Gone, Baby Gone is Ben Affleck’s directorial debut… What? Hello? Anyone still reading or have you fled in terror? Ok, here’s the good news: it’s looking very good. Based on Mystic River author Dennis Lehane’s novel of the same name, it follows two Boston detectives investigating the kidnapping of a little girl. Younger Affleck spawn Casey is holding down the main role, which marks a surprisingly dramatic turn for someone who we associate with happy-go-lucky roles such as one of the Ocean’s 11/12/13. Judging from the trailer, he seems to be playing it pretty low-key, but competently. This will make or break Casey, particularly with the heavyweight supporting cast of Morgan Freeman and Ed Harris. The film looks good; we liked Mystic River and this seems to be aiming for the same visual look and feel. One to watch, wethinks.
Archive for the ‘Movie News’ Category
Trailer – Gone Baby Gone
Saturday, July 7th, 2007Abrams speaks on ‘Cloverfield’
Saturday, July 7th, 2007
Someone in the JJ Abrams pipeline has confirmed some details about the top secret ‘Cloverfield’ project.
“Abrams is very active on this one, as he plans to be on all Bad Robot projects,” he says. “The only things he’s been involved with which he hasn’t really had any creative role were What About Brian and Six Degrees — both shows that existed before Bad Robot really opened for business (meaning, when he put the team together).
“Cloverfield is an idea Abrams had over a year ago, which he then sold to Paramount. The point-of-view thing (Handicam) is the whole movie. Scenes from the trailer are in the film. Abrams got a really talented guy (Drew Goddard) to write (they’d worked together on Alias and, presently, Lost), and Matt Reeves to direct (they co-created Felicity and he’s pretty damn genius-level).
“Bad Robot and Paramount will be announcing the real title shortly.”
Source: Hollywood Elsewhere
Read More about Cloverfield:
Maggie Gyllenhaal Talks ‘Dark Knight,’ Difficult Directors and Filming Sex Scenes
Saturday, July 7th, 2007Filed under: Critical Thought & Trends, Celebrities and Controversy, Newsstand
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Any Guardian sit-down worth its salt has to include a not-so subtle evaluation of the star's interview habits, and this new one with Maggie Gyllenhaal is no exception. "She sits directly opposite me, her feet planted firmly on the floor," the interviewer tells us. "She asks for a camomile tea and coolly, in a tone that brooks no argument, requests that the assembled public relations people leave the room while we conduct the interview." After this evaluation, it's off to the races, with Gyllenhaal delving into everything from her trepidation about doing Secretary -- "in the wrong hands, in even slightly the wrong hands, even in just slightly less intelligent hands, this movie could say something really weird" -- to everything that went into her performance in Sherrybaby. She's especially frank when it comes to the movie's sex scenes. "I find those scenes hard to watch," she says. "But when I was making them, I was thinking how Sherry would be thinking: I've been in prison for three years, I want to c*me."
Gyllenhaal also owns up to some tussles with directors over the years, but she's too polite to name names. When asked about what her most difficult acting experience has been so far, she replies that she once "realized very early on in a shoot that I was at odds with the director, and I had to go through the whole shoot trying to figure out how to stay alive as an actress, when I was being squashed by the director." For the record, it wasn't Oliver Stone -- she says that she loved working with him, and describes him as being "nuts, but totally inspiring." As for the movie she's shooting right now, The Dark Knight, Gyllenhaal has nothing but praise for how she's being treated. "Doing Batman has shocked me at every turn. When I started, I thought 'Well, it's a huge movie, I'll just do my best to put what I can into it. But, in fact, they've been really hungry for my ideas, for my views. It's great! They've been asking for more!"
Nigeria: Price Of Machetes Drops After Elections
Friday, July 6th, 2007No, it’s not a piece from The Onion. It’s the real thing (link via AmRen).
ABUJA (Reuters) – The price of machetes has halved in parts of Nigeria since the end of general elections in April because demand from thugs sponsored by politicians has subsided, the state-owned News Agency of Nigeria reported.
Are We Ready? Pt. 23,910
Friday, July 6th, 2007I haven’t ran across one of these too recently. This Newsweek article is but one more of the infinite ‘litmus test’ articles we can expect more of as Nov. ’08 approaches.
“Americans appear prepared to elect either a black or a female president…”
Jukebox: Neil Young
Friday, July 6th, 2007Neil has long been one of my faves. Back in high school, when I was first learning to play guitar, learning the chords and riffs of songs like “Hey Hey, My My”, “Cinnamon Girl” (drop-D tuning), “Comes A Time”, “Old Man”, and “Ohio” were important accomplishments that made me feel like a million bucks. It’s […]
The Book of Peace & Tolerance
Friday, July 6th, 2007The Koran is composed of 114 chapters, each of which is called a Surah.
“Fight against such of those who have been given the Scripture [this means Christians and Jews – Ed.] as believe not in Allah nor the Last Day, and forbid not that which Allah hath forbidden by His messenger, and follow not the […]
Two Different Philosophies
Friday, July 6th, 2007Good news today from a federal appeals court. The international phone call surveillance program (the same type of program that allowed the British this week to find terrorists affiliated with the recent London car bomb scare living in Australia) has been upheld (ACLU vs. NSA).
The case involved an Islamic charity and the ACLU suing the […]
How Much Does SF Hate America? Let Us Count The Ways!
Friday, July 6th, 2007Zombietime has a slew of photographs featuring progressive ‘artwork’ at the recent San Francisco “Propaganda III” exhibit (link via LGF):
After attending the AK Press “Fuck the Fourth” party as a pre-holiday warm-up, I was hungry for some more Independence Day patriotism — San Francisco style.
I was tempted at first by a public event celebrating the […]
Ty’s movie picks for Friday, July 6
Friday, July 6th, 2007
The "Independents Week" series continues at the Harvard Film Archive: Tonight, the deadpan teachers'-lounge satire "Chalk", tomorrow Joe Swanberg's "Hannah Takes the Stairs," to my mind the best film yet to come out of the so-called MumbleCore scene.
"License to Wed" has the worst reviews of 2007 so far (Wesley hated it, and the Times' A.O. Scott held it out on tongs), so entertain yourself by reading them instead of paying good money to see a bad movie. "Transformers" and "Ratatouille" will likely dominate the weekend box office, attracting (respectively) 8-year-old boys of all ages and foodies of all sizes.
Mostly there's a new bunch of arthouse movies hitting town and most of them are at the Kendall Square: the sprightly zombie comedy "Fido" (in photo above, and, yes, that's comedian Billy Connolly in the middle); the pretty okay hitman comedy-romance "You Kill Me," which you should see for Ben Kingsley and Tea Leoni but probably on DVD; and "Gypsy Caravan," a soul-lifting music documentary that's not just for world-music followers or Gipsy Kings freaks. (I.e., if you liked "Buena Vista Social Club," you'll like this.)
The omnibus film "Paris Je T'aime" returns to the Coolidge and the Kendall today after a brief appearance in May: here's Wesley's review. 18 short stories, one per arrondissement, with a roster of directors that includes Alexander Payne, Olivier Assayas, Wes Craven (!), and the Coen brothers, and a cast that includes Juliette Binoche, Steve Buscemi, Marianne Faithfull, and Elijah Wood. Admit it, you're curious.
The Brattle has "Broken English," which is a feast for Parker Posey fans, but save your Brattle-bucks until next weekend, when the Werner Herzog double-bill kicks in. You really need to see "Aguirre: The Wrath of God" on a big screen.
