Watchman Comic Con trailer and Terminator 4 trailer go online...,

This Watchmen piece was apparently shown at this summer's Comic-Con. It's far superior to the second trailer that came out last month. I'm going to assume at this point that the amount of slow motion footage in the trailers is not representative of the film itself (there's your running time solution right there). Maybe it's just a matter of the characters not actually speaking, or the haunting music, or maybe it's the token footage that deals with the mundane (after all, Watchmen is not hip or cool, but a sad and sorrowful tale of opportunities lost and dreams unfulfilled), but this is a far more promising glimpse into 2009's most nail-biting 'Geez, will it be good?' movie.

And here is the full Terminator: Salvation trailer that just went up. This looks like a dark, gritty war picture that just happens to involve giant killer robots, which is just the way to go with this material. Whatever concessions were made for that alleged PG-13 rating, the tone wasn't among them. Ironically, this may end up resembling the underrated 2002 Christian Bale/Matthew McConaughey dragons vs mankind flop, Reign Of Fire, which was itself incredibly bleak for a summer popcorn film. So far, all signs point to a solid winner here.

Between Watchmen, Terminator: Salvation, and Harry Potter And The Half-Blood Prince, Warner Bros is well on its way to leading the pack this summer (of course, Harry Potter 6 will make so much money that Watchmen can flop and they'll still be just fine).

Scott Mendelson

Review: Nothing But The Truth (2008)

Nothing But The Truth
2008
107 minutes
rated R

By Scott Mendelson

Rod Lurie’s Nothing But The Truth is the very definition of professionalism. It is a rock-solid entertainment, made by adults, starring adults, and intended for adults. In a film industry less dominated by more fantastical genres, it probably would qualify as a B-movie. But, in today’s kid-friendly and fantasy-drenched multiplexes it stands out as that rarest of things – a quality drama for grownups.

The plot is a moderate reworking of the Valerie Plame/Judith Miller story from summer 2005 In very brief, New York Times reporter Judith Miller was jailed for a time for refusing to reveal a source on a story (written by others) that revealed the identity of a CIA operative Valerie Plame. Plame’s husband had written an embarrassing editorial debunking on one of the main justifications that the Bush administration used for war with Iraq. The story here is slightly different. In this case, Washington-based reporter Rachel Armstrong (Kate Beckinsale, capping a solid year that started with Snow Angels) refuses to reveal the source of leak regarding the identity of a CIA officer (an Oscar worthy Vera Farmiga), whose husband revealed that Venezuela was wrongly blamed for the assassination attempt on the president.

As you can see, this slight change almost qualifies as cheating. In Lurie’s version, the reporter may be reckless in exposing the identity of an undercover operative, but she’s still on the side that wishes to expose the corruption of a sitting (right-wing) president. In the real story, Judith Miller was helping to cover up those who exposed Plame’s identity as an act of right-wing political retribution. It didn’t help that Miller was one of the primary cheerleaders in the run up to the Iraq invasion, her work was eventually so utterly debunked that she was allegedly forced out. First-amendment die-hards like myself were torn that summer, but the constitutional martyrs are not always the good guys. It would have been interesting to see Lurie paint a sympathetic picture of a war-monger and lousy reporter, playing the righteous victim as she went to jail to protect the tenants of her profession.

But, that is not the film that Lurie wishes to make. And the film he has made is a very good one. Presented with a bare minimum of melodrama, the film focuses on the plight of Armstrong while also dealing with the aftershock for CIA agent Erica Van Doren. As Van Doren is repeatedly grilled by her superiors (who think that either she is the leak or she sloppily disclosed her identity) and Armstrong is threatened with jail time, we realize that we sympathize with both of these women. Surprisingly for a Rod Lurie picture, the film goes out of its way to avoid painting anyone with a particularly villainous brush. Even the bulldoggish Special Prosecutor (Matt Dillon) is not evil, but simply dedicated to a course of action that the film does not agree with.

The rest of the film is exceptionally cast. Alan Alda has several winning scenes as a once powerful attorney who eventually takes Armstrong’s case (he knows full well that the press no longer has the support of the public it attempts to inform). David Schwimmer does understated work as Armstrong’s embittered husband, and Noah Wyle has fun as the increasingly flustered representative of the newspaper in peril. Only Angela Bassett is underserved, as she’s given too little to do as Armstrong’s sympathetic editor.

