Drew, Author at The Playlist

Exclusive: Olivier Assayas Says ‘Carlos’ Was “Hell,” Is Planning New “Small Scale” Film With Juliette Binoche

Drew — Tue, 12 Oct 2010 18:04:00 +0000

This week, the Sundance Channel will be airing Oliver Assayas’ brilliant, three-part biographical thriller “Carlos.” The true-life story of Carlos the Jackal, an international terrorist played with much flair by Edgar Ramirez, who reigned chaos on much of Europe in the ’70s and ’80s, Assayas’ five-and-a-half-hour long film is the rare ultra-personal epic, one in which an inflamed testicle has as much narrative importance as a days-long hostage operation and the true measure of a man is not in his convictions or political leanings, but in his ability to hustle and maintain the momentum of his own mythology.

Continue reading Exclusive: Olivier Assayas Says ‘Carlos’ Was “Hell,” Is Planning New “Small Scale” Film With Juliette Binoche at The Playlist.

NYCC ’10 First Impressions ‘The Thing’: Filmmakers Didn’t Want To “Paint On The Mona Lisa”

Drew — Tue, 12 Oct 2010 16:50:00 +0000

The one resounding sentiment that you got out of both the New York Comic Con panel and the newly unveiled teaser trailer for Universal’s upcoming prequel “The Thing” is that the filmmakers are very respectful of the John Carpenter film that it’s based upon. (His film, of course, was based on Howard Hawks’ original “The Thing From Another World.”) What’s funny is reconciling this with what Carpenter has said repeatedly about any filmmaker that wants to remake or embellish on something that he has done, which he has said boils down to him opening up his hand, someone placing a check in his hand, and then him closing his hand.

Continue reading NYCC ’10 First Impressions ‘The Thing’: Filmmakers Didn’t Want To “Paint On The Mona Lisa” at The Playlist.

Watch: Banksy’s Subversive ‘The Simpsons’ Opening Sequence

Drew — Tue, 12 Oct 2010 13:09:00 +0000

On Sunday night, those of us that tuned in (or TiVo’d) Fox’s long-running animated sitcom “The Simpsons” got more than the usual collection of pop culture jabs and recycled plot mechanics: we got a genuine piece of art, a subversive and sad prologue conjured up by British street artist Banksy. In the bit, Korean workers labor under toxic conditions to animate the show, they then grind up cuddly animals to make the stuffing for Bart Simpson dolls, and use a decrepit unicorn to punch holes in ” The Simpsons” DVD sets.

Continue reading Watch: Banksy’s Subversive ‘The Simpsons’ Opening Sequence at The Playlist.

An Open Letter to Darren Aronofsky: A Few Reasons Why You Might Want to Skip ‘Wolverine 2’

Drew — Thu, 07 Oct 2010 18:21:00 +0000

The blogosphere is all abuzz this week with the one-two punch of comic book-related big screen deals: first, Zack Snyder, contested director of “300” and “Watchmen,” will direct the Christopher Nolan-supervised, David Goyer-scripted reboot of the mother-0f-all-superhero-franchises, “Superman.” But wait! As a follow-up to the “Superman” stories, it was noted that Darren Aronofsky, riding the high from all the festival buzz his supernatural ballet thriller “Black Swan” is garnering, was first in line for the gig and may still direct a high profile superhero franchise joint — 20th Century Fox’s “Wolverine 2.” Well, we’re here to write a letter to you, Mr.

Continue reading An Open Letter to Darren Aronofsky: A Few Reasons Why You Might Want to Skip ‘Wolverine 2’ at The Playlist.

NYFF ’10 Review: ‘The Robber’ Is A Relentless, Character-Based Thriller

Drew — Thu, 07 Oct 2010 15:12:00 +0000

All too often in heist movies, pesky nuances like character or motivation, are pushed to the wayside in favor of exhilarating action set pieces. A great recent example of this is Ben Affleck’s technically proficient “The Town,” in which we know very little about any of the characters (besides the fact that they sport Boston accents of varying authenticity and are all very mad), but which feels crammed, every 20 minutes or so, with high-octane heist sequences.

Continue reading NYFF ’10 Review: ‘The Robber’ Is A Relentless, Character-Based Thriller at The Playlist.

