More Wolverine Tempe Premiere Photos

More Wolverine Tempe Premiere Photos

Wolverine Fever in Tempe, AZ

I wasn't there in body but I was with my fellow Arizonans in spirit when the frighteningly orange Hugh Jackman showed up to my local Harkins Cine Capri theater for the world premiere of X-Men Origins: Wolverine. If I can get all North American for a second ... WAY TO GO TEMPE, AZ!!!

Wolverine Fever in Tempe, AZ

Bid for a Private Screening of Star Trek in Los Angeles

Want a private screening of the new Star Trek movie for you and 25 of your closest friend (do Facebook friends count? Doubt it!) ... Variety Kids are giving the chance to bid on the following:

Item Value: Priceless! Recipient and 25 guests will attend a private advance screening of Star Trek.

Date: Thursday, 5/7 at 5 pm.

Location: ArcLight Hollywood.

Also included: Star Trek movie T-shirt, Star Trek baseball cap and a limited-edition Star Trek collector's trading card.

Winning bidder must supply a list of the 25 guests 48 hours prior to the screening.

Synopsis: The fate of the galaxy rests in the hands of bitter rivals. One, James Kirk, is a delinquent, thrill-seeking Iowa farm boy. The other, Spock, was raised in a logic-based society that rejects all emotion. As fiery instinct clashes with calm reason, their unlikely but powerful partnership is the only thing capable of leading their crew through unimaginable danger, boldly going where no one has gone before. 

Cast: John Cho, Ben Cross, Bruce Greenwood, Simon Pegg, Chris Pine

Director: J.J. Abrams

Rated PG-13 for sci-fi action and violence and brief sexual content.

Release Date: 05/08/09 (USA)

This auction is being hosted in honor of this year's Explore-A-Story honorees John Lesher and Christina Liao with proceeds to benefit The Wonder of Reading via Variety's Kids-Variety the Children's Charity of Southern CA

So if you have some $$$ to spare (unlikely I know but hey) then click here to bid as there is just under a week left to go!

Bid for a Private Screening of Star Trek in Los Angeles

Attention all TiVo Homes

I can't believe I have only just come across this great TiVo Tip - How to Program a TiVo Remote With the "30 Second Skip" Function!

Step 1

Choose any of your existing recordings from the TiVo "Now Playing" list, and play the recording. You'll need to be playing a recording when you enter the code - typically, it won't work while you're watching live TV, or viewing a menu.

Step 2

Press Select-Play-Select-3-0-Select on your TiVo remote

Any time during playback, simply press the following sequence of buttons on your TiVo remote:

Step 3

You should hear the TiVo "bing" sound three times after you complete the code. This lets you know that it worked. Yay!

If the code did not work, don't sweat it. Make sure you're playing a recorded program and try again.

Step 4

The "advance" button on your TiVo remote

From now on, the "advance" button on your TiVo remote will function as a 30-second skip. Simply press this button to zap forward 30 seconds at a time.

Note: The normal function of the "advance" button - which looks like an arrow behind a vertical line - is to immediately skip to the end of a recording, or to the current point in a live broadcast. The S-P-S-3-0-S code replaces the function of this button.

Step 5

Enjoy using the 30-second skip function to breeze through commercials and any other undesired content. Perfect for annoying reality-show judgements, awkward love scenes, and more!

The function also works while watching live TV - but only if you have paused/rewound the program for a bit to create a "buffer."

Step 6

If you would like to disable the 30-second skip function for any reason, simply repeat steps 1-3. This will revert the "advance" button to its normal function (see step 4.) You can enable/disable the code as many times as you like.

Thanks to ehow.com for this gem of a tip!

Attention all TiVo Homes

FOX Not Airing Presidential Speech

The FOX network believes that their Wednesday night American Idol results show is simply too important to the American People. While CBS, NBC and ABC will be airing a national address by President Obama, Fox will stick to it's normal schedule with Lie to Me at 8pm followed by Mr Cowell and his pals at 9pm. It's not that FOX is particularly desperate to show a new episode of Lie to Me, more that if Obama's speech runs long it would cut into 'Idol Time'!

While this does seem like an odd move (although not that odd considering the networks News channel's attitude towards Obama) you do have to respect the ratings Idol has received this season with audiences reaching almost 25 million for some episodes.

FOX Not Airing Presidential Speech

Hanks on Toy Story 3

"I have been in and done three big complete recording sessions and will probably have at least one more to do, possibly in about eight months," said Hanks of his Toy Story 3 work. "Then eight months after that I'll do a mop-up and have three more sessions after that. Those movies are beasts." Empire Magazine.

Tom Hanks, Tim Allen and the other regulars return for the third installment of this Pixar giant. Toy Story 3 is currently in production with a 2010 release date.

Hanks on Toy Story 3

Martin Clunes Plays Reggie Perrin

In what is tantamount to sacrilege in my humble opinion the classic 70s BBC comedy The  Fall and Rise of Reginald Perrin starring Leonard Rossiter has been remade and is now appearing on BBC One in the UK. Martin Clunes has taken on the role of Reggie and by the looks of this clip he does seem to have got the world weary character of Perrin down but that's really not the point. I am not usually precious about remakes as often they can bring something new to the show/character/movie etc but Fall and Rise was such a classic, so perfectly executed and so of it's time that it should have been been left well alone.

Here is a clip of the original in all its 1970s glory.

Martin Clunes Plays Reggie Perrin

In Memoriam - Bea Arthur

One of the stars of The Golden Girls and an actress since 1951, Beatrice Arthur has died aged 86.

Here is an obit by the AP:

 "... Arthur died peacefully at her Los Angeles home with her family at her side, family spokesman Dan Watt said. She had cancer, Watt said, declining to give further details.

