Telluride Buzz: 'Up In The Air' Soars With Critics

One of the main attractions, and worst kept secrets, at this year's Telluride Film Festival was the "secret" screening of Jason Reitman's downsizing/frequent-flyer dramedy "Up In The Air." Having just taken place yesterday, reviews have started coming through and buzz is already quickly building, especially through Twitter.

One blogger who couldn't resist to turning to Twitter for a quick, early review was Indiewire's Anne Thompson. "Up in the air is a winner," she tweets. "Hits the zeitgeist on the nose. Funny, witty, real, sad. Awards season in the offing. [George] Clooney tops."

Thompson later churned out a blog review calling the film "a witty, charming and moving exploration of a world we all recognize" that centers on "the loneliness of a long-distance air traveler, a commitment-phobe not unlike George Clooney, who decided to stare that aspect of himself in the face." Thompson adds that Reitman "delivers a winner" that lives up to all expectations and concludes the review by reiterating earlier sentiments, "Award season beckons. This one is in the hunt."

Kris Tapley from InContention calls the film a "triumph" and a "four-star knockout." "It drips with Reitman’s passion, his love for his wife and child, his assessment of his own journey into adulthood," Tapley writes. "He just finished telling the audience at the Chuck Jones Theater that it’s probably the most personal film he’ll ever make. One can certainly understand the sentiment...[The film] couldn’t have hit the country and, to speak personally, me, at a more perfect time."

Taking into account Tapley's thoughts, an unnamed "seasoned entertainment reporter" writes into Hollywood Elsewhere with a positive but less glowing review. "I liked 'Up In The Air' but I wonder how many people will Kris Tapley-level love it. Off the record, before I collect my thoughts, I'd say I liked and admired it a lot, but wish I had loved it that much. There's a semi-downbeat ending that helped redeem the film for me but will leave a certain amount of 'Juno'-lovers cold. And there's one really bad supporting casting choice I'll get into.." [ed. do they mean Anna Kendricks? Jason Bateman can't be that bad, can he?]

Alex Billington from FirstShowing also noted "a few issues in its third act" writing that the film "hits some rough spots as it progresses on, although they're mixed in so well with the humor and the more sentimental moments, that it's easy to look past them." He was particularly full of praise for Anna Kendrick who, as he writes, "goes toe-to-toe with Clooney in a big way, which was beyond impressive for an up-and-coming actress like her... her relationship with Bingham [Clooney's character] I think is the best part of the film."

More reviews will trickle in today, we're sure.

Update: the trades have jumped in with their reviews. Variety seems to like the picture but gives it a lot of backhanded compliments and suggests it's light fare. " 'Up in the Air' is a slickly engaging piece of lightweight existentialism highlighted by winning turns from George Clooney and Vera Farmiga. Just as 'Thank You for Smoking' and 'Juno' did in their own ways, Jason Reitman's third film cleverly taps into specific cultural aspects of the contemporary zeitgeist, although in a somewhat less comically convulsive manner. Unlike many of the characters onscreen, nobody is going to lose any jobs on the basis of their work here, as a buoyant commercial flight lies ahead."

THR has less concerns and basically says the film is a uncontestable triumph, not to mention they compare him to some of the all-time great comedic directors. "Cynicism and sentiment have melded magically in movies by some of the best American directors, from Preston Sturges and Billy Wilder to Alexander Payne. It's pleasing to report that he's taken another rewarding journey down this prickly path in his eagerly awaited new film, 'Up in the Air.' Boasting one of George Clooney's strongest performances, the film seems like a surefire awards contender, and the buzz will attract a sizable audience, even though some viewers might be startled by the uncompromising finale."

Nicolas Winding Refn To Helm Modern Western 'Only God Forgives,' In Talks For Gore Verbinski-Produced Heist Film

The time must be ripe to work out deals for talent with films in the fall festivals. Especially with a filmmaker that is rather hot at the moment.

Danish director Nicolas Winding Refn is set to write and direct a modern Bangkok-set Western titled, "Only God Forgives." The film will center on a Thai police lieutenant and a gangster who decide to settle their differences in the boxing ring. The director is also in talks to helm an as-of-yet titled heist film produced by Gore Verbinski.

While his viking-epic "Valhalla Rising" isn't exactly lighting Venice on fire critically, Winding Refn showed his immense talent with the Tom Hardy led prisoner-portrait "Bronson." We can't wait to see what he can do with a modern Western and a heist film.

Known for his excellent, "Pusher" trilogy (or at least until "Bronson" dazzles audiences this fall), it is unclear what project Winding Refn will be working on next. He is also attached to "Jekyll," a new take on the Jekyll and Hyde story starring Keanu Reeves as well as the Paul Schrader-scribed "The Dying Of The Light," which centers on a CIA agent afflicted with Alzheimer's on his final mission. A win-win-win-win situation?

Either way, it's apparent this Danish talent is in very high demand. Don't be surprised when some major studio tries to rope him into a major tentpole or a super-hero film. Hopefully he resists the temptation to do anything that's inherently crap, but we'd actually love to see him take over "The Dark Knight" series if and when Christopher Nolan left. But that's if and when. We'd love for him to pursue all his original projects first.

Writer-Director Team Behind 'The Road' Fill Up Their Slates

After debuting their last effort "The Road" at the Venice and Telluride Film Festivals, writer-director team Joe Penhall and John Hillcoat are going gung-ho trying to fill their upcoming slates.

First up, the two are in talks with Daniel Craig for an English remake of French heist film "La Bonne Annee." The original 1973 film by Claude Lelouch centers on a criminal who plans to rob Cannes jewelers soon after being released from prison. Craig would presumably star as said criminal.

The duo are then hoping to reteam at a later date to adapt Penhall's own play, "Landscape With Weapons." The story follows a military technician who, after inventing a revolutionary new weapon, finds himself battling against the military-industrial complex desperate to get hold of the intellectual ownership of the new technology.

