A guide to movies playing in and outside the New York area.
Thursday, June 14, 2012
This Week In Trailers: Shadow Dancer, Kotoko, After The World Ended, Nostalgia, Canicula, Step Up To The Plate (Entre Les Bras), The Will
Trailers are an under-appreciated art form insofar that many times they're seen as vehicles for showing footage, explaining films away, or showing their hand about what moviegoers can expect. Foreign, domestic, independent, big budget: I celebrate all levels of trailers and hopefully this column will satisfactorily give you a baseline of what beta wave I'm operating on, because what better way to hone your skills as a thoughtful moviegoer than by deconstructing these little pieces of advertising? Some of the best authors will tell you that writing a short story is a lot harder than writing a long one, that you have to weigh every sentence. What better medium to see how this theory plays itself out beyond that than with movie trailers?
Kotoko Trailer
I absolutely dare you to figure this out without reading a synopsis.
What immediately jumped out at me was how much of a departure this is for director Shin'ya Tsukamoto, the man who last gave us Tetsuo: The Bullet Man. Long gone are the hideous physical transformations, his Kafka-esque metamorphosis still something to behold, and replaced with something more cerebral, intelligent.
We open easily enough with a woman suffering with double vision. The hook here, though, and it's brilliantly encapsulated within mere seconds, is that she seems to be suffering from a psychological double vision as well. The way the guy just lumbers and leaps is contrasted nicely with the hushed tones of our protagonist who realizes it is in her head and throws us the first in a series of thrilling moments which, in this case, is her devotion to augmenting her reality in order to stave off the terror that surely comes over her.
The festival recognition is well placed and timed in the way it doesn't take us out of trying to understand what's afoot here but the rub isn't that a kind, stately narrator will explain everything you need to know. In fact, things just spiral deeper out of control down a well of madness, but, for me, I am riveted by what I see. Almost like a wobbly can that is just moments away from coming loose of its moorings, the trailer just descends into dark places as the echoing sounds of gunshots fi
Sunday, June 10, 2012
A Shirtless Joey Lawrence Guest Stars With The Chippendales
ABC Family 'Melissa & Joey' star Joey Lawrence showed of his shirtless assets yesterday in Las Vegas. He started his three-week duty as guest-host for Chippendales Thursday. Sorry ladies, Lawrence ...
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Thursday, June 7, 2012
Report That Marvel's Next Standalone Project Is 'Black Panther' Debunked
Insiders from Marvel Studios claim the rumor stating that the Black Panther is 'headlining his own film' for a 2014 release is 'not true.'
Wednesday, June 6, 2012
Amanda Bynes Is Charged With DUI, Pleads With Obama to Fire Officer
Insisting that she doesn't drink, Bynes tweets to Mr. President, 'Please fire the cop who arrested me. I also don't hit and run.'
Tuesday, June 5, 2012
'The Babymakers' Trailer - Broken Lizard is Back, Sort Of
It's been three years since Broken Lizard's last film, The Slammin' Salmon, and six years since their last semi-hit, Beerfest, but the comedy group is coming back this summer with a fresh new feature. Well, kinda. The Babymakers isn't technically a Broken Lizard film — while troupe leader Jay Chandrasekhar directs, not all the team members appear, and the ones that do play supporting roles to non-Lizard stars Paul Schneider and Olivia Munn. Still, I'm betting fans will be happy to see at least a partial reunion, and the premise of the film sounds right up their alley.
Written by Peter Gaulke and Gerry Swallow, The Babymakers centers around a married couple (Schneider and Munn) trying for their first child. When it becomes apparent that husband Tommy is shooting blanks, however, he enlists the aid of his friends in breaking into a sperm bank to retrieve a deposit he made several years ago. Kevin Heffernan, Nat Faxon, Wood Harris, M.C. Gainey, and Aisha Tyler also star. Watch the first trailer after the jump.
[via First Showing]
Head to Apple.com to see Schneider's semen-related shenanigans in crisp HD.
This trailer really doesn't do anything for me. To be fair, I haven't found any of Broken Lizard's works to be more than fitfully amusing, so maybe this just doesn't appeal to my personal sense of humor. But for all their flaws, Beerfest and Super Troopers offered some big laughs; the Babymakers trailer barely got me to crack a smile. The only highlight for me was the appearance of Chandrasekhar, whose deeply silly side role seems to liven up the proceedings.
The Babymakers premiered at SXSW to mixed reviews, with critics by and large approving of Schneider's performance and complaining about Munn's casting. THR found it to be Broken Lizard's "most mature, funniest entry," while Film School Rejects sniffed that "the whole enterprise is essentially demeaning to everyone involved with it." You can make up your own mind when The Babymakers gets a theatrical and VOD release on August 3.
- Watch the First Footage From Jay Chandrasekar's 'The Babymakers'
- Casting Bits: Elijah Wood in 'Celese and Jesse Forever;' Colin Hanks in 'My Mother's Curse;' Paul Schneider in 'Baby Makers'
- Casting Bits: Al Pacino in 'Imagine', Olivia Munn in 'The Babymakers', Three More for Woody Allen's 'Bop Decameron'
- Sequel Bits: Disney Considering 'Muppets' TV Series, Plus: 'Cloudy 2′, 'Bill & Ted 3′, 'Super Troopers 2′
- Ruben Fleischer's Short Films
- 'Magic Mike' UK Trailer – Less Furniture Building, More Beefcake
Sunday, June 3, 2012
Check Out 'Safe House' On Blu-ray, DVD & More June 5
In "Safe House," a rookie CIA operative goes on the run with a rogue former intelligence officer after a South African safe house comes under attack by heavily armed mercenaries.
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Saturday, June 2, 2012
'Snow White' Star Charlize Theron Questioned by Her Mom Over Her Parenting Skills
Theron's mother is baffled by the actress' parenting skills because she's feeding her son while watching ' Game of Thrones' which depicts lots of violence.
Friday, June 1, 2012
Drew Barrymore Goes to Final Wedding Dress Fitting With Cameron Diaz
A pregnant Barrymore goes to the Chanel store in Beverly Hills and is joined by good pal Diaz and fiance Will Kopelman.
Grammy Awards Returns to Celebrate Music's Biggest Night on February 10, 2013
The musicians who make the cut into the nomination list are scheduled to be announced in a live star-studded concert on December 5 this year.
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