Emptying out the trailer bin today, we’ve got the new Prisoner of Azkaban teaser (not appreciably different than the last preview, but still looks better than the Chris Columbus movies), a second look at Tony Scott’s Man on Fire (Denzel + little girl + slo-mo explosions = ?), the new clip for The Punisher (Much better than the last one, but I still doubt I’ll see it), and a new TV spot for The Passion of the Hellboy (Nobody likes robot Nazis.)
Tag: Cinema
The Fruits of the King.
On the day after PJ’s big cleanup, Disney announces that it has secured The Chronicles of Narnia, with Andrew Shrek Adamson directing. Meanwhile, Robert Rodriguez announces he’s doing The Princess of Mars, the first of the John Carter books.
Coronation!
Hail to the King, baby. RotK sweeps the Oscars, winning all 11 categories in which it was nominated. I must say, this is a much better showing than I anticipated, but it is in no way undeserved (Three words for the playa-haters: A Beautiful Mind — Fellowship deserved at least half the awards that that schmaltz-fest won two years ago. Besides, the most contested win this time around was probably Adapted Screenplay, and, even there, none of the other nominees had to straddle such an enormous divide between newbies and a rabidly devoted fan base.) Congrats and many thanks to PJ et al once again. And, in honor of the achievement, the official LotR site has posted the trilogy supertrailer (from the deluxe RotK soundtrack), which is definitely worth a look to get a sense of the sweep and majesty of the films taken together.
At any rate, the entertainment pundits seem to have been bored, but I thought it was just about a perfect evening. The only melancholy note was a brokenhearted-looking Bill Murray losing out to Sean Penn. Both were good, but Penn’s going to be up there every year, while Murray — unless Wes Anderson sets him up with a chewy Supporting Actor morsel sometime in the future — may never get a second chance.
Now, just think how many Oscars the RotK:EE might’ve won…
Down in the Water.
Good news for big-idea sci-fi fans…Apparently, Darren Aronofsky’s mysterious The Fountain is back from the dead, with Hugh Jackman replacing Brad Pitt. On the other end of the sci-fi scale, Charlize Theron is signed for a live-action Aeon Flux, which I could really see being Tomb Raider-terrible.
“The Jesus Chainsaw Massacre.”
We’ve heard from the pope (sort of) (“It is as it was?” Jesus was a tall blue-eyed white guy?), we’ve heard from Harry Knowles, but now the “real” reviews of The Passion (which I’ll probably see this weekend) are coming in fast, and so far they all say the same thing: Too much violence and gore, too little charity and grace. David Edelstein sums up the emerging consensus view: “This is a two-hour-and-six-minute snuff movie — The Jesus Chainsaw Massacre — that thinks it’s an act of faith.” And even Roger Ebert, an admirer of the film (and one whom I rarely agree with these days), confesses: “This is the most violent film I have ever seen.” Hoo boy. I was afraid of that. Beware the packs of bloodthirsty bible-thumpers on your way out, y’all.
The Ras Samurai.
Ok, so it looks like Liam Neeson isn’t Ras Al Ghul in the new Batman film: Instead, it’s Ken Watanabe of The Last Samurai (Solid casting.) Apparently, Neeson is Bruce Wayne’s mentor, Henri Ducard. Nope, never heard of him either.
Worth more than all the Shire.
Congrats to PJ and the gang for RotK‘s billion dollar box office…those are weak Dubya dollars of course, compared to Titanic‘s $1.8 billion run of stronger Clintonian currency, but still, an ample reward for a job well done.
Chasing Kato.
Miramax gets into the “Event Movie” game, with Kevin Smith on The Green Hornet. Expect Kato to be a pop-culture junkie.
Ogres and Coens.
Some stirrings on the film front: Dreamworks releases the first trailer for Shrek 2 (Looks like more of the same, but it should make for a fun afternoon.) And, speaking of fun, Latino Review posts the one-sheet for The Ladykillers. The Coens have yet to let me down, and given how amusing I found the teaser for this one, I highly doubt they’ll start now.
Qui-Gon to Ras Al?
In more good news on the Batman front, Liam Neeson is set to play a villain, most likely Ras Al Ghul to Cillian Murphy’s Scarecrow. Well, so much for Viggo, but I still like this casting. I just hope Christian Bale can get back into Bruce Wayne-shape after getting creepily thin for The Machinist. Update: Has Nolan found Arkham Asylum?