Could it be? According to a Cinema Blend scooper, Sly recently met with with Viggo Mortensen to offer him the role of Edgar Allan Poe in Stallone’s upcoming biopic of the tortured writer.

I’m not quite sure what to make of this rumor. Over the year, Stallone has proven that he’s not your middle of the road action star. Though he never struck me as a guy interested in the dark and macabre, many of his films, especially Rocky Balboa have shown that he does have a talent with scripts and writing ‘real’ people. As for Mortensen, between his art, writing and acting, he’s always struck me as a bit of a tortured artist type – it’s something in his eyes.

Whether this flies or not is still to be seen but I for one would be curious to see the finished product.

One of the 80+ films Kurt and Andrew discussed in their recent 2008 preview was George A. Romero’s Diary of the Dead.

With an upcoming limited release date of February 15th, the good folks at the Weinstein Company have put together a trailer for the film, complete with an introduction by Romero in which he talks about an upcoming contest which will see the winning entry get a slot in the DVD release of the film – something cool for aspiring film makers.

But back to the trailer: looks low budget and like loads of fun. Plus I’m always up for zombie goodness.

Thanks to the folks at Dread Central for the heads up on the trailer.

As a recent member in the Michael Mann fan club, I’m always on the hunt to see what he’s doing next. While he hasn’t directed in a while (2006′s Miami Vice being the latest), he’s done some producing jobs that end up looking like he’d directed them. Last year’s The Kingdom directed by Peter Berg had Mann’s fingerprints all over it. In ’08, as we mentioned briefly on Cinecast Episode 75, another Peter Berg film, again produced by Mann, titled Hancock will likely be pretty similar in style to Mann.

But the good news is that Mann is helming a project slated to be released sometime in 2009 entitled Public Enemies and it sounds fabulous. According to the IMDb, the synopsis is as follows:

The Feds try to take down notorious American gangsters John Dillilnger, Baby Face Nelson and Pretty Boy Floyd during a booming crime wave in the 1930s.

I’m pretty sure this won’t be an entirely factual tale and I’m sure the action will be amped up a bit in typical Mann fashion (see Heat, Collateral, Miami Vice).

Now for the real good news. As I’ve been sort of Johnny “Depp-ed out” recently, it’s nice to see one of my favorite actors joining the cast that is not affiliated with Tim Burton; Depp being in the role of notorious gangster, John Dillinger. Then today, I was reading over at Variety that Christian Bale is signing on to play lead FBI agent, Melvin Purvis, who led the manhunt for Dillinger et al.

So yeah, barely into pre-production, we’ve got Bale and Depp in a 30′s style gangland picture directed by Michael Mann. Anyone else excited?

I have a copy of Paris, je t’aime sitting right here staring me in the face, but as much as I want to watch it, I haven’t made time to pop it in yet. If you haven’t heard of it, it was a pretty ambitious and well-acclaimed film (84% on RT) that consisted of a bunch of short segments, each directed by and starring different people, but each revolving around the common theme of love in Paris, the most romantic city in the world. It had names like Joel and Ethan Coen, Gus Van Sant, Alfonso Cuarón, Alexander Payne, Tom Tykwer, and even Wes Craven directing and actors that included the likes of Juliette Binoche, Natalie Portman, Bob Hoskins, Emily Mortimer, Elijah Wood, Steve Buscemi, Willem Dafoe, Nick Nolte, Maggie Gyllenhaal, and Gena Rowlands – among many others. Since I haven’t watched it, I’m not sure how it turned out, which I imagine is tough when each director is only given a slot of five minutes or so to work with, but if nothing else, it’s a very ambitious idea.

Now Paris, Je T’aime producer Emmanuel Benbihy is in the process of putting together a spiritual successor: New York, I Love You, an anthology of love stories in New York City. So far, the talent of the directors he’s put together isn’t on par with its predecessor: Zach Braff (Garden State), Anthony Minghella (The English Patient, Cold Mountain), Chan-wook Park (Oldboy), Fatih Akin (Head-On) Mira Nair (Vanity Fair, The Namesake), The Hughes Brothers (Menace II Society, From Hell), and Brett Ratner (Rush Hour, Red Dragon). Not as impressive of a line-up overall, but it will still be interesting to see how it turns out, especially to get the viewpoint of the directors that don’t call America and New York City their home.

Producer Benbihy said of the film: “Hopefully, with NY, I Love You, critics will have more difficulty choosing their favorite or least favorite segments. They’ll all be good. We want to give the illusion of unity as much as possible and bring the narrative challenge a step further.”

Thanks to Film Junk for the heads up.

It is David Lynch week over at Row Three, with a double espresso shot from the Finite Focus column. As you probably already know, the best way to enjoy a David Lynch film is to succumb to it. The many pleasures his films offer during viewing occur if you turn your brain to low and your emotions, empathy and intuition up to 11. Perhaps his most tangential film (this side of Inland Empire) was 1997′s Lost Highway.

