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1-20 of 180 articles from 2009 « Prev | Next »
15 Hilarious Japanese Commercials Starring Hollywood Actors
13 November 2009 6:32 AM, PST | FilmJunk | See recent FilmJunk news »
The announcement that Quentin Tarantino recently starred in a Japanese Softbank commercial has been making headlines [1] around the web this week, and I am still not quite sure why people are making such a big deal out of it. It's no surprise that Qt is somewhat well-versed in Japanese culture and no surprise that he enjoys hamming it up for the camera either. More to the point, I don't think these goofy commercials are quite as detrimental to a celebrity's reputation as it once was believed. After YouTube and websites like Japander [2] spread them across the internet for the whole world to see, and Bill Murray poked fun at the practice in Lost in Translation, it's easy to see why the Hollywood elite shied away for a while. However, lately Japanese commercials seem to be back in vogue, and we are even starting to see domestic ads becoming more acceptable as well. »
- Sean
John Woo Unbound: The Red Cliff Interviews
12 November 2009 5:03 PM, PST | The Hollywood Interview | See recent The Hollywood Interview news »
(John Woo, above.)
By Terry Keefe
Director John Woo tells a story in the interview below about one major difference between his experience working on Hollywood blockbusters, and making Red Cliff (Chi Bi), his blockbuster-sized film which he shot in China with strong support from the Chinese government: he never had to sit through endless development meetings. He simply said he wanted to make the film, came up with a budget, received financing, and shot it. As someone who actually was a [very junior level] studio development executive at one time, I loved hearing this. The process by which films are created today at the studios, as it has been for a few decades now, is ridiculously time-consuming and both financially and creatively wasteful. Practically every script “fast“-tracked for production goes through a gauntlet of seemingly endless story notes in which not only the director, but also the studio, the producer, the stars, »
- The Hollywood Interview.com
Jcvd – Jean-Claude Van Damme
11 November 2009 4:30 PM, PST | Alternative Film Guide | See recent Alternative Film Guide news »
Jcvd (2008) Direction: Mabrouk El Mechri Screenplay: Mabrouk El Mechri and Frédéric Benudis; from an idea by Frédéric Taddeï and Vincent Ravalec Cast: Jean-Claude Van Damme, François Damiens, Liliane Becker Jean-Claude Van Damme in Jcvd Mabrouk El Mechri’s Jcvd is one of the best films Jean-Claude Van Damme has starred in for some years, equal to his more recent efforts in Wake of Death and Replicant. Van Damme really puts on his acting cap in all three films, though out of the three, Replicant is still the best, followed by Jcvd and then Wake of Death. Jcvd, however, is the most inventive of the trio; it is also the first film where Van Damme gets real with his audience. Jcvd [...] »
- Reginald Williams
Birthday Suit: Dolph 'the biggest one' Lundgren
3 November 2009 7:06 PM, PST | FilmExperience | See recent FilmExperience news »
Thought I'd goof around with a little b-day series. In case it's yours! Could be shortlived. Or maybe it'll go on forever. You never know.
Hal Hartley , Paprika Steen and Charles Bronson
Today's Birthdays, November 3rd ...some of them at any rate. For those who are prone to celebrating the lives of the filmic and famous. And if you aren't, you're not having enough fun.
1921 Charles Bronson had a Death Wish, five of them actually, and he had them before "franchise" was a daily spoken word in movie discussions.1930 Lois Smith, sweet character actress, is now 79 years old. I once saw her in a train station. It's true. Weren't you shocked when she died on the first season of True Blood? I sure was.
1931 Monica Vitti, breathtaking Italian goddess
1953 Kate Capshaw aka Mrs. Spielberg. Did she sing or was she dubbed for that awesome "Anything Goes" opening number in Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom »
- NATHANIEL R
MTV News Celebrates Election Day November 2009 With Our Favorite Campaigns In Movie History
3 November 2009 10:30 AM, PST | MTV Movies Blog | See recent MTV Movies Blog news »
It's the first November of 2009, which means it's time to pull that lever, touch that screen or figure out whatever newfangled contraption your district has provided: today is Election Day, so cast that vote!
I put that exclamation point in there not because I'm excited to vote in New York's mayoral election, but because Election Day gets me thinking about what a rich topic elections have been for cinema. Combining intrigue, corruption, passion and the odd sex scandal, politics in general and elections in particular have made for some big screen gems over the years. Here are my favs.
