Terminal Island, New York: 2020. Overcrowding in the U.S. penal system has reached a breaking point. Prisons have been turned over to a monolithic Weyland Corporation, which sees jails full of thugs as an opportunity for televised sport. Adrenalized inmates, a global audience hungry for violence and a spectacular, enclosed arena come together to form the 'Death Race', the world's biggest, most brutal sporting event. Five-time NASCAR champion Jensen Ames is a man who has become an expert at survival. After eight years of hard time, he has only six weeks before reuniting with his family. But when Weyland demands a driver to headline the big game, Ames is forced to submit. Donning the costume of mythical rider Frankenstein, the racer becomes an instant crowd favorite, an unequaled sporting superstar. His face hidden by a metallic black mask, one convict will be put through a brutal three day challenge, with the trophy being the ultimate prize: freedom. The only catch is that he must survive a gauntlet of the most vicious criminals in this post-industrial wasteland to claim it. Driving a monster car outfitted with machine guns, flamethrowers and grenade launchers, Ames must now kill or be killed to win the most treacherous spectator sport on Earth: 'Death Race'.
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A comedy about a married couple (Witherspoon and Vaughn) from two divorced families who are tasked with attending four Christmas Day celebrations.
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Sounds more like Christmas with the Kranks to us, given the reports that Reese and Vince didn't exactly get along during filming. That's going to make promoting the movie interesting; picture them on daytime TV together: him rumpled and probably hungover, her glowering and taking questions about her other upcoming projects. Maybe this one should end with the main characters going about their separate ways. That sure seemed to work for The Break Up ...
Bolt (voice of Travolta) is a celebrity dog and the star of a hit TV show where his amazing feats and powers draw big ratings. But when a mail-room mix-up finds him roaming free on the streets of New York City, the wonder dog will have to learn to rely on his actual strengths -- as well as his new friends, an abandoned housecat and a starry-eyed hamster -- in order to find his way back home to his owner and co-star, Penny (voice of Cyrus).
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Disney's latest morality tale sort of sounds heaps better than, say, Beverly Hills Chihuahua, but way less interesting as the Monsters Vs. Aliens teaser trailer that popped up online earlier this week. Hmm, what else to say? Well, Travolta is nowhere near as creepy to look at here than he was in Wild Hogs and Hairspray. Good luck to Ms. Miley Cyrus in her voice-role debut; she might be barely audible among the presence of "Curb Your Enthusiasm" standout Sussie Essman -- listen for her to steal as many scenes as she's in, though she'll have to keep her language family-friendly here.
In her new town of Forks, Washington, misfit teenager Bella Swan (Stewart) falls for her alluring and mysterious classmate, Edward Cullen (Pattinson). As it turns out, Edward belongs to a lineage of vampires, although he doesn't fit the typical vampire mold. As their passion reaches dizzying heights, can Edward resist his natural urges, and will he be able to defend Bella from his family members who have come for her?
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In terms of movies, 2008 will be remembered as the year superheroes went truly mainstream and, separately, the industry realized that female and gay male audiences are a neglected demographic. But what about the younger generation -- more specifically, teenage girls? Has any studio been able to figure out what they want, aside from Hannah Montana? Enter Catherine Hardwicke's adaptation of Stephenie Meyer's first novel, a project that first captured our interest very early this year when Kristen Stewart (Bella), Robert Pattinson (Edward), and a handful of their castmates took over our STARmeter chart, well in advance of any available footage from the production. The hype reached its first apex at Comic-Con, when the movie's panel earned Beatlemania comparisons from aging journalists who covered their ears as the teen girls and their "Twilight Moms" made the event more of a freak-out and less of a presentation. It's always tricky to predict if Internet buzz will turn into box-office gold (or, in this case, crimson) but I will say this: If the mother-daughter duos turn out for opening weekend (which was pushed up from mid-December to pre-Thanksgiving once Harry Potter decided to hide until 2009), Twilight could trump some higher-profile holiday movies, powered by repeat audiences, and send competing studios rushing off to optioned like-minded novels. Stephenie Meyer is keeping a blog on the movie's progress, so you might want to bookmark it as your destination for all things vamp as the release date draws near.
Picking up where Casino Royale left off, James Bond (Craig) sets his sights on the organization behind Vesper Lynd's betrayal. The mission puts him on a collision course with Dominic Greene (Amalric), a ruthless businessman who, Bond soon learns, is brokering a deal to take total control of one of the world's most precious resources. Relying on allies new and old -- including Camille (Kurylenko), a beautiful woman with her own agenda -- Agent 007 looks to bring down Greene and his conspirators.
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The first of Daniel Craig's two year-end punches has already landed around the world, as QoS pulled in $160 million in under two weeks -- and this is before its U.S. opening, where it's set to drown Casino Royale's $40 million debut, Vesper Lynd style. In a contemporary setting, where Roger Moore has croaked that the series has become "too violent," Amy Winehouse can't stay sober enough to record her Bond theme, and Jason Bourne is threatening to become the world's #1 super-spy, we have to admire Daniel Craig's PC nature (such a nice contrast to the vengeance-seeking character he plays here), as well as Marc Forster's rejiggering of the Bond formula by taking the action to South America for the shortest, densest chapter to date.
Set in northern Australia before World War II, an English aristocrat (Kidman) who inherits a sprawling ranch reluctantly pacts with a stock-man (Jackman) in order to protect her new property from a takeover plot. As the pair drive 2,000 head of cattle over unforgiving landscape, they experience the bombing of Darwin, Australia, by Japanese forces firsthand.
