'Side By Side' is a Must See

I've never written a proclamation for others to go see a movie, but in this case, it's needed.

For those unfamiliar, actor Keanu Reeves and director Christopher Kenneally (Henry's Crime) have made a documentary exploring the declining use of film in Hollywood today and the insistence on going digital, called Side By Side. 

The film - in which Keanu Reeves acts as both narrator and interviewer to many film heavyweights including James Cameron, Martin Scorsese, David Fincher, and Christopher Nolan - is an astonishing eye opener and educational piece for any film junkie out there who is interested in the movie-making process.

I rented the film last night On-Demand (it is also getting a limited theatrical run across the nation) and have watched in twice now with a third time coming tomorrow.  It is fascinating look at where the film-making age is going as well as where it's been, citing both the pros and cons of film vs. digital from a variety of perspectives.

I'm not going to get into details of what is explored (you can expereicne that for yourself) but after viewing the film, I must say I see why many still love film yet are extrememly excited by the dawn of digital filmmaking.  As one Hollywood legend puts it, "We have taken film as far as it's going to go...digital is only just beginning."

I've posted the film's (will that term become extinct considering film is on the way out?) trailer which you can view below.

Trust me when I say, this is worth the price of admission.

Stephen Gaghan to Direct 'Candy Store'

"They got Steve f*cking Gaghan?!?" - Ari Gold

If ever you watched Entourage, you know when that's from.  Anyway...

The Hollywood Reporter is, well, reporting Stephen Gaghan (Academy Award winning writer of Traffic) is in talks to direct Candy Store, a 'two-hander' crime thriller that he wrote himself.

That's not the best part though. 

Word is both Brad Pitt and Denzel Washington are in very, very early talks to star alongside each other in the film, set around a highly trained, deep cover operative who moves to Brooklyn in hopes of restarting his life, only to find the global organization he fought against is operating in his own backyard.

No word on who would play what role.

Gaghan last directed 2005's Syriana, which was also his directorial debut.  He recently did a script polish to next year's Will & Jaden Smith starrer, After Earth, being directed by M. Night Shyamalan.

More on this project as it becomes available.

Source: The Hollywood Reporter

Plot of 'Dumb & Dumber 2' Revealed

A few weeks back I wrote of the 'back-on-track' status of the sequel to the 1990s hit comedy, Dumb & Dumber, with the original film's directors and writers, The Farrelly Bros. returning along with stars Jim Carrey (again) and Jeff Daniels.  Today, we have details of what type of adventure Harry & Lloyd will get themselves into this time, a good 20 years after the first film.

Speaking to Digital Spy, Bobby Farrelly had this to say in regards to the plot of the film:

"I can tell you that there is no growth out of either one of them and it's 20 years later... these guys are in regular life and they're still basically children at heart.  The story revolves around the fact that one of them may have sired a child. They want to go and find the child because he's having a kidney problem and he wants to ask him for one of his kidneys."

I'm not gonna lie, that plot sounds pretty stupid but hey, the film is a sequel Dumb & Dumber, so it's not like intelligence is needed here.  Not to mention, who would have thought a film about two guys driving cross-country to return a breifcase would have been a huge hit?

Anyway, at least we still get to see the two going on a road trip again.  Maybe they'll run into that sorry cop for old times sake?  Time will tell.

The film is expected to start shooting next Spring.

Source: Digital Spy

New Stills from Paul Thomas Anderson's 'The Master'

Let me be clear, I am not a fan of Paul Thomas Anderson.  I have never seen any of his films nor am I what you would call a 'follower' of his work.

Yet for some odd reason, I can not help but be tremendously excited to see his new film, The Master.

Maybe it's because it marks the return of Joaquin Phoenix to feature films after a long 'break,' maybe it's because it revolves around the supposed true story of Scientology, or hell, maybe it's because the film just looks that damn good, I am looking forward to seeing it.

Anyway, new high-def stills from the film have popped up online which you can view below:

Set in America in the years following World War II, a charismatic intellectual (Philip Seymour Hoffman) launches a faith-based organization and taps a young drifter (Joaquin Phoenix) as his right-hand man. But as the faith begins to gain a fervent following, the onetime vagabond finds himself questioning the belief system he has embraced, and his mentor.

The Master opens in limited release on September 14th followed by a worldwide release on September 21st.

