Thompson on Hollywood

John Knoll Talks 'Mission: Impossible - Ghost Protocol' and Brad Bird

Features

For John Knoll, it didn't matter that "Mission: Impossible Ghost Protocol" only required 700 VFX shots, and most of them invisible. It was the opportunity to work with director Brad Bird, whom he's known for years, on his first live-action film away from animation stardom at Pixar.

By Bill Desowitz
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December 23, 2011 6:35 PM
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Review: Mission: Impossible - Ghost Protocol Returns Cruise to Giddy Action

Reviews

The supremely imaginative director of "The Incredibles" meets Hollywood’s most determined, career-committed star for the former’s live-action debut and the latter’s reboot of the spy-thrills franchise that keeps on giving as far as his career is concerned.

By Matt Mueller
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December 7, 2011 6:08 PM
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Mission: Impossible Goes Facebook

News

In advance of the release of "Mission: Impossible-- Ghost Protocol," the first new M:I movie in five years, Paramount is drumming up stateside fan interest by making the previous three "Mission: Impossible" features available to rent and stream on Facebook, via Facebook credits.

By Anne Thompson
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November 22, 2011 1:04 PM
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EW Holiday Preview: Why Dragon Tattoo Won't Get Oscar Love, Williams on the Soul of Monroe, Renner's Career Lesson

Blogs

By Sophia Savage
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November 11, 2011 11:36 AM
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Apocalypses Now and Then: Von Trier’s Melancholia vs. Anderson’s Magnolia

Features

In his “Now and Then” column this week, Matt Brennan examines two visionary directors’ takes on the end of the world as we know it — controversial Dane Lars von Trier’s Melancholia (on VOD now, in theaters Friday) and Paul Thomas Anderson’s sprawling 1999 classic Magnolia.

By Matt Brennan
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November 7, 2011 8:20 AM
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Inspired Casting: Werner Herzog will Play Villain Across Tom Cruise in McQuarrie's One Shot

German auteur director Werner Herzog (Into the Abyss, Cave of Forgotten Dreams, Grizzly Man) has been cast as the villain in Christopher McQuarries's One Shot (which he adapted from Lee Child's book series), starring Tom Cruise, Rosamund Pike, Richard Jenkins and Robert Duvall. Here are more details on the project, in which diminutive Cruise will play strapping military cop-turned-drifter Jack Reacher, with Herzog as The Zec, a former P.O.W. and head of the conspiracy Reacher is investigating.

By Anne Thompson and Sophia Savage
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October 4, 2011 8:23 AM
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Rosamund Pike Cast in Star-Making Role in One Shot, Opposite Tom Cruise

Chris McQuarrie has picked the actress to star opposite Tom Cruise in high-octane crime actioner One Shot. "English Rose" Rosamund Pike beat out actresses Hayley Atwell (Captain America) and Alexa Davalos (Clash of the Titans) for the role after brainy writer-actress Brit Marling turned down the gig. It will be up to Pike to turn this into a star-making role. Poor Davalos: she not only loses this gig, but Pike is replacing her in the Titans sequel!

By Maggie Lange
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August 17, 2011 4:10 AM
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In the Works: Austin Powers 4, One Shot's Leading Lady, Apes Trilogy, Patti Smith's Just Kids

News of several new projects broke over the weekend. The question is, from Austin Powers 4 and Rise of the Planet of the Apes sequels to One Shot and Just Kids, which projects do we actually want to see?

By Sophia Savage
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August 15, 2011 5:34 AM
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Guillermo Del Toro Talks Pacific Rim, Chasing Tom Cruise, Landing Idris Elba: "Rodin Sculpture"

Some of us got a welcome dose of Guillermo del Toro in Hall H at Comic-Con. London TOH correspondent Matt Mueller sat down with him one on one.Currently locked in “crazy, active” pre-production on Pacific Rim, Guillermo del Toro took time out yesterday to chat about the epic monster movie he’ll direct next for Legendary Pictures and Warner Bros. at the New York City press junket for scary creature feature Don’t Be Afraid Of The Dark. Although he shepherded the latter from conception through to release, it’s Pacific Rim that will mark Del Toro’s belated return to the director’s chair for the first time since 2008 and Hellboy II. And he says he’s chomping at the bit, particularly after coming so close earlier this year with At The Mountains Of Madness, before Universal pulled the plug on his big-budget H.P. Lovecraft adaptation.

By Matt Mueller
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August 10, 2011 3:45 AM
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Video: Cruise vs. Sheen, Saturday Night Live, Stark Raving Mad Libs

The basic profile of the grandiose movie star is not hard to track, from Tom Cruise to Charlie Sheen. When Reid Rosefelt slams them together (see video), it works. Try Michael Solomon's ingenious Stark Raving Mad Libs and Part Deux. And Saturday Night Live's inevitable Sheen video is below.