Since we can now utter the words "the Oscar-nominated Marvel's The Avengers," let's take a closer look at all that visual effects magic that went into making Joss Whedon's blockbuster superhero pic such a bombastic VFX achievement. More specifically, as is apparent in ILM's recently-released Oscar VFX reel, take a gander at the digital wizardry that bore Mark RuffaHulk and the maelstrom of Chitauri invaders and explosions and costumed superheroes that went into The Avengers' carefully orchestrated chaos of a final showdown.
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Awesome; Danny Boyle is back with his first new film since 2010, and what it lacks in James Franco amputations, his latest, Trance more than makes up for in James McAvoy, and a reunion with writer John Hodge for the first time since 2000's The Beach.
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My dreams for a feature-length version of Funny or Die's "Bat Fight" are one step closer to reality. The comedy website started in 2007 by Will Ferrell, Adam McKay and Chris Henchy has partnered with Turistas and The Lincoln Lawyer producer Scott Steindorff's Scott Pictures to produce two or three branded movies a year. more »
Forgetting for a second how amazeballs rich the man is, poor Arnold Schwarzenegger. Not only is he reentering celebrity life on the heels of an absolutely humiliating personal scandal (not to mention a hit and miss tenure as California Governor), he hasn't actually starred properly in a film since 2003's Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines.
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Apparently The Last Exorcism was a misnomer because I have here a trailer for The Last Exorcism Part II. Since the movie is not subtitled (This Time We Really Mean It), I'm going to assume that the finality of poor Ashley Bell's possession (and the future employment actress who plays her, Nell Sweetzer) will be dependent upon box-office results and VOD earnings. I'm also going to bet that if there is a Part III, it won't star Sofia Coppola — that's a little Godfather joke — and the poster and trailer will feature images of an even more grotesquely contorted Sweetzer. more »
Polyglot actor-cum-performance artist James Franco has struck again, releasing yet another of his multitudinous side art projects unto the world for dissection and intense theoretical analysis, and — nah, just kidding! Here's a video of Franco lip-synching to Justin Bieber's "Boyfriend" in full Biebs gear, mop top and pubescent cherub-grin and all, as he and Spring Breakers co-star Ashley Benson writhe around in a brunette wig like they're in the world's worst American Apparel ad.
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So there's a new Pacific Rim trailer out. It's not a whole lot different from the last one that was released, and, like the last one, it leaves me with one big suspension-of-disbelief problem. more »
I realize that with a little notoriety and a lot of money, it's fairly easy to get a film made and distributed. But even knowing that, it's still incredibly baffling to see the red band trailer for InAPPropriate Comedy and realize this is an actual movie that will play in theaters. Directed by Vince 'Slap Chop' Offer, it's The Kentucky Fried Movie meets the Charlie Sheen celebrity roast, and it looks every bit as terrible as his earlier Underground Comedy Movie. Only with the added discomfort of seeing Lindsay Lohan sully the last shreds of her reputation for what must surely have been a miniscule paycheck. more »
It's been tough to know what to expect from the forthcoming remake of Sam Raimi's horror classic Evil Dead, but let the first trailer put your mind to rest — or, really, unrest: This is good, old-fashioned, red-band terror that manages to evoke the spirit of the original film (evil book unleashes spirits in a cabin in the woods; nothing good comes of it) with all new kinds of messed up, squishy images to keep you awake at night.
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The best thing about the Die Hard Franchise (aside from the almost-perfect, couch-destroying original of course,) is the fact that when it comes to bad puns, these people have no shame. Die Hard 2: Die Harder; Die Hard With A Vengeance; Live Free or Die Hard. Brilliance. I can't wait for Live Together Or Die Hard Alone, Live And Let Die Hard, Cowards Die Hard Many Times, and the teen spinoff I Am So Embarrassed I Could Just Die Hard.
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You've cast your low budget indie feature and navigated the ins and outs of directing a love scene. But how do you, intrepid independent filmmaker, wrangle two unruly actors bent on going off-script for the all-important emotional climax of your opus? Find out in Episode 3 of Modern Imbecile's Idiot's Guide To Making Movies For Dummies presented by Slamdance TV!
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Colin Farrell is back in another sure-to-be-very-good film that will probably not do so well at the box office, the upcoming revenge thriller Dead Man Down, directed by Niels Arden Oplev.
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You might have heard the shocking news that Django Unchained features copious use of the word 'nigger'. I know! I can't understand why a film set in the antebellum South, featuring numerous unrepentant slaveowners, during a time when black people were considered barely human as a matter of course, would have so many n-bombs. Sure, the word is almost exclusively spoken by villains or by black people to refer to themselves, and sure, it is one of the few aspects of the film that is 100% historically accurate, but come on. How rude of Quentin Tarantino to include it and make the harsh depiction of the slavery era even more uncomfortable.
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Coming off like a mashup of Shaun of the Dead and Zombie Land with some manic pixie dream girl nonsense thrown in, the premise of Warm Bodies – after a worldwide apocalypse, zombie boy falls in love with human girl – is interesting, and the book upon which it's based has been really well received.
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So you've got your low-budget indie feature cast, for better and most definitely for worse. What next? Learn how to DIRECT the thing, Modern Imbecile-style, in the latest installment of Idiot's Guide To Making Movies For Dummies presented by Slamdance TV, in which Don and Lizard Man show Wallace the finer points of shooting a love scene.
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