Sunday, October 18

• Akiva Goldsman Talks Comic Book Movies

  It may be unfair to place the blame for the demise of the original Batman franchise at the feet of Akiva Goldsman, but he did write the screenplay for the Joel Schumacher-directed disaster that was Batman & Robin, a fact that does not escape Goldsman.

  What got lost in Batman & Robin is the emotions aren't real. The worst thing to do with a serious comic book is to make it a cartoon. I'm still answering for that movie with some people.

  Following Batman & Robin, Goldsman's screenwriting career took a hit. However, writing the screenplay for the multiple Academy Award-winning film A Beautiful Mind helped put Goldsman back on the map and he followed it up with a string of high-profile scripts, including The Da Vinci Code, Angels & Demons, I Am Legend, and I, Robot. Despite Batman & Robin, Goldsman has not sworn off superheroes or comic book properties. Goldsman is currently producing four DC Comics properties: Jonah Hex, The Losers, Lobo, and Swamp Thing.

  In a recent interview with the LA Times, Goldsman compared his Jonah Hex to a classic "Spaghetti Western."

  [Hex is] a character that has been described as having one foot on Earth and one foot beyond the grave, that he speaks to the dead ... at the same time he is very much [like Italian director Sergio Leone's] The Man With No Name.

  For Swamp Thing, Goldsman is hoping to avoid comparisons to the 1982 Wes Craven movie, instead aiming for a tone more closely in line with the classic Alan Moore comic book stories.

  We want a film with real Southern, dark horror overtones, a little bit like a classic Universal horror film.

  
  
  Next Showing: The Losers debuts April 9, 2010; Jonah Hex opens June 18, 2010
  

  Batman & Robin - Trailer

  Be prepared for utter disappointment

  Posted 10/18/2009 by BrentJS

  Related: Akiva Goldsman | Joel Schumacher | Batman & Robin | Jonah Hex

Monday, September 28

• New Imaginarium, Blood Creek, and The Princess and the Frog Posters

  Several new teasers and one-sheets have been released to get movie watchers hyped up about fall and winter releases.

  Director Terry Gilliam's The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus gets the deluxe treatment in a new teaser poster featuring the late Heath Ledger, as well as Johnny Depp, Colin Farrell, Jude Law, and ... floating heads? The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus opens December 25.

  Lionsgate serves up a dose of "Nazi horror" with the obscure Blood Creek, by director Joel Schumacher. Blood Creek stars Dominic Purcell and Michael Fassbender and recently opened in select theaters.

  And, if you're looking for something on the lighter side, there's Disney's return to animated 2-D, The Princess and the Frog, about a young girl (Princess Tiana) living in the French Quarter of New Orleans during the Jazz Age. The Princess and the Frog features the voices of Terrence Howard, John Goodman, and Oprah Winfrey and opens December 11.

  
  

  Posted 09/28/2009 by BrentJS

  Related: Joel Schumacher | Terry Gilliam | The Princess and the Frog | The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus

Friday, May 1

• Hollywood's Best Film Directors Premiere - Who Said It?

  The things you get fired for when you're young are the same things you win awards for when you're old.

  Tomorrow, ReelzChannel TV broadcasts the US premiere of the new series Hollywood's Best Film Directors. We're kicking it off with six back-to-back half-hour episodes starting at 8 p.m. ET/PT. If you're up early enough, get a sneak peak with an episode of Francis Ford Coppola at 9:30 a.m. ET/PT and again at 12:30 p.m. ET/PT. In it, Coppola recounts the first time he introduced The Godfather to Marlon Brando in a private meeting that involved a tray of deli meats, black shoe polish, boxes of Italian cigars, and a Japanese robe.

  In the back-to-back block, directors Chris Columbus, Barry Levinson, Richard Donner, Joel Schumacher, and Rob Reiner divulge their tales of movie making. Tune in and get to hear who said:

  No, it's about love, friendship; it's about hope, it ends high, it ends great. Couldn't get anybody to make it. Did it with independent money.

  How television became this thing that has moved in and has rearranged everything in terms of how we think.

  These two wannabe movie stars meet on a dead set…There's the glamour of Hollywood except the lights are off so it's not quite a movie set, it's a dead set with two people that will never be actors.

  It was basically born out of my life experience as a person who was making an utter mess of my dating life.

  It's like having sex for the first time, it feels good but you don't know if you're doing it right.

  Watch our six back-to-back episodes starting with director Chris Columbus this Saturday, May 2nd, starting at 8 p.m. ET/PT. And be sure to catch Hollywood's Best Film Directors at its regular time every Thursday night, 8-9 p.m. ET/PT.

  
  

  Posted 05/01/2009 by reelz

  Related: Hollywood's Best Film Directors | Chris Columbus | Joel Schumacher | Marlon Brando | Richard Donner | Rob Reiner | Barry Levinson | Francis Ford Coppola | The Godfather