Cinema Sideshow

NEWS: Minghella to helm 'No. Ladies' Detective Agency,' Sandler/Apatow, Warners picks up 'Bone'

Mon, 10 Mar 2008 22:35:13 GMT

HBO has greenlit a seven-part adaptation of Alexander McCall Smith's "The No. 1 Ladies Detective Agency" which will be directed by Anthony Minghella. It's nice to see that someone's taken notice of this exceptional series of novels, Minghella could really do the project justice. Extra-plus bonus points -- Minghella co-wrote the two-hour pilot with Richard Curtis (Four Weddings and a Funeral, Love Actually, "The Vicar of Dibley"). (Read more ...)

NEWS: Hulk trailer, Tang Lee censored, new Indy pic

Fri, 07 Mar 2008 20:07:49 GMT

In a stunning display of PR overkill, Universal will run a teaser trailer for The Incredible Hulk on seven cable networks simultaneously. A teaser for the kinda-sorta sequel to Ang Lee's The Hulk will run at 9:56 p.m. EDT/6:56 p.m. PDT on MTV, MTVU, MTV2, VH1, Spike TV, Nick at Nite and CMT. Of course, if you don't feel compelled to sit glued to the TV, you'll be able to see the teaser on MTV.com following the big blockbuster simulcast. Thank god. (Read more ...)

[FILM] 'Eraserhead' and 'Lynch' at the Northwest Film Center

Fri, 04 Jan 2008 17:55:50 GMT

Long, long ago, in a far off land called the 1970’s, I was a geeky kid who loved movies. Unlike normal, non-cinema obsessed youth, my favorite part of the year wasn’t summer vacation – it was the weeks devoted to the Los Angeles Film Exposition (commonly called “Filmex”), the annual international festival that ran from 1971 to 1983 before morphing into the organization American Cinematheque ... (Read more)

Golden Globe nominations ... what the hell?

Thu, 13 Dec 2007 21:31:47 GMT

The Golden Globe nominations were announced today and ... Atonement is nominated for best drama? Seriously?

I mean, did they actually watch it? It's not just bad, it's excruciating.

On the other hand, hooray for nominations for Michael Clayton and No Country for Old Men. The "comedy or musical" category, on the other hand, is very, very weak. Across the Universe? Is it because, other than Hairspray, it was the only musical available?

Anyway. If you'll excuse us, we're still trying to get over that Atonement nomination. Ummm ... yeah.

On 'The Mist' and characterization.

Mon, 10 Dec 2007 20:31:43 GMT

This is a busy season for film folk, what with catching up on all the movies we missed earlier in the year. But the staff took a field trip to the local multiplex and caught The Mist this weekend. And we have a few thoughts.

We won't spoil it for those of you who haven't seen it, but unless you live under a rock you've undoubtedly heard that the ending is a downer. And it is -- delightfully enough. It's a refreshing throwback to a time before studios "tested" every film before release, insisting that any ending that doesn't leave the test audience in a happy, toe-tapping mood has to be lightened up. Cinema Sideshow approves of this ending, depressing though it may be. Or, perhaps, because it's depressing. We're funny that way. (Read more ...)

Oscar Season.

Wed, 28 Nov 2007 20:53:10 GMT

The last couple of months of the year bring DVD bounty to film critics around the world, as studios send out bushels of screener discs in the hopes that their Oscar-bait projects will land on the countless top-ten lists that nobody really gives a crap about.

Here at Cinema Sideshow Central, we've received gratas copies of Reservation Road, Talk to Me, A Mighty Heart, Hairspray, Into the Wild, Margot at the Wedding, Music Within, Knocked Up, Eastern Promises, and a few more that we can't be bothered to remember ... (Read more)

News: Smith's footprints, free rides for firemen, Tom Swift

Tue, 27 Nov 2007 19:53:21 GMT

Grauman's Chinese Theater, home to the hand- and footprints of such stellar screen legends as Douglas Fairbanks, Marilyn Monroe and Adam Sandler, will enshrine the paws of acclaimed thespian Will Smith on Dec. 10. By sheer coincidence, Smith's new film I Am Legend will premiere just four days later, on Dec. 14. Interestingly, the premiere of Smith's last-guy-in-New-York-oops-there's-a-monster flick will not be held at Grauman's, but you can watch the Dec. 12 red carpet proceedings for Walk Hard: the Dewey Cox Story via live webcam here. If you go there right now, though, you'll just see polyester-clad Midwesterners staring at the imprints of John Wayne's (surprisingly tiny) boots.

