future Fantasy Casts, shoot us an email with your ideas. You can find all of our email addresses right here!
Of all the strange and powerful and crazy and life-altering events that occurred in the 1960’s the UP WITH PEOPLE chorus was among the most defining, but as the documentary film SMILE TIL IT HURTS suggests, it wasn’t always a positively defining undertaking. The film consists of two very basic elements, contemporary interviews with the individuals who were involved at the time and archival footage of the events of that bygone era. However, the film becomes anything but very basic as it opens the flood gates of knowledge about an era of turbulence of which many younger generations likely have no understanding.
Directed by Lee Storey, SMILE TIL IT HURTS utilizes the contrast of the perfect, utopian Brady Bunch appeal of the UP WITH PEOPLE sing-outs with the underlying implications of the Moral Re-Armament movement that supported and backed the UP WITH PEOPLE front. On the surface, UP WITH PEOPLE was an organization that seemed incapable of flaw, but in reality many of the group’s members would come to find themselves torn between their own genuine beliefs that what they were doing could change the world for the better, yet at the same time it was being exploited and perverted for purposes that didn’t always align with their beliefs.
The various documented reels of film that are used in SMILE TIL IT HURTS are a lesson in history, one which you’ll not find it textbooks. The film’s interviews, while less dynamic than the archival footage, contain the bulk of the substance in the film. An interview with one minority cast member of UP WITH PEOPLE builds to an emotional moment as she reveals her first real experience with the extreme cruelty of racism, recollecting a moment in which she faced a man with a gun, intent on standing his prejudiced ground and all she could muster the courage and ability to do was to start singing one of the UP WITH PEOPLE songs titled WHAT COLOR IS GOD’S SKIN? It’s a powerful scene that beautifully illustrates the one aspect of life in the 60’s.
One of the most amazingly unbelievable pieces of archival footage, surreal in it’s appearance, is when members of the Up With People cast are visiting a native African tribe in their homeland and performing their trademark song, Up With People, in the tribe’s native tongue. The image created of these 1950’s style teens wearing cardigans with their guitars strapped around their necks as the African people being performed for sort of casually dance and appear to have a good time, almost as though they were doing so to be polite.
As the story of UP WITH PEOPLE unfolds before our eyes, it becomes apparent that the powers that be at the top of the MRA and UP WITH PEOPLE were not holding true and sincere to their stated cause, abusing the organization’s incredible popularity and influence as a means to secure power and sway the flow of politics and even to support the continuation of the Vietnam War. One of the truly shocking revelations of SMILE TIL IT HURTS is that there are so many former members that speak their minds in this film that it’s hard to believe the organization was ever perceived as a meaningful movement with good intentions.
SMILE TIL IT HURTS is a surprisingly shocking, funny and informative documentary. At one moment disturbing, at another moment humorous, the film bounces back and forth as not to become a completely depressing journey. Some of the lighter moments include one member’s recollections of what it was like having to make yourself smile all the time, an act that should represent and bring joy that at times produced pain and discomfort for those cast members. Another former cast member recalls UP WITH PEOPLE’s epic half-time performance in 1982 during Super Bowl XVI in Detroit.
Whether you see SMILE TIL IT HURTS as an informative documentary, a humorous flashback to another time and place or as a valuable social commentary, the film is certainly worth seeing and deserves attention. While the film is a historical peice, it also has equally as much value in today’s world, in politics, corporate policies and social relations. The film is likely to have as many people tearing it down as it will have cheering it’s praises. My only advice would be to view the film with an open mind and a desire to learn about another piece of our history from the horse’s mouths, so to speak.
SMILE TIL IT HURTS: THE UP WITH PEOPLE STORY will be screening in the DocuWeeks Film Festival from July 31 through August 20 in Los Angeles and New York.
LA Screenings: July 31 – Aug 6
NY Screenings: Aug 7 – 13
REVANCHE, which is German for revenge, is a hard sell. An Austrian production, the film is in both German and Russian with tiny little white subtitles. The primary reason I start off by mentioning the subtitles is because a film as slow and generally uninteresting as REVANCHE is made even more difficult to appreciate by it’s often difficult to follow subtitles written in broken English.
Written and directed by Götz Spielmann, REVANCHE follows an ex-con named Alex (Johannes Krisch) as he plans a bank robbery he perceives as no fail. He intends to escape his insignificant life, running away with an attractive prostitute named Tamara (Irina Potapenko) who only wants to escape the sex business. Ironically, Alex has an unquenchable sex drive, but he cares deeply for Tamara and they get along well.
The initial obstacle for Alex and Tamara is her boss Konecny, a big hulking gorilla of a man who has big plans for Tamara. Plans of which she holds no interest in pursuing and becomes the final straw, convincing the lovers to finally flee their mutual misery. They are both at risk of Konecny’s wrath as Alex also has been working for him as a sort of bouncer and miscellaneous hired hand.
