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Thursday, October 13, 2011

EXCLUSIVE: Submarine Blu-ray Clip

From director Richard Ayoade comes the heartwarming and hilarious indie hit Submarine, which follows the plight of a young man (Craig Roberts) torn between losing his virginity and his plight to keep his parents from divorce. Submarine arrives on Blu-ray and DVD this Tuesday, October 4th. We have an exclusive look at this impending release with a clip from the movie. Check it out below.

Young Oliver Tate's coming of age is coming even sooner than expected. Prone to daydreaming, listening to French crooners, and indulging other self-absorbed fantasies, Oliver suddenly finds himself submerged in real-life, dual challenges - plotting to lose his virginity with a quirky new girlfriend, while also struggling to reconcile his parents' marriage, even though his mom seems smitten with the self-help guru next door.


The Making Of SubmarineDeleted Scenes

Submarine was released June 3rd, 2011 and stars Noah Taylor, Paddy Considine, Craig Roberts, Yasmin Paige, Sally Hawkins, Darren Evans, Osian Cai Dulais, Lily McCann. The film is directed by Richard Ayoade.


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EXCLUSIVE: Tyrese Gibson Talks Fast Five

Oct 2, 2011 by Brian Gallagher
Tyrese Gibson discusses Fast Five and much more

When actor Tyrese Gibson signed on to portray Roman Pierce in 2003's 2 Fast 2 Furious, it was only his second movie role after Baby Boy in 2001. Now the actor can't stop working with blockbuster movie roles, a best-selling book ("How To Get Out of Your Own Way"), and a new music album due out next month. I recently had the pleasure of speaking with the talented actor (and unabashed fan of MovieWeb) to discuss Fast Five, which hits the shelves on Blu-ray and DVD October 4. Here's what he had to say below.

After your involvement in the second movie, were you ever approached to appear in The Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift or Fast & Furious? Can you talk about how you were brought back in for this one?

Tyrese Gibson: Yeah, they reached out to me for the fourth one, but with scheduling and all sorts of other stuff, it just didn't work out. I'm glad I came back for Five, because, I believe, along with everyone else in the cast, that this is the best one in the whole franchise. If four would've happened, it would've been cool, but Five is the best one.

I think a lot of the fans agree with that too. It's grossed the most out of all the other films in the franchise, which is pretty amazing. That normally doesn't happen.

Tyrese Gibson: Like fine wine, it gets better with time, I guess.

It's cool because you can see all of these connections. It's cool to see that these characters are all connected. Was it fun just reading the script to see how all of these guys come together?

Tyrese Gibson: I just think that's a reflection of the director, who is brilliant, Justin Lin, and the writer, Chris Morgan. To have so many personalities and energy all in one movie, the question is how can all of them make sense? How can all of them have an arc, a beginning, a middle, and an end? What is the purpose and plan behind each character in one movie? I think, at no point does anybody say, 'Well, why are they there? Who is that? What's the point of them being in the movie?' I just think they did a great job executing on that level, and I was just honored they called me to come back. 2 Fast 2 Furious was my second role as an actor, ever, in my whole career, after Baby Boy. To go from an urban movie to a full-on international movie was the biggest leap, ever, in my career as an actor. I go to Germany and they go, '2 Fast 2 Furious! 2 Fast 2 Furious!' They don't know my music, they just know I'm the guy in 2 Fast 2 Furious. That's a real blessing, man, for people to connect with you overseas like that, through films.

It must have been great reading the script too, because you have almost all of the best lines here.

Tyrese Gibson: (Laughs) Well, a lot of that stuff was on the fly. There's only so much stuff that can be written. A lot of that stuff was on the fly, we just kind of were in the moment. I'm cool with everybody so they just let me play around a little bit and come up with stuff in the moment. We just figure out the funniest way and the most clever way to capture it and then you just hope that it works. I'm not a comedian. I'm just a guy who kind of catches you off guard with some funny shit (Laughs).

I know you were filming both this and Transformers: Dark of the Moon at the same time.

Tyrese Gibson: Seven months. Seven months of magic.

Yeah. I was reading all your stuff on Twitter and I thought that was insane, pulling off two huge movies at the same time. Did it take a lot of finesse with the scheduling for both of these movies?

Tyrese Gibson: Well, the woman who made all of that happen is named Isabella Castro, she's the magic woman behind the curtains. She's my VP of Operations. She handled all of the communication between directors, producers, executives, studios. I don't know how SHE pulled it off. I think what I was doing was much easier than her. To be honest, it was one of the best summers of my life, ever. I was just hoping that I didn't get sick. It's one thing for them to commit and say, 'Do you really want to do both movies at the same time, because we can schedule around?' Then you sayd, 'Yeah' and end up being fatigued and tired and sick. Then they say, 'Well, he wouldn't be sick if he wasn't shooting two movies at the same time.' So, I never wanted them to be able to say that and, fortunately, they didn't. The good thing is, it's not like I'm in every single scene in both movies. That's how it worked out. If I was Shia LaBeouf, I couldn't have shot both movies at the same time, so it worked out. I loved it.

Justin Lin really took this franchise to new levels with the three movies he has done. What would you like like to say about working with him as compared to any of the other directors you've worked with?

Tyrese Gibson: Well, I can say that Justin Lin, I've never seen him sweat. I look at him like a Zen master, somebody like (L.A. Lakers coach) Phil Jackson. I don't say that in a facetious way. You've got Vin Diesel, Dwayne Johnson, and everybody else on the movie set. How is it possible that, at no point, any of us, felt like we didn't know what was going on, where we were supposed to be, what we were supposed to be bringing for a scene, and, no disrespect, but he happens to be one of the smallest people on the set, in height? So, you're the smaller guy on the set and you have all of these big people with muscles walking up to you saying, 'What do you want me to do in this part? What do you want me to say?' He became like the Zen master on the set. It was a lot of fun, I never saw him sweat, and he just made us feel good about everything we had going on. I think he has a very unique way of making everybody feel like a star, that they're bringing something special to the screen. You have a lot of directors who are called 'star-f*&$ers.' It's like you're on the set and you can tell, it's so blatantly clear who the director favorites are. Sometimes I've been the favorite, other times, other actors have been the favorites. I don't think any actor deserves to feel like another actor is the favorite. We all deserve to feel like, somebody may be getting more camera time, but everybody uniquely feels special and significant while they're all working on the same movie. Justin Lin made us all feel very important while we were working on this movie.

There is a gag reel on the DVD, which I haven't had a chance to check out yet...

Tyrese Gibson: Well, you're gonna gag (Laughs).

How much are you responsible for the material on the gag reel?

Tyrese Gibson: Well... you're gonna gag. That's all I have to say (Laughs). Listen, it gets wild on these movie sets. I'm just in the moment, bro, having fun. Trust me, they didn't even capture half of the magic that they could've captured in this movie. It would've turned into a straight comedy hour if they kept all that stuff in.

I know they brought Chris Morgan back to write Fast & Furious 6. I know it's pretty early still, but have you been in talks for that yet? Is there anywhere you would like to see this franchise go in a sixth movie?

Tyrese Gibson: I just hope that they keep the concept of the heist going. I hope they allow me to be more a part of the decision-making, how we're going to get this mission accomplished, instead of having the mission thrown at us and we become disgruntled about the mission (Laughs). I just hope they allow Roman to be Roman Pierce, have some fun and play my part. I'm not fighting for camera time, but we had a lot of fun promoting it (Fast Five). We went to eight different countries, and I just love it. I have a girlfriend who's from Dubai. She was overseas and she said, 'Every theater was sold out, for weeks and weeks and weeks, because of Fast Five.' We were all speaking in Arabic and they were still laughing and having fun with all of the shit we were doing in the movie. These are things I couldn't imagine doing and being a part of as a kid, so it's all kind of unreal.

Five Brothers has been circulating for awhile. Is there any movement on that?

Tyrese Gibson: You know what, I just really hope that Paramount considers and understands the cult following behind Four Brothers. All of our careers have sort of went to another level since Four Brothers, with Mark Wahlberg, myself, André (Benjamin) has been kind of low-key, but Garrett Hedlund, even though he passed away in the first one, his career has blossomed. I hope that they're able to press the button on it. To be honest, I think it just takes one meeting with (producer) Lorenzo di Bonaventura, (director) John Singleton, myself and Mark Wahlberg at Paramount, and they'll green light it and we'll be ready to go. The script is already written and we all really want to do it. We just have to get Paramount to press that button. Maybe the fans from your website can write Paramount some letters about how they were able to relate and identify with the movie, and how much they love it and how much they would love to see Five Brothers be made. The script is already done and ready to go. I would love to do Five Brothers, love to do it.

I would love to see that. Is there anything you're lining up right now that you can talk about?

Tyrese Gibson: Something I'm very, very passionate about is my new album, which is coming out. It's called Open Invitation and if you go to my Twitter page, you can actually see my album cover on the main page. It's called Open Invitation, and it's my best R&B album to date. It's coming November 1, 11/1/11, and we've got two #1 singles already. The first single is called "Stay," and my leading lady in the video is Taraji P. Henson. On YouTube, you can watch the trailer for my video too, we did it like a movie. We're going to launch the actual video and I just shot the video for my other single called "Too Easy" featuring Ludacris. The album is coming November 1 and I'm very, very excited to be doing music again.

You're becoming the new King of All Media.

Tyrese Gibson: Yeah, man, it's fun. I've got a New York Times best-seller, my book How To Get Out of Your Own Way, which is available on Nook and Kindle and iTunes, Amazon, Barnes and Noble, you name it. I don't know, man. I think, ultimately, you have a lot of people who talk, and a lot of people who do the work and walk. They walk and get opportunities and blessings and they're looking to be an inspiration and motivate folks to take advantage of our America. We have a lot of access to a lot of shit out here. For people to be broke, hungry, lonely, and miserable, there's no excuse. This is America. Let's move!