(Read more ...)

News: 'Paddington Bear,' AFI anniversary, McConaughey replaces Wilson

Wed, 19 Sep 2007 17:19:09 GMT

Harry Potter producer David Heyman has announced plans for a feature-film adaptation of the Paddington Bear books. The screenwriter is Hamish McColl (Mr. Bean's Holiday) so expect many hilarious bits of slapstick involving Paddington falling face first into the loo, getting his necktie caught in turnstiles, and spilling marmalade on the crotches of unsuspecting old ladies. (Read more ...)

News: Owen Wilson, 'War Monkeys,' Keanu barata nikto

Mon, 27 Aug 2007 18:20:19 GMT

Owen Wilson is in the hospital, reportedly after cutting his wrist and taking "an undetermined amount of pills." He's been stitched up and will "be detoxed" according to press reports. Not to trivialize the man's pain, but if this was a suicide attempt, it certainly puts the rest of our lives in stark perspective — after all, if Owen Wilson isn't enjoying the hell out of his life, what chance is there for the rest of us? (read more ...)

Trailer Park: A sampling of Fall's bounty

Fri, 24 Aug 2007 19:01:47 GMT

As we slog through the thin late-summer movie season, we can keep our love alive by focusing on the bright, shiny things glittering on the horizon:

Exiled (Aug. 31)

3:10 to Yuma (Sept. 7)

The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford (September 21)

Shoot 'Em Up (Sept. 7)

The Darjeeling Limited (Sept. 29) (Read more ...)

Ramblings: "Last Holiday" and the critical eye.

Tue, 21 Aug 2007 21:48:28 GMT

For reasons best left undisclosed in this forum, Cinema Sideshow spent the morning curled up on the couch with a mug of coffee and a cigarette, watching Last Holiday, the chick flick about Queen Latifah getting a brain tumor and spending all of her money at a fancy resort. And you know what? We liked it.

The thing about reviewing movies professionally that civilians don't understand is this: When you see every movie (or, at least, a much higher percentage than the average film-goer) and you watch with a critical eye, it erodes your ability to enjoy movies as mindless entertainment. You start to discern that 99 percent of Hollywood's output is created to an established template. All the constructs become transparent -- the three-act structure, the major plot point that comes every 20 minutes, the cute-meets and the predictable happy endings and the tertiary character who'll (surprise!) turn out to be the bad guy. You've already seen it all hundreds of times already, and this version is just more of the same. The Emperor is buck-ass nekkid, and your job is to point and laugh. (Read more...)

NEWS: CGI 'Jungle Book,' Virtual Directors, 'Voltron' movie

Tue, 14 Aug 2007 16:16:41 GMT

A $50 million, live-action screen adaptation of Rudyard Kipling's "The Jungle Book" is in the planning stages, to be directed by "BBC natural-history filmmaker" (description courtesy of the BBC's press release) John Downer. His previous film, Pride, used CGI animation to make real-life lions look like they were talking. In a related story, government workers were called to Westminster Abbey, where Kipling's rapidly whirling corpse bore a hole through his own casket and into that of neighbor Charles Dickens. (Read more ...)

Review: The Bourne Ultimatum

Fri, 03 Aug 2007 16:49:16 GMT

The Bourne Ultimatum jumps straight into the action with indestructible überspy Jason Bourne (Matt Damon) injured and on the run in Moscow. There’s a lengthy chase scene with shaky cameras, insistently anxious music and killer fight segments, and it sets the stage for the hundred-odd minutes to come – this third installment in the franchise is short on plot and heavy on action. It’s a nerve-jangling thrill ride. (Read more ...)

