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Hot off the Presses: The Top 20 Nude Scenes of 2008
1 December 2008 7:03 PM, PST
The end of the year means you'll have no shortage of movie lists to pick through ... but here's one that's just too bouncy to ignore. My old pals at MrSkin.com have (of course) come up with their list of the finest in cinematical skinematical for the year 2008. Now, before you get all huffy and stressed, it should be noted that MrSkin has always taken a rather jovial approach to movie-time nakedness. (Jovial as opposed to sleazy, is what I'm saying.) Plus, c'mon, we all love a good nude scene. Admit it. Love it enough to give MrSkin a whole lot of longtime fans. (Heck, they even played a prominent role in Knocked Up!)
But if you're scared of seeing copious cleavage or perhaps a stray butt-dimple, here's a text-based sampling of what you'll be missing: The stunning Sophie Monk in the amusing Sex & Death 101; the spunky Amy Smart re-defining
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Scott Weinberg
Stuff and Things: Some Post-Turkey 'Tron' Sequel Hatin'
1 December 2008 6:02 PM, PST
You'd think there wouldn't be a ton of stuff to catch you post-Turkey blokes up with, but it's the exact opposite. So here's some stuff(ing) and things to skim over today:
-- Folks are going bonkers today over news in Production Weekly that the much-anticipated (and kinda secretive) Tron sequel has changed its title to Trz in order to trick young kids into thinking MTV has adapted their now-retired Trl for the big screen. Okay, that's not the real reason ... but do we really need to know the real reason? Trz? Here's the snippet of plot synopsis they provided: "After being transported into the surreal landscape of a mainframe computer to destroy an intruder, a programmer finds himself allied with the leader of a rebellion against a corrupt cyber-entity." According to Disney, an official title for the Tron sequel is not set yet.
-- George Miller finally went on
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Erik Davis
Benderspink Attacking 'The Straw Men'
1 December 2008 5:02 PM, PST
Michael Marshall is one lucky writer -- he published a well-received trilogy, which was adapted into a comic series by Zenescope, and now The Straw Men are coming to the big screen. According to Variety, Benderspink has snatched the rights to the to the novels and the comic books, presumably in order to adapt some combination of them.
Unfortunately, I can't rustle up a preview of the comic -- but you can check out the gorgeously creepy covers on Zenoscope. I'm not sure I could have these laying beside my bed, they're pretty nightmarish.
It sounds like the book is, too. The story begins with two men calmly opening fire at a McDonald's in Palmerston, Pennsylvania before jumping ahead ten years to meet up with Ward Hopkins, who is convinced the death of his parents was no accident. Elsewhere, a 14 year old girl is kidnapped by a serial killer, and
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Elisabeth Rappe
Del Toro to Remake 'The Witches'
1 December 2008 4:02 PM, PST
It never fails to amuse me whenever parents get all worked up about an occasional f-bomb or a flash of boob, but show 'em a story about child genocide peppered with mild misogyny and presto -- you've got a children's classic! Almost two years ago, it was announced that Guillermo Del Toro and Alfonso Cuarón would be taking on an update of Roald Dahl's The Witches, and it was originally reported that Cuarón was going to direct. Now, though, it seems like things have changed, and Empire has broken the news (in an interview with Cuarón) that Del Toro has not only finished the screenplay, but will also be taking the helm for the fantasy update.
Dahl's original story centered on a conspiracy of witches looking to rid the world of children (great bedtime story, huh?), and received the feature film treatment once before. But, that hasn't stopped the
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Jessica Barnes
Holiday Movie Junk: A Talking Frank the Bunny
1 December 2008 3:02 PM, PST
While I still think there's nothing cooler than the talking Tick I got a friend, this other (in)action figure is pretty cool. At some online outlets like Panik's Toy Box, you can pick up a foot-tall talking figure of Frank the Bunny. You know, James Duval's character from Donnie Darko.
