Category: Cinema

Here Comes the Reign Again.

Although not as much news about Return of the King leaked out from Comiccon as I would have liked, ex-Eurythmics siren Annie Lennox has announced she’s singing on the “title” track (like Enya [“May it Be”] and Emiliana Torrini [“Gollum’s Song”] before her.) Well, I prefer this to the Liv Tyler song rumor that went around a few months back, even if that is a bit unfair (I’ve never heard Tyler sing.) Perhaps they’ll both make the final cut.

The Thick Red Line.

Only six years after The Thin Red Line, Terrence Malick readies his fourth film, Che, tentatively with Benicio Del Toro in the title role. (Expect voiceovers.) I just watched TTRL again the other night and was amazed once again how many people are in it. I remembered Jim Caviezel, John Cusack, Woody Harrelson, John Travolta, George Clooney, John C. Reilly, Ben Chaplin, Nick Nolte, Adrien Brody, Sean Penn, and Elias Koteas from the first go-round in the theater. But seeing it again this week, I now also noticed Tim Blake Nelson, Nick Stahl, Jared Leto, Matt Doran (Mouse from The Matrix), and Thomas Jane — plus Miranda Otto as Chaplin’s wayward wife on the homefront. I’d love to see the unreleased six-hour version someday (which, according to the credits, apparently also includes Viggo Mortensen, Mickey Rourke, Lukas Haas, Billy Bob Thornton, Bill Pullman, Jason Patric, Martin Sheen, Donal Logue, Randall Duk Kim [The Keymaker from Reloaded], and a full-on performance by Brody), even if it ends up being too much for one sitting.

A Dark and Stormy Knight.

The much-hyped Batman fan film that was making the rounds at Comicon is now available for download (Might be faster off Kazaa, which is how I obtained it.) I could’ve done without the lame fanboy pr0n ending, to be honest. Batman, Joker, a dark alley, rain…why mess up a good thing with cross-genre cameos?

Cleaved.

Hmmm…the rumor’s been around for a few weeks, but it’s finally been confirmed: Tarantino’s Kill Bill is being split in two. Something smells fishy to me. Even as a QT fan back in the day, I thought the first trailer for this (excuse me, these) film(s) was really blah. Is Harvey Weinstein forcing a return on what’s starting to look like a dodgy property? I guess we’ll have to spend twice as much to find out.

The Gospel According to Mel.

AICN gets its hands on the powerful (and very graphic) trailer for The Passion, Mel Gibson’s forthcoming version of the Christ story, as told in Aramaic and Latin. Given Gibson’s ultraconservative Catholicism, his rejection of the Second Vatican Council (which, among other things, repudiated the idea of Jewish collective guilt for the death of Jesus), and his father’s background of Anti-Semitism and Holocaust denial, I must admit I fear the worst about this project…but I’ll reserve judgment until I’ve seen the movie. To be sure, the trailer is a startling piece of work.

Subordinary.

Hello all…back from Toronto (Seemed like a great town…wish I’d had more time to look around) with nary a muscle ache or fever. Also caught The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen this evening. I didn’t find it as terrible as all the reviews made it out to be, but Lord knows it’s pretty bad. I suspect that even if the screenwriters had attempted something closer to Alan Moore’s work, Sean Connery would still kill the movie with his awful Sean Connery impression. And the story, as Ebert notes, is absolutely nonsensical. Peta Wilson, Richard Roxburgh, Jason Flemyng, and Stuart Townsend all acquit themselves well, I suppose, although the latter reminded me once again of why he would’ve made a lousy Aragorn. And as for Tom Sawyer…well, the less said the better. To be honest, I expected much more of Stephen Norrington after Blade. All in all, I’d say skip it.

Walk the Plank.

If you’re looking for a matinee with which to beat the heat, avast what you’re doing and check out Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl – It’s a solid two hours of mindless summer fun. It runs a bit longish, sure, but Johnny Depp and Geoffrey Rush keep it light as Captain Jack “Keef S. Thompson” Sparrow and the eeeevil Barbarossa respectively. (Of course, neither Orlando Bloom nor Keira Knightley are harsh on the eyes either, depending on your fancy.) And it’s always good to see Sam Lowry out and about in these trying times. All in all, easily as fun as Finding Nemo, if in the end a little more flawed.