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Beowulf, available in both standard and extra-bloody unrated editions, leads this week's crop of new DVD releases. Also debuting are the vampires-versus-Alaska horror flick 30 Days of Night, the uproarious black comedy Death at a Funeral, Javier Bardem and Natalie Portman's period piece Goya's Ghosts and Slipstream, the latest directorial effort from Sir Anthony Hopkins.
Our pick for this week is Wes Anderson's The Darjeeling Limited, starring Adrien Brody, Jason Schwartzman and Owen Wilson as three brothers who embark on a spiritual expedition across India in the hopes of healing old wounds and finding closure after their father's death. Included on the disc is The Hotel Chevalier, Anderson's splendid Darjeeling prologue, featuring Natalie Portman's now-infamous "nude" scene. Watch it with your friends and enjoy a healthy debate over just what the definition of "nudity" really is.
Posted 02.26.08 by reelz -
No big surprises this weekend, with Paramount's 3-D live-action capture epic, Beowulf, taking the top slot at the box office with $28.1 million. Bee Movie, American Gangster, and Fred Claus were knocked down to second, third, and fourth place, respectively.
This weekend's other big opens didn't fare quite as well, with Mr. Magorium's Wonder Emporium coming in fifth with $10 million and Love in the Time of Cholera coming in tenth with $1.9 million. Noah Baumbach's Margot at the Wedding, on the other hand, which opening in limited release had the highest per screen average for the weekend.
Source: Boxofficemojo.com.
Posted 11.18.07 by reelz -
With their 3-D dazzler Beowulf debuting in theaters this weekend, director Robert Zemeckis and his team of visual effects wizards are already at work on their next CGI "performance capture" flick, A Christmas Carol, with Jim Carrey set to star as history's most notorious miser, Ebenezer Scrooge.
At the recent Beowulf press day, Zemeckis' producer Steve Starkey described the look of their take on Charles Dickens classic as "very much like (Joseph Mallord William) Turner's paintings from the middle of the 19th century. That's what London's gonna look like -- and it's really quite beautiful...we can rebuild London from historical references and actually create the exact London of the time that Scrooge is walking through."
"Tom Hanks is not attached," Starkey replied when asked about the rumors that Hanks had been cast in the role of Bob Cratchit.
Posted 11.17.07 by reelz -
Old English epic Beowulf and comic fantasy Mr. Magorium's Wonder Emporium square off at the Cineplex this weekend. Also opening are the Gabriel Garcia Marquez adaptation Love in the Time of Cholera and Brian de Palma's Iraq war rant Redacted.
A rundown of our reviews of this weekend's new releases:
Mr. Magorium's Wonder Emporium 
"Plays like some meandering, bastard love child of Toys, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory and Finding Neverland." [Full Review]
Beowulf 
"The coolest-looking videogame I've ever seen...entertaining in spurts but ultimately soulless." [Full Review]
Love in the Time of Cholera 
"A hodge-podge of histrionic, ridiculous scenes cobbled together with no build up...an utter disappointment." [Full Review]
Redacted 
"Some may find this movie heavy-handed in its depiction of the war, but for me it was finally an Iraq War movie done right." [Full Review]
Margot at the Wedding
"Noah Baumbach is an absolute master of the indie genre...no one does bad parent movies better." [Full Review]
Also opening: Eleven Men Out, Smiley Face.
Posted 11.16.07 by reelz -
For most Americans, mention of the Old English epic Beowulf conjures up harrowing memories of torturous ninth grade homework assignments. Director Robert Zemeckis hopes to change all that with the help of some innovative 3D technology, a cranked-up storyline and a naked Angelina Jolie. Interested? Head over to our Beowulf page for a gaggle of clips, images and more.
Posted 11.08.07 by reelz -
Comic-Con is officially off and running. ReelzChannel has already made their presence known, attending the Beowulf footage screening and living large at the afterparty, the after-after party and finally hanging with the director of the first Saw and the upcoming Death Sentence, James Wan, until the wee hours of the morning... But I digress...
Beowulf was, well, underwhelming. Director Robert Zemeckis has returned to the motion capture process first used in The Polar Express. It's been a few years and the technology has advanced. The creepy dead eyes of Polar are gone, but other problems remain. It's hard to pinpoint completely, but it just isn't there. Closer, but still off-target. It's a little 300, a little Final Fantasy...
We saw about twenty minutes of the movie as well as a few trailers. There are some cool moments and the impressive cast that includes Angelina Jolie, Anthony Hopkins, Robin Wright Penn, John Malkovich and Ray Winstone look great in their digital incarnations.
Writers Neil Gaiman and Roger Avary were on hand to discuss the film afterwards.
"The Technology has liberated us, liberated Bob Zemeckis, to do whatever was in his imagination," says Avary.
The writing duo first began the script a decade ago upon realizing a shared passion for the source material.
"It's the best of all worlds. It's got monsters, dragons, swords," says Avary. "What's not to like?"
"It was this amazing, creepy little story," says Gaiman.
Beowulf was shot entirely using the latest motion capture technology, a process which Zemeckis quoted as roughly $1 million dollars per minute of footage.
Although the footage we saw included a bloody de-limbing and a mostly naked digital Angelina Jolie, the release is planned as a PG-13.
The release is still a few months away and it's likely that the footage witnessed tonight was not entirely finished. Either way, it's 3-D and has some cool moments, so we're still willing to give it a chance come the November release.
Okay, it's late...or early now and I've got to get some shut eye. More from Comic-Con tomorrow (or later today rather)!
Posted 07.26.07 by reelz