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SXSW Review: Mr. Nice

By Kevin Kelly (Subscribe to Kevin Kelly's posts), Posted Mar 19th 2010 6:48PM
Filed under: Comedy, Drama, Independent, SXSW, Theatrical Reviews, Festival Reports, Reviews, SXSW Film Festival, Cinematical

43 aliases, 4 kids, 89 phone lines. Among his associates are members of the Mafia, CIA, IRA and MI6. Marijuana connoisseur, school teacher, money launderer, gentleman, fugitive and spy; raconteur, travel agent, writer, philosopher of science, rock promoter, public speaker, board game appreciator and the biggest dope smuggler on the planet. He has his own website which is very ganja-friendly, and he wrote a sequel to the autobiographical book this film is based on called Senor Nice. He's also written Dope Stories, and the upcoming Tripping. He has a show on YouTube, and in the words of Rhys Ifans, "He's a folk hero in the UK, but in Wales, he's a hero."

So how do you turn a book about a (folk) hero into a film? Director Bernard Rose (Candyman, Immortal Beloved, ivansxtc) has attempted to do it with a mixture of different styles, archival stock footage, and performances from Rhys Ifans and Chloe Sevigny. Ifans might not be the first name that jumps to mind when you think historical figure, but just watch that YouTube footage above and you'll see why they went with Ifans. It would be either down to him or Geoffrey Rush. Since Ifans is Welsh, just like Marks, and had a history with the man, that casting made a lot more sense.
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SXSW Interview: Jonah Hill

By Kevin Kelly (Subscribe to Kevin Kelly's posts), Posted Mar 15th 2010 3:46PM
Filed under: SXSW, Interviews, Celebrity Interviews, SXSW Film Festival, Cinematical


You've seen Jonah Hill in movies like Superbad, Forgetting Sarah Marshall, Knocked Up, and Accepted, and he's a very funny guy. There's a tendency to expect hilarity when he comes onscreen (my favorite unexpectedly funny scene with him is in Rocket Science), but the guy has some dramatic legs that he's only begun to stretch. In Cyrus he does just that. It's not to say the movie isn't funny, because it has plenty of comedic moments, but this is definitely not the Jonah Hill you're used to seeing.

Besides being an actor and a writer, he's a self-proclaimed movie fan, and he spends plenty of time on the web reading sites like Cinematical. He's just as excited for movies as everyone else, and read on through to see what his upcoming recommendations are. He also talks about what life is like for him post-Superbad, what it's like being known as "the funny guy," and everything else he's up to. If you could bottle his enthusiasm for just about any topic, we wouldn't need to invent cold fusion.
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SXSW Interview: Edward Norton and Tim Blake Nelson Talk 'Leaves of Grass'

By Kevin Kelly (Subscribe to Kevin Kelly's posts), Posted Mar 15th 2010 1:33PM
Filed under: SXSW, Interviews, Celebrity Interviews, SXSW Film Festival, Cinematical


Tim Blake Nelson wrote and directed Leaves of Grass, which is screening at SXSW this year. He also stars in the film, alongside not one but two Edward Nortons. Norton plays twin brothers Billy and Brady in this movie, which he says is pure Tim Blake Nelson. He's Jewish and from Tulsa, and like Billy, he's classically trained and intellectual, but like Brady, he's familiar with the world of pot growers and under the table deals. The film also stars Keri Russell, Richard Dreyfuss, Susan Sarandon, and a very creepy-looking Steve Earle.

We spoke to Norton and Nelson about the film, which is highly recommended, if not for Norton's portrayal of Brady alone. What starts out of a light comedy takes a 90 degree turn and winds up somewhere unexpected, and is well worth your time. Head on through the break to find out how the film started, where Norton developed his Oklahoma accent, what Nelson thinks about the turn and more.
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Ed Norton Says 'Hulk' Sequel Not Happening

By Kevin Kelly (Subscribe to Kevin Kelly's posts), Posted Mar 13th 2010 7:03PM
Filed under: Festival Reports, Fandom, Interviews, Comic/Superhero/Geek, Remakes and Sequels, Celebrity Interviews, Cinematical


We interviewed Edward Norton at SXSW for the Tim Blake Nelson directed Leaves of Grass, in which he plays straight-laced philosophy professor Bill, and then his redneck, pot growing twin brother Brady. It's a great movie, and Brady deserve to stand alongside lovable stoners like Jeff Lebowski and Spiccoli. Look for a review later.

Anyhow, you can read the full interview with Norton and Tim Blake Nelson soon, but in the meantime, he did give us a nugget of info on The Incredible Hulk sequel, which he and Tim Blake Nelson were both attached to. As in, is it happening?

"I don't think so. I think it has got more to do with what Marvel is doing. I get the sense they have this grand vision of unspooling a lot of their characters and then starting to put them together. I think they can only do so many at a time. Obviously, they are doing Iron Man 2 and then getting some of the new ones out."