Cigarettes & Red Vines

Poster for 'Red Dawn' Remake is a Bit Poor in Taste

For a movie that filmed over three years ago and has been sitting on the shelf ever since, you would think the last thing the studio would want for the long-delayed project is bad publicity.

Well, Film District never got that memo.

The official poster for the remake of the 1984 classic, Red Dawn, has come online.  While it's interesting that many of the film's stars are much bigger now then when the filmed the flick (Hemsworth, Hutchinson, hell even Palicki), you can't help but feel a bit uncomfortable with them all looking at you holding machine guns in light of what happened in Aurora, CO.

Anyway, view the poster and synopsis below and if you're still interested about 5 seconds from now, the official trailer goes online tomorrow morning.

Watch out for that.

An American city awakens to the surreal sight of foreign paratroopers dropping from the sky – shockingly, the U.S. has been invaded and their hometown is the initial target. Quickly and without warning, the citizens find themselves prisoners and their town under enemy occupation. Determined to fight back, a group of young patriots seek refuge in the surrounding woods, training and reorganizing themselves into a guerilla group of fighters. Taking inspiration from their high school mascot, they call themselves the Wolverines, banding together to protect one another, liberate their town from its captors, and take back their freedom.

Christopher McQuarrie to Rewrite and Potentially Direct 'Without Remorse'

Writer/Director Christopher McQuarrie (Way of the Gun, the upcoming Tom Cruise film, Jack Reacher) has signed on to rewrite and potentially direct Without Remorse, an adaptation of Tom Clancy's 1993 novel.  The project was previously announced back in 2010 with Shawn Ryan (creator of FX's The Shield) writing the script.

For those unfamiliar with the book, Without Remorse centers on former NAVY Seal and CIA operative John Kelly, who in Clancy's universe, exists in the world of Jack Ryan as well.

Word is that Paramount (currently developing a new Jack Ryan film starring Chris Pine) is keen to have this film set in the same universe as their other famous spy, a la an Avengers move where potential cross-over films can occur.

The character of John Kelly, co-named Mr. Clark, first appeared in 1994's Clear and Present Danger (played by Willem Dafoe) and also appeared in 2002's The Sum of All Fears (played by Liev Schreiber).

No word yet on who could possibly star in the flick but it would be safe to assume at least one of the Avengers (besides Robert Downey Jr. of course) would be up for the role: Chris Evans, Chris Hemsworth, and Jeremy Renner.

The full synopsis for Without Remorse listed below [via Amazon]:

Avid readers of Clancy's bestselling techno-thrillers ( The Hunt for Red October et al.) know agent John Kelly, code-named Mr. Clark, as Jack Ryan's "dark side." Here, in 1970, Vietnam vet Kelly gets involved in a secret operation to rescue 20 American pilots from a North Vietnamese prison camp. Betrayed by someone in Washington, the mission ends in apparent failure. Clancy balances the military movements with a dark narrative of Kelly's tragic personal life. While mourning the death of his pregnant wife in a traffic accident, Kelly picks up a young hitchhiker named Pam, a prostitute and drug "mule" fleeing her cruel masters. The pair fall in love and set out to bring down the drug lords, but an error on Kelly's part leads to Pam's horrible demise at the hands of the vengeful criminals. After his own recovery from a shotgun blast, Kelly begins methodically to murder his way through the drug ring.

Source: Deadline

'Dumb & Dumber 2' Back on Track?

For those who don't know, earlier this year it looked as if the long in-development follow-up to the 1990s comedy classic, Dumber & Dumber, was finally going to happen with directors The Farrelly Brothers and stars Jim Carrey and Jeff Daniels all agreeing to do the sequel.  The flick would pick up 20 years after the duo's trip to Aspen and have nothing to do with the awful 2003 prequel, Dumber & Dumberer: When Harry Met Lloyd.

But just as much as it all seemed too good to be true, news came a few months back that Carrey - the one must-have to the whole project - had backed out due to "a lack of enthusiasm" from the studio to do the sequel.  Correct me if I'm wrong, but doesn't that basically mean in Hollywood terms, "they didn't want to pay me what I wanted?"

Anyway, as big a letdown as that news was, it now looks like Carrey may have come around and is willing to do the project again (maybe he realized all the money he would make off of percentage points from the film's box office?).

Speaking to Hollywood.com, Jeff Daniels (who's been absolutely fantastic this summer on HBO's The Newsroom) says progress on the film is back on:

"We almost were able to kinda get it done this year, but they're still working on the script.