"She was a brilliant and witty woman," said Watt, who was Arthur's personal assistant for six years. "Bea will always have a special place in my heart."

Arthur first appeared in the landmark comedy series All in the Family as Edith Bunker's loudly outspoken, liberal cousin, Maude Finley. She proved a perfect foil for blue-collar bigot Archie Bunker (Carroll O'Connor), and their blistering exchanges were so entertaining that producer Norman Lear fashioned Arthur's own series.

In a 2008 interview with The Associated Press, Arthur said she was lucky to be discovered by TV after a long stage career, recalling with bemusement CBS executives asking about the new "girl."

"I was already 50 years old. I had done so much off-Broadway, on Broadway, but they said, `Who is that girl? Let's give her her own series,'" Arthur said.

Maude scored with television viewers immediately on its CBS debut in September 1972, and Arthur won an Emmy Award for the role in 1977.

The comedy flowed from Maude's efforts to cast off the traditional restraints that women faced, but the series often had a serious base. Her husband Walter (Bill Macy) became an alcoholic, and she underwent an abortion, which drew a torrent of viewer protests. Maude became a standard bearer for the growing feminist movement in America.

The ratings of Maude in the early years approached those of its parent, "All in the Family," but by 1977 the audience started to dwindle. A major format change was planned, but in early 1978 Arthur announced she was quitting the show.

"It's been absolutely glorious; I've loved every minute of it," she said. "But it's been six years, and I think it's time to leave."

Golden Girls (1985-1992) was another groundbreaking comedy, finding surprising success in a television market increasingly skewed toward a younger, product-buying audience.

The series concerned three retirees - Arthur, Betty White and Rue McClanahan - and the mother of Arthur's character, Estelle Getty, who lived together in a Miami apartment. In contrast to the violent Miami Vice, the comedy was nicknamed "Miami Nice." ..."

In Memoriam - Bea Arthur

New Star Trek Clips

Fresh in from IESB.net here area selection of clips you may not have seen before as well as a look behind the scenes at next months MUST SEE MOVIE! 

Star Trek Clip 1 - Kirk meets Uhura

Star Trek Clip 2 - Enlist in Starfleet

Star Trek Clip 3 - Kirk Meets McCoy

Star Trek Clip 4 - What Gives You the Right?

Star Trek Clip 5 - Space Jump

Star Trek Clip 6 - Answer Me

Star Trek Behind the Scenes (Some parts have no sound)

New Star Trek Clips

Empire Mag' Exclusive: Wolverine Clip

You have to hand it to the movie nuts over at Empire Magazine ... they get the goods! For everyone in Tempe, AZ and around the world that is excited about this flick ... enjoy.

Empire Mag' Exclusive: Wolverine Clip

Tempe, Arizona Wins Wolverine World Premier

In fantastic news for the Phoenix area (and Movie & TV bloggers who live here!) the town of Tempe, Arizona won a national contest to see which American town would host the world premier of X-Men Origins: Wolverine starring Hugh Jackman on Monday, April 27th. There was a great online effort in the valley to get the movie to the Harkins Cine Capri theater in Tempe and I was obviously one of thousands what went onto the contest website to vote for the Tempe zip code of 85281. As late as the end of last week the contest was a tight race between Davis, CA and Tempe and it's no surprise to note these are both big university towns. Here is Dan Harkins, owner of the Tempe based Harkins Theater chain announcing the good news.

As is usually my luck with these things I will be out of town doing my day job on Monday so if you attend the premier drop me an email or post a comment and let me know how it went.

Tempe, Arizona Wins Wolverine World Premier

Rich Celebrities Just Can't Help Themselves

Whether they are actors, singers, musicians, tycoons or whatever, it is clear that when the world is going to hell in a hand basket through War or Economic disaster many of the rich and famous will still carry on like Rome isn't burning. The latest example of this is the post Parisian wedding party in Venice of actress Selma Hayek and husband Francois-Henry Pinault (son of billionaire Francois Pinault). While her fellow Mexicans deal with a potential pandemic of Swine Flu Hayek and Pinault held a  'Masked' party at the Punta Della Dogana which is the oldest Custom House in Venice.

According to Huff Post Charlize Theron, Ed Norton, Woody Harrelson, Ashley Judd, Olivier Martinez, David Blaine, Jacques Chirac, Anna Wintour, and Zhang Ziyi were in attendance. I am not saying these people don't deserve their success or their wish to enjoy it but there is a certain decadence to this that jars with me at a time when so many are struggling to take care of the very basic needs in life.

To see more photos of the rich at play click here.

Rich Celebrities Just Can't Help Themselves

There's Nothing Trivial about Cannes

Although MSN Movies (UK) disagrees as they recently listed their Top 10 List of Cannes Film Festival Trivia.

1. The United Kingdom has won the Palme d'Or nine times. The winning films are:

1946 - Brief Encounter directed by David Lean
1949 - The Third Man directed by Carol Reed1965 - The Knack directed by Richard Lester
1969 - If.... directed by Lindsay Anderson
1971 - The Go-Between directed by Joseph Losey
1973 - The Hireling directed by Alan Bridges
1986 - The Mission directed by Roland Joffé
1996 - Secrets & Lies directed by Mike Leigh
2006 - The Wind That Shakes The Barley by Ken Loach

2. Star Wars Episode III: Revenge Of The Sith had its world premiere on May 15 at the Cannes Film Festival in 2005. Another film that had its debut at Cannes was E.T. The Extra-Terrestrial directed by Steven Spielberg. When it first played at the 1982 Cannes Film Festival, it got a standing ovation and thunderous applause.

