Here's a glimpse of Keanu Reeves' directorial debut, and, is it me, or does Reeves look a little sweaty in the final shot? It's just one of the off-putting moments in this Man of Tai Chi trailer. The bare bones of a plot are revealed via Reeves odd voiceover: to take a "pure-hearted, good natured man of Tai Chi and turn him into a killer," he says, before adopting the cadence (but thankfully not those long-drawn-out 'r' sounds) of Ben Kingsley's The Mandarin and concluding. "Let. The Games...Begin." Dra. Ma. Tic! more »
The synopsis for Generation Um... says it's set in present-day New York, but judging from the so-uncool-it's-cool station wagon in the trailer — I'm thinking 1988 Chevrolet Caprice — and usage of the"Don't hate me because I'm beautiful" line from Kelly LeBrock's classic Pantene shampoo ad, this Mark Mann-written and directed film will have a serious late-1980s vibe. more »
If you didn't gather this from Steven Spielberg's Lincoln biopic, then Bill S. Preston Esq. and Ted "Theodore" Logan are back from the 1980s to tell us that the 16th President of the United States is most excellent, as is Socrates and Sigmund Freud. Ghengis Khan and Joan of Arc, on the other hand, are Bogus. more »
Also in Thursday morning's round-up of news briefs, the Tokyo International Film Festival releases details of its films for its 25th anniversary edition. Universal has removed the director from an upcoming Keanu Reeves epic. And Mexico names its Oscar contender for Best Foreign Language consideration.
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The demise of film and the seeming triumph of digital has been a hot topic of discussion for insiders and hardcore enthusiasts for a number of years. But Keanu Reeves is taking the topic into the mainstream(ish) realm with his latest project, Side by Side, which bowed recently in Los Angeles and is set to hit cities around the U.S. in the coming weeks. Co-produced and narrated by Reeves, the 98-minute documentary landed the likes of James Cameron, David Fincher, David Lynch, George Lucas, Danny Boyle, Martin Scorsese, Christopher Nolan and Steven Soderbergh to weigh in on movie-making's (d)evolution. Nolan, he noted, was the most difficult to reach among the people who appear in the doc, which features interviews with 70-plus filmmaking powerhouses. To lure The Dark Knight Rises filmmaker, Reeves went snail mail.
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It's not always excellent being Bill — or Ted, for that matter. In a Q & A interview with GQ magazine, Keanu Reeves divulges the core of the plotline to a possible sequel to Bill and Ted's Excellent Adventure, and Bill and Ted's Bogus Journey. "We have a nice story. We'll see if anyone wants to make it," Reeves says, explaining that "One of the plot points is that these two people have been crushed by the responsibility of having to write the greatest song ever written and to change the world. And they haven't done it. So everybody is kind of like:'Where is the song?'" more »
Making its North American premiere next week at Tribeca, director Chris Kenneally's digital-cinema study Side By Side has quite a bit going for it: There's co-producer Keanu Reeves, narrating and leading interviews with an extraordinary range of filmmakers including Christopher Nolan, George Lucas, James Cameron, Martin Scorsese, David Fincher, Steven Soderbergh, Lars von Trier and numerous others. There's great technical insight from Oscar-winning cinematographers like Vittorio Storaro, Wally Pfister, Anthony Dod Mantle and Dion Beebe. There's scene-stealers like Joel Schumacher and shooter Geoff Boyle, who encapsulates the digital age with his trenchant summary, "We're fucked." But among all the experts, insights and disclosures herein, there's one appearance in particular that makes Side by Side worth a look: The Wachowskis.
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Man, directors are dropping like flies out of high profile projects these days. Hot on the heels of David O. Russell's departure from Uncharted: Drake's Fortune comes news that Albert Hughes is leaving Warner Bros.' Akira adaptation. Chime in with your favorite proposed Akira director below, but consider the bigger question for now: Just what kind of Akira movie does Warner Bros. want to make?
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Hot on the heels of a warm critical reception in the U.K. come three exclusive stills from the upcoming Keanu Reeves starrer Henry's Crime, a romantic caper about a wrongfully imprisoned man (Keanu, natch) who decides he might as well pull the heist he was accused of upon parole. Hey, why not? Hit the jump for your full look at James Caan, Vera Farmiga, and one of Keanu's brightest scene partners to date!
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