All Alex and Tamara need to do to begin their new lives together is to pull off this one simple bank robbery and their free. When the robbery unexpectedly goes terribly wrong, Alex finds himself distraught with guilt and anger, leading him to pursue a path of vengeance. A simultaneously occurring story involves police officer Robert (Andreas Lust) and his wife Susanne (Ursula Strauss) who recently miscarried the married couple’s first child. The couple are having a rough go at recovering from their recent trauma and their story gradually becomes intertwined with that of Alex and Tamara’s.
As if the 121-minute running time wasn’t enough to make time itself feel cruel, the film is shot in a washed out palette that features tan and gray as it’s recurring color scheme. There is nothing dynamic in REVANCHE to hold the viewers sleepy eyes, aside from the frequently exposed breasts of actresses Irina Potapenko and Ursula Strauss. Static shots, a straight-forward perspective and a complete lack of cinematic energy, the film does have an essence of realism, but not necessarily the realism that beckons paying movie-watchers to stumble over each other in line to experience. The film is grainy and often just a tad overexposed. There is a lack of concern for things such as lens flares in the film.
I suppose REVANCHE could be considered a more successful film by definition of some social commentary, but the recent trend with some European films to take on this approach has left me cautious in my viewing habits. The movie attempts to suggest some moral philosophy at work on Alex, the film’s focus, but instead merely conveys some basic emotions brought upon by his own actions as he must deal with the consequences. The second half of REVANCHE builds to a climax that never occurs, favoring a more open-ended conclusion.
REVANCHE is not entirely unworthy of praise. Despite the length and slow pace of the film and the largely understated cinematography, the film has a solid, competently written script and the acting is perfectly acceptable. The overall arc and concept of REVANCHE’s story is sound enough and, in all honesty, does pick up a bit at the one hour mark as Alex begins to formulate his revenge. In accordance with the slight change of pace and tone in the second half, the additional attention to lighting and contrast in the second half also helps this hour pass more fluidly than the first. Unfortunately, the tension and emotional power intended in the second half of REVANCHE is never fully realized and falls significantly flat of it’s potential.
20th Century Fox is double-dipping again with plans to revive the ALIEN franchise with a prequel to the first film. The studio has brought on Jon Spaihts to write the script and Ridley Scott has apparently been drawn back into the mix to direct the film, which is written as a prequel to the original 1979 film.
It will precede that film, in which the crew of a commercial towing ship returning to Earth is awakened and sent to respond to a distress signal from a nearby planetoid. The crew discovers too late that the signal generated by an empty ship was meant to warn them. — Variety
The project, which was pitched to the studio as well as to Scott Free Production by Spaihts, is a welcome project for the studio as it seems they’ve been itching to find a way to resurrect the popular series of films. Hopefully, the film will return to the elements that made the original film so great and not pander to the same typical studio mistakes that ruined the AVP films.
‘Can’t Stop the Serenity’ is a Global Sci-Fi Charity Event that benefits Equality Now. The event involves screenings of the film SERENITY, by writer-director Joss Whedon, who is a supporter of Equality Now.
“Disney’s A Christmas Carol” Train Tour offers visitors an exclusive 3D sneak peek from the movie as well as a behind-the-scenes glimpse of the making of the movie-with artifacts and character designs housed in real train cars. The fun family event is totally free.
The train will be open for visitors at Union Station from 9 a.m. to 7 p.m. on Friday and Saturday. On Sunday, the train will be open from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m.
Just listening to Carter Burwell’s score for this film alone is enough to make my day. I just recently watched MILLER’S CROSSING again for the umptee-nth time and I swear to you the DVD menu played in it’s loop for a good 15-20 minutes before I even hit play, listening to the Opening Titles track. Burwell’s score is haunting and enchanting at the same time, drawing from traditional Irish music and notched up with a bit of cinematic flair. The film however, proved somewhat challenging for the Coen Brothers, who suffered writer’s block during the scripting of the film. As a remedy, Joel and Ethan took a few weeks off and in that time wrote a film about writer’s block called BARTON FINK.
The opening scene is very reminiscent of Coppola’s THE GODFATHER, but does so with dignity and yet still has Coen Brothers written all over it. Johnny Caspar (Jon Polito) is asking Leo to have Bernie “taken out” to reconcile an offense, but his request is denied since Bernie pays Leo protection money. The scene sets the tone of the film and makes clear that while this is a genre film, there’s no mistaking that it’s a Coen Brothers film, first and foremost.
MILLER’S CROSSING is easily one of the top ten gangster films of all time, but likely won’t make the majority of the lists. This is due in part to it’s relative lack of notoriety amidst the general public, but is also due in part to an under-appreciation of this fine film. Aside from the music, MILLER’S CROSSING is also an incredibly well shot film, masterfully photographed as if they had an endless supply of golden hours in which to shoot. The film was shot by cinematographer turned director Barry Sonnenfeld, accompanied by Michael R. Miller’s very capable editing.