3. A 19-year-old French beauty took Cannes by storm in 1953. Parading and posing in a swimsuit, the young Brigitte Bardot became a huge international sensation.

4. In 1948, the Cannes Film Festival was not held due to lack of funding.

5. The first Cannes Film Festival was originally planned for 1939, but it had to be cancelled because Hitler invaded Poland.

6. A couple of instances where a winning actor or actress in Cannes has gone on to win an Oscar include: Sophia Loren, 1961's winner of the Prix D'Interpretation Feminine for La Ciociara (Two Women) at Cannes and the recipient of 1961's Best Actress Academy Award. Also Holly Hunter, 1993's winner of the Prix D'Interpretation Feminine for The Piano at Cannes and the recipient of 1993's Best Actress Academy Award.

7. The Cannes Film Festival was cancelled for eight days in 1968 due to riots that broke out in Paris and around the country.

8. In 2000, police were called after a fracas broke out during a screening of Lars von Trier's Dancer In The Dark. The film won the top acting prize for its star Icelandic singer Björk.

9. While accepting the Palmes d'Or for Pulp Fiction in 1994, Quentin Tarantino was heckled by a slightly inebriated French woman.

10. In 1955, the late director Elia Kazan was booed by a section of the Cannes audience. He'd testified before the House of Un-American Activities Committee, giving the names of supposed communists in the film industry. The named were subsequently blacklisted from Hollywood. At the time, Kazan's classic, East of Eden, starring teen idol James Dean, was being shown.

There's Nothing Trivial about Cannes

My Zooey Deschanel Crush Continues Unabated

Here is Ms Deschanel in a recent ad for cotton (why not i guess!?). For more fawning opportunities and all things Zooey check out a fansite here.

My Zooey Deschanel Crush Continues Unabated

New Star Trek Images Released

New Star Trek Images Released

Movie Review - Valkyrie

Along comes another WWII movie this time in the shape of the Tom Cruise swastika laden Valkyrie capably directed by Bryan Singer (The Usual Suspects, X-Men, Superman Returns). I actually watched this film on one of the pretty decent sized in-seat screens of Air Canada on my way up to Toronto on Monday. Watching a movie on a plane is obviously never a first choice but with noise-reducing headphones and the previously mentioned good size screen it passes as a pretty OK movie experience for a flick you weren't bothered enough to catch at the theater. Through no fault of the movie it had an inauspicious beginning when I selected English as my viewing language but the movie started in German! For a moment I thought this was going to be one of those terribly 'authentic' cinematic experiences (subtitles in a Cruise movie? Surely not!) but it was simply a software glitch and after some fiddling Tom's familiar tones playing Colonel Claus von Stauffenberg soon filled my ears.

Before we get into the plot it's worth noting an interesting point about this film. With the exception of two or three actors the cast seems to be made up entirely of British actors. The list reads like a who's who if British acting talent with central roles being taken by Tom Wilkinson, Eddie Izzard, Bill Nighy, Tom Hollander, Terrance Stamp and Kenneth Branagh. When asked why all the ensemble cast used their natural accents Singer responded:

 "We didn't want that to be what the movie was about ... it's a thriller, it should be exciting and the audience should be taken on a ride through the film. And the actors speak wonderfully the way they do in their current dialects and the characters are all supposed to be German any way. ... We have an international cast -- American actors, Dutch, German, British. To have everyone approximating German accents when, in reality, they're supposed to be speaking German, which, I promise after the first 20 minutes, you'd be sick of it. It would ultimately sound silly. And it would distract from the drive of the plot. So, the decision was made pretty quickly."

This is all very well but there is no doubt the predominance of British actors speaking in their own accents while playing Nazis forces the viewer to mentally pause and reflect. That said I am really not a snob about these things and if a movie is well written, directed and the actors performances are strong enough (which they certainly were in Valkyrie) then accent becomes incidental.

The true story being told is of a German officer, Colonel Claus von Stauffenberg. With an aristocratic background he rises up through the ranks of the German army repulsed by what Hitler is doing in the name of his country. Stauffenberg joins forces with a small band of officers and politicians and launches an assassination attempt on Hitlers life. As he has often done in the past Cruise pulls off the stoney faced military man well and even with his bizarre personal life seemingly never far from the public eye you still believe in the characters this actor chooses to portray. It's not that he particularly 'lives' the role (which is probably a good thing as he described just putting on a Nazi uniform as 'disturbing') but I found his performance to be quite watchable and there's no denying he has screen presence. Without the quality cast behind him this film may have fallen short as the plot, whilst having some moments of tension, mostly chugged along at a moderate but not thrilling pace. 

It's a film that is certainly worth checking out mostly for the fact that you are seeing a seemingly factually accurate reenactment of dramatic events that took place near the end of Hitlers regime. It was never going to win big in award categories but for a Friday night flick that keeps your attention and doesn't strain the brain too much this is a good choice.

Rating: ***

Movie Review - Valkyrie

Wolverine is Coming

Wolverine is Coming

True Blood Returns

OK Fang Fans the news is out that the HBO Vamp' show True Blood is returning in June for a second season. Here is the new promo poster for season two followed by a preview.

Click here to watch the preview.

True Blood Returns

Trek Yourself

And so the Star Trek marketing machine rolls on. Now Cheez-it have got in on the game allowing you to become one of four characters from the new movie. So naturally I couldn't resist and here I am making a fool of myself all in the name of Trek! Have a go yourself, you can post the result to Facebook to really show what a nerd you are!

