Lincoln Casting

Don't Fuck with Lincoln!

There was a time a while ago when Liam Neeson was the man in waiting for the lead in the upcoming Steven Spielberg helmed biopic Lincoln.  Then there was a time when the film was not to be.  Dead not long past inception.  Now we’re learning the announcement may have been a bit premature regarding the fatality of the feature.

No longer is Lincoln set to star a lanky Irishman as Spielberg has opted for selective Brit actor Daniel Day Lewis.

While I was saddened when Neeson withdrew from the film, which I felt was very appropriate casting, a replacement by Lewis seems more than adequate.  And hopefully the coupling will bring an end to Spielberg’s low quality slump.

Red Band+Franco+McBride+Portman+Deschanel+Fake British Accents+Comedy= Your Highness

Directed by: David Gordon Green (George Washington, All the Real Girls, Pineapple Express)

Starring: James Franco, Danny McBride, Natalie Portman, Zooey Deschanel

Written By: Danny McBride, Ben Best

Your Highness

Trailer and Poster: Cowboys and Aliens

Following the continuing trend of revisionist westerns, and an undeniable resurgence of the genre, here we have Daniel Craig and Harrison Ford in Cowboys and Aliens.  James Bond and Indiana Jones….vs. Aliens.  The film is an adaptation of a similarly titled comic and directed by Jon “Iron Man” Favreau.

I’m still on the fence about the film as it does have that Jonah Hex sheen that scares me, but I have loved most of the modern westerns that have been coming out of late so I will indulge the pictures’ gloss.  Plus any movie with Craig and Ford in it is worth at least a gander.

Jane Eyre: Trailer and Poster and Extras

A few short days ago the trailer for the upcoming film adaptation of Charlotte Bronte’s classic novel Jane Eyre surfaced on the internets.  The source, which has been adapted many a time for film and television (I myself have seen the Charlotte Gainsbourg version directed by Franco Zeffirelli), is helmed by director Cary Fukunaga in this iteration and stars Mia Wasikowska (Alice in Wonderland) and Michael Fassbender (Hunger, Inglourious Basterds).

Trailer and Surprises after the break:

Lifesaver: Netflix Streaming Canada

Somehow, and by somehow I mean through wanton laziness and neglect, I have managed to burn bridges with all the major movie letting establishments (re: Blockbuster, Rogers, local hipster breeding ground Mom and Pop Shops like Movie Villiage) by racking up the late fees in a big bad way. What makes it worse is that I usually get the fines from movies so bad I cannot believe I rented them in the first place (eg. Hell Ride and Cherry Blossoms) let alone allowed them to rot on my coffee table for X days past their return.

But the days of reckless film rentals have now come to an abrupt end with the establishment of Netflix service in Canada. I had heard from friends that their selection was patchwork at best, but after a few days of viewership and perusal, I am prone to disagree. The selection tends to skew away from an current selection in favour of a classic, Indie, foreign, or few years after initial release date titles.

No late fees. No more store hassles of poor selection oversight. Netflix is fast becoming my new mecca, but will forever remain second only to the theatre.

I currently stream through the XBOX 360.

Titles watched: Martyrs, Pusher, Mother, Runaway Train, The Limey, Slumdog Millionaire, Fish Tank, Kisses, We Live in Public, The Long Goodbye, Jennifer’s Body (beyond horrible decision making on my part here), The Exploding Girl, You Can Count on Me, I’ll Come Running, and many an episode of the Mythbusters.

Poster: The Tree of Life

There has been much speculation regarding the subject matter of Terrence Malick’s (Badlands, Days of Heaven) upcoming film The Tree of Life.  What is it about?  Is this a new form of an old project titled Q?  Dinosaurs?

‘Dinosaur?’ you may parrot with an inquisitive inflection.  Apparently, at some point in the film’s gestation period, there was going to be dinosaurs in the film. This turned out to be wrong or, at the least, only half true. The alternate terrible lizard project is what Malick was working on while filming this movie and at one time may have been part of the evolving script (also jettisoned was a section of the film that was to take place in India).

Over the last few years many actors have come and gone from the project: Colin Farrell, Mel Gibson and the late Heath Ledger.

The new star line-up is as follows: Brad Pitt and Sean Penn.

No word on when an accompanying trailer will come out, but the film seems set to debut at the Cannes Film Fest in 2011.

The Social Network: B-Roll

Following the current trend of films revealing special features material far in advance of the inevitable mass consumer blu/ray or dvd release, The Social Network has decided to give everybody a little peak behind the curtain.

Bellow are a few behind-the-scenes shots of raw footage.  If you ever wanted to see how little bit of Fincher and cast interaction goes down, look no further.  Also, here, is the original performance of the actor behind the second Winklevoss twin (before the voice and face of actor Armie Hammer was digitally grafted onto the alternate actor).

Side note: I wonder what the editors did to improve the performance of Justin Timberlake because, as evidenced in the footage, he seems a little more unnatural.

