Recently in Movies Category

Interesting aside in the Straight's Koyaanisqatsi preview / Philip Glass interview:

[H]e's [likely] going to spend another year working on Reggio's next film, which is still in the planning stages.

"It's going to be called Savage Eden, and Godfrey wants to make the subject matter what he calls 'the two isms' of today," Glass reports. "And this is where Godfrey is really head and shoulders above everybody else. He gets it down to two things: consumerism and fundamentalism. He says, 'These are the two forces driving the world, and this is what is happening.' It's a very radical way of thinking, and yet at the same time, we can see it. You see it every minute that you look at the news."

I just hope someone keeps Reggio away from the digital filters and effects - for me, Naqoyqatsi really suffered from an overuse of processing.

From Simple Men:

Ned: I want adventure. I want romance.
Bill: Ned, there is no such thing as adventure. There's no such thing as romance. There's only trouble and desire.
Ned: Trouble and desire.
Bill: That's right. And the funny thing is, when you desire something you immediately get into trouble. And when you're in trouble you don't desire anything at all.
Ned: I see.
Bill: It's impossible.
Ned: It's ironic.
Bill: It's a fucking tragedy is what it is, Ned.

While Atanarjuat was based on a 4,000-year-old oral tale, The Journals of Knud Rasmussen is based on detailed accounts kept by the 1920s Danish ethnographer/explorer Rasmussen (played by the Danish actor Jens Jorn Spottag) and his companions, who travelled in the Arctic and chronicled the dramatic impact of Christianity on what was then called the Eskimo way of life.

The heart of the epic tragedy is the story of Ava, the last great Inuit shaman and his beautiful and headstrong daughter, who struggle to survive and adapt as their world evolves (or devolves, depending on your perspective).

The Brothers Grimm trailer - Direct link, as the player doesn't work for me in firefox.

I'm looking forward to this just because it's Terry Gilliam, but it's always a bit worrying when a trailer uses the 'In a world where...' format. It's probably due to the usual incompetent marketing for Gilliam's work.

New Mirrormask trailer; September 30th looks to be the release date. The illustrated script book is available now.

Interesting tidbit in this article - Tom Stoppard helped out with dialogue for the new Star Wars film. Dammit, I'm starting to think the rumors of not-sucking might actually be true. (In other news, my Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead DVD just came. Can't wait to watch it again.)

So, I'm thinking the upcoming film adaptation of Neil Gaiman's Stardust is going to suck:

A few months ago, it was announced that Vaughn would also produce and direct an adaptation of Neil Gaiman and Charles Vess' graphic novel Stardust sometime after he finishes X-Men 3. "I've written the treatment, but I'm not a writer, so I'm just trying to find the right writer," he updated us. "Obviously, to make it into a movie, I have to change it a bit, and put a new third act on. It's going to be cool, sort of like 'Princess Bride' meets 'Midnight Run'." Vaughn mentioned that he has some limited edition art that Charles Vess sent him, but that his movie would look somewhat different. "The way he paints is very Victorian in a way, but I want it to have more of a modern look. I think the problem is that when people say 'we're going to do a fairy tale, so therefore, let's shoot it in a fairytale way.' I wanted to shoot it more modern and grittier."

Oh, and dude, this just makes you sound like an idiot:

"I like comic books, but I don't read them like I used to," he told us. "I quite like graphic novels more than comic books."

Somewhat fluffy set report for Darren Aronofsky's third movie, The Fountain, which is described as " a science-fiction epic that spans three historical periods and rides on a bit of time travel". No word on gangrenous arms or malevolent refrigerators.

Watch it while the bits are hot: A Scanner Darkly trailer. I love the look they've achieved.

More about the upcoming A Scanner Darkly, including a somewhat desperate sounding plea for more animators.