Trek Yourself

Spielberg Edits Empire Magazine Anniversary Issue

To celebrate their 20th year Empire Magazine has roped in Mega Director Steven Spielberg to guest edit the anniversary issue which will be on British Newsstands on Thursday. I was an obsessive Empire reader when it first started and had to kiss them all goodbye when I left London for New York via a recycling dumpster at Sainsburys (British grocery chain)! I now pick up copies at my local B&N and continue to appreciate the quality of the mag which while populist still gives the reader intelligent movie content to enjoy. It is pretty amazing to me that there isn't an equivalent in the US but then again I don't think there is a better music magazine that Q either so maybe British loyalties are clouding my judgement!

Anyway here are a few words from Spielberg on his one off role as Empire magazine editor:

"A message from our Guest Editor-In-Chief...

Dear Empire reader,

When Empire magazine first approached me to become Guest Editor-In-Chief of their 20th birthday issue, I immediately said, "Show me the money!" When they explained to me that it was going to be a labor of love, I realized that I had been an ardent admirer and avid reader of Empire magazine for the past 20 years. I said yes.

What you hold in your hands is the product of seven months of meetings, phone calls and emails with the Empire team. My role has included suggesting and selecting feature ideas (I've even picked this month's spine line), approving layouts, choosing photographs and signing off finished proofs. All in all, the experience has been unprecedented and rewarding."

To continue reading click here.

Spielberg Edits Empire Magazine Anniversary Issue

Extended Interview with the New Doctor Who

In case you missed it, here is a extended interview with the new Doctor Who, Matt Smith. Smith will take over in 2010 and as a 26 year old at the time of casting will be the youngest actor to play the iconic British sci-fi character in the shows 46 year run.

Extended Interview with the New Doctor Who

Is There Anybody There?

I was due to see this film at the Phoenix Film Festival earlier this month but as previously reported it wasn't delivered to the theater on time (still seems odd to me). The movie stars Sir Michael Caine as a retired magician living in a retirement home who befriends a young boy whose parents run the facility. Directed by John Crowley, Comingsoon.net recently sat down with him for a Q & A about the film:

ComingSoon.net: When we spoke last year, you mentioned you had been working on this movie when Michael Caine was called away to do 

The Dark Knight  and you ended up doing Boy A instead. It must have been tough to switch gears, because they're such different movies.

John Crowley: They were, but I hadn't made a film for a while, and I was desperate to make one and when we got onto the starting blocks with this--when it suddenly looked like it was postponed for six, seven months--the possibility of going off to do what was basically a small piece of TV, Boy A, appealed to me. It didn't feel like it was going to interfere anyway with Is Anybody There? So I was really happy to embrace it and go for it, but yeah, I did the two of them back to back. 

CS: I didn't realize that Boy A was made for TV, because I've seen it on the big screen twice already. Did it ever get a theatrical release over there at all?

Crowley: Not in the UK, no, because it was broadcast and very successfully broadcast, so everybody saw it, and then it was repeated four times on the channel. No distributors thought there was any real cinema marketplace for it, which is a pity, but it's done incredibly well in France. It's doing very well in Belgium. It's gone on to have its own life, which is wonderful.

CS: Going back to this movie, you were working on this before Boy A so was this a script that David Heyman found? Or did you already know the screenwriter, Peter Harness?

Crowley: No, David liked my first film Intermission and we started talking about possibly working together. I was looking for a film from the point of view of a child protagonist. His development person met Peter, who wanted to write something about his experiences growing up in a retirement home. David called me and said, "Look, this sounds like the kind of territory you were looking for," so I said, "Absolutely, get him to write a treatment." Treatment came two weeks later, I read it and the second I did, I thought, "This is my next film. I'm going to make this."

CS: So he didn't actually have a script at all?

Crowley: No, just an idea; it wasn't even a treatment yet. Once we read the treatment, I was like, "Absolutely. Commission it, let's get on with it," and we started it, and that was four years ago, I guess. 

CS: Did you want to work closely with Peter in terms of developing it or just let him write his own script?

Crowley: Well, with the treatment, we gave him some pointers, and he wrote a first draft and it's always been slight in terms of the action, never much happens in it, but that's not the point. What appealed to me was the idea of looking at growing old from the point of view of a child and through that lens. Somehow, this kind of odd couple story of two people at opposite ends of their lives. One needs to sort of be pulled into life, and the other one who has to be helped out of life in a rather good way. I find some kind of closure with it. So really, it was about the depths that one would get emotionally, rather than the plot mechanics of it, but that said, it did take a long time for us to work up enough story into the heart of developing all the characters. The treatment, we knew it was about a kid and a retired magician and the rest just sort of evolved as we did various drafts and kept working it up. 

CS: Did you always want to have the story set in the '80s? Was there any particular reason why you wanted it set in the past?

Crowley: It was always set in the '80s and that was basically because that was the period that Pete and I had grown up in, so it felt like--even though there was a slew of films in the '80s since then--Son of Rambow has come along and all that, but this is a very different '80s. It wasn't the '80s of the kitch pop culture. It was the '80s in the backwaters, in a way, where a lot of the cultural elements of the '80s didn't really turn up in there with the exception of the bad mullet haircut and the jacket and a couple songs. It did feel like it was pre-mobile phones and it was pre-digital, and there was something about the kid and his ghost-hunting which felt a little bit more old-fashioned somehow. Also, you had a generation of old dears who at that point, still could have served in the first World War and served in the Royalty. In various drafts of the script, it became a little more political at various points. There were certain elements to do with Thatcherism and what was happening in England at the time, which we cut out, probably quite wisely, but it was informed by the fact that it was the era, '87, when Margaret Thatcher said, "There's no such thing as society, only as individuals" and this was a little snapshot of the country in a very unusual way, which is a marginalized snapshot or a snapshot of the marginalized people of the very old and someone very young who are left on the wayside because Mum and Dad are too busy working their asses off to be able to really properly give time to either group.

