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Former 'Doctor Who' could wind up punching Thor in the face
If there was any consensus—critical or otherwise—about last year's "Thor," it was that the titular hero didn't spend enough time getting punched in the face/punching people in the face. And maybe that's because Loki was such a transient villain, hiding behind his grand illusions and preferring to let that giant, flame-spewing robot thing fight for him. In any case, it seems as though "Thor 2," a.k.a. "Thor: The Dark World," will strive to solve all that, as producers are reportedly hot after well-known baddie Christopher Ecclestone ("28 Days Later," "G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra") in the villainous role of Malekith the Accursed.The fest's first full day offers tricks, teens, trains and technological wonderment
Another colleague -- a different one from he of my first dispatch -- had greeted me at the Nice airport earlier in the week with a smile and a word of warning: "Everything in Cannes is hard." I suppose that a reality check might be better appreciated by a first-timer than delusions of convenience, but as the days went on, each new hurdle only seemed to further validate that notion.Sofia Coppola takes on the kid crooks who both exploited and embraced tabloid culture
Rating: 3.5/5 starsOf course it will be in 3D
Sony Pictures Entertainment announced this week via press release that they've picked up the worldwide distribution rights to the "eagerly anticipated" film from Rovio Entertainment, which will unsurprisingly be an animated 3D feature (want to get us interested in an "Angry Birds" movie? make it live action). The film does not yet have a writer, director, or voice cast in place, but while we'll make fun of such a film until the pigs come home, Sony has certainly had great luck with their other animated properties, including "Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs," "Arthur Christmas," and "The Pirates! Band of Misfits," so they will likely trot out some big name talent to puff up their new prize property.
Bing: More on Rovio Entertainment
There's also no word on the finer plot details of the film, but we can only assume that it will center on some pissed off birds, desperate to exact revenge on the green pigs who have stolen their eggs. Perhaps the film will be an origin story of sorts, one that explains why the pigs are green and why they would steal oodles of eggs from some birds with anger issues. There's so many questions to answer!
Remember all the good times? And also that other movie?
Let's all take a moment to remember the first "Hangover" film, a relatively simple story about three idiots, a tiger, a naked man, a baby, a stripper, Las Vegas, and a quest to find a dear friend. Remember how things seemed so innocent back in 2009, when the worst thing that could happen was that dear friend Doug (Justin Bartha) wouldn't be found in time to make it to his own wedding? Remember how shocking things like Mike Tyson and an abandoned baby and a visit to a strip club were back then? Remember the singing? Oh, the good old days.Videodrone's take on the biggest, best, coolest and culty-ist releases of the week
New Releases:
"Cloud Atlas" (Warner), the sprawling, dazzling, ambitious collaboration between "Matrix" makers Lana and Andy Wachowski and Germany's Tom Tykwer weaves together the six distinctive stories in six different eras with a cast that reappears throughout the timelines. At once literal and evasive, this is a film that wears its heart on its beautifully stitched sleeve and its meaning in its design and yet finds so many facets in which to mirror its ideas throughout its incarnations. It failed to connect with audiences on its initial release, but gets a second chance on home video, where its 170-minute length may not be such an issue. Blu-ray, DVD, and On Demand. Videodrone's review is here.
Check out MSN's exclusive "Cloud Atlas" infographic and enter to win a Blu-ray combo pack from MSN and Warner Home Video.
"A Glimpse Inside the Mind Of Charles Swan III" (Lionsgate), the first feature from Roman Coppola since "CQ" more than a decade ago, stars Charlie Sheen as a hedonistic, ego-fueled graphic artist facing an early-life crisis. Blu-ray and DVD, also at Redbox.
"Frankie Go Boom" (Universal), a comedy about sibling rivalry and practical joking gone awry starring Charlie Hunnam and Chris O'Dowd "possesses a surprisingly sweet heart," recommends MSN film critic Kat Murphy. Blu-ray and DVD
Plus: the latest reboot of the landmark horror film titled simply "Texas Chainsaw" (Lionsgate, Blu-ray, Blu-ray 3D, DVD, On Demand and at Redbox) and the historical epic "Back to 1942" (Well Go, Blu-ray, DVD, and On Demand) from China.
Most releases are also available as digital download and VOD via iTunes, Amazon, and other web retailers and video services.