I was also curious if you've heard anything about the future of the Transformers franchise. It seems Michael Bay and star Shia LaBeouf are moving on, but have you heard anything else about what they're trying to do with the franchise?

Tyrese Gibson: My humble prediction would be that... we're at $1.1 billion. This is the biggest year of my life. I'm on the other side of $1.7 billion in box office receipts, between both films. I think, with the success of Transformers: Dark of the Moon, both Michael Bay and Shia probably want a break from the franchise, but there's no way, I believe, that, at some point, they're not going come back to do Transfomers 4. Maybe they need a few years to get a few other creative things out of their system, which is understandable, but for people to love this franchise around the world like they do, it's damn-near crazy to not give the fans what they love and enjoy again. So maybe two years, maybe three years will go by, you never know, but I believe, and hope, that we are able to do another Transformers. I'm a real Transformers fan, outside of the fact that I'm in the movie, but I just hope we're able to do it again one day. It's the first film in Paramount's 99-year history that has ever grossed $1 billion. I hope we're able to figure this out.

I know you've been writing scripts for some time now. Is there any movement on that front as well?

Tyrese Gibson: You know, there's a lot of heavy buzz about my reality show that I'm producing called K-Town, which is like an Asian version of Jersey Shore. We're in talks with a lot of major networks, the E! channel and a few others. We're just trying to figure out all of the particulars, and blast off.

Awesome. Finally, what would you like to say to the few people who didn't get to see Fast Five in theaters, about why they should pick up the Blu-ray and DVD on October 4?

Tyrese Gibson: I think the Blu-ray and DVD of Fast Five really turns up and you feel a part of the process in a major way. They've got Tyrese TV, they've got Paul Walker TV, Vin Diesel TV, behind-the-scenes. The cameras just followed us around and it's just a lot of fun. I don't want to give it away, but it's definitely a lot of fun. The fans should pick that up. Fast Five is the movie to watch with your family during the holidays. With Thanksgiving and Christmas coming up, this is the DVD to get.

Awesome. Well, that's about all I have. Thanks so much for talking to me. It's been a pleasure. It's great to get to talk to you, especially after chatting on Twitter for so long.

Tyrese Gibson: (Laughs) Yeah, follow me! Tell them to follow me. I ramble and ramble on Twitter, but tell them to follow me. It's adventurous. I've just got to get my spell check button right, but I'll get it together (Laughs).

You can watch Tyrese Gibson as Roman Pearce in Fast Five, which hits the shelves on Blu-ray and DVD October 4.

Fast Five was released April 29th, 2011 and stars Vin Diesel, Paul Walker, Jordana Brewster, Tyrese Gibson, Ludacris, Matt Schulze, Sung Kang, Gal Gadot. The film is directed by Justin Lin.

Fast & Furious 6 comes to theaters May 24th, 2013 and stars Paul Walker, Vin Diesel.

Five Brothers comes to theaters in 2013 and stars Mark Wahlberg.


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EXCLUSIVE: The Presence DVD Cast Featurette

Oct 3, 2011 by Brian Gallagher
We have an exclusive special features clip from the upcoming home video release The Presence, which hits DVD October 4. Click on the video player below to watch writer-director Tom Provost speak about cast members Mira Sorvino, Shane West, and Justin Kirk.

Looking to escape the pressures of everyday life, a woman (Mira Sorvino) travels to a secluded cabin in the woods. She's not alone, though, because an apparition (Shane West) inhabits the cabin and begins to stalk her. But when the woman's boyfriend (Justin Kirk) arrives, the spirit in the house grows darker and more obsessive. She soon starts to exhibit weird and irrational behavior and her boyfriend fears she's been possessed by the ghost in love with her.


Audio commentary with Writer-Director Tom Provost"Making of The Presence" featuretteStoryboards with commentary by Writer-Director Tom Provost and Editor Cecily Rhett

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EXCLUSIVE: Pam Grier Talks Jackie Brown Blu-ray

Oct 4, 2011 by Brian Gallagher
Pam Grier talks Jackie Brown on Blu-ray

Actress Pam Grier has had an incredibly diverse career, starring in 1970s blaxploitation classics such as Coffy and Foxy Brown to 1990s cult classics such as Mars Attacks and Jawbreaker. For many movie fans, though, Pam Grier will always be remembered as Jackie Brown, the title character in Quentin Tarantino's fantastic crime drama, which makes its Blu-ray debut October 4. I recently had the honor to speak with Pam Grier about her experiences making Jackie Brown, and much more. Here's what she had to say below.

Hi Pam. How are you doing today?

Pam Grier: I'm great. I'm just really excited about the release of Jackie Brown on Blu-ray. We made the cut! Some films never make it to Blu-ray, and I think Quentin would've been so upset if we didn't (Laughs). With the Blu-ray, we'll have a whole new audience of young people and maybe some of the old guard who may want to give it a shot now. Those who are sticklers for their Beta. You remember Beta? Those people still have cassettes for them and they trade them! They have Beta clubs. Did you know that?

Oh yeah, absolutely. It's kind of like the Atari for movie geeks.

Pam Grier: Exactly!

I'm really glad this is coming out on Blu-ray as well. It's hard to pick a favorite Quentin movie, but this one was always special for me. It was his first adaptation, and I'm a huge Elmore Leonard fan as well, so maybe all those elements stuck with me.

Pam Grier: Did you do a comparison? If you compare Elmore Leonard's Rum Punch, if you revisit the book, the story, and then you see Quentin's work, you see the complexity that he made so seamless. It's extraordinary. I don't know if anyone could've adapted that piece so well.

I remember reading, I believe it was the liner notes on the first DVD, that Quentin was very nervous to hear Elmore's reaction to casting you, since Jackie was white in the novel. Can you talk about your initial reaction to the novel, and then Quentin's version of it?

Pam Grier: I was familiar with the novel and, when he was talking about adapting it, I thought it would take someone with brilliance to do so. I had no expectations, I knew he would work wonders, but you never know until you see it. When I read the script, I said, 'Oh my,' and I went back and read it again. It was fantastic. Then to see it come to life was amazing. I don't think certain writers could do that. I really don't.

Elmore even said that, despite some of the changes, it was still one of the most faithful adaptations of any of his novels, and it probably still is to date.

Pam Grier: Really? Well, you know there's Get Shorty, Out of Sight, but I think this is the best one. I think you're absolutely right. It literally makes you want to go back and revisit Rum Punch after you see it, just to see how well he did. It blows my mind.

I talked to Robert Forster recently and he said there was this fairly expansive rehearsal period, where you went to all these locations before shooting and go through the scenes together. Can you talk about that process and how that helped once you started shooting?

Pam Grier: In a way, it's similar to a theater. When you're on the stage, you see the set. For Jackie's apartment, Quentin had changed the paint on the walls at least three times so that it would be a great composition with the blue of the uniform, with the color of my skin, the mood of the story and the music. He had what Jackie would have collected, to create her history, things on the table, memorabilia, salt and pepper shakers from a lounge (Laughs). I got to stay in the apartment and I also went to the jail, to get a sense of what it would be like to be stripped of everything and put everything in a plastic shopping bag. You're leaving, and you're going where? You didn't show up for work, you have no job, a man wants to kill you (Laughs). He made it really extraordinary for the actor.

Did you ever find yourself revisiting the novel on the set, or did you pretty much stick to Quentin's version of it?

Pam Grier: I wanted to look at it for myself. There were a couple of emotions which would emerge in a scene, which would come from my part and from my soul, but you really want to work with his vision, because he's the one that's cutting, he's the one who has to maintain a clarity and a coherence of the story and the characters. He's fine-tuning and putting the scenes together, so you really want to stick to his direction.

Robert also said that he would often play the music which we hear in the film, on the set. Was he playing these Delphonics songs when you were in those scenes?

Pam Grier: All the time. When we were shooting and between shooting, we were playing music. It relaxed the crew and made them work effortlessly. When we shot a scene, he'd play a song he was planning on using in the soundtrack, which would add to the mood and the beats. He's like a choreographer, for the physical body of a dancer or actor, because I found myself almost doing a dance, if you will, of breathing and body movement, when Ordell comes to her apartment to kill her. To get the cigarette out and get the gun and put it in my waistband and turn. Quentin would say, 'I don't want to see the gun. Get it out, he's coming to kill you. You may have to shoot him first before he shoots you or strangles you.' Knowing Ordell, I'm going to be strangled, shot, and suffocated (Laughs). Look what he did to Chris Tucker. You know he's going to do worse to Jackie, and she has to be so cool, negotiate with him, get him on her side and out of the apartment. That's a lot! That's a lot of direction. It was exhausting. He didn't even know what happened to him. He left his balls on the sofa (Laughs). That was an intense scene. I fell down on the floor and had to take a nap.

This cast is just phenomenal. Even in smaller roles, like you said before with Chris Tucker, everyone brings such an amazing presence to this movie. Can you describe just being on the set with all these amazing cast members?

Pam Grier: Well, it's like being a little kid at the amusement park. I get to play with him too? (Laughs). They bring such a history and legacy to their passion, and they want to work with me and Quentin. You can't ask for more, you just can't. It would be like an $80 billion movie if they all got what they normally get (Laughs).

I was wondering if you could talk a bit about another project you have coming up called The Man with the Iron Fist. I'm pretty excited for that one, with RZA directing. Could you talk about your character in that movie, and your thoughts on the overall experience on the set?

