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'What happened with "Cabin" has been ... bizarrely serendipitous.'
The co-writer of Drew Goddard's "The Cabin in the Woods" needs almost no introduction -- it's Joss Whedon's world; we just live in it. The creator of "Buffy the Vampire Slayer" and "Serenity" -- as well as a writer on "Toy Story" and "Alien: Resurrection" -- Whedon's also working on a small, intimate art-house film called "The Avengers," the let's-get-the-band-together Marvel Comics film that sees an all-star cast band together to fight ... something. We spoke in Austin about "The Cabin in the Woods" -- its long-delayed release, the nature of horror films, and about not necessarily having to self-edit to preemptively save someone else's money. There are, of course, no 'spoilers' below; anyone who would spoil "The Cabin in the Woods" deserves to go to the cabin in the woods. …
MSN Movies: What would you recommend people do before seeing "The Cabin in the Woods?" What should they watch? What should they read? What should they drink? Any prescriptions or over-the-counter medicines you'd recommend?
Joss Whedon: They should do fifty sit-ups. They should read "Anna Karenina", and they should drink absinthe. Then I think the movie will make perfect sense.
You said that as if it's what you'd recommend for every social circumstance.
Actually, yes. In general in life that's what you should do, before anything, before any movie. A lot of people have asked me and Drew, "Did you do research for this movie?" We're like, "What are you talking about? We love horror movies. We've lived our lives. We love conspiracy movies from the seventies. We love all movies." That was our research. I don't feel like anybody needs to do much to see this. What I love about the movie is I feel that it's a fresh take. I feel that it's unexpected. People will be surprised by it, but ultimately, it was also familiar ground. It's already in our lexicon. That's part of why we made the movie. It's a dialogue with American culture. Anybody who's been living in the world and enjoys jumping out of their seat every now and then has already done their homework, but should still do their absinthe.
Yesterday with Mr. Goddard, the question came up: Is it better to process those things in that kind of unconscious, generalized, mile up view way when writing or watching this, just so that you get the broader bigger outlines of things?
The outlines, that’s really for me and Drew to worry about. Watching it you should be in the trenches. It should be a visceral experience. As much as we can intellectualize what we do when we do and we do that, we're very specific about what we want to say in the film, what we want the audience is not to know that. We want them to go "Eek! Wonderful," and then later on go, "Wait that actually had meaning and texture. I was too busy enjoying myself to notice that."
It was very reminiscent of "Funny Games," another great horror film about watching horror.
That's awesome. That's literally a movie that I would not watch. Two things that I cannot abide are nihilism and home invasion. ...
On cars and scars and stunts and kids ...
Star-crossed lovers with big hearts on their sleeves and heavy feet on the gas pedal, Paul Walker and Jordana Brewster have been mainstays of the 'Fast and Furious" films. Walker is FBI-agent-turned-criminal Brian O'Conner, while Brewster is Mia Toretto, the little sister to Vin Diesel's bigger, badder Dom. We spoke with the two in London about real driving, real stunts and moving on without franchise director Justin Lin ...
MSN Movies: A lot of the time these well-received series, they can have a revolving door in the director's chair, but you guys have been working with Justin Lin for so long. Is that great in terms of being able to just really work on the characters and the ongoing relationships with him?
Paul Walker: Yeah, for me obviously ... I think what he's done , people realize. He's a champion. But what people don't see that we see is that he matches that with heart. He just comes from the right place, he's a team player, he wants everyone to feel valued, and he wants everyone to feel like they're important. And I respect him for that. I just think he's a really good team captain. Moving forward, we're talking about "Seven" without him...
It's going to be difficult, right?
Walker: I mean we've been there before.
Right, certainly.
Walker: We've seen this transition before, and I've had a conversation with James Wan already, and there's my read on people is pretty on point. And I think we've got a winner in him, too. So I'm excited. After that conversation it made it a little bit easier. But yeah, Justin's always going to be missed and appreciated. He's a champ.
And Ms. Brewster, in "Fast Five" it was revealed that your character's pregnant, and in this film you actually have the child. What's it like playing a mom in the classic North American action film? Is that a different set of challenges?
BING: More on Paul Walker l BING: More on Jordana Brewster
Jordana Brewster: I didn’t view it as a challenge. I thought it was sort of a very organic, natural progression in Mia and Brian's life. So when I saw (the baby scenes) I thought they were very sweet, and it's kind of like the moment where the film gets a little more grounded after, and it's all this crazy action. So it's really easy.
Is it nice being in an action film where the laws of physics get bent but not broken, in that there's nothing superhuman or science fiction-y about it? It's all extraordinary, but still relatively real.
Walker: Yeah, I want it completely real. That's just my personality. And I think a lot of people, for a lot of people it's just not enough.
Two box sets, one classic and one contemporary, of gangster movie landmarks on Blu-ray
Back in the thirties, as sound remade the movie industry, Warner Bros. blasted into the new decade as the studio of scrappy, snappy, street-smart movies, full of wise-cracking reporters, blue-collar hustlers, and hard-luck guys and dolls struggling to get by in the hard times of the depression. They were also the godfathers of the gangster movie, launching the genre and its two most famous icons with early sound movie landmarks "Little Caesar" (1931) with Edward G. Robinson and "The Public Enemy" (1931) with James Cagney.
