In a bid to spend a few hours out of the unrelenting Maui sunshine this past weekend, we exchanged Aloha for Antarctica and caught the well-received March of the Penguins. Brimming with impressive footage of the Emperor Penguins’ arduous yearly breeding cycle in the world’s most inhospitable place, and presided over by an avuncular Morgan Freeman, March definitely makes for a pleasant and diverting moviegoing experience, and seemed a great movie to take the kids to. Yet, as appealing as it is, March seems somewhat misplaced on the big screen, given that — ultimately — it’s not all that different from what you can catch on the Discovery Channel most times of the day…but given the particularly lousy crop of late-summer movie fare at the moment, perhaps there’s something to be said for quality nature docs writ large. Regardless, big-screen or small-screen, March of the Penguins is worth viewing, if only to appreciate anew how strange, delicate, unforgiving, and surprising our world can be (and to discover that there’s much more to penguins than Opus and Oswald Cobblepot.)
Category: Cinema
Casino Jack in Hollywood.
“The film was to be a manifesto for Abramoff; a Rambo-like morality tale and a grand indictment of communism — his Reagan Doctrine parable in action-packed Technicolor. And in the process of conceiving of and making it, Abramoff helped groom an African despot, rose to high levels in the K Street food chain, and got to play international spy.” Salon‘s James Verini discloses the sordid tale of Red Scorpion and GOP bagman Jack Abramoff’s brief flirtation with the movie biz.
Gone to Potter.
Some trailers from afar: Psychiatrist Ewan MacGregor goes slightly mad (with Naomi Watts and Ryan Gosling) in the trailer for Stay, and Harry fends off Triwizard contestants and schoolboy crushes alike in this teaser for the trailer for Goblet of Fire.
I’ll be your mirror.
From White Witch to Gallic chanteuse, Tilda Swinton gets set to play Nico in a forthcoming biopic scripted by Blade Runner scribes David and Janet Peoples.
The New (Non)Mutants.
The X3 cast fills out with Michael “Tanner” Murphy, Bill “Predator” Duke, and Olivia Williams as Angel’s Dad, a White House politico, and Moira McTaggart respectively, as well as House of Sand and Fog‘s Shohreh Aghdashloo as Dr. Kavita Rao. Hmmm. I really like the Olivia Williams casting (even if she isn’t Scottish), but, in general, X3 is starting to sound more and more like an overstuffed rush job.
Cogs and Grunts and Hirelings.
More trailers for your perusal: Jake Gyllenhaal, Peter Sarsgaard, Chris Cooper and Jamie Foxx brave Operation Desert Storm in the trailer for Sam Mendes’ Jarhead, Charlize Theron channels Liquid Television for Frances McDormand in MTV’s live-action version of Aeon Flux, and Robert Downey Jr., Michelle Monaghan, and Val Kilmer attempt to solve a Hollywood murder mystery in this look at Kiss, Kiss, Bang, Bang.
Dominy Darko.
Keira Knightley explains her bounty hunter backstory in the new extended trailer for Domino. This still seems like a Tony Scott schlockfest — In fact, it looks like outtakes from Man on Fire. But, as I said last time, I’m curious to see what screenwriter Richard Kelly has brought to the table.
Landlord’s Daughter, Satan’s Son.
Lots of casting news today on the horror remake front…first, Leelee Sobieski and Ellen Burstyn have joined Neil La Bute’s Wicker Man, in what sounds like the Britt Ekland and Christopher Lee roles respectively. And, likely appearing as Gregory Peck and Lee Remick in a new version of The Omen are Liev Schreiber and Julia Stiles. (For their part, the AICN guys think they’ve found the new Damien.)
Roman Holiday.
Welcome to the layer cake, son. The new trailer for Roman Polanski’s Oliver Twist is out, with our first looks at Fagin (Ben Kingsley) and Bill Sykes (Jamie Foreman).
Cruciatus Columbus.
“I think probably the first two films were a little too saccharine and glib, even for Harry Potter fans.” As word breaks that Goblet of Fire might well be PG-13, Lord Voldemort emerges from hiding to parselmouth the Chris Columbus films. Ok, so You-Know-Who might not be all bad.