The Hitlist Movies Blog

Is Leonardo DiCaprio Saddling Up for a Western?

Actor reportedly interested in role in 'The Creed of Violence'

By Kate Erbland Jul 31, 2011 12:09PM

In the wake of my touting the Western angle of "Cowboys & Aliens" as the film's strength, it looks like we may be in for another big budget "Western-flavored" film for a big star. The LA Times is reporting that Leonardo DiCaprio is "eager to play one of the lead roles" in "The Creed of Violence," a film adaptation of Boston Teran's novel of the same name. The film has been linked to director Todd Field for some time now, but there's no official word on whether or not Field is still on board. The film, however, is still set up at Universal Pictures.

"The Creed of Violence" is not an Old West-based film, but it does center on a 1910-era cowboy of a different kind. It follows "a criminal named Rawbone who tries to take a cache of weapons into Mexico as part of the country's revolution but is caught and then accompanied by a government agent who, it turns out, shares a secret past with him." DiCaprio's interest is reportedly in either of those characters, but I'd love to see DiCaprio playing dark and bringing Rawbone to the screen.

DiCaprio's name has long been attached to the villian part in Quentin Tarantino's "Django Unchained," and the idea of the actor playing two baddies in period films in a short period of time is a fine one. Tarantino's next film will see DiCaprio as Calvin Candie, a sadistic plantation owner who serves as the principal villain in relation to the titular Django, to be played by Jamie Foxx. DiCaprio, though often seen in the light of a "leading man," is also scarily adept at playing characters with darker motivations, such as in his work in "Blood Diamond" or "The Departed."

Would you like to see DiCaprio as the criminal or the government agent in "The Creed of Violence"?

Does 'Cowboys & Aliens' Make Something Special from its Spliced Genre Parts?

Or is the film just an excuse for a gimmicky title?

By Kate Erbland Jul 31, 2011 11:42AM

This weekend's box office was lined with a number of very different offerings - little blue men coming to Earth (for the kids!), a multi-storyline romantic dramedy, an impressive number of indie picks, and Jon Favreau's latest comic book outing - "Cowboys & Aliens." With a relatively simple title hinting at the genre-splicing within, slick production values, and an overwhelmingly talented cast, the "Iron Man" director should have had a slamdunk film here. But why then did "The Smurfs" beat it on opening night? And why do I remain unconvinced of the value of the film, entertainment or otherwise?

MSN Movies' own Glenn Kenny wasn't particularly sold on the film - until he was. In his review, Kenny almost immediately calls the film "a could have been better" outing. But Kenny then moves past that issue, and instead examines "the solid virtues" the film does possess. By the end of his review, Kenny has come to extol those virtues, ultimately deciding that the does work, thanks to performances by the cast that are strong enough "that they succeed in taking the viewers on that journey with them [and that] is the precise extent to which 'Cowboys & Aliens' becomes something special." Kenny ultimately gave "Cowboys & Aliens" a rating of 4.5 out of 5 stars.

Whereas Kenny doesn't quite dig the Western elements of the film (he notices "no Leone-style mounting suspense montage here, nor any Ford-like real-time action kineticism" within the film), the classic plotting and archetypes at play within the film were absolutely my favorite part of the whole endeavor. Daniel Craig plays a "Man With No Name" style drifter, Harrison Ford is the rich cattle baron who runs the town, veteran Western-er Keith Carradine is trotted out as the Sheriff, and Sam Rockwell plays a riff on the man-who-must-become-a-man during the course of the film. When "Cowboys & Aliens" focuses on its cowboys, it's good stuff, interesting stuff that sticks to the classics and may inspire moviegoers to actually beef up on their Ford or their Leone. But, for me, the good stuff of the film ends with the cowboys. I don't even quite like that ampersand.

The film critic for MSN Movies is NOT a fan of the new Steve Carell film

By DannyMiller Jul 30, 2011 11:02PM

I have great respect for the critics on this site, James Rocchi (who also contributes to this blog) as well as Glenn Kenny. Their expertise about the movies is awe-inspiring and I enjoy reading their incisive reviews.

Not that I always agree with their opinions. Among the big films that opened this week, Rocchi was particularly hard on the ensemble comedy, “Crazy, Stupid, Love.” He gave it only one star. Glenn Kenny, on the other hand, gave “The Smurfs” two stars. Kenny’s review was hardly positive, but in a weird way, you could say that according to MSN Movies, “The Smurfs” is TWICE AS GOOD as “Crazy, Stupid, Love.” In related news, Speaker of the House John Boehner admitted today that President Obama is right about everything and he called for the immediate dismantling of the Republican Party. What? You mean we’re not living in a topsy-turvy parallel universe?

Is Carrie Bradshaw returning to the screen a little sooner than expected?

By DannyMiller Jul 30, 2011 3:41PM

After the debacle of last year's “Sex and the City 2,” there were many who said the popular franchise was dead and buried. But guess what? Sarah Jessica Parker is back in a new installment! And she looks fabulous, as always. She and Big now have two adorable kids. But wait…why is Mr. Big being played by Greg Kinnear—did Chris Noth have a scheduling conflict? Hey, where are Samantha, Charlotte, and Miranda? And hold it—why the HELL is Carrie living in Boston?!

Woops…the trailer below is not for a new “Sex and the City” adventure, it’s promoting Parker’s upcoming film, “I Don’t Know How She Does It,” based on the popular novel by Allison Pearson.

