Are you psyched to see Captain Jack Sparrow as a real-life gangster? Johnny Depp plays an infamous criminal in Michael Mann’s Public Enemies , which opens tomorrow. But in a world where giant robots draw huge crowds, “do audiences want to see Depp as a fairly realistic, non-fantasy version of Depression-era bank robber John Dillinger?” That’s the question asked by Anne Thompson , a veteran industry analyst. She describes the movie as only “fitfully engaging … often flat as a pancake.” She says that Michael Mann’s “biggest misstep here is the same as the Wachowskis with Speed Racer . His pursuit of what interests him formally may leave audiences behind.” Like David Fincher’s Zodiac and The Curious Case of Benjamin Button , and Mann’s own Collateral and Miami Vice , Public Enemies was shot on high-definition video. Thompson claims: “When moviegoers watch a period film, no matter how authentically recreated, they aren’t expecting it to look like this. There’s something jarring about the way Public Enemies shoves us into the past.” I don’t know about you, but I could use a good shove now and again. I’ve enjoyed Mann’s last two films, and the trailers for Public Enemies have done a good job of whetting my appetite. The cast, including Christian Bale , Marion Cotillard , and Billy Crudup , looks solid. I don’t have any preconception about how period films should look — I want a good, well-told story with interesting characters. How about you? Do you have certain expectations about how films set in the past should look? Do you want to see Johnny Depp as a “fairly-realistic, non-fantasy” bank robber? Filed under: Drama , New Releases , Universal , Fandom , Johnny Depp , Summer Movies Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments

While the world mourns the loss of Michael Jackson, Vanity Fair has cooked up a somewhat controversial (and fairly random) look back at Heath Ledger’s final days, with quotes from his agent, his vocal coach, director Terry Gilliam and Doctor Parnassus cinematographer Nicola Pecorini . The article, published in part on Vanity Fair’s website, is broken into different paragraphs with titles like “How chronic insomnia may have led to his death” and “How his relationship failed.” Did the world — not to mention Ledger’s fans, friends and family — really need all these old wounds dug up and scraped for a little extra attention? Probably not. Of all the quotes, the most fascinating seem to be the ones which talk about The Dark Knight , and how Ledger’s pay-or-play deal allowed him to do whatever he wanted with the role of Joker seeing as he was to still receive a paycheck regardless of whether he remained in the movie. According to Pecorini, Ledger was actually hoping his performance was way too out there and that he’d get fired, allowing him to take a nice, long paid vacation. Ledger’s agent, Steven Alexander, sort of backs up the statement with this one about the actor’s attitude toward big summer movies, saying he “was always hesitant to be in a summer blockbuster, with the dolls and action figures and everything else that comes with one of those movies. He was afraid it would define him and limit his choices.” The article also delves into Ledger’s rampant drug use, eventual sobriety and just how rough his break-up with Michelle Williams was. It also links off to a 2000 photo spread featuring the actor in some, um, interesting poses . Definitely an odd piece, and I’m sure some will be critical of Vanity Fair for running it. Check it out over here and let us know what you think. [via The Playlist ] Filed under: Celebrities and Controversy , Fandom , Newsstand Permalink | Email this | Comments

Optimus Prime’s entire life has been leading up to this moment … no, none of that Revenge of the Fallen stuff, but having Devin Faraci and Todd Gilchrist debate his latest installment on G4’s Attack of the Show. Michael Bay’s latest robotgasm has been at the center of a lot of debate and controversy all over this great Internet, and while CNN may ignore this crisis of fandom, G4 is right there to report on it. As you know from hanging around Cinematical , Gilchrist liked the film (and was quoted by Roger Ebert in his review). Faraci hated the film , and was one of the first to really call foul on the racist robots with his scathing Little Black Sambots piece. I know from reading the comments pouring into our 1-10 poll that our readers are divided right down the middle on the film’s quality and whether or not its employing questionable racist stereotypes. Therefore, you may pick one of these men as your champion, and decide who (if either) comes out victorious, before realizing Transformers’ massive gross doesn’t care what you think. Watch the video after the jump Filed under: Action , Sci-Fi & Fantasy , Paramount , Celebrities and Controversy , Fandom , Newsstand , Comic/Superhero/Geek , Remakes and Sequels , Summer Movies , Trailers and Clips Continue reading Watch Cinematical’s Todd Gilchrist Debate Devin Faraci On G4! Permalink | Email this | Comments

