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Friday, May 8
You would think it'd be hard to impress an actor such as Tom Hanks, who has won back-to-back Oscars and whose domestic box office totals exceed $3.3 billion. However, in a recent interview with the online German news magazine Bild.com, Hanks spoke very highly of his Angels & Demons German co-star, Armin Mueller-Stahl (Eastern Promises), who plays Cardinal Strauss in the film:
I am in total awe of him. I can learn so much from him. He is one of the greatest actors of our time.
Hanks reprises the role of Robert Langdon, Harvard University symbologist, in this sequel to The Da Vinci Code. In Angels & Demons, Langdon discovers evidence that the ancient brotherhood known as the Illuminati has plans to use anti-matter to kill several Roman Catholic cardinals and destroy St. Peter's Basilica. Langdon and a beautiful Italian scientist, Vittoria Vetra, played by Ayelet Zurer, travel the world, following a 400-year-old trail of ancient symbols in an effort to save the Vatican.
Angels & Demons is directed by Ron Howard and also stars Ewan McGregor as Camerlengo Carlo Ventresca and Stellan Skarsgård as Commander Rocher.
Posted 5/8/2009 by BrentJS
Related: Tom Hanks | Armin Mueller-Stahl | The Da Vinci Code | Angels & Demons
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Thursday, May 7
Angels & Demons, the sequel to the 2006 blockbuster The Da Vinci Code, received the thumbs-up from the Vatican, according to a recent AP story. Both of movies are adaptations of best-selling -- and controversial -- novels by Dan Brown, though Brown's novels were published in reverse order, with Angels & Demons taking place prior to The Da Vinci Code.
Director Ron Howard claimed that the Vatican worked against his production by denying him access to certain sites, but the Vatican said that Howard's comments were made solely to drum up publicity. There were rumors that the Vatican would condemn the movie, as they did The Da Vinci Code; however, yesterday's edition of the Vatican newspaper, L'Osservatore Romano, ran a review and an editorial calling the film:
...two hours of harmless entertainment, which hardly affects the genius and mystery of Christianity.
The reviewer criticized the movie's "stereotyped characters," but praised Howard's "dynamic direction."
Angels & Demons stars Tom Hanks, who reprises the role of Robert Langdon, a Harvard University symbologist.
Posted 5/7/2009 by BrentJS
Related: Tom Hanks | Ron Howard | The Da Vinci Code | Angels & Demons
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Sunday, February 1
Tom Hanks is back with a much better hair-doo in Dan Brown's Angels & Demons -- a story written prior to The DaVinci Code. The trailer was a bit confusing. You couldn't tell much about the storyline other than the fact that the Catholic Church is again the bad guy. So, here's a bit of a description from the back of the book...
In the new movie Harvard symbologist Robert Langdon is shocked to find proof that the legendary secret society, the Illuminati--dedicated since the time of Galileo to promoting the interests of science and condemning the blind faith of Catholicism--is alive, well, and murderously active. Brilliant physicist Leonardo Vetra has been murdered, his eyes plucked out, and the society's ancient symbol branded upon his chest. His final discovery, antimatter, the most powerful and dangerous energy source known to man, has disappeared--only to be hidden somewhere beneath Vatican City on the eve of the election of a new pope. Langdon and Vittoria, Vetra's daughter and colleague, embark on a frantic hunt through the streets, churches, and catacombs of Rome, following a 400-year-old trail to the lair of the Illuminati, to prevent the incineration of civilization.
Posted 2/1/2009 by Jim
Related: Tom Hanks | Angels & Demons
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Friday, January 9
A report at Variety lists which movie trailers we'll be seeing at this year's Superbowl.
Confirmed for this year's roster are high-profile titles like Paramount's Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen, Star Trek and G.I. Joe; Sony's Angels & Demons; DreamWorks Animation's Monsters vs. Aliens; and Universal's Land of the Lost and its fourth installment in The Fast and the Furious franchise. Disney is also planning to use the game to raise the profile for Pixar's next toon, Up, while a Wolverine spot is likely from Fox.
As of this report, warring studios Fox and Warner Bros. haven yet bought space. This is an interesting development since both have some big titles being produced in 2009 such as Watchmen, Wolverine, Night at the Museum 2, Terminator Salvation, and Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince to name but a few.
One has to wonder if the much-publicized legal dispute between the studios is having some effect on their ability to buy advertising.
Keep it right here, where we'll have the Superbowl trailers and highlights when available.
Posted 1/9/2009 by Jim
Related: Star Trek | X-Men Origins: Wolverine | G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra | Land of the Lost | Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince | Night at the Museum: Battle of the Smithsonian | Watchmen | Terminator Salvation | Up | Angels & Demons | Monsters vs. Aliens | Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen
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Tuesday, June 17
The prequel to The Da Vinci Code, Angels & Demons, has run into some opposition to its filming in the form of the Catholic Church.
It seems that director Ron Howard had wanted to shoot in two Roman churches -- specifically the church of Santa Maria del Popolo and Santa Maria della Vittoria -- but the Roman diocese has put the kibosh on his plans.
It is no secret that these movies and the books upon which they are based are not particularly well received by the Catholic Church. Diocese spokesman Monsignor Marco Fibbo explains the decision about Angels & Demons, saying "We would be helping them create a work that might well be beautiful but does not conform to our views."
Source: Newsweek.
Posted 6/17/2008 by reelz
Related: Angels & Demons
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Thursday, October 25
It's a busy deal day in Hollywood, with lots of ink hitting paper in an effort to get projects off the ground before the WGA strike deadline hits next week.
First, Jim Caviezel (The Passion of the Christ) has signed to star in a remake of the 1978 Australian suspense thriller, Long Weekend, about a young couple whose camping trip gets turned upside down when the animals--not appreciating being shot at--decide to strike back. Sounds kind of like a low-budget slasher flick to us, but Caviezel seems to take his work seriously, so who knows?
Dakota AND Elle Fanning will be joining Cameron Diaz in My Sister's Keeper, about a girl (Elle) who tries to get emancipated from her parents when she finds out she was conceived as a genetic match to save her cancer-stricken sister (Dakota). It's the first time the sisters will play opposite each other in a movie.
Jamie Foxx has added yet another movie to his plate with The Zebra Murders: A Season of Killing, Racial Madness, and Civil Rights. He will play a police detective that cracked racially-motivated serial murders in 1970s San Francisco and fought racism in his own department. It is based on the 2006 book of the same, very long, name.
Michael Mann and Robert De Niro will try to recreate their fire from Heat with another book adapation for the screen. Mann will direct and De Niro will star in Frankie Machine, a drama based on Don Winslow's novel, The Winter of Frankie Machine. De Niro decided to break his mobster-role retirement to play Frank Machianno, aka 'Frankie Machine,' a retired mob hitman who gets sucked 
back in when he finds out there's a hit out on him.
And finally, Mann and De Niro aren't the only superstar movie reunion. Ron Howard and Tom Hanks will get the band back together to make Angels & Demons. Howard will direct and Hanks will reprise his role as Robert Langdon, the symbologist sleuth from The Da Vinci Code in this sequel--once again based on a Dan Brown novel.
Source: Variety.
Posted 10/25/2007 by reelz
Related: Dakota Fanning | Elle Fanning | Jamie Foxx | Michael Mann | Tom Hanks | Long Weekend | Frankie Machine | The Zebra Murders: A Season of Killing, Racial Madness, and Civil Rights | Jim Caviezel | Angels & Demons | My Sister's Keeper