"Unapologetic" was the word most frequently used by director Todd Phillips and his Wolf Pack cast and writers to describe the outrageous shenanigans that go down in The Hangover Part II, which finds the heroes of The Hangover once again dealing with a bad case of morning-after confusion. This time, they awake disoriented in Bangkok, a place that takes monkeyshines to a whole new level. "Sometimes to make a movie about mayhem," Phillips admitted at Wednesday's press conference, "you have to go to mayhem."
more »
"Either you like the movie or I'm very sick." And thus the actor, writer, director and comedy legend Elaine May greeted her warmly welcoming audience Tuesday night at New York's 92nd Street Y. The occasion: An ultra-rare screening of her infamous 1987 comedy Ishtar -- made all the rarer by exhibiting, for the first time ever, May's own director's cut of the film.
more »
Despite the fact that the summer movie season is in full swing, only one new film opens in wide release on Friday: Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides. Of course, if the idea of watching Johnny Depp do his Jack Sparrow thing for a fourth time in less than ten years doesn't exactly get your juices flowing, you can always open your laptop and watch Jackass 3.5.
more »
The NYT reported today that Elaine's, the venerable Manhattan saloon thrust into limbo last year following the death of its legendary proprietress Elaine Kaufman, will shutter permanently next week. The closure marks the end of a cultural institution made famous in the work and lives of numerous New York authors, journalists, actors, filmmakers and other artists. Perhaps chief among them: Woody Allen, an Elaine's regular for decades who immortalized the Upper East Side hotspot in the opening scene of his 1979 classic Manhattan. At a press gathering today in New York for his new film Midnight in Paris, Movieline solicited Allen's reaction to news of Elaine's closing its doors.
more »
It's been an unusually prolific year to date for Todd Haynes, the Oscar-nominated filmmaker who will soon follow one of the year's most acclaimed films -- HBO's five-hour Mildred Pierce -- with one of the most radical directing experiments of his career. And this one won't be found in a theater either.
more »
Before he made his screen debut in the 2009 biopic Notorious portraying his own father, the late rapper Christopher "Biggie" Wallace, newcomer Christopher Jordan "CJ" Wallace had no aspirations for a Hollywood career. But the acting bug hit and a call from writer-director Dan Rush followed, and within a few years Wallace, now 14, found himself playing opposite Will Ferrell in the achingly bittersweet indie drama Everything Must Go, about an alcoholic salesman struggling to cope with losing it all.
more »
As the saying goes, it takes a village... and when the long-gestating Nazi comedy Iron Sky finally hits theaters next year, we'll have many folks to thank. (Including crowdfunding backers and financiers from the U.K., Australia, Germany, and Finland.) Iron Sky explains that the Nazis didn't just disappear when World War II ended -- they relocated to the moon to regroup and hatch a space invasion of Earth (or, "meteorblitzkrieg") in 2018. After the jump, the latest grindhouse-y teaser!
more »
How did Rose Byrne become the most unexpected comedic actress of her generation? After 15 years of acting, the Aussie native broke out of her dramatic shell with a fearless turn as Aldous Snow's pop star ex in Get Him to the Greek, and this week's Bridesmaids continues the streak: Byrne plays Helen, the rich and beautiful new BFF who tries to steal Maya Rudolph away from maid of honor Kristen Wiig. As director Paul Feig insisted to Movieline, "That woman should always be doing comedy."
more »
Behind the femme-dominated laughs of this Friday's Bridesmaids -- the movie that will prove ladies can carry blockbuster comedies, or not, but probably so -- is writer, actor, director, Judd Apatow compatriot, and creator of the well-loved cult series Freaks and Geeks, Paul Feig. After a successful run directing episodes of your favorite shows (The Office, Arrested Development), Feig is finally staking his claim in the film world with the Kristen Wiig starrer, about a woman tapped to play maid of honor at her best friend's wedding. But Feig, on the brink of a likely summer hit, is noticeably nervous.
more »
There are stuntmen, and then there are stuntmen. And then there is Vic Armstrong -- stunt legend turned action director and now the author of the memoir The True Adventures of the World's Greatest Stuntman: My Life as Indiana Jones, James Bond, Superman and Other Movie Heroes. A bit of a mouthful, sure, and kind of braggadocious for Armstrong's tastes. But it's not like it's not true.
more »
"I'm sitting here in this wonderful room with an amazing view, in the sunlight -- so I'm happy." English actress Naomie Harris, co-star of this week's indie biopic The First Grader, sounded genuinely contented when she rang Movieline to discuss the socially conscious, tear-jerking drama in which she plays a rural Kenyan teacher trying to help an 84-year-old man seize his right to a free education. After the film's unusually demanding and tricky shoot -- Harris taught actual elementary school for weeks to the local non-actor children in the cast and never broke character with her young co-stars -- it's easy to see why.
more »
Though he doesn't appear in Dax Shepard's filmmaking mockumentary Brother's Justice -- which follows Shepard (as himself) and producing partner Nate Tuck on a years-long quest to make a martial arts action movie entitled, yes, Brother's Justice -- Chuck Norris figured prominently in the genesis of the project. "Originally I envisioned fighting Chuck Norris in the third act," Shepard explained to Movieline via telephone. "That was our full goal, that I would fight him at the end of the movie."
more »
For a while anyway, actress Jaimie Alexander should have enough to keep her busy with the inevitable continuation of the Thor franchise, in which she enjoys her blockbuster breakthrough as the title hero's comely comrade-in-arms Sif. But a rising star always has to be the lookout for the next opportunity, and a recent development with a certain action heroine has Alexander's interest particularly piqued.
more »
The Ginnifer Goodwin-Kate Hudson chick lit adaptation Something Borrowed, based on Emily Giffin's bestselling beach read, didn't exactly score with critics (Read Stephanie Zacharek's takedown here) and came in at #4 over the weekend with a $13.9 box office take. But producer Molly Smith, speaking to Movieline Monday, is optimistic that a sequel will move forward -- and she's counting on fans of the novel to buoy demand.
more »