On top of their partnership, the two also have their own projects in the works. Penhall is looking at working with Mike Nichols on his Fox 2000 adaptation of Patricia Highsmith's "Deep Water," which centers on a man who allows his wife to sleep with other men as long as she doesn't leave their family. Hillcoat, meanwhile, is also talking to Craig about an adaptation of Nick Cave's novel "The Death Of Bunny Munro," the story of a sex-obsessed traveling salesman on his final road trip. Cave (and Warren Ellis) scored Hillcoat's "The Road" as well as scoring and penning his 2005 film, "The Proposition."

Oddly, the projects they're lining up seem to steer away from both Penhall and Hillcoat's previous works. Hillcoat's 'Road' and 'Proposition' are very character-based atmospheric works while Penhall has predominantly been a playwright who has only dabbled in British cinema.

PS, six new scenes from 'The Road" have popped-up online, but we'd encourage you to actually not watch them as it's really a film you want to go into mostly blind and just experience it for what is is.

Pixar To Take Over Edgar Wright's 'Ant-Man'?

It was only a matter of time before we saw the powerful hand of Disney exert its force over Marvel, right? On the upcoming acquisition, EW [via BleedingCool] is reporting that Disney's animation subsidiary, Pixar, is "said to already be eyeballing an 'Ant-Man' movie."

British writer/director Edgar Wright has long been attached to the project and was said to be looking to rewrite his script -- co-written with Joe Cornish -- after his work on "Scott Pilgrim Vs. The World" was complete. It's probably safe to assume that Wright's vision isn't the G-rated, family-friendly type of flick that would interest Pixar, a company who went as far as loaning director Andrew Stanton to Disney for "John Carter Of Mars" based on the fact that the film wasn't "all-ages" and didn't fit the brand.

Wright's "Ant-Man" has seemingly already fallen out of Marvel's vision, with company head Kevin Feige neglecting to mention the project in his company's upcoming plans and subsequently ruling out plans for Ant-Man's inclusion in "The Avengers" -- even though he is a founding member in the comics.

Additionally, in what could now be construed as news of his "Ant-Man" project's demise, Wright recently revealed his next project was likely to be "Baby Driver," described as "a wild spin on the action and crime genre which will be set in the U.S." The director also has his collaboration with Simon Pegg and Nick Frost on the horizon, the third installment of their "Blood And Ice Cream Trilogy" tentatively titled "At World's End." And as much as we'd love to speed that up, it's a shame something as interesting and likely unique as Wright's take on a Marvel superhero may never see the light of the day. Or at least if EW's report is correct, "eyeing" the property doesn't sound like it's set in stone, but Wright also sounds like he's moved on and set-up other projects.

Steven Soderbergh Hires Female Fighting Champion For 'La Femme Nikita' Meets 'Bourne' Film Project, Called 'Knockout'

You apparently cannot keep a good director down. Despite the "Moneyball" drama earlier this year — of which the filmmaker shrugged and moved on in a response yesterday — Steven Soderbergh remains undeterred.

Not only that, he seems to have a penchant for females who are untested in their acting abilities and bringing out something in them that others clearly haven't noticed. Earlier this year he directed "The Girlfriend Experience" with non-actor and porn actress Sasha Grey and now he's lined-up his post-"Moneyball" project with yet another non-professional.

American Mixed Martial arts champion Gina Carano — who up until a few weeks ago had an undefeated track record — is set to star in the filmmaker's next project, said to be a mix between "La Femme Nikita" and the Jason Bourne spy films. Its working title is "Knockout," which could easily change.

Sounds like an odd project for Soderbergh? Not necessarily. The man is a filmmaker of omnivorous taste and just told the Orlando Sentinel that, "I’m running out of genres that I haven’t tried." Enter the spygame, a field he hasn't yet tried and one that a rep for the filmmaker tells us he's been eager to tackle.

In fact, Soderbergh was once offered $15 million to direct a Bond film, and was initially interested, but turned the project down when he realized he wouldn't be able take it in a different direction.

The screenplay for "Knockout" is being written by none other than Lem Dobbs — the screenwriter behind Soderbergh's "The Limey," Kafka" and the hilariously contentious commentary tracks on the 'Limey' DVD that are total gold if you've never heard — and the picture is aiming to shoot in January/February 2010 as hinted at in the Orlando Sentinel article (Soderbergh mentions a project that could shooting early next year) which we then began to speculate about. And hey, we even said something about 'Bourne'. Who also loves to hint in advance? ;)

Several studios have been bidding for the project and Relativity and Lionsgate — who struck a multi-year output deal for five films a year in April — are working on a deal to finance and distribute this together.

In the interim, the prolific creative force will spend November and December in Australia directing a play for Cate Blanchett's theater company which we also reported on earlier this year. The rep also tells us Dobbs and Soderbergh's "The Limey" sequel is something the duo would like to collaborate on in the future. It's probably another article, but it sounds like money for "Liberace" and the crazy/awesome 3D rock musical "Cleo" are falling into place and both projects will likely get off the ground in 2010. We can only hope 'Bourne 4' stalls so "Liberace" doesn't lose Matt Damon who is scheduled to start that film in the fall or winter of 2010 (if it indeed does happen and they get the script — or the parallel script — off the ground).

Fuck, we've been sitting on this story for days, but wanted to get a bit more confirmation before we jumped out. But Variety has confirmed seemingly everything we already knew, so they get the kudos. The only thing their report has additionally it seems is that the supporting cast will be bolstered by name actors which is smart idea. Soderbergh is also waiving his upfront fee so he can retain ownership of the film, along with Relativity Media. Looks like 2010 will be another prolific year for the filmmaker with at least two pictures -- "Knockout" and "Liberace" -- shooting.

Weekend Box Office - Fall Begins With A Whimper

Newsflash- when there are no interesting wide releases out, no one will go to the movies. In one of the slowest sessions in recent memory, "The Final Destination" keeps the ignominious position of #1 movie in America, fending off the horrifically-reviewed stalker-comedy "All About Steve." The 3D horror picture has taken only two weekends to cross $50 million, and by next weekend it can successfully be crowned the most successful of the series. Does this mean a fifth installment is in the cards? Since it's a New Line leftover, it all depends on the relationship with the producers and WB- they have already taken the "Lord of the Rings" and "Harold and Kumar" franchises under their wing, what's one more? "Steve," meanwhile, is a smash-and-grab, failing to capitalize on its hot stars, but not something Fox or Sandra Bullock will remember very well.