Which isn't great news, considering how much I enjoyed The Incredible Hulk. How are they going to make an Avengers movie without the Hulk? Me smash.

'Predators' Footage and '13: Tzameti' Remake at SXSW!

By Kevin Kelly (Subscribe to Kevin Kelly's posts), Posted Mar 3rd 2010 7:01AM
Filed under: Cinematical


Well, they promised us big news on Wednesday, and lo and behold, here it is. SXSW has just announced that Robert Rodriguez' reboot of the Predator franchise, entitled Predators, will screen footage as part of a special "First Look" event at the film festival next week. Directed by Nimród Antal (director of last year's Armored) and conceived and filmed at Rodriguez' own Troublemaker Studios in Austin, the film stars Adrien Brody, Topher Grace, Alice Braga, and Laurence Fishburne. Co-stars are Walton Goggins, Danny Trejo, Oleg Taktarov and Mahershalalhashbaz Ali, who has one of the longest first names I've seen in my life.

The film follows Brody as Royce, "a mercenary who reluctantly leads a group of elite warriors who come to realize they've beenbrought together on an alien planet... as prey. With the exception of a disgraced physician, they are all cold-blooded killers – mercenaries, Yakuza, convicts, death squad members – human "predators" that are now being systemically hunted and eliminated by a new breed of alien Predators." Translation: there's going to be a lot of killing in this movie.

Also, the super secret screening that was teased as part of SXSW & Fantastic Fest has been revealed: it will be Géla Babluani's 13, a remake of his own film Tzameti, which won the World Cinema Jury Prize at Sundance in 2006. This version is in color, stars Jason Statham, Mickey Rourke, Ben Gazzara, and Alexander Skarsgard, and is about a man who unwittingly becomes involved in a degenerate, clandestine world of mental chaos behind closed doors. Sort of like The Game, with a lot more bloodshed and Russian roulette. SXSW already has a fantastic lineup of films this year, so these announcements are like putting a second layer of icing on a mouth-watering cake.

Superman To Fly Again: David Goyer Writing New Movie

By Kevin Kelly (Subscribe to Kevin Kelly's posts), Posted Feb 24th 2010 3:51PM
Filed under: Deals, Fandom, Newsstand, Movie News, Cinematical


Superman fans, rejoice! Smallville was canceled! Wait ... what? Oh, sorry. Wrong story. No, this is even bigger news. According to Latino Review, David Goyer has been tapped to pen the new script for Superman, which will be called The Man Of Steel. Apparently he's pitched a version of the story that will take Supes back to the days of artist John Byrne, who was responsible for the de-powering of Superman back in the mid-1980s.

"I'm taking Superman back to the basics ... It's basically Siegel and Shuster's Superman meets the Fleischer Superman in 1986." was what Byrne said at the time. In non geek-speak, that means he scaled way, way, way back. No longer could Superman juggle planets and so on, instead he was more like the original creators had envisioned him and closer to the Superman of the Max Fleischer cartoons. He was a tough guy, for sure, but he couldn't move faster than the speed of light and erase memories with a Super-smooch.

According to the article, the film assumes audiences already know about Superman (I think the whole planet knows the guy's backstory at this point), and Lois Lane, Jimmy Olsen, Braniac, and Lex Luthor are all set to be in it. Apparently the Daily Planet is struggling due to the internet, and I'll bet money that they'll make Clark Kent have a blog at some point.

So, is this good news? I'd say yes. Goyer's hits (The Dark Knight, Batman Begins, Blade) outweight his misses (Jumper, Blade: Trinity). Let's just hope this doesn't spiral into another piece of development hell. Up, up, and away! Read

Read This: The Dying Days of Roger Ebert

By Kevin Kelly (Subscribe to Kevin Kelly's posts), Posted Feb 16th 2010 3:15PM
Filed under: Cinematical

Me and Roger Ebert at Sundance 2006

Esquire has written an incredibly personal and insightful article about Roger Ebert that goes into great detail about all the surgeries he's been going through, how he nearly died, and how life has changed for him these past few years. It's very touching and well worth your time. Ebert might be a polarizing guy ... people either love him or hate him, but there's no denying that he knows more about film than most people have forgotten. His film commentary track on the Citizen Kane DVD is worth the price of the disc alone.

For what it's worth, Roger Ebert was a constant presence around Sundance this year. At the opening press conference, he sat a couple of seats away from me, and when the conference was over, Robert Redford made a point to come down and speak with him personally. Ebert himself can't talk these days, but he communicates through notes and hand gestures, and it was quite a moment to see this renowned film critic with one of Hollywood's most iconic actors.

We also saw him in multiple film screenings throughout the opening week of the film festival, and after reading this article and realizing how much that means, I'm honored to have shared a row with the guy. There's blogging about film news, writing reviews, and doing interviews, and then there's what Roger Ebert does. When you've lived and breathed movies as long as this guy has, you're on a different level.
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