Looks like Scarlett Johansson and Blake Lively got some disappointing phone calls from their agents this morning. If you remember a few weeks ago, we reported that Johansson had the lead female role locked up for Alfonso Cuaron’s Gravity. That is, until, it surfaced that Lively had apparently attempted to swipe the role from Johansson, conjuring up some under-the-radar casting cat-fight. But it all appears to be moot, as Natalie Portman has reportedly (via Risky Business) been officially offered the starring role in the sci-fi project, joining Robert Downey Jr who has a supporting role.

It should be clear that Portman has not yet accepted the offer, nor officially signed on in anyway. The studio and Cuaron have just made it loud and clear that they want her by announcing the offer publicly. Portman’s heavily buzzed about performance in Black Swan is apparently what made Cuaron jump at the chance to make her an offer, without even having her come in to Warner Bros. to test screen; which is standard procedure, even for A-listers.

Gravity is co-written by Cuaron and will be shot in 3D with a reported budget of around $80 million. The story centers on “a woman stranded on a space station after satellite debris slams into it and wipes out the rest of the crew.” The report claims that, if she were to accept the role, Portman would be the only featured character in most of the film, similiar to other “solitary” character circumstances, such as Tom Hanks in Cast Away.

I’m really happy about this. Natalie Portman is  gorgeous, talented and smart. She deserves to have a complex character study on a major studio budget like Gravity. Stay tuned to The Movie Mash for for updates.

What Do You Think? Discuss.

RELATED POSTS

• Blake Lively and Scarlett Johansson Battle it Out for Lead Role in ‘Gravity’ with Robert Downey Jr. (1)
• Worthington On A Roll; Set To Play Dracula In New Alex Proyas Film (2)
• Whoa! Michael Bay Boots Megan Fox from Transformers 3 (3)
• Training Day Director Antoine Fuqua Helming Tupac Biopic (2)
• Reynolds, Efron, LaBeouf and MANY Others Vie for Role in ‘Safe House’ with Denzel Washington (0)

Where the hell did this come from? A blood-spattered unrated trailer for Hobo with a Shotgun has debuted online and it looks bone-crunchingly awesome. As the title of the film would suggest, the story is pretty simple: an enraged hobo goes on a rampage with a shotgun, and brutal, B-movie goodness ensues. Hobo is the feature-length spawn of the contest-winning faux trailer from SXSW in 2007, where filmmakers submitted satirical B-movie trailers in the same vein of Machete, which was featured in Quentin Tarantino and Robert Rodriguez’ Grindhouse.

Writer/director Jason Eisner makes his feature film debut with Hobo, starring veteran actor Rutger Hauer (Blade Runner, Batman Begins). It just looks frickin’ awesome. Check out the trailer below.

WARNING: This trailer features a ridiculous amount of bloody gore and violence.

Hobo with a Shotgun is set to be releasesd sometime in 2011.

[Source: Film School Rejects]

What Do You Think? Discuss.

RELATED POSTS

• Vanessa Hudgen’s Beastly Gets Bumped Back a Year by Zac Efron (kind of) (1)
• UPDATE: Jaw-Dropping 2nd Trailer For District 9 (2)
• Truly Amazing Second Teaser Trailer for Inception Finally Arrives Online (4)
• Trailer Trash MASH: Little Fockers and Red (1)
• Trailer Trash MASH: Dinner for Schmucks and Gulliver’s Travels (0)

If you haven’t already, you should really start catching up on Zach Galifianakis’ interview web series on Funny of Die, Between Two Ferns. He sits down with A-list actors and asks them completely awful and inappropriate questions, to which they usually get upset about and hilarity ensues. All the guests are completely in on it, but the back-and-forth between Zach and the A-listers feels very real at times, thus making it funny as hell. Recently Zach sat down with Oscar-winning actor Sean Penn, but in character as his “twin brother” Seth Galifianakis.

It’s really awesome to see Sean Penn, a TWO-time Oscar-winner, taking the time out of his schedule to participate in a ridiculous online comedy sketch. He even seems to poke fun at his “serious, rageful” demeanor by telling Seth, after being asked an inappropriate question, “I’ll knock you the f*ck out right in your chair.” It’s just awesome. Check it out.