The weekend's biggest loser is probably Lionsgate's "Gamer." In a weak moviegoing period, the actioner was expected to take the top spot, but Lionsgate made sure to cut a series of visually indistinguishable ads, lackadaisically advertising the picture for months on end while reshuffling release dates. Gerard Butler got away with the odious-looking "The Ugly Truth" so he's still in-play as a potential draw, but after being fired from "Jonah Hex" and seeing "Crank: High Voltage" get reamed at the box office, directors Mark Neveldine and Brian Taylor have got to be skating on thin ice. The news was even dimmer for Mike Judge, who so far has made three titanic studio bombs with "Extract," which took a knee at #10. Granted, "Idiocracy" was sabotaged by its release pattern, but it was never going to make serious money anyway, and "Office Space" went on to earn the dreaded "cult" designation on video. The cost on "Extract" was probably pretty low, but if you're a studio exec, it's probably hard to bring yourself to bet on a Judge movie that isn't a "Beavis and Butthead" sequel.

"Inglorious Basterds" held strongly enough at #3, and by next weekend it should hit $100 million and change, while "District 9" sailed past that milestone, losing only 31% of last week's audience. Both titles seem like anomalies, but coming out so close together, they seem to disprove the notion that you can't release a big movie in August. Then again, the business both movies are doing- both probably less than $130 million- isn't going to cut it for most big time summer releases that tally ludicrous expenses. Maybe this means Hollywood's finally going to cut costs? Take merchandising out of the equation, and the $30 million-budgeted "District 9" might be generating bigger profits than "Transformers 2," despite making almost $300 million less at the domestic box office.

"Halloween II" landed at #6 after the precipitous second-weekend horror fall-off, but a sequel is near greenlight stage, as it avoided a deserved 80% audience loss. "Julie and Julia" will probably lap it by next weekend- the chick flick is performing at "Devil Wears Prada" discount numbers, and finds itself at $78 million after its fifth week of release. "G.I. Joe" closes in on $140 million for the four day period, and could conceivably pass the magical $150 million Paramount needs before being persuaded to look into a second installment.

Among other milestones, "Transformers 2" finally hits the $400 million mark, finishing a mixed-blessing Paramount season, while "Up" hit $290 with plenty of foreign territories to go, while "Harry Potter" is at $296 and should probably make it to $300, only the second in the series to reach that number. The only indie debut of note was "Amreeka," which had the weekend's best per-screen average at $12.5k per screen for a $50k debut weekend.

1. The Final Detonation- $12.4 million ($48 mil.)
2. All About Steve- $11.2 million
3. Inglourious Basterds- $10.8 million ($91 mil.)
4. Gamer- $9 million
5. District 9- $7 million ($101 mil.)
6. Halloween II: Holy Shit, We Made Ten Of These- $5.6 million ($26 mil.)
7. Julie and Julia- $5.2 million ($78 mil.)
8. G.I. Joe- $5.1 million ($139 mil.)
9. The Time Traveler's Wife- $4.2 million ($55 mil.)
10. Extract- $4.2 million

Joe Carnahan's 'The A-Team' Set To Begin Shooting In Vancouver, UFC Star Rampage Jackson Cast As B.A. Baracus

According to the Vancouver Sun, production on Joe Carnahan's "The A-Team" remake looks to be going full steam ahead with a six week shoot set to begin shortly in Vancouver.

Days after Bradley Cooper was spotted landing in the Canadian city, UFC star Quinton 'Rampage' Jackson was evidently cast as B.A. Baracus, the role made famous by one Mr. T.

The MMA fighter joins Cooper and Liam Neeson who will reportedly star as Col. John 'Hannibal' Smith. Cooper is playing Lt. Templeton 'Faceman' Peck and the role of the team's pilot, Capt. H.M. "Howling Mad" Murdock, has not yet been cast that we know of ,though, "Star Trek" actor Chris Pine, was actively seeking the role earlier this year. He has an in too, having already starred in Carnahan's last movie, "Smokin' Aces." If he does indeed have the role, we'll surely find out shortly.

'Rampage' Jackson had previously been linked to the role when John Singleton was going to direct the picture circa 2007/early '08 and his appearance in the film was only confirmed recently after he dropped out of an upcoming UFC bout in order to shoot the film. He certainly doesn't have to alter his look much other than some beard and hair growth and can probably save wardrobe from buying gold necklace chains, but that aside -- on top of being a complete scumbag -- it remains to be seen if Jackson can act.

Additionally, in a random New York Times piece about the New York subway and what people do during their ride, an actress named Rachel revealed that she had just flown in from Los Angeles where she had auditioned for a role in the film. “Sosa is an aide to the secretary of defense,” she explained of the part. “I am trying to channel her. She is sexy, but official.” Rachel better get that phone call pretty soon if she's going to fly out to Vancouver in time...

Meanwhile, sure "Smokin' Aces," was B-movie trash, but "Narc" was excellent and extremely auspicious. Is this where Carnahan's career is going to go? Making remakes of rather corny '80s TV shows no one is actively dying to see on the big screen?

Venice Buzz: Michael Moore's 'Capitalism' Strikes It Modestly Rich... Mostly

Michael Moore's new satirical documentary about the economic crisis, titled, "Capitalism: A Love Story" screened at the Venice Film Festival yesterday and reports are trickling in.

Variety as usual, is first out of the gate and they give the film a positive thumbs up, calling it one of Moore's best pictures. But as usual, they also caution about b0x-office prospects and right-wingers potentially being annoyed by the picture. They do note that the film was met with "ecstatic applause" in Venice, but then they suggest that's simply because the rest of the world are friggin' commies (or practically anyhow, sheesh).

