Coming from Pixar, Brave, a Scottish fairy-tale with a female protagonist is scheduled to open in Summer 2012. Check out the link below for some awesome art from Pixar, along with some cast information. (Craig Ferguson!)
http://insidemovies.ew.com/2011/03/28/brave-pixar-first-look/
It’s Kind Of A Funny Story, a recently released film from Focus Features, tells the story of Craig Gilner, a 16 year-old boy struggling with suicidal thoughts. He checks himself into the hospital’s adult psychiatric ward, only because the teen floor is ‘under renovations’. He meets an interesting cast of characters including Bobby, a 30 year-old man who’s life is in shambles, as well as Mutata, his Egyptian roommate who will not, under any circumstance, leave the room and Noelle, a girl Craig’s age, who is finishing her stay after she struggled with cutting.
Directed by Anna Boden and Ryan Fleck, who have short independent film careers, It’s Kind Of A Funny Story stars Keir Gilchrist as Craig, Zach Galifianakis (of The Hangover fame) as Bobby, and the beautiful Emma Roberts as Noelle. The cast clicks, they seemed natural around one another, as if the characters were part of one, big, chemically-imbalanced family. The actors picked up some, but not all, of the gaps in Boden and Fleck’s script. The writing was not flawless, but it wasn’t bad, either. The script is adapted from Ned Vizzini’s novel of the same title, and left a few things to be desired, including points when comedy could have been more effectively used.
Despite the script’s shortcomings, the other aspects of the film created an effective and moving atmosphere for Craig and the other patients of 3 North. Galifianakis delivers a spot on performance as the flawed mentor, and in one particular scene, his true potential as a dramatic actor could be seen when his character has to deal with a major disappointment. The relationship between Bobby and Craig fills the gap that Craig experiences with his true father, played by Jim Gaffigan. Bobby seems to know what is best for Craig, in this case it is finding a girlfriend, while Craig’s real father’s main concern is a school application that is a stressor for Craig.
It’s Kind Of A Funny Story is a great modern coming-of-age tale. Craig’s story is easily relatable and his experiences mirror those of most teenagers. Add to that a great cast that creates a flawed but loving family, and a soundtrack that moves right along with the story, giving the audience a level of comfort with difficult and emotional scenarios and situations. It’s Kind Of A Funny Story is a feel-good powerhouse that will leave you with a smile on your face. Highly recommended.
Welcome back folks. It’s been a while since I posted, so I took this time to move to a better site, WordPress! Same blog, same insight, new home. As I get moved in here, pardon some formatting shifts and know that as we keep on going with WordPress, everything will eventually even out.
Enjoy the show!
David
Howdy readers!
I know it’s been a long-ass time since I posted last, but I found something worth posting today.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g8FBRATbJoA&NR=1
Watch this trailer and make sure you aren’t alone when you do, because it made me, someone who is not impressed by many horror movies, squirm. Watch and love The Vicious Brothers’ Grave Encounters, a film about a Ghost Adventures style TV show gone horribly wrong. The crew, which includes a host that is VERY similar to Zak, the host of Ghost Adventures, is trapped in a closed down insane asylum, and begin to encounter things beyond their wildest imaginations. The tagline is “They were searching for proof…they found it.”, so that in and of itself makes me want to see this.
This will be debuting at Tribeca in the spring, with a hopeful nationwide release coming soon. This flick should set the bar for ‘home video’ style horror, in the same way that the original Blair Witch Project did.
Joseph Gordon-Levitt, co-star of Inception, Christopher Nolan’s Oscar nominated action flick, has been confirmed as a member of the cast of the third installment of Nolan’s retelling of the story of the Bat.
The role that Levitt will play is still unknown. Some rumors are circling that Levitt will fill the shoes of Hugo Strange, but Levitt doesn’t seem to have the physical build to play the broad-shouldered shrink. Another rumor is that he will play a younger Joker, perhaps in flashbacks of some kind.
Maybe…just maybe Levitt will play a sidekick to the dark knight. Of course, Robin the Boy Wonder has already been discredited by Nolan himself, saying he would never add Robin to his films.
Levitt joins another Inception star, Tom Hardy, in Dark Knight Rises cast.
UPDATED!
Gordon-Levitt is confirmed to play Alberto Falcone, the son of Carmine Falcone, the drug kingpin from Batman Begins.
Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter, a new project coming soon from FOX, is a story of Abraham Lincoln, the 16th president of the United States, and his heated battles with the blood drinking undead during the Civil War. The film is based on a novel penned by Seth Graham-Smith, who is known for his science fiction novels that retell classic American and European literature. One of his best selling titles is this historical re-write of Abraham Lincoln’s upbringing. Last year, FOX obtained film rights, and they are beginning casting for the film already.
The man chosen for the role of the axe-wielding emancipator is no rookie to the role of playing a badass version of a president. Benjamin Walker, a little-known Broadway actor will take the role of Lincoln in the film, which is to be directed by Timur Bekmambetov, who is better known for his 2008 film, Wanted, starring James McAvoy and Angelina Jolie. Walker is in his first major film role after the Broadway show Bloody, Bloody Andrew Jackson closed the beginning of this year. The show was radical and starred Walker as the young Jackson, rising to the presidency. It was bloody and raw, but full of toe-tapping music, with clever lyrics. A link to one of the show’s songs is below.
I’m looking forward to the film, gaining a powerful actor like Walker some much needed attention and notoriety. Look for some more information about this film, and how it may just fix a very broken vampire stereotype.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VIxahTc4dpE (Walker is in the white shirt/NSFW)
