-
When the cast for Robert Rodriguez's Machete was announced, the variety of talent involved seemed impossible to believe. Steven Seagal and Jessica Alba? Robert DeNiro and Lindsay Lohan? Together, in the same movie? To take away some of our doubts, Rodriguez confirmed Lohan's appearance:
[Lindsay]'s one of the people in the movie. Her name is April. She's the daughter of one of the bad guys. I can't say too much. Oh, she's already been there. I've already shot some great stuff with her. Yeah, I shot her on Wednesday. She was fantastic.
Pictures of a bikini-clad Lohan from the set of Machete have already made it online. But Lohan isn't the only part of the Machete shoot that pleased Rodriguez:
We've been shooting this week, and it's just elevated from what you think it's gonna be by so much that I think the main note people will have watching it is: it delivered way beyond what it needed to deliver for me to be happy.
Machete started as a fake trailer for the Grindhouse movie Rodriguez made with Quentin Tarantino. Rodriguez says the footage shot from the trailer will be used and the rest the movie of it will be "bridging around it." Despite the already enormous and eclectic cast, Rodriguez says he still needs to "cast a few more people" in "main character" roles.
Posted 08.18.09 by Ryan -
Variety reports that production on Robert Rodriguez's Machete began this week and they also confirmed one of the strangest looking casts including Robert DeNiro, Jessica Alba, Michelle Rodriguez, Steven Seagal,Lindsay Lohan, Cheech Marin, with Don Johnson and Jeff Fahey playing supportingroles and Danny Trejo as the titlular hero.
The DeNiro casting was announced last month, and the Lohan casting wasn't official, so this is the first time that anything has been confirmed. Jonah Hill was rumored to be cast but was not mentioned in Variety, while all the other names cast are new.
Cheech Marin is the only actor other than Trejo that appeared in the trailer Rodriguez shot for Grindhouse, while Fahey appeared in Planet Terror. On the poster, only Fahey and Trejo are mentioned, and co-director Ethan Maniquis is left off.
Posted 08.06.09 by Ryan -
Most of what has leaked about Gamer so far is admittedly not very funny. Where's the humor in be manipulated in combat to the death by some master computer geek? But there is a lighter side to this dystopian tale of future gaming, John Leguizamo tells Sci Fi Wire. Leguizamo, who plays the character Freek in the movie, says he is there primarily to provide some comic relief:
I'm like a Renfield in the Dracula story, that crazy guy who's locked up in an insane asylum ... I'm in there; I have all this information, and I'm in the prison. I'm in the game.
In the game, but not involved in the butt-kicking so much. That, he says, he is leaving up to Gerard Butler, who plays Kable, the cyber-gladiator at the center of the action.
Posted 06.09.09 by reelz -
Four years have gone by since audiences were shocked and thrilled by director Robert Rodriguez's stylized adaptation of Frank Miller's collection of Sin City graphic novels. Rodriguez has been busy since then, producing Grindhouse with Quentin Tarantino and directing the Grindhouse segment Planet Terror. So, when will we see Sin City 2?
According to IMDB, Sin City 2 is in pre-production, but IESB reported on Tuesday that the Weinstein Company had lost the rights to produce the film and the subsequent follow-up, Sin City 3. Apparently, the IESB report was erroneous, as Weinstein Co. lawyer Bert Fields commented to EW:
TWC's rights to produce sequels to Sin City remain intact as they always have been. Any suggestion to the contrary is complete hogwash.
Sin City grossed over $150 million worldwide and received critical acclaim for its innovative film techniques, including a Technical Grand Prize award at Cannes.
Posted 04.10.09 by BrentJS -
This week's DVD Tuesday is big on volume, if not on quality. Leading the pack of new releases is Matthew McConaughey's feel-good football flick We Are Marshall (Reelz Review: 6/10), followed by the "Stone Cold" Steve Austin vehicle The Condemned (2/10), the Eric Bana/Drew Barrymore poker movie Lucky You (4/10) and the inspirational soccer-themed chick-flick Gracie.