There really isn’t much more to say. The story unfolds pretty much as you’d expect it to, with a couple mild twists along the way. That the film stands up for reporters’ rights over national security is kind of a given. Farmiga does some of the best work of her career, even if it’s too understated to attract much attention. Beckinsale has a great moment when she acknowledges the double standard of women/mothers sticking up for principle to the emotional harm of their children (“you can trust reporters, unless they’re mothers, cause then they’ll eventually crack”), and every major character is portrayed as intelligent, principled, and at least partially sympathetic. This is simply a smart film filled with smart actors who play smart characters.

It is a shame that it is likely to be lost in the December awards derby, since surely it would have gotten more attention as adult counter programming in the spring or summer (why oh why can’t the studios release ‘award-worthy’ movies all year round?). But Nothing But The Truth absolutely deserves your attention. It rises to the level of quality that we should not take for granted, even while we wish we could. It’s just a darn good movie.

Grade: B+

Catherine Hardwicke fired from Twilight sequel...

Fresh off the presses, although apparently it's been rumbling under the surface for awhile. Director Catherine Hardwicke has been fired by Summit Entertainment for the production of the second book in the Twilight series, New Moon (the studio may decide to shoot parts 2 and 3 back to back, we'll see if they even touch the much loathed finale). Certainly no one was praising the direction of the quick-kill blockbuster first entry in the series, but I'm usually all for creative continuity in franchises when it can be achieved. Besides, although I've only seen the movie, from what I've been told by casual readers, this is the biggest book to movie quality upswing since The Bridges Of Madison Country.

Still, questions are abounding as to A) what caused this to occur, B) how much credit Hardwicke deserves for how good/bad Twilight turned out, and C) why the hell Summit announced this in the middle of an international press tour? I can't imagine that Hardwicke is going to be too rosy for tomorrow's junket, although I'm assuming people already knew about this and this was just the public confirmation (to keep Hardwicke herself from breaking the news?).

As is always the case in these sudden situations, rumors are flying about Hardwicke's professional temperament on the set of her several movies as well as how much say she had in the final outcome of Twilight. Of course, Hardwicke isn't one to mince words, so I imagine we'll get her version of the story soon enough unless there is a deal that requires everyone to play nice and smile for the cameras.

The next important question is who does Summit get to replace her. No, for once, I'm not going to say Martin Campbell. I am 100% certain that her replacement will also be a female, if only so Summit can avoid the understandable pr nightmare of firing a female director from a female-driven series and replacing her with a dude. Still, the mind reels at the possibilities for stunningly inappropriate male directors for the teenage vampire romance series. Paul Verhoeven? Michael Mann? Quentin Tarantino? Woody Allen?

From a quality stand point, I'm all for someone like Kathryn Bigelow. The second book is supposed to be more action-intensive (with werewolves) and she certainly has the chops. Anything that gets her work is OK, and her new Iraq war action film, The Hurt Locker, is supposed to be fantastic. For comic reasons, my vote goes for Lexi Alexander, purely so I can hear a gravel-voiced trailer guy/gal intone 'from the director of Green Street Hooligans and The Punisher: War Zone comes... New Moon. But then I've always enjoyed the potential for awkward plugs ('from Warner Bros, the studio that brought you Natural Born Killers and Casablanca comes... Speed Racer!').

Still, it's always a shame when a director makes a lot of money for a studio and gets kicked in the butt for it regardless. Maybe she and Richard Donner can bond (since he's thankfully not pulling a Richard Lester on Gavin Hood's X-Men Origins: Wolverine after all).

Speaking of which, we'll have a pretty good idea if Fox got their 'kid-friendly' Wolverine movie when we see the first trailer on Friday. Of the big action tent poles, I'm pretty sure all that's left to tease is Transformers 2: Revenge Of The Fallen. Will Paramount wait till Christmas day and debut it with The Curious Case Of Benjamin Button (a very expensive Oscar bait picture that needs all the box office help it can get)?

