The Playlist

Clint Eastwood Eyes Musical 'Jersey Boys'

By Kevin Jagernauth
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March 29, 2013 3:11 PM
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2 Comments

News

Given that "Les Miersables" has provided studios $430 million reasons to start putting musicals in development, it may be surprising that there hasn't really been much movement on that front. Well, that's because the genre tends to be expensive, and for every "Les Miserables" there's something like "Nine," a big, gaudy disappointment. But an established property certainly helps things move along, and it looks like "Jersey Boys" -- put into turnaround last fall at Warner Bros. -- may still be alive with a pretty big name kicking the tires.

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Does Ron Burgundy Have A Son In 'Anchorman: The Legend Continues'? Set Photo Suggests Yes

By Kevin Jagernauth
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March 29, 2013 2:46 PM
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2 Comments

News

While there has been much talk about "Anchorman 2" aka "Anchorman: The Legend Continues," details on the actual plot have seen somewhat vague and only really addressed in a broader sense of the thematic territory that will apparently find Ron Burgundy swimming in a bigger media arena than he was back in San Diego. But could a plot morsel served out pretty early on turn about to be right on the money?

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Review: 'Blancanieves' Doesn't Necessarily Transcend Silent Film Gimmick, But Still Proves To Be A Rewarding Fable

By Gabe Toro
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March 29, 2013 2:09 PM
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1 Comment

Reviews

Fetishize the past all you want. The silent era gave way to a flood of cinematic storytellers ranking well amongst the greats. You didn’t need sound to realize a filmmaker like Fritz Lang was stretching the medium so far that it would take a couple of decades of talkies for anyone to match his vision. Similarly, the early silent works of Alfred Hitchcock belie a startling vision and knack for experimentation not commonly associated with filmmaking at the time. There’s a reason we think back to the silent classics of yesterday: some of those film are absolutely phenomenal, still enthralling today for the film buff with a bit of patience (a small percentage of the populace, but whatever), and still transformative, capturing the imagination in ways some contemporary THX-scored noisemakers fail to do.

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'Uncle Boonmee' Director Apichatpong Weerasethakul Prepping Next Film 'Cemetery Of Kings'

By Kevin Jagernauth
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March 29, 2013 1:30 PM
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3 Comments

News

It's coming on three years since filmmaker Apichatpong Weerasethakul bewitched audiences with his strange, cryptic and beautiful Palme d'Or-winning "Uncle Boonme Who Can Recall Past Lives." The movie became a critical darling, and as much as a movie can that features fish sex, it brought the director to a broader international audience. But the filmmaker hasn't been in a hurry to make a followup, and over the past couple of years has been focused on art installations and shorts (including the rather tepid "Mekong Hotel" which played Cannes last year), but it looks like he's now ready to tackle another feature.

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'Iron Man 3' Getting Special Cut For China, Will Feature Fan Binbing, Exclusive Footage & More

By Kevin Jagernauth
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March 29, 2013 1:04 PM
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2 Comments

Wang Xueqi (Dr. Wu), Gwyneth Paltrow (Pepper Potts) and Don Cheadle (James Rhodes) in this still from Marvel’s Iron Man 3

News

As "Iron Man 3" has been rolling out its publicity machine, appearing in a handful of stills has been Wang Xuequi, a popular Chinese actor who's otherwise pretty much unknown stateside. Why has he been in there? Well, with the Marvel movie locking Chinese distribution via DMG Entertainment early, they've been eager to try and get a prime release date in the country (which is tricky for U.S. productions), and as such, shot a significant amount of footage in the nation. And they're taking one extra step to ensure Chinese comic fans get something special.

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Read Eli Roth's Unearthed, Scathing 1999 Review Of 'Star Wars: Episode I - The Phantom Menace'

By Kevin Jagernauth
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March 29, 2013 12:40 PM
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8 Comments

News

Before Eli Roth was a very successful filmmaker and producer, he was a regular nerd like everyone else, and like the rest of the planet, he was in line in 1999 eagerly awaiting "Star Wars: Episode 1 - The Phantom Menace." And just like many, many fans of the longtime franchise, he was super bummed, angry and disappointed with what George Lucas delivered. And he let his feelings be known with the power of the pen (or rather, the keyboard).

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How Brad Pitt Starved Himself, The Deleted Budapest Sequences & More Learned From 'World War Z'; Plus New Photos

By Edward Davis
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March 29, 2013 12:20 PM
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2 Comments

News

Entertainment Weekly's got the goods on "World War Z," the new geo-political zombie thriller starring Brad Pitt that is scheduled to arrive this summer via Paramount and Pitt's Plan B shingle. At $170 million, it's the most expensive zombie movie ever made (going $50 million above its original budget) and the lengthy and complicated production was rumored to be in dire trouble last year.

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Watch: Already Visited 'Room 237'? Dive Deep Into The Apollo 11 Theory With Doc 'The Shining Code 2.0'

By Kevin Jagernauth
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March 29, 2013 11:42 AM
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3 Comments

News

Today, Rodney Ascher's "Room 237" arrives in theaters (review here), and it deliver an outrageous serving of theories around Stanley Kubrick's "The Shining" that position the masterpiece as anything but a horror film. With the Holocaust, the treatment of Native Americans and sexual abuse among the many topics discussed as the "real" meaning behind the movie, one other popular interpretation is that the "The Shining" is Kubrick's confession of sorts that he was involved with faking the moon landing. It's far fetched to say the least, but if you really want to dig deep into that notion, well, you certainly can.

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5 Things You Might Not Know About Tim Burton's 'Beetlejuice'

By Drew Taylor
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March 29, 2013 11:00 AM
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11 Comments

Features

This week, Tim Burton's wild supernatural comedy "Beetlejuice" turns a whopping 25 years old. A funny/scary ode to both the potential liveliness of haunted houses and the deathly drudgery of everyday life, it stars Alec Baldwin and Geena Davis as the Maitlands, a pair of suburban Connecticut softies who, after their death in a tragi-comic automobile accident, have to try and spook the upper crust Manhattanites named the Deetzes who have taken up residence in their home (the all-star family consists of Jeffrey Jones and Catherine O'Hara as the parents and Winona Ryder as Lydia, their sullen daughter). Since they don't have what it takes to scare away their new houseguests, they have to call on Betelgeuse (an unstoppable Michael Keaton), a self-styled "bio-exorcist," to get rid of them. And all hell (quite literally) breaks loose.

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Tina Fey & Steve Carell's Reunion On 'Mail Order Groom' Will Have To Keep Waiting

By Cain Rodriguez
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March 29, 2013 10:41 AM
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0 Comments

News

When Tina Fey and Steve Carell teamed up for the 2010 box-office hit “Date Night,” it seemed like a no-brainer to get the two stars back together again and indeed, almost immediately Warner Bros. locked up the two for “Mail Order Groom.” It’s been a twisty three years since and though it seemed closer to happening this year, the comedy has hit another road bump.

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