Cinematical staff
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The Best Non-Dysfunctional Movie Families ... in Honor of Thanksgiving
In honor of Thanksgiving, we're recalling one of our favorite turkey day-themed posts from last year.
By: Jette Kernion
By: Jette Kernion
A few years ago, I wrote a Cinematical Seven on my favorite dysfunctional families in films. Everyone has a crazy messed-up movie family they love, whether it's the Hoovers in Little Miss Sunshine or the Bullocks in My Man Godfrey or the Corleones in the Godfather saga. I thought that this year, it would be fun to make a list of families that got along, worked together, and supported one another. You know, happy families ... but not dull, one-dimensional bundles of endless cheer.
It's a lot more difficult to find seven movies with happy-but-not-sappy families than it is to find the screwed-up kind, especially if you are looking for something more interesting than the Cleavers. Since I'm visiting my relatives for the Thanksgiving holidays, I asked them for suggestions. They were all very helpful, and I'm sorry I couldn't include all the suggestions, which ranged from The Thin Man to The Sound of Music to The Hills Have Eyes. Let me know what else we missed in the comments.
The Parrs in The Incredibles (suggested by my husband)
The Parrs aren't perfect. After all, Bob (aka Mr. Incredible) sneaks around behind his family's back to use his superhero powers again, after they've all decided to live a life as ordinary non-powerful folks. And Violet is rather sulky, but that's what teenagers do. But when someone is in trouble, everyone rushes to help. I was torn between The Incredibles and another movie about a family full of action heroes (or potential heroes), Spy Kids. Both feature strong families, but are never boring.
Review: The Road
Filed under: Drama, Sci-Fi & Fantasy, New Releases, Theatrical Reviews
By: Eugene Novikov, reprinted from the Telluride Film Festival '09
Just before the kid was born, the world burned. We don't know why, and the characters don't talk about it -- perhaps they don't quite know themselves, or maybe they've decided that it no longer matters. The Boy's universe is grey, full of ash, dust, and the ruins of a civilization he never saw. This is all he knows. His mother, seeing no point in going on, killed herself shortly after his birth. She was not alone. Many of those who didn't take their own lives were soon murdered by the desperate and hungry.
Skip ahead nine or ten years. The kid and his father wander the barren roadways heading south toward the coast for no clear reason other than that it gives them a tangible goal toward which to strive. (And there's always the hope that the ocean will be something other than gray.) Every day is a knock-down, drag-out fight for survival. They run, hide, starve, and fight off attackers who want their food, or their clothes, or, at one point, their flesh.
I set the stage like this not to horrify you or to gross you out, but to give you a sense of the relentless, pervasive grimness of The Road -- and then to turn around and say that The Road may be the most profoundly optimistic and life-affirming film you will see this year. Those who have read Cormac McCarthy's novel of the same name won't be surprised by this. John Hillcoat's faithful, near-perfect adaptation beautifully captures McCarthy's synthesis of all-encompassing darkness and enduring hope.
Review: Ninja Assassin
Filed under: Action, New Releases, Theatrical Reviews
By: William Goss, reprinted from Fantastic Fest '09
One can't ask too much of a film called Ninja Assassin -- that's a given -- but James McTeigue's proper directorial follow-up to V for Vendetta does its damnedest to take that insta-pulp title and weave around it a worn-out tale of forbidden love, family betrayal, and government conspiracy. Complete with some hard-to-see fight scenes and some harder-to-hear dialogue, all delivered with a poker-straight face and capped off with some super-splattery kills, it's like a graphic novel adaptation with comic book punctuation, a film so flagrant in its fakery that it almost forgets to have any fun.
Raizo (Korean pop star Rain, of Speed Racer and "Colbert Report" fame) was once an orphan, raised by a secretive clan to, um, assassinate as, well, a ninja would. One forbidden fling and one shamed father later, and our pariah protagonist is off to Berlin in order to save Europol* agent Mika Coretti (Naomie Harris) from the grisly fate that her criminal investigations have inevitably drawn.
Is 'Paranormal Entity' a Sequel to 'Paranormal Activity'?
