Fasting Horror.

Jose here.



Robert Zemeckis is no Steven Soderbergh (whatever that actually means...even if in my head it makes sense) so, when ten years ago he took on the rare enterprise of releasing two films within a calendar year, people actually chose one of them and pretty much forgot about the other.

But if anyone had told me ten years ago that I'd have such a soft spot for What Lies Beneath and all but forgotten about Cast Away, I would've said they were insane. I clearly remember how the Tom Hanks movie almost got a Best Picture Oscar nomination while this little horror gem (released on a day like today ten years ago) was a relatively successful summer flick which received no end of the year accolades.

If you ask me, its smart combination of Hitchcock psycho-sexual intrigue, old fashioned thrilling fun and Michelle Pfeiffer doing Amber Valletta in a red dress (totally not what you're imagining if you haven't seen it). And it's one of the most clever ghost stories told in the last decade.



It's funny that Zemeckis shot it while Tom Hanks fasted to get skeletal for Cast Away, because speaking in strictly cinematic terms this is a much more accomplished work. It's weird to think that now Zemeckis seems to have taken on the mission of turning every actor into CGI, Michelle Pfeiffer hasn't been this much fun since (no not even in Hairspray) and Harrison Ford is a married man.

What movie related twists did you never see coming ten years ago?
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Links Run Amok

Hollywood Reporter I guess turnabout is fair play and Hollywood is always remaking Asian films. Zhang Yimou is going to remake the Coen Bros debut film Blood Simple. Er... good luck
Bright Lights After Dark reminds us that not everyone loves the legendary Pauline Kael as a critic. 'She didn't "get" the 60s' is the claim here.
Socialite Life Harrison Ford and Rachel McAdams to co-star in Morning Glory (not a remake of the Katharine Hepburn Oscar winner
Empire Watchmen getting rereleased... and it's even longer now? (gulp)
Topless Robot remembers the geek side of Farrah Fawcett's career
Twitch Audition, one of the scariest movies I've ever seen, is getting a 10th anniversary DVD edition with extras


Splash Page fan made Spider-Man 4 posters. Eliza Dushku as the Black Cat? Yes, please
Mike Lynch 200 characters from Dick Tracy. Does anyone besides me wish the movie version had had a sequel?
Billy Loves Stu Brad Pitt (Cutting Class) and the vagaries of fame

More takes on the Oscar's Best Picture nominee doubling
AV Club pros & cons
Nick's Flick Picks with charts of what 1999-2008 might have looked like. We should probably do this here at some point. So many projects!
Movies Kick Ass 'Oscar Should Wait'
Risky Business Oscar's Decathlon

Transformers Revenge of the Fallen reviews > Transformers Revenge of the Fallen
Kim Morgan suggests that Bay is an idiot savant surrealist. She thinks he needs to embrace/realize it
James Rocchi "And no, I can't shut my brain off and have fun, anymore than I could rip out my tongue and enjoy a meal, because my brain is where I feel fun."
Peter Bradshaw "like watching paint dry while getting hit over the head with a frying pan"
Timothy Brayton Robots in Disgust
Cinematical absurdities they love

Kelly McGillis Comes Out

The Amish will not be pleased.

Not that The Amish ever saw Witness (1985) mind you. Maybe they don't even know who she is. But wasn't she good in that film as the Amish widow who resists falling for Harrison Ford for as long as she can? I still find it a bit odd that she didn't end up in the Best Supporting Actress list that year. Her chemistry with Harrison Ford was crazyhot. Further proof that it's ridiculous that people think gay actors can't pull off romantic leading roles.

But back to Kelly. If you're saying "who?" you're forgiven. She had a very high profile career for five short years (two Oscar winning films with one blockbuster sandwiched inbetween) and then *poof*. Hollywood lost interest... or she did... or the public did. It happens.

It happens a lot. We just never know who it's going to happen to until they're gone. Someone who is all over high profile movies this year will be gone from the public consciousness by 2013, mark my words.

