In order to lend Plus Trailers some much needed credibility, every Friday I am going to be writing a little about the week’s film news. I will only be reporting on things that interest me – fans of Twilight will have to go elsewhere. In fact, if you want comprehensive or unbiased news coverage you’re probably looking in the wrong place. But if you can stand my poor grammar, prejudicial "journalism" and nerdish rants about whatever it is that Hollywood is screwing up this week then by all means read on. Just don’t say I didn’t warn you.
First and foremost in film news this week was the conclusion of the Cannes Film festival, generally considered to be the most prestigious film festival in the world. What follows is a list of the major winners; most of them are obscure foreign films that will probably never get a release here in Melbourne, but there are a few recognisable names as well as an Aussie film!Palm d’Or (Best Film)
DAS WEISSE BAND aka THE WHITE RIBBON (Germany/Austria/France) directed by Michael Haneke.
Grand Prix (Grand Prize of the Festival)
UN PROPHÈTE aka A PROPHET (France) directed by Jacques Audiard
Lifetime achievement award for his work and his exceptional contribution to the history of cinema
Alain Resnais
Best Director
Brillante Mendoza for KINATAY (Philippines)
Jury Prize
FISH TANK (Britain) directed by Andrea Arnold
BAK-JWI aka THIRST (South Korea) directed by Park Chan-wook
Christopher Waltz (second from the left) as Colonel Hans Lander in Inglourious BasterdsBest Performance by an Actor
Christopher Waltz in INGLOURIOUS BASTERDS (US) directed by Quentin Tarantino
Best Performance by an Actress
Charlotte Gainsbourg in ANTICHRIST (Denmark/Germany) directed by Lars von Trier
Best Screenplay
Mei Feng for CHUN FENG CHEN ZUI DE YE WAN aka SPRING FEVER directed by Lou Ye
Camera d’Or (Best First Film)
SAMSON AND DELILAH (Australia) directed by Warwick Thornton
For the rest of the winners, visit the festivals official website.
Another big occurrence this week was DreamWorks Animation Studio’s announcement of all their upcoming projects until 2012. Among the eight films to be released over the next three years are sequels to Shrek, Madagascar and Kung Fu Panda, as well as a Shrek spin-off film about Puss in Boots, titled…Puss in Boots. Sigh. I will admit that some of the original concepts are interesting, specifically Oobermind, about a super-villain who becomes depressed after defeating his nemesis. For descriptions of all the films, click here.Writer/Director Kevin Smith (Clerks, Dogma) sat down with MTV this week and talked about his upcoming film entitled A Couple of Dicks, a buddy cop comedy about two veteran detectives (played by Bruce Willis and Tracey Morgan) who attempt to track down a stolen vintage baseball card. I am a huge Kevin Smith fan – I own all his films and listen to his weekly podcast, SModcast, obsessively. This will be the first film that Smith has directed that he did not also write. A Couple of Dicks also stars Sean William Scott, Adam Brody and Ana de la Reguera, and will be released at some point in early 2010. You can watch the interview here.
Here’s a piece of news that’s sure to piss people off. With the success of Twilight, Fran Rubel Kuzui is apparently developing a new Buffy the Vampire Slayer movie…without the involvement of Joss Whedon. For those who don’t know the history of the Buffy franchise, Whedon wrote the original script which Kuzui turned into the 1992 film. The movie was fairly poorly received, and was not successful at the box office. Whedon himself left the project halfway through after Kuzui reportedly made significant changes to the script. Five years later Joss Whedon created the television series (which beared almost no resemblance to the original film.) It went on to become a cult hit, running for seven successful seasons.I am a huge fan or the series; I know a lot of people are put of by the cheesy name and subject matter, but it really is an incredibly fun show with great characters and excellent writing (both comedic and dramatic). According to Kuzui (who received executive producer pay-cheques for the show, despite having no involvement), the film will be “a darker, event sized movie” with “franchise potential”. So basically, she’s setting out to completely ruin Buffy…for the second time! I suspect this movie will never happen, because Buffy and Whedon have a massive fan base who will no doubt be disgusted by this idea, which obviously has no creative merit.
Two totally bad-ass pieces of concept art from James Cameron’s upcoming sci-fi epic Avatar have hit the internet. This is one of my most anticipated movies of the year; the film is set on the alien planet Pandora 200 years in the future, and is about a paralysed ex-marine who undergoes a bizarre experiment blending human and alien genetics. It stars Sam Worthington and Sigourney Weaver, and will utilize advanced 3D film-making and experimental special effects – much like The Abyss and Terminator 2, two of Cameron’s previous films. Avatar is set to be released on December 18; a trailer is rumoured to be attached to Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen. For more information about the art and the film, click here.
A very generic but not completely awful poster for G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra has been released. Simply put, the baddies are above, the goodies are below and they're all dressed in extremely inappropriate outfits that are clearly not suitable for combat. That is all.In TV news, John Lithgow (3rd Rock from the Sun) has been cast as the villain in the fourth season of Dexter. I'm a little apprehensive, simply because introducing a new serial killer every season seems ridiculous (I haven't finished season 3 as of yet). That being said, I think Lithgow is an excellent casting decision...comedic actors always make really creepy bad guys
DVDs
New DVD's in Australia this week include Igor, Valkyrie and (exclusive to JB Hi-Fi) the sixth season of The Shield (I plan on buying this the moment I finish my midyear exams...stupid VCE)
Also, Frank Millar's The Spirit hits shelves this week. I have to recommend renting it - you will not believe how hilariously awful it is. Check out my review of it here.
Sources: MTV, /Film, Empire, Hey U Guys, NewsAskew, EzyDVD, JB Hi Fi