Filed under: Horror, Fandom, Home Entertainment
From Horror SquadI love Paranormal Activity. It's one of my favorite horror films (for a variety of reasons), yet its absolutely insane success has proven to be a double-edged sword for horror fans. On the one hand, it gives a level of legitimacy not often seen within the horror genre outside of the throngs of fans who live for it. Conversely, it gives The Asylum an opportunity to make another movie.
In the wake of the film Walking Distance changing its name to Experimental Activity, which much like the very existence of The Asylum is nothing more than a shameless attempt to capitalize on the success of others, it would seem the company behind stellar films such as The Day the Earth Stopped and Transmorphers (which may or may not be better than the film it's emulating) has decided to make their own adaptation of Oren Peli's smash hit, known simply as Paranormal Entity.
Those wonderful folks over at Quiet Earth even got a look at the poster and revealed a brief synopsis for the "mockbustermentary" (my word, not theirs):
"Actual found videotape footage of the 2008 "murders" of the Finley family."
Short and sweet. The film will pollute video stores on December 29th of this year.
By: Brad McHargue
'Thor' Sends Kat Dennings to Asgard?
Filed under: Casting, Fandom, Comic/Superhero/Geek
By: Zachary Hermann
We can all thank Natalie Portman for letting slip this bit of casting news for the upcoming Thor movie. While plugging the American remake of Brothers (hitting theaters Dec. 4), Portman told MTV News she is "really excited" to work with her friend Kat Dennings on Thor. It just feels like cast announcements have been pouring in for the upcoming Marvel adaptation -- Dennings will join Portman (love interest Jane Foster), Chris Hemsworth (Thor), Anthony Hopkins (Odin), Stellan Skarsgård, Colm Feore, Tom Hiddleston (Loki) and just about everyone else under the sun for what is shaping up to be a very interesting stab at the Norse superhero. Kenneth Branagh will be directing from the script by Mark Protosevich (with Zack Stentz and Ashley Miller).
Of course the burning question here is who will Dennings be playing? MTV's Splash Page and /film both mention the possibility of Enchantress, which seems to make a lot of sense given Dennings's physical likeness to the character. Also, the character's ties to Iron Man and the Avengers could be crucial for connecting Thor to the more reality-based Iron Man movies and the larger Avengers universe.
Read the rest over at SciFi Squad
Everything You Ever Wanted to Know About Horror Musicals
Filed under: Horror, Music & Musicals
By Alison NastasiWith the announcement of Carrie making a return to the Broadway circuit after a short-lived disastrous first go-round, I'm left holding my head and wondering, "Why?" Horror musicals are like your socially awkward cousin. You know, the one who talks too much and quite possibly bears an uncanny resemblance to Franklin from Texas Chain Saw Massacre.
Is it fair to hold the horror musical to the same standards as the dastardly horror film remakes that seem to be happening in droves? I don't think I can help it. Few horror musicals have been born from an original idea which leaves me with the same funny feeling. I'm well aware that remakes have been happening since the dawn of time but this kind of remake is worse. When you add the word 'musical' to anything it evokes a horrible visceral reaction within many people. Adding it to the word horror just seems like a bastardized and shrieking kind of wrong.
Isn't the comical genius of Young Frankenstein and Evil Dead perfect as is? Young Frankenstein was a parody. So, is a mugging Dr. Frankenstein belting out a song called Transylvania Mania anything other than pointless and silly? The film Cannibal! The Musical, another intentional parody by beloved low-budget Troma Entertainment, has more class by comparison. Even Cronenberg's The Fly has been made into an opera, but they don't have me fooled. Adding the smooth vowel-ridden word to the title doesn't soften the blow. In fact, it's almost more cruel. However, Repo! The Genetic Opera would probably disagree with me.
Read the rest at Horror Squad!
