The Wachowskis are about to shoot their first film in 3D, which, after the complexity of Cloud Atlas, almost sounds like a comedown. FilmStage.com reports that the cinema siblings will utilize 3D for the first time to make their next science-fiction film, Jupiter Ascending, which begins shooting early next year. more »
Someone involved in the making of Cloud Atlas is a fan of Elvis Costello. In the story thread where publisher Timothy Cavendish (Jim Broadbent) and a group of like-minded seniors plot their escape from the old-folks home where they've been imprisoned, the woman of the group, actress Amanda Walker, introduces herself in one scene as "Veronica Costello." That alone might not be enough to make a case for Elvis worship, but soon after the introduction the group of conspirators make a toast to "Trust." more »
As is often the peril with movies of giant ambition, Cloud Atlas walks a crooked line between the glorious and the ridiculous, its reach unencumbered by sensible decisions or restraint. Adapted with reasonable faithfulness from a novel of equally epic sweep by British author David Mitchell, the film spans eras and genres, intertwining tales of men at sea in the 1850s with a 1970s conspiracy-based mystery with a dystopian future Seoul. Through these settings and the characters that populate them, the movie highlights themes of reincarnation and of the warring nature of mankind as empathetic and self-sacrificing versus competitive and brutal.
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It's a good fall for ambitious movies. In the wake of the September release of Paul Thomas Anderson's The Master, Warner Bros will open Tom Tykwer and the Wachowski siblings' Cloud Atlas to theaters on Oct. 26, and a trio of TV spots has begun building awareness of the film adaptation of David Mitchell's 2004 novel. Check out the clips after the jump and stay tuned for Jen Yamato's upcoming report on the film's debut at Fantastic Fest in Austin, TX on Wednesday night. more »
My CODEC has been ringing off the hook since my Metal Gear Solid movie post on Monday. It seems that the Internet agrees with Hideo Kojima: they love huge walking nuclear battle tanks and extended discussions of everything around them. Given that many of those discussions took place in the comments section of my post and because talking about cool things with smart people is more than just a job to me, I've decided to respond to a couple of select points that were made. more »
"Everything is connected," reads the tagline for Cloud Atlas. As it is with life and the history of time and humanity, so it is with film reviews; sharply divided reactions have been coming out of Toronto, where the ambitious, history-spanning epic had its world premiere. Seldom do movies garner such polarizing critical reads: Is Cloud Atlas a triumph of ambition or, as one critic spat, "a unique and totally unparalleled disaster?"
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After their Matrix trilogy grossed over $1.5 billion worldwide, Lana (formerly Larry) and Andy Wachowski took some time to explore avenues off the sci-fi blockbuster grid -- by writing a dystopian thriller (V for Vendetta), unsuccessfully adapting Japanese anime for the screen (Speed Racer) and directing A-listers like Tom Hanks, Hugh Grant and Halle Berry in the ambitious, generations-spanning adaptation of David Mitchell's Cloud Atlas. At long last though, it seems that the sibling filmmakers are returning to their wheelhouse for a mysterious new project called Jupiter Ascending.
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