Now that the Academy Awards have extended the best picture category to include ten nominees instead of five, you bet your bottom half we’re going to start seeing some pretty bold claims when it comes to fan favorites, like Star Trek, Watchmen and the upcoming Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince . With a couple weeks still to go before Half-Blood Prince finally hits theaters, Hollywood.com’s Paul Dergarabedian looks to be the first to champion the film for a possible best picture nomination. Having watched the movie at an advanced screening, he says, “… the Potter loving beast in me has been unleashed after having witnessed a film that was not only exquisite in its production values, but was also charming, funny, scary, enchanting, moving (stop me, the adjectives could go on and on) and dare I say, sexy. Brilliantly directed by David Yates (he directed 2007’s “Harry Potter and the Order of The Phoenix”), “Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince” is a tour-de-force that combines style and substance, special effects and heart and most importantly great performances from all of the actors young and not-so-young. Not only that, half-way through I’m thinking the unthinkable - “ten academy awards nominations are available this year, hmm I wonder….” Granted, the folks from Hollywood.com could be angling themselves for some Potter quotes in print and in future trailers, but seeing as Lord of the Rings had its time in the Oscar spotlight — coupled with the fact that Potter is nearing his big-screen finale — I wouldn’t be surprised if Half-Blood Prince nabbed one of those ten spots. You? Gallery: Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince Filed under: Sci-Fi & Fantasy , Awards , Fandom , Harry Potter , Comic/Superhero/Geek , Remakes and Sequels , Oscar Watch Permalink | Email this | Comments

Over on the website TNMC (via AICN ), they have up a review of the Star Trek shooting script which picks out and describes the scenes that didn’t make the final cut — scenes that were probably shot and cut for a number of different reasons (pacing, running time, etc ..), but will hopefully arrive on the DVD. It’s a shame, too, because some of these scenes seem to address my main problem with the movie: the boring villain, Nero (as played by Eric Bana). The scenes in question (which involve an entire Klingon subplot!) appear to give Nero more depth as a character, so hopefully we’ll get to see them eventually. Here are a few descriptions from the site: “The opening sequence, which sees the destruction of the USS Kelvin at the hands of Nero and his mining ship the Narada, has an extra bit we didn’t see. While the Narada is trying to recover from being rammed by the Kelvin, bunches of Klingon warbirds decloak and surround it. This leads to a major subplot entirely removed from the final film.” “Next we go the Rura Penthe Klingon Prison Asteroid where Nero and his crew are being held. The Klingons catch someone trying to smuggle Federation maps to him. The Klingons begin to interrogate Nero, during which we learn that he has been there for ten years and hasn’t said a word that whole time. The Klingons have a notebook of his that is full of drawings and calculations relating to Spock and his Jellyfish ship. They decide to use that slug thing we saw Nero using on Captain Pike in the finished film.” Read more at SciFi Squad Filed under: Sci-Fi & Fantasy , Mystery & Suspense , RumorMonger , Fandom , Newsstand , Comic/Superhero/Geek , Remakes and Sequels Permalink | Email this | Comments

We’re one cast member away from seeing how Spider-Man fares in a true live-action world. Last December , we learned that Evan Rachel Wood would play Mary Jane in Julie Taymor’s Broadway web fest. Now Playbill is reiterating this, plus they’re adding another wonderful name to the mix: Alan Cumming . He is once again flitting around the world of geek fare by signing on to play Norman Osborn, known in other circles as the Green Goblin. (But no German accent this time.) Now titled Spider-Man Turn Off the Dark , the musical is supposed to be kicking off rehearsals this month. Yet while we now have the leading lady and villain, there’s still no word on who will play Peter Parker. Taymor was trying to get Jim Sturgess for the part and have a whole Across the Universe reunion, but they’re still not releasing whether it’s him or someone else. But Wood and Cumming are just two of the many actors who have made their way to the theatrical stage. Right now, in New York alone, Anne Hathaway is performing Twelfth Night in the Park, Nathan Lane, Bill Irwin, John Goodman, and David Strathairn are currently Waiting for Godot , and Allison Janey is working 9 to 5 — just to name a few. On the other side of the country, Chris Pine and Chris Noth are getting presidential in LA with Farragut North . Filed under: Casting , Fandom , Exhibition Continue reading Discuss: When Spider-Man and Hollywood Hit The Stage Permalink | Email this | Comments

How faithful should film adaptations be? The issue arises both with novels and with films that are remade: fans of the original are none-too-pleased to see the personality of beloved characters changed, settings or time periods moved, or — horror of horrors! — the ending changed. Watchmen ignited a mini-firestorm with the decision to alter the ending of the original graphic novel by Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons. On a somewhat smaller scale, faithful readers of Jodi Picoult’s novel My Sister’s Keeper are upset that the ending was changed for Nick Cassavetes’ just-released movie version . Author Picoult disclaims responsibility while trying to be diplomatic. “Yes, I know the ending is different,” she writes on her official site . “Yes, I know some of you are very upset. I didn’t change it. The author has no control over the movie, and it was hard for me to accept too. However, there’s a great deal in the movie that I think is great, and I enjoyed watching it - and I hope you did too.” She suggests that her fans let Warner Brothers know how they feel. As a point of interest, four out of five comments on my review for Cinematical have complained about the ending. It seems foolish to try and establish a hard-and-fast rule that original endings should never be changed — filmmakers should have the artistic right to exercise dramatic license when adapting a work to a different medium. Yet how often have film versions actually improved endings that they’ve changed? Filed under: Drama , New Releases , New Line , Warner Brothers , Fandom Permalink | Email this | Comments

