Movies about biblical characters have been based on the Old and New Testaments, the Apocrypha and even the Koran, but have any been based on the Midrash before? No doubt some biblical films have borrowed midrashic elements, but has an entire movie ever been based on this particular form of Jewish literature? I can’t think of any previous examples at the moment, but today, I discovered that a Montreal-based animation outfit called Big Bang Digital Studios is working on a... Read more

High-Def Digest reports that a two-disc “platinum” edition of The Golden Compass is coming to DVD and Blu-Ray in April: Shared across both versions will be an audio commentary with Weitz, eleven making-of featurettes, multiple still galleries, and the film’s original theatrical teaser and full trailers. Exclusive to the Blu-ray will be a picture-in-picture “Enhanced Visual Commentary” featuring Weitz and other cast and crew. (There’s no confirmation yet from the studio as to whether the PIP track will be Profile... Read more

Well, at least two, anyway. Sources tell me there will be no press screenings for The Eye — no surprise there, since it is yet another American remake of an Asian horror film and yet another Jessica Alba movie and yet another film distributed by Lionsgate — while Kyle Smith reports that there will also be no press screenings for Strange Wilderness, which again is no surprise because, like the similarly non-screened Grandma’s Boy (2006) and The Benchwarmers (2006), it... Read more

Here are the figures for the past weekend, arranged from those that owe the highest percentage of their take to the Canadian box office to those that owe the lowest. Rambo — CDN $1,710,000 — N.AM $18,150,000 — 9.4%Atonement — CDN $3,520,000 — N.AM $37,908,000 — 9.3%27 Dresses — CDN $4,060,000 — N.AM $45,347,000 — 9.0%Juno — CDN $8,460,000 — N.AM $100,152,000 — 8.4%The Bucket List — CDN $4,720,000 — N.AM $57,684,000 — 8.2%Untraceable — CDN $862,111 — N.AM $11,200,000... Read more

The Hollywood Reporter confirms what many fanboys have been guessing and hoping and hoping and guessing ever since Peter Jackson announced that he would be producing The Hobbit but not directing it: Guillermo del Toro is in talks to direct back-to-back installments of J.R.R. Tolkien’s “The Hobbit,” which is being co-financed by New Line and MGM. . . . Few filmmakers have the cachet that del Toro has, as well as a deep love for the source material, an assured... Read more

IGN.com reports that Monty Python and Fawlty Towers alumnus John Cleese — who has lately taken bit parts and supporting roles in the James Bond, Harry Potter, Charlie’s Angels and Pink Panther movies, among others — has joined the cast of Scott Derrickson’s remake of The Day the Earth Stood Still: Cleese will play physicist Dr. Barnhardt, a Nobel Prize laureate who plays a key part in figuring out the mission and meaning of the arrival of the alien Klaatu... Read more

ComingSoon.net passes on the news that Disney and Pixar are not only going to produce Toy Story 3 in 3-D, they are going to re-issue the first two movies in 3-D as well. The 3-D version of the original Toy Story (1995) will come out October 2, 2009 — one day after my birthday, and two days before the twins turn 3 years and 8 months old — and the 3-D version of Toy Story 2 (1999) will come out... Read more

My review of 4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days is now up at CT Movies. The film opens in the United States today, and this review expands on the one that I wrote three months ago when the film opened in Canada. Incidentally, it seems that this film will finally be returning to Vancouver, at the VanCity Theatre, in April. Read more

The next James Bond film, which until recently had the working title Bond 22, now has a real title: Quantum of Solace. At first glance, that doesn’t seem like much of a Bond title: it lacks the explicit references to living and dying of You Only Live Twice, Live and Let Die, A View to a Kill and The Living Daylights; it lacks the ostentatious displays of wealth implicit in Goldfinger and Diamonds Are Forever; it lacks the who-it’s-about or... Read more

Just a few quick links to other people’s observations. Brian D. Johnson of Maclean’s notes that this is turning out to be a very good year for Canadian films and nominees: Some statistics wiz will have to do the math to confirm it. But at first glance this looks like the best year on record for Canada at the Oscars. With this morning’s announcement of the 80th annual Academy Award nominations, we can celebrate a whopping 10 citations for films... Read more