The Playlist

Move Over Cypher Raige: 'Jupiter Ascending' Synopsis Reveals Lead Characters Jupiter Jones & Caine

By Kevin Jagernauth
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April 15, 2013 11:18 AM
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4 Comments

News

It seems this year's Hollywood sci-fi blockbusters have found screenwriters just plain tossing out the book of baby names. From Cypher and Kitai Raige in "After Earth" to Raleigh Becket and Stacker Pentecost in "Pacific Rim," it seems a good, sci spectacle requires character names that are so unique, you'll still struggle to remember them. But maybe it's just the genre as a whole as "The Hunger Games: Catching Fire" is nothing but adventurous names (Plutarch Heavensbee!) while "Ender's Game" will get us closer to people like Mazer Rackham and Dink Meeker.

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First Images Of Clive Owen, Mila Kunis, Matthias Schoenaerts & More In Guillaume Canet's 'Blood Ties'

By Kevin Jagernauth
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April 14, 2013 10:11 AM
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6 Comments

News

Earlier this year, we had heard that Guillaume Canet's "Blood Ties" was nearing the finish line, and thus we included it on our list of films that may show up at the Cannes Film Festival. And perhaps this is a further indication that when the lineup is unveiled later this week, the French filmmaker's English language effort will be among the titles getting the red carpet treatment.

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Review: 'Oz The Great And Powerful' Dresses Up Dull Prequel Story With Special Effects Wizardry

By Kevin Jagernauth
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March 1, 2013 9:00 AM
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15 Comments

Reviews

We’re coming up on 75 years since MGM’s Technicolor wonder “The Wizard Of Oz” first enchanted audiences on screen, and at the time it was already the fourth movie based on the works of L. Frank Baum. Of course, it has become not only the best known version, but an American cinema classic and icon, and so the prospect of a prequel is always one that was greeted with some wariness. There’s not only the pressure of living up to a film that has been beloved by generations of filmgoers, but there's also the often undiscussed issue of whether or not adding backstory and additional mythology is simply answering a question no one asked. As studios continue to mine fables, fairy tales and comics for franchises, it’s a query they will continue to grapple with, but as for the results cooked up in Disney and director Sam Raimi’s “Oz The Great And Powerful,” it’s a lot of smoke and light, without much behind it.

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Watch: Bubbles & Fireballs In 2 New Clips From 'Oz The Great And Powerful'

By Kevin Jagernauth
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February 21, 2013 4:19 PM
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0 Comments

News

Are you ready to go back down the yellow brick road? Sam Raimi's prequel "Oz The Great And Powerful" is on the way, but it's a brand-new story from the magical land, with a new cast of characters having some adventures and trying to ensure that everyone has a happy ending. It's an ambitious project, and two more clips have arrived to tease what you'll encounter in merry old Oz.

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Listen To Mariah Carey's Theme To 'Oz The Great & Powerful,' Plus Clips, A Featurette And Spoiler-y Images From The Film

By Oliver Lyttelton
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February 19, 2013 1:08 PM
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2 Comments

News

After the quietish few months of the year, we're only a few weeks out from the first would-be major blockbuster of the year (if you exclude the underperforming "A Good Day To Die Hard," and the noticeably buzz-free "Jack The Giant Slayer"); Sam Raimi's "Oz The Great & Powerful," the first theatrical film to go back to L. Frank Baum's magical land, featured in the beloved "The Wizard Of Oz," since "Return To Oz" in the 1980s.

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Watch: New TV Spot For ‘Oz The Great And Powerful’ Plus Super Bowl Teaser & Behind-The-Scenes Pics

By Tess Hofmann
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January 29, 2013 1:25 PM
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0 Comments

News

Much of the mystery surrounding Sam Raimi’s upcoming “Oz The Great and Powerful” seems to have dissipated. With two trailers that pretty clearly delineated the story and provided a generous glimpse at the film’s look, all that’s left is to see the darn thing! But, with over a month to go until the theatrical release, marketing still needs to drum up some more interest, and has apparently resorted to labeling a recycled, condensed trailer as a new “first look.” The new TV spot aired during the SAG Awards, and unless we’re mistaken, there’s nothing here that we didn’t see in the second trailer.

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What Did They Do To Mila Kunis? 4 Character Posters For 'Oz The Great And Powerful'

By Kevin Jagernauth
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January 25, 2013 2:18 PM
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6 Comments

News

So, in just over a month "Oz The Great And Powerful" will wave a magic wand and drop into theaters, and mostly, Disney is hoping this doesn't "John Carter" on them. But they have a few things that will likely prevent that from happening. First, it's riffing on a beloved movie that everyone has heard of. Next, it features a cast that people know, including James Franco, Rachel Weisz, Michelle Williams and Mila Kunis. Okay, great. But then why on Earth did they airbrush the hell out of the one cast member who has been named the Sexiest Woman Alive?

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Watch: New TV Spot For Sam Raimi's 'Oz The Great & Powerful' With James Franco & Mila Kunis

By Oliver Lyttelton
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January 14, 2013 11:20 AM
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3 Comments

News

Adapting a beloved TV series to the big screen is always a risky prospect, particularly when you start departing from the source material. Be it giving a post-modern meta spin on classics like "Bewitched" or "Starsky & Hutch," or chucking big-budget effects at lo-fi favorites like 'The A-Team" or "Lost In Space," the results are rarely positive, pleasing neither fans or neophytes. We thought we might be on safer ground when we discovered that Sam Raimi was directing a film called "Oz." Surely the brutal prison drama that preempted the golden age of HBO and shows like "The Sopranos" and "The Wire" would make it to the big-screen unscathed, especially in the hands of the director of "The Evil Dead" and "A Simple Plan."

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Seven New Images From Sam Raimi's 'Oz The Great & Powerful'

By Joe Cunningham
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January 8, 2013 1:01 PM
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1 Comment

News

When the trailer for Sam Raimi’s next film, the prequel to “The Wizard of Oz,” “Oz: The Great and Powerful” hit last year the reaction was decidedly mixed. It all looked a little too much like Tim Burton’s “Alice in Wonderland” from a visual standpoint, and the casting jarred a little too. James Franco will be taking on the title role of the man who would be The Wizard of Oz, while Michelle Williams, Mila Kunis and Rachel Weisz are playing the magical land’s three witches.

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Rome Review: 'Tar' With James Franco Is A Dreamy Collage Of Pretty But Overfamiliar Aesthetics

By Jessica Kiang
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November 17, 2012 1:53 PM
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14 Comments

Reviews

It's difficult to know quite what to make of 'Tar,' a multi-authored project seemingly coaxed into being by the sheer force of James Franco's current artistic cachet. Playing In Competition in the XXI sidebar of the Rome Film Festival, the film represents the work of twelve newbie directors -- NYU film students all -- and attempts to create an impressionistic interpretation of the work of poet CK Williams, who himself appears occasionally, reading from his collection. Championed by and starring Franco, amongst a starry cast including Mila Kunis, Jessica Chastain, Henry Hopper, Bruce Campbell and Zach Braff, the film shifts around in time and mood, using four different actors (Franco one of them) to depict Williams at different stages in his life, with the scenes sometimes playing out with internal dialogue and mini-storylines, and other times played mute, with snatches of poetry voiced over.

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