Disney Holiday Preview: We Saw Some Stuff From ‘Tron: Legacy’ (Including The Daft Punk Cameo)

Drew — Tue, 05 Oct 2010 18:42:00 +0000

Last night we were invited to attend the Disney Holiday Showcase, in which they showed an unfinished work print of upcoming animated movie “Tangled” (which we’re prevented from actually reviewing but can say was very, very good and a surefire contender for the Best Animated Feature Oscar), as well as almost a half hour of footage from their highly anticipated sequel/re-imagining “Tron: Legacy.”

We were first shown a collection of whole scenes, many of them elaborations on things that have been in the movie’s eye-popping trailers: our hero Sam (Garrett Hedlund) being given the keys to his dad’s arcade by his father’s assistant Alan (Bruce Boxleitner); Sam entering the arcade and finding a secret passageway to his father’s workstation (scored surprisingly well by Journey’s “Separate Ways” – the “only piece of source music in the film,” according to one of the guys from Disney); and some initial misadventures in the computer world, including a tense sequence where he’s abducted by this big flying ship and dropped into a gladiatorial game.

Continue reading Disney Holiday Preview: We Saw Some Stuff From ‘Tron: Legacy’ (Including The Daft Punk Cameo) at The Playlist.

NYFF ’10: ‘The Tempest’ Is Much Ado About Nothing

Drew — Fri, 01 Oct 2010 01:30:00 +0000

Everything associated with Julie Taymor’s “The Tempest,” at least in the initial build-up of pre-release hype, has been built around the faux-provocation of Helen Mirren, distinguished British film actress, multiple award winner, Queen of England, playing Prospero, a character that has traditionally been portrayed as being male, in Shakespeare’s classic play. (In the new movie, she’s now called Prospera.) It’s only after you’ve been watching the movie for a few minutes, after you take in the changes in the character (if you’re a Shakespeare fan or graduated with a Literary Studies degree), that the momentary thrill subsides and then vanishes altogether.

Continue reading NYFF ’10: ‘The Tempest’ Is Much Ado About Nothing at The Playlist.

Review: ‘Hatchet II’ is Like Getting A Toothbrush In Your Trick-or-Treat Bag

Drew — Wed, 29 Sep 2010 15:23:00 +0000

How quickly can you realize that you hate a movie? For “Hatchet II,” that moment will probably be delivered in the title sequence, in which a video camera hurriedly ping-pongs around a Louisiana swamp, pausing every few seconds to get a look at the remains of the characters from the first film, 2006’s “Hatchet.” Since most of those actors didn’t return for the sequel (an outstanding decision on their behalf), we’re treated to lumps of Halloween-decoration gore decorated with some distinctive marks (mostly pieces of look-alike wardrobe).

Continue reading Review: ‘Hatchet II’ is Like Getting A Toothbrush In Your Trick-or-Treat Bag at The Playlist.

Guillermo del Toro Move His Animation Home To Dreamworks, Will Direct ‘Trollhunters’; Producing Action-Drama ‘Midnight Delivery’ For Universal

Drew — Mon, 27 Sep 2010 15:19:00 +0000

Around this time last year, at the D23 Convention, Disney announced the formation of a new animation shingle overseen by mad genius Guillermo del Toro called Disney Double Dare You. This shingle would focus on scarier stories, with the first project, “Trollhunters,” announced for development.

Well, a lot can happen in a year. Del Toro’s no longer directing the two-part “Hobbit,” Double Dare You is dead (in part due to the “Hobbit” delays) and the filmmaker’s jumped ship and taken up new permanent residence at Disney’s long-time rival DreamWorks Animation.

Continue reading Guillermo del Toro Move His Animation Home To Dreamworks, Will Direct ‘Trollhunters’; Producing Action-Drama ‘Midnight Delivery’ For Universal at The Playlist.

Rob Zombie To Direct ‘Lords Of Salem’

Drew — Thu, 23 Sep 2010 15:35:00 +0000

Try as we might, we just can’t completely discount Rob Zombie. The guy definitely knows his horror and has crafted at least one certifiable genre classic (“The Devil’s Rejects”). And even when he botches a job, like oh, “Halloween II,” he has a weird little oddity waiting in the wings to delight and surprise (the supremely underrated direct-to-video animated film “The Haunted World of El Superbeasto”). So, yes, when a new Zombie project is announced, we’ll still approach it with cautious optimism and at least a little bit of excitement.

