Posts with tag AngelinaJolie
Cinematical Visits G4's Attack of the Show!
Filed under: Action », Site Announcements », Fandom », Angelina Jolie », Johnny Depp », Home Entertainment », Comic/Superhero/Geek », Remakes and Sequels »
Last night Cinematical's James Rocchi was a guest on G4's Attack of the Show, where he and Chris Hardwick spoke about all those crazy Batman rumors spreading like wildfire across the internet. Ya know, how Angelina Jolie supposedly wants to play Catwoman, Philip Seymour Hoffman as the Penguin and/or Johnny Depp as Riddler.
As James points out, these are all "just rumors" right now and there's no way of telling which characters Christopher Nolan and his screenwriter brother Jonathan Nolan have in mind without actually speaking to them. It should be noted that Cinematical has also confirmed that Chris Nolan currently does not have a deal to direct a third film, and if he does hop onboard, they'll have to negotiate something first. But enough of my babbling, check out James above, and much thanks to Attack of the Show for inviting us on.
Poll: Who Wants Angelina Jolie to Play Catwoman?
Filed under: Action », Casting », RumorMonger », Fandom », Angelina Jolie », Comic/Superhero/Geek », Remakes and Sequels »

It has begun.
Not even two full weeks after The Dark Knight arrived in theaters, we officially have our first Batman 3 rumor! (Speaking of, we have to decide what to call Nolan's next Batman movie. Dark Knight 2? Batman 3? NolanMan 3? Lets get on that ...) But anyway, the rumor actually comes from another Catwoman: Julie Newmar. Speaking to the New York Daily News, Newmar says, "Angelina would own the part. My industry friends tell me [she] has made inquiries about the role." She went on to add, "I can understand how it would pique her interest. Catwoman is Batman's one true love. She's tremendously popular with women because she's both a heroine and a villainess. When you look at the staggering box office of this current film, which actress wouldn't want to jump in?"
So is Jolie really looking to play Catwoman in a third (and possible final) Batman film from Christopher Nolan? No doubt Bale and Jolie would look good together on screen, and the woman definitely knows how to hold her own when it comes to action. What do you think? Do you Bat-fans want Brad Pitt's gal in Gotham City?
From Page to Screen: 'Beowulf'
Filed under: Action », Classics », Sci-Fi & Fantasy », From Page to Screen »

Robert Zemeckis's Beowulf took a lot of hits for its perceived silliness, a verdict I could never quite sign on to. First of all, silly compared to what? Have these people seen the 1999 space opera Beowulf starring Christopher Lambert? Compared to that, Zemeckis's Beowulf is a sober meditation on the human condition. Have they seen the Gerard Butler clunker Beowulf and Grendel? Come on, guys: considering what the movies have done to this story in the past, last year's high-tech effort seems like serious business to me.
What about the source material – the ancient Old English epic poem upon which these movies purport to be based? If you've ever read it (or tried to read it), the perversions of the adaptations shouldn't surprise you. It's both begging for action movie treatment and impossible to faithfully adapt into anything resembling a compelling action movie. The story is credited with generating many of the archetypes we see in our fiction, and indeed, it's so archetypical that by modern standards, it's a skeleton; there's nothing there.
Seriously – you know how people complain about movies whose plots can be fully described in one sentence? A faithful Beowulf would take this phenomenon to new heights. A synopsis would read something like this: Beowulf beats up Grendel, Grendel's mom, and a dragon, and dies. The end. Some complained that the Zemeckis version distorted Beowulf, but I'd have liked to see their reaction to an undistorted adaptation. Trust me, it wouldn't work. There's a reason that all these screenwriters have scrambled to add elements to the story.
Games Galore: 'Wanted,' 'Quarantine,' 'Mean Girls' and More!
Filed under: Action », Horror », Paramount », Universal », Angelina Jolie », Home Entertainment »
Man, has this day brought us news of film-based video games aplenty -- one of which you can play for free right now and the rest of which some of you simply can't wait for.
