There’s a heavy emphasis on trailers this time. 1. “Let it out, son. It’s the beginning of wisdom.” So says God when his sudden appearance in the back seat of a moving car freaks out its driver, in the trailer for Evan Almighty. So far, I like. And I note that this film will apparently show the animals helping to build the Ark, as they do in Disney’s Father Noah’s Ark (1933). 2. Jerry Seinfeld is a genius with trailers.... Read more
Time for a few more quickies. 1. Variety reports that Dennis Quaid and Ziyi Zhang will star in The Horsemen for director Jonas Åkerlund, from a script by David Callaham, whose only credit to date is for Doom (2005): Quaid will play a bitter detective grieving over his wife’s recent death. While investigating a case, he discovers a shocking connection between himself and the suspects in a serial killing spree linked to the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse. 2. Variety... Read more
On the left, the American poster. And on the right, the Canadian poster, as per a photo I took at a theatre this morning. Note the difference? That’s right, the American distributor of Shut Up & Sing, the new documentary about the Dixie Chicks and how politics interfered with their musical career, has digitally added towels or blankets to the Dixie Chicks’ naked bodies — but it has kept the words that were written on their skin, so that now... Read more
Just a few current quickies. 1. What’s that? At two and a half hours, The Da Vinci Code wasn’t boring enough for you? Then get ready for the three-hour version, via a two-disc “uncut collector’s edition” that Variety says will come out on DVD in France before it comes to North America. 2. Penguins have officially jumped the shark. Variety reports that Bob Saget’s Farce of the Penguins, an R-rated spoof of the Oscar-winning documentary March of the Penguins (2005),... 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. The Queen — CDN $1,053,239 — N.AM $6,302,000 — 16.7%Marie Antoinette — CDN $1,364,876 — N.AM $9,756,000 — 14.0%The Prestige — CDN $3,168,673 — N.AM $28,834,000 — 11.0%The Departed — CDN $9,023,829 — N.AM $91,090,000 — 9.9%Open Season — CDN $7,381,263 — N.AM $77,357,000 — 9.5%Man of the Year —... Read more
THESE ARE interesting times for Christian film buffs. Nearly three years have passed since The Passion of the Christ rode a wave of controversy to the top of the box office, and studios have been looking for a way to replicate that success ever since. The key thing about The Passion may be that it was self-financed. Unlike, say, the big-screen version of The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe — which toned down the book’s Christian elements to appeal... Read more
You’ve seen Night Watch (2004). Now you want to see all the other major Russian sci-fi and fantasy films that preceded it — and maybe one or two that came out afterwards, right? Well, then, this is your month. The Pacific Cinematheque is hosting ‘From the Tsars to the Stars: A Journey Through Russian Fantastik Cinema‘ from November 1 to 22, and the series will include everything from silent films and parodies of Stalinism to a couple of moody classics... Read more
The wife and I have been going through Babylon 5 ever since our honeymoon (ever since Valentine’s Day of 2005, in fact), but we had only just begun Season 4 when she had to check into the hospital (on Halloween of 2005, as it happens) for three months of bed rest — three months that came to an end last February with the birth of our beautiful, adorable, and ever-so-cute twins. Alas, finding time to watch the show since then... Read more
Time to dump some of the stories I’ve been stockpiling. 1. The Associated Press reports that Becky Fischer, the children’s ministry leader depicted in the documentary Jesus Camp, has decided not to continue with her camps at Devil’s Lake in North Dakota, due to the vandalism there since the movie came out. 2. Variety has an item up on the upcoming “Richard Donner cut” of Superman II (1980). Love the headline (“Supe’s on for Donner”)! 3. In a similar vein,... Read more
The trailer for Bridge to Terabithia is now up at Moviefone. And it’s basically everything I was afraid the movie would be. Seriously, check out this plot synopsis: While playing on an old rope swing in the woods, two unlikely friends (Josh Hutcherson and AnnaSophia Robb) discover a fantastical land of walking trees, sword-wielding insects and an evil Dark Master. As the friends battle the Dark Master for the salvation of the magical land they call Terabithia, they learn the... Read more
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