"By returning to his roots, professional gadfly Michael Moore turns in one of his best films with 'Capitalism: A Love Story.' Pic's target is less capitalism qua capitalism than the banking industry, which Moore skewers ruthlessly, explaining last year's economic meltdown in terms a sixth-grader could understand. That said, there's still plenty here to annoy right-wingers, as well as those who, however much they agree with Moore's politics, just can't stomach his oversimplification, on-the-nose sentimentality and goofball japery. Whether "Capitalism" matches 'Fahrenheit 9/11' or underperforms like 'Sicko' will depend on how much workers of the world are ready to unite behind the message."

Variety spends the rest of the review preoccupied with whether audiences want to keep their head in the sand or actually get a picture -- oversimplified or not, though this is kind of the point, frankly -- of what happened last fall or will they rage against the machine.

ScreenDaily says the picture is more of the same from Moore, but compelling and entertaining nonetheless. "Michael Moore’s latest is another rallying cry for the working man, reworking the same themes of all his films from Roger & Me onwards, namely the hypocrisies and injustices of the corporate and political superstructure in the US. The formula is the same as before – dips into history, a series of illustrative cases, the big stunt – only this time showman Moore wears his bleeding heart idealism on his sleeve more happily than before as he clearly hopes for a new golden era under Obama."

Many are noting that the film is Frank Capra-esque, a sentiment also echoed by InContention, who write, “ 'Capitalism: A Love Story' – an artlessly effective slice of rah-rah rhetoric more sincerely idealistic than anything the director has yet put his name to – represents Moore’s 'It’s a Wonderful Life.' ”

All three reviews are positive, but all of them warn how the American right will loathe it (uhh, a given), how the box-office might not light up (uhh, when has a Moore doc really done that aside from "Fahrenheit 9/11"? And when you think about it, that's sort of a special case) and how the film uses sledgehammer subtlety, sentimentality and propaganda-like tactics. We just wish for once, someone would tell us what they thought instead of wondering how everyone else will feel. Sure we do that too sometimes, it can be important, but Variety's reviews in particular lately have been incredibly annoying in that sense.

The AFP review just gets down to it and says the film, "pulls no punches," but with "large doses of biting humor and a few dollops of inspiration." We can't wait to see it and frankly, the apathetic people of this country could stand to get angry about something, so a little rousing cinema with rage-against-the-machine rallying cries is never a bad thing in our opinion. We'll obviously have to see it before we pass judgement and hopefully its not too hamfisted, but it does infuriate somewhat how Moore -- who at the end of the day is trying to do some basic good -- is always summarily dismissed by many average people simply regurgitating the notion that he's a godless, commie manipulator. One can easily argue, that Moore is no Kevin Smith, he's actively and purposefully making agit-prop. It's not always subtle, but it can be effective. What we're saying is: give Moore a chance. You joe jobbers who generally ignore him, might want to get they layman's take on the great swindle of last year. We know, we were hit really fucking hard too and if we had to throw the personal number out there, most of our readers would choke.

More 'Green Hornet' Set Pics, Michael Sheen Retires... From Playing Tony Blair

- More set pics from Michel Gondry's "The Green Hornet" have been snapped featuring Cameron Diaz, Seth Rogen, Jay Chou and what looks like a stunt double in Chou's Kato uniform. Wonder what kind of tone the film will adopt because it could go seriously wrong.

- Simon Pegg and Edgar Wright have evidently been reunited. Working on "At World's End" maybe? Probably too early for that, but here's to wishful thinking.

- "Goodbye Mr. Blair," actor Michael Sheen tweets. "After 3 films think I'm hanging up my Blair boots. If so, last word I ever said as Blair was "America." The irony..." Sheen just wrapped playing former British prime minister Tony Blair on "The Special Relationship" - a character he has already played in "The Deal" and "The Queen."

- Pop singer Sia has revealed that she will be writing music for the upcoming Christina Aguilera and Cher led film "Burlesque."

English-Language Trailer For Michael Haneke's 'The White Ribbon'

An international English-language trailer for Michael Haneke's Palme d'Or winner "The White Ribbon" has debuted and is probably the best sell yet for the film's stateside release.

Set in pre-war 1910's Germany, the film follows the haunting story of a rural town and its citizens as they are victim to a series of sinister crimes. Evident in this trailer more so than any others thus far, is the beautiful black-and-white aesthetic of the film (e.g. the burning barn, the blanket of snow) and the captivating characters that make up the town - aspects we previously raved about in our MIFF review.

"The White Ribbon" will be screening at the upcoming Toronto and New York Film Festivals before seeing a general release in late December.

Venice Thoughts: Herzog's 'Lieutenant' & 'My Son,' Solodnz' 'Wartime' & More...

Reviews from various films at the Venice Film Festival and the Telluride Film Festival — both currently in progress are....ok, not flying in fast and furious like we expected, but more like trickling in at a moderate pace (maybe it's the economy and less writers to carpetbag the events).

Variety weighs in on Todd Solodnz's "Life During Wartime," and are surprisingly positive after shellacking almost anything in sight lately that hasn't appeared to be accessible or commercial ("The Road," Herzog's "Bad Lieutenant: Port of New Orleans"). They even say this quasi-sequel to "Happiness" might be his best film to date.

Variety: "The distinctive, boundary-pushing writer-director has had the eccentric inspiration to resurrect the same central characters a decade later, but using entirely different actors. Winning result, which reels off one riveting scene after another, stands as both a unique sort-of sequel and a film that requires no prior reference points; it's entirely satisfying either way, though even richer if you recall the antecedent."

THR seems to be in the tank as well: "[The film is] a heady mix of deadpan humor that boldly uses such topics as pedophilia, race and terrorism to plead the need for forgiveness at a personal and national level."

A major feat. Can anyone remember the last time Solondz got positive thumbs up reviews from the two mainstream trades? Forget negative reviews, 2004's "Palindromes" was just basically overlooked and forgotten.
Herzog's bizarro horror/serial killer film, "My Son My Son What Have Ye Done," however has been met with a much less warmer reception. However, and this definitely a good thing, it seems like it will appeal to Herzog constituents. And honestly, we're getting slightly tired of the trades leading off their reviews with whether the film has commercial prospects or not — it's a Werner Herzog/David Lynch film for fuck's sake, do you really think it's going to light up the box-office like "Transformers 2?" How does commercial appeal even merit much consideration when reviewing indie niche films like this?