Pam Grier: I play RZA's mother, in the mid-1800s. He went to Quentin and said, 'I want to direct.' The next thing you know, he's calling me to work with him in China, to play his mother. It was wonderful and, of course, Wu Tang Clan, their work is just so poetic. He's an amazing director. My character gives up her freedom to save her son. It basically starts out his journey, to a new land. It was very, very moving. Shooting in China was extraordinary. The people were so warm and so smart. My interpreter, who was with me during the time, wanted to be called LeBron James, because he was very tall and he loved basketball. You could watch HBO and CNN and NBA all day long there. I asked him if he liked Nike and he said, 'No, I don't like Nike. It's not made in the USA.' They wanted anything made in the USA. If you had something with made in the USA on, they'd buy it from you. We could get our economy back on track just by selling everything made in the USA to China.

Is there anything else that you're working on or looking to sign onto in the near future?

Pam Grier: I just finished a film in New Orleans. It was produced by T.D. Jakes and I play a detective in the bayou, who is looking for a serial killer. She's a real indigenous, Creole, tough detective. Then I did one with Ving Rhames in Pittsburgh called Mafia. We're developing a reality show, there's so much going done. I'm just trying to get it done! I also had my memoir released last year. It made the New York Times best-seller list, and it's going to be a film as well.

Is the deal already in place for that?

Pam Grier: The deal is in place. We're have to find the director and screenwriter and cast and all of that process is moving.

Is there anyone you have your eye on to play you then?

Pam Grier: It's not who I choose, it's what the role demands, and who is the actress can be comfortable with telling the story. Things are very, very traumatic, and not all the actresses have the depth or the confidence to play in certain scenes that demand craft. For example, when I did The L Word, and some actresses came aboard to play Jennifer Beals' love interest, on paper they said they could make love and kiss another woman, but when they got there, they couldn't. You have to really take into account the actor's ability, and often their personal life and religion and whatever they're about. It's not me choosing, it's the actress saying they can do it. That's how real casting is complete.

Are you writing the adaptation as well?

Pam Grier: I am writing the first draft, and whoever will be the director will do their own take.

Great. Well, that's my time. Thank you for speaking with me. It was a real pleasure.

Pam Grier: It was a pleasure speaking with you. There will be more. Wait until The Man with the Iron Fist comes out. RZA is a martial artist, and he's a fantastic martial artist in the film. He's excellent.

I can't wait to see it. Thank you so much, Pam.

Pam Grier: All right. Thank you.

You can watch Pam Grier as the fantastic title character Jackie Brown, which can be seen on Blu-ray for the first time October 4.

Jackie Brown was released December 25th, 1997 and stars Pam Grier, Samuel L. Jackson, Robert Forster, Bridget Fonda, Michael Keaton, Robert De Niro, Michael Bowen, Chris Tucker. The film is directed by Quentin Tarantino.


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Wednesday, October 12, 2011

EXCLUSIVE: Yasmin Paige Talks Submarine

Oct 3, 2011 by Brian Gallagher
Yasmin Paige talks Submarine

Yasmin Paige certainly seems to be an actress we'll be hearing quite a lot more from after her performance in Submarine, which hits Blu-ray and DVD October 4. The actress plays Jordana Bevan in this coming-of-age comedy from director Richard Ayoade, a young girl whom Craig Roberts' character Oliver takes a liking to. He attempts to lose his virginity to Jordana while simultaneously trying to mend his parents' ow relationship, often in bizarre ways.

I recently had the chance to speak with Yasmin Paige about her role in Submarine. Here's what she had to say below.

Could you talk about your initial thoughts on the script and your first meetings with (writer-director) Richard Ayoade? This must have been quite an interesting script to read.

Yasmin Paige: Yeah, definitely. When I first read it, I thought it was really great and I just wanted a chance to be a part of it. It was really funny and I remember thinking I don't think I've read this kind of humor before. I sent in a tape in like May of 2009 and I didn't meet Richard until late August. We just had a chat and he tried to get me to improvise, which I'm awful at and I didn't want to do that (Laughs). We just had a really nice chat, and after that we did a screen test with Craig. It happened really quickly. I was so shocked at how quickly it happened.

Was Craig already signed on when you first read for this?

Yasmin Paige: I don't think so. When we met at the screen test, we didn't know what was going on. It was a lot of fun. We did it over three days. We kind of shot a mini-version of the film, but without dialogue. It was really weird, but it was great. I don't think Craig had signed on at that point, but we were just auditioning together.

We've seen a few movies like this before, about these teens going through these different relationships. Do you feel this was more honest and truthful to how teens today are actually feeling?

Yasmin Paige: Yeah. It's a very pure account of teenage adolescence, I think. It's very romantic, but I think it is a true account. It's also very idealized as well. I wish my first crush was like that (Laughs).

Was there any kind of preparation you needed to go through for a role like this? Did you look at friends of yours or anyone else to play Jordana, or was it a more natural approach?

Yasmin Paige: Well, Richard gave us different people to look at. He gave me a lot of Christina Ricci films. She is very good at being mean, so I watched a lot of her, Buffalo 66, The Ice Storm, The Opposite of Sex, stuff like that. She's amazing and I just wanted to get that meanness that she has, that nonchalant coolness as well.

There is such a great cast here, with younger actors like yourself and Craig and then veterans like Sally Hawkins and Paddy Considine. Can you talk about the overall feeling on the set, and what it was like to get a chance to work with seasoned pros like this?

Yasmin Paige: It was really relaxed and really fun. It was really like a family, especially the last two weeks of filming. It was extremely small. We used to do days where it would be just me, Craig, Richard, and the DP. We just went out with the camera. It was a lot of fun. Paddy is hilarious and it was really a wonderful experience. It just felt like a family, and you felt really safe to ask questions. It was really great.

Did you have a lot of time before shooting to get to know Craig and build a rapport with him?

Yasmin Paige: No, we had a really long rehearsal period. Craig and I hung out a lot, and we hung out a lot with Richard as well. We would watch films together and get to know each other when we were in Wales shooting it. It's great that we had that kind of bond with each other. It was really, really lovely.

Can you talk about working with Richard? As an actor himself, do you find that helps his relationships with the actors?

Yasmin Paige: Yeah, I think it helps a lot. Richard is so kind and he understands. I think that he was always sensitive to us feeling comfortable and he was so lovely. He made it really easy. He was wonderful.

This was based on a novel, and I know people have different approaches. Some don't read the novel and some do. Did you delve into the novel before shooting, or did you just go off of Richard's script?

Yasmin Paige: Well, Richard said there is a lot of similar things with the book, dialogue and things like that, but there are also huge differences as well. I loved it and I read it beforehand. It really made it that much more enticing, because the book is extremely different and they both stand on their own right. It was really, really good.

It's cool to see an adaptation where, even though it's very different, fans of the book can enjoy it as well.

Yasmin Paige: Yeah. I think Submarine is one of those films where you can watch the film and then read the book. I think for Twilight and things like that, you can do that. You will just see Craig when you're reading the book (Laughs). But they're both just wonderful in their own right. They complement each other and yet both stand on their own.

Is there a specific scene or a moment on the set that will always stick out for you when you look back on your experience in Submarine?

Yasmin Paige: There were so many things. I think one thing that stuck out was when we shot the scene where I was rollerblading with these fireworks in my hand. Maybe that's because I fell and hurt myself, but that stuff was really, really fun. We were just running on the beach and climbing in trees and things like that.

Is there anything you're looking to sign on for now that you can talk about? Does the experience of doing something like this really open new doors for you, after the movie's release?

Yasmin Paige: I'm at school at the moment, but yeah. I think Submarine is one of those things where the experiences at the festivals were so amazing and mind-blowing. It was a completely different experience than I've ever had before. The fact that people liked it was also great. When we filmed it, we couldn't imagine the outcome of just how wonderful it is. It will be something that's very dear to me, the whole experience.

After an experience like this, do you find yourself gravitating to more smaller, indie films?

Yasmin Paige: Well, Submarine is one of the only things I can draw from. I don't really know the difference between studio films and indie films are. I wouldn't know if there is a huge difference. I certainly would love to have the same experience I had here, but I don't think it would ever be the same.

What would you like to say to anyone who didn't see Submarine in theaters about why they should pick up the DVD or Blu-ray next week?

Yasmin Paige: Because it's really good (Laughs). The cinematography is really, really good. I think I've said that in every interview, but it really, really is. Whichever TV you have, it will still look amazing.

Great. Thanks so much for your time, Yasmin. It was a pleasure to talk to you.

Yasmin Paige: Thank you very much. It was lovely talking to you too.

You can watch Yasmin Paige in Submarine, which hits the shelves on Blu-ray and DVD October 4.

Submarine was released June 3rd, 2011 and stars Noah Taylor, Paddy Considine, Craig Roberts, Yasmin Paige, Sally Hawkins, Darren Evans, Osian Cai Dulais, Lily McCann. The film is directed by Richard Ayoade.


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CONTEST: Win Scream 4 on DVD

Oct 2, 2011 by Brian Gallagher
The horror sequel Scream 4 will hit the shelves on Blu-ray and DVD October 4, and we just have to celebrate this new movie from director Wes Craven. We have a contest running and we're giving away copies of the Blu-ray to our readers. You know these high-def horror discs will go fast, so enter this contest today.

Scream 4 DVD

Just "Like" (fan) the MovieWeb Facebook page (below) and then leave a comment below telling us why these prizes must be yours!

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Directed by suspense master and director of the first trilogy, Wes Craven, Scream 4 is the newest installment in the acclaimed franchise that ushered in a new wave of horror in the 1990s. In Scream 4, Sidney Prescott (Neve Campbell), now the author of a self-help book, returns home to Woodsboro on the last stop of her book tour. There she reconnects with Sheriff Dewey (David Arquette) and Gale (Courteney Cox), who are now married, as well as her cousin Jill (Emma Roberts). Unfortunately Sidney's appearance also brings about the return of Ghost Face, putting Sidney, Gale, and Dewey, along with Jill, her friends (Hayden Panettiere, Rory Culkin) and the whole town of Woodsboro in danger.


