Movies36

Ghost Town is a romantic comedy starring Tia Leoni, Ricky Gervais and Greg Kinnear.  It’s about a man who dies for seven minutes and can see ghosts when he wakes up.  How annoying would that be?  Anyways, Greg plays one of the ghosts and talks Ricky’s character into breaking off his engagement.  This results in a love triangle gone wrong.

David Koepp ( Secret Window, War of the Worlds, Indiana Jones IV) and John Kamps (The Borrowers, Zathura) co-wrote the screenplay and David directed the movie.  It sounds like a lot of fun.  I wonder if it’ll be along the vein of The Frighteners.

The film releases August 19,2008

Australia is a film that is starred in and directed by Australians and it’s in the wind that it’s Oscar bait.  All this hype and it’s not due out until November 14th.  The film stars Nicole Kidman and Hugh Jackman and is directed by Baz Luhrmann (Moulin Rouge) .

It relates the story of Lady Sarah Ashley who has recently inherited a huge ranch.  She makes a deal with a stock man to save her land from being taken over.  The two of them team up to drive 2,000 head of cattle cross country when the Japanese decide to bomb Darwin, Australia. 

While Nicole garnered an Oscar for her role in The Hours and was nominated for another one for her role in Moulin Rouge! it’s been a few years since she’s made anything noteworthy.  Hopefully the team of Nicole and Baz will live up to their past and bring us another winner.

This movie is being directed by David O. Russell (Three Kings, I Heart Huckabees) and was written by Al Gore’s daughter, Kristen.  The stars attached are Jake Gyllenhaal, Jessica Biel, James Marsden, Kirstie Alley, Paul Reubens and James Brolin.  No problem so far, right?

The problem comes with the finances.  This movie has stopped production on three seperate occasions due to monetary concerns.  The staff have boycotted due to not being paid.  Jake and Jessica walked off the set when producers couldn’t prove that there were funds available to compensate them.  They’ve had a wrap party but the movie still isn’t complete.

It tells the story of a waitress who gets a nail stuck in her skull.  Alice (original name isn’t it?) goes to Washington DC and falls in love with a young Senator while trying to promote her cause (whatever that is).

The movie will be out sometime next year if they are able to complete it.

Julia’s latest film Fireflies in the Garden is due out this fall.  It has already been released at the Berlin International Film Festival in Germany and will be released in Russia on July 24th. 

So far all the news I can find on it is from imdb.com.  They say that it’s the story about the complexities of love and commitment in a family torn apart by an unexpected tragedy.  Honestly, is there any other kind?

Dennis Lee is the director and writer of this film.  Dennis won a Student Academy Award for his work on 2003’s Jesus Henry Christ.  The film has a cast loaded with big names.  In addition to Julia Roberts it also stars Ryan Reynolds, Willem Dafoe, Emily Watson, and Hayden Panettiere.

So far Christian Bale, Anton Yelchin (House of D, Alpha Dog), Sam Worthington, and Moon Bloodgood (Eight Below) are confirmed cast for this film with Josh Brolin and Chris Browning (3:10 to Yuma)  are rumored. 

In this, the fourth Terminator movie, John Conner (Christian Bale) is leading the resistance against Skynet in the year 2018.  But Marcus Wright (Sam Worthington) shows up and alters the future that John thought he knew.  Marcus’ last memory was as a prisoner on death row but he doesn’t know if he came from the future or the past.  Together John and Marcus will discover the secret of Skynet.

If you’re a Terminator fan they’ll be back on May 22, 2009

In order to bump DVD sales, Warner Brothers will be releasing Tales of the Black Freighter direct to DVD five days after Watchmen is released in March of 2009.  One of the charcters in the Watchmen will actually be reading a ‘Tales of the Black Freighter‘ comic book.  It will include a documentary type film titled Under the Hood which will go into the backstory of the characters in Watchmen.  It sounds like a brilliant marketing strategy, if the movie lives up to expectations. 

Watchmen stars Malin Akerman (27 Dresses),  Jackie Earle Haley (Semi-Pro), Jeffrey Dean Morgan (PS I Love You), Carla Gugino(Sin City), Billy Crudup (The Good Shepherd), and Patrick Wilson(Phantom of the Opera).  Zac Snyder of 300 and Dawn of the Dead is directing.

What would you do if you’re mother was dating an art thief?  Well if you were a federal agent you’d probably spy on them.  That’s exactly what happens in My Mother’s New Boyfriend.  It stars Antonio Banderas, Meg Ryan, Colin Hanks and Selma Blair. 

While the movie was released today I haven’t heard any hype about it.  It seems strange that a film with big stars and being billed as Action/Thriller/Romantic Comedy wouldn’t have some heavy promo going on.  Of course I may have missed it.  The film was directed by George Gallo and we all know what a bomb Double Take was.  But, he also did Trapped in Pardise and Midnight Run which I loved.

If anyone sees this film let us know what you think.

We Are Movie Geeks is reporting that Assassination of a High School President is to be released on September 12th.  This indie film stars Mischa Barton, Bruce Willis and Reece Thompson and is receiving rave reviews.  The director is feature film newbie Brett Simon and South Park writers Tim Calpin and Kevin Jakubowski penned the screenplay.  While most of the staff is new Bob Yari, the producer, has done some pretty good films like Crash, The Illusionist, Kickin It Old Skool and Hostage.

The story line goes like this: The school president’s girlfriend joins forces with the school’s newspaper reporter to look into the theft of SAT exams and uncover something much worse.   MTV Movies Blog is saying that it is like Rushmore meets the Usual Suspects. And the word is that the soundtrack is awesome as well.  This is definitely on my To Watch list for the fall.

In her latest film, Sarah plays the part of a woman named Veronika who attempts suicide.  She awakens in a mental institue and finds that she only has a few days left due to a heart condition.  Then she falls in love and decides she wants to live.  Isn’t that always the way?

I’m having trouble building any enthusiasm for this movie.  Larry Gross who wrote the script for the television version of Rear Window starring Christopher Reeve is adapting a book by Paulo Coelho into the screenplay for this film.  The book outlines Paulo’s personal experiences in various mental institutions.  The director is Emily Young whose last film, Kiss of Life, was released five years ago.

The film is slated to be in theaters sometime next year so I guess we’ll just have to wait and see what they come up with.

Hayden stars in the latest Christopher Columbus film I Love You Beth Cooper along with relative newbie Paul Rust.  If you don’t know Paul don’t worry because it actually suits his role in the movie.  Paul plays the part of Denis Cooverman, complete nerd, valedictorian and  movie geek who announces in his graduation address that he loves Beth Cooper. 

The film is meant to be in the tone of the 80’s romance movies such as Sixteen Candles but set in modern times.  It’s based on a novel by Simpsons writer Larry Doyle.  It’s all about putting yourself out there in spite of the fear of rejection and taking what comes in stride.

The novel received excellent reviews and is supposed to be wildly funny.  This film is definitely on my To Watch list.  It’ll be in theaters sometime next year.