Cruise mounts McGillis in Top Gun. His sperm is magic

Kelly's sexual orientation has been gossiped about since at least her co-starring gig with Jodie Foster in The Accused 21 long years ago. Now, she's officially out and "done with the man thing." Her Top Gun co-star might call that statement "glib" but then...
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Now Playing: Slumdog Crosses Over and the Jonas Bros Do Whatever It is That They Do

In case you've been tied up with Oscar mania and are ready to go back to the actual movies, there are new ones. Whether or not it's safe to go back (yeah, that time of year) is another issue entirely. Links go to trailers.

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The Reader and Slumdog Millionaire are taking their highly publicized Oscar wins to their highest screen counts yet and asking for the public's stamp of approval. Kate Winslet is a Time cover girl and Slumdog is on the cover of EW. How much more money does Slumdog have in it? It recentl cracked 100 million.

This isn't really about the theater counts but I'd love your opinion on what's going on with Entertainment Weekly these days? If you ask me they're phoning it in now that they have almost zero real competition. They skipped both pre-show Oscar covers this year which is, I guess, neither here nor there in a lackadaisical gold man year, but their lists (usually a highlight) are getting lazy. That "best directors" list (which I didn't even post) was several dozen kinds of embarrassing -- hardly worth the discussion it garnered and which it only garnered because they have no real competition at this sort of thing. A recent list of final movie appearances they're pushing, 'inspired by Heath Ledger', is also annoying. The Dark Knight is not Ledger's last film. The EW staff is too smart not to know this and they don't really claim it is... so one assume they're just planning to regurgitate this list again when The Imaginarium of Dr. Parnassus comes out (see previous post). I'm considering cancelling my subscription. I prefer more human movie coverage anyway. Not some corporate mandate for content content content ... even when it trumps common sense. Or am I just grumpy?

L I M I T E D
Crossing Over Wayne Kramer (The Cooler, Running Scared) directs Harrison Ford, Ray Liotta, Jim Sturgess and Ashley Judd in this drama about cultures clashing, shady border business and illegal immigrants. Why is it being dumped into theaters? It has big stars and the kind of sledgehammer topic that turns Oscar voters on (see also: Crash, Traffic)
Echelon Conspiracy Greg Marks directs this thriller that sounds a bit like Eagle Eye in the mysterious threatening cell phone communications department. Shane West plays Shia Labeouf (joke. no need to correct me in the comments). With Ed Burns, Ving Rhames and Jonathan Pryce.
Robert Blecker Wants Me Dead A documentary about a capital punishment activist.
The Trouble With Romance an ensemble indie romantic comedy that restricts itself to one floor of a hotel for its action. I've always wondered why more indies didn't build tight stage-friendly locations right into their concept. Saves on budget. With Jordan Belfi, Kip Pardue, David Eigenberg and Sheetal Sheth among many others.

W I D E
Street Fighter: The Legend of Chun-Li "Based on the Video Game" is such a great selling point right? I'm confident that one day someone will make a great movie based on a video game. I mean, we didn't see Pirates of the Caribbean coming, did we? If a theme park attraction can become a super fun movie (the first one only I hasten to specify), why can't a video game? Not that it will be this one. Kristin Kreuk (Smallville) stars as Chun Li. Apparently she's half Chinese. I did not know...
Jonas Bros a 3D concert movie. Obviously we've moved into another boy band phase in pop culture (sigh). I hope they save their money. Eventually they will be searching for reality TV gigs like N'Sync is now (Justin Timberlake excluded).
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Australia's Poster: Both Beauty & Beast

I love the sexy fused line of the KidJack profile but I reached this conclusion long ago: collages nearly always look cheap when photoshopped. If you want to include a several scenes from the movie on a poster you really need to enlist one of those oldschool illustrators like Bob Peak. He knew how to do. Witness...


Anybody who ever worked on designing a movie poster starring Harrison Ford (funny how that works) also fits this bill. Richard Amsel, John Alvin, Drew Stuzan etcetera... I realize artwork is passé for movie posters (and everyone loses for that) but surely studios should realize that if they must go collage -- if they positively must convey 36 things about the movie all at once -- illustration is the way to make it look iconic rather than awkward.



great poster sites for those that care about such things: IMPA, Film Posters and Poster Wire