Geek For E!

Geek For E!

Creators of the TwitView! Reviews in 140 characters or less.

Luc Besson begins Malavita

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Robert DeNiro.  Luc Besson.  Dark comedy.  Wine.  Sounds pretty tasty, and soon we’ll be able to see for ourselves when Malavita comes to theaters next year.  But for now things are just starting up.  But by the still from the set it looks like everyone’s already deep in it.

From IMDb:

A retired American gangster relocates his family to Normandy and lives under the witness protection program.

Read on for more info from the press release….

(Beverly Hills, Calif.) August 8, 2012 –Principal photography begins today on EuropaCorp and
Relativity’s comedic actioner Malavita directed by Luc Besson (Taken, Transporter) and starring
Oscar®-Winner Robert De Niro (Limitless, Heat), Oscar®-Nominee Michelle Pfeiffer (Dark
Shadows, People Like Us), Oscar®-Winner Tommy Lee Jones (No Country For Old Men, Men
in Black), Dianna Agron (Glee, I Am Number Four) and John D’Leo (The Wrestler, Wanderlust).

Collaborating with Besson behind the scenes is a creative below-the-line team including:
director of photography Thierry Arbogast (The Fifth Element), production designer Hugues
Tissandier (Taken), sound editor Ken Yasumoto (The Transporter), costume designer Olivier
Bériot (Taken) and editor Julien Rey (The Lady).

The darkly comedic action film Malavita is the story of the Manzonis, a notorious mafia family
who gets relocated to Normandy, France under the witness protection program. While they do
their best to fit in, old habits die hard and they soon find themselves handling things the “family”
way.

Filming commenced in Normandy and will continue in France at La Cité du Cinéma, where the
brand new Studios de Paris are located. Additional shooting will take place in New York….

The script is adapted by Besson from the book Badfellas by author Tonino Benacquista.
Virginie Besson-Silla (From Paris with Love) from EuropaCorp is producing. Relativity’s Ryan
Kavanaugh (The Fighter) is producing, while the studio’s Tucker Tooley (Immortals) will
executive produce.

 

Carly Rae Jepsen: Call me, Fun Size

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It’s almost Halloween y’all.  Remember when we had to drag our little siblings around from door to door, when all we really wanted to do was hang out with our friends and eat candy?  Moooooom!  Fun Size, a film about just that, hits theaters this Friday (that’s the 26th, y’all).  What sets this film apart from the usual happy-happy-joy-joy of Nickelodeon is Josh Schwartz, a guy who’s known for his work on Gossip Girl, Chuck and one of my all-time favorite not-so-guilty pleasures, The OC.  And after I got a peek at the trailer I was very interested in seeing how this movie plays out.

Fun Size actors Victoria Justice and Thomas Mann hit the Mall of America (rather apropo, considering this is a film made for kids & tweens) with Carly Rae Jepsen in attendance.  Needless to say, there were throngs of eager fans.


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Q&A: Paranormal Activity 4

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Sometimes a film gets released to the press the day before it opens.  And during those times, I feel like I’m doing a disservice by simply cranking out a review at 11:59 (what?  That’s a good Blondie song.  Check yourself.)  And yes, I understand that most folks consider all of my reviews a disservice, but roll with me for a sec.

Tonight I’ve decided to do something a little different.  A question and answer session about the newest film in the Paranormal Activity franchise — wait for it — Paranormal Activity 4.  I’ll be asking the questions the typical moviegoer may ask (at least the typical moviegoer I always end up sitting in front of in the multiplex), and I’ll answer with just as much respect.  Onward!

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Movie Review: Sinister

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When I first saw this film, I hated it.  Couldn’t stand it.  Pissed me off, even.  Then I realized; I’d been scared through the whole thing.  It’s a feeling I hadn’t experienced in the movies in quite some time.  It was such a strange feeling I couldn’t recognize it.  Okay, there’s a little bit of pissed off still left in me, but that’s for a good reason; Sinister is non-stop horror that whips together the best of ghost stories, urban legends, mythology and lowdown slasher tropes.  It also gives no quarter to the characters in the story, and as such gives relief to the audience.  Forget jokes that break up the tension, because Sinister is here to do one thing and one thing only: scare the [Radio Edit] out of you.

Ellison Oswalt (Ethan Hawke, doing a masterful job) is a true-crime novelist that believes his calling is A Great Important Thing that can have nothing else get in the way.  So obviously, he’s broke.  Hey looky; a house where some wicked horrible murders occurred is on the market.  For cheap!  A place to live and research a new book; what could go wrong?  Um, have you seen the poster for this movie, dude?

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Haunted Horror hits comic book shelves Wednesday, for your Halloween chills & thrills!

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Ahh, the golden days of horror comics.  The bad guys (or girls), the gruesome but oh-so-satisfying comeuppance, and the artwork that had the Comics Code Authority all but put ’em out of business.  But wait; some of those groovy stories are coming back to glorious life, in issues you can hold in your greedy little hands.  Hello Haunted Horror, a new series coming to stores tomorrow.  Wanna know more?  Yeah you do.