CS: I haven't met or talked to Peter, but besides having lived in a retirement home as a boy, was any other part of this taken from his own past?

Crowley: Some of the other characters are, and even the title itself: Is Anybody There? one of the old dears used to say at the home, so there were elements there, but not with the parents. That's all made up and I think Peter, like a lot of kids, had an obsession with ghost and ghost hunting when he was young, but the parents' marriage was all fiction. His parents are still very happily married. I think it was tough for him to write. I think he felt it was a story he didn't feel he was going to have to write until he was much older actually, and he was trying to have to pull his own childhood out of himself in a way and yet to make it true and not make it sentimental and not make it too whimsical. 

CS: Michael Caine is obviously a great actor, who really can't do wrong - I was trying to think of a single movie that he's been bad in and drew a blank. He's also a great spokesman for your movie. So who first approached him to be in the movie? Was it just a matter of sending him the script?

Crowley: David Heyman, whose mother Norma Heyman is a producer who produced Dangerous Liaisons, knows Michael of old and indeed, Michael has known David since he was born, forever, so it was very helpful actually, because it was meant we were able to get the script onto his desk. Once the approach was made, Michael called David and said, "Listen, I'm going on a plane and flying to L.A. tomorrow. Get me the script tonight and I'll read it on the plane" and he read it and his wife Shakira read it on the plane and said, "You're doing this, off you go." I met him two weeks later, so it did happen very quickly. The idea of doing a small independent British film and doing a larger role in it, and the emotional complexity of it was helpful that he knew David, there's no question. 

CS: As far as casting Edward opposite him, I read that you had the choice between going with a completely unknown kid or with Bill. What was the process as far as deciding which way to go?

Crowley: Well, Bill wasn't known at the time. Son of Rambow wasn't anywhere near coming out at the time.

CS: So you actually cast this before making Boy A?

Crowley: Yes, we were and then we stopped and then while I was editing Boy A, we carried on and stacked up looking for the kid and brought them all back, as it were. I hadn't seen "Son of Rambow"--nobody had seen it--so it wasn't so much about the experience although that did count. It just was really that Bill had an astonishing quality to him, there was this sort of melancholy to him, which was rather wonderful. Even though he's a happy kid, it was like there was an old spirit in a young body, and it was like directing an adult. His instincts were very secure and you could explain a scene to him intellectually, and it would turn up emotionally in the next performance, which is the sign of an instinctive actor. I mean, it just turns up. He's completely untrained, and at the heart of it, is that it's a natural talent. You can't actually teach that stuff. 

CS: There's something about the feel of the movie and his relationship with Michael Caine's character that reminds me of movies I enjoyed when I was younger. I can't think of a single title but Harold and Maude is something that comes to mind even though it's a very different relationship obviously.

Crowley: No, but it's a very good reference. Hal Ashby, I watched a lot of his stuff when we were working on this, because the tone of that. I remember seeing Being There when I was like 12 and feeling completely entertained by it and yet baffled by it at the same time, and it was a very distinctive tone. I think Hal Ashby was very useful. I didn't want it to be indie in a way, I didn't want it to be art in some of the way he's inspired a sort of generation of indie filmmakers. I wanted it to be true to itself. I didn't want it to be pretentious and I don't particularly like to make films which remind you of other films. I want to make films about the material that is in front of you, but Hal Ashby was a useful reference, as was something like My Life as a Dog as was something like Together, Lukas Moodyson's film, but ultimately, it's not about referring to them. It's just about they're useful tonally and gives you a sense of the ballpark of the kind of the film you want to make. 

CS: How about knowing that Bill would work well with Michael? Obviously, he's experienced enough that he could probably work well with anyone, but you have this young kid who hasn't made that many movies. Even Son of Rambow was a very different thing because he was working with a kid his age, so how was it casting these two actors and knowing they would work together? Did you get a chance to test them together at all?

Crowley: No, we didn't, not together. The first time they met was three days before we started shooting, and you just have to trust your instincts that who you've cast is the best actor for the job and that's always what you go after. Then, chemistry will find its level, I think, and I knew a little bit about Michael at that point and I knew enough about Michael, that he's done so many films that really, what he wants to know is "Is this okay? Are you going to be okay? Do you know what you're doing?" If he's surrounded by people who know what they're doing and everything's fine, he's completely happy and is able to do his work. He's not a complicated actor in that way, and he's a craftsman. He turns up, he's incredibly professional, so I think even if he didn't like somebody, he'd find a way of probably making it work. However, in this instance, even he was a bit anxious about the kid, but not to the extent where he wanted to see who we were casting. He trusted us, and when we found Bill, I phoned him and described what we found, and I said, "Look, there's a touch of Buster Keaton, sort of a melancholy deadpan quality, he looks quite sad but knows humor and is truthful." So there wasn't a problem, wasn't an issue.

CS: Is it easy to direct Michael Caine? Even with three or four movies under your belt, the man is such an icon and he's so experienced, I can't imagine any director would want to tell him how to act, but when he turns to you and says, "How's that? What should I change?" is that a daunting thing?