Thomas Jefferson Johnson (Eddie Murphy) in "The Distinguished Gentleman": This flick is potent satire lurking within broad comedy: Johnson's conman epiphany is to ditch his illegal shenanigans and start sucking the enriching teet of the Washington establishment. He looses his ode-to-a-forefather's moniker, appropriates the name and campaign signage of a recently deceased politician and – bingo! »
- Eric Ditzian
Review: Ong Bak 2
23 October 2009 5:15 PM, PDT | Cinematical | See recent Cinematical news »
By Todd Gilchrist (reprinted from 9/23/09)
Cinematically speaking, there may be nothing worse than when an action star or purveyor of thrills starts taking himself too seriously. Such a transformation almost invariably begets a personal crusade, which often takes the form of a vanity project, and usually turns out about as well as The Quest did for Jean-Claude Van Damme, or On Deadly Ground did for Steven Seagal. Thai martial artist Tony Jaa launched his career with the original Ong Bak, and after that film and its superior follow-up, The Protector, made him an international sensation, he apparently started believing his own hype: Jaa not only co-directed Ong Bak 2, his latest film, but conceived it as the ultimate Thai adventure, reinforcing his own legend with a self-aggrandizing historical epic that somehow proves that you can actually make a movie without a plot - which unfortunately but perhaps predictably isn't a compliment. »
- Cinematical staff
The Sandbox: Five Rules for Making a Decent Video Game Adaptation
23 October 2009 11:08 AM, PDT | ifc.com | See recent IFC news »
For the past 20 years or so, Hollywood has seemed intent on proving that video games aren't fit to be cinematic source material. How else to explain the dismal quality of the average game-to-film adaptation? But games and movies aren't inherently incompatible, provided that directors use some common sense when heading down that treacherous adaptation path. Here's my list of five guidelines that, if followed to the letter, should help future filmmakers succeed where so many before them have stumbled.
1. Costume changes are okay.
As with comics, video game heroes are often defined by their distinctive get-ups. And in certain instances -- like Lara Croft's snug spelunking short-shorts and T-shirt -- those outfits are capable of making a relatively easy transition to the silver screen. But the rest of the time, keeping a little too close to a game character's clothing makes it impossible to take the material seriously.
I mean, »
- Nick Schager
Michael Jai White on Black Dynamite
15 October 2009 10:33 AM, PDT | www.canmag.com | See recent CanMag news »
Michael Jai White has paid his dues fighting Steven Seagal and Jean-Claude Van Damme, doing straight to video action or forgotten comic book movies. It.s time for his own vehicle, and Black Dynamite is perfect for him. The send-up of blaxploitation films lets White spoof his favorite genre.
Michael Jai White is Black Dynamite
.Personally, I love the .70s,. White said. .It.s just something I really enjoy doing. I used to have these blaxploitation parties at my house. We really enjoy these films. We had these movies where the moral standpoint of the movie is from a pimp. I started really looking at things, like Jim Brown movies and everything, and I.m going, .What does he do? He just killed 60 white people.. So there.s that funny element but also a very proud element. We.re coming after the .60s really. It was politically charged at the »
Hollywood Ex Wives: The E! True Hollywood Story of Darcy Lapier, Oct. 7
6 October 2009 5:41 PM, PDT | Monsters and Critics | See recent Monsters and Critics news »
Darcy Lapier was a stunner who turned heads as a Hawaiian Tropic model. She is also a great example of personal reinvention (and still a stunner), now the subject of E!'s True Hollywood Story airing October 7. Lapier first married her boss, Hawaiian Tropic honcho Ron Rice. Then she caught the eye of Belgian action-star Jean-Claude Van Damme, with whom she had a son, Nicholas. Her third marriage to Herbalife founder Mark Hughes, who died suddenly at age 44, ended less than a year after their nuptials. Today, Lapier, a mother of three, has transformed herself into an award-winning professional rodeo barrel racer in her home state of Oregon. You'll be seeing more of the intrepid athlete whose »
- April MacIntyre
Fantastic Fest Review: Universal Soldier: A New Beginning
5 October 2009 8:44 PM, PDT | FilmSchoolRejects.com | See recent FilmSchoolRejects news »
Tim League, owner of the Alamo Drafthouse and co-founder of Fantastic Fest, is a giant child. I don't mean that as a disparagement; quite the contrary. What I love about Tim is that he has never lost a wild, unrestrained passion for film and for anything that could be considered "badass". He has no concept of pretension or egotism. This is the guy who takes all the filmmakers visiting for Fantastic Fest to a freaking shooting range! I never tire of the image of Tokyo Gore Police director Yoshihiro Nishimura brandishing a shotgun with little to no idea how to use it. Welcome to America buddy. And who else but Tim would think it a good idea to use a flame-thrower to sear meat in a packed movie theater? Come on! While many others ran the gamut from severe disappointment to utter rage at the announcement that Universal Soldier: A New Beginning would be the final Fantastic »
- Brian Salisbury
2009 Fantastic Fest Day 4 – Krabat, Burantino, and The Imaginarium Of Dr. Parnassus
5 October 2009 5:00 PM, PDT | Collider.com | See recent Collider.com news »
Day 4 of Fantastic Fest was a heaping teaspoon of films that directly play to the name of the festival. It was chockfull of imagination, magic, illusions, wonder, and even a living, breathing wooden baby. It was one of the more satisfying days of film at this year’s fest overall, and was capped off by one of the most eagerly anticipated films of the year for genre fans.