Continue reading Rob Zombie To Direct ‘Lords Of Salem’ at The Playlist.

Review: ‘Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps’ Is Messy But Still Entertaining

Drew — Wed, 22 Sep 2010 14:54:00 +0000

As soon as that dopey 75th Anniversary version of the 20th Century Fox logo dissipates, the first sounds we hear in “Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps” are of a prison gate opening, and someone shuffling through it. It’s followed up by a good gag: Michael Douglas, as Gordon Gekko, the role that nabbed him a Best Actor Academy Award oh-so-many moons ago, collecting his personal belongings, having intoned to him gravely by a prison guard, things like “A money clip with no money in it” and a briefcase-sized cellular telephone.

Continue reading Review: ‘Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps’ Is Messy But Still Entertaining at The Playlist.

Interview: The Documentarians/Tricksters Behind ‘Catfish’

Drew — Mon, 20 Sep 2010 15:32:00 +0000

There’s a movie, which opened in limited release this past weekend, that everyone is talking about that involves Facebook, but not Justin Timberlake. It’s “Catfish,” the emotionally engaging if somewhat questionably authentic documentary about the lives we create online versus the ones that actually exist in the real world. Following Nev Schulman, a young NYC photographer as he embarks on a relationship with a Midwestern family, you can’t help but feel bad for the guy while also feeling like not only could this happen to you, the viewer, but it probably has (to some degree).

Continue reading Interview: The Documentarians/Tricksters Behind ‘Catfish’ at The Playlist.

Review: ‘Devil’ Has A Cool Conceit, But Not Much Else

Drew — Sat, 18 Sep 2010 15:18:00 +0000

“Devil” is the first in a projected series of movies from the diminishing-returns mind of M. Night Shyamalan under his dubiously named The Night Chronicles production shingle. Shyamalan came up with the story, about a series of strangers trapped on a malfunctioning elevator with (dum dum DUMMMM) the Devil and also produced the movie, but didn’t have anything to do with its writing and directing (depending on your feelings on Shyamalan, this can be seen as either a very good thing or a very bad thing.)

Even without his overt involvement the movie features several trademarks of the Shyamalan oeuvre: there’s a very religious supporting character with daft spiritual notions who everyone, even the most rational characters, go to for advice and who drives the basic plot momentum (much of the movie is based on a story this character, whose name is barely mentioned, was told by his grandmother); there are long, swirly camera moves; there’s a labored insistence on fate and destiny; and, of course, there’s a forehead-smacking twist ending followed by a story note so drab and anticlimactic that should have been cut altogether, but probably couldn’t be removed because the movie’s already so comically brief.

Continue reading Review: ‘Devil’ Has A Cool Conceit, But Not Much Else at The Playlist.

Review: ‘Catfish’ Is An Intriguing Documentary Thriller….Or Is It?

Drew — Wed, 15 Sep 2010 21:15:00 +0000

If you’ve seen the trailer for “Catfish,” the Sundance splash that was netted by Brett Ratner and Rogue Pictures for over a million dollars, you get the gist: Nev Schulman, a young photographer in New York City, starts an online relationship with a family in Michigan. Nev’s brother, filmmaker Ariel Schulman and their roommate Henry Joost, start to become fascinated with Nev’s story, filming him everywhere and documenting his ongoing relationship with the family. As the trailer hints, there might be something not-quite-right with this family, and the sense of dread and unease increases as the three guys decide to visit the family in Michigan.

Continue reading Review: ‘Catfish’ Is An Intriguing Documentary Thriller….Or Is It? at The Playlist.

Criterion December Releases: Guillermo del Toro’s ‘Cronos,’ ‘Videodrome’ On Blu & BBS Box On DVD

Drew — Wed, 15 Sep 2010 20:57:00 +0000

Criterion just announced its December slate, and while things are pretty thin, they are finally delivering a powerhouse they teased ages ago: Guillermo del Toro’s debut feature, the vampire parable “Cronos.”

Out December 7th and featuring an eye-popping sleeve designed by “Hellboy” creator Mike Mignola, the new deluxe edition of “Cronos” features a new transfer, supervised and approved by del Toro with new and improved English subtitles (also approved by del Toro). On the special features side of things, we get two audio commentaries, one featuring del Toro and the other with producers Arthur H.