Scott Mendelson

Angels And Demons teaser goes online... (a victim of the "Tomb Raider Trap"?)

The only thing about this trailer that makes me interested is the brief appearance of Stellan Skarsgard. Anyway, I wonder if this sequel will be the latest victim of what I like to call the 'Tomb Raider Trap'. In that I mean, if your first film makes a lot of money despite being a film that no one liked, then you just can't win. Even if you make a better film than the original, people will still remember that they didn't like the previous entry and they won't even sample the next chapter.

Tomb Raider: Cradle Of Life was a far superior film to the original Tomb Raider, a real flesh and blood, stunts and dirt adventure film. Yet it did just half the domestic business ($66 million vs. $132 million). Prince Caspian was a markedly better film than The Lion, The Witch, and The Wardrobe, yet it did just 48% what the first film did in the US ($142 million vs. $292 million). Yes, The Da Vinci Code opened to a mammoth $77 million and ended up with $217 million, but the film went over like un-buttered toast to most audiences. Alas, my prediction did not come true and 'so dark the con of man' did not become the catchphrase of the summer ("Dude, that new CD is so dark the con of man!"). This time there will be no controversy, no countless hours of free publicity on prime time news shows, no worldwide debate about Tom Hanks's hair cut (a cut so nice, Nic Cage had to copy it twice). Hell, even the teaser above looks boring, and that takes work when you're not showing much footage. Now we just have the sequel to a movie that people didn't particularly like in the first place. If I had to peg one 'surprise flop' for the summer, my vote goes for Angels And Demons.

And, trust me Warner Bros, it doesn't matter how much you fix Superman, no matter how much you 'Wrath Of Khan' it, audiences are going to be incredibly skeptical about any sequel. And, if I were Sony, I'd be very concerned about the complete collapse of Quantum Of Solace (domestically, anyway). It opened at nearly double the opening weekend of Casino Royale and now will barely surpass the $167 million that the Martin Campbell reboot grossed in America. I'd be concerned about the reception of the next film in this series. In both cases above, I'd at least make sure to keep the budget below $150 million, just in case. Actually Star Trek: The Wrath Of Khan actually did drastically reduce the budget between pictures (from $40 million to $14 million, with much recycling from the previous production), and it still grossed about $3 million less in the US despite its eventual status as a genre classic.

Scott Mendelson

Race To Witch Mountain: fun trailer + neat poster = good movie?

Call me crazy, but this Disney family adventure actually looks kinda fun. First of all, Dwayne Johnson is perfect for this kind of thing. He's too good-natured and jolly to be playing R-rated bad-asses, but he does the 'gee-whiz I hope we don't die' shtick better than anyone outside of Brendan Frasier. The man who used to be The Rock has always been a terrifically engaging screen presence (and a terrific interview), but only Peter Berg's The Rundown has really allowed him to really break out (terrific adventure film, by the way... I can't imagine why it never caught on as a DVD cult film).

The poster looks more exciting than any of the last half dozen James Bond posters, and this goofy trailer actually has me hoping its good enough to drag my daughter to on a lazy Sunday afternoon. By the way, the kid stars are Anna Sophia Robb (Violet in the recent Charlie And The Chocolate Factory and happy birthday by the way) and Alexander Ludwig (I'm sure tears-inducing adaptation of The Dark Is Rising wasn't his fault). Point being, the plot looks fun, the production values seem high, and Dwayne Johnson is completely suited to anchoring this Disney fluff with just the right amount of grouchy sentiment. This might be just the perfect double bill for a second viewing of Watchmen (or the perfect guilty pleasure if Watchmen ends up being lousy - ala Blade one week after the heartbreaking collapse of The Avengers in August 1998). Plus, Johnson's last line in the trailer actually made me laugh out loud.

Scott Mendelson

Punisher: War Zone tanks on Friday (bad news for female directors?)

The Punisher: War Zone is pretty lousy, that much I stated yesterday. But, I'm desperately concerned that its $1.6 million Friday gross is somehow going to be seen as a judgment on women directing hard action films (especially in light of Lexi Alexander's alleged behind the scenes turmoil). For what it's worth, the ways in which it is bad have nothing to do with the gender of the director.