Continue to check back for pieces on the second half of the fest which provided 2 of the best films I’ve seen this year, as well as a reunion between Jean Claude Van Damme and Dolph Lundgren; and no, that wasn’t one of the best films I’ve seen this year, but was amongst the most surprising.
Krabat
A young boy, Krabat, is trying to survive in 16th Century plague-ravaged Europe. Krabat is found starving by a mill owner who offers »
- Adam Charles
Review: Ong Bak 2
23 September 2009 5:02 PM, PDT | Cinematical | See recent Cinematical news »
Cinematically speaking, there may be nothing worse than when an action star or purveyor of thrills starts taking himself too seriously. Such a transformation almost invariably begets a personal crusade, which often takes the form of a vanity project, and usually turns out about as well as The Quest did for Jean-Claude Van Damme, or On Deadly Ground did for Steven Seagal. Thai martial artist Tony Jaa launched his career with the original Ong Bak, and after that film and its superior follow-up, The Protector, made him an international sensation, he apparently started believing his own hype: Jaa not only co-directed Ong Bak 2, his latest film, but conceived it as the ultimate Thai adventure, reinforcing his own legend with a self-aggrandizing historical epic that somehow proves that you can actually make a movie without a plot - which unfortunately but perhaps predictably isn't a compliment.
Ostensibly a prequel to the original film, »
- Todd Gilchrist
'Timecop' Delivers A Roundhouse Kick To Your Soul In Today's Sick Day Stash
23 September 2009 12:00 PM, PDT | MTV Movies Blog | See recent MTV Movies Blog news »
Call them "cult classics." "Guilty pleasures." "Comfort movies." We all have a mental rolodex of flicks that may not be terribly popular but, for one reason or another, they resonate in a very special way. Maybe you saw it at the right moment. Maybe you just see gold where everyone else sees feces. Whatever the case, these are the special favorites that you keep stashed away for sick days. Here are some of ours.
If I could redo my college thesis, I'd skip over the deformed-step-child-of-Hemingway creative writing project and undertake a comprehensive analysis of the time travel movie genre in Hollywood. In lieu of some assistance from a Flux Capacitor-equipped DeLorean or a George Carlin-provided phone booth, I think my only viable option is to devote my first Sick Day Stash to an underrated gem of the field: Jean-Claude Van Damme's bundle of schlocky goodness, "Timecop."
Here's »
- Eric Ditzian
Celebrity Cameos in Zombieland Started with Patrick Swayze
21 September 2009 10:35 AM, PDT | Reelzchannel.com | See recent ReelzChannel news »
The creative team behind Zombieland has tried to keep the zombie comedy's celebrity cameos secret, but screenwriters Rhett Reese and Paul Wernick recently mentioned a list of celebrities that won't appear, including names as diverse as Bill Clinton and Jean Claude Van Damme. Reese told ShockTilYouDrop that the idea behind having a celebrity cameo began with Patrick Swayze, who passed away last week after a two-year battle with pancreatic cancer.
That was many years ago, before he got sick. It was [going to be] a Patrick Swayze zombie. They got attacked by him zombified and we had these wonderful moments where they found a potter's wheel and there's Columbus [Jesse Eisenberg] on the wheel and these other hands come up behind him and it's Patrick Swayze the zombie. Ultimately, they fight and Patrick bull rushes Tallahassee [Woody Harrelson] who grabs him and lifts him into the air, a la Jennifer Grey, and smashes him into a pillar. »
- Ryan Gowland
Jean-Claude Van Damme Planning a Real Kickboxing Match
19 September 2009 5:00 PM, PDT | WorstPreviews.com | See recent Worst Previews news »
It is being reported that Jean-Claude Van Damme is working on a new project, a documentary about his training for a K-1 kickboxing match in Last Vegas. This new movie will lead up to Van Damme actually getting into the ring for a real fight. He will face off against Somluck Kamsing, a 35 year-old Thai fighter, who was the 1996 Olympic Gold medalist in boxing at 126 pounds and also fought in both the 2000 and 2004 Olympics. Kamsing even appeared in the Asian version of the "Fearless" film, in which he has a fight scene with Jet Li. Van Damme is currently trying to organize the fight for next Summer, but some are worried that the Nevada State Athletic Commission will never allow for the 48 year-old actor to face-off against a former Olympian. Stay tuned. »
Van Damme fights?