Nevertheless, Variety says: "Teeming with quirky references to Herzog's oeuvre, 'My Son' will feel like familiar territory for the helmer's fans, but that doesn't make it a good film. Though fitfully fascinating, this account of a deranged matricide never gels and will struggle even harder than 'Rescue Dawn' to find an audience."

However, this is certainly the best line in the review. "If My Son were an album it would be a concert of Herzog singing a collection of his reworked B-sides, live and slightly off-key." Heh, that's good stuff.

However, here's two good reason to not just dismiss a film from one bad review (like Jeff Wells unfortunately just did with the one 'My Son' review out there so far).
THR, who are visibly struggling to keep up with the pace of Variety, however are all for the supposed wackiness of Herzog's other film playing in Venice (despite the pan that Variety gave it). "Filled with unexpected turns and subversive humor, Werner Herzog's "Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call New Orleans" is a jazzy, entertaining riff on the theme of a cop who spends too much time in a sewer of criminality and corruption." They also say the film is a "far cry" from Abel Ferrara's NC17 original starring Harvey Keitel, so that should probably kill any comparisons.

The Independent calls is 'Lieutenant,' "a chaotic clash of art-house sensibilities and cop movie clichés."

Likewise, the first "The Road"' review out of the gate by Variety was thumbs down, but folks like The Independent and Glenn Kenny found much like us that it was bleak, but moving and deeply tragic.

Variety also gives a mediocre review to Giuseppe Tornatore's ("Cinema Paradiso") new picture, "Baaria," calling it "overblown." You would think both the trades would have more reports in so far, but to be fair, Venice only started three days ago so surely there's more to come. IFC’s North American debut of the British TV’s "Red Riding" trilogy, directed by Juian Jarrold, James Marsh and Anand Tucker is seemingly getting really strong reviews too and we'll have one from Telluride for you soon enough.

More reports should trickle in tonight and tomorrow including thoughts on Jason Reitman's "Up In The Air" playing in Telluride tonight and Michael Moore's "Capitalism: A Love Story" screening today (we believe) in Venice.

First Look: Seth Rogen As Britt Reid In 'The Green Hornet,' Leonard Nimoy And Bill Shatner Talk 'Star Trek,' 'Clash Of The Titans' Set Visit

- Here's your first look at Seth Rogen as Britt Reid, the title character's alter ego, in Michel Gondry's "The Green Hornet." Cameron Diaz and Gondry also feature. Of all places, this was screen-capped from a birthday greeting video to musician Beyonce.

- Leonard Nimoy has admitted that his "Elder Spock" character will not be returning in any potential "Star Trek" sequels. “I think the Spock character is very well established as portrayed by Zachary Quinto," Nimoy told fans at some geek convention. "And I think if you saw the movie, Bill [William Shatner]," he told his pal, "You’d say the same of Chris Pine." In typical Shatner fashion, he simply responded: "...bullshit."

- Contrary to previous reports, Sylvester Stallone has revealed his newly-announced fifth installment of the "Rambo" franchise will in fact be set in the Pacific Northwest. The new adventure will find Rambo cleaning up a U.S. Military experiment on elite soldiers gone awry. Stallone reportedly compared the soldiers to the Immortals from the Greco-Persian Wars. A new teaser poster has also been thrown together -- by a high-school graphics class? -- to exhibit at TIFF.

- Irishmen Colin Farrell, Cillian Murphy and Gabriel Byrne are set to team up for Brendan Gleeson's directorial debut, "At Swim-Two Birds." Based on a novel of the same name by Flann O'Brien, the film is a coming-of-age tale about a 19-year-old student who sees the fictional characters in the play he's writing intertwining with the people in his life. Meanwhile, fellow Irishmen Liam Neeson and Bono will be working together on "The Virgin Of Las Vegas," the story of an aging show band singer, prone to drinking and living in Vegas, who finds his life turned on its head following the arrival of a mysterious stranger. Bono will be producing while Neeson will star.

- Here is a set visit video on Louis Letterier's "Clash Of The Titans" remake starring the likes of Sam Worthington, Mads Mikkelson and Gemma Arterton.

Trailer Arrives For Oliver Stone's Doc 'South Of The Border'

The trailer has arrived for Oliver Stone's documentary "South Of The Border," and it looks like a doozy. What originally started as a documentary on Venezualan president Hugo Chavez, became a bigger look at South American politics as a whole, and the American media and economic influence on the continent.

The film will be premiering at the Venice Film Festival, but unless it is greeted with nothing less than rave reviews, don't hold your breath about seeing this in theaters anytime soon. A documentary on South American politics is a tough sell on its own, but the director's sympathetic views on leaders that some call dictators is a touchy issue for any studio. His little-seen 2003 documentary on Fidel Castro, "Commandante," was criticized in some circles for being too hands off and is still unavailable on DVD in North America.

As controversial and lefty as it might sound Stone frames it as a media-uncovering look at South America and its leaders. "As is often the case, the man I met was not the man I'd read and heard about in the US media," he told the Guardian in a piece he wrote for the paper. "I was able to return in January 2009 to interview President Chávez in more depth. Was Hugo Chávez really the anti–American force we've been told he is? Hopefully, in our film, you'll get to hear a far different side of the 'official' story."

Stone goes back to big budget productions this fall, when he begins work on "Wall Street 2: Money Never Sleeps." Michael Douglas reprises his role as the skeezy Gordon Gekko who influences a young hotshot played by Shia LaBoeuf. Susan Sarandon, Josh Brolin, Frank Langella and soon-to-be Oscar nominee Carey Mulligan also star.

New Poster: 'The Road'

We have to run, and perhaps we'll throw up some real context later, but one thing we know for sure is the road for John Hillcoat's, "The Road," is going to be a bumpy one, as some people are finding it to be relentlessly bleak, monochromatic in mood and narratively aimless.