But you'll have to. Wait, that is. They haven't made the darn things yet. Sheesh, hold your horses already.
Trade publication Variety tells us of these titles over the course of two separate articles. One piece points out Universal's plan to crank out several games based on their properties, but only names their highest-profile property at the moment: Wanted. If any of you have seen the film (and a $123 million gross would suggest as much), then you know just how well it should lend itself to the format, what with the bullet curving and knife fighting and Angelina Jolie ogling.
Review: Wanted
Filed under: Action », New Releases », Universal », Theatrical Reviews », Comic/Superhero/Geek »

If Timur Bekmambetov is the Russian David Fincher, then Wanted is his Fight Club: bloody, brutal, funny, lightly satirical, and all about a nobody who shakes himself from his reverie and becomes a real man. There aren't many deep themes here (not as many as there are supposed to be, anyway), but who cares? The stylized violence and unapologetically ludicrous action sequences are the selling point, and Wanted delivers those by the blood-soaked truckload.
Wanted is about a Chicago office drone named Wesley Gibson (James McAvoy) whose life is so insubstantial that he gets zero hits when he Googles himself. But like Neo before him (only played by an actual actor, rather than a plank of driftwood), Wesley is rescued from his drudgery by a secret organization that wants to tell him who he really is and what his destiny can be. That's right, the Mormons.
No, kidding. The group is known as The Fraternity (but they let girls in, too), and it began a thousand years ago when a group of weavers decided that weaving was boring and they should become assassins. Today the group is run by Sloan (Morgan Freeman), with headquarters hidden in an actual textile factory. Every guy in the place is tough and mean, a real brute of the loom, if you will, and they show Wesley the ropes of shooting people from a distance. That's right: Wesley snipes. (That concludes the pun portion of this review.)
Hollywood's Crappy Kissers
Filed under: Celebrities and Controversy », Newsstand »
Movie stars can get a stylist, remove those errant eyebrow and nose hairs, and even get some high-dose skin cleaner to make themselves smooth, shiny, and sexy; if all else fails, there are legions of makeup artists to make the men and women of Hollywood look as hot as possible. But there's not much they can do about their tongue prowess. Sometimes, the smooch or sex scene is so bad that it's even obvious on-screen, and on occasion, movie kissing is so bad that those who were forced to endure it remember the moment forever and tell tales about their bad kissing moments.
Defamer has a list titled: Top Ten Worst Kissers in Hollywood: From the 'Icky' to the 'Sweaty' to Tongues That Taste Like Kitty Litter. The folks at Defamer weren't just guessing in compiling the list -- they've gathered quotes from those unlucky suckers who had to experience it for themselves.
Brangelina Options International Prom Article?
Filed under: Drama », Paramount », RumorMonger », Angelina Jolie », Brad Pitt »
This past Sunday, The New York Times featured a popular City-section story about the first-ever prom held for students of Brooklyn's International High School. In case you don't like to read, you can simply watch the video accompaniment here. And if you don't like to read and you don't like documentary-style videos, and have a lot of patience, you can wait for the feature film, which will apparently be hitting theaters some time in the future. According to New York magazine's Vulture blog, a number of producers are interested in optioning the article, while Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie have personally brought it to the attention of Paramount Pictures, where Pitt's Plan B Entertainment has a first-look deal. Supposedly an unnamed non-Paramount studio exec beat us all to the punch by joking that "maybe Maddox and the twins can star in it." Of course, he forgot about Pax and Zahara (and the twins aren't really international).Actually, the first joke I thought about was the running gag on TV's The Critic about the kid from Easter Island who attends the United Nations School. Then, the second joke I thought of was about Brangelina's adopted children. Then I kept thinking of other things, such as how thanks to Prom Night people might assume this other prom-themed movie is also a horror flick. But that's not so much a joke as it is me trying to think on a studio exec's level (hey, we were synchronous with the Maddox bit) in order to contemplate what they'd call the thing. International Prom? A Prom for All Nations (ala the video's title)? Or will Hollywood appropriately go for one of those song-based titles? Been around the World, perhaps?
