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Oscar Watch: Inside The Artist with its Nominated Stars
Mon, 06 Feb 2012 19:03:08 EST
The buzz truly began for The Artist when it made a splash at Cannes in May. People began to take notice and wonder, “What is this silent, black-and-white film that everyone’s raving about?” Then it arrived on American shores in November and we saw what all the love being heaped on the film was about.
George Valentin is a silent film star who has hit the tail end of the crescendo of his career, although he doesn’t know it. Peppy Miller is the upstart actress who lands small roles in the final few silent films before becoming Hollywood’s first talking movie superstar.
Jean Dujardin plays George while Berenice Bejo is Peppy. Dujardin scored an Oscar nod for Best Actor (who do you think will win?) and Bejo earned her first nomination for Best Supporting Actress. The two spoke with Movie Fanatic for an exclusive video interview and take us inside their stellar film.
Why The Artist has so many nominations at this year’s Oscars -- 10 -- is not hard to believe. The film is powerful, emotional and all without emitting any sound. It is a love story, Hollywood tale and changing times piece that resonates with audiences young and old. It is the type of film that Oscar adores, and that is why we believe it is currently the favorite to win Best Picture.
There are honestly no better salespeople for the film than Dujardin and Bejo’s co-stars, James Cromwell and Penelope Ann Miller. The two of them, in our exclusive video interview, explain that this is a film that each has seen a number of times.
The Academy needs to award a film in 2012 that is able to do just that. Twenty years from now, The Artist is the type of film you can still watch again and again, unlike some other recent Oscar winners for Best Picture.
If you haven’t taken in The Artist, it is a must-see before Oscar night February 26. Run, don’t walk to the local cinema!
And while you're in the Oscar mood, check out our most recent installment of Oscar Watch and our look at Moneyball.
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Casa de mi Padre: Will Ferrell's Spanish Beer Commercial
Mon, 06 Feb 2012 17:50:50 EST
Will Ferrell is starring in his first Spanish language film, the comedy Casa de mi Padre. Showing how tongue-in-cheek funny the flick is, Pantelion Films and Lionsgate have released a new “commercial” for Scorpion Beer. It feels like a beer commercial. It looks like a beer commercial. Yet, you cannot help but chuckle at the sight of Ferrell riding his trusty horse, often in slow motion in the new spot.
Casa de mi Padre features Ferrell as Armando Alvarez, a man who has spent his life working on his father’s ranch. As the family’s estate falls on financial hard times, Armando’s brother Raul (Diego Luna) appears with his fiance Sonia (Genesis Rodriguez). Raul’s success as a businessman should mean that the family can keep the ranch. But, when Armando falls in love with Sonia, all bets are off.
The film hits theaters March 16.
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The Amazing Spider-Man Sneak Peek: First Impressions
Mon, 06 Feb 2012 16:52:15 EST
Movie Fanatic was treated today to witness not only the new trailer for The Amazing Spider-Man, but also a sizzle reel. On display was Andrew Garfield as Peter Parker/Spider-Man and a slew of scenes that have yet to see the light of day... until now.
Our first impressions are many. The trailer, for one, is astounding and should send the buzz meter into the red. Seeing it in 3D on the big screen was an utter delight and a true honor for this Spider-Man fan. The sizzle reel was momentous in its ability to transform a professional journalist into a teenage fanboy with minutes of footage that allows us to get a solid impression for what we are in for when The Amazing Spider-Man hits theaters July 3.
Garfield kills it as both Spider-Man and Parker. He could not have been a better choice and he's also a stellar spokesman for the franchise.
The footage was simultaneously broadcast from our Los Angeles site to groups gathered in New York City, Rio, Mexico City, Paris, Berlin, Madrid, Rome, Moscow, Sydney, Tokyo, Seoul and London. Garfield was in New York and when asked why he wanted to play Spider-Man, his answer was impeccable. “Because I’m not an idiot,” he said to raucous laughter heard around the world. The actor also stated why it was so important for him to get the portrayal as perfect as he possibly could. “Spider-Man belongs to everyone. I’m just the guy wearing the suit. I wanted to do right by the fans.”