This prompted us to write a piece defending the film starring Viggo Moretensen — who still may have some Oscar hopes here — and Kodi Smit-McPhee, which is not perfect, but has a lot of haunting and heartbreaking qualities to it that make it more than worthwhile.

Here's the new poster. It's not great, but we're also not sure it's the official American version.

For some reason it seems British to us, but then again, those guys usually go with the wacky horizontal sized ones.

Sweet New 'Wild Things' Poster Conveys Sense Of Child-Like Wonder

Ok, we want to post about this new "Where The Wild Things Are" poster because it's new, we're completists, but there's not a whole hell of a lot to say. Or is there?

It's child-like, seems to appeal to kids a bit more than the last one — a smart move, that $100 million budget is not going to earn its money back on hipster appeal alone — and perhaps is directly aimed and marketed towards kids. Hard to say, if it is, it's pretty subtle but again, not a dumb move. It does convey that nice sense of awe and wonder that the movie, directed by Spike Jonze, will hopefully take from the Maurice Sendak children's book (Jonze and Lance Bangs have also made a documentary on Sendak called "Tell Them Anything You Want" that airs October 14 on HBO).

There's also a sweetness and tenderness to it that we dig. Jonze isn't just an empty-headed hipster, he's really trying to tap into a wonderfully naive and innocent essence here. Everything we've seen so far, indicates a film that is pure-hearted and genuine (and not "cool," hipsters, can you dig it?).

Or as Vince Landay, Jonze’s longtime producer told the New York Times this past week, the filmmaker simply has a natural gift for child-like exploration. “He’s an imaginative kid who for one reason or another has been allowed to fully explore his imagination.”

Can New Poster & Trailer Salvage The Dull Look Of John Krasinski's 'Brief Interviews With Hideous Men'?

This Friday before Labor Day weekend brings us the trailer and poster for "Office" heartthrob John Krasinski's directorial debut, an adaptation of the late David Foster Wallace's "Brief Interviews with Hideous Men." The cast features (as some of the hideous men) Bobby Cannavale, Will Forte, Timothy Hutton, Krasinski himself, Dominic Cooper, Chis Messina, Max Minghella, Benjamin Gibbard (from Death Cab For Cutie, we guess he eventually made the final cut of the film) among others. A poster was also released today — basically the same treatment as the book cover, and thus in line with the faithfulness of Krasinski to Wallace's book, as described by Film School Rejects as an element that might work against the film's accessibility to the average moviegoer.

"Hideous Men" centers around a doctoral candidate, played by Julianne Nicholson, who, in the wake of a breakup, conducts a series of interviews with various men for her dissertation on the role of the modern man in the post-feminist era. The female character was a device created by Krasinski in order to tie the series of short stories together, one that was apparently given its blessing by Wallace himself before his death.

The film was picked up in July by IFC (way past its Sundance debut), and reviews have been mixed... Film School Rejects gave it an A, despite their misgivings towards its accessibility, and Cinematical calls it an "aimless, pretentious mess." Ouch. This trailer doesn't really give much up in terms of the plot or storyline, exactly what might be lacking in this project. Despite the interesting look into the male psyche, this might just be a property that doesn't translate to film, though we salute Krasinski's efforts.

Is Wes Anderson The New Weezer? Also, New 'Fantastic Fox' Poster

Best new posit we've heard in a long time (via our message boards, we forget who, but kudos): Is Wes Anderson quickly becoming the new Weezer? I.e. A heavily adored, highly influential (relatively anyhow) band that transformed regular fans into devoted disciples who insisted the work remained brilliant despite obvious diminishing returns to the rest of the normal world?

It's literally the best analogue we've heard in a long time. Don't get it twisted (Fox Searchlight or anyone else), we don't dislike or hate Anderson or his work, but apostles of any kind with zero critical faculties and fan boy-ish tendencies tend to be wretched and it's much the same here. It's like the line in that classic Sloan song. "It's not the band I hate, it's their fans..."

This is to say, we don't have gigantic expectations for Anderson's first foray into animation with "Fantastic Mr. Fox." Ever since we saw the trailer we stopped being very excited and perhaps that's a good thing. Expectations keep growing for his films and we keep getting disappointed. It's not all his fault; there is a lot of the buzz and hype factor that can make the most skeptical of heart get enthusiastic all over again.

Anyhow, chew on that one or discuss, but we love the Weezer/Anderson trajectory idea. Also, we love it for this idea too. Once you accept Weezer for who they are: a pretty catchy, radio-rock, commercial-friendly band and realize they're never going to go back to the cool indie-emo days of Pinkerton, you can just settle in and enjoy them. Perhaps the same will happen with Wes. He can't do "Rushmore" forever. Btw, here's the new poster.

TIFF Tix

Individual tix for the Toronto International Film Festival went on-sale this morning... we could say something here, but hopefully the TIFF organizers are well aware. Switch them servers next year, and in advance (though to be honest, the advance ticket package lottery stuff is also about as comprehensible and fun as filling out divorce paperwork).

Now that that's out of the way, we got most of what we wanted, certainly our must-haves, but a few nice-to-have picks we missed. So if you're one of our Canadian readers that has an extra tix to "Capitalism: A Love Story" (on the 15th) "Youth In Revolt" (the 16th) or "The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus" (19th) you want to sell, email us. We also have tix to "Defendor" that we don't really want and bought for shits and giggles, "Whip It" and a few others we might be willing to trade/sell depending on what you got.

Some major bummers include "Enter The Void," and the Coen brothers "A Serious Man," but we had to skip those in advance of purchasing because of scheduling conflicts, but they'll be at least two Playlist contribs on the ground floor, so who knows what else we'll get. Even journos with press passes (maybe next year?) have to make those compromises during a festival cause something is bound to conflict or overlap. Happy festivaling and to those who bought today, we hope you got what you wanted and it wasn't too difficult.

Bruce Willis A 'Dick' On Set?

Kevin Smith's first time directing Bruce Willis doesn't seem to have been all roses and sunshine hinted the usually amiable director in a rather cryptic statement in the Toronto Star.