Too many degrees of separation from Kevin Bacon

By DannyMiller Jul 30, 2011 2:24PM

I was at the movies last night and saw the trailer for the remake of “Footloose” which will hit theatres on October 14. I just have one question. WHY?

I could now go on a familiar rant decrying the ever-increasing spate of film remakes and the lack of originality or risk-taking in Hollywood, blah, blah, blah. But I won’t. Those things may be true, but I do think there are times when remakes make sense—a new take on a great story for a new generation. Why not? There are a number of remakes that I prefer to the originals: the Jimmy Stewart/Doris Day version of “The Man Who Knew Too Much,” “Little Women” with June Allyson and Elizabeth Taylor, Al Pacino’s take on “Scarface,” and the retreads of “Little Shop of Horrors,” “Cape Fear,” “A Star Is Born,” and “Dangerous Liaisons,” to name a few. Does it help that the originals of these films were made many years before I was born? Is that why I accept the newer versions of the films so easily?

Brad Furman ('The Lincoln Lawyer') has signed on to direct

By William Goss Jul 29, 2011 5:46PM

The rise and fall of Colombian drug lord Pablo Escobar is a staggering slice of history, and it's come as little surprise that filmmakers from Oliver Stone to Joe Carnahan have tried to tell his story on the big screen.

For one reason or another, no one has really succeeded to date (unless we're counting "Entourage"), but according to The Hollywood Reporter, director Brad Furman ("The Lincoln Lawyer") is going to give it a shot, with Matthew Aldrich ("Cleaner") working on the screenplay.

On the one hand, Escobar's charisma and hubris makes him an instantly alluring character, but on the other, I'm not sure how much the portrayal of his rise to power and eventual downfall can or will deviate from the formula well-established by "Scarface," "Carlito's Way" and other organized-crime dramas not directed by Brian De Palma.

Maybe Furman and Aldrich can crack this nut open as few others have; only time will tell.

David Fincher to Produce Dorothea Lange Biopic

Depression-era photographer took some of the period's most iconic photographs

By Kate Erbland Jul 29, 2011 5:30PM

David Fincher is reportedly set to executive produce a film about one of America’s most talented female photographers, Dorothea Lange, a truly talented woman who unintentionally provided one of the most iconic photographs of the Depression. The film’s script will come from Angela Workman, who previously wrote the adaptation of “The Zookeeper’s Wife” for the 2013 film, along with the screenplay for recent release “Snow Flower and the Secret Fan.” Workman is also responsible for the script for “Brontë,” an original film based on the lives of the Brontë sisters. It’s clear that Workman’s wheelhouse is very much historical films with a feminine bent, so this seems like a crack assignment for her.

Lange is best known for her iconic photograph, “Migrant Mother” (shown at left), which the photographer captured in 1936 when she was working for the Resettlement Administration. Lange worked as a photographer for the RA from 1935 and 1939, and she was tasked with capturing the myriad migrant workers who had moved to California in search of a better life. While Lange’s work was meant to show the promise of life in California, she ended up using her lens to document the immense poverty and horrible conditions of the migrant workers. It is often Lange’s photos that spring to mind when images of the Depression and the Dust Bowl come to mind.

But the photographer contributed much more to the world than just her Depression-era images. Lange also documented the post-Pearl Harbor internment of Japanese-Americans to similarly haunting and upsetting effect, as well as being a member of the faculty for the first fine art photography department at CSFA and one of the founders of photographic magazine “Aperture.” And while Lange’s professional accomplishments are already impressive on their own, she did them all as a survivor of polio. Variety reports that film will “chronicle the life of Lange,” so here’s hoping it covers all of the major elements of her amazing life.

Dorothea Lange is truly an American icon and it’s wonderful that her life is finally going to come to the big screen. While there’s no word on who will direct the project, with a tremendous filmmaker like Fincher backing it, we should expect a great team to form for this production.

UPDATE: Writer Workman herself chimed in below (awesome) with the news that producer Leslie Dektor is directing.

The New ‘Magic Trip’ May Give You a Contact High

Includes rare footage from Ken Kesey’s psychedelic cross-country trek

By DannyMiller Jul 29, 2011 4:34PM

I was a little kid during the heyday of the hippies and so wished I could don my beads and Nehru jacket and head to Haight-Ashbury for the Summer of Love. Instead, I was forced to hang out with a bunch of pre-pubescent squares. What a bummer!

But now, thanks to “The Magic Trip,” a documentary by Oscar-winning filmmaker Alex Gibney (“Taxi to the Dark Side”) and co-director Alison Ellwood, we can all feel as if we were there at the dawn of the movement.

In 1964, counter-culture icon Ken Kesey, author of “One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest,” set off on a legendary, LSD-fuelled cross-country road trip on an old school bus painted in bright psychedelic colors. He was joined by “The Merry Band of Pranksters,” a group of renegade truth-seekers that included Neil Cassady, a major figure from the Beat Generation who was immortalized in Jack Kerouac’s classic, “On the Road.” Cassady became the driver of the bus and participated with the rest of the Pranksters in a series of wild adventures. Tom Wolfe wrote about the trip in “The Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test” and Kesey himself shot a bunch of 16mm footage for a documentary about the group’s mind-expanding pursuits. But the film was never finished and very little of the footage was ever seen by the public.

Gibney and Ellwood were given unprecedented access to the amazing raw footage by the Kesey family and have produced one of the most entertaining, visually stunning, and accurate depictions of this tumultuous time in American history. The documentary, which also features Kerouac, Allen Ginsburg, and the Grateful Dead, opens in theaters on August 5.

Take a look after the break.