"The Making of Scream 4" featuretteAlternate OpeningExtended EndingDeleted and Extended ScenesGag Reel

Scream 4 was released April 15th, 2011 and stars Lucy Hale, Roger Jackson, Shenae Grimes, Dane Farwell, Anna Paquin, Kristen Bell, Aimee Teegarden, Brittany Robertson. The film is directed by Wes Craven.


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EXCLUSIVE: Robert Forster Talks Jackie Brown Blu-ray

Oct 4, 2011 by Brian Gallagher
Robert Forster discusses Jackie Brown

Most people familiar with director Quentin Tarantino's work know he has a penchant for reviving the careers of actors he admires. John Travolta was coming off Look Who's Talking Now before Pulp Fiction put him in the spotlight again, David Carradine started getting a lot more movie work after Kill Bill Vol. 1, and stuntwoman-turned-actress Zoe Bell made a name for herself in Death Proof. Out of all Quentin Tarantino's career revivals, though, my favorite still has to be Robert Forster in the superb Elmore Leonard adaptation Jackie Brown, which makes its Blu-ray debut October 4. Robert Forster completely shines as bail bondsman Max Cherry, a role which earned him an Academy Award nomination for Best Supporting Actor. I recently had the pleasure of speaking with Robert Forster over the phone to discuss Jackie Brown. Here's what he had to say below.

Jackie Brown is still one of my favorite Tarantino films, and I'm a big Elmore Leonard fan as well. Were you familiar with this book or Elmore Leonard's work before reading the script and discovering Max Cherry?

Robert Forster: No. I ran into Quentin in a coffee shop. I had auditioned for him for Reservoir Dogs, and, while I was talking with him, he said he was making a script out of Elmore Leonard's Rum Punch. He said, 'Why don't you read it?' So I did, and six months later, in the same coffee shop, he handed me a script and said, 'Read this, if you feel like it.' I did get the audio book of Mr. Paradise when it was one of his newer books, at the time.

This was such a revolutionary role for you, to show people you were still around.

Robert Forster: Oh, my career was dead. I didn't have an agent, a manager, a lawyer, nothing. At that point, I was hoping some kid who liked me growing up would turn into a movie-maker and give me a good job. That's what happened.

Can you talk about working with Quentin on the set? I know he has a very unique style, but this was his first adaptation.

Robert Forster: First of all, he writes period dialogue. Nobody writes dialogue as good as he does. You start out with something that not only comes out of your mouth easily, but it comes out the way thoughts come out of your mouth. He writes stuff that you know is great to begin with. As I remember, he always has very interesting little pieces of direction. The best direction I ever remember getting from him was, early on he said, 'Just make me believe it.' For an actor, that's the basic thing you have to remember. Make it truthful and make sure the audience believes what's going on. He was fun. He was fun on the set. Most sets aren't nearly as much fun, and everybody contributes to that fun, not just the big guys. Sometimes the producers or whoever the big guys are stand around the set, kissing ass with the director. They're the only ones who get to say anything fun. On Quentin's set, the guy who brought the coffee had fun and added to it, the guy who pushed the dolly, everyone on that set was a part of that set. There were practical jokes and it was really the most memorable set I've ever been on. There were things that happened there that you wouldn't expect to happen on a movie set.

That's impressive as well, with such a huge cast like this, this incredible ensemble. It's great to hear that the whole environment really permeated throughout the set.

Robert Forster: It did indeed, actually.

Elmore Leonard had said that Jackie Brown was one of the most faithful adaptations of his novels, even though there are some key changes, like Jackie Brown is actually white in the book, and things like that. I was curious if you ever went back and revisited the book after the movie?

Robert Forster: I don't think I ever did read the book again, but I remember when I read the script that, 'Ah, Max Cherry doesn't have a wife anymore.' In the book, he had an ex-wife and he was in a really good relationship. I thought to myself, these aren't the kinds of things you usually think of, when you think of a hard-boiled detective. These were honest and real things. Of course, movies can only be so long and you can't put everything in, so I realized right away that he had slimmed down the needs of the story to what story he wanted to tell. It was a great story, so I stopped worrying about what Rum Punch included, as soon as I read the script. I knew I was into something here that was its own thing, and it was great.

You have most of your scenes with Pam (Grier), Samuel L. Jackson, and Tommy (Lister). Can you talk about your time on the set with them? Did you have a lot of time to get to know them before you started shooting?

Robert Forster: First of all, Quentin did something I had never experienced before. We did a rehearsal period. Not just a table read, but for two weeks, we went to each of the locations and anyone who was in the scenes at those locations went for a couple of days. We read the material, got a chance to feel what it was like, and during those days is when I got to know the other actors a little bit. These are actors who I had great admiration for and who were really at the top of their game. These were big actors, and I hadn't had a big start in some years. My career was dead, so showing up there with Michael Keaton, Robert De Niro, Samuel L. Jackson, you name it. Everybody on that set was really, really good. Getting to know them a bit eased me back into a big start, for a guy who hadn't had one in a long time. Some of the things he did made it really easy to work with these actors who had big reputations.

There are so many memorable moments in this movie, for me. I was wondering if there is a scene you shot, or maybe something that happened behind-the-scenes, which will always stand out for you when you think about Jackie Brown?

Robert Forster: The last scene in the picture. He said to me at the beginning of the day, 'I haven't really decided how this movie is going to end. But today we're going to shoot the scene where Pam comes and you have your goodbye.' There was a point where he said, 'Now, when we get into the last moment, when you kiss, the phone is going to ring. Pick it up.' I said, 'OK.' We shot it once, and then we shot it a second time. I don't think we shot it more than twice, but the first time, I was unprepared for whatever was going to be at the end of that telephone call. When I realized there wasn't anything at the end of that phone call, I started thinking about who I was talking to. The second time I knew who I was talking to, a mother whose child was in trouble. I asked her whether the father was still around, but those were little improvised remarks, based on Quentin saying, 'At a certain moment during the scene, the phone will ring. Pick it up.' That was a moment during the movie where I said to myself, 'Geez, I'm working with a real master.' It was right near the end of the picture, as I remember, and that really stands out. Although, there are many other things. Quentin populated the Max Cherry set with personal items of mine. He came to my house, prior to shooting, asking me some personal things, what certain things were. I told him about my father, who had been on the Ringling circus during the 30s. He borrowed some for the art department. They put some of my father's bull hooks, he was an elephant trainer, he put that in my office. I opened the drawer one day and in the drawer there were business cards that said 'Max Cherry.' He gave me every reason to own that set, so when I did my first scenes with Samuel L. Jackson, I was the owner and that was my space. That gave me the great bearing on that set. These are the things that this guy does that nobody else does. He played music. Remember when Pam comes out of the prison and I get my first look at her? Quentin played the music and boy, this is the kind of thing that swells your insides. It shows on your face. When you had a telephone call with somebody, usually you would be talking with the script supervisor. This time, you picked up the phone and it was Samuel L. Jackson and we do our scene. It's not that hard to do, but nobody does it. This guy is totally his own guy with his own knowledge of how to make a movie. He's something.

You have a role on Alcatraz, which is a highly-anticipated new show. Is there anything you can say about your character, Ray Archer?

Robert Forster: Well, only that I possess some of the secrets which will be revealed, eventually, in the series. I run a bar, I am the father figure of the lead girl, Sarah Jones, and I was, in the story, a guard at Alcatraz, before I transferred into the San Francisco Police Department and became a detective. Sarah Jones decided she wants to be a detective too. I am retired and run a bar. When they shoot that bar, I go up to Vancouver and shoot it and when I'm not in the bar, I come back to Los Angeles. It's my part-time job, but I do possess some knowledge of the events that lead to the mystery of what Alcatraz is about. It's a real fun series. There is a lot going on.

Do you know how many episodes you'll be in during the first season?

Robert Forster: I'm contracted to be in 10 out of the 13, so I won't be in all of them, but when they need be, I'll go up to shoot it and then come back down.

Finally, what would you like to say to fans of the movie, or to anyone who, for some reason, has not seen Jackie Brown, about why they should pick up the Blu-ray this week?

Robert Forster: Well, it's crystal-clear! It's the best version of it. If you like your movies, Blu-ray is a fabulous way to see them.

Excellent. That's about all I have. Thank you so much for talking to me, Robert. It's been a real pleasure.

Robert Forster: The pleasure is mine. Thank you.

You can watch Robert Forster's phenomenal performance as Max Cherry in Jackie Brown, which is available for the first time ever on Blu-ray October 4.

Jackie Brown was released December 25th, 1997 and stars Pam Grier, Samuel L. Jackson, Robert Forster, Bridget Fonda, Michael Keaton, Robert De Niro, Michael Bowen, Chris Tucker. The film is directed by Quentin Tarantino.


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CONTEST: Win The Walking Dead: Season 1 Blu-ray Special Edition!

Oct 3, 2011 by Brian Gallagher
The Walking Dead: Season 1 will be re-released in a new special edition Blu-ray, DVD, and a Limited Edition Collector's Tin Blu-ray on October 4, just in time for The Walking Dead Season 2 premiere on Sunday, October 17. You know we have to celebrate these special editions, so we're giving away copies of these Blu-ray sets to our readers. These high-def TV boxed sets will go fast, so enter this contest today.

The Walking Dead Special Edition Blu-ray

Just "Like" (fan) the MovieWeb Facebook page (below) and then leave a comment below telling us why these prizes must be yours!

If you already "Like" MovieWeb, just leave a comment below telling us why these prizes must be yours!