18 September 2009 5:55 PM, PDT | JoBlo.com | See recent JoBlo news »
Jean-Claude Van Damme made an impression playing himself in the acclaimed Jcvd, but he also wants to make a few more impressions using his fists and feet, playing himself in the ring. The action actor plans to put his real-life karate and kickboxing skills to the test for his first fight in a decade. Van Damme is in training for a throwdown next summer against Thai fighter Somluck Kamsing, an Olympic boxing gold-medalist and muay thai champion. Apparently Van Damme will also be filming the... »
- Dave Davis
He-Man Leaves Warners
10 September 2009 1:00 AM, PDT | EmpireOnline | See recent EmpireOnline news »
He-Man has sheathed his magic sword, reigned in Battle Cat and stomped back to Eternia, having failed to return to live-action big-screen fruition with Warner Bros. and Joel Silver's Silver Pictures.Variety reports that toy manufacturers and burgeoning movie moguls Mattel failed to see eye to eye over the project and "reached a mutual decision to let the option lapse". It's expected that the film will now be set up elsewhere, and that Kung-Fu Panda director John Stevenson will stay with it. Warners can console themselves that they still have Hot Wheels to play with.He-Man's last big screen outing was the 1987 Masters of the Universe, with Dolph Lundgren in the furry pants and Frank Langella as Skeletor (only slightly less dastardly than Richard Nixon). There were plans for a sequel directed by Albert Pyun, but they collapsed, and the project morphed, somehow, into Cyborg, starring Jean-Claude Van Damme. »
Hardwired Trailer Will Blow Your Mind. Not Really.
9 September 2009 8:54 AM, PDT | Beyond Hollywood | See recent Beyond Hollywood news »
Those with rich, rewarding lives may be unaware of the fact that both Val Kilmer and Cuba Gooding, Jr. have become the undisputed kings of the direct-to-video market, outranking both Steven Seagal and Jean-Claude Van Damme in terms of overall output. Kilmer’s face can be found on an unusually large number of new titles released over the past six months, with Cuba coming in at a very close second. It’s sad, really, especially considering these guys are capable of so much more. Truthfully, the only thing left for these two fallen stars to do is appear in the same movie together, perhaps a sci-fi yarn about a guy with a strange implant surgically grafted onto his brain. Lance Henriksen and Michael Ironside should definitely co-star. “Hardwired,” directed by “Cube Zero” mastermind Ernie Barbarash, valiantly attempts to harness the Dtv power of Val Kilmer and Cuba Gooding, Jr., though judging from the trailer, »
- Todd
'Rambo V: The Savage Hunt' To Pit 'Feral Beast' Against Sylvester Stallone... But Why?
8 September 2009 9:00 AM, PDT | MTV Movies Blog | See recent MTV Movies Blog news »
May as well get it out of the way at the outset: I am so not on board with this idea. The "Rambo" series is about over-the-top action and outlandish military plots, but as silly as the happenings get they always stay at least Somewhat grounded in reality. Putting in a "Predator"-esque sci-fi twist... I'm just not feeling it.
Perhaps I should explain. Over the weekend, Ain't It Cool News revealed new details about the next "Rambo" feature, which was confirmed in name only at the beginning of last week. AICN's Harry Knowles followed up on the news by speaking with series leading man Sylvester Stallone, who was only to happy to share the rough story arc for "Rambo V: The Savage Hunt." And that's where things get kinda funky.
The idea is to bring Sly's aging Vietnam vet back to United States -- specifically, the forests of the »
- Adam Rosenberg
400 Screens, 400 Blows - Smooth Terminator
7 September 2009 1:33 PM, PDT | Cinematical | See recent Cinematical news »
In the late summer of 1993, all serious movie geeks had their eyes on two movies. The first one was Hard Target, which marked the American debut of the great Hong Kong action director John Woo (whose great Hard-Boiled had recently been in theaters), and the second was True Romance, which was the second screenplay by Quentin Tarantino, whose Reservoir Dogs had been out the year before. I enjoyed both of the new movies just fine, but I kept thinking: what if these two productions had simply switched directors? Tony Scott could have directed the latest Jean-Claude Van Damme snoozer (and hence I wouldn't have bothered to pay money to see it) and then John Woo could have taken over the Tarantino screenplay! How cool would that have been? True Romance would have been the greatest movie, ever!
Something vaguely similar happened this summer, but to a much lesser degree. I'm »
- Jeffrey M. Anderson
2009 | 2008 | 2004 | 2003 | 2001
1-20 of 180 articles from 2009 « Prev | Next »
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