The Big Picture

Review: The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian

by Andy Hunsaker
Fancast Movies

Note: Here There Be Spoilers: Read at your own risk.

Only one wide release this weekend, and perhaps that's wise for any studio competing with Disney. The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe was a box office juggernaut back at the tail end of 2005, so much so that the sequel got a nice juicy slot at the beginning of the summer movie season - before the Indiana Jones monster, but two weeks after the Iron Man kick-off explosion. What the original had going for it was its loose Lord of the Rings affiliation yet with a somewhat brighter and more kid-focused tone, as well as the strong Christian overtones that tend to bring out a rather fanatical throng of moviegoers that normally don't bother with the Evil That Is Hollywood. Not to mention the fact that the starring children were not nearly as annoying as many movie kids can be.

Prince Caspian retains the Christian allegory, but significantly darkens the tone, as it seems hundreds of years have passed since the Pevensie children last visited to drive off the White Witch, although only a year has passed for them. An evil regime called the Telmarines has invaded and conquered Narnia, driving all the creatures of legend and folklore into the mysterious woods and into hiding for so long that they're believed extinct. The evil Miraz (Sergio Castellitto) is uncle to Caspian (Ben Barnes), the rightful heir to the Telmarine throne, and the moment Miraz is borne a son, he tries to have the prince assassinated so he may become king himself. When Caspian flees to the woods, he discovers Trumpkin (Peter Dinklage), a dwarf who so startles him that he uses the magic horn he's been given to summon help. Little does he know that the Kings and Queens of Narnia of legend are then brought back from the real world's England to once again drive off the forces of darkness from their beloved land.

Continue reading "Review: Narnia Sequel, Flaws and All, Surpasses Original" »

What do you do to revitalize an archeological adventure series that's coming out in the same summer as a new Indiana Jones movie? Add the sheer awesomeness of Jet Li and Michelle Yeoh to the mix, and you get The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor - the third installment in Brendan Fraser's Mummy saga.

Young Alex O'Connell (Luke Ford), who was nine years old in 2001's The Mummy Returns, is now a young man and a dashing archaeologist in his own right, but he gets tricked into helping to resurrect an evil Han Emperor (Jet Li) after 200 years of imprisonment at the hands of a sorceress (Michelle Yeoh). Before the evil monarch can enact his plan to enslave humanity though, Alex will need to call on his parents, Rick (Brendan Fraser) and Evelyn (Maria Bello stepping into Rachel Weisz's shoes), and their combined experience to help him out of this jam. Also returning is John Hannah as Evelyn's amusing brother Jonathan. From there, the swashbuckling fun of The Mummy series returns.

Watch the trailer for the original The Mummy, starring Brendan Fraser and Rachel Weisz.

Continue reading "Photos: The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor" »

The Cannes Film Festival continues, with the red carpet premiere for Kung-Fu Panda, starring Jack Black and Angelina Jolie. Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie's impending twins are readily apparent in that big-time baby bump.

Continue reading "Cannes Photos: Kung-Fu Panda Premiere with Angelina Jolie and Jack Black" »

Time Out Magazine in New York City has declared that they've had enough of hearing about Sex and the City already, especially since the movie isn't being released for another two weeks. A contributing fact or may not be the fact that it had its initial premiere in London instead of New York, which is the "fifth character" in the show. Variety has also published a mediocre review calling it "half-hearted" and that it commits the "near-irredeemable sin" of "playing like a regular episode bloated to five times its customary length."

As we all know, early reviews can make or break a movie. Indiana Jones is also getting a bit of rough going from early reports, but George Lucas has been preparing us for that for months now. That said, there's virtually no chance that both of these movies aren't going to win their opening weekends. People have to see movies this big for themselves.

What do you think? Are you sick of hearing about Sex and the City already?

Watch the trailer for Sex and the City.
Watch a clip of Carrie announcing her engagement.
Watch a clip of Mr. Big welcoming Carrie to their home.
Watch a clip of the ladies coding their scandalous stories.
Watch interviews with the cast of Sex and the City, talking about all the rumors.
Watch an interview with Cynthia Nixon.

First, James Caan quit the movie after an argument over a cookie. Then SAG shut it down for insufficient deposits with the union and now, not long after production resumed, IATSE has stepped up to the plate to put the brakes on once more, this time because the crew of David O. Russell's Nailed hasn't been paid for three weeks.

IATSE, being the International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees, has ordered the crew of Nailed to walk off the set, Apparently a loan didn't come through in time, and now Capitol Films is S.O.L. At least for the time being.

This is starting to have all the earmarks of a straight-to-DVD release. Too bad, because the premise - a woman (Jessica Biel) who gets bizarrely injured gets crazy sexual urges and also starts to fight for the rights of the bizarrely injured in Washington - sounded highly amusing. Maybe some rich guy who really wants to see Biel as a sex fiend with a nail lodged in her head might step up and fork over some dough to finish this puppy.

It's not official at all and there is scheduling to be worked out, but Tyrese Gibson is definitely in talks to play B.A. Baracus in John Singleton's movie adaptation of The A-Team, and he's excited about it, CHUD tells us. Ice Cube will be disappointed that he didn't get the part, and there's still no word on whether or not Woody Harrelson is interested in playing Murdock, as Singleton hoped in an earlier report.