And, damn, Andrew Garfield is a great actor.  The confrontation scene, even with all the cameras and technical equipment obscuring the view, is astounding.

B-Roll #1

B-Roll #2

Scott Pilgrim at the Bloor

Last week I signed up for a free ticket to a free screening of Scott Pilgrim vs. The World offered by The Beguiling comic book store in Toronto.  There were only five available tickets being offered in the draw so I reckoned that chances were slim to nil that I was going to be one of the lucky few (although I was surprised that there were not SEVEN tickets up for grabs, for plot pertinent reasons).  But at FIVE o’ CLOCK today the phone rang and, skip to the end, I somehow managed to be picked as one of the chosen FIVE.  This is my golden ticket to the chocolate factory.  Kismet, maybe.  Awesome, definitely.

In attendance will be:

1) Director Edgar Wright (Shaun of the Dead, Hot Fuzz)

2) Star Ellen Wong (Knives Chau in the film)

3) Series Creator Brian Lee O’Malley

and

4) Actor/Writer/Director Don McKellar (who will be helping with Q&A Moderation)

Now I only have to wait two days.  Two very slow moving days.

The Bloor Cinema (aka the Future)

Future Wasted Time # 2: Call of Duty Black Ops Launch Trailer Edition (note: a mouthful)

In a weeks time I will finally have something to offset Halo play-time on the 360.  Well…I’m going to wait to see if it is good first as the video game is not cheapest form of entertainment.

On November 11 the new Call of Duty game subtitled Black Ops will be released and set upon the curious masses.  This time around little brother dev studio Treyarch, instead of the somewhat disbanded critical and commercial juggernaut Infinity Ward, has completed the game for publisher Activision as per their alternating game release arrangement.

A History Lesson

Treyarch Studios have long been regarded as the B-Team production unit behind the Call of Duty series, and it is often noted that they have never been able to match the top quality production found in games created by series stalwart Infinity Ward.  But future opinions of the lesser group changed when publisher Activision provoked a high echelon personnel shake-up at Infinity Ward Studios; as far as I could tell the issue was that the Call of Duty: Modern Warfare series was a proven cash cow and everyone wanted money and no one was willing to budge on the remunerations.  The following disputes and lawsuits left Infinity Ward eviscerated and, at best, the future of the dev studio appeared uncertain.  Further issues took shape when dissent amongst the lower ranks caused at lot of the IW team to filter away from the company.  The purge saw many leave and join Infinity Ward leaders at new dev studio Respawn Entertainment created for publisher EA Games.  So as it stands, with IW whittled away, Treyarch now holds the franchise in their hands.  And, cliche coming, they have got shoes to fill.

The Present

Although this is not a gameplay trailer the lack to complete polish relieves any doubt that this is running on anything but the in-game engine.  As opposed to a gameplay demo, this here is more of a hype trailer.  I do not know how other’s feel, but I certainly feel hyped.

Call of Duty: Black Ops

Also, does a great Rolling Stones track just make everything seem better?

Future Wasted Time: Killzone 3 Edition

This video…wow!

I played Killzone 2 on the PS3 and thought it looked good and played well.  Yet, despite these usual positives, the overall top-polish quality was hampered slightly because the gameplay seemed old hat with multiplayer modes that were not what you call cutting edge – or a new take on an old theme – and the controls were kind of wonky (professional terminology).  It also suffered the video game plague of ‘similar enemy, similar enemy, similar enemy’…’wait! that one has a different helmet’…’nope, it was just the sweet lighting effects causing minor illumination’.  Also the environments were all very similar, sometimes too similar to one another in honest, leading to the possible criticism of lazy game design.

But this.  Killzone 3.  It looks like a beast.  Now all I need to do is get my PS3 working on my current HDMI-less television.  I don’t known what else to say, I reckon the video speaks for itself.

Killzone 3 Multiplayer Gamplay

CoCo is back! Now with a Lesser Budget and More Shilling

After being ousted from his position at The Tonight Show, by NBC Universal and previous host Jay Leno, Conan O’Brien is again back in the game.  Or, at the very least, he will be.  O’Brien, no longer legally barred from television comedy, is set to debut his new show, titled Conan, on November 8th for TBS with Andy Richter as sidekick/announcer, The Max Weinberg Seven sans Max Weinberg (now called Jimmy Vivino and the Basic Cable Band), and an unknown format.

I, for one, have missed the lanky irish ginger and am glad to see signs of his resurgence.  No amount of Diet Coke hustling will stop me and, hopefully, the general television consumer from tuning in.

Here is the abridged version his new show Conan:

The Playlist: Halloween Edition

It is Halloween time again.  Second only to Christmas regarding their wonderful built-in kitsch and campiness.  And while I would rather be watching the live action television adaptation of the comic series The Walking Dead on AMC I do not have the channel therefore I must wallow.  Apparently I make lists while wallowing.  So here are a few films I like to watch around this orange and black ornamented fall time of year:

Films after the Break——>