The Walking Dead, AMC's hit original series that Entertainment Weekly hailed as the "best new show on TV", gets a new release on Blu-ray and DVD this fall that's sure to wake the dead! Anchor Bay Entertainment proudly releases the AMC original series The Walking Dead: Season 1 - Special Edition on October 4, 2011. Available in three versions (Special Edition DVD, Special Edition Blu-ray and Limited Edition Blu-ray Collector's Tin), each set contains all six episodes of the first season and is loaded with NEW behind-the-scenes featurettes, audio commentaries, extra footage and the fan-requested black and white version of the pilot episode. In addition to the Blu-ray special edition, a limited edition collector's tin contains an exclusive wearable zombie mask from NECA designed by the series own make-up artist, Greg Nicotero. The first 100,000 units of the Blu-ray and Limited Edition Collector's Tin together includes an exclusive Cryptozoic The Walking Dead trading card.




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EXCLUSIVE: Jordana Brewster Talks Fast Five

Oct 2, 2011 by Brian Gallagher
Jordana Brewster talks Fast Five

Actress Jordana Brewster was primarily known as a soap opera star, appearing on over 100 episodes of As the World Turns, before landing her breakthrough role as Mia Toretto in 2001's The Fast and the Furious. The actress returned to the franchise in 2009's Fast & Furious and in this year's blockbuster Fast Five, which hits the shelves on Blu-ray and DVD October 4. I recently had the chance to speak with Jordana Brewster over the phone about Fast Five. Here's what she had to say below.

This franchise has such a long and storied history. When you first went in for The Fast and the Furious 10 years ago, what would you have said if someone told you that you'd be talking about the fifth movie, 10 years later?

Jordana Brewster: I think I'd be pretty incredulous. I was still in school, an East-coaster, so I didn't really drive. I just knew we were making a movie about cars. I don't think any of us had any clue this would grow to be something so big, and that would resonate so much with the fans.

Did you all get this gear-head crash course when you went in for the first movie?

Jordana Brewster: Well, I'm the only one that didn't have a license. Everyone else did, so they said I had to get my license and then go to Las Vegas to go to this driving school. I was like, 'What do you mean? If I don't even have my license, how the heck am I going to participate in a driving school?' But, I did and I was really scared. 10 years later, I'm a better driver, but it did take me about that long.

That's awesome. The franchise took a few different turns after the first movie. Were you ever offered parts in the other sequels, 2 Fast 2 Furious and The Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift? Did you follow the franchise as it grew?

Jordana Brewster: Yeah, I especially loved The Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift. (Director) Justin Lin and I were working together on Annapolis, and while they were in post for Annapolis, he was working on the deal for Tokyo Drift. I was so excited that he was going to take over the franchise. I thought it was such a perfect fit. No, I wasn't offered a role in those, because if I had, I would be in them. I love the franchise and I love playing Mia.

You hear the phrase "upping the ante" a lot with sequels, but this franchise seems to really know what they're doing when it comes to that. Each movie adds a lot of new elements and this movie brings in cast members from all of the sequels. Can you talk about the dynamic of being on a set like that, creating this big family?

Jordana Brewster: That's what keeps it fresh, and I think keeps it really fun. It's the same core characters from the first one, but then you have Tyrese Gibson and Ludacris from the second one. Tyrese is such a fun guy to be around on the set because you never know what he's going to do. He's a really funny guy and kind of a practical jokester. Then Ludacris, I never thought I'd be in a movie with Ludacris, and I'm such a massive fan of his. I have a bunch of songs of his on my iPod. I was like this schoolgirl fan. I think for the fans, it was fun because they get to see the characters evolve and see where they're at now. Everyone is part of the heist for different reasons and they all have their own motivations. Also, I think changing the setting helps a lot, and being in Rio, what better place to go?

Justin's career has really taken off with this franchise. Can you talk about working with him on this, and what his sensibilities really bring to an action franchise like this?

Jordana Brewster: He's just a wonderful leader. He's very calm and he knows exactly what he wants, which is amazing. You just feel so safe in his hands, which on such a big movie with so much at stake, it's so great to have a director that's like that. He also cares a lot about the characters, and the integrity of the characters and their relationships. He's very collaborative. He meets with each actor, one-on-one, and you can also email back and forth and discuss the characters. It's great that he has so much on his plate, and yet he makes time for that. It's amazing.

There is a Fast & Furious 6 in development right now, and I know they recently hired Chris Morgan to write the script. Have heard anything at all about that?

Jordana Brewster: No, I haven't heard anything official yet.

I'm interested to see how they will up the ante again, and if everyone comes back. do you have a location in mind where you would like to see the whole team go to?

Jordana Brewster: It'd be really fun to go to Europe. That would be really fun.

Have the whole gang on the Autobahn? That would be kind of insane.

Jordana Brewster: That would be awesome.

It's fairly rare to see the fifth movie in a franchise out-gross the first movie. What do you think keeps bringing in the fans even more so this time around?

Jordana Brewster: I think Vin Diesel, who is one of the producers, and Justin Lin, they don't take the fans for granted. Technology has changed so much and action has changed so much. I think we know we have to give them something new, like bringing everyone back from the old ones and bringing in someone like Dwayne Johnson, who adds a complete new flavor to the franchise and ups the ante in terms of Dom's showdown. The story is one of the most important things as well, adding the heist element. And yeah, I think they just work really hard at making it good, basically.

I was wondering if you could talk a bit about Dallas. Could you talk a bit about your character, Elena Ramos, and what you really hope fans take away from this new show?

Jordana Brewster: You know, I'm on the third season now of the original Dallas. It's just so much fun to watch. When I saw our pilot, I got so emotional when the theme song came on. It's like you're a part of something so iconic. I just hope the fans of the original series like watching the new generation interact with Bobby and J.R. Ewing and Sue Ellen. It's kind of like what happens with Fast, you get to pick up where characters left off and you get to see them evolve. There is still family drama playing out, there are those who still care about money more than anything and those who care about the family more than anything. There are those age-old themes that are so much fun to watch play out.

Can you talk a bit about your character, Elena?

Jordana Brewster: Well, I'm in a love triangle between John Ross Jr. (Josh Henderson) and Christopher (Jesse Metcalfe). I grew up with the boys on the ranch, so I'm very familiar with their antics. It's a really fun, juicy role to play. I'm also an engineer.

I know Fast Five did fantastic at the box office, but, what would you like to say to anyone who didn't see it in theaters, or people who might be on the fence about the movie, about why they should pick it up on Blu-ray or DVD?

Jordana Brewster: They should watch it because there's something for everyone. There's drama, there's a beautiful setting, and the action is just unbelievable. They're missing out if they don't watch it.

Great. That's about all I have. Thanks so much for talking to me, Jordana

Jordana Brewster: Thank you very much.

You can watch Jordana Brewster return as Mia Toretto when Fast Five debuts on Blu-ray and DVD October 4.

Fast Five was released April 29th, 2011 and stars Vin Diesel, Paul Walker, Jordana Brewster, Tyrese Gibson, Ludacris, Matt Schulze, Sung Kang, Gal Gadot. The film is directed by Justin Lin.


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EXCLUSIVE: Prohibition Blu-ray Clip

Ken Burns's and Lynn Novick's engaging, entertaining and enlightening documentary about the rise and fall of the 18th Amendment debuts on Blu-ray and DVD when Ken Burns: Prohibition arrives on October 4, 2011 from PBS Home Video and Paramount Home Entertainment. We have an exclusive look at this exciting release with the clip below.

A fascinating story that goes beyond the oft-told tales of gangsters, rum runners, flappers and speakeasies to raise profound questions about the proper role of government, individual rights and responsibilities, Ken Burns: Prohibition delves deep into how a society founded on individual freedom became a nation of scofflaws and hypocrites. Told through expert interviews, vintage footage and compelling images, the five-and-a-half hour film explores how the enshrining of a faith-driven moral code in the Constitution paradoxically caused millions of Americans to rethink their definition of morality.


Bonus Scenes:In the StudioOwled, Edged, Jingled, Piffed...Kentucky BourbonAnd I Caught HellHe Never Did Get CaughtSan Francisco Welcomes Visitors From Italy, 1921Hoover's Medicine Ball CabinetAn Object of RidiculeTen Nights in a Bar RoomInterview Outtakes:SaloonsThe Notion That Man Is PerfectableIt's Better to Know the JudgeThat's Just the Way Life WasRebels of New YorkSomebody Got a PineappleKentuckyCaponeRoy OlmsteadTabloid HeroesYou People Were ThirstyGangsBad BoozeLessons

Ken Burns: Prohibition is available October 4th on Blu-ray and DVD.


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Tuesday, October 11, 2011

Courageous

Bill GibronBill Gibron is a veteran film critic from Tampa, Florida.

It's dogma and drama that drive the new Christian-based film Courageous...and there's way too much of both present. As for the latter, we get saddled with a suffocating story involving law enforcement officers, a random Mexican immigrant, and a dead daughter. It's then transformed into a kind of callous Sermon on the Cinematic Mount. Instead of positing that life is too short and that it should be valued greatly, the flawed fallback position of Born Again religious ferocity arrives in full force, leading grown men to weep openly about their lack of parenting skills while applying that silly social salve -- What Would Jesus Do?

Apparently, Christ would chase gang members through the streets of Albany, Georgia while contemplating his final place in Heaven. That's the main thrust of this narrative, as policeman Adam Mitchell (co-writer/director Alex Kendrick) tries to cope with the loss of his beloved child. Having died before he could have a final dance with her, the tragedy begins to tear a hole in the rest of the family as well as the fabric of his friendships with buddies Nathan Hayes (Ken Bevel), David Thomson (Ben Davies), and Shane Fuller (Kevin Downes). What to do? Well, vow to become a better dad to his remaining kid, as well as do what any right thinking person would -- sign a pledge contract to guarantee such a stance.

