Thompson on Hollywood

Trailer Watch: Burton's Alice in Wonderland Stars Depp as the Mad Hatter

Tim Burton was born to direct Alice in Wonderland, and Johnny Depp in Tammy Faye makeup isn't bad casting as the Mad Hatter either. Here's the latest trailer. Yes, I know another studio is shamelessly exploiting a brand name. But this "package" I want to see. Burton took elements from both the Lewis Carroll classic and Through the Looking Glass, including lines and imagery from The Jabberwocky. Mia Wasikowska plays Alice, Stephen Fry voices the Cheshire Cat, Anne Hathaway is the White Queen and Michael Sheen is the White Rabbit. On this film, Burton is handling more CG effects and green screen than ever before. He doesn't do much mo-cap, mostly pure animation. Disney releases the film on March 5.

By Anne Thompson
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December 16, 2009 6:50 AM
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Tarantino Starts His Ten Best List

By Anne Thompson
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December 15, 2009 2:25 AM
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Peter Jackson, Fran Walsh Talk The Lovely Bones

The Lovely Bones presented a fascinating challenge for a movie adaptation of a book. But finally, the realities of commercial filmmaking may have been unmanageable in this case---much as they were with John Hillcoat's film version of Cormac McCarthy's The Road. What works on the page and in our imagination, no matter how harsh, can be too much to handle on the screen.

By Anne Thompson
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December 14, 2009 11:06 AM
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Up in the Air: Opening Sequence

One of my favorite opening sequences from a movie is Jason Reitman's for Up in the Air, which sets the tone perfectly for the movie. It's a swinging cover of "This Land is Your Land" and was designed by Shadowplay. It was devilishly hard to shoot. I asked Reitman about this; his full answer is on the jump (and the full interview is here).

By Anne Thompson
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December 11, 2009 9:06 AM
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Avatar: Cameron Delivers Joyous Cinema

James Cameron's Avatar takes you to an exotic world, Pandora, seen through the sad eyes of paraplegic marine Jake Sully (Sam Worthington) as he falls in love with tribal princess Neyteri (Zoe Saldana) and her people, the Na'vi.

By Anne Thompson
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December 11, 2009 3:22 AM
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Jeremy Renner Talks The Hurt Locker

Jeremy Renner has been breaking out for a long time. The 38-year-old Californian has starred in more than 20 movies, from S.W.A.T. to Dahmer and now, delivers the performance of his career as a fearless, focused dismantler of bombs in Kathryn Bigelow's Iraq thriller The Hurt Locker. There's a good chance that he could land in the fifth slot for the best actor Oscar. My flip cam interview is divided in three parts:

By Anne Thompson
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December 10, 2009 6:53 AM
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Tarantino Hawks Japanese Dog Speakers

Dōmo arigatō, Quentin Tarantino, for my biggest laugh of the morning. He hawks Japanese doggie cell-phone speakers in this Soft Bank Mobile commercial:

By Anne Thompson
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December 8, 2009 5:10 AM
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Avatar Marketing Goes Interactive

Want to stay up-to-date on the latest Avatar promo items, fresh from Fox? Install your very own Avatar widget.

By Anne Thompson
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November 25, 2009 10:26 AM
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Trailer Watch: The Last Station Stars Mirren, Plummer, McAvoy

I discovered Michael Hoffman's excellent literary adaptation The Last Station at Telluride; here's my feature. Sony Pictures Classics picked it up and is mounting an Oscar campaign for James McAvoy for best actor, Helen Mirren for best actress and Christopher Plummer for supporting (that's because they're putting him up for best actor for The Imaginarium of Dr. Parnassus). I figure Mirren has the best shot. The movie opens December 4.

By Anne Thompson
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November 25, 2009 6:47 AM
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John Woo Talks Red Cliff

John Woo's historic epic Red Cliff is one of the best films of the year. Already a huge hit in Asia, which financed the original two-part $80-million five-hour war film (the most expensive movie ever produced in China), the two-and-a half-hour western cut of Red Cliff launched stateside last week in New York without much fanfare, and opens on 30 screens in 15 markets including L.A. this holiday weekend. The reviews are strong (Tomatometer 86%, Metascore 73.)