But when asked about Willis, there was a pregnant pause. "Yeah, I got to work with Bruce Willis," he allowed, sounding anything but sincere. "Everybody should do that once before they die. It's tough to direct Bruce Willis ... to say the least."

Yikes. The brief article goes on to mention that Smith called Willis an "f-ing dick" at the wrap party which certainly doesn't seem to indicate they got along. Smith has already responded via Twitter being equally evasive, saying we would only see them fighting if it was a "hug-a-thon" which Smith would win, until Willis pulled a taped gun off his back. WTF? Undoubtedly, this will set the floodgates to open with either retractions or (preferably) more juicy on-set gossip coming down the pike. Oh and here's Bruce Willis' people saying, "no, it's all good!" We hope someone attending Smith's fall speaking tour corners him directly about this, because however we feel about his movies, the director is definitely as candid as they get.

That wasn't the only problem while shooting the film. The working title "A Couple Of Dicks" is currently in the process of being changed to something more friendly to the studio's marketing team, a feeling Smith is familiar with after last year's "Zack And Miri Make A Porno." Smith obviously hasn't caught a lot of breaks lately.

The comedy/caper film boasts an all-star cast including Dick Bruce Willis, Seann William Scott, Jason Lee, Adam Brody, Tracy Morgan and Michelle Trachtenberg, 'Dicks,' or whatever it ultimately ends up being called is currently slated for release on February 26, 2010 which is normally a dumping ground, but since Scorsese movies are now opening in February who's to say anymore.

Larry Clark Pushes 'Mona Lisa' Remake Aside For Disaffected Youth Drama, 'Wild Child'

Larry Clark has a new movie in the works and it's not his remake of Neil Jordan's classic '80s post-gangster love story, "Mona Lisa" (post-gangster: he's reformed, not so many bullets in this relationship and class tale, but it's still great, fyi).

It's a — SHOCKER — film about teenage disaffected youth. You didn't see that one coming did you? The director already notoriously well-known for his shocking, yet insightful ("Kids"), sometimes exploitatively skeevy ("Ken Park") and occasionally optimistic and bright ("Wassup Rockers") examinations of teenage life has another adolescent tale on tap.

The new one is a $3.5 million dollar indie called, "Wild Child," and is about a boy in LA who runs out on an abusive family according to ScreenDaily.

The project was apparently announced in Venice earlier this week. Clark and Evan Weiner wrote the script (who?) and shooting is set to begin this fall which means, "Mona Lisa," is going on the backburner. Apparently casting will be announced after the Toronto Film Festival. Will Clark have names for this thing? It's hard to say, that budget isn't exactly huge, but actor fees are probably going down in this climate. They certainly are for bigger stars.

So what of "Mona Lisa" — originally a story of a British ex-convict turned loser-chauffeur to an enigmatic, high-class call girl, who he then falls for? Presumably transposed into an American setting, the new version is supposed to star Mickey Rourke and the always-goregous Eva Green. Apparently Rourke's been trying to get Rolling Stone-r Mick Jagger to play the Michael Caine role in the film. Many that script and or funding isn't ready. Still, as much as we dislike remakes, the talent there makes that one intriguing.

Meanwhile, hopefully "Wild Child," isn't as Calvin Klien porn-y as some of Clark's other voyeuristic look at teens humping while their parents are at work.

It Was The Summer Of 2009: "Oh Yeah, Me & The Movies And '69, I Mean, 2009...

Man we were killin' time, we were young and restless We needed to unwind, I guess nothin' can last forever, forever, forever...

Summer is essentially over and the numbers are in. Warner Brothers is the studio winner and will have racked up around $970 million by the end of the weekend thanks to "The Hangover" and "Harry Potter 12." Paramount is $830 million dollars poor enough to still push "Shutter Island" onto 2010 so they can Oscar-focus on "Up In The Air." Heads will roll at Universal who limps in with a sad, $353 million (the total special effects budget of the negro robots in "Transformers 2"). All of this according to THR's end-of-the-summer dollars report. So as we slowly set off into the sunset of this rather mediocre summer —which still did great numbers, but from a critical perspective was a lot of ass — we look back on the Summer of 2009. For some reason or other...

Biggest Flop: "Land of the Lost"
A.k.a. the summer movie most compared to "The Love Guru" (in terms of an esoteric notion concocted by a comedian too overwhelmed by hubris to realize what a terrible fucking idea it was). Will Ferrell's confused mess of a $100 million exercise in futility didn't know if it wanted to be- a kiddie flick with computer-animated dinosaurs, some kind of bizarre raunchy comedy (complete with a diminutive monkey man who humps people), or a zeitgeist-tapping retro throwback. That confusion was transferred to both critics and audiences, and the movie crashed and burned. Loudly. In the end it was everything, and it was nothing. Not even the usually peerless Danny McBride walked away unscathed.

Worst Piece Of Tripe Of The Summer: "Transformers 2" – Before we rip Michael Bay’s bloated, borderline racist, two and half hour waste of celluloid to pieces, we want to preemptively tell the fanboys we had no beef with the first film. We wanted to see robots beating the hell out of each other, and that’s pretty much what we got. What’s more, Bay thankfully kept plot to a minimum allowing the expensive special effects to do their thing. But whatever goodwill we lent Bay the first time around, he squandered with the hulking slog that comprised “Transformers: ROTF.” The film struggled to find a tone right from the get go, veering from dumb slapstick comedy, to tepid political thriller, to a centerfold shoot, to lame teen drama from scene to scene little rhyme or reason. Hey! A scene of Megan Fox bending over! Whoa! Some little robot runs into things! OMG! Shia and Megan are totes in love! When it comes right down to it, Transformers: ROTF was nothing but a one-hundred and fifty minute quest for Shia to learn to say “I love you.” Awful. But the film is only made worse, by being one of the biggest smashes of the summer, guaranteeing that Bay will once again be given a big box of cash to unleash more nonsense onto cinema screens. Thanks a lot America.