Split personalities, or multiple representations of the same person is a common motif in David Lynch‘s films and here there are enough to lose count about halfway through. One of which is the early motivating thrust of the story: “Dick Laurent is Dead,” is the opening line of the film. For our point of entry for the film, Fred Madison, played by Bill Pullman, who mysteriously transforms into Peter Dayton, played by Balthazar Getty, (I know, that makes about as much sense as it sound like, but it works well enough in the film – the main character is the one on screen most of the time!) Dick Laurent is the man who is either cheating with Madison’s wife or standing between Dayton’s love affair or (and play along with me here) just simply Madison/Dayton’s id. But lets not think about this too much and go with the flow here. Dick Laurent (aka Mr. Eddy) is played by the compulsively watchable character actor Robert Loggia who can turn out a solid performance even in candy coated films like Big or Opportunity Knocks or the hundred or so TV show one-offs that pay his bills (Let me take this opportunity however to recommend the criminally underrated, or just plain forgotten, Innocent Blood. Ok, I’m glad that is done.)

Where was I? Oh, yea, Mr. Eddy. Well here is a great little tangent during Lost Highway. Mr. Eddy takes his luxury car out for a test drive outside of L.A. The man is happy with the freshly tuned-up vehicle (“Beautiful; smooth as shit from a ducks ass”) and the world in general is peachy. That is until he picks up a tailgater on those curvy outside-the-city roads. Miffed, he fumes a bit, yet remains in control and waves the tailgater around him politely. The driver of the other vehicle gives him the finger on the way by, and Mr. Eddy simply snaps. And here is David Lynch‘s deadpan humour at its finest. The two henchmen in the back calmly, as if they’ve done this a thousand times, reach back and fasten their safety belts. Mr. Eddie smashes his newly tuned car against the tailgater, hauls the other driver out of his vehicle at gunpoint to give him a rage-driven lecture on road safety. The joy here is watching Loggia’s voice break, and the veins bulge on his neck. The man can say “Fuck” better than most. Yet the scene is funny because it is pure and simple wish-fulfillment. Who hasn’t wanted to do this?

Getting back to the rational after-consideration of Lost Highway, if Dick Laurent is a figment of Fred Madison’s own fears and anxieties or even his uncontrollable side (after all, the law thinks Madison brutally butchered his wife), then well, perhaps this scene isn’t a tangent after all. Do enjoy though. And obey the traffic signals, you never know who is in the other car!

While prepping for our January preview, Dale discovered that Canada’s very own Trailer Park Boys, whose first feature film Trailer Park Boys: The Big Dirty hit Canadian theaters during the winter of 2006, was heading South at the end of the January, even though the film has seen Canadian distribution and even a DVD release. But really, who cares as long as our friends south of the border get to enjoy in more of TPB love.

I haven’t seen it though the husband has assured me that it’s hysterically funny, especially if you’re a fan of the show. I may break down and rent it at some point, especially considering that I’ve seen the cash machine heist a couple of times and I laugh, every single time.

Rather unsurprisingly, the US distributor felt the need to cut a new, American friendly trailer, complete with “announcer voice”.

Trailer Park Boys: The Big Dirty, apparently also renamed Trailer Park Boys: The Movie, will open in limited release on January 25th.

Again for fun, here are both the original Canadian trailer and the new US trailers.

Canadian Trailer

Would you like to know more…?

Who ever said that nothing good happens in Winnipeg was way off the mark.

CBC has news that Italian director and actress Isabella Rossellini will be on hand at the upcoming Winnipeg Symphony Orchestra’s New Music Festival in February to narrate Guy Maddin’s Brand Upon the Brain!. Her narration will be accompanied by the WSO Chamber Ensemble and Maddin himself will be in attendance at the performance.

This is indeed great news not only for the WSO but also for Maddin fans, especially since this live performance isn’t particularly common and the film has only been presented in this manner in three other occasions (at its TIFF premiere, at the New York Film Festival and most recently at the Berlin International Film Festival).

So, if you’re are ‘Pegger or if you’ll be in town between February 2nd and 7th, keep your eyes peeled to the WSO website for ticketing information.

And just for fun, check out the trailer below.

Man, this is the first time I’ve ever wanted to live in Winnipeg.

At least for the two of us hosting the Cinecast, Paul Verhoeven’s Starship Troopers gets a lot of love for doing what we understand it to do: satirize while simultaneously being highly entertaining (Michael Ironside, aka Jester, aka Ham Tyler aka Mr. Rasczak: “They sucked his brains out“).

While I never bothered with the second, direct to DVD portion of the franchise, I have to admit I’ve always been intrigued. But without ever researching or looking at critics scores or anything, it was one of those films that just by looking at the artwork on the back of the DVD snap case (and a strong gut feeling), the movie is likely shit.

So anyway, surfing around the past few days I’ve noticed a third installment is on the way. Bad news? Probably. Possibly good news? Maybe. The inklings of good news: It’s not directed by Phil Tippet. It’s being directed by (and written by) the same name that wrote the screenplay for the first film, Edward Neumeier. The second bit of “good” news is that Casper Van Dien is making his comeback as Rico. Lastly, the hottest Vulcan in space, Jolene Blalock has signed on board as well.