As you can see to the right, Frank is chilling next to a mailbox, and you can choose to keep him at his bunny best, or switch the head and look at human Frank. The phrases that play include: "Why are you wearing that stupid man suit?" -- of course -- and "Do you believe in time travel?" As for the price, it's not too bad -- $34.99 -- and it's much more worthy than that damned director's cut. (Although the #1 fan bit rocks.)
Now we just need a Heathers figurine that belts out classics like "How very" and I'll be a happy camper.
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Monika Bartyzel
Who Owns Mary Pickford's Oscar?
1 December 2008 2:02 PM, PST
It's a thorny dilemma, both legally and morally -- fittingly, the kind of story that, were it turned into a movie, might win a couple Oscars itself. The question is this: Does the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences have the legal right to buy back an Oscar winner's statuette if he or she (or his or her heirs) decides to get rid of it? What if the Oscar winner wants to sell it at auction and donate the money to charity? Can the Academy in good conscience demand return of the statuette and deprive the charity of those funds? See? Thorny!
For Academy Award winners since 1950, the legalities are fairly uncomplicated. The minute you win the sucker, you have to sign a contract saying that if you or your heirs ever decide you don't want the trophy anymore, the Academy has the right to buy it back for
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Eric D. Snider
Watch This: The Pen Is Mightier
1 December 2008 1:40 PM, PST
Forget about the Clone Wars, because here we have an impressive three-minute trailer for a film that tells of one pen's journey to defend the enslaved pencils from their evil masters, the straight-edge rulers. Described as an "action-packed-epic-romantic-war-thriller -drama-saga starring ... office supplies," The Pen Is Mightier was created for the 2nd Annual Trick 17 Stop Motion Competition where it was awarded the Best Editing prize. According to its little blurb on YouTube, this sucker was "made in 52 hours on 2 dozen redbulls." Now someone get Michael Bay on the horn -- we need to see this epic realized in live-action on the big screen, like, yesterday.
Filed under: Fandom, Trailers and Clips
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Erik Davis
What Were The Most Popular Movie Trailers of 2008?
1 December 2008 1:02 PM, PST
Now that we've entered the final month of the year, look for our site (and several others) to spend some time looking back at 2008. We here at Cinematical will kick off our year-end festivities real soon, but in the meantime Yahoo Movies was first out of the gate with a list of the most popular movie trailers of 2008. Keep in mind this is only according to Yahoo's numbers and represents the most watched, not necessarily the best (we'll have that list later this month).
As expected, a good majority of this list is made up of big summer blockbuster-type stuff, and guess which flick leads the pack? Yup, the one with that damn bat. The top two (Dark Knight and Indiana Jones) don't surprise me in the least, but the next two are ... Twilight (3) and The Incredible Hulk (4)? Really? Those vampires even beat everyone's favorite boy wizard, Harry Potter, who
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Erik Davis
Indie Winners: 'Milk' and 'Slumdog Millionaire' Score Big
1 December 2008 12:20 PM, PST
After a couple of weeks off (I had a bad case of Twilight fever), Indie Winners returns with a look at the best-performing independent films at the box office this weekend. As Indie Spotlighter Eric D. Snider noted before the long holiday weekend began, precious few new releases have entered the marketplace recently, so let's focus on two that distinguished themselves financially.
1. Milk (Focus Features)
2. Slumdog Millionaire (Fox Searchlight)
Avoiding the fall festival circuit, and even drawing some criticism for not opening in time to possibly influence California's vote on Proposition 8, Gus Van Sant's Milk finally debuted to very strong numbers, earning $38,361 per screen (36) in 19 cities, according to estimates compiled by Box Office Mojo. Milk opened last Wednesday and has been riding a wave of critical acclaim (93% positive, per Rotten Tomatoes, including our own James Rocchi). It will expand its theater count over the next couple of weeks.
In contrast,
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Peter Martin
Resurrection of the Planet of the Apes?