For those of you who are new to Zach Galifianakis, and by “new” I mean after The Hangover, he’s actually been a stand-up comic for about 15 years now. The Seth character has made appearances throughout his career, most famously in his brilliant 2006 DVD special, Zach Galifianakis: Live at the Purple Onion. If you like Zach even in the slightest, this stand-up special will have you pissing your pants in no time. Def recommend. And again, you can catch all of Zach’s Between Two Ferns at Funny or Die.

[Source: EW]

What Do You Think? Discuss.

RELATED POSTS

• What if Danny Elfman Did the Score for ‘Batman Begins’? (0)
• The Best of Arnold’s Mr. Freeze “Cold” One-Liners (2)
• Movie Mash Original: The Best of Totally Awesome (0)
• Keanu Reeves Attempts to Speak Chinese (0)
• Insane, Wacky, Hysterical Compliation Video Paying Homage to ‘The Dark Knight’ (0)

Way back in May of last year we reported Ben Stiller’s comments on Zoolander 2, to which the actor said he’d been working on the script for on and off over the past decade, and that he was trying his darnedest to get it made. Flash forward a year later and it seemed as though Paramount had passed on Zoolander 2, as well as a sequel to Anchorman because of budget constraints. Now, there appears to light at the end of the tunnel due to a recent tweet from Stiller in response to the question “Is Zoolander 2 still happening?” He replied:

Yes. Working on it now with my buddy Justin.

The Justin he’s referring to is his long-time friend and Tropic Thunder screenwriter, Justin Theroux. It seems to reason Theroux has been  hard at work on the script for Z2 ever since production wrapped on Iron Man 2, for which he also wrote the script. But other than that vague tweet and blogosphere speculation, there’s nothing  else to officially report. Zoolander is one of my favorite movies of all time and I would be ecstatic if they made this sequel; especially if  Stiller brings back Will Ferrell to reprise his role as Mugatu,  one of the funniest, weirdest characters ever. I pray to the movie gods that Derek and Jacobim get a chance to go at it one more time. If that happens, I’ll be doing this:

[Source: Cinema Blend]

What Do You Think? Discuss.

RELATED POSTS

• Ben Stiller Discusses the Long-Awaited Zoolander 2 (8)
• Wowzers! James Cameron Personally Netted $350m From Avatar, Film to be Re-Released in August (1)
• Worthington On A Roll; Set To Play Dracula In New Alex Proyas Film (2)
• Will Arnett & Michael Shannon Climb Aboard “Jonah Hex” (2)
• Whoa! Michael Bay Boots Megan Fox from Transformers 3 (3)

The Movie Mash is proud to announce two new additions to our writing staff, with Sarah Williams and Sam Portz. This website has grown significantly over the past year, and with more readers comes a larger demand for consistent, original content, so this felt like the right time to bring aboard some additional talent to help. Sarah and Sam will provide you with the traditional news, Netflix This and movie reviews that you’ve come accustomed to, but they’re also going to shake things up a bit by bringing you original features that focus on film scores/music, foreign films and analytical essays. Go to the About Us page to check out more on Sarah and Sam, and please feel free to welcome them in the comments section after the break.

Thank you for your continued support.

It was really disappointing when Party Down got canceled last month, leaving viewers with an unsatisfying two total seasons. But now that the tears have dried, it’s time to move on, and what better way than with the next sitcom from the guys who created Party Down? Variety is reporting (via MovieWeb) that Rob Thomas, Dan Etheridge and John Enbom have been given the thumbs up by NBC to make a pilot for their new show Temps, which centers around “group of recent college graduates who are forced to work a variety of temp jobs.” Can’t wait for this.

It seems reasonable to infer that NBC is hoping Temps can achieve the combined strength of Party Down meets The Office, but Thomas explained how his new show would be a little different:

“The show is similar to Party Down in the sense that there’s a new job each week, but unlike Party Down, we actually see the home life of our main characters. It has more of a Mary Tyler Moore home life/work life dynamic, except the job changes from week to week.”

As I am a victim of this economy and was laid-off from the PR job my recent college degree helped me obtain, I currently work for a temp agency to help pay the bills while I Movie Mash. My current placement has been steady, so I’m not going all over town to different offices and getting into crazy shenanigans, but I do have some exposure to the temp world, and I feel that I will have a deeper appreciation for the great satire and stories that Thomas & Co. cook up. No word on when production/casting will get going, but stay tuned to The Movie Mash for updates.

What Do You Think? Discuss.