Judging by what we saw today, he nailed it.
Emma Stone plays Gwen Stacy, the love interest for Peter Parker. Her excitement for being in the franchise was evident all the way from Rio. She spoke to how Stacy is different from Mary Jane, the love interest in the Sam Raimi-directed trilogy. “Gwen is the yin to MJ’s yang,” Stone said. “They could not be more polar opposites. For one, she comes from a wealthy family and has a good relationship with her father. Also, she falls in love with Peter Parker, where MJ falls for Spider-Man.”
Rhys Ifans is the film’s villain and what appealed to him about the role is how the evil-doers in the Spider-Man universe have a human element. “They’re flawed, just like us,” he said in London. “That’s why Spider-Man villains are set apart from other superhero villains. They could be any one of us.”
Director Mark Webb was in LA with Movie Fanatic and promised that this is a world of Spider-Man unlike fans have ever experienced. “This is a never-before-seen world of Peter Parker. We meet his parents, which were not featured before,” Webb said. Proof of that fact is seen in the first The Amazing Spider-Man trailer. “What happens to them truly shapes who Peter Parker becomes.”
Stay with Movie Fanatic as at the stroke of midnight, Pacific time, we bring you the brand new Spider-Man trailer that we were lucky to witness earlier today!
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Watch the Opening Scene of The Woman in Black!
Mon, 06 Feb 2012 16:34:30 EST
Daniel Radcliffe has successfully jumped from the world of Harry Potter with his new horror film, The Woman in Black. The film finished a hair behind Chronicle at the box office, banking $21 million. CBS Films has given Movie Fanatic the film’s opening scene and it sure sets the stage for the surprisingly good thriller.
Radcliffe scores in the film (check out our Woman in Black review) that should set up the actor nicely for his life after Potter. The story follows the actor’s character Arthur Kipps, a young attorney sent to the country to get a client’s papers in order after she passes. As soon as he arrives in the tiny village, the creepiness factor goes through the roof.
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John Carter Stills: A Quintet of Images
Mon, 06 Feb 2012 16:13:41 EST
The John Carter Super Bowl trailer triumphed and truly gave off the sense that the film is of epic scope and could easily make a movie star out of Friday Night Lights vet Taylor Kitsch (he’s our Super Bowl MVP!). Disney has released a slew of new images from the film and here’s the first of Kitsch and co-star Lynn Collins, who plays a warrior princess of Mars.
The film’s star is seen in our next still, alongside a character named Tars Tarkas (who is played by Willem Dafoe).
That scope we were speaking of earlier is ever present in this next picture of a sci-fi aircraft flying through the airspace of Mars.
And now we revisit Collins who is standing solo in the fourth of five new stills. You think her warrior princess is a love interest for John Carter? Bet on it.
Finally, Kitsch’s John Carter wanders the Mars landscape alongside a creature that Disney tells us is a bit like canines on Earth. Loyal and forever at your side, as this one will not leave Carter alone throughout the film!
Look for John Carter in theaters March 9.
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Amazing Spider-Man Director Mark Webb Weaves His Web
Mon, 06 Feb 2012 13:55:10 EST
The Amazing Spider-Man director has broken his silence and has talked to a Comic-Con magazine about his upcoming reboot of the web slinger story. Mark Webb states that the difference between his Spider-Man and director Sam Raimi’s films will be prevalent throughout. The first element has to do with the character of Gwen Stacy, played by Emma Stone. “I think that Gwen Stacy is a young scientifically minded woman who’s super smart, maybe even a little bit smarter than Peter at times. I like that dynamic, that there was a rivalry between the two of them in some way,” Webb said. “And I think Emma [Stone] and Andrew’s [Garfield] chemistry really describes that in a fun, very intimate way.”