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Originally Russell Crowe was set to star opposite Kidman in this paean to the antipodean outback, but everyone's favorite bad boy balked at the salary, stating, "I don't do charity work for major studios." Charming or surly? In stepped Wolverine to help Mrs. Keith Urban herd cattle, and while we couldn't be happier that Jackman and Kidman will play dueling cheekbones, the combination of dust, sweat, and livestock seems a far cry from Luhrmann's usually spangled-and-sumptuous milieu. This better deliver more than cattle or you're looking at the Australian Atonement come Oscar time.An Update, with an Even Cattier Quote: In response to reports that Fox pressured Luhrmann to go with a more-uplifting ending than the one screened to test audiences, the director had this to say: "You really think that on my films people tell me what to do? I don't think so -- on my films I decide." Additionally, Luhrmann said it will be a surprise as to which of the three endings he shot will end up attached to the final print.
In the sequel to Madagascar, Alex the lion (voiced by Stiller) and his friends board an NYC-bound plane (that's been "repaired" by their penguin pals), only to find themselves touching down in the African plains. It's an opportunity for the animals to encounter their own kind for the very first time, and to discover, while various plots play out, what "home" truly means to each of them.
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Say what you will about the original's primitive animation and whatnot, but it tallied up over $400 million in worldwide receipts, so this crack-a-lackin' sequel comes as no surprise -- but did it really require three years to come together? Maybe those psychotic penguins held out for more money. Maybe this time around the creative talent behind the camera will have more going on in the wild (something sorely missing from the first movie). And while we expect a big return here, honestly, we're more primed for Dreamworks' 2009 offering, Monster vs. Aliens.
Frank Martin (Statham) puts the driving gloves on for a third mission: To deliver Valentina (Rudakova), the kidnapped daughter of a Ukranian government official, from Marseilles to Odessa on the Black Sea. En route, he'll have to contend with thugs who want to intercept Valentina's safe delivery and not let his personal feelings get in the way of his dangerous objective.
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Looks like a much leaner (as in: 0% body fat) Jason Statham has punched in for a third-and-final? installment of the franchise that helped him break big in America. But do me a favor: Watch the teaser trailer and let me know if you think it's kind of embarrassing that the production -- which is still being steered by writer/producer Luc Besson, but is in the hands of graffiti-artist-turned-director Olivier Megaton -- lifted a story convention from Statham'sCrank 2: High Voltage? In C2, Statham has a rejiggered heart that needs electrical jolts to keep ticking, here in T3, he's been outfitted with a silver bangle that will detonate if removed. Is this a metaphor for what might happen to Statham if he ever decides to transition out of action-anti-hero mode and into, say, a romantic leading man?
Unsavory behavior forces a pair of energy-drink reps (Rudd and Scott) to enroll in a Big Brother program, where the duo learn, however reluctantly, to bond with their assigned kids.
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David Wain (The Ten) isn't nearly as famous as Judd Apatow, but he got his career started the same way (both guys turned oddball comedy shows into cult hits in the early/mid-90s) before taking tentative steps toward the big screen. And from the sound of this movie's premise, it appears that Wain is learning the lesson Apatow aced a few years ago: Get less cerebral with your comedy, rotate key players through your projects, and gun for the hard-R rating. I'm curious as to why these Models earned a winter release when they are clearly a summer-movie confection, though it is a savvy and rather funny counter-programming effort by Universal ...
A WWII-set story as seen through the eyes of Bruno (Butterfield), whose Nazi-Officer father (Thewlis) has just been made the commandant of a concentration camp outside Berlin. Bruno's eventual friendship with Shmuel, a boy his age who is detained at the camp, will usher in a troublesome reality for Bruno, and lead to a fateful attempt to alter Shmuel's situation.
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Typically cheery British director Mark Herman (Little Voice) looks back to the dark days of WWII in his adaptation of John Boyne's acclaimed, super-depressing novel. Prepare to be horrified by David Thewlis and Rupert Friend in what could be the saddest film released this year. Awards bait? Certainly. What are its chances? We'll have to see what sort of push Miramax gives it -- they've also got Mike Leigh's buzzing Happy-Go-Lucky on their plate this season ...
A chronicle of Harvey Milk's (Penn) ascent to become San Francisco's first openly gay city supervisor in 1977, and the political fallout that led to his assassination, as well as Mayor George Moscone's, the following year.
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While millions of Californians are reeling from Proposition 8's passage, Gus van Sant turns the clock back 30 years, to a golden moment in San Francisco that, though it soon turned to rust, provided a singular voice for the city's gay and lesbian population (perhaps something that was missing for Prop 8). I am fortunate enough to live in said city, and it was striking to see what the Milk crew did with their big budget (well, big for a GVS production) in order to return the Castro to its 70s-era splendor; Milk's camera store was recreated, the Castro Theater got a hot makeover, classic cars jammed the streets, there were parades, and Sean Penn could be seen traipsing around the Haight, looking foxy in a kimono. (At least I think that was him.) While the film received its fair share of attention toward the end of the summer -- James Franco, who plays Milk's lover, seemed to enjoy throwing a kink in Pineapple Express press junkets by describing what it was like to kiss Sean Penn -- we already know that distributor Focus Features (still smarting from Brokeback?) has an Oscar campaign waiting in the wings. Will Josh Brolin, who here plays city-supervisor-turned-assassin Dan White, receive a nomination for this role, or for W., or both?