Review: Women in Trouble
Filed under: Comedy, Theatrical Reviews
By Jette Kernion (reprint from 3/17/09 -- SXSW Film Festival)
I'm wary of movies that try to be instant cult/camp classics, with intentionally overdone dialogue and outrageous costumes and actors who are metaphorically winking or even non-metaphorically mugging for the camera. When the characters are in on the joke, it isn't all that funny. And when I learned that the writer-director of Women in Trouble also co-wrote Snakes on a Plane, I grew even more skeptical. But the actresses who populate Women in Trouble tend to play it straight, even when they're wearing assless spandex pants or smoking invisible cigarettes, and that's what keeps this film fun instead of tiresome.
Women in Trouble has a multi-story, anthology-like structure. Writer/director Sebastian Gutierrez said before the SXSW screening that he originally had one ten-page sequence that he wanted to shoot, then thought it might be easy to shoot several of them, all with different actresses, to make a good movie quickly. Apparently it wasn't all that easy, but the result is a large cast of mostly actresses playing a variety of the traditional exploitation "women in trouble." These include porn stars, tag-team hookers (one in a Catholic school uniform, natch), stewardesses (they're not flight attendants when we're poking fun at the exploitation genre), unmarried-and-pregnant women, and a very understanding masseuse.
'Hansel and Gretel' to Get the Nazi Zombie Treatment
Filed under: Horror, Fandom, Newsstand
By: Alison NastasiGotta love those dark Germanic fairy tales. They are ripe with strange folklore, the supernatural, and some of the most grotesque creatures ever imagined. These stories are intrinsically woven into the fabric of horror culture. You would think there would be more amazing fairy tale film adaptations, but only a few immediately come to mind: The Company of Wolves, Little Otik, Snow White and the Seven Dwarf and Labyrinth. Perhaps they hold more magic on paper, but it's inevitable that filmmakers will continue to turn to these tales for inspiration.
Earlier this year it was reported that Tommy Wirkola, the Norwegian director behind the Nazi-zombie flick Dead Snow will make his first U.S. feature with Hansel and Gretel: Witch Hunters. The film is being produced by Gary Sanchez Productions--the Paramount company run by Will Ferrell, Adam McKay, Chris Henchy and Kevin Messick.
Read the rest over at Horror Squad
Review: Fantastic Mr. Fox
Filed under: Animation, Comedy, Theatrical Reviews, 20th Century Fox, Family Films
By Todd Gilchrist (reprint from 11/3/09 -- AFI Film Festival)
It's not hard to like any movie that uses the Beach Boys' music, but Wes Anderson makes it especially easy. As Hollywood's foremost purveyor of hipster drama, his pedigree as a reliable selector of appropriately wistful, poignant and all-around unforgettable songs is virtually unrivaled, but Fantastic Mr. Fox exceeds even the work of his earlier films, using "Heroes and Villains," and later, "I Get Around" as populist punctuation that manages to be both specifically relevant and substantively rousing.
As an animated opus, the film is by necessity his most controlled to date, a painstakingly-designed dollhouse where he no longer controls just the music, sets, and costumes, but the performers themselves. Ironically, however, it feels like his loosest as well - a gloriously unwieldy comedy of manners submerged in the minutiae of Anderson's madcap creativity. All of which makes Fantastic Mr. Fox a celebration both of its stop-motion medium and Anderson's aesthetic, while still managing to fully document the spectacular fun in original author Roald Dahl's daffy, distinctive imagination.
'Shazam' Movie Still Has a Pulse at Warner Bros.
Filed under: Fandom, Newsstand, Comic/Superhero/Geek
By: John GholsonScreenwriter John August declared the Shazam feature film completely dead in January 2009, unable to come up with a screenplay that seemed to satisfy Warner Bros. "By "dead," I mean that it won't be happening. I don't think it's on the studio's radar at all, " August stated in a blog post.
I'm happy to report that John August was wrong. Shazam is most definitely on Warner Bros radar, and they've tasked DC Comics scribe Geoff Johns and rookie screenwriter Bill Birch with a new version of the script. Birch spoke to CineFOOLS about the project, "The way the story is shaking out, Geoff and I see this not as 'dark' as Dark Knight but definitely as cool...Tonally, I think it's important to successfully find the balance of comedy and danger in the story. That's a major aspect I'm focusing on. Frankly, hitting the right tone is what's going to either get this made or keep it in development hell."
Read the rest over at SciFi Squad
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