While Werner Herzog does narrate Cave of Forgotten Dreams, his 3-D documentary about the oldest-known man-made art in the Chauvet caves of Southern France, his voice-over is conspicuously absent from the first trailer. That's probably just as well, because I'm not positive that I could resist falling asleep if Herzog's soothing voice was paired with the sublime images presented here. At least not in 2-D.
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Apparently Soul Surfer tells the inspiring story of Bethany Hamilton, "who lost her arm in a shark attack and courageously overcame all odds to become a champion again, through her sheer determination and unwavering faith." That's a hell of a true story. Good luck figuring it out from this first teaser trailer though! This preview looks more like the inspiring story of attractive kids hanging out at the beach and surfing and then hanging out with Helen Hunt and Dennis Quaid. So just how did this genius marketing team manage to cut a trailer for a film where the protagonist is missing an arm without actually ever showing the one-armed girl? Well, upon closer inspection, they didn't quite manage it, but points for effort! I've provided screen shots after the jump in case you blinked.
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How's this for random: Beginning in April, noted actor Stanley Tucci will regularly moderate a talk show about wine for national public television. The Burlesque actor has already filmed a few episodes of Vine Talk, in which he drinks and chats about wine with celebrity friends including John Lithgow, Nathan Lane, Jennifer Coolidge, Cheyenne Jackson and Easy A co-stars Patricia Clarkson and Penn Badgley. Click through for the show's highlight montage, which includes liberal shots of Stanley, Patricia and Penn laughing while swirling merlot.
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Last week's apocalypse hype frenzy died down a bit in the last few days, but Hollywood's here to pick up the slack! According to the latest Battle: Los Angeles trailer, aliens will be invading in the near future to wipe out our species and harvest our natural resources. Go ahead - buy a big tub of popcorn and laugh it up, but keep in mind that recent scientific evidence totally backs this premise.
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Back in the late 80's (as so many good stories start), Quentin Tarantino made a 70-minute film called My Best Friend's Birthday while still shocking shelves at a Manhattan Beach video shop. As legend has it (as so many other good stories start), a fire destroyed half of the black and white picture -- in which Tarantino played a disc jockey named Clarence who tries to do a few nice things for his buddy's birthday -- leaving just 36 minutes of the Pulp Fiction director's first feature. And now, for what it's worth, you can watch the entire project after the jump.
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If you thought that there were any residual hard feelings between Emmy competitors Modern Family and Glee, think again. Sofia Vergara and the Glee cast are so over their faux-feud that they recently filmed a Funny or Die video in which the Colombian Family star, Heather Morris, Matthew Morrison, Naya Rivera and Harry Shum Jr. rap and dance to a Gleek-ed out version of Snoop Dogg's "Nuthin' But a G-Thang" (rechristened "Nuthin' But a Glee Thang). Fair warning: This will probably be the best thing you see all day.
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As we noted, The Coen Brothers' runaway Western-revenge hit True Grit contains some pretty interesting vocal tics. And yes, by "interesting," we meant "completely incomprehensible." Now, some folks at College Humor have added handy subtitles for a few of Jeff Bridges' grunts and slurs. Or at least, they tried. Watch the video after the jump to learn about Bridges' "occupied jinx," his "quark" and his "bend it." Here's hoping for a DVD special feature that includes phonetic subtitles for the whole film.
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Over the weekend, Jersey Shore stars, budding entrepreneurs and unskilled impressionists Snooki and JWoww made a video of themselves hosting a fake talk show using their best Linda Richman accents. It was part fun, and bigger part revenge on Joy Behar, who has mercilessly (and deservedly?) insulted the duo on The View day in and day out. Click ahead to hear Snooki find her inner yenta and JWoww knowingly reference the Great Depression. Lorne Michaels, do we have the next Coffee Talk on our hands?
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Hollywood may be taking a bit of a break from quality this time of the year, but fortunately, we still get to play catch-up with great foreign films just making their way to the states. Case-in-point: the new trailer for Carancho, an Argentinian love-story/film-noir set in the world of insurance pay-outs for car accidents. The preview, which is violent, kinetic and sexy all at once, evokes shades of Amores Perros, Bringing Out the Dead and maybe even a little of David Chronenberg's Crash. And then there's the swaggering Argentinian rock song that ties it all together. You may want to watch this one twice.
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Sad news: The acclaimed British director and producer Peter Yates has passed away at 82 following "a long illness." Yates is perhaps best-known for revolutionizing both car chases and Steve McQueen's coolness in Bullitt, but his entire filmography is varied and remarkably consistent. It includes such titles as Year of the Comet, Breaking Away, The Robbery, Krull and possibly one of the best crime films ever, The Friends of Eddie Coyle. Check out the terrific trailer for this hard-hitting Robert Mitchum film after the jump. And just so Monday doesn't start on a completely sad note, I've also included the one-minute "refund" clip from his Oscar-nominated Breaking Away, which is still one of the best cures for a long day that I've ever found.
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Remember those halcyon days following the SAG nominations, when people actually entertained the notion of Hilary Swank sneaking into the Best Actress race? Good thing that's over, because otherwise Swank could have a big, fat, direct-to-DVD problem on her hands: The silly thriller The Resident.
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Unless you've been living under a pile of dead birds (or crabs!), you've probably read about Ted Williams, the homeless Ohio man with a golden radio voice (not the frozen-headed dead baseball icon). Since becoming a viral hit on Monday, Ted has been offered a job by his hometown Cleveland Cavaliers -- presumably the contract was written in Comic Sans -- been accosted by the TSA, and visited New York to appear on the Today show. It's quite the story, even if there is something a little ridiculous about the idea that everyone is surprised a homeless person has something to offer to society. Anyway! How did Ted's appearance on Today go? Pretty well, except for the part where Meredith Vieira called him "delusional."
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Much like the fighting style of boxer Micky Ward, The Fighter is one of those Oscar contenders seemingly lying in wait to make its big strike. It doesn't have the box office pedigree of True Grit or The Social Network, and it isn't as critically acclaimed/debated as Inception or Black Swan, but David O. Russell's criminally entertaining return stands as good a chance as any film to garner multiple Oscar nominations and wins (for Christian Bale and either Amy Adams or Melissa Leo). Not bad! But will the fact that the film plays fast and loose with some facts about Ward, his brother Dicky and girlfriend Charlene be detrimental to the campaign?
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Hailee Steinfeld is nothing if not charming -- both in real life and in her breakout performance in True Grit -- so it goes to reason that the 14-year-old actress's recently unearthed stint as blingatude-defining girl in a KMart commercial succeeds in bringing a smile to your face. Oh, Hailee, be more adorbs! Click ahead to watch, though if you're planning on writing a snarky comment about how this commercial is her Norbit, don't even bother. Just back slowly away from the browser.
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If/when you happen to have a spare 86 minutes, have we got a treat for you: Sam's Song, a/k/a the early, unfinished Robert De Niro film spliced together with soft-core porn to create an experience rivaling Little Fockers for sheer unwatchability. How did this ever happen?
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