20 years ago on this very day, Tim Burton’s Batman was released into theaters. Think back, stretch your creaking bones, and let’s go on a trip down memory lane. I was all of seven years old when Batman came out (I know, a lady never reveals her age, but when have I ever acted like a lady?), which means I have only vague recollections of the pre-release period. I remember we were buzzing about it at my school, and that it was looming on our radar long before we were out for the summer. But while I remember that shadowy poster of the Bat symbol decorating my multiplex, I can’t recall the casting of Michael Keaton, the eager whispers of Jack Nicholson and his hidden make-up, or the trailers. Event movies were so different in my childhood. They just seemed to happen overnight, and were probably the better for it. Movies will always be magical to me, but I really long for those days before the Internet and its marketing mania. (Yes, I realize the irony inherent in my saying that, but at least I make it fun, right? No, don’t answer that.) Because I was all of seven, and thus too young for Frank Miller, my exposure to Batman was purely through Adam West reruns. I knew Gotham City as a place of goofy villains and BAM! and POW!, so to say that Burton’s version terrified me was an understatement. I don’t remember what I went in expecting (I know it wasn’t Adam West), but I do remember being absolutely horrified by Nicholson’s Joker. Maybe I was still reeling from Who Framed Roger Rabbit? the year before, but his acid-soaked origin left me faintly ill, as was every shot of him sans whiteface and lipstick. Filed under: Comic/Superhero/Geek , The Geek Beat Continue reading The Geek Beat: 20 Years of Batmania Permalink | Email this | Comments

“I like being thought of as a toymaker who makes films.” In the summer of 1971, George Lucas talked with critic / journalist / scholar Gene Youngblood for a program entitled “George Lucas: Maker of Films,” which aired on public television station KCET in Los Angeles. Michael Heilemann of Binary Bonsai has made it available for online viewing, and it’s a fascinating watch. The interview takes place a few months after THX 1138 , his first feature, opened and died a quick death at the box office. It would be two more years before American Graffiti ignited the box office and six years before Star Wars changed everything. Young Lucas was already mighty unhappy with the Hollywood studio system. Binary Bonsai provides context for his late 60s ventures, and then in the interview, Lucas says he started the feature-length version of his short THX 1138:4EB in the wake of the freedom created by the success of Easy Rider , but by the time he finished, the studio wanted something closer to the commercial fare of Airport and Love Story . The program includes snippets from 6.18.67 , a behind-the-scenes short doc that Lucas shot while on location for McKenna’s Gold in 1967, and Electronic Labyrinth: THX 1138 4EB , as retitled by USC at the time. Despite Lucas’ repeated assertions that he wants to make personal films — something that his old running buddy Francis Ford Coppola is finally doing — it seems that he will always be thought of as “a toymaker who makes films.” And here he is, in a rare glimpse at the early years of his career. After the jump : Watch the video! Filed under: Fandom , George Lucas , Trailers and Clips Continue reading Watch This: Rare 1971 George Lucas Interview Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments

Even if you prefer your vampires sparkly instead of slayed, you have to appreciate this expert mashup of scenes from Twilight and Buffy: The Vampire Slayer. This video, created by Jonathan McIntosh over at Rebellious Pixel, takes the most outlandish scenes of Edward Cullen and swaps out Bella for Buffy, so when Edward gets up to his usual hijinks, he gets an earful from our favorite slayer. For instance, when our heroine awakes to find Edward watching her sleep, Buffy threatens him “Get out or I will drop you out head first,” whereas when he played that trick on Bella, he was rewarded with a hot make-out session. McIntosh writes, “It’s an example of transformative storytelling serving as a visual critique of Edward’s character and generally creepy behavior. Seen through Buffy’s eyes some of the more patriarchal gender roles and sexist Hollywood tropes embedded in the Twilight saga are exposed in hilarious ways.” Or as Buffy says, “Did anybody ever tell you the whole smelling people thing’s a little gross?” Check out the video after the jump. Filed under: Fandom , DIY/Filmmaking , Trailers and Clips Continue reading Watch This! Buffy Owns Edward Cullen Permalink | Email this | Comments