Perhaps the most powerful in the entire film is the static shot over which the film’s title appears. As the Opening Titles music eases to a close, a bowler (hat) is dropped right-side up on the ground which is covered with the crunchy brown fallen leaves of autumn. A gust of wind kicks up and blows the hat gracefully off into the distance in subtle slow-motion. This scene can be compared to the wind-blown plastic grocery bag scene in AMERICAN BEAUTY (only less effective that the scene in MILLER’S CROSSING) whereas Ricky Fitts finds beauty and meaning in an otherwise insignificant occurrence.
The hat’s little ballet, which later takes on a more significant role in Tom’s story, moves us into the meat of the film. Tom Regan (Gabriel Byrne) struggles to broker peace between two rival crime bosses, but finds himself torn between loyalties as he pursues an affair with crime boss Leo’s (Albert Finney) girl Verna (Marcia Gay Harden). MILLER’S CROSSING takes place during the prohibition era. Leo is the boss of the Irish mob and Johnny Caspar, his rival, is boss of the Italian mob. Tom Regan is the guy in the middle attempting to avoid an all out war between the two families.
John Turturro plays Verna’s slimy, arrogant brother Bernie. He’s hiding out, not staying in one place too long and trying to get Tom Regan to help him out, but no one really likes Bernie except for his sister Verna. Everyone is trying to work the angle of Tom’s debt to Lazarre, knowing he’s in deep, but Tom is a man of principle, which comes in handy as a go-between for mob family talks. Tom has his head on straight, but he’s also too stubborn for his own good at times. Steve Buscemi plays Mink, a neurotic wormy little weasel who’s constantly wound like a spider-monkey with Red Bull flowing intravenously into his veins. Mink is an informant, known for knowing things. J.E. Freeman is great as Eddie Dane, Caspar’s “shadow” and no excuses, get-the-job-done hitman nicknamed The Dane for his intimidating height.
The film also has some great, gritty scenes of mob violence, including one of my favorites being Johnny Caspar’s first attempt to take Leo out, sending two men armed with Tommy Guns to Leo’s house. Caspar’s goons take out Leo’s guard with ease, but find the aging Leo hasn’t lost his wits nor his ability to kick some mobster ass, if necessary. In brilliant Coen Brothers fashion, the entire tense lead-flinging scene is cut to an operatic rendition of “Danny Boy” creating beauty in madness.
MILLER’S CROSSING is certainly a gangster film, but it really draws from many eras and influences in a long history of gangster films. Stylistically, the film is a cross-pollination of the gangster film and film noir. Tom’s dialogue is often written with the sharp and direct dialogue of the anti-hero from classic noir greats. Tom serves as a sort of hard-nosed noir private detective for Leo, working the angles to his own benefit while also mediating the squeeze on Leo for control of the city from Caspar.
When things start to go awry with Leo, Tom finds himself jockeying for a position of security as the tensions between Leo and Caspar thicken. Choosing sides based on what’s best for his own survival, Tom becomes a lone wolf in sheep’s clothing. The forlorn Tom Regan, thrown out to fend for himself, must make one important decision of life and death, in turn weighing his own life in the scales of moral justice. Tom quickly learns that he made the wrong decision and must work twice as hard to survive as a result. In the end, Tom learns to pull the strings, setting the rival pawns in play to take each other out while Tom gets a second chance to make the “right” decision.
Bernie: “Look in your heart.” Tom: “What heart”?
This film is especially enjoyable for the more extreme movie geeks, as I am certain one could classify the Coen Brothers themselves. MILLER’S CROSSING has hidden homages to cinematic masterpieces. The long walk up the steps by Leo’s would-be assassins can imply influence from De Palma’s THE UNTOUCHABLES and the staircase scene, or from Coppola’s incredible montage of rival mafia Don’s being strategically taken out in THE GODFATHER. Watch for the boxing poster that appears in the film. The name Lars Thorwald is printed on the poster, which also happens to be the name of Raymond Burr’s character in Hitchcock’s REAR WINDOW. Or, even the endlessly ringing phone in Tom’s apartment, which is a throwback to Sergio Leone’s ONCE UPON A TIME IN AMERICA.
MILLER’S CROSSING also features a couple of noteworthy cameos for the most discerning movie geeks out there. Frances McDormand, a frequent player in Coen Brothers films and wife to Joel Coen, appears in a cameo as the mayor’s secretary. Sam Raimi, director of the EVIL DEAD and SPIDER-MAN films and long time friend and colleague of the Coen Brothers, appears in a cameo as the cocky two-pistol wielding tan overcoat-wearing gunman during the massive police gunfight at the Sons of Erin Club.
Having opened in October 1990 in the US, MILLER’S CROSSING is yet another fantastic film that is considered a failure by the studio, which was 20th Century Fox. The film cost an estimated $14 million to make, grossing just over $5 million in the domestic box office. MILLER’S CROSSING was nominated for four obscure awards, winning two of them, but regrettably received no love from Oscar in 1990. The DVD didn’t see the light of day until May 2003, featuring a featurette with Barry Sonnenfeld and cast interviews with Gabriel Byrne, Marcia gay Harden and John Turturro.