Crowley: The first day, it was like, "Oh my God, it's Michael Caine!" but then you have to put that to one side. Being a fan is not being any use to him if you're going to be a fan and remember him in Italian Job. He's an actor, he's trying to do a job, and you've got a job, which is to try and clear any stuff that's in the way of him giving the most truthful performance that he can give. Michael would turn up with very particular stuff, and often times it's right there on the money and sometimes, it would need to be pivoted and changed and taken somewhere else, and it needed to be less comic or more comic or truthful or more emotional. In some of the scenes, particularly in the big emotional scenes, he was happy to be shoved off the cliff and have the bar raised. This is how high it is and he's very fast. He's at his best on Take 3, and you better know what you want because you're going to waste it. He sort of naturally warms up to it, so conversation even before you start rehearsing is very important to him, because when he gets his head around it, when he knows exactly what he's doing, he's a constant craftsman and if he knows where the target is, he'll step up and hit it. 

CS: Was it hard to get him from making Clarence too gruff and hard on the kid at first? You do warm up to him, but was it hard to develop and get him to be likeable despite being so ornery?

Crowley: That wasn't so hard. Because usually, Michael, he's so charming, he has a way of being gruff and there's a playfulness in it. I think you know as well that he's going to soften at some point, and you just sort of let him go there, but there was a few points where, yeah, you have to calibrate that stuff, don't you? Like it was with Bill, where he looked a bit too dowry, you have to calibrate that back and find some childlike stuff, but good actors give you so much stuff to work with and that's the great thing in the edit. 

CS: I wanted to ask about the other people in the old age home and how you cast them. There were a few faces that I definitely recognized as British character actors who've been around a long time.

Crowley: Really, what you have is a collection of some of the greatest character actors in the UK who turn up on TV and in stagework over the years, it's an incredible (mix), so that was the gorgeous part of the job, which was how could we populate the house? We did lose some of their material sadly because it was about having to focus back on Michael and Bill's story all the time. But yeah, Sylvia Sims, great actress, Elizabeth Spriggs, great old English stage actress, Rosemarie Harris, who you probably know from Spider-Man, Leslie Phillips from all those great "Carry On" movie. The years of experience add up to about a thousand years' worth of experience.

CS: It must have been a great set to hang out on in between takes.

Crowley: It was incredible, because some of them hadn't worked together since the '50s and '60s but they all knew each other from before, so it was very funny actually. 

CS: Obviously, with Michael's involvement, you'd think a lot of older people would be interested in this movie, but do you think it's something that could appeal to younger people also? David has a way of finding these things which are darker but that kids like anyway, and I wondered how you felt about that?

Crowley: I would hope so. I think, the one thing you can't do is sell old material to a younger audience, as it were, and I think there's a lot in the film that younger audiences could enjoy. I think it's a hard sell. I think the film was always going to be a hard sell, and I think it's why we struggled to get it financed. It's difficult material, but that's what's great about it. I think there's a freshness to it, and I think if you get past the point of the notion of a film set in a retirement home and what that carries with it, that there's an awful lot in it that's there to be found. I hope it finds a young audience. 

CS: Well, it did get a PG despite the scene later in the movie (which we won't spoil!)

Crowley: Exactly. 

CS: Have you started working on your next movie?

Crowley: I'm developing a bunch of them, and I haven't decided which one is actually going to hit the starting blocks next. I'm going to do a play in the Autumn and hopefully, make another one next year. 

CS: I remember we talked last year about you doing a movie outside of England or Ireland, so have you found something which might let you work elsewhere?

Crowley: I've got one which is here, which is called Dogs of Babel which I'm working on with David Heyman producing, and there's another one set in England, which is a thriller called Blackout and then there's another Irish project, which is at a slightly earlier stage, which I'm working on. 

CS: So Dogs of Babel is definitely still happening? I hadn't really heard anything since it was announced.

Crowley: Yes, it still is. That's just down to moving it to the next point casting-wise and seeing how we go from there.

Visit Comingsoon.net here and check out Is There Anybody There? in select cities on May 17th.

Is There Anybody There?

Movie Review - Rachel Getting Married

There has been a lot said about this movie including many fine reviews including NY Mag describing it as a 'masterpiece' of film making by Jonathan Demme. Of course earlier this year it got even more attention when Ann Hathaway was Oscar nominated for her performance as Kym, a 'fresh from rehab' troubled sister facing up to family demons. What drew me to this film was director Jonathan Demme whose previous directorial efforts on The Silence of the Lambs and Philadelphia speak for themselves. I have previously had no interest in the career and script choices of Anne Hathaway with her appearance in Brokeback Mountain being the one exception. So I came at the movie with a certain curiousity and the expectation that comes with any Oscar nominated performance.

The film takes place in and was shot in Fairfield, Connecticut over a weekend at the family house of sisters Kym and Rachel (played well by the very watchable Rosemarie DeWitt). As the title suggests Rachel is about to get married at the family home and Kym has been let out of rehab for the weekend to attend the event. Kym's return offers the chance to reignite old family tensions between her divorced parents and the sisters unearthing an old family tragedy that is unavoidably linked to Kym's substance abuse.  

All of which is very serious and laudable but the film never quite nails the raw emotion that should have been on display. Watching Hathaway I was unable to forget I was watching the actress and not the character playing the 'edgy' sister and black sheep of the family. In the wedding rehearsal dinner scene it is almost David Brent level cringe inducing when Hawathay stands up and washes some family dirty laundry in front of assembled guests. I am quite sure Demme trying to make the viewer uncomfortable with a supposed display of inappropriately timed 'sharing' but it had no sense of authenticity to it and a lot of that came down to Hathaway for me. Her performance brought to mind actors like Cuba Gooding Junior when he played a mentally challenged character in Radio. It was so obviously a performance, one no one wanted to be watching and one that made the viewer uncomfortable for unintentional reasons. 

The fact that this role was nominated for an Oscar leaves me scratching my head. Was it some kind of nod to an Academy favorite trying something brave instead of putting out another Bride Wars type of flick? It may sound like I am ragging on Hathaway too much but I can't remember a time when i saw a character being played with such little authenticity and when I last disagreed with an Oscar nomination quite this much.