From then on it's more racially insensitive stereotypes and blatant Bible-thumping hysterics. Kendrick, who has been responsible for all four films in the Sherwood Baptist Church's growing repertoire (Flywheel, Facing the Giants, and Fireproof being the others) is like a white Tyler Perry. He favors filling his plotlines with as many melodramatic dilemmas and character cliches as possible. Then, he hammers everything home with a sacred sledgehammer. However, unlike his African-American better, Kendrick fails to apply any brakes. There's no comedy, no clever way of delivering the word to the novice or nonbeliever. Instead, Courageous calculates that it will take you a little over two hours to find your inner faith, and then it goes about boring you during the achingly arduous search.

As with many religion-oriented efforts, questions of spirituality are quickly replaced with mandates from the Maker. Men are considered the hand of the Lord within the community while women precariously walk the path between liberated and limited to the kitchen. Everything else is adversity -- or a misguided Hispanic waiting for the Word. While this kind of simplified social view wins points with an audience ill prepared to deal with something akin to reality, it renders Courageous a well-meaning but misguided parable. It's not a reflection of life as it actually is. Instead, it's a dumbed down dreamscape where all problems can be solved by moralizing...and a whole lot of prayer.

Instead of striving for balance, finding a way to make such blatant preaching palatable to the general populace, this is pure propaganda, clamoring to the converted in a way that makes for a stilted message and even less effective entertainment. Unless you are one of those saved viewers who immediately toss their hand into the air in order to link directly with your compassionate co-pilot, this entire experience will be a chore, like an even more arch episode of the 700 Club. Kendrick is not out to win over the heathen. Instead, he lets the overall experience recreate a kind of Hell for the skeptic.

Had the narrative been less whiny about God and given us more reasons to embrace Him, Courageous might have worked. Without a doubt, the plight of the police officer is more than enough to invest in a bit of celluloid soul searching. Sadly, this particular Gospel is not very good.   


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The Ides of March

Bill GibronBill Gibron is a veteran film critic from Tampa, Florida.Scandal in politics is nothing new. It's been a part of the process since favors could be fostered with the drop of a dollar. So when a movie like The Ides of March hints that it will offer up yet another look at a controversial candidate beset by the dire decisions of a bunch of power hungry yes men, the stakes are raised substantially. After all, there's everything from All the President's Men to Primary Colors to contend with, and with the 24 hour news cycle seemingly breaking a new outrage nightly (if not hourly), expectations within such a storyline are very high indeed. That's what makes The Ides of March all the more disconcerting. While well acted and expertly directed, it doesn't tell us anything we don't already know or suspect. Instead of really shocking us with something unsavory, we wind up walking down the same sex scandal road.

In the hotly contested battle for the Democratic Party's nomination for President, two candidates have emerged - the favored Mike Morris (George Clooney), Governor of Pennsylvania and sitting Senator Pullman (Michael Mantell). The former is guided by the political pro Paul Zara (Philip Seymour Hoffman) and heralded young gun Stephen Meyers (Ryan Gosling). The latter is led by seasoned vet Tom Duffy (Paul Giamatti). In the key state of Ohio, trouble starts brewing between the camps.

Both want the endorsement of former contender Senator Thompson (Jeffrey Wright) and are hounded by New York Times reporter Ida Horowicz (Marisa Tomei). When a young intern (Evan Rachel Wood) in Morris's camp befriends Stephen, her subsequently discovered secret sets things spiraling out of control. It leaves our earnest consultant wondering if he can continue working for someone so flawed, as well as what to do with such potentially explosive information.

You expect better from George Clooney. From Confessions of a Dangerous Mind to Good Night and Good Luck (Heck, even Leatherheads), he's an interesting filmmaker with an equally unusual eye for material. From a baffling biopic of one of TV's most memorable producers to the coming of age of professional football, he knows source. So it's disappointing the something like The Ides of March isn't more compelling. Clooney coming to the political arena with his obvious creative and philosophical bent boldly displayed should be something sensational. Instead, the performances and expert highlighting of same have to make up for a core conceit that's as old as the mistress or the missing campaign funds. We don't much care what did or did not happen in a hotel room in Iowa, but the movie makes a massive mountain out of this otherwise minor personal molehill.

The source material, a play entitled Farragut North, obviously believed that bravura stage acting would overcome the derivative nature of the narrative. On film, such connections are tenuous at best. The audience has to believe in the people and issues at hand or they will tune out and turn off. Here, no matter how great Gosling, Hoffman, Giamatti, Tomei or Wood are -- and they are indeed excellent -- the reason for all the internal uproar and professional backstabbing is specious at best. Without spoiling the surprise, it's the kind of trouble that probably plaques most in positions of power and yet never makes it beyond a bevy of well-paid problem solvers.

Clooney clearly wants to send a message to the American people. He wants them to understand that politics have been and always will be dirty, that even the most noble and likeminded among the participants will eventually fall into the temptations that come with such a commitment. It's just too bad then that the eventual reveal is so redundant. We expect more from the star...and the subjects he chooses to champion.


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Blackthorn

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First-time director and inventively prolific screenwriter Mateo Gil (Agora, The Sea Inside) resurrects the ghost of bank-robbing bandit Butch Cassidy -- without his companion the Sundance Kid -- in the new Western Blackthorn. Musing in the hypothetical, Gil unfreezes the final, tragic frame of George Roy Hill's 1973 adventure film and carries out his own personal (but our largely unwanted) wish-fulfillment: what if Butch Cassidy had miraculously escaped the gun-wielding hand of his bounty and the encroaching Bolivian army, living out his remaining days bound to the fruitful Bolivian land? Taming and caring for horses for nearly twenty years under the identity James Blackthorn (Sam Shepard), the now grey and grizzled Cassidy longs to return to America, specifically California, where his distant niece awaits. So he sets out on horse, carrying $6,000 in his saddle, a life's savings intended to pull him through the remainder of his twilight years. However when Blackthorn's horse is upended by a trigger-happy, on-the-run Spaniard, Eduardo, he is penniless and left without transport.

Unaccustomed to the destitute West, Eduardo promises Blackthorn a significant share of a stolen $50,000 purse, stowed away in a far-off mine -- so long as Blackthorn acts as guide and savior. The curmudgeon reluctantly aggress, and the two men begin their travels; of course, camaraderie ensues, punctuated by the inevitable life-saving moments.

Riffing on George Roy Hill's 1970s masterpiece, Gil mistakenly depicts Cassidy in his younger years when the buddy bank robbers -- accompanied by Sundance's illustrious, gun-toting girlfriend (Dominique Mcelligott) -- decided to make that one last score. Hunted by private contractor Mackinley (Stephen Rea), the exiled trio of American looters are shown constantly on the run and romantically entangled. Covering ground already revealed in the previous film does not proves to be a favorable comparison.

Some forty years after its initial release, Hill's revisionist interpretation of the American West, which brought and continues to bring its charismatic, bad-boy 'heroes' into the twenty-first century, reveals itself not only as a cinematic treasure but an essential work of narrative still as lively, fun, and tragic as ever. However in Blackthorn, Robert Redford and Paul Newman are replaced by poor imitators; granted, as the young Butch and Sundance, Nikolaj Coster-Waldau and Padraic Delaney are competing with screen legends and handed monotonous scenes, lazy pages begging for William Goldman dialogue.

However, Gil's very conceit -- a reinvention, alteration, and eventually, bastardization of a timeless myth -- proves to be paradoxically troublesome. Though he himself is just as much a part of Western cultural lore, playwright-actor Sam Shepard delivers a performance that never aligns with the brash and gallant Cassidy we have come to know. In fact, Blackthorn feels stale, cantankerous, and grandfatherly -- a lugubrious iteration best left in the comically tragic 'Live Hard, Die Young' attitude of its predecessor.

Aging is difficult enough, and Blackthorn seems intent on ruining the fantasy. Even our cinematic gods cannot escape the passage of time. We are all subject to it. Yes, it is an obvious point, and sometimes, we do need to be put in our place, told to slow down, and given a hard dose of reality: this whole thing, life, is impermanent. Yet Blackthorn unintentionally resorts to the pernicious. It strips Cassidy of the myth, reminding us that even Paul Newman couldn't escape old age.

But who wants to remember Newman in his frail final years, his spine hunched and thin frame barely able to lift itself. We do need our legends. And cinema, photographing man at his most appealing and valiant, has the ability to create, project at twenty-feet, and replay such imperfect (human) legends in perpetuity.

The Greeks had Homer's Odysseus. The Elizabethans had Shakespeare's Henry V. Today, I like Newman's Cassidy. Even in the face of certain death, he had a smile on his face and a joke on his mind as he made one last, hopeless effort for life on his own terms. And that's something to admire.

Also check out... Gunning for the Number One Spot - The Western's Best Jesse James Tweet Comments: See more in: Blackthorn Nikolaj Coster Waldau Stephen Rea Dominique McElligott Eduardo Noriega PĂ¡draic Delaney Magaly Solier Cristian Mercado Fernando Gamarra Luis Bredow Daniel Aguirre Maria Luque Sam Shepard Mateo Gil IbĂ³n Cormenzana AndrĂ©s Santana Miguel Barros Miguel Barros Newest Oldest Most Replies Most Liked
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Human Centipede 2: Full Sequence

Josh BellJosh Bell is the film editor for Las Vegas Weekly.

For all the people who were disappointed that Tom Six's 2010 The Human Centipede (First Sequence) wasn't disgusting enough, there's good news: Six's new The Human Centipede II (Full Sequence) ups the gross-out factor tenfold, testing the endurance of even the most hardcore horror fans. For all the controversy surrounding it, the original Centipede showed surprisingly little; the new movie shows everything.

