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In Looper, writer-director Rian Johnson's (Brick) new time-tripping action thriller opening this Friday, Joseph Gordon-Levitt (JGL) plays a hitman ("looper") tasked with terminating his own future self (Bruce Willis), who is sent back in time so that there will be no trace of the crime in the future. Talk about a head trip! This plot has "time paradox" written all over it. If JGL kills Willis, wouldn't he remember that happening and try to prevent it from happening when he grows up to be Willis? And, if Willis kills JGL, wouldn't he simply cease to exist?
Looper isn't the first movie to delve into the complex moral and metaphysical conundrums inherent in time travel. In The Terminator, Kyle Reese (Michael Biehn) is sent back in time by John Connor, the future leader of the resistance against the machines, and ends up becoming Connor's dad. And in Back to the Future, Marty McFly (Michael J. Fox) goes back in time to save his friend and is almost erased from history when his mother (Lea Thompson) starts crushing on him. Help us rate the Top 10 Mind-Bending Time Travel movies.
Click to Rate the Top Time Travel Movies >>
Posted 09.28.12 by BrentJS -
When you walk into a Tim Burton movie, you know almost exactly what to expect. For more than the past decade, Burton’s walked a thin line between putting his personal stamp on every movie he makes and complete self-parody — at times managing to do both. As unique as we’re sure Burton would like to think his take is, he’s not the only one who likes making slightly Gothic-tinged movies with a baroque design. All of these movies share some of the same DNA as a Tim Burton movie, so much so that frequently the main distinguishing difference is fewer appearances by Johnny Depp and Helena Bonham Carter. And while no, they’re not all as good as Burton’s best work, we can say for certain that literally every one of them is better than Planet of the Apes, which isn't exactly an achievement worth bragging about.
10 Movies that Out-Burton Tim Burton >>
Posted 05.08.12 by reelz -
The ReelzChannel 100 began when we asked Leonard Maltin for his favorite Hidden Gems of the decade. His list led the web team into a general discussion about the best movies of the decade and — after no small amount of debate, arguing, and (we're not proud to say) some petty name-calling — we decided we'd better bring it to an end with a company-wide vote. Then it was just a matter of tallying up the votes and hoping for the best. Lucky for us, ReelzChannel is filled with a staff ranging from movie lovers to movie fanatics. What turned out isn't what you'll find on a critic's best of list — instead it's what movie fans really enjoyed.
In day four of the ReelzChannel 100, we highlight the Top 10 Dramas of the Decade.
Posted 12.24.09 by reelz -
Actor Jake Gyllenhaal made a name for himself playing quiet, introspective characters in movies like Donnie Darko and Brokeback Mountain, for which he was nominated for an Academy Award. But when the opportunity arose to star as Prince Dastan in Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time, Disney's live-action adaptation of the Ubisoft video game, Gyllenhaal told Coming Soon that he was attracted to the role because it was "unlike anything" he had appeared in before.
To play Prince Dastan, Gyllenhaal had to adopt an English accent, weight train extensively, and learn Parkour, the urban "free running" sport prominently featured in Casino Royale.
The development of the character was massively physical at first, just getting in shape and doing all that stuff and learning Parkour, learning how to swordfight, learning how to get into the mentality of a warrior, somebody who as written is someone who can really fight. That was a big part of it for me, and I knew that if I got through that, then I knew I'd be halfway there.
Really, it's basically just a lot of training, working out with a lot of running and all different kinds of sports. I'm someone who really doesn't love to be inside so just being outside and running around and training as if I was going to battle, but it also happens to be based on a video game so he has to very agile in a lot of other ways then you would normally ... it's not just gladiator-style fighting although we have all of that. It's also having to be able to jump up walls and climb up walls and run on walls and all of those things.
Gyllenhaal also said that it was going to take a "different mentality" to go back to making smaller movies after filming Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time.
... there's [a] type of high when you make a movie like this, a type of excitement every day that is infectious. There are days that you get tired and some of the people I work with say to me, I'm like, "Man, I'm going to be exhausted. I'm going to need rest when I get done with this movie," and they're like, "You're going to rest for two weeks and you're going to want to make another one like it." And it's kind of true. On my days off, I worked out twice on my Sunday off, because that's where my head is. I'm prepared for whatever comes our way.
Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time is produced by Jerry Bruckheimer, directed by Mike Newell, and also stars Gemma Arterton, Sir Ben Kingsley, and Alfred Molina.
Posted 11.11.09 by BrentJS -
It was the title role in the sci-fi movie Donnie Darko that made Jake Gyllenhaal a star, and now Gyllenhaal may be appearing in another mind-bending genre film. Variety is reporting that Gyllenhaal is in negotiations to star in Source Code, a sci-fi picture about a soldier who wakes up in the body of an unknown commuter on a doomed train ride.
The original Source Code screenplay was written by Ben Rippley and was set up at Universal with Topher Grace in the lead and Shane Abess at the helm. Now, The Mark Gordon Co. and newly formed Vendome Pictures are producing, with script revisions by Billy Ray and Duncan Jones directing.
Production on Source Code is slated to begin in the first quarter of 2010.
Posted 11.08.09 by BrentJS -
Rumors of a Donnie Darko sequel involving director Richard Kelly, who wrote and directed the original Donnie Darko but had no part in the straight-to-DVD sequel S. Darko: a Donnie Darko Tale, found their way online months ago. MTV asked if Kelly would return for a third Darko and his response was an emphatic debunking:
Absolutely not. I know nothing about it and I would never have any involvement with any existing or future sequel to Donnie Darko ever — ever! Never ever ever ever would I be involved with anything like that.
So, just to be clear ... that's a no, right?
Kelly's most recent work, The Box, an adaptation of a Richard Matheson (I Am Legend) short story, is due in theaters November 6.
Posted 08.05.09 by Ryan -
Donnie Darko director Richard Kelly showed some more footage from his upcoming movie The Box at Comic-Con, and quite a few unexpected things popped out, including some pretty major spoilers — be warned.
The movie, based on an old Twilight Zone episode, centers around an ordinary suburban couple who receive a mysterious box. Push the button inside and you get rich, but some stranger dies. The couple seem decent enough, though they are plagued by financial difficulties. They are, after all, directly modeled on the director's own parents.
So there is a lot of temptation, but a lot of resistance — right? Apparently not. The wife (Cameron Diaz) shocked the audience by just going ahead and pushing the button. Ultimately, the movie really turns out to be a lot more about what comes next than it is about agonizing over the choice ... and from all reports, those consequences are quite a bit more bizarre and sci-fi than expected.
Another highlight was the face of Frank Langella, who plays the creepy disfigured man who brings the couple the box. He is only glimpsed fleetingly in the trailer, so this was the first chance to catch more of his face. The CGI involved here was apparently disturbingly impressive.
Posted 07.27.09 by reelz -
It's only a rumor at this point, but Bloody Disgusting is saying that Fox may be planning a third installment of the 2001 cult hit Donnie Darko, which starred Jake Gyllenhaal and was directed by Richard Kelly (Southland Tales).
The story of the first movie takes place in 1988 in a suburban town called Middlesex. Donnie Darko (Gyllenhaal) is a teenage boy plagued by visions of a giant murderous bunny that tells him the world will end on Halloween. Sounds ridiculous, but the narrative combines high school melodrama, sci-fi, and horror in a seamless genre-bending package that provides more than a few memorable twists and turns.
Kelly did not return to direct the second movie, S. Darko: A Donnie Darko Tale, which was a largely forgettable straight-to-DVD release that came out last month. But rumor has it that he will return for the third movie.
We'll let you know when we get further developments.
Posted 06.18.09 by reelz -
Southland Tales, Richard Kelly's long-delayed follow-up to his 2001 indie hit Donnie Darko, is now set for a November 9th release, Variety reports. Originally slated to open in 2006, Southland Tales was targetted for extensive re-editing after a less-than-stellar debut at Cannes last year.
I had the chance to visit the set of Southland Tales in September of 2005, where I chatted with several members of the film's impressively eclectic cast, including Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson, Sarah Michelle Gellar and Seann William Scott. Remarkably, none of them had the faintest clue as to what the film was about, which is never a good sign.
Director Richard Kelly is scheduled to appear at this week's annual San Diego Comic-Con, where he'll hopefully shed some light as to what exactly we can expect when Southland Tales arrives in theaters in November.
Posted 07.25.07 by reelz