Also, something that I touched on earlier this week, what are we to make of three films (Madagascar 2, Quantum Of Solace, Twilight) opening well north of $60 million (2 near $70 million), none of which will likely reach $175 million, let alone $200 million? Are we getting to the point where legs are so bad that a film has to open to $80 million to make it to $200 million without some divine intervention?

Scott Mendelson

A Tale of Three Punishers

by Scott Mendelson

In this current age of rebooting one comic franchise or horror franchise after another, it is still something of a milestone that we have a single property, The Punisher, that has been rebooted twice in just four years by the same studio. Add that to the fact that the DVD version of the first go at it, nearly twenty years ago, was released by Artisan, which was eventually folded up into the very studio that has continually tried to reboot the property. Thus, we know have three distinct Punisher (part 1) movies, all either originally financed or currently owned by Lionsgate. Let us take a moment to look at all three films (in their original R-rated cuts), in the context of each other. Obligatory spoiler warning for all three pictures...

Friday The 13th trailer goes online...

The official streaming version is at Yahoo.

It seems like they're pretty much ditching the whole concept of a working summer camp amidst the carnage. That's unfortunate, since it always allowed for stupid summer camp humor in between the slicing and dicing. Really, this looks like a completely generic zero-budget HDV 'kids play in the woods and get butchered' horror film, the kind of thing that Lionsgate used to put out on DVD with regularity. Just because the thing is shot on film and contains actual production values doesn't automatically make it that much better than any number of $2 dollar cheapies. On the other hand, I did like Marcus Nispel's Texas Chainsaw Massacre remake (and I loved the sequel), so we'll see. Again, like I've stated before, it's not like they have an uphill battle to improve on the original. To quote Mr. LaFontaine in the trailer for the original, I may only see it once, but that will be enough.

Oh, for comparison's sake, here's the original Friday the 13th trailer, voiced by the legendary, late Don LaFontaine. Pathetically, the 1980 trailer actually looks scarier.

Scott Mendelson

Prop 8 (The Musical) - too little, too late.

See more Jack Black videos at Funny or Die

Yes, this video (created by Hairspray director Adam Shankman) is very funny and quite sharp. The singing is terrific and the video makes a different point aside from the standard 'gays are people too' argument. And, yes, it's great fun to see the many major stars that are almost background players (Sarah Chalke, Andy Richter, Margaret Cho). But, in the end, I can't help but wonder why this didn't pop up BEFORE the election. You know, when it might have actually made a difference.

Frankly, despite the good intentions, this almost feels cowardly. The vote has already been cast and there will be no consequences for this video one way or another. It's almost disingenuous of these well-meaning comedians to wag their finger at the people who voted for Prop 8, after quite a few of them stayed silent during the run-up to the election (major props for Brad Pitt who actually cut a video advertisement decrying it before the election). This is no different than April 2005, when MoveOn.org went out of their way to attack Democrats who were voting for the ghastly bankruptcy bill, even while the organization was mostly silent while the details of said bill were being debated and their voices could have been useful in shaping the bill in the first place.

Courage requires speaking out before a calamity occurs, not merely criticizing the aftermath with righteous superiority. I agree with every sentiment expressed in the admittedly witty clip. I just wished they had put it out when it could have actually made a difference.

Scott Mendelson

Terminator Salvation trailer on Entertainment Tonight

I remember the good old days, before the Internet, when Entertainment Tonight was the only place to see trailers early, or to see trailers outside of a theater at all. I watched countless episodes in the mid-90s hoping to see an early trailer to this summer blockbuster or that one. Of course, that's now a needless and bygone task, but here's an ode to the olden days. Here's the preview (of the preview, it seems) for Terminator 4: Salvation: The Future Begins (or whatever it ends up being called on May 22nd).

As for the super brief clip, the emphasis is again on scope and scale (as opposed to Terminator 3: Rise Of The Machines, which was pretty low-key). One could certainly argue that the final clip of the giant robot is an attempt to ape Transformers, but it's still pretty striking. Come what may, if Christan Bale liked the script, then there is no reason to think that the film won't be at least a solid entertainment. I'll try to update when the full trailer goes online (I presume) over the weekend.

Scott Mendelson