RELATED POSTS

• The Rachel Zoe Project, Season 3 (0)
• Preview of HBO’s New WWII Mini-Series The Pacific; March Can’t Get Here Soon Enough (4)
• My Complete Breakdown of the LOST Series Finale (2)
• Lie to Me, but Don’t Lie to Dr. Lightman (0)
• Law and Order Hits Hollywood, Skeet Ulrich to Star (0)

As Inception wraps up it’s incredible run in theaters and millions of new fans start looking back at Christopher Nolan’s past work, I want to recommend to you his second least-known film, Insomnia, in this week’s edition of Netflix This (the least-known of course being his debut film, Following). Insomnia is a film that focuses on the two most important aspects of cinema: Acting and story.  Oscar-winning juggernauts Al Pacino, Robin Williams and Hilary Swank bring their A+ games to this crime story of murder, paranoia and morality. It’s the only film on Christopher Nolan’s résumé for which he doesn’t hold any writing credits, as it is a remake of the original Swedish version of the film. But it’s Nolan’s directorial vision and meticulous style that makes Insomnia a must-see.

The story follows Det. Frank Dormer (Pacino), a legendary cop who gets called up to Alaska to investigate the murder of a young high-school girl. Dormer brings major baggage with him from L.A. because of his alleged involvement in dirty cop business, causing internal affairs to breathe down his neck. During a chase in the dense Alaskan fog, Dormer mistakenly shoots and kills a fellow officer, thinking it was their murder suspect, Walter Finch (Williams). Finch then blackmails Dormer with the threat of exposing the accidental shooting, so that Dormer will stop pursuing him about the young girl’s murder. A brilliant and hypnotic game of psychological cat-n-mouse ensues.

The simultaneous exchanges of hatred and dependence that Williams and Pacino have with each other is mesmerizing to watch. There are so many twists and turns in their backstabbing one-upsmanship, that you’ll be biting your finger nails during the duration of the film. Hilary Swank’s fantastic performance as the good-hearted home town deputy, Ellie — who catches on to Finch and Dormer’s game — just adds to this master’s course of acting bliss.

And of course, there’s Christopher Nolan’s direction. The film takes place during the summer in Alaska, where the sun never sets. Nolan flew the entire cast and crew up to a small Alaskan province that was only accessible by single-engine planes, to immerse his cast and the audience into this bizarre and eerie setting. His sweeping shots of the Alaskan landscape are breathtaking. His quick, frantic edits that flash back to the crime scene gives the viewers a jolt of uneasiness and surprise during what seems to be a simple exchange of dialogue. And Wally Pfister’s gorgeous cinematography is just another example of why that man needs a damn Oscar.

Simply put: Insomnia is a great film. And one you should watch ASAP.

Netflix This: Insomnia

What Do You Think? Discuss.

RELATED POSTS

• Netflix This: Totally Awesome (2)
• Netflix This: The Talented Mr. Ripley (0)
• Netflix This: The Great Buck Howard (0)
• Netflix This: The Coen Bros. Combo-Pack of Awesomeness (0)
• Netflix This: The Boy In The Striped Pajamas (0)

Not a bad standard to strive for. Lost co-creator Damon Lindelof is busy at work writing the script for the still untitled sequel to 2009’s smash success Star Trek reboot. Lindelof joined the dynamic writing duo of Alex Kurtzman and Roberto Orci to help his Lost buddy/Star Trek director J.J. Abrams create the best, most imaginative sequel possible. And they already have a goal set in terms of the scope and story progression for their sequel, as they hope to emulate the success of Christopher Nolan’s Batman Begins and The Dark Knight.

By no means are they “going dark,” which seems to be the automatic assumption when anything is ever compared to Nolan’s Batman. Rather, Lindelof has a better explanation:

“We’re looking at a movie like The Dark Knight, which went one step beyond Batman Begins. It was really about something, and at the same time it was a superhero movie. We don’t want to abandon all the things that made the first movie work and have it be fun and emotional, but we also really want the movie to thematically resonate.”

Can’t wait to see what they come up with. The Untitled Star Trek Sequel is set for a summer 2012 release.

[Sources: Cinema Blend, E!]

What Do You Think? Discuss.

