M. Night Shyamalan makes me sad. He showed such promise with "Unbreakable" and "The Sixth Sense," both of them inventive genre films that over and over again zigged when you were expecting a zag. He quickly became known for inserting clever story twists into his movies, and I think that expectation is at least part of what made subsequent efforts "Signs," "The Village," "Lady in the Water" and "The Happening" so underwhelming. Recently released "The Last Airbender" stands apart from the rest of his oeuvre.
There's no denying that Shyamalan has some great ideas, but I think his craft has suffered somewhat from the expectations set by his earlier work. "The Last Airbender" is a good palate cleanser; it'll be interesting to see how this mysterious Bradley Cooper/Gwyneth Paltrow/Bruce Willis project shapes up. For now though, I'm more excited by "Devil," which credits Shyamalan with the story while leaving the writer and director heavy lifting to Brian Nelson and Drew & John Erick Dowdle ("Quarantine" writers), respectively.
There's a new trailer which you can peep after the jump. Read More...
For the second time this week, 
Horror aficionado 
A couple weeks ago 
Whether or not you're a fan of his work, its been hard to avoid seeing reports of Joaquin Phoenix's odd behavior in recent times. The big, woolly beard, the push towards launching a career in hip-hop, the strange behavior in interviews... it's all been documented for a film, "I'm Still Here: The Lost Year of Joaquin Phoenix." A film that, until 
Cool news today for fans of The Beatles and Japanese author Haruki Murakami. I didn't even know this was happening, but Vietnamese director Tran Anh Hung is apparently hard at work prepping his adaptation of Murakami's novel "Norwegian Wood" for a December release in Japan. Fittingly, Hung insisted that The Beatles' "Norwegian Wood" be licensed for use in the film; the music of the Fab Four can be rather expensive to get usage rights for, and it doesn't happen very often.
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'The Sorcerer's Apprentice' Joins An Established Tradition Of Great Cinematic Sorcerers
Posted 7/14/10 2:49 pm EST by Josh Wigler in Commentary, Summer Blockbusters 2010
Nicolas Cage makes his long-awaited debut as a full-on magic user in "The Sorcerer's Apprentice," which premieres in theaters nationwide today. The actor stars in the Jon Turteltaub-directed film as Balthazar Blake, a brilliant Manhattan-based sorcerer who recruits an apprentice (Jay Baruchel) in his quest to defeat the evil wizard Maxim Horvath (Alfred Molina). Cage-infused hilarity and magic promptly ensues.
In truth, Cage has always been a somewhat magical presence, thanks to his irrefutably memorable turns in movies like "The Rock," "Con Air," "Wicker Man" and even "Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call New Orleans." Still, it's nice to see the actor finally getting his due by joining the ranks of cinema's many great on screen sorcerers. Cage's Balthazar has the potential to become one of the greatest wizards in Hollywood history, but he's certainly got some stiff competition — after the jump, check out some of cinema's other truly spellbinding sorcerers! Read More...
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