The producers of the ill-fated Robert Rodriguez/Quentin Tarantino double feature Grindhouse decided to split up the films for the DVD release. Tarantino's contribution, Death Proof, arrives in stores today; the DVD release date for Rodriguez's Planet Terror has not yet been announced.
Posted 09.18.07 by reelz -
...and for once, they agreed with me. Grindhouse tanked monumentally at the box office this weekend, bringing in just $11.6 million -- far short of analysts' expectations of around $25 million, according to Boxofficemojo.com -- barely enough to take fourth place.
Compounding the humiliation, Grindhouse was beaten out by two of last week's releases, Blades of Glory and Meet the Robinsons, which took in $23 million and $17 million respectively. Ice Cube's family comedy Are We Done Yet? was the top debut, at $15 million.
Explanations for Grindhouse's monumental flop range from the three-hour running time to the fact that younger audiences just didn't get the joke. Or maybe, just maybe, it wasn't that great of a movie.
Posted 04.09.07 by reelz -
Tom's review of Grindhouse is now live on the site and, as of yet, it's certainly not the popular opinion. The reviews are looking pretty strong so far, but you have to wonder who's doing the praising? Rottentomatoes shows an 87 % so far, but... I have a question. Would anyone give a !%# about this movie if it were directed by anyone other than fanboy figureheads Tarantino and Rodriguez?
I didn't like the movie, as I expressed the other day. Now, before you call me a naysayer, understand that I loved Pulp Fiction, Kill Bill, Sin City, El Mariachi, etc. I was really looking forward to this movie. Unfortunately, Grindhouse just a BIG FAT LETDOWN.
Posted 04.05.07 by reelz -
Producers of Grindhouse are rolling the dice big-time, betting that fans of Quentin Tarantino and Robert Rodriguez, demographics not known for their long attention spans, will be able to sit still for the entirety of the three-hour-plus double feature.
It's interesting to note that the individual films, Planet Terror and Death Proof, will be released separately abroad and will contain additional footage not seen in the U.S. version.
Check out our review of Grindhouse.
Posted 04.05.07 by reelz -
While promoting his latest flick, the uber-violent Grindhouse, director Quentin Tarantino mentioned something that that would give pause to even the most open-minded parents:
"I’ve actually always wanted to come up with a story that I wanted to do as a kid’s movie," Tarantino said. "I remember from working at Video Archives that if a kid likes a movie, like say Mighty Ducks, they see that movie 20 times, 30 times. They know the names of all the kids in the Mighty Ducks and it’s like, that’s an audience member I want on my side! I just have to come up with the right storyline."
A Tarantino kid's movie would be mighty disturbing, but not nearly as disturbing as H.R. Pufnstuf.
Check out our interview with Tarantino here.
Posted 04.03.07 by reelz -
And it sucked. And and I don't mean that it was one of those "good in a bad way" movies that Tarantino and Rodriguez claim to be going for. Nope, this movie is just plain lousy.
Rodriguez's Planet Terror is a passable enough genre flick. It's entirely too long, but it's got some clever moments. Still, stacked against similar recent zombie flicks such as 28 Days Later and Zack Snyder's Dawn of the Dead, it pales in comparison.
Tarantino's Death Proof is a terrible movie. Yes, it's true that there are a few brief cool car chase moments thrown in,
but those briefly pleasurable moments in the middle and the end (the last 15 minutes are great)are sandwiched between some of the most painstakingly boring footage you could ever imagine. It's basically girls sitting around talking about cars and relationships. Tarantino's trademark dialogue is wooden and ridiculous. Death Proof is Tarantino's fantasy movie of the girls he wish existed. Well Quentin, they don't and no one actually talks like this. He actually re-uses dialogue from his other movies. Death Proof is the worst thing he's ever done. And yes, I saw Four Rooms.
And finally, Quentin, look, we've been saying it for more than a decade now.... STOP ACTING!!! Tarantino appears in BOTH of the Grindhouse movies, as cheesy and distracting as ever.
Tom used the word "excruciating" to describe Grindhouse when he saw it a week ago. I wanted him to be wrong, but he was dead on.
Check back for a more complete review of this highly anticipated and extremely disappointing flick.
Posted 03.31.07 by reelz