Webb also stressed that the world needs to know that The Amazing Spider-Man truly has nothing to do with the first trilogy. “It’s really important for us to be able to communicate that this isn’t a remake of Sam Raimi’s movie. There’s a new territory. There’s a new villain,” Webb said (as we see in the new still above of Rhys Ifans). “It’s a different Peter Parker,”
One thing that Spider-Man fans can attest to that never quite made it into the Raimi films was Peter Parker’s wicked sense of humor. That, Webb promised, is front and center in his movie. “There’s this trickster quality we were very keen on exploring, with that humor and that fun and that wisecracking stuff. We wanted to keep that alive, but we wanted it to be realistic,” Webb said.
“We wanted that humor to come from a real place. Andrew Garfield was really great. He used this term to describe Peter Parker in Spider-Man and Spider-Man in particular: He’s a trickster. He was like, ‘How would Spider-Man web this guy? He’d give him a wedgie or he’d do some awful graffiti.’ There’s a punk rock quality to Peter Parker that’s really irreverent and fun and that’s something that Andrew embodies in a way that we haven’t seen before.”
Stay with Movie Fanatic today as we head out to check out a Sony Pictures sneak peek of footage from the film. We will bring you our full report the moment it's over!
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Ghost Rider Spirit of Vengeance Clip: Want to Have Some Fun?
Mon, 06 Feb 2012 13:05:51 EST
We think Nicolas Cage is at his best lately when he has a blast and throws caution to the wind in his portrayals. A perfect example is his character in the Ghost Rider series and evidence of that fact is on full display in a new, albeit short, clip from Ghost Rider: Spirit of Vengeance.
Fresh from the debut of the film’s Super Bowl trailer, a new TV spot has arrived with Cage’s character asking his young friend, “You want to have some fun?” And that is exactly what his latest flick looks like: A whole lot of fun.
Cage has taken some hits from his acting friends, such as Sean Penn, who have criticized his choices after winning an Oscar for Leaving Las Vegas. They have a point, but one has to just sit back and enjoy the bliss that Cage is emitting on screen at times. Through all of the Ghost Rider sequel’s spots, that self-deprecating humor is front and center and for that, we salute you Nic Cage!
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The Dictator: Slightly Different Trailer
Mon, 06 Feb 2012 12:05:06 EST
At the beginning of the Super Bowl, Paramount aired its trailer for the Sacha Baron Cohen-starring The Dictator. The morning after, a somewhat altered version of that teaser has arrived in Movie Fanatic’s inbox. Notice the new intro as Cohen’s character cannot say his lines without laughing?
The Dictator appears to have Cohen returning to his Borat roots after that slight Bruno misstep. After his stellar acting turn in Martin Scorsese’s latest (check out our Cohen Hugo interview), it appears the comedian is out to tickle our collective funny bones once again.
Cohen’s latest flick arrives in theaters May 11.
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Act of Valor: Super Bowl Trailer Shows Real Heroes
Mon, 06 Feb 2012 11:48:30 EST
There may have been plenty of heroics on the field in the New York Giants’ Super Bowl victory over Tom Brady and the New England Patriots (again!). Yet the real heroes arrived in the fourth quarter when the new trailer for Act of Valor appeared. The film features real-life Navy SEALs in action in the fictionalized story of the iconic fighting force and their efforts to rid the world of terrorism.
The film arrives in theaters February 24… and stay with Movie Fanatic as we bring you our interviews with the stars of the movie!
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Prometheus Photo: Noomi Rapace and Logan Marshall-Green in Action
Mon, 06 Feb 2012 11:39:55 EST
A new still from the Ridley Scott-directed Prometheus has arrived. It gives us a look at stars Logan Marshall-Green and Noomi Rapace in their space uniform best.
The film is Scott’s first foray into space after he set the standard for sci-fi with Blade Runner (will there be a prequel?) and Alien. Rumors have been circulating that his latest flick is somehow connected to Alien, perhaps a prequel or companion piece? The director has been quiet on the subject and Movie Fanatic is not buying into the rumors. This is a stand-alone film about the mythical origins of man. Well, that’s what we’re betting on!
Prometheus hits theaters June 8.
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