Six seems to subscribe to the idea that more is better, and the most dedicated Centipede fans may feel that way as well, although the movie is also perversely designed as a rather condescending critique of the devotees of extreme cinema. The villain here is not the refined, sadistic scientist Dr. Heiter of the first film (played with memorable relish by Dieter Laser), but a Human Centipede fan in the "real" world. Yes, Six's latest bad guy is one of his own followers, a fat, asthmatic, possibly mentally challenged parking-garage attendant named Martin (played by British stage actor and performance artist Laurence R. Harvey in his screen debut). Martin has, to put it mildly, kind of an unpleasant home life: He lives in a dingy London flat with his screeching mother (Vivien Bridson) and is haunted by memories of being sexually abused by his father (who's now in prison, a situation for which Martin's mother blames her son). Even the therapist who's allegedly trying to help Martin is a perverted creep.

The one bright spot in Martin's miserable existence? Why, it's The Human Centipede, of course, which he watches obsessively on his computer while at work and fantasizes about incessantly. He puts together a scrapbook of press clippings about the movie and its stars, makes his own drawings of Dr. Heiter's human-centipede diagrams and even keeps an actual centipede as a pet. Martin's greatest goal in life is to create his own human centipede, and thus he goes about collecting subjects in a much less methodical manner than Dr. Heiter did, clubbing random parking-garage patrons over the head with a crowbar and dragging them to an empty warehouse. While Dr. Heiter was meticulous and sadistic, Martin is sloppy and unhinged, and thus his efforts are much messier. Since he has no surgical knowledge beyond that imparted by the villain of a horror movie, Martin's centipede-creating methods involve dirty kitchen knives and a staple gun, not exactly the most sterile or effective medical tools.

The first half of the movie is nearly convincing as a deliberately punishing art film, between Harvey's wordless performance (Martin never speaks a single line) and Six's decision to shoot in black and white. While the original Centipede wrapped its grotesquerie in a pretty conventional horror-movie plot, the sequel has no story whatsoever, just a series of violent scenes as Martin gathers up his subjects. Six even brings back original actress Ashlynn Yennie, this time playing herself, lured to London by Martin's promise of an audition for a Quentin Tarantino film. Those little meta touches are surely meant to be amusing, but they come off as more self-aggrandizing, with Six inflating the importance of his own film as a worthy subject for a feature-length deconstruction.

Once Martin gathers his subjects and gets around to the cutting and stapling, the movie loses all pretenses to art or social commentary, instead literally wallowing in blood and feces for a good 45 minutes. Six's version of Steven Spielberg's use of red in Schindler's List is to show the excrement in vivid brown, the only color in the otherwise monochromatic film. The whole thing ends with a cop-out twist that both invalidates the previous 90 minutes of punishment and makes explicit the fanboy critique that had been lurking in the background. If Six is now deliberately insulting and alienating his own fans, who will be around to watch The Human Centipede III (Final Sequence)? With luck, no one.


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The 10 Best Closing Songs in Movies

Nina Hämmerling Smithis Filmcritic.com's features editor.A great final scene can stay with you long after a film's over. And when it's paired with a great closing song, well, that can stay with you forever.

Herewith, our list of the top 10 best movie closing songs.

action-comics-125.jpg10. Rushmore: "Ooh La La," The Faces   
For a quirky, bittersweet movie about a precocious school boy and his unconventional friendship with an older businessman (Bill Murray), nothing could capture the mood better than this nostalgic 1973 song. At the heart of Rushmore is an unrequited love story, and this wistful sound permeates the final scene, where Max (Jason Schwartzman) proves he's moved past his crush but his eyes still burn and time slows down when he meets Rosemary (Olivia Williams) on the dance floor. 

Key Lyric: "I wish that I knew what I know now when I was younger."


action-comics-125.jpg9. Good Will Hunting: "Miss Misery," Elliott Smith
As Will Hunting (Matt Damon) takes off in his Chevy to California, having decided to pursue the girl instead of settling down and accepting a new job, Elliott Smith's poignant song accompanies him as he literally drives off into the sunset.

Key Lyric: "I know you'd rather see me gone/Than to see me the way that I am/But I am in the life anyway."

wonder-woman-chiang-125.jpg8. The Matrix: "Wake Up," Rage Against the Machine
"I know you're afraid of us, afraid of change," Neo says. Flash to a systems failure in the matrix, then to him taking off in flight from a crowded city street, then to a black screen just as the hard-driving opening chords and angry lyrics start up.

Key Lyric: "I'll give ya a dose/But it'll never come close/To the rage built up inside of me/Fist in the air, in the land of hypocrisy."

Catwoman-125-comic.jpg7. Flashdance: "Flashdance ... What a Feeling," Irene Cara
Alex (Jennifer Beals) finally gets the big audition at the dance conservatory, despite her lack of training and her day job as a steel welder. And what does she do? Dance her heart out, astounding the staid old dance judges, and then run out the door, naturally. The song is so closely associated with the movie, they even share a name.

Key Lyric: "I can have it all, now I'm dancing for my life/Take your passion/And make it happen."

Catwoman-125-comic.jpg6. Harold and Maude: "Trouble," Cat Stevens
For such a quiet movie, the ending is pretty dramatic, as clips of the death-obsessed Harold (Bud Cort) driving his car at top speed toward a cliff are intercut with scenes from the hospital as he gets the news that Maude (Ruth Gordon) has died. The build-up of the song and the denouement are perfectly synced. And then of course it switches to the more upbeat "If You Want to Sing Out, Sing Out," and we see that Harold ditched the car and is happily strumming his banjo.

Key Lyric: "Trouble/Oh trouble set me free/I have seen your face/And it's too much too much for me."

animal-man-125.jpg5. The Breakfast Club: "Don't You Forget About Me," Simple Minds
As the kids go their separate ways, with their lessons about themselves and each other ready to transform all their school days ahead -- or not, depending on how you like to imagine it -- we hear the strains of Simple Minds' anthemic song. And who could forget Bender (Judd Nelson) strutting off and giving that fist pump?

Key Lyric: "Will you recognize me?/Call my name or walk on by?"


sinestro-comic-125.jpg4. Beetlejuice: "Jump in the Line," Harry Belafonte
A Tim Burton movie that actually has a happy ending! Well, if you consider a loner teenage girl finding acceptance with her surrogate ghost parents while her unsatisfactory real parents live in the same haunted house a happy ending. When Lydia (Winona Ryder) gets an A on her math test, Adam and Barbara (Alec Baldwin and Geena Davis) reward her by staging a little floating dance party, complete with dead-football-player backup dancers, to this jumpin' calypso song.

Key Lyric: "Shake, shake, shake, Senora, shake it all the time."

batgirl-125.jpg3. Ferris Bueller's Day Off: "Oh Yeah," Yello
Charming movie about a high school boy's charmed life. After a nearly perfect day of free-spirited fun, Ferris (Matthew Broderick) leans back in bed, puts his hands behind his head and says, "Yup, I've said it before and I'll say it again: Life moves pretty fast. You don't stop and look around once in a while, you could miss it." The satisfied little smile creeping up on his lips is perfectly punctuated: "Oh yeah..."

Key Lyric: There aren't a whole lot of 'em; the title's the most notable one.


justice-league-125-comic.jpg2. The Graduate: "The Sounds of Silence," Simon & Garfunkel
In the dramatic finale, Ben (Dustin Hoffman) bursts into stop Elaine (Katharine Ross) from getting married, then takes her away with him ... on the bus. They run to the back, sit on the bench and then realize that they have to figure out what to do next. The silence between them is profound, as is the song.

Key Lyric: "Hello darkness, my old friend/I've come to talk with you again."

batgirl-125.jpg1. Monty Python's Life of Brian: "Look on the Bright Side of Life," Eric Idle
This absurdly optimistic ditty is made more so by the context, as our hero (Graham Chapman) is strung up on a crucifix alongside his condemned fellows -- one of whom (Eric Idle) starts singing and whistling. It's the perfect close to the Monty Python classic. Of the entire Python repertoire -- and there were plenty of memorable songs -- this remains an all-time favorite.

Key Lyric: "When you're chewing on life's gristle/Don't grumble, give a whistle/And this'll help things turn out for the best."


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Intruders

Bill GibronBill Gibron is a veteran film critic from Tampa, Florida.

One...two...Hollow Face is coming for you...

Doesn't quite trip off the tongue easily, does is? Unlike other horror icons from the past -- Leatherface, Jason, and Mr. Nightmare himself, Freddy Kruger -- this latest attempt at a terror myth (from 28 Weeks Later's director Juan Carlos Fresnadillo) is as wonky as that attempted nursery rhyme sounds. In parallel stories meant to indicate the lingering status of this hooded, featureless fiend, we learn that this is one monster who steals the cherubic cheeks (and everything else) from little kids in order to wear them, all with the desire to get people to...love him? Huh?

Even more confusing, Fresnadillo designs his film as one big puzzle box, offering both the set-up material from the past with material from a more modern setting. Before, young Juan (Izan Corchero) tells his mother Luisa (Pilar Lopez de Ayala) an incomplete ghost story about the ghoul who preys upon unsuspecting wee ones. What happens to him sets up the contemporary material, where a concerned father (Clive Owen) tries to comfort his frightened daughter (Ella Purnell) when it looks like Hollow Face has picked her as his next target. Naturally, a priest (Daniel Bruhl) and a psychiatrist (Kerry Fox) are brought in before the entire narrative crashes into itself and reveals the real connection between the twin tales.

Unlike other entries in the recent Spanish Fright Renaissance -- REC, The Orphanage, Pan's Labyrinth -- Intruders suffers from a wealth of atmosphere and a dearth of basic believability. Hollow Face is an intriguing idea, and for the most part, Fresnadillo renders it well. There is just enough of a creep factor here to get under our skin. But then the coinciding stories step into and over and around each other, rendering various moments of suspense all but moot. As with any mystery, we start focusing on the solution while the clues and red herrings crowd in and confuse us. Indeed, the main issue with Intruders is its ending. We hope for something sensational. All we get is aggravation.