Both of those films debut on Blu-ray this week in "Ultimate Gangsters Collection: Classics" (Warner), which arrives with its companion set "Ultimate Gangsters Collection: Contemporary" (Warner). Together they present nine films on Blu-ray, from 1931 to 2006, and a bonus documentary on DVD.
Enter to win a copy of both volumes in a giveaway from MSN and Warner Home Entertainment.
"Classics" is the more exciting of the two releases, as the four landmark gangster movies from Warner Bros. all make their respective Blu-ray debuts this week (they also debut in individual volumes on Blu-ray). Along with "Little Caesar" (1931), which established the classic rise-and-fall arc of the gangster thriller, and "The Public Enemy" (1931), which unleashed dynamo Cagney in a star-making turn, is "The Petrified Forest" (1936), which gave supporting player Humphrey Bogart his breakthrough role as a mad dog of a fugitive killer, and "White Heat" (1949), with Cagney in an explosive performance as the most psychotic gangster in classic cinema: “Made it, ma. Top of the world!”
Continue reading at Videodrone and see clips of Cagney from two films
For more releases, see Hot Tips and Top Picks: DVDs, Blu-rays and streaming video for week of May 21
It's blood-free, but certainly not scare-free
Kudos to whoever put together this green band trailer for the second entry in the "V/H/S" horror franchise, because they've managed to pack two minutes of marketing with enough scares and screams to ensure that the faint of heart won't even go near the film's red band trailer, let alone the finished project. Remakes of 'Endless Love' and 'About Last Night' set for same day release
The eighties are back and they're coming for your heart.
For fans of the eighties and love stories, the also-releasing-on-Valentine's-Day remake of "About Last Night" may add just a touch of levity to the box office landscape. A remake of Edward Zwick's 1986 adaptation of the David Mamet play, the new "About Last Night" features an all-black leading cast to change things up a bit, including Kevin Hart, Paula Patton, Joy Bryant, and Michael Ealy. While it may not be as chuckle-heavy as "Endless Love," it should be far more traditionally funny. Two gals, a road trip, and some bad dudes (and, yes, belly dancing)
Emma Thomson and Emmy Rossum talk about the two worlds in the fantasy drama
This supernatural love story set in the South, “Beautiful Creatures” is a tale of two star-crossed lovers as they uncover dark secrets about their families, their history and their town.
To celebrate the release on Blu-ray and DVD we’re giving away copies of “Beautiful Creatures.” Watch this exclusive as Emma Thompson and Emmy Rossum takes you behind the scenes and enter to win a copy of the movie!
"Beautiful Creatures" is now available on Blu-ray and DVD.
Here’s how you enter the giveaway!
1. Like MSN Movies Facebook and follow MSN Movies Twitter.
2. Share the giveaway on your Facebook with friends and tweet and comment the following message: I want to win the @MSNmovies #BEAUTIFULCREATURES giveaway!
3. Email msnmovies@hotmail.com with the following message: I want to win the @MSNmovies #BEAUTIFULCREATURES
4. Stay in touch with MSN Movies Facebook to see if you've been selected as the winner.
Entries are accepted until Tuesday, May 28. Good luck, MSN Movies fans!
Superman must surrender or Earth pays, blah blah blah
While the first few trailers for Zach Snyder's hotly anticipated upcoming "Man of Steel" were full of operatic bombast, weepy nostalgia, epic Kevin Costner voice over, and dreamy images of faded Americana, they weren't so much with the face punching. Or the plot. The latest clip, and presumably the last, lays down the stakes pretty clearly, however.Soderbergh's intelligent take on a familiar genre reminds us how much we'll miss his touch
Steven Soderbergh says that "Side Effects" (Universal) is his last theatrical feature before retirement (he doesn't count his upcoming made-for-HBO film "Behind the Candelabra"). The modestly scaled but satisfying thriller reminds us just how much we'll miss his take presence on the big screen.
What begins as a medical drama of wonder drugs and pharmaceutical conspiracy turns into a sly psychological thriller, with Jude Law as a committed psychiatrist and Rooney Mara as a troubled patient with a coldly calculating soul. Law prescribes a new, experimental drug to combat her depression and anxiety attacks (recommended by fellow therapist Catherine Zeta-Jones, all very controlled and steely), Mara ends up killing her husband (Channing Tatum) in a sleepwalking nightmare, and the more he looks into the suppressed side effects of the drug, the more suspicions are raised about the whole situation. Meanwhile the film's observation on how cozy the medical profession is with the pharmaceutical industry, and how her murder trial is intertwined with big business and medical malpractice, puts a whole new angle on the stakes of the murder trial.
"Side Effects" is less twisty in retrospect than it appears as the drama unfolds moment to moment. Like so many of Soderbergh's films, it turns on human nature, perception, and expectations, which Soderbergh and screenwriter Scott Z. Burns play with to great effect. As Law's ambitious, seemingly sincere, and possibly paranoid psychiatrist says, the best predictor of future behavior is past behavior. Fittingly the entire last act rests on that simple observation.
Continue reading at Videodrone
For more releases, see Hot Tips and Top Picks: DVDs, Blu-rays and streaming video for week of May 21
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