It's another big holiday weekend with plenty of new releases to consider following your Thanksgiving feast this Thursday (and following your subsequent leftovers feasts through Sunday). In the same way that many Americans prefer alternatives to the traditional turkey and stuffing dinner on the day of gratitude, many moviegoers want something other than a studio tentpole release the day after Thanksgiving. Really, why would you want a popcorn movie when you're still full from the night before?
There are a couple of limited release options this week, including an important studio film getting a surprisingly soft opening, to appease such a film diet. Check these films out if you want something different as or additional to your main course this weekend: Read more...
Last week, during a live Q&A on FunnyOrDie.com, Judd Apatow addressed the idea of a "Funny People" spin-off focused on Aziz Ansari's minor stand-up comedian character, Randy (or, Raaaaaaaandy), implying that it was all up to the actor if it would happen. "You should Twitter Aziz Ansari and tell him you want that movie," Apatow urged fans via webcam. "Aziz may be concerned that more people think he's Randy than Aziz. That may be his hesitation."
Well, the occasional IMAX protester and costar of NBC's "Parks and Recreation" has apparently gotten over that hesitation, whether due to fans Tweeting him or not. According to Variety, he and writer-director Jason Woliner, one of Ansari's collaborators on MTV's sketch comedy show "Human Giant," have sold Apatow and Universal Pictures on a pitch for the Randy movie, along with two other movie ideas. Read more...
As long as Hollywood is turning board games into movies, why not also mine game shows? I'd love to see movies made out of "Press Your Luck" and that Japanese show where contestants had to guess what dangerous animal was atop their head. In a way, "Who Wants to Be a Millionaire" has already been turned into a movie ("Slumdog Millionaire"), and now a producer of "300" is bringing "American Gladiators" to the big screen.
Scott Mednick, also an executive producer of this fall's "Where the Wild Things Are," has hired "Point Break" screenwriter Peter Iliff to script the previously announced adaptation of the physical competition series as a movie that, Variety says, will "feature the Herculean characters as superheroes." But will amateur athletes be cast as the villains? It would certainly be appropriate to the format of the show, which involved everyday contenders battling the gigantic male and female Gladiators for a shot at $100,000 and a car. Read more...
Despite the record-breaking advance ticket sales for "New Moon," I think there may be one or two of you interested in seeing something other than the "Twilight" sequel this weekend. And if neither the sports drama "The Blind Side" nor the animated "Planet 51" is your cup of tea, either, there's also the indie hit "Precious: Based on the Novel PUSH by Sapphire," which expands wider this Friday. Or, if you live in a major city, there are a number of new films opening in limited release that also look appealing. As always with unLimited's picks, if you wan to see one of the following titles and it isn't scheduled for your neck of the woods, contact your local theater and request it be booked there.
"Red Cliff"
What it is: Epic war film set in Ancient China, directed by legendary action auteur John Woo ("Face/Off") and starring Tony Leung ("Lust, Caution"). Read more...
It should be understood that the new film "Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call New Orleans" is not technically a remake. Filmmaker Werner Herzog has supposedly never even seen Abel Ferrara's original 1992 film, simply titled "Bad Lieutenant," and the only connections are the title and the fact that both films' protagonists are indeed bad police lieutenants.
Now, according to statements made to the Los Angeles Times in a piece about the second picture, producers Alan and Gabe Polsky hope to continue the "Bad Lieutenant" name as an ongoing franchise. Read more...
If you're a true "Twilight" fanatic, you've probably already taken -- or at least started planning -- a vacation to Forks, Washington, the main setting for Stephenie Meyer's books and their film adaptations. Maybe you were one of the participants in June's Summer School in Forks. Or maybe you're on a tight budget, and so had to make do with the documentary "Twilight in Forks."
Well now you need to go a little further to prove yourself die-hard Twilighter status. According to USA Today, the latest hot spot destination for fans is Volterra, Italy. The small Tuscan town is home to the Volturi vampire coven, which features prominently in the latest movie installment, "New Moon." Read more...
Yesterday, I saw a lot of people calling for Jamie Foxx's Oscar to be revoked following the announcement that he and Martin Lawrence are confirmed for "Sheneneh and Wanda," a comedy in which the duo will play female bank robbers. Both roles are based on earlier cross-dressed characters from the actors' TV days (Lawrence's Sheneneh is from "Martin" and Foxx's Wanda is from "In Living Color"). Foxx, who won the Academy Award for Best Actor in 2004 for "Ray" (he was also nominated for Best Supporting Actor that same year for "Collateral), returning to this drag shtick seems like a huge step backward to a lot of people.
"Seems" is the key word here, though, because it doesn't have to be a regression. Plenty of Oscar-caliber actors have cross-dressed before and since being nominated and/or winning an Academy Award, and plenty of performers have won for dressing like the opposite sex. I've selected a few standouts of the bunch below. Click the image at the top of the post to be whisked off to our Cross-Dressing Oscar Winners flipbook gallery. Read more...
After the record-breaking success of "Precious: Based on the Novel PUSH by Sapphire" over the weekend, I'm more hopeful for films starting out in limited release. This week's recommendations may not have the distinction of being championed by Oprah Winfrey and Tyler Perry, so if you find any of them worth seeing based on my recommendation, it may be more necessary for you to make the effort to get them to play near you.
"The Messenger"
What it is: A skewed romantic drama about a young Iraq War vet (Ben Foster) who is assigned to the Army's Casualty Notification service, where he's partnered with a captain played by Woody Harrelson. While delivering the bad news, he falls for one of the notified widows (Samantha Morton). Read more...
Fifteen years after working together on "Se7en," director David Fincher and screenwriter Andrew Kevin Walker are reuniting for a new adaptation of Max Ehrlich's novel "The Reincarnation of Peter Proud," according to The Hollywood Reporter. The book was previously made into a 1975 movie by Ehrlich, who adapted his own work, and J. Lee Thompson, best known for helming the original "Cape Fear."
As with many films dealing with reincarnation, the plot is pretty ridiculous even if you believe in the concept. A college professor has nightmares involving a murder, which he eventually realizes was his own, from a previous life. And in the process of discovery, he unknowingly becomes romantically involved with his (past incarnation's) daughter. Read more...
"Paranormal Activity" has now made more than $85 million thanks to moviegoers literally demanding to see the low-budget horror flick in their city. And while grassroots promotional campaigns are nothing new in the film industry, this recent success is sure to spur more elaborate strategies from the studios. Well MTV isn't going to wait for them, especially with so many fine films out there that are simply overlooked beneath the crush of remakes and sequels. So every week I'll be spotlighting a few titles opening in limited release that are worthy of your time.
"Splinterheads"
What it is: The latest entry in the quirky, small town-set romantic comedy sub-genre. This one pairs up a socially retarded guy (Thomas Middleditch) and a gorgeous "Manic Pixie Dream Girl" (Rachael Taylor). From the director of the hilarious, underrated Rob Corddry mockumentary "Blackballed: The Bobby Dukes Story," Brett Sersen. Read more...