Continue reading Criterion December Releases: Guillermo del Toro’s ‘Cronos,’ ‘Videodrome’ On Blu & BBS Box On DVD at The Playlist.

TIFF ’10 Review: ‘You Will Meet A Tall Dark Stranger’ Is Classic, If Familiar, Woody Allen

Drew — Fri, 10 Sep 2010 19:24:00 +0000

When trying to describe the new Woody Allen movie, you inevitably end up comparing it to an older Woody Allen movie. “You Will Meet a Tall Dark Stranger” resembles a number of the nervous auteur’s previous films, both in its aesthetic choices and in its deeper philosophical prodding. Thankfully, ‘Stranger’ fills you with mostly happy memories and sidesteps the locked-in-a-drawer-for-30-years mothball mustiness of last year’s so-so “Whatever Works.”
In typical Allen fashion, the movie is drawn by a series of relationships — relationships that are confused and complicated and hopelessly screwed up.

Continue reading TIFF ’10 Review: ‘You Will Meet A Tall Dark Stranger’ Is Classic, If Familiar, Woody Allen at The Playlist.

Pixar Making ‘Dr. Strange’ Movie? Don’t Bet On It

Drew — Fri, 10 Sep 2010 01:24:00 +0000

Over at Bad Librarianship (via Cinemablend), cartoonish Brendan McCarthy was talking up his recent “Spider-Man: Fever” miniseries, which hits stores this week as a trade paperback (it’s seriously brilliant – everyone should buy ten copies), and let slip that Pixar might be working on its first superhero movie, post-Marvel acquisition.

“I was over in Hollywood earlier this year mooching about,” the writer-artist said, “and I had a meeting at Disney and the conversation drifted around to Pixar animating a Dr.

Continue reading Pixar Making ‘Dr. Strange’ Movie? Don’t Bet On It at The Playlist.

Pixar Unleashes Slew of ‘Newt’ Artwork (And Admits The Film Is Dead)

Drew — Sat, 04 Sep 2010 14:44:00 +0000

Back in February, reports surfaced of an insider scuttlebutt at Pixar that found production being canceled on “Newt,” a romantic comedy about a pair of endangered amphibians, that was to have been the directorial debut of sound whiz Gary Rydstrom (“Terminator 2,” “Minority Report”).

Rydstrom had previously directed the charming Pixar short “Lifted” (about the alien abduction driver’s ed), which was nominated for an Academy Award and while the plot of “Newt” sounded like it might have borrowed a little too heavily from Pixar’s own “WALL*E,” we’re sure it would have ended up a unique and special experience.

Continue reading Pixar Unleashes Slew of ‘Newt’ Artwork (And Admits The Film Is Dead) at The Playlist.

Exclusive: Roger Corman Hasn’t Seen ‘Piranha 3D’ Yet; Compares Christopher Nolan’s Career Arc To Those He Mentored

Drew — Tue, 31 Aug 2010 13:59:00 +0000

Roger Corman has had a hell of a year. The lovable, 84-year-old maestro/producer/ director and mentor of B-movie entertainment was the recipient of the Honorary Lifetime Achievement Oscar (where Quentin Tarantino waxed effusively about his work), some of his older films have been lovingly re-released through Shout Factory, and the 3D remake of his 1978 film “Piranha” has received critical kudos and enough dough to merit a sequel, apparently. Additionally, “Piranha” has been made available for viewing On Demand via the “Movies On Demand” channel through FilmBuff.

Continue reading Exclusive: Roger Corman Hasn’t Seen ‘Piranha 3D’ Yet; Compares Christopher Nolan’s Career Arc To Those He Mentored at The Playlist.

Review: ‘Piranha 3D’ Is Three Dimensions Of Outlandish B-Movie Awesome

Drew — Sat, 21 Aug 2010 14:25:00 +0000

In “Piranha 3D,” an outlandish and all together brilliant new shock-a-palooza from French director Alexandre Aja, Richard Dreyfuss, as a Matt Hooper-like schlub (he’s dressed like the character and singing “Show Me the Way to Go Home”), unwittingly triggers some kind of seismic activity when he drops his beer into a lake. The beer, of course, is given the yuk-yuk in-joke name Amity Beer after the besieged island in “Jaws.” And the seismic activity unleashes a swirling mass of killer, prehistoric, flesh-devouring fish.