News: Ebert on video, Indie Sex, National Archives DVDs

Wed, 01 Aug 2007 16:22:52 GMT

Over two decades of videotaped reviews by Roger Ebert, Gene Siskel, Richard Roeper and a bevy of guest hosts will be available starting Thursday on the website AtTheMovies TV.com. Ostensibly the largest repository of video-based movie reviews available online, the site will offer about 5,000 reviews, searchable by film, director or actor, plus countless opportunities to giggle over Gene Siskel's enormous 1970's porn-star 'stache ... (Read more ...)

DVD Reviews: 300, Pathfinder, Starter for 10

Tue, 31 Jul 2007 19:31:06 GMT

300: Special Edition

As the capabilities for better, more detailed, more technically intricate computer graphic work are applied to motion pictures, directors are finding a wide range of uses for that technology as they bring their artistic visions to full-motion life. As with any artistic medium, especially one still in its infancy, some of those choices are positively painful to have to sit through. Robert Zemeckis' freakish motion-capture kids' flick The Polar Express, for example, was populated by characters who looked like they'd been embalmed, covered in latex, and then painted by slave laborers in a third-world sweatshop (his upcoming Beowulf adaptation looks to be more aesthetically pleasing, although it does beg the question of why he felt the need for hyper-realistically animated versions of Anthony Hopkins and Angelina Jolie when he could have just, you know, filmed the real thing.) But
some directors have found that advanced CGI techniques allow them to create worlds that would otherwise be impossible (or financially prohibitive) to film ... (Read more ...)

News: Bergman dies, Antonious Porch promoted, 'Iron Man' looks good, and Walken cooks a chicken

Mon, 30 Jul 2007 18:25:41 GMT

The Show Business Trifecta of Death came all in one fell swoop this time around — director Ingmar Bergman, newsman/talk show host Tom Snyder, and French actor Michel Serrault have all passed away. If there's a celestial waiting room, there's one fascinating conversation going on there right now. (Read more ...)

News: Depp to do 'Dark Shadows,' Marion Ravenwood returns, free Dark Horse comics on MySpace

Fri, 27 Jul 2007 18:47:44 GMT

Forgive us if we squeal like little girls, but Warner Bros. has announced that Johnny Depp is set to play Barnabas Collins in a film based on the kitschtastic '60's horror soap "Dark Shadows." We don't want to date ourselves, but as small children (very, very small, like negative-five years old) we obsessively watched DS every afternoon with our babysitter, and cut our literary teeth on novelizations of same. (Read more ...)

News: Stan Lee ringtones, Double Spocks, Blu-ray sales boost

Fri, 27 Jul 2007 00:28:04 GMT

As Comic-Con continues, with each passing year, to grow as a salesman's paradise for all media interested in sucking cash out of geeks' wallets, we see an increase in corporate announcements by studios, TV networks, comic-book companies and toy manufacturers tied to the event. Among today's Big Important Unveilings was the announcement by Spike TV (a subsidiary of Viacom) that they'll be partnering with well-preserved exploiter of comics Stan Lee to offer a series of ringtones of Lee's voice. (Read more ...)

News: Starz Inside, 'Ultimate Fanboy' contest, Jenna Jameson comics

Wed, 25 Jul 2007 18:36:56 GMT

In an effort to get someone — anyone! — to watch their network, Starz (corporate motto: "The Cable Movie Channel That Comes Packaged with Something Else") will debut "Starz Inside" in September. The monthly series promises to examine the "people, trends and culture in movie entertainment," hosted by Richard Roeper. The first installment, "Fog City Mavericks: The Filmmakers of San Francisco" airs on Sept. 24 at 9 p.m. EST, and looks at George Lucas, Francis Ford Coppola, Clint Eastwood, Chris Columbus and producer Saul Zaentz, as well as a peek at Pixar. (Read more ...)