Apparently Gibson will don the mohawk if necessary, and Singleton's early talk on the script was that it will be more in the Dirty Dozen style, with the cartoonish action from the TV series given more weight and seriousness, and therefore B.A. will actually get himself the mohawk "because he's going crazy." Singleton was also sure to stress that nobody is going to be playing Mr. T, they'll be playing B.A. Baracus, which is an important distinction. Gibson is ridiculously chiseled, but he's even talking of bulking up for the role, but the 80 pounds of gold around his neck likely won't make the transition to the big screen. That's more T and less B.A.

And yes, if you couldn't tell, the Tyrese on the right in the above image has been very poorly Photoshopped. Jacob Andrzejczak had nothing to do with it.

Watch free full episodes of The A-Team right here, right now on Fancast.
Watch the trailer for John Singleton's other story about four badasses who team up to set things right, Four Brothers.
Watch Tyrese playing another ex-con in Waist Deep.

Kung-Fu Panda's Angelina Jolie and Jack Black sat down and talked to The Today Show during the Cannes Film Festival, and thanks to Jack's loose lips, the fact that Angelina is pregnant with twins is now known to the world. We can now possibly invent a new combined nickname for these two, and I'm going with Jablina, because Jack often calls himself Jables (much like Kyle Gass is "Rage Kage"). Or maybe Joliebles would work. Either way, celebrity people who want to keep their secrets? Don't tell them to Jack Black.

When asked where she was planning to give birth, she wasn't sure.

"I actually haven't completely decided. We are certainly thinking of France. [French is] a second language in the house, although I'm still learning and am not going to attempt any of it here today. My children are starting to speak French, so being here is very good for them and their language."

"All my children are from all different parts of the world, and especially my boys. We do have a teacher who teaches them Cambodian and Vietnamese in our house, and they know their flags and they know their music and they know quite a lot about their culture and [Brad and I] bring in as much as we can and we'll continue to as they get older."

Watch the interview with Angelina and Jack.
Watch the trailer for Kung-Fu Panda.
Check out the much less pregnant Angelina Jolie in this summer's action movie Wanted.

It'd probably be funny if David Lynch and Werner Herzog creating a film together resulted in a Sandra Bullock romantic comedy called "Remember to Love" or something that would rake in massive box office recepits, just for the irony.

According to THR, what they are actually doing together is creating a low-budget guerilla-style film called My Son, which is loosely based on a true story about a man playing out a Sophocles tragedy in his mind and winds up killing his mother with a sword. Yeah, that's about twisted enough for these guys.

In other Herzog news, he's now lent an air of legitimacy to Nicolas Cage's Bad Lieutenant remake by signing on to direct it.

In other Lynch news, his production company brought in Asia Argento and the great Udo Kier to star alongside Nick Nolte and Marilyn Manson in Alejandro Jodorowsky's "metaphysical gangster movie" called King Shot, which is blowing through the hard R and going right to the NC-17 realm with its copious sex and violence.

What happens when you give a visual effects monger like Eric Brevig the director's chair? You get a 3-D adaptation of an imaginiative Jules Verne novel like Journey to the Center of the Earth.

Brendan Fraser stars as Trevor Anderson, a science professor who's wild theories earn him nothing but disrespect. Yet, during an expedition in Iceland, Trevor, his nephew Sean (Josh Hutcherson) and their local guide Hannah (Anita Briem) make an accidental and amazing discovery. Deep beneath the surface of the Earth lies another fantastical world, complete with all sorts of incredible creatures and dangerous monsters that lend themselves beautifully to three-dimensional filmmaking. The kids will probably love wearing those new-fangled 3-D glasses and having their eyes popped out at all the colorful effects once it rolls around in July.

Watch the new trailer for Journey to the Center of the Earth, to be released in standard and 3-D formats.

So Mike Judge, creator of Beavis and Butt-Head (along with King of the Hill and Office Space), is now saying he's toying with the idea of a live action Beavis and Butt-Head movie.

"I feel like it's something I can come back to and do. I've even thought about doing a live-action 'Beavis & Butt-Head' possibly. I haven't yet said, 'OK, I wanna make a live-action "Beavis & Butt-Head" movie, and here's the idea.' But for some reason, I used to hate the idea for years, and now I think maybe there's something there."

When it comes to casting the two leads, though, the choices might surprise you.

"I was thinking about having a Beavis and Butt-Head movie where they're just 60-year-old winos or something like that. Something different but with the same spirit. I guess Seann William Scott's kinda got Butt-Head eyes," Judge agreed when given one possible casting idea. "A long time ago, Johnny Depp had said to me that he really wanted to play Beavis. He was doing that ['Don Juan DeMarco'] movie with Marlon Brando, and he said Marlon Brando used to imitate Butt-Head, and he would do Beavis."

"Casting is bad enough as it is. I don't know if I want to sit through a casting session trying to find the live-action Beavis & Butt-Head," he laughed. "Maybe I'd just go to prison escapees and see if any of them can act."

Johnny Depp as Beavis and Marlon Brando as Butt-Head. O, what could have been.

Watch full episodes of King of the Hill.
Watch a clip from Office Space, about "people skills."
Watch the trailer for Don Juan DeMarco, starring Johnny Depp and Marlon Brando.