Browse the complete New Release Rack here
TV on Disc:
The central conflict of "Dexter: The Seventh Season" (Paramount), Showtime's blackly-comic series about TV's favorite serial-killer hero, isn't with another killer. This season Dexter's (Michael C. Hall) adoptive sister Debra (Jennifer Carpenter), who happens to be a police detective, discovers his secret and has to come to terms with the fact that her brother is the killer she's been hunting all these seasons. Family secrets can be so divisive. Blu-ray and DVD. Videodrone's review is here.
"The Bletchley Circle" (PBS) is a self-contained British mystery mini-series set in 1950s London, but it could easily launch a continuing series based on the strength of its characters, a quartet of women who were code breakers during World War II, and its setting. Blu-ray and DVD. Reviewed on Videodrone here.
Film stars Robert DeNiro, Morgan Freeman, Kevin Kline, and Michael Douglas
Call this "The Hangover" for the AARP set. Starring Robert DeNiro, Morgan Freeman, Kevin Kline, and Michael Douglas—Academy Award® winners all—"Last Vegas" at least has a prestigious pedigree going for it. Timeliness? Not so much. Nor does it's target audience usually leave the house. For anything except groceries. Or damnably serious Oscar-bait like "The Artist" or "The King's Speech." So, while "Last Vegas" might be a hoot and a half, and will certainly garner massive ratings whenever it premiers on CBS or Turner Movie Classics, a shoe-in for massive box office returns it is not.Mostly silent clip shows off the film's more cinematic aspects
Disney released a promising new teaser for its upcoming "Cars" spinoff "Planes" today, giving us hope that the Dane Cook-led animated flick might not be all that bad. Sure, it still seems primarily designed to sell a boatload of toys—and, hmm, speaking of which, could a Disney's "Boats" be that far off?—but the action sequences are sumptuous enough, and certainly justify the studio's decision to release the project theatrically instead of sending it straight to DVD.Plus Lars von Trier's 'Antichrist,' the original 'The Corsican Brothers,' classic film noir and more
Horror films take top honors in the Netflix new releases this week.
Newly-anointed Oscar winner Jennifer Lawrence takes a detour into horror in "House at the End of the Street" (2012), playing the new girl in a neighborhood where a grisly crime wiped out an entire family except for the enigmatic teenage son. Ill-advised curiosity ensues. In words of MSN film critic Glenn Kenny, "originality, or lack thereof, isn't really the movie's problem. Execution is."
"Dead Snow" (2009) – There's blood on the snow when Nazi zombies rise from the powder of the Norwegian Alps to feed on the flesh vacationing innocents in this dryly hilarious horror comedy. Writer/director Tommy Wirkola gives it a macabre sense of splatter humor a la "Evil Dead 2" (complete with zombie hunters armed with chainsaws and other deep woods implements of destruction) without self-conscious wisecracking of the genre, and accomplishes it all with a crisp professionalism.
"Kill List" (2011) is a British hit-man thriller that swerves into a jangly horror film. Directed by Ben Wheatley ("Down Terrace"), the film is "harrowing, inventive, disturbing and shudderingly brisk," in the words of MSN film critic Glenn Kenny. It's also pretty darn dark and very unsettling as it takes viewers down unexpected alleys.
For fans of extreme cinema, here are a couple that will shake up even the hardiest souls. Lars von Trier's "Antichrist" (2009) with Willen Dafoe and Charlotte Gainsbourg is a harrowing portrait of marriage and mourning as a morass of anger, suspicion and power in a diseased world, a vision both beautiful and sour, serious and seriously screwed up. Gaspar Noe's violent "Irreversible" uses the cinema as an assault weapon to tell the story of a loving couple (Monica Bellucci and Vincent Cassel) destroyed by a random rape and the rage-fueled revenge, in reverse: a fever-induced nightmare reimagining of “Memento.”
On the lighter side is "Lagaan" (2001), a sweeping epic-length Bollywood musical that spins romantic triangles, solidarity through teamwork, and simple melodramatic clashes of good and evil into explosions of color, song, and happy endings and climaxes with a three day long cricket match (!) between arrogant British colonial rulers and a scruffy team of underdogs in 19th century India.
Dax Shepard writes, co-directs, and stars in "Hit & Run" (Universal), and action comedy with Kristen Bell, Kristen Chenoweth, and Tom Arnold. MSN film critic Glenn Kenny calls it "one of the summer's most enjoyable surprises, a consistently disarming romantic comedy…"
More recommended new arrivals at Videodrone
For more releases, see Hot Tips and Top Picks: DVDs, Blu-rays and streaming video for week of May 14
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