Thompson on Hollywood

Submarine and Dakota Form Torpedo Pictures

News

Just what we need: more indie genre films. Indie seller Submarine Entertainment and Dakota Group Ltd. have formed the aptly named Torpedo Pictures -- a new indie label to produce low-budget, high-concept sci-fi, thriller and horror films. The label's fund will go towards projects in the $500,000 to $1.5+ million range, with a focus on emerging and established auteur directors and notable casts. Dakota will finance and Submarine will handle domestic and foreign rights.

By Anne Thompson
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May 22, 2012 1:55 PM
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Weekend Preview: 'Dictator,' 'Polisse,' Pregnant Movie Stars & Vibrators

Box Office

"The Dictator" rules with provocateur Sacha Baron Cohen, and here's what you'll get from "What To Expect When You're Expecting": easy laughs, strategically placed music and one-dimensional characters. Jennifer Lopez is the soul of the movie (if there is one), Chace Crawford is the eye candy and Elizabeth Banks is the lovable mess. The rest are forgettable. You'd think a movie about the creation of vibrators, "Hysteria," would be hilarious, sexy and frank. Instead, it's lands between dull and creepy (even if it is the tame vibrator comedy you could watch with your mother). Per usual, the real gems arriving this weekend are foreign: "Polisse," "Beyond the Black Rainbow" and "Elena" - Criticwire's pick of the week. There's also "Animerican Animal," "Viriginia" and "Battleship." Details and trailers below:

By Sophia Savage
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May 17, 2012 4:05 PM
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Now and Then: The Top Ten Films of All Time

Reviews

Every ten years, "Sight and Sound" magazine conducts a poll asking critics and directors to rank the best films of all time. It's more Rorschach test than lab experiment, an impossible task that invariably goads people into calling you an idiot. But I'm a glutton for punishment, so in honor of this year's voting, I offer my (unsolicited) ballot:

By Matt Brennan
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May 15, 2012 6:57 AM
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Trailers From Hell: Brian Trenchard-Smith on 'Daughters of Darkness'

Video

Starting Monday, toh! is proud to broaden your horizons by offering three Trailers from Hell a week for your viewing pleasure. Filmmaker Joe Dante and his partner Elizabeth Stanley have been nurturing this site for a few years now and have built up a sizable collection of trailers complete with voice-over narration. Erudite film fan and collector Dante of "Gremlins" fame often contributes himself, and pulls in other filmmakers such as Allan Arkush and John Badham and screenwriters such as Josh Olson and Larry Karaszewski to provide their commentary. It works!

By Anne Thompson
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May 14, 2012 12:45 PM
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'Prometheus' Stars Theron & Rapace Sing Praises For Non-Objectifying Ridley Scott

Box Office

EW's cover story on "Prometheus" (May 18) helps to highlight why so many of us are looking forward to the Ridley Scott film. Not only does "Prometheus" signal Scott's return to his "Alien" roots (he tells EW he was "marginally hurt" that he was never asked to direct the sequels) with a to-die-for cast, it injects the macho summer box office with strong women.

By Sophia Savage
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May 10, 2012 1:10 PM
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Cannes Market: Cassavetes Goes Gritty for Kristen Stewart's 'Cali'; Plot Revolves Around Faux Snuff Film

News

Nick Cassavetes, known best for delivering one of the greatest chick flicks ever -- "The Notebook" -- is back to some grittier material; the "Alpha Dog" director is set to helm "Cali," reports Variety. Kristen Stewart will star (and co-exec produce) as one of a pair of lovebirds (the other half is yet to be cast) who sell a fake snuff film and escape the San Fernando Valley with the cash. But then the girl must "return from the dead" in order to save her younger sister from the life she abandoned. Michael Diliberti wrote the script. Voltage Productions and New School Media are producing with their eye on a late summer start, assuming the Cannes market is agreeable for the project. With Stewart attached, it will be.

By Sophia Savage
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May 8, 2012 4:59 PM
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Trailer Watch: Ben Affleck's 'Argo' Features Sarcasm, Hollywood Fakes, Aerosmith & '70s Hair

Video

The trailer for Ben Affleck's third film as director, "Argo," has arrived. Based on the true story of the CIA pretending to make a movie in order to rescue diplomats from Tehran following the 1979 Iranian revolution, the film stars Affleck, Alan Arkin, Bryan Cranston, John Goodman, Kyle Chandler, Richard Kind, Scoot McNairy, Clea DuVall, Chris Messina, Michael Parks and Taylor Schilling. Check out the trailer (and compare it to Affleck's "Gone Baby Gone" and "The Town") below.

By Sophia Savage
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May 8, 2012 12:28 PM
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'Catfish' Duo Joost & Schulman Tackle 'Monkey Wrench Gang' Adaptation with 'Bona Fide Stupidity'

News

"The Monkey Wrench Gang," an adaptation of the 1975 Edward Abbey novel, will be written and directed by Henry Joost and Ariel Schulman (the pair behind "Catfish," "Paranormal Activity 3" and the upcoming "Paranormal Activity 4"). Edward Pressman will produce with Gary Burden. Pressman says the pair's take on the material will "connect to the humor and cultural zeitgeist of today in the same way Abbey’s book does."

By Sophia Savage
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May 7, 2012 4:50 PM
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Career Watch: Scarlett Johansson, Beyond the Black Bodysuit

Features

Scarlett Johansson's role as Black Widow in "The Avengers" would be unnecessary if the superhero rulebook didn't require at least one buxom babe in black spandex. Thus secret agent Johansson plays a distant fiddle to Chris Hemsworth, Mark Ruffalo, Chris Evans et al's super-human powers. Although her assassin has no superpower--other than outsmarting, interrogating and shooting and beating people to death ("looking puzzled or confused")--thanks to Joss Whedon's box office hit, attention is back on Johansson the kick-ass action babe rather than Johansson the nude-photo-hacking-scandal babe. But is Black Widow the best Johansson can do?

By Sophia Savage
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May 7, 2012 3:40 PM
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Trailer Watch: Gyllenhaal & Peña Tug on the Tail of A Cartel Snake in Handheld 'End of Watch'

Video

The trailer for "End of Watch" puts Los Angeles cops Jake Gyllenhaal and Michael Peña in the line of fire on gritty LA streets. Written and directed by David Ayer ("Street Kings," "Harsh Times," "Training Day," "The Fast and the Furious"), the film was shot entirely through handheld HD cameras