Another issue comes from the core concept - nightmares. In a horror movie, a bad dream is never a bad dream. It's an omen, an attempt by the past to make it into the present (or visa versa), the unreal world leaking over into reality. Because he supposedly doesn't exist, Hollow Face gets that generic "viability through fear" factor that can really destroy dread...and then there's the whole "is it a delusion" dimension which is equally exasperating. After at least an hour of decent scary movie maneuvers, the film falls apart over a final surprise that's neither engaging nor effective.

And then there is the pace. Like a lot of current fright film, Intruders believes in less being more. Like Paranormal Activity, it thinks it can get away with merely offering up a good idea and a limited amount of scares. Sadly, we need more to move us through this otherwise sluggish interfamilial mire. Owen -- who is very good here -- has a wife (Carice Van Houten), who's more of a plot pawn than anything else, and the concern he has for his child is believable. But beyond that, we don't really care about these characters, nor do we wish them any particular ill will. All of our concentration is on Hollow Face, and as a result, we want his story singled out and solved.

That's why the finale is so important -- and so underwhelming. When you craft a creature as potentially memorable as Hollow Face, he deserves more than a minor mixed-up explanation. Intruders has all the makings of a wonderful and atmospheric romp. The actual results are less than impressive.


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Monday, October 10, 2011

Hell and Back Again

Chris BarsantiChris Barsanti has been a Filmcritic reviewer since 2002. So there.

As long as there has been war there have been warriors, and as long as there have been warriors there has been the question of how they stop being warriors once the war (at least for them) is over? As Danfung Dennis's grievously evocative documentary shows, warriors don't stop fighting once they leave the field of battle. All too often, their new enemy is themselves.

Photojournalist Dennis embedded with a company of Marines from the Eighth Regiment in the summer of 2009, just as they were being hurled into the middle of the allies' ramped-up offensive against the Taliban in southern Afghanistan. Without narration, his camera tracks the Marines as they gear up in the dusty, helicopter rotor-whipped base, getting a final sendoff from their commander: "Echo Company is going to change history." Off they fly, deposited with rude and quick violence into the stark tapestry of the southern Afghan hinterlands. The sky burns bright blue and the patches of greenery flare against the dusty fields and mud-brick houses from where invisible Taliban snipe and harass. Seemingly within minutes, a Marine is dead.

Back in the United States, platoon sergeant Nathan Harris is trawling the aisles of a Wal-Mart, bleary with pain medication and motivated only by the possibility of getting back into the field with Echo and finishing his third tour. He's twenty-five and something of an arrested adolescent, with his wispy mustache and loopy, appealing sense of humor that shades quickly into depression. "I got shot in Afghanistan, about a month ago," he says to an old woman in the store, who hears the longing and the sense of loss in his med-wracked drone of his voice and hugs him.

Dennis toggles back and forth between these two dramatic poles with little warning, trying to give the viewer a sense of how it is for somebody like Harris to be summarily ejected from the life that gave him purpose, even as its echoes continue to reverberate through him. One minute we see Harris in full Marine gear frazzled and at wit's end trying to communicate with an Afghan elder through an interpreter, and the next he's slumped in the passenger seat of a car being driven by his patient wife, a purse-size bag of prescription medications between them. Dennis bleeds the sounds of war into the back-home scenes in such a way that it seems the farthest thing from a gimmick, but the closest impression civilians could get of this veteran's mental landscape. The fractured and frightened tensions this effect leaves in the film make it almost seem natural when Harris starts waving around a loaded handgun in his house or the car -- how else to protect oneself against the enemies that are surely out there?

Even while focusing on Harris's rough and mostly unwilling rehabilitation back into civilian life -- he gradually becomes aware that his life as a Marine grunt is over, never mind that that's all he wants to be -- the film leavens in some darkly graceful moments that heighten the impact considerably. Dennis's filming is a work of wonder, with deftly framed and richly colored shots that make so many films shot on handheld cameras look like cheap amateur work in comparison. His ability to merge that gimlet eye for harsh and dramatic beauty with the pitiless realities of his subject, whether it's the tired rage of Afghan villagers sick of getting caught between Taliban and American bullets or the stifling sadness of a memorial service back home, make Hell and Back Again one of the greatest war films of this generation. It has the artistry of a painting and the impact of a sucker punch.


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Toast

Toast - Filmcritic.com Movie Review Filmcritic.com RSS Twitter Facebook filmsite.org The Greatest Films 100 Greatest Films Greatest Quotes The Oscars Most Controversial Films amctv.com Story Matters Here AMC Movie Guide AMC News Games & Quizzes In Theaters New Reviews: Real Steel Human Centipede 2: Full Sequence The Ides of March Blackthorn The Way Intruders Hell and Back Again Toast See All In Theaters Reviews

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Trailers & Video Coming to Theaters In Theaters New on DVD Trailers by Genre Trailers by Decade In Theaters Toast Reviewed by Anthony Benigno on Oct 6 2011 Toast Rated by critic: Rated by users: Rated by you: Anthony Benigno Anthony Benigno full bio of Anthony Benigno

Toast is a very British movie, which isn't just to say that it's all about British people (although it is), but rather it's the type of story where several horrible things happen in rapid succession, yet everyone seems to take them rather well. The movie, thankfully, doesn't spend its efforts taking its tragedies too seriously either, because if it had, we'd never be able to get through it. In fact, throughout the 96-minute running time, we are exposed to the death of a parent, an ongoing affair with a somewhat-destructive wild-card, the steady decline of the remaining parent, and various other emotional roadblocks that, we're meant to believe, would cripple a less well-adjusted person than its hero, a real-life British food writer named Nigel Slater.

That the film doesn't cripple its audience as well is a testament to how well it's made; the whole thing moves along with a breezy, what-me-worry attitude that, if we're being honest, skirts aimlessness more often than not. But director S.J. Clarkson, working from a script based on Slater's memoir, has the good sense to keep the humor flowing and the characters at least semi-likeable. The movie rarely seems like there's anything at stake, which is technically a mark against it, but it does let Clarkson riff rather amusingly on the peculiarities of Slater's upbringing and rise to the level of elite he now occupies.

The bulk of the movie is dedicated to Slater's childhood years, where the boy Nigel (Oscar Kennedy, carrying the movie) deals with his emotionally distant father (Ken Scott) and bonds with his beloved mum (a luminous Victoria Hamilton) over her crappy cooking (her signature dish is -- yep -- toast) until she succumbs to asthma, leaving father and son bereft and with no idea how to communicate with each other. Inspired by his mother's affinity for cooking, Nigel takes up the culinary arts, although considering Mum's relative incompetence at it, Nigel's eventual ascent to an elite chef makes Toast play out like a country British superhero movie.

And like all the best superhero movies, there's a villain. A really good one too, this time in the guise of a chain-smoking, married floozy named Mrs. Potter (Helena Bonham Carter) who promptly steals Dad's heart and stomach with her magnificent lemon meringue pie. With yellowing teeth, a boozy swagger, and padded-up curves preceding her at every turn, Mrs. Potter is a caricature of the most sympathetic variety, and Bonham Carter (most recently whooping it up as a wicked witch in the Harry Potter movies) bites into the role like a slice of well-cured ham. But there's sympathy there, too, which Clarkson and writer Lee Hall wisely choose not to overlook.

The last act of the movie switches gears to the grand duel, as the teenage Nigel (Freddie Highmore, and man, did he get big) squares off against Mrs. Potter to see who can cook the best pie and therefore win the old man's love, while Dad gets fatter and crankier by the minute. These scenes are particularly interesting; the older Nigel, while more appealing on a surface level, is a much less sympathetic character than his younger self or even Mrs. Potter. Highmore's icy, distant delivery highlights a hint of villainy, while Bonham Carter turns on the frenzied desperation as Mrs. Potter tries to save her family from implosion. If this isn't an outright role reversal, it's close enough to one that the somewhat predictable outcome does not occur without a few pleasant wrinkles.

In any case, the big cook-off happens, and then...nothing. It just ends. Toast la-de-das about for so long that Clarkson forgets to set it up for a proper climax. The movie kicks into overdrive in the last fifteen minutes, shoehorning in as many details as it can (Nigel's clandestine kiss with another man comes particularly out of nowhere) before pushing the family dynamic to something of a non-resolution, if not an outright screeching halt.

It's hard to argue that the outcome isn't realistic (it happened, after all), but it's easy to call it anticlimactic. What's a superhero movie without the triumphant up-up-and-away at the end? All we're left with is a satisfied smile and an inherent knowledge that things will turn out alright. There are obviously worse ways to end a movie, but Toast, for all its charms, still feels like it's missing something. It all goes down easy, but where's the BAM!!?

Tweet Comments: See more in: Toast Helena Bonham Carter Ken Stott Victoria Hamilton Freddie Highmore Tracey Wilkinson Selina Cadell Clare Higgins Matthew McNulty S.J. Clarkson Alison Owen Newest Oldest Most Replies Most Liked
About This Film from the AMC Movie Guide Don't Miss The Way by Anthony Benigno Hell and Back Again by Chris Barsanti Toast by Anthony Benigno Take Shelter by Sam Kressner More from AMC Sites AMC Blogs AMC Movie Guide Filmsite Ten Ways to Get Ready for the Breaking Bad Season 4 Finale This Sunday Night Chat Online While Watching the Season 4 Finale On-Air This Sunday Night Vince Gilligan Talks About the Season 4 Finale; EW Gives the Season 4 Finale an A Flashback Five - Sigourney Weaver's Best Movies Alien Franchise Trivia Game

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