There are other reasons this movie failed for me. Amongst them it seemed to be trying to pull off a Woody Allen style look at Upper Class American strife and coming up short, the bizarre Indian themed wedding with no back story and the plain odd appearance of American Idol also-ran Tamyra Gray. Overall it was just a mess with the only bright spot being the solid performance by Dewitt.

Rating: *

  

Movie Review - Rachel Getting Married

New Harry Potter Trailer

I wasn't going to post this as you will have almost certainly seen it elsewhere by now but it's proved too much to resist. This really is the best HP trailer yet and hopefully that is a good sign that on July 15th we will see the most exciting and darkest Potter movie yet. The first couple of flicks were fun enough in terms of introducing the series to us but it is thankfully inevitable as Harry grows up in the books so the stories become more complex with greater opportunity for action and acts of despicable wizardry!

New Harry Potter Trailer

The Amazing Race Returns for 15th Season

Is this show the ER of the reality genre? Talk about longevity! 

I was a huge fan of the show when it first appeared on CBS back in 2001 and still think New Zealand host Phil Keoghan is one of the best around. My interest waned after the first 5 or so seasons when it became less about two 'regular' people making up the pairings that race around the world and the producers started looking for 'characters'. You ended up with the nerds, the jocks, the moms etc and everyone one of them had to have a quirky back-story. Half the reason the first few seasons worked so well for me was the feeling that these were really day to day people just like you or I that were on this, well, Amazing Race.

So this Fall we will see 15th season on CBS. The news was delivered in a very 'of the moment'  style via Keoghan's Twitter profile (@philkeoghan).

The Amazing Race Returns for 15th Season

New Footage from Inglorious Basterds

This came from Film School Rejects by way of the always excellent Slash Film site. You gotta love Tarantino's cheerleading motivational chant in the clip below:

New Footage from Inglorious Basterds

2009 Phoenix International Film Festival Winners

Feature Film Awards:

Special Jury Prize Acting Achievement - Dennis Boutsikaris, Calling It Quits

Best Ensemble Acting Award – Calling It Quits

Best Documentary – The Way We Get By

Best Screenplay – Kevin Sheridan, Leaving Barstow

Best Director – Jeffrey Balsmeyer, Lightbulb

Cox Audience Award – Shooting Beauty

Best Picture – Lightbulb

World Cinema Awards:

World Cinema Best Short – Spielzeugland

World Cinema Best Director – Mai Iskander, Garbage Dreams

World Cinema Audience Award Winner – Garbage Dreams

World Cinema Best Picture – Ocean

Short Film Awards:

Best Grade School/High School Short Film - Conflict in the Middle Table

Best College Short Film – On the Road to Tel-Aviv

Best Short Documentary – Victoria

Best Arizona Short Film - Letter of Thanks

Best Animated Short – Sebastian’s Voodoo

Best Live Action Short Film – Animated American

Phoenix Film Foundation Awards:

Arizona Filmmaker of the Year – Webb Pickersgill

Volunteer of the Year – Deb Hildebrandt and David Lucas

Board Member of the Year – Stephanie Dowling and Eric Mccarthy

2009 Phoenix International Film Festival Winners

Kevin Smith at Carnegie Hall

If I still lived in New York or New Jersey I would be at this gig in a heartbeat. Smiths viewaskew website announced the funniest dude from NJ will do 'an evening with ...' at the landmark New York concert hall on June 17th. If you can get to it ... get to it!

Kevin Smith at Carnegie Hall

Gigantic

This is just a quick late night post as I can't sleep. I was browsing the mini reviews in NY Mag and found an average review of Gigantic starring Zooey Deschanel (yes, her again) and Little Miss Sunshine's Paul Dano (the mute teen). This flick has only just come on my radar but I think I will be checking it out when it comes to AZ in May, let's hope it's worth the drive from Phoenix down to Tucson! Naturally if you live in NY or LA you have a decidedly better chance of checking it out locally so click here to see if it's playing near you anytime soon. 

Gigantic

Movie Review - Yes Man

If you heard that this movie was a return to the great Jim Carrey comedies of the 90's you heard right as this is right up with with Liar Liar and Dumb and Dumber. I think Carrey has made some interesting choices over the years and certainly enjoyed it when he chose more serious movies like Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind and The Number 23 (although that one did have its unintentional comedic moments). That said, it's hard to deny where this actors talents really shine which is in frenetic slapstick flicks that make full use of his ability to contort his face, and often body, in a way that is so naturally funny.

In Yes Man Carrey plays Carl Allen, a man whose life is so drab and dull because he never says yes to anyone or anything. So after missing his friends engagement party he decides to attend a life improvement seminar lead by the always intense Terrance Stamp which espouses the philosophy that saying Yes to everything will lead to happiness and fulfillment in all aspects of your life. Well it does! Carl ends up with a promotion at the bank he works at and stumbles across a new girlfriend in the form of Allison played by the joyously kooky Zooey Deschanel. However as his romance with Allison progresses he continues to say Yes and trouble looms with the movie revealing the rather unsurprising moral of the tale that you really shouldn't say yes to everything!

I can't wait until the end of this review to tell you that I ABSOLUTELY FRICKIN' LOVED THIS MOVIE! Yes that might come across as somewhat over the top but I don't remember the last time I sat and laughed pretty much all the way through a light comedy like this. The film worked on a bunch of different levels for me ... it is a straight out laugh-fest with decent gags and classic Carrey slapstick, a satisfying rom-com where you actually like both the leads and are hoping it all works out for them and even a light hearted questioning of your own life and if it is too full of Nays and not enough Yays.