"Jim wants to do it, I want to do it, the Farrellys want to do it... We're all hoping that it'll come together early next year."

Not exactly the most reassuring words but it's more enthusiastic then saying, "The project is completely dead because Jim doesn't want to do it."

Let's hope they can all work out the differences and shoot this thing early next year (it was supposed to shoot this Fall).

More on the project as it becomes available.

Source: Moviehole, Hollywood.com

Matthew McConaughey Joins 'The Wolf on Wall Street'

I'll be dam...he's finally living up to his potential.

When I first saw Matthew McConaughey in 1996's A Time to Kill, I thought, "Holy shit...this guy can flat out act," (that summation scene at the end is fantastic).  But somewhere along the line, the guy lost it.  He began racking up one romantic-comedy after another until I got to a point of wondering, "Does this guy even care about his career?"  Well thankfully, in the past couple years, the man has finally woken up.

Starting with last year's The Lincoln Lawyer and continuing with this year's Magic Mike and Killer Joe, McConaughey seems to have left the corny shit behind and is focusing solely on dramatic work.  He's got Lee Daniel's The Paperboy coming out this year as well, along with starting up The Dallas Buyer's Club in the Fall where he'll be playing the true-life story of Ron Woodroof, a man diagnosed with AIDS who starts his own underground drug chain to combat the disease.

Finally, news comes today that the Texan is joining Martin Scorcese's The Wolf on Wall Street alongside Leonardo DiCaprio.  The film is based off of Jordan Belfort's best-selling memoirs of his rise and fall on Wall Street.

McConaughey will play Mark Hanna, the early boss and mentor to DiCaprio's Belfort.

The film's also got many other notable actors including Friday Night Lights' alum Kyle Chandler, Jonah Hill, Rob Reiner, Margot Robbie, Jon Bernthal, and this past year's Best Actor Oscar winner  for The Artist, Jean Dujardin.

With the roll he's on, maybe McConaughey will pull out an Oscar nom?

We'll see.

James Franco Going to 'Homefront'

Looks like James Franco is making a little more room on his already full plate.

The well-known actor/writer/soon-to-be director/student - and whatever else there is to be - has joined the cast of the Sylvester Stallone scripted, Homefront, alongside action-star Jason Statham.

Homefront will be directed by Gary Fleder (Kiss the Girls, Runaway Jury) through Avi Lerner's production company, Millennium Films.

The flick - set to start filming this fall - centers on the character of Phil Broker (Statham) who after a career as a DEA agent, moves his family to a quiet town hoping to escape his violent past of combating crime.  However, Broker soon finds his new town overrun with corruption and drug trafficking, led by the villainous Gator (Franco), an evil meth magnate.  To protect the ones he loves, Broker must jump back into action.

Avi Lerner had this to say regarding the film:

"I cannot think of a better group to put this film on the big screen.  Sly's script is fantastic, James and Jason are remarkable actors and Gary really knows how direct this type of film. We start production at the end of September in New Orleans."

Even though the plot sounds like just another standard shoot-em-up action film, I'm actually rather excited for this one.  Franco is as versatile an actor as they come and Stallone seems to be turning Statham into himself for a new generation, having him star in his own scripts he probably would have done himself years ago.

Maybe Sly will give himself a nice little cameo for the film.

Homefront will likely hit theaters late next year.

Olympics TV Spot for 'Skyfall'

For those of you who didn't watch the opening ceremonies of the Olympics Friday night, not only was Daniel Craig featured as James Bond in an amusing short film - where 007 escorted the Queen of England to the event - but a new TV spot was unveiled for the upcoming Bond flick, Skyfall...and man does it look good.

While the spot is only 30 seconds long - with a glimpse at a few great action set peices - we get an idea of the mood director Sam Mendes (American Beauty, Road to Perdition) is bringing to to long-running franchise (not to mention a quick reveal of Jarvier Bardem as the film's villain).

Tell me that quick Bond humor in the last 5 seconds doesn't just kick ass?

Skyfall opens in theaters November 9th.  Read below for the film's official synopsis:

Daniel Craig is back as James Bond 007 in Skyfall, the 23rd adventure in the longest-running film franchise of all time.  In Skyfall, Bond’s loyalty to M (Judi Dench) is tested as her past comes back to haunt her.  As MI6 comes under attack, 007 must track down and destroy the threat, no matter how personal the cost.