With a modest budget of only $20 million (the original had over $100 million), am I eagerly anticipating this new movie? Hardly. Am I intrigued? Slightly. If they had gotten the whole crew back together (or even just a couple of them): Denise Richards, Jake Busey, Neil Patrick Harris, Dina Meyer and most importantly, Michael Ironside, I’d be more than on board for this thing. Really though, I just wanted an excuse to post pictures of Jolene Blalock.

So check out some stills from Starship Troopers 3: Marauder after the warp…
Would you like to know more…?

One of my major errors in judgment in 2007 was passing up Jacques Rivette’s The Duchess of Langeais for Catherine Breillat’s The Last Mistress. My dislike for the latter has waned a fair bit since I saw it and thinking back on it I can see where my initial thoughts on Breillat’s film may have been misguided and I look forward to a revisit at some point but I hope to have a chance to see Rivette’s film first.

Based on Honoré de Balzac’s novel, this is the story of star-crossed lovers, a wounded war hero played by Guillaume Depardieu and a coquettish socialite played by Jeanne Balibar, whose romance is played out in the drawing rooms of Restoration Paris. Apparently, the film is pretty talkie but I love these period dramas/romances of high society, especially when the emotions are roped in and “proper” to the period. One of the reasons I had so much dislike for Breillat’s film is that all of its players are loud and obnoxious and thinking back, that may be exactly what she intended hence the need for a second viewing.

The Duchess of Langeais has been picked up by IFC and is scheduled for a limited release starting on February 22nd. Hopefully, this won’t be like François Ozon’s Angel which has been picked up for Canadian distribution by Seville Pictures but is still lacking a release date.

Since I’m at it, here are the trailers for all three films mentioned above.

The Duchess of Langeais

Would you like to know more…?

Let the mourning begin. One of my favourite movie columns, Nathan Rabin’s My Year of Flops series, is a mere four entries from its demise. Unless he decides to turn this highly popular experiment, conducted twice weekly at the Onion’s A.V. Club into something ongoing. One can hope.

For the uninitiated, Rabin fires volleys of wit, sarcasm, and insightful commentary at the ridiculed (in their day) group of failed films which now are easy film pundit punchlines or Blockbuster bargain bin ballast. Ultimately his earnest (or masochistic) love for the these films and the fact that the man can really, really write goodder than most folks (definitely many steps up the ladder from yours truly!) is what makes the column so addictive (one may find themselves on a slow Thursday afternoon hitting the refresh-button on the browser several times while mentally damning the west coast time-zone.) His simple ratings system of Failure (deserves flop label), Fiasco (so bad it is deliciously good), and Secret Success (future hailed as landmark film) is simple, and provides a rooting factor for the reader, who, if you are like myself, can’t help but hazard what the verdict will be just upon seeing the title. He’s done everything from Paint Your Wagon to Freddie Got Fingered to O.C. & Stiggs – there is some serious range in the column. Furthermore, Rabin’s tendency to go on wild tangents or bring up other obscure titles and references in his re-assessment of these films (hey, there is a Moon Over Parador mention; oi, an astute comparison to The Paper Chase! etc.) keeps things quite unpredictable for what could have been just a simple series of movie reviews.

I bring this over for discussion at Row Three for two reasons. 1) You should be reading this column anyway. It is that good. (I recommend starting with Entry #93 – Pay it Forward) 2) Tuesdays entry (as of right now, the current entry) is Ang Lee‘s Hulk, and well, there was a lot of fist pumping and right-on-ing while I was reading this entry, so I thought I’d share.

Lets show Hulk some love, people.

All the MY YEAR OF FLOPS entries are here.

“Generally speaking, the way of the warrior is resolute acceptance of death.”
Before there was the original Star Wars trilogy, before there was the Three Colors trilogy, before there was the Lord of the Rings trilogy, The Godfather trilogy, and the The Man with No Name trilogy, there was a collection of three epic films from director Hiroshi Inagaki about Japan’s most famed samurai, Musashi Miyamoto, that have become known as the Samurai trilogy – Musashi Miyamoto (1954), Duel at Ichijoji Temple (1955), and Duel on Ganryu Island (1956). Often overlooked and forgotten, many of those that have viewed it – including myself – consider it one of the elite trilogies in film and some of most memorable in all of Japanese cinema.

Would you like to know more…?

What is going on today?

So I’ve been reading a few things here and there over the past few days about Fight Club making the move into musical territory. My first thought was that this was ludicrous but having just read a very short article over at Paste, I’m actually curious about this entire thing.

See, Palahniuk has given his OK for the move to Broadway, Fincher is interested in directing it and apparently, now we have Trent Reznor offering to do music. Trent Freakin’ Reznor.

OK. So now I just have to plan ahead to be in NY in 2009 with tickets to the show.