RELATED POSTS

• IMDB’s Top 25 Movies of the Decade (4)
• Christopher Nolan says Inception is “bigger than The Dark Knight” (3)
• Batman 3 Rumor Mill: Nolan Using Inception as an IMAX Guinea Pig? Possibly. Megan Fox as Catwoman? Not So Much (2)
• ‘Zoolander 2’ Not Dead After All (2)
• Wowzers! James Cameron Personally Netted $350m From Avatar, Film to be Re-Released in August (1)

The first teaser trailer for Danny Boyle’s upcoming survival drama 127 hours hit the web today (via In Contention), and it definitely looks very good, but I feel a bit underwhelmed. The film is inspired by the true story of Aaron Ralston, the American mountain climber who had to amputate his arm with a dull knife to escape being pinned by a giant boulder in 2003. You probably saw the news coverage and Ralston’s requisite talk show tour following his rescue. The script for the film was written by Simon Beafoy, whose last collaboration with Boyle on Slumdog Millionaire earned each of them an Oscar statue, for writing and directing respectively. James Franco stars in the film as Ralston, giving him the acting challenge/opportunity of a lifetime, as nearly an hour of the film contains zero dialogue. It’s just Franco and the camera.

Boyle is a fantastic filmmaker, responsible for bringing us classic films like Trainspotting, 28 Days later and The Beach, which this trailer reminds me A LOT of.  It’s very fast-cutting, bright and crisp, with gorgeous cinematography. Classic Boyle. But they don’t get to the actual point of the film (Ralston getting trapped), until the very last second of the trailer, which I didn’t care for. See what I’m talking about below.

A significant majority of the trailer focuses on Ralston’’s Beach-esque antics with the two other hot chick climbers he meets (Amber Tamblyn and Kate Mara). Then after the brief dramatic build up in the last 10 seconds, they’re like, “oh yeah, by the way, he gets crushed by a giant boulder.” Obviously with Boyle, Beafoy, Franco and the subject matter, this will be an Oscar contender, but the trailer just didn’t do it for me. Not to mention the almost blatant advertising of Boyle’s filmogrophy at the beginning of the trailer. Yes, directors like James Cameron, Martin Scorsese and Danny Boyle will boast their previous credits during the trailer for a new film. But to play almost 30 seconds of footage from Slumdog to hammer into our heads, “the guy who directed this, directed that,” is a little much.

Anyway, I’m still very excited for this film, especially to see the kind of dramatic performance Franco pulled out. 127 Hours opens in theaters on November 5th.

What Do You Think? Discuss.

RELATED POSTS

• Vanessa Hudgen’s Beastly Gets Bumped Back a Year by Zac Efron (kind of) (1)
• UPDATE: Jaw-Dropping 2nd Trailer For District 9 (2)
• Truly Amazing Second Teaser Trailer for Inception Finally Arrives Online (4)
• Trailer Trash MASH: Little Fockers and Red (1)
• Trailer Trash MASH: Dinner for Schmucks and Gulliver’s Travels (0)

Well I certainly didn’t see this one coming. Angelina Jolie’s next film will be a love story set during the Bosnian War that raged for three years from 1992-1995, and became a stain on the early years of the Clinton administration. Here’s the kicker though, she will NOT be acting in the film at all, she will instead be writing the script herself,  as well as produce and direct the film, making it her “directorial debut.” The announcement was made on the GK Films blog (via FirstShowing), which is the production company producing the film. This is surprising because it is kind of out of left field. She hadn’t made any sort of hints in interviews for her most recent films that she had any interest in directing this soon. And there was no reason to speculate because of the endless amount of projects she is attached or rumored to star in. But alas, here we are. I think it’s great, actually, and I’m excited to see what she does with this project.

The film is a completely original concept, from Jolie’s mind, and will focus on a Serbian man and a Bosnian woman who meet on the eve of the war and the effect the war has on their relationship. It is being reported that the actors cast in the film will be mainly compromised of various ethnicities from the region of the former Yugoslavia (below Hungary and Austria), seemingly to convey the most authentic story possible.

The current speculated start time for production is as early as this fall. We’ll keep you posted when an official title and casting are announced.

What Do You Think? Discuss.

RELATED POSTS

• ‘Zoolander 2’ Not Dead After All (2)
• Wowzers! James Cameron Personally Netted $350m From Avatar, Film to be Re-Released in August (1)
• Worthington On A Roll; Set To Play Dracula In New Alex Proyas Film (2)
• Will Arnett & Michael Shannon Climb Aboard “Jonah Hex” (2)
• Whoa! Michael Bay Boots Megan Fox from Transformers 3 (3)