Movie That Was Almost Worse Than the Worst Movie of the Summer: "Terminator Salvation"
Most of the critical ire this summer was directed at Michael Bay's loud, proud "Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen," even though, racial stereotypes aside, the movie did have a handful of gleefully inventive action sequences and a giant robot that ate a pyramid. If only such candy-colored accomplishments popped up in McG's big, lousy "Terminator Salvation," which is the most drab, dramatically inert movie to ever feature giant killer robots. How McG, with a whole host of talented screenwriters, could concoct a movie set in the "Terminator" franchise's future but have less oomph than the snippets we saw at the beginning of the previous films, is beyond comprehension. This thing had more plot holes than plot points, and unlike Bay's calamitous beast, actually thought it was about something.

Biggest Disappointment: "Public Enemies"
Michael Mann, Johnny Depp, Christian Bale, Marion Cotillard, Billy Crudup and a panoply of great actors in a 1930s gangster period piece, holy shit. What's not to love? But then we remember we saw the enervating, slow-moving, mostly-going-nowhere picture that was also unfortunately shot in butt-ugly digital (bad period-piece aesthetics). The film did have some majestic moments, the last act of the two and half hour film was thrilling and operatic and the technical aspects and methodical eye for detail was superb as usual, but it wasn't quite the slamdunk we were hoping for. Financially it'll probably break even when it hits DVD and years from now bored revisionists with too much time on their hands will hail it as a masterpiece (much like the overrated "Heat" has gone from good, but difficult film to Mann rosetta stone over the years).

Mild Indie Box-Office Disappointment: All things considered, Kathryn Bigelow's "The Hurt Locker," did OK. $11 million dollars domestically, $12 million world-wide. It didn't do as well as some Iraq-war movies ("In The Valley Of Elah," $29 million), but it did fair better than ""Stop Loss" ($11 million worldwide), "War Inc." ($1.2 million worldwide) and "Redacted" ($779,60) so that's something. Still we were hoping the electrically charged picture — more a rare, smart action thriller, then Iraq War film — would connect with mainstream audiences in a bigger way. Hopefully there's still Oscar hopes to be had.

Biggest Conversation Starter: "Inglourious Basterds"
So Operation Kino was a success, huh? Financially, yes. Critically? Hmmm... While the movie may have lived up to the towering promise of the screenplay we all read last summer, "Inglourious Basterds" was at least good for one thing — long, reference-entrenched debates on the movie's merits and shortcomings. No other movie seemed to bring about more discussion, both on movie blogs like Jeffrey Wells' Hollywood Elsewhere and in direct communication with other people (there were differing opinions here on The Playlist too) [ed. all of you are wrong], than Quentin Tarantino's splat-stick revisionist historical epic. All points of view were argued over, as the conversational tug-of-war that is Tarantino continued (dried up hack recycling old movie tropes or cutting edge filmmaker — you decide!) No matter what you think of the film, you've got to give him credit — he gets people talking, seriously, about film.

Comedic Bomb Of the Summer: "Year One"
If and when Judd Apatow ever has a chance to rewrite his resume, surely he'll take his producing credit off this one and hopes nobody notices. The fond return of the avuncular and sweet Harold Ramis? Oof, dude better stick to little cameos. "Ghostbuters" fans better hope he's not the one directing "Ghostbusters 3" cause if he is, they're fucked. "Year One" was a lame-duck comedic wet fart from start to finish with almost no redeemable qualities. Also, it's sort of sure-fire proof that McLovin' should stay affectionately remembered as McLovin' and never, ever, ever act again.

We'll also try and not let the words "G.I Joe: The Rise of Cobra," or "Halloween II" pass through our lips. The less said, the better. As commenters pointed out, "District 9" was the Biggest Pleasant Surprise Of The Summer (congrats to Blomkamp) and "The Hangover" was the Comedy Of The Summer (at least financially — was funny, but certainly no masterpiece), but it's also nothing you don't already know. Plus we got lazy. — Kevin Jagernauth, Drew Taylor, Gaylord "Parnassus Lover" E-I-C.

Kelly Reichardt Tackling No-Budget Western Next

Indie filmmaker Kelly Reichardt is known for her minimalist, intimate and thread-bare dramas. 2008's skeleton-like "Wendy & Lucy" is beautiful, in an excruciating way, but is so narratively emaciated, it almost doesn't exist. 2003's masterwork "Old Joy," is another stripped-down, raw and no-budget affair.

So what's next? According indie horror wunderkind Larry Fessenden, who has helped her produce some of her films (along with Todd Haynes, who generally lends his executive producing support), she might be attempting something with a bit more ambition and scope (sorta like Mike Judge). Not to mention it'll be a genre pic: a Western. Though it could be just as minimalist.

"Kelly’s approach, she really has intimate advisors. Todd Haynes is one. I’ve been one. Mike Ryan. Just people that she goes to. She very much wants to talk things out. She always asks for counsel. And yet of course she’s extremely strong-headed and has her own course to follow. I think she knows and truly believes that the only way she wants to make movies is in an extremely organic fashion. A lot of the things I’ve talked about, we aesthetically share. She’s making a Western now, and she’s off building the characters," Fessenden told the A.V. Club. "It’s still a no-budget movie, but she’s got artisans on board to help her and fulfill that vision. I know the movies she loves and the actors she loves, like Warren Oates. Something about a truth that’s in the films. You know, she’s not a snob. She likes Hitchcock and Sergio Leone. She likes a lot of the great entertainments. But she can smell bullshit a mile off. And she chooses to avoid it, even though she’s had a certain amount of success.

So, no-budget anti-western then, is that it? Are we ready for the most existential (read: slow) Western since, "The Shooting"? After all Monte Hellman — "Two-Lane Blacktop," , "Cockfighter," general Warren Oates champion — is returning to the directors chair after nearly 20 years (with als0-ran hipster actresses too, weird). Perhaps a moody tone poem like Jim Jarmucsh's masterpiece, Dead Man"? Who knows, but after tackling the micro-indie landscape twice now, we're betting her proposed Western can't help but be at least somewhat larger in vision. With horses and sets, it sort of has to be, no? A modern "McCabe & Mrs. Miller," maybe? Beats "Transformers 3" that's for sure. We can't wait. Someone give this girl a bigger budget, please.