NEWS: Julia Roberts, Neil Gaiman, Lindsay Lohan

Tue, 24 Jul 2007 15:56:39 GMT

American Cinematheque has announced that their 22nd annual award will go to Julia Roberts. While the organization's fancy-pants name may lead one to think they're a prestigious film society, they're really just a business that operates the Egyptian and Aero theaters in Hollywood -- like Harvard's Hasty Pudding club, the AC folks figured out that if they give some sort of an award to somebody famous, then they'll get to hang out with movie stars, and massive doses of free publicity will ensue. (Read more ...)

I am a (marketing) tool

Wed, 18 Jul 2007 23:33:13 GMT

Defamer mocks the ad campaign for the teeny-tiny independent film Raising Flagg, and I notice that the third blurb on the poster is mine. "Funny, charming -- Dawn Taylor, Portland Tribune." Yep, that's me, all right.

It's not a bad little movie, in a PBS production sort of a way. I admit that I may have given it a much better review than I would have had I not also interviewed the filmmakers for the other newspaper I was working on at the time -- they were really terrific people, and it turned out that Neal Miller wrote the script for Who Am I This Time?, one of my favorite TV productions, like, ever.

It's always weird to be blurbed. Especially when it's just two words out of a review.

Magic Soap Box!

Sat, 14 Jul 2007 05:19:13 GMT

There's a documentary about Dr. Bronner and his crazy-ass soap.

DVD Reviews -- Noir Classics and Campy Crap

Mon, 09 Jul 2007 17:36:13 GMT

DVD Review: Kansas City Confidential
An unnamed man (Preston Foster) planning a bank heist observes that a florist's van arrives at the same time each day as the armored car that picks up the money. So an identical van is used, pulling up right after the real van leaves so that the masked robbers — who are, for safety's sake, unknown to each other except for a torn piece of a playing card — can make off with the cash. But after the police arrest and grill the original delivery man, Joe Rolfe (John Payne) because he's an ex-con, Rolfe decides to seek vengeance, find the crooks and get the sizable reward. (Read more ...)

DVD Review: The Woman in the Window
If every new television season of detective dramas brings a fresh slate of psycho-killer tales, we have Fritz Lang to thank. The director's fascination with criminal procedure and the minds of killers marked most of his better work, starting with his chilling examination of Peter Lorre's child-murderer in M (1936) and his back-to-back criminal justice dramas Fury (1936) and You Only Live Once (1937). After a lengthy period of studio work (some pedestrian, some extraordinary), Lang's interest in the criminal mind blossomed with his dramas of the late 40s and early 50s. (Read more...)

DVD Review: Trog
Most of us who love movies have memories of specific so-bad-they're-funny titles that we'd stay up until 3 a.m. to catch on late-night television. Thanks to modern technology — and the whim of the various studios — we can now get these Z-grade cheese-fests on DVD whenever we like, which takes some of the fun out of watching them. Because, to be honest, unless you're so tired that you're giddy or you're altered by recreational substances, most of these flicks are more an exercise in oh-god-what-were-they-thinking than they are quality entertainment. (Read more ...)

DEV Review: The Big Cube
One of the more bizarre entries in the genre of 1960's Drug-Addled Cinema, The Big Cube (1969) stars a worn-around-the-edges Lana Turner as Adriana, a famous actress who gives up show business to marry a rich businessman (Dan O'Herlihy). This irks his teen daughter, Lisa (Karin Mossberg, who inexplicably has an Swedish accent), so she shows her independence by hitting the town with her free-spirited pal Bibi (Pamela Rodgers) and dropping acid with a bunch of hippeies at a nightclub called The Trip. (Read more ...)

Review: Transformers

Tue, 03 Jul 2007 19:51:58 GMT

Here’s the thing. This is a Michael Bay movie about giant robots smashing stuff. So, yes, it may seem petty and overly film critic-ish to want it to be, you know, good. But that’s really what film critics do, isn’t it? We critique films. Even when they’re Michael Bay films about giant robots. So let the critiquing begin.

After seeing Transformers, my heterosexual life partner made an interesting observation, which I’ll paraphrase. Michael Bay is the directorial equivalent of a sociopath. (Read more...)