Continue reading Review: ‘Piranha 3D’ Is Three Dimensions Of Outlandish B-Movie Awesome at The Playlist.

Review: ‘The Disappearance of Alice Creed’ Would Be A Good Little Thriller If It Didn’t Make You Feel So Icky

Drew — Tue, 03 Aug 2010 21:09:00 +0000

The opening of writer-director J. Blakeson’s debut film “The Disappearance of Alice Creed” is smart and effective. To a point. We watch as a pair of unnamed men (played by Martin Compston and Eddie Marsan) do some villainous deeds: they outfit a small, grungy room with soundproof foam, they wipe down a beige industrial van (to quote “Jennifer’s Body,” it looks like “an ’89 Rapist”). We don’t know who exactly these two dudes are, but we know they’re up to no good.

Continue reading Review: ‘The Disappearance of Alice Creed’ Would Be A Good Little Thriller If It Didn’t Make You Feel So Icky at The Playlist.

Ten Minutes Of New Daft Punk ‘Tron Legacy’ Music Is More Exciting Than All The Light Cycles In The World

Drew — Thu, 29 Jul 2010 23:24:00 +0000

Yes, “Tron Legacy” sure does look pretty. But even more exciting than light cycles zipping around a synthetic world and the inevitable climactic battle between Young Bridges and Old Bridges, the thing we’ve been most pumped about is French electro duo Daft Punk’s pulse-pounding original score.

Last week in the Comic-Con milieu, a few minutes of mostly orchestral music popped up on the movie’s official website. The music was pretty stunning and involved some big “movie music” moments but not much in the way of the slinky beats that Thomas Bangalter and Guy-Manuel de Homem-Cristo are known for.

Continue reading Ten Minutes Of New Daft Punk ‘Tron Legacy’ Music Is More Exciting Than All The Light Cycles In The World at The Playlist.

Guillermo del Toro’s Next Film Announced: The James Cameron-Produced ‘At The Mountains Of Madness’

Drew — Thu, 29 Jul 2010 02:02:00 +0000

Earlier today we were speculating what the next project from genre filmmaker Guillermo del Toro would be. He said at Comic-Con that it would be in 3D and that it would be “scary.” The project that Deadline is breaking will be his next certainly falls into both categories.

It seems his long, long, long-in-the-works adaptation of the slender HP Lovecraft adventure/ horror novel “At The Mountains of Madness” will be the director’s next project.

Continue reading Guillermo del Toro’s Next Film Announced: The James Cameron-Produced ‘At The Mountains Of Madness’ at The Playlist.

Guillermo Del Toro Can’t Say No To The Z-Axis, His Next Movie Will Be In 3D

Drew — Wed, 28 Jul 2010 17:17:00 +0000

Guillermo del Toro, beloved genre filmmaker behind “Pan’s Labyrinth” and the “Hellboy” movies, was at San Diego Comic-Con this weekend talking up his remake of ’70s TV movie “Don’t Be Afraid of the Dark,” pitching his take on a new Haunted Mansion movie for Disney, and consoling nerds who cried themselves to sleep when they learned that the director wouldn’t be directing the two-part “Hobbit” movie for Peter Jackson.

And while he didn’t explicitly state what his next movie would be, he did let slip that it would have a little more dimensionality than his earlier films.

Continue reading Guillermo Del Toro Can’t Say No To The Z-Axis, His Next Movie Will Be In 3D at The Playlist.

SDCC ’10: Guillermo del Toro Announces ‘Pinocchio’ With Nick Cave Doing Music, Talks ‘Cronos’ & Horror Anthology

Drew — Sat, 24 Jul 2010 15:22:00 +0000

Yesterday there was a fairly lively, profanity-laced panel at Comic-Con for the Guillermo del Toro project “Don’t Be Afraid of the Dark,” a remake of a charming 1973 made-for-television shocker that’s currently available through the wonderful Warner Bros Archives.

The remake seems like a so-so proposition. Based on a script that del Toro and his writing partner Matthew Robbins did back in the mid-90s and helmed by comic artist-cum-first-time-director Troy Nixey, it could be a hand-me-down version of del Toro’s patented “dark fairy tale” shtick.

Continue reading SDCC ’10: Guillermo del Toro Announces ‘Pinocchio’ With Nick Cave Doing Music, Talks ‘Cronos’ & Horror Anthology at The Playlist.