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Focus Featurs’ Africa First program announces this year’s winners

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I’m ashamed to admit that I’d never heard of the Africa First program. But it does good work by awarding “5 emerging African filmmakers” ten thousand dollars.  Not a bad way to help them get their career kicked into high gear.

This year’s winners are: Mr. Vincent Moloi (from South Africa); Mr. Jeremiah Mosese (from Lesotho); Ms. Ekwa Msangi-Omari (from Tanzania); Ms. Samantha Nell (from South Africa); and Mr. William Nicholson (from South Africa).  Congratulations to the winners!

Read more about the films they’ll be making, and about Africa First after the jump!

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Happy Mons-tober: new Frankenweenie “Old School” posters!

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Mmm, remember the old Creature Feature on Channel 20; Count Gore De Vol and all his tricks and treats?  No?  Man I’m old.

But anyway, it’s October (aka The MOST Wonderful Time of the Year) and Disney’s Frankenweenie has put out a few new posters that echo old-time horror movies of the 30s, 40s & 50s.  And they’re awesome!

Take a peek for yourself…IF YOU DARE….

 

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Movie Review: Won’t Back Down

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Welcome to John Adams Elementary, where kids play video games on their phone while the “teacher” texts friends and surfs Zappos during class.  Hooray for tenure?  Is it any wonder that desperate mom Jamie (Maggie Gyllenhaal) is pissed, or that fellow teacher Nona (Viola Davis) is fed up?  Won’t Back Down is inspired by true events and revolves around the controversial “Parent Trigger Law” (called the “Failing Schools Law” in the film) that allows parents to reform or close under-performing schools.  Cliches like “you change the school, you change the neighborhood” and “you must keep fighting” are trotted out so you can tell exactly what side this film is on from the get-go.  It’s a cliche-fest, sure, but with powerhouse acting and a look at all sides of the debate, damn if Won’t Back Down didn’t get under my skin.

When hard-working blue collar gal Jamie has to pull her daughter Malia (Emily Alyn Lind) out of private school because the tuition is too much to bear, the local elementary school is her only option.  But when Jamie sees that Adams elementary is doing more harm than good, she’s desperate to do whatever it takes to see that Malia gets a decent education.  Seeing Nona — an Adams teacher that’s better than Malia’s teacher by about 300%, but who has her own problems with quality schooling — at a lottery at the local charter school, Jamie begs Nona to help turn Adams around.  Meanwhile, the fictional PA teachers union TAP is a swarm of angry bees, furiously trying to shut down any threats to their hive.  Led by Arthur Gould (Ned Eisenberg), a bulldog unionist that is almost boo-hiss bad, and Evelyn Riske (Holly Hunter), a former teacher who is doing the wrong thing for the right reasons, they’re not going to make it easy.  Add to this mix a group of teachers that fear unemployment and a school system that is positively labyrinthian in it’s policy and procedure, Jamie and Nona have one hell of a fight on their hands.

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Movie Review: Chicken With Plums

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It’s a beautiful look at Iran years before the Shah was overthrown and the country went through it’s changes.  But the bittersweet loveliness doesn’t translate into an engrossing film.  Instead, Chicken With Plums is a film that looks tasty when it heads your way, has it’s tasty bits here and there, but ultimately leaves an unsatisfied aftertaste.

Nasser Ali Khan, a brilliant world-renown violinist, has suffered the ultimate heartbreak for a musician; the loss of his beloved violin.  He searches for a replacement, but can find nothing to compare.  So he decides that since life is no longer worth living, he will go ahead and die.  Taking to his bed, he settles in to wait for the inevitable.  As he waits, the story of his life and the lives of those around him are told in flashbacks, letting you see what happened in his life to make Khan the man he is.

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Movie Review: How To Survive A Plague

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Silence = Death.  “Health care is a right!  Act up!  Fight back!  Fight AIDS!”  You may have seen them demonstrating on the streets, but How To Survive A Plague is an honest, no-holds-barred peek into the world of ACT UP and TAG (Treatment Advisory Group), and their fight to find help for those with HIV and AIDS at a time when nobody seemed to care, or were too frightened of the disease to do anything.  This movie jumps right out of the gate, coming at you hard and fast with information and personal revelations that you can’t turn away from.  A mix of history class and raw energy, How To Survive A Plague is a look back at how people with no medical training, no experience with the workings of the government, and very little public support were able to change HIV/AIDS from a death sentence to a chronic, manageable illness.

Plague starts with archival footage, breaking the years down in chapter format, from 1987-1995.  This 1987 is very different from the one in Rock of Ages;  it’s year 6 of the AIDS epidemic in Greenwich Village.  “Even hospitals turn away the dying” — and if that doesn’t break your heart you’re made of stone. It feels like war footage, and that’s no coincidence: the fight for survival against HIV/AIDS was and is the war at home.  Plague has a down-n-dirty home movies feel that gives the film an intimacy that wouldn’t have been achieved with a brightly polished look.  The filmmakers let the archival footage they use speak for itself. It’s eloquence is heartbreaking and arresting.

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