The supporting cast do a solid job with Bradley Cooper taking over that buddy role that Jeremy Piven used to be seen in so often before his career took off. Carl's co-worker at the bank is the hilarious Kiwi Rhys Darby from Flight of the Conchords who has a penchant for Harry Potter costumes (the Potter party scene in the movie is hysterical).

It is Carrey and Deschanel that make this movie such a satisfying 100 minutes of DVD couch time with funny, real and sometimes even touching performances. There is no doubt I have a serious movie crush on Deschanel who seems to just get better with every film I see her in but the best thing about this film was seeing Carrey return to such fine form. Rent it today!

Rating: ***** (yes it was THAT good)

 

Movie Review - Yes Man

The British Film Institute Top 100 Films

The BFI compiled their Top 100 British Movies a few years back and it's interesting for me as a Brit' (and for any movie lover) to run down the list to see how many of them I have seen. The top 10 includes movies you would be expecting to see such as Lawrence of Arabia and The 39 Steps but I was interested to see Danny Boyle's Trainspotting coming in a number 10. 

The list was put together back in 1999 and so we have 10 years of movies that haven't made the list, so no Iris, The Last King of Scotland and of course Slumdog Millionaire. That said it is interesting to look through and recall some classics and note others such as the wonderful Ealing Comedies as must sees. There are always going to be some films you look at and wonder how they made the list and others which are notable by their absence. It's nice to see two of Mike Leigh's classics made it, including my favorite of all his movies 1990's Life is Sweet.

A friend of mine was recently working through the Top 100 movies from the American Film Institute and and was enjoying it immensely. As I have only seen 48 of the 100 BFI films I think I need to start adding a few of them to Netflix and get caught up with the best of British film making.

To view the full list on the BFI site click here.

The British Film Institute Top 100 Films

Don't Adjust Your TV Settings

Changes are afoot at The Big & Small Screen so I hope you enjoy the new 'widescreen' look of the blog. It may look like there is a bit of a snowstorm happening with the lack of color but that will be changing in the coming weeks when a few new design elements are added!

If you read my blog regularly then Thank You! If you are a first time or occasional visitor then have a browse over old posts and let me know what you think. Special shout outs have to go to my regular readers in the following Big & Small Screen outposts around the world:

Chandler & Gilbert Arizona, USA

San Francisco, California, USA

Norfolk, VA, USA

Quincy, MA, USA

Toronto, Canada

Vancouver, Canada

Instanbul, Turkey

Roubaix, France

Birmingham, England

Bradford, England

London, England

If you are a regular from somewhere else in the world ... thanks, I truly appreciate it!

Don't Adjust Your TV Settings

The Informers

As a fan of the books written by Bret Easton Ellis I am interested in seeing the adaptation of his 1994 work The Informers. It's the early Eighties (a very vogue era with filmmakers at the moment) and as the tagline of the movie suggests, 'Greed is good. Sex is easy. Youth is forever'.

Bringing Mickey Rourke and Kim Bassinger back together again on the Big Screen should be reason enough for you to check this out and they are joined by Brad Renfro in his last movie before his untimely death in January, Winona Ryder and Billy Bob Thornton. Check out the trailer here.

The Informers is released in the US on April 24th.

The Informers

Red Dwarf Returns

One of my favorite shows since it arrived on UK TV screens back in 1988 and in honor of it's 21st year the cast have reunited for a 3 part special on British channel Dave TV.

The UK has national holidays over the Easter weekend (lucky gits!) and this was made even better with episode one of the new trilogy premiering on Friday. According to the Dave website the schedule is as follows:

Friday, April 10th from 9pm

Back to Earth – Part One

Gunmen of the Apocalypse

Quarantine

Tikka to Ride

The boys are back and while they may be older they’re still none the wiser. Their spectacular return in Back to Earth – Part One is followed by a triple-bill of classic episodes. 

Red Dwarf’s Emmy-award winning ‘roast beef western’ Gunmen of the Apocalypse is followed by fan-favourite Quarantine, featuring the terrifying Mr Flibble. The evening concludes with the time-travel epic Tikka to Ride where the team accidentally prevent the Kennedy assassination. 

Saturday, April 11th from 9pm

Back to Earth – Part Two

Smeg Ups

Polymorph

Emohawk – Polymorph II

There’s one planet Dave Lister has always called home, and he finally makes it there in Back to Earth – Part Two. 

Then Kryten, Lister and Rimmer settle down to watch a classic selection of Smeg Ups – in space no-one can hear you scream cut! Then it’s a monster double-bill with the emotion-sucking Polymorph and Emohawk – Polymorph II. 

Sunday, April 12th from 9pm

Back to Earth – Part Three

The Making of Back to Earth

Back to Reality

Marooned

The Back to Earth story concludes in shocking fashion, bringing this all-new adventure to a close. But stick around for The Making of Back to Earth, going behind the scenes on Red Dwarf’s most amazing adventure. 

After that we pack in a couple of fan favourites. The top-voted brain-melter Back to Reality is followed by Rimmer and Lister’s confined confrontations in Marooned. 

Monday, April 13th from 9pm

Back to Earth – Part One

Back to Earth – Part Two

Back to Earth – Part Three

The Making of Back to Earth

A chance to relive the entire three-part adventure on Dave – from deep space in the far future to Earth in 2009 – in Back to Earth parts one, two and three. Plus a second chance to see how the whole thing was made. 

Here is a shot from the new episode showing that while the cast have obviously aged they are still unmistakeably Lister, Rimmer, Kryten and Cat!

Red Dwarf Returns