Mark Millar Liked 'Wanted' -- and Plans for Sequel
Filed under: Action », Sci-Fi & Fantasy », New Releases », Universal », RumorMonger », Newsstand », Angelina Jolie », Comic/Superhero/Geek », Remakes and Sequels »
The flashy advertisements, the curving of bullets and Angelina Jolie make it pretty difficult to remember that Wanted was originally based on a series of graphic novels by Mark Millar. From early reports (including a review from Cinematical), the adaptation is a loose one, so you might be surprised to hear that Millar actually felt it was an improvement on his work. He posted his enthusiastic response on his official message board. (If you choose to click, be warned, the place abounds with spoilers.) "Even the biggest change -- the loom stuff in the middle Timur wrote -- works really well. I think the fate thing really made the character more empathetic as the 'killing for fun' stuff would have made him a little hateful. They kept all the best bits and junked my over-indulgences. So I feel very happy as it was a kind of perfected version that made it to the screen. Could not be happier."
Millar also added that he's been approached by Universal about concocting a sequel. "They've asked me how I can develop some of the other stuff from the book into the sequel. We'll see what box office is like at the weekend, but everyone knows this is going to make a LOT of dough. Wall·E permitting." (He actually has a few choice words for the hapless robot, who really shouldn't be held accountable for his release date.)
Angelina Jolie and the World of 'Sin City'
Filed under: Casting », RumorMonger », Comic/Superhero/Geek », Remakes and Sequels »
The buzzing murmur for Sin City 2 has been going on for eons now, making fans die a slow death in anxious anticipation. And, for most of that time, Angelina Jolie's name has been in the mix. Back in 2006, Rosario Dawson said that Robert Rodriguez was putting the whole thing on hold due to Jolie's pregnancy. Since then, the project has remained in limbo -- a will they or won't they cycle that doesn't look like it will wrap up any time soon.But now MTV has talked to Jolie about the potential project while discussing her new film, Wanted. Will she take on Ava Lord in A Dame to Kill For? "I don't know. I found the first Sin City impressive, but I don't know what they're going to do with the next one to make [it] as original as the first one." Well, it's more story on the folks of Sin City, so I imagine it will be a bunch of fresh chills and thrills in the same style -- I'm not so sure what originality she's hoping for.
Now, she did go on to say she would be curious if she was offered the role. I can't tell if she's being polite, or really interested. However, aside from her upcoming delivery and family tending, there's not a lot on her plate, so I imagine it would be easy to slip another dose of Sin City in. Is it time for the Dame? And should Jolie be Ava Lord?
New 'Wanted' Red Band Trailer
Filed under: Action », Thrillers », Universal », Angelina Jolie », Movie Marketing », Comic/Superhero/Geek », Trailers and Clips »
I have to hand it to Timur Bekmambetov; during the half-hearted viral campaign for Wanted, I bet no one saw that little stunt coming. But, now it's back to more traditional marketing before Wanted opens in a few weeks, and it really was about time we got a look at an R-rated trailer (and not just in Russian either) for the comic-related flick. The domestic R-rated trailer for Bekmambetov's feature film adaptation of Mark Millar's comic book series is now online (courtesy of Apple) and if you caught that Russian version floating around the net, then I'm afraid there isn't much new to report. On the upside, at least now we get to hear the great and dignified Morgan Freeman drop an 'F bomb', and that is always fun.Wanted is based on Millar's comic book about an insignificant office drone (played by James McAvoy) who is the heir to a team of assassins. Some early glimpses of the film were a bit of a Matrix re-hash, but with each trailer release, my expectations have risen ever so slightly. Thankfully, this new trailer makes it clear the film is going to steer clear of PG-13 sensibilities and will head straight for the blood and guts instead. Even though I've been burned by 'Angelina the action hero' before, I am starting to wonder if this movie could be the dark horse in the box office race this summer. What do you think?
Wanted opens in theaters on June 27th.








