Movie Of The Day: Melinda And Melinda (2004)

A writer, director and sometimes actor who’s enjoyed considerably more success abroad than in his own country but is nevertheless regarded as one of the greatest filmmakers of all time and able to attract big names to his projects, Woody Allen (Vicky Cristina Barcelona) is an incredibly prolific and rythmic worker, churning out one film a year like clockwork. Melinda And Melinda marks his 2004 offering, though it was released in 2005 in numerous countries.

Actually two stories in one (thus the title), the film has two playwrights arguing about whether life at its core is tragic or comic. One of their friends thus suggests a challenge by setting the premise of a troubled woman crashing a dinner party and asking whether the subsequent events would evolve into a tragedy or a comedy. Naturally, we see both options unfold at the same time.

As is common for Woody Allen films, Melinda And Melinda stars a substantial amount of notable people including Radha Mitchell (The Children Of Huang Shi), Chiwetel Ejiofor (Redbelt), Will Ferrell (Step Brothers), Jonny Lee Miller (Aeon Flux), Amanda Peet (The X-Files: I Want To Believe), Chloë Sevigny (Zodiac), Wallace Shawn (Kit Kittredge: An American Girl), Josh Brolin (American Gangster) and Steve Carrell (Get Smart) among others. Trailer and review after the jump.

New Trailer and Poster: Confessions Of A Shopaholic

Confessions Of A Shopaholic, based on a series of novels by Sophie Kinsella has long been hyped as the new The Devil Wears Prada. There’s only one problem though, that movie was actually good, while this looks bad, bad, bad. In any case the film will premiere in the US and Russia just before Valentine’s Day 2009.

Adapted by Tim Firth (Calendar Girls) and Tracey Jackson (The Guru), Confessions Of A Shopaholic tells, obviously enough of a compulsive shopper who gets in over her head in financial trouble. Directed by P.J. Hogan (Peter Pan), the film stars Isla Fisher (Definitely, Maybe), Hugh Dancy (The Jane Austen Book Club), Krysten Ritter (What Happens In Vegas), Joan Cusack (Kit Kittredge: An American Girl), John Goodman (Speed Racer), Leslie Bibb (Iron Man), Kristin Scott Thomas (The Other Boleyn Girl) and John Lithgow (Dreamgirls).

I’m actually a guy who enjoys so-called “chick flicks” but this just made me cringe, from the unfunny silliness of it all to the way Fisher says “Gucci”…*shudder*…What do you think? Also, why the hell is action man Jerry Bruckheimer (the National Treasure films) producing this?

 

Sequelitis: 300, Kung Fu Panda, Transformers and…Cats & Dogs?

Star Shia LaBeouf (Eagle Eye) got injured again while working on Transformers: Revenge Of The Fallen, this time cutting himself under the eyebrow (ouch). Filming was not interrupted.

Chris O’Donnell (Kit Kittredge: An American Girl) and Jack McBrayer (Forgetting Sarah Marshall) are currently filming Cats & Dogs: The Revenge Of Kitty Galore in Vancouver, under the direction of Brad Peyton (an assistant on Hedwig And The Angry Inch). The script was written by duo Ron J. Friedman & Steve Bencich (Open Season).

The new Sherlock Holmes movie from Guy Ritchie (RocknRolla) is expected to start a franchise.

Kung Fu Panda 2 will be released in the US on June 3rd 2011, and will be presented in IMAX 3D. The first film’s writers are back, as are most, if not all of the main cast.

Zack Snyder (300), while doing press for his adaptation of Watchmen, has declared he won’t have anything to do with potential franchise continuation.

Meanwhile, the planned 300 sequel will likely take place between the Battle of Thermopylae and the Battle of Plataea.

Source: /Film

New Trailer: The Curious Case Of Benjamin Button

Response to footage of The Curious Case Of Benjamin Button, the new film from cult director David Fincher (Zodiac), has been rather lukewarm so far but I must say this trailer looks amazing, just like the first one. Naturally, this new trailer gives us more insight into the movie’s plot and it seems fascinating, while reminding me a bit of last year’s Youth Without Youth, the overlooked comeback of legendary director Francis Ford Coppola (The Rainmaker).

Written by Eric Roth (Lucky You) and Robin Swicord (The Jane Austen Book Club), based on a short story by F. Scott Fitzgerald (The Great Gatsby), The Curious Case Of Benjamin Button tells the story of a man who’s born with the body of an old man and who grows younger as he ages. It stars Brad Pitt (Burn After Reading), Cate Blanchett (Indiana Jones And The Kingdom Of The Crystal Skull), Tilda Swinton (Burn After Reading), Elle Fanning (Reservation Road, also Charlotte’s Web actress Dakota’s younger sister), Elias Koteas (Shooter), Jason Flemyng (Mirrors) and Julia Ormond (Kit Kittredge: An American Girl) among others.

In any case, this promises another brilliant performance for Pitt. The Curious Case Of Benjamin Button will premiere around Christmas in the US and Australia and in most other countries in January & February 2009. But to me the real question is, what’s with all the Brad Pitt & Cate Blanchett pairings recently? First they were supposed to co-star in The Fountain, then they were together in Babel and now this…WTF?

New Trailer: Max Payne

Holy crap, that’s it, I’m convinced! I wasn’t that impressed with the first trailer, but this one takes badass to the next level. While I still son’t know what those valkyries are about (yeah, that’s what they are), and I really think the game’s awesome music should be in there, could this possibly surpass Silent Hill as the best video game adaptation yet?

Max Payne will premiere in Egypt on October 15th (why?) and will have been released just about everywhere else by the end of November. The movie is directed by John Moore (The Omen remake) on a script by Shawn Ryan (FX’s The Shield) and newcomer Beau Thorne. It stars Mark Wahlberg (The Happening) as the titular character, alongside Mila Kunis (Forgetting Sarah Marshall), Beau Bridges (Stargate SG-1), Ludacris (Crash), Donal Logue (Ghost Rider), Chris O’Donnell (Kit Kittredge: An American Girl) and Canadian pop singer Nelly Furtado in her feature acting debut.