1 December 2008 11:40 AM, PST
A few months back I was discussing Fantastic Fest with Sir Devin Faraci, and he professed to me that one of the films he was most looking forward to -- was something 25 years old! Yes, Devin is a Huge Planet of the Apes fan, so he was elated to see the "unseen cut" of J. Lee Thompson's Conquest of the Planet of the Apes. Mega-geeked, in fact.
So when it comes to new info on this long-running franchise, I put much stock in Faraci's ravings. Here's the short version: It looks like there will be an Apes prequel that starts off before the original film. And by "original film," I assume they mean the 1968 one. And then we hear from Cinema Blend (who got it from Production Weekly) that not only is the prequel a go, but also that Fox has hired a director. Namely, Scott Frank, who wrote
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Scott Weinberg
Exclusive: Clip from 'Let Them Chirp Awhile'
1 December 2008 11:02 AM, PST
Cinematical has received this exclusive clip from the film Let Them Chirp Awhile, directed by Jonathan Blitstein, and starring a pretty impressive cast of indie talent like Justin Rice (Mutual Appreciation), Brendan Sexton III (Welcome to the Dollhouse), Zach Galligan (Gremlins) and Anthony Rapp (Dazed and Confused).
From the synopsis: "Let Them Chirp Awhile follows three twentysomething artists as they juggle their careers, relationships and emotions in New York City. Bobby (Rice) is a struggling screenwriter who tries to get romantically involved with a woman by agreeing to take care of her dog. His friend Scott (Sexton III) is a depressed, womanizing musician with a sweet and innocent girlfriend while Hart, (Galligan) Bobby's nemesis, is a successful playwright whose campy play about 9/11 has won awards and a run at an off-Broadway theater. What begins as a quirky comedy about relationships and writer's block becomes a coming-of-age tale about competition and self-reliance among the "me-generation.
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Erik Davis
Fan Made: 'Raiders of the Lost Ark' Cake
1 December 2008 10:20 AM, PST
I'm a foodie, so I'm always wowed by the fan cakes that pop up, but this ... this (pardon the pun) really takes the cake. The above should look familiar -- it's an Indiana Jones/Raiders of the Lost Ark Idol Cake, courtesy of Clever Cake Studio. Clever indeed!
Forget old Indy, his son, and the new episodes and sequels. Blech. There's nothing quite like the original, real thing. The only thing that could make this cake better would be to geek it out with a sensor that could tell when the bag is switched with the idol -- without, of course, the tumbling walls and booby traps, that is. To add those would just be a bad idea. Nevertheless, the kid who got that cake is pretty darned lucky.
Or maybe not. I don't know that I could eat something that looks that cool. I'd probably want to leave it
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Monika Bartyzel
A 'Rome' Movie? Hail, Caesar!
1 December 2008 9:40 AM, PST
Maybe all roads do lead to Rome. According to The Hollywood Reporter and creator Bruno Heller, there's actually talk of continuing the brilliant HBO series on the big screen to wrap up all the historical loose ends caused by the series' abrupt cancellation. (Something which HBO now thinks was a big mistake. Between that and passing over Preacher, they're rather low in my esteem right now.)
Heller admits the talk is, at the moment, just talk. "It's moving along. It's not there until it is there. I would love to round that show off." Heller wouldn't discuss movie plot plans, but the next step for Rome was Augustus Caesar having to deal with a certain carpenter from Judea -- with a twist typical of the series.
Fans of the show will probably weep a little at Heller's unrealized plans -- Lucius Vorenus' off-camera fate wasn't as definite as we might have thought,
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Elisabeth Rappe
Fan Rant: Watching Movies on Television
1 December 2008 9:02 AM, PST
Look, this has nothing to do with films that air on cable television without commercial interruption. And it's even hard for me to rant against films that air on television with commercial interruption because this is the way it's been done for many years now. I can deal with that. I have a DVR, I can record films that air on, say, NBC, and fast forward through the commercials. Sure, from time to time I'll stumble across a flick like Lord of the Rings: Return of the King on TNT HD, become sucked in because Peter Jackson created three awesome movies, and have to deal with commercials since I never recorded it. This happened to me yesterday.
