Filed under: Action, Sci-Fi & Fantasy, Thrillers, Universal, Celebrities and Controversy, Angelina Jolie, Movie Marketing, Comic/Superhero/Geek, Trailers and Clips

For a few weeks now, a grainy video has been circling the Internet of an office worker going absolutely insane. It originated on Break.com, and I've included it after the jump for your critical enjoyment.

Those fearing that their cubicle neighbor might engage in similar hysterics can breathe easy -- it was all a sly bit of viral marketing from Timur Bekmambetov for Wanted. He revealed the stunt over on his personal blog, where he allegedly had a good laugh at the gullibility of the West. I'm not seeing any geographic mockery here, so quite possibly he took that down.

Continue reading Timur Bekmambetov Punks the World With Viral Video

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Filed under: Celebrities and Controversy

Good news, Patrick Swayze fans -- he's one step closer to kicking cancer to the curb. Variety reports that the dirty dancer's pilot show about an unorthodox FBI agent, The Beast, has been picked up by A&E and that it will still star Swayze. Everything was up in the air when it was announced that he was fighting pancreatic cancer, but now insiders have told Variety that the actor's doctors have given him the thumbs up to continue working, just a few weeks after he announced that he was responding well to treatment.

Shooting the series should keep him pretty busy, but I wonder what this means for the rumor that Swayze would return to the world of Point Break for a sequel, should his health allow it. Will we be getting more Bodhi? I wasn't too keen on the idea in May, but it would be better than some other films that could try to grab him, like, say, that wretched Donnie Darko sequel that's in the works.

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Wow. Give America a CGI family film they can get behind and they will come. Either despite or because of the fact that it has the exact same storyline as every other CGI family film, "Kung Fu Panda" whaled on the competition this weekend and waddled off with $60 million. "You Don't Mess with the Zohan" also did very, very well -- $40 million -- and the two new movies combined to give the overall US BO a solid and needed 33% boost over the same weekend last year.

DId the East Coast heat wave have something to do with this? Undoubtedly: If your entire family's tongues are dragging on the ground from humidity, the all-American response is take 'em to the movies, and "Kung Fu" fits the bill for ages zygote on up. ("Zohan" for kids? I don' theenk so. That much raunch -- funny raunch, but raunch -- buckles the edges of an R rating. Personally, as a father, I draw the line at Lainie Kazan's naked tokhes. But that's just me.)

In non-new studio fare, "Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull" is settling into a graceful retirement period: 50% off the previous week's take and with a fine $253 million overall gross. "Sex and the City" plummeted 63% in its second week, as the core audience had already been there, done that. The iron man of early summer 2008 appears to be "Iron Man," which is still doing strongly in its 6th week of release -- No. 6 overall, with a still robust $2,500 per theater average at just under 3,000 theaters (compare that with "Prince Caspian," in its 4th week, with $1,800 PTA at just over 3,000 theaters).

One nice surprise is holding steady at #11 on the chart: the itty-bitty but absurdly satisfying indie drama "The Visitor," starring character actor Richard Jenkins in a rare and welcome leading role. Directed by Tom McCarthy ("The Station Agent"), the film cracked the Top Ten for three weeks in late May and is still pulling in two grand per theater its ninth week in release (compare to $844 for "Baby Mama"). Nice guys do occasionally finish first, or close enough for horseshoes. Are you listening, Hollywood? Hello? Anyone?

Speaking of per-theater-averages, the foreign language Oscar nominee from Kazakhstan, "Mongol," opened at 5 theaters over the weekend and made $26,600 at each. Bodes well for the film's roll-out (it comes to Boston June 20) and for fans of old-fashioned epic filmmaking.

Here's the Box Office Mojo chart and here's Leonard Klady of Movie City News.

Filed under: Celebrities and Controversy, Exhibition

In the words of Inigo Montoya: You keep using that word. I do not think it means what you think it means.

Shyness. I can't even begin to count the times that I've heard about actors who are shy. They struggle with the spotlight, they're shy even though they're outgoing on-screen, or have bared every inch of their flesh. The latest comes from USA Today's recent interview with the naked guy from Sex and the City, Gilles Marini. He told them that he's very modest, and proud that he found the courage to display his body on the big screen.

I understand that actors can sometimes pull off performances quite unlike themselves, but statements about modesty and shyness coming from actors and actresses (unless they're medicating themselves to get over it) seems tantamount to the person who barely eats saying that they love food -- it might be a little bit true, but not really true.

If you act in film, or take it a step farther and bare all on film, to me it seems like you might want to give up the declarations of shyness and modesty. It takes a lot of guts to put yourself out there like that. If you want to say: "I used to be shy, but I got over it," okay. But if all of these shy famous people felt so much discomfort and trepidation in association with others, they wouldn't be actors -- they'd never get that far.

But that's just my $.02. Thoughts?

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While I was not a big fan of James Gray’s The Yards a number of years ago, I did, at the time, mildly liked the performances of two actors in that film, Mark Wahlberg and Joaquin Phoenix. In 2007, there was a bit of reunion of the Yards talent, in the form of We Own The Night, which in my opinion was one of the best made pictures of last year. Between the time of the two pictures, the two leads have grown as actors, especially Joaquin Phoenix -who also gave an underrated performance in another 2007 film, Reservation Road- and this film also gives a surprise in Eva Mendes, as well. (more…)

Filed under: Documentary, Lionsgate Films, Celebrities and Controversy, Movie Marketing, Religious, Trailers and Clips

Being one not entirely fond of controversy for controversy's sake, I cannot deny that the prospect of 'Politically Incorrect' host Bill Maher working with Borat director Larry Charles to make a documentary regarding religion in any respect and having it distributed by a studio all too proud to remind you of the hand it had in releasing Michael Moore's Fahrenheit 9/11 wasn't one that had me eager to line up around the block for it any time soon.

However, all things considered, while the new trailer for Religulous fails to dilute any notions that this thing is a lightning rod in waiting, I found myself unexpectedly consoled by the fact that Maher and Charles appear to be covering every faith and denomination that they can in making a film about the seemingly ridiculous nature of any one belief to another.

If Ben Stein can both cause an old-fashioned ruckus with his doc on the exclusion of creationist thought in public schools and rake in some relatively decent grosses while doing it, it'll be interesting to see just how much attention this film will inevitably garner come this October 3.

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Filed under: Celebrities and Controversy, War

First, let's recap: On May 21, Eugene posted about Spike Lee's continued criticism of Clint Eastwood's Flags of Our Fathers and Letters from Iwo Jima for not including African Americans. Lee was asked why Eastwood did it as he did, and I have to say, I don't blame him for responding: "If you reporters had any balls you'd ask him why. There's no way I know why he did that -- that was his vision, not mine..." Today, we got word that Eastwood has responded, with the eloquent "A guy like him should shut his face." He then went on to talk about revisionism.

So, MTV went back to Lee, who is taking, and I quote: "the Obama high road." (New political slang alert! What's next?) He continued: "I've said my statement. I have no ill will towards Mr. Eastwood. What I said to him was not a personal attack, it was an observation. So that's really the end of it."

Think what you will of Lee, but this whole thing is a little ridiculous. If you head back to Erik's 2007 post about Miracle at St. Anna, Lee discussed how he'd met a black veteran who fought at Iwo Jima and was disappointed in Eastwood's portrayal, and how this inspired him to make the film and pay tribute to African American soldiers. Now he's getting crap thrown at him about revisionist history, and all of this is stemming from people asking him to talk about it, and him saying he couldn't answer for Eastwood. Lee might say some controversial things sometimes, but he was really backed into a corner this time around.

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Filed under: Celebrities and Controversy, Fandom

Here's a funny one for your Friday: Remember that MTV Movie Awards spoof featuring Ben Stiller, Robert Downey Jr. and Jack Black? If not, head here to refresh your memory. In said video, Stiller was using his two Tropic Thunder co-stars to shoot a "viral video" for the upcoming flick; one to impress his consistently bored nephew. It was a funny video, and arguably the best spoof of this year's awards show. Of course, kids everywhere wanted to share the viral video featuring three of their favorite actors making a viral video -- but the only problem is that Viacom has forced YouTube to not only remove all uploads, but also suspend the YouTube account of the person(s) who uploaded it.

They've pulled the viral video they made! Looking around, the video is still available over at sites like Funny or Die, so perhaps this has more to do with Viacom's lawsuit against Google (who own YouTube) than it does pulling the video from all similar sites so that folks can only watch it on MTV. Because that would be weird ... and sorta ironic, don't ya think? Ahem.

[via Matt Griswold]

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Filed under: Comedy, Celebrities and Controversy, Movie Marketing, Trailers and Clips

What Silent Bob giveth, Silent Bob taketh away... or, at least, taketh down, which is why one can no longer give the Zack and Miri Make a Porno teaser a look-see until the MPAA gives it the once-over.

The online-only teaser, while filled with writer-director's Kevin Smith expectedly raunchy dialogue, does not actually feature any footage from the finished film, but according to Smith's recent News Askew post, that is a stipulation unseen by the Ratings Board, which must approve all marketing materials for any film.

"We're now officially submitting the teaser to the MPAA for rating," said Smith. "If they approve it, we'll put it back up." He does make a point of mentioning how a mere two years ago, he posted similarly crude internet-exclusive trailers for Clerks II with nary a complaint.

Until the MPAA hands down its formal red-band (or is it yellow-band?) decree, here's a link to our initial post on the teaser's arrival last week -- a post on which the teaser just so happens to still work...

[via /Film]

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The Boston International Film Festival kicks off today at the AMC/Loews Boston Common, running through the 14th. The Globe's Ethan Gilsdorf breaks down some of the offerings. What makes the BIFF different from the Boston Film Festival, the Independent Film Festival of Boston, the Boston Underground Film Festival, and the New England Film and Video Festival? Basically this: over 100 films that have been made with love, family money, and skill, that weren't accepted into the top tier of the festival circuit (Sundance, Toronto, New York, Boston Independent, etc), and that most likely won't find the light of theatrical distribution. Doesn't mean they're bad -- on the contrary, there will be some finds here if you're willing to roll the dice and pluck one or two of the "Sessions" on the BIFF schedule. What it does mean is that there are increasingly more filmmakers in the world than there are mass distribution points; the bazaar that is the Boston International Film Festival is a welcome annual attempt to correct the situation.

But you probably just want to know if the new Adam Sandler movie is any good. Fair enough. Wesley thinks so, Tony Scott really thinks so, and I think so too. There are some of you who can't countenance the thought of Sandler in anything; fine, be off with you. There are others who'll recoil from the notion of the star and screenwriters Judd Apatow and Robert Smigel addressing events in the Middle East with a comedy about an Israeli counterterrorist who really wants to be a New York hair stylist (see photo above). You're right, it's a dreadful idea. No, "You Don't Mess with the Zohan" does not represent nuanced political discourse. But Sandler is disarmingly sweet and so's the movie's overall tone. Also: knuckleheaded, sloppy, crass, politically naive, extremely silly, and funny in any scene that does not involve Rob Schneider, a vast forcefield of humor-suck who negates any and all comedy ions simply by showing up.

As Wes notes, they should have hired more Middle Eastern actors to play Middle Easterners -- one of the smaller but richer delights of this splattery farce is actor and stand-up comic Daoud Heidami as one of Schneider's more easygoing accomplices. Like I said, you already know whether you're interested in this, but it stands as one of Sandler's better entries, precisely because it doesn't go the "Click" route and take itself seriously.

If you have young kids, you already know you're going to "Kung Fu Panda," so all I'll say is that the story is a retread that will have your brains oozing out your ears while the visuals are lush and inventive, even beautiful. Except for Jack Black and Dustin Hoffman, the all-star vocal cast (Angelina Jolie, Seth Rogen, David Cross, Jackie Chan, Lucy Liu, Ian McShane) is woefiully underutilized.

It's a weirdly martial arts/kickboxing weekend all around, though. There's Sandler's action stunts in "Zohan," the regurgitated Shaw Brothers CGI of "Panda," some real Shaw Brothers classics at the Harvard Film Archive, the low-budget North Carolina tae kwon do farce "The Foot Fist Way" at the Kendall, and the surprisingly sharp and funny "Bigger, Stronger, Faster," a documentary in which bodybuilder Chris Bell looks at America's steroid addiction through the bulging, abused muscles of his two brothers. That's at the Kendall and the Coolidge; over at the Museum of Fine Arts is what's probably the single best movie of the weekend: "Up the Yangtze," a gorgeously shot documentary (see photos below) about a few of the lives being affected by China's massive Three Gorges Dam project. I know, sounds like medicine, right? It's not -- it's transfixing, emotionally haunting stuff, and Canadian director Yung Chang is one to watch.