But what I didn't sign up for was to watch some stupid character from whatever random television show drop down the middle of my television screen and start waving at me during a key scene in the film.
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Erik Davis
Finally! 'Fame' Finds Some Teachers
1 December 2008 8:25 AM, PST
Back in October, we heard about the large cast of unknowns that were assembling for the remake of Fame. Now we've got word of the instructors, and I'm happy to say -- Debbie Allen leads the pack!
Variety reports that Allen, Charles S. Dutton, Kelsey Grammer, Megan Mullally, and Bebe Neuwirth have signed on for "the roles of instructors and supervisors" in the upcoming remake. Don't worry -- Frasier won't be in tights, but sadly, Allen isn't either. Instead of teaching the kids to dance, Allen will be the school's principal (which makes sense), while Dutton plays an acting teacher, Grammer plays an orchestra maestro, Mullally plays a voice instructor, and Neuwirth plays a dance instructor.
Damn, these kids are lucky -- you can't much better than that for your intructors. But perhaps more importantly -- this means a reunion for Lilith and Frasier! Bebe played Dr. Lilith Sternin-Crane in Cheers,
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Monika Bartyzel
Plot Details Revealed for 'Beverly Hills Cop 4'
1 December 2008 7:40 AM, PST
I guess when two out of three films in a franchise are an absolute blast to watch, you kinda try to get behind the odds that a fourth installment will fall somewhere in the middle between awesome and please don't let me see that again ... ever. After watching Beverly Hills Cop 3, I almost filed a police report convinced the filmmakers had committed some sort of crime against humanity. Now, with the next one, you'd think folks would have learned from earlier mistakes. Well, the fact that Brett Ratner is directing hasn't exactly bolstered anticipation -- but maybe the script is good ...
Speaking of, Latino Review managed to snag a draft of Beverly Hills Cop 4 (one they claim "the studio loves, but Eddie Murphy is not too keen on"), and they've slapped a C+ grade on it. Based on their description (which includes spoilers, so watch out), the flick looks to
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Erik Davis
Weekend Box Office: Christmas Takes Thanksgiving
1 December 2008 7:03 AM, PST
I think critics should start boycotting the yearly Christmas Family Comedy. It's amazing: these movies are never good. I can't think of another distinct subgenre with such a poor track record over the last decade. And of course, I went and saw Four Christmases, of my own free will. I'm an idiot.
In any event, it was silly of me to imply that Four Christmases didn't have the muscle to win the weekend; high-profile Christmas movies almost always do well. The $31.7 million three-day is one of the best openings ever for a movie of this kind; last year's Fred Claus, also starring Vince Vaughn, only managed $18.5 million in early November. Four Christmases even squeaked out Elf. Its five-day gross was an impressive $46.7 million.
Australia, on the other hand: oh boy. Baz Luhrmann's ultra-expensive, ultra-long epic made $20 million over the five days, which is less than inspiring -- especially considering
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Eugene Novikov
Shankman Talks 'Hairspray 2'
1 December 2008 6:03 AM, PST
Remember that Hairspray sequel that William Goss mentioned back in July? Adam Shankman had signed on to direct the sequel, and the master of the perverse (and creator of the original), John Waters, was going to whip up a story to send out to writers. Looks like things are on schedule -- according to EW, Waters has finished scheming up the sequel, and they're now hunting for a writer.
Basically, Waters has handed over "an outline and some ideas" for the film that will ultimately become the next instalment of Tracy Turnblad as she heads for the "next era of music," the '60s. "That period was superpolitical, it was a time of serious change. We're trying to track, in a comedic way, the historical elements" says Shankman. This will include the British Invasion, which consumes Link (played by Zac Efron in the remake).
On